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Chapter Text

       His wings were stuck was the first thing that registered to Tim. The second was that he couldn’t move at all. The third was that he was pressed in between something soft and glass at his face.

         The final thing was the voice calling his name from outside the glass. Blearily he focused on the direction the voice was coming from, it was Jason, and Dick and Damien? His hazy vision finally cleared and he couldn finally make out who was speaking. It was Dick, the older boy tugging at the bars of the bird cage the three of them were in. The…bird cage. What was going on? Finally he focused back on Dick and what he was saying his eyes rolling over to look at his older brother.

      “Hey Timmy you with me?”

      Dicks voice was much softer then before and Damien let out a small scoff clearly irritated but Tim couldn’t find the energy to be frustrated, he felt strange, floaty, soft, not all there. Someone was calling his name again, this time a second voice tuned in much harsher then the first he focused on that the harsh grating sound helping him to ground himself.

       “Hey replacement stop ignoring us! Wings going to drive me mad with this racket.”

         It was Jason some part of Tim’s brain distantly registered. That was Jason calling him, he let his eyes drift to rest on the older boys scarlet helmet blinking slowly at him. The world was so bright he thought. He kind of wished he could close his eyes again. He didn’t realize he’d followed that thought and closed his eyes until a third voice spoke up tsking impatiently.

        “Shameful. As expected of my subpar predecessor.”

      He opened his eyes again focusing on Damien. No not Damien, not Dick, not Jason. Robin, Nightwing, Hood, they had different names in masks he knew that he knew he was supposed to know that. He was staring at the three of them watching Nightwings mouth move when, Hood slammed his fist against the bars, this succeeded in focusing Tim once more. He listened apathetically as the other boy spoke.

          “Hey Red are you even listening!”

       Tim just stared, he was listening now, he felt more present than before but still not all there. Hood spoke up again his eyes staring straight into Tim’s.

        “You gotta focus Red. Your the only one who can maybe move right now, and we need you to-”

       A dark chuckle interrupted whatever Jason was going to say next and a man walked into view a dark grin on his face.

         “I do apologize but I’m afraid your dear friend is hardly capable of breathing at the moment, much less moving.”

          Jason-no Hood stared coldly at the man.

       “And I suppose your going to tell us why that is, in typical villain fashion.”

        The man snorted and crossed to Tim tapping on the glass inches from Tim’s face making Tim’s eyes go slowly crossed eyed as he tried to focus on the strange movement and sound.

        “I don’t know about villain I’m merely a collector. But I do suppose you lot deserve an explanation. Your little friend here is an endangered species. One that I’ve had my eye on for a long time.”

         The man pressed a button outside of Tim’s view and the glass slid out of the way, forcing Tim to take a gasping breath of unexpectedly cold air. The man hummed patting Tim’s head absently at the sound as he brushed his hands through Tim’s right wing with his other hand.

      Distantly Tim could hear Dicks sharp intake of breath as the man sorted through Tim’s primaries, shifting them to lie just so. He also could here a faint growling sound from Hoods helmet as the man fluffed his own wings angrily.

         “The Ornate Hawk is an endangered species native to Tropical America, and is an extremely rare bird, shifters with that wing type are even more rare. In fact your dear Red Robin is the very last of his kind. When I discovered that such a rare find was needlessly endangering itself I sent a team to collect it.”

      “ Unfortunately my team is not as good at identifying wings as I am, especially with that nasty wing paint of yours. So you all got grabbed. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but it does make it so I can make myself very, very clear.”

       The man leaned over Tim blocking the others from his sight as the man re-arranged something that sat around Tim’s neck. He spoke again his voice almost unbearably loud next to Tim’s ear as he spoke to the others.

        “This little bird is mine now.”

        The man leaned back and examined Tim from head to foot, humming as he did so, prodding gently at Tim’s sternum, checking for something. Dick let out a strangled sound and Jason let out a very audible growl, but the man continued seemingly unphased.

      “You needn’t worry about his health. He will be well taken care of until he’s fully matured, then we intend to try and breed him with a few others similar to him. Maybe even a clone of a deceased female. He will live a content life completely cared for, and safe from the foolish activities your lot seem intent on participating in.”

       Distantly something in Tim was raging, screaming, begging for this to end. But he could only stare numbly trapped in his own body as the man once again leaned close something in his hand that Tim couldn’t see, that he pressed softly into his Sternum in the same place he’d poked before.

        “Of course that all depends on you lot. I like my specimens to be mine and mine alone, uncontested by other parties and if you insist on coming after him, I can always just pin him now and place him on display in my home.”

      The thing at his sternum pressed harder and Tim’s breaths came shorter, unable to move and fight against the obstruction to his breathing.

         “He won’t even feel it, you know. We have him on some very strong sedatives frankly it’s a miracle he responded to your voices at all. Though I must admit it’s thrilling to see his eyes. They really are quite stunning. If we do put him on display I’ll have to have those made into earrings for my wife. Can’t have them going to waste after all.”

        Dick looked like he was going to be sick, his eyes focused on whatever was pressed into Tim’s sternum. Damien was tense his hand at his hip trying to grab a blade that wasn’t there. Hood was still though his eyes focused on the man’s back. Waiting. He spoke up voice a low growl through the modulator.

         “What do you want us to do.”

       The man smiled his eyes meeting Tim’s as he softly brushed his hand through Tim’s hair.

         “I want you to promise not to come after me. All of you. If I see hide or hair of any of you well-”

        The thing at his sternum tapped it, the strange numb feeling dulling the pressure but not making it vanish entirely. 

         “How can you expect us not to come after you!”

         Dick shouted his eyes wide beneath his domino. The man chuckled and turned to face Dick when the window on the wall shattered Batman crashing through.

            The man sighed utterly unaffected by the entrance and suddenly something was flying from his hand towards Tim. The man hadn’t been looking though so it missed the spot on his sternum. The one right over his heart. Instead it plunged itself deep into his gut. Tim wanted to spasm, to lurch with the movement but the drug in his system only allowed him a small jolt and a small hacking wheeze, something wet trickling from his mouth and down his chin.

       Batman was on him in a second the man cackling maniacally as the larger man began to punch him into the ground.

        “If I can’t have him no one can.”

        The man wheezed only to be promptly knocked out by Batman’s next punch. Batman dropped the man’s bloodied form and crossed to Tim in two strides his hands hovering uncertainly first around the restraints them around whatever was in Tim’s gut. Cass who had followed Bruce in must have freed the others because Dick was peering over Bruce’s shoulder panickedly calling something over the comes about medbay. Jason had pulled off his helmet, his jaw clenched as Bruce gently removed the restraints and pulled Tim up. Careful to avoid jostling the thing in his stomach and hopefully not causing it to bleed more. Bruce cradled him in his arms as he carefully made his way to a set of stairs to carry Tim down to the car.

          Tim’s wings dragged against the ground something wet dripping on them from his back. Bruce had wrapped and packed as much gauze as he could around the thing in his stomach till they could get him to a doctor but it appeared to be doing little good. 

       Tim….still wasn’t sure what was going on.

His mind was screaming at him that he needed to focus to come back to the present. To say something, anything. But the drug in his system prevented any such thing, and slowly, his eye lids moving like molasses he drifted off to screamed shouts of “don’t close your eyes! Don’t do it replacement!” Then all Tim knew was darkness.

                              ******************

          When Jason had first woken up his first thought was rage, his second was worry as he searched for the brothers he’d been captured with, and the third…was some unholy mix of the two. The cage was cramped but it did contain two of his brothers which sent a spike of relief through him. Only to immediately have that relief crushed when he couldn’t find Ti- Replacement.

       That anxiety increased when he began to inspect his surroundings and found his missing brother in a display case. A display case like the ones for butterflies at a museum. Dick and Damien had woken shortly there after and after a quick whispered scream session Dick decided to see if he could wake up Tim.

        For the first ten minutes there was no response then slowly, ever so slowly, those blue eyes opened. There was a spike of relief in Jason’s gut but that quickly faded to concern when those same blue eyes didn’t focus. Tim stared at them mask-less his hands and legs spread artfully in the restraints, his wings pulled out on full display, each feather carefully arranged, like a bug on a board, his eyes dead and empty. So Jason spoke up his harsh voice making the boy's gaze drift lazily toward him. 

        That was perhaps the scariest part. Jason had seen all his brothers bound before, tortured even, but Tim had always had this sharp focus to him, and yet his eyes were empty now. Devoid of any thought or care, the blue dull and empty. The sharp mind Tim was so well known for dulled to an empty hollow shell. They made a few more attempts to catch his attention when The Man entered. Seeing him card his fingers through Tim’s wings, seeing him touch his brothers hair made something sick twist in Jason’s stomach.

          He’d seen men like this before, men who didn’t stop till they took all that they wanted and then some, and then he pulled out the pin. It was long, sharp, deadly, and looked exactly like the pins in museums display boards. When he pressed it against Tim’s chest right above his brother's heart something in Jason went cold. No. This couldn’t be happening, then there was a shattering of glass, and Batman was there. His dad was there, but just like last time it really mattered his dad was too slow. Too slow to stop the pin as it buried itself deep into Tim’s soft stomach. Pinned him into the case. Pinned him like a bug. 

       Tim gave a small shuddering twitch, those dull dull eyes staring straight ahead, and his next breath hitched a slight cough sending blood dripping down Tim’s chin. Tim was still breathing but all Jason could think about was how dead he looked. Eyes dull, body still and calm despite the blade in his stomach, muscles still held forcefully relaxed by the drug pulsing in his brothers blood. Then Bruce was pulling Tim down was carrying him to the car, Dick was calling Leslie, and then Tim’s eyes were closing and Jason was screaming. Screaming for his brother to stay awake. 

        Tim went to sleep, and he still hadn’t woken up.

Chapter Text

        Tim’s eyes felt heavy and thick, all he wanted was to sleep forever but something was niggling the back of his brain. Something that told him he needed to wake up now! So slowly, agonizingly slow, he began to open his eyes bit by bit.

        That was the cave ceiling was his first dim thought, the second was, that’s the medbay part of the ceiling and the third was….panic. It all came rushing back to him the strange floaty feeling, the inability to think much less move, the panic as something slammed into his stomach and being unable to dodge.

         He tried to jolt upright only to find he still couldn’t move his limbs still numb. Useless, the sound he let out was half keen, half howl of fear and panic. In an instant a face was filling his vision, teal blue eyes, black hair with a white shock through it, Carmel skin, and a J carved into one cheek. Jason, his mind said, flock his instincts screamed, safety yelled his panic riddled emotions. He tried to reach for Jason a low crooning call escaping his mouth as his hind brain begged his older brother to protect him, to snuggle him, to keep him safe. His arms didn’t respond, but Jason did.

        Jason was holding him close his head tucked beneath the older boys chin, his wings wrapped up in Jason’s, his whole body encompassed by the the older boys much larger wingspan. Tim wanted to grip onto Jason’s shirt and snuggle his head closer but his body stayed achingly limp, paralyzed and still. He keener again wailing sadly into the cave, his calls echoing off the walls and ceiling. 

      Jason held him tighter rocking back and forth, back and forth and moments later Damien and Dick also appeared, summoned by his calls. He weakly tried to reach for them, his fingers twitching and his eyes pleading. He couldn’t manage it but the two seemed to get the message. They joined him under Jason’s wings wrapping themselves around him. Supporting him.

       The next few days past in a blurred haze, and more then a few panic attacks but the other three boys stayed with him calming him, protecting him as slowly, limb by limb he regained the ability to move. 

       In the coming months they never talked about it but if Tim occasionally summoned them all to his one of his safe house for snuggles after a panic attack….well that was no one’s business but his own, and if the man who attacked him mysteriously ended up dead in his jail cell cut to pieces and shot in a dozen places, well no one could ever prove it was Damien and Jason, Tim had made sure after all. And lastly if he suddenly got way more overprotective of his brothers and they of him….well Batman you shouldn’t have given him so many huggable brothers.

        Things weren’t ok, but in this family they never really were, and Tim had a family who loved him, and in the end THAT was all that really mattered.