[CENTER][img]https://i.imgur.com/31Rh9a0.png[/img]

[b]THEN[/b][/CENTER]

[i][b][color=516186]"Robin?!"[/color][/b][/i]

The outrage in Bruce Wayne's voice echoed throughout the deep catacombs of the Batcave as he stood, already suited up with just the cowl missing, and turned towards the man facing him in the opposite direction. It had been years since Dick Grayson had left the cave behind himself, choosing to establish himself with a new team - and eventually, a new city - under an alias that was all his own. Despite his adoptive father's clearly agitated tone of voice, Nightwing didn't even flinch as he crossed his arms over his chest and positioned his body language into a relaxed stance. He wasn't going to be scared off of this that easily. The Batman may have struck fear into the hearts of the criminal element, but to Dick? He might aswell have been trying to put the fear into the wind. Nevertheless, Bruce could barely hold himself back as he stormed over and stared straight into the eyes of his former protege. 

[b][color=516186]"Are you out of your mind?! Do you have any [i]idea[/i] what you're suggesting?!"[/color][/b]

Dick narrowed his gaze back.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"I do, Bruce. More than anyone alive, I imagine."[/color][/b]

Bruce gritted his teeth, his words coming out in a growl.

[b][color=516186]"That isn't what I meant, damn it, and you know it!"[/color][/b]

[b][color=4a6dbd]"I know. But I felt it necessary to remind you of who you're talking to so that you can better understand where I'm coming from. Believe me, I didn't arrive at this conclusion lightly. But I'm asking you to hear me out."[/color][/b]

Reaching over and snatching the waiting cowl that laid on his workbench, Wayne immediately made an angered beeline for The Batmobile that had just risen from beneath the automatic turntable.

[b][color=516186]"We are [i]not[/i] discussing this."[/color][/b]

Without hesitation, Nightwing placed himself directly in Bruce's path.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Yes, we are. Because if you don't listen to this now, you're just going to wind up having to deal with it later. And by then, it may be too late to avert something bad from happening."[/color][/b]

Bruce glared at his former protege with a combination of disappointment and utter contempt. It was a look that Dick had, unfortunately, become accustomed to over the years. A look that suggested that whenever the great and powerful Batman didn't get his way, no one was going to be able to function correctly within the confines of either the Batcave or the labyrinthian Stately Wayne Manor above them.

[b][color=516186]"If I entertain this for even a second, it'll already be too late."[/color][/b]

Nightwing shook his head.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Okay, I can tell this is already getting nowhere, so I'm gonna pull a page out of your playbook and railroad over any attempt you're about to make to stonewall me."[/color][/b]

Bruce stood in silence for a moment, partially stunned by Dick's wherewithal to suddenly push back against him. It hadn't been the first time it had happened, but usually when it did, there was an understanding that it was still his decision as the head of the household. Dick had grown more independent in alot of ways since moving out of the Manor, but he'd never been forced to take up the contrary position to Bruce on equal footing. And because of that, both men were now left at an impasse. 

Slipping the cowl over his face, Batman marched onward - and Nightwing followed, determined to either get him to stop now or chew his ear off about it on the ride into Gotham. There was no stopping him, and despite his protests, Batman knew it.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Alright, let me start off by saying that I get it. I completely understand why you'd never want another Robin after what happened to Jason. There was a big part of me that never wanted that either. Even though the kid meant the world to you, he meant alot to me too. But we both know that Jason was alot more than just Batman's new partner."[/color][/b]

Leaping into the Batmobile's cockpit, Batman braced himself as Nightwing somersaulted into the passenger's seat. The turntable positioned the vehicle directly towards the exit ramp. As Dick continued, The Dark Knight began the sequence that would activate the atomic batteries and bring the turbines to speed.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"And this new kid, Tim Drake? He's alot more than a costume, too. I've seen it in action. He's got skills that would have easily put me to shame whenever I was his age, and I'm not talking about being able to do a run on the trapeze. He's insanely intelligent. Gifted, in that rare way that you never quite think is possible until you witness it for yourself."[/color][/b]

[b][color=516186]"Intelligence isn't enough to---"[/color][/b]

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Let me finish. I'm still on the ground floor of this particular elevator pitch."[/color][/b]

Batman sat motionless for a moment, hands gripping the wheel tightly, before continuing with The Batmobile's power-up. Nightwing sat back in his seat, silently grateful for even the slightest hint that his mentor was willing to amend his complete stubbornness.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"What I mean by gifted is that he's utilized his skills in a surprising number of ways, given the amount of heavy loss that he's already suffered. Were it anyone else, I guarantee they'd be too shaken to do half of the work that Drake has done just to piece [i]our[/i] identities together, let alone Barbara's. And all of the other intel he's gathered. It's... incredible, and it was enough to get my attention. So when I confronted him and got him to tell me his story..."[/color][/b]

[b][color=516186]"I already know his story."[/color][/b]

Nightwing turned, eyes widened in surprise. Though, he quickly realized that he shouldn't have been. After all, while he never quite bought into the idea of his mentor being "The World's Greatest Detective", he'd seen Bruce perform deductions that would seem ordinarily impossible - and, with a bit of legwork - prove that he'd made the right call every time. But already having put this together was a whole other level of [i]prep-time weirdness[/i], as Roy Harper used to call it.

[b][color=516186]"Drake was living in Metropolis with his mother and father up until six months ago. The father was an employee of Lexcorp prior to Luthor's bid for the presidency. The mother was a teacher working out of Suicide Slums. Clark even wrote about her once, calling her 'the rare beacon of hope in a part of the city sorely overlooked.' Drake himself was an honor student."[/color][/b]

Nightwing leaned back in his chair. [b][color=4a6dbd]"That's... yeah, that's all correct."[/color][/b]

[b][color=516186]"His mother also died the day that Despero attacked."[/color][/b]

Dick's expression suddenly became saddened.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Yeah."[/color][/b]

[b][color=516186]"Another failure of mine. And one of the many reasons that we disbanded the League."[/color][/b]

Nightwing sighed. 

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Not everything is about what you did or didn't do. And I'd tell you that you all tried your best..."[/color][/b]

[b][color=516186]"The point is that while the boy may have the necessary motive, it doesn't give us the right to exploit it. I can reach out to him as Bruce Wayne and help him with the proper counseling. I can speak with his father and arrange a scholarship to send him off to college. I can even get him a job at Wayne Industries if he wants it. Anything."[/color][/b]

As Batman spoke, he turned his gaze toward an object in the distance. A glass casing that stood firmly in the center of The Batcave, with a bright uniform - slightly singed and visibly bloodied - suspended within it.

[b][color=516186]"Anything but [i]this[/i]."[/color][/b]

Turning back towards the wheel, The Caped Crusader pulled back the throttle and stepped on the gas. Nightwing buckled himself in as he felt the vibration kick into overdrive around him, reacting to the afterburner that was seconds away from propelling the car into an immediate takeoff.

[b][color=516186]"The answer is no. I won't allow what happened to Jason to happen to anyone else."[/color][/b]

Nightwing readied himself for a very, very long drive into the city as The Batmobile accelerated into the massive reinforced tunnels leading out to the exit that began a 14-mile drive into Gotham. Bruce wasn't about to give up on this, but Dick knew that with enough of an argument, he might be motivated to look closer at the situation himself. He wasn't just suggesting this out of pity for Tim Drake. He was doing this because he saw the exact same thing in the kid that Bruce had seen in him years ago, the night that his own parents fell to their deaths - a chance to mold what was already burning inside of him into something positive. Before the grief and the rage took hold and destroyed him.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"I'm not arguing on his behalf alone, Bruce. The way you've been acting ever since Jason died. Hell, ever since the invasion..."[/color][/b]

The two men focused on the road ahead.

[b][color=4a6dbd]"Well, it's like Drake said. Maybe Batman [i]needs[/i] a Robin."[/color][/b]