"Heh, I'll be Nightwing by the time you quit smoking those things." - Robin

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

OBSTACLES

For the first time he could remember, Bard seemed to be the first one up and about in Titans Tower the next morning. When he walked into the main room, he saw that Superboy was still conked out on the couch. He checked on him briefly to make sure he was okay, and then walked passed him towards the kitchen. Some Fruit Loops seemed to definitely be in his immediate future…

"Ugh…" Superboy moaned. He was finally coming to. Bard came back over.

"Good morning," Bard greeted him, a little smugly he would admit to himself later as he leaned over to look down at him.

"Yeah, good….morning?" Superboy said in surprise. He jerked up to a sitting position and effectively knocked heads with Bard.

CLONK!

"Aw, shit!"

"Dammit!"

"Ass!"

Superboy looked up from the couch and Bard looked up from his sitting position the floor, both of them rubbing their foreheads.

"We were having a cussing contest, right?" Cyborg grinned, seeming to appear out of nowhere. "So, you all right now?" He asked Superboy, his face a little more serious.

"Nothing can keep Superboy down!" The Boy of Steel replied. "I haven't died from embarrassment yet, so I guess I'll live." He added a little more sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it." Cyborg told him. "And don't get used to that couch. We've never had more than six members before, but we should have a room set up for you by tonight."

Superboy nodded and Cyborg continued along his way to the kitchen, no doubt with the intentions to fry up some bacon.

"Let me ask you something," Bard said to Superboy curiously. "You're a clone of Superman, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, why didn't the laser just…ya know, bounce off of you?"

"Ya gotta remember that I'm only part Kryptonian, so I don't have all of Supes' powers." Superboy admitted. "Physical attacks, I don't even feel'em. But energy attacks fry me."

Bard nodded.

"So energy attacks, lasers, fireballs, that sort of thing, is kinda like your Kryptonite, huh?" Bard sweat dropped. "Uh, not the best analogy, huh?"

"Heh, does that cowboy boot taste good?"

Bard pointedly ignored that.

"One more question," he said. "We just bumped heads, and it looked like it hurt ya. I thought you were supposed to be impervious to that stuff."

"Only when I think about it," Superboy explained. "My powers aren't automatic, I have to will them to happen."

"Ah," Bard replied. He went to walk away, but then he stopped and turned back. "One last thing-"

"Is this a pop quiz?"

Bard ignored that as well.

"Do you have x-ray vision?"

Superboy blinked, but then he grinned.

"Why?" He asked, looking down suggestively at Bard's jeans. "Hiding a secret?"

Bard ground his teeth together.

"I was worried about the privacy of Starfire and Raven." He grated. "So, do you have x-ray vision or not?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Superboy smirked. Bard scowled down at him, but still the teen wouldn't give a straight answer. Grumbling and muttering to himself, Bard walked away towards the kitchen. Superboy was making a habit of doing that to him…

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"All right, team!" Robin called the Teen Titans and their single apprentice together from where they stood outside, quite a distance away from Titans Tower. The terrain was dusty and rocky. "I know we've taken a break from training in the last couple of weeks because of Slade's reemergence, but it's time to get back to the grindstone!"

No one could match the Boy Wonder's enthusiasm at that announcement.

"So," Robin continued. "We'll start off with the obstacle course! Superboy and Bard have never gone through it before, so anybody want to volunteer to show'em how it's done?"

"………….."

"C'mon, guys! Anybody?"

"………….."

"Fine, fine. I'll show'em how it's done then." Their leader tried to sound resigned, but he fooled no one. He was rearing to go. He turned to Cyborg and pointed to the control panel. "Work the controls for me, Cyborg. Hardest difficulty."

"Hardest difficultly?" Cyborg echoed as he climbed up to the controls. "We just want to show'em what to do, not intimidate'em!"

Robin thought about that.

"All right," he gave in, his voice gravely disappointed. "Just the normal setting, then."

Cyborg nodded and pressed buttons on the control panel, prepping the obstacle course.

"She's ready when you are!" He called down to Robin, who turned to Superboy and Bard.

"This is the obstacle course." Robin told them obviously. Bard looked around. It seemed like an ordinary landscape to him besides… "The poles mark the boundaries of the obstacle course. You have to stay within them. Now step back and I'll show you how it's done." He grinned like a ten year old boy finding out he was receiving a BB gun for Christmas.

"Go!" Cyborg shouted.

Robin ran forward with all he was worth. His black and yellow cape flapping behind him, he reached around to the small of his back and pulled out his metal staff.

PFFT!

Robin retracted it with a push of his thumb and began to twirl it with incredible speed over his head, ready for anything.

His first 'obstacle' were floating metal spheres that were perhaps three times the size of a basketball that hovered towards him.

"That doesn't seem so bad," Bard commented, mostly to himself.

PFFT!

At first, Bard thought that Robin had detracted his staff. But then he saw that each of the half dozen or so metal spheres were suddenly armed with three small laser guns apiece.

"Okay," Bard sweat dropped. "I reckon I might have spoken too soon…"

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Bard was absolutely dazzled by Robin's display of acrobatics as the ground around the Boy Wonder became alive with laser fire.

Front flip.

ZAP!

Back flip.

ZAP!

Side flip.

ZAP!

A no handed cartwheel.

ZAP!

A tuck and roll.

ZAP!

Robin came out of the roll, jumped impossibly high into the air and landed with a crouch on one of his robotic pursuers. Two of the other spherical robots immediately locked in on him and came at the caped teen at full speed. But, of course, that's exactly what the Boy Wonder wanted. He flipped off his temporary ride just in the nick of time before-

CRASH!

-all three robots collided and exploded into each other. Still in midair, Robin came out of his front flip with three exploding birdarangs between his gloved fingertips.

SW-SW-SW-SW-CHINK-CHINK-CHINK

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Robin landed in a crouch with his head down. As he looked up as the dark smoke swirled around his form dramatically, Bard saw that he was grinning. The crazy son of a gun was grinnin' like a possum! Bard perceived right then and there that the Boy Wonder loved this; this is what he lived for. But he wasn't sure if it was the justice Robin was in this business for. It was the thrill, the excitement, the continual testing of himself. The cowboy wasn't sure if that was a good thought or not…

But who was Bard to judge if Robin's intentions weren't entirely for the concept of justice? Bard had admitted to himself, and had written down in his journal to boot, that if he had his own way he would be on a stage in Nashville somewhere, picking his guitar and singing his lungs out. The only reason he was a superhero was because he felt that was what God wanted him to do.

Bard realized something then. Not any of them, not Cyborg, not Beast Boy, not Raven, and not even Starfire was in this business for justice. It's easy for a superhero to say that they fight for the citizens of the city, but that was never exactly true. People were more complicated than that. Not many people can devote their entire lives to a single indefinable concept, and certainly not teenagers like themselves. Every single one of them fought for a deeper, more personal reason. Bard fought for faith, Robin fought for the competition and excitement, Starfire fought for love and he was sure that the others had their own reasons…

"Bard, what do you think?"

Bard jerked his back head up. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Robin had finished the obstacle course and was now looking up at him, waiting for an answer.

"You did great." Bard told him. "You put on quite a show."

"Uh…thanks." Robin replied a little hesitantly. "But that's not what I asked."

"….Oh," Bard sweat dropped. "Uh, want to repeat it for me?"

"I said, 'do you think you're ready for the obstacle course'?"

"Oh!" Bard answered. "Actually, I reckon I ought to sit this one out today. My ribs are still pretty bad off." He unconsciously brought a hand to his side.

Robin nodded.

"All right," he agreed. "Why don't you go back to the Tower and rest up? You can do the obstacle course later."

"Thanks," Bard said gratefully. His ribs were beginning to hurt from just standing there so long. He knew it would be a while before he was one hundred percent again.

"I'll go with him," Raven offered.

Robin nodded again.

"Good idea," he told her, then he turned back to the others. "So, ready to give it a go, Superboy?"

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"Did you do it on purpose?" Raven's question came out of nowhere as she and Bard entered the main room of the tower.

"Did I do what on purpose?" Bard paused as what she was referring to hit him. "Of course not! Anyway, how was I supposed to know that Superboy would shoot at himself?"

Raven nodded slowly as if that answer satisfied her curiosity.

"Why would you even ask me something like that anyway?" Bard continued. "I figured you'd know me well enough now to know-"

"Don't kid yourself." Raven interrupted as she sat down on her futon, crossed her legs and picked up a book. "Just because we come from the same father doesn't mean I know you any better than the rest of the Titans."

"…….." For some reason, Bard felt hurt by that. Raven must have noticed, because she looked up at him and:

"Tell me everything you know about me, Bard."

The cowboy was not ready for that.

"Well…."

"You know my name, who my father is, the fact that I am a superhero and the restraint I must put on my emotions. Did I leave out anything?"

"I….I guess not." Bard admitted reluctantly. "But I want to know more."

"Don't you get it? You can't. No one can." Raven flicked her eyes back down to her book, but then she raised her gaze to her half brother again. "Besides, you don't even know yourself." She added.

"….What?"

"It's true, you're not really Bard and you're not really Jonny. You know that."

Bard blinked.

"How in the world do you-"

"I perceive things."

"…Just like a woman!" Bard shook his head angrily. "You're turning this around on me when it should be about you! I thought I was an orphan all my life, and now that I've finally found someone in my family, my only family as far as I'm concerned, you're saying that I can't even get to know her."

"That was not my choice to make. I can't. Period."

"Then the problem's Trigon then, right?" Bard asked, rolling his shoulders as he thought. "All right, we'll just meditate, I'll jump into your head and we'll take him to the woodshed."

"It's not that easy. Trigon can't be defeated, only restrained."

A pause.

"You know…" Bard said hesitantly. "God could beat him."

"I don't want to hear this…"

"The truth is the truth," Bard shrugged. "Doesn't really matter if we like it or not, right?"

"If he could beat Trigon with such ease, than why hasn't he done it?"

Bard's blue eyes were serious as they stared meaningfully at Raven.

"Because you haven't asked him to," he answered softly.

Bard saw something glint in his half sister's eyes, but whatever it was escaped him as they hardened again. She shook her head and stood up.

"This conversation is pointless. I refuse to join you in your fantasy world. I told you the way things are. I've dealt with it, now it's your turn." With that, she picked up her book and walked out before Bard could say anything.

The cowboy sighed when she was gone. How had they ended up fighting, anyway? One moment, everything was fine between them, and the next she was stomping away. Bard crossed his arms and looked up absently. He knew at least one person he'd be praying for tonight.

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Later that afternoon, Robin came by Bard's room.

"Feel up to taking a little ride?" He asked him.

"A ride where?"

"Down to where Slade held you." Robin answered. "I want to search for clues, and I figured you could be of some help since I'm sure Slade talked with you for a while."

Bard nodded.

"Yeah, he said that-"

"C'mon," Robin interrupted him politely with a wave of his gloved hand. "You can tell me in the car."

When they reached the garage, Robin sat down in the driver's seat of the T-Car. Bard didn't object in the slightest. His ribs were still sore, so nothing suited him better than just relaxing in the front seat.

"So," Robin said after they were both buckled in and cruising along. "Did Slade tell you his plan?"

"Some of it at least," Bard replied. "For some reason he want to meet my…he wants to meet Satan."

The T-Car swerved to the side dangerously as Robin jerked his head to look at Bard with a widened eye mask.

"What?!" He said in disbelief.

"Robin, car!!" Bard pointed forward quickly and Robin snapped his eyes back to the road.

"Ahhhh!" Robin jerked the car to the side of the road on the shoulder and put it in park. After both teens' adrenaline had ebbed a bit:

"I can't believe Slade would want to meet the devil." Robin muttered, then he turned to Bard. "So he's actually real?"

"Of course he is, he's me and Raven's father." Bard refused to use the word 'dad'. To Bard, the term 'father' and 'dad' meant two totally different things.

"He's your father?!"

Bard blinked.

"I thought you knew that…"

Robin shook his head.

"I knew that Raven's father was a demon, but-"

"Not just a demon." Bard said gravely. "The demon."

"No wonder Raven is the way she is…" Robin mused. "Why is it that you don't have to restrain your emotions like she does?"

"My faith in God blocks Trigon from getting to me." Bard explained.

"He's real then?" Robin asked. "God, I mean?"

Bard shrugged.

"I've always thought so. Besides, how do you think Raven got revived?"

"Well…" Robin stopped himself. "We can have a theological discussion later. Right now, let's focus on Slade. Besides the fact that Trigon is your father, why else would Slade want you?"

"This pendant he stole," Bard held it up from his chest. "He wanted me to confirm that it was touched by God. He's been talking to Trigon through some kind of symbol, but he thinks he needs this pendant to protect him when he meet Big Red face to face."

"Is it holy?"

"My arm's working, ain't it?" Bard waved his left hand at him and paused. "Say….mind if I have a cigarette?"

"Bard, you know my rule on-"

"Pleeease?"

Robin snorted slightly in frustration.

"Cyborg's not gonna like you smoking in his car."

"Cyborg told me it was all right, just as long as I don't burn the seats or anything."

"He must really like you, then….fine," Robin gave in. "Just don't let anyone see you!"

"Ten-four!" Bard said happily. He cracked the window and begin to puff away contently on his Marlboro. "Awwww" He sighed in satisfaction.

Robin looked slightly disgusted.

"Don't you know what that's doing to your lungs?"

"I know, I know. Didn't I tell you that I'm in the process of quittin'?"

"Heh, I'll be Nightwing by the time you quit smoking those things." Robin laughed a bit.

"Uh, Nightwing?"

"Starfire got thrown into the future some time ago. Years from now, I'm gonna be a superhero named Nightwing."

"She see anybody else?"

"She saw all the Titans." Robin answered.

"Even me?"

Robin blinked at that.

"She never mentioned you." He said. "She called all the Titans together, but you never answered the call or weren't a Titan anymore…"

'Or I was dead,' Bard thought, but he didn't voice it. Instead:

"I wonder where I was…" He flicked ashes, took another drag and looked out the window. They were on a busy, traffic heavy street. There were office building all around, but the only significant building was the Jump City Bank. Bard's eyes caught a car down the street. A young white guy with shades was sitting in a park car, smoking a cigarette. Just outside his door, perhaps a dozen more cigarette butts littered the ground. He had been there for a while…

"Trouble," Robin announced, beating him to the punch. The Boy Wonder had obviously noticed the suspicious man as well. "He's been there for a while, and the only building of any real significance here is the bank."

"You're as good as they say." Bard whistled, but Robin shrugged off the compliment. "That lookout can't be very good if he doesn't notice the T-Car parked twenty yards away."

"You sound like you've done it before."

"….Well-"

"I think you should go in first." Robin decided. "I'll cause an uproar right away in my costume. You're relatively new to the town and you have on street clothes."

Bard nodded and got out of the car. He had originally planned to go straight into the bank, but then he figured he should deal with the lookout first. He walked up to the open car window and looked down at the man in the shades.

"Excuse me," he said. "But can you tell me how to get to the nearest pizza place? I'm new in town and I'm about to starve."

"Sure thing, my man." The man said pleasantly. This guy sure was a calm lookout… "Three block down that way is Mike's Pizz-O-Rama. Might even meet the Teen Titans, they like to go there."

"Thanks, a lot partner." Bard replied. "By the way, what are doing out here?"

"Just waitin' on my girl." The guy answered. "She works in the bank."

"Oh, yeah? What does she look like?"

"Pretty girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She's a knockout."

This guy sure had his story down…

"Well, thanks a lot man I-" Bard paused and acted at is he were looking beyond the man. "Say, is that her now?"

When the man turned to look, Bard carefully measured his vulnerable face and smashed his fist into it. The guy slumped over in the seat, unconscious.

Bard loosened his laser pistol in the holster underneath his trench coat and walked carefully into the bank, ready for action….Only, there was no action. Everything was operating normally. No gunman in Richard Nixon masks, no one barking threats or threatening hostages. Just another average day in the bank.

And behind the counter was an attractive girl with curly blond hair.

Bard sweat dropped. He sprinted out and almost dove into the T-Car.

"It's time to go, Robin."

"You didn't beat the crooks that fast, did you?"

"No, but we need to leave now."

"But the robbery-"

"There was no robbery, and I just assaulted that guy in the car. So, can we go now?"

Robin stared hard at Bard for a moment, but then he begin to laugh. Rather sheepishly at first, Bard joined him.

The Boy Wonder and the cowboy continued to laugh, even as they pulled away.