Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim hummed a low tune as he wandered along the destroyed stone paths with his hands behind his back - playing carelessly with the loaded gun that was in them.

The ground crunched beneath his feet, and quiet groans and cries of anguish and pain could be heard from a group of civilians that were caught in the cross fire. Smoke and soot flooded the air as a few gunshots rang out in the distance.

He felt odd seeing the streets he used to know like the back of his hand, all disfigured and unrecognisable. He couldn't help but feel numb as he reached the end of his song and stopped in front of a recognisable corpse that was lying on the ground before him.

Tim's shoes were touching the side of the burned corpse, and he stared down at it without any visible expressions of grief. There was nothing he could do to protect them. He tilted his head to stare at them through his ambiguous gaze. His eyes weren't as bright as they used to be. At least they aren't green anymore.

All the memories with the figure swarmed Tim. It surrounded him in flashes of beaming light and sound that got closer and closer, causing distant figures to be formed and ringing in his ears until a clear picture stood directly in front of him and the ringing stopped. He could hear a faint voice calling out to him, but it wasn't real. Was it?

The memories went silent and disappeared as Tim ignored them and turned away from the hallucinations that attempted to engulf him.

He walked over the body without muttering a word. Sparks of flame flew over his head, and his body turned to follow it - to watch the sparks fade into dust. There was nothing he could do now. There was nothing left of Tim. The war was over.

Tim walked towards the hole in which Bristol had once stood proud and daunting. There were still people fighting down below, and he could hear the cracks of bones and gunshots as they got louder.

"Tim!" A voice he could vaguely recognise yelled out to him.

It was a mistake. It was just a mistake. Why do they keep yelling at him? He didn't mean to do it. Why won't his parents say anything? Why are they just lying there? Why won't they answer him? He didn't mean to. He promises he didn't. Please, just say something.

A shadowed figure emerged from the shadows and approached the crying boy as he screamed and kicked at the enforcer who was trying to pry him away from his deceased parents. The hooded figure raised his arm from within his black cape, and in only a second - he sliced the enforcer's throat with his long steel sword.

The enforcer let go of the boy in shock before they collapsed dead onto the ground. The little boy looked frightened as he struggled to frantically crawl backwards away from the mysterious man.

The figure pulled down his hood to reveal his long black and grey hair and his cold, luminous emerald green eyes. He kneeled down to be at eye level with the boy who was too afraid to move away. The man studied him carefully before he held out his hand to the kid. His other hand - hidden by his cloak - held a dagger but the boy flung himself at the figure who fell back in suprise. The small boy - no older than nine years old - clung onto his torso desperately with violent sobs shaking his little body.

"What's your name, boy?" He asked - mentally changing his priorities - as he let go of his dagger to cradle the crying kid in his arms. The boy managed to cry out his name before he buried himself deeper into the older man's shirt.

"It's Tim, sir."

"Tim? Can you hear me lad?"

"Tim..please.."

"Tim?"

"Tim."

"TIM!"

A strong hand grabbed at Tim's arm. "We need to go. Now. There's no time for another one of your crazy meltdowns. Tim? Are you even paying attention? Tim!" She smacked his face with the back of her palm. 

"Prudence?" 

"There you go! We need to leave. Enforcers are on their way. Someone must've left a tip to the commissioner. There's a bunch of them heading in our direction. We need to find a way out." She explained quickly, using her arms to express herself better.

"How much time do we have?" Tim asked as he stared out of the wall they were hiding behind.

"I reckon about four minutes. That's if we're lucky."

"Good thing we're lucky then." 

"You're one to talk." She put her hood back on as Tim drew out his shotgun. 

"Already? I thought we were lucky." She tilted her head to his gun before she unshielded her dagger.

"We'll only be lucky if we're alive. There's no other way out but the front door." He poked his head out before he quickly ducked down and placed a finger to his lips to both silence and signal to Prudence.

"Ain't that convenient." She whispered but nodded to him as he moved into a half crouching position and proceeded to sprint behind a shooting target.

"Who's there?!" An enforcer called out as he stepped warily into the abandoned building. He called out to his troop that he heard something and Tim could hear Prudence curse under her breath.

The building they were hiding out in was unstable. The wood was jagged and moldy. The ground beneath them was stained with holes and marks that were indented onto it from previous fights. It also reeked of mildew and smoke. Prudence swore she had seen rats running along the shelfs when they entered.

The place used to be a bar a long time ago. A popular one. Tim's parents took him once for his birthday, but they never went again. Not after some poor kid's parents were shot dead after a deal gone wrong. It was strange. Tim remembered the boy had came up to Tim and gave Tim a hug? He was an unusual kid but Tim couldn't help but admire him as he showed off his gymnastic skills. He promised to do a quadruple front flip for Tim. But he never did. Gunshots interrupted him before he got the chance to.

Bang! A gunshot went off and Tim snapped into reality to witness an enforcer practicing on one of the shooting targets. To be more specific - they just shot a hole directly above Tim's head. And for once? He was glad the enforcers had to be trained.

"Hey! Quit playing around! You'll scare them off." A deep woman's voice called out from behind one of the tables. 'She must be the commanding officer.' Tim thought to himself. He turned to his left to see Prudence as the rookie enforcer apologised. His blue eyes met Prudence's and they made a silent agreement to just wait this out. 

Eventually, they left. Tim motioned to Prudence to stay down as he looked over the target. He stood up straight and waved at Prudence that the coast was clear. 

"We should've just killed them. It's not like anyone up in topside would've missed them." Prudence complained whilst she slipped her dagger back into it's sheath with a click.

"Oh come on Pru. We can't kill EVERYbody. Where's the fun in that? Besides, all we needed was to find a place to stay without anyone finding us. If we killed them - our faces would be plastered all across Crime Alley!" He flailed his arms about as he dramatically twirled his gun around before he pretended to shoot the target he was previously hiding behind.

"That was a close one." Prudence spoke as she followed his line of sight to stare at the clean bullet hole that must've been meer centimetres from Tim's head and his early grave.

"What can I say? We're just lucky."

"I'm not. I'm still stuck with you."

"Skill issue."

"You know I'm only here because Ra's made me and I need the money." She huffed as she pushed out her chest to make herself appear bigger - despite already being taller than Tim.

"Didn't he offer you better pay and a full time job overseas?" He grinned as they ran out of the building and climbed up onto the dirty rooftop.

"Shut up. You're not even supposed to know that." She squinted her eyes at Tim suspiciously.

"I know everything" He smiled before he fell backwards - off the roof they were running across.

He flipped his body around and grabbed onto a rusty metal support beam before he twisted into a curled up position and pushed himself off the beam - with all his leg strength - sending him flying across the air - to reach the side of a large, overgrown stone building.

He reached his hand up to grab the edge of the roof and quickly pulled himself up before tucking into a roll. He stood up and bowed dramatically at Prudence who had to jump across the different rooftops leading up to the one he was standing on.

"Show off." She grumbled and poked his shoulder aggressively.

"Say what you want baldy." He gave a big toothy smile at Prudence's scowl as she pretended to shoot him using her finger guns.

"Look up there!" The same rookie enforcer's high pitched voice yelled out from below them. "Shit." Tim laughed as Prudence grabbed hold of his hand and dragged him across the roof. She let go only to make a leap off of the roof and had landed silently onto a balcony which belonged to a hotel that some new crimeboss owned.

Tim followed closely behind as Prudence flipped across balconies and danced across rooftops. Gunshots and curses rang out below and behind them as the enforcers attempted to keep up. But to no avail.

They cackled and snickered as they ran out of the enforcer's sight, only to pop back up again in some morbid game of cat and mouse. Eventually the enforcers got tired of waiting and with an order from their commanding officer - they were forced to leave them alone, saying that there was no point in catching two teenagers when they haven't been accused or witnessed of a crime.

Tim and Prudence were both laughing and gasping out of breath by the time they reached one of the League's bases. It was hidden underground - beneath a warehouse close to the docks.

Their laughter was contagious - they had to spend a good ten minutes outside to calm themselves down.

"Did you see the look on that guy's face?!" Prudence boldly smiled as they reenacted what just happened. It wasn't very exciting - but with how many missions they've been going on recently? It gave them the best feeling in the world.

Adrenaline.

They entered through the window silently and walked quickly towards their shared room. An irritated voice emerged from behind them.

"You're late."

Chapter Text

"You're late."

Talia crossed her arms before she lifted her hand to massage her temples as she looked at them in disappointment.

"We got held back. Some Bristol enforcers came down and busted the place we were in." Prudence admitted shamefully.

Talia raises her eyebrow in response. "Two of our best assassins got 'held back' by some average enforcers?" She questioned as she glanced from Prudence to Tim.

Tim looked over at Prudence before he pointed accusingly at her, "It was Prudence's fault."

"HEY! Don't blame me!!" Pru snapped and held her hands up in defence before she quickly corrected herself - "I was the one who said we should've killed them" She turned to Talia pleading, "I promise we did not intend to be off schedule. The enforcers surrounded us. If we had caused a scene, everyone from the top side would know about us. About the organisation."

"That is.. understandable. However, I expect better of you both. It is disappointing to learn that you two are incapable of sneaking past a few amateur enforcers." Ouch. 

"It is also disrespectful. We should not leave Ra's waiting for much longer. Follow me quickly now." She went silent as she turned on her heel and walked away from them quickly with her long black hair flowing behind her.

"Where is Ra's? Shouldn't he be in his office?" Tim enquired loudly.

"Save your curiosity for later. We'll find out soon." Prudence hushed Tim as he rolled his eyes.

"It's odd though. He never leaves the place! I mean, unless he's out threatening or doing whatever old people do besides die." Pru sighed as she dragged him along. 

They wandered deeper and deeper into the base, down at least four staircases and around twenty corners. Prudence felt a headache growing as they tried to keep up with Talia who appeared to be pursuing thin air.

"How much longer?" Tim whined like a kid as he secretly observed all of their surroundings wildly.

"Shut up" Prudence shot back in a hissed whisper but even she could feel a throbbing pain in her ankle start to form.

"I expect silence from you two. You have already caused enough trouble with your little outing earlier." Talia called back without even glancing at them.

Tim huffed and rolled his eyes whilst Prudence elbowed him accusingly which resulted in him mouthing 'It wasn't my fault' as he shrugged with his arms and looked at her fake angrily.

It was then Prudence's turn to roll her eyes at Tim when Talia's powerful voice cut through their play fighting.

"We're here. Please, try not to embarrass yourselves." She sighed tiredly as she looked them up and down. Tim smiled at her defeat but his smile was cut short as the sound of glass shattering from the room in front of them emerged and they all turned to face it.

Talia slammed open the door and Prudence quickly ran in after her. The room was a mess - papers everywhere with broken shards of glass around the windows. Ra's Al Guhl himself was standing tall behind his desk, surrounded by the glass as his right-hand man - Red Hood - stood next to him, covered in blood.

What was in the middle of the room caught Tim's eyes first. A dead body.

Sure, Tim had seen plenty in his time, but not like this. Never like this. "An interesting specimen isn't he?" Ra's enquired with a smile as he watched Tim analyze the body.

"What happened? He was loyal to us. Why would you do this?" Talia questioned Ra's in an outrage. 

"Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good and he was willing to help" He casually motioned to the corpse with his hand, as if this was just an average occurrence.

"A willing sacrifice doesn't involve a fight." 

"We never fought him. He did this to himself."

Prudence's hand found Tim's as her eyes turned cold but never left the body. Tim could recognise him, they both could. It was Bernard.

Bernard was a doctor of sorts - they never asked for the specifics of his job but he was good, very good. And he was an even better person too.

Bernard had helped Tim and Prudence over and over again but he never complained. Tim always thought Bernard had a crush on him, and in an odd way, if Tim could figure out his emotions better - he might've felt the same.

Tim remembered how all three of them would laugh and talk after a mission or how Bernard's eyes would linger on Tim when he assumed Tim wasn't paying attention. He didn't deserve to die and he didn't want to. Tim knows that.

But Bernard didn't want to stay with the League. He wanted to help everyone in any way he could without being restricted to a certain amount of people.

Tim liked that about him, his willingness to save everyone. Tim also knew that if he and Prudence weren't in the league, Bernard would've escaped years ago.

Maybe it was their fault he was lying cold in front of them. Maybe he should've pushed Bernard more to pursue his life.

Maybe just maybe, Bernard could've survived.

Prudence shook slightly as she cleared her throat, "What did you do to him?" Her voice wobbled as the attention dropped onto her.

"Bernard was a good doctor. But we needed him to help us in different ways. The pursuit of harnessing the Lazarus' power is closer than ever before." His smile grew wickedly.

"We have Bernard to thank for that." He nodded at the corpse then made eye contact with Tim and Prudence before he stared at Talia and lifted up a small green glass.

Tim noticed how Talia froze up. He noticed how Prudence couldn't stop herself from crying. He noticed how Ra's dismissed Red Hood from his side. Tim noticed how Prudence's nails were digging into his skin.

Tim noticed how Bernard's veins were green. He noticed how faded green tears soaked his face. He noticed how the blood on Red Hood was tinted a dark green. The same colour as Bernard's.

No, this wasn't a willing sacrifice. They killed him.

"He didn't want to die," Prudence's head shot up to stare at Tim worriedly "Why did you choose him? Bernard helped you. He helped us." Tim's voice pitched up as he got louder, "He was beneficial to the League. So, why him?" Tim growled out the last part of his sentence as he glared up at Ra's threateningly, a hand reaching onto his gun.

"I understand you've grown attachments, Timothy. However, Bernard wasn't who you think he was."

"Then who was he?" Prudence barked at him - her hand moving up to grip Tim's arm as she stood in front of him - hiding Bernard from his sight.

"A Kryptonian" 

A silence fell over the room and Talia excused herself. "Perhaps we shall finish our conversation at a later date - when you two aren't so.." Ra's held two fingers to his head in thought, "..emotionally compromised." He finished with a smile and beckoned for Prudence to leave.

Prudence shook with a different emotion this time - rage. But she said nothing. She gritted her teeth and violently pulled on Tim's arm to drag him away. 

The door shut behind them but Tim couldn't pry his mind from what was inside that room. His bestfriend - dead. 

"She's dead Tim."

"You can't save them."

"You tried your best, Tim."

"They're dead! And it's your fault!"

dead

dead

dead

Dead.

"A Kryptonian!!" Prudence paced their shared room back and forth. "Just who do they think Bernard is??" She yelled. 

"Was" Tim corrected with his head in his hands, "Just who do they think Bernard was." He lifted his head to reveal his messy hair as he stared dead-eyed at Prudence. "He's dead. They killed him." His face scrunched up, "He's gone!" Tim yelled.

"Pru they killed him!" He screamed loudly and Prudence rushed to hold onto him as she started crying "They killed him!" He repeated as his voice cracked and his body shook violently. "Pru!" He sobbed as he clutched her tightly. Prudence let him scream into her shoulder until his voice broke and he couldn't scream anymore.

"Pru.. they killed him" He cried as his voice grew quieter and his cries replaced them.

"I know. Tim, I know." Pru hiccuped as she held him close and patted his hair in an attempt to ground herself and calm Tim, neither caring if her snot and tears made his hair even messier than it was. That was a problem for later.

Tim fell asleep in her arms but Prudence couldn't sleep. How could she? Her best friend was dead and now she doesn't know what to do.

She isn't supposed to help people, that's Bernard's job. Now Bernard's gone. What can she do? She doesn't know how to stop Tim's panic attacks, she can't perform an immediate surgery like Bernard whenever one of them got injured. She isn't as smart as Tim either - she can't just come up with a plan. 

But she needs to. Bernard can't help, and Tim can't think right now. 

Prudence stared up at their cracked ceiling thinking of different ideas before her mind betrayed her and she fell into a restless sleep.