Fired!

By

AJ

"YOU'RE FIRED DICK!"

Those words echoed in his head, words that he didn't ever expect to hear from Bruce. What's happened to him? Why has he suddenly become so cold toward him? He tried to explain, that the Teen Titans took longer than anyone of them expected, but Batman didn't want to hear any excuses.

'As if that's an excuse, it's not. If only he would have listened. He would have realized it wasn't my fault.'

Robin removed the old uniform and placed it neatly on the chair in the room that he found himself in. When Batman threw him out of the cave, he left with just the uniform on his back. With tears blinding his vision he didn't know where he was heading. All he knew was that he had to get out of there.

'I know the past two years have been tough, me going off to college, having been kidnapped twice, once by Ravek then by Ra's al Ghul . . . Why is Bruce . . . no Batman. Why is Batman questioning my commitment? I took an OATH, but . . . I'm not him. Why can't he see that? I'm not doing this out of revenge like the way he is. He'll be the first to deny it, but I know. I've seen it in his eyes. I'm doing this because he gave me a chance to find my parents killer. Well, I did that. I could have stopped then, but I didn't. I thought my parents would have wanted me to continue to do this, to do what was right. Now I don't know any more.'

Dick remembered the last time this happened. He had been nearly beaten to death by Two Face. And out of fear, fear that Batman could not protect him; Dick had been fired. Robin had been taken away from him. It hurt, it hurt so much that he couldn't be what he wanted, what he needed to be, so he ran away. Dick wasn't Bruce's son. He was his ward. He still was his ward. Dick didn't come into his majority until he was 21 and at this point he couldn't wait.

'Well if Bruce doesn't want me in the cave, fine. But I can't stay at the Manor either. I can't play the part of a spoiled playboy's son. And Hudson isn't doing me any good either. Bruce would kill me if he knew how my grades have slipped. I'm usually an A student, but this past semester I received all Bs. It's not that the course work is too difficult. On the contrary, it's just too easy and I haven't been able to pay much attention to it. I'm just having a hard time with being there. And now I'm having a hard time just being anywhere near Gotham City. Well he can have it. I can take my oath elsewhere.'

Though Dick knew in his heart what he just voiced was a lie. What he wanted was to go back and tell Bruce he was just as committed as he was, but he knew Bruce probably wouldn't listen. The venom in Bruce's voice proved that. Lately, he had been the one to do the apologizing, even when he wasn't in the wrong, but no more. This time Bruce had been wrong.

Dick picked up the uniform and looked at it. They were the colors he wore in the circus. He rubbed his hand along the R in the black circle then promptly ripped it off. He took the cape and ripped it in two. He emptied the utility belt of its contents and tossed that in a box. Each item that he touched Dick damaged it beyond repair. Silent tears streamed down his face as his heart broke for what was lost. Dick wrapped up the remains of the uniform in a brown package and addressed it. He didn't address it to Bruce. Bruce would probably throw it in the trash. The box had been addressed to Alfred. Inside Dick had slipped in two notes hidden in a boot. One note was for Alfred, the other for Bruce along with the uniform . . .Well if he wasn't going to be Robin no one else could either. He knew it was vindictive, and maybe it would hurt Bruce, but Bruce had been just as vindictive in his words. And right now that's all he could think about.

The cold was biting. Dick should have kept the uniform one more day and at least waited until he could get some warmer clothes. He had no choice but to take what he could from the clothing donation box outside of some chain department store. He found an old pair of shoes, some jeans with holes, a t-shirt, and at least a jacket with a hood. He at least would blend in with some of the homeless, for that's what he was now . . . homeless. He remembered to take what money there was in the utility belt. Five hundred dollars might keep gas in his bike to get him to wherever he needed to go, and he could live on the barest essentials, but eventually he would have to find a job. His wallet was back at the Manor. Right now, he had no other place to go except back to New Carthage, but New Carthage and Hudson University will be without their local hero. At least, he knew that Alfred would collect his things and keep them for him whenever he would choose to return for them.

Tears slipped down Dick's face as he climbed onto his bike, remembering the words he had written to Bruce.

'Remember the last time you fired me? You took Robin away from me then, too. Well, I'm taking him away from you now. You may have the uniform, but you can't take Robin away from me completely. My parents called me Robin long before I became your partner. Now the partnership's been dissolved. Don't try to find me, you won't. As for being a crime fighter . . . you said you needed total devotion. Total devotion? To what? I took and OATH. If taking an oath and living by that oath for the past eight years isn't total devotion then I don't know what is. Or do you mean total devotion to you. We both should know that's unrealistic. I'm not that kid any more and I guess you don't need a son after all. You've made it clear you really don't need anyone. You going to tell the JLA you don't need them, only Gotham. I have the Titans . . . You going to take that from me as well? What's left isn't worth very much. Maybe you should have left me where you found me. You would not have been saddled with some ward for eight years and you would have been free to fight crime the way you wanted to and I would be with my parents. Goodbye Bruce Wayne. The next time you see me . . . just pretend you don't know me."

Dick revved up the engine on his bike and headed away from Gotham City, away from Batman . . . and away from Bruce Wayne.

'Happy New Year, Bruce,' thought Dick. 'I hope you find what you're looking for.'