The Unholy Trinity {The Unholy Trinity: Book Zero}

Tick Tick Boom

It's been two years since Jade, Lian, Cass, Alec, Mara, and Damian had reached Gotham. The first year went through rapidly and without any issue. Now the second was a mess of huge proportion.

First, the Bataclan had to get used to the idea of new neighbors who knew their identities. Batman even invited Doctor Fate to Gotham to do the secrecy spell. As for John, he investigated and worked hard to see how to deal with the curses on Gotham, under the careful eye of Batman. This time around, he truly had to do the work, as in the previous future they had never dealt with this issue, as Gotham was already gone- destroyed by Darkseid. For Gotham's society, he was a British noble that came from old European money. Which was not wrong, he did have a British title thanks to his ancestor Johanna Constantine. The money, on the other hand, had been gone for a long time. He accumulated it back after taking down various cults and corrupted coven. What was left from giving out money to those they hurt, he kept for the kids... it was a lot. For some reason cults adore gold.

On the good side, Jason was doing great in university and Cass has finally finished her GED. She was a very smart girl and had a lot of support. She had also learned English and has moved into Chinese, though she still prefers to sign. Dick had graduated from Gotham University, with Roy at his side. Both of them were brilliant and already knew most of their classes because of Bruce and their vigilante work. Dick continued working with the Martha Wayne Foundation Branch in Blüdhaven and overseeing the Flying Graysons' Circus. While Roy took a cushy position in Wayne Technology. Tim had decided not to graduate early, after finding that he was finally enjoying high school- he had become fast friends with Stephanie and Harper. Cullen Row even finding his place in Damian's little group of friends.

Now, for the hard issue...

John's work had to be paused because the members of the Court of Owls had escaped prison, aided by the original Talon. A Talon the Bataclan had thought dead. It seems that he had faked his death.

Dick did not take that well...

Batman stopped John's research and took all of the kids out of the streets; he was not risking any of them. Not against the Court of Owls! He even brought Barbara, holder of the Batgirl and Oracle moniker, back to Gotham all the way from Boston- where she had been studying law at Harvard.

To say that things were tensed between Dick and her was an understatement.

The breakup had been ugly, with her not trusting that Dick and Kory were only friends, and him not understanding why Barbara felt insecure. The fact that Dick had begun dating Kory recently did not help the situation. That's why, even though, Alfred and Bruce have been inviting her to come to the Wayne Manor and get to know the new kids, she had only seen them a couple of times. Because of that, she was mostly working with Batwoman and the Birds of Prey- who Bruce had invited to Gotham to aid in the hunt for the Court of Owls.

With so many heroes bunkering in Gotham, the Titans taking care of Blüdhaven, they finally managed to find them. Luckily for the Batclan they were holding a meeting and the Talon was there. Catching them would be easy, as the only combat expert in the group was the Talon. Unluckily for... well, everyone, the whole place exploded taking them all out. The batclan was barely able to escape.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Redbird cursed.

"Flamebird!" Nightwing exclaimed as his little brother descended from the sky, wings spread and eyes shining blue and green, he looked like an angel descending from heaven.

"I just came from Arkham! Firefly rigged the whole city!" Flamebird told them. "We need to find the bombs and disarm them!" Batman growled.

"It won't work," Damian frowned. "The bombs were made to create a chain, the moment the first one blows up," he pointed to the raging building behind him. "They will all lock down and blow up. The only reason why they are not blowing up right now is because Firefly wants to create as much chaos as possible, spreading fear in the hearts of everyone. That's why he rigged them to explode with time in between each explosion."