"So, you time travelled here from the past, and now you are stuck here eh? Very interesting, very interesting indeed."

Robin, Ashly and Ra's Al Ghul were all sitting in an extremely fancy café, the sort that one would expect to see in a brochure for Paris. The café had too many tables, too fancy furniture, and was complete with a skyscraper sized chandelier which cast all the colours known to man all over the café.

The table that Robin was sitting at had a complete tea set along with a tray that was overflowing with tiny sandwiches, macaroons and tiny cookies. Ra's Al Ghul had insisted on giving Robin a cup of tea which he reluctantly drank.

Around him were at least 50 people all of them eating and drinking, but they were all heavily armed and Robin knew that if he so much as used the wrong tone, Ra's Al Ghul would give an order and they would all open fire on him. Which is why he tried to control himself very carefully.

"Where are my friends?" Robin half growled looking at Ra's Al Ghul as if he had mortally offended him

"Oh, don't worry about them, Dick Grayson." Ra's Al Ghul smirked "They are perfectly fine, come on, have a macaroon, the lemon ones are my favourite."

"What are you playing at?" Robin groaned

"Not me" Ra's Al Ghul said, as he gestured at Ashly "Her."

Ashly smiled as if she was granted permission to speak "Hello, Father." She said leaning across the table so that her nose was touching his "It's been a while since we last met, and even though I know that you haven't had the same experiences as my father from my time, Dick Grayson is still Dick Grayson, and I know how to send a message to Dick Grayson."

"That shoplifter…" Robin said under his breath

"Yes!" Ashly said with a smile as if seeing the expression on her younger father's face was extremely amusing "While I would have killed the shoplifter whether if you were there or not, I wanted to make sure that you will go here to Salt Lake City."

"Why?" Robin said

"So that I can fight you of course!" Ashly cried as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "I have been waiting to do this for so many years! I lost my opportunity a few weeks ago and now I have another, if Ra's Al Ghul weren't here I would have duelled you right in the crash site! But enough about that, do you want soda?"

"No." Robin said "Not from you."

"Why not?" Ashly said suddenly shifting into a sweet honey like voice "What have I done wrong? Tell the truth"

"You kill people. Innocent people!" Robin said

Ashly made a face as if she had just swallowed something bad and she threw down her steaming hot teacup to the floor which exploded into a million pieces. Ra's Al Ghul smiled as if he was watching a movie that he enjoyed.

"Innocent? INNOCENT!?" She cried "Do you know what my predecessor the Penguin was like? What life was like? Murder, Rape, Robbery, Arson was everywhere! Total and complete chaos! People stealing from one another, complete and total anarchy! The crime rates were through the roof! Many people died, family! friends! I lost my best friend to crime! She was murdered and raped by some thugs! And I had a part to play to her death!"

Ashly paused to breath heavily as she continued with her rant "That was when I learnt that the world needs order. It needs law, and what a better way of installing law and order than through fear? There is no other way! Now, with my system, a system that monitors every citizens thoughts and behaviours, we eliminate those scums who rape and murder! Now they live in fear! What is so wrong with that!? People now live in safety and security now that they know that nobody will hurt them ever again!"

"Everything is wrong with-it Ashly!" Robin roared losing control and spitting out everything in his mind "People who do this sort of thing. A human being who did a lot of stupid shit, maybe even evil, but had one small piece of goodness in him. Maybe just a scrap, Ashly, but something. Maybe they have a son or a daughter, maybe they have a best friend or a pet cat that they love! And then you come along, and that one tiny flicker of light gets snuffed out forever! You give your people safety, by placing a gun at everyone's heads! This is wrong! This isn't what the Robin mantle stands for. You know what you don't deserve to wear that fucking suit!"

Ashly paused as she looked down at her father, her face utterly blank. Then she looked up at Robin and with the same emotion as a speak your weight machine said "I think that your wrong."

"Where am I wrong?" Robin sneered

"All of it." Ashly snapped "I do the one thing that you can't! The one thing your pathetic, naïve little mind would never do! You hit them down, and they always get back up! I hit them once, AND THEY STAY DOWN! It's permanent, and I make sure that they never infect out streets, our homes, our lives! I take pride in that!" She paused as she looked up and down Robin, then looked up and down her body as if searching for a speak of dust

"As for the whole, 'I don't deserve the Robin mantle.' Your wrong too. I deserve the mantle because I am doing what I think is right to protect my city, I am doing what I think is right! You may think that I am doing something bad, but the people out there, normal people who suffered through hard times as a result of murder, looting and arson! They see me as a hero!"

"Let me ask you this." Robin said calmly

"What's that" Ashly said too bluntly

"An angry old man had just told me the same thing that your saying, he too kills people, he too is doing what he thinks is right, however to me you are both in the wrong, you in particular is the most wrong of all! And you know what, I live in the real world too, and I've seen it."

"Yeah?" Ashly growled

"Redemption Ashly, Redemption."

"Ah, Jesus Christ." Ashly swore

"It's real, and it's possible!"

"Oh!" Ashly said "Tell that to Cyborg! He was on your side, but after 10 or 15 or 20 years after suffering under Cheetah's paws he became what you would call a 'bad guy'. And as for what your bullshit statement, that the people that I kill 'deserve another chance'? only for them to what, to kill, murder and rape again?! NO!"

"I wasn't referring to that Ashly." Robin said calmly "I speak to you as your father. Please. I don't know what kind of father I was to you, but I know that I can do better than him. Please Ashly, I know that I have hurt you and I'm sorry. Is there anything that I can do? I am your father, and you are my daughter, even though we have gotten off on the wrong foot, I am sure that we can figure something out. Please, I ask you, I beg you stop this horrible killing spree and let me, and my friends go on our way. Please. I beg you. Daughter"

Ashly paused as if Robin's words were having an effect on her, then she shook her head violently. "When I was a little girl." Ashly said sounding like a mourner at a funeral "I had a friend called Poppy. She looked just like me and at school we used to joke that we were twins. We lived in Lantern Falls and both of us loved to do art, music, archery practice and workshop. We made our own little playground with scrap metal and piles of wood and we used to play around it every time school ended, and we always made it bigger during the holidays even if they get destroyed some way or another. We also loved hearing your stories about you being a superhero back when all was well, and we loved nothing more than to sit around in the starry night and hear epic stories of adventure. Poppy's personal favourite was the one about Trigon, my favourite was the one when you went to Tokyo. One day a man asked us directions to the place where Poppy lived, and me being the young, naïve little girl that I was back then, answered. Do you know what happened that night?" Ashly paused as if she was remembering a particular memory she wanted to suppress. She finally pulled herself together and continued

"Poppy's dad, who got in hot water with a gang got his fucking head blown off, his wife was stripped naked and raped and she got killed as well. Poppy, who was so young, and innocent got the same treatment as her mother. By sunrise the gang left, and they left their mutilated bodies on display as a message on not to screw with that gang. When you learnt about what happed, you hunted the gang down until you found the man responsible for Poppy's death. And what did you do?"

"I don't know." Robin said "You tell me."

"Instead of doing the sensible thing and killing him, you threw him into a makeshift prison! And guess what happened? A week later he was back on the fucking street doing the same god dam thing!" Ashly screamed. "It is because of you, that I saw light, that I saw the truth. That the only way to deal with scum like them is to kill them! That is the only way to make the world a better place!"

Ashly paused breathing heavily as if she had just ran a marathon "Now, eat up father, because you are going to need it for tonight."

"What do you mean?" Robin said taken aback at the sudden change of subject

"Simple." Ashly said "We fight, and the winner gets to do whatever they want. If I win, I get to kill you, and after a little dip in the Lazarus pit, you and your friends will be used in Operation Macedonia. But if you win, you get to walk out of here with your friends with a vehicle of your choice." Ashly stood up as if needing to go to the toilet "Either way, somebody is going to die tonight, and I am happy to report that it is going to be you."