Chapter 07: Improvement

John messed with his hair a bit, giving a frown as it looked worse.

"Maybe I need a haircut." He muttered as it's been getting a bit long.

It's been a week since that mess with Amazo and so far his ribs were healing up, still not a hundred percent but much better then they were.

Right now he was wearing a pair of sunglasses and a red jacket.

"What do you think?" John asked looking at the person he was hanging out with.

Aqualad gave a shrug unsure of how to answer that while he was dressed in a simple blue and black jacket, with a high collar to hide his gills and tattoos, black pants and black sandals.

The two were currently at a cafe table in Keystone City as John wanted to get out of Gotham for a bit considering he was currently benched and learned that Aqualad was on the surface so he figured why not see if he wanted to hang out-although Batman forbade him from sharing his Secret ID so he had to go by Rob.

Not to say that he wasn't prepared for trouble as he had his Utility Belt hidden underneath his jacket, just in case.

The two were a bit awkward with each other as they didn't really know what to do considering they only really interacted when the Society kidnapped them.

"So how are things in Atlantis?" Rob asked curiously as he wondered what it was like to live underwater.

Truth be told the ocean kind of terrified him due to how much was unknown and how vulnerable he would be in a fight down there, but it also fascinated him with the idea that a whole society was down there.

"Things are well, the city has healed from the latest conflict with Ocean Master and Black Manta," Aqualad said with a smile. "The King is working hard to ensure that the city remains that way."

He then looked over at Rob.

"Are things well in Gotham?"

"As well as it can be, almost all of Batman's rogues are locked up, not counting Freeze who has been MIA for a year since his last appearance and Two-Face in the wind," John said with a shrug. "Besides the gangs belonging to Black Mask, Two-Face and Penguin getting bolder it's actually been pretty peaceful."

Rob didn't bring up anything about Amazo as Batman was already looking into that.

Aqualad gave a nod, hearing about those criminals from his King, but never seeing them. "That is good." He commented knowing the rumors about how bad crime was in Gotham.

In fact, he was surprised that people still lived in that city with how it is.

"I thought I saw you guys." A voice called out and a second later a familiar red head got between them, sitting at the table.

Rob jumped and looked around noting that no one noticed the red head appearing out of nowhere before looking back at Impulse who was dressed in a yellow shirt with a purple hoodie over it and purple pants.

"Hey Robin, Aqualad." She greeted-quietly thankfully but Rob tensed a bit at how she said that in public.

"We're off duty, please call me Kaldur'ham." Aqualad said with a polite smile.

"... I'll stick with Kaldur." Impulse said with a grin before looking at Rob.

"Just call me Rob."

Impulse quirked a brow. "Bats forbid you from sharing?" She asked remembering how her Dad told her of his adventures with the first Robin that it was the same situation.

Rob just gave a barely noticeable nod. "What brings you here Impulse?"

"Irey." Impu-no Irey said with a grin not caring if they knew. "Irey West."

"You have no sense of a secret ID do you?" Rob asked dryly with Irey looking thoughtful before answering with a 'nope'.

"I was running by when I saw you two, I recognized Kaldur so I ran and changed before seeing what was up," Irey said quickly. "What brings you two to Keystone?"

"Wanted to get out of Gotham for a bit." Rob shrugged at her, making sure no one was listening. "I called Speedy and Static but they were both busy."

"You didn't call me?" Irey asked with a kicked puppy look at being left out while he apparently called Kaldur after the other two.

"You didn't answer." Rob deadpanned at her with Irey adopting a sheepish expression on her face hearing that.

"We would've asked you to join us if you did." Kaldur promised her with Irey looking a bit better. "How have you been?"

"Great, although Dad has been keeping an eye on me lately whenever he's not with the others." Irey complained with her arms crossed.

"Tell me about it, my mentor has me checking in every thirty minutes whenever I'm out there." Rob said with a chuckle. "What about you Kaldur?

"The King has also been watching over me as of late." Kaldur said with Rob detecting some hints of frustration in his tone.

"Well the Society is still out there." Irey said with a sigh, understanding why their mentors were like that.

'Hey what if we do our own investigation with the others?'

Rob could just hear the proposition from Mia in his head and he has to admit it's sounding a lot more tempting than it was when she suggested it. But he put it in the back of his mind considering he was still benched and didn't want to risk Bruce's wrath any further than he already has.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Irey decided to ask as she wanted to hang out with them as she didn't really have a lot of friends back home and she was a bit annoyed at Jai because of a silly argument they had.

"We were just talking about current events," Rob said with a shrug, subtly checking his phone to see if he got a message before putting it back in his pocket. "Nothing really too interesting-."

Screams could be heard making the three look towards the street to see much to their surprise a car coming right for the cafe.

Rob kicked back on the table, allowing for the chair to flip as he was behind it right as Kaldur jumped back his strength getting him out of the way with Irey easily running out of there, the car thankfully slammed past the table, barely touching the chair that Rob just jumped out of.

Wincing as his ribs protested from the movement, Rob regrouped with the other two, Irey coming back after making sure the cafe was clear of people to see that the one who threw the car was a giant being made completely of stone. "Isn't that Cinderblock?" Kaldur asked remembering learning about him from Garth in his days as a Titan.

Rob gave a barely noticeable nod noting that Cinderblock was running through with an armored car in his hands, showing he was robbing the bank and just grabbed it off the road-kind of scary if you think about it.

The fact that the other car flew towards them was completely by chance.

Irey grinned and pulled her goggles out that she kept for whenever she wanted to run and placed them on. "Up for a team-up?" She asked excitedly.

"I don't have my suit." Rob said unsure about this as Cinderblock was extremely powerful, enough to where one hit would kill him without his suits protection.

"Neither do I, don't need it." Irey ran in there without any hesitation despite Kaldur calling after her.

Rob groaned and quickly checked his com. "Batman this is Robin, Cinderblock is sighted in Keystone City and Impulse just engaged." He said seeing Kaldur run in to make sure Irey didn't get herself killed, jumping over a thrown car-.

Rob let out a cry of shock as he dove to the side, barely dodging the other car.

"Robin?!" Batman called out in worry hearing the cry.

"Sorry had to move out of the way of a flying car." Rob apologized to his mentor. "Aqualad just joined Impulse."

"Get out of there." Batman ordered as he was in the middle of a League crisis involving Black Adam. "You are not to engage."

Rob hesitated on that, seeing Kaldur getting backhanded right into a building with Irey barely dodging a stomp before coming to a decision.

He wasn't going to leave them.

"Sorry you're breaking up." Rob said pretending he couldn't hear him. "I can't hear you."

"Robi-." Rob cut off the call with a wince.

He was so going to get a lecture when this was over.

Unzipping his jacket to where his Utility Belt was shown, Rob pulled out a pair of birdarangs and flung them towards Cinderblock, making them land on his shoulders before they blew up.

It didn't do much but annoy the behemoth, although it distracted him enough to where Kaldur was able to jump up to give a left-hook, making Cinderblock stumble back.

"You have your Utility Belt?!" Irey asked in surprise with Rob throwing down smoke to cover them, Cinderblock coughing as he did so.

"Never go anywhere without it, best way to survive." Rob said helping a couple out of a nearby car that was totaled. "You might want to get out of here."

The couple looked a bit startled at seeing heroes dressed like everyday people before they gave a nod and ran off.

"Okay I think it's safe to say we won't be able to come to Keystone dressed in civvies for a while." Rob commented with Kaldur holding out his hand at a nearby fire hydrant, the top blasting off as he shot the water at Cinderblock the force making the concrete criminal step back.

"Anyone have a plan?" Kaldur asked, Irey zooming back to them rubbing her hands as she tried to punch Cinderblock a few times at high speeds thinking that would have some effect the guy barely felt it.

"Not this time." Rob said about to grab some more birdarangs only for Cinderblock to stomp a foot on the ground making it shake as Rob barely kept his balance before he threw a birdarang right as Irey went to run in.

That resulted in her being hit in the shoulder making her cry out. "Watch it."

"You ran in front of-." Rob went to argue but stopped himself as it didn't matter with Kaldur jumping up, his arms sparking but Cinderblock grabbed him and threw him right into the boy wonder, sending him rolling on the ground as they got up.

"Apologies." Kaldur said quickly getting back up.

Shaking his head, Rob shot his grapple to a nearby street light to get into the air but Cinderblock reached out and grabbed it, pulling to make him collide with both Kaldur and Irey, sending them in the wall.

Now Rob's ribs were really protesting.

This was bad, they weren't fighting as a team like they did against Grundy, but as individuals who kept getting into each other's ways.

"Get off of me." Irey complained as both Kaldur and Rob landed on her.

"Sorry," Rob pulled out a few birdarangs. "Maneuver 58."

He momentarily forgot that there was no way they would know what that was.

Irey at the same time however called out. "High and Low." Needless to say the two ended up colliding with each other.

"What was that?" Rob muttered as Kaldur quickly gained Cinderblock's attention to avoid him attacking the two while they were down.

"You're asking what high and low was?" Irey asked in disbelief. "It's the same tactic I use with Dad, what the heck is Maneuver 58?"

"A tactic Batman and I do."

"Newsflash I'm not Batman." Irey got out with Aqualad jumping back to join them as he had to avoid a hit.

Quickly righting themselves, Rob looked from Cinderblock to the construction site behind him. "I have an idea-."

He was cut off when a beam of blue energy slammed into Cinderblock, sending him on his back while the three heroes looked surprised by that development.

"Titans Go!" The three teens turned to see the Justice League member Cyborg his cannon arm smoking while three teens ran in with a green Cheetah alongside them.

The teens were Superboy a teen with dark hair wearing a black shirt with the House of El symbol on it, Wonder Girl blonde girl wearing a sleeveless red shirt and jeans with silver bracelets on her wrists and Kid Flash a teen in a red and yellow suit with the iconic bolt on the chest-the latter giving Irey a concerned look as they engaged Cinderblock, the first two giving an uppercut while the cheetah turned into a Rhino, barreling the villain over.

Rob, Irey and Kaldur exchanged glances and went to rush in only for a dark shield to appear in front of them.

Turning from the shield, Rob saw a young woman in a violet cloak with her hand glowing. "It's best you remain out of this one." Raven said her tone holding no rooms for an argument.

Irey looked annoyed by that while Rob gave a relieved sigh but he wouldn't deny being just as annoyed considering he did just come up with a plan after all.

Kaldur gave a nod to let Raven know they understood and the shield was down in time for them to see that Cinderblock was knocked out.

"Man they made it look easy." Rob muttered under his breath seeing how they took Cinderblock out in a matter of seconds while they struggled for the last few minutes to even annoy him.

"Aw man, KF is never going to let me forget this." Irey groaned out.

"Could be worse." Rob said with a shrug. "At least we didn't embarrass ourselves further."

Irey went to say something but Kaldur interjected.

"I think what Robin meant to say is that we should take this and learn from it." None of them noticed how Superboy's head jerked towards their conversation upon hearing the name 'Robin' much to Wonder Girl and Kid Flash's confusion.

"We wouldn't have to if Robin didn't hit me with the birdarang." Irey said rubbing her shoulder.

She meant it as a joke but Rob didn't take it as such.

"Says the girl who ran in without thinking," Rob glared not liking how she blamed him for that. "What did you think you were going to do run circles around him?"

"At least it was better than tossing your toys." Irey said her annoyance getting the best of her at how he said that.

Kaldur looked like he was trying to intervene as their voices were getting a bit louder catching the other's attention.

"You have problem?"

"Yeah it's four feet tall and in desperate need of a haircut." Irey smirked as Rob glared at the shot at his height despite how he was taller than her.

"This coming from the midget in goggles." Rob retorted with Irey narrowing her eyes.

"I'm twelve what's your excuse?"

"Twelve? More like three." Rob snorted with Irey looking taken aback by that rather accurate statement despite Rob not knowing it.

"Deja-Vu." The rhino turned into a green skinned young man in a black and purple suit looking at Cyborg who gave a nod, knowing what he was referring to.

"Enough." Kaldur finally got between them. "We're all at fault here, arguing won't change that."

Both Irey and Rob just huffed and looked away, intent on not saying anything else to each other.

"Hey." The three of them stopped when Superboy approached the group followed by Wonder Girl and Kid Flash. "You were just called Robin, right?"

Rob blinked, giving a cautious nod.

"Is Ti-our Robin doing alright?" Superboy asked with a hint of concern in his tone. "We haven't heard from him since he retired."

Rob gave a nod. "Last I saw him he is." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"Well that's good," Kid Flash said looking relieved before he glanced at Irey. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." Irey said to him. "We could've handled him."

"Uh yeah, was that before or after you got thrown into each other." Beast Boy quipped with an amused look.

It had no bite as Cinderblock was a pretty tough opponent from their old days as Titans.

"So race you home Irey?" Kid Flash asked with a smirk that Irey returned.

"Oh you're on."

"Good we'll start in a sec." Kid Flash said zipping back to Superboy and Wondergirl who walked off to talk about something, telling them he would meet them back at the Tower later.

Kaldur sighed. "I should head back too," He said looking at Rob. "Thanks for the invite."

"No prob Kal." Rob said shortening Kaldur's name even further with a grin. "Probably won't happen again for awhile with how angry Bats will be."

"Why would he be angry?" Irey turned in surprise the argument forgotten for the moment.

"He uh told me to not engage Cinderblock and I might've turned my com link off before disobeying him." Rob said rubbing the back of his head. "So odds are he is going to be pissed."

"Oh big time." Cyborg commented an amused grin on his face. "Nice to meet you by the way, you planning on coming to Titans Tower anytime soon?"

It's become a sort of tradition for Nightwing to bring a Robin to Titans Tower when there's a new one after both Jason and Tim.

It was the same with Wonder Woman bringing her protege there with Donna and Cassie and then with Wally doing the same to Bart, even Irey and Jai have both been there despite the fact that the latter didn't have powers anymore.

If someone told Cyborg that Titans Tower when it was built would one day be a clubhouse for teenage heroes instead of the headquarters he would've gave them an unamused look thinking they were on something.

Rob blinked in surprise behind his sunglasses before hesitating and looking towards Superboy, Wonder Girl and Kid Flash who were laughing about something that the speedster said.

"They wouldn't hold it against you for their friend retiring." Raven said as if she could read his mind and Rob had a sneaking suspicion she did-then again her empathic abilities probably helped with that.

"I wouldn't want to make things awkward." Rob finally said before flashing a grateful smile to them, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in visiting someday.

Truthfully it was because those three were Tim's friends while these guys were Dick's and he didn't want to get between the dynamic they made as a team with each other.

"Is Garth at the Tower?" Kaldur asked curiously with Beast Boy giving a nod and as the changeling began to talk animatedly with the Atlantean, Rob turned to Irey who was waiting a bit impatiently for Kid Flash to finish so they could have their race.

"Your shoulder alright?"

Irey blinked before realizing what he meant. "Yeah it's healed by now, speedsters heal quick."

"That's good," Rob said with a sigh. "Sorry about what I said."

Now Irey looked a bit sheepish. "Yeah, same here." She said as she does say a lot of things she regrets later, something she was told she got from her Dad. "You're not in too much trouble right?"

"Jury's still out on that one." Rob said with a shrug before seeing Kid Flash waving good-bye to Superboy and Wonder Girl, zipping over to Irey. "See ya Impulse."

Irey smirked. "Same to you Rob." She said giving a lazy salute right as she looked at Kid Flash. "Ready to race?"

"Born ready." Kid Flash returned before they both were gone.


John winced as soon as the Zeta Beam in Keystone dropped him off a good twenty minutes later in the Batcave-after he typed in a certain code.

Bruce was standing there with his cowl off and he did not look happy.

"I gave you an order to not engage." Bruce said his tone showing almost no emotion.

John rubbed the back of his head. "Funny story," He said a bit weakly only for Bruce's glare to cut him off. "Bruce, I didn't want to leave Impulse and Aqualad to fight that by themselves, besides the Titans showed up-."

"After I called Cyborg when you turned your coms off," Bruce interrupted a furious look on his face. "You're still injured from the incident with Amazo."

"How many times do you go on League missions when you're still injured?!" John snapped before he could think. "I can handle myself just as well."

"That's not the point Jason-!"

Bruce went silent while John blinked.

Did he just?

"Uh wrong Robin?" John tried a bit bewildered by that.

Instead of continuing the conversation from there, Bruce turned back to the computer. "Go home John," He told the young teen. "You're grounded from being Robin until I say so."

John wanted to say more but bit his tongue to keep himself quiet and turned to leave knowing that arguing would just make it worse.

When he left, Bruce pinched his nose unable to believe he just did that.

He hasn't done something like that since Tim's early days as Robin but John was just reminding him way too much of Jason to not do it.

And the way he's disobeying him in the field has him worried that he would meet the same end as Jason, only in John's case there won't be a miracle to bring him back.


John sighed as he walked around Gotham his red jacket zipped up to hide his utility belt.

But his sunglasses were off as he had no reason to hide in Gotham City.

"Definitely would be a boring week." John muttered considering the fact that he wouldn't be able to patrol for awhile before he had a thought.

That doesn't mean he can't go to Titans Tower to visit as Rob right? … He'll ask Dick for the passcodes first so he can zeta there later.

But only if Impulse, Aqualad and Speedy were there-he wasn't sure if Static would be there considering he typically stays in North Dakota.

Hearing his phone buzz, John checked it to see it was from Stephanie who was asking what the plan was for that night.

At that he paused a bit nervous.

He had no clue what he was going to do for the date.

Scratching the back of his head as John tried to think about what to do, an idea came to him on who he could ask.

"Should've done this in the first place." John muttered taking off running.

Moments later he was in the Clock Tower with Barbara giving him a raised brow. "You need some dating advice?"

"Uh yeah, I don't know what to do." John said to her. "I already tried asking a few people but I didn't get any helpful advice-or advice at all really."

"Is this with Stephanie or Speedy?" Barbara asked curiously with John fidgeting a bit annoyed that just about everyone knows about that.

"... Steph." John finally said, Barbara giving a nod.

"Alright what do you want to know?"

"Anything, I've never been on a date before." John said nervously.

After a few seconds, Barbara spoke. "How about taking her to the amusement park?" She suggested to him. "The games and rides there would make for a fun time."

John noticed how she seemed to be lost in memories. "Speaking from experience?" He asked before wincing. "Never mind-."

"It's fine, Dick and I used to go there a few times before the Titans were formed." Barbara said with a smile.

"You and Dick dated?" John was surprised to hear that when he's seen them acting like siblings towards each other the last year.

"When we were teenagers, not so much anymore." Barbara said with a smile, thinking back to what she would call 'simple' times.

"Oh they did more than dated." Barbara frowned while John blinked, turning to see a dark haired woman in her late twenties wearing a form-fitting black and purple uniform, a crossbow attached to her hip leaning on the door frame.

"Huntress, what are you doing here?" Barbara asked politely, her glare telling the other woman not to elaborate on what she just said a second ago.

"Dinah called me about checking something out here in Gotham, she should be here soon," Huntress said tilting her head to John. "Didn't take you for babysitting. Who's the kid?"

"Robin." John said quickly putting the sunglasses on to hide his eyes much to Huntresses amusement.

"Ah the new Boy Wonder?" Huntress gave a slight chuckle. "So dating advice huh?"

"... How long were you there?" John asked his shoulders slumping as there was yet another person who seemed to be able to sneak up on him despite all of his training.

Or maybe it was because he let his guard down in the Clock Tower?

"Just enough to get what was going on," Huntress commented pushing off the door frame to walk in right as a blonde haired woman wearing a black shirt and a blue jacket walked in, pausing at seeing John. "What took so long Dinah?"

"Just some problems at home." Dinah Lance, the Black Canary said looking at Huntress while John sighed.

"Well you seem to have your hands full, thanks for the advice Oracle." John said standing up.

If he knew the 'Birds of Prey' were going to be here he would've just called.

"Anytime." Barbara said looking amused as he left before turning serious as she looked at her guests. "So what's the situation?"


An hour later, John was tugging on the collar of his shirt a bit uncomfortable as he approached where Stephanie lived.

Apparently she lived with her mother 'Crystal Brown' and she doesn't know about her daughter being Spoiler along with being a nurse for Gotham General and divorced her husband for being Cluemaster who was currently in Blackgate Prison.

John found that last part out by accident as Cluemaster was one of the files he studied, he didn't say anything about knowing that to Stephanie as he figured she wouldn't want to talk about it.

Taking a deep breath as he made it to the apartment, John knocked and stood back for a few seconds right before the door opened to show a young woman with brown hair with glasses looking a bit suspicious of him.

Not that John minded given this was Gotham.

"Hey uh is Stephanie home?" John asked a bit nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"That depends on who's asking." Crystal said not answering before Stephanie intervened.

"Mom it's cool, he's a friend." Stephanie said an exasperated look on her face. "John this is my Mom, Mom this is John."

"Nice to meet you." John said holding his hand out with Crystal still having a frown but she accepted the handshake.

"I thought you were dating that Drake boy?" Crystal said with John blinking, not expecting that.

Tim and Stephanie used to date?

"Mom." Stephanie said a bit annoyed now with Crystal finally raising a hand in a placating manner.

"Fine, fine I won't pry," Crystal told her before looking at John. "If she's not home by eight I'm calling the police."

"Yes ma'am," John said before Stephanie closed the front door. "... She was pleasant."

"Sorry about her, Mom just worries a lot." Stephanie explained the two now walking the streets of Gotham.

"It's cool." John said wishing his Dad did that too before he went quiet. "So you and Tim used to date?"

Stephanie sighed at that. "Leave it to Mom to mention that," She muttered, giving John a look. "Yes we used to date but we broke up a bit before he retired, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Got it." John said getting the message to drop it.

Nothing else was said as they walked before Stephanie raised a brow. "So do you have a plan or are we just walking?"

"Well how about Amusement Mile?" John suggested rubbing the back of his head. "Or the Movies, one of the two. Which do you prefer?"

"The Park sounds a lot more fun." Stephanie said with John happy that he went to Barbara for advice on this.

It was actually pretty empty at the Carnival in Amusement Mile, not completely empty but just a slow night for them as the two walked through it a good few minutes later.

"So how was Keystone?" Stephanie asked curiously earning a surprised look from John.

"How did you know I was there?"

"It was on the News with Cinderblock attacking and it showed the Titans taking him down, but there was a bit of a talk about three 'kids' getting their butts kicked." Stephanie said with John twitching a bit.

"Let me guess, G. Gordon Godfrey?" John asked with Stephanie giving a nod as that certain News Reporter made it his life's mission to try and outlaw 'Superheroes'. "Do I want to know how bad?"

"Probably not," Stephanie commented with them stopping to get a small snack. "But besides that how was it?"

"Pretty good, I got to know Aqualad and Impulse a bit better," John said as they both got some cotton candy. "What about you? Anything interesting happen today?"

"All I did was spar with Cass, nothing really exciting," Stephanie rolled her shoulders just thinking about that before they came to a few of the game stalls. "Want to give some of them a try?"

John just grinned as he pulled some money out to play the games.

Moments later they were leaving the stalls with some prizes chuckling a bit. "Think it's kind of unfair that we can win rigged games easily?" John asked curiously as with their training it was almost too easy.

"How is it unfair if they're rigged?" Stephanie asked with John shrugging to answer.

"I meant compared to other people," John elaborated with her. "We kind of have an advantage with our training."

"True, but that's what makes this fun." Stephanie told him, John giving a nod in agreement. "It's like when I take Gymnastics in school."

"Wait you do?" John asked in surprise looking at her.

Stephanie raised a brow. "It's how I explain what I'm able to do with the training, don't you do that?"

"Uh well I've been thinking about it but I haven't really had the time to do so with both patrol and training," John said a little embarrassed. "But I'm thinking maybe Baseball?"

"Let me guess because of the hand-eye coordination, keeping up with your throwing arm and less chance of an injury than say Football?" Stephanie listed off of her fingers.

John grinned. "Got it in one." He said knowing that Baseball season would be beginning in a month or two.

He has to say so far this 'date' is going a lot better than he expected it to go.

They spent the next hour or so just goofing off with some of the games there before Stephanie's phone beeped and she checked it. "It's Seven-Thirty." She said with a wince.

"Would your Mom really call the police if you aren't home on time?" John asked curiously with Stephanie nodding.

"Yeah, she would," Stephanie said with a sigh. "Too bad though, this was a lot of fun."

"Yeah it was." John agreed a smile forming on his face as they began to leave the park.

Truthfully it was nice to just be regular teenagers again for once after spending the last year being a vigilante. Just being normal is quite the experience compared to everything else.

It only took a little bit before they reached the apartment when John looked a little nervous. "So," He began catching Stephanie's attention, especially since he was turning red a bit. "That was a date right?"

Stephanie quirked a brow at the question.

"Does that make us Boyfriend and Girlfriend-?" He stopped at seeing the amused look and groaned as he was really making a complete fool of himself. "You know what, never mind."

Stephanie let out a small chuckle before smirking.

"I guess I should go-." John stopped when Stephanie placed her arms around his neck and leaned in, kissing him on the lips, making John's eyes widen in shock.

"Does that answer your question?" Stephanie asked a bit coyly.

John didn't trust himself to speak so he settled with a nod as Stephanie let go and walked into the apartment, pausing to look back as she held the door open.

"See you tomorrow." She said referring to the training at the Clock Tower but not outright saying it just in case her Mom was eavesdropping.

Once more John gave a nod while Stephanie closed the door and he stood there for a few seconds, a smile slowly creeping onto his face.

Resisting the urge to scream yes, John turned and began to run home as he realized that he was beginning to look like a creeper by just standing there.

Today was a great day.


The next day he was back at the Clock Tower grumbling as he was reading a book on Spanish.

For the last few months he's been beginning to learn different languages most notably Spanish, Russian and Italian but he only knows a few words of each, learning the words-easy, actually speaking them is the tough part.

Across from him, Cass was slowly reading a short story-not exactly a children's book as her reading has improved quite a bit despite her 'dyslexia'. Occasionally they would talk with her asking if she was reading something right while he practiced some 'Spanish' with her, helping her learn that in the process to.

Giving a slight cough, John grinned. "¿Cómo está la historia? (How's the Story?)" He asked in an attempt with Cass just giving a small smirk.

She might have trouble speaking it but she can understand it easily at this point. "Good." She replied in English. "Interesting too."

"Eso es bueno escuchar. (That's good to hear)." John replied closing the book. "Okay that's enough spanish for today."

With that he placed his book up before seeing Cass do the same. "Want to spar?" Cass asked her English coming up pretty good.

John gave a slight grimace before hiding it with a nod.

While sparring was fun he was getting a bit tired of getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter by Cass.

But he knew that each time he was getting better, so the two of them got to the sparring mat and got ready.

After a few seconds of staring each other down, Cass made the first move by running at John who tensed and feinted left only to move right.

Cass however saw that coming a mile away from how his muscles moved and delivered a palm strike that he blocked with his arm, throwing a knee up but she was already in the process of ducking and a second later, John was thrown across the map, but he recovered by doing a handspring.

'Have to remember to thank Dick for those gymnastic lessons.' John thought turning around to see Cass waiting to see what his move was. 'But now I have to focus.'

His main goal in training was to beat Cass just once in a spar and while he knew it wouldn't happen today-or anytime soon really, he was going to give it his all.

The two circled each other for a bit before John took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm his nerves.

'Remember, there will come a time when you'll face someone who is just as skilled if not more in combat.' Bruce's words went through John's head as he focused on his heartbeat to make sure it wasn't beating too fast. 'In those types of situations the best thing you can do is keep a clear head, that means no distractions.'

With those words going through his head, John rushed Cass and spun around for a kick, that she blocked with her forearm and for once John was able to see her punch coming, blocking it and delivering a punch of his own-.

It connected.

John blinked as Cass took a step back from the hit and he grinned.

He managed to tag her-.

Then he was reminded that the spar was still going on when she used the momentum to spin around, kicking his feet out from underneath him and pinning him.

"Right, have to keep focus." John muttered feeling a bit of pain before she eased up and got off, holding a hand out to help him up.

"Improvement." Cass told him with John chuckling.

"Thanks." He said happy that while he lost he managed to tag her.

Man this was just deja-vu compared to one of the spars with Bruce.

"Sorry I'm late." Stephanie entered the room with a yawn. "So what did I miss?"

"Just a spar," John said rolling his hand a bit, to ease some tension. "What took so long?"

"Wanted to spend some time with Mom for a bit," Stephanie said before giving a grin of her own. "So since we're doing spars anyone up against me?"

John looked at Cass before she just waved a hand showing she had her fun for the moment. "Alright, let's do this."


Two weeks later, Robin was blindfolded while on the rooftops of Bludhaven with Nightwing coaching him.

The Master Acrobat managed to talk Bruce into allowing for John to go back to being Robin a week ago and borrowed him for some training of his own.

"You're doing pretty well." Nightwing said as Robin has been moving around depending only on his other senses after memorizing a bit of Bludhaven.

This was another training tactic that Batman did with Nightwing back when he was Robin, just to prepare them for if something happened that momentarily took away their sight.

Nightwing felt that it would be a good idea for Robin to learn this after the incident with Shade, just to avoid it happening again.

"I had a good teacher." Robin returned with a grin that Nightwing copied before the grin turned mischievous.

"So what's this I hear about you and Spoiler?" Nightwing asked casually, making Robin stumble as he was near the edge before the former Boy Wonder grabbed Robin by the arm to make sure he didn't fall off the edge.

"W-What are you talking about?" Robin asked his face turning red while he pulled the blindfold off.

"No need to be embarrassed Little Wing," Nightwing joked with Robin grumbling about that stupid affectionate name he always used. "It's normal to fall for a girl."

"Oh God, you're are an absolute dick sometimes you know that?" Robin grumbled with Nightwing giving a laugh.

"You're just now noticing?" He asked with a smile. "So how many dates have you two gone out on in the last two weeks?"

"... Oracle told you didn't she?" Robin guessed as she was the only one who he told.

Nightwing didn't confirm or deny it. "We were both trained by Batman, it's kind of easy to figure stuff out."

Okay he had a point there.

"Just a few dates." Robin muttered looking away.

Nightwing was obviously going to question him more before he tensed, Robin doing the same a second later.

They weren't alone-.

Both vigilantes dove out of the way, behind cover as a loud bang echoed, a bullet barely missing where Nightwing was.

"Was that a flintlock pistol?!" Robin asked a bit incredulously at the aged weapon, identifying it from the sound.

"Oh great, her again." Nightwing muttered with Robin pulling a birdarang out, using the shining surface to see the reflection of the shooter.

It was a blonde woman wearing a form-fitting red and yellow costume, a silverish mask over her upper face, holding a smoking flintlock pistol and a couple of daggers and swords.

"Pissed off ex of yours?" Robin asked in a mocking tone as he didn't recognize her from any files.

"If only it was that simple." Nightwing quipped back to him. "That's Lady Vic, she works for Blockbuster who's the Kingpin around Bludhaven, guess he hired her to kill me."

Then Nightwing looked serious.

"She's no joke, trust me she's good at hand-to-hand." Nightwing warned the Boy Wonder.

"Got it." John said him holding up two birdarangs. "So how do we do this?"

"Maneuver 32?"

Robin grinned before giving a nod.

A moment later they both dove out of cover, Robin throwing a birdarang while Nightwing tossed a Wing Ding at her, forcing her to move to the side while Robin used the grapple to launch himself up throwing smoke bombs to try and disorientate her.

But that proved to be futile as Lady Vic easily got out of the smoke with a pair of Kris Daggers, on hand prompting Robin to quickly duck right as Nightwing made his way towards her, his sticks out the electric feature on.

Lady Vic backed up to evade the strikes from Nightwing. "So Vic what brings you back here?" Nightwing questioned as he kept an eye on her for any form of movement that could end his life if he wasn't careful.

"I promised Blockbuster to have your head on a platter." Lady Vic said simply, easily blocking a strike from Robin as she went to hit Nightwing only for him to use his sticks to disarm one of the daggers. "I keep my promises."

That didn't deter her as she jumped doing a backflip to make some distance while both Robin and Nightwing prepared themselves.

Lady Vic took out two Webley-Fosbery .455 revolvers and shot at them, forcing the vigilantes to move with Nightwing acrobatically flipping out of the way, Robin meanwhile had to bring his gauntlets up to protect his face as one of the bullets bounced off of it, giving him time to make it to cover as he pulled out his grapple.

Seeing what Robin had out, Nightwing could tell what he had planned and gave a slight nod, throwing one of his sticks at Lady Vic, making her lean back to dodge it, taking her notice off of Robin who covertly snuck off the rooftop to go around to the other side.

While he did that, Nightwing closed in on the distance, grabbing the thrown stick as he and Lady Vic began to exchange blows, her having to drop her pistols in favor of two daggers on her belt, managing to scratch Nightwing on the shoulder as he hit her across the arm, the electricity on the stick making her stumble but she pushed through it.

Nightwing jumped over Lady Vic right as she slashed at him, landing and throwing up a stick to block a dagger before spinning around to slam his elbow into her gut and followed up with a few kata's that forced her to step back blocking quite a few of them despite being disorientated.

"This is more like it, a fight to the finish." Vic said with a smirk before Nightwing laughed.

"Yeah but notice something missing?"

His words reminded her of the Boy Wonder right as the grapple wrapped around her arm with Robin managing to sneak up behind her. "Or rather someone?" Robin followed up with a quip.

Lady Vic didn't get the chance to reply as Nightwing delivered an upper palm strike on her chin at the same time that Robin reeled himself in, giving a kick on Lady Vic's back the two blows sending her to the ground out cold.

"Well that was something." Robin said at the new experience while Nightwing laughed.

"Yeah she's usually harder to beat," Nightwing explained to him. "Then again I'm usually on my own when we fight."

"But you think something's not right?" Robin questioned due to the tone in Nightwing's voice.

"Yeah, to attack us out of nowhere like that? She would usually wait until I'm alone," Nightwing paused at pulling a piece of paper out of Lady Vic's pocket. "Oh great."

"What is it?" Robin asked only for Nightwing to pass it to him. "Oh."

It was a bounty of Nightwing, apparently Lady Vic wasn't the only one after him and that would explain her sloppiness in trying to take Nightwing down quickly.

"This puts a bit of a kink in our training plans." Nightwing said with a sigh. "You should head back to Gotham."

Robin gave Nightwing an incredulous look. "And leave you with this?!"

"Relax I can handle having a bounty," Nightwing said keeping an eye on neighboring rooftops. "It's something you deal with as a vigilante, you have one yourself."

"... I do?"

"Penguin and Black Mask put bounties on anyone connected with the old man." Nightwing elaborated with Robin blinking in surprise. "So I'm used to this-."

Nightwing froze as a figure dropped on the rooftop across from them, his joking and light-hearted demeanor disappearing while Robin looked at the new arrival to see it was a man in an orange, black and silver armored suit, armed to the teeth with different weapons and a mask that was half black, half bronze with a single eye peering out from it.

Robin recognized him alright as this man was a legend.

Deathstroke the Terminator.

The man who could take on all members of the League by himself along with the only person who the Batman has never beaten in a fight-without help.

Robin would be lying if he said he wasn't scared right now.

"Slade." Nightwing said anger in his tone, something that surprised Robin as Nightwing has never acted like that before.

"Nightwing it's been awhile hasn't it?" Deathstroke greeted in a cold, metallic voice.

As Deathstroke spoke, he looked from Nightwing to Robin who tensed.

"And the new Boy Wonder?"

Nightwing immediately stepped in front of Robin. "What are you doing here Slade?" He spat out at the man, ignoring some flashbacks of his earlier encounters of this man back when he was Robin.

"I'm certain you can figure it out given my line of work," Deathstroke said pulling a bo-staff out. "Even if you were my apprentice once."

Normally Robin would've asked Nightwing what he was talking about but considering what was about to happen, he didn't think it was the time as the acrobat readied his escrima sticks. "Robin get back to Gotham now!"

"There's no need to worry this is between you and me, someone else however might say otherwise." Deathstroke said looking past the two.

Seeing that as a bad sign, Robin turned to see someone else land on the rooftop.

The figure was a girl who looked about seventeen wearing a similar suit to Deathstroke, but the mask was a headband with the bottom part of her face showing and white hair sticking out the back pulled into a ponytail as she held two katanas.

Nightwing saw her and frowned. "Another apprentice Slade?" He asked darkly.

"You sound disappointed." Deathstroke said in a bit of a mocking tone.

As those two seemed to be having a pissing contest, Robin eyed the new arrival warily.

Her stance showed that she was extremely adept in Kenjutsu with a small hint of Bushido.

And considering how Nightwing will have his own problem Robin knew he might be on his own in this fight.

Not that he minded because he felt that Nightwing most likely got the raw end of the deal because of Deathstroke's reputation.

"Can I at least have the name of my opponent before we fight?" Robin asked in a calm tone, activating detective vision to try and analyze her skeletal structure for a weak point.

The girl smirked. "Ravager." She said and immediately Robin grimaced as the Detective Vision went fuzzy showing she had something that interfered with it-.

Robin turned it off only to quickly duck a sword strike, as he pulled out two birdarangs.

While he was happy to use his fists, he didn't feel like testing his gauntlets durability with those swords.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Deathstroke and Nightwing fighting-or more of Nightwing being on the defensive and doing his best to avoid being hit.

"Pay attention to the fight." Ravager commented, not liking how he didn't seem to be taking this seriously but Robin blocked the sword strikes, barely keeping them from cutting him as they pushed against the birdarangs.

"I am it's called multitasking." Robin said flippantly as he had to jump back considering the girl's strength was definitely better than his, along with how her reflexes seemed showed she was superhuman just like Deathstroke.

This just got harder.

So he tossed the birdarangs after pressing a button on them, but she ended up pulling the matrix with leaning back instead of dodging them as they exploded after shooting past her.

Ravager didn't even waste a second as she moved at him with blinding speed, forcing him on the defensive this time having no choice but to block with his gauntlets as the swords collided with them, making him step back as she kept the assault up.

"You're pretty good." Robin couldn't help but say as this was like fighting Cass only with enhanced strength added into the mix-not a good combination for him.

"Compliments won't get you anywhere bird boy." Ravager returned delivering a slash that was followed up with a kick.

Robin managed to block the slash but the kick to the stomach sent him rolling on the ground wincing in pain.

Thankfully the blow connected with the suit, considering it protected him against Amazo this was almost nothing compared to that.

But it still hurt.

Ravager threw down smoke pellets at him, catching him in a cloud of smoke.

'So this is what it feels like.' Robin thought a bit annoyed as he barely caught her form in the smoke and grabbed one of her wrists much to her surprise.

Robin didn't stop there as this wasn't a spar but an actual fight that can kill him, he went to deliver a palm strike to render the arm useless but Ravager dropped one of her swords and blocked the hit before kneeing him in the solar plexus nearly making him let go, but they both were at a stalemate as neither side was planning on letting go.

Although Robin had a feeling that he was going to lose this struggle as the pressure she was putting on was a bit more intense than his.

Ravager smirked again. "This is more fun than I thought it would be." She commented, Robin figured that was a sort of compliment.

"Glad that I'm not boring." Robin quipped back trying to find a weakness.

While they were in the stalemate, Nightwing jumped back holding a bruised side that Deathstroke managed to tag a few times in their short fight.

That's not to say he didn't get a few hits on Deathstroke as the mask the man wore was cracked a bit along with the Bo-Staff being broken in half and the man was now using a sword.

"Just like old times wouldn't you say?" Deathstroke asked with Nightwing gritting his teeth. "Only this time without the Titans interfering."

"You're not here for the bounty are you," Nightwing accused as he knew the man wouldn't be fooling around like this if he was. "What's your real game here Slade?"

Seeing as how Deathstroke wasn't attacking for the moment, Nightwing glanced back to make sure Robin was alright and saw the stalemate going on before he blocked the sword strike from Deathstroke, giving a slight curse as the man broke through his escrima sticks.

Making some distance, Nightwing decided to go old school in this fight and took a metal baton out, spinning it to make it extend, holding it behind him as he got ready.

Ravager finally got tired of the stalemate and threw Robin over her shoulder, sending him across the rooftop.

Pushing himself up, he barely dove out of the way as Ravager went to impale him with the katana she picked back up while Robin landed next to the one he disarmed and grabbed it.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Ravager asked as Robin held it-showing that he wasn't trained in swordsmanship.

After a moment he copied how she held it a second ago, albit a little sloppy but he smirked. "Saw how you did it." Robin snarked.

"Right foot forward," Ravager said surprising Robin. "If you're going to use my sword at least get the stance right."

Robin frowned for a second as he wasn't sure if she was trying to trick him into getting into a bad stance or just wanted to fight him on equal grounds.

"I prefer my fights to be fun rather than easy." Ravager commented as she saw his frown.

That was what made him realize that she held back this whole fight, she could've ended him easily.

Robin swung the sword to test it and saw it was light and comfortable in his hand before he lunged at Ravager to see that she blocked his hit easily.

"You left yourself open." Ravager said right before Robin felt pain on his side and looked down to see that she had a small dagger that penetrated the armor.

She jumped back, pulling the dagger out in the process with Robin pressing a hand to his now bleeding side, it wasn't a deep wound and thankfully it missed something vital, but it would hamper him in this fight.

But he smirked despite the pain. "So did you."

Ravager looked confused before she heard beeping and looked at her foot to see a small circular device attached to it as it sent electricity flowing through her body, forcing her to fall to one knee from the shock while Robin was panting in pain.

Slowly Ravager pushed herself up. "Not bad."

Dropping the katana as he decided to go for something a bit more comfortable, Robin got in a stance that Ravager analyzed, but before she could go on the offensive again she had to jump back as a green bolt of energy nearly hit her following one aimed at Deathstroke, forcing him to disengage from Nightwing.

Robin quickly glanced at where the attack came from to see what he could only describe as a drop-dead gorgeous woman with neon green eyes that were currently glowing with orange skin and fiery red hair wearing a purple tanktop and skirt.

He recognized her easily.

Starfire, one of the founding members of the Teen Titans.

"You stay away from him Slade." Starfire said anger in her tone as along with Nightwing she seemed to know Slade well.

Deathstroke paused for a bit as the odds were now turning with the arrival of the Tamaranean.

While he was certain he could take her, he didn't want to risk it right now.

"Ravager." Deathstroke called out, the girl giving a nod.

But Ravager took the time to give Robin a look. "We'll finish this later bird boy and next time I won't be going easy." She promised him while Robin held his side with a glare of his own as the two Assassins threw down flash bangs to mask their escape.

"Nightwing are you alright?" Starfire's eyes stopped glowing as she flew to Nightwing in worry as when she came to visit the last thing she expected to see was him fighting Slade. "Slade did not injure you, yes?"

"I'm fine Star," Nightwing said forcing a grin on his face as he looked at the Tamaranean Princess. "Why didn't you tell me you were back from your home planet?"

"I wanted as you humans say surprise you," Starfire said with a smile as she had to leave two years ago to take care of some issues back home. "I stopped by the Tower where Cyborg told me you were here."

Nightwing smiled before hearing Robin approach. "You alright Little Wing?" He asked in worry from how the teen was holding his side.

"Just a scratch," Robin said with a shrug while Starfire looked at him curiously. "Nothing too deep and the bleeding already stopped."

"You're not Tim." She said giving Nightwing a worried look as she saw how badly losing Jason had affected him.

"Tim's alive, I'll tell you later." Nightwing promised her as Starfire gave a nod. "John this is Koriand'r."

Robin showed surprise for a moment that Nightwing actually said his real name before thinking that since she knew who Tim was and more likely knew who Dick was, it wasn't that bad that she knew his name.

"Nice to meet you." Robin said with a polite smile.

Starfire returned the smile. "May I ask some questions?"

"Sure." Robin said before gaining a suspicious look at how Nightwing looked to be snickering.

Starfire then began firing questions in a rapid like manner. "Where do you come from? What's your favorite color? Do you wish to be friends?"

Robin had to blink as he processed that while Nightwing looked happy that despite growing up she still has the same longing to make friends that she did when they first formed the Titans.

"Uh Gotham, I like red and sure?" Robin was not prepared for the bone crushing hug that followed.

'Okay she's a hugger.' Robin thought as he swore he heard his spine pop a bit.

Then he realized from this angle he had a view of her chest causing for his face to resemble a tomato as he quickly looked away before Nightwing intervened. "Okay Star, he needs to breathe." He said sounding amused.

Robin nearly collapsed as he stumbled after being let go.

Yeah he'll be sore for a bit.

"So are you here for good or is this just a visit?" Nightwing asked a little afraid of the answer before Starfire smiled brightly.

"The issues in Tamaran were resolved and I'm as you would say free to stay." Starfire confirmed with Nightwing smiling. "You should meet Ryand'r when you have the chance."

Nightwing blinked. "Wait, who?"

"My younger brother, he's currently at the Tower." Starfire elaborated for him. "I thought bringing him to Earth would be a wonderful experience for him."

"Huh, I'll be sure to drop by." Nightwing said surprised by this piece of info, sure he knew Starfire had a sister, but a brother?

Seeing how they looked at each other, Robin quirked a brow and waited until Starfire flew off towards Jump with Nightwing promising he would be there in a bit. "Are you two-?" He didn't finish but crossed his fingers while Nightwing chuckled.

"Yes," Nightwing said, a smile on his face. "Yes we are."

"... You are officially my hero." Robin said earning a laugh from Nightwing.

"Alright Little Wing, we should still get that side checked out."

To Be Continued…

Alright this chapter honestly felt like it was all over the place, but we have a bit more of the DC universe showing with John meeting the Titans and had another team up with both Impulse and Aqualad however it didn't go to well as they weren't really used to working together.

Speaking of Impulse, I know someone is going to say I made her a bit 'childish' but that's the point. In the comics, like Bart, she aged incredibly fast alongside her twin brother Jai to where she was an elderly woman in a matter of days and Wally barely managed to fix that resulting her to end up at the age of nine despite barely being a year old, in this case she's barely three years old if you think about it. She grows out of it eventually I can promise that.

Then we have the admittedly short date with Stephanie with her and John becoming a couple so far, hope you enjoyed that and after that we showed a small scene with John and Cass getting along and he managed to finally tag her in a spar-before promptly getting his ass handed to him in a split second. Also if the spanish is wrong sorry-I'm using Google Translate for it.

After that he was with Nightwing where we introduced Slade and Ravager-hope you enjoyed the small fight between Robin and Ravager the latter holding back because I think she would do that to enjoy the fight a bit more-although next time they meet she won't be holding back at all.

Finally after that we have Starfire introduced and showing a bit of her cartoon personality-she will show a bit of her comic one though a bit later so she's not as naive as she was in the comics considering she's a young adult at this point.

Now let's answer some reviews.

Nightmaster000: Thank you, I always liked that version of Penguin better honestly because he puts up more of a fight than his other incarnations-although I liked the Gotham version pretty well so far. I know what you mean about Mia and Irey not getting much spotlight, which is why I added them as well as others who don't get much spotlight will be making an appearance. Good call on Permafrost and Nails, I might add them or more Bang Babies like them and thank you for your condolences.

DannyPhantom619: You'll see her soon enough, I can promise that and while John is slowly getting there he's only been a vigilante for one year so far, still plenty of time for him to grow.

Silverking77: Thanks for the condolences and I'm glad you enjoyed this story.

Dark King Marcel: Thanks and thanks for all the help.

Coldblue: Thanks for the condolences and it's nice to see that people enjoy this story so far. Yeah I know what you mean with taking steps to show the difference of skill in John at this point from the beginning of the story, especially when the steps involved freaking Amazo but I'm happy you enjoyed that the fight/team-up with Speedy. Yeah love-wise John has no idea what to do and needed advice, as for how long Stephanie and John will date? You'll find out in a later chapter. There will be other relationships in the future with John-or flings I can promise that. While John has a father-figure in Bruce you can't exactly blame him for wanting the acknowledgment of his 'Biological' father, anyone would want the same in his shoes honestly.

Now for your Questions. 1) That will come in a later chapter. 2) Yes and maaaybe. 3) Probably not, as cool as that would be I think John would fit better as a regular human-I might change my mind down the road. 4) Most likely chaotic.

Piemaster981: Haha yeah, figured that scene would bring out a few laughs.

Iwymoisiraslom: It's like in Unlimited where every hero over 18 is one and don't worry Canary and Arrow are dating, I do like Felicity's character which is why she's in this. The Red-X suit will be revealed later on when he's done being Robin-not saying anything else about it right now and the pairing is still up in the air right now.

Bael92: Why thank you, it's fun adding the references as well as using characters that are usually forgotten because of the reboot-hope you liked how everything was shown in this chapter.

Slash17: The Red-X suit will have a few gadgets that I hope everyone will like and he will have them by the end of this Volume as this is his Origin Story. The Strike Industries Plotline will be developed over time and will be a major part in the next Volume.

Speedking535: Thanks and the pairing is up in the air at the moment.

Zx: Thanks and hopefully you liked how it was dealt with for the moment.

Knight: He will be Red-X in a few chapters.

Crimson Ninja: Thanks, I'm happy you enjoyed this story and John's adventures are just beginning.

Okay one more thing before I get off and post this, I added a bit of a summary of John on my fanfic page, it's right underneath the Pokemon one where it shows his bio, skills and gadgets as of now along with feats and weaknesses, if anyone's interested in looking through it.

This is Spidey Signing Out!