Have you ever wondered what you're life will be like in the future? Well, Batmite wonders what his idols' future will be like! So he takes it upon himself to find out, and...if he doesn't like what he sees, he might have to take things into his own...
Batmite was suddenly in the Batcave. He immediately made himself invisible, lest anyone from the future see him. Wow...the Batcave looks amazing! He thought happily as he got his bearings. It had been modernized. More lights, more shelves and cases, more expansive than it had ever been.
He spotted a woman dressed all in black leather, seated at the Batcomputer. It had to be Bruce, but she looked different. Batmite bobbed over for a better view.
"Langstrom's making a mess of things again..." She muttered to no one in particular. Her hair, now darker, had been chopped into a pixie, and she'd lost her glasses and the chubbiness of her face.
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"Boo!" A young man cried, scaring the bejeezus out of Batmite by dropping down from the ceiling of the cave and landing right next to Bruce. Luckily Batmite managed to can his squeak and stay unnoticed.
Though he'd been scared, Bruce's concentrated look upon the screen did not change.
"That was pretty good huh? I bet you didn't know I was there." The young man asked with a confident smile.
"If it makes you feel better, I'll say no." Bruce deadpanned.
The young man's shoulders sagged slightly.
Batmite couldn't believe it. This had to be Dick Grayson! He had changed so much! He looked so much more mature, his bangs gone, his hair now in a faux-hawk and his face slimmer. Batmite guessed he was now in his late teens, and was glad to see that he had turned into a very attractive man.
His Robin costume had changed too, but the colors were still very much the same. Green strapped boots and gloves, a black cape with the end cut into feathers, and a tight red leather shirt with green sleeves. And replacing his infamous green Ninja Turtle underwear was a pair of black leather pants.
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"What are you working on?" He asked, his eyes going to the computer screen.
Bruce did not respond.
"Come on, Bruce. I can help..." Dick looked frustrated. "I'm not a little kid anymore. When are you going to let me become your partner and not just your sidekick?"
Bruce glanced over at him. "When you no longer make mistakes like the one you made with Ivy." She said coldly.
Dick's face went ashen, he swallowed hard. Then red began to seep its way up his neck. "So she's dead." He said, anger edging into his voice. "And the world's just that much better a place."
"And now Waylon is completely lost to me..." Bruce growled. "Now he's just an animal. You failed. The. Mission! You killed when all I've ever taught you to do is to not! You screwed up everything!"
"I saved our lives!" Dick countered. "It was too late for Waylon, and it's the truth, even if you're too blind to see it."
"And that's where you failed. You gave up on him." Bruce curled her lip at him. "After everything you two had done together...how could you?!"
"Yes..." Dick's voice quavered with barely concealed rage. "He and I did have a lot of past. He was like a little brother to me. But that thing down there in the sewers?" Dick shook his head. "That wasn't the kid I knew anymore. It was him or Ivy, and someone had to have the balls to do it."
Bruce's face was livid, her voice going low as she bared her teeth."Get the hell out of my cave! I don't even want to see your face."
Dick took a few steps back, but his jaw was set. "You think that you keep losing everyone you love because of your life, Bruce. But that's not it. It's because of who you've become." He turned and began jogging up the stairs.
Batmite frowned. It had not just been her looks that had changed, the young Bruce never would have been so callous. Even as he watched, she took a deep breath and the rage subsided from her face, the disinterested look of before coming back as she went back to the computer.
Just then a giant message popped up on the screen. Bruce's eyes widened.
Turn back on my speaker system right now, or you'll be eating your food cold tonight!
Sighing, Bruce hit a key on the keyboard.
"Don't you ever shut off my speakers again! I may not be human anymore, but I still have rights!" A feminine voice raged. Batmite leapt a little higher into the air. Who was speaking? He swiveled his head around to see that speakers now hung from the ceiling all around the cave.
A twinge of guilt washed across Bruce's face. "I just needed some time to myself."
"Your excuses don't mean anything to me." The voice continued. "And even if they did, there is no excuse for how you've been treating young Master Dick lately!"
Batmite suddenly realized who was speaking. It was Alfred, Bruce's most trusted womanservant!
"He fucked up, Alfred. Hard. I'm not just going to forgive him!" Bruce said, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms.
"You will if you know what is good for you." Alfred's voice echoed around the cave, bestowing a condescending tone to the whole area. "He did what he had to do, and he saved your life. If I might say, you have become a total jerk."
"It was my last chance to get Waylon back..." Bruce said, looking down. "And now...Alfred, he's lost all the humanity he had. He will never forgive us. We lost him." Bruce put a hand over her eyes, to hide tears or not, Batmite couldn't be certain.
Suddenly a thousand little projectors fired up around the room, all throwing points of light towards a spot to the right of Bruce. They came together and suddenly Alfred was standing next to Bruce dressed in her full Butler attire. Her gloved hand reached out to touch Bruce's shoulder. Reached out to touch her with a hand that Bruce could never really feel the comfort of again.
A dragging, raspy sound came from Bruce, and Batmite floated as near as he could to the duo. Don't cry, Bruce! No...no...! What has happened to make all this so wrong? Why is Alfred now a hologram? What happened to her body? What's happened to Waylon?
"We did the best we could, Bruce."
"Did we? Most day's I'm not so certain. There had to be something we could have done differently..." Bruce said, her voice quiet and full of emotion.
"I think about that too." Alfred said softly, looking up towards the ceiling. "I loved him just as much as you did, I am just as heartbroken. I wish every day that he hadn't left us. But at some point, it is his life, his decisions. He chose to go to Ivy."
"Only because we couldn't help him be like a normal kid."
"No one could help him with that, Bruce...We took him in, we always treated him like a he was a human being. It was his choice to stop trying and...give into his baser instincts."
Bruce said no more, just sat there, staring at the screen without really seeing it, her mind far away.
Batmite swallowed. Whatever had happened with Waylon must have been bad. This was too much, he needed answers. He thought he knew where he could get them.
