I Forgot to Mention

Bat-Family Court

Bruce had been waiting in the Batcave when Tim and Dick arrived back from Mt. Justice. Surprisingly, they seemed in much higher spirits than he had originally expected them to be after having to spend their afternoon at Mt. Justice.  Tim immediately slammed into him with an excited hug.  Despite his second youngest being about as thin as a pencil when compared to his brothers, Bruce made a show of being surprised by the force.

"Oof!" Bruce stumbled backward a little bit. "You're getting strong there, Tim!"

The sound of Tim's soft laugh instantly warmed Bruce's heart.  He playfully ruffled Tim's hair.

"Hurry on upstairs.  Alfred has your dinner ready."

Tim nodded and immediately headed towards the elevator up to the mansion.  However, Bruce was surprised to find Dick lingering back.  The smile on his face now greatly reduced.  Bruce lightly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Something on your mind, chum?"  He asked.

Dick shrugged, "I guess...a few things might be."

Bruce didn't exactly like the way Dick's eyes darted to the ground as he guided him over to the nearby Bat-Couch (because it was in the Batcave, therefore it had to have "Bat" in the name, as the per the rules).

"Does Superman even like his clone—I mean, Conner?"  Dick immediately blurted out.

Bruce was admittedly taken aback by Dick's question, but in true Batman fashion, he didn't let it show. 

"Superman is designated as Superboy's mentor by the Justice League," Bruce told him.

He didn't, however, mention how staunchly against the ruling he was at the time.  When it became clear from the start that Superman wanted nothing to do with the newly discovered Superboy, Bruce was already fighting to take him on in Clark's stead.  The rest of the league disagreed with the idea.  They all threw around various reasons, like how only Superman would know how his powers worked (as though Batman couldn't easily figure it out), how they were both Kryptonians (as if Superboy had actually been born on Krypton, rather than a lab on Earth), and how they all just clearly didn't believe that Batman would ever make a good mentor.  That one, while never directly said out loud, stung Bruce's ego the most.

Of course, that had all been before the great reveal of his four students.  In his mind, he could have easily fit Superboy in with the rest of them.  Black hair, blue eyes, he could easily pass for another adopted Wayne.  Still, the league had spoken, and Bruce chose to respect the decision of his peers.  Maybe they were able to see something that he couldn't?  Maybe Clark would shape up if given the proper time to adjust?  He could respect that as well.  Damian's existence, while not exactly a one to one comparison, had certainly thrown him for a loop.  However, while he had been initially shocked, Bruce was able to bury those feelings of violation in order to do right by the innocent child stuck in the middle of the situation.  Superboy didn't ask to be created anymore than Damian asked to be born.

Clark, meanwhile, was still giving him the cold shoulder even months later.  Bruce had tried to motivate Clark to see past it all, to finally straighten up and be the role model that Superboy needed in order to become the hero he was meant to be.  Yet, it seemed to all be falling on deaf ears.  Especially, if even Dick had been able to notice.

"Why do you ask?" 

Bruce leaned forward slightly.  Dick shuffled in his seat a little.

"Well, after I dropped Timmy off to his appointment, I was waiting around like you told me to, and I saw that Conner was all alone in the lounge area.  I was still kind of mad at him after that whole mess with him picking on Dami, so I thought I'd mess with him a bit to pass the time.  He...told me some things.  Things that I don't know if they're true or not."