Chapter Text
Tim Drake knew Bruce Wayne was not dead. Umbra was able to confirm he was not in the Underworld, his soul did not appear when called forth, and someone like Bruce Wayne simply did not stay dead.
But Tim simply didn't have time to look for Bruce. Because Tim was busy.
People like to imagine detective work as glamorous and something that takes a lot of brain power. In reality, it is boring as hell sometimes. Like the entire attempt to reverse the spell over Gotham; Tim and Florian have been pouring old documents and maps of the city for weeks at this point, and it felt like they barely made any progress. The only thing they determined is that the veins responsible for ensuring magic flows properly through the barrier are likely underground. But they don't know where underground.
In the early days of Gotham, a great fire essentially burned the entire thing to the ground. Rather than clearing the debris away, Gothamites chose the cheaper option: building on top of the ashen remains. So, Florian and Tim had been looking at dozens of maps of pre-fire Gotham, trying to determine which areas would be structurally sound enough to build a tunnel through, and then trying to find record of said tunnel's construction. It was a slow going endeavor to say the least. Tim now spent his 'school' hours with Florian, only returning to the manor just before dinner with the excuse he's preparing for college or that he was at some club meeting. His sleep schedule was destroyed as he helped train Damian and moonlight as Robin. It got to the point Isabel made a watch that tracked his sleep and eating habits that would display a frowny face if he did not reach the bare minimum. The watch was surprisingly effective.
Tim and Florian made little progress in their research. And that was before things changed for the worst in Gotham.
The first tip off that something was wrong was the monsters' behavior changing. They no longer moved about randomly, acting facsimiles of mortal lives. Instead, they moved with purpose, choosing to stick to the shadows and remain unseen. It was unnerving. It was somewhat comforting that they stuck primarily to the docks, away from Wayne manor and civilian residences, but that only meant they had a reason to stick to the docks, which was distinctly not comforting.
The second tip off that something was wrong was when both Pamela Isley and Johnathan Crane broke out of Arkham simultaneously, yet rather than committing crime, they disappeared off the map. Silence in Gotham was never a good sign, and Dick was close to tearing his hair out over it.
Alosa was the one to confirm that something was horribly wrong.
"Ethan Nakamura is in Gotham." That one sentence was enough to stop Tim from breathing. Tim's first instinct was denial. How could Ethan be in Gotham? The monsters would—oh.
Ethan is on the monsters' side. Of course they wouldn't kill him. Was Luke in Gotham too? No, Luke was essentially dead; Kronos possessed him after the Battle of the Labyrinth, a fate worse than death according to the prophecy. Kronos can't physically be in Gotham. At least, Tim didn't think so. Maybe possessing Luke was a loophole to enter Gotham? But if that was the case, the gods likely would have solved Gotham's major monster problem. So, Ethan was likely here without Luke Kronos.
Why would Ethan be here? Was he looking for Tim? But Mr. D and Chiron didn't tell anyone because they were aware it would likely be a death sentence for Tim, and Hestia threatened to leave if they did so. Tim was well aware there was likely a spy somewhere in Camp Half-Blood, but he had no idea who it was. Realistically, it was one of the older kids who grew up with Luke and Ethan, but Tim sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.
Could it have been Nemesis? Nyx likely punished her in some way after Tim's little trip to Tartarus and she could be looking for a bit of vengeance. But she wouldn't be stupid enough to go against Nyx. So why the hell is Ethan in Goth—
Oh.
Oh.
"He's gathering monsters here before they march on New York," Tim realized.
Gotham was the perfect outpost and recruiting ground for monsters. No gods can see in, no demigods would dare enter the city to try to sabotage, and there were plenty of monsters to recruit from. That's why their behavior changed. They were organizing. They were getting ready for the final battle.
Florian and Tim were forced to switch gears. They put a pause on researching old maps of Gotham to watching the docks with Tim reporting back to Chiron and Mr. D with his observations. Umbra was obviously displeased with Tim's shift in priorities. Tim argued that it was way too dangerous to investigate Gotham's boundary spell with the monsters acting with purpose and Ethan in the city. Umbra concede, albeit reluctantly, and still asked to meet every new moon in order to be updated on the situation.
It was supposed to be a regular stakeout to watch the monsters at the docks. Looking back on it, there were things Tim could've done to prevent them from being spotted. He hasn't slept well since the Battle of the Labyrinth, he might have forgotten to eat breakfast that day, and Florian's prosthetic leg was starting to seize and both Tim and Florian were procrastinating on fixing it—
Maybe if even one of those factors changed, they wouldn't have been caught unaware by a pack of monsters. Florian wasn't much of a fighter, and he quickly surrendered when it was clear he wasn't winning the battle.
Tim wasn't going down without a fight and he wasn't going to abandon Florian, wither. He managed to take down two monsters before a cyclops hit him in the back of his head. As Tim went down, the same cyclops brutally kicked at Tim's left knee, forcing it to go the wrong way with a horrible crunch. Before Tim could even scream out in pain, his right wrist was broken.
Dazed with pain and a horrible concussion, Tim couldn't even begin to fathom shadow traveling.
"Hey, the old man's a satyr!" Even with his brain rattled halfway out of his skull, Tim knew this was going to be one of the worst days of his life. "Ethan will want to see what we found."
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Tim and Florian were tossed at Ethan's feet like a sack of potatoes.
"We found a satyr and clear-sighted mortal snooping around, sir," a cyclops reported. Ethan sat up straight at the sight of Tim.
"Curtains?" He breathed, his voice barely audible to Tim. Tim stayed silent. "What—how—You're a forsaken demigod," he realized. He froze for a moment before running a hand through his hair.
"I'm going to tell you the same thing I told the others," Ethan looked at Tim tiredly through his fingers. "The demigods at Camp Half-Blood don't care about you, and will never accept you. I am offering you a place at our table."
"Did you kill the others when they rejected your offer?" Tim croaked. Pam and Johnny weren't stupid; they knew they would be killed as soon as the war ended. Either they were dead or they were in hiding. Ethan flinched back like he was struck.
"No." Ethan sounded repulsed by the very idea of Tim's death. "It's—I'm not going to kill you and I didn't kill the others. But if you won't stop spying, I'm going to be forced to take you as a prisoner of war. Or you can leave Gotham." Both of those were not possible for Tim. Maybe—
"I'm friends with the mortal heroes of this city—they'll notice my disappearance and the odd activity at the docks. They'll wreak havoc. Even if you kill them, other heroes will take notice of their deaths." It was risky, but worth a shot. Jason wasn't in Gotham, so Dick would be going in mist-blind, but Tim knew he would eventually—oh yeah. Dick didn't know Tim's true face. He wouldn't be able to track Tim's trail. But Ethan didn't know that.
"Curtains," Ethan scrubbed at his face with his hand. "Don't make Luke remove the heroes of this place—this city needs them. If they interfere with our operations, then the next time they leave this city Luke will send them into the time-stream, just like what Darkseid did to the original Batman." Tim's heart stopped. He knew what happened with Bruce. He could save him. But he could only save him if—
"I'll leave Gotham," Tim conceded. Ethan relaxed at Tim's apparent defeat, unaware that he gave his brother a lifeline of hope.
"Great. I'll give you three days to leave Gotham, and if you're captured again, you won't be released until we win the war. Now, bring the satyr to me," Ethan ordered with a snap of his fingers. Tim's heart dropped straight through hell, fell past Tartarus, and died in Kaos. He completely forgot about Florian.
"Wait—" Tim tried, but he couldn't force anymore words past the dread strangling his lungs.
"Curtains, look at me," Florian gently requested. Tim's eyes snapped to the man he's known since he was twelve. The man who saved him from Ms. Mac. The man who was about to die. "You're strong and you'll survive this. I lov—" With a practiced swing of his sword, Ethan Nakamura severed Florian Bousquet's head from his body, and Tim's entire world shattered.