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The Wayne Manor grounds were quiet and serene under the setting Autumn sun. Its trees gently swaying under the breeze, brown leaves falling to rest on the ground below. The gravel path crunched softly under Tim Drake’s shoes as he walked, furry companions in tow, collars clinking as they walked.
Today, with Damian and Bruce out on a Mission, the youngest Wayne had asked his predecessor to walk his beloved dogs while he was gone. Normally, Tim would’ve barely bat an eye at the request, however that came with the caveat that should he do so, Damian would graciously reward him with a shipment of the proprietary coffee beans used by his favorite coffee shops. Not that Tim was unable to acquire the beans on his own of course, but the fact that the request hadn’t come at the end of a sword showed a remarkable improvement in the Demon Brat’s behavior.
Tim’s pace slowed for a moment as he thought about that.
The Demon Brat’s behavior…
That was an odd thing.
Damian’s behavior was seemingly always consistently horrendous, with the few times his actions weren’t surrounded by a smug sense of superiority and instead replaced by genuine kindness typically reserved for his pets, Alfed, Dick, and occasionally his father. There has been some improvement. For starters, Damian is no longer actively trying to kill Tim, and it seems like Damian got the message that the Batman-signature Traumatic Brain InjuryTM is much better than a League-style beheading, but even then it wasn’t like Damian was a joy to be around
Until recently, that is.
Ever since he got back from the Lazarus Tournament Damian has been… odd. Not in a bad way, just… different, better. Damian has been a lot less broody, a lot less resentful, and a lot less arrogant.
To some, it even looks like Damian is actually happy for once. Not happy as he would after besting one of his brothers in a sparring session, or after playing with one of his dogs (or Batcow, seriously how do you even play with a whole-ass cow?), but genuine, persisting happiness.
Typically this has manifested itself in Damian curling up with one of his sketchbooks in a little nook or a tree, face buried behind its large covers, but when his face is visible it is typically one of pure concentration devoid of any emotion. At least, devoid of any emotion discernible to a normal human.
It wasn’t until Cassandra said something that Tim started to take note.
It was morning at the manor and Tim had just come stumbling into the kitchen, hands unconsciously setting to work upon creating his favorite morning triple espresso/energy drink heart attack mix. Cassandra sat at the island with an amused expression on her face as she watched the Wayne’s resident insomniac perform his morning routine. By the time Tim’s eyes opened enough to fully see what was around him, he found himself seated with her halfway through his drink and with a bowl of cereal in front of him.
It was then he noticed Cassandra had been signing to him for a minute straight. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looking up, Tim tracked the expressions until a brain formulated a response.
“Have you noticed Damian?”
“Noticed him?” Tim asked in confusion. “Doing what?”
“Being happy.”
“Really?” Tim racked his brain for a memory that would fit the description. Coming up empty, he shrugged. “Can’t say I have.”
“Watch him when he draws.”
Tim raised an eyebrow. “But he’s always drawing now?”
“Exactly.”
Finishing her breakfast, Cassandra stood and carried her dishes to the dishwasher.
Watch him when he draws… Huh, I guess that could be a start. Tim scooped up some cereal and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully as he pondered what to do. I guess he’s probably drawing whatever is making him happy, and since nobody’s seen inside of them beside his pets, watching him might clue us into what’s going on.
Turning around, Tim called out to Cassandra before she left, “Hey, how can you tell he’s happy?”
Cassandra paused before signing, “If you know what to look for, you’ll see it.”
“Hm, okay thanks Cass.”
“No problem.”
Returning back to his meal, Tim downed the remainder of his drink in several large gulps. Looking outside the window at the manor grounds, Tim eyed the various trees and branches he knew Damian liked to draw in. The manor was covered in cameras, and he’d be willing to bet that if he looked at them now he’d find Damian curled up, sketchbook in hand.
Tossing out any leftover cereal, Tim began his trek down to the Batcomputer.
Entering the cave, he took a brief look around to notice the distinct lack of a certain demon child training.
Huh, Cass was right.
Booting up the Batcomputer and flicking through the screens, he switched from camera to camera to find his target. First he checked the obvious places. Porches, patios, and the rooftops were immediately ruled out. They may make sense to most normal teenagers, but Tim knew Damian liked his quiet- he wouldn’t be there.
So he moved over towards the second place Damian might be, with Batcow. The beloved bovine’s barn was befuddlingly barren of the boy’s body. Then, he moved towards the woods on the manor’s outskirts.
Manually actuating each camera, he angled the up towards the tree canopy and into the branches and toggled their infrared setting on. Damian wouldn’t be on the ground, and there was no amount of caffeine that would make Tim search for a boy trained by the League of Assassins who was known for wearing green amongst a field of leaves.
Maybe in autumn though.
The screens went blue with splotches of yellow and orange as the camera’s began to scan the infrared spectrum. Filtering out the odd squirrel and bird while taking note of the black bear chilling in Tim’s favorite Maple tree, he found Damian curled up with his sketchbook.
Hopping around a few cameras to get a better look, Tim settled on one that gave him a good view of his face- none of them gave a peek at what was in the sketchbook, and zoomed in. Tim squinted at the screen for several minutes, the young detective’s brain scrambling to discern Damain’s body language, before the caffeine kicked in and he switched back to the visual spectrum.
Taking a look behind him to ensure none of his bat-siblings got any more blackmail material, he settled back to observe.
The boy outwardly, Damian exuded pure concentration, as expected. Normally, Tim would just leave it at that, however this time he was on a mission. Playing around with the camera’s settings, he tweaked the image just right to get a better look at his eyes. Here, Tim started to take note.
Where he expected to find what he found before, there was, but now he could see there was something else. Behind the outward layer of concentration Tim could see the burning drive that compelled him to draw. What said drive was about he couldn’t tell, the camera’s weren’t good enough for that, but there was something.
Shifting the camera’s focus, he moved towards the other visible parts of his body. He dragged the lens across to Damian’s cheek, noticing the slight twitches every few times he made a stroke, and then down to the corner of his mouth. The firm line remained, rarely deviating except to frown, but now he looked to the edges of it. He watched, and waited, and there - a slight twitch.
To other’s it would’ve been insignificant, but to Tim, it was all the confirmation he needed, the boy was practically beaming. Resting his elbow on the chair’s armrest and placing his chin into the palm of his hand, Tim contemplated the scene before him.
It seemed Cass was right, but that brought up more questions than it answered. Namely, what the hell was Damian drawing?
Which was how Tim found himself here.
The memory of the incident coming to the forefront of his mind, Tim tugged at Titus and Ace’s leash, he led them off of the trail and into the woods.
“Come.”
Following the path set forth by his memory, Tim checked all of the different places he’s found Damian. Naturally, nothing was there, but as he was about to leave the final one, something very much not natural caught his eye.
“Now what do we have here?”
Balanced precariously amongst the tree’s branches, Tim slowly clambered towards the little nook carved into the trunk. Reaching in he pulled out what he had been looking for, Domain’s sketchbook. Tucking the book under his arm, he dropped down from the tree and landed with a roll. Springing back up, he took the book out and opened the cover.
“So, Demon Brat, what’ve you been up to?”
Flipping through the initial pages, he found nothing remarkable. A few costume designs, many nature shots, some of buildings, some of plants, many of his pets, an unusual amount about ducks, and then a few of Dick and his father.
To say there was nothing remarkable would be incorrect though, as Tim’s eyes scanned the pages, he gained a newfound appreciation and respect for Damian’s artistic capabilities. The details were intricate and designs elaborate. As a photographer, Tim could only dream of getting shots like this.
But as he flipped to the next page, Tim found something he wasn’t expecting.
It was a girl, about fourteen or fifteen, drawn spectacularly well. She had light gray skin with bone-white short hair and a skull tattooed across her face. Her clothes, primarily black and white, were likewise adorned with various skeleton designs and motifs. It was clear she had some sort of relation with death, but that was not the relation Tim was concerned with.
Just who the hell is this girl? Tim flipped through more and more pages featuring the girl. Some were action snapshots, others more casual, and a great deal were drawn with what Tim could almost describe as a romantic and loving flair.
And then there was the magnum opus, a two page portrait of the girl and Damian kissing with fireworks in the background. Scrambling, Tim pulled out his phone and took a few pictures before frantically texting the Batfamily (sans Damian and Bruce) group chat.
RR sent 5 pictures to group chat
RR: BATCON1
RR: ROBIN HAS A GOTH GF
Several people are typing…
.o0o.
Red Robin, Oracle, Spoiler, Orphan, Red Hood, Nightwing, and The Signal sat around the table to examine the evidence. Before them was a veritable murder board with all the bells and whistles. Pictures, post it notes, maps, and dates were all connected via red yard to one central piece of the puzzle, Damian and the girl.
“So…” Dick began, “Could we just ask him?”
Tim’s head whipped around towards him.
“What? Are you crazy?”
Dick shrugged. “I don’t know, seems like the simplest solution.”
Jason laughed. “Yeah, like the brat would actually tell us.”
“Damain’s made no mention of her before.” Babs looked up from her laptop. “I don’t see anything in our radio transcripts, nor did the Cave’s security systems detect any outbound transmission from him. Only one’s I know of that aren’t strictly mission-related were to Jon at the Kent family farm.”
“So we ask Jon then.” Tim spoke up. “He’s gotta know.”
“I wouldn’t.” Dick advised.
“Why not?” Tim asked, curious. “Jon was Damian’s best, well only friend.”
“Right now he’s on a mission with his father.” He explained. “Even if he could be here, there are two factors we need to consider.”
Dick held up a finger. “One, Damian’s no doubt imprinted some form of a League-esque sense of honor into him. So for him to tell us Damian would no doubt take it as betrayal.” He held up another. “Two, the two are incredibly close. With how incredibly morally upstanding the Kents are, and how close Jon is to him, even without Damian’s influence I doubt Jon would give up anything unless it was truly serious.”
“Well, I mean…” Jason looked at Dick and Tim just knew he was about to make some bright suggestion. “We can just lie.”
“Jason, Kryptonians can hear our heartbeats.” Dick rubbed the bridge of his nose. “They’ll know.”
“We could train?” Jason offered. He looked around the room for support, only to find none and sink just a little bit lower into the couch. An awkward moment later, Stephanie suggested, “What about Alfred?”
Dick, Tim, and Jason all locked eyes with each other and shook their heads in unison.
“Nope, not an option.” Dick stated.
“Why not?” She asked.
“Because Agent A has enough dirt to put each one of us in Blackgate.” Jason responded.
Dick elaborated.
“Between my chandelier and acrobatic shenanigans, Tim’s sleep-deprived antics, and Jason’s…” Red Hood raised an eyebrow “...incidents, Alfred has seen a lot. He hasn’t given up any of that information to anyone, much less something like this. Damian may have told him, but Alfred wouldn’t tell us. At least, not without telling Damian something in return.”
Chiming in, Duke asked, “So there’s nothing you guys would be willing to give up in return for that knowledge?”
Tim’s eyes widened in horror as he imagined the fallout of doing so.
“No! Absolutely not. Damian’s secret girlfriend is a piece of gossip of astronomical proportions. We wouldn’t be sacrificing something minor for something greater, it would be Mutually-Assured Destruction!”
“So that leaves Alfred out…” Duke mulled. “What about Bruce?”
The three former Robins gave him a look.
“I mean,” Duke backtracked. “Maybe he figured it out.”
“If that was the case, we would’ve seen it.” Tim explained. “Batman may specialize in stealth and sneaking up on people, but Bruce has the subtlety of a brick thrown through a window when it comes to stuff like this.”
He continued, “Let’s put it this way: If Bruce found out about our mystery girl, he would’ve interrogated Damian like he knew the antidote to the next Fear Toxin.”
“So, who else could we ask?” Steph looked around the room.
“Talia?” Cassandra suggested. “She is his mother after all.”
“If even Bruce doesn’t know, why would she know?” Tim asked.
“Well, think about it. Damian’s been acting better recently, right?” They nodded. “When did that occur?”
Tim thought about it for a minute before responding, “Sometime after he got back from Lazarus Island.”
“And what did he say about it?” Cass inquired.
“Oh I remember this one.” Tim smirked and adopted a haughty look as he mimicked Damian. “ Tch, it was a pointless game full of drivel and baseless violence. ”
“What about the people?”
Tim leaned back as he thought. “Hm, not much. Said that their abilities could use work and all, something about his mother…” He trailed off, leaning forward as the pieces came together in his head.
“Exactly.”
“In that case, how would we ask her? It’s not like we can set up a phone call.” Tim asked. “Even if we did, Bruce would find out, and we can’t have that. At least, not before we do.”
“Not exactly…” Babs chimed in, holding up her laptop. “There is one way to contact her that is easily accessible, but also easily detectable.”
“The Batcomputer? How would we even pull that off?”
“We’d have to distract Bruce long enough for one of us to make the call and wipe it from the Batcomputer’s logs.” Dick contemplated. “We’d also have to spoof or distract our trackers in a way so that he doesn’t catch on as to why everyone’s in the Cave.”
“We could manufacture a crime for him to investigate.” Babs said, setting her laptop back onto her lap and starting to type away. “Jason, maybe raid a few of Bruce’s stashes and lead him on a goose chase?”
The second Robin’s eyes lit up in mirth as a mischievous smile worked its way onto his face. “Oh I could do that all right.”
“We’d also have to get Damian out too. Dick, can you take him on a patrol?”
“You got it.” Dick gave her a thumbs up.
Barbara typed a few more things before looking back up and glancing around the room.
“We can’t have too many of us at the Cave, but we can’t have too few on the call. Steph, keep shadowing that drug trafficking ring we were working on. Duke, since we need Cass on the call due to her League experience you fill in for her with Spoiler.”
The three in question gave various nods and gestures of affirmations as their roles were delegated for the operation.
“I guess that means I’ll be in the Cave with Cass then.” Tim concluded.
“Yup.” Babs confirmed. “You’re the best detective here outside of Batman himself. That, combined with Cass’s knowledge of body language means the two of you will be able to decipher what Talia’s saying and figure out if she’s lying or not.”
“Plus,” she added, “you found the picture, only fair that you be the one there to hear it.”
“Thanks Babs.”
“Of course, now we just gotta figure out when to initiate it.” She wheeled herself back and partially turned around, waiting to finish the conversation before heading to her computer. “I already know when the typical crime lulls occur, but I’m going to crunch some numbers and feed it to a few algorithms just to be sure. That’ll get us a precise window for when we can act. Last thing we need is for a major situation to occur that we can’t respond to.”
The group nodded as she smiled. “Let’s get to work.”
.o0o.
The air was crisp on the cold Gotham night, the distant sounds of sirens rolling through the streets of the city. Further, behind the walls of Wayne manor, all was quiet. Too quiet.
A pair of shadows broke across the moonlight sky as Red Robin and Orphan snuck past the manor’s defenses. The two of them stalked amongst the outlying trees, evading what defenses were active and slipping past those that Tim had disabled in the nights before.
Coming upon the manor proper, the vigilantes glided alongside its gothic walls until they ventured upon a pre-designated window. Red Robin bounded past and couched while Orphan set to work undoing the lock. With the electronic sensors already disabled, it was a simple matter to the skilled woman. A beat, and then the window slid open.
The two hopped through the opening and into the manor’s dark halls, closing the window behind them as they made their way to the Batcave. Taking care to avoid even more sensors and trip alarms, they took the long way around through the old servant’s passages so as to not encounter Alfred during his nightly tea. A scant few minutes later, the door behind the grandfather clock was opened and the duo descended into the nerve center below.
The cave was empty, as planned. The Batcomputer’s large monitors displayed a variety of information, but key among them were three important screens.
The first was a map of Gotham that marked out the location of each member of the family during their patrol. A brief glance told them that all were out as usual, with Red Robin and Orphan’s trackers showing them at their respective stakeout locations. Nightwing and Robin’s meanwhile were together somewhere on the East Side interdicting one of Black Mask’s weapons shipments in concert with Signal and Spoiler hitting a drug shipment in the West. More importantly, Red Hood was located somewhere in the North side while Batman was rapidly traversing the South.
The second screen was showing break-in alarms from several of Batman’s safehouses in the city. The final screen was showing headcam footage from the Batsuit, providing a first-person view of Batman’s chase across the city’s rooftops.
A dark figure was briefly visible in the distance, appearing and disappearing out of view as the person bobbed and weaved between the buildings. The two vigilantes present made eye contact as they confirmed the ruse had worked.
Wasting no time, they hurriedly crossed the Batcave’s floor to the computer’s central console where Red Robin set to work. Rummaging through the computer’s systems he activated the Manor’s long-range communication array, bouncing signals off of various Wayne Enterprises satellites in orbit, scrambling it some and then piggybacking off of Watchtower transmissions before connecting the signal to its target in Nanda Parbat.
A tense few moments passed as the pair waited for it to go through, a slight weight being lifted off of their shoulders as the static in the main monitor cleared to reveal the face of a beautiful, dangerous, but familiar woman.
Talia al Ghul stood before them, a curious look in her eyes. Raising an eyebrow, she began to speak, “To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Tim’s gaze hardened and his mouth set into a firm line, risking a glance back towards Cassandra before answering.
“We need to know what happened on Lazarus Island. Who Damian met and was with.”
“And why would you need to know that?” She tilted her head. “Not even my Beloved had asked these questions and yet you two contact me, on our priority frequency nonetheless?”
Determined, Tim pressed on.
“Irrelevant, we need to know what went down. It’s for your son’s safety.”
“For my son’s safety?” A mocking glint filled her eyes. “He may be with his father but he is still an al Ghul.” Talia looked down to pick at her nails. “Betraying a member of the al Ghul lineage is punishable by death.”
“That never stopped you before. If I recall, Ra’s wasn’t too keen on you having Damian at the start.” Tim parried and struck. “All we need is for you to answer a few questions. Surely you can manage that.”
Talia hummed noncommittally. “And what would those be?”
Tim grit his teeth, the woman was toying with them and everyone knew it. But time was of the essence, and he needed to know.
“The tournament, who were the members?”
“Mostly children and protégé's of other heroes, assassins, mercenaries, and the like.”
“We already know that, who were they?” Tim’s hand clenched into a fist. “Specifics, name and gender.”
Talia went silent as the mulled over the question, gears in her head turning as she stared back at the screen. Tim, for his part, did his best to channel his inner Batman and appear as convicted and serious as possible. A beat, and then another as the standoff continued.
“Talia, please. We need to know who sh- they are.” It was a small slip, imperceptible to most people, but Talia al Ghul was not most people. Tim had lost.
“Oh I see what this is about…” Talia’s eyes filled with mirth as a predatory smile stretched across her face. Then she began to… laugh?
What started as a few chuckles grew into snickers and then into full giggles. It was a strange sight to be sure. Dying down after a few moments, Talia moved to cut the call, “I will not betray my son, not when the answer is something you can so easily find yourself.”
“No, wait!” Tim opened his mouth to speak but by then it was too late and the screen went black. Dropping his head, Tim slammed his fist on the console and swore.
A moment later he felt Cass’s hand on his shoulder and he looked back at her. She jerked her head to the exit and pointed with urgency. “We need to leave, now.”
Tim looked back at the monitors and swore again, Dick and Damian finished their patrols early and were nearing the manor. Bending back down over the console, Tim set about wiping the data from the computer’s audit logs and powering down the communication array. Once he was sure that everything was as it was, he stood up and began to leave.
“Alright, that should do the trick, let’s get out of here.”
Exiting through the window they had entered, the pair slipped away into the night.
.o0o.
A few days later they were gathered back at Barbara’s apartment.
“So it was a complete bust? Damn, you really need to learn how to talk to girls.”
“Jason, I don’t need to talk to girls.” Tim rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I have Kon.”
“Exactly, you couldn’t find a girl so you had to settle for a guy.”
“Jason.” Dick chastised.
“Joking, Joking.” Jason raised his hands in defense. “But seriously, you didn’t get anything out of her?”
“Well, she definitely knows who we’re talking about, but she still refused to say.”
“Figures.” Dick commented.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tim asked accusingly.
“I’m just saying, we can always just ask Damian.”
Jason replied. “And like we’ve been saying, it’s not worth our time and effort. It’d be like trying to get Alfred to try iced tea.”
“Alright then, if you say so Little Wing.”
“I am saying so, that’s why we’re not gonna.”
Barbara sighed and pushed up her glasses. Stretching, she asked the group, “So, is there anything else we can do? Any other leads we can try?”
Tim thought for a moment, then answered, “I could try and take another look at his sketchbooks. Maybe get him out of the manor for a while and break into his room?”
“Yeahh… about that.” Jason grimaced. “If Baby Brat found out we did that there’d be hell to pay. I don’t particularly feel like taking another dip in the Lazarus Pit so, you’ll have to count me out.”
Duke interjected. “Does Damian have a phone? I could track where his calls are going and find out where she lives.”
“Not likely.” Barbara replied. “He doesn’t even like the WayneTech smartphone Bruce gave him and only uses it to talk to Jon or to look up tips to take care of his pets.”
“Credit cards?”
“Again, pet food and holiday gifts.” She paused. “And manga.”
“Well shit,” Jason whistled and looked at Tim. “So Damian’s a weeb, and has a secret goth girlfriend. You sure both of these are real, Replacement?”
“Positive.” Tim gritted out.
“Could it be that the girl is a character from one of his Manga stories?”
Cass answered for her. “No, he doesn’t read anything fantastical or the like. He only really reads slice of life and romance stories.”
The entire room stared at her as Cassandra casually told everyone she knew more about Damian than anyone expected. An awkward silence permeated for a brief moment before she continued.
“My suggestion is just to ask him.”
“Thanks Cass.” Dick smiled. “No problem.”
“Moving on,” Barbara spoke. “What we could do is-” At that moment Tim’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Taking it out and looking down, his eyes widened as it showed the caller ID to be Alfred calling from the Batcave. Gesturing for the room to quiet down, he put the phone on speaker and took the call.
“Yeah Al?”
“Master Timothy, Master Bruce is requesting you and Madam Cassandra’s presence at the Manor.”
Uh oh.
“Of course, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” A beat. “Did he give any reason why?”
“I believe you would know why, Master Timothy.” Before Tim could get anything else out, Alfred promptly hung up without a word. Tim looked back up, around the room, and then made eye contact with Cass. The room spoke in unison.
“Shit.”
.o0o.
Of all the ways that Tim would die, this was one of the few he had not thought of.
He figured he’d most likely go down against the Joker or some other villain in combat. Closely following it would be in a car crash since, well, Gotham is in New Jersey. The less said about it the better. Lower on that list would also be old age, but with how many encounters the Batfamily has had with Lazarus Pits that might not even be likely.
Somewhere floating amongst those various other causes would be getting diced up by Damian, depending on how the Demon Brat is feeling at the time. That being said, Tim always thought of it being killed by Damian, not because of him.
Hence why he’s been standing at the Batcave’s entrance for 15 minutes, staring at the old grandfather clock. Cass was relaxing on a nearby couch, apparently wholly unconcerned with the den of lions they were about to walk into.
Tim felt a buzz in his pocket and he blinked, pulling out his phone to find Alfred calling him. A sinking feeling settled in his gut as he raised the phone to his ear. “Y-yeah?”
“Master Bruce wishes to know if there’s anything from with clock, Master Timothy.” Alfred paused. “If there is, Master Bruce would like to tell you that he can have a repairman fix it by dusk.”
“N-no, there’s nothing wrong with it. We’ll be down shortly.” He replied.
The line with dead.
Tim shot a glance over to Cass who looked up from her book curiously. Tim took a deep breath to steel himself and turned back to the secret entrance. “We’re going in.”
Activating the door’s mechanism the old clock slid across to reveal the staircase behind it. With trepid steps, the pair descended into the cave below.
Coming upon the cave’s central hub, they found Bruce standing at the Batcomputer in full costume, eyes boring holes into them. Alfred, for his part, was sitting on a nearby chair sipping on a cup of tea. The noticeable absence of Alfred’s mythical cookies only further sealed their fate. The pair came to a stop a few yards in front of the Caped Crusader, who promptly gestured to the monitors. “Explain.”
Tim looked at the screens and cringed.
Yeah, we’re not getting out of this one.
In front of them was a still image of the window that Tim and Cass had entered through taken a few days later. Clearly visible, below the now well-lit window was a darkened dirt footprint on the once-pristine red rugs. In a feeble attempt, Tim did the one thing he could.
“Maybe it was Jason?”
“The patterns match your boots.”
Shit.
“That wasn’t me.” Tim defended. “You can check the cameras yourself.”
“I did.” Bruce pressed a few buttons on the console and brought up several video feeds. Half of them were the cameras that Tim had tampered with before the operation, and the other half played the footage from the same cameras that Tim had looped over the actual footage. “Notice anything?”
Tim pleaded the fifth and stayed silent.
“Hm.” Batman’s mouth curved down into a frown. “One of the WayneTech satellites in orbit also reported a malfunction in its relay components when its transmissions briefly were sent in the incorrect direction for several minutes.”
Tim stared back.
“Well then, I guess I’ll just pull up the other cameras.”
Tim’s eyes widened in alarm as Bruce showed views from a variety of cameras that Tim swore didn’t exist, including one that had been somehow planted within the fossilized dinosaur’s skull.
Bruce played the footage from start to finish, painting a full picture as it depicted Red Robin and Orphan entering the cave, using the Batcomputer, and talking to Talia al Ghul.
“So…” Bruce began. “Care to explain?”
With his plans laid bare, there was nothing else Tim could do but answer.
“Damian has a secret girlfriend.” He blurted out.
The cave went silent as the news hit Bruce. His eyes widened from underneath the cowl and his jaw fell open.
“What?”
“Uhh…” Tim grimaced. “We were trying to figure out who she was so we contacted Talia.”
“And you didn’t tell me. Why?” Bruce’s eye twitched. He looked over to Cassandra who stood next to Tim. “Report.”
“We didn’t know how you would handle it.” She signed. “They figured it’d be best to ask his mother first since Damian and the girl met on Lazarus island.”
“A reasonable lead to follow.” Bruce admitted. “But why was Damian trying to hide it?”
“Well…” Tim rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “We didn’t exactly… ask him about it.”
Tim cringed as Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, practically feeling the disappointment roll off of him in waves.
“If I may,” Alfred interjected. “Master Damian has shown considerable progress since he began to live with Master Bruce. Now that he is socializing with his peers and has lost many of his earlier tendencies, perhaps it may have been best to simply ask him if you wish to know.” He took a sip of his tea and continued. “Doing so would show that you trust him to answer truthfully. Or, since he did not tell you, why ask in the first place?” Alfred elaborated. “If Master Damian wished for you to know, he would have told you.”
“Well you see, none of us ever expected Damian to find someone. Especially since it was from the Lazarus Tournament, we wanted to make sure that uh…” Tim looked back towards Cassandra for support, only to find her staring back in silent amusement.
A few moments of silence later, Bruce pressed further. “Do you know what she looks like?”
“Yes.” Tim took out his phone and began scrolling to find the picture, handing it to Bruce when he located it. “I found a bunch of drawings of her in his sketchbook.”
“In his sketchbook?” Alfred chastised. “Master Timothy, why were you looking at it? You know how much Master Damian values his privacy.”
“Well you see, it was because-”
“Is that Lord Death Man?” Batman’s question cut through the cave like a knife.
“Wait, what?” Tim hurriedly moved over to look at it and find that, indeed, the girl was drawn standing casually next to the Gotham City gangster. Batman’s grip on the phone tightened with ironclad strength. In the back of his head, Tim worried that the screen would crack, but was too focused on the revelation at hand to be bothered by it.
“With me, now .” Batman ordered as he stalked away.
“W-where are we going?” Tim speedwalked to catch up to Bruce’s brisk pace.
“To get answers.” Was all he got in return.
Batman led him out of the cave and made a beeline for Damian’s room, stopping in front of its closed door. Pounding on the wooden door three times, he called out to his son behind it. “It’s me. Open up.” He glanced down at Tim. “Tim’s with me.”
A muffled “Yes Father” could be heard from within the room, footsteps on the carpet growing louder as he approached the entrance. The door swung open to reveal a slightly more irritated than normal Damian who stared up at them with an unimpressed look.
“Yes?”
Bruce held up Tim’s phone with the picture of Damian and the girl kissing on it. “Explain.”
Damian raised an eyebrow. “That’s my girlfriend, Flatline.”
“Your girlfriend? ” Tim asked incredulously.
“Yes, what of it?” Damian stared at him. “Did you not hear it the first time, Drake? Are your ears faulty?”
Bruce swiped to the photo of her and Lord Death Man. “What is her connection to Lord Death Man?”
“He used to be her mentor, she has powers related to death,” He deadpanned. A beat, then he added, “She’s an ally.”
“Hm.” Bruce remained unconvinced. Using the moment of silence, Tim asked, “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Damian’s gaze slid back over towards Tim and his eyebrows narrowed. “Tch, I did not deem it to be of any meaningful importance for you to know, Drake. Had it been so, I would have told you.”
“Who else knows?” Bruce asked.
“Only Alfred and Mother.”
“Alfred?” Tim couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Why does he know?”
“Because he asked, obviously.” Obviously, Tim and the Demon Brat had different definitions of the word.
A beat, then Tim shrieked.
“What?”
“Is there anything else Father? I’m in the middle of brushing Titus’s fur.” Damian stared at them then added. “He and Batcow got into a patch of mud.”
“Hm.” His father stared back then relented. “We will discuss this tomorrow.”
“Thank you father, Drake?”
“Why would you hide it?” Tim asked.
“Why didn't you ask?” Damian fired back. “Honestly Drake, do your detective skills only work against criminals or are Gotham’s scum that dumb?”
“How would I have known that you would have told me?”
“Exactly.” Damian crossed his arms. “How would you?”
“I…” Tim tried to form a few coherent thoughts but his brain kept buffering. Perhaps he needed another espresso.
“Tch, If you’ll excuse me.” With that, Damian closed the door in their faces and locked it shut. Bruce grunted, then walked away without a word. Tim stood there dumbfounded for a few moments until a presence made itself known at the edge of the hallway
Tim whipped his head around to find Cassandra leaning against the wall, a shit-eating grin on her face with her eyes full of mirth. She signed to him with air quotations.
“‘World’s Greatest Detective?’ Nice job.”
Tim’s face went red as he stammered, “S-Shut up.”
Cass chuckled softly and stood up from the wall, walking around the corner. Before she reached it though, she stopped, briefly signed, and then broke into a full sprint.
“Dick is going to love this.”
Tim’s eyes widened in horror and he sprinted after her since like his life depended on it.
“No, wait! Please!” He bounded round the corner to find her halfway out of the window. “I’ll never hear the end of it!”
Just before she dropped, Cassandra signed.
“Exactly.”