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Bruce woke up in pain.
He didn’t remember anything that had happened during the past few days. They all blurred together, too fast to comprehend and too complicated to pick apart.
Every time he tried to think about it, it felt like someone was cracking his skull open.
He wasn’t the only one.
Bruce watched carefully as, one by one, his children stirred. Like clockwork, they would twitch and let out a groan before wincing in pain. Then they slowly sat up, rubbing their eyes and holding one arm up, blocking the light because it was too bright.
Every reaction mirrored his own.
It looked less like trained vigilantes recovering from a mission and more like a group of teenagers with the worst hangover of their lives.
Their scents were traveling throughout the cave, screaming pain-uncomfortable-help .
Bruce clenched his jaw. That confirmed it. They’d been hit with something.
But with what?
They’d never had this strong of a reaction to pollen before. It was new and Bruce didn’t have a plan for it.
Hadn’t expected it.
None of his intel even hinted that Ivy had been experimenting.
As if on cue, the screens in the cave flickered on, revealing Barbara.
Maybe she could tell them what-
Barbara looked worse than any of them. Her skin was pale against the cold blue glow of the monitors. Her expression was usually professional or at ease but right now, it leaked nothing except exhaustion and discomfort.
Even miles away, the wrongness of it prickled against his instincts.
“Barbara, report,” He said with his Batman voice. He was desperate for answers, desperate to have everything make sense.
How did Barbara get hit?
“I- I don’t know.” She rasped. Her voice was hoarse and dry as if she hadn’t used it in a while and Bruce could feel her bond in his chest was flickering with pain. “I was on comms and then I guess I just passed out because I don’t remember anything.”
His kids were beside him by now, but Bruce could tell they weren’t as coherent as they should be. Especially Cass. She swayed and stumbled before holding onto the edge of the table to keep her still.
That wasn’t right. Cass was usually never this affected.
Still, though, his instincts calmed, knowing that his pack was safe. That they were all here, whether it was in the cave or staring at them through the screen.
They were with him and they were okay. That's what's important. Even though the bonds on his chest ached with pain- they were still warm and full of life, and for that Bruce was thankful.
“How were you hit?” Tim asked the question they’d been asking silently in their minds. “My memories are jumbled right now, but the facts are there. You wouldn’t have been out with us and Ivy’s pollen shouldn’t have reached you all the way there. Plus…” Tim closed his eyes, trying to remember that night. “We would’ve detained her pretty quickly. Not to mention she only ever hits us with heat pollen, which obviously doesn’t affect us. Or cuddle pollen.”
Even though the situation was dire, Bruce’s face brightened with pride when Tim finished his analysis. His kids were so smart.
Damian frowned, annoyance seeping across his face. “Are you incompetent, Drake? This was obviously an inside job. Look around, all of the bats are here. There’s only one person missing and it’s pretty easy to tell who it would be.”
The words hung heavy in the cave.
Damian folded his arms and Bruce’s blood ran cold. He wanted to say the Hood wouldn’t but… with the anti-hero and his past history, Bruce could never be too sure.
Not to mention that Hood knew where Barbara resided. It would’ve been easy for him to slip and-
“It’s not him.” Barbara’s voice cut through his thoughts like a sharpened knife. “First thing I did was check the cameras and Hood hasn’t even been caught within a ten-mile radius near me. The closest he’s been was when he was debriefing with you guys.”
The screen flickered, showing the footage of Hood patrolling around the Alley, dated a week ago. Bruce narrowed his eyes, it wasn’t obvious but Hood moved a little slower- more sluggish in certain clips.
Was the young alpha hit too?
He brushed the worry aside. That wasn’t important. Hood wasn’t pack and right now, there was only one thing Bruce was worried about.
His pack.
If Hood had been critically hit, then Bruce was sure he would’ve asked them for help.
The screen flickered to them getting in their vehicles, geared up and ready to fight. The memory slowly came back to him.
There was a breakout.
The screen changed again, showing clips of them fighting. It seemed as if everything was alright but Bruce narrowed his eyes, there!
“Rewind the last five seconds, slow it down. Frame by frame.”
There it was. It was subtle and definitely not something they’d notice while fighting. There was orange pollen surrounding them.
“What is that?” Dick asked, leaning forward. “It’s not heat or cuddle pollen.”
“It’s completely new. I uploaded an image to our database but nothing showed up.”
The cave was silent except for the hum of the monitors.
Bruce’s jaw clenched as he watched the orange haze bloom across the screen. It curled through the fight like smoke. It was subtle enough to vanish in the chaos but it was there nonetheless.
“Enhance the filter.” His voice was rough. “I want to see saturation levels.”
Barbara’s fingers flew across her keys, although her movements were slower than usual, weighed down by exhaustion.
A moment later, the screens adjusted, overlaying heat signatures. The orange pollen burned bright across every feed.
Dick swore under his breath and Tim went pale. From the corner of his eye, Damian’s scowl deepened.
He frowned when he noticed Cassandra; her face looked pained and her hand was gripping onto the table so tightly, he was surprised it didn’t break off.
Worry pulsed through his bond, and when his sons realized who he was looking at, their bonds soon followed.
Cass lifted her head up and tried to send them a reassuring smile but her grip loosened and she stumbled.
Dick was there and his eyebrows scrunched. “You need to get some rest,” he told her before facing Bruce, “I’ll take her upstairs. Whatever this is, it’s hitting her worse than it’s affecting us.”
Bruce nodded, turning back to the screens.
“It was a trap,” Barbara informed him. She showed a frozen frame of each area that they were fighting in. Each one showed the same orange pollen.
“But for what?” Damian asked, suspiciously looking at the screens. “Other than the breakout, there’s been no other major fights and while I do understand that we were immobilized the past few hours and our memory is lacking, nothing horrible has happened while we weren’t at our best.”
Bruce folded his arms, “I guess I’ll have to ask the source.”
Simultaneously, Damian and Tim’s heads turned to him at frightening speeds.
“You’re not going alone!”
“Father, I will accompany you.”
They both said at the same time before glaring at each other.
“No one will be coming with me.” His voice was laced with alpha-command, heavy enough that even Damian faltered. “I’m going by myself. I’m not risking you getting hit again.”
Reluctant silence followed. Their bonds pressed against his, warm and alive- he reassured himself, steadying the ache in his chest. All of them present.
All of them here. Except-
He forced the thought away. It wasn’t important.
“We’ll be listening,” Tim said at last, his tone clipped.
Damian agreed with his brother. “You will not face her without us hearing.”
The corner of Bruce’s mouth lifted. He hadn’t expected anything less.
The walk to her cell was long and dreary.
The air in Arkham reeked of bleach and mildew. Bruce’s boots echoed down the corridor, the sound pulsing against the steady ache in his skull. He ignored the guards who shrank back when he passed and the criminals that glared at him with pure venom.
He wasn’t here for them.
“I was wondering when you’d arrive.”
Ivy’s voice slid out of the shadows before her figure came into view. She was lounging on her bed, vines curling lazily around her wrists like jewelry. Her mouth curved into a slow, knowing smile and her eyes glinted with something Bruce couldn’t decipher.
He hated it.
Bruce stopped in front of the reinforced glass, maintaining a calm stance and eyeing her. “The pollen,” he started. He saw Ivy’s eyes light up, “It’s new. What is it?”
His voice was low but the command was there. There was a faint crackle in his ear, reminding him that the others were listening. He discreetly eyed the cameras around the room- that they were watching.
“Ah, ah~” Ivy practically sang, standing up gracefully as she slowly walked toward Bruce, “Asking the wrong question once again.” She laughed and the vines around her sprouted longer, mimicking her glee. “You should be asking who told me to make it.”
Bruce’s blood grew cold, “What do you mean by that?”
His mind raced, there were very few people in the world that could afford the price Ivy set for commissions. And each one had a reason to hate him.
Ivy’s smirk turned mean. “Nuh uh, Batman. You already asked me a question and our deal states that you ask me one question and I answer it truthfully.”
She laughed and it grated his ears.
“The pollen~,”Ivy crooned, dragging her fingertip playfully on the glass, drawing a bunch of mini hearts, as if she was just telling him about a game. “It’s nothing new. Nothing fatal. Just-“ Her smile sharpened. “something I was asked to modify.”
She met Bruce’s eyes and her tone shifted into something sly, “Heat pollen is boring; omegas are practically extinct, so it’s basically useless.” Bruce held eye contact, waiting for her to get to the point. “And cuddle pollen is sooooo overused.” Ivy stopped drawing, dropping her hand. “But truth pollen~ oh, people often forget about it. It drips with potential. So subtle and already so hurtful.”
So they were just hit with a modified version of the truth pollen? That’s it?
It didn’t make sense, though. There was something he wasn’t seeing. Some plan going on that he wasn’t comprehending.
Ivy continued, black dahlias and nightshade sprouting throughout her vines. He barely had time to think about what an odd combination that was when Ivy continued.
“But my client, oh~ they had ideas. A lot of them. And each one was oh, so, delightful.”
He could tell how delighted Ivy was to drag this out. He kept quiet, carefully listening. Just in case there was something she’d accidentally let slip.
“This modified version,” she finally stated. “It wipes the victims of their masks. All of them. The lies you tell yourself. The lies that you so deeply want to believe. Second by second, it strips you naked and bare. Until every little thing is revealed. No matter how insignificant.”
Bruce felt the bonds in his chest tighten. The silence on the comms pressed heavily.
“With the regular version of the truth pollen, you have to wait for someone to ask a question before it takes effect, and even then, you could ignore it and keep your mouth shut for a few hours… but with this? It lasts a whole week. For seven days, you immediately say what’s on your mind. There’s no need for restraint or prompting. This pollen is you and it reveals all. It doesn’t whisper new thoughts in your head. Everything you’ve said, everything you’ve done. It’s all you. The ugly parts of you, yes. But. Still. You.”
Ivy laughed again and it made Bruce want to throw her against the wall, “And the best part? My client received the pollen weeks before our lovely breakout. You’ve already been affected long before you ran into me, and you just didn’t know. Whether it was weeks before or days prior, you were already compromised.”
Bruce’s eyes hardened and there was a sharp inhale in his ear. There was no way. He refused to believe it.
They would’ve realized… right?
“My client was satisfied with the results.” She informed him, “They claimed that they got what they needed.”
What was it?
What did he have that was so valuable that this client needed a whole scheme for it to work?
What was missing?
What was he not seeing?
Bruce’s mind raced, trying to piece the puzzle together. As far as he knew, nothing valuable was missing. But- but.
It wasn’t clicking.
“I don’t know what you’ve done, Bats,” Ivy said after a moment. “But you’ve made a very dangerous enemy.”
Bruce wanted to scoff, every single one of his enemies were dangerous and each one had been defeated by him.
This one would be no different.
…Right?
He could feel her eyes watching him carefully, assessing him like he was her newest project.
“If you still haven’t figured out what you’ve lost, then perhaps they were right: you never deserved it to begin with.”
His eyes narrowed, “You know something.”
She didn’t say a word. She just watched him coldly.
“I’ve already told you more than you deserved to know.”
With a quick move, she wiped her arm down against the glass. The little hearts were gone and immediately the entirety of the room was covered with vines, hiding Ivy from his view.
The black flowers were pressed against the wall and if it was possible, Bruce would swear that they were staring him down.
He turned and walked away.
His mission was done. He got the answers that he needed.
The drive back to the cave felt longer than it actually was. His mind replayed Ivy’s words like it was his favorite scene. They echoed in his ears, refusing to be forgotten.
It was silent when he walked inside the cave.
His children were bundled together, waiting for him. Their scents blending in the air, restless and uneasy in the way you never would’ve guessed if you looked at their faces.
But with bonds in his chest and their scents in the air, he knew the truth. Scared-unsure-help-protect were basically screaming at him.
It was not a good combo for anyone in his pack.
…His pack.
They were the most valuable thing that Bruce had ever had in his life. The only thing that mattered.
As long as they were with him, then this client never took anything that actually meant something to him.
His gaze swept over them.
They were okay. They were alive.
They were here.
Whatever Ivy and her client thought she had stripped from him, they were wrong.
Still, the silence pressed heavily in the cave, as thick as smoke.
They waited for him to speak, to lead, to decide.
Bruce knew what needed to be done.
“Comb through the vids. Search through everything that’s happened the past seven days and for any suspicious activity the weeks prior. Check the audio. Search through everything we’ve done and everything we said. No matter how small, look through it. Every single second.”
They immediately shifted in motion. Panels shifted in the various screens, each scene shifting from one to another. The timecodes flickered, each one appearing and disappearing as fast as The Flash.
For a few minutes, there was nothing.
And then-
Hood’s figure appeared in one of the cameras. He was running across the rooftops- probably on patrol- his eyes gazing below before gracefully pausing.
“Keep them safe, Hood,” Barbara’s voice was suddenly booming through the cave. Her tone was as cold and harsh as Mr. Freeze’s ice. They’d never heard her sound like that before. “I don’t care if you get injured or not. Just make sure they’re not harmed.”
In one of the screens, Barbara’s face was paling further, eyes widening in horror. “No,” she whispered. “I never- I don’t remember- That’s not what I would’ve meant. It couldn’t have been.”
Another screen flickered; this time it was footage of the cave. The timestamp showed that it was the night of the Arkham breakout.
They were all sitting on the table, Hood’s helmet and guns were on the table, right where they should be. This would be the debriefing they had post-mission.
“How do we know that he wasn’t the one who released the rogues in the first place?”
Damian’s accusation was sharp and clear once again. The boy’s face twisted in fury, his voice loud and angry as his scent soured at the sight in front of him. “I would never say that to his face.” Damian frowned as his face twisted. “Behind his back, yes. But not to his face.”
“You shouldn’t even be thinki-“
Dick’s own voice cut him off.
“Let him go, Bruce,” the man on the screen was looking at his fingernails, his posture relaxed and uncaring. “He’s not useful and no one can deal with his bullshit right now.”
Dick lunged forward, as if he could physically claw the words back from the monitor. His face twisted, pale and horrified. A combination that did not suit h at all. “That’s not- God, that’s not me. I don’t talk like that. I don’t.” His voice rose, cracking on the last word.
With every scene that continued to play, it got worse and worse and everyone’s scents grew more sour. With every word, the bonds in his chest seemed to shudder.
“He’s still as dumb as he was back when he was Robin.”
“You really are my greatest failure. I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”
“Look, little wing! Even your helmet prefers me over you.”
Bruce couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. No matter how much he wanted to. He watched his own reaction, replaying his own words as he carefully watched how Hood responded.
You’re my greatest failure.
It echoed in his head, cold and merciless.
The fight currently on the screen could be described as cold and merciless too. Emphasis on merciless.
Bruce’s mind couldn’t even form a proper sentence to say. He doesn’t understand.
Why isn’t Hood fighting back? Why is he just dodging?
And most importantly, why was he acting like this was a daily occurrence? Like this was how they always acted?
“You’re fucking pathetic. I knew that Bruce adopting you was a mistake and obviously, I was right. I don’t know what he was thinking when he replaced me with you. A street rat , of all things. Talk about a downgrade. Thank god we got Tim. Because, unlike other people, he was definitely an improvement.”
The thudding of the helmet echoed in the cave. Then, apart from Barbara's, all the screens went black, cutting them off from their own voices but not from the echo of what they’d said.
No one dared to move and no one dared to breathe.
The silence was heavy and suffocating, as if even the cave was disgusted from their actions.
Barbara’s fingers hovered over the keys, trembling. Her face was ghostly pale. “This isn’t truth pollen,” she whispered, her voice cracking, pleading for them to believe her. “It can’t be. Ivy was lying. She had to be lying.”
“She was.” Dick’s denial came sharp and fast and desperate. He shoved his hands through his hair, pacing as if he could erase the words they’d heard him speak a few . “That wasn’t us. That wasn’t truth pollen. She’s lying.” He repeated Barbara’s words like they were a fact. You know Ivy- she’s a rogue. She manipulates, she twists things. That wasn’t us. It can’t be.” His voice broke.
Tim jumped in, seizing the thin and frayed thread the other two laid out in front of him. “Exactly. Truth pollen- it doesn’t work like this. It requires prompting, questions. This- this is something else entirely. It has to be. It forces us to say things we don’t mean.”
Damian said nothing. He stood stiff, fists clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms, eyes locked on the floor. The boy who never shut up suddenly had nothing to say.
Bruce could feel it through the bonds- denial, fear, guilt- each one pulsing against his chest until it was almost unbearable.
And then it hit him.
Jason.
The only bond missing. The only voice that hadn’t been heard. The only one who wasn’t here yet bore the brunt of the words that the fake truth pollen forced them to say.
His stomach dropped, ice flooding his veins.
“Where’s Hood?” He growled, “Find him. This- we need to explain. Why didn’t he- he should’ve known that that wasn’t us. He should’ve figured out that something was wrong. Call him to the cave. We need to- we need to talk to him and explain.”
Barbara nodded and Bruce ran his hands through his hair.
Hood needed to understand. He would understand. That wasn’t them.
It wasn’t!
The command snapped them into motion.
Screens flickered, and all footage from the Alley cameras they’d placed appeared.
There were dozens of empty rooftops, alleys, and safe houses lit up one by one. And yet-
No sign of him.
“Check again,” Bruce ordered. His voice was steady, but his hands shook as he raked them through his hair. “He’s probably angry and avoiding us.”
They ran the feeds again. Rooftops, alleys, safe houses- each one empty.
“He’s hiding,” Bruce repeated, quieter this time, voice deep with denial. “He just wants space. He always come back. He’ll come back when-”
“Bruce,” Barbara’s voice broke through, soft yet sharp and urgent. “Hood- he’s not- he’s not in any of the safe houses that we’ve bugged. And we’ve bugged all his safe houses. He’s gone. No cameras have detected him in days. The trackers we have on him aren’t online. It’s like he vanished into thin air.”
Everything stopped and Bruce felt like he was back in Ethiopia, holding Robin’s body in his arms.
The exact place where his world ended.
Ivy’s words slithered back, wrapping around his mind like a noose.
If you still haven’t figured out what you’ve lost, then perhaps they were right: you never deserved it to begin with.
Truth pollen or not, this was the one thing that they couldn’t deny.
Jason was gone.