Batman Fan Fiction ❯ Red Robin: Something New ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The sweet simplicity that came along with lying in bed, even for a few short minutes, was all Tim Wayne had ever asked for.  His aching muscles relaxed in his back, and he let out a soft sigh of relief.  To him, that had to be one of the best feelings in the world, and he rarely got to feel it.  Once again, it seemed, the glory of having a rest would be short lived.  The impact of a heavy object colliding with his torso knocked the air from him, and he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Get up Drake.”  The all too familiar voice, and not so much wanted one, of his step brother Damian reached his ears.  “We are wanted in the cave.”  Tim lifted himself up on his elbows, regaining his breath as a scowl of dismay reached his lips.  He should have known better than to try to relax.

Leaning against the wall, arms crossed in front of his broad chest, Tim looked over at Bruce, his adoptive father, as he fiddled with something out of his line of sight.  He had been dragged out of bed and all the way down to the cave to just stand there?  Not one of his most fond moments.
“Dick, Damian.”  It was about time that something was said, and Tim’s eyes lifted to look at Bruce.  “You’ve both been preforming excellently in Gotham, keeping her safe.  Keep up the good work.”  Damian shoved off the words, but Dick got his triumphant smile on his face, the one that made him look like he knew that he was the favorite.
“Tim.”  Breaking out of his own little world, Tim looked over at Bruce, standing up off the wall.  “Get dressed, your help has been requested in Metropolis.”  Tim watched as the older man walked by him, without so much as a small smile for a good job.  Shaking his head slowly he ran his hand back through his shaggy black hair.  So much for a nice relaxing day.

“So why did you need my help for this again?”  The boy dressed in the crimson costume, aptly aliased Red Robin by his own mind, asked as he flipped himself in an agile back hand spring, ending up on his feet.  Eyes darting back and forth, assessing which of the mean around him was the most dangerous, which he needed to take out first.  He sprung forward on strong legs and jumped over the head of one, his mind flashing back to that morning in the Batcave, when he was offered no good job or well done.  The man behind him going unnoticed could have been potentially fatal, had it not been for the son of steel ramming him in the stomach with one booted foot, sending him flying.
“Ti… Red Robin, get your head in the game.  You’re going to get hurt.”  Superboy spoke in a surprisingly calm voice.  Tim shook his head and looked ahead, crouching again as his hand grasped two of his discs.  He tossed them, rushing one of the men and flipping him onto the ground.  Needless to say the two heroes had the second rate villains wrapped up in no time at all, at which point Tim tried to walk away as fast as he could.
“Whoa there, not so fast.”  Conner landed on the ground in front of Tim, hands on his hips.  “What was that Tim?  I’ve never seen you so out of focus before.  Is something wrong?”  Tim looked at Conner through his cowl, his eyes narrowing.
“Since when is it any of your business?”  He walked around the other boy, knowing it would be stupid to try and push him out of the way, considering who it was he had been cloned from.
“Tim, what is going on?  I have never seen you this way.”  One strong hand came down on Tim’s shoulder, bringing him to a frozen halt.  He closed his eyes, lowering his head.
“Just forget it Conner, it won’t happen again.”  He spoke quietly, slipping out of Superboy’s grasp and walking again.  
“You know I brought you out here just to see you again, to see my best friend again.  And you’re just going to walk away like that without talking to me?  Especially when I can so obviously see that there is something wrong.”  Conner sighed softly.  “I’m your best friend; I don’t need x-ray vision to see that something is bugging you.”  The silence continued, thundering between the two as Tim continued to walk.  Best friends or not, he obviously was not in the mood to talk about it.  Conner furrowed his brow and then shook his head, looking up.  He lifted effortlessly into the air and began to fly away.
Tim let out a sigh and looked up hesitantly as Superboy flew away.  Time to go back to Gotham.

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