Chapter Text
Tim stared at the screen in front of him. There was an ever-growing collection of empty coffee mugs to his left and a halfway full coffee mug to his right. It wasn't even warm anymore. Tim drank it all, anyway, barely tasting the coffee and not taking his eyes away from the screen. He was so close to solving the case he was working on. He could feel it. It wasn't too major compared to some other cases he had worked on, but everything had been relatively quiet recently. He was sort of glad that the worst case right now was just a robbery. Sure, a large diamond and most of the money that was supposed to be used to support charities had been stolen, but no one had died, no one was missing or even a little hurt. That was as good as it got in Gotham.
Tim solved the case right as Damian walked in scowling as usual. In his hand was a crumpled flyer. Tim ignored him and started on the next unsolved case. He didn't even glance at the flyer until Damian balled it up and threw it in Tim's general direction. It landed in Tim's now empty coffee mug. One glance was all it took to make Tim start to panic. He could see a sliver of a familiar looking smile and Tim had to force himself to calm down. It was probably something that just looked a little familiar. It couldn't be what he thought it was.
He picked the flyer up and smoothed it out. It was wrinkly and stained with coffee in some places but there was no mistaking the picture. There was no mistaking what the flyer was advertising. On the flyers were the smiling images of the animatronics Tim still sometimes saw in his dreams. In bright cheerful letters was an invitation to visit the new Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria that had opened in Gotham. The swirl of colors only served to make Tim feel even worse, because he knew that in a place like Gotham more people would be tempted to go to a place that promised a break from all of the craziness all at an affordable price.
Tim turned to Damian. His face was blank, and his voice was even and emotionless, the complete opposite of the panic and fear that threatened to overwhelm him. "Where did you get this?" Damian scowled and started to sharpen his katanas, "Jon found it and thought it would be cool to go. I told him that it was a waste of time. He went with his mother." Tim paused, "And you are irritated because of this?" Damian scowled down at his katana, "No, I tried to smuggle in a wild squirrel and failed." Tim almost smiled at the ridiculousness of the statement before the full weight of Damian's words sunk in. "Wait. You're telling me that Superboy and Lois Lane are at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria right now?" Tim asked. Damian scoffed, "I know you are slow, but you cannot possibly be that slow. He and his mother were visiting Gotham for a bit and they decided to check it out."
Tim ignored the insult and turned back to the computer in from of him. He immediately started to look up the Pizzaria's location in Gotham. He felt sick to his stomach when he thought of all of the people that could've died already because he wasn't fast enough. Fortunately, it was opening day so he could still prevent any deaths. Unfortunately, opening day meant a lot of people were going to be there. Tim didn't want to waste any more time. He immediately started to gather the supplies he would need and changed out of his Red Robin suit that he had been wearing when he finished patrol and collapsed into the chair to look at cases. Damian watched him curiously.
"If anyone needs me tell them I'm busy," Tim told Damian who scoffed and muttered something about no one needing Tim's help with anything. When Tim didn't react to his comment his curiosity to grew. "What's going on?" Damian demanded. Tim was halfway out the door and was busy texting someone that he had hoped to never have to talk to again. He didn't seem to care about responding to Damian with an explanation or an irate retaliation.
Tim:
~New Pizzaria opened in Gotham Might wanna check it out~
Michael:
~Saw it On my way Bringing Henry too~
Tim:
~I know you've seen it already Plz leave this to us this time Stay home~
Bernard:
~read~
He hoped Bernard had listened to him. He didn't want him in danger. With that out of the way Tim could focus on getting to the Pizzaria before there were any casualties. He was on the rode in minutes. He had never been more tempted to weave around cars using his motorcycle before this moment. He had to ignore Bruce asking about the cases he was working on and Jason's taunts to get out of the house faster. In hindsight this might not have been a good idea. This only served to make them more concerned and suspicious.
Tim finally made it to the Pizzaria and his worries about not getting there on time were replaced with worrying about failing to stop whatever was going on inside anyway. He had always protected children; it was his purpose. Now there was another threat to their safety, and he was worried he wouldn't be able to stop it. What if it was new? What if Afton had created something that they had never seen before? What if they never succeeded in stopping this whole thing for good even if they won this time?
Tim was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice calling his name. "Tim! Over here!" Michael Afton was waving his hound next to Henry Emily who looked immensely uncomfortable in the crowded parking lot. His eyes darted around and lingered on the laughing families. A father carrying a little girl on his shoulders holding hands with another man who was carrying a giggling boy. A family not broken up by animatronics or a psychopathic murderer and wouldn't be as long as they were here.
"Have you been inside yet?" Tim asked. He didn't bother with standard greetings; they had a job to do. "We only got here a second before you did," Michael said shaking his head. "We need to know what we're dealing with first. We don't know if it's Glitchtrap, Springtrap, or some twisted new thing," Tim looked at the building warily as if it were about to come alive and start eating people. "You guys aren't going to start this without me, are you?" Tim froze. Bernard had snuck up on them and was standing next to Henry. "I thought it would be better if you stayed home. This isn't really that bug of a deal," Tim tried. It didn't work. Bernard looked at him unimpressed, "If it isn't a big deal why did you get Michael and Henry. You hate talking to Henry and you knew Michael would've brought him. I'm a part of this just as much as any of you. I'm staying and I'm helping." Tim opened his mouth to argue but decided against it at a look from Bernard. "We'll have to go inside before we can make a good plan. We need to see what we're up against. We'll come back later tonight when no one's here if it turns out to be the animatronics. They won't do anything until then." Tim said instead.
The four of them walked inside. All around them were laughing children, happy families, and cheerful music that the animatronics themselves were dancing to. It was eerily similar to the first Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria, but it had more modern improvements and the animatronics had been restored. Tim could tell they were the same though. He found himself staring at the restored Puppet that was near the gift shop. It wasn't dancing or interacting with the kids like the other animatronics did. Tim could see her watching him back. He thought that she seemed almost happy to see him.
Tim turned away and spotted Lois Lane and Jon. "I'll be right back," he said and made his way over to them. Jon looked up and smiled, "Tim! Is Damian here too?" Jon looked behind Tim looking for Damian's familiar scowl and blatant disapproval with the world and all its inhabitants. "No, sorry. He's not here right now." Tim paused trying to think of how to continue. He didn't want them in danger. Jon and Lois were probably in less danger than the other families were right now, but Jon was Damian's friend, it would upset Damian if he got hurt or if his mother got hurt and they might not always get along but that didn't mean Tim didn't care. "You might want to leave." Jon looked confused and Lois tensed. She knew what it meant when a vigilante said something along those lines. "Is something wrong?" Tim hesitated, "I can't really tell you much, but it's not safe here, for anyone really. This company has a lot of...history I guess you could say. And none of it is good." Lois was already asking for the check, "You can't tell us because it's a bat thing? You guys are really too secretive sometimes." Tim shook his head, "I can't say because it's a long explanation and because it's personal. People were killed, a good amount of them were kids. If you do a bit of research on this company, I bet you could find a lot." Lois looked at him with narrowed eyes, "Are you saying that this so-called history this company has would be worth investigating for a story?" Tim nodded. "It might help people stay away too." Lois grinned, "I never thought that one of you would be asking me to write a story about one of your cases. I'll see what I can do." Jon and Lois left after that. Both of them were looking around warily.
Tim walked back to Michael, Bernard, and Henry. "We looked around a little bit, but we can't find anything other than the animatronics. There might be something in the back, but we can't check until tonight," Bernard said. Tim nodded, "That's good, I think. I got Lois to investigate the history of the company so she might write an article or something about it. Maybe then more people will avoid these things. Get here by 12:00 tonight. That's when we start."