Virtue - a particular moral strength.
Patience was definitely a virtue. And today the BatClan did not have any of it.
'Well, it's hardly surprising,' Alfred thought; even he was having trouble keeping any facade of calm. Currently, the Bat Butler was dusting the clock room, to keep his calm. And to be the first one to get news from the cave. He turned around and shifted from foot to foot in front of the grandfather clock. There was a startling assortment of people occupying the main sitting room, which was clearly visible from the entrance to the underbelly of Wayne Manor.
Flash had been the first to arrive. He had said something quietly to Batgirl, which had prompted her to leave the couch. She returned about a half an hour later with her father. Then Superman had arrived. That was when Alfred had started dusting the books for the third time. Several minutes later a commotion began on the stairs behind the grandfather clock. Superman and Flash were wrestling Nightwing up the stairs. The former Robin was screaming about not giving up on Timmy and had nearly kicked himself up and out of their grasp.
When he finally freed himself it was to fall onto the floor in the main sitting room. Before he was able to pick himself up and scramble back down into the cave, Commissioner Gordon was on the floor next to him. The older man pressed Nightwing's hand into the floor, somehow stilling him. "Dick," he had said, "there's nothing we can do for him now." Dick Grayson then settled, arms wrapped around his knees. Gordon peeled his dynamo mask off. Nightwing was crying. For that matter, it was obvious Batgirl had been as well. "Even Bullock was out looking for the kid. He went to Arkham. Said he was 'real surprised that loonies were honest' when they said they didn't know where Robin is."
This was when Static and Gear arrived. They were truly the strangest guests of all. They did not seem to have any reason to be there. "I thought it was going to be something really terrible like that when we were called here," Static had said. There were no comments from the young superheroes about Bats having emotions. Static just walked over and knelt next to Nightwing as well.
"So, Robin must be Tim Drake then." Gear's statement had been so matter of fact. Everyone immediately stared at him. "I guess we should all know each other then." He removed his helmet. "I'm Richie Foley."
The room turned to Static, who was now holding Nightwing. "My name's Virgil Hawkins," he said. There was a mumble from the head buried against his chest. "Yeah, we heard, but thanks."
Batgirl's mask had disappeared while she waited for her father, but she introduced herself anyway. "Barbra Gordon and this is my dad, Commissioner Jim Gordon," she snuggled into his embrace when he sat next to her on the couch.
Sensing the great importance of the moment, Flash slid his mask back as well. "Wally West out of Central City." Superman, however, seemed torn. He bit his lip and... Richie turned to the Bat Butler.
"Alfred, right?" The British gentleman nodded. "Would you please ask whoever called us here what the plan is and exactly what they need from us. Alfred nodded again and disappeared behind the grandfather clock. When Richie turned back to the group Flash was finishing up a whispered conversation with Superman. As Gear joined the group, Wally deposited himself on the floor leaning against a Queen Ann armchair.
Superman took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "My secret identity is Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet."
It was Static who responded. "Well, that certainly explains how you get all the good Superman scoops." He felt Dick smile against his chest. Superman let out the breath he had been holding. Somehow revealing himself to these people had not been as painful as he had expected. Things were quiet for several minutes.
"Dude, V," Gear whispered to Static, "Flash's hair seriously clashes with his costume." Virgil grinned at his best friend, and then snickered when he felt Nightwing laugh a little against him. They looked over at the speedster. He was sharing a wide-eyed look with Superman. His shockingly red head dropped back onto the seat behind him and he grinned blandly at the ceiling.
Alfred returned. He immediately noticed things were looser in the room. "Well, now that it seems everyone has been introduced," he motioned to the couch, "if you would Master Clark."
"Wha? How?" The man of steel appeared truly baffled that the older man knew his real name.
"Please, Sir, if you think Master Bruce has any secrets from me you are sadly mistaken." He raised an eyebrow at the hero, who promptly sat in the indicated seat. "I have been instructed to 'just tell you what's going on'. Master Timothy has been kidnapped by the Joker and we have not been able to find him. Today a Batman from the future arrived and instructed Master Bruce to stop searching. He seems to believe that that madman will simply return Robin if we do nothing."
"It makes sense," Gear spoke up. "If he's from the future he knows what's going to happen and he's risking a lot to be here. The Joker is obsessed with Batman. Almost like a stalker. He's also obviously in the third - terminal - stage. The thing is no one can destroy the stalkee but the stalker. So it stands to reason that if he can be made to believe that he isn't the one destroying Batman, he'll try to correct that error."
"Seriously?" Static asked.
"It's a fine line," Commissioner Gordon replied, "between love and hate. Many stalkers save their victims from other people, or imagined perils." He shrugged. "But, in the end, if they can't have them no one can. That's stage three, where they destroy the thing they love." The white haired policeman sighed. "I only hope it's that easy."
"That still doesn't explain why we're here." Superman motioned vaguely indicating the room at large.
Alfred held up his hands in a placating manner. "All this Batman of the future would tell me is that you should just do what you do until he needs you. Just do not interfere." Silence descended over the room as the gathered crime fighters pondered their instructions.
"Monopoly anyone?" Gear asked out of nowhere. Alfred noticed the tension gathering in the room dissolve. Perhaps the presence of the blonde teenager and his cohort was not so strange.
"Wally's going in."
Shouts of surprise echoed around the room as the midnight - now dawn - game of monopoly came to a screeching halt. The Flash was suddenly obscuring the view of the open clock.
"Uhh... Not that I'm not flattered, but why me? Why not one of the Bats?"
"They're too well known, so is Clark Kent. And Static and Gear still look too young."
"You'd be totally anonymous," Flash pointed out, "And I thought you didn't want us to interfere."
"You have a science background, I'm crap at school. This is going to be over your head too, but Gear and I will be there to talk you though anything you come up against." He looked over Wally's shoulder. "Virgil, could you bring Wayne upstairs? He won't go unless he's forced."
So forty-five minutes later, Bruce Wayne was in a fitful sleep, still in the bat suit, with his head in Jim Gordon's lap. Wally West, who would be going by Kyle Raigner, and Future Bat left for the mysterious "Project CADMUS". Between the Bat Computer and Backpack, Gear's torso hugging robot, they had been able to hack in and make "Kyle" an employee. He would walk straight in through the front doors.
Wally looked up at the unassuming building, then to the spot where batman was supposed to be standing. He was using some sort of cloaking device and it made the fastest man alive feel like the craziest man alive. "This really doesn't look like some mastermind HQ," he said to nothing.
"It's underground," Future Bat's disembodied voice answered. "The trick is to act like this is your place and this is what you do. Mutter to yourself, we don't want to lose contact with you and it'll make people leave you alone.
"Alright. I'm goin' in."
"I read you loud and clear," Richie Folie's voice answered in his ear.
"What happens if he gets in trouble?"
"He runs very very fast: and grabs Robin if at all possible."
"Do we know for sure that Robin's in there?"
"Not yet, but I'm confident."
Commissioner Gordon looked the young Batman up and down searchingly. He didn't like trusting someone he had never met before. "How long has he been in there?"
"Flash?" the newcomer confirmed. At Gordon's slight nod he continued, "about six hours. He hasn't found anything yet, but I'll let you know when he does." He said all this without looking away from the large screen of the Bat Computer. "Actually, that's where you come in." Now he looked Jim in the face. "If Robin's in there and if anything comes up with this place, or with Kyle Raigner, I need you to make it go away. No police involvement until we're ready to bust the kid out." Gordon opened his mouth to protest but the future Batman cut him off. "Nothing overt, but I don't want them spooked. Make up something convincing to tell your people. Blame the CIA or something."
"I think I can do that." He thought for a second about how before something occurred to him. "Except for Harvey Bullock. He's one of my detectives. He'll follow the orders, but he won't like it and he'll use any loophole he can to find out what's going on."
"If you trust him, promise him the lead when you get the go ahead."
"From the CIA?" There was a note of disbelief in the older man's voice that clearly asked 'are you STUPID?'
Future Bat smirked. "They aren't allowed to operate on American soil. At least not against Americans. They'd have to give it off to you even if they were involved. And it doesn't really matter what you tell your men as long as they fall for it."
Wally West stared around him as the elevator opened on to the bottom level of the CADMUS underground labs opened. The seemingly harmless genetics company was not just two stories of microscopes and electrophoresis equipment; it was a sprawling underground mecca of science experiments gone wrong. He hated to think what some of the world's supervillians would do if released into this place. It was sick and twisted and most of the experiments appeared to be failing. Level 13 was pristine, like a hospital, and smell relatively normal compared to the previous twelve levels of hell.
On this level there were not any open doors and half finished examinations in progress for Wally to look busy with. So he just strode the halls, stretching largely, hoping to appear as if he were trying to work a kink out of his back. There was time for the final hallway on the final floor before he would need to return to the elevator and the surface for some seriously needed chow.
Almost not realizing that the end of a hall was a door until he was right on top of it, Wally was startled when a monotonous female voice asked loudly for "VOICEPRINT IDENTIFICATION PASSWORD."
"Ah, crap."
"INVALID."
"Whadoido whadoido whadoido!" Wally could feel himself panic as he mumbled faster and faster.
"Shut up, Flash. Give me a chance to work." Gear's voice in his ear brought the red head to a stop. Standing motionless in his tracks, feet juxtaposed and arms mid flail, the speedster held his breath as long as he could. "Jeez, Flash you look like you can't find the toilet."
"Hurry up!" he hissed back at the teenager miles away on the other side of his ear.
"INVALID."
"Dude, patience is not your middle name is it?" If he concentrated, Wally could faintly hear the furious typing of keys. "Ok. I've got the voice recognition set, but don't say anything yet; there's an iris scanner that we're going to have to bypass. I'll code it to accept any scan accompanied by your voice." All the while keys were ticking in the background. "There. Pick your password, but you only get one shot so make it good."
Wally pondered for a moment before - "Raigner Authorization Code: nine-five-wictor-wictor-two."
"Haha. Dude, that's great!"
"Yo! V-man!" Richie's voice crackled out of the shock vox.
"Sup, Rich?"
"You need to take a look at this." Virgil gave the communicator a funny look. He extracted himself from batgirl (he had been comforting her after her father left and she had fallen asleep) and excused himself from the current game of UNO. Alfred showed the young superhero how to open the grandfather clock. Virgil studied the current incarnation of the BatCave carefully while descending the stairs. Very little had changed since the last time he was here.
Very little except for the image on the BatComputer. It showed Wally West's hands frantically checking over a small pale face. The background was red and Virgil found himself praying that it was not blood. 'If someone bled that much they'd definitely die.' Gear and Future Bat were standing in front of the massive machine.
"He's-he's been Joker-ized," Gear was saying. "I knew he was sick, but I didn't know he was that smart." Static walked up to them as Neo Gotham's Batman answered in the affirmative.
"And you need me to run interference so the BatFamily doesn't ever see this."
"Yeah man. This would kill them faster than Sharon's cooking." All three of them stared at the towering display. The 12-year-old's body was unnaturally pale and twitching. A muscle in the front of his shoulder jumped. 'He doesn't even have underarm hair yet.' The preteen had been stuffed haphazardly back into the Robin suit and dumped on the floor. Joker and Harley had not even bothered to zip it up; although it would have made very little difference. It appeared that they had just pulled until the seams ripped where they needed access to the boys flesh.
"Just one thing before I go." Virgil held up a finger for emphasis. "Please tell me all that red stuff isn't Robin's blood."
"It's not." Batman answered for Gear. He was staring raptly at the screen before them. Even through the mask Virgil could tell that the images bothered him.
"You alright, Terry?"
"Yeah." He sounded not so alright; and if the black boy hadn't known better he would have said that the Bat's ears were drooping. "Are you?"
"Sure thing. As long as Robin's alive we can help him." With that Virgil headed back up to the mansion. Richie's voice stopped him just before he disappeared into the passage.
"Bro."
"Yeah, Rich?"
"I-" Richie paused to swallow around the lump in his throat. "I'm gonna need you down here."
"You seriously do not need to see that. It's some pretty messed up stuff. And by that I mean not only totally wack, but..." Virgil sighed, "kinda heartbreaking." After coming upstairs the young meta-human had stopped to speak quietly to Alfred. How was he going to keep three of the smartest, sneakiest people alive from slipping away? Suddenly brightening the teen looked over at the resident Kryptonian. "Hey Supes," he called, "I know you can hear us, so you might as well just come over here."
The massive alien floated over, touching down gently between the high schooler and the sitting room. "What can I do to help?" Superman appeared genuinely concerned.
"I'm gonna need you to keep these four," Static motioned indicating Bruce, Dick, Barbra, and Alfred, "up here."
The man of steel nodded. "What do you want me to tell them?"
"Oh, I'll tell them. I just somehow doubt their going to listen; especially not to some kid from the hood." Superman smirked, acquiescing to the truth of the statement. They walked into the sitting room and roused the Bats from fitful dreams.
Batman stirred with a jerk. "What is it? Did you find Tim?" Fear and hope mingled on his face in a display of emotion that Clark Kent had never seen before. Sure, he had seen Bruce Wayne play it up, but this was so much more... real.
"Kyle Raigner found Robin."
"Who's Kyle Raigner?" Nightwing's voice asked from behind him.
"Kyle Rainger is the name we gave Flash."
"Is he alive?" Batman.
"Can we see him?" Batgirl.
"He is alive," Virgil took a big breath, "but it's not good." Batman looked absolutely horrified. "Alive we can work with, but I've got to ask you not to go downstairs." Dick and Barbra broke into protests. Bruce did not move, staring into Virgil's eyes still absolutely horrified. Then his voice, nearly a whisper, broke through the younger sets arguments.
"What could be so bad that I can't even see my son?"
Virgil pushed himself up into Batman's arms, hugging him fiercely. "I'm not going to tell you. Tim's going to need his family to see him for himself when he gets back. It's worse than anything you can imagine. So, just don't try." Static had been speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. Now he spoke softly just for Bruce's ears. "Richie needs me. And I think if anyone can provide you with the kind of hugging you need right now its Clark Kent." Static knew that Superman could hear them. He flicked his eyes up and momentarily felt superhuman hands pull the Dark Night away.
Standing up and returning downstairs, Virgil rubbed at the wet spot on his collar, wondering just what this was going to do to the family up stairs.
AN: This is a HUGE chapter for me. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I definately want reviews. I gotta know. I'm curious like that. And bonus points to anyone who can tell me what movie was referenced in this chapter.