It's been two years since Jade, Lian, Cass, Alec, Mara, and Damian had reached Gotham. The first year went through rapidly and without any issue. Now the second was a mess of huge proportion.
First, the batclan had to get used to the idea of new neighbors who knew their identities. Batman even invited Doctor Fate to Gotham to do the secrecy spell. Of course, that was not enough, so he kept the family under surveliance. Even sending the kids to keep an eye on them at school. It did not work his way. Maya, who was in the same class as Duke and Damian, became quick friends with them. So, did Suren with Alec, and Colin with Maya. The seven of them became fast friends, especially after Duke's meta-powers woke up and he was introduced to the vigilante life as Signal.
Though, the name was the only thing he had chosen by now. He still had to undergo a lot of training before letting him hit the streets. The same for Suren, who had chosen Corvus as his vigilante name, and Colin, who had chosen Abuse. Maya was the only one who had been allowed to start her vigilante night as SomeBody, under Cheshire's careful eye. Damian was especially happy not to be the only powered vigilante in Gotham.
As for John, he investigated and worked hard to see how to deal with the curses on Gotham, under the careful eye of Batman. This time around, he truly had to do the work, as in the previous future they had never dealt with this issue, as Gotham was already gone- destroyed by Darkseid. For Gotham's society, he was a british noble that came from old european money. Which was not wrong, he did have a british title thanks to his ancestor Johanna Constantine. The money, on the other hand, had been gone for a long time. He accumulated it back after taking down various cults and corrupted coven. What was left from giving out money to those they hurt, he kept for the kids... it was a lot. For some reason cults adore gold.
On the good side, Jason was doing great in university and Cass has finally finished her GED. She was a very smart girl and had a lot of support. She had also learned English and has moved into Chinese, though she still prefers to sign. Dick had graduated from Gotham University, with Roy at his side. Both of the were brilliant and already knew most of their classes because of Bruce and their vigilante work. Dick continued working with the Martha Wayne Foundation Branch in Blüdhaven and overseeing the Flying Graysons' Circus. While, Roy took a cushy position in Wayne Technology. Tim had decided not to graduate early, after finding that he was finally enjoying high school- he had become fast friends with Stephanie and Harper. Cullen Row even finding his place in Damian's little group of friends.
Now, for the hard issue...
John's work had to be paused because the members of the Court of Owls had escaped prison, aided by the original Talon. A Talon the batclan had thought dead. It seems that he had faked his death.
Dick did not take that well...
Batman stopped John's research and took all of the kids out of the streets, he was not risking any of them. Not against the Court of Owls! He even brought Barbara, holder of the Batgirl and Oracle monkier, back to Gotham all the way from Boston- where she had been studying law at Harvard.
To say that things were tensed between Dick and her was an underestatement.
The break up had been ugly, with her not trusting that Dick and Kory were only friends, and him not understanding why Barbara felt insecure. The fact that Dick had began dating Kory recently did not help the situation. That's why, even though, Alfred and Bruce have been inviting her to come to the Wayne Manor and get to know the new kids, she had only seen them a couple of times. Because of that, she was mostly working with Batwoman and the Birds of Prey- who Bruce had invited to Gotham to aid in the hunt for the Court of Owls.
With so many heroes bunkering in Gotham, the Titans taking care of Blüdhaven, they finally managed to find them. Luckily for the batclan they were holding a meeting and the Talon was there. Catching them would be easy, as the only combat expert in the group was the Talon. Unlickily for... well, everyone, the whole place exploded taking them all out. The batclan was barely able to escape.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Redbird cursed.
"Flamebird!" Nightwing exclaimed as his little brother descended from the sky, wings spread and eyes shinning blue and green, he looked like an angel descending from heaven.
"I just came from Arkham! Firefly rigged the whole city!" Flamebird told them.
"We need to find the bombs and disarm them!" Batman grolwed.
"It won't work," Damian frowned. "The bombs were made to create a chain, the moment the first one blows up," he pointed to the raging building behind him. "They will all lock down and blow up. The only reason why they are not blowing up right now is because Firefly wants to create as much chaos as possible, spreading fear in the hearts of everyone. That's why he rigged them to explode with time in between each explosion."
"What about Superman? He can take them all to the sun!" Black Canary pointed out.
"Gotham infrastructure is filled with lead, he is blind in here," Arsenal explained to his step-mother, no matter how angry he is at Oliver, Dinah will always be his second mom.
"How did we not catch this?!" Batgirl, Barbara, exclaimed in frustration.
"Because we were too busy looking for the Court of Owls!" Bruce growled.
"That's not the only issue," Flamebird sighed. "The bombs are a mix of explosives, fear gas, joker gas, and bane venom..."
"Fuck!" Redbird cursed.
"God dammit!" Arsenal was not far behind.
"What do we do now?" Cheshire crossed her arms over her chest. She knew that Lian and the rest of the kids will be safe bunkered in the batcave.
"We can use Flamebird's power," John told them, appearing from a portal.
"I can't cover the whole city," Damian explained with a sigh. "Not now."
"The 'not now' being key," John pointed out. "I can't do anything for the curses in Gotham, they are too (interwlinied?) and old. But I can trasfer them to someone whose blood has been in Gotham for as long as the curses, whose blood has been spilled in this city for centuries..."
"You want to put the curses in Flamebird?!" Nightwing exclaimed, rapidly stepping in front of his little brother. "Not happening! How dare you?! I trusted you!"
"Relax! It won't affect him! The Holy Flames of his will purrify the curses and in return he will gain pure raw magic... a lot of magic..." John explained.
"You want to recreate Akropolis," Damian murmured stunned, realizing Constantine's plan. "That much magic will be a lot for my body to handle, I will need to release it in an explotion of power."
"Your Holy Fire will purrify the drugs in the bombs, the Hell Fire will deal with the bombs and the Phoenix Fire will heal anything and anyone who was damaged by the previous two flames. It will also aid with the total renewal," John continued with a big smile. "It will save everyone and this time, unlike Akropolis, you have the Grey Lantern Force which will keep everything balanced and guide your flames- you won't need to rely on luck." Or have your great-grandfather guide your flames like they did in Akropolis, was left unsaid but heard by Damian.
"I... that might work..." Damian muttered tl himself. "I was out for a couple of weeks after Akropolis though, I will need someone to keep an eye on me and my flames."
"We will do that," Batman told him.
"Wait! Are you seriously agreeing with him?!" Nightwing exclaimed turning around in disbelief.
"You do not need to do this, Dami," Blackbird signed to her little brother, appearing from the shadows.
"She is right! Fuck the plan!" Redbird cursed. "We won't do something that will fucking risk you!"
"He will do it," Cheshire sighed. "That's Flamebird for you, he won't rest if he knows he can do something to help someone. I know him too well to (delude?) myself."
"This is my city now, allow me to protect it," Damian told his family.
"I am proud of you, son," Batman, no Bruce, nodded his head. "Be careful."
"Always," Damian smiled. Before turning to Dick, who looked ready to kill Constantine. "I will come back, akhi. I am the Flamebird to your Nightwing after all."
"Baby bat," Dick brought him into a tight hug. "I love you, little brother," he murmured in his ear in romani.
Damian and John then dissapeared through the portal. "How do we know when it's done?" Dinah asked after ten minutes of tense silence. Then the whole city was covered in green, blue, and golden flames. "Well, that was self-explanatory."
As suddenly as the flames were gone, Captain Marvel appeared above the hero group. He wore a frown on his face, as he landed in front of Batman.
"Master Batman, Mr. Constantine left Master Flamebird with us and took his kids with him back to the Constantine Mansion." Agent A contacted him via coms. "Master Flamebird is doing well, though it seems that he is in a deep sleep at the moment."
"After what he did, he'll need to sleep for a while to recover his strength," Captain Marvel commented. "What was Constantine thinking? The plan was to keep Flamebird's abilities a secret, not publitice them via another Akropolis!"
"Hey!" Redbird snapped at him. "I do not care who the fuck you think you are! But Flamebird is a fucking hero!"
"You guys do not know what he did," Captain Marvel realized. "I don't think Flamebird or Constantine know either... but it will put Gotham in everyone's sight."
"Explain!" Batman growled with a batglare, ready to jump on the batmobile and rush towards his son's unconscious side.
"Flamebird's Holy Fire didn't only purrify the drugs in the bombs, it was used to purrify the impurities of the contaminated air, water, and earth- a total renewal," Captain Marvel explained to the total wonder of the group of heroes in front of them. "He also detoxicated fully and completely anyone that was into drugs, normal ones, bane venom, even those jokerized behind aid are back to normal. The kicker is that the Hell Fire, thar burns everything, used with the Phoenix Fire, which heals everything, and the Grey Force, that balances everything, served to create a type of vaccine which prevents any kind of neurological toxine."
"In other words no one in Gotham can get affected via drugs, poisons, fear toxine, joker toxine, or venom," Dinah murmured in shock. "That's a miracle."
"Also, something that cannot be coppied, as the bomb was a combination of fear, joker, and venom toxine. Not to mention, Damian had to consume a lot of curses to be able to achieve that," Captain Marvel. "Not that it will stop people and goverments to copy it."
"Can you put the whole city under a secrecy spell?" Batman was quick to work, compartilizing the fact that his son was a miracle worker for later. Right now Gotham needs his help. "That will keep everything contained in Gotham."
"Just like gothamites fucking like," Redbird snorted.
"I can, but how will you explain the flames?" Captain Marvel inquired.
"Explotions, that is normal for Gotham," Batman explained. "And your appearance helps us, we will say you kept it contained, making it so that the flames could not harm the city."
"That will only deter the civilians, not the governments," Captain Marvel warned.
"They won't get nothing thanks to the secrecy spell," Nightwing shrugged. "Any evidence of us being drug and poison immune will disappear thanks to the secrecy spell."
"Tell the Justice League Dark that I will be out for a while," Captain Marvel told Batmam. "Putting a whole city under secrecy spell is not something I've done before, it will exhaust me. Especially, one linked to an old magical city like Gotham, drenched with so much blood and that has been cursed for so long. At least, it will make the secrecy spell wards around the city as powerful as the ones around the al Ghul blood line and Nanda Parbat."
"Thank you," Cass signed as Captain Marvel flew away, he signed 'you're welcome back'.
"What now?" Dinah turned to Batman.
"Now, I get to my son," Bruce answered.