Cypher wants revenge against Batman and his former third Robin. What better way to get revenge than to use the Wayne Family to lure everyone to their doom.

Subliminal Death

By

AJ

Part 21: The Hunt for Timothy Drake-Wayne

Dick made it back into Gotham. He drove his motorcycle right up to the gate. 'The cemetery.' He drove in and started to look for where Tim might be buried. called out for him. "TIM! TIMMY! Timoti!" He was hoping that Tim would hear him and start pounding on the box that he had been buried in.

"Over here!"

Dick saw Batman and Red Hood. They were under some trees. Red Hood had grabbed a shovel and was frantically digging at a fresh grave.

Dick ran over to Batman and Red Hood and started digging with his bare hands. "Tim!"

"'Bout time you showed up Golden boy," Red Hood glared at him. "I'll punch you later."

"At least the dirt is loose," Batman stated. 'This would be a lot harder if the dirt was settled.'

All three continued to dig in silence hit until Batman something hard, the pine box. "Clear the dirt away from it."

Dick and Red Hood did as Batman instructed. He pulled from his utility belt a small tool and pried the lid open. He didn't want to speculate what he would find.

Dick was holding his breath.

Batman saw Tim lying there curled on his side. He was wearing his old uniform. His gloves were torn and bloody where he must have tried clawing at the wood. He checked Tim's pulse. It was faint, but he was alive. "He needs oxygen. Hood, grab the small portable tank."

Red Hood went back to the bat-mobile and grabbed the portable tank and rushed back over. He handed it over to Bats so he could put the mask onto Tim's face.

Batman picked Tim up out of the box and lifted him from the grave. 'If I could have done it for Jason, if I had known, I would. That was my one regret. Tim probably still did not have the strength to dig himself out. If the grave that had been dug was deeper. he might not have made it. We cut it close.' All those thoughts he kept to himself. "Let's get him home."

Red Hood turned to Dick. "You better be heading there too, Dick." Jason glared through his mask.

Dick nodded his head slowly. He felt like Jason was going to cuss him out for leaving.

"I don't know what happened between you two, but Cypher almost succeeded in murdering this particular Robin. Apparently, he persuaded him to wear his old uniform, the first one he redesigned from your old uniform. Cypher wants revenge. He almost got it. Dick, I'm assigning you to take care of Tim until further notice. I need you there ahead of us. Jason, you and I will be going after Cypher after we take Tim home."

"Yes Bats," Dick understood what that meant. He went over to his cycle, put his helmet on, and hopped on. He started it up and headed out of Gotham to the Manor. All his thoughts he kept to himself.

"Hood, wear the special ear plugs, the ones that will block out everything, but our special frequency," Batman instructed. "That should keep Cypher's influence out. Dick will take care of Tim. Sammie must stay out of it for now. I want them working out their differences."

Red Hood noted which ear plugs to wear. "Will do Bats. Damian and I didn't want to get in the middle of those two. Like you said, they need to learn."

Batman climbed into the bat-mobile with Jason and returned to the cave under the manor. Once they returned to the cave, Batman carried Tim over to the medical bay and placed Tim on a gurney with the small oxygen tank. Samantha was there waiting, "Dick is going to take care of him. They need to work things out."

Samantha looked over and saw Dick was coming down the stone steps into the cave. Samantha started back up the steps. As she walked past Dick, Samantha whispered, "If you and Tim don't fix whatever it is between you, I will do what Jason has been holding back from doing, ever since you entered that cemetery." She continued back up the steps.

Dick gulped. 'How could she know?' Dick understood Samantha will hold onto that promise as well. 'She's upset at Tim and I for fighting in the first place, I can feel it.' Dick headed over to Tim's gurney.

Tim was taking in oxygen. His mind was a jumble of thoughts, and his emotions were running high. Tears slipped down his face when he thought the worst.

Dick looked down at his brother to see that he was starting to cry. Dick took his thumb and wiped away the tears. "Don't cry. You're okay now. You're safe."

'Dick . . . He . . . He did come.' Tim opened his eyes to see his brother's face. Then he closed them again squeezing them shut as tears welled up again.

Dick watched with concern as Tim started to cry harder. He picked Tim up and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a hug. "I'm sorry little brother."

"I . . I . . . Didn't think . . . You'd come . . . I felt . . . So . . . Alone . . . I'm sorry . . ."

Dick felt bad for disconnecting from his brothers and continued to hold on to Tim.

"I was confused. I didn't know why. You kept me alive. When you were luring Jason."

"I don't know either Birdie," Dick confirmed. "I'm still confused on that. I remember touching you and then the fog in my mind clearing. I saw you laying on the floor and Black Mask had a gun to your head. I thought we were under cover. I had to keep you safe."

"You weren't," Tim explained. "Cypher influenced you. You were going to join Black Mask and take over Gotham. You were going to lure Jason to kill him to prove your loyalty to Black Mask. You were going to use me for bait to lure Jason, but Black Mask said he didn't need me alive if they already had my emergency beacon. You kept Black Mask from killing me."

Dick shook his head. 'This was way too much. So, I tried to get Jason killed and used Tim as bait? I could never do that. I couldn't.' Dick sighed heavily.

Tim could tell Dick was shocked. "I followed you. It's the truth. Cypher had to have awakened a deep seeded resentment or anger for Jason for you to do that. Cypher woke in me about being alone and dying in the dark, a fear I've had since my parents would leave me alone, a lot. Granted there was the housekeeper, but I felt alone. I was afraid no one would come for me if I was dying. I suppressed that fear, but he brought it out of me. Made it a reality."

"But, I don't hate Jason. He's my brother. I accepted him long ago. And how could you think you'd die alone? Do you still have that fear now?"

"You'd think I shouldn't but Cypher was looking at fears from childhood. And you were 18 when Jason came to be with Bruce right?"

"Right."

"And Bruce adopted Jason before he declared you as his son and heir, which he did when you turned 19."

Dick nodded his head. That was a memory he will always keep with him.

"Cypher looked for those things in our past, not in the present, things we might have suppressed. He wanted revenge and he tried to get it in the only way he could by using that fear against me. See, I got him good as Robin. I surprised him and struck him across the throat with my bow staff. I guess that's why he had me dress this way. I was Robin when Batman and I encountered him during my first year."

Dick started to check Tim over to make sure he was okay. Then he noticed something off. He looked at his watch and took it off of him.

"Wait, that not my watch. So, that's how he got to me. I guess I forgot about one more device." Tim yawned. "Sorry, being oxygen deprived tires you out".

Dick compared his watch with Tim's. He noticed they were the same, and there was what looked like a small device attached to the back of each watch. He pulled them off and used a tool to smash them. "It's okay. You rest. Jason and Batman will take care of him."

"Wish I could be there," Tim replied, but he started to fall asleep.

Dick climbed onto the gurney with Tim and wrapped his arms around him and cuddled him close. "Love you little bro."

Tim was still partially dressed in his Robin gear. Even in his Red Robin gear he still felt like Robin. And having things cleared up with Dick meant Tim wouldn't have any bad dreams and with that thought, Tim fell asleep, listening to Dick as he hummed a tune Tim hadn't heard before, and yet it felt familiar somehow.

Dick hummed Tim a song his mom used to sing to him The song was pleasant and sleep inducing. He was glad they had worked out the misunderstanding between them.

Tim wasn't totally asleep. "We should go camping," he blurted out. "Just the four of us."

"You want to go camping?" Dick asked, tiredly. "Okay . . . We'll go camping." Dick yawned.

"Haven't been camping . . . ," Tim also yawned. ". . . In a long time."

"Well this definitely will be fun," Dick chucled.

"Great way . . . To . . . Bond," Tim drifted deeper into sleep.

"Sweet dreams Timmy." Dick could finally relax as Tim fell into slumber.

Continues with Part 21: Confrontation with Cypher