Black and Red Chapter 7 What's It Like?
Tim ran a hand through his hair, wondering if he'd revealed too much. But he'd had Babs' keen, sharply intelligent voice in his ear for too long not to trust it. Being with her, so many secrets separating them, seemed too unnatural. Besides, he wasn't revealing anything that would endanger this world's Batman, and he really wanted Oracle's help. Babs hadn't said anything since working out his profession. She kept shooting him nervous glances through her eyelashes. Unwilling to press her, he kept tinkering with his homemade computer, waiting.
"What's it like?" she asked eventually. "Working for Batman."
"With him," he corrected gently, setting aside the circuit board. "It's…different. Fairly intense. We have to be ready to go pretty much all the time, and quiet nights in are few and far between. Even when we're not out, we're still working on long term projects and stuff. Out patrolling almost every night. We see the worst of humanity, and find the best within each other."
"Wow," Babs murmured, looking slightly star-struck. "But, what does it feel like?"
Tim frowned, considering. "It feels like a lot of responsibility. When we're out there, there're lives in our hands. Not just victims, because if we're clumsy, unfocused, or lose control, we could end up seriously harming people instead of just stopping them. It's a little frightening, thinking of how much damage we could do."
"If it scares you, then…?" Babs tilted her head quizzically
"Well, of course it's scary, and risky. But it also feels right. When we keep ourselves and each other in check, when we see how many lives we've saved, we know we're needed. You've seen Joker; he's the worst, but there's more kind of like him. Time and again, we're fighting for the innocent."
"What got you started?"
"For me, it was a simple matter. If I hadn't gone out when I did, that first time, Batman and Nightwing would have died. We've all lost a lot to crime, one way or another. It motivates us."
"'Lost a lot'?" Babs asked, fascinated, before realising it would be a sensitive topic and ducking her head. "Sorry, it's just- With Joker around…Did he, or someone like him I mean…did you lose someone?"
"Not…exactly." Tim pursed his lips, judging what to reveal. "Black Bat and Robin were initially raised by assassins. Spoiler's father's a part-time resident of Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. My own parents turned out to be crooks, found that out after a deal went wrong and they got a hit on them. Most of what we do is trying to stop other people losing to crime."
"Your parents were crooks?" Babs breathed, looking shocked.
Tim shrugged. "It happens. I don't like thinking about it."
"Sorry." She ducked her head, looking properly contrite. Then she flicked her gaze up again. "So…you don't have any family?"
"Of course I do. Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, we're family. There's a reason why soldiers fighting next to each other are called 'brothers in arms'."
"Guessing you mean Batman's kinda like a father?" Babs smirked slightly.
Tim grinned. "You wouldn't think it, but yeah, he's the best I could have."
"And…three brothers, three sisters?"
"Not quite. Batgirl's more like a sister-in-law, I swear Nightwing's gonna pop the question one of these days-" Babs giggled, and Tim grinned again, more than enjoying the fact she has laughing at her own counterpart's probable imminent engagement. "And Spoiler and I have been dating on and off since we were twelve."
"She's your girlfriend?"
Tim paused before answering. There seemed to be more than simple inquiry behind the question. Her body language read disappointment, and Tim remembered once overhearing his world's Babs chatting to Steph and Cass, talking about how she loved the contrast between Dick's black hair and blue eyes. He guessed that, in Dick's absence, she'd picked up an attraction towards him instead. He mentally sighed, twisting slightly so his position in relation to her was just a little more obviously chaste, drawing his knees slightly closed to his chest. He liked Babs; he liked Batgirl; the affection was flattering; but…
"Yes, Spoiler's my girlfriend," he confirmed. "We have a lot in common. You know, running around rooftops, beating up bad guys…"
"Oh," Babs said in a small voice.
"When I finish making this thing, it'll need programming," Tim said, changing the subject. "I've got to wipe it to get the different parts to integrate. Want to get your notebook and we can discuss creating an operating system from scratch?"
"Okay then." Babs jumped up, but stopped at the door, turning back. "Rob? Where did Batman go? Ours, I mean, not yours."
Tim sighed, thinking back to his research the previous night. Bruce Wayne had recently shown a new interest in his company. Looking back through the articles, he'd found a record of a speech Bruce had given at a fund raiser for Harvey Dent, which was subsequently gate-crashed by Joker. In the speech, he'd mentioned a great friendship for one Rachel Dawes. The same Rachel Dawes who'd died only a few days later. Knowing Bruce's tendency to excess grief, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened.
"I don't know," he said at last. "In my world, Batman never…retreated, as such. But, I found indications that he lost someone close during Joker's rampage. Combined with the corruption of Dent, the widespread speculation that the whole thing was aimed at him…I think it demoralized him somewhat."
"Will he be back?"
"I can't say."
Hours later, the plans for the new operating system were done, the computer itself was nearly finished, and Commissioner Gordon was telling his daughter to go to bed. "Five minutes!" she pleaded. Tim chuckled, hearing the put-upon father sighing and giving in.
"It must be nice, not to have to go to bed early," Babs grumbled. "What do you do at night?"
"Well, tonight I was going to sneak out and patrol," Tim answered, stretching. "I'm sure I'll find something to do."
"Sounds fun," Babs said wistfully.
Tim smirked. Fiddling with the arm-belt hidden beneath his borrowed navy shirt, he pulled out his spare comm, flicking it over and slipping his own into his ear. "Large button on the side," he said. "That opens all-channels. I can teach you the details later."
Babs tentatively placed the tiny device in her ear, tapped the button, and frowned. "I can't hear anything," she said.
"You sure?" Tim asked.
Babs jumped slightly at the voice in her ear. "That's really cool."
"I'll give you a run-by as I go," he promised.
She threw her arms around his waist in a hug. "Thank you!"
Tim gently disentangled her. "Your dad will be calling again in a moment."
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
Tim glanced down guiltily. "You'll probably work it out…" he admitted. "I have the greatest respect for your character and intellectual ability."
"Uh…"
Before she could form a question, the Commissioner hurried her away to bed, leaving Tim to frown after her, before suiting up and heading out.
AN: This is a slightly updated version of the chapter, because there were mistakes in the last version. Please continue to the next chapter.
Katara
