Disclaimer: Characters and locales belong to DC. I'm just borrowing them.

Context: Batman #424

Thanks to Kathy for the beta!

If A Tree Falls…

He waits on the balcony directly facing Felipe's apartment. Bruce warned him about this. "He's going back to Bogatago in disgrace. It's the best we can hope for, Jason. At least he'll be out of Gotham. Let his own government deal with him."

Somehow, though, Jason doesn't think that the repercussions facing Felipe Garzonas on his home soil will be overly severe. He peers through his binoculars, and activates the infrared sensors. As he's expected, there are no guards posted within the apartment or outside of it. Clearly, the young man is free to come and go at will. Garzonas appears to be talking to himself as he busies himself at the—does he actually have a private bar in there? The costumed youth shakes his head. Thanks to Batman's lessons in lip-reading, he has no problem deciphering the monologue.

"Adiós, Estados Unidos. It will not be easy for me back in Bogatago. Father will be furious."

His father. Robin's eyes go flat. This… bastard has kidnapped, beaten, possibly raped at least one young woman—and he's just worried about his father, and not the authorities? He fires his grapnel, catching it on the building cornice directly above Felipe's balcony.

"No more cocaine. How sad. No more liberated American women, either…"

Robin makes sure that the grappling hook is secure, then swings across. No, Felipe won't terrorize any more American women—but there are other places in the world besides America. He sniffs. Try telling that to Bruce. It's hard enough to get him to admit that there are other places besides Gotham.

He knows bluster when he hears it. He can recognize bravado—he's used it often enough. He isn't seeing it now. When Garzonas returns home, he'll probably face some sort of lecture about how he's disgraced his father and that'll be the end of it. And then, he'll start preying on women again. Gloria Stanson hung herself after what Felipe did to her. How many more women will this monster destroy?

Jason answers his own question. No more. Bruce has told him that his duty is to protect the public—to put the criminals behind bars where they can't hurt anyone again. Well… he can't put Felipe behind bars. And, left on his own, Felipe will continue to hurt people. Robin can't let that happen.

He touches onto the balcony railing and stands face-to-face with the diplomat's son. The young man is so surprised he drops his drink.

"Felipe," Robin snarls. For the first time, the ice in his voice rivals that of his mentor's.

Garzonas trembles. "You!" He whispers. "No! I'll stop…" He charges at the angry teen.

Afterwards, Jason is never sure whether he had a choice. His body reacts instinctively and he hurls himself to one side, out of the young man's path. Felipe is unable to stop. His momentum propels him over the balcony and screaming down toward the street below.

The scene seems to play out in slow motion. Robin sees the man fall. He detaches his grapnel from the cornice. The line is in his hand, ready to toss. His arm freezes. He hadn't meant for this to happen. He'd only wanted to scare Felipe the way Batman would have—scare him so bad he'd never try anything again. Except… it didn't work that way for Batman very often either. Look at Two-Face, KGBeast, Scarecrow… Indecision holds him a few crucial seconds longer—and then Felipe is out of range. Robin puts away the grapnel.

Batman arrives a moment later. "ROBIN! What happened?"

He's about to explain, when his mentor's eyes narrow behind the Starlite lenses.

"Robin," he demands, "did Felipe fall… or was he pushed?"

Pushed? You think I'd… YOU SONOFA…! HE tried to kill ME. I jumped out of the way. It was self de—you know something? The hell with it. You're not going to believe me anyway. Jason takes a deep breath. "I guess I spooked him," he says blandly. "He slipped."

And then, he's away and sailing into the night. Away from Felipe. Away from Batman. Flying free.