Gone with Gotham

Started with the invasion

The first thing to appear was a Dick teleporting out of an ally, the ally he was in was filled with garbage and definitely in Bludhaven or Gotham. As soon as he walked through the Zeta tube the vision blurred only to clear again on the other side. When Dick stepped out on the other side he had arrived back in the cave. His attempt at another half smile, one that had been mastered years ago, disappeared revealing an empty shell of a man that once. Sitting down he peeled off mask sitting down faced the computer. The bystanders could practically feel the exhaustion and stress rolling off of the young man.

"How did it go? Did they kill you?" Barbra wheeled her wheelchair up next to her husband. Although she could now walk recovery is a journey, not a one-and-done. It was taking longer than she would have liked but at least she wasn't as limited. Thanks to Dick she had been able to walk herself down the aisle.

"Close to it, where is everyone?" Dick sounded defeated and yet hopeful as his quiet voice echoed around the cave. It shocked the fellow heroes about the amount of positivity behind such a broken man. 

"Upstairs, come on, since Alfred's illness started to affect him more I need help cooking" 

"Babs..." Dick wined playfully at his wife, she gently pulled him from the chair and the two begin laughing. 

The screen turned black before it showed Dick watching a younger version of himself probably around 18 years old. In the video, the younger version of Dick explained his plan for the invasion to whoever was willing to listen or in this case watch the video.  The older version sat in thought as if he was critizing his every action. The members of the team old and new watched in shock as he explained his plan, across several short 'diary' entries. He explained how he wanted to do several of the things himself but due to his involvement the plan would fail, then about not wanting to lie to the outsiders, explaining it was the only option, even if this time it did not exactly work out as planned, for the most part, everyone was safe. He had completed his goal. They were shocked at how selfless he seemed. By now tears were running down everyone's face, Barbra had seen this many times before but the tears were coming just as fast every time, quickly turning into silent sobs. Robin murdered under her breath "That my Father for ya". Damien responded with "Yes Father always was selfless".

Just as the video Dick was watching finished the alarms rang around the Batcave sending chills down the spines of those who knew what happened, even Robin visibly shook.

"Heya Birdbrains, I got your Daddy and that little police officer you like. I know ya bats don't like to die so we're going to have some fun. and this bat won't be coming back" The panic was evident on Nightwing's face. A sense of relief seemed to wash over along with the panic upon realizing Joker could not see the fear drawn upon his face. A beat-up Batman lay on the ground next to the barely breathing commissioner.

The toxin fear gas along with Joker's gas was in their systems. You could tell by the look of fear and pain mixed with that of insanity written upon, barely visible were the empty syringes that once contained the contents that caused this mental battle. A rush of fear, panic, surprise, and anger passed over the watching heros, mixing with their own fear. That was the Batman and the most powerful police officer in Gotham, both were knocking on the door of death. Even though Batman wore the cowl you could tell he was no longer recognizable. They shuddered to look at Gorden, and without anything covering it all the damage to his face was visible.  

Superboy held his wife close knowing how the overwhelming emotions would affect her. Superman gagged, that was his so-called best friend. But in the end, he died the way he wanted to. He died protecting his city and those he loved, yet no one outside of Gotham even bothered to show up that day. The team past and present felt bad, this was the Batman. The hero they all were raised to look up to, even with the layer of mystery was a role model of sorts to the future heroes. He saved more lives than any other hero. That is until DIck passed his record a month after Bruce's death. But to the public, it was more lives saved by Batman himself, not the man underneath the mask.