Hey guys! Inky here.
A Small Voice got a concussion, which is why she's not the one uploading this chapter. ASV's fine, but she can't look at screens for too long. So, instead of making you wait any longer for the next chapter, she told me to go ahead and post this, as I'm already out of school and actually have free time.
Any mistakes/errors/etc. that you see are most probably my fault, and Young Justice/DC are not owned by ASV or I.
Yes, this is almost exactly the same chapter that was uploaded 10 hours ago. We uploaded the wrong version, and accidentally cut out an entire paragraph
Chapter 29
Aftermath
The second they slipped through the portal entrance, the wind assaulted them like sand on a beach, blowing at such a high speed and velocity that it felt like shards of glass were cutting into their skin. Damian felt Dick tighten his grip and curl around hesitantly forced his eyes open and peeked his head up a bit around Dick to see what was happening. Nothing could be heard above the rush of the wind.
The swirl of colors was confusing, painful on the eyes, and honestly made him want to puke. Dick's eyes were squeezed closed in pain from the wind, but he was doing a good job of shielding Damian. Damian only felt small flicks in the small gaps where he was unprotected by either the harness or Dick's body. He could see a circle showing the room they had come from growing rapidly smaller behind them. Suddenly, it exploded outward, briefly growing in size before flames and the edges of the circle impacted with Dick. Damian quickly scrunched up again as he felt Dick jolt. The circle closed completely less than ten seconds later.
The colors became even more erratic, striking at the two boys, mostly impacting and sticking to Dick. They were like a bucking horse or an angry snake or like an injured kitten striking out at the unfamiliar beings that passed by it. Damian watched in fascination as the colors seemed to be absorbed into his older brother's skin. He peeked behind him, towards their destination. A circle rushed closer, showing a similar destination to that which they just left, sterile, metallic, but not on fire. Then, that circle disappeared in the swirl of color. A new circle, filled with darkness, appeared, yet there was a much more comfortable feeling than where they'd been before or even where they were now.
They shot out through the new circle. Lightning fast, Dick yanked out the line of rope he'd had Damian make into a makeshift grappling hook and threw it with expert precision at a stalactite. The rope caught just in time and allowed them to swing over to a higher platform. Dick landed in a roll, carefully keeping Damian from getting squished. The explosion followed them out burning through the rope. Luckily, they had already landed and Dick quickly put the end near them out. He breathed heavily for a moment, which Damian used to check that Batkitty still had his cape.
"Are you alright?" The older boy breathed out in Romani. Damian nodded. Dick smiled, although his breathing still seemed a bit forced. He pushed up with one arm, keeping the other wrapped around his baby brother, and looked around. The smile slipped as he took in his surroundings. He groaned. "Rahat."
"What?"
"Wrong Batcave." At that moment, a thickset man dressed in a bat costume stormed out from the shadows towards the two boys. He was tall, scary, and had red eyes and stubble around his mouth. Dick wavered, his strength leaving him.
"Who are you? How did you find this place?" Not-Batman demanded.
Damian's brave older brother chose that moment to spasm and pass out, breath faltering.
"Dick?" Damian asked. He listened for a moment, but Dick was barely breathing. "Dick?" Wait… He wasn't breathing. Dick wasn't breathing! Damian looked at Not-Batman, the only person in the room who, no matter how scary he was, might be able to help. "He's… He's not breathing."
Not-Batman stared at him and tilted his head. "Speak English." He growled.
Damian burst into tears.
Jason stared in shock as the building burst and then collapsed, burying four leaguers and any kids still inside. Superboy had exited loaded down with kids a mere thirty seconds before. He had yet to find his brother, but not for lack of trying. Flash had not reported finding him amongst the kids on the truck, so that meant Dick was either dead, inside, or acting his namesake and not approaching Jason.
The crowd of kids around seemed to have a lot of mixed feelings about watching their prison basically vanish. They seemed to be stuck between relief, happiness, and heavy shock. Some of the kids cheered as it went down, but others burst into tears with the culmination of what must be an incredibly stressful day. He glanced around at his teammates. Artemis was comforting some of the younger kids who were crying, and M'gann was standing near a sandy haired kid. They were both staring at the collapsed building in shock. M'gann had a hand over her mouth, and seemed to be holding back tears. Wally was scanning the kids again, also looking for Dick. The two's eyes met, the hopelessness of their situation sinking in. If Dick was still inside… And none of the leaguers had reported finding him…
Jason wrenched his gaze from Wally's and frantically searched out his father. Batman was standing several feet from the batplane, facing the collapsed building. A hand was on his earpiece, probably trying to contact the leaguers inside. Jason made a beeline for him, weaving through the crowd of kids as he made the fastest time he could.
"Batman?" He asked pulling up next to his father. Batman's head jerked to face him, and then, seemingly uncaring of the potential audience, he pulled Jason into a hug. Jason stiffened. Batman was shaking, and since when did the BATMAN hug?
"Batman?" He asked again, his voice small. "Batman, I couldn't… He wasn't…" Batman shook his head, but didn't say anything. After a minute or so, he pulled back, and straightened up. He put a hand on Jason's shoulder and guided him into the Batplane, which had just finished loading kids. They squeezed their way to the cockpit, Batman pressing a button to raise the ramp on the way.
Batman pushed his son down into a chair and strapped him in, before sitting down himself. He took the copilot controls next to Alfred.
"Sir?" Alfred asked, looking around for a different Wayne.
"Prep for takeoff, Alfred."
"What about…" Jason started.
"Prep for takeoff!"
Alfred flipped the switch and pressed the intercom to speak with the kids in the cargo hold.
"Welcome aboard the batplane. Batman and I will be flying you to the Belgian Embassy and then returning for more of your friends. There are other Justice Leaguers already there who will protect you and help you get situated until we can return you to your homes. I assure you that everyone there wishes only to help you. Please strap yourselves in to the best of your ability and hold on. Please stay seated for the duration of the flight. We will be taking off momentarily."
Alfred turned off the intercom and did his final preflight checks. They took off. Jason stayed silent.
"Blue Jay, you will be joining the group at the embassy."
"What? But-"
"No discussion."
"But Bruce, what about-?"
"I need you far away from those people."
"Master Bruce…"
"No names in costume."
"Well, Master Batman, I believe we require a bit of explanation."
Batman huffed, and then ran a hand over his head. He pulled the cowl off, facing them as Bruce. Jason responded by taking his mask off.
"Is the intercom off?"
"Yes sir. I just checked."
Bruce nodded. "I'm not sure if you saw Alfred, but the building exploded and then collapsed."
"I believe I may have heard something, but that does not explain why you were so eager to leave with Master Blue Jay as quickly as possible."
"Before… the building exploded. Right before. Miss Martian connected me to Dick."
"Really? That's great."
Bruce winced, and looked at the floor. He took a deep breath. "He was still inside, trapped. He said there were bombs and they had made a safe zone underground, but he wasn't in the safe zone."
He faced Jason. Jason shook his head, tears building up.
"He wanted me to tell you…
"No." Bruce met Jason's eyes and put a tentative hand on the boy's shoulder.
"He wanted me to tell you that he loved you and that he was proud of you." The tears overflowed. Jason shrugged the hand off.
"If he's so proud of me, then he can tell me himself!"
"Jason…"
"No! I refuse to believe he's dead. Not when… He's hung on this long… It doesn't make sense he would go now!"
"Jason…"
"GO BACK AND FIND HIM!"
Bruce sighed. "Jason, right before the building collapsed, Dick stopped responding, and the last things he thought indicated that something went wrong down there. There was a surge of pain before the link cut off abruptly. I know you don't want to accept it, I don't either, but Dick is gone. He's not coming back."
"Sirs, I'm sorry to interrupt." They both turned their heads towards Alfred, "but we're approaching the compound. It would be prudent to put your masks back on now." Bruce looked back at his son and gave his shoulder a brief squeeze.
"Take a few deep breathes." Jason nodded and did so, scrubbing away his tears. "Brave face. I'll be back later. Stay here." Jason nodded again, and put his mask on. Bruce pulled his cowl on, becoming Batman once more.
Alfred turned on the intercom. "We'll be arriving shortly. Please let us know when we land if you are shaken up from the flight or if you may need additional assistance."
"Batman," Jason whispered once Alfred had turned the intercom back off again. Batman glanced at him. "Find his body. Find his body and I'll… I'll believe you."
Batman opened his mouth to respond, but seemed to think better of it. He gave Blue Jay a curt nod, and turned his focus back to landing safely.
"And Batman… Do you think he would mind if I… if I went back to being Robin? I know it's his legacy, but I…Maybe he…I mean…"
"I think he would be happy with whatever you wanted to do, and no, he would not mind. I think he'd be even happier."
"Okay… Maybe… I'll think about it…"
Dick was breathing again. That's what mattered. Damian reminded himself. His big brother was not abandoning him with Not-Batman. He never intended to. Dick didn't leave him alone with scary people, not when he could help it anyways. Dick had told him that after he'd woken up in the trunk and Damian had asked him why he left Damian alone with the scary people. Dick had reassured the toddler that he had not intended to, and he had been with him the whole time, technically, just not awake.
Still, Not-Batman was not Father, and Father did not seem to exist here. Or, well, he had died while still a kid, older than Damian but younger than Dick. Luckily, Not-Batman was skilled in sharp pointy things and things that beeped that made people better. Shortly after Damian had started crying, he had rushed over, separated the two boys, and made Dick breath again. He hadn't made Dick wake up;, he said Dick was in a kome, come-a, coma, something like that, and might not wake up for a while, but Dick was breathing, so Not-Batman wasn't all bad.
Not-Batman did not like being called Not-Batman. He had tried to tell Damian that he was Batman and so should be called Batman. Damian told him that Father was Batman and he wasn't Father, so that meant he was Not-Batman. Since Not-Batman would not tell Damian his real name and Not-Batman sounded better than Fake-Batman or Imposter, Damian stuck with Not-Batman. He had tried Imposter, but Not-Batman got more irritated and told him to 'call him Batman, or Not-Batman. What did he care?'
Not-Batman seemed particularly concerned about Dick's scars. Damian told him Logarithm gave Dick the scars, not Father. Not-Batman had asked who Logarithm was. Logarithm was the ultimate tall, scary man. He hurt Damian too. See. Damian showed him his cast, which Alex had decorated so beautifully. But Dick made Batkitty. Damian's big brother was the best. Not-Batman had responded by taking an x-ray of Damian's ankle.
Currently, Not-Batman was paying Damian no attention as he checked the beeping machines around Dick to be sure he was breathing properly and such, so Damian explored the cave. Not-Batman had told him off when he went near the weapons the day before, causing Damian to make a face. Dick would probably tell him the same thing though.
There was a table filled with bottles near them. Damian climbed up to grab one. He didn't bother to read the label, Not-Batman drunk from the bottles all the time, so surely it was something good. He popped the top with some effort, and started guzzling the fizzy drink. It burned going down and made his brain feel fuzzy, but that was probably because he hadn't drunk anything except milk and water lately, mostly water.
Ugh. He didn't feel too good. No more fizzy drink. Maybe he should go find Not-Batman for some milk…
The air was getting a bit hard to breathe when Carly and Anthony figured out that the giant tanks were oxygen. The kids took turns breathing the pure oxygen, but didn't dare try opening the tank to the world. They didn't want the air to escape and were afraid releasing the oxygen could cause another explosion or fan the flames that they had barely managed to put out near their haven.
Dick's work had managed to keep the Target Dump from being eliminated completely, but it wasn't fool proof. The ceiling was barely holding from the debris that collapsed on top of it, and the fire had reached the outskirts of the room before it ran out of wood to eat. The downstairs was mostly metal, after all. Yet even metal is affected by extreme heat. And it was hot downstairs. They were running out of water fast, and who knew how long they would be trapped down there. The bluemen certainly weren't coming back for them.
There was a flaw in the plan. It relied too much on people coming to rescue them and realizing they hadn't been killed in the explosions. It could be days until it reached that point, and some of the kids in here definitely did not have days to wait. The rest of them would follow soon after. They were downstairs for a reason after all.
Dibble curled up in the corner of the room, hiding his face. He knew that Dick and Damian's chances of survival were close to nil. There were most likely bombs around the outside perimeter and inside of the room they were trapped in by the ceiling collapse. Even if there had only been a bomb or two, there was not enough time for them to deactivate the bomb, especially since Dibble still had the tools, and create a barricade. They would need an alternate way out and there just wasn't one.
Leaning against a chair leg, Dibble listened to the soft scratching that had been going on for at least an hour, slowly getting louder. He didn't really know what it was. Maybe a rat or something had gotten caught in the explosions and was trying to dig its way out. It was rather soothing though. There was a soft murmur of voices on the other side of the room. The kids tried not to talk too much in general on account of oxygen preservation. They would still talk every now and then to calm their nerves, but at whispers to use the least amount of air possible.
It was weird though. It felt like the whispers were growing more distinct near his ear… Was that a breeze? Dibble looked up startled. As he watched one of the medium sized pieces of debris shifted, creating a small hole near Dibble but on the ceiling. The breeze ruffled through his hair. A couple small pieces, nuts and bolts, dropped to the floor, narrowly missing one of the other kids. More kids started taking notice as Dibble stared at the hole disbelieving. The debris had shifted a little bit during the ages they'd been down there, but not this much.
"HELLO?" Anthony shouted. "IS SOMEONE UP THERE?"
"Shhh!" A younger boy Dibble did not know said. "What if it's the bluemen? They'll kill us!"
"Hello?" Someone responded. All the kids froze in terror. Silence reigned for a moment, no more debris shifting and none of the kids moving. "Hello? I heard someone call. How many are down there?"
Carly, who had been right next to Anthony, nudged him. "Oh. Uh. NOT TOO MANY!" He called up.
"We'll have you out soon. Don't worry." The shifting resumed. The hole slowly grew bigger. The kids were careful not to stand right under it so they wouldn't get hit by any debris falling. "Hand me a flashlight!" The voice called to someone else. A moment later, a ray of light shined down on the crowd of children who cringed from the sudden brightness. "I'm Superman." The voice who now had a face said as the shifting continued on around him. Several murmurs arose from the crowd of trapped children. Didn't Superman give up on them? But Dick said it was a front to buy time… So maybe it really was Superman? "I have Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and several of our partners helping dig you out." Superman continued. "Most of your friends made it out okay. We're treating the injured and moving everyone to a safe base away from here until we can get you home. The bad guys can't hurt you anymore." There was silence while that sunk in. "Are any of you injured?"
After an exchange of looks between the older children who'd been put defacto in charge, Anthony called up. "We took refuge in the Target Dump. There's lots of medical supplies in here, so we cleaned up everyone's scrapes, but there's four kids who need serious medical attention. They were in here already. They're hooked up to a bunch of machines. We were afraid to disconnect them, but I don't know if they're still okay. There's a generator in here, but it's faulty."
"Okay. We'll need to get them out first then. Please have patience."
"Alright!"
Thomas Wayne, Batman, fiddled with a few monitors as he checked on his patient. Although the little one, Damian he reminded himself, had said he was 14, the kid looked like he couldn't be older than 12. So young. Too young, really, to go through the traumas that were clearly evident all over his body. Most of the scars, especially the ones on the kid's back, were relatively new, maybe a month or two old, but there were a few that dated back years.
According to the little one, they were Bruce's kids and their father was Batman. Thomas knew this couldn't be true, but it did explain how they'd gotten into the cave and why the little one insisted on calling him 'Not-Batman.' It was better than 'Imposter,' but he clearly was not what the little one expected. He was sure he could get more answers from the older kid when he woke, but given that the kid had called for Bruce a few times after he had passed out three days ago, the older kid probably believed the same thing.
There had to be an alternative explanation. Bruce had died almost two decades ago. He had buried him and beaten up his murderer. Bruce's death was why he had stopped being a doctor, why he had built a casino, why he fought crime. If Bruce wasn't dead, if Bruce was just as violent as he was, Thomas wasn't sure he could live with himself.
But… even if Bruce was Batman, he couldn't be as violent. If he was as violent, then there was no way that he could have a kid, much less two. There was definitely no way those kids would love Bruce enough to call out to him while scared and injured; no way they would love Bruce at all if he was as violent as Thomas was. Although the scars did speak against Bruce… While many of them were from the last few months, from within the last month even, not all of them were. Hopefully, the kids were telling the truth about those coming from kidnappers.
No, there was something different going on here, and Thomas aimed to get to the root of it. Maybe the kids were from a different time or place. That would certainly explain the portal they came through, and the disorientation when they landed.
"Not-Batman?" A tentative voice brought him back to the present, and he turned to see the little one holding an open, half-empty bottle of beer. How did he even get his hands on that?!
"This stuff tastes funny. I don't feel so good."
ASV would love for you to review and she'll reply to them as soon as she's better. It will definitely not be within the normal time frame, but it will eventually happen.
Also, ASV gave me free reign (literally) to add anything I want to say here. (To which I replied with an evil laugh.)
Unfortunately, I can't think of anything to say type here. Um... come look at my stories, under InkBlackFingers both on here or on AO3!
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