Hey peeps! Sorry it's been a while. I keep getting distracted by friends and life and Ant-Man. That movie was awesome by the way. I actually figured it'd be terrible just because I don't like Ant-Man, but never underestimate the power of Marvel to make a movie awesome. Anyway, rambling. This is just a bit of a gate chapter to the next one, so I'm going to try to push it out soon. Past that, Enjoy!


"Ow," I moaned as I face planted on the floor for the one hundred and sixth time that night. "Does it really count as training if all I'm doing is failing?"

"That's how I learned," Bruce said with a grin.

"Then you had crappy teachers," I whined, making no attempt to get up again.

"Come on, get up so we can try again," he said, offering his hand to me.

"Actually, I think I'll just sit here and take a nap on the floor," I said. Bruce hadn't even given me time to regenerate, and after three hours of his style of training, I think I was a little more than half dead inside. He even let the boys go out by themselves to patrol. I wouldn't trust Dick or Danny to go out without supervision, but I do have to remember, Danny was a solo hero for quite a while. Maybe I'd just grown a little too co-dependent. Not a bad thing really. I don't really go out that much on my renegade solo missions anymore, so did it really matter?

"Your enemies won't let you take a break," he said smartly.

"If my enemies were beating me this hard, I'd be Skulker's latest doormat by now. Besides, you're a better fighter than ninety-five percent of the guys I face. Heck, Vlad's one of me and Danny's biggest baddies and you could scrap him in five minutes max," I argued, still enjoying the floor of the Batcave that was getting more comfortable by the minute.

"You were the one that wanted to make a bet you couldn't win. Get off the floor," he ordered.

"Just let me die the rest of the way this time, not half assed," I whined before pushing myself slowly to my feet.

"Are you even using your enhanced strength?" he questioned, helping me up.

"Oh," I said, lighting up a weak blue ecto-charge on my hand, "strength's not at its top right now."

"So the colours are different strength levels?" he asked, putting together the pieces.

"Yeah, I think blue's the weakest, green's the next, and then I'm not sure whether purple or red is more powerful. On any given day, I'm sure purple could be stronger, like it takes more focus, but my red is tied into my emotions, so it really just depends. I prefer to use green just because it won't kill anyone for the most part. After that, I'm not sure if there are other colours," I explained. "Thinking about it, the ghost king uses red, so that may be the strongest, but I don't know."

"Alright, so Danny and Plasmius's energy levels are weaker than yours, but Plasmius is stronger than Danny."

"Yes, unless I'm in a calm state in which case I'm weaker than Plasmius, and right now I'm weaker than Danny. Heck, I'm barely even a ghost right now," I said with annoyance. I was really getting sick of the fact that I was basically useless. My fighting skills in no way matched up to Bruce or most of Gotham's baddies for that matter, my powers were at their weakest, and I was starting to feel more and more like a sidekick rather than a partner. All I could do was slow Batman down.

"Are you alright?" Bruce asked, snapping me out of my trance.

"Just peachy," I lied, forcing a small smile.

"I know you too well. Just don't let whatever it is get in your head when we go out on missions," he said with concern.

"Bruce, I'm not sure-"

I was interrupted part way through by the Batwave. Bruce and I shared a look and then ran to the computer. "Emergency call from the boys," Bruce said, sounding a bit angry at himself for letting them go alone.

"Well quit moping and put it through," I said, breaking him out of his self-scolding in order for him to set them on screen.

"Thank you for your wonderful words of encouragement," he said before opening up a video link.

"Robin, what's wrong?" I questioned.

"Riddler. Ambush. Sucked up Phantom. Need-" That's when Robin got knocked in the back of the head, making Bruce shout at the screen. We saw him laying on the cement, totally unconscious, and when the camera started to move, I took quick action and went ghost, grabbing Bruce's shoulder and making him invisible with what little energy I had.

"What always follows you but you lose it at noon?" the green man asked as he came on screen.

"I'm not up for games dipstick," I responded, sending him a blood-red glare. "You hurt my brothers and I'll figure out if you bleed green."

"Oh please, don't mock the strength of my intellect. You won't even be able to touch me. Now, where is the big black Bat?" he responded, grinning so wide I wanted to break his face in.

"Right here Riddler," Bruce responded, though he was still invisible.

"Hiding are we?"

"Caught us in our 'jamies," I said, never breaking my deep glare at the screen.

"What does the Bat-Brunette look like behind the mask?" Riddler remarked, calling up what little knowledge he thought he knew.

"Never mind that Riddler. I'm sure you'll be long gone by the time we get there, so leave a riddle so I can find my partners," Bruce ordered.

"Ah, but you see Dark Knight, this little game is for your newest partner. You're a little old for games anyway. Plus, I'm sure you have tracers on your two comrades. Come and find them. The real game is setting them free, but Shadowrule, leave the old Bat at home. This is our game."

"Like that's going to happen," I scoffed.

"Well, I can always separate you two later and he can be another pawn in my game," Riddler said with another smirk.

"I'll take that under consideration, but I'm warning you Edward, if any one of them is hurt, you're going to feel it ten times over," I threatened.

"I guess you'll just have to play and see," he said before the screen went black.

"Damn it!" I shouted, letting go of Bruce's shoulder and stomping a foot down on the floor. "Why does it always have to be at the worst timing possible?"

"I don't care what threats he makes, you're not going out alone on this one," Bruce said before rushing to get his suit.

"Of all things why does it have to be Riddler! He's ten times smarter than me and all I have is brute force, and right now I don't even have that," I shouted, grabbing my head and dropping down in the chair in front of the bat-computer.

"You should probably get your suit on," Bruce said, walking over while he pulled on the last bits of his suit.

"Right," I sighed, going back into human form and putting my hands on the armrests of the chair to stand up, but Bruce's hand on my shoulder stopped me for a moment.

"You need to calm down. I'm going to be there for you the whole time, and nothing's going to happen to Dick and Danny, I promise," he assured me. "You're not as powerless as you think you are, so-"

"Cognito ergo sum*, I get it," I said, pushing his hand off lightly and standing up.

I sulked over to the glass cabinet, feeling miserable that I was going into a fight were I couldn't win, and grabbed my suit. After looking at it for a second, I turned to Batman and asked, "Do I even have to wear the gloves anymore? I can't leave prints and all they'll do is reduce my grip."

"You don't have to if you don't feel like it," he said, turning to the computer to start a trace on Robin's utility belt.

I blew out a hot breath of air before putting on my suit. What was I, scared? Shadowrule shouldn't get scared. I hadn't been scared since... Since Light. I was feeling that a bit too much really. It seemed like there was always someone bigger than me in Gotham. It was infuriating. As much as I hated to say it, even Superman could match me given the right tech. I couldn't even catch a break at school. My friggin' psych teacher was the king of fear after all.

"Shadow, tell me what you're thinking," Bruce said, coming up to me. I must have been standing there a while thinking.

"I... Well what if... Does Batman even need a Shadowrule?" I stammered.

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"It's just that... I seem to be doing more harm than good. I keep making enemies that are too strong for me to handle and you have to help me and... What if something happened to you? Or Dick? Or Danny? It'd be all my fault. None of this was ever even supposed to happen. What if I accidently changed the timeline to the point where Danny dies when he's sixteen and you don't make it into that- No, I can't talk about that."

"What?"

"Damn it Bruce, I know how you die and every day I find myself not wanting it to happen more and more. I'm scared. I still can't figure out whether you're a dad or a brother to me, but you feel like family and I don't want to lose you," I said, fighting back tears. I was doubting myself. That made my powers even less dependable or predictable. Sometimes it could make them stronger, but it could make me weaker in more ways than one.

"Do you remember why I became Batman?" he asked in a calm voice.

"So that nobody ever has to feel the way you did when your parents died," I responded, trying to sound calm and not stir any emotions from him.

"Right, now do you know what it would mean if anyone from our team got hurt?"

"We'd feel like you did?" I said, figuring that was what he was thinking.

"Exactly, so I won't let that happen or I'd be breaking my promise not just to you, but to my mom and dad," he said. I'd never heard him call them that. Normally he just called them his parents like he was trying to distance himself from them, but when I turned to face him, I could see the full seriousness and emotion he held behind those words. In that moment, I knew I could trust him more than anyone else in the world, and it helped me trust myself a bit too just knowing he'd be there to back me.

"Alright then, let's get to it," I said with a nod before running to the slide pole.

"So how much of your power is working?" he asked as he ran behind me.

"Well, I have week levels of the basics. My fire should work, little ectoblasts, invisibility, intangibility, maybe flight but it'll be a strain," I said as I jumped in the passenger seat of the Batmobile. I held my bow between my legs and tapped on the top of it while Bruce got in and started the car.

"Just relax; you need to focus your energy. You won't have as much so you need to find a way to use the most of what you have," he ordered as he started driving. It was odd. It seemed like the more Batman he was, the more I felt like Shadowrule. Most of the time I couldn't get past the fact that he was Bruce, the fun and caring guy that took in two equals, not children. We grew up too quickly. But now he felt like the strong, focused vigilante that took in kids too young to really know how to fight for themselves and taught them to be heroes. He was trying to make me a hero.

"We've got a really big team, don't we? Five of us if you count Batgirl, but she doesn't come around enough. Get too much bigger and you'll have to come up with a team name," I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I think I'll leave that to you kids. I mean, the most creative name I could come up with for myself was Batman," he joked back.

"How about the Flippin' Rainbow Unicorns? Your codename could be Sunshine," I said, trying hard not to die laughing at the scowl he sent me.

"How about I leave the naming to the boys?"

"Aw, come on Sunshine, you know you love it," I said with a devious grin as I saw him scratch his shoulder. May not be the best time for my plan, but I wasn't expecting this mission.

"You're not going to stop calling me that, are you?"

"Nope."


*'I think therefore I am' in Latin