Puppet Strings

Chapter Six

He jolted, he hurt

His body was screaming.

Pain

So much pain

And then a soft numbness overtook the pain

And his eyes opened.

A ceiling

He turned his head spotting an iv, watching the liquid slowly drip from the back.

Where

"Tim!" Tim jolted again, the words causing a pounding pain to fill his skull. Dick was by his side leaning against the bed. His face was filled with emotion, worry, relief, and anger.

"Whe-?" Tim coughed surprised at the ach in his throat.

"You're in the Batcave, took a nasty hit." A new voice entered, Jason stood by the doorway, the same emotion across his face, they were masked better than Dick's but were still there. "How." Jason cleared his throat. "How are you feeling?"

Tim didn't know how to respond. He blinked, staring at the older man. His white streak seemingly stands out in the lighting. "What happened?" Tim asked, grateful for the glass of water that was handed to him.

Dick's face pinched, before he sighed, his face falling as he shook his head. "You don't remember do you."

"Rember?" Tim attempted to push himself up. Pain shooting through his body, he fell back down. "Are my ribs broken?"

Dick nodded, watching as Jason excused himself from the room, probably get let the others know he was awake. "You ran into the assassin." Tim blinked, his mouth making an O. "He almost killed you, would have if Jason didn't show up."

Tim opened his mouth to respond, only to have a gurgling fill the room. Dick smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. He almost lost another brother. "I'll get you some food." He excused himself from the room, watching Tim raise a finger to ask. "No coffee, you need to sleep to be able to recover properly."

Dick stepped out of the room, looking at bruce who stood there, somewhat fidgeting. That would have earned a brow raise if Dick hadn't expected it. Obviously, Bruce was worried about Tim.

They all were

Even Damian, even if he refused to admit it.

"He doesn't remember." Dick sighed, looking at Bruce.

Bruce slowly nodded. "Give him time, hopefully, the memories will come over time. He's the only source of what actually happened. The body cam and cameras in the area were all distorted..."

Dick gestured towards the door. "You should be in there." Bruce started to shake his head. "He's your son Bruce. He almost died, go." Dick didn't leave room to argue, pushing Bruce towards the door before continuing down the hall.

Bruce took a deep breath before heading inside.

Tim looked awful. His broken nose was set and no longer swollen, a bandage was placed on it to keep it in place. A sick bruise had started to form on the side of his forehead, and another bandage was placed there due to the cracked skin. Bruce was almost positive there was another one on the back of his head. There had been a lot of blood when Tim was brought it

"Bruce!"

Bruce jolted, they never called him by name over the comms. Never

"Get the infirmary ready." An engine. "Tim is losing a lot of blood and his breathing and heartbeat are steady but I don't know for how much longer."

Bruce blinked back the memory looking at Tim, who was staring absently at the wall. Bruce cleared his throat as he sat down at the edge of the bed. Tim's attention switched back to him.

"Hey." Bruce started, feeling a bit awkward. "How are you feeling."

Tim shrugged, once again not knowing how to answer that question. "Could use some coffee."

Bruce chuckled, shaking his head. "What you need is rest."

"That's what Dick said." Tim laid his head back, grateful that Dick propped up his pillows for him. "Did we learn anything new about the assassin?"

"He can turn invisible..."

Tim chuckled, wincing slightly at the action. "He can walk through walls, disappear and fly. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was a ghost."

"We can call him Casper." Dick inputted as he set down a tray of food, Tim looked up, raising an eyebrow at the group that followed him. Alfred, Damian, and Jason stood in the room, watching Tim.

Jason shook his head. "He isn't that friendly." The room went silent as the words fell over, Tim could feel them looking at him. Did he really look that bad?

"Why not Ghost," Damian asked with a sigh, a clear question on his face on why he decided to input.

"That's lame." Tim wrinkled his nose as he thought. "I think Phantom would suit him better."

The room went into a peaceful silence as they contemplated. "Beats Casper and Ghosty," Jason said with a smile.

"And I can't keep calling him Kid Assassin, that's just too much." Dick nodded, watching Tim as he stirred the oatmeal.

Tim took a bite of the oatmeal, and it totally wasn't because Dick was urging him to with his eyes. No way.

"Hey, Alfie." The butler hummed as he looked at Dick. "Can we take dinner down here with Tim?"

Tim glared somewhat at Dick. "Why don't I just go up there."

"No!" Multiple voices shouted out, causing the ringing in Tim's head to grow. At his wince, they went silent.

"You're not ready to move up those stairs," Bruce said with a sigh, watching Alfred leave the room to bring the meal downstairs.

The meal was quickly delivered and the boys dug in. Not overly messy or fighting over the food.

"So he just disappeared?" Tim asked between mouths full.

Jason nodded swallowing his mouthful of oatmeal. Breakfast for dinner was the best. "Yeah, I thought I shot him but the bullets just hit to building behind him. Then he just disappeared into thin air."

"Tt. You missed." Jason glowered at Damian.

"I don't miss."

"Well, you did."

"Then I guess you missed at point blank."

Damian blanched. "I did not!"

Bruce sighed. "The boy... Phantom can make objects go through him, so both of you missed because of that ability."

He sent a glare to the two boys, who slowly sat back down.

Dick spoke next, clearly hating the awkward silence. "So why is Mister Whiskers a bad name for a cat?"

Yay this chapter was easier to write. WAyyyy easier.

Though it's a bit sadder...

I like writing angst...