[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

[everythingspandex]

Are we all pulling a Tony Stark now?

[arachnologist]

Ah.

[oftpartitioned]

BIG NEWS. Whether or not he's a super repressed crossdresser is still unconfirmed.

[notvictorious]

Oh. Yeah, I thought it was the other thing.

[detectivewonder]

It's not.

And if it was, this isn't the way I'd announce it.

[detectivewonder]

As opposed to who?

[detectivewonder]

Yeah, I realize it probably explains a few things.

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

[notvictorious]

Look, nobody's outing you.

[detectivewonder]

Not unless I get a few million back.

[oftpartitioned]

I was gonna.

[notvictorious]

Okay, creepy country guy was going to, but the rest of us aren't. I can't believe you kept up a whole secret identity thing.

[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]

Forgetting whatever Poland has to say, I really don't have any secrets on that front.

At first, the secret identity seemed necessary. Then... I wasn't really in a very 'trusting' place. And then I had people here, friends and family, who didn't want me going public, and I respected that. But even if Souji was still here, I would have gone public this month. I ran out of reasons not to, and I was convinced long ago it was a better idea to be as open as I can be.

[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.

(vigilance network/private)

[shway]

some advance warning wouldve been nice.

(vigilance network/private)

[detectivewonder]

Sorry. Went ahead with it before I lost my nerve. Tim & Terry don't have an unmasked connection right now, and everyone who associates my cowl with some version of yours already knew who I am, so it shouldn't create any links back to you.

... Imagining what he'd be saying, right now?

(vigilance network/private)

[shway]

slag it. its fine. cant say im not used to it. and i might be batman, but im not bruce. what you do with your alter ego is your business in the end.

oh yeah. its giving me nasty flashbacks to the chewing out i got after unmasking for some kid.

(vigilance network/private)

[detectivewonder]

What it comes down to in the end is the New Moore's not Gotham, and the approaches that worked there won't work here. I've hurt my efforts more over the years by hiding things than I would have if I'd been open all along.

But it took me two and a half years to see that.

[everythingspandex]

But seriously did everyone wearing a mask choose to use it for purely aesthetic purposes? I get it's kind of hard what with everyone apparently knowing everything but still.

[detectivewonder]

It took me three years to get to this point. More than a dozen people have found out; everyone I was worried about protecting is gone; and I'm taking over a case where... well, I already said it. The people who know Red Robin need to be able to trust someone. The people who know Tim need to know he can get the job done.

I'm not saying every hero should unmask, Peter. It was just time for me to do it.

[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.