Triumvirate Knights: Chapter 41 (Patreon)

Chapter 41:

Nana:

She didn’t often have fights with Bruce.

Of course they disagreed from time to time, every two people let alone two married people, disagreed. But it rarely escalated to an outright argument.

Her husband would grumble and snarl but more often than not he’d let her have her way when it came right down to it and she was a big enough girl to admit when she was wrong and back off… she’d never admit she was wrong to him because he’d never let it go.

Some extra strong coffee in the morning or a full day of his favorite foods was a decent apology in her book.

But that wasn’t the case right now, not with this.

“He has a right to know!” She felt like a broken record. “You know he does Bruce!”

“She doesn’t have the right to play with his head.” He growled, staring at her with a fiery anger that was very rare in him, let alone directed at her. His hand rose, pointing at her “No good will come of letting him know. You damn well know that!”

Did she? She wasn’t sure. Some days she agreed with Bruce. Others… “I know a part of him still loves her. If you keep this from him it's you that’s playing with his head; not her!”

He went silent. Nana saw a muscle in his jaw jump and she could practically hear his teeth grinding as he clenched them.

She was right. He knew it. He just didn’t want to admit it. Even if he did, she knew him well enough to recognize that he figured it was the better option.

Because Bruce had never intentionally hurt Toshi.

“What if it were me?” She ventured.

“You’re not like Lana.”

“No I’m not but that’s not the point.” She pressed. “What if I suddenly ‘came back’ and Alfred or Terry or Toshi or- anyone kept that information from you and you found out- how would you feel?”

“She left them!” Bruce snarled.

She had. Nana remembered that she had. She remembered Toshi, her ever smiling Toshi- looking so heartbroken it had hurt. How little Mel, who’d barely taken her first steps cried for a mother that wasn’t there.

She understood Bruce’s anger. She shared Bruce’s anger. But she wasn’t going to add to that pain. Toshi had done so much, trusted them too much for her to lie to him and say it was for his own good.

“I know.” She whispered, stepping closer into the monitor room; the pale blue light of its multiple screens cast long shadows across the space and her husband’s severe features.

She knelt in front of him, ignoring her protesting knees and reached out to grip the fist clenched on the armrest of his chair until his tight hold eased enough for her fingers to grasp his.

“I know you want to protect him.” She acknowledged. “But we can’t protect him from everything… and- This is the one thing we can’t interfere with.” She sighed. “He wouldn’t want us to. What happened between him and Lana… it's between them. All we can do is support him.”

“And Melissa?” He asked.

“For now… we can still protect her.” She conceded. Toshi was one thing. Bruce trusted him enough to let him fight his own battles. But Melissa… Melissa was still his little girl. Their little girl. Nana wasn’t sure she was much more willing than he was to give that up. “One day she’ll… know everything. But not yet.”

They lingered in silence for a time, Nana let him linger in his thoughts for a moment, merely brushing her thumb across calloused knuckles in the gloom shrouded room.

He released a slow, long breath. “I don’t want to do this to him.”

“I know.” She answered; “That’s why I love you. But- we have to respect him too, Bruce.”

He didn’t argue. She leaned forward, planting a kiss on his temple. “I’ll call him and tell him.”

That way, if things went wrong, he didn’t have to feel guilty that he had been the one to hurt their boy.

(X)(X)(X)

Melissa:

They reached the main courtyard, and the Wayne daughter felt the need to sit on one of the benches that lined the side of the walkway. Rivu sat beside her without a word.

They sat in silence for a while; Melissa, unsure of where to really begin, and Rivu not wanting to interrupt her lest she rethink her choice.

“Even I don’t know the whole story of why Terry was where he was that day.” Melissa finally admitted absently watching the students passing by; oblivious to the story being told. “I can guess but… he’s never told me and I never asked.”

She never wanted to either. Her guesses, her theories had never led her to any kind of good conclusion even at the best of times.

She took a breath. “I guess I’m not making much sense am I?”

“It rather sounds as though you’ve thought about this more than most…” Rivu answered.

Melissa snorted. “Yeah. For a lot of reasons but yeah.”

She took another breath.

From the beginning.

“Terry was a criminal, before we met him.” She felt the dragon girl shift in her seat; surprise, unease, whatever it was the statement got a reaction and Melissa didn’t care to look at her face to see what it was. If she saw judgment there; she might just hurt the girl. “Breaking and entering, shoplifting. Small, stupid things.”

“Even so-” Rivu began “-it's… surprising- that your father would choose someone with that kind of history to be… well.”

“That’s what surprises you huh? Not that he did those things?”

Rivu shrugged “He’s evasive whenever I ask. So it was either trauma or something he was ashamed of.” Was her deduction

“Evasive?”

Melissa heard the disgust in Rivu’s voice at her answer. “He will quite literally stuff food in his mouth if need be to avoid answering.”

Melissa snorted. Yeah. That sounded like Terry.

“You think he’s the kind of person that would do that now?” She asked; depending on the answer, this might just be a short conversation.

…

“No.” Rivu finally said. “No I don’t see that.”

Hm. Good.

“I… sort of knew, who my parents were back then. They hadn’t confirmed it; not openly. But you can only hide so many things.” Melissa shrugged. “I’d pieced things together- just never confronted them on it, ya know? So, I… felt a little guilty; that I’d never developed a quirk, and even more than that that I really had no interest in being a Hero like they were even if I did have a quirk. I felt like I was letting them down.”

“That’s- understandable.” Rivu nodded. “We do many things to please our parents.”

“Yeah well, mom figured out what had been bothering me. To show me that they didn’t mind me not wanting to be a Hero; Mom and dad took me one week to a tech expo. They knew what I liked. There were thousands of universities, job displays and not just for support courses either. Dad argued the finer points of the tech and the jobs. And I think mom was there to make sure we kept moving and he didn’t go overboard.” A smile tugged at her lip, fond memories bubbling to the surface of what was the best and worst day.

“I take it that’s not the end of the story.”

“No.” Melissa sighed. “Its not”

They fell into silence again

“The expo lasted for three days.” She continued. “On the second day- I got so… caught up. We left late. Very late. If there’d been more people around, maybe it never would have happened.” She mused.

Rivu shifted where she sat, clearly eager to reach the conclusion but not wanting to push. “What?”

Melissa sighed.

“We left and- everything kind of caught up with me. I was tired, didn’t want to walk much. So dad picked me up.” She snorted. “I was thirteen and he just picked me up to walk a block towards the car.” Nevermind her weight, at her Dad’s age- that was impressive.

Still… now came the hard part.

“We walked… and someone came out of an alley with a gun.”

“Who?”

Melissa snorted again. For all that he’d walked her nightmares, the name certainly didn’t live up to the looming shadow of memory.

“His name was George.” She said. “Still in jail now. Won’t be out for at least a few more years.”

“I can’t imagine he had a good time with your parents being who they are-” The dragon girl tried to joke.

“Dad froze.”

The words slipped out, falling like a hammer, spilling from her lips like a damning confession.

She could tell Rivu was surprised.

Melissa couldn’t blame her.

She was still surprised to this day.

Her dad had never frozen. Not once. In all her life.

Except that night.

Her dad always knew what to do, always had a plan.

But when he saw that gun…

His face haunted her nightmares too.

“The man was screaming, I was crying. The rest happened too fast really I didn’t even see it. I just remember two shots- Bang, Bang-” She enunciated, spreading out the words with how long it had taken to fire those two bullets. “Then I remember blood hitting my face. Terry’s blood.”

“What? When did he-”

“Like I said.” She interrupted. “I don’t know what he was doing there that day… But he was there-”

She paused, the memory of warm blood spatter was so vivid she could feel it now.

“-he tackled the guy.” She continued. “There was a struggle. Like I said- two shots. Terry took them both, one in the stomach, one in the chest. That’s when my parents finally moved.” She huffed out a breath. Dad let me go. Took the guy down… Mom went to Terry I… I could hear him-” She swallowed down the tears. She was past this… or at least- she was supposed to be. “He couldn’t breathe.”

They fell into a final heavy silence, the sunny spring day didn’t seem fitting for this conversation.

“How old was he?” Rivu finally asked.

“Fourteen.” Melissa answered quickly. “Two bullets should have killed him.” She’d read the medical reports… multiple times. “Months of recovery- Terry’s mother was obviously terrified; I found out later that his father had died just a week earlier to boot. Mom and I visited him as much as we could… We’ve been friends ever since.” She was rambling now, she realized. Too many memories competing with one another.

“I see.” Rivu answered quietly. “So that’s what made your father decide?”

“I don’t think he thought so at the time.” Melissa answered with a gusty sigh as she shook her head. “But he did- He… something about that night told Dad that Terry was the one he wanted as his successor.”

The quiet returned again. Finally; Rivu stood from the bench.

“Thank you.” The Dragon girl whispered. “For giving me answers.”

Melissa sighed. “Did it give you what you were looking for?”

Rivu was silent, before she walked away. Melissa wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

(X)(X)(X)

Asui:

Contrary to what one might assume, Tsu actually liked ice-cream.

Particularly during the spring and summer.

The cold treat, contrasting with the heat typically associated with those days actually made some very nice, tingly sensations when she consumed it, beyond just her taste buds.

When her body dropped in temperature before regulating itself again, it was almost like a… well… sugar high.

Which made sense because Ice-cream of course had sugar.

So she was looking forward to this outing honestly, and not just because she half tricked Midoriya onto a date- it’d been a while since she had ice-cream.

Beside her, Eri’s small hand gripped Tsu’s larger one, reminding the girl of her own little siblings.

“Have you ever had ice cream before Eri?” Izuku asked, walking at the girl’s other side, carrying his bag and Eri’s jacket.

The silver haired girl shook her head with a quiet, negative hum.

Tsu’s features weren’t made for showing her expressions much, not even frowns, but the concern in her eyes was all too real when she turned her eyes towards Midoriya’s equally worried gaze.

There were so many little things like this. Little tidbits that told them that what Eri had fled from was… bad. The array of scars on her arms and legs, the look of wariness etched onto her features, as though every corner or stray shadow held some hidden danger; and how little experience she had with… anything even remotely normal.

Ice cream, school, friends, even just food and eating utensils- because Tsu hadn’t missed the confusion in the girl’s eyes at Midoriya’s table when she looked at those simple things either-

It… honestly scared Tsu- how cruel people could be to each other. Especially to a little girl like this.

No matter what her quirk did or didn’t do; nothing could be worth the hurt and damage they’d done to her already.

Her fingers squeezed just a bit on Eri’s hand, drawing the girl’s attention to her. Tsu tried to smile, hard as it was.

“Well; that’s ok. That just means it’ll be all new, and we’ll have to bring you back to decide what your favorite flavor is after you’ve tried some more, right Midoriya?”

“R-right.” Izuku nodded, smiling, though it didn’t truly reach his eyes. They were sad instead. No doubt his thoughts were running a similar path to her own.

“Okay.” Eri mumbled quietly.

The walk was peaceful and Tsu told herself that the jittery nervousness fluttering about her stomach was mostly because she hoped the little girl would enjoy the outing and not because of… well, everything else on her mind.

When they reached the ice cream shop, there wasn’t much of a line; it was still early and a week day. They–as in she and Izuku–decided it might be better to keep things ‘simple’ for Eri, lest she get overwhelmed with the very wide assortment of flavors that bordered on excessive.

They got her a double scoop chocolate cone, Tsu treated herself to a strawberry ice cream with chocolate fudge syrup. Izuku got a vanilla one, slathered in caramel and honestly that just figured.

But when Eri took her first tentative taste, and her eyes went wide, she knew it made both her and Izuku’s proverbial day.

“Would you like to try mine?” Izuku asked the girl, who had a bit of a chocolate mess around her mouth that just made Tsu giggle under her breath as she turned to stare wide eyed at Izuku.

“But it’s yours?”

Midoriya chuckled. “That’s ok.” He nodded. “You’ve never had ice cream before so you should try as many flavors as you can so you can pick a favorite; right?”

With just a bit more encouragement Eri darted forward, taking a tentative bite out of Izuku’s vanilla and caramel cone, the two flavors hitting her tastebuds and doing nothing less than the chocolate had done.

Tsu offered a bite of her own strawberry chocolate mix.

“Can we really come back?” Eri asked suddenly, her voice quiet, as if afraid that if she asked  too loudly this whole day would crumble away.

“Of course.” Izuku was quick to reassure her. “We can’t come every day. Too much ice cream could hurt your stomach. But I promise; we’ll come back real soon. Right Tsu?”

She nodded without hesitation. “Of course- kero.”

Eri’s features shifted, not quite a smile; but… something close to it. Something real and bubbling with joy.

Izuku’s features turned soft and gentle. “Hey. There’s a park near here.” He said, pointing. “I-if you like and it’s not too much trouble, maybe you’d like to go?” He asked.

She knew what he was asking really. He was asking if she had the time to spare, if she didn’t mind taking Eri to the nearby park to keep the girl’s good day going. He wasn’t being sneaky (like her).

That didn’t mean she didn’t recognize an opportunity when she saw one.

…

Maybe Mina had rubbed off on her a bit.

“Midori-chan are you asking me out on a date?”

Immediately; as expected, his face turned scarlet. “Ahh I- No that’s not- I mean not that I wouldn’t but I-” He spluttered, denials and amendments to those denials coming almost to fast to understand but in the whole song and dance she did understand a general gist of something very important.

He wasn’t asking her out. But he wasn’t opposed to asking her out either.

“What’s a date?” Eri asked curiously.

Feeling a fluttering giddiness in her stomach, Tsu felt like she was actually smiling as she turned to the girl. “Well, a date Eri, is what we were just on-”

She saw the moment Izuku’s brain caught up to the statement, tried to pump the brakes, and ended up derailing, flipping end over end and crashing into a spectacular fireball somewhere between the corner of ‘Huh?’ and ‘Wait whut?’

Tsu really was smiling now. She appreciated honesty and directness… but there was something to be said about catching people off guard with the occasional shenanigans… like now.

Though-

She stepped forward a bit, meeting Midoriya’s eyes.

“I’m… not really messing with you.” And the butterflies in her stomach were back… she hadn’t even eaten any of those today. “I… do like you- Kero -and I’m glad we came here because it lets me say this without all the… spectators.”

Some semblance of Izuku’s brain stumbled out of the aforementioned fireball; though his face still burned scarlet. “Y-you- really?”

She nodded. “Kero- I’d like to… see where this goes?” If she sounded unsure, she was. She’d never done this before.

This was honestly a little terrifying.

For a moment Midoriya didn’t speak, but she knew him well enough to know he was just tongue tied rather than something worse.

Then he nodded. “I- I’d like that?”

In a moment of what she knew was uncharacteristic boldness he reached over, looking to hold her hand.

She gave it to him, fingers interlocking with his.

Eri was very confused. But she was happy to follow them to the park regardless.

(X)(X)(X)

Terry

“Something wrong?” Normally, Terry wouldn’t really bother asking; even if something was wrong; the old man was notoriously closed lipped about everything. Compartmentalization might as well have been his middle bloody name.

But Bruce’s long silences and monosyllabic answers felt different tonight. Not angry; not really- but tense. Maybe even a little sad.

“Don’t worry about it-”

Not a denial, so there was definitely something wrong then.

Maybe he could ask Melissa or Nana about it later; asking Bruce would be like squeezing water from a rock.

Reaching the agreed rendezvous- Terry looked up to the top of the office building.

“Seventeenth right?”

“Yes.” Bruce answered curtly. “The suit’s waiting there, arm up. I’ll check in on you later.”

“You’re not supervising?” Definitely something wrong

“Not today. I trust you can handle yourself for a few hours. If an emergency comes up, call on my personal phone, it’ll be on me. For now I’ve got to go.”

“Got it.” He was definitely talking to Nana or Melissa later. The last thing he needed was the old man stressing himself out.

He entered the building, reaching the stairwell to the immediate left of the entry door and beginning to climb.

Reaching the roof, the door was unlocked and as promised; the Pod was waiting for him when he arrived; long, cylindrical and hidden from the public eye where it’d been dropped beside plenty of air conditioning units for cover.

Reaching over he placed his hand over the access panel and with a hissing release, the metal slid open, Revealing the Bat in all its glory.

And right beside it, four power cells.

“Brava didn’t waste time.” He commented to himself, smirking.

Twenty minutes of up time was a damn sight better than eight.

—--

Moments later he stepped out onto the rooftop- armor and cowl in place. It still wasn’t powered up, no need to waste his still limited up time, but that would change soon.

The sun was going down; the fiery orange of sunset began to shift into the darker shades of purple that heralded the coming night.

With a whirling cascade of water, Rivu touched down, droplets bursting across the roof  before she reformed her chosen method of transportation into a large orb at her side.

“Hey.” She  said in greeting- Terry noticed something off in her voice.

Turning to look at her, he found her staring at him pretty intently

“Something up?” He asked; Rivu was usually pretty unflappable. For him to be able to hear and see that something was affecting her- it had to have been pretty big- or a really bad day.

She seemed to notice she was staring, visibly starting before she shook her head and took a deep breath. “It’s… nothing. Just have a lot on my mind.”

“You still up for this?” He asked. “It was your plan.”

She nodded. “You said it needed some refinement-”

Terry was sure she could have felt his smile as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a pad and showing her the picture.

She raised an eyebrow as she took it. “Goto Tadamasa?”

“Your original plan was to hit them in a general sense.” He nodded. “The pushers, footmen; we could do that but it would take time to send a message. For the higher ups to give a damn. I figure, we hit the guy in charge.”

“They’ll want you dead!” She balked.

Terry shrugged. “They already do by default.”

“You know what I mean.” She groused. “They’ll actively be trying to kill you. If not for the scare then the insult surely.”

“We have a long weekend to deal with it,” Came his cheeky reply.

She sighed, rubbing at her forehead. “What do we know about him? I assume more than just his name?” She asked, looking down at the pad.

“Goto’s the last Yakuza boss as far as any of our sources can tell. He’s old school, publicly hates quirks but I’m sure he must have some in his employ. He would have fallen into a terminal coma a few years ago if not for some advancements in Wayne Tech’s medical division..”

“Ironic.” She noted.

Terry huffed out a laugh. “Yeah- pretty sure the old man was gritting his teeth extra hard tonight. No one knows where his child or next of kin are; main caretaker is a guy named Chisaki. Not enough information to tell if he’s a servant or a higher up in the organization running things for the old man. Way I figure it we start with his closest confirmed lieutenants. His enforcers, his attendants. They’ll circle the wagons around him to keep him safe.”

“And that’s when you want to go after him directly.” She deduced. “When he’s most guarded; so he knows there’s nowhere to hide.” The smirk on her face was a reflection of his own.

Terry offered a nod. “If we just hit him immediately; there’s no room to escalate if he doesn’t fold. This way takes a bit longer, we need to do some leg work; but the pressure build up within the ranks will do half the work for us.”

“I understand. So when do you want to start?” She asked.

“Got plans tonight?”

(X)(X)(X)

Simple chapter, I know not much is moving on the Overhaul front yet but expect that to change *really* fast next chapter, I promise.And here and now you finally know how it was that Terry became Batman in this universe, or at least *half* the story :D