Robin kept glancing over at Zatanna out of the corner of his eye. He was sparring with KF, but even with his attention divided he was able to fend off the clumsy speedster's attacks. Robin was worried about Zatanna; since Zatara had donned the helmet of Fate she had scarcely said a word. Batting aside a quick but underpowered jab from Kid Flash and flipping out of range, Robin racked his brain for some way to try and help her.
When Bruce had helped Dick become Robin, he had known that bringing his parent's killer to justice would help Dick deal with their loss better than empty condolences would. Granted, Batman wasn't the most stable parental figure around, but in his own way he tried. But Dick could hardly offer to help her arrest Dr. Fate… For one, he was one of the good guys… And KF said that if you hurt Fate, the person whose body it was suffered, so taking out aggression by fighting him was a no go…
Robin was so wrapped up in his thoughts that Kid Flash not only managed to solidly hit him, but to knock him down. The air whooshed out of his lungs as he hit the ground with a thud. The buzzer sounded for the first of the 3 falls in their match.
He lay on his back while Wally stared at him in amazement before strutting around the sparring room doing a victory dance.
"Ha ha, Rob, not so good against the speed champ huh? I just took down the big ol' Boy Wonder!" he crowed.
"Robin's head was not in the game," Aqualad pointed out.
"Yeah, he was clearly distracted the whole fight, but still almost managed to kick your sorry butt," Artemis jeered.
"I know you know this Robin; neglecting your situational awareness in a fight is a good way to end up dead," Black Canary scolded.
Robin sighed and jumped up. She was right. He shouldn't let anything distract him. Batman never let anything get between him and the mission… He always made it look so easy.
"Sorry Canary, it won't happen again," Robin muttered, looking down at the floor. Right, remember what Batman taught you, focus. Deal with everything else after. Remember to be happy.
Robin nodded and returned to the edge of the ring and waited for Kid Flash to stop showboating. Deciding that would take too long he drawled, "Yeah, I was distracted by your ugly face KF. This time I'll keep my eyes closed."
"Why you…" Wally grumbled before rushing towards Robin.
Robin let out his signature laugh as he danced away from KF's telegraphed blows. There was no question Kid Flash was fast. What he wasn't, was good when he was up against a skilled martial artist. Just to goad him further, Robin did actually close his eyes as he launched into a volley of kicks and followed by a handspring; he managed to land more than half of them. Laughing more, he opened his eyes and somersaulted onto Wally's shoulders.
Kid Flash actually growled as he swung at Robin, who responded by grabbing both of KF's wrists.
"Now what," Kid Flash demanded as he struggled to free his hands.
"Now this," Robin responded with a smile. It had taken him a week to master this move, and he was justifiably proud of it. With a twist and a change in his center of balance, he flipped KF onto his face as he sprang off his shoulders. Kid Flash hit the mat hard and it buzzed the end of the match.
"Nice!" Artemis shouted as she punched the air.
"How do you do keep winning, you don't even have super powers?" Wally demanded.
"Practice," Robin smirked.
"Wally, your super-speed is useless in a fight if you allow your enemy to force you into acting without thinking. No matter how fast the blow, it won't matter if you can't connect," Black Canary explained.
"Well, I still kicked your butt in round one," Wally grumbled.
"Well, only because Robin spent the whole fight staring at—" M'gann started to say.
"I let you win the first one as my Christmas present to you," Robin quickly broke in. He offered Wally a hand up from the ground.
"Thanks Rob, it's just what I wanted," Wally grinned as he grasped Robin's hand. With a jerk he tried to drag Robin down to the mat with him.
With a smile Robin quickly twisted his wrist out of the glove, and KF hit the ground again with a thud. Once more the buzzer sounded.
"And that's best out of three," Robin drawled as he scooped his glove out of Wally's hand.
All right, mission accomplished, Robin thought. He walked to the sidelines and let Aqualad take on Miss Martian. He glanced around the room for Zatanna, but she was gone. Unconsciously he moved until he was leaning against the wall in a shadow.
Robin sighed and put his glove back on. He needed to be less obvious, but he couldn't help it. The rest of the team thought she just needed space, but he knew better. One of the biggest reasons why Batman had taken Robin on as a partner at 9 was because he knew that letting the grief fester was a mistake. Action was better than talking, and it was certainly better than sitting alone thinking about your loss. Just look what happened to Bruce; he was distant and removed from almost everyone. He didn't have friends, he had colleagues.
That's what he needed to do; he needed to get a mission for Zatanna. Something that would let her work through what she was feeling. He had read that magic was tied to emotions, so it was important that she not repress them. He would talk to Bruce about it tonight.
While he was deep in thought Miss Martian had won her bout and Superboy had beaten Artemis. Not really surprising that the two tanks had come out on top for hand-to-hand combat, but it would be interesting to see what happened when Black Canary finally introduced weapons to their drills. He liked having the chance to spar against people in such a different power-class; it was good practice for the insanity Gotham offered.
Canary said, "Good job everyone, that's enough for today. I'll see you all for practice on Tuesday."
Robin pushed off from the wall and started walking back to his room. It wasn't long before Wally caught up to him.
"Way to pull a Batman back there. Hiding in the all-concealing shadows and sneakin' out."
"I wasn't hiding, and I walked out. No sneaking, no skulking and no ninja," Robin bit out. He hadn't been hiding had he? Damn it, he had to get better about that. He had enough issues related to secrets without the team thinking he snuck around all the time.
"Whoa, sorry Rob… Didn't think you'd get so worked up about it…" Wally apologized.
"It's just, I'm not Batman. He's… he's not me," Robin responded, "… Sorry. I'm just really not feeling the aster today." He unlocked his room and waved Wally inside. Wordlessly he offered his supply of Alfred's cookies to his friend
"It's cool, it's cool…" KF smiled as he took five, "So letting me win was my present huh? And here I thought I won cause you were so busy staring at Zattaaaaaaaaana." Wally made a kissy face with his mouth full of cookie.
"Argg. It's not like that. I just feel like, I can help her with what she's going through. She hasn't really opened up since her dad became Dr. Fate, and it's eating at her," Robin said.
"Well… you could, you know, talk to her about it," Wally offered as he took another handful of cookies.
"No, I can't. Batman said I couldn't tell anyone about my real life. And that makes it really hard to help someone open up to you."
"You told me anyway, and he hasn't found out about that," Wally pointed out.
"No, I told you before he said I couldn't. And he knows I told you," Robin countered.
"Dude, really? But he hasn't threatened me... Does that mean he trusts me?" Wally asked amazed. So much of the time it seemed like no one trusted him, not even the Flash.
"Well, technically what he said was that he trusted me to make this choice, in so far as he trusted anyone… But yeah, I guess he trusts you. At least he doesn't not trust you, I think? It's hard to tell with Batman, for all I know he's going to mind-wipe you tomorrow."
"Err… close enough," Wally paused to eat yet another cookie and switched the subject back to Zatanna, "You could use the old 'my friend' ploy. Like, 'My friend Rick.'"
"No, that's not going to work… I've been thinking about it, and I think what she needs is a chance to work through her feelings. By kicking ass on a mission," Robin said.
"Uh… I don't think girls deal with stuff that way," Wally hedged.
"Artemis does," Robin countered.
"Well, yeah, of course she would. I meant normal girls."
"Well, I'm still going to bring it up to Batman tonight. He has… experience with loss," Robin
Wally was speechless for a moment as he remembered that for all his cavalier attitude and mocking, Dick had suffered more in his 13 years than anyone else he knew. He couldn't imagine that he would be doing half so well if his parents, Barry and Iris and everyone all died right in front of him. Whenever he thought about it, he was amazed that Robin always seemed so happy.
"Well, good luck with that," Barry said as he grabbed the last of the cookies, "If you need anything, I'm here for you Rob."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks Wally, it means a lot to me," Robin said.
"Well, you know, what are friends for," KF responded, punching Rob on the arm.
Robin smiled at his friend, and restrained himself from hitting back. His comm buzzed and he picked it up.
"Robin, meet me in the cave in 15 minutes," Batman growled without preamble. Robin nervously gulped, Bruce sounded angrier than usual. He hoped that didn't mean the Joker was loose again, that always ended poorly for everyone.
"Roger," Robin responded and signed off, "Well KF, it looks like I have to get going."
"Good luck with the Bat," Wally said as they left Robin's room, "I should probably get home too… I have a paper I have to write that's due tomorrow. I guess I should read the book first." Wally nervously rubbed the back of his head as he thought about all the stuff he was going to have to get done tonight.
"I'll never understand why all you speedsters always put everything off till the last minute," Robin exasperatedly responded. He paused then asked, "What book?"
"The Time Machine… I'm gonna guess it's about a time machine," KF said as they reached the room with the teleporters.
"Well… among other things. Like all utopia stories, it's more of a societal commentary than anything else. But it's pretty short so you have a shot at finishing it. Location L0.01," Robin waved as he headed into the mouth of the tube.
"Dude, wait, what?" Wally asked incredulously as the transporter began to glow.
"Batman made me read it. Later," Robin answered as he disappeared from the headquarters.
Most of the time Batman insisted that Robin teleport to Gotham proper and then make his way to the cave, but he only had 15 minutes so he had 'ported directly there. The location was obviously secret, and Batman had only authorized Dick, Superman and Wonder Woman to be able to teleport there at all. To say Bruce had trust issues was something of an understatement.
Dick stepped out of the tube and made his way to the computer. That was where Batman spent most of his time while he was at home. Sure enough, a large black shadow loomed in front of the screens. It was amazing the amount of menace that Batman projected even when no one was around to see it.
Without turning around, Batman growled, "You have 5 minutes to review contingency plan 'Murder of Crows.'"
Robin pulled the file open on his glove display and started reading. It looked like it was a new one, something Batman had just created. Murder of Crows covered the eventuality where the Scarecrow's fear toxin was combined with Venom. Robin cringed as he considered the possibilities. Batman hypothesized that this new toxin would result in crazed super powered bystanders. He even suggested that the stresses would likely result in cardiac arrest in those affected. Robin checked his gas mask supply, and restocked his fear toxin antidote, just in case.
Robin looked up when he heard the engine of the Batmobile. He sighed and wondered why Batman couldn't ever just tell him it was time to go. As he ran to the car he grabbed a handful of shrunken, just in case. He jumped into the car as the roof slid closed over his head. Batman paused momentarily for Dick to buckle his seatbelt before peeling out and speeding towards Gotham.