Disclaimer – Own nothing.
To vi – Thank you so much for your review! Seriously, they give me life! I'm so glad you liked the chapter and the family moments, the DickKory moments, and all of the thoughts and emotions! More DickKory will be coming up! I hope you like this chapter too!
To Guest – 1. No, Talia will not be mentioned. She and Ra's have nothing to do with this story, even though they have both met Bruce and Dick and the part they played in the comic. It will be mentioned later, but no, right now, Dick will not be calling Alfred. I do not want to bring Bruce or Alfred back into this story yet. 3. I always thought it was simply because Rachel was still learning about her powers and hadn't gotten strong enough to bring Donna back yet. While that is an interesting theory, I don't think I am going to do anything like that in my story. 4. You will find out what happens later in the story. 5. I was stunned that they killed Lex so quickly, but I don't mind, or really care that much. The show does better with only one villain per season. 6. The statue looked cool, but I really don't care about which version of the supersuits are used. Unless it's Dick's discowing suit. That should never be brought back lol. Hope you like this chapter!
To CrazyMulan52 – Thanks for your review! That's interesting, but I don't think I'd eat it, especially if I'm in Paris lol. Too many other meals to try! I still like cartoons too! Not as much drama lol. Hank and Dawn are arguing because they still have unresolved issues, and, I don't like that Dawn was making decisions for Hank or telling him that 'she let him', he's a grown man who can make his own choices, even if they are stupid ones sometimes. They'll get their act together soon though. Thanks! I'm glad you liked the change! There will be more changes coming about that, that I think will be funny, (hopefully). It will take a little while for the communication thing to sink in, but it will happen! I'm glad you liked it! I hope you like this chapter as well!
AN – Hey everyone! Happy (very belated) Thanksgiving to all my American readers! I forgot that you were all having your Thanksgiving the week I posted the last chapter. Sorry. I hope you all had a good holiday though! I'm in my last two weeks of this college semester. I have fallen a little behind in writing this story due to assignments, but I will do my best to get more done, especially over the Christmas break. I hope you all like this chapter!
Enjoy!
Dick, Hank and Conner took turns digging up Jason's grave. Even Krypto helped out a bit. It would've been faster if they got some machinery of some kind, but it was currently three in the morning. There was no way they could get something like that right now, and this couldn't wait. They needed to know if what Dick saw, was really true. If Jason was truly alive.
"I'm telling you Dick, there isn't a body here," Conner said from his spot beside the large hole. He had used his x-ray vision to scan the grave when they first came out, but Dick insisted on digging anyways.
"We're almost there," Dick muttered absently, continuing to shovel the dirt away. Hank groaned, but also continued digging. Only seconds later, there was a loud thunk. Dick's shovel had hit something.
Hank climbed out of the hole as he would now be in the way. Dick quickly brushed off the last, little layer of dirt with his hands, revealing the coffin underneath. Once it was cleaned off, Dick climbed to the side and opened the casket. And like Conner said, it was completely empty.
"This doesn't make any sense," Dick said as he stared at the empty box.
"Is there any chance Bruce was lying about Jason's death for some reason?" Hank questioned, just as confused as Dick was.
"No, he couldn't have. Bruce wouldn't have done that," Dick quickly denied. "Plus, Bruce wasn't even in Gotham when Jason died. It was the cops who found Jason's body. And besides, Bruce wouldn't have Jason kidnap kids, set off bombs and kill people."
"Are you sure it was Jason you saw at the warehouse?" Conner inquired, petting Krypto, who was sitting beside him.
"Yes, I'm positive. Plus, if he was still dead, his body would be here, and it's not," Dick pointed out.
Hank nodded in agreement, then asked, "If Jason did die then, how is he alive? And what the h*ll is he doing?"
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"I don't get it," Kory said once the boys came back into the Batcave where she, Dawn and Gar were working on tracking where Jason disappeared to. "How can someone just come back from the dead?"
"It's pretty rare, but there have been cases in the Justice League, and some other people where they were brought back from the dead, or from death's door," Dick responded as he collapsed into a nearby chair. He was exhausted. It had been a long day, and a long night.
"But how? And how did no one notice that Jason's body just disappeared?" Dawn said, looking over at Dick and Hank.
Dick nodded. "That's another question we need to answer."
"You know, odds are none of this would've happened if Bruce didn't immediately bury him," Gar pointed out bitterly. "I mean, it's completely ridiculous he buried him so quickly. He couldn't even hold an actual funeral?"
Nobody needed Gar to elaborate on just how upset he was that there hadn't been an actual funeral for the fallen Robin. Almost immediately after the Titans arrived in Gotham, Gar had asked when the funeral was going to be, as Dick hadn't mentioned it. They were all utterly shocked when Dick informed that Bruce had already buried Jason before Dick even arrived, and had no plans of having a funeral or memorial service. Dick was clearly just as bitter and angry as Gar, but he had seemed to let it go, throwing his attention into keeping Gotham safe. Gar however, had not.
"Maybe, but I guess a funeral would've been kinda pointless now, considering," Hank said with a snort. When everyone glared at him, he mumbled, "Sorry."
"Back on topic, how do you bring someone back from the dead? Because if we figure that out, we can narrow down the who and why," Dawn said, turning her head back to face Dick.
"And maybe we can use that to bring Donna back," Kory suggested.
A mournful expression covered Dick's face. "Maybe, but let's figure out the who first before we go there."
"Could it have been Ra's al Ghul?" Dawn wondered, and Dick shook his head.
"No. There's no way he could've gotten Jason's body, taken him Nanda Parbat, and brought him back this quickly. Plus, Ra's would have only done that if it benefited him in some way, and I can't see what he would've gotten by resurrecting Jason."
"What about one of the Justice League magicians? Like Zatanna or Constantine?" Hank asked.
"If they were involved, they would've told Bruce. Considering that he has no idea about any of this, I highly doubt it was them," Dick argued.
"Unless Hank was right and that this is all some master plan," Conner hesitantly joined the conversation, remembering what Hank had said out in the cemetery. The Titans' leader snapped his head to the side to glare at the clone, who now ducked his head under the older man's eyes. Dick then sighed and stood back up.
"Look, Bruce has done a lot of stupid and questionable things in the past, I'm not going to deny that, but he wouldn't do something like this," Dick responded.
Seeing how worked up Dick was getting, Kory cut in. "Okay. Then, where does that leave us? What's our next step?"
"First, I'm going to update Barbara. Maybe she can find something on her end from the night Jason died, and I'll do the same here. Hopefully, that will give us some leads. You all should get some rest though. The sun should be rising right about now, and I don't think any of you have slept since last night," Dick said, running a hand through his sweat-slicked hair.
"You need some rest too, dude," Gar pointed out.
"I'll rest later."
."At least take a shower," Kory insisted, looking over Dick, then Hank and Conner. "The three of you are filthy."
"I will, don't worry," Dick absently replied, already having grabbed his phone and walking away from the others.
Dawn shook her head, annoyed with the brunette's behaviour but knew that there was little point in arguing with him right now. So, she faced the others and said, "Come on guys. Let's all get some shut eye before more chaos erupts."
Hank, Gar and Conner all nodded and started making their way up to the Manor. Kory however, glanced back at Dick. She had this urge in her stomach to try and listen in on Dick and Barbara's conversation. She didn't really know why, she never tried to eavesdrop on his phone calls before. But, she was extremely curious. No one had really told her much about Barbara, but she could easily tell that there was more about her and Dick than what was being spoken about and Kory wanted to know. Yet, at the same time, she knew it was none of her business. Ultimately, she followed after the others, leaving Dick alone.
Meanwhile, Dick held the phone up to his ear and waited for Barbara to pick up. It only took one ring before she answered.
"Dick?" He was a little surprised that she picked up so quickly considering that she was still mad at him for what happened at the bank, but he was grateful nonetheless.
"We checked the cemetery. Jason's coffin is empty."
"Oh my G*d," Barbara mumbled. "How did this happen?"
"I have no idea. I was hoping you could help me figure that out," Dick told her.
"Of course. I'll go over everything I have from that night, including the cops who were on duty," Barbara responded.
"Thanks. I'm going to look into Bruce's files to see if he has anything on someone who can bring back someone from the dead. Maybe we're dealing with an unknown metahuman," he said.
"That's a scary thought. I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Thanks, I'll keep you posted if I find anything on my end too," Dick replied. He was then about to hang up when he heard her say, "Hey Dick?"
"Yeah?"
"We'll figure this out."
"I hope so."
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*Scene where Gar tries to call Bruce and talks to Conner*
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Despite being awake for at least 30 hours, Kory couldn't sleep. Her body was exhausted but her brain was not. Her mind would not stop racing. She just couldn't process all of this. Jason was alive. He was alive, and had become a criminal. How did something like that happen? Was this craziness always inside of him, just below the surface? She knew that Jason had some issues. It was painfully obvious to anyone who spent more than five minutes with the kid, but she never thought he was capable of kidnapping people, bombing a building and killing people. Then again, she hadn't spent much time with Jason before this. Only about a week at most. Maybe she just hadn't seen it. Though Gar, who was probably the closest to the second Robin out of all of them, seemed just as taken aback as she was.
Somehow though, Dick didn't seem as surprised. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe he was just too tired to react. If she felt exhausted right now, she didn't want to know how he felt. There was no doubt in her mind that he had been getting less sleep than she has. Yet, he was still awake, trudging along to solve this case. It was like he had forgotten they were here to help him. He didn't have to do this alone.
Now all worked up and knowing that she wasn't going to be get any sleep anytime soon, Kory decided to go check on the man she was just thinking about. She quickly got dressed and started making her way to the Batcave, assuming that Dick was still down there. As she reached the bottom of the stairs though, she saw Dick heading towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Dick spun around at the sound of her voice, clearly not expecting to be caught.
"I uh, I'm going to this loft, that Jason had been renting," he revealed.
"Why was he renting a loft? There's more than enough space here," Kory replied, coming to stand in front of the brunette.
"He was cooking up drugs. Not sure why or what for, but I'm wondering if that's the reason for his recent, behaviour," Dick answered.
"That would explain a lot," Kory agreed. "Just let me get my jacket."
"What?"
"You don't seriously think I'm letting you go alone, do you?" A sly grin curled Kory's lips.
Dick shook his head. "That's not necessary, Kory."
"Maybe not, but you know what they say. Two heads are better than one," Kory said, shrugging her shoulders, though her eyes were filled with determination.
"I'm not going to win this one, am I?" The man said after a moment of thoughtful silence.
"Nope."
The detective let out a resigned sigh before he raised a hand to rub his eyes. "Well, hurry up then."
"Don't you dare sneak off," Kory warned him as she headed back up the stairs.
"Wouldn't dream of it. You'd kill me if I did," Dick grumbled, eyes falling to the floor.
Kory smirked then shouted out, "Good! You're learning."
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20 minutes later, Dick pulled the car to a stop in front of a building that looked like it should be demolished. At least half the windows were broken and there were holes in the rotted wood that made up the walls. It definitely looked like the kind of place where people would cook up drugs. But, it wasn't the kind of place where Kory could see Jason hanging out. From the little information she had of him, she would've thought he'd take refuge in a theater or a bar. Then again, she never thought that Jason would be doing drugs either.
"You would think he could find a better place than this with Bruce's money," Kory said as she and Dick both got out of the car.
"Places like this don't have surveillance, which is something Jason would want. Plus, in this part of town, no one asks any questions," Dick responded as he came to stand beside her before heading towards the door. "Perfect for someone who doesn't want anyone to know what they're doing."
"Then how did you find out about this place?" She wondered.
"Found the key and address in a secret cubby-hold in his bedroom."
Kory nodded and waited for Dick to open the door. Once he got to the door though, he stopped and stared at it. She was about to asking him what he was waiting for when he said, "Someone broke the lock."
"That's not a good sign," Kory said, coming closer to see for herself. Sure enough, there was a hole where the lock should be.
"Nope," Dick agreed, then looked over at her. "Stand back, there could be someone in there."
"Then shouldn't I go in first? You're not in uniform right now," Kory pointed out.
"Neither are you," he replied, giving her a slight smirk.
Her own smirk was cockier though when she told him, "But I'm the one who's bulletproof. Not you."
Dick frowned at the fact, then conceded and backed away from the door to let her go in first. He never liked it when Kory, or one of the kids went into any possible dangerous situations before he did. It often was the logical choice as they had powers and he didn't, but he was the leader. He was the one with the most experience. He was also in charge of the kids, along with Kory. It felt wrong to let them go in first. It also reminded him how vulnerable he was compared to the others as he was a regular human. He hated being reminded of that, had ever since he started his vigilante career. However, he did know when to step back let them take the risks.
Kory opened the door just by a few inches, then peaked inside. When she didn't see anyone, she pushed the door all the way open loudly, hoping to maybe startle whoever broke in. If the person was still in here that is. But it didn't look like there was anyone at all.
"It's clear," Kory told Dick, who was already coming over to her side.
"Smells like bleach. Whoever broke in covered their tracks," Dick mumbled. Then his gaze landed on the table where he had found the drugs and equipment. "And they took the evidence."
"Jason?"
"It's a good possibility, but we should still search the place. Something might've been missed," Dick responded as he entered the room and started looking around.
The redhead started to do the same on the other side the room, then asked, "You know, maybe Jason purposely faked his own death? Maybe this was all some, elaborate plan."
"Plan for what?"
"Who the h*ll knows. But, it could be possible," Kory told him. She heard a sigh, before Dick said, "It could, I suppose. He couldn't have done it alone though."
"That's for sure," Kory agreed, continuing her search, which proved effective when she spotted something sticking out in the gap between the bottom of one of the wooden wall panels and the floor.
"Got something over here," she announced as she crouched down to grab the item. It was a weird, plastic thing that looked to be in the shape of an 'L'.
Holding it up for Dick to see, she asked, "What's this?"
"It's an inhaler," Dick answered, crouching down beside her. "It's usually for people who have asthma, to breathe in the medicine they need. But technically, they can be used to breathe in other drugs too."
"Think there's any drugs still in here?"
"Only one way to find out."
The two stood up and started making their way back to the car when Dick felt his phone vibrate in his jacket pocket.
"Hello?" Dick answered as he got into the driver's seat.
"It's me," Barbara's voice responded back, her tone still a bit angry. Dick ignored that though and quickly put her on speaker so Kory could hear before Barbara continued.
"I got a lead for you. The night Jason died, there was someone who took Jason's body into one of the rooms, then the camera shuts off. Neither of them are seen again. I ran the face. His name is Cyrus Beake. He made a $300,000 deposit into his checking account that morning. He hasn't been seen since. I've got officers heading to his house now."
"Do you know where the money came from?" Dick questioned.
"Not yet. Trying to track that down now. I've sent you his picture, and I've got my systems going through all traffic cameras looking for him. Hopefully we'll get a hit. I'll keep you posted if I hear more."
"Thanks Babs," the brunette said before hanging up and pulling up the picture she sent him. "This could finally be good lead."
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Hank stalked through the dark warehouse. It was kind of ridiculous at how many warehouses Gotham had, and that they were all rundown. It was like the people who built this city, built it with the intention of it being filled with crime. Probably because the city's founders were criminals like so many of the citizens are. That wouldn't surprise him one bit. Honestly though, these warehouses should've been demolished as soon as they were closed down. It was common knowledge that empty warehouses will become criminal hideouts, but no. The warehouses had to stay because they could possibly reused. It wasn't just the police force that was corrupt in this city.
After Barbara found the identity of the person who took Jason's body from the morgue, Cyrus Beake, Dick did some digging and found, through hacked security cameras from other buildings, that the person had made his way this area. One of the perks of vigilante work, was that they were willing to do a bit of hacking that the police weren't. The original Robin wasn't able to find what happened to Jason's body after the morgue, but he was able to track where the money that the man was paid came from. A shell company owned by someone named Jacob Lawson, a man with known but unproven ties to one of the many gangs in this city. From there, they narrowed down to which warehouse Harry was probably hiding in.
When the Titans arrived a few minutes ago, the place was dark and quiet. Conner tried to use his x-ray vision to see inside, but there was lead paint covering the walls, keeping him from seeing anything. So, they split up and snuck in through different entrances. Hopefully, they will quickly find Harry and get some much-needed answers about what happened with Jason.
Walking down the catwalk as quietly as he could so he wouldn't be discovered, Dick's voice came through his comm-link.
"Found Beake."
"You don't sound happy about that," Hank noted. The leader of the group sounded kind of sad, or dejected.
"He's dead. Gunshot to the head."
Seconds after Dick's reveal, guns started firing down below the former football player. He quickly turned around, intending to go find the shooters and take them down, but found a shorter man, wearing a brown, leather jacket and red helmet blocking his path.
"Should've gotten here sooner if you wanted to save him," the Red Hood, Jason, told him.
"Well, since you wanted to be a hero, why didn't you save him, a**hole? Especially since he apparently helped save you," Hank wondered, clenching his fists, ready for a fight.
"He outlived his usefulness." Jason replied with a shrug. "That shouldn't surprise you. You guys have no problem throwing people away the first chance you get once they aren't useful or if they p*ss you off."
Rage filled Hank's body at Jason's words. That was not what happened, not at all, and it was infuriating that Jason believed that. Too enraged to think twice, he charged at the psycho. The psycho however, simply side-stepped out of the way and waited for him to turn back to face him. Despite the red helmet that was covering his entire head, Hank knew that Jason was smiling with that annoying, cocky, little grin of his.
"That's not what happened, you punk," Hank hissed. "And even if we did, we didn't become psychotic murderers."
"Maybe not, but at least I'm doing something far more useful than you," Jason replied, still sounding just as cocky as he was before.
"And what would that be?" Hank questioned, thinking of attacking again.
"If I tell you, then I spoil the surprise," Jason answered.
"I'm fine with spoilers," the blonde responded.
Jason simply shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. But I will leave you with a gift if you want."
Before Hank could process what the new criminal had said, Jason pulled out a handgun and started firing at him. Hank ducked to the side, glancing around for some cover. He didn't get a chance to do anything else before a foot slammed into his chest, pushing him backwards. Quickly losing his balance, and his breath, the older fighter fell flat onto his back with the Red Hood now leaning over him. He shoved something into his chest which not only knocking out any breath he had left in his lungs, but it felt like it stabbed painfully into his flesh.
"What the h*ll?" Hank cursed, trying to lift his head to see what Jason did.
"I'd stay calm if I were you," Jason warned him with a snarky tone. He then stood up and said, "See you around jacka**."
The former football player reached out to try and grab the Red Hood's leg to keep him from leaving, but missed. He could barely even move his arm. When he tried, it pulled on the muscles in his chest that caused another wave of agony through his torso and his vision nearly went black. After a minute or two, it cleared up, and Jason was gone.
"Hawk!" Hank lifted his head to see Nightwing and Dove running up the stairs towards the metal catwalk he was laying on. Down below, it was quiet. Whoever the other Titans had been fighting had either fled, or were knocked out and waiting for the police.
"Over here," he called out, pushing himself up into a sitting position.
The two were at his side seconds later, Dawn falling to her knees beside him. She looked him over for any injuries but Dick's eyes landed on the thing on Hank's chest. Coming to Hank's other side, he asked, "What happened?"
"Jason f*****g Todd happened."
AN - I toned down the angry emotions that were present when Dick told the others that Jason was dead because, well, I forgot how mad they (read Hank) were. They are mostly in shock and exhausted right now, though the anger is now definitely coming. I also had Conner and Hank help Dick dig up the grave because seriously? There's a team of superheroes there and not one of them could've helped him? Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! See you all next time!