Bruce Wayne was nothing more than a brainless playboy that spends his days dating models, and splurging money on unnecessary luxuries. This fact was not forgotten during No Man’s Land, Gotham’s darkest hour. When Bruce Wayne attempted to appeal the government’s write off, they thought of him as a dunce and ignored all the issues he brought up. His useless image did nothing to help his beloved city.
“It’s been two weeks since Wayne Tech’s restart in Gotham, and I’m happy to say that Wayne Tech is back in the market with twenty points up in the world market!” Lucius Fox said brightly before a round of applause came from those around the conference table.
Bruce Wayne watched in silence as the meeting proceeded. He knew the board meeting was important, but the playboy’s mind was distracted. He was lost in the thoughts of the night crusader, Batman. There wasn’t a moment that he didn’t feel the guilt in failing Gotham in its greatest need. Letting the rogues invade and reign was inexcusable.
A vibration from his phone snapped him out of his thoughts. Subtly he pulled out the offending object trying not to distract the others from Lucius’ speech. Glancing over the screen he noted it was a message from Barbara. He paled when he read the contents. Someone had broken into Wayne Tech, but that wasn’t why he paled. Wayne Tech had countless break-ins before, usually during the night. To break in during the day was definitely a new one. But the reason for his worry was what the person did after breaking in. His company was being used to access Cadmus.
He felt his jaw tighten. There wasn’t anything he can do. Bruce Wayne couldn’t very well leave now. Even if he pulled out the brainless playboy routine, it would look highly suspicious for Batman to show up in the daylight. He typed a message back to Barbara to deal with the problem. The message was coded. It won’t do for the phone company to have a recorded conversation between the two that implied that they were Batman and Oracle.
He would have to trust her to find a way to deal with the Wayne Tech break-in. He hated being helpless. It only reminded him of what had happened to those he couldn’t protect and those who died. His parents, Jason, Stephanie… Ace, he failed them. He couldn’t have done anything to save his parents. There was nothing he could’ve done. But for Jason and Stephanie, he could have, should have. He should have given them better training, been a better mentor. They died because of his carelessness and inattentiveness. However, for Ace, what tortured him the most was the promise he made to her. It was a dying wish that he wasn’t sure he could keep.
It was a promise before Gotham was plunged into a hellish nightmare. Ace had returned with a new Royal Flush Gang and wreaked havoc wherever they went. The park she inhabited was warped into a strange wonderland. He and the other Leaguers were fighting in an attempt to contain the people she endowed with powers while she stayed safely in her fortress.
They managed to subdue the Royal Flush Gang when Waller came with the news. Ace was dying. Her power was slowly killing her. If she were to die before she reverts everything back to normal, everything within the ten-mile radius would die from the backlash of her powers. Waller offered a way to end it, but it meant the end of the girl’s life. Shyera, Hawkgirl, was going to do it. She was going to do the League’s dirty work again.
“I’ll do it.” He intercepted her when she reached for the weapon. The woman silenced Grundy for the league. She shouldn’t have to keep dirtying her hands. He would take on the responsibility this time. Ace was a victim, she shouldn’t need to die because the faults of others.
The vine forest parted as he ran towards the castle. Shyera and the others attempted to follow, but it closed quickly behind him. As he ran, he noted the difference between the world outside and the world Ace created in this fortress. It was an intricate fantasy wonderland with a playground in the middle of it all.
“Batman.” She greeted with a soft voice as she swung on the swing set.
“Ace.” He returned the greeting.
“Did you like playing with my Royal Flush Gang?” She asked still swinging as she went.
“Can’t say I have.” He replied.
“Yeah, they’re not very fun to me either.” She muttered. “I gave them their powers and they still wouldn’t play with me. It’s just like Cadmus, they played tons of games with me, but they weren’t any fun either. They’d poke things into my brain and ask ‘Ace, can you move this object with your mind?’” She snarled before a tree flew into the air and she came to a stop. “Yeah, I can. They were training me, to become a weapon… They got their weapon and I got cheated out of my childhood.”
He stilled. “I know how that feels.”
She smiled. “I know, I read your mind. That’s how I know you weren’t going to use Ms. Waller’s weapon on me.”
“No, I’m not.” He said as he tossed the weapon aside.
“You were going to try to talk me out of returning everything back to normal before I die.” She murmured sadly.
“Yes…”
“I’m going to die very soon aren’t I?” She asked again.
“… Yes.” He replied.
“Will you stay with me?” She looked at him pleadingly her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I’m scared…”
Batman took a seat on the swing next to hers as she sniffled and rubbed away the tears. He offered his hand to her when she was done.
She smiled weakly as she grasped onto his hand. “You were the only other person that ever cared.” He remained silent this was her moment he wasn’t going to rob her of her last words. “I went back to Cadmus to see him … but he wasn’t there. He helped another project run away and they’re after him now…” She glanced up at him thoughtfully. “The two of you are actually quite similar.”
“Similar?” Who could possibly be similar to him?
“He acts and lies a lot to those around him, like what you do when you’re not Batman… but he does care. In Cadmus, when the others and I were still in Project Meta, he was assigned to our group for a short while before Joker came and took us away. The others made fun of him a lot. He wasn’t bothered by them though. He wasn’t even scared of us. He just came up to me and asked do I want to be friends with him.” She gave a sad smile.
A lingering thought went through his mind as he pondered how did this person manage to escape from Joker’s assault, but he didn’t need to ask, she read his mind.
“He was hiding, from what I could get at Cadmus. He’s very good at it, always sneaking around getting snacks for us.” She started to laugh. “And occasionally he’d even pull little pranks on Mark and the others. They could never prove he did it, but we all knew. The others probably didn’t know he had no powers. He did a really good job at hiding it.”
“You miss him.” Batman said quietly.
“I wish I could see him again…” She lowered her head and kicked the ground lightly. “Can you… If you see him…” She trailed off before a smile reached her lips. “Can you tell him… it was fun… I wish we could have played a bit more.”
“…” Batman said nothing, but she smiled just the same.
“Thank you.” She whispered before her eyes slowly drifted close and the wonderland around them slowly faded away.
He didn’t know how the person she wanted to see looked like, but he couldn’t deny her last wish.
“Mr. Wayne,” Lucius’ voice brought Bruce out of his thoughts.
“Yes?” He glanced up before he noticed the meeting was over and room was emptying.
The dark man smiled. “Having some trouble adjusting?”
Bruce gave a strained smile. “Somewhat.”
“Maybe you should take the rest of the day off. After all, it wouldn’t do for the Bruce Wayne to get sick on the public now, would it?” Lucius said brightly. The man knew he was Batman. He helped manage his finances carefully so that his bat-equipment would not be linked back to Bruce Wayne. The man had saved his company many times over and kept it going for him to continue his duties as Batman.
“I think I’ll take up on your advice Lucius.” He ran a hand over his face. Lucius clapped a hand over his shoulder encouragingly before leaving.
Once he was alone, Bruce pulled out his phone and attempted to call Oracle, but another call came through instead. “Tim?”
“We caught the little pest.” The voice of his youngest Robin came through, but it didn’t sound victorious or even pleased.
“And?” He frowned. Did something go wrong?
“We need a little help with dealing with him. When can you come back?” He asked.
“… He’s in the manor?” Bruce said lowly, almost growling.
“Don’t worry! The brat doesn’t know!” Tim defended.
“I’ll be back as soon as possible. Be careful.” He told his adopted son.
He adopted Tim not long after his stepmother’s death. His young Robin was already distressed by the deaths of his father and his girlfriend Stephanie. Both died relatively close to one another in a short period of time. However, his concern with Tim wasn’t because of a liability in the manor. He was more concerned with another that inhabited the same space, a child that was forced into his care by Talia al Ghul .
His name was Damian or as Tim dubbed him, the brat. Even though, he hasn’t been in his care for long, the child was impatient, quick to anger and has no regards to authority. If not for his training with the League of Assassins, the shadow of Jason would have lingered on the boy, haunting Bruce each time he saw him. He knew it was just a ruse Talia was pulling in order to distract him from his duties, but Damian was still his son. Even though his conception was not made with his consent, he still has responsibility over him.
“Mr. Wayne.” His bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux greeted him as he came out of Wayne Tech and entered the limo.
Lucius had assigned her to him. The man knew he was Batman, but he also knew Bruce Wayne needed a means to defend himself without revealing his skills. At first he hadn’t wanted her at all, but with her dedication, he was convinced that she would be a good addition to have in on his secret. Alfred was getting older and he needed someone to assist his dear butler.
“Back to the manor, Sasha.” He said as she got into the driver seat.
“Is something wrong?” She asked.
“It’s nothing.” He said, ending the conversation before it even started.
As she drove, his thoughts drifted back to the little sneak that Robin managed to catch. Someone that was capable of sneaking into Wayne Tech and used its technology to hack into Cadmus to do who knows what, it was a worrying thought. There weren’t many people that were capable. Those who are, he’s quite certain he can name all of them in his one hand.
One in particular had no name or face. It was shortly after he recovered from his injuries from the incident with Doomsday and Cadmus’ kryptonite missile. He received a message on his bat-computer from an unknown source, untraceable. It was as if the person broke into the cave and left him the message. He scoured the cave countless times after receiving that message and found no trace of anyone entering. The message was a warning to tell him to stay out of Cadmus business. Albeit, there was no underlying threat in the message, but to be able to hack into the bat-computer was no simple feat.
He frowned as he recalled the details to each encounter with Cadmus prior to the message. The most recent was when the six of the original seven surrendered themselves to Cadmus to prove their innocence of firing their cannon at their abandon quarters. Waller hadn’t been a problem when he went to talk sense into the woman. However, he felt a sense of unease when he went to release the leaguers.
The group mentioned a shadow advisor called the Voice that had overlooked XIII’s, now Conner, jailor duties. Among them, Flash made a comment of how eerily similar he was to this advisor. He glanced up to the cameras situated in the area, noting this person was watching if they were indeed that similar. He wanted to look into this Voice character, but with chaos following one after another, he barely had time to care for Gotham, much less some unknown voice.
“Master Bruce.” Alfred greeted him at the door. Sasha drove off to park the limo while he returned to the manor.
“Alfred.” He returned the greeting as he entered, speeding towards the study as he went.
“Master Tim is down below with your guest. Miss Cassandra left after she delivered your guest.” His butler informed him as they went.
“Cassandra was here.” He noted, not entirely surprised. Oracle had likely sent Batgirl out before she even contacted Robin. Cassandra took up the mantle as Batgirl only recently during the No Man’s Land. She was raised by the League of Assassins until she fled and lived as a street urchin in the streets of Gotham until one of Oracle’s agents picked her up.
“And Master Damian has been in a state of unrest for the majority of the day.” Alfred sounded troubled.
Bruce paused in mid-stride before turning to him. “What did he do now?”
Alfred coughed. “A mere redecorating of his living quarters.”
He gave a sigh as he typed in the codes for the cave. “I’ll deal with him later.”
“Very well Master Bruce, I’ll prepare supper. Would I need to prepare a share for our guest down below?”
“…” Bruce glanced back at him with a questioning look before Alfred bowed and walked out of the room. It was best for him to see who exactly was this guest of his. Hurrying down to the cave, he changed into his costume before heading towards the medic bay of the cave. Taking a liability anywhere else in the cave would be hazardous, given how many weapons were on display and functional.
“Batman!” Tim greeted him in relief as he approached. “I couldn’t get him to talk… When I tried, he just fell asleep!”
“…He fell… asleep?” He frowned before looking past Tim. Blindfolded and bound to a chair was a little boy, much younger than Damian. He looked no more then seven or eight. His head hung lowly, as if he was still asleep.
“He’s been sleeping the last few hours. Batgirl tried waking him, but he just continued to sleep.” Tim explained.
Bruce walked over to the child “Or pretending to be asleep.” He said, pulling off the blindfold.
“What?” Tim said in surprise before the boy had lifted his head with his eyes open and clearly awake. “You’ve been awake this whole time?”
The boy hadn’t looked at Robin. He was looking at Batman. The unwavering focus he had on him clearly showed that he knew whom he was dealing with. He hadn’t flinched or even shied away. The boy sat calmly in his restraints while staring up at Batman’s towering form. He smiled at him despite having a glare directed at him that would have most people cower away in fear. This strange boy managed to break into Wayne Tech and effortlessly hacked into Cadmus. He should be worried or even paranoid of a child with such abilities. Yet, Bruce found himself unfazed.
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