Chapter Text
Jason stormed into the cave, "I'm going to Ethiopia." He announced quickly.
Dick who was in the middle of directing Damian on a maneuver did a double take, "Eth– Ethiopia!? Jason!"
Jason played dumb, "What?"
"You can't just go to Ethiopia! You- You remember what happened last time!" Dick sputtered
"Vividly." Jason remarked, "But that's where Tim is and I don't trust this families ability to not get fucked there. If he's going to do some dumbass shit I at least need to be there to catch him in the fallout."
Jason remembered the flickering spectre he'd seen of Tim. He still didn't know what the hell that was, but he knew it couldn't mean anything good.
"But you... Ethiopia Jason!" Dick argued.
"I know. But that's where Tim is right now and I don't know how long he's going to be there so I need to get there before he runs off again doing who knows what." Jason stated.
"Okay." Dick finally relented, "Be careful though. Come back."
Jason gave a half smile, "I always do. And this isn't like last time. Joker is in Arkham, and I know exactly who I'm chasing."
He put a reassuring hand on Dick's shoulder, "You keep handling things here, I'll go get Tim. And I will bring him back, probably kicking and screaming but I've got your back Dick. Divide and conquer."
Dick nodded, "I'll take care of Damian. You worry about Tim."
Jason laughed, "Oh trust me, I'm worried."
Before actually leaving Jason needed to track down where exactly Tim was. Ethiopia was an entire country after all. Finally after weeks of trying to pin down a location Jason managed to narrow it down⁰ to one city. He should have thought of it earlier, Jason knew there was a safehouse there. He had used it himself back in the day.
It took Jason a few days to get there. When he finally did arrive in the city he wasted no time getting to the safehouse. He unlocked the door to find it empty. Clearly this place was lived in but whoever was here had already moved on.
"Shit!" He lost Tim again.
Jason ransacked the apartment for any clue as to where he might be. The place was a mess so Tim had clearly left in a hurry. Either he knew Jason was on to him, or he managed to find trouble. Tim seemed to be a trouble magnet so odds were he had to run.
Finally Jason found his clue. Receipts for a plane ticket to Spain for one Alvin Draper. Tim's favorite alias to use when he didn't want to be himself. Jason shot a text to Dick that he was headed to Spain and left. He didn't want to stay in this country longer than he had to.
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Damian was not happy with the current situation. He was sent to be trained by his Father, but he had hardly met him before he went and got himself killed. Jason ran off to go after Drake, leaving Damian stuck with Grayson.
Damian didn't know how he felt about Richard yet. He seemed well-meaning but poorly equipped for the circumstances. Alas, he had no other options at this time, so he trained with Richard as Robin with an amateur Batman. He loathed to admit it, but he actually was learning a lot. Even though Richard was a subpar Batman, he had years of experience under his belt as a vigilante. He had proven to be a valuable resource.
It had been months since Tim, and subsequently Jason ran off. Jason occasionally checked in on him and Richard as well. Damian was starting to feel okay with their new routine. Patrols with Batman, additional training in the cave, Alfred making dinner for the two of them. They fell into a rhythm. Damian had managed to adequately adapt his fighting style to Richard's allowing them to work together easier. He was even starting to have fun. Damian missed Jason but after hearing more about Timothy he understood why retrieving Timothy was of the utmost importance.
As he became more comfortable in Gotham Damian started noticing things. Such as the reckless abandon their Bruce double seemed to have. The man was irresponsible with the company, Bruce's money, and reputation. Something about it seemed intentional. That man could not be trusted, but every time he tried to bring it up he was brushed aside. A child couldn't possibly know about such things. He was just being silly.
So Damian stayed quiet, watched as his future was slowly destroyed by this imposter. Maybe Damian could ask Timothy's help with this when he got back. Timothy was likely to listen, even to the unlikeliest theories.
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Jason had finally pinned Tim in Madrid. He had been chasing after him for months on end, always one step behind. But as time went on Tim got messier, got worse at hiding his tracks. Jason worried about what that implied about his health. He couldn't be doing well alone like this.
Unfortunately Jason had been right. Tim looked scraggly and exhausted. He was in a different costume to his normal Robin suit, this one was Darker. His hair was long and unwashed, he had heavy eyebags.
"Tim! Oh my god! Do you have any idea how long I've been chasing you around trying to find your sorry ass? Ive been looking for you for months! What the hell happened!?"
Tim slowly blinked processing Jason's presence, "Oh, Jason. I was worried it was more assassins."
"Are you still on that? I thought we resolved the whole assassins after you thing?" Jason asked.
Tim rubbed his face, clearly exhausted, "No, no that was– Something else. Kind of. Well actually it's semi related but no. Different sets of assassins."
Jason's concern was growing, "How many groups of assassins have gone after you?"
Tim sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Well there was Lady Shiva's people, obviously, then I had to take out the Court of Spiders. Let me tell you, not fun. They nearly got me, but I'm a stubborn bastard. And I'm pretty sure Ras isn't too happy about me blowing up his bases. So give or take... three?"
Jason sighed running his hand through his hair, "What the fuck Tim?"
"I never asked you to come find me." Tim grumbled.
"Yeah, well I promised to catch you when you fall, and right now you seem to have fallen pretty far."
Tim straightened up, "You remember that?"
Jason smiled, "Of course I do. It was the night you told me your real name."
Tim shrugged, "I didn't think you payed attention that much."
"I do. Now let me help you, with whatever you're trying to do so you don't end up getting yourself killed."
Tim put his hands in his head staring at his computer screen, "You won't believe me if I tell you."
Jason crossed his arms, "Try me."
Tim let out a deep sigh, "Bruce isn't dead. I've been trying to figure out what happened to him and gather evidence to send to the JL so they can get him back."
Jason turned the idea in his head. It did sound impossible, but Tim was smart. If he thought Bruce was alive somehow it was clearly for a reason.
"Okay... What's your running theory?"
Tim sat up surprised, "You believe me?"
"I'm not disregarding the possibility. I trust you Tim."
Tim smiled and nodded. He gathered a bunch of loose papers he had around and articles he had pulled up on his computer, "My running theory is that he's lost in the timestream. I have a source that informed me he was hit with an Omega Beam that wasn't designed to kill. No body, no remnants, nothing left behind. So he clearly wasn't here and now."
Tim placed a photo on the table to show Jason, "However I did find this painting of a Mordecai Wayne dated to the 1800s. The resemblance is uncanny and genetics don't carry over that well."
Jason raised a brow studying the information Tim had collected. It was still an insane idea, but with the way Tim put it suddenly it didn't feel so impossible. The more Jason studied Tim's findings the more likely this seemed.
"So where to next?"
Tim smiled, "I finally found what I was looking for, so I'm in the process of sending all of this to the JL for them to get him back with the help of Booster Gold. Then I'm leaving tomorrow for Gotham. I have personal buisness to attend to."
There was an ominous undertone to Tim's statement. But at least now after months Jason could finally return home secure knowing Tim was off in Gotham somewhere too.
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Tim entered the bunker under one of his Gotham safehouses and frantically got to work. He ignored the vestiges of Kon and Bart appearing again.
Kon still tried to get his attention, "Tim! Are you okay? You look like hell."
Tim shook his head pouring over blueprints, "I'm fine." He said curtly.
Bart peered over his shoulder, "What's tha... oh my god. Tim you can't possibly be thinking about-"
Tim slammed his fists on the table, "I have to."
Bart's expression was uncharacteristically serious, "Tim doing this isn't going to help. You can't bring us back."
Tim shook his head and moved to start up machines. Bart's eyes widened, "You already had this set up in advance? How long have you been planning this?"
Tim's voice was low. He refused to look his friend in the eye, "Since you both appeared."
Kon intervened, "What are you two talking about? Tim what are you doing?"
Bart crossed his arms shooting Tim a glare, "He's going to try and clone you."
Kon's eyes widened, "You what!? Tim! That's not going to be me! You're just going to create some cheap imitation!"
Tim's voice shook, "No, no because if I can just get you a body and then figure out a way to transfer your sould into-"
Kon looked at him bewildered, "Soul– Tim you're talking nonsense!"
Tim returned to his programming, "No. I see you here, if I can just transfer your spirit into a physical body I can-"
"No." Kon interrupted. "No. I don't want that. That's not going to make you happy and it won't truly be me Tim!"
Tim ignored him and continued working.
"You would risk losing me? What if trying to do that doesn't work? What if you destroy my spirit by accident and then you won't have any part of me at all."
"That won't happen." Tim mumbled.
Kon watched as Tim finished putting in the calculations and programming, "Tim if you do this I will never forgive you."
Tim put a hand on the glass, resting his head, "I need you." He pushed the button starting up the process.
Bart stared in disbelief. Kon's expression crumbled. His voice shook, "I hate you. You can't just replace me it won't work Tim. It will never work. It will never be me."
Tim refused to look at Kon as tears smeared the glass. The screen flashed red. It failed at 47%. Tim kicked the table leg and tried again. He was going to make this work. It had to work. It couldn't all be for nothing. Bart watched silently as his two best friends tore themselves apart.
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It was months before Damian even knew Timothy was back in Gotham. Even longer before he was presented with the opportunity to inform him of the problem with WE.
He found Tim in a bunker under one of the safehouses. There was machinery everywhere. Tim hadn't even noticed Damian walk in, too preoccupied with whatever he was trying to do.
"Timothy?"
Timothy's eyes darted to Damian, "No, no not you too. I can't have you telling me I'm wrong too. I'm so close to getting it."
Damian stood awkwardly. He didn't know what Timothy was talking about, and he didn't intend to touch whatever that was with a ten foot pole, "Uh, no. I need your help."
Tim perked up, "Oh. Yes! Yes of course. It's the uh..." Tim snapped his fingers, "The WE problem! Right?"
Damian nodded, "Yeah... how did you know about that?"
Tim scoffed collecting some of the papers scattered around, "Just because I've been attending to personal buisness in the wake of Bruce's absence."
"Death." Damian corrected.
Tim raised his voice, "His absence!" Tim continued like nothing happened, "Doesn't mean I haven't been keeping tabs on matters at home. I've been monitoring the situation and already have a plan."
Damian raised his brows, "Oh. Okay then, thank you. Good luck with... whatever this is."
Tim sighed, "Yeah... Thanks for stopping by Damian."
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Tim sat heavily in his chair, pushing off the floor and rolling over to his analytics. Attempt number 99 failed. 99 times he tried to clone Kon, and 99 times he failed. Kon's eyes bore into him at every attempt. At attempt number 50 he finally had enough and left. Bart stayed silent, watching in concern. He got tired of watching his best friend go mad at attempt 72. Now Tim was alone.
Or at least he thought he was. Damian dropping by had Tim second guessing himself. He still had his family. They were right there and Tim had been neglecting them. Too focused on his own grief to step up and protect them. Now some idiot Ras had paid off was destroying Bruce's legacy and Tim was letting it happen.
Tim sighed shutting everything off. He had spent his whole life chasing people who weren't going to be there. He was tired of it. Instead he shifted his attention to what he still had to lose. Bruce was coming back. The JL was working on it at that moment, but there would be no point if Bruce didn't have anything to come back to. Tim needed to face Ras Al Ghul and end this once and for all. He had messed with Tim's life enough.
He made a call, "Hey Dick, Gotham is going to be pretty chaotic for a few days. You think you could help me with something?"