Title: Remnant
Summary: A new superhero is born
Disclaimer: I own Remnant and pretty much nothing else. And my claim on Remnant's pretty iffy.
Robin blinked in surprise at the figure in front of him. "Do I know you?" He asked, before cursing himself. What if this was someone he'd met as Tim Drake?
The man smiled, brown eyes flashing. His clothes were rather old fashioned, Tim noted. He wouldn't have been too out of place in the forties.
"I don't think we've met. We should have though." The man nodded regretfully.
"Ookay?" Robin cocked his head. "Sir, do you need help getting home?"
He laughed. "No. I'm just a messenger boy for tonight, and then I'm to head 'home'."
Robin frowned and turned to go. The man seemed coherent, but was clearly insane.
"Tim, the message is for you." He said, and all the Gotham sounds seemed to cease,
Robin whirled around. "What did you say?"
The man ignored him. "Tim, it's your time.
A batarang was in his hand before he could think about it. "I don't know what you're talking about."
The man pointed behind him. Robin risked a glance over his shoulder. Gotham was... gone. He was in a tunnel of some kind.
He turned to look at the man, but he was gone, and so was the building they'd been standing on.
"Can't stay here." He grumbled. Turning, Robin began to walk towards where he hoped the tunnel ended.
Eventually, he entered a cave.
"Welcome Timothy Drake. I see Charles found you easily enough." A voice called.
The boy in question fell into a fighting stance. "Who are you? Show yourself."
"As you wish." The voice answered. All of a sudden, the cave lit up. On a throne-like chair was an old man, with a long grey beard. "I am known as Shazam."
Tim's mind raced to the time he had heard Billy Batson admit he was Captain Marvel, complete with demonstration.
"Marvel's mentor?" He asked.
Shazam let out a booming laugh. "In a manner of speaking, yes."
He became serious once again. "Tim, I regret that I must bestow this burden upon you, but it is your time."
"What'd you mean?" Tim asked, still wary.
Shazam gestured at two glowing orbs, one a bright yellow and one red.
"Your friends..." Shazam sighed. "Their premature deaths mean that our world is without their powers once again. You must take their place."
"What?" Tim barked, stunned.
"I give you the telekinesis of Superboy, the senses of Kon-El, the speed of Impulse, the knowledge of Kid Flash, the powers of the original Young Justice."
The orbs flew at Tim, knocking him off of his feet. He never hit the ground, as he felt some part of him reach out and keep him away from the ground.
"What? What's going on?" Tim yelled, frightened. He was floating.
"It will come in time, Timothy." Shazam instructed, sadly. "The activation phrase for your new costume is Skify."
"What?" Tim laughed involuntarily. "Isn't it usually your predessesor's codename?"
Shazam laughed. "It is usually the names of the gods who bestowed you with your gifts. Farewell young Timothy."
Tim blinked, and found himself on the rooftop. Stunned, he turned and observed Gotham City. Looking down, he still had the Robin suit.
"Skify." He muttered, not expecting anything to happen. Praying for nothing to happen.
He felt the lightning strike him with every fibre of his being. But it hadn't come from the sky, it had come from the new part of him that surrounded his skin, and the part of him that was urging him to get moving already.
He jumped and reached for the de-cel which isn't there. He ends up floating in front of a darkened office window.
He's still wearing a domino mask, except that it's black now. The white-out lenses prevent him from seeing if his eyes have changed in some way.
He's wearing a black spandex suit like Nightwing's, only instead of a blue bird on his chest, there's a red 'S' shield containing a stylized 'R', also in blood red. There are lighting marks down the outsides of his arms, almost like the ones on Bart's costume except for the colour. These are a slightly lighter red than the marks on his chest, but not much.
He still has his bat-belt, including his bow. Somehow, this isn't nearly as shocking as the fact he still has Robin's cape, although it's now totally black, and that his 'ninja boots' as Kon used to call them are now such a dark red he can barely see the difference between them and his suit.
The (former?) Robin continues staring at his reflection until he hears the familiar sound of a de-cel line.
"You know, Batman doesn't like metas in his city." A familiar voice states, part dead serious but covered in false amusement.
"I know." He whispers to Nightwing.
Nightwing blinks. He doesn't need to see the man's eyes to know this. "You a Titan or something? You sound familiar."
He had to get out of here. Tim reached for the energy he could feel thrumming though him, and felt the rest of the world slow down as he flew towards the Clock Tower. Bab's lives in Metropolis now, but the Clocktower is still theirs.
He lands hard on the floor, and gasps for breath he doesn't really need. Robin can't be a metahuman. He now has powers. Ergo, he can't be Robin anymore.
Who is he?
The R stands for Robin, except now it doesn't. He could follow Jason's example and rip off a Supervillain's name (Renegade), or he could do what Dick did and try find a character to borrow the name from.
A noise from the balcony. He turns, but sees nothing except his own reflection in the broken window.
He looks as the floor, and there is a groove where he skidded across. He now has a great deal more respect for his empowered friends.
Tim looks at the window. There's something teasing in his memory, except he's never heard it before.
'When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.' It's Mark Twain, Bart liked his work. He'd never used that quote before, but that didn't mean that he hadn't known it.
So, the 'knowledge' of Kid Flash included the remnants of the San Francisco Library.
Remnant. Remnant of Young Justice? Remnant of Bart Allen and Kon-El?
"I'm Remnant." He announces to the (not)empty Clocktower.
"Good to know." Nightwing says, calmly stepping out of the shadows. Remnant smiled, and mumbled under his breath. His Robin suit reappeared, startling his brother. He was not looking forward to explaining this one.