Tim opened the folder.
The moment his fingertip clicked, he didn’t expect much—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTabBlQCUiz
just wanted to see what kind of secrets an ordinary teacher might tuck away in an encrypted file.
It felt like opening Pandora’s box.
The kind where the first glance seems fine,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppgSgQqzXs
the second glance makes you pause,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaG3YnQ0Uz
and by the third, you’re breaking into a cold sweat.
Tim was now progressing through all three stages.
He froze.
No exaggeration—his breath actually hitched.
The files on screen weren’t private notes, nor work journals.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFeNj2nZiz
They were… an unreasonably large information archive on Gotham’s vigilantes.
An entire hoard of data.
The top layer was organized into folders—image logs, character analyses, action records, tagging systems, archived anonymous forum discussions.
Each section held hundreds of entries.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQ09IefMG2
Some even dated back to before Tim had officially put on the costume.
There were files on Batman.
Photos from every appearance, movement analysis, battle-style predictions—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUitOeTfOKg
even heatmaps of likely retreat points when injured.
There were files on other vigilantes too.
Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Batgirl—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbb3Axk2fG
even that new kid, Signal, who’d only just started showing up.
She’d tracked costume changes, appearance frequency, voice comparisons, height correlations…244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZZOBkKVOG
to an almost absurd degree of detail.
There were villain dossiers too.
Joker, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkiZsRQ4ob
each with personal profiles, connection maps, and “interaction intensity with Bat Family” tags.
Okay, maybe she’s just a weird fan of Gotham’s masked population,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NTtCCz9e9
Tim told himself, trying to stay calm—mentally running through possible explanations.
Maybe she was saved as a child by one of them.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7c6s7NLuMC
Maybe she was just obsessed with mystery.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzATa9vjV8
Maybe she was a data junkie.
I mean, wasn’t I a total Batman fanboy too?244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCR0raIDnhP
As a kid, he’d clipped newspaper articles, tried sketching Batman’s fight moves from memory…
Tim reassured himself,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWBVpJ40nT
“This is fine… probably.”
Unfortunately, the next folder shattered that illusion.
As he scrolled down, another layer of folders appeared.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCOEwAULGZ
The titles were clear. Brutally direct.
Each one read:
- Batman x Bruce Wayne244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8ejfwFSed
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6VA1hW50k - Batman x Superman244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNRZ7AnPZO
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYxMd4yfGY - Batman x Nightwing244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDF8ywnL7da
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjh6pCcKZa
All ships.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOIpdhcRO9d
Each with their own titles.
Some were poetic.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNZosJY5tc
Some just used character names.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOKxk1duBYL
Some were marked R18 or Mature.
Cover images were clearly screenshots—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvkgw9tFzp
some were even re-edited from surveillance footage angles Tim recognized.
Altogether, the files totaled terabytes in size.
This wasn’t your average fan collection.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2mXVP7YEd
This was a full-blown database, a creative archive,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzd8YdXmDa
an annotated, curated, fanfiction hell-library.
Tim went completely still.
His knuckles whitened slightly, the hand holding his coffee frozen mid-air.
He glanced side to side—confirmed he was alone—and took a sip of coffee.
The room was silent.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5H5SY37LHg
The screen glowed softly.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9SWSXriiDj
He swallowed dryly, then clicked into one subfolder.
He had to know—was Nora just a collector? Or…
He opened a few files.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACJ3FFbnrR
The very first was a 30,000-word longfic.
Polished formatting.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInA2Fjymyy
Perfect pacing.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitIvIdEBgD
Uncannily accurate character voices.
Confirmed.
She was the author.
Every story bore the name Nightnest.
Not reposted. Not fan-shared.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh630W020Me
Originals—with footnotes, reader comments, and her own replies.
This wasn’t just some writer.
She was the kind of creator Tim had seen before.
Now, he knew who she was.
So that blonde, kind-looking teacher—who loved children and gave her all for her students—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oT5Q9V867
was, in private…
a top-tier author of Batman fanfiction.
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cp7Ce1WOA
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkDnwhJcRI
Tim had to clear his name.
He was not reading Batman fanfiction. Seriously.
He hadn’t clicked these voluntarily.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XmI8EhY0t
It was for investigation. For documentation. For precaution.
He was not the type to scroll forums late at night to see how people wrote about him.
Absolutely not.
But he had to read it.
He was the intel coordinator.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoT7GRMKHp
The systems analyst.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57osBonLHe
The Bat Family’s information manager.
It was his job to know how deep Gotham’s collective fantasy ran.
He had to assess whether any of these Batman fans were getting too close.
Some people guessed too accurately—it became a threat.
Some creators unintentionally pieced together real-world connections.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LIkfcSETA
Even reconstructed critical events.
Some fans were just one step away from identifying Red Robin…244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGHPL1WHg2
or pinpointing Batman’s real address.
That’s where Tim stepped in—to misdirect.
He’d plant false clues in forums,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkc791qcbg
comment on key stories to steer readers off track,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0gmKnqus9
or even create fake accounts to write misleading fanfics of his own.
In some cases, he’d temporarily hack a fan’s system—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgGusmGY7g
not to destroy anything, just cause a brief outage, disrupt backups, scramble files.
“We respect creativity…244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtonVIPJyR
but not if it accidentally blows up our lives.”
Honestly, most fans didn’t care about the truth.
They just wanted the smut.
They wanted to see someone slammed against a wall, cape tossed aside,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpg1zD06vJp
followed by the line:244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAF2sDiAAt
“Tonight, you are my city.”
Lots of physical tension.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRD6nriixSL
Bodies tangling. Uniforms torn. Gloves half-removed—
Tim was losing it.
Some passages were so realistic,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOiIa9il1p
he nearly shut the whole system down right then.
These days, he had the Batcomputer’s AI scan them for him.
Semantic tagging.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWhEULFXWV
Trigger-word filters.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9CqUY7Hf0
Subject detection.
If there was an issue, the AI flagged it.
Only then would Tim step in.
He’d review the summaries, check engagement levels,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLZOm7By2F
and intervene if necessary.
No more manually reading every word,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrJbZQr8lE
no more sleepless 3 a.m. coffee nights thinking:244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOK1bxQjIE
“Would I actually say that?”
Now, Tim sat before the screen in thought.
Before him was the full database—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyQSQ8zzOi
Nightnest’s entire creative and curated archive.
Each title marked by timestamp and genre.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3c9CSvGnFn
It looked like a sacred index of someone’s private sanctuary.
A kindergarten teacher with this kind of hobby…244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaDA1nhsvI
could she really pose any threat to the vigilantes?
Didn’t seem like it.
She hadn’t posted any real identity guesses.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrV6AXwg3QN
She’d never contacted any organizations or joined real-life meetups.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6GVk1xbCd
She just wrote. Alone. Quietly.
Would she be dangerous to Finn?
Also unlikely.
Her behavior at school was impeccable.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhiyj4Aws3
Interactions were appropriate.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLB1TnU9fie
The kids adored her—and she genuinely seemed to put them first.
I’ll review the database thoroughly before making a call,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQC9BMGsHTb
Tim decided.
He tapped a few keys, launching his analysis program.
This time, it wasn’t just for the Bat Family.
It was also… to figure out who she really was.
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIj0PrN69I3
Completely against Tim’s expectations—
Nora’s database was mostly focused on character development.
He had anticipated rows of logic deductions, tactical predictions, maybe even attempts to unmask their identities.
But in reality… almost none of that was there.
Nora wasn’t the theorizing type.
She wasn’t trying to deduce the truth from scattered clues, nor had she built any massive real-world matching web.
Her interests were clearly elsewhere—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJhn6SSU8F
storytelling, character arcs… and smut.
The only thing she seemed remotely analytical about… was the body.
Especially character height and physique.
And oddly enough, her guesses were pretty accurate.
Tim opened a few of her works focused on Nightwing—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsgF7dfslL
and realized the body proportions she used were almost a perfect match to Dick’s actual measurements.
But that, to be fair, was inevitable.
Photos gave away a lot.
How tall someone looked from certain angles, how broad they seemed standing next to others,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENc4q7BYDb
which side they leaned on when injured—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqwYhzeqQo
observe long enough, and anyone could start estimating the truth.
What Nora was really good at… was writing sex scenes.
She was very good at it.
Detailed, fluid, full of tension, and disturbingly polished.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ITHL8iiO9
Her prose carried weight, restraint, and that addictive pull that made it hard to stop reading.
She even tracked outfit variations just to write better undressing sequences.
Her fans loved her NSFW content.
On forums, her ID was constantly mentioned.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmXBdS0R1h
One comment read,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkB6aHGxWoe
“I’ve re-read the Whitechapel Nightwing fic ten times.”244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhTHxNXIjE
Another said,244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGF1DQ1fgo
“Now that’s how you write post-battle kissing.”
Her writing style was even dubbed:244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rWqR9j6yN
“Gotham’s Most Dangerous Erotic Weapon.”
Each post racked up millions of views.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFyetWdGoP
Hearts. Bookmarks. Endless comment threads.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiboecQBDzm
The sheer numbers screamed top-tier fandom legend.
Some even called her:244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgA0cJd4gn
“The lighthouse of Gotham fanfic.”
And yet—Nora had never written about Red Robin.
Tim had checked.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaAMtoaZL3
Multiple times.
He even ran the entire database through his AI scanner—automated search and semantic tagging.
No “Red Robin.” No codename. No face.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4Pj5L2RXo
Nothing.
Why?244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVZeIajQiE
Why no Red Robin?
Tim frowned, scrolling with his fingertip, an odd sort of confusion blooming inside him.
Was he… not worth writing about?244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNR6udGVad
Or had she simply never noticed him?
In her entire database, Tim searched.
Red Robin only came up in bits and pieces.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDj4c2hveeX
Scattered notes, short mentions—mostly minor relational footnotes with other characters.
Meanwhile, Nightwing and Red Hood had dozens of pages.
Some even had dedicated folders, quotes collections, post-battle psychological interpretations.
That question began to coil in Tim’s head.
Like a snake with no head or tail—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdfZAM4PDL
it didn’t bite.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9OOWIEQp2
Just… slowly wrapped itself around his nerves.
Tim started digging into Nora’s replies to readers.
On the forum, he searched for the keyword “Red Robin,”244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCyNyPestd
pulling the timeline all the way back—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47OUeIp0KK
hoping to see if fans had ever brought this up.
They had.
One thread from four years ago popped up.
Someone asked:244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cSTGZIZaY
“Why do you never write Red Robin? I think he’s super hot.”
Tim scrolled down.
Among the comments was one posted by Nightnest herself.
Calm tone. Short. No twists or detailed reasoning.
Nora replied under her pen name:
“He’s a kid. I don’t want to commit a crime.”
Tim:244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwiUhNOdh9
????????!!!!!!!!
He stared at that line for five whole seconds before his brain rebooted.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen people make jokes like that online before.
But now the subject was him.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6NyKal8hi
Red Robin.244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFfOrbxdq0
Tim Drake.
And her reason for excluding him entirely from her work…
Was because “it would be illegal.”
Tim slowly raised his coffee cup and took a sip—244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv195AXR0QP
only to realize it had been empty for a while.
Now he didn’t know whether to feel insulted, confused…244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAc8afrz5Q
or just a little bit relieved.
244Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iVGEMQ6QJ
and then Add to home screen.