A little more about the idea I had without any context to what happened before or after. Maybe someday I get enough motivation to actually write and post it.
The first few months of being Robin for Batman –Batman only never Bruce Wayne, because they aren’t close and beyond nightly activities they do not interact– are a harsh adjustment for Tim. However, not in the way that Agent A, Nightwing, or Batman assume. The training is hard, Tim will not deny that when he bears bruises and broken bones from the sessions they hold, but it is his morals that have the hardest time adjusting.
Now Tim does not believe in killing when it’s avoidable or else he would have never considered himself a possible candidate for Batman, whom he blackmailed so the man had no option to begin with when it was Agent A who gave him the suit to save Nightwing and Batman. So Tim can’t take all of the blame. Tim had become the cuckoo that snuck into the nest even though both parties denied themselves getting closer to each other. The thing is, Tim even before being Robin or following the pair of vigilantes was desensitized to a more gruesome degree of violence, and quite honestly he couldn’t understand why you should hold back when they are the bad guys. ( Not that any of them knew about the secret of his and he didn’t plan on ever revealing it as well. )
Batman was all about punishing the bad guys, but he never truly committed to the cause of it. He called himself the justice of Gotham, the vengeance that the people needed, and yet he never truly stops them. He is too soft in Tim’s eyes.
This is why Tim finds himself standing face-to-face with a bunch of asshole goons. Alone even though he shouldn’t be on solo patrols yet, what the bats didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. Batman thought that Tim seriously went home already? To that cold mansion where the silence persists at all times? Safe to say that Tim prefers working in the shadows instead. That belief of Batman makes the man incredibly naive.
(It hurts less than the alternative of the man knowing, but not caring enough about Tim to make him stop. Tim always cared too much about those that didn’t feel the same way about him and he only realized that when he was dropped by them. So far Batman didn’t so Tim hoped desperately that for once someone could start caring about him the same way.)
“Look at that boys! A little birdy dropped in on us.” The front and biggest man grinned and that earned laughter from his fellow comrades.
Tim’s eyes went past the four men to the little blonde girl that was held down by another one of them. He had only stopped when Tim intercepted. It was a sickening feeling that began bubbling up in Tim as he took in the disgusting men and what they were about to do, could still do because Tim has yet to free her. Gritting his teeth he can feel the sharp fangs start to dig into his own lips and the taste of blood rushes through his mouth. That is when the familiar greed to get more, to still his hunger, comes over him. Batman should be far away enough by now. Hurriedly Tim glances around to make sure that neither cameras are in the alleyway they are currently in. Satisfied when he spies none of them, Tim retracts his Bo-staff and gets into a fighting stance.
“You underestimate us if you think you can beat us with those thin arms of yours, Robin! Where is your daddy bats, huh?!” Spats another one of them.
Of course, that is a true statement when one looks at his physique. Watching as the men spout more poor jokes, he tilts his head to the side much like a curious bird would do. None of them know yet of the danger that will befall them any moment as the eyes behind the mask slowly change to an unsettling dark void. Tim was always more slender, small, and light to the point even Agent A doubted he could put on muscles or grow in size. When the old butler looked at Tim it was as if he was looking at someone else. The pained expression said it all and Tim knew that he was just an awful reminder of a boy that was forever gone. Tim was used to those looks ever since his parents presented him to high society and they wondered if he would even live long. As a result, Tim learned to live off of spite as he began to hate looks of pity just because the human eye was too shallow to see beyond.
They saw him as a weak human, not anyone but his parents being aware that he couldn’t be any less human.
He was quite literally the monster. And right now, alone in this alleyway with the goons and a girl that will forget because she’s in too much of a shock, Tim feels like being a monster again instead of being Robin.
“You are wrong,” Tim states, which makes the goons snarl at him in return and throw swear words at him he isn’t impressed by. “You are underestimating me.”
It all happens so fast from that point on. The goons pull out their weapons, guns and knives respectively, in their anger and that is what makes them predictable. Tim flashes his bloody teeth at them while the moonlight reflects off of his fangs and lets out an incredibly chilling, hollow laugh that is so unlike the cheery laughter he normally has as Robin.
But right now he isn’t Robin after all. Being the monster, not acting on the morals of Batman, that is when Tim is the most comfortable. Sadly for them, that also just brings greater danger to them.
The men are taken by surprise as they stumble back and that is all Tim needs. Flexing his jaw, Tim launches at them. They hardly have a chance to scream as his fangs and hands that sharpened to claws rip at their flesh. Blood splatters against the walls and their cries for help are drowned out by gurgling until they fall silent. One by one he stalks them like a predator, unforgiving just like they had been towards the girl. (Tim would like to say he does it for justice. He is a liar.) Any attacks of them are in the end meaningless as the wounds heal again when the sweet elixir of life for Tim runs down his throat.
He is exhilarated, the best kind of drug for his kind making him ecstatic.
- - - -
Only one of the men gets to live long enough to run and spread the word that Robin is dangerous and slaughtered them all. Of course, none of them believed the man. Along with a certain blonde girl that saw more than she was supposed to, but unlike the man she was smarter and held on to the secret. It is Robin, after all, not even Rogues would assume that a child would be capable of such a massacre.
But then over time, more bodies pile up along with the initial survivor and a warning to them all. Robin would always be close by and show a seemingly sweet smile and act innocent next to Batman and Nightwing, but whenever neither of them was close the teeth behind it were sharp on occasion and the voice was cold whenever directed at them.
None ever disclosed the older vigilantes about their little Robin that hid in the shadows and held a dangerous edge to himself. They believed that the two were turning a blind eye to the young one (wrong) or that Robin was talented enough to hide it from the two and was barely kept on the good side because the bats had a tight leash on him (right).
Nobody ever dared to voice out loud that they were thankful the feral child –if one could call him that– was not killing all of them. The underworld of Rogues began fearing Robin to an unreasonable amount and began working on a ‘feral Robin safety measures’ warning system in secret because of his unpredictable behavior. They began to fear for their lives when the boy got more regular solo patrols or even later on when none of the other bats were in Gotham. It was a red alert and not even one breakout would happen then. The bats would always wonder about it and make quips, unaware of the truth.
(Red Robins paired with the Red Hood nights were the most silent.)
Supernatural AUs in the batfamily are a given with it’s crazy world, but hear me out for a second there.
Tim Drake as Vampire. That neighbour kid that always seemed a bit too pale and small, stares into your soul and gives you the most horrific info dumps. That boy can’t pick up on normal social cues to save his life, but with all the weirdness and creepy unease feeling he brings up in people he is still kind of adorable.
A boy that is welcomed by the night and stalks after the bats because they feel the closest he’s ever had to family, so he daydreams of a future while the shadows keep him safe. Who then needs to hide away who he is from those he considers family all because they would see him as a monster (as he believes). The heart of his that will break over and over again as he finds himself resenting the creature that he is. So he hides all of it to the best of his abilities, hides all that makes Tim ‘Tim’.
Years later, run away from home and caught in the grasps of Ra’s al Ghul and with no blood given to him to keep stable. What if Tim Drake is so deprived of what keeps him alive that he goes to drastic measures and in the process of that he frees Tam at the price of so many killed. Tam who is afraid of him when she sees him again with that hunger in his eyes and hands so cold they send shivers down her back when he drags her away.
Tam and Ra’s al Ghul who are the only ones that see the true extent of what Tim is able to do and find no guilt in his facial expressions. The sight of blood instead seems to excite him, as if a thrill has overcome him.
People always say that Jason is the bloodthirsty son, but Jason at least has the mindset of Justice behind the punishments. Tim does it to survive and the thrill of it even when it is unnecessary to go to such lengths. That arguably makes Tim the true bloodthirsty brother. After starving for so long he takes some control back again over himself, but once you went on a killing spree there is no going back to playing perfect son.
He brings Bruce back, but the Tim that comes back isn’t quite the same anymore. The creepy unease has come back and when you now look into these eyes, they are all aware that there is something lurking beyond it and ready to launch at any given moment. People no longer think of him as adorable.
