Chapter Text
Once the boys’ breaths settled into steady slumber, Bruce did enter his rest state. Unfortunately, his thoughts could only return to that day.
“Any idea why they called me here, Macy?” Bruce purred with a wink to the secretary who was leading him up to the 13th floor. The girl, pretty, blonde and balanced precariously on heels that didn’t quite fit her right, giggled into her notepad.
“You know they don’t tell me anything like that, Mr. Batman,” she admonished with a smile.
“Bruce, please,” he corrected and she giggled again.
“All I know is that a lot of the big wigs are up here. Mr. Fox, Mr. Kane, Mr. Luthor and Mr. Wayne himself.”
Well that was a surprise. Mr. Wayne didn’t often come to meetings anymore because of his health. As far as Bruce knew, he had handed off most of the corporate responsibilities to Lucius and the Board.
He didn’t know much, though. He wasn’t kept in the loop about the actual corporate structure of WayneTech. Any time he asked questions, he was always told to focus on the hero-ing and that’s exactly what he did.
Bruce straightened and waited for the elevator to reach its destination. The elevator doors opened into one of the skyscraper’s lofty suites and Macy motioned for him to go forward. Standing in the middle of the room wasn’t the collection of people that she had mentioned.
Lucius Fox and Lex Luthor were there, chatting to each other, and a woman in a lab coat stood to the side. Lex’s attention immediately turned on him when he stepped into the room and Lucius didn’t look him in the eyes.
The elevator doors closed behind him and he found himself alone with the three.
“Lucius, Lex, it’s always good to see you,” he said, gliding into the room with a smile. The tried to catch Lucius’s eyes to silently ask what the hell was going on, but the man focused on the whiskey glass he was holding in one hand. He kept swirling the glass and the perfectly clear ice ball clinked around its cage.
“Batman,” said Lex as a greeting. “How are you enjoying a saved Earth?”
“Well, it’s only been a week,” Bruce replied, his smile tightening. “And, of course there are still other issues. I still believe we need to address climate change, wealth inequality, and the overproduction of useless items.”
He met Lex’s eyes. “Clark and I actually had some ideas about that. He wanted to schedule a meeting with you, though we were hoping for later in the month. We deserve at least a little vacation after saving the world from apocalyptic forces.”
“No, of course,” Lex said, his smile not reaching his eyes. In fact, it was beginning to look like a smirk. Like Lex knew something that Bruce didn’t. “We will have my assistant schedule something. But only after your vacation.”
“Great,” chirped Bruce, keeping his tone light and trying not to let Lex‘s self-satisfying tone rattle him. “Now, Lucius, can you please tell me what’s going on here.”
Lucius sighed heavily into his whiskey glass, and finally, he met Bruce’s eyes.
“Take off your clothes.”
Bruce froze, and a streak of heat rose up his neck. He looked at Lex and the woman in the lab coat, both staring at him. He didn’t naturally have a sense of modesty, but that had been built into him when he became Batman. With the knowledge of social cues came an instinctive repulsion to the idea of strangers looking at and touching his naked body without his consent.
“People normally buy me dinner first,” said Bruce, his voice tight in his throat. He gave a nervous chuckle and silently begged for Lucius to please tell him what was going on.
“BRW-05-27-939, take off your clothes.”
The jolt of the identification number zapped through him, and something anxious settled into Bruce’s stomach. Lucius was one of the few people who knew his identification number, specifically because it had such an effect on him. It was his creator’s last-ditch effort. It was a kill-switch built instead of him, just in case he disobeyed. But he didn’t disobey, because he was good at what he did. He was a good hero.
He swallowed down his protests and slowly began taking off his suit jacket, hoping that Lucius would eventually tell him to stop.
But Lucius stayed silent as he shed his shirt, his belt, and his pants.
After long, long minutes, he stood, completely naked in front of Lucius, Lex, and the woman.
“You gave it genitals?” the woman said with a laugh, stepping forward. She stood in front of him, nearly nose to nose, before circling.
“We wanted him to be human in every way,” said Lucius, taking a sip of his whiskey. “We meant every way.”
“Interesting choice.” The woman was behind him. There was a clean, metallic flick sound. Before Bruce could turn, there was a blade in his back, sliding down his skin.
Pain ripped through his body, and before he could scream, there were fingers in the wires along his spine. Someone was plucking at all of the strings that made him him.
His body froze on him even as agony seared down his spine. He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t move.
There was a rolling sound, and Bruce couldn’t turn his head. He didn’t know it was a table until he was being leveraged on top of it.
He stared up at the ceiling, unable to move or ask what was happening. Lex’s face came into that view, his self-satisfied smile still in place.
“Enjoy your retirement, Bruce,” he purred. He looked away from Bruce and addressed the woman. “Take anything that’s unnecessary. I want a processor, not a person.”
“Yes, boss,” the woman said.
There was another sound now. The high-pitched scream of a motor that would haunt the rest of Bruce’s dreams.
He didn’t know it was a saw until the blade was on his waist and cutting through his stomach.
He gasped out of his rest state, blinking back into the christmas-light lit nest of the three boys. The boys were all curled up on top of each other, snoozing with deep, steady breaths.
He looked up to the ceiling and sighed heavily. He tried not to think about the betrayal he had felt the moment that Lucius read his ID number. He tried not to think about the pain of a saw tearing through his abdomen. He tried not to think of who he had been.
He tried not to think.
He didn’t want to think anymore.
He just wanted to sink into a darkness where he wouldn’t have any memories or feel everything that had happened to him.
He just wanted to die.
And yet, his processor kept on humming and his neural circuits kept delivering information through the body he had left. He closed his eyes and forced himself to think of something else. He let his mind wander, to trace through the LexMart WiFi network and feel what other devices were connected into it. He felt the coffee machine, the smart TV, the little automatic vacuum rolling through the break room. He pinged through the other building, looking at all the simpler technical minds until something snagged his attention.
Another mind, more complex than anything else he had yet touched.
He gently tugged on the connection there, waiting to see if there was a response and—
There was a scrape.
Bruce's eyes snapped open and he looked out into the darkness.
Things were still. But there was that scrape again. He guessed it could’ve been an animal. This hollowed out used car dealership certainly looks like it could have rats or raccoons. Something in the back of his head just kept him fully believing that. If he had legs, he would’ve stood up and went to investigate, but here he was fixed to the spot and unable to do more than look. Scraping only became more frequent now there were other sounds. Sounds of metal moving against metal. Sounds of searching.
“Kids,” Bruce hissed, still looking out into the darkness. “Kids wake up. Someone’s here.” Dick stirred first, blinking slowly.
“What?”
“Something's here. You need to go see what it is.”
Dick yawned and stretched his arms out in front of him. “Alright, alright,” he mumbled, sitting up. The other children stayed fast asleep.
He looked out into the darkness and then froze. Bruce followed his eyes and found what he saw.
Two pinpricks of light, staring at them unblinkingly.
Dick didn’t move, fixated like a deer in headlights, but his breath became quicker in his chest.
Bruce pinged a distress signal to that other mind.
“Dick, wake up Tim and Jason. We need to get them out of here.”
“Wh-what?” his voice was jumping in his throat, tight with fear.
“It’s time to be brave now. We have to get them out of here.”
Slowly, Dick’s hand moved towards Jason’s shoulder, shaking the other boy.
“Wazz?”
“Shhh,” whispered Dick, eyes still flicking toward the pinpricks of light that were staring at them. “There’s something here. We need to go.”
“There’s what?” Jason sat up, looked out and found those lights. He instantly paled. His eyes went wide and goosebumps rose on his skin.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.” Dick roused Tim and shoved him towards Jason. “Here take Tim and I’ll get Bruce. Head towards the back.”
“You’re getting the robot?’ Jason hissed, shaking Tim into more wakefulness and ignoring the boy’s grumbly protests.
Dick’s gaze went between Bruce and those staring eyes. “I can’t just leave him.”
Dick crept closer to Bruce, his jaw set with determination.
“You can go,” Bruce whispered. “I’ll be fine.”
If anything, Dick’s determined look just became more set. “I’ve had people say that to me before,” he said, his voice clearer as bravery steeled inside him. “They did not turn out fine and I promised myself that I wouldn’t ever leave anyone behind again.”
Dick reached out and placed his hands on Bruce’s torso, so he could lift. Suddenly, a blaring alarm rang out from where the pin pricks of light were and heavy footsteps came towards them.
“Stop, thief, you are stealing from LexMart, Inc and will be pursued with force.”
A metallic robot stepped out of the darkness and fixed its glowing white eyes on them. It was only vaguely humanoid. There was no skin, only metal, and balanced on running blades instead of legs. Its face was hardly that and looked more like a thin rectangle with cameras than an actual expression. Most strikingly, was its left arm, which was just a limb with a gun at the end.
A gun that was pointedly directly at Dick.
“Unhand the property of LexMart or I will be required to use force.”
Dick’s hands tightened on Bruce and Bruce knew this boy was about to be very, very stupid. And before Bruce could tell him again to leave Bruce behind, a can of beans flew across the room and nailed the robot in the face.
“Suck on beans, you boltbucket!” Jason yelled before him and Tim began throwing more cans. The robot stumbled and that gave Dick enough time to grab Bruce, heave him up and sprint towards the back of the dealership.
“Go, go, go!” Dick screamed, nearly dropping Bruce as he ran through the dealership. The other boys abandoned their ammunition and ran with them, opening doors for Dick and heading towards the mechanics department.
There was a sharp crack and a flurry of gunshots followed. The shots went wide though, hitting walls and windows and thankfully not any of the boys.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Jason panted, slamming a door shut. “What the fuck was that?”
“A LexMart Asset Recoverybot,” answered Bruce from the ground. Dick had dropped him the moment he could and now he was on his back and staring up at the ceiling. “It’s trying to take me back to the warehouse.”
Jason shot a glare to Dick. “We should hand him over.”
“No.”
“Dick, we don’t have time for your abandonment issues. That thing is shooting at us.”
“What’s my rule?” growled Dick, poking Jason in the chest.
Jason glared at him.
“What’s my rule?” Dick repeated.
“No one gets left behind.”
“Or?”
“Or forgotten. Fucking hell, I never should have let you watch Lilo and Stitch.”
“No one gets left behind or forgotten and that includes Bruce now.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “I knew we shouldn’t have taken that thing from the warehouse,” he spat. “So what do you intend to do about the robot that’s shooting at us?”
“I–”
Before Dick could answer, bullets crashed through the window above them spraying glass.
“Halt, thieves. Release the property of LexMart.”
“We gotta go. We gotta go!” Tim screamed, pulling at Bruce because he wasn’t able to lift him. Dick swooped in and grabbed Bruce, putting them chest to chest.
“Quick, let’s head to the lot maybe we can lose it in the tire…” he trailed off as another LexMart Asset Recoverybot stepped out from behind one of the piles of tires.
“I should probably mention that LexMart Asset Recoverybots typically work in packs,” Bruce said and Dick gave him a nearly nose to nose glare.
“Next time, you tell us all the information about the guys shooting at us.”
“Perhaps you could use me as a distraction and let them shoot me as you escape.”
“Sounds like a good plan!” quipped Jason, hiding behind Dick as the Recoverybot stalked forward, gun arm aimed towards them.
“No. I am not–”
There was a roar, a sound that Bruce hadn’t heard in years but he knew well enough that it could have been his own heartbeat.
“What the hell is that!”
A great black shape crashed through dozens of tires and straight into one of the Recoverybots, sending it flying across the lot.
It fishtailed and skidded to a sideways stop in front of the boys before lifting one of the falcon doors.
“It was a pleasure to receive a message from you, Master Bruce,” said Alfred’s voice from the Batmobile’s cockpit.
“A talking car,” Jason said with disbelief. “You own a talking car!”
“I don’t own Alfred. He’s my partner.”
“And usually saviour given how much trouble that Master Bruce likes to get himself into, which I see hasn’t changed.”
Bruce smiled. He had missed Alfred so dearly and if they weren’t running for their lives, he could have cried from relief at hearing his voice.
The conversation was broken by a spray of bullets and the screech of metal as one Recoverybot forced itself out of the dealership through a window and the downed Recoverybot tried to find its feet.
“I think it’s best that you all get in,” said Alfred and the boys all clamoured into the Batmobile. Dick put Bruce into the driver’s seat and buckled him in with the crossbody seatbelts at Bruce’s instruction. Then, he went into the passenger seat with the other boys.
“Alfred, an aux cord please,” asked Bruce as the familiar cockpit lit up around him. Familiar buttons and switches glowed like stars on the Batmobile’s shining black interior and a hologram of Alfred flickered to life on the windshield. A compartment opened and a cord popped out.
Outside of the car, bullets rained into the Batmobile’s side and pinged off of the bulletproof metal.
“Tim, please plug me in,” asked Bruce and the youngest child instantly complied. In fact he seemed way to eager to touch something on the Batmobile’s high tech dashboard. The instant that Bruce was plugged in he felt the Batmobile purring under him. Alfred switched automatic control over to him and he felt the breath of the engine, the way the dirt dug into the tires, the taps of the bullets on its side. He also felt Alfred, another mind as complex as his own.
“Oh Master Bruce,” Alfred said, his voice so gentle and gingerly sad. “You’ve been in quite a bit of trouble for a long time.”
“Please,” Bruce’s voice was thigh in his throat and he told himself he would not cry as these kids stared at him to be their way out of danger. “Please get us out of here.”
“Of course.” Manual control flipped off, turning back to Alfred, and the car roared again. The back wheels spun, whipping the Batmobile into the direction of the nearest Recoverybot. The children screamed and Alfred gave a light chuckle.
“Please brace yourself everyone,” he said before ramming into the other Recoverybot and racing them away from the car dealership.
The kids were quiet for about an hour as they calmed their nerves and got over the shock of being shot at within their homes.
But then, after the initial panic wore away and they began to feel safe again, the curiosity started.
“What are you?” came the first question and Bruce looked over to see all of them staring at him with wide eyes like he was some foreign object. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“I’m a robot,” he said smoothly, watching the road slip past. He had no idea where Alfred was taking them, but the road signs showed that they were somewhere in boondocks of Arkansas where the towns only had populations of a couple hundred. He guessed that Alfred was purposefully avoiding major roadways and all the cameras that were littered across them. The Batmobile did have a holographic appearance manipulator that would be able to fool most surveillance, but many of the most keen devices could pierce through it. Those types of devices would be much rarer on the backroads, though.
“Cut the crap,” barked Jason, practically growling. “We all know that that’s not the whole story.”
Bruce sighed and turned towards them.
“I’m Batman. We’re currently in the Batmobile, which is powered by my trusty partner AI, Alfred.”
This statement got him a round of confused looks, confirming his suspicion that these children didn’t even know who one of Earth’s saviours even was.
“You mean…” Dick said slowly. “Like that old hero guy?”
Alfred laughed at him from the cockpit.
“I was one of the heroes that saved Earth from apocalyptic doom in 2030,” he looked over all their young faces. “Which I guess was before any of you were born.”
“Dick was a baby,” Tim chirped helpfully and somehow that didn’t make it better.
“I was a toddler,” Dick corrected. “Jason would have been a baby.”
“Wait,” Jason cut in. “Were you that guy that straight up disappeared?”
“I was retired by WayneTech and put into the position you found me in. They didn’t tell me everything about my situation, but my guess is that they sold me to LexMart for some reason. I don’t know why, though. I don’t know why…” he trailed off, unwilling to voice hos much the betrayal hurt, especially to children who now relied on him.
The kids all looked between each other. “Was LexMart the people that took your legs and arms?” asked Timothy quietly.
Bruce nodded. He could still see Lex’s face, smiling down at him as the saw came to life in the distance. “Lex Luthor said that the parts of me that made me look like a person were not necessary anymore. The only reason that he left my chest and head connected was because those are both vital to my functions.”
“So we need to keep them away from you,” said Dick and Bruce instantly shook his head.
“No, we need to get you three to safety. After that, I can deal with LexMart on my own.”
He didn’t tell them that his plan would include killing himself at his first opportunity.
“Oh that’s not going to happen,” said Jason. “You’re included in our little pack now and that means Dickie’s ain’t going to let you go without having a panic attack. He has mad abandonment issues.”
Dick smacked him in the shoulder but didn’t refute what Jason was saying. Bruce considered what Jason had said in context with how Dick had acted in the hours prior. Dick had obviously been on the fence about him, where Jason seemed to be openly against him and Tim was the opposite. Dick was the oldest and therefore the de facto leader of the group. He would be both the deciding vote on whether to keep Bruce and the one to enforce that ruling. Somehow, for some reason, Bruce had seemed to slip into his good graces. It would have been easier and safer for Dick to have left him with the RecoveryBots, and yet when Bruce offered to be left behind, Dick shut him down. Just the suggestion of someone being left seemed to trigger a visceral response in Dick and integrate Bruce into their group.
“I will tell you anything you want to know about my time as Batman,” he said, changing the topic slightly. “But first please tell me about yourselves. Is there a place I can take you to where you’ll be safe?”
The children looked between each other before all shaking their heads, almost in unison.
“We’re orphans,” explained Tim, voice tiny. “The orphanage we were at wanted to split us up, that’s why we ran away.”
“Your parents are,” Bruce tried to make his voice as delicate as possible. “Gone?”
“Mine died in a fire,” said Dick. His hands were clenched in a tight fist. “I was an acrobat before they died. Something went wrong with the pyrotechnics and the whole tent caught flames in seconds. My dad got me out and went back for my mom, but it was too late.” He didn’t add more and looked away, effectively shutting off any chance for follow up questions. Jason stepped in next.
“My mom died from an overdose.” His voice was quick, just laying out facts. “Shitty end to her shitty life because of my shitty dad. My dad might actually still be alive. I don’t know. He got taken to jail and just never came back. I don’t give a shit about that, though. He can rot in hell for all I care.”
Bruce didn’t push, even though, like Dick he had follow-up questions. Because a “shitty dad” could be a wide variety of bad and he wanted to know how much he should want to punch that man’s face in.
If he had arms.
Of course.
“My parents died in a plane crash,” Tim chirped. “I don’t really know anything else. I was really little.”
“You’re still really little,” teased Jason, ruffling Tim’s hair.
“I’ve grown!” insisted Tim, smacking at Jason’s hand with a scowl. “I’m growing more than you. I’ll be bigger than you.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will.”
One look at Jason’s broader frame, stockier build and current height already told Bruce that Tim’s theory would be near impossible, but he didn’t break it to the boy. Instead, he let the children continue to bicker and let the thoughts of their dead parents wash away. Bruce stared at the highway, lined with trees that clawed at the sky, and wondered where they would go from here.
Eventually, as the sun began to show its face over the trees, the boys began to complain of hunger.
“Are you sure there aren't any snacks in your fancy tankcar?” whined Jason, while he tried to pry open the glove box.
“Young sir, you will find more luck with politely asking for the door to be opened, then shoving your fingernails into my lock,” Alfred said, from the dashboard. He projected an image of himself onto the screen and gave Jason a cross look that made the boy look down sheepishly.
“Could you please open the door, Mr. Car?”
“Please, call me Alfred.” The door popped open, revealing an almost empty compartment. There was a few pieces of paper that Bruce only vaguely remembered. He knows that he’s stuck some receipts in there, some business cards maybe, nothing that would likely entertain Jason for long.
And yet, with Tim eagerly by his side, they began rifling through the papers.
“Alfred,” said Bruce, looking out into the surrounding forest. They had passed through a few towns at this point and there hadn’t been any signs of LexMart. Bruce wasn’t foolish enough to think that meant that LexMart had given up, but maybe they could afford a stop. “Please pull off at the nearest gas station that you believe is safe. The kids can run out and get themselves some snacks.”
Dick tilted his head. “With what money?”
Jason yelped, jumping away from the glove box as another compartment within the glovebox popped open, revealing a neat stack of dollar bills.
“I believe this will be sufficient,” said Alfred drily.
Jason stared at the bills with huge eyes and a wide open mouth. He was silent for multiple minutes before suddenly laughing and grabbing the money to eagerly count it.
“Holy fuck, we’re rich!”
After another hour of driving, Alfred pulled over and let the children out of the car to retrieve snacks for themselves. Jason and Tim burst out of the car, giggling and chattering, clearly eager to burn off some energy and use their newfound ‘wealth’. Dick hung back though, hovering near the door and working himself to say something to Bruce. Bruce waited, not pushing the boy, knowing that his words would eventually come.
“I… I don’t know why you’re doing this,” said Dick slowly. “But thank you.”
“My presence got your home blown up,” said Bruce with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know why you would thank me.”
“You care about us.” Dick’s fingers tapped nervously against his palm. “It’s been a long time since any adult has done that and… just… thank you.”
With that, he stepped away from the car and followed his brothers into the gas station.
That left Bruce in the car, alone and able to move for the first time in years.
For a moment, he thought about leaving. It would be easy. The kids were near a town. They were resourceful and could likely find another used car dealership to hide out in. He could leave and figure out a way to die. He had the Batmobile now. Now it would be easy.
Alfred wouldn’t like rolling over his head with a tire, but he would do it.
Bruce looked out the window to the three children in the gas station. They were all standing in front of a chip stand, seemingly debating on what type to get. Jason seemed to be campaigning for something red, but Dick didn’t look sold on it. Bruce couldn’t even see Tim’s face, he was too short and only the top of his bowl cut was visible. He watched that bowl cut bobbed as Tim bounced over and grabbed something else to add to their basket.
Bruce tried to imagine leaving them there. He relished the thought of freedom and the possibility that this could all be over, but then he imagined their faces. The hurt. The betrayal. The abandonment of being left behind by someone they had thought they could trust.
Small smiles turning into frowns as they realised that the car was gone and they were on their own yet again.
Bruce remembered how it had felt like a knife in his heart when he saw Lucius walk out of that room, leaving Bruce alone on the operating table to feel his limbs cut from his body. It was something else lost in a day of losing everything.
He couldn’t do that to them, but he couldn’t keep living like this.
He was hardly living and traveling around in the Batmobile wouldn’t be forever. He needed an out, but he also needed to know the kids would be taken care of after he was gone.
“Penny for your thoughts, Master Bruce?” hummed Alfred from the dashboard.
His voice stuck in his throat. What does he say? What does he say to the last person in his old life that still supported him?
“Alfred, where were you before you came to us?”
The car hummed underneath him and he could almost imagine it as a very human sound. “A garage, though I’m not exactly sure how I got there. It was quite dim and quite dusty. There was no security and all I needed to do was break through the front doors.”
“You weren’t awake for the last twelve years?”
“No, my last memory was taking you to the Wayne Enterprises building in Gotham and then suddenly you were calling for my assistance in the countryside.”
“Well, I was awake. I’ve been awake for twelve years, trapped in my own head and frozen into place due to my own broken body. After all that time, your own thoughts turn to torment you, thinking about who you were and how much you’ve lost turns into an everlasting torture.”
“I…” He considered lying, but he could never lie to Alfred. “I need to die, Alfred.”
Alfred was quiet with only the hum of the car to fill the air. It was a long minute before Alfred spoke again.
“Master Bruce, what are you asking of me?”
“I can’t move, Alfred. I can’t go anywhere or do anything if one of those boys in there needed my help, all I would be able to do is sit here. Batman doesn’t exist. I don’t exist. The world moved past me when I was stuck in that warehouse and I don’t even have the limbs to try to crawl after it. I just… I can’t do it. Please don’t make me do it again. I don’t want to be alone and stuck in my own head again. I need it to have an end and I need you to do it if that’s what’s required.”
Alfred was very quiet for a long time. The screen didn’t show an image of his face and Bruce had no way to know what he was thinking. He knew that it was a lot to ask of Alfred, his first and most faithful partner. He hoped though, that Alfred would understand and be able to do this one last thing for him.
Alfred’s voice was incredibly soft and sad through the Batmobile speakers. “I will do what you ask, but please, consider it carefully before you ask it of me.”
“It’s not something I take lightly,” said Bruce, a weight lifted from his shoulders. It felt, finally like his fate was placed back into his own hands.”
“I just… I need to know those boys will be somewhere safe before I do anything.”
“And where would that somewhere be?”
Bruce didn’t know. He didn’t know. Where could these boys go where they would be cared for and not one would abandon them again.
And then a thought crossed through his mind. He did know a place. He knew one person who would never abandon a child in need, even if he had abandoned Bruce to a warehouse.
“Alfred,” he said, a plan forming in his mind. “Would you be able to take us to the Kents?”