Chapter Text
Bruce’s day had started out with a pretty standard investigation into the latest gang of the week and somehow ended up with a time displaced teenage boy passed out in the medbay.
Extortion Inc. had emerged in Gotham 3 months ago. A mild annoyance at best but nothing special. However, three weeks ago their crime waves seemed to quadruple almost overnight. Last night, Batman had launched his investigation into their latest crime spree and discovered that Extortion Inc. had a new enforcer, one that could apparently withstand a hit from a 12 gauge shotgun.
He never expected that the Enforcer would turn out to be Kamandi, the boy from the future that he’d met last year after he had been summoned to earth’s post apocalyptic future through a mysterious ancient ritual.
Bruce hadn’t believed it at first but he would recognize Kamandi’s voice anywhere - the boy had a very distinct accent unlike anything he had ever heard - and revealing his face only confirmed his suspicions. How he had ended up in modern day Gotham City, his apparent amnesia, and his sudden invulnerability were a mystery but Batman had to capture him before he hurt anyone else.
Unfortunately, Extortion Inc. had been planning on disposing of their newest Enforcer via a lethal injection of Cobra Venom. Batman almost hadn’t made it in time to save him.
After regaining consciousness, Kamandi had become much more lucid. After a bit of coaxing he recalled the events that had brought him here. He and his friends had been captured by a cult somewhere in Western Australia and somehow managed to open “The Wonderous Western Wall”, revealing “The Vortex” which promptly sucked Kamandi in.
“All planes of time are open to you, my son.” the strange entity in The Vortex had said, “You can go anywhere… and be what your fate decides.”
Remembering their adventure, Kamandi - in what he described as a dreamlike haze - had chosen to live in Bruce’s time.
“Your time seemed better to me…” Kamandi explained, “but now I know all times have their troubles and terrors. I wish to go back to my own era. I miss it… and my friends.”
“Getting you there may be impossible.” Bruce warned him, “But we’ll sure as blazes try… Son.”
After the effects of Kamandi’s cosmic time trip had fully worn off, the boy had shucked off his shirt - at which point Bruce discovered that the chronic shirtlessness was a choice and not due to a lack of availability like he had assumed - and promptly fell right back to sleep, leaving Bruce to his thoughts.
Alfred had since left to make sure that Dick didn’t wander down to the cave and disturb Kamandi. Dick, curious about the mysterious person Batman had brought to the cave whom he wasn’t allowed to see, was furious at being locked out and was making it everyone’s problem.
It wasn’t that Bruce didn’t trust him, he just wasn’t sure how Kamandi would handle suddenly being interrogated by a complete stranger. The boy’s nerves were already frayed enough and social interaction didn’t seem to be one of his favorite things.
There was also the fact that he hadn’t yet told Dick about his initial time trip, which was sure to cause another argument about keeping things from him when he inevitably found out.
However, right now he had bigger problems, such as figuring out how to get Kamandi home.
Deep down he hoped that the task would eventually prove to be impossible. Kamandi’s home was a dangerous place and the boy deserved better.
Even so, he made a promise and intended to fulfill it to the best of his ability.