[video]

[detectivewonder]

[A webcam clicks on, revealing Tim sitting at his computer, the rheostat dialed down slightly in the room so the lights are yellow, warm, and dim.]

I was going to make a big production of this, like my last video.  I’ve got four versions, one fifteen minutes long with four different kinds of footage spliced in.  But that didn’t feel right.

I used to think I had good reasons for keeping secrets.  Secrets kept me and the people I cared safe for a long time.  Lately, I’ve had a lot of reasons to rethink that.

A year ago, Seta Souji asked me to take over his investigation if anything happened to him.  But to do that… I need to be someone people can talk to, and someone people will trust to be able to do that job.  To rescue people.

I haven’t always been the most social person on the island, but I think since I took over running the New Brew a lot of you have gotten to know me better.  

[He leans back, and takes a deep breath.  The motion brings his shoulders into view, which means everyone can see the red of his suit and the black of the cape.]

And since I’ve been patrolling as Red Robin for three years, helping the police and helping Souji fight Shadows almost since they first arrived… I hope you can trust me with that part of the job, too.

If you’ve got any questions, you can contact me here or at the New Brew, and I’ll answer them.

Comments

[detectivewonder]

Yeah, I realize it probably explains a few things.

If it helps, the New Brew has really state-of-the-art security.

[arachnologist]

It explains what I started to suspect about you a while ago, Tim. You keep a lot of secrets. I guess it just sort of followed logically that on an island of people full of superpowers, you ... were maybe doing your own thing.

[detectivewonder]

Most of my secrets are... well, this one. One way or another.

I've been here since I was seventeen. Before anyone with powers was going on patrol here. Long before I got into the coffeeshop business.

[arachnologist]

God. That's a long time. You've had this -- whole life. I mean, I remember the other video post. It was incredible.

I mean, you've -- you've lived a really significant portion of your life here. Is it -- is it weird, ever?

[detectivewonder]

It was weird... a year and a half ago, maybe. When I started to get used to it. Now it's just my life.

The vigilante thing goes back further, though. Since I was thirteen. So I already have experience in... everything you know about the way you live your life changing.

For one thing, I used to sleep more than four hours a night.

[arachnologist]

[ That gets a soft, single laugh. ]

Is it -- you know, I had this feeling? I guess when you grow up all your life when your dad's an NYPD cop. Captain. [ Her mouth twitches. ] There's just a sense of duty about those guys. I grew up around cops and law enforcement my entire life. There's just this quality about them, in the way they look at you. You had the same thing. Sorry, it's -- this probably sounds weird.

[detectivewonder]

I've worked with cops the whole time I've done this. Not always closely, but... I know what you mean. it's not weird at all. And I'm... really flattered, actually.

[arachnologist]

[ Gwen pauses, fighting off a wave of sudden emotion that makes her press a hand under one of her eyes. Sometimes thinking about her father does this to her. ]

... he hated vigilantes. [ She says it with a laugh. ] But he, um. He changed his mind. Right before. You know. [ Breathe, Gwen, come on. ] You're a good guy, Tim. I don't think -- you're not that different. From what he was, what he stood for. So. [ Her mouth quirks. ] Red Robin, huh.

[detectivewonder]

It used to be just Robin. The title got passed down through five of us; I was number three. When it was time to move on... I know the name and costume aren't the most inspiring, but in Gotham, they already had a meaning.

[It seems... safer... not to address the rest, not right away. And they'd talked about it before, a little.]