JUSITN'S POINT OF VEIW:

I way laying on the couch, upside down, just staring at the ceiling. My legs were over the back of it, and my head was hanging off where my feet were supposed to be. I was bored out of my mind. It was Monday, Labor Day, and I had no school, and nothing to do.

I groaned, "What's the point of a holiday if you've got nothing exciting to do?"

Tim walked into the room, chuckling, and sat down next to me, feet hanging off the back like me. "Labor Day blues?"

I nodded, crossing my arms across my chest, "Tonight we'll have our hands full with drunk drivers and such, and other illegal things, but I don't want to spend the day just doing nothing."

Tim laughed slightly, "You are so impatient."

"No, I'm bored, and desperate to not be. There is a difference." I pointed out.

"Wanna help me wash the bat mobile?" He asked hopefully.

"No." I said, shooting him a look.

Tim sighed, thinking. "You could go hang out with Conan, I was going to go to an arcade with Conner and I'm sure he wouldn't mind having you two along."

"One, yes he would. He hates me." I pointed out, "Two, I am way to old to go to an arcade with my older brother. Three, Conan already has plans, I asked."

He chuckled, "What about Snow?"

"She's got plans with Conan. Something about trying to resurrect something." I said, shrugging.

Tim raised an eyebrow, so I continued, "She's a necromancer." He nodded, understanding.

"What about Kyler?"

I paused, "I could go check... see if she's busy."

Tim smiled triumphantly, "There you go."

I rolled off the couch, and said, "Watch Rango for me." I ran out the door, ignoring Tim's protests.

TIM'S POINT OF VEIW:

I turned to my right, to see Rango, the demon dog himself staring at me from under his ears. "Yes?" I asked weakly. Though I would never admit it, this dog scared me.

He pounced on me, growling, and biting at my arms. I shrieked, and threw him off of me, making a mad dash to the bat cave. My plan? Hide in the Bat mobile.

JUSTIN'S POINT OF VEIW:

I walked to Star City, and to Kyler's apartment, knocking on the door. There was no answer. I took a lock pick out of my pocket, and soon the door swung open. I walked in, and looked around, no one seemed to be home. I heard a bump from down the hall, must be Kyler's room.

I walked towards the room, and opened the door, to see Kyler, sitting in the middle of the floor, with a needle about to go right into her elbow. She jerked her head up, staring at me in disbelief, "J-Justin?"

My eyes widened in shock, and I froze, not sure what to do. She didn't move. The needle stayed right there, just about to go into the crook of her elbow. I stood there, blinked, and then jumped at her, snatching the needle away and throwing it across the room, I turned back to her, glaring at hard as I could, and just let loose. I kicked her ribs, and then jumped on her, punching her face in. She struggled, tried to throw me off, but it was no use, I was to far gone.

I kept pounding her, hoping that if I hit hard enough that her sanity would return. Finally I just shouted, "WHY!" I grabbed her collar and shook her back and forth, "Why on earth would you do something this stupid! Your Dad tried that, and look where it got him! You of all people? Doing Heroin? That's just plain idiotic, and you know it Kyler! So my question is-"

I stopped shacking her so she could answer, "Why would you! And God Almighty, if you give me some ridiculous answer I'll shove that needle into your eye!"

Kyler grabbed my wrists, looking at me with desperation, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!" I paused, my grip loosening. Kyler continued, her hands shaking, and her voice cracking. "I don't have any other way to deal with it all. My father wants me to choose him, but if I do, I endanger my family, and betray Ollie, I owe him my life! I can't just leave him! But I owe my father so much too, and I want my father!" Kyler cried, tears gathering in her eyes as she held onto my wrists for dear life. "My old friends won't even talk to me anymore! I just left them and I saw them for the first time in a year last week! They hate me, and so do you! God knows I deserve it! Acting like I could be a better leader, like I could stand a chance against any of you. I put my family through so much already, and I'm actually tempted to put them through more by going with my father!"

Kyler paused, sobbing a little as I awkwardly held her shoulders, not sure whether to hug her, or slap her for thinking that.

Kyler looked up at me, sniffing a little, "You used to be like me, you were with assassins, I was with a gang. You found Batman, I found Green Arrow. You got your whole family back." Kyler's sad expression turned to one of anger, "I DIDN'T!"

Kyler pulled away from me, wiping her eyes, and shuddering, holding herself. "I didn't have anyone. And it's not fair."

I frowned, and then slowly stood up, turning away from Kyler and to the door, looking straight ahead, standing straight, betraying no emotion. "No. You're wrong. You had us. You had your Mom. You had your siblings. You had Ollie. You had all that, and you still convinced yourself you needed a father. Ollie tried to be a father and you wrote him off as 'mentor'."

I walked to Kyler's door, opening it, and pausing. "Speedy, because of recent actions and behavior, I'm banning you from the team."

Kyler jerked her head up, not believing what she was hearing. "What-"

"I want only the best on my team, the strongest there are." I looked over my shoulder at Kyler, a look of discust on my face, "If you have to depend on that," I pointed at the needle laying in the corner of the room, "Then you aren't strong enough to qualify."

I walked out, closing the door behind me, not looking back. I did not regret anything I said or did.

KYLER'S POINT OF VEIW:

I sat there on the floor, in disbelief. Justin had just kicked me off the team. No! That team was the only thing I had left! I needed that team, I needed it to show myself there was still one thing I could do right. I might suck at being Kyler Harper, but I was really good at being Speedy. I put my head in my hands, shuddering, my tears threatening to spill over. Kyler had just ruined Speedy. I had messed up again, and this time, my slip up had ruined everything.

I turned to the corner, and picked up the needle, glaring at it with all my might. Bo had said it would help. I had told him I was going through a lot of heavy stuff, and he had offered it to me, even showed me how much to dose myself with. He said it had helped a lot with him, and that it could do the same with me. He said it would give me an incredible rush, that it would help me forget everything bad. I opened my window, and through the needle out, it hit the concrete with a shatter, spilling the accursed drug onto the ground.

I slammed the window shut, and jumped onto my bed, curling into a ball, and crying my eyes out, I had ruined it all. This time, there was no fixing it. I had messed up big time before, but I could always fix it. I had messed up by getting into a gang, but I had fixed it. I had messed up with my father, but I could fix it if I wanted. I had messed up with my team once, and I had fixed it. This time though, there was no fixing my mistake.

JUSTIN'S POINT OF VEIW:

I stepped out of the hotel, and looked at the ground in front of me, seeing the shattered heroin needle. and a small smile, barely noticeable broke out on my face. That was the Kyler I knew. However, I was going to have to push her even further than this.

FRIDAY: DR, JUSTIN'S POINT OF VEIW:

"Where's Speedy?" Asked Conan as we sat down at the table.

I took a deep breath, not quite ready to say it, but I knew I had to. "I fired her."

There was silence as I took out some paperwork, and began to scribble out whatever came to mind.

"What?" Asked Snow finally.

"I fired Kyler last week, Monday to be precise." I said.

Conan stared at me across the table, "Why?"

"I'm not obliged to say." I pushed the paper work aside, and looked up at Conan, challenging her gaze as she tried to make since of it all.

"Speedy is on our team, we have every right to know." Conan objected, her normal neutral expression turning to suspicion and anger.

I snorted, "Used to be on the team, she isn't anymore."

"But Kyler did nothing wrong." Snow spoke up, "She was an admirable member of the team, what reason would you have for firing her?"

"My business. Mine and Kyler's." I said firmly.

Conan jumped up, anger in her eyes, "Justin! I can't believe you!" Conan had come to her own conclusion, which I knew wasn't the right one. "I know you and Kyler didn't get along, but that was no reason to fire her!"

Conan grabbed the edge of the table, and flipped it, hoping to scare me, but it didn't work. She grabbed my shirt collar, and glared right into my eyes. Her glare didn't work on me, nor did her actions, and that aggravated her. "You had no right!" Conan continued, "I thought I could trust you to give your all to this team, but you just had to bring personal quarrels into it! I should have known you didn't have what it took to be leader!" Conan's anger was taking over, and I knew half that stuff she said weren't true, so it didn't affect me. "You're a pathetic lunatic, just like your father!"

Yeah, that one stung a little, but I didn't let it show. I just pulled away, finished the paperwork quickly, and left.

I got home, parked the bike, changed, and walked upstairs. I got to my room, shut the door, turned off the light, and slowly sat down in bed, putting the pillow over my face, before letting out a long, sorrow filled noise that was a mix between a shudder and a sob. I sniffed, and let out a few tears, not crying uncontrollably, but still, crying.

I couldn't help myself, I just fired the closest thing I ever had to a friend, and even after she threw out the heroin, I couldn't just hug her and say, 'you can come back now'. I had to make her do even more, and I wasn't sure if I had it in me. Conan assumed that I had fired Kyler because we didn't get along. I would never do that, I was better than that. Then the whole father thing, her saying I was pathetic and crazy, and my father was too. That one hurt the most. I was tired of being the strong, emotionless Black Hood. I just wanted to be Justin again. Problem was, I'm not sure there was much of a difference anymore.

A few minutes into that, there was a knock on the door, and I gasped, and then coughed, trying to get my voice normal, before saying, "Whatever it is, Damian did it."

The door opened, and Dad walked in, looking pretty shocked. "Justin, are you crying?"

I quickly wiped the tears away, and glared at him. "No." I said my voice cracking.

He stood there for a moment while I mentally beat myself up for letting myself cry. He sighed, and walked over to me bed, sitting down next to me, "What happened?"

I frowned, looking at the floor, "You don't want hear about it."

He cupped my cheek, and gently pulled my head up, forcing me to look at him, "Yes I do." He said, sounding sincere, "If something makes my daughter this sad, I need to know who to kill."

I sighed, "You don't have to kill any one Dad." I tried to turn away, but his hand prevented me from doing that.

"Justin, please, I want to help, but you have to tell me." he begged.

I sighed, and then told him what had happened when I went to Speedy's apartment. Everything I had done, said, and thought at the time I told him about. He just sat there for a moment, and put a hand on my shoulder, giving me a one armed hug. "I'm sorry Justin. I wish I could do something, but it sounds like you handled it pretty well. Kyler will come around."

I nodded, looking down at my knees. He sighed, "That wasn't all of it was it?"

I shook my head slowly, and told him what happened at the base. The things Conan had said that had hurt the most. As soon as I finished, I saw Dad stiffen, and I continued, "And now my team mates think I'm a jerk that fired their best friend. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow they quit the team because of it." I looked down at my shoes, wondering just how badly I had messed up.

I felt tears spring into my eyes again, and Dad suddenly pulled me into a bear hug. "Just ignore her. Once Kyler comes around, Conan won't be upset anymore, and she might even take back what she said. Besides, when people talk like that, insulting you with anything they can think of, it means they're losing."

I raised an eyebrow, looking up at him, "Losing?"

He smirked, "You haven't forgotten that lesson already have you?"

I thought for a moment, then grinned triumphantly, "Everything is a game."

"Exactly." he said, smirking. "Every person is a useable playing piece for you, and like chess, you need to have a strategy for every single one of them. Because Conan said those things, it means she's losing, and she knows it."

"And now I know how to manipulate her anger." I said, my grin being replaced by an evil smirk.

He nodded, messing up my hair, "Exactly. Good night Justin." He walked of to his room, leaving my door open a crack so Rango could push his way in later.

Review please? Still, I haven't gotten a review since chapter five. Please review? I'm starting to feel a little belittled here.