Conner sat down with the group to explain the encounter with Raven.
Of course, he completely left out the parts involving other dimensions, interdimensional demons, and the fact that she was Trigon’s daughter.
Because of this, the girls simply assumed she was a new alien who, for some mystical or unknown reason, had ended up stranded on Earth.
Sitting at the kitchen table, Conner quietly sipped a glass of orange juice as he observed the curious dynamic in the room.
Laurel was patiently trying to coax a few words out of Raven, who remained quite reserved under her cloak.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Karen and Kara were chatting in the friendliest manner.
Karen, with a huge smile, enthusiastically explained simple aspects of daily human life.
Conner couldn’t help but notice that Karen and Kara were physically extremely similar, aside from their haircuts and two large “motifs” on their chests that stood out prominently.
Noticing this, Conner couldn’t stop his imagination from wandering for a second; he swallowed hard, but quickly shook his head to dismiss those mischievous thoughts, downed his juice in a single gulp, and suddenly stood up from his chair.
“Well, girls, I’m heading out,” Conner pronounced as he walked resolutely toward the front door.
His sudden departure baffled both Laurel, who interrupted her attempt to chat with Raven, and Kara and Karen, who paused their conversation to look at him.
“Huh?
You’re not staying?
The boys from school should be arriving any minute,” Laurel asked, visibly confused.
Conner waved his hand in the air with a careless gesture and replied, “No need, I’m going to go make sure of an important matter in the meantime.” Just before crossing the threshold, he paused briefly, turned around, and added with a meaningful tone, “Oh, by the way… I doubt the boys will be home anytime soon.”
Although he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, Conner—knowing the boys’ personalities and how close they were to Clark—bet that after their previous talk, John and Brandon wouldn’t stay quiet and would speak openly with Clark about their origins, so they would likely be busy debating the topic after school.
Once out of sight of the house, Conner bent his knees and soared into the air at a speed imperceptible to the human eye, crossing the night skies in a very specific direction.
The reason for his trip was simple.
Conner, as a transmigrator who knew the future, couldn’t ignore an issue as crucial as the existence of Batman.
Although he hadn’t paid specific attention to him during all these years to avoid interfering in his life, now that he was about to move to dedicate himself fully to building his base, it wouldn’t hurt to go check on how the beloved Bruce Wayne was doing.
Along the way, he wanted to find out which timeline or plotline he was following, since depending on the universe, Bruce sometimes went out to train around the world at that age, so he feared it might be a wasted trip if the millionaire had already left the city.
Aside from knowing that Bruce was two years older than Clark, he hadn’t done much research on the matter all this time, so it was finally time to see how things were going in the infamous Gotham City.
After a few minutes of flight, Conner reached the city limits, stopping on a high rooftop from where he observed the imposing and somber silhouette of Wayne Manor in the distance.
Conner lacked X-ray vision, so he couldn’t simply see through the concrete walls.
However, that wasn’t a problem, as he still possessed a visual acuity immensely superior to that of a human.
Conner scanned the surroundings of the manor, locating the lights of the main study through the large windows.
He expected to find a teenage Bruce Wayne, lonely, consumed by vengeance, and training behind closed doors amidst dense criminology books.
However, Conner couldn’t help but frown as he noticed the place was completely empty; Bruce was not in the mansion.
‘Has Bruce Wayne already left Gotham to train and perfect his skills?’ Conner thought, though he quickly shook his head so as not to jump to conclusions too quickly.
‘Maybe he just went out.’ He immediately remembered that, in some universes, Bruce starts as a teenager investigating murders on the streets, training and fighting low-level criminals before officially becoming the Dark Knight.
So Conner decided to scout all of Gotham in search of Bruce.
After traveling and searching through Gotham’s dark alleys for a while, Conner was completely shocked by the scene revealed before his eyes in an office tucked away from the urban area.
Inside the place, Bruce Wayne was not alone.
Next to him was a middle-aged man with an imposing posture, a piercing gaze, and a perfectly pressed detective suit.
Conner scanned the man’s features from his elevated position and, although he had never seen him in person, recognized him immediately: it was Harvey Harris, one of the most prominent and respected detectives in the Gotham City Police Department.
But what truly left Conner completely stunned was not the presence of the famous detective, but what Bruce was wearing.
At first, due to the lack of X-ray vision, it was hard for Conner to recognize him clearly.
It never crossed his mind that this boy could be the future Batman, but it was thanks to that very specific suit that he managed to deduce his true identity. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
The young Bruce Wayne was standing near Harvey Harris, wearing a striking red reinforced vest with a circular emblem on the chest, green sleeves, and a short, bright yellow cape.
It was, without a doubt, the original Robin suit.
At that moment, Harvey Harris’s deep voice broke the silence of the room, echoing clearly in Conner’s super-hearing: “Boy, I appreciate you saving me from that assailant on the streets.
In gratitude for your bravery, I will accept your request and formally instruct you in the art of investigation and crime-solving.”
Bruce, with his jaw clenched and a cold, sharp determination burning in his eyes, nodded firmly.
“I’m ready, Detective Harris.”
Hidden in the shadows of the Gotham night, Conner blinked a couple of times, completely shocked.
His jaw nearly hit the rooftop floor from the sheer surprise.
‘What the hell…?’ Conner exclaimed in his mind, his eyes wide as saucers as he processed the information.
‘Bruce Wayne…
is the first Robin of this universe?’.
In the canon he knew from his past life, Robin had always been the mantle of Batman’s young proteges, like Dick Grayson or Jason Todd.
He even remembered hearing from some comic book fan friends that the reason the mantle was called “Robin” was because the original Batman admired the stories of Robin Hood.
But in this world, the story had been completely reversed in a spectacular way.
Batman didn’t even exist on the streets yet; instead, Bruce Wayne himself was starting his career as Robin.
Conner let out a silent laugh, shaking his head in disbelief as he took a step back, allowing Gotham’s dense fog to conceal him completely.
‘This universe is definitely completely crazy,’ Conner thought with an immensely amused and relaxed smile, as he took a leap into the void and took flight back to Smallville, eager to see what other surprises destiny had in store for him.