"Whoa."

Batman had to smirk. Jason Todd was a tough kid, but even he couldn't hide his wonder and excitement when he saw the sheer size and magnitude of the Batcave. No one could. It seemed to go on forever, filled to the brim with technology few humans could even imagine. It truly was a wonder, a testament to Batman's ingenuity and Bruce Wayne's never-ending fortune.

But, again, Jason Todd was a tough kid. So the awe in his eyes was quickly replaced with the hard edge that often accompanied a rough life.

"You expect me to live in this dump?" Jason asked petulantly.

"You got some other place to go?" Batman replied as he swept past the teen. Making his way to the huge computer on the next level, Batman discreetly looked back to see Jason still standing next to the Batmobile. The teen sniffed and crossed his arms defiantly.

"Smells like bat crap in here."

Batman grunted and grabbed a broom that was leaning against the railing near the stairs. "Here," he said, tossing the broom down to Jason.

Jason caught it and looked at it incredulously. "What the hell is this?"

"It's a broom."

"Yeah, no duh. What do you want me to do with it?"

"Sweep up the bat crap," Batman ordered. "Over there. By the dinosaur."

Jason followed Batman's pointed finger to the trophy area, where there was a huge robotic dinosaur and a giant penny, among other things. Jason's mouth dropped and his eyes widened momentarily before he regained his composure.

"No way," Jason cried, dropping the broom to the floor, giving it a little kick for good measure. "When you asked if I wanted a job, this wasn't what I had in mind. I thought you were going to ask me to be your sidekick or something. Rumour on the street is that Robin got eaten alive by Killer Croc."

Batman ignored the reference to Robin and glared. "Sweep, or find your way back to the dumpster I pulled you out of."

The kid paused and seemed to weigh his options before picking the broom up. "Fine, whatever. Is this some sort of lame Karate Kid mumbo jumbo? I do stupid menial tasks, and it's supposed to turn me in to a great karate master, or something?" Despite his rant, Jason marched toward the dinosaur. "Because I don't need that crap. I know how to fight already. That's all I've ever done. You want to keep alive in this world, you gotta fight every single damn day. Because there ain't no one, not no one who's going to let you get what you need unless you take it from them. And ain't no one going to let you keep what you got unless you beat 'em back."

Batman tuned out the rant. Obviously, the kid needed an attitude adjustment, but Batman already knew that. It could wait for later. First things first.

Batman sat at his computer. On one screen, he pulled up security footage of Jason to keep an eye on him, then turned his attention to finding out just exactly who Jason Todd was.

What he found didn't surprise him. In fact, he could've guessed most of it.

Jason Todd's story would have been tragic, if it hadn't been so common for so many Gotham kids. His father, once a medical student, had turned to a life of crime. His last known connection was to Two-Face, before disappearing. His mother had been a hopeless junkie who died of an overdose two years ago. As for Jason himself, he was bounced around the system his whole life, always running away to find his mother. After his mother died, he continued to run away, and the system seemingly gave up on him, content to be rid of the nuisance and leave Jason to his own devices. More than once Jason had had run-ins with the police and had been sent to juvenile detention, but he always managed to break out.

Oh yes. The more he read, the more confirmation Batman received that Jason Todd needed to be brought into the light. It wasn't going to be easy though. There was a chip on his shoulder the size of the Himalayas.

Batman glanced over at the screen to see Jason muttering to himself as he pushed a broom. Well, he had to give the kid some credit for doing what he had been told, even if it looked like he was doing a poor job of it.

It was time to give him a bit of a test. To see if Jason could live up to the tough exterior that he had created for himself.

Batman pressed a button on his keyboard. A moment later, he heard Jason shout out in alarm.

"What the hell?!"

Batman watched as Jason dove out of the way of a beanbag that was flying towards him. He landed awkwardly on the ground, then scrambled to his feet, picking up his broom and holding it defensively. He looked around in confusion, scanning the general area from where the beanbag had been launched. A moment later, a robot rolled into view.

The robot was nothing fancy. A beginner's toy. About Jason's height, it looked more like an oversized salt shaker than anything else. Its body was divided into three sections. Beanbags shot out of the top section with surprising speed and accuracy. A bar rotated around the middle section at various speeds. And the bottom had little arms around it which would extend out and deliver a mild shock. There was a large red button on each section. All Jason had to do was hit each button, and the robot would deactivate. Easy.

It launched another beanbag at Jason, who tried to unsuccessfully swat it away with the broom. Instead, it hit him in the shoulder.

"What. The. Hell!"

The robot beeped and set its sights on Jason, surging forward. Its speed surprised Jason, who scrambled out of its way, swinging his broom at it. The baton in the middle swung around, catching the end of the broom, and pulling it right out of Jason's hand, sending it skittering across the floor in the opposite direction.

"You've got to be kidding me," Jason growled, before charging the robot. The bar came swinging around again, but Jason arched back, letting it pass by his stomach. He gave the robot a good kick, which made it wobble slightly. It retaliated by reaching out an arm and giving his leg a shock. Jason yelped out a curse. Distracted, he didn't notice the bar swinging around again. It hit him in the side. Not hard, but enough to make him turn and stumbled forward a few steps.

Recovering quickly, Jason whipped around, face red. "You stupid piece of-"

The robot chirped, its top spinning around to face Jason. A moment later, another beanbag shot out. Jason jerked his head to the side as the beanbag whizzed past him, nearly grazing the side of his face.

Enraged, Jason charged the robot, ramming his shoulder into it with enough force to topple it. He gave it a kick, hitting the button on the lower section before it was able to zap him. Jumping over it, Jason rushed to his broom. The robot launched a few beanbags at his feet before the bar on the middle section came around, lifting the robot slightly off the ground. The bar then extending out, pushing the robot up and up until it was able to right itself. Job done, the bar collapsed back to its normal sized and began rotating again.

Jason didn't look too pleased that his opponent was back up and gripped his broom tightly. "Okay, metal head. Go time." The robot chirped back and sent a volley of beanbags towards him. Jason dodged most of them, and ignored the ones that hit him. Letting out a yell, he jumped up and slammed the broom down onto the middle bar. The broom snapped in half and the robot wobbled, but didn't fall over. The bar in the middle continued to rotate, but Jason jumped back, letting it go past him again.

The robot was about to fire another beanbag at him, but Jason was faster this time and jammed the broken end of his broom into opening before it could. The robot tried to shoot it out, but Jason had shoved it too far down for the robot to dislodge it. Instead, the top section of the robot spun around, trying to turn the situation to its advantage and use the broom handle as a new weapon, much like the bar in the middle. The angle, however, was all wrong, with the handle sticking up more than out.

"Oh, I see. I have to hit that stupid button," Jason growled. "Stop spinning you piece of junk." Jason dodged the middle section again and tackled the robot to the ground. Grabbing hold of the bar to keep it from righting the robot, Jason hit the middle button. Then he got to his feet and grinned before kicking the button on the top section. The robot beeped twice and then shut off.

"Was that supposed to be some kind of test?" Jason shouted. "Because that was lame. The stupidest robot I've ever seen."

Batman silently rose from his computer and stalked over to Jason. Jason glared at him defiantly as Batman looked his up and down.

"You're raw. You have no finesse. Just brute force," Batman declared. "And you're angry. Anger makes you sloppy and being sloppy can get you killed."

"You really gonna try to tell me that you're not angry?" Jason shot back.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "If you can harness your anger, it can become your strength. But that takes work. Are you willing to work? Are you willing to put effort into becoming something greater than a petty thief?"

"Try me."

Batman sized him up again. The kid had issues: he was angry. He was brash. He was damaged. But if a broken person like Bruce Wayne could cobble himself together to become Batman, then certainly Jason wasn't a lost cause.

He would never be Dick Grayson. Could never be Dick Grayson. But maybe, just maybe he could be Robin.

"Let's get to work."

Whoa. Is this for real? After five years, this story is making a comeback?!

Yes, folks, it is. This story has always been in the back of my mind, but life gets crazy. I'll catch you up on that craziness later. The point is, I've always known where this story was going to go, I even had the sequels lined up and plotted, I just couldn't seem to find the time or inclination to write it all out.

But that changes today. I'm going to try to write a little bit every day until this story is done. Posting this chapter means I've gotta because it would be a jerk move to post one chapter after five years and then drop it again! And I ain't no jerk.

Thanks for everyone who has continued to follow this story, even though it seemed like a hopeless cause.