Darkest Night

They never thought they would see Bruce this way, so broken and vulnerable. The "poor, little kid crying for Mummy and Daddy," as the Joker was so gleefully howling into the camera. But, then, nobody had ever dug that deeply into his protégé's mind till tonight either. And to think it all started with a routine robbery in Jump three days ago.

Three Days Ago: Morning at Titan's Tower

Robin had never been happier for Batman's physiological training than now. Ok, think Grayson, there's two of them. You know what they'll bring up so just play it cool, nothing happened last night. Nope, nothing. Certainly not anything to do with Starfire begging you to fu…

"Hey, Robin! What the hell are these bro?" came Beastboy's yell of delight tinged by disgust.

"Yeah, like we thought she'd be kinky but Dude!" Cyborg chimed in flawlessly.

Whap. A pair of pink lace panties and a ball gag hit Robin in the back of the head. He slowly rotated and then paled at the items now scattered on the floor. Just then, the alarm sounded and all was forgotten for a moment as the screen glared to life, showing a robbery downtown.

"I'll take it guys," Robin immediately noted, hoping like hell to delay having to explain himself to his best friends.

"Dude, you're just avoiding the quest.."

But Robin was already gone out the garage and away on his cycle.

Downtown

There's nothing here. Robin had been silently stalking the streets for half an hour looking for some sign of activity, but was coming up empty. His mind started to wander back to last night, Should I have been so blunt in saying no? She only wanted comfort after finding out Blackfire had been injured in prison. I'll have to apologize when I get..

"Help me! Help somebody, this creep won't leave me alone!" came a shrill voice down the alleyway.

Leaping onto a fire escape, Robin looked down and saw a woman in a trench coat being harassed by a man who just looked like whiskey and raw eggs had been his favourite meal for the past month. Springing into action, Robin vaulted off the man's shoulder one-handed and, twisting in mid-air, caught the head between his legs and thrust into his downward roll. The man's spine crunched into the concrete and Robin began to get up satisfied and ready to console the obviously distraught victim.

Whack. The back of his head felt like it had been split open and the day fell into endless night.

"Gotcha, Birdboy!"