I stood still, Babs and Tim watching me cautiously. I felt my blood boiling in rage. Of all the people to break out... it just had to be him, didn't it? The one man I swore revenge on. The man I searched for, for YEARS until I found him and brought him in. The man I almost broke my oath to Batman with. The man I had almost... well, I should have because now he was out of jail again, and others lives besides his own were on the line.

"I'm coming to Gotham."

"Dick, you promised you wouldn't do anything stupid. Me and Tim will handle him."

"No. I want to make sure he gets what's coming to him."

"Come on, Dick. Besides, who knows? He might follow the trend and go follow the other goons out to Jump City! Then you can go and catch him!"

"Not if we're too busy with the other criminals running around. Here, criminals don't stay in jail for more than a week or so. Then some of them we just can't catch in the first place..."

"Hey, I could come and help out in Jump so you can go after Zucco!" Tim exclaimed.

"Yea, that's a great idea!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Barb gave Tim a death glare.

"Eh, who cares about school? Besides, we only have a week left, and finals are over. I'll just say I'm going on vacation, or that I'm sick."

"That isn't what I meant, and you know it Tim." She gave him another look.

"Ok, look, either I'm missing something you aren't telling me, or something else is going on, so spill."

Babs started figiting around. "I don't know, maybe it'd be better if I came..."

"Barb, won't your dad be suspicious when his daughter disappears?"

"I'll tell him I'm going to visit friends or somthing-"

I cut her off. "In Jump. Where Batgirl will magically show up."

"I'll tell him I'm going somewhere else near by!"

"But won't he think it's weird that Batman left the city in the care of a 14 year old, instead of the much more experienced, 19 year old batgirl?"

"Well, uh... you make it sound like you don't want to see me!"

I rolled my eyes, knowing she only used the guilt card as a last resort. "Babs, I worked with you on a daily basis for like, how many years? I've never met Tim."

"Come on Barb! You know how badly I've wanted to meet the titans! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" He begged, literally getting on his knees. She sighed, giving in.

"Fine. But you're dealing with any drama. And Bruce."

"Yes!" as he did a 'victory dance,' Barb rolled her eyes. "Anything goes even the slightest bit wrong, and I'm coming. Got it?" We both nodded, even though we knew we could handle things, especially with the help of my friends.

"Cool. So, when are you coming?"

"Um... I'm gonna leave probably tonight, and it takes about 95 hours to get there by car following the speed limit, but on a motorcycle weaving through traffic that'll cut traffic time in half, bringing it to about 60 hours or two and a half days... and since it's solar powered, that cuts gas stops, bringing it down to 58 hours... and I'll only need about one rest stop because I have no appetite, so that brings it to 54 hours, or two and a quarter days... and I won't stop at any hotels... 44 hours... and I will probably be traveling high above the speed limit, cutting that in half... I'll be there tomorrow night."

Babs and I stared at him, mouths gaping. "What?" I just shook my head, amazed at the kids math skills. Imagine how smart he'd be if he did care about school.

"Um... okay... so are you coming in costume or civilian?"

"It'd probably be better if I came in civilian. Besides, it's not like it'd give anything away. I'm another average joe. So, where's the hideout? An apartment, or a warehouse, or-"

"It's a giant letter T on an island to the side of the city. Kinda hard to miss."

"Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Okay, later. Bye Barb!"

"Bye Dick." I signed off, and literally, a few seconds later the titans walked through the doors.

"Hey, dude. You ok? I saw Twoface pull out knives and stuff."

"Yea, I'm fine, thanks. Nothing too bad, just a couple of cuts."

"Do you want me to heal them?" Raven asked.

"No, it's not that bad. And besides, you need to save your energy for-"

"Man, I can see the bloody bandages from under your shirt- which happens to be RED."

"Are you sure you don't want me to just take a look?"

"No!" They jumped back, startled at my outburst. "Sorry. I'm just a little agitated. I'm fine."

"Please, Robin! Friend Raven only wishes to help! There is nothing to hide!"

I sighed, but agreed to let Raven heal me only partially. I had dealt with worse. She needed her energy if all of Gotham was coming. As she started to heal my cuts, she said, "You know, it'd be a lot easier to heal you if I could see what I was healing."

I started worrying then, knowing they'd freak if they looked at all my scars. "What are you saying?"

The empath rolled her eyes. "Quit being so modest wonder boy, and take of the stupid shirt." Okay, it was panic time. I couldn't let them see. But it would be suspicious if I refused. Starfire's words ran through my head. There is nothing to hide... I sighed, and pulled off my shirt. They all gasped as Raven pulled off the gauze.

"Dude... what happened?" Now my back and chest were out in the open, and my friends were seeing years worth of scars.

"I was born human, that's what happened. I was hesitant to fight Twoface today, because a lot of these scars are from him." Their eyes widened in shock, seeing the full extent of the damage he could pull off. Suddenly, Raven's gaze traveled to my shoulder. Crap.

"Robin... what happened to your sholder? It almost looks as if-"

"As if I was shot?" she nodded. "Yea. Because I was." Again, cue the googley eyes and the dropped jaws.

"But... who? What? Man, what happened? Whenever people shoot you here, you dodge it. You've never gotten hit."

"I've learned my lesson. Besides, that's different. Those are lasers. In Gotham, It was bullets. Batman didn't want me to go out on patrol that night, because Joker was out. Like that was going to stop me. we fought about it, ending with him getting mad at me, and speeding away in the Batmobile while I was stuck at home. I knew he'd need my help, becuase his henchman, Punch and Judy were out, along with his psychotic acrobat of a girlfriend, Harley Quinn."

"Wait, Joker has a girlfriend but I don't?" exclaimed Beastboy, with wide eyes. "Dude! Where's the justice in that?" I smirked at the changeling, and rolled my eyes.

"Sorry Beastboy, Harley's not really your type. She's at least ten years older than you, and before she was dating the Joker, she was a psychiatrist at Arkam."

"Gah! That's horrible!"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Anyways..." she prompted.

"So, since I knew Batman would need help, I went on patrol anyway, on my motorcycle. Only Batgirl knew I was out, because I called and asked if she was patroling that night. She wasn't, but she promised not to tell on me. I looked around Joker's usual haunts, expecting to find and catch up with Batman. Too bad for me, Batman wasn't there, but Joker was.

"It was really dark, but I didn't want to make my presence known by taking out a flashlight. I couldn't see or hear anyone. That is, until I heard Joker's horrible laugh, and the gun. I tried to run, but I didn't know I was running right into his line of fire. There was a shot, and after a second or two, I realized I had been hit. I passed out eventually from loss of blood.

"Meanwhile, Batman, who hadn't found the Joker, went back to the Batcave, hoping I might have an idea. Once he realized I wasn't there, he called Batgirl, and they went looking for me. I guess after a while they found me, because the next time I woke up, I was in the med area in the Batcave. They told me I was lucky.

"The bullet lodged into my shoulder a couple of centimeters away from hitting my heart. Also, if it had hit me a little bit farther to the right, I would have been paralyzed for life. Once Batman noticed I was awake, he started flipping out at me.

"I tried to explain that I was only trying to help, but that just made him more mad. He yelled, asking if getting shot was part of the plan. I yelled back that of course it wasn't, and he would've been hit just as easily. He told me I had disobeyed a direct order. I told him, that I was sick of dealing with how controlling he was, listening to his crap, and and living in his shadow, as Robin and as our alter egos. He decided that if I couldn't listen to him, then he'd have to fire me. I was forbidden from ever putting on my costume again."

Robin looked up, expression grim. "That was definately in my top ten worst moments. All I tried to dowas make him proud, but he only could see the negatives. At first I didn't think he was serious, and that he was over reacting. He had expressed numerous times to me and Batgirl the displeasure he had in putting us both in danger, being kids. Once I saw he was serious though...

"I was crushed. He was taking away one of the only things that mattered to me at the time. He was taking away my identity. Why do you think I never take the mask off? Over the years, my 'normal' life became the mask. Robin became who I am, and my other life was the fascade. He was taking away who I am, and I couldn't accept it. I was so upset, that I stormed out of the Batcave on my motorcycle, never once looking back.

"At the time, I was half hoping for him to follow me, to say he needed me, that he wanted me to come back. He never did. I knew I wouldn't be missed, so I left the city." I looked up, for the first time noticing my friends shocked expressions. "So, trying to get as far away as I could legaly without leaving the country, I ended up here in Jump City, met you guys, and the rest is history." A silence followed the ending of my story, and I pulled my shirt on, not allowing Raven to heal me any more than she had. I knew she was tired, and she would need her strength if we fought another villain soon.

"So, dude, you were like, fired? Ow!" I saw Raven was the one who nudged Beastboy this time. I couldn't help but smirk at the irony. Now that I thought about it, Rae and Babs were kinda similar, accept for the fact that Raven had powers and was a loner, and Babs was kinda cheery and about three years older. They both loved to read though, and both could be very sarcastic. Tim and Beastboy though, they could be brothers almost, accept that Tim's a little bit... well, smarter. But they did only have a one or two year age difference...

"Hello? Robin, you in there?" Cyborg asked, knocking on my head.

"Huh? Oh!" I swatted his hand away. "Sorry, I was just thinking bout things. Oh, and I have some things to tell you guys." They all leaned foreward, knowing by my tone it wouldn't be good news. "So, I called Batgirl up in Gotham, to see what other criminals have escaped Arkam recently, so we'd be on the lookout for them. We have to watch out for Riddler, Scarecrow, Poision Ivy, Harley... and Joker." I swear, when I said the last name, their eyes grew to take up half their faces.

"Please, friend Robin. You are saying we may have to face this man of jokes which you have spoken of?"

"Yea, but not alone. Gotham's sending backup."

"Dude, sweet! Are you saying we get to meet Batman? Awesome!"

"NO. Beastboy, if you haven't noticed from the ending of the little story, we didn't exactly part on the best of terms. Trust me, you wouldn't want him here anyway. He's on a... buisness trip. For his alter ego."

"Oh, hehe, right. Oh! Oh! Batgirl then? I heard she's really pretty!"

"No, Beastboy... And you stay away from her!" I added as an after-thought. There was no way I wanted Beastboy anywhere near Barb. One, because she was at least four years older than him, two, I used to date her, and I don't want to see her get hurt, and three, she's my closest friend, and now that we've broken up, is like a sister to me. Our relationship is what you would consider Cyborg and Raven's to be. Brother and sister. I guess you could say I was being over pretective, but still. I didn't want Beastboy near her. "Actually, it's a new kid coming. Name's Tim. He'll be here tomorow night."

"So, who is he anyway? His hero name, anyway." asked Raven.

"I'm not sure, Raven. Every time I started to ask, Babs-er, Barb-, uh, Batgirl, found some way to cut him off."

"Babs? Wait, was Batgirl like, you girl-"

"Anyway," I cut him off quickly, "They're sending Tim to help, not only because of all the extra psychos. There was another escape." Venom filled my voice as I spoke his name. "Tony Zucco."

"Ok man, I see why he'd come because of Joker comin, but what's that guy got to do with anything? I've never even heard of him! He sounds like just another villian, and I'm sure that the cops could-"

"No." I frowned, and my face showed how disgusted I was by the man. "I NEED to find Zucco, and make sure he is put back in jail where he belongs, or given the death penalty, or something. He's sneaky, and has many different aliases. I won't let him disapear, not this time..."

My friends frowned at me, seeing my obsessive nature come out. They hadn't seen me this worked up about a criminal since the Slade incident.

"Robin, why is it so important that you catch this Zucco guy? He's just a mob boss or a low key criminal or something, isn't he?"

"No, Raven. He is one of the most powerful mafia bosses in Gotham City. And why it's so important I catch him... it's personal. He messed with my family, and when we messed with his, he got revenge. Now it's my turn for revenge, which I will get. No matter how long it takes to find him." I noticed Starfire send a worried look towards the rest of our friends, who just shrugged.

"Look. I spent five years of my life looking for him, and only after that, I found him and finaly got him in jail. Now, two years later, he just randomly breaks out. I need to find him. He ruined my family, and so now I need to return the favor by ruining him."

"Wait, when you say family, do you mean Batman? Cause, isn't he, like, your fa-"

"Finish that sentence Beastboy, and I will snap your arm. No, I don't mean Batman, but the answer... it's not important. I'm gonna go get things ready... for Tim coming, and whatever." I walked out of the room, and went to my own to look for the antidotes of Joker's laughing gas, and Scarecrow's fear toxins. I carried them in my belt when I worked in Gotham, and now kept them in a locked drawer. I needed to make more of the antitoxins, get a guest room set up for Tim, and once that was done... Plot revenge on Tony Zucco.

**So, love it? Hate it? Let me know please!