Gotham was a mess.

Batman had lost his Robin a few months back and things were going even more downhill as the vigilante seemed to be losing his calm. He was more violent on patrol, his patience seemed to be running out and if things continued in that way, he might end up getting himself killed too.

Timothy knew that because he had been observing the Bat vigilantes for quite some time by then. Ever since he had accidentally hacked into the Batcomputer and confirmed their identities, he had been thinking about what to do next.

The information he had was dangerous if fallen into the wrong hands. And what he intended to do with it was dangerous too but for himself.

Twelve year old Timothy Drake had grown up to be quite different from the precious little boy his sister remembered him as. Ever since she had left, things had only gotten worse for them and Tim had learned to live with the consequences, adapting himself to bear all that his life had in store for him.

Drake Corporate was on the verge of bankruptcy and as such Jack Drake was about as much unstable as the vigilante Batman was without his Robin. Tim seldom saw him at home and when the man was at home, he was so depressed that Tim intentionally stayed out of sight.

Thus it was safe to say that things were an absolute mess in both his home and his city.

In his free time, he had learned how to hack, being very skilled in using computers since a young age. He sometimes used his hacking skills to get things done for his seniors in school, for a payment of course, but he knew well enough to stay out of tasks that would get him caught out.

And one day when he was completing one such task for a high school student who wanted him to remove a video that had been anonymously posted, he accidentally hacked into the Batcomputer's system.

At first he was surprised how he had gotten access to it but then realized that the defenses put up around the computer were too weak and any tech wizard could easily gain access to it. He had no intentions of doing anything with the Batcomputer but he decided to approach Batman and offer him to fix his system so that no one else would be able to hack into it again.

In hindsight, he knew it was dumb; going up to Batman and offering to fix his computer. Plus he was just a twelve year old who Nightwing had saved multiple times by then and given him hundreds of lectures on staying safe.

Nightwing, on the other hand, was an entirely different story.

He knew who Nightwing was the day he had seen the vigilante perform a quadruple somersault. And it was through the knowledge of his identity that he had been able to figure out the rest.

Richard Grayson aka Nightwing, Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl, Jason Todd aka Robin and Bruce Wayne aka Batman.

All the puzzle pieces had fit together without much effort on his part.

But then Robin died and Batman started spiraling out of his usual composure. Tim did not know how exactly Robin had died or who killed him but he had attended Jason Todd's funeral, ditching class that day to go there.

His camera still had pictures of the youngest vigilante and seeing the boy in a coffin lifeless had shaken him up badly.

But realizing how much Batman needed a Robin after that convinced him to take a rather risky step. Even riskier than offering to just fix up the Batcomputer.

"Hey, kid, what are you doing here?" Nightwing's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he looked up, seeing the man in a black and blue suit drop down beside him.

"I wanted to talk to Batman," he replied, holding the packet of the developed photographs close to him.

"Look Timmy, if you want an autograph this is not the right time," he sighed softly, "B is... Well..."

Below Gotham Tower where the two of them were, Batman was fighting off some thugs who had ganged up on him. Nightwing gently took Tim's shoulder and steered him away from the railings so that the boy wouldn't see how angry Batman had gotten right then, making the thugs flee for their lives.

"I still want to meet him," he widened his blue eyes in a request, "please?"

Nightwing shook his head in a refusal, "you should be at home. Your Dad will get worried for you and how many times have I told you before that it's not safe for you to be out here at night? Maybe at this rate I'll have to drop you off at your place myself and talk to Mister Drake about this."

The color drained from his face, worrying Nightwing further, "no, please don't tell him anything."

"Wait, why?"

"He's always so busy and angry and I don't want to disturb him," the boy mumbled, his head hanging low in disappointment, "he'll get angry at me if he finds out."

Nightwing glanced over the rails himself to check whether Batman was alright but there was no one down there. At least not anymore.

Then he turned to look back at the scrawny little kid with the brightest blue eyes and the worst sense of self preservation.

"Alright I won't tell him but you are going home now."

He took out his grapple gun and was about to lift Tim so that he could take him to his home when a flash of black caught him off guard and he stopped to see Batman towering over them.

Tim immediately freed his arm from Nightwing's hold, thinking it was finally his chance to talk to Batman and get it over with.

Nightwing grimaced, not knowing how the elder would react to the little boy asking for an autograph.

But much to his shock, an autograph was the last thing Tim could ask for.

He gave Batman the packet and spoke up, "Mister Wayne, I am Timothy Drake and I accidentally hacked into your Batcomputer a few months ago. I know it sounds bad but I swear I did not do anything to it. I can fix it for you if you let me become Robin."

The two of them were staring down at the boy in shock.

Bruce or rather Batman had not been expecting that kid to spew out so much worrying things in a single sentence. It was taking him time to process too while Nightwing was just frozen in shock and confusion.

"Wait Tim, I think you're mistaken," Nightwing tried to do something to convince the little boy that his assumption was wrong, "why did you call him Mister Wayne? He's not Bruce Wayne. Definitely not."

"Like you're certainly not Richard Grayson, I get it." The kid shrugged and just like that Nightwing shut up again, shocked at what had just happened.

Bruce had opened the packet and was looking through the pictures Tim had taken along with his stapled notes of evidence that they were indeed the Wayne family in suits. It seemed the boy had been observing them for a long time and deduced their secret even though he was just twelve years old and apparently harmless.

"Take him home," Batman's gruff voice broke the shocked silence and Nightwing nodded, springing into action as he lifted Tim up and took out his grapple gun.

"But I wanted to talk about this! I swear it I have not told your identities and I never will. And I can definitely help in securing the very weak firewalls your Batcomputer has so that no one can hack into it again, honest!"

"Enough of the blabber, kid, you're in enough trouble now for you to start messing with us," Nightwing replied while Bruce was still engrossed in the evidence Tim had given him.

"Hey, I need that packet back if you're not keeping our deal," Tim tried to resist but Nightwing wasn't going to let go of him.

Batman finally looked at the boy closely and he stilled, a wave of fear striking him at last to see that unreadable but intimidating expression on the vigilante's face. He had just beaten up those thugs quite badly, and Tim didn't want to be next.

"We'll talk about this later," Batman remarked, "go home. I'll find you myself."

"Oh... Okay," he stopped resisting against Nightwing, "um thanks."

And just like that, Batman left, taking the evidence with him.

Nightwing sighed, leaving Gotham Tower with Tim, "you know what, kid, sometimes you need a good kick in the ass."

Tim finally laughed at that remark, just then realizing how dumb his whole approach had been but somehow worked, "and you need to clear your search history. Not sometimes, all the time."

"Excuse me?"

"If you convince Batman to hear me out, I can tell you a trick or two about it."

Richard dropped him off at the gate of his house but still couldn't believe the nerve of that little boy to do what he had just done.

But then he asked the question that was bothering him, "how did you find out?"

Tim controlled the urge to smile as he replied, "I saw you do a quadruple somersault once. I've seen you do it back at a performance with Haley's Circus too. That's how I knew."

Hearing about Haley's Circus from him made him go silent as it reminded him of the Flying Graysons. He sighed softly, shaking himself out of his past memories to focus on the present.

"You get yourself in trouble on purpose," he rebuked him, "I'll try and talk to B on your behalf but only on one condition."

"Okay sure, what is it?"

"No more negotiating with vigilantes, no more loitering at rooftops and definitely no more instances of getting yourself in danger on purpose. Understand?"

Tim thought about it but then nodded, "these were like three conditions but fine, understood. You keep the end of your bargain and I'll keep mine."

"And definitely no telling others about what you know."

"I had no intentions of doing so even if you hadn't warned me but okay, deal."

Richard watched in surprise as instead of going in through the front door, the boy climbed up a tree and dropped in through an open window on the first floor. He waved him goodbye and then disappeared.

"What in the actual fuck just happened?" Nightwing mumbled under his breath, still in shock about it all.

That kid, Timothy Drake, was so far the weirdest twelve year old he had ever met. And that weird twelve year old had just blackmailed them with their real identities to negotiate becoming Batman's Robin.

He was also the stupidest twelve year old he had ever met, Richard thought, because who in their right mind would ask to become Robin himself?

Considering what fate had fallen the most recent Robin, it was even more unbelievable that Tim wanted to be the next one.

***