tushanshu | ℛedwing oo1

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ℛedwing oo1 - Text;

[Tim chooses to keep his first entry to text, avoiding having his voice and face on the network immediately. This decision is aided by his mistrust of the city he's found himself in and by the fact that his uniform doesn't quite cover him as much as he's used to. He's still unsure whether the city is part of the Unternet or not, because how else does he explain the uniform. But then where were Tam and Lonnie - he'd been with them moments before waking.]

I know I'm not the only one who's been brought here, so I'm curious - how many non-natives got fished out of the ocean? Also, have any of you heard of the Ünternet? [He keeps the second question vague because it's easier than directly asking if any of the Bat family are here.] More importantly: has anyone been here long enough to get a decent lay of the land and an idea where to get a good, strong cup of coffee? [Because he has a headache like you wouldn't know.]

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Yeah yeah.

[Sixteen hours. That means they didn't all arrive at the same time, they were coming in at separate times, maybe in groups - he wouldn't know unless he found out how long everyone had been here, and not everyone would be willing to tell a random stranger that. Not without questions.

Tim watches Bruce's face, but the brow raise was expected - a reaction to him being pulled from a virtual world. It doesn't tell him if Bruce knows about the trip to the Ünternet, if he's from before that or not. Damian was from later, said he'd managed to put it out of commission.]

Straight out, in the uniform I was in there. [He pauses for a moment, takes a long drink from his cup and then sets it back down.]

They put me up in an apartment in Metal district. And my brother's here, the youngest one, but maybe you saw him around already?

I'm in Earth. [A lie. He tells it in the downward flick of his mouth. He's in Metal as well, and Tim should be able to pick up on that.] We'll have to collaborate later. I wouldn't want you to neglect your study by the simple accident of transdimensional brouhaha.

['Devin Craig' is old British and what fresh bullshit is this, exactly? But that's the necessary part. The act.

When Tim mentions Damian, he stills. It's almost a preternatural thing, his quiescence. A matter of marshalled breathing and a cessation of unnecessary movement. He wishes that he and Tim were somewhere private, without the walls that make up so much of their respective lives. He doesn't often yearn for frank discussion, but this is one of those times where he'd prefer it to the clandestine smoke and mirrors of the bat.

Perhaps it's sentimental. Or perhaps it's something more.

When he was lost to time, when he'd lost his memories, when he was fighting the Archivist in the Justice League headquarters-- through all of that, Tim was the one who never gave up on him. Tim - his partner - held on despite it all.

Bruce has always known he's a survivor. It's how he's defined himself, time and again. But the first truth of Batman is--

That he was never alone. His friends and partners, the adopted family he's built up around the legacy of the Bat, they've always been there for him, but none shone brighter in their devotion than Tim. Tim is the one who, though his life has been marked by tragedy as much as any of them, has built himself up again into something better. A man even Bruce admires.

It isn't to say that Tim's accomplishments diminish Dick's, or Barbara's, or Cassandra's or Stephanie's. But Tim is the most like Bruce out of any of them, and perhaps that's why he's so proud. To see someone succeed where he simply fell into darkness.

Sentimental. Indeed. And now Tim lights on the one subject Bruce isn't sure he can discuss with him. Damian Wayne. His son, whom he barely knows. He's spent fewer hours in his company than he has unbroken bones, and quite frankly Bruce has no idea what to do with him. He has no desire to alienate the boy, cause him to grow up without a father, but-- at the same time, Bruce has always chosen his children before. Having one for whom that is not the case is... something he hasn't yet had time to properly acclimate to.]

Oh? And how's he handling all this?

[And pick up on it he does. He gives Bruce a small smile to show that he picked up on the lie and then sighs and shrugs.] Really, Prof? I wake up in a weird world and basically got told I'm dead or dreaming and I have to keep studying? Ugh.

[Tim notices the stiffness of Bruce's posture at the mention of Damian, but he can't quite follow his chain of thought in the moment that passes. They both have issues with Damian, but Tim has kept all of his private and suspects that Bruce would share his own with only a close few.

It was something Tim didn't want to pry into, he didn't need to shoulder the knowledge of his mentor's problems as well.]

I'm not sure. We only spoke briefly. Don't think he even knew it was me. [And he gives Bruce a look that says he's going to keep it that way for now.]

Education waits for no man, Mr. Richards.

[If he had a pair of glasses he'd totally be looking over the top of them at you right this moment. He makes a note to invest in a pair later. He can claim he lost his in the ocean.

Hey, it works for Kent.

Bruce listens as Tim continues talking, filing away the nuances of his phrasing and intonation. He can't blame Tim for having difficulty with Damian, given their introductory falling out, but he'd hoped that might have been something they could overcome in his absence.

Still. It's a lot to overcome.]

I don't think there's much here to support his ornithological hobby. We'll probably have to find something to keep him occupied.

[That 'we' is really more of an 'I'. He's not asking for Tim's help with Damian. He can accept that they're at odds, and not push the issue as far as Tim is concerned. So long as Tim hiding his identity doesn't put any of them at risk, he'll allow it.]

[Tim gives a small chuckle and he pushes his glasses up, runs a hand through his hair. There's a slight frown on his face, but he passes it off as part of the act, even though he knows Bruce will know it's more because of the conversation topic.]

I'm sure there's something for him to-- [Destroy, kill, maim. Ruin. Well, he doesn't even know if Damian arrived in uniform or not.] --do. [He doesn't plan to help, not even if Bruce asked. Dick had done a good job with him, but Tim planned to keep the brat at arm's length . He didn't want to get close to him. Ever.]

[A frown creases his brow briefly, smoothed away after another drink of coffee. Had he miscalculated? By the observations he made as the Insider, he'd believed Damian to have made acceptable progress in the last year. Dick's gentler hand at work.

It's something that will bear further investigation. Later.]

I'll take care of it.

[Tim sighs and his jaw tightens.

A selfish part of him - the part that remembers everything Damian has taken away from him - doesn't want Bruce to deal with Damian. That part of him is scared of having something else taken from him, of having that wound widened again - a wound Damian clearly takes pleasure in rubbing salt in.

Maybe he'd grown a lot since then, he'd become a different person and he'd internalised all of that, he was over it, but he didn't want his place as Bruce's partner to be snatched away too.

Dick had done good work with the brat, though, and Tim has to trust that no more damage would be done.]

Sure. Thanks, Prof. [Downing the last of his coffee, he stood, glancing around and then to the door.] Hey, you wanna come see my place? Three floors with all the latest gadgets and gizmos. It's only twenty minutes away.

[Bruce follows suit, dumps a handful of juulan on the table, and gestures at the door. There's something that Tim wants to discuss, privately. He'll listen.]

After you.

[Tim leads the way out of the building and then, after confirming with Bruce their mod of transport, down the side-street he'd changed into earlier. Swapping his clothes for his utility belt and mask, he noticed the brow raise from his mentor, but kept his lips sealed as they took to the rooftops.

Upon arrival at his apartment, he lead Bruce inside and up the stairs to the open plan living area. The mask and belt came back off, draped neatly over the back of a high stool.]

It wasn't safe to continue talking there. And there's a lot we should discuss.

For a start, we need to match up events. I know Damian is from some time in the future from where I was pulled from.

[Bruce takes off his mask as well - a simple domino, all he has at the moment - and sets it down on the counter. The work-out felt good. Working with Tim was likewise.

And Bruce is just not going to mention the uniform, and all its similarities to Nightwing. The Ünternet ties into matters of self perception, and Bruce honestly isn't surprised that Tim's subconscious would wish to construe itself this way.

The way Tim is automatically taking charge, however, makes him smile just a a tiny bit. It's brief, fleeting, and then he's back to business.]

I'm from before either of you. Roughly two weeks before I went global with Batman Incorporated.

[He may not have lived it, but Bruce knows his own timelines, and where he'd expected to be in the world at that point. In fact, he can probably accurately guesstimate everything he's done from that point until even Damian's timeline. It's a genius thing.]

[Tim takes a moment to process that and slot Bruce into his own timeline. Before he'd broken Lynx out of prison and before he'd gone to Russia to investigate and potentially shut down the Ünternet. It's still a mystery as to how he was pulled from a virtual world into one where the technology clearly doesn't exist. At least Bruce's presence here confirms that this isn't a trick - no facsimile of Bruce could match his detective skills and figure out who he was from a vague text conversation.]

That was over a month ago for me. No idea how long for Damian. He doesn't know I'm here, just that someone who knows of the Ünternet is here - so realistically I could be anyone from a number of criminals and heroes. I think I'll keep it that way for now.

[He frowns for a second and contemplates another cup of coffee. He's tired and needs to crash for a couple of hours at least, but there are more important things to do before he can allow time for that.]

[Bruce nods, accepting the information, and Tim's wishes to remain anonymous to Damian. He doesn't exactly like it, but he can understand Tim's reasoning and respect it, inasmuch as he ever can.

He switches topics.]

Tim. I haven't had much of an opportunity yet to say this to you, in my time, but you did good work while I was away.

['Even the parts I didn't agree with'. He doesn't need to say it outloud, since he suspects that Tim's already perfectly aware. But it's still something he wants - needs - to say. He can see the White Casebook file he wrote on Tim not so very long ago in his mind's eye, crisp and clear as if he were looking at it now.

So my task with Tim is one I have to work hard for myself as well: never to forget you have allies in this war, that you need those allies and friends... and to try, just a little bit, to enjoy those ties a little more, because they're so fragile.

That task is hardly ended. It's something they'll both struggle with. Possibly for the rest of their lives.

Bruce doesn't like the shadows that Tim's wrapped himself in. Because although he's perfectly capable of seeing Tim as the man he's become - the next great Detective, the vigilante - when he looks at him he can't help but see that young boy who was so determined to save Batman from himself, and how many times he performed in that same capacity through the years.

And though he's tried to be there for Tim as well, the debt that he owes him, as Bruce and Batman both, isn't so easily repaid.

But that doesn't mean he isn't willing to try.]

I'm proud of you.

[It's not so much that he doesn't want Damian to know, it's more than he doesn't entirely trust the brat to not slip up. While it's true that their relationship had come to a unspoken truce (they both disliked each other and that was never going to change) and Dick had done good work with him, Tim still believed it was only a matter of time before he messed up.

That and part of him wanted to see what Damian would do with the knowledge that there may have been a villain here, rather than another ally.

Bruce's next words make him turn, giving him his full attention.

When Ra's al Ghul had thrown him out of the window after Tim had defeated him by successfully protecting everything dear to Bruce, he had known Bruce would be proud of him, but never expected to hear it.

It takes a lot to keep the shock from his face, but he manages to translate it into a soft smile. Bruce rarely praised any of them like that - but then, Tim had to remember that something in Bruce had changed since he'd come back to the present. Hearing those words made his chest swell.]

I... just did what I thought you would. That's all. [And yet at the same time, it reminds Tim how scared he is. Scared that he's becoming Bruce. Or worse, his own Batman - maybe even that Batman.]

Don't cheapen it.

[It's an admonition, yes, but a gentle one. As far as Bruce is capable of, anyway.]

I trained you, Tim. But you've been making your own choices for a while now. You aren't in my shadow any more.

['And you're a better man than I am'.

He doesn't add that part. But he does pull Tim into a hug.

Showing affection isn't easy for Bruce when there's the slightest chance his mind can interpret it as being for his benefit. But it's... easy. Comparatively. When it's meant for others.]

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