Chapter Text
Ra’s has been missing for 543 days and 9 hours. Approximately.
Bruce sighed looking at the screen of the batcomputer, Tim would know the exact time that the man went missing.
Tim had…many…’altercations’ with the Head of the Demon, and because of his…attention to detail he would have memorized the exact times. (Bruce had to mentally call them ‘altercations’ because if he even thought about what was going on there he could feel his hair going gray. And that’s just the stuff he knows.)
The silence from the League had been noticed after 5 months. There was no sighting of Ra's, no Talia, not even an assassin spotted anywhere.
As time went on, it grew more and more suspicious.
The last time they had encountered the league, some 543 days ago, it had been a long and hard battle. Batman had called in Spoiler, Batgirl, and a newly dubbed Red Robin. Then Red Hood showed up. And Nightwing.
It was an all out event.
And they had…won?
After much fighting, Bruce and Tim had Ra's cornered. He didn’t know where Talia was- one of his kids was probably dealing with her.
He was injured. Ra’s that is- however it did apply to all of them. Bruce himself could feel at least a broken rib and a sprained wrist from where he caught himself from falling. Later scans would show that both he and Tim also had concussions.
Ra's was bleeding, despite the energy it must have taken, he held his katana out in front him. At the beginning of the stand off it was unshakable, proud and powerful like him and his daughter. But as he blocked attacks it began to shake.
Bruce had never seen an al Ghul shake. He’s never seen an al Ghul fall.
And yet that’s what Ra's did. He collapsed and as Bruce and Tim made their way over, something exploded.
To this day they couldn’t figure out how or why. Their best guess was Talia set it off. As an escape? As a way to cause mass damage? Who knows.
All they knew was that by the time the smoke cleared Ras was gone, along with the rest of the LoA.
But now. Now they knew where he was.
Or…Superman says he thinks they have him.
When Bruce had asked what the hell he meant by thinks, Clark had just said to come to the Watchtower.
So he had sent out the alert. Tim had responded within minutes despite the morning time and having gone on patrol the night before.
It took Jason and Dick a few minutes to respond to say they’d be there too. Steph was unavailable as was Duke but when Bruce had gently called to his daughter, he had given him a sleepy nod having just woken up from a nap.
As she still lived with him, Cass was the first one to join him. Draping herself over his shoulders in a hug she read over the reports from the last fight. He reached up and placed a hand around Cass’ wrist.
Neither said anything.
Bruce sighed, he loved all his kids- both the ones that are his and the ones who merely visit. Sure, sometimes that love is strained but it will always be there.
His heart aches for them. He wishes that he could’ve been there more for them. That he had saved Jason, that he had been kinder to Tim and Steph when he became their mentor, that Duke and Babs had been left alone by him. That Dick’s parents were never killed even if that meant he wouldn’t have had his eldest.
(That one hurt most. He wishes that the Graysons were still here. He wishes Dick didn’t have to turn out like him. But he’s selfish. He wouldn’t trade his baby, even if he’s no longer a baby, for anything. His eldest has become so much more than he could’ve ever dreamed.)
And then there’s Cass. His daughter who never had a chance. She had been trained from birth never given the opportunity to just Be. He wishes that they had found each other sooner.
That he could’ve held all his children as babies and been there for them when the world turned cruel.
But he couldn’t and wasn’t, mostly through no fault of his own.
Cass’ arms tightened around him.
His hand stayed put, gently curled around her wrist. She gave him a sigh, almost in response to his.
He smiled.
Tim came next, case files at the ready, presumably in case he needs to ‘prove’ anything. Tim is like that- too determined yet nervous in his decisions. He’s not right because he thinks he is, he’s right because he knows he is- he has the proof.
(Bruce blames himself for that. When Tim first became Robin he was slow to trust the boy. He made Tim prove everything. He did time and time again.)
Dick and Jason arrive not long after, already in costume. Tim and Cass had disappeared sometime after he arrived to change, leaving Bruce brooding at the computer.
“B, I could’ve taken the Zeta from Blud- why did you want us here?”
Bruce let the question sit as he heard three sets of footsteps approach- Tim and Cass must have found Alfred on the way back.
“Clark says that he found Ra's. Possibly.”
Jason scoffed, “possibly?”
“That’s what he said. He refused to answer further and insisted that we meet at the Watchtower.”
He got identical looks from all his children- one that he knew he gave them.
He shrugged as he made his way over to the Zeta, hearing Tim murmuring something- either to himself or the others he didn’t know. He heard Conner’s name and ‘Nothing mentioned. No coms,’.
—
The Zeta Tube teleportation always causes a fuzzy swooping sensation when you teleport. Not that Bruce nor his children let it show on their faces.
They walked into the common room, finding it…empty?
Even when there were no meetings, at least a few members could be found hanging around, and a quick glance to the open plan kitchen showed that it was also empty.
This isn’t good.
Just as Bruce was about to step a quick breeze moved his heavy cloak.
Flash.
“Batman! You’re here- great- that’s great! Clark said he would text- and since you’re here he definitely did- not that I didn’t think he wouldn’t but-“
“Flash. Where is Ra’s?”
Barry’s face froze. Almost in the same way it did whenever he didn’t follow the plan. Barry’s mask didn’t allow Bruce to see his eyes but the blond was known for his body language. He was glancing to the side- avoiding eye contact, a hand coming up to cup the back of his head.
“Well…ah. Just come with me.” Barry’s voice trailed off near the end, going to as much of a whisper as a speedster could manage.
Luckily Barry walked at a more human speed- just a touch faster than Bruce’s normal power walk. He could hear his children’s footsteps follow after them.
He led them to the holding cells, turning back to the group he paused. “Now…just hear us out before you make a decision. You…it’s. Yeah.”
Barry seemed to be searching for something to say. Bruce didn’t give him the chance, giving a soft grunt and a nod, then pushed open the door that led to a long hallway.
Bruce quickly made his way to the group of heroes already gathered in front of a cell.
Clark’s head snapped up as the door opened, “Bruce-“
When Bruce peered into the cell he could understand the waver in Clark’s voice. He understood the hesitation from Barry.
But he didn’t understand.
He stopped short. He heard his children’s footsteps stop short, his figure blocking the cell from view still.
Bruce couldn’t move.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, Dick? Possibly? He felt a gentle tuck on his arm pulling him to the side so his children could see- Cass? Clark? Tim? He’s not sure.
“Shit.”
He didn’t know which of his children said it- or if it was himself.
Inside the cell was a boy.
A tiny boy, maybe 9 years old. He maybe made it to Bruce’s hip. God, his tanned cheeks still had baby fat on them, his eyebrows furrowed in a way that seemed comical on a face so young.
What made him stop short was that he recognized that face. He had seen it staring back at him when he was younger, when he looked at portraits of him and his parents when he was younger.
But the eyes…those were Talia’s- they were Ra’s. (They were Jason’s)
(Bruce tried not to think about it. How it wasn’t truly any of theirs. It was the Pit. It was the Pit who owned it and it was the Pit who owned Them. But this shade, the glow and glare. That had been purely Ra's)
“Ah. Detective. You and your…clan have decided to show.”
Bruce didn’t- couldn’t- say anything.
The child spoke with Ra’s voice, feeling completely disjointed with the young body. Ra’s hummed, “What? Aren’t going to compliment me on my weight loss? I’ve really…became a new me,” the cruel smirk stretched across the child’s face in an unnatural way.
Tim pushed himself in front of Bruce, masked eyes never leaving the boy, “Ra’s. What are you-“
“Ah. My detective,” the boy/man purred (an unnatural and uncomfortable sound from someone so young- even Ra’s eyes twitched at the sound of it), “I’m glad to see you.”
“What did you do,” Tim growled.
The boy stood from where he was posed on the bed, arms tucking behind his back and slinking towards the glass wall, “After our last battle, well I decided it was time for an upgrade. Luckily I had an almost perfect solution,” the boy was no longer smiling, eyes sharp and head tilted so he could look down his nose at the group.
Bruce placed a hand on Tim’s shoulder, coming up beside his son. His voice was weak as he whispered “Talia,”
The boy scoffed, eyes rolling. “My daughter. A disappointment.”
Bruce’s heart hurt. Talia hadn’t agreed to this- whatever this was. She had tried to stop it. And now…he didn’t know where she was- if she had been imprisoned or killed or…
His mind made up scenarios faster than he could stop it.
“At least she could do this for me. Even if it was sooner than I would’ve liked.”
Ra's…he was going to raise the child- Bruce’s child- as a…
Bruce felt sick.
“What was his name?”
Not the smartest question he could’ve asked. But an important one.
“It doesn’t matter now. He has fulfilled his role.”
Bruce didn’t say anything.
They could see Ra’s roll his eyes. “The boy wanted to be like you, thought you were going to save him. Another son found too late. Both come to me instead. Funny how that works, isn’t it detective?”
Bruce wanted to scream. He wanted to kill Ra’s, just like how he wanted to kill the Joker.
Instead he took a deep breath and turned to Clark.
“Have you run any tests?”
“Yes, the results…he-” Clark passed a paper to Bruce. It shook in his hands. Tim plucked it from them.
“The boy is yours and Talia’s. High levels of Lazarus, most likely a User of the Pit. No signs of decay-“
Ra's scoffed, “of course there isn’t, this body will be perfect,”
They ignored him.
“Age is approximately 9, scars litter the body. One from the chest tests for high levels of Lazarus-“
Ra's snapped something like “a failure that won’t be repeated-“ while Tim powered through,
“His spine has been replaced with metal, very little of the original remains.”
Bruce’s fingers twitched, “What was his name?” He asked through gritted teeth.
The glare on the boy's face melted into a smirk.
And Ra's remained silent.