batmanschmatman | 038 [audio]

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038 [audio]

I know it's kind of ridiculous to try to look for a point to any of this? But I still think it if we were going to be able to be contacted by people not on the Barge, it would have been more handy to let us pick who we could contact. And when to contact them in the timeline.

I hate time travel.

[Private to Costigan]

I saw you talking with Sullivan. How are you doing?

[Private to Hayley]

So, I met your Harvey.

[Private to Bruce; added a little later]

You told Crane?

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Look at his post, Dick. How many people are taking him seriously?

Enough to make people question it.

If we're just going to start telling everyone? What was with all the training so that under severe torture, mind control, god knows what else, I wouldn't tell anyone who we were?

Edited 2011-04-10 05:35 (UTC)

That's a different situation and you know it. My name means nothing here.

[ You know what he's implying: There's no Wayne name to drag through the dirt. There's no Alfred to protect. There's no Wayne Enterprise to preserve. No Lucius Fox. None of Wayne's employees.

Excuses. ]

I am Batman, Dick. I cannot stop being him just because you're uncomfortable with it.

Then why bother introducing yourself as Bruce Wayne at all? Should I just announce to everyone that hey, I'm Dick Grayson, and I too am a vigilante and it's so nice to finally get this big weight off my shoulders? Should Tim and Steph?

And that whole "I am Batman, there is no Bruce Wayne" thing is bullshit and you know it.

It has nothing to do with you. Crane doesn't even know you exist.

[ Rattling breath. ]

No. But Bruce Wayne is far less [ useful- dominating- good- ] important.

Bruce, don't do that. Not with me.

Do what? Say the truths you don't want to hear?

But it's not the truth, you stupid pain in the ass, you just think it is! How many goddamn times do we have to have this conversation before you get it?

[ WOW THEY ARE BREAKING UP AGAIN. And this time they had such a nice run too. ]

It's because you don't understand it, Dick. [ Low, quiet growl. ] Bruce Wayne is nothing without Batman.

[ TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF IN THIRD PERSON IS TOTALLY HEALTHY. ]

And Batman is nothing without Bruce Wayne. One isn't any better then the other.

[Which isn't totally true. He can respect and work with Batman, sure, but he doesn't agree with him all the time. But Bruce - normal, no filters Bruce, who was so hard to actually see sometimes, like right now - is much better then Bruce himself actually makes him out to be.]

[ He remembers that JLA crisis- he remembers being Bruce Wayne without any of Batman's intelligence, without any of his ability to do something. To do anything to puts his mind to. He remembers the anger- the passion- the sheer amount of emotion that twists his up all the way inside and chokes him until he can barely breathe and he wanted to scream and scream and scream and never stop.

He remembers. And Dick is wrong. ]

No. Don't you dare pretend you know me better than I know myself.

Edited 2011-04-10 07:04 (UTC)

[There's maybe five seconds of silence.]

Right.

You know what? Fine. Nice to know not even dying can get you to realize what you - both of you, all three of you, the whole person that you are or whatever - mean to us.

[ You probably can't see it, but he flinches at the mention of him dying. Because- when he was dying, he thought- never mind. He was a fool to even think like that. To even let anyone get close. ]

Apparently not enough. You got on well enough, didn't you? Batman.

[ He growls out the entire sentence and slams the connection shut. ]

[The words might as well have been a physical blow, because the second his mind actually processes that, it's like the wind's been knocked out of him. He can't seriously - Did he really just -

It's over in a moment and he drops the communicator, before he was suddenly up and standing, fist slamming into the wall in his frustration. There's an immediate flare of pain - he's hit the wall hard enough to do some real damage to his hand and knuckles, but he's too busy reeling from that accusation, slowly sinking down against the wall to half curl up on the floor, his knees drawn up to his chest.

He didn't want that. How could he? He didn't want to be Batman, he didn't want Tim to get pushed away, he didn't want Damian to show up, and more then anything else, he didn't want to lose Bruce.

But apparently none of that mattered. Bruce was - angry? resentful? - of his future decision, even though all he'd ever tried to do was to make him proud, and apparently that wasn't good enough. Even though he could make his own decisions and was his own person, it was nice to know that his dad was proud of him.

But it was never good enough.]

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038 [audio]

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