Dark Knights

February 23th , 2014.
the Batcave
Dick had barely seen dr. Thompkins disappear with Bruce before he heard the Zeta tube activate and announce Supermans arrival. The man of steel stepped out, carrying in his arms Batgirl.

"Barbara!" Dick ran to her. She smiled weakly through her pain.

"It's nothing really. Just a broken arm, nothing to worry about." she joked, but her strained voice betrayed her brave words. Dick looked at Superman, who nodded in grim confirmation. "It's bad, but not dangerous. I'll stabilize it and then Leslie can look at it when she has the time."

"You should've taken her to Mount Justice or the Watchtower." Dick mumbled. "They would be able to look at her right away."

Superman looked apologetic. "I thought about it. But I wasn't sure just how much you wanted the rest of the entire league and team to know. Better safe than sorry when it comes to you and Bruce."

Supermans face grew worried.

"How bad is it?"

oOo

Mount Justice

"Now, calm down Wally." tried Flash, but to avail. Wally was far beyond the reasoning of his elder.

"Calm down? I am NOT going to calm down!" Wally glared daggers at his uncle. "Uncle Barry, why are we back to mount Justice? Robin needs us!"

Flash grabbed his nephew by his shoulders. "Wally, listen to me! Robin is with dr. Thompkins. She'll make sure he is well taken care after. Right now, first of all, we – the League, Robin and I – need you to calm down."

Wally shook his uncle of him, before sinking down in the sofa, grumbling but not answering. The rest of the Team had watched the yelling match between the two speedsters. They had been ordered back to the Mountain as soon as the League had arrived at Gotham in full numbers. They hadn't been happy about it but had agreed. Robin was out of Gotham now anyway.

But they hadn't seen him yet. Granted, it had only been little more than an hour. But the past hour had seemed longer than the last months.

"We could've helped in Gotham." said Connor, arms folded. Flash sighed.

"We know you could. But you are still a covert team. If you had remained there for much longer the press would've begun to notice you. You did great, but it is the Leagues responsibility to help in these kind of situations."

"Don't tell us, we know that." growled Connor, turning his back to them, glaring at the wall.

Flash looked at Black Canary who was standing beside him, eyes begging. She sighed, hands on her hips.

"There is no need to get angry Connor. You know the drill." Dinah said. "These past months have been incredibly stressful for all of you.."

"Not to mention Rob.." mumbled Wally, only to receive an elbow from Artemis.

"... but the city is saved and that was the main objective. And you managed to save Robin. He would've died if you haven't arrived to help him."

Nobody said anything, the weight of Black Canary's words sinking into them.

"We know you aren't kids." Diana smiled, looking at Beast Boy. "Well, some of you."

"And if you haven't been there things would've gone much different. But they didn't and that is.."

"See, that is all very fine but I just wanna see Rob!" Wally interrupted, leaning forward, starring her into her eyes. "I need to know that he is alright!"

"Wally, come on! How many times to you need to hear it – he is fine!" Artemis cut him off, herself getting angry. "Yelling about it again and again wont get you there any faster! We need to handle this like grownups!"

Nobody said anything. The air was thick with tension. Artemis and Wally were glaring at each other. Wally's eyes were wide, hurt evident in them. "You.. don't want to see him?" asked Wally in a normal voice full of disbelief.
Artemis eyes grew soft and she took her hands. "Babe, of course I do. But do you really think that rushing to him right now is what he needs? He is in good hands, and well looked after. You'll see him soon." Wally lowered his gaze to the ground, not answering his girlfriend.

Raquel coughed, turning her attention back to the two Leaguers.

"So.. what now?" she asked. "What happens now?"

Flash shared a looked with Dinah.
"We will make sure Gotham have what it needs to get back on its feet. And of course will be looking for Talia and her League of Shadows. They are facing charges of terrorism and a lot of other things. We will get to them, they can't hide forever."

"What will you do to help Gotham?" asked Zatanna.

"First of all, get the power back to the city. And food and water. Establish help. The city have been cut off for months. The citizens are starved in many ways. And all of this, it's still brand new. Law and order needs to be re-established. We'll have to ship criminals to jails all over the country. Bane is of course already behind bars, but a lot of street rats have been allowed to roam free for too long."

The Team nodded in understanding. It sounded logical.

"Can Gotham get back onto its feet with Batman?" asked Garfield in a small voice. The others stared at him. Flash hesitated.

"I don't know." he answered, clearly not liking his own answer. "But they have to."

"Are you sure they alright?" asked M'gann, worry in her eyes. Something about Flash seemed.. off.

Flash hesitated. "No, not really. We are not sure Batman is going to survive."

oOo

Barbara looked at the cowl lying on the table in front of her. It was her own. She didn't have to wear it here. She looked around.
She still couldn't believe that she was in the actual batcave. The batcave! Not to mention that she'd just helped saving an entire city, be carried by Superman and having her arm fixed by Alfred (that wasn't new). All in all, she just about had it with new experiences for one day.

Her gaze settled on Dick. He was sitting by himself, looking in the direction Bruce had disappeared to with the doctor and Alfred.

He is dying..

The thought scared Barbara. She'd always kinda thought of Bruce as something close to an immortal. He was just.. there. Young. Fit. Strong. He hadn't changed at all in the ten years she'd known him and his impossible foster child.

Barbara knew she should go to Dick. But what could she say? What should she say? There was nothing she could say that hadn't already grossed his mind and she knew it.

So instead she did what she could think of. She sat with him.

"Superman 01."
The Team jumped when the computer announced the arrival of the last man to see Robin and Batman. The man of steel walked to them. Not smiling.

"Is Batgirl alright?" asked Artemis. The Team had sorta all agreed to just call this new hero by the name Robin had called her, even if it felt kinda odd.

Superman nodded. "She'll be fine. Her arm has been reset and it'll heal up in no time."

"And Robin?" asked M'gann, sitting up straighter. "How is he?"

"He's okay. I've patched him up. The radiation from the bomb haven't done any damage to him so we can be thankful for that." He went silent.

"And? How about Batman?" asked Diana. Superman shook his head, refusing to look them in the eyes.

"It's not looking good. Dr. Thompkins isn't sure he's going to make it."

M'ganns hand flew up to her mouth in horror. "Oh no." she whispered, voicing the dread they all felt.

Artemis looked at Wally, expecting to see her boyfriends wide, shocked eyes and slightly open mouth. What she didn't expect was for him to look at Superman, his eyes dancing between the man of steel and the zeta tube.

"Hey supes.. Why'd you use the zeta tube?" the youngest speedster asked. Superman looked at him, slightly surprised. "I used it to bring Batgirl to the cave, a long flight would've hurt her."

Wally blinked. "Are you telling me that the zeta platform in the batcave no longer are off the grid?"

Before anyone could stop him he'd jumped up and run towards the zeta platform where he with the speed of light typed in the destination coordinates.

"Hey! Wally, where are you going?! You don't know the..!" yelled Flash, but it was too late.

"Of course I do, Rob told me the code when he told me his name!"

And he was gone.

"Wally!"

oOo

Dick lifted his head in surprise when the zeta platform – the top secret, as good as nobody knew about zeta platform – roared to life and the next second Wally stood in front of him. He blinked.

Figures. I knew telling him that code would come back and bite me one day.

As soon as he stood in the batcave Wally suddenly realized that despite how much the others had urged him to think about what he would say, he hadn't thought of anything. He took a few seconds to really look at his friend. He wasn't a pretty sight. Bandages covered his entire chest and torso. A nasty black mark was already sporting on his neck and a scar from what looked like a gunshot wound was visible on one of his arms. Dick wore loose trousers, covering the bandages Wally knew was covering his wounded leg. Multiple blue marks and hits covered his body. Wally sucked in air.

Dick wasn't looking at him, he was starring at the ground.

"You okay?" Wally asked, his voice a little high with nerves.

"Yeah. Alfred patched me up." Dick answered, finally looking up.

"What are you doing here Wally?"

Wally stared at Dick. "Seriously dude? You are my friend! I've been worried sick! Less than two hours ago I saved you from be strangled to death by that crazy ass Bane! I watch you fly directly into a nuclear disaster and you want to know why I'm here?!" he didn't yell, but his voice rose a notch or two.

Dick didn't answer, he just returned his stare to the floor. Wally swallowed. Nice going kid idiot. He heard Artemis as clearly in his head as if she'd been standing right next to him. He shifted his feet around nervously.

"Sorry.." Wally mumbled.

"I'm sorry." Dick suddenly said, still not looking up. Wally gawked. He'd come to say sorry to Dick, and his friend beat him to it?

He watched in silence as Dick rose and walked few meters away. From behind Wally noticed something he hadn't noticed before. When did Dick get so broad shoulders?

Guess that is what happens when you are alone in protecting millions..

Dick was looking down the hall, towards where Wally knew the infirmary was. The speedster swallowed.

"I.. I'm sorry too. I was an idiot."

"You always are." Wally would've smiled if he'd been able to detect any humour in Dicks low voice. But he didn't. Wally looked around, spotting Barbara glaring daggers at him. Wait, Barbara?!

"YOU're batgirl?" he exclaimed in shock. She rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

She stood up, walking over to him. Before she reached him however the zeta platform roared to life once again. And a few moments later the whole team stood in the cave.

Wally looked ready to panic. Batman was going to kill him!
"How'd you get here?!" he exclaimed as Artemis walked over to him.

"We asked the zeta tube to send us to last known destination. Wasn't exactly hard." she smiled. The others walked forward, slowly and clear deeply impressed.

They were in the legendary batcave. The batcave! A few seconds later Superman and Flash appeared, looking something closed to terrified by the idea that they'd let the entire team go to the batcave.

As Artemis reached her boyfriend, Artemis noticed the redheaded girl standing next to him. Her eyes widened. "Barbara?" she asked, her voice disbelieving. Barbara nodded, and Wally looked confused between the pair of them. "You know each other?" he asked, bewildered.

"From school."

"You're Batgirl?!"

"Have been for these past few months." Barbara looked at the other team members who were all staring at her. "I don't mind you knowing who I am. But really, this isn't a good time for you to drop in.."

"It's fine guys" Dick interrupted, drawing attention to himself. He had turned around and was watching them, his arms folded in front of him. "I'm glad your all here."

M'gann walked forward, unsure. "Robin.. your mask?" she asked, sounding deeply troubled.

Dick blinked, then chuckled. "Oh yeah. Forgot I'd taken that off." He ran a hand sheepishly through his hair. "Surprise?"

"Dick?" a new voice interrupted, and they all saw dr. Thompkins walking towards them.
Nobody said anything as Leslie stopped in front of Dick. She gave him a small smile.

"I believe he'll pull through, though he'll be out for a couple of days."

Dick let go of the breath he didn't realise he'd been holding. The same for the rest of the people in the crowded batcave. Leslie looked at them all, a frown on her face.
"What are all of you doing here?"

"We are breaking the batrules tonight Leslie." said Dick, his voice thick with emotion.
"Can I see him?"

"Sure. But he is still unconscious." Leslie's face grew serious. "We did almost loose him Richard. We wont know if theres been any permanent damage until he wakes up. But one thing you should know is.."

Leslie's voice trailed off as the two of them walked down towards the infermery. The team watched them disappear before turning to Wally.
"How long've you known?" asked Zatanna quietly.

"About ten years.." Wally answered, holding onto Artemis hand like he would never let go.

"And Batman is..?" asked his girlfriend though all of them already knew the answer. Superman and Flash shared a look. They were so dead.

"Bruce Wayne, yeah. He won't be happy about this you know."

"He's unconscious." Connor deadpanned. Wally laughed. "Good point. But you know, he does have cameras in here."

Flash looked around, terrified. "Crap, he'll murder us!" he lamented. Superman pattered him reassuring on the back.

oOo

Dick was sitting beside his adopted fathers bed, looking at him. He'd been sitting for the last few days, waiting for Bruce to wake up. The team had left when it became clear he wouldn't speak to them before his guardian woke up. Superman and Flash had remained for a little longer, before leaving to help out in Gotham.

Dick was drifting off to sleep when a hoarse voice quietly sounded. "Dick?"

Dick's eyes snapped open, looking right into Bruce's confused eyes.

"Bruce, you're awake!" it was all he could do not pulling the other into a tight hug. Instead he grabbed his hand, smiling like a loon.

"Thank god you're awake. I've been worried sick. Alfred too. Not to mention the League and Gotham and even Seline managed.." his voice trailed off as he noticed the confusing growing in the others eyes.

"You remember right? You were in the explosion. You saved Gotham."

Bruce stared at him for a few moments, before Dick to his great shock saw tears in his eyes.

"You're alive.." Bruce whispered, so lowly that it almost couldn't be heard. Dick nodded, feeling his own tears threatening to spill. "I'm alive. I had help protecting the city. And I knew you would be back."

Bruce blinked at this declaration of trust. "Dick, I'm so sorry." he began, attempting to sit up.

Dick quickly pressed him back down. "Doctors orders Bruce. No moving until we know if you've suffered any permanent damage." Dick watched Bruce open his mouth to argue, but no words coming out. Bruce sighed and leaned back. Dick's eyes grew soft.

"What are you sorry about? You saved the entire city."

"Maybe in the end. But you kept it together. Gotham would've died if you haven't been here.."
Dick shifted uncertain. He wasn't used to Bruce getting all emotional. But then again, several near death experiences would bring that side out in most people. And apparently even Batman wasn't above human feelings.

Bruce cleared his throat. "You.. thank you Dick."

Dick smiled. "And thank you Bruce."

Alfred were standing in the doorway, looking at his two wards. Tears in his eyes and happiness in his heart. Unknowingly by the two, he'd heard every word. He remained a few minutes, before turning away.

"Bless you master Richard. Bless you master Bruce." he whispered, walking to the elevator that would bring him to the ground level.

"Gothams dark knights."

100 reviews! Thank you guys so much! And 40.000 words, congratulations to me!

Another long wait. Sorry. But I like how it turned out. And it's one of the longer chapters, wuuhuu!
I promise this story will be ended before new years! Only one chapter left, so stay tuned!