Bruce turns and looks at his stunned family.
Alfred is the first to recover enough to speak. His voice wavers quietly. "It is him."
"How can we be sure?" Barbara says, leaning forward. "How do we know this isn't a fake, something meant to lead us into a trap?"
"It isn't a fake," Dick says hoarsely. "That's got to be Tim."
Barbara seems unconvinced, even if she does also seem apologetic, as she says, "It looked like Tim, and it sounded like Tim, but even if it wasn't Ra's we were supposedly talking about, with all his access to unusual magic, there are plenty of technological ways of making a video appear to be from someone it isn't from, and-"
"It's Tim," Dick says firmly.
"Tim's dead," Barbara says, not quite as firmly.
"So was I," Jason says, as blunt as ever. His hands curl around his textbook so tightly that the knuckles whiten.
"I'd love to believe this is real, just like the rest of you, but-" Barbara begins.
"It's Tim," Cass says, echoing Dick. "I know it is."
Barbara exchanges glances with Cass. Then Barbara sighs. "Okay. Let's say it is Tim. Let's say he's been alive and with Ra's al Ghul for almost two years without us having a clue. How did he send us this? And why now?"
Everyone is quiet at those questions.
"I can't say I know those answers," Alfred says after a moment. "But I do know my grandson when I see him."
"And I know my grandfathers," Damian says slowly. "Both of them. Pennyworth, you will do absolutely anything for your family. While Ra's, he will do absolutely anything for himself."
"Are you saying it's fake?" Dick asks, an uncharacteristic force in his voice.
"I am saying it could be manipulation," Damian says.
"It could be," Dick says forcefully. "It could be magic, or technology, or a trap, or a manipulation. But it could be real, and I think it is real. And if you think there's even a chance it could be real, then we need to go rescue him."
That's when Steph speaks up for the first time, a puzzled yet focused look on her face. "You mean 'them.'"
Dick turns toward her. "What?"
"We need to go rescue them," Steph says, emphasizing the last word.
"Come get us," Jason says thoughtfully. "He said 'come get me,' and then corrected himself and said 'come get us.'"
"Another reason it could be a trap," Barbara says.
"It seemed too planned to be a true self-correction," Damian says with agreement and a deep frown.
"But if it isn't a trap," Barbara says, then it's her turn to frown. "Then not only is Tim alive and needing rescue, but there are more people there that he knows need rescuing."
"Bruce?" Steph says. "What do you think?"
Bruce thinks, but he doesn't come to any different conclusion than the first time he watched the video, or the second time, or the third, or any time after. "It's Tim. It has to be Tim. It has to be."
Damian watches him for a long moment before nodding slowly. "We are all convinced, then? We must plan a mission to find Ra's."
"I thought you didn't think it was Tim," Jason says.
"I don't know," Damian says. "It could be a trap intended to make us go, if we are indeed being manipulated. Or, it could be a trap to not go, a manipulation to make us forego one of our own. Either way, we need to know more, and I trust that Father and Gordon have both investigated as best they can from the video file?"
"We have," Barbara agrees.
"Then we must go to the source of the problem," Damian says. "I am confident we have a clue as to what that source is."
"Ra's," Dick says in a growl.
"It would explain how quiet he's been for so long," Barbara says speculatively. "We had chalked that up to Tim destroying so much of his organization to get Bruce back from being lost in time, but it might be something more sinister."
"Something like holding onto another dead bird," Jason says. He snorts with sharp derision. "The guy doesn't learn."
"That means we get to make him learn this time," Dick says, a fire behind each word.
"There's a lot to be done," Bruce says, standing up from his chair.
"I will prepare resources for a late night of planning," Alfred says.
"Time to turn from studying for an exam to studying for a mission," Steph says.
Jason hefts his textbook up and tosses to the side of the desk. "You got it."
"I'll pull up everything I've got on the League of Assassins from the past two years, maybe a little longer too," Barbara says, maneuvering around Bruce to get to the computer.
"Let us get into regular clothes, we will return to assist," Damian says, gesturing between himself, Dick, and Cass.
"Be right back," Cass promises, already heading for the lockers.
Damian and Dick follow Cass over, while Steph and Jason settle by the file cabinets and start pulling out what look like maps of former League of Assassins bases. Alfred heads upstairs, and Barbara taps at the keyboard of the Batcomputer rapidly.
Bruce looks around at his family, pain and hope and pride and fear warring in his heart. They've broken so many times, and pulled together so many more times. Now, they're going to try to do the impossible and pull together even more so. They're bringing one of their own back from the presumed grave.
Forget the pain and the fear. Forget the hope and the pride. His heart is full of love right now. They all love each other, and he loves them all. Most importantly in this moment, Bruce is going to make sure Tim knows how much they all love him too as soon as possible, as soon as they get him back.