Disclaimer – You recognise it, I don't own it.

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"You believe he escaped?" Dick pressed.

"This is Tim we're talking about." Bruce reminded, "He is far more capable than people generally expect."

"If he'd escaped we would have a multi-page report on the system, explaining who, what, where, why and how. Along with their capture. Not their deaths. Multiple bodies were found at the scene. None of them Tim's, but…"

"Tim hasn't been sending me reports for a while."

"What? Why not?"

"I don't know. They started coming in batch lots, which made sense. He was writing multiple reports at once. Then the reports started being smaller. Containing only the most pertinent details… Then no reports at all. I haven't received a report from Tim in over six months. I don't know if Babs has. I suspect she has been receiving something, because I occasionally get useful pieces of information on the system, that helps in searches. But…"

"But you can't be certain." Dick nodded, "Hold on… Babs? You got anything?"

"Not at present, Boy Wonder." Her voice was light, "I've been going through old records. Last time Timmy dropped intel into BI, he hacked in. And that was five weeks ago. Useful data on a Poison Ivy bust he did."

"His last day at WE was a month ago," Dick informed her, "So that tracks. He took down Ivy? Damn. I didn't realize."

"I'm trying to go through the old comm data to find when he last spoke with any of us as Red Robin. So far I'm not getting much."

"We suspect that he hasn't made much contact with anyone since my return." Bruce put in, "Certainly it dropped after the Captain Boomerang incident."

"Why?" Dick frowned, "He did brilliantly. Stepping in to save the guys life. After everything? I was so impressed with his maturity."

"He orchestrated the whole situation." Bruce explained, "Captain Boomerang was only in danger, because Tim put him there. The fact that he changed his mind at the last minute and saved his life is inconsequential."

"No." Dick snapped back, "It's pretty fucking huge, B. Captain Boomerang could have chosen a different path at any point and it wouldn't have led him to his death. Tim was waiting and then changed his mind despite the fact that Captain Boomerang could have avoided the consequences. He chose to save the guy's life. Think about it… Superman had to literally hold you back from killing the Joker. Tim plotted and planned, like he always does. He had it all laid out and running to plan. And then he stopped himself. You're an adult and after that one attempt, you stopped yourself. You started blaming yourself rather than the Joker. Tim stopped himself and then went back to blaming himself. Because, believe me, he's blamed himself for Jack's death ever since the man stopped breathing."

"It was still attempted murder."

"From what I remember and what you're saying, there's not a court in the world that would try him for anything more than Attempted Manslaughter. And not a jury that would convict him. You tried worse."

Dick knew that he was speaking the truth. He also knew that sometimes Bruce held people to an impossible standard. It was understandable what Tim had done. And the fact that he had chosen a different path, albeit at the last moment, was a testament to his character.

The silence was broken by a familiar tune. Dick hummed along to "The Daring Young Man" as he dug his phone out of his pocket.

"Hey Jaybird." He chirped, "You got anything?"

"Ya know why Timmy woulda have a gun?" Jason cut straight to the point.

"Who found it?"

"The detectives."

"Where was it?"

"In his closet. In a shoebox. Need ta talk ta him about better gun security… Why is that important?"

"Was it loaded?"

"Was it loaded? Dickie, is there something I should know? Seriously? Why does the baby bird have a gun?"

"It was his father's. Are they listening?"

"Not right now. Why?"

"Tell me… Was it loaded?"

"No. But the bullets were stored with it. Why's that important?"

"I can't prove it. And I don't know for certain. But I suspect that at least once in Tim's life, he has held that gun to his own head. And contemplated pulling the trigger."

"You never told me that the kid had been suicidal." Jason's voice was hushed.

"It was a while back. He'd basically lost most of his anchors."

"Which ones?"

"Parents. SB and KF. And BG, before she was BG."

"What sort of time frame?"

"Apart from his mum, all in less than a year."

"Ouch. Ya say ya ain't sure?"

"No. He called me. There was an edge to his voice. God! I haven't thought about that in ages!"

"Ya think it could be related?"

"How? I rather doubt he would be behind his own torture."

"True. But there's always passive suicide."

"Not his style. He'd never leave questions unanswered. Nor risk our exposure. No. This is a kidnapping. Besides the whole suicidal thing? That's long over. He's not in that place anymore. Are the police gone?"

"Don't think they'll be much longer."

"You staying on afterwards?"

"Ya betcha."

"See what you can find. B and Little D are planning on checking his Nest tonight. But they don't know how to get in."

"Done it before." Jason replied, "I'll meet 'em later. Goin' ta check a few contacts first. What about ya?"

"Crime scene. But I'm calling Gar first."

"Find out what they know, huh? Best give them a heads up that the cops will want to talk to them."

"Good point. Catch you later?"

"Yeah, once I've checked this place out, I'm heading ta the crime scene."

"Meet you there." Dick hung up.

"A gun?" Bruce challenged.

"Like I said, it was Jack's." Dick shrugged, "I didn't know he still kept it."

"Suicidal?"

"Not anymore." Dick refuted, "He's better now. After all he got three out of the five back. Besides if he was going to… He would have done it before he realized you were still alive."

"Then why were you worried about it being loaded?"

"Because… Because… Because my mind still goes there. Goes back to that time when I'm fairly sure I talked him out of it. Without ever talking about it. God, I don't think we ever talked about stuff like that. Fuck!"

Dick ran a hand through his hair.

"Look, B… Tim's not in that dark place anymore. I've seen that he's not. I saw him smile… Really smile – with Kon. God, I haven't seen that smile because of me for a long time."

"We'll find him." Bruce laid a gentle hand on Dick's arm.

"But how many pieces will he be in? You and I both know that torture breaks everyone eventually. And they've had him for how long? Four weeks at the outside. God! I hope it wasn't four weeks. But it could be."

"He could have gotten away." Bruce reminded.

"Then where is he?" Dick braced his hands on the console, not looking at his mentor, "Then where the hell is he, Bruce?"

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Please Review.

I write stories because I can't draw. I have all these images in my head that I cannot reproduce. So I try and describe them with words. If anyone else would like to try to translate what I have written into what they think I saw in my head, they have my permission. I only ask that I be notified of it, so that I may look and go "OOoooh!".

Many thanks to my reviewers:

Sgtwist – I enjoy writing cliff hangers and leaving questions in people's minds. It's part of the fun.

Inthenightguest – I hope I continue to entertain you.