I may not own the Batman characters but at least I give them consistent characterizations

I was angry with my friend
I told my wrath, my wrath did end
I was angry with my foe
I told it not, my wrath did grow

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunnèd it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles

Mount Justice

March 19, 11:09 EST

There were a dozen other things Batman should be doing right now. He should be coordinating with the other Leaguers to get Thomas back home. He should be back in Gotham researching the time travelling assassin who had been paid to murder in his city. He should be working on keeping his fracturing family together. Instead, he stands outside the small room that was temporarily given to Jason Todd while he was staying at Mount Justice. He stares at the closed door, wondering how he can speak to a boy he might one day call his own when every word he says upsets Dick and Thomas. Maybe he should just give up on the idea of a happy family.

"You can come in you know." Batman raised an eyebrow as he quietly entered the room where Todd was sprawled out on the bed. "My mom sometimes, or well, she used to, hang outside my door like that. It tends to give you a sixth sense for the thing." The boy shrugged. Batman, meanwhile, was impressed. The boy's instincts were finely tuned and he clearly knew how to use them. If he ever wanted to, the kid just might be able to keep up with Batman's rigorous training regiment.

"I had a few questions I wanted to ask you, if that's all right." Batman said, lightly perching on a chair in the far corner to give the boy his space.

Todd shrugged but Batman could see the hesitance in the gesture. "Yeah sure," Jay stated lazily as he put his hands behind his head. "As long as you don't freak out like your kids did." Batman chose to ignore the comment.

"What can you tell me about the man who was hunting you?" Todd's eyes darkened.

"You mean the man who killed my mom to get to me? The man who chased me all across town and nearly blew me up twice? That man?" Jay replied with a viciousness in his voice no 12 year old ought to have. But then again, no 12 year old should be forced to see his mother murdered in front of him. He let out a mournful sigh.

"He was in this all white future suit, it must be pretty durable since it took all those explosives the Robins planted on him. He was tall like you but not as big and his face was completely covered by his helmet. He was able to fly with his jetpack and he had these weird belt things strapped across his chest. It was real slick technology, not something you'd find on the streets. I'd say it was either alien or super undercover stuff. The guy has money and connections but I'd say he hasn't been in business too long. He let a couple of bratty kids anger him so he can't be a real pro. If I were to guess, I'd say he expected this job to be his big break." Jay added on after a minute.

Bruce had changed his mind, this kid was a natural. Intelligent, observant and motivated, he had no doubt in his mind that this child could do amazing things if he had the proper mentor. "Do you have any idea why Epoch would want to kill you?"

"Epoch?" Jason grinned at the stupid name but sobered up at Batman's expression. "Look, I know it might be hard to believe a Park Row kid but I haven't done anything," he paused and made a face. "Ok, well I haven't done anything worth killing me for. If I was betting, I'd say it was something my old man did. Guy's always causing me trouble," Jason grumbled.

"Have you seen your father recently?" Batman asked carefully. According to his research, a body matching the prints of Willis Todd had shown up in Bludhaven's river a month ago. From the way Jason spoke, it sounded like the boy was unaware that both his mother and father were deceased.

Jason shrugged uncomfortably. "Nah, I ain't seen him in months. He tried to hit us up for money a while back but then he skipped town. You think he's got something to do with this? Cause this seems a little outta my old man's depth."

"We suspect Epoch is a time-travelling mercenary, an assassin whose specialty is to eliminate threats in the past. A source from a possible future indicates that you will be of great importance to the Justice League within the next 10 years." Jason raised an eyebrow as he sat up.

"Me? Important to the League? That's rich. I bet your source is Tommy, isn't it? He's gotta be a future Robin. No wonder I didn't recognize him." Bruce worked hard to keep himself from smirking. It would be exhausting dealing with such a clever child again but he thinks Jason would be worth it. "That it? After all the stories I heard from the Alley, I was expecting some Bat torture."

"That comes later," Bruce replied with a small smile as he stood up. "Your information has been very helpful Jason, I may come back later with some more questions." He nodded as he walked towards the door, pausing in the frame. "Have you given any thought to where you would like to go once this incident has concluded?"

"I don't have any family other than my dad." Jason shrugged, pulling up his knees and resting his chin upon them. "There's not really anywhere I can go but social services, I mean, it's not like I can stay here."

"No, but there are other options." He turned his back to the young boy. "Thomas was quite upset that you had been targeted, it seems he is very familiar with you in the future, as familiar with you as he is Robin." He paused as he let the information settle, "we'll be in touch." Batman said, exiting the room and closed the door him.

Mount Justice

March 19, 11:39 EST

"So what are we doing exactly?" Wally asked as he leaned onto the keyboard. He yawned and closed his eyes for a moment until Red Tornado's large metal hand clamping on his shoulder pulled him back into a sitting position.

"You and the Team are to analyze the security footage from Gotham before, during and following your engagement with the villain, Epoch. You are to see if you can find any suitable information about him, such as how he was able to the plant the bombs."

"Come on, we've been awake for over 24 hours!" Artemis chimed in, "Can't we have at least an hour or so to rest?" She demanded, feeling more than a little crabby to be doing such mundane work when she was exhausted. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the others nodding.

"I agree with Artemis," Kaldur said. "It has been a long night for everyone and we will be no good to anyone if we are too tired to fight." Red Tornado considered them for a moment.

"A meeting of both the Justice League and the Team will commence at exactly 1300 hours. If you can get through all the footage compiled by Batman before then, you may use the remaining time to do as you wish." The whole team moaned in unison.

"This is gonna take forever Red!" Wally said slumping in his seat, "I bet this is payback for shutting you down earlier."

Red Tornado merely turned and walked out of the room. "If I were human, I might call this revenge. Seeing as I am an android, we shall simply call it delegation of labor." As the door slid shut, Wally groaned and let his head flop down onto the computer. M'Gann tried to smile but it came out as a grimace. While it was true they probably deserved some sort of punishment, the Team had been run pretty ragged this past day.

"Come on guys, we can get this done. We just have to be smart about this, we only have to look at the videos pertaining to Epoch in a small portion of the city. Then we can fast forward through the parts where nothing is going on. We just need to work together. Robin, do you have any ideas?" M'Gann asked turning to address the youngest who was still brooding about whatever had happened earlier. Some of the others grumbled as Robin was brought into the conversation but the Martian persisted. She was just as upset by Robin's behavior but she tried to keep an open mind. Beneath all his anger, she knew her friend was hurting.

"I guess we can delegate certain sections, we can cut out the footage before about midnight last night and after 8 this morning. Then we can each watch a specific set of footage," he paused. "It would probably be best if we each watched the footage we were there for, to ensure that we've capture all of the details."

"Agreed, that sounds like a good plan." Kaldur nodded as he began to excise the unwanted footage.

Artemis shifted in her chair. "First good idea he's had in a while," she muttered not too quietly, but so what? She was tired and annoyed and Robin was due for some pushback. Robin glared at her lightly but otherwise ignored her. Artemis, clearly expecting Robin to rise to her jibe, wasn't ready to let the subject go. "Why have you been such a jerk lately, I know you're still a punk kid but that doesn't mean you have to act like it."

"Arty..." Wally cautioned, after all, he knew better than most the things Robin had gone through. His best friend was definitely acting out of line but the situation was complicated.

"You always defend him Wally," she turned to snap at him. "But this time the Boy Wonder ain't so wonderful!" She glared at Robin. "What's your beef? I don't love this kid either but you've been beyond rude not just to him, but us." She glared which Robin reciprocated. "I know you're a Bat and hiding your traumatic man pain is practically a requirement but you don't get to treat us like this."

"You don't understand," Robin growled out, really not in the mood for this type of confrontation. Like the rest of the Team, he was tired and angry that he had to go through all this video on top of all the earlier upsets.

"Then why don't you make us understand," Kaldur said with the slightest edge to his voice. "Artemis is right, we are your team. We respect your privacy up until the point where it is a hindrance to our mission." Robin huffed, not disagreeing with his leader but not liking it either.

"It might help to talk about it Robin," M'Gann added hesitantly.

Robin crossed his arms and sunk deeper into his chair, feeling childish and not really caring. "I just don't like the kid, okay?" He grumbled causing Artemis to snort.

"Really, I'd have never guessed that." Robin was about to retort when he wondered why he shouldn't tell the Team? It's not like Batman told him not to talk about Thomas's past. And besides, they deserved to know that they were defending a known assassin.

"Thomas was raised by the League of Assassins, his mother is Talia al Ghul which makes The Demon's Head his grandfather." Everyone's eyes went wide at the statement. "He's been training to kill since the day he was born. I'm pretty good with numbers and I don't even want to think of how many people he's murdered."

"That's not his fault," Superboy interjected suddenly, giving Robin a hard look. "You don't know what it's like to be a situation like that, being told that you have to do these things you don't want to do, having no control over your life at all." He added, thinking of his one sided conversation with Thomas in the gym earlier that morning.

"Yeah and how exactly does the grandson of Ra's al Ghul, one of the biggest bads, end up as Batman's sidekick?" Wally asked, leaning over to try and glance at Dick's face. Robin mulled over his thoughts for an extra few seconds before lowering his voice.

"This is on the down low, but Thomas is Batman's son, his real son. I knew he and Talia liked to flirt but I never imagined it went so far." If Robin thought he got a reaction before it was nothing compared to this bombshell. M'Gann gasped loudly, Wally had gone miraculously silent while Artemis turned bright red and started sputtering.

"Son? As in- he and she and they did... oh my god." She leaned forward and buried her hands in her hair. "I could have gone my whole life happily not knowing that Batman was into bad girls." Robin sighed as he went back to lethargically going through the video.

"It's stupid and petty I guess but I can't help but feel a bit jealous. Batman has been all over the kid since he arrived, it's not very fun being replaced."

"Maybe he needs that attention after what he's been through. He can't help being Batman's kid just like he can't help who raised him," Superboy intoned gruffly.

"Conner's right, you're judging him on things he can't change. If you paid any mind to his actions since he's been here, saving Jason, looking up to you; I think it's pretty clear he's trying to put all that behind him." M'Gann added on. Robin averted his gaze, properly thinking for the first time since this whole mess began what it must have been like from Thomas's point of view. It definitely wasn't asterous.

Wally yawned suddenly, breaking the flow of conversation. "Okay well this has been informative but I'd like to get this done so we can catch some Z's before the League meeting," he said, pointedly looking at Robin. "It'll be a great time to apologize and make reparations, to both Thomas and Jason."

"Yeah maybe," Robin muttered before they continued on in silence.

Mount Justice

March 19, 13:18 EST

"It does not appear that the child can be restored using magical means," Doctor Fate decried as he finished analyzing the collected data and Damian. The younger boy huffed, still nursing his hurt and rage from earlier, and stalked over to the couch where the rest of Young Justice was gathered.

Zatanna looked over at Damian before putting hers hands on her hips. "I agree, he was sent here using science and he should be returned using that same science. Even if we tried using magic he might end up in the wrong time or even the wrong dimension."

Damian pouted and sunk down into the couch. He hadn't put much weight into the idea of the magicians sending him home but their failure was just another in a long series of disappointments. He glanced over at the chair where Robin had his back turned to him. He found some consolation in Todd sitting on the arm of his couch quietly asking who the guy with the bucket on his head was.

"It's highly advanced wherever it's from," Atom said stepping in. "I've been going over it most of the night and I still can barely get a read on it. It appears to use chronal energy to rapidly accelerate space/time particles to the point that they become warped and create a temporary tear in the fabric of reality which theoretically could be used to travel through time." He turned and addressed Damian directly. "I'm afraid it's beyond my ability to replicate right now, but if we could get a sample of the equipment used to transport him between times, I'm sure we can reverse engineer it to send you home."

"So he's stuck here until we catch the bad guy." Superboy summarized, standing behind the couch with a frustrated look on his face.

"Looks like," Flash nodded. "But while he's here, he'll be taken care of. We'll get him a guest room tonight where he can be comfortable until this whole thing is sorted. He can stay in the room next to Jay." He added on when Jason opened his mouth to protest. Todd leaned in just a little bit towards Damian and he couldn't deny that the show of solidarity was nice.

"In that case we need to focus on locating this villain before he causes any more harm," Icon added. "Flash and I searched Gotham for any remaining bombs but were unable to locate any. The Team was unable to pinpoint when Epoch planted those bombs. Like the children speculated, we believe the bombs were merely a diversion meant to keep us from the real target." He continued, gesturing towards Jason.

"The motive for Jason's death is believed to be his importance to the League within the next few years which Epoch's employer was attempting to prevent." Batman stated, deliberately leaving out the details as to how exactly Jason would be involved. "The level of knowledge required for a task like this narrows down the suspects significantly. Epoch's employer would not only need to understand the impact Jason would have on the League, but know his identity and be able to locate him in the past."

"Couldn't Thomas help out with that?" M'Gann suggested. "He is our link to the future where Epoch is coming from, he probably knows which Leaguers have been compromised." Everyone turned to stare at Damian who pressed his fingertips together and brought them to his lips.

"I do have some potential suspects in mind, but time travel complicates the situation." Damian paused, "My Batman and I found Epoch on our patrol. He purposely sought us out, I believe, to mock us. His technology is advanced even for my time, it's possible he came from even further in the future than even I am aware of." He explained as the room fell into silence.

"Ok, well let's take this back to the start," Green Arrow said leaning over on his bow. "Who benefits by killing Jay?" Damian considered the question and how to phrase his answer.

"It would be hard to see who would benefit because the death of Todd would alter things so much it would be difficult to predict the outcome. Todd was involved in many important conflicts, he influenced many members of the League and Young Justice. If Todd hadn't become involved with the League there would be no reason for Drak-" Damian paused his eyes going wide for a second as he realized what he was saying. He cursed rapidly in Arabic startling the rest of the room. He had been an idiot, he'd been so caught up in his own rage he had neglected to think of the bigger picture. If someone was willing to go after Todd, they would certainly go after the others.

"Drake, they're going after Tim Drake next. He is the next logical target, especially since they failed to capture Todd."

"Drake? Who's that? Another street kid?" Hal Jordan asked.

"Hardly," Batman responded, watching the same panic appear on Thomas's face as when Jason had been threatened. "The Drake family are the proprietors of Drake Industries in Gotham. Owners Jack and Janet Drake are currently the driving force behind the company. They have one son, Timothy, who is about seven years of age." Of course Bruce knew of the Drake family, they had been guests of the Wayne Foundation for many years in addition to the fact that Drake Mansion was close to his own home. Though Bruce had only met their young son a few times he knew Dick sometimes babysat the lonely boy.

Damian, meanwhile, wasn't listening and had jumped up off the couch and began pacing. How had he forgotten about Drake? He was hardly friends with the older teen but he certainly didn't want Red Robin to die. Because, though he liked to pretend otherwise, Drake was another huge influence in the hero community both and his deductive and technological skills were considered second only to Batman. If someone were to get their hands on Drake, the timeline would be altered just as dramatically as if Todd had died. And they'd already wasted so much time.

"We need to leave immediately, we have to rescue Drake." He demanded, stomping right over to his father to try and make him see how truly important this is. "Epoch's equipment was damaged during our fight this morning but it's been hours since then. He could've gone and killed Drake at any time while we've been arguing amongst ourselves. If Drake is dead it will be on our heads." His eyes slid harshly over to Grayson of their own volition and even he looked guilty at the unexpected turn of events.

Batman didn't answer and Damian's hands curled into fists. "Don't you dare say you don't trust me again," He sneered, stepping closer to his father. "I risked my life to ensure that we got Todd out of harm's way and I will not let your bullheaded nature cost another boy his life!" The pent up aggression was raging under his skin, just waiting for an excuse to give into his anger. He was stopped as Batman knelt down and placed his hands on Damian's shoulders.

"We believe you Thomas, and don't worry, we are going to save Tim Drake." He held on for a moment longer before straightening up. "Flash, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Thomas, you four ahead via the Zeta Tube and check out Drake Manor. You will keep in constant radio contact and a second squad will be here should the need arise. Investigate quietly but the priority is keeping the boy and any other civilians safe. In addition, you should try to capture Epoch or any of his agents if possible." He addressing the room as a whole. "The rest will remain here and keep an eye out on the situation in greater Gotham, Epoch may use more explosives as a means of distraction. Move out."

Just outside Drake Mansion

March 19, 13:39 EST

"I'm sure he's going to be fine son," Superman soothed as he flew Thomas the short distance between the Zeta tube and Drake Mansion. The fact that the boy wasn't protesting being carried like a child told Clark how worried he was for this Tim Drake. "He's your brother isn't it?" The Damian's head snapped to look at him. "Your dad can't keep much from me, I'm guessing Tim is part of your family, like Dick and Jason."

Damian pursed his lips and turned his head so he could look for the Mansion. "Yes, he served as the third Robin and was officially adopted by my father several years ago."

Clark wanted to grin; Bruce raised four boys in his house? The thought that one of those boys could be in trouble, or worse, kept him somber. "Well I know Batman and I know that any child he takes in has got to be tough and smart, you just have to have faith in him."

Damian scoffed, he'd never admit it to the alien, but he did feel a little better. "Drake is quite stubborn and remarkably difficult to kill," Damian murmured, straining himself as Drake Mansion came into view. He was sure Flash and Manhunter were already there but Superman had opted to go slower to accommodate him. Damian should count himself lucky Father had even allowed him to go, he'd probably guessed that Damian would've reacted poorly to being left behind. "He better be okay," he whispered to himself as he prepared himself for whatever was coming.

They began their final descent and Damian's heart clenched to see Flash standing on the front lawn. Damian jumped out of Superman's arms about 5 feet from the ground, jogging up to the speedster as soon as he was down. "Where is he, where is Drake?" He demanded, fighting down the sense of panic when he saw Flash frown and kneel down to his level.

"I'm sorry kid," he began. "I'm real sorry." The Flash stared down at the boy, able to see Bruce in this moody assassin for the first time. He'd heard a lot of complaints about this kid but Flash thought he looked just like his dad at the moment, with his heart in his eyes as he tried to fight back all the evils of the world.

"Someone's been here all right, if I were to guess I'd say no more than a couple of hours ago. The Butler's in the foyer, his throat was slit with expert precision. He bled out almost instantly." He gestured back to the house. "I went through it twice and J'onn is still searching, but we can't find the boy anywhere. Batman confirmed that the parents are away on business but is it possible he's staying somewhere else?" Damian cursed as he turned away from the pitying gaze of the speedster.

"No, Drake always stayed here when his parents were travelling." Superman's hand was on his shoulder but Damian didn't allow it to stay, shaking it off and stalking about a few feet away from the other adults. This was his fault, he let this happen. He let himself get distracted and, because of that, his annoying older brother was subject to a fate worse than death.

"We should check into it just in case. Flash, you should probably scan the area surrounding the Manor in case we find," Superman paused and glanced at Damian's back, "in case we find a body."

"You're wasting your time," Damian sighed. "You're not going to find a body because Drake isn't dead but he might as well be." The Leaguers exchanged looks. "The people who did this didn't want to kill Drake, they wanted to take him."

"You know who did this?" Superman questioned with surprise, Damian nodded grimly as he knelt to the ground and fingered the dirt.

"I'll need to look around but I'm fairly certain I know who took Drake. As a consequence, I also know who hired Epoch, and I think I know why."

Haha whoops, it looks like you forgot someone there Damian. Dami never seems to do right by Tim. Well, as of this chapter we are officially halfway through the story which is appropriate as this is where things finally start to come together. Bruce is giving Jay adoption eyes, Dick is finally starting to look past his own insecurities at his behavior and finally people are giving Dami some slack. I also didn't realize that I ended so many of these chapters as cliffhangers as I still tend to look at this story as a whole, sorry about that! Find now next week what happened to Timmy!