Coding Birds

by TwinEnigma

Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, Tron, Tron: Legacy or related characters, et cetera. I do this for fun and not profit.

Warnings: AU in certain respects; Assume Pre-Nu52

Chapter 1: Player 1 Has Entered The Game

"Master Damian has gone out."

The statement is prim, formal, and does little to hide the edge of exasperation in Alfred's voice as he continues to hold a cold pack to what is shaping up to be a nice shiner.

Of all the words Tim Drake wants to hear from Alfred right now, those words are about the absolute crowning glory on his do not want list.

"Are you okay?" he ventures.

Alfred shoots him a withering look, one that positively screams of how thin his patience has worn. "I will endure. Right now, our priority is retrieving the young master before Master Bruce returns."

"Yeah, right," Tim says, almost forcing the word out to help remind himself of his promise to Bruce because, in all honesty, he doesn't think of that brat as a priority at all. His friends, his family, his city – those are priorities, not the brat who just waltzed in here and declared himself lord of the manor.

In fact, if he's being perfectly honest with himself, there's an ugly part of himself that's glad Damian's run off. The kid has been an absolute nightmarish shit to everyone since he got here. Never in his entire life has Tim found another human being more utterly aggravating.

Still, he knows Alfred's right: they have to find Damian and fast, before he gets himself into trouble. Gotham's a bad place for kids in their business and worse for those who associate with the Bat. And, as much as he hates the brat for mouthing off about it in the way he does, Tim knows Damian's proud to be Batman's son and he gets that, he does. But owning up to that out there, on the street? There are a lot of scumbags out there that wouldn't stop at hurting a kid to stick it to Batman, a fact reinforced by the memorial cases of both his predecessors. Tim's already put Bruce back together once; he's not sure he can accomplish the same miracle twice.

"The cameras," Tim murmurs as he stands, more for Alfred's benefit than his own; still, treating it like the first step in a normal investigation rather than a search for his bratty new stepbrother helps him to focus a little better. "He can't have been gone that long."

"It's not a matter of how long he's been gone," Alfred states as he joins him at the terminal. Everything he hasn't said hangs over them with an ominous finality and Tim can't help the way his insides twist with dread.

Damian's a twisted, violent little brat, but he's still a kid.

Tim accesses the cameras, spooling back the footage until he sees the diminutive figure begin to speed backwards across the feed. He doesn't stop until he finds the point the boy entered the cave frame for the first time.

21:43:13 – Entry.

21:55:10 – Exits on spare motorcycle.

Tim rewinds, starts the tape again. There's got to be a hint about where Damian was headed somewhere in here.

"Activating homing device," Alfred says from next to him and the screen splits, the tracking program automatically narrowing grid by grid, eliminating possibilities.

Tim doesn't need to look to know it's going to be a dead end – Damian's League trained and, worse, intelligent. If he were Damian, a tracking device would be the first thing he'd look for and disable. Instead, he zooms in on the boy, following his progression through the cave. There's a certain pragmatism to his movements, one that Tim can appreciate, and if he can just figure out what end Damian was working towards, he knows he'll be able to find him.

Alfred mutters a curse, turning towards the cave and Tim doesn't need to be a detective to guess where the bike tracker ended up.

21:52:44 – Takes Jason's old armor and utility belt.

"Try Jason's old belt tracker," he supplies, pausing and rewinding the footage. He tries not to think about the flash of pain that crosses the old man's face at the words.

Damian strides across the screen again.

21:44:25 – Damian gains access to the computer.

21:49:59 – Damian leaves the computer and makes his way to the cases.

"What were you looking for?" Tim asks, rewinding and zooming in. "You were looking for something."

"Not found," Alfred announces grimly. His fingers continue to move across the keyboard and out of the corner of his eye, Tim is suddenly seeing an end of the tracking program he's never seen before, one that sends a subconscious shiver down his spine.

It's a log, obviously from a passive constantly-active subroutine, because Jason's belt tracker hasn't been physically used in years and, as far as Tim had known, the trackers had to be activated remotely from here to work. But this log proved that clearly wasn't the case – Batman had tabs on the equipment even if the primary tracker had been disabled or deactivated. It's clever – clever and more than a little creepy, if he thinks about it. His own equipment could be recording his every movement and he can think of a dozen ways a system like that could become a threat.

Unless… of course: unless Alfred was the only one with access.

Tim blinks and refocuses on tracking Damian's movements in the computer, deciding to tackle that dragon later. This, at least, is more his element. He follows the brat's footprints through the mapping software and case files, pausing as it strikes him.

"Of course," he says, slapping a hand to his forehead. "I should have known!"

Alfred looks at him, questioningly.

"Damian wants to prove himself to his father – he's practically been shouting it from the roof since he got here," Tim explains, standing as he types faster, diving into the access logs for Damian's room. Now that he knows what to look for, it's crystal clear. "What's the one thing he thinks will make him proud if it isn't beating the shit out of criminals?"

Tim's eyes never leave the screen. "It's Dick. He's gone looking for Dick."

"We were never able to find him," Alfred says quietly. "There was nothing."

"Well," Tim grinds out and hates himself for even admitting it, "Damian obviously found something."

AN:

Tim doesn't refer to Bruce as his father here for reasons which largely comprise of his father is "dad" and Bruce is like a father to him, but not quite "dad" if you get my drift... so basically feels.

And the big question is... what happened to Dick? OH MY GOSH YOU WILL HAVE TO READ, I AM SUCH A MEANIE.