Family Ties : A Batfamily Story

Chapter Twenty Seven

POV Tim

Dusk can be seen clearly in the shine of a sunset through my window. It twirls its way through the rays of light before disappearing into the dark of my room. I watch this in my frustration. No matter how hard I try, I can't get into the Bat Computer's files. Bruce made sure that no one would be able to break through the firewalls, something I now regret. It will be hard to work without the data base's knowledge, not to mention Bruce probably has locked away all my Red Robin gear. As I said, it will be hard, but not impossible.

Opening up the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department) report on the most recent Catwoman robbery, the one I passed out at, I read over the items stolen again. Diamond bullets, sharp and strong enough to cut through police body armor. It's hard to tell why Selena would want those. She never has gone after the police after all. Which brings me back to Penguins DNA I found at the last break-in. Everything about this case seems off. Why would Selena team up with Cobblepot? They are supposed to hate each other!

With a sigh, I reach for my coffee mug. My nose wrinkles as I taste the decaffeinated liquid on my tongue. Why even call it coffee if it doesn't have caffeine in it? I can't believe Babs burned all my energy drinks and death coffee. She said that it would help my recovery, that I should stop drinking coffee all together cause I might get "addicted". I get that she's worried, I would be worried too if it was her who passed out, but seriously I'm fine. I don't need everyone overreacting. Like Bruce, him grounding Red Robin was totally an abuse of power, not to mention a dick move. But if he thinks that taking my suit away is gonna stop me, he's dead wrong.

"Tim?" I hear Robyn call my name outside my room.

"What is it?" I scoot my swivel chair over to the door.

"Babs made some soup and asked me to bring it to you." She explains plainly.

I cock my brow, "Where's Alfred?"

"He took the afternoon off,"

I pause to think for a minute. Maybe I should get Robyn's advice on this. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but she is a Crime Alley native, maybe she has some knowledge that I could use. And I don't think she would sell me out to Bruce. Taking a breath, I open the door. Robyn stands there patiently in her mix-matched PJs with a bowl of Campbell's chicken noodle soup. She pays little mind to my rag-tag appearance, but instead focus on the jumble of cords and screens not so well hidden in my closet.

"What's that?" She asks handing me my soup.

"A makeshift Bat Computer," I decide to tell her the truth.

"Should you be, I don't know, sleeping instead of making supercomputers?" She jokes with mild worry.

"I risked my life for this Catwoman case," I say sliding back to my desk, "I'm not giving up after one hospital trip."

"So I'm guessing the others don't know?"

I give her a bored look, "Do you really think Bruce would let me? He locked me out of the Bat Cave and retired Red Robin. He's abusing his power, you get that right?"

She looks unconvinced, but she doesn't look like she will tell on me either. "So, what are you gonna do about it?"

"Solve the case without his help." I explain, "Prove that I don't need him to make it."

"And how has that been going for you?"

"Awful," I sigh, "but, I was thinking maybe you could help."

I see something in her click like a spark ignited in her eyes. "Sure,"

I give her a slight smile, "So about two weeks ago Catwoman broking City Hall and stole old ground maps of Gotham. I went to the scene and found that Catwoman had Penguins DNA on her. This doesn't make sense because the two hate each other. But then five days later Catwoman stole diamond bullets. Both of these items are not Catwoman's usual M.O. making Penguin's involvement in the case my only lead."