A Tim Plan

Chapter 2: Waiting

Tim can't be Robin for this mission. If he's caught as Robin, he either makes the Bats look bad (which he has tried so hard not to do), or he has to bring the Bats in. Which, yeah...

'Hey, you know your possibly alive son/brother you're trying to find? I think he's trying to kill Joker, so let's break into Arkham and stop him! Oh, and he's emotionally volatile right now, so if you could maybe be perfectly calm and mature, that'd be great.'

No. Just no. Tim's on his own for this one, but that's fine. He doesn't have to be Robin. Not this time.

He has a few sets of plain, dull-colored clothes that he bought years ago and promptly shoved into the back of his closet, being oh-so-careful to never be seen in them. Right now he's wearing jeans and a grey hoodie that are big and formless enough that his gender and even age (if he doesn't get too close to someone, anyways) are perfectly vague, with generic sneakers that are a size or two bigger than what he normally wears and gloves to hide his fingerprints.

With the hood pulled over a bright pink wig, the disguise is good enough for the common folk, but not quite good enough for a bat. He adds a scarf pulled tight around his mouth and a white mask of his own design that covers the top half of his face (so much better than a simple domino, he actually feels hidden for once), making sure to move in ways that are natural but don't quite match with Tim Drake or Robin.

He's crouched on the roof of one of Arkham Asylum's many spires, watching the hacked security feed from a phone he might've shoplifted a few years back, making it unknown by the Bats and therefore safe to use. Manny blinks sleepily at him from his nearby perch, but thankfully ignores him and goes back to sleep after being bribed with a candy bar Tim had in his pocket. He's got a few others, plus enough to-go Starbucks to hold him over a while.

It had taken Tim a few days and a lot of coffee to figure out why his brain had jumped to 'Find Joker' when his goal was catching Jason, but he thinks he's figured it out. Jason chose to take on Joker's old identity, the Red Hood, the identity the Clown died in — it's no secret how much he detests his old gang, not after he personally burned it to the ground.

Taking it on is one of the biggest ways somebody could say 'fuck you' to the Joker. Add in the ranting about Bruce not caring, the obvious anger issues, and the desire to send a message? It's the clown or one of the Waynes, and Tim doesn't think Jason quite has it in him to attack his family just yet.

Tim has to believe that Jason isn't that far gone, so he settles in for a long wait, positioning himself in a way that causes the least amount of pain to his ribs and shoulder. Whatever Jason's plans are, they were disrupted at the Nest. The anger, the frustration, the Pit-fueled need to do something — there's no way he'll wait long for his next strike. It's just a matter of waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.