Chapter Text
Tim Drake crouched atop a high rise overlooking the ocean in Honolulu, Hawaii. A cool breeze blew in from the sea and he let it wash across his face. The air smelled fresh and clear, and the night sky above was a beautiful glittering map of stars. He could see why so many people considered Hawaii to be an absolute paradise. Tim wasn’t here for a vacation, though. He was here to work. See why he was on top of a highrise instead of lounging on a balcony or on the beach somewhere below.
Still, the location wasn’t the only good thing about this mission. This particular mission was part of a personal project of his. He was trying to restart the Teen Titans. Not the original Teen Titans, obviously. Tim himself had never been a member of the Titans; they’d disbanded way before he’d ever even thought of taking up the cape, and anyway the originals were all in their twenties now. No, this would be a brand new group of superteens. All Tim had to do was find them.
Kid Flash had been easy. Of course, Tim was pretty sure Barry Allen had been looking for literally any excuse to get that particular super-powered bundle of energy out of his house for a few hours, but the kid was fun and good at what he did and really Tim couldn’t have asked for a better speedster to add to his team, so he was happy to have him. But two teenagers did not a super-team make, which is what brought him to Honolulu.
Tim didn’t usually pay attention to Hawaii. It had its problems, sure, but it was downright idyllic compared to Gotham. At least, it was until two weeks ago, when a mysterious new super-teen who insisted that he was, in fact, Superman had come out of nowhere, bringing a whole host of shiny new problems with him-- not the least of which being that a similarly super-powered rogues gallery had apparently sprung up out of nowhere to meet him. A few nearby streets were the recently demolished proof of that.
Tim didn’t know much about this new Superman. Not that there was much to know. Even though everyone who’d seen him described him as flamboyant and hard to miss he had somehow managed to almost completely avoid cameras. Tim did know a few things, however. He knew this person wasn’t actually Superman and, more importantly, he knew that the actual Superman had been just as surprised as anybody by his appearance. He knew this new Superman could definitely fly, and he definitely had super-strength. He didn’t know if he had any of Superman’s other powers, but to be safe he was prepared to deal with them. He also didn’t know if Kryptonite could hurt him-- or if anything else could for that matter-- but he’d brought some along anyway, just in case things went south.
The last thing he knew, and the most critical to the current moment, was that while no one knew exactly where Superman went when he wasn’t busy being Superman, he seemed to favor this part of the city. This struck Tim as a bit odd, given that he was smack in the middle of the business district. He figured Superman probably didn’t actually live in this area, but he was a detective, and this struck him as a good place to start looking for clues.
And, right off the bat, he’d found a pretty big one. He’d hacked into the security feeds for buildings and traffic lights in the area and mapped out which ones he showed up on and what direction he was going when he did. Those had suggested that he frequented this building in particular, and sure enough, the infrared lenses in his mask showed someone was moving around inside. Of course, that could easily be a security guard, but he figured it was still worth checking out. Worst that happened, he spooked the guard.
He stood up and adjusted the straps that criss-crossed across his chest. It had only been a week since he’d officially relinquished the title of Robin to his replacement, taking up the oh-so-original name of Red Robin instead. Jason had called the name choice a cop-out, but the suit was significantly more distinct, and as a result, it came with a period of adjustment. He liked the way it looked, though, and it was easy to forget about the differences from the Robin suit in a fight.
He pulled out his grapple gun and prepared to rappel down to the top floor window adjacent to the one he'd seen the figure in. Right as he was preparing to step off the edge, a loud, bubbly pop song started blaring from directly underneath him. He almost fell off the roof.
“What the heck?” he muttered. He waited to see if anything else would happen. After a few minutes, the song ended and a different, slightly less bubbly pop song started playing. Tim sighed. He was just going to have to go down and see what it was. So, doing his best to be prepared for anything, he actually stepped off the roof.
The window directly underneath him was already open. It hadn’t been when he’d approached the building. He came down just to the side of the window and, when he was level with the top floor, he peeked in.
The room was empty of any of the typical office furniture he’d been expecting. Really, it was empty of basically everything, the only furniture being an air mattress that was taking up a corner of the room. Near the air mattress was a boom box that appeared to be the source of the music, with a few brightly colored CD cases scattered on the ground next to it. And, in the center of the room, dancing to the music with his back to the window, was a man in a black leather jacket with the Superman S spray painted in bright red on the back.
Every instinct Tim had was screaming at him that this was a trap. Or if it wasn't a trap, then he was intruding on this guy's personal life. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the idea that this guy's personal life involved dancing in a mostly empty room on the top floor of an office building. But regardless, it wasn't like Tim was here to beat him up or anything, so he stepped into the room.
The man didn't seem to notice him. Idly, Tim thought about how easy it would be to just stab him in the back right now. But again, he wasn't here to beat him up; he was here to make friends. So instead, he cleared his throat and said, "You should really close your windows."
The man jumped about a foot in the air and whirled around to face Tim, who realised in an instant that "man" wasn't exactly an apt description. Sure he was at least half a foot taller than Tim, and sure he was a muscular Adonis, but his face was really young. He couldn't have been more than fifteen years old, sixteen max. He'd landed in a fighting stance, but his eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open in shock. It was actually kind of adorable.
Tim smirked and added, "You never know who might get in."
“Yeah?” the boy asked defiantly, “Who are you, then?” Tim was about to answer but the boy continued. “No, wait, don’t tell me. You’re some crook trying to mess with the good people of Honolulu, aren’t you?” He pointed an accusatory finger at Tim.
“What, no! I-”
“But you heard there was a new superhero in town, so you decided to get the jump on me when I least expected it!”
“What?” This was getting out of control fast. ”Look, if I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve done it alrea-”
“Well, joke’s on you, criminal, because I’m not falling for it!”
“What are you even talki-?”
“Well?” The boy punched his hand threateningly. “Any last words, criminal?”
“Oh for-” Tim swallowed a few expletives before practically shouting, “I’m not a criminal!”
“That’s exactly the kind of thing a criminal would say!”
“Look, if you would just listen-” The boy ran forward and tried to punch him, but Tim dodged. “For two seconds-” The boy swung at him again, and Tim stepped backwards to avoid it. His feet bumped up against the low window ledge. He mentally kicked himself for coming in through the window. While he was distracted, the boy swung at him a third time. He dodged sideways, intending to get around him, but this time he wasn’t quite fast enough and the boy’s fist grazed him. The force of it was still enough to send him hurtling backwards out the window.
And then he was falling. Toward the ground. Incredibly fast.