Spilt Tea

A/N" NOTE THAT BOLD IS TIM'S HANDWRITING




The prophecy freaking scared him. Bruce wanted to believe that it was all false, just a nightmare, but something about the echoing, whispery words just stayed within him, and the vision. The vision of his beloved wife in a corner of a concrete room, screaming, was that too impossible to be real?


His wife was dead. He spent two years getting over her death and another two living with an empty heart.  He spent months just trying to be the  dad after Isla's death, months trying to take over her role and make himself a dual parent all rolled into one. He tried not to snap or yell, to cry and shout,  to scream in desperation in front of any of the boys. They already went through so, so much.


Heck, Bruce still heard her soft singing in the shower, a never-forgotten echo of what used to be his.


He still rolled over in bed every morning, expecting to see an adorable face smushed into the pillows, hair in a halo of tangled locks around her head. He still paused for a few seconds after he entered the Manor, waiting to feel the woman nearly knock him to the ground as she peppered him with kisses. And whenever he'd wake up with a jolt from terrifying nightmares about losing his wife, he reached out to hold her close. But she was never there. Because that nightmare became his reality.


He tried to ignore the invading thoughts as he clicked open the door to the Batcave, ready for a long night. Walking down the steps two by two (Isla would always freak whenever he'd skip steps as he went down the stairs, and Bruce intentionally made it a habit of his to piss her off), he yanked his cowl off his head and hung it on a hook as he made his way to the Batcomputer.


He plopped down in the seat, sighing as he reached for a sip of the lemonade at the edge of the keyboard, before starting to dig up more information about that bombing at the U of G campus four years ago.


Minutes melted into hours, and soon, Bruce stood up and walked, yawning after not really finding anything. He stretched violently and as he did so, banged his left hand against Tim's filing cabinet.


"Ow!" he rubbed his left hand, when suddenly, he noticed the absence of a very special ring. "Goddammit!" he shouted. He grabbed a flashlight and shined it at the floor, looking for the telltale glint of the wedding ring. 


He bent over to check under the cabinet and there it was, a glint of silver against the dark backdrop. So, Bruce moved the cabinet to the right with a scrape, wincing as the horrid noise assaulted his eardrums.


Suddenly, several files flopped out from behind the cabinet drawers, hitting the floor with a dusty thud. 


Why would Tim put files behind the drawer? Bruce thought, picking up both the ring and the files, one of which was a strange bronze colour, before slipping the ring on and opening the files.


(FILE 1)


 REPLIKA RIVER JEWELLERS


Buyer Information: Joshua Chynder, email- [email protected], phone number- 456-686-9786, male


Item (s) Sold: 3 Replika Miss Wayne engagement ring, 0.74 ct violet sapphire surrounded by 24 ct diamonds, Replika Miss Wayne 'Scorchery' jewellery set: 0.98 ct fire agate pendant necklace, 2 set ruby and amber ear dangles, Replika Miss Wayne Aquamarine bracelet set, Replika Miss Wayne silver charm anklet.


Total Price (with HST): 93 000 dollars


Payment (APPROVED): 100 000 dollars


Change: $7 000


Extra Profit: $7 000 tip


Date Sold: 13/06/2017


Cashier: Morgana Norshe.


Payment Method: Cash


***


(PAGE 2)


GOTHAM P.D. CRIMINAL RECORD DATABASE PRINTOUT


SUSPECT: JOSHUA DYLAN CHYNDER


BIRTHDATE: 20/09/1993


FELONS/ ARRESTS: (3) Charges-Arson, (4) Charges- Aggravated Assault, (2) Charges- Abduction


JAIL-TIME: 7 years


PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 6ft 2", Caucasian male, brown hair, snake tattoo on neck, candle tattoo above eyebrow, skinny build, 234 lbs


CONVICTION RECORD: Was charged several times, pleaded not guilty to any charges, seven dropped charges against him, two parking tickets.


--For more info, add in GCPD ID pin--


(PAGE 3)


Morgana Norshe, 


Age: 32


Birthdate: 21/09/1993


Phone Number: 345-456-2346


Mother: Diana Jody Jones (DECEASED) 


Father: Argus Norshe (DECEASED)


Siblings/Next to kin : Harbor Norshe- Jones (aged 35), Thora Jones-Norshe (DECEASED at 12),  Triplets- Josette Norshe (DECEASED at 10) Gardenia Jones (DECEASED at 10) Isabella Norshe-Jody


Living Kin: Harbor Norshe-Jones, Isabella Norshe-Jody


Cause of Death for Deceased Kin/Relatives:


Diana Jody Jones, Argus Norshe - Car Crash


Thora Jones-Norshe  - Suicide


Josette Norse , Gardenia Jones -  Bone Cancer


She's a regular at La Vida Nightclub with her brother, Harbor.


-- Further details needed--




(FILE 2)


REPLIKA RIVER JEWELLERY REPLICATION PROCESS


-Gather Information about the Jewellery Set


- Inspect several resembling jewels to find out which ones are used


-Use MakerBot to replicate the jewellery


TO DETECT IF IT IS A REPLIKA RIVER REPLICA CREATION:


Break off one jewel and dip it in pure bromine. Leave out to dry for two hours. Then, gently pour a diluted NaOCl solution onto the jewel. If the jewel turns purple or shatters, it is a replica.


For metals: Dip in iodine and let sit in dilute NaOCl solution for thirty minutes, then dry metal and let sit in a cool, dry place, ten minutes.


(FILE 3)




WEIRD PROPHECY (appeared on Tim's desk, Dick heard it, Damian found it)


Weeping, the one that did no wrong


Still paying the price of time


Silently singing the Erinyes song


Delayed is the villain's demise


Circlet of gems and wings of black


Shadows that rip the torn


Catch the sly, the killer, and the jack


A new era may just be born


The Fates may cheat but only to save


The people that should be home


To avoid a true, a forever grave


The answer lies set in stone.


- Set in stone (like inevitable, or actually set in stone like Excalibur?)


- Why did Dick see this file in a vision? Why not anybody else? But when the others saw it, the words seemed super familiar (what the heck)


-Erinyes Song- Erinyes is another way of saying demon or devil, was known as the soul-reapers of Latin times, Erinyes song is the song of death


-Circlets of gems- could mean rings. As in, the ring was the only thing left of Mom after the explosion, so maybe that has something to do with this?




Bruce stared at the prophecy, at the findings of the boys. So that's why the boys went to the nightclub that day. To track this Morgana lady down.


So his boys managed to sniff out the tail of this mystery before he did. His boys knew about the terrifying prophecy. His boys knew Isla wasn't dead, way way before he was given the memo.


Or the entire Wayne family was going crazy. Either one.


Bruce needed to talk to them.  Badly.


************************************************************************


Tim looked worriedly at Dick as they walked down the stairs. Bruce had called an emergency family meeting, and he rarely did that. The last time he did that was when Isla had fallen asleep in the car that was sitting in the garage and neglected to enter the Manor, causing Bruce to go into a panic.


There he was, standing by the marble countertop of the kitchen, sipping from a cup of black coffee. Damian and Jason were lingering behind him with an anxious expression,  Alfred standing to the side in a very gentlemanly fashion.


What was the meeting about? Did Bruce notice that Isla's recovered ring went missing from his room? Or did he find the jar of bromine with the sapphire in it?


"Ah, you boys have finally arrived." Bruce said .


"Yep. Sorry we're late. Dick got his hand stuck in the door." Tim said, and Dick raised up a throbbing red hand. Bruce slightly winced for his sake, but continued.


"Now, the only reason why you're here is because of these three things." Bruce produced the files from a shelf, the files Tim had carefully hidden behind the cabinet drawer. "Tim, care to explain why these three files were hidden behind your cabinet drawer?" Bruce asked. All the boys went silent.


"Tim, you know you can't hide this sort of stuff from me for long." Bruce said with a warning tone.


"Did you read them?" Tim muttered.


"What?"


"Did you read them?


"I think you can answer that yourself, Timothy." Bruce said with a glance towards the others. "And  I know everything that you know. "


He doesn't know about the fourth file in Jason's sock drawer, Tim thought. Then again, even I wouldn't want to dig that valuable bit of information out of that radioactive wasteland.


"Father, it was not Drake's fault. It was all of ours. And we did not wish to tell you because of how you'd take it."


"How I'd take it? Boys, I've literally been living without the love of my life  for four years! Do you think I haven't coped with it yet?!" Bruce rubbed his temples.


 He never liked it when his children hid something from him. When his boys didn't trust him enough to tell him, that was when he was hurt.  Not even bullets could scar him as much as the realization that he wasn't good enough for his sons.


"This is exactly why." Damian gestured to him. "This. This is why we didn't want to tell you."


"Because I'd yell and get mad?" Bruce countered. "I have a pretty decent reason to get mad, that being that my own  sons don't trust me enough with a matter that should've been taken on as a family!"


" We wanted to tell you when gathered more proof. We didn't want to get your hopes up." Dick muttered. 


"That is a failure of a reason." Bruce said, slamming the files into the countertop. "You think I don't want to be a part of this? This, this is your mother,  for crying out loud! All this research should've been done  together.  should've at least been notified of your doubts about Isla's death!"


"We don't have any issues with that part! We just wanted to do this on our own and you'd help us with the rest, if there was a 'rest'! " Jason shouted back to Bruce.


"So why didn't you at least notify me beforehand?! "


The boys went silent. Dick was looking at the rest of them, who'd dropped their gazes to the floor, and decided to do the same, when suddenly, Damian spoke up, staring at the wall behind Alfred.


"We didn't want to hurt you, Father,"


Those seven words were like a knife to Bruce's heart, and the knife was even sharper because it was Damian, calm, iron-emotioned Damian.


He took a deep breath and stared at the morose faces of his sons. They didn't want to hurt him. He wasn't doing anything wrong. Well, he was just yelling, but they didn't tell him on their own accord. Bruce was enough, right?


"You thought I could be hurt by such harmless information?" Bruce lightly chuckled.


"You'd definitely be hurt if all our digging, if all our leads just led us to a deeper grave for Mama. You were so b-broken after she died, Bruce. We didn't want to break you even more. Because then, you'd shatter, and it'd be our fault.  Our fault." Dick said, blinking back unnoticed tears as he stared at the floor.


Bruce felt his heart crack, just an inch more. His boys cared for him and his well being. His boys loved him. They loved him enough to hold a bitter truth on their shoulders, all while steering him away from it, just because they didn't want their Father to suffer under its weight.


"Boys, come here." He opened his arms, and they stumbled into it. Four people were definitely hard to fit in his arms, but Bruce managed, gently hugging his boys. It'd been ages since he did that, and he closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them again.


"We're sorry, Father." Damian's voice cracked at the end, but he coughed quickly to cover it up.


"I'm sorry too. You boys mean well, and I love you all." Bruce murmured, drawing the boys in even closer.Bruce threaded his fingers through Jason's hair, remembering how short he was four years ago. Now he nearly towered over him.


 Alfred, who was watching the scene with a smile on his face, clinked a spoon against a teacup. "I'll be back with some tea and biscuits."


Bruce pulled away and cleared his throat. "Alright then. Now that we're on the same page, can someone tell me why you initially started digging?"


"Drake, Grayson and I were having dreams. Visions. About going to the Lazarus pit to revive her, but only to be told she was never dead in the first place" Damian started.


"Then, Timmy got an idea. He thought that the only way that Ma was alive, according to the Ra dude, was if she was never at the bomb site. Or if she was taken before it detonated. Because the only way we identified Ma was with her engagement ring , maybe that was planted. A replica, to make sure that everyone  knew she was dead." Jason continued.


"So we started digging and it was Dick that found the records for Replika River Jewellers, which is like a place where they specialize in replicating celebrity jewellery sets. And this Joshua Chynder guy became our lead, because he literally bought three replicas of mom's ring, which seemed super  suspicious. And then Dick did another deep dive on him after to dig up his criminal records and he's charged with arson and kidnapping, both which relate to the U of Gotham bombing." Tim said.


"Then I found the bronze file, the one with the prophecy in it. It just appeared on Drake's desk as I went past it to grab my katana."


Bruce interrupted. "Why'd you take your katana?"


"To cut up the pie I made. Duh. " Damian replied before continuing. "Apparently Grayson  had been hearing that weird poem for a while and he went mad and dashed to get it. After that, we just read it, and tried to decipher most of it while Todd and Drake dug up more stuff on the cashier that served Chynder, the Morgana girl."


Bruce stared at his sons as they finished. They really were chewing on the tail of this mystery.


"Did you do the replica detection thing?" Bruce asked.


"Actually, it'd be done by now, now that you remind me." Tim muttered, and raced off to grab the jewel, the rest of the family on his heels.


Tim entered the room, and unlocked the cabinet where he kept the bromine jar,before grabbing gloves, a mask and some tongs. The others grabbed masks as well and Tim opened the jar, releasing fumes into the air.


Ever so carefully, he plucked the sapphire out of the solution before closing the jar again. He then dabbed it dry with a paper towel and waited.


Bruce and his sons stared at the crystal, to see if it was cracking, or changing color to indicate that it was on a replicated ring.


Seconds sluggishly went by, and suddenly, the crystal started taking on a hue of violet, which rapidly bloomed to the edges of the sapphire, before it shattered into a pile of mineral shards.


Bruce stared, wide eyed, at the shards. The rest of the boys gasped.


The engagement ring was planted at the bombing. 


So Isla Wayne was still out there.


After four years of mourning, Bruce was not going to turn down this huge lead.



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