CHAPTER 4
TIMOTHY DRAKE
AGE 14
"Wow! This place is enormous," Tim walked into the kitchen, careful not to touch anything. It had taken him long enough to convince Bruce Wayne to take him on as Robin, the last thing he wanted to do was break a priceless Ming vase or something.
The butler, Alfred, gave Tim a kind glance. "Don't worry, Master Timothy. This old house has seen boys grow to be men before. You can't damage anything."
Dick Grayson, down from New York City, popped a strawberry into his mouth before he could get his hand slapped. "Don't worry, Alfred used to have to pull me down off the chandeliers. I think he was afraid I'd fall."
"Not so, Master Dick." Alfred scooted the strawberries out of Dick's reach. "I was concerned that our chandeliers might be damaged by your acrobatics. You have always been quite nimble, such that I have rarely been concerned about your falling from some height."
"If you say so, Alfie," Dick leaned over the counter next to Tim. "I also used the bannisters as monkey bars," he said in a confidential tone. "There isn't much you could do to shock Alfred at this point."
"Master Dick, you don't seem to have anything to keep you occupied. Perhaps you would like to show Master Timothy how to make popcorn?"
"Sure, Alfie," Dick grinned and fished the old cast iron pan out of the cupboard. Tim watched with an increasingly puzzled look on his face.
"But aren't you going to microwave it?" he asked. "I've always liked the MoviePop brand."
"Nope. This here requires the zen of concentration to prevent burning or sticking," Dick said with a superior expression on his face. "I, myself, only mastered it recently. Behold..." He poured oil into the pan and turned the burner on.
"But why are we making it in a pan? Isn't it easier to microwave it?"
"Master Bruce doesn't like the additives," Alfred replied placidly. "And besides, it tastes better."
Dick tossed a couple of kernels of corn into the pan and watched as they popped. "Okay, now it's ready. I measured out the corn, go ahead and put it in and we'll put the lid on. Okay...now!" and Dick slammed the lid onto the pan.
Tim could hear the sound of popping like a series of rifle shots. He looked up and saw a sad look on Dick's face. He'd been catching a lot of expressions like that on both Bruce's and Dick's faces. He knew they were remembering Jason and promised himself that he would never screw up like that kid had.
"Okay, shake the pan," Dick instructed. Tim held the lid down and slid the pan side to side on the burner. When the popcorn stopped making noise, Dick let him take the lid off and add butter but just a bit of salt. "Bruce's body is a temple," Dick said with a smile. "He hates oversalted food. And now, we help Alfie with the shakes. Would you get the ice cream scoop? It's in the drawer over there." He pointed and went to dig the ice cream out of the fridge.
Tim found the scoop and hefted it in his hand. Br..Batman had had him practicing with batarangs lately and the scoop weighed about the same. With a grin he yelled, "Think fast!" and tossed the scoop to Dick, head still in the freezer. To his surprise, Dick reached out a hand and plucked the scoop out of the air.
Dick leaned out of the fridge with an even bigger grin than Tim's. "Thanks, Boy Wonder."
Tim couldn't help the shiver of pleasure that ran down his spine. Boy Wonder. He was the new Boy Wonder, so called by the original Boy Wonder. Wow.
"Okay, here's how you make a strawberry shake," Dick instructed, scooping ice cream into the blender. Alfred added the milk.
"And now the secret ingredient," Dick said. "Do you swear on pain of death not to divulge this secret ingredient to anyone, even if tortured by Penguin, the Joker AND Poison Ivy?"
"I swear!" Tim replied bravely, then caught sight of the jar that Alfred was removing from the cupboard. "Ovaltine? Isn't that what old people drink?"
"And many young ones, too, Master Timothy," Alfred replied, setting the jar down onto the counter top. He opened a drawer and pulled out a tablespoon. "Would you care to do the honors? One spoonful, if you please."
"Uh...okay," Tim said and scooped a heaping spoonful into the blender. Alfred took over and began to finish the shakes.
"You take the popcorn in and I will follow with the shakes," Alfred said. "Don't forget the remote control, young sirs."
Dick nodded and added it to his pile of popcorn bowls. "The den is this way. You know it as the entrance to the cave." He opened the door and Tim saw four huge black leather easy chairs, each with matching foot stool, in a row in front of a big screen HD-TV. He stood there and blinked for a moment, remembering the smaller television at home. He also saw the Wii set up next to the set and grinned.
"So, which one of you plays Wii?" he asked.
"Bruce," Dick said, making sure that Bruce was out of the room. "He likes that one game where you flap your arms like a bird..."
"Where I what?" Came Bruce's dry voice from the back of the room. "Tim, Dick gave it to me for Christmas last year. Alfred uses it the most for the video bowling. I like the yoga."
"Indeed sir, I have vastly improved over the year," Alfred added, settling into his chair.
"Hey, Tim, why don't you adjust the color settings while Bruce picks out a movie," Dick said, tossing the remote at Tim, backhand. Tim caught it with a "fap!" and moved over to play with the controls. He had the colors adjusted in record time, even though Dick continued to insist that the colors were too green.
Bruce stopped the argument by relieving Tim of the remote and sliding a DVD into the player. "There's some good swordplay in this movie."
Dick looked at the title as it flashed on the screen and snorted. "Well, we've run into a lot of odd stuff in the Gotham sewers but I've never seen any giant rats. Crocodiles, yes, but rats, no."
"Speak for yourself," was Bruce's only reply. They all settled in as the Princess Bride began to play.
HOURS LATER
Dick and Tim were busy with the dishes. Dick scrubbed the popcorn pan while Tim took apart and cleaned the blender.
"So, any concerns so far? This whole thing has to be pretty overwhelming," Dick rinsed off the pan with hot water, watched it drain and picked up the steel wool.
"Dick, what's the scaredest you ever were as Robin? I'm just kind of afraid that I'll freeze and have to be rescued," Tim said, eyes directed at the blender he was cleaning so meticulously.
"I don't think you will, Tim," Dick replied, then paused for a long moment. "I've been scared, lots of times. Mostly I just snarked at the bad guys and kept 'em distracted so Batman could take 'em down. The worst? The first time I looked real, true evil in the face and knew I couldn't win."
"When was that? The Joker? Scarecrow?" Tim had stopped cleaning and watched Dick's face.
"No, none of them. An ex-DA, Harvey Dent. Do you remember when Batman and I took down Two Face? It made all the papers after Judge Watkins was killed," Dick had begun scrubbing harder at the pan with the steel wool, his knuckles going white. "But you were pretty young, then."
"I read up on it later, but I don't remember it mentioning you much until that custody case. Oh yeah, that one." Tim stopped and gulped. "I'm sorry, Dick. I shouldn't have brought it up. I...um...managed to hack into the court file and read transcripts from both trials, then looked at the photos. I'm sorry. I take back the question..."
"But you need to know, Tim," Dick said gently, putting down the pan and running cold water over blistered fingers. "You know that Jason died."
"Yeah, in an explosion," Tim began, then saw Dick's face. "Not in an explosion?"
"Not entirely. He was beaten half to death by the Joker with a crowbar before the bomb went off. One of the hazards of our job is getting killed in very messy ways." He turned around and leaned against the counter, folding arms over chest. "With Two-Face, the only reason I was there that night was because I disobeyed orders. That gave Two-Face the opening he needed to kidnap both of us and beat me with a baseball bat until I almost died. While he was hitting me, I saw Dent's face, the demonic glee in his eyes. I'd seen greed, avarice, hatred but never anything like that before. I knew then that I was gonna die. It was just a matter of time. But what hurt the most was knowing that I'd let Batman down. I knew that it was all my fault. If I hadn't distracted Batman, he never would have gotten caught by Two-Face. I had nightmares for months after that. And worst of all, Batman fired me afterwards; because I had let him down. But at least I'm still alive. Jason died because he disobeyed orders." He ran a hand through his hair.
"I used to think that Robin's job was to get Batman home safely, but there's a second part, Tim. You get him home safely and you get yourself home safely! You follow orders, even if you don't agree with 'em."
"Do you still have the nightmares?" Tim asked, stacking the cleaned blender on the counter.
Dick turned his head away. "Sometimes."
"Dick," Bruce reached from behind them both and picked up the pan, starting to dry it with a towel. "You never let me down. I fired you because I was terrified that I'd get you killed if you continued as Robin. But you'd learned from the experience and so had I, so I reinstated you. I have learned from both you and Jason. Tim, you'll get more training than Jason had. I want to make sure that you understand the danger and don't get cocky. If you do, you're fired. I won't attend any more funerals."
Tim looked a little shaken. "Are you sure you still want a Robin?"
Bruce gave him a half-smile. "More than ever. Remember, Batman needs a Robin. And you're it."