Young Writers Society

Since the Incident, Bruce, as Batman, has been relentless in chasing leads, interrogating suspects and raiding possible hideouts for Joker. In the meanwhile, guilt has been eating away at him. “I shouldn’t have trusted Crane. I should’ve seen it coming. She would still be alive if I did,” he kept repeating inside his head. Whenever he caught a break and was home, he either meditated by himself in the Bat-cave, or sat in his study, throwing letter after letter over his shoulder—how do you tell a parent you are responsible for their daughter’s death without becoming something less than human in their eyes? But Bruce has decided he’ll tell Gordon everything anyway. He just needs to find the right way to phrase it.

All this has kept Alfred on edge as well. He tried talking to Bruce but the old butler’s each attempt was met by a dismissive remark. That’s the way he is. There is only one person who ever managed to make Bruce open up: Selina Kyle. At least to Alfred’s knowledge, she has been away from Gotham for months. The woman was actually born in the States. That much is clear from her accent. But she rarely talks about her past life, and when she does, the stories are hard to believe. For example, she claims to have led an expedition to a place of legend, the Ruins of Themyscira, and recovered invaluable artifacts, but never reveals what those artifacts may be, although the glowing lasso she arms herself with may as well have something to do with it.

Today, Bruce is spending his time meditating in the Bat-cave. The cave’s scaly, pitch-black walls bring him peace. The place is heavily decorated with cabinets of weapons, a fighting ring, bookshelves, and it’s full of booby traps meant to keep possible intruders at bay. But in the beginning, before Bruce waged his crusade against crime, the cave was vacant and dull, just another useless location in the vast Wayne Manor grounds.

This is where Alfred trained him, when he was a teenager full of energy and an immense potential for both good and evil. He could’ve easily turned into a spoiled brat, or a mobster like many other of Gotham’s rich kids, but he didn’t, all thanks to the butler’s perpetual guidance. Half the moves he knows, he learned in this cave. He learned them from Alfred.

Not enough people even remember that the butler served in the Crimean War. He was one of the brave cavalrymen who led the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade and one of the very few who survived.

The cave is also where Bruce trained a young Richard Grayson, who was an orphan like him, to be Robin. Despite having a traumatic childhood, Richard was a happy kid who always saw the bright side of things. His lightheartedness complimented Bruce’s dolor. Richard’s mere existence prompted Bruce to keep the level of violence he inflicted in check—he wanted to set a good example for the kid. Over time, quite inevitably, some of their characteristics bled into each other. The Boy Wonder became more moody and aggressive. On the other hand, the Caped Crusader learned to indulge in humor, although it happens very rarely.

Many years later, Barbara Gordon got into the dynamic duo’s radar, when she nearly discovered their identities, tracking them to the manor grounds as they were heading back home after a busy night of crime-fighting. The duo were shocked to realize they had been tailed, despite their routine efforts to put off exactly that. It turned out that Barbara had a point to prove to her father, that she was more than capable of joining the GCPD. Discovering Batman and Robin’s alter-ego was her way of accomplishing it.

GCPD did have other female officers—first police branch in the country to have so. Old Commissioner Gordon just didn’t want to put his daughter in harm’s way, but Barbara was hell-bent. She studied the duo for months and after many nights of failure, trial and error, identified the pattern in their anti-surveillance behavior, and when the time was right, tailed them right to their base. So, understandably, she was livid with herself once the dynamic duo spotted her.

Her months of hard work may not have ended in complete success but it earned her a place in The Dark Brigade — credit for the team’s name goes to Richard, a pun on “Light Brigade.” He really just wanted to annoy Alfred who’d keep saying that that’s not what a Light Brigade is.

In the same fighting ring, Richard Grayson trained Barbara Gordon. Barbara never surpassed Richard in terms of acrobatics—not even Batman could best him there—and combat, but she was always the better detective of the two. That’s how they complimented each other. Testing and teasing each other’s abilities whenever a case came up, they made each other better in areas where they lacked before. It’s how they fell in love.

Eventually, Richard grew out of Bruce’s shadow and left Gotham in search of himself, a sort of spiritual journey. Barbara knew he'd be away for years, but didn't make an effort to stop him. She could relate with that need to prove something to an influential and successful father-figure. She respected it. With Richard gone, she focused her efforts on private investigation and set up an office in the house where she and her widowed father lived.

Richard did finally return to Gotham, a few weeks ago, and then ... Bruce doesn't want to go there. He doesn't want to remember what happened next. But it's so hard to block out something that happened only days ago. The thought just seeps past the blockade: “Barbara is dead and it’s all my fault. In more ways than one, it’s my fault. It’s my fault.”

***

“Please make sure this letter reaches the hands of Gordon,” Bruce tells Alfred who has just come down to the Bat-cave with supper.

Many of the Sector-I guards who had been intoxicated are beginning to remember what the man who broke Joker out looked like. Their recollection is too vague but the description will be enough to prove it wasn’t Crane. Bruce gave himself a week to contemplate writing to Gordon. Among other things, the letter will ensure that the professor isn’t unjustly put away for the murders of someone else. But Crane might still have to face the consequences of Scarecrow’s old crimes.

“Sir,” Alfred says, “if you do this, you’ll lose GCPD’s favor indefinitely. Knowing Scarecrow’s identity and keeping it to yourself… it’s not something that will be taken lightly.”

“I understand. I’ve given it a lot of thought. A week’s worth of thought, Al.”

“Very well then,” Alfred yields. “Is there anything else?”

Bruce hesitates but then says, “Any update on Richard’s whereabouts?”

“No, sir. But…”

Bruce gives Alfred a pointed look. “But what?”

“I’ve found the car. Or, well, at least what happened to it. It seems that Master Richard took the car apart and sold different parts of it to different mobs in the Narrows. That’s enough money to… I say this knowing Master Richard… to get him off this continent and allow him to start over somewhere else.”

“You’re not wrong, Al. But it couldn't have been just about the money,” Bruce says and proceeds to suit up as Batman. He hasn’t even touched the food.

“Oh?” Alfred is a little shocked at first. “I didn’t realize you had somewhere to be.”

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing important.” He makes sure he picks up his sharpest Batarangs from the weapons cabinet, along with a portable anemometer and a flare gun. “I’ll be back by dawn.”

“Right,” Alfred scoffs, suspecting that Bruce isn’t telling him everything.

“And I’m taking Ace with me,” he almost smiles as he says.