Live to Rise

Family Issues Part 3

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EVERYTHING BELONGS TO DC AND KAI MACIEL THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK
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A few minutes later, Dick, Tim and Barbara arrived at the Manor and walked straight to the Bat cave. By now, Bruce was completely composed and every trace of his fury had been cleaned up by Alfred.

"Bruce," Dick called, though his mentor didn't move from his computer. "We need to talk."

"I assume Superman already told you what happened," Bruce answered flatly, finally turning to face them. "If you don't have any more questions, I'm busy."

Dick took off his mask and glared at his adopted father. "How could you say that? Jason is back! He could be alive!"

"You're being too emotional. The only thing we know is that they had Jason's body on that facility. He could either be dead again or just another pawn of Dr. Robb, that doesn't mean that he's back."

"What are you saying, Bruce?" Dick asked angrily.

"I'm saying that even if he is alive he could be no more than one of the zombies we fought today and we should act accordingly."

Dick's eyes widened in disbelief. He knew Bruce was cold, but this...

"So we only have to kill him again... Just like that. Are even hearing yourself?"

Bruce stood up and walked towards his first partner. "I'm thinking clearly, unlike you. If Jason is a zombie that would make him no different from the ones we fought."

"No different? This is Jason we're talking about, Bruce! Not some stranger we never met!"

"Exactly. He was my partner and a good soldier, which is why the only way to respect his death is to stop this maniac from using his body as a tool."

"He was more than a soldier! He was my brother and you'd rather save his corpse than allowing yourself to think that he could be alive!"

Tim tried to intervene, but Barbara grabbed his arm and shook her head. All they could do was listen nervously as Dick and Bruce screamed at each other, venting the grief and frustration they had kept locked up since Jason's death.

"Don't you dare saying you know how I feel!" Bruce cried out, his face inches closer to Dick's. "You don't know how I felt about Jason! You have no right to accuse me of anything when you never thought of him as a brother until he died! Where was your concern for him when you kicked him out of the team? You never accepted him as your replacement!"

Dick staggered like he had been slapped. He had to admit that he had given Jason the cold shoulder most of their time together and there was always a part of him that resented him for taking the Robin title while he and Bruce were having a fight. He always wondered what would have happened if he had been more caring, more understanding and treated him as little brother. If he had, maybe Jason wouldn't have felt the need to run away to find his mother without telling anyone.

He knew there were a lot of things he shouldn't have done with Jason, but hearing Bruce saying it made it all worse, because that man was also to blame.

"What about you? What about all the things you said to him?"

"Don't you dare, Dick! You don't know anything!" Bruce screamed, his hand up in the air, ready to slap Nightwing, before closing it and turning his back. "This conversation is over. Leave, I'm working."

Shaking with rage, Dick turned around and left the cave and the manor. Tim wanted to go after him, but Barbara stopped him by the door.

"Please Tim... I think we should give Dick some privacy. I'll look after him from afar to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Then let me go with you!" Tim pleaded.

"Thank you, but I think I can take care of it," Barbara grabbed his shoulders with a weak smile. "Don't worry."

As he saw Barbara walk away, Tim couldn't help but feel useless and left out. Out of all of them, he had never met Jason Todd, so his death and possible resurrection didn't have the same impact on him as it did on them. Still, Jason was the reason Tim had become Robin in the first place. He was involved and, maybe, being the only one who didn't know Jason personally would give him the objective angle they needed to solve his mystery.

Knowing that Bruce would be searching the data all night, Tim went back to the Watchtower where he could work on one of the computers undisturbed. Even if he didn't have all the data Batman recovered from the Lazarus Project, he could try to find some answers on his own.

At first, his findings were disappointing. The company founding the construction of the underground facility was a ghost company, he tried to follow the money trail but it led to nothing, just as with Dr. Robb. He obviously wasn't stupid and had changed everything from credit cards to ID.

Tim was about to search for his fake ID when something caught his attention: the computer was working slightly slower than usual.

"Could it be...? Computer, search for any other activities!"

Sure enough, Tim found there was a small virus in the computer copying all the recent information on the day's events and their findings on the Lazarus Project. Before he could stop it, the hacker stopped and Tim could only pray that he had managed to locate the source of the hacking and get a visual confirmation.

Sure enough, he was able to find the hacker on Hong Kong. A few seconds later, he was using a surveillance camera showing a dark staircase and a dark figure climbing up the stairs to a roof.

It was the Red Hood.

Tim gasped. That was the first time they had been able to find the Red Hood after he hacked one of their computers and now he knew exactly where he was and where he was going. If he didn't hurry, he would lose him again.

Why would the Red Hood care about their Intel on the Lazarus Project? Did know something about it? Was he involved or was he going to deliver his brand of justice on Dr. Robb?

Whatever the reason, Tim couldn't let him escape. He was about to call Captain Atom and the others when he realized that by the time he got everyone and elaborated a plan, the Red Hood would be gone again, like always.

He knew he shouldn't, he knew he was going against everything Batman and Nightwing had ever taught him, but he didn't have a choice this time. He would contact the League and the Team as soon as he could, but now this was the only chance of finally catching the Red Hood.

Glancing at Jason's hologram, Tim ran towards the Zeta-Beam. For once, he was acting before too much deliberation, just like his predecessor.
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Robin vs. Red Hood. It's finally happening. Can they put their differences aside or punch each other senseless?

(((((OMG IM SO EXCITED I JUST GOT THE MIDNIGHT RELEASE BOOK OF HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD AND IM COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT. DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE IT? COMMENT IF YOU DO)))))

QOTD: What is your favourite part of your home and why?

AOTD: My room because I can sleep there and it has all my books!

See you next week!

Amber