"My grandpa's been dead for years!"
Dick ignored Ben completely and snapped into motion—his arm flicked out and several mini bat-shaped batarangs whipped toward Thomas Wayne.
Thomas reacted instantly. He grabbed a corner of his cape and whipped it up like a shield, catching the incoming gadgets.
The cape's material was absurdly tough; even razor-edged batarangs ended up stuck in the fabric instead of cutting through.
"Nice gear," Thomas said as he calmly peeled the batarangs off the cape. "He give those to you?"
"Stop fighting!"
Ben stepped between them—too late.
Dick was already bouncing from angle to angle, trying to re-position for another strike.
Ben hurriedly tried to shut it down with a single, explosive statement:
"He's Batman's biological dad!"
"What…?"
Dick's brain stalled for a few seconds.
He couldn't process why Ben would claim this guy was Bruce Wayne's father, the man who was supposed to have died when Bruce was a child.
That split-second hesitation was all Thomas needed.
Thomas lunged forward—light, fast, and terrifyingly efficient. He vaulted in with a big jump, closing distance to pin Dick down.
Robin wasn't a criminal, so Thomas didn't need a gun here.
But the kid's hostility was real, and Thomas decided he'd just subdue him.
Then—
Thomas's feet froze.
A burst of brilliant diamond crystal erupted from the floor and wrapped around him, locking his body in place like a glittering prison.
"I said stop fighting!" Ben snapped. "Can we just sit down and talk for once?"
Thomas frowned. He didn't recognize Gotham having any "diamond-headed giant."
"I don't remember meeting a big, diamond guy."
"No problem," Ben said breezily. "I remember you. Hang on—we need to clean up the scene first."
Ben scanned the room, checking which gang bosses were still breathing, then waved Dick over.
"Robin, come help! We need to clear out all the extra people first."
Dick—still staring at the man Ben insisted was Batman's father—looked completely lost.
But Ben wasn't wrong about one thing:
This was a terrible place to talk.
The fear gas was dissipating, meaning everyone affected might recover any second—and if they overheard identities, it'd be a mess.
So Dick helped.
Together they went down the line: one by one, they knocked out the gang bosses still twitching in fear, then dragged them into the neighboring room—where Penguin's armed hitters were already piled.
Finally, Ben used crystal to seal the suite door, making sure nobody could barge in.
Then they returned to the room with Thomas Wayne—still trapped in diamond.
Explaining the Impossible
Dick stared at the bat-suited man and turned to Ben.
"So explain it. Bruce's father… died when he was a kid. How is he here?"
Dick had heard Bruce's story from Alfred after being adopted—too similar to his own.
Neither of them had any reason to lie about Thomas Wayne still being alive.
Ben scratched at the problem and chose the bluntest path.
"Strictly speaking… he's not this world's Thomas Wayne."
Dick frowned harder.
Parallel worlds were a comic concept he'd heard a thousand times, sure.
But real cross-universe travel?
That sounded like Ben was messing with him.
Ben tried to compress it into one clean, brutal fact:
"All you need to know is this: in his world, the one who died in Crime Alley was Bruce.
As for why he's here—don't ask me. I don't know either."
Thomas Wayne's eyes narrowed.
Ben knew too much.
"How do you know that?"
Ben dropped a name to shortcut the credibility gap:
"The Flash talked about the Flashpoint stuff."
If Ben started explaining "I'm a meta-aware outsider who knows your stories," the trust level would crater and the whole conversation would go nowhere.
At the word Flash, Thomas immediately remembered the young man who'd practically volunteered to get struck by lightning.
Given Thomas had already crossed worlds, Flash's claims were obviously real.
Thomas looked between them.
"You two… work for Bruce?"
"He does," Ben said, nodding toward Dick. "I'm just filling in while he's busy."
Dick sat silently off to the side—already trying to contact Alfred and Bruce Wayne.
Bruce had said Ben could be trusted, but Dick still couldn't make his head accept what he was seeing.
Thomas's voice softened despite himself.
"What's he doing?"
Thomas wanted to hear Bruce was resting. Traveling. Living.
Anything but—
Ben delivered the worst answer.
"Joker stole a dirty bomb. He's dealing with it."
Thomas's face tightened. The name "Joker" hit a nerve so deep it almost sounded like a reflex.
"Martha… came here too?"
In Thomas's world, after Bruce died, Martha had broken—completely.
Ben shook his head.
"No. It's this world's Joker."
That crushed the last piece of hope Thomas was trying to hold onto.
Only he had crossed over.
And this Gotham's Bruce didn't just have "gangsters."
He had a whole escalating ecosystem of monsters.
Ben watched Thomas's expression shift and couldn't help asking:
"If you're already here… why not go to Wayne Manor and meet him?"
Thomas went quiet.
Of course he wanted to see his son—to see what Bruce looked like grown up.
But he didn't want to see that bat-symbol again.
He didn't want to find Bruce chained to the same identity and the same endless violence.
That was why Thomas had thrown himself into reorganizing Gotham's underworld instead—
a way to delay facing Batman.
A way to hope that after he "fixed" the city, Bruce might be able to take off the mask.
But Ben's answer made it clear that was fantasy.
Gotham wasn't just gangs anymore.
More enemies. More danger. A life constantly on the edge.
Ben leaned in, earnest for once:
"Trust me. The whole Justice League wants someone to untie Bruce's knot.
Everyone wants him to trust them—stop carrying every problem alone."
Then Ben turned to Dick.
"Robin—how long until Batman gets here? This is family. They need to talk face-to-face."
Dick checked his comms.
"He just disarmed the dirty bomb. He's driving here now."
And then the details came in: as expected, the Joker had hidden the dirty bomb inside Harley Quinn's hammer. Once Harley was caught, the hammer was sealed in storage at Arkham Asylum. Bruce had already removed the detonator and was en route to the Iceberg Lounge.
Batman was coming.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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