YOU KNOW WHAT'S BETTER THAN A LATE UPDATE? A RUBBISH LATE UPDATE! YOU KNOW WHAT'S BETTER THAN A RUBBISH LATE UPDATE? A RUBBISH LATE SHORT UPDATE.

Today I bring you the perfect combination of all three. This is another non-chapter. Sorry dudes, seriously, especially because…

GUYS. 41 reviews! Freakin awesome sauce. Thank you! For your trouble, individual responses to the reviewers for the last couple of chapters, from newest to oldest cos that's how I rock.

Thiefy, it always makes me happy when someone new finds something I've made. Totals hope you don't start hating it.

Yorkiepudding, I WILL TRY TO HAVE THE LEAGUE BUT WHAT IF I DO THEM WRONG AND BECOME HATED.

In the dark. Follow the Son, sorry, I don't think my angst is quite depressing enough yet BUT I WILL WORK ON IT JUST FOR YOU.

Hanna Sedai, you continue to tell me how to get better, which is the best thing a review can do. If I cease to suck so much it will be your doing.

FTG, Make an account! I'd totally read your stories! Also, I'm totally just luring you into a false sense of security. In the next chapter everyone starts talking like Hit-Girl and there's zombies and explosions and nakedness everywhere. Nah, honestly, I just rated it T because I'm new to this and I wanted to be careful.

SladeRavenFan, I'm sorry if I've been mean about Raven, like I said writing the Titans is not where I excel. If there's anything I can do better, say and it shall be done.

FiresCreek, Okay, here is a deal- I will continue to write every chapter so long as you have already reviewed them. For paradox fun.

Swallow Tale, you have reviewed like every chapter so far and you wrote the first one. I'd say that you were my home dog, but honestly I think I'm probably yours bro.

Okay, dudes. I don't want to oversell the reviewing thing, because it's not why I write stuff, and it's nice just to know that people read it (yeah I found that page with the counter). So thanks guys.

ON ANOTHER MATTER. I was talking about this with friends, and wanted a wider field of opinions. Would you rather read a book/ see a film with a strong, silent male lead and a friendly female, or with the genders swapped? Or would you rather read something with two guys or two girls? Just curious bros, if you write a review, then could you tell me?

Totes don't own the titans.

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Batman.

Bruce.

He'd know by now. He'd be on his way. What would he do?

Maybe it'll push him over the edge. Off the straight and narrow. From noble vigilantism into straight up cold blooded murder.

No. Batman didn't break. Hadn't killed the man who'd killed his parents.

Didn't let you kill Zucco.

Which was a good thing. The right thing. Right.

Then why are you angry about it?

Not a productive chain of thought. Dick decided to distract himself.

They'd put him in a cell. The only cell, since the Titans didn't really keep prisoners.

If you were anyone else they'd have handed you over to the police. They hate you.

It was better than being tied down. In here he had all of 2 metres by 3 to himself (an estimation, he didn't have the strength to get up and check). Not bad. He could go for a walk. Admire the scenery.

You have to start taking things seriously. Child.

And that would make everything better? If Batman wasn't so serious then maybe he'd have a heart, maybe he'd be human enough to care about how that murdering, evil inhuman Zucco being alive-

Dick stopped himself, crouched, shut his eyes, leant his head back on the cold wall him. There was an ache starting behind his ears. Where was all this anger coming from? He hadn't even thought about Zucco in years-

And wasn't that odd. Most people, normal people, get counselling if they see their parents die. You started dressing up like a traffic light, named yourself after a bird and went free running through Gotham's crime district. Most people stay angry. You learnt how to fight bad guys and make bad jokes. Most people don't act like robots and take it in and bottle it up and actually feel something and they don't explode like this-

Normal people.

People who haven't been trained by Batman.

Messed up by fighting crime.

Brainwashed-

No. No. Not going there. Never, ever, ever give Slade's words the room to sink in, grow, plant themselves. He wasn't even here. He couldn't even touch him.

You're alone and you're still thinking it.

Above him a door clanged open, feet moved on the stairs, voices overlapped and echoed through the corridors. How many were coming? Four? Five? Two sets of footfalls were heavier than the rest. Cyborg was the only big Titan, so one mystery.

Not a mystery.

Dick gritted his teeth and pressed his fingernails into his palms. How long had it taken him to get here? Two hours? Bat-plane.

It had been hard enough not talking to the Titans. Batman- how could he ignore Batman?

He's trained you to obey him. There's a word for that-

But they were outside the door, and about to come in, and Dick stopped himself thinking just in time.

The handle turned. Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Batman. He was scowling. He was wearing the cowl, it made you look angry. Even so-

He hates you.

It wasn't fair. None of this-

Child. Stop complaining. You deserve this.

And despite everything, he still felt happy, somehow, that Batman was there. Why? He can't fix anything.

You're pathetic.

Batman took over rooms in a way Bruce Wayne never could. His shoulders stretched across the ceiling, his feet covered the whole floor, the black, black of his cape sucked away all the light. Standing, shrunken beside him, Cyborg tried to be a leader. "You want a bit of privacy?" Batman turned his look towards Cyborg. "Yeah. Of course you do. Come on guys, let's leave the man."

They drifted out, Cyborg stopping in the doorway to say, "You want anything, just…" but he gave up in the face of Batman's stare.

And the door closed. They were alone. Dick crossed his arms across his knees, held them there. He wasn't going to move. He wasn't going to react.

Bruce was standing very, very still. Looming.

Waiting for you to make the first move.

Dick turned away and closed his eye. He would have to keep waiting then.

"What happened?"

There was something wrong with how he was talking, and it took Dick a moment to realise what. It was a cold shock- Bruce was doing the Batman voice. It was how he talked to criminals and strangers. He's never spoken to you like that before. It was because of the Titans, of course. He knew they'd be listening. Secret identity. Tell yourself that.

"Robin. What happened?"

It would have been harder, really, if he'd been Bruce. Batman only worked if you were scared of him. You're scared of him. Fine, Batman only worked if you believed in him. If you hadn't seen him take off the mask. As it was, he was nervous, but not guilty.

No. he felt guilty, but he couldn't act on it. The Titans.

"I'm giving you a chance." He leant forward, dropping his voice, sounding softer for a second. "Dick, please. Whatever's happened…"

Dick turned away. Counted to ten. Closed his eyes. Ignore that you're betraying him.

Batman straightened, shaking out his cape as he stood up.

He'd given up. Shows how much you're worth to him.

It struck Dick that he might never get a chance to explain himself. Batman might never understand.

"Look. At. Me." Dick hunched his shoulders. Coward. If you cared about him, you'd find a way around this. But he couldn't, and Batman, not even looking at him, stalked back out the door.

It shut. The lock locked.

That was that then. Dick felt the cold set in. Everything that could have gone wrong had. Everyone that had cared about him didn't.

You've been abandoned.

He deserved it.

And all he could do was wait to see what would happen next.