Two: Flight

"I don't think this is a good idea."

Tim crouched down to looked between the wooden posts and down into the large main entrance. The marble flooring glowed dully in the dreary afternoon light that stretched out from two large windows on either side of the front door. Tim could remember standing in that entry when he was real small and his parents had brought him here for a party. He remembered thinking that he had never seen a room so big before and wondering how much bigger everything else in the house must be. Now, however, he thought it looked a lot smaller. Especially for what Dick wanted to do.

Jason leaned against the railing next to him and unlike Tim, who was just at the right height so that the handrail of the banister blocked his view, could see just fine over the top. With a snort, he said, "I still say he can't do it."

Tim frowned and looked back between the railing. He knew that Dick could do this. It was the same kind of just knowing that told him that, even when they did come back from whatever dig they had gone to this time, he should still never, ever tell his parents that Bruce was Batman because it would be too dangerous. No one had to tell him. He just knew.

So Tim didn't have any doubt that Dick could do this. He also didn't have any doubt that he shouldn't.

"I can and will," Dick said.

He was taking over-sized steps across the landing and counting exactly how many paces were from the wall to the banister. Like most things in Wayne Manor, the landing that lead into the two wings was overly large, and Dick thought it would be enough room. He did, at least, count it off though. Damian squirmed unhappily in his arms as Dick reached the banister and gave a sharp nod.

"See," he said giving Tim a bright smile. "More than enough room."

"Ten bucks still says that you're going to break something instead," Jason said. "Twenty says that it'll be you."

"Wait and see, Jaybird," Dick said as he handed Damian over.

Jason struggled for a minute to hold onto the toddler, who would much rather be held by his favorite person in the world than one of his least. It was an awkward little shuffling since Jason wasn't that big for an eight-year-old, but Damian was a chubby little kid that would probably be as big as Tim was now by the time he was four. He finally got him settled, though, just as Dick reached the far wall and turned to face them.

Dick smiled brightly. It was the same one that Tim remembered seeing the first time he meet Dick years ago at the circus. He was ready to preform.

Dick bounced on his feet once and then twice before taking off in a sprint. He built up a lot of speed as he reached the banister. Right before he got to it, he did a somersault. He had barely landed in a crouch on it before he dove off the railing towards the chandelier.

Tim jumped up and onto his toes so he could see over the railing just as Dick grabbed onto light fixture and began to swing. There was a groan above them, but Tim was too busy watching as Dick swung as far as the chandelier would go. He let go just as the chandelier began to swing back, and then somersaulted once, twice, three, and finally four times in the air before landing safely on the ground. His back was to them and his arms were in the air like a gymnast that had just pulled off a difficult stunt for a moment for he turned to them with that same big smile.

Tim was smiling as well, and he heard Jason give an impressed shout of approval as he bounced Damian in his arms.

"See," Dick said, "I told you I could –"

An angry pop snapped over their heads which caused all four of them freeze. The chandelier that had still been swinging seemed to hang in the air for a moment just as the top of it tore off the ceiling and then somehow slowly began to fall to the ground. Tim couldn't move as he watched it make its way to the ground. He felt something grab him from behind and pull him away a little bit from the railing. Jason had tried to turn himself and Damian away as much as he could while he moved Tim behind him.

Tim managed to get his arms up before a deafening crash of breaking glass and metal filled the air around them. It seemed to last forever, ringing and echoing throughout every shadowy inch of the house. It felt like the sound rang through him like a clap of thunder from a lightning bolt that struck to close to the house. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it was mostly silent again.

Tim lowered his arms just as Jason turned back to see what happened. A few angry hisses and sparks came from above them where the wiring was now exposed. Almost directly below where it once hung, the chandelier laid in a twisted heap of broken metal and shattered crystals and light-bulbs. It had made a hole in the stone flooring and cracks reached out all across the entrance.

"Holy shit," Jason muttered.

Dick was a few feet back from where he had landed and was slowly stranding up from the protective crouch he bent down to. He didn't look hurt but his jaw hung opened like a stunned fish.

That feeling that Tim had before was back and calling him all sorts of mean names for not knowing that this was going to happen.

Before Tim could examine that too closely, the sound of heavy footfalls running reached him. Bruce appeared through one of the side entrances. He was frowning as he paused, looked at the broken chandelier, then around the room, and finally to Dick. Just as he ran over to him, Alfred appeared right were Bruce had been and gave a surprised shout.

"Good Lord!"

"Are you okay?" Bruce demanded as he took hold of Dick and turned him a bit.

Checking for injuries, something whispered. Tim ignored it.

The twisting must have shaken Dick's head clear because he started to pull against Bruce's grip.

"I'm fine," he said as he tried to work his way free from his grasp.

It didn't work, but Bruce must have thought he was okay enough because he was then looking around the room again. When he spotted them up on the landing, his shoulders dropped a little. He also closed his eyes for a moment and let out a breath.

"What happened?" he asked in the same tone as he had used on Dick.

Dick ducked his head a little in a way that reminded Tim of one of those videos where dogs knew they've done something really bad while someone asked them what they did.

Tim, too, crouched down back behind the railing and bit down onto his bottom lip. He knew this was a bad idea.

Damian was trying to escape Jason's grip again and was now pushing at his face like he thought if he was annoying enough that Jason would put him down. Jason twisted his head away from the little hands that were hitting at his cheek and jaw, but held Bruce's gaze and matched his frown.

"Dick did it."

"You bet I couldn't!" Dick snapped back.

"You still did it, dickhead," Jason replied.

As Dick and Jason started to argue back and forth and pinched the bridge of his nose, Tim sat down on the floor and held back a sniffle. He should have listened to that voice in the back of his head and never asked Dick if he could still do a quadruple.