Tim opened the folder.
The moment his fingertip clicked, he didn’t expect much—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZrGvRcTf3
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,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinZmvcWY0W
the second glance makes you pause,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcm6e7cc2s0
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGRLNhWqjj
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKAp4qSXpAd
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—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdARDit6Di
even heatmaps of likely retreat points when injured.
There were files on other vigilantes too.
Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Batgirl—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNHJmlBZI8
even that new kid, Signal, who’d only just started showing up.
She’d tracked costume changes, appearance frequency, voice comparisons, height correlations…167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyDfaEjPQd
to an almost absurd degree of detail.
There were villain dossiers too.
Joker, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIxaJGcrrf
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,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXLyBKsJHF
Tim told himself, trying to stay calm—mentally running through possible explanations.
Maybe she was saved as a child by one of them.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKmgv7Ha9Q
Maybe she was just obsessed with mystery.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfB9tDSWHDR
Maybe she was a data junkie.
I mean, wasn’t I a total Batman fanboy too?167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTt1oRqxxCk
As a kid, he’d clipped newspaper articles, tried sketching Batman’s fight moves from memory…
Tim reassured himself,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl2ebZANe3J
“This is fine… probably.”
Unfortunately, the next folder shattered that illusion.
As he scrolled down, another layer of folders appeared.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTzK6QXEE1
The titles were clear. Brutally direct.
Each one read:
- Batman x Bruce Wayne167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKi6Pd3P1Xz
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKTIbgpKJA - Batman x Superman167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvifNuOPDMY
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DQkKfmO0C - Batman x Nightwing167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDG2uOyHY4
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MZR5R3ilm
All ships.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUUe25SksN
Each with their own titles.
Some were poetic.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkD3vJhPB7s
Some just used character names.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxnYB8Eo9U
Some were marked R18 or Mature.
Cover images were clearly screenshots—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNojimm0jo
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2bsn4gHkq
This was a full-blown database, a creative archive,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjgMaZ90Au
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzaiMRaCNOl
The screen glowed softly.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjZ8qbCvu1
He swallowed dryly, then clicked into one subfolder.
He had to know—was Nora just a collector? Or…
He opened a few files.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzWgxAxlFM
The very first was a 30,000-word longfic.
Polished formatting.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40pR6ewBNB
Perfect pacing.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpcqvC8Qio
Uncannily accurate character voices.
Confirmed.
She was the author.
Every story bore the name Nightnest.
Not reposted. Not fan-shared.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegPM1ugWM4
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—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEETJvmI03W
was, in private…
a top-tier author of Batman fanfiction.
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ICPp0cbWc
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmgyRCEAW2
Tim had to clear his name.
He was not reading Batman fanfiction. Seriously.
He hadn’t clicked these voluntarily.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhBnes82eP
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgzMWQzlVPK
The systems analyst.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfxPdag5zxE
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEE9WXnUfFL
Even reconstructed critical events.
Some fans were just one step away from identifying Red Robin…167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0X1bTMkKRm
or pinpointing Batman’s real address.
That’s where Tim stepped in—to misdirect.
He’d plant false clues in forums,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwjfUdwdSr
comment on key stories to steer readers off track,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcL6T0M95MC
or even create fake accounts to write misleading fanfics of his own.
In some cases, he’d temporarily hack a fan’s system—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADycg6pYlG
not to destroy anything, just cause a brief outage, disrupt backups, scramble files.
“We respect creativity…167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPT2WSSiQd4
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,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMahRlImf4m
followed by the line:167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIocOgT7FpD
“Tonight, you are my city.”
Lots of physical tension.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDTpHWH1ecy
Bodies tangling. Uniforms torn. Gloves half-removed—
Tim was losing it.
Some passages were so realistic,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFfak8lhium
he nearly shut the whole system down right then.
These days, he had the Batcomputer’s AI scan them for him.
Semantic tagging.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlAUnc9dxV
Trigger-word filters.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdidOu23vNz
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,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60cnnWCm3B
and intervene if necessary.
No more manually reading every word,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1TYr4EyeH
no more sleepless 3 a.m. coffee nights thinking:167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXod9rwgnC
“Would I actually say that?”
Now, Tim sat before the screen in thought.
Before him was the full database—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzZ5tUFpAO
Nightnest’s entire creative and curated archive.
Each title marked by timestamp and genre.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jFMv0AZYZ
It looked like a sacred index of someone’s private sanctuary.
A kindergarten teacher with this kind of hobby…167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡma73fwhWqk
could she really pose any threat to the vigilantes?
Didn’t seem like it.
She hadn’t posted any real identity guesses.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iVzdkjbzK
She’d never contacted any organizations or joined real-life meetups.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcWLN3YLv0
She just wrote. Alone. Quietly.
Would she be dangerous to Finn?
Also unlikely.
Her behavior at school was impeccable.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxJJWCQtyA
Interactions were appropriate.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmq8AzeOz5
The kids adored her—and she genuinely seemed to put them first.
I’ll review the database thoroughly before making a call,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH29uVux0D
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.
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfe13v8PML
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—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMJdLSzyaD
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—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkwwnHeIMD
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,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdihXGfZEXo
which side they leaned on when injured—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsh0S6Jzwj
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0evWzKIGYT
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ173gycrkIc
One comment read,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sOthObmQJ
“I’ve re-read the Whitechapel Nightwing fic ten times.”167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXucMFAOiJ
Another said,167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQI3rWcV2Q2
“Now that’s how you write post-battle kissing.”
Her writing style was even dubbed:167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdEz4zcFEhK
“Gotham’s Most Dangerous Erotic Weapon.”
Each post racked up millions of views.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrpEIQTKxc
Hearts. Bookmarks. Endless comment threads.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKJRxv1zBn
The sheer numbers screamed top-tier fandom legend.
Some even called her:167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAcAlgsSaK
“The lighthouse of Gotham fanfic.”
And yet—Nora had never written about Red Robin.
Tim had checked.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykjepY9XPm
Multiple times.
He even ran the entire database through his AI scanner—automated search and semantic tagging.
No “Red Robin.” No codename. No face.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8ZSeV9eRT
Nothing.
Why?167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapDQjaZVgU
Why no Red Robin?
Tim frowned, scrolling with his fingertip, an odd sort of confusion blooming inside him.
Was he… not worth writing about?167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthCKOTqsSi
Or had she simply never noticed him?
In her entire database, Tim searched.
Red Robin only came up in bits and pieces.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhC5tOblML
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—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6QuGKvvA1u
it didn’t bite.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5g2NUGjh8
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,”167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfd0j6YCkgZ
pulling the timeline all the way back—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdb4Wdx94in
hoping to see if fans had ever brought this up.
They had.
One thread from four years ago popped up.
Someone asked:167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvopYUB8f1p
“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:167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLs0yhXR5dn
????????!!!!!!!!
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.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBkXNtB8nU
Red Robin.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe83vV3JVok
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—167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEClv40qt6
only to realize it had been empty for a while.
Now he didn’t know whether to feel insulted, confused…167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsx3TXmYsQW
or just a little bit relieved.
167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPPHRzsVpOK
and then Add to home screen.