Chapter Text
Like most things in Gotham, by the time they’re told about the lab report it’s too late for them to do anything to prevent the situation from roaring out of control.
Tim hears about it through Babs first as he’s making his way through an active night of knocking heads together. Gang activity has picked up in his turf and he’s playing catch up as two groups try to kill each other over some insult that none of the people he’s ‘talked’ to can even agree on happening. Normally, Tim would file Babs’ little heads up for latter investigation, but this isn’t a normal heads up.
"The Joker?" Tim asks after swinging up onto the tallest building in the block he’s on. Less chance of being interrupted. "Are you sure?"
"As sure as we can be without the report or blood sample," Babs sounds tired and Tim wonders how long she’s known about this. How far along Bruce is with his investigation, and what he’s dropping to chase this down. "The lab tech destroyed it all as soon as she figured out what she had. It’s bought us some time, but…."
But it prevents them from checking for themselves the veracity of the claim. Frustrating but Tim knows it was probably necessary. If that report had been filed the way it was supposed to the entire city would be in an uproar right now, and some mole or entrepreneurial cop in the force would have sold all the information and DNA profile to the highest bidder. There’s going to be a witch hunt, Tim knows that because this is Gotham, but they have some lead time to try and head it off now at least.
"I’ll meet up with B," Tim says, and doesn’t ask where he is. He’s at the GCPD precinct lab. Looking for anything that might have been overlooked and probably scaring the entire shift working there. Out of all of the GCPD, the lab techs are the ones who have seen Batman the least, and they really don’t know how to handle him.
Gunshots ring out in the night and Tim forces himself to ignore the call of more heads that need a hard kick as he sets off. Flying through the air and listening to Babs’ voice slide back into the mechanical range as she confirms his suspicions. “Be careful.”
The warning is standard whenever they deal with anything having to do with the Joker. Tim resists the urge to ask for an update on the man’s status in Arkham. It would have been the first thing Babs checked, and the second thing she would have told him. “I will. It’s not like we’re dealing with the Joker himself here though.”
"Just his kid," Oracle says, and the reproach is obvious in the voice. "We don’t know what we’re dealing with here RR."
"Noted," Tim replies and is left alone to run halfway across the city to see what he can help find out about this unknown complication.