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The Justice League’s meeting with Batman’s son, the Red Hood apparently, goes well. Sure, they had expected a five year old and gotten a grown man, but he had been polite and interested all the same. Turns out Batman’s tip that his son was a Wonder Woman fan had been true.
They had also found out that Batman had another, even older, son. The Bat had directed conversation away from that tidbit fairly quickly, so Clark had a feeling they wouldn’t be getting any information from him about the other child any time soon.
Not that they could trust any information from the Bat. Clearly he had a sense of humor he had neglected to demonstrate any other time in their decade long relationship. One that was twisted and led to awkward situations for the League.
So, after Batman and his son had left, the League decided to figure out on their own who the second child could be.
“Jason said we’ve met his brother before!” Hal insisted.
Barry gesticulates wildly with both hands. “But that doesn’t mean he’s a hero! This one was the Red Hood!”
That.
Clark had ignored it mostly while the man was present. He seemed nice enough, and the League had received information that he was cleaning up his act with a few other vigilante types. But the Red Hood and Batman being related? It made absolutely no sense. Batman refused to kill, and the Red Hood had delivered a bag of severed heads.
Clearly the family was dysfunctional.
“I thought he was a very sweet boy,” Diana adds.
“That’s because he was practically drooling over you,” Hal says, and Diana shakes her head.
“I’m not sure Batman would appreciate us digging into his family with this speculation,” she says anyway.
Barry and Hal clearly disagree with this statement. “He brought the kid here. I don’t think he minds if we get to know the other one too.”
Barry turns to Clark. “What do you think?”
He may be Superman, but he’s also Clark Kent, investigative journalist for the Daily Planet. He never has been able to turn down a good story.
They decide to go to Jason first. His father clearly can’t be trusted, but Jason had seemed unaware of the deception. The League assumes he’ll be truthful with them. They had exchanged contact information with the man while he was in the Tower. Anti-hero/vigilante though he may be, it’s always useful to have allies. Besides, he was a direct link to Batman’s real life.
They vote that Diana should be the first one to reach out. They carefully construct the message.
“Hello Jason, this is Diana. It was really a pleasure to meet you. While you were here, you mentioned we had met your older brother, can you tell us when that might have been?”
The response is near instantaneous, “Met might be an overstatement. You’ve all heard of him for sure. Superman has probably had the most direct interaction with him.”
It’s a clue, though a vague one. They hesitate to send another question.
“Batman might think we’re prying and stop us,” Clark reasons, though that is exactly what they are doing.
Instead, they put together an investigation. They list out all of the low-level villains and anti-heroes they can think of and narrow it down by the people Superman has met. It’s still too long of a list.
“I assume Batman isn’t Lex Luthor’s father, so we can mark him off the list,” Hal starts, crossing off the name.
Clark stands, the reporter in him fully activated. “We need a profile. They have to be between twenty and thirty. Batman likely wouldn’t tolerate any extreme villainy,” Barry coughs a cough that sounds suspiciously like the words ‘red’ and ‘hood’. “Large build, highly secretive, and very skilled.”
“It’s a small list. So small I can’t even think of anyone right now,” Barry adds.
“Maybe a small-time thief instead?” Diana asks.
“It has to be someone we’ve all heard of,” Clark points out.
The list making continues, though the Justice League has little hope of narrowing it down with the information they have. They have to get more.
As much as they wanted to avoid asking Batman any more questions about his family, they decide it’s the best option. After all, he had told them about Jason. They’ll just have to be more careful this time to not be deceived by his wording.
Barry takes the first leap. “So, Batman. Jason said he had an older brother.”
Batman grunts.
Barry gulps. “What’s he like?”
Batman pauses his typing to think. Then he turns to Barry fully. “He had a bit of a rebellious phase, but we’re much better now.”
The League shudders to think of what Batman considers a rebellious phase. It gets added to the board.
Clark takes the next step. “Batman. Do I know your other boy?”
The other hero nods and says nothing else. Clark sighs and stares at the side of the Bat’s head until he takes the hint to elaborate. “You are his favorite hero. Facing you was his dream come true.”
“Facing?”
Batman doesn’t explain.
Hal, surprisingly, gets the most information out of the stoic hero. “How much older than Jason is your other kid?”
“Six years,” he says. “He moved to Jump City when Jason was a young teen.”
Clark tries to subtly rush to their investigation board. Jump City is pinned up with Gotham and Metropolis. When Barry sees it, he practically vibrates in excitement.
“We can ask Wally! He’s friends with all the Titans and they lived there when they were first starting out.”
So Barry calls his nephew and they wait excitedly to add more information.
“Yeah hold on a second, I’m with one of them I’ll ask,” Wally presses hold on his phone and turns to Dick. He’s at his friend’s house in Gotham for the day.
“It’s Uncle Barry. He’s asking about villains in Jump? Someone Superman might have faced.”
Dick desperately holds back a laugh of pure glee. He understands why Bruce had let them believe Jason was a baby. This is so much fun. “Tell him the only one you can think of is Renegade.”
Wally looks confused, but he nods and relays the information.
“Want to tell me what that’s about?” he asks. Jason walks into the room before Dick can reply.
“What’s what about?” he interrupts.
Dick grins. “You know how you implied to the League that I hadn’t met them in the Tower?”
Jason groans. “Don’t remind me. I was trying to do damage control so they wouldn’t tie you to Nightwing.”
His brother waves his words away. “Doesn’t matter. They think I’m a villain.”
Wally startles. “How in the world-”
“Right. They saw Jay was the Red Hood and decided that meant I must be a villain too. Then, he implied a little that I had only met Superman, and B has been egging them on.”
“So you’re letting them think you’re Renegade,” Jason concludes.
“I am Renegade,” he corrects. “But, I’m going to introduce myself as Nightwing.”
Wally looks exasperated between his two friends but he doesn’t interrupt. It’s his uncle’s fault for not being able to figure it out. At least they’re all having fun.
Bruce is working at the computer in the Cave when his first son comes up to lean over his shoulder and breathe obnoxiously into his ear. He sighs.
“Can I help you?”
“You can,” his son says grinning. He moves forward to sit on the desk. Bruce really needs them to stop doing that. They’re all too old now, they’re going to break something. He pushes his chair back so he can focus on Dick.
“You had your fun with the Jason thing. Now I’m giving you an opportunity for round two.”
“I’ve already let slip you were in Jump,” he says, raising an eyebrow. “What else do you want to do?”
“I just need you to answer a phone call during your meeting tonight.”
That leaves a lot of wiggle room for a lot of trouble. But Bruce is a sucker for a good joke and his first son understands his sense of humor better than anyone. “Deal.”
Dick at least waits for him to finish his portion of the meeting, which Bruce supposes he should be grateful for. Still, when his child calls him he has to take a deep breath for fortification. The League turns to look at him so he points to his phone. “It’s my eldest. I need to take it.”
He ignores the way they all very unsubtly tune in to his conversation. He’s barely hit answer when Dick’s voice comes out of the speaker.
“We’ve got a problem.”
He sighs again, internally this time. “What is it?”
Bruce can hear the glee in his son’s tone, though he doubts anyone else can. “Jaybird and I were out on the town tonight,” meaning patrol. “And we made a little bet.”
“And?” he sees the League tune in a little bit more.
“Whoever takes out the least goons tonight at the docks owes the other ice cream. Now we’re practically dripping in this stuff,” he hears Barry inhale, knows what it sounds like his boys are saying. “Do you think they’ll still serve us if we walk in?”
Bruce decides to sell the bit. “It’s Gotham. I’ve been covered in my own blood, you’ll be fine.”
“Thanks B,” he hears Jason’s slightly more distant voice saying, “See you later, old man.”
Bruce hangs up. The League are staring him down. “Is something wrong?”
They turn back to the meeting. Though he has to say, he’s curious what his boys got themselves into.
The answer was river sludge and it was disgusting.
The League sans Batman are back in the meeting room.
Hal coughs, “So, safe to say he’s not a superhero.”
Clark nods. “I think we are looking at Renegade here.” He had faced the man. Renegade had been working with a little team under Lex Luthor at the time. He was never the worst of the group, but he’d definitely put up a good fight when the time called for it. Superman never had caught him.
“Does anyone else think this is crazy?” Barry asks. “How does Batman produce two villains?”
Hal scoffs, “I don’t think that’s exactly the mystery here, buddy.”
The League is in agreement. Batman’s eldest son is definitely Renegade. When the eventual time comes to meet him, they refuse to be surprised.
The League has mostly dropped the topic of Renegade. Two months have passed without another mention from Batman about his other son, so the League has resigned themselves to patience.
Unfortunately, this is the month that aliens have decided to invade the planet. Again. Frankly, Clark is tired of it. He really thinks they should have learned around the seventh attempted invasion that it wouldn’t work out for them. Instead, they are calling all hands on deck as the newest batch begins to land in Metropolis.
He is focusing mostly on the aliens attacking his city, but he takes notice when his friend’s plane lands on the adjacent building and lets out a sigh of relief. He can handle aliens, but Batman is always a nice addition to a fight. He’s slightly confused when he hears three heartbeats instead of one exit the plane, but he has to turn his attention back to the fight before he can get a look at the Bat’s companions.
A half hour later the fight is still ongoing, but the alien’s numbers are beginning to thin out. Barry runs up alongside him and takes down four more before he turns to Clark. “Supes! Batman brought Red Hood. Someone else too, in black, but I didn’t get a good look at him.”
This peaks Clark’s interest. “Do you think it’s the other kid?”
Barry nods excitedly before turning to punch another alien. “Diana thinks so too.”
The information puts a little pep in his step. Sure, he’d met Renegade before, but never on the same side. And it means Batman is trusting them with more of his family. This is exciting for him.
The battle finally ends and the League plus guests gather in the center of the city. Clark finally gets a good look at the Bat’s second companion only to find that he recognizes the hero. It’s Nightwing, the Bludhaven vigilante and leader of the Titans, not Renegade. Still, it’s nice to see the man.
Clark holds out a hand. “Nightwing, it’s good to see you again.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Superman,” he says politely, then does the same for the rest of the League.
Clark is curious though. “If you don’t mind me asking though, what are you doing here? You don’t normally come to small things like this if you don’t get a call.”
Nightwing grins. Honestly, Clark has never met a bubblier or nicer hero. The man is truly a great resource. “Well, I heard you guys had been talking about me, so I thought I’d introduce myself.”
Clark is confused for a moment. A moment is all it takes for Barry to figure it out. “You’re Batman’s son?” he asks incredulously.
Clark whips back around to look at the hero. It makes sense afterall. He is ridiculously competent, and he had arrived with Batman. But he’s just too nice. And what about the other stuff they found out?
“That’s me,” the hero says, still smiling.
Batman nods, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder and saying with complete deadpan, “You don’t see the family resemblance?”
Standing between the two titans that are the Red Hood and Batman, Nightwing looks practically miniscule. The idea of a family resemblance is actually a little ridiculous. Clark doesn’t say that out loud.
Hal has other concerns. “We thought you were Renegade though!”
Nightwing acts bashful for a moment, hand coming up to the back of his hair. “Well, I was. We all have our rough moments, don’t you think?”
Clark thinks most people’s rough moments don’t involve punching him in the face while holding kryptonite, but who is he to judge.
Batman is nodding. “Rebellious phase,” he says, sagely.
Hal throws up his hands and walks away.