The Battle Part Two
Batman saw Kon fly Tim to the top of the tower out of the corner of his eye, a bit preoccupied with dodging the slashes that Killer Croc was trying to deliver. Nightwing was working with his original team to take down Deathstroke, while the vast majority of the heroes were working to hold off the wave of villains that were being brought in through a portal that a red-haired man had summoned after nearly falling to his death from the top of the tower.
Bruce slammed a tranq dart into Croc’s neck, taking him down and vaulting over him to get just a step closer to the panel. Batman nearly growled in annoyance as Clayface blocked his path, almost trapping Bruce’s feet before the hero was able to pull an ice pellet out of his belt and freeze the villain solid. Toyman and Penguin stepped in front of him, wearing maniacal grins as they threw their toys at him.
“Superman,” Bruce rumbled, easily dodging the attack and throwing batarangs at them, which knocked the two out. “Think you can get me to that control panel?”
Clark was at his side in an instant, carrying his friend out of reach of the villains and zipping the two over to the panel, where Batman was just barely able to plug the USB stick in just as Talia and Deathstroke both turned their attention to him. Bruce dodged their attacks, grunting ever so slightly as Deathstroke managed to slice him across the thigh.
“I’m in,” Oracle reported, the sound of keys being tapped audible through the comm link.
“Good. Thank you, O.”
“Of course.” Bruce could hear her fingers furiously flying over the keyboard as she swore. “Calculator, I should have known. This might take me a little longer than we thought, B.”
Bruce leaped out of the way of another katana slash, twisting to the side in the same motion to avoid a blast from Killer Frost. He and Superman were back to back, and the two moved fluidly, the motions only coming from years of working together. Bruce wasn’t able to tell how long they were fighting off the hordes of villains when Barbara’s voice rang in his ear. “I got it, B! Stasis fields are down.”
“Good work, Oracle,” Batman responded, turning to look at Superman, who nodded at him and flew off to help the heroes get down from their cells. Bruce turned back to his foes and delivered a kick to the small of Deathstroke’s back with a resounding crack! Bruce looked up to see Raven carrying Signal to the top of the golden machine. After a moment, the man with red hair and golden armor rose into the sky, and reversed the lightning being summoned down to Earth. The hole in the sky closed around him, and the peaceful light of the Arctic settled over the mass of people below.
“That’s it, I’m adopting him,” Superman declared.
“I thought that was Bruce’s thing,” Diana mused bemusedly.
“Well, it’s my thing now. Red and blue color scheme, strong, optimistic, he’s mine. I don’t care, Bruce can suck an egg.”
They were two of several people standing around the private room, watching the young man sleep. Tim was asleep in the chair next to the bed, his top half sleeping in a position that had to be uncomfortable as he draped himself on the side of Peter’s bed. Jason was on the middle of the couch on the opposite side of the room, also passed out, with his head tipped backwards and his mouth slightly agape. Dick was conked out and had his arm draped over the back of the couch, his head resting on Jason’s shoulder. Cass was curled up into a neat human ball on Jason’s other side, with Steph somehow squeezing in next to them. Duke was tucked into Dick’s side, also sound asleep, and Damian was curled on top of Dick and Jasons’ laps, breathing evenly.
Clark turned, hearing the footsteps before the door was able to accept the ID with a beep and slide open. Clark waved at Bruce, who pulled his cowl off as soon as the door closed again. Bruce sighed heavily and dropped into the chair next to Tim’s, ruffling his son’s hair lightly.
“You summoned him,” Diana stage-whispered. “You said the word ‘adoption.’”
Neither trinity member had to turn to see their broody friend roll his eyes. “You’re more than welcome to try,” the Dark Knight rumbled. “You’ll have to fight Jason.”
Clark considered this. “I could take him.”
“He knows how to get kryptonite.”
“Diana will back me up, won’t you?”
Diana shook her head. “I’m not getting in the middle of that.”
The two were treated to the rare Bat Smirk, which was immediately dropped afterwards in favor of a tired sigh. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s doing just fine, Bruce,” Diana said soothingly. “I imagine it will only be a day or so more before the spider warrior is back in Gotham staying up way too late fighting crime with the rest of your clan.”
Bruce shook his head. “He’s not fighting crime again till the end of the school year, if I have anything to say about it.”
Clark snorted. “Good luck. He’s going to go insane with boredom before then, and if you couldn’t stop any of your other children for very long, what makes you think you can do anything against him?”
“I don’t care. I will find a way.” Bruce paused, then sighed again. “I’ll keep him off the streets for a month at least.”
“You mean a month at most,” Diana corrected.
Bruce sighed wearily, but with a fond undertone. “I will do what I can. Hell, if I could, I’d send him to Smallville for a bit. I can’t do that to Tim, though.”
Tim stirred slightly at the mention of his name, blinking sleepily up at his mentor and adopted father. “Hey, Bruce,” he croaked, his voice rough with sleep.
Clark and Diana felt privileged indeed that they got to see the fatherly smile on Bruce’s face. “You sleep okay?”
Tim nodded, wincing a little. “Painful, but okay. B, what happened? After Raven got us out?”
“We were able to put just about everyone back in jail. Talia, Deathstroke, and Riddler were the only ones we weren’t able to apprehend,” Batman said, listing it off like he was reading a mission report rather than talking to his own son. Clark would never be able to get used to how Bruce talked to his children, but Tim apparently was, who nodded with satisfaction and glanced over the rest of the room. “Good.”
Tim opened his mouth to say something else when Peter stirred. The young man blinked his eyes open before immediately squeezing them shut again. “Fuck, it’s bright in here,” he mumbled.
Clark dashed to his side, kneeling by the unoccupied side of the bed. “You alright, son?”
The lights in the room lowered a little, and Clark turned his head to see Diana lowering the dial by the door. Peter cracked a smile, slowly opening his eyes. “Hey, Supes. Hey, Tim. Hey, B. How’s it going?”
In lieu of answering him, Tim brushed some hair from his partner’s eyes softly. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” Peter grunted. “But better than before.”
Peter tried to sit up, only for Tim to push him back down and instead use the buttons to raise the top half of the bed so Peter could be in a more upright position. The sheets fell slightly, and Peter glanced down at his bandaged chest, squinting when he saw the purple scars trailing down his body. “Wha?”
“Lichtenberg figures,” Bruce informed him. “I don’t think even your enhanced healing will be able to get rid of those.”
Peter grinned self-consciously at Tim. “Whaddya think?”
Tim laughed in disbelief, shaking his head. “I think you scared me half to death.”
“Wasn’t like I wanted to be kidnapped,” Peter pointed out petulantly.
Tim only laughed again, pressing Peter’s hand into his chest and exhaling heavily. Hearing rustling, Clark turned at the same time Peter looked over at the Bats sleeping on the couch. Jason shifted a little, opening his eyes when he heard Peter’s voice. In an instant he was on his feet and racing to Peter’s side, leaving a squawking Dick and squeaking Cass in his wake as both fell to the couch at Jason’s sudden absence. Peter giggled, smiling up at Jason, who Clark had wisely moved out of the way of. “Hey, Jay.”
“Thank fucking god you’re okay. I mean, are you okay?” Jason asked.
Peter nodded. “I’m pretty sore, but I think I’ll be okay.”
“Then what were you thinking?!” Jason snapped, grabbing Peter’s ear and tugging on it.
“Ow,” Peter complained, batting Jason’s hand away. “I was thinking I didn’t want to lose you guys, that’s what,” he snarked.
Peter narrowed his eyes at Jason, eyebrow arched challengingly. “Like you wouldn’t have done the same.”
Jason opened his mouth, then closed it, huffing in irritation.
“Exactly,” Peter said. “If it’s to protect your family, you’d do anything.”
“Just, don’t do it again, okay?” Jason asked.
“I don’t think there’s going to be another dude that wants me in order to harness the energy of the multiverse in order to bring back his family from the dead in the near future, so I think we’ll be good for a while,” Peter mused.
“We’d better be,” Jason groused, sighing heavily and running a hand through his hair. “Shit, kid, you scared the hell out of me. Out of all of us!”
“I’m okay,” Peter mumbled, looking at his hand with a distant expression. “We’re going to be okay.”