The Ex

9. Promises

  Two weeks seems like a good amount of time to come up with a plan, but with two of your children depending on the outcome, it becomes a lot harder. Bruce was good at making plans though. He tried to keep the simple, yet they were still effective in the most part. This new plan was just that. Simple, and hopefully effective. 

 All they had to do was go in early, find Jason, and get out. If they went in a day early, Talia would most likely have already arrived. And so would have Jason. They had the element of surprise, they just had to make sure it stayed that way. 

  "The plan's easy. We arrive a day early to catch them off guard. Dick and Tim will try and take down the Joker while I go after Talia. Barbara will find Jason." Bruce explained.

 "What about me?" Damian asked. 

  "You'll be waiting outside. If all, and I mean all, else fails, you can go to Talia." Bruce ordered. "Under no other circumstances are you allowed to go near her. Do you understand?"

 "Yes father." Damian nodded. 

  "Ok. Let's go." Bruce stated.

   The batfam, minus Jason, took off to the place where this all began. The place the Joker killed the second Robin. The place where he was brought back. Qurac. 

  Lucky for them, Batman's other side was of course Bruce Wayne. The billionaire. Which meant they got to travel in style. Private jet. In any other circumstances, would've been cool, but since Jason was dying half way around the world, we probably shouldn't say that. 

 "I hope Alfred remembers to feed Titus while I'm gone." Damian sighed. "And Alfred the cat, and batcow."

 "You know Alfred." Dick began. "He wouldn't forget if he wanted to."

  "Dick? If I don't come back-" Damian started.

 "Don't say that!" Dick interrupted.

  "You can't predict the future, Grayson. Please, just hear me out." Damian begged.

 "Fine." Dick caved.

  "If I don't come back, make sure my pets are taken care of." Damian said. "And don't let Todd and Drake eat batcow."

 "I promise." Dick laughed. 

  Barbara came over to join them. "Hey." She leaned down and kissed Dick before taking a seat on the other side of him. 

 "Hey." Dick replied. 

  They didn't really talk much. All three felt awkward with the situation. None could bring themselves to speak. Not even Damian.

 "Bruce?" Tim asked from the other side of the jet. "You seem a little off."

  "It's complicated, Tim." Bruce responded. "Talia's doing this on purpose. So I can feel it happening all over again. Going to Qurac to save Jason, only to get there seconds late."

 "That won't happen this time." Tim reassured him.

  "I want to think that. I used to dream about that day every night. Every night telling myself, 'You'll make it this time.' I never did." Bruce sighed. 

  "You can't give up, Bruce. We still have time before Talia puts Jason in the Lazarus pit." Tim said. "So you have to snap out of it. Because you will  make it this time."

 "Thanks, Tim." Bruce smiled. 

  Tim stood up and went to the front of the jet as Dick stood up and went to the back. He sat down by Bruce and waited a moment before speaking.

 "Bruce. You never did tell us what plan B was." Dick began. "Care to shed some light on the subject?"

  "I'm hoping it won't come to plan B." Bruce mumbled. "But if it does, then I'm going to need you to promise me something."

 "If you want me to look after Jason, Tim and Damian, I'm afraid I already just promised to take care of a dog, cat, and cow." Dick joked. 

  "I'm serious, Dick. If someone is going to die tomorrow, it's going to be me." Bruce explained. "Not Jason, or Damian, or Tim or Barbara or you. Which means I need you to take care of them. Keep Jason on a straight path, limit Tim's coffee intake, make sure Damian doesn't turn Wayne manor into a zoo." 

  Dick started to chuckle at Bruce's words.

 "Oh, that's funny. You think I'm joking." Bruce laughed. "Ask him about it. He did bring up the idea once." 

   "That I don't doubt." Dick giggled. 

 "Do you promise?" Bruce went back to the topic. 

  "I promise." Dick answered. He waited a few minutes before saying anything else. "Why does one of us have to die tomorrow? Why can't we just use tonight and imagine that this time tomorrow, we'll all be right back here on our way home?" 

  "We can, Dick." Bruce replied. "We can."