Ch. 10 Bird's Eye View:

The Tim Drake Chapter

I was surprised that the training room of Titans Tower was completely empty. It was still early and normally I could catch Rose or Cassie in here doing something.

Training by myself wasn't the most exciting thing I could have done, but it gave me time to think about what's been going on in Gotham. It's been tough on all of us, trying to find out who's behind the recent gang activity. There was a new player in Gotham, and he knew how to cover his tracks and stay under the radar.

There's been so many unexplained coincidences, too many to be called coincidences anymore. None of us could find the person responsible for covering Gotham in fire and ice. Mr. Freeze and Firefly were both locked up at the time. And the night of the gala, over half of the guests collapsed when thugs attempted to rob everyone. It was as if the thugs knew that Zatanna was going to be there and that they had to have a way to incapacitate her. There was serious planning that went into the heist. Their timing was perfect. There was no way that any of us could have slipped away without being noticed. Plus, why was Jason there, and why did he help us? Too many questions, not enough answers.

Before I knew it, I spent two hours in the training room. Drenched in sweat, I made my way to my room for a shower. I peeled off my Red Robin costume and let the running water clear my head. I began to run shampoo through my hair; unfortunately, my mind quickly drifted to another one of my loose ends.

Lynx.

She was late. Lynx and I have only seen each other a few times since Stephanie was shot. I took on Steph's patrol route, which didn't leave enough time for a nighttime rendezvous with Lynx. During the day I would hang out with Steph and keep her company as her wound healed. It was nice being reminded of how things were between the two of us. But every time I looked into Stephanie's eyes, I only saw the hurt she felt that night. I hurt her, and I failed her. I couldn't be the man she needed me to be. I didn't fight for her hard enough. I just gave up. That's why I arranged a meeting with Lynx tonight; I needed to talk to her.

I had been waiting on the rooftop, concealed by shadows, for about a half an hour before Lynx finally arrived. Her movements were graceful and silent as she made her way towards me; the sway of her hips ever mesmerizing. Lynx stopped right in front of me as she removed her mask, placing it off to the side for safekeeping.

Lynx's arms quickly wrapped around my neck as she pulled me closer, so close I could feel the warmth of her breath on my lips. I knew what was coming, but I didn't have a chance to stop her. I simply let my eyes shut as I felt her lips slide over mine. Her kiss was slow but she was in complete control. My hands instinctively made their way to her waist, resting at the small of her back and without hesitation I pulled her against me. Her scent was intoxicating; and I couldn't get enough of her. I needed to stop. We were locked in our embrace for a few moments before I pulled away.

She licked her lips as I stepped back, leaving her at arms length. Lynx's amber orbs were staring into the whites of my cowl. It seemed like she was trying to figure out what was going through my head. She raised an eyebrow as she inquired, "Aren't you excited to see me?"

"We need to talk," I answered. Lynx's face fell as soon as the words left my lips. She sighed and walked over to the ledge to take a seat.

"What is it?" Lynx asked, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands.

I inched closer to Lynx, never breaking eye contact. "We can't keep doing this, whatever this is."

Lynx smirked as she looked away. "It's because of her isn't it?" she whispered.

I nodded in response, knowing that she was referring to Steph. "I hurt Batgirl, and I want to make it right."

"So what about me?" Lynx looked up, her eyes duller than before. "What happens when you hurt me?"

Her question took me by surprise. I didn't even know exactly what we were. Did Lynx want a real relationship, one without masks? But how could we? She was an undercover agent and I was the "enemy". Would we have to get into a fight before each of our dates? Would we have to keep sneaking in the shadows so that her gang wouldn't find out? And if we were caught it could easily blow her cover. I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't risk her safety like that.

"I'm sorry." I placed both hands on Lynx shoulders, as if to stabilize her. "It wouldn't work out between us."

Lynx simply closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about what I said. I let my hands drop from her shoulders back down to my sides. Silence filled the air as I waited for any sort of response from Lynx. When she opened her eyes, I saw the same sadness I saw in Stephanie's eyes. Lynx gave me a peck on the lips and then walked over to pick up her mask. She put it back on before jumping off the rooftop, disappearing into the night.

I ran my hands over my face as if to force the memory away. The warm water cascaded down, washing away most of my immediate concerns. Once I finished, I stepped out of the shower, dried myself off and put on a shirt and pajama pants. Before I could lie down on my bed, I heard someone knocking on my door.

"Tim? You in there?" the visitor asked.

"You can come in, Cassie," I answered. The door opened, and I saw Cassie with a bowl of popcorn. Her blond hair was tied up and she was wearing blue yoga pants and a matching shirt.

She chuckled when she saw that my hair was still a little wet. "We had a day off and you decided to train?"

"Haha, it kinda just happened," I laughed. Cassie asked me to come back and lead the Titans. It seemed like she had some soul searching to do. I don't blame her.

"So, I'm about to watch some TV, you interested?" Cassie offered. "Everyone else had other plans."

"Sure, sounds like fun." We made our way to the lounge and took a seat on the couch. There wasn't much on the TV so we just channel surfed and ate popcorn. I grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed a couple pieces in my mouth. "So, where is everyone? I thought I had the Tower all to myself tonight."

"Well, Bart and Gar thought it would be a great idea to give Kiran another tour of the city and show her all their favorite places. They managed to drag Raven along with them," Cassie started. "Um, and I think Connor went out with Rose."

Connor and Rose? I was surprised but decided not to press the issue. "And what about you? Why aren't you out there doing something fun?"

"I actually thought I'd enjoy a quiet night in," Cassie shrugged as she continued to flick through channels.

"Yeah, a quiet night's something that I've been needing," I responded while I combed my fingers through my hair. "It's been tough in Gotham recently."

"When are you going back?" Cassie asked after she popped some more popcorn into her mouth.

"I was planning on going back later tonight. I want to surprise Stephanie while she's out on patrol," I answered.

Cassie laughed, "What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking donuts."

When I finally dropped Steph off at Firewall, it was almost five in the morning. We spent hours on that rooftop talking and eating our donuts. It must have been a nice break after patrolling with Damian all night. When I got back to the Manor I barely managed to strip off my costume and reach my bed. It was early in the afternoon when I woke up and made my way downstairs. The Manor was completely quiet. Dick and Damian must have gone out for the day. Much to my surprise, Kara was sitting in the kitchen. She was talking to Alfred while he placed a plate onto the table, across from Kara. She was wearing jeans and a bright yellow shirt that seemed to brighten up the whole room. They noticed me as I made my way toward the table.

"Good afternoon, Master Tim. I was just about to wake you," Alfred greeted. When I reached the table I saw that there was a sandwich waiting for me.

I took a seat and Alfred topped off my glass with iced tea. "Afternoon Alfred. Thanks for the sandwich."

"Actually Sir, Miss Kara has kindly brought you lunch today." Alfred corrected. I looked over to see a huge smile on Kara's face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure there's some area of the Manor that needs dusting."

"Haha, well thanks for lunch Kara. Um, not that I'm not happy to see you, but what's with the visit?" I asked.

"You know, it's been so long since we've had a chance to hang out. The last couple of times I've visited Gotham, I've only really hung out with Steph," Kara laughed as she took a sip of her iced tea. "We have some catching up to do."

I took a bite of one of the sandwich triangles and raised an eyebrow. "Really, like what?"

"Like, how come everyone's been so tense?" Kara asked. "I ran into Damian right before you woke up, and he was as serious as ever. Even Dick was a little more on edge than usual.

"It's this gang case. Everyone's been looking for weeks, but it seems like whoever's behind it all is really good at hiding," I answered, taking another bite.

"Did you guys ever figure out the connection between the dart Steph and I found and the gangs?"

"That would be a negative. Although similar darts were used by League of Assassin members, I'm not sure there's an actual connection between the League and the dart used to kill the arms dealer." It was true; I doubt the League of Assassins would waste their time taking out Gotham gang members. But it couldn't be another coincidence.

"What about Red Hood? I heard he's back in town." Kara swirled her straw absentmindedly before taking another sip.

"Yeah he is, and no one's found him yet," I answered, placing my sandwich back on my plate. "But I think I'm going to try tonight."

"Oh my God! Don't let me go!" pleaded the man I was interrogating. My grip slightly loosened around his ankle as I dangled him off of a rooftop.

"What do you know about the new gangs in Gotham," I growled. He was a member of the Golden Dragons, and the third member I interrogated tonight. Like the others, I was able to catch him on his way home, but he wasn't the person I wanted to talk to.

"I don't know anything! Please!" I could tell he was crying, an attempt to convince me of his innocence. I held the man for another minute, but he didn't say anything that could help me.

He doesn't know anything. I quickly threw the man on the roof as he yelled out his last plea. He landed with a loud thud and hastily got up to run away. I've been searching all night, and I haven't had any luck finding any leads that could point to the gangs or to Jason's current hideout. I grappled onto the apartment building across the street to start my search over again.

Once I landed, I heard footsteps approaching me from behind. I reached behind my back for my bo staff but a hand quickly grasped my wrist, putting me in a firm arm lock. My opponent applied some pressure on my arm as I heard his breathing quicken.

"I thought you weren't in Gotham," my attacker teased. I turned around to see Lynx, with a smile on her mask-covered face.

"I just got back yesterday. I thought you weren't talking to me?" I asked, wincing when Lynx applied more pressure to my arm.

"Couldn't be angry forever," Lynx laughed, and she let my arm go. She lifted her mask, resting it on the top of her head. She then brushed the stray strands of hair out of her face.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, shaking my arm out to relieve some of the pain from Lynx's greeting. "I thought you'd still be at the warehouse."

"Had to track you down. I heard you were harassing my men."

"I needed informat-"

"Yes, yes, about the gangs," Lynx interrupted, twirling her hand to emphasize the point. "Your girlfriend and her little partner already asked."

"Thanks for cooperating with them," I answered. "But, I'm looking for the Red Hood. Have you heard anything about him?"

"Him?" Lynx reaffirmed. She looked a little distraught. "He came to the warehouse a few nights ago."

Why'd he visit Lynx? "What did he want?"

"He wanted to know where some mercenaries were meeting," Lynx answered. "He was with Batgirl."

He was with Stephanie? Impossible. "Are you sure it was Batgirl?"

"Yes, I have video surveillance from that night."

"Show me."

Running to the Golden Dragons' hideout was almost second nature to me. During our meetings, Lynx and I had to find different ways to and from the warehouse. It was almost difficult keeping up with her swift and graceful movements. Most of the Golden Dragons already went home, leaving us with the empty warehouse. Once we reached the office, Lynx sat down and started to click away on her computer. She pulled up the surveillance footage from the night that Jason visited her.

Lynx got out of her seat so I could get a closer look of the video. At first I only saw Jason seemingly talking with Lynx. But after a moment, I saw someone walk in behind him. There was no mistaking it. Stephanie was with Jason. I looked at the time the video was recorded, and realized that this was the night I left for Titans Tower.

Betrayal stabbed at my core as I finally realized why Stephanie was asking those questions about Jason. But why? It didn't make sense for them to team up.

At that moment, I heard the static across my comm link. "Red Robin? Hello?"

"Proxy? Is everything okay?" That's weird; Wendy normally doesn't contact me during patrol.

I could hear her breathing quicken across the connection. "Batgirl's been captured!"

"I'll be right there." A dozen thoughts were racing through my mind. How did she get captured? Who could have done it? I needed to get to Firewall as soon as possible so Wendy could tell me what happened. I made my way to the door before looking back at Lynx.

Before I could leave, Lynx's hand gripped my wrist, forcing me to turn around. I glared at her, but she didn't let go. If anything, she tightened her grasp.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her concern spreading across her face. I let out a sigh to help calm myself down.

"Batgirl's been captured. I need to go find her."

"I'll help you," Lynx offered. Her grip on my wrist loosened.

"No, if you're seen with me, you could blow your cover," I reasoned. "But thank you."

I pulled away from Lynx's grasp and left her office. Grappling from building to building, I made my way to Firewall. Minutes felt like hours as I tried to figure out how Stephanie was captured and who could have done it.

Once I made it to Firewall, I ran over to the computer console and met up with Wendy. I put a hand on her shoulder and her fingers stopped typing. "Wendy, what happened?"

As Wendy turned her head, I noticed tears run down her cheeks and her breathing was erratic. "He got her, Tim. The Red Hood captured Stephanie. Now I can't locate her at all. It's like she disappeared."

"Hold on Wendy, calm down. How do you know that?" I pulled my cowl back and kneeled down so that Wendy and I were eye level.

Once Wendy's breathing calmed down, she explained, "Steph was searching for the Spoiler and Jason was helping her look."

Who? "Wait, who was she looking for?"

Wendy took a breath and explained everything from the beginning. Apparently, someone took on Steph's Spoiler identity and used it to stir up the gangs throughout Gotham. She was the person who arranged the mercenary meeting Jason threatened Lynx about and who caused the explosion across Leslie's clinic. What made it worse was that it seemed like this Spoiler was somehow connected to the League of Assassins. Most nights, when Steph would go out on patrol, she would be with Jason looking for clues on Spoiler's whereabouts.

I realized that I would need some help in finding Stephanie. "Wendy, can you contact Batman and Robin at the Bunker and Oracle at Kord Tower?"

"Got it," Wendy answered as she typed away. In moments, the screens lit up with the faces of our closest allies.

"Tim, what's wrong?" Dick asked.

"This better be good, Drake," Damian threatened.

"Where's Stephanie? Wasn't she on patrol?" Barbara asked.

"Give me a second guys. Where's Bruce?" I asked.

"I'm right here," Bruce answered as he walked into view alongside Dick and Damian. "What's going on, Tim?"

"Wendy just told me that Steph's been captured by Jason," I answered. Silence filled the room, allowing the news to sink in.

"How is that possible? Why would Jason target Stephanie? He doesn't even know her," Dick asked.

I was about to answer him when Damian cut me off, "That's not true Grayson. Brown and Todd have a healthy working relationship."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Barbara asked.

"It means that the Red Hood's been working with Batgirl," Damian answered.

"Wait, you knew and didn't tell us?" I yelled, infuriated that Damian didn't inform us sooner.

"You expected me to betray Stephanie's trust?" Damian asked. "She assured me she could handle herself and I believed her."

"If you told us sooner she probably wouldn't have been taken!"

"Enough!" Bruce exclaimed, taking control of the situation. "Wendy, you're the one who noticed Stephanie was missing?"

"Yes. She was with Jason looking for the Spoiler," Wendy explained. From there, she restated what she had already told me.

"So she was working with Jason to find Spoiler and figure out why she was stirring up the gangs?" Dick concluded. "But why did Jason help her?"

"This must have been his endgame," Damian answered.

"So Wendy," Barbara interjected. "How did you lose her? Is something compromising your connection to her suit?"

"I was able to track the suit for a few blocks but after a couple minutes I lost the signal," Wendy relayed. "Before I lost the connection, I was able to retrieve her interaction with Jason before she was attacked."

Wendy pulled up the audio recording she was able to save.

"Jason, what are you doing?"

"I'm distracting you."

Whack!

"Good job, Scarlet."

"So, he's still working with the girl," Damian assumed.

Anger resonated throughout my entire body. But I had to keep a level head if I wanted to find her. I directed my question to the screen, "How are we going to find her?"

"Let me and Wendy worry about that. You just be ready to go at a moment's notice," Babs answered.

"Keep us posted if you two find anything useful. Wendy send us the coordinates of Stephanie's last known location," Bruce commanded.

"Sending it now," Wendy answered.

"Alright, the four of us will start at that location and fan out to see if we can find any sort of clue as to what happened to her," Bruce affirmed. He turned to Dick and Damian, "Let's go."

I looked at the screen and could see that everyone else was feeling the same pain I was. They wanted Steph home safe and sound. I nodded at the game plan and turned to leave Firewall.

Don't worry Steph, I'll find you. And when I find you, Jason's going to pay.