Hey, guys. Domino5555 here. And this is the first chapter for Second Chance. Well, technically, it's the second, but the first technical chapter was actually a prologue. I had to cut it short, because I'm trying to bring up physics grades, so I apologize for that. Anyway, enjoy the read.
EDIT: 10/22/18 Fixed a typo for February 19, 2077, because it was meant to be 2027.
Gotham, New Jersey; November 11, 2077 10:30 PM EST
Terry glided across the dirty skyline of Gotham to reach Wayne Manor, where Bruce was still (hopefully) there.
Every day came the possibility that it would be Bruce's last, as he was getting older. At this point, he was in his nineties for Christ's sake. And the standard for living hadn't exactly improved in the past fifty years.
Dick was still taking care of his surrogate father, but just like Bruce, he was also getting older, though not to the extent of his mentor.
It was frankly amazing how he was still there for Bruce, given that the latter wasn't exactly the most pleasant individual, though given what happened to him, who would blame him? Oh, that's right. Himself.
Bruce had "lots of issues", as his parents got killed when he was eight, half the world's population died on his watch, most of his surrogate family was dead, and he had alienated the rest.
His ego, ironically, led him to blame himself, because he felt like it was his responsibility to be the best, and when Darkseid attacked, he felt a large part of himself die.
Parademons rained like lightning upon the landscape, and so many died. So many voices, screaming in pain.
Finally reaching the ancient mansion, Terry knocked upon the door, and awaited a mid-seventies Richard Grayson.
At one point, Terry was going to have to thank Grayson for building the Batsuit. After Bruce went into self-imposed exile, Dick took his mentor's place as the Batman. And as he got older, he built a Batsuit that relied more heavily on nanomachines that allowed his aging body to stay in the fight. Of course, that also meant that if the suit was disabled, he would soon be out of commission, unless he kept himself trained in the old fashioned way.
Eventually, though, Alfred died, and Dick had to watch over his mentor. At the time, Richard was married to Kory, and had their daughter. But as he chose Bruce over his new family, they were currently estranged.
The door finally opening, Dick ushered Terry in to find Bruce, who was unsurprisingly still awake, next to the hidden entrance of the Bat Cave.
"Something's been bothering you tonight? What is it?" The ninety-something Bruce asked.
Terry's response to the query was a rather long monologue: "You and Dick know that I sent Bart back in time to fix the present, but that hasn't exactly worked out, considering that I sent him back three years ago, and he arrived three years before Clark and Lois's wedding. Should have been solved by now, but I feel like that I need to go there to check on him. No, that's not the true reason. The truth is that I am sick and tired of a world where kids in school are forced to read about the apocalypse every day. You know what it was like to have a bittersweet ending in the worst possible way. Every night, you wonder if you could have saved the four billion lives lost on November 11, 2027. You dream of the family that you lost to Darkseid. You desperately want to change what went horribly wrong, but you are too absorbed in your self-hatred to actually fix it. Well, that and the fact that you are kind of old. I think it's time that I went back to March 20, 2027 to do what you have so desperately wanted to do."
Bruce and Dick were so shocked at how blunt and honest Terry was being.
"I suppose there is a certain truth in what you say." Bruce admitted, as he turned to look at a picture of Clark and Lois's engagement party, taken over fifty years ago.
In addition to the then-newly engaged couple and the host of the party, the picture contained Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Iris West, Arthur Curry, Queen Mera, Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, John Jones, Oliver Queen, Dinah Laurel Lance, John Stewart, Shayera Hol, Zatanna Zatara, Mari McCabe, Vic Sage, and Helena Bertinelli.
"Bruce, this isn't a movie. Don't think that the picture is going to dissolve into a flashback." Terry reminded.
"Right, sorry. I'm half-senile. I'll keep forgetting that I'm in reality." Bruce sarcastically snarked back. "Especially since my stepson threw his own party on the Watchtower that went out of hand."
Case in point, the reason for Nightwing's party getting out of control wasn't his fault, but rather Wally fooling around with Linda in the showers by engaging in "soap play".
"Hey, the only reason I took the fall was because we agreed that Wally would not be made fun of posthumously!" Dick fired back.
Bruce then look hurt at the comment, causing Dick to immediately regret saying that to him.
"Bruce, I'm sorry. I didn't mean- , "Dick apologized.
"I know." Bruce responded, comfortingly putting a hand on his stepson's shoulder. "I miss him, too. As much as his antics annoyed me, I always possessed a soft spot for the fast youngster. Not a day goes by where I don't remember his jokes."
"And you did pay for his facial reconstruction surgery after Roy almost killed him." Terry added, turning his head to Grayson. "Are we sure he didn't have a thing for you, Dick? After all, he did call you 'the prettiest dude alive'."
"You're busting my balls, aren't you, Terry?" Dick asked.
"A little bit, yeah." Terry answered.
Richard smiled in response, and even Bruce began to fall suit.
"So do you want me to save him?" Terry asked once more.
"Talk to Dana, first." Bruce advised. "Assuming that you don't make it, your fiancé should, at the very least, know where the hell you went."
"Fair point." Terry conceded. "I'll let Mom, Matt, and Max know as well."
"What are we supposed to do if you fail your mission?" Dick asked.
"Tell the Commissioner that she should increase the standards for the police." Terry answered. "Hell, I'll tell Barbara now."
Terry left the house and glided away.
"You have other regrets, don't you, Bruce?" Dick stated, once Terry left and the door was closed.
"Yes. Talia, Selina, Damian, Zatanna, Cassandra, Jason, all dead because I wasn't strong enough." Bruce somberly answered. "Also, Diana had to leave me to lead the Amazons after the invasion, because Hippolyta died due to the diversionary attack being poorly planned on my part."
"Bruce, you can't keep beating yourself up over what happened in the past." Dick told his mentor. "We all lost something that day. But self-blame isn't the way to deal with it."
"Neither is failure to take responsibility." Bruce retorted. "Frankly, I'm still surprised that you haven't left because of my self-hatred."
"Well, maybe the reason I've stayed is because of your self-hatred." Dick responded. "I'm not going to leave for one day to return and find out that you purposely gave yourself an overdose."
Though he would rarely show it, Bruce greatly appreciated his son's loyalty. He wouldn't be able to deal with himself if he was in the same place.
And if Terry did succeed in his quest to fix the past, the world would undoubtedly be a far better place.
Lois would still be alive, and she and Clark would still be married.
Gotham, New Jersey; February 19, 2027 7:30 PM ET
Bruce Wayne raised a glass of enchanted wine, to propose a toast to the assembled crowd within Wayne Manor.
Tim was at the local pizzeria on a date with Stephanie Brown.
Dick and Jason were hosting a party of their own on the Watchtower, having promised that they could keep Wally under control.
And Alfred was currently babysitting Cassandra and Damian in a separate wing, far away from the festivities both in Wayne Manor and the orbital Watchtower.
"Everybody, thank you for coming to this party to celebrate the recent engagement between Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Proposed five days ago on Valentine's Day, at a small farm in Smallville, I consider it my greatest honor to host the engagement party for my best friend!" Bruce loudly announced, in a manner that would make Tom Cruise look modest by comparison.
There was no secret identities to hide here. Most of everybody here already knew that Bruce was Batman, but there was no need to act like an edgy nineties anti-hero tonight, considering that this was a party.
"At least we know how he hams it up as Bruce Wayne." Ollie whispered to his girlfriend.
"Indeed." Dinah whispered back, barely concealing her giggling.
"And though I shall not be the priest to officiate them, I have begun spending money on the preparations!" Bruce announced. "May Clark and Lois's union last a thousand years!"
The other guests raised their glasses in agreement, and downed their wine, which was magically enhanced courtesy of Zatanna.
Afterwards, the guests began to gather and talk amongst themselves.
Lois chatted with Carol and Iris over how their boyfriends were badass superheroes.
Shayera and Mari joked about what John Stewart's "underwear drawer" looked like.
Zatanna demonstrating many a magic trick to Vic and Helena, the former coming up with conspiracy theories for the magic and the latter being semi-amazed.
Hal trolling Clark over how the Kryptonian and Lois were going to make the best love ever.
And of course, Bruce talking with Diana over when it would be a good time for them to take the next step.
Suddenly, Bruce felt a vibration in his left pocket. Pulling out his smartphone, he found that Nightwing was trying to call him.
"Excuse me, Diana. Richard's making a call." Bruce apologized.
Answering it, Bruce began to casually walk away.
"Let me guess. It's Wally." Bruce wondered.
"Nope. He's been a good boy so far." Dick answered, subverting his stepdad's expectations. "In fact, we don't have any real problems. We just wondered how much money we could spend for food and movies."
"I left $10000 for you to spend on the Watchtower." Bruce responded. "Don't worry. You won't have to work it off."
"Thanks." Dick said before cutting the signal.
Bruce sighed as he wondered if Richard calling was worth interrupting his conversation with Diana about getting married and having children.
Contrary to most people's belief, Bruce Wayne was not a true womanizer. Numerous women dated him, of course, but very few of those encounters resulted in sex.
He basically told most of them to go home to tell the media he bedded them, and that was the end of it.
In addition, he had the audacity to pay Gotham's newspapers to shit talk him, and that included his false reputation as a ladies' man.
When Ollie found this out that not only were his exploits exaggerated, but he bribed the newspapers to do it, all the green-wearing archer could say was "Sweet Jesus, you are a freaking legend."
The actual number of women he had actually made love with could be counted on one hand: Rachel Dawes, Selina Kyle, Zatanna Zatara, Talia al Ghul, and Diana Prince.
At any rate, the tabloids were now looking for another celebrity to talk shit about, but Bruce Wayne was now in a healthy, faithful relationship with antiquities collector Diana Prince.
Watchtower, Orbit; February 19, 2027 18:00
Nightwing was currently working with Director Inverse in organizing the Watchtower for the party in an hour.
Director Inverse was a music video director who also happened to be a personal friend of Dick Grayson.
His stage name took inspiration from many of the superheroes, so he gave himself a simultaneously cheesy and cool name.
His costume was an odd choice, as he constantly wore 1980s shades and a tuxedo, had a circa 2000 brown mullet, and his skin was almost chalk white.
The biggest things to worry about at this party was Wally and Roy's longtime rivalry, starting when Wally had slept with Roy's adoptive sister Artemis Crock, and climaxed when Roy used friction to burn off half of Wally's face when discovering that the red-headed speedster had been two-timing Artemis with Jinx.
Naturally, this resulted in Roy being fired, and was only recently being rehired as Red Arrow.
Wally, for his part, faced little repercussions, due to his traumas being more than enough punishment.
Thankfully, the experience led Wally to be far more faithful in relationships, and was currently dating one Linda Park, a reporter hopeful at Keystone College.
Things might become complicated if Linda got an invitation to the Watchtower, partially because of the old "exes meet the current girlfriend" plot and partially because Wally might get it on with her in the sauna.
Of course, it's not like Roy's love situation was much better: during his fight with Wally, he had accidently given Donna a black eye, and they broke up as a result. Apparently, he had a daughter with Artemis's half-sister Jade, who happened to be Cheshire.
They'd thought of chaining up Wally, but it was rumored that he had engaged in some consensual BDSM with Artemis in the past.
Thank God they weren't getting any alcohol, because Wally would trip up so many times, it wouldn't be funny.
Although, given Wally's "prettiest dude alive" compliment to Nightwing, seeing him drunkenly kiss Richard would be the funniest thing ever, it would become a disaster for Kory and Linda.
Yeah, it would not be worth it at all. At all.
D.I. checked over the invitation list for the Watchtower party: "Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Red Hood (Jason Todd), Red Arrow (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), Director Inverse ([IDENTITY CLASSIFIED]), Donna Troy, Artemis Crock, Jinx, Starfire (Kory Anders), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Raven (Rachel Roth), Changeling (Garfield Logan), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Superboy (Conner Kent), Supergirl (Kara Kent), Cyborg (Victor Stone), Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), Miss Martian (Megan Morse), Tempest (Garth), Linda Park, and Cheshire (Jade Harper)"
D.I. chuckled at how his secret identity was labeled "[IDENTITY CLASSIFIED]". Apparently, Bruce did have a sense of humor after all.
Speaking of Superboy, D.I. also remembered to turn on the perpetual zero-gravity option for Conner and Megan's shared quarters, lest they shake the Watchtower as they had sex.
"Yeah, I think we're ready, pretty boy." D.I. called to Nightwing.
Richard nodded.
Fifty eight minutes and thirty six seconds later, the party began.
D.I. volunteered to keep a close eye on Wally and Linda to make sure they didn't do anything stupid. But Jason vetoed that.
Yeah, like I said, it's pretty short. Don't worry. I'll give more details on the Watchtower party next chapter. This is Domino5555, signing out.