March 18, 1998
4:45 PM
Bruce Wayne
Rarely did I ever come down to the main lobby at Wayne Enterprises. However, today I was hopefully meeting Jason Todd there to begin his internship. I had called into his school and found out that he had come to school for the first time in nearly three months and that he had stayed to the end of the day for the first time all year. That was particularly encouraging.
I had spent my morning doing some research on him and his life to date and what I had found hadn't been particularly surprising. His father, Willis, was a small time crook who had been working for Carmine Falcone up until about twelve years ago when he was convicted of a triple homicide in connection with a mob killing. His mother had been dead for nearly ten years and he had bounced around numerous foster homes since then.
So, the kid had lied to me. Not necessarily a surprise. It was something I was going to have to grill him for though.
As I finished my thoughts, I noticed him walking through the front door. He was dressed in baggy jeans and a huge t-shirt with a hat backwards. He walked up to me with all of the attitude he could muster. He was brave. I would have to give him that.
"Wayne, the name is Jason Todd." he said with a smirk.
"Bruce Wayne." I said firmly. "First thing is first, Mr. Todd. You will not come here dressed like this ever again. Is that understood?"
"Sure."
"Second, you will refer to me as Mr. Wayne until I see to it that you have earned the right to call me by my given name. Is that understood?"
"Yeah, man." Jason replied harshly.
"Finally, when I ask you a question, you will answer yes or no. None of this 'sure' or 'yeah.' Have I made myself clear?" I finished.
"Yes, Mr. Wayne." he replied respectfully.
"Good. Now, about your attire, I understand your situation and know that you cannot afford to purchase new clothing. Therefore, as part of you arrangement, clothes will be provided for you. Will that be acceptable?"
"Yes, sir." he answered again.
"You will be here by 4:30 everyday and you will stay until 7, regardless of whether I am here or not. You will work with my secretary if I am not here. If I am here, you will come directly to my office and I will give you your work for the day. Now, follow me." I said before turning abruptly and heading for the elevator. I peaked around to see him slowly following me. As we stepped inside, I observed the boy.
He was examining everything from the floor to the ceiling. He spent his time looking at the buttons and the marble floor of the elevator. Obviously, he had probably never been in a building like this. I'm sure that the view from my office would probably be a surprise for him.
When the elevator reached the top, I stepped out and he followed closely. We walked into the outer room of my office where Jason and my secretary would work.
"This is Heather, my secretary. For the most part, you will work with her once I give your assignment for the day." I said, indicating the college age young woman who was my personal secretary.
"Hi." Jason said with a grin.
"Knock it off." I scolded him.
"Sorry."
"Follow me." I said as I opened the giant set of doors to my office. I walked across my office stiffly to my desk and took a seat. He sat down at one of the plush chairs that sat across from me.
"Computer: lock." I ordered. Instantly, a small beep confirmed my order.
"What was that for?" Jason asked in confusion.
"You need to explain to me why you lied to Batman."
"What?" he asked in surprise.
"Your mother has been dead for years and your father's been in prison since you were three. Why did you lie to Batman?" I grilled.
The look in his eyes was one of sadness and fear but also one of pride. I knew what he was thinking. The loss of his parents was obviously awful. However, in his mind, his ability to survive past their death meant that he could still make something of himself.
"I don't know, Mr. Wayne." he admitted softly. "I didn't want him to take me to child services."
"Your parents are gone regardless." I countered. "You didn't tell him that your parents were gone or that you had ran away from home. You told him they were dead."
"But if they were only dead last week, I thought that he might pity me and let me go."
Pity. It was something that neither Batman or Bruce Wayne knew. Not that he would have known that.
"Fine. Don't lie to him again though."
"Again?" he asked in shock.
"He wishes to see you again. The Batman is difficult to impress. However, he thinks that you show potential to replace his protege."
The look on his face was one of complete shock and wonder. It looked like I had just made his Christmases for his entire life.
"Are you serious? That's insane!"
"I've always thought that having a kid help you was insane." I lied. "However, that's not my decision. You will work with him on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until school gets out. Then, once school is over, you will work here from 9-Noon and then you will work with the Batman at night."
"My foster family isn't going to let that happen." Jason replied sadly.
"That's why I've taken the liberty to have all of your things moved to my home." I informed him shortly as if I was simply telling him the time of day.
"What?" he yelled.
"Lower your voice." I said softly. "I have filed paperwork with the city to adopt you. I've been allowed to take you home this evening. You won't go back to your foster home."
The look on his face was priceless. If the news that he was going to be working with Batman was shocking, the fact that he had been adopted seemed to blow him away.
"I assume that this will be OK."
"Of course! I just have one question." he said, obviously trying to curtail his excitement.
"Yes?"
"How will I meet with Batman each night? I don't know where his headquarters are."
I had been wrestling with this all night. Do I trust this boy who has known nothing other than criminal activity his whole life with the greatest secret I've ever had? It took me months to trust Andi and just as long for Dick. However, this time, I'm literally bringing him in to be my protege. He needs to know.
"You'll walk downstairs." I said cryptically.
"Downstairs where?" he asked in confusion.
"Wayne Manor."
"Why would Batman have his headquarters under your house?"
This could be a long process. He was older than Dick was when he started, being nearly seventeen years old already. He wasn't nearly as strong or as athletic as Dick and nowhere near as intelligent. However, I think think that if I could tap into some of that fear and rage that he was feeling last night, then he could be very productive.
"Because I'm Batman." I replied shortly.
"Very funny, Mr. Wayne." he answered with a chuckle. "Really, why is Batman's base under your house?"
Ugh. No better way than just to show him. I leaned over to my phone, desperately trying to think of another way to do this.
"Heather, can you get a report on that LSI Holdings deal that we had going last month? I need to look at their numbers." I called into the speaker.
"Right away, Mr. Wayne."
I waited until I saw her in the elevator going down two floors to our extended file rooms before moving. Quickly, I stood up and lifted my foot onto the desk.
"I know that you remember where exactly I got shot last night." I said as I lowered my sock to show the stitching that Alfred had done.
"Where was the other one?" he asked me in shock.
"My stomach. That one hurts pretty bad right now." I admitted to him.
"Oh my god, you're B-"
"Not now." I whispered as the elevator door on the other side of the doors to my office opened and Heather stepped out. She quickly opened the doors to my office and strode across the room confidently.
"Here you are, Mr. Wayne. Will you be needing anything else?" she said as she handed me the files.
"No, that will be all." I said dismissively. With that, she turned around and headed back to her desk. When I was sure that she was back at her seat, I took mine and gave Jason the most terrifying stare that I could.
"You will tell no one and I mean no one what I just told you. I will make sure that you spend the rest of your life in jail if you so much as get a ticket for jaywalking. Am I being clear?" I said, ending the sentence in my growl.
"Yes, sir." he said, physically retreating into his chair.
"Good." I replied, returning to my cheerfully, fake cover. "Now, here's your work for the rest of the day."
December 15, 1998
2:31 AM
Batman
This was as good a night as any to take Jason out with me for the first time. The kid had certainly earned it. He was everything I thought he would be and I mean everything. He was smart, not brilliant, but smart. He was a good fighter, a scrapper. He also worked much harder than I had expected. However, these things weren't without their opposites. He was often arrogant and stubborn, ignoring orders and choosing to change tactics during our many training sessions. He reminded me of a rough cut version of my previous partner.
Partner. That was a strange word. Dick had been right. For eighteen months, I hadn't seen him. However, since his departure, I had slowly realized that he may have been right about me, at least in a small way. No one, not even Dick, had worked for what I had worked for. So, in that regard, we were both right. I didn't think that there was anyone that was as good as me because there simply wasn't anyone as good as I am. Right or not, I knew that some things needed to change. So, rather than referring to Jason as my possible sidekick, he was a potential partner.\
"Jesus, it is cold out here." Jason said through shivers next to me.
"Be quiet." I replied harshly. "If you expect to take your test next month, you need to be focusing more on what you need to be and not the temperature."
"Sorry." he said softly.
For the last month, I had been bringing him with me for the first four hours of my patrols. During that time, he had been in charge of assessing every single situation that I was going to enter. Then, once I went in, he was to operate as both a lookout and backup. Only once had I actually called him in and he had done exactly what I had expected, he was a street kid after all. I had entered a penthouse in search of key files that could potentially convict some of Rupert Thorne's top men. My information told me that it had been empty. My information had been wrong.
Pinned down by gunfire, I called Jason in. Rather than using the ventilation for the more discrete entrance I had asked for, he had launched himself across the street and through the large windows, catching everyone in the room by surprise. Within seconds, he had cleared the room of every threat. While I had been pleased with his efficiency, I was upset with his decision to ignore my orders. However, that had only happened once.
"What is the situation?"
"It is pretty clean." Jason began as he looked through his infra-red binoculars. "Only two guys with guns and even then, I think they're only pistols. Three more men on the top but they just have knives and clubs."
"Good."
"Wait a minute." Jason said suddenly as I prepped to enter the bank across the street. The Union Bank of Gotham was a known mob bank and I was finally getting ready to hit it when there were men inside, cleaning the place out.
"What is it?"
"Someone just landed on the roof."
"How?"
"I'm not sure. I was watching and all of the sudden this guy just came flying from out of nowhere and flipped onto the roof."
"Alright. I'm going in. Let me know if he moves."
"He just moved."
"Where?"
"He went inside the bank and he is tearing the place apart." Jason said in shock.
Instantly, I launched myself off of the roof and fell down twenty stories to the roof of the bank. As I landed, I called out to Jason.
"Status?"
"Still kicking ass."
"Good." I replied before crawling into the open ventilation shaft that I'm sure this mystery man must have gone through. As I crawled in, I could hear gunshots coming from below me and knew that I needed to get out of this vent as quickly as I could. Taking my own advice, I crawled to the nearest vent and cut the screws off of it, letting it fall to the ground.
Once it hit, I followed it quickly and slid to the corner of the room. I watched as the mystery man continued his vicious assault on the room. He was swift and ruthless but incredibly powerful at the same time. I had to admit that I was impressed.
When the last man fell, I walked out of my hiding spot and walked to where he was.
"Who are you?" I growled, Batarang at the ready as I anticipated him running.
However, what he did was completely different. He simply turned around and faced me. He wore a black body-suit made of Lycra and Kevlar that was emblazoned with a blue bird on the front of it. On his face, he wore a large black mask that covered almost all of his face. In his hands, he carried two escrima sticks that appeared to have small electric chargers on each end.
"Batman, should have known." he said in a deep voice.
"I'm not going to ask again."
"You can't threaten me, Bats. I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be." I said as I launched myself towards him.
No one had ever been faster than me. Until now. Every other person I had ever fought would have already be down for the count. However, this man was different. As I dove for him, he performed a single front flip and jumped out of the way. I turned to face him, knowing that I was fighting someone who had been trained incredibly well. This would be interesting.
"You don't want to fight me." he said softly. "I don't care for you but I'm on your side."
"I bet."
Again, I launched myself at him. This time, however, I was ready. As he jumped out of the way, I grabbed his ankle and pulled, swinging him around like a human baseball bat and throwing him into the wally. He slammed into the wall hard. Again, he surprised me about quickly he got up. Suddenly, he brandished his sticks and came at me.
The speed of his attack was incredibly. While nowhere near as powerful as I was, he was much, much faster. Finally, one of the sticks broke through my defense and slammed right into my jaw, knocking me backwards. Instead of falling to the ground, I simply gathered myself and my momentum and that kept me on my feet.
"Who are you?"
"The name is Nightwing." he said shortly as he lowered his sticks. Something about him seemed familiar, I just couldn't place it. Suddenly, it hit me. I quickly drew a Batarang and threw it towards him. Rather than simply ducking it, he turned and ran. As he did, he bounced into a flip and then when he hit the floor again, he fired off the floor and performed a quadruple front flip. As he landed, he turned and looked at me with that same goofy grin that I remembered from all those years ago.
"Robin?"
"What took you so long, Bats?" he replied mockingly.
The man in front of me was my son, Dick Grayson. He looked phenomenal. During the time that I hadn't seen him, he had grown nearly two inches and gained twenty pounds in muscle. What had been a incredibly fit teenager and become a Olympic-level athlete. Dick was right and I was wrong. Someone was one my level and I was looking at him.
"Come home."
"I'll see you at the end of patrols." he said calmly, losing a little bit of the spark I had seen in him just moments before. Suddenly, he turned and jumped up into the ventilation again. By the time I got up onto the roof, he was gone.
I had trained him well.
4:11 AM
The Batcave
Bruce Wayne
"Computer, open file: Operation Bird-Down." I said as I sat down.
"Operation Bird-Down open." the computer replied.
"Change of status: Robin changed to Nightwing. Place him on the active list."
"Active list completed."
"Active list?" Jason asked as he began taking his uniform off.
"The active list is the list of any member of the Batman Family that is currently active. Dick has returned to active duty as Nightwing." I told him shortly.
"I thought you said that Dick betrayed you."
"Yeah." another voice rang out. "I thought you said that Dick betrayed you."
I turned and looked up at the top of the stairs to see Dick, standing in his civilian attire. He made his way slowly down the stairs until he reached the main floor. I stood up from where I was at and walked towards him. When we met at the bottom of the stairs, I noticed how much he had changed. He was my height now and while he didn't weigh nearly as much as I did, he was certainly much stronger than he had been before.
"Dick. Welcome home." I said to him sadly.
"Home?" Dick asked angrily. "Home, Bruce? This may be your home but it was simply where I lived! It was never home to me."
"Why?"
"Because you never let me feel like I was meant to be here. I was always your sidekick or your ward."
"Dick, you were never my ward."
Dick angrily stormed passed me and looked around. He began examining some of the new equipment when he noticed that Jason was still in the room. He quickly walked over to him.
"I'm sorry you had to be here for this. I'm Dick, by the way. You are?"
"Jason." he replied nervously. "Jason Todd."
"Nice to meet you." he said to his successor. "Now, do you mind if I talk to Bruce alone?"
"Nope. I'm going to bed." he said shortly before looking at me. "Night, Bruce."
"Goodnight, Jason." I said as I watched him run up the stairs to the rest of the house. Dick watched as he ran to the top and waited until the clock door was closed and locked before turning towards me.
"He's a good kid." Dick said.
"He's no Dick Grayson." I replied honestly.
"I'm sure you're selling him short."
"I'm not." I said quietly. "He's not a naturally fighter or detective. He's really had to work for what he has. He's getting much better, but he's still no Dick Grayson."
"Well, that doesn't matter anymore." Dick said as he began to march out. In that moment, I realized what I had missed out on.
"I'm sorry, Dick." I said, uttering the most painful sentence I had ever said in my entire life.
Dick stopped on the stairs and turned around slowly to me.
"You're sorry? That's great, Bruce." he replied, not doing much hide the scorn in his voice.
"I mean it, Dick. You were right. You should have been my partner. You really should have."
"Do you mean that?" Dick asked as he walked towards me.
"I do."
"Well, thanks, I guess." he said shortly.
"Please, just tell me how your life has been. I know you've been keeping touch with Alfred." I said as I offered him a chair at one of the tables.
"I've been fine." Dick said as he took his seat. "Two days after I left, I dropped out of the ROTC Program. I decided that I didn't want to be weighted down like that. Plus, I applied to Bludhaven College. Of course, I got in and I'm majoring in Economics."
"Economics? Really?" I asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I figured maybe one day when I'm done as a crimefighter, I'll have to find a real job." Dick replied, that ornery smile returning to his face.
"Well, you always know where you can find one."
"Good."
"Yeah, so I've been living in Bludhaven and doing some side work with the Titans."
"You were still working with the Teen Titans?"
The Teen Titans were a group of youthful heroes and sidekicks that had joined together to fight when the Justice League was captured by Darkseid. They continued to work together over the years and kept a rotating list of current and former members.
"Yeah, I don't anymore but up until about six months ago, I did. It was why I created Nightwing. For the most part, I had just been going to classes, living the college life. Then, one night, I got a call from Barbara."
"Barbara Gordon? You still see her?"
"Occasionally. She is going to Bludhaven too. Obviously, I wish I could see her more often but she's busy as hell and so I don't get to as often as I would like. Anyway, she called me and said that she had something to tell me."
"What was it?"
"Well, I went over there and she was in tears. I was there for nearly two hours before she said anything. I found out that she had nearly been raped by a senior behind one of the dorms. It was then that it hit me. I have these abilities. I have this training. I need to do something. So, I expanded Nightwing. I patrol in Bludhaven almost every night."
"Then, what were you doing in Gotham?" I asked him quickly.
"Those men are working with Blockbuster in Bludhaven. I followed them here to try and take them down."
"That's interesting. That bank is full of Maroni, Thorne and Falcone's money." I informed him.
"Wait, those three are working together. Why would they do that?"
"They aren't working together per se. However, they are pooling their money together to protect it easier from me."
"Really? That's fascinating." he said as he stood up. "I'll have to look into that on my end. I'm gonna go, Bruce."
"OK." I said as I followed him up the stairs. "Dick, I'm really sorry."
"I know, Bruce." he said softly as we reached the top.
"Does that mean you'll come back?"
Dick turned around and faced me as we reached the front door. The look on his face had completely changed from just a couple minutes ago. Instead of being happy and bright, he looked upset and downtrodden.
"No, Bruce, I'm not coming back."
"Why not?" I asked in confusion.
"I'm doing my own thing. Plus, I remember how you treated me. You may say that you're sorry and all that, but to be perfectly honest, I don't believe you. Tell your kid good luck." he said before turning around abruptly and opening the door. "I'll be in Gotham for the next few days. I'm sure I'll see you on patrols."
With that final farewell, he turned and left.
December 23, 1998
11:56 PM
Batman
A week after Dick's return, we had met up on patrols a few times. This night was one of those occurrences.
"Things have been quiet the last few nights." Nightwing said softly.
"No kidding." Jason replied next to me.
We were on the lookout for Blockbuster or any of the goons that Nightwing caught the other night or really anyone for that matter. Dick was right, things had been quiet recently.
Blockbuster was a man formerly known as Roland Desmond, despite the fact that he never went by that name now. He had been working for Thorne in Gotham City, forcing his younger brother to work for him under the influence of an untested steroid. When his brother died on one of the jobs that Desmond had given him, he went insane and tried the steroid. The result was remarkable. He was given immense strength at the expense of his intelligence.
So, Thorne or someone with funds at that level paid for him to be experimented on to try and regain some of that intelligence. They had been partially successful. He was no longer as strong as he had been but no longer was he as stupid as he had been. Unfortunately for him, he operated mostly in Bludhaven where Nightwing was planning on operating full time once he solved this case. His strength wouldn't be effective against him and he certainly was nowhere near as brilliant as my protege.
"Blockbuster isn't one for theatricality. He's just hiding."
"We don't know that." Nightwing replied. "He could be planning something under the orders of Thorne or whoever hired him."
"Or he could be living in an apartment complex outside of town."
We all turned around to see a young woman, no older than Dick, standing behind us. She was wearing a black spandex suit with a purple cape. Her cowl was crudely cut out of leather and covered three quarters of her face. However, her cowl couldn't contain some of her fire engine red hair.
Great. This is exactly what I needed. Some other person trying to help me.
"Who are you?"
"The name is Batgirl." she said confidently.
"I notice you don't have any Bat symbol on you."
"I haven't earned it yet." she said shortly.
"And you won't."
"Why don't you give her a shot?" Nightwing said from across the roof of the building are one. While Jason and I had been on the ready since "Batgirl" showed up, Nightwing had been slowly approaching her.
"Why would I do that?"
"She thinks she's a member of the Bat Family. See if she can do it." Nightwing replied with a smirk. Something about his whole demeanor right now didn't sit right with me. It sounded like he either knew her or had a good idea and he certainly wasn't sharing with me.
"Fine." I growled. "You've got one chance. If you fall behind at all tonight, get in our way or ignore a command from myself or Nightwing, that's it."
"Sounds good." she replied with that same smirk that Nightwing had just used. What was I getting myself into?
I turned around and reached down to my utility belt where I turned on my police scanner. I listened for a couple minutes while I noticed Jason, Nightwing, and Batgirl had come to the edge of the apartment building we were on to wait. W
We didn't have to wait long.
"We have a 2-1-1-S at The First Bank of Gotham. Crime in progress. Assailant appears to be alone, female, age 30-35, wearing a skin tight suit of some kind."
"2-1-1-S?" Jason asked.
"Silent burglary alarm." Batgirl replied before I could.
"She's right." I admitted. "We'd better get going. The First Bank is all the way across town."
The moment the words were out of my mouth, I turned and ran. While normally I would have jumped down in the Batmobile, the fact that there were four of us made that impossible. So, we sprinted across the rooftops. The First Bank was in Park Row, two and a half miles away. It was going to take us nearly fifteen minutes to get there this way. We would have to hurry if we hoped to stop her.
12:17 AM
Batman
As we approached the Bank, it was surrounded by cops. I immediately spotted Gordon and chose to jump off the nearest building and fall into a spot just behind him. Deciding quickly, I launched myself from the roof and glided quickly towards him. Once I was almost directly over top of him, I released my cape and dropped in behind him.
"Gordon."
Over the years, his reactions had varied. Tonight, there was no movement. He simply turned around and addressed me.
"What took you so long?"
"I'll explain later. What's the situation?"
"Cat burglar. There are two Egyptian carvings of the god Bastet in the main vault."
"The feline protector of the Egyptian Empire. Sounds like a feline obsession."
"I would say so."
I lifted my hand to my ear and pressed down on the button hidden inside my cowl that turned on my microphone that went to Jason.
"Create a perimeter, evenly spaced. I'm going in. Follow in five minutes."
"Who are you talking to?" Gordon asked in surprise.
"I'll explain later." I said before pulling out my grapnel and aiming it towards the roof of the Bank. With one shot, it grabbed hold of the sign on the roof and instantly pulled me off my feet towards the roof.
The moment I was up there, Jason spoke into the microphone.
"Perimeter secure. Nightwing is northeast of bank, Batgirl is west and I'm southeast."
Triangle perimeter. Jason set it up nicely.
"Good. Check in five. If I don't reply, come in."
I found the nearest ventilation panel and tore it off the vent. Quickly, I dropped myself down the vent and hit the panel at the bottom of the shaft. With a loud clang, I broke through it and fell to the floor of the top floor of the bank. Hopefully, she was so focused on her vault that she wouldn't hear that.
I ran to the elevator and pried open the elevator. Once I was inside, I dropped myself down on top of the elevator on the first floor, a twenty-eight story drop. I landed safely and once I did, I reached for my belt and pulled out my metal cutter. As quickly as I could, I cut my way through the roof of the elevator. Once I had made a whole big enough for me to fall through, I jumped inside and proceeded to pry the door open again, doing all of this as silently as I could.
Once I was through, I silently made my way towards the main vault. Sure enough, when I got there, a woman roughly my age sat in front of the vault, welding her way through the lock.
"You should have worked quicker." I said from the shadows.
My words startled the woman. She nearly fell over and stood up, looking around for me frantically.
"Where are you?" she yelled.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she replied mockingly. "I'm stealing those carvings. How did you know that I was here?"
"You set off a secondary silent alarm the moment you touched the vault."
She continued to spin in circles obviously looking for the voice that didn't have a voice.
"That's not possible. I shut the power off to the building." she explained.
"The vault in this building runs off a security generator housed in the basement. You should have planned better."
Suddenly, my wrist vibrated. I looked down at the screen and noticed that the five minute timer I had set had expired. They were coming in. Deciding that I was done wasting time, I leapt down from my place in the rafters and fell directly in front of her.
The shock frightened her into action. He swung her left leg in a high-arching kick towards my head. I quickly grabbed it and simply through it back. Suddenly, I looked at the gloves she had been wearing. While the fingers were still available, they had claws on them. Sharp claws. With a ferocity that I hadn't expected, she swung these claws towards my midsection, clipping me and cut straight through my armor.
Suddenly, from behind me, a batarang hit her directly in the head. I turned and saw Jason, Nightwing, and Batgirl with Jason's hand outstretched in obvious follow-up to the Batarang he had just thrown. She stood up, bleeding from her forehead.
"Didn't realize that the Batman needed back-up." she quipped.
"I don't. This just makes things easier. What is your name?"
"The name is Catwoman. That's all you need to know." she said as she swung again.
This time, I wasn't playing around. I blocked her swipe and throw a powerful uppercut directly into her stomach. Instantly, she dropped to the floor, coughing and gasping for air. Once I was sure that she was down, I turned to Jason.
"Call Gordon in. Then, the three of you get out of here. Go back to the Cave. All of you." I ordered, indicating that Batgirl needed to go back to the Cave.
Just as they took off, Gordon and about twenty cops came rushing in, guns drawn.
"Is she it?" she said, pointing his gun on the nearly unconcious person at my feet.
"Yes." I replied simply.
"Thanks." he said before looking up and noticing that I was gone.
1:15 AM
The Batcave
Batman
Forty minutes later, I pulled into the Batcave. Once the 'Mobile was parked, I jumped and and quickly approached the young woman know as Batgirl.
"Take off your cowl."
"What?" she exclaimed.
"I will not allow you inside this cave without knowing who you are. I can train you to join us but only after I know who you are."
"Fine. Don't get your panties all in a wad, Bruce." she said as she took of her cowl.
Now, I knew why Dick was smiling. Standing in front of me, clad in spandex, was Barbara Gordon. Slowly, I took off my own cowl and glared at her in the eyes.
"How long have you known?"
"About a month after Dick came to Hall. Dad's work with you guys came home a lot and he let me look over things occasionally. The financial burden of being Batman meant that he had to be rich or know someone who was rich. But, the addition of Robin made me certain that it was you two."
"What makes you think you can join us?"
"I've been training for years. I've been taking self-defense classes since I was six and gymnastics since I was five. I'm majoring in Forensic Science in GSU. I know I'm inexperienced but I also know that I can learn."
"Why do you want to help?" I questioned her.
"I've wanted to help you since you first showed up in Gotham. My dad talks about you a lot and I knew that he would never hire me as a Gotham cop so I just figured I should help you."
"Your father. We need to talk about that. How are you going to keep this from him?"
"Well, I don't live with him anymore. I moved into an apartment near campus last month. Also, my dad is a newly reinstated commissioner with a new girlfriend in a city where The Joker is still on the loose and you operate. He won't even notice."
Since when did my crusade for justice attract so many people? However, over the years, I had come to the realization. It was simply impossible for me to do this by myself.
"Here's how this will work. When Dick is in town, the two of you will work together. I trust that will not be a problem?" I said, noticing the large smile on both of their faces. God, I hope I'm not making a mistake.
"That's fine, Bruce." Dick replied.
"OK. When he isn't in town, you will patrol with myself and Jason. You will be given your own patrols when you prove to me that you have the stamina to do this. We meet here for patrols at 8 PM each night."
"Sounds good." she replied.
I stepped forward and extended my hand. "Welcome to the Family."
She took my hand and shook it fervently.
"Thanks for having me."