Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It happens as the Justice League is gathered for their monthly review. Just as Bruce is finishing his report on reducing civilian casualties, an alarm blares throughout the Watchtower alerting the heroes to a fluctuation in the time stream. According to the system the breach happened in Central City where the Flashes would normally take point. However, both Bart and Wally were currently away on a Titan’s mission and Barry himself was at the Watchtower for the meeting.

Since there was no one currently on the ground to assess the threat, the Justice League decides that it would be best if a group of them went to evaluate the threat while the rest stay on standby in case more incursions pop up. Due to the unpredictable nature of the timestream, they thought it best that their four hardest hitters go in first as they were unsure of what they were going to find. As they arrive in Central City Barry goes ahead first to scout out the situation as the resident speedster, and also because he’s the most familiar with alterations to the time stream.

The speedster suddenly returns to the heroes with a rush of displaced air, his eyes wide. “What did you see?” Wonder Woman asks, resting a hand on the red clad hero’s shoulder in a gesture of comfort. “It was us, except not.” Barry rushes out his gaze flicking between the others. “Elaborate.” Batman growls, after all it wasn’t uncommon for them to face alternate versions of themselves. Any piece of information could be imperative to determining their alternates' motives and any major differences in the timeline.

“It was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash, but it wasn’t us.” Barry continues speaking quickly. “In fact I’m pretty sure Wonder Woman was Cassie, Kon was Superman, and Bart was the Flash.” Both Wonder Woman and Superman look disturbed by that revelation, the reason why their proteges would take up their mantles not being lost on them.

“While I couldn’t tell for certain who Batman was with the cowl covering most of his face, I could see that he was smaller than both you and Nightwing. He also had…” Flash trails off, his gaze shifting uncomfortably and refusing to meet Batman’s stare head on. “He had what Flash?” Batman bit out getting frustrated with the speedster’s hesitation when there were lives potentially on the line. “He had a gun…” Barry admitted, still not meeting the lenses of Bruce’s cowl. Bruce took an intake of breath, but had no other outward reaction. Inside, however, he was just praying that his deduction was wrong for once. After all, given the members of the team and the physical description of this other Batman, there was a pretty clear option of who it could be.

“Did they seem to be showing any outward signs of aggression?” Batman questions, pushing the matter of the other Batman to the back of his mind for now. But Barry shook his head, “Not that I could tell.” He confirms, his body untensing a bit at the change in subject. Bruce grunted in acknowledgement, “Lead the way then.” As they approach the alternates Bruce could see that they did indeed resemble what he imagines an older version of Superboy, Impulse, and Wonder Girl would look like. But when his gaze lands on the alternate version of Batman he feels himself still, because the gun at the man’s hip isn’t just any gun.

No, it was the gun that killed his parents, Joe Chill’s pistol. “Why do you have that gun?” He demands the words slipping unbidden from his lips, and drawing the attention of the alternates. “B?” The man responds with an almost wistful tone to his voice as he turns to face Bruce, cowl lenses meeting lenses. “Why do you have that gun?” Batman repeats, his voice forceful as he takes an unconscious step forward.

“Ah, right.” The man mutters, shifting his cape so that the gun is no longer visible. “Sorry about that, I forgot how sensitive you are to these things.” He continues tonelessly, his voice deep yet achingly familiar. “You’ve killed” Bruce states his body tensing, it wasn’t a question. He could tell in the way the man had said those words, could read it in his body language.

“Times are different now, B. I just do what is needed.” The other Batman, his son, Tim responded with a detached coldness that he wasn’t used to hearing.

“You know that’s not true! I taught you better than that!” Bruce all but shouts, angry that the boy who he raised would dare to put on that suit and use that gun to take the lives of others. Disgusted at himself for having failed another one of his sons.

“We are not to play-”

“Judge, jury, and executioner. I know B.” Older Tim all but sighs.

“Then why…”

“Because it works! None of you are here anymore, so I started to do things my way. And you know what happened? It worked. Crime is at an all time low now. With me and the New Justice League people no longer have to fear muggers in alleyways.” Alternate Batman ranted, and Bruce couldn’t help but feel sick. Because this was his fault, he had trained this killer. Given him the facilities to make him capable of such crimes.

“That isn’t your place.” Batman ground out, his gloves creaking from how he has them balled into fists. But older Tim just scoffs, “You act like I didn’t kill thousands of people in order to get you back.” And Bruce freezes, because that can’t be true. Except, he doesn’t sense a lie, and he never did find out the details of what happened to Tim while he was in the time stream.

He had been too busy getting reoriented to the present and trying to adjust to having Damian as his new partner. He had simply trusted that Tim had taken care of things, that he wouldn’t have gone behind his back and broken his most important code. But after what happened with Captain Boomerang, he can no longer trust what Tim would be willing to do.

“Oh. You didn’t know, did you?” The man said slowly, something like realization playing on his face. “The world’s greatest detective, and you didn’t even realize that your own son was a killer.” And Bruce feels that like a punch in the gut, because he hadn’t noticed. If this future version of Tim was telling the truth, then he had been letting a murderer walk free masquerading as his son.

But before he could question the alternate further, Superman cut in. ”What is your purpose here?” Older Tim turned to Superman waving a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry we’re not here for some kind of nefarious scheme, unlike the other future versions of us we hold no ill intentions against our younger counterparts. There were simply some complications with a relic that we confiscated from a rogue time traveler.” And sure enough, now that Bruce was looking for it, he noticed the small runic box that both the older versions of Bart and Cassie were examining. But something about what the other Batman said was bothering him.

“What do you mean other future versions?” He growls out.

“So you didn’t know about that either.” Older Tim says consideringly his calculating gaze boring into Bruce.

“Got it!” Future Bart suddenly calls out drawing everyone’s attention as the box starts to glow.

Older Kon grabs future Tim by the arm, speeding him to where the rest of their team are gathered. Before the heroes have time to react the alternates are gone in a flash of light. Though Bruce swears that he sees the other Batman smirk as the light engulfs them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Bruce does when he gets back to the cave is pull up the old files from when Tim was still Robin, and contact Barbara to do a search in order to find out what happened to Tim when he was gone. While she was hesitant at first, not sure what Tim would have to hide. She agreed to help once he told her what was at stake, it wasn’t like he would be able to hide what he discovered with the Justice League from her for long. Although apparently Tim had been able to hide things from even Oracle for years.

“Bruce.” Barbara’s voice echoes from the computer. “You’re going to want to see this.”

A file suddenly pops up on the batcomputer having been sent by Oracle. The file contains news articles about a series of simultaneous explosions that happened all over the world. Over 80 buildings located throughout Turkey, Russia, France, Spain, and more were all destroyed at exactly the same time. It was obviously a planned attack, although there are no reports of bombs having been found at the scenes. Instead it appears that the generators at all of these buildings overloaded causing the explosions.

“Due to the nature of the explosions I suspected that there must have been a hack to a system that all of these locations use.” Barbara speaks up again, more files of data opening on the screen in front of Bruce.

“When I was looking for a connection I recognized some of these buildings from previous files as being owned by the-”

“League of Assassins” Bruce cuts her off, a sinking feeling settling in his gut as the realization hit.

“Yes” She confirms, her voice strained.

“From there I was able to do some digging and I managed to recover bits of the code that was used to overload the generators. And it was familiar, Bruce, it was…” She tails off, the all knowing Oracle seemingly uncertain for once.

“Tim.” Bruce finishes for her the words of future Tim echoing in his head.

Thousands of casualties.

Each of these bases would have had hundreds of operatives, and Tim blew up 83 of them. Bruce looks through the data frantically, noting each casualty as it comes up. 117 in Moscow, 89 in Seville, 301 in Istanbul, and they just keep coming. Each base having anywhere between 50 to 500 casualties. Bruce takes a breath. It was too much. Tim, his son, had murdered over 5,000 people in cold blood. Whether or not they were League of Assassin members was irrelevant, because they were people. And they don’t kill. His hands are shaking as he closes out of the files Barbara sent, having seen the devastation his son had wrought.

“Bruce” Barbara’s voice comes through the computer, “What-”

“He has to be brought to justice.” Bruce states firmly, slipping back into the mask. Willing himself to be the unfeeling crusader, and not a wrecked father who failed another son.

“But-” Barbara argues, her voice wavering slightly. “It’s Tim, we can’t just ship him off to Arkham like some rogue. You saw how well that went for Jason.”

“No.” Bruce, Batman, agrees. “This was an international incident, and will be treated as such. We will hold him here for questioning. Then, as is protocol, the Justice League will be contacted and a trial will be held to decide his fate.”

“Understood. Do you want me to contact the others?” Barbara asks, slipping into her own role as Oracle.

“Not yet. I still have some things that I want to confirm, and I would like to wait until we have Tim in confinement before calling everyone here.” Bruce states, flicking back through the old Young Justice reports he had been looking through earlier until he finally found what he was looking for.

Encrypted and hidden among the thousands of other files on the computer was a small report on how the team had accidently gotten stuck in the future where they met the future evil versions of themselves. It was a short report and lacked the in depth detail that Tim was known for, but it was still there. As he continues to go through the files Bruce was beginning to regret not having gone through the Young Justice reports back when Tim had been going on missions with the team. The future titans are mentioned a couple more times throughout other files, but the details are equally as sparse.

While he knows that the future is not set in stone, Bruce himself having faced evil versions of himself multiple times. The implication that the rest of the Titan’s will go rogue with Tim, combined with the knowledge that Tim has already killed, is a definite cause for concern. Armed with this new knowledge Bruce does what he knows best and begins to plan.

First he’ll need to inform the Justice League of his findings, that way they can keep Tim’s teammates distracted long enough for Bruce to get him into a containment cell without any risk of interference.

Bringing him to the fact that he’ll have to draw Tim out without alerting him that anything was wrong, and subdue him long enough to get him into a containment cell.

Once Tim is secured, he’ll take the opportunity to question him and get his side of everything before sending the recording to the Justice League for review.

Then, once everything is in place, Bruce will have to call a family meeting and break the news to everyone.

It won't be easy, Tim was trained by the best after all, and things had been rocky between them ever since Tim had attempted to kill Captain Boomerang. Bruce would just have to hope that Tim still trusted him enough that he wouldn’t see the attack coming.

Chapter Text

Tim is on his lunch break at WE when he gets the call. Apparently the Riddler has planted bombs around the city and has rigged them to go off when the sun sets. Bruce wants him to come to the cave in order to help track them all down.

It was strange since Bruce has been keeping his distance ever since the whole thing with Captain Boomerang, not to mention the fact that he’s calling while Tim is at work.

But considering the fact that Dick is on a Titan’s mission, Jason is still keeping his distance from the family, Steph and Damien are at school, Duke is new, and Cass is in Hong Kong, he seems to be the logical choice.

So Tim cancels his meetings for the rest of the day, much to Tam’s blatant disapproval, and makes his way to the nest in order to get suited up before heading to the cave. As Tim pulls his Ducati into the cave entrance he can’t help the feeling of wrongness that overcomes him.

Bruce is waiting for him as he steps off his bike, and that alone has his brain setting off alarm bells.

Because Bruce never waits for him, he views waiting for others as a waste of time when lives could be saved every second that he’s working. Then again he knows that Bruce has changed since coming back from the time stream, and taking his own distance into account this might just be the man’s new normal.

“You called?” Tim prompts walking up to Bruce, who is currently decked out in full Batman regalia, keeping a wary eye on him.

“That’s right.” Bruce confirms gesturing for Tim to follow him to the Batcomputer where a map of the city is pulled up.

“Duke found a riddle attached to a hostage while he was patrolling this morning. According to the riddle we have until sundown to deactivate 15 different bombs located throughout the city.” Bruce states gesturing to the screen which is currently displaying a map of Gotham with four red dots placed in different locations.

One was located in the fashion district, another in the Bowery while the other two were both located in Crime Alley.

“As you can see I’ve already located four of the bombs and sent Signal to disarm them, but that still leaves 11 that we have to find and disarm in the next few hours.” Bruce explains, “ Since Barbara’s attention is split between helping Signal on comms, I was hoping that you could assist in locating the rest of the explosives”

Tim nods taking the information in as Bruce hands over a bright green envelope with a purple question mark on it. There’s still something about this whole interaction that’s putting him on edge, but Tim can’t seem to figure out exactly what it is that’s wrong. Regardless, he keeps half of his attention on Bruce just in case as he thumbs open the envelope.

Suddenly he feels a sharp prick in his neck just as he’s pulling out the letter and reaches a hand up to find a tranquilizer dart embedded just above the collar of his suit.

“Wha-” He turns expecting to find one of Ra’s ninja, but instead he finds Alfred Pennyworth standing on the cave landing holding a tranquilizer gun.

His last thoughts as he slips into unconsciousness are, ’they never suspect the butler.’
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim wakes up to the uncomfortable feeling of having cotton in his mouth, and knows immediately that he had been drugged. He lies perfectly still attempting to get a feel for where he is, when everything starts to come back to him.

He had come to the cave in the middle of the day because Bruce said there was an emergency, then he was hit with a tranquilizer by Alfred just as he was getting the riddle out the envelope. Taking this information into account as well as what he can hear and feel around him, he deduces that he is currently on a cot in one of the containment cells in the Batcave.

He’s been stripped of his Red Robin gear leaving him in only a tee shirt and sweatpants. Considering the circumstances it seems likely that the whole “case” with the bombs had been a ploy in order to get him into the cave and ambush him.

The question is ‘why?’

Had both Batman and Alfred been compromised in some way?

Batman, Tim could understand after all they face rogues like Professor Pig, Mad Hatter, and Poison Ivy who all have mind altering substances or gadgets.

The problem is that Alfred appears to be affected as well.

This seems to point to the fact that whoever targeted them also knows their secret identities, which is bad. The only person who Tim could think of that would do something like this was Ra’s. The man knew their identities and he didn’t doubt that the megalomaniac could hire some kind of meta-human with mind control abilities in order to target Batman and Alfred.

But that still left the question of why, this wasn’t Ra’s normal formula after all.

Was he after Damian again?

But then why lure Tim out?

Just what kind of game was he playing this time?

Tim is brought out of his musings by a voice coming through the speaker of his cell.

“I know you’re awake.” It was said in Batman’s growl, and Tim knew that his time was up. Stealing himself, Tim opens his eyes and turns towards the reinforced glass that makes up the outside wall of the cell.

“B? What’s going on? Why am I locked in a containment cell?” Tim asks, allowing panic to slip into his voice as he makes eye contact with the lenses of Batman’s cowl. He needs more information before he can make any moves, so playing dumb is his best bet.

“5,387 people are dead by your hand.” The man in front of him growls.

And Tim can do nothing more than blink, because ‘what?’ Of the things he expected (mind controlled?) Batman to say, this was not one of them.

Maybe a rogue had implanted some false memory that’s making Bruce believe that Tim had betrayed him?

Then Bruce had convinced Alfred that the threat was real, but then what about the others?

Barbara must have gotten the notification that the containment cell was in use, so how come she hasn’t done anything yet?

Nothing was adding up and it was leaving him increasingly frustrated.

“B… What are you talking about?” Tim asks slowly, genuine confusion coloring his voice as his mind desperately tries to put the pieces together.

“When I was still in the time stream you hacked into the League of Assassins system and rigged 83 of their bases to explode by overloading the generators. While there were no civilian casualties due to the localized nature of the explosions, over 5,000 league members died in the blasts.” Batman states, his voice cold, almost clinical in nature, as if he were simply reading a report instead of uprooting Tim’s entire reality.

Because ‘no- he hadn’t. Yes. He had destroyed the bases, but he hadn’t meant- There was a countdown and they were trained assassins, he didn’t think… There had just been too much going on with the Council of Spiders and saving Bruce and trying to get Tam out before she got killed. It seemed like the only way at the time, and he hadn’t meant to kill anyone. But he had. He never thought to check, and now the blood of over five thousand people were on his hands.’

“I didn’t-” He chokes out, the weight of his sins causing his throat to tighten.

“I didn’t mean to kill anyone- I just had to get Tam out of there- and there was a countdown-” He rambles desperately trying to make the man in front of him understand. It was suddenly hard to breathe under the glare of the cowl lenses.

For the first time in his life, Tim understood what it was like to be a rogue pinned down by the unrelenting glare of crusader of vengeance. He wonders distantly if this is how Jason felt before Bruce sent a Batarang slicing through his neck.

“Not only did you instigate an international terrorist attack, you’ve also been keeping information from me long before your time with the League of Assassins.” The Dark Knight cut him off, continuing with the interrogation.

And for what feels like the hundredth time that day, Tim is thrown for a loop. Is this about the Batmobile he had embezzled? That hardly seems relevant, nor as pressing as the matter at hand.

“You never told me you went to the future.” Batman grinds out, seemingly sensing his confusion.

And ‘oh, that’s what this is about.’ Tim thinks as he feels the pieces finally click into place. Bruce had never cared about what he did with Young Justice before, and he keeps files of everything he did with his team on the Batcomputer.

They were encrypted, sure, but not to the extent that Bruce wouldn’t be able to access them. He only really did it to act as a deterrent, to make it seem like it would be too annoying to decrypt everything.

But nothing was hidden.

He even had a file on the future titans in there, but he had kept it all purposefully vague. So the fact that Bruce was bothered by it could only mean one thing.

“You met them, didn’t you?” He questions, his mouth suddenly dry from the revelation.

Batman doesn’t say anything, just stares at him.

It’s confirmation enough.

“You didn’t think it was important to inform me that there is a future where the Titans turn evil?” Batman growls, ignoring Tim’s previous question.

“There should be a file on the Batcomputer.” Tim defends, because it wasn’t just his life on the line now.

He wasn’t sure just how much Bruce knew, it was obvious that he had encountered Gun Batman at least but what about the others? Tim had made sure not to mention any particular names in the original file, so he wasn’t sure who was all compromised.

“A file that lacks any and all details about who was a part of Titan’s West, and what exactly your alternates were doing.” The Dark Knight bites out.

“So what now?” Tim asks, keeping his face and voice carefully blank.

“You interrogate me to get the names of everyone who was a part of Titan’s West and lock us all up? That hardly seems fair considering the amount of evil Justice League alternates we’ve faced.” He’s purposefully simplifying things, trying to probe Bruce for more information.

“Since your actions took place on a global scale this interrogation will be sent to the Justice League for them to decide your fate.” Batman states going back to Tim’s original transgression.

“As for the other Titans, no action will be taken against them so long as they don’t go against us first.” The ‘like you’ was left unsaid, but Tim could still hear it nonetheless.

He couldn’t help the feeling of bitterness that welled up in his chest at the fact that both Jason and Damian could walk free after purposefully killing people, meanwhile he got treated like a criminal for a mistake.

But Tim had always been the exception, the Robin who forced his way in instead of being chosen. Who was sent to Paris to train with Lady Shiva because Batman couldn’t spare the time to train him himself.

Despite being the one to pull Bruce out of his own darkness time and time again. Despite coming back and being Robin again even after what Bruce did to him on his sixteenth birthday. Despite being the only one who believed the man was still alive after Darkseid’s attack.

Bruce is still going to punish him for this.

And if this was just about Tim, maybe he could accept that. Because he had messed up. He had killed thousands of people, albeit unintentionally. So if this was just about his own actions during his time overseas, he would accept the punishment.

The problem is what Bruce said about no action being taken against the other Titan’s unless they go against the Justice League first. Because Tim knows his friends. His stupid, loyal, amazing friends who will one-hundred percent try and break him out as soon as they hear he’s been imprisoned.

He trusts that Cassie will have enough sense not to jump the gun and go straight to breaking him out. She’s been leading the team long enough to know just how bad of an idea that is, even if she doesn’t have all of the information about the Justice League knowing about their future versions.

Kon and Bart on the other hand…

Tim grimaces internally because he knows just how impulsive his other two friends are. And if he knows Bruce, which he does, then the man will likely use this opportunity to test the Titan’s members loyalties. Meaning that he will almost certainly separate the members of his team to get their individual reactions, setting up some kind of trap for them if they fail.

Tim won’t let them suffer for his mistake. Both Kon and Bart have too many bad memories in sterile environments when they were younger for Tim to allow them to be imprisoned because of him.

As much as he wants to believe that the Justice League wouldn’t imprison his friends just for trying to help him, that they wouldn’t make them relive the worst days of their lives.

He knows better than that.

He still remembers how Superman first treated Kon when he found out about the young clone. Still remembers how Superman and the rest of the Justice League had dismissed him when he was searching for Bruce.

Even though the man’s relationship with Kon has gotten better over time they’re still not close. Tim can tell that the man is still wary towards Superboy, that he still doesn’t trust the fact that half of his DNA is from Luther. That he still hasn’t gotten over the fact that his own DNA was stolen in order to make the clone.

And so Tim has no doubt that Superman won’t fight against imprisoning Kon if Batman tells him that he’s a threat. Knows that the Super won’t consider what treating Kon like a threat will do to his friend’s psyche, his friend who has worked so hard to separate himself from his Luther DNA. Knows that Clark purposefully won’t make the connection between holding Kon in the watchtower, and how Kon was treated by CADMUS.

And while Barry was never malicious towards Bart like Clark was to Kon, the Flash had never reached out to him either. Instead Bart had been raised by Max up until he died. Barry just didn’t know Bart, didn’t understand the things he had gone through.

He likely wouldn’t even think about the fact that Bart had spent all of his time in a lab trying to get a cure before he was finally brought to their time. Wouldn’t even make the connection that getting stripped of his speed and confined to a sterile cell would bring back bad memories for the boy.

Batman continues staring at Tim for a couple more minutes, likely analyzing his face for any reactions to his previous statement, before finally stalking back into the cave proper.

Tim breathes in a sigh a of relief and lies back down on the small cot against the wall of the cell. He’s lying on his side with his back against the wall; he then subtly adjusts himself such that his arm is behind him, out of sight of the camera in the upper left corner of the cell.

Slowly feeling along the wall behind him, Tim finds what he’s looking for after a couple of seconds. There’s a small indent barely the size of his nail where Tim had placed a small communicator way back when he was still Robin.

After all, when you go through something like his sixteenth birthday where you learn not to trust anyone, you tend to take precautions in case something like this ever happens. He currently has communicators located in every containment cell, placed in multiple locations throughout the manor and Batcave, as well in each of his suits which directly contact his team.

Of course he’s updated his contingencies ever since Brucequest, and considering that his team were almost certainly being monitored right now it seems like he’ll have to reach out to some of his other contacts. In all honesty this was one plan he was hoping that he would never have to use, but when have things ever gone the way Tim Drake wants them to?

He can do this. For his team he has to.

So taking a deep breath, Tim inserts his nail into the gap and presses gently to turn the communicator on before pressing twice more to switch to the contact he wants. He then takes his nail out of the gap and begins to subtly tap out a message against the wall for the communicator to pick up.

–- - –- - –- –- –- -– - -– - - –- - –- –- - - -– - -– - -– - -– - -– -–
–- - - - - - - –- –- –-

He has no way to confirm if the communicator is actually functioning properly or if it’s even transmitting to the right person, but he has to trust in his technology.

Trust that his contact will get the message.

So he continues to repeatedly tap out his code over and over in the hopes that someone’s listening.

Chapter Text

-Kon POV-

Kon has no idea why Clark called him to the Watchtower. He was spending his day on the farm with Ma and Pa Kent helping to milk the cows when the Super suddenly came swooping in saying that Kon was needed at the Watchtower.

Kon can count the amount of times he’s been up to the Watchtower on one hand, so he thought that there must have been some kind of world ending event taking place.

Instead he’s sitting alone in a room facing a blank screen with Superman standing awkwardly by the door. The room appears to be some kind of meeting room, with a small table in the middle facing the TV screen.

“So do you want to tell me why I’m here, or are you just going to keep standing there?” Kon asks, not bothering to hide the frustration lacing his tone.

He doesn’t have the best relationship with Superman after the older man treated Kon like the gum on the bottom of his shoes for all of the clone’s early life. Their relationship has improved a little since Kon was killed by Superboy Prime, but he didn’t think he would ever be able to truly forgive Superman for how he treated him in the past.

As much as he enjoys the company and support that the older Kents provide him, it doesn’t change the fact that Clark wasn’t there for him when he needed support the most. Doesn’t erase all of the hurt Superman put him through.

“Just watch the screen, it should begin soon.” Clark says tersely, not making eye contact with him. And now that Kon is paying attention, the man seems to be tense with him in a way that he hasn’t been for a while.

It puts Kon on edge as he shifts to face the screen in front of him. In fact, everything about this situation is rubbing him the wrong way, just what is he about to watch?

As he’s about to turn back around and demand answers from Clark, the man’s bad attitude be damned, the screen flickers to life in front of him.

At first Kon isn’t sure what he’s looking at. The TV shows a small white room with a sink and toilet in one corner, and a cot pushed up against the wall at the other end. It’s then that he notices a familiar figure with a small frame and a mop of black hair laying on the cot.

“Tim!” Kon can’t help but blurt out at the sight of his friend being held in what he can only assume is a cell of some kind.

“What the hell is this, Clark?” He grinds out looking back over at Superman, who’s as stoic as before.

“Just keep watching Kon-El.” Clark replies, eerily calm, not at all rising to Kon’s bait.

Seeing that he isn’t getting anywhere Superboy turns back around with a huff, his hands balled into fists as the recording continues. He watches as Tim is woken up by Batman, as his friend is interrogated by the man who is supposed to be his father.

Kon can feel himself getting more and more enraged as time goes on, having to close his eyes more than once to avoid burning a hole through the TV screen. He’s practically fuming by the time the screen finally goes blank.

Because Kon knows how much Tim sacrificed to get back the man who was now trying to put him behind bars. For Roa’s sake Tim is missing a whole organ because of what he had to go through to get Batman back.

Not to mention the fact that this whole situation is incredibly hypocritical of Batman. Kon knows for a fact that almost every member of Bats has killed at some point.

Hell two of them have tried to kill Tim multiple times!

And yet there aren't any trials being held for them?

He still remembers finding Tim’s body mangled and bleeding out on the Tower floor with the words ‘Jason Todd was here,’ written in his own friend’s blood like some shitty graffiti tag.

Kon stands suddenly, knocking the chair over in his rush of movement and marches over to where Clark is guarding the door. Because that’s what he was doing, guarding, now that the Justice League knew about their future evil counterparts it seems like Kon has been demoted from acquaintance back to threat.

And he’s sick of it, sick of this push and pull he and Clark have going on. Sick of being treated like he’s about to snap and turn evil at a moment's notice. He’s tried so hard to be good, to please Superman and live up to the expectations that wearing the crest of House of El brings.

But now that his friend is being punished for trying to survive, and he himself is being treated like a monster again just because of the possibility that he may turn evil in the future; Kon is beginning to think that being “good” isn’t worth it.

As much as he’s fought to be different from Luther, to forsake that part of his genetics. He can’t help but understand the man in this moment. As much as people want to believe that the Justice League is perfect, it isn’t.

His team is evidence enough of that.

And now that his friend is in danger, he’ll be going against the ‘paragon of good’ if Kon wants to save him.

Kon was made in order to save the world, and he’s already done that.

Is it so bad to want to save his friend now?

“Move aside Clark.” He all but growls at the man who he shares half of his DNA with.

“You know I can’t do that Kon, you need to calm down.” The older man stands firm.

“Fine, then stay there.” Kon says with an obviously forced nonchalance that he tends to use in order to belittle his opponents in battle, and slides his TTK along the floor to where the elder super is standing. From there he starts moving his telekinesis up Superman’s body, locking his legs into place then moving up to his chest and arms.

“Kon-El.” Clark warns, fighting to break the hold.

But Kon ignores him, pushing past the man and opening the door. He knows that his TTK won’t last for much longer, but it will still give him a head start.

To do what exactly? He isn’t entirely sure yet, but he knows that he can’t deal with Clark right now.

As much as Kon wants to go straight to the Batcave and break his friend out, he knows that the Bat keeps kryptonite on hand. What he needs to do is meet up with Bart and Cassie.

However, he’s hit with an intense wave of nausea as soon as he steps out of the room. The last thing he sees before the world goes dark is a flash of green.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Bart POV -

Bart and Wally are just getting back from their Titan’s mission when Barry calls him to the Watchtower.

Bart is practically bursting with anticipation as Barry leads him to a small room with a table in the middle and a TV mounted to the far wall. As far as he knows there isn’t a reason for him to be at the Watchtower, and being led into this small room does nothing to quell his anxiety.

“So, uh, is this about the mission? Because I thought everything went pretty well. I know I kind of rushed in and we’vetalkedabouthat but it was fine!” Bart rushes out, unable to hold in his rambling for any longer.

Barry sighs, but shakes his head. “No, Bart this isn’t about the Titan’s mission. Just sit down and watch the video, okay?”

Bart nods, noting the Flash’s tired tone and takes a seat at the end of the table facing the screen. His hands are anxiously tapping away on the table when the TV finally comes on showing a small white room.

Bart immediately zones in on the figure settled on the cot and feels his body go unnaturally still. As a speedster time moves slowly for Bart, things always seem to take twice as long as he thinks they need to and he can never seem to stay still for long.

But in this instance the world really does seem to stop, and he doesn’t feel the excess energy that almost always seems to be pushing him towards some kind of action.

It doesn’t seem real.

Why is Tim locked up in some kind of cell?

It doesn’t make sense.

Then everything comes rushing back into clarity, and he suddenly finds himself looking up into the face of his technical grandfather.

“Barrywhat’sgoingonwhyisTimlockedup?” He asks frantically, gesturing at the screen where the image of his friend is still being displayed.

Barry places a hand on Bart’s shoulder and gently steers the boy back to the chair. “Look. I know this is confusing, but I promise everything will be explained if you keep watching.” The older speedster says sympathetically, as he gives the younger one last pat on the shoulder.

Bart sits back down in the chair, his legs bouncing rapidly with his nerves. It isn’t that he doesn’t trust the Flash, having grown up with stories about how great his grandfather was. It’s just that he doesn’t actually know the man that well himself, and now his friend is in a cell, and he’s just sitting here.

Waiting.

He just wishes Barry would just tell him what’s going on already so he can act instead of watching this recording, which will undoubtedly take much longer.

But somehow he manages to sit through the entire recording, although by the end of it he feels like he might just end up vibrating out of his chair.

It doesn’t seem fair.

He knows Tim, knows that his friend would never kill on purpose.

Knows how terrified he’s been of becoming like his future self.

Knows that treating him like a criminal isn’t going to help.

Tim was one of his first and only friends when he arrived in this time. Before Cassie came along it was just himself, Tim, and Kon. Despite Wally’s promise to mentor him, Bart ultimately got left to the wayside. And while he was taken in by Max, the only time he didn’t feel like an intruder in this time was when he was with his friends.

Things have gotten a bit better since he came back from the dead, but the only time he truly feels at home is when he’s with his old team members.

And now Tim was being locked up for a mistake.

Bart’s moving before he fully registers what he’s doing.

He doesn’t hear Barry’s warning of, “Impulse!” before he’s being grabbed and pulled back roughly.

The next thing he knows there’s the feeling of cold metal as a collar snaps into place around his neck, and Bart feels his connection to the speed force get cut off.

“Barry what-” Impulse stammers out bringing his hands up to claw at his neck in a futile attempt to get the collar off.

Barry stares down at Bart with an intense expression of pity on his face, as he leads him towards the Watchtower holding cells. “I’m sorry kid. I promise it’s not permanent, but we can’t have you trying to break Tim out before his trial.”

At the mention of the trial, Bart feels his expression crumble.

His friend is likely going to be locked up forever, and he can’t do anything to stop it.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Cassie POV-

Cassie wasn’t sure what to expect when Diana called her to the Watchtower, but it wasn’t the small room with a TV that she found herself in.

It’s strange to say the least.

When she had asked what was going on, Diana had just said that there was an update about one of her teammates. This did little to settle her nerves considering how her teammates were always getting themselves into all kinds of insane situations.

She still feels guilty over what happened to Tim last year, even if he’s since forgiven her for the part she played in it.

When the screen comes to life in front of her, she can’t stop the feeling of dread that wells up in her chest. Because the room she’s being shown is undoubtedly a holding cell of some sort, and laying on the cot is a familiar silhouette.

Even though she wants to demand to know what’s going on, she also knows that the reason why Tim is locked up will likely be shown in the video. So while she clenches her fists under the table, she keeps quiet and watches.

Cassie wishes that she could say that she’s surprised by what’s unveiled in the video, but she was there when Tim went off the deep end. She had watched as he attempted to clone their fallen friends, despite knowing that it wouldn’t have been them.

She had seen the kind of grief driven desperation that the boy had held during this time in his life, it was the main reason why she had sided with Nightwing when he had approached her saying that Tim needed to be stopped.

Now she wishes that she had stayed by her friend’s side, that she had supported him. Because maybe if he had someone else by his side during this time, he wouldn’t have felt as desperate. Maybe he wouldn’t have felt the need to go to Ra’s Al Ghul. Maybe he would have considered the consequences of destroying those bases.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Maybe.

But she wasn’t by his side, and no amount of maybes will change that fact.

However, she can stand by his side now.

She can make sure that he’s not alone when he goes to face the Justice League. She can make sure to vouch for him this time. She won’t make the same mistakes twice.

Filled with resolve Cassie stands and faces her mentor, standing by the door.

“When will the trial take place?”

Diana looks back at her, her gaze searching, but after a second she offers Cassie a smile and rests a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“The trial will likely start in two weeks' time, as we have yet to hear back from some of the harder to reach league members.”

Cassie takes in a breath at that information, two weeks. She only has two weeks to prepare for whatever the League is planning to throw at her friend. Two weeks where Tim is going to be held in that small cell, waiting for his fate to be announced.

“It will certainly be a hard battle for your friend to win given the casualties, but know that I will stand with him. As you know we are no strangers to necessary sacrifices on Themyscira, I hardly count a group of assassins as a substantial loss. And I for one, do not believe that the future is set in stone.” Wonder Woman continues giving her protege’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Cassie releases a breath that she didn’t realize she was holding at her mentor’s words. Ever since taking up the mantle of Wonder Girl she’s always felt like she could never live up to the expectations of her mentor.

That no matter what she did, she would never be good enough, that she would never be a hero like Donna.

And while she had been focusing on the problems of her friend, she also hadn’t missed the fact that Batman had mentioned the future Titans. That Wonder Woman likely knew who she became in one version of the future.

So to know that she still has her mentor’s support, feels like a huge weight is lifted from her chest.

As much as she wants to bask in this moment with her mentor, she knows that Kon and Bart have likely heard the news about Tim as well. And as the leader, it’s her responsibility to make sure that they don’t do anything stupid.

She just hopes that she’s not too late.

Chapter Text

Bruce has put it off as long as he can. As much as he doesn’t want to burden his kids with this information, also knows that it isn’t fair to keep it from them.

It’s been a little over two weeks since he confined Tim to the containment cell in the Batcave.

Two weeks he has been lying to his children.

Not that this is anything new, Bruce is much too used to lying to his kids when he knows that the information could serve as a liability to the team.

So he told them that Tim was on an undercover operation, and wouldn’t be in contact with any of them. With Barbara on his side he was able to forge believable mission files that fooled even his oldest into thinking they were legitimate.

Luckily the containment cells were separate from the main cave, and were rarely used such that no one would come across Tim unless they suspected something was wrong. It also helped that Dick had only recently gotten back from his Titan’s mission, and has been busy making up lost time with Damian that he hasn’t caught up on the recent Titan affairs.

Otherwise he may have noticed the fact that both Impulse and Superboy were also conveniently on an undercover mission, and gotten suspicious of Tim’s absence.

But now the trial was only a day away, and Bruce knows that he won’t be able to hide it any longer.

He checks his watch, 5:45pm.

He told everyone to be in the cave by 6pm, so they should all be arriving in the next 25 minutes. 25 because Jason would likely by 10 minutes late just make a point that he didn’t want to be there.

Damian is the first in the cave around 5:50pm having been upstairs likely doing his homework, working on an art project, or playing with his menagerie of animals. Followed closely behind him are Duke and Alfred, who are carrying various snacks over to the meeting table.

Bruce hardly thought snacks were appropriate for this kind of discussion, but Alfred insisted that they would help to alleviate tensions.

“So what’s the meeting about B? I didn’t think any big rogues were out that would call for this kind of meeting?” Duke asks curious as he sets down the tray of assorted pastries he was holding.

“Yes father, none of the rogues that are out hardly warrant these kinds of extreme measures. We could easily handle them by ourselves, there is no need to call in the outside riff raff.” Damian agrees with a scoff as he takes a seat at the table by Bruce’s side.

Bruce grunts in acknowledgement of his children’s concerns. “Indeed, this meeting is not about any of the rogues. As Duke stated all of the big names are still in Arkham, this is about a more delicate matter.”

“Then what-” Damian sputters indignantly at not getting a straight answer before Bruce cuts him off.

“I will discuss the matter when everyone arrives, that way I won’t have to repeat myself.” Batman states, quieting Damian down with a look.

“I suppose that is acceptable.” The boy agrees, still seemingly a bit affronted at having information kept from him.

Bruce can’t help, but feel a bit of sympathy for the boy. After all he was raised in the League where he was likely kept in the dark often by his mother and grandfather, so it makes sense that he would feel uncomfortable about Bruce keeping information from him.

But this is different, he isn’t keeping Damian in the dark for any malicious intent he simply doesn’t want to have to repeat himself due to the sensitive nature of the information.

Dick is the next to arrive at 5:55pm having stopped by Barbara’s apartment to pick her since it was on his way from Bludhaven.

“Hey B, I hope you didn’t schedule this meeting because of some world ending disaster.” His eldest jokes as he steps out the car, moving around the back to unload Barbara’s wheelchair from the trunk for her.

“As I said to Duke and Damian, I am going to wait until everyone gets here before discussing, that way I won’t have to repeat myself.” Batman repeats.

Dick raises his eyebrows as he moves to help Babs transition into the wheelchair only for her to playfully smack his hands out of the way, and use her upper body to maneuver herself into the chair.

“That bad huh?” Dick asks walking over to the table and taking a seat besides Damian, ruffling his hair much to the younger’s displeasure. Though Bruce can’t help but notice the way Damian seems to subtly lean into the touch.

Batman doesn’t dignify him with a response as Barbara comes up and pulls her chair into the empty spot at the table on his other side.

Stephanie arrives next, peeling into the cave on her bike at exactly 6pm.

“What’s up B? It’s not often you call us all together like this.” She calls out, taking off her helmet and striding up to the table.

“You don’t get called here because your presence is unnecessary, and you are often nothing more than a nuisance.” Damian bites out his arms crossed over his chest as he glares over at Stephanie.

“Love you too brat.” She scoffs sitting next to Babs, though there is a bit of warmth in her tone.

“We just need to wait for Jason.” Batman speaks, referring to Stephanie’s earlier question.

“Are we sure he’s going to come? I know things aren’t as bad between you two, but he still doesn’t come around unless he has to.” Dick asks warily, his gaze flicking to the empty chair at the other end of the table.

“He’ll be here.” Bruce grunts, meeting the uncertain stares of his children. A hesitant banter begins among the kids at the table, when after ten minutes the roar of a bike can be heard making its way down the cave entrance.

And sure enough Jason Todd skids to a stop in the cave, clad in his full Red Hood gear. “I swear this better be fuckin good B, because I had a whole drug bust planned for tonight before getting your stupid call.” The man growls out, his voice distorted by the modifier in his helmet.

Batman simply gestures to the empty chair at the table not letting his son’s anger get to him.

Jason makes his way over plopping down into the chair and putting his boots onto the table (careful not to disturb Alfred’s pastries), before taking off his helmet.

“So?” He questions taking a pastry from off the tray closest to him and taking a pointed bite.

“I called you all here to talk about Tim.” Batman confesses not letting any emotion leak into his voice.

Immediately the table erupts into questions and comments.

“Tim? Is he okay? Did something happen on his undercover op?” Dick frets.

“Please tell me he didn’t lose another organ.” Stephanie sighs.

“You really called us here just to discuss that failure?” Damian scoffs.

“Do I really need to be here for this?” Jason asks dismissively.

“Is he okay?” Duke worries.

Only Barbara stays silent, as she knows exactly what happened to Tim.

“He is not harmed, but this is a matter that concerns all of you.” The Dark Knight states handing out packets to each of his kids, detailing exactly what Tim did when he was in the time stream and what is going to happen to him now.

For once the group is silent, save for the turning of pages as they take in the information before them.

“Timmy… just what did you do…?” He hears Dick whisper in horror as he flips through the packet. Duke and Steph are both silent as they take in the information while Damian stands up in a rage.

“There is no way that Drake of all people would be able to best grandfather like this! Father, surely this information is faulty?” The youngest spits out, shaking the paper in front of him.

“I can assure you that all of this information is correct, I even got a confession from him myself” Batman states staring into Damian’s eyes until the younger sits back down with a huff.

“So that’s why the League went after him, and tried to take down WE.” Steph speaks up, a horrified realization coming over her face.

Jason, who was silent until then, finally slams his hands on the table in front of him. Bruce hadn’t even noticed that he had taken his feet down, until the man was leaning into his personal space.

“The fuck is this old man?!” He practically shouts, his hand open to the page detailing Tim’s confinement and plan for a trial.

“He killed over five thousand people, he has to face proper retribution for that.” Batman stands his ground as Jason sneers at him.

“He took down the League, Bruce! You know, the same people who have fucked most of us up?! Not some innocent civilians!” Jason exclaims, his eyes alight with rage.

“That doesn’t change the fact that he killed people, and we don’t kill. He will be tried for his actions according to Justice League protocol.” Batman states keeping his own anger at bay seeing that Jason is still not above murder, he hopes that he won’t have to take action against his son again…

“So are you going to put me up to trial then? What about Damian and Cass? Huh? Because all of us have killed people, in case you forgot!” His second youngest rants, his arms gesturing towards himself and Damian.

“You know that Damian and Cassandra didn’t have a choice, they were a product of their environment. And you have taken measures to stop killing.” Batman states carefully, aware of all the eyes on him.

He can’t risk both Damian and Jason feeling criminalized if he slips up. Both have made such good progress lately, and he would hate for this to be what sets them back.

“Right. Of course. Do whatever you want, but I’m out here.” Jason scoffs taking one last pastry before stomping over to his bike and peeling out of the cave.

“You’re seriously going to punish Tim for defending himself?” Stephanie asks incredulously in the wake of Jason’s departure.

“Bruce is right Steph. Tim killed a lot of people, and he needs to face justice for that. It’s not like we’re throwing him in Arkham, he’ll get a fair trial.” Barbara says gently, placing a hand on her successor's shoulder.

Stephanie just looks up at her mentor in shock and betrayal.

“Are you kidding me Babs this is Tim we’re talking about, Tim!” She exclaims, her voice breaking at knowing that one of her best friends is going to be locked up. And knowing that her mentor supports it.

Barbara opens her mouth to say something else, but Stephanie just shakes her head, standing up and walking over to her bike.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe you right now.” She says softly as she puts on her helmet and leaves the cave in a similar manner to Jason.

Bruce looks into the faces of those remaining at the table. Damian’s expression is shut off as he looks at the boy, but Bruce can see the wariness underneath. He will have to be sure to reassure his son of his place in the family, and that his past won’t be held against him

Duke looks uncomfortable as he also looks between those remaining. He hasn’t been with them for long, so it makes sense that this kind of display would put the boy on edge. Bruce will have to take him aside as well to offer some reassurance.

Barbara looks a bit dejected, yet she sits firm in the aftermath of Stephanie’s outburst. She had likely expected such a reaction from the spitfire blonde, but it undoubtedly still hurt. Much like how Jason’s own reaction had hurt Bruce, even though he had anticipated it.

Dick looks conflicted as he rereads the report pouring over each and every detail, as if he might find something to refute the claim that his younger brother truly took so many lives. Finally his head pops up as if he’s had some kind of revelation.

“This says that Tim was confined two weeks ago. You’ve been keeping this from us haven’t you?! Did you even tell Cass?” His eldest questions, his gaze burning into Bruce’s.

“I knew that this information was sensitive and would likely cause a rift in the team, so I waited to tell everyone in to ensure that the mission didn’t get compromised. As you know Cassandra is busy in Hong Kong, and I didn’t want to distract her with this. I will ensure that she is updated upon her arrival back in Gotham.” Batman explains bracing himself, already knowing that this isn’t the answer Dick wants to hear.

“Jesus Christ Bruce!” His eldest exclaims, holding his head in his hands in exasperation.

“Not only did you detain and order a trial for my little brother without any of our input, but you didn’t even tell us until a day before the trial! Not to mention that you didn’t even think to tell Cass about this, when you know how much she loves Tim!” Dick shouts getting up from his chair and marching over to Batman.

“Jason is right, Fuck you Bruce.” Dick grinds out, not letting him get a word in, before turning to face Barbara.

“And I can’t believe you were in on this too. I know we’ve had our differences, but I thought you would have at least told me about this Babs.” Nightwing says, his face contorted in an expression of pain and betrayal not unlike the one on Stephanie’s face as she left the cave.

“You can find your own way home. I can’t be around you people anymore, or I’m going to punch something or someone.” Dick says purposefully body checking Bruce as he makes his way to his car, and drives out of the cave.

Damian looks shocked at his older brother’s reaction, not having been around during the worst of his and Dick’s fights. Duke looks equally disturbed as he takes the younger’s hand and starts to lead them back up to the manor.

“Come on Dami, let’s go take Titus out for a walk.” Duke says as they climb up the stairs and enter back into the manor. The fact that Damian allows this is a testament to how out of it the boy truly must be, as he normally would have snapped at Duke by now claiming that he didn’t need to be treated like a child.

“Well that certainly could have gone better. Come along now Mistress Barbara, I will ensure that you arrive home safely.” Alfred says walking over to Barbara from where he was standing off to the side and offering to push her wheelchair over to one of the civilian cars located in the Batcave.

Barbara simply nods, allowing the elderly butler to guide her over to the car before transferring into the passenger seat.

“And Master Bruce, I recommend you take the night off to prepare yourself for what’s to come tomorrow. Surely Gotham will be fine for one night.” Alfred states as he opens the driver’s side door and lowers himself into the seat.

Bruce waits for the car to leave before slumping into the chair and resting his head in his hands. He knew that this wasn’t going to be a fun meeting, but he had hoped that at least some of his children would understand.

Tim had killed thousands of people, he couldn’t just let him go free knowing all of the lives he had taken. Not to mention that he had seen who that boy turns into in the future.

He can’t take that risk.

Chapter Text

Tim is pretty sure that he has been in this cell for 17 days, though he can’t be sure. There isn’t any kind of clock or time keeping device present. The only time either Bruce or Alfred talk to him is when they try to convince him to plead guilty. So he’s been relying entirely on his internal clock.

Normally he would count how often he’s been getting meals, but he suspects that Bruce and Alfred have been varying his meal times in order to keep him off balance. Tim is not sure what the purpose of this is considering he’s already locked up.

If he wasn’t trained the isolation alone would be enough to drive him insane. Maybe they’re just trying to keep him on edge so that he doesn’t try and escape.

As if he couldn’t have already escaped if he wanted to.

Truthfully he had thought about it, it wouldn’t be hard for him to get his contacts to just break him out.

But then he’d likely be named a fugitive of the Justice League, and Bruce would hunt him down until he could be ‘brought to justice.’

So since he didn’t want to deal with all that, he’s decided to go with his other contingency.

Contingency 62.

It’s one of his last resort contingencies made for if Bruce ever goes rogue, or in this case, goes after his friends. He already knows that the fallout will likely splinter the Justice League, but when his friend’s lives are at stake he can’t afford to take any risks.

It’s as he’s ruminating on these thoughts that the door to his cell opens and Batman enters with a pair of handcuffs. Tim raises his eyebrows in question, but otherwise doesn’t react as he holds his hands out to be cuffed.

Bruce clamps the handcuffs around his wrists and grabs Tim by the arm, leading him to the cave zeta.

Tim allows himself to be pulled into the zeta as he takes what will likely be his last look around the cave. It was a bittersweet moment, for all the bad memories he had here, there were also plenty of good ones.

He remembers Dick teaching him different gymnastic moves, Steph teasing him about his costume, Babs teaching him more about hacking, Cass trying to teach him to dance ballet, Alfred bringing down snacks after a long patrol, and Bruce giving him a pat on the shoulder after he completed a difficult case.

But as the light from the zeta encompasses him he knows that he’ll have to leave those memories behind, and focus on the task at hand.

Nostalgia won’t do him any good in the courtroom.

When they arrive at the Watchtower the hallways are all eerily empty, everyone likely having already gathered for his trial.

His trial.

God this was actually happening wasn’t it?

Tim takes a breath to calm himself as he and Bruce arrive at a large set of double doors.

Inside was a relatively simple room with a podium and chair up front with two rows of tables filling the rest of the space.

Simply put, it was a courtroom.

Tim wonders if there had always been a courtroom in the Watchtower or if this was put together just for him.

Seated at the front of the room in the Judge’s position is Aquaman. While not a practitioner of law in the traditional sense, he is well versed in diplomacy and law being the monarch of Atlantis.

Seated in the jury box is the Flash, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, the Atom, Cyborg, Captain Marvel, and Zatanna.

He’s led to the defendant’s table on the left where Wonder Woman is already seated, apparently she would be representing him in this case.

Meanwhile Batman goes and takes a seat at the table to the right.

As he waits for the trial to begin he leans over and whispers to Wonder Woman, “How are Kon, Bart, and Cassie?”

Diana shakes her head, her face twisted into a frown.

“Both Kon and Bart have been detained for resisting your punishment. The League feared that they would attempt to break you out, and defect. The encounter with your future alternates has spread fear and paranoia throughout the League. It doesn’t help that both Batman and Superman have been championing your and your friends’ imprisonments. I did my best to fight for you all, but it was a losing battle with the other two founders against me.”

Tim’s face scrunched in concentration as he thought this new information over. He had figured that Batman would set something up for his friends, but even with his distrust of the Justice League he had hoped that someone would have stood up for them (aside from Diana).

Apparently reading something in his face Wonder Woman sighs.

“It didn’t help that Barry thought that the imprisonments were temporary at first, so he didn’t fight Superman and Batman’s plans. Considering he knows best how fickle the time stream can be he likely could have swayed some of the leaguers to our side, but by the time he found out the whole truth it was already too late.”

Tim nods his head and focuses on the faces of those around him, he already knew that this wasn’t a trial he could win.

After all the evidence against him is strong, and Batman already had his confession from the initial interrogation.

Luckily he was never planning to win.

While he had held out just hope that things would have gone better for his friends, thankfully he knew better.

Finally things settle, and the trial begins in earnest with both Batman and Wonder Woman giving their opening statements, followed by the presentation of evidence.

The direct evidence being the recording of Tim’s interrogation and his code being used to overload the generators, followed by the circumstantial evidence of the data about the bombings themselves.

Superman is then brought in as the first witness where he details how dangerous and unstable Tim was while Bruce was in the time stream.

“You saw Tim before he went off with the League of Assassins, correct?” Batman questions in a gruff voice.

“Yes, he came to me claiming that you were alive. However, before this encounter Nightwing had let me know that he was unstable so I ended up turning him down.” The Super answered in a solemn tone.

“And did he seem at all unstable to you when he had come to you for help?” Batman pushes further.

“He did indeed sound quite frantic and obsessive. It was frankly off putting to hear, and I was worried about what he would attempt to do in order to get you back. Especially after Nightwing confessed to me that he had tried to clone Superboy.” Superman answers gravely, a pensive sort of look on his face.

The cloning statement brings about a series of gasps and muttered whispers from among the jury members, as they take in this new information.

Tim clenches his hands into fists at the wary glances Justice League members keep throwing him. He knows that what he did was wrong.

Even in the moment he knew that the clone wouldn’t have been Kon, but it's not like anyone else had been doing anything to help him get through his grief.

He just wanted his best friend back…

Aquaman calls for order in the court, quieting the jury members down and gesturing for Batman to continue questioning Superman.

Batman then leads into questions about the Future Titans and how Tim should be locked up to prevent this future, seeing as he’s already a threat in the present.

“You were present when the future versions of the Titans came to our time, correct?” Batman asks, continuing with the trial.

“Yes, I was.” Superman nods.

“Then can you testify that the future version of the defendant admitted that killing was his first method of defense rather than a last resort?” Batman presses, turning back to face the jury as he says this.

“Your honor, I do not believe that this is relevant to the case at hand. Which is about the actions my defendant took while Batman was in the timestream.” Wonder Woman tries to object on the basis of relevance to the case at hand.

But Arther overrules the objection and allows Batman to continue his line of questioning.

“While you were in contact with these alternates from the future, do you remember if the future version of Tim admitted to knowingly killing the 5,387 people detailed in this case?”

“Yes, I do remember him mentioning how he killed thousands of people in order to get you back. I believe that is also stated in the report we gave that day.” Superman confirms.

“That is all the questions I have for the witness, your honor.” Batman states walking back over to his seat.

Tim starts tapping his fingers anxiously as he watches the faces of the Justice League. Most seem to be swayed at least somewhat by Superman’s testimony, now looking at Tim with suspicion.

Wonder Woman then stands in order to begin her cross examination.

“Superman, you say that Red Robin had seemed distressed when he came to see you. Correct?” She asks, her voice firm and reverberating through the room.

“Yes, as I already told Batman he didn’t seem like he should have been out in the field.” Clark agrees.

“I believe the exact words you used were ‘frantic and obsessive’ correct?” Diana pushes.

“I- yes I believe that those are the words I used.” Superman says with a confused nod.

“Right, and you just admitted that he shouldn’t have been out in the field. So my question is, did you offer him any kind of support during this time? After all, you stated that he was clearly struggling from grief.” She asks, her tone judgmental.

“I- no, I didn’t think it was necessary considering he had Nightwing looking after him.” Clark replied looking uncomfortable.

“So you left a struggling minor in the care of a man who had also just lost his father and was already dealing with taking up the mantle of Batman as well as caring for a younger child. Is that correct?” Diana questions in a pointed way.

“Well there are other adults present that work with the bats and at Wayne manor, so I assumed that he was getting the care he needed.” Superman defends.

“Right… Because Tim’s cloning attempt was a great display of how good his support system was at home?” Wonder Woman asks, although it was phrased more like a statement.

“Your honor, relevance?” Batman speaks up from the prosecution’s table.

“Objection sustained, please explain to the court what this line of questioning has to do with the claim that your client killed thousands of people.” Aquaman replies.

“Of course, my point is that my client was left alone during this period of his life without any support from friends or family. Therefore, if he did take the lives of these people it would have been under extreme duress and as a last resort measure in order to save the life of the civilian asset.” Wonder Woman surmises meeting the gaze of those in the courtroom.

“So you are admitting your client’s guilt?” Arthur asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course not, I am simply giving a hypothetical and relaying the stakes of such an action to the jury.” Diana clarifies.

Aquaman nods and gestures for the Amazon to continue her cross examination.

“Superman, have you ever fought alternate versions of yourself that were evil?” She asks, everyone in the room already knowing that the answer was yes.”

“Yes, I believe we all have.” Clark answers hesitantly.

“And have you ever been punished for the things that your evil alternate has done?” She continues.

“No, but preventative measures have been taken in case a similar event were to take place.” He replies shooting a glance towards Batman, who they all knew has multiple contingencies for if any of the Justice League were to go rogue.

“Taking that into account doesn’t it seem unfair that the actions of the future version of my client is being held against him in the present?” Wonder Woman presses.

“As he has already committed a grave offense. I do not think it is unfair to consider what actions he may take in the future as a preventative measure not unlike the contingencies that are in place for all of us.” Superman replies standing by his position.

“That is all I have for the witness.” Diana states, pursing her lips and going to sit back at the defendant’s table.

“Very well, the plaintiff may call in the next witness.” Aquaman gestures towards Batman to retrieve the next witness as Superman steps down from the witness stand.

Batman nods and gestures towards Tim. “I would like to call the defendant to the stand.”

Diana puts a comforting hand on his shoulder as Tim rises and walks to the stand, facing the jury with a solemn expression.

“Do you deny that this is your code that was used to overload the generators in these buildings?” Batman asks, pulling up the receipts that Barbara was able to retrieve from the League databases.

Tim glances over at the codes briefly before shaking his head, and uttering a simple. “No.”

“So then you admit that you overloaded these generators with the intent to cause injury?” Batman growls, stepping forward threateningly.

But Tim just met his gaze stoically tapping into the cold indifference that he learned early on from his mother. “I never said that. All I admitted to was that being my code.”

“Your code which you already confessed to using to overload the generator and kill thousands.” Batman presses, pulling up the transcript of Tim’s interrogation in the cave.

“I believe the only thing I confessed to was attempting to save Tam, the civilian asset that was being held hostage at the time.” Tim refutes, all of the previous panic he had shown during said interrogation now closed off.

“Fine, then do you have a reason for why the details of this extraction weren’t listed in any of the reports that you submitted to the Batcave or the Justice League?” the Dark Knight questions through gritted teeth.

“I didn’t see the need to include it considering I was not affiliated with the Justice League or Batman during the time.” Tim answers coldly.

“Can you elaborate on that?” Bruce inquires. And while it may seem like the question was asked in the same harsh tone as the others, Tim can pick out the genuine confusion coloring Bruce’s voice from years of knowing the man

“Of course. You see, Nightwing, who was acting as Batman at the time, took Robin from me and gave it to the current Robin. So I took on the identity of Red Robin, which isn’t affiliated with Batman. Additionally, while Robin was a member of the Justice League and Titans, Red Robin was not. In fact it isn’t until recently that I’ve started working with the Titans again.” Tim clarifies, a bit of bitterness leaking into his voice at the mention of how Robin was taken from him.

“So you’re claiming that you’ve been working outside of the Justice League’s jurisdiction for a while now?” Batman probes, seeing a weakness in Tim’s argument.

But Tim simply shakes his head before explaining, “At the time yes, after all Superman already admitted to turning me down when I came to the Justice League for help. But since then I have been in contact with the League, even helping with technical upgrades and repairs for the Watchtower.”

Batman seems to drop that line of questioning as he takes another folder from the evidence. “There are various reports of art theft during this time under one of your aliases, Alvin Draper. Do you deny this?”

“No, Again. I had no outside support, so I had to get proof of your existence in the timestream through other means.” He answers again, refusing to elaborate further. Tim isn't surprised that Bruce was able to connect the art thefts to him, after finding out about the bombing.

However, he also knows that the addition of another crime is not helping his case. After all, it’s another example of his willingness to cross lines.

“And you couldn’t have gotten what you needed through any other means?” Batman pushes.

“Not without it taking me years. Of course I looked into acquiring them through more legal means, but I determined that it wasn’t possible unless you wanted to be stuck in the timestream for another 5 years.” Tim bites out, finally letting some of his annoyance show.

“And it’s during this time is it true that you accepted assistance from the League of Assassins, and even joined them for a time?” Batman practically growls, obviously not satisfied with Tim’s previous answers.

“You mean that same League where you learned to fight, and that Thalia, the woman who you had a child with, is a part of? Yes Batman, that is the group that I accepted help from. Because, again, no one else was offering.” Tim replies, throwing Bruce’s own relationship with the League of Assassins back in his face.

“Considering you were able to insert your code into the League systems, you must have been of a fairly high rank while you were working with them. So what is it that you were doing while you were with the League?” Batman interrogates, ignoring Tim’s comments.

“I didn’t kill anyone while I was with them, if that’s what you're asking. Ra’s tasked me with tracking down a group called the Council of Spiders who kill other assassins for sport, so that’s what I did.” Tim answers dismissively.

“If you were working with the League then why did you destroy their bases, and kill so many of their people?” Batman asks, doubling back around to the bombings.

“As I already stated, the explosions were a means for me to save a civilian hostage. My cooperation with the League was not completely voluntary.” Tim states dryly, still refusing to give Batman an inch.

“Even before you joined the League of Assassins, there are reports of you going behind the Justice League’s back and attempting to clone your friends. In particular there are reports of you attempting to clone Kon-El, who is a Kryptonian human hybrid. Considering we’ve already seen a situation in which that went wrong with Match, what made you think that was a good idea?” Batman presses changing the subject once again.

Tim clenches his fists at the reminder of the time when both his friends were still dead. When he was willing to do anything in order to bring them back.

“I just wanted my friend back. It was a mistake, and I stopped before it went too far.” He replies now having to consciously reign in his temper.

“From what I heard it was Nightwing and Wonder Girl who stopped you. If not for them you would have kept going. We all know how dangerous a rogue Kryptonian can be, and you decided to clone one without any permission from the Titans or Justice League. So tell me, what were your plans for this Kryptonian clone?” Batman questions further, turning the trial into a second interrogation.

“I had no plans.” Tim admits clenching and unclenching his fists under the burning stares of the Justice League. He can see the judgement and wariness in their gazes. Because Bruce is right a rogue Kryptonian is a threat, so the fact that he went behind their backs to try and create a clone of one raises his threat level.

“That is all the questions I have your honor.” Batman says turning to Aquaman, seeing that he isn’t going to get anymore details from Tim.

And Tim can’t help but release a breath now that he’s not under the cowl’s harsh gaze. He hadn’t been expecting the questions about the cloning, and he’s afraid that it showed.

“In that case, Wonder Woman you may start your cross examination.” Arthur says gesturing towards Diana once more.

Wonder Woman nods and stands making her way over to the witness stand where Tim now is.

“Red Robin” She starts, addressing Tim, “Would you have joined the League of Assassins if you felt that you had any other available options?”

“No, if anyone in the hero community had offered me their help and resources I would have gladly accepted.” Tim answers honestly.

“And were any of the actions taken during your time with the League for the purpose of taking a life?” She continues.

“No, I did everything with the purpose of minimizing as many direct casualties as I could.” Tim replies carefully.

“I heard that you suffered heavy losses while with the League of Assassins, is this true?” She asks, likely trying to garner more pity from the jury after Batman tried to make him appear more dangerous.

“That is correct. Two of the others on my team were killed, while I lost my spleen against a member of the Council of Spiders.” Tim agrees, not outright mentioning that the teammates who were killed were also assassins.

“Isn’t it also true that the League of Assassins attacked you in Gotham not long after you returned?” She asks, likely trying to further separate Tim from the League.

“Yes. Ra’s was working with Hush in order to try and bring down Wayne Enterprises, but thankfully I anticipated this attack and was able to prevent any harm from being done.” He confirms, remembering how Ra’s had kicked him out of the window at WE.

And how he likely would have died if Dick hadn’t caught him.

Wonder Woman nods deciding against mentioning the cloning attempt again. “That is all the questions I have your honor.”

Aquaman nods looking through the files on the desk in front of him. “It seems that there are no further witnesses from the prosecution’s side does the plaintiff rest?”

“The plaintiff rests.” Bruce confirms.

“Your honor, throughout this trial the prosecution has failed to produce evidence that the defendant has purposefully caused harm to anyone. Furthermore, there are those in this courtroom who have taken lives in self defense and have not had to prove their own innocence. The only difference in this case is the involvement of future alternates who have cast a shadow of doubt on those in this courtroom. So I ask you to look beyond the future, which is not predetermined, and dismiss the charges at hand.” Diana argues appealing not only to Aquaman, but to everyone in the courtroom.

Unfortunately, it seems that Batman’s questioning was effective as Aquaman denies Wonder Woman’s movement, causing the trail to move forward. While Tim had seen this coming from the uneasy glances that the jury kept sending his way, he held out a small amount of hope that Aquaman would side with him and put an end to his case.

If the trail moves forward, Tim has no doubt that he will be convicted and his friends will be put in the line of fire next. As much as he appreciates Diana for standing up for him, she isn’t a lawyer and she doesn’t have access to the investigative resources that Bruce has.

In essence the trail was rigged from the start.

It’s at this moment that everyone’s devices ping as an alert is sent through the Justice League’s communications system.

Tim can’t help the smirk that graces his face as he watches the Dark Knight pale when he checks his receiver. And he watches as all of the Justice League members turn to Batman with varying expressions of shock and horror.

“Batman… Is this information true?” Aquaman questions hesitantly from his position on the judge’s bench.

It’s as Batman is about to respond that a second alert goes out, causing Tim to smile wider at the wave of panic that goes through the room.

Because Tim was never trying to win his trial, he just needed all of the Justice League together for Contingency 62 to be most effective.

Contingency 62 being his plan to leak all of Batman’s dirty secrets not only to the rest of the Justice League, but to the press as well. The information leaked includes all of Batman’s more questionable contingencies, the details of how Tim was treated while under Bruce’s care, as well as all of the people who either died or were rendered permanently comatose from Batman.

As much as Bruce preached his no kill rule, he also has a bad tendency to not check up on his victims after they are hospitalized. This was especially true after Jason’s death when he went on a rampage throughout Gotham putting every petty thief in the hospital.

What Batman didn’t realize is that while these criminals may not have died during his initial beating, quite a few of them died in the hospital as a result of internal injuries or preexisting conditions that were exacerbated by their injuries.

But even if Bruce didn’t notice, Tim kept track of all of it.

He had records of every criminal that died, was permanently injured, or comatose from Batman’s actions.

And now everyone else has that information as well.

Well mostly, he did keep some of the more sensitive information that would unveil any secret identities from the press.

He didn’t want everyone to be punished just because of one man’s mistakes.

He isn’t like Bruce.

That doesn’t mean he still isn’t enjoying the chaos, as everyone in the room is seemingly turning against the man who was threatening both his friends and Tim himself.

Unfortunately Tim knows that just because the focus of the Justice League has shifted temporarily doesn’t mean that he and his friends are off the hook.

Hence the second part of Contingency 62…

Multiple alarms start blaring through the Watchtower and all of the lights in the room go dark as the power is seemingly cut out.

In the couple of seconds before the backup generators kick on, multiple grunts and shouts can be heard. And Tim suddenly feels a familiar set of arms grab him and yank him towards the entrance of the courtroom.

He finds himself running down the hallway of the Watchtower, a familiar bald headed woman dragging him towards the zetas alongside a fleet of League ninjas.

“You know you’ve really done it now, you bloody wanker.” Pru swears, her British accent as charming as always as they rush down the hallway.

“It’s good to see you too Pru.” Tim responds with a smirk as they both crash into the nearest zeta, Pru already frantically typing in coordinates.

Just as the last button is pressed the ninja besides Pru quickly throws a knife into the keypad, making sure that they won’t be followed. Tim sees a blur of red just before the light from the zeta engulfs them and he finds himself exiting from a zeta in Antalya, Turkey.

Chapter Text

-Dick POV-

Dick doesn't know what to think anymore. Just yesterday he found out that his little brother apparently destroyed the majority of the League of Assassins and was being put on trial for mass murder.

Now all of B’s actions have been outed to the public, and Tim is in the wind.

Again.

Dick rests his head against the steering wheel of his car for a second as he takes in a breath. He had jumped in his car and started driving back to the manor as soon as the news dropped, he didn’t even have time to look through the multitude of files that were sent to him before he was moving.

The only thing on his mind right now is to get to Damian, he can only imagine what must be going through the kid’s head right now. Damian has just gotten comfortable in the manor and now all of this drama is happening.

The last thing Dick needs is for him to try and return to the League now that his position in the family is unstable again. He needs to reassure Damian that he’ll always have a place with him.

He’s his Robin after all…

Dick can’t help but blame Bruce for this.

The man can never just leave things be.

Just like with Jason, he had to go and fuck things up for everyone. If he had just let Tim be, none of this would be happening.

It’s not even like the kid went off on a killing spree or anything, it was obviously self defense.

Maybe Dick is the problem for being unable to muster any sympathy for the assassin cult that hurt his little brothers.

Or maybe Bruce just has a huge stick up his ass.

Despite not having read through the whole file he received, Dick saw that it was bad. But B dug his own grave as far as he’s concerned, and this time Dick won’t be the one to dig him out of it.

Dick tightens his grip on the steering wheel as he presses on the accelerator.

With the news that Batman isn’t much better than the rogues he fights, Gotham will be in chaos and this time the Bat won’t be there to stop it.

Everyone has always said that Gotham needs a Batman.

But Dick isn’t so sure.

He still remembers the stifling weight of the cowl.

How he had pushed everyone away when he was wearing it.

How everything had fallen apart when he wore that mask.

Batman was a legacy that Dick had never wanted, and now that it was corrupted it wasn’t a legacy that would be forced upon him either.

Bruce had always tried to fight the crime in Gotham by becoming dark like the night. Meanwhile Robin became the light to Batman’s shadow, making sure the man never went too far.

But maybe Gotham doesn’t need anymore darkness.

Maybe they can just be the light.

Maybe Dick can start over and make his own legacy.

But for now, he has a little brother to comfort.

-Jason POV-

Jason wants to blow something up.

Jason really wants to blow something up.

Because what the fuck did he just read. All of the shit that Bruce gave him for killing people, meanwhile the man had a kill count almost as large as Jason’s.

Okay, maybe not that large.

But still the man had killed people and he didn’t even have the excuse of coming back to life and being brainwashed by an assassin group.

Talk about a hypocrite.

Jason starts to put on his Red Hood gear as he continues his line of thought, starting with the boots and body armor and working his way up to his helmet.

Not to mention the fact that he had tried to have another Robin locked up for breaking his precious rule.

Honestly, Jason was proud of the little shit for sticking it to B.

Jason didn’t have the best relationship with the third Robin after the kid replaced him before his body was even cold in the ground and Jason beat him half to death in the Tower.

Should he have beat the kid down in revenge and to send a message for Bruce?

Maybe not, in fact he likely should have only targeted Bruce for sending another kid to fight in his damn crusade.

But what’s done is done.

And in truth, Jason still didn’t like the kid.

He was born from a rich family, a certified genius, and always seemed to follow all of Bruce’s stupid rules perfectly.

It felt like Jason had been replaced with a better model, and it made his blood boil.

But now, the kid was a fuck up too.

Apparently he had destroyed 83 league bases killing over five thousand people, so B decided that he needed to be locked up.

(sound familiar?)

But instead of just taking it lying down, like Jason had expected, the kid decided to take Bruce down with him.

It was the same type of thing Jason would do, and he couldn’t help but be impressed.

According to his League contacts Tim is currently at the rebuilt base in Turkey, apparently Ra’s had taken an interest in him.

Which is concerning.

Jason let his contacts know to pass a message along to Tim whenever they get the chance, just letting him know that he can call on him if anything happens.

He then starts grabbing his guns as he finishes strapping his armor on and puts his signature red helmet over his head.

Now that B was going to be out of commission indefinitely, someone will have to look after Gotham.

He has no doubt that the Rogues will be frothing at the mouth at the news that the Bat won’t be back in town for a while.

Jason slides a full clip into his pistol until he hears the click, before holstering it at his side.

Little do they know that the Bat is what was keeping them safe.

Jason may have started a no-killing truce with B in order to get him off of his back, but now that the man is gone the Red Hood has no such reservations.

Batman always claimed that he had given himself to the darkness in order to save Gotham, but he was never strong enough to do what needed to be done.

The Red Hood doesn’t have these limitations.

Jason understands that not everyone can be redeemed, that some people will just never stop hurting others.

That the only way to stop them is to put them down for good.

If that makes him a monster, so be it.

Maybe it takes a monster to save Gotham from itself.

-Steph POV-

Stephanie is confused.

Tim is gone, and apparently B did some fucked up shit.

She wishes that Cass was here.

Cass would know what to do.

But it was just her, Stephanie Brown.

She doesn't even want to try and go to Barbara after she had supported Tim’s confinement.

On one hand she understood, he had killed a lot of people after all. On the other hand, Tim was her best friend and she knew that he would never kill anyone unless he had to.

Not to mention the people he did kill were League assassins, who could hardly be considered innocent. And while she isn't an expert in coding she still trained as Robin for a short time, so she had noticed when looking at the data that he triggered the alarms in the bases and set a three minute timer on the bombs.

He had obviously done his best to minimize casualties, it didn’t seem fair to hold this against him. But Steph has seen how differently Bruce treats Tim compared to all of the others.

Both herself and Tim were Robin when Bruce was at his worst.

Bruce had been extra hard on Tim giving him seemingly impossible tests, but always expecting him to pass. It wasn’t until Cass, Damian, and Duke came along that Stephanie understood that these tests weren’t a standard part of Robin training.

She had always thought that the tests were what was best for Tim, what was best for Robin. But she has since come to regret the part she played by actively participating in these tests. She now knows that what Batman put both of them through was cruel and unnecessary.

Tim told her a while ago that he had forgiven her for what happened back then, but that doesn’t absolve her of her guilt.

Cass would sometimes ask her why she seemed wary of Bruce, but Stephanie has never been able to describe how different things were back then. It was something that only Tim and herself would ever understand.

She also hadn't wanted to shatter the image Cass seemed to hold of Bruce. After all, the man had saved her from being a living weapon. He helped to give Cass a home, helped her find her voice, and taught her how to be a person.

How could Stephanie take that from her when the Batsymbol meant so much to her?

But now all of Bruce’s misdeeds were released, and Cass was all the way in Hong Kong.

As much as she wants to get on a plane and head to Hong Kong, she also knows that Gotham is going to go to shit now that Batman is out of commission.

Steph sighs and lifts up her Spoiler mask, she doesn’t think that she can out as Batgirl right now. Not after Babs’ betrayal.

But for Cass, for the home that she loves, Stephanie will don her old Spoiler uniform and hit the streets once more.

She has already left Cass a message asking her to get in contact with her as soon as possible, she knows that this reveal must be weighing on her.

And Stephanie has no plans of failing another friend.

-Cass POV-

Cass doesn't understand.

She's looking out over the city of Hong Kong from a skyscraper when she gets a ping on her communicator.

She thought that this was different.

That Bruce had been different.

But he is the same as David.

A killer.

A lier.

A hypocrite.

Cassandra looks down at the Batsymbol adorning her Blackbat uniform and rips it off in disgust. The symbol that she has looked up to for the past few years had been nothing but a lie.

It’s hard to believe that the man who taught her how to be a person is the same person who did the things listed in the files that she was sent, but she knows Tim’s writing when she sees it.

Cass knows that her little brother would never lie to her, especially not about this.

She trusts him with her life, much like how he has trusted her before.

And as much as she had wanted to ignore it, she noticed the way that his body would shift away from Bruce when the man got near him. That despite holding love for him, Tim also held a fear of the man that was all too familiar to Cassandra.

When confronted, Tim simply claimed that Bruce had done a test with him when he was younger that went too far. Cass could tell it was a half truth, but she never pushed him on it.

She had also seen Stephanie react similarly, often keeping her distance from Bruce when possible. While she had told Cass it was just because she didn’t like being ordered around by Batman, Cassandra could read the lie in her body language.

Both Stephanie and Tim held a wariness for Bruce in their bodies that none of the others had.

A wariness that went deeper than either would ever tell her, but now she knew.

She watches as the wind carries the piece of fabric away into the night.

As she prepares to fire her grapple to the next building she gets another ping on her communicator. Cass holsters her grapple and pulls out her communicator in a fluid motion flipping it open to the screen.

She smiles seeing a message from Steph, sending a quick reply to let her friend know that she was okay, and would be returning to Gotham soon. She then pockets the communicator and pulls out her grapple once more, soaring through the brisk night air.

Tonight she will finish her mission.

Tonight she will put an end to the three crime syndicates she has been tracking.

Tonight she will get on a plane to return to Gotham.

Tonight she will find out what happened to her little brother.

-Damian POV-

Damian’s hands were shaking as he strokes Alfred the cat who is currently purring on his lap.

It's a lie.

Father would never do the things that are listed in the file.

It's all a trick.

It has to be.

This is all Drake’s fault.

He had obviously teamed up with Grandfather and is now conspiring to take out his father.

Damian had figured out that Red Robin had worked with the League while he was away. They all found out eventually, while they didn’t know the exact details until yesterday. He always knew that Drake couldn’t be trusted, and now he was proven right.

The file is very obviously Drake’s work, and loath as Damian is to admit it the older boy was skilled enough to forge this kind of data. He knew he should have finished the job when he had cut the other boy’s grapple line all those months ago.

Drake’s a threat and father was right to try and lock him up.

Damian gently picks Alfred the cat up and sets him on the ground, as he stands up from the sofa and starts to make his way to the cave.

How dare that interloper try to taint his father's legacy?

He’ll prove that his father is innocent, and he’ll take down Drake himself if he has too.

Damian isn’t going to let anyone take away the family that he had finally found for himself.

-Duke POV-

Duke sighs as he wraps his hands around a mug of hot chocolate.

He can’t believe that everything is falling apart around him, again.

During the beginning he had thought that this was all too good to be true.

That Batman couldn't have possibly noticed him and taken him in. That he could actually make a difference in Gotham, and make sure that no one else ended up like his parents.

He should have known that it was too good to be true.

No one is ever as good as they seem, even Batman apparently.

Duke has only been Bruce’s ward for a couple of months, so he’s still pretty new to everything. He can only imagine how the others must be feeling about this.

He takes another sip of his hot chocolate as he tries to think about what he’s going to do now. Alfred told him that he’s still Bruce Wayne’s ward even though things are rough for Batman right now, so he’s still welcome to stay at the manor.

The elderly man didn’t seem too phased by the turn of events stating that if worst comes to worst Bruce will likely have to give up Batman, but that he shouldn’t get imprisoned or anything that would impact Duke directly.

As much as he wishes that would comfort him, Duke couldn’t help but feel unsettled by the fact that none of the things that came out seemed to surprise Alfred.

Like he already knew that Bruce had broken his own rule, had contingencies that, while not fatal, were inhumane, and hurt all of his Robins in different ways before Cass, Duke, and Damian came around.

And he supposed that the elderly man would have known about how Bruce threw Dick out as soon as he turned 18, threw a batarong at Jason’s neck, put Tim through literal psychological torture and had Stephanie help him with breaking Tim by pretending to be a ghost.

Because he would have been there for all of it.

But at the same time Bruce was the one who gave him a home, who helped him become the Signal, and who was currently paying for his parent’s treatment.

It was undeniable that Batman had done a lot of good.

But did that outweigh the bad?

Duke isn’t sure, but he’s also not going to stop helping people just because Batman isn’t around. Even before becoming the Signal, Duke had made the Robin gang because he wanted to make a difference.

And that hasn’t changed.

So with or without Batman, the Signal will be going out and keeping Gotham safe.

-Barbara-

Babs knew that she had messed up as soon as the file notification popped up on her computer.

She's Oracle, she is supposed to know everything that happens on the servers and yet this had slipped past her.

Tim had managed to not only hack the Watchtower, but also leak sensitive information to both the Justice League and the press.

But the worst part is that some of this information even Barbara didn’t know.

A lot of the files come from when she was still recovering from her injury, and she had never thought to look back at things from this time.

She never knew things got this bad.

While many of the plans listed were old or discontinued they were the kind of thing that she would expect from rogues, not heroes.

Barbara doesn't regret siding with Bruce when they found out about Tim's actions in the desert. Tim had broken the law and killed a lot of people, and for that he deserved to be brought to justice.

Not to mention the fact that Barbara had seen how unstable Tim was during this time, it was why she had cut off his access to the Batcomputer systems.

If that was what happened when he lost it the first time, what would happen if he snapped again? The fact that he was even able to keep everything a secret for so long proved how much of a threat he posed.

But now the same can be said for Bruce.

Because apparently when Jason died he snapped, and went on a rampage that led to the death of a multitude of people. Even if it wasn’t immediate or intentional, the fact remains that Bat had killed and he deserves to be punished for it.

Barbara can see that there's no point in trying to prove that the files are false, she can tell just from a glance that all of the data is authentic. She still decides to run a program to cross reference the files just to be sure, but everything comes up as accurate.

So Barbara cracks her knuckles, sending her findings to the Justice League before getting to work on fortifying both the Justice League and Batcave systems after Tim’s attack.

As much as she cares for Bruce and Tim, her father had taught her how to put her job above her personal connections. It was one of the reasons why her and Dick never seem to work out, because he always lets his emotions guide him rather than the other way around.

Consequently that was one of the reasons why she loved him so much, but it always caused too much conflict between them.

Because as hard as either of them try, they just can't understand each other.