SquidgeWorld Archive

...Dick.
Yeah?
The early years. I've forgotten if...they were good for you, weren't they?
The best.
--Infinite Crisis 4

Bruce Wayne shifts in his sleep. He's dreaming--dreaming of an alternate life in which Batman and Superman ruled America with iron control and steel resolve. His brows furrow and he flinches in his sleep, but can't seem to wake up. The dream plays out from beginning to end...

*

Bruce was in a bad mood. He suspected it was because his mother had said something laughingly referring to a time when Clark was just a toddler, some innocuous remark about how difficult he had been to control. Bruce knew his psychological theory well enough to know that he resented such remarks because they reminded him of those nine years Clark had had with their parents that he had not. Why had they waited until his parents were murdered to gather him up into the family with his brother? Bruce knew that he sometimes worried that his parents and Clark were closer to each other than to him. He also knew that such worries were illogical and unfounded. Wasn't Clark his brother and the other half of his soul? Wasn't the warm glow of his parents' approval obvious and reassuring? He had no rational reason, none at all, for these black moods that overcame him.

Despite all that, there were still times when he felt himself filled with a cold and baseless anger. At those times, going hunting with Superman was no good. He needed the riskâ€"however slightâ€"of patrolling the streets of New York alone, of taking the chance that one of the sheep might prove dangerous for just a moment. Only that made the kill truly satisfying.

Batman moved silently through his city.

He heard the sounds of a struggle from an alley and landed noiselessly nearby. This area of town remained notorious for prostitution, however many johns and pimps were executed. Human beings were always weak. In the alley, a bulky man was beating a young boy. The boy tried to dodge the blows with some success, but the other man's weight advantage was too great. The man was panting and grunting obscenities; the boy remained grimly silent.

Sometimes Batman enjoyed seeing lawbreakers die before they ever even realized they were being judged, but tonight he wanted a more personal touch, so he said quietly but clearly, "Let the boy go." The man swung around and his eyes narrowed instead of widening; clearly he was also on drugs of some sort. He stepped forward and took one wild swing at Batman, then dropped, his neck broken. No need to prolong the kill, and he didn't want to risk the boy running off.

The boy was making no move to run, his back against the rough brick wall and his eyes fixed on the shadowy figure who had just executed his tormentor. He was dressed in the usual flashy, cheap outfit of a boy prostitute. Under a mop of jet-black hair, blue eyes glared with a mix of fear and defiance at Batman.

"You. What's your name?"

A baring of teeth that was nothing near a smile. "They call me Robin."

Bruce had always assumed it was sentimental metaphor when novelists wrote "his heart turned over in his chest," but looking at the battered, angry boy, he felt a literal lurching feeling. He reached out and caught the boy by one skinny arm. "You're going home with me."

The boy who called himself Robin wrenched away with surprising strength and agility, making a sound somewhere between a growl and a whimper. "I don't want you in my bed, boy," Batman said brusquely, realizing only as he said it that it was true. "I just want to get you somewhere safe."

"Why? Why not kill me like you did him?"

"I don't know."

The flatness of the statement seemed to take Robin aback for a second. Then something softened slightly in the sharp angles of his face. "Can't be worse than here, huh?" He stepped forward into Batman's shadow.

*

"Robin?"

"His real name's Dick, but he says he prefers to go by his street name. He's an orphan, his parents were circus performers who died when he was just a little kid. He's bright, good fighting reflexes..."

"Quite good looking when cleaned up, as well."

A pause, then Bruce twisted in his lover's arms to face him. "You idiot." He reached out to tug gently on the curl on Clark's forehead, then laid his palm on the curve of the other man's face. "It's not that at all."

"No? I could hardly blame you. He's young, handsome, less alien..." the studied casualness in Clark's voice was entirely unconvincing.

"You're my brother. You're my soul." Bruce leaned in for a kiss that eventually seemed to convince the other man. "Maybe I just want a protégé, someone that I can hand my knowledge on to, to continue after me. I won't live forever, you know."

"Don't talk like that. Don't ever talk about that." One of the few topics that ever seemed to ruffle Clark's calm was Bruce's mortality. "I'll never let you die. Never." The words were muffled in Bruce's hair as Clark pulled him close. Bruce just laughed.

"Besides, between you and Selina, when would I ever find the time and energy to make him my lover?"

Clark pulled back to grin at Bruce. "I guess I'd better keep you tired then."

"Oh, you'd better try."

*

Bruce decided to give Robin a week or so to settle into their suite of apartments overlooking New York City. Then it was time to start introducing him to his parents.

Saturn Queen, his mother, was there alone when he decided to broach the subject. Truth be told, Bruce was a little nervous about making the introductions. It was probably better to have him meet Saturn Queen alone first. His fathers could be somewhat daunting.

Eve Aries was sipping a glass of wine and enjoying the view of the skyline when she caught sight of Robin entering the room in the reflection of the windows. Bruce was startled to see his mother pale as she spun around to face the boy. "You!â€"" she choked, then recovered herself. "You charming thing!" She laughed sweetly and ruffled Robin's hair. "I assume this is the surprise you've been hinting about, son?"

"Yes, mother. I found him on the streets and I'm training him. He shows great promise." Bruce smiled at Robin, who stared back at him, overawed in the presence of the great Saturn Queen. "He calls himself Robin."

Delicate hands tightened briefly in Robin's dark curls. "What an absolutely adorable name."

*

"How did this happen? How could this happen?"

"This is your fault, Mekt! You said we could put off dealing with Grayson, andâ€""

"How was I supposed to know that in this timeline his parents die three years earlier and that he would disappear entirely? You may recall that at the time we were slightly busy with putting down Ra's al-Ghul and the remnants of the Justice Society. Simultaneously."

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is. What do we do now?"

"I'm going to suggest we simply keep an eye on the boy and see how things play out. I know our Bruce quite well, and I suspect the potential problem should be...only temporary. It would be more dangerous to terminate the boy now, I believe."

"Very well, Eve. We'll take your lead for now."

*

Robin picked himself off the matting and settled back into a fighting stance. When Bruce came at him again, he dodged nimbly, moving through a handspring and back behind his opponent. Then he swung a foot at what seemed to be Bruce's unprotected backâ€"only to find himself twisted down hard against the floor. This time he stayed down a little longer, grimacing just a bit. After a brief hesitation, he grabbed Bruce's outstretched hand and allowed himself to be swung to his feet.

"Sir, can't I join you and Superman on the streets yet, just for a routine patrol, even? I've been training for almost two years now, when can I actually start helping?"

"This isn't some lark, Robin. These are dangerous people we have to deal with sometimes. You have to be totally ready, completely prepared, honed to deliver the killing blow when it's necessary."

Robin sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair. "I just feel so useless here sometimes."

Bruce laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Never think that. You'll inherit all of this after me, all of my hopes and dreams, if you're strong and good enough." He hesitated for a moment, then went on. "Actually, Clark and I were discussing your training progress just the other day. We think you're about ready to start seeing some real action." In reality, Clark had argued heatedly that Robin needed to see some practical results from his training. Bruce had felt the boy still wasn't ready, but had eventually given way. "Would you like to join me on patrol next time?"

Robin did an impromptu back flip of glee, all his exhaustion forgotten. "You won't regret it, sir! I swear I'll make you proud!" Bruce turned away to hide his smile and walked toward the door.

"You'd better pick out an outfit to wear so people will start knowing and fearing you by sight. I rather liked the dark blue one."

*

Superman returned from checking out a rumor that Ra's al-Ghul had been sighted in Nepal to find Bruce just settling into bed himself. Early morning sunlight filtered through the apartment as he sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed the back of Bruce's neck. "So how did Robin do out there?"

"He was competent. He was even helpful at one point while we were taking down some gamblers."

"In other words, he was dazzling. You're too stingy with your praise, Bruce. The boy idolizes you and he needs your approval."

"And you coddle him too much. The world is not going to refrain from ripping his guts out just because he's cute. He's too gentle. He's going to have to toughen up."

"I've seen his arms and back after some of your training sessions. He usually comes out of them a mass of bruises. I'm not just being sentimental here, Bruce. He's of no use to us if you break him."

A brief flash of genuine anger entered Bruce's voice, something Clark rarely felt directed at him. "I took my lumps when I was being trained as well, and I never expected our parents to go easy on us. The fate of the world depended on it." When Clark opened his mouth to say something else, Bruce snapped, "Don't lecture me on how to train the boy, Clark. I know better than you what the human body and spirit are capable of."

A hurt silence descended. Eventually Bruce rolled over with a sigh and gathered the other man close, his eyes speaking an apology he would never say out loud. Clark tried to let that be enough.

After a while, Clark said softly, "Do you ever worry that something might happen, that this reality might unravel? That our parents might fail?"

Bruce felt a stab of panic at the thought. "We'll never let that happen. The world needs us to keep it safe. We can't fail."

"If we do, though...if everything comes apart and we end up back in the old world of chaos and war, the so-called 'Age of Heroes'...will you find me?"

"I doubt we'd ever be very far apart. Like Mekt says, 'History holds tightly to her truths.' And the truth is no one else could bear me."

"Don't joke. Just promise me."

A long silence. "I promise, Clark."

*

Batman and Robin moved through the fragrant pine woods, making their way north toward a dissident enclave. Somewhere above them Superman winged through the dark skies. Small spy eye cameras ranged near all three of them, whirring quietly and preparing to transmit video of the judgment and execution of the traitors around the world.

The raid itself started relatively smoothly. Batman and Robin went door to door terminating insurgents, while Superman found himself locked in combat with the obligatory metahuman champion such enclaves always seemed to attract. Their parents had pre-emptively deleted most superhero types, but there were always random happenings: some schlub gets bitten by a radioactive bug and the next thing you know Superman's battling Mosquitoman across the skies of Minnesota.

Robinâ€"grown tall and gangling by now, with dark hair that fell to his shouldersâ€"opened another door to find the cottage occupied only by a small girl cowering in the corner, no more than eight, with a dirty face and huge, terrified eyes. He paused for a moment, lowering his gun, and stepped forward. The girl read something in his eyes that reassured her, for some of the fear went out of her face in the moment before a shot rang out behind Robin and she dropped in a welter of blood. Robin whirled to find Batman standing in the door, fury in every line of his body. He stepped forward and backhanded Robin once, hard, across the face. "What if I hadn't just turned off the cameras?" he gritted. "What if your weakness had been transmitted to all of our enemies around the world? How dare you risk all we've worked for that way?"

Robin felt blood trickling from his lip. "She was just a kid, she hadn't done anything wrong."

"She was associating with traitors and criminals and her fate must be tied to theirs. I can't believe you would be so stupid after all this time!"

Robin wiped his mouth with a shaking hand. "If you believe that, you should have killed me in that alley when you met me! Tell me one difference between her and me, just one."

"You're alive. She's dead."

A long pause, as Robin stared at Batman. The anger and defiance seemed to drain out of him, leaving him tired and weary to the bone. "Obey or die," he said softly, almost as if to himself.

Superman landed behind Batman, his form filling the door. He had apparently finished off the other metahuman. Batman whirled and stalked off through the settlement. Superman reached out and gently took the boy's arm, steering him out of the cabin. "That doesn't apply to you, Robin. Never you." Once they were clear of the building, he set it ablaze with his heat vision. All around them, the buildings of the enclave were burning, turning the snowy ground beneath them to slush and sending trailers of flame into the sky. Superman sailed into the sky, leaving Robin to watch the cabin as it collapsed in on itself.

"Doesn't it?" he whispered, before hurrying to catch up to Batman.

*

The end came quickly andâ€"for Bruce at leastâ€"unexpectedly. He let himself into his penthouse apartment after a late night of carousing with Selina to find Robin standing on the balcony railing, eighty-six floors above the ground. The boy balanced lightly and effortlessly on the balls of his feet, the wind blowing his hair into his eyes. He looked as if he had been waiting there all night and could wait for hours more.

Bruce froze. Then with an effort, he made his voice light. "Come down off there and stop trying to impress me with your acrobatic skill, boy."

Robin's face was calm, even peaceful. "I just wanted to say goodbye. Goodbye, and...and I'm sorry. Maybe in some other world, in some other time, maybe I could have been what you wanted. But not here." He looked levelly at the other man. "I love you."

Bruce stepped forward one step. Robin stepped backward one step.

He didn't make a sound all the way down.

*

Clark found Bruce some time later there, gripping the balcony railing and looking down to the ground below. He looked down as well, then gently pried Bruce's hands away from the railing. It took him some effort. He smoothed Bruce's palms, trying to ease the half-moons bitten deep into them. Bruce stared straight ahead for some time, breathing heavily. Then he slowly focused on Clark's face. He straightened, squared his shoulders.

"He was weak," said Batman. He walked away from the balcony and didn't look back.