Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The school day had started perfectly normally. Tim went to every one of his classes on time, would take notes for upcoming tests and what he needed to remember to study, and goof around in the hallways with his friends in between periods.

That's at least how it was supposed to go for today, but apparently Gotham being Gotham someone had other plans in mind.

It had been announced 10 minutes ago that the school decided to close early and send every student home for their own safety. Tim had made his way to his locker quickly when the announcement happened; not wanting to get trampled while trying to get to his locker, thankfully getting there before the hallways were too crowded. Ives had followed along knowing Tim would get them out of the crowds without much trouble, the two talked will getting their stuff together and getting ready to leave.

Tim finished stuffing his books into his backpack as he and most of the entire school started making its way towards the exit. There had been a fight nearby which had caused a large blackout and took out pretty much the entire school's electricity. The school didn't think it was safe to keep the students there with all their electric security being out so everyone was being sent home.

As Tim and Ives push their way down the hallway, Tim notices from the corner of his eye one of the substitute teachers desperately trying to make his way down the hallway without dropping a large box. The raven-haired boy quickly weaving through the crowd found himself standing in front of substitute teacher Dr. Agar, and carefully took the box from his hands as the poor guy tripped on his shoes.

“Are you okay sir?” Tim asked, stepping to the side as more students walked past them. The slim and lanky teacher simply smiled at Tim, rubbing his hands together nervously.

“Oh yes I'm fine now, thank you for coming over and helping…Timothy right?” The substitute science teacher asked and Tim did his best to not make a face at being called by his full name; the teacher was just being polite.

“Just Tim is fine, do you need help getting this box back to your classroom sir?” Tim had already contacted Babs and found out that he wasn't needed for the fight going on and had been instructed to just go back to the manor, he had time to help out Dr. Agar.

“If it's not any trouble I'd greatly appreciate it, it was dissection day for one of my classes.” Dr. Agar explained as the two walked down the hallway and Tim peered into the box. Carefully wrapped up in little bags were dead frogs.

Tim carefully used his free hand to close the lid, he knew the frog's had been dead for a long time and he would most likely be dissecting one of these guys next year but he still found the whole thing quite morbid.

“Where are we taking these guys? Is there a cooler you store them in so they don't go bad?” Tim asked as they continued walking down the hallway, the amount of people thinning out and making it quite easier to get around.

“No, sadly, the school wouldn't give me a spot in a deep freezer where I could keep them when everyone leaves, so I have to take them home.” Dr. Agar explained as they approached one of the back doors of the school. Dr. Agar held the doors open for Tim and the boy quickly went down the steps.

Tim wanted to sympathize with Dr. Agar for his frogs being denied a spot in the deep freezer, but he also didn't like the idea of frog legs suddenly appearing on the school lunch menu. So he simply followed close behind the doctor as they headed towards his car.

Dr. Agar had been substituting at the school for at least a month now, their old science teacher had suddenly run off and no one had heard anything from him except a few whispers that the guy had hit the jackpot and he'd run off to the Caribbean. The lanky teacher was sometimes strange and a bit over the top with his demonstrations, but was a very kind teacher and actively would look out for the students.

Hell he was the first person to report Mary Richer missing from school when she had been kidnapped for ransom, that case (and several others like it) was still driving Bruce crazy.

Dr. Agar pulled out his keys and quickly unlocked his car, and opened the side door and let Tim place the box of frogs on the front seat. The teen pulled his head out of the car and took several steps back as The substitute teacher closed the door.

“Thank you again for the help Tim. Oh! Wait here for a moment, I have something for you.” Dr. Agar headed to the trunk of his car and started rummaging through the large boxes and small piles of garbage he had. The science teacher liked giving his students little trinkets and toys as prizes for getting answers correct or to tell them they did a good job when helping others out.

Tim simply leaned against the teacher's car patiently waiting for the little trinket he'd be given. He kind of hoped he got a sticky hand so he could finally get back at Ives for all the times he had been smacked by his.

Dr. Agar finally came back over readjusting his large bottle cap like glasses and held his hand forward keeping whatever the object was hidden within his fist, Tim willingly held his hand out and gave the teacher a confused look as he started shaking Tim's hand.

And that's when he felt the prick.

Tim quickly pulled his hand back noticing a drop of blood in the center of his palm, he looked up at His science teacher extremely concerned. The once kind and cheery smile Dr. Agar gave every student that passed him in the hallway had morphed into something more sinister and deranged.

“Sorry my boy, but I recently learned that you're being housed by Bruce Wayne himself.” Dr. Agar started walking towards Tim and the teenager backed up. “And I just couldn't pass up an opportunity like this, considering the only other child that man had is well, you know, dead.”

Tim turned around to run away but found his body collapsing in on itself as he fell to the ground and began to struggle with his breathing, his body felt like it was on fire.

Every inch of his skin was burning and his bones felt like they were shifting underneath it all, and no matter how hard Tim tried to he couldn't get any air into his lungs. He could feel tears running down his face as he coughed up spit onto the pavement, god what the hell had that Maniac injected into him?

“But I will apologize for the pain, the fast acting stuff is just brutal to go through. Don't you agree?” Dr. Agar crouched down next to Tim, his sickening smile taking up most of his view. Tim's body writhed in pain, making it impossible for him to move or press any of his panic buttons.

As Tim could finally feel air entering his lungs again the world around him started to go dark and the last thing he saw was Dr. Agar pulling a small jar out of his pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tim woke up gasping as he sat up right and clutched his chest, his entire body still in ungodly amounts of pain. It took a moment for him to start taking slow, even breaths once his lungs were no longer burning for oxygen.

Once he had calmed down a bit and it didn't hurt to move or turn his head, Tim started surveying his surroundings, his face going pale as he noticed the soft wooden chips underneath him and plastic tunnel that you would usually find in a hamster's enclosure. Tim slowly got to his feet, stumbling a bit with the uneven surface and placed his hand on the nearest glass wall, cold to the touch and towering above Tim.

“Ah good, you're finally awake!” Tim flinched as he heard the loud booming voice of Dr. Agar, hesitantly turning around staring up at his captor and pressing his back against the wall as the substitute teacher walked closer to the enclosure and peered down at him.

Dr. Agar smiled at Tim and he got the sickening feeling he had the smile because he enjoyed the fearful look on Tim's face, because yes Tim was scared and quite frankly didn't have the energy to hide the fact.

“Now that you're awake we can proceed.” Dr. Agar suddenly disappeared into the shadows of the dark room Tim was trapped in and what replaced him was a camera pointed directly at the cage Tim was trapped in, the red light on top slowly turned on indicating that he was being recorded.

“Is-” Tim swallowed thickly, doing his best to speak as loudly as he could. “Is this for a ransom video?”

The details of the case Bruce had been struggling with slowly started to come back to Tim.

Every single victim was the child of a wealthy person, they would go missing for up to 2 to 3 days and the only evidence the police could find was that they possibly ran away from home, then a tape would appear in the family's mailbox of the children trapped in a strange cage only a few inches tall, and finally there would be a note attached to the video on where to leave a large sum of money. If the large sum of money had been given the family would get a second note on where to find their child.

None of the victims had been killed thankfully but they had never quite been the same after. They also could never remember who had taken them, many of the therapists the children saw chalking it up to their brain blocking out the trauma, but Bruce believed there was something else going on.

But Robin wasn't here to investigate and learn the truth, Tim Drake was here to be a captive and wait painstakingly long for someone to come and get him or to have his ransom tape sent out.

“Bruce Wayne isn't my father.” Tim hesitantly pushed himself away from the glass and looked where he believed Dr. Agar was in the room. “How much do you actually expect him to pay for a kid that isn't his?”

“For your sake.” Only Dr. Agar's face emerged from the shadows, the rest of his body still casted out. “As much as I want from him, I highly doubt you would want to meet my cat in such a state.”

Tim’s eyes grew wide as he remembered the pictures Dr. Agar had on his desk of black cat named Tourmaline. The madman was right that Tim did not want to meet the cat in such a state, he needed to find an alternative way out of here fast.

Slowly the young boy sat down on the floor of his enclosure and simply rubbed his arms trying to figure out what to do. How many days did Dr. Agar plan on keeping him before sending out the tape? Would Bruce find him before that?

Tim wished he had an answer to at least one of those questions, but he didn't and he had a feeling he wouldn't until he actually did something.

The soft click of a door opening and closing snapped Tim out of his thoughts. Had Dr. Agar actually left him alone? The camera was still recording but from what footage from the ransom tapes Tim had seen Dr. Agar only seem to look over the footage once he sent the tapes out, so now would be the perfect time to inspect his surroundings.

The glass enclosure was pretty empty, which made sense considering Tim wasn't meant to stay here for longer than a few days. The most obvious things that stood out was the brightly colored tube that let up to a small platform, from where Tim was sitting he was pretty sure he could see something on top of the platform.

Tim double checked around the room for any subtle movement that might indicate Dr. Agar was still there but found none, so he quickly got to his feet and headed underneath the small platform. The few things contained underneath the platform were also quite lackluster.

In a far corner was a small metal box that, from Tim sticking his head inside, revealed to be a small bathroom with a functioning sink. There was no shower so it simply looked like an upgraded porta potty.

And resting underneath the colorful tube was a small box with an assortment of items. There were rubber balls the size of Tim's head, miniature plush animals that you could find at a convenience store, and a few small scraps of fabric that looked like they were meant to be makeshift blankets.

For now all things that were useless to Tim, if he was going to use any of the stuff to escape he needed to come up with a plan first.

With the underneath of the platform being fully explored Tim made his way over to the colorful tube and climbed inside as he made his way up to the top of the platform, which was almost as barren as the entire enclosure itself.

The only notable thing was a small cupboard that had miniature silverware and dishes, and right next to it two large bowls containing water and some strange food.

Tim walked over to the bowl containing whatever Dr. Agar considered an appropriate food for his shrunken victims, it was a strange orange goop with tiny chunks of more orange.

With extreme hesitation Tim grabbed one of the miniature spoons and took a very small bite of the food, he instantly dropped his spoon and quickly ran over to the tunnel sliding down it. Within seconds he was in the bathroom spitting the food into the sink and washing his mouth out with water, at first he had thought he was just being fed mushy carrots but there was a weird tangy feeling in his mouth that slowly spread through his body and made his vision a bit blurry.

Tim stumbled his way out of the bathroom and sat on the ground waiting for the strange feeling to leave, he focused on his hand counting his fingers over and over again until he could finally focus.

Okay something was in the food and it had made Tim quite quickly start to lose control, was whatever drug Dr. Agar put in that stuff that made it so hard for the kids to remember what had happened to them? Was that why the kids moved so oddly in the videos? Robin would make a mental note about that well Tim did his best to recover.

“Oh dear.” Dr. Agar’s voice filled the room as he opened the door and walked in. “Did you figure out my little trick? Oh well, just like all the others you'll get hungry and eat it eventually.”

Tim strained his ears as he desperately listened for where Dr. Agar was, his footsteps were light and muffled meaning the floor was covered in carpet.

“What did you put in that stuff?” Tim asked as he stood to his feet and searched the darkness for any movement, he noticed too late the sudden movement right behind him as Dr. Agar’s face completely filled Tim's vision causing him to stumble backwards and fall back down again.

“Something that's supposed to make your stay here a bit more bearable, but if you would rather be scared and frightened by every little movement I make go for it.” A sickening smile appear across Dr. Agar's face. “Maybe the more frightened you are in the video, the more money I can squeeze out of Gotham's Prince.”

Tim scooted backwards as Dr. Agar continued staring at him, mustering up all his bravery the teen put on a stone cold face refusing to give this maniac anything.

Dr. Agar slowly disappeared back into the shadows of the room and with a soft click turned the only light source off.It took a moment for Tim's eyes to adjust to the darkness and make his way over to the small box.

“Good night, Timothy Drake.” Dr. Agar’s voice once again filled the room, reminding Tim of how small he now was. “Your stay here has only just begun.”

And with that Tim was trapped in the room all alone, with plenty of time to plan his escape.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean you don't know where he is?” Bruce practically yelled into the comms as he drove the batmobile down the streets heading straight towards Tim's school; today's fight with Ivy had been hectic but nothing Bruce couldn't handle on his own.

Tim had been instructed to head back to the manor, Batman didn't need Robin for a simple takedown and he would be safe there till it was all over.

At least he was supposed to be safe at the Manor, if he had ever gone there.

One hour after Bruce had finished taking Ivy down and she had been hauled off to Arkham was when Bruce had found out Tim had never made it to the manor, the only reason he had been told such information was because Stephanie had gone there and didn't find him.

Barbara had thought Tim had simply wandered off to hang out with Stephanie or maybe Dick since he was currently resting in Bludhaven from a rough Teen Titans mission, but he wasn't with either of them.

“I’m saying we just don't know where he is right now. Once I get the trackers working I'll know exactly where he is.” Barbara’s voice was on edge. Even she was struggling to stay calm.

“Why is it taking so long to get the trackers working?” Stephanie's voice chimed in. “Did whoever take him not take his backpack?”

“It's a possibility.” Barbara confirmed, Bruce never should have listened to Alfred and respected Tim's privacy. The minute that boy stayed over one night and they had access to his school uniform they should have put trackers in it, this currently wouldn't be happening if they had.

Bruce tightened his grip on the batmobile steering wheel as Barbara went silent, focusing intently on her work. While she was doing, that Bruce could at least do his own investigation. The batmobile skated to a stop once he reached the parking lot of Tim's school and quickly he jumped out of the car. He made his way straight towards the building planning to investigate Tim’s classrooms before searching the outside.

While Bruce would usually just check the cameras to see where Tim had gone or was last seen, the blackout had taken all cameras in the surrounding area and inside of buildings down. It had even put back up generators on the fritz.

Batman practically kicked the doors to the school down as he stormed inside and remembered exactly where Tim's first class was; if he remembered correctly it was a free period so he could get any homework he needed done.

Bruce painstakingly investigated every single room he knew Tim would have gone into looking for any signs of the boy, even a tiny bit of hair that could reassure Bruce that he had been here at some point.

But there was nothing.

There was nothing in Tim's locker, every single one of his classrooms was cleaned, and there was nothing proving if Tim had still even been at the school when he was taken.

“There's nothing.” Bruce started into the comms, his voice irritated and missing its normal edge of calmness. “Who’s out of Arkham? I want a list now.”

“Wait!” Stephanie's voice cut through, slowly pulling Bruce back. “I think I know someone we can ask to know who they last saw Tim with, let me just call him up.”

Without Bruce saying it Barbara tapped into Stephanie's phone an the two listened closely to her conversation.

“Hey Ives! Sorry to bug you but did you see Tim today?” Stephanie's voice was cheery but still had an edge of concern.

“Yo Steph! Yeah I saw him, he was going to ride the bus home with me but went to help out the substitute science teacher. Why? Did he forget a date with you or something?” Ives sounded calm so Bruce ruled him out for possibly hiding Tim or being involved with the kidnapping.

“No he's just not answering any of my calls and I was starting to get worried, what's the name of the substitute science teacher again?” Bruce looked down at his wrist waiting for the information Barbara was pulling up to appear.

“Dr. Agar I think, I'm surprised the guy has been working for the school for an entire month and hasn't done anything to just take over the whole job. I mean everyone does like him and he seems to enjoy working at the school!” As Stephanie continued talking with Ives trying to see if she could get anything else of use out of him, Bruce and Barbara cut out of the phone call moving to a private channel.

“His full name is Dr. Quarry Agar, age 65. He's a substitute science teacher that moves around frequently covering various schools, this is his first year substituting in Gotham.” Barbara typed away at her computer as she pulled up more information. “He's only substituted at three schools so far, it looks like Tim's was going to be his last one before he moves again.”

Bruce thought over the information as he slowly headed back outside and started investigating the parking lot, he checked the tiny bit of camera footage they did have of that day pinpointing where Dr. Agar's car had been parked.

“Oracle I need you to cross reference the missing children cases I've been studying and the schools Dr. Agar has worked at, I have a bad feeling.” Bruce pulled out a small flashlight from his utility belt and started scanning the concrete floor, there was almost nothing of notice.

Almost.

A small speck of dried blood was left on the concrete, and small bits of Tim's hair littered on the ground.

Tim had been here, Dr. Agar had to be the one to take him. He tapped his comms getting Barbara's attention, then with a cold and determined voice he said;

“I want Dr. Agar’s address now, Spoiler you are to return to the cave and wait there until further notice.” Before Stephanie could even argue Barbara cut her line and began feeding the address to Bruce.

With extreme speed Bruce got back into the Batmobile and took off down the streets. He was going to find Tim and get him to safety.

And if Dr. Agar had hurt a single hair on Tim's head? Well he better hope he doesn't find out what will happen.

Chapter Text

It had been roughly an hour since Dr. Agar had left Tim all alone in the dark room and most likely had gone off to bed. During that time Tim had been planning and he’d figured out his escape.

Tim let out an exhausted breath as he finished clearing the soft wood chips to the side, making a large hole on the ground exposing the glass cages floor. He then went over to the small box underneath the platform and pulled out one of the bouncy balls. He walked out from under the raised platform and tossed the ball up to the top of the platform, he then grabbed all the rags he could find in the box and began crawling up the tube with them in his arms.

It didn't take too long to rip the fabric up and tie the long strips together to form a rope, it definitely wasn't the sturdiest thing but it would serve its purpose for the escape.

Tim stood up, picking up the bouncy ball he had thrown up there and positioned himself exactly. If he did this correctly he could bounce the ball on the ground and break a hole in the screening above him, and if he did this incorrectly he would be hit in the face and definitely end up with a concussion.

The teen took in a deep breath and with as much strength that he could muster up, threw the ball down. He quickly flopped backwards onto his back to avoid being hit in the face as the ball bounced up, launching over his head and going straight through the screen. Tim threw his arms up in victory and quickly got to work, grabbing one end of the rope he had made and running over to the food bowl.

It was anchored down to the platform but the snaps that held the bowl down left a small gap that allowed him to tie the rope to it. With the rope secured he ran over to the hole he had made in the ceiling and through his rope out. Thanks to the weight of a marble he had tied on the end of the rope, climbing up the glass wall wasn't too hard.

Tim was out and standing on top of the screen within seconds, he peered over the edge trying to see how far down the ground was but all he saw was a deep abyss beneath him. He started his ascent down into the inky abyss, the farther down he got the better he could see the floor and the endless darkness slowly disappeared.

Sadly Tim's makeshift rope wasn't long enough to get him all the way down to the ground and there was roughly a foot still left to go, he only thought for a moment before remembering a special trick he had been taught by Dick.

Tim took in a deep breath as he swung back and forth on his rope and finally let go, plummeting towards the ground, then before he could make contact he safely rolled onto the carpeted ground taking no injuries. He slowly stood up, dusting himself off. The carpet roughly came up to his knees which most likely softened his fall.

“Okay.” Tim whispered to himself as he looked around the giant room. “Now I just need to find a way out of here, maybe there's an opening into the walls?”

The raven haired boy started making his way towards the nearest wall he saw and smiled as he realized whatever room he was being held in was only half finished. The wall was completely made out of plywood and luckily he had walked towards the wall that had exposed wires leading up into the ceiling.

As Tim made his way up to the ceiling he could hear someone walking around the house. Had Dr. Agar not gone to bed yet? It had to be at least 10 pm now. Tim continued his climbing until he found a hole in the wall where the wires went out and squeezed his way through, the downstairs basement was basically empty; the only notable thing it had was a large table containing a few Bunsen burners, a microscope, an old centrifuge, and some pipette.

Tim desperately wanted to go over to the table and investigate more but his main priority was to escape and alert the bats where he was. He shook away any thoughts of what Bruce was possibly doing to find him, not really wanting to know.

As Tim finally made it to the floor and started walking towards the large stairs that led up to the main house he stopped his walking as he noticed an open box labeled “Chemicals for science class”. That's when Tim had an idea, a brilliant idea. Dr. Agar had been teaching Tim's class how chemicals affected different types of elements, for their last demonstration he had shown the class how to change the color of fire.

And Tim knew exactly what color would draw Batman’s attention the most.

Tim found a small ripped hole in the bottom of the box and used his bare hands to make it bigger as he squeezed his way in. A few minutes later he came back out, stuffing the chemicals he would need into his various pockets and continued his walk to the stairs.

“But where do I start the fire? Is Dr. Agar old enough to have one of those newspaper baskets?” Tim thought out loud to himself as he started his grueling climb up the stairs. The farther up he got the more he could hear Dr. Agar and slowly put together what the man was doing.

The miniature hero could hear the mad scientist complaining about not being able to find enough zeros in the magazines, how these were never printed enough, and how that was making it quite annoying to set up where he would collect the money from the ransom.

“Serves the madman right.” Tim mumbled to himself as he finally reached the top of the stairs and noticed a small hole in the corner of the large locked door, he carefully squeezed his way through, ripping up his clothes a bit with how jagged the wood was and started taking in his surroundings.

To his left was a very bright warm light which was most likely coming from the kitchen where Dr. Agar was working, and to his right was a dark empty hallway only slightly illuminated by the moonlight.

While Tim wished he could head straight towards the large room on his right, he still needed something to start a fire. The best place he could find anything like that would be a kitchen, where maybe Dr. Agar had dropped some matches on the floor or he had started some extras in a cupboard on the ground.

With a lot of hesitance Tim started making his way towards the kitchen and he started to remember another obstacle he would have to deal with.

Laying on the floor by Dr. Agar’s feet was his cat, a big long haired black cat who seemed to be enjoying the quiet company of their owner. Thankfully Tim could only see its tail moving back and forth meaning if he was careful and very quiet the cat shouldn't notice him.

Tim still didn't want to take too many risks and once he got to the doorway of the kitchen, made his way underneath the kitchen counters. The small gap between the floor and counters was a perfect hiding spot from a mad scientist who had most likely trained his eyes to look for tiny details.

As he made his way around the kitchen looking for something of use to start a fire he listened closely to Dr. Agar's conversation with himself.

“I don't know Tourmaline, maybe I should ask for more money. From what I've heard this Prince of Gotham is considered the richest man here.” Dr. Agar leaned back in his chair causing a loud squeak to ring out in the kitchen. “Maybe it would be a good idea to ask for at least a million, instead of my normal ten thousand. I mean not even Mr. Wayne can deny Tim's quite a likable boy to have around.”

Tourmaline simply meowed in response, continuing to purr away where she slept.

“Yes yes, you're right hubris and all that. Considering how it was already so hard to get that boy alone.” Tim went completely still as he heard the chair the doctor was sitting in squeak loudly as he stood up to his full height and began walking out of the room. “For someone that struggles with socializing he always had at least one or two people with him constantly. Sadly none of his friends were worth a cent so taking the one extra would have been pointless.”

Tim felt genuinely sick hearing that, the way this man just completely dismissed other people and only valued them on how much money he could get out of them? Genuinely disturbing, had that been the only reason why he had gone into teaching? It would make sense and explain why Dr. Agar worked so hard to be seen as one of the cool or trustworthy teachers at school, it only takes misplacing your trust once for someone to take advantage of it.

As Tim started ignoring Dr. Agar and his pointless ramblings to his cat, he finally saw what he had been looking for. Laying on the ground only a few meters away were 3 matchsticks, Tim quickly made his way over collecting up the sticks and started making his way out of the kitchen, still being careful to be quiet so as to not draw the cat in the room's attention.

Tim wasn't sure how long he had been holding his breath but once he finally got out of the kitchen and made a good way down the hallway, he finally exhaled and breathed again. He sprinted down the hallway as he made his way to the living room, now that he was more properly out in the open and observing the giant structures around him his smaller size started to be put into better perspective.

For starters his lack of gear was going to make getting around extremely hard. As he had hoped, Dr.. Agar had a tall basket full of old newspapers. The only problem was Tim had no idea how he was going to get to the top of this basket, let alone move it closer to the large living room window.

For someone at normal size moving the basket would be simple, it was on wheels and while there was a lot of old newspapers in the basket it was still newspaper. But as Tim walked over to the basket and did his best to push the large object he may have moved it a centimeter at best.

How was he going to do this…

Tim suddenly got an extremely dangerous and slightly stupid idea, and he quickly ran over to the nearby couch and smiled when he found what he needed. Underneath the couch was a blue squeaky mouse, just what he needed to draw out the furry beast.

The miniature hero picked up the mouse toy and got himself into position. He quickly mapped out in his head an escape route to make sure he wouldn't be getting himself killed and, despite his logic, loudly squeaked the mouse.

It only took one minute for the feline to make their presence known and start stalking their way towards where they had heard the loud squeak, Tim needing the cat to start running at him started squeaking the mouse more frantically.

Which actually worked the way he wanted to.

As Tourmaline sprinted at full speed at Tim, he quickly jumped out of the way and left the mouse toy behind as the cat slammed into the basket of newspapers. The cat meowed in frustration as the newspaper basket slid across the floor and stopped right underneath the large window.

Tim stayed completely quiet underneath the couch as he climbed up onto one of the wooden beams that support the cushions and waited, he heard the cat playing with their toy for a few minutes until the sound of their paws trotting off faded into the eerie quietness of the house.

The raven haireded boy let out a sigh of relief as he got back onto the ground and started climbing the newspaper basket, finally reaching the top and starting to set everything up.

First Tim ripped up small corners of newspapers to make three spots of kindling, second he started spreading the chemicals in his pockets out into each little kindling pile, and finally he took out the three matches and struck them against the ground. As the small wooden sticks blazed to life he quickly dropped the fire into each kindling pile, he did this in rapid succession as the fire began to grow and rise from all the extra fuel surrounding it.

Tim realized quickly that climbing down the already burning metal basket wouldn't be the smartest idea, so thinking quickly on his feet he jumped from the rising flame and grabbed onto a blanket hanging off of the nearby couch. Sliding down the soft fabric was easy and let Tim, once he was on the ground, fully take in his handy work.

The fire Tim had created from the basket was no ordinary color, the fire blazing in front of him was a bright neon green color that danced wickedly in front of the window taunting anyone that saw it.

Someone outside would call the police, Barbara would pick up on the strange call, and Batman would be here within seconds. It was a perfect plan.

Until Tim felt the very ground he stood on begin to shake.

The light emanating from the fire perfectly lit up the living room and showed Dr. Agar’s lengthy form standing in the doorway, his eyes reflecting the bright colors of the fire as they stared down at Tim. A twisted angry smile formed on the man's face.

“You broke out and started a fire in my living room.” Dr. Agar snarled out as he took a few steps towards Tim, while his face was mostly covered in shadows, the anger radiating off of him was clear.

Dr. Agar had never dealt with something like this, Tim highly doubted he even considered this being possible for his victims to do. With how he spoke of his victims, the conditions he would leave them in after, and the genuine uncaring attitude he had for hurting another living person.

But Tim, a person he saw as a golden ticket to whatever rich life he wanted to live, had done it.

“Do you really think anyone will get here in time to save you? That they'll find more than a stain on my carpet?” Dr. Ager threatened as he began walking towards Tim and loudly stomping his feet.

The young raven-haired boy quickly dove underneath the nearby couch as Dr. Agar slammed his shoe down and nearly got him. Tim took a deep breath and started thinking of another place to hide as he heard and saw the couch already squeaking and shaking as it was being moved.

“How are you going to get money out of Bruce Wayne if I'm dead!?” Tim yelled as he ran underneath the couch using what little cover he still had and slid underneath a nearby bookshelf.

“Who said he'd know you're dead?” Dr. Agar grunt it out as he continued moving the couch searching the ground for Tim. “Like you said earlier, he's not your father and I'm sure such an idiotic man like him would fall for a rat picked off the street.”

Tim gasped as the bookshelf he was hiding under started moving and eventually fell to the ground, before the mad scientist had a second chance to squish him Tim got to his feet and started running.

“He took a rat off the streets once before, I'm sure he'd do it again.” Dr. Agar slowly followed behind Tim. “Who knows, maybe that's why he actually adopted that child. The novelty of having something everyone else considers useless trash, wouldn't surprise me.”

Tim bit his tongue as a large shoe slammed down next to him and he barely avoided it, he quickly slid underneath the TV stand. The house was seriously starting to warm up which meant the fire he had made earlier was probably going berserk.

“And maybe that's why you're not his son.” Dr. Agar crouched down as he rested his hand right outside of the TV stand. “There truly is nothing special or unique about you, just another trust fund baby.”

“You know what you're saying is not upsetting me right? The only part I've been pissed off about is the fact that you've compared a dead child to a rat!” Tim yelled out as he started moving to his new hiding space, just in time too as Dr. Agar got to his feet and lifted the entire TV stand to throw it.

The piece of furniture didn't go too far but from the split second Tim had out in the open before quickly retreating to cover he saw it land towards the large growing fire.

But as Tim was running for his life his hiding places started to disappear more and more, the madman was getting more aggressive and Tim was losing energy fast. He needed to think of something quickly or he was a goner.

That's when he heard a loud crashing noise and stopped his running for a moment, standing in the doorway of the house was-

Within a few seconds of Tim stopping his run, a large shoe crashed right into his chest sending him flying. He landed somewhere in a pile of books and could feel his vision fading as the room continued to get hotter and his chest cried out in pain.

He only closed his eyes for a minute, he just needed a few minutes of rest…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The living room was an unbearable hot inferno, Tim found himself choking on the air around him as he slowly sat up and tried to take in his surroundings.

His version was not only blurry but with how slow Tim's brain was moving he could barely register anything around him, despite all of this Tim slowly made his way to his feet.

The miniature hero stumbled down the stacks of books he had been laying in and tried making his way…where was he going?

Tim clenched his left arm close to his chest as he struggled with his breathing and desperately searched the room for somewhere safe to go, but in every direction he looked he only found more fire or burning rubble that blocked his path.

Despite how much his lungs screamed in pain Tim took in a deep breath and called out.

“H-Heeelp! Please help me!” Tim could feel his lungs screaming as he fell to his knees and started coughing violently.

How long had he been unconscious? Was anyone else even left in the house to help him? Had Dr. Agar simply left him to be killed by the smoke and flames?

Just as Tim started considering the idea of giving up everything around him went dark.

But it wasn't like earlier, this darkness wasn't created from his vision leaving him or from smoke obstructing his view. It felt like this darkness had swallowed him whole, leaving no trace of his existence for the world to find. The horrible heat radiating from the fire was gone and had been replaced with a strange eerie coolness, Tim despite his better judgment hesitantly looked up and found staring down at him from the dark void he was now in a pair of white glowing eyes.

Tim felt his heart stop, staring up into the ghost like eyes that buried holes into him. His mind was racing and even in that moment when all he wanted was help he couldn't remember the kind figure in front of him.

Then everything started moving, Tim found himself being lifted up into the air by large inky black hands. Without any warning they began to close in on him trapping any form of escape he could have.

And Tim, in a moment of confusion and genuine fear for his life, cried out.

“Please-” Tim could feel something warm running down his face as he stared up at the hollow white eyes. “Please don't hurt me-”

But whatever was behind those hollow white eyes did not listen as it classed its hands together around him squishing his body, the pain was becoming too much and Tim could barely keep himself awake.

Everything started to fade away as Tim slowly succumbed to his unconscious state.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“...And in other news, a mysterious house fire led to a disturbing discovery. A local substitute science teacher found to be a serial kidnapper, not much has been shared to the public yet but as the story unfolds we will make sure to keep everyone updated.” The young news reporter informed as she moved on to other stories of the night, far more simple things that didn't interest Bruce in the slightest.

Bruce was far too focused on dissecting the strange chemical that had been used by Dr. Agar to shrink Tim and find the proper cure for it, the older man had gotten at least two of the main ingredients for the cure out of the madman but he was still missing at least the last three.

The soft sound of judgmental footsteps is what snapped Bruce of his focus as he slowly turned around and saw one of his most trusted friends.

“Good morning, Alfred.” Bruce slowly turned away from the butler getting back to his work. “If you could bring breakfast down here for me I'd appreciate it.”

“The boys requested you come upstairs for breakfast, Master Bruce.” Alfred stated in his normal straight to the point tone, Bruce grimaced as the butler walked closer and he could feel his judgmental eyes burning into the back of his skull.

“Tell them I can't then.” Bruce hesitantly turned his chair to look at Alfred and instantly regretted it, the stern look on the older man's face made him feel the tiniest bit of guilt. “Please, I'm close to figuring out how to fix this and get Tim back to normal.”

“You said that last night as well, once you and Master Dick we're done having a screaming match.” Alfred pinched the brim of his nose, Bruce curled in on himself a bit desperately trying to hide in his cape.

“I work better alo-” Bruce quickly stopped himself as Alfred raised one of his eyebrows.

“Master Tim is not mad at you, like you were last night he was scared.” Alfred stated bluntly. “Why do you insist on staying down here and hiding from that truth?”

Bruce said nothing as he simply pressed one of the keys on the Batcomputer pulling up the last image of Tim's face before trapping the boy inside of his hands, a sad look crossed Alfred's face as he looked it over.

Tim was someone that could be brave in almost any situation and always keep a straight face, but here the young boy was not only crying but pleading that someone he should be able to trust and not hurt him. Neither of the men had ever seen Tim that terrified.

“That's why, now leave so I can get back to work.” Bruce growled out his frustration growing, he ignored the soft typing he heard behind him.

The cave was then silent for a moment until Alfred finally turned around and began his walk back upstairs.

“Your breakfast will be in the fridge, you can come and get it once you're done sulking.” As Alfred left the cave became silent once more and the only noise not distracting Bruce was the quiet hum of the bat computer.

Bruce took a few hesitant steps towards it, staring directly at the image of Tim he had pulled up, the look of fear still haunting him.

The only problem was that he was the only one that felt any sort of relief, the genuine fear and panic on Tim's face still broke Bruce's heart and he couldn't bring himself to face him right now. At least not until he had a proper solution to what had happened to Tim and could actually fix it.

Slowly Bruce looked over the Batcomputer and realized Alfred had opened one of his contact files when he had not been looking, it was The Atom’s file. The Butler had also opened another file that had been sent to him last night by Barbara, showing that there was a small connection between Dr. Agar and Atom.

Bruce grumbled and quickly pulled on his towel, getting Tim back to normal was the most important thing right now and if Atom could help he would need that help.

As Bruce sent a message telling Atom to contact him as soon as possible, he hadn't really glanced up the staircase. Was Tim really doing okay right now? The boys had both requested for him to come up, what if they really did need him?

“Batman?” Atom’s voice cut Bruce's thinking off, he turned to the screen and began explaining the basics of what he needed from Atom. Tim was fine, getting the cure for his shrunken state was Batman’s main priority right now.