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Tim knows that he’s the only one who can see this.
Is his family weird? Absolutely.
Are they weird enough to see this? Probably not.
Not that Tim’s ever asked, that would require talking about it.
Then again, Damian could be a Fuchsbau or a Damonfeuer and Tim probably wouldn’t know. Take “Head of the demon” to a whole new level of insanity.
But then again, if Ra’s was a Damonfeuer, Tim would have absolutely known, given the whole “Blowing his bases sky-high” thing.
Then again, Tim hadn’t used any of HIS skills. But Damonfeuer can also breathe fire so then…I mean.
Point of the matter is.
Tim’s fairly certain this is gonna get him looked at weirdly at the very least. And maybe beheaded, at worst.
But isn’t that just life?
The Siegbarste is huge and angry, but Tim knows that state of being all too well - because by the time they get to him, almost all of them are.
Steph tries to knock the guy out with a heavy blow to the head and reels back when her knuckle dusters dent on the guy’s flesh with a twang. Damian lashes out with the sharp end of the sword in his hand, a line of blood forming on the man’s chest, but not bleeding heavily.
He doesn’t even flinch.
“Fuch die” Tim grumbles, digging into one of the pouches at his side with swift and aggressive movements. He jostles glass vials and small pipettes and plastic pouches and then takes a moment to breathe.
He empties the pouch onto a stairwell by his side and ignores the hiss from Jason to “Get back in the fight, asshole”
The vials aren’t labeled. That’s also fine. Tim’s dealt with enough of them throughout the years that he knows what he’s looking for.
Siegbarste gift or Siegbarste poison. But diluted. Because he doesn’t want to kill this dude by calcifying his bones and crushing him into powder on the inside.
Thing is - Tim thinks as he shakes the vial in his hand, shoving the rest back into the pouch with a mental note to fix their arrangement later so that they aren’t so fragile – that you still need to get this into the bloodstream somehow. And Tim doesn’t just carry an elephant gun with him.
Siegbarste have dense skin. You can’t get glass through the skin of their hand, that’s how thick it is. Luckily, Tim’s never been a blunt instrument.
The knife-point/spear-point of his staff shoots outward with a flick of Tim’s wrist and Tim stops just short of the actual fight to carefully drop a few drops onto the sharp end.
1…
2…
3
Then, he lashes out without any remorse. The poison on his blade catches the light in ways that makes Tim feel almost nostalgic for a time that never was, but the blade hits its mark and Tim takes several steps back, dragging Cass with him as he does. After all, he doesn’t need to end the man. Just get the gift into his bloodstream.
The man falters. Grunts.
Looks over at Tim. Reels back for just a moment at what he sees. Just enough for his heel to catch on Steph’s outstretched leg behind him and he goes tumbling.
Tim actually winces cause, oh yeah, that’s just a normal guy for now.
That’s gotta hurt.
“How long does that last?” Dick demands from behind him, panting, leaning his own weight onto one leg.
Tim shakes his head “Not long enough for us” he says instantly, pulling out a burner phone from the same pocket as the vials. The phone numbers are burned into his retinas from poor-quality LED screens and way too many calls.
“Hallo” Tim says as soon as the phone stops ringing.
There’s no greeting, but then, Tim doesn’t expect one, given the situation.
“I’ve got one of yours”
-
“Run this by me again”
Tim groans and drops his head into his hands. Because again? Really?
But he takes a breath “Wesen are liminal creatures that generally have animal-characteristics and mostly animal-based faces and heads. The “Liminal” in there is the same thing that makes it hard for most people-” “Most normal people” Constantine interrupts, and Tim takes the initiative to shoot him a dirty look
“Most normal people” Tim reluctantly amends “To see. So the Siegbarste is an ogre-like creature with thick bones, thick skin and way too much pain tolerance. But not all Wesen are that lucky”
Constantine clears his throat a moment later “I’ve heard horror stories about Wesen and the like since I was a kid. Klaustriche for example-“
This time, Tim interrupts “Aren’t all that bad. Neither are Blutbod or any of the others. No Wesen is immediately and irredeemably evil”
“But the legends do have some basing” Constantine argues.
Tim rolls his eyes “If we all based ourselves on our ancestors and legends, I’d be chopping off heads and keeping them as trophies”
Jason, out of the corner of Tim’s eye, flinches.
“I don’t. Just for the record”
“But that is traditional” Constantine hums.
Tim fakes a gag “No thanks. I have enough trouble with reapers without having a house full of heads”
“Reapers?” Babs demands, eyes looking a little wild now as she goes through cameras and angles and counting the random staticky glitches that appear on screen with a pale face.
Pursing his lips, Tim shakes his head. His family worries enough without –
“Reapers are literal Grimm-hunters. They hunt them down like wild game with scythes, generally for the royal families” Constantine says, tone nonchalant as he goes for yet another cigarette in his pocket despite Alfred’s discerning eye on him.
Tim tackles him to the ground immediately and sees the cigarette go flying before Alfred picks it off the ground with an expression of distaste.
“No need for violence!” Constantine complains when Tim pins him to the desk with a hand over his mouth, holding an arm behind his back as he hisses “No need for them to know everything!”
Babs and the others watch him nerve strike Constantine with raised brows for a moment before Tim can almost feel them all shrug in unison.
Cass tilts her head at him, ignoring the limp fingers no longer holding a cigarette by Tim’s side “Reapers?” she asks, and Tim knows it isn’t a question.
Tim scrunches his nose and bites his lip in annoyance “Not a concern”
“I feel like that is a concern” Jason reverts.
“Agreed” Damian nods, wiping his katana with a cloth as he does so and not looking even slightly impressed with the current situation.
“Not a concern” Tim emphasizes. And the discussion stops. Well, from Tim’s side, at least.
-
Tim isn’t the best Grimm in the US at the moment. Tim also isn’t the worst Grimm in the US at the moment. He falls somewhere in the middle, like the other Grimm in Portland that Tim's only heard rumors of. He's not willing to get involved in that mess.
But, Tim hopes that he’s the most forgiving Grimm in the world at the moment cause this is a bit beyond him.
“A what?” he asks, speaking roughly into the phone as Dick stops dead behind him.
“A Spinnetod” Rose repeats into the phone like she thinks Tim hadn’t heard her.
Tim knows what a spinnetod is. Kind of, at least. His German may be rusty but it’s present.
“Spider Wesen?” Tim asks wearily and Dick vanishes immediately. He never did like spiders all that much. Really hated being compared to them when he starts walking on his hands down the stairs or hanging off of chandeliers. Or ceilings.
“Eh” Rose says “Close enough. You gotta break out the books for this one, baby Grimm”.
She hangs up before Tim can scream.
Tim stares at the phone. Feels his eye twitch. Takes a breath.
“Godverdammt” he swears and clicks the phone closed between his fingers.
He sees Jason. He does not care and keeps walking.
They’d moved his old family books into the main library after the incident with the Siegbarste. And Tim’s seen Babs, Jason and Damian all stare into its pages with a wide array of disbelief, horror, glee and sometimes some weird longing that Tim can’t understand.
Now, he heads toward one of the shelves with books older than Wayne manor itself and starts scanning.
Spider Wesen, Tim will admit, is a new concept to him. He vaguely wonders if they’re venomous before he finds a book that looks promising.
The leather is old, but then all of them are.
Jason appears in Tim’s line of sight as he opens the journal and starts reading.
“If you can read German, you can help” Tim says as Jason stands there, still and silent.
Jason huffs a breath but pulls up another chair without verbal protest
It isn’t until several hours later that they find the problem.
“Accelerated aging”
The words keep swirling in Tim’s head. Because he knows that. It’s what brought one of his best friends into this time period.
Bart had been aging at an accelerated rate.
But Bart didn’t have to kill people to stop aging at that rate. Didn’t have to eat the insides of 3 young men every 5 years just to keep himself from dying of old age at 30.
But this…isn’t quite the same.
“We gotta stop her” Jason says with a sigh “How do you even stop something like this?”, like he’s already expecting yet another issue. Like this is just another rogue that kills because they can. Or because they want to make a point.
But this isn’t a rogue.
And this isn’t a Bat problem.
No, this is Tim’s problem.
He feels his teeth dig into his lips as he thinks. If he does nothing, 3 people die in a 5-year period where Tim could have saved them. If he arrests the Spinnetod, she dies of old age in a prison. Between a rock and a hard place.
Luckily, Tim doesn’t always have to make all the hard decisions himself.
He pulls out his phone.
“Rose, this is a bit much for me to handle. I need to call a meeting”
“A meeting” Tim explains several hours later as he waits by the front door, foot tapping against the tiles impatiently “Is a concession I created to make sure I’m not doing more harm than good in the Wesen community”
“Essentially” he continues a moment later, as the family only stares him down uncomprehendingly “There are factions in the city. Blutbod. Anubis’. Hexenbiest. Siegbarste. And when I came into the whole being a Grimm thing when I did, even as young as I was, I decided I would do it differently”
“The factions each chose a leader to speak for them. And if I ever have an issue with a part of the faction, I generally report it to the leader”
“Like with the Siegbarste that got dragged away by another man” Steph notes.
Tim points at her and winks “Exactly. Normally, killing a Wesen that attacked you or someone else in your city would be perfectly acceptable. Now, for semi-obvious reasons, I can’t do that. So, I report them to their leaders. And what happens next is out of my hands”
“What about repeat offenders?” Babs asks, eyes narrowed in thought.
Tim winces “I’ve only had trouble with a couple through the years. Maybe one or two but if the factions can’t sort them out, then I force them out of the city and mark them down as a criminal on the GCPD’s database”
“And that’s so bad, why? It seems rather elementary and yet you speak like it is comparable to a beheading” Damian asks, eyebrows raised.
Tim thinks. He doesn’t know how to explain that kicking a wesen out of Gotham with a criminal record is basically signing a death warrant with how many Grimm are out there without a care in the world.
He opens his mouth, unsure of what’s going to come out of it before he’s interrupted.
“Outside of Gotham, there are other Grimm. And very few of them will view a Wesen with any kind of forgiveness. Fewer still would find out about the record without the Wesen meeting their end at their hands”
Tim recognizes the voice “Mr. Edtruch” Tim greets, spinning to face the man and seeing the change ripple across his skin to reveal white wooly fur, golden eyes and long ears. He holds out his hand to shake.
“Grimm” the man greets back and Tim resists the urge to roll his eyes. Tim’s been the only Grimm in Gotham for years and yet they still can’t call him by his name?
“It’s a sign of respect” Rose says, sidling right by Tim as she brushes past him, into his house with a faint laugh.
Tim scoffs “I don’t go around calling you ‘Hexenbiest’, Rose”
The laughter just trails further into the house as Tim’s family starts to look uncomfortable.
Tim maybe hadn’t taken the time to explain every Wesen to them, but they know the basics, kind of. Maybe.
Tim’s seen most of them reading so he’s willing to bet that most of them at least knows what a Hexenbiest is. And not to drink anything Rose gives them.
She always did hold a grudge against those who tried to hurt him.
Tim sighs as another figure appears at the door with a grumbled “Grimm” as a greeting, this time a Koningsclange with the name of-
“Ms. Langebaan, it’s good to see you again”
-
Some Wesen really shouldn’t try the whole stealth thing, Tim knows. Too loud and brash and There. But some of them, Tim really struggles to think about as anything other than stealth operatives.
Sometimes, even Tim himself struggles to see them.
Nuckelavee are one of those species. Tim only knows that he’s coming because he can see the man’s reflection in the side of the Wayne manor's window.
“Reapers in town. Keep your head down” the man says, shouldering Tim on his way past. And Tim blinks where he’d been going for a weapon.
Because since when did Gotham have a Nuckelavee?
Tim thought that most of them were only employed by the Royal families.
So, Tim does what he always does when he finds a new Wesen in his town.
He calls Rose.
“Your warning was delivered?”
“Rose”
“No need to sound so aggravated. He’s a friend and he's here to help”
“He’s a liability”
“He’s a part of the resistance for a reason, hunny”
Tim groans, attracting attention as he walks into his office to see Damian, sitting on his chair, a leather tome older than even the kid’s grandpa (Probably) in his lap. He makes the decision to go for a snack instead.
“I’m not here for the whole Royal-Resistance thing”
“You’re gonna have to be”
“I don’t even have my key anymore”
Rose growls in a manner that says she intended for it to be a groan and sighs “How Janet lost the only Grimm object that was more important than her life, I will never know”
“Janet” Tim emphasizes “Was my mother and I don’t appreciate you bad-mouthing her”
“Then she should have done better”
“I’m gonna ignore this whole conversation and the fact that there is a Nuckelavee in my city. Just…keep him in line, will you?”
“The fact that you’re more worried about him than the reapers really does concern me”
“I can handle reapers. They ain’t got shit” Tim declares as he enters the kitchen, earning a wide-eyed look from Dick and a sigh from Alfred.
Rose laughs “Johan’ll take care of them before it comes to that”
Then she hangs up.
“Royal killers in my city. Rose better hope things clear up and the dude isn’t secretly evil” Tim grumbles, plucking an apple off of the counter.
Dick turns even paler for some reason, but Alfred sighs.
“Should I be preparing the shotgun, Master Tim?” he asks, eyes already drifting to a cabinet they all know they aren’t supposed to open.
Tim smirks “Nah, Alfred. I got this”
It’s a day later that Tim goes into his room and shrieks cause there’s scythes! On his bed!
Jason comes rushing in, pistol already leveled and scanning the room before he sees the scythes. But honestly, that probably isn’t what attracts his attention.
“Are those heads?”