I am going to be controversial here.

I. Hate. Scott. Snyder's. Batman run. And I hate the New52 BatFamily related stuff.

I hate the Court of Owls. I mean a secret organization of rich people who somehow controls both Gotham and the world in SECRET? Even when they are JUST rich people? And THEY killed Bruce's parents... because they refused to join? Even when the entire point of Joe Chill being their killer is that crime is faceless, it can effect everyone and anyone so it needs a defender to protect the innocent from the shadows, striking fear into the faceless evil?

I hate the Batman Eternal, Batman and Robin Eternal and just... well... every story arc. This is for the same reasons as why I don't like Hush. It is too convoluted and too coincidental, they come off as pretentious and doom to fail from the start.

I hate what he did with the Joker. I mean cutting his face off? Implying he was immortal several times? Outsmarting the ENTIRE BatFamily to a level that they seem braindead? Stupid.

I hated when they made Jim Gordon into the 'new' Batman. I mean aged smoker Jim Gordon? No matter HOW in shape he gets smoking damages the lungs and such VERY badly.

I hate how they brought Bruce back as Batman even though WHEN he was back it was as badass as it should have been.

I hate that they made Barbara Gordon back into Batgirl. She was a unique character as Oracle, she saved more people that way and making her Batgirl undoes SOOOOO much character development. Also, when they changed her outfit into that weird jumpsuit... THEY MADE HER A FUCKING HIPSTER/ANNOYING COLLEGE KID!

I hate that they made Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown non-exsistant. They where great friends and great characters. I know they have come back, wait for it.

I hate that Bruce was so cold hearted and uncaring about his ADOPTED CHILDREN! I mean SERIOUSLY?!

I hate the Mary-Sue called Harper Row and how she has been shoved down our throats like in Marvel with Silk.

I hate how the rest of Batman's rogue's gallery where ignored as VILLAINS instead of henchmen or just distractions.

And I hate how they RE-introduced Cass and Steph. They had simple stories and they over complicated it and forced the previously mentioned Mary-Sue... Sorry, I mean Mary Row. Sorry, I mean Harper Sue. Sorry I mean Mary-Sue, into their backstories. Heck they replaced Stephanie in Cass' backstory with Harper-Sue, even replacing Steph as Cass' best friend.

And, finally, I FUCKING HATE THAT THEY CALLED CASSANDRA ORPHAN! NO! NO! NOOOO! Cassandra is Batgirl! She is Black Bat! You do NOT call Cassandra the name of her HEARTLESS BASTARD OF A FATHER like it is a fucking Legacy title like Blue Beetle or Robin!

GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay. Okay. Sorry. Now, here is a message from Ghost for while I calm down from my rant.

Hey everyone, hope you've been enjoying our work so far. It's been an amazing run with all these different stories and expect some more craziness and drama in the near or later future. This story is how we're going to rebirth Batman and the Bat-Mythos, really hope you like it. I personally haven't read the 52 or Scott's work as Grey has stated above, but I enjoy the mythos of comics and find it intriguing; enough with the pre-cursor and on with the story.

Okay. Okay. I'm good now. So, about this fic. Because of the past few years with the BatFamily, and with Rebirth just announced two or three weeks ago (at the time this fic was starting to be written) I kind of gave up with what was going on with one of my FAVORITE characters and decided to... well... basically make Bruce's life better.

At the start of his second year as Batman, Bruce Wayne is given information that will help him. It helps him help others. It helps him save people from much worse futures as well as stopping Gotham falling into ruin.

This is going to be a LONG fic.

Also there will be a lot of couples. A lot of them will be withheld until later and I MAY break this story up into smaller chunks so its easier for everyone reading. But all I will tell you about the pairing is that Bruce will be paired with multiple women; Pamela 'Poison Ivy' Isley, Harleen 'Harley Quin' Quinzell, Selina 'Catwoman' Kyle, Talia Al Ghoul, Diana 'Wonder Woman' Prince and Barbara Ann Minerva (AKA Cheetah)

Now here we go! Also... a bit of a warning. Feel free to ignore the first bit, it is an ongoing narrative that Ghost and I use to tie our co-written stories together.

Co-Writter: GhostKaiser23

Disclaimer: We do not own Batman

Batman: A Different Path

Chapter 1: A trip to the future

"Okay, we've had a Deadpool-verse, Pokemon-verse, Marvel-verse...What else is there?" Ghost asked the group as he listed off some of the universes they had seen.

"Not sure, but we DID have a good honeymoon." Catherine snuggled up to her husband.

"Yeah...Yeah that's true." Ghost laughed

Grey shrugged as they entered another room... And saw a massive bat symbol on the cinema screen of the room they always ended up in "Does anyone else have the feeling that this is going to be unusual?" Luna asked

"Luna, it's ALWAYS something unusual." Catherine answered

"... Batman time." Grey smirked

"Okay...Dibs on wearing the Harley Quinn Costume then." Catherine winked to her husband making him blush.

"What about you Luna?" Grey asked, blushing

"Hmm...Who is a seductive blonde in the DC universe...Or maybe I can just be Poison Ivy." Luna teased. Grey was blushing as he sat down to watch the story while the others laughed

"I'll go and see if there are any supplies here." Ghost laughed

"Don't take too long." Luna smiled

"So... What's this story about?" Grey quickly asked

"Hmm...it says: Batman from the future, not Terry McGuinness, talks to his past self about the enemies and allies he will encounter and guides him to a better Gotham. Romances ensue." Catherine answered "Sounds like it should be good."

"Okay. So Ghost, you all ready to start?" Grey nodded, calling to his friend

"Give me a sec. 100 10 gallon containers of Coke, crap tonne of food, one Arkham Knight/Red Hood costume I'll put that on..." Ghost called back and walked in wearing said costume "Ready."

"Whoa...Looking GOOD Ghost." Catherine purred.

"Harley Quinn and Red Hood... Seems like something from a weird rape FanFic." Grey shrugged

"Well...thanks for kicking me down a peg Grey." Ghost frowned

Grey just laughed as he pressed play on a remote control

*start the story*

In a deep, dark cave full of technology, worked a single man need the only source of light in the room "This...This has to work." The man spoke. The man was dressed in grey and black, working on what looked like a large computer "Yes...Yes that's it. This is it!" the man spoke with determination. This man... Was Batman

He was working on a machine to help Gotham...By helping himself. Gotham has become overrun with villains and thugs; you couldn't even go two steps without seeing some punk with a gun.

This device would predict a crime roughly five minutes beforehand. Not enough time to stop crimes before they happen, because doing that means attacking someone who has not even committed a crime, but he is warned enough time to get to them and stop the crime before it gets bad. In time to stop it as it starts.

"Finished...Now...this SHOULD work. It has to." Batman spoke. As he pressed the button the room filled with light... And he disappeared

*Some years later*

Bruce Wayne, the Batman, falling to the ground as he emerged from another flash of light in a different cave. As he fell to the floor he began to throw up violently "Hurp! That...That was...Unexpected..." Bruce groaned as he held his stomach

"I am sorry, time travel is never easy." A slightly familiar yet old and gravity voice said with some slight humour

"Wh-who...?" Bruce asked as he looked up to see the person

He saw an old man wearing a smart black suit with grey hair, wrinkles and a cane and he had blue eyes, a few scars still visible on his aged face "I'm you." The old man answered "A much older you."

"What?" Bruce gasped

"Welcome to the future and as you can see...Not much has changed in the Batcave." Old Bruce answered

Bruce frowned, looking around the place and true to Old Bruce's words, the cave HASN'T changed much except that the Bat-Computer was upgraded running at THOUSANDS of data stronger then Bruce's current one. There were trophies from various villains Old Bruce had acquired through his time as Batman that Young Bruce hadn't encountered yet. "Don't fix what's not broken." Young Brice said simply

"Exactly. So, I bet you're wondering "What these are, what do they represent" etc. To put it bluntly: these are trophies I've collected from my years as Batman." Old Bruce answered

"I worked that out." Young Bruce lightly deadpanned

"But you need to know a few things...I-WE had a lot to go through to get here." Old Bruce answered "The war... It never ended. We never won. We... All but failed." Old Man Bruce then walked over to the computer and began typing on it. On the screen... Was a city. It was a city in ruins. On fire.

Destroyed.

It looked like it had been abaonded for years

"This... Is Gotham." Old Man Bruce sighed

"It can't be...How did this happen?" Young Bruce asked in shock

"... Joker's final battle." Old Man Bruce sighed

"What did Joker do?" Young Bruce asked in concern

The Joker was a serial killer. He murdered and caused terror... But what could have been done to destroy Gotham?!

"It was fifteen years ago so I can't remember clearly." Old Bruce said as he typed away on the BatComputer "It was something to do with turning immortal, infecting Gotham and making everyone Joker's, setting up bombs all over the city connected to his heart and killing me with a heart virus be had made."

"What... What happened?" Young Bruce asked, half wondering if he WANTED to know

"Joker messed up. He stood on a loose brick. Fell to his death. And destroyed most of Gotham. The rest of the destruction is natural decay after the explosions from over the years." Old Bruce nodded

"One wrong misstep and it destroyed Gotham? My god..." Young Bruce flinched

"And that's not all." Old Bruce said, typing away until the image of a woman appeared. The woman was made of vines, her mouth open in a silent eternal scream as her body was standing in a spread eagle position with her vine arms and legs wrapped around everything near her "Pamela Isley's powers continued to grow over the years but she desired more. She continued to force more and more power out of the Green until it decided it had had enough. The power overloaded her... She turned into what she loved most. She screamed in agony as it happened, begging me to help her... And there was nothing I could do."

'Who's Pamela Isly?' Young Bruce thought as the pictured changed. It now showed the severed head of a bold man with white skin and giggled

"Victor Fries. The mutation that lead to his body's alterations continued to eat away at his body until he died. And he fought for his wife... For Nora... Until his final breath. He had given up crime before he died, and he was so close to curing her... When one of Scarecrow's attacks wrecked the city. He ran out there to stop Scarecrow. To save his wife. And the strain... Pushed his body beyond the breaking point. His body turned to ice and shattered until only his head remained. He took Scarecrow out with him though."

"Scarecrow, Victor Fries? Who else is there that's destroyed Gotham?" Young Bruce asked in shock

"Riddler messed up creating one of his riddles... It exploded and he died." Old Bruce said simply

"God damn it Nigma..." Young Bruce slammed his hand on the dashboard of the BatComputer. He could see all the different people who had died. All apparent villains. Either in accidents from some of us or from one of their plans backfiring. And his battles with them just made everything escalate. But if he wasn't there to fight them Gotham would have been destroyed long ago. "What can I do to stop this?" The Young Bruce asked "There HAS to be a way!"

"You must change the past." Old Bruce said "You act differently. You help someone instead of treating them as monsters. You have compassion. You save them from themselves. I have a list."

"You made a list?" Young Bruce asked

"Of course. I have had years. Those who need the help. Here we are." Old Bruce spoke and expanded the list showing the profiles of the various villains on his list. It also had key events on it in small summary as well as how to deal with each person and/or event "I have had over ten years to work out what needed to be done. Work out cause and effect with everything."

"Ten years...I can't believe this is going to happen in over ten years..." Young Bruce sighed heavily

"No. It has been ten years since I started making the list for changing the future. The disaster started twenty... Maybe thirty years after your time." Old Man Bruce corrected

"And I suppose you're not going to tell me every detail pertaining to what happens." Young Bruce asked

"Of course not. Because knowing too much could lead to it being wrong." Old Bruce nodded

"And I suppose changing the past will have repercussions for this future." Young Bruce asked as the files were being downloaded to an old drive.

"Yes." Old Bruce nodded "This will change. How the world changes is your choice." He nodded

As Young Bruce retrieved the drive he thought about how he will change the world "I'll make the right choices...I'm sure of it." Young Bruce spoke

"You can try your best." Old Bruce nodded "I wish you luck."

"Thank you. I won't fail." Bruce spoke with determination "So... How did I get here anyway?"

"I made a device that synched with your failed experiment. And I brought you here." Old Bruce said simply

"My experiment failed?" Young Bruce asked with a twinge of sadness.

"Unfortunately." Old Bruce nodded "But not in the way you were thinking. It ran you ragged because of your determination to stop as many crimes as possible. Shelve the project for a few years. Like five to six."

"I...Okay." Young Bruce nodded "And until then, I'll see you sometime."

"In fourth years in the mirror." Old Bruce nodded as he pressed a button and Young Bruce disappeared in a flash of light. Old Bruce lay back in his chair his eyes closed as he took a deep breath. It was finally done.

And soon... Everything would be different. He could already feel his memories changing

The world around Old Bruce began to change, the picture on the side of the Bat-Computer began to change from just himself to one filled with people; the figures and the containers were changing around.

Most of his wounds faded, his bulk returning. His hair returned and some of the stress-induced enhanced aging disappeared from his face. Yes he was still old but also still strong and seemed healthier.

"He did it." Bruce smiled, closing down the BatComputer as he looked around.

A voice came from the telecom "Bruce, you okay down there?"

He responded with a deep nostalgia filled sigh and a smile "I'm fine...Just fine." That was when he heard the echoing sound of feet running on the floor and smiled, a small green skinned figure tackling him as he down around in his chair "Hey!" Bruce laughed as he spun around in the chair with the small green figure in his arms.

"Daddy!" The five year old girl with green skin, blue eyes and red hair grinned. She was Bruce's youngest wearing a black knee length dress with red rose symbols on it and dark green vines over her arms and legs

"Rosey." He smiled "What's gotten you so exited?"

"I grew something! I grew something!" Rosey smiled

"Really? What did you grow?" Bruce asked

"I grew some flowers, I'm like mummy." Rosey answered happily.

"Yes you are. Just like Mummy." Bruce chuckled, kissing the girls forehead. Following that a jet could be heard, the two looking up to see... Nothing. They saw just saw two girls in their late teens/early twenties sitting in... Nothing.

"Hey, sorry we're late." the first girl spoke with an embarrassed smile. She was dressed in a black corset with a dark grey bat/bird looking symbol that also looked like two 'W' symbols. Following that she wore dark grey shorts with white star symbols. On her wrists where silver bracelets which had three sets of blades on either side. On feet where black boots with white soles and stripes up the front of the boots with a large silver belt around her waist. She had black hair that neared her firm buttocks and bright blue eyes.

"And how was the mission?" Bruce asked with a kind smile

"It went well Dad." The second girl smiled. The second girl seemed to be dressed in a full body black suit with claws at the fingertips; her hair was a dark auburn and her eyes were blue. She bore small indistinct markings that to the untrained eye weren't there, but they were there all the same. On her chest was a symbol of a bat with claw like marks where the webbing of the wings were. Her skin was also... Well... Furred. She had yellow-ish fur with a few small black spots

"It seems that your tail want's to come out." Bruce pointed to a wriggling thing under her costume

"Yeah well...What's a bat to do with a cheetah tail during a fight?" the second girl chuckled

"Use it to help with balancing?" Her sister suggested

"Well, yeah...But a Bat with a long tail is easy to grab...and I like my tail." the second one answered hugging her now released tail with a pout

Bruce chuckled as he stood up, holding Rose in his arm as he walked over to the two and hugged them "Hugs." Rose hugged her sisters

"Yeah, yeah..." the second sister smiled

"We missed you too." The older sister chuckled

"Anything interesting happen Artemis, Emma?" Bruce asked

"Same old routine, Scarecrow thought he could try a sneak attack but...we got him." Artemis, the older daughter, smiled

"Good to know you dealt with him." Bruce nodded with a smile "So... It's near dinner. Let's head out."

"AWESOME! I call: Harbour's Wealth." Emma cheered

"You ALWAYS want fish." Artemis laughed

"You can have fish at ANY restaurant." Bruce chuckled as the three went upstairs where a fourteen year old with half black and half dyed blonde hair was practising magic

"Practicing your spells son?" Bruce smiled

"Oh. Hey dad." the fourteen year old smiled "I want Rose to be amazed on her Birthday! ... Speaking of my partner of fun!" The boy smiled, taking Rose from Bruce

"Harry!" She cheered, hugging him

"Ah-ha-ha! Tickle, tickle!" Harry chuckled and tickled his little sister. Rose laughed, kicking around wildly. Bruce smiled at the sight, his daughters laughing

"Yo Dad, you gonna get the lead out?" a teenage boy's voice called out through a different room. Looking over his shoulder to see a black haired blue eyed boy with a cat shirt

"Hey girls." The boy smiled

"Kyle." They all smiled, except Emma who purred

"Awe, your purring again sis?" Kyle smiled and purred back in a kind sibling manner. He then reached up and rubbed behind her ear making her purr again

"Oh...That's good..." Emma purred

"I SWEAR your mum must've loved having a little kitten when you were born." Harry smiled

"They did." Bruce chuckled, the other siblings looking awkward at the strange affection the two showed

"What?" Kyle and Emma asked

"Nothing." Artemis whispered

"Anyway...Where're your other siblings?" Bruce asked kindly

"With Uncle Tim." Harry explained

"And where's your Uncle Dick?" Bruce asked

"He's out." Kyle answered

"Of course." Bruce nodded with a smile, remembering how this l started...

*back in the past*

Young Bruce had now landed back in his own Batcave and he felt his stomach almost force itself through his throat but this time he held it down, groaning "Well...That...Was enlightening..." He groaned and examined the drive in his hand

"Master Bruce? Are you okay?" Alfred asked as he came down from the mansion

"I...I'm fine Alfred. Just my experiment was a success." Bruce answered

"Please don't be over work yourself sir." Alfred sighed as he came down carrying a tray of food

"Thank you Alfred...You're a great friend." Bruce nodded, standing up

"Thank you Master Bruce." Alfred smiled like a father

'Friend? He's more like my adopted-father.' Bruce thought it with a smile

"What do you have there?" Alfred asked

"Information." Bruce answered simply and downloaded the information onto his computer. He saw the download bar start and a message saying it would take ten minutes to fully download appear "Of course..." Bruce deadpanned with a smile and sat down. "I guess I can have some dinner."

"I am glad you are taking time to eat for once." Alfred lightly jibbed

"Very funny Alfred." Bruce rolled his eyes, taking his cowl off and eating the sandwich Alfred had brought down

"It is honestly good to see the man again and not the bat." Alfred smiled

"I'm glad you think that Alfred." Bruce smiled. Alfred nodded, going back upstairs while Bruce continued his meal 'When was the last time I actually sat down and waited?' Bruce thought. He sighed, leaving back and relaxing as he watched the download complete

'There we go...' Bruce thought as he went over to the computer and swallowed the last part of his sandwich. "Let's see who we've got." Opening the files he saw names, pictures, brief bios and suggestions to what to do 'Johnathan Crane, Victor Fries, Harleen Quinzel, Pamela Isley...There's a few names here...' He thought to himself and examined their suggested weaknesses. He stayed up all night, concentrating on the information.

He would not fail again.

And there we go, the start of a new adventure. I hope you like it! And stay tuned for next time!