Weeks went by without another Damian sighting. I was partly relieved and anxious, I didn't know how soon another would appear, but I didn't like being kept in the dark about the whole future thing.
After telling Bruce and Dick about the past ghost sightings, they asked me about what I see on a daily basis IF anything actually appears to me on any given day. They want to see if I can see things other than ghosts as well.
Bruce had been working with the new information I gave him and confirmed my theory. Well, not completely, we still needed the evidence that it was the clone for sure that kills Bruce, but we knew for certain, one of these things Talia is creating will destroy everything. Talia is loyal to her father and her father only. She proved that when she ordered for the death of her own son. She may not be following his orders, but she is trying to achieve his dream of total world conquest and all inferior people should be destroyed.
We've gone over what we know dozens of times, when we realized we needed a blood sample of both Damian and the Heretic (The clone that killed him). According to a witness, Damian fought to kill, knowing if he didn't kill this creature, Bruce wouldn't be saved even though Bruce was trying to get back to the lower floors of Wayne Enterprises. Apparently, Damian shoved an arrow through its heart and it didn't even flinch. We've never seen anything like this before, not even from a meta-human. Damian and this clone have the same core genes, but we need to know what Talia juiced this thing up with. There had to be some way to kill this monster.
Bruce sent Dick and me to Wayne Enterprises to retrieve the blood sample from the Heretic. Luckily, Bruce hadn't sent people in to fix the damage done to the building. While it was a bit unstable, it was safe enough for us to search for the sample.
I was there to do a job, to pick up the sample and go. I tried not to look at all of the dried blood that was all over the floor as I looked for the arrow, but I couldn't help but think about my own death. I had to shake off the flashbacks that came to me in the moment I saw the pool of dried blood in the middle of the floor.
So I focused on finding the arrow, there were many around but this one had a bit of tissue still attached to it as well so I called to Dick. "Call B, tell him we have found th-" I cut off when I turned and saw Dick.
I jogged over to him. He was kneeling by the pool of dried blood with tears in his eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder. "Dick, it's okay. Remember what I told you, he's at peace and he sees all of this." I paused, "You didn't fail him. He saved you. I know the entire time you and him were partners, your main goal was to get him to see that he needed to learn to love and care about other people and know that people love and care about him."
Dick nodded and turned to me. "I…I just should have done something. He was my partner." He sucked in a shaky breath. "I guess this is how Bruce must have felt when he lost you."
"Hey," I said as I pulled him to my side "And he will be back, I'm sure of it. There is no way that kid is going to stay dead for long."
Dick smiled slightly. "Thanks Jay, I hope he can find his way back to us."
"He will Dick," I sighed "He will. Now let's get back to the cave so B can analyze this."
"By the way," he added, "I'm glad you came home too." He smiled.
When we brought it back to the cave, Bruce and Tim were waiting for us.
"We found the sample Bruce," Dick said "Is the DNA scanner set up yet?"
Bruce turned to Dick and nodded. "Here, put the sample in the scanner."
Dick walked up to the computer and placed the arrow on the holder. The scan usually took around 20 minutes, which was faster than any other standard DNA scanner.
As I waited, I walked around the cave. I hadn't actually been down here long enough to see what had changed. I looked at Damian's memorial and placed my hand on the glass surface. That's when I noticed something.
"Where did my memorial go?" I asked Bruce.
"I removed it." He said simply. "Your uniform is still here, but because you are back, I would rather have you here today, than always be reminded of how you died."
A small smile spread across my face. "Thank you," I said. "You have no idea how much that means to me."
Bruce nodded and looked back at the computer.
"Yeah, Bruce wants to take all of our old uniforms and display in the cave." Tim said
I smiled, "Please, please tell me he's got the discowing costume."
"Hey!" Dick shot me a look. "It was a classic!"
"Dick, you had feathers attached to it, gold feathers!" I laughed.
"Don't forget about the deep V- neck and the collar." Bruce added
"BRUCE! You have no business telling me my uniform was bad! Do I need to break out the original Batman costume designs?" Dick taunted.
"I burned that notebook." Bruce replied without looking at him.
"I made copies." Dick said which earned a glare from Bruce.
"And Jase, don't even get me started. Your original Red Hood uniform was good. Personally, I liked it. But what the hell were you thinking when you put the huge red cylinder on your head? You looked like a huge dildo." Dick said smugly.
"Hey!" Tim cut in "I liked to think him as a giant strawberry push pop." Tim and Dick laughed.
I shot him a glare, "You shouldn't be talking, Condom Man." I replied which sent Dick into another fit of laughter.
"Yeah Timmy! That…. was pretty bad." Dick added while trying to catch his breath. "But still not as bad as dildo head over here." He said as he pointed with his thumb.
"Can it Discoboy." I replied, "At least I didn't look like Elvis decided to go for a more colorful look. Dick, you have so many things to give, but fashion tips are not one of those things."
Tim laughed even harder. "But in all fairness, we all had some pretty messed up costumes." He admitted, "But Dick's was by far the worst."
"Why do you all hate that costume so much?" Dick asked. "It really wasn't that bad."
We all gave him a look "No, It was. Fucking. That. Bad." I said
We were so focused on arguing with each other we didn't notice Alfred and Bruce were staring at us, with small smiles on their faces.
"I do believe it is wonderful that all of the boys are back under the same roof." Alfred said to Bruce.
"I guess, it is…amusing… To say the least, but if they keep bickering, I'm going to need some aspirin."
The loud beep from the computer knocked us out of our bickering and we all walked over to where Bruce and Alfred stood at the computer. We all stood anxiously, as Bruce read out the results. "It has some similarities to Damian's DNA, but it has traces of Lazarus, and a compound that contains kryptonite and an unknown enzyme. Let me cross reference this unknown with all other enzymes in existence, something should come up."
"Kryptonite?" Dick asked, "When did Talia get her hands on Kryptonite?"
"Who knows, I'm sure she's got her ways." Tim replied.
My eyes narrowed as I stared at the screen, Lazarus, kryptonite and an unknown steroid. At least we've got two of the three.
"How do you figure she made the Kryptonite into an enhancement drug?" Tim asked Bruce.
"I've seen it before, Lex Luthor injected himself with liquid Kryptonite and a steroid supplement." Bruce answered.
"But how did Talia get her hands on it?" Dick asked
"Lex isn't very good at covering his tracks, I'm guessing she found it after she took his position as CEO at Lex Corp." I added, "She probably mixed those two things and the Lazarus enzyme together to form her steroid cocktail."
Bruce stood up straight and shut down the computer.
"Alfred, get the Batmobile ready." Bruce said as he pulled on his cowl and turned to us.
"I think it's time we payed Lex Luthor a visit."
A/N: Sorry this took me so long and it was so short.. I've been crazy busy and I finally had a chance to sit down and finish this chapter up. Hope you all liked it and the next chapter is on its way.
