Who is that Masked Girl? (DCU, AU, PG-R, 5/?)
Title: Who is that Masked Girl? (5/?)
Fandom:DCU, Bat-Family Centered, Keeperverse
Characters: Tim Drake/Robin, Bat-Family, mentions of Corvid
Word Count: Around 1423 words
Rating: PG-R for swearing and mild violence
Disclaimer: I don't own the location of Gotham or the Bat-Crew, or any other DC owned Characters/Locations
Synopsis: Tim ponders the mystery of his rescuer
Previous Chapters: Tonight, Almost a Party, Chatter, Out Tonight
Author's Notes: This takes place in my Keeperverse. I play fast and loose with canon-continuity so I apologize if it seems off, but it is an AU. In this world Tim is still Robin and Jason is an anti-hero (who hasn't slaughtered bunches of people... he's just a little naughty).
Tim drew in a long breath as he listened to the audio file one more time. He’d gone over it at least a dozen times already but he had to be sure that he wasn’t missing anything. He listened to all the things he had said while under the influence of the Scarecrow’s Toxin while trying to block out the memory of how he felt at the time. He had said several things that hinted at his identity, but only if the person listening already knew intimate details of his civilian life, particularly in regards to his mother. No matter how hard he tried, Tim couldn’t find any words that would have definitively given away his identity on their own.
Bruce, along with everyone else, had already come to the same conclusion that Tim did, but he had to be certain that he wasn’t responsible for revealing their secret to an unknown outsider. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she had already known who he was, that he knew her too… but from where? She had felt so familiar to him, but he didn’t recognize her at all. And he didn’t believe that she meant them any harm, she seemed reluctant to reveal that she knew who he was because she didn’t call him by his name until she absolutely had to so that he would take off his mask. Still, he didn’t like the way she made him feel safe. The moment she appeared he had felt better, significantly better after she untied him. Even while on the Toxin she didn’t appear frightening to Tim.
He didn’t jump when he felt Bruce’s hand on his shoulder, even though he hadn’t actually heard him approaching. In the back of his mind he wondered if Bruce was being stealthy on purpose or if it was just instinct at this point? Cassie frequently accused Tim of sneaking up on her even when he wasn’t trying to do it. He looked over his shoulder at Bruce meeting his eyes with a tired sigh.
“You should get some sleep, you’ve had a very long night,” Bruce was using his fatherly voice but that still didn’t make it a recommendation. Tim knew perfectly well that if he argued the Bat Voice would come out and there was a small chance that Bruce would sedate him.
“So have you. I have to figure out who that girl was.”
“And we will figure it out, but you’ve been injured and drugged. You aren’t thinking at your best right now and need to get some sleep. If we’re going to solve this I need you at your best,” Bruce always did know how to get to Tim. Even if Tim knew he was being blatantly manipulated he also knew that Bruce was right. He turned off the audio file and stood up to go upstairs.
“It wasn’t anything you said Tim, I’m sure of that,” Bruce’s voice was certain and it actually made Tim feel a little better. Either way, the girl saved his life. Between dismantling the bomb and treating him medically she clearly didn’t want him dead. Unless it was a ploy to earn their trust, which was always a possibility.
Dick smiled at Tim when he got upstairs, “I was just going to the Cave to drag you upstairs to bed. I was worried that you and Bruce would be down there obsessing on whether or not that girl had saved you in an attempt to earn your trust or something else really sneaky.”
Tim cocked his head to the side, almost exasperated that Dick knew him so well, “Don’t tell me you aren’t worried that somebody, and we have no idea who, knows our biggest secret? We don’t know who she is, who she’s working for, or how she found out. Maybe we should ask Jason, she might be working with him. Or perhaps Selena, haven’t we heard reports of a vigilante in the East End?”
“Settle down Timmy. We’ll figure it out, we always do. She’s not with Jason, I went by and checked on him earlier. He’s actually pretty bad off. I had this feeling I needed to go check on him this morning and I was right. He got clocked pretty hard by a few metas last night. I took care of him as much as he would let me help, but I also asked him if he knew of anybody who fit the description you gave us. He didn’t have a clue. Either way, she saved your life. She disarmed the bomb, gave you the antidote, and treated your wounds. Not to mention, she fought Scarecrow to do it. If she wanted to hurt you, she could have. She sounded really worried about you on the tape. You mentioned that she was moving as if she’d been injured right? But she didn’t bother to treat her own wounds, she didn’t mention them, she just made sure you were safe,” Dick gave Tim a tight hug, far too tight a hug for how sore Tim actually was. “I’m just grateful that you’re alright. Everything else we can handle, but you’re irreplaceable. None of us could handle losing you, we love you too much.”
Tim couldn’t fight the blush that rose in his cheeks before he squirmed away from Dick. As he stared up at his older brother/mentor/secret object of desire/friend he couldn’t help but feel a bit better. Dick’s smile was like pure sunshine and it had the remarkable effect of cutting through almost any inner darkness that Tim could wrap himself up inside. He went to his room and crawled into bed, his limbs feeling heavy as the exhaustion settled over him.
As he drifted towards sleep a voice in the back of his mind told him he had nothing to worry about from the strange girl. It was the same voice that would tell him to jump just before a bomb he could have sworn that he didn’t even spot exploded behind him, or point out to him an important clue right before he walked away from the crime scene without finding it. That voice was one that he trusted instinctively, one that would alert him to danger, or evil in Gotham. It was the way he knew when something was inherently wrong with the city. He had always thought of it as an important quality for surviving in Gotham, he knew that the others heard a similar voice too. Dick frequently joked that it was Gotham’s way of talking to them. Bruce said that it was a way their subconscious communicated important information that they made not have consciously processed. Tim thought that Bruce was right, but the idea that Gotham city itself cared about them, appreciated their sacrifices was something that Tim liked (even if he wouldn’t admit to anyone, ever).
Even if his instinct was telling him that he could trust somebody that he knew nothing about (an instinct that made him think he was slipping… far too much the ridiculous sort of thing that Dick would, and kind of did, say) he just couldn’t shake the feeling he had heard that girl’s voice before. He fell into a deep sleep before he could figure out where. But that was okay, Dick was right, they could handle anything that came up. This was his family and he wouldn’t allow anything to threaten it. And if experience was an indicator, there was nothing that they couldn’t defeat together.