Bruce was rather impressed, to be honest. The large, underground bunker was well stocked. Lockers and gun cases (he tries to ignore those) litter the walls. In the center of the room is numerous tables, some with supplies on them, others with computers and laptops. There's wires all around some tables, but those easily disappear into the ground. Where exactly they go to, Bruce doesn't know. More rooms inside the tunnels, if he had to guess.
The Batmobile stops, and parks right next to a few different bikes. They're color coordinated, Bruce knows, but he doesn't know who all of them are for. The silver and purple bikes, are obviously for Lance and Stephanie. The three red bikes however, are much harder to decipher whose is who. The Batmobile's doors unlock, and everyone steps out of it. Cass and Steph are both looking around in wonder. Bruce does admit, again... He's impressed.
He turns his head and sees five different glass cases for suits, next to a white door. While he has no clue where the door leads, based on the heavily modified Spoiler outfit in one of the cases, and the black suit with the giant red x in the center of it... These are the suits. Five people then. Lance, Stephanie, and Jason, as well as whoever the other two are. A noise nearby has him whip his head around.
He notices that a wall is sliding up on the other side of the room, but that's not quite what has his attention now. Instead, four other glass cases catch his attention. Memorial cases. He knows from just a glance that that's what they are.
"Hey B!" He's broken out of his stupor by his oldest son, who comes running up to him. He's nearly tackled by Dick into a hug. It takes Bruce a moment to return it, and he lets himself relax as he sees all of his kids coming towards him.
They're all safe. Safe he reminds himself, before staring back to the memorial cases. There's a loud cough, which gets everyone's attention. Bruce sees that Lance has removed his helmet now, and is staring at Dick weirdly. He tries to hide it of course. He tries to stare at everyone now, but it's forced.
"So before you all go taking a peak at which members of my family are dead, how about we all try to help you get home?" He says. Jason scoffs though. "Yeah no need. Red Bruce told us everything." Steph and Cass stare at Jason, and Tim kicks him in the shin.
"Dude! How about we don't start with 'Bruce is the Red Hood'!" Tim yells. Bruce... Bruce can't breath. He's the Red Hood here? But... But- He turns away from his kids and walks over to the memorial cases.
"Fucking great." He can just make out from someone. Bruce thinks it's Lance, but he's not sure. First, he starts with the memorial case containing the Batsuit. There was a plaque recently moved, he can tell. How can he? Well the other three cases have plaques. Then again, if he's the Red Hood, maybe he's an even worse father to his kids in this universe than he thought.
Right next to the Batsuit, is the Nightwing outfit. Dick is standing next to him now - when he got there, Bruce wasn't sure. He takes a quick peak past Dick, and the others are giving them space. Not enough so that they can't hear what they're saying, and they can definitely read the plagues, but... Bruce appreciates the gesture. Speaking of plaques...
"Richard John Grayson. The best older brother. The best of us. May he forever fly through the stars." Dick says softly. Bruce likes that, he thinks. He hopes someone will put that on Dick's own memorial one day. He prays that it won't be him putting it on there himself.
"Damn, that's a nice one Goldie. Better than 'A Good Soldier' huh B?" Jason says, and Bruce can't stop the noise that comes out of his mouth. There's a thick tension in the air, before Jason reads his own memorial..
"Jason Todd. Beloved Son, Trusted Partner. The..." Jason coughs. "The light of our lives." He finishes. Jason then immediately walks away, far to the other side of the room.
Another good memorial. Why couldn't Bruce have made something that good? Was he just a horrible parent?
Steph and Cass are staring at the Batgirl suit. There's differences from Barbara's suit, Bruce knows that, but it's still eerily similar to hers. Steph takes a deep breath, and reads it aloud.
"Barbara Gordon. A hero of the people, a hero to us all." It's at that moment that Lance coughs again. The family reluctantly turn to look at him again. His eyes are red, and Bruce thinks he probably (definitely) screwed up (again).
"... If we're done with dragging a knife over old wounds..." He says, his voice scarily calm (and his eyes are a brighter blue, Bruce swears). The Robin - She's so small, is she also Bruce's kid in this universe? - Carefully walks over to Lance.
"Hey, dad... You ok?" She says it softly, but everyone around can still hear her. He's pretty sure he can hear a few muffled noises from the rest of his family. Lance takes a look down at his daughter - Bruce's granddaughter from another universe - one he's sure he doesn't deserve - and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes, and after a few seconds, opens them. His eyes aren't shining blue anymore (trick of the light? Possible meta?).
"Can we talk about how you got here now?" He asks, his voice defeated. Bruce pushes down all of the feelings of regret and guilt that he feels. He needs to focus. "Yes... Yes. I'm sorry." Lance shrugs slightly as he starts to walk over to the nearest table. There's chairs and the family start to all pour into them. The tension in the air is palpable as Jason himself finds a chair - on the opposite side away from Bruce no less - and sits down.
"Ok... Alright, so approximately an hour and fifteen minutes ago, I got an alert that there was a weird energy reading in Crime Alley. Shortly after that, I got another." Lance says, a serious poker face on that Bruce isn't one hundred percent sure IS a poker face. "And then eventually we ended up with five in total. The readings were caused by you all dimension hopping into my city." Lance says, and Bruce can just hear his own tone, his own voice in the way Lance speaks.
He really is his son. Another child that was obviously failed. Is that all Bruce can do, no matter the universe? Fail his children?
Tim stands up, seemingly taking the lead. Bruce is grateful. He doesn't think he could speak right now. And Dick as well as Jason both are not... Not quite in the mood either.
"We were all sitting in the living room in the eastern wing of the Manor. We were watching a movie when suddenly everything just changed." Tim says professionally. "It was like a switch was flipped. We're not sure what happened. If I had to guess, I'd assume a dimensional tear opened up on us at that same time." Lance nods, giving Tim the weirdest look. It ends quickly though, and soon he's back to his poker face.
"Alright. Seems legitimate for right now." He says, and grabs a nearby laptop. "Do you happen to know your universe?" He asks. Tim smiles. "Yeah, Earth-33." Lance actually manages a small smile.
"No shit? Earth-34." He says, and Robin raises her arms. "Welcome neighbors! We're out of salt and sugar, but we've got batarangs and smoke bombs!" A few laughs are wringed out of the table, before Jason scowls.
"Alright enough bullshit, at least tell me the fucker who killed the family here is dead." He says, and Bruce can see the barest hints of green in his eyes. Lance turns to stare at Jason. He's got a hard look on his face at first, but then he snorts.
"I wouldn't worry. Joker's dead. Blew himself up trying to kill Bruce." He says. The room goes quiet, though Jason scoffs. "Bullshit. Joker wouldn't kill himself unless he's sure he could kill B." And Bruce does have to agree. Joker wouldn't take such a risk unless he was absolutely sure that Bruce would also die. Lance locks eyes with Jason. He scowls.
"Well, since I see that green in your eyes, and since you're the Red Hood, why don't you take a wild guess what happened?" He says, and that's the first time he's taken a tone like that. Jason's green manages to recede somewhat.
"The... Bruce died?" Lance nods, eyes still locked onto Jason. Damian broke the standoff. "Absolutely ridiculous. Father wouldn't let that happen. The clown would not be able to kill him." Lance looks at Damian, and then does a double take.
"... Father?" He says carefully. Damian nods. "Damian Wayne. Or rather, Damian Al Ghul." Lance's eyes go wide. He whips his head to Bruce.
"B... You fucked Nyssa?" At that, everyone around the table starts to stare at Lance, who notices the eyes on him. "Uh... What?" He asks, and Damian is the first to speak. "I do not know a Nyssa. My mother is Talia Al Ghul, daughter of-" Lance holds out a hand.
"Ok, so Nyssa Al Ghul is Ra's only daughter here. I'm fairly certain at least." He says, and then looks around the table. "She's not short with a really angry face all the time, right? And short hair too?" Bruce shakes his head. "That doesn't sound like Talia..." He says, and Lance shrugs.
"Alrighty then, more differences then." He says, and then chuckles. "Fuck man, I'd hate to think what a kid of Nyssa's could do. The lady is scary when she's angry." Robin raises her hand. "Who's Nyssa?" Lance waves her off.
"Daughter of a dead, crazed maniac." That gets another raise out of his kids. "Ra's is DEAD!?" Tim nearly shouts. Lance laughs. "Yeah Bruce shot the bastard while he was asleep. Then him and Nyssa chopped him up into tiny bits and Nyssa took over the League." Bruce almost pukes at the idea of cutting Ra's up into pieces so small that not even the Pits could save him.
"Ok, look, we can talk about us getting back home later, but..." Dick says suddenly. He turns to Lance, a sad look on his face. Lance's face also softens. "Could you tell us what happened here? Like, we've got bits and pieces, but..." Lance stares at Dick for a moment, before he takes a deep breath.
"Alright. Ok, fine." He says, and then turns to Robin. "Carrie, hit the showers, we're heading home soon." Robin - Carrie - looks ready to protest, but one pleading look from Lance has her nod her head. "Alrighty, sure. I'll uh, do that right now?" She says carefully, as she stands up and heads for the white door Bruce saw earlier. As soon as she steps through it, Lance heaves out a heavy sigh, and sits down.
"... So, I don't know how Robin was passed down with you guys... But Dick was Robin. He and Bruce got into a fight one day and-" Dick interrupts him. "Stormed off, became Nightwing, and only came back once you were Robin?" He finishes. Lance looks at him in shock.
"What? No! No, Dick gave me Robin." Lance says, and both Jason and Dick look at each other, and then at Bruce.
Another mistake he made. He gave something that was Dick's to Jason. Made Dick feel unloved. And then took Robin from Jason's still warm corpse and gave it to Tim.
Lance shakes his head. "I was thirteen. My parents died in an explosion. My dad was friends with Bruce and made sure that Bruce would get custody of me if anything happened." It's at this moment that something clicks into place with Bruce. Memories from a time long since passed. Bruce's eyes widened.
"Bruner... Derrick Bruner?" Lance looks at Bruce in shock. "I - Yeah. I thought I didn't exist in your universe?" At this, Bruce's stomach drops. Did he fail Lance in his own universe too? Bruce takes a deep breath.
"He was one of my only friends in school. Once I left Gotham I just... I never talked to him again." He says. Lance stares at Bruce. "... Bruce kept in touch with my dad. He even met me once when I was five." Bruce has to wonder. He hopes beyond everything that Derrick is still alive. That Lance is either happy with his parents in his universe, or even unborn.
He can't take it if he...
Lance continues.
"Anyway, Dick gave me Robin. For two years it was me, Dick, Barbara and Bruce. We kept Gotham safe." He says, and a smile graces his face. "And then Bruce brought home a little gremlin who tried to steal his tires." Jason's attention seems to be caught now, and Bruce holds back any emotion he may be feeling now. "I met B the same way. Got three tires off and hit him with a tire iron." Lance laughs softly.
"Bruce walked weird for two days after that. Jason got him good." He says fondly. He then shakes his head. "Jason got adopted not long after that. Then he found out I was Robin - long story by the way, don't ask." Lance says, a ghost of a smile on his face. "I promised to train him. Figured out maybe he could make a good vigilante when he was older." Lance says, and then rubs his face.
"I was going to give him Robin eventually, but..." His face hardens, and his breathing becomes even. Forced. "I was sixteen. It was my birthday. Everyone was there. Bruce, Dick, Jason, Barbara... Fuck, even Slade came." Dick's eyes go wide.
"Slade? Slade Wilson? Deathstroke?" Lance frowns, as he turns to look at Dick. After a second, Lance groans. "Don't tell me Slade's evil in your universe." Dick laughs, but it's humorless. "He tried to kill the Teen Titans a few times." Lance hasn't looked that surprised yet. He nearly stumbles over his words.
"Fucking shit, Slade would never - I mean, yeah ok, sometimes his targets don't deserve to die, but generally he's... Generally he's fine." Lance says, and then somehow he looks even more worried.
"Do I need to go save Slade's kids from him?" Well, Bruce supposed, it was time he said something that threw him for a loop. Stephanie choked on air. "Wait wait, Slade has kids here!?" She says, and Lance breaths out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I'll talk about them in a minute. Just glad I don't need to go beat up a version of Slade." He says, and Bruce agrees. Slade Wilson is a dangerous opponent. Not many people could face him and live to tell the tale. Lance chews on his lips.
"Better hurry before Carrie finishes her shower." He says, and then puts his hands under his chin. "So, on my sweet sixteen, a huge breakout happened at Arkham. It was an all hands on deck type of situation. I went to the Diamond District and got jumped." He takes a few seconds to even his breathing out again. This must be very hard to talk about.
"When I woke up, I was in a hidden room in Arkham. The Joker was one of the few criminals that didn't escape from Arkham." Lance huffs out a mirthless laugh. "It was perfect. No one would suspect him." He rubs a hand on his cheek. Bruce gulps.
"How... How long?" He asks. Lance just smiles, but there's nothing funny behind that look. "I was seventeen when Slade found me." The kids around the table all had looks of horror on their face. Damian was the first to speak up.
"Impossible! Father would never have left one of us alone with the Joker for over a year!" He says. Lance just shakes his head. "I don't know how long into the... The stay... That it was, but eventually he sent Batman a video of me being tortured. It ended with the Joker shooting me." Lance wipes at his face, trying to cover up a few tears.
"Joker managed to keep me alive, but as far as Bruce knew, I was dead." He nearly lets out a sob. "Few months later, Joker showed me an article in the newspaper. Jason was Robin and at that point I knew no one was coming." He says, and Bruce can't stop the feeling of overwhelming hatred.
If one of his kids was tortured for over a year... He wouldn't do a damn thing. He knows he won't. He's too much of a coward.
"So Slade was apparently in Arkham to kill someone - I'm not sure who, but he wound up finding me. Saved me." Lance says, and a look of fondness once again appears on his face. "He took me home with him to Australia to heal up. I trained with him and his kids - That's Grant, Rose and Joey. I got better over time, physically and mentally." He says, and then another look of sadness spreads across his face.
"When I was twenty, I saw on the news that Jason died. Me and Slade's kids decided that the Joker needed to die, and so Joey started building me this suit." He says. Bruce catches the barest glimpse of a smile on Jason's face, before it vanishes. Lance rubs his face again.
"At the same time that the suit got finished, another news article appeared. Joker had broken into Barbara's home. He... He killed her and Dick there." Bruce does not look at Dick's face. He doesn't think he can take it Lance laughs.
"I came straight back to Gotham. I was gonna kill the Joker, punch Bruce and head back to Australia... But Bruce found the clown first." Lance's eyes stare past all of them now. He smiles. "I never saw Bruce hurt someone so badly... Honestly if the Joker didn't have the building rigged to blow, he'd probably have died from his injuries." Lance says, and then shakes his head.
"Anyway, I ran straight back to the Manor. Figured I could grab Alfred and then go back to Slade and his kids. But..." Bruce almost doesn't want to hear anymore.
"What... What happened with Alfie?" Jason says in a voice that Bruce hasn't heard in YEARS. Lance turns to look at him. "What do you think would happen to a poor old man who lost everyone he cared about? His heart... Couldn't take it. I found him near the Batcomputer." Lance says, and shakes his head again, a bit harder than before.
"No one was left. I activated the Knightfall Protocol and decided I'd take care of Gotham. Robin was dead. Died in that room in Arkham. Only made sense to call myself the Arkham Knight." Lance stands back up as the white door opens.
"And then I met Carrie and Tim shortly after that. Steph came a little later, after I made Carrie Robin. Bruce came back to town about nine, ten months ago, I guess?" He says, and the family knows the conversation is done. At least for now.
Carrie runs to the table, in a clean red shirt and black shorts. She's smiling, and Lance does the same as she gives him a quick hug.
"So, we going home now?" She asks, and Lance nods. "Yeah, we are. You guys coming, or do you want to sleep here?" Bruce isn't sure much of the family can speak right now. Cassandra and Duke haven't said a single word since they arrived, and both look incredibly shook. Surprisingly, it's Jason who stands up.
"Yeah sleep seems good. Where the fuck we going?" He asks. Lance smiles, though it's a small one.
"Hope you guys don't mind sharing rooms. My place only has four."
Bruce is fairly certain most of the family isn't going to want to sleep alone. Not tonight.