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The Time Loop Protocol was one of the first things that every new Robin or Batfamily member learnt. It was also one of the first protocols that had been developed after Bruce and Dick had met the Flashes and learnt that a time loop was a very real possibility.
In short, the TLP was intended to save time in the case that you found yourself trapped in a time loop, by allowing you to bypass the explaining part.
The problem was, unlike every other one of the protocols that the Bats had, the TLP had never been field-tested. And without thorough field testing, there was no way to know how well it worked.
The Time Loop Protocol was one of the handful of contingency plans that covered or prepared for a situation that might not even happen, until it did...on April Fool's Day.
Tim was tired.
And not the kind that could be solved by sleeping.
Tired-of-being-stuck-in-a-time-loop-and-his-siblings-not-believing-him kind of tired. Although it had taken him thirty-seven loops — thirty-seven Wednesdays — to get to this point.
On the first loop, he had been too preoccupied with how he had already done everything before — with experiencing deja vu — to even think about implementing the Time Loop Protocol. He couldn’t implement a protocol for something if he didn’t recognise what was happening.
Tim had eaten his breakfast — a cream-cheese bagel — while ignoring Damian’s jabs at him (that wasn’t anything different, it happened every other morning) then he had left for Wayne Enterprises. On his way into Gotham, he ran into traffic — the cars stopped at a total standstill.
On the second loop, he ate his bagel and ignored whatever Damian was saying. His keys tumbled out of his pocket as he stood up to head off to work, and when his fingers brushed against them as he went to pick them up, the distinct feeling of this has happened before hit him.
On the third loop, Tim considered telling Dick…who was in Bludhaven and thus unreachable before the loop restarted.
On the seventh loop, Tim considered telling Bruce. But the man was off-word with the Justice League and wouldn’t be able to do anything much.
On the twelfth loop, Tim forwent work and headed into Red Hood’s territory to tell Jason about the time loop. He still got shot in that loop. Just in Crime Alley instead of a rooftop, and with a normal gun rather than some spiffed-up alien tech. Loop eleven was the last Wednesday that he went to work.
On the fourteenth loop, Tim gave up trying to tell his family about his situation and resolved to fix it himself.
On the nineteenth loop, he called Bart. Asked what the current Kid Flash knew about time loops. Which was a lot, but essentially nothing of use to him.
Loops twenty through twenty-six were dedicated solely to investigation and investigation only. Pinpointing when on Wednesday exactly the loop started and when it restarted (6.39 a.m. and 3.51 p.m., respectively). And what triggered the restart (his death).
It was always his death. He tried to avoid dying at 3.51 p.m. but it always caught up to him. At first, it had been gunshots to critical areas. But then, on loop thirteen, it wasn’t limited to that anymore. After loop thirteen, Tim’s death at 3.51 p.m. on Wednesday could be caused by anything.
After the second time, loops twenty-eight and twenty-nine, that he died via falling downstairs, he simply stopped going near stairs…
Then his foot caught on the hall runner and he went crashing to the floor head first.
Loops thirty-one through thirty-six? We don’t talk about what happened in those ones.
Something clicked. Silver flashed in his peripheral.
A gust of wind raked through his hair.
And his head hit the ground a full ten seconds before his body did.
Tim woke up in his bed. The alarm clock on the bedside table blaring 6.39 a.m. at him.
Ugh.
Loop thirty-seven, here we go.
Honestly, what’s the point of having the Time Loop Protocol if no one followed it?
Wait.
Not no one. Not everyone had brushed him off.
He hadn’t told Damian about it yet.
The eleven-year-old had been home in every single loop. Tim just…hadn’t ever thought to approach him until now.
The two of them were on better terms now but they weren’t exactly close.
Well, it wasn’t like he had any better options. Or anything to lose. It was the only thing that he hadn’t tried yet. If it didn’t work then he would just find something else to do on the next loop.
After lunch, he knocked on the ex-assassin’s bedroom door.
“Drake?” Damian questioned when he noticed the older vigilante standing in the doorway. “What do you want?” he asked, going back to what he had been doing when Tim showed up (drawing).
Here goes nothing.
“I’m stuck in a time loop,” he declared. “This is the thirty-seventh Wednesday I have been through,”
The current Robin frowned and put down his pencil.
“Thirty-seven? Why have you not initiated the Time Loop Protocol until now?”
“I tried to, in the first few loops, everyone else either was busy or didn’t believe me,” Tim explained.
“Fools,” Damian scoffed. “When does the loop begin and when does it end? Is there something specific that happens to cause it to reset?” he asked.
“6.39 a.m. and 3.51 p.m., every time and—” Tim cut himself off. “—Wait — you don’t think that this is all some kind of joke?” he questioned.
“No, I do not. I am aware that it is the first of April and there is a…tradition of pulling pranks today but it does not sound like you are doing that,” he explained. “You were very specific about those start and reset times, no one who joking would be that specific,”
“That’s a good point,” Tim agreed.
“What have you tried or learnt already?”
Tim leaned against the wall he was standing beside.
“I’m not sure what caused the time loop but the reset is always caused by my death,” Damian stiffened at the mention of his death — that happened three dozen times if he had lived through thirty-seven loops already.
“Is there a specific way that you die?”
“No. In the first thirteen loops, it was gunshots to critical areas: heart, lungs, and head. But after the thirteenth, it’s no longer limited to that,” Tim explained. “—loops twenty-eight and twenty-nine I died falling down the stairs,” he admitted, pink embarrassment dusting his cheeks.
“Tt. Of course, you would,” the eleven-year-old commented scornfully.
“Oi.”
"Does anyone else remember what happened in the other loops?"
"No, no one. I'm the only one who remembers."
After that, the two of them ran through a summary of what had happened in the most notable loops.
“Bart and I discovered that the time loop can only be broken by me,” Tim brought up. “So none of his suggestions would work, because they relied on the Speedforce,”
Damian’s face lit up. “Have you tried leaving Gotham?” he asked.
Tim shook his head. “No. I don’t think that would do anything,”
“If you do not try, then how can you be sure?” he said, making to stand up.
For the second time that day, Damian had a good point.
They headed down to the garage where Tim’s car was parked. The eighteen-year-old got in the driver’s seat while Damian got in the passenger’s seat next to him.
Tim pulled the car out of the garage and drove away from the manor. He drove through the city and approached the outer limits. They passed the edge of the city. Drove out of Gotham.
All was going well. Until it wasn’t.
A car went roaring past them and made Tim swerve abruptly into the other lane at the same time that a truck was heading into Gotham.
Tim’s car, much like the Batmobile and every other car members of the Batfamily owned, was reinforced far beyond what a typical car should be.
But all that reinforcement didn’t make a difference in a head-on collision with a truck going at least ten miles above the speed limit. The front crumpled like it was made out of paper.
At this point, after so many loops, Tim’s become pretty desensitised to his own death. It was going to happen, that’s an inevitable fact of the time loop he’s trapped in.
But this was the first time since that first Wednesday that someone else had died.
Tim got to watch Damian bleed out from injuries that could have been avoided had they not tried to drive out of Gotham to break the loop.
He’s holding his brother’s unusually relaxed body when thoughts of ‘what if the time loop had been broken?’ and ‘if it had, Damian would stay dead’ . If it had been broken, Damian’s death would be his fault.
Caught in those thoughts, Tim didn’t notice his own injuries. Didn’t notice how much blood he himself was losing.
Time reset. Tim woke up in his bed at 6.38 a.m. on Wednesday morning again.
The time loop hadn’t been broken, after all.
A large part of him was happy about that — it meant that Damian wasn’t dead because of him. But a smaller, more tired part was disappointed. That same part had been hoping that Damian’s suggestion had been right.
Loop thirty-eight.
He told Damian about the time loop again. The current Robin suggested driving out of Gotham. Tim took his suggestion again, only this time he made Damian stay behind at the manor.
“If it works and the time loop’s broken, I’ll be coming back here anyway. You’ll see me regardless,” he reasoned.
Damian accepted that with only minimal protest.
Tim drove out of Gotham, being mindful of the car that went roaring past him once more as well as the oncoming truck.
He kept driving.
And driving
And driving.
Until he reached Bludhaven.
As his car passed the welcome sign, a dark green light exploded out of him. Blowing past the car and continuing onto the world outside his car before it fizzled out in light green sparks.
Tim checked his watch.
3.52 p.m.
He was still alive.
Time hadn’t reset!