Chapter Text
“Titans Tower. Sorry, there is no one here who can take your call at the moment. To leave a message for Super Boy, please press 1 then the hash key. To leave a message for Wonder Girl, please press 2…”
“Cut it out, Gar.” Dick interrupted, “I’m not in the mood.”
“Hey, former fearless leader!” Garfield’s voice was artificially chirpy; after many years you bet your ass that Dick could tell the difference, “What’s hanging?”
“When were you going to tell me that Timmy was missing?” Dick cut straight to the chase.
“How’d you find out?” Garfield deflected.
Dick could just picture the former teen sitting in the office chair… No, he’d be lounging on it. Legs over the armrest, back up against the other one. Presuming that he wasn’t in monkey form… Again.
“DNA at a crime scene. On the wrong end of torture implements… When were you going to report him missing?”
“To whom?” Garfield’s voice had a verbal shrug in it, “No one’s checked up on Tim for quite some time, Dick. When he came back as Red Robin… He said that no one was to contact the Bats regarding him… About anything! Rave and I just shrugged. Figured you’d check up on him shortly and we’d hint about it. Then you’d fix it. After four months and way too many close calls for my liking, we realized you weren’t ever gonna check up on him. I mean, you didn’t even check up on him after bomb explosions… We agreed not to contact you.”
“You agreed?”
“We took a vote. All of us… Well, except for Tim. We decided that if you had left Tim to fall or fly, you’d taken yourself out of the picture. Not like he’s the first Titan not to have a mentor.”
“He’s my little brother, Gar.”
“Not that you’ve exactly been proving that recently. This is the first time you’ve called me since Batman died. Probably even longer, but I can’t recall a better time-stamp. The first time any Bat has checked up on Tim since he became Red Robin… Probably even earlier. You said it yourself, when you got the Justice League to back off, we need to handle things on our own. We didn’t ask for help, because we didn’t need it.”
“How long has he been missing, Gar? And don’t deflect this time.”
“He hasn’t checked in for four weeks. We’ve been looking for three.”
“Why didn’t you start looking immediately?”
“Because he doesn’t make it every weekend. Sometimes he doesn’t make a weekend he said he would. Something comes up. But if he said he would make one, he never goes a full week without contacting someone. This isn’t the first time he’s gone off the grid. We have protocols and plans.”
“And those plans don’t include us.”
“We tried once… Long time back. Couldn’t get through to you. Left a message. We got Tim back before you returned the call… In fact, you never did. We never told him we had called you. We didn’t damage your relationship with him. You did that all on your own.”
“I just want to find him. I want him home safe.”
“We’ll find him, Dick. We don’t need your help. And when we find him, we’ll make sure he’s safe.”
“He’s my brother.”
“You know, I never thought you’d be the kind of guy to toss a toy to the side, because they had a brand new shiny toy to play with. Shows what I know.”
“It wasn’t like that!”
“Then where were you? Because after the Insurgents… All the rest of us got looked after. People cared that we were hurting… And not just the physical wounds… The mental ones were even more devastating. But Tim? He had no-one. Not one of you so much as checked up on him. And Rave checked the records, so I know that’s the truth. We’re damn lucky that Bunk decided that he needed something from his room. Otherwise Tim would have been alone for nearly a month, while the rest of us got help in piecing ourselves back together… And we’ll piece him back together this time. No matter how many pieces he’s in. He doesn’t need you anymore, Dick.”
“Gar… I thought we were friends.”
“We are. Friends are the ones who tell you the truth. Even when it hurts. Dick, I am not trying to be cruel here. I’m just telling you the way I see it. Rave would be blunter, if she’d talk to you at all. Bart keeps telling Tim just to leave Gotham completely. Kon’s not far behind on that train either. Nor is Cassie. And Miguel? He doesn’t even know you. So he just tries to support Tim as much as he can.”
“Where have you checked?” Dick cut to the important details, “We can cut down on searching that way.”
“Bart’s checked Paris top to bottom three times over. Kon covered Hong Kong, just in case. We’ve done San Francisco thoroughly. But where was the DNA found?”
“Gotham.”
“Bart did a run through all of his safe houses and saw nothing. He’s done it three times, once a week, since we started looking. I tried to get Vic to trace his phone, but he couldn’t.”
“Vic couldn’t?”
“Couldn’t even turn it on.”
“But that means… Destroyed.” Dick breathed out.
“Not necessarily.” Garfield countered.
“I know.” Dick shook his head, “Without a battery or in a Faraday Cage. But what are the odds that Tim let his phone run out of battery?”
“Low, I give you.” Garfield shrugged, “But he had been potentially missing for a week at that point… There’s a chance.”
“He’s my brother, Gar. I have to find him.” Dick reiterated.
“I’ll pass the intel onto the other Titans.” Garfield avoided the topic, “Warn the Batman that we’ll probably be doing a sweep through Gotham tonight. Checking every plausible location.”
“Okay.” Dick conceded, “I’ll tell him. But Gar… If you find him. Tell me?”
“If I can.” Garfield replied, “I might get outvoted.”
The pair said their goodbyes, before ending the call.
“And?” Bruce asked.
“They knew.” Dick sighed, “This isn’t the first time. And their estimation is four weeks also. They’ve checked all of his usual haunts. They’re going to check them again tonight. I didn’t object. They’d do it anyway. Save the fights for the battles we need to win.”
“They didn’t contact us? That was part of the deal with Tim being a Titan.”
“They don’t see us as his mentors anymore. Tim told them not to contact us. And they stuck with that.”
“Something to be discussed at a later date.”
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“Up here, Big Bird!” Red Hood called out, as Nightwing was inspecting the warehouse floor.
“What have you found?” Nightwing started to leap upwards, to where Hood was perched on the roof beams.
“This looks like a camera housing.” Red Hood pointed to a piece of plastic that didn’t belong on the metal bar.
“Someone was recording it?” Nightwing breathed, “And then removed most of the evidence.”
“Reckon they didn’t think the cops would check up here.”
“They were right. I can’t see anything they missed down on the floor. The pictures they took were pretty accurate.”
“And they sure don’t paint a good picture, Dickie-bird.”
“I know. And the camera… That says whoever was doing this…”
“They were just pawns.” Hood finished, “Minions. There’s a boss behind this. Who was watching.”
“Who, most likely, killed his own men.” Nightwing reminded, “Who could still have Timmy.”
“Not sure.” Hood frowned, “Why would he kill his own men?”
“Maybe they learned something they shouldn’t. Maybe he escaped. I don’t know. I just know Timmy wouldn’t have killed them.”
“If he escaped where would he go?”
“I would hope to us… But I don’t think he would anymore. Not after what BB told me… We need to know who was here. What did they want?”
“He’s Red Robin. Ain’t that enough?”
“I don’t think so.” Nightwing frowned, “Think about it. Any of the usual suspects would either just kill him. Or find out who he is, then kill him.”
“And the gangs would just kill him.” Hood agreed.
“Let’s check the freezer.” Nightwing pointed at the old walk-in freezer that had been abandoned, “Five will get you ten that they used it as a cell.”
“No bet.” Hood fired back, even as they dropped to the floor.
The two of them paused at the open door to the freezer.
“Not very large.” Hood remarked, “I’ll watch the door.”
Nightwing didn’t verbally acknowledge the remark, he simply nodded his head as he entered the enclosed space.
He looked around at the foreboding metal walls, supressing a shudder at the idea of being locked in there. A tiny patch of colour caught his eye.
He moved quickly to the far corner and knelt down to confirm his suspicions. There was a small quantity of blood in the corner, right in the crevices of join between the floor and the walls. Clearly an attempt had been made to clean up.
“Hood,” Nightwing rose up, “Could you shut the door?”
“Luminol?” Hood queried.
“Of course.” Nightwing held up the tiny spray can in one hand, “I’ll get pictures.”
Hood carefully shut the door and leaned against it.
Inside Nightwing covered the walls and the floor as evenly as possible, before taking a look at what had been washed away.
His fingers hovered over what was almost certainly a Robin’s R, situated between a S Shield and a Lightning Bolt. A Double W was on the opposite wall, alongside a Double B and a single B.
“Your friends.” Nightwing muttered, “You were thinking of them.”
Above the R was the Red Robin symbol.
“Where’s the message?” Nightwing looked around, “You did all this so they wouldn’t notice. So where’s your message?”
Then something caught his eye, just more symbols on the wall. But these ones were lower and more carefully placed, although they were more rough in their formation.
“S Shield,” He muttered to himself, “And that’s Tornado’s. Green Arrow. Aquaman. Deformed me. Green Lantern. Deformed Batman. Arsenal. Okay, it’s your message. But what does it mean?”
He quickly took photos of everything, along with a small blood sample, but he was certain he knew what it would come back as. Even if he’d believed it was all a coincidence up till that moment, the symbols had convinced him.
His heart sank though at some of the other evidence he could see. Either Tim had almost bleed out on the floor, or they hadn’t even allowed him to relieve himself in dignity.
The little traces of evidence as to the cruelty that had been inflicted in a thousand tiny ways were there.
Nightwing tried to treat it all as just another crime scene. Just another day in the mask. But it wasn’t and it never could be. He could even see tiny blood stains around the door, where Tim had clearly tried to force his way out of his prison.
Had Tim known they weren’t looking for him? Or had he believed they were searching for him? When had he given up hope? Or was he still hoping? Was he free? Or was he still trapped somewhere else?
With his heart somewhere in the region of his boots, Nightwing tapped lightly on the door.
“You okay, Big Wing?” Hood greeted him almost immediately.
“Not really.” Nightwing muttered, “There’s not a lot of space in there.”
“Hey, he’s tough.” Hood chided, “You know he is. He fought me, after all. Don’t count him out just yet.”
“Four weeks.” Nightwing reminded, “Four weeks and the bodies were only found two days ago. And he’s god knows where.”
“He’s a fucking badass!” Hood fired back, “He fights like he breathes. He never gives up. He has a fucking vicious streak that rivals my own. The only reason I’m not dead is that he don’t want me dead. The same for the brat! He’s a survivor! He walked the streets of this goddamned city long before he got out of elementary! This? This is nothing to him! He’s gonna be fine!”
“He’s still human. And I don’t know if he could survive something like this.”
“Don’t count him out yet.” Hood repeated.