DISCLAIMER: All recognizable characters belong to DC Comics.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: SIN
Batman felt his skin start to crawl the moment Superman set them on the roof of the warehouse. The windows had been blown out during the quake, the building supports groaning with the resulted shifting of walls and foundation. It was standing, but only just.
The Dark Knight was moving to the roof access, the door easily ripped off its rusted hinges. The stairs had collapsed, but neither hero was deterred. Batman leapt down, his cape billowing behind him and slowing his decent until he touched down on the top of the crumbled staircases. The door to the main floor was blocked by debris, but Superman lit easily next to him and without a word made a new entrance through the wall.
The interior was a disaster.
Computer consoles were ablaze, smoking filling the room in a haze, support columns tilted precariously, the elevated ceiling has collapsed in several place. Then there were the bodies. Dozens of the little g-gnomes were broken and bloody, and the charred remains of a humanoid horned being lay a few feet from the smoking husk of a large computer terminal. But of Sportsmaster and Guardian there was no sign.
"Bruce," Superman's voice was thick and when he had the Batman's attention he exhaled slowly, blowing the smoke away from what the Kryptonian had seen.
The device was still in one piece. It's metal structure apparently the only thing keeping the entire floor above from completely caving in. Mechanical arms reached down from the ceiling, finger-like claws curling up from the floor, blood seeping from around the blade deep within crimson-clad chest.
Batman didn't realize he was moving until he was suddenly standing beside his son. He pulled at the razor sharp needs imbedded in the boy's legs, refusing to acknowledge how slowly blood trickled from the wounds or the lack of response from Robin. He stepped inside the ring, reaching up for the manacles.
Superman watched the other man, his inhuman senses seeing what Batman would not. "Bruce-"
"Help me!" the father roared when he couldn't free the wrists from the shackles.
Clark swallowed the rising grief and focused his vision. An instant later the metal connecting the metal cuffs to the arms snapped under the laser heat and the body crumpled into Batman's arms.
Stepping away from the torturous contraption, Batman tenderly laid the boy on the floor. "Robin," he called softly, gloved fingered removing the bloody leather gagging the boy before moving carefully to lift the domino mask from a too-pale face.
Superman choked on the thump that formed in his throat.
The eyes, once bright and sparking with life, were open wide with pain and dull in death. Everything that Dick had felt in those last seconds of life was laid bare on his fact; through the injuries, the hopelessness and despair, burned the realization that Batman wasn't going to save him this time.
"Oh god," a soft voice moaned from behind Superman and the man of steel turned to see Young Justice standing at the entrance he had created.
Artemis had stepped ahead of the others, unconsciously moving toward the now trembling Batman. Miss Martian was weeping quietly into Superboy's chest, the clone's eyes shut tight with his arms around the female offering what support he could. Wally just stood there, staring at the body of his best friend. Roy had pushed past the rest, his boots thundering in the silence as he ran and slid to his knees across from Batman.
The young archer tore his gloves from his hand, his shaking fingers pressing against the pulse point on the throat. Roy let his head drop after only a second. "He's still warm…" the hush sob tore through the silence.
"He hasn't been dead long, only a few minutes at most." Batman spoke in a voice that none had heard before – not even Superman. It was cold, empty, hollow… and absolutely terrifying.
A keening wail shattered the night and Artemis was running. With tears streaming from beneath her mask she leapt through a broken window pane, her scream carrying on the wind a promise of retribution. "FATHER!"
Superboy was right behind her, his efforts to comfort the sobbing Martian forgotten.
Wally still hadn't moved.
Before Superman could decide whether to chase after the teens or to remain behind for Bruce, Batman was scooping the body of his protégé into his arms effortlessly. He carried the boy toward the exit.
Clark was next to the man instantly, ignoring the sudden ill feeling he had at the closeness of the kryptonite beneath the cuffs. "Bruce, let me-"
Even that minute weakening was enough for Batman. With an animalistic roar he twisted, as only the Batman could while carrying a dead body, and drove the heel of his foot into the Man of Steel's sternum. Superman staggered back and to one knee, looking up at his friend in shock.
The hatred burning in Bruce's eyes pierced him as much as his own laser sight would have. "I told you," he snarled. "We're done."
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… two days later
His nostrils flared as he bent his head and gripped the edge of the desk he stood next to. He had done all he could and it hadn't been enough. He lifted his eyes, looking longingly at the form of his wife within her containment capsule while he thought of the similar contraption he had finished constructing only minutes before.
"Victor," the voice was icier than the specially contained room in the caverns below Wayne Manor.
Dr Fries stood straight and turned around to face the man that was Batman. In all his years facing off against the caped crusader he would never have imagined the Billionaire Playboy to be the man behind the mask. But then Batman had torn through Arkham the same night of the freak Earthquake that nearly decimated the east coast. The hero had bodily removed him from his cell, past the unconscious and wounded guards and orderlies, and to the waiting jet. Minutes later he was being escorted through the catacombs of the Batcave and to a room where the body of a young man lay on a table. An older gentleman sat next to the corpse, hands clutched together in his lap as the tears fell unchecked. When Victor saw the face of the boy – the face that he had seen on the television in the Arkham rec-room constantly for the last three days – he spun to face his enemy only to be greeted by a father's grief.
Bruce Wayne's plea of, "Save him, please," was all the villainous Mr Freeze needed.
Within an hour the body was processed and treated much as he had his beloved Nora. The boy had been deceased less than a few hours. The trauma was extensive, and the knife blade that penetrated the heart was definitely a problem. But as he had seen with his wife when she had died, there was still minute brain activity even hours after death. The boy was no different. The heart was broken, the lungs unresponsive, but there was still life within the tissue of the brain.
And so he worked. He submersed the boy in the cryogenic fluid, worked his genetic genius to repair the external injuries and even some internal within a matter of hours. But the damage to the boy's heart-
"I did not find you in the lab, Victor," Bruce stood in the doorway.
"No," the doctor shook his head.
"You built the capsule," the statement sent a stab of fear through Victor's icy heart.
"I thought it best," Dr Fries met the billionaire's blue eyes. "I removed the handle of the blade, but the knife-"
"The capsule, Victor," Wayne leveled a glare at the other man.
Mr Freeze swallowed his fear. "He is preserved, much as my Nora." He glanced over at his wife. "The damage to the tissue is too extensive; it cannot be repaired only replaced."
"Then find him a new heart!" the father's voice thundered through the caverns. "Transplants are done every day in this country! Replace his!"
"I – I'm afraid that is not possible." Victor steeled himself under Wayne's stare. "The process to keep him in cryogenic suspension as altered his genetics. There in only one possible match on the entire planet."
"You're wife."
Fries shook his head. "No, the disease that has ravaged her body has permeated her very genetic code. Even should his body accept hers as a donor heart, without the cure he would be dead within a matter of days. The only viable heart would by my own. However, there is no other being on this earth with the knowledge of how to sustain the cryogenic process while performing the transplant. He would die."
Bruce Wayne stared him down, searching for the lie he would not find.
"I'm sorry, Mr Wayne – Bruce," Victor spoke softly. "There is nothing more to be done."
"Then of what use are you," the British voice of Alfred sounded angrily behind the motionless father.
In the eyes of the two men, Victor saw his end.
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… three months A.Q. (After the Quake) …
"Welcome back. If you're just tuning in I'm joined tonight by Bruce Wayne: Billionaire, Bachelor, and, as we just revealed before the break, Batman! Mr Wayne – Bruce – why now? After all these years, why come forward and publicly expose yourself as the Vigilante Batman?"
"My son was murdered."
"Richard Grayson?"
"Yes. He witnessed his parents' brutal killing at a very young age, much as I had as a child. But I refused to let him go through that alone as I had. I took him in, at first just to provide a support for a grieving little boy. But Dick… you'd met him, Vicki. You knew what he was like. With one look, just one smile, and he got beneath your skin and into your heart. He may not have been my blood, but he was my son in every way that mattered."
"Yes, Richard was a very special boy, Bruce. He was also Robin to your Batman, was he not?"
"That's right. I know a lot of people were critical of Robin when he first started out, but he quickly proved them he had not only the right, but the skill and talent to be out with Batman. Besides, it's not like he gave me much of a choice. When Dick wanted something, he wouldn't let anyone tell him he couldn't. He was determined to fight beside Batman."
"You miss him."
"Of course I do. He was my soldier, my partner, but more importantly he was my son. And it's for him that I'm giving this interview, Vicki. He deserves justice and as long as Richard Grayson was unknown as Robin there would be none."
"Why is that?"
"Three months ago, he was kidnapped from his school."
"I remember. Gunmen infiltrated the Gotham Academy and took him."
"Sportsmaster took Dick Grayson, but they wanted Robin."
"Sportsmaster, a.k.a. Lawrence Crock, his body was delivered by his own daughter, Artemis Crock who is yet to stand trial for his murder - to Police Headquarters the morning after the Quake. Are you saying he knew Robin's identity?"
"Regrettably, yes. It took months of investigation and a lucky image captured by chance on a security camera, but he did know."
"So why did he want Robin?"
"Leverage against Batman and the Justice League. At least, that is what was assumed at first. Sportsmaster wasn't a criminal mastermind. He was a mercenary, working for whoever paid his fees. He was in actuality working for a group of men who wanted to rewrite history. They believed that if they prevented Dick from becoming Robin they stop the rest of Earth's heroes from training the next generation. They attempted to open a temporal wormhole and use Dick's genetic code to create a portal to his past. It might have worked, if their treatment of my son over his days of captivity hadn't been so torturous."
"Torturous?"
"They mind raped him, electrocuted him, starved him, beat him, kept him bound and chained the entire time-"
"… Take all the time you need, Bruce. We understand how difficult this is for you."
"He was just a boy, barely into his teens, and they treated him worse than most prisoners of war. His body was so broken and battered… it's no wonder the portal they opened was unstable."
"Resulting in the devastating earthquake that saw Long Island sink into the North Atlantic Ocean, killing millions. Why did the Justice League do nothing, then? Surely between the hundreds of Heroes in their ranks they had the means to mount a rescue for your son before it some to such a catastrophic end!"
"He was only a boy. Superman himself told me the risk wasn't worth Dick Grayson's life."
"Risk?"
"I will never forget what he told me. He said, and I quote: The truth, Bruce, is that he's just one boy. Albeit a very special boy, but with the discovery of his civilian identity, Robin's kidnapping could potentially expose us all. If the media gets winds of the connection between Bruce Wayne's adopted son and Batman's sidekick, it won't be long before the whole house of cards crumbles around the entire League."
"So he was worried about his secret identity."
"Something I can appreciate, but even when I had leads to Sportsmaster's whereabouts and what their plans might be, I was ordered to stand down. To do nothing while they were doing God knew what to my son. "
"So what happened?"
"I ignored him. Artemis Crock is a member of a covert team I created. She and several other protégés were tired of being treated like children. They were all in their mid to late teens, and while not legally considered adults, they had seen more in their time as 'sidekicks' that they were more than able to work and train to be even better than their mentors. They disobeyed Superman's orders and investigated the leads I gave them. I was being watched by both the media – as Dick's father – and the League. These 'kids' were the ones who discovered the true agenda."
"That is when Superman and the League intervened?"
"Too little too late, I'm afrid. By the time we found where they had Robin, it was too late. The portal was destabilizing too rapidly and the computer controls were shorting out. Artemis got her father's confession on tape. He killed my son to stop what they couldn't control."
"To save the world?"
"To save themselves. When Dick's heart stopped the collapsing portal sent a shock wave through time and space and we've seen the results. No, they didn't do it to save the world. They couldn't have cared less about the world. Just like Superman and the rest of the League couldn't have cared less about Dick. They were willing to sacrifice the life of one boy to protect their secrets. They could have prevented all the deaths, the destruction, all of it… all they had to do was save my son. They're there for the cleanup, sure, but even now they still refuse to acknowledge that their lack of actions cost not only Dick Grayson his life, but the life of millions."
"So what now, Bruce?"
"Justice, Vicki. That's all this has ever been about. It's why I became Batman, it's why Dick became Robin. Not to play dress up and be the hero, we never cared about any of that. All I – all he ever wanted was Justice. I turned myself in."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I went to the Government and turned myself over to the Justice Department. I revealed myself as the Batman and my part in the manslaughter of millions of American Citizens."
"… I – I –"
"It's simple, Vicki. Because I let Superman and the rest of the League dictate my response to the abduction of my son, because I refused to do what was necessary to save him despite the risk to our secrets, everything happened as it did and millions died. If someone's inaction or negligence resulted in even a single death they are charged with involuntary manslaughter. Being Batman, I knew the potential dangers Robin's kidnapping posed. I should have listened to my heart and screw Superman and the League. But I didn't. I am just as responsible for the deaths of every human being on Long Island as Sportsmaster and those who hired him."
"Bruce, is Batman going to prison?"
"No. I had a long talk with many representatives of our government and had an intense meeting with the President. In exchange for evidence to prosecute those responsible for the Long Island Disaster, I – or I should say Batman has been deputized by the United Stated Government. I and my people have full Presidential approval to, by any means necessary, bring down those responsible."
"Your people? You mean the Justice League?"
"No. I mean my people: Oliver Queen and Roy Harper aka Green Arrow and Red Arrow respectfully, Kaldur 'Ahm aka Aqualad, Wally West aka Kid Flash, Conner Kent aka Superboy, M'gann M'orzz aka Miss Martian, Alfred Pennyworth aka Agent A, and Artemis Crock. As I am speaking with you, she is receiving a Presidential pardon for her involvement in her father's death and being released from Juvenile Detention."
"What about the League, then, Bruce? Will you be recruited any of them?"
"Some, yes. Most of the members of Justice League of America had no idea what was going on. When they were finally told of Robin's situation many of them were justifiably angry that they had been kept uninformed and that no action had taken place."
"What of Superman? Wonder Woman? You three are the most recognizable heroes on the planet? Surely they would be of use to you and your efforts?"
"I wish it were possible, Vicki, but as it is, as of this moment there are warrants for the arrests of each of the founding members of the Justice League."
"Arrest? What are the charges?"
"7,568,304 counts of manslaughter."
"So you're just going to walk into the Hall of Justice and arrest your former comrades in arms?"
"Not at all Vicki. I will not be arresting Superman or Wonder Woman or any of the others. These warrants are for the arrests of Clark Kent aka Superman, Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman, Barry Allen aka The Flash, Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern, King Orin aka Aquaman and J'onn J'onzz aka Martian Manhunter."
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1 A.Q. (After the Quake)
It was stupid.
He knew that.
He knew that when he first had the idea.
He knew that when he removed the first lug-nut.
Yup, stealing the tires from the Batmobile was a stupid idea.
A very stupid idea.
Juvenile delinquent Jason Todd twisted his wrists against the plasti-cuffs securing his hands behind the back of the chair he sat in. They weren't coming off unless cut off, and Batman had found the jack-knife in his pocket.
Yes, a very, very stupid idea.
In the dark of the Batcave – okay, so maybe that was more than a little cool - the street rat watched the Batman as he worked at a seriously large computer. The screen was split into a hand full of smaller screens, each with a recognizable face.
"Oliver says the takeover of Lexcorp is going well," Roy Harper, aka Red Arrow, told his leader. "With Luthor on his way to death row everyone's chomping at the bit to get on with Wayne-Queen Industries."
"Like that's a surprise," Superboy snorted his amusement. "I'll be staying here to until the last of Ra's Al Ghul's pits is filled with lime jello. When he tries to use them, he's in for a surprise."
"Sounds like something Robin would have appreciated," Aqualad allowed a small smile. "The people of Atlantas have called for King Orin's abdication. He will be turning himself over to the American Government within the week. Then his brother will be taking the throne."
"With you as his heir. I hate to loose you, Kaldur, but Atlantas needs you. M'gann, Any luck with the Amazon's?"
"Sorry Bruce," the alien beauty shook her head. "They're still refusing our petitions for Diana's extradition. They say she has diplomatic immunity for any and all actions she may have taken as Wonder Woman."
"Talk to the First Lady again, M'gann. She and Queen Hippolyta have been having 'tea' for years. If anyone can get Hippolyta to turn over Wonder Woman, it'll be her. Wally, what about your uncle?"
"Barry's gone to ground. Went as far as leaving Aunt Iris divorce papers and a letter asking for forgiveness for his part in Long Island. I don't think we'll be seeing him any time soon. But I'm not going to stop looking."
"Ah, Bruce?" Artemis raised a delicate blonde eyebrow. "Why do you have a kid tied and gagged in the Batcave?"
"Eeth uh atharg!" Jason grunted around the fabric cleaved between his lips.
Roy smirked in amusement. "We know he's a bastard, kid."
"He's a thief. Ignore him." Bruce Wayne growled, through a hint of something tugged at his lips.
"What did he still, the Batmobile?" Conner joked.
Silence reigned and Jason couldn't stop the satisfaction from gleaming in his jade eyes.
Wally barked a laugh. "Holy crap, he jacked the car?"
"The tires," Bruce reluctantly admitted among peals of laughter from his team. "Now, if there is nothing left for in your reports, I will see you all tonight in Washington for the Memorial Service."
Once the screen had gone blank, the man who was Batman turned in his chair and leveled a steady gaze at his captive. Jason stared right back, although his heart was racing a mile a minute. He'd just sat through – albeit involuntarily – a meeting of the founding members of Batman Inc.!
When the chair he was secured to suddenly started to roll backward, he was momentarily confused. Then dust and small rocks started to fall from the rock ceiling over head. Batman was leaping toward him and pushing them out of the way when the stalactite suddenly crashed into the exact spot Jason had been.
And then the shaking started.
Bruce lifted the boy easily of the chair and started running, weaving around the rocks falling as the earthquake tried to bring the ceiling down on them. He was pressed up against a thick archway he hadn't seen as it was hidden behind the computer. The metal was cold, to the point of burning his exposed skin, but at that moment he didn't care. Wayne protected him with his own body, curling around the bound youth as the world around them crumbled.
The appearance of a purple light at the corner of his sight had him looking past the Batman's body and into the dark beyond the archway. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the swirling violet… something forming behind a giant glass container. Frost covered the glass, obscuring what was suspended inside, but what he saw inside the swirling light was more than enough the keep his attention.
He saw a boy, older than him, hanging in some kind of machine and coming face to face with death as a deadly hunting knight was flying toward him. It was the mask and uniform that gave away was he was seeing.
Eyes wide, Jason looked up at Batman.
The man was staring at the image, eyes glistening in the purple hue. "Dick-"
As suddenly as it began, it was over. The shaking stopped, the light faded, and the vision was gone.
The pair stayed where they were a few minutes later before a British voice calling for Bruce from outside in the cave brought them both back to the present. "Back here, Alfred!"
Eyeing his captive critically, Wayne pulled a batarang from somewhere on his person and turned Jason around. The plasti-cuffs were cut off and when the older man stepped into the room Jason wasted no time in untying his gag and letting it drop to the floor.
"What the hell?"
"That was a time portal." Bruce stood in front of the ice covered capsule, his hand reverently resting against the glass. "No one has seen this. Only Alfred and I even know it exists."
"K, big bat secret, I'm followin' ya, but did ya just say a time portal? As in time travel? As in-"
"As in the same thing that caused the Long Island Disaster and Master Richard's death," Alfred stepped into the room. "Were you hurt, Master Bruce?"
Batman shook his head. "It opened here, Alfred." The man said breathlessly. "We could never figure when the other end of the portal opened to since it was in a constant state of flux. But it opened here, now."
"Sir?"
"It was Robin," Jason spoke up when it was apparent that Bruce was lost in his thoughts. "I mean, we saw 'im, in the portal thingy. Is that-"
"His body," Bruce swiped his hand over the frosty glass, clearing a patch large enough to expose the young hero's serene face. "But he's not dead."
Okay… say what?
"WHAT?"
A hand fell onto Jason's shoulder and he looked up into the face of Agent A. "When Batman brought Robin back to the cave, a spark of life was discovered. There was still some brain activity. So he went to the one man who might have helped."
"Who, Mr Freeze?"
"Exactly," Bruce turned away from his encased son and turned his eye to Jason. "Even with Freeze dead, there was still hope that someone else may at some point in the future find the means to bring Dick back. But now, that doesn't matter."
"Sir?"
"The portal opened here, Alfred! They used Dick's genetic code to create the portal, to have something to track back through time. The reading's recovered from the computers showed multiple points of temporal piercing. They didn't open just one portal, but got knows how many. So if it opened here, in the future once, it can do it again. And as long as it's tracking Dick's DNA, it will track this body. It will open here. Again."
"Merciful heavens," Alfred breathed.
"So what?" Jason looked between the two men, not liking the way Batman kept looking at him.
"So, when it opens again, we go through."
Jason gulped. "We?"
"We. We're going to save Robin."
Yes, a very, very, VERY stupid idea.
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… 5 A.Q. (After the Quake)
"You know what to do?"
"We've been over this, Bruce, more times than I'd care to remember."
"Do it again."
*sigh* "Enter the portal, stop the blade and save Dickie-bird-"
"Don't call him that."
"Close the portal – Seriously, ya okay with trapping' me in another time?"
"You know why it can't be me or anyone else of Batman Inc."
"Whoever goes back is gonna change that timeline, not this one. No one else is expendable. God, ya really are a right bastard aren't ya?"
"Close the portal..?"
*sigh* "Close the portal by destroying the computer, not the machine or power source. Are we sure it's even going to open?"
"It's opened like clockwork, Jason. Every year, on this day at this time."
"Yeah, yeah. Still don't see why bother? Ya got a better Robin right here if ya open ya eyes."
The backhand to the jaw wasn't the first time, but thankfully it would be the last. "Got it, can't beat Saint Dick."
*growl* "Close. The. Portal."
*sigh* "Close the portal, get out of warehouse before that Batman and Superman show up, destroy all tech and gadgets, take the cash ya sending with me and disappear. I get it. I save the day and the Batman there won't even know I exist."
The shaking began and Jason gripped the metal case in his gloved hand. The first time he was wearing the uniform and the bastard was getting rid of him. Figured. At least he was getting a couple mil out of it.
"You'll have less than eight seconds to get through, Jason. Be ready."
"Can I just say one thing," Jason didn't look away from where he knew the portal would open in front of him. "In the past five years I've come to one conclusion: After everything ya told me about Dickie-bird and everything ya did to me… Ya are a fuckin' bastard and don't deserve someone like Dick Grayson."
The portal opened and Jason stepped through.
"You're right," Batman agreed when the portal was gone seconds later. "I don't."