AN: Thanks for all the comments, favorites, and follows! I appreciate it! Have a great end of the year!
AN*: Sorry about such a long update! My computer died from a virus just after Thanksgiving so I had to wait until Christmas, knowing I would get something to replace it, to have a product with Word on it! So here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
I do no own Young Justice or any other DC related characters or Cartoon Network characters.
Six: Uh Oh…Busted!
Nightwing and Batman rushed to Gotham when the police scanner came up with Tim chasing the Joker. One problem was that Tim knew not to go after the clown prince of crime by himself.
That's what caused Jason to be where he is.
"This is so unlike Robin." Nightwing stated and Batman grunted in response.
"Has he been acting strange lately?" Bats asked and Dick, under his mask, had his eyes grow wide.
Tim has been seen talking to himself lately and going away at mysterious times for some reason, Nightwing thought to himself before nodding at his foster father.
"Yeah, Tim has been really strange. It started before…the grave was opened though." He answered and Batman nodded at this.
"Keep me noted after we fetch him and return him to the Cave." He said and Nightwing nodded at this as they moved closer and closer to Gotham's rooftops.
Robin didn't seem to realize what he was doing. He knew he needed to seek vengeance on the being that killed him. That was his only thought running through his brain.
He returned a shot to a thug, his masked face looking through the sniper rifle and pulled the trigger. He watched as the thug fell to knees, most likely swearing, knowing his accuracy hit his mark. He stood up and ditched the weapon.
He wasn't used to a gun before although it did indeed felt familiar to him.
Had he practiced using one before...?
He scowled as a headache drilled through his skull and he dropped to his knees.
KILLING IS BAD!
His eyes grew wide under his mask as he struggled to remember what was going on.
He was downing in the depression of death, angst, and especially ANGER.
He picked up the sniper rifle again, now using it as a crutch to hobble towards another angle to relieve his anger. He glanced around the rooftop to make sure no one was watching him or aiming at him.
SO MUCH ANGER…
He raised the sniper rifle back up and saw his target chatting with his also psycho girlfriend. He aimed it directly at the face of his killer. He placed his finger on the trigger and got ready to shot until a horrid chackling sound was heard behind him. His eyes grew wide at this and went to defend himself but he saw a black cape and orange hair flash in front of him.
A spray of blood coated his mask and face when he realized that Batgirl took a bullet for him.
Nightwing couldn't help but call out as he saw Batgirl jump in front of Robin, taking a bullet that was meant to kill him but wound her from where he could around her spine. He rushed to her side when he saw her crippled on the ground and quickly losing blood, putting pressure on the wound.
"You son of a bitch!" someone swore behind Nightwing as another bang was echoed across the skyline of Gotham. He saw a flash of red wildly fighting purple.
Robin was fighting the Joker head on.
He struggled between helping his best friend, or perhaps girlfriend, or his little brother.
"I've got it. You bring her to a hospital as her secret identity." Batman said before following his arch nemesis and student fight. Nightwing nodded at this and carefully picked her up meanwhile having his communicator call Alfred to have an ambulance come to pick up Barbara Gordon.
Batman couldn't believe that Tim would disobey his rule of never going after the Joker alone.
Yet there he was fighting the Joker with an intent to kill.
"Well, well, well, looks like a birdy is ready to fly the cope!" the Joker exclaimed before pointing his gun at him again but this time Tim also brought up an AMT AutoMag II. He smirked at this and placed his finger on the trigger.
"Rot in hell, bastard." He snarled at the Clown before Batman rushed to Tim's side, pushing him aside as the bullet zoomed out of the gun. He easily altered its trajectory and only managed to clip his shoulder as the Joker's bullet missed them by a mere inch.
He stumbled back a little before glancing down at his shoulder, seeing crimson spill down. He froze there for a moment before a large grin overcame and he started chackling.
"Looky here! I've been shot!" he exclaimed and turned to Batman and Robin, "Your little bird is growing up real fast! He even managed to shot a gun without any hesitation unlike the rest of the flock!"
Batman quickly stood up but next thing he knew the Joker was flying. He waved out from the helicopter with Harley Quinn flying t and his laughter echoed Gotham.
"COME BACK HERE BASTARD!" Robin snarled and quickly stood up, the gun still in his hands. He randomly fired at the Joker and only ended up hitting the side of it. Batman scowled at this then tackled Robin to the ground, the gun sliding away and pinned him down.
"Robin, what the hell is wrong with you?!" he snarled at his student but Robin still struggled to be let free.
"Let me of me! He's getting away!" he hissed back and then Batman glared at the teen.
"Are you even Robin?" he asked and suddenly Robin's eye slits grew large.
Who was he?
He stopped fighting Batman then brought his hands to his face.
"Who's Robin?" he whispered then slowly started to chuckle, "Who's Robin? Who's Robin? Who's Robin?"
Batman started at his student for a little bit before digging out a knock out gas, spraying it in Tim's face. He coughed and continued to chuckle and repeat, "Who's Robin", until he finally fell unconscious.
Tim's eyes slowly opened and stared at the inky black liquid drop off his hair. He sighed and looked up to see another teen in a worse condition than him. The teen's body was coated with scars, closed up wounds but mostly burned scared skin. His noir hair fell in front of his eyes and blood dripped off his body from random open wounds. The substance nearly coated his entire body besides his half his face and random parts of his body.
"Hey…" he began and reached out to the other teen, "…are you ok?"
The other teen swayed a bit before slowly peeling one of his eyes open. Baby blues greeting his own before it grew wide from the fact that the black substance stuck to his skin.
"He…lp…me…" he gurgled out and Tim slowly stepped towards the other teen, struggling to even move from the substance. It was trying to pull them under.
"Reach…for…my…hand…" he struggled to say and the other one's arm sluggishly moved out from the liquid towards Tim's hand.
"I'm…try…ing…" the other teen gurgled out again before their hands grasped each other.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?!"
Tim's eyes grew wide at the scream and saw as the other teen screamed in pain, the liquid turning solid and disappearing round them.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?!" the other teen exclaimed with wild, mad blue eyes and finally Tim realized who the other teen was.
It was his predecessor: Jason Todd, in the form of how he died.
"Jason," Tim muttered and Jason turned to him before, a shadow fell over his face. He grinned wide and tilted his head to the side.
"WHY DIDN'T HE SAVE ME?" he questioned Tim then rushed to him and tackled him to the ground, wrapping his hands around his throat, "WHY DIDN'T HE SAVE ME?!"
Tim struggled to free himself from Jason's grip and clawed for air. Jason chuckled at this and Tim kicked Jason in any spot he could before darkness slowly started to closing in.
"…Tim…?"
When he thought all hope was lost in waking up Jason, he quickly released his grip on Tim's neck and moved back.
"What's going on?" he asked and Tim coughed before speaking up, "Nothing but I suggest we get out of here before the black liquid tries to come after us again." Jason narrowed his eyes at this before nodding in agreement.
"Yeah…give me a second and we'll be back. Just close your eyes for a second." Jason told Tim and he nodded at this, closing his eyes at this. Then everything turned black ad he hoped that the liquid wasn't back to claim both him and Jason again.
Tim's eyes shot open and released a large gasp that he held from being in the strange place. He looked around to see the familiarity of the Bat Cave and Batman hovering over his computer, searching at the video footage of Jason's grave robbery. He slightly swore that Jason hadn't managed to-
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?!"
He nearly jumped out of the med bed from hearing the footage go dark with the static and red symbol of Robin plastered on it.
"I see that you're finally up." Batman called and Tim rubbed his face, his body aching for some strange reason.
"Yes, although I am quiet confused on why I'm wearing my suit." He replied and pushed himself off the bed. Batman turned around in chair with his cowl off but his suit still on but Tim knew something was wrong when he took notice of his restless deep blue eyes.
"Tim, are you certain that you don't remember a thing?" he asked again while moving towards Tim and he nodded at this, only remembering the black liquid coating both Jason and himself.
"You shot the Joker."
Tim's eyes grew wide at this and froze at those words.
"…What?" he whispered and Bruce sighed.
"Before that…you apparently tried to shot him from a distance but he sneaked up behind you and…Barbara took a bullet for you." He continued on and Tim didn't want to believe the words that were coming out of his mouth, "She's at the hospital right now being stabilized and Dick is with her…After Dick took her away, you and the Joker fought for a little while before you managed to hit his shoulder. When you tried to go after him as I managed to shift the trajectory of the bullet's path, I kept you down. You kept trying to go after but after I asked you ne specific question you stopped."
Tim gulped from Bruce's description of the night and sat back down on the med bed. He looked over to his mentor and asked, "What was the question?"
"'Are you really Robin'?" Bruce repeated and Tim took a deep breath, understanding that's how he snapped out of his trance.
"I see…" he stated and glanced around again to see if Jason had returned.
"Tim…has something been going on that you're not telling me?" Bruce asked and Tim clenched his fists, unsure if he should tell the truth or lie to his mentor.
"Bruce…I-" he began until a cell phone rang echoed the Cave, the umber popping up on his computer screen as Dick's. Bruce looked to Tim for a second before turning to the phone and picked it up.
"Jeez! I thought you were gonna spill, kid!"
Jason's voice and appearance in front of him caused Tim to let out a little swear and fall off the med table. Bruce turned to Tim and narrowed his eyes at this. Tim waved his hand, letting him pretend it was something else, as he stood back up and glared at his predecessor. Jason laughed at this and Tim really wanted to yell back at him but screaming at nothing would not improve his condition.
"Anyway…thank for waking me up, kid." Jason said as Tim blinked at this and nodded a little bit at it.
"Tim," Bruce called and Tim turned to him, "Do you mind staying here with Alfred as I go to check up on Dick?"
Tim nodded at this and was grateful that his mentor was going out so he and Jason could chat for a while. Bruce walked away and into the elevator that would bring him to Wayne Manor. He let out a sigh before snapping around to face Jason.
"What the hell did you do?" he hissed at him and Jason raised an eyebrow at this.
"What are you talking about? I did nothing until you woke me up from being drowned by the black liquid." Jason replied and Tim blinked at this, "And since when did you start swearing?"
Tim's eyes grew wide at the fact that he did in fact swore, where he never really did until meeting with Jason.
"I don't know." He began before running his fingers through his hair, "Jason, do you think that black substance had to do anything with this change?"
Before Jason could reply, his eyes behind his mask grew large and pointed behind him.
"Jason, what the hell are you pointing at?" Tim asked before turning around his eyes grew large to at the sight of Alfred Pennyworth staring at him too with big eyes, his mouth open in shock.
"Oh crap," both Tim and Jason said when they figured out they were busted not by the Big Bat but the secretive and well hidden servant of Wayne Manor, Alfred.