Got Your Back, Always

III.XII

Dick sighs, "How's the patient?"

Dawn walks past carrying some food, "Hungry, as always. You should talk to him."

"I don't know what to say. I go in that room, it's for one reason only, to say goodbye. I can't do it. I'm not giving up."

"Are you watching the clock? The gold bar delivery is in 45 minutes."

"We're not heisting an armored truck."

"Why? Because Batman wouldn't?"

"Because that's exactly what Jason wants. It's a game to make us look like criminals, to turn Gotham against us."

"And you're willing to let a friend die to keep that from happening?"

Dick's phone rings. "Hey, what's up?"

"Video footage, of one of Jason's henchmen..." Kory sends the video over to him. "Helped him disappear from the morgue. His name is Cyrus Peak, lives at 622 Logan Street."

"All right, I'm on it." He hangs up, "I gotta go, Kory's got a lead on Jason."

"How good a lead?"

"Look, we're moving on all fronts. Conner's running at full speed, I'm closing in on Jason, we're gonna get this. Tell Hank... tell Hank I'll call him."

Gar walks in, "Angry old man. The boys have got Catamaran idling. They're just waiting on their captain."

Hank responds in a British accent, "Thank you, Garfield. Let the boys know we'll take her out tonight."

Gar lays down next to Hank. "You think this place has a big enough chandelier?"

"When bats have sex, they gotta have something to hang from."

They both laugh.

"Actually there used to be a larger one in the main stairwell. It was Cassie's 24th, and she dared Dick that he couldn't swing from the stairs to the chandelier to the other stairwell. He was massively drunk so of course, he took her up on that dare. He can never say no to her." Hank chuckled.

Gar did too, "And? What happened?"

"Dick swung and stuck the landing, not a shard out of place. But our dear friend Roy Harper also thought he could stick the landing. Needless to say, he did not. And we all had to spend the next several hours drunkenly cleaning up all the glass before Bruce and Alfred came home the next day."

The two laughed.

"Uh, Gotham is Bruce's mess, why do we even come here?"

"Oh, I just came back because I got the hots for Dawn. Love's a bitch. Never learned my lesson. How are you holding up?"

"Me? This is less than great. You hung up the suit. You were out."

"Yeah. Maybe it's a sign."

"That you should have never left DC?"

"That I should have never left my family. That's not what you do. No matter what."

"So what, this is... this is karma?"

"I don't know... but I'm not ready to go. It's not my time yet. I got too much left to do. And so do you. So get the hell out of here. I'm counting on you bozos to get me out of this mess."

He hands a tablet to Hank, "From Cassie. I found it a little bit ago. Figured you'd want to watch it, just in case she... well just in case."

"Thanks. Now get out of here."

Gar smiles and nods, "An evening sail... I'm going to hold you to that."

"See how the main sail sets."

Gar salutes him, "Aye, aye, Captain."

Hank waits until he's gone to watch the video. He smiles and presses play.

"Hey Hank! Now if you're watching this then my... less than genius plan kinda went south I guess. I may or may not have gotten into some trouble with the Joker and I'm setting things right, and well I guess this is a "just in case things don't go my way" I still get to say goodbye. Sort of." Cassie laughed. "I just really wanted to say that I'm glad I've had a friend like you for so long. I honestly am going to miss all the stupid bickering between all of you." She laughs again. "I... I love you. I will always love you no matter what happens, you're my brother. You've been there for me for so many of my ups and even more of my downs. And I've been lucky enough to return the favor." She sighs, "I'm sorry for not telling you that I had gotten myself into some trouble, so I'm also sorry if it doesn't work out. It was something I had to do. Something I had to do alone. But with that being said if I do fail, I promise to tell Donny how much you love him, and how much you've accomplished to honor him. I know he's been watching over you and probably already knows all the incredible stories, but I'm sure he'd like to hear them again."

Hank chuckled and wiped a stray tear away.

She smiled, "Ok well I have more videos to make. I... I'm going to miss you more than you could ever know. Goodbye is only goodbye for now, I'll see you in the stars."

She stopped the recording.

Hank chuckled and wiped a tear away. "I'll see you in the stars, Techy."