Disclaimer and notes found in first chapter.

…

Masquerade:

Chapter Two

Tim found that since he had stopped his nighttime activities and went to bed at reasonable hours, he woke up early. Even on Saturdays. It was six in the morning and even Dana wouldn't be up yet. Bored already, the young man left a note to his parents saying he was going to the corner store for milk. Truth be told, Tim was going to find a newspaper to tell him what had happened last night with the Mad Hatter. The young man had gone to his room last night after his father returned, but falling asleep was another story. There was something very unnerving about knowing the Mad Hatter was free and there was nothing Tim, or rather Robin, could do about it. In the end, the only thing that helped Tim fall asleep was knowing that Bruce and the others were out keeping the city safe.

Now though, he had the chance to at least gain something informative about what happened last night without his father knowing. Tim left the note, promising to be home within the hour.

Tim knew he was being followed and knew that he had been for about a mile now. After all, you didn't become sidekick to Batman based on luck alone. He hadn't been able to sort out who exactly was behind him, but knew that it was one person (at least on the ground) and they had been keeping a distance of around fifty feet. All in all, Tim found the person to be doing a very poor job following him and figured he couldn't be much more obvious. Listening to the slight noise of the man's boots (he had snuck a look back as he turned a corner and recognized the frame as male) Tim knew he should turn around and face this man, but some part of him that had always found pleasure in the games that got played while in costume, was enjoying stringing this man along.

With a self-satisfying smile, Tim saw an upcoming alley and his perfect chance to take down his tailgater. The anticipation of the upcoming pounding he would inflict made Tim almost giddy. It had been much too long since he had the chance to take someone down.Maybe I'll ask him why he's been following me. A little interrogation, Tim thought to himself as he turned into the alley.

Instantly the smile that had graced his face vanished as he found himself facing seven fairly large men. Knowing he wasn't up for that kind of battle, Tim turned to quickly exit the alley only to find the man who had been tailing him standing with two other buddies.What's going on? The young man thought even as he realized something was seriously wrong. A glimpse of movement cause Tim to quickly duck, although a moment too late. The double-fisted blow that had been aimed for the back of his head, caught him on the shoulder. Due to being off-balance and location of the hit, the young man began to fall to his side. Instinct set in and Tim allowed his body to roll with the hit, so that his shoulder contacted the ground and gave him momentum to roll, finally resting back on his feet.

Facing the circle of men, Tim allowed his mind to calm and his stance to become defensive. Tim was ready for a fight, but that didn't mean he wasn't a bit off-kilter wondering why there was a sudden, and obviously organized, attack on him. The young man had no time to consider the reasons for this situation before two of the men attacked.

The men, although versed in fighting, were not prepared for a victim who fought back and fought back strongly. Very quickly those two fell and Tim stood ready for the next onslaught. He was not disappointed as two more attackers rushed him.

It was as he faced these two that Tim's eye caught sight of another man entering the alley. Two men flanked this man and instantly the teenager knew this man was in charge of everything that was going on. Dodging the attacks from the men, Tim worked to make his way closer to this headman. The young man neatly took care of his newest adversaries and found himself facing the man in the dark brown suit.

The man gazed at the Tim for a long moment before he smiled slightly.

"I never would have guessed you'd be raised a fighter."

Tim narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

The man spoke again, "You're gonna be very useful to me for the next two days."

The young man stared defiantly and opened his mouth to say something he considered witty, but the chance never came. Unnoticed by Tim, a man from the circle snuck up behind him. The teenager felt the taser connect to his side and instinct caused him to twist away from the paralyzing bolt of electricity he knew was coming. However, he was not fast enough and the taser was released. Tim slumped to the ground unconscious.

Mike looked down at the now prone body with a sneer.

"Put him in the car and make sure he'll stay out."

The men picked up the unconscious teenager and loaded him into the car, being certain to inject a generous amount of sedative. Gardenee followed his men out of the alley and move to his own car. He wouldn't know where the men were taking the boy, nor would he know what they did to him. The only rule was no killing or fatally wounding. Everything else was a go because Mike always got his money one way or another.

---

Jack Drake paced angrily in his small living room. His son had been gone well past the hour he said he would be out. This sort of thing used to happen all the time, but Jack never found himself capable of losing that innate fear whenever his son was not home at a proper time. Of course, he knew that was a sign of a good father; he worried for his child. However, this time it was different. Jack knew all about his son's secret life and knew, undoubtedly knew, that Tim was somewhere breaking his promise to give up Robin. For the first time in his fatherhood, Jack Drake was not worried for his son and instead was enraged.

Tim had promised and that was not something a Drake took lightly. Regardless of all the past lies, Jack truly believed that his son would hold onto this promise because, if he did not, there was so much more at risk. But, Jack realized, promises meant nothing to his son and lying had become second nature to him. He wasn't sure what he would do when Tim got home, but he sure as hell would make that kid realize what the cost of this lie would be. Damn Bruce to hell, he would go public with the whole Batman and Robin charade and end this cycle of insanity.

With that somewhat comforting thought, Jack finally sat down and waited for Tim to return.

---

Consciousness came quickly to the young man, however years of training were never lost and so, though fully awake, Tim appeared as listless as he had been moments before. Survey your surroundings. It was the first rule when one woke up from being knocked out. Usually, Tim forwent that rule and instead went with his own: Make sure you have the mask still on! But that didn't apply here so Tim was happy to neglect that obsession part of his behavior while in outfit.

Keeping his breathing shallow and slow, Tim listened and found there was no noise anywhere. No footsteps, no voices, but even more concerning, no cars. Gotham's public transportation was very lacking and, to not hear a single engine, meant to Tim that he was either up very high or outside of the city. The latter one he could deal with, the former he didn't enjoy so much. At least, the young man reasoned, no one was with him currently. Taking that thought to heart, Tim opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings.

Immediately, he knew he was no longer in Gotham because the city did not possess any thing cabin-like and that was certainly where he was located. He was lying on a hardwood floor, facing a good size fireplace. The large room was decorated with a soft couch and chair, a small wooden dining table, and many different animal heads. There were three doors and Tim assumed one lead outside, the other two probably to bedrooms. Tim lifted his head and attempted to look out of the window by the couch. It was a fruitless venture, since he noticed boards covering the outside. So, he noted, someone had thought ahead and made certain he was unable to figure out his surroundings and escape. Sighing slightly and knowing he could gain no further knowledge from his place on the floor, the Former Boy Wonder felt the bonds that held him.

A smile came unbidden to his face even as he realized some mean knots held him. Yes, they were well-crafted knots, but nothing that Dick hadn't tried to tie him up with before. In under a minute, Tim's wrists were free and his tied ankles soon followed. Standing and stretching lightly (being mindful of the headache he felt forming from the blow to his head), the young man began to walk towards the windows. He found them, as he already noted, nailed shut from the outside. Knowing that route was going to prove too much work, Tim shrugged and headed towards the front door.

Before he was even half way across the room, however, said door opened and two rather impressively sized men entered. Tim froze and, without a second thought, moved into a fighting stance.

The two men shared a look and then began to laugh. "Hey look, he wants to fight, " one man commented.

Tim didn't move out of his stance, but mentally cursed, uncertain what he should do. Usually, Tim Drake was the kid that got picked on in gym class, the nerd who did little to fight off any bullies. However, that was far from the case. If he had wanted to, Tim could have already taken these two men down and been out the door, halfway to his home, but that would mean taping into his Robin persona. He'd been beaten up before as Drake, but that had been different, people who knew him only as Tim had been watching and they knew what kind of fighter he was, or rather, wasn't. He was in a mental battle with himself not certain he should risk an all-out fight with these men, but also not certain he could sit idly by and be the helpless kidnap victim that could, in all reality, get seriously hurt.

The young man stared at the older men across from him and made a decision to wait before provoking a fight. Tim allowed himself to relax and, as soon as he did so, the two moved forward surrounding the teenager on both sides.

"Glad you decided to be smart and not get yourself killed just yet." Blondie (mentally named by Tim due to the color of his hair and to keep him separate from Brownie, the other man) said. Brownie nodded his head in agreement and then put a hand on Tim's shoulder. Tim could feel the hand clench tightly, probably even bruise, but he made no outward sign of discomfort. There was a part of him that was still Robin, even if it was hidden for the time being.

"What do you want with me?" The Former Boy Wonder asked, in what he hoped was a confused and frightened voice. He knew that he could only get away with so much of a brave-front before it become unrealistic. He needed to be a kidnap-victim in surroundings he did not recognize with two men that could hurt him. So, shoving the Robin pride deep down, he acted just like that.

"That's not for you to know," Blondie replied. "What you're suppose to do is sit down not give us any trouble."

Tim spared a glance at Brownie, now known as Mic, and mentally sized the man up. He was big, bigger then Blondie, but that didn't mean much. The bigger they are, the harder they fall,Tim thought with a mental smile.

Mic, in mobster movie style that made Tim want to roll his eyes, pounded his fist into his open palm. Act scared, this is supposed to scare you, the teenager reminded himself and promptly looked back to Blondie with wide eyes.

"Yeah," Mic echoed and the young man knew he wasn't surrounded by the sharpest tools in the shed. "And if you really piss me and Hal off we'll teach ya some restraint."

Tim was tempted to correct Mic's English, but withheld and only nodded as if he understood and would be no trouble. Well, no trouble for now.

Hal nodded at Mic and the two men moved to Tim and pushed him in the general direction of one of the doors. Mic stepped in front of Tim, opened the door, and the sight of a dingy bedroom greeted the teenager. There was a bed, a single desk, and a boarded up window inside the room.

"Stay in here and don't cause any trouble."

"I just want to know what's going on." Tim said, still trying to satisfy his need for some information.

"You should have talked to your father more often then," Hal said and then walked out of the room behind Mic. Tim actually felt his jaw drop open in surprise and barely noticed the door being shut and locked.

My Dad? He questioned mentally as he took a seat on the shaky bed behind him. What does he have to do with this? The young man shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. All of this, although previously mysterious, now took on epic proportions of incomprehension and Tim really wished he knew what was happening.

TBC...