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Chapter Text

Prologue

A tRaGeDy

"Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy." –F. Scott Fitzgerald

It had been just one week since Tim Drake returned from his trip to Japan on matters of both businesses to the Wayne Foundation and Batman Corp. for the mysterious number of disappearances of people, both of little and great importance, in Tokyo. He took up the cape and cowl of Red Robin and fought his way to solve the mystery but instead of solving them and determining who was causing them, he had become one that caused them.

Tim sat at his desk in his apartment, his lights on and blue bloodshot eyes stared at the papers crumbled around him. He gnawed at the end of his pencil and pain rumbled throughout his body, his stomach grumbling for food to be devoured. He took a deep breath and rubbed his face, his body starting to quake for something to chew on.

He hadn't been hungry for a week, only being feed through IV tubes because of worry of his wound, but now he suddenly was.

He glanced down to his stomach and grabbed the bottom of his shirt to see the stitches on his body slowly beginning to fade away. His stomach grumbled again and he got up to his mini fridge, pulling out a sandwich and wrapped the BLT, one of his favorites that Dick Grayson most likely left for him. He brought it to his mouth and took a large chunk of it, chewing it fast before his taste buds started kicking in.

It was like chewing a pig's intestines wrapped in sewage.

He gagged out the sandwich, his eyes wide in horror and stared at it in both disgust and confusion.

Maybe it was old because he hadn't been home for a while.

He looked back to the fridge and pulled out a chocolate bar that he got from his friendly elderly neighbor, he unwrapped it and snapped a piece off.

It tasted of rubbish from a foul rotten fish.

He choked it back up and fell to his knees, confusion and terror overriding him.

What the hell is going on?

Then began his raid of trying every food he could find in his refrigerator and the apartment.

"Hey, Tim, everyone's begging to see you again, you hermit! Even Stephanie-and that's saying something! Stop sticking your head in the books and come outside to see the sun once in a while! So once you get this message call me back 'kay!" Dick Grayson's voice echoed the household from his voice mail machine and Tim lay out on the floor, different food and drinks surrounding him with just one bite or sip from the food or drinks. He placed a hand over his face and began to think of what may have caused the strange phenomenon.

Ah, he realized and pulled himself up, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and glanced at the switches.

It's because of  the  organs-HIS organs- are inside me, isn't it? Yes, it had to be the reason behind it

He quickly got up and rushed to the kitchen, looking for a large kitchen knife. He eyed the large blade and pulled his shirt up, gripping it with his teeth and his breath started to rush along with planning to aim correctly, so he could go call one of his brothers or the police themselves, and not hit any important organs but only the ones he desperately wanted to remove from his body.

His hands shook but he gripped the blade more tightly and he let out a small scream before plunging the blade towards his body.

He waited for pain to come but the only thing now on his mind was that the knife's blade had snapped right off of the handle from coming in contact with his skin. He dropped the blade and released his shirt, falling against his chest. Anger started to build up in his system and he scowled before another gurgle of hunger erupted from his stomach. He looked down to it before standing up and slowly walked to the door, a now distance look appeared in his eyes as if his stomach was possessing his movements. He looked back to his apartment before closing the door behind him and unknown to him his stomach would draw out the horrors of his visit to Japan.

He stood in front of Wayne Enterprise and looked at the security guards before sighing and started walking away. Tim's path slowed down as he entered a cross walk, multiple people passing him by and not even noticing that he stopped in the middle of it. His stomach growled and he sniffed the air, looking at the current groups of people.

People…People…

A couple smiling at each other (People…People).

A child holding her mother's hand in her own tiny one with small pig tails up (Children…).

He looked around him again and (People…People…) noticing some women (Flesh…) chatting with each other. Then two children, one boy and the other a girl (Flesh…) with backpacks strapped tightly to their figure. A pair of high school boys (Flesh…) chatted with each other on a discussion of what he assumed was homework. A family (Flesh…) passed by with a little girl (Flesh…) on the husband's (Flesh…) shoulders and smiles greeted their faces, happy to be together. A baby (Flesh…) waved passed him along with a middle-aged man (FLESH…) checking his watch with a briefcase hand in (FLESH…) and an early twenty year old woman (FLESH…) talked on the phone, a little bit her thigh (FLESH…) from her short skirt. He glanced back at the couple (FLESH…) and the children (FLESH…) and the pair of boys (FLESH…).

Then he started looking at them with the same thought rolling in his head over and over that would soon make him insane: FLESH…FLESH…FLESH…FLESH…FLESH…FLESH…FLESH…!

The little girl paused and looked up at Tim. He snapped out of it with his eyes wide in terror and a small dribble of saliva gliding down his chin. People continued to pass him by and he slowly started to shake, in either excitement of nervousness. A couple stopped and looked to him with the woman saying, "Is he ok?" The man scowled and pulled her aside, whispering, "Don't get involved, babe." They pulled away and continued on.

Tim bite harshly on his finger with tons of saliva dropping from his mouth, his hood covering his eyes and expression. He groaned in hunger and annoyance before he quickly dashed away, ignoring the blaring headlights aimed at him and just wanting to get away from people.

He panted against the side of the garbage can and hugged his legs close to his chest, his thoughts running wild and uncertain on the phenomena that was happening to him. He slowly turned to face the reflective trash can before his eyes went even larger at the image casting back at him.

His left eye had its sclera black and his iris a deep crimson red with small veins of red coming out from his eye and covered tiny parts of his face.

He placed a hand towards it and said out loud, "What the hell?"

Then he caught sight of man, probably just around Bruce's age, with long red hair and deep violet eyes grin at the side of his transformed eye.

He scowled at the image and punched the trash can and sent it flying down the empty alleyway, scaring away rats and any possible homeless people from him. He panted and slowly got back up, his legs quivering and started moving down the alleyway. Thoughts that weren't his ran through his head without his knowledge and they seemed to be controlling his actions.

"Kill a person…" he muttered, not even knowing what words spilled from his mouth, "And takes their FLESH!"

He snapped out of it, once those words escaped his lips and said, "What the hell is wrong with me?"

He paused his train of thought and sniffed the air, his vision changing over to a different direction of the alleyway. He licked his lips and slowly started walking down that direction a small smile on his face, he slowly moved faster as it drew closer.

Even though it was the first he ever smelled it, it seemed very familiar…He started dashing now and moved faster, his smile growing even larger, It was like his mother's cooking, the few times she was there spending her time with him but her cooking was delicious. Her smiling face cast down at him and he watched as she prepared the meal with some of his aid.

There was something in that direction that he could eat!

He moved faster than what he had previously been able to do and saliva grew down his face, glancing around to find where the scent was coming from.

Where was it?

Where was it?!

WHERE WAS IT?!

Not knowing where he was going, he ran into a bunch of barrels of trash and he fell over. He quickly got up with his hood now down and smiled again, whispering to himself, "It's close by…"

He slowly moved to the next corner, the smell filling him with euphoria and looked around the corner with the delight now replaced with horror.

A man stood over the body of a woman with a bloody knife in hand and pieces of the woman, like her fingers, toes, arm and leg, were placed neatly aside to him with blood coating his figure and he continued to dig into the woman's dead body with his knife, not really bothered with chopping apart her body, before noticing Tim. The man's eyes grew large and exclaimed, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

Tim moved back a little before gulping at the sight of the dead body.

He was there by a  dead body.

And the smell was killing him.

He gulped and licked his lips before looking back at the man, knowing he should do something to stop the man.

But he had dinner there just waiting to be eaten.

He scowled and decided to ignore his stomach (for the meantime) and charged at the man, his training kicking in and snarled at the man. The man flashed the knife at him, trying to swipe at him. He smirked at this, now knowing that no blade could hurt him and he quickly lunged at the man.

"Don't eat me!" he screamed at Tim who only smiled even more at this, the smell of fear making Tim more eager to defeat the man. Tim grabbed the knife from the man and plunged it into his leg, causing the criminal to fall to his knees in pain and scream. Tim stood over him with a smile still gracing his face and bent down to the man, grabbing the thug's arm and gripped it so tight he started to crack apart his bones.

"Now are you going to go silently or do I have to tear your arm right off and stuff it down your throat?" Tim hissed at the guy but before the thug had anything to spew out a gun shot echoed the alleyway and blood sprayed across his face. He blinked at this then he scowled at this (even though he wanted to devour the dinner someone let him have) and snapped around to beat the crap out of whoever shot the criminal since he would hand the guy over to the police for them to deal with.

"Whoa, Baby Bird, what's going on with your eye?"

Tim's jaw went slack at the sight of Jason Todd, the infamous second Robin, standing in his Red Hood outfit and reloading his guns. He tilted his head to the side before Tim quickly placed a hand over his mutated eye and mumbled, "None of your business."

Jason scoffed at this and pointed his gun towards the young man, replying back, "Are you sure? Maybe I can finally put a bullet between your eyes and move on with my life."

Tim gave a sad smile and hissed back, "Try it then."

They both stood still before Jason quickly moved the gun to aim at Tim's leg and fired a round, wanting for it to make the teen bleed but Tim didn't even flinch at the attack nor any blood erupted to where the wound should have been.

"What the fuck?" Jason hissed and Tim sighed before his stomach rumbled again. His eyes grew wide again and the smell of death rolled off Jason strongly into Tim's nose. He looked down to his stomach and then the dead criminal behind him, saliva dribbled down his mouth and his smile went large.

"He's just garbage so I can eat him, right?" Tim said and chuckled at this while Jason tried firing another shot at Tim but reflect off of him.

"What the hell are you thinking kid?!" Jason yelled at him while trying to understand what was with the kid but also having a small idea in his mind behind the cause of it and this snapped Tim out the insane thought. Tim's eyes widen at the realization he was saying and screamed, "NO! I'm HUMAN! I won't eat it!"

Jason took a step back before Tim smiled again and went to grab the thug but Jason fired two shots at the teen, hitting the back of his head yet Tim stopped. He bent his head down towards Jason with a smile coating his face and said, "You're willingly going to become my dessert. What a treat."

Jason pulled his other gun out and replied back, "You're going to beg for mercy once you're through with me."

"I like meat with a little fight in them." Tim said and chuckled then he froze again, "No, I don't. I don't!" He placed his hands to his head and turmoil clashed against his features, so many different thoughts-some not his own- swirling around in his head.

"Stop playing with my hand! I'm HUMAN! Not a MONSTER! I DON'T EAT HUMANS!" he screamed and Jason lowered his gun down a little before scowling, the dots connecting in his head as to what had happened to Red Robin.

"So you're hungry." He simply stated, his tone and stance quickly changing to ease and walked past Tim to the disregarded body parts the criminal took off of the poor victim, "If you're hungry then eat. I won't judge."

Tim looked up to Jason in confusion before he noticed Jason holding the couple of fingers in his hand before Tim. He gulped and shook his head wildly, ignoring the fresh meat which was just waiting to be devoured.

"No! I'm human! I'm not going to become a cannibal!" he yelled and Jason paused before removing his helmet so Tim could see Jason's frowning face.

"Listen, Tim," Jason said and placed the piece of flesh directly in front of Tim, "Just eat or you'll lose control of yourself and you won't care anymore who you'll eat."

Tim glanced at Jason before he licked his lips and he shook his head again. Jason scowled then grabbed Tim's hair, yanking him towards the flesh and shoved it into his mouth. Tim tried to ignore the piece of flesh in his jaw but he finally felt his realization disappear and finally accepted the food, taking a large chunk of it between his teeth and chewed.

Chapter Text

Chapter I

InCuBaTiOn

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." –Khalil Gibran

He swallowed the piece of meat as regret filled his being as he wanted to immediately spit it out but his thought quickly changed once his tastebuds acquired it. He wanted more of it. He managed to pull away from Jason before falling back to his knees and in his last moment of clarity he hacked up the piece of flesh before he could digest it, glaring at Jason in anger.

"Seriously kid. Just eat the damn thing so I won't have to find a way to kill you." Jason said before grabbing Tim's jacket again, hauling him to his feet with another piece of meat, which happened to be some of the dead woman's fingers, and Jason managed to shove it into Tim's mouth in a moment of confusion. Tim gurgled and struggled, forcing his mind in two: to not fall prey to the new desire or accept it without any doubt in his conscience.

"Why would you force me to do that?" he snarled through, blood dripping down his face and mouth, while he chewed up and spat out piece of human flesh laid to his side and Jason narrowed his eyes under the helmet before muttering something under his breath and hit Tim in the back of the head, so fast that Tim's distorting state left him unable to guard himself, hard enough to knock the teen out with the butt of his gun.

Tim awoke to a single light placed down on him from his shoulders and he took a deep breath hoping it had been a dream but when he looked around at the mess of his apartment, he knew it had all been true. A cup of coffee was to his side and he licked his lips, remembering the bitter taste to keep him up from falling asleep on the job of being a hero.

And he hadn't tried it yet in his rage of finding food.

He gripped the cup tightly in his hand almost as if it would snap if he put too much pressure on the thing. He crossed his fingers mentally before taking a large sip of the contents and downed it without a second thought. He waited for the kick of taste buds to tell him that it was horrid or utterly disgusting but nothing came.

He could drink coffee without any sickness drowning him.

He narrowed his eyes in confusion at why it was just the one drink before he took noticing of the small note near an enveloped packaged saying:

Dear kid,

Coffee is the only other thing you can have besides flesh now that you've changed. Don't ask me how I know but I'll clue you soon enough. I left you some meat so when you get hungry again you can have something to eat without having to kill someone. I hope you get back on your feet soon since Dickie bird will start to question what the hell happened to you and I know that you do not wish for any of them to find out this little 'problem' of your.

Sincerely, Jason

Tim gulped at the sight of the manila case and his feet started to tap against the floor hard. His stomach growled again and he put his hands through his hair and his mouth started to water, remembering the sweet taste of delight it had been for the second he had chewed on the woman's fingers.

Flesh…Flesh…Flesh…Flesh…

He closed his eyes shut and bit hard down on his lip, trying to ignore the raking hunger burning his stomach to fill up on the open meal before him.

Flesh…Flesh…Flesh…

He tried to ignore the burning and raging sensation raking his senses before a voice broke him of his daze.

"Hungry aren't you, kid." A deep breath said and he ignored the voice of the man who cursed him with this fate, "No longer human with a deep burning hunger to enjoy the flesh."

He stopped and snapped around to face the illusion in his head but listened to the voice and figure anyway. Long red hair glistened in the light and maddening violet eyes glanced at the hero, a trench coat dragging his figure behind and he stood tall, almost as tall as Jason. He did not look opposing yet looks were very deceiving when he too was fooled by the figure's deception.

"Enjoy it. That delicious piece of meat is waiting for you. It's so delicious." He said and wrapped his arms around Tim's neck, forcing him to bend towards to the flesh. Tim growled at this as his subconscious was obliviously playing with him, "Once you start eating it, you won't be able to stop. It'll put any meal to shame." Tim grinds his teeth together and his hands reached over ready to tear open the package and his one eye that transformed glowed bright in the emptiness of his apartment.

Go on and eat it.

He struggled against his own restrains and placed his hands on the packaging, ready to tear it apart before his cell phone rang with a text popped up at the top from Stephanie saying: "Please talk with me, Tim." He scowled and tossed the meat aside, ignoring the pleading sound of his own subconscious and the man who turned into a monster.

An eye patch covered over his mutated eye, since it would not return to normal since his encounter with Jason, as he walked through the hallways of the campus building and flipped open his phone to see Stephanie's text tell him to head over to the copy center of the building to receive his missing notes since visiting Japan. He sighed and snapped the phone shut before glancing at a couple of girls eating some salad together, most likely discussing boys or work that their professors had assigned.

"TIM!"

He snapped around to face Stephanie smiling and waving at him with her blond hair bouncing as she ran to him. She attacked him with a hug that almost forced him to fall over from her tackle but he caught her, a small smile making its way on his features.

"Where the hell have you been, you hermit?!" she exclaimed and he gulped at this, knowing any words she heard she would report to Bruce and Dick without another say. He ran his fingers through his hair while she waited patiently for an answer, her arms crossed over her chest and a small pout puffing up her cheeks.

"Well, I've been recovering from the operation and I didn't have time to go out or the stitches would open up again." He replied as they started walking towards the copy center and she followed along directly by his side.

"Dick and Bruce have been worried sick about you." She whispered and his eyes narrowed at this, ignoring the ping in his chest to tell them what had actually happened in Japan but denied it as multiple thoughts ran through his head.

"I know." He replied back while holding the door open for her which she thanked him for then Steph barged into the Copy Center, a big smile on her face.

"Hey, Devin, we have Tim finally back to help!" she exclaimed and Tim's eyes grew large at the roll of blood and death crashed against his nose. He stared at the nineteen year old with dirty brown hair and dark chocolate eyes who wore khakis and a blue polo shirt but his smile was fake from the start. Meanwhile, his eyes were stained with an unsuspected bloodshed and he stared at Tim too like he could also sense something was off about him.

The teen grabbed Tim's hand and shook it, saying "Glad to finally meet you, Tim. Steph, here, has been talking all about you." Tim nodded at this, trying his best not to think of all the problems that could happen if being called out and he played along with it right now.

"Do you mind though if I went to go grab some more paper with Steph?" he asked and Tim shouted back, "Can I join also too?"

They both stared at him before Devin nodded at this and they went off to go grab the papers. Steph only stared at him in confusion as she had bad sense around Devin and was going to confront him about it but Tim ruined her plan unless he was going to provide backup.

Tim watched Devin intensely while they walked past a dark alleyway with no around them and Tim knew that Devin would pull something right away once he could get them secluded.

"This has to end right now." Devin whispered low enough to Tim to hear and then kicked Steph right into the wall, knocking her out instantly without her even realizing what had happened to her. Tim's eyes grew wide in terror at the sound of crutch from her body before Devin's grin went insane as his shoulders and muscles grew large enough to be compared to watermelons.

"Time to have some fun!" he exclaimed and charged at Tim, who tried to dodge it but a sudden pang of hunger, had all his strength drain from him. Devin grabbed his throat and raised him to his wall so he kicked around to have some breathe, thinking of different moves that could help him in this situation but the hunger pain truly drained him of any strength he had. Some blood dribbled down his chin and his vision grew a little cloudy while Devin raised his other fist to be put through his skin. He gagged out a large amount of salvia as the teen's fist didn't strike though him but raked more pain against him.

"Do you mind if I play with her, other monster? You've known her for a while now, right? So I'll have to spoil her for myself to play with." He said and Tim groaned at this, staring at the other monster before him knowing that the teen must have took something like Venom to produce these results of him turning into an overpowered monster.

"Leave her alone." He snarled at him and managed to charge at him, ready to use his fists but Devin easily tossed him aside, knocking him into the wall. Tim groaned and Devin started twisted Tim's arm into odd shapes before forcing his head up to be tossed into a wall again. The wall cracked around him and Devin said, "Come on and get up."

Tim tried to go at him again but was yet again forced away to see Devin ready to smash Steph's face in. He raised his foot up and smirked at this while Tim struggled to get pass the pain and save Steph as she laid limp and unconscious, blood dribbling down on her head.

No…No…Not again…

I won't lose anyone again…

I won't let anyone else die!

His eyes shut open and the black sclera and red iris went to glare at the monster. Something red bubbled up from his back and burst out of a red substance where it took form of three red tentacles, his body shooting up and snarled at the man.

"I won't…I won't let that happen!" he snarled at the teen before the tentacles extended, attacking the teen that jumped up in order to miss the attack. He charged at Devin and then he snarled at the monster with the tentacles attacking the teen. It purged through the monster's body like a spear, blood pooling out in a massive attack and a horrified expression crossed Devin's face.

Tim watched as more blood spilled and drenched the alley, he, and Steph and Devin cried out, "Stop it! Stop it, you monster!" 

The tails swung out and forced the monster's body into a large pole where it stabbed right through his lung, blood gushing around and causing the monster to struggle to breath. The monster's consciousness fell and Tim gasped out from using so much power and strength to attack Devin and keep Stephanie safe.

"Steph…" he whispered and turned back to her before his vision turned red, the man from his earlier illusions poking at Steph. He reached out to stop him and the man said, "Look closely aside from her beauty. Doesn't she look delicious?"

"Stop it! She's not to eat! She's a friend!" Tim exclaimed at the man and the man smirked at this, flashing sharp teeth at the teen.

"Are you sure? Take a close look. See you can tell, right?" he whispered and Tim's expression went blank before his salvia slowly dribbled off his chin, his frown turning into a crazed grin. His moral thoughts pushed aside like nothing as the scent of her blood filled his nose, smelling like a garden full of blossoming flowers.

"Mhm-hm. She does look so good!" he exclaimed, not denying anything the man said, and chuckled a little, more salvia dropped down and he inched towards Steph. He paused after realization of what he was thinking and gasped, placing his hands to his head as he tried to keep himself in check.

"Stop! Stop that!" he exclaimed and he started to tremble, the man's voice sending shivers down his spine as he continued to talk about Steph.

"It's your own thoughts coming up with this, Timothy. Why deny it? You want to have her flesh slide down your throat and glaze your tongue crimson, right? Don't deny it. Nothing's wrong with it."

Tim leaned against the wall and smashed his head against the wall, trying to block out the voice of his torment but nothing could block out the Devil taunting him with a deal.

"Do it quickly. Do what you want."

"Whatever I want?" he whispered slowly to himself as again he lost control of his thoughts and actions and the man chuckled a little.

"She is all yours Timothy."

He grinned again, while his self-conscious and human self were falling behind the line of hunger. He turned back to Steph and moved towards her again, a maddening smile across his face.

"You're right. This is my special treat, right?" He said and moved closer to her, his hands lingering above her body, "I…I have to eat her. She is…"

"MY FRIEND!" They both exclaimed and he couldn't help but drool onto her body. His jaw opened incredibly wide as he leaned down to take a bit out of her smooth, beautiful skin with no blemishes even though all the battles and tragedies she went through her life.

"Jeez, kid, I told ya to eat the meat I left you."

Tim looked up with his vision full of hatred and hunger, staring at the twenty year old in front of him. A gun cocked above his head and the safety was left off so he could easily fire a shot at Tim.

"Your sense of reason has been given away by hunger, huh?"

"Move!" Tim snarled at the man and Jason smirked at this, wearing only a mask to cover his eyes so his noir hair few down to his ears.

"You don't give a damn about your own partner's life now." Jason said and moved closer to Tim, closely bending down to his ear and whispered, "After you gobble her up, you'll regret everything. In a sea of blood and entrails; that's the hunger you have to fulfill. Would you rather do it to a stranger already dead or someone you care so deeply about?"

The red tentacles returned from out of his back and flexed towards Jason, ready to attack him. He pulled back a little before twirling his gun again with another one in hand

"Now try to go down easy, kid." He said and shot off one round to Tim with blood and darkness invaded his vision, confused as how Jason managed to kick him out since he was now invulnerable to many different things.

Tim's eyes shot open in large and terror striking across all his features. He slowly placed two fingers to move around his teeth to feel if something had actually happened to him. He stopped and removed his fingers to see a tiny amount of blood prickle his fingertips. He frowned at this then he turned when he heard a door open behind him.

"I brought you back to one of my safe houses, kid."

Tim faced Jason and Tim's expression went wild with concern and terror.

"Steph?! What happened to her?" He exclaimed and Jason mentioned Tim to follow him. Tim bolted up and Jason rolled his eyes at this while walking slowly behind him. Jason pulled open a door to what Tim assumed was his living room by the cruddy wallpaper almost falling off the wall and a small table full of beer bottles, cigarettes, and a couple of newspaper clippings. On the couch though, lay Steph with her body wrapped around in bandages and Tim breathed out a sigh of relief. He felt relief drown his entire body before glancing down to the large bloodstain, from Devin's blood, on his white t-shirt.

"The hunger…it took control me especially when I thought I might die." He stated and slowly moved away, sitting down at the table with his head between his legs, "I didn't realize what the hell I was thinking. And then I went after Steph but somehow…"

He glanced back to Jason and narrowed his eyes whispering, "But, right now, I feel no hunger at all."

Jason sighed at this and sat down across from him, taking a sip from one of his many beers.

"The blood in my mouth…Did you feed me when I got knocked out?" he asked and Jason took another swig his beer.

"You're only hungry for one thing now, kid. You understand it? The way you were going, you would have started going after anyone in sight." Jason stated and Tim grinds his teeth together before a horrified expression crossed over his face, running his hands through his long hair.

He wanted to scream out in agony but he lost his will to do so a while ago.

"You know what you're going to have to do, right?"

Tim slowly nodded at this before looking back up to Jason with pity and hatred towards himself.

"You have to be careful from now on or everyone will take notice of how different you." Jason said and crossed his legs, "I know more things about Ghouls than what you know. I'll help you establish a new identity so when you need to eat or fight something that Red Robin can't handle you have something to rely on."

Tim smiled at this and couldn't help but nod at Jason's offer. Jason grinned at this and said, "Great. Then let's get started right away."

Somewhere else in the distance within an abandoned apartment, Bane and the Scarecrow stared at the dead body of the Venom influenced teen and Bane scowled under his mask. He kicked the body of the teen before glancing back at the Scarecrow, annoyance draping over his eyes.

"You said with Venom influencing the Toxin, the boy would be able to see where some of the Bats have gone." Bane said and the Scarecrow moved closer to observe the body where some pieces of flesh was pulled back, bleeding across the alley and a horrified expression across the dead teen.

"I never stated any possible outliers in the equation though, Bane." The Scarecrow stated and tapped his syringe fingers against the body before a sly grin came across his gas masked face, "Although whatever killed the boy shall be an interesting find once we gain it…Imagine the possibilities to be featured from the specimen and what a find it shall be. I'll send out some people to investigate more about this disturbance and once we find its weakness; it shall fall to knees of the new rulers of Gotham."

Chapter Text

Gotham Ghoul

Chapter II

DoVe

"The more bombers, the less room for doves of peace." –Nikita Khrushchev

A syringe pressed against a junkie's neck and the junkie paled at this as it pushed closer and closer to an artery. The Scarecrow grinned at this and tapped his fingers against the shoulder of the junkie, waiting for his response to his question.

"So have you delivered the message yet?" he asked and the junkie gulped, trying to look away from his glowing eyes.

"I assume you did not. Hopefully, you'll deliver it soon or someone could be offered up this new deal." The Scarecrow stated and that caught the junkie's attention before he pushed the syringe into his skin, a large gasp escaping the junkie's mouth. The Scarecrow's grin grew larger as the junkie fell to the ground unconscious and ready to deliver his message to the Red Hood.

 Jason handed Tim black coffee as they sat down at a small booth at a coffee shop. Tim breathed in the scent of the coffee and sighed at the content that he could actually drink the substance without the need of being sick following having it.

Jason stared at the teen and looked down to his own meal of an Espresso and a Blueberry muffin. He took a bit out of his muffin then groaned at its goodness, earning a glare from Tim. He shrugged at the teen before wiping his mouth using his shelve as a napkin.

"Sorry," he said with a mouthful of muffin, "You can't blame a guy for being hungry."

"I don't mind." He said and took a sip of his coffee, "It's just annoying with you acting like a slob."

Jason smirked at this before taking another bite of his muffin.

"I was born this way, kid. Can't blame me for being raised as one too." He stated then pointed slightly to behind him. Tim blinked at this then looked behind him, paling at the sight of Stephanie Brown sipping away at her hot chocolate while reading a book he gave a few years ago while they had been still together. He shot back around towards Jason and hissed, "What should I do if se notices me? You left her at her apartment without any sort of explanation!"

Jason took another bite of his muffin and shrugged at this.

"Well, we didn't need her to assume anything since ya know-you almost ate her." He said in a whisper and Tim narrowed his eye at this then Jason stood up. He pulled out his phone and smirked at it, seeing a text.

"I'll be right back. I gotta call back someone." He said and walked away for a moment with his espresso in hand, leaving Tim to face Steph alone as she turned and looked directly at him. He sighed as she got up and walked towards his booth, her eyes narrowed at the sight of him in both anger and confusion.

"What the hell happened?" she hissed at him and he gently placed down his coffee, staring at its contents swirling around.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Steph." He answered and looked up to her mad blue eyes.

"You know exactly what I mean, Tim!" she exclaimed and slammed her book on the booth, "I got knocked out when Devin…changed and next thing I know I'm at my apartment all covered in bandages with a message saying Devin was arrested and everything is fine. Tim, I know that's a lie! I know you well enough when you're lying to me."

He bite his lip at this and looked around to see if Jason was around anywhere to distract her from him answering her questions.

"Well, he was apprehended and you're ok so why does it matter to you?" he asked and she clenched her fists before she frowned at this, clearly not happy with the answer he gave her.

"Fine," she said and clutched the book to her chest, "Then I'll find out the truth on my own." She left without another word and he watched her leave with a sway in her hips and a pout on her face.

"I guess that didn't go as planned." Jason said from behind him and he turned to face the former Robin who held his phone out to Tim, "We have to go now. I've got somewhere to be and you'll be my tag along."

 Nightwing drummed his fingers against his thigh at the picture highlighted in the Bat Cave of a Venom influenced teen with holes piercing his body from an unknown weapon and being pierced on a pole. He narrowed his eyes under his mask and Batman turned to the Bat Family: Dick Grayson, the first Robin now known as Nightwing; Damian Wayne, the current and forth Robin; Barbara Gordon, known as Bat Girl before the Joker paralyzed her and confounded her to a wheelchair now known as Oracle; Cassandra Cain, the daughter of two villains that became Bat Girl after Barbara was paralyzed but now gave up the title to be Black Bat; Katherine Kane, the army brat before she could expelled for being a lesbian turned into Batwoman; and finally Stephanie Brown, once known as Spoiler spoiling her villain father's crime then took up the mantle of Bat Girl.

"This is what we know," Batman began as Nightwing swiveled in his chair and Robin glared at the mid-twenty year old, "The victim is known as Devin Morris, nineteen years old, currently enrolled at Gotham University under the major of Communication. Cause of death: Exsanguination from being pierced with an unknown weapon. The weapon though has a diameter of five inches from the size of the holes."

"So, what you're saying is that the weapon wasn't found at the scene of the crime or anywhere near it." Nightwing said and Batman narrowed his eyes under his own cowl at this, before turning to the computer screen and pulled up some old footage seeing Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake walking with him down an alley before the footage could no longer capture their trail as the camera could not capture anything at the angle it was at nor was there any sound files to help indicate any sort of evidence. Everyone turned to Stephanie and she sighed at this, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look, I got knocked out when he changed into a Venom monster. I tried talking to Tim today but he wouldn't say anything and there was no notable bruise or bandages on him either." She stated and Dick nodded at this, drumming his fingers against his thigh again.

"Then one of us can go check up on him." Nightwing suggested, "None of us besides Steph has seen Tim since he got back from his trip. We could also throw him a welcome back party and check out his place for any evidence that he's hiding from us."

Batman nodded at this approach and Robin scowled at his predecessor's suggestion, thinking he could out smart him.

"That is a good opportunity but he'll know that we are investigating him if we throw a surprise party. Going for a one-to-one approach would ultimately work better for him." Batman said and looked back up to the dead teen, "We'll find out his killer."

Tim spat out the sandwich before he had a chance to swallow it and glared at Jason, stating, "The cheese is like a curd smelling clay and the bread is a bland sponge." Jason chuckled at this before taking away the sandwich and tossed it in the rubbish.

"That's a good description for what you think of a plain grilled cheese sandwich." Jason said and grabbed another sandwich, taking a bite out of it, "The trick is not to eat it; you swallow it whole. You have to pretend to chew it about ten times. If you make chewing sounds while you do it, it will seem more real. Then be sure to throw it up before you start digesting it. Otherwise, it will ruin your health. Trust me, I've done this with other food and circumstances when it came to it." He swallowed it and placed his remains on plate, facing the teen again.

"One day, kid, once you've practiced and it seems flawless, you can eat with your friends and family again." He said and Tim gave a small smile.

"If you say so." Tim replied before Jason dug out something from his pocket, handing him a small paper bag, "What's this?"

Jason shuffled through his pocket and dug out a package of Marlboro cigarettes and a lighter. He popped one in his mouth and flickered the lighter on, a flame smothering the end of it. He sighed and answered, "It's something of a snack packaged in a cube."

Tim frowned at this and Jason sighed again before answering, "Listen, kid, you're gonna need to go get some food tonight by ourselves." He  opened his mouth it protest then closed it shut since he could not argue that he would far more food than he currently had.

"Where are you going to get the bodies?" Tim asked and Jason then smirked at this while a small chuckle escaped from his mouth, smoke escaping from his nose and mouth at this.

"Oh, don't worry about it kid." He said and pulled out the cigarette before moving to the door, "It's just a short jog to the place."

They both stared at the dead body hanging from the top of an old building and Tim's eyebrows twitched at this, turning to Jason who already started walking towards the entrance of the building. He followed him closely behind him and opened the door, although he almost fell back at the sight of more bodies covered in blood at the bottom of the floor.

"You have the bags, right?" Jason said and Tim slowly nodded at this, pulling out a black trash bag from his pocket before Jason lit another cigarette.

"Then let's start bagging these bodies. We don't have all night." He said and opened the bag and both of them started stuffing as many dead bodies in the bag.

Elsewhere, Nightwing punched another dealer in the mouth as he dodged another attack from a different one but Robin kicked the one away. He patted the younger boy on the shoulder and grinned at this before casually walking over to one of the dealer's then pressed his foot on the hand of the dealer.

"Now, let me ask you this one more time. Have you ever heard of the name Devin Morris?" he questioned the dealer and pressed on the dealer's hand even harder who groaned in pain.

"No! Who the hell is that?!" he hissed and Nightwing sighed at this before rolling his shoulders and faced Robin.

"I guess that's all for tonight." He said and Robin scowled at this.

"Because you sent so much time digging into other people's stuff." Robin stated and Nightwing shrugged before turning back to the dealer.

"Sorry, pal, guess we'll talk more tomorrow." He said and the dealer opened his mouth to question Nightwing but he delivered a non-fatal wound to the dealer that had knocked him out.

Tim awoke to the sight of his home phone ringing and groaned at the thought of answering some random person or scam call asking if he wanted to buy a condo or something along that line. He grabbed the phone and picked it up, placing it to his ear.

"Yes?" he asked and waited for a response.

"Hey, kid! Morning, are you gonna be busy tomorrow?" Jason's voice greeted him form the other end and Tim wanted to toss the phone out the window from hearing Jason's voice once he remembered last night's experience.

"Why?" he groaned and checked his clock to see the blaring numbers of five A.M.

"I managed to get a buddy of mine to help create a new identity for you when ya need it." He replied back and Tim sighed at this, running his fingers through his hair.He knew that would ultimately be useful on his end so some people would not make any connections to either himself or Red Robin.

"Fine. I don't have any classes today or tomorrow. Where do you want to meet up?" he asked and Jason paused for a moment.

"Do you know where the Iceberg Lounge is?"

Tim blinked at the question but replied back, "Yeah. I've been there both undercover and busting the place up."

Jason chuckled from the other line and answered back, "Wait outside near it. See ya then sleeping beauty! Remember five o'clock tomorrow morning!"

He hung up and Tim sighed at this, closing his eyes again hoping he could get a whole day of sleeping without having any nightmares or waking up feeling hungry.

Tim stared at his wrist-watch as the clock turned five and he glanced around to see a shadow shift from an alleyway. He stood tall before Jason walked out from the place, wearing his normal crime fighting outfit.

"Mornin' kid." Jason said and mocked a yawn, earning a glare form the teen. He nudged Tim forward and he quietly followed him, the darkness clinging to them both.

They passed through different alleyways in twists and turns where glass shattered and swears erupted from the even darker shadows. Tim remained silent at this, having been used to the common threats of Gotham before, then Jason took an unexpected to a door where graffiti greeted them in multiple colors. He opened it up and Tim's eyes grew slightly wide as he walked in.

Different types of outfits and masks of different styles, colors, and facial styles greeted them as they entered although the interior looked like it needed some fixing up with a couple of holes in the ceiling and a terrible odor coming from one corner.

"Tes! Are you here?" Jason called and they both walked around, trying to find the person called Tes. Suddenly someone tapped Tim's shoulder and he shot around, facing a man with tattoos of Latin words and crosses running down from his face to his shoulders. The man's dyed blood red hair was pulled back in a ponytail that fell even past his shoulders and a lip piercing puffed out from pouting at the sight of the Tim. He stood a little taller than Tim but was shorter than Jason's six feet two stature.

"Good morning." He stated and took a bow at this. Tim raised an eyebrow at this and Jason chuckled a little at this, placing a hand on Tim's shoulder.

"Kid, this is Tes. He'll be making your outfit." Jason explained and Tim scanned the man up and down not sure whether or not to trust the man.

"Hello, I am Tes." He restated and Tim glanced back at Jason then back to Tes.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tim." He said and Tes then started circling around them, scanning Tim up and down.

"So he's the little birdie you've mentioned countless times." Tes muttered under his breath and stopped at this, looking to Jason again, "I've heard you've been busy but I would have never guessed that it was because of a kid."

Jason shrugged at this then Tes pulled out a piece of a paper ruler for measurements. Tim opened his mouth to complain but even without seeing Jason's eyes he could tell he wanted him quiet and just accept what was happening around him. Jason stepped away a little and then Tes started taking measurements, wrapping the ruler around Tim's head and traveled with it through his body.

"Are you fine with any type of material?" Tes asked and Tim nodded at this as he measured his neck, eyes narrowed and lips repeating the number to himself under his breath.

"Is there a certain style you want?" he asked again and Tim shrugged at as Tes then measured his shoulders and chest.

He sighed and pulled away from him, taking out a sketch book to do a couple of doodles for ideas and writing down the measurements he took down.

"I'll call you when I finish it. It shouldn't take too long since I have many materials here." Tes stated and Jason nodded at this.

"Ok. See you later, Tes." Jason said and started to leave with Tim on his tail who looked back and wasn't shocked to see the man already gone within the shadows of the establishment.

"So how exactly do you know that guy?" Tim asked and Jason sighed, his mask shining from the sunlight now piercing the skies as he closed the door behind him.

"Old friend of mine before the whole resurrection thing happened." He told him and Tim nodded at this, "Also, your lovely relatives and friends, pretending to be peace making doves, have been going around trying to figure out what happened to the kid you totaled."

Tim gulped at this and glanced down at the ground, thinking about what exactly happened.

"So, instead of Red Robin or Tim Drake, they need to think it's someone else. That's another reason why the costume is being put to use." Jason began and sat down in the corner of the alleyway, taking off his helmet. He pulled out a package of cigarettes and stuck one in his mouth, flipping a lighter open and lit up the joint. Tim had already guessed that but he was slightly glad that Jason was going off of that idea too.

"God damn Bats." He muttered under his breath and Tim sighed at this, running his finger through his hair as he thought about Jason's words on his family.

"Red Hood, correct?"

The teen turned and faced a man with glazed over eyes, slightly glowing a tint of green in them, and some salvia dribbled down his chin. Tim raised an eyebrow at this, knowing he was not going to be messing the situation since the man directed himself to Jason, and Jason sighed at this, smoke escaping his lips. He stood up and grabbed his helmet at the sight of the man. The man licked his lips, clearly chapped as if he were dying of thirst, and his clothes barely held onto his body, like he was a shell of himself.

"Yeah? That's my name." Jason said and took out his cigarette, tapping the butt of it where ash fell out. The man twitched and Tim frowned at the situation that was growing in a different direction than what he originally thought, his instincts telling him a major fight was just about to happen.

"Y-y-you…" the man stuttered and licked his lips, "N-n-n-need m-m-m-message. Message about warning. Warning…warning…"

Jason sighed and dropped his cigarette, killing it with the heel of his boot. He placed his helmet back on and grinned from underneath it, the blood rushing around throughout his body.

"To-to-to-to…" the man said then bite at his nails, gnawing now at his skin as small droplets of blood dripped to the ground. His eyes rolled wildly around and Tim's nose twitched at the scent of blood. He scowled at this and quickly went to cover up his nose from catching any other scent.

"STAY OUT!" the man screamed then charged at Jason but before another say was mentioned, a gunshot echoed the alleyway and blood exploded on the ground. Tim's eye grew wide at the sight of the dead man, whose body was still slightly twitching even though a bullet struck right through his head, and Tim turned to Jason who held the smoking pistol and didn't even act out to stop it.

"Let's go. Someone will report they heard a gunshot and we don't need to be here for Cops or Bats to swop in and question us." Jason said and placed the gun back in the holster he carried. He started walking away and turned to Tim who just stared at the dead man's brains now splattered against his shoes. He sighed and swore under his breath, the gnawing feeling pulling against his head.

"Kid, are you hungry by any chance?" Jason asked and Tim shook his head no, looking up to Red Hood.

"No…" he began then stalked away from the body, his emotions in turmoil from either to stay and arrest Jason, finish the cleanup job, or walk away from the scene of a crime he witnessed. He took a deep breath, trouble whirling around his psyche, and Jason grinned wide from under his helmet, placing a hand on Tim's shoulder.

"I'm fine." Tim said, and continued walking away, "I'm fine. I'm fine." He repeated to himself and Jason as if he were trying to convince himself he really was fine with everything when he actually wasn't.

Chapter Text

Chapter III

SuPpEr

"And if strangers come to supper they shall be served with more according as they have need." –Robert Grosseteste

Tim laid down on his bed, taking in a deep breath before looking around at his messy apartment while running his fingers though his hair. He stood up and started picking up the food he scrambled around with on the day he figured out he could no longer digest regular food.

"Wow, Tim! You really are the only one who can cook huh?"

The voice of his step-brother echoed in his head and he stifled down a gag from the smell of rotten food. He pinched his nose and continued to clean it up before Dick would come over, wanting to visit and see how he was doing based on meeting him outside a coffee shop.

Three Hours Ago, Approximately 6: 30 A.M.

Tim waited in line to order both Jason and himself coffee, but thinking about the morning before was bringing up bad thoughts.

Flesh…

He shook his head to clear his thoughts before someone poked him in the back, alarm pricking up at this. He turned around to be faced with a gigantic tackle, his instincts both human and inhuman told him that he should fight back until he heard the voice greet him.

"Tim! You're alright!"

He blinked and the person pulled him to be greeted by Dick Grayson's sky blue eyes and bright smile, looking down at him. Instead of his vigilante armor of the Nightwing suit, he wore his casual outfit of a blue cardigan and khaki pants with a smile plastered across his face. He stood taller than the teen and he always managed to brighten people's day from his aura. 

Yet Tim easily could dodge that aura.

"Hi, Dick," he stated simply and then Dick frowned at the sight of the eyepatch, confusion etched onto his features.

"Did you bang up your eye also in Japan?" he asked and Tim sighed at this, a plan ready forming in his head about how he acquired the eyepatch.

"Well, it technically did when I got injured and an infection spread to my eye." He stated and unconsciously moved his hand to his stomach, clutching his sweatshirt from this. Dick glanced at this with narrowed eyes before Tim blinked at this, looking back at his brother.

"Anyway, why are you here?" he questioned him and Dick quickly got rid of his suspicious face then slung his arm over Tim's shoulders.

"I heard that this place had really good coffee. Babs suggested it for me to go get her some." He told him and Tim nodded at this before a cashier called out for the next person in line. Tim moved up to go order and pushed his brother's arm off him, rather fiercely as if to keep him away. Although, Dick tagged along with him and leaned up to the counter, grinning at the woman cashier with flattery on his features. Tim's eyebrows twitched at this before opening his mouth to give her his order but Dick spat out, "One Ice Coffee with extra whip crème, a Frappuccino, and an Ice Tea for my little brother here."

"I would actually like two black coffees." Tim said without any thought and the two stared at him in shock. He swore in his thoughts for taking action without any previous idea what to say if he would do such a thing. Dick raised an eyebrow at this before shrugging and pulled out some cash, while the cashier told him the price.

"Why two coffees?" Dick whispered at him and Tim rang his fingers through his hair.

"I was getting two because I was meeting up with someone." He told him and Dick nodded at this, reporting it for future references.

"Oh, who?" he asked, clearly assuming it might be Stephanie, and Tim glared at him, anger flashing from his one good eye.

"Why? It's none of your business to take notes on who I associate with. I'm nineteen years old, an adult in the legal system." He snarled at him and when the cashier held out his two coffees, he snatched them out of her hands. He stormed out of the place and ignored the calls of his brother before he stopped at the cross light being red with cars speeding between the intersection. His thoughts were running wild in his head and he wanted to get out of the situation before anything happened but he knew Dick would come after him.

"Tim! Hey, wait a minute, Tim!" He heard Dick call out to him and he snapped around to face him, anger written all over his features.

"What the hell do you want Dick?" he hissed at him and Dick frowned at this, his own two drinks cupped delicately in his hand.

"I'm sorry for making a scene Tim…it' just been a long time since we've hung out as a family or brothers. I just wanted to spend some time together." He stated, trying act innocently, and Tim paused to think about this before sighing, knowing he would not escape questioning if he didn't bring Dick to his place to talk.

"Fine, you can come over in a couple hours since I have to go clean up the place before you come over." Tim said and Dick grinned big at this.

"Sweet! I'll call you when I'm heading over! See ya Tim!" he called as he went in the other direction and Tim swore to himself, realizing that he needed to clean up after his mess with food.

Present, Approximately 9:30 A.M.

He blinked out of his quick flashback and scowled, not knowing he spent time dozing off thinking about how he was led up to this point. He grabbed more food from the ground, a sandwich filled with ham and cheese that was now moldy greeted him. He scowled at the smell and quickly placed it in the trash bag, trying his best to ignore all the smells that greeted his nose and bothered both his stomach and head.

"Is this a bad time, kid?"

He snapped around to face Jason with a cigarette between his lips and a gun resting in his hands, resting on his coach with a disinterested look on his face. His eyes glanced around to see him pick up all the food Tim had trashed. He smirked at this and Tim glared at him, his eyes flashing a dangerous glint in them.

"It actually is. What do you want Jason?" he asked and Jason scowled at this, leaning back onto the couch more.

"What I want to actually do is warn you that Dick is actually going to investigate you about the Venom kid's death. He wants to determine if you had anything to do with it since Blondie had spoken to the whole Bat Fam about it." He stated and Tim's eyes grew wide at this before looking back at his hands, remembering the blood coating them and how close he came to eating Stephanie.

And the smell was absolutely delightful that he nearly lost himself there.

"Ok. Glad to take notice of that. Now if there's nothing else, please leave before he comes." Tim said and then continued picking up his trash until he heard the click of Jason's gun to his head. He paused  while a sigh also escaped his lips and Jason grabbed his cigarette out of his mouth, puffing smoke out from his lips and nose.

"We need to talk." Jason said with seriousness and Tim waited for him to finish his statement, "When you have time after Dick leaves, come find me at my place. I'll text you where to meet up. I have food ready for you and then we'll talk there privately."

He removed his gun from Tim's head and Tim stood back up to his normal height, tying the trash bag at the end of it. He turned to face Jason and said, "Fine. I'll be there. Now do you mind tossing this out as you leave? I don't need Dick to suspect anything with me caring out a trash bag full of food."

Jason placed the cigarette back between his lips and smirked at this before snatching the bag out of his hand.

"I'll ya later then, kid." He said before leaving through his window and Tim glanced around at his place, seeing nothing in his sight that would cause Dick to think twice about him. He sighed and sat down on his couch, running his fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes for a second so nothing could bother him from his own thoughts.

What the hell would he be asking about?

He started to think about the possible questions Dick would ask him.

Would he question about the surgery? Would he ask more about the eyepatch? Or the fact that he's missing from the surveillance video of him missing in it? Or why he decided to change his order at the coffee shop?

He stood frozen at his thoughts until his intercom rang to be let in. His glaze lifted to it and lingered at the thought of: Should I even let him in?

If he didn't let him in, he would definitely know something was not right. 

It continued to ring before he stood up and casually walked over to it then pressed it, answering, "Come in."

Well, there was no backing down now.

 Dick walked in with a smile on his face along with the new Robin, Damian Wayne, by his side.

Tim glared and stared at the preteen boy who also looked at him with confusion and annoyance written on his face, like he did think he was going to be seeing Tim today. The two guests both glanced around at his apartment and Damian narrowed his eyes at the sight of him.

"What is with the eyepatch, Drake?" he demanded and Tim glared at him before walking over to his kitchen counter, grabbing out a cup for coffee.

"It got infected after my surgery." He answered and found the bag of coffee grounds, pouring it in his coffee maker.

"Tch. Your immune system must be weak to get sick right after a surgery." Damian said and Tim couldn't help but grid his teeth together.

The kid didn't know when to shut up.

He could fix that by ripping him apart.

He started making a cup, trying to ignore the last thought that had just came to his head, as Dick took a seat next to Damian and asked, "Do you have anything to drink besides coffee Tim?"

He froze at his actions and his eyes grew slightly wide at his realization on how unprepared he was to thinking about others need for food or water.

He had completely forgot about that! What the hell was he going to say about that?! They'll suspect him even more if he doesn't have some water or other drink to offer!

He opened up his fridge and then to his surprise it held water, beer, orange juice, and a couple of other different types of food along with a note stating:

Kid,

Next time you clean your place try to remember that you need to assume the life of a normal college kid. I brought some beer and couple of drinks to make sure that Dick doesn't assume anything about your eating/ drinking habits. You owe me big time for this.

Jason

"What's the letter about Drake?"

Tim crumbled the letter before Damian could even read it then stood up, glaring down at him. He raised an eyebrow at this and crossed his arms over his chest as he felt in control of everything right now unlike a few moments ago.

"It's a list of what to get for groceries next time I go out." He stated and Damian scowled at this, clearly not buying that excuse.

"Tch. Whatever." Damian said as he studied the apartment even more and then sat back down on the couch with Dick.

"So, Timmy, how has college been to you?" Dick asked and Tim blinked at the question since he has not even gotten back to it due to the incident with Steph. He swore and rubbed his face at this, causing the other two Bats to question his reaction.

"I haven't gone back for a while. I have to be failing my classes from this point." He complained and ran his fingers through his hair, not thinking about consequences and questionings his professors must have about him.

"What have you been doing that's been occupying you time?" Damian asked and Tim pointed to all his computers hanging in the corner with cords surrounding them.

"I've been busy due to my injuries updating and adding new firewalls to protect our security and my own from viruses." He replied and then sighed as his coffee rang to be done. He stood back up and went to grab the cup, staring at the steaming fresh cup of coffee.

"That seems like you could be doing something else in the meantime." Damian stated and Tim snapped his gaze up to Damian, anger hinted in his one eye revealed while behind the eyepatch his eye turned to violent black and red.

He was very tired of the kid's curiosity.

"I have free time to do whatever I want, kid." He said in a very different voice from what the Bat family was used to. His tone was dark and full of anger, as if he were ready to tear him apart just from his question.

Damian stared at Tim with wide green eyes, slightly shocked that Tim had the guts to call him out on something, meanwhile Dick held the same expression across his face.

"Children have such a tender taste to them. This child though is less fatty than others but he can be doable. I'm sure you don't mind though, right, Timothy?"

The voice of him brought Tim out of reality and he turned away from them, placing a hand to his head as a small headache itched its way to the front of his eyeballs. He bit his lip and tried not to drool at the thought of eating his younger brother's skin while muscles could be peeled back to be devoured in a pool of blood.

"How about your older brother? He's got plenty of muscle and bones to chew on. I'm sure his flesh would graze down your throat like a rib-eye on a platter."

Dick's mangled body flashed across his eyes and in his hand were a piece of bone with muscle and blood hanging onto it. He could feel himself raise it up to his mouth to rip a piece off and graze his throat crimson.

Oh the ecstasy that was flowing through him.

"TIM!"

He snapped out the hallucination and stared face to face with Dick shaking him back in forth, worry knit in his eyes. He stared down at the floor with his hair plastered across his face so his eye couldn't reveal the confusion in it.

"I'm fine, Dick." He stated and took a deep breath before plastering a fake smile on his face, "Don't worry. It's nothing to be concerned of."

Dick stared at him before dropping his guard and backed away a little bit, frowning a bit at this as he wanted answers and it looked like he would not get any that day.

"Tim, why do want to lie that something could be seriously affecting you?" Dick asked and Tim sighed before running his hands through his hair, pushing it back for a second and Damian noticed the sorrow in his eye.

"Dick, I promise that nothing is going on. If there was, I would tell you right away." Tim stated and Dick scowled at this before grabbing hold of Tm's shoulders.

"Then where were you with Steph when the boy, Devin, attacked you two?!" Dick exclaimed and Tim narrowed his eye at this question, now knowing that was the main reason behind him being there.

"So you didn't come here for wondering how I was doing from the surgery, huh?" Tim hissed at him and shoved him away, even though he had an idea about Dick's reasoning being there, placing his hands on his counter as blood rushed to his head. Irrational thoughts began to pass through his head and he gripped the table tight, not knowing that his nails were scraping the wood.

Dick quickly realized what he said was wrong and his eyes held wide at this, shaking his head no.

"Of course not, Tim! It's just-!" he tried explaining until Tim flashed his one eye to him that held distrust and anger.

"Just get out. If you think I'm going to answer the question then you're wrong to think so. Get out of my sight and don't come back with anyone else. I won't answer the door and I will leave before you get to me." He stated and Dick sighed, knowing he couldn't win an argument with Tim when he was angry. He turned to Damian and who knew to leave, opening the door and walking out. Dick followed his suit and stared at him with sorrow and worry as he closed the door behind him.

Once they were out of earshot, Tim sank down to his knees and slammed his fist into his cabinets, the sound of emptiness surrounded him.

"Damn it all…" he swore and peeled off his eyepatch with black and red greeting the world, "Why did it come down to this?"

 Batman stared at the recording Dick had taken from their visit at Tim's house and narrowed his eyes at the strange behaviors Tim was showing. He rubbing his hand across his chin and glanced at one time frame that was showing him at the counter as if he were talking to himself but no voice recording could be heard or lip synch to match any words.

"Is there anything useful to prove about the Devin Morris case?"

He snapped around to face Dick Grayson in is Nightwing gear but the mask not on his face. He held sorrow in his blue eyes and Batman sighed at this.

"He's acting differently, Dick. I can't assume anything until I get his health records from Japan to be sent here since they only recorded his surgery paper." Batman stated and Dick raised his eyebrows at this.

"They wrote it down. They didn't even record it in the computer?" Dick questioned and Batman nodded at this.

"Indeed. Getting these documents are nearly impossible because the transplant wasn't truly official to put into Tim's body. The doctor apparently did so without consist of Tim and the dead man's family of approval." Batman stated and Dick's eyebrows shot up at this, surprise etching out his features from this news.

"So he pretty much performed an illegal organ transplant?" Dick suggested and Batman nodded then Dick paused for a minute, "What exactly was replaced in Tim?"

"I do not know."

Dick blinked at this before Batman swirled his chair around to face him, then said, "All the information about his transplant is on the documents but what I can figure out so far is that the accident crushed the other man to death with his intestines and stomach working properly even after death so those organs could be transplanted and probably a few others.

"In the accident report, Tim had been in his civilian clothes and damaged a large part of his body, which they did not record, strangely enough. The steel bars, due to faulty wiring holding them up, had snapped and pierced his abdomen and crushed the other man Tim was with. With the information of his abdomen, I conclude that he could had been transplanted a stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, and/ or spleen."

Dick's eyes grew wide at the list and Batman sighed, rubbing a hand across where his brow would have been.

"Tim had to be through hell when he got through that surgery." Dick whispered then a communicator went off, echoing the Bat Cave.

"So I heard Red Hood is putting in a new guy to fight tonight near Blackgate. Heard he's good."

"Ya gonna put some money on 'im?"

"Nah. I'm sticking with Banes guy tonight since he is raining champ for a while."

Batman stood up quickly at the mention of both Red Hood and Bane. He paused his research on the Devin Morris homicide case and went to the Bat Mobile.

"You going to check it out?" Dick asked and Batman grunted in response, knowing the response meant a yes, "Do you want me to go undercover for this?"

"No. You'll be with me for patrol check while I have Black Bat as undercover. Oracle will keep surveillance up on any development. Robin is going to stay home for this, I don't need him to go in head first and using him for undercover will be suspicious for someone his age." Batman stated as Dick nodded before they both got ready, not knowing that the youngest member of the Bat family had caught on to every word spoken.

 "Here's your outfit, kid. Now put it on quickly because you have a show tonight. Also throw on some hair dye even though it won't be great, it will help seal the deal with you being someone else." Jason said as he tossed Tim a bag who easily caught but with confusion written on his face. Tim raised an eyebrow at this and started opening it up before holding it up in front of him.

It was black hoodie with the shelves ripped off but a red long shelve shirt was to be put under it with black leather gloves, covering his fingers so fingerprints couldn't be traced. A black painted skull was placed on the center of his chest while there was black baggy jeans with many pockets on them also in the bag. Finally, it was a black mask fashioned to resemble leather gimp mask with an eyepatch. It bares lipless mouth that shows large gnashing teeth, much like some of Gotham's monsters, with a zipper to open it up. Plus it held a two bolts sticking out from the neck of the mask as if he were Frankstein.

"Nice job, right? Tes designed it all from scratch and the only thing he wants in return is to see you tonight at the fighting ring down near Blackgate." Jason stated and took a sip of his beer.

"Wait-what?" Tim said shocked at his request and almost dropped the outfit at the statement.

"I'll put you in as my guy in a fighting ring tonight. Tes suggested to test it out there and you can't back out of the deal since I gave you food for the meeting with Dickie-bird so you owe me." Jason said and started putting on his Red Hood uniform. Tim scowled at the thought of the meeting and Jason raised an eyebrow at this.

"I'm guessing it didn't go out as planned."

"It started out shitty and ended with more crap I'm going to have to deal with later on." Tim replied in a hiss and Jason placed his helmet on, nodding at this.

"Well, use that frustration to help win your fight." Jason said then turned back to Tim, "The Gantai's first match will begin today and he needs to be get ready to kick ass."

Slipping into the crowd of fighters and observers was easier said than done from Damian Wayne as he made his way to ring, passing by others in a simple disguise of looking like a street rat who was curious about the rumored fighting ring. He kept his head down and ignored the urge to yell at them to stay quiet so he could hear the people being called out.

"Next is Red Hood's new guy, Gantai!"

His head perked at Jason's name being mentioned and continued to move closer as the fight started up.

Tim heard his new name being called as his thoughts scrambled in his head over needless things such as his argument with Dick, thinking about FLESH, what to do if Bruce were to check on him, why Jason knew so much about Ghouls, FLESH, how there was so much FLESH around him, the smell of blood almost overwhelming his sense of rationality, FLESH, FLESH, FLESH FLESH.

He quickly snapped out of it as Jason shoved him into the fighting ring and he looked back annoyed that he didn't even saw anything else on how to cover his identity. He faced his opponent who bore a similar outlook like Devin. Green veins popped out from the man's skin and a crazed expression placed on his face held no remorse, muscles the size of cantaloupe struggled to be contained from his skin and clothes that he barely had on.

"You'll be a pleasure to kill ya, kid!" the monster of a man cried out as he shot to Tim who easily dodged the attack of raised fists heading towards him. The Venom man growled at this and more cries from the crowd called for blood to be spilled.

"His blood would taste delicious due to his unique type, right, Timothy?"

He narrowed his eyes and watched as the Venom influenced man moved to attack him again until Tim was suddenly in his face, his one exposed eye now turned to black and red. He sent a punch flying at the monster as if it were cardboard, easily breaking his nose. The monster swore loudly as he backed up a few steps then glared at him, seeing Tim's eye mutated now. The monster looked confused at what had just happened as blood tickled down his face and he narrowed his eyes at Tim, growling at him.

"What the fuck are you?" he said and Tim felt his self-control slip as he grinned wide from under his mask.

It would be wonderful to break free of all those chains that held him down.

Other people from the crowd started to complain about no bloodshed just yet while others made even more bets against Tim, cash running between their fingers. The Venom monster grabbed Tim by the throat and Tim simply waited to speak his reply as he hung loose in the man's grip. Jason stood in the back while waiting for something - anything - to happen and unknown to him, the Scarecrow stood nearby in normal civilian clothes to observe the speciation about to begin.

"I am a monster created by man." He replied as the Venom monster scowled, trying to regain his composure at the confusing answer. The monster then raised his fist to catch him off guard with an easy attack as he simply hung loose in his grip but Tim caught it in his hand and suddenly the red tentacles from his fight with Devin erupted from his back, breaking apart some of his clothes. They waved as if ready to attack as they inched closer to the Venom monster, aiming to pierce vital organs such as his lung, spine, and heart.

"But monsters aren't always created by men by but their own selfish desires to protect others from harm." He stated as the Venom monster started shaking in terror and fear at Tim, unsure what was even happening as he released his grip on Tim's throat. Then with Tim's one free hand unzipped the mouth as a large grin was seen from underneath the mask as he moved closer to man and opened his mouth wide along with a crazed look in eyes.

"Now, will you take the pleasure of being my supper today?"

Chapter Text

Chapter IV

ScAr

"Heroes always have their scars. Some you can see, some you read about later on." –George Foreman

"TiMoThY! TaKe A bItE!" a voice resonated in his skull as he took charge to the man, pinning him to the ground with the red tentacles at both arms and stomach, piercing through skin and muscles of the Venom influenced man. The man cried out in pain and Tim's grin grew even larger, tilting his head to the side.

"Would your flesh travel down my throat in a river of crimson? Or would I have to chew it into mice meat so I could devour it whole?" Tim asked him as salvia started dribbled down his lips, control no longer existent in his thoughts of consciousness. The crowd around them started in deciding if staying would be the best option as many started to run in every direction.

Jason, though in the crowd, kept his hand close to his gun so he could easy put Tim down for a moment if need be. Under his helmet, he watched in focus as his younger brother pull one tentacle out of the man, slowly and painfully, as if he did it for no reason than to ravish in the pain. He brought it up to his mouth and watched as blood dripped down onto the ground.

"Now, would your blood taste sweet or sour?" he asked before running his hand on the tentacle, trailing blood onto the glove. He began licking it from the glove and euphoria erupted throughout his taste buds.

“So delicious. More sweet than I prefer but it is rather delicious compared to normal human blood." He said and looked back down to his victim, bending on his knees and grabbed the man's leg. The Venom man's eyes grew incredibly large as Tim put pressure onto it and started pulling, a sadistic glint shined bright in his eye. He moved his mouth down to the man's leg, ready to chomp down on a piece.

"HEY! YOU CAN'T LEAVE A TRACE OF DNA OR YOU'LL BE CAUGHT, DUMBASS!" Jason called out from the crowd and Tim paused at this, a scowl on apparent on his face at that fact. Turning to him with a crazed expression on his face and a smile replacing his scowl.

"Not unless I eat him whole." He replied and Jason swore under his breath, pulling his gun out and started moving to the center of the room.

"Fucking idiot." He swore under his breath and then Tim started pulling the tentacle down the Venom man's arm, tearing through muscles and nerves as crimson spread out from his body. He shivered at the expression the man was giving him and then grabbed his leg again, pulling at it with all his strength. He had no care about the man as he only strived to enjoy the moment of sadism.

The sound of glass breaking resonated throughout the place and the remaining crowd looked up to see Batman and Nightwing dropping down on them. They all started to panic as many fled in attempt that they wouldn't catch them. Batman stared at Tim, who was in a disguise, with narrowed eyes under his mask before Tim paused at his torture victim, looking up to him.

"Can't you see that I'm busy? I was about to gorge on this feast." He stated and Nightwing winced at his voice, chills being shivered down his spine.

This person or being clearly had no care for others and was enjoying all the pain it was bringing to the other person.

"Who the hell are you?" Batman asked and Tim paused at this, turning to Jason who waited for Batman to make a move.

"I am a monster created by man." He stated, repeating himself from a few moments ago, and stepped away from his opponent, who lay on the ground crying out in pain and swearing at him to die.

"Hey, kid! Don't start taking up a fight!" Jason called and the other stared at him with confusion written across their face as to why he happened to be helping the monster.

"You've been taking all my fun away." Tim said and slowly started walking towards him, his boots echoing around them, "And I know bullets don't work on me. The only way to defeat me is through something else completely-and I know you don't have it on you."

Jason scowled even more from under is helmet before a WingDing was tossed at Tim's shoulder, managing to get lodged in the outfit but it did not even graze his skin. He looked to it before grabbing it and pulled it right out of his shoulder.

"Dumbass, didn't I just say that bullets don't work on me? Why did you think that something like this would actually slow me down?" Tim said and Nightwing gulped at this, quickly realizing his mistake. Tim placed the WingDing in one his many pockets and grinned wildly at him.

"Would you like to become my supper instead of the meat sack?" he asked with his tongue hanging out of the corner of his mouth, suddenly charging at Nightwing with full intent on eating a piece of the vigilante. Jason then started chasing after him, trying his best to beat him but something else shot in front of Nightwing, taking the bite for him.

A small cry of pain escaped Damian Wayne's mouth as Tim quickly gnawed off a piece of Damian's arm, flesh and muscle tearing off in an instant. Blood seeped onto the ground and across Tim's body, as he was thrilled to have finally eaten fresh meat. His swallowed it whole, only managing to savor it for a few moments before taking notice of who he had bitten into.

His eyes grew extremely large as Damian landed on the ground, grasping his wound tight as a pool of blood formed at their feet. He slide to a stop and began to tremble at the sight of his younger step-brother bleeding profoundly from a wound he gave him. His mental state was whirling around in both excitement and horror at what he had to Damian.

Oh god, what the fuck did he do to is younger brother?

He’s exactly what he had tried to desperately stop at that day back in Japan.

He placed his hands in front of his face and then whispered, "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"God fucking damnit kid!" Jason shouted as he then scooped up the preteen from off the ground who shouted to be released as he started running out of the place with Batman trailing behind him, a scowl of concern written on his face. He was not going to let Jason merely run off with his son in his condition and keep him near the monster that had hurt him. Meanwhile Nightwing held anger across his features and Tim remained motionless before looking at the ceiling seeing the rusty pipes. He scowled and quickly cut the one of the many structure lines with the tentacles, crashing the pipes between them and making him have an escape plan. Nightwing started looking wildly for a way to get across and he wanted to scream at how fast the Gantai had thought of an escape route.

Nightwing cursed at this and trailed out the other way but by the time he got around Tim was already gone in the shadows of the night.

"Stupid ass kid." Jason swore as he continued running through the alleyway with Batman right behind him in pursuit. He scowled under his helmet and made a quick glance to see Damian no longer conscious, clutching his wound tightly with blood seeping between his fingers. He swore again as he took another quick turn, almost bumping into Tim as he turned into the corner.

His one present eye grew wide as he passed by him and almost ran into Batman who slide to a stop them. He gulped  as his Adam’s apple bobbled and Batman narrowed his eyes under his cowl, taking stance to fight Tim. Tim licked his lips, blood tickling his tongue of the tangy taste, and the tentacles from his back then started disappearing into thin air.

"What exactly are you?" Batman asked and Tim stood still, trying to produce a plan so he would not injure another one of his family members.

"He is under my jurisdiction, Bats. I took him under my wing when he had fallen. He holds no name but the calling of the Gantai."

They looked up to the top of the roof top seeing Jason holding Damian over his shoulder and a gun pointed to the kid’s head, threatening the Batman with more than just an injury to his blood son.

"Now, I suggest you stay away or you won't get the Bat Brat back in the shape you want him." Jason commented and Batman scowled at this as Tim took that as note to go run and lay low for a while. Batman dropped his stance but his fists still clenched at his side, glaring at Jason as he casually walked away with both his youngest son and new villain to watch out for.

Dick Grayson swore as he sat down in Batman's chair and stared at the footage Batgirl and Black Bat managed to capture of the fight. The monster had taken a bite out of his younger brother, managing to actually chew off skin and muscle from the younger boy that would probably never heal properly again if left untreated. Batgirl and Black Bat stared at the footage with a look of disgust at the sight of blood and the ferociously put into that attack.

"What exactly is that thing?" Batgirl questioned with a snarl on her face and Dick started to try pull up face identification on the thing, seeing if anyone could match it.

"I have no idea but I plan on finding out and putting the guy through no mercy." He said and the computer beeped, showing up no identity. He cursed again and then started the program again, just basing it off of its hair color being bright red yet parts of it seemed to be black.

"What kind of monster could eat humans?" Batgirl questioned yet again and Black Bat narrowed her eyes at the erratic movements and crazed posture that it was demonstrating.

"Look at fighting style." She commented and the two other Bats blinked at this before turning back to the screen staring at it. They observed the way he moved before engaging the Venom monster, managing to easily block attacks and dodge them before starting up. The fighting stance looked more organized and planned once the tentacles came out though his fighting style became deranged and savaged, something completely different than a few moments ago.

"It's as if he were completely different person." Nightwing whispered and Black Bat nodded, glad he had noticed too.

"He has good fighting." She stated in a broken sentence and walked towards the computer before having a model repeat his movements on a fake environment, "It similar to other movement. Try and find based on fighting style."

Nightwing nodded at this before digging up more information on different fighting styles to compare what exactly it was using. He turned to them before saying, "This is going to take some time to compel data. How about you two try to convince Tim to help with this case?"

Batgirl scowled at this, remembering Tim's expression few days ago, and stalked away, hiding to the showers to clean off the grim and sweat from the day. Black Bat though began her exit to go find her step-brother and ask for his help.

"What the hell was that?!" Jason yelled at Tim as he rested Damian down on his sofa and Tim sank down in a chair, staring at his hands that were uncovered.

"I…don't know." He replied with a shaky voice and ran his fingers through his hair, "I got lost to my hunger and anger. My desire grew stronger than my will." Jason scowled at this as he took a quick swig of beer from one of his many bottles lying around. He turned to Tim then hit him on the head, knocking the wind out of his breath.

"Idiot, do you know what exactly you did?" he hissed at him and pointed to Damian who’s clothes were stained with blood and sticking to his skin, "Now that you bite him, I need to clean the wound and make sure there is no trace of DNA left on it. I flat out said to not even take a chance or DNA could catch you."

Tim nodded at this before glancing at his younger brother with guilt written all over his face at the fact that he did what he hallucinated.

"I'm a monster." He stated bluntly and Jason frowned at the words that escaped Tim's mouth before sighing.

"Listen, kid, you are not a monster. The monsters are the people that did this to you." He said as an attempt to comfort Tim and ran his hand through his hair, "The brat will be fine once we clean up the wound and remove the DNA from it. Once that's done, I'll deliver him to the Cave and you won't have to carry the weight of the guilt."

Tim remained frozen as Jason picked Damian up and headed to the bathroom with him in hand. He took one more glance at him before shutting the door and locking it so he could help Damian heal and seal the wound up.

"See Timothy? Didn't I tell you that his blood and flesh would be delicious?"

He snapped up to face him again, smirking down at him with his blood red eyes and black sclera. His hair nearly drenched over his shoulders and into the face of Tim, clouding his vision in red locks. His teeth pure white despite eating and devouring humans as his grin grew wider at the sight of Tim's large blue eyes.

"You-!" Tim hissed but the man quickly placed a finger to his own lips in a motion to stay quiet.

"Now, now, Timothy. You wouldn't want to alarm him when he is trying to help the younger brother that you took a little bite of." He said and he started walking in place and picked up a bottle of beer, staring down at it before placing it back on the counter.

"Why are you here?" Tim hissed under his breath and the man turned back to him, a smile gracing his features.

"Ah, right to question. Just like the first time we met." He said and Tim scowled as the memories started to overflow his brain, causing him to flashback to his first time meeting him.

"Excuse me, young man," a man with a cane in hand and a baggy cloak covered his body while coughing that sounded like a dry heave said in nearly perfect English. Tim turned to him and watched as others passed him by but he moved towards him, knowing if the man was sick he should bring him to a hospital. He walked over to him and asked also in basic English "Are you ok, sir?"

"Oh, thank you, young man. I'm just having trouble with carrying these boxes to my apartment but my back and sickness has been kicking in. Would you mind helping me? I'll give you some money also in return." The man said in English and Tim shrugged at this, not having any trouble with it since he knew some others are like the man.

"I have no problem with it sir. Now how about you direct me towards where your house is and I'll go help you." Tim said with a smile and the man nodded at this, another cough wheezing up on him. Tim then picked up the boxes that seemed to weigh more than normal and shrugged at this as the man started walking away, towards a construction site.

"How old are you young man?" the man asked as a flash of red hair glimmered out from his cloak.

"I just turned nineteen a few months ago." He replied in an ease of conversation and the man nodded at this, coughing again as they then walked into the construction site. They passed by some bricks, concrete truck, conveyor systems, glass, fire suppression equipment, wood, and above their head were steel bars slightly swinging in the gust of wind.

The wind then blew the hood of the cloak past his shoulders to reveal crimson hair in the moonlight and he took note that the man’s age looked far younger than what he had assumed while he paused at the sight of a construction sign saying workers at work. Tim stared at him before narrowing his eyes as the man then dropped his cane and turned to him.

Violet eyes that held madness stared at him and then something erupted from his back in the form of red tentacles. Tim's eyes grew wide at the sight of them and dropped the boxes in his hands, opening to reveal a gush of blood and guts erupted from them. He paled and backed away even more as two heads rolled out also.

Horrified expressions were lit out on the faces with flesh and bones still hanging out from their heads, blood coating their faces and dribbled down from their mouth.

"What the HELL?" he exclaimed and then the man's eyes transformed to red irises and the whites of his eyes black. He chuckled and then launched an attack at Tim with the tentacles, all four of them moving to attack him. He barely managed to quickly jumped out of the way and swore as he attempted to find some hidden weapon on his persona to fight back.

Suddenly two of the tentacles grabbed him by the feet and he clawed at the ground, his fingers bleeding as the tentacles pulled him back to the man-or monster. The tentacles held him upside down and he struggled to be released as blood rushed to his head and got him dizzy but his process to save himself was still formulating a plan.

"Nice try, kid." He said and then slammed Tim into a metal fence, causing it to fall over and pain raking throughout his body. Tim coughed out blood and shakily stood up on his feet, glaring at the man as he held his broken right arm to his body and blood pooling out from an open wound. Smoke and dust erupted from the bricks and glass now smashed around them. He pulled out his bo stick from his pocket now that he had a grasp of it and held it up in defense, ready for the man to attack him again. 

"Kid, you're at the perfect age to be eaten!" the man said as he shot through the smoke and dust and the tentacles now wrapped around on each limb, forcing him to drop the bo staff. He scowled and glared at the man as one tentacle launched into his stomach, blood pooling out from his fresh wound. His eyes grew wide at the pain and the man laughed at this, pulling the tentacle quickly out and blood coating it. The man bought a finger to it and licked it right off, a sadistic glee moving across his face.

"I'm going to gently scramble up you insides for you now, okay?" he stated and Tim hassled to be let free, blood spitting out of his side even more. He tossed the late teen to another fence and Tim felt his consciousness slip from the amount of blood he was losing.

Then suddenly the sound a wires being snapped caused the man to look up, his eyes growing wide at the sight of steel bars splintering on his body. The red tentacles evaporating into thin air and blood pooling out from the man's head and eye, crushing him to death.

"How…?" he said as his last words as Tim's blue eyes became glassy and a smaller steel bar piercing his abdomen caused even more bleeding, knowing he could actually be dying due to an attempt of helping a man.

He winced as he returned to reality but the man still stood in front of him with frown across his features before walking around, taking in the scenery of Jason’s place around them.

"Did you see something interesting, Timothy? Or had I opened up old scars?" he asked and Tim stood up, glaring up at him before moving up and stood still in front of him.

"Hallucinations are just a sensory experience of something that does not exist outside the mind. So I can easily move through you and the hallucination will end." He muttered to himself then started walking before bumping into him and tripped back. His eyes grew wide at the fact and he could to believe that he couldn't go through him to break the hallucination.

"You think science and logical thought can save you? You're very mistaken. You want to think that I'm a hallucination but am much more than that to your subconscious, Timothy. I may have 'died' that day but my conscious continues to live throughout your mind by that transplant with my parts inside of you. You need me to survive the hunger taunting you every single waking moment!" he began explaining to Tim and grabbed his head, forcing his eyes to stare deep into the maddening black and red eyes.

"You can't hold onto your sanity if you didn't have me by your side! I am your balance between the hunger and your sanity! You could never survive without my existence living in your brain! You believe I'm the one pulling your strings to make you go made and devour all but you are wrong! You are lying to yourself!" he exclaimed and Tim turned to pull away at his touch.

"You are the one that wants to gorge on the humans! I can't project thoughts into your mind! Only you can change yourself! I am just holding those thoughts back for you because you believe that I am the bad guy! That's the thing with humans, they all want to pass the blame to someone else and call them evil. Humans are so arrogant, trying to avoid the role of the villain from all sides of conflict. You are all monsters and villains. There is no such thing as a hero in this world. There is only villains against villains." he explained to Tim who tried to ignore his words filled with truth and closed his eyes, gripping his fists tight.

"You're not real." He whispered to himself and then placed his hands to his ears, blocking out his screams of what he proclaimed was the truth.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?"

Jason's voice recalled him to reality and he blinked to see him staring at him with concern written in his blue eyes before placing some bloody scissors, needle, and cloth onto his dinner table. Tim couldn't help but lick his lips at the sight and smell of Damian's blood on the kitchen table from the utensils.

"Nothing, just thinking about something. It's nothing to be worried about." He said and ran his fingers through his hair, "How is he?"

Jason grinned and then grabbed a bar of soap off his kitchen counter while turning on the water. He began washing his hands and announced over the sound of water, "He'll be fine. I cleaned up the wound and washed it out with alcohol so the DNA is removed somewhat until the wound is completely closed. That should take about a couple days with dousing the wound in alcohol."

"So…what are we going to do with him?" Tim asked and Jason shut the water off, drying his hands on his pants.

"I'll have someone watch over him so he won't escape and have Bruce finding out who wounded him." Jason said and Tim stared at him with disbelief written on his face.

"You're leaving him with someone I have no clue about or that he could defeat them and go back to the Cave?" Tim questioned him and Jason raised an eyebrow at this.

"The person I'm thinking of can taking care of the Bat Brat. And if need be, I can give him some medicine that will make sure that he can't escape if that makes you feel slightly better." Jason stated and Tim narrowed his eyes at this, grinding his teeth together.

"No, it not does not Jason. Who are you thinking of?" Tim asked and Jason sighed, pulling out his cellphone before beeping up a number and name. He flashed Tim the number and Tim's eyes grew wide at the name of the person.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Tim exclaimed and felt his anger building up at the sight of her name, "You think Talia al Ghul is the perfect person to watch over him?! She's tried to kill him ever since he joined Bruce."

Jason sighed at this and then started dialing up the number, saying to Tim, "I helped her out with something a few months ago so she owes me. She won't do anything to the kid but watch over him and keep him from Bruce's arms."

"But that's exactly what she wants to do! She wants to keep Damian no matter the cost! I'd rather him find out it was me that bit him than have her take care of him!" he snarled at his older brother who narrowed his eyes., ready to provoke him more.

"Really? Then go call up Bruce and the others and confess about actually happened in Japan and what it has made you do to younger brother." Jason said as he tossed another phone to Tim who easily caught it but stared down at it with a blank expression across his face. He looked up to Jason who waited for him to call but even though he announced to him that he would do, he couldn't force himself to press the buttons to call as his own selfish desire kept him from doing sp. He scowled and tossed the phone to the wall, easily shattering the case.

"Fine." Tim snarled at him while Jason smirked at this, "Go call her up but don't go crying to me that she kidnapped him or hurt him again."

"Whatever, kid. Call me when you need to replenish your supplies." He said and Tim opened his side window before jumping down below to leave the conversation alone.

Cass stared at Tim's apartment and walked around it with narrowed eyes that it was kept so neat when he usually had papers and other documents laying around or news clippings hung up on the wall connecting to other stories. She walked through the place and noticed even smaller differences in with items out of place.

Then something seemed to be dripping from his mini-fridge and she blinked at this, thinking he must have forgotten to plug in. She sighed and leaned down to it before moving to plug it in but the smell of copper invaded her nose. She moved her hand to open it but the sound of a door opening caused her to hide behind the counter of it, holding her breath so Tim wouldn't find out she was there.

"Even after that, I'm still hungry." Tim muttered, his mindset off since he left Jason’s and sighed, moving to the mini-fridge as Cass sneakily moved to a different angle. He opened it up and the smell grew even more, causing her to cover her mouth from nearly gagging at it as it smelled far more differently than anything she had ever eaten. He pulled out an item wrapped in tin foil and salvia began to build up at the corner of his mouth while Cass narrowed her eyes at this. He began to unwrap it and her eyes grew wider every second that he had unwrapped it, a crimson liquid spilling from the edges of the tin foil and dripping over the side of the counter.

Then she saw pull up a piece of-what she hoped was-raw meat, dripping the crimson liquid all over his face. It slithered its way down his lips to his chin and back on the floor. She paled at the sight of but before noticing that the color was extremely familiar to human blood. He placed the whole piece in his mouth before she took a glance at the piece but instead of animal meat, she saw the sight of human flesh attached to muscles.

After placing the piece of meat in his mouth, he saw her staring up at him with horror and he returned that gaze to her too with his black and red eye and blood stained mouth.

Chapter Text

Chapter V

ClOuDbUrSt

"Was I prone to sadness and melancholy? How could anyone like that? It wasn't that I wanted it; it was that I was so used to hard rains, I couldn't help expecting a cloudburst every time something nice happened and sunshine beamed down over me." –V.C. Andrews, Pearl in the Mist

It didn't take long at all to take action as she quickly darted to the window but Tim had already appeared in front of her. His eyes large and the mutilated iris quivered at the sight that Cass had watched him eat flesh. Her chocolate eyes grew in horror that she was spotted and he grabbed her arm, forcing her still. Blood dripped down his chin onto the floor and her voice froze from being unable to describe what she had seen him do.

"Cass," he whispered in silent shock and she struggled to be released from his grip but his inhuman strength toppled all of her training. She forced her head away and tried to ignore him calling her name.

"What the hell am I going to have to do?" he asked himself out loud now that she had been caught and narrowed his eyes, moving his hand above her neck. He pinpointed the base of her neck then chopped at it, easily knocking her out by his attack and strength. Her eyes shuttered close and dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Tim walked over her and crouched down in front of her face, staring at her. Her charcoal bobbed hair fell over her delicate nose and closed eyes, but reached pass the nape of her neck and showed her tanned neck. Her oriental features stood out in the darkness of his apartment and he stood back up, running his bloody fingers through his hair.

"Guess I'll have to figure something out." He stated and then grabbed her legs, pulling her to his bed room. She gave no fight against it as he put her on top of the cotton covers. She groaned and he looked to his desk, opening up a bunch of drawers. Pencils, weapons, papers, multiple cell phones, and other items he used for both his college life and vigilante life. There he found duct tape and military grade paracord rope and started bounding her wrists together, tying the rope as tight as he could. He winced at the force he was doing but he didn't want her to wake up from something easy to escape from. He pulled the rope to the bed frame then moved to her legs, wrapping the rope around her ankles and pulled them closely together.

He sighed at this then pulled out a cell phone, quickly pulling up Jason's number and got ready to hit the call button but stopped at the thought of asking for help again. He bite his lip at this then closed out of Jason's number and turned back to Cass's unconscious body.

What was he supposed to do with her now?

"You could eat her."

He paused at the voice and clenched his fist at the voice of him, turning to face the hallucination pushing some of Cass's hair aside from her neck. Her skin glowing from the moonlight outside that reflected in and her breath swallow from her unconscious state.

"She's family. I will NOT eat her." He stated out loud and moved back to his kitchen, moving to his refrigerator to grab more flesh to eat. His stomach rumbled in agreement and bent down as more aluminum wrapped flesh greeted his eyes. He unknowingly licked his lips and grabbed two more, a small grin appearing on his face.

"Yet you continue to ignore your urges and eat flesh from the dead. Don't you miss the taste of flesh struggling to break free once you chomp down on it? The pleasure it delivers to you?"

"Flesh is still the same no matter what." He replied and opened up one foil, the smell and the touch of blood sliding down his fingertips with the warmth of it pleasuring him. He picked it up and placed it above his mouth, small droplets of blood trickling his throat. He took a rather large bite and the lump of meat, fat, muscle, and skin sat between his tongue and teeth. He chewed and chewed until he was satisfied with swallowing it, the piece of flesh traveling down his throat and would continue until it would hit his stomach.

He breathed out and then placed the remaining piece of meat in his mouth, doing the same thing again to reduce is hunger. He chewed and let his tongue lick up any taste of the blood, muscle, skin, and fat to keep himself from wanting any more.

But that did the exact opposite.

Jason tapped his fingers against his crossed arms as he waited for Talia al Ghul to arrive with just herself and something special he ordered just in case Tim got out of hand again. He reached into his pocket to pull out one of his cell phones, glancing at the time and seeing if any messages were left but none greeted him. A knock at the door got him out of his trance and he moved to it, with a Beretta 92G in his left hand and pointed to the door ready to fire a shot at someone he didn't like.

He took a glance at the peep hole before seeing long brown hair tied up in a clip with dirty brown eyes glaring also through her sunglasses. She covered herself in a long brown trench coat but black tights reached pass the bottom of the trench coat and in one hand she held a silver suitcase while in the other was a knife. He grinned at this then unlocked the door before opening it up and said, "Nice of you to make it."

She narrowed her eyes underneath her sunglasses before walking in, her knife still drawn as he closed the door behind her. He keep the gun but lowered it a little until Talia placed the suitcase down and moved the knife into a hidden pocket.

"So, why did you call me here for?" She asked and removed her sunglasses, "If you think I'm here to make another deal with you after failing to complete your last one then you're wrong."

"It's not like that at all actually." Jason began as he placed his gun down and brought out a lit cigarette from his ash tray, placing it between his lips, "You know about Project G, right?"

She froze at the mention of this before her blade appeared back in her hand again.

"Why does that matter, Jason?" She hissed at him then he took out a different cell phone, tossing it to her. She stared at it before he nodded to her to open it up and her eyes grew wide at the sight of the screen, horror written across her features.

"Well, one of 'em, got out and now little red robin is stuck in a situation because of it." Jason said and breathed in the toxic fumes of his cigarette before it rushed out from his mouth and nostrils.

"How did this happen?" She mumbled in both shock and curiosity and he chuckled at this, picking up the case then placing it on the table.

"From the looks of it, it got out without you guys taking any notice of it and started to kill others to survive until little red got caught in it and ended up like that." He replied and she snapped the phone shut before tossing it back to him which he caught effortlessly.

"Why did you not contact me sooner?" She hissed with anger now lighting up her features.

"Because it wasn't as bad as it seemed until a day ago that things started blowing up in my face." He snapped back and took the cigarette out, tapping it against the side of his table.

"By what do you mean, 'blowing up in my face'?" She questioned and he sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Why don't you come see the damage that he caused to your son and you'll understand." He said and she paled at this, now understanding that something was definitely wrong with the situation at hand.

Dick Grayson walked towards Timothy Drake's apartment with worry and concern since no one had heard from Cass in over a few hours after saying she would go ask for help in the case that Damian had been taken by Red Hood and his mysterious thug, Gantai. He sighed and pressed the buzzer to be let in to Tim's apartment, waiting for a quick "Ok" or "Just a minute".

Nothing.

"Uh, Tim, you there?" He asked but no one replied. He frowned at this then started walking to the side of the building where there was the fire escape to climb up to Tim's apartment. He looked around before jumping off the wall then twirled to land on one of the ladders, breathing out as he started climbing to Tim's apartment window.

He passed by a few that held their windows slightly open or even some that were yelling or even breaking objects around them. He then stopped at Tim's window which was sealed shut and currents closed. He tapped gently on it, waiting for an answer but still nothing. He narrowed his eyes and pulled out a flat head screw driver that he brought with him in case he needed to break into his younger brother’s apartment then pushed it under the seal, using as much force as possible before he heard a soft pop from the other side. He then pulled the window up and stalked inside as swiftly as possible, leaving the window open just in case for an emergency. He sighed then turned around but something sharp nearly hit him in the cheek.

He dodged it by bending back and watched as it slashed across the room but moved back in the direction it came from. Dick flipped over and stared into the darkness, trying to find the source where the object came from.

"Fo…ood…" Something moaned from the darkness and Dick moved silently to find a light source so he knew were to defend and attack. Suddenly something wrapped around Dick's leg and his eyes grew wide as it pulled him to the ground, dragging him towards its owner. He scowled and tried to find something to break free from it but only had the screwdriver in hand.

Hope this will work!

He plunged it towards the thing but once it hit, the screwdriver bounced out of his hand and landed across the room to Dick's horror and confusion.

"Oh shit." He swore then it pulled tighter around his leg, slowly crushing his bones with painful force. He swore again before he was then hanged upside down to face whatever was in control of the thing. Heavy breathing was heard even from where he was and an outfit of pocketed black jeans and black combat boots was what he managed to catch in his vision.

"Look who it is!" It slashed out and then something else grabbed his arm, turning him up to face his attacker. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the monster mask and black and red eye stare at him with hunger.

"YOU!" He snarled out and it tilted its head to the side, heavy breathing pressed against its mask.

"Ah…Night…wing…" It said and craned its neck to the side before reaching to Dick's arm, moving his jacket and shirt down, "I…didn't…eat…you…"

"No, you sick bastard! You took a bite out of my little brother! You'll pay for that!" He snarled at it and it pulled the zipper across its mouth to see blood dribbling down from the corners of its mouth then parted in a grin. Its teeth shined crimson and chuckled at Dick's reaction.

"He was…delicious and…I didn't get to…finish my meal…" it stated and licked its lips, "I'm so…fucking hungry!"

Then without another say it moved to chomp down on his shoulder but something was tossed directly at it, slamming into its head. It screeched and pulled away while releasing Dick from its grasp where he flipped away turning to face Cass with a small knife in hand and something red dripping from her hand. Her face stern and ready for another attack but it clenched its face while its screech continuing to echo around them.

"GO! We need to move before it returns to focus on us!" She exclaimed while already moving to the window and running out with Dick following behind.

"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled up to her while she paused to look behind and see it crawling out the window, on all fours but the tentacles from its back reached to pierce them. She tossed the object bleeding from her hand and it turned its head to it, watching as it jumps up to get it. She continued to run down the steps, going three at a time as does Dick.

"Tied up. Will explain once we get away." She stated and he nodded at this, following her lead as she moved into the dark lit streets of Gotham, "Shouldn't follow us onto road if people are out."

"Good idea. We won't-" Dick began until it jumped in front of them, crushing the ground around them and the piece of meat between its teeth. They both paled as traffic halted to a stop around it and people started screaming in horror at the sight of it.

"What?" They both questioned then it giggled.

"Fooled…you!" It exclaimed before swallowing the piece and went to move but stopped, staring at something behind them. They waited for it move until something jumped on top of it in attempt to crush it.

They all stared in astonishment at the sight of Red Robin trying to take it down with his bare hands.

"Get out of here, both of you!" He exclaimed at them and Cass stared at the both of them in horror, knowing that Tim was the monster but who could be in the suit.

Batman jumped up at the emergency signal activated by both Dick and Cass and rushed to the Bat mobile but a hand held out in front of him before he could do anything. He stopped to look down at the sight of Stephanie Brown in her Batgirl uniform with a stern face and her eyes narrowed.

"Let me come with you." She stated and he scowled at this before moving her arm down.

"No. You need to stay here just in case Jason drops Damian back off or if something else were to happen." He said while she frowned at it but slowly nodded, accepting defeat and turned to sit back down on the chair.

"Fine but if you do need more help, don't just wait for it but actually call for me to come." She told him and he grunted as a reply before jumping into the vehicle, speeding off in his son's and daughter's cry for help.

Jason swore as he just barely missed Tim's-no Gantai's-attack and flipped over the tentacle before landing on his feet, narrowing his eyes at the sight of the tentacles worming everywhere.

How does Tim stand in this suit when it's so goddamn tight?!

He waited for Gantai to make his move so he could go for attack against the tentacle or even itself. They circled each other until it let out another screech, moving to attack him but Jason ran right to it. He dodged its attacks in barely any break between until he caught himself running on one of the tentacles. He grinned madly then jumped up and reached to his back where he grabbed some sort of weapon from his back, pulling it up and moved to cut it down. He slammed the weapon down and saw as one tentacle split from its back break off then freeze in air before dissolving into thin air.

He grinned at this then slung the weapon back to attack but Gantai moved away, clenching at the empty place where the tentacle had laid. It hissed at Jason who pointed the weapon at him and licked his lips in anticipation.

"Bring it." He called at it before it charged at him again but he blocked the attack of oncoming tentacles with both the end and beginning of the weapon. It growled at him before moving itself to get closer distance. One of the two tentacles attacking Jason at the side while another went for the front of Jason but he was naturally dodging and twirling the weapon around him to block the attacks.

"Be careful, Tim!" Dick called out and Jason paused for just a second at his call, realizing they both thought he was their brother.

They truly cared for Tim.

Then why did he feel so angry that they thought he was Tim?

He turned back to Gantai then charged at it, hitting and using the end of the weapon to attack it.

"Come on, kid." He growled under his breath then raised in above his head and aimed to cut another tentacle but another grabbed his hand. He swore as it pulled him away and struggled to break free without making it a terrible injury.

"Fuck." He swore then pulled hard enough to snap his wrist and become useless to help balance the weapon in his least dominant hand.

"Tim?"

He ignored the call coming from the suit and took stance again as Gantai charged at him with the tentacles moving to face him head on. He swung the weapon and managed to hit one tentacle away while forcing another to the ground. He slammed it down and the tentacle shattered like the previous one to leave a singular one against him.

"Now, this will be easy." He stated and Gantai froze, trying to figure out a way to break from the situation, "Come on and show your true colors, kid."

Then Gantai grinned madly as it shot towards him and Jason also charged at him but Gantai jumped over him, shock crossing over Jason's features that it was actually ignoring him as a threat but towards the supple of people which he saw as food. He turned as quick as he could but still wasn't fast enough as it moved towards Dick and Cass. They stood frozen from the speed it was coming at them and tried to get out weapons but nothing could stop it.

"Get out of the way!" Jason called but something then sliced through the last tentacle, piercing through it and pinning it to the ground. It cried out in both anger and pain but Jason glanced up to see Talia with a bow in hand standing on one of the apartment buildings. He scowled and looked back down to it as it struggled to pull away without harming the last tentacle. He walked to it with the sound of his boots echoing around them and only cries of from the innocents surrounded them.

"Do you understand it now?" He whispered and dragged his weapon towards it, screeching coming from it, "You need to stop it right now. What you're doing is not helping your situation anymore."

"Soooooo HUnrgy….I need….flesh!" It exclaimed and clawed to Dick and Cass, salvia dribbling down from its mouth. Jason frowned at this before facing it and sighed at the sight of blood dribbling from all corners of its mouth and teeth turned pink from eating and chewing pieces of human flesh between them. Its eye of black and crimson spoke only in madness and insanity with its black hair dripping blood from the tips.

"So fucking pitiful you've become." Jason whispered under his breath and then it stopped, taking deep breathes.

"That's…mine!" It cried as it reached to grab the cowl off of Jason's face and without any thinking, he plowed his weapon right into its hand. It cried out in pain and swore wildly before looking up to Jason with hatred only towards him.

"What do you plan on doing with it, Red Robin?" Dick asked from behind him and Jason took a deep breath before turning to him. The hope and pride in Dick eyes caused Jason to almost shake from the fury that Tim was to do no good and was always right on it.

He looked back to it then pulled his weapon out its hand, causing blood to spill for a brief second before the wound began to close. He ignored Dick's call until he swept right through the tentacle and caused it to dissolve into nothing but air. It gasped as if it were pain and collapsed face flat to the ground unconscious. He pulled the arrow from Talia's shot out of the ground before turning back to it with disappointment written in his eyes and bent down to its face. He grabbed it by the hair and it winced to consciousness, the one open eye returning back to its normal baby blues.

"Are you awake now?" Jason hissed at him and Tim slowly blinked at this before realizing that Jason was bearing his uniform with Dick right behind him. He moved to cover his eye up but Jason instead hit him with his weapon, knocking his gaze down.

"Listen to me carefully," He hissed in his ear and Tim coughed up, blood spilling from his lips which was from the flesh he ate, "You need to make a break for it. Go to my safe house and don't look back. I'm going to do something really stupid."

Tim looked up and opened his mouth to say something but Jason then swung his fist around to Dick, hitting him in the ribs. Shock ruled over his features as he got knocked down and salvia spat out from his lips then scowled when he landed on his shoulders. Tim quickly took this as a signal to run as he jumped up still in confusion as he headed to the buildings surrounding them.

"You cannot escape."

He swore as Cass then charged at him with a small knife in hand, chasing right behind him. He then stopped and turned to her, ready to attack his own sister.

I'm going to hurt someone again.

He didn't want to attack her.

She looked to him and saw the terror and concerbn erode into his baby blue eye, realizing that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he was to fight. She also stopped and dropped her blade, her gaze going towards his own fight against his newly grown instincts.

"You…never wanted this…did you?" She whispered but also asked him and he dropped his gaze to the ground before dashing off again, despite her no longer after chasing him.

A call echoed from the nearly empty apartment of Jason Todd's when Talia al Ghul glanced down to her private cell phone that held no tracker on it. She stared at the unknown number before pressing to answer the call. She brought it to her ear and asked, "Who the hell is this?"

"Miss al Ghul, correct? I'm calling about the young lad who got bite by the Gantai last night. I was wondering how he was doing." The other side said and Talia glanced around the room, seeing if any cameras or microphones were going to record her talk.

"What do you want, Crane?" She hissed and moved to the bedroom where her son laid on the bed in a drug induced coma.

"What I want is the creature that bite the boy and who crippled a man for life. You know what it is and who it is too." Scarecrow said into the phone and then a cry was heard from his side of the line, "If you do not then that young lad will die."

She froze at his words and opened the door to see Damian before realizing that the boy laying on the bed looked like her son, it was not. She moved one eyelid open to stare at a brown iris, unmoving and breathed out again in anger and frustation. She clenched her fist before asking, "Fine. I'll deliver him straight to your doorsteps and the boy will not be harmed as of right now."

Scarecrow chuckled at this and said, "Good. Now you know the shipping docks? We'll trade right there. See you soon, Ms. Al Ghul."

Chapter Text

Chapter VI

CaPtIvItY

"I've become a captive of my own ambitions." -Patsy Cline

Jason was shoved down to his knees and a scowl written cross his features as Dick forced the cowl off his face. He blinked at the light and stared at the faces of Dick, Cass, and Bruce who all held anger in their eyes.

"Well, hello." He stated with a smirk across his face and then Dick smacked him across the face, pulling Jason up from the uniform with his fists tightly clenched.

"Where the hell is Damian?!" He snarled and Jason smirked at this, not knowing he carried more about the kid than Tim.

"Oh? You care about the Bat Brat more than the Replacement? Now that's a development." Jason said in a slightly shocked tone and Dick's eyes grew large at his statement, opening his mouth to protest it but Bruce asked something else, "Why are you in the Red Robin uniform, Jason?"

"There ya go! That's the big question I've been waiting to hear." Jason said and spat out a chunk of blood from his clash with Tim onto the ground, "Because I decided to piss the Replacement off more than usual this week."

Bruce narrowed his eyes at this, clearly knowing that there was more to his story, and said, "Jason stop lying to us. Tell us what exactly happened. You did this for a reason. You let the monster run free."

Jason rolled his eyes at this, ignoring the Bats question and Cass then said, "I know…something…"

They all turned to her voice and Jason's eyes grew wide at the fact that she may have been the one that Tim was planning on eating first. She gulped and looked down to the ground, anxiety and pressure growing on her. Bruce placed his hands on her shoulders and she looked up to him, seeing that she wasn't going to put the blame on him.

"What is it, Cassandra?" he asked her gently and she glanced at Jason's nervous blue eyes before licking her lips.

"The monster…it doesn't…mean to hurt others." she answered and they all blinked her response. Jason breathed in silently that she hadn't given away Tim's secret as she opened her mouth to explain but the sound of a cell phone broke the silence. Jason swore as he realized that was one of his many cell phones, probably getting a call from Tim saying that he had made it back to his safe house. Dick moved towards Jason and began to dig through his many pockets, pulling apart and scattering his many objects.

Then he grabbed a flip phone from the pocket and flipped it open. He placed it to his ear and answered, "Hello?"

"Jason?" the voice questioned and Dick's eyes grew wide at the voice, "Where is the Gantai? I need to speak with him."

"Talia?" Dick questioned and Bruce's eyes grew large at the fact that the call was from Talia while concern was starting build its way into his system.

"Richard?" the voice questioned back and Dick scowled before quickly tossing the phone to Bruce who caught it in his hands, bringing it up to his ears.

"What to do you want with Jason, Talia?" Bruce asked and there was silence before a dial tone answered him back. He scowled and narrowed his eyes at this, looking towards Jason who held no emotion on his face from the fact that it wasn't Tim.

"Would you like to explain yourself Jason?" Bruce questioned Jason let a shit eating grin cross his face and spat at Batman's feet. Dick's thoughts began to run wild at the sound of Talia's voice and Damian's disappearance before putting two and two together.

"Bruce, what if Jason gave Damian to Talia?" Dick suggested, worry consuming him, and Bruce's eyes grew slightly wide at the suggestion, all of the Bat family then moved towards Jason at the input.

"You think I would let Talia take the Bat Brat then you're more stupid than the Demon brat's anger issues." Jason stated and rolled his eyes at their belief.

Then, out of nowhere the roar of a motorcycle echoed the Bat Cave and one rolled through the Bat Cave, quickly parking next to the Bat Mobile. The figure wore all black besides his helmet that was crimson red and he pulled it right off. Jason's eyes widen at the sight of Tim staring at Bruce with worry written across his face along with his eyepatch not appearing over his normally mutated eye. Instead of black and red, baby blues greeted the them all as he walked towards them, asking, "What did I miss out?"

"Where the hell have you been?" Bruce questioned the late teen and Tim sighed at this, running his fingers through his hair which was disheveled.

"I've been running through security cameras to find footage of where the monster was previous to the fight. I'm also searching for where Jason hid Damian." he replied and the others besides Cass and Jason bought his lie. Cass continued to look at him with confusion and her fingers twitched at his odd tone of voice, knowing something was definitely up. 

"Did you find anything?" Dick asked and Tim shook his head no at this, a frown appearing across his face.

"Someone had messed with the camera I normally use and took them down, as if it knew that I had camera around the ring." Tim stated before kneeling down to Jason and narrowed his eyes at the sight of the Red Robin costume being worn by his adoptive brother, "Did you enjoy your time as a hero again Jason?"

"The fuck are ya talking about?" he said, understanding that Tim was trying to fool with the Bat family, and Tim rolled his eyes at this. But a sly smile was starting to blossom across his features.

Something was off about him.

"Come on, the only reason you would steal my suit would be to pretend to be me is to become a hero again. You miss the glory of saving others. Not having the blood spilled on your hands and the smoke of your gun rise up from the shots you make." Tim stated and then forced Jason to look him in the eye, grabbing him by his hair while bliss was seen in his eyes, "Just admit it. It'll help you cope."

Jason growled at this and narrowed his eyes, quickly realizing something was going on in Tim's head that was now causing him to react more angry than normal.

He's acting more brutal, Jason thought and clenched his jaw tight, Is he not under control?

"Are you ok, Tim?" Jason whispered and Tim narrowed his eyes at this but he smiled at this instead, letting Jason know that he clearly was not.

"I'm fine. You, though, are not in a good spot. Look at you, trying so hard to be something that you're no longer a part of. How pathetic." Tim spat at him to try and intimidate him and Jason sighed at this.

"Tim," Bruce began and moved towards the late teen then he snapped around to him, anger hinted on his features that he was interrupted.

“What?” He questioned with a hiss and Bruce only stared at him before he glanced back over to Jason.

“…We have been worried about you.” He said and Tim’s attention snapped back to him, shock at his words. He blinked a few second later and he glanced down at the floor, his thoughts running wild before replying a snake comment. 

“Sure you guys do.” He hissed and whiped over to Jason with fury hinted in his eyes, clearly displeased that he even made an attempt to be nice to him. Then without any say, Cass launched herself at Dick and Bruce looked at her in absolute confusion and shock while Tim was already behind him and grabbed him in a choke hold. 

“What are you-?!” Dick hissed as he struggled against Cass yet she remained silent on the matter while Jason’s mouth split into a grin. 

“I sure do love a good break out.” He said while Tim’s face broke into a grin as his pressure increased ten fold on Bruce, causing him to lose consciousness before he had any say or fight. Dick’s eyes grew wide as he tried to figure out what just happened as Tim dropped Bruce like he was dead weight and Dick continued to struggle but Cass eventually subdued him with more pressure and his eyelids fluttered close. 

But he did notice the twisted grin on Tim's face before he descended to unconsciousness. 

Tim turned to Cass with unease as she simply stared at him before he questioned her, “Are you sure that you trust me?” 

She blinked innocently at the question before offering a frown at him and replying back, “I trust you. You are hurt. I know you mean no harm.” 

He gave her a soft chuckle at this, not exactly trusting her word but accepting it for the moment, while moving back to Jason and walked over the unconscious bodies of Bruce and Dick. 

“Are you alright Jason?” Tim asked as he freed him from the ropes and Jason rubbed his wrists, staring down at Red Robin with concern now hinted in his eyes. 

“I’m fine. We should be talking about you. You lost control and terrorized the people of Gotham, kid.” Jason told him and Tim remained silent on the matter, knowing that he was providing himself to be a risk and endangerment to others. 

“…I know.” He muttered and brushed back some of his hair, his eye flashing dangerously into the opposing color red, “My control slipped because Cass caught me.” 

“I sorry.” 

The words from Black Bat caused the two’s gaze to shift over to her and she stared at Tim. 

“It’s not your fault, Cass. I should have been more careful.” Tim began but she already shook her head yet didn’t say anything else on the matter. 

“We should get back to the Bat Brat.” Jason said as he grabbed the cellphone Dick had taken off of him, scrolling through the numbers to find Talia’s name, “Talia is left alone with him.” 

Tim swore at this as he had forgot that Damian was left his homicidal mother and began to regather his things as Cass began to take precautions with Bruce and Dick by tying them up. Jason observed Tim with unease as he watched him with uncertainty that he would snap again. 

Not even ten minutes passed when Jason’s phone rang and Jason picked it up, placing it to his ear and answered it, “What’s up?” 

“Jason give the phone to Gantai.” Talia spoke to him, straight to the point, and he frowned at this before holding it out to Tim who grabbed it from him. Jason lived away from and decided to take off the tight Ref Robin suit, pealing it away while Tim was focused on talking with the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul. 

“What do you want, Talia?” Tim hissed and Cass sat down on the ground, near the unconscious bodies of the oldest members of the Bat Family. 

“Can you meet me at Gotham Harbor in fifteen minutes?” She asked him and he blinked at this, slightly confused at her request. 

“For what reason should I do that?” He questioned her back as Jason raised an eyebrow at this while he was halfway through pulling the suit off. 

“What is she asking for?” Jason asked him but Tim only returned a glare at him, clearly annoyed that he still had on the suit. 

“…I believe you want Damian to stay safe, correct?” She suggested and his eyes grew wide, clearly not expecting that to be words she was saying. 

“Make it twenty minutes.” Tim said and he could practically guess that a smirk was across her face at this. 

“I will see you there, Timothy.” She said and hung up while he swore at this, rubbing his face at this. 

“Do you guys have this under control?” Tim asked as he approached Jason who now stood silently with only his underwear on. He looked at Tim with uncertainty but handed over the suit to him while he went to a small closet that held some extra clothes in it. Tim snatched at immediately from his grasp, clearly upset that Jason had worn it without him asking, as he gripped it tightly in his grasp.

“We are fine.” Cass explained bluntly but looked at him with some fear noted in her eyes. He frowned at this but did understand that he had led her to that conclusion. 

“Alright, if you say so. This shouldn’t take too long.” Tim told them and began to suit up, relief filling him that he regained his proper placement. He relaxed as he pulled the cowl over his face. 

“Get going. Talia isn’t a patient person.” Jason said over his shoulder as he pulled down a shirt, causing Tim to stare at the wide variety of scars that stretched across his back and curved to his front. 

He clearly went through hell and back than what he was dealing with.

He at least didn’t die in a painful matter like Jason.  

“Jason,” Tim began and the older man looks to him with a raised eyebrow, “If you had to choose, would you choose between what happened to you or me?”

Jason’s eyes gained a dark glint them before a smirk appeared on his face, saying, “Now, that’s a hard choice to make, kid. I don’t think I should be the one to choose since I am biased on the topic.” 

Tim frowned at this, not the answer he wanted nor wanting Cass to respond to the question. 

Tim nodded as his attention moved back to his ride and he looked back to them but got on, turning the engine on and rode off without another say. He soared out of the Bat Cave and once he was out of sight, Jason swore loudly. 

He had a bad feeling that the kid was going to do something stupid.

“How long you know?”

The question from the Black Bat caused Jason’s attention to retain to her as she looked at him innocently but he knew what she meant.

“Well, I found the kid in rough situation a while back, maybe like a week ago or so.” Jason explained and she nodded at this, while her eyes narrowed. 

“He change not long ago?” She asked and he treated his muscles as he sat down, beginning to look through the surveillance near the Gotham Harbor from the large computer. 

“Shit went down in Japan apparently. Some dipshits put the wrong organs in him and caused all this bullshit.” Jason said as he scanned the location but the video seemed to be stalled, “Shit. The cameras are relapsing.” 

Cass frowned at this as the hairs on the back of her neck rose at this knowledge and she opened her mouth to suggest perhaps going to follow Tim but noticed the small movement from Batman. 

She moved towards Bruce while Jason narrowed his eyes at this, hoping that they would stay knocked out longer but Bruce did do many impossible tasks. Batman blinked awake and looked around, knowing that they did not move them very far from their original place of being knocked out. He groaned and wanted to rub his head at the aching pain but something held his hands back, which he knew were some fo their high quality rope while Cass sat down next to him.

"I sorry." she apologized and he blinked at this then quickly remembered that she had been helped the attack against himself and Dick.

"Why, Cassandra?" he asked in a harsh tone as she avoided his gaze before standing back up, turning to Jason who leaned over with a smirk plastered on his face.

"I can not explain. I am sworn to secrecy. I do not wish any harm on both you and the secrecy. I want only peace." She replied and walked towards the elevator out of the Bat Cave but it opened up before she had even called it. Jason crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at the infamous Batman and Bruce tried to come up with an explanation to why Tim had betrayed them and also how he gained such immense strength. 

“See ya later Black Bat.” Jason stated to her as she nodded at the comment, going into the elevator and leaving the three men alone. 

“So you’re trying to figure out what the hell happened, huh, Bats?” Jason taunted him and Bruce narrowed his eyes under the mask at the comment. 

Jason clearly knew more than what he had led on with earlier. 

“And you know what is wrong with Tim then?” Bruce suggested and Jason frowned at this, annoyance bowling over in his veins at the comment from Bruce. 

“Perhaps but I’m not telling you shit.” Jason told him and stood up, walking over to the lockers and seemed to be looking for something, “Although one of your cameras is broken with repeating the feed over it.” 

Bruce did not say anything at that as he had planned on sending Tim out to go fix the feed but the current events occurred and stopped that from moving on. 

“Now, I gotta handle some shit before it goes downhill even more than it has.” Jason said as he stood up, tugging at the borrowed shirt that stretched across his body, “I’ll inform Cass on when to let you go but you’ll be staying with her for some time so enjoy it.”

Jason made his way over to the entrance of the Bat Cave via a vehicle and decided to use one of the extra bikes that they had laying around. 

“I’ll see you guys around.” Jason waved at them as he shoved on a pair of shoes along with a helmet on his head. He started the engine up and Bruce just watched as he peeled out of the Bat Cave to leave him to his ideas on what had caused this situations and how he could get out of it.

Tim casually walked to the edge of the Harbor wearing his Red Robin uniform, as he felt more relaxed in that than his new Gantai outfit. He took a deep breath to relax himself even more and glanced around the area, trying to spot anything suspicious.

"So you did decided to come."

He turned to face Talia as she walked out from the shadows and held a stoic expression across her face, arms crossed over chest. He narrowed his eyes at her statement and sighed, asking, “Where’s Damian, Talia?”

She looked away but remained stoic at the question before sighing and looking back at him, playing something from her jacket which happened to be a file folder. He narrowed his eyes at this in confusion and questioned, “What is that?” 

“This contains everything about what you have become, Timothy Drake.” She stated bluntly and his eyes grew wide under his mask at this, his fingers twitched at wanting to read what exactly she had about his current situation and his thoughts about Damian slipped out of his mind at the mere mention of his own problem. 

“The being in which you crossed unfortunate paths with is something that my father had created." She began and Tim gulped as she began to tell her tale, "That being was created as one of twelve that had been scientifically engineered with the Lazarus Pits and other influential drugs and chemicals. This being had been the only successful one to live and breath like a normal human being but the amount of the Pits in its body, specifically the blood and major bodily organs, caused it to be nearly impossible to harm the being. This also creates the blood to compose and emerge from the skin when feeling threatened, angered, depressed, and another emotions that mainly cause stress. This is a weapon that fights to increase battle morality rates by three hundred percent."

Tim walked towards her with much caution and watched as she stepped forward to him, her shoes clacking against the Harbor’s paved road and said, "This is all that is known about Project G, or Ghouls, as you know." Tim couldn't help once he had reached her to snatch the papers right out of her hand and scan through the many pages of documentation.

This…he thought as his eyes grew large at the many calculations across the page, is everything about Ghouls. This could even help me understand how to possible solve his own problems .

Tim then paused as a random thought crossed his mind and looked to Talia again, asking, "Then how did the organs even get out of-?"

Then before he was able to finish his sentence the next thing he knew something dropped on top of him, which it was a car. The weight held him down and he gasped out in pain by the weight while the papers flew everywhere as he clawed at the ground to push himself out from the car, since his strength has increased immensely.

"How interesting! So the Gantai is actually one of the Batman's little birds. I would have thought otherwise but that explains so much."

Tim's eyes grew wide at hearing the Scarecrow's raspy voice and tried to turn and face him but the Scarecrow instead walked from behind the shadows Talia had came from. His gas masked face sported a grin with it barely being able to hold open for so long. He also held the body of Damian Wayne in one hand, tied up and asleep, and gently dropped the young boy in front of Talia.

"Now that I have what I want, you can take that brat of yours Talia." Scarecrow said and placed his fingers, which had needles filled with Fear Toxic was what Tim assumed, under Tim's neck, turning his head to the side as he tried to find a point to inject the Toxin in. Tim’s thoughts ran crazed as to how Scarecrow had captured Damian and he could bare hear what he was saying from the rush of adrenaline and his own twisted desire to just end the both of them.

"Where on his body am I able to penetrate him without my needles breaking?" the Scarecrow asked Talia who quickly grabbed Damian from off the ground and held him tight to her body.

Tim's eyes grew wide as the needle approached his neck, being familiar with the effects of Fear Toxin and not wanting to deal with that especially with his mental state and identity being tossed around lately. He waited for it to stab him but Scarecrow was hesitate to waste his Toxin if it didn't get in him.

"The only vulnerable spot when you don't have the weapon to harm him with is the lacrimal caruncle." She stated and Tim froze at this, knowing a good idea as to where that was and he knew he was screwed. The Scarecrow's grin grew larger at this and then grabbed the bottom of Tim's cowl, pulling it up, forcing his black hair and brilliant blue eyes to the world. Tim's eye glanced to needle approaching his eye and his iris and pupil shook as it closed in on him.

"Stop!" He cried out as the needle came mere centimeters away from his eye, his breath hitched in his throat and he knew he should have taken Jason with him.

"Welcome to your worst nightmare, little bird." The Scarecrow stated then plunged the tip of the needle to corner of his eye, hitting right above his tear duct. And with that Tim's screams of agony echoed the empty alleyways of Gotham and how even more unfortunate his life would change from this act.

Chapter Text

Chapter VII

CiRcUlAr

"The wheel is come full circle" -William Shakespeare, King Lear

"Stay away from me!" Steph cried out as Tim lunged to her, grabbing her arm with a tight force and pulled at it. She screamed in pain as the limb began to tear from off her body, blood oozing down from her shoulder and Tim couldn't help but grin at this. He pulled even harder than before, bones breaking off from her skeleton and muscles twisting away in a harsh SNAP!

"STOP!" she screamed at him as tears rolled down her face and placed the arm above his mouth and blood dripped onto his face.

"DELICIOUS." Tim stated and Steph grasped her bleeding body, her breath slowing down before he looked back to her. Her eyes widen even more as he dropped the limb, becoming easily bored with it.

"Let me feast upon you." he said and licked his lips as she screamed more in terror as he began to tear her apart alive. Ripping and pulling at her flesh as her blood poured out around him and coated his body with it.

He laughed madly and-

gasped for breath as he blinked awake from the Fear Toxin, looking around at where he was. Sweat trickled down his body and he bore nothing but the bottom of his uniform as if it had been cut off from his body and his feet touched the cold solid ground. He pulled at his arms but the sound of chains clanged against the chair he forced into. He looked to his feet and saw that the chair was metal also from being bolted down to the ground.

The place though looked like a horror story torture chamber from the blood coated walls, many different types of pliers spread on a table, needles of different size and form, a bowsaw, screwdriver, dead blow hammer, a bucket, and more to his surprise. The room also held a high ceiling with the lights above him barely flickering awake and the floor pattern being interlocked black and white tiles.

"Oh, you are finally awake, little bird?" Scarecrow said and walked out from one shadowed area of the room along with Bane trailing behind him. Tim narrowed his eyes at this and again tried to pull at the chains but that was proven useless, trying to understand why his new gained strength would of course not be working when he was captured.

"What the hell do you want from me, Crane?" Tim snarled at the villain and they both stood in front him, observing him.

"What I want is to bring Gotham to its knees and you are going to help me with that." Scarecrow stated and Tim watched as Scarecrow then picked up a plier before moving it to him, a small grin on his face knowing that he was trying to hurt him again but he wouldn't be able to since he was able to pierce his body besides his eyes that he now found out.

"If you think I can't hurt you because you believe yourself immortal then you are wrong. As Talia stated, the lacrimal caruncle is the only place to injure you. Until I inject you with something that will make you as human as you possibly can." Scarecrow stated and Tim blinked at this, unsure if this was true.

"I don't think the little bird believes you, Scarecrow." Bane said and Tim continued to ignore them, playing it off as they were trying to just get him nervous. Then Scarecrow approached him and pulled at his eyelid, creating an easier path to get to the lacrimal caruncle, and Tim felt his other eye widen at the sight of the needle just centimeters away from his eye again.

"Well then, I guess I have to show you that I speak of the full truth." Scarecrow said and without another thought, he shoved the point of the needle into the muscle. Tim screamed at this, shock piercing through his body at this, and couldn't help but watch as Scarecrow's grin grew larger at the sight of Tim's pain. Then Scarecrow pushed the liquid through the needle into Tim's system and he struggled to be released but it proved invalid.

"Do you know what I am putting into your system right now, little bird?" Scarecrow suggested and Tim wanted to shout no but the pain raking his system made him unable to, "This is a liquid form of what can cause harm to your kind. Do you remember the weapon that Talia had mentioned to Red Hood? This is it. This will make your body reduce to human penetration and injury. It lasts for just seven hours though and I have a limited supply of fifteen shots from Talia. She was quite willing to give me anything just for that brat. This she made me promise that I would not capture him anymore. So in her eyes, you are just merchandise. Much like how the rest of the Bat Family views you too. Am I wrong?"

Tim felt the urge to vomit as the needle began to pull away, forcing Tim to close his eye at this attack to dwell the swelling. He panted for breath as Scarecrow's words rang through his head and began to think that they won't come for him.

Then he remembered that Jason had come back to stop him even though they had fought what was moments ago and he knew that he at least would make an attempt to find him.

He then grinned and looked back up to the Scarecrow who frowned at his expression.

"No…I've got someone…" He stated and Scarecrow then grabbed the bowsaw, balancing it delicately in his hand.

"You may think that for now…but that can be changed quickly when you're dealing with me." Scarecrow said and then leaned down to Tim's feet, which Tim continued to grin as he waited for him to do this.

"Now, little bird, are you ready for your psychology lesson today? As a way to help keep a patient-focused and awake during torture is using a simple math equation to keep them fully aware. We'll begin with this: what is a thousand minus seven?" Scarecrow questioned him and then brought the saw down onto the connection between the toe bones and metatarsals bone. Tim couldn't believe that he felt pain as blood rushed from his wound and pain rushed into way into his head, his nerves burning and screaming at him. Scarecrow broke through the skin and slowly sawed its way through his foot, coating the floor in his blood.

It had been the first time in a while that he felt such a strong pain. 

"I'll ask again." Scarecrow said and stopped to look directly into Tim's eyes, "What is a thousand minus seven?"

"Nine-Hundred…Ninety-Three." Tim groaned out as Scarecrow nodded at this, his grin plastered back on his face.

"Good. Now, what is that minus seven?" Scarecrow asked and Tim watched as the villain began to saw at it slowly again, just to bring the agony even more to him.

"Nine Hundred…and Eighty-Six…!" Tim shouted and Scarecrow nodded at this.

"You're going to be the most interesting thing since Batman started fighting crime in Gotham. Now keeping counting down. After we're doing cutting off your toes we will try something else, perhaps the Choke Pear? I also heard from Talia that your healing, if you were to get injured, is quite quick so those toes of yours will easily be replaced." Scarecrow stated and Tim breathed between his teeth as his mind reeled at the thought of his body healing so that he could regrow his limbs.

"Continue." Scarecrow then hissed at him and Tim spoke the next frame of numbers at this, feeling his nerves explode as his toes were becoming separated from his body.

He could deal with it. He’ll have to stay strong so he could apologize to everyone.

"Nine Hundred…and Seventy-Nine…" he growled out and pulled his head back to look away at the horror happening before his own body.

“Now, now, little bird. Who said you could look away?" Bane growled at him and forced his head back down to his feet. He couldn't help but now watch as blood leaked from his empty appendages, his eyes large at the sight at how graphic it seemed to be. Scarecrow held the piece of useless flesh in his hand, blood dribbling down his hand. Tim’s body unwillingly shook at the sight of this and Scarecrow then stood up, moving the bow saw onto the table while putting his appendages into the bucket.

Scarecrow then began to pick random weapons, each balancing in his hand, and asked Tim,"Where to move onto now?"

Jason Todd stared at the body of Damian Wayne laying on his couch and looked back to the note, laying on the table. He couldn't help but stare at it again with annoyance and picked it up to read:

Dear Jason,

I received Damian back for you so my end of the bargain is up. I have already headed back and I will not respond to any questions or requests until I deem so. Damian is healed too with as much as I could possibly do so he can be returned to his father now.

I do not know where Timothy has gone and do not expect me to know. Although, I wish you the best of luck at finding the boy.

Talia

He grinds his teeth together and gripped the note tight in his hand, tossing it away in his trash can. He then pulled one gun out then shot at the wall, the sound echoing across the room. Screams were heard from the other side of the wall but he bluntly ignored them and swore loudly, tossing his table across the room in a fit of rage.

She clearly baited Tim into something he did not want to do.

"That bitch!" he swore and panted for breath after his short temper tantrum. He then pulled out his cell phone and began dialing a phone number he hasn't called in a long time.

Cassandra stared at the now conscious bodies of her family members before turning her head to the sound of the telephone ringing. She stood up and picked it up, asking, "Who this?"

"Oh, it's you." Jason answered from the other side and sighed at this fact, "Good. It's me, Jason. I'm going to have to ask you to give the phone to Dickie Bird. I need to talk with him."

"Why?" Cass asked the anti-hero who then paused at this while she glanced at the eldest son who simply looked at her with mixed emotions.

"Tim has been captured and I don't know where the hell he is or who even took him. I need to get some information so I can go find him." Jason replied and Cass's eyes grew wide at this fact while turning to her head to look at him.

"Why Dick?" she questioned and walked to him, phone in hand as Dick raised an eyebrow at her question.

"Because he knows that I have Damian. I just got the brat back from Talia. It's her damn fault that Tim got dragged into this. My bet is that someone took the kid since the cameras were broken and she made a deal to trade Tim for Damian. I should've listened to Tim. That bitch deceived me and now she knows I will go hunt her down for this." Jason stated and took a deep breath to calm himself down, "I'm going to head back over there in a few seconds with the brat. I'll figure something out on how to get the kid back but I’m gonna need their help."

"Mommy?" Tim asked and his mother turned to him, a smile gracing her features. Her eyes wrinkling slightly at the sight of him. Her bright blue eyes held honestly and happiness in them while her brown hair fell in curls around her neck. She wore an apron and decided on casual clothes for the day.

"Yes, Timmy?" she asked him back and he looked to the cookie dough she held in her hand.

"I was wondering if Daddy is planning on coming back soon. He said he would make the cookies with us." Tim said and his mother's expression turned to sorrow but flashed quickly back to a smile.

"He's just running late, Timmy. Don't worry about it. He'll come soon enough." She said and then a figure dropped over her shoulder, needle hands pressing tightly to her shoulder. A gas mask shadowed over her and she did nothing at this but stood frozen at this, while Tim's eyes grew large at the face of Scarecrow. He trembled at the sight of the villain and opened his mouth to say something but the needles edged closer to the neck of his mother.

"Ah, ah, ah. Now, you don't want to harm your precious mother, would you?" Scarecrow asked him and Tim slowly shook his head yes at this, knowing he sealed the deal to his own fate.

"Good…but I never promised that I would be the one to harm your mother, now did I?" Scarecrow stated and with this, Tim took notice of the cup of water she now held in her hands, replacing what was once the cookie dough. His eyes couldn't help but grow at the sight of the same drink that had killed his mother and wanted to cry out in order to stop her from taking a sip but his voice was lost to his fear. She raised the glass to her lips and that's when the water was drained from the cup, moving down her throat.

When she had finally finished the drink, that was when he was finally able to scream at this. Her expression quickly changed from happiness to confusion then finally horror. She reached her hands to her neck and opened her mouth to say something but when she did, she had spat out blood. Her blood had splattered across his face and she began to collapse at this, falling to the ground from the poison. He reached out to her but he was already too late once she began drinking the poison. She landed with a thud and he dropped to his knees, shaking at the sight of his now-dead mother.

"Mo…ther?" Tim whimpered out at the sight of his mother dead again.

"What a shame. I guess you couldn't save her. Just like how you were unable to save your father too." Scarecrow stated from behind him then Tim looked behind him to see his father holding a gun close to his face to protect himself. Tears drilled down his face and horror etched on face as the sound of footsteps drew closer to him. He shook at this and Jack turned to Tim with a smile on his face, saying, "No matter what happens…I'll always love you, Ti-"

Then blood yet again more splattered across Tim's face and body as a boomerang sank into his father's face. It has easily cut through his skin and pierced through his skull into his brain. His eyes were wide and blood streamed down his forehead and his body twitched a little before succumbing to death.

"Fa…ther…?" he whimpered again and moved his hands to the blood.

"My, oh my. Are you now broken, little bird? I would think it takes more than the thought of how your parents died. If you are done though, I will have to toss you in the trash. You will no longer be useful to me anymore." Scarecrow stated but Tim shot around to face him, his left eye changed.

"How dare you!" he snarled out and Scarecrow watched as Tim ran to him, ready to rip him apart limb by limb. Yet, Scarecrow easily moved away from the attack and Tim slide to a stop, panting for breath.

"It is not my fault that your parents were killed, little bird." Scarecrow said and looked down to the illusion of his dead parents, then back up to Tim, "It is your fault."

Tim paused at the thought of this but quickly shook his head at this, ignoring the Scarecrow's response. He raised his blood-stained hands then the scene around him changed quickly to something instead.

He was now back to his actual age and around him were the bodies of his family and friends. Blood spilled out for random gaping wounds, pieces of torn flesh and piercing blows, while horrified expressions plastered on their faces as he blinked at this, looking down to his own hands. They were coated in their blood and he licked his lips, wanting to taste the bitter taste of blood on his tongue. He narrowed his eyes at this, sorrow filling his head at this and felt it rise up to the surface.

"Damn you, Crane!" Tim shouted and attempted to ignore his senses since they were being lied to by the Fear Gas. He put his hands over his face, closing his eyes shut and tried to ignore the scent of blood on his hands but it was so enticing.

"It is not I in control of this situation. This is all from your own imagination, little bird." 'Scarecrow' said in his head and Tim scowled at this, grinding his teeth together, "Do you want to continue in your dream or return to reality that is much crueler than before?"

Tim scowled at this before yelling out, "I would rather be in physical torture than mental torture! I can at least handle the pain of my toes being ripped off from my body!"

"What an interesting take. Fine, you want physical torture. Don't complain to me later that wished to have stayed in a nightmare." Scarecrow said and Tim panted for breath before closing his eyes, hoping the next time he opened them he would back in his horrific reality.

Jason waited at the door to open at Wayne Manor and tapped his foot in impatience, a cigarette now lingering between his lips. He bit down harshly on it and the taste of tobacco flooded his mouth. Slowly the door opened and he looked down to see Cass now out of his uniform and instead wore a low cut red tank top and black sweat pants. Although in her hand was a kitchen knife, pointed to his throat and he stood still at this. She kept a serious face and Jason waited for her to remove the knife once she realized who it was.

"Oh…it is you." she stated and removed the knife from his throat, holding it now to her side.

"Yeah, it's me. Who else would think to come back to this hellhole?" Jason stated and Cass frowned at his wording, letting him inside and closing the door behind him.

"I wary." she explained in a broken sentence and he nodded at this, both of them walking to where the Bat family remanded tied up. Batman was knocked yet again unconscious from Cass but Dick was awake by Jason's request. The first Robin scowled at the sight of Jason and snarled out, "The hell are you doing here, Jason?"

Jason took his cigarette out and tapped on the end of it, ash escaping from the butt of it. Some escaped from lips and nose as he responding to Dick, "I need some questioned answered. You should know the answer to them."

Dick smirked at this and asked, "What makes you think that I'll answer your questions?"

This time Jason smirked at this and bent down to Dick's eye level, "I have the Demon Brat that you care so much about. If you answer my questions, I'll give him back to you with no bruises or cuts to even worry about. He's also all healed from the wound that the Gantai gave him."

Dick stared at him in disbelief and then grind his teeth together.

"What are your questions?" Dick hissed at him and Jason smiled at this as Cass also sat by the two.

"Who would you think Talia would agree to bargain with for a trade?" Jason questioned him and Dick frowned at this question.

"Why would you think I know that question? Bruce knows Talia more than me." Dick answered back and Jason frowned at this.

"Yeah, I know that…but I know you don't view Talia the same way like Bruce." Jason stated and Dick narrowed his eyes at this before looking away.

"She knows to not fool around with the Joker. So I'm betting someone around his level but not viewed as high as him. Someone who would prefer to work in the shadows and do dealings." Dick answered and Jason blinked at this before his eyes grew wide at the thought of the Ring fight.

"Bane." He stated and the two Bats stared at him in confusion then grinded his teeth together in annoyance, "She would go for him. He has multiple connections to other dealers. He would be the perfect one to make a deal with."

Cass narrowed her eyes at this and agreed with his opinion by nodding at it. She said, "I agree. He makes a perfect exchange." Jason smirked at her statement then stood up and walked to where the Bat Cave's Entrance was located.

"Excellent, now if you don't mind me, I'm going to go visit a few friends of mine to get some information on where Bane has been around in Gotham." He said but something stopped him by grabbing his sleeve. He glanced back to see Cass clutching it tightly in her hand and a small fire in her brown eyes, caused Jason to stare down at her.

"I go with you." She announced and he then frowned at this, his cigarette hanging loosely in his mouth.

"Why should I let you?" he asked and she gripped his arm tighter.

"I need to. As an apology." she answered and he smiled at her response, replying, "Good. Then let's get this show on the road."

"What the hell do you plan on doing? Who are you talking about being exchanged for Damian?" Dick questioned him and Jason sighed at this, smoke escaping his lips.

"It's better that you don't get involved, Dick. This is something that only me and the girl can handle. If you dig too deep, you'll regret learning what you found out." Jason stated and Dick narrowed his eyes at this, trying to decipher it before they widen at Talia's message before he mentioned her name.

"Did the Gantai get captured, Jason?" Dick asked him and Jason ignored his gaze by moving forward to the elevator that led to Wayne Manor, dragging Cass with him. Dick scowled at this and yelled at the two, "I'm correct, aren't I?! Why are you doing so much for a monster, Jason?! It's not like you personally know it!"

That's when Jason snapped around to Dick when the elevator had been called and they were already in it. His eyes held anger burning brightly in them meanwhile Cass's held sorrow in them. Dick blinked at this and before he could beg for answers, the doors to the elevator shut and the two Bats ascended up to figure out where Tim had been taken.

"Now, how are we feeling so far today?" Scarecrow asked Tim who panted for breath, his mind reeling at trying to recalling where he was on counting numbers.

Nine Hundred and Two…Eight Hundred and Ninety and Five…He thought in his mind and sweat dribbled down his back, anguish pulling him back to reality. Scarecrow then picked something out of the bloody bucket that his toes had been put in. The Scarecrow dug around in the bucket before pulling out some fingers that he had cut off earlier when he was in his hallucinated dream.

"You must be getting hungry soon." Scarecrow said and Tim glanced at him, watching him then place it down on the medical table. He watched as the Doctor walked over to him and he slapped Tim across the face, causing him to break out of his number counting. He spat out a tooth and Scarecrow smiled at this.

"Good. Now, how about you open wide and at your dinner?" Scarecrow suggested and Tim was planning on going to ask what he meant but then the Scarecrow grabbed Tim's mouth. He scowled and struggled to keep his jaw shut but being put through so much torture broke his physical will.

"Come on, kid. Eat your meal!" Scarecrow shouted at him and Tim bit his teeth down as hard as he could to prevent Scarecrow from committing autocannibalism on himself, "Stop being a fucking brat, little bird! Eat!"

Tim glared at the man before opening his mouth wide and launched it towards Scarecrow's arm. Scarecrow swore loudly as Tim bit harshly down on his flesh and Tim tore the flesh away from Scarecrow's arm, leaving blood to drip from the wound. Scarecrow glared at him as Tim chewed onto the piece of flesh, the pleasure of eating causing him to salivate from it. He waited for Scarecrow to make a move against him but he continued to watch him chew the meat as if he wanted Tim to swallow the piece.

Why? Tim thought and slowed his chewing again, Why is he allowing me to eat his flesh?! WHAT?! Does he expect me to spit it out? Does he expect me to enjoy it?! What does he think I'm going to do?!

Tim decided to ignore his tastebuds and spat the Doctor's flesh out by his own missing toes but the limbs were slowly regrowing themself. The taste of blood remained on his lips and heaved for breath. The Doctor, then without a moment of hesitation, shoved his own detached fingers into his mouth and horror spread across Tim's face at the taste of his own body.

"Eat!" Scarecrow hissed at him and forced Tim to chew on his own fingers, the taste of his own blood neither appetizing nor unappetizing. He couldn't help but not mind the taste of his own flesh but it was something even more inhumane than eating other people's flesh.

No! I don't want to become more of a monster! I'm already too far gone humanity! I don't need to go further! He thought but still continued to chew, Scarecrow pleased at this development.

"Good, little bird." Scarecrow said and then Tim bite down on the bone of his own finger, a crack echoing in his mouth. Tim felt the urge to puke at the fact he was committing to such horrors and Scarecrow forcing his mouth closed, swallowing the fingers at this.

Now, how was it?" Scarecrow asked and Tim panted for breath at this, not wanting to answer his question knowing exactly what he would say.

DELICIOUS!

Chapter Text

Chapter VIII

BiRdCaGe

"To be human is to keep rattling the bars of the cage of existence, hollering, 'What's it for?'" -Robert Fulghum

It had already been a day being captured as Tim observed Scarecrow picking up a can of gasoline and headed to the late teen. Tim's head hung low to the ground and he whispered under his breath the haunting numbers to count back from, "Seven Hundred and Forty-Eight…Seven Hundred and Forty-One…"

Scarecrow couldn't help but have a sickening grin form the fact that Tim was slowly breaking down and becoming nothing but a broken man in the body of a monster. Scarecrow then began to pour the gasoline onto the teen's shoulders. The diesel drenched his body and he breathed out a sigh, watching as it continued pouring down his body. He could smell that it was gasoline but he made no plans on breaking free, knowing that he would just deal with the pain.

It's already been a single day at most…Tim thought and watched the Doctor pulled away from him. He glanced back up to see Scarecrow now with a match in hand, already lit and ready to place on his skin.

"Are you ready for another test, little bird?" Scarecrow asked him and Tim couldn't help but feel himself smile at this, his psyche twisting and turning at the question. He was slipping but his mutated eye held glee in it while the other held horror within as he stared into Scarecrow's glowing eyes.

"I've been prepared for a while, Crane!" He exclaimed and laughed at this but on the inside, he struggled to keep his sanity and will in control.

I don't…I don't want to deal with anymore suffering! Tim screamed in his own thoughts and didn't even start to scream as the fire began to pick up on his skin. The diesel on his skin flared up and started to roast him alive, wrapping and burning his skin off. His blood began to boil from the heat but it wouldn't dare leak from his body as his skin melted.

It was merely a test to see whether or not his body could handle fire. He was just a lab rat to fulfill Crane’s twisted sense of intrigue. 

He continued to laugh and watched as Scarecrow took notes of his torture, hoping he would eventually stop this madness.

IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED CRANE?! Tim thought and tugged at the chains on his wrists, pulling at them now as the heat stung but made no permanent damage at the moment, YOU HAVE CLEARLY BROKEN ME MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY! WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO TO ME?!

"He may have broken you but he wants to reform you, kid."

Tim stopped laughing at the sound of him and he stood next to Crane with a frown on his face. He couldn't help but stare at the illusion of his main form of torment who casually walked around Crane, who now stood frozen. Tim scowled realizing he had unintentionally frozen himself to a secluded part of his psyche, where he wasn't in reality.

"Why the hell are you here?" he asked him who couldn't help but smile at this.

"Why you are certainty suffering from psychosis, kid. Your mind couldn't hold the physical torture anymore so it separated you into this fake reality." He said and Tim glanced down to his body that no longer was on fire but was still chained to the chair. He looked back up to him and asked, "Then why the hell am I still glued to this chair?"

He shrugged and frowned as he walked cautiously towards Tim.

"You are in control of this. Why would you think I know the answer to it?" He stated and Tim scowled at this.

"Whatever." Tim said and looked down at his toes-the fifth pair of ones- regenerated. The flesh was bright red colored from the skin being repeatedly pulled apart and sawed through. His toenails were beginning to change color from repeatedly torn off which were reforming into black.

"You're here for another reason though." Tim said and he smiled at this.

"Indeed. Now you do remember our last full conversation, right?" He questioned Tim who nodded at this, remembering how he stated he was an illusion Tim created to keep himself from blaming himself as a monster, "Good. So you finally accept the truth?"

Tim snarled at those words and snapped back, "No way. I may be a monster but it is not my choice! I was forced upon this role!"

"What about me then? Was I not forced into the role of a monster?" He questioned Tim who blinked at his words, "You read some of those files before you were dragged here. I was forced into experimentation. I was the original monster. I hold no recollection of my past life before becoming a Ghoul. Ra's al Ghul did this to me just to test the limits of humanity and change the world."

An angry look crossed across his face and he suddenly gripped Tim by the shoulders, forcing Tim to stare directly into his eyes.

"Do you know the agony I went through in the experiment? I was awake the entire time. I was kept from falling asleep or be put on drugs because of the effects it could produce if they failed again. I felt them mess around my body, my biological DNA, as I remained silent. What you are going through is nothing yet, kid. Just wait until Crane gets further in his torture." He said and the tiled floor around Tim began to turn in a wheel, moving him in a circle.

Then the smell of burning flesh invaded his nose and he snapped back to reality.

He smelled of beef in a frying pan, which disgusted him even more than possible, but he had still continued to laugh.

"Still even with the injection, your body is trying to heal itself will still on fire…how interesting. You must be at your limit or at least very close to it. The physical intensity will have to be pushed even further to begin reprogramming your will." Scarecrow said and Tim felt the flames begin to lick at his hair. The smell of sulfur filled his nose as the flames were moving fast up his hair, the smoke surrounding him slowly.

This has to be the closest I've ever been to hell…being set on fire…just like Jason…Tim thought and his head rolled down to see the flames remain on his skin but it was slowly healing itself up with the skin growing back but kept on fading when more flames appeared.

Then something splashed over him and he blinked at this, seeing his skin smolder. The smell of his own flesh and hair remained on his nose but dulled down. Water dripped down his body and his uniform completely ruined as barely anything was covering his skin from this method.

His uniform was taken away yet again without his approval. 

This thought caused him to scream in fury and tried as hard as he could to attack Crane from the chair.

"YoU tOoK iT aWaY fRoM mE!" Tim screamed in a hysteric voice and from his exposed back, his blood began to boil and tried to escape his skin in order to form the tentacles but the injection prevented this for another two hours. He snarled and hissed at Scarecrow who remained motionless but just observed his state, writing it down in his notes.

"ThAt WaS mInE! It BeLoNgEd To Me!" he continued to scream at Crane, the sound so loud that it should damage hearing, like a power drill drilling into a piece of metal.

Yet Crane did nothing but take notes to Tim's anger and annoyance.

"YoU dEsErVe DeAtH, cRaNe!" Tim shouted again and pulled at the chains, his skin getting irritated from the strength he was going at. He forced his body to try and break the chains but they remained to hold him back.

This last statement caused Scarecrow to stop writing and look up to Tim with glee on his face.

"Oh? I 'deserve death'?" Scarecrow restated and Tim stopped at this, shock crossing over his features.

Did…did I just say I wanted to…kill Crane? Tim thought and his body froze still, now realizing Crane’s psychology and physical torture was actually forcing him to change his whole rules and psyche without him being known to it.

"See, I told you. This was only the beginning."

Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain observed multiple security cameras as they continued to make an attempt at finding the missing teen, knowing he disappeared from Boston Harbor. A cigarette was hung over his lips and smoke spilled from his lips and nostrils, anger still radiating on his face and bags hung under his eyes.

"Fuck!" he shouted to no one and Cass raised an eyebrow at this.

"Do you need a break?" she asked and he shot up from his chair, rubbing the back of his neck. He stared at the captives, who were unconscious, and knew he needed to do something drastic.

"I think we need to let one of them go…" he began and cautiously walked around the Cave, observing everything he passed by, "Gotham will have no protection if we hold onto them for any longer. We need to keep the people safe as a priority. We can't just focus on the brat without forgetting the people of Gotham…but who the hell should we get? I'm surprised Batwoman hasn't come down here ready to bust some walls down or even Oracle especially with her and Dick being a friggin’ item again."

"Oracle called earlier. I told her everything is fine. I said the family was exhausted after getting Damian back." Cass said and Jason froze at this before scowling, annoyance beginning to boil over.

"She'll probably still get curious and worry about them…she would be doing something soon. What the hell should we do about this? Who the hell can we trust for this?" he hissed and ran a hand through his hair. His other hand shock from his addiction to the cigarette between his fingertips and his feet tapped in impatience.

"…I don't think Steph…she cares too much for Tim…it may crush her…" Cass said and Jason nodded at this, knowing the girl had already had enough damage to deal with could crush her if she knew her ex=boyfriend was in trouble.

"Dick…he wouldn't believe us. He can't with what Tim did to the Bat Brat." Jason said and rolled his shoulders, "Definitely not Batman, he would ask too many fucking questions that I could possibly answer. Fuck, there aren't any options left!"

"Are you so sure about that, Todd?"

The two froze at the voice and looked to see Damian Wayne, with a familiar scowl on his face and a bandage wrapped around the arm that Tim had bit at.

"Damian…" Cass let out in a whisper and he looked to her, eyes narrowed before nodding as a hello.

"Of course. Who else would I be?" he stated and then she smiled in happiness at the sight of Robin.

"You ok." She said with happiness in her voice that had the youngest in the Bat-family blush a tiny bit but it was barely anything. 

"Of course. What Drake did is nothing to cry over. I was just surprised. Luckily it did barely any damage to my muscles or nerve. If he did permeant damage, I would have cut off Drake's hand in return." Damian stated to reassure her and she nodded, knowing it was slightly a joke but glad to hear him again.

"Good. Good." she said and looked to Jason before saying, "Are you going with him?"

He raised an eyebrow at this and asked, "Me? As to what? I can't go prancing around with my guns blazing, sweetheart."

"As Batman or Nightwing or Red Robin." She stated and Jason frowned at this but then shrugged.

"Not like I haven't played as them before." He said and Damian's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"So, I'll be with Todd? Glorious." Damian muttered and Cass glared at the preteen.

"Would you search instead?" She asked him and he glanced up at her before pouting.

"Maybe I would, Cain. I can at least understand English better than you plus I would rather not injure myself after getting healed back up again." Damian said and Cass frowned at this then nodded that it did make the most sense especially if he was still healing.

"Fine." she stated and jumped off from her chair, pointing to Jason, "Suit up as Nightwing. I be Batgirl."

He stared at her fierce statement then shrugged, sticking the cigarette back in his mouth.

"Fine, I'll be Dickiebird. Brat, you tell us if you find anything when we're out." He said then Cass headed to the small locker room to suit up. 

"She's an odd one." Damian whispered but he did enjoy her presence around the manor and Jason glared at the younger boy, not really knowing this information.

"I never really got any information on her. How much do you know of her like her upbringing and parents?" Jason questioned him and Damian stalked over to the computer.

"Why don't you ask her if you're so curious, Todd? I will not hand over information so casually." Damian stated and Jason nodded before sticking his cigarette in his mouth, nodding it up and down.

"Fine…we'll see you once we're done patrolling. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Jason said and Damian began to type on the computer.

"Of course I will." Damian hissed at his older adoptive brother who then breathed out a patch of smoke.

Jason said, "Good. And Brat, Tim didn't mean to-"

Damian stopped him from saying another word and said, "I know he didn't Todd, just get going."

Tim felt his own blood dribble down his throat as he was again forced to eat his own flesh as a meal for the day. This time Scarecrow gave him some of his toes instead of fingers, hoping that he would eat them faster. The taste didn't delight him as previous, which made him glad but still wasn't disgusting. He gnawed at the small bones in his mouth, crushing it and exploding out in a burst of red from the inside of his mouth.

"Good, is it not?" Scarecrow asked him and Tim wanted to growl at the Doctor in annoyance but he was forced to chew.

It Is NoT tO bAd…

He wanted to hurl on the ground at the sound of his own mutated voice along with his mixed in.

It Is AcTuAlLy ReAlLy GoOd…

He felt his mind nullify at the voices and began to slowly accept the fact that his own flesh was quite dElIcIoUs.

NO! IT IS NOT DELICIOUS TO EAT! EATING MY OWN FLESH IS INHUMAN! Tim thought in horror and pulled at the chains on his wrists, wanting to free himself from the horror but he had recently been injected again.

"Are you sure about that or is that your past 'humanity' speaking to you? I thought you said you accepted the fact that you are a monster moments ago."

Tim looked to see him wander around with a grim smile on his face and watched as Tim finally finished eating, swallowing his own flesh easily down his throat. Blood coated his face and some dripped down from his lips, staining his body.

"Not going to say anything? Well, you are back to your psychotic break. It is time for another lesson in torture." He said and Tim moved again to free himself but the chains proved resistance even in his own mental scenery.

"Now, the idea for this form of torture is to break your identity as a human. To eliminate any thought that you were a human even before gaining my organs and forced to eat flesh. This is Scarecrow's next goal after breaking your will." He said and then disappeared in Tim's vision, leaving Tim to try and look where He had gone.

"Forcing you to eat your own flesh, making you taste your own blood and bones. Do you feel yourself changing both on the inside and out?" He whispered behind Tim who managed to get a glimpse of the blood dripping down his face.

"Will you choke on your own blood…or your enemies?"

The blood then clashed onto the floor and the tiled floor transformed into a massive river of blood, leading directly to Tim. Tim tugged to lift his feet up from becoming bloodstained but by the time he attempted to keep himself clean it already touched his regrown toes. The blood began to rise and moved up.

"Can you even keep yourself clean from the blood? You've already killed someone, Timothy." He said but Tim could not see from where his voice was coming from. Sorrow crossed over Tim's features at the thought of Devin Morris's dead body-

He had swung the tentacles at him and pierced through Devin's body, blood coated the ground and walls, especially on Tim. He couldn't help but kept the grin plastered on his face as he swung the Venom influenced teen around, not knowing that he would be pierced by a pole and would later die of blood loss

-and then a hand grabbed his leg from the pool of blood. He looked down and saw Devin's face bubbled below the surface, staring at him in anger.

"You killed me…" Devin grumbled from below the blood and Tim merely frowned at the Venom transformed teen, watching as Devin slowly pulled himself up from the blood river.

"You've killed all of us…"

Then his parents began to climb out from the blood, drenched in it and Tim’s eyes grew wide at the mere sight of them. They smiled at him, flashing blood-stained teeth and his parents wrapped their arms around him while Devin chuckled at this.

"How could you, Timmy? I thought you loved me?" His parents said at the same time, a mixture of their own voices but far more damaged than he remembered. Tim opened his mouth to say something but the fear and mixed emotions riding in his veins prevented him from doing so. Their blood began to drip onto Tim and he felt himself hyperventilating from this, his mind reeling from the fact as in reality the same things similarly happened. 

"Why did you kill us? Isn't it against your belief to kill? How could you toss away your morals so easily?" They asked him and he struggled to break the chains to run from the truth being told to him. He ground his teeth in anger at the assumption and looked up to them in annoyance.

"I didn't kill you!" He snarled at them to try and ignore their presence as they clawed into his skin, bleeding all over him.

”But you killed me…you killed me in all your rage and fury. You are a murderer. At least accept that fact instead of ignoring my death, believing you are still the hero in your story!" Devin snarled at Tim and Tim scowled at this. He closed his eyes as he tried to ignore the truth being told to him, his thoughts reeling at everything that was being told to him.

"Let go of that moral, Timothy." He said and Tim continued to seal his eyes shut, "You must come to an understanding that you are officially a killer, a murderer. Accepting the fact will help coop with the torture. You can view the torture as punishment for killing someone."

Tim slowly drew in a deep breath as he thought about it, He could be right…I did actually break my moral code. I should accept the fact that I have killed someone even though I did not mean it. I committed a sin and I should accept my retribution.

"Exactly, Timothy. You committed a sin, so, therefore, are you a hero, anymore? Or you now a villain?" He questioned Tim who now breathed softer and slowly opened his eyes. A black sclera and red iris shined bright from his left eye and stared at the bloody form of Him at the time of his death. His normally unstained cloak that he covered in was profoundly bleeding from his head and dripping through his violet hair onto his face. His limbs twisted in awkward angles from being crushed by the steel bars as he faced Tim with a smirk across his face.

"When has there ever been a hero?" Tim said in a different voice and He was grinning from ear to ear now, "There are only villains versus villains. Heroes are a hallucination people give about themselves to help suppress the fact that they are in fact villains in another's eye. No one has ever been a hero. Not me, not Bruce, not Dick, not Jason, not Damian, not Barbara, not Steph, not Cass, not Katherine. No one is a hero. We are villains."

He slowly walked to Tim with his limbs twisting and turning in terrifying angles as he attempted to move to Tim but he wasn't making any progress. Tim then said, "I'll be back…then we'll be at our ends wits. But this session of ours is at the end, I feel the physical pain seeping into this mental break. It will be a meeting I can't wait."

"Good, good. I can't wait for our next meeting, kid." He said and Tim smiled at this, closing his eyes yet again.

This time when he opened them up, he saw the familiar needle approaching his eye, time flowing so slowly in his head that he did not know that he was up again to take the shot. He didn't even wince or scream when it pushed through to the lacrimal caruncle but just stared directly into the glowing eyes of the Scarecrow and waited for him to push the liquid into his veins, reverting his body to a human-like one.

"Finally stopped complaining? Excellent. Now, time to begin the change of will. The physical torture will continue but with more interests in this will bending." Scarecrow said and pushing the liquid now through Tim's veins.

Tim smiled at this and thought how stupid Crane was to think that he would stop fighting but instead think of his for the future to take him down.

Jason was tempted to pull at the Nightwing suit from being so tight on his body but the look Cass gave him from behind her mask stopped him. He scowled and gripped the escrima sticks in his hand tight as he saw a couple of muggers move to a young girl. Before he had any say, Cass jumped down and landed on one of the mugger's body. A sound of pain escaped his mouth and the other mugger turned to face her, ready to attack but Cass was much faster than he anticipated.

She had already knocked the mugger's gun away by kicking it out of his hand and knocked him off his feet. He groaned and she looked back up to Jason, seeing that he was staring at her fast takedown.

"Will you help?" She asked up to him and Jason scowled at this then jumped next to her, staring at the groaning bodies of the mugger's.

"You already took them down. Why should I?" he replied back with a question and she glared at him from under the mask.

"Thank you, Batgirl!" The girl the muggers were after and Cass blinked at this before a small blush appeared on her face.

"Not a problem." She said and Jason raised an eyebrow at this before placing the escrima sticks into their place on his back.

"Have you seen Red Robin by any chance, miss?" Jason asked in his most polite voice he could muster and the girl blinked at this.

"Well, the last time I saw him, it had been a day or two ago, he seemed to be heading in the direction of the Harbor." she stated and Jason narrowed his eyes at this, anger now boiling through his veins.

"The bitch brought him to the harbor." He hissed and already started heading in the direction of it but Cass was still behind with the girl. She stared at her before narrowing her eyes and said, "You with Talia?" she asked and the girl frowned at this before shrugging her shoulders.

"Why would it matter? I gave you information on your lost bird." She stated and Cass took once last glance at Jason as he continued running across the rooftops heading towards the Harbor.

"Why would she give information when she told Jason she wouldn't?" Cass questioned her and the girl then smirked at this, beginning to walk away from Cass.

"She has her reasons…maybe it’s because she knows the little bird will be forever changed because of what she had done." The girl, a possible League of Shadows member, said and Cass frowned at this.

"What did she do?" Cass asked but she was answered with silence and knew that the girl has already left with her answers.

It was pulling him apart, physically.

Pulling.

Pulling.

Pulling.

The skin on his back was being pulled off.

His own flesh was being pulled off his body.

He remained silent besides the occasional listing of numbers that Scarecrow demanded him to say.

The pain had already turned numb by the time Scarecrow stared on his third attempt to peel Tim's back.

Pulling.

Pulling.

Like pulling apart the piece of flesh off of Damian's arm.

Tim snapped at that thought and reality sent him screaming at the pain he received.

His screams echoed the walls around them that only the two would hear. He swore at the pain and Scarecrow, attempting to be released from the chains.

"Screaming does you no good, little bird." Scarecrow said to Tim who continued to do so until Scarecrow then slowly pulled at the skin, blood rushing down Tim's back like a river. Tim this time groaned in time instead and finally, Scarecrow then brought out a pair of shears, cutting the piece of flesh off. He placed the piece in the bucket that contained other slices of his skin, toes, and fingers.

"Now, to keep that scream of yours silent, how about we get rid of that pesky voice?" Scarecrow said and Tim knew that he wasn't fully broken yet but he would be soon enough if he didn’t get his plan formulated or Jason to come to find him. 

Chapter Text

Chapter IX

MoNsTeR

"I've created a monster." -Rip Taylor

It was another day again from counting down.

Something had been pulled again from his body.

Tim blinked at this and attempted to open the right eye but his eyelid closed over it. The eyelid itself was closed in on him but what he forgot from his multiple states of psychosis was that Crane had pulled out his right eyeball.

He had panicked internally when the Doctor had pulled out another torture device and moved it towards his eye. He had watched as the Doctor pulled back the skin around his eye to get the eyeball out of the eye socket.

He forced himself into the psychosis.

He couldn't help himself.

He was beginning to break down.

He was started to be reformed into the role of a monster.

He was beginning to be the monster in his own tale.

BuT wAsN't I a MoNsTeR tO bEgIn WiTh? he thought to himself and then the Doctor walked in front of him, staring at the remains of what once a hero.

"Have you fallen back into your state of psychosis? I know you've been doing that for a while, lost bird. I am betting that you trying to subdue your knowledge of your torture by taking a break from reality. It is interesting when you do go into that state. Your body becomes nothing but a piece of meat, dead on the inside." Scarecrow said as he then sat down in front of him from a wooden stool he kept. He stared at the blank expression on Tim's face before Tim slowly looked up to the Doctor. His expression remained motionless until he pulled out a shit-eating grin saying, "But I have no fun when I'm with you anymore!"

Crane froze at this and waited for Tim to continue. He sat up more and his hair almost fell in front of his eyes.

"Sure, we've had fun in the past with you stripping me of my flesh and pulling my body apart but it's gotten so boring to me. There is no more excitement with you. My own twisted mind is more fun to roam in!" Tim stated and smirked at this as Scarecrow then stood up at this, moving towards his instruments on the table. He glanced around to them before looking towards Tim and grinned.

"Oh, you have no more fun with me? What a pity because now the fun will begin." He said and then pulled out a stake, like one to stab a vampire in the heart. Tim watched him and the Scarecrow then plunged the stake into his left leg.

Pain roared in his head and he grinned wider at the sight of blood running down his leg. The stake had pushed through his leg and attacked muscles that were of importance, almost even hitting an artery. Blood began to cascade down his leg and he rolled his head around before chuckling at the sight of this.

"Pain has become nothing to me, Crane. You've run out of good ideas to perform! This small game we have going on isn't going to last for too long."

Then before he could say anything else, Crane forced Tim's head back and his jaw opened wide.

"How about I break that jaw of yours then? That would be much more of a development than driving stakes through your body." Crane asked and Tim raised an eyebrow at this, now curious if he would actually do it. Then instead of doing what he said, he pulled away from Tim who stared at him in shock.

"What? You're not going to do it?" Tim bugged him and Crane then gave a maddening smile to him. He said absolutely nothing and pulled a chair in front of Tim before moving the bucket filled with his different appendages that Crane pulled off his body in front of both of them. Tim raised an eyebrow at this before looking back to Crane.

"What exactly are you trying to do, Crane?" Tim stated and Crane continued to sit still, not moving a muscle but the smell of flesh was very enticing to him. Crane just observed him as he did nothing but stare at the late teen so started to think of anything that the Doctor could do.

What the hell is he thinking of doing? Never mind that, what the hell is he trying to prove with just sitting there and staring at me with my flesh right in front of me? Tim thought and continued to wait for something to occur yet the Doctor did nothing for him.

The anticipation was driving him insane.

He struggled to move any parts of his body as the Scarecrow continued to observe him with gleaming eyes that did not move from its spot.

"Stop that…" Tim hissed at Crane how continued to not move yet it seemed like perhaps Crane was trying to make him debate between his own flesh and himself to eat but that thought did not last long in his head.

It was killing him that nothing was happening to him since he experienced so much pain that he wanted something to occur. He pulled again at the chains as more blood rushed down from the current wound he had. He scowled and stared at the wound before the feeling of lightheadedness approached him. He groaned and closed his eyes, knowing that he was going into a psychosis state of mind.

Bruce and Dick stared at the door of the Cave open to descend down and waited for Jason and Cass to walk back up at any minute. Bruce looked to Dick who continued to try and get out of the ties but failed, slightly weak from being given little amounts of food to keep them well enough but weak enough to be contained by the ties.

"Dick, stop for a moment. You need to calm down in case they return and we can take the jump on them." Bruce said and Dick stopped, breathing heavily at this with annoyance written in his gaze.

"I know but with Damian still missing, I can't help myself." Dick replied back and his hair stuck to his head from sweating so hard while also being stuck in his uniform for so long.

"Fucking hell, I swear to god, my trust level has dropped to nothing! That bitch turned on me so if she were to ever ask for another god damn favor, my answer is to go find someone else to screw with!" The voice of Jason greeted them and both him and Cass stepped up from the Cave doors, still wearing the suits they went out in. Dick blinked at the sight of Jason wearing a different version of his suit and Cass wearing Steph's Batgirl uniform. Jason stopped talking once he saw them and smirked.

"Still haven't been able to get out of the ties?” Jason asked and the Bat-Family scowled at this.

"Why are you wearing my suit, Jason?" Dick hissed at his younger adoptive brother who frowned at the question then pointed to Cass.

"She suggested we go out to make sure nothing is wrong with Gotham. She told me to wear your uniform so we won't attract too much attention to ourselves." He replied and Cass walked towards the kitchen, ignoring any eyes as she went.

"Can you fetch me a beer, Cass?" Jason asked and she nodded at this before continuing her way to the kitchen.

"Why do you care, Jason? What exactly are you and Cass hiding?” Bruce then asked and Jason sat down so he could talk on the same level as them.

"Well, a secret's called a secret for a reason, Bruce." Jason replied back with sarcasm and Bruce narrowed his eyes at this.

"What happened to Tim?” He questioned Jason who merely stared at him, trying to not give away any expression to the Batman before Dick resisted the question also. 

"Why isn't he with you since he helped knock us out?” He suggested and Jason blinked at this, ready to explain something to them as a reason to him not being there.  

"Because Drake is currently missing, Grayson."

At the voice of Damian, Dick admittedly looked up to see the preteen leaning against the door to the Cave. Relief spread across Dick's face at the sight of Damian and the preteen moved towards them.

"Todd and Cain have been looking into where he was last seen and they deemed you unnecessary and an issue in the way to find him." Damian replied to Dick who attempted to move towards the boy.

"Are you ok, Damian? How's your arm? Is it serious?" Dick questioned him. Damian scowled at this and clutched the arm Tim bite at, bandages still wrapped around it.

"I am fine, Grayson…the beast did nothing too serious. He peeled only the top layer of skin with muscle. I won't be put down so easily." Damian told his older brother and Dick gave a small smile at this.

"Good, don't worry about that monster though. Once I'm free, I'll go hunt him down and he won't be escaping again anytime soon." Dick told Damian who blinked at this then narrowed his eyes at this and glanced at Jason who gave him a worried expression. Dick frowned at this and opened his mouth to say something before noting the change of demeanor at mentioning the monster like he had the expression of worry or pity on his features.

"Are you with them, Damian?" Dick asked and Damian nodded at this, sorrow replacing on Dick's expression.

"I am but once Todd finishes his search on Gantai I can leave." Damian said and Jason’s eyes bugged out of his head from Damian just said.

"Hey, kid, watch what you spit out." Jason hissed at the preteen who glared at him in return and walked away from him, probably to get something for himself to drink.

"So, both Tim and the Gantai are missing? Why are you so concerned with the Gantai, Jason? You stated he was 'under your wing', that doesn't mean you need to be concerned about what he is currently doing unless it's connected to Tim." Dick stated and Jason ran his fingers through his hair.

"It's none of your business, Dickie bird. Now let's get back to research." Jason said as he ignored Dick's statement and Cass returned to them with a beer for Jason while placing it aside. He stood back up then brought his hands to Dick's neck, whispering, "Sorry, Dick, but it’s for the best."

Then he chopped at Dick's back of the neck, causing the force to knock him out and Cass did the same to Bruce once she got over to him.

"Have you fully accepted yourself, Timothy?"

He opened his eyes back up before seeing him smile down to him as he still was held back to the chair but he had taken up the appearance of his death. Tim gave him a small smirk before saying, "What do you think?"

He grinned and replied, "Most likely. You've changed since the beginning of Crane's torture, normally begging to be brought back to Wayne Manors but now you don't even care about the pain being inflicted on your body. You think of it as fun instead of painful. It's been quite an adventure, Timothy."

Tim raised what remained of his eyebrow at this and He brought a hand to his face.

"My being will soon be fading from your subconscious. I've played my part as I wanted, or more like how you wanted. You wanted to be known as a monster and now you have. I wouldn't be surprised if you began to not even need this psychosis state of mind anymore." He said and Tim nodded at this, no sorrow across his face at the word since he knew he had fully accepted himself as a monster, known as a Ghoul, that ate human flesh as his own food supply.

"I also wouldn't be surprised if you began to-" He began until he spat out blood, covering Tim's face from this. He didn't wince at this and narrowed his eyes at this, confusion written over his face at what happened.

"Yeah, yeah, now you've served your purpose, so shut the fuck up."

Tim looked to see himself wearing his Red Robin uniform with blood dripping down from his hair, his eyes now both looking like his. The blood was trailing down his face as if he were bleeding but he didn't believe that it was his own blood tainting him. Three tentacles whipped from behind him and blood dripped onto the ground, painting the tiled floor red. One tentacle pierced through his body and the other version of himself holding the expression of annoyance written over his face at this. He moved to stop the bleeding but when the other him pulled the tentacle out, he quickly disappeared like ash into the air. The other him sighed and looked towards Tim with a sickening grin across his face, delight speed across his features.

"Hello, Tim." the other him said and Tim raised an eyebrow at this, "I'm guessing I should introduce myself. I am what you feared for so long, the monster, a Ghoul. I am the embodiment of your self fear, a monster that only desires flesh of the living to eat and no care of who or what I get to eat."

"So?" Tim asked the other him who then frowned at this, "Is that why you killed him because he would be in the way of me fully accepting myself as no longer human?"

"No, he was just a step to gain access to your desires. He was what I was just a few days ago until now. Your fear has developed into me. He was like a previous form that I needed to dispose of because your attachment was growing too strong to him. You needed someone with more visual and mental aid." 'Fear' told him and the tentacles whipped around him, now pointing at Tim, "You still fear something so you can't move past this step. You will be caught between changing your ideals and will. You'll be stuck in this psychosis state of mind, never being able to accept this state. Your sanity will disappear and you will become nothing but a being focused on finding himself food to stay alive and even killing those who stand in your way of getting your food."

Tim narrowed his eyes at this before 'Fear' clamped a hand on Tim's head forcing his head to look up to him. He glared at 'Fear' before the tentacles then pointed directly at his face, ready to attack him.

"This fear is present because you don't know how to make the next step. So, until you learn how to make the next step you won't be going anywhere." 'Fear' told him and Tim opened his mouth to say something but when he attempted to say something, 'Fear' slashed Tim's mouth.

Blood spilled from the wound and Tim attempted to see what happened to him but he knew that the attack caused his jaw to unhinged from his mouth, the muscles that connected it had ripped apart. His jaw barely clung to the rest of his mouth while he gurgled something out as he tried to say something but he couldn't as his tongue hung down to his chin along with his bottom row of teeth.

"Now, go back and find out what you need to do so you can finally become what you need to be." 'Fear' told him and Tim glared at him then 'Fear' slashed at his throat. This time have his head roll off his shoulders with his lower jaw remained on his body and onto the floor.

"So, wake the fuck up and figure out what is wrong with you." 'Fear' told the disembodied head which made no attempt to reply.

Damian stared at the surveillance cameras of Boston Harbor as a car landed on Red Robin's body, forcing him to the ground. Talia held Damian's unconscious body in her hands as Scarecrow appeared from the shadows with many syringes in his hand. The audio was disabled but the video continued to reel. From the shaking of the car, Damian knew something was causing Tim to freak out as Crane approached him. He narrowed his eyes and paused the scene so he could get a closer look at the needles, seeing if there was anything that could help clue in what Crane had in the needles.

Tentacles then pierced through the car, glass shattered around Tim along with metal from the car. He could tell that Tim must have been screaming or yelling at Crane from the shaking of the vehicle. Then Crane knelt down, out of view from the camera, and the vehicle stopped shaking before the next thing he knew, the tentacles slowly disappeared, disintegrated into thin air. Scarecrow then stood back up and one needle no longer filled with the fluid.

Then Scarecrow looked directly into the camera before shooting a bullet into it, ending any further recordings.

"So this is what we have to offer from the recordings?" Jason said from behind him and Damian scoffed at this.

"Yes. So, we know for certain that Scarecrow took him. Who exactly has been in contact with Crane lately?" Damian asked his older adoptive brother who then placed a cigarette between his lips, sitting down next to him. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, annoyance written all over his face.

"Bane's man had been at the fight with Tim when I brought him. I believe Crane had been there when he lost control of himself so they probably are connected. I can go ahead and find him if you can pull up any areas he's recently been around. He should be close to Crane's hideout if he's with him to deliver supplies." Jason told him and Damian nodded, starting to pull up as much information as he could.

"So, do you all want to explain why Tim had the tentacles that Gantai had when it attacked Dick and Cass?"

Damian and Jason froze at the statement then turned to face both Barbara Gordon and Katherine Kane with anger and annoyance written over their faces.

"Shit." Jason spat out, forgotten about the audio the videos recorded and went to grab a weapon from his belt of the Nightwing outfit.

"Don't even try, boys." Katherine said and took a position to attack them when ready. Jason gripped the chair tight and Damian frowned, staring at the video that continued to roll on repeat.

"Why didn't I catch either of you come in from the alarm system?" Jason hissed and Babs rolled her eyes at this, tapping her fingers against the armrest of her wheelchair.

"Who do you think besides Tim is constantly updating the system here?" Babs stated and Jason scowled from the discovery, "Now, explain before I have Kate go and free Bruce and Dick to see what you've been hiding from us all."

Jason growled and pound his fist on the computer before typing in a few words, multiple files appearing over the video.

"Here! This is the fucking answer you want!" Jason shouted and one file shown had shown Tim's back, bare, with the red tentacles out but stayed still. A doctor, or someone in a green coat, observed the tentacles with his back to the camera. He held a syringe and scalpel in hand close to the tentacles as he attempted to scratch a piece of tentacles off and achieved to do so effectively.

"He is no monster, you bitches…He is still that pain in the ass, replacement. He was put in this predicament because he was being a damn kind soul and suffered injuries that were implanted by either a mistake or purpose." Jason said to them and he grinds his teeth together from giving up this information.

Horror quickly etched onto their faces from this image and Babs slowly hushed out, “Oh Tim…and he's been constantly pinned as a monster from us for a while. How could he stand with us from our treatment?"

"Because the fucking idiot cares too much about seeming to be alright for you guys. Why the fuck do you think he constantly was away or with me? I'm the black sheep. The one who no longer follows the way of a hero, so I should know that you guys don't like change at all." Jason told them and Babs glanced down at her hands while Kate remained motionless.

"Now that you know of this…are you guys willing to help hide this secret from them and find Tim before he truly loses himself as Timothy Drake, a human with a caring family that will always be on his side?" Jason asked the two women and they both looked back up to the plastered information of Tim on the computer before looking to Jason with determination.

"Of course. No matter what happened to Tim, I will stand by him." Kate stated and Jason grinned at this, though still held some doubt.

"I've watched him since he began as Robin and I will still look out for him. He's practically my little brother." Babs told him and Jason's grin grew even larger.

"Excellent then we'll be able to find the replacement in a matter of time." Jason stated in joy and everyone began to work away to find Tim before they would be too late.

"Would you survive if your head was cut off from your body, little bird?" Crane asked Tim who's eyes slowly opened. His sleep had his right eye quickly regenerate and he blinked both of them awake, groaning as he slumped his shoulders down. The stake that had been submerged in his leg had disappeared but left a large scar as pink flesh-colored scar tissue.

"What…was that Crane?" Tim replied back, not processing what Scarecrow asked him, and again groaned his memory swirled around in confusion.

"You didn't hear me the first time, little bird?" Crane said and grinned at this as he grabbed a surgical hook, trocar, and trephine from the table of supplies. Tim raised an eyebrow at this and waited for Crane to continue his sentence.

"Would you survive if your head was to be cut off from your body?" Crane questioned Tim who froze at this, horror written over his expression from this since he only thought of pain and non-serious injuries, not injuries that would have his head cut off from his body.

Just like his dream.

"…" Tim remained silent from this and continued to think.

What would happen to him if his head were cut off? Would it get replaced from another head by being regenerated? Would he die like a normal human being? But if that didn't work then how would he eventually die then? Had he become an immortal with knowledge of this?

What the fuck could he do to die then?!

Tim wanted to claw at his face at this revelation and scream out until his voice would die from his repetition.

"Oh, you don't know. How great. This experiment will definitely determine if you live or die then." Crane said and then walked over to Tim, putting the trephine above his head. Tim tried his best to not quiver at this but small shakes escaped him and he waited for it to begin drilling into his brain.

"You were so prepared for any other painful experiments but when death hangs in the balance-or possibly not dying at all. Once the comment of death arrives, you become so timid and a coward. Why is this so, little bird? Is it because you can handle the death of others but your own makes you break down, thinking about your choices and if you have done anything in the past that you wish you could fix.

"What a coward you are. You can't get over that small fact that you could die and leave so many things behind. You grip tightly onto the feeling of being alive that death terrifies you. When I established so much pain to you, you knew that you were alive. Now that I'm thinking of death, you can't help yourself from breaking down. This grip of yours is blinding you and making you be a coward. That is something I didn't believe a Bat could have but you proved me wrong, little bird." Crane explained and Tim breathed heavily, watching as Crane angled the trephine more at an angle. Crane sighed and looked back at Tim's terrified eyes.

"I had so much expectation that you would evolve into something more but you failed again little bird. Now, it is your time to find out if you can truly die." Crane said and before Tim could say anything else, the trephine began to turn. Tim knew it wouldn't pierce past his skull just yet but he could feel so very close to him that he pulled the chains on his hands but it proved worthless.

"No…Don't…I don't want this…I-” Tim whimpered out and then Crane gave a little wave to Tim as a final goodbye. Tim's eyes grew wide as pain ruptured from his skull, proctoring his nerves and blood slowly beginning to drip from the wound slowly beginning to form.

"Goodbye, little bird." Crane said and with another turn of the trephine, Tim screamed, one that echoed across the torture chamber, escaping out from the vents into Gotham. It let the people of Gotham know that one bird had its wings plucked off while flying and diving straight to the ground heading towards its death.

Chapter Text

Chapter X

HiGh SpIrItS

"There is always more spirit in attack than in defense." -Livy

"You know, lost bird, I never would have thought you would survive this long. I know you've been tortured before but not this intense, it is shown from the scars on your back and all over your body. Did you never liked showing off your victories or loses little bird? I think Red Hood would most likely do that if he were too shed some skin. The new Robin would definitely show off with that arrogance of his, believing he can do anything just because he is the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul, two very strong and ideal figures of power. Nightwing wouldn't mind but he would be reserved about it, probably trying to avoid it if he could.

"But, you, little bird. I think you would constantly try to hide from everyone. You seem to be that kind of person, or at least before this current situation. You have been quite more than what I would imagine even after this session we have between us. I'm impressed with how much pain you must have dealt with to get this far.

"With the certain situation going on, how much longer are you going to survive with the blood flowing out from your wound? It is quite a lot compared to previous times with our sessions where you would barely bleed out but this one I can understand since it is a head injury. What about cutting your neck so you'll bleed out? Would that actually kill you since all the blood that flowed through your body would be drained? Now that would be interesting, so would you like to test this theory after I'm done drilling into your brain?"

Scarecrow continued to say to the motionless body of Tim, who's eyes rolled in the back of his head and his mouth opened wide from his scream that had been stopped after a few hours of being drilling into his skull and brain. Scarecrow hummed along to a random tone and peered into Tim's open skull where he could see Tim's brain, all pink and gooey from what he could see. Blood dribbled out from the wound and dripped and clutched onto what remained of his hair since the burning. Tim said nothing as Scarecrow then reached to grab a scalpel off of the many utensils near him but instead placed it down to grab a syringe.

"How about I go collect some samples from your blood and brain, little bird? I hope you won't mind this." Scarecrow said as he then took samples from the motionless Tim Drake, "Then finding out your real identity will find me all the birds in your little nest."

Tim's eyes twitched at this statement but Scarecrow didn't know of this as he moved the syringe through the hole to his brain and blood.

"Now, Tim, what are you going to do about the fact that he is willing to give away your biggest secret besides being a monster?"

Tim grinded his teeth at this and gripped his hands tight, so much that they started to bleed from this. He growled at this and Fear smirked at the sight of this. He was currently bleeding from the wounds he gained from reality, blood dripping into his eyes and body. He heaved for breath and pulled at the chains again, yet they refused to be moved from his body. 'Fear' then pulled Tim's head up, forcing him to look him directly in the eye.

"You're practically dead. He drilled a hole in your skull and is playing around in your noggin. You can't move. You're going to end up dead and end up giving away your family's biggest secret. You are useless unless you get over that one fear you have. You'll truly die if you don't do anything." 'Fear' told him and Tim scowled at this, anger written over his face. Then 'Fear' grinned at this as his grin slide to the edge of his face and tapped the wound on his head.

"Oh, but maybe you want to die because of all the pain that was giving to you? Or is it possibly because you want to make sure you can die and never have to question it again?" 'Fear' questioned Tim and Tim's eyes grew wide from this suggestion. 'Fear's grin continued to grow as he knew that he was correct.

"How delightful. So, you now know what you truly fear, huh, Timothy?" 'Fear' suggested and Tim snapped away from 'Fear's' touch.

"You don't even know how to handle it. You're too afraid of what to choose: accept death and handle over everything your family has worked for or stay alive and make sure that information doesn't get out." 'Fear' told him and Tim gnawed his teeth together before facing his head down to the floor.

"You know, you could easily break out of those chains, Tim."

His eyes are wide at the voice of Jason and snapped his head in the direction of the older young man who was currently smoking. Smoke escaped from both his lip and nostrils while he also bore a sly grin across his face. He wore his Red Hood uniform beside his infamous helmet and took the cigarette out of his mouth before blowing out more smoke. He tapped the cigarette against one of his fingers and placed it back in his mouth.

"Those chains around you, in here, aren't real, kid. You want to be protected from what will become of you if you do accept to fight. That's why you don't remind yourself that the chains can be broken. This 'Fear' you constantly have around you are preventing that." Jason told him and Tim blinked at this before scowling.

"No, 'Fear' isn't stopping me. It is my judgment on what I think is right and wrong." Tim replied to Jason who then frowned at this, his cigarette's butt slowly falling off.

"Are you so sure about that? 'Fear' has always prevented you from doing so many things but also forcing you to do things you wish you didn't have to do. It prevented you from killing that man the day you realized you were a Ghoul. It forced you to attack Dick and Cass when you became crazed with hunger. 'Fear' has been a horror to you since your very beginning. You 'Feared' of taking my role when you began as Robin. You 'Feared' of being replaced yourself by Damian. You 'Feared' for so long that you would possibly lose yourself to killing someone out of rage towards your inability to protect others.

"You 'Fear' couldn't protect Steph when she had been nearly killed years ago and even now. Your 'Fear' couldn't protect Bruce from anyone trying to take someone away from the family. You 'Fear' so many things that you can't stop. Yet you don't seem to notice that you can easily overcome this 'Fear'

"What you need to do instead of 'Fear' of being immortal or dying, is simply accept whatever reality that will happen. You will not survive death nor life if you don't accept 'Fear', kid. If accept 'Fear', it will no longer bother you anymore nor haunt you by illusions of false realities. If you don't accept it then you will never be able to protect anyone again nor save them. This is what 'Fear' has been doing to stop you come accomplishing this. Trying to hide the truth from you." Jason explained to his replacement whose eyes continued to grow large from each word he spat out. Tim stared at Jason before he took the cigarette out of his mouth and grinned at him.

"Now, are you going to let Fear push you down? Or are you going to stand back up and fight against Fear?" Jason asked him and Tim scowled at this then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and Jason chuckled at this, smoke escaping from his lips.

"Good." he stated as Tim pushed his hands and feet together then quickly snapped the chains off, "Now, go show how much stronger you are, kid. You'll see me soon."

Tim's eyes then shot open, both eyes bearing the black sclera and red iris, and turned to see the other him, known as ‘Fear’, smile at him.

"See? I told you that you could find out what was wrong with you." Fear said and Tim stood up, finally off the chair after four days of torture being tied down. His ruined bare feet against the tile floor padded and echoed around them and he glanced down to his torn up Red Robin uniform that had his pants remaining on his body and singed part of his shirt that had once been connected to the pants.

"Now look at you. You've become exactly what you truly wanted. Now, the only thing you have to do is accept me, Tim. Once you do, everything will follow its path." Fear told him and Tim slowly nodded at this, no emotion on his face as he truly faced his ‘Fear’.

"I know." he said and sighed before the red tentacles pierced out from his body, pointing at Fear, "That's why the only way to accept you is to eat you."

Fear grinned at this and said, "Exactly. Come, Timothy and bring an end to this torment."

And then Tim shot at him and ‘Fear’ put his defenses down, with ‘his’ eyes turning Tim’s once brilliant baby blue human eyes and waiting for the attack head-on.

"I've got a location."

Once those words escaped Babs mouth, Jason and Cass shot up to go see where the hacker had found Tim. Jason had changed out of Dick's costume once the day came to an end yesterday, now wearing a pair of Bruce's sweats and a ratty old New Jersey Devils t-shirt. Cass meanwhile bore a New York Jets t-shirt and black sweat pants from the Cave. Katherine Kane had gone out to fight crime and find more information on Tim's disappearance meanwhile Damian Wayne watched over his father and adoptive brother.

On the computer screen, a small red dot blinked at a warehouse in Gotham's East End and Jason clenched his fist tight.

"Can you get a written location?" Jason asked as he then turned away from the computer moving throughout the Bat Cave to get changed into his Red Hood uniform.

"Over course I can, Jason." She stated and began to type into the computer again, "But what you need to do is come up with a plan. We have no clue what sort of state Tim might possibly be in. We have no clue what Crane has on him if he knows that we are coming after Tim. Think of something before I hand the list over to you."

Jason stopped and scowled, anger clearly written over his face.

"But we have no time to sit back and idle about a possible plan. Tim could be barely hanging onto a string as we speak. We need to go now before anything else could happen to him." Jason snapped back to her who merely narrowed her eyes at this.

"What we need to be is careful, not reckless, Jason. This is a rescue mission and if anything were to go wrong or something happens to Tim, what will you tell everyone? What will you tell Bruce or Dick or Steph? You won't be able to lie. Think this through." She explained before carting away with Tim's location only in her hands. Jason waited until she was fully gone before he started cursing.

"Shit!" He swore and shot to attack the solid metal wall with his fist but Cass quickly caught his attack. He stared at this before swearing again and Cass frowned at his words as she released his just and it fell to his side. He sank to his knees before running his fingers through his hair and shock flowing violently in his system, thinking back to his own demise.

How Bruce had been too late to save him.

He needed to make sure he would not end up in Bruce's position when he told Tim that he would find him if he were to ever get in trouble.

He pulled his cigarettes out of the sweats and his body trembled as he slowly took a single cigarette out, placing it between his lips. Jason then pulled out his silver lighter, struggling to flick a flame up then Cass took it out of his hand. She managed to do it after a couple of times and hovered it over the cigarette. He examined the cigarette as he sucked in the flame of the cigarette and the end turned red. He felt the toxin fumes flow down to his lungs and Cass pulled the lighter away, snapping it shut.

"Thanks." He murmured and she nodded at this, her black hair bobbing up and down at the motion. She grabbed his hand and placed the lighter back in it.

"You worried Tim will die, correct?" She questioned softly and he scowled at this, his shaking now gone after the cigarette had been lite.

"Yes…I'm worried we could be too late and Crane did something to the replacement that will forever change him. He does not deserve anything else after what happened to him." Jason said and took the cigarette out, fumes escaping from both his mouth and nostrils.

"Babs is right. But you are also right." Cass stated and he runs his fingers through his hair. He placed the cigarette back in his mouth before pushing himself up and looked to the computer screen, clenching his fist tight.

"I have an idea." he said and she raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what it was, "It is a really stupid one but it must be done so we can get to Tim quicker."

She nodded at this and he walked to the staircase, climbing up to the normal level of Wayne Mansions.

"Once this happens, let everything go. Just watch. Nothing else." Jason said and she nodded at this too before he pulled out a switchblade. She observed him and he stood still when they reached the top of the staircase, staring at the annoyed forms of Dick and Bruce. Damian turned to them and narrowed his eyes at the sight of the blade, clenching his fist to be ready to attack. Then he grabbed Dick's wrists and started cutting the rope around his wrists. All of them besides Cass blinking at this.

"Head towards Gotham's East End. That's where Tim is." Jason said simply and Dick blinked at this before narrowing his eyes.

"Why are you telling us that and letting me go?" Dick questioned him and Jason frowned at this.

"No, I'm telling you because if something goes down, we're going to need back up." Jason explained before walking away slowly then he bolted back down the staircase.

"HEY!" Dick cried out and Jason scowled from this, his cigarette spat out from rushing down the stairs. He and Cass both gathered their weapons and uniforms before starting to undress them.

"He's going to get everyone free then go after us." Jason stated and Cass nodded, having an idea where this plan was going or at least ultimately going after Tim and saving him.

‘Fear’ was pinned down to the ground with blood slowly pooling out from his body and Tim stood above, his tentacles holding ‘Fear’ down. Tim heaved for breath and ‘Fear’ grinned up at him, waiting for his next move.

"Well, looks like it has finally come to this. Now, Timothy, will you do the honor?" Fear questioned him and Tim continued to stare down at him. Bloodlust running through his veins and he felt blood pouring out from his wounds from reality. ‘Fear’ grinned up at him and he clenched his fists tight.

"Indeed." Tim said and then sank to his knees. He licked his lips, knowing that he would be finally be eating away his ‘fear’ that has been taunting him for so long. He knelt down and opened his mouth wide, saliva dribbled down his chin onto ‘Fear’.

"Ah, you have finally hungered to taste fear at its weakest. Good, good." ‘Fear’ told him and Tim's grin couldn't help but grow incredibly wide.

"Yes, let the feast begin so I don't have to be bothered by your pesky voice anymore." Tim stated in an annoyed voice and with no other thought, Tim opened his mouth wide and bite down on ‘Fear’s' neck.

Blood rushed down Fear's neck and splattered against Tim’s face and body while he gnawed tighter at the piece of flesh before ripping it away from ‘Fear’. Compared to what he had been recently eating, the embodiment of his ‘Fear’ was incredibly delicious, like the hamburgers his mother would make with him back when he was an innocent child. Blood dribbled down his face with a shit-eating grin across it before saying, "You are quite delicious, Fear. I can't wait to finish you off. You'll be one of the best meals I have ever gotten before."

‘Fear’ laughed at this while coughing out blood at the same time and waited for Tim to rip out another piece of flesh from him. He chewed at the piece of flesh and swallowed before nearly ripping ‘Fear’s' head off at the angle he went to get more flesh. It was amazing how much power he felt at eating away his own fear. He chopped down and ripped another piece away from ‘Fear’, more blood spattering against his body.

"Now, Fear, you will bother me no more." Tim announced and chewed at the piece of flesh in his mouth before plunging his hand right past ‘Fear’s' skin and to his heart. He felt it pulsing as if he were alive and ripped it right out, still, heart-shaped like a human's with red blood splashed across it, the artery and veins torn apart from the tear of being directly pulled apart. 

"Excellent…now, enjoy your freedom, Tim." ‘Fear’ said before Tim placed the beating heart to his lips and devoured the heart.

Once, the heart had been placed in his mouth, he chewed the piece of meat and ecstasy filled him. He could feel the heart separate from his chewing with the arteries and veins in a messy order. Every muscle from the heart was torn into pieces by the force his teeth chewed on and he watched as ‘Fear’ began to disappear before his eyes. His flesh peeling away like how his own skin had been ripped right off and Tim finally swallowed the heart in a large gulp. The large lump grazing his throat as it did so, traveling down his esophagus and waiting for a few minutes to reach his stomach.

‘Fear’ then lost all of his muscles, the bones showing through and started to chuckle. The sound echoing in his head but he remained still.

"Now, you are nothing but dust in a fake world." Tim stated and Fear continued to chuckle until Tim kicked his head away. His jaw breaking off from the frontal lobe and remained unmoved.

"Goodbye, Fear. You have no part in my life anymore since all that has happened to me." Tim said to the unanimated skull and wiped away the blood from his chin, staring down at it. He then licked it off and smirked.

"Now, there will only be myself for others to fear." Tim announced and chuckled at this, before the world around him began to fall apart, shattering like glass.

"It is time to wake up from this dream and break apart the world like how it has shattered me." Tim said as he too began to crumble, tearing apart like paper being ripped apart. He looked to his body and smirked, staring up to the tiled ceiling. He closed his eyes and finally knew that he would be returning back with nothing no longer standing in his way.

Jason knew that Dick, Bruce, and Steph, who was eventually contacted and ran straight away to help out, trailed behind him with Cass ahead in his lead. He couldn't help but feel even more worried as they approached the East End of Gotham. He remembered when he felt anxious that they would be too late for Tim and he could have done something else to prevent this.

"You still worried?" Cass asked and he scowled at this but nodded as a yes.

"Do not worry, Jason. We will find him in time. Have faith." She stated and he bites his lip as a response to this.

"I wish I could be as confident as you." He murmured and she frowned at this, normally not this hopeful in many circumstances. She glanced back in front of her before pulling Jason her way after seeing a sign directly in front of them. They slammed into each other and fell to the ground, rolling around in pavement until finally leading to a stop. He managed to land on top of her and she blinked at this, staring up at him in confusion.

"Are you ok?" She asked and he blinked at her response before quickly moving off of her.

"Yeah, sorry. We need to get moving before Bruce and the others catch up to us." He stated and got up, offering her hand to help het up. She nodded and accepted it, pulling herself up but instead of moving forward she wrapped her arms around him.

"Once we get there, don't freak out. We must keep cool. If Tim notices us change, he will not want to return." She whispered and he froze at her words then nodded.

"That is what my plan was, girly. Now, let's get going again or we will regret it." He stated to her and she nodded as they both ran off to go find Tim and finally free him.

"My, oh my, little dead bird, your blood was a little difficult to find your true DNA without mixing in the combination of that of a Ghoul. This sample gave me plenty of what I needed to know about you. I'm not very surprised about who you truly are though, lost bird.

"Timothy Drake, nineteen years old. Currently going to Gotham State University as undeclared. Parents both died, mother from poisoned drinks and father from Captain Boomerang's boomerang to the head. How sad. You were barely taken care of.

"How unfortunate. You believe that someone, in the end, would save you from me but they are far too late. You are now as dead as a doornail. You've been broken for far too long even before transforming you into a Ghoul. You never had any help. Now that you are dead, I wonder if I could remove your organs and place them in a different bird.

"Perhaps the youngest bird could work or maybe even Nightwing. He would be fun to mess with especially now that news has traveled that he is with the Oracle. Now that would be fun especially with the little bird. Learning that his ideal father turned into a monster? That would be amazing. Seeing the absolute horror of becoming what his younger brother was transformed into and what ate away a piece of his precious little bird. Now that would make a beautiful play. A puppet under my strings and every moment controlled by me, forcing him to do as I say." The Scarecrow stated to the supposedly dead teen and stopped talking once he noticed the open wound from the trephine was slowly sealing itself closed.

As if he was still alive and his brain processing to heal the wound.

The Scarecrow grinned at this and slowly backed away before announcing, "So you are still alive. How amusing now that I can't take those organs out and play around with them. So, are you now an immortal, Timothy Drake?"

Tim's remaining scorched hair that once been black before the torture turned white from all the stress he went, known as the Marie-Antoinette Syndrome. His skull began to slowly reform itself, piece of bones regenerating, as well as his muscles returning to cover over the bone. Nerves and blood vessels connected with his brain and within a few moments of Scarecrow's words, his eyes rolled back to the front of his head. Bright blue eyes greeted the world again and Tim breathed in the air then exhaling out from his nose. Finally, his skin covered over the old wound and he kept a calm expression over his face as he looked up to the Doctor.

The Scarecrow's knit grin grew larger as Tim then said, "Good morning, Doctor."

Confusion was written across his face once Tim ushered those words and the Scarecrow then scowled at this.

"What happened to you?" He hissed at the teen who then smirked at this.

"Oh, are you not happy with the outcome of your precious little experiment?" Tim questioned back to the Doctor who then grabbed another syringe ready to stick it in Tim's lacrimal caruncle. Then realization flooded over the Scarecrow's face once he remembered that today happened to be the fourth day of Tim's capture and there was no more liquid weapon to reduce his body down to a normal human.

He had used it all.

Tim raised a singed eyebrow at this and questioned him, "Oh? It has already been four days. That means you ran out, didn't you?"

The Scarecrow then attempted to grab a weapon from off of the table but Tim's smirk grew larger. He pushed his hands and feet together before quickly ripping the chins off with all his strength. Horror stretched across Scarecrow's face once Tim then shot at him and he grabbed the Scarecrow's head before slamming it down to the ground with a large thud. Blood gasped out from the Scarecrow's mask and Tim then placed a foot on the doctor's body, keeping him in place.

"Now, look at what you did. You should have thought more about what I might do if I were to regenerate back to life. Your push for me to join you has failed, Doctor. I'm not impressed. But you did find out who I truly am. That is a problem I must deal with." Tim stated and Scarecrow swore under his breath as he coughed up blood, realizing that Tim must have punctured his lungs from the weight of his attack.

Tim cracked his neck and his left eye turned to that of a Ghoul's, asking Scarecrow, "Now, Doctor, how do you like the thought of being eaten alive?"

Jason stared at the large warehouse in front of them, his complexion pale and worry knit across his features. He gulped and Cass grabbed his hind in support. He looked down at her and she nodded, knowing that they both needed to be prepared for the worst. She released his hand and they both cautiously walked over to the warehouse's large doors. She released her breath before they both shoved the door open, the rusted iron screeching against the floor.

A whiff of iron escaped from the door and they both paled at it, admittedly noticing how strong it was. The light moved into the area and they continued to push the door open before the rustling of chains greeted their ears. They moved back and lights flickered inside the warehouse.

Blood coated everywhere on the floor and a metal chair was bolted down to the floor, chains piled by each other. The scent of blood was running everywhere and was splattered everyone in the warehouse. It shocked them especially as they continued to walk in the warehouse. Jason saw the bucket on the floor and he placed a hand to his mouth, his eyes growing incredibly wide.

"Holy fuck…" He murmured out and then looked back over to Cass, "There are fingers, toes, and pieces of skin in this bucket. Multiple amounts as if Scarecrow repeatedly cut off Tim's body."

"He didn't only break off fingers, toes, and skin. He took much more than that," The echoed voice of Tim had the both of them search around to find where he was, "We don't need to worry about him anymore though."

Then a blast of light hit directly up at the ceiling.

Reflecting off of the light was the dead and mutilated body of what used to be Dr. Jonathan Crane, known as the infamous Scarecrow. Chains hanging him by the throat where blood continued to drip off of him and his Scarecrow mask clutched tightly in his one right remaining hand. His left hand was gone, ripped off from the looks of it, and pieces of skin barely connected to his body anymore. His chest area was torn apart as if he were mauled by an animal, being able to see his ribs and lungs but a hole was empty from his missing heart. His throat was contained as only muscles, nerves, and blood vessels since the skin had been torn off. His eyes were missing and left gaping holes to stare directly into.

"One less villain to be worried about, right, Jason and Cass?"

Then something landed in front of them and they blinked at the sight of Tim.

Blood was drenched over his entire body, the ends of his new white hair now dyed crimson, and bright blue eyes glistened at the sight of them. Bloodstained his mouth and lips which dribbled down to his chin and further down his neck, and he bore only the remaining part of his uniform. His bare feet showed the repeated scar tissue from being pulled apart and Tim had somewhat of an innocent grin across his face but they both knew it held lies and horror within it.

"Tim…" Jason ushered out and remained frozen at the sight of Tim, not knowing what to do until Tim spoke out, "I knew you guys would come for me."

Chapter Text

Conclusion

GhOuL

"I am a Ghoul." -Ken Kaneki, Tokyo Ghoul

When the entire Bat-family arrived at the supposed destination, they weren't greeted by Jason, Cass, or Tim but the sight of a burning warehouse that was lighting up the Harbor. They all stared, all confused, unsure what to do but stare at the blazing building. They were left a gasped and did nothing to stop it, letting it continue as parts of the warehouse began to collapse.

"Are we…are we just going to let the building collapse?" Dick whispered out and gulped, the heat of from the fire whipping around them until Steph then bolted to the warehouse.

"Shit." Bruce ushered out as she made her way to the entrance but suddenly someone stepped out of the building. 

She paused mid-step and her sky blue eyes widen as did the rest of the family's once they caught sight of the figure, who happened to be Timothy Drake.

His hair white as snow and bright blue eyes stared down at them in confusion. His body bore only the retainments of his Red Robin pants which were cut and burnt to around his knees. Scars from his oldest wounds remained on his body and new ones glistened its recent scar tissue. Burn tissues were marked on multiple strands of his body while lacerations were scattered violently over his body while dried blood was spotted near the top of his head.

"T..im?" she muttered out and his eyes crinkled at this while a smile spilled over his lip but once at the sight of his teeth, they were stained pure red.

Horror crossed over her features at this and he walked towards them, his bare feet padding over the wet pavement.

"You're alive." Dick ushered out while Kat looked at Tim with worry as she knew what had become of the bird and Tim then narrowed his eyes, turning back to the warehouse.

"Yes. Jason, Cass, and I set the place ablaze." he answered and then turned back to them, his smile changing its meaning once the next few words slipped his mouth "Don't worry, though. Scarecrow has been taken care of."

"What do you mean-?" Steph began but was silenced when he gave her a sad smile before he engulfed her in a hug as he had approached her while her eyes grew wide at his affection.

But something was very wrong.

Blood and other disgusting and horrifying smells counted his entire body and she wanted to retch away from him.

Suddenly someone pulled Tim away from her and snarked back, "The fuck are you doing, dumbass?"

They all looked to see Jason Todd, holding Tim by his shoulders and glare across his face.

Tim frowned at this and said, "I'm greeting everyone since they were all worried about me."

“Now is not the time for that." Jason snarled back at him and Tim frowned at this, unsure how to react at his statement

"What happened, Tim?" Bruce questioned him and Tim turned to face him, giving him a smile.

"Nothing of much concern. I'm fine. Everything is under control. Why do you ask?" he replied back to Bruce who continued to only stare at him more. He knew something was wrong with him, knowing he was hiding something from him since he was trying so hard to keep it undercover.

"Something did happen and you are purposely hiding it from us." Bruce accused of Tim and Tim frowned at this before turning to face Jason, their eyes locking gazes with each other.

"It's your decision, dumbass. You choose this, so whatever happens, you can figure it out with my help still." Jason told him and released his grip on Tim before moving a few steps from him.

Tim breathed in before pushing his hair away from his eyes and closed his eyes.

“Fine, since you all are curious." he mumbled under his breath before opening his eyes again, his left eye revealed to have his sclera black and iris crimson like blood. Slowly, six red large tentacles erupted from his back and horror spreading across all of their faces. The tentacles swung around dangerously around him and his family could not help but stare at him in shock and disbelief.

"No…" Dick whispered out from this realization that before him was the so-called monster that ate a part of his beloved little brother.

"It was you that stopped Devin…you killed him, didn't you?" Steph announced after seeing the sight of the tentacles and Tim sighed, cracking his neck at this which echoed loudly around them.

"I didn't mean to. I had lost control of myself after seeing you almost getting killed. That's actually when the tentacles appeared." He replied to her comment and then cracked his knuckles, bones cracking out of place.

"Wha-how? I don't…" Dick mumbled as he tried to comprehend the situation before him.

"You know that trip to Japan and the accident that happened? I battled a fierce monster and I got heavily injured to the point I needed organs. At the time, the monster I battled had been the perfect match so I was transplanted organs from this being called a Ghoul. They can only eat human flesh." Tim explained before sighing and the tentacles swirled around in the air, "So, any time you guys were around me-no, never mind that, any human that was near me, taunted my self-control to not you. Do you know how hard it is to stop yourself from eating your own family and friends? It's difficult because you don't want to hurt them but you can't stand the delicious smell coming off from them!"

He grinned madly and now nervousness approaching the Batman family. Steph paled at the announcement while Dick only looked at him in horror but Bruce remained stoic. 

”But, the best taste in the world is eating your own fear alive. When it finally gives up trying to be better than you, it is so utterly delightful. Do you know the feeling of finally beating your enemies and they do give up, hoping that surrender would be acceptable but in the end you kill them instead?"

His eye returned back to normal before he pointed to the warehouse and said, "Now that's what happened to the Doctor. He begged to be captured but after what he has put so many through, he got what was coming for him."

Steph fell to her knees and shook from his words meanwhile Dick’s eyes grew wider at every word he had spoken and his mouth was open but no words escaped his lips. Bruce remained still as he waited for Tim to do something possibly dramatic. Then Tim started walking towards them before stopping only a few feet away.

"Now, if you don't mind moving out of my way." He said and then Steph grabbed his arm, which was coated with blood. Confusion was written over her face and her eyes wide in terror yet he did nothing but stared down at her.

"Even after coming back from Japan, you stayed the same. But this isn't you. Something really bad happened to you when you were held captive. What did Scarecrow do to you?" She questioned him and that's when his eyes narrowed, anger flared up and his eye returned to that of a Ghoul.

She paled at this and released his hand as the tentacles started to lash out at the mere mention of his disappearance and capture.

"He is nothing but the past, an insignificant factor. I don't need to get angry over something that has changed me for the better." He mumbled under his breath and pushed his hair back, looking to see Bruce already running at him to tackle him to the ground.

He easily dodged the attack by moving aside and grabbing Bruce by his arms, pulling them behind his back and squeezed hard enough to bring tension on his bones.

"That is quite rude, Bruce. Is that how you great your son that has been through much these past few weeks?" Tim questioned his father and Bruce scowled from this, wincing also at the pain, "Now, I'll be on my way and none of you will stop me. If you try to, I will not hesitate to put you down."

He looked to see Jason with his arms crossed over his chest and observing him as if he were testing him.

"Are you going to follow me, Jason?" Tim asked and Jason sighed before shrugging.

"…Sure. I promised to keep watch over you so I'll continue to do so." He stated and Tim nodded at this before kicking Bruce away into the ground, pain erupting in his shoulders. He scowled and saw as Steph stood up on her feet, trying to prepare herself to fight him, and Dick remained still but Kate got into a stance.

"I go to."

The voice of Cass caused everyone to turn and see the Black haired girl who bore the Black Bat uniform. Tim smirked at this and said, "Well of course. The more, the merrier. This little adventure will get interesting, isn't?"

She just stared at them before walking over to them, no emotion seen on her face before Tim turned back to Bruce and the others.

"Now, don't try to find where we go, Bruce. It will prove you little justice and you won't be able to stop us. Just let us be and we will do no harm to you. I am only on a hunt, whoever gets in my way will suffer." Tim explained to Bruce and began to walk away from them with Jason pulling out a cigarette to light up and Cass following with them.

"Who are you hunting?" Bruce asked and Tim stopped at this before turning to him with a sly and twisted smile across his face.

"Oh, the man who created this monster." He replied and then the new group disappeared into the shadows and smoke of the warehouse.

"Who are you?"

"I am no one. My name has since been forgotten and I only have one goal to achieve."

"Oh, what is this goal?"

" To get my revenge on one man that has wronged me."

"How come?"

"Because he deserves too."

"Why?"

"He has done many things that are viewed as wrong and evil. And evil needs to be punished."

"Interesting. What about you though?"

"Me, evil? Of course, I've killed men before but they were known as monsters too many before being called human."

"How am I not surprised. But what about you? Are you a monster?"

"Well, of course. Only monsters can kill monsters. There is no denying that."

"I see…so I shall be killed by a monster then."

"Indeed. For I am a Ghoul. A being that feasts only on human flesh. And because you have done so much wrong in the world, you shall be my feast to enjoy. So, what are your last words before you are taken from this world, Riddler?"

The Riddler sighed and his red hair fell before his eyes, looking up to the one black-eyed young man with a red iris. White hair pulled back from the young man's face by the fact that it was long enough to be in a ponytail and black fingernails greeted the Riddler's view. The young man wore a black hoodie with the shelves ripped with but a red long shelve shirt was under it with black leather fingerless gloves. A black-painted skull was placed on the center of his chest but blood coated the entirety of the shirt while he also bore black baggy jeans with many pockets. He also wore a black mask fashioned to resemble a leather gimp with an eyepatch over his right eye and bares lipless mouth that shows gnashing teeth like some of Gotham's monsters but his real lips and teeth did greet the Riddler. It also had two bolts sticking out from the neck of the mask as if he were Frankstein.

"What is black and white and red all over?"

The young man grinned at this before answering the riddle, "The Gantai."

The Riddler smirked at this before nodding and saying, "Correct. Good game, Gantai."

Then the Gantai launched himself at the Riddler, tackling his throat and easily ripping his apart from his muscles and skin of his body. The Riddler ushered out a cry of pain before his veins ripped apart from his body. Blood coated the Gantai's mouth and dribbled down his lips, ripping the piece of flesh and ending the man's life too soon. The blood splattered in an open direction and sprayed itself onto the Gantai. The Riddler's mouth hung gaping open, begging for breath before the Gantai swallowed the piece of flesh. He stared at the Riddler before wiping his mouth to draw away the blood and onto his shelve.

The sound of a metal knocking forced him to turn and see Red Hood staring at him. He smiled at the Red Hood and said, "Well, he had nothing much to say although he knows that Ra's al Ghul has been sending some sort of shipments to Japan."

"So, we are heading to Japan, then?" Red Hood questioned him and the Gantai nodded at this.

The Gantai then stated, "Back to where everything began and ended."

"Indeed. Are you prepared?" Red Hood asked and motioned to the body of the Riddler.

"Of course, you have to face the past anywhere you go. Now it is Ra's time for his past mistakes to go haunt him." The Gantai stated and his eye transformed into the form of dark, navy irises, ready to take on his revenge after so long of being a monster because of this man.

The End…