Chapter Text
The Grappel Prototype #6 was sleeker than her previous designs, but not by much. It was a mess of tubing and metal, and much bulkier than the sleek, efficient guns the Bats used. This latest design was made of scrap metal and plastic tubing. It was slimmed down as much as possible, considering her resources and the fact that while she may be a genius seven year old, she’s still seven years old. Various wires and bits and bobs still stuck out of the barrel and the entire thing had a distinct prototype look. Like it was still in the process of becoming something but it wasn’t quite there yet. She did manage to find a nice grip for the handle, though. That was nice.
As she finished up the final adjustments on the grapple, she thought about her first design. It was a clumsy thing, made of plastic and wood. God what was she thinking? She used a fishing line for goodness sake, how was that ever supposed to get her off the ground? It didn’t even hold up to a fraction of her body weight when she took it out for testing. The line snapped almost immediately and Thea wasn’t even bruised from the devastating drop of less than half a foot.
The fishing line was replaced by a long metal cable in the next prototype. Unfortunately the rubber bands she used as the spring were too weak to get the grapple out of the gun with enough force. That one went straight to the garbage. At least on the third one she had the sense to replace the wood parts with scrap metal. Of course, she almost burned herself trying to weld it together, but it was in the name of science. She kept the wooden grapple, though. Not her best move if she’s being honest.
The most memorable design was also the most recent one. She’d gotten better at wielding and fashioned herself a makeshift grappling hook out of some copper wire scraps she found. She’d stuck it to the handle, powered by extra strong elastics, and took it out for a test run. She absolutely did not break her arm, thank you very much.
…But it was a much closer call than Thea would have liked. And that’s why she’s here now, on her way to test out her brand-spankin’-new grapple prototype, featuring a fancy compressed air compartment that took her forever to figure out and shiny steel hook. She was quite proud of this one.
Thea skipped along the sidewalk with a pep in her step. She specifically picked out a Tuesday to test out her new gadget. Tuesdays meant the bats followed patrol route 3b, taking them through the Bowery before they cut straight through to the Diamond District. There were plenty of gargoyles, ledges and fire escapes all along the route, perfect for grappling. The bats must purposely go this way for just that purpose; half of the route is spent in the air, meaning half of the time Thea can’t keep up.
Well that won’t be a problem anymore if her grapple worked. She thought about the possibilities with a smile on her face. Excitement thrummed through her veins. She technically did make the grappling hook to be able to keep up with the bats, but she also just wanted to fly through the sky, with the wind on her face. Oh, it looked exhilarating to dive off buildings suspended in the air, at the mercy of gravity until the grapple yanks up, up, up over the roofs. There was freedom in the air and Thea longed for it.
She lightly tossed her makeshift grapple in the air, admiring the way the streetlights reflected off the metal wires.
Hell yeah.
Eventually she reached the spot, the HVAC unit on top of a crooked apartment building directly across from a wide street and overlooking a tall dilapidated building. This was where the Grapple Route ™ would start. Sure enough, about two minutes later she watched Batman and Robin take out their grapples. Thea grinned. She looked around at the surrounding structures and spotted a nice and convenient protruding ledge under a gargoyle. How thoughtful. With one final check, she lined up the grapple and fired.
The hook soared through the air in a perfect arc and landed neatly on the ledge, a little to the left of where Thea was aiming. That was fine, it was one the ledge and it was secure and that was all that mattered. She stepped back and tightened her line before flicking a button in the side of the handle. The line reeled in at an alarming speed and Thea was yanked through the air, narrowly avoiding crashing through a dumpster. Then she was flying up, up over the streets, over the city. Her hands gripped the handle of the grapple so tightly her knuckles turned white and numb and her heart beat straight out of her chest. It was amazing.
Then, midair, Thea realized her mistake. She was so focused on making the grapple get her off the ground that she never made a mechanism to reel the line out again and put her back on the ground. And this mistake was only revealed to her as she was swinging like a pendulum about thirty feet off the ground hanging desperately by a homemade grappling hook and a spare metal cable she found while dumpster diving. Great.
She reached a split second decision and, on her next swing, took a breath and let go of the grapple.
Then she was falling, falling, falling but this time there was no wire to catch her. She tucked her body into a tight ball and waited for impact.
A loud clatter greeted her ears when she became reacquainted with the ground, crashing right through a cardboard box. Surprisingly, Thea was mostly uninjured, save for a multitude of bruises and a scraped arm. Groaning, she sat up. God, she’s gonna have to climb up that stupid building to get her grapple back. Ugh, dangit.
That was when she noticed where she was. She locked eyes with a rough and grizzly brick house of a man, toting a menacing looking gun. He was backed up by a lot more people, all wearing menacing, shocked, and frankly cringe expressions.
…It would seem Thea landed in the middle of a gang dispute. Which was. Not good. They were all looking at her, and her camera. Shoot.
The tense stillness was broken when the leader of one of the gangs gave a signal and suddenly a wave of very violent and dangerous gang members descended on her. So Thea ran, but unfortunately they started chasing her. They chased after her like she owed them money. Which she didn’t so really this whole thing was completely unreasonable and they should just leave her alone
Thea scrambled over a brick wall, darting around the corner of the building. The herd followed at a concerning pace. Seriously, how were they so fast?
Her shoes skidded along the pavement and her heart beat in time with the chant in her head. No, no no no no no- If the goons catch up to her, who knows what they’ll do! They might take her camera and she needs that, she just caught a really good picture of Robin beating up a mugger and another of him sitting on a rooftop eating ice cream with Batman afterwards. They’re too good pictures to waste in a death via stupid gangster!
Thea took another sharp turn and almost slammed into a fence. Who put that there? It was in her way! She frantically looked around for another escape route. Her stomach dropped to the floor when she realized she was boxed in. There was no escape.
The gang member approached with a startling intensity, holding a wicked knife glinting in the moonlight. Thea was backed into a corner. There was a 0.000001% chance that she could fight her way out of this. She did decent enough during the self defense unit in PE. She’ll take that chance. Thea dropped into a ready stance and tucked her camera under her shirt. The gang member noticed. He smirked and twirled the blade in the air.
A sharp cracking sound was all the warning they got before large, thorned and dangerous vines sprung up from the concrete and pavement they were standing on. They wrapped around the gang members before they could so much as scream, some squeezing till they popped, others reaching out and slashing arms, faces and legs with their spines. It was a morbid sight, gone as quickly as it came. And when she said gone, she really meant gone. The vines picked up all the bodies and remains as they crawled back into the earth. The only evidence of the massacre was the bloodstains on the ground.
Thea looked up shakily and spied a dark figure out of the corner of her eye. It was Poison Ivy.
Of course it was Ivy, who else could make a bunch of hyper-violent vines burst out of the ground and take down a whole gang? The woman in question walked towards Thea and crouched down, cupping Thea’s face in her hands.
“Are you okay?” Ivy asked, oh so gently. Thea nodded, a barely there tilt of her head. Ivy smiled in response, her eyes flicked up and down like she was scanning Thea for injuries.
“Come on, sprout,” Ivy lifted Thea by the arms, “Let’s get you out of here.”
Thea looked at the eco-terrorist in shock. The gentle kindness Ivy showed Thea was so at odds with the ruthless efficiency of the gang’s takedown. And yet somehow Thea wasn’t afraid. Ivy was undeniably, irrationally kind to her the last time they met, and this time shouldn’t be any different. The blood on her shoes definitely sold that story. Ivy hadn’t let go of Thea’s hand, but Thea hadn’t either. She followed Ivy.
- === ~*~ === -
Ivy took her back to the tree/greenhouse that she took Thea to last time. Thea was surprised to see that her room the room that she slept in last time was still there. This time Ivy led her around to the front, where there was apparently an actual door. The door was guarded by a huge venus fly trap and pitcher plant, which Ivy greeted with gentle pats on her way in. Thea followed with slightly more caution but the plants paid her no mind.
Thea took her shoes off at the door while Ivy continued on barefoot. Potted plants waved at them as they passed, next to their siblings sprouting straight out of the ground. Thea gently brushed her hand through a couple fern leaves, feeling the soft fronds on her finger tips before hurrying to catch up to Ivy. She didn’t really know where they were and didn’t feel like getting lost. There was definitely a kitchen somewhere, she remembered that from last time, and right now she seemed to be in a garden of some sort. But the garden she was in last time was much bigger and lab-like with equipment lining the walls. Also she was pretty sure it was upstairs. Thea resolved to follow Ivy more closely.
The grass underfoot stayed soft and green as they left the garden and entered what Thea recognized as the living room. The only difference was the people currently sitting on the couch. Namely Catwoman and Harley Quinn.
Thea looked at the former. She looked back. The cat burglar squinted, her face painted in shock and confusion.
“Hey, wait, aren’t you-” Catwoman started incredulously. She was quickly cut off by a high pitched squeal.
“Aren’t’cha just a cutie pie?” Harley Quinn jumped up from the other side of the couch and positively beamed at Thea. Thea froze in place. How was it possible for her voice to get that high?
Suddenly a pair of pale arms wrapped around Thea lifting her in the air. Harley spun them around a few times before squeezing her tighter and pressing a loud kiss to her cheek.
“Harl, you’re gonna scare her…” Ivy warned, eyeing them nervously.
“Aw, okay,” Harley pouted but she set Thea down all the same. Thea stood dizzily trying to regain her bearings. She offered a small smile to Harley and got a dazzling grin in return. She felt eyes burning into the back of her head and turned to see Catwoman still watching her carefully. Thea tilted her head quizzically and watched Catwoman do the same.
“...Pam,” Catwoman said carefully, “What is Timothea Drake doing in your living room?”
Ivy glanced back at Thea with quirked eyebrow. So much for not telling them her name…
Wait, she recognized her? They only met once, in the middle of the night, for such a short time it may as well have been a dream.
“Well, remember that girl I was telling you about, the one who wandered in here the other night? Yeah this is her. Except this time I found her about to be killed by a gang for some reason,” Ivy frowned at Thea. Thea shot her a hesitant smile.
Though Thea wasn’t expecting Harley Quinn to pout so harshly. “And what didja do ta the gang?”
“Killed them of course. They were getting too close to the park anyway,” Poison Ivy said flippantly, like she was discussing the results of a sports game.
“Those gangs are so annoying. They think they’re so hot but they don’t actually do anything except have little pissing contests with each other. Not everything is about your stupid club, Jesus.” Catwoman complained loudly, languidly stretching out across the couch.
Poison Ivy tutted in agreement. Harley had left during the conversation but she returned right then, carrying two bowls of cut up fruit. She offered one to Thea.
“Here ya go, sweetheart,” she patted the cushion next to her, “You can sit on the couch too, yannow?”
Thea sat down hesitantly and picked up the little toothpick in her bowl. It was black with a little red heart on the end. It made Thea’s lips twitch in a half-smile. Trust the Rogues to keep up their gimmicks even in the comfort of their own homes.
The fruit was delicious, just like last time. The sweet juice trickled down Thea’s chin and she savored the flavor.
“Don’t think this is getting you out of questioning, sprout,” Poison Ivy turned to Thea, something protective in her stance but with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes, “What were you doing out this late at night that you got caught in the middle of a gang war? And don’t give me shit about chance, we both know you’re a Bristol kid now.”
Thea gulped. She considered how much she wanted to tell Ivy. They already knew her name and probably where she lived unless Catwoman didn’t tell them for some reason. If they wanted to hurt her they would have done so already. Really, they don’t seem to be much of a threat at all.
“...I was just testing out my new grapple.”
“Grapple?” Ivy sounds incredulous. “What do you need a grapple for?”
“How am I supposed to follow the Bats if I don’t have a grapple?” Thea pouts, “It's like they don’t even want me to take pictures of them.”
“They probably don't, Kitten,” Catwoman sounds much too amused in Thea’s humble opinion. Nothing about her situation was amusing. She was so serious about everything always.
“Well- Well too bad!” Thea pouts. Harley lets out a giggle, and she even gets a chuckle out of Catwoman and she swears she saw Ivy’s lips twitch.
“You’re a feisty little one, aren’t you Kitten?” A soft hand landed in her hair and Thea tilted her head to press into it.
“Do you have pictures? Can I see?” Harley asked eagerly. She leaned forward in her seat, tilting to an almost comical degree. Thea happily agreed, taking out her camera and flipping through the storage. She heard Ivy let out a low whistle in the back, but she’s too busy searching for her favorite photos to show. She landed on a charming picture of Robin beating the stuffing out of a criminal. The harsh yellow streetlight bounced perfectly off of his cape and hair and Thea managed to capture all the bouncing, excited movement and bubbly energy of Robin.
“Oh Timmy, these are awesome! It feels like ‘e could jump outta the frame an’ kick my ass!”
Thea snorted at the comment. Then the rest of Harley’s words registered in her brain.
“Timmy?” Thea asked, tilting her head incredulously. Strangely it didn’t feel…wrong. All her life she had always been just ‘Thea’ or sometimes ‘Timothea’. She never considered a different name. But was it really a different name? It was still Timothea. Still her. Just… framed in a different way.
Timmy… it was a start. But it wasn’t quite right. It was too long and too flouncy, too childish. It reminded her, absurdly, of those stupid cartoons with a little boy in a propeller hat and a lollipop bigger than his head. And besides, if she was going to go by something new she wanted it to be completely her own. Something like… Tim.
Tim was good. It was short and neat and to the point, just like her. It also just the start of a much longer name. It was perfect. It was all hers and it was her. Tim.
“Yeah!” Harley beamed at her. Her expression quickly folded into a worried pout, “That’s okay, right?”
“Mmm, y-yeah. Yeah, that’s fine,” Thea- Tim mumbled. She looked up and saw Harley nodding along, with Ivy and Catwoman looking as though they were storing the information away for later. She hurried to correct them. “Just Tim is fine!”
“M’kay Timmy!” Harley grinned. Tim felt her eye twitch. “D’ya have any more?”
And just like that they were off. Tim happily chatted away with Harley nodding along, piping up with her own comments and silly anecdotes. Slowly, the fruit bowls emptied and Tim leaned further into the couch, eagerly showing off the pictures that she took.
Eventually she ended up half laying on top of Harley with her feet tucked under her. Harley had wrapped an arm around Tim’s shoulders, gently stroking her fingers through Tim’s hair. Ivy sat on Tim’s other side leaning into Harley, and by proxy Tim. Catwoman lounged on the back of the couch, moving so that her chin rested between Tim and Ivy’s heads. They all watched with rapt attention as Tim clicked to the next picture, gesturing wildly.
“-and this one, I was tryin’ ta lean forward on the roof to get a better angle. It worked, look how great this picture is! But I also fell off and skinned my arm… but it was so worth it!”
“Do you fall off roofs a lot?” Catwoman chuckled, her voice tinged with amusement.
“Well not on purpose!” Tim squawked with indignation, “And it’s not that much!”
“Scratch that, do you climb on the roofs a lot?” Ivy asked with a raised eyebrow.
Tim scoffed. “Yeah, duh, how else am I supposed to get the best angles? From behind the dumpster? No way!”
Ivy laughed, bright and happy. “You sure are somethin’, sprout.”
Tim simply stuck her tongue out at her. Ivy cuffed the top of her head with a smile.
“Is that why you were out with a grapple?” Catwoman asked, her head tilted like her namesake.
“Mmm, kinda? I mean I just wanted to keep up with the bats, since they have some routes through the rooftops where I can’t follow on foot. I’ve been trying to make a working grapple but none of my designs work.” Tim sighed and flopped backwards on the couch. Honestly it was so rude of them to use the grapple route as much as they did. It was simply unfair.
“Have you tested them?”
“Yeah. I almost broke my arm that one time, but this was pretty good!” Tim smiled a bit, remembering the feeling of being in the air. She conveniently did not remember the part where she crash-landed into the gangs.
“Ya almost broke ya arm?” Harley sat up with a concerned look on her face. She grabbed Tim’s cheeks, squishing them slightly as she turned Tim’s head this way and that, as though she could find any sign of Tim’s not-injury if she looked hard enough.
“Yeah,” Tim’s voice came out muffled through fish lips, “But I didn’t actually. It’s fine.”
“Where did you say you got the grapples from?” Catwoman asked absently. She had her phone and was scrolling through it rapidly.
“I made them.”
Silence. Tim could practically hear the crickets chirping in the background.
“You… made them.” Ivy stated. She had this sort of dead look in her eyes.
“Yup!”
“Out of… out of what, exactly?” Catwoman sounded more concerned than Tim had ever heard. She had paused her scrolling and was simply staring at Tim.
“Oh, you know. This and that.” Tim was honestly quite proud of how her grapples turned out. She didn’t know why they were all acting like this.
“No I don’t know. Care to elaborate?” Catwoman demanded, a harsh, concerned lilt in her voice.
“Like-” Tim struggled to find the words. Honestly, did they want an exact list? “Wood? Scrap metal I found? Um, I think for this one the rope was like a metal cable and I then made this really neat hook out of some steel scraps. I welded it myself! And then the handle was made out of metal and some plastic tubing and… Oh! And I made this really cool pressurized air compartment that launches the hook super fast and super high. It made it all the way to the roof and with enough force to actually hook properly! It was so cool! And then for the reel I just used a winch I got online and it works awesome. I did forget to make it so that it goes back down but still! Isn’t it great?” Tim rambled excitedly. She would have been gesturing to the different parts of her grapple, but she didn’t have it, so she just settled for waving her camera around.
Catwoman looked impressed. Ivy… did not.
“Woah, you made all that yourself? How did you come up with that?” Catwoman leaned forward and put her hand in Tim’s hair.
Just as Tim opened her mouth to respond, Ivy cut her off.
“Yeah, whatever- did you make a grappling hook out of scraps and then take it out to Crime Alley to test it out? With no safety or anyone else in case it went wrong?” Ivy demanded. She put her hands on Tim’s shoulders and looked her in the eyes.
Catwoman blinked. “Wait, yeah, that’s not good. Don’t- Don’t do that.”
Tim waved her hand at the concern. “It’s fineee, I didn’t even get hurt that badly.”
The women glanced at each other, looking disgruntled, but didn’t push any further.
An awkward silence filled the room. Tim was just about to open her mouth to break the silence when she was suddenly knocked back with so much force that the wind blew out of her lungs.
As she slowly registered what happened, she realized there was something sitting on top of her. A very large something with coarse brown fur and fangs and drool…
A hyena.
What.
“Oh my god, Lou! Get offa her, ya big oaf, what d‘ya think you’re doin’?” Harley’s shrill reprimand cut through the air as she bodily shoved the lumbering creature off. Tim sat up with a wheeze as she processed what just happened. A hyena came out of nowhere and tackled her. What even is her life?
A large wet nose shoved at Tim’s arm. She glanced down to see the hyena putting his snout on her arm looking up at her with the biggest puppy-dog eyes she’s seen in her entire life. He was adorable.
Tim cracked a smile and put a hesitant hand on his head, which he leaned into. She started scratching him behind the ears.
“Awww, isn’t he cute? Sorry about that, though, I don’t know what got into him! He normally doesn’t do that, they don’t like strangers very much,” Harley gushed, grabbing his head and shaking it for emphasis, “Isn’t that right, Lou? You don’t like seeing new people, right baby? Yeah, yeah, I know, hon.”
Tim once again felt a wet nose touching her. But Lou was in Harley’s arms, being subjected to her affections. Tim looked down. There was another hyena.
“Who’s this?”
“That’s Bud. I can’t believe we forgot to mention the hyenas. Pam, why didn’t we mention the hyenas?” Catwoman turned to Ivy, sipping a cup of tea. Where did she get a cup of tea?
Ivy snorted. “Yeah, that’s our bad. Sorry, sprout, have been a shock. I promise, we are not harboring any other dangerous creatures. I think. Selina?”
“Nope, we’re good.”
And, look. Tim did not have a death wish, far from it. She hasn’t even hit double digits, she’s got a lot of life left to live.
But.
She would also love to see and/or pet any dangerous creatures the Sirens may or may not be harboring. For science. Obviously.
Tim settled for petting the dangerous creature beside her.
“Hi Bud,” Tim murmured, “Hello~”
Bud snuffled, nosing Tim’s palm. A green hand reached over and gently rested on Tim’s shoulders.
“Don’t let the cute face fool you, these guys are absolute menaces,” Ivy warned.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Pam, they’re angels!” Harley protested, glaring half-heartedly at Ivy and never once pausing her gentle ministrations on Lou.
Ivy scoffed, turning around to face Harley properly. “Right, and it was just the wind that shattered my brand new pot and ate my leaves?”
Tim giggled at the petty bickering and booped Bud on nose. Tuning out the couples’ banter, she continued lavishing Bud in all the love and affection he deserved. He was such a good boy! Precious baby.
A neatly manicured hand settled between Tim’s own hands, ruffling the fur on top of Bud’s head.
“I guess he’s pretty cute isn’t he?”
Tim looked up at Catwoman. She was leaning over her, but she tilted her head down to look at Tim.
“Though, I still prefer my cats,” Catwoman continued, whispering it like it was a big secret just for her. Tim smiled softly.
“Well I’ve never seen your cats, so I can’t be a good judge,” she smirked.
Catwoman gasped, taking her hand off Bud’s head to hold against her chest dramatically.
“Oh, we just can’t have that, now can we?” demanded Catwoman playfully, a challenge in her eyes.
Apparently dissatisfied with the amount of scritches he was getting, Bud decided to clamber up Tim’s lap, huge paws digging into her legs and tongue lolling wildly. He liked a long stripe up Tim’s face, from her chin all the up to her hair, spiking it up into a cowlick. When she saw, Catwoman laughed, long and hard. Humming softly, she reached over and smoothed it down with her palm.
“One day, I’ll show you my babies. Then you’ll be able to make a good decision, yeah?”
Tim just nodded sleepily. It was really late, even for her. Harley turned around and grinned, snaking an arm around Tim’s shoulders and dragging her into her side. Tim yawned and leaned further into Harley.
“You tired, munchkin?” Harley crooned softly, stroking her fingers through Tim’s hair in a soothing rhythm. It was incredibly relaxing and also incredibly rude because Tim was trying her hardest to stay awake and Harley was making it very difficult.
“No.” Tim said petulantly. She steadily ignores the way her blinks keep getting longer and longer.
“Mhmm, sure, munch,” Harley hummed with a raised eyebrow, “You keep tellin’ yourself that.”
And- look, Tim was trying, okay? But Harley’s hands were really soothing and it was pretty late and- point is, Tim did end up falling asleep. Again.
Only for a second this time though! Tim quickly woke up to the sound of dishes being washed. Ivy was at the sink, humming along to a random song that Tim was too far away to hear and Selina was ushering the hyenas back into their room. Tim blinked around sleepily and discovered that she was still laying on top of Harley, whose hand was absently resting in her hair, stroking it every once in a while, while she used her other hand to scroll on her phone. Sensing Tim’s movement, Harley looked down and smiled.
“Oh, ya up?” she murmured. Tim mumbled a sleepy reply, not quite awake enough to give a proper response. Harley didn’t seem to mind; she merely ran her hand through Tim’s hair again, brushing the hair out of her face.
“Why don’t ya go ta bed, Timmy? Ivy kept your room here, and it's getting late. Little kiddies need their sleep if they wanna grow big and strong!”
Tim only groaned and flopped around a little more. She was not happy with this turn of events. Why can’t she just stay here? Harley was warm and comfy and safe. Tim whined again, squeezing her eyes shut, before rolling over and relaxing again. She managed a good three seconds of peace before she felt someone shaking her shoulder.
“C’mon, Munch, up!” Harley nagged. She slowly untangled herself and got up from the couch before reaching down to tap Tim on the head.
Tim sighed, a deep, mournful sound straight from her soul and slowly dragged herself up. She gave a half-hearted glare at Harley who only cooed in response.
“Atta girl!” Harley cheered, grabbing Tim’s hand and pulling her up the rest of the way. “Alright, c’mon bug, bed now.”
Tim did get up, but not without huffing and puffing about the injustices. I mean, she knew that Harley was technically a villain but seriously, this was taking it too far! She flopped forward like a limp noodle and contemplated her life. She didn’t get very far though, because Harley started nagging again. How rude.
Tim was ushered through the living room into a little hallway half covered in vines that leads to another vine-curtained wall. As Harley pushes through the curtain, Tim realizes that it’s the same bedroom that she was in last time. Everything is exactly how she left it, down to the bedsheets. Harley gently tucked her in and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“D’ya want me to stay here or go back outside?” she murmured.
“Mmmmf, stay,” Tim whined. She reached out and gently held on to Harley’s wrist.
Harley reached over and stroked Tim’s nose, gently closing her eyes with her fingertips.
“Okay bug,” she said, “I’ll stay.”