Chapter Text
Tim and Freeze are hidden under the main counter when they hear the bell ring again. They are crammed under with Edward’s legs and wheelchair, making it a bit of a squeeze. Tim turns and peaks through a tiny crack in the desk.
Nightwing is standing on the otherside, smears of dried mud on his face, some ice chips hanging off of his suit, having a stare down with Edward. “Where are they, Riddler?” Nightwing says harshly.
Ohhh shit, Tim really pissed him off. That’s his ‘ I’m going to beat the shit out of someone and they’re gonna wish they were dead’ voice.
Edward hums ruefully. “Riddler? I retired that name long ago. Not too different from you retiring the Boy Wonder cape.” Tim can practically hear Edward smile. “Ironic how we both retired due to the Bat though, isn’t it.”
Nightwing looks like he wants to set Edward on fire. “Where are they?” He starts to slowly check the corners of the room.
“Who is ‘they’?” Edward asks.
“Freeze and his accomplice." Nightwing impatiently informs him, looking behind a library shelf.
Dang, Tim never thought he would hear himself be called Freeze’s accomplice but that just seems to be the track record for this week doesn’t it. First lackey, now accomplice, what’s next?
“Do they look like they are in here?” Edward retorts.
Nightwing is clenching his escrima sticks like a life line. “I’m serious, wher-”
“So am I.” Edward interrupts.
Subtly, Edward puts his hand under the counter and points to the floor. Tim picks up the rug and notices the seam in the ground. A trap door. Edward continues, “I think you forgot that I only take interest in things that pique my curiosity. Freeze and things related to him tend to be infuriatingly boring. All work this, no fun that. We never really got along anyways. Why would he come to me for help, especially when I’m like this?” Edward rolls out from behind the counter in his wheelchair. In his path, his wheels run over Freeze’s fingers and Tim is frantically trying to signal him to keep him quiet, while also trying to figure out how to open the trap door quietly.
Freeze is holding his hand, rocking, while making the most interesting facial expressions Tim has ever seen. Freeze’s face was even gaining a certain purple color to it, he probably would have turned red if he wasn’t in a literal refrigerator of a suit.
Tim looks back through the crack. Nightwings expression falters for only a second before solidifying again. “Rouges help Rouges.” A little weak in Tim’s opinion for a comeback.
Edward bursts into laughs and looks up at the vigilante from his seat. “You’ve been gone too long from Gotham Birdie number One. Maybe every now and then, but we certainly don’t make a habit out of it. Especially if we have nothing to benefit from it.”
Tim tries to pull open the trap door quietly but it has been unused for quite a long time and even going as slow as possible, a small creak emits from it. Nightwing turns his head to see where the noise came from. At that moment, the main door swings open again, bell ringing loudly as it swings. Tim takes the opportunity to pull the trap door open fully while they are distracted. Freeze goes in first.
Another voice can be heard. “Hey! I have your fooooo- oh…Hi Mr. Nightwing. Uh, am I interrupting something?”
Duke? YES! Perfect timing.
Tim can see Duke holding two brown bags with a drink, right before he slips down the trap door and slides the rug on top of the hatch. They can hear above them the slightly muffled voices.
“No, you aren’t interrupting anything. In fact my guest was just leaving.” Edward says pointedly. “Right?”
Tim can hear the shifting of the floor above his head, most likely Dick walking around to check. The noise stops beside the hatch for a moment, Tim can hear the rug being slid away and for a moment Tim thinks that this is the end of the line. Dick would have definitely seen the indents of the hatch.
Freeze is pointing the gun at the hatch ready for it to open and Tim isn’t sure he is going to get as lucky as last time with it being a nonfatal shot and is ready to tackle him. It would take a miracle for the hatch to stay closed.
But then the rug is slid back on top before the footsteps move to another section of the room. Hallelujah.
They can hear Edward impatiently snark, “Are you planning on buying anything? Otherwise leave, I don’t endorse loitering.”
The door opens again with another jingle. “Nightwing! O and I covered everywhere else. O says they could have found another sewer or alley if we can’t find them on this street. It's hard to get a visual of them around here.” Steph’s voice says out of breath. She must have been booking it.
“Two vigilantes in one night. Don’t I have a busy night tonight.” Tim can practically hear the eyeroll Edward is making.
“Fine. Let’s go.” Nightwing stomps out the door and the store is left with Duke and Edward.
Something isn’t right. There is no way Dick would have left so easily.
Duke laughs awkwardly, “Wow, I didn’t know you were popular with heroes?”
“Silence.” Edward orders sharply. His wheelchair rolls above their heads and pauses. There is a shuffle and Edward says in a placatingly sweet voice, suddenly so similar to when he was the Riddler, “Birdie number one, I expected better from you. Eavesdropping isn’t nice.”
Then a SLAM! And a CRUNCH!
A bug if Tim were to guess. That explains why Dick left easier than usual. But he’ll probably be back to double check.
“Why are you here?” Edward says to Duke.
“To bring your food.” A rustle of bags that Duke was holding.
Edward snorts. “That would make sense, if I had called in an order.”
Tim can hear Duke’s footsteps cross and set the bags and drink on the table. “Yea, well a lot of things don’t make sense. Like why was there a vigilante here? Or like where Pinky is?”
Freeze, having enough of being inside this cramped room shoves Tim out of the way to leave. With none of the stealth of before, Freeze slams open the trap door and climbs out, then hisses, “You ran over my fingers on purpose, didn’t you!”. Tim follows out behind him.
Edward just smirks, “I have no idea what you are referring to.”
While the two men bicker, Duke spots Tim and immediately perks up, “Pinky! ” Duke runs over to hug him. Tim swears that Duke’s eyes for a moment were …bright?
While Duke is hugging Tim, he whispers into his ear, “If you need an out, signal me. I put a knife in the bottom of the bag.”
As Duke pulls away he returns to normal volume. “Oh I brought you some food.” He snatches one of the bags and shoves it into Tim’s arms. Tim has said this before and he will say it as many times as needed. DUKE IS THE BEST GOTHAMITE EVER. Even though he has the wrong idea, he’s got spirit and the sentiment is sweet.
But as pleased as Tim is, he is also worried. He can’t have Duke play vigilante right now and try to attack Freeze on his behalf.
“That’s amazing, thank you.” Tim grabs Duke into another hug and whispers, “I’m okay, don’t worry.” Duke eyebrows furrow in confusion but return to normal when they part.
Edward rolls up to both of them. He looks at Duke and puts his hand out. Duke puts the other bag of food in his hand and Edward starts to take out his meal. “So how did you know that he was here?” Edward pointedly asks before taking an obnoxiously loud sip.
“The cafe counter is literally across the street.” Duke points. “Kinda hard to miss a Rouge and someone dressed like- well like they were put through a paper shredder.” Duke glances over Tim.
“Hey, it's not that bad.” Tim says holding on to pride that has been long lost.
“It’s that bad.” Edward scans over him judgmentally. “What the hell did you do to him, French Fries?”
“I take no credit for that mess. He came that way.” Freeze crosses his arms. “As for his pants, it was either let him bleed out or give him first aid.”
“Aww aren’t you just a saint.” Edward deadpans at Freeze then he frowns back at the sorry state of Tim’s pants and wheels his way to his desk. He rummages noisily through the desk for a moment before tossing a bundle of fabric at Tim’s head. “Have some pride and change.”
Tim unravels it and it's a pair of loose black slacks. They look about his size too. Tim is about to playfully retort to Edward about watching his own appearance before talking about others. But that's when he notices the man’s previously disheveled appearance nowhere in sight. Edward looked like himself. Like how Tim remembers him.
Under this lighting Tim could easily see him like he used to with his all snark and maddening riddles. All he needed to do was stand up and start waving a cane in front of his face while pacing about the room.
His face is clean shaven, his hair is combed back, his clothes look pressed, Tim can pick up the smell of his trademark cologne lingering in the vicinity and he even is wearing an emerald tie and pin. The only remnant of the mess that Edward was, is the slightly sunken eyebags.
Tim would never admit it out loud but he is so happy to see something familiar in this unrecognizable world, even if it was a condescending Riddler in his prim suit and tie. He just nods and goes to the bathroom, not trusting his voice.
When he gets out he has finally gotten a hold on himself and chucks his cut up bloodied pants in the trash. The only problem is that when he returns, the tension in the room is so thick he couldn’t get through it with a steak knife.
Riddler is egging Freeze on. Freeze is getting more irritated and is a second away from pulling out his freeze ray. And most surprisingly, Duke is staring with barely contained disdain toward Freeze, and he looks like he's using all his self control to stay quiet.
Duke spots him and with a smile, asks right off the bat, “So what happened to the hair?” Fortunately, Duke’s change of subject eases the tension a bit.
Edward laughs, “Don’t question it, he might bring it back.”
Tim sighs, “Well, you don’t have to worry about it anymore, thanks to a certain someone.” He glances at Freeze. “The fashion police here incinerated it.”
Edward starts applauding Freeze. “And here I thought you had no sense of taste. The world thanks you for your service.”
Duke makes a tiny frown, “I kinda liked it.”
“Thank you!” Tim exclaims, “It wasn’t that bad.”
Edward just spins away in his wheelchair. “Absolutely no taste. This is why you’re a barista and…” He glances at Tim up and down before settling on, “... an escaped mental patient?"
That was rich coming from a serial Arkham escapee.
Tim retorts playfully, “I’ll have you know I’m a very fashionable mental patient when I want to be.” They bicker back and forth until suddenly Freeze opens the door and walks out. Riddler shouts after him, “Don’t be a stranger, French Fries!”
Tim is about to follow him when Duke grabs his sleeve. The boy gives him a concerned and confused look. Tim rests his hand on top of Duke’s and hopefully pulls off an understanding and comforting look. He couldn’t exactly explain everything to Duke while Edward was right there. Slipping out of Duke’s grasp, Tim chases after Freeze straight into the open sewer lid. Tim can hear behind him, Riddler says, “Don’t forget our deal.” Tim was hoping he forgot about that but that was wishful thinking.
Freeze is waiting for Tim in the sewer and pins him with a glare. “That’s your favor.”
“What?” Tim says confused.
Freeze lips press in displeasure before continuing, “I won’t ask about your relationship with the Bats because I doubt you would tell me anyways. But you seem insistent on at least not killing them with the amount of times you kept getting in my way. So I decided that’s what your favor would be. You get me the cure and I don’t kill any of the Bats no matter how annoying they are or if the perfect opportunity arises.”
Tim starts, “That’s-”
Freeze cuts him off, “So you are fine with me shooting lethal shots at them?”
Tim shuts his mouth with a frown. Well shit.
Freeze continues, “You know what’s also interesting. They almost seemed more interested in you than they did me.” They enter a sort of stare down, where Freeze wasn’t willing to ask point blank and Tim wasn’t willing to spill the beans. “What a curious thing.” Freeze turns and starts his way. Tim follows begrudgingly. Tim didn’t really have a plan for the favor but he can’t help feeling like he lost somehow.
As they make their way through the tunnels, Tim stops. He tells Freeze to do the same. “Do you hear that?”
They listen carefully and a low hiss could be heard gently reverberating off the sewer walls. Tim traces the sound closer to Freeze until he finds a small puncture in Freeze’s coolant canister.
“Don’t tell me it's the coolant.” Victor sighs.
Tim, while searching for ways to close it sarcastically answers, “Nah, it's the snake that hides in your suit.”
“I need to get back.” Freeze starts picking up the pace. Once in the laboratory he adjusts the damaged canister in front of himself and repairs it on his work table.
He sighs in relief but in the calm silence another small hiss can be heard. “Shit.” Freeze looks at his suit monitors and starts patting down the sides of his suit in search of the sound. “Shitshitshitshitshit SHIT.”
“Can’t you just switch it out with another can?” Tim makes his way over, out of breath.
“Besides the fact that this is my last canister, I already fixed it.” Freeze frantically checks over his suit, getting more anxious every time he glances at his monitors. “The leak is somewhere else!”
Tim approaches him slowly, “Let me check.” Tim listens closely and he is led face to face with Freeze. The sound is coming from the cracks in his glass dome. Freeze understands without Tim saying a word.
Freeze starts looking through his drawers, pulling them clean out. Swipes tables looking for something, rummaging shelves and opening cardboard boxes. He is huffing, eyes quickly scanning his laboratory for anything. Another dome. A plastic. Something that could seal the gaps. Tim also searched, unfortunately most of the materials on the tables were sheets of metal, bolts and computer parts.
Freeze began banging his fists on the table in a fit of fury. “This can’t be happening! I’m so close!”
Tim thinks that the man is having a mental break which at the moment isn’t such a great thing. Freeze needs to have his body at a constant subzero temperature and with a leak in a summer season means that he’ll die if that isn’t patched up soon. Freeze flailing around and throwing a tantrum isn’t conducive to his situation right now.
Tim spots his staff on the table not too far off. A good wack has brought plenty of people back to the present. Tim sneaks over, grabs a t-shirt and his staff and gives Freeze a swift whap on the ass. It seemed like the area to do least damage with also the least armor.
Freeze yelps and turns to Tim furious but before he can say a word Tim yells at him, “Chill the fuck down!” Yes, that pun was 100% intended. Tim points to the floor. “Sit down!”
Freeze is kinda bewildered by Tim’s outburst and sits down very confusedly. Tim asks harshly, “Do you have any running water?” Freeze points over to a sink in the corner of the room. Tim rips the t-shirt at the seams and runs it under the water. He walks back to Freeze. “Set your gun to frost and hand it to me.” Tim orders.
“Why would I hand you my-”
“You want to live so you can bring your wife back right? Hand it over.” Tim puts his hand out. Freeze pulls it out with a frown and sets it to frost before handing it off. Tim puts it under his arm and stretches out the wet cloth/dismembered t-shirt over Freeze’s glass bubble.
“I can barely see anything.” Freeze complains as he tries to move the t-shirt but Tim smacks his hand away.
“Suck it up. It’s only a temporary solution.” Tim spreads it flat over the glass before using the freeze ray’s frost to solidify the moisture into the cracks.
Tim tries to dry his hands on his hoodie but doesn’t even bother when he looks at all the gunk still on his hoodie. “Where do you keep your chemicals?”
“There’s nothing in there that would fix this.”
“Well, I’ll be the judge of that. So where is it?”
Freeze sighs, leaning his elbows on his crisscrossed knees. “Shelves, lock number is 0608.”
“April 8?” Tim huffs a chuckle. He knew it was the man’s wife’s birthday but it was best to feign ignorance. “What is it with people and dates for passwords?”
Freeze was silent again and with the rag covering him, Tim couldn’t see his expression. He opens up the shelf and starts sifting through chemical labels. Most of them are useless for this predicament, fortunately for him, he’s a genius. Tim starts pulling out the options with the most probability of working. He lays them out on the table and starts scroungeing to see if there’s anything else useful now that he’s not preoccupied with Freeze dropping dead at this very moment.
After a while, Freeze says defeatedly, “You could’ve left at any moment, couldn't you.” The man phrases it like a question but it's a statement. Yea, Tim could have ditched him or taken him down quite a few times. But instead of responding Tim continues looking around.
Freeze continues when Tim doesn’t reply. “You could have left when Ivy’s garden let you through. And if you were able to fight like that with Nightwing while injured, you could have taken me down when my back was turned to you. You could have ditched me in the confusion of the ambush and saved yourself. You could have even stayed at Nygma’s, instead you followed me. Even right now you could just take what you need and leave.”
Tim picks up a giant box with a grunt and drops it loudly onto a table. “Are you going somewhere with this?”
Freeze taps his finger on his knee. He gets up and Tim is about to yell at him to sit back down but the man takes a few steps to the lower level and sits on the ledge facing his wife. It's almost like he has the place memorized by steps. Actually he probably does.
“Why are you working with me?” Freeze asks bluntly.
“I told you. I would help you save your wife, in return I get resources.” Tim answers evenly. Sure Tim could probably get resources somewhere else and with less hassle than with Freeze but he’s choosing this route because he has the opportunity to prevent an unnecessary tragedy. Tim can’t say that to Freeze though since goodwill is something that most Gothamites have little faith in, much less Rouges.
They return to silence, except for Tim’s shuffling. Tim isn’t sure what is going through Freeze’s mind so he elects to go back to searching for materials. Tim finds a forgotten canister and it's just what he needs.
As Tim is mid stirring a solution in a beaker, Freeze asks, “How was it different?” As if remembering that people don’t read minds, Freeze rephrases his question. “You said that you tried to save someone once, but that it was different from my situation. How was it different?”
Tim stops stirring. He didn’t want to talk about this. Not now. Not with anyone.
It was better to bury deep in a little box and sink it to the back of his mind. It was better not to dig it up since it technically never happened. It was better if he just got over it. It was better if he didn’t talk about it.
But…
If he did…
Then who better than Freeze would understand.
If - and only if he did talk about it with Freeze, then he wouldn’t have to worry about being judged for dubious morality. He wouldn’t have to worry about pity since Freeze doesn’t do pity. He also wouldn’t have to worry about it getting out and ruining his reputation, since he doesn’t have one.
Tim looks over at where Freeze is sitting. His back is facing Tim and the faint blue luminescent light is curling around the man’s form. He reminds Tim of his father after he woke up from his coma. An overlapping image of Jack staring into the fireplace snaps Tim out of it.
Tim stays quiet as he makes a makeshift epoxy of sorts, while he rolls around the idea of telling Freeze the truth. Surprisingly, Freeze doesn’t press for an answer, he just sits silently.
Tim finishes his experiment. He makes his way over and starts peeling off the softening half frozen shirt. Then as quickly as possible he pours the entire beaker on the dome, using the shirt to rub the solvent into the cracks and divots. He flicks open a lighter, holding it near the surface to harden it faster than air drying. “It should last a good week before it starts breaking down. Long enough to find a new one.” Tim exhales and flops down next to Freeze on the ledge.
That was tiring as all hell.
Tim looks up and there is Nora Fires underneath the luminescent light in a cryogenic state. She looks peaceful. She looks like the type of lady who wouldn’t mind helping a lost child in the grocery store find their parents and comfort them along the way. Apparently she was quite the humanitarian, at least in the file that Tim read of her. Bruce even tried to help Freeze save her as Brucie Wayne, but Freeze was always suspicious of help after someone tried to steal his research, which then led to his accident. He was convinced that only he could cure her and more efficiently too.
It just goes to show how desperate Freeze is, if he is willing to partner up with Tim. Desperation will drive people to do things they never thought they would do.
“It was different because the person I was trying to bring back was already dead. I thought that I could clone them.” There Tim said it. He got it off his chest and didn’t even need to get too into detail.
Freeze doesn’t look surprised or any reaction really. He just gives a small hum of acknowledgment and stares ahead at his frozen wife. Probably thinking of when she was awake and when times were better.
Tim did that a lot when he was staring at the cloning pods. After the 12th fail he started a sort of ritual where he would remember every interaction he had with Kon in front of the tanks. Kind of like a good luck superstition.
By the time he got to the 80th fail he had mentally dissected every interaction they have ever had. It got to a point where he was remembering Kon but he was also remembering himself. The way he was when he was with his best friend. The version of him that had a best friend. And when he inevitably failed, he was brought back to reality where not only his friend was gone but also the version of Tim that Kon called a friend.
The question slips out before he can think better of it and Tim asks, “I know you miss her, but…. do you ever miss who you were when you were with her?”
Freeze turns to him with an expression that Tim can only describe as stunned. Tim wonders if he’s gonna get freeze rayed for asking but instead Freeze gives a short honest answer. “Yes. I do.” He turns back to the center of the room. “I always wondered if that was a common phenomenon.”
They go back to silence but unlike before this one is comfortable.
A good half hour passes and for about the last 10 of those 30 minutes Tim has been brainstorming ways of convincing Freeze that they need to leave Gotham for a bit, without getting his head blasted off.
With the Bats on their trail it won't be too long till they start finding Freeze’s warehouses and labs one by one. This is Freeze’s best hidden lair but if the Bats were all hands on deck for the first time in a long time that they are working together; it means that they consider Tim a dire enough threat to put off their problems with each other. (Which they no doubt have.) Batman would be back in the field soon, if he wasn’t already.
Tim resolves to just say it and roll with the consequences as they come. “We have to leave Gotham for a little while.”
“I know.” Freeze sighs. “I’m not an idiot. I was simply…” Freeze trails off, weakly gesturing toward Nora. He swallows thickly and stands. “I created this chamber with the intention of it being able to sustain her and hide her when I’m not here. Most often it was for when I was stuck in Arkham but I was never further than Gotham from her.” He walks back to the wall, pries off a panel and starts to type in the keypad that was hidden. The floor begins to shift and creak. “Move.” Freeze orders.
Tim scrambles to the upper level of the lab as a large panel comes out from the side of the floor and covers Nora and the lower level. It fits seamlessly as if this was just a normal even floored lab.
Tim was looking at the floor because he can appreciate good craftsmanship even if it is done by a supervillain. From the other side of the lab, Freeze snorts, “This is what you made?” Tim turns to see that Freeze is looking at the left over remnants of Tim’s half assed solution.
“Well it did the job, didn’t it.” Tim says as he goes to pack his things that are laid out on the table.
Freeze picks up the beaker and inspects it. “It’s a bit elementary."
“I was going more for a quick fix instead of a Nobel prize. But don’t worry, next time your life is in the balance I’ll make sure it's at least worthy of a Faraday Lectureship Prize.” Tim rolls his eyes. “Are you even going to pack anything?”
Freeze puts down the beaker and goes over to a closet, takes out a backpack and says smugly, “Done.” He slips it on asking. “Do you even have an idea on where we’re going?”
Tim zips up his tote and swings it over his shoulder and grabs Duke’s bag with a smile. “How does Metropolis sound?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim puts down his bags in his room and stands in the middle of the living room of a run down dingy two bedroom apartment when he turns to Freeze. “Don’t you rob banks for a living?”
The man turns and says defensively, “I do science for a living.” Freeze starts unpacking his bag, “Besides, robbing banks in Gotham isn’t what it used to be and a majority of the money I do get, goes into materials. I got this residence with some that I saved to the side.”
Tim slumps into the couch that was left there, finally catching a breath. “Eh, it's fine. I got a plan anyway. We’ll be here for a week tops until I can get us to a better place.”
Freeze turns to Tim perplexed. “You have money?”
“No, but I have my methods. I just need that computer you got.” Tim tries to cross his leg leisurely but he is immediately reminded that he was stabbed. You’d think it would be a hard thing to forget. Tim goes into his bag and pops some of the antibiotic pills. He’s going to have to take a shower because lacking a spleen and exploring a sewer isn’t a great mix in the first place.
He really doesn’t want to move though.
He’ll just close his eyes for a second. His eyes feel so heavy. Every blink harder than the last.
Juuuuuuusttt ooooooooooone seeeeeecoooooond.
“Sure,” Freeze responds and peels Tim off the couch and shoves him into the bathroom with a towel. “After you shower and rest, you can. You look and smell horrific. Try not to die BEFORE you do something useful.” Then he slams the door closed on Tim’s face.
Weird. Tim didn’t think that Freeze could smell anything with the suit on.
After showering and switching into a clean pair of clothes that Tim had in the tote, he goes into his room to lay down. There isn’t a mattress but there is at least a lamp. Tim turns it on and lays out a shirt on the floor. Beside him are the bag that he stole from the cabin and the bag of food from Duke with the knife in it. He digs into the bottom of the bag and finds the knife, putting the food to the side, he puts away the knife in his tote bag beside the one that was embedded in his leg.
As he shoves it in a side pocket his eye catches the gun handle poking out.
He didn’t really have much time to inspect it. Why was he buried with a gun to begin with?
Tim pulls it out and looks at it more carefully. It just looks like a regular gun. He flips it over to the other side and that's when he notices the light catch the sides, a series of bumps.
Braille dots.
He knows immediately whose gun this is. He didn’t notice them before because his fucked up hands couldn't feel shit. Inscribed on the side it says ‘JT’. Of course. This is Jason’s gun. His favorite gun.
Tim starts laughing uncontrollably till his stomach hurts and his eyes tear up. He should have known, of course, Jason would give him a method of escaping his coffin. He probably was the one who gave him the flashlight and staff too. Tim didn’t think he would be thanking God for that stupid joke Jason made.
~~~~~~~~~~
Tim and Jason perch on the top of a warehouse, having a stakeout. It was one of the last missions they went on together. They've been waiting for an hour so far and Tim began to munch on Tic Tacs and chugged a Zetsi down.
Jason looks at him and Tim can't see his face with the helmet on but he can tell its one of vague disgust. Tim resolves to ignore him until Jason turns to him and comments, "That's probably the first thing you've eaten today, isn't it?"
Tim bites into a Tic Tac. "Oh, don't get all high and mighty on me, Mr.I-only-ate-a-protien-bar-everyday-for-a-month. You have less excuse than I do since you can actually cook well."
Jason snorts and turns back to the stakeout. " We're gonna totally die of stomach issues, if the vigilante business doesn't take us out first."
"Probably." Tim says as he chugs the last bit of Zetsi.
Below on the ground a gang started to congregate. Jason stands and Tim can practically hear the smile in his voice when he says, "Last one to die has to make sure that the other gets buried armed to the teeth."
Tim brushes his hands off and rolls his eyes. "Gee, thank you for the honor."
"Hey, it's no picnic digging out of your grave barehanded." Jason snorts.
Tim rolls his eyes. "Alright. But if I wake up in my coffin and I don't see any equipment, I'm gonna be pissed."
Jason shoots out his grappling hook. "Took the words right from my mouth, Red. Now stop being a chatty Cathy and let's bust these guys."
"You started talking to ME first." Tim turned to him incredulously.
"That's not how I remember it." Jason swung off before Tim could get another word in and the next thing they were doing was taking down bad guys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason was probably thinking he would be the first to go when he made that deal. Tim tears up at the memory.
No. No, he will not get sad. He has work to do. He has to focus.
But despite needing to focus Tim kinda wishes that Jason was here. Sometimes when everything was terrible Jason knew exactly what to say. Sometimes he made it worse, but that was Jason for you.
JASON'S POV
“Why don’t you go shove that knife up your ass and pull it out of your mouth, demon brat!” Jason taunts as he dodges a knife Damian throws.
“At least a knife coming out of my mouth is more useful than anything that has ever come out of yours.” Damian leaps at Jason for the bowl of dates that Jason is keeping above his head. Jason dodges and gets him into a headlock.
“أيها الأولاد، اهدأوا” Talia's voice rings through the large sitting room as she enters. Damian elbows Jason’s stomach making the older boy release him and both boys stand at attention as she approaches.
Talia swipes the bowl of dates from Jason’s hand and stands in front of Damian putting one in his hand. “Your English is improving, habibi. Now, tell me, did you practice your katas for the day?”
Damian straightens, “Of course, they were done first thing in the morning.”
Jason coughs behind his hand, “Suck up.” Damian shoots him a glare but Jason turns to him innocently. Jason knows that Damian doesn’t understand slang yet but he definitely got the gist of what he was saying.
Talia smiles, “Good, I want to teach you some new ones today.”
Damian perks up, “You have time today?”
“Yes, so go set up the training room.” Talia orders.
“Yes, Mother.” Damian grins before popping the date into his mouth and bolting off.
Now it's just Jason and Talia. Talia moves in front of him and hands him a date from the bowl. Jason takes it, throwing it into his mouth. “So what did ya want to talk about in private?” Jason might look like he is all brawn, but contrary to popular belief he has a brain too. He knows a diversion when he sees one.
Talia chuckles softly, it's so quiet you’ll think you hallucinated it. “Keen eye.” She hands him another date as a reward.
She leans on one of the pillars and bites into one of the dates herself. To a normal person this doesn’t look too worrying but to someone who knows Talia it’s practically an alarm siren.
Jason tenses, Talia’s eyes flicker to Jason at the movement. “Ra’s is making a move.” Talia breathes out a sigh, “Pieces are moving rapidly, and it isn’t looking good, Habibi.” She stands up straight, placing the bowl onto the table. She walks closer to Jason and is practically at a whisper now. “As a rule of thumb from now on, if I miss even one of our scheduled meetings, you are to get out of here IMMEDIATELY. Even if nothing is wrong. You take Damian and you go to Gotham. I will retrieve you.”
“But what about-” Jason starts. He'll do whatever it takes to protect Damian but he’s not sure he can do that in Gotham. Especially not with Batman there. Jason always planned on going back to Gotham, albeit when he was more prepared and alone at that. He still had to clean the streets of Crime Alley like he swore to do.
Talia puts her hand up to cut him off, “I know what you’re worried about but there are…things that I have done for all our sakes. You have trusted me this far. Trust me once more.” She puts her hand on his cheek. “Do as I say. It is for both of your safety.”
Jason knows the hesitation is palpable in his eyes, she drops her hand. “Just hide in Gotham, Ra’s has a difficult time sneaking in there undetected. Understood?”
Jason nods reluctantly. Talia smiles tiredly, “Don’t worry, we still have plenty of time before anything serious happens and it's only if I miss a meeting.“
Jason looks at her more closely and she seems more tired than usual. She’s good at hiding it but Jason was taught to be a detective. Something was different about this last mission that she went on. “Did the mission go alright?”
“It was a success.” Talia answers.
Jason quirks his eyebrow. “You and I both know those are not the same thing.”
Talia gets this blank look in her eyes and that’s how Jason knows that she is calculating the pros and cons of her next move. Her eyes flicker to the hallway. “I will inform you later.” No longer than 3 seconds after does Damian appear at the doorway like a ghost.
“Everything is set, Mother,” Damian says, trying to hide his excitement. He glances at their stances, “What were you discussing?” Well, it took him long enough, usually Damian was sharper than that. It's probably because he was trying to capitalize on the opportunity to hang out with Talia.
“Just some of the things that I wish to teach you.” Talia lies smoothly. She playfully smacks Jason’s shoulder with a smile, “Let’s see how much you have grown since I last sparred with you.”
“You better watch out. I’ve improved quite a bit since you’ve been gone.” Jason grins, crossing his arms.
Talia’s eyes twinkle a little in the way she does when she hears an interesting challenge. Oh, Jason was absolutely getting his ass handed to him.
Damian rolls his eyes. “The only thing he has grown is his gun collection.”
Talia puts her hand on Damian’s shoulder and starts leading them to the training room, while Jason sticks his tongue out at Damian and Damian scowls back at him.
Even though the mood was pleasant now, Jason still had a sinking feeling in his gut. He prays that his return to Gotham won't be sped up.