Robin Learns a Lesson
It would be safe for Oswald to assume he was having a bad night. He'd lost his bodyguards to Nightwing and Harvey's goons had caused him to do nine thousand dollars' worth of damage to his car. As he got out of the cab in front of his club, he'd decided he'd take the most expensive bottle of scotch they had and drown this horrible night alone in his office. As he had this thought he happened to look up and catch an unwelcome sight on the roof opposite the Iceberg Lounge.
Batman's partner, Robin.
One of the baby-bats was staked out to watch his club, the rotund man scowled. He was a legitimate business man. A restaurateur and a pillar of the community, he had gone legit months ago… Well, mostly legit, he only fenced now. He hadn't so much as knocked over a jewelry store in months and Batman still had his children watching him.
It was insulting!
Infuriating!
He slammed his cane angrily into the sidewalk and called out at the roof, "Bugger off you little bastard! I'm an upstanding citizen now!"
The crime-fighter didn't even have the decency to move.
Finally, Oswald turned and entered his club; he was going to get a drink and try to figure out which of tonight's patrons had brought attention from Batman…
Then he'd ban them for life.
Of course, there was a flaw in Penguin's plan. This flaw would have him searching quite fruitlessly until well after last call and have him furiously storming out of the Iceberg long after the last of his employees had slipped out to avoid his ranting.
Robin wasn't staking out the Iceberg. He wasn't watching Penguin, he never even heard the "legitimate businessman" yell up at him.
What had Tim Drake's attention was the tablet in his hand and the drawings displayed on the screen. There were similarities between the drawings, a general theme of red and black not too dissimilar to the red and black he wore now. He'd been working on the drawings for most of the summer along with a new codename.
Tim's time as Robin was drawing to a close. He had started his senior year of High School a few weeks before after spending his summer leading the Teen Titans. He still smirked at the thought. A team full of metas and aliens answering to the guy who learned from Batman. Connor, Bart, Vic; all deferring to him, because it seemed the best super power was knowledge imparted from the Dark Knight.
Two years ago, Bruce had told him that he would work with the Titans during the summer. He'd explained that it would be as much advanced training as it would be team building. A chance to learn how to operate with people other than Bruce, Dick and Barbara, and it would help him to learn how to work with metas.
Dick and Bruce had been getting along well at the time so he'd explained the Titans as; one part hero team-up, one part summer camp and one part kicking Doctor Light's ass. The quip earned a laugh from Tim and a half-smirk from the Boss. It also turned out to be mostly true, Tim had a blast with the Titans and made good friends with his teammates.
When Tim first joined the Titans, Wally West was still Kid Flash and as the oldest on the team he'd been the de-facto leader. When Barry Allen had died Wally had taken his place, both as the Flash and in the Justice League. As a result, last summer they'd gone without. But the more time passed the more Tim found himself taking charge.
This year they had just made official and it worked. The Titans flourished with him as the leader, and Tim had flourished in the role as well. It was this growth which brought him to the hard realization that he wasn't going to be able to grow as a hero and a man if he continued on as Robin so he'd begun work on a new costume and codename.
The name Red Robin was born quickly, he just didn't have a look yet. Tim had tried a lot of combinations; cape and cowl, cape and mask, mask and hood, full mask, half mask, armored helmet, half cape, full cape and the less he said about the logo the better.
He had a new appreciation for all the effort Bruce put into the design of the Batsuit. Fortunately, Cassie and Rose were all too happy to help him. They were a little too happy to help even. After all, Rose's initial suggestion was that he simply fight crime in a speedo to which Cassie had readily agreed.
A joke he would've been fine with had Rose not brought it up during a full meeting of the team. Or if they hadn't provided an artist's rendering of him in a speedo, one that was uncomfortably accurate. He hadn't blushed so much in a long time, probably since the Poison Ivy incident.
Connor and Mia joked about the costume idea for days and he was pretty sure that Vic was never going to look at him the same way again. Still, it had been a welcome distraction. He'd received some unwanted news the day before that meeting from Dick.
Barbara was dating a guy from her Criminal Justice classes. Tim had spent a couple of days brooding about the news and quietly hating the guy, even though by all accounts he was a good guy. He was dating Barbara therefore Jason Todd may as well have been the Devil.
Especially after he heard Todd's story:
Jason had grown up on the streets and by the time he was in his teens was one of Gotham's many small-timers bouncing in and out of juvenile detention. In the first few weeks after Dick quit being Robin; Bruce had caught the fifteen year old Todd attempting to steal the tires off the Batmobile.
Bruce could see he was just a desperate kid not much younger than his former partner so he took Jason around town, showing him the worst part of the Narrows and then over to the MCU where he offered him a deal. If Jason straightened up and made sure he and Batman never crossed paths again, Batman would use his connections to get Jason a scholarship to Brentwood Academy and eventually GSU. He'd even talk to Commissioner Gordon about finding him a home.
Jason readily agreed and the pair talked to Gordon, Gordon then convinced Detective Montoya to take him in to live with her and Detective Sawyer. Jason flourished and it wasn't surprising that when he got to college that he decided to study Criminal Justice.
Still, for a few days Tim gleefully entertained daydreams where he caught Jason Todd ripping off a liquor store and pummeled him. Once he realized how childish those thoughts were he decided to finally take the advice that everyone and their brother (even Barbara herself) was giving him and seek out a girl his own age.
He was interrupted from his musing by footfalls on the roof behind him. He looked up and smiled, "Hey!"
#
Clark Kent always felt a little uncomfortable in Gotham City.
Perhaps it was the architecture; he was used to the gleam of skyscrapers and the crisp modern lines of the buildings of his city. Metropolis was called "The City of Tomorrow" for a reason, after all. The buildings of Metropolis seemed to welcome the future. Gotham's building reflected its past, and it reflected it well. The buildings loomed and pressed down upon you, casting long shadows that were an inky black even with the sun overhead. The newer buildings were designed to blend in with the gothic architecture of Bruce's Great-great-grandfather Alan, only adding to the moody atmosphere.
Her citizens seemed to embrace this attitude; they prided themselves on their toughness. The most popular tourist shirt for Gotham City proclaimed; "Gotham is No Place for the Weak." People from Gotham often felt they had to steamroll the rest of the world just to get by and every time Clark set foot within the city limits he could tell why. The city seemed to constantly feel as though it wanted nothing more than to swallow you whole.
However, Jonathan and Martha Kent raised a son who prided himself on honesty and they'd make sure he admitted, if to no one but himself, that the reason he didn't come here wasn't the buildings but the man who spent his nights leaping off them.
Bruce had made it clear that the other members of the Justice League were not welcome here. If one of their rogues came to Gotham then they could tell Batman and he would take care of it. It didn't help that Bruce had an uncanny ability to know the goings-on in Gotham so he usually found those who didn't heed his warnings.
Even on the occasion that he was here as Clark Kent and not Superman he'd invariably see Batman standing on a rooftop overlooking Clark's hotel room or see Bruce Wayne's face in a crowd. The message was always clear, "I know you're here and I do not approve."
That is what made him uncomfortable, that feeling of being unwelcome. So he did his best to accede to Bruce's wishes and he advised other heroes to do the same. Bruce was his friend but he was also a deeply troubled man, there was no need to kick a hornet's nest by pressing him.
After a while he grew to accept that he'd never be truly welcome in Gotham so it wasn't exaggerating to say he was stunned when Lois handed him the phone this afternoon and he heard Bruce's voice on the other end of the line asking him to come and meet him on top of the Gotham Museum at midnight about an important question. However stunned he might have been he was still able to agree to meet him.
Bruce pushed his shock nearly into fear when actually said "Thank you" then hung up. Clark was poor dinner companionship for his wife that night and after a quick early evening patrol to clear his head he turned south towards Gotham.
He arrived over the city at just after eleven-thirty and as he flew between the skyscrapers he tried to focus on the distinctive sound of Bruce's grapple gun. He could hear several of them around the city as each of Bruce's protégés were out on patrol this time of night but as he landed on top of the museum he managed to focus in on Bruce's breathing coming from the roof of the Police Station nearby.
It was nearly midnight when Bruce made a near silent landing behind him, Clark turned and found his wrapped up in his cape. He'd seen the sight of Bruce in full "Batman mode" so many times that it took him a moment to recognize a subtle difference.
His mouth wasn't turned down in a stern expression or scowl but rather a neutral expression that quickly led the Kryptonian to realize he was not dealing with Gotham's Dark Knight but rather Bruce Wayne. His friend.
Clark found himself smiling, "It's not often I get an invitation from you, in fact, I think this is the first time."
Bruce stepped past him to the edge of the roof, "For everything, there's a first time."
He chuckled, "That's true, but a cordial phone conversation, a thank you and an invitation to your city? All in one night? Is one of us dying or is this Armageddon?"
Bruce made an odd grunting sound that for any other person might be called a chuckle before he said, "Some people might believe it's the latter."
It was at this moment that Clark started to actually worry, "Is something wrong?"
Bruce turned to him and Clark really started worrying, Bruce looked almost… peaceful. "No, Clark. It's just that I've made a lot of changes in the last nine months and they seem to be leading to even more changes to come. I don't know how much you've heard, we've worked pretty hard to keep it quiet."
A number of scenarios were racing through Clark's mind at the wistful tone of his friend. It really sounded as though Bruce was being reflective. He was tempted to try his x-ray vision but Bruce had long since developed a material that blocked his vision and his suit was lined with it. So he could only press him, "Bruce?"
Bruce gave him another gruff chuckle and said, "I'm not dying, Clark. Selina and I are engaged and we'll be getting married in the spring." Clark was sure his eyes had gone comically wide as his friend continued on, "A small ceremony with about twenty guests between us. Neither Selina nor I have any interest in a wedding swarmed by the press so we've been doing our best to keep it out of the papers."
Clark finally found his voice again, "Bruce… Wow… I just- Wow!"
Seeing Batman actually smile, in the cowl was perhaps the most disturbing sight Clark had seen in a long time. Then Bruce continued, "I've already asked Dick and Tim to be my Groomsmen but I was hoping you'd be my Best Man. If not, I'd understand. After all, I couldn't attend your wedding and-"
Clark finally laughed and said, "Are you kidding? It would be my honor! I'm just shocked!"
The smirk Bruce gave him was far more fitting with the cowl, "You hide it well."
Clark shook his head, "With all the surprising things you've said and done tonight I'm not sure I could take it if you started quipping."
Bruce nodded then held out his hand, "Thank you, Clark."
With a grin, Clark took his friend's hand. "It's my pleasure."
Bruce released his hand and Clark watched the jovial posture slip away as Batman came all the way to the forefront. Clark followed Bruce's gaze and found the reason for his scowl, he felt an eyebrow quirk and he said, "Oh boy. I'm guessing he hasn't told you yet."
Bruce shook his head, his eyes riveted on the rooftop across the street where there were two easily recognizable figures in an embrace. The first was Tim Drake, Bruce's partner Robin. However, it didn't appear that the young man was staking out the Iceberg or fighting or even do his homework. No, Bruce's young partner had young woman pressed against the roof-access door and the pair was engaged in a somewhat passionate embrace.
As though that weren't surprising enough; in the glint of the moonlight Clark could make out the girl's shoulder length honey-blonde hair, red long-sleeved top and silver bracers. There was little doubt in Clark's mind that Robin was spending time with Cassie Sandsmark, his teammate on the Titans better known as Wonder Girl.
Bruce raised his hand to his cowl near his ear, "Robin! Status report!"
Across the street the pair jumped apart with both breathing heavily and flushed. He watched Tim activate his com-link and reply, "Watching the Iceb-berg, Batman. Nothing to report."
Thanks to his enhanced vision he could see Cassie fist her hands on her hips as her eyebrow quirked and she mouthed, "'Nothing?'" She then gave the young man a rather flirtatious pout. A moment later the couple laughed.
Clark had to stifle a laugh as Bruce let out a sigh, "I'm on the roof of the Museum. I can see you two, Robin."
The now mortified teens turned towards the roof. Cassie went bright red while Tim waved awkwardly at Bruce and Clark.
Before Tim could reply Barbara's voice came over the com-link. "I'm with Catwoman. Who's Robin with?"
Dick's voice was next, "It can't be me, I'm at the docks. Wait a second…"
Clark watched the color drain from Tim's face as he said, "Oh God."
"Batman? Did you catch young Robin with a young lady friend?" Clark could practically hear Nightwing choking on laughter as he asked the question. Clark could finally see that Bruce had gathered quite a family together and despite the dour nature of their patriarch, good-natured teasing was clearly a pastime between his sons.
On the far roof, Cassie buried her face in her hands while Tim hung his head. It was at this moment that Clark couldn't contain himself any longer; he let loose with a full belly laugh that quickly doubled him over. Bruce merely said, "Nightwing. Robin. Meet me on the roof of the Kane Building. We need to talk." He then cut off his com-link.
Clark sobered at this, "Go easy on him, Bruce. We were all seventeen once."
Batman produced his grappling gun, "This isn't the first time I've caught one of them. He's learned his lesson."
Clark smiled at his friend, "That lesson would be?"
Bruce turned to him and smirked, "Always mind your surroundings. Good night, Clark." He fired off a grappling line and disappeared into the night.
Clark leapt into the air and turned back towards his home with a smile on his face. One thought was on his mind, "Lois will never believe this."
