Chapter Text
“Today in Gotham, home of the retired Batman, there was a masked vigilante spotted. We don’t know who or what she is, but we’re sure she’s female. And she’s completely phenomenal! Talk about a feminist icon! Maybe she’s the new Wonder Woman! Let’s hope she makes a stop by Metropolis sometime!” The news anchor chuckled. I quickly snapped the TV off, biting my lip and rubbing my forehead. What had I been thinking? I knew there were people watching! How much longer could I keep this up?
Connor walked in behind me, sliding his arms down my neck and wrapped them around me.
“You shouldn’t watch that garbage. You know it’s not going to make you feel any better. It’ll make you do something you’ll regret.” He chided lightly, earning a sigh from me.
“I can’t just sit here, Connor. I can’t just sit by and watch my home go to shit because my family won’t do anything about it.” I murmured, the word ‘family’ being a foreign one to me.
“Metropolis is your home now. We’re married. We live here. You think it’s not hard for me to go out and throw every Metropolis criminal through the stratosphere. It’s about control.” He muttered, moving to sit down next to me. I shook my head gently.
“Gotham is worse now than it’s ever been. The criminals know there’s no one to answer to. I just—“ I paused for a moment.
“What?”
“I think we should restart JLA.” I made the bold statement, something I had been thinking about for an incredibly long time. Ever since that last day of seeing Dick, I’d been considering restarting The Justice League.
“What? You’re kidding.” Connor said, almost with pity for me. I stood up, beginning to pace.
“Connor, the world needs The Justice League, criminals are on an incredible rise in every city in the area. Starling, Central—“ I took a deep breath. “Gotham.” I looked down, avoiding his gaze. “The world needs us. And I can’t sit on a couch and watch a news story about me and about how I saved a family and not think about JLA. We could help people, Connor. We could save the world!” I started to jump on my soapbox.
“Whoa, hold on. Martha, you’re getting a little out of hand. Even if we wanted to do this, where do we start? All the original members are either too old to help, or dead.” He sighed, trying to be gentle.
“Somewhere. Anywhere. We start by finding my family. We can recruit them, then we get ahold of the retired Young Justice and Teen Titans.” I could tell he was losing interest fast. I walked over to him slowly, kneeling down to get on his level and grabbing his hands up in mine. “Our parents built something that meant hope, justice, and truth to the public. People everywhere knew that they could count on The Justice League, even if they were on a different planet.” I drew in a steep breath. “And it’s time for us to rebuild the ruined, and show people that everything they knew is still true. It’s what we were meant to do. It’s our legacy to uphold.”
Connor just stared at me for a moment, obviously conflicted.
“Martha, we are finally normal. People have forgotten who we are, they think of us as The Kent’s, who have an incredible lawn and garden. We were going to start a family and be normal.” He sighed, looking deep into my gaze. “And if we’re both saving the world, we can’t do that. Is it selfish of me to want a normal life when people everywhere are dying every minute?” he asked, emotion cracking his voice slightly. I put a gentle hand on his cheek, rubbing my thumb back and forth.
“No, no. Of course, not.” I whispered, smiling lightly. “But this is our duty. If we don’t do this, no one else will, and who knows what will happen.”
There was a thick moment of silence between us.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
It was kind of sad to see the manor in such a state. I hadn’t spoken to Dick since that last day, so I never knew when the repairs got finished. Structurally, it looked fine, but the old-world beauty that it usually possessed was covered up with closed blinds, overgrown ivy, and rotting wooden doors.
I hesitantly and slowly opened the front door, cracking from age and old paint. The once grand entryway, which glowed with warm and bright chandeliers, was now dirty and dusty, a broken glass chandelier on the floor in front of us. I looked around the parlor, running my finger over the sofas caked with dust.
“No one has been here in years. None of us kids would let it go to shit like this.” I grimaced, my jaw set hard.
“Maybe we should go.” Connor offered sadly. I felt tears surfacing up to my eyes as I looked up at the giant portrait that hung above the ruined fireplace. It was of my grandparents and father, Thomas and Martha Wayne (from which I inherited my namesake), with a child version of my father in the middle. I let out an exasperated and sad chuckle, staring up at the painting.
“If only they knew.” I sighed. “If only they knew what would happen to their family, and their crowning jewel, this estate. He would have never left it to Dick if he would have known, known that Dick would let this happen.” I made myself frown, completely disgusted. “Damn him for ruining this place. It was the only thing we had left of them. And now—“ I bit my lip to try and stop the sobs. “It’s ruined.”
Connor and I both snapped our heads around to the grand staircase when we heard a squeak in the floorboards.
My heart stopped, time stood still, and I just stared at the man I thought I knew.
He didn’t say anything either, just slowly walking down the stairs, holding my gaze.
As he made his way to me, I felt my breath bated, and then speeding up.
After a few moments of silence, he was about a foot away from me, stopping in his tracks. Connor stood back, waiting for something to happen.
“Damn you. Damn you to hell.” I growled, flaring my nostrils. He just kept staring at me, studying me. “Say something, you bastard!” I shouted at him. He stayed silent. “You’ve ruined everything we ever cared about, you sorry sack of shit! It’s all RUINED!” I shrieked, causing Connor to grab my arm. I quickly shook him off, giving the man in front of me a dangerous glare. Tears started to spill out of my vicious glare, and I held down the vocal cries that wanted to escape.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered. I made a disgusted face, hearing him say that.
“You don’t owe me any apology. You owe them an apology.” I pointed up at the portrait. “What do you think they would have said, destroying the only material thing important to them? All of my memories are here, Dick. Our memories.” I seethed. “This was your only fucking responsibility he entrusted you with, God knows after you turned us out you weren’t responsible for anything anymore besides this fucking mansion!” I hissed.
“Martha—“ Dick tried to combat me, but I put my hand up, shaking my head.
“Save it. I don’t want excuses. I don’t even want valid reasons. Because you can’t give me any, there are none.” I grimaced, trying to wrap my head around the fact that he let this happen. He let this place go to Hell.
“Barbara’s dead.”
The statement hit me like a punch in the gut. I was shocked, upset, angry, and sad.
“Excuse me?” I practically whispered. Dick nodded, a small frown on his face.
“She committed suicide due to postpartum depression. She jumped off the ledge of the window in the attic. Three stories.” He sighed, almost dazed or confused. “She wanted to get a divorce, but I didn’t trust her by herself, so I made her live in the manor during the divorce process.” He murmured, avoiding my gaze. I didn’t know why, but tears started pouring out of my eyes, and I couldn’t stop them.
“Dick, I—“
“I know. It’s no excuse to have let the only thing I still have left go to hell because of Barbara. It should have motivated me to clean the place up, and maybe go in the Batcave and do some repairs to the systems.” He bit his lip, his eyes getting glassy.
“You should have reached out to us. We would have wanted to know.” I grimaced, now because I was sad, not angry.
“I made a decision, and I had to stick by it. You guys were safer that way.”
I rolled my lips inward, giving him a sympathetic look before crashing into him, my arms wrapping around his frame.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Want a beer? It’s all I’ve got in the fridge.” Dick said it like a joke, but I knew he was serious. Connor and I both declined. “Whatever you’re about to ask me or tell me must be pretty damn important, considering you broke the rules that I laid out 4 years ago.” He sighed, sitting down on a barstool that I didn’t think would hold.
I wrung my hands together in worry, and nodded slowly.
“Dick, we’re restarting JLA.”
Dick almost spit out his drink, barely choking it down.
“Excuse me?”
“The JLA.”
“You’re mental.” He groaned, getting up and walking past us. “There’s no way that I’m going to be a part of that. I won’t. I’m safe here.” He sighed, looking away from us.
“Dick, it’s Dad’s legacy, we have to—“
“Don’t talk to me about Dad’s legacy!” he shouted, catching us off-guard. “I have been the bearer of that goddamn legacy for 15 years! Don’t tell me what the ‘legacy’ is! Who fucking knows what that ‘legacy’ is? I sure as hell don’t! If it means restarting that bullshit group that didn’t help as much as they damaged people’s lives, I’m not buying in!” he shrieked. I felt my heart shatter into a million little pieces.
“Fine. You don’t want to save the world and do good like our father did, that’s fine by me, buster.” I yelled, dragging Connor out the front door.
“You’re a sorry excuse for Bruce Wayne’s son!”
And I slammed the door behind me.
“Let’s hope this one goes a little better than the last one.” I sighed, knocking gently on the door.
I looked at the city around the apartment complex, the bustle of Starling City. I almost didn’t notice the door opening in front of me. It was someone I didn’t know.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked, giving us a little bit of a glare.
“Hi, do you know where Jason Todd is?” I asked, trying to figure out who this lady was.
“He must have been the last tenant. I’m Trish. I haven’t ever heard of a Jason Todd.” She finished, shutting the door in our faces.
“So much for that going better.” I sighed, turning towards the car.
“What do we do now?” Connor asked, looking up at me with despair and sadness. I folded my arms over and shrugged.
“I guess we go find Tim and Damian.”
When we walked up to the house, with a cute little sign in the yard that said ‘The Drake’s’, I could hear children’s laughter and could practically smell the pie out of a window somewhere. This was what Tim had always wanted, a normal life, surrounded by children, with Stephanie.
“Should we even be doing this?” I back out, turning to Connor.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, this is everything he’s ever wanted. I mean, he’s got kids, he’s got a nice house, he’s got a sign that says ‘The Drake’s’. I don’t know if we should be taking that away from him.” I murmured. “It feels selfish.”
Before Connor could rebuttal, I heard the door squeak behind me, and I quickly turned.
“Martha.”
“Tim.”
“So, this is Thomas, Bruce, and Diana.” He pointed to the three kids. Those kids had good names, names that meant something, and I grinned widely at them.
“God, it’s so good to see you again, Martha.” Steph smiled, embracing me in a hug.
“Yeah, really. But why do I feel like you need something from me?” Tim smirked, with his signature eyebrow raise. “And what is so important that you’d break Dick’s rules to come find me in Central City?” he continued to question me, just as curious and knowledge-hungry as he was 4 years ago.
“Well—I—I have a favor to ask.” I murmured, Steph and Tim’s faces growing a little darker, knowing the nature of my request.
“I’ll take the kids upstairs and be right back down.” Steph nodded, Tim inviting me to the table to sit down.
“Listen, you know I wouldn’t come pull you out of hiding if I didn’t really believe this was important.” I prefaced.
“Martha, spit it out.”
“I’m restarting JLA and I want you to be a part of it. We could use you.” I blurted out, Tim staring at me for a moment, before breaking and running a hand through his jet black locks.
“Martha, I have a family, children, and a perfect life right now. I’m a computer science professor at CCU. My wife is a karate instructor at the local martial arts studio. And Thomas is only 4, the twins are 2. I can’t put my life on the line when I have young children to come home to. I can’t let what happened to us, happen to them.” He muttered, looking deep into my gaze.
“Tim—this is important. We need you. The world needs you. The world needs the Wayne’s.”
“I’m not a Wayne anymore, I’m a Drake. I became a Drake when Dick threw us out.” He growled, sitting back in his chair a little.
“You’re still a Wayne. You’ll always be a Wayne. And we need you. We need to uphold Dad and Mom’s legacy. Dad used to talk about how we would take up the JLA legacy, and now is the time. The world has gotten rotten while the criminals know there is no one to answer to. We could start changing the world.” I pitched, trying to get him to buy in. He sighed heavily, avoiding my gaze.
“A few weeks ago, there was an attack on the bank here in Central City.” He took a breath, trying to find words. “I looked into it. It turned out to be the doing of the Injustice League. I don’t know who’s a part of it, and I don’t know how they’ve resurfaced, but it’s not good. They’re on the rise.” He muttered, rubbing his forehead a little.
“Then I guess you know what you have to do.” I quipped back, making him look up at me.
“Martha—my kids. My family.” He asked, almost in despair, like he was genuinely torn.
“You can protect your family better by being on our side. We can help you do that.” I vowed, not really knowing what I was promising.
There was a little bit of silence between us, and I didn’t know what he was going to say.
“What does your father think about this? He was the leader of this whole thing. Does he have an opinion?” he directed at Connor. Connor shook his head, shrugged.
“Dad died a few years back. About 2 years ago. Everyone is gone.” He finished, looking at Tim firmly. Tim stood up, looking at Connor and I questionably.
“I’ll do it.” Connor and I’s faces broke out in smiles. “But under one condition.” My anxiety peaked again, ready for him to ask something crazy of us.
“Anything.”
“All of us are doing this. No one is weaseling their way out. Dick, Jason, Damian, they’re all going to do this, or I don’t do it. We work best as a family, and without a crucial link, we’ll crumble.” Connor and I exchanged worried glances.
“You weren’t our first stop.” Connor murmured ambiguously. He looked a little confused, but then he quickly figured it out; he had always been the most intelligent of all of us.
“So we go back.” He said firmly, completely set in his stipulations.
“We should probably go see Damian first. We haven’t spoke to him yet.” I offered, trying to avoid going back to the mansion.
“What’s going on?” Steph asked breathlessly sprinting down the stairs.
“Steph—I know it’s hard—but I need you to trust me.” He paused for a moment. “I have to go with them. It’s about the Justice League.”
A few different expressions crossed Steph’s face, but ultimately she settled into an understanding glance and nodded.
“Keep him safe—and I mean it.” She glared at us sternly.
“Of course.” I responded, looking back at Tim.
“I think I know where to find Brother Dearest.”
“Just a minute!” It was a relief to hear Damian’s voice calling out to the door. There was crashing and scrambling behind the door, and then he swept the door open quickly, hiding most of his body behind it.
“Really?” Tim chided, disappointed in his brother. Damian shrugged.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stuttered, a horrible liar.
“Damian! Who is it? Come back to bed!” I heard a familiar female voice call out. All four of us perked up in surprise, Damian more in embarrassment.
“Is that Kara Zor-El?” I asked cautiously.
“My cousin? You’re banging my cousin?” Connor accused. Damian grinned that shit-faced grin that he so often used to bear, chuckling lightly.
“Hey, let’s not use the word ‘banging’.” He sighed, trying to avoid Connor’s glare.
“Let’s use the term ‘married’.” Kara chirped, a smile on her face as she walked up behind Damian. Tim almost choked, which I had to stop myself from doing.
“Married? As in promised to be together forever?” I squeaked, trying to get my voice back down an octave.
“I mean, married, not married, what’s the difference?” Damian laughed, trying to play it off.
“There’s a chasm of difference.” Connor muttered, crossing his toned arms across his buff chest. Damian shrunk in his posture a little.
“I mean, yeah. I guess you could say that.” He breathed, trying to not be intimidated by Connor.
“Please, let us get some clothes on, and you can come in!” Kara grinned, knowing she had the upper hand here.
“Yes! Please put some goddamned clothes on!” Tim groaned, trying to look away from the two lovebirds behind the door.
Damian put up a ‘one minute’ finger and shut the door, and I could practically hear him stumbling and scurrying away from the door.
Same old Damian, just completely different.
“So what do you guys want and how did you find me?” Damian immediately questioned, him and Kara sipping coffee in their pajamas on the couch across from us. The apartment was really nice, and I almost didn’t believe that Damian lived here. He was kind of a tornado for housekeeping, destructive and out of control.
“Well, I keep tabs on everybody, and as far as what we want—“ Tim sighed, looking to Connor and I to finish that sentence.
“We’re restarting JLA, and we want you to be a part of it. Kara can come too, if that’s what you guys want.” I laid out simply. There was no big reaction, it was more like processing and acceptance.
“We’ll do it.” Kara stated firmly. I looked at Connor questioningly.
“That’s it?” Connor asked, a little confused. We hadn’t heard ‘yes’ by itself today.
“Pretty much. We’ll get packed. Who are we going to see next?” Damian spoke quickly, both him and Kara getting up off the couch. Connor and I shrugged, looking on to Tim.
“We’re going to try to track down Jason. Hopefully he hasn’t gone to far from his last position that I tracked. He can be covert sometimes.” Tim muttered.
“Why isn’t Dick with you? I thought he’d be the first one to head up this team, his ego wouldn’t let him not be the leader of something.” Damian joked, putting the coffee mugs in the sink. When the three of us looked downcast and uncomfortable, he got the picture.
“Just tell me he’s not dead.” Damian sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. We quickly shook our heads, not wanting to worry Damian.
“No, he’s alive. And an asshole, as per usual.” I muttered, staring at a small mark on the wall. Damian walked around the kitchen island and walked back towards his room.
“Congrats on making the news, by the way!” Kara called, walking out of the room with a couple bags of luggage. She smiled at me cheerily, like she was proud of me or something.
“Oh—uh—thanks. It wasn’t really supposed to happen like that, but I guess when duty calls—“ I left the sentence open-ended, not really sure how I felt about the whole thing. I didn’t like attention, I liked to be allusive and try to avoid the spotlight, but I was about to re-launch myself into it.
I didn’t know how long I’d been staring off into space when Damian emerged from his room with a bag of luggage and duffel.
“Listen, I’m ready, but I’m gonna need some consolation for this favor I’m doing you.” Damian sighed, sitting into his hip like the diva he tended to be.
“How much do you want?” I groaned, ready to give into any crazy stipulations he asked for. Damian shrugged, contemplating his options.
“6-pack of Corona on the way should be fine.” He told more than asked. I rolled my eyes.
“Corona is shit beer.” I sighed, leading us out the door.
“Corona is not shit beer!” Damian sounded almost offended. “I’m ready to get my buzz on!”