Sour Candy | T. Drake ✔

[19] Little Brother

Everyone in the Wayne family was glad to have Cassandra back with them. She had left two years earlier without informing them much about her latest mission but had dropped off the radar with only contacting Bruce to convey him that she was fine.

Still they had not known anything about her whereabouts as she preferred to keep herself completely detached from them to make sure that they were safe and there was no risk of her cover getting blown up.

And as she had returned at last, they were all eager to spend as much time with her as possible. However, Cassie's first pick to spend time with was always Tim.

The two had been close to each other ever since Cass had become a part of the team when Tim was still a Robin in training. She had taken part in training him as well and always tried her best to look out for him, also being the first to help him out of any mess he fell into.

The worst situation she had gotten him out of was when he was taken into the League of Assassins' captivity but that was a topic that neither had discussed with any of the others. Tim knew Cass always kept her word and would never disclose any of it to anyone. But lately ina an argument with Damian, he had been forced to give them a rough idea of what had actually passed that time.

Cassandra had helped him out a lot back then because she was the only one who knew what exactly he had been through and did everything possible to bring him back to normal. Tim still felt debted to her for that and much more, so he always agreed to whatever she suggested even though he made excuses when the others did so.

Cass had noticed that he had been sulking around a lot more than usual, even though Tim had the reputation of being the meanest in the family after Damian already but his mean mode had become more constant, due to not going out on patrol and feeling trapped in a cage without his wings. He had given up training as often as he used to do so earlier and that was why Cassandra had noticed him to be weaker when they had fought each other the day she had returned.

So ever since then, she had convinced Tim to train with her regularly, seeing to it that he ate and slept properly as well.

With regular training, Tim grew stronger but Cass could still not figure out how he could adeptly fight her and not let her win even in a far weaker state.

She had once set him up to train with Jason and observed both her brothers closely as they fought, Tim detecting each move like an invisible pattern he could interpret before it was even made. With her suspicions getting stronger about something drastically changing in him, she had started subtly testing him to check further.

Barbara had briefly told her about Tim's year long disappearance as well as the events preceding it. But as the family weren't aware of the details themselves, Cass didn't find out the answers to all her questions.

Over the past few days with her attention continuously on her little brother, she had finally begun to discern the meanings of his body language, alarmingly finding it much similar to that of a high functioning mutant.

Each time she tried to focus, she would find his body to sing out in a chorus, making it unable for her to keep track of how he was going to react. It was a trait she had seen only once before and though it was very helpful in distracting opponents who were adept at reading body language, she still found it unnerving.

However, she had also noticed that it wasn't the case with him all the time. The only times when Tim was quite unreadable was during fights or training sessions or whenever he was caught off guard.

It was some sort of involuntary reaction from him that activated only when he was either vulnerable or highly cautious. Two extreme opposite situations ensuing a similar response from him.

Other than that, he was just the Tim she knew; the caffeinated wreck who was both an adorable idiot and a sarcastic genius at the same time.

Right then she had taken him to the rooftop with her, sitting on the very edge of the rails as they watched the dark night sky spread out above them.

"Little brother," she spoke up at last, breaking the silence that engulfed them, "I ask questions and you answer. Truthfully."

"I have never lied to you, Cass," he spike softly, knowing what she was going to ask from him.

She nodded, dark eyes flickering towards his bright blue irises, "you disappeared for a year. What happened?"

He lowered his head, giving a vague reply, "a lot."

"Tell me."

She felt him stiffen but the unease dissolved just as quickly as it had struck him. And she felt him switch into his unpredictable mode again, making her unable to discern how he was going to react.

When he gave no further explanation, she asked another question. "Barbara said you went to NOWHERE. Finished it even. How?"

"Cass please..."

"I need to know," she mumbled though her voice was soft and not pressurizing in the least, "I want answers."

"It's all past now. There's no use bringing it up again," he stated.

She kept silent, knowing he would eventually open up. He always did with her.

And true enough, a soft sigh escaped him as Tim breathed out, "you were right. I have changed."

She was listening closely but didn't interrupt him, knowing that it was better to give him the freedom of telling only what he willingly wanted to share with her.

"I was held captive by Slade for the first few weeks of my disappearance," he kept his gaze ahead, feeling her hand gently rest on top of his, "I broke out from where he was keeping me but didn't come back because Shadow Walker had already been after us and I had killed him. I knew if I returned, we would be on threat from NOWHERE too and there was a high chance that they would target the people close to us first."

He paused, the night that Dora had been attacked by Shadow Walker flashing in his memory.

"I have already seen enough hurt being given to people I care about. I couldn't take that risk again," he resumed, "so I joined NOWHERE instead. As a specimen for experimentation."

Realization had started to dawn on her features as she pieced together his words and her own judgment regarding him.

"It was easy to infiltrate them once I was within their colony. Luckily, I managed to get it all done before their experiments on me could succeed and returned after contacting Bruce who helped in freeing the colony of other mutants and specimens held in their captivity. But I have told no one except you and Dora that I had been experimented on."

She let his words sink in and nodded, though she had realized that even though he thought the experiments had not succeeded, some of the effects had begun to show.

The fact that he was able to detect moves and block them was some sort of a precognitive ability that activated whenever he was vulnerable or highly alert, and it could be due to the procedures he had been through in that one year.

However, an unfamiliar name struck her within his confession and she spoke up, "Dora?"

"Oh... You haven't met Dora," he relaxed, the stiffness from the earlier conversation fading eventually, "a lot more happened in the two years you weren't with us, and not all of it was bad."

She felt his mood change from stiff to normal instantly, a smile breaking out on his face as he spoke. She could sense the Dora he had just mentioned was quite a positive influence on him and realizing that she was really intrigued to meet her.

Tim must have guessed what she was thinking as he spoke up, "I'll take you to meet her tomorrow morning. She'll be glad to meet you too."

***