Tim Drake/Red Robin (bloodred_robin) wrote in dc_nextgen,
@ 2011-02-27 17:04:00

Entry tags:

gk, inactive - lian harper, npc - tim drake, plot - "blackest night"

Running on Empty
Tim Drake has been hard at work for the last two days, rarely eating or sleeping since J'anna's death. Frank Wells was dead, so he couldn't have arranged this kind of sick surprise. Tim combed his memories for the extensive list of people who could know his identity and put something like this together. The resources necessary for this kind of psychological warfare were above and beyond those of most of his enemies, but there were a few who could still pull it off. But then it took a special kind of psycho to /want/ to do something like this at all.

All of Tim's thoughts kept going back to the League of Assassins and Damien Wilson.

Not for the first time, Tim wondered how much Lian had given Damien on all of them. He pushed that thought down. This wasn't her fault. She'd been honest about everything and she'd cut Damien out of her life. After all the pain he'd brought her, there was no way she'd go back to him.

But Damien had threatened to kill Bruce, Marissa and Terry; Bruce was dead, because of him. Cerdian was dead because of him. Giselle died because Tim couldn't trust her enough to be honest and now J'anna was dead because Tim hadn't thought to prepare for something like this. The guilt was eating him alive, but he couldn't give into that. He had to find a way to help Giselle rest in peace.

The abandoned sewer tunnels beneath Star City made a great place for a back-up HQ, which Tim had prepared for shortly after his arrival in town a year ago. He'd intended to move his operations here permanently, but never got around to it. Now, he had to choice.

The motion alarms picked up movement a mile away from his HQ, causing Tim to look up from the device he was putting together. He'd have ignored it and gone back to work, except now...whoever was out there was moving closer to the base. They weren't stopping for directions either.

He had incoming company. He raced for his uniform and mask, ready to greet his new guest.

He just hoped it wasn't Giselle.

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	black_lantern2 2011-02-28 12:44 am UTC (link)
	He would be greeted by an old friend. One he hadn't seen in a very, very long time. "Hi Tim," Stephanie Brown said, stepping out of the shadows and smiling at him crookedly. "Long time, no see." (Reply to this)(Thread)

bloodred_robin
2011-02-28 02:25 am UTC (link)

Suddenly, Tim /wishes/ it was Giselle; he /knows/ she's dead.

He hasn't seen Stephanie Brown in eight years. When he left Gotham, Stephanie was one of the few people who asked him to stay. His relationship with her had always been strange, full of will-we-or-won't-we moments and times when one or both them came close to telling the other person how they /truly/ felt.

It never happened, though. Somewhere along the way, they'd settled for being friends, not lovers.

"Steph...how did you find me?" Tim asks.

Stephanie was one of the few people he /didn't/ contact when he came back last year. She had her own life and he didn't want to drop back into it and mess things up.

No, that wasn't true. He didn't want her to question him or deal with her anger at his leaving. That was the truth.

(COMPASSION)
(LOVE)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	black_lantern2 2011-02-28 02:32 am UTC (link)
	"I have my ways," Stephanine said, smiling. She stepped toward him. "Aren't you happy to see me, Tim? It's been what, eight years? Haven't you missed me? I missed you. I cried for days after you left." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bloodred_robin 2011-02-28 02:39 am UTC (link)
	"You know why I had to leave, Steph. There wasn't any place for me left in Gotham, not after Bruce and I fell out." Tim says. "I...I nearly asked you to come with me, but I knew you wouldn't. Gotham was your home and I couldn't take you from that." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	black_lantern2 2011-02-28 02:54 am UTC (link)
	"Yes there was," she said. "You had your place with me. We could have been together. Like we always wanted to be, but were too afraid to say anything." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

bloodred_robin
2011-02-28 03:01 am UTC (link)

"You don't get it, Steph. If I wasn't Robin, I wasn't anyone. Not back then, at least." Tim says quietly. His mind is still working furiously as he speaks to her. He has to stall her our until he can figure out what she wants and how she got here.

"I was afraid of everything, Steph. I was afraid of what would happen if you and I...really took that step. I was afraid of being my own man. I was afraid of disappointing Bruce.

I still managed to pull /that/ one off." Tim says.

"I messed up, Steph and I'm sorry." he finishes.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	black_lantern2 2011-02-28 03:14 am UTC (link)
	"You were someone to me," she said, stepping closer to him. "You were Tim to me, and that's who I loved you for. Not for being Robin, but for just being Tim. I still love you for being you." She took another step towards him. "I just want us to be together. Finally. That's all I want. Please, Tim." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

bloodred_robin
2011-02-28 03:30 am UTC (link)

(LOVE)

Tim wanted to feel something, anything right now, because with J'anna gone, his heart was freezing in his chest. Bruce had loved and lost so many women in his life, but he never let it deter him. He threw himself into his mission and that was that. He'd also lost Jason, before finding him again, and Dick moved out of his shadow, too.

Tim unconsciously took a step toward Stephanie.

"I don't know how to stop hurting the people I love, Steph." Tim says quietly.

	Inside the HQ bloodred_robin 2011-03-13 05:53 am UTC (link)
	Red Robin gets a door open and readies his staff, wondering what the hell happened here to tear the place up like this? Lian went top-of-the-line on the precautions; Tim checked them out himself. It dawns on him now that he hadn't heard anything from the others all evening. "Jade Arrow? Q? Anyone here?" he calls out, readying himself for a fight. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	Re: Inside the HQ rightontarget 2011-03-13 05:56 am UTC (link)
	Lian was in the remains of the kitchen when she heard Tim's voice. His tone told that he had someone with him. "Red Robin?" She grabbed a kitchen knife, making her way out into the open. ...Just in case. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Inside the HQ terra_mater 2011-03-13 05:57 am UTC (link)
	Calypso shows herself after pausing from her work. Her powers are still holding the foundation up until she can fix it, but she is surprising without strain. "Red Robin," she replies. "What is it?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Inside the HQ bloodred_robin 2011-03-13 06:01 am UTC (link)
	"There's trouble. I was just assaulted by two dead women that I used to know." Red Robin says. "Are you two all right? What happened here?" he asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Inside the HQ veryperceptive 2011-03-13 06:02 am UTC (link)
	As they come into visual range of the doorway, Sliver makes a gesture that is half wave, half Prisoneresque salute. "Ladies." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Inside the HQ terra_mater 2011-03-13 06:14 am UTC (link)
	"Tara Markov's body has since gone missing," Calypso added. "I believe it went to find her head." Which had been uppercut far, far away. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rightontarget 2011-03-13 06:53 am UTC (link)
	Lian entered the lab, closing the door behind her. "I know you probably don't want to talk but can we, please?" (Reply to this)(Thread)

	rightontarget 2011-03-13 07:12 am UTC (link)
	"Tim, you can take the mask off," Lian said. "There's no one else here." There was a slight pleading tone in her voice. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rightontarget 2011-03-13 07:23 am UTC (link)
	Lian fist came down on the wall. "Goddamnit, can you for once not do the whole 'I'm a broody Bat-prodigy I need to hide any trace of human emotion' crap?!" "I need a friend, Tim. Not a detective." "And yes, he would. But this isn't about him, right now." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	bloodred_robin 2011-03-13 07:47 am UTC (link)
	"I'm not taking anyone else down with me, Lian. J'anna would never forgive me if something happened to you, too." he says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	callmemissstorm 2011-03-27 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	-(END)- (Reply to this)