Avoiding Past And Future

(49) Intermediate

Bruce did his best to seem unfazed, appointing himself in charge of keeping an eye on J'onn's vitals and keeping track of his location via the views of the Team. Or, what remained of the team at least.

Everybody in the room knew it were his kids leading a suicide mission. His kids who lied and were still lying to their teammates, their friends or at least Dick's friends, and led them straight to their deaths. Behavior they had come to expect from Batman, but not from somebody as innocent as Dick. There were only so many times he could take having to listen to Danny being blamed for Dick's decisions before tuning it all out and just focusing on the display above Dick's empty table.

It seemed the pair of blonds had calmed down a reasonable amount by the time Connor died and the boys were placing the bombs over the power core. Danny's breakdown really put a stopper to most of the arguing. Nobody liked hearing a child in such primal pain, no matter their current opinions on the child's mentor. They relented to silently seethe at the dark knight, not adding any more pressure after that.

At least, until Danny dropped out of the air and transformed back. Visible tension rose between the adults as they could tell exhaustion would be the eventual cause of Dick's and Danny's demise. A painful reminder that Barry had been right about the unpredictability of meta abilities in children when they weren't cleared to be out in the field.

They hadn't seen it coming, really they should have, they had the perfect vantage point to see it all happen. Yet still. Just like Bruce, they had all been focused on Dick's abandoned table. Either reliving those hellish moments inside their minds, or witnessing what their beloved boys had to go through for the first time. They had gotten a cliff note version the evening before, but neither adult fully grasped the hell they went through until they saw it for themselves.

The sucker punch that Bruce bodied came just as suddenly for them as it did for Bruce.

Dinah and Arthur jumped in to hold Oliver back as he yelled obscenities. Cursing Bruce out for keeping something as big as a possible Robin clone a secret from them all. For not keeping control of his 'secret assets' and endangering the lives of the kids they swore to protect. For not even warning any of them before they trusted their kids in his care.

If this had been a real situation, their kid's blood would be on his hands, because he didn't tell anybody about his meta child. And as it currently stood, that might still happen.

Barry was torn between holding his friend back and staying with Wally. Nobody seemed to focus on the kids anymore outside of him and ironically Bruce himself. Both of them staring intently at their kids' display, as the only two still having a kid fighting for their lives in there, hoping for a miracle that they'd somehow make it out.

A miracle neither of them received.

Wally had been so close too. Just a bit more and he would have made it to the safe zone to survive the blast radius. But Barry knew Wally wouldn't make it. Not when he could feel his boy's pulse shoot sky high when whichever of the two birds said they'd follow after blowing the doors off. Both of them had clocked the lie in an instant, and though maybe not intended, Wally had slowed down. Slowed down enough so he could try to make a high speed U turn as safely as one could on an alien ship. As smart as that boy was, he was too loyal to his friends for his own good.

Loyalty that ended up costing him his simulated life.

Barry glared at Bruce, notably less venomous than Oliver, but the anger was still there. Bruce didn't even look like he got hit, the cowl blocking most if not all of the impact before the others managed to pull Oliver away. Not that it stopped the archer from continuing on his tirade, determined to add another, more visible mark.

It didn't take long for J'onn to stir after the Martian stabbed M'gann to shock her awake, giving new hope to every mentor to focus back on their own kid to be the next to show a sign of waking up.

Danny had to be the one to shut down the footage after that. Sinking down to his knees and curling around Cujo as the pup let out worried whines again.

It had been his fault.

His fault things went as badly out of hand as they did.

His fault people were injured.

His fault Cujo got attacked, even if he was unharmed. Maybe he should have never left Belle Rêve, or found a way to make a personal, halfa-proof cell in the Zone where nobody could find him.

He knew he should have stayed away from his brother. Let Dick live the life he had built without Danny in it. Maybe then Bruce wouldn't have gotten hurt and Dick's team wouldn't be at risk of being disbanded. Would his brother's friends even still want to be near him after what Danny did to them? Were Bruce and Dick in trouble because he had been selfish enough to think he actually had a shot at starting over?

Maybe Mr. Zatara and Barry were right, he really is a danger to others.

It almost didn't even register when Selina pulled him closer, Dick tucked under her other arm as she tried her best to comfort them both. Shiro and Nanaki both cuddled into Dick, letting a stressed out Cujo fuss over Danny. Even Alfred attempted to comfort them, rubbing soft circles on their backs.

Though both adults knew it wasn't their faults, even after all the insults and accusations thrown at all three Bats, that didn't stop the self-blaming. Danny may have gotten the brunt of the attacks, Dick still felt responsibility as the more experienced hero.

Danny might be older by birth, but Dick had seniority over most of the League. If anybody should be blamed for what happened in there, it should be him. He was acting leader, he was the most senior hero outside of J'onn on scene. He had final say over everything, he is the one they should be mad at.

If they dared blame Danny for anything, he'd march right on into the Watchtower himself and make them all listen until they understood it wasn't Danny's fault. He had no issues lacing his hands with Kryptonite dust for the occasion either. Bruce had more than enough of a reserve anyway. For people calling themselves the Justice League, there was a surprising lack of justice in their reasoning at times.

As if it couldn't get any more overwhelming, they all tensed up like Danny accidentally froze them all when an all too familiar voice echoed in the Batcave.

Batman 02

Bruce walked out of the Zeta tube, seemingly unaware of the people an ends away as he pulled off his cowl. He sighed deeply as he ran a hand through greasy hair. There was a nasty bruise starting to form along his temple and eye, undoubtedly from where Oliver hit him. Did the cowl not cover the impact, or did the archer put his entire body weight into the attack to make sure Bruce would actually feel it?

Danny didn't want to think about it too much. It was his fault Bruce got hurt, genuinely hurt from the looks of it. Before he could even register his own movements, he set out in a dash, his IV getting ripped out as it snagged on the Batcomputer's chair.