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Tim paced in front of the monitor. He wanted to take off his gloves for this. He always was one of those people that sweated when they were stressed. Though, he refused to acknowledge he was stressed.
It was just a heightened sense of concern. Worry. Not stress. Never stress. Robin never felt stress.
He glanced at the screen. It was a livestream from the cowl. He wouldn’t be back for another five minutes at least.
Trying to take his mind off that fact, he stopped moving and just focused on breathing and what he was going to say.
He definitely needed to bring up the fact that he was neglecting to bring him on missions. That would be a good place to start. Tim would be lying if he said he didn’t mind it. He did mind it. He minded it a lot.
He was supposed to be there and monitoring him every step of the way. Just as he would have wanted. But Batman was avoiding Tim. He never told him to join him on cases. He’s been messing up recently and it’s most likely because he wasn’t there to help.
Actually, he was starting to fix his mistakes. Batman had just defeated Bane. Earning his respect back from the city. Bane liked to project that he had taken down the caped crusader, breaking him nearly in half. The city didn’t believe it since they saw the bat soaring through the sky with Robin at his side. It didn’t erase the truth.
Still though, he was making judgment calls that weren’t his to make. The suit started looking different. Nothing major but small things unsettled Tim.
The gauntlets seemed… sharper. No longer just for catching weapons and helping him knock them out of a criminal's hands. The fingers looked more like claws, the kind that Catwoman would have had custom made.
He was angrier too. At first he was calm and took crime fighting seriously. He never hurt anyone too badly. But now… he even scared Tim. He had to pull him off of a petty criminal the last time he was with him.
Of course, that wasn’t even bringing up the reason that finally made Tim decide to say something. Every entrance to the Batcave had been sealed and recoded.
The office, cave entrance, and the waterfall no longer opened. Even from inside the cave.
He knew another way in that the Batman hadn’t accounted for.
He ran a tired hand through his hair and watched the Batmobile pull into its spot.
The man in the suit took his time in getting out of the vehicle and coming over to him.
“Robin.”
No emotion, no anything.
“Valley.”
He watched him as he strolled next to him. Without replying, he turned off the monitor. The overhead lights made him look even more threatening. The blue turned black, the eyes seemed narrower. He had done more modifications since the last Tim saw him. The suit was almost unrecognizable.
Tim bit his lip before he spoke again. The silence that Valley was inflicting on them felt painful.
“Are you alright?”
Bruce had asked him to be gentle with him. Be forceful and remind him of his place if he had to, but Valley, like most of the people in the town, was a scarred man down to his bones. If he didn’t come at this right, he might force the crab back into its shell.
“I’m fine, thank you for the concern. Now, why are you here?”
“Why am I here?
I-
I work here?” Tim was utterly confused at the question.
“You said you were going to focus on school.”
“I mean, I can do that while being Robin. They’re not mutually exclusive.”
Valley gave a huff and turned towards him. Tim wasn’t sure if it was the suit or the fact that Valley naturally was an impressive height but he towered over him.
“Jean-Paul, what happened?” He was referring to all the points he was going to bring up but hadn’t yet.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Why are all the entrances closed?”
“I closed them.”
“Why?”
“So if anyone stumbles on one they can’t come in.”
Tim was starting to get frustrated. What a ridiculous answer, it’s impossible to get into the Batcave unless you had clearance. Dick still gets locked out and has to sheepishly ask someone to power down the intruder alert protocol.
“You know that’s not what I was referring to when I asked.”
He was annoyingly silent for a minute. Tim stepped away exasperated. He would need to go over Bruce’s rules again with him. Maybe even request that Bruce bench him for a week.
“They deserved it.”
“I’m sorry?” Tim turned back around and came face to face with Valley. He didn’t even hear him step that close to him. Every step backwards he took, Valley matched it.
“Every single one of them deserved what I did. Those people- no, not people, filth . Absolute scum. They’re bottom feeders and would do anything to drag themselves out of the muck that they put themselves in. I can cleanse the streets of them. All I need to do it with is fear. Bruce never could understand. He was too soft. He never killed anyone but that’s where he failed as Batman. That’s why Bane so easily took him out, he knew, fear wins. You can hear what I’m saying can’t you? We can finally rid Gotham of the intolerable masses and leave it perfect.”
Tim shook his head.
“Valley what are you talking about? This is insane, you’re insane.”
They both stopped for a moment. His expression was unreadable under the metallic mask of his own making. He made a sound. It’s hard to describe. A growl from a throat that had been ripped apart. Betrayal coated it while anger made it, it couldn’t form a sentence if it tried but it conveyed more than words ever could.
That’s the sound Jean-Paul Valley made as he quickly picked up Robin with one hand and lifted him. His steel claws tightening around the bird's delicate throat. He shouldn’t have been able to feel the skin breaking underneath all that metal but, oh, he could . He could almost feel his blood rolling down his hand. His throat made noises in protest before it became a whimper. Fear. What he craved from any who stood in his way. He might have been able to taste it. Bitter sweet, a toffee cake of luxury.
“
You
made him weak. You almost had me. Your words can’t change my mind like it changed his. I bet you’re the reason he almost died. You could have killed Batman. But instead, I am here. To fix his mistakes. Starting off with getting rid of his worst weakness. You polluted him and the entire city. You failed them.”
Tim’s hands grasped at the claws, trying to loosen them to get any breath to his lungs. He flinched every word Valley said, they made the points etch themselves tighter and tighter around his throat. Every single one felt like knives being pushed in. His thoughts became molasses, slow and sluggish. His eyes felt heavier. Jean-Paul’s words didn’t feel like they were coming from him anymore. He felt them in his head. Almost as if they were his own.
He dropped one of his hands and fumbled for a batarang off of the utility belt. His fingertips graced it as he choked. Quickly he was able to get a handle on it and slammed the sharp part in the cracks of Valley’s armor.
He sucked in the air between his teeth and dropped Robin in pain. He ripped the batarang out of his arm and approached the crumbled figure on the floor.
Tim looked up at him and did his best to back away.
Valley stopped. He couldn’t move anymore. He looked at the hand he had been trying to kill him with and saw it was stained with his blood.
He looked back at the Robin and saw his mask had come slightly undone as he coughed, trying to regain his breath. Long raw pieces of flesh were sliced where his claws were, any tighter and he could have taken his head.
This- This wasn’t a criminal or an enemy. This was his friend's protege. Not even that, he was a child.
With shaking hands he reached out to him before pulling his hands close to him.
“ I- I’m so sorry… I don’t know why I did that. I-”
“ Get away from me ,” Tim’s voice didn’t sound like his. He had one of his hands on his neck. His own blood had gotten on his chin and stained his green collar. The black cape sprawled behind him looked like a horrible reminder of what it would look like if he didn’t stop Valley. He could imagine his blood seeping across the floor.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you -I , you need to get out of here. Don’t come back.”
Tim could hardly form words right now, every sense felt out of touch. His hearing was off, he tasted copper coins, his vision was spotty at best, and the overwhelming amount of pain the upper part of his body felt was unreal.
“Please, I don’t want to hurt you again. I don’t know if I can control myself anymore.”
He looked at his clawed hands and practically ran out of the Batcave.
Tim laid on the cold ground after he left. He could hardly keep his eyes open. He pulled himself up, biting back a sob as he did. Every limb felt like it would buckle underneath him.
He needed to tell Bruce or Dick, fuck even Alfred.
But first he needed to get out.
Staggering and leaning on nearly every object he came across, he made his way out of the cave and into the dark night.
He took the disgusting subway to the apartment near Gotham High he was renting. He couldn’t tell if there was anyone else there. Even if there was, they didn’t try and interact with him.
He stumbled home. He couldn’t make it to the bathroom before he fell on the floor. At least the door was closed behind him.
He opened his phone and tried to call Dick. He pulled off one of his gloves with his teeth, biting himself painfully in the process.
The line rang for too long, the noise hurt his already sore head.
The voicemail was too cheery, he sounded like he chirped in excitement at every other word.
“Hey, this is Dick! I’m really sorry I couldn’t accept your call but if you’d like, you’re free to leave a message!”
“Dick. I need, fuck -” he coughed, god it hurt to cough. It hurt to speak .
“Remember that one patrol story you told me? You had broken your arm and still went to the unveiling of whatever city thing they gifted Batman. You said you were fine and you were just missing a few feathers… I think I’m missing more than a few. I don’t… I think I’m going to be okay. I- I’m sorry.”
He ended the call before letting out a long sigh-like breath that burned his throat.
He just wanted to sleep.