When Worlds Collide

15) BatDad is Sad

-Bruce POV-

Bruce had been in the middle of a meeting when he got the call from Barry. Usually getting calls from the member on Watchtower duty meant an alien attack or something extraterrestrial. This was worse.

Bruce walked out of the Zeta Tube, Dick and Tim close behind him. "Have you traced his location?"

"I can't. The comms he's on are the new ones— the ones that Tech made. They somehow don't use cell towers, radio frequencies, or satellites. We can't trace it. Don't you have trackers on all your kids?"

Bruce began typing on the computer, hoping he'd somehow find a way to trace the signal. "It was damaged after the battle in Markovia. He wasn't supposed to be in the field any time soon, so I hadn't fixed it yet."

"We've entered the base," Nico's voice said, the comm line playing on speaker from the computer. "We don't have eyes on the abducted kids yet, but there are armed guards patrolling."

Bruce grabbed the mic. "GK, what is your location? You need backup."

"Negative, Batman. Tech and I have this covered."

"Send your location, now," Bruce said again.

The line was quiet for a moment and the Bat hoped that it meant that Nico was debating the subject, but instead his son ignored him.

"We've accessed the elevator shaft, heading into the floors below. Limit contact."

Bruce wanted to argue with his son, but he knew that talking to him further would just put him at risk. The bat began pacing while his sons took seats at the control hub, all of them anxiously waiting for him to call his next update.

"We've made it to the bottom floor. There are kids in cages everywhere," Nico said as the zeta tube announced Jason's arrival.

Jason immediately joined his brothers. "What's happening?"

Dick put up a hand to tell him to wait a moment as he spoke into the mic. "Do you have a count on how many people are in the base?"

Leo's voice came through this time. "I count 62 captives and around fifty armed guards."

Bruce ran a hand through his hair as he approached the mic. "Tell us your coordinates. There are too many people for you to take down on your own."

There was a painful stretch of silence until Nico finally spoke again. "Negative. Tech, you work on unlocking the cages. I'll pull their attention."

"Ghost King, don't be stupid," Jason said, worry written plainly on his face. "You need backup. Just let us know where you are and we can be there-"

"I know what I'm doing," the demigod said back confidently. "Too many holes people will cause them to panic and it could put the captives at risk. We're doing this. Tech, get into position and move on my signal."

"Understood," the latino replied.

It was torture, waiting for the next update. Damian had arrived at the ten minute mark of waiting. All of them were staring apprehensively at the speaker, silently begging to hear Nico's voice.

It was half an hour later when the speaker finally sounded again. "We need an extraction for 58 kids," Leo's voice came though, sounding slightly out of breath.

Bruce wanted to ask if Nico was okay, but it was not the time. He was not Bruce Wayne at that moment, he was Batman, and Batman needed more information. "You're original count said 62, what happened to the other 4?"

"4 of them are our kind, we're moving them to a secure location because it's no longer safe to allow them to return to their homes," Leo spoke. "I'm moving the kids to the roof of the building. I'll send coordinates."

"Ghost King, do you copy? Are you okay?" Tim asked.

"I'm fine. I transported the four that are ours to Titaness already and I have the guards tied up. I called it in to the cops, so I'll wait for their arrival and then go back to the base."

"The mountain?" Damian asked.

"No, Tech and I's base."

Bruce wanted to fight back, tell his son to come home, but he bit his tongue. He knew that their relationship had been strained since he came back and he didn't want to exacerbate the rift by fighting. They would talk about it later.

"Copy," the man said. "We'll send the Team to pick up the kids and move them to a safe house while we make sure they are okay. Make sure no one from the media sees you. Catherine Cobert will release a statement about what happened later, so just get out of there."

"Copy that Batman," his son said before the line fell silent again.

Bruce muted the mic and turned to Dick. "Contact the senior members of the team and take the bat-jet. Tech sent you the coordinates, so I want you all in the air in the next five minutes."

Dick nodded and walked into the zeta tube.

"Red Robin, I want you online. See if the media catches wind about the bust and if anyone had a visual on the Technician or Ghost King. Red Hood and Robin, head to Safe House 3892 and be prepared to receive the captives. I'll send other leaguers to the location as soon as I can, but Flash, Captain Marvel, and myself are the only ones on call tonight so it may take longer to get them there."

The two nodded before also heading to the tube. As soon as they were gone and it was just him and Barry left in the Watchtower, Bruce finally sat down and ran a hand through his hair. He had gotten there in such a rush that he didn't even put on his cowl.

"You okay Bruce?"

The man just sat there, staring at his hands. "I don't know what to do with him."

Barry sat down in the chair next to him. "What do you mean? He just pulled off one of the biggest meta trafficking raids with two people and almost no planing."

Bruce shook his head, not even sure how to explain it. "Ever since he came back, he has been chomping at the bit to get back to being a vigilante. My other sons, whenever they've had a close call, they've been cautious about their return. Yes, they are impatient and want to get back as soon as they can, but they are smart about how they go back. Nico, he just throws himself into the situation. He doesn't care about his own safety, only the mission."

Barry chuckled lightly. "Sounds like someone else I know."

Bruce pitch the bridge of his nose. "And that's what worries me. I trained the others myself, and all of them have managed to not end up like me. I instilled them with my morals and rules, but they have all manages to find their own paths. Nico showed up in our lives, already trained and with more experience fighting than any kid his age should ever have, and he's just like me. Maybe I should have fought harder against him becoming a vigilante so soon— or at least took the time to give him real training."

Barry looked at him for a moment. "A lot was going on when he first took up his mantle. I mean, none of us knew who he was when he first showed up, but in retrospect, you didn't have a lot of time to give him any real training. You adopted him and like a week later he was at the mountain. After that, you all went from putting out fire after fire until..."

"He died," Bruce finished for the speedster. "He had been in the family for maybe 3 months by the time we almost lost him forever, simply because I was dumb enough to believe that he didn't need training. Even Damian, who was raised by the League of Shadows, needed to learn more. Nico just showed up and went into battle, fighting like..."

"Yeah," Barry said with a serious nod. "I saw him on the battle field. He fights like a demon."

"He's still a kid. He already died once and with the way he acts about his life, I'm worried it'll happen again— only this time, Surgeon won't be able to bring him back."

A/N: Talk about family drama...

Vote. Comment. Tell me if you like the book so far (I am going into exam season and I need validation).