American Comics: Multiverse of Madness

Tim Drake.

The third Robin of the Bat Family and also known as Red Robin. In the comics, he and the first Robin, Dick, were childhood friends, and he was also a witness the night Dick's parents were murdered.

After Jason's sacrifice, Batman's methods became increasingly brutal, and his treatment of criminals grew harsher. At this point, Tim realized that Batman couldn't function without Robin—he needed someone by his side to remind him to stay grounded.

With this in mind, Tim set out to find Dick and persuade him to return to Batman's side as Robin to continue helping him.

But by then, Dick had already become Nightwing and was often working with the Titans. He wasn't willing to give up his own work but agreed to speak with Batman in his Nightwing identity.

The result, of course, was an argument, and unable to stand by, Tim angrily donned the Robin uniform and became the new Robin to aid Batman.

Despite Batman's repeated insistence that he didn't need Robin, over time, he gradually accepted the young man's potential and acknowledged his identity as Robin.

It seemed that the development of this universe was beyond Alex's expectations. He had been curious about which Robin Bruce Wayne would find, but now it appeared that they had skipped over Dick and Jason entirely.

On second thought, this made sense. After all, with the Joker and many other villains already taken care of, the circumstances that led to Jason's death were unlikely to repeat.

Now, Gotham—or rather, Batman—needed Tim, the kind and sincere Robin.

And this was a Tim who hadn't been altered by being Black.

After sending the Ratcatcher to the Gotham Police, Alex casually walked alongside Tim toward the Batcave.

Along the way, they had a casual conversation about the Ratcatcher.

"Actually, the Ratcatcher is a pitiful man. Let's try to help him find his missing wife and daughter. Maybe this will help him turn over a new leaf."

"We've already started an investigation. But at the time, too many powerful figures were involved in the case. The Ratcatcher took the fall and was sent to prison, while his wife and daughter disappeared overnight. It's been so long, and we still can't determine their whereabouts."

Tim shook his head and sighed. "We can't even be sure whether they're still alive, and with the surge of criminals lately, I'm stretched thin."

"Oh?" Alex was surprised. He hadn't expected Gotham to be so lively. "Which other notorious super-criminals have appeared?"

"Firefly, Clayface, Werewolf..."

Tim quickly responded, listing a number of supervillains.

"On top of them, there's a whole new wave of gangsters and a secret organization called the Court of Owls. It's all just... a mess."

It seemed that Gotham was indeed experiencing a resurgence, with super-criminals emerging one after another, and now even the Court of Owls had appeared.

This was likely another butterfly effect caused by General Zod's failure. Gotham had previously been in a state of peace, with evil forces existing but hidden in the shadows.

Now that Earth had confirmed the existence of aliens, and more and more superhumans were emerging, it seemed even the Court of Owls, which had been lurking beneath Gotham, could no longer sit idly by.

It seemed that the old Bruce Wayne would have his hands full again. The Court of Owls was indeed a formidable opponent.

"How long have you been Robin?" Alex continued asking, trying to gauge where they were in the timeline.

Hearing Alex's question, Tim wasn't sure if he should answer. They had been talking about super-criminals so far, but now the focus was on Tim himself, and he hesitated.

Although he knew the man in front of him was likely an ally and appeared to be an old acquaintance of Batman's, Tim still wasn't fully trusting of him.

After a brief silence, Tim sighed. "It's been over six months. This is my first time going solo."

"Over six months..."

Alex silently calculated. From training a gifted young man to become Robin, to now letting Tim operate independently, it must have been at least a few years.

It seemed he had arrived at a point at least three years after the Zod War. He wondered how Barry Allen was doing now, and whether he had mastered the Speed Force.

Realizing that Tim had been holding a faint wariness toward him, Alex decided not to ask any more questions. Instead, he continued silently heading toward the Batcave.

After all, once they met old Bruce Wayne, everything would be explained, and by then, Tim would no longer distrust him.

As they neared Wayne Manor, Alex took the lead and walked into the dense forest. This was one of the entrances to the Batcave, and his actions were meant to ease Tim's suspicions.

Sure enough, seeing Alex move through the area as if he were at home, Tim gradually relaxed. At least this proved that Alex was indeed a friend of Batman's, and one who was familiar with the Batcave.

In this situation, Tim became even more curious. Since someone like this existed, why had Bruce never mentioned them before?

They reached the Batcave, and the first thing Alex saw was the old man sitting calmly in a chair, sipping coffee.

Seeing an old friend again, Alex's calm expression finally broke into a smile.

"It's been a long time since we last met, Bruce."

Looking at the young man from back then, who now carried a more mature aura, old Bruce Wayne couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia. "Yes, I thought I would never see you again."

Seeing Bruce Wayne still holding onto his aloof demeanor, Alex didn't hesitate to give him a big hug. After everything they had been through, perhaps only the universes they had shared in the past could bring Alex the most familiar sense of closeness.

Perhaps to Bruce Wayne, it had only been a few years since Alex's departure, but for Alex, it had been decades since he last saw the old man.

"I'm craving your homemade pasta."

Bruce Wayne was about to say something when Alex's words caught him off guard, and he rolled his eyes.

"That's called spaghetti."

"Italian pasta." Alex chuckled.

The old feeling returned, and Bruce Wayne's gaze softened as he looked at Alex, who was acting playful.

At this moment, he could be sure—the person in front of him was indeed the same person from the past.

"Wait here."

Without much fanfare, Bruce Wayne gently pushed Alex away and turned to head toward the secret passage leading to Wayne Manor.

It didn't take long for Bruce Wayne to return, carrying three plates of pasta and several bottles of wine.

Alex and Tim, who had already changed out of his suit, sat down at the table together to enjoy the rare late-night meal.

For Tim, this was certainly a rare treat, as it was the first time he had seen old Bruce Wayne cook since arriving. Usually, it was Tim who had to do the cooking.

"Where are Kara and that silver-haired guy? Why didn't they come?" Bruce Wayne opened a bottle of wine and poured himself a glass before looking at Alex.

"They're living on a wasteland now. After we left here, we found a world where civilization had collapsed. It's inconvenient to do anything there, but at least it's peaceful now," Alex casually answered.

But when these words reached Bruce Wayne's ears, it was like a thunderclap.

"A world with a collapsed civilization? What happened? A nuclear war?"

In his mind, the only possible way for civilization to collapse on Earth would be through a nuclear war, which would result in the entire planet being shrouded in radiation. Only then could it be called a 'wasteland.'

"Pretty much," Alex sighed at the mention of this.

"That world was taken over by supervillains. A great war broke out there, where all the supervillains united and launched a war against the superheroes.

Knowing the superheroes' abilities and with the heroes forced into a defensive position, the villains eventually won a complete victory. They nearly wiped out all the superheroes and divided the world among themselves."

"How is that possible!?"

Before Bruce Wayne could speak, Tim couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief.

To this young, inexperienced boy, heroes were invincible. He couldn't imagine a day when they would fail, and even worse, let the villains take over the world.

But Bruce Wayne remained silent. After the events with General Zod, no one understood the vast diversity of the universe more than he did.

And no one knew better than him that heroes could fail.

"What happened next?" Bruce Wayne asked, looking at Alex.

"By the time we arrived, that world had been under the rule of the supervillains for forty years. The villains didn't know how to manage the world, and that led to chaos in the wasteland. Morality had collapsed.

As leaders, the villains were lost in their past victories, indulging in excess, while Pietro, Kara, and I gathered some people to overthrow their rule and began rebuilding the wasteland."

Alex glossed over most of the difficulties in the wasteland. After all, so much had happened there that if he tried to cover everything, it would take three days and nights to finish.

Bruce Wayne could tell that Alex was withholding some details. Their experience in the wasteland was likely far more complicated than Alex let on.

"Once things settle down over there, I'll bring Pietro and Kara back for a visit," Alex smiled and continued.

"By the way, Pietro has found a little girlfriend, and Kara has found her other parallel universe brother. You can meet them too."

Hearing this, Bruce Wayne also smiled. After experiencing despair, nothing brought greater joy than seeing people find happiness.

Raising his glass, Bruce Wayne gestured to Alex.

"They deserve it."

.....

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