Robinhood.
Summary
Gotham is burning. Bruce is dead. And someone mysterious has
arisen to add to
this lunacy.
Shit.
Red Robin panted, each ragged breath causing him physical pain with each heave.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
It wasn't supposed to be this wrong.
He glanced out into the streets from the alley, seeing the flickering glow of fire on a wall. Tim felt the heat. He can still feel it.
Mainly because he was part of it for a moment.
He tried to think back. Where had all of this began, he thought between breaths. And would it end? That was the million dollar question. Would Gotham ever be the same after Bruce's death? Tim highly doubted it. Bruce was the adhesive, and Gotham was a shattered mirror that needed him. It was fucked up beyond all recognition. FUBAR, he mused. That was the term for it. Yes, Gotham had become FUBAR.
Tim grunted. He lifted a shaky hand and gripped at a garbage bin's rim, lifting himself up. Trembling. That explosion had taken a lot out of him. But Bruce had trained him. He'd trained him to be strong and to shrug off things like this. Robin grunted at the thought and pushed it into the back of his mind. No time to mourn over Bruce. He had work to do and so little time to do it. Walking into the streets, he examined with a look of disdain what used to be the Redbird. His baby, his car. It might not have been much to look at but it was his. The first car he'd ever driven. Ever. It had stuck with him since he was just Robin.
He sighed and took a scrap of red metal that wasn't on fire and put it in his utility belt, glaring at the smoking wreck from under the domino mask that had become synonymous with the Robin name.
I wonder if Dick'd let me borrow his car, Tim mused as he took to the rooftops, running full tilt and jumping across, occasionally having to fire his grappling hook as not to fall into the alleys below. He had to see Dick. The guy wasn't in Blüdhaven, which neighbored Gotham by…what, fifty miles? No. Nightwing had come to Gotham as well, and Tim sought him out.
Nightwing ducked as the bat whooshed over his head, and slammed an escrima stick into the man's hip. The guy doubled over, and Dick took the opportunity to kneecap him. Electrifying his escrima, he gave his opponent's knee a love tap and sent him down. He'd heard a man behind him, and spun, momentum carrying his escrimas parallel in his arms. That is, until he recognized the person before him.
Tim ducked beneath it, breathing in the scent of singed air and ozone as he watched Dick spin with his arms and finally connect with the brick wall behind them. He jumped back and glared at Nightwing, who threw the stick. It whistled through the air and whizzed past Tim's ear, until the familiar sound of something hard connecting with flesh and bone rang through the alley.
"Son of a bitch, Tim, you could have at least given me a bit of warning!" Nightwing lifted his forearm to block an incoming fist, and sent the opposing thug down with a kick. Red Robin followed suit, ducking under a thug that had come from behind and dispatching him with a well-placed bo staff to the knee. "You know me, Dick," he grunted, and held his suit wings out in front of him like a shield when gunfire cracked out from deeper in the alley. "ever the surprise." Tim grabbed a disc from his utility belt and threw the thing, nodding in satisfaction as it exploded into a cloud of sleeping gas and neutralizing the threat.
Sirens permeated the air.
Red and blue flashes.
Cops?
"Cops."
Nightwing fired a grappling hook. "Regroup with me at the bell tower. I'll explain what's going on there, but for now, keep off the radio. Someone had intercepted the signal. And whoever it is, he's not happy." He gave Red a final nod before pressing a button and zipping skyward.
Tim suddenly had the feeling that this was going to be a long, long night.
An hour later, he'd scaled the bell tower, where Dick was waiting for him. The older Robin was watching over the city, sitting down with his arms resting on his knees. Tim could smell smoke in the air.
"So," Tim started, kneeling down beside his adoptive brother. "tell me. What happened to Gotham, aside from the obvious? Why is it so…chaotic?" He gazed out at the city with him, noting that his brother was growing stubble. The last time he could remember anyone in the Bat-Family not being clean-shaven was…well, never. Unless you counted Damian being too stubborn to shave that pubescent peach-fuzz.
Dick must have been very fucking stressed, if he wasn't shaving.
"Black Mask and Falcone have started a gang war. Every inmate in Blackgate is out. Thank God that Arkham's held out. I've dealt with both Falcone and Sionis but…the gangs themselves are both still burning Gotham to the ground. And there's someone else. The criminals are scared of him, but…I think he's a myth."
"This, coming from the kid that criminals have called a myth before."
"Yeah, well, hold this." He flipped his brother off with a weary chuckle and stood, stretching. The blue bird's crest emblazoned onto the black Kevlar of his armor glowed mutely in the light of the moon.
"We got work to do, Red. I'll take the Narrows. Black Bat and Bluebird have taken West Gotham. Robin and Spoiler are investigating
"And Bru—" Tim stopped himself before he could say anything. Dick visibly tensed up and let out a breath. "Ahem, uh, I mean…Bluebird?"
"She's running recon between all the Mafia families and gangs."
"The Rileys and Sullivans are at war with the Wound Ravens. The Wound Ravens are at war with what's left of the False Facers, and the League of Assassins is actually trying to mediate. It isn't working. I want you taking East Side, North. I've heard tell of an up-and-coming near there called 'the Blackgaters.' Investigate it, make sure it isn't a threat anymore." Nightwing ordered, rubbing his chin wearily. "I might call Conner to come and help you with that, I'm unsure."
"Where will you be?" Tim arched an eyebrow at Nightwing and crossed his arms, tipping over to lean against a support beam that held up the bell tower's summit. He glanced out at the chaotic city once again, this time towards the East End.
"Burnley Town, helping the GCPD quell the 'Ravens in that area. We're expecting reinforcements from the National Guard sometime soon."
"That makes me feel so much better."
"Shut your trap."
Tim smirked to himself, happy at the back-and-forth he and Dick could have, and stood to adjust the wings of his suit.
Conversation over, Red Robin took a running start from his position and jumped, diving off of the tower and streamlining at a breakneck speed towards the ground.
Well, it'd be breakneck if he hit the ground.
He unfurled the metal wings and began to glide.
Yes, he thought, this is going to be a long, long night.