Chapter Text
“Hood, duck!” Nightwing yelled, twisting under the goon he was fighting to hit him with an uppercut. Red Hood avoided the hit and grunted his gratitude.
They were almost done taking out all the goons when he heard a voice, “This has gone on for far too long. I think it’s about time we took the pests out.” He looked up only to be blinded by a white flash.
“What the fuck just happened?”
“We’re still in Gotham I think,” Nightwing muttered, looking around, his body still tense and on edge. “But we’re not anywhere near the warehouse.”
“No shit, Dickwad,” Red Hood snapped. “How the fuck did we end up on a rooftop on the other side of town?”
“Codenames,” Batman growled, one hand on his ear. “Are your comms working?”
Nightwing shifted his escrima sticks to one hand and fiddled with his comms, frowning the entire time. “Shit, it’s just static. Hood?”
“I can’t reach anyone either, fuck.”
“I didn’t know Sionis had tech this advanced. This was just supposed to be a drug bust,” Nightwing said, leaning on the edge of the parapet wall and continued to fiddle with his comms, hoping he’d catch a signal somehow.
“Can't believe a two-bit magician got the drop on us,” Red Hood said bitterly. “We won’t be able to get back in time, they’ll be gone. Months of work down the drain!” He let out a shout of rage, kicking the wall in anger.
“We might if we have the Batmobile. B? Any luck?” Nightwing asked, turning slightly to look at Batman.
“No. I am unable to reach Agent A or any of our tech,” Batman replied. If Nightwing hadn’t known him for as long, he wouldn’t have been able to catch the frustration coloring his words. That was concerning, it wasn’t like Batman to be thrown off by anything. “Rendezvous at the Cave. We’ll follow up with the Sionis case after”
“Really?! They’re getting away as we speak, I was supposed to close this case today dammit! Can’t fucking believe a fucking freak show got us that easy.”
“Hood, it’s fine we’ll get them,” said Nightwing, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Plus you said it yourself, they’ll be gone by the time we get there. Let’s head back and look at the mask footage at least.”
Hood shook his hand off, but paused, unable to argue with his reasoning. He groaned loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, whatever, just make it quick.”
With one last look at each other, they take off towards the Cave.
_____
The Wayne Manor was burnt down.
Fear gripped Dick’s heart, “No,” he whispered, he was about to run towards the wrecked house when a heavy hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“Wait, Nightwing, this was burnt down a while ago. Look.”
Nightwing clenched his jaw, feeling a stab of annoyance at Bruce’s easy emotional detachment. He glanced behind him and saw Jason looking stiff and tense; relieved he wasn’t the only one thrown off his game, he took a deep breath and turned back to the Manor and finally noticed what Batman meant. The wreckage seemed at least a couple of years old and looked completely abandoned. It was jarring to look at the Manor - his home this way.
“You were right about one thing, something’s really off,” Red Hood murmured, looking the most subdued Nightwing has seen him look in months. “Gotham was different too,” he added. And if anyone knew Gotham it was Jason Todd.
“This isn't our Gotham. Maybe another universe. Should we check if the Cave is still there?” Nightwing asked.
“If it was even there to begin with,” Red Hood pointed out. Nightwing looked away from the house and shifted uneasily.
"Hn," said Batman. "There's a passage by the side foyer, it must be intact."
Nightwing ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to go anywhere near the remains. He hadn't thought that seeing the Manor like this would affect him this hard. After all, he was the one eager to leave it behind and yet deep down he knew this was the house he grew up in - despite all the years of him thinking it was too large, cold and downright eerie at times the place had, inexplicably, become home to him.
"Dickhead, c'mon let's go," Hood said, shaking him out of his reverie. He grabbed Nightwing's arm and pulled him towards the mansion, his hold tight and firm - whether it was for Nightwing's benefit or his, he couldn't tell.
They walked through the wreckage cautiously, pausing sometimes to move a fallen piece of wood out of their way. They reached the side foyer - or at least where it must have been, fairly quickly. Batman made a beeline to one corner of the destroyed room and began to move a fallen slab of concrete and between the three of them, they managed to pull it to the side revealing a broken tunnel.
Red Hood tapped the side of his helmet to scan the tunnel, “Seems like it’ll hold if we go down. But please, after you.” He smirked and gestured to Batman. Batman ignored the attempt at riling him up and jumped down the tunnel without a word. Nightwing turned to Red Hood and shrugged before jumping in after him.
The tunnel ended a few feet above the ground. Batman and Red Hood landed on the ground with a grunt, while Nightwing backflipped onto the floor. Jason rolled his eyes at his brother’s dramatics. They were in the tunnels under the Manor leading to the Batcave but luckily for them, all of them knew the tunnels like the back of their hands and they took off towards the cave.
Once they neared the Cave, Nightwing pulled out his escrima sticks, unsure if the security would still be active after all this time. His paranoia was proved right when he saw the laser defense network still active. They paused for a moment in front of it then Nightwing turned to Red Hood and nodded.
Red Hood caught on immediately and clasped his fingers together making a platform for Nightwing to jump from and Nightwing jumped, kicking off from a nearby wall landing his foot on Hood’s hands. Hood pushed him up, using the momentum Nightwing soared above the lasers. Red Hood followed after him, sliding through the floor on his knees and leaning back to avoid them. They landed on the other side without setting off a single alarm smirking at each other in victory, and looked back at Batman, “C’mon old man make it quick!” Hood yelled.
“Hn,” he grunted, typing on his wrist computer. After a moment, the lasers deactivated and Batman simply walked through. “Couldn’t you have done that earlier, you fucker,” Red Hood grumbled.
“I would have if you had waited,” he replied matter-of-factly, moving towards the Cave. “The password was easy to crack, similar to ones I have had before. The Cave security should be down, but keep your guard up.”
“Yeah yeah, we know,” drawled Red Hood, crossing his arms.
Getting to the Cave was anti-climatic, the security was indeed shut down and no more traps were activated after the first one. The first thing Nightwing noticed was that the Cave seemed uncharacteristically empty. Their Cave, although big and dark, always seemed to be filled to the brim; whether it was the trophies like the giant penny and the T-Rex or even just their suits and their clothes. Compared to that, this cave looked even colder and unfeeling if it were even possible.
The Batmobile was in the middle of the Cave with grand flights of stairs on either side. When he walked closer Nightwing saw the Batcomputer set-up behind the car and what seemed like an armory to its side. In front of the armory was a half-destroyed, graffitied suit with a bo-staff in a glass display, like Jason’s one at home. Batman moved past him towards the Batcomputer, Nightwing followed him, mostly not wanting them to be caught separated in case of an attack. Red Hood, however, honed in on the displayed suit and walked right to it.
“Jokes on you, Batman,” he read slowly from the display. “Well look at that, big guy, looks like you fucked up here too,” he called out, sounding parts bitter and resigned.
"Seems like you fuck up everywhere."
Batman stiffened, pausing his typing for a moment. “Hood,” Nightwing warned, pursing his lips, not wanting to mediate a fight between them. “Now’s not the time.”
“Fuck off, Goldie,” he hissed, “I’m his biggest fuck up in this universe too, good to know.” Nightwing looked pained, “Jay,” he pleaded softly, but before he could continue Batman cut him off.
“Not right now,” he growled, “Focus.”
He glared at him and stormed off back to the armory. Nightwing sighed looking at his brother wanting to go and comfort him but not sure if it would be well received, he decided to let him cool off and instead focus on helping Batman.
“You got anything?” he asked slowly, noticing there was only one chair - more differences.
“The interface is similar to ours but the passwords are different.”
Nightwing nodded, “We can hack it quick then,” he said with a note of relief in his voice and got to work.
“Why is there an AK-47 on display in the damn Batcave?”
Nightwing startled, blinking at Red Hood who was inspecting an AK-47 that he certainly didn’t have before. “What?”
“There are so many guns on display and they look well used and cared for,” he replied, pointing to the display with his gun. After a pause, he added, “I should know.”
Batman and Nightwing walked towards the armory, the Batcomputer momentarily forgotten, as they digested this new piece of information. There were various models of guns and even grenades stored in the racks. Nightwing shot a wary glance at Batman, unsure how he’d react to this. Batman was staring at the storage impassively, clenched jaw the only indication of his anger. After taking everything in, he turned and walked back to the Batcomputer without a word. Nightwing shared a look with his brother and they made to follow him.
Batman continued to hack into the Batcomputer and soon enough a loud beep indicated that he was successful. He wasted no time and started methodically looking through the files. The first thing he did was try to figure out if the other Batman would be a threat. He navigated to the mission reports that he knew would have been meticulously written out and started skimming through the recent ones.
Meanwhile, Nightwing decided to check the private server, looking for high priority files to see if he could get details on the Justice League so they could find a way home. The last active folder was called ‘White Portuguese’, he pulled it up and opened all the files. As he read on, dread pooled in the base of his stomach, he grabbed Hood’s arm to get his attention. Red Hood shook him off, annoyed, “What, Asshole?” he snapped. Nightwing just pointed to the screen, Red Hood leaned in to read with him.
“What the hell? He’s planning to kill Superman?”
This caught Batman’s attention. His head snapped up, “What?” he barked.
“This Batman is planning to intercept a Kryptonite delivery to Lex Luthor. He’s using the shipment to create weapons,” Nightwing paused, “Weapons to kill Superman.”
Batman was impassive. Nightwing continued, running a hand through his hair, “I don’t get it. Why Clark of all people and to kill him just because he could be a threat,” he trailed off and then frowned. “It also looks like there’s no Justice League here, that can’t bode well for us.”
Batman grunted his agreement then turned back to the monitor and opened a file, “Cesar Santos. He’s a sex trafficker that Batman incarcerated.” He pressed a button to show a news article. “The press is calling it the ‘Bat Brand of Justice’”
“Shit is that a fucking brand?! What the fuck?” Red Hood breathed out, before wincing and hoping the voice modulator in his mask had concealed his surprise.
“For Gotham City inmates, the ‘Bat Brand’ is a death sentence. Batman is playing judge, jury, and executioner,” Nightwing read out from the article, unable to reconcile the person they were talking about to the man he knew. He knew Batman was capable of this level of violence but he’s never seen the man go adrift from his moral code, ever. “What happened to him?” he muttered, almost to himself.
Red Hood had gotten over his shock and looked downright gleeful now, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m loving this version of the big, bad bat. I’d get along with him much better,” he said mockingly. “I mean for one he’s not a pussy,” he drawled.
Batman clenched his fists then let out a breath. “The early files show no indication of use of excessive force,” he started after a pause, looking uncharacteristically hesitant. He glanced towards Hood, “The change in nature of attacks seems to have started after... Robin died.”
Red Hood inhaled sharply, going absolutely stony.
Nightwing wished he hadn’t worn his helmet so he could see what he was feeling. This was all Jason had ever wanted Batman to do for him, to feel for him, and to see another Batman so affected by his death that he’d try to kill a Kryptonian, he really didn’t know how he was dealing with it.
Before any of them could process what they had just found, they heard a thud behind them. Immediately becoming alert, they whipped around.
“Who are you and how did you get here?”