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If Tim had a nickel for every time he and his team got tied up in a secret base and had to listen to another annoying ass villain monologue at him, he'd be richer than Bruce or own all the nickels in existence! The nickel shortage would start the downfall of society and he'd have to take over to maintain balance in a nickel-less world!
...Okay, he might be a bit concussed if the world domination thoughts were starting, but if he ruled the world then this type of shit wouldn't be happening!
He pressed the panic button again, but that was more to comfort Bruce and Dick than an expectation that they'd get there sooner. Dick was off with Kori in space and Bruce was working with Aquaman somewhere in the artic. He wasn't sure about the rest of his siblings, but he wasn't holding out hope that they were available, it was his own fault for going off without informing anyone about what him and his team were doing.
He could see Kon was still knocked out to the left of him with Bart on the other side, looking just as bored as he felt, maybe with less of the skull splitting of a concussion. The others were out of sight for the moment and he hoped that Cassie was on her way, though given that they'd knocked out Kon, he wasn't completely sure. He still wasn't sure when Kon had gotten knocked out, just that one sec he was working on hacking the servers and the next he was strapped to a table beside his friends.
Whoever these guys were, they'd thought CADMUS but that must have been a front, they'd been prepared for all of them and they'd even gotten him with a fucking electrified computer console! He'd been fine from the shock, but the bat, Dick would be so proud, to the skull had been harder to recover from, the second hit was just a little too much it seemed. So, here they were, strapped to tables with a weird ass needle-ridden machine on a swiveling mechanical arm above them as the villain of the week monologued about cloning them, how CADMUS never listened to them and their genius ideas, and blah blah blah-
Tim strained a little more against his binds, but it just made his body ache more and the throbbing in his head pick up. it wasn't until he settled back again with a huff that he noticed his breath fogging in the air and the temperature in the lab was steadily dropping. The villain's own breath made thick clouds in front of them until they came to a stop, panting and shivering as they glared around the lab. "What the Hell? Did the climate control malfunction again, I'll fucking liquify Ben if he-"
"Hey there stabby-caffeine racoon, Grunkle asked toooo..." A being appeared out of thin air, gaze originally on the phone in their hand before their head lifted and turned to look around the room, sentence trailing off as they blinked in confusion. "Huh... I'll take that as a yes?" He looked back down at the phone and typed something in before shobing the device into a pocket, taking stock of the room around them.
The villain, fuck the concussion for fucking with his ability to name shit, began screeching at who Tim now recognized was Danny, just floating and glowing kinda green, actually, was his hair white? Was this the Ghost King form? He's still in his Martian Manhunter pajamas? Why MM?
There was a blur of toxic green, screaming, and then he was being freed from the metal bands holding him to the table, the needle thing no longer hovering over them and the room back to a comfortable temperature. Tim refocused his eyes to note that Danny had done that with only his hands, lolling his head to the other side to watch as he released Bart, who was an immediate blur that was too much for him to watch right now. "'m gonna puke." He moaned, forcing himself up, but only just.
Once the room stopped spinning he'd grab Kon with Bart and send Danny back to the cave to tell Alfred he was fine. They'd meet up outside the facility with Cassie, and maybe set up some really nice explosives along the way because fuck this place. Then! They'd go back and get coffee, or a couple of energy drinks, some pizza-
Tim's stomach heaved and Tim was slammed back into the present, still sitting at the edge of his bed with a worried Danny and a now aware Kon, his binds might have had kryptonite which would boost any tranqs, along with Bart zipping around cleaning up in the background. "What?"
"Yeah, he's concussed, you wanna watch my back while I grab him?" Danny turned to Kon, who was eyeing Danny before turning back to Tim and eyeing him up and down. Tim thought he'd take one look and wave Danny off, tell him they got this, but he nodded! He fucking agreed with Danny! What was he?! Chopped liver?!
Stabbed spleen, missing spleen...
His stomach turned again as the room wavered and, nope, that wasn't the room moving, it was him falling off the bed, shit.
Cold arms, he had to talk to Bruce about upgrading the thermal layer, wrapped around his shoulders, tugging him from the bed and into an even colder chest. He looked up, expecting Kon, but it was Danny's stupid face looking smug and stupid. "Don't worry about clearing a path, my lil' sister decided to come for a visit and s'probably almost done."
"Actually, I finished ten minutes ago! You said it was going to be a challenge!" Came the whiny reply as a new figure appeared in the room behind Danny, arms crossed as she floated in the air and her face set in a pout. "You get to eat cultists and I get to clean up some lame b-horror cloning bullshit! They didn't have the right formulas or nothin!Those clones were gonna be hella messed up, and that's coming from me!"
Danny sighed as he started making his way out of the building, Tim still in his arms and staring at the newcomer over Danny's shoulder as Kon whirled to face her glaring. "You got a problem with clones?"
Danny snorted and shook his head while the new one let out an offended gasp. A fake one, he'd spent too long watching Dick not to know when someone was putting on airs. Tim didn't have to see Kon to know the other was getting worked up and he hoped that these two were ready for a pissed-off supe.
Tim closed his eyes to help stave off the worst of the migraine and tried to listen instead as they made their way through the building and hopefully to the rest of his team. "Excuse you! I am a clone! Back me up Danny-" "It's King Phantom right now El-" "- whatever! But I'm a clone of that dipshit over there!"
Huh, given that she seemed only to know Danny in this situation, seems like he got cloned at some point and adopted her as a sister. That means you can clone the Ghost King... who the fuck cloned the Ghost King?!
El and Kon talked excitedly behind him, each relaying the woes of being created by an evil scientist to have something to destroy their archnemesis, though it was when they were reaching the exit that Kon mentioned that his "Template" didn't like or accept him that the Danny entered the conversation. "Fuck that guy, seriously, family and Fraid are the most important parts of life and death, regardless of how they came to you."
Tim agreed Supe Original wasn't ever his favorite person, but seeing the way he first treated and then kept treating Kon, made Tim want to booby trap his shit with low-grade kryptonite, not enough to harm him, just enough to tell him off for being a dick to his best friend. "Yeah, fuck that guy." He slurred, earning a few laughs as he felt fresh air brush across his face. "Freeedooom~"
It was then a whirlwind of movement, sounds, and lights, just too much for the injured Red Robin to take, so as he felt himself settled on something soft his senses fled him and he promptly passed out.
~~~
Ellie was talking a mile a minute with one of the speedsters and the other clone, wildly gesticulating as she switched between conversations and topics at breakneck speed. The rest of Tim's team were patching themselves up, going through whatever data they'd taken from the facility, or piloting the odd ship they'd been picked up in. He was just happy to be out of the mansion for a bit.
How was he supposed to know that taking down an evil, capitalist, necromantic, bird-based cult was a bad thing?!
He would have fought back more if it hadn't for an obnoxiously green sticky note appearing on his forehead telling him to 'Respect his elders in their haunt', which he was! He just thought that being grounded for a month was bullshit! He was a king! He had the right and power to avenge his people! It was literally his job and obsession, his right as King!
This was the exact excuse he would use when he returned with the freshly saved Tim for why he was very much not in the manor anymore, then hopefully he could parlay for a week off for good behavior!
He'd made another circuit around the top of the ship and was passing over the teens settled on the ground when Ellie snatched him from the air, arms wrapping around his middle and letting either end drape over her lap and to the floor like an under-stuffed teddy bear. Danny returned his gravity and grinned as she grunted, hold tightening to bone-cracking. "Look, we can share my template! He's great, hasn't tried to murder me or turn me evil, real three outta five stars right here!"
Oh goodie, he loved it when Ellie tried to barter him. Hopefully, she's gotten better at negotiating since last time, those corn chips were stale and lacked salt.
Danny regarded the teens as Ellie went on about his virtues as a template, how he'd never abandon or reject someone because they were a clone of himself or someone else, and he noticed the big guy looked sheepish as she continued while the vibrating one looked like he was about to blow his top, in fact-
"Wait, so let me get this right. Some creepy fuck cloned him at 14 and he accepted you after you stabbed him." This was all said with the hyper kid pointing between him and Ellie before he swung around to point to the big guy, who was starting to look really uncomfortable. "But big blue can't even muster the balls to have a civil conversation with you? That's fucked man." He shook his head, pulled a candy bar from somewhere, and shoved half of it in his mouth, speaking as he chewed. "You think we could shame him into good behavior?"
I could certainly talk to my uncle about that, as he is familiar with Superman and his harmful views and may listen to him.
The thought wasn't his, but with the way everyone agreed and seemed to not be freaking out by it, he figured it was the girl who was piloting the craft, though having someone else speak in his head like that wasn't a great sensation. Just ignore it and move on. Danny slipped out of Ellie's hold and settled in the air next to her instead as she continued to try and adopt more people into the fraid. "Yeah, that's kinda messed up not gonna lie. Also, like, historically stupid, there were tons of clones on Krypton."
That explosion of conversation was too much for Danny, so he floated over to the little pod/table thing that they'd put Tim in with the assurances he was recovering. The boy looked frail, though Danny had never seen him at his best, or at all since the assault in the dining room , too thin and pale on the large table. A table meant to hold the likes of the big teen, or maybe other heroes, all gleaming metal, cold and sterile, Danny opened a small portal into his room at the manor and pulled his favorite fuzzy blanket from his bed, freshly washed and smelling like lavender and cedar. He unraveled it and started tucking it around Tim, frowning and pulling a donut pillow, phasing it around his neck so while keeping his head stable. He closed the portal and stepped back, noting how much comfier the teen looked.
He ignored the twisting of his core, it didn't really matter.
"See that? Quality template right there!" Ellie exclaimed, appearing next to him to crush him into a hug. While the display was over the top and downright theatrical, Danny could feel the calming pulses of love/everything fine/did good/love that Ellie was pushing at him, no doubt catching his own projection of worried/hurt fraid/help.
Ellie dragged him back to the others, forcing him to sit with her as they got to know each other, though she kept Danny close to Tim, able to look over and visually check on him as much as he wanted.
Ya know what? He's not that threatening when he's unconscious...
~~~
The sounds of his teammates in the middle of a vicious Mario party binge filtered into his awareness, Bart was cussing a mile a minute, Kon was making unintelligible screeching noises, the rest mixed into a comforting symphony that felt like home and warmth. He settled further into his blanket nest that M'gann must have built around him for warmth and stability, Bart and Kon were more than likely to just let him fall off the couch or go cold.
He must've fallen asleep, or passed out, and someone stole his controller, not that he could remember who he'd been playing against, or what they were playing, now that he thought about it he was sore, his head felt stuffed, mouth dry as cotton and that was a voice he barely recognized-
Tim bolted upright, or half dragged himself into a somewhat upright position which is basically the same thing, his eyes squinted as he tried to survey his surroundings and only slightly eased as he recognized the interior of the infirmary at Mt. Justice. "What the fuck?"
He started wriggling out of the bed, head pulsing in pain and vision swimming with what had to be a pretty large concussion. Aside from the concussion, various sore spots were already bruising, and a possible cracked rib, not the worst he could've gotten, but still not great. No doubt his friends were going to fuss over him, and Bruce was going to be calling to lecture/check in or try to coerce him to come back to Gotham to recover.
A whoosh of air and his side was being supported by a grinning Kon, looping his limp arm over his shoulder and sliding the other around his waist. "Hah! Bart bet ten hours but I knew your insomniac ass wasn't going to let yourself sleep more than five. Easy twenty bucks."
Tim snorted, wincing as the action pulled at his ribs before he leaned further into Kon's side and just dropped his weight, allowing the supe to carry him out to the infirmary and closer to the sounds of his friends and Mario party. "Idiots."
Kon scoffed. "Us? Idiots? Don't think Danny didn't tell us about your little Damian-esque greeting! C'mon Tim, I thought you were the least stabby of your siblings! You pride yourself on your restraint!" As Kon continued to make more and more ludicrous statements, he knew about Tim's stint with the league and his lack of restraint, Tim wished he still had his utility belt on him, if only to lightly poison his friend . "Oh! Don't forget the most forgiving, and-"
"Tim! Good to see you up!"
Tim whipped his head to where Danny was floating above the big couch in the main living area while the others were now fighting over Mario party or another game. H e was not supposed to be here! Why was he here? In their base of operations?! Their very secret base of operations?!! " What are you doing here?!"
Before he could answer Tim was already scanning the others. "Who let him in? He's going to steal my coffee again!"
"I didn't steal it the first time!" Danny exclaimed, hands in the air as the teens below him giggled. "The others stole your stuff, you just happened to be in the middle of my number heist." He flipped so he was now sitting criss-cross in the air, but upside down. "I had to get a new phone because of you, do you know how inconvenient that is?"
Tim scoffed. "I'll get you a new one, I have access to the latest tech, and what do you mean 'number heist'? They were-"
He cut himself off as he was settled in his seat, thinking over how his siblings, aside from trying to make him sleep while he was trying to get a lead on a trafficking case, were also playing keep away with each other. They, at no point, tried to keep it away from him, just from each other.
Looking back, he didn't know why he grabbed the note...
The realization just made him tired as Kon settled him on the couch between Bart and the arm, settling a new star-patterned fuzzy blanket over his lap, the fucker looked far too smug. "Damn Tim, how deep were you in the case? Usually, the rest of the bats don't start the caffeine restriction until seventy-two hours in."
Actually, yeah, how long was he on that case? A week, maybe a week and a half? "Long enough for Alfred to pull out the tranqs, now that I think of it..." He nodded and then looked at Danny, trying to seem apologetic and not embarrassed. "I'm sorry?"
Danny nodded, pulling an energy drink from thin air and passing it into his grabbing hands with a chuckle. "Honestly? Same. My court likes to try and force me into relaxing and sleeping, annoying as that is, so I get it." He jerked his head over to another black-haired teen whom Tim hadn't noticed arguing with the rest, she seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on why. "Ellie likes to lock me in my room, not that I couldn't escape mind you, when I go too long and get a little enthusiastic over my obsessions."
The teen, Ellie, threw up her hands and sent Danny a scathing look. "Sooo sorry! But I'm not the one going around murdering death cults! That's some Dan behaviour right their cuz." She floated up to poke Danny - her cousin?- in the chest. "You told me to curb you when you get murdery, so that's what I do! Also!" She plunged a hand into her chest and came out with a phone, shaking the screen in his face. "Alfred said your times up! Back to grounding!"
Is this what it's like for others to watch him fight with his siblings?
Danny slumped in the air and sighed. "Yeah yeah, I'm going. You gonna stay here?"
Wait! Ellie can't stay here, he isn't-
Kon whooped and tugged the girl from the air into his side. "Yeah she is! I still have to prove I'm the better clone!"
What!?
Ellie's grin turned feral as she wiggled in the supes grip and proceeded to give him a noogie. "Hells yeah! Gotta hold my title! You head back before you get grounded longer." Kon lifted into the air and the two started to wrestle, Ellie's voice carrying through the fight. "Tell Grundy I said hi and give the Talons cuddles for me!"
Danny saluted, opened a Lazarus green portal in the center of the room, and fell through backward with the portal snapping shut behind him, leaving Tim with a spinning head as he tried to parse the meaning of all the words just said.
Grundy? Talons?! "I was gone a month! What the fuck do you mean Talons?!"