So this is an individual plot line about Tim Drake (aka Robin), during the Team's hardest time (you know, about 1 year before season two... THAT time? No? Whatever then lol).


The night was quiet, only disturbed from time to time by the honking of cars coming from the main road in Gotham City.

Tim Drake, known to most as Robin, the Boy Wonder, crouched on the head of a gargoyle, his hidden eyes staring down at the tiny people that walked far below him.

"See anything?" The Dark Knight's gruff voice said.

Robin turned and shook his head.

"Nobody's gone in since we came." He reported, referring to the mission they were currently on, which was tracking a group of notorious thieves that had so far escaped the Batman and his sidekick.

Because of this, Tim hadn't seen the Team in a while, but from what he'd heard from Nightwing, they were 'doing fine without his intellect and smart-aleck responses'. Robin wasn't too hurt- He knew that the Team often got annoyed when he over-analyzed a situation, particularly when it was a simple conversation.

It had been a while since Robin had done some real crime-fighting with his mentor, and he welcomed the chance to settle back into their usual routine of covering each other's backs.

Without a sound, the Dark Knight moved forward, the movement of his feet hidden by the long, dark cape that was attached to his cowl.

Batman leaned, unafraid at the huge amount of uncovered distance between him and the ground. His eyes, sharp as always, joined Robin's as they raked over the citizens of Gotham who were passing by the jewelry store they thought was the group's target.

Robin's gaze shifted away from the store, his eyes wandering from person to person. They eventually slid over the entrance to an alleyway, and the Boy Wonder froze.

Batman, feeling his protégé tense beside him, murmured to him quietly.

"What is it?"

But as the Dark Knight asked the question, Tim blinked, and what he thought he saw was gone.

"I-Nothing." He said lamely. "Just thought I saw something, that's all."

Batman raised an eyebrow underneath his cowl, and noticed the Robin was trying very hard not to look at him.

He didn't press the boy, however, and the dynamic duo continued their silent watch.


The next day, Tim threw himself onto one of the many couches of Wayne Manor before letting out a huge yawn.

The Boy Wonder had spent all of the night waiting on the gargoyle for the gangsters to show up, but they never appeared.

Eventually, Batman relented as the sun started to come up and told him to head back home.

Feeling guilty, but relieved, Robin had taken the offer and had raced back home so he could slip back into his identity of Tim Drake and his bed.

The Boy Wonder had just taken off his costume and relaxed under a hot, pounding shower, the water and steam relaxing his stiff muscles.

Now that he was finally alone, however, thoughts started spinning around in his brain. He was almost certain he had seen it, but the moment he had looked again, it had disappeared. Older, taller maybe, but still familiar.

He finally put it down to stress, and lay down on the couch, his face resting on the pillows that came with it, and slept.


Night had once again descended upon Gotham City. Bruce was barely managing to keep himself alert, and felt remembered the time he had had to stay awake for three days straight. He had even had to go into a coffee shop to give him a caffeine boost, as falling asleep would have caused mayhem.

"Hey Bats." Nightwing's relatively cheerful voice caused the Dark Knight's head to snap around.

Seeing that it was his old protégé, he relaxed, but felt a little annoyed that he hadn't been able to sense Nightwing earlier.

"Aren't you meant to be with the Team?" Batman asked in surprise, and became even more shocked as Nightwing's smile instantly fell away, his face becoming sorrowful.

"What ha-" Bruce began, but Dick cut him off.

"I don't really want to talk about it now. You'll find out soon enough."

But in the next moment, Nightwing plastered another smile on his face, though it seemed to forced. "So, I managed to sneak up on the great Batman."

"You're getting better." The Dark Knight admitted, changing position to relieve his stiff and aching muscles.

Nightwing flashed him a grin, but it was slightly tinged with concern as he observed his obviously tired mentor.

"How long have you been here?" He asked, leaning against the stone façade.

"Since yesterday." The Dark Knight retorted, his still-alert eyes sweeping the street.

Nightwing raised a hidden eyebrow. "Huh. That must be why I found Rob wiped out on the couch when I came for a visit."

Batman turned sharply at the mention of his protégé, guilt already rising in him at having driven his sidekick so hard when he needed rest.

Nightwing raised a hand.

"He didn't seem too exhausted." He corrected himself quickly, seeing the pain it caused the older man. "But his forehead was all scrunched up; you know, the way it is when he goes to bed thinking about something really hard."

Batman jerked his head once in understanding.

"He seemed fine when he was with me." The Dark Knight noted. "Well, except that one moment…" His face deepened into yet another scowl, this one thoughtful as he recalled his protégé's behavior.

"What happened?" Nightwing asked curiously, his gloved hand lifting up to brush away the shaggy hair that was constantly falling into his mask-and eyes.

Batman shrugged, an unusual gesture on the stoic vigilante.

"We were both keeping an eye on the city-" Batman stopped momentarily as he realized that he wasn't doing his job.

Turning back to the view, he continued. "When Robin suddenly froze. I asked him what was wrong, but he brushed me off, saying he thought he saw something."

Bruce's eyes narrowed behind his cowl, and used his hand to gesture at three men who had just entered the store.

Nightwing nodded his understanding.

"Should we take them out first?" He questioned.

The Caped Crusader sighed. "As much as Robin is important, I need to get that threesome in jail."

Nightwing's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "Want some help?"

Batman grunted, with Dick immediately translated as a 'well, duh'.

"Let's get to it then!" Nightwing said cheerfully before launching himself into the sky, his hand already reached out to let a grappling hook latch onto a nearby roof.

"Come on old man!" Bruce heard Dick yell.

His scowl deepened even further.

"I'm still in my forties!" He shouted back, only to feel embarrassment rise up in him.

How did that man make him act so childish?

Instead of trying to answer the impossible question, Batman swung after his ex-partner, clearly hearing his signature cackle echo throughout Gotham.

"He'll never change." Bruce grumbled.


Tim finally woke up in the early morning, confusion a fog spread through his head.

"Master Timothy?" Alfred was beside the young man, his suit as impeccable as always.

"Yeah Alfred?" Tim winced as he got a massive head rush from standing up too quickly.

"Master Bruce wanted me to inform you that the criminals were apprehended and that he gave you an excuse from school yesterday.

Tim's blue eyes widened.

"Oops."

Alfred chuckled quietly. "Everything is fine, Master Tim. Master Dick also came around yesterday evening, but since you were resting, he left."

Tim clapped a hand to his head. "Ugh! I was meaning to ask him about how the Team was doing!"

"Don't worry, he will probably return." Alfred comforted the boy, but Tim was mostly irritated with himself.

"What time is it?" Tim asked suddenly.

"I believe it is around 2 in the morning Master Timothy."

"What are you doing up?" Tim asked in confusion.

"I was watching over you. Master Bruce was quite worried about you."

"Thanks, Alfred." Tim asked, slightly confused until it dawned on him that Bruce had probably been referring to his strange behavior yesterday.

Alfred gave him a smile.

"Hey, I'm gonna go out for a while, okay? If Bruce comes, tell him I'm at Mt. Justice."

"And will you be there, Sir?" Alfred said, raising an eyebrow.

Tim smiled. "Don't worry Alfred; it's been ages since I've seen the Team."


Before entering the old phone booth that was actually a Zeta Tube, Robin self-consciously his hand to his hair.

It had been weeks since he had seen the Team, and he wondered what they would think of his crew cut. For a moment, he worried that they wouldn't recognize him and try to launch an attack on him. But he shook the sentiment away.

Even though his hair had been shaggy and carefully gelled into messy spikes before, they would be able to tell it was him.

Despite the fact that he was rather proud of the change of look-several of Bruce's associates had complimented him on it-, it still felt strange without the slightly heavier weight of his old haircut.

But then Tim chided himself. It was stupid to worry about hair. That didn't get crime-fighting done.

He stepped into the booth and waited patiently for the machine to scan him.

"Recognized, Robin. B20."

There was a flash of light, and Robin felt his particles become torn apart, then reassemble just as fast.

Robin stepped into the large and circular main cave, his steps not making a sound against the floor.

But no one was there to greet him, not even Kid Flash.

Tim frowned.

"Anyone home?" He shouted out, his voice echoing around the Cave.

"Robin?" A voice sniffled in surprise.

Robin instantly recognized it as Miss Martian's, also known as M'gann.

"Where are you?" He asked in surprise, looking around the empty room for a sign of the green-skinned girl.

"I'm not in the room quite yet." Her voice came out of nowhere once again, and he suddenly realized that her voice was rough with tears.

"M'gann?" He said anxiously. "What happened? Where is everyone?"

The Martian suddenly appeared, her feet shuffling against the ground.

Tim stared in shock. The girl's eyes were red, tears coursing down her cheeks. He suddenly realized that she wasn't floating, which was how he always saw M'gann.

His heart dropped into his shoes. Something awful had happened, that much was obvious.

"You-you got a haircut." M'gann sniffled.

Tim was startled. "What? Oh, yeah, that."

"You look v-very handsome." M'gann said, smiling slightly through her tears.

"Thanks, but what the hell happened?"

Miss M's smile fell once again, and the waterworks came on harder.

"I-It was so awful!" She blubbered, her hands coming up to her face.

She started sobbing loud, heart-wrenching sobs, and Robin started to panic.

What should he do?

He finally settled for going to her and giving her a hug.

"What happened?" He asked again.

M'gann looked at him, and Tim was shocked by the pain he saw in her eyes.

"J-just yesterday." She stammered, trying to get her words out. "T-the Team was on a mission. And… And…" She started crying again.

Robin felt fear fill him up.

"I-It's Tula!" She sobbed, and Robin started.

What was going on?

"She-She's dead!" She half-yelled, her sobs racking her shoulders.

Tim felt as if someone had filled him up with ice.

Dead? No, no, that wasn't possible. None of his teammates could be… Dead.

Especially not Tula. Robin remembered the last time he had seen the perky Atlantean, about three weeks ago.

She had been laughing about a joke Kaldur had told her about a fish that no one else understood, but they had all gone along with it anyway. To think that she was…

Tin swallowed.

"A-and everyone else?" He whispered.

"The-They're fine." She stammered, and Robin immediately noticed a change. She was obviously still upset, but about more then she was letting on.

"M'gann." He said gently, but firmly. "What happened?"

"Aqualad…" She whispered. "He got so mad... He yelled at us that it was our fault. H-he and Nightwing fought…"

Tim flinched. This was what Nightwing had probably wanted to talk to him about.

"The-Then." She stammered, more tears rolling down her face. "He-He left. Nightwing said there was more p-personal stuff involved, but he wouldn't tell us…"

Robin felt as if his whole world had started to tilt.

"Wally b-became upset and frightened. H-he told us that he and Artemis were q-quitting the superhero business, that they had b-been th-thinking about it for a while. Artemis agreed, and th-they both p-promised they would stay in touch. B-but they left too!" M'gann started blubbering again.

"Oh God." Tim said, swaying in the spot.

How could this have happened?


Soooo, did you guys like it?