Chapter Text
No one questions Tim running around since many people there didn’t know him well and his all black tech uniform he was wearing made him blend in well with the rest of the crew. He goes over to where the wiring would have been heading and notices it going behind a wall he follows it further peaking his head around the wall to see a knight consumed person standing around a button.
He flicks his head back, his back pressed flat against the wall between them. He knew the knights were suspicious there is 100% a grown man under there now that he’s seen one close up. With the aerosol above the stage he’s almost certain that the man has a gas mask under that helmet. But if he is behind the stage that means that-
A white fog starts to fall down onto the back stage. “Act 1, Scene 1 the witches gather on a cold foggy day” The narrator says. Everyone else looks only minorly perturbed rather than distressed, the scene acting as perfect cover for this to just be a scene malfunction.
Tim rounds the corner uppercutting the knight knocking off the helmet and yep hidden filtration system. Tim quickly sweeps the man's feet, then quickly elbow strikes the man’s neck to knock him out before he retaliates. He looks down at the man joker scars etched from his lips to his cheeks “Shit” Tim mutters under his breath.
He watches as the smoke starts to settle on the backstage floor. Tim holds his breath as a precaution before putting on the knight's helmet blocking out the gas. People start flocking to benches, some people just collapsing to their knees, eyes fading out of consciousness. “Knock-out gas great”
He turns back to the unconscious knight “Just need to find your boss” he picks up a random costume off a chair chucking on the man effectively hiding the unconscious goon.
“Boil Boil toil and trouble” The actors on the stage seem to be fine and the lack of screaming says the audience is too. Tim looks around at the unconscious actors he walks over to the 2nd year student who plays King Duncan and nicks his cape knowing that if he’s going to fight any more goons the words “tech assistant” on his back would just be a dead give-away to his secret identity. The miss matched king cape, knight helmet and all black clothes will have to do as a disguise for now.
“And make sure once those actors are off the stage quietly once their scene is done ready for my live debut”. Tim dashes under one of the catering tables at the sound of Joker's voice. He’d seen him once before but that was with both Jason and Dick by his side now Tim is all by himself he starts to get scared. He’s heard stories from Dick about the monster who took his brother from him. He’s seen first hand what the Joker can do to people and what he can do to Robins.
-
“Babs quickest route to the monarch theatre” a map appears on Nightwing's wrist, a white line highlighted.
“Next left”
“Shit I should have just gone with him. Joker must already be there. I can’t even reach Tim; he's not picking up. If Tim noticed something was off, he’d go to fight him all by himself. I just hope we aren’t too late”
“I swear if Joker laid even a finger on the kid I’m killing that fucker. You better not stop me”
“If Tim is still- still alive he’s all yours getting Tim safe is my priority. If… if he’s not, I’m joining you”
Jason just smiles, not pushing on how Dick’s morals just twisted away from the code. “No more dead robins”
Dick nods his breath shaking
“When we get in there, be prepared for anything, we have to act quickly, anything could have happened between the time they arrived to now. Babs can you load up some fear toxin antidotes and send them out to the theatre by drone. If we can create an aerosol cure it would mean we can manage a crowd worth of affected people”
“On it. Could take a while, just deal with joker and his goons, I’ll deal with the aerosol. And Nightwing… make sure Robin is okay-”
“Yeah- Of course. I’m not going to be too late. Not again”
-
Joker walks around the unconscious actors picking up a crown and putting it on his head before smiling in the mirror “King of Comedy. I like the sound of that”. The actors start leaving the stage but knightly goons get to them silently knocking them out before Tim can react.
“Now I'm sure all of you don’t really want to watch the boring part of the play with all that fancy dialogue. How about we skip to the fun bloody part huh?” Joker announces loudly as he steps onto the stage. The crowd can be heard with a flurry of movement and fearful murmurs “Ah ah ah. Don’t you know it’s rude to leave mid performance. Sit back down… I SAID SIT” The crowd goes silent.
Tim sneaks past all the goons backstage heading around the side behind the curtains. He looks up the machine from this angle attached with multiple gas canisters. He also sees the same canisters hidden behind the light fixtures in the audience where they can’t quite see. Smashing them would just release the gas so that's a no go. Considering how big of a deal this is, Tim is betting the switch to release the gas is on Joker. He wouldn’t trust any of his goons with it; he's very specific about his timings and would kill someone if they got it even a second off.
He would have to divert Joker's attention to somewhere else. But unfortunately the only thing more attention worthy than tormenting crowds worth of people is anything bat related and the only bat related thing nearby is Tim. His hands start to shake as he looks at Joker riling up the crowd some more. “Come on you should be more excited to see me than that you should be screaming with joy-”
“Stop it right there” Tim steps on stage thousands of eyes turn to him.
“Uh and who might you be? That's the worst costume I have ever seen in my life, it's not even funny” Joker looks back at him regarding him with distaste and annoyance.
Tim picks up one of the curtain rods from the floor and snaps off the metal hook at the end spinning it like a bow staff.
The smile on Joker's face widens creepily slowly “The boy wonder. What a pleasant surprise. The bat wouldn’t send you alone to fight me; he'd do it himself. Which means you are a solo robin out your nest far from home- wait is this your play? And that means no bats came to watch how sad. Fun for me though I get you all to myself.”
Tim stares back at him through the helmet he’s got his attention now he just has to hold it. But for what Dick isn’t coming he had an emergency at work. Even if some one was able to call the police Joker’s men have this place surrounded, every entrance guarded heavily making sure no audience can leave and no one can come in to interrupt.
“What, you think I can’t handle you by myself? You are just a clown and an old one at that, how long have you been doing this again?” Tim taunts.
“Oh long before you hatched Robin, I’d say I’m quite experienced in killing birds after all these years. I think I've perfected it if I’m honest” Joker pulls out a gun and Tim side steps in time to miss the first bullet.
“A gun isn’t very kingly of you. Doesn’t fit with your aesthetic" Tim goes on the defence trying to avoid close quarters as best he can
“Oh, keep up with the times little bird. People with power have always been able to shoot who they want” Joker then pulls out a dart gun “You know when I first met you I thought you were overconfident and annoying. But now I see you one to one you definitely are. I think you should be more scared right now”
“And why is that? From my point of view you haven’t landed a single hit”
“From my point of view I don’t even have to aim at you” Joker points the dart gun at a random member of the audience. Tim moves on instinct; he doesn't know what is in that dart. It could kill that woman. If Tim can save her he will.
He jumps putting his body in front of the dart. For a few seconds everything is quiet. Tim pulls the dart out of his neck. His knees buckle as he kneels on the stage. His hands start to tremble. His heart starts to beat faster. He looks back to the crowd to see thousands of eyes on him, the weight of it all unbearable.
“That's more like it” Joker lifts his chin up. His mouth distorting teeth growing sharper, eyes getting wider and more feral. “Fear me”. Tim feels his mouth dry up, he needs to breathe and he takes off the helmet.
“No! No one else is allowed to see but me!” Joker pulls his head to the side. The faint sound of gas hissing can be heard before the whole audience bursts into screams and cries of fear, no one looking at the stage with much focus any more.
-
Dick and Jason burst into the back of the theatre taking out the guards with brutal efficacy leaving a trail of joker-smiled goons behind them. They get backstage looking at all the unconscious actors, Nightwing making a quick stop on one to make sure they are breathing. “No! No one else is allowed to see but me!” They overhear from in front of the curtains. The voice alone causes Jason to shiver with pure rage.
“I promise I’ll be better! Please- Please don’t-” They hear Tim's cries from the stage. They rush in Jason ripping the curtains open.
Tim kneeling on the hard wood floor tears steaming down his face looking up at his brothers, hands shaking. The monster's hand on Tim’s head. Not Robin. Just Tim.
Jason immediately pulls out his gun. “Ah ah, not so fast.” Joker presses the steel of the gun to Tim’s temple “You know what they say, two birds one stone”.
-
Tim sobs harder. He see’s Jason's ghost, his gun pointed at Tim and a blurry blue and black figure that looks like his dad. “I’m sorry, I won’t disappoint you again I’ll be better I promise-”
-
“What did you do to him?!” Jason growls already knowing the answer but trying to get Joker's attention off his brother.
“This one was always too confident and happy don’t you think? The more joyful the life the more it hurts when it all breaks down don’t you think. The end of a shitty trilogy with the sweet sound-” Tim hiccups gasping for breath. Joker closes his eyes, soaking it all in putting a firm hand on Tim’s shoulder as it shakes.
“BANG”
The Joker stubbles back blood dripping from his shoulder.
Nightwing storms in quickly catching Tim before he can fall to the ground. The weeping boy clutching him tightly “Don’t leave” Tim coughs up hiding his face in Dick’s chest.
Jason on the other hand rushes into the joker upper cutting him and punching as hard as he can to get him away from his brothers.
Dick hardly flinches when he hears a succession of gunfire from behind him and jokers laugh fading. He can only look down at Tim. Stroking his hair whispering quiet reassurances.
Dick looks out at all the madness and fear in the crowd, he hopes for their sake that Bab’s cure will get here soon.
-
His dad looks down on him with such hatred yet still Tim still holds on sobbing into his shirt. Tim looks back to see his dads face distorting with blood glitching on it. Tim pulls away “What-” Tim hears a bang sees a bullet hole through his dad’s head. He holds Jack's face in place “Please no no no no. Please, NO” He tries to look around for who fired the bullet but his eyes just keep coming back to the blood. Jack's face quickly flashes into Dicks yet the blood remains.
“No- you can’t- I need you-” Tim can’t control his breathing, something Dick taught him. Tim can’t stop the Joker, something Dick trained him to do. Tim can’t even save Dick, like Dick has done for him. He’s let Dick down. His dad, Dick. Tim starts to lose it hyperventilating.
-
“Tim please. It's not real. Look at me”. Tim looks up at him in fear “What-”.
“You are going to be okay, you are okay, I’m so proud of you, just hang on-”
“Please no no no no. Please, NO” Tim looks all over for something.
“Tim look into my eyes, I’m here” Dick’s eyes start to water out of desperation “Babs how far are the drones?”
“2 minutes”
“Thank god, Tim you hear that, help is coming soon-”
“No- you can’t- I need you-” Tims breathing becomes unstable and frantic. His chest starts convulsing. Eyes start going unfocused.
“You can’t hear me can you? I’m sorry. This breathing isn’t healthy. Forgive me please” Dick fishes out a small needle. “I’m sorry Tim” He pushes it into Tim’s neck. Tim goes limp in Dick’s arms, his breathing still rapid but slowing to a running pace of around 150bpm rather than what looked like 200bpm before.
A gun drops behind him and Jason appears to the side of him, blood over his knuckles, gun still smoking and body shaking with adrenaline “Is- is he okay?”
“He will be…” Dick kneels fully down cradling Tim’s head on his chest.
Jason crouches going silent, sitting on the floor by Dick. He then sniffles before hugging Dick tightly “We made it.” Jason's voice cracks.
With that Dick can’t hold it back anymore “We did” he cries. Both of his brothers are alive.
Drones up ahead fly above the crowd dispensing a clear gas like a sprinkler finally making the yell and cries start to calm.
Dick holds Tim’s face away from the crowd using his body as a shield. Even if most of the crowd are only focused on getting out he’d rather be safe than sorry. With the dead joker on stage for everyone to see the goons lose some of their will to fight long enough for the born and raised gothamites to beat their ass and get out the exit. Most of the people are only minorly injured; he can only see a few cuts and scrapes and the people knocked out backstage should start waking up soon.
Dick doesn’t really want to move his little brothers. He counts Tim’s pulse as it starts to come to a more acceptable 90bpm, the antidote likely helping as well as the sedative. His face looks more calm even with the tear streaks and puffy red eyes and nose. Jason is still shaking on Dick’s shoulder, his tears subsiding but clearly very shaken up. He wants to move them away from Joker even when dead, his presence still un-nerving giving Dick the fight or flight response.
He shuffles his arms under Tim’s legs and back using his chest to support his head. Dick knows Tim would find this embarrassing to be held in public but it's the only way of transporting him out while Dick is able to feel his breathing. “You feel okay to stand hood?”
-
“Um- y-yeah” he gives one last look at the mangled corpse before turning back to his brothers.
He never really knew what he was doing until minutes after he killed the Joker. The last thing he remembered was Tim’s face crying reminding him of himself back in the warehouse and picturing Tim there in his place then everything just went green.
He remembers going over to Dick even if his brain knew they hadn’t talked properly in years and they hadn’t gotten that far in healing what they lost. His body didn’t seem to care, his body wanted a hug from his older brother.
Jason follows his brother mindlessly.
It really did end with Tim. After Barbra after Jason and all those people Joker killed it finally ended before he got to Tim.
He looks back up at Dick carrying Jason's little brother. It sounds right. Not Robin or replacement but brother, it feels right. He revels in the feeling of the word not wanting to leave it.
“Can I stay?” Slips out of his mouth. Dick looks back at him in confusion.
“In the theatre?”
“-With you… both of you?”
Dicks lips wobble, eyebrows raising with so much hope and happiness “Yes. Yes.”
-
They get outside into the alley to see the batmobile already parked outside. Babs must have sent it over on auto pilot just in case. Dick opens the car door putting Tim in the passenger seat taking off the king cape and using it as a blanket.
Jason gets into the back still not thinking clearly overwhelmed with nostalgia coming from the car, the feeling of safety coming off in waves. When Dick turns on the engine and starts talking the feeling only increases. The tension in this body starts to unravel as the adrenaline wears off.
The drive back to the manor is quiet. “Bruce is still on a mission so won’t be home for a while” Dick turns back to Jason. “And Alfred will probably be asleep at this time in the morning” Jason just nods
“...I’m glad you did it, I know I shouldn’t be but I’m glad it’s over”. Jason just hums in acknowledgement.
The car pulls into the cave.
Jason gets out first looking around the cave so familiar yet so different at the same time. New bat souvenirs, new vehicles and new suits on display. Waves of nostalgia hits.
Dick heads over to the passenger seat, opening the door and bending down to Tim’s height to lift him when “Mmnn I don’t need carrying. I’m not a baby” Tim grumbles sleepily. He slowly opens his eyes landing on Dick. “You’re alive!” He smiles jumping into Dick’s arms. “But I saw you die how-”
“That was all the fear gas. Everyone is okay, I promise” Dick hugs back twice as hard.
Tim sighs a breath of relief looking past Dick’s shoulder “Holy bat crap, Jason!” Tim dashes up to him. “You came home? You seemed so adamant before. What caused you to change your mhp-” Jason hugs him, cutting him off.
“Don’t scare me like that again” Tim sinks into the embrace.
He looks up at Jason a small smile on his face “I’m really glad you are home”
“As much as I love hugs, would someone mind catching me up on what just happened? I remember some of the fight, although heavily influenced by the gas seeing as Dick looked like my dad 50% of the time” The hug parts.
“I don’t look that old. Do I?”
“Anyway, can you fill me in?”
“How about over some tea? I'm sure we all deserve it after today.” The three brothers reunited head up the stairs back into the comfort and safety of the manor.