In this story I break away from the movie's idea that R'as knew exactly who Bruce Wayne was while he was training him. I also carry on with calling Richard Grayson Rick.

The only characters I created in this story line is Helena Troy, Rick's social worker. Everyone else belongs to DC, though an author's note involves a well known line from somewhere else.

I also mess with the usual persona associated with almost all of the characters. I try to keep these stories PG or less, so please do the same with any comments.

Batman and Robin

Book 2

I couldn't help but be nervous. Going to school for the first time was bad enough without the huge secret that was almost a physical presence on my shoulders. Then again, with how much wait the robin gear added to my backpack, it was.

I took a deep breath and got out of the back of one of the less noticeable cars that usually resided in Wayne Mansions ginormous garage. I knew that I was starting school a full week late. The last case Batman and I had worked on had assured that. It was easy enough to find an excuse for a still recently orphaned boy to start school late.

I forced back the tears at that last thought, knowing it would just set me up as a target for bullies. I slid a fake smile onto my face. It wouldn't have the same vibrancy that had gotten some of Batman's friends to laugh when they found out the little ball of joy was the sidekick to the least emotional man anyone had ever met. It had made Superman laugh even more when he had found out about the pajamas that I had gotten Alfred to buy me.

It was probably one of the best pranks I had ever pulled on Bruce. I wore them all the time. I still idolized Batman more then I ever would the man of steel.

The welcoming committee came over led by a girl with bright red hair that starkly contrasted her green eyes. She was cute. Even though I was just nine, I could tell that much. She managed to make the stupid school uniform look good. She said, "Welcome to Gotham Academy." Her confidence shown out, making my smile become legitimate. She continued, "My name is Barb. I take it you are Richard."

I corrected automatically, "Just Rick."

That seemed to mess with her a little. I took it that she didn't like being interrupted while monologing. That made doing it all the more fun. It made my real smile brighten a little more.

She said, "You've been put in fifth grade courses. I'll guide you to your classes."

Now I bet right now your thinking to yourself, 'wait, didn't he just say he's nine. That would put him in like third grade, fourth if he was a younger kid.' Apparently my test scores were high enough that I got to, more like had if you really asked me, go to fifth grade rather then third grade like I should have.

I said easily, "Thanks."

She obviously wanted to continue her monolog, but she was interrupted by the bell ringing. I let her lead the way inside, though I had memorized the blue prints of the school the night before in case I needed to escape quickly.

I knew I would be short. I just didn't realize that they stuck giants in along with the regular student body. If I hadn't been in training for the past three months, I might have been in trouble. Thankfully, I had, though if you listened closely you may have heard me say a few completely unfamiliar words under my breath. They weren't cuss words as most of you most likely immediately assumed. I was saying the names of obscure foreign breakfast foods. It was my version of cursing. Crapes worked well, since most people assumed they had heard me say something else. The man of steel had questioned, what with his super hearing and all, and I had explained that it was impossible to get punished for calling something the German name for eggs.

Barb led me to my locker, which turned out to be right next to hers. Since they were organized by last name, I could only assume hers was close to mine as the alphabet went.

She led me to the first class, and the only one I was dreading. I could show proficiency in math, science, social studies, English, or anything else, but Spanish was something I had to pretend not to know.

It was my own fault really. I had yelled at a couple of guys that only spoke Spanish. A cop had heard it along with a couple of citizens. It was only a matter of time before the news paper read, "Boy Wonder speaks Spanish". I figured it must have been a slow week. The problem way, I was fluent in Spanish. In the circus, during the winter, we had traveled internationally. Many of the countries we visited were Spanish speaking, so it would have been bad if I didn't learn how to speak it fluently. I was more comfortable with Russian and German, but Spanish had made it's way onto the 'Speaks Fluently' list that for some reason or other the social worker assigned my case kept. It might be because I would occasionally slip into another language by accident when I let my guard down. I did it on purpose occasionally to annoy Bruce.

The teacher, Mrs. Santos broke through my thoughts by saying, "We have a new student in class today. Lets give a warm welcome to Richard."

I corrected easily, "Just Rick." Immediately the whole class turned their attention to me. It was easy to pick out the look of a bully, a kind of measuring up as to whether or not they could take me (for the record they could never even approach my level, even after only three months of hand to hand combat training); from the popular kids, which was more like 'why did they stick this runt in our class'; from the geeks, 'I wonder if he'll be nice; to the loaners slightly curious, but still obvious lack of caring.

I was assigned a desk in the back corner of the room. I liked that due to the training I had received. It made it easy to keep an eye on everything, and see attacks coming before they hit. That training also let me dodge, with out showing the effort of dodging, the spit wads that were shot my way by the bullies.

Mr. Santos was talking about Spanish nouns. I slipped my wireless headphones into my ears. I figured the best use I had for the class would be brushing up on my lip reading techniques. The way he carefully articulated the words actually made it a bit more difficult, but I managed to figure out what he was saying before he wrote the word on the board.

I was sitting at my desk. I wished that the day would be more eventful, to take my mind off of my young ward. Most parents would wonder, 'will he make any friends' or 'will he be himself. I was busy wondering, 'will he make a mistake and reveal his identity,' and 'was it a mistake to have him enroll in classes with kids two years older then him?' I worried about the normal parents things to, but not as much. Rick was generally a likeable kid. He certainly managed to wrap Superman around his little finger. I sighed thinking about those Superman pajamas. I still couldn't be sure he had only gotten them to prank me, since he wore them every night. I pushed the thought from my head as Fox entered to give me a morning update of Wayne Enterprise's operations.

I was mad. Zucco's men had let the boy get away. It had been three months since then. Batman and Robin had taken down Zucco's entire organization during the course of that time. The boy hadn't resurfaced. There was nothing more to lure him out with. Zucco still had the man that had actually planted the small vials on the ropes, but he had no way of letting the boy know that.

Bruce Wayne had successfully taken the boy in without alerting the media. He had even blacklisted the boy, so that none of the media could touch him without getting sued. Of course, until some hacker found the blacklisting, no one would even know.

If the League of Shadows hadn't already have men within the school investigating another possible student, then I wouldn't have even known where he was attending.

Bruce Wayne reminded me of someone I had met years before. A man that had almost managed to take down the entire League by himself. I wanted to write it off, until I realized that Bruce Wayne had been missing until only a few months after that particular event had occurred. It was possible that Bruce Wayne had League training. That would make the mission even more difficult, but I was confident that the assassins could pull off the kidnapping of Richard Grayson. They might even take the other child we were investigating as a bonus.

It had been a fairly easy day after Spanish. Some of the classes required a bit more catching up then others. Current events was fun because all anyone would talk about was superheroes. They liked Batman and Robin if only because they were the protectors of Gotham. I sat quietly at the back of the class smiling, but concealing the knowing look that tried to show as well. I was glad to hear about last night's patrol, which I had already read from Batman's reports early that morning. It had taken my mind off of the upcoming school day.

Barb seemed to have the hots for Robin, which I had a hard time not laughing about. Once you got passed the projected confidence and bossiness, she was pretty nice. We were already becoming fast friends, even though she was a full two years my senior. I related well to people older then me. It came with the whole responsibility thing, which came with being a superhero. (Author's note-this is me refusing to say with great power comes great responsibility. I like Marvel and all, but this is DC)

It was finally lunch time, something my stomach had been begging for due to the fact that I skipped breakfast. I pulled my lunch box out of my locker.

Barb asked, "Do you want to sit with me and my friends?"

I shrugged and said, "Sure." Those green eyes were almost as convincing as mine, but only almost. I was pretty sure that in a battle to get an adult to due something, mine would win. Unless, the person happened to be Bruce. He would totally side with Barb. If only for some prank I had pulled on him previously in the week.

I followed her to the cafeteria, though was fairly confident that if you asked anyone, you would find them saying that they hadn't seen my making my way to the cafeteria. A little extra practice moving through the shadows never hut anyone, though it made for the most hilarious faces when you suddenly seemed to appear out of a shadow in the middle of a private conversation. It let me get a feel for what gossip was being spread about the new, incredibly young addition to the fifth grade class. I also heard a surprising amount about my alter ego. Some of the stuff I heard about my two identities almost made me beat some kids up, if I didn't know Bruce would ban me from patrol, and even possibly the gym, for a solid month. I made it to the lunch room without destroying anyone, and sat down next to Barb.

A tall blond boy came over and said to me, "Move it puny, that's my seat."

I saw the slightly frightened look in Barb's eye and said, "I'm pretty sure my friend here would disagree." I hadn't expected for violence to start so quickly, but I still could have avoided the sock to the gut. Unfortunately, it would have blown my secret identity, so instead I turned, so I wouldn't puke.

I got a bruised rib instead, but it was totally worth it. The kicks to the back were to. I didn't throw any of my own punches, but I made sure none of the damage the now grouped bullies did to me would hurt. I was just glad that I had managed to shift their attention from Barb. Bruce would write off any bruises as ones that occurred when I was Robin or in training as long as I protected my face.

Some teachers came over and forced the boys to leave me alone. I easily got up, one of the teachers asked if I wanted to go to the nurse, but I shook my head. I had gotten worse injuries on nights when we hadn't met anyone on patrol.

Barb said, "Thank you." When I sat back down.

I just shrugged.

I should have paid more attention to the two teachers behind us. I shouldn't have written them off as making sure no one else tried to beat me up. I should have listened to that paranoid thought that suggested they weren't regular teachers. These were the thoughts that ran through my head when the two teachers grabbed Barb and I from behind, and shoved guns into our sides. I managed to press the emergency button on my utility belt, which I had of course brought with me in honor of rule number one, 'Never I mean never leave your utility belt or wrist computer at home.' It was one rule I followed religiously.

The teacher holding me shoved something over my mouth, and I passed out after another couple of breaths.

Finally, the plan was coming together.

I'll try to update this story within a week.