(no subject)

[batfakes]

[ It had been 910 days since Warren McGinnis was murdered in his home. Terry knew because he kept count of the days on calendar hidden in his room. His mom had found it once, questioned him about it. Wanted him to go to therapy. Terry refused and assured her he was okay. Promised her he would get rid of the thing. Instead, he just hid it better.

It had been 903 days since he met Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Terry remembers the first time he saw him, cutting an imposing figure among the guests at Warren's funeral, while he spoke quietly with Mary. They were divorced, amicably, but still very much Not Together. And while Mary appreciated Bruce's generosity, she gently turned down his offers to continuing cutting Warren's check. To help ease the burden. No, Terry remembers her saying, They would be okay.

But they weren't okay. Not even a little.

It was hard adjusting to life with Mary again. And he tried. He really tried. But there were times when she nitpicked a little too much or was a little too harsh and Terry wanted to scream at her. Because he was angry, so very angry and it had nowhere to go. So it stayed bottled up, coiled up tight in his chest and it felt like it would explode at any minute. Instead, he packed a bag and slipped out his bedroom window.

He met Batman that night and that changed his world. Tilted it upright when Warren's murder had so violently tipped it sideways.

Bruce had given him an outlet. Something to focus all of that pain and grief and rage on. And he agreed to help Terry nail the bastard who shot his father. The solution was an easy one, Terry had been home that night, had heard it all. He knew the voice - would always remember it. All he needed was a name.

When he had it, he gave it to Bruce right away. And what did he do with it? From Terry's perspective, nothing. Not a damned thing. And maybe that made him a little bit resentful. Resentful enough that he decided to do something about himself.

It's not the first time he's turned off the tracker in his suit. Just the longest. The radio in his ear cackles to life and he can hear Bruce. Robin, your signal is lost. Status?

Must be out of range, he says. And that's not technically a lie. He should be in the Bowery. That's where Bruce told him to be. But tonight, he's perched on the rooftop across from one of the most expensive restaurants in town. Through the windows, he can see him. Derek Powers, laughing and sipping expensive wine, like everything is normal. Like he didn't kill Warren 910 days ago. Maybe he didn't remember. Terry would remind him.

He hears the radio again. Robin! ]

I'm here, Batman. I'm okay. I'll catch up with you soon.

[ then he flicks the radio off. ]

Comments

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[Red Hood is currently chilling out on the rooftop of a building with a sniper rifle, a pack of cards, and a battered Russian-language copy of War and Peace. He would have brought a snack, but his helmet is really bad for snacking and he didn't bring water because he didn't want to have to pee in the middle of this particular stakeout.

This isn't even his usual kind of stakeout, not that usual has been a part of his lexicon, recently. The girls who worked down in the weird, borderland sections where the Bowery was starting to unwillingly gentrify, or maybe where things were starting to go to shit where they weren't once shit, had let him know that there was an upcity pimp who they nicknamed Romeo. He gets the girls real in love with him, those poor idiots, and listen, Hood one of the girls had said I normally don't judge this sort of thing, a girl's gotta eat, you know? But he basically takes them out of school. Last one was fourteen. You gonna let that stand?

The answer was no. But this dude was slippery like an eel and he was currently hard to pin down, so here's Jason, cold as he waits for the guy to get out of this fucking restaurant so he can shoot him in the thigh and then pick him up for a nice "conversation". He's in the middle of one of Tolstoy's more annoying chapters when he hears I'm here, Batman. I'm okay. I'll catch up with you soon.

And he lifts his head up from where he's sitting in the dark. He can only read in the shadow he's found himself in because of the tech in his helmet, so he thinks the kid doesn't know he's there. Is that-

-Jason moves with that startling silence, impossible to catch wind of, until he's only a few feet away, and then he whistles the strange little call of a robin that's screaming about a predator.]

[batfakes]

[ From the very beginning Bruce has drilled into Terry’s head to always be aware of his surroundings. And for the most part, Terry’s taken the lesson to heart. He’s quiet when he needs to be. Listens when it’s necessary. And while he hasn’t quite mastered the art of moving silently, he’s quiet enough not to give away his position.

So he’s thankful that Bruce is nowhere nearby because when Jason whistles it scares the absolute shit out of him, so intent he was in watching Derek. He doesn’t make noise but he stiffens in a way that clearly marks him as spooked before he remembers he’s armed enough to defend himself and get away if he needs to.

And then it hits him.

He knows that whistle. He's heard it before from Dick. He's whistled like that himself before appearing from nowhere and socking some unsuspecting sucker in the face. He knows that whistle and that means...

It means he whirls around and sets his eyes on the source of the sound.

He's not Dick. But Terry's no less annoyed to see him. ]

You always go around scaring the crap out of people?

[ Dumb question. Of course Jason does. They all do. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He just takes him in for a moment.]

Yeah, genius. That’s the entire point. Why do you think we wear the getup?

[Jesus Christ.]

I heard there was a new one but I didn’t think that he was letting you off the leash.

[Not that corralling Robin has ever really worked on any of them. Dick was practically half-feral, Jason argued every plan like he was in law school, and Tim literally got the job by doing dangerous shit as a hobby. So this isn’t exactly territory that has been ignored.

Still, Jason is starting a casual walk in Terry’s direction.]

Sorry, let’s stick to the theme. He let you out of the nest alone? I figure we have three minutes before he comes down on this roof like a storm and I really don’t need that right now, so I’m going to be nice and say go home.

[Truly, that’s Jason at his kindest.]

[batfakes]

[ There's something about Jason's off the leash comment that rankles because Terry knows he's right. It was nearly a year before Bruce even let him come to a crime scene. The only reason he's been allowed to venture out of Bruce's sight for any length of time now, was because of the tracker currently sitting deactivated in one of the pockets of his belt. ]

It's more like 10 minutes. I turned the tracker off.

[ He doesn't budge. Not until he turns back and catches sight of Derek and his guest getting up from the table as they prepare to leave. ]

I'm going. Just not home.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[Jason’s laugh is just a little mechanical.]

Do you really think there’s only one? One and you can turn it off?

[Jason imagines there are probably three, at least; one that Terry controls and two more in parts of the suit. Possibly a subdermal one that Alfred slipped in during a routine check.

He checks the line of sight.]

Who is that?

[Jason recognizes that predator look.]

[batfakes]

This isn't the first time I've 'gone off the leash.'

[ Terry's well aware there are other trackers in the suit. The seconds it took Bruce to find him when he turned it off the first time all but confirmed it. There have been attempts to find them, but no success so far. And anyway, Terry imagines they're tamper proof.

Terry doesn't answer Jason's question about Derek. He watches him come out and notes which car he gets into. He finds his grapnel and gets ready to follow it. ]

No time. Batman's on his way, remember?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[Jason considers this a moment, and he lifts a phone from his pocket to his ear. Someone picks up on the other end.]

Need a distraction.

[Got it comes through, tinny, and a second later there's an explosion in the warehouse district. Jason very calmly takes a blade out of his other pocket. The valet is taking his time; Derek is looking less entertained by the second.

Jason hands it to Terry. Batman will let his Robin go awol for a little while to go and handle the explosion.]

Back tire. He can't go anywhere with a flat.

[batfakes]

[ It's...help he's not expecting. He takes the knife and gives Jason a curious, but grateful glance. He had no plans to actually confront Derek. Only follow him and stake out where he lived. So he could...Terry didn't know. He hadn't planned that far ahead. He could take it to Bruce, if he was ready for a lecture. Or he could take Hood's knife and flatten the back tire.

It makes him reconsider answering Jason's earlier question. His fingers grip the knife's handle a little tighter. ]

He killed my dad. Two years ago. I told Batman but as you can see. [ a vague gesture in Derek's direction. He didn't do anything ]

I'm going to have to do this myself.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[This sounds familiar. Jason tilts his head, and it's good that Terry can't see his face.]

He's not going to do shit for you.

[He says it with a snarl, and nods over.]

But I have a sniper rifle right there. My guy seems to be taking his leisurely time.

[theknightshift]

[ Despite all of the pain, Bruce had never thought of taking in any of his boys as a mistake. Each and every one of them had made his worldview a little less narrow. Had made him feel a little bit more alive. Made his tragedy feel a little less bleak. They'd made his life infinitely better in ways he couldn't describe. All of them, including the new one, Terry McGinnis. It had been tragic what happened to Warren and Bruce had thought bringing the kid in would stop him from becoming another statistic. It would give him something to focus on instead of the grief and the anger he felt because justice wasn't moving fast enough.

He was right about it. Being Robin had been good for Terry. It got him away from the juvie bound delinquents he'd been hanging out with. The training helped him stay focused and sharp. It improved his grades and made him a better young man than the one Bruce had found robbing a convenience store with his buddies.

But he was wrong about it too because now Terry was keeping secrets and he thought - foolishly maybe - that Bruce wouldn't notice. But he did, the very first time he turned the tracker off. And when the one in his phone stopped working. Eventually Bruce made the one he carried in his belt tamper proof. He didn't have a reason to turn it off. So what if there were others in the suit? That's when he started leaving it in the closet of his bedroom at his mother's apartment. Like Bruce wouldn't figure that out either. He'd hoped maybe Terry would have been honest enough to talk to him about it, given how long they'd been together at this point. But he hadn't and when Bruce questioned him, he never had an answer.

Taking him on as Robin hadn't been the mistake. Allowing this to go on, however, very much had been.

Derek Powers was dead and Bruce had a feeling Terry knew the hows and the whys of it. He never accused him, but when they found the body Bruce took one look at Terry and knew. He said nothing when Bruce questioned him. Except one thing: I'm not broken up about it.

That's why he's here tonight, in the safehouse Terry's been frequenting lately. When Jason returns to it, he'll find Batman standing in what passes for the kitchen, arms folded. ]

We need to talk.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[Jason wasn’t a fool; he anticipated Bruce coming by eventually. He’s not hard to find on a good day, so he figured it was only a matter of when Bruce got the nerve up.

Still, seeing him in his safe house kitchen is irritating. His food lives in that kitchen.

He still has his hood on, but he slings his coat off so he’s only in his base layer of armor. His guns are still on his body, and he doesn’t seem embarrassed by it.]

My secretary takes my appointments so you’ll have to talk to him.

[Jason tips his head, down just a little.]

You know how it is, when you’re popular.

[theknightshift]

[ Jason wasn't a fool; He'd know why Bruce is here. Why, out of all of his boys, Jason would be the one he'd approach about a dead Wayne Enterprise executive. He really just wants to know how involved Terry was.

He doesn't want to fight about it. But Jason's not disarming himself. So Bruce's is prepared for the possibility. Or the inevitability. ]

Robin comes here quite frequently. I want to know why.

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

Sorry old man, did you hit your head? You took Robin away from me when you accused me of killing someone who committed sexual assault.

[Jason, for the record, did not kill Garzonas and he went to the grave saying so, so.

But this isn't about them and they both know it; Jason is just being an ass. He brushes past Bruce to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of an electrolyte water he makes himself and takes a swig. It's nasty but it does the job.]

So you know, shoo, before I call animal control.

[theknightshift]

I took Robin from you because you were not ready for it. You needed time to grieve and work out your anger.

[ he stops himself from continuing. Bruce didn’t come here to relitigate the past. ]

This isn’t a game, Jason. A man is dead.

Whatever you’ve been doing, how ever you’ve convinced Robin to lie to me, I want it to stop. Is that understood?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He'll leave their disagreements (and for the record Bruce is Wrong) about Robin behind for now. He takes another drink.]

How I convinced Robin to lie to you?

You think a teenager needs convincing to do that?

[He shakes his head a bit.]

A man is dead. A lot of men are dead, Batman. A lot of men die in this city every day, usually in gruesome and disgusting ways. Robin is lying to you.

All of these sound like you problems.

[theknightshift]

[ Bruce can see history repeating itself. He sees a lot of Jason in Terry too. It's not hard to spot. Sometimes, he wonders if Terry's some kind of chance to fix the mistakes he made with Jason. It's not a train of thought he entertains for long. ]

Not just any man. A Wayne Enterprises executive. A man Robin believed killed his father. He starts lying to me, he makes a safehouse of yours a frequent stop, and Derek Powers turns up dead. These are all my problems, but you've seemed to inserted yourself into them.

Tell me how else am I supposed to put this puzzle together?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

A Wayne Enterprises executive.

[He says it thoughtfully, as if he's trying to piece it together. He knows he's annoying Bruce, but, well.

He doesn't really care.]

Derek Powers.

Did he kill Robin's father?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He let things sit and stew for a few weeks. If he knows anything about Bruce - and he does - then he knows that he's probably watching Terry with even more insanity than he was before. Jason spent the few weeks cleaning house, getting a new safehouse, doing some work, and making sure his own movements weren't being tagged.

Unfortunately for Bruce, Terry still has to do things that aren't in the manor, and that's where Jason catches him; Jason is dressed like a fresh-faced young co-ed at Gotham University, his hair freshly washed and dyed and curling, makeup covering the scars on his face applied with a professional hand. He's even wearing blue.]

Terry!

[He says it with the air of an old friend, comes in for a manly hug.]

Where you been, man?

[batfakes]

[ Bruce came back that night looking like absolute shit. He didn't say much, except stay away from Jason. That was it. No explanation of his injuries, no further questions about Derek or how much Terry might have known about what happened.

For once, Terry listens. Not cause Bruce tells him to, but cause he feels guilty about all this. Like he'd made it worse somehow and that was the absolute last thing he wanted for either of them. But especially Jason.

Speaking of, he's surprised to hear his name called out while he's walking to class. He turns and stares for a minute. He's glad to see Jason, but part of him thinks he should just wave and move on. He doesn't. He hasn't forgotten how much Jay's helped him. He doesn't want to seem ungrateful. ]

Hey, man. Sorry I kind of dropped off. Been busy.

[ and with Bruce watching his movements like a hawk, in his ear the second he thinks Terry's straying too far out of his field of vision, he hasn't had much of a chance to slip away. ]

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

No worries, no worries!

[He's as much a master of disguise as any of them, and this one is just as good. He sounds absolutely worry-free, completely at ease, like a frat bro who has never suffered a single day in his life.]

C'mon, I got calc 2 in half an hour, grab a coffee with me and we can go over your notes, right?

[He leans his head towards a nearby coffee shop, somewhere that Terry would go even if he weren't with Jason. A place full of harried students, all wearing headphones, and little nooks for a couple of people to hole up in.]

[batfakes]

[ If he didn't know better? The act would have fooled him. His notes were pretty scant for calc 2 anyway. He slept through that class most days. The coffee shop is a frequent enough stop that he won't get an interrogation about it so he follows Jason inside without a second thought. ]

Why don't you find us a table. What's your order?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[He pulls a five out of his pocket and hands it to Terry.]

Coffee, sugar, cream. Light and sweet.

[He hunts around, finds a table nook at the very back that is being emptied by a harried looking grad student. It has a view of the door but can't be seen well from the windows.

Jason settles in and when Terry comes back he smiles a bit, like this is all easy.]

How are you doing?

[He asks and means it.]

[batfakes]

[ Terry almost refuses the money, but ultimately accepts cause it's easier than arguing about it. He's only up at the counter for a little while before he's weaving through the other customers, two coffees in hand. His is just a plain black coffee and he pretends it's not that similar to Bruce at all.

Then he sits with an unceremonious thud. ]

I'm fine.

[ In the way that most Bats are fine. If you didn't look too closely, you'd think he looked fine. But if you look closely? It's clear he hasn't been sleeping much. He looks worn out. ]

What about you?

[turdusmigratoriusmortuus]

[Jason takes a sip of his coffee and turns his head a little. There's a slight look of doubt in his eye, but he just wants to see if anyone is watching them or looking over at them.

Not a one. Okay.]

Fine.

B told you to stay away from me, I'm guessing.

[batfakes]

[ Terry just sips his coffee and nods. ]

He’s been watching me. Even when I’m off the clock.

[ he leans in close, keeps his voice low ]

I found another tracker in my backpack.