Prompt #23- You break it you buy it. DCU: Robin Tim a few months after Red Hood showed up at Titan's Tower.

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Tim huffed as he darted down an alleyway. Shouts and pounding feet echoed close behind. His ribs and shoulder throbbed in harmony with his heart, pulsing reminders that his disaster of an encounter with Ja- Red Hood- had only been a few months ago. The casts had only come off a couple weeks ago.

Maybe Bruce did have a valid point when he'd put his foot down to Tim patrolling alone (not that Tim actually listened- see current predicament).

Raucous laughter assaulted his ears. Small comfort it differed from the maniacal giggle of the Joker's crew, but Black Mask lackies didn't rank much lower.

Something slammed into Tim's upper back, sending him sprawling. Air vacated his lungs. Pain shot through his still tender ribs. 'Come on, come on, come on!' But Tim's limbs suddenly weighed two tons. His vision swam. 'Batman is gonna kill-'

Blackness swallowed him before he could finish the thought.

.

Awareness came with piercing agony running through Tim's shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. His breathing involuntarily hitched in a futile effort to mitigate the pain. Sudden silence wrapped around Tim. He mentally cursed himself, but whatever drugs still flowing through his system kept him from realizing he was surrounded by definitely hostile persons.

The blindfold might have also had something to do with it.

Something, presumably someone's foot, struck Tim's gut. He huffed out a gasp, realizing on top of being hogtied and blindfolded, a strip of cloth had been shoved in his mouth while another wrapped around his head to keep it there. 'Great.'

Tim felt like screaming into the void, but his ribs didn't think they'd take to breathing deeply at the moment.

"Boss said it's time to bring him up."

Idly Tim noted that there'd been no sound of anyone coming or going, indicating a comms system of some sort. That would make escaping that much more difficult if they (which he was still fuzzy on exactly who "they" were) could give updates to people across the building.

Rough hands yanked Tim upward. The motion increased the tension on the chain keeping Tim's arms bound to his ankles. He let out a muffled yelp, before biting it down when he heard laughter from the goons around him.

The men holding Tim half carried/half dragged him along. His shoulders protested violently at the strain but Tim couldn't do anything about it at the moment. Noises of a lot of people grew closer.

"-something special for the final bid tonight." Tim shuddered at the oily pleasure oozing in Black Mask's voice. "The most recent Bat Brat!"

Without warning the men holding Tim dropped him. His knees thudded on the hard ground, followed by a painful faceplant when he couldn't catch his balance. Coarse laughter rang through the room. Rather than flop around like a fish, Tim opted to conserve strength and stay where he'd landed... for now.

"Many of you have a bone to pick with the Bat and his nuisance, I myself included. Yet, if you'll make it worth my while, I will gladly give the honor to someone else."

More like even Black Mask didn't want to face the wrath of Batman when he came looking for his lost bird. Though most would deny it, the Batman that roamed the streets after the second Robin's... disappearance still elicited shivers of fear in the villains of Gotham. That didn't mean they always cared about self preservation. A sudden kick to the ribs seemed to accent the point.

Excited chatter rolled above Tim. He tried to listen in, he really did, but attempting to take air in around the gag after the last kick left him lightheaded. That was until-

"I think I could take him off your hands." A mechanized voice drawled nearby.

Tim's heart stopped. Speak of the devil. Ja- Red Hood was here? And more so what did he want with Tim now? He'd left Tim breathing last time, but did he - Tim shuddered- did Hood want the glory of finishing Tim off rather than one of the Rogues getting to claim it? Having been on the receiving end once before of Hood's fury and cruelty, Tim had the irrational wish someone else would take him. At least it wouldn't as personal of a torture/murder session.

No matter the outcome Tim knew he was as good as dead.

"And what would you want with the little bird?" Black Mask echoed Tim's thoughts. "For all the havoc-" he spat the word, obviously still ticked at Hood's intrusion in his territory, "you've caused on the streets, you still wear a Bat on your chest."

A cold scoff made its way through Hood's speakers. "I'm sure you all noticed Batman's little shadow hasn't been with him lately. Any of you bother to wonder why?" The hall fell silent, Rogues and henchmen alike sizing Red Hood up with a more serious air. Harsh laughter, sounding completely unnatural when filtered through the helmet's modulator, filled the silence. "Guess the lesson I beat into the bat brat didn't stick. This time I'll make sure it does."

Tim couldn't get enough air in around the gag. All his Robin bravado shriveled away and he lay shaking on the floor at the thought of Hood finishing the job he'd started at Titan's Tower.

Though the blindfold obscured his vision, Tim could feel Black Mask and Red Hood's gazes burning into him. Still Tim couldn't hide the fear he knew had to be all too visible in his body language.

"Looks like you got the bird worked up." Meaty fists landed on Tim's head, fingers digging into his hair and yanking upward.

Tim hated the small cry that slipped past the gag. However, the movement dislodged the blindfold- just in time to see Hood stalking forward. He loomed over Tim's kneeling form.

"I suppose I should thank you for packaging him up." A large duffle bag thudded next to Tim. Tim flinched.

Hood's large hand shot out around Tim's neck. Tim froze, unable even to breathe. Even with the slight collar on his uniform, it would take very little effort to crush his trachea. More laughter grated out of the helmet.

"Maybe, if you sing so prettily again, I'll kill you... eventually."

The thought of a perpetual future of agony without even the release of death... and Hood knew Bat tactics. The Red Hood had already proved very apt at staying off Bruce and Barbara's radars. Uninvited tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. Tim had no illusions that Bruce would be able to find him... if he even looked. With Jason alive, even as murderous as he was, Bruce didn't need Tim any more.

Red Hood ripped the gag off with his other hand. "Anything you want to say, Robin?"

But, even if Tim's jaw didn't ache from the gag, he couldn't get his vocal chords to respond around Red Hood's grip on them.

Red Hood tisked. "Shame."

A gun materialized in his hand. Before Tim could even panic, the bang of a gunshot deafened him. Tim took a panicked breath waiting for pain- but yelped in surprise when his face met the floor again. The chain that bound his wrists to his ankles hanging limply against his arms. Pins and needles raced through Tim's legs as they returned to a semi-natural position.

"I don't do the side car thing."

Tim couldn't muster the brain power to decipher what Red Hood meant by that. More hands, Red Hood's hand Time Shuddered, jerked Tim all the way to his feet- which promptly buckled under him. Only Red Hood's tight grip on his forearms kept Tim from yet another faceplant.

Tim didn't- couldn't- struggle as Red Hood dragged him into the night. He stayed frozen when Red Hood sat him on a motorcycle. He didn't try to jump off (which with all his limbs bound would have only done more harm than good anyway) when Red Hood took off Tim didn't try to figure where.

Tim felt like he barely blinked when the motorcycle lurched to halt. Again, Tim let Red Hood lift him and lead him up apartment stairs. A small fairly normal, if not a little rundown, apartment did make Tim blink. Well in Crime Alley it wouldn't be out of the norm for screaming. No one would come to investigate.

A sigh came from behind Tim- a human sounding sigh. Apparently Hood wanted to get personal when he started the torture session. Tim tried to reach for a floaty awayness, but it didn't come.

There was a clink and Tim's arms flopped to his sides. Huh, weird choice but maybe Red Hood (or without the helmet was he Jason now? Was there actually a distinction anymore?) wanted to pretend to give Tim a chance. Well, Jason was going to be disappointed.

"Sit, kid."

Tim let his legs buckle beneath him. A surprised curse came from behind him and arms wrapped around his torso.

"I meant on the couch."

"Oh."

More colorful words met Tim's statement but it didn't turn into gruesome things Jason wanted to do to Tim. That was something.

Jason dragged Tim to the couch and dropped Tim, rather gently on the cushions. A heavy weight wrapped around Tim. He looked down to see a blanket. Turning his gaze to Jason, Tim locked eyes with acid green ones.

Silence stretched for several beats. Tim kept his expression blank, waiting for a gun or knife to rip into his flesh. He did not expect Jason to collapse into a chair across from him and cross his arms.

"I did not expect that to actually work."

Nothing in the sentence required a response, so Tim waited.

"Besides the obvious-" Jason gestured to Tim's face. "Any other injuries I need to be aware of?"

Tim blinked, but took mental stock of his body. Aches in his major joints, bruises on his face, wrists, and abdomen, but nothing that technically required attention. He shook his head.

Frowning, Jason didn't press the issue. Silence descended again, feeling more awkward this time. Well, if Jason didn't seem interested in starting on his revenge plans, Tim didn't feel like asking him to get on with it.

"Dickface is about twenty minutes out."

Of all the things Jason could have said next, that was not it. Tim blanched.

"Leave Dick out of this!"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, no-"

"Please!" If Jason wanted to wait until Dick got here to start torturing Tim, maybe Tim could provoke Jason enough that Dick didn't have to witness what was going to happen. "Just- just get it over with! Don't drag Dick into this!"

A bright green glint came into Jason's eyes. "Get what over with?"

Tim's mouth went dry. Did Jason want him to spell it out for him? "What- what you wanted last time? The whole Replacement-" Jason's eyes flashed a more vibrant green, freezing Tim's words in his throat.

Closing his eyes, Jason took a visible breath. When he opened his eyes they were back to teal. "Dick's on his way here because I don't trust myself to be in the same room as B, especially since he managed to lose another Robin."

Okay, when had Tim landed in an alternate reality?

"You- me- what?"

"Babs called saying B was tearing up the Narrows since someone's tracker went dark. Since when does going solo ever work out for Robins?"

To be fair it didn't always go bad, but Tim wasn't exactly in a position to say that.

"So you..." Tim shook his head. "You tried to kill me. And you said you were going to." Antagonizing his attempted murder might not be the best way to go, but Tim couldn't muster the energy to care.

Jason sighed, more warily this time. "Yeah. I did. It was the easiest way to get you away from Maskie. As for last time... Don't want to anymore though."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"I-" Jason coughed. "It was Bruce I was mad at. You happened to be a convenient target for the Pit to grab on to."

"Is that supposed to be an apology?"

"More of an explanation. Sorry bout... all that."

"You broke my arm. You slit. My. Throat. And you now want me to believe that's all just... done?"

Jason scoffed, but there was a brittle quality to it. "I don't think I can tell anyone to get over anything." His voice dropped. "But I am... sorry. With the Pit quiet I'm not going to do it again."

While not the most comforting, Tim saw sincerity branded in every word Jason spoke. He let out a long breath.

"Kay."

Jason's shoulders relaxed. For a moment he looked more like a normal 19 year old, rather than the crime lord that haunted Tim's nightmares. Maybe- maybe Tim could start there. He doubted he'd feel comfortable around Jason for a long time, but maybe there was hope for their ramshackle family.