[Without Wally or some other speedster, Dick's not certain how well they can get back if things go wrong. He's not certain if the goddess who is sending them back will retrieve them.]
But they could lose me by me not paying attention crossing the street. Or some thug getting in a lucky punch. Or having a gun or a knife I don't see. If my only concern were them not losing me, I'd never leave the apartment.
And even that wouldn't be a guarantee because I HAVE had two buildings blown up by people who were mad at him.
They are my siblings and I love all of them. I'm proud of them. Which is why I know they can handle things with me being gone. And can handle things if, God forbid, I don't come back.
But right now, in the past? There's a young woman with too much power and too much heartache, only wanting to change things so that her life would be different. And a disaster waiting to happen. And maybe we can change both of those things. Talk Chaos Gate down, give her the understanding she needs right now. She wouldn't be the first one I've talked to and talked down, after all.
( it's clear that he still doesn't seem to like this all that much, but. )
If you're planning on going through with this, then I need you to be on the same page with me. We're going to the past where we have no idea what the consequences of any our actions will be that are made there. Talking her down or otherwise. I didn't want Tim going because of his feeling he's expendable being too much of a risk for recklessness. I need to know you're not going to be reckless, Dick.
I'm not like Tim. I'm all too aware of how much people here are depending on me. Which is another reason I'm going back.
[He walks over to one of the drawers, puts a hand on the pull and waits a moment before opening it. Then he takes out a stack of mixed $10s and $20s, wrapped with a note in Dick's handwriting with a handful of letters on each line.]
It's not a lot. About $500 in pre-1985 bills. But the right stocks might make all the difference for us.
Apple, Best Buy, Bath and Body Works, Coke and Oracle.
[And if he huffs a slight laugh at that last one? Well, that's up to Bruce to ask about.]
If I spread around where I'm investing from, it shouldn't be a problem. Apple and Oracle can be done at the same time. That shouldn't raise any eyebrows. Best Buy and Bath and Body Works can probably be done at the same time as well. Coke could go either way. All of them were really just getting started at the time. So it's not a long shot that somebody would invest in them for being cheap.
As far as I know? Roy Harper, Diana of Themyscira, you and me. Diana will probably use the name Diana Prince while we're there. It's her usual alias. The only ones I know of from our side of the universe that I don't have an absolute idea of where they're at are Duke and Damian.
( damian he's only seen the one time and duke he... has no idea who that is, so. granted, he doesn't even know who roy harper is either, so. hands slipping into his pockets, he drags his teeth over his bottom lip. thinking. )
Kyle will stay behind. If anything goes bad here, at least they have him for a heavy hitter.
[But still good to remind Bruce that there are others there that they don't know that will help as well.]
[He pauses a moment, then nods.]
In that case, there's one other thing I should tell you. I don't keep this money in a drawer in my kitchen. I keep it in what I can best describe as a pocket dimension I can access via bags or things like drawers that can be opened and closed completely.
Not anything. There's a limit and I kinda have a feel for it?
[It's instinctual that he doesn't go over the limit.]
I'm pretty sure that, in a pinch, I could empty it out and sneak the older Jason and older Tim in somewhere. We'd have to use rebreathers, but we could manage it. But it's useful, keeping weapons and the like close by. Or groceries.
[He makes a motion to the messenger bag that he's rarely found without these days.]
As long as I can get it through the opening, it's not an issue.
If I knew for sure we were coming back, I might agree.
( but since he doesn't know, he doesn't feel comfortable thinking that dick might be lost in the past and away from his family. from his brothers. especially when he seems so capable of leading them. )
( in the time that they've spent here in the past, bruce hasn't done much in the way of getting to know dick — in spending time with him that hasn't been tracking, stalking, skulking, or working. they didn't come here as some sort of vacation, he says. they're here to do a job, to find what they can, and do what they can with that. despite that, he's had a couple moments with diana, sure. ones which, should they get back to the present, he'll overthink and dissect the absolute hell out of. but with dick, he's kept it mostly about work. about all this. and he wonders if maybe he shouldn't have. if he should have... done something different.
so he's here. coming into dick's room, paper bag in hand that tells of food being brought what with the familiar smell of fast food wafting from inside it. )
Thought you might be hungry.
( never mind that it's a little late. who doesn't like burgers and fries when they're so ridiculously cheap? )
[Dick's only just made his way back to the hotel. Most of his day has been spent on stakeout by Neil Perkins' office. Not to follow him. He seems fairly normal. But his assistant is interesting.]
[And annoying. Which is why Dick looks a bit put out as he comes out of the bathroom, having been in the shower. An expression that eases when he sees Bruce and he puts the towel back over his head to dry his hair.] Yeah, I am. Thanks.
[The room is basically a mirror of the one that Bruce is sharing with Diana. So there's a table and a couple chairs by the window. And two bags by the closet that Dick and Roy have obviously been living out of.]
( bruce doesn't exactly cook and with living out of motels and the like in their time here, takeout has been their go-to in terms of food, if not eating out. plus, when a cheeseburger is something like seventy cents or so in this time, how can one resist?
on the table there, he sets the bag down, the contents being fries and some cheeseburgers. enough for two but also if dick wanted them all, he wouldn't stop him.
a glance around the room, knowing it well enough with it being so similar to the one he and diana have, he looks back over to dick, standing there with hands gently slipping into his pockets. this is when small talk happens. something he's not good at it. something he doesn't particularly like. work is always so much easier for him to talk about, but. that's not what this visit is about. at least he's trying to not make it be. )
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