Caius flew fast through the dark Gotham sky. The city spread beneath him in black glass, wet rooftops, old stone, and strips of white from streetlights cutting through the darkness.
I always kept to flying low when I needed to, and high when it was safer. I adjusted my flight path tonight from instinct and memory. I knew where surveillance cameras were across Gotham's districts, and Batman had access to them all.
It's a good thing I knew which corners had traffic cams and which rooftops had silent motion sensors. That was due to after the last run of gang wars forced the city to modernize security in richer neighborhoods and key approach routes. Olympians Designs, also helped with that project so I had access to detail city map, of ninety percent of city's physical security structure.
With that knowledge I was able moved like a shadow through holes in the net.
Caius flew over alleys and rooftops, his tactile telekinesis wrapped tight around him cutting the wind resistance and dulling the sound of his movement. To anyone below, if they noticed anything at all, he would have looked like a brief streak of darkness crossing between buildings before disappearing into the night.
That kick Batgirl had landed still rang in the back of my skull.
It was not enough to slow me down, but it was there. A hot, pulsing ache that reminded me just how close everything had come to going wrong. M'gann's arrival had made it worse. Batgirl alone was dangerous powers or not, but Batgirl and Miss Martian at the same time in the Belfry was beyond of bad luck. Why was she even there?
Caius cut across Gotham Bay and touched down just beyond the old industrial stretch near Gotham Pier.
His boots met the cracked rooftop first, then he dropped lightly over the edge into the alley between abandoned warehouses. He levitated just off the ground, moving with quick, controlled bursts of speed making him slightly hard to perceive to the naked eye. As the wind rolled in from the Bay carrying the scent of salt, rust, algae, and the smell of oil from rotting docks.
Caius slipped inside through the side entrance and shut the door behind him. The moment the metal clicked into place, he reached up and tore off the ski mask. His chest rose and fell hard.
Not from exhaustion, but from his adrenaline and anxiety that had spiked. A delay in shock of how badly the Belfry infiltration had gone.
He dragged both hands down his face and muttered into the dark. "Why the hell was M'gann at the Belfry? Why tonight of all nights?" His voice sounded too loud in the room.
In any other instant I would have been happy to see M'gann. She was always a ray of sunshine just like Starfire. Even after the incident at the Tower she still reached to me every now and again. But unlike Dick, she gave me my space and let me be, probably hoping I would open myself up at some point.
I made my way to the portable work lights, and the screens I had left running. I had to force myself to breathe.
In and out, multiple times. I didn't have time for spiraling. The first fear that hit me was the one I didn't want to think about. Did M'gann read my mind?
That thought clawed harder in the back of my mind harder than the others thoughts. As I stood completely still for a second, replaying what happened at the Belfry in my head. M'gann stepping out of the Zeta-Tube. The way her eyes were soft. The brief pause. Then the pressure in the room when she focused on me.
Then Caius shook his head hard once. No if she did I would have been found out already. Or maybe they used psychic coms to plan out letting me escape so they can follow me. Probably not that either. There's no way Batgirl would let me escape with information from the Belfry's computer, especially if she doesn't know what it it.
Plus she had said aloud that she couldn't get a read on me, which was a bad tell, like what was the point in mental coms if you say that part out loud? But I wonder why she couldn't dig into my mind and read my thoughts. I know I been doing mental exercises to strengthen my mind after what happened at the tower with Martian Man hunter.
But I doubt it has to do with that. If she had already dug into my mind and found what was really in there, and who I really was, and what he really knew, then this whole situation would have detonated immediately beyond me just breaking into the Belfry. Batman. The League. And Justice league Dark would already be here.
That was enough reassurance for Caius hurry up and find what he was looking for on the drive. Caius crossed to the table, pulled the flash drive from his pocket, and inserted it into his laptop.
The machine responded instantly. The drive opened and multiple windows of files spilled across the screen. His eyes ran down the names quickly.
Gotham Protection Protocols
Knightfall Protocol
Failsafe Protocol
BABEL Protocols
Dark Protocol
Unsolved Cases
Ongoing Cases
Closed Cases
Justice League Satellite Records
Extraterrestrial Protocols
And more nested beneath them. For a moment he just stared at it all, taking it in. Then he sat down hard in the chair, dragged the laptop closer, and got to work.
I moved through each file in quick succession, skimming first and absorbing details at speed.
The Gotham Protection Protocols was exactly what it sounded like, Batman's had layered response plans if Gotham faced city-level destruction threats. From catastrophic gang warfare, mass breakout events, biological contamination, magical anomolies, infrastructure sabotage, or external metahuman threats. It was Batman in pure systems form: paranoid, brilliant, and disturbingly comprehensive.
The Knightfall Protocol looked a lot like the Arkham Knight game version I remembered from my old life, though this version more expansive. It covered everything from emergency identity containment to staged death scenarios, emergency asset transfers, destruction of compromised locations, and the controlled collapse of Wayne Manor under certain end-state conditions.
I leaned back slightly and let out a dry breath. "Of course you have this," he muttered. "You'd probably have three backup versions too."
I kept going.
The Failsafe Protocol made his stomach tighten as I read it. I think Toymakers drive did a better job then I hoped. There is no way this should accessible regularly to anyone in the batfamily, outside Alfred or Bruce.
The program probably broke through the deepest defenses the Belfry had. Or close enough to get something like this.
I remember this from the comics and it still scared me. An artificial intelligence and combat shell designed by Batman to stop Batman if he ever crossed the line and murdered. The file was dense, clinical, and cold in a way that only Bruce Wayne could make technology feel. But one line caught my attention immediately.
Exceptions to lethal prohibition in certain scenarios.
I read it further.
Failsafe's restrictions loosened dramatically in extreme cases involving non-human hostile entities, especially those classified as monsters, supernatural predators, existential-level invaders, demons, vampires, reality-destabilizing threats, and some categories of cosmic-scale beings. There were references to tactical lethality when the destruction of a world, dimension, or reality was at stake. Lowest level allowed is country or planetary level.
Caius's mouth flattened. "So your moral code isn't actually black and white in this world," he said quietly to the empty room. This was useful I wonder how he will see a Viltrumite invasion then?
Because it suggested Bruce's line was more conditional than people liked to pretend, especially when the threat stepped far enough outside the human category.
Darkseid, came to Caius thought. If pushed far enough, this Batman might actually try to kill Darkseid just like some comic versions had.
Dark Protocols, were for scenarios that involve the Justice League Dark. A specialized, supernatural branch of the Justice League that handles magical, mystical, and occult threats that traditional heroes like Superman or Batman cannot handle alone.
The BABEL Protocols were almost exactly what I remembered from the comics. This seemed like a revised version after Omni-Man's attack and the Watchtower collapse. Every League member had expanded countermeasures. Redundancies and containment options, and emergency suppressive tools. With multiple response tiers based on risk of , mind control, external compromise, and catastrophic deviation.
I read enough to know Batman had learned from the attack. Or more accurately, he had become even more of his cold paranoid self I recognized after Jason's death.
I then moved into Unsolved Cases, and browsed, thats my eyes narrowed. Thomas and Martha Wayne's murder file still sat open, what the hell!? Joe Chill's name did not appear as final confirmed truth anywhere in the primary line.
That surprised me more than it should have. " How do you not know this Bruce?" Caius murmured. "Seriously there has been enough time that you should have figured it out?"
In my old life Joe Chill had become almost basic in Batman lore. The man in the alley who killed the Wayne's and create Batman. But here, Bruce still had it filed in unresolved with branching theories and suspect profiles.
Caius frowned at the screen.
Even Detective Chimp or the Question would have dug deeper by now. In some continuities they far outclassed Bruce in pure deduction or in side-angle truth finding. This version of Batman still not fully resolving the case felt strange.
But I could use this as a form of leverage.
Then I skimmed further to a Joker subfiles, and saw competing identity theories that made me sigh.
I knew the Joker had at least two possible identities. One is Jack Napier, the most famous identity. The other is Jack Oswald White from the flashpoint universe. This could be more leverage if I can find out if Jacks wife was still alive or not.
But nothing here mattered past that for me tonight. So I moved on.
Then Caius opened Justice League Satellite Records. His fingers slowed over the trackpad. The directory there was heavier than the others. It was more secure and layered. With logs, clips, and system reports. He skimmed until he found the date from five years ago.
Redacted Watchtower Incident.
My hand began to tremble before I could play the recording. I just stared at the highlighted file. For a second I just listened to my own breathing.
Then I whispered to himself, "Come on, Caius. You waited too long for this. It's right in front of you now."
I inhaled slowly and exhaled, then I clicked the file. The footage opened in high resolution. But there was no sound, just video.
The Watchtower command level came into view, all sterile lines and bright systems under calm white light. Omni-Man stood at the central controls. Nolan looked almost casual in his costume. Somehow that made it worse.
It looked like he was typing away at the keyboard with a calm focus. His face was stoic but had a tinge of coldness to it. Then Green Arrow (Oliver Queen). entered into the frame.
He seemed alive with energy, smiling, moving with that loose, easy confidence he always carried. Even with the recording silent, Caius could imagine the kind of half-joke, half-smartass comment he was probably making.
That's when Omni-Man turned, and in one smooth motion. He chopped Oliver's head clean off.
My whole body went rigid from the sight. Even without sound it was horrific. Oliver's body dropped to the ground dark blood spilling from where his head was. While Oliver's head rolled out of frame. Then Omni-Man turned back to the terminal and continued typing like he had swatted away a fly.
Then Nolan inserted something into the Watchtower systems. What looked A flash drive, but it was bulky and connected to the terminal regardless. A second later the alarms were triggered.
Red emergency lights flooded the corridors, and then the footage showed a massacre.
Omni-Man moved through corridor's like a ruthless machine of death in human form. He smashed and cut through League members, and staff with horrifying ease. Bodies hit walls, as Blood coated every surfaces as well as his red and white costume. Making it more red then white.
Multiple heroes I recognized from memory and from encounters in this life flashed across the screen in fragments as they were being murdered. Aztek, Blue Devil, Ray, Gypsy, Hawkman and a few more. Some tried to engage, while others were caught completely off guard. But none slowed Omni-man for long or at all.
I then leaned forward without realizing it, as Then the heavy hitters came into frame. Superman. Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter.
The three of them met Omni-Man with enough force that the Watchtower itself began to come apart in sections. Floor panels ruptured as walls caved inward. Chunks of the station were torn loose in the conflict. Through flickering security angles, Caius watched as four god like beings. One being a literal God, fought in a machine not built to take their powers being unleashed in a such a small space while orbiting the Earth.
Omni-man from what the shaky frames showed, was holding off the three well enough, considering he was outnumber and Martian Manhunter versatile abilities. But then that's when he did something clever.
He maneuvered them, tricked them in the midst of their fight. In the chaos he forced Clark, Diana, and J'onn into the Zeta-Tube line and activated a transport. They vanished, and he destroyed the Zeta-Tubes immediately after.
Then right as he moved for what looked like the last functioning transport point, two figures appeared in a flash of light.
Caius's breath caught, he saw his father and mother appear from the transport.
Jonathan was in his Paladin costume. A reverse version of Omni-mans costume. Still with the Viltrume symbol of three vertical lines. But his main color was black instead of red. And instead of a cape he had a hood.
While Samira wore ancient Greek battle armor, the same set Caius had only ever seen her wear during the most severe League-level emergencies. Magical bronze armor that looked like gold with a blood red cap. Her black hair was braided back. Her face was hard with focus. In one hand she held a dark spear, and in the other, a large round golden shield.
Even silent, the image hit him like a blow to the ribs. "Dad. Mom."
It looked like Jonathan and Nolan were talking , and after the frame lagged for a second, a fight broke as Omni-Man attacked first.
Paladin met Omni-man with the same Viltrumite force and trained techniques. I recognized some of the striking patterns immediately, the same angles dad and father had shown me years ago. While mom moved differently, shield and spear strike and defend at Omni-man with dad in perfect balance. The spear seamed to hurt him moderately, while the shield withstood his attacks without denting.
Just who the hell made those weapons? I thought.
The camera flickered and as static crawled over part of the frame. The three figures blurred in and out as the Watchtower systems degraded. Then, in one stuttering patch of footage, I saw something that made my blood run cold.
Batman appeared in the frame. He stood with his back to the camera, partially obscured by smoke and broken red lights. He was holding something in his hands, but I couldn't tell what it was.
Then a bright light flashed, followed by the camera cutting out completely. When it returned, my parents were gone, but Omni-Man still stood there.
Batman was still there too, but Nolan closed the distance in a blur and chopped through whatever he had been holding before seizing him by the throat and lifting him into the air. Then Superman crashed back through the wall, and recording ended.
I sat frozen. The only sound in the warehouse was the laptop fan, and the distant sound of the bay waves by the pier, followed by my own breathing turning rough again.
"What the hell was that?" I said as my hand clenched into a fist.
I could feel the anger boil inside me so fast it almost made me dizzy. Heat flooded my chest as my shoulders tightened.
The air around Caius shifted. With small objects on the table vibrated. One of the portable lights began to flicker. His tactile field pressed outward instinctively, and the pressure in the room changed enough to stir papers and dust.
But there was something else. Caius began to release a different pressure. His telekinetic aura of gold shifted and became more visible. The whisps of blood red appeared in the aura he emitted.
What the hell did you do to my parents, Batman? And then another layer of fury slammed into the first.
Not only had Bruce hidden this, he had hidden it for five years. While watching me. While treating me like something unstable violent animal.
Caius bowed his head and forced a breath out through his teeth, again, and again. As the pressure in the room slowly eased, and his aura slowly disappearing. He sat back and rubbed one hand over his mouth.
"I have to let Diana and Dick know," he said quietly.
He considered Debbie too. The his mind immediately rejected it.
No. Not yet. Debbie had been shredded enough by the truth of Nolan and Mark. Throwing something like this at her would only hurt her unless it led somewhere immediate. More then anything I know she wanted her son back. Or to at least know he was ok
Caius kept going through the files. Trying to find any other evidence to help him. He then opened Extraterrestrial Protocols.
The file there was huge. Detailed profiles and generalized info on different types of aliens. Darkseid. Parademons. Kryptonians. Daxamites. Lantern Corps contingencies. Tamaranean notes. Martian. Thanagarian threat assessments. And then, Viltrumites.
But this one was in a separate block, and extremely detailed. He clicked it open and his eyes immediately caught the names.
Omni-Man (Nolan Grayson)
Paladin (Jonathan Dawn)
Invincible (Mark Grayson)
Caius Dawn ( No Known Alias)
He clicked his own file first, as a long subject profile opened on the screen.
Subject: Caius Dawn
Species: Viltrumite Hybrid (Homo Magi / Viltrumite)
Age: 19
Height: 6'3
Blood Type: O Positive
Affiliation: Unknown
Known Powers: Tactile Telekinesis (low level). Flight. Low level enhanced physical traits ( Speed, Strength, Endurance, Constitution,), Low level healing factor all due to Amazon / Homo Magi physiology. Low-level telepathy
Weaknesses: Extreme inner-ear sensitivity to high frequencies. Psychic attacks. No known biological weaknesses. Extreme or high-level attacks on Kryptonian, and Martian scale remain effective.
Assessment: Subject known as Caius Dawn has shown no confirmed signs of traditional Viltrumite power development or pheromone activity, but has developed a metagene expression which makes classification between Type Two and other hybrid classifications difficult.
Since subject has gone beyond the recorded late-age development window for Viltrumite young, particularly in hybrids of sixteen to eighteen, further study will be necessary. No magical abilities have yet been observed manifesting, and the full history of maternal Homo Magi capability via Amazon lineage remains incomplete. Wonder Woman did make mention of Samira Dawn being a possible demigod descendant of one, but studies remain inconclusive at this time. Subject is to remain under observation until further notice.
Caius stared at the screen. "What the hell, Bruce?" He said it softly, but the words were hard.
I had suspected Batman knew more than he let on. That was practically a baseline assumption for Batman in any universe. But this?
Bruce wanted to know things about my moms bloodline that even I had never been told. He had formalized theories about her Homo Magi heritage and possible demigod status and said nothing.
He was studying my mixed heritage in detail and saying nothing. He had his medical records, powers, and identity broken down in a file like he was a project under surveillance rather than a person. Which still isn't surprising.
Caius leaned back and looked at the time on his laptop.
10:45 PM.
It was late. He then went to check his phone hoping . Was the screen come on with a picture of him and Debbie Grayson, Dick at his high school graduation. There was no messages or missed phone calls.
That was good but he had better start heading back. If he stayed out longer than this and Batman or anyone from the Bat-family my check his house again, it would create problems he didn't need tonight. But something told him that Batman still had surveillance in his house just not Battech.
He copied what he could to a separate drive and hid it somewhere deep under the warehouse in a led box. I Packed away both USB drives and the laptop. Then I stripped out of the tactical gear, changed into normal clothes, and shoved the rest into storage.
A minute later I was airborne again. The return flight to Gotham County took almost no time at all.
The neighborhood was the same as it ever been. A quiet suburban cul-de-sac, Gotham wealthier residents live here. No HOA so the houses ranged from large to giant, with numerous looks and colors. Trees lined the streets. Houses sat farther apart then normal. Warm porch lights glowed here and there. While most windows were dark now. It was the kind of peaceful suburban calm that would have looked fake if I hadn't lived here for so long.
I landed lightly in front of my front door. Debbie's car was not in the driveway. I haven't seen her all week so she was probably staying at her place this week.
Caius walked to the front door, key already in hand, and let himself in. The inside of the house was dark. Like always it was large and quiet. The familiar decor making him feel at home. The silence felt no different then any other night. He had gotten use to it over the years when he didn't have company.
He closed the door behind him and moved toward the kitchen. He was hungry and needed to eat something, but halfway to his hand reaching towards the refrigerator, he stopped sighed.
He knew this feeling anywhere. The unmissable feeling of being watched like he was prey. "Do you know this is breaking and entering right?" he said out loud.
His tone was cold as his face went blank. He then reached over and flipped on the kitchen light. The warm overhead light spilled across marble countertops, dark cabinets, the long island, and the polished floor.
And there, standing at the far side of the living room, right in front of patio door was Batman.
The cowl hid most of Bruce's face in shadow. The white slits of the mask gave nothing away, but the lower half of his face was visible, a hard jaw, thin mouth, expression locked into the same stoic coldness Caius had seen on him a hundred times before.
His cape draped around him, covering any signs of his movements. He was still as a statue, but Caius knew Batman reflexes were good enough to react with a number of contingencies prepared against him.
And Caius knee he was not the type of man who made social visits.
It's okay Caius. Stay calm and don't make any sudden movements. For I know he could have Manhunter and Canary at the ready to subdue me.
"Caius," Batman said, his voice was low and even. "We need to talk."
And with those five words, Caius knew his long night was nowhere near over.