Chapter Text
Present Day
Letting out a dramatic sigh Babs stretched her arms above her head, hearing joints pop as she rolled her shoulders. She wasn't a fan of waiting out alone for a mystery informant, especially not in Gotham's late fall weather. Just because it was still light out didn't mean it would be warm out.
Add in the fact the only info she had on her late company were two names, Pru and Birdy, and it wasn't exactly reassuring.
Hell even the location for their little meet and greet was frustrating. Babs didn't like going to Tim's favorite spots, let alone the place he'd ambushed her and Bruce the very first time.
5 Years Ago
Batman would be an ass on a good day and considering he hadn't had a good day in two weeks (AKA: since Dick ditched him, Gotham, and Robin to be Nightwing in San Francisco), she was waiting for some crook to get sent to the station in a body bag.
So, she tagged along.
He definitely hadn't wanted her there with him but she couldn't be forced to give half a fuck to the guy, if he decided to go out and punch petty criminals through brick walls that was his choice, but she wasn't about to let him tarnish Batgirl's reputation.
If the Bat killed someone, Gotham would be shaken to its core and she didn't think her city could handle that level of shit. No matter what anyone tells you about Batman and his little clan of masks, Gotham values her vigilantes since they can do the work the cops just aren't able to.
So yeah, she was sitting on top a roof, ignoring the tense lines in Bruce's shoulders in exchange for focusing on shoving as much of her sub into her mouth at once. Bab's had stopped at a 24/7 mom and pop looking shop and bought a sub for them each, but seeing as the second sub was sitting untouched on the ledge between her and B, she might just be stuck eating both of them (no problem to her, Gotham was good at food and she had no issue stuffing her face when she burned a few thousand calories a night.)
She figured she had about five more minutes till B just up and left her and she'd be forced to chase him down but she wasn't particularly worried. After spending the past three hours chasing the guy's tail she didn't think one or two more would be too crazy. Mostly she just wanted to finish her subs, but worse case she could hand it off to someone sitting on a corner before chasing down the Bat.
"Uh... Hey there."
Both her and B whipped around, shocked to see a kid waving a them.
The kid was short and thin, just teeny tiny really, looking about eight or so. Short black hair, dark clothes, a big camera hanging around his neck.
"I'd like to talk to you both." The kid seemed surprisingly calm and Babs had to struggle to regain her breathe after realizing a little kid had snuck up on her and Batman, two highly trained and experienced vigilantes who excelled in stealth and observation.
B hadn't said a word so she spoke up, trying to sound nonchalant. "Wha'd'ya need kiddo?"
He fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie, which were just a little too long and looking closely she noticed it had the Robin symbol stitched into it, right over his heart. Without saying anything he pulled a stack of small papers bound with a rubber band out of his pocket and handed them to her. His steps didn't make a sound and he seemed cautious but not at all afraid.
She looked away from him and down at the stack of papers. Photos she realized, all with startling clarity and definition, and featuring a highlight of Gotham night life. Riddler, Two Face, Ivy, Quinn, Catwoman, Robin, Batman, and even her. She paused at a few photos of big fights, one's with all the Bats out at once against some big Arkaham escapees. They were all professional, clearly well done and cared for, and obviously taken by someone who had gotten very close, they clearly weren't just well zoomed in shots.
"How did you get these? Who gave them to you? Who are you?" Bruce asked with a steady, gravelly voice, cowl pointed straight at the kid, not wavering even a little.
The kid, and damn was she hoping for an answer to that last question because "the kid" was getting old real fast, swallowed and dug his hands into his pocket. "I took them and developed them myself. No one gave me them and no one knows they exist except me and now you both too. And my name's Tim." Kid was a fast talker, not taking a second to breath as he answered.
Batman stilled just slightly, something she only noticed due to the small change in his breathing pattern, at the kid's (Tim, she filled in) response.
It seemed to check out. Kid had a good handle on stealth, considering he snuck up on them less than two minutes ago, and the camera weighing down his neck didn't seem to just be serving the purpose of giving him a hunchback before age twenty if the careful condition meant anything. Clearly old and worn, but clean and held in a place with lots of cushioning from his big hoodie, which now that she mentioned it, he was absolutely swimming in the fabric.
"Impressive." She held back a smile as Tim's lips twitched upwards, seeming to be pleased. "Still, unless you were planning on a talent show, I'd imagine you have something else to spit out. Get on with it."
Tim's eyes, which were blue (officially a possible Robin, if he was just a bit bigger he'd be a dead match for Dick, but once again, Tim was tiny) meet hers and then flicked over towards B, dropping to the man's belt which had a hand resting on top of a compartment. She didn't know what it contained but she felt comfortable thinking that Tim wasn't a threat, so she elbowed him lightly and counted it as a win when he moved his arm.
Tim relaxed slightly, noticeably dropping his shoulders, and faintly nodding. "Robin left. And you," his attention was focused on her, "aren't as close to him as Robin was." He turned to B. "You've been way too violent, in the past two weeks, seventy-three percent of the people you've apprehend have been emitted to the emergency room with severe or near severe conditions. If you keep it up someone's going to wind up dead and Batman doesn't... you can't kill."
No one spoke for a minute.
"You need to either make up with Nightwing and see if he'll come back, or get a new bird." He paused to push a few loose strands of hair off his forehead, "You need a Robin."
"What makes you think Nightwing was Robin, he's based in San Francisco? And why are you telling us this?" Her questions weren't the most important, Bruce would've asked something like how he found them, how old he was, how long he'd been taking those pictures, but she was more interested in them.
"Well," he took a deep breath and straighten his shoulders, standing a little taller, "that goes along with my plan. Either you figure out your sidekick problem, or I'll out you, Mr. Wayne."
The air in her lungs turned solid.
"Unfortunately that could lead to Mister Grayson's identity and," he nodded to her, "Miss Gordon's also being compromised."
Batman said nothing, so she said nothing. She didn't know what to say.
"I would rather Gotham think the Bat abandoned them than start killing small time crooks. You can be the detective and the punch that cleans up the streets but you can't be the judge and executioner too."
"How did you figure that out."
Bab's couldn't hold back her shock when B confirmed what the kid said. He could've lied, tricked him, she didn't know but there had to have been something other than just agreeing!
"I went to the circus when I was four, saw the Flying Graysons perform and watched them fall. Mister Grayson stuck with me so I kept a radar out for him. Three years before now, I was watching the news and saw a clip of Robin doing a trick, one I'd only ever seen Mister Grayson be able to do. I thought it was odd and looked into it, compared expense reports, vacation timelines, and eventually managed to follow the both off you throughout the city long enough to hear you call him Dick. Confirmed everything before my ninth birthday."
"Damn." The quiet admission slipped through her teeth. That was impressive. Plenty of people had seen Dick's act and even more had seen Robin pull off stunts done almost exclusively by circus performers and no one had made the connection before. And to think, kid was eight when he figured out Gotham's biggest secret and by her math, Tim was only eleven now.
She turned away from Tim, noting the fire in his eyes despite the slight tremor in his hands, to look at Bruce. Bruce who had a smile on his face for the first time since Dick left.
Damn.
Guess there was going to be another bird flying around Gotham.
Present Day
She sighed again, scanning the edges of the roof for some sort of figure.
A quiet noise, light footsteps, came from her right, just barely audible over the sound of the city below them. Babs spun around and came face to face with a woman. She was dressed in dark colors, blacks and grays, and had a shining bald head.
"Birdy, it's good to finally meet you."
The woman's lips were pressed tightly together and she shook her head. She raised her hands and slowly finger spelled, "P-R-U."
Babs filed this new information carefully in her head. From what she and the other Bats thought, Pru and Birdy were the same person, Birdy being their internet tag and Pru being either their real name or what they used for in person research gathering.
Nodding to herself Babs grinned, cocking her head to the side and signed back (patting herself on the back for the ASL course she took in college), "B-A-T-G-I-R-L. You work with Birdy, right?"
"Yes. You don't need to sign, I'm mute not deaf."
"Alright. Why'd you need to meet then? Usually you two just sends us files."
Pru's face had been straight and unbothered the entire time but as she signed it screwed up in frustration and annoyance. "I don't send anything. It's all Birdy. He needs more help than I can provide right now."
Babs didn't say anything for a moment, trying to gather her response. Pru scowled at her lack of response and began to sign rapidly.
"It's life or death, two children to escape League."
"What?" She couldn't prevent the shocked exclamation from falling out of her mouth. "Two kids? What League?" Her mind flashed to Tim, flashed to the League of Assassins killing him. She knew it was wishful thinking and she probably only drew on his name and face because of where she was standing, but it still sent a small pang of warm hope in her chest.
"Birdy on call in hour. Will need help. Information shared then, can't stay. Please."
"Okay. Yeah, I'll deliver the message and see what the rest of the Bats have to say about it."
Pru's suddenly grabbed at her shoulder with one hand and began to finger spell. "P-L-E-A-S-E."
"I'll see what I can do. I promise." She genuinely meant it too, she knew Ra's was responsible for Tim and if there were two kids being held with his league, there was a good chance it was him. Even if not, Bats were heroes and they'd all fight to help those in need of a hero.
The woman nodded once, passed her a small device (a comm by the looks of it), and turned around, jumping off the roof ledge and disappearing into the night.
Babs turned on her own comm and began to relay the new information.
"Heading back to the Cave now. We may have a situation with the League of Assassins and two children. We're expecting a call from Birdy in an hour with info about it. Batgirl out."
1 Hour Later
Sitting around a table in the Cave sat Bruce, Dick, and Jason all in their suits minus their masks. Janet sat at the end of the table next to Jason, chatting idly with Alfred and him as he placed coffee and tea out at the table.
Babs smiled at the teen and older woman. She was glad that the two had become so close, Jason definitely benefited from having a positive female role model after Shelia's attempt in Ethiopia and Janet coped better with her loss by having someone with her after losing Tim and divorcing Jack.
She still remembered meeting them both and hearing about how the two met, seconds before the explosion went off.
2 Years Ago
Babs raced up the stairs after Bruce, feeling uncomfortably sticky clothes clinging to her skin after a long and ruff patrol. Since Tim's disappearance (she refused to label it as his death because they hadn't found a body and Tim wasn't dead unless there was a body) she and Dick had been in the manor a lot more, out on patrols with Bruce a lot more, and been running comms a lot more.
Which, was exactly what Dick had been doing when he told them to get back ASAP. Hearing that Janet Drake was sitting in their kitchen with a red headed kid, one who looked fresh off the streets, was definitely motivation to get back fast. There might've been news from the police about Tim or just anything else Janet had known and wanted to tell them about what she'd seen.
When they burst into the hall and entered the kitchen she was a little surprised (who was she kidding she wasn't surprised at all, she knew, even dated him) to see Dick very obviously trying to get the kid into a conversation. Alfred was speaking with Janet in hushed tones, her eyes were slightly red but she looked rather put together, and the kid kept looking away from Dick and to her.
"Mrs. Drake, it's good to see you."
Babs was a bit unnerved to hear Bruce, rather than Brucie. Generally he put on that annoying airhead personality when dealing with anyone outside of the family. She was even more surprised when Janet looked up at him and said simply, "He isn't dead. I know he's not and I expect for you all to continue searching for him."
She floundered but Dick didn't seem to catch on to what she was implying and simply said, "There isn't much we can do aside from wait for the cops, Ma'am."
"Richard, don't play stupid with me. I know about your family's nighttime activities. I have for a good while."
Yup. Babs was officially lost on what to do. What was up with Drakes being scarily intelligent?
At the silence that filled the room Janet let out an empty laugh, more of a huff of air, "Did you really think Timothy got his intelligence from Jack? Of course not. I know exactly what my son has been up to during the past three years."
The silence continued so Janet did as well.
"I know I wasn't always there with him in person, but I knew where he was and knew he was in safe hands. And now I expect you to be the hands to pull him away from the bastard who took him."
"Mrs. Drake, I think there's-"
Dick was cut off by an icy glare from Janet and a hand held up from Bruce.
"We will not stop searching for him until we find him."
The ice in Bruce's voice sent a shiver down her spine. She almost pitied the idiot who took Tim (mostly though she was just waiting for it to be her turn to take her frustrations out on the guy) because they would be in a world of hurt a soon as anyone caught them. She grinned inwardly thinking about the Titans lining up behind the Bats to get a few hits on the guy.
"Good." Janet had a sharp smile on her face that was only just off set by the red in her eyes as she turned to the kid. "This is Jason. He helped me get home after everything that night. He's without a home currently and I know your history with blue eyed orphans."
The kid, apparently Jason, looked unbelievably confused and a little nervous.
He looked like he was around Tim's age, fourteen or so, though Tim was really small enough to look more like twelve. Jason had on a ratty hoodie and equally worn jeans and sneakers- add in how thin he looked around his cheeks and it didn't take a genius to confirm what Janet said.
Bruce hummed. "Well, Jason," Babs winced when Jason tensed at his name, but Bruce continued, ignoring it. "I have a spare bedroom here, enough food to feed a small army, and it is pretty late."
At Jason's nervous face and lack of response Janet piped up, "If you aren't comfortable here you're welcome back at my house, though I will say I'm not staying in Gotham much longer."
Jason nodded slowly.
As an afterthought Janet added, "Oh! Also, don't be worried about them being upset with you knowing they're the Bats, it was my fault for telling you after all. Besides, I know Timothy was thinking about bringing you up with Brucie, said something about you being good people to me over the phone. I think he figured the blue eyes would fill out the adoption papers for Bruce."
If Babs had had a drink in her mouth she would've been covered in it. Janet stood up gracefully, ignoring the shocked faces around the room (minus Alfred who simply nodded along with her and moved to walk her out).
"Well, would you be alright staying here?"
Jason nodded numbly.
"Wonderful, Mr. Pennyworth, if you would escort me out." As Janet and Alfred began to leave she turned her head back, "You'll find Timothy and even if not, Timothy is strong enough to find us. I'm sure of it"
Present Day
The computer pinged as a someone tried to connect to the comm she'd linked to it. She nodded to Bruce and accepted the connection. Immediately the Cave fell into silence as the audio began to come through.
"This is Birdy, can you hear me?" The voice was crackly but otherwise came through clearly. The voice was achingly familiar but Babs just couldn't quite place it. From looking around the table the only sign that someone knew this voice was Janet and Alfred looking to each other, both faces (normally kept very controlled) were alight with surprise.
Babs ignored it for now and responded through her encryptor. "Yes we hear you."
There's a pause followed by a crash.
"Birdy?"
A clang followed by a heavy thump is next. Babs fought back a shiver as silence fills the Cave. It sounded like clashing metal and maybe a body slamming into something.
"Sorry. We're arriving at the top of Wayne Enterprise in fourteen hours . We may need backup when we land."
Relief flooded her, “Understood. We will be there.” Bruce gestures to her and signs, "Ask for a name, proof we can trust him."
She nods to him and adds, “The Bat is asking for a name to call you before we arrive other than Birdy, or at least something to show that we can trust you.”
Birdy laughs and Babs freezes. "Oh my god..." She knows that laugh because she caused that laugh for years trading quips during patrols and joking during movie nights curled up in the living room.
In her peripheral visions she watches as Dick rushes to stand up, knocking down his chair in the process. Bruce stiffens and Jason's mouth falls open. Glancing to the other side of her she sees Janet wearing a sharp grin and Alfred looking remarkably pleased.
"Tim?" She whispered the name and feeling her chest burning hot and tight. God she knew that laugh, knew that voice. She could see his face in her head, crystal clear.
"Got it in one Babs. I'll see you all soon." There's a pause, and he adds, "I love you all."
Before Babs can respond, because god she wants to scream out how much she and everyone loves and has missed him so unbelievably much, the connection is disconnected and she loses him.