Chapter 3
"Where is Tim?" Cass's voice cut through Dick's earpiece with the subtlety of a freight train.
He flinched mid air and tucked into a roll.
The hard steel of the roof bit uncomfortably into his thigh as he shifted weight and came out of the somersault. The space between United Bank and Gotham Financial was small enough he didn't bother with a grappling gun.
"Jesus!" Dick exclaimed. "You surprised me."
"Lie." The sound of traffic echoed behind her and Dick would bet money she'd perched on a high skyscraper with both legs kicked out over the edge.
He laughed and the early morning wind carried the sound away. "Still, warn a guy. And no street names, Black Bat."
"Tim."
An eye twitched and his hand clenched tighter at the wall he scaled. Dick opened his mouth for a retort, thought better of it, and changed tactics.
"I could have been in the middle of something."
He hadn't been. The last month had been slower than hell; he itched for a bit of excitement. A drug bust. A kidnapping ring. Anything.
"Where is he?" Cass spoke again as he landed gracefully and threw himself into a quick back hand spring.
It had been months since she'd contacted him and her no nonsense tone tinged with restrained affection made him strangely giddy.
"You should come for Thanksgiving. Are you coming for Thanksgiving?"
Dick climbed down a half rotten fire escape and traveled through a pedestrian tunnel known for muggings. It would take some finagling, but he would get the entire family into a room for one holiday this year. Even Jason.
"Dick. Where. Is. Tim."
"I am not letting you off the hook for this fall." He sighed at her one track mind and slowed to watch an employee open and enter a shop unscathed. Crouched low to the roof, he rested his forearms on bent legs and breathed in the taste of smog and garbage. "He's on the beach, getting stupidly freckled, hit on by models, and harassed by reporters."
Dick would want to be there too, except his brother was terrible at relaxing.
He frowned, glanced at the predawn light just starting to trickle across the tall buildings, and redirected his route to a nearby safe house. He had to be at the precinct bright and early and getting all the way back to his own bed would cut into prime sleep time.
Cass paused on the other end. "No, he's not."
Dick frowned, mind skittering away from the thought of sleep. "Yes, he is. Batman's orders." He thought of the embarrassing article he'd clipped out of Weekly Gotham News about Tim hooking up with a Kardasian clone while on vacation. He'd taped it up on the fridge at the manor. "Threatened to throw me off a bridge if I didn't rescue him."
He knew the exact time and day Tim arrived back in Gotham. Red Robin could hold a grudge.
"Tim said he would call on the fifth. He did not call. He did not email. He did not text. He. Is. Missing." She reiterated. "Twenty four hours. You will tell me where he is or I will be there. I am patching in Oracle."
"Whoa, what-"
"Hello?" Barbara voice sounded tired and lacked its usual distortion. Dick hung his head and slunk between two buildings for privacy. "Black Bat?"
"Sorry," Dick started, "she called you."
He resisted the urge to bang his head on the nearest brick wall. Trying to control Cass was like trying to herd cats.
"I gathered." Barbara answered dryly. Dick knew she would be just coming off a late night herself and once again cursed his family. "Did she hang up?"
"Er.... Yes?" He dumbly answered. "Black Bat?"
Silence.
Barbara snorted on the other end.
"Any particular reason she's contacting me from Hong Kong?"
"Well, she's.... can you maybe just get a read out on where Red Robin is?" He finished lamely.
"Hm?"
Her focus slid away from him and towards one the computers closest to her. He couldn't hear typing, but knew her fingers flew across the keyboard at an alarming rate. Dick leaned against the damp brick behind him and scratched absently at his nose. Maybe he could head to Barbara's place instead and have coffee with her before throwing on his uniform.
Dick waited a few moments, more than enough time for her to track down everything from Tim's most recent phone calls to what he'd eaten for breakfast. The line remained suspiciously silent.
"Hey," A feeling of dread washed over him, "he's good, right? Black Bat is just being paranoid? He's holed up watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy? Yeah?"
"You should swing by." The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and his stomach flipped. "I need to check a few more things."
He swallowed and changed directions.