Chapter Text
Tim is fighting a battle he knows he’s going to lose.
His opponent Ra’s Al Ghul has more than a few centuries of combat experience on him and the top floor of a skyscraper offers few advantages to even the playing field. Tim couldn’t calculate the exact outcome of the fight, he didn’t know whether he would end up decapitated or left to slowly bleed out but he certainly knew the odds of him walking away. In fact he’d counted on it. He knew Ra’s couldn’t pass up on an easy opportunity to kill the detective who’d destroyed countless League bases. Luring him here gave Dick, Damian, and the other vigilantes time to save the civilians being targeted by League assassins.
Red Robin had kept his own task a secret from his other allies, there was no need to risk any interference. Besides, it was the only solution he could come up with that would save everyone.
So he continues to annoy Ra’s with quips in between trading blows, barely holding his own by using the total sum of his teachings from Lady Shiva, from Bruce, even league moves from studying Ra’s and his assassins. But Red Robin is slowing down and it takes everything he has to survive each second as his injuries slowly pile up. A bruise here and there turns into a fracture as Ra’s cracks the hilt of his sword into the side of Tim’s face as he struggles to recover. Tim throws a handful of birdarangs in a defensive move but Ra’s dodges and launches forward to quickly slash across Tim’s chest. The cut feels shallow but Tim can feel himself losing ground. In the following sequence of moves he manages to get in a kick or two and a brutal headbutt after Ra’s dislocates his right shoulder. The sword violently clangs against the metal of Tim’s bo staff, at a standstill before the two break apart further.
“Is that all?” Tim manages to get out while breathing heavily between words and clutching his decidedly not-that-shallow chest wound. “Is that all you’ve got?”
Ra’s just shakes his head, enraged, blood pouring out his nose where Tim had headbutted him. “What are you doing Timothy?”
Tim knew he must look ridiculous, covered in blood head to toe, missing pieces of his vigilante suit yet still asking for it. He glances at his wrist computer checking again for updates and there it is – right on time.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m giving Lucius Fox enough time to file paperwork.” Tim says.
“You…” Ra’s hesitates, clearly caught off balance. He had underestimated Tim, again. Tim knew how Ra’s thought, targeting Bruce’s civilian friends and family was just a violent distraction. No, the real prize he was after was the full power of owning Wayne Enterprises, a stepping stone to the Demon Head ruling Gotham.
“Your little scheme with Hush has failed. As of now I am officially an emancipated minor, fulfilling the failsafe Bruce put in place making me CEO of Wayne Enterprises.” Tim leans slightly, one hand against the wall of glass behind him as he fights to remain standing and conscious. “I am in charge of Bruce’s legacy and you will never have control of Wayne Enterprises or Gotham. Ever.”
Tim speaks with absolute resolve, “Even if you kill me now, I’ve made sure Hush won’t be able to transfer anything to you. You’ve lost, Ra’s.”
Ra’s is silent, probably wondering how he’d managed to lose to Red Robin twice in one week. Tim just slightly smirks, in spite of cracked ribs and bleeding wounds. Whether or not he lived, he had won.
The Demon’s Head rage shown viscerally on his face, despite his obvious efforts to keep it contained, “Well played, Detective.”
Then quicker than Tim could react, Ra’s kicks him hard, square in the chest on his slash wound and renewed pain bursts forward like fireworks across his skin. He feels the wall behind him shattering, glass shards piercing into his back and giving away to the night sky. As if in slow motion the figure of Ra’s fades away from his sight as Tim is hurtled from the building and sent freefalling down into the streets of Gotham.
I could reach for my grapple, he realizes. I should be reaching for it .
But even as lights blurred past his falling frame and his swimming vision became chaos there was a sense of calm already seeping in.
I did it. I saved everyone, no compromises. I saved everyone he cared about.
The realization was startling, he’d done everything he needed to. He’d done what no one thought was possible by finding Bruce, more than that he managed to hold everything together. Bruce would come back and everything would be intact, everything he needed would be there waiting for him.
He won’t say anything, he never does, but I’ll know.
Praise from Bruce was a paradox in itself, but Tim had long since mastered the art of lying to himself about it. He didn’t need encouragement or gratitude, he never had. He only needed to know he made a difference, putting everything he had to give towards his neverending mission to save Bruce from everything, from himself, from grief, from death, from time itself.
I’ll know that Bruce is proud of me.
For the first time in months he could feel a content smile tugging at the corners of his lips before forming halfway. The panic didn’t force him to move, more than anything he just felt relieved. The grapple would only prolong the inevitable, keep the suffering going. Ra’s had dealt slice after slice, cracking bones with the force of his physical strikes. Even if Tim could find a nearby rooftop to land on, who's to say a league assassin wasn’t waiting for him?
There would be no one waiting for him on the other side– Bruce wouldn’t be there and neither would Kon, but Tim would be okay on his own. He always had been.
Wind whips fiercely all around him but he still can't bring himself to move, it was all so simple now.
All in all, not a bad day.
He smiles fully at the sentiment, as his vision blurs and the darkness creeps at the edges like a vignette closing in. In his last swirl of half-formed thoughts he hopes that he doesn’t land on some unfortunate Gothamite's balcony for them to have to scrape off. Suddenly his side forcefully makes contact with something as Tim cries out in pain and the whole world turns black and blissfully silent.