Disclaimer: not mine

So why did Tim steal artifacts to do with Bruce's presence in the past? Why not just go to the museum or whatever as a tourist during the day and take a photo? Then he wouldn't have ended up wanted for art theft.

Uni is done! Just have to wait for grades. So, fingers crossed I get book 3 written and ready for publishing by New Years.

Chapter 2

No one approached the two as they sat alone at the table, the trio down to a duo. Neither of them was at all happy with their friend for vanishing with nothing but a note left on Tucker's bedroom desk. He claimed it wasn't ghost business, but something personal and that he didn't know when he'd be back. They'd been less and less involved in the ghost fights the last year, too busy with classes and with the GIW ramping things up, it had gotten very dangerous since their weapons tended to hurt anyone exposed to too much Ectoplasm…which was basically everyone in Amity Park.

"Who does he even know outside Amity Park beside his Aunt?" Sam grumbled, and Tucker frowned.

"Well, he was adopted but…they said he had traumatic amnesia. Maybe he remembered something and went looking," it was the only thing he could think of really. He looked up at the silence to see the lock of shock and anger on her face. Oh, oops?

He never really thought about the fact Danny was adopted so he'd never said anything, and why would Danny when he didn't remember life before the Fenton's? And Sam hadn't come around for another year or so, by then Danny was just another Fenton. Danny so owed him.

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Tim collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, hand throbbing. He hissed but then relaxed as his hand was dipped into a bowl of cool water, forcing his eyes open to look at Danny.

"We've been in Madrid for what, five hours now? How'd you get burned this badly going after a kidnapping victim?" he asked as he tended the wound.

It was…nice, having someone around to help him tend his injuries and bounce ideas off of. After four cities with Danny shadowing him, sharing a hotel room, and he was starting to feel comfortable with the ex-assassin. He'd never even seen Danny's face, knew only basic facts about his life in and out of the League. Danny had stated quite clearly that he had an adopted family to protect as well as friends and that made him feel conflicted. Danny had only been three years younger than Damian when he left and yet he was so normal. Then again, he hadn't been raised as the Demon Head's heir like his newest brother. But it did give some hope that Damian could become a normal person with time, if he put the effort in.

"One of the guys was some kind of cyborg, synthetic hands filled with fuel."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, stupidly stopped a punch with my hand, burned right through my glove."

"But you saved the girl," Danny stated, like there was no doubt, and Tim nodded. "Well, looks like I'm handling tonight's break in."

"What?"

"Your hand's going to be out of commission for days, Tim," he pointed out, and Tim grimaced, looking at where his hand rested in the water.

It didn't look good but at least it wasn't third degree or anything. And it was beginning to hurt now the adrenaline was fully wearing off, so he swallowed the pills Danny offered him. He found himself yawning, exhaustion setting in as he sank deeper in the mattress, drifting as Danny tended to his hand. Had he slipped him a sleeping pill?

"Come on, out of your gear," Danny murmured, and Tim pushed himself part way up.

"Dru…gged?" he slurred.

He began to slump and felt Danny catch him, sitting him up to pull off the top of the Red Robin suit.

"No," he denied. "You're not allergic to any painkillers, right?"

Tim managed a lethargic head shake, vision blurring. He vaguely heard Danny swear, felt his hand patting at his face.

"Tim? Open your eyes," Danny demanded, sounding worried, and he struggled to obey. "There's a puncture on your shoulder. Do you remember getting hit in the fight?"

"Hmm…"

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Danny watched Tim's eyes roll back, scrambling to press his fingers to his throat, relieved to find his heart beating steadily if slowly. Tim's uniform was padded to make him appear bulkier, adding to the illusion that Red Robin was older than Tim actually was. Added to the armour…how strong had the needle been to have actually made it to his skin and then into it deep enough to deliver the drugs.

He was breathing alright, his heart rate steady…a strong sedative? He supposed they could have simply hit Tim with the same stuff they'd used to grab the girl if they'd had some left. He was out cold, completely unresponsive as Danny finished stripping him out of the suit, wrangling him into the loose pants and t-shirt he slept in. the t-shirt had a familiar S-shield on it and Danny knew that Robin and Superboy had both been part of Young Justice and that Superboy had been killed a while back.

With Tim out, Danny yanked his mask down, relieved to be free of the material for a while. Maybe he could trust Tim but could he risk his family? Thanks to Tucker, he knew the name Tim Drake, adopted son of Bruce Wayne, he was something of a tech genius apparently. He'd done some work with WE that Tucker would love to get his hands on. Everyone knew Wayne helped finance the JL and Batman so did he know his son had joined the cape brigade?

He'd heard a few of Sam's rants about Bruce Wayne, they'd attended the same galas a few times. She thought very lowly of the man himself, apparently, he was an airheaded idiot skirt chaser. No one really cared though since he hadn't run the company into the ground yet. Even Sam had to admit he did good work with charities.

Now Danny had to make a choice, pull off the job and leave Tim alone when vulnerable, or remain with him and possibly miss their shot at this piece of evidence. Hopefully, Tim had gotten a low enough dose that he wouldn't be out for too long.

Danny moved around the hotel room, checking equipment and gathering up Tim's uniform, settling done to ensure it was in good condition. He wasn't sure what to do about the burnt glove.

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Waking up was hard, his body heavy, head fuzzy. His mouth was dry and tasted horrible, his head pounding. He made a gargling noise and then a hand was pressed to his forehead, the skin nice and cool.

"Easy Tim, you were drugged but you're safe at the hotel," that voice was familiar. "It's okay, just sleep it off."

He managed to lift heavy eyelids to see a blurry figure. Drugged? "D'y?"

"Yeah, it's Danny. I've got you, sleep Tim."

His eyes closed again as fingers began moving through his hair. Felt nic…

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Vlad frowned, looking out over the city. He might be Mayor, but he was finding his authority challenged more and more often by the GIW. They had been drawn to the city by his bounty on Daniel and now he regretted it. They had been nothing but a laugh back then, now they were becoming truly dangerous.

Phantom had not been seen but he was not concerned. If the GIW or Fenton's had caught him, they would not keep it quiet. And his annoying friends seemed more annoyed, even angry, than scared or worried. But what could draw his little badger from his home?

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Tim slowly blinked, the strip of midday sun across his face irritating. His head hurt and he felt kind off odd, but he rolled onto his side to see Danny dosing in the chair, one of Tim's gloves on the table…damaged. What? He sluggishly pushed himself up, wincing as the skin on his hand pulled. Right…the kidnapping, fire hands guy…he didn't remember getting back to the hotel…he was so tired.

"Tim?"

He looked over at Danny again, seeing the look at relief. "Wh…" he coughed. "What happen'd?"

"You got drugged," Danny answered, getting up to grab a glass of water, holding it for Tim to drink from.

"What?" when had that happened?"

Found the injection site as you were going under. Somehow it went through your suit in the shoulder, probably the same thing they gave the girl to grab her. You've been out all night, it's almost one in the afternoon."

"Oh," he mumbled, leaning back against the headrest, letting Danny check him over. The headache was fading which was nice.

"I'm definitely doing the job tonight, no way are you going like this."

Tim frowned, not liking that, but considering he could barely move, Danny was right. He must have gotten a higher dose than the Peñalba girl had. Or it was a drug he was more reactive to than her. Maybe they'd given her an antidote in preparation for the handover that never happened.

"I've been trying to get water in you to help flush the drugs quicker, but you haven't really been able to swallow," Danny explained, giving him the glass again.

"Sure you can do it?" he asked between sips.

"I tail you without getting caught," Danny pointed out.

True, and if Tim couldn't spot him then it was very doubtful some museum worker could. Danny wasn't too much bigger than him so he motioned to where the Red Robin suit was. "Wear it."

"What? Seriously?" Danny was staring at him in disbelief.

Tim nodded. "Just in case."

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Danny crouched on the edge of the roof, watching the guard and his dog as they patrolled. The suit felt strange, very different to the hazmat suit he'd become Phantom in. The cowl was…how did anyone wear one for hours on end night after night? Though it wasn't as hot as he'd expected, the material breathed well and was easy to move in. the cap was taking some getting used to though, he'd nearly tripped on it and was glad Tim could only hear him, not see.

He'd made his way by running and leaping from building to building, cheating a little by flying to enhance the jumps. But there was no way he was trying to use Tim's grapple gun; he'd never used one before after all. He'd accepted bringing the bō though, he'd trained with one as a kid since a lot of things could be used as one in a pinch. He had the camera hidden in a pouch too, he couldn't believe Tim had been planning to actually take the artifacts. The images would be enough to push the Justice League to investigate then they could ask to see the real things if they needed to. And there were a few other instruments to take readings with. Thankfully Tim had explained them, but Danny was no slouch with science thanks to years of helping the Fenton's.

"Okay?" Tim's voice sounded in his year.

"Just waiting for the guard, apparently his dog needs a bathroom break," Danny answered softly. "Going now," he murmured before making the leap across the gap, landing on top of the stone pillar that was part of the fence before jumping again, catching himself on the edge of the museum roof, pulling himself up.

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Tim was propped up in bed, the comm in his ear, watching the computer screen and the little dot that indicated Danny's position. He was still tired, but no longer fighting to keep his eyes open. He'd sent an anonymous message to the cops to watch the girl for side effects, just because she'd been fine when he was there didn't mean nothing would happen, after all it'd taken almost half an hour to hit him.

He had control of the cameras in the museum and he watched them closely, Danny's tracker was moving but he could never catch sight of him. He really was excellent at stealth.

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By the time Danny was slipping back in through the window, Tim was feeling a lot better. Sure enough, he'd never caught a glimpse of him in the cameras and he'd been trying to. It was weird to see someone else in the suit, or at least someone he was pretty sure was on his side. He still wasn't totally convinced Danny wouldn't one day stab him in the back, but so far, they'd worked well together. Jason and then Ulysses Armstrong had both worn the uniform before and while things had gotten better with Jason for a while, they'd taken a major step back when he'd stabbed him in the chest. The less said about Armstrong the better.

He'd chosen Red Robin because he would have to do things Robin shouldn't or couldn't. Except, with Damian wearing those colours…how long until Robin crossed lines he was never meant to? Robin was the light to Batman's darkness, hope to his fear. Damian was none of that. Was Red Robin a way to punish himself for letting Robin become something else? For not being enough for Dick? Should…maybe he should choose something new, something that was just him? No one knew him by Red Robin yet, besides Danny, removing the bird symbol would be easy enough, colouring could shift later if he wanted it to…

"You awake?"

He blinked up at Danny who waved a take-out container at him. "Sorry, thinking," he admitted, accepting it, hearing his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten before Danny left in case it made him sick.

They ate quietly and then Danny loaded the photos onto the computer as well as the readings he'd taken, Tim going over them until he fell asleep.

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He nodded to himself as the image of young Daniel and his companion faded, everything was going as it should. He was glad it was Timothy who had gone in search of the infamous Batman, the young man was his favourite of the Bat's brood. Daniel could not run from his past forever and Timothy would be understanding. He just hoped the future could be nudged to the best timelines, he doubted the young Prince would be happy if his new friend lost an organ…or his mind.

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Danny held on tight to Tim's waist as the bike flew down the highway. It was fun! Not as fast as he could fly himself but it still had the sense of freedom. The bike had been rented by one Mike Lewis and his brother Adam in Madrid, nothing to link it to them. Danny thought he'd caught sight of some Assassins which was why they had left the city so quickly. It wasn't a long ride to Toledo, just under an hour, but hopefully the distance and new identities would be enough to throw off pursuit.

They pulled in at a hotel and Danny went inside to book a room while Tim grabbed their things, handing the bike in. Danny had their new id's, though he was wondering how well Tim would pull off being Danielle Stone. The young couple were celebrating their engagement with a European trip and Thomas Blake smiled at the gushing receptionist. He didn't visibly react when a blond slid her arm through his, smiling softly up at him, a nice, understated diamond on her left hand.

They received a few congratulations before they reached their room, and Danny sat on the bed to watch Tim walk across the room, hips swaying very convincingly.

"Like what you see?" he asked, voice pitched higher.

"Impressive. If I hadn't been expecting you to do that…I wouldn't have known it was you," he admitted.

"At least I have a smaller bustline," Tim muttered.

"Huh?" Danny smirked, and Tim grimaced, even as he reached under the nice shirt he was wearing to remove the padding and bra.

"I wanted more undercover experience. Ended up at Gotham General as Caroline Hill, medical student. Apparently, the idea was a large enough chest to get me positive attention without being too memorable."

"Ah, fun," Danny grimaced. "Do you have a bag of wigs or something?" he eyed Tim's luggage.

"For the guys, I mostly use temporary hair colour and gel. But wigs do come in handy even for them if I want too different a style. Pulling it off is more speech and movement than hair or even bust."

"I remember trying on some of my sister's high heels on a dare, killed my back and feet," Danny admitted.

"You weren't used to them or walking right in them," Tim grinned, flopping down beside him.

Danny snagged his hand to check on the burn and Tim let him without complaint. Because they'd booked in as an engaged couple, there was one queen sized bed which could be interesting. Tim had begun showing more trust that he was legitimately there to help him, would he trust him enough to share a bed? Or was one of them sleeping on the couch?

"Hey Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"Does your family know about the League?"

"No, they think I had traumatic amnesia which considering the scars I had at only seven…I got into my file - suspected abuse, maybe even a cult apparently. Probably because I had no clue how to interact with non-assassins," he shrugged slightly.

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She sighed as she went through the search results. There were a lot of near matches, but none of them were Tim. She even caught a glimpse of a teen at Heathrow who nearly pinged as Bruce on the system, just decades younger. She paused and went back…no, surely not. Bruce had always been very careful and if Damian had a brother, an older one at that, surely, he would have been mentioned before now. She needed to work on the program apparently, or they needed better cameras in British airports.

She grimaced as a police report flashed up; Dick was not going to be happy with Damian. The kid was not meant to be out alone, he should be at the penthouse with Alfred and not beating up petty thieves badly enough an ambulance was needed. There had to be something more that could be done to help curb his violent tendencies. It was strange, Ra's did not strike her as the kind to put up with the sort of arrogance Damian displayed all of the time. Yes, he was very good, especially for his age, but even in that bracket there were better fighters out there. Such arrogance and unwillingness to listen to more experienced fighters could get him killed.

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"So where do they think you are?" Surely his adoptive family hadn't just dropped him at the airport to waltz off to Europe rather than going to school?

He could understand why Danny wouldn't tell them about the League. It was a secret group after all, they would likely think it was a kids game or a child's way of coping with abuse or something. How hard would it be to learn and adapt with that secret? Damian was struggling enough and they knew the truth of his upbringing. Danny was good at coming up with covers though, he'd managed to explain the face mask whenever they were together with a believable story every time.

"I doubt they've noticed I'm not there. I left a note for my friends though, my sister's away at college," Danny explained quietly, and Tim grimaced slightly.

Hadn't noticed? That didn't sound good, neglectful or uninterested in the adopted kid now that he was getting older? His own parents had never noticed his night-time endeavours, his father only worked it out because Tim had made a mistake and left something unmistakably Robin's where he could find it. Then again, he shouldn't have been going through Tim's things. That was a time he tried to avoid thinking about though.

They lay on the bed quietly for a while before it was time to appear for dinner and Tim got back into his full disguise. They held hands as they walked through the hotel and out onto the streets to find a restaurant and it felt…kind of nice. He didn't touch people much outside of training or fighting, though more these days then when he'd been little. How long had it been since he'd just held someone's hand? His third date with Steph? He didn't tend to hold hands with his old team, it'd been arms, half hugs, puppy piles and he missed it, he missed them so much. He felt bad how things had gone with Cassie before he left Gotham but she hadn't really listened either.

"Okay?" Danny murmured, looking concerned, and Tim smiled at him, nodding, leaning into his side. Danny moved and wrapped his arm around Tim's shoulders, leaning in so that it would look to watchers like he'd kissed Tim's cheek.

"Yeah." He returned the gesture as they walked, finally heading into a place they both agreed looked nice. Tomorrow night was for work, tonight they would relax.

TBC…