Chpt. XXXIV: Revelations

Dick sat in the large leather chair behind Bruce Wayne's desk with his legs crossed on the top surface of the desk. He held his phone with one hand & a glass of whiskey in the other. He had stumbled upon the whiskey as he poked around the large office, which resembled more like a library than anything. He found several bottles of hard liquor behind the desk chair on several shelves. He chose a bottle of Irish whiskey & began to pour it into one of Bruce's many glasses he had laid out by his drinks. Once he had sat down, he had a few sips of the drink, but after he had drank all of it, he went back to grab the whole bottle & kept it on the desk beside him. Dick looked through his phone & went through his contacts. He came across Roy's name & felt the sudden urge to call him.

Dick pressed the call icon on Roy's contact & waited for Roy to answer. After a few rings, Dick heard the staticy voice on the phone.

"Hello?" Roy said.

Dick sniffed. "Hey, Roy. What are you up to?"

"Uh, well...not much. I'm at Olympus right now. Jim & I are just kind of relaxing at the moment. Why? What's up?"

"Nothing's up. Nothing...really."

Roy was quiet for a brief moment. "Dick...did something happen?"

Dick let out a soft laugh. "Dude, I really don't know what happened to be fucking honest."

Roy sighed. "Oh god," he mumbled. "What is this about?"

Dick let out a deep shaky breath. "They left, Roy."

"Wait, what?"

"They left. Everyone. This morning, Raven got everyone to just pack some things & leave."

"Raven? Who's...oh, Rachel, never mind. But it's only been a few days. Does she think Cadmus has stopped tracing them?"

Dick shook his head. "No, man, it's not about Cadmus. It was me."

"What did YOU do?"

Dick let out another unstable laugh. "That's the fucking beauty of it, man. I really don't fucking know."

Roy kept silent for a few moments. He sighed. Dick could hear the frustration in his voice. "Alright, start from the beginning."

Dick let out a deep breath. He didn't know where he would start. Dick took another sip from the glass & spoke. "Okay. Last night, we went to a club. All of us. Rachel was sulking. Logan was being nervous, & Victor & Conner managed to blend in. Kori & I danced a little."

"Wait, I'm confused."

Dick sighed.

"You guys went to a club?"

"Yeah."

"How? Logan is fucking green & Victor is a fucking robot."

"Rachel did a cloaking spell or something."

"Oh. Okay...but who's Conner?"

Dick sighed. "We decided to call that one dude Conner. He was the shady guy who could fly & didn't have any memories of anything."

Roy was silent. "Okay. Sure. Continue."

Dick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, so we went clubbing. Then Nolan Drake came in out of nowhere & decided to toss smoke bombs at us. He shot up the whole club, Roy. We fought him & his men, all of us, but...he turned into something disgusting. Like, it was crazy."

"He turned into something disgusting?"

Dick groaned. "I can't even put it into words, he...he turned into a monster. His skin melted off of his head. His skull went up in flames. Maggots were dripping out of his fucking head. Shit like that."

"Whoa," Roy murmured into the phone. "That's really scary, actually."

Dick nodded. "Yeah. I don't know how it happened. I must've just lost a lot of blood at the time, or got knocked in the head hard. I don't know. But eventually the cops showed up & everyone scattered."

"Okay...so the club wasn't it?"

"I guess not. We came back to the mansion, & everyone was already drained & just really out of it. Nobody felt good. I went to the kitchen for a bit, & then suddenly I'm waking up in bed the next morning."

"Wait," Roy interrupted. "You...you just lost me."

Dick sighed. "That's where I'm lost too. I'm missing a good few hours of my memory."

Roy was silent on the other end for a brief moment. Dick had been working this puzzle out all day. Dick could tell Roy was at it too.

"From the kitchen...to your bed."

Dick continued. "When I woke up to check on everyone, I found Logan & Victor downstairs, like, waiting. I asked what for. They told me that Rachel told them that they all needed to leave Wayne Manor. Logan got in contact with one of his friends, Chris Freedom or someone. He was gonna crash with him for a few days. Victor was gonna take Conner with him to stay with a friend, Ron Evers."

"Rachel made everyone decide it was time to leave?"

Dick scoffed. "I guess. I ran up to Rachel's room. She was with Kori in there, & Rachel were packing up random clothes. These weren't even THEIR clothes. I think she was stealing some of Bruce's girlfriend's clothes or something."

Roy let out a quiet laugh. "Dick, Bruce Wayne can afford to buy his girl some more clothes."

Dick let out a deep, frustrated breath, & continued. "I ask Rachel why she was making everyone leave. I told her that I wasn't sure if things were okay for them to be out on the streets, especially after the night of clubbing before failed. Rachel looked at me & slapped me. She told me I had no right to act as if I cared about any of them. Kori tried to calm Rachel, but Rachel was furious. She called me a liar, a pig, & some other shit. She left. Kori hugged me & told me she was sorry, but she had to do what she did for everyone's sake. Then they all left."

Dick sighed. He let Roy take his time to process what he had just told him.

"Uh," Roy started. "Okay. Rachel...was mad about something you did. But Kori seemed to know what it was that you did too, but...you don't remember."

"Right," Dick said. He was unsure about where the conversation was headed.

"Kori didn't tell you what happened because she thought she was helping you & everyone else, but...Rachel knew, somehow."

Dick shrugged. "It's Rachel. She knows everything."

"True," Roy said behind a laugh. "But...I think if Kori thought not letting you know was the safest thing to do, then maybe you should trust her judgement."

Dick nodded softly. "I...I mean, I guess." Dick stared at his glass of whiskey & took another sip. "I woke up with my bed wet."

Roy was silent. "Like...you pissed your bed?"

Dick shook his head. "No...I don't think so. It didn't smell like piss."

Roy was quiet again. "Huh…" he said outloud. "Yeah...okay, I figured it out."

"What?"

"Dick, if you haven't realized what has happened by now, then it's definitely for the best."

Dick sighed. "I don't even know, man."

Roy paused. "You're slurring your words," he pointed out. "Are you drunk, Dick? You sound drunk."

Dick let out a scoff. "Yeah. I found Bruce's liquor collection. You should come by & we can have a real drink together."

"Sure thing, man. Stay safe. Good luck."

As Dick heard Roy hang up on him, he groaned in frustration. Dick had hoped that he would feel better once he got his feelings off of his chest. He didn't. In fact, he only felt more lost & alone. He was abandoned over a something that he still hadn't managed to understand. He had Cadmus looming over his mind, & Nolan Drake presenting himself to be an even more imminent threat. He felt as though he had lost complete control of his life. Everything was going to shit.

Dick picked up his almost empty glass of whiskey & downed the remainder of the bitter liquor, then angrily chucked the glass across the study, shattering the glass cup into a billion tiny glass pieces. Dick felt the effects of the alcohol hitting him. He could see his vision tilt as he began to get dizzy, unable to stand straight. His head began to throb & his chest began to burn. Dick reached for the whole bottle of whiskey, only to find that he had emptied that as well.

Dick grunted & went to the shelves, where he surveyed the rest of the liquor. Dick came across a few bottles of wine, chardonnay, bourbon, scotch, & tequila. Dick sighed & grabbed the bourbon, popping the top off of the bottle & drinking it from the neck. Dick began to observe the rest of shelves, as they were each filled with books. Dick had never seen this many books before. Even the orphanage's library didn't have as many books as Bruce Wayne did. Dick wondered if Bruce Wayne had ever even read any of these books.

One book stood out to Dick, however. Stuck in between a few poetry books by Edgar Allan Poe & several Christian novels was a book with no name labeled across its spine. This struck Dick as odd. He bit his lip in wonder. Why would Bruce have a book with no name placed here? Why did he organize this shelf the way he did? Poe & Chesterton? One spoke of death & one spoke of life. In an odd way, they related to each other only in the fact that they were completely opposite ends of the spectrum. However, the split between the two with a blank book…

"Dick, pick up the fucking book," Dick spoke to himself outloud. He glanced to his side, actually startling himself. He thought someone else had spoken to him for second. Dick shook his nerves off & grabbed the blank titled book. However, when he pulled it off of the shelf, part of the book was stuck to the actual wood.

"Whoa," Dick thought to himself. "You're finally gonna see a hidden door in a mansion like in the movies."

Dick tugged on the book once more, but eventually the book fell down to Dick's feet.

Dick stared down at the book in disappointment. "Man," he mumbled to himself. He reached down & grabbed the book & inspected it. There was nothing on the cover or the back to indicate a title. Dick flipped through the pages, & found that they were blank. Eventually, as he flipped through, he found something stuck in between the pages. Dick reached inside & removed a small chrome clicker. The button was black.

Dick laid the empty fake book aside & inspected the clicker. It looked so...futuristic. He felt as though he would travel forward in time if he clicked it. Dick laughed at that absurdity, but his laughed quickly faltered as he remembered Victor the Cyborg & Raven the Demon. Dick sighed. He was suddenly frightened by the clicker, but for some impulsive reason, he clicked it anyway.

Suddenly, Dick heard a loud groaning noise. Dick, drunk & startled, threw the clicker at the wall & began to back away. He tripped on his own feet as he tried to walk backwards, then crawled the rest of the way across the office floor. He managed to get less than halfway when he noticed the back wall of the office study was...shifting.

Dick stared & watched in awe as the entire bookshelf split into two separate walls, revealing a dark & eerie hall. The walls groaned with such a ferocity, but also hummed as though it were an electromechanical being. Dick slowly stood up in fear, but approached the wall with hesitance.

Dick surveyed the walls & peered into the hall. He suddenly realized that the hall was not a hall but, in fact, an entrance to what seemed like a cavern. The carpet rug & wooden shelf walls had suddenly been transfigured into wet & moist stone & rock. Dick could hear water quietly drip from the ceiling. Dick's heart began to pound. His palms were sweaty. His slight buzz was not helping him process this sudden surprise either.

Dick reached for his phone in his pocket & clicked on the flashlight app on his phone. He lit the path in front of him, taking note of the stalagmites sticking up from the stone ground & the stalactites sloping down from the ceiling. Dick began stepping through the cavern, stepping around the stones jagging out from all corners. He stepped carefully, avoiding slipping on the moist & slippery ground. He lit the path in front of him but saw no end in the pathway. Dick began to panic. Should he turn around?

Dick continued to make his way through the tunnel, following his gut instinct. He decided to let his curiosity discovery what he could under Wayne Manor.

As he stepped through the tunnel, he noticed the solid rock began to transform into a metal surface. The ground had shifted into from a cave into a man-made walkway platform. Dick wondered if it was financed by Wayne Enterprises. Bruce could've easily renovated an underground cave beneath his house to become something else. But what was it?

The tunnel led out to an opening. Dick found himself standing on a long catwalk, extending across a long distance from one end of the cave to another. Dick examined the catwalk, taking note of the light beams that were laid out across the edges of the metal surface. This was definitely a high tech design.

Dick noticed a sleek modern stairway leading down to a lower level. Dick turned & began going down those stairs, exploring more. As he went down the stairs, he looked to his right & saw that, inside of the stone wall, was a tunnel that traversed downward. It had a metal pole, similar to a firefighter's pole, that seemed to reach all the way above the cavern, but the metal pole was not upright. It was tilted, as though it were leaning against the tunnel wall. It must have been broken.

Dick continued to travel down the stairs until he reached the bottom. He surveyed the lower level. He was now standing on what he could only describe as a giant helipad, only it was clear there was no helicopter within the cave. To his left was a large computer system that outstretched across the entire length of the cave's wall. The computer screens reached all the way up towards the bottom of the catwalk. Dick walked towards the brightly lit computer screens, stunned by the fact that a computer system that seemed ahead of its time would be this functional underneath an entire mansion, inside of a cave. Dick needed to see how efficient the system was.

Dick made his way to the large black chair that was placed across from the computer system. Dick examined the seat & sat down on it. He positioned himself underneath the computer's keyboard system & began to fiddle with the mouse. He looked up at the computer screen & saw that there was no need for him to access the computer using login information. Dick sighed in relief. Dick saw several tabs opened up on the light blue screen. One read "GCPD". Dick clicked on it. It was a program that contained access to the Gotham City police department's database. Dick saw several files on different criminals in the city. One file was listed as "Joe Chill". Another one was listed as "Matches Malone". There were others; "Roman Sionis", "Carmine Falcone", & "Alberto Falcone", who Dick assumed was his son. "Edward Nygma" caught Dick's attention. Was this the father of the Ed he met in that abandoned apartment? "Thomas Elliot" was another name listed in the archives. "Lonnie Machin" was also there. Not a lot of these names held much value to Dick.

Then he saw "Anthony Zucco".

Chills went down Dick's spine. The name itself was enough to make Dick's blood run cold. It was something that reminded him of his sinful crime & his dark past. Dick clicked on the file & examined the contents. There was photographs of Zucco's body, laid across the ground lifeless. A pool of blood was seen as blood dripped from cuts & stab wounds all over his body. Dick gagged at the sight of his own murder. The ME reports indicated that the wounds were, in fact, from a knife. The crime report showed that the detectives had no lead, & had dropped the case. Nothing about Dick was in the file.

Dick sighed. He was glad to know that nobody was tracing his past back to him. But...why would Bruce Wayne have a secret mega computer that had access to police records?

Dick exited out of the GCPD tab of the software & began surveying other saw several tabs for cities such as Metropolis, Central City, Blüdhaven, Coast City, Jump City, & Ivy Town. Aside from cities, there was a tab that read "FBI". Dick scoffed. There was also "CIA" & "MI-6". Dick wondered what Bruce had to do with these federal agencies.

Dick noticed a tab listed as "Justice League Initiative". He had never heard of the Justice League. It sounded like a made up organization. Dick clicked on it. He found only a few tabs. One was listed "Diana Prince". Another was "Barry Allen". Dick also saw "Hal Jordan", "Arthur Curry", "William Batson", &..."Clark Kent".

Clark's name stuck out to Dick. Where had he heard that name before? The name was so familiar…

Dick clicked on the file listed as "Clark Kent". The file opened up to several documents. A few were federal government documents listed as top secret. There was a few FBI documents, & several that were listed as documents kept by the United States Air Force unit in Area 51. Several documents came from newspaper articles from Smallville, Kansas, describing a UFO crash site. Some came from newspaper articles from Metropolis, that described a mysterious being caught seen flying across the city, performing heroic feats. There was even a photo of the man caught in action. It was listed under "Superman".

Dick clicked on the photo to enlarge it. The man wore a blue body suit with a red S across his chest. He wore red boots, red gauntlets, & a red cape over his shoulders. His face was clear & his hair was dark & slicked back, except for a single curl that laid across his forehead. His jawline & chin were very defined. His face...his face itself rung a bell in Dick's mind.

Then it came to him. It was Clark Kent, the newswriter from Metropolis that Dick met on his way out of Gotham City.

Dick sat back against the chair, shocked. He knew this man. He met him. He went into his home. He paid for Dick's bus fare. This man...who the hell was he?

Dick began to investigate the files more. There was a document labeled "Bio". Dick clicked on it & began to read it. It was written by Bruce Wayne himself. It was mainly just several notes on the traits of Superman. There was superhuman strength. He also had an abnormal invulnerability to most cellular destruction. His skin had solar-radiation absorption properties. The man could also fly, had superhuman speed & hearing. He had x-ray vision & heat vision. The man had traits of what Bruce had described as a "Kryptonian".

"What the fuck is a Kryptonian?" Dick asked himself outloud.

Dick pulled his phone out of his pocket & began snapping photos of the computer screen, making sure to get the full details on Clark Kent, or Superman, or whoever he was. He needed to get answers at some point.

Once Dick got his information, he closed out of all of the tabs on the computer software & got out of his seat. He began to examine the rest of the contents of the large & immersive cave. Dick wandered towards the center of the large helipad, where he saw a long walkway that extended from one side of the helipad. It extended through a very deep tunnel of the cave, almost like a long runway. In the center of the helipad, however, was a large black vehicle. The vehicle resembled a tank with large monster truck sized wheels. As Dick approached the vehicle, he noticed the vehicle had bullet marks on it. Dick knew he had seen this vehicle before.

Suddenly, the vehicle began to hum with energy, as if it were a mechanical beast awakening from a nap. Dick looked up at the vehicle, & suddenly a female robotic voice emitted from it. "Friendly identified: Richard Grayson".

Dick gasped softly to himself. This was the Batman's vehicle.

"Oi!" Alfred's voice echoed through the cave. Dick spun around, trying to pinpoint where the voice came from. Finally, Dick spotted Alfred on top of the catwalk, near the entrance from the tunnel leading to the study. Alfred began to make his way down the stairs. "What are you doing, Master Grayson?"

"What the fuck is this?" Dick cried. "What the fuck, Al? Is this what I think it is?" Dick pointed at the vehicle. "What the fuck, man!"

"Master Grayson, please calm down," Alfred said softly, attempting to sooth Dick as he approached him.

"Don't tell me to calm down, old man!" Dick growled. He took several steps back from Alfred. "Why the fuck does Bruce Wayne have a secret passage in his library? Why does he have a fucking supercomputer that has files from the GCPD & the FBI? And if you can't answer any of that, then by all means, PLEASE tell me why the FUCK he has the fucking Batman's car in a fucking cave underneath his fucking mansion!"

Alfred shook his head. "Richard, this is far more complex than you could ever understand."

Alfred reached for Dick, but Dick swatted his hand away. "Don't you fucking touch me, & don't you fucking call me Richard. You don't know me like that, & I certainly do not know you."

Alfred's soft old face suddenly grew stern & cold. Alfred reached for Dick once more, but Dick reacted in pure adrenaline & pushed Alfred back. Suddenly, Alfred shot a firm fist straight into Dick's nose. Dick stumbled back, clutching his face. Alfred had swung a really strong punch.

"I don't want to do this, Master Grayson, but you leave me no choice."

Dick looked up at Alfred, who opened his hands, as if ready to grab Dick & tackle him. Dick spun around & made a run for it, making his speedy way around the large vehicle. Alfred managed to run the opposite direction around the car, & made another successful punch land on Dick's eye.

Dick fell back to the ground. "Son of a bitch!"

Alfred grabbed Dick by the collar of his shirt & held him up. "I don't want to restrain you, boy, but you're proving yourself to be quite difficult to cooperate with!"

"And I don't wanna hurt an old man, but fuck it!" Dick snarled & headbutted Alfred, knocking the butler off guard. Dick fell back, but managed to quickly stand upright, & ran back around the vehicle. As Alfred struggled to get back up, Dick managed to activate the vehicle's sensor, opening the door. Dick slid inside of the vehicle & quickly slammed the door shut. Dick surveyed the familiar cockpit of the vehicle, & remembered that the car was auto piloted. "Get me out of here!"

The vehicle began to hum. "Destination: out of here," the female AI voice spoke through the cockpit. The vehicle began to rumble. Dick turned to the cockpit's holographic displays in front of the driver's seat. Dick ran over to it & strapped himself in the driver seat & watched as vehicle slowly gained speed. It sped down the long runway. Dick held onto the armrests of the driver seat as the vehicle shook from increasing speak, as though it were an airplane taking off of a tarmac. He braced for the horrifying possibility of impact, as he was unsure whether or not there was even an exit at the end of the tunnel.

Dick tried to glance back behind him, but realized there was no visible view of the vehicle's back. Dick had no idea what was behind him or if Alfred had managed to catch up to Dick. Sudden, Dick began to ask himself questions. Why the hell had Alfred try to attack him? How had he learned how to fight?

Suddenly, the truth that for a second was seemingly impossible...began to seem possible. The training that Bruce had offered...his advanced skill in combat. Bruce knew how to fight. Maybe he taught Alfred as well. Or did Alfred teach Bruce…? Maybe it was purely for self-defense. Maybe neither of them actually fought crime dressed as a bat.

Dick scoffed to himself. He was riding the Batmobile out of a cave underneath Wayne Manor. He couldn't lie to himself any longer.

Suddenly, the vehicle jolted up, shifting in its trajectory. It had suddenly began speeding up a steep slope. Dick looked through the computer screens emitting the front of the vehicle. It suddenly showed an opening, as though Dick were getting closer & closer to a gate slowly opening. A gate that was opening...not fast enough.

Dick leaned back against his seat & shielded himself, bracing for impact against the edges of the gate. The vehicle jerked back, but continued to accelerate forward &, for a moment, felt as though it were up in the air. Suddenly, the vehicle met the ground again, causing another rough impact against the vehicle. Dick glanced out of the screen & saw a lake before him. The Batman's car was driving across a lake.

Dick began to feel himself gasp & breath hard. He felt panicky. He was afraid that the car would suddenly fall underwater. Dick realized he never learned how to properly swim. He couldn't even open his eyes underwater. He was as good as dead if the vehicle submerged into the lake.

But by some miracle, it didn't. The vehicle carried Dick across the entire lake & into a road in some nearby woods. Dick relaxed as he felt rocky gravel underneath the wheels. He was on solid ground again.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Dick.

"Hey, uh...car. Where are you taking me?"

"I am directing you out of here," the AI announced.

"Uh...sure," Dick responded. "But we're out of the cave now. So where are we going NOW?"

The AI suddenly was silent.

"Can you answer that question?" Dick asked.

"Mr. Wayne knows where I am taking you," the AI spoke. "If you wish to know where I am taking you, feel free to ask Mr. Wayne."

"Shit," Dick grunted to himself. "He's tracking us?"

"Mr. Wayne knows all whereabouts of this vehicle."

Dick sighed. "Okay...well, then, can you tell me why Bruce Wayne has this car?"

"For nightly affairs," the AI spoke.

"Son of a bitch," Dick mumbled to himself.

"Are there any more questions?" the AI asked.

Dick shook his head. "I just wanna get out of here whenever you can make the first stop out of town."

"Where to, Mr. Grayson?"

Dick shrugged. "Blüdhaven, I don't care."

The vehicle began to hum, driving Dick farther out of the woods & into the city.

Dick woke up to the sound of gunfire. He shot out of his seat & crouched back down on his knees, covering his head. For a second, he had forgotten that he was inside of an armored vehicle.

Dick glanced up on the computer screen, trying to catch sight of his attackers. A few thugs on the street with assault rifles were shooting at Dick. Dick rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Dick was about to open his mouth to command the AI, but the vehicle had already began to hum, preparing its cannon. Suddenly, Dick heard cries & more louder gunfire from outside of the vehicle. Dick glanced back at the computer screen. The men were dead.

Dick waited for the vehicle to continue its drive, but nothing happened. Dick raised an eyebrow, but eventually he heard the whirring sound emitting from the vehicle. A hissing sound was coming from the other end of the vehicle. It was damaged.

Dick clenched his fists & groaned. He stepped towards the door, which opened as Dick approached it, & exited the vehicle. He carefully stepped over the bleeding dead bodies underneath him & observed his surroundings. The vehicle was stuck in an alley, with a thick foggy air to cloud Dick's further vision. He couldn't see past halfway through the road across the street. Dick felt a strange shiver down his spine. He turned & glanced behind him, but saw nothing down the deep alleyway. Dick turned back to the street, where he saw the silhouette of a familiar being.

"No!" Dick cried out to the Batman. "Go away!" Dick turned back towards the dark alley & began running down it. He didn't hesitate to bolt away from the Batman. He needed to leave town.

Dick leaped up onto a large dumpster & ran up the brick wall beside it, getting enough height to jump up into the air & grabbing onto a nearby fire escape. He swiftly climbed up the fire escape & ran across the clanky metal stairs, making his way up. He continued to run up, but suddenly came across a broken stair that did not reach the next floor. Dick turned behind him & saw a black hook latch onto the railing of the fire escape, with the Batman gliding up towards the railing.

Dick quickly turned towards the other side of the fire escape & leaped off of the railing, coming in contact with another nearby fire escape. He swung himself over the railing & crawled through an open window. He found himself inside of a small living room. An old man & woman sat on their couch watching TV. Dick stood there, unsure of how to proceed. After a few moments of them not noticing him, Dick darted behind the couch, out of the couple's peripheral vision, & swung the door open. As he was about to step out, he caught sight of the Batman enter through the window. The old woman saw him & began to scream a weak scream. The old man howled out & reached for a nearby bat & tried to swing at the Batman. Batman grabbed the wooden object with ease & snapped it in half. He stepped around the old man & slowly made his way towards Dick.

Dick turned & ran down the apartment hallway & made his way to an emergency exit. Dick glanced at the door, then back down the hall, where the Batman was nearby. Dick turned back to the door & sighed, unsure of whether it would lead him up or down. Regardless, Dick needed to go.

Dick bolted through the door & began running up the stairs. He climb the stairs faster than he ever thought he would, making sure the Batman would not catch him. He suddenly realized he could have ran down instead. He looked over the stairwell to see where the Batman was. He was a few floors down, but held a grapple gun in his hand. He aimed it up in the air, attempting to shoot himself up high.

Dick cursed as the hook shot up & the Bat flew close over Dick's head. Dick halted & ran through a door to his side. He found himself down another apartment hall. Dick ran down that hall & kept running. He noticed a window at the end of the window. Dick began to pick up speed, then bent his head into his chest & leaped out of the window, crashing through the sharp & jagged glass. Dick rolled out into the air, losing his sense of direction, but did not feel fear. He timed his glide, & stuck his legs out just as he felt himself sliding out onto the gravel of the next door building roof. He skidded down a few feet, but picked himself back up & continued to run.

Dick ran & ran until he reached the other end of the building, where he leaped across once more with such ease. He rolled onto the roof of the next door building & swiftly stood back up, shifting back into his run. He saw a group of a few people further down the roof. Maybe they could help him.

"Help!" Dick called out. "The Batman is trying to kill me!"

As Dick screamed & approached the group, he realized that they were not friendly Gothamites. They were thugs sorting out a drug deal. They were thugs that Dick had interrupted. They were also thugs that Dick had brought the Batman to.

"What'd that fucking kid say?" one of the thugs grunted.

"I think he said the Batman was trying to kill him," another thug answered.

"The fucking Batman?" a third cried.

The fourth thug approached Dick & grabbed him by his collar. "Where is the Bat?" he growled.

"Behind us!" Dick croaked.

The thug turned Dick around & wrapped his large bicep around Dick's neck, then placed a warm barrel against his temple. "Wherever you are, Bats, don't come any closer!" he called out into the night. "I'm gonna shoot the kid!"

Dick's chest began to heave heavily. He didn't want to make a move against the thug holding him because the other lackies might've had their own weapons with them. He didn't want to make a sudden move & give the thug a reason to want to shoot him. He'd have to stay put if he was going to have any chance of surviving.

Dick watched as the Batman ran fast & swiftly across the roofs, almost gliding across the urban landscape. Once the thugs were close enough to see the Batman, the Bat slowed his run down to an aggressive stomp.

The thug holding Dick aimed his gun at the Bat. "Stay back, you freak!" When the Batman continued to approach them, the thug cocked his gun. "I'm fucking warning you! I'll shoot!"

The Batman gave a slight grin, almost taunting the poor thug. Dick slowly shook his head, attempting to warn the thug. The thug's arm flexed as he pulled the trigger over & over again, shooting at the Bat. The bullets bounced & ricocheted off of the armored vigilante. Suddenly, a small blade flew from the Bat's hip & passed right by Dick's face, finally slicing through the thug's forehead.

The thug fell lifelessly to the ground, sliding down Dick's back. He felt a small warm splatter of blood against Dick's face. He wiped it off & quickly ducked, as he sense other Batarangs would be tossed.

The other thugs each ran towards the Bat foolishly, each with their own melee weapon. One lunged at the Batman with a powerful punch, but the Bat dodged the punch & pushed the thug into the ground. The next man swung a crowbar at the Batman, quickly losing it as the Batman grabbed it in his own hands & brought it down on the thug's back. The thug fell in front of the last thug, who tripped over the body. As he struggled to stand back up in front of the Batman, the Bat swung the back of his hand across the thug's face, knocking him back down into the ground.

Dick stood & looked around, realizing that the Batman had single handedly taken out all of the thugs. Dick felt his heart race again. What the fuck was the Bat going to do to him?

No. Dick couldn't be afraid anymore. He had no reason to be afraid anymore. He had to stop lying to himself. The Batman was just a man.

"I know it's you, Bruce," Dick called out into the night.

The Batman stood in his place, almost like a soldier awaiting a command. He could see the slight twitch in the arm & biceps, as though he were possibly a bit nervous. It could have also been the adrenaline still pumping through his blood & veins.

"I can explain," the Batman spoke, but in a familiar voice rather than the low deepthroat voice he had become used to. It was Bruce.

Dick shook his head. "What the fuck, Bruce? What am I supposed to even say? How do I deal with this?"

"I'll explain everything, Dick, but please, I need you to come back home with me."

"NO!" Dick cried out, echoing through the dark night. "No, you DON'T get to tell me to go home with you. That fucking mansion isn't home. Home isn't where I'm lied to."

The Batman shook his head. "You know," he started in a low voice, "You're pretty self-righteous for a kid who's been lying to me ever since I took you in."

"You KIDNAPPED me!" Dick howled. "You MADE me come with you, no questions asked! I had no say in the matter!" Dick began to approach the Bat. He reached down & grabbed one of the fallen thugs' crowbar & swung it towards the Batman, who dodged Dick. "And don't you DARE try to give me shit for my morals! YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!"

Dick held the crowbar low between his legs. He heaved heavily as his chest & shoulders rose up & down with every deep breath he took. He was out of breath. He had really felt his entire rage & anger lash out at Bruce.

The Batman slowly reached for the crowbar, which Dick let go of with ease, & dropped it. "I'm not asking to be your father. I never asked to be your father. I never wanted to be your father, Richard. All I'm asking is that you let me explain everything to you."

Dick stared at the Bat. The mask wasn't emitting the bright light like it did the first time Dick met him. Dick noticed the human eyes underneath the mask. They were calm blue eyes. For some reason, this soothed Dick.

Dick sighed. "I need a drink too," he said softly.

The Batman hung his head low, nodding in agreement.