Chapter Text
What he felt when he woke up really shouldn’t have ever been able to be described as better but it was. He was in a cold sweat and his throat felt dry and scratchy but the awful stuffy feeling had faded.
He found that he had curled over on his side. He sat up slowly, stiffly. Judging by the small smattering of blood on the strobe light next to him, he had hit it on his way down and that was the source of his nosebleed. Considering there were no broken windows or frantic searching, he hadn’t been out long enough for Kon to look for him.
He managed to push himself to his feet and made it to the lieutenants area. He struggled slightly less to wiggle through a vent opening and into the ceiling, crawling across beams and between insulation. The particles of it in the air irritated his nose.
He didn’t get it, he’d been through worse pain, through worse anxiety, but right now? He wanted to cry. To break down and sob into somebody’s arms. Maybe Bruce, maybe Dick, Kon? Just someone. If Tim pulled back enough he could rationalize it as the chemicals involved with his body trying to heal his illness lowering his mood mixed with brain fog and injury.
He didn’t have time for that right now though. There was the chance that his family, his friends, were in danger. He couldn’t run any risks…
Maybe after Kon left he would check out the Al Ghuls. Just in case.
He made it to the tile over the lieutenant's office that he had been looking for. It had a weak spot where the old air conditioning unit had been that he could listen in and maybe fit a small recorder through. There were at least three or four shadows or pieces of people that Tim could see through the cracks. Their tones and mannerisms were relaxed, probably more of a conversation than a business meeting. It took Tim a moment to tune in and strain to hear the voices of some of the further members.
“...mean yeah, Freeze is fuckin crazy bout that dead wife o’ his–” The vaguelly Boston area voice– somewhere North of it by a bit, maybe North East from what Tim could hear– was cut off by a more Southern New York sounding woman. “She’s not dead, that's the whole reason he’s doing this. ‘Sides I think it’s sweet. Psychotic. But sweet.”
A separate man scoffed and spoke. He sounded much more local, not all that different from Jason if he had smoked a pack a day since he was two. “Oh shove it Vee. You just like him because of those kissy books you read.” “You have no room to judge. I’ve seen your Netflix history, Mister Bridgerton.”
Tim tried not to roll his eyes so he could keep watching. This was getting him nowhere.
Another woman, also local but of a more refined tone, spoke up. “Yeah yeah, I’m just hoping my apartment doesn’t get caught in the crossfire.” Boston spoke up again. “I thought you lived south of the Narrows?” “I moved up a few months ago, sure the place is a mile off the lab freeze is messing with but those battles move pretty fast.” The other woman seemed to perk up and drift into Tim’s view. “Where is it? We need to have drinks soon, it's been forever!” “You’re bringing wine but it’s the apartment two blocks West from that East-end shoot up last year. Big brick building with that obnoxious yellow court.”
Now this was good. Tim knew where she was talking about, the apartments on Fourth Close. He pushed up to leave with the information to try and find the labs but the next words caught him. “I still think it’s too far to try and freeze people just to experiment on and maybe get his wife back.”
What. Oh God no that's the bad thing. Freeze must have escaped after I checked and Bruce didn’t tell me! That bastard needs to– no… Not tonight. No, it's Friday. Batman would be patrolling the east end, he always let Robin go further than he normally would because it was almost always safe there. Damn it I have to warn them
Tim tried to get up again, less carefully this time. There was every chance he only had minutes. Every chance he was already too late.
He heard the yelling behind him as he scrambled for the rafters. He heard the metal door slam just as he vaulted up to the rafters with his staff. He could feel his heart pounding, pumping blood through his ears. He could feel his stitches tug with every stride and rip some when he jumped through the window. A hand clad in red gloves grabbed him by the wrist before he could even reach for the grapple.
“Jesus Rob! Warn a guy.” Kon righted him and got them both to the roof. Tim could feel the air tugging at his lungs in a way it shouldn’t. Both too thick and too thin. “Did you get all the info you needed?”
Tim didn’t have time to hide his panting. “Yes we need to get to the east end, now.” Superboy, curse him for never reading a room, sounded cheery to deliver the news Tim had been fearing. “Oh Batman and Robin are already dealing with Freeze. I can hear them fighting.”
Tim’s mind froze but his feet moved. He rushed to the edge and dove, grapple shooting out ahead of him like he was out of his own body.
~ ⋅⋆ ☼ ☆ •𖤓• ☆ ☼ ⋆⋅ ~
Tim got there just in time to find Nightwing evacuating civilians. He looked up just as Red Robin was running up with Superboy floating down behind him. “Red? You’re supposed to be out!”
“Doesn’t matter!” His lungs still felt every breath like it was dragging syrup through a cigarette but he managed to tone it down enough for nightwing to just chalk it up to exertion. Maybe sinuses considering he still thought Tim was just sick.
“Freeze is going to try actually freezing someone, his experiments with Nora were getting too risky; he wants someone new.” Dick startled. “Wait, he's actually hurting people now? Like that’s the goal?” Maybe it was a bit childish but Tim was getting frustrated. Things were getting blurry again and everything kind of vaguely hurt.
“Yes, are you slow? I don’t know if Freeze has whatever it is built into his suit or what but we need to go warn Batman and Robin.” Dick seemed to finally get the memo that somebody was going to either be dead or comatose soon and his eyes widened. “He wasn’t running, he was leading them to the lab. Superboy! Take care of the civilians!”
Superboy was watching them talk back and forth like a pingpong game then floundered as Nightwing grappled towards a window. “Will somebody explain–” He threw his hands up as Red grappled after Nightwing and just turned to listen for civilians, stuck or unable to exit the building past the fighting.
Tim felt like his heart was going to crack through his ribs. He felt like he was putting off enough heat to make Freeze cringe. His air was still dragging through his throat with a near grittiness to it now.
I have to save them.
~ ⋅⋆ ☼ ☆ •𖤓• ☆ ☼ ⋆⋅ ~
They crashed through the window, Red Robin following Nightwing so quickly that Freeze didn’t have the chance to change aim. Tim dove forward, slowly, so, so slowly, trying to get to Robin. To Damien, before the ice reached him. He couldn’t make it in time.
Oh God there’s no way. Even if Robin knew what was coming, even if he moved now he couldn’t get out of the way in time. Not now. It’s my fault. He’s fucking dead and it’s my fault! Bruce can’t handle another dead son. Bruce will die. If he doesn’t kill himself then he’ll either let himself die in the field, or stop living entirely. That will be worse than death, for him to just sit there and rot still breathing. I can’t go through that again, and God, that's a selfish thought isn’t it.
Tim tried anyway. He kept his momentum forward and swung his body and cape around Robin. It was such a self absorbed thing but maybe if he blocked the cold, it would let him freeze too. Maybe, as distraught as Bruce would be over his son’s death, just maybe the glance he spared for Tim wouldn’t be of disdain, of the quiet judgment of failure before his mourning continued.
Tim mostly hoped Damien would live. Silently, he hoped Bruce might pay him some small respect if he himself didn’t.
But the ice never came. The cold did, certainly, the room was below freezing, but there was no ice. Red Robin’s momentum kept going and he dragged Robin with him. Rolling to the ground several feet away. Red, still shielding the surprised but uninjured kid– because that was what he still was, a kid, even if every part a fighter– looked up to see why they weren’t frozen to death yet.
Apparently Nightwing had managed to shove Mister Freeze into the way of the machine, which had since started to sputter out. Robin managed to writhe out from under him, he gave Red a curt nod of thanks before going back to Batman's side to attempt to assist him in shutting down the machine. Tim pushed himself up and noted the red dots on the floor fuzzily, that probably wasn’t good but it could wait. There was a reason his costume was red. He made his way to where the others were going to surround Freeze, the machine covered his near wheezing but the ice crystals were scraping like nails through his lungs.
Mister Freeze was starting to break out of the ice, in one of his rarer bouts of rage rather than cold clinicism. He was near yelling but not quite, tone shaky and irate. “You call yourselves heroes…” He pulled out of the ice, grown to his suit from the now dead machine. “You call yourselves heroes. You say you will kill nobody, let nobody die.” He pulled his legs out from the ice with a crack. Shattered fragments of glass like crystals showered over the floor, hitting the rubber of boots and singing against thin metal pieces of machines or desks. “Does my wife not count for your stupid rule?! Why does she not matter to you! You would take action against my saving her just to keep a few pesky others from being injured? My Nora would be with us in hours if you would only let me have my trials but for the safety of others you forsake her life!”
Batman kept his tone low, and not as threatening as would have been acceptable. “Freeze–”
The man lashed out with a sheet of ice spreading from his suit's palm, forcing them all back a pace. “NO!” He paused a moment and cleared his throat, seeming to collect himself back into the mask of cold indifference. “No, if you will not allow me to be with my dearest, I simply will not be. In my vengeance–something I’m sure you know much about Batman, I will not be letting any of you out either.”
Batman saw what was happening and lunged for Freeze. Red, Nightwing and Robin all dove for cover. Freeze sent a massive blast of ice and chill through the room and the rest of the building. Batman was forced back to duck behind some machinery. Windows all through the surrounding floors shattered, pipes bursted and there was a thunderous blast from one of the base floors. If Tim’s addled mind was correct it was the water stores, heaters, etc. bursting from the sudden freeze or temperature drop. He tried to call out to his family but there was no real sure way to know they’d heard over the continued cracking and wooshing. “Building is going down!”
He sprang over the desk he’d hidden behind, the snow and sleet flurry was inconvenient but he managed a kick to Freeze’s helmet, enough to knock him down. Nightwing landed on Freeze’s chest and got disruptors onto the particularly nasty bits of his suit. “Does your Superfriend have everybody out?”
Tim felt like he could hardly breathe by now, the snow fall thankfully covered most of his state. Only a few drops of blood on the ground that could have easily been passed off as spilled ink were obviously visible. His voice was raspier than he wanted it though. “He should, if he doesn’t, he will soon.” Bruce was cuffing Freeze while Damien went to remove the glass from where one of the windows had broken so they would not injure the villain. Freeze saw this and started to struggle, damaging a disruptor against the floor enough that it glitched, only for a moment but that was enough. Ice shot out, covering their exits as the building started to groan.
“I said nobody gets out!” Batman reset the disruptor and managed to fully cuff him. Nightwing grabbed Red to drag him away from the window, he would have screamed had the pain not just been thrown onto the pile of already mounting agony. Robin called from across the room. “The stairwell is blocked.” Batman wrenched Freeze up and shoved him to Nightwings hold and said. “We need to get out of here before the building goes down.”
Tim wasn’t quite sure if the dark shapes dancing across his blurring vision were from the few working lights left over flickering, the moon filtering through the ice, or just plain nausea. “The elevator shaft should be cle–” The bricks beneath them rumbled and they all had to grab something to balance. Tim about threw up and Freeze would have fallen if Nightwing didn’t catch him.
Batman grabbed a broken piece of metal, likely one of the pipes, off of the floor and pried the elevator doors open. “Down. Now.” Nightwing latched his grappling hook to the ledge before descending with Freeze. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” Robin nodded and climbed after Nightwing. Red Robin scanned the shaft for a moment before he took a deep, grating breath and followed.
~ ⋅⋆ ☼ ☆ •𖤓• ☆ ☼ ⋆⋅ ~
They made it to around the sixteenth floor before the shaft was completely blocked off by the elevator that had gotten stuck. Batman helped Nightwig drag Freeze out of another set of elevator doors onto the next floor while Red and Robin waited on top of the elevator in case anybody fell. Damien looked him up and down with more scrutinization than Tim cared for right now. He didn't have time for that though, he was a bit more concerned with not keeling over.
God it’s hot. He thought as he shook the snow out of his hair. Damien finally spoke up. “You look like a corpse, Red Robin. Have you been injured?” Tim’s voice was raspier than he could mask. Damn it really was hot. “Why thank you, and for your information no I have not been.” Damien looked at the floor and then back at Tim’s face with a deadpan. “I would say you handle the cold poorly but you are quite clearly standing in blood.
Tim looked down to see he was in fact tracking blood on his shoes and the yellow parts of his suit were stained red in several places. Thinking was like dragging a shovel through molasses so he didn’t try to. “Well that sucks.” He just blinked at Tim behind the mask several times. “I’m telling father.”
“Damien wait–” The building groaned loudly again and there were several loud pops and cracks around them. Everything started to tilt and it took Tim a moment to realize it wasn't just him, but the building. He took several scrambling steps forward trying to get to the ledge Damien had made it to. Batman was looking down in horror and Nightwing was behind him, turned away and yet to see the tragedy. Robin’s hand was reaching out for him. Tim was right there. Their fingers brushed and the ground gave way beneath Tim’s feet. He fell back, rolling against broken pieces of the building with no sense of direction until he was dropped heavily on a half broken floor.
Everything hurt still but it seemed to have stayed the normal amount of hurt as opposed to broken bones. Tim pushed himself to sit, now that the others were gone he could stop the bleeding. He didn’t think he could make it out of the building without at least slowing it. He stripped off his shirt and grabbed the bandages from his belt to wrap it just like that first night.
Well maybe not just like the first, the first was blood and grime, this was blood and puss. A fever pulsed through his wound site and the red streaking had gotten worse under his skin. He felt sticky and hot despite the numbness in his fingers and feet from cold. The room around his was trashed from people evacuating and the buildings quaking.
He put his shirt back on and forced himself up. He felt himself lurch forward as beautiful colours and shadows danced in his vision. His hand landed on a wall to catch himself. The oxygen still felt gritty in his lungs, tearing at his trachea as he sucked it down his throat, ripping like sound as he coughed out. The terrible horrible thing had yet to happen in his sight yet, he had to get back to Dick, Damien and Bruce.
The only question was how the hell he could get to his family through the blasted up building. He heard a small voice through the broken floor above him. He couldn’t make it out though, an ominous thing to wait to save the family he so loved, but he was a hero first. He started to claw his way up through the fallen debris in the elevator shaft. “Hey! Who’s up there?” There were several moments of pausing before small footsteps sent dust cascading down through to cracks above him, twirling and twisting around delicately in the light. “Skylar… What's happening?” Tim took a deep breath. Shit! A kid might walk into a weak spot by accident.
“There was a villain and the building got a little broken but I can get you out as soon as I can get up there.” Full honesty might not have been the best idea but it was usually pretty good and Tim didn’t have the energy to come up with a working lie. “I just need you to stay still for me until I’m there, okay?” Skylar answered a little more quickly this time, still slowed with fear. “Okay.” Tim managed to get enough things out of the way and started climbing into the elevator shaft, he didn't escape bruiseless though. “Do you know if you’re hurt?” She settled down on the floor above him. “No, my mom put me under her desk and then some guy grabbed her and some others.” That must have been Konner, he could have missed her if it had been around when the building started going down, which would make sense for someone putting her under the desk.
Tim finally managed up the shaft and onto Skylar’s floor. She was dirty and clearly shaken but there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her. The ice on the windows had broken on this floor. He crouched in front of her. “Hey Skylar, I’m Red Robin, one of the heroes. I can take you to your mom if you come with me.” She nodded and he picked her up on his good side. It would hurt to carry their weight on his injured side but he was confident he could do it. If he wasn’t he wouldn’t take her, his pride wasn’t great enough for him to risk a kids life.
He perched on the sill of a broken window and shot his grappling hook out. He almost blacked out when the line went taut, white hot pain shooting from his side to up his arms, down his hip, into his ribs. He managed to hit the ground softly enough to send her to a firetruck where he watched the paramedics grab her. Once she was safe he shot back through the window, on his good side this time. God breathing hurt.
There was a bang from upstairs and he ran, he could feel the skin beneath his bandages getting wetter and wetter, unfortunately not the slick feeling of blood as much as the sticky feeling of puss. Well, probably better for not dying but significantly worse for being comfortable. He clambered unevenly to the level he’d last seen them on. They should have been gone by now if nothing went–
…Well shit. Freeze was sending across from his family, a dropped pocket knife held to his own throat… That is definitely a problem. You know what, Tim didn’t have time for this. He shot his grappling line at Freeze’s head before anyone saw him. The man fell instantly without the helmet of his suit on. Tim was still panting, holy shit he needed to vomit, he probably should have done that before this. Too late now though. “Exit, building falling, go, now.” All of them had been staring at him, Batman and Robin had gone to get Freeze as soon as Tim finished while Nightwing took several more seconds to shake it off. “You lived.” Tim Nodded trying not to keel over. “Yep. Collapsing building.” Nightwing seemed to shake it off and started to help drag Freeze while Tim led the way, thankfully not trailing blood anymore. “I’m glad you’re still with us!”
Tim led them to the escapable windows and they were just getting Batman and Robin out of the window on grappling lines. The building started to creak, then the groaning turned deafening as brick and mortar came down everywhere. Nightwing shot out without thinking to grab Red– why would he? He didn’t know Tim was injured– it took the debris falling onto Red’s shoulder to jolt him into action. The building crumbled behind him, his grip almost slipping on his way over. His family was running with a half conscious villain as the building they had escaped from crashed into the one they were on.
His legs felt like giving out, he blinked and when he opened his eyes his family was already on the next roof over. Bruce was frozen in horror, staring off the ledge. All he could see was Barbara getting shot, was Jason’s crumpled burnt body, Damien's green eyes instead of blue or brown, Cassandra’s slow working speech classes, Dick’s haunted countenance when he thought he was alone, Stephanie's apologies, Duke’s quiet after visiting the hospital, and now Tim’s hand reaching out. For him, for help, and he couldn’t move.
Dick saw in time this time. It was still too late. The building crumpled beneath his brother, his little brother. As grown up as he acted he still hadn't graduated high school. He couldn’t lose someone again. He tried to jump but Damien pulled him back, holding him as well as he could. As much as he prodded at Drake he didn't want him dead, but Richard couldn’t save him. The building was falling too fast and he would not lose both of them. Even as Dick struggled and screamed and cried, he would not lose them both.
The last thing Tim saw before the feeling of stone under his feet faded was those looks. He had been passing out before it had collapsed anyways, he hoped Bruce was proud. He had saved them hadn’t he? He had gotten them out of the exit in time, had gotten Skylar out in time. Kon had gotten all the civilians out, Tim trusted him with that. He really did want Bruce to be proud of him, he wanted Dick to do well after he was gone. Nobody really did well with loss and without him there to help he worried. At least he wouldn’t slow them down anymore. He hoped they stayed safe without him.