Chapter Text
Riddler breaking out of Arkham was bad, but it wasn’t a major threat in the middle of a mass breakout which was why Tim was the only one tracking him when he got the distress signal.
He and Damian had been periodically going and stocking up their go bags and taking a backlog of pictures for the fake Instagram. A few members of Young Justice helped out and Jon even stopped in once. In disguise of course.
They weren’t close, not really, but the attacks had stopped and Tim and Damian could sit in a room alone together without it devolving into an insult match. So when he got the alert, Tim didn’t care that Riddler was a rogue, he turned around as made for the location lighting up his wrist screen. Damian was more important and there was a very limited list of reasons he would have set off the distress signal that called only for Tim.
He marked the Riddler as unaccounted for as he threw himself across the rooftops. Seven minutes. That was the ETA he could expect, but maybe he could push it to six or even five.
Dick was restraining several unconscious goons and Duke was pacing nervously. He wasn’t used to being out at night yet if Tim was reading things right.
“Nightwing! Where is Robin!?”
Dick jerked his head up. “Red? What are you doing here? Weren’t you following the Riddler?”
“I don’t have time for this. Where. Is. Robin?”
“He got hit with a dose of fear gas, but he’ll be fine. Why?”
“Where is he though?”
“He’s with B, a couple roofs over. Red Robin, what’s going on?”
Tim’s body understood before his mind did and he was sprinting down the road and pulling out his grapple gun.
“Wait, Red! No! You’ll make things worse!”
Tim didn’t bother listening. He spotted the telltale shadowy smudges that told him where his dad and his brother were.
“Baba, please. I know I disappointed you. I promise I’ll do better, Baba. Please, please you cannot send me back. Baba, please.” Damian was babbling and crying and Tim felt his heart twinge.
He landed and put himself between Batman— who was crouched to make himself seem like less of a threat—and his cowering younger brother.
Damian let out a choked sob and threw himself at Tim, wrapping his smaller body around Tim’s. “Timothy! Timothy, Father, he- father he is- Grandfather- you promised! We must flee!”
Tim reached a hand back to smooth it over Damian’s head, before fixing his gaze on Bruce. “B, I’m going to need you to leave, like right now.”
“Red Robin, Robin has been compromised and your presence is not—“
“He called for me. He called for me, B. Not you, not Nightwing, me. Get out of here. Please.” Damian’s hands were fisted in Tim’s uniform and he could feel his brother shaking where their bodies were pressed together.
Batman took a step forward and then Dick was beside him. Damian’s sobbing didn’t lessen.
Tim took a very, very deep breath. “Robin is convinced of a scenario that makes you a threat. At the moment I am maybe the only one he trusts. Maybe Black Bat and Spoiler. If he trusted Signal more in general maybe him too. I need you to leave. Do you understand me? Are you listening to the words coming out of my mouth?”
“But—” Dick cut off with an aborted hand movement at Tim’s glare.
“When Robin is afraid he gets violent. With your history I’m not sure—”
“B. Look. With your eyes. Please.”
Batman frowned at him. Took a second to assess, and then nodded, turning with a swish of his cape. “Nightwing, take Signal to track down the Riddler. I can handle Scarecrow.”
“But—”
“Now, Nightwing.”
Dick stayed where he was, studying Tim and Damian for another tense moment before he sagged and turned to get off the roof. “Just, be careful. Alright you two?”
“Get lost already,” Tim snapped with minimal heat. Which wasn’t none but it could have been much more aggressive if he had been truly pissed.
As soon as the roof was empty Tim tapped his comm. “O? I need you to organize an antidote for fear toxin to my location.”
“Anyone you’d like me to send?”
“Spoiler or Black Bat.”
“Alright. You might be waiting a bit, but I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”
”Thanks, O.” He reached down and gently tugged Damian’s hands from his suit so he could twist around to face Damian.
He carefully guided them to a sitting position before he began to run a gentle hand through Damian’s hair and use the other to hold him close. If only him from a year ago could see what was happening.
”Shh. Damian, it’s alright. You’re alright. No one is sending you anywhere.”
”Baba— Baba, he— Timothy, Baba called— he called Grandfather.”
Tim began rocking them back and forth. “I know, I know, Damian. But he’s not taking you. I won’t let him. I promise, okay?”
Damian clutched himself impossibly closer and Tim just held him and shushed him until Steph showed up with the antidote.
”I didn’t know you two got along.”
Tim hummed, running his fingers through his unconscious brother’s hair. Damian had passed out almost as soon as he had administered the antidote. ”We’re better.”
”Nightwing told me what happened, Red. He trusted you above B.”
”Not really. It’s just we’ve gone over his biggest fear and we’ve established that if it happens he should come find me.”
”Oh yeah, what is it?”
”I’m not telling you. But in that situation, Batman is a threat and I’m not.”
”Yeah, that’s fair.” She sighed, leaning into his side. “Dick thought you were going to try something.”
”I thought he might. He knows we’ve been getting along better, but I don’t think he understood what was happening very well.”
Steph hummed. “They’re going to have questions.”
Tim groaned. “I know.”
She punched his shoulder and then cackled when he realized he couldn’t retaliate without waking Damian up. He kind of hated that it made him feel like things might actually be okay.