Disclaimer: All characters property of DC. No profit being made from this work of fanfiction.
Thanks to Kalin for the Beta!
Back to Before
Tim hasn't told the others what he does here. They don't pry. They seem to accept it as natural that 'Batman's kid' would want to spend his spare time in the catacombs under the tower. He's surprised, to be honest. Before he'd gone off with Bruce for a year, he hadn't come down here nearly as much. Of course, most of the team has changed in the interim. Raven and Gar are gone. Rose doesn't really know him, although she's trying to change that. The others are complete strangers to him—except for Cassie, of course.
He really should tell Cassie. He knows that she'd probably encourage him, and after so many failures, he's getting to the point where he'd appreciate a pep talk. Maybe she wouldn't, though. She's barely been civil to him since he's been back. He can't figure that part out. Bruce wouldn't care. Tim can almost hear his voice now: 'Let her resent you, as long as she follows you'. But Tim would much rather things went back to the way they were.
The computer's electronic voice interrupts his thoughts to advise him pleasantly that the current trial has failed, as it has with each previous experiment. He's torn between running another culture and reprogramming the machine so that it sounds a bit more sympathetic. He shakes his head. It would only take time away from the task at hand. He ignores the traitorous voice at the back of his mind that demands to know why he thinks he can succeed where genetic experts have failed. They don't have the same stake in it as I do, so they're not trying as hard. That's all.
Tim rubs his eyes with the back of his hand as he reaches for a clean petri dish. Somewhere in this lab, he knows he has the means to bring Conner back. And he won't rest until he finds it.