IC Inbox - Metaheroes

[forceforlight]

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[forceforlight]

That seems to be fairly common at the moment, actually. It's happened to both Tim and TJ, as well as two of Tim's friends.

How'd it go? Alfred all right?

[batsymbol]

Yeah. He's going to be ok.

Riddler's in Arkham now. But he's made an impact on others.

So have I.

[forceforlight]

I'm glad.

For Alfred, and for you making an impact. Less glad about the Riddler, but that's the way things seem to go for us.

Was the impact a good one, at least? Yours, I mean, not Eddie's. Wait, is he even called Edward in your world?

[batsymbol]

He goes by a couple aliases.

And no. It's not the impact I was hoping to make.

[forceforlight]

Is one of them Edward Nygma?

What's the impact you made versus the one you wanted to make?

[batsymbol]

Nashton.

Riddler assumed he and I wanted the same things. Believed us to be on the same side. I can't just be vengeance. It's made people like him think they're above the law. That they can do whatever they want in the name of vengeance.

[forceforlight]

Nashton? That's not even a pun. I'm a little disappointed in your Riddler.

Ah, yeah, that. No, you're right. You need to stand for more than vengeance. People get enough of that from the police (and usually not in good ways). So what do you want to inspire instead?

[batsymbol]

People need hope. To know that someone is out there for them.

[forceforlight]

Yes, they do. I assume you're planning to be that person? If so, how are you planning to go about it?

[batsymbol]

I don't know yet. I'm here at the moment.

[forceforlight]

Well, you have a good time now to think about how you want to do it. And who you want to do it as.

I'm not saying that Batman can't bring hope. But he's also not the only one.

[batsymbol]

You're sounding like Alfred again.

[forceforlight]

Alfred helped raise me and he's a great man. You could do worse than to listen to him.

[batsymbol]

( he knows. he'd been so scared when he thought he'd lost the man who's been a father to him. )

I'm sorry you've lost him. I don't like to think of it.

[forceforlight]

[It takes a few minutes for Dick to remember that he told Bruce about that. There'd been a lot going on when Bruce was a kid.]

[Still not saying HOW he died, but at least it's not something to tiptoe around.]

Nobody ever likes to think about their parents dying. Especially when you've already been through it. But I like to think that a little piece of him lives on with those of us he raised. That he's not really gone as long as we're still out here, putting his teaching into action.

[batsymbol]

( he wonders now if the alfred of dick's gotham was proud of the bruce there. of the other him. )

If it's any consolation, I see it in you.

[forceforlight]

[Most of the time, yes. Sometimes, definitely not.]

Thank you. I'm doing my best. Alfred was always our glue, in a lot of ways. Kept the family together. I'm sure it wasn't ever easy for him.

[batsymbol]

He has a hard enough time with it just being me, I'm sure.

[forceforlight]

Probably. But he did step up when B started bringing home strays. He was as much my dad as B was.

[batsymbol]

I keep wondering how strange that must be for all of you.

( to have a 30 year old version of an adopted father here alongside them. it'd be like thomas wayne being here with him. )

[forceforlight]

[The reply comes after a little bit. Dick isn't uncertain, but it takes a moment to get the words right.]

Of all of us, I'm probably the one who finds it both the weirdest and least weird? I knew B when he was starting out, after all. So I see a lot in you that's similar to what I remember as a child. And you definitely have that 'I know what is best' thing occasionally, but I think that's something that developed more when I was a teenager.

[Bruce tried, but he wasn't good at the time at dealing with his Robin spreading his wings.]

J and TJ never knew him at this age. There was a lot of stuff that happened between when I met him and when J met him. And a LOT more before TJ became Robin. So it's weirder for them because you're...less like the one they know and grew with.

I'm not sure what it's like for the younger ones. I kinda get the feeling their B is a bit different from ours as well.

[batsymbol]

( he figured it was something like that. )

I feel like you all expect me to know what to do. I sometimes feel like I should, too. But I don't. Not when it comes to having so many of you around.

[forceforlight]

You're a version of our dad, for better or worse. We're kinda conditioned to look to you when things are going sideways. It's like when you go to Alfred for advice. And you'd probably turn to one if he were here, even if he were the Alfred from when he started working for the Waynes.

[batsymbol]

( hm.)

From what I've heard, he's not so great at that.

( being a father to them, he means. )

[forceforlight]

[This one takes a while as well. Because he knows damned well he was raised by a different sort of Bruce. But that, yes, Bruce hasn't always been a great father. Even to him.]

Honestly, we'd probably all have benefitted from therapy as well as the superhero thing. B tried, but he's as traumatized as the rest of us are. Sometimes that leads to making some terrible decisions. Not just on his part. We've all made bad decisions due to trauma.