Chapter Text
Tim Drake had a caffeine problem. He knew that, he just didn’t address it… and didn’t agree when anyone else brought it up. Especially if it was one of his siblings. He’d rather drink his ten cups of coffee while researching his latest case, nodding at the problem in acknowledgement, then going back to work.
Between Red Robin cases, patrol, and Wayne Enterprises, Tim was just busy! Coffee gave him the jump he needed to do everything in an efficient and timely manner.
There weren’t even any bad side effects. Sure, normally around the end of the third day with no sleep he started seeing things. Seeing things that weren’t there. But generally by then Alfred was already dragging him upstairs, Agent A seemed to have an internal clock for when the time had come for Tim to go to sleep. He was magic like that. Hallucinations weren’t hurting Tim, that’s all they were, things that weren’t there.
However, as Tim drained his 10th, 11th(?) cup for the evening, he could have sworn a mass of darkness walked past him, sending his heart beat racing.
Startled into setting his coffee down, Tim stood up and looked around him. The monitor kept much of the natural darkness of the cave away, the lights illuminating the paths doing the same thing as they wound around the cave, display cases showing off the trophies of some of vigilantes’ biggest wins. But there wasn’t another living soul here, no one else was in the cave.
A quick look at the monitor confirmed this, all bats and birds were either asleep or deep in the heart of Gotham. No one’s comms were in the cave with him. If Cass wasn’t on a completely different continent, he would think it was her, she disappeared into the darkness better than any of them.
No proximity alarms had been tripped, the tunnels leading outside hadn’t been used since the last patrol left hours before, the time stamp on the elevator was when Tim snuck upstairs for another cup of coffee.
“Hello?” Tim whispered into the darkness. There was no answer, just the humming of the computers, the occasional screech of a bat overhead (an actual bat, the mammal, although there was that one time Dick tried to communicate with them), and his own breathing.
No response.
It was only his second night with no sleep, was he already seeing things? Glancing at his abandoned coffee cup, Tim sighed and shook his head in frustration. If Alfred had been down here when Tim managed to scare himself, he would have already been dragged upstairs.
Perhaps it was time to turn in. He didn’t need to be sent to bed in front of the demon spawn in a few hours when Alfred found him still sitting in front of the monitor. Better to save his pride for another day.
With one last look around the cave, Tim picked his mug up, and headed for the elevator, cursing out the need for sleep.
The moment the elevator doors shut, the shadows swirled into each other, and a figure formed out of the abyss. It was darker than black, it was the absence of color, of light, of life.
She watched as her Smart Knight left the nest to return to his bed, leaving her in the safest place in Gotham. This was the place of the Knights, her brave protectors, surely they could protect one more.
Cradled in her inky claws was an icy-blue orb. It pulsed occasionally, emitting a soft chill into the air.
“ My King. You will be safe here.” She didn’t quite speak, it was more of a hum, sent into the world between frequencies that humans couldn’t quite hear.
The King was still too weak to respond, but through touch she could hear the echo of ‘safe’ . It sang through her core, settling her own obsession: to protect those within her domain, to ensure the continuation of Gotham. She was honored to have her King in her domain, and would do all she could to protect his core while he was weak. He was now part of her haunt, one more soul to protect.
Silently, she glided over to one of the many display cases. Inside were troves of objects, between umbrellas, cards, rocks, swords, a coin, even a replica of a dinosaur, Lady Gotham was sure no one would notice the addition of one more strange object.
This was the section of items from those who terrorized her home, not many of her knights came over here. Instead they would occasionally look over their armor and insignias across the cave, but not here. Surely her King could recuperate in these glass tombs, and when he was ready, he could leave. The Knights protected their nest, not many had ever ventured inside.
Surely, no one would come looking for King Phantom here.
Lady Gotham walked to the pedestal that held jewels, statue busts, and a couple Atlantean coins. Some had a mystical aura, others just shined prettily, but none were dangerous on their own. The blue core would fit right in.
Carefully, she moved another precious stone off the small support it had, placing it among the coins, and instead replaced it with Phantom’s core.
“You will be safe here, my King. The Knights will protect you, as they protect me. They are heroes, like you.” Lady Gotham, the embodiment of the dark city, had heard countless tales of King Phantom’s triumphs over human and ghost, of how he protected all. He was the definition of hero. Sometimes heroes just needed help sometimes.
‘Heroes?’ The word brushed against her core, an echo, not yet powerful enough for his own words.
“Humans. Mortals. They help everyone within my haunt. They are mine, and they will protect you.” Lady Gotham stood over the ghostly core as the chill of it began to spread out. He was powerful, and would be again, this was a safe place. There were no ghost hunters here to repeat what had happened. The King of the Infinite Realms would recover.
He had to.
‘Protect.’ Was his final echo as the sun began to rise on Gotham City. The darkness receded, pulling Lady Gotham with it, and she gave one last caress to the ice core before returning to the heart of the city.
“Protect the heroes.” An eerie voice whispered, the words bouncing off the walls of the Batcave, a neon green flashing over the core for just a second.