Some douchebag influencer decides to challenge one of the Waynes to an MMA fight, and he goes with Tim.
Big public announcement, making a big deal of it, mockingly suggesting the Waynes can donate the proceeds to charity, so long as Tim gets in the ring with him, and people are like, Tim? Tim Drake-Wayne, smallest of Bruce Wayne's kids, so baby-faced he looks like a high-schooler even in his early twenties Tim? And there's a huge kerfuffle, people calling the influencer out for going after someone way smaller than him, being a coward by not picking Bruce Wayne or even Dick Grayson, and people egging him on to beat up Bruce's 'girliest' kid and betting Tim will back down and "Daddy Wayne will just bring out the lawyers".
And then Tim says "yeah sure". And yes he DOES set it up so that the proceeds will go to the Neon Knights program, thank you very much, and he doesn't really hype up the fight or seem that worried about it online, and the influencer is talking constant shit and posting videos of him training to get ready to "beat little Timmy's ass", and he keeps trying to goad Tim online but the most he gets in response is Tim going "k".
The day of the fight, the venue is packed, the whole Wayne clan is there to cheer Tim on, medics are on stand-by for when Tim gets badly hurt, and everyone is So Ready for This. And the influencer is a big guy who's in shape, and he's won a few fights already, and Tim looks itty bitty next to him, but also he's a lot more fit than people were expecting? Like he's got more scars than people expected (which was zero) and he's got good muscle tone, and he squares up like an actual fighter, but he's still way smaller than the other guy.
Then the bell rings and Tim wipes the fucking floor with the influencer. He's fast and ruthless, and the influencer gets maybe two hits in before Tim is in his space and climbing him, locking his legs around the guy's neck and throwing him to the ground with his momentum. The fight is fast, which people expected, but it's because Tim hammers the guy and takes him down before he knows what's happening, which people did NOT expect.
Afterwards, people are trying to break down the fight and figure out what the FUCK happened, and one retired MMA fighter admits he pretty much knew it was going to turn out like this.
"Bullshit," the other commentator goes. "Bullshit! How could you have possibly known that Bruce Wayne's kid was a fighter like that?"
"One," the guy says, grinning, "the kid's a Gotham native. Gotham natives fight tooth and nail, even the richer ones. Two, he's said before in interviews that he took self-defense classes as a kid."
"Oh bullshit, plenty of kids take karate classes growing up-"
"Yeah, but 'plenty of kids' don't have a non-meta kid sidekick running around their city. You know how Star City has some of the best youth archery classes in the country? And how that came about after Speedy came on the scene?"
"Oh my god," the other commentator mutters. "Drake's a fucking Robin fanboy, isn't he."
The retired fighter grins wider. "Is he ever. So he's been taking self-defense and martial arts classes from a young age. Then he got taken in by Bruce Wayne, who's first son was raised as a world-class acrobat before Wayne took him in, and since then he's become an Olympic gold medalist for gymnastics, and now he's Tim's big brother.
"And the piece de resistance," the fighter says gleefully, "head of Wayne Enterprises R&D and close personal friend of Bruce Wayne is Lucius Fox, who's daughter briefly dated Tim and who's oldest son is Luke motherfuckin' Fox, one of the best MMA fighters I've ever seen."
"Oh my god," the other man repeats.
"So on top of learning martial arts for years, that's two people directly in Tim's circle who are top-tier athletes, who I'm damn sure wouldn't have let him in that ring without knowing how to handle his shit."
"...So Brad's lucky he made it out of that ring with all his bones intact."
"Damn lucky, even."
The Challenge
“Hey there, boxers! This is Bad Brad and you’re catching me live as I work my way towards becoming the world’s next best MMA fighter.” Brad boots up his live stream, angling his phone to catch sight of the gym and the two people behind him as he flashes a peace-sign at the camera, only slightly flexing his muscular biceps. “Today I’m working out at my local gym with my buddies Monstrus Matt and Daring Darek. We’re going to start with some cardio and then we’ll see who can do the most weight reps before we do some boxing. Now who’s ready to work until failure?!”
Behind Brad, his two buddies cheer and holler as emojis and reaction stickers float up across the screen. They set up their equipment and get started; throwing banter back and forth, egging each other on, and pushing each other to run more, lift more, punch more. Brad checks the stream chat and keeps up the commentary, challenging the chatters who say they’re doing their own workout.
When they finish their work out and head out of the gym, they stop to order protein smoothies at the stand in the lobby, still talking shit as they drum up hype for an upcoming competition. The current topic of conversation? Well, who is the most manly and therefore the strongest winner, of course.
Brad is holding his phone on a selfie stick, Matt and Darek behind him. “Shut ‘ur pie-holes. Imma gonna take both ‘ur asses down tomorrow. I’m man enough to take on anyone and both’a yous knows that.”
Matt finishes his water, twisting and crushing the plastic bottle before he tosses it off screen. “Oh yeah? Anybody at all?”
“Hell yeah, anybody.”
“What about…” Snorting with laughter, Derek holds up a magazine from a lobby side table. “Even Tim Drake-Wayne?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Bad Brad laughs at the ridiculous idea. He takes the magazine and holds it so the chat can see the cover where the Wayne in question poses in an expensive suit. Tim’s watch alone would cost more than Brad’s rent. “If he ain’t too scared!”
The three laugh as Brad throws the magazine back on the table and the chat flies faster, comments a blur of amusement, encouragement, or outrage.
“Nah, nah, that pretty-boy ain’t gonna get in the ring with you,” Matt gets out between barks of laughter.
Derek snorts again and agrees with Matt, “Probs’ not, Daddy Wayne will just bring out the layers.”
“Mhm, but shit, imagine the press coverage, nothin’ like teachin’ a kid a lesson to launch my name out there.” Brad slaps the table with his free hand as he laughs again.
Matt goes to pick up their smoothie order and Darek pushes his face close enough to Brad’s phone camera that the lens picks up the sweat drying on his forehead. “You heard it here first, folks. Bad Brad is gonna teach Timmy a lesson if he’s not so scared that he hides in his fancy office.”
Lifting up their protein smoothies, Bad Brad and Monstrous Matt and Daring Darek making a mocking toast to knocking out some of Tim Drake-Wayne’s perfect teeth as a milestone in Brad’s future MMA career.
Bad Brad signs off and closes his livestream, unaware of the can of worms that’s started spiraling across social media.
===
The Reaction
It doesn’t take long before social media platforms are alight with the clip from Bad Brad’s workout livestream. The comments keep stacking up, Gothamites protesting the mockery and Bad Brad followers continuing the shit talk.
By noon, Tim Drake-Wayne has received no less than 10 messages from friends and family forwarding the clip to him.
It the family group chat:
Steph: Ohmygodohmygod Timmmm you have to destroy him please please please.
Damian: May his destruction be eternal.
Dick: 👀 👀 👀
Babs: You probs already saw this, but just in case.
Jason: Say the word and I’ll punch out his teeth for you.
Cass: 🤔
And in the Young Just-us group chat:
Kon: So… what do ya wanna do about this?
Bart: Cool, I’ll be sure to bring the popcorn.
Cassie: Take 👏 him 👏 down 👏
And then Bruce messaged Tim directly.
Bruce: Tim. Just ignore him. Please. It’ll blow over.
Bruce: I can come into WE and we can speak with the PR team.
Tim: DW. I’ll handle it.
Maybe it’s because he’s angry about how patrol went last night, or maybe because it'll be funny. He knows that he doesn’t have to prove anything or defend his honor or whatever. So maybe Tim wants to do something different. Maybe he’s bored, or maybe he’s stressed and overworked, or maybe he wants to do something reckless without thinking through all of the details.
Tim’s reply is rather quite simple.
After all, it’s a rather straightforward problem with a simple solution.
And Bruce messages Tim again.
Bruce: Tim. Not like that. Please take the tweet down.
Bruce: Tim
Bruce: Tim
Bruce: Tim
Tim ignores him.
===
The Lead Up
“So, Big Bad Brad, welcome to the show.”
Brad looking like he’s going to bust out of his cheap suit: “Sure thing, thanks for having me.”
“When you and your friends made your initial comment, I bet you didn’t expect to end up here.”
Brad: “Nope, not at all.”
“And yet here you are, Boisterous Brad, claiming that you’re gonna take down Tim Drake-Wayne in what was initially a boisterous joke. So, do you stand by your claim?”
Brad: “Sure thing. Anytime, anywhere. The Waynes could even make it a charity thing, they like doing those, right? Just so long as Timmy gets in the ring. I’ll show him and all your viewers what makes a real man.”
“Big bold talk, Bad Brad. You know, some people online are criticizing you for picking a target that’s smaller than you.”
Brad moves to play his arms out over the back of the couch: “Yeah, I can take the heat. It’s about commitment and dedication. Gotta keep my eye on the prize.”
“You want to punch Tim Drake-Wayne’s lights out that badly?”
Brad: “Nah, this is just a step to becoming the next greatest MMA fighter. The stage is the prize.”
“Okay, so that’s all that we have time for tonight–”
Brad gets up and moves to the center stage: “All right, lets hear some Big Bad Brad noise!”
Brad hypes up the audience.
Brade takes off his suit jacket and his button-up shirt looks very tight. He puts his fists together in front of his chest, hunching forward as he flexes and rips his shirt at the seams. The muscles in his neck strain and a vein pops out on his forehead.
The crowd goes wild.
Brad: “Hell yeah! You hear that Timmy? You better meet me in the ring! Your nepo-baby hands won’t be able to catch what T’ll be throwin’ down.”
~~~
Once again, Tim’s response is simple.
👀👀👀👀 HELLO???? ooooh I am so excited to see if you write more, but this is great regardless!!!
