Ok, so here is kind of a fluffy, sort of useless little story about Super boy. I wanted to do a fic with some cute Robin action, so I weaved it in here, seen of course through the eyes of and observer. I'm showing a bit of a softer side to Super boy so please, no comments on that. He is still a genetic copy of Clark (aka, Mr. Sunshine and Daisies) so this sort of explores how much of Clark's perpetually happy positive attitude comes from nature and how much comes from nurture.
Batman always seemed kinda scary to me. Well, I mean, he was kinda scary to everyone so I guess I wasn't alone. Still though, around him I didn't really fear for my life. I was endowed with super strength that would allow me to squeeze him into a pulp, but he still had a scary kind of aspect that made you shiver, like a teacher who's short but is still intimidating. Batman wasn't short by any means, but you get what I'm saying.
It always seemed to me like he treated everyone the same, with a gruff sort of detachedness that made you feel smaller then he was. I just sort of assumed he treated Robin the same way and when I saw him together with Robin, I had all the proof I needed. Robin was a bouncing ball of exuberance and Batman was just sort of there when he was around.
I figured Batman ignored Robin rather often, kind of like Superman ignored me (if you haven't figured out who's speaking yet, please go back to super hero preschool). I almost felt as if I had a kindred spirit in Robin and one of these days I figured I would talk to him about how stupid and mean adults could be and other things. I figure we could wallow in our self-pity and inferiority together, but that was not to be the case. I didn't learn until a few weeks after I actually met Robin that there was more then one side to Batman.
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I was walking down a hallway, minding my own business, when I heard giggling. I recognized the giggler immediately as Robin and knew to be on my guard because if Robin was amused, sinister things were probably afoot. I looked around for tar and feathers to come falling from the ceiling or the floor to open up as suspicious purple goo, but none of that happened, and still, the giggling persisted.
Now, I am not an eavesdropper and I'm not a spy, but I needed to know weather Robin was coming out to play some joke on me so I used my X-ray vision to look through the door behind which the giggling endured. What I saw was enough to shock me immediately.
There was Batman, lying on his side on the ground with Robin sitting cross-legged across from him. Robin was talking to him and Batman was gazing at him, attentive and listening. Now, for those of you that don't know Batman, this may not seem shocking at all to you, but for those of us who do, it is. You see, normally when Batman listens to someone, he's working and you just have to talk and hope he hears what you're saying.
Never have I seen him listen or even spend the remotest amount of time with anyone while not programming a computer or reading statistics or any number of other work related things. The fact that he was lounging on the ground, listening to an over exuberant Robin talk excitedly, was enough to make me wonder what it was they were talking about. I tuned my super hearing on them to catch their words.
"No", Batman said, "I just don't believe you, it's not true."
"Yes it is", Robin said insistently, "Aqualad told me."
"How would Aqualad know?" Batman asked skeptically.
"Speedy told him", Robin said, "and Speedy would know."
"I still don't believe it", Batman said.
Robin glared at him and said, "You don't even believe your own child."
"And for good reason", Batman snorted. "The last time you told me something like this, I ended up embarrassing myself in front of a whole bunch of people."
"I'm dead convinced this time", Robin said, "the Green Arrow sleeps naked and sometimes, he sleepwalks."
"That's so gross", Batman said, "I'd hate to be Speedy." Robin nodded.
"That's probably really why he left." They both giggled, which was a very unbatmanish sound indeed.
"Well, I can't make fun of him for it if I don't absolutely know for certain," Batman said.
"Ask Speedy", Robin replied and "Anyway, why do you have to make fun of him?"
"Well duh", Batman said, sounding younger then I had ever heard him sound, "I'm Batman, its what I do."
"Gee", Robin said sarcastically, "how could I forget that you were Batman, you only say like fifty billion times a day. Every villain we come in contact with, 'I'm Batman this and I'm Batman that'." At that point, Robin's voice got low and I could tell he was making fun of Batman. I was shocked I couldn't believe he was actually getting away with it. I was even more shocked when Batman made a face at him.
"You know", he said, "speaking of girls…"
"We weren't speaking of girls", Robin said, cutting him off.
"We are now", Batman replied with a self satisfied smirk, "Anyway, when are you going to ask out that cute little blond from your chem class, what's her name, Emily."
"Batman", Robin moaned.
"What", Batman asked defensively, "you like her, don't you?"
"Sure", said Robin sheepishly, "but I told you, she totally ignores me like all the time and she laughs at me behind my back when she isn't ignoring me. the last time I even started to ask her out, she said no."
"If that's not a sign of interest, I don't know what is," said Batman cheerfully. Robin frowned at him. "Well", said Batman, "if you're not going to go out with her, I will."
"Eww Batman", Robin said, "you're old." Batman looked affronted.
"I'm only eleven years older. Maybe she wants an older man." Robin stuck his tongue out at Batman. "Well", said Batman, "you can't stop me." I suddenly heard a different note in his voice, an almost beckoning one.
Robin's eyes glittered excitedly for a moment and the he said, "Ohh yes I can." With that, he leapt at Batman, landing on top of him with what seemed to be every intention of wrestling the Dark Knight Detective to the ground. Batman laughed and pushed him off, but Robin persisted, jumping on him again with renewed vigor. Batman shoved at him and pushed at him as they wrestled across the ground.
I was surprised, first of all that Batman actually appeared to be playing with his young ward and secondly, how gentle he was. Even though the wrestling looked rough, I could tell how much Batman was holding back and even in tossing Robin about and shoving him away, how artful his movements seemed. He might be ruthless and savage to criminals, but to Robin, he was as gentle as someone playing with a puppy dog.
Finally, they stopped, gasping for breath with Robin straddling Batman's broad chest, apparently proclaiming himself the winner of the contest. He grinned broadly. "You have too much energy", Batman said, "how's about we go down to the practice room and burn some of that off. Then, I don't have to go easy on you." Robin's eyes sparkled again and he hopped off his mentor with a playful exuberance.
"I'll beat you this time", he said. Realizing that they were headed for the door, I hurried my way down the corridor and out of sight, but even as I rushed, I heard them talking boisterously to each other. My heart sank.
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Over the course of the next few weeks, I watched Batman and Robin's interactions with one another with fervor. I figured that there was something to this whole relationship business and that perhaps, if I found the key to it between Robin and Batman, I could use it to lift whatever barriers were between Superman and me.
The two things I came up with seemed promising enough. I found that when Robin usually wanted to get Batman's attention for whatever reason, he would bounce up (everywhere the thirteen year old went, he bounced) and either ask Batman to come and witness or help him with a new move he had tried or inform him that there was something they needed to talk about (usually it was to ask for advice of some sort).
I decided these two approaches seemed reasonable enough and I decided I might try second one first, since it required less of Superman's time, which he seemed to have little of. I played around with the idea of bouncing up exuberantly like Robin, but decided against it, mostly because I couldn't get up the nerve.
I approached him slowly the first time. He was looking over some papers. "Umm, Superman", I started.
"Yes", he said without looking up from what he was doing.
"I was wondering if I could um… talk to you about um… something."
"Hmm", Superman asked, looking up at me.
"I wanted to talk to you", I said quickly, before I lost my nerve, "about something."
"I'm sorry Super boy", he said, "but I'm really busy."
"But, it'll only take a second", I said hastily.
"Sorry", he repeated, "but I have a lot of things to do. We can talk later, or better yet, talk to Red Tornado. He has more time then I do." With that, he turned heel and walked off. I was feeling very low at that point, but was determined to persist.
The next instance I got up my nerve to approach him was when he was talking to Batman about the watchtower and discussing repairs that needed to be made. "Hey Superman", I said. Superman looked up from where he was talking to Batman.
"Yes", he asked. Suddenly, it was as if I lost my nerve, having both of them looking at me and expecting me to say something.
"I uh…I was wondering if you would help me with this new move I've been practicing."
"I don't have time right now Super boy, have Black Canary help you", he replied. He continued talking to Batman and I almost walked away right there, but I held my ground, urged by some inner force to try harder.
"But", I persisted, "I really wanted you to help me, after all, you have my same powers." Now Superman was annoyed and he faced me with an impatient look on his face.
"No", he said, "I don't have the time and I have some pressing matters to attend to. It's rude to interrupt Super boy."
Batman looked from me to Superman and then said, "Superman, go help the boy, I can handle things here. You have time."
"No, now, go play with Robin or something", Superman urged me, "I have a lot of things to do."
"Superman", Batman said in his scary, rasping voice, "you have plenty of time. Go help him out. I am fully capable of handling things here."
"No", said Superman.
"Are you implying that I can't handle whatever you can?" Batman asked, suddenly looking menacing. Superman seemed to squirm.
"No", he said, "I just…" after that, it seemed he could think of nothing else to say, so he turned on me. "Look Super boy", he snapped, "you're causing problems, go away. I've told you already, I don't have time to help you." Seeing that it was a losing battle, I slunk off, grumbling, acting like my feelings hadn't been hurt, that I wasn't sad. I acted like it just made me angry like everything else. Batman gazed at me sympathetically, but I didn't want his sympathy, didn't need it.
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I sort of gave up on approaching Superman, although I played around with the idea of getting him so annoyed he'd chew me out. I supposed negative attention was better then no attention at all. I discarded this idea, however, because I was honestly afraid for my life when around him. He could kill me in a heartbeat, I knew.
I wondered if, perhaps, I might talk to Batman, since he seemed to be the only one that had a scrap of sympathy for me. I wasn't sure how he could possibly find time to talk to me though. He seemed even more busy then Superman sometimes. I got my chance however, one night when we went out for a mission.
Everyone was ready and excited to be out because it was a new villain the league had never fought before. If there hadn't been some larger crisis somewhere else, we wouldn't even be out, but flying in Megan's ship, we were all pretty pleased to be getting a work out. "No", Robin suddenly moaned.
"What", KF asked.
"Damn", he cursed quietly, "I left my spare smoke pellets back at the cave. I hate it when that happens, but I was just so excited about actually getting to do something for once, I just didn't think about it. Batman's gona kill me."
"Aw, lighten up man", KF said, "it'll be fine. This guy's been calling for the Justice league for over an hour to fight him. He probably just crawled out of some sewer, high on who knows what, and waving a gun around. Flash says he handles this sort of thing all the time. They all do."
"Still", said Robin doubtfully, "what if we need them for a quick get away."
"We're not going to need to get away at all," KF said, "watch, this guy'll take two hits to go down. I hit him, he hits the floor." KF slammed his fist into his open hand and grinned. Robin smiled playfully back at him.
"Yea right", he said, "I'll be the one to hit him and then you'll go cry in a corner because you're so lame."
"Ohh yea", Kid Flash said.
"Shut up", Artimis snapped, "you two are so irritating." I sat in the back with my arms folded, watching them bicker lightly.
"Are you ok?" Kal Dur asked, touching my arm.
"Fine" I said and looked pointedly out the window.
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We spotted the man before he did us, standing in the center of what might have been a plaza. His eyes were wild and crazy looking. His lips were drawn in a silent snarl. He tossed what appeared to be grenades at some screaming people. They erupted into smoke, sending the people down to their knees. "Come a face me Justice League", he screamed hysterically, "come and face me, Mr. Nasty."
Megan took her ship out of stealth and landed it with ease down on an open piece of ground. Mr. Nasty turned his tortured eyes on us and interest twisted his already grotesque features. We darted out, ready for attack. "No", he howled when he saw us, "not the Justice brats. I want your parents." As if in answer, Robin tossed a Batarang at him, which smacked him across the cheek and sent him sprawling backwards onto the ground.
Mr. Nasty looked up with fury painted across his features, his image made even more startling by the wind whipping the mop of dark brown hair on his head. Suddenly though, he grinned at us, an awful grin that sent shivers down my spine. "Well", he said, "if I kill you bat boy, your sire may just come to call." He stood up swiftly, madness lighting his features.
"Let the games begin", Mr. Nasty called, clapping his hands. As if materializing from the shadows, about twenty strange creatures appeared. They looked like large dogs, but they were obviously robots of some type because they moved with a strange stiffness and clicked as they trotted. I flexed my muscles. Take them apart, Mr. Nasty said in a low voice and the dogs leapt at us.
A storm seemed to be blowing in from the east. Rain pelted us as the fighting continued. The dogs were swift and for all my strength, I couldn't quite catch them to take them down. It would have been dangerous if I had though, for them anyway. I was angry enough to crush a car with all this attack and run they were doing. They shot electricity from their eyes to hit us, made all the more potent by the fact that we were thoroughly drenched.
They were strange though, because although they had seemed like robots before, now I wasn't so sure. They looked almost like living creatures, rain running though their thick pelts and foam slathering from their snapping jaws. This realness made them all the more frightening to me and I almost lost my nerve fighting them, but I managed to hold it together.
Eventually, we thinned the number of dogs considerably so that we were fighting them much more easily. This gave Robin a chance to finish what he had started and take a flying leap at Mr. Nasty. Mr. Nasty was standing in the center of the dogs, looking almost like a statue with a glassy look in his eyes.
As soon as Robin leaped however, his trance was broken and he snapped to attention. Grinning wickedly even as Robin attacked, he tossed one of his grenades at the boy at the last possible second. Robin was mere inches from his target and totally unprepared for it.
The grenade hit him hard in the stomach and I heard him give a grunt of pain, the force of it tossing him backwards. Then, it erupted and that strange gas streamed all over him. For a moment, he lay in stunned silence and the rest of us, having fought off the rest of the dogs, watched him.
Suddenly, he started screaming at the top of his lungs like the world was ending. We were so stunned, we didn't make a move, but Mr. Nasty started laughing manically. "What do you see boy?" he called, "Do you see your loved ones being ripped to shreds or someone coming to kill you perhaps? What do you see boy?" He strode up to Robin and grabbed him by the arms, shaking him violently. "What do you see little bird?" he screamed in Robin's face, "tell me."
"Stop it", Robin wailed, terrified, "leave me alone." He pushed and squirmed out of the man's grasp, sobbing hysterically on the ground. Mr. Nasty snatched a dagger for a sheath I hadn't noticed before around his waist and lifted it high above his head, ready to bring it down on Robin's prone form.
That snapped us all out of whatever daze we were in and we attacked with fury. Mr. Nasty was laughing like a maniac now and though we attacked, he dodged swiftly, tossing his strange grenades at us. I was just coming, prepared to deal a devastating blow, when a well-aimed toss landed at me feet. Gas sprayed up at me and I toppled to the ground. Suddenly, the whole world disappeared.
I was facing a pit of flames, yet I was freezing cold. I looked around, searching desperately for someone else, but there was no one. Then, as I was about to get up and look around, something floated up out of the pit. The flames roared so loudly in my ears, I shouldn't have been able to hear it speak, but I did. It said but one thing, in a soft, yet cruel voice. "Super boy."
I looked up at it and though it had been a blob of nothing before, it began to take form and color and I found myself looking at Superman, shadows of flames dancing over the S on his chest. "Super boy", he said again, and suddenly flew at me. He struck me hard and I toppled backwards. Again and again he hit me, back towards the fire pit.
"You're useless", he said, "I hate you, you're nothing but a clone. You'll never be as good as the original, I'll never care about you. Who could possibly care about you? You're not human so what right have you to act like you are? You're going back to Cadmas Super boy, back to be their slave, back to where you truly belong, a mindless robot. You're not a boy, you're a thing, a thing to be used, to be thrown away when done with."
"No," I yelled, frightened, "leave me alone." I lifted my hands and pushed him. He toppled backwards and fell to the ground. Blood pooled from around his now broken form.
"You killed me", he gurgled, blood trickling from his lips, and he died. Then, there was blood everywhere, all over my hands and my face and my clothes. I was standing in a pool of his sticky red blood. I screamed in horror.
"But", I yelled, "I didn't even push him that hard, I didn't kill him."
"You killed him", a man yelled angrily. I looked over to see Batman, standing before the entire Justice League. "You killed him, they all screeched at me, you stupid clone, you killed him. His blood has marked you; you're a murderer."
"No", I screamed, "I didn't. I didn't; it wasn't my fault."
"You have fulfilled your purpose", another man said to me. I turned to see him, the man that had commanded me from Cadmas. "Good job, my weapon, you killed him."
"No", I said, "leave me alone."
"Come back to me", he said, "and we will kill them all. You know you will eventually. It's only a matter of time." Suddenly, he was advancing on me and so was the Justice League. I backed up, still covered in Superman's blood, wounds from my beating still open and hurting. They yelled accusations and oaths at me, swearing to hunt me until the end of days.
"No", I screamed, holding my hands over my ears and still backing away from them, no. But, I backed up too far and found myself toppling towards the fires in the pit below. They seared my flesh like a hundred hot irons and I felt my blood boil. I screamed in agony.
"Super boy", I heard an imperative voice say. Thinking it was something else come to haunt me, I closed my eyes tightly and flayed my arms, desperately trying to cast away the terror.
"Leave me alone", I yelped.
"Super boy", the voice said again and this time, I opened my eyes. The fire pit was gone and so were the League and the man from Cadmus. Megan was kneeling next to me, looking concerned. "Are you alright?" she asked. I took in a shaky breath and nodded.
"Did you get Mr. Nasty?" I murmured. Megan nodded, but she still seemed concerned over me. I got up slowly, putting a hand against my head. It had all been some sort of sick, twisted vision. I looked down at myself, half expecting to see blood, but there was none. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. Mr. Nasty was tied up in the center of the square and the wreckage from the dogs we fought was strewn all about.
My comrades, however, didn't seem in very much better shape then I was. Kid Flash was shaking so violently, I almost thought he might vibrate away. Kal Dur's eyes were wide and glassy, as if he were just fighting over some great fear. Artimis was off in a corner, arms around herself, murmuring quietly.
"He hit us with some sort hallucinogen", Megan offered, "I only inhaled a little, but that was enough." Robin got the most. I looked over at Robin, whose eyes were wide with tears. He was curled up in a little ball, arms around his legs, shaking. "He still hasn't snapped out of it", she said softly, fearfully.
"Have you called the authorities to get this scum?" I asked. Megan nodded.
"We're going to stay until they get here. I'm going to talk to Robin." I nodded and watched as she went over and put a hand on Robin's shoulder. He recoiled at her touch, turning his wide, frightened eyes on her. She slowly eased him out of the trance, going into his mind. I thought about my vision, what I had seen. Feeling suddenly sick to my stomach, I walked back to the ship.
The ride back was quiet and no one really talked. The authorities congratulated us on our win, but none of us really paid attention. We got back to the mountain after the drive soon enough and got off the ship. I was surprised to see Batman waiting for us. Well, he wasn't really waiting; he was working on a computer.
As soon as Robin saw him, he seemed to shake off his glassy stare and ran to him. He threw his arms around Batman's waist and buried his face in his back. Batman seemed surprised by this and turned around. Robin pushed himself up against Batman's chest, trembling.
Now, Robin was usually somewhat touchy about what the rest of us said about his relationship with Batman. All sorts of rumors floated around about the two of them, most of them foul, so he went out of his way to keep the affection he gave his mentor to a minimum while the rest of us were around. Kid Flash teased him about how close he was with Batman sometimes and Robin pretended to shake it off, but it was pretty obvious how it worried him. The fact that he was openly burying himself in Batman's embrace seemed to indicate that whatever he had seen had shaken him up quite a bit.
"Robin", Batman said questioningly, "are you ok, what's wrong?"
"I'm just so glad you're still alive", he said, sounding almost as if he were holding back tears, in a soft voice but loud enough so that we all could hear anyway.
"Of course", Batman said, still sounding confused, "why wouldn't I be?"
"The guy we fought", Kal Dur explained, "Mr. Nasty, he had some kind of gas he threw at us. Shook us all up quite a bit. It made us see things, fears we had I guess. Robin got the most." Batman nodded, taking in the information.
"Must be like the Scarecrow's gas huh?" Batman asked Robin gently, rubbing his back in small circles. Robin nodded. "Well", said Batman, "you are probably all still feeling at least partial effects of the gas. You may relapse, so it would be best if you stayed here for a while. Once you think you're free of the gas, then you can go home and get some sleep." We all nodded, understanding what he said.
"Come on", Batman said softly to Robin, "You can sit over here with me." He led Robin over to one of the larger couches and sat down. Robin lowered himself next to him, still shaking slightly.
"Are you staying Batman?" Megan asked. Batman nodded.
"I have work to do anyway. If you relapse, it's best if there's someone who understands the effects of the gas and is equipped to deal with it." On any normal day, we would have taken offence at being so obviously babysat, but none of us was in the mood to argue, so we sat down.
I heard Batman speaking affectionately to Robin, getting him to calm down. "It's alright Robin", he said, "nothing's wrong."
Robin looked up at him and said in a haunted voice, "I saw you die, I couldn't save you."
"Shh", Batman soothed, "whatever you saw, it's not real. You're safe now, and don't worry, I am too. You've been through scarecrow gas before, remember?" Robin nodded and leaned back against the couch. Batman gazed at him for a moment as if searching for some way to comfort him further. Seeming to find nothing, he started working again. I saw Robin give a large shudder and lay down so his head was on Batman's lap. He stretched out a little on his side and closed his eyes.
Batman looked down at him and smoothed his hair a little, moving his hand over Robin's shoulder tenderly as he continued his work. Kal Dur glared at Kid Flash, telling him plainly he was not going to tease Robin at all about this later. Kid Flash just nodded silently.
They all talked quietly amongst themselves about various things. I sat in silence. I was waiting, waiting desperately for them to all leave the area. I needed to talk to someone, desperately needed to. The things I had seen in my vision had disturbed me more then I originally thought, what I really wanted was just to talk to Batman, have him tell me the secret to a relationship, the relationship he had with Robin, the kind I wanted to have with Superman.
I thought that maybe, if I did have a relationship with him, the things in my vision wouldn't happen. And that was the other thing, would my visions come true? I was genetically engineered, made in a test tube. Did I have any control over my actions? All these questions were bumping and swirling around in my head, desperate to be answered, but I couldn't talk to Batman while the others were around. I would have to wait until they left. I didn't want them to know about the war going on inside me.
Eventually, Robin's breathed slowed and eased, indicating that he was asleep. After that, my teammates started to trickle out into their respective homes. I sat where I was, fidgeting in silence, waiting and watching. Finally, Kid Flash gave a yawn, stretched, told Batman to say goodnight to Robin for him, and left. He was the last. It was then that I lost my nerve. I might have sat there still as a statue all night had it not been for Batman, who, without looking up from the work he was doing, spoke to me.
"You've been squirming there for over an hour", he said, "Is there something you wish to ask of me." I gulped. I wasn't used to feeling apprehensive about anything. Being Super boy and having the powers that I did usually had me feeling in control of any situation. Lately, however, that was swiftly becoming untrue.
"Yea", I said, "I wanted to ask you a few things."
"Well", Batman said, "you can come over, I don't bite, whatever Barry might tell you." I stood in front of him and glanced down at Robin, who shifted in his sleep and gave a sigh. His head was still on Batman's lap and Batman stroked his hair, seemingly unconsciously, every few minutes.
He noticed my glance and appeared to understand what it meant because he said to me, "just a second," and scooped up Robin. He laid him on a couch a little ways away and turned to leave. Robin opened his eyes slightly and made a small sound.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I just have a couple things I have to do", he said, "don't worry, we're going home in just a little bit and you can go to bed. Stay there." Robin nodded and closed his eyes, quickly falling back asleep. Once again, I envied him, for having a home to return to, for having a life he could lead away from all the stresses of this one. He had everything I had ever wanted.
Batman sat down in front of me again and said, "Alright, what is it you want to talk about?" I fidgeted again and looked down at my feet. I decided to ask the most obvious question first because it had the least to do with my feelings.
"What do you know about genetic engineering?" I asked.
"Ohh, a smattering of something here and there", he replied with a wave of his hand, "any specifics?"
"How about cloning?" I asked hopefully.
"Depends on what you want to know", he replied.
"If say, someone was cloned," I started, pointedly keeping from referring to myself, "would that clone end up exactly like the person they were cloned from, I mean like, personality wise." Batman shrugged.
"Well", he said, "part of them would be the same, but it would also depend on their upbringing and whatever other genes might have been mixed in during the cloning process, if any." I knew I wasn't pure Superman, there were other things in me too, so this news was startling to me.
"So, I'm not exactly like him", I asked, dropping the third person reference. Batman shook his head.
"You were raised differently and there are things in you that are not in him. You are almost genetically identical, but the resemblance ends there."
"So", I said, "those other things in me, they could control my actions."
"They'll have influence", Batman said slowly, "as if treading on unfamiliar ground, however I don't know exactly how much."
"But, because I was originally intended to kill Superman probably, does that mean I might do that one day?"
"So", Batman said, "that's what you're afraid of. Well, I wouldn't worry if I were you. If I thought you were any danger to him at all, I wouldn't let you anywhere near him." I nodded, I supposed it made sense.
"He must think I'm dangerous though", I replied, "He always seems to be avoiding me." Batman sighed.
"It has nothing to do with how dangerous he thinks you are. It's got more to do with what you are, I suppose."
"Yea", I said ruefully, "a clone, not even a real person, just a violation of his privacy and civil rights. That's all I am."
"Now", said Batman, "I didn't mean it that way." What I meant was that you're, for all intensive purposes, his son, and he has yet to come to terms with that. Just give him time, he'll come around."
"But I'm only a clone", I said, "and not even a very good one. I can't do half the stuff he can do. I'm just a bad copy." Batman shook his head.
"Does it matter what you are?" he asked, "You're here, you're useful and you saved Robin today. That makes you good enough in my book. I don't really care what you are, just as long as you work hard and save lives. Everyone in the league is a freak in some way or another. Believe me, I've heard stranger stories then yours and so has he. He'll come around, I promise." I looked at him hopefully.
"Do you really think he'll start paying attention to me?" I asked.
"If he doesn't out of his own free will", Batman growled, "I'll make him." I felt a little relived at that. Even though Batman didn't have any super powers, he was one of the most powerful people in the league and when he talked, everyone listened.
"Thanks Batman", I said softly.
Batman nodded and said, "Well, I had better get my sleeping child home. He has a test tomorrow but he might just get the day off after all he's been through tonight. We'll have to see how he feels in the morning." Batman strode to where Robin was sleeping and leaned over him, speaking softly. I almost strained my ears to hear what he was saying, but decided against it. It would feel wrong somehow.
When Robin's eyes fell on Batman's face, he broke into a sleepy grin and allowed himself to be picked up. Robin was probably the only person who would smile at the sight of Batman as the first thing they saw when they woke up. I had the sneaking suspicion there were plenty of villains back in Gotham who woke up to that cowl hanging over them. I started to walk back to my room when I heard a voice.
"Ohh, and Super boy…" I turned around to look at him. If ever you need someone to talk to, don't hesitate to come to me. Robin may think he has claim to all my time, but you can have as much of it as you need.
I nodded my gratitude and walked up the stairs. Maybe things were going to get a little better. As I watched Batman walk out cradling Robin in his arms, I certainly hoped so. The future was looking a little bit brighter.