Wax Figurine | T. Drake ✔

[01]

Patrol never felt the same without Batman.

Things were terrible in Gotham even though the vigilantes were giving their all to keep the city safe. And with the rumors flying about Batman being dead, the criminals had gotten bolder, giving them more hell than usual.

Nightwing, Oracle, Spoiler, Red Robin, and Robin were all doing their best to make up for Batman's absence but they couldn't do so. It had been weeks since they had lost contact with him and even the Justice League believed that he had died in a battle with Darkseid.

His family had tried their level best to track him out and find any clue to his survival but they were only met with darkness. There was no proof that he had survived and they couldn't stay in denial forever.

They had to protect the city, with or without Batman. And no matter how devastated they were after losing him, they couldn't let go of their mission.

And so they were out on patrol again, doing their level best to keep the city safe. But with every passing day, things were getting bleaker for the vigilantes.

"Welcome, Red Robin," the cave announced as Tim stepped in, worn out after the exhausting fight with yet another gang threatening to blow up the city. 

The shower room was occupied by Damian who had come a little earlier so he didn't bother to change out of his suit and went to the Batcomputer instead.

"Good job tonight, Tim," Barbara told him, surveilling the rest of the city streets through the multiple footages displayed on the Batcomputer, "Nightwing's doing a final check and he will be here soon."

Tim nodded in reply, taking the seat beside her, eyes wearily looking at the screen. "Any news of B?"

"None," she replied, her voice growing softer to see how disappointed he looked at the reply, "look, it's about time you accept it."

He stood up, not replying to her remark, "I'm going to take a shower. If you find anything, let me know."

Barbara's concerned green eyes followed his retreating figure, thinking about how to deal with him. She knew Tim was a lot more attached to Bruce than the rest of them and it would be hard for him to accept the fact that Batman was no more.

It had been hard for all of them; Damian had been very aggressive lately and Dick had to patrol with him as they couldn't afford to forbid him from patrol and then face the chaos. Steph and Jason looked as if they weren't affected much but they were just staying strong for the rest of the family. 

Jason had stayed away from Gotham ever since then, and the reason behind it was that he felt he couldn't up with the city's crap without there being a Batman to fight and protect it. He would turn up with the outlaws to back up the vigilantes when needed but he hadn't stepped foot into the cave nor the Manor ever since.

Richard and Barbara were trying their best to keep their family together along with Alfred's help but everything was falling apart at the seams.

And the one who was most affected by it all was Tim. The last time Batman had pulled a fake death scenario over them, he had been in on the secret. He was always the first choice for Bruce to tell confidential things and enlist his help.

So even though a part of his brain was telling him that Bruce was alive and it was just another fake death scenario to draw out the criminals after him, he couldn't accept the fact that he hadn't known about it earlier.

He didn't want to think about the other possibility of him not being alive after all.

"Welcome, Nightwing."