Across || Tim Drake + Avengers Crossover

Chapter 4

Tim wasn't surprised when he woke up in a cell.

What did surprise him was the fact that he felt more refreshed than he had in a long time. It was as if he'd actually gotten a full eight hours of non drug-induced (thanks, Dick) sleep. Tim couldn't remember the last time that had happened. Most likely before he became Red Robin. Or maybe before his coffee addiction became a lifestyle. Nevertheless, it kinda felt good, not that Tim would be giving up his coffee any time soon.

He was lying down in a plain cot, cape, boots, gloves and belt removed from his person. His backpack had been taken somewhere else too, which Tim had fully expected. Nothing useful seemed to be left, drawing out a sigh from Tim. At least they hadn't taken his mask off.

He let his eyes roam around the room, pausing briefly at the camera positioned in a corner facing him. There were no windows in the cell, only white walls and a plain steel door to enter and exit from.

Funnily enough, he had been given a thin, brown blanket with little bears on them which, to be honest, didn't really scream 'bad guys' at Tim. But then again, bad guys were weird, and going off of the amount of soldiers that had been present in his capture, whatever this organization was didn't indicate 'good guys' either. It was a pretty nice blanket though.

He gave a small shrug and turned slightly away from the camera, subtly checking all the secret pockets of his suit and tallying an inventory in his head. It seemed like they'd gotten to some of the pockets though the majority had been left undetected. Tim was pretty happy that he still had his lock pick set which would no doubt come in handy in the near future. He was also glad that they hadn't taken away his EMP discs and extra Baterangs. They had, however, taken his smoke bombs and back up bo staff which kind of sucked. Only a little. Okay, a lot, but he'd survive with what he had.

Tim sighed and laid back down in the cot, shooting straight back up as the door unlocked and opened. He flushed in embarrassment, but kept his expression neutral. A woman stepped into the cell, glancing at him with piercing eyes before moving to stand in front of him. Her posture demanded respect and subordination, but also held some aspect of elegance and strength.

She was no doubt here to interrogate him and try to find out his identity. Perhaps threaten him. Basic stuff. Tim debated on whether it would be worth it acting like a scared victim but went against it. They were probably on high alert due to his previous fighting. Also if they really were bad guys, they wouldn't give a damn either way. Tim made a face. Besides, it was such a Jason move. The woman's eyebrow twitched slightly. He sighed and stood up, standing face to face with her.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. Answer them truthfully. We will find out if you lie and we will act accordingly. Do you understand?" The woman said.

Tim didn't know exactly how they were going to find out if he lied or not, considering that they had no clue as to who he was under the mask, but figured out that it was probably some intimidation trick. He could tell that the woman was somewhat nervous through her body language, but she hid it well.

"Yes."

"Right then, name?"

"Red Robin."

Her lip twitched downwards. "Real name."

"Classified."

She raised an eyebrow. "Classified? Why?" Tim simply gave her a smug smile with a shrug. It was always fun messing with them, just a little bit, not enough to make them want to kill him, but just enough for them to get slightly annoyed.

The woman seemed a little taken back by his response, but continued to press. Tim thought it was pretty self explanatory but still explained anyways. "Mm.. to keep my identity safe? You know, like how I'm wearing a mask to prevent people from recognizing me?"

"And why would you need to do that?"

Tim looked at her blankly for a second. What was she asking? "Um because I'm Red Robin?"

"Right." She said confusedly.

"Right." He agreed.

He knew she was expecting a further explanation but decided he couldn't be stuffed. Besides, wasn't it obvious? What more could he say?

The woman stared at him for a second longer before tilting her head slightly, listening to something. Ah, an earpiece. She was probably receiving further instructions.

"You look to be quite young. How old are you?"

"Also classified."

"How did you get here?"

"Classified."

The woman sighed and ran a hand down her face. Tim shrugged. What was he supposed to say? 'Oh yeah, I just happened to fiddle with this machine when, boom, I was falling from the sky until I landed in your super secret base of operations. You know, no biggie. Happens every other Tuesday.'

She tilted her head again as she listened to the earpiece. Several emotions flashed on the woman's face; first confusion, disgust, then anger. She sharply glared at the camera on the ceiling and promptly turned around, storming out of the room. Tim watched as the door slowly shut and locked itself when it closed. Dang.

He moved to sit back down on the cot, unsure what else to do. From what he'd gathered so far, it seemed like they weren't necessarily bad, though Tim wouldn't go as far as to say that they were completely good yet. It was curious that they hadn't recognized him or his name which was honestly a slight blow to Tim's ego. Sure, Red Robin wasn't as well known as Batman or Robin or Nightwing for that matter, but Tim liked to think that people would have at least heard of who he was. After all, he'd been active for quite a while now. But oh well.

Tim shook his head to clear it. That wasn't the problem right now. The problem was how to escape. He couldn't see an easy way out of here without his gadgets. Sure he could most definitely pick the lock on the door, but it would be immediately caught by the camera. Disabling the camera was another option, but it would be a difficult and long process to make sure it went undetected without his wrist computer and other remote devices he could access. He'd have to move to the camera itself and take it apart then and there to make a difference.

He scanned the room again. There were no vents he could shimmy into and unless he was willing to break down the walls, the only way in or out was the door. Of course, if he did break the walls, there was no guarantee of where it would lead to. Yup, a pretty secure cell. Just his luck.

The walls stared at him blankly. Right. Tim reckoned that his best bet was to wait until his captors returned, pull out information on where his stuff would be, and pretty much just break out of the place. Better yet, he could negotiate his way out of the room which wouldn't be impossible, but difficult nonetheless.

Tim sighed to himself.

Life really does suck, doesn't it?