Chpt. IV: Our Burden to Hold
Richard sat at the desk of his hotel room, scanning the city's surveillance cameras for more vigilantes. He came across the vigilante in the hockey mask a few more times, but after finally catching a surveillance shot of him without his mask, Richard cross-referenced it with the SCPD database. He sighed at how easy it was to hack into the department's mainframe. He had Harper to once again thank for designing such a simplicit & efficient program on his computer.
The results came up with a Rene Ramirez, with only a few charges of disorderly conduct. Aggravated assault was nothing that worried Richard, but still, it was nice to place a name with a face.
Richard continued to examine the surveillance footage of the city's traffic cameras, looking out for his target. It was starting to really bother him. He normally never took this long to track someone down. Was Richard losing his touch? Did he need to go out & beat some more men down to get some information?
He couldn't. This wasn't his city. He didn't have the right, at least not right now.
Richard thought back to the previous night, where he took down Ramirez. Someone was there that night, standing over the thug that Richard tied up. Was it his man? Was he that close, & Richard missed his shot? Or was it the Green Arrow?
Richard sighed & rubbed his temples with his fingers. He had several bones to pick with the Green Arrow.
Suddenly, the hotel door opened, & Tim staggered in. He was carrying several bags of chips in one hand, & a six pack of soda cans in the other. He set the garbage food on the bed & walked over to Richard. "What's up?"
Richard quickly shut out of his computer program, revealing a decoy tab of Wayne Enterprise PDFs & Word documents. "Work. You?"
Tim eyed Richard for a sec, then turned to his bed. "Figured I'd light up a doobie. Do you mind?"
Richard scoffed at Tim. "Yes, I mind!"
Tim rolled his eyes at Richard. "I'm kidding, man. I don't have any herbs on me."
Richard shook his head, turning back to his laptop. "Yeah, well, I may have to check your bags soon. Just to be sure."
Tim nodded. He sat on the bed & grabbed a can of soda. He looked up at Richard. "Well, if you check my bag, then can I check yours?"
"Why?" Richard asked, focusing on the documents that were laid out in front of him.
"To see if you brought my suit."
Richard turned back to Tim, suddenly caught off guard. "What?"
Tim cracked open the tab of the soda. "You know, since you brought YOUR suit. I figured you brought mine too, right?" he said before taking a loud slurp of his soda.
Richard stared at Tim, reading his face. Tim had a stern, serious look. He wasn't bluffing. He wasn't trying to make Richard crack or admit that he had brought his suit. Tim KNEW he had it. He was sure of it.
Richard sighed in defeat. He closed his laptop & turned to Tim. "How'd you know?"
Tim set his can of soda down on the ground, beside the bottom of the bed. He then reached further down from under the bed & pulled out the blue & black suit that Richard wore the night they arrived. "I heard you sneak back into the room & shove this here."
Richard bit his lip. "I can expla-"
"Explain then," Tim shot back. "Don't explain why you brought the suit. I'm well aware as to why you brought the suit. It's a part of you. It's a part of ME. We can't survive without at least a few days without letting ourselves do what we do. We're hardwired to fight & help, Richard. THAT much, I understand. Even when we're not supposed to be, we do. But that's not why I'm pissed."
Richard watched Tim speak. He could see his eye twitching. Richard had actually hurt Tim. Richard made him break, causing him to snap at him. Tim was always the calm & collected type. But he had it all wrong. He didn't come to Star City because he needed to be save the city.
"I want to know why you didn't think to ask ME for help," Tim said. "Why didn't you let me know what you were doing?"
Richard sighed. He stood up from his seat & sat on the bed next to Tim. Richard rubbed his hands on his thighs, struggling to find the words to say. He didn't want to have to tell Tim. He was given no choice, now. He didn't want to lie to him. He didn't want to be like Bruce.
"This is really hard for me to say," Richard started. He sighed & rubbed his face with his hands. He stared straight ahead. "It's not that I didn't trust you, because that's not it. This has nothing to do with who you are, or what you're capable of. You're our Robin, & you're a hell of a good one. But...this isn't something that I think Robin can help me with."
Tim furrowed his eyebrows. "What, only Nightwing can take this job on?"
Richard shook his head. "It's not even me as Nightwing, man. I'm...I need to do this as Dick Grayson."
Tim stared at Richard. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. He let out a frustrated sigh. "You lost me, man."
Richard nodded. "Right." He glanced at his knuckles & massaged them for a moment. He felt his palms grow sweaty & his chest become heavy. He didn't know how to come out & say it. "You...you know why I'm with Bruce, right?"
Tim nodded. "He adopted you, & you trained as Robin with him, & now you're handling his business division in Blüdhaven."
Richard nodded. "Yes, but...I'm also around to train the next Robin."
Tim looked down at his feet. "Me."
"You," Richard said. "But...you know that we weren't the only other Robins, right?"
Tim nodded. "Yeah, there was someone else before me other than you. Bruce never really talked about him."
Richard sighed. He felt his fist clench. Of course, Bruce would never speak of him. Why would he? He was Bruce's greatest failure, & he could never admit to his own defeat. That cold, stubbornness that Bruce was filled with enraged Richard. After seeing the Bat in Bruce, he could never unsee it. That was all he ever was, & that's what made Richard want to leave Gotham.
"His name was Jason Todd," Richard said. "He became Robin after I left to lead the Titans."
"Right, I heard about the Titans unit," Tim said. "Bruce said that I might join that one day."
"Maybe," Richard said, his voice trailing off.
Tim looked up at Richard. "So what happened to Jason?"
Richard bit his lip. His throat felt dry. He didn't want to tell Tim. It would be too much. It would scare him, possibly drive him away from Bruce, from the suit.
No, he had to be honest.
"He died," Richard grunted.
Tim stared at Richard. "Wait…"
Richard turned to Tim. "You never saw the suit Bruce kept, right?"
Tim shook his head. "What suit?"
Richard shut his eyes tight, opening them again. He fought the tears. "Bruce kept a bronze replica of the suit Jason died in, as a reminder to himself of what he lost." Richard turned to Tim & continued. "He went after the Joker one night without backup."
"What the hell, why?"
"To make Bruce proud," Richard shot back. Tim gasped softly. Richard sighed, releasing a shuddered breath. "All he ever wanted was to make Bruce proud. His dad was a deadbeat criminal, so when he died, Jason had no one. Jason got caught in some bad group of people, & when I found him, I managed to turn him away from crime. But...I guess he wanted to do what Robin did. I guess he tracked down the Bat, & Bruce knew that Robin was away in Jump City with the Titans, so he decided to just make a new Robin. But it wasn't the same. Not for either of them. They both drove each other too far. Bruce tried to make Jason like me, & Jason kept trying to make Bruce see him for HIM. They both had way too high of expectations for each other…& that's when Jason decided to do the one thing that no Robin, or Batman, could ever do."
"Kill the Joker," Tim mumbled.
Richard nodded. "But that's the thing. You don't kill the Joker. We've never been able to outsmart him, outwit him, outlast him. Even with Jason's rage, he couldn't beat the Joker. Instead, he got carried away & didn't see the trap he was walking into. The Joker & that clown girl he drags around beat Jason down to a pulp with a crowbar, then set the cabin on fire."
Richard saw Tim's face grow more & more solemn. "I help Alfred bury him myself," Richard added. "But...something happened."
Tim arched his eyebrow. "What?"
Richard walked over to his laptop & opened it again. He opened up Harper's program & began retrieving files that he had saved previously. "These were taken in Gotham a few months ago," Richard said, playing back one of the videos.
Tim approached the laptop & bent over to get a good view of the video. Richard had showed Tim a video of a man in a tattered, muddy white shirt & dark jeans. His hair was black, but some red was shown in his roots of his hair. The man was stumbling down the street, limping, clutching his stomach with one arm.
Richard clicked on the next video, revealing the same man on the sidewalk. He had fallen, & was unable to get up. After a few moments, a car had pulled over to the curb. A young couple got out of the car & helped the man into the car & drove away. Richard paused the video, then clicked on the man's face. After a few moments, a GCPD file came up on the screen. It was Jason Todd's criminal record.
"That's him?" Tim asked.
Richard shrugged. "It looks like it. I checked the grave after seeing this, & it was dug up."
Tim gasped. "Does Bruce-"
"No," Richard said. "Only Alfred & I know. Al is the one who sent me this file & helped me keep tabs on this. After a string of murders occurred in Gotham where they all seemed to be attempting to frame Bruce, I came into town & offered Bruce help around the office. Al & I investigated the murders, but the trail went cold."
"It did?"
"For a while. Then the same murders were happening Coast City. After a few more days, they stopped, but the next closest place that a similar murder occurred was. I didn't hesitate to make my move. I got Bruce to let me handle Wayne Tech's business here, & came straight to Star City."
Tim nodded. Richard sighed. "I brought you because I didn't want to leave you alone with Bruce, in case he found out what I was doing."
Tim looked up at Richard in sudden fear. "Why?"
Richard shook his head. "Bruce hasn't been taking care of himself lately. He...lashes out more often."
Tim nodded, letting everything soak in. He looked at the photo of Jason on the laptop screen. "He was Robin?" Tim asked.
Richard nodded, watching Tim. Tim stared at the picture with a sense of admiration. Tim had never met Jason. He thought the legacy ended with Richard & him. Richard felt his gut drop at the idea of their legacy, boy after boy, fighting over & over for Bruce. Richard was afraid that someone would get hurt one day. That day came for Jason. And yet...Bruce let Tim don the mask.
"Wait," Tim said. He leaned closer to the screen, reading carefully at a description left under Jason's record. "It...says he was part of Nolan Drake's milita."
Richard sighed. He forgot that that was on the record. "Yeah...that's how I first met Jason."
Tim looked up at Richard. "You...you were there. When Nolan killed Mayor Sharp, &...when he released the fear gas on City Hall, you were there."
Richard nodded. "Yes."
Tim took a deep breath & stared at the screen for a few minutes. Richard never talked to Tim about his older brother. Apparently, Bruce didn't either. Richard didn't like to think about Nolan. He tried so hard to move passed that part of his life, but...it wasn't easy. Nolan damaged Richard on so many levels. Nolan hurt too many people & crossed too many lines. Richard almost killed Nolan, but...he didn't. He could've, but he didn't want to sink to Nolan's level. Richard still wondered if it was worth letting him live.
"Are the things people said about him true?" Tim asked.
Richard bit his lip. "Tim…"
"You said you're not like Bruce," Tim said. "You're not a liar. So don't lie to me now."
Richard stared at Tim's eyes. They were watery, but conflicted. He wanted to be angry at Richard, but he was scared. Was he scared of Richard's answer?
"Yes," Richard admitted. "It's all true. All of it."
Tim blinked away a tear, but Richard continued. "I knew him. Bruce knew him. Jason knew him too. He knew your brother better than me, maybe. I'm not sure. But once we figure out what he's doing, & try to bring him home, you can ask him anything you want."
Tim nodded. "I guess…"
Richard placed a friendly hand on Tim's shoulder. "I'm sorry I kept this from you. I couldn't bring myself to place this heavy burden on you."
Tim wiped the tears from his face & sniffed. "Dick, man, you're not the only one this matters to. I'm a Robin. This is OUR burden to hold."
Richard smiled softly. He glanced to his Nightwing suit. "Well, I only brought mine."
Tim let out a soft laugh. "That's okay. I didn't leave Gotham without mine."
