Batman: Eternal: Season 3, Episode 11 - The Return of Dick Grayson

Tim woke up, well rested, in bed. He felt no pain. Only relief. He had survived. Damian too. They had somehow survived whatever deadly cabal of criminals was invading the city.

Why?

They had the three biggest threats in the city- himself, Bruce, and Damian- in their clutches. And they let them walk.

Tim got up out of his bed, resting a hand on his shockingly not snapped neck, and glanced out the window at the full moon. He wandered over to the open door, and peered into the hallway.

In the massive hall was a man with his back to Tim, slowly closing Damian’s door. A member of the Dark Triad.

Tim rushed at the man, floor creaking with every step. He sprang up, ready to smash the man’s face in with his knee.

Dick Grayson whipped around in shock. He ducked quickly, letting Tim soar over him. Tim crashed into the floor, rolling to a stop.

When he finally realized who it was, Tim’s face exploded into the cheesiest smile. He raced over to Dick and embraced him with all of his might.

Dick wrapped his arms around Tim and smiled warmly. It was good to be home.

“You’re back.”

“I am,” Dick nodded, “Hopefully for good this time.”

“Not gonna run back to your secret agency?” Tim prayed.

“I’m done with that side of heroics,” Dick assured, “I guess a mask and tights are more my style.”

“Your timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Tim sighed, “We’ve got trouble here.”

“Then why are you sleeping? At night? Shouldn’t you be out there?” Dick asked.

“You have a lot to catch up on,” Tim said.

“I’m sure,” Dick agreed, “Let’s start where we left off. Jason. Did he ever come back?”

“He’s gone. Not sure where to.”

“Your whole Tam situation?” Dick asked.

Tim’s eyes dropped towards the floor. His expression was full of worry… and a hint of resentment.

“Not a good topic?” Dick bit his lip.

“I’m sure you heard about the new hero, Superman,” Tim said.

“Spyral sure was into aliens,” Dick admitted, “And, you know, monitoring potential threats. Superman and Zod definitely fit into that category.”

“Well, Bruce decided that it would be a good idea to fight General Zod one-on-one. In the Phantom Zone,” Tim said.

“Pardon?”

“Phantom Zone. A world between our world and… itself. In all honesty, I know as much about it as you do.

“When Bruce was in this Phantom Zone, he saw… he saw Tam.”

“So he rescued her? Or was she-?”
“She’s not dead,” Tim shook his head, “But Bruce couldn’t rescue her. She’s still stuck in there. And Bruce didn’t tell me.”

“Bruce isn’t known for his transparency, but that’s a new low,” Dick said, disapprovingly, “How’d you find out?”

“He left open a file on the Batcomputer.”

“Careless. Uncharacteristically careless,” Dick commented.

“And I know why,” Tim said, morbidly, “Dick… Bruce is losing his mind. Fits of rage, loss of memory, you name it.”

“The Phantom Zone,” Dick presumed.

Tim nodded, somberly.

“We need to get to work on a solution,” Dick said.

“What about working on saving Tam?” Tim asked.

“I think keeping Gotham City’s protector sane takes priority,” Dick said, matter-of-factly.

Tim did a double-take. He stared at Dick in shock.

“Sorry. That- that came out wrong. Harsh. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just- I’ve been away for so long. I can’t come back to a Gotham City without Batman. This place would fall apart. My home would fall apart.”

Tim took a step back from Dick. His eyes were focused upwards, his brows furrowed. His mouth was slightly puckered.

“Gotham doesn’t need to lose Batman,” Tim finally said.

“Then we have to put saving Bruce above saving Tam,” Dick pointed out.

“No. We don’t. We can save Tam while saving Batman. Just not necessarily Bruce right away,” Tim smiled, a grand plan unfolding in his mind.

“And how do you propose we do that?”

“Batman is a suit. A symbol. An icon. Batman is not Bruce Wayne,” Tim said, “Just earlier this month he sent me out into the field as the legendary Batman.”

“You want to become the Batman again?” Dick raised his eyebrows.

“Not me. You said you were ready to get back into a mask and tights. How about a cape and cowl?”

In Tim’s mind, music swelled. The violins began to dig into their instruments and blast intense notes. The drummer kicked it up a notch. Brass instruments echoed heroic tunes.

“No,” Dick shook his head.

“What?”

“No.”

“For real?” Tim asked.

“For real,” Dick nodded.

“Well that sucks.”
“Sorry,” Dick apologized.

“I’m sure as hell not getting back into that suit,” Tim said.

“Then we’re out of a Batman,” Dick said.

“I guess saving Bruce’s mind is our top priority.”

“As it should be, Tim,” Dick smiled softly, putting a hand on Tim’s shoulder, “Where’s Alfred? He can help.”

“He’s gone. Left around the time you popped up in Gotham.”

“I didn’t have anything to do with him leaving, right?” Dick asked, worriedly.

“No. It was Bruce. And his habit of pushing people away,” Tim said.

“Damn. So Alfred just up and left?” Dick’s eyes dropped.

“He warned Bruce that this life… it would lead to his doom,” Tim explained, “Sooner rather than later. Alfred didn’t want to be the one to bury him.”

“He’s not wrong,” Dick admitted, “Our lives aren’t the safest. In my time at Spyral, I shot through my neck, was almost blown to bits, and battled a team of mercenaries with alien weapons.”

“Good Lord,” Tim gasped, “Connected to Zod?”

“Different entirely,” Dick said, “It’s a big universe.”

“Let’s just hope our galactic neighbors are friendly,” Tim smiled.

“Hoping is the best we can do,” Dick agreed.

The two men looked at each other for a moment, just taking in everything that had happened in their lives recently.

“We’d better get to work,” Dick said, “We both need to get all of the intel we can on the Phantom Zone. It could even help us with Tam’s rescue.”

“Sounds good,” Tim nodded, “And sorry for trying to knee you in the face.”

“Apology accepted,” Dick grinned, “Oh- one last question. Who’s that new boy? Does Bruce have a fourth Robin?”

“I don’t know about Robin. His name is Damian. Damian Wayne. Or al Ghul. Either way, Bruce’s son.”

Dick didn’t say anything for the next few seconds.

“Did the world suddenly implode in my absence?” Dick finally mustered.


- - -


A hooded figure slinked through barren corridors of Gotham General. He was in a secluded wing that was hardly ever visited or monitored.

Except for Trey Hacken. A young security guard who was anxious to explore the place. He found himself in the secluded wing as the same time as the mysterious man.

Trey ducked inside of a tattered room the moment he saw the man. He tried to slow his breathing as he gripped his taser.

“I know you’re here,” the man in the hallway growled, “Come out.”

Trey whipped around the doorway and into the hallway, leveling his taser towards the man.

“Don’t you move,” Trey warned, “I’ll shoot.”

“That’s a Taser Pulse,” the man said, “You can’t kill me with a weapon like that.”

“Look- if- if you leave right now, I won’t engage with you,” Trey offered.

“I need to get back there,” the man explained, “And I don’t want to hurt you. So just let me get by.”

“You made me do this,” Trey said, voice wavering. He primed his taser, and fired. The man leapt onto the wall before shooting off like a rocket at Trey. He smashed through Trey, and rolled back onto his feet. His hood had been thrown back, so he covered his face with his arms.

Gotham couldn’t see the face of Dick Grayson. Not yet. But he couldn’t just go as Nightwing either. A hero sneaking around a hospital is not a good image.

“Stay down,” Grayson ordered, pulling his hood back on. He quickly scampered back to an old storage room. Sure enough, he found what he needed. An older CAT scanner. No longer in use.

“Tim, we’re in business.”

Moment later, Tim, in a doctor’s disguise, came rushing into the room with a gurney. A disguised Bruce Wayne lay on the gurney.

“Remind me again why you couldn’t just wear a doctor’s disguise as well,” Tim said, loading Bruce into the CAT scanner. Then, the two allies retreated to another room full of monitors.

“We can’t have a doctor ready to pummel any security guard he sees,” Dick shrugged.

“Whatever,” Tim scoffed, “You just wanted to wear an edgy hoodie.”

“Sue me,” Dick said, “You know how this thing works, right?”

“We’ll see,” Tim admitted, “I’ve had a little practice-”

“A little practice?” Dick’s eyes widened, “This is the Batman. You don’t just save him with ‘a little practice’!”

“I’m kidding, Dick,” Tim said dryly, “I can do this. Now if you would like to leave the room so I can work my magic, that’d be wonderful.”

Dick meandered back into the corridor, where he saw Trey, crying faintly, curled up in a ball.

“Oh, get up,” Dick sighed, extending a hand, “I didn’t hit you that hard.”

Trey nervously took Dick’s hand, allowing him to pull him to his feet.

“Why’d you hit me?” Trey asked, his face a mix of fear and anger.

“I had something I needed to do. I asked you to let me through but-”

“You don’t always get everything you want,” Trey said, “Some things are off-limits! Like this whole part of the building!”

“Sometimes you need to break the rules for the greater good,” Dick countered.

“Are you that crazy Bat or something?” Trey questioned.

“I’ll go with ‘or something’,” Dick said.

“How long are you going to be here?” Trey asked.

“Hey… bud! How long’s this gonna be?” Dick called over to Tim.

“Gimme like fifteen or twenty minutes,” Tim responded.

“Fifteen or twenty minutes,” Dick repeated.

“That’s a long time to chat with a criminal,” Trey said, disheartened.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. We can sit in silence if you’d rather do that.”

“Let’s,” Trey nodded.

So they sat in the hall, awkwardly casting glances at each other every once in a while. Twenty-three minutes later, Dick was called back to the room with the CAT scanner to help load Bruce back onto the gurney.

“I took pictures of the results,” Tim said, “We’ll analyze them back at the cave.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dick said, “Let’s get Bruce home.”

Tim exited the wing first, pushing Bruce quickly. Dick followed, pausing to look one more time at Trey.

“If you’re not the Batman, and you’ve got no evil intentions- who are you?” Trey finally spoke up.

“I’m still deciding,” Dick admitted. With that, he left the security guard behind.


- - -


“Nothing. Nada. There’s no trace of anything bad here,” Tim sighed, “It’s like a- ooooooh.”

“What’s our next course of action?” Dick wondered.

“We find Zod,” Damian stated boldly, descending the stairs that led to the Batcave, “And make him tell everything about the Phantom Zone.”

“Hey Damian!” Dick said cheerily, “I’m Dick Grayson. An old Robin. And technically your dad’s adopted son. Which makes us-”

“I care not about your brotherhood,” Damian said, callously, “I care about my father.”

“Damian, how do you even know about the Phantom Zone?” Tim asked.

“Am observant,” Damian said, “Not ill-informed.”

“Well then you should know that we’re doing our best to help your dad,” Dick smiled, reassuringly.

“Your best not enough,” Damian told him, “You need my best.”

“He’s a mirror image of his father,” Dick said, dropping the jovial facade, “And I don’t know if the world can handle another Bruce Wayne.”

“Except this one was raised by killers,” Tim sighed.

“I hear you,” Damian said.

“We know,” Dick said.

“I know he’s a lot Dick, just give him a chance,” Tim encouraged, “He’s not all bad. He likes Uncharted.”

“So you’re right. He’s not all bad. He likes a video game, but so does everyone in the world!” Dick threw up his arms.

“Actually, one time I read a scathing review of the Uncharted series,” Tim admitted, “It was an otherworldly experience. The reviewer tore into everything that made it so damn good.”

“Must be one of those aliens we talked about,” Dick joked.

“Just… first impressions aren’t everything,” Tim said.

“I do not need you to like me,” Damian shrugged, “Your opinions do not bother me.”

“Wonderful,” Dick said, sarcastically, “Now let me give this to you straight, Damian. We are not about to duke it out with a Kryptonian to get information he may not even possess.”

Damian narrowed his eyes, and clenched his fists.

“Damian, Dick is right,” Tim said, attempting to calm the boy down.

“What do do then?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“Do-do,” Tim snickered off to the side.

“Goodness, Tim, you’re more of a child than he is,” Dick sighed. Damian snickered, giving Tim a playful shove.

Dick beckoned everyone to the Batcomputer.

“Now, Damian, your idea about talking to a Kryptonian may not be a bad one,” Dick conceded, “But there’s no way we’re going to go toe-to-toe with one. We may not have to, however. There’s more than one Kryptonian in this world.”

With that, he pulled up an image of Superman.

“I give you Superman. Or Clark Kent. Whichever you prefer.”

“How did you figure out his-?”

“Spyral,” Dick smiled.

“Spyral,” Tim sighed, “Hold on, how much does Spyral know?”

“Spyral knows you, Damian, Bruce- all of us,” Dick said, “Scary to think about at first, but I think it’s good to have someone in the know. In case anything goes wrong.”

“Not a bad point,” Tim said, “What’s your plan to get a meet-and-greet with the boy in blue himself?”

“Did Bruce ever meet with him?” Dick questioned.

“Not to my knowledge,” Tim said, “But he hasn’t exactly been the most open as of late.”

“I don’t know if I like this, but it may be the only way to learn something about the Phantom Zone,” Dick said, “We’re going to need to have a chat with Superman. Whether he likes it or not.”