A Sore End (Hard Time Sequel)

Eleven

Bruce pounced one day when I was none the wiser. We were eating dinner, Bruce and Damian talking about better dog breeds while Tim and I were having a not so unbiased discussion on whether a football player would win in an arm wrestling fight against a male Olympic gymnast or not. I was for the football player and Tim was for the Olympic gymnast.

Right in the heat of my winning argument Bruce cleared his throat. It was one of those clearings where it gets everyone's attention.

All eyes were on Bruce as he looked like he was glowing in pride.

"I have a surprise for you Liam." He said.

My eyebrows raise in surprise as Bruce gets up and gestures for all of us to follow him.

We all get up with Tim and Damian shooting me glances every once in a while. They knew what was going on and could hardly even hide it obviously. We follow Bruce to the batcave and my mind raced with what this could possibly be.

We walk over to the costume displays and when we stop in front of a dark one, Bruce clicked a button and it lit up to reveal a new outfit one that sent a spark of nostalgia through me.

The outfit had a full face mask that was covered up by a sleek black hood. I want to say it glowed black but that wasn't possible. The cape was designed like it was made from long pieces of sharp feathers as tall as Damian. The gloves had wraps that would wrap all the way up to the bicep. Every inch of it was black except for the crow symbol which was golden and glowed. The design was the design I had drawn when I was younger, just a little more practical. It was missing the laser eyes and the button that summoned crows after me.

"We all decided it was time you had your own suit." Bruce said. "At first I was hesitant but when we fought the other day I saw that you were more than ready to patrol full time on the streets this time." 

I was speechless. I had so many things running through my mind. One one hand this outfit was insane and patrolling on the streets beside all of them felt like I was finally part of their family. On the other hand, as we stood here I heard the slow maniacal laughter threatening me. Joker would be out there and I couldn't pick and choose who I fought like I've been doing. I had barely escapes from death the last time I saw him. I hadn't fought and got revenge on him like Jason had done after he came back. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't stronger than him if we met again. Yes I do. I'd rather die than do that again.

I was still staring at the suit, mouth wide open, still in shock.

Tim took this as a good sign and grinned. "And check these out!" Tim exclaimed as he walked over to the weapon's display.

He pulled two slim handles off the table next to two others and handed them to me. I took both in either hand and Tim said "Click the button."

I pushed the button at my thumb and with a mettalic sound both handles burst into large round boomerang/ frisbee weapons.  They had long blades surrounding my whole hand except for where my arm was and looked like they could kill. The blades were colored cold like the symbol but when folded back up it was black. It was a very familiar design once again. Did Bruce really keep my drawing from when I was a kid?

"I copied the design from the picture." Tim explained and it answered my question. "You have magnets in your gloves so they'll always fly back to you when activated."

"Which means throw hard unless you want your hand cut off." Damian grunted but even he looked impressed.

"I remember how much you hated weapons being on your hip so these can attach to three places on your suit." Bruce continued, excitement in his voice. "They can attach to your back, your boots, and your gloves."