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Tim glances down at the beat up, old happy meal watch he keeps for nights like this and grins as he says, "Okay, Robin should be swinging through here any time in the next ten minutes so we've gotta be ready to jump up and follow."
He turns to look at his sister as she polishes off the last of one of the protien bars they brought out for their midnight snack tonight and tucks the empty wrapper securely in her small black backpack. She flashes a grin, reflecting his own giddy excitement back at him.
They've been batwatching since he was eight years old; a year after he first brought Cass home. She hadn't been comfortable enough to go out into Gotham at night like he wanted until then, or he would have been doing it sooner. Since they started though, he's thoroughly converted her into having the same admiration for and love of Batman and Robin that he's had since he was six.
He prefers Robin usually (though there was a rough year when they first started trying to follow the dynamic duo and the switch from Dick Grayson to Jason Todd happened. Tim was bitter that he wouldn't get to see The Original Robin in action and it manifested as a distaste for the second Robin that took a while to fade). Cass has a strong preference for Batman, when they can catch the actual caped crusader in action.
Tonight is Tim's night to pick who they're watching, so they're camped out on a roof near the start of Robin's solo patrol route.
Used to be, Robin would start his patrol solo on nights like these, but his recent violent streak has him back to only doing partial solo patrols.
Whatever Cass was going to say is cut off by a scream from the alley on their right. Cass's face twists and Tim sighs just a little. "This is gonna get us caught," but he's already got his camera halfway put away and is rising to stand.
Cass just grins at him as she rises too, bouncing on quiet feet and leaning towards the alley.
They've been doing this more and more recently—helping stop smaller, petty crimes like purse snatchings and muggings. Cass has the fighting skills to stop the perpetrators (and she's been teaching Tim the same ones, even if she doesn't want him to have to use them) and Tim is really good at being her backup. He's not the strongest fighter, but he lives and breathes stealth and strategy and speed like he was born for it, and he's really good at getting the victim to safety even if his actual ability to comfort them is lackluster.
The protest is token at best. They both knew this would get them caught by the Dynamic Duo eventually, and it hasn't stopped them from helping people before. It certainly won't stop them now that it's a near guarentee to happen tonight.
Tim finishes stowing his camera quickly as they both creep towards the side of the roof to take stock of the situation.
The alley the scream came come is a dead end; not even a convenient fire escape or enough rough spots on the back wall to climb out. It's a frequent spot for muggings and assaults—which is about half the reason he and Cass usually start their Robin nights here (and probably most of the reason Robin starts his nights here too). When they peak over the ledge, it's not immediately clear which situation this is.
There's only one victim immediately identifiable: a woman who looks to be in her early to mid twenties and is clutching a bundle of cloth to her chest. She's got her hair up in a bun, a backpack pressed to the bricks of the dead end wall, and is wearing the uniform of a server from the diner a couple streets over. She was probably walking home from work when she was ambushed and cornered. The bundle of cloth could be just that—cloth, but the woman shifts her arms just a little to cover as much of it as possible and Tim has the sinking feeling that it's probably a baby.
There's three perpetrators: all in black ski masks, black shirts under black leather jackets, black jeans tucked into black combat boots. These are likely professionals, career criminals that make their living doing things like this between bigger jobs with bigger rogues. There's no symbol on their clothing, no matching bandanas, no fashion quirk to identify their allegiance to one rogue or gang or another, so this is likely a crime of opportunity instead of anything pointed. Their clothes are all well worn, definitely old but the jackets especially are in good condition.
Each ski mask has a different weapon. The one closest to the woman has a long wicked looking knife that glints every time it catches the low light from the closest street lamp. It's well taken care of, free of rust or grime and clearly plenty sharp.
The second one has a baseball bat. One of the metal kinds that can take (or dish out) quite a beating before breaking. Plenty of stickers and tape on it, but like their outfits it's without anything that declares who they're with. Tim can also tell the man has at least one sheathed knife on him, and it looks like he might have a gun holster too, based on the slightly different black strap that's strung across his broad chest.
The third definitely has a gun. It's out of its holster but isn't pointed at the victim yet. He's holding it steady in one hand, pointed at the ground casually as more of a warning then anything else. Like the knife, it too is well maintained—at least from what Tim can see of it—and the safety is off.
Tim catalogs all of that in only a few seconds before catching Cass's eye. This group is better equipped then they've gone against so far. Sure they've seen thugs with guns before—and even gone against a handful of them—but it's always been two against one in those situations. They're both fast enough to disarm most men before they even realize Tim and Cass are there, but the third man and a victim (possibly 2) changes things.
"Just give us the money and we won't hurt you," the one with the gun says. Tim's eyes snap back to the scene unfolding before them.
The woman swallows visibly and, with shaking voice, says "I told you, I don't got any."
Tim frowns, glances at Cass to make sure she's watching, and starts to quietly gesture.
It isn't ASL, not really. They tried learning sign when Cass first came home and was trying to learn to communicate and while it helped some, they kept running into things that Cass just didn't understand. They ended up dropping it, but the bastardized version they made up while waiting for Batman and Robin one night has proven extremely useful in situations like this.
Tim points to Cass then the man with his gun drawn, then himself and the one with the knife, then makes a squiggly motion in the direction of number 2. Cass frowns thoughtfully, then shrugs. She gestures to herself then to both of the men with guns.
Tim grimaces, but before he can respond the one with his gun out (that he's nicknaming 3) fires what is clearly a warning shot and yells, "Stop fuckin' whining, bitch! if you ain't got any cash then hand over the kid, I'm sure it'll fetch a nice price!"
Tim and Cass exchange one last look before leaping quietly over the ledge and shimmying down the rough brick of the building, using the window sills as handholds.
Cass lands before Tim does, but neither of them are heard over the crying of the victim as she tries to protect her baby more then herself. Cass waits patiently for Tim to get into position, but the moment he signals he's ready she moves.
Tim doesn't track her beyond making sure he sees one of the two guns skitter on the ground away from Thugs 1 and 2 as he tackles number 1. The man is about four times Tim's size but he wasn't expecting resistance from behind and ninety pounds of child directly to the back of the knees is hard to stay upright through when you're expecting it, let alone when you're not. Number 1 goes down like a stone with an embarrassing yelp and Tim knows he's gonna have bruises on his knees from how he rolls out of the way but the move works so he doesn't care. If they continue doing this kind of thing, he'll invest in some good knee and elbow pads for under his baggy black hoodie.
He lunges forward the moment his feet are back underneath him and hits 1's wrist right between the tendons to make him release the knife. The man grunts with the hit and does exactly what Tim wanted, but he was right about that not being his only knife. The man sweeps his other hand and the newly unsheathed second knife across where Tim's head was just seconds before.
Tim lashes out with the hand not fishing for the first knife, going for the same hit that he made last time but the man doesn't let it connect. His empty hand sweeps up to grab Tim by the throat as he dodges the knife.
Tim manages to grab the dropped knife before he throws himself into a backwards roll to avoid the grab. Without the element of surprise, Tim's in a bad position but hopefully Cass—
"I don't think so" Robin's voice is a mixture of anger and glee as the boy wonder lands a solid kick to the side of number 2's head just before he bring his bat down on Tim.
At any other time, Tim would be ecstatic at the chance to see him up close, but he's a little busy dodging number 1 to really appreciate it. "Fuckin kids, ain't no way I'm going down—"
Tim doesn't wait for him to finish talking. (Waiting for the bad guy to finish is how so many heroes—both in real life and fiction—get hurt. He'sfar too smart to fall for that.) He delivers a swift blow to the man's throat and then follows it up with a kick to the groin.
The man wheezes and turns on his side to curl up instead of attempting to get up again. Tim looks up and around and realizes the other two assholes are down but Cass and Robin are still tying them up so he moves to the victim's side. She's fallen to her knees sometime between the start of the fight and now, and she's got herself hunched over her baby entirely. Her eyes are closed and her face pointed to side as she rocks a little in a self-soothing technique that Tim knows well.
"Ma'am?" he asks quietly, trying to get her attention without scaring her any further. "Ma'am, are you alright? they didn't hurt either of you, did they?"
She shudders and shakes her head, but doesn't open her eyes.
"You're safe, ma'am," Tim says.
She takes a deep breath and peeks open one of her eyes to make sure. She gasps when she spots Robin, opens her other eye and straightens up—though she keeps her baby clutched close to her chest still.
"Oh my god," she whispers, then louder "Oh my god, I didn't think you were real."
Robin checks to make sure Cass is tying up the guy Tim dropped, then turns to smile at her. "Not only am I real," he says as he skips forward and offers her a hand to help her stand up, "I'm more then happy to walk you the rest of the way home, if you want."
Tim steps back as Robin takes over comforting the woman. He slides carefully past the bound thugs to Cass's side where she takes his hand and squeezes. He turns to look at her and she points to the hand not in hers and raises an eyebrow, but doesn't ask if he's going to keep the knife still gripped in his hand.
He'll need a sheath for it, but it's a nice knife. What else would he do with it? Give it back? As if. The man shouldn't have tried to stab anyone with it if he wanted to keep it.
Cass rolls her eyes at him but doesn't say anything, so Tim knows she's not actually mad.
Tim looks back to where Robin is talking to the woman and leading her out of the alley. He bites his lip gently, looks back to Cass, and then jerks his head towards the roof. All things considered, it's plenty possible for them to get out of this without having to dodge Robin.
That plan is thoroughly squashed when Robin whips his head around, narrows his eyes at Cass and Tim, and says, "Why don't you two join us? Safety in numbers, after all—" fuck, Tim thinks "—and Stacy's apartment is on the way to the nearest bus stop. I'm sure your parents are probably worried about you." Double fuck.
Cass snorts, clearly sensing the direction of Tim's thoughts, but then happily pulls Tim along behind Robin and Stacy.
Tim resigns himself to an awkward conversation at the bus stop and an early end to the night. He won't call tonight a full bust—he is getting to meet Robin after all—but it's not nearly as much as he was hoping for.
Cass lets go of his hand and pushes him in front of her for a moment so she can go though his backpack. Tim's confused about it for half a secind before she passes one of their extra shirts over his shoulder. "For the knife," she says quietly.
Tim grins, and they spend the rest of the walk to Stacy's building wrapping and storing the knife.
They've just gotten it stowed away in his backpack when Robin bids the woman goodnight and then rounds on them.
He watches them for a second, hands on his hips and lips pursed as he eyes them up and down. Tim refuses to be the one to speak first, and Cass spent nine whole years of her life in silence, so the loser of this contest was determined long before it ever began.
"That was dangerous," Robin says finally, and Tim has to supress a laugh at how much like Batman the older boy sounds. They've overheard the Bat giving this same lecture to Robin more times then they can count.
Tim flicks his eyes to the side to catch the amusement in Cass's before he says, "Yep."
Robin's eye twitches.
Cass grins.
"You're the Drake twins," Robin isn't quite as loud as he makes this pronouncement and it's Tim's turn to grin as Cass responds.
"Yep."
They aren't actually twins, but the nickname emerged shortly after Cass's debut because of how close the two of them are and how much they look alike. No one's even bothered speculating that Cass isn't actually his blood sister despite her seemingly random appearance only after Tim turned 7.
It's kind of hilarous.
Robin's eye twitches again and Tim decides it's time to cut his hero some slack. He starts walking towards the bus stop as he says, "We wouldn't have intervened if we'd known you were there."
"For some reason that isn't as reassuring as you seem to think it should be," Robin says dryly as he falls into step next to Tim. "What are you two doing out here this late anyway?" He eyes the backpack Tim's carrying. "Not runnin' away, are ya?"
"No," Tim assures. "We were just going for a walk."
Robin snorts the exact same way Jason does when any of the gala regulars make a reference to how much they care about people who aren't in their same tax bracket. "You're a long way from home for a walk." He says.
"Tim likes nighttime photography," Cass says.
It both is and isn't an excuse for their location.
Tim makes a note to high five Cass for that one when they're out of Robin's sight.
Robin obviously doesn't appreciate the half-answers. He leans forward so he can narrow his eyes at Cass. Tim doesn't quite manage to stifle his giggle and the narrowed eyes migrate to him. The glare lasts only a couple seconds longer before Jason sighs and leans back. "Fine, you don't have to tell me what you're doing out here at almost one am, but!"
He hops forward and plants himself on the sidewalk in front of them, feet shoulder-width apart and hands on his hips, leaned slightly in so he's the same height as the two of them. "You are getting on the next bus to the Bristol bridge, then walking your little asses directly home, getting into bed, and going to sleep."
Tim knows Cass also raises an eyebrow by the way Robin scrunches his forehead and jerks back a little bit.
"God, that's freaky. Did you two practice that?" He sounds equal parts fascinated and impressed.
Tim laughs as Cass wraps an arm around his shoulders and his own comes up to wrap around her waist automatically. "Not really," Tim answers as they start walking again. "When you spend pretty much every waking moment together, you start to share a lot of mannerisms without meaning to."
Cass hums in agreement. "He's my best friend," she says, and Tim's heart skips a beat even after four years of reassurance. Their parents love them, he doesn't doubt that, but they still left him practically alone for months at a time for literally as long as he can remember. He isn't sure he'll ever get used to how easily she says she loves him.
Robin smiles, a little wistful, a little bitter, a little sad, but mostly just happy for them. "I'm glad you've got that with each other," they reach the bus stop just as the final bus for the night rolls up. "But for God's sake, don't wander Gotham at night!"
Cass pulls him along to get on the bus as he waves. They end up seated about halfway back, and it's only when the door's closed and they're halfway to their stop that the two of them bend their heads together and giggle.
Jason didn't even try to make them promise not to do that again.
#
Jason is worried.
Well, Jason is a lot of things currently; sad, scared, lonely, mad, anxious, stressed. Mostly though, Jason is worried.
He's worried about school: they're starting to review for finals and chemistry and trigonometry are kicking his ass more then he expected. The sample yearbook has been delivered and he's in charge of putting in the order for the correction stickers. The guy who does the lights for the musical quit last minute so now Jason (originally signed up as the apprentice to the Senior that does the sound) has to learn the lighting equipment and ques in two weeks.
He's worried about his brother: just when he and Dick were starting to really hit their stride as siblings, the older left for a mission in space that doesn't have a clear return date. Sure, he's well trained and has plenty of backup in the form of some of the most capable people in the galaxy, but the best estimate for him getting home was 'three months' and Jason was hoping to get some time with him before Dick moved back to New York for college. As the timeline stands, Dick will barely have time to readjust from fucking space before he has to go pretend to be normal as NYU.
He's worried about himself too: He's been so angry recently. He's been harder on the criminals they fight every night, jumping to agression at everything. Bruce has been eyeing him warily when he thinks Jason isn't looking, has been lecturing him more often over his use of force, been lectuing him over everything. Jason feels like he's having to tiptoe in his own home again, he keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Bruce to kick him out the same way he did Dick. The Robin mantle has been chafing recently in a way it never has before—Robin is magic, sure, but Jason isn't sure if he can be too anymore—and he isn't sure if Bruce will still want him if he decides he doesn't want to be Robin.
And all of that was a lot before he found the fucking Drake Twins in an alley right on the edge of the Bowery fucking fighting three guys with guns.
Jason had swung down into the alley at the start of his solo patrol just in time to see one small silhouette launch itself at the knees of a guy with a fucking knife while another kicked a gun out of one of the other two men's hands. Thank gods for Robin training—despite his surprise and horror at what he percieved to be literal toddlers launching themselves into a fight, he was able to slip in and make quick work of the third goon in the alley.
And then the fucking menaces had the unmitigated gall to try to sneak off while Jason was comforting the victim. He doesn't even remember the lady's name, he was so distracted keeping an eye on the children.
And then he'd made the fatal mistake of forgetting to make them promise not to do it again.
So.
Jason is a little bit worried about the kids.
If he were a more optimistic person, he would hope the fight scared them off of nighttime wanderings, but alas, he's always thought of himself as more of a realist.
Which is why he finds himself staking out the start of his solo patrol route three days after the initial event, hoping he doesn't catch them again but knowing in his heart that he's gonna.
It's almost a half hour past when he would normally swing through here when he finally spots them. There's a small head just barely poking above the shadows of the rooftop next to the alley from the other day. "Gottem'," Jason whispers to himself as he backs up slowly and picks his way around to the back of the building at least one of the twins is on.
He scales the building with relative ease, knowing from many years of experience that the rickety, rusting fire escape on the side of the building won't hold him. (It used to—Jason used to use the open alley on the side with the fire escape to lose persuants when he was living on the street. They would get cocky and slow down, mistaking that ally for the one on the opposite side, the one that's a dead end. Jason's filled out a lot since then, growing into his father's broad shoulders and thick limbs even if he hasn't ended up with the same height yet.) He peeks over the edge carefully before finishing his climb and is unsurprised to locate a second silhouette right next to where the first head peeks out from the shadows.
This close, Jason can tell for certain that Timothy is the one that's looking around while Cassandra sits with her back to the low wall enclosing the roof. He levers himself further up to swing onto the roof and Cassandra's eyes snap to him immediately. He grins and waves just a little at her and she flashes him a returning grin.
She looks over at Timothy, who doesn't seem to have noticed Jason yet, and mischief seems to light up her face as she turns back to him. She brings a finger to her lips in the universal sign for 'shush', then gestures for him to come forward. Jason knows immediately what she's getting at and feels a smirk spreading across his face.
Timothy stays oblivious as Jason approaches as quietly as possible. Just as Jason gets close enough, Timothy says, "I hope he's okay," and Jason has a moment of doubt.
Is this too mean? Jason thinks, glancing at Cassandra for one last approval. Her eyes flicker from Tim to Jason and back again before she nods.
Everyone who's anyone knows how close the siblings are. It's to the point that the two are often called twins despite being 2 years apart in age (and despite the evidence that they're not even technically related at all—though said evidence is well buried. Jason only found it because he was poking closely to try to figure out why the two would be running around the Bowery at night). They made their debut into the Gotham socialite Gala scene together when Cassandra was ten and Timothy eight. A little late in Cassandra's case, usually children are introduced to the social scene around the age Timothy was, but with how the two clung to each other it was easy enough to see why they would have waited.
Cassandra was quiet and protective of her brother while Timothy was a perfect miniature of Janet—friendly and seemingly open but always aware of what he was saying and as clever as his words were sharp—when he wanted them to be, that is. They made a formidable pair even at such young ages, and they've only grown into their bond and themselves since. They're still young, almost 14 and 12 respectively, but people are already treating them with more respect then they do most other teenagers.
All this to say, Jason is more then happy to accept Cassandra's reassurance in the plan and go with it because he knows she would never do something to truely endanger or hurt Timothy (except, of course, run around Gotham at night with him).
He doesn't touch the kid though, that would be a good way to get punched. Instead, he steps just a little bit closer and then clears his throat pointedly.
Timothy jumps about a foot in the air.
He doesn't make a noise—which is about as concerning as it is convenient—but he does lash out with his right hand in an admirable attempt to to throat punch Jason. Cassandra giggles as Jason ducks.
"Robin!" Timothy exclaims, voice a mixture of high pitched indignation and relief.
"Timothy!" Jason responds.
Timothy's nose crinkles and his head draws back a little, probably at being full named if Jason had to guess, and then he realizes Cassandra is giggling and he whirls on her. "You saw him!"
"Situational awareness training," she tells him.
Tim groans and throws his right hand up in indignation, making Jason realize that he's holding a camera in his left. Maybe the photography excuse from last week has more merit then he thoight it did. "That's bullshit and you know it," he whines. "You just wanted to startle me."
Cassandra just smirks at him.
Jason finds his pouting unreasonably adorable, for some reason. He's like a puppy. It's kind of hilarious.
Cassandra just shrugs. "What are big sisters for if not annoying their little brothers?"
Timothy sticks his tongue out at her and Jason snorts, then reaches out to elbow Tim gently as he says, "Just remember, it's every little brother's sacred duty to annoy their older sibling back."
That makes Tim's (almost certainly mostly exaggerated) pouting stop as he huffs in amusement. "You would know, wouldn't you?"
And. Well. It isn't like Nightwing is shy about calling Robin his brother, and there's literally no way for anyone to think Robin is older then Nightwing. But also.
Jason watches as Tim goes rigid and his face drains of color.
He's pretty sure Tim didn't mean it to be about Robin.
Jason has two choices here. He could play it off, give Tim an out that he's certain Tim will recognize for what it is. He could pretend he doesn't suspect Tim and Cass know who he is under the mask to lull them into a false sense of security before springing the question casually and tricking them into confessing.
Or.
Jason looks between Cass (watching him intently) and Tim (currently speedrunning the stages of greif, if Jason's reading his expression right) a couple times before shrugging and ploping to the ground. "I wanted to have a serious conversation with you two anyway, why don't we start there?"
Tim eyes him warily for a long moment before slowly lowering himself to sit next to his sister.
The following conversation is as eye opening as it is concerning, and establishes several key pieces of information including but not limited to:
1. Cassandra had Bruce figured out within two minutes of meeting him at a gala the first time, but it wasn't until Timothy saw Nightwing do a quadruple summersault that the siblings were able to prove Batman and Robin's civilian identities.
2. Tim and Cass do indeed prefer the shortened nicknames Tim and Cass.
3. Despite considering himself a pretty untrusting, cermudgeon of a boy, Jason believes them when they say they have not and will never tell anyone what they know.
4. Despite his trustworthyness in reguards to secrect identities, Timothy Drake is a silver tongued, sassy, sarcastic little shit who can and probably will take over the world one day and there is nothing Jason can do about it.
"No!" Jason throws his hands up in the air and looks skyward as though praying to a god he doesn't believe in. "I agree to not tell Batman about you, but you cannot keep stalking us at night! That's the deal!"
Tim purses his lips at Jason and he doesn't remember why he ever thought the evil little genius was cute.
"Fine," Tim huffs as he crosses his arms and looks away from Jason.
Jason has the distinct feeling that despite seemingly winning the argument, he hasn't actually won anything. "Good," he kinda feels bad, if he's honest. He doesn't like how actually, genuinely upset Tim seems about this. Also his acceptance seems to have happened way too quickly. "So can I walk you to the bus stop again? It's time for baby birds to go home."
Baby Birds? Jason thinks incredulously. He didn't mean to call them that. He has no idea where the nickname came from. He has a feeling he's going to regret that nickname in particular, but as they chat on the way to the bus stop he finds it impossible to take it back.
#
"In our defense," Tim whispers furiously at the Robin crouching in the rafters next to them, "We haven't stalked you since you made us promise."
It's been three weeks since Cass encouraged Jason to sneak up on Tim. Long enough that she's mildly sure Jason had thought he'd won their argument, or at least convinced himself he had based on the exasperated tilt of his head and the dissapointed but unsurprised twist of his lips. They had said goodnight at the bus stop and Tim had managed to maintain his resentful frown at their defeat only until they were safely locked back in their museum of a home.
The moment the lock clicked, his face had broken into the most delighted, victorious smirk she's seen on him since they successfully got their parents to agree to home schooling. (Jack and Janet had been planning to try to send them to separate boarding schools: Tim to a boys' academy and Cass to a girls'. The seperation was absolutely unacceptable to the both of them so they'd made sure their parents didn't end up doing so.)
Thankfully, Cass knows her brother better then she knows herself, so she was sure from the moment he 'gave in' to Robin's demands that he had a plan.
And what a plan it was!
She's been trying to get him to more overtly work towards doing the same things that Batman and Robin do for a while. Ever since she deemed his hand-to-hand acceptable and started working with him on finding a weapon he likes. He's still not really clicked with anything so far, but he can throw knives almost as accurately as she can, his work with a slingshot is excellent, and he's getting better at leveraging his creativity during fights. He even beats her in spars sometimes! (Not often, but still. One in ten matches is better then none at all.)
He was hesitant for a while—mostly just worried it would get them caught. She knows that he knows she can protect herself, and he's very good at disappearing (she almost didn't have to teach him much about being stealthy, to be honest. It scares her just a little, how easily he took to her training in that reguard), so it wasn't the danger that held him back.
But! Robin caught them already. Robin called them Baby Birds. Robin made them promise they wouldn't go out to photograph and observe their favorite subject matter, but he never made them promise to stay home.
So for the last three weeks, she and Tim have been concentrating on Kingdom Come. It's an offshoot of one of the mafia families from New York that think they can muscle in on the Gotham market after Joker's last rampage wiped out a good number of the Maronis and the Falcones (and Batman swooped in the put the rest in jail). They've been mostly smuggling and dealing drugs so far, with some haphazard catholic imagery that makes it clear to anyone with eyes that they're only mimicking the gimmicks of true Gothamite gangs and rogues in order to try to establish themselves in a new area. They're not doing a very good job of it—half of the goons only remember their gaudy crucifix necklaces a quarter of the time, there's one or two who carved a cross into their guns and a couple who wear the catholic preist collar with their generic uniform, but no one seems to be clear on what part of the bible they're themed after and Cass is pretty sure she's seen every last one of them that performed a hail mary do it wrong in a different way each time.
Tim is worried there's more planned then just getting a foot in the door for expansion of the family, but Cass is fairly certain he's wrong for once.
"This," Robin gestures sharply from the thin rafters she and Tim are crouched on to the men below them opening crates of guns to inspect the product, "is not what I meant and You Know It!"
Tim brings his camera up to take another shot of the criminals instead of graceing Robin with an answer. Cass wants to giggle, but refrains. It's much harder to do then it used to be (and she marvels at the effort every time. Healing, as her therapist says, is to be celebrated no matter how small the progress feels).
Robin turns an incredulous frown to her and she shrugs. It's not like they were planning on raiding the warehouse—Tim just wants to make sure he has pictures of each man's face so they can add them to the growing wall of known Kingdom Come members. She brings a finger up and puts it to her lips silently. If Robin keeps talking, he's going to get them caught.
Cass lets her eyes wander from the hero in the room to her brother. She loves watching him work. He's so... She isn't sure how to describe him in moments like these. It's like he comes alive in a way she only ever sees when he's behind a camera or solving a mystery. It's like he's seeing the world for the first time—seeing all its ugliest parts right alongside its most beautiful and finding new things to love in both. It's the same way he looked at her the day they met.
She doesn't think she will ever be able to tell him exactly how much he saved her life the day he found her in Paris—filthy, shivering, hungry, and alone. She had cleaned the blood from the man she killed off of her hands but she was still wearing the dress from it, still feeling it on her skin, still scared of what her hands were capable of, and he had taken one look at her and loved her just like that.
Their parents, Jack and Janet, had taken her appearance in stride. They'd lectured Tim for running off alone, then scooped both of them up, one kid to each parent, and brought them home. Janet had looked at her torn, blood covered dress and known. Cass could see it in her eyes and her hands, Janet knew what she was immediately, and still she had helped Cass bathe with gentle hands and soft, calming humming.
They've stopped coming home as often as thry did at first, stopped staying as long when they do, but Janet still takes Cass's hands in her own every time and tells her to take care of her brother. She still trusts and loves Cass just as much as she does Tim. Jack still moves carefully around her, makes sure she can see him any time he wants to touch her, waits for Cass to actually initiate the contact. He still runs a hand through her hair and asks if she wants to throw balls with him and Tim. He still looks at her with a certain kind of wonder.
Their parents—Tim and Cass's parents—her parents. Her parents that Tim gave her.
Tim is the light of her life and she would watch him work and keep him safe while he does for a thousand years if she had to.
Robin must have gotten the message because he's quiet the rest of the time they're in the rafters. Cass can tell he's seething, but she isn't worried about what he'll do to them once they're relatively safe. The anger is a poor sheild over the boy's worry and she's flattered he's concerned. The anger builds and builds the longer Tim works until it finally breaks into a kind of resigned understanding, and Cass shifts subtly to let Tim know it's safe to leave.
Tim flashes a grin at her, snaps one more picture, then turns to nod at Robin, letting him know he can lead the way out. Cass reaches out and squeezes Tim's hand once to let him know she's proud of him for letting Robin take the lead now and he doesn't scoff, but she can see the desire in the way he rolls his eyes before following Robin.
Cass takes up the rear, making sure no one catches sight or follows them until they're out of the building and a couple rooftops away.
When Robin finally rounds on them, he's got his arms crossed over his chest and is trying to project authority with the way he stands but the subtle hunch of his shoulders tells her that he knows he's lost this battle. "I thought-"
"We promised not to stalk you anymore," Tim doesn't wait for him to finish. "And we aren't! We're not even engaging in dangerous fights, even though that wasn't part of the promise too."
"You know that's not what I meant!" Jason says defensively. "I didn't expect you to fucking rules lawyer me when it was about your safety, Kid!"
"Well that one's on you then," Tim says faux haughitly. Cass frowns at the way that makes Robin's shoulders get a little higher, makes him curl up just a little bit.
"We're sorry for scaring you," she puts a hand on Tim's shoulder as she apologizes to Robin.
"Good," Robin tries to uncurl but doesn't quite manage it when he sees the look on Cass's face.
"But we won't stop coming out," she finishes. "We are trained, we know how to be safe, we know how to fight and protect and hide and run, we know. We aren't going to just sit back when we could be helping."
Robin tries to argue with them, but their upbringings have taught them both to be the immovable object that all things break in the face of, so he doesn't manage to really do anything but waste time. Eventually, it's getting too early though, and they all have things to do the next day so he gives in.
"Just," Robin sighs tiredly, his whole body seeming to droop into it as he reaches into one of the pouches on his belt. "Don't take this as permission cause it isn't, but I know i won't be able to stop you so at least take these, okay?" He holds out two cylinders about the size and length of a pencil. "They're emergency beacons, for if you get in over your head."
Cass looks to Tim for guidance on this one. She thinks it's a good idea to take them. It would be nice to have backup if they need it, to have a safety net for if they fall, but she's also agreed to follow his lead on things like this. He follows her during combat and stealth, she follows him during the more cognitive challenges and moments.
Tim considers the beacons for a long moment before nodding and taking them. He hands one over to Cass and pockets the other. "Thanks," he says quietly. Cass is pretty sure he's thanking the other boy for something more then just the beacons, but doesn't worry too much about it. He will tell her when they get home.
#
Contrary to popular (Jason's) opinion, Tim and Cass don't ever go looking for fights.
Sure, they get into quite a few now that they aren't exclusively tailing the Batman and Robin, and occasionally those fights are ones that they started the night seeking out, but over all, for the most part, they don't go looking for fights and try to stay out of anything that looks too serious.
Unfortunately, that doesn't make them immune to jumping into things that are worse then they initially appear. They aren't perfect, after all.
In their defense, the wearhouse they're cornered in was supposed to be empty tonight.
They took all the precautions they could; they made sure there weren't guards, they listened to the radio chatter and spoke to informants, they bugged the place, they're even wearing the domino masks that Jason gave them last week after the third time Cass's hood fell while she was fighting and someone might have gotten a look at her face. (They hadn't, Tim knew because they had been looking at him when it fell, but still).
They did everything right!
It isn't their fault that Kingdom Come decided to show up to check on their shipment a day early. At least Cass and Tim noticed them coming and were able to hide adequately!
There's a lot of them, is the thing. And they know someone was here, because Tim hadn't had time to put the lid back on the box with the hollow teddy bears (and, side note, but if Tim hadn't been sure that Kingdom Come was a half-assed attempt to blend into the Gotham criminal ecosystem before this, he would be now. What gang called Kingdom Come and presumably themed after Catholicism would use plain teddy bears instead of decorative crosses or even teddies dressed like catholic preists? Not one from Gotham, that's for sure.)
Tim's got the pictures he needs to get the GCPD to do the bust and hopefully drive the outsiders out of Gotham, so realistically all he and Cass need to do now is get out. Unfortunately, they're trapped by the lights being on and the semiautomatic weapons most of them are carrying.
Luckily for him and Cass, the breaker box is only a few feet from the door they're behind, and if they can get the lights disabled then they should be able to take the guys down one by one from the shadows. They may have the two of them cornered, but they're honestly kind of stupid, and the cornering was sheer dumb luck on the Gang's part.
Tim looks over at Cass to make sure she's ready. Based on the footsteps and the radio, there's only one of them checking this hall. He's been checking rooms as he goes so they're waiting on either side of the closet door. The plan currently is for Cass to disarm the man while Tim goes low to take him down. Once he's down Cass will use the zip ties Tim has in his bag to secure him while Tim goes to shut off (and hopefully disable completely) the breakers.
After that, they could—technically, theoretically—they could retreat. Come back another day, when there's less men in the building and they've had more time to really plan the whole bust.
But.
Despite being made up of outsiders without a dramatic bone in their body and probably about two braincells collectively, the Family they actually work for is smart. The moment the bosses hear about the location being compromised, it'll be abandoned and Tim will have to spend precious time tracking their new movements and waiting for more shipments. He could do it! His detective and information gathering (Stalking, the Janet Drake that lives in his head rolls her eyes as it corrects him, It's called stalking, Dear) skills are more then up to the challenge, but the longer this goes on the more chance there is of Batman and Robin swooping in to take the case from him. Plus the longer it drags on the firmer the foothold that Kingdom Come has in Gotham, and the whole reason he took this case on was to prevent that.
So they are winging it a little bit.
Luckily for them, the dominos that Jason gave them have night vision built in, so the plan for after the lights are out is to get to the rafters, count the men, then take them out one at a time as quietly as possible. Without any real body armor, the idea of an all out battle like Batman and Robin usually have is supremely inadvisable. It doesn't matter how good they are, a single gunshot and they'd be done for.
Tim tenses as the door directly across from theirs opens. He shares one last look with Cass, then takes a deep, quiet breath. The doorknob on their closet rattles for only a second before the door swings outward.
The next thirty minutes of Tim's life are simultaneously some of the most exciting and terrifying.
Their plan works!
Mostly, at least. It works up until the last five guys meet up and realize what they're doing. (Tim is honestly super proud of himself and Cass. There were upwards of twenty of them when they started. And they both took down at least two pairs of them without the other helping.) Tim shimmies back up to the rafters when he hears the five guys decide to stay together and finds Cass frowning down at the group.
"Too many," Cass whispers. "Too dangerous without armor."
Tim bites his lip and looks back down at the group. They've got their guns drawn and, unfortunately, are watching each others backs. He can't quite hear what they're saying from his perch, but he knows they're debating leaving. He and Cass don't have much more time if they want to finish the job.
"How good do you think their aim is?" he asks.
She frowns harder at him, shifts to press her arm against his and shakes her head. "Too risky."
"Not if they're shooting at nothing," He responds. If they can draw attention, make it look or sound like one of them is in the open to draw fire, then the other could probably take down one or two before having to retreat. It's just a matter of drawing fire and not getting hit. "Do you trust me?" he asks.
Cass watches him for a moment before nodding.
"Then you go that way," Tim points to a stack of boxes close enough to the remaining guys that she can jump them at a moments notice but far enough that they won't see her immediately. She reaches out and grabs his arm breifly, squeezes just hard enough for him to feel it, then slips away.
Tim makes his careful way to the opposite side of the goons below, then drops from the rafters to the top of a different stack of boxes, and from there he shimmies down to the floor.
He pulls his phone out, already resigned to spending more of his savings then he wanted buying a new one tomorrow, and sets a three minute timer. That should be long enough for him to get into position but not so long that it risks missing the attention of the men. He changes the alert for when the timer goes off, sets it on a box that's about the height of his head, and then books it. He just barely makes it to the shadows he was aiming for when the sound of cackling echoes from his phone speaker.
The Robin Cackle (trademark) is one of the best ways to scare Gotham's criminal element. It started with Dick Grayson—as all things Robin did—with his suppossed propensity for giggling to draw attention before Batman swopped down behind the criminals and took them out. As Dick grew, it graduated from a giggle (which, granted, was probably scary enough already given it was usually echoing from darkness that had been empty only moments before) to a true cackle and became one of the best ways for the dynamic duo to take out bigger groups of goons. Jason's cackle, while deeper and a little less controlled, works just as well as the original—even when it's a recording instead of the real thing.
Just like he wanted, the five men whirl around as one and start shooting.
Tim peeks around the edge of his box at the firing line just in time to see Cass take down one of them with a well-aimed combo of nerve strikes. He doesn't think, just throws himself around the corner to join the fight.
He knows at least one of them gets another couple shots off, but he's too busy keeping at least one of them between himself and the others at all times. He doesn't have the sheer strength and size needed to hold one of them as a shield, but he has the dexterity and speed to run circles around them when need be.
It's the biggest fight Tim's been in so far and he's surprised by how, well, how fun it is.
Terrifying, of course, on some level, but the rhythm of the combat feels right. The adrenaline makes his blood rush and all he can hear is the way it echoes in his ears. He disarms first, weaves between the bigger men to grab their guns. Each he grabs gets the same treatment: saftey on, magazine ejected, both pieces tossed in opposite directions. Once the big guns are out of play, he works with Cass to take the men down.
He kind of knew, the moment he started training with Cass, that he would never really be able to be a simple civilian again. Now, with his blood pumping, his fists connecting with flesh and being able to actually see the difference he's making, he lets himself actually acknowledge that he's never going to be able to stop.
Someone moves behind him just as Cass puts the last bad guy into a head lock and Tim whirls around to launch himself at the new assailant, but stops short when he recognizes Robin's bright outfit.
He looks pissed as he holds up Tim's now silent phone, and Tim is abruptly reminded of the fact that Jason Todd has a pretty impressive temper.
Tim grins somewhat sheepishly at the older vigilante and says, "In our defense, we weren't planning to do a bust tonight?" It comes out more like a question then Tim intended, but the older boy's glower softens just the smallest amount so Tim considers it a sucess.
Cass seems more amused with him then anything else when she comes to stand next to Tim. "You can help us gather them all and then call the cops," she offers.
Tim feels a curl of anxiety when Jason doesn't respond verbally, just purses his lips and nods tersely. He knows the older boy cares about them, knows Robin isn't going to hurt them, but there's something in the way he holds himself quiet while they do the cleanup that has Tim feeling like this might have been a mistake.
#
Jason is absolutely, one hundred percent, without a single doubt, certain that this is going to get him in trouble. He is so certain, in fact, that he didn't involve Alfred in it, even if it would have been easier to do the tailoring with his help. (Also he's ninety-nine percent sure the old man knows already and is helping anyway. Who else would have set out the three prototype communicators that run on a completely different feed then the normal ones? Plus the two belts of a smaller size then Jason wears anymore full of fresh patrol supplies. Plus the new pairs of suspiciously well sized pixie boots. Plus the—well, you get the point. Jason's only leaving the one percent uncertainty because he knows Bruce knows he's hiding something.)
At this point though, Jason doesn't particularly care if he gets in trouble. Not for this. Not after the two feral fucking gremlin children took out a fucking warehouse of goons without any fucking body armor. "In our defense-" Tim had said, like there was any combination of words in any universe that would make Jason any less terrified for the little assholes. Like there was any universe in which Jason Todd didn't lecture them within an inch of their lives for that.
Jason is still reeling a week later, waking up in a cold sweat, shaking, and losing his mind over how dangerous that was.
The bad guys had fucking semiautomatic guns.
One wrong move and they would have been dead.
Fuck!
But it's fine. It's okay now. The two of them had been properly ashamed after Jason got done yelling at them and making sure they were okay (though he has a feeling it was more because of how worried Jason was then because they understood or cared about the gravity of the danger they had been in) and had actually agreed to stay home for a week. Cass had been quiet the whole time Jason had talked, and then assured him they weren't pulling any tricks or going to go out on any technicalities this time, and despite his previous experience with them, Jason had believed her.
They really scared him, and Cass at least seemed to have realized that. At least enough to give him this week of peace.
Which leads him to now; Backpack heavy both literally and metaphorically as he walks his bike the last two feet up to the front steps of the Drake Manor. He puts the kickstand down and lets go, comfortable leaving his bike unlocked if only because there isn't anyone in Bristol to steal it, then makes his way up to the door.
He's barely knocked when it's opened and he's faced with two near-identical pale faces and their bright, wide, peircing blue eyes. He clears his throat, rocks back on his heels, and then says, "Hey."
Cass smiles at him happily, like she never doubted he would show up for them eventually, but Tim's face lights up with equal amounts surprise and relief before it shutters and he steps back from the doorway—from Jason.
For as much as Cass had understood and agreed to stay home—for as understanding as Cass had been, Tim hadn't handled the yelling well. Jason knows Cass was able to see the concern and fear he had been hiding and knows that she would have told Tim about it afterwards, but that didn't help in the moment. Timmy had been genuinely hurt by Jason's tone and harsh words—a fact Jason hadn't actually picked up on until a day or two later when he finally felt like his blood pressure and heart rate had gone back to normal.
He's hopeful the contents of his backpack will be enough to soothe the hurt and earn Tim's forgiveness.
"Jason!" Cass greets, leaping forward to hug him and then take his hand to tug him into their home. "Come in! Come in! We don't have anyone over at the moment, our tutor for today canceled."
That's another thing Jason's going to have to talk to them about eventually, another uncomfortable conversation that he's going to have to have that he isn't sure how to go about without hurting them, but Jason has more important things to talk about today.
His backpack is getting heavier every moment he carries it.
He lets Cass pull him in the house as he says, "It's good to see you both."
Tim doesn't respond even as Cass reaches out and grabs his hand to pull him along beside Jason. Tim barely even looks at him. His shoulders keep twitching like he wants to pull them up defensively and he he's very careful to keep a distance between himself and Jason.
Cass casts a look back at Tim once, but ultimately doesn't say anything to him as she pulls the boys up the stairs and then down the hall. She stops in front of a seemingly random door and lets go so she can turn around. She puts her hands on her hips and purses her lips as she looks both boys up and down.
Jason decides to speak before she can. "I'm sorry," he grabs the straps of his bag just for something to hold in his hands and looks down at his feet instead of at either of his friends. "I was. I meant what I said about it being dangerous, but I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Either of you."
"Then why did you?" Cass prompts after a moment.
It's probably a bad sign that Tim wasn't the one to ask. Jason bites his lip, risks a glace up at Cass and then over to Tim.
Tim looks just as impassive as he did at the door, but there's something behind his eyes that wasn't there before some kind of light that he doesn't fully recognize. Jason looks back down at his feet before he can identify it.
"Because..." He has to say it. He knows he has to say it, but he's never been very good at this kind of thing. He learned his lesson about admitting that he cares about things early, and it was reinforced often. If he admitted he cared about something, it always, without fail, got taken away. At least until Bruce took him in. But even now, with three years of having a real home with a dad that is actually decent and a granddad that is even better, he still struggles to say it out loud.
He glances up at Tim again and the light in Tim's eyes is dimmer.
"Because you scared me," he says finally. "Because I was expecting to find a body or two when I got into the warehouse and then I found Tim's phone before I found you guys, and for a second I thought the bodies I was gonna find were you, and that—" Jason's voice cracks as the image he expected to find flashes behind his eyes again. "I care about you both, okay? I thought—oof"
Jason staggers back a step when Tim's whole bodyweight rams into him and for a half a second, Jason thinks Tim might have been trying to fight him. "Stupid," Tim mutters into Jason's sweatshirt as he squeezes his arms around the older boy's torso.
It only takes a moment longer for Jason to understand what's happening and melt. He lets go of the straps of his bag and circles Tim in his arms to hug him back. "I'm sorry I yelled," Jason repeats quietly.
Cass steps close enough to pry one of Jason's arms away from Tim so she can join the hug properly. "I told you," she says quietly, clearly aimed at Tim if the way the youngest turns his head to glare at her with one eye is any indication. There's no real heat to the glare though, so Jason isn't worried.
He lets the hug drag on for a minute before he thinks that's enough mushy emotions for now and finally pats both Drakes on the back. "Not that I'm not enjoying this reaffirmation of our friendship, but I do have gifts I was hoping to give you in case my apology didn't quite manage to land."
It's a joke—except in all the ways that it isn't—so Jason's glad it manages to make them both giggle as they pull away. Cass grins at him knowlingly before turning back to open the door they stopped at while Tim gives Jason possibly the widest, wettest puppy dog eyes Jason's ever seen—and Jason has lived adjecent to Dick Grayson for 3 years now. "Gifts?" Tim manages to sound even more like a pathetic wet dog with its tail between its legs then his innocent blue eyes make him look.
Jason can't keep looking at him or he's gonna start crying, so he reaches out and puts palm to Tim's forehead to push him as he says, "They're as much for my sake as they are for yours, so don't go thinking I'm doing this outta the goodness of my heart." He thinks he might be blushing as Tim laughs.
Cass reaches back out from the room to pull them both inside and Jason has to marvel for a second at the setup they've got going. It's not as fancy or expansive as the batcave, but it's more then he expected for a couple of kids.
The room clearly used to be an office, but has been fully converted to a... Jason isn't sure what to call it except a command center. One wall is devoted to photography, most of which are grouped up with printed documents, sticky notes, and actual red string to denote what photos match with what information match with what case. There's a door on that wall that seems to be the only clear spot except where it's labeled "Dark room" and Jason is struck speechless by what that implies about the numerous pictures.
In the corner furthest from him, adjecent to the photo wall, is a desk with a sleeping computer and three separate monitors. It's almost as fancy as the batcomputer setup and Jason wonders how powerful it is.
The rest of the room is set up almost exactly like the training area at home, with the most notable differences being a lack of gymnastics equipment and the addition of about a dozen wooden practice weapons that don't really have a place to go other then the floor of the corner opposite the desk. The cave has plenty of training weapons, of course, they just actually have a home.
Cass pulls them over to the sparring mats (that are an obnoxious shade of pink that Jason can't help but love), and then plops herself down criss-cross. Tim joins her easily but Jason takes another moment to keep observing the room. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop them from going out. Has known since the start, really, but he hadn't quite internalized the knowledge until the past week. He had clung to the hope that he could make them understand what they were sacrificing by getting involved in the vigilante lifestyle and that the knowledge would put them off of it. Would make them stop. Would keep them safe.
Looking at this now though. Well. He's never been more sure of a decision in his life.
He finally sits down across from Tim and Cass, takes his backpack off, and says, "If you are going to get these, I need you to agree to some ground rules."
He unzips his bag and he swears he's never seen anyone as excited as the kids in front of him are when they see what's inside.
#
Nightwing stands on the edge of a skyscraper and takes a deep breath of the Gotham smog. Normally, he would complain good-naturedly about the pollution and the smell, but it's his first night back after several months in space and he's kind of reveling in being home again.
As much as he never thought he would get used to living in a single place when he was first placed in Foster care instead of getting to stay with Haley's Circus, he really has come to appreciate being able to come home now that he's older. There's just something about Gotham that he loves, something that grips his heart tight and refuses to let him leave for good. He can—and frequently does—travel to all manner of places, but he always comes back at some point.
Tonight, He's back home almost a full two weeks before he was scheduled to be, the titans having wrapped up their mission in space quicker then they thought they would. He's not actually told Jason he's back yet, just Bruce. The two of them are planning on surprising Robin on his solo patrol tonight. Partially because Bruce knows he's hiding something and wants to figure it out, but mostly because Jason's apparently been doing so much better then before Dick left for space. He's still angry, still hitting harder then he used to, but he's been more stable then he was. Bruce has even reinstated his permission to run full solo patrols instead of the shortened version he was on when Dick left!
Dick is almost entirely certain it's got nothing to do with Bruce and everything to do with whatever Jason is hiding (and if he secretly thinks it's probably a romantic partner of some sort then that's nobody's business until they find out about it for sure), but he's been humoring B for the last twenty-four hours since he arrived back on earth.
"It seems Robin has stopped for a short snack break by his favorite street vendor," Alfred's voice crackles to life in Dick's ear and he shoots a look over at the looming shadow of Batman at his side.
Alfred is definitely in on whatever Jason is hiding, in Dick's expert opinion, so it's with the knowledge that whatever it is isn't dangerous that Dick grins and jumps off the skyscraper. If Alfred is actually directing them to Jason, then he thinks it's time Bruce finds out what's going on too.
Dick can hear Bruce's sigh at the way he launched himself into the air without securing his grapple first and finds himself laughing at the man as they swing. It's nice to feel the wind in his hair again, to feel gravity take hold of his bones the way it should. He loves the weightlessness of space but there's just something reassuring about the way the Earth holds onto him.
They make good time across Gotham, only having to pause to stop a mugging once or twice before they start approaching the place Jason likes to sit for his mid-patrol snacks. Dick nearly misses his grapple when the rooftop comes into view.
He's wheezing, doubled over with laughter as he lands on a rooftop adjacent to the one Jason is on.
Bruce lands beside him—and it is Bruce right now, not Batman—just as Dick is managing to regain control, and says "Dick..."
Dick doubles over again at the sheer confusion in Bruce's voice.
"You are seeing three Robins as well," Bruce doesn't phrase it like a question, too bewildered to really control his tone the way he usually does.
Dick doesn't know who Jason has recruited to be Robins three and four, but watching the two smaller vigilantes share a side eyed look and Jason's immediate pointing finger and presumed "Don't you dare" has Dick losing it all over again.
"This is so much better then a secret girlfriend," he wheezes.
Bruce's whole being seems to droop with a complicated series of emotions that only make it harder for Dick to stop laughing.
One of the Robins spots them, probably because of Dick's laughter, and the grin that splits their face is so quintessentially Robin that Dick can't help the way he coos. There's so much mischief and delight and joy in the expression that Dick just knows he's going to love them.
They're going to give him so much gray hair, but the idea of Batman trying to wrangle three strong willed gremlins with very little reguard for their own safety and even less respect for the Batman is just too funny to outweigh his own apprehension.
"At least you weren't the one to bring home the surprise kids this time, right B?" He asks delightedly as the three Robins make their way to the building he and Batman are on.
The sag of Bruce's shoulders sets Dick laughing again.