Son of a Bat: Part 5 - Out of the Game
Request for a new part of this series - this time involving Tim Drake
Even though you grew up without a mother, Jason’s is the first death that you are aware of that you can experience.
So it hits you hard and most certainly traumatizes you.
You can barely sleep knowing that your dad is out there every night in the same kind of danger that took your brother away from you
And even he, at least, has Alfred to help him. And you. But Dick has no one and it kills you to know that someday you might get a call from Bludhaven and hear that another brother is lost forever.
You can barely breathe sometimes.
And it doesn’t help that Bruce can barely seem to look at you. It’s because he feels guilty that he couldn’t save your brother, but you don’t know that.
And for your own mental health, Alfred sends you to stay in Bludhaven with Dick, using his connections for a bodyguard to be sent with you - Owen Mercer, a mercenary with an Australian accent. Owen tries to cheer you up somewhat, but even though you do well with pretending you’re alright, it has little effect.
Being in Bludhaven is a lot better. Dick ceases his patrols to take care of you, and Owen stands guard each night, promising you he’ll take care of Dick too. For the first few nights your big brother holds you as you go to sleep and comforts you through the nightmares.
One night you see Owen and Dick cuddling too while watching TV and you fall asleep to a dreamless night.
It takes a while but gradually you fall into some kind of peace. It still aches in your heart that your brother is gone, but you hope he’s somewhere better now.
Dick goes back to Gotham to help Bruce out at Alfred’s request, and you and Owen go with him. It’s terrible for you to be back in the center of the pressures of that life and you can’t bring yourself to help out, no longer serving as Prodigy, the mission control.
Things seem to take care of themselves until one night when you are awoken by Owen, who tells you both Dick and your dad have been captured and are in danger. And that someone is at the gates claiming he can help.
You know Tim Drake somewhat - he’s the son of a pair of social climbers and they always tried to get him to befriend you since you were about the same age, but you sensed his lack of enthusiasm and rebuffed him
Retaking the Prodigy chair, you give Tim a Robin suit and guide him through saving your family.
And you hate it so much, but it occurs to you with dreadful certainty that being a part of this is the only way you can make sure your family is safe.
So Tim goes off to train and you rejoin the team, still dealing with anxiety, although your grief for Jason is slowly fading into the background.
And for about a year, everything is fine, until the Hood shows up...
