« chapter i: HEAT SIGNATURE »
Damian sat crouched on the rooftop, glaring at the street below him or rather, glaring down at Tim Drake who was blocking his view of the street. "Could you move second class Robin, you're blocking my view." Tim flipped Damian off over his shoulder and Damian rolled his eyes.
"Batman told you that I'm the one in charge of this patrol Robin. Don't make me send you back to the cave."
"He wouldn't approve of you out here alone."
"You and I both know he would." Damian huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What are we even doing out here. All the action is downtown." Damian said even though he knew perfectly well what was happening downtown. Nightwing and Batman were kicking Penguin's ass, leaving Red Wing Robin and Robin to patrol the rest of the city to make sure everyone else was safe. Or as safe as you could get in Gotham.
"Batman wanted us to check out this store. They've had a break-in every month, every second Saturday, always at the same time." Damian frowned.
"What does Batman care about a simple break-in?" Tim shrugged.
"I guess that's what we're here to find out." Damian huffed and sat down cross-legged on the roof. Tim glanced back at the younger boy and almost sighed. He didn't want to be stuck with the Bat brat anymore than anyone else but somebody had to keep an eye on the tiny assassin. Tim was actually a little disgruntled as well, though he was trying not to show it. He wanted to be out helping Bruce and Dick take out the Penguin. But with Jason AWOL, Barb at her internship in D.C, and Steph and Cass off duty, the only option for a babysitter was Tim.
Tim also knew though that if Batman was having them stakeout this particular crummy store in Gotham than it had to be important. With a laborious sigh, Tim crouched a little further behind the wall of the roof as he stared down at the store. They'd been here for two hours or so and nothing had happened. Tim didn't think it was a good idea to beg for trouble though because in Gotham, trouble came in heaps.
Tim's eyes drifted from the store front for a split second and in that second, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something incredible. A large shimmering circle appeared on the street. Tim stood at attention as it disappeared, reappearing inside the store. "What is it?" Damian called out.
"I... I'm not sure. It kind of looked like.." Tim said, unable to find the right words. He couldn't see from this distance into the store so he pulled out his binoculars to zoom in but when he did, he still couldn't see anything. "I thought I saw something in the store but.." Tim switched to night vision and still nothing.
"Try looking for a heat signature."
"That's what I was going to do next." Tim said, rolling his eyes as he switched the lenses yet again. This time, he saw something.
"Female, possibly an adolescent. She has... A weird heat signature." Tim said, trying to adjust the lenses to see if that would help. It didn't. Her heat signature looked pretty normal at first, the standard yellow, greens and red but at the center of her body seemed to be a large gaping hole of nothing which was unusual. Her whole body should be lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Who cares why her heat signature is weird." Damian said, suddenly sounding farther away. Tim looked up and found him on the other rooftop, ready to pounce.
"Stand down Robin. Wait until she comes out of the store." Tim swore he could see the younger boy roll his eyes at him.
"Whatever you say second class Robin." Tim scoffed and shook his head as he continued to watch the girl through the binoculars. She was shoving items into a backpack. It mostly looked like food. Was she just some regular thief? Why would Bruce send them after some girl?
"Stop groping the girl with your eyes Red." Tim heard Damian say into his earpiece.
"Do you even know what grope means? You're like 10." Tim snapped back at him.
"Don't make me come back over there." Damian said darkly. Tim rolled his eyes and looked back down at the store but he could no longer see the girls heat signature. Instead, what he saw was a large glowing portal opening up onto the street in front of the store. Tim watched in awe as the girl stepped out, looked around worriedly and then pulled her hood down of her jacket a little lower, tucking her dark hair back inside it.
"Let's roll." Damian said. Tim was about to shout at him to wait, that they should follow the girl and figure out her powers but Damian was already pouncing. Damian has always prided himself in being ninja quiet (seriously, those are his own words) but somehow this girl heard him and she threw up her hands. A portal was created above her head with her left hand and her right hand created a portal about ten feet away. Damian fell through the first portal and tumbled out the other one with a growl. Tim vaulted off the roof with a sigh, his cape billowing out behind him and the girl gasped as she grabbed the straps of her backpack.
"Stop! I don't want to hurt you." The girl said, putting her hands up in front of her. It looked like she tried to create those portals again. Small swirling circles appeared, looking like floating fire but as quickly as they appeared, they faded into thin air. Tim hesitated, worried about what else she might be able to do. The girl let out a small panicked shriek.
"We're not going to hurt you, right Robin?" Tim demanded, looking beyond the girl at his smaller partner. Damian was scowling, brushing dust off his uniform. Tim took a step forward.
"Don't come any closer!" The girl shouted. She pushed out with her hands but nothing happened. Although, Tim did smell something like smoke. Tim put up is own hands, trying to show her that he was unarmed and also wouldn't hurt her.
"It's alright. My name's Red Wing Robin, that's Robin. We work with Batman." Yup, something was definitely on fire. Tim glanced behind him to see a small pile of garbage smoking, looking like a lit match had just been thrown into it.
"I don't care who you are." The girl said, a stammer in her voice. Tim swore he could feel the temperature rise. "I don't want any trouble okay. I'm just hungry." She said, motioning out with her hands again. The small circles reappeared, slightly larger now. When they faded again, the girl seemed to panic some more and kept gesturing out with her hands.
"Let us help you." Tim said gently, stepping forward again. The girl tensed and snapped her fingers. Tim could feel the heat from the fire behind him and saw it reflecting in Damian's dark eyes. "No don't..." But her arms go up and the mesmerizing portals appear. Through the portal closest to them, the boys can see grass and park benches where concrete and pavement should be. She jumps through and as she does, the portal in front of them collapses. Off in the distance, where the park is, Tim can see her running away, dark hair flying in the wind.
"Real smooth." Damian said, striding towards Tim, ready to put out the fire the girl somehow created but just as he starts to pull something from his utility belt, the fire goes out like a light switch and Damian shrugs. "Should've asked for her number while you were at it." Damian said, patting Tim's shoulder as he passes him. Tim glares at Damian
"Don't make me hurt you." Tim threatens.
"Oh please, you could never lay a hand on me even if you tried." Tim debated trying to strangle the young batboy while he was walking towards their bikes but decided against it. Bruce might not like that. Instead, he walked slowly after Damian, got on his bike and headed back to the Batcave with him.
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"Hey little buds." Dick said, throwing his arms up and smiling widely as Tim and Damian rode through the waterfall and parked near the Batmobile. "How was patrol?" Tim sighed, eyeing the cuts on Dick's cheeks.
"Just fine." Tim said at the same time Damian said,
"Drake messed up the stakeout Father." Bruce half turned to look at them, arching an eyebrow.
"That's now what happened Damian. If anything, you did by nearly tackling her to the pavement." Damian shrugged nonchalantly.
"I missed didn't I."
"You missed because she used those weird portal things and.." Tim scoffed. Why was he even bothering arguing with Damian. "Bruce, why didn't you say the girl had powers. You must have known. Why else would you have us look for her?"
"You learn best in the moment. I was hoping you boys could get closer to her than I could. After I first found out about her, I tried to approach myself but she wouldn't talk to me."
"Well, the Bat costume does freak people out Dad." Dick said with a laugh.
"It's what I've been saying for years." Alfred said, appearing with some cookies and a pitcher of milk. Dick bounded towards him, shoving a cookie in his mouth the moment he had one in his hand.
"So, Tim. How did it go?" Bruce asked. Tim looked over at Bruce who had his arms crossed over his chest, staring at him. Damian was in the exact same position as him, just standing up. Tim almost flipped Damian off.
"She escaped."
"That's too bad." Bruce said, turning back to the monitor. "Guess we'll have to try again next month."
"Cookie, Master Damian." Alfred asked with a sigh. His eyes never leaving Tim's, Damian reached for a cookie, brought it to his mouth and bit into it. Tim huffed, ready to go change out of his suit and head upstairs to sleep though he wasn't sure sleep would come to him easily. "Don't worry Master Tim. You'll get her next time." Alfred said, holding out the tray of cookies to him. Tim sighed before taking one.
"Thanks Alfred."
A/N:
Hi, hey, hello. I should mention that I know like six facts about BatFamily discourse but I love my bat children and so I wanted to write about them in my view. So I hope nobody gets mad about what they do or their personalities or what not. This is all me, I just took these characters and gave them these things. Okay? Alright.
And the picture is of my main character. Her name is Paris Berlec and she's been on a couple Disney channel shows. She's super pretty and the perfect age I wanted for my character and that's why I picked her.
Tim Drake's face claim is Ludi Lin. Damian Wayne is Aramias Knight.
The rest of my lil cast is TBA.