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Normally, Tim wouldn’t have agreed to a school trip out of Gotham, he was too scared to leave his Robin duties unattended. But since Dick was in town, he wasn’t having any of it. “You’re a kid, Babybird, not a mini Bruce! Go, I’m here, Gotham will be safe,” Dick had told him, shoving him out of the Batcave.
Tim appreciated the gesture, really he did. Especially since he knew how rocky Bruce and Dick’s relationship had been lately. Still, it did nothing for his nerves. If something went wrong, he wouldn’t be there to help, not that Dick needed it! He was amazing as Nightwing, but an extra pair of hands was always handy. Ha. People said he wasn’t funny.
So here he was, all the way in Metropolis. He had already told Red Tornado that he would be on academic leave and to forward the message to the team. He really should get their numbers, it would make contacting them much easier, but noooo Bruce was still so uptight about his identity.
Sure, he could get a burner phone. He had even stupidly suggested it to Bruce, but the man went on and on about how a slip-up could give away his identity, how they might track his location if they were desperate enough. It went on so long that Tim tuned him out.
After a flight and a bus trip, they arrived at some art museum. Not Tim’s thing, in the slightest, but it was “the principle of going on a trip without parental figures!” according to Dick. Tim couldn’t relate. He’d never really needed permission to go anywhere unless it was at a gala. Tim was often in boarding school, the skatepark, rooftops… well, you get the picture.
Tim was a free bird, figuratively and metaphorically. He could roam as he pleased. He would even go so far as to say he had a lot of people wrapped around his finger, it was easy once you learned about people. So it wasn’t difficult to do as he desired. God, his mother would be proud.
As the class entered the building, they were allowed to explore with their buddy. Not all that bad, Tim’s buddy was Bernard. They tossed around hero theories as Tim took photos of art neither of them was thrilled to look at.
“I’m so bummed we didn’t see Superman! I thought we’d see him at least once!” Bernard whined as Tim knelt to photograph a beautiful marble statue. Behind the lens, Tim rolled his eyes. Bernard was just as much of a dorky fan as he was.
The key word is was. Tim had actually met the heroes they idolised. At first, it was incredible, his fanboy heart could hardly handle it. But then he met their protégés. One had to assume they were alike, Tim’s team had mentioned his similarities to Batman many times. Most of it sarcastic, but who was counting? (Tim. Tim was counting.)
“We’re staying here till tomorrow night. Give it time, man,” Tim encouraged, taking about twenty photos. He would be editing them when he got back so the school could publish them on their website.
“I don’t get it. We’ve been here for what? Three and a half hours and nothing bad has happened! I would have thought he’d be wheezing through the city all day,” Bernard pouted, leaning over Tim to look at the photos.
“You’re too used to Gotham. Knock on wood, nothing bad happens now,” Tim joked, looking around for something to knock on. Better safe than sorry. Bernard just shrugged and knocked his head.
“I guess so,” Bernard replied, and they continued exploring. Surprisingly, it was actually quite fun. Bernard rambled about his theories on heroes taking a break, and when they saw a funny statue that they felt obliged to copy the dramatic pose. Tim got plenty of photos of Bernard in front of each of them.
Then a series of loud bangs echoed through the museum. Instinctively, Tim ducked, dragging Bernard down with him. The idiot just tried to walk around to peek! He wasn’t Superboy, he couldn’t afford to take a hit. Tim often forgot how clueless normal civilians could be.
Bernard yelped, making Tim wince. He’d used quite a bit of force to pull him down, but it didn’t matter. Bernard was about to walk into a room full of armed men!
“Jesus Christ, Bernard,” Tim sighed, making sure to glare at him to show just how mad.. No, scared he was at how stupid they just acted. Bernard offered a sheepish smile. A smile he didn’t know how to react to, so he didn’t. They stayed crouched as he listened to the chaos behind the wall.
A few thugs had taken Tim’s classmates and staff hostage. He wanted to feel bad but couldn’t. They’d be fine as long as they alerted the authorities. Classic hostage situation, no point in harming the goods.
“Stay on the ground and no one gets hurt!” Thug one announced, met with whimpers from the class.
“Phones out in front! Can’t have the cops coming to save you!” Thug two shouted. Tim quickly covered Bernard’s mouth as footsteps approached. Better if they didn’t hear how loud Bernard’s breathing had gotten.
“Oi, phone in the bag,” Thug two said, shaking what looked like a bag full of phones. You could make a fortune with that many.
“No way! My father will hear about this, and you’ll be sorry!” Simion, a snob in Tim’s class, hissed. Had his parents not taught him basic hostage etiquette? This was a class full of Gotham’s elite. Most had been trained, even Tim’s parents had drilled him.
“You’ll regret it if you don’t comply. Phone. Bag. Now,” Thug two growled.
Simion scoffed. “Oh, please! I’m from Gotham. Your toy guns don’t scare me.”
A loud bang went off and horrified screams followed by sobs filled the room. Both Tim and Bernard stilled. Holy shit. No way they actually shot the guy. If he did that would be stupid, incredibly stupid.
Against his better judgement Tim peeked around the corner to see a pool of blood and Simion clutching at his arm, screaming threats of his parents' wrath.
“The next one who tries to play hero will get this place blown up!” Thug three shouted out, showing off a remote. Since when were there bombs? Nevermind, Tim would just have to disarm them! Easy peasy.
“Holy crap, dude… we’re going to die,” Bernard whispered, clutching Tim’s arm. It broke Tim’s heart. Bernard trusted him blindly. He had practised handling stressed civilians, but the stakes were much higher here.
He put on his best comforting smile hoping it would mean more than what he was about to say. “No we aren’t Bern, we can handle this. Trust me.” he whispered, holding onto Bernard's hands, squeezing them gently.
“Hey ti-” Bernard started but they had to get out of this area. It was too close, plus he needed to get rid of the threat. “Not now. Let's get moving.” Tim quietly got to his feet and pulled Bernard up. He guided them around the museum to the security room.
No he wasn’t being paranoid for looking up the floor plans Dick! He actually needed them.
Luckily for them there was no one guarding the door, weirder that there was no one inside. “Lunch break?” Bernard joked but that didn’t make sense. Someone should always be in this room. Tim did a scan of the place until he found the bomb. Bingo.
“I’m going to go uh.. Investigate. You stay and call the police alright?” Tim told Bernard, holding onto the guy’s arms to make sure Bernard was listening. They needed for this to go smoothly.
“That's dangerous Tim! Stay here, let the authorities handle it.” Bernard pleaded. Tim bit his lip trying to think on what to say. He couldn’t really tell his best friend “dude it's fine! I’m actually Robin and have handled much worse than this!” Bruce would break his no kill rule and make it a point to kill Tim.
“I’ll be fine Bernard, trust me.” Tim said, looking into Bernard's warm, deep brown eyes. For a moment, he felt a strange pull, something unspoken that made his chest tighten. He really didn’t want to leave Bernard defenceless.
“Tim” Bernard started. Tim pulled himself away, interrupting what Bernard was going to say. He moved quietly through the corridors leading to the bomb that sat tucked behind a motion sensor panel with wires snaking like vines across the floor.
He pulled out his little tool kit from his jacket, for just in case scenarios just like this one. Everything about this looked amateurish which made Tim snicker. He got all worried for nothing.
A loud crash where his classmates were being held made him almost drop his tool kit in shock. Was there another bomb? If he was being honest he didn’t look very hard, he just saw one and off he went. Batman would be so disappointed in him.
He sucked in a breath. If one went off he had to make sure this one didn’t, for his class, for the thugs for himself.. For Bernard! Tim crouched down and began to study the machine for a minute.
It wasn’t that lethal but bad enough that it would make a scene. The wires were simple enough, red, blue, yellow but the connections were deceptive. Any shift could trigger the hidden detonator.
He started with the red wire, feeling along its path for any anomalies. There was a barely noticeable twist in the insulation, a microscopic bulge in the copper beneath. He traced it all the way to the hidden detonator, breathing shallowly.
Next was the blue wire, looping almost invisibly under the timer. The faint static of the circuitry made his skin prickle. He tested tension, noted the subtle resistance.
And then the yellow wire. The final connection. It ran under the timer like a snake, almost impossible to reach without disturbing the red and blue lines first. His hand hovered above it.
Before he even had the chance to do anything, a shriek from behind him stopped it.
“They have a student accomplice! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Superboy was shouting. Tim’s eye twitched. Is this how he would handle a situation without him here? Unbelievable. Tim didn’t even have the chance to correct him before Impulse arrived on the scene.
“Woah! Robin was just talking about bombs before he left!” Impulse announced as he stared at what was going on around. Frankly Tim didn’t know how to handle this. He wanted to sigh, he wanted to control the situation and tell off his team but he could do none of that.
Tim had to play the civilian role. Nepo baby Timothy Drake, Heir to Janet and Jack Drake, ensured to take over Drake industries. Did he become a snob or be in awe of his sucky team?
“Oh woah! You’ve came! I was trying to defuse the bomb, I saw it in a movie once!” Tim spurted out. So hopeless victim it was. Greatttt. Superboy just looked full of himself while Bart just stared at him.
Tim needed them to actually save his class and not be here with him but he couldn’t just give orders. He wasn’t robin here which was incredibly frustrating.
“My class! Have you seen them? It was horrible they were with the gunmen, I hope they got out fast enough” He glanced up at Impulse who seemed to not get the hint. He didn’t really expect him to so he averted his gaze to Superboy.
“Not to worry! Impulse is on it!” Superboy beamed, hands on his hips before turning to Impulse. “Dude go get the kids out of here”
“Who made you leader?” Impulse replied “Robin, Duh!” Superboy rolled his eyes as Impulse bolted off.
First of all, he didn't make anyone the leader and if he did it would be Wondergirl, it was clear that Superboy was just showing off, though he was unsure why. As he was about to move his focus back onto the bomb he was pulled up into the air.
“Woah ho ho, dude what do you think you’re doing?” Superboy asked as Tim looked down at the fact his feet no longer touched the ground. He felt like a cat being held by the scruff of his neck. Batman did this with his Robins quite often.
“Well I don’t see anyone else doing it.” Tim snapped back. It was stupid, he was supposed to be acting like an innocent civilian. He just wanted to go home at this point.
“Well luckily for you I am here!” Superboy grinned as he focused on the bomb, his eyes squinting slightly.
Oh shit. Superboy had recently found out that he had heatvision, it's been something he had been bragging about nonstop, much like his Tactile Telekinesis.
“Superboy no!” Tim shouted as Superboy used his heat vision on the device. Just then it blew up right in front of them. Superboy took no time to move them so that he would take most of the hit from the explosion. Superboy used himself and most likely his Tactile Telekinesis as a shield for Tim.
“Holy shit” Tim muttered as he glanced up at Superboy who was just grinning stupidly down at him. What was there to grin about? He literally just blew up part of the museum!
“Well that was close wasn’t it?”
Wondergirl came flying in, clearly alarmed by the massive explosion. This was just great, fantastic even! First he gets pushed out of Gotham by dick, then he has to go around some stupid art museum, then he gets caught up in some explosion with his team while he was unmasked!
This was it! Tim was no longer a free bird, he was going to stay in Gotham forever. Nothing good ever happens when you leave Gotham anyways and Tim didn’t want to find that out the hard way like his predecessor.
“Superboy what was that?” Wondergirl shouted, clearly annoyed by what had happened, Tim could relate he was equally as annoyed. Superboy just greeted her with a sheepish smile.
“What, did you just give up on doing it properly and decide to blow it up?” She accused, pointing a finger towards him.
“No! The civilian was already doing it before I arrived, I thought he was a student accomplice!” Superboy defended himself.
“Could I be put down now?” Tim asked, trying to get out of this situation. He needed to get away, Batman would kill him if they realised who he was. This was really giving him a headache.
“Yeah, Superboy, you’re not rescuing a kitten,” Wonder Girl said, crossing her arms. “Put him down.”
“Relax, dude. I’ve got you,” Superboy said, gently dropping him to the floor. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Tim honestly wanted to hit him. You're welcome? He just ruined all of Tim’s hard work! But it's not like he could just say that could he? Oh this was so infuriating.
“Yes, Thank you Superboy.” Tim gritted out, staring daggers into the young hero's eyes.
“Well, let's get you reunited with your class, kid!” Wonder Girl smiled as she motioned for Tim to follow, which he did!
Kon wouldn’t stop talking though but no matter it just went in one ear and out the other. At this stage he had learnt how to ignore his teammate.
Once they reached the entrance he looked around outside for Bernard. Once they locked eyes he let out a sigh of relief. He was safe, he had done it.
Tim spun around on his heels to face the two heroes extending his hand. “Thank you for saving us here today, it's greatly appreciated.” He put on his best gala smile as the two heroes stared at one another in surprise.
They both shook his hand as he heard the shutters of cameras and the murmurs of his class. It would be good publicity, good for his parents, good for the young justice team! But horrible for Tim. Dick would be teasing him about this for ages!
Fantastic.