Two Weeks Later...

"Tim Drake. There's one face I never expected to see again," Darren said, genuinely surprised.

"I had to visit, at least once," Tim said, sliding cautiously into the chair on the opposite side of the table from Darren.

"I never meant to hurt you. Not really," Darren said "but I guess that's no excuse,"

"It's not," Tim replied "but it's okay, because I know you've learned what you needed to,"

"Really?. What was that?,"

"Not to do it again," Tim smiled crookedly, but there was a wounded look in his eyes, fresh loss clouding his young features and making him old before his time.

"I heard about Mr. Wayne," Darren said uncomfortably "I'm sorry,"

Tim closed his eyes briefly, covering up a world of hurt much deeper and more painful than any Darren had ever felt in his life. It made Darren feel much smaller. He had thought of himself as troubled, as if his life wasn't fair. But now he knew what unfairness was.

And that was Tim's life. Robbed of his family when he was young, now torn from his adoptive father while he was still just a kid. And more than that had been taken. Gotham had lost its greatest hero, and probably didn't even know it yet.

"Gotham won't be the same without Batman," Darren whispered quietly.

Tim shook his head, then opened his eyes, taking a shuddering breath.

"Batman isn't dead," Tim told him "Bruce Wayne is,"

"What do you mean?," Darren asked.

But just then the television behind Tim began to play a video clip from the night before. Unmistakably, the Caped Crusader was seen doing battle with a number of petty crooks. Darren stared at the screen for a long moment before it finally dawned on him.

Gotham had a new Batman.

Watchtower

"I'm going on the record saying I don't like this," Superboy commented.

Batman, the new, very different bat, turned and looked at him, eyes cold. The look said that Superboy didn't have to like it, that Batman didn't care one way or the other how he felt about it.

"Gotham needs Batman," he said softly "it never needed Nightwing, he was just... surplus,"

"Will you be joining the Justice League?," Kaldur asked.

"Only for appearances' sake. But no. The real Batman might have been a member of the Justice League, but I can never be. I also won't be able to run the team efficiently, at least not for the time being. Kaldur-,"

"Yes," Kaldur didn't let him finish "until you are ready to return,"

There was a soft, grateful look in this new Batman's eyes as he looked at Kaldur, which would never have been seen in the eyes of the original.

"Maybe I should leave the team for awhile," Batgirl suggested "give you a hand,"

"I already have a sidekick," Batman said, looking at the boy who stood at his right.

Robin looked up at him out of adoring eyes which could only belong to a boy looking at his older brother, a mixture of awe and respect that basically said 'I want to be just like you'.

"With the two of us absent from the team," Batman said to Batgirl "you will be needed here more than ever," he and Robin turned towards the boom tube, perfectly in sync, then Batman looked back briefly at what he was leaving behind "if you ever need us, just call," he looked at Superboy significantly and added "game on,"

Then they were gone. The sons of Batman, continuing the legend, going on with the work, the never ending mission and hunt. The legacy of Batman lived on.

A/N: The author wants to thank all their readers and reviewers for their interest in the story. The author hopes you all enjoyed it and will continue to stick around for part 5. Thank you kindly.