Chapter Text
“Tim? Tim are you OK?” Bart asks, appearing in front of Tim in a burst of displaced snow, looking Tim over with a wince every time he sees a cut on Tim’s skin.
“Bart. It’s fine. This isn’t the first time I’ve been injured” Tim says calmly, watching blood pool on one of the deeper cuts as it drips down his hand.
“Yeah. That isn’t nearly as reassuring as you think it is” Kon says, stopping to rest a hand on Tim’s shoulder as he takes a deep breath. “You scared us” he says a moment later, eyes meeting Tim’s with barely a flinch.
Tim’s smile grows as Kon stares down at his teeth. “How many teeth do you have?” he mutters and Tim just lets out a laugh.
“You’re one of then, are you?” the voice of Constantine asks, toward the back of the group, moving forward to take in Tim’s appearance. He barely flinches at the feeling of Cold cold cold unease that radiates from Tim’s being.
It’s impressive.
“You’d have to specify. Am I one of what?” Tim asks, eyes honing in on Constantine and daring him to ask.
“Nah. I know better than to say names” Constantine says back a moment later, eyes still locked on Tim’s smile.
“Good”
“Time out. What the fuck just happened?” Clark Kent himself asks, head raising like strength is seeping back into his body now that Vandal is dead.
“Didn’t know you cursed, Boyscout” Constantine says, reaching for a pack of cigarettes and looking torn about offering one to Tim. After all, it’s rude not to share.
“I don’t smoke” Tim says, earning a nod from Constantine before he lights the cigarette in his hand and takes a violent drag.
“Are we just ignoring the obvious here?” Clark asks again, looking dumbfoundedly at Tim, Kon, Bart and Constantine.
“We say nothing. We get involved in nothing. Not unless we can help it. And that is especially true with his kind” Constantine says, still eyeing Tim out of the corner of his eye as Kon and Bart fuss over his various cuts.
“I would like some explanations as well” Diana voices quietly, but from the way she meets Tim’s eye, she knows better than to ask. She seems to be remembering the first time they met and rethinking the feelings she had.
Tim hums in contemplation before asking Bart “Do you still have those notes?’.
Bart is gone before Tim can finish his sentence.
“But seriously, you’re alright? Iron doesn’t burn or anything like that?” Kon asks, still looking over Tim’s wounds with a critical eye. Tim gives him a reassuring smile and says “No. Just cuts. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before”.
Kon still insists on looking over all the cuts and wiping away the blood as they clot.
“Here we go. All the research I have. Everything I could find” Bart says, appearing again with a thick folder full of disorganised documents.
He, purposefully, doesn’t offer them the folder.
Tim sighs.
“Ask away” he says, looking at Bruce but directing the words to everyone on the field.
There’s a wash of voices that Tim can’t distinguish. Words and questions and voices blended together in a rush.
“One at a time” Tim says, somehow heard over the rush as everyone quiets.
“What are you?” Diana asks, the first to force a question past her lips with Tim’s full attention.
“I am what I am. I am not human. I am something other” Tim answers and when Diana opens her mouth for more of an explanation, Tim warns “Constantine was right about names. I’d be careful about requesting them”.
After that, she’s quiet.
“Did you kill him?” Clark asks, pointing to what is left of the dust, clinging to snow. What’s left of Vandal’s body.
Tim tilts his head and thinks.
“Not quite. I did not end his life.
His immortality was a ruse. An aftereffect. Not true.
I was able to take it from him” Tim says plainly, not flinching at the looks he gets.
“But yes, I did cause his death. I was aware of what would happen”
Kon and Bart are the only two that don’t give him a horrified look on that note before some of them relax.
It wouldn’t be the first time a hero had taken a life.
“Iron?” Cass asks, gesturing to Tim’s arm worriedly. Seemingly already having accepted what Tim has done.
Kon and Bart continue to fuss.
“Most weapons can’t actually hurt me. I can let them hurt me, as I have been doing. However, iron has a particular effect as it can pierce my flesh. It also does not heal as fast as other wounds would” Tim explains, gesturing with his more damaged right arm to make a point.
“This is really what you look like?” Cassie asks, sounding disturbed.
Tim allows the glamour to flicker back into place and then down again.
“I can look however I wish. Yes, this is my natural form but I have been told that it is…disturbing. For most people” Tim says carefully, remembering the first and only time he’d let his glamour slip before. Back in school.
Some poor child probably still had nightmares.
“How did you end up here? Why stay?” Raven asks, obviously not disturbed by Tim’s presence or appearance as the red gem with her father trapped inside, glows on her forehead.
Tim tilts her head.
They’re almost the same, after all. Not quite but almost.
“My mother’s name was found by Jack Drake. He used it to keep her captive. I went along with mother. Fortunately, Jack never found my name. And now he never will.” Tim says with a vicious smile, eyes shining in glee. It makes everyone present shiver.
“As for why I stayed. Well. I have become quite fond of some people. I am sure you can relate, Raven”
Raven nods, Tim knows she understands. They both thrive in darkness.
There’s silence for a moment before Bruce speaks. Asking the one question everyone had been avoiding. Whether consciously or not.
“You said that your name isn’t Red Robin. And it isn’t Tim Drake. So. What is your name?” Batman asks, voice pointed.
Bart stills. Kon freezes. Constantine drops his cigarette.
Tim smiles.
“Nothing. My name is nothing” Tim lies, eyes flashing in a clear display.
Nobody asks again.