Chapter 12: Consequences

Bruce frowned as he typed on the Batcomputer, sighing as he hasn't gotten much sleep in the last day or so, he was currently wondering how to break it to the others that John was no longer Robin.

He already knew they would disagree with his choice, hell he was also wondering if he truly made the right call, but the image of John being shot once more went through his mind as he narrowed his eyes. What other choice did he have? John showed that he was volatile, he still doesn't know why the teen did what he did, maybe he should've questioned it before coming to a decision instead of rushing it.

And while he doesn't like that he called his 'friends' into Gotham as powers always escalated things in Gotham he knew he should be relieved that John didn't try to go in alone to do something as if he did chances are he would've found Croc over his body.

But it was too late, he made the decision. He can't let John back into this life.

"Is that really the wise course of action Master Bruce?" Alfred's voice took him by surprise as Bruce realized he was muttering to himself.

"How much did I say out loud?" He asked with Alfred sighing.

"Just that last part." Alfred said as he looked towards the case where all the suits were, John's Robin suit was hung in there not repaired along with Dick and Barbara's suits.

Bruce already knew what Alfred was thinking. "You disagree with my decision?"

"Your decision is your own Master Bruce, however you have to remember they don't just affect you anymore." Alfred reminded him not saying if he agreed or disagreed, but is willing to see all sides. "But pushing people away isn't the answer to everything."

Bruce looked down, thinking on that before the computer lit up showing Two-Face making a public move.

Knowing that it was the best shot he had at taking him down, he pulled the cowl back on and rushed to the Batmobile. Still a small part of him couldn't help but find that off.

After what happened the other day he expected for Dent to lay low and regroup his men along with getting better weapons. To make a move like this-even a public one was worrying in itself.

Tim panted as he made it to the roof of the party. "Man I'm way out of shape." He muttered as he kept with the Kata's and some exercises but using his gear and grappling around the city was a lot different to that.

Still he made it and was looking into the skylight, seeing Two-Face walking through the crowd, holding his coin in one hand, a dead body nearby showing he executed a Hostage already.

'Where are Bruce and John?' Tim thought as he was hoping they would be in there taking care of it before he even got there.

Yet they aren't, in fact he didn't see any sign of them.

'I just know that my Dad is going to go ballistic.' Tim thought knowing he was mentally putting it off.

This was the first time he put himself in danger like this in over a year and it was against

Two-Face funnily enough. Truth be told it brought him back to the first time he ever wore the Robin costume and saved Batman from Dent.

Of course on seeing him, Bruce ripped the domino mask from his face a bit enraged by the idea that someone dressed up as Robin after what happened to Jason, if Dick or Alfred weren't there the latter actually entering the danger zone at the time-lord knows what would've happened.

So taking a deep breath, Tim broke through the skylight catching everyone's attention as he threw some birdarangs at Two-Face and his men, slicing through their weapons.

Like riding a bike.

Two Face-looked surprised. "Well you're not the Robin I was expecting." He muttered recognizing Tim who smirked as the thugs ran at him. So the former Boy Wonder whipped his metal staff out and got to work.

Punch. Kick. Bash with a staff. Duck. Repeat.

Everything came back to him as he fought and out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw his father looked scared to see him as Robin and he winced.

He'll have to apologize later, right now he needs to wrap this up and hope that his Dad would take an explanation rather than go straight to Bruce and demand what happened.

Soon everyone was down, leaving Two-Face who actually watched without doing anything and that concerned Tim who gripped his staff tightly, especially when he saw that the man didn't have a gun, just his coin which he was slowly turning.

That was when he realized something, none of these men were a part of Two-Face's gang, they were just normal thugs and that was when it clicked. This wasn't Two-Face and only one person in Gotham could disguise himself this well in terms of appearance.

"You can drop the disguise, Clayface." He said with a frown, seeing surprise appear on the man's face before his skin melted away, showing a large mud-like being with yellow eyes.

"What gave me away?" Clayface asked not liking that someone saw through it.

"Besides the fact that you're not in Arkham currently?" Tim asked with a brow to hide his nervousness. "Two-Face wouldn't do something like this in the middle of a Gang War, that's the type of stuff Joker would do."

This got a lot harder because he didn't have any freeze discs and being out of this line of work for a year only to come back against someone like Clayface had him on edge. He supposed he should be lucky that he doesn't have his poisonous touch ability anymore.

Clayface smirked as Two-Face hired him to do this to throw the Bats off his trail while he went to ground.

"Still what are you going to do about it?" Clayface asked his hands becoming mallets to smash the bird boy into paste, not seeing a shadow appear in the rafters-a shadow that Tim saw which made him smirk-the action making Clayface freeze as a deadpanned look came across his face. "... Batman's right behind me isn't he?"

Tim didn't need to answer when freeze capsules shot into Clayface's arms making him cry out as the shattered while Batman landed next to Tim, looking at him with his expression set in stone.

Most people wouldn't be able to decipher that look, but Tim knew what Bruce was thinking as the man was asking why he was there so he subtly looked towards his father, his head moving slightly that only Bruce saw it. The man followed the direction with his eyes and on seeing Jack Drake, he gave a nod, understanding.

As Batman did that, Tim idly wondered where John was as he was surprised to see Bruce by himself, was he somewhere else in the city helping the others in the Gang War?

He didn't have time to think on it more when Clayface regenerated his arms. "What's your play here Basil?" Batman asked using Clayface's real name.

"Nothing just been given quite the role, I'd like to think I sold it since you're both here," Basil Karlo said his hands now turning into blades. "So how about we get to the next scene which is you two in a body bag?!"

As he lunged at them, both Batman and Tim moved in sync as if they never stopped working together, Batman holding out a hand to give Tim a boost as the boy accepted, jumping over one blade as it went across his body armor while Batman slid under another, throwing in freeze capsules that went off, breaking his arms apart before the Dark Knight kicked his knees making them splatter as Clayface lost his footing.

Tim quickly slammed his staff right into Clayface's head making it hard for the man to see as he needed to regenerate his eyes and he didn't have the chance to as Bruce threw more freeze capsules at him and soon enough, Clayface was a frozen statue.

The teen gave a slight smile, happy that was done with while some people were cheering. He'll admit he missed this, but like he said before it was the last time.

Turning from the frozen Clayface, Tim saw Batman looking at him. "Let me make sure Dad is alright and then I'll hand my suit in." He requested quietly and received a nod in return.

As soon as Batman was out of sight, Tim quickly used his grapple to get out of there before getting his phone out to call his Dad once he was out of sight.

It barely rang for two seconds when Jack picked up. "The hell were you thinking?!" Jack demanded concern in his tone as he was making himself scarce to avoid people eavesdropping and if someone did notice he could say his son called as soon as the situation ended. "The hell was Bruce thinking putting you in danger like that-?"

"Bruce had no idea I would be there." Tim quickly said cutting his Dad off. "I only put this on because you were in danger Dad."

"And your solution is to place yourself in danger?" Jack countered his decision. "I thought you gave that suit back to Bruce!"

Tim hesitated and that told Jack all he needed.

"Y-You kept it?" Jack cursed, pinching his nose to relieve some stress before he frowned. "Were you hoping to be Robin again someday?"

"No there's already a Robin." Tim said quickly.

"But you enjoyed that." Jack said quietly as he saw Tim's face while fighting Clayface.

Tim contemplated what he wanted to say before sighing. It was best to be truthful.

"Yes I did, because I liked helping people, I did that a lot during my time as Robin both in Gotham and as a member of the Titans." Tim said thinking about the team.

He has been a bit of a jerk to not contact them since he told them of his retirement after what happened. Maybe he should get in touch with them again just for a talk, surely he could just hang out with them outside of Titan matters.

"Dammit," Jack muttered having to lean against the wall. "This isn't right."

A parent was supposed to take care of their child, to ensure that they don't get into trouble. Their child being a Vigilante was one of the worst things to come.

But in this last year when he kept an eye on his son to ensure he would honor that deal he made to make sure he hung his cape up, he saw how unhappy he was and how while he did keep his end of the deal until that night, he always had a look of longing when he saw Batman and that new Robin on the news.

And if he was being honest with himself, even though he disapproved of what Tim did because of the danger, a small part of him felt nothing but pride for his son for all the good he did.

"Sorry Dad, I'll give Bruce the suit back-."

"No… Don't."

That made Tim's eyes widen. "W-What?" He asked thinking he heard wrong.

Did his Dad just-?

"Don't get me wrong I hate this, I want nothing more than for you to burn that damn suit," Jack said to him. "But it wouldn't change a thing, you're already a part of this, it's time I accept it."

And him sticking his head into the ground won't solve anything.

Tim was at a loss for words.

His Dad just gave his blessing for Tim to be a Vigilante again.

As his Dad hung up, Tim couldn't keep the smile that slowly came across his face.

John rolled his eyes when he saw the Gotham News going on about the Gang War before it showed Two-Face starting something at the Gotham Elite party and while that concerned him he was pretty sure Bruce would have it covered.

And if not him, then one of the others would.

"Man if only we caught him." Irey muttered seeing that with John nodding before his eyes widened and his blood ran cold at seeing a figure burst through the skylight.

… In a familiar Robin costume.

'N-No.' John thought as Tim appeared on live TV as Robin. 'This can't be happening.'

He ignored Irey who began to look really concerned as she saw that along with John's reaction when Tim began to fight the thugs-obviously out of practice but still winning before Two-Face was revealed to actually be Clayface and that was when Batman appeared.

Seeing both Batman and Tim fight together in synch was almost too much for John as he leaned back.

"-ob!" Irey got to his side of the table, shaking his shoulder.

He still didn't say anything, just stare as the camera zoomed in on Tim.

It has barely been a day since he was fired and he was already replaced. No, it couldn't be, Bruce wouldn't do that-.

'It won't be long before he replaces you. He always does.' Jason's words from when he first visited the former Robin rang through his head. 'Trust me it won't be long before he does that to you.'

And it was with Tim, his predecessor.

The same person he saw Stephanie kissing. Was he just someone to keep the spot warm until the 'Real' Robin returned for both her and Bruce?

Those thoughts brewed through John as he began to shake before he ran out of the Cafe and down an alley his back against the wall and moments later Irey got to him with her speed after leaving money on the table.

"John!" Irey said finally getting John's attention pulling him out of his thoughts as he could feel the Shock Box in his pocket going crazy.

But he didn't answer it, instead he began to laugh.

That action caught Irey off guard as John laughed and laughed his shoulders shaking as the laughs began to subside into tears.

"Did I even matter?" John said and that made Irey glare as she took her Shock Box out.

"I'll get the others to meet us here-." She began only for John to snatch it out of her hands. "Hey!"

"No, I just want to go home." John said sounding defeated. "I need to be alone."

"That's the last thing you need." Irey countered but John shook his head.

"Irey, please just take me home."

After a second Irey caved. "Fine but I'm checking in on you tomorrow and we're meeting the others."

"Ow." Tim muttered as he was being patched up.

As it turned out when he jumped over Clayface's arm while it was a sword, it did manage to penetrate the body armor and cut him, so he was currently at the Clock Tower with Barbara patching him up.

"I said this would hurt," Barbara said with some mirth in her eyes. "It's good to see you again Tim."

Batman was using the computer to try and track Dent down while Stephanie, Nightwing and Cassandra just arrived, Dick giving a grin at seeing Tim.

"Way to make an entrance Tim." Nightwing greeted with Tim giving a chuckle.

"Thanks, I only went because Dad was there," Tim said thinking back to his conversation with Jack. "He gave me his blessing."

That caught Barbara's attention. "For what?"

"To be a cape again, I already told KF and Kon." Tim said with a grin.

Cass smiled a bit at that when Stephanie spoke. "So does that mean there are two Robins now?"

That made Bruce pause, something that Dick was quick to notice while Tim spoke. "No, I'm going to do what Nightwing did and make my own identity-speaking of which where is Robin?" Tim asked curiously.

It was a bit surprising not to see him here.

"Yeah where is he?" Nightwing repeated the question looking right at Batman.

This was the first time he was able to see him as Batman changed all the codes in the Batcave yet again. So he was taking this chance.

It got silent as everyone looked at Batman seeing that he didn't immediately answer. "Batman, he's fine right?" Tim asked not using his real name as he was pretty sure Bruce didn't share his identity with Stephanie and Cassandra.

"John is no longer Robin." Batman said catching them all by surprise.

"What?" Cassandra asked sharply while Nightwing frowned.

"What the hell do you mean he isn't Robin anymore?" Stephanie asked giving a glare.

Tim looked bewildered "The hell did I miss?" He asked not expecting this.

From what he knew John was getting along pretty well with everyone, so why isn't he Robin anymore?

"What happened?" Nightwing pressed wanting to know exactly how that came to be.

Pausing for a few seconds, Batman finally turned around and faced them. "When I found him he and the other heroes he called into Gotham were fighting Killer Croc who ingested some of Langstrom's Formula." He explained making Nightwing, Tim and Barbara grimace knowing that must've had some nasty side effects. "John himself was emotionally compromised and not only did he endanger the others he escalated the Gang War by getting Meta's involved."

Cassandra frowned, seeing something wrong with Batman's body language showing there was something else and from how Nightwing looked, he knew it as well.

Tim however just blinked seeing that he had a lot to catch up on before realizing that John most likely saw him as Robin on the News and would get the wrong idea. He'll have to talk with him at school the on Monday.

"So you just fired him?!" Stephanie asked annoyed by that as it was beginning to remind her of when Batman disapproved of what she did.

"You know what that's just like you," Nightwing said giving him a look. "This kind of stuff is exactly why I left before meeting the Titans."

"Okay everyone stop," Barbara said in a forceful tone, not wanting a fight to break out in her apartment, or for anyone to say something they would definitely regret later and was relieved when Nightwing heeded that and backed up. "Thank you, now can we do this without anyone throwing a punch?"

"We're wasting time, the more we argue the harder it'll be to find Dent when he goes into hiding." Batman said turning back to his screen.

Giving a glare, Nightwing turned and walked off, using his com link to make a call.

While he knew Jason wouldn't be happy about this, he knew that the former dead Robin would be more pissed if no one told him.

An hour later, Jason was on his way to John's house cursing, his annoyed face hidden by his helmet.

Today was just a total shit storm.

First off his attempts at luring Sionis out was met with failure as it turned out to be a trap with a group of his thugs-who are currently tied up instead of dead because he's been holding back a bit more often due to staying in Gotham the last year as he wasn't too keen on having the entire family on his ass during all of this. Then when he got home he discovered that some asshat stole his beer.

When he finds out who stole his beer he was going to beat the crap out of them but that would have to wait as he was just told that Bruce fired John and he was this close to running to the Clock Tower to punch the old man's teeth out but he wanted to check up on John because try as he might hide it he was actually fond of the kid.

So making it to the balcony where John's room was, Jason opened the door only to see what was a very worrying sight.

John sat by his bed, his back to it with empty cans of beer around him, his hair all over the place and he was obviously drunk if the way he was swaying gave any indication.

Well at least he knew who stole his beer and he saw John still had one in his hand and that was when he entered and snatched it.

"Hey." John slurred out as he tried to stand, wobbling but Jason just pushed him back down.

"I think you had enough kid." Jason said counting at least six empty cans of beer already opened out of his twelve-pack. Yeah he was definitely buzzed.

Placing the newly opened beer down, Jason looked at John not exactly sure what to do.

In all of his training and experiences he never handled a drunk sixteen year old before.

"Give it back." John muttered slurring still. "Just want to forget."

"Yeah because that solves every problem," Jason deadpanned with his arms crossed. "I thought you said you don't drink."

"Never said I couldn't." John countered. "I swear to drunk I'm not God."

"The fact that you got that sentence messed up shows you are drunk," Jason told him. "Aren't you worried your Dad will find you like this?"

John laughed as if Jason just told the funniest joke in the world and it had the second Robin on edge as it was sounding too close to the Joker to be natural before he stopped. "That's funny, yer funny," He slurred out. "Dad doesn't give a rat's ass about me, no one does."

"I swear if you start going through an emo phase I will toss you out the window and be done with it." Jason muttered taking his helmet off, his second mask still on his face as he sat in a chair.

"Doesn't make it any less true though." John muttered quietly.

"Okay where is this coming from?" Jason asked curiously.

"You were right, Bruce doesn't care." John muttered giving a slight hiccup making Jason tense as he remembered what he said to him. "I should've quite being Robin on my own terms, asshole didn't even wait a day before bringing Timmy back."

John balled a hand up into a fist and slammed it on the floor.

"Y-You wanna know the kicker?" John asked giving a humorless chuckle. "The other night I went awol was to take my frustration out on criminals when I saw T-Tim and Stephanie kissing."

That surprised Jason as he knew that John and Stephanie were a couple and he swore.

At least that explained why John went off like that and why he didn't talk to anyone along with the watch being destroyed.

Okay he was going to punch Drake and Brown the next time he see's them.

That was when Jason noticed that John was now openly crying. "I never even mattered, I was just there to keep the spot warm wasn't I?" He asked his shoulders shaking. "Why did I let myself believe any differently?"

"Alright that's enough." Jason said not wanting to hear anymore because it was doing nothing but pissing him off.

This was exactly why he didn't like the idea of Bruce taking on anyone else as Robin, because he ruins their lives when they stop. This was a perfect example besides himself.

His first thought was to find Bruce and go through with punching the crap out of him, but he forced himself to stay because he didn't like the idea of leaving a drunk John by himself, especially when he was talking like this and his room had a pretty high balcony.

While he was pretty sure John wasn't suicidal he was not taking that chance.

So he got up and walked over next to John, sitting next to him.

Jason was not good with this stuff, it was always Dick who knew what to do but he felt that John wouldn't like Goldie to see this, hell he was pretty sure once John was coherent he would hate that he broke down like this in front of him. Still he swallowed his awkwardness and placed an arm around John making the teen tense showing that he wasn't used to physical contact outside of being Robin.

That alone worried Jason as he didn't really look into John's life and what he said about his own father made him wonder what else happened but he kept that to himself when John began to cry again and embraced him making Jason feel uncomfortable once more.

… Out of all the drunks John could be he was the clingy one. He'd rather take the angry one because he knew how to handle that one.

It continued like that for an hour before John was out cold, Jason taking the time to look up his father to see that he was on a business trip in Fawcett City and would be gone for a few days so he felt comfortable leaving him there while he was back out in Gotham, making a mental note to head back once he finished with what he had to do.

Finding Bruce wasn't that hard as the man had a set patrol schedule these days and he managed to find him near the Bowery at this time.

"Hood." Batman greeted not turning around and not using his real name as they were in uniform. "I take it Nightwing called you?"

"Look at you, World's Greatest Detective alright," Jason sneered and that made Batman look at him a flicker of surprise in his eyes as Jason left his helmet at John's place. "You really are a Grade-A asshole you know that?"

"I'm not changing my mind, John was too reckless." Batman told him.

"Just like me huh?" Jason asked Batman's sudden silence being all the answer he needed as he walked closer. "You know what Bruce? This last year I was actually beginning to think better of you and then you pull this shit."

Pretty soon he was in Batman's face.

He wasn't going to say anything about John's drunken state, but he did give a glare before throwing a punch.

Batman stumbled back, letting Jason punch him as he saw that coming before regaining his footing as he spat some blood out.

"Never contact me again." Jason spat at him turning around to walk off.

John groaned the next morning, his head pounding along with his eyes hurting-the light coming through his blinds didn't help much at all before he felt sick to his stomach.

"The heck happened?" He muttered sitting up, feeling a wave of vertigo before seeing the red helmet on his desk and it all clicked.

Oh man how embarrassing, he might not remember all that much but he remembered enough to feel his face heat up in shame. Why did anyone have to see him like that-?

That was when he noticed a smell of food in the air, he could hear bacon sizzling as well.

So standing up, stumbling as he did so, John saw Jason in the kitchen cooking. "Finally awake huh? You might want to get some coffee, it won't make a hangover go away but it helps. So does a hot shower."

"What are you doing here?" John asked his throat sore.

"Making breakfast, figured you wouldn't be in any condition to do so and you need something in your stomach," Jason said to him. "Don't get used to it, I'm still pissed you stole my beer."

John gave a sheepish chuckle. "Uh sorry about that." He said making Jason roll his eyes.

"Just don't do it again, hell don't drink again seeing you all clingy was weird." Jason said with John's face going red again.

"Oh God."

Jason chuckled at that deciding to always remember that for future uses. "So what are you going to do now?"

"Like I told Impulse I don't know." John muttered earning a confused look. "Impulse kidnapped me yesterday to get some answers before I stole your beer, she said the others were going to talk with me today."

Jason gave a nod.

Although he won't admit it he was a bit envious at the fact that John had a group of friends to fall back on, much like how Dick and even the replacement did. He wondered if he ever did would things turn out differently?

"What about you?" John asked breaking Jason out of his thoughts as the older vigilante went silent before answering.

"I'm going to be leaving Gotham today."

John gave a start at hearing that.

"Yeah, I don't want to be in the same city as Bruce at the moment," Jason said darkly before quirking a brow. "You want to come with?"

"I can't, if I do and miss school, Dad will definitely get involved." John said shaking his head.

It was so tempting but he couldn't go.

Jason frowned, thinking back to what John said about his father before giving a nod. "Fine, but remember my offer is always open." He said with a sigh.

"Where do you plan on going?"

"Don't really know, maybe the Caribbean?" Jason muttered as he wanted to get out of the country as well.

Okay now John was really tempted to go with him.

Instead however he smirked. "Send me a postcard," He requested earning a snort from Jason as he stood up to leave. "Hey aren't you taking your helmet?"

Jason paused, forgetting he left it in John's room before waving a hand. "Keep it, I have plenty of them," He said before grinning. "Besides there's a com link in there if you need me."

"What am I your personal Taxi?" Irey joked when she ran John out to Keystone City where he saw Kaldur, Mia and Static who wore a yellow shirt with red sleeves and red pants sitting at a table of what looked to be an Internet Cafe.

"Well given how I'm currently locked out of the Zeta Beams, you're the only way I can get out of Gotham without tipping Bats off." John pointed out dressed in his Rob clothes out of habit.

"Fair enough." Irey said with a shrug.

That was when John noticed a little eleven year old girl with black hair and green eyes wearing a red hoodie on Mia's lap and quirked a brow at that, especially at the yellow hat she seemed to be wearing that resembled the one that Red Arrow wore when he was Speedy.

"I'm stuck babysitting and she wouldn't leave without her hat," Mia answered easily as they could explain the hat being from a gift store. "This is Lian Harper, Lian this is John."

Lian Harper looked up at him curiously as she was already introduced to the others before Irey went to get John.

The name Harper alone told John that this was Red Arrow's daughter as while he hasn't met the man he heard enough of him from Dick.

"Hello." Lian greeted with an innocent smile.

"Hi yourself." John said sitting down at the table.

Static just chuckled. "So your name is really John?" He asked as John didn't mind them knowing his name considering he wasn't obliged to keep it from them anymore.

"You were expecting something else?" John asked with a raised brow.

"Kind of, John seemed too ordinary for you," Static said before grinning. "You can call me Virgil."

John gave a nod and everyone just spoke, not mentioning anything about being heroes or chasing bad guys, but just being teenagers, just being civilians and John found he appreciated that.

Before becoming Robin he didn't have any friends, here he does and he was happy that this was one thing he wasn't going to lose.

"Are you Robin?" Lian asked suddenly making John tense up in surprise while Mia grimaced. "Aunt Mia told me about all of you."

"Lian." Mia said wishing she didn't bring that up, giving John an apologetic look.

"It's fine I was Robin but… I'm retired." He lied not wanting to say he was fired to an eleven year old.

"Oh like how Daddy was when I met him?" Lian asked as Roy did hang his bow up before deciding to take it up again after Mia joined the Arrow Family.

John chuckled before Kaldur changed the conversation. "How are you doing since your… Retirement?" He asked going with that story for John who gave him a grateful look.

"Honestly lost." John said leaning back. "And angry."

"Don't blame you." Mia commented with a snort.

To be fired and replaced a day later? That's just messed up.

If Ollie did that she would've been heartbroken.

John gave a nod as he didn't say anything about the issue between him and Stephanie, not wanting to really talk about it.

"It is good that you are well regardless." Kaldur said with a smile. "We feared the worst the other day."

"I know what you mean," Virgil said a frown on his face. "You know as much as I respect your mentor, that was a horrible move to pull."

Lian looked between them, obviously wondering what they meant but decided not to ask.

"Yeah, still nothing I can do about it." John said a bit bitterly before Irey looked confused.

"So why not make your own identity?"

That caught John off guard as he was too wrapped up in not being Robin again that the thought didn't occur to him.

"Now there's an idea." Mia said with a grin, mostly because she knew that by doing this they would be pissing the Bat off.

Sure the man had a say on 'Robin' but whoever John becomes he would have no say in.

"Um I'm not exactly sure about this." John said a bit hesitantly.

On one hand he was happy that they still thought of him as a fellow 'hero' but on the other hand he had to be realistic.

He had only one year of experience, about eighteen months of training and he still has a lot to learn. Not only that but he doesn't have access to the gadgets that Batman uses which are extremely vital.

"You don't have to but the option is still on the table." Kaldur said, seeing how John seemed conflicted.

Virgil gave a nod, looking interested. "Yeah dawg, Gear and I could help out with some of the tech if you need it." He offered as the two North Dakota heroes always made their own tech on a budget, Gear being a Technopath was a lifesaver for them.

That took away some of the unease John was feeling as he's seen some of the tech they used when he still had access to the Batcomputer and he knew that Gear was extremely smart given what he made.

And he does have the blueprints for the Grapple memorized along with knowing pretty well how to hack-with knowing Oracle's systems he could easily evade hers if he's careful.

So it was something to consider.

"So who's hungry?" Irey asked with a grin considering they were at a Cafe.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Virgil asked considering her metabolism as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"It would be a good idea to eat before we go our separate ways for the day." Kaldur said cupping his chin in thought.

"How about fish fillet?" Mia asked in a joking tone while Kaldur gave her a look showing he was not amused.

Lian who has kept quiet lightly tapped Mia. "Be nice." She chided earning a snicker from Virgil.

"Yeah, be nice." Virgil repeated with a wide grin.

"You're lucky Lian is here or I would shoot an arrow." Mia warned him.

John just smiled as they began to look through the menu.

That night John was preparing to go to bed after hiding the helmet and getting rid of the beer cans when he heard someone knocking on the door. A bit curious in who it was, he opened it only to grimace.

It was Stephanie.

"Go away." He said attempting to close the door but she quickly stopped it.

"John I heard what happened from Batman." She said wanting to talk. "I'm sorry that happened-."

"I bet you are."

That cut Stephanie short. "What?" She asked not expecting that at all

John glared at her, the action in itself catching Stephanie by surprise. "I saw you and Tim that night," He said making her eyes widen when she realized what he was talking about. "Nice to see that you two are happy with each other."

"Wait John it's not like that." Stephanie tried to say, but John laughed.

"Oh really?" The disbelief was evident on his face. "I know what I saw, you didn't exactly stop him, in fact you were kissing him back."

Stephanie grimaced remembering that and John slammed the door shut before she could try and explain.

"You two are perfect for each other." She heard him snarl as she took a step back.

"John." She knocked trying to get him to open up.

"If you pick that lock I'm calling the police, don't tempt me Brown!" John warned before some loud music began to play to ignore her.

To say Stephanie was miserable would've been an understatement as she sat in her room, her eyes wet.

She can't believe that happened, of all the things John could've seen it was that.

Well it certainly explained his behavior, but she stopped the kiss didn't she?

Why did her mind react to the kiss like that?

If John just gave her a chance to explain she would've told him what happened. But in truth she couldn't blame him for being angry at her.

It was ironic, the reason she and Tim broke up was because she saw a girl flirting with him and jumped to conclusions. Now this happened.

Was it karma for that?

Hearing her window open, Stephanie wiped her eyes as she saw Cassandra giving her a curious look. "Hey Cass."

Cass had a habit of sneaking into her room at times to either go on patrol or to just see how she was doing.

"Miss training." Cassandra said simply making Stephanie wince.

"Crap, I forgot that was today." She said before Cassandra simply walked over to her and sat down.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra asked in concern.

Sniffling a bit, Stephanie sighed. "I screwed up, big time."

The next day, John was on his way to school pocketing a cell phone he just got the other day to replace his broken one, shouldering his backpack before he paused at seeing someone he really didn't want to see at the entrance.

"John." Tim Drake was approaching him with a guilty look showing that Stephanie most likely told him of their encounter. "Hi-."

John physically pushed past him with a glare. "Don't talk to me." He warned him.

"Wait I just want to talk." Tim grabbed his arm and John reacted before he could stop himself.

Spinning around he punch Tim right in the face making him hold his nose which began to bleed much to John's relief.

"Just stay the fuck away from me." John told him as he walked off.

Tim held his bleeding nose and sighed.

He deserved that much with everything that was going on.

John just made it to his class a few moments later and sat next to Felix who gave him a concerned look as he saw what happened. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just needed to get that out of my system," John said feeling better now that he decked Tim. "So how was your weekend?"

It was most likely better than his.

"Nothing interesting really happened, just played some online games," Felix answered leaning back as he looked at him. "So did you see the News about the return of the third Robin?"

John froze not wanting to talk about that, but he knew he should've seen it coming.

Out of all his friends, Felix was the only one that didn't know of his former double-life-in fact Felix was his only 'civilian' friend. And the return of Tim as Robin is News to a lot of people as much as he disliked it.

So instead of being angry, John forced a smile on his face. "Really? How about that?"

Felix however felt his concern grow for his friend, easily seeing through the fake smile, but class began and he had to shelve that thought for a later date.

As he listened to the teacher, John felt his new phone buzz catching him by surprise as he quickly checked it once he was sure the teacher wasn't watching.

'You alright?'

Obviously confused, John texted back. 'Who is this?'

It didn't take long for a reply to appear. 'It's Helena, just heard about what happened, took a bit to get your number since you don't have a com link anymore.'

This just confused John even further, why was Helena texting him? He barely knew her compared to the others. Then again he was on good terms with her as she wasn't officially fighting alongside the others, in fact she usually teams up with her friend who goes by Power Girl around Opal City when she isn't busy helping with the Gang War in Gotham.

'Do I want to know?'

The reply was quick. 'Nothing illegal I can promise that.'

Barely suppressing a snort, John kept an eye on the teacher. 'I'm fine, thanks BB.'

'BB? Really?'

'It's short and easy to type, cut me some slack.' Hearing a cough, John looked up to see the teacher looking at him.

So he quickly turned his phone off and put it up with a sheepish grin. "Sorry Mr. Richards." He said to his History Teacher.

It was after school as John was walking around, dressed as Rob once more as he felt more comfortable walking around like that rather than as John, resisting the urge to head to Wayne Manor as it was a habit that he would head there after school.

'So why not make your own identity?' Irey's words went through his head as he kept walking and John couldn't help but think about it some more.

It was true that he could just make a new identity, Batman would hold no jurisdiction over him but he would no doubt interfere.

A large part of him wanted to do this just to screw with Bruce because he fired him, but that shouldn't be the reason if he chose to do that.

Maybe he could as Jason for advice on that-?

"Help!" John's head snapped up at hearing the cry for help as well as a scream.

Following the noise he saw a young woman along with a little girl being dragged into an alley by a bunch of punks, they didn't look to belong to a gang that he knew of.

Eyes narrowing, John took off after them knowing that there was a chance that Batman wouldn't be around during the day and he wasn't going to take the chance about the others.

By the time he caught up he saw that they were holding the crying girl hostage while pointing a gun at the woman, ordering for her to give her valuables.

Eyes narrowing, John saw a trash can lid and formulated a plan when one of the thugs noticed him. "This ain't a show kid, get lost-." He began when John grabbed the lid and threw it, hitting the armed thugs hand, knocking the gun out of it, the momentum from hitting the hand had it bounce off and hit the guy holding the girl in the face, making him let go of the girl.

John easily ran in there and rolled to duck a punch, kicking another thug's feet out from underneath him, catching another punch, using the momentum to throw the guy into his friends.

"Hey are you stupid, you're messing with the Purple Dragons." One of the thugs shouted with John quirking a brow.

Who the hell were the Purple Dragons?

Deciding to file that to look into later, John smirked. "You guys must suck considering I've never heard of you." He taunted seeing their faces go red and they ran at him.

They were just thugs with no combat training, in fact it took almost no time at all until they were on the ground out cold.

Seeing them out cold, John relaxed and took notice of the tattoos of a purple dragon on their hands, neck and even on a shoulder.

A new street gang in Gotham was never a good thing.

Looking from them, he saw the young woman looking relieved right as the little girl suddenly hugged him, barely reaching his waist. "Whoa you were so cool mister, are you a Superhero like Batman?" She asked taking him by surprise as her brown eyes were full of curiosity and wonder.

"Nell you're bothering the boy." Her mother said with a fond smile before looking at John. "Thank you for saving us."

"It's no problem." John said with a grin. "Happy to help, you should get going before anything else happens."

"Wait what's your name? I'm Nell Little." The girl said looking at him.

John paused not wanting to say his real name, but he also didn't want to say Rob because some people would put it together he was Robin, especially if these guys were interviewed and his name was given he would be visited by Bruce and warned not to do this again.

His eyes scanning the alley, he saw an X spray painted on the wall and quickly latched onto that. "Call me X." He said with a grin as the twinkle in his eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses.

With that said he walked off with Nell giving a wave. "Bye X!" She said while the mother was calling the police.

As he left, John thought back to what he just did.

If there was any doubt about him still going out there to help people that would've erased it. None of the other Bats showed up in that situation and he took it into his own hands.

'X.' He thought testing it out, already imagining a look. 'I might be able to work with that.'

So taking out his Shock Box, John grinned. "Hey Static you there?"

"What's up?" Static answered easily as he was on patrol currently. "Something happen?"

"You want to talk shop about equipment?" John asked, Static easily getting what he meant.

He wasn't going to fully rely on them as he wants to build his own stuff, but they could bounce ideas off of each other.

To Be Continued…

Wow this one came out a lot quicker huh? I'm typing quite a bit on the Pokemon story-it only has 13 pages so far but I promise I'll get that out to you. However this story is almost complete-holy crap I can't believe I just said that-so it will be focused on the most.

That being said hope you enjoyed everything happening from a drunk John-I made him clingy because let's face it he hasn't had much physical affection in his life to showing the aftermath of him being fired. So let me get the Reviews out of the way and post this.

Dark King Marcel: I know, typing that was pretty difficult, along with showing the almost broken John in this chapter.

Nightmaster000: Yup, he sure does take a lot of risks, it's a part of his charm as well as one of his biggest flaws if you think about it. Nope-originally he was supposed to be Robin for only two chapters but it was extended so I could do a lot of development and it became a whole volume showing his origins. Haha yeah I love making the bad guys even more dangerous, as for the idea of doing that to Croc again but making it permanent-I might. He'll be a hero but you'll have to wait and see when we get to that point. Control Freak is already a planned enemy but Mad Mod is also-in fact Mod already appeared in this story if you look close enough *Grins* You just have to be pretty observant in where he appeared at and know his real name. As for Benjamin well you'll see.

DannyPhantom619: You'll see as for the tools, we'll he was trained by a Bat so he'll have a lot of equipment.

Coldblue: Yeah a lot has happened with John and you're right teenagers do act more on emotions than anything else and that can be dangerous for them. I figured with how the two criminals were portrayed as-or how I read them as-that would be how they would react to the other being caught. Yeah and Batman does have a habit of pushing people away when they're nearly killed, especially if it reminds him of a certain loss. Yeah he does have quite a few friends to fall back on when crap hits the fan, plus he never actually had any friends until he became Robin with how he was so he definitely treasures them above anything else.

Now for your questions. 1) Eventually yes, but he will already be Red-X by then. 2) He won't focus so much on the idea of dating after what happened, this was the end of his first ever relationship after all. 3) I have no clue about that, maybe. 4) Most likely not. 5) Huh now those ideas have merit, I might do something like that but they would most likely be much later in Volume 01 or maybe 02. 6) Well the whole seeing his girlfriend kiss someone else might not come up because really who the heck talks about it? But he will be more open with them than any other former Robin.

Piemaster981: Yup and the next chapter will show that so be prepared.

Superior Batman: Yeah, and it got worse for him in this chapter but now he's picking himself back up.

Knight: Haha thanks it was fun to type along with this one. I honestly didn't think I would get this far with the story when I first began.

Crimson Ninja: Yeah and then you read this chapter and realize how much worse it could get. But the worse parts are over so hope you enjoy the future chapters as much as the past ones.

Iwymoisiraslom: Nope, no teleportation or Zeta Beams, just skill… And maybe some high-tech.

Badger10: Yup, hopefully I showed how it would've gone down in this was the comics, especially the part with Jason.

Bajor10: Haha yeah that's why he gets along with Jason the most and there will be a bit of a strain between John and the rest of them for the near future. As for Ravager? The next time they meet will be when he's Red-X in the next Volume.

Phew, alright this is Spidey Signing Out!