Here is the sequel to Asphyxiated. I'll admit that a bit of belief needs to be suspended for this one, but I think overall it's pretty good. Talia is a hard character to get down, especially her motivations. I think I did an okay job though, even if, again, it's kinda weird fitting. Hopefully, this explains why so much weird stuff happened in the last chapter. :)
Enjoy! I'd love to hear what you think. Oh, and make sure to read the works before this so that it makes sense. Forget, then College Roommates, then Asphyxiated.
Mikey isn't really sure what's going on when his mom starts sobbing and tells everyone to pack a bag and get in the car. He's not sure what's going on when she whispers something to his dad and he goes even paler than normal.
Warner listens right away, but the paleness of his normally dark complexion shows he's confused and worried too. Both of them are packed and in the backseat of their car within ten minutes. Their parents take longer, but not long enough to be considered strange.
"What's going on?" Warner asks quietly once they're on the highway.
They're driving towards Gotham, and both Mikey and Warner know this can't be for any good reason. But nothing… Trini has to be okay. She has to be.
"Your sister was involved in a bank robbery and got shot," their dad says carefully. "She's in the hospital unconscious."
"Shot!?" Warner chokes.
"She got hit in the shoulder," their dad confirms grimly.
"Did they remove the bullet before it could do any damage to the brachial plexus?" Mikey asks, leaning forward in his seat. "Or did she get hit in the subclavian artery? She's not… she's not going to lose her arm, is she?"
Mikey can feel everyone's eyes on him in disbelief. He shifts uncomfortably and meets his dad's eyes in the mirror. They're slightly wide.
"Are you taking anatomy?" Warner asks.
Mikey shakes his head quickly.
"Then how did you know that, sweetie?" his mom asks.
Mikey shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. I just do. Is Trini going to be okay?"
"We don't know," his mom says softly, shaking her head. "It wasn't a normal gun that hit her. It was some sort of… energy gun, I suppose. They don't know what it did or if she'll wake up."
Mikey turns away from his mom and buries himself in Warner's shoulder. Warner throws an arm around him. They stay that way for a long time.
"This wasn't a simple bank robbery, Bruce," Tim sighs, rubbing his eyes. "I know that. I just… I can't figure out what it is. The man really was only going for the money. The gun going off was an accident, but it doesn't feel right. He was a struggling mechanic, and not even a very good one. There was no way he could get a high-tech gun that makes people pass out without pulling some serious strings, and he doesn't have any."
"So what do you think?" Bruce asks. "Black Mask, maybe? Have you reviewed the footage?"
"Yeah, I have. I don't even understand how the gun made Stephanie's roommate pass out. I looked at it, and for all intents and purposes, it shoots a beam of heated light. Not anything that should do any damage, even though it looks like it could." Tim groans in frustration. "Do you wanna take a look at the footage from the bank and tell me if you spot anything I missed?"
Bruce nods absently, sitting down at the chair Tim vacates and playing the footage. Everything goes exactly how people described it, from the gun being pulled out to Stephanie's roommate passing out. A baby starts to cry and Trini Robertson, Damian's adoptive sister, jumps in front of the gun and takes the beam for the woman holding the baby and the baby.
Wait…
"You said you examined the gun and it shouldn't have caused her to pass out?" Bruce asks. "That it doesn't really do anything other than look scary?"
Tim nods. "Yeah. The guy was pretty clueless about what happened too. He was terrified that he hurt her. Insisted that he hadn't expected the bank to be that busy and that he'd heard from a customer coming in for an oil change about it being an easy target that day. What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking I know who the woman holding that baby is," Bruce says, pulling up a file. "Maxima. She's a powerful telepath capable of stopping Superman and holding her own against Martian Manhunter. Chances are that the girl passing out had nothing to do with the gun and everything to do with a setup."
"But why would Maxima want to make Trini Robertson pass out?" Tim asks. "She's fine other than that. No signs of memory loss of telepathic brainwashing. Why would someone go to all the trouble of scheduling a bank robbery and getting her hit with a useless light gun to distract from Maxima?"
"Who was the customer who told the man about the bank?" Bruce asks Tim.
"He described her as a woman with red hair and green eyes. Actually, he described her as someone looking like Maxima," Tim says. "What are we dealing with? There's no advantage to her doing this."
"Not for her, at least. Who is there an advantage for?" Bruce asks.
"Well, it's probably someone who knows of her connection to Damian," Tim says thoughtfully. "Someone who wants Damian back. We need to figure out if she saw anything," Tim says.
"Does she keep a diary?" Bruce asks.
"How should I know? I date Steph, not Trini. You could check her search history before we go scare her. She's only been awake for about an hour and her family is still on their way here."
"You head over to the hospital and I'll check her search history. Text Stephanie and ask her to keep people out for ten minutes," Bruce says.
"I'm not an idiot, Bruce," Tim says. "I know the drill. I'll head out now."
Bruce nods and begins to hack his way into Trini Robertson's phone search history.
Trini is still in some sort of shock over her little brother's real name. Who he really is. Who took him. Her brother, Mikey, the sweetest, kindest kid she knows, he was tortured by the Joker. No wonder he has traumatic amnesia. The Joker is a monster.
She's startled away from her thoughts by a loud ding.
"Sorry," Stephanie says sheepishly. "It's Tim. He wants me to call him and tell him how you're doing."
"That's sweet of him," Tini says. "You go ahead and step outside to do that."
Inside she's screaming. Mikey… Damian, he's Tim's younger brother. He's the person Mikey should have grown up with as an older sibling. Someone should have spotted it, should have returned Mikey to them before they adopted him.
And yet, Trini is selfish, and she can't help but be grateful that Mikey is her brother. She would have been missing a huge part of her life if he wasn't.
Then her window opens and Red Robin flys through, landing neatly in the middle of the floor.
"Trini Robertson?" he asks.
She finds herself nodding and squeaks: "Yes?"
"What do you remember after passing out?" he asks.
"N-nothing," she stutters. Everyone knows Batman and his allies are funded by the Waynes. What would they do if they found out about Mikey being Damian Wayne? Take him away? Put them all in jail?
Red Robin doesn't seem to buy it.
"You're not in trouble," he says gently. "But I need to know. We suspect you're being targeted by someone very dangerous."
Trini swallows, throat suddenly dry.
"Please," Red Robin implores.
"Why is someone targeting me?" she asks.
Red Robin sighs. "I can't tell you that. Just trust me that this is for the best. We don't anyone close to you to be next."
That is the final straw for Trini. She can't let Mikey or Warner be hurt. She can't.
"I saw Damian Wayne like I was dreaming. He was with Dick Grayson and they were walking in downtown Gotham talking about Tim Drake being made CEO of Wayne Industries. Damian Wayne was saying what a fool Tim Drake was," she says quickly. "But he looks like my little brother, Mikey. We adopted Mikey. I think Mikey is Damian Wayne and I think he has amnesia."
"Oh," Red Robin says, taking a step backward. "Well, that helps," he says. "I'll be in touch in case there's anything else. We'll keep you safe. Your family too."
"Just, don't let anyone take Mikey away from us," she says softly, pleadingly. Red Robin looks taken aback. "Please."
And then she hears her door open and sees Stephanie walk in. Quickly, Trini looks at where Red Robin had been but a moment before, but he's gone.
"Tim's glad you're okay," Stephanie reports cheerily, oblivious to Red Robin's presence.
"She knows that Mikey is Damian," Tim reports, jumping off his motorcycle. "She was given a memory of Talia's," Tim adds bemusedly. "The time when Talia followed them for a day because she missed him, you know before she started to go crazy."
"So we're dealing with Talia then," Bruce says. "And she's sowing the seeds of doubt in them. Trying to distract them so she can take Damian back and retrain him."
"That's a leap in logic," Tim drawls.
"Not really," Bruce says, standing up. "She was just as unaware of what happened to Damian as us. She kept looking for him though. She swore she'd get him back."
"How does giving his adoptive sister one of her memories help with that?" Tim asks.
"Because," Bruce says. "Trini Robertson knows who her brother is now. She knows he's Damian Wayne. This means that she'll tell him. Especially if Maxima added a compulsion for her to do so."
"She showed no signs of a compulsion-" Tim begins.
"She has one," Bruce interrupts. "I found Maxima and… questioned her."
"I was gone for twenty minutes, tops," Tim deadpans.
"I was back five minutes ago," Bruce says. "I had a strong motivator. She wasn't even hiding very well, probably thought she got away without being noticed."
"She's smarter than that," Tim says.
"Normally," Bruce agrees. "But she was supposed to be paid behind the bank that was almost robbed. Talia didn't show, so she was more than willing to tell me everything."
"So you know the rest of Talia's plan?" Tim asks.
"Maxima isn't a fool; she didn't read Talia's mind. She read others though. She told me what she knew. This is so that he leaves the hospital and so that they're all distracted and not near Superman. Talia didn't have much time. She found him after we did, and she knew we found him. She knew she didn't have much time to come up with a plan, especially since we've had them under constant monitoring."
"And getting them away and somewhere we didn't expect gives her a small window, even if we figure out the plan and get there in time. She's had more time to prepare and stop us while taking him," Tim says.
"She expects us to be there," Bruce confirms.
"We need to call in Dick and Jason. Barbara and Cass too. Have you even told any of them about Damian like you said you would?" Tim asks. Bruce's non-answer is all the answer he needs. "Well, this'll be fun to explain. I'll call Dick and Cass. Luckily she's in Bludhaven with him. We need to find them on the highway. That's probably where Talia will be. I'd bet anything the compulsion is a backup plan in case we stop her on the highway."
"It would cause some trouble," Bruce agrees. "You're right."
"Well, I'll call Dick then. You take care of Babs and Jason. I'll text Steph too, so she knows to stay and watch Trini and knows what's going on."
Bruce gives a sharp not of agreement. This is where it all begins. This is where Talia either gets what she wants or she's stopped once and for all. Tim knows if it comes down to it, Bruce will choose Damian over Talia, regardless of whether he's raising Damian or not.
It's not mentioned explicitly in the story, but I'm also writing under the assumption that Talia has begun to go pit-crazy like her father. This is part of why her actions are so unreasonable and less thought through than they'd normally be. She's still smart, but also irrational.