The following days passed in a slow, mundane haze for Robin. He had been condemned to a life of teenage normalcy as he recovered from his injuries. After the training incident with Wally, Batman had forbidden him from setting foot in the training room, or any of the gymnasiums between the mountain and the Wayne mansion. Robin didn't like being banned from working out. It made him feel useless and sluggish, but the sluggishness might have been due to the lack of sleep Robin was getting.
At the moment he was sitting on the couch with his laptop doing criminal research. It was something to occupy the time. He sighed shutting the lid of his computer and rested his head against the back of the sofa. He was getting nowhere in his investigation of the botched arms deal, and Batman didn't really find anything of value in the warehouse. He was beginning to think that maybe they wouldn't find those idiot criminals. And the criminals that were caught just said that they were offered money for the deal from an unknown source.
Robin closed his eyes behind his sunglasses, trying to think but he was drawing a blank. He had run over the scene in his head hundreds of time, and nothing stood out to him. He couldn't find the guy who drugged him in any of the criminal databases either, and lately he was just too tired to care. Sleep had been evading him over the past couple of days. Sure, he was used to pulling all-nighters once in a while, but having them for consecutive days in a row was beginning to takes its toll. Robin sighed, and leaned his head back against the top of the sofa. He stayed like that until he heard his friends coming into the living room from training.
Wally was going off about something, but Robin couldn't pick up what it was. He sounded upset though, Canary probably showed him up in practice again. Robin laughed at the thought of the older woman flipping Wally over her shoulder as if he were a rag-doll.
"Wally, calm down," Kaldur said.
"Why should I? You feel the same way…all of you do!" Wally retorted.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Robin got off the couch. He walked over to his circle of friends to see what the problem was. "Hey, what's going on?"
Wally looked over at him, a glare set into his features. "Like you don't know," he sneered.
Robin cocked an eyebrow at Wally's sudden tone. "No, I don't. Care to enlighten me?"
Kaldur pushed Wally aside, and came to stand in front of Robin. He looked quite serious, and Robin had a feeling he was not going to like he had to say. "Batman has forbidden us from going on anymore missions. Our team is to be disbanded."
Robin's frowned. "What? He didn't say anything about this to me. Why did he do that?"
"It was because of your injuries on the previous mission," Kaldur explained.
"That's ridiculous! I'll go talk to him," Robin said. He turned to go to the training room to use the computer monitors, but Wally jumped in front of him.
"That won't do any good. He was dead serious. Dude, this is your entire fault!" Wally shouted.
"How is it my fault? I didn't ask him to do that you know," Robin snapped.
"That maybe so but he did it because of you," Wally said, poking Robin in the chest with his index finger. "It's because you're nothing but a simple human. There's nothing special about you…nothing super about you. You don't have any powers and you can't keep up with us." Wally said with a glare set into his features. "You're a breakable, immature thirteen year old kid."
Robin shoved Wally out of his way, not responding. He looked at the others around him, frowns set on each of their faces. They didn't say anything, but Robin could see in their eyes that they agreed with Wally.
"You have something to say too?" Robin asked venom laced every word he spoke. He was challenging them.
"We agree with Wally. You are not right for this team," Kaldur said.
"You're weak," Superboy added.
"And you're just holding us back," Megan concluded.
"See?" Wally said with a confident smirk on his face. "You're not needed here anymore."
Robin clenched his right fist. "Excuse me, but I've been at this longer than any of you have."
"Yeah, sure. But you've also been hospitalized more than any of us. You're holding us back because we have to spend time worrying about you, protecting you, and we're fed up," Wally said.
Robin looked down to the concrete floor. He was fuming, and trying to calm down. He didn't understand why his friends had suddenly decided to betray him, but he didn't like it. He wasn't useless, he wasn't weak, and he was going to prove it. Without any warning Robin spun and punched Wally in the jaw. The red head fell to the floor, cupping his cheek.
"I may not have powers, but I am not weak."
Wally just smiled a mocking smile. "Really?" He got up and was instantly standing face to face with Robin. "I beg to differ." He punched Robin hard and fast in the solar plexus, instantly knocking the breath out of Robin. He landed on his knee, gasping and coughing for breath. Blood seeped out of the corner of his mouth. The sides of his vision were dotted with specks of white and black threatening to encroach over his consciousness.
"We don't need you anymore," Wally spat.
Robin fell to the floor, there was a moment of darkness, and then suddenly he was lurching forward from his seat on the couch. He looked around the room, and saw his teammates sitting there watching the television quietly. Robin touched the spot on his stomach where he had been punched, but it didn't really hurt. There was just an echoing, phantom pain in his memory.
Robin leaned back into the couch. His teammates were watching him with concerned expressions as Robin was looking around the room with a confused face.
"You okay?" Superboy asked. He was sitting on the opposite side of the couch from Robin.
"Uh, that depends. Was I asleep just now?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, we tried not to wake you," Superboy answered.
"Oh, um thanks" Robin said.
"What's up, Rob? Wally asked. "You never fall asleep on the couch. Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I just dozed off from boredom I guess," he smiled, and picked up his laptop from the coffee table. "I'm glad it was just a dream," Robin thought.
He opened his computer, but didn't do anything. Everything he had just seen had felt so real. Robin, even though he had the most experience and time as a hero, was always afraid of being kicked off the team. He didn't want to be rejected by his friends, especially Wally. Why did he suddenly have a dream about that?
Robin inwardly sighed. The nightmares had been a frequent thing with him recently, more so than usual. And with each one they kept getting progressively worse and more realistic. Every time he tried to sleep he would wake up sweating from some horrific, fearful scene.
"Maybe I should tell Batman," Robin thought. "I'm going to go crazy if this continues."
But just then something clicked in his mind. All of the nightmares, and the one image of his mother he saw during training. "Ah, crud," Robin groaned. "I'm so stupid! I should have seen this from the start." Robin said out loud, he began pulling up different files on his laptop. They were records from Arkham Asylum.
"What's up, Rob?" Wally asked curiously because of Robin's outburst.
"Unfortunately I think I found a lead," Robin said. "I've got to go tell Batman." He rose from the couch holding his laptop, and practically ran into the Dark Knight.
"Oh well that saves time," Robin lightly laughed. "I need to speak with you."
"What is it?" Batman asked.
"We completely over looked this because he wasn't there, but I've got a feeling he's behind this," Robin turned the laptop to Batman to show him the files.
"Why do you think it's him? He's still locked up in Arkham," Batman said.
"You could say it's a gut feeling," Batman gave him a look that Robin knew all too well; the slight glare that Batman wasn't getting the desired information from Robin. He looked away from Batman not wanting to look him in the eyes. "I've been having nightmares…more than usual. They're there every time I sleep," Robin said quietly.
Batman narrowed his eyes at the teenager standing in front of him. "You should have told me sooner, Robin. Go wait in the medical lab for me," Batman instructed. Robin nodded and slowly proceeded out of the room. "The rest of you I have a mission assignment. Suit up and meet in the training room in ten minutes."
Thanks again for the many reviews on the last chapter. I hope you like this one as well. I rewrote it five times until I came up with this one. Just to let you all know, I won't be able to post another chapter until after May 16th. I'm heading into the last two weeks of school, and I've got about four papers to write so all my time will be spent on those. I might be able to toss in a one-shot here and there though.