Prepare for a plot twist. After this, it gets so epic that you guys might wet youselves. Can't wait!

I don't own DC comics but maybe I should XD

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10

I eventually find the gymnasium by taking the elevator. Man, I wonder what rent costs for this place.

When the doors slide open, I take a look around. The gym is huge with archery ranges and a wrestling/combat mat. There's fencing equipment, long distance weapons, a pool that looks like it's closed down, some hoops hanging from the ceiling for the flyers, and a track circles the whole thing. There's even some gymnastics equipment. I wonder how they built this place without the neighbors right above us finding out. Also, how many floors does this place have? The elevator buttons designated at least four.

"Well, look who finally made it," Cat calls from across the room. She and the other newbies are stretching with everyone else. Great.

Kaldur and Kara make room in between them for me to join their circle which I'm thankful for. But now I'm standing right across from Hunter.

"So, we were saying," Roy says, not hiding the irritation from his voice, "that the newbies should get some official training under their belts. Especially since all they've ever worked on with the Batman is their power set."

Well, that sounds boring. I look around. "Where's Sharp?" After trusting him enough to invite him into the safe house, having him stay the night, and leaving him armed, I would have thought he would have been invited up here to watching us and learning our weaknesses.

"He's still in his cell, snoring like you were a few minutes ago," Kaldur says. "He didn't even wake up when I took his gun from him this morning."

I glance at Kaldur who meets my gaze and smiles back calmly. "Oh. Okay then. Um...so training?"

"We're going to do a few laps around the gym." Kara glances around at the equipment. "Then we'll do some target practice. And then we'll do some projections."

What, like banking projections? "Uh, okay."

Cat rolls her eyes. "Great. The first thing I need in the morning is a mile run."

We walk over to the track. "Just do what you can," Kaldur says.

The newbies keep groaning and complaining until Roy shouts for us to start.

Kara and Kaldur pull immediately ahead. But that's expected since both their powers make them stronger and faster.

Roy and I are neck and neck with Hunter right behind us. Cat's behind him, but I don't think she's trying very hard. Raina is already breathing heavily behind her.

After about thirty minutes I realize that Kara and Kaldur seem to be getting closer. After another ten minutes, I've passed them. Roy has dropped back too now. I do another lap and frown when I see that everyone else has stopped and are flopped on the floor, breathing heavily. I slow down and walk towards them. Wiping sweat from my forehead, I say, "Sorry, I didn't know when to stop."

Roy doesn't say anything but just glares at me, chest heaving. Cat, Raina, and Hunter have already gotten bottles of water for us all. They quit after the first five minutes. Kaldur looks at me in a new light as he stands with his hands on his hips trying to recover his breath.

"Impressive, Robin," he says. "Your endurance out-stood even those of Kara's."

Kara gives me a look. "Sure you don't have superpowers?"

I shake my head. They stopped because they were tired? I'm tired too, but I didn't stop. I thought we were going for an hour. Whatever. "So what's next?"

"Target practice." Roy rolls onto his feet and gets up, grinning. I guess he's happy we're finally doing something that doesn't make him look like a loser. Not that that stupid grin on his face is helping his cause.

We all go over to the target range. There's cardboard cutouts of gangsters with targets panted on them. Each are distanced at between ten to sixty yards away. A variety of long distance weapons are lined up on the rack next to us.

"The outer ring is ten points and if you hit the middle it's one hundred," Roy says. He sounds like a little kid explaining his favorite game. "The farther away, the more points you get." He picks up the bow and arrow. He tests the draw once before notching and aims at the farthest away target. He lets the string go and there's a swish and a thwack as the arrow flies through the air and hits the dead center of the target sixty yards away. Hunter and Cat clap at the display.

Roy takes a little bow. "Six hundred points goes to me."

"Why do we have to practice this?" Raina asks, looking at the weapons nervously. "I'll never be able to do that. Plus I have my own powers."

"You never know when your powers will fail you," Kara says. "Then you'll have to use whatever you have that's available. And that might be a knife the bad guy dropped—oh, or this weird gun thing..." She picks up a deadly looking laser gun and points it at the closest target. It makes a whirring noise as it charges up and fires with a bang. The cardboard gangster is reduced to smoldering ashes. "See?"

Raina now looks even more nervous than before. "Uh, okay."

"It's simple hand-eye coordination," Kaldur says gently. "You will get the hang of it." He moves off a little, showing the three newbies each weapon.

"Nothing to say, Bird Boy?" Roy asks, smirking at me. He seems to be more confident in annoying me now that Kaldur 's out of earshot.

I actually have a lot to say about his idiotic points game, but I don't want to get into a fight after I'm already in hot water. "No. Looks...fun."

"I saw what you did with those little frisbees. Care to demonstrate for us?" Roy does a mock show of tossing an invisible frisbee.

Kara rolls her eyes. "Roy, don't be a baby."

"It's called a shuriken," I say. I know I'm being baited, but I do not throw little frisbees.

Roy looks pleased that his prodding worked. "Oh, I'm sorry I don't know the technical term. But you do through them like this right?" He does his invisible frisbee bit again.

"Sometimes," I snap.

Roy elbows Kara. "I bet you twenty bucks he can't hit the center of that closest target."

Kara gives him a look. "Seriously, stop it. He's had a rough night."

"Oh, yeah, I heard you had a wittle nightmare." Roy sticks out his bottom lip. "Calling out for Mommy?"

Now I'm angry not just at him but at Kara. She told the others I was calling out in my sleep? I glare at her as I cross my arms, while at the same time removing some of my hidden throwing stars from the back of my waistband and slipping them into my hand.

"Have you ever killed someone?" I ask Roy.

Roy looks a little taken aback. "Uh, what? Of course not!" He laughs uneasily and looks at Kara like she'll agree with him on the ridiculousness of my question. She's frowning at me though.

I look out at the cardboard gangsters. "It's great you can hit a bullseye. Congrats. But your bullseye is right in the center of the abdomen. Very painful. Doesn't kill instantly. Internal bleeding and a slow death. Slowing them down works just as well." I throw one star and it pierces the thigh. "According to your target, I didn't get any points, but this guy won't be going anywhere fast. If he's holding a weapon..." I flick my wrist and send another star into his bicep. "He won't be able to hold onto it. And if it's dead you want..." I switch one star into my left hand and throw them both at the same time. One hits the guy square in the throat, the other between the eyes. "There, instant death. But we're superheroes, not sportsmen. I don't shoot for points." I walk over and retrieve my stars.

When I turn to walk back, I see everyone is staring at me. Again. Roy has his mouth open like he can't believe I just dissed his game that badly. Kara has a weird sad look on her face. Kaldur looks vaguely proud and the three others look impressed. I put my throwing stars away. I was trying to make a statement, not show off. I walk away from them. Before anyone can stop him, Hunter runs after me.

"Dude, that was awesome. That speech—so cool! But you should have ended it like, 'I don't shoot for points, I shoot for justice,' or something..."

I try to look at him but I can't. Seeing his face makes me think of him next to Batman, wearing my costume and taking my roll. Then a flash of my parents falling through the air...the screams... "Leave me alone."

He doesn't seem to hear the danger in my voice. "No, I'm serious, you were like a little ninja back there."

I turn around slowly. I'm seriously about to punch him in the face when suddenly I hear...

Jingle bells, Batman smells...

I freeze, my face going pale. I glance around the room. Kaldur is frowning at me like he doesn't know what's wrong with me. Roy's got an arrow notched but he's not pointing at me yet. Kara's hovering, like she's ready to step in to stop me. They all think I'm still angry at Hunter still. None of them hear it.

Which means it's coming from my earpiece.

The music continues. Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...

It's a song Bruce and I came up with when he was too drunk on eggnog and I was too lightheaded and tired one Christmas Eve. We both were so carefree. It's one of my favorite memories. So I recorded a version of our Jingle Bells and had it made as my ringtone for when Bruce wants to call me when it's not an emergency. This is actually the first time it's happened.

...the Bat-mobile has lost a wheel, and now it's rolling away, HEY!

"Robin, you need to calm down," Kaldur says.

"Hey, I'm sorry, Dick, I didn't mean to upset you," Roy's saying. "I was just having some fun. But don't take it out on Hunter."

"Me?" Hunter squeals. "What did I do?"

Cat sighs. "Hunter, just shut up."

Kara cocks her head. "Does anyone hear Jingle Bells?"

My hands are shaking but now it's not from anger. In fact, my anger is all but dissipated. "I'm...I'm sorry," I say to the others. "Excuse me."

I run off towards the elevator. Skidding inside, I wait for the doors to close—which feels like an eternity—before finally bringing a hand to my ear and pressing the button to answer the call.

"Dick, thank goodness. I thought you had forgotten to charge your earpiece!"

I sink to the floor, practically crying with relief. "B-Bruce?"

"Yes, boy, it's me. I need you to listen."

I nod before remembering he can't see the gesture. "Okay?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm in a safe-house outside of Metropolis. Where are you? You've been gone for over twenty-four hours!"

"Are the remaining sidekicks there as well?"

"Yeah."

"And Sharp? Have you met up with Sharp yet?"

"Sharp? You know him?"

"Who do you think sent him to you? Now, Robin," he switches back to my superhero name, and I know it's his signal for us to get down to business, "I need you to listen. You cannot trust anyone in that building but Sharp."

"What?" I give a shaky laugh even though I of all people know Batman never jokes. "I can only trust Sharp? But what about Supergirl, or Aqualad or—"

"Quiet! Just listen to me! You have to go with Sharp. Trust me, it's for the best."

Now he sounds like he's sending me off to military school instead of telling me to release the guy I probably trust the least in this building. "For the best? Batman, I—"

"I need you to be professional about this, boy. Rule 17?"

"Yeah, the only people I can trust are Batman and maybe Alfred." And that's not even a joke. The "maybe" part is actually in the rule. "But what about Rule 345?"

"What about it?" He growls in his deep Batman voice. It sounds like he's gargling marbles and always makes me want to clap him on the back or give him a lozenge or something. "Look, Robin. Several people have been lying to you right from the start. One, if you follow my directions, you will find out soon enough."

Why does he choose now to be so cryptic? "Can't you just tell me where you are? I can't go get you or—"

"Too risky. I've already surveyed the area and decided that this one call was all I could chance."

"You're being difficult—"

"Boy, just shut up and listen!" Batman snaps at me.

I go quiet. "Sorry."

I can hear him heavily breathing on the other end. He needs to clear his throat or something because he's going to wear a hole through his tonsils making that sound. "Get Sharp. Get in costume. Follow him. Do as he says. Eventually, you will get to me."

I wait to make sure he's finished before saying, "Batman...Bruce...I don't understand. Why did you leave me all these clues that just led me to these clueless newbies...?"

"You'll soon find out. Robin...you'll soon find out they were lying to you the whole time. You got rid of the League communicators, right?"

"Of course. I knew there was a tracker inside them." I allow myself to feel proud for a whole second before Batman says—

"Doesn't matter. They each have a separate earpiece that allows them to communicate with each other and with their League mentors. I overheard their plans. They plan on faking the voices of their mentors to lure them all into a trap."

"What?" I jump up. The elevator has arrived (finally) and stops with a ding. "But I have to warn them!"

"Please, Robin. Do you really think they'll believe you? And you can bet the first thing out of their 'mentor's' mouths will be 'don't trust Robin'."

I swallow. "Why?"

"Because I escaped of course. They know by now that you know about their plans." I can practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"What? But I don't know anything. Why did they capture all the superheroes? What's with the fog? And is Alfred all right?"

"I don't know, Robin." Batman suddenly sounds very tired. It's a tone I don't usually hear and it scares me a little. "The only hope is the plan."

I take a shaking breath and run a hand through my hair. Suddenly, an ideas occurs to me. "How do I know you're not being faked?"

Batman growls, sounding irritated. "Fine then. When you were nine years old you told me what your biggest fear was. You were afraid of elephants."

I chuckle. "Okay, fine. So you're real."

"Now the plan. Robin, get your uniform, free Sharp, he'll give you instructions from there."

I frown, thinking. "Aqualad has the key to Sharp's cell."

"Will that be a problem?"

I straighten and tighten my voice. "No, sir."

"Good. I hope I'll see you soon, Dick."

"Okay, Bruce I—" I'll do my best.

But the signal cuts out and static blasts into my ear before I can finish. I turn the earpiece off.

Time to go to work.

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HA! Weren't expecting that were you? Next chapters my fav because Robin is awesome!

So stay tuned and review!

~youwishyouwerethiscool