Work Text:
Trust the one mission without Shikako to go completely to hell.
Really, a simple recon operation shouldn't have ballooned to something like this. He'd blame it on the classic Team 7 luck, but he was the only one on the mission. At this point, Sasuke might be the problem.
He scans the area. Sensing isn't his strong suit, largely because he's usually had better team members to do it for him. But he isn't so incompetent that he shouldn't get any feedback.
.. which is exactly what is happening now. Impossible — unless there straight up wasn't any chakra to sense.
Not only that, but his surroundings were so unlike anywhere else he's been before. Even the Land of Iron didn't look this weird.
Also, there's a child staring at him. He may or may not have been dropped into some random person's backyard.
Sasuke, not one to be bested, stares back. "Where am I?" He asked, genuinely puzzled. How could life exist without chakra?
"Gotham," the kid said. "Nihongo?" He looked unsure.
Sasuke doesn't answer, trying to remember if he's ever heard of a country named Koth-am. "How far is this from the Elemental Nations?"
"Where?" The kid looks even more confused. "Nevermind, are you a ninja? You look like one."
Well, yes. But Sasuke didn't think it would help matters to confirm. Small squishy civilians didn't particularly like shinobi.
"What's your name?" He says instead.
The civilian looks considering. "Tim. But you'd know that already if you're here. Are you working with a mask?"
Did he mean ANBU? He took the mission as a Jounin, not an ANBU operative, so he was just in regular shinobi blues.
"None that I know of," Sasuke fibbed. "What do you mean?"
Here Tim gave him a derisive look, as if he was faking being slow. "You know, the Rogues. Or Batman, I guess."
He has no idea what row-gues meant, but he's heard of bat-man before. He's always thought it was something Kako's overactive imagination made up as a kid.
"The guy who looks like a bat?" He clarifies.
Tim tilts his head. "Yeah, it's in the name. You don't speak English at all, do you?"
Is that the language they spoke here?
"No," Sasuke says slowly. He's in a place without chakra, with a civilian who didn't even know about the Elemental Nations. If there was a prize for completely messing up a mission, this was it.
"And you've got no idea where you are, obviously. Do you know your name?" Tim ponders. "You could be an amnesiac."
"I'm Sasuke," he says, ignoring the analysis. "How did I get here?"
"Through a flash of light. Thought you were a Flash, honestly."
"And a flash is...?" Sasuke normally didn't fish for answers this blatantly, but Tim seemed pretty free with information. Also, the more time passes, the surer he becomes that Tim is completely harmless.
"A super-hero?"
Not a word Sasuke's familiar with, and the kid seems to realize that. "A guy who goes around helping people," he amends.
"For how much?" Sasuke asks. A superhero must be their version of a shinobi, but with a strict moral code. Weird, but whatever. Maybe he could become one to stay afloat for a while.
"They.. don't get paid?" Tim says, uncertain. "They're mostly anonymous, and do it behind a mask, so no one usually knows who they are."
Sasuke stared.
What is this, some kind of charity ANBU? Free assassinations for the destitute?
Maybe it's more like Kakashi's excuses, but actually true, where these superheroes go around ferrying little old ladies while in full ANBU stealth.
He cuts off the imagery of the Commander carrying a bunch of groceries for some obaa-san to focus on the situation in front of him.
"And this bat-man, who you thought I worked for, is a superhero?" Sasuke clarifies. He vaguely recalled Shikako having some long-winded tangent about it.
"You could also be working for a villain, but yeah, basically," Tim answers, nonplussed.
"Honestly, Batman's been pretty villainous in his own right these past months," he adds, seemingly thinking out loud.
The kid then stares at him. Hard.
"Do you think you could pull off blue eyes?" Tim asks.
What. Sasuke gives him a look that makes clear exactly what he thought of that idea.
"Never mind, it's not that important. I think. How old are you?"
"Fifteen..?" He kind of wants to see where this goes. Tim reminds him of Shikako getting another one of her terrible ideas. Insane, but always seems to work out somehow.
"That's a bit old, but I think it could work."
The kid then looks him up and down, seemingly surveying him for the last time. Then, nodding to himself as if committing to a choice, he asks, "do you want to come in?"
Sasuke's guard rises up. "Who's in the house?" He asks, letting loose a small amount of killing intent. In a world without chakra, he feels blind.
Tim visibly stiffens. "No one," he says, now looking like he slightly regretted the invitation.
Sasuke tilts his head, making the civilian sweat it out a bit. He seems to be telling the truth, somehow. Satisfied that he could probably fight off anything that comes after him, he agrees to come in.
They walk through a few painting-laden hallways before coming to a stop to something that looked like a kitchen.
"Um," Tim starts, clearly unprepared. "You want anything to drink?"
Does the kid really think he's that easy to poison?
"Never mind," Tim says.
He looks around. Everything seemed so advanced.
Was it possible that he wasn't even in the same universe? He tries to suppress the rising panic he feels in his chest.
Of all the missions to not have Shikako...
"So," Tim tries to start again. He seems to hesitate in the wording. "Can you be hired?"
Sasuke blinks. "I'm not a super-hero," he says, making sure to properly enunciate the new word. "Only if you pay me."
Unsaid was the insinuation that he highly doubted Tim could afford him.
The kid waves it aside. "What are your rates? I'm thinking five hundred dollars per day should be sufficient."
"How much could that get me?" Was he going to bodyguard the kid? That's fine, he supposed.
"Minimum wage is seventeen an hour," Tim says, "so a lot. You'll stay here, of course, so rent shouldn't be a problem. You're free to anything in the fridge, too."
That seems like a lot. "I'll be bodyguarding you?" He asks. It's good to clarify mission parameters.
"No, you'll be bodyguarding Batman," Tim says.
"The guy helping other people for free?"
"Yes. I'll pay you to be Robin," Tim states grandly.
Who?
"His sidekick," he clarifies after seeing the look on Sasuke's face.
"What will that entail?" It's the first time he's negotiated his own mission. It's really not as cracked up as missing-nins like to say.
"Well, first, you'll have to help me blackmail him into making you Robin. Oh!" He scampers off for a bit. Curious, Sasuke follows him.
When he turns a corner, a right hook suddenly comes at his face. He puts the offender in an armlock and stares him down.
"Had to test if you were competent," the kid under him grumbles.
"An obaa-san could've blocked that attack, but thanks," Sasuke says blithely. He lets him go.
"Well, between your assumed competence and my information, we should be good to make you Robin," Tim states. "Then all you have to do is go with him every night he patrols, and back him up against the Rogues."
There's that word again — row-gues. "Who are they?" If he could get a list of character traits and abilities, that would be great.
Tim responds by walking off again. Sasuke follows, and they stop inside a bedroom.
The kid opens a thin metal box. "Here," he says, giving it to the ninja after a few moments.
A screen stares back at him. The thing looks like a really thin computer, without a CPU.
A bunch of villain profiles are on the screen. After a few trial-and-errors trying to work the device, he's able to read through very detailed briefings regarding his potential opponents.
Useful.
After, he learns more about the famed Batman. Apparently he dresses up like a bat and beats Rogues to put them into prison. Charity ANBU wasn't that far off the mark.
"He doesn't kill?" Sasuke asks, confused. He looks up at Tim, who's been staring at him intently the entire time.
"No, it's his number one rule," he states firmly. "As his Robin, you should follow it as well."
That was another thing. Apparently, the last Robin died, causing Batman to spiral and badly hospitalize criminals even worse than before. Trust ratings were at an all-time low, which really conflicted with the Bat's goal to bring safety to the city.
Using non-lethal methods to complete his mission would be fine, he supposed. The Rogues didn't seem too hard to catch. It would, he turns over his head, be a bit like being an Uchiha Police.
He can't say he finds the idea unappealing.
"Okay," Sasuke says. "How do we start this?"
Tim beams at him.
"First, we go next door."