AN:- So, do you ever get the feeling that you know something, but its beyond your physical capacities? Not just the technicalities but how it feels? That got me thinking. What if Dick's parents didn't die on that day? The guy seems destined to be a hero no matter what (hello Flashpoint-verse "Dicktor Fate"), so An Unknown Legacy came along. This is a slight follow up about Batman taking Robin under his wing. And how exactly Robin got there...

Impressions AU: A Tenuous Partnership

One thing he never expected was how right having a partner felt.

The boy was 14, and should have been fool-hardy in his brightly coloured, no protection at all costume. But he wasn't, and he knew how to compensate for the flimsy material that he wore over their past few encounters.

The fact that he knew exactly how to cover his tracks and hide from the Bat was intriguing. It suggested detective training almost equal to his own, that should have meant child of a police officer or private eye. He was skilled in what appeared to be numerous martial arts, but the base style he fought on was similar to his own. The boy even was a master at escapology!

During the summer, Batman approached him about an undercover mission. The boy accepted, asked for a forgery of a summer camp acceptance sheet and the means to convince his parent so (he had parents! Parents! Why was he doing this then? And why did he feel so connected by tragedy to this young man when it was obvious there was none?).

In the two weeks they posed as father and son tycoon powers Matthew Matches and Robert Matches, he learnt more about the boy such as the fact that he was able to disguise himself on a level nearly akin to his, that he was comfortable in pretending to be a part of the so called upper class socialites of America, and that he knew many, many languages.

All this led to only one conclusion. He raised this child. And he couldn't remember for the life of him how or when it happened because he couldn't remember ever adopting, or teaching anyone for that matter.

So he tests the child one night. Although they have been working together for some time now, he needed to know that he could survive the streets. So he proposed that on the second last day of the supposed 'camp', he would go through a Gauntlet. If he survived it, Batman would become his official sponsor and mentor. If he didn't, he would tell his parents and give up the current lifestyle he now led.

Secretly he hoped for either way to happen. Making him dive out of the business would keep this impetuous child that he grew to care for, safe. But if he passed the Gauntlet, he would have the equipment he needed to fight on.

Brains and brawn only took you so far. In this business, you needed equipment and funding too.

Robin agreed.

Dick had been camping out in the woods the last 3 days of the 'camp'. Each night he made certain to set up an EMP. Batman had given him one day to rest, one day to prepare and one night to prove himself. Trouble was, where could you hide from the Batman?

Robin was not gaining the reputation as the World's Greatest Teen Detective for nothing, even if he followed the instinct his gut hold him ninety percent of the time. If he, Dick Grayson passed this, he would finally gain formal training in the activity that soothed the ache that told him, this is where you are meant to be.

Of course, there was still the measure of parents to dodge. He glowed with silent pride every time his parents praised the exploits of the Boy Wonder, and he ducked his head in subtle shame when they scolded the parents of that same boy, not knowing it was their son.

Still where could you hide from the Bat? The answer was: right under his nose.

He figured out the Bat's real identity a few years ago actually, when he was still on the road and the ache had been growing stronger (leaving anonymous tips, disguising his voice to the police, soothed his that ache for a time then). He noticed irregularities in a certain billionaire's character. How Batman and Bruce's disappearance matched up. But that was when he had absolute proof.

His gut convicted him that Bruce Wayne was Batman in the month after their illness.

See? Simple. He would hide in plain sight.

Bruce was not a happy Bat.

He had been following false leads the whole night. There was exactly 10 minutes to dawn left. Robin was due to return from 'camp' at 5.30 pm, as per his request.

He had been trying to figure out where his mysterious partner came from. But always, somewhere in the woods, the tracking device would disappear. Every single one he planted. This showed that either the kid was paranoid enough to make a note of every one that he placed, or that Robin was prepared enough to have an EMP generator on hand.

5 minutes left.

It was a rather unhappy Bat that returned to the cave. He hung up the cowl nodded to Alfred, and thanked heaven that it was Saturday.

Time ran out.

A stone skipped down in front of him. A message written on it.

Bats in the belfry. Robins in the sky. Birdsong lilts as the sun does rise.

Bruce smiled and raced outside the house, dragging Alfred (who truly believed it was a phenomenon that Bruce was smiling genuinely) along.

A brightly coloured figure sat in between the shadows that fell in between aspects of the Manor architecture. He flipped down and smirked at his civilian persona.

"Hey Batman."

"I'm not."

The boy had immediately produced a couple of files and handed them over. The last thing at the back was a detailed case report with conclusions. Each pointed at the little flaws in his act and linked it to another. He had taken what everyone else dismissed as coincidence and joined the dots.

He had figured him out.

And he didn't know exactly who this boy was (though he had a feeling, he wasn't inclined to give into those feelings, you wanted a case? You needed hard evidence. Just like the two inconspicuous files in which held his greatest secret), but actually? It was fine. He'd figure it out later.

The boy would make an excellent soldier.

AN:- I actually enjoyed working on this a little more than the other two… Okay, fine, I hit a writers block. This was the result of me trying to overcome it. So yes, another drabble (: . It shows how the Dynamic Duo officially became partners in a world where what was supposed to be leaked into reality via gut feelings and sudden gaining of skills.