#tim was cheery all day while dick was sobbing

[badacts]

human shield

The grocery store at midnight is pleasant in a dreamy, sterile way - uniform, brightly coloured, the quiet only broken by someone’s top 40 playlist just loud enough to make out the words.

Dick, coasting along with one foot up on the back bar of the cart, is the one to break it when his phone goes off in his pocket. “Hello?”

“Grayson.” It’s his superior, Milan, terse as ever. It’s his day off, and he immediately jumps to Arkham breakout, and then, someone’s dead. Christ, he’s paranoid. “We need you to come to the West End mall. There’s a hostage situation, and the hostage-taker is asking for you.”

“I’ll be there,” Dick replies, abandoning his cart in the middle of the aisle without a thought. “Who is it?”

Of course, he’s already talking to the dial tone. It’s the impetus he needs to move fast, though.

It’s a usual set up - a cordon, cop cars and cops everywhere, worried or curious civilians hanging around outside along with some reporters that call to Dick as he jogs by. He waves a little to the familiar faces he sees, and then sees Milan standing at the back of a van.

“I’m here,” Dick says. “What’s happening?”

There’s a police negotiator Dick vaguely recognises sitting in the van, and he gives Dick an impatient look. “What’s happening is that this guy won’t let us do our job because he wants to talk to you.” Clearly not a fan, then.

“Isn’t your job to try give the guy what he wants?” Dick asks, hopping up into the van. There’s a computer screen with the mall CCTV pulled up on it, showing a couple of guys with rifles loitering in the main part of the mall.

“We’re just about to get footage of the hostages,” Milan says. She’s a slight, no-nonsense black woman who Dick would propose to in an instant if she weren’t definitely batting for a team that firmly doesn’t include him. “Thankfully they’ve holed up in a shop with an external wall, because we can get access via the vents for a look.”

“Great,” Dick says. “Any idea who the guy is?”

“Marcus O’Reilly,” Milan supplies, and hands him a slim brown file. “Just got out of Blackgate after serving his time for armed robbery and drugs charges.”

“Doesn’t sound familiar,” Dick says, flipping the file open. A sullen face with a shaved head stares back. The guy doesn’t look familiar, either.

“You arrested him,” Milan supplies. “Warehouse bust, eighteen months ago.”

Dick thinks back. “I arrested fifteen people that evening.”

“Well, this one seems to have found the experience pretty memorable,” Milan says drily. “Usually I would assume he’s holding a grudge, but, knowing you, you probably gave him a particularly memorable pep talk that he’s hoping to hear one more time before he goes back to prison.”

“It’s nice to be appreciated,” Dick says, and then gestures to the negotiator’s setup. “Do you mind?”

The negotiator sighs but gives his seat up for Dick, hopping down from the van. Dick hopes he sticks close - this isn’t exactly Dick’s general wheelhouse, for all the practice he’s had at talking people down.

“We’re getting a sniper up on the roof,” Milan says matter-of-factly before he picks up the phone. “He’s not going to have a great shot, though.”

That’s true enough. The interior storefronts are all glass, as is a large portion of the western wall, but the eastern one, where the hostages are, is concrete. Whoever is up there will be able to see okay through the shop displays and window signage, but it’s a fair distance from one side to the other.

Dick picks up the stupid bright red negotiator phone and dials the number scrawled across the paper in front of the computer. It rings a few times before it clicks live.

“Hi,” Dick says, when O’Reilly doesn’t speak. “This is Detective Grayson.”

“S’up,” comes the reply. Despite the name, the guy sounds as Gotham as they come, and not all that old. Dick flicks his eyes back to the file and translates the birthdate to someone younger than him. “I wanna talk to you, man.”

“We’re talking right now, Marcus,” Dick says, leaning back in the chair. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Face to face,” O’Reilly corrects. “Come down here.”

“Are your friends going to let me in?” Dick asks.

“They will if I tell them to.”

Dick squints at the computer thoughtfully. “We need to talk about the hostages first, Marcus.”

“What about ‘em?” O’Reilly asks.

“If I’m going to come down there, I need a bit of a goodwill gesture. What about letting some of the hostages go free?” That’s his goal here. Get the innocents out. Everything else is just icing.

O’Reilly laughs. “Get real, Detective. You come down here, or I start killing ‘em one by one.” Then he hangs up.

“Nice guy,” Dick says, putting the phone down. “How far off are we on the camera?”

“Five seconds,” Milan says, and then, “There we go.”

On the screen, a new window pops up of slightly clearer footage. The hostage-takers - three of them, all visibly armed - are facing away from the wall, and so away from the camera, just inside the wide-view lens’ reach. The hostages are all sitting on the floor, lined up against the storefront. The shop stock has been shoved to the side to clear the space. It looks like a homeware store - the shopfront is stocked with blankets and pillows and vases.

Dick figures the centremost figure has got to be Marcus. He’s got one of the hostages on his knees, closer than the others, and in easy reach of both his hands and the handgun he’s holding. The hostage is turned towards the camera, their face just visible behind Marcus’s hip.

“Fuck,” Dick says, dumbstruck and loud enough to surprise even himself.

“What?” Milan demands sharply.

“That’s my brother,” Dick says.

*

He can see it, in his mind’s eye. Tim in the wrong place, at the wrong time, knowing that there’s shit-all he can do as Tim Drake-Wayne and not much more he can do to get out of the situation and be not-Tim-Drake-Wayne when there are five guns versus him and a bunch of civilians.

Tim wouldn’t sit and let the others get threatened. He’d volunteer himself as the most valuable hostage, tell them his whole life story to make sure they knew the precise monetary value of his continued being alive. 

Or, worse, he’d talk until he got their attention and was singled out that way, neglecting to mention at all that he was a rich man’s rich son. Going by the bruise blooming over his jaw, Dick is going to take door number two this time.

Milan had said some things about conflict of interest and safety and ‘not getting yourself killed’, but they both know the only option was for him to go. He straps on a bulletproof vest over the thin WE body armour he always wears at work. Hopefully none of the grocery store security cameras had been pointing at his car while he changed earlier, or some rent-a-cop must have gotten an eyeful. 

He debates, and then straps on his piece as well as the electrified escrima that looks just like a standard-issue folding baton. It’s not going to save him or anyone else against five guys with high-powered weapons, but it’s better than nothing.

He gets a SWAT escort to the front doors. At least they, unlike the uniform GCPD guys, don’t look at him like he’s a bomb about to go off. The captain - Jenkins, Dick thinks - waves him off with a cheery, “See you soon,” not entirely belied by the way he’d assured Dick and Milan both they’d come in as fast as possible, guns blazing, when necessary.

“See you,” Dick says, and ventures forward alone. The mall is a mess from where people fled earlier - it’s one of those late-night places, where the cinema and restaurants stay open until midnight or so. It’s a Saturday, and even in Gotham there would have been some crowds.

He winds his way through to the shop and slips past the men guarding the door - not in full body armour, he notes, but their faces are covered with balaclavas - without a word. 

“Hey,” he says to announce his presence. One of the hostages, very quietly, sobs. He looks around quickly, checking for injuries, and doesn’t find anything serious. He saves Tim for last, meeting his eyes quick and away before looking to O’Reilly. “I’m here. In the flesh.”

“In position,” Smith, the sniper, says over the comms.

“Visibility is poor,” Oracle says in his other ear. “It’s starting to rain. He’s not going to be able to see shit.”

“Detective Grayson, everybody,” O’Reilly says, tone mock-warm. He’s the only one not wearing a mask. He’s pulled Tim up as a proper human shield, and they’re almost of a height. The half-inch he has on Tim is going to make shooting him from the rooftop across the street almost impossible in these conditions.

“You’ve got me,” Dick says calmly. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I lied,” O’Reilly says. “I don’t really want to talk. I just want to kill you.”

“Okay,” Dick replies. “Well, I’m here now. Why don’t you let the hostages go?”

O’Reilly moves too fast. The gun goes off, and for a moment Dick expects pain. Then, from behind him, someone screams.

He’s shot one of the hostages. Belly wound, bleeding badly. Marcus says, cold, “I’m not here to make bargains.”

“You’ve got something against shoppers?” Dick asks. He’s still calm. So far.

“To be honest, I just don’t care.” He smiles like someone who should have been in Arkham, not Blackgate.

“Let them go,” Dick says. 

O’Reilly tilts his head. Then he grins. “You know what? Fine. All of you at the front? Go. And take that guy with you.”

The hostages don’t move, staring wide-eyed between him and the other hostage-takers and Dick. The one with the gut wound is panting and clutching at his stomach, rapidly going grey.

O’Reilly shouts, “Go!” Then he fires a bullet into the ceiling.

One of the fluorescent lights overhead shatters in a spray of plastic. The hostages, though - they run, two of them barely pausing to hoist the injured one between them. Then it’s just the five guys with guns, Tim, Dick, and a puddle of blood.

“Are you going to let that one go, too?” Dick asks.

“Not a chance,” O’Reilly replies. He’s got an arm slung around Tim’s neck.

“He’s a kid,” Dick says, steadily. He doesn’t think that, really, or at least not most of the time. But in jeans, sneakers and an oversized hoodie, Tim looks young.

In his ear, the SWAT team are reporting on the condition of the hostages as they’re whisked to safety. Dick blocks it out.

“You think I don’t watch the news? That I can’t go to a library?” O’Reilly says. He’s smiling, small and mean. “I’m not an idiot. I know exactly who this guy is.” And he jams the muzzle of his gun hard against the side of Tim’s head. “This is your little brother.”

Tim doesn’t flinch. He says, “Adopted brother.”

There’s a cold silence, and then O’Reilly moves the gun from Tim’s skull - quick death - to somewhere down near his kidneys. “Alright, smart guy.”

Dick gives Tim a look that says, shut up. Tim, being smarter than their other siblings, does so.

“Me ‘n’ my brother, we were both at the warehouse that night. Got arrested and thrown in Blackgate, matching sentences,” O’Reilly says.

“Bet your mom’s really proud,” Dick says before he can stop himself. 

O’Reilly ignores him. “Billy had debts, though. And I couldn’t protect him, in there, not like I could out here. And guess how that ended up for him?”

“William O’Reilly’s dead,” Babs fills in flatly, at the same time O’Reilly bellows, “He’s dead! And it’s your fault!”

Dick had already seen where this was going, but he’s not exactly keen on the confirmation. “I didn’t make you rob people at gunpoint, Marcus.”

“He’d be alive, if it weren’t for you,” O’Reilly snarls. “But guess what? Here you are, and here’s your brother. So I think it’s my turn to make good tonight.”

“What about your friends?” Dick asks. “What do they want out of this, exactly? Because I don’t think I’ve done anything to them.”

“These guys?” O’Reilly asks, suddenly amused again. “I made some friends in high places when I got out. Show ��im, boys.”

As one, the figures on either side of O’Reilly pull their balaclavas off. And underneath, they’re wearing masks that are slitted eyes and the curve of a beak. Owls.

Talons.

“Shit,” Babs mutters, and then, “Hurry it up, Black Bat!”

“Smith,” Milan is saying over the comms, “Do you have a shot?”

“Maybe,” Smith says. He sounds laconic, but snipers almost always do when they’re working. “Not a great one.”

So they’ve got back-up incoming. But by the look on O’Reilly’s face, they don’t have long.

“They don’t want anything,” O’Reilly says, “But, if you ask me? I think they’re probably just as happy as I am to see you both bleedin’ out on the floor.”

“Smith,” someone prompts.

“I don’t have the shot,” Smith says, “I repeat, I do not - ulp!” Then there’s nothing but silence.

“Get eyes on Smith,” Milan demands to someone else. “Now.”

Dick, aware they might have another Talon in play, aware he might be about to get shot in the back, says, “So, what’re you waiting for, exactly?”

“I’m not waiting,” O’Reilly says, “I’m just savouring.” And he raises his gun back to Tim’s head.

Tim, who’s looking at Dick with a placid facial expression, his eyes asking, what now? Because they’re not Nightwing and Red Robin. They’re Dick and Tim, and what they can do is limited by the clothes they’re wearing, and by the eyes watching them.

It doesn’t matter, anyway, not really. Neither of them is faster than a bullet. 

The gun goes off. Dick doesn’t close his eyes.

He’s expecting blood, and he gets it. What he’s not expecting is two more gunshots straight afterward.

The owl masks shatter. And O’Reilly, missing the top of his skull, drops to the ground and just barely doesn’t drag an in-one-piece-Tim with him.

“Don’t ever say I don’t do anything for you, Timmy,” a rough, half-robotic, familiar voice says over their comms, there and then gone. 

Jason.

“It’s a mask!” someone is yelling over the comms, but Dick’s already flying forward and catching Tim up in his arms, pushing him towards the wall and covering him with his body.

“What the hell were you doing here?” he demands, pulling Tim’s head against his shoulder, a show of sibling comfort that abruptly becomes real when he realises Tim is shivering. 

“Christmas shopping,” Tim mumbles into his chest, and Dick, despite himself, laughs.

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

Jelly Bean (Batfam x toddler!Batsis)

Warnings: Kidnapping, Angst, Psycho  Word count:~2835 Summary: (Don’t wanna spoil)

You loved school. 

Learning new things, spending time with your friends, playing on the playground and having fun in general. It was awesome.  So, like everyday, you basically jumped out of your bed when Alfred woke you up, got dressed in a violet princess-y dress with a bat-symbol on the chest-part which Duke has given you as an I-hope-you-accept-me-as-your-brother-gift (you did) -it soon became your favourite dress and you wore it at least once every two weeks much to your fathers dismay and all your other siblings delight, you don't really know why- and hurried down to join your family at breakfast.  You, being your usual cheery self, happily told Damian about the dream you had, while eating the scrambled eggs Alfred had placed before you, not noticing the tiredness of all your siblings, even though your aura alone made them happier and a bit less-tired, since even your excitement about so little things, like the fact that you met a talking cucumber sandwich in your dream, was contagious.  When you'd finished eating you hopped into the car (with a little help from Alfred), wiggling the whole way to your primary school and basically ran to your class after hugging Alfred goodbye.  Being a first grader was great. No tests, no grades and only nice teachers.  One of those teachers was Miss Tanser, your class' teacher and one of the nicest persons you knew. She always joked during lessons, sang catchy songs with the class and never got angry or furious about anything.  That was also why she was your favourite, which was the reason for you being extra happy that it was Wednesday. Wednesday meant you would have Miss T in the last two periods and she ends the class with jelly beans like she always did on Wednesdays.  The time flew by and soon enough you sat beside one of your friends in the first row of math class, listening to Miss T talking about addition and subtraction, doodling small bats -your favourite animals- in your exercise book when the bell rung.  "I guess that's it for today kids," Miss T said, went back to her desk and pulled out a bag of heart-shaped jelly beans. She went through the rows, from the back to the front, giving everyone a bean, until she arrived in front of you, sticking her hand into the bag. When she took it out again, it was empty. "I'm really sorry, but I think that was the last of it." A small pout made its way onto your face and you looked at the desk in front of you, slightly sad, but when you heard Miss T clap you looked up at her smiling. "You know what, I think I still have a bag of them in my car. How about we quickly run over to it and I'll give you a jelly bean."  You smiled and nodded, packing your stuff up in record time. Patiently, -since you knew that it was Harper's turn to pick you up and bring you to your violin class (and she always took quite a bit to arrive at your school)- you stood beside the door and waited for Miss T, who still needed to clean her desk up. 

When Miss T and you arrived at her car, she opened it up, reached into the glove compartment and came back with a hand full of normal shaped jelly beans in intense green-ish colour. You picked one out and smiled at her, but before you were able to say thanks she said: "If you don't tell the others, you can have all of them. Those are my favourites." At first, you were a bit hesitant, but when you saw her encouraging smile you took the beans. "Thank you very much Miss Tanser," you said politely, slipping two of the sweets into your mouth. They tasted kinda strange, but as they were Miss T's favourites you didn't want to offend her with not eating them and so you just took them all in your mouth and quickly chewed and swallowed them.  You turned around, wanting to go back to the front of the school and wait for Harper when you suddenly felt dizzy. Before you even registered what happened, you stumbled onto the floor only to be picked up by someone, not being able to see who before everything went black. 

(Back at the Bat-cave) Harper was sitting in the cave sobbing, surrounded by the whole Bat-Family, telling everything she knew. When she arrived at your school, she wasn't greeted by you as she usually was. A bit confused, she searched through the school and asked everyone she met, only to be met with ignorance.  "I-I sho-sho-should have been there earlier," she said after she finally calmed down enough.  "It's not your fault," Bruce said, even though he was basically going mad on the inside, not bearing the thought of losing you. He just couldn't. Ever since your Mum, Selina Kyle, set you down at the front step of the manor, saying that she didn't want you to grow up as she did and that she'd still be there for you, just not as much as before, he was head's over heels for you (in a platonic way). Your little smile brightened up his days and your innocent was his anchor in the great, deep sea of darkness that was his mind nowadays. He had lost so much in his life, he couldn't lose you too. Gotham couldn't lose you. You weren't only his anchor, you were the city's as well. In those time's of depression, you were the ray of hope that made the civilians hold on and believe in a better future. But if you were gone... Bruce couldn't imagine what would become off him and this city. Dick wasn't any better. He knew that you were the glue that kept this family together. No matter how bad things went, how hard Tim and Damian fought or how pissed Jason was at Bruce, a single look at you made them calm down and overthink their decisions. They just couldn't bear the thought of making you sad or not being able to see you if they messed up bad enough. You were the heart and the soul of the family, without you everything that had been build up, Damian finally calling the others his 'brothers' (even though very rarely), Tim sleeping at least three hours a night, Jason joining the team again and even playing along with Bruce's rules, Cass feeling included and loved, Duke feeling like he belongs to this family, Steph and Harper having people to talk to even in their darkest times and Babs having been able to work through her Trauma and getting back to her old-self, would be gone. Leaving behind a broken family and even more broken people inside it.  Jason was angry...no. Not angry, furious. He wanted to tear apart whoever or whatever was the reason for your absence. You were with distance his most favorite sibling. No matter how dark his times, one look at you and he felt like it was worth it. Like everything he's been through was worth it as long as he knew you were safe in his vicinity. But now you weren't. And he wanted to burn the world down to get you back. Tim was slightly numb. His sleep-deprived mind hasn't quite caught up to the fact that you were, indeed, missing. You couldn't be. You were always there. How could anything happen to you, Gotham's little Angel, cutest Baby for five years in a row (and most likely next year first time 'cutest child'). It was impossible, at least in Tim's eyes. Soon enough he'd realize what was happening and he, too, would go crazy in worry. Damian was quite similar to Jason. He was burning with fury, but deep inside, somewhere only you had a place, he was 'so'-close to crying. You were the first person he was truly able to love. The first person he let into his heart, not regretting it for one second. Without you he'd still be the bratty-little-devil he was when he came to Bruce (he's still a bit bratty but in an acceptable way). He couldn't lose you now. In fact, he couldn't ever lose you. It would break him. Cass was dying inside. She loved you with all her heart. You couldn't leave her like that. She was supposed to watch you grow up, teach you how to dance and make you the best fighter there ever was, even better than herself. She was supposed to keep you safe and sound, she would never forgive herself if you were hurt. Steph was also furious, who dared to take you away from her? From all off them? You were her first sister and she wouldn't let anything happen to you. How would she ever pair you off with a cute dude/girl (that she had checked at least ten times over) on her wedding, if you weren't alive by then? How would she ever make your hair and make up for your first school-prom and glare (with her other siblings) at the boy (or the girl) who would take you? All those sister moments would possible never happen and alone the thought of that made her want to cry.  Harper felt extremely guilty. If only she'd been there sooner. If only she'd come in a car instead of the bus like she usually did... If only... All those scenarios went through her head, all of them ending with your safety, making her believe it was truly her fault that you were missing now. How could she ever forgive herself, how could her (new) family ever forgive her? If you won't come back, she wouldn't be able to stay anymore. Duke was not any better. He'd only had you as his sister for a short term of time but if anything would happen to you he'd try to kill everyone and then himself. You were his connection to the 'real'-life. You were keeping him grounded in this new (admittedly exciting) vigilante-life. How would he get through that without you? 

Bruce and Tim searched through every data bank and looked at the security footage from the area around your school, while the rest of the Family was strolling through the city, searching everywhere for you and Alfred was waiting for a blackmail call with conditions to get you back. Nothing. No call, Nothing. It seemed like you never left the school, but since Cass and Damian had looked through every corner in the school twice, that was impossible. Even though he knew that his Family could do a better job, Bruce was just about to call the Gotham Police Department, when finally: A call. It wasn't what they expected but still helped. Now Every second was counting.

(Back with you) 

You were shivering from fear as you sat in the room that was decorated for someone your age. Usually, you would have found it fantastic, but right now you wanted nothing more than to be back at home with your Daddy and your siblings. You had woken up in the trunk of a car, tied up, unable to move and still a little bit dizzy.

When the car stopped and you heard a door open, you closed your eyes and pretended that you were asleep. When the trunk was opened, the cold air surrounded you and made goose-bumps appear on your skin. They got even more intense when two soft arms grabbed you and pulled you out to the car, carrying you somewhere (you were too afraid to open your eyes). But before she was able to carry you far, you remembered something you Aunt Babs had once told you. It was a fairy-tale. Hansel and Gretel, who were brought to the forest with the intend off them getting lost, but they managed to find their way back through a trace they'd left. Not sure what else to do, you carefully ripped your bracelet (that you Dad had given you for the emergency, with his private and Mobil number engraved) off of your arm, trying to be as discreet as possible and let it fall to the floor. You could only hope it would be of some help. A few seconds later you were set down onto a bed, but you let your eyes closed until you heard a door close.  That's how you've found yourself in this room. You've already tried to open the door and the window (which was darkened), but they wouldn't budge. Tears welled up in your eyes and you curled up in one of the corners in the room, sobs shaking your body.  That's when someone opened the door. You looked up to see Miss Tanser staring down at you and for a second hope flooded you.  "I don't know what happened," you sobbed, sitting up slightly, "Please, can you please bring me home?" She smiled, ducked down to your level and hugged you, making you cry into her shoulder.  "But you are home, sweetie?" she said, almost hurting you with how hard she hugged you.  "What?" you squeaked and tried to wiggle your way out of her arms. "This isn't my home. My home is with my Daddy." She immediately let you go and moved back, staring at you with such a delusion in her eyes that even you -a five-year-old- could recognize it.  "No sweetie," she started and caressed your cheek, causing you to lean away, "This is your home. With me. Your Mummy." Utter confusion filled you.  "What? My Mummy is away with my Auntie's." Miss T chuckled coldly. "No No No. I don't know why you believe that. I am your Mummy. You've been taken from me for a while, but now we're back together and I'll make sure that you'll never be taken away from me again." You violently shook your head and made fists with your little hands.  "No! I wasn't taken away. I want my real Mummy and my Daddy," you cried, letting your temper get the best off you. You felt a sharp pain at the side of your face, causing tears to slip down your cheeks, not yet understanding that your favorite teacher had just slapped you.  "I AM YOUR MOTHER! AND UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, YOU'LL BE GROUNDED IN YOUR ROOM!" she screamed and rushed out of the room, locking the door after her.  Crying, even more, you curled up again, falling asleep from all the drama and the exhaustion. 

You woke up from the sounds that reminded you off those movies that Jason always watched or those video games that Dick and Tim played. Scared, you hid under the small desk in the room, when you heard Miss Tanser scream: "YOU CAN'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME! SHE BELONGS TO ME! NO ONE WILL EVER SE-" there was a loud thump and she stopped screaming, but before you could come out, another thump was hear-able but way closer and louder.  "Y/N?" you heard someone shout, followed by footsteps in the room. You tried to stay silent, not knowing what to do, but you couldn't hold back the small whimpers that escaped you. The footsteps got louder and you curled up, even more, closing your eyes when a shadow fell over you.  "It's okay, we're here to bring you back to your family," a deep, but a slightly familiar voice said. You opened your eyes and were greeted by the face of the one and only Batman. "Can you please come out?" You thought about it for a second but slowly shook your head. "Why not?" the hero asked you softly. "I-I want my Daddy," you whimpered scared. Batman sighed and raised his hand, causing you to flinch and close your eyes in fear. But, instead of what you expected, he spoke again, saying: "It's me, princess. Can you please look at me?" The voice sounded now exactly like the one of your father.  You looked up, expecting Batman, but seeing your Dad instead. "Daddy?" you asked confused. "You're Batman?"  "Yes. And I'm so sorry that I couldn't be here sooner," he said, his eyes slightly watery. Immediately you came out from the desk and hugged him as hard as you could.  "Shaqiqa," you heard someone shout and another pair off arms grabbed you and you were hugged. You looked up to see Robin look at you with relieve, but you only knew one person who called you 'Shaqiqa'. You raised your hand and put it on his cheek.  "Dami?" you asked and he just sheepishly smiled at your father.  "It's okay. We'll explain to you everything when we're back home, okay princess?" Bruce said, taking you from Damian and carrying you out of the psycho's house, careful to not let you see the riot that they'd caused in the rush to get you.  All of your siblings, even Bruce, decided to start your training now, that they'd never feel as helpless as they'd fell today. 

[mythical-song-wolf]

Robin The Movie Pt 2

Part 1           Part 3

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In another part of the world, a boy gasps for air as he emerges from a Lazarus pit.

After crawling out, he coughs as several figures watch on.

“Where... who am I?” Jason asks.

It zooms in on Ra’s Al Ghul’s smirking face before it cuts to black.

Batman and Nightwing are sneaking through the shadows, bringing justice to Gotham like how they did as Batman and Robin.

But then it cuts to them fighting, screaming at each other in the Batcave while Tim is behind the corner hearing it all.

Tim is insistent. Batman needs a Robin. He needs someone to the his light so that he doesn’t fall too deep into the darkness of the city and the darkness in himself.

Dick considers his reasoning for a moment, but he’s not going to be Robin again. He gave up that mantle when he left Bruce. Dick snaps his fingers before pointing to Tim and then the scene cuts off.

It cuts back to Tim training, before shifting to his initiation as Robin with Dick’s blessing.

Soon enough, Batman and Robin patrol the streets of Gotham once more.

Then Tim’s mother dies and his father paralyzed. Tim is forced to retire as Robin and Stephanie takes the title in his stead.

Stephanie leaves not long after.

Batman is left without a Robin for a while.

During that, the Joker is found to have been beaten by a crowbar. Several criminals of all levels are found dead or brutalized.

Batman follows the lead and Nightwing aids him. They are lead to the Red Hood.

The dynamic duo face the Red Hood on the ledge of Wayne Enterprises. The whirling of helicopter blades hovers between them before the lights from the copper blind the camera and the scene switches to Jason and Bruce, masks off.

Jason’s Red Hood.

An explosion happens in a building and then Jason and Bruce are on opposite ends of the city.

Red Hood is nowhere to be seen after that, but his name is whispered between cities and always makes its way back home, to Gotham.

Tim comes back to being Robin the next day and is very confused.

Then Tim’s father dies and Dick and Jason now have a new brother.

But life goes on for the Bats.

The scenes switch between the two previous Robins and the current one.

One moment it’s Nightwing in the Cave, then next he’s in the Watchtower, the people he’s with shifting and unfocused like before, but someone with red hair always peeks through. Dick’s laughter and voice echoing. At some point, Dick looks out and mutters Jason’s name.

Then it’s onto Jason sneezing, before a female voice tells her, “Bless you.” Then next it’s Jason and another friend aiming to strike on the roof of a building. Next it’s Red Hood and two others brawling off some goons. The sound of explosions, gun shot, arrows flying, and things breaking echo in most scenes, but as does Jason’s hollering.

Tim’s moments are mostly with the Bat, investigating a case, defusing a bomb, fighting the Joker, etc. But there are brief moments where Robin is fighting beside younger heroes, their faces blurred or they’re too far to see amidst the chaos of battle. A boy says some slang that’s very out of date in one scene and then it cuts to the laughter of several teens and then to their chatter and whispers.

Nightwing visits Gotham often, so that he can be a better brother to Tim than he was to Jason, so that he can help mentor this boy in handling the Bat’s emotional incapability and teach him how to read Bruce’s micro-expressions.

Everything goes on well enough for them.

But then Br- Batman dies and Gotham is left without her Dark Knight, and all he’s left her is his blood son, a Robin, and his first son.

Jason steals the mantle and leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake before he and Dick duke it out in a battle for the cowl. The battle is fierce and leaves plenty of bruises and scars on both brothers.

In the end, Dick wins. He is the first son, the Dark Heir. He’s the only one who could be Batman right now.

Dick makes Damian his Robin.

Why?

“Because you’re not my Robin, Tim, you’re my brother.”

With that, Tim dons the mantle of Red Robin and travels the world, believing that Bruce is alive and that he needs to find him. Dick wants to believe him but he doesn’t risk hoping.

Batman and Robin defend Gotham once more, but whoever is behind the mask of the dynamic duo now, it’s different from who they were previously. Everyone can see it. How the Robin is dark and brooding, violent and angry while Batman is kind and almost cheery, willing to talk and willing to listen. (Whispers go around some of Gotham’s Rogues, that the current Batman is the first Robin)

Red Hood appears a handful of times, sometimes as a foe, nuisance, or ally (one day tossing Damian into a river and blowing up a building, the next he’s beating the same human traffickers that they’ve been tracking and almost kills one of them, then that Friday he tackles Dick away from gunfire). During one of the moment’s their goals meet (the Joker’s being pushed into a van headed for Akrham as Batman and Red Hood stand in front of an orphanage, Robin is speaking to the GCPD), Dick tells his brother Bruce’s message for him in his will.

Jason leaves and isn’t seen for a few weeks, even by his Outlaws. But before he left, he wondered aloud if a Lazarus pit could revive him, couldn’t it revive Bruce?

Dick tests this theory out with Batwoman supervising him. In the end, that Batman is not this Gotham’s original Batman. Tim is right, Bruce is alive.

Dick tells him that as soon as he gets back and the two investigate Bruce’s disappearance further. Dick trying to get Tim to talk to people again, he’s basically been isolating himself since he left to travel.

Tim does after much prodding and also goes back to the mansion and helps with cases during the many dead ends he encounters.

After one too many close calls and and situations, plus some reflection, Jason stays in the mansion again with the rest of the family until Bruce is found and Gotham has her Bat again.

Eventually she does have her original Bat again, and Dick goes back to being Nightwing.

Batman and Robin patrol the streets of Gotham once more. Both are dark and brooding, but their edges aren’t as sharp as they originally were and they aren’t letting the change in partners change that.

Nightwing goes back to Bludhaven and his teams, Red Robin returns to his teams and his own missions, Red Hood goes back to the Outlaws.

Dick comes by Gotham often enough for Damian’s sake, and Tim passes by to see Bruce and Alfred. Jason sometimes sneaks into the mansion, only Alfred knows and the few times that Dick and Tim are they, they’ve caught Jason.

The Bats aren’t always together, other times they’re scattered. But all of them still do well enough on their own and with their allies and family.

A scene of Nightwing and a speedster taking out some wannabe villain.

Red Hood fighting off a swarm of Mafia grunts. While some of them are being flung across the room by two other people.

Red Robin standing calmly while surrounded by various large goons, outside a bomb is thrown up into the sky and blows, Red Robin doesn’t flinch at the sound and instead moves to beat the guards.

Robin fighting off a robot with the Justice League’s powers, behind him is a small crater where a boy donning Superman’s S stands up from the rubble. The Superboy and Robin launch for the robot together.

Tragedy finds the family once more, like it always does.

Talia Al Ghul brings Heretic, an evil adult clone of Damian, to challenge the boy. Which cost him his life.

In a fit of irony and cruel poetic justice, Damian is impaled by his own sword and bleeds out next to the skeleton of the bat he killed when he first came into the cave. The memory plays back in slow motion while the rest his life flashes before him.

Damian is gifted the chance to speak to Dick as he’s dying, and he leaves a message for his other siblings and his father before he passes.

The funeral is quiet as the rain beats down on the Earth. Jason watches from a distance. Dick sobs into the chest of his friend. Tim has a hand on his shoulder in comfort. Bruce stands tall and strong, but the pain can be seen in by those who know him. Some kids around Damian’s age all sob, the same boy from before falls to his knees before his mother and father come in to hold him.

Time passes and they can’t hope that Damian’s not dead because Dick saw him die. He saw him bleed out in his arms as his life faded away.

But then one day Damian’s grave has been dug up. His body’s missing.