Batman knew that Alfred had likely spent the last seven days watching the news and lingering by the cave's phone in the hopes that it would ring. As such, he didn't bother to wait for a greeting when the receiver on the far end of his call was picked up with what sounded like an excited fumble. "We'll be on our way back shortly."

"The boys?"

"Are both alive and relatively fine." He paused, momentarily overwhelmed by how much of a relief it was to be able to say those words. "You'll want assistance on hand, though; there are a few broken bones to be dealt with."

"I'll call in our usual back-up. Is there anything else I should know?"

"...Extra pillows," he murmured, thinking out loud.

"I beg pardon?"

"Extra pillows," he repeated. "Across the hall from me. I expect that that bed won't be occupied by one person alone for a little while." It was unimaginable that Tim would go back to his own room straight off, not after he and Dick had spent so much time relying exclusively on one another for survival. Judging from the way Damian had been perched on the table in the medical bay a short while before, he would be sneaking in with his brother after bedtime as well. As for himself…well, there was no question as to where he would sleep best for the next few nights at the very least.

"I'll just pull them off of the other beds, shall I, sir?"

A wry smirk twisted his mouth. You really do know everything, Alfred, I'm sure of it. "That will suffice, yes."

"Very good. What is your ETA, please?"

"Three to four hours. I'm waiting on one more report before we leave, but I'll be at full burn after that."

"Excellent. I will see you soon, then. And sir?"

"Mm?"

"Thank you very much for calling."

"...Right." He ended the transmission, then stood for a moment more, lost in thought. I'm sorry I didn't call more, Alfred, he grimaced, but I didn't have anything good to tell you.

Shaking himself, he exited the cockpit and headed for the cargo bay. As he passed the door behind which lay three of his sons, his step faltered. It was aggravating as hell, he thought, that now that there was finally work to be done the last thing he wanted to do was attend to it. He'd ordered his children to sleep because they all needed it, and he ached to join them in dreamland, but he couldn't. There was the girl to be questioned, and her mother as well hopefully, and he had no interest in entrusting their interrogations to other people. They had nearly destroyed his entire world, and as such he would deal with them himself.

"Flash," he called once the door between the almost-empty luggage hold and the rest of the plane had shut behind him.

"Here," the redhead announced himself. "Along with Princess Speechless."

"A moment." A breeze announced the speedster's arrival at his side. "...You can go to medical again if you want," he told him quietly. "They should all be asleep by now – I had to sedate Dick, you know how they are – but I won't disturb you for a little while."

The answer to his offer came in the form of the bulkhead opening and shutting again. I'm sorry, Wally, he sighed to himself. It had been obvious earlier that the younger man he hadn't wanted to leave his best friend's side in order to watch over the girl, but there had been no better option. Robin needed that time more than you did. Besides, he added as he began to descend to the floor of the open space, I could trust that you wouldn't kill her. Damian, on the other hand...for all that he was doing much better in the life-taking department, his emotions had been high all week. The last thing any of them had the energy to deal with was Tim trying to strangle the boy for making an attempt on the life of his crush.

"I don't want to talk," Charity announced as he drew up to her. She'd been crying again, he saw, and despite being wrapped up in two blankets she was still shivering. "Not until I know my mother's all right."

"You'd be a fool to wait," he advised. "If she is alive, she'll be taken straight into federal custody. Refusing to speak now may entice them to arrest you as well."

She shot him a clever look from the corner of her eye. "How do you know that they don't already have reason to arrest me?"

...All right, Tim, she's smart, he allowed. But then you've never gone for idiots. "I've been informed that you offered your assistance in stopping the New Madrid quake and dropping the force field. Given that and your youth, I doubt you'll face any serious charges if you cooperate. They might take you in for a short time, but at this point that would be more for your own protection than anyone else's."

"...My own protection?" Her face pinched. "I don't understand."

"Millions of people are dead and dying as a result of the earthquakes your mother set off. Even if you are completely innocent, you will be a target of revenge for some people." It was a harsh truth to tell a teenager, but it would be unjust to keep it from her.

She turned her head away. "So that's it? I...I try to help people – I do help people – and they're going to turn on me anyway?" A beat passed. "God, no wonder mother lost her perspective."

For all that she was the villainess' daughter, her proximity in age and apparent intelligence to his own children moved something within him. "Some people will," he stressed, allowing himself to play counselor a bit longer. "Not all, and not even necessarily many. Just some. The ones who know what truly happened down there tonight, though, will thank you. Tim is already grateful."

Her face softened at the mention of his name. "Did he tell you what I told him?" she asked. "I thought he might have, you know, tried to get me out of trouble that way."

"He didn't tell me, but," he spoke over the hurt look that twisted her lips, "I imagine that is because he was more concerned about his brother's condition, and thought he would have plenty of time to explain the situation down the line."

"I want to see him. I'll...I'll talk if I can see him."

"He's asleep." He'd better be, at least, he frowned internally. "They both need rest. But I stand by what I said before; you're much more likely to see him again soon if you start proving compliant now."

She measured him with a long, steady gaze. When she spoke next, her voice shook. "...I just don't want to be alone, okay?"

It was a desire that he could certainly commiserate with, but there was nothing he could do to guarantee that her fear wouldn't come true. "Then your best bet is to talk," he reiterated. "But if you're not going to, I'm not going to sit down here waiting. I have other things to do."

"No!" she cried as he made to depart. "Didn't I just say that I don't want to be alone?! Please..." Sniffling, she shook her head. "...All right. Okay. I...I'll tell you what I told Tim. Is that okay?"

"It's a start," he agreed. "...Begin."

Forty minutes passed as she let the tale she'd shared with Tim tumble out of her mouth once more. He didn't interrupt her, but he did start the tiny camera in his cowl before she'd done much more than stated her mother's name. Even if he didn't end up turning the recording over to the police, he wanted it for his own records and those of the JLA. As she went on, his incredulity grew; Tracy Collins, it seemed, was one of the fortunately rare individuals for whom all the cards of supervillainry had fallen into place. The sad part was that her idea hadn't been a bad one until she'd turned it into a weapon and directed it at innocents. Sadder still, he thought as Charity caught up to tonight, was the fact that she'd wrapped her child up in her schemes.

His radio buzzed in his ear just as she started to tell him how Tim had shut off the timer and the force field. Holding up one hand, he silenced her. "Wait here. I may have you tell me the rest in a minute."

"But-!"

"You won't be alone for long." With that he swept away, marching back up the stairs and forward towards the cockpit. Finding Superman with his head in the medical bay, he stopped. "Well?"

The Kryptonian closed the door gently and turned around. "They're all completely dead to the world in there," he smiled.

"…Your phrasing requires serious work," Batman ground out.

"Huh? Oh..." He winced as he realized what he'd said. "Sorry. I didn't mean-"

"I know," he cut him off. "What about Collins?"

"Weeell..." His hand rose to rub at the back of his neck. That farm-boy motion of guilt told Batman that he wasn't about to receive good news, but he let the other man speak unopposed. "She could be dead or alive. I...I couldn't find her."

"...You couldn't find her?" He gaped. "Between x-ray vision, super-hearing, super-strength, super-speed, and the power of flight, you couldn't find her?"

"There's a lot of debris down there, Batman. The interference is unbelievable. The river's running at about normal now, but it wasn't exactly a babbling brook to begin with, so that didn't help my cause any. I moved what I dared and looked through a lot more, but I just...I just couldn't find her."

"So we have a missing seismic psycho who hypothetically possesses knowledge of a system that could still be used to destroy hundreds of towns and cities, if not the entire world." That's just fucking lovely.

"'Seismic psycho'?" Superman tried to hold back a laugh, and failed. "Been taking lessons from Dick while I was away, huh?"

"No," he retorted, in no mood for jokes. "I was interrogating Collins' daughter. I'm sure she'll be delighted to hear that her mother may or may not be dead."

"Look, I have others on the way to help secure the area. We'll keep looking once they've arrived. And if we can't find her...I don't see how she could have survived, to be honest. I mean, Dick barely did, and I got to him right away."

"Thanks for that image."

"...Sorry. It's the truth, though."

"Mm." As painful as such facts were, he couldn't be mad at the other man for not sugar-coating what had occurred. He's safe now, he soothed himself. Safe, and right through that door. Fast asleep... "Regardless, we can't take the chance. After all," he sneered, "you didn't expect either Tim or Dick to have survived just the earthquake, and you see what they did after that."

"I was wrong, Bruce, okay?!" Clark sighed, irritation plain in his tone.

"Names!"

"She can't hear through the bulkhead! Look, I admit it, all right? I was wrong.I'm glad I was wrong. So glad." Reaching up, he gripped Batman by the shoulders and shook him gently. "They're alive, and they'll be fine. I did what I thought was best given the circumstances at the time, but as soon as I knew they were still breathing my only thoughts were for them. You know that. So please...forgive me, would you? I was wrong."

He had to look away to collect himself before he answered. "...I forgive you," he ground out finally. "But don't you ever try and tell me my children are dead again unless you have the DNA-matched bodies to prove it." He paused. "...And don't ever have those, Clark. Don't...don't you ever have those. Even if you do, just...don't."

The Kryptonian gave him a sad smile. "Deal." He dropped his hands back to his sides, and for a moment neither spoke. "...I guess we should tell her what I found, shouldn't we?"

"We may as well. I think she's told me just about everything she's going to." He let his fingers trip along his belt, checking that the extra dose of sedative he'd stashed there earlier was still present. If she reacted badly, he had every intention of drugging her; there was no reason to give her a chance to hurt herself or someone else. "You're taking her off the plane before we get to Gotham. I have enough to deal with when we get home."

"...About that..."

His eyes narrowed beneath the cowl. "What?"

"Well...I know Tim's going to be upset, but there's nothing I can do about it..."

"What is it?"

"We've been asked to drop the girl – and her mother, if we can find her – off to the authorities in Chicago."

He relaxed. "I expected as much. She knows she's likely to be held for some period of time while her role in everything is verified. As for Tim...well, if the girl is innocent then she should be released sooner rather than later."

"And if she isn't innocent, you don't want him having anything to do with her anyway."

"Correct."

"...Do you think she's innocent?"

Charity's pleading face rose in the back of his mind. "I think she's terrified of being alone in the world," he ruled slowly. "And I think she has some issues, trust and otherwise, thanks to her mother and the way she's lived for the last ten years of her life. But she's no criminal mastermind, and if the Feds handle her right she won't become one. Besides...Dick vouched for her."

"Well, that says a lot by itself. You know...I know you put a lot of stock in being a family of 'normal' humans," he drew quote marks in the air, "but Dick...I've always wondered a little. Sometimes he reads people too well."

"It's a honed talent, not a superpower," Batman defended his son instantly. "And you'll keep any wrong-headed ideas you have otherwise to yourself."

"It was just an observation, that's all," Superman tried to placate him. "I'm hardly one to judge a person for having an ability that's beyond normal. Even if I was, there's nothing wrong with having powers so long as you use them appropriately. Anyway...do you want to get this over with? Charity, I mean?"

"...I'll meet you in there," he answered, stepping aside to make room in the passageway. "I need to take care of another piece of business first."

"They're all still sleeping. I can hear them."

He glared. "I said I need to take care of another piece of business. It's not your job to try and guess what business that is."

"Right," the Kryptonian smirked. "Sorry. I'll leave you to your, ah, 'secret task'." With that he made his way down the hall, glancing back only once before he disappeared into the cargo bay.

Batman waited until he was alone before opening the door beside him. Inside sat Wally, his feet propped up on a chair and his head leaning against the cold metal edge of Dick's bed. Dick himself was as sprawled out as his injuries and the smaller figure of Damian, who was curled up beside him, would allow. Nearby lay Tim, who had turned to face his brother and looked poised to leap up at the slightest sound of discomfort from that direction. None of them moved apart from their quiet breathing.

The man in the entryway smiled at his three. Rest easy, my boys. We'll be home soon. And if you heard what the big blue idiot said about superpowers, his mouth went flat again, ignore it. You don't need them; you're perfect just the way you are.

Author's Note: I think it will just be two more chapters now, but those of you who have been following me for a while know how fickle my muse is when it comes to that. Regardless, prepare for a bit more fluff before the very end. Happy reading!