Broken Bird || Tim & Oracle (chatzy)
Tim the air was a cloud of plaster dust. Volunteers, police, fire fighters, they lined the streets with the motivation and desperation to make a difference, to keep digging until that next body, alive or... He trailed off, letting the thought flicker into nothing. It didn't bear thinking about. The death rate grew. The list of the missing got smaller. Tim didn't need to be told that with every passing hour, odds of survival decreased. The number of ways people could die in disasters like this was expansive; bleeding out, crush syndrome, lack of oxygen... it went on and on. A firefighter handed him a bottle of water donated by one of the nearby supermarkets. He took it with graceful thanks, pouring a small amount onto his hair and face to wash the dust away before taking a long, greedy gulp. He let himself catch his breath, just for a second then he'd be back to-- 'Beep beep... beep beep... beep beep...' His head turned sharply at the noise being emitted from the device on his wrist. A message scrolled across the screen. Red Hood distress signal. Hit confirm for co-ordinates. "Jason," Tim whispered, sharply and almost desperately into the air, rushing toward the signal as he reached for the button that would send an outgoing message. "Comm to Oracle; I've located Red Hood. His beacon was activated. I'll be there in..." He glanced at the small screen again, panting. "Less than a minute. Oracle, do you read me?"
Oracle 's fingers burned as she typed. Funny how ice could feel like fire. Funny how the rest of her felt so cold. There weren't many comm lines still operational, and fewer people who would have answered if she had anything to say to them. All she could do was help streamline the electronic side of response teams, using her precious civilian contacts and helpers to help reach people she couldn't. She'd seen the Batmobile race across the city at deadly speeds, knowing with a crushing certainty who, and what, was inside. An alert popped up on her left screen, signalling an incoming communication from Red Robin. "Five by five, Red Robin," she replied, surprised at how clear her voice was, her heart growing tight in her chest. If the beacon had activated, then... her hope grew cruelly. Jason had said he was with Dick, and Dick was dead, but Jason hadn't been found alongside him. Maybe, maybe. "Understood. Be careful in your approach."
Tim followed the beeping electronic arrow on his device. The number decreased as he got closer and closer. Forty feet. Thirty. Twenty-five... Tim skidded to a halt when it hit zero, pulling plastic mask back over his mouth before he started digging. The fewer shards of powdered glass and brick he inhaled, probably for the better. The ground beneath him was hardly ground at all. It was shattered rubble, the once proud empire of the Wayne family. And now it was dust. He wouldn't let it be Jason's grave. Gloved hands worked as quickly as he could move them. One of the fire fighters rushed to his side to help, throwing down her thermos as she sensed Tim's clear desperation. "What is it?" she asked, and his answer came quickly. He didn't know whether Jason had been costumed or not. He couldn't let on that he knew him. Funny how easily lying came to him. "I thought I heard something... a voice." That was enough in situations like this to send every deflated body into a burst of activity. Sirens still filled the air as ambulances made constant journeys to and from the hospital. Resources were thin, but on days like these, nobody took an hour off. People could be so strong when given a common enemy, a common goal. Tim just wished they didn't have to be. "There..." he called, pointing at the sleeve of a leather jacket. Jason's jacket. "Help me!" None of their bodies were anywhere near their peak. Most of the people here had been out for the better part of a day, sleeping and eating and drinking in shifts, but together they were more than the sum of their parts. The firefighter whose name Tim hadn't caught yet called over her shoulder to make sure a paramedic was on the scene and one came running. It was all he could do not to cry out Jason's name when they uncovered his face. He was covered in dust and blood. Tim's stomach clenched at the sight of the head injury. He wanted to reach out and touch him, but logic overrid his emotions and he stepped back, failing to keep his expression anyway near neutral as he watched the paramedic tend to his brother. "Oracle, I found him..." His heart hammered, every fraction of a second dragging until the medic gave the signal. "He's alive. Jas--He's alive."
Oracle felt her heart starting to pound as she looked for a way to see Tim, to see where he was heading. But the rubble had damaged other nearby buildings and there was very little cctv left functioning. All live broadcasts were too far from Tim to be of any use, leaving her unable to follow what was going on except through the open comm link. Other messages came through as she heard Tim digging, messages she sorted and answered as quickly as she could. "Help me!" Barbara heard Tim shout when he'd found something, and her fingers curled into fists. She leant forward, even though it made no difference. Her heart raced, and more than anything she wanted to be next to Tim, digging too. I've climbed out of my grave twice now, Jason had said. Third time's the charm. He'd promised. Barbara couldn't lose another one of her Robins. She couldn't lose Jason again. Barbara bit her knuckles hard, ignoring her other responsibilities for a moment. When Tim spoke into his comm again, she fell still, every hesitant second feeling like an hours. He's alive. She wasn't sure whether the sound that escaped her lips was a laugh or relief or a sob, suddenly realising that she'd forgotten to breath. "What's his status?" she asked after a moment, trying to sound calm and clear. "How bad, Tim?"
"It's--" The paramedics were rushing. Everything had slowed down. It was like watching them rush shock blankets and gurneys toward him in slow motion. Tim's eyes were trained on Jason's face. On the blood. "It's bad, but he's hanging in there. They're gonna get him to hospital right now. Pulse was weak..." He repeated the relevant information, plucking it from the communications between the paramedics. "And they're worried about the head injury. He's gonna have to be admitted as a John Doe." The real Jason Todd had already died once. He didn't even have a file, or a name. "Can you... I don't know. Get him a name." If they were going to bury Jason Todd again, it couldn't be under a blank headstone.
Oracle listened wordlessly as Tim listed off the injuries that Jason had, her hand covering her mouth in horror. He was hanging in by a thread, she could tell from the descriptions. Although Jason couldn't do anything about it, he'd promised her he would live. He'd promised, she had to believe it. A child clinging to a fairytale might have had better luck. Barbara focused on Tim's voice, using his strength to fuel her own. Dick was already dead, and she was going to lose Jason too. The sharp pain of standing over his grave was stabbing into her chest once again, as she vividly remembered every detail, from the texture of his headstone to the smell of freshly turned over dirt. Tim was making a request. and Barbara turned her attention back to her screens. A dozen pop ups clogged her screen, things she had to deal with soon. Barbara waved them away, opening the application which could fake him an identity. It would be rushed, but it would be enough. "He'll have a name," she promised Tim. One Jason would recognise if he woke up. "Good work," she added on as an afterthought, but it sounded hollow, even to her ears. There was nothing good here. For every living person they found, there was a person dying under the rubble. For one Robin found, another was lying dead on a gurney. Barbara felt a tear run down her cheek. No, she couldn't. Not yet. People needed her. Cass was still missing. She couldn't let herself break yet.
Tim counted his heartbeats. They were too many, and coming too fast. His eyes were sore with tears, their saltiness sticking between his skin and the mask with discomfort. Nobody was looking at him. Nobody cared about Red Robin when they had an injured young man to take care of. Good, he thought. Let them take Jason. Let them get him help. Let them do the things Tim couldn't. Let them save his life. "Babs," he said, his voice distant and weak. "I love you." He cleared his throat, steeling himself, taking a breath and trying to focus on the knowledge they had crossed one more name off the list of the missing. "I'm gonna keep looking. Red Robin out."
Oracle felt the air rush out of her as Tim spoke up again. She wanted to reply to tell him that she loved him too, no matter how much pain she associated with him, how much he reminded her of being shot. The words lodged in her throat, choking her instead of comforting him. One, two, three seconds passed before he spoke again. Her voice was cracked when she answered. "Be careful out there." If she tried hard enough, she could almost pretend it was an order instead of a plea. "I can't afford to lose another Robin."
