Diabolical | T. Drake ✔

[13] The Lazarus Effect

Tim didn't have to research a lot on the cause of Jason's resurrection as Bruce already had a suspicion that the League of Assassins was behind it. He had heard about the Lazarus Pit and its mysterious healing powers and one meeting with Ra's Al Ghul confirmed that Jason had indeed been revived by the Pit.

However, the resurrection hadn't worked out in the League's favor as Jason had escaped from Nanda Parbat and returned to Gotham as the Red Hood, a burning spirit of vengeance.

Lately, Red Hood had been causing a lot of trouble and though Tim wasn't part of the vigilantes, by being in the cave 24/7 he too had a fair idea of everything that was going on. Jason or rather the Red Hood's latest stunt had been abducting Joker and causing Batman to end him. 

It had been a rough night for all of them and as the building had gone up in an explosion, Batman had managed to save Jason from getting blown up that time and brought him to the cave.

The cave seemed to be on red alert mode and Steph was instructed to keep Tim in his lab while Jason was being treated in the medical wing. Tim didn't like the idea but couldn't sneak out for the time being as Steph was guarding the door.

"And why are these special instructions only for me?" Tim asked Steph who looked quite concerned.

"Because Jason will be unstable and Bruce doesn't want you to get hurt."

"Why would I get hurt? I barely even know the guy and vice versa."

"That's beyond the point," she remarked, "he knows you will be curious to go and see Jason and then you could end up hurt."

"Oh come on, he wouldn't hurt me."

"Your bones would break even if he so much as swatted you away," she replied pointedly, noting the flutter of his eyes from hopeful to slightly disappointed.

"Oh... Well then, I guess you're right. That's a risk I shouldn't take." He gave in, bending down to open the cabinets where he kept his notebooks.

"What are you searching for?"

"Just something that can help instead," he mumbled, sitting cross-legged on the floor as he pulled out his vast collection of notebooks in which he kept records of his experiments.

Stephanie was curious so she too came to sit beside him, watching him flick through the pages as if searching for something very significant.

"Found it," he put his finger on a page as he stood up but then stumbled, holding onto the counter for support.

"Timmy, be careful," she remarked, knowing his legs had gone numb and he had stood up without letting the blood flow to his limbs normally.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he balanced his thick spectacles on his nose as he began to fish out the chemicals he kept.

"What are you doing?"

"You said you guys are worried that Jason will be unstable when he wakes up, I have a cure for that," he suggested, "I can make a tranquilizer for him."

"Are you out of your mind?" She shook her head in disapproval, "paralyzing him will be the last straw and Bruce would kick both of us out."

"Oh come on, not all of my tranquilizers induce paralysis," he shrugged nonchalantly, pushing her back to a safe distance as he prepared his apparatus and dimmed the lights. "Some of them, especially this one, work to soothe the nerves. It will calm him down, not paralyze him and then he won't go full Lazarus mode on us."

She looked at him skeptically, "I am not doubtful of whether it will work or not but I need to know if it's safe or not."

He rolled his eyes as if she had asked a silly question, "of course it's safe. I have tried it on myself."