Chapter Text
Tim was a city boy.
It had always been that way. Sure, his father had offered to teach him how to fish once, but they never actually ended up going. The only time Tim had really spent in the great outdoors was during training. So when Batman had assigned him to track some weapons trafficking activity through the woods outside Gotham, during a snowstorm no less, Tim had been less than thrilled.
“Ugh, this is the worst.”
At least he wasn’t alone.
Stephanie had been assigned to suffer with him. They’d been freezing their asses off for two hours now waiting for the shipment to pass through. Once it did, they’d tag one of the trucks (ideally without getting caught) and get the hell out of the forest. Tim was counting down the seconds.
“Agreed. Don’t the bad guys believe in snow days?”
His girlfriend snickered. “I hope they’re getting hazard pay, at least.”
“What about us?” he questioned.
“Alfred promised to make hot chocolate when we get back.”
The mere thought of it was enough to make Tim’s mouth water. Hot chocolate sounded awesome. “That’s one consolation, at least.”
It was another hour before they finally saw some movement. The weather must have been slowing the trucks down, which was as unfortunate for the two Bats as it was for the bad guys trying to keep their schedule. It was freezing. They were wearing their thermal layers under their suits, of course, but Tim could still feel the cold seeping into his bones.
“It’s almost over,” he assured his mission partner. “We’re almost done.”
“Thank goodness. If I lose any toes to hypothermia, I’m suing your dad.”
Before Tim could come up with a witty retort, a small explosion made them both jump. Tim grabbed his binoculars and peered over the snow bank they were using as cover. Beside him, Spoiler did the same.
“Uh, Red?” She began.
“Yeah, S?”
“Isn’t that smoke coming from where our bikes were stashed?”
He grimaced. “Yes. Yes it is.”
“Which means we’ve been made, and a bunch of guys are about to jump out of those trucks and shoot us?”
“Most likely, yes. C’mon, we need to move.”
They quickly packed up their gear and started hurrying away from the rural access road the trucks were traveling on. Tim pressed his emergency beacon, hoping the snowstorm wouldn’t impede their extraction. It was coming down so hard, he could barely see anything.
At least that meant it would be also harder for the bad guys to find them.
“Red Robin, Spoiler, do you read me? I see you’ve activated your emergency beacons.”
Between the wind and the sound of his racing breaths, Tim could barely hear Oracle’s voice.
“The traffickers found our bikes and torched them, so we’re currently running for our lives,” Spoiler huffed. “Can you please send someone to pick us up?”
“I’ve alerted Batman, but with the weather like it is, it may take him a while to get to you. Apparently, all of the city’s salt supply was used in the aftermath of Mr. Freeze’s attack last week, so most of the roads have iced over. There’s wrecks everywhere.”
Stupid Mr. Freeze. And stupid Gotham for not keeping more salt around went there were so many ice villains in the world.
Oracle continued. “Just find some shelter and stay put. The traffickers aren’t going to abandon their shipment in order to follow you. As long as you keep out of their path, you should be safe.”
The logic was sound. After all, they’d abandon their posts before being seen, so the bad guys wouldn’t even know which direction they went. Still, he figured it couldn’t hurt to go a little further. Just to be safe.
“Okay, we’re looking for shelter,” Spoiler said, breathing hard. They’d finally slowed down a bit.
Tim looked around, partially looking for shelter and partially looking for any signs they were being pursued. He found neither. “Let’s continue heading down the hill. Maybe there’ll be a good place to lay low once the ground levels out.”
“Sounds like a plan, babe. Lead the way.”
Of course, just as the ground started to level out, it suddenly collapsed beneath them.
Frigid water encased Tim’s entire body, the shock of it stunning him for a moment. His only saving grace was the fact that the body of water he’d fallen into was relatively shallow. Tim’s feet hit the ground, and he used it to propel himself upward towards the surface.
The wind hit his wet face like a violent slap. His brain could barely register anything besides cold. Then, his eyes caught a glimpse of purple a few feet to his right.
“S-Steph!” he yelled, desperately fighting the current to get to his girlfriend.
Steph reached for him as soon as he was close enough. “T-Tim!”
“Hang on, I’ve got us,” Tim promised. He wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to grab his grapple gun. Then, focusing his hand on a strong-looking tree about twenty feet away, he fired.
The line went taut, and Tim tightened his grip on Steph as they were yanked out of the water. It took all of his strength to hang on—his hands were quickly losing feeling. The two were dragged through the snow until finally, they made it onto dry ground.
“Steph, y-you g-good?” Tim rasped, his teeth chattering.
His girlfriend shivering violently in his grasp. “D-definitely suing y-your dad.”
“I’ll help. N-now, let’s focus on finding shelter.”
There were some rocks forming a cave-like structure a few dozen yards away from them. It was hardly the Ritz Carlton, but at least it would shield them from the weather a bit. Tim and Steph trudged through the snow, each step stiffer than the last. They were both losing body heat at an alarming rate.
“We need to take our suits off,” Steph said once they were inside the cave.
Right. Because the soaked clothing would only make them hypothermic even faster.
The two of them undressed quickly. Tim made a mental note to improve his suit’s waterproofing. His thermal layers could do jack shit to keep him warm now that they were wet.
Once they were down to the only dry clothing they had—which was, of course, their underwear, Tim reached into his belt and retrieved a vacuum-sealed emergency blanket. Stephanie did the same.
“We can sit on mine and then wrap ourselves up in yours,” she suggested. Tim nodded and ripped open the plastic package.
The blankets provided little warmth. They were both shivering miserably, and Steph’s skin was like ice against his own. It was very likely that hypothermia was already starting to set in, but they’d done everything they could for the moment. The only thing left was to wait for rescue.
“N-normally, I l-love cuddling in our underwear, b-but this s-sucks,” Tim rasped, his teeth chattering. He was so freaking cold.
Steph pulled her side of the blanket in tighter, desperately trying to prevent any heat from leaking out. “D-definitely. B-Batman better hurry his ass up.”
Tim agreed. Because if they didn’t get out of there soon, then he and Steph could be in real trouble.