Hello! I hope you guys liked the last chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Tim POV (A week later)
I stared at the garage of our new base, a sense of de ja vu overwhelming me. Or, as Nightwing would say, whelming.
I stepped into the base, remembering that Arsenal would be here in a few hours like we planned.
"Hey Osprey, didn't expect you here. Did something happen at..." Superboy asked, trailing off while sending a look at me.
I bit my bottom lip, chewing on it slightly. In truth, something did happen before I left.
Jack made another comment on my family, and this time... this time he actually hit me again. I never thought he would try it in a wheelchair, but he did. And I couldn't do anything except leave because Dana walked in right after. Not to mention, Jack would make my life living hell if I didn't kill him. And despite my training, I didn't kill out of hate. "Nothing out of the normal. Actually, I'm here to talk with Nightwing. Is he here?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, he's over there talking to his brother." Kon said, nodding over to Nightwing where he was talking to a guy I knew as the Red Hood.
"I didn't realize he had a brother." I said, my voice going void of all emotion.
Kon looked surprised by my sudden change, but nodded. "Red Hood is his adopted little brother. Personally, I think he acts like a complete and utter ass, but he has his good moments." Kon said, walking away towards the video games.
"Do you want to play a round of Halo while Nightwing talks to him?" Kon asked, gesturing towards the video games.
"Sure, is Halo in already?" I asked, turning my head away from Nightwing. If it got me away from thinking about Nightwing and his 'brother', I would happily play Halo with Kon. Even if I was probably going to beat him.
"No, it's on my bed I think. I'll go get it." Kon said, walking towards his bed.
"No, I'll get it." I said, walking towards his bed. I needed something to focus on other than Nightwing finding a replacement for me.
Of course, walking towards the bed closest to Nightwing might not have been the best plan for that. "- You must really need help to ask me to join your team." Red Hood mused.
"Miss Martian was kidnapped, La'gann is injured, Green Beetle is an official enemy, and Blue is compromised. I didn't have much choice." Nightwing said as I searched in a box of video games on Kon's bed for Halo.
I heard something drop, and I peaked under the black curtain guarding prying eyes from Kon's bed. It was a wallet, Nightwing's probably since it had a picture of me and him when we were kids back at the circus. I remember exactly when we took the picture, right before our last act with Mom and Dad. "Who's the kid in the picture?" Red Hood asked, pointing to me in the picture before picking the wallet up.
"He's my little brother from the circus. His name's Tim, he was four years old then. He would be 12 years old by now." Nightwing said, and I started looking for Halo even faster. Where the hell was the game when you needed it?
"What happened to him? I wouldn't think B would be the type to take away a sibling from another sibling. But it is B, so I'm not fucking surprised." Red Hood said, making me bite my lip hard so that blood dribbled down my lip.
"He got adopted before Batman could get the papers in. The Drake's were actually married so the government approved their adoption faster. I tried to talk to him before, it didn't work out." Nightwing said, sounding sad. No, not sad. Depressed.
"How did it not work out? You lost your damn parents. Kids usually get closer after shit like that happens. Unless one of them killed the parents, but that's not what happened." Red Hood asked, sounding curious.
"I called once, after Batman got the Drake's number. I didn't try to talk to Tim after that." Nightwing said, making me freeze. What call? Never once in that hell hole of a mansion did Dick call me. I should know, I was always sitting next to a phone hoping Dick would try to call me.
"Why not? Didn't the kid want to talk to you?" Red Hood asked, confused.
"I used to think he didn't, now I'm not sure. When I called, Janet Drake answered. When I told her I was Tim's brother, she said Tim didn't want to talk to me ever again for leaving him alone. For weeks I was... depressed. Only once Zucco was in jail did I feel a little better. Not much, but a little. Robin helped though, a lot." Nightwing said, making me fist my hands.
Never once did it occur to me that the Drake's might have messed with my brother to make him never see me again. But I should have. "Why do you say you're not sure now? Sounds like the little shit was being a brat." Red Hood said, his voice going into a protective tone.
"Because, the Drake's aren't nice people. There were reports of them in drug deals and abusing children. And there was a noise when I was calling that made me wonder what was happening in there. It sounded like... a scream. Tim's scream. But I thought it was just my imagination. I wanted it to be my imagination, because I couldn't stand the thought of them hurting my 4 year old brother who always cried when he had nightmares every other week. Now, I'm not sure if they were lying to just get me away from my little brother." Nightwing said.
Tears pricked my eyes as combat boots that Red Hood wore shuffled awkwardly like he never comforted people. So, he did try to talk to me all those years. He did care about me. He didn't want to leave me...
I choked back a sob as it worked it's way up my throat. All this time I thought he didn't care, and I almost destroyed him and his entire team for it. A single tear slid down my face, and I wiped the rest of the tears out of my eyes. I started looking for Halo again, finding it at the bottom of the box. "Are you okay?" Kon asked, noticing my cheeks slightly more red.
"Fine, just... thinking. Sorry it took me so long to find it. For some reason it was at the bottom of the box." I said, putting in the video game.
"It's fine." Kon said, looking at me concerned.
I pressed play, and he stopped looking at me so he could try to actually win in Halo. Though, like I told him before, I was raised on this stuff. He didn't have much chance of winning. Though, for once, the idea of winning didn't feel so good.
It took Nightwing a while to finish talking with Red Hood, but when he finished, Red Hood left with his hands shoved into his pockets and scowl on his face. Of course, you couldn't see with the helmet on, but he had that sort of aura where you knew he was scowling.
"Sorry that took so long. Who's winning?" Nightwing asked, leaning over the couch.
"Osprey. I swear this cheats on these games." Kon said, setting down his controller in frustration.
"I told you I don't cheat, I've just played this stuff my entire life. For me, it's like riding a bike. Only except, I don't know how to ride a bike, but that's not the point." I said, turning off the game.
"You don't know how to ride a bike? Even I know how to do that." Kon asked confused, along with Nightwing.
I shrugged and said, "My legal guardians never took the time to teach me, and they never bought me a bike for me to learn on."
"That's... sad." Nightwing said finally.
"Not really. I don't really have any use to ride a regular bike, anyways." I said, turning back to look at Nightwing.
"Right... Well, I'm going to go out. See you guys later at the meeting." Kon said, walking out after grabbing his jacket.
I nodded, the words Nightwing said replaying in my mind. "Are you alright?" Nightwing asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, fine. Where do you want to start?" I asked with a nod.
"Hmmm. Well, let's start with hand to hand combat. But, let's move away from the tv. At the moment, it's my only source of entertainment when I get bored here." Nightwing said, gesturing for me to follow him towards an area used for training with mats laid down to soften our land when we fell.
"Alright." I said, walking onto the mat and got into a stance.
The first move was made by Nightwing who charged at me and aimed a punch at me. I dodged, flipping out of the way of the hit to aim a round house kick at him. He caught my foot, and I used my free foot to jump up and twist my foot out of his grip while sailing over his shoulder.
"Not bad. Try not to let your opponent catch your foot like that in a fight." Nightwing said as I got into another stance.
"Yeah, I figured." I mumbled under my breath.
Nightwing smirked, and made a beckoning gesture with his hand. I charged at him, and our fight began again. Only, this time, Nightwing didn't go easy on me. Or, ever again. Meaning he kicked my ass.
"Not bad, considering your only 12." Nightwing said, passing me a water bottle after I wobbled onto my legs. In all reality, I could have won. But most of the moves needed to win were ones that crippled or killed. I didn't want to do that to my brother. Not after what he said.
"Just wait, one day I'll kick your ass." I said with a smirk.
"No cussing. You can only cuss when you turn 13. Until then, no more colorful language." Nightwing said with a smirk.
"Your saying you didn't cuss when you were 12 in Gotham?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at what he said.
"Only a little bit. And not when Batman was around." Nightwing said, drinking his own water.
"I'm sure. So, is that Red Hood guy going to join our team?" I asked, looking at Nightwing curiously. Red Hood seemed upset when he left, so I wasn't sure if he was still going to be on the team. If that was a good thing or not, I wasn't sure.
"Yeah, he is. And careful, your starting to sound jealous." Nightwing said with a snicker.
I blushed a little, but glared at Nightwing. "Why would I be jealous?" I asked, though I knew exactly why. Red Hood got the brother I've wanted for years, it was hard not to feel jealous.
"I don't know kid, you tell me." Nightwing said, looking at me curiously.
I looked around the hideout, then saw the video games I was playing with Kon earlier. "Want to play a video game? Bet I can beat you at Mortal Kombat." I said, switching the subject.
Nightwing gave me a look that said I know what you're trying to do but nodded anyways. "I highly doubt that, Osprey. I am amazing at video games." Nightwing said with a smile.
For awhile we played Mortal Kombat, yelling at the screen and getting very serious about it. So serious in fact, that Nightwing stood up and played while kicking my legs and calling me a midget. I retaliated by calling him a boneless prick and rolled onto my back so I would block his kicks easier. That ended when Nightwing accidentally kicked the bruise Jack left on my shoulder, making me hiss in pain.
"Are you alright, Osprey? I didn't kick you that hard." Nightwing asked, pulling me closer so he could look at the spot he kicked.
"I'm fine, let go!" I said, trying to yank my shoulder away from him.
I managed to get away from him, but he saw my purple and black mess of a shoulder first. "Osprey, what happened? That didn't happen on a mission, you would have gotten it fixed right after." Nightwing asked, a protective edge going into his voice.
"It's nothing." I said, shutting off the video game.
"Obviously, it's something." Nightwing said, then sat down next to me and pulled me into a one arm hug that made me freeze.
"You do know you can tell me if something anything, right Osprey?" Nightwing asked, his tone warm and brotherly. Just the way I remembered it 8 years ago.
I put my head in my hands so I wouldn't have to look at him, and then I cried. The news of him actually trying to talk to me mixed with the fact he was actually acting like a real big brother made me feel like an ass for trying to get rid of him for revenge. All of it became too much, and even if you bottle up your tears, they always have to come out at some point.
"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" Nightwing asked, rubbing my arm soothingly. It only made me want to cry more.
"Dick... I screwed up." I said in between sobs.
He froze slightly when I called him his name, but went back to rubbing my arm as tears slid down my face behind my shades. "What you did can't be that bad, Osprey." Nightwing said softly.
I grabbed my shades and threw them on the floor, the sound of the plastic and glass cracking against the cement floor echoing through the building. "Stop calling me that." I said, shoving my face in my arms so he couldn't see my face.
"What else can I call you?" Nightwing asked, though he sounded like he already knew my name.
"You already know my name, Dick. You've probably known it for a while. And if you end up calling me Timmy like you did when I was 4, I will punch you in the throat." I said, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Alright Tim, how did you screw up?" Dick asked, looking at me with confusion and joy. Confusion because he didn't understand how badly I screwed up, joy because he knew I was his little brother.
I took a deep breath, and tried to calm my nerves. I haven't cried like this in a long time. The last time I did, I was 4, and I had a nightmare. Only except this time, this nightmare was coming true. There was no turning back, I would have to tell my brother I'm a traitor.
"Huh, guess I got here at a good time." Arsenal's voice said behind us.
Nightwing turned around quickly, confused while I stayed sitting. "Yeah, you did." I said, standing up slowly.
I turned to face Dick, his face confused and suspicious. Good, he should be considering what I've done.
"There's really no easy way to admit to this, but I guess the easiest way is to just say it straight out. Before I joined the Team, and years before that, I joined the Light. They promised that if trained under them and fulfilled missions for them, that I would get to kill Tony Zucco. This was supposed to be my last mission before I got to do that. Invading the Young Justice Team to become a spy for the Light was what I started out doing, but, after a while... I guess you could say I changed my mind about who I work for." I said, keeping my head down, not able to meet his eyes. I didn't want to see the hate I've seen on everybody else's faces when they look at me. Not from him.
"Listen, I get it if you don't trust me, or even like me anymore, but-"
"I'm going to stop you there. Did the Light mention that they've tried this before, on the original team?" Nightwing asked, interrupting me.
"Yeah, but they were different. They joined the Team first, then the Light tempted them away or blackmailed them." I said, my voice bitter.
"True, but it would be very hypocritical for me and everyone else on the Team to not give you a chance to explain why you did what you did. You came out and told me, which shows that you don't want to be with the Light anymore. And from what I can tell Arsenal already knows. Which, I have to admit I'm curious about." Nightwing said, looking at Arsenal curiously mixed with grimness.
"I was trying to catch up with important things, missions, events, things like that. Well, there was one mission where there was a picture of Osprey, or Tim, which I definitely didn't expect to be your name. He was in Iraq, doing a mission for Ra's. He was beating up an US soldier that had been trying to... do things to an innocent woman there." Arsenal said, making my lip twitch a little at the memory.
"I remember that. It was a mission to get something from their general, and well... guess I got a little distracted." I said, smirking a little bit.
Nightwing sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Originally, I planned on just filling in the whole team about Kaldur's mission, but it looks like we'll have to tell them about you, too. I'll have Miss Martian look in your head, just so everyone else will believe your story. You are okay with that, right?" Nightwing asked, looking down at me concerned.
I bit my lip, then nodded. "As long as it's just that, and she doesn't try to erase my mind like she did with Kaldur." I said, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
"Trust me, she won't." Nightwing said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.
I nodded, watching as Arsenal left after giving me a quick nod. "So, do you hate me?" I asked, fully ready for him to say 'yes'. After every thing I've done, I couldn't blame him.
"... No. Tim, your my little brother. And because of that I know what it's like seeing your parents die and what it can do to you. But, I had Bruce after that. Yeah, he wasn't the best, but he was enough. You didn't get that, Tim. You had parents that were thought abusive, and from the mess on your shoulder, I'm guessing those thoughts were true. Point being, I don't hate you for what you've done. None of it. You told me, and your willing to tell the Team. That's more than I probably would have ever been able to do in your shoes." Nightwing said, pulling me into a hug.
For a while, everything was quiet. Then I said, "I forgot how much you liked hugging. Can you let go of me now?"
"Fine." Nightwing said with a chuckle.
I took my spare mask from my pocket and placed it on my face quickly when I heard someone come in. "Hey, guys. Are we going to have the meeting here or the training part of this place?" Miss Martian asked, La'gann behind her.
"In here." Nightwing said, walking over towards M'gann.
"You alright?" La'gann asked me.
"For now. By the end of the meeting, I might not." I said, standing up and walking towards the place I kept a spare costume.
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