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He was saving them, Bruce was struggling to remember that.
Damian and Barbara had been taken to…who knows where, and Bruce was worried sick about them. For them. Dick and Jason were caged across the room. Separately, but Red Robin was working desperately to break into Robin’s section, as the boy was only semi-conscious due to a blow to the head. Probably a concussion. Just a concussion, if they were lucky. Some sort of internal bleeding if they weren’t.
“Don’t!” Bruce screamed, fisting the prison bars and giving them a hearty shake. “Red Hood! Don’t you dare!”
Tim stood in the center. The one who’d captured them at his feet. Tim’s gun at his head.
“It’s murder!” Bruce bellowed. “You kill him and I’ll haul you off to GCPD myself!”
Tim cocked back the safety.
“Please,” Bruce resorted to. “Please don’t, Hood. You’re better than this. You have always been better than this.” A pause filled with rattling metal. Jason was getting frustrated, he couldn’t pick the lock. Dick’s breathing was getting shallow. “Think of Robin. Please, don’t do this in front of him. In front of them-”
Bang!
Bruce and Jason both jumped. Dick gave a weak twitch. The kidnapper’s body slumped to the ground. Tim calmly opened his jacket, put his gun back in his holster.
“He’s got a partner across town. I know where. I’ll take care of him.” Tim was monotone. Clinical. Detached as he crouched over the body, digging in the man’s hoody. When he pulled his hand back it held a set of keys, and he instantly went trotting over to the Robins’ cage.
“Hood…” Bruce’s voice was fighting between being shocked and furious. Because that was his son, that was his son, committing cold-blooded murder. He’d just executed someone, and here he was, not ten seconds later, unlatching a door and rescuing an eleven-year-old.
“It won’t take me that long.” Tim shrugged. Dick only pulled back slightly when Tim reached for him. A little terrified, but mostly confused by the scene he’d just witnessed. They all knew Tim killed, all knew he had his own methods for dealing with criminals, they’d just…never seen it. Not the younger ones. Tim gathered Dick into his arms anyway, guided Dick’s face to rest in the crook of his neck, looped an arm under his thighs. He turned to walk back out, making his way to Jason’s cell. “You just worry about getting these boys home, Batman, Okay?”
Jason just stood there, frozen. Eyes wide under his cowl as he watched Tim move. With his free hand, Tim shoved the key into the hole, twisted it and pulled the door open. Jason just blinked. Tim had the complete audacity to smile, snort a laugh and gently tug at Jason’s elbow. Once he was through the threshold, Tim gently deposited Dick into his arms, pressed the keys tenderly into his fingers.
“Hood.” And Bruce was finding his resolve now. His hands twitched tighter around the bars. “That was murder. You’re no better than our kidnapper is.”
“Was.” Tim corrected smugly, giving Jason a teasing head rub before turning towards Bruce. “Nightwing and Batgirl are with the partner. I’ll rescue them like I apparently always have to, bring them back to the Cave personally.”
And that’s when Bruce realized - Tim wasn’t going to unlock his cage. That’s why he gave the keys to Jason. By the time Jason got over his shock, Tim was going to be long gone.
Sometimes he hated how smart Tim was.
“So don’t wait up.” Tim finished, heading swiftly towards the exit. “And I’ll see you real soon, cool?”