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Today was supposed to be normal. He had gotten his three hours of sleep and multiple cups of coffee and was heading into work. He had gotten through the day with Tam only one instance of Tam yelling at him to get sleep. Just once!
Then he went back to his apartment and got ready for patrol. He opened his computer, the one specifically for Red Robin cases, and froze.
Somehow he had mail. Mail on a computer that he had told no one about. Weird.
Quickly he checked for any viruses that could have been applied. Then stepped back, anyone who could put this on his laptop could not have good intentions. Tim walked towards the window to get ready.
Then glanced back.
But, what if there was something important there? He took a step towards the computer before stopping again.
Tim applied his best glare to the machine, hoping it would do something.
He ignored the part of his brain telling him he was sleep-deprived and needed to go to bed.
Then in an instant he jumped over to his computer and opened the email, before he could have any second thoughts.
Opening it he quickly read the contents. It was a tip, a really big one if it was right. It was not signed by anyone, and simply addressed to Red Robin. None of that surprised Tim. What did was the contents of the letter. A few words, but enough to cause world-ending consequences if true.
The Justice League is compromised. Their servers indicate multiple plans to harm Earth's Civilians.
For a moment Tim thought that it was ridiculous. How would anyone know if the League was compromised? Then he thought about it again. This person had managed to send an email on a secure laptop. Maybe. Maybe it had some merit.
He opened the laptop and went into the Leagues files. He had hacked them a while ago, Tim disliked it when Bruce kept world ending missions from them ‘for their own safety.’
Tim and the rest of the family were ninety percent sure it was because Bruce thought they would probably make it worse. Which was ridiculous. Sure they had destroyed a building, but Superman would destroy neighborhoods in his fights.
He was so stuck in his train of thought he almost missed a new piece of code. Something locked. Tim clicked on it and began unlocking the files. Around two minutes later the file was unlocked. Tim opened it.
No way
Inside were elaborate plans. Each designed to cause as much harm as humanly possible. Just like that Tim was spiraling.
Who sent the tip?
How many were in on this?
Could he trust anyone?
He answered the last question immediately. No. Until Tim got more information he was on his own. Reading through the plans he came to a conclusion.
Right now the Justice League and potentially all their allies were compromised.
Tim had to take them down.
~~~~~
Tim had been going through his contingencies. The others were aware that has a few backup plans, but none know to what extent. He’d tracked down every league member currently on Earth. He knew who he had to take out.
Superman. Flash. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. Black Canary.
And Batman.
Tim knew how to take out a few of them immediately. He would have to think on a few.
~~~~~
Superman was easy. Tim knew the guy had felt guilty after brushing him off in the whole ‘Bruce is alive’ thing. That guilt would make it easy to lure him into a trap.
Besides, the man was allergic to a rock. A rock Tim had quite a bit of.
He would blame Bruce for that one.
Tim had set up the trap, called for Superman and brought out the kryptonite.
It worked exactly as planned and Tim had an incapacitated Superman before him.
~~~~~
The next was the Flash. Which had taken Tim quite a bit of thought to figure out.
He had ended up putting Superman in a very obvious trap and turning on the distress signal for the Flash.
The man had come running, but hesitated for just an instant at the trap. That was all Tim needed, using a special dart he caused the Flash to collapse.
~~~~~
Wonder Woman had been the hardest, and also the one Tim felt the most guilty about.
He had created a fake hostage situation, one that he could continue to warp and distort for hours. He had to call in a few favors for some magic, but it had been worth it.
Eventually Wonder Woman slowed just slightly. Likely to catch a breath. At that Tim hit a button and rounds of tranquilizing darts, lined with a specific metal, attacked her. There was no reprieve and eventually a few hits.
Three down, three to go.
~~~~~
Next was Green Lantern.
The man's entire power was based on willpower, and a good way to take someone's will.
Fear gas. And Tim had an entire supply in one of his safe houses.
Jason had been the only one who found it, and he was pretty sure the man was too scared to talk about it to someone else.
Tim hadn’t even felt bad. It was Green Lantern. The man was really annoying, and had been rendered completely powerless quickly.
At this point Tim understood Bruce’s dislike for the man more than ever.
~~~~~
Black Canary had a flower shop in Gotham. With Barbra out of town, no one was there to warn her Tim was coming.
He waited until her break and walked into the back.
“Tim?”
“Dinah.”
And Tim sped forward, managing to stab her with sleeping gas before she could react.
Looking over at her, Tim sighed. Only one more left.
~~~
Right now everyone was out of Gotham. As far as Tim knew he was the only other Bat besides Batman himself currently in Gotham. Dick was arriving later tomorrow.
This made it so it wasn’t suspicious when Tim offered to join Bruce on patrol. He had fabricated a drug deal going down and was taking Bruce as his partner.
When they arrived Tim got into position. One person here was an agent for Tim, someone who had managed to infiltrate the gang.
Soon everyone real member had gone down.
Tim grinned at Bruce in celebration, and he offered a small twitch of a smile back.
He could see the moment Bruce realized someone else was there. The attacker shot the dart at Tim, and Bruce jumped in front of it.
It hit him.
Tim gave the agent a nod and the man disappeared into his next mission.
He lifted Bruce up and bound him, ready to take him to where the rest of the league was currently at.
It definitely was not his civilian home's basement.
It was, but Tim figured that had to be the last place anyone would look.
~~~~~
It was the next day and Tim knew he had to keep some semblance of normal. If he left work the day the Justice League disappeared some conclusions could be made. None good. So he woke up, checked to make sure everyone's bindings were in place and headed to Wayne Enterprises. He was about to open his door when he froze.
Someone was in his office. Grabbing the knife hidden underneath his suit he gripped it. Slowly opening the door he walked in. Standing before him was a ninja.
One of Ra’s ninjas.
For a moment the two stared at each other. Then the ninja leapt out the open window, leaving Tim alone. Left on his desk was a note.
Tim walked over to one of his drawers and put on gloves. He wasn’t sure if Ra’s would attempt to poison him through letter, but better safe than sorry. Slowly, Tim opened the letter, inside was a single slip of paper with three words.
Well done Detective.
For a moment Tim stood confused. What would Ra’s be applauding him for. There wasn’t anything he had done for the league lately. Then it hit him.
Well shit.
~~~~~
“Hey Dick!” Tim spoke cheerfully as he entered the Batcave. He knew that the man had been called to come for a case a few days ago. So it wasn’t unexpected for him to be here.
Dick looked over and grinned, though it looked painful “Oh, Tim. Thank god.”
Tim had a sinking feeling he knew what Dick was so relieved about.
“The entire Justice League has gone missing.” Dick sounded so worried. “I know you're busy, but B’s gone too. Besides, everyone else is on missions now. Could you.. maybe lend a hand.”
Tim took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to do this. “Dick.” He heard him take a deep breath in. “You know I love you very much. Honestly, you’re probably the best older brother anyone could ask for.”
For a moment Tim sees Dicks face change into pure joy. Then it’s replaced by suspension.
“Tim.” All Tim could think about was how much trouble was about to be in. “What did you do?”
All he could do was stare owl-eyed at his brother. How does one phrase this?
“Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne.”
Tim froze. Dick had never used his full name. Ever. He was probably worried about Bruce, but it really wasn’t Tim’s fault.
“The Justice League is in my basement.”
For a moment, silence. “Excuse me?”
“I said the Justice–”
“No, I heard that.” Tim watches as Dick pulls a hand across his face. “Can you please tell me why the Justice League is in your… basement.”
And now Tim feels guilty. Dick sounds so tired, the worry from earlier reduced to something smaller.
“I thought they were going rouge.” Tim watched as he’s prompted to expand. “I got a tip.”
“A tip?”
“From Ra’s”
At this point Dick looks just about ready to collapse. Tim tries to subtly move closer just in case his brother falls down.
“And… and you listened to him?”
“Well I didn’t know it was him at the time.”
Dick gives him a look and Tim knows as soon as this is over he will be answering some questions.
“Well. Are they rouge?” Tim had to bite back a noise of surprise. He hadn’t expected Dick to ask that, he assumed they would both go to free them immediately.
“No”
Dick finally sits down. Then proceeds to bang his head on the table, multiple times.
Head in his hands, Tim can barely make out Dicks muffled words “Then why are they still in your basement?”
Tim cringed. “Cause they probably think I'm compromised now.”
Dick moved his head so he was staring Tim in the eyes “Well then. Let’s go.”
~~~~~
They entered Tim’s basement together where Tim heard Dick let out a slight gasp at the sight in front of him. Multiple members of the Justice League, incapacitated.
“How did you – never mind, I really don’t want to know.”
Batman spotted him first, because obviously. Tim walked over awkwardly and undid the gag.
“Red Robin. Nightwing” Batman was looking for their codes.
“Charlie-Bird-4-3-6-9-19-89” He waited as Dick echoed his code. Then watched as Batman relaxed slightly.
“Report. Now.” Tim turned to Dick for help, but only got a large grin. Traitor.
“I got an anonymous tip claiming the Justice League was compromised. Upon further research I found plans in the League system with ideas on how to destroy the world.”
Saying that out loud sounded like a complete terror. He hadn’t done any further research and the evidence was clearly planted. Tim could feel the disappointment from Batman.
“Anything else?” When Tim didn’t reply Batman spoke again “So you got an anonymous tip. Found one piece of evidence and decided to do this?”
Tim nodded awkwardly.
Then Batman spoke. And he sounded like Bruce, almost entirely losing the Batman growl. “When was the last time you slept?”
Tim looked down awkwardly. “Two nights ago.” then proceeded to mumble “for three hours”
He could hear the two sighs of disappointment from Bruce and Dick. The Dick decided to ruin his night more. “And before that?”
Tim felt his face turning red. “Before Sunday” Sunday was six days ago.
He was being glared at. Great. Taking this moment Tim went and unlocked Bruce’s bindings. The man shook his hands a little then turned to address them.
He spoke “Nightwing, take Red Robin home and make him sleep.”
“Um, B” Tim interjected “This is the basement of my house.”
The man suddenly looked even more tired. Tim could feel some of the raised eyebrows of the other members of the League.
“I meant the Manor.”
“Oh”
There was a clicking sound and they both turned to see Dick taking a picture.
Dick grinned “For the group chat. Come on Baby Bird. You need some nap time.”
Tim blushed at the words but didn’t argue and followed Dick out. Looking back, he met Bruce’s eyes. He gave Tim a tiny nod, and Tim could see the pride in his gaze. Grinning, Tim broke the stare and ran to catch up with Dick.
Sure the last few days had been weird, but Tim had learned three things.
Always look for evidence.
He had a family he could fall back on.
And if he ever turned. He had a pretty good chance at world domination.