Alfred decided to stay on the line while we were driving. I assumed it was because he didn't trust me, which, fair. I wouldn't trust me either. So while I couldn't fault him, it also meant I couldn't talk to Jason about being Robin, and lying to him about it.

I wanted to get it over with, wanted to explain, but that would have to wait. Maybe the extra time was good, time to let me pick my words a bit more carefully.

In the meantime, I messaged dad. I'd said I'd be gone for about two hours, and it was clear this whole ordeal would take longer than that.

Ren:

hi I'm fine, gonna make sure my friend gets home safe before I come back, might take a while don't worry

I left out Batman's involvement. I doubted mom and dad would be too pleased with me even in the vicinity of the dark knight.

The silence in the car was tense. I could feel Jason's glare. He was angry, and rightfully so.

Batman was still unconscious. It had been a while, was he going to be okay? The visible injuries didn't seem lethal, but I had no way of knowing how bad it really was.

Alfred was staying silent as well.

A few more minutes passed. The silence was becoming overbearing.

"I know you're Alfred and Bruce Wayne is Batman" I blurted out.

Alfred took a few seconds to respond.

"What are you talking about?"

Playing dumb, I see. A smart move if i had been lying, and just guessing.

"So he was like bleeding a lot from his head and I had to take off the mask to stop the bleeding and like I really didn't want to cause holy fuck that's an invasion of privacy but I kinda had to"

"It was like pretty bad, the mask was literally cracked" Jason piped up from the backseat.

Alfred sighed.

"Very well. I suppose it had to be done. Thank you for telling me. However, I don't suppose you plan to keep this from your parents?"

Oh yeah, dad was literally Batman's number one enemy. He'd probably want to know.

"Nah, I may be a villain but I'm a respectable villain. I'm not snitching" I promised. Wouldn't be the first time I withheld something like this from dad, considering I'd known the rest of the league's and the mini league's identities for a while and never said a word. Not that I'd intentionally lied to my parents, it had just never come up in a conversation, and dad had never had any interest in the other leaguers, only ever Batman.

But I started to wonder, would I have told them if they asked? Maybe I would've before, before I knew them, but now? No, not now, not when I'd become their friend, not when I'd become Wally's friend. It didn't matter that they didn't really know me, I cared about them, well maybe not Artemis, she was rude, but the others, and it would hurt more to betray them than to lie to my parents.

This was something new for me. Mom and dad were everything I had, they loved me, I loved them, I used to tell them everything. But now I suddenly had piles and piles of secrets, a whole identity I hadn't told them about, an alliance with Batman. When did my life get so complicated?

Speaking of Batman, I felt like I had a lot to unpack here, with now knowing his identity and all, and a lot of things now made sense, like Mr. Wayne not being at his own party, as he'd been busy dealing with Selina. I hadn't thought much about it at the time. I mean, who wouldn't use any opportunity to escape a party like that?

Were there other times when I should've realized something was off, that he maybe wasn't what the media made him out to be?

I went through the few times I'd seen him from a distance, staying hidden while he fought mom and dad, but I couldn't think of anything that seemed off. Batman had really succeeded in creating two completely different personas with nothing in common.

Then there was the time I met him as Bruce Wayne, when I bumped into him at the mall. I'd ominously commented on the party and left before he'd gotten a proper look at me. That hadn't been suspicious at all on his part.

The next time I saw him must've been at the Iceberg Lounge when he literally knocked me out and kidnapped me. The fight hadn't raised any suspicion, I'd just been amazed by the way he'd seemed to almost dance from opponent to opponent. The car ride however, was a different story. Batman had failed to notice me waking up, and had accidentally revealed Alfred's name, while Alfred had revealed some sort of difference in status by calling Batman "master". That made a lot more sense now.

At the time I hadn't known what to make of the clues, not that I'd really had the time to do proper research either, but I had a feeling I would've never come to the correct conclusion no matter how much time I spent.

I'd seen a completely different side of Batman when he saved Jason and I when Harvey first captured us. Batman had been under the impression that I was just a normal civilian. As soon as he knocked out the henchman the cold uncaring persona seemed to melt away. I remembered the smoothness in his voice surprising me. I also remembered thinking he sounded familiar, which made sense now as I'd heard Mr. Wayne speak on the news multiple times.

His body language was very different as well. He'd been gentle and careful, as much as he could, while carrying me to the car, and inside the ER.

I didn't really notice at the time, But after that encounter my nightmares about Batman seemed to disappear. Maybe it was because of the proof that he was human, capable of caring, not an indestructible monster. It's silly, to fear someone to much he becomes almost like some sort of mythical creature, to dehumanize him, but it had worked in his favor so far.

And then, of course, the roof, where I got a piggyback ride from Batman. That was a bit surreal. He'd seemed almost protective of me, especially after he realized he was the one he saved. It reminded me a bit of dad. Then he'd stalked me, but we could ignore that.

That had been the most interesting of my Batman encounters. He'd seemed so normal, making a fuss of a kid being unsafe, making sure they get to safety, you know. That might've been the closest to Bruce Wayne I'd seen the dark knight. But it was still very different from the Bruce Wayne he presented to the media.

Then he saved me again and trusted my word about Jason. Ge did tell me to stay put, But I had had my own plans of course, which lead us to this predicament.

I glanced over, he was still unconscious. It was very strange. He looked at ease, but so tired. Some sort of makeup had been smudged around his eyes to match the mask, but it couldn't cover up the sunken in eyes, the hollowed out cheeks, god, he needed a break, badly.

"Alfred?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Batman is still out, that's like pretty bad, right?" it had been at least 20 minutes, probably more, it will as a but worrying.

"Good thing you're here then" suddenly the car windows cleared up, revealing a massive cave. A literal cave.

Holy shit the Bat Cave!