Chapter Eight
It was Tim's custom to stay with the Wayne's were out of town. Since Bruce had offered a standing invitation the first time he had known Tim's parents weren't around the Drake's expected Tim to show up at Bruce's door without warning. Mrs. Mac knew she was not expected except once a week to keep things dusted and so when Tim came home he had the house to himself.
Bruce believed Tim was spending time with his parents. Now was the perfect time to do so much needed examining of the scene of Jason Todd's death. Tim had copied the files to his private tablet, which he kept hidden in his home. He began his search in earnest.
There was a number of images from Bruce's Cowl Camera that Tim examined in detail. Every shadow, smudge and flame, every blood spot on Jason's body was examined. The Timeline was formed.
It was not like Bruce to make a mistake like this, and from his point of view, it had every appearance that Jason was dead.
So why was he alive, running around Gotham with the blood of the cruel Lazarus pit in his veins?
There was only one person who could be behind the Pit. Ra's Al Ghul.
Tim had only seen him once, soon after his first appearance as Robin. The Assassin Head had come to Gotham for the sole purpose of testing the new Robin's mettle. For some reason he had been impressed. In a dramatic face off he had suggested Tim's mind would suit his organization better, while Bruce had warned him out of Gotham. When Tim had taken Robin's place at Batman's side the Death Mogul had laughed and promised to be a worthy adversary.
"He's much greater than that last street rat you took in, Detective." Ra's had said in parting shot at Batman. "That street rat is a bull headed mongrel."
Had he really said is? It had made no difference in the time. Perhaps Ra's was trying to stick it to Bruce, perhaps he had not known of the death, since it was kept very quiet.
Now? Now it was a wide open hint at knowledge that Bruce had not had.
But how had it happened?
Carefully Tim reviewed all the facts again. Jason's discovery that his birth mom was alive. His race to find her. Her betrayal to the Joker. The Joker had beaten Robin and then left Jason and his mother to be blown up… Why had the Insane Clown left? This would have been the Joker's crowning moment in his twisted world. So why had he left without staying to watch Bruce find his son dead, and rubbing it in his face?
Since the Joker was impossible to categorize his behavior did not appear abnormal for him, not until put in the face of new evidence. Why had he not waited to make sure he had succeeded?
And why would Jason's Mom be working for the Joker? She had been sane and intelligent. The Joker did not hold people to ransom with fear. His fear was too great. You could only run in the face of his garish mien and insane person. Even if you tried to give him what he said he wanted the chances of death were certain. But what if there was an intelligence, a sane hand behind that Clown?
Jason's memory was so hallowed, so devastating to Bruce that Tim could not take his speculations to his mentor. He would have to save Jason on his own. Bruce had made Jason a taboo subject early on, though he had not taken extra precautions to protect the information from Tim. No doubt that was his way of letting Tim know what had happened, without having to relive it.
"Tim, I've got to meet Jose Mendolez as Matches Malone." Bruce said as his Robin entered the cave, missing only the mask that concealed the boy's identity. "Dick is out of town. I want you to go on Patrol yourself. Keep an open Com to Oracle at all times."
"Yes, sir." Tim answered, walking to the trophy cases that held the tattered suit of Jason Todd's Robin, and the abandoned suit of the first Batgirl. He stared at these in intense speculation. Bruce was completing his disguise as Matches and merely shot his protégé an irritated glance at the soldierly response. However the break in the case distracted him from seeing the look on Tim's face.
"Be careful." Matches said in Bruce's best fatherly voice. Tim grinned and gave his mentor a playful salute.
"Aye, aye, Sir."
Tim placed on his mask.
"Wonder boy, I see that you've got your com open." Oracle's computerized voice said.
"Yes ma'am. I know better than to shut it off." He answered.
"Alright. All you have to do is yell and I'll get someone to your side. Keep out of fights you can't handle."
"Promise." Robin said.
LINE BREAK BRINGING MY BROTHER HOME LINE BREAK
He kept the promise until just after midnight.
Naturally he had kept his eyes open for Jason, and had been glad to see the man start following him nearly a quarter of the way through patrol. Noting this to Oracle, she had suggested he join Batgirl, but soon reversed that suggestion when Bruce called for Batgirl as back up. After Robin informed her that the hooded stalker was not getting anywhere close, she let the situation go. Until Robin was not followed he couldn't return to any base, and currently the threat seemed minimal.
Robin went through several twists and turns, trying to lose the stalker. Bruce would be furious if he shut the com off and he wasn't going to have that conversation for Oracle to hear. He would need to find Jason on his own time, without Bruce realizing it. This was not as impossible as it sounded, not for the easily forgotten Tim Drake.
Jason stuck with him.
Bruce's meeting with Jose Mendolez, White Harry's right hand man, had gone downhill. Batman had been forced to make an appearance and most of Gotham's heroes were congregating to help stop a rapidly escalating gang war. Oracle was grown greatly distracted.
"Robin, open a com with Nightwing. Batman won't want you to be without back up and Nightwing can easily get a hold of Superman. I have to shut this com off."
"Alright." Robin agreed, hearing the click and then signaling Dick. He was standing on a roof top, certain that there was nothing that needed his attention in the surround block. He turned to see where the stalker was as he waited for Dick to pick up. Jason was approaching quickly, too quickly for Tim to try to escape without means of back up.
"Babybird, I need a moment…" Dick growled out and a second click followed.
"Big Bird ain't too eager to hear you." Jason spat out in a gravelly voice. Tim shuddered. "Now little bird, what is wrong?"
"How did you get into the coms?"
"Easy enough. I know a few secrets." The red hooded man laughed.
"I know who you are." Tim said.
"I don't think you do. I am the last person you would suspect."
"I had your blood on my gloves." Robin replied. There was a sudden, tense silence. Jason drew within a few feet of the masked squire. "I ran it through the computer."
"Then why isn't the Bat here as well?"
"He doesn't know, Jason." Tim tried the name out. The big man flinched. "He thinks you're dead. The true events only make sense when you know that you're alive. I couldn't risk telling him until I knew the truth. I wanted to bring you Home."
Dick's signal sounded in Tim's ear.
Jason heard it as well, and lunged the few feet between them to yank the com out of Tim's ear and grind it under his feet. He grabbed his successor by the throat. "You took my place in 'home'." He spat into the boy's face. Then he flung the smaller body to the hard roof top, leaping on top of Tim before he had recovered his breath. He rained punches and kicks down.
The younger boy tried to escape, tried to fight back, but Jason was too big and too strong. Tim had never gotten his bow staff out and his sole hope to escape was from his agility.
When thick fingers closed around his throat again he guessed Jason was going to kill him. He was sorry for it. If Jason went through with a murder there might be no way to get him back. Tim needed to bring him back.
Suddenly he flew through the air again, crumpling painfully to the roof again when gravity asserted itself. Barely able to breathe through his bruised throat he lifted his hand to his shoulder.
Jason was so close and Tim had a tracer in his hand. He reached out towards the big man weakly. Jason kicked his arm away and the gloved hand bounced onto the roof. The boy slowly turned to look at his hand as Jason, with cruel slowness, lifted his heavy boot and then slammed it onto the hand. Tim heard several cracks but there was no fresh infusion of pain. His thumb was free, he could move it, and so he pushed the small tracer up into the sole of Jason's boot. If he didn't get out of this then his files would be opened by his mentor and the truth would come out.
There would be the anomalous tracer signal that would show every path Jason took from this point on. Even if Tim didn't survive this, he'd given Bruce a way to find Jason again. Bruce and Dick would know how to save the lost Robin.
"No more fight, replacement?" Jason sneered. Robin did not speak, staring up at the furious man through the white lenses, wondering how Jason would kill him. He was sorry Jason was so angry. He had really tried to be a good successor and Tim had thought he had managed to keep Batman sane. But now Jason was back and Bruce would be alright. Tim would not be required anymore.
Since he had only become Robin to save Bruce, to keep Batman sane, he wasn't sure why that made him sad.
He closed his eyes.
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Dick arrived first. He had called Clark in the middle of a date to demand an instant ride to Gotham. Only five minutes passed between the time that he had tried to call the little brother he had cut off only to have the signal disappear completely and the time that he was set down on the roof where the crumpled black and red form of said little brother lay. Oracle was on the com again.
Superman went to end the gang war so that Batman could get to his squire while Dick checked that Tim was still breathing. There were red marks on the boy's throat from a thick, cruel hand, and it appeared Tim had not had time to defend himself. He was wheezing through the injured throat. There were no other apparent injuries until Dick took off Tim's gloves and found that his right hand had been stomped on and two fingers had another joint.
By the time Dick had moved on to checking the boy's torso, after straightening his limbs, Clark had brought Bruce back.
Batman and Nightwing desperately searched their younger partner for life threatening injuries. It was evident he had been beaten and besides the broken fingers and hand he had a cracked rib and there was a knot at the back of his head.
Once assured that he could be moved without danger Superman took the slender teen in his arms to get him to Alfred as fast as possible. Bruce and Dick were left alone on the roof top.
"Bruce I cut him off." Dick said. He didn't need to look at his mentor's face to know that he already knew that. "I was in the middle of sneaking through a warehouse above some goons heads when he called. I never even gave him time to tell me anything."
"We'll talk about it later." Bruce said stiffly.
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When the dynamic duo arrived at the cave they found Alfred had already gotten Tim out of costume and into the sick bay. The boy was regaining consciousness, but it was immediately evident that he had a severe concussion. "Alf'd? Inawded?"
"It will be alright Master Timothy." Alfred promised. "You're quite safe now. Can you tell me how bad the pain is?"
Tim wrinkled his nose, then pointed at his throat and held up his good hand with all digits extended. "A five? Is that the worst?"
A short nod assured them it was.
"Good boy." Bruce said, gently resting a fond hand on Tim's shoulder. The boy, having realized he was inarticulate, gave a sigh of relief and was ready to go back to the veil of unconsciousness. Alfred and Bruce both shook him gently. "Not yet Tim. Just give us another few moments."
Robin pulled a face, and glanced around the cave. Dick hovered at the door, face white.
Tim really didn't know why Dick looked like that. He hadn't expected to be alive. He wasn't sure why Jason had left him alive. And nothing really hurt now that Alfred had added a pain reliever to the IV. Besides based on the notes Alfred was typing into the computer next to the med bed the worst of Tim's injuries were broken ribs and those would heal. Tim wished the words in his head would come out in a way that made sense but between the concussion and the bruised throat he could not communicate.
Besides his eyes were sliding shut and Bruce was letting them this time, satisfied it was the painkiller and not the concussion pulling him under. He saw Cass appear at Dick's shoulder, resting her head trustingly on their big brother's arm. Dick wrapped his arms about the slender girl, and Tim, before the last veil fell over his eyesight, was certain a sob shook the older hero.
I had to do it. Tim's challenge to Jason made the older man fixate on the little bird.
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