#radioau

Tim was in the middle of answering a caller when Stephanie sent the text. He immediately apologised to the caller and told them it was time to get on the network. 'So sorry listeners but it seems that my vigilante friend, Spoiler, needs some help. I won't be going on the field but I will however be providing support from here! Let's get to it.' 

Tim grabbed his phone and dialled the number for the GCPD. 'Hello? Yes. I need to talk to Commissioner Gordon. I'm a friend of Spoiler.' He waited a few moments and then heard Jim Gordon take the phone. 'Commissioner Gordon? No this is not a prank. This is about Scarecrow. He's currently talking to one of the drugs lords on the docks. Yeah, it's bad. If he manages to get the fear toxin on the streets...well it doesn't bode well. Get the Batsignal up. I've already got my friend near the scene keeping on eye on things and giving me updates. Arkham doesn't know he's out either which means other villains could be and we don't know. Get. The Batsignal. Up. Gordon. Now.' Tim emphasised his point by hanging up at the end. He then fiddled with this laptop and the panel next to him. 

'Ok, Spoiler you are on the air. Keep my updated would you. I've sent the tip to Gordon and he should be lighting up the signal any second. Him and Bullock should be down at the docks within a couple minutes. Batman and Robin are patrolling in the Upper East Side so they shouldn't be very long. Especially because of the type of threat this poses.' Tim was busy typing away, hacking the cameras nearby so he could have eyes on the situation. 'Promise me you won't engage. You haven't gone toe to toe with a villain yet. You've barely managed to face C class criminals. Crane's too advanced for you.' 

A sigh could be heard through the silence. 'Thanks, HC. Keeping me humble.' Tim smiled slightly at Steph's sarcasm. 'Batsignal's up. It won't be long before Batman and Robin get here.' 

Tim sighed in relief, his heartbeat had gone up massively since Stephanie had texted him about Scarecrow. 'Spoiler, do not engage. Do not engage!' He rolled his eyes when he heard grunting and cursing from the line. 

'Don't tell me what to do, HC!' Stephine yelled into the coms. 

'Spoiler, you haven't fought a B class villain before! You don't even have an antidote to the fear toxin! Wait! If Batman and Robin look like they need help then step in but until then, DO NOTHING.' Tim yelled back into the coms. He didn't hear anything for a few minutes apart from breathing. 

'They're here. Batman and Robin...they're here. Crane's been taken care of but it looks like Robin got hit.' Tim heard Steph curse and the sound of impact, looks like she'd dropped down from a rooftop. 'Batman's trying to calm him down so he can give him the antidote but...it's not working. Robin's fighting to hard. He keeps yelling and screaming.' Tim could faintly hear the screams of Robin on the other end. 

'Spoiler...I hate to say this but you might have to knock him out from behind. You have a brilliant right hook, use it.' Tim groaned, rubbing his forehead. 

A grunt, scream and a string of rather impressive curses was heard over the coms. Tim could tell the plan was successful because of the sound of surprise. 

'Is he down?' Tim muttered. 

'He's down. Batman's giving him the antidote but he keeps giving me a weird look.' 

'That's probably because you just punched his son and partner!' Tim laughed. He could hear Stephanie laughing as well. 

'Alright, get out of there. We don't want Batman on our tails too quickly. Plus, he'll probably punch you for punching his son.' Tim chuckled. 'You wanna make your way back? It's getting late and I need to fix that tear in your suit. Take care of any trouble you see on the way back but get home ASAP. I do not want to call in another group of tied up criminals.' Tim groaned and took a sip of his coffee. He heard Stephanie reply with a chuckle before shutting off his coms. 

'Sorry about that listeners! Being the partner to a vigilante means you never know what's gonna happen. We're gonna music break and then we'll be back with the crime news from tonight!' With that, Tim switched off his mic and shuffled his playlist. Panic Room by Au/Ra came on and Tim unplugged his headphones, moving them to around his neck. He chuckled slightly at the irony that the night Scarecrow was arrested the song was picked. He moved into the bathroom and grabbed the med kid, throwing it onto his bed. He shuffled back into his bedroom, taking out a wad of gauze and a couple plasters. Stephanie had gotten into a fight earlier on that night and one of the thugs had pulled a knife on her so he suspected that she had some slash marks. There was a crackle from his coms and his head shot up, Tim ran over to his computer. 

'Spoiler? What is it? Why are you on coms?' However instead of Stephanie's voice, he heard a crime alley accent. 

'So you're the purple fucks eyes and ears! Nice to meet ya, I'm Robin.' Tim's jaw dropped. Robin was on his coms. Wait...how was he on coms?! 

'Where's Spoiler?' He growled, trying his best to sound threatening. 

'Cool it, man. B's having a crack at her since she PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE!' Robin's voice was slightly far away which suggested he was yelling at Stephanie. 'He made her take out her coms since someone could be telling her what to say. I decided to try and activated it and boom! Here we are. So, what's your name?' 

Tim hesitated before replying. 'HC.' 

'Your name is HC? I'm going to assume that's a codename and there goes my plan of tracking you down.' Tim could practically hear the smirk in Robin's voice. 'So, HC...did you make this coms unit? Cause it looks a hell of a lot like a modified Bat-com unit.' Tim cursed in Chinese. He'd scavenged a broken coms unit after a battle between Nightwing and Poison Ivy where she'd broken it. Tim had managed to get it working again and had modified it slightly. 'I would thank you on your handy work and ask if you wanted to make me one but right now I'm more concerned about where the hell you got it from.' Robin's voice turned from amused to slightly angry. 

'Found it.' Was Tim's only reply. Technically, it wasn't a lie so his voice sounded a lot smoother. One thing Tim had learned from sneaking out to watch Batman and Robin was how to lie but he wasn't sure it would hold up against Robin of all people. 'Don't worry, Robin. It was broken when Nightwing left it. I managed to repair it and change the frequency. I also took out the tracker inside do you're not gonna find anything from that apart from a pizza place downtown.' Tim could've sworn he heard Robin snort. 

'Anyways, is Batman done interrogating Spoiler aka offering her a place in the Batfamily?' Tim rolled his eyes, completely deadpan. He wasn't stupid. Stephanie had managed to sneak up on Batman and Robin and also managed to knock one of them out. Batman was going to be impressed and well...he had a habit of taking in kids. 

'Wha-How did you?' Robin spluttered. 

'Just tell him that she needs to get her ass back her right now. I do NOT to have to drop off another file of evidence at the GCPD tomorrow because she didn't tell me what happened on patrol before school. So please tell Batman to back off and let her go.' Tim growled again, emphasising every word. He didn't hear a direct reply, only distant voices. There was a small shuffling noise and then he heard Stephanie's voice again. 'Please tell me you didn't tell Batman about my crush on Robin.' Tim groaned. 

He heard Stephanie laugh. 'No no I didn't. He was mostly asking what I was doing near the docks and why I wanted to be a vigilante.' Tim nodded at the explanation. 

'You give him the classic treatment?' He heard a vague movement. 

'Oh right, you can't see me. I'm nodding.' Tim chuckled. 

'Alright, get back home. You need to debrief me and I need to patch you and the suit up before dawn. See you soon, Spoiler.' Tim sighed, stretching out his back. 

'No! Steph, No! I am not starting a radio show just so you can crash it as Spoiler!' Tim threw his hands in the air. Him and his best friend, Stephanie Brown, were sitting on her bed throwing raspberries in each other's mouths. 

'Oh come on, Timbers! It'll be fun! Plus you'll get interviews with Spoiler! That'll get you known as a reporter and give you a chance.' Tim nearly retorted with an insult but realised Stephanie was right. He hadn't managed to get himself on the scene as a reporter and this would give him the chance to get noticed. 'Ah...so when I bring up being a reporter you immediately think about it but when I beg you for days you don't.' Stephanie pouted and crossed her arms. 

Tim rolled his eyes. 'Steph...I wasn't going to do it because I've already got so much on my plate! I barely get 3-4 hours of sleep! I work cases with you, run your coms and make sire you know where you're going, do my homework-don't give me that look.' He pointed at her, glaring. 'Follow Batman and Robin around sometimes Nightwing as well, work on my coding skills so you can hack things easily.' Tim flopped backwards onto Stephanie's bed, the pillows melded around hi

He stared at the ceiling. It was covered in posters and small glow in the dark stars. However, Tim knew that it could be easily turned into a case board within minutes. Tim always carried a version of their current case with him, under 13 different passwords of course. Most of the time, he carried different coloured strings with him as well so he could connect the case. A wall in his bedroom was covered in red/yellow strings along with evidence photos and mugshots of criminals. There was a curtain that could cover it of course, in case his parents ever actually came back from being abroad. Tim had been helping Stephanie out with vigilante stuff for a few months now. He would run coms, aka a coms unit she stole from Robin, and tec. Most of the time that meant hacking into the GCPD database or scrubbing security cameras but some of the time it involved responding to Riddler's frankly somewhat easy riddles. 

Tim wasn't a vigilante per-say...he was more tec support. The guy in the chair. Every superhero needed a guy in the chair. Tim was Steph's. He didn't have a codename however...he would have to work on that. Something nerdy most likely. 

'Steph? If I do it will you let it go?' He lifted his head up to see her reaction. She nodded vigorously. 'Fine! I'll do the stupid radio show. Just know I'll be blaming you if I end up getting kidnapped because of it.' At this Stephanie paled slightly. 'Shit. Steph, I-I'm not gonna get kidnapped. Plus I have self-defence and you on speed dial so it's fine.' The colour somewhat returned to Stephanie's face but she sheepishly laid down next to Tim and hugged him. 

'I'm not going anywhere, Eggplant.' Stephanie chuckled slightly at the nickname. She tapped Tim's nose and then tightened her arms around him. 

'You better not, Stalker.' Tim pouted slightly but smiled. 

'I'm not a stalker Steph...' She rolled her eyes. 'Ok maybe I am but it was out of admiration!' Tim released himself from Steph and grabbed his water bottle, taking a swig. He also threw Stephanie's at her but she didn't catch it in time. It hit her in the eye. Tim burst out laughing, causing a spray of water to come out of his mouth. He clutched his chest as he fell back onto the bed, wheezing. 

Steph was mock glaring at Tim as she picked up her water bottle. She glanced down at it and then back up at Tim, smirking. She threw it full force at Tim, satisfied with the cough he made when it hit his stomach. 

'This bruise is gonna be a pain to cover up, asshole.' Steph pouted, covering her eye. She could already feel a bruise forming. 

'So...I'm doing the radio show but..my parents cannot know. They'll ground me 6 feet under. Maybe I'll give myself a fake name...hmm no I'll just create a persona! Something different from Tim Drake but not different enough that I can't work with it.' Tim had stood up and was now pacing in Steph's bedroom. 'Oh! You that photography blog I used to run! I'll just use the handle as my name! Honey-Cake!' His eyes were slightly wider and his face brighter having figured out his so called 'problem'. Stephanie just rolled her eyes. 

'Honey-Cake? Really?' She raised an eyebrow at the dark haired boy who simply stuck his tongue out at her.