Authors note: This story starts after the death of Jack Drake, but before the conclusion of Identity Crisis. I'm going to taking some liberties with the continuity, because there's a lot of stuff DC's done (especially in the Bat-books) that I don't really like and don't really want to write about. I'm putting this in the Bat-section because that's where I feel it belongs, but it's going to focus on the Titans a lot, too. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it/
Robin swung gracefully to the top of the building he was scouting just a moment ago. His tag-a-long landed softly beside him. He decided he could see why Bruce wouldn't want him to patrol alone. Steph was dead. His dad was dead. His whole life just seemed to take one shot after another. He supposed that Bruce might have thought he would try to do something stupid, like maybe firing a line a few seconds too late, or maybe roll just a split-second slower than he normally would when a gun fired. He had to admit, the thought had crossed his mind.
He began to walk to the opposite ledge, the one just above the alley they were staking out. He glanced back at his partner, just a few steps behind him. Her eyes were focused on him. She was no doubt under orders to watch him, and make sure he didn't do something he wouldn't have the chance to regret. At least she was being quiet; normally at this point in the patrol Steph would have covered at least twenty subjects, and gone back over a few for good measure. Of course, silence was not out of the ordinary for Batgirl.
He knelt down at the ledge, intently watching the scene on the ground. There were two men, one looked big enough to start on the defensive line for the Gotham Wildcats, and the other was short and squat. Shortie had a briefcase he was carrying at his side, unopened, and the Fridge was holding a hand inside his left breast pocket. Either a gun or cash, Robin couldn't tell from this distance. They were talking about something, Robin couldn't really make that out either, but it wasn't important. They had been following this case for days.
He looked to his side at Batgirl, parked just a few inches away. She was watching the men also, but in the same bored sort of way a cat may watch a mouse, deliberating whether or not to waste the energy required to pounce on it. She looked over to him, caught him looking at her, and made a pointing motion at the big guy followed by pounding her fist into her palm. Cassie liked the big guys. Robin just shrugged and then nodded his head. No reason to upset her when it looked like he would be working with her for a while.
Something was happening down below. The little guy had opened up the briefcase, and held it up for the big man's approval. It looked to contain several bags of a white powder like substance. The big man looked at it for second and then made what sounded like a grunting noise. Robin was surprised he didn't inspect it further, apparently these two must be used to dealing with each other. The big man pulled out a thick stack of cash from his breast pocket. He gave it to the small guy, who didn't bother to count or inspect it, and then handed the briefcase over. There were a few more words, probably just pleasantries, and the two turned in opposite directions and started to walk away.
The two vigilantes needed no other signal than this. They leapt off the roof simultaneously, both firing lines into the air and swinging down on their prey. Robin detached his lined and swooped forward, delivering a swift kick the back of the small man's head. He was out almost immediately. He looked out of the corner of his eye to Batgirl. She seemed to have landed awkwardly, very unusual for her, and was swaying off balance. If the big man was surprised, he did a good a job a hiding it and wasted no time throwing a bone shattering punch at her. Cassie rolled with it, and managed to deliver a powerful kick to the man's midsection. He bent over double, but he was still on his feet. Robin considered helping her out, but he knew she would more than likely get pissed at him, so he just cuffed and tied up the small guy. She still seemed to be moving rather oddly, but still finally managed to put her quarry on his back with an uppercut.
After this, Robin wasted no time in getting cuffs on the big guy and securing him with a bit of rope. Batgirl seemed to be massaging her ankle. He walked over to her and knelt down so his face was at her level. He gave her a questioning look, which she replied to with, "Ankle. Hurt." sounding rather muffled through her mask.
Robin couldn't help but smile. "Your ankle, huh? Guess you must've hurt it on the way down?" She nodded. "Well then," he continued, "do you think it's broken?" She seemed to consider for a moment, and felt her ankle again before shaking her head. "Okay. All right, it's probably just sprained. Let me call Oracle all right? Then we'll see what we can do about it." She nodded again and went back to massaging her ankle.
Robin put on his earpiece and sent a call through to Oracle, while simultaneously pressing the homing button for the Redbird. Oracle was only a few seconds in answering, O, here. What's up R?
Robin looked back over to Batgirl who was just sitting down now. "Those two guys you had us following? We got them. They're tied up in our current position right now, awaiting police escort."
He thought he heard Oracle's voice brighten just slightly when she responded, That's great! I'll send the info to police HQ right now. Anything else to report?
He looked over at his partner again. She seemed a little lost. "Yeah, BG hurt her ankle in the encounter. She looks kinda bummed out." Tim knew that her self-confidence was hurting worse than her ankle.
Oracle quickly responded, Is it serious?
Tim shook his head before realizing Babs couldn't see him and said, "No, at most it's just a bad sprain. Look, It's kind of late anyway," he looked at his watch that he kept in his belt, it said 2:30 AM, "so, I'll take her to my satellite cave. It's right near here, so I can fix her up there and we can both get some sleep without us having to go halfway across the city to your place."
Babs took a minute or two before answering. Tim could almost see her frowning. Well... okay. I'll be checking on you first thing in the morning! Or, well, later anyway. Umm... Let's just say noon-ish.
Tim chuckled slightly to himself. "Okay, noon-ish then."
Babs shook her head on the other end of the line. Take care of her, Wonder boy. O, out.
Just as those last words came out of Oracle's mouth, the Redbird entered the alleyway. The sleek red car rolled to a stop just a few feet away from them. Robin had grown quite fond of his car. He still remembered when he got the first Redbird, Dick had been so jealous. 'So where's my car?' he kept asking Bruce. Not like he needed one then, he already had half a dozen or so, but he never got one from Bruce. Luckily, Nightwing never took it out on him.
He looked over at Batgirl, who was already rising, though favoring her right foot heavily. "So, you heard all that right?" he said. She simply nodded. He nodded back. "Okay then, lets get going." He pressed a button in a compartment on his belt and the doors slid open. Cassie climbed in without a word on the passenger side, and he followed her on the driver's side. The doors closed soundlessly and Robin strapped in his seatbelt. A transmission was coming in on the radio, something about a jewel heist. Well, anyway it was in the big B's patrol area. Better to let him handle it.
He flicked off the police band and put the car into reverse. As he backed out, Cassie seemed to shift uncomfortably in her seat. "You okay?" he said while shifting back into drive. She just nodded again and strapped in her seatbelt. Tim sighed and put the car back into drive, and the streets became a blur as he headed out of the main portion of the city. He was speeding, but there wasn't a cop in the jurisdiction that would pull the Redbird over.
They came up on the entrance of his cave about 10 minutes later, Cassie spent most of that time staring straight ahead and not saying anything. He really liked his cave. Another gift from Bruce, like the car. He didn't give many of them, but when he did they were usually pretty good. It was small, not even as big as Cassie's own satellite cave, but it was also comfortable. Aside from the standard computer terminals, medical room, and training room, there was a fairly large bedroom that could pass for any given dorm room on any given college campus in the nation.
Robin parked the car it it's spot and opened the doors, planning on helping her out but she was up and moving on her own before he could get to her side. He scooped her up and started moving towards the medical room. She took off her mask and began to protest, "You… don't need to."
Tim shook his head. "No, you need to stay off of that ankle as much as possible for the next couple of days. You don't want to make it worse do you?" Cassie seemed to accept this little defeat and allowed herself to be carried over to one of the tiny beds in the medical room. He walked over to the bathroom after that and ran up a warm bath. He walked back out and picked her up again. "Okay, how about this? You can wash up, and then I'll wrap up that ankle. You didn't bring any fresh civvies with you, did you?" She shook her head, and Tim nodded. "Yeah, I thought so. Don't worry, I'll let you have some of mine."
He carried her over to bathroom and set her down on the tub's edge. "You can go ahead and get in, just let me know when you're done and I'll give you some clean clothes, all right?" Cassie nodded and he left the room, shutting the door on his way out. She took off her gloves and boots, wincing a little as she brushed against her ankle. She stripped off the rest of her costume and underwear, folding it all neatly and setting it on the floor.
She then slid into the bath, making sure to stay off of her left foot as much as possible. As she started washing herself, she started to think about just what had gone wrong that night. She couldn't really comprehend it, nothing like that had ever happened to her before. She supposed she wasn't really focusing as she should have been, she had been thinking about Robin. She knew what he had been through recently. Steph's death had hit him hard, it hit her hard too, but then to have his father murdered by some two-bit super villain like Captain Boomerang…. It was just too much too soon.
She had been going on patrol with Robin a lot after that happened. Batman said he couldn't be left alone in the field for the time being, and with Spoiler dead and Nightwing in Bludhaven that left things up to her. She didn't mind too much, Tim was nice and she liked having the company, even if he did tend to ignore her for the most part. This was different, though. He brought her back to his cave. She didn't even know he had a cave. It was smaller than hers, but it felt nicer… it felt like a home. Her cave was littered with training equipment and was about as personal as the shower at the YMCA. This was different… it was better.
She was just about through now. She let the tub drain and stood up, making sure to put her weight on her right foot. She stepped out carefully and grabbed a towel from the rack above the toilet. After drying off, she wrapped the towel around her torso and opened the door. "Tim?" she called out. He was in the medical room, in view of her. He was still in costume, but he had taken his mask, gloves, and belt off. He turned around when he heard his name and picked up the clothes he had set on one of the beds. He gave them to her and smiled a bit before turning back and walking off again somewhere. She closed the door again and unwrapped the towel around her. He gave her an old t-shirt with the Superman shield on it (possibly one of Kon's, she thought) and some dark blue gym shorts. No underwear, but she supposed he wouldn't really have any on hand.
She put them on, the shorts fit pretty well but the shirt was a couple of sizes too big. She took a moment to clean up themes she had made before opening the door again and hopping over to a bed and sitting down there. Tim was back again with the stuff he needed. "Go ahead and swing the rest of the way up there, and let me have a look at that ankle," he said to her. She did and leaned closer, taking her left foot in his hand carefully and studying her ankle. He lightly massaged it, sending small tingles of pain up to her. "Well," he started, "it's not broken, but it is a pretty bad sprain. It's already pretty swollen. But, I'll wrap it up and we'll put some ice on it, and then, I dunno, catch the late late show or something." He smiled when he said this last part, and it was a real smile, not the fake ones he usually gave these days. Cassie found it infectious.