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Tim didn’t have time for this, in fact he had no time at all. He glared at the assassins that were currently dragging him through the halls of Nanda Parbat. They were smart–smarter than most assassins he had fought before–and had sedated him with a drug that paralyzed everything from the shoulders down. In short, he couldn’t do more than roll his neck back or bite. He opted for not pissing off the ninjas transporting him in a base filled with other ninjas with many sharp stabbing tools.
He was forced to watch as the large doors to Ra's’ throne room were pulled open revealing the man of the hour. He felt a shiver run down his spine when he noticed the way Ra’s was staring at him. It wasn’t a lustful look—thank G*—but it was still predatory and cruel.
The man stood, his cape trailing regally behind him as he walked down his stairs toward them. Tim glared at the man, his only form of fighting back when the ninjas forced his limp body to his knees. Ra’s simply smirked, the ba*. “I do apologize for the way you were brought here, Timothy. But I’m afraid I knew you would not come willingly, so I would need to have taken some…special measures.”
Tim bared his teeth, about to say something he might regret later when Ra’s snapped and another needle was injected into one of the veins in his neck. “The antidote should take full effect in about fifteen minutes. In this time I would like to discuss a truce with you.” Before Tim could get a word out, he was once again being dragged down more halls and passageways now right behind Ra’s al Ghul. He was getting really sick and tired of this. But he could wiggle the tips of his fingers now, so it seemed like what they injected him with was actually an antidote. Little miracles and all of that BS.
Once they reached Ra’s’ office, Ra’s pointed to a chair that the ninjas promptly dumped Tim in before Ra’s waved his hand causing them to disappear back into the shadows of the base. Tim watched with bated breath as Ra’s rounded his desk, sitting in his throne-like chair. “I understand that you are skeptical, especially with the way this conversation has come into play.”
“No s* Sherlock.”
“However, I do believe that we can be of assistance to one another.”
“Or do you know? And here I thought I was about to be sold off to the Joker.” Tim responded bitterly, poking at the old wound Batman had told him about. Ra’s didn’t respond to that, continuing on his tangent as feeling finally returned to both his feet and hands.
“I understand that you are currently looking for proof that your father is still alive.” Shock rippled through Tim, but he didn’t show it. “I can give you the tools, people, and resources you need to find your father.” Ra’s explained as he casually—as casual as an al Ghul could get—leaned against his chair.
“What’s the catch?” Tim asked, twisting his wrist in small circles.
“In return,” Ra’s nodded with a satisfied smile, “you will serve as one of my generals until you return to Gotham with your lost family member.”
“Pray tell, what exactly does that job description entail?” Tim mocked, reaching for the knife in his pocket that ninjas hadn’t removed.
Tim watched as Ra’s grin grew, his gaze filled with twisted curiosity. “You will train my men. Come up with new strategies. You will be held with the highest regard. You will have access to almost everything I have, no questions asked. You will have your own private rooms at any base you wish to travel to. And, most importantly, you will follow my every command.”
“As tempting as that sounds,” Tim drawled, one of his knees bouncing slightly, “I think I’ll have to pass. I don’t really feel comfortable allowing a crazed man that’s tried to kill me on multiple occasions have full control over me.” He informed almost bored. If he focussed hard enough he could grasp the hilt of his knife, though his grip was still too weak to be of much use if it came down to a fight.
“For you, I am willing to barter. What are your demands?” Ra’s replied coolly, ignoring his snark. That made Tim pause, his entire body falling still once more.
“Pardon, did you just say you were willing to come to a compromise?” Tim asked incredulously.
“Why is that such a surprise? I did not live this long without having to come to some compromises in my lifetimes.”
“Right, and I came here of my own free will,” Tim muttered to himself.
“Allow me to expand.”
“Not like I have much of a choice.”
Ignoring him Ra’s continued, “You need an ally. No one else in your world of heroes believes in you or will help you in any way. You have gotten sloppy in your haste and frazzled state of mind. If it were not for my operatives, you would have been arrested not fifteen hours ago.” Tim winces at that, turning his head to the side definitely. He wouldn’t show how much Ra’s words affected him, how much the truth of what he was stating as simple facts burned .
“You have been replaced and sent away by your older brother. No one is looking for you. Simply put, you are alone in this mission. But you do not have to be,” Ra’s paused, waiting for Tim to look him in the eyes before he continued, “I am willing to give you everything you may need. All I ask for in return is for your loyalty until you must leave. In that time I swear to you that I will not ask nor will I force you to kill. Nor will I put any of your family at risk. I will make sure you are not harmed on any of my bases, you will be under my protection.” Ra’s eyes were set with a determined fire, and Tim, he didn’t understand why Ra’s of all people would go through all of this trouble just for him.
He wasn’t that special when compared with Dick and his fighting ability, Jason and his accuracy, or Damian and his brutality. So why would the Demon’s Head put in this much effort to gain Tim as an ally?
“I can see you are conflicted. Stay one night under my protection, Timothy. I will receive your answer tomorrow.” In one smooth motion Ra’s had stood up and left the room, leaving Tim to sit alone in the large office.
Tim glared at the doors, waiting for someone or something to come through or out of the shadows to carry him off. But nothing and no one ever came. What did finally return was the feeling in his entire body, sweet mercy. It was a relief, a blessing he didn’t fully understand he had until he could finally stand again. He needed to give Babs a hug, he couldn’t imagine living like that, even just from the waist down.
Slowly, he stood up, allowing his body to adjust while shaking out the last of the tingling sensation that plagued his body. Once he was sure he could walk without falling face first he began to explore the large office space covered from head to toe in gaudy decor and filled with books. Surely Ra’s wouldn’t have just left him in here if there was something he was trying to hide. But one never knew when it came to villains like these; all so smart that any error was truly the stupidest mistake they could make. But there wasn’t much of anything.
On the desk there were books of old war strategies, yellowed with time, an hourglass running down, and a decorative letter opener. Behind the curtains was a large, dramatic stained glass window that when the sun was at the correct angle would shine through and hit the desk and the person seated there in just a way that it would create the perfect evil mastermind ambiance. And they said his family were the most dramatic of them all.
Tim stared at the door, chewing at his lip as he considered his options. On one hand this could most definitely be a trap, on the other Ra’s has actually made him his guest for the night. Ra’s was a terrible person, but if he were just some D&D NPC, he’d be lawful evil. Doing bad and terrible things, but standing by his own moral code. Which meant that if he said he would do something, he would honor his own words.
With that settled, Tim made his way to the doors, leaning on them to see if he could hear anything. Taking a deep breath he slammed open one of the doors and burst into the hall in one swift motion, but no one was there. His heart was racing in his chest, adrenaline heightening his senses. But nothing happened. He didn’t feel like he was being watched either. That was the first sign something was off. In a den of ninjas, somebody had to be watching.
The lack of everything that was undeniably Ra’s doing. But why? There’s no way on Earth that it was to make him feel “more comfortable”. It was outrageous, unbelievable, simply hysterical for him to even think such a thing. No one, not even his own parents, had ever cared this much about how Tim felt in a new or strange environment. It was wrong and unnatural in every possible way.
Every corner he turned seemed empty, though he knew they weren’t. After all, this was a ninja base. If he really was a guest here, he may as well take advantage of the situation.
On silent feet he crept to one of the doors on the far end of the hall, slipping through it with ease. Nobody was in the room, but that was fine. The room itself was bland, sparsely decorated with a few practically empty bookshelves, some old irrelevant trinkets, and covered in dust. He guessed that not every room housed something valuable, that would be impractical. Slipping out of the room he continued his exploration like this, slipping in and exploring random rooms—even jump-scaring a few ninjas, much to his delight—until he came to the database.
The room itself was small, with two smart computers, a couple monitors, and three laptops set up neatly throughout the room. His fingers itched to hack the electronics and see just how much information he could gain before he was tossed out or killed for his invasion.
Before he even understood what was happening he was seated in one of the chairs with his fingers flying over the keys until the computer was fully and undeniably under his control. He read through reports of attacks made by and/or against Ra’s men, tactical measures, the security and movements of the guards for each and every base, and few future operations that were still being planned. And here he thought Ra’s didn’t like the technical era of society. “To traceable” he had once said. It made sense, anyone could hack into anything with the right tools and amount of time.
Tim leaned back in the chair, mind finally nullified as he processed everything he had just read. Obviously everything he had just read would need to be taken with a grain of salt. There was no way Ra’s would let all of this information just exist if the chance that it could be used against him existed. So this was all meant to mislead, or is so unimportant that it wouldn’t matter if someone saw it.
It was a smart move really. Smart enough that he should have thought about it for himself way earlier! He could make a program just like this for his own computer so Oracle can’t get into all of his information right away. Make it a tripwire of some sort to alert him when Oracle or someone else has all his faulty information so he could move all of his real information somewhere else before the person figured it out. Then once they did figure it out, all of his information would be moved or deleted!
“I figured you’d be in here.” Tim spun in his chair in surprise. No one had ever been able to sneak up on him before, at least not after he officially became Robin. “You were always the superior of your team when it came to technology.” Ra’s stated, standing over Tim with his arms behind his back.
“Is my time already up?” He asked cooly, keeping his internal panic at bay because he didn’t think he had spent that much time at the computer. Though he wouldn’t be too surprised if he had. He did have a tendency to let time get away from him when he was hyper-focused.
“No, not quite. Though I would like to personally escort you to the rooms that would be yours if you agreed to my terms.” Tim eyed the man skeptically, this had to be some sort of dream. There was no way that this was actually happening! He followed Ra’s anyways, it wasn’t like he had any other options anyway.
Something was up, this had to be leading up to a jump or trap of some kind. He needed to keep his guard up, he couldn’t afford to fail. They stopped in front of another set of large doors, Ra’s glancing at him quickly before he pushed open the doors to the room. The room itself felt like an anomaly. It was large and filled with grand splendors, but it was empty and baron except for the bare necessities for survival plus a couple weapons that looked decorative but definitely weren’t.
Tim cautiously explored the room, looking for any form of bugs or devices of any kind that could have ill-intent. “The door on the left leads to a bathroom, yes there is a lock on the inside. There is also a lock on the inside of your main door as well,” Ra’s explained, pointing to the areas he was talking about. “The room is spacious enough for any form of personal training you may wish to do. It is one of the few rooms that has any form of outlets so that you may work on any of your technical assignments or cases. In the top drawer is a button that will summon me immediately, though I doubt you’ll use it. If you choose to work with me, this is the least of what I can offer you,” And Tim believed him.
Tim needed to think logically about this, he needed to weigh all of this out in mind now before he committed to anything. On one hand, Ra’s had tried to kill him on multiple occasions, was one of the main reasons Jason had died, had kidnapped some of his friends for The Light, and had killed thousands. On the other hand, he believed Tim and his theory that Bruce wasn’t actually dead. He was giving Tim basically free range of all his bases, allowing him to not only be trained, but to train his own men, he even agreed to not force Tim to kill another person.
If Tim was being honest with himself, he needed a base of operations. He needed somewhere he could regroup when things went south. He needed someone to know where he was in case he didn’t make it. The thought of simply dying with no one to even remember him made him sick.
With one last glance around the room, and his mind made up he extended his hand. This was either going to be his greatest mistake or the best decision he ever made. “I agree to your terms Ra’s,” Ra’s’ smile was deadly as he firmly shook Tim’s hand. Tim quickly released his hand, taking a step back as he demanded, “Now, what information can you give me right now about where Bruce may be.”
“Tomorrow, Timothy. Tonight you will rest.” With that Ra’s turned and walked out the doors, emerald green trailing lightly after him. What had he just agreed to?