Disclaimer: not mine

So them getting shot at surprised a few people who thought they'd actually discuss their feelings. Sorry.

I did have a few comments still weighing in on this being DannyTimKon, but as I said last chapter, this is remaining DannyTim with Kon as Tim's best friend/brother like person.

I'm starting a Kickstarter to raise funding for proper developmental editing for my new book which has a poll up for it's title. If you're interested in backing it or seeing what rewards are on offer, it's listed under A Twist in the Tail, which is going to be the name of the series.

Chapter 7

Tim felt Danny pressing him to the floor as bits of blanket and mattress rained down on them, thankfully the bed was between them and the now shattered window.

"Guess they're getting impatient," Danny murmured. "You hurt?"

"No," Tim whispered, forcing himself to focus on the fact they'd been shot at and not the way Danny's body was pressing his own into the carpet. This was a really bad time for them to attack, had they realised that? How had they aimed through the curtains? Heat signature? "Need to move."

"Yeah. Come on." Danny moved off him but stayed low and Tim got to his hands and knees, glad they'd left their bags on the floor, ready to shove their sleep things and toiletries in before checking out in the morning. It made it easier to escape without having to leave their things behind. They got into the bathroom and Danny broke the window while Tim grabbed his grapple, firing it at the building next door. He looked at Danny who shook his head.

"You go up and I'll go down." He slung his bag over his back and scrambled out the window, Tim moving to watch him slide down a drainpipe.

Once sure Danny was close enough that a fall wouldn't do much damage, he leapt from the window himself, swinging to the next roof. He moved quickly to yank on the new uniform, glad it was so easy to do, settling his grapple and bō at his back before pulling up the hood. He began to circle around, searching for the sniper. His comm beeped and he clicked it on.

"Found them, roof of the office building to the south. Same team that was in Paris, two guys and a girl."

"Got it, moving to confront."

"You sure?" Shade asked.

"I want to know what Ra's wants. They've surely had other opportunities for a sniper, so why wait till now?"

"Okay, I'll keep watch. Be careful."

"Sure."

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"He's moving around a bit. Are we shooting?" with the curtains drawn, they were relying on infra-red to see him.

"Master, do you want him dead?" Z waited for a response on the comm. "I see."

"What? What'd he say?" Pru demanded.

"He said we could try."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she snarled.

"Do you have the shot?"

"Close enough." Owens fired, though not the explosive round he would have preferred. The hotel was old, the whole section of Rouen was old and highly flammable. They were there to kill one teenager, not the whole section of the city.

"Huh. I thought a real-life superhero would be harder to kill or something. No wonder Batman's dead. His backup is crap."

"We'll wait for the body to be removed. Stake out the morgue, then collect his head. The Master will-" Z was cut off by a hint of sound and then Owens went flying back as he was hit in the face.

The object that hit him continued on to lodge in stone, and then Z took booted feet to the face.

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Danny smirked as Tim took out two assassins with one firing of his grapple gun. The speed those things launched at…the shooter was going to be feeling that for a long time, was lucky the blow hadn't snapped his neck or broken facial bones really. But Danny couldn't sense a death from the rooftop so the man had survived. He flinched when the girl pulled out guns and opened fire, relieved Tim dodged rather than test the armour against them. Yes, it was bullet proof and further enhanced on his orders, but it would still hurt.

Then the one Tim had kicked was back up and he was good, maybe better than Tim, but Tim held his own, using his opponent to keep the other two from firing as the sniper staggered drunkenly to his feet, blood on his face.

He winced when Tim told the girl she was lucky he only broke her nose and not her neck. The big thing everyone knew, bats didn't kill…then again, Tim wasn't here as a bat.

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"You broke my sodding nose!" the girl, Pru, complained even as Tim immobilised her arm to keep her from shooting anyone.

"You're trying to kill me with a submachine gun. You're lucky I don't break your neck," he growled out, angry and annoyed, and definitely not paying any attention to the contact he'd had with her and the one the sniper called Z.

He still needed to work on his new voice though. Couldn't sound like Tim Drake in the suit after all, but he didn't want to sound like Robin either. Batman's voice was half the battle. It took him a while not to be rattled by it. And then Tim'd found out that Bruce had to work at keeping Bruce's voice. So, he got rattled again. Jason had it easy, a full helmet meant an inbuilt voice modulator, but Tim didn't want a helmet.

He drove his arm back, slamming his elbow into her nose, breaking it further.

And then Z paused, a hand going to the comm on his ear. "Master?"

Tim tensed, ready for anything.

"Owens flash!"

Owens... that's three. Flash, he assumed Z wasn't talking about Wally. Or Mister Allen, for that matter. They were pulling out. Z said something before, Tim didn't quite catch it. It sounded like- He wasn't going to make it, lunging for Owens. Then he threw his arm up, domino automatically darkening to protect his eyes. Not that he needed his eyes to fight, thanks to King Snake. He did prefer fighting when able to see though. But it didn't matter, they were gone.

"Damn it," he muttered.

"Language Timothy."

He looked around and there it was, sitting innocently on the rooftop, a comm.

"I hold you to a higher standard given your master. I've been watching you, Timothy. I'd like to have a conversation."

"Ra's Al Ghul," he whispered.

This…was not good. He'd known Ra's was hunting him, should he pick it up, maybe find out why? Smash it and keep going? Had the three seen Danny or assumed he was Tim since they looked similar enough from a distance? Danny had been closest to the window but the blinds had been down. Even if they realised there had been two people in the room, they had no way of identifying Danny from that, right? Would Ra's recognise a kid believed to have been dead for a decade? Had he even personally known Danny when he was with the League?

He opened a shielded pouch and slipped the comm inside, the shielding would keep it from transmitting till he decided what to do. With that done, he took off to put distance between him and the fight, knowing Danny would keep up and approach only once sure it was safe.

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Clark floated high above Metropolis, not really patrolling though he had an ear out for trouble. He couldn't get Kon's words out of his head. He was right, they should have at least let Tim present his case before labelling him as grief mad. But Dick had been so sure… did they give too much weight to Dick's words? He was Bruce's oldest protégé, one of the very first sidekicks and one who had moved on to his own identity. He had done so much as he grew and maybe that coloured their reactions. He'd always been Uncle Clark to Dick, but not so much to Jason and then Tim. He'd clashed with Tim a lot during the days of Young Justice but he knew Tim had been right back then, he'd needed to step up for Kon. So why had he been so quick to dismiss him now?

He listened carefully, trying to find Tim over in Europe but either he wasn't talking or he simply didn't know him well enough to pick his voice out of so many. He'd interacted with Tim more as a younger teen, he was what…seventeen now? His voice might have stopped breaking by now, would deeper than it had been at thirteen or fourteen. Why hadn't he made the effort to ensure he could track Tim when he was Kon's best friend? For a while, Lois had hinted that maybe there'd be more between them but Kon had overheard that discussion and made it clear that yes, he loved Tim, but not romantically. Clark had found that to be a relief, he'd had no desire to deal with Bruce in a protective mood over Tim.

He focused as he heard tires screeching, taking off to help the accident on the freeway.

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Danny tried not to fidget in his seat. When he'd come to Europe, he'd snuck aboard and remained in economy so sitting in business class was a big change. And the fact he was in a dress wasn't helping things, shaving his legs had been a very strange experience and one he wasn't keen to repeat. But they'd booked the Berlin tickets well in advance, before the attack, for Mr and Mrs Johnson so one of them had to be Alice Johnson. Tim had tried but it had obviously been causing him distress to try and put the clothing on, so Danny had stepped up.

Thankfully, being on the plane and getting through the airport didn't require a lot of acting on his part. And they had quickly added that Alice was mute, letting Danny sign everything rather than try and alter his voice enough to sound like a woman. He probably could do it, most ghosts were excellent mimics, but it wasn't a skill he'd practiced outside of teasing Tucker or mocking Dash. So better safe than sorry.

Danny didn't know how Tim wore the wigs though, it itched! At least it wasn't a long flight to Berlin and hopefully they'd lost the team that had attacked them. Though it was interesting Ra's had called them off. He didn't like that he'd left that comm on the roof for Tim, but at least it was packed away in a shielded compartment to ensure they couldn't be tracked with it.

"Is there anything I can get you?" the flight attendant asked with a bright smile.

"No, thank you," Tim answered before turning to him. "Alice?"

'Some water please,' he signed, Tim translating for the attendant.

"We'll be there soon," he smiled and leant in as if kissing 'her' cheek.

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Dick fought the urge to shout at the boy standing before him with arms crossed stubbornly. He just didn't know what else to do, how to get through to him. Damian had overheard his talk with Alfred so knew that there was evidence Bruce was alive and apparently took that to mean that Dick had no authority over him, or even as Batman. He'd thought Damian was doing better, adjust to their way of working, but he'd been wrong.

Robin had seriously injured a man tonight, he should survive but…Robin had been identified as the one to cause the injuries on a purse snatcher, not a Rogue or their goons. That might be brushed off but a purse snatcher with no other criminal record? Gordon couldn't let that go and the press wouldn't either. He'd tried benching the kid but he was good enough to sneak out past Alfred. Dick was honestly at his wits end at controlling him. Tim had been right with his comment on Damian destroying everything they'd built as Robin.

The last thing they needed was an arrest warrant out for Robin. Yes, vigilantism was actually illegal, but they weren't actively pursued, especially with Batman a founding member of the Justice League.

"Tt," Damian stared at him with cold green eyes. "You have no authority over me Grayson, you are not my Father or the true Batman. Grandfather will deal with Drake and ensure Father is safely retrieved." He turned and went to change from his uniform.

Dick looked to Alfred, seeking advice, but for once, even he had none to give. Even if they could lock the kid out of the Cave, they both knew that wouldn't stop him. Why couldn't he understand that if he killed, that would not endear him to Bruce?

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"So glad to be out of that costume," Danny grumbled as he collapsed on the bed, and Tim laughed.

"it wasn't bad," he told him. And it hadn't been, it had been very basic since the less Danny had to worry about the better.

Danny shouldn't have had to wear it in the first place, Tim was the one who took on the female role when necessary. But he'd tried to put the clothes on and hadn't been able to, had almost had a panic attack when he picked the dress up. He didn't erven remember the attack so why had it affected him like that? He had to get over that, it was too dangerous.

"Hey," Danny reached for his hand, and Tim felt instantly more settled. "It's going to take time to move on Tim, that's normal."

"Time I don't have," he muttered.

He couldn't afford to react like that, there was too much chance they would need that kind of role again and while Danny could handle a short plane trip, he wouldn't be able to do it for a more interactive event. And he needed to get over the spell work which meant he needed to have sex. He wasn't against sex or anything, but he wanted a relationship first. He didn't care that it had to be with a guy, that had never bothered him, it was that he didn't have time to date the person first. If the League caught up to them and worked it out...what they would do about it made him feel sick, he had no doubt Ra's would be very interested in seeing if the full spell had taken effect on him or not. He had no desire to end up pregnant by whoever Ra's picked or worse…the man himself.

So, what were his options, ignore it and hope Ra's wouldn't notice anything through his watchers and wouldn't get his hands on him? Pay a stranger who could have been exposed to who knew what? Call a friend? Kon was out and he couldn't imagine Bart either. That didn't exactly leave many choices. He supposed if Jason hadn't flipped out after Bruce, then he might be a maybe, he was only two and a half years older than him too. They hadn't been raised as brothers or anything, but they had the link of being Bats and he'd been getting closer to Jay before everything went wrong. He hoped wherever he was, he was working things out and healing.

He fought to keep from looking over at Danny, trying to ignore the obvious option. Could he trust Danny with this? He wanted to say that Danny was his friend and wouldn't betray him but there was always that tiny voice in his head pointing out he was ex-League. Even when he remembered the kiss, imagined another or more, that voice wouldn't go away. It was driving him crazy.

"So, what are we doing about the nutcase in the pouch?" Danny asked, and Tim blinked back to the present, surprised and yet also resigned to the fact that he'd shifted when lost in thought, curling up against Danny who had just shifted wrap a supporting arm around him.

Nutcase in…Oh! The comm. "I don't know," he admitted. "It's tempting to call, to see why he called them off and what he wants exactly but…it ups the risk he'll find out what happened to me. Bet we can both guess what he'd do with that information."

Danny shuddered, grip tightening on him. "Yeah," he growled. "Not happening. I know bats don't like killing but if it came down to it Tim…I'd kill him to keep that from happening to you."

Tim swallowed. Having someone promise to kill to protect him was not something he should encourage but…it kind of felt nice, and it was Ra's after all.

"He might already know," Danny warned softly. "The police report, Kon's visit, and he's got to have ways of keeping tabs on Gotham."

And by now someone would have told Dick. "Yeah, might be why he called them off." Eh considered the options. "The museum job, I'll take the comm then, he won't be able to track us beyond being in the city. And Shade will have my back?"

"Of course."

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Danny would prefer to be in there with Tim, but they needed Ra's to believe he was working alone. So, Danny was stuck hiding on a nearby rooftop, comm in and on so he could hear Tim and Ra's but they couldn't hear him unless Tim looped him in. it was risky since Danny wouldn't be able to warn Tim if he spotted something but Tim had insisted on not risking revealing Danny to Ra's.

After a decade, what would Grandfather do if he learnt Danny was alive?

He understood Tim's fear when it came to the man, he was so obsessed with an heir… but he'd meant what he'd said. He might not like killing but with a man like Ra's, that was the only way to stop him.

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Tim perched on the fence, not looking back at where Danny was hidden as he removed the comm from the pouch and slipped it into his ear. There was always a moment that cemented it, when someone knew that things had gone really, really wrong. Sure, there were signs,

Batman being dead (he wasn't), Dick choosing a spoiled, vicious and homicidal little punk to wear the Robin costume, his friends turning on him... That was all horrible. Things were bad. The only person at his back was a stranger, someone who had been raised in the League just like said homicidal punk and yet seemed so normal, trustworthy… but was he?

And now as he was staking out the German Museum of Anthropology, about to break into it, sure, he realised... this was not good. But it wasn't the moment. Moving to take out the security guard wasn't it either. No… the moment that cemented the fact that his life had turned upside down, that up was down and black was white...was that he was doing all of it while chatting on a secure line with Ra's al Ghul.

"It was painfully obvious Timothy."

"Enlighten me Ra's," he murmured as he headed down the hall.

"Grayson is hiding something. He has taken up the Detective's cowl, and my betrayer of a Grandson is further degrading himself by acting as his 'sidekick'. And whoever he had parading around as Bruce Wayne most certainly is not."

Wow. He had them cold. That was not good. Though…no mention of his own secrets, so far anyway, that was a relief.

"You should put all that imagination to use. Have you considered writing a novel? You know, instead of running a group of international assassins."

"You are a terrible liar young man. I've been watching you. Whatever it is that happened to Batman, it's obvious you do not believe it. And while you have all of Bruce Wayne's money and you own impressive intellect…I can offer you so much more. A worldwide network of informants, resources beyond anything you can imagine, and the ability to get anything you need, legal or otherwise."

In exchange for his soul, yeah right. But it was interesting to hear his recruitment pitch. Maybe if he hadn't had been attacked, if he didn't know Kon and Bart were back…if Danny wasn't on the nearby roof, then it'd be tempting.

"All that I require is that you share with me what you find. The Batman's final fate."

Yep, pretty much an exchange for his soul. Tim'd tell him to go to Hell, but he'd just come right back. And assuming he was using Bruce's money, please. His parents and the board may have sunk Drake Industries, but Tim had been hacking much harder things since he was in single digits. He had a very large trust fund that he now had access to at least in part. So, what if the trust fund was a lot larger than the one his parents had actually set aside for him. But he'd seen what was happening and had known they'd need the money to survive. It'd been even larger but his Dad's medical bills had eaten up a chunk. He'd only touch Bruce's money on this trip if desperate since it was far more traceable then his own.

"I can help you, Timothy… For instance, I can tell you that you tripped an alarm in the museum you're in about seven minutes ago."

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Danny frowned at his words. No, Tim hadn't tripped anything, Danny had been watching the whole time. Which meant Ra's…wanted him caught? He wanted Tim unable to operate without his help, great. He scanned the other rooftops, looking for the sniper, Owens.

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No way, he hadn't tripped anything. Not with Danny in the system to keep an eye on him.

"Halt!"

Damn it Ra's! He snapped a quick picture of the artifact, no time to scan it. Danny was listening so he'd no Ra's was watching too, so likely the team was back. And Tim was in trouble…okay, what the hell? He stared in shock at the man with the police. Seriously?

TBC…