Kara said she was good. She had said the same when she had collapsed by Jason on the roof. She said the same when she collapsed into unconsciousness after getting back to the cave. Jason hadn't believed her then and didn't believe her now.
Kara would glance over to him every few minutes and give Jason a smile before turning back to her conversation with baby-bird Dick. Jason had lost track of whatever they had been talking about an hour ago.
He didn't know what trouble Dick had been getting into in the cave. Jason knew he should care. Bruce had expected Jason to watch out for Dick. Right now he was just glad the kid had been in the cave when they had arrived.
Apparently, even at his age, Dick had been Robin long enough to have patched up Bruce a few times.
Jason's hands hadn't been working when they had gotten here. They were still shaking.
Kara gave him another smile and Jason distantly realized she was trying to draw him into the conversation. Jason shook his head.
Kara getting injured had been his fault. If Jason wasn't benched, they would have handled Grimm differently. They would have been throwing her off Lex tower for information. Kara wouldn't have gotten hurt. They wouldn't have let Grimm die. They would have been closer to fixing Dick. None of that happened because Jason was benched.
Bruce had called them forty minutes ago, frantic for Bruce, to see if they were alright. The other lead in Jason's case had ended up dead too.
If Bruce hadn't benched him... If Dick Grayson hadn't done the cult thing. Jason didn't even know who he was angry with at the moment.
"They're back," Kara said as she shifted to a more upright position with a wince. It was all Jason's fault.
Dick had the audacity to look worried about getting caught. Like Bruce was even going to do anything to Dick, even if he had been older Dick.
Jason stood up with a sigh and positioned himself mostly in front of Dick. He could feel the kid relax behind him. They were planning on lying to Bruce about why Dick had been down here in the first place. Alfred wouldn't have noticed Dick hadn't followed him down. So they were just going to tell Bruce Dick had come down to help.
Batman walked into medical with tension coming off him in waves. Dick cringed. Jason could hear Kara whispering an encouragement behind him.
Zatanna followed behind looking worried. Jason had never seen Zatanna worried before. What was more unsettling was seeing Bruce still wearing the cowl.
"You're off the case," Bruce stated without preamble.
"What!" Jason was on his feet before he could even process he'd shouted at Bruce in front of everyone. Did it even matter? Jason had known this was coming, for months. Bruce was going to permanently bench him. "This is my case."
"Not anymore. Whoever is behind this has escalated the situation." For how tense Bruce was standing, his voice was completely blank, like he didn't even care. "We know of at least two people who have been killed. That isn't including the residents of Grimm's apartment complex."
Jason winced. Bruce had to throw that back at him, even though Jason could have handled it if he'd been allowed.
"You reported the possibility that Nightwing wasn't the intended target." Bruce continued like he hadn't even seen Jason's reaction. Jason knew he shouldn't have told Bruce about that part of the call. He wouldn't have if Kara hadn't been burned to a crisp when Jason had called Bruce.
"Regardless, if Nightwing was the intended target, he is apparently their current one. The orchestrator knew Nightwing's activities enough to draw him to Gotham. It's likely they knew enough to connect him with us."
"I'm not the one who gave all of our secrets away to some cult because my girlfriend broke up with me." Jason didn't shout. He was breathing hard and had started shaking again, but he hadn't shouted.
Behind him he heard Kara hiss his name. Jason knew he couldn't think about how all this was going to fall out with her. Maybe it didn't matter because he wasn't going to be Robin again. It wasn't like she'd need him anymore.
Zatanna put a hand over her face with...annoyance. Jason wasn't that interested in Zatanna's response. Bruce was all he cared about.
"You know that isn't want happened." Bruce still sounded so calm. Jason had expected Bruce to snap back or go cold like he did most of the times they argued.
Bruce was right. Jason knew that wasn't what happened with Dick Grayson. Still that hadn't stopped Bruce from acting like it had been Dick's fault. "What am I supposed to think? You've had me on lock-down since it happened. I know you think I'm him. I know everyone thinks I'm him."
A breeze blew past Jason causing him to pause. baby-bird Dick. Kara must have taken him out of here.
"I'm not him. I can handle myself. I could have kept Kara safe if you hadn't held me back." With Kara gone, Jason could say the last part. She would have never forgiven him if he'd said it when she was here. She probably wasn't going to forgive him anyway.
"I can handle myself. Even if you won't see that." There, Jason has said everything, now it was time to see Bruce's response.
Bruce took off the cowl. Jason tensed. Bruce looked a little tired, which for Bruce meant he hadn't sleep in the past few days. Mostly, Bruce looked...Jason didn't want to think about how Bruce was looking at him.
Jason was out of medical without a word, without much of a thought. He wasn't even sure how he'd gotten past Bruce and Zatanna without bumping into either of them.
Jason could have dealt with an argument. He could have dealt with anything other than Bruce looking sympathetic.
"You were right about Jason not wanting to talk." Zatanna ran a hand through her hair. Her thoughts were heavy with the realization Zachary was going to be a teenager in a few years.
Bruce made a grunt of acknowledgment of either Zatanna's statement or her general presence, she wasn't sure at this point.
Running on a few hours of sleep was more Bruce's way of operating than Zatanna's. In the magical world emergencies were either a there and then issue or you had twenty years to figure them out. Some times in the former case an all nighter was required for the emergence. In the later, you only lost sleep if you were into worrying, which Zatanna wasn't.
Speaking of emergencies… this case had once again taken another twist that raised the stakes.
Daniel Herring had his still beating heart ripped out of his chest by a Zmeu. In all likelihood Regina Grimm had been murdered by the same beast. While Herring's home wasn't as cooperative with her spell as the Woods, she'd seen enough to identify the beast in question. A humanoid dragon, thief if Zatanna could remember her folktales properly. She'd never bothered much with the stories of creatures that weren't actually real.
There was the problem. According to Zatanna's spell, the Zmeu in Herring's home had been real, not an illusion or a construct. Anyone or anything with the power to turn a myth into flesh and blood wouldn't be wasting their time turning superheroes into kids for mysterious benefactors.
Zatanna hadn't heard anything from any of her contacts. There was a magical world ending force running around in Gotham. Last week, she'd had tea with Madame Xanadu, who hadn't shared a warning with Zatanna. Zatanna would have thought the Hag would have mentioned a player like this in Gotham.
With their two leads dead, they were entirely back at the beginning with more murder and teen angst. Zatanna could have dealt with one and done without the other.
"You know I was going to tell you to lighten up on Jason." Zatanna leaned against the Bat-computer with a frown. She noticed Bruce had Talon's victims profiles on the computer. Still looking into that lead. "After our enchanting evening together, I should have said something sooner."
Bruce nodded and, shockingly enough, he spoke, "I didn't realize we haven't been patrolling since the incident."
Zatanna expected him to expand on the comment. The silence dragged on for a few more minutes before Zatanna had enough. "You still think they're relevant."
To Zatanna's amazement, Bruce turned away from the computer and looked at her. "I haven't decided. If the phone conversation wasn't intended to mislead Kara, then I don't believe they were relevant to the Zmeu."
"You think they are possibly involved with the enchantment." Zatanna was intrigued. She had thought Bruce's investigation into Talon's victims was entirely intended to solve Talon, not to get Dick Grayson back.
"Have you heard of the Court of Owl?" Bruce asked in all seriousness.
"From the nursery rhythm?" Zatanna questioned. She'd lived in Gotham on and off during her childhood so she had heard of the Court of Owls, vaguely. They were supposed to be a secret society that controlled all of Gotham from the shadows.
Bruce nodded grimly. "Their primary enforcer is called a Talon." Bruce offered Zatanna a throwing knife which she accepted gingerly. "The hilt of Talon's knives all have owls engraved on them."
In deep concentration, Zatanna rubbed her thumb over the owl on the knife. "I can see why you are drawing your conclusion. Is there a reason you think they're linked to Dick Grayson?" Zatanna flipped the knife in her hand before handing it back to Bruce. "Other than the obvious."
"Each of Talon's victims were donors to the Cult of Blood."
"You think they're the Court of Owl," Zatanna wondered. She was starting to see how Bruce had come to this conclusion.. They were all from Gotham's wealthy elite. While Zatanna didn't know if it was the case for all of them, she did know the actress was from one of Gotham's oldest families.
"I suspect they are involved with the Court. Seven people with their resources wouldn't be able to run the entirely of Gotham. Why they are interested in Dick I don't know?"
Zatanna considered the situation. "So I'm assuming you think they paid Blood to brainwash Nightwing, to make it easier for them to brainwash Dick Grayson later." For a weird villain plot, this one seemed somewhat possible.
"Talon told me 'it had already happened'. Blood starting the process would fit." Zatanna could believe Bruce's explanation other than it didn't exactly tell her why the Court of Owl would want Dick split into two.
"Why would they want him to eat Flame-Bird's Lament? Did they need their hit man early?" If that were the case they had gotten more than they bargained for.
"Something along those lines." Bruce sounded hesitant, like he was confessing he hadn't entirely thought through his line of reasoning. This is why you don't work with family. Zatanna and her father had troubles with it when they'd been working together. Worrying about the people closest to you was how you made fatal mistakes. That was why Zatanna didn't have Zachary as her sidekick. She knew she couldn't work with him on more than the occasional team up.
"Bruce, this craziness isn't your fault. I didn't even know things were going to get this out of hand at the beginning." Zatanna rested an arm on his shoulder.
"There is more than that. Before Nightwing was fully indoctrinated into the Cult, he came to the cave looking for help. Jason and I were on a case. I left him and didn't even look back."
"You've got this, Bruce. All we need to do is figure out why a great malevolent evil wants someone to have a learning experience about their light and darkness. Basic storybook stuff."
Bruce frowned as he turned away from her to type a few commands in the computer. Zatanna wasn't worried about his frown, it was the 'I have an idea' face.
"You said languages didn't just disappear." Bruce pulled up a picture of Flame-Bird's Lament. "The researchers found three manuscripts describing one of the apple's myths. None of them were written in the same language as the apple's engraving."
"I know. I ran a search on the language in your database and didn't find a match. The language matches some of the words of the enchantment, that's all I could find. I already told you my contacts hadn't heard of it."
"Did you check the Justice League Database?" Bruce stood up heading towards his second computer.
"No. Do you think it's alien?" The apple was in Metropolis. Zatanna should have considered that possibility. She'd just thought that if it had been alien Kara would have recognized the words since there were similarities between the myths. Zatanna had been an idiot. Similar stories didn't mean similar languages.
"Perhaps." Bruce started working on the computer. "While you were checking up on the boys I ran a deeper search on Regina Grimm. She doesn't exist."
Zatanna blinked. "I checked her out. You checked her out. She has records dating back to her birth."
"They're all forgeries." That was a shocking revelation Bruce should have opened with. This would explain another reason Bruce thought the Court of Owls was involved. An all powerful secret society would be able to create an identity that could fool Batman.
"Okay, so Regina Grimm has existed, what, six months, that's when she started working at the University. Unless you think mental manipulate is also in the picture." With the type of dark magic involved that was a frightening possibility.
"There's more."
"Of course, there is."
"There is no apple." What? They'd spent three days now looking for an apple. They'd seen the apple in a spell. There was an apple.
"Tell that to the Metropolis Museum of Natural Histories and too several of the archaeological journals." Jason had been pretty thorough going over references to the apple.
"Faking an artifact isn't any different than faking a person. I have a contact who follows several of those journals. The printed versions rather than the digital. There have been no articles on Flame-Bird's Lament in the last three years. You were having difficulties finding a contact who knew about the artifact."
Zatanna rubbed her forehead trying not to think about how the last few days had been a complete waste of time. "She new about the artifact from the local news. I guess the whole thing being fake would explain why no one knew about the language; it wouldn't have existed either."
"Not necessarily." Bruce said. Zatanna was beginning to notice how intensely he was watching the computer run through the database.
"You know who is behind this," Zatanna accused. Why didn't she? Zatanna was pretty sure Bruce had put it all together in the last few minutes. While Zatanna wasn't a regular of the Justice League, she did try to keep up to date with their mystical villains. This didn't particularly seem like Morganna or Circe's doing.
"I have a suspicion." Bruce confirmed, right as the computer finished its analysis. Bruce always had the best timing.
"To the Fairest." Zatanna read off the screen. There was something familiar about having that particular phrasing on a piece of fruit.
"In the story of Troy, Eris tossed an apple to three Goddess es that said –"
"'To the most beautiful'. Why the different wording?" Zatanna asked. The computer was beginning to pull up cases in connection with the language.
"Snow White is the fairest in all the land," Bruce added unnecessarily as the truth was revealed.
Of course. The Queen of Fables. The lady of stories herself.
Zatanna couldn't believe she hadn't even considered the idea. The fairy tale themes and being able to recreate mystical creatures were her hallmarks. A language that didn't exist. Snow White had banished all traces of the Queen from the world. Zatanna could understand someone not well versed in magic wanting to banish the vary language a dark caster used for their enchantments.
"I don't know her objective." Bruce started going over the files. Looking for clues on the Queen's motivation. They may have time for that. Zatanna wasn't feeling particularly patient. This case was getting to her.
"Let's ask her." Zatanna twisted her wrist summoning her hat.
"How do you know where she is?" Bruce frowned, not even turning from the information. Zatanna didn't mind. She knew he wasn't going to be doing that for long.
"There's just one Hag in the story of Snow White." Zatanna placed her hat on her head with a smirk. "I know just were she is."
Kara was really, really sweet. Dick knew Jason was lucky to have her as a friend. Kara hadn't said anything when he almost started crying. When...when they left medical, she just held him, singing softly in Kryptonian until he told her he wanted to be alone.
When she left, he waited a little bit longer in case someone checked on him. Dick doubted they would. Everything was Dick's fault. They were all better off without him causing problems. Dick wasn't going to be able to fix any of those problems after Zatanna wiped his mind before he went home. If he went home. He could still be older Dick. If he was, then that was even worse.
Dick had decided that no matter what he wasn't going to be able to stop himself from abandoning Bruce and Jason and, the Titans. The Titans had to be his next victims. So if he couldn't fix his past, he could fix things now.
Sneaking out of his room was as easy as it had been when Dick first moved here. It felt the same too. The guest room he was staying in was as strange as Dick's room had been when he had moved into the manor.
He avoided running into anyone in the halls. That hadn't been hard. Alfred would be in bed by now. Dick had heard Jason slam the door to their room when Kara had been with him. Dick didn't actually know where Kara was. If she hadn't gone home, he didn't think she'd tell on him.
Bruce was exactly where Dick knew he would be down in the cave, obsessing. Dick had to stop himself from going over and telling Bruce he need to go to bed. That was what partners did for each other. Right now they weren't partners.
Getting to Talon's cell was also easy. Jason's barrier blocked the view. Dick knew the trick of getting into the cave without setting off the sensor. The few feet he would be in the open were totally safe. When Bruce looked like that at the computer, he didn't hear anything.
Talon was right. Dick was standing on the cell again watching Talon doing a series of stretches. Watching Talon reminded Dick of his father.
Dick would have been willing to do anything to have saved his parents. Sometimes, even now, he still thought about finding Zucco and making him pay for what he'd done. He didn't because Bruce would have been upset. Bruce didn't understand. He still thought people were inherently good. Dick knew better. That's why Bruce needed Dick around.
"I'm in." Dick whispered in case someone else came down.
"You're sure," Talon question while he flipped to his feet. His creepy eyes not leaving Dick's face.
Dick nodded. They were going to fix everything for everyone.
"We're just going to barge into her shop. In the middle of downtown Gotham. In the middle of morning rush hour." Zatanna had come up with the particularly well thought out plan they were apparently going to use. Halfway into Gotham, Zatanna had expected Bruce to have protested. Nothing. Still nothing as he got out of the Bat-mobile and gave the shop a measured look.
"She's waiting for us." Zatanna wanted to disagree, except they were in the middle of downtown Gotham, in the middle of the morning rush hour. Only there were no other vehicles around or people. Students should be heading towards school. From Zatanna's experience at Haggle with the Hag, this was a popular time for students to purchase curses for school.
Zatanna wondered what the Queen of Fables had done to clear the streets. She didn't sense any magic other than the shops wards. Given Zatanna hadn't known the owner was the Queen of Fables, her sense were more than useless.
How the Queen of Fables had been running a shop in Gotham at the same time she'd been sealed in her book was a mystery Zatanna would be unraveling with Madame Xanadu. If there were other places the Queen of Fables was operating under; they needed to close them.
"Are you sure we shouldn't call in the Justice League?" Zatanna checked with Bruce. The streets were currently deserted. When the Queen summoned her dragon or Zmeu, in this case, it wouldn't be in the middle of rush hour; however, Zatanna knew that could change in a blink of an eye.
"You've read her right. The Queen of Fables plays by her own rules. Now that we're here to unveil her, she'll want to gloat." He was right, or Zatanna had been right. According to the Justice League files, the Queen liked setting up fairy tales and ending them appropriately. Well, that's how Bruce read Wonder Woman and Superman's reports on the Queen of Fables. Zatanna couldn't blame him. It was odd the Queen could escape her book now when she hadn't been able to for centuries.
How the Queen planned on Bruce and Zatanna thwarting her was going to be interesting?
Zatanna flipped her hat off to give Bruce her finale bow. "After you."
Bruce nodded before confidently walking towards the shop with Zatanna following behind. If the Queen was acting out a mystery, then Bruce would be the Detective and Zatanna he assistant. No reason not to keep up the appearance.
The bells chimed, 'welcome gracious lord,' when Bruce crossed the threshold.
Zatanna smirked when Bruce's shoulder's stiffened. "You know it's true."
Zatanna had half expected the shop to have been cleared out before they'd gotten there. If they were dealing with the Hag, that's what should have happened. Last time Zatanna had come here to confront the Hag about a mishap with one of her wares, Zatanna had caught the Hag in the parking lot attempting to stuff as much merchandise as she could in a beaten up truck.
They weren't here for a Hag. They were here for the Queen.
"Zatanna, Dearie, have you finally brought your Dark Knight to my humble shop?" The Hag's voice drifted in from somewhere in the maze of shelves. "I have just the thing for his current predicament."
Zatanna thought about opening with, 'I bet you do'. Starting with that would be more than a little cliché. Since they were dealing with the Queen of the cliches herself, Zatanna didn't want to stoop to the Queen's level.
"I should have known the only good magic shop in Gotham was run by a super-villain." If Zatanna believed Bruce's theories, all of Gotham was run by super-villains. Wasn't that an unsurprising concept for this town.
"Dearie, you flatter me." The Hag appeared from behind the shelves with a pleased smile that came off as more of a sneer. "I will say, Zatara's daughter, I've never preferred the term villain." As she spoke the Hag reached into her shirt to pull out a necklace with a simple disguise charm. "I prefer queen."
The Hag pulled the charm off her neck. Magic bloomed out around her in sparks and colors, shaking the shelves, causing the lights to flicker, and the chimes to ring out, "the Queen." Zatanna rolled her eyes at the gaudy display. The Queen may be powerful and theatrical, but she didn't have a hint of good showmanship.
"Queen of Fables." The light show faded with the Queen of Fables standing in the middle of the tacky shop, looking like the tackiest thing there.
"Did you enjoy my little mystery, my Lord?" The Queen turned her attention to Bruce.
"I'm not a fan of fairy tales," Bruce countered coolly. At least he was being polite. Zatanna wasn't a fan of mysteries. This one had to be the most ill conceived in all of fiction. How the Queen could stand there looking pleased and proud of her handly work was almost sad. Zatanna shouldn't have expected more because it wasn't like the Queen could even get fairy tales right in her clashes with the Justice League.
"I understand why." The Queen lavishly waved her hand towards the entry. "Your city doesn't do them well. Just seeing your Mad Hatter was embarrassment enough. His place in the story is quite obvious, yet, year after year he fails to fulfill his role."
"Unlike Tapestry."
The Queen placed a hand on her chest in mock sympathy. "Poor sweet Daniel. He stumbled into this vary shop looking for inspiration. The way he waxed about fulfilling our roles in stories was so uncommon among the bards of our day. I offered him an opportunity to become an actor in the grandest performance of his career. All he had to do was exchange his heart. A pity his aptitude for the craft wasn't as strong as his passion for it."
Part of the Zmeu being human, the heart in this case, would have made it seem less of a construct to Zatanna's spell. That would be the type of grisly, dark magic the Queen of Fables would enjoy. Zatanna wondered if Grimm was made from a similar method. Had there been a professor who came to the shop looking for myths and ended up in one.
The Queen smiled to herself with delight. "I will admit, his confusion on the identity of the Dark Knight's heir turned my rather traditional tale into a masterful one."
"What do you mean?" Bruce growled a threat.
Jason had no idea why Bruce would leave him in charge of baby-bird Dick after last night...early this morning. Jason could have been reading into Bruce's motives, since Bruce had mostly told Jason they had found a lead and to stay in the Manor. Keeping Dick in the Manor seemed implied. Bruce hadn't revoked his original watch Dick order.
Jason had spent twenty minutes outside of Dick's room trying to decide how best to check in on him. Dick couldn't be awake. He was nine. Since Dick had been in the Cave when they had gotten back, it was likely Dick hadn't slept before hand. If, for some impossible reason, Dick was awake, Jason didn't to want interact with Dick anyway.
All of that hesitation was meaningless because Dick wasn't even in the room when Jason opened the door to check on him.
Jason didn't feel a chill go down his spine as he looked at the pillows stuffed under the sheets in a poor attempt at a body. What kind of trouble could Dick even get into? Dick couldn't leave the Manor without anyone noticing. The perimeter alarms would pick him up.
Talon was in the Cave. Even if Dick was stupid enough to talk to his evil alter ego; he wouldn't be stupid enough to let him out.
Jason started to check the obvious places first. When Jason he the library only to remembered Alfred's reactions and realized, while the library was an obvious place for Jason, it wasn't so much for Dick.
The Cave was the only place Jason even knew in the Manor that Dick would be interested in going. Jason didn't know Dick Grayson very well. Dick had to have someplace in the Manor or on the grounds he went to cool down.
All Jason could think of was the kitchen.
Jason stopped at the door to listen. If baby-bird Dick was in there, Jason didn't want to go in unprepared. There was movement on the other side that didn't sound like Alfred in the kitchen.
Dick was just in the kitchen. Jason didn't feel anything like relief. He still needed to make sure Dick was...okay without committing to being followed around for the rest of the day. Jason didn't need a reminder of why he was getting kicked.
Jason opened the door, planning on using the time warming up whatever he grabbed to evaluate Dick. He could figure out the rest from there.
When he saw who was in the kitchen, he had to adjust his plans.
"Kara, you're still here?" Jason hadn't expected to see Kara sitting on the counter, looking up at him from the paper she'd been reading.
"You know Lena, if I come home looking like this," Kara waved one of her bandaged hands, "she'll swear vengeance. You know what Lena's like when she's sworn vengeance."
Jason winced thinking about the one time he'd seen Lena on a vengeance streak. That didn't explain why Kara was here and not with her cousin or one of her other friends. She couldn't be here about Jason. She probably just wanted closure on her case.
"Have you seen Dick?" Jason had been thrown seeing Kara there. He had a mission.
Kara tilted her head. "He's in the Bat-cave."
Jason blinked because Bruce had security measures for Superman. No way Kara could get around those. "How do you know?"
"Batman has lead lining the walls, however, he doesn't have much protection from super-hearing." Kara smiled as she tapped her ear.
Even if he wasn't going to be Robin anymore, Jason was going to have to talk to Bruce about that. That wasn't the point.
"He is probably down there calling the Titans." Jason didn't like how he sounded like he was trying to be reassuring because Kara didn't look like she was worried. So there was on person here who need it.
"Would that be so bad." Kara stood up from the counter. "After last night he needs a little reassurance things are going to be okay." Jason had no idea how she made that not sound like an accusation.
"Do you want to check on him?" Kara offered.
Jason nodded, still having no idea why he was worried.
"As a fellow parent to a Snow White, I'm doing this all for you, my Lord." The Queen stretched her arms out in a grandiose gesture. Bruce somehow got stiffer than he'd been. "You see while we weren't properly introduced during my return to the world, I feel the similarities between us. The troubles that come from having to care for wayward children who aren't your own. I was worried yours would give you the same heartbreak mine had given me. I couldn't allow that for a fellow parent."
"You decided to intervene. How kind." Zatanna moved closer to Bruce. It wasn't much of a comfort, but it was all she could do with the Queen in the room with them.
"It is a kindness, Dearie. I gazed into the future to see for myself what troubles were brewing. Oh the horrors I saw." The Queen sounded a little to pleased to be selling the sympathetic kindred spirit. "Having to put down your own children is a terrible thing for a parent. I couldn't let my Zatanna's Dark Knight go through such a thing. With his gentle heart he would fail."
"This is your plan to make sure that won't happen?" Zatanna had never heard Bruce's voice sound as dark as it did now.
"So clever, my Lord. My original scheme," the Queen gave a little smirk when she said scheme, "was to use your second son. I believe the saying now, 'is to kill two birds with one stone', so appropriate. Did you know Snow White changed my story more than those fools in my book shared with you. The Prince who saved her was the second victim of the iron slippers. I couldn't allow such terrible fate for sweet Kara."
"You wanted Supergirl and I to see Jason from a possible future so we would reject him," Bruce grounded out. If this had been about Zachary, Zatanna always admired his restraint, she would have already attacked. Now, at least, the similarities to the Kryptonian Flame-Bird's Lament made sense. Kara had caught the Queen's attention.
"You believe me capable of driving two of the gentlest hearts to rejecting one of their children and the other her lover." The Queen laughed in shrill amusement. "It's been too long since I've had such flattery lavished on me. Would it be I were capable of such a feat. Such things would I do for this world."
The Queen shook her head in an attempt to compose herself. "Your heir would have seen what he would become. You prodigal is quite a different prince. He's way is more...dynamic."
"Snow White's stay with the dwarves gave her the tools to defeat me. She didn't learn her malice from them. Your eldest's corruption is of a similar nature. Roosting with the Owls didn't give his corruption shape, merely the tools to wield it. Talons as it were. If not for Daniel's folly I wouldn't have seen the elegant solution for you heartbreak."
"What solution?" Zatanna snapped.
Page Break
"Where do you think you're going?" Jason stormed over to baby-bird Dick who was in the process of putting on his utility belt. "I don't know if you were listening or not. There is a malevolent magical something out there that is looking for you. You're going to sneak out of the cave to play Robin?"
"Dick, you need to stay in the Cave. If anything happens to Bruce and Zatanna, Jason and I can deal with that," Kara tried to sooth. Which she almost did because both Dick and Jason looked at her with incredulity.
If there was anyone who didn't need to be around when there were malevolent magical somethings around, it was Kara. She was practical a mummy. Jason didn't know how she was moving around with the burns she had. Super healing could only go so far.
"You don't understand I have to fix this before they break the enchantment," Dick pleaded with them. "I don't have anymore time."
"Fix what?" Jason knew Dick didn't care about his relationship with Bruce or Dick Grayson really. What else was there to fix? Dick's life was perfect and when Jason was gone Bruce's would be too. Maybe Nightwing and Batman would get back together when Jason was gone.
"The future." Dick waved his arms around the cave in distress. "It's all wrong. I'm not supposed to be like this."
"Let's talk about this-" Kara started, softly, before their was a dull thud and a green glow behind Jason.
Jason was already reacting before his brain fully identified what he was seeing: kyptonite.
Jason grabbed a stunned Dick, pulling him away...away from Kara. Who was on the ground hurt. Jason was going to come back. All he had to do was get Dick out of the way first.
Jason felt something cut through the space they'd just been in. It felt a lot like throwing knives.
Talon.
Dick let Talon out!
"I would think it was obvious, Dearie. Richard Grayson is the reason, my Lord, ended up with so many Snow Whites in his care. If the baby bird were to die so early in his stay, the Dark Knight wouldn't collect the rest of the flock."
Zatanna frowned. Nothing about what the Queen was saying made sense to her; however, Bruce understood.
"Tell us how to break the enchantment." Bruce stepped forwards. Zatanna shifted, readying herself for a fight. Reminding herself the Queen would keep this on their playing field.
"Now, my Lord, you are the Detective. All the clues to resolving my enchantment are at you disposal. I can be gracious, though." The Queen revealed Flame-Bird's Lament from the air around her and then causally tossing the apple towards Zatanna. Who caught the apple instinctively only for it to melt in her hands and gather on the floor. When the last of the apple was pooled at Zatanna's feet, it shifted into a golden snake.
"Are you saying Flame-Bird's Lament was a red herring?" Zatanna said, jokingly, as she watched the snake dart back towards the Queen. Having them spend time examing a magical item wouldn't have had the drama the Queen was looking for in her stories.
"Oh Dearie, I'll miss you." The Queen almost sounded sincere. She then leaned down allowing the snake to slitter up her arm. "I'll miss this place. Stories are simple to tell when you are a peasant."
Zatanna looked to Bruce to see if he was interested in escalating the situation as much as she was. Bruce gave her a negative with the shake of his head.
"Now, now. Let's all leave this exchange in a civil manner." The Queen shook her finger at Zatanna. "You should be leaving with haste. The finale has started without you."
Another burst of colors and lights flared through the shop. When Zatanna's eyes cleared, all that remained was Bruce and Zatanna and a vacant alley. Zatanna examined the alley amazed there was no trace of magic. The Queen couldn't leave her favorite playthings behind.
"We need to get back to the Cave. The boys are in danger."
Zatanna didn't question as she began to cast her spell.
Page Break
"I don't understand," Baby-bird Dick mumbled still in shock. While it would make Dick entirely useless in combat, it also meant he wouldn't get in the way. Jason had Dick's utility belt off him without the kid even knowing.
They were behind the barrier Jason had constructed earlier. Overall not the best place to be in the Cave at the moment. There was the creepy cell as the major visual of the place. Now they were cut off from all of the major exists from the Cave, Talon could just back-flip over the barrier. Kara was on the other side at the mercy of Talon.
Jason already had his hands over the explosive section of Dick's utility belt. He was grateful Bruce hadn't done much of a redesign when he'd upgraded Jason's from Dick's. Talon was a zombie. Jason knew Bruce was lax with the no-kill rules when supernatural monsters were involved. Except the easy solution of tossing a few bombs over wouldn't work because Kara was over there and vulnerable. While killing zombie Dick Grayson would likely be satisfying for Jason there was the possibility he would be killing baby-bird Dick as well.
That meant Jason was going to have to go with the traditional Robin way of handling things.
First though, Jason tossed a fistful of flash pellets over the barrier, pretty sure that would slow Talon down a little.
"We were supposed to fix things." Dick was starting to shiver.
"Yeah, well, who's fault do you think all of this is," Jason said trying to snap Dick out of his shock. Trying to listen for Talon wasn't working. Not that Jason had thought it would.
"Mine." Dick was focusing on Jason now. Didn't he look pathetic.
Jason jabbed a few items he pulled from the utility belt into Dick's hands. They were mostly junk items: caltrops, some smoke bombs, a whistle, and a few assorted objects that hadn't made it into Jason's belt. Nothing at all that would do much. Jason knew how empowering having Robin equipment could be even if you knew it was useless.
"Did you even think about Talon feeling the same way?"
Dick shook his head. "I wouldn't kill myself." With that said Dick started trying to get to his feet. Jason pinned him against the barrier. He could practically feel Talon recovering on the other side.
Okay, Dick was ready to move, now for the fun part, making Robin obey him.
Jason tried his best Batman impression. "I'm going to be the distraction. You are going to contact Bruce and Zatanna." If Talon had the kyptonite, then he probably, disabled communications in the Cave. Dick Grayson was clever and would figure a way around that. "You are going to leave the Cave."
"I can help. We can-"
"Robin do as your told." Jason was pretty sure he nailed Bruce that time. He shoved Dick, behind him, away from the barrier. With a breath, Jason flipped over the barrier. He tried to remind himself that Talon hadn't killed Zatanna earlier in the evening.
Kara was lying on the ground, clutching her eyes from the flash grenades. Jason would have winced, expect Talon was standing over her taking up most of Jason's attention.
"Jay, you didn't open with the real explosives. I wouldn't have guessed you had more restraint when you were a kid than an adult." Talon was teasing or his voice was. His face was blank. Combined with the glow of the kyptonite this made for a disturbing sight.
"I doubt you know me any better than Dick Grayson does now." Jason throw back with more heat than he'd intended. If Talon wanted to talk Jason, shouldn't be antagonizing him into a fight Jason couldn't win.
Talon shrugged and without facial cues Jason wasn't sure what Talon meant. "You should just hand Robin over to me, little wing." Didn't that nickname sound as condescending as the first time Dick had called him that. Other than the context, this whole conversation was starting to remind Jason of his first meeting with Dick. Other than the context.
"Yeah, no. You're going to have to commit suicide like everyone else." Jason rolled his last flash pellet in his right hand.
"Robin ruined you life, Jason." Talon pulled a glove off his hand to display a scar across his palm. "This is how you started saying hi to your siblings."
Talon calling Jason a sibling nearly rocked him more than the implications of what future Jason had done. The last time he'd worked with Bruce, hadn't Bruce called Jason out for being too violent. No, there was no reason to believe Talon wasn't lying.
"I'm sure you deserved the scar." Jason tossed the flash pellet the instant he saw Talon shift. The plan was simple: go for the kyptonite, then keep trying to delay Talon until Supergirl was back in action or Batman and Zatanna arrived.
Jason hadn't considered Talon had been trained in blind fighting by the same person Jason had.
In the end, Talon had Jason pinned to the ground before Jason threw a punch or even got within five feet of Kara.
"Now that's more like the Jason I know." Talon sounded like he was smirking. Jason growled trying to throw him off. "You should have gone for the psychological approach, that's what Bruce would have done."
Jason growled again. This was their first meeting all over again.
Talon chuckled then turned his attention to the surrounding cave to address baby-bird Dick. "Come out, Robin. You still want to help Bruce don't you. This is the only way."
"This is the only way to freak Bruce out for the rest of his life" Jason shouted. He could still do his job. All he had to do was keep Talon occupied. "What if baby bird isn't your past? I'll still be Robin. That isn't going to change."
"Good try, Jay. I know you aren't going to be Robin for much longer," Talon said turning his attention to Jason.
Jason flinched, that wasn't anything he didn't already know. "So why are you bothering?"
"As nice as it would be to make sure the rest of you don't turn out the way you will. That's more of a secondary objective." Talon adjusted his grip on Jason and addressed the Cave and baby-bird Dick again. "You see, Robin, Jason tries to kill Bruce a few times. He didn't ever succeed. We do."
Jason went still. That had to be a lie. Talon...Talon didn't sound like he was lying. This is how you started saying hi to your siblings. Talon's words rolled in Jason's head.
"You shouldn't feel too bad. You kill him to save the world after all. Everyone's going to tell you that. Jason's going to tell you that. In a less Alfred approved way." Talon said the last part, fondly.
Talon was insane. Then Talon would be if half of what he was saying was true.
Jason noticed movement near the barrier.
"You're going to feel terrible because if you hadn't created this mess, you would have found a way to save the world and Bruce." Talon was still caught up in his monologue and hadn't seen Dick. Jason half wished he hadn't. Dick was clearly eyeing the kyptonite. He probably hadn't even called in help. Jason could still work this.
"How did you kill Bruce?" Jason turned as much as he could to look up a Talon. "I'm thinking knives. You seemed to have picked up a thing for them when you got the new makeover."
Talon froze. Jason could do psychological as well as any of them. "Did you get me into knives too? Because right now, a knife in the hand isn't exactly how I would do a hostile hello. Explosives are more my thing. You know that though, right, Dick."
Jason had Talon's undivided attention. Now that he knew Talon had killed Bruce, Jason wasn't sure how he was going to survive the attention.
"No...I didn't." Talon sounded shaken.
"Well, since you're here to stop the future, who did?" Jason had no idea if he even wanted to know. His mouth was just running at this point. How long would it take for Dick to get to the kyptonite?
"You-" Talon moved. There as a thud. Jason had heard that sound before he'd gone to live with Bruce. He struggled to turn and see if Dick was- Kara was somehow not lying on the ground in pain from the kyptonite. She'd been able to get herself up to shield Dick. A knife hilt was sticking out of her back.
The kyptonite. Kara wasn't invulnerable around that.
"Kara!" Jason shouted, shoving with all his might against Talon, who wouldn't budge. "Robin! Get the kyptonite!" It was right there in front of Dick. All he had to do was just get it away from Kara and she'd be fine.
For a second Talon was off Jason. Before Jason could react, Talon had smashed Jason's head into the Cave floor. "Good try, little wing. I invented the art of distraction."
Jason wasn't unconsciousness. He just couldn't get his brain to coordinate with his limbs. Talon was slowly walking towards Dick and Kara. Dick seemed to be fumbling with Kara and trying to shield her.
Talon was on top of them with a knife in hand.
"Batman!" Jason and Dick shouted in unison as a dark form appeared out of the shadows and slammed into Talon. Talon was driven away from Dick and Kara.
Jason winced as the noise stabbed into his brain.
"Kiddos can't leave you alone for a minutes" Zatanna walked into Jason's view.
"Zatanna, Kara's hurt." Dick pleaded as he was still struggling to hold Kara up. Zatanna gave him a curt nod.
"I see that. Looks like Jason's had his bell rung too." Zatanna bent down picked up the chunk of kyptonite and spoke. "Og kcab ot erehw uoy gnoleb."
The rock along with it's freaky green glow were gone. Kara gasped, "Would someone pull the knife out, please?"
Jason started struggling to his knees. Getting to Kara was going to take too long.
Zatanna crouched down beside Kara and Dick. "If I use magic, will it hurt you or heal you?"
"You should be able to heal me." Kara's voice was barely there.
Zatanna rubbed her hands. "Let's see if I've got enough juice for the both of you. Yrjni gnilaeh."
Jason's head was clear, and what pain he'd been in was gone. "Thanks Zatanna." He half shouted as he rushed over to Kara. Who didn't have a knife in her back anymore or any of the bandages. Was there a reason Zatanna hadn't done that earlier.
"Are you okay?" Kara smiled up at Jason. "I'm good." Jason smiled back.
"What about Bruce?" Dick, no longer needing to support Kara, had leaped to his feet fully intending on jumping into the fray. Now that Kara was fine, Jason was thinking the same.
"Should I break that up?" Kara asked Zatanna.
Zatanna shook her head. "No, Bruce can handle Talon. We need to figure out this enchantment."
"You don't understand. Talon killed Bruce," Dick argued back in a huff of frustration. Jason had to agree with him again. Then they were both Robin and they would think the same about Batman.
"You don't need all of us?"
"Look, kids, breaking the enchantment will handle Talon. I'm going to need all of your input. Kara," Zatanna turned her attention on Kara who was getting on her feet. "What exactly saved the Kryptonian Nightwing in the Flame-Bird's Lament?"
Kara frowned as she pondered the question. "Flame-bird's love is how I would usually answer that. I don't think that's the solution here."
Jason winced as Bruce took a glancing blow from Talon and Dick, who was beside Jason, made a noise of distress.
"It could be. I don't know if you've heard of the Queen of Fables; but she's, the one who orchestrated this fiasco. She's been known to have s true love's kiss break the spell." Zatanna folded her arms as she spoke. "If it's that, we could just call the Titans."
"Kori isn't on Earth right now," Jason informed them. "So that's not going to be happening. Would the 'Queen of Fables' know that?"
"Why are we still talking? Bruce is in trouble." Dick pulled on Jason's arm.
"That's where he wants to be." Zatanna dismissed them with a wave of her hand. "If he gets into any real trouble Kara, will be there before anyone can blink. Right now Bruce wants to work things out with Talon. Just let him try."
"In most of the stories Flame-Bird keeps Nightwing sane by her light. Those were Thara favorites." Kara spoke looking away from the group with nostalgia. "Mine was the one where Flame-Bird shared her secret of how she wasn't effected by the apple. I don't know how it would help."
"We've got two of the greatest Detective's here. They'll figure it out." Zatanna rubbed Kara's arm encouragingly.
"Flame-Bird told Nightwing she just didn't care." Kara shrugged, helplessly. "Her death, the wickedness others would do, and her own wickedness didn't matter to her. All the evil that Flame-Bird saw when she bit into the apple would eventually turn into good things. She never actually saw any of the darkness, just the light. I don't think it relates to what's happening."
"Doesn't it?" Jason offered hesitantly. Myths and fairy tales never made any sense to him. "The hero in the Earth stories had to overcome his own darkness. So maybe that's all baby-bird has to do. Let the light in."
Everyone turned to Dick who pulled himself behind Jason, shyly. "I don't know how to do that."
"I think you're on the right track." Zatanna crouched in front of baby-bird Dick. "You know there is no reason to be scared of the future."
Jason felt Dick's hands tighten on his pants. "I'm not scared of the future. I don't like the future because everything is wrong."
"Is it all bad." Kara joined Zatanna. "If you hadn't run away from home, then you wouldn't have formed the Titans and Jason wouldn't have gotten the chance to be Robin." Kara gave Jason a dazzling smile. "I wouldn't have gotten to meet Jason."
Jason felt himself flush for a moment before he realized Zatanna was giving him a pointed look. Of course, he was supposed to be part of this pep talk.
"You don't even know if any of this is forever." Jason couldn't believe he was about to share this in front of everyone. "When we met the first time, you gave me one of your old costumes and your number in case I needed to talk."
Dick looked up at Jason with his eyes wide and hopeful, "Really."
"Okay he's cheered up. Why isn't anything happening?" Jason turned away from Dick to watch Bruce and Talon's continuing fight. They still looked evenly matched.
"The Queen of Fables likes a little drama in her stories. One of the reasons Bruce didn't want to just lock Talon back up. We've got to put on a nice show. So Dick you need to go over there and confront your dark future," Zatanna explained. Jason understood most of Bruce's villains had certain tasted. Usually he didn't have to perform a drama for the villain.
"What?"
"How?" Dick asked and Jason spoke in union. Of course, Dick would go along with the crazy plan. He was willing to go along with the plan of his evil future self.
"You're a showman aren't you. My best assistant at that. Do what's natural for you." Zatanna gave Dick an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry we're all going to be here in case things go wrong," Kara added, gently squeezing Dick's shoulder.
"Okay." Dick nodded to himself before pulling away from Jason. "Don't worry. I can do this."
Jason couldn't frown at Dick, even if he wanted to. Really, this wasn't even the most dangerous thing Dick had even done as Robin. Jason was the one being ridiculous. It was just Bruce had told Jason to watch Dick.
"You've got this Robin." Dick beamed up at Jason's comment.
"Okay." Dick turned away from them. Squaring his shoulders baby-bird Dick approached the fight, which, during their discussion had turned from a stalemate to Talon having the upper hand. He had Bruce against the wall with one of his knives at Bruce's throat.
Kara caught Jason's arm as he began to move. "Give Dick a chance," She whispered.
"Hey murder me!" Dick shouted to draw Talon's attention away from Bruce. Talon shifted to look at his younger self. His face as blank as before. "Hey, mini me."
"I want you to know it's going to be okay. Maybe...maybe Bruce is gone but that's okay. You have Jason and all those other people you mentioned. Won't they be sad if you're gone too."
Jason couldn't believe that was how Dick was going to go about this. He was going to get stabbed by his evil future self.
"We can't make up for anything if we're dead. Mom and Dad wouldn't want that. You still think they're happy Bruce took us in don't you? If they...if they hadn't died, we wouldn't have met Bruce or Alfred...or the Titans. We had a lot of good times with Bruce, right. Those times were worth it weren't they? So why can't we have good times after Bruce? We had good times with the Titans without Bruce."
Talon tensed.
Kara and Zatanna shifted behind Jason in preparation for whatever was coming. For himself, Jason pulled out a shuriken from Dick's utility belt.
Bruce was still. Dick's back was turned to Jason. Jason was still pretty sure Dick was giving Talon his brightest, hopeful smile.
Talon started choking.
He collapsed to his knees. Bruce followed him, not quite touching Talon as his choking turned violent.
Baby-bird Dick was gone. The shuriken was missing from Jason's hand, along with the utility belt around Jason's waist.
As he disappeared, something bright and golden came out of Talon-no, Nightwing.
There was Dick Grayson in his Nightwing costume kneeling on the ground in a daze where Talon had been.
"Baby-bird Dick did it." Kara brushed her shoulder against Jason's. Jason nodded mutely back to her.
Behind them Jason could hear Zatanna saying, "That was sweet. I'm not sure that was dramatic."
Kara turned to Zatanna. "Kal said she's into fairy tales. Lots of them have sweet endings."
Jason couldn't really focus on their conversation. Bruce didn't like to make a scene so he wouldn't like Jason go with the flow here. At the moment Bruce was too focused on Dick for anything else.
"I-I'm alive." Dick had stopped choking and was in the process of moving onto hyperventilating. "Bruce you're alive. I thought-"
Bruce had taken his cowl and cape off to wrap Dick, like he used to when Jason was younger. No reason to assume Bruce hadn't done that for Dick.
"We're good?" Bruce rubbed Dick's back then looked over to Jason. Jason tensed because he had been so sure Bruce wouldn't fire him with everyone around. Here Bruce was about to. Kara wasn't going to want him hanging around anymore.
"Good job, Robin."
Dick looked vaguely in Jason's direction. "Jason's here too." If not for the weirdness, Jason would have felt slighted. Bruce had said he was Robin, he'd done a good job. And besides Dick was clearly not mentally with them.
Kara bumped Jason's shoulder. "Go on." She smiled at him when Jason looked over to her. Kara had been trying to tell him everything hadn't been terrible the last few months. Maybe she'd been right.
Jason walked over to Bruce and Dick and crouched down in front of them. "Hey, baby-bird." Then Dick hugged him or them, because Bruce was caught up in the hug too.
Jason did his best not to stiffen. "This isn't going to be permanent," Jason stated in case Dick in his weird state took it the wrong way. Jason shot Bruce a questioning look. Bruce nodded towards Zatanna. Great, more magic might be involved in this one.
"Has anyone seen the apple?" Jason used Zatanna's question to pull away from the group hug.
"Yeah, it's right-" Jason started to point where he'd last seen the little bit of gold lying on the Cave floor. It was now glowing and pulsating. Okay, there was going to be more magic.
Bruce got in front of Jason and Dick, which was probably more necessary than Jason wanted to believe. At least, Dick wasn't clinging to Jason.
The pulsing apple bit started growing and taking shape into...a dragon-man. Jason's first weird case had pulled out all the stops.
"I forgot about the Zmeu." Jason could barely hear, Zatanna over the...Zmeu's roar. This was the thing that blew up Kara and killed Herring and Grimm. Jason wasn't worried. Zatanna was here and magic was her thing. Jason did put an arm on Dick in case Jason need to drag him off. Now that Dick wasn't so little anymore that was going to be a bit tricky.
There was Kara on the other side of the Zmeu. Jason wasn't going to be able to help her.
The Zmeu hissed at them, it's mouth dripping fire on the Bat-cave's floor. Was it going to attack them? Jason couldn't read dragon-man body language.
Bruce teased. The Zmeu lunged at them. Jason half got Dick to his feet before twin red lights pieced through the Zmeu's chest and the thing erupted in a burst of golden dust.
"Good one, Supergirl." Zatanna stepped into the glitter cloud. "Let's make sure we don't get a repeat performance. Ssalg ot tsud."
In a brief moment, the glitter spread through the cave, condensed into a palm side cloud, and drifted gently into an antique bottle Zatanna must have summoned while Jason was watching the cloud.
Zatanna popped the stopper in the bottle. "Case closed, Robin?"
Jason looked over to Dick who was standing steadily now. "I'm good." Dick didn't actually look or sound good. He didn't look like he was going to start hugging Jason again, so Jason believed him.
Kara was giving Jason two of the Kryptonian equivalents of thumbs up. Jason felt himself smiling at her.
Bruce put a hand on Jason's shoulder and squeezed. Jason hadn't actually done anything, at all, the gestures were nice.
"Case closed."