Robin's Shadow (Batman OC)

Chapter 44: Truth Revealed, Sort Of

Bruce called me to join him for a patrol together, just the two of us, a few days after he gave us our new uniforms. Tim was off with Dick in Blüdhaven, and Jason was catching up with an incredibly shocked Roy right now, connecting after being dead. This gave Bruce the time he needed to have a talk with me.

"It's time we talked, Ana." Batman says to me while we are up high on top of Wayne tower, sitting by Gregory as we watch the city. It must be serious if he used my real name while in costume, but that also means he's confident we're secure. "All coms are off, it's just us." He confirms to me when I give him a look.

"Fine." I breath out in resignation. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Nightingale." He answers immediately. "I've studied the footage of her fighting, of you fighting. It's not a style I taught you, and it's not even a style of martial arts that exists in this world. You're fluent in Japanese, which I know I never taught you, and I doubt you learned in Gotham public elementary school." He recites off exactly what I thought he would. "How? How did you create her? How did you gain those skills?"

"I taught myself." I say firmly, but he doesn't buy it.

"Your proficiency of it comes from years of hard work and experience. Nightingale came only three months after Jason's death. There's no way you could have learned it in that short amount of time. Now tell me the truth, who taught you?" He asks with an edge, showing his anger.

"Can't I just say that I taught myself?" I counter back quietly. "Can't you just accept that, and move on?"

"What is so bad about it that you won't tell me? Does Jason even know?" He asks me then, trying a softer approach this time.

"No, Jason doesn't know." I answer honestly. "He wouldn't... I can't..." I struggle out.

"I won't tell him, if that's the concern." He continues with his quieter, calmer tone. "I won't tell anyone, but I need to know if I can trust you again. You became not just a killer under a new persona, you became an entirely different person, Ana." He states with disappointment. "No one can just learn to fluently speak another language and sound like a native. No one can fight in a different style like they've been doing it all their life in only a few months. No one can have a completely different mentality about murder like you did. You killed dozens, if not hundreds, and still acted the same. So either you're a sociopath, or have dual personalities like Dent. Neither of which I think are true, but either of which would land you in Arkham, immediately." He threatens to me. "Ana, I need to know the truth so I can trust you again, you broke that trust by seeking revenge and killing Joker." He finishes his speech with a sad, sincere tone.

"You won't believe me." I admit in a whisper, not wanting to tell him. 

I know I can't tell Jason, he's too broken mentally, I would never be able to repair the damage. He trusts me as his twin, because in his eyes, that's all I've ever been. If I take that away from him, I'm his last real tether from becoming insane, I think I would break him. As for Bruce, he would see me differently, but maybe he would understand. He deals more with the Justice League, he's used to the crazy shit that happens from different universes. But I know there's one aspect of the my truth that break him, and I can't do that to him.

"Ana. If I can accept you as Nightingale, as much as that angers me, what could possibly make me see you any differently?" He asks me sincerely.

I scoff at him. "Oh please, you don't accept Nightingale at all, you only pretend to. And don't try and counter that, you know it's true." I say sternly when he tried to counter, and he backs off, both of us knowing I'm right. "Listen... Something is different about me. Always has been. But it's not a bad different. It doesn't make me be Anastasia Todd any less, or Shadow, or Nightingale."