Sweat was running down her face and panic was gripping her heart. A year of playing hero could apparently not prepare her for a fight against the Joker. His movements seemed so unplanned and sporadic that Batman and Robin couldn't make a plan to get at him without risking casualties. Fighting in the middle of the street was not ideal. What was worse was that they were both exhausted and the Joker didn't seemed to be giving up any time soon.
Robin jumped out from behind the building she was hiding behind to have a moments breather. Quickly, she punched a man in the face before flipping away from a group of men who were trying to circle her. She put her back to Batman's, his shadow draping over her in a comforting manner.
"Breath and relax, Robin," Batman whispered. "I'll get you out of here." He lunged forward, knocking out two men as Robin faced her own battle.
The young girl whipped around when she heard a painful thump. Her heart stopped when she saw her father lying on the ground, unconscious, a dark patched appearing on the back of his cowl. She gave a strangled yelp before her body and mind seemed to pause. Robin couldn't move even as she watched the Joker walk towards her father.
"Now that DaddyBats is down, I'll finish him off and move on to you, BabyBird." He cackled, his large clown smile stretching even further.
Something snapped in Robin and she slammed her body into the man in front of her before connecting her grappling hook to a lamp post and slinging towards her father. She kicked the Joker in the chest, making him fly backwards, before flipping her body backwards with a foot either side of her father's torso. She crouched down protectively, pulling out two night sticks, one for each hand. A growl escaped her lips as she sneered at the man.
"Stay away from him," she hissed, hitting an emergancy button on her belt that would alert the Justice League to her location. "Batman's down, I'm versing the Joker on my own," she spoke into her comm. which would broadcast to the Justice League headquarters before finding the closest hero. Her words were slightly muffled, seeing as her lip had swollen a little from a cut it had sustained.
The Joker jumped to his feet and dusked himself off. He grinned, noticing the fear that held the girl but also knew he was going to get a good fight from her, even if he did find her predictable.
However, what he didn't realize was that Robin was only predictable to him whilst she had been trying to stay safe for her fathers sake. She narrowed her eyes before somersaulting forward. She landed in front of the man and quickly crouched, slamming the night stick the man in the stomach as he swung for where her face had been. When the man doubled forward, winded, she upper cut him to the jaw and then, before he could recover, she stood straight and round house kicked him, dislocating his jaw.
She swung at an advancing minion, her night stick slamming into the man's elbow. Robin then spun out of the way of an oncoming hit. A well aimed bird bomb dispersed the men who had been attempting to surround her. As she slid between one man's legs, grabbing his ankles as she went to pull his legs out from under him, she saw the Joker pop his jaw back into place. She elbowed a man in the stomach who had been attempting to sneak up on her. Before she could knock him out, however, he took a shunning arrow it the back.
She looked over to see Green Arrow and Speedy had answered her distress call. "Get dad out!" she instructed, using a voice that demanded that they listen to her. One she had learned from Batman. She even added in the signature glare for good measure. Looking back over to her father, who was still out cold, she saw the Joker making his way over to Batman's unmoving form, gun in hand. "No!" she growled before somersaulting forward with the legendary quadruple somersault so that none of the minions could catch her. On the fourth she twisted her body so that she was to land behind the Joker, facing his back. As she came down, she brought out her night stick and slammed it down beside the Joker's neck, hitting a pressure point. He dropped down as Robin landed gracefully on her feet.
After catching her breath, Robin ran to her father's side where Green Arrow was checking him over. "Daddy?"
"His going to be fine, Robin, maybe a mild concussion," assured Speedy, putting a hand on the ten-year-old's shoulder.
Green Arrow raised his eyes and studied the girl's face which was set in a look of fear. This was a striking contrast to the one she wore when she fought the Joker. At that moment there had been a frightening look on her face, which was why the Joker had looked scared for a moment before Robin's stick had knocked him out. At that moment though, she looked like a little girl who was terrified she was going to loose her father. "Is there anyway you can get him back to the Batcave for treatment?"
The girl thought for a moment before nodding and tapping her wrist computer. "Agent A, Batman is unconscious. Can you come get us?"
"Of course, Miss Robin," came the voice. "I will be there in five minutes."
Robin turned back to the two archers, as though expecting them to have answers. "I tried to help him."
"Robin," Green Arrow started, standing up and walking around to crouch in front of the girl, grasping her shoulders. "It happens, and it is not your fault. It's just a risk that comes with being a super hero." He handed her a tissue to hold against her bleeding lip whilst they waited.
Her eyes didn't leave her father's face until Green Arrow and Speedy put Batman into the back of the car Agent A was driving. She sat in the passenger seat, not saying a word. Once Agent A and she had gotten him into his bedroom, she left so that Alfred could change Batman and check his injuries after removing his own mask.
Once changed into a pair of jeans, a green turtle neck and a leather jacket, she put on her sunglasses, the necklace she got from her dad just before her ninth birthday, and her charm bracelet that had five charms on it. After that she wrote a note for Alfred, explaining where she was going and left the house. Using the zeta tubes, she quickly got to Central City and made her way to Wally's house. She had never actually been to the red head's house before since they tended to spend time at Barry's, the pizza place or the Mall in Central City, but she had known where he lived from the day after finding out his name. She simply thought she might need it one day and it turned out she was right.
She snuck into the house through Wally's bedroom window, not wanting to deal with adults questioning her mood. Once in the room she discovered that her friend wasn't there, though he may have just been in the kitchen getting food. Silently, she crawled onto his bed and put her back on the pillow leaning against the head board before hugging the second pillow to her chest. At that moment Robin wished she had brought Professor Smooshy with her.
Wally walking in the room with a sandwich in his mouth only to jump violently in surprise at the sight of his friend, sitting on his bed. "Robin? What are you doing here? Why are you injured?"
She looked up slowly, trying it find the strength to talk. "We were fighting the Joker and dad got hurt. I never really thought about it before, but he could die." Sobs prevented her from speaking any more, but she had said everything she wanted to say anyway. "I… I don't want to lose him."
Instantly, Wally was beside his friend, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "It's alright, Robin. Batman is stubborn, he won't die." He pulled her closer, letting her cry. "You weren't hurt, were you? Besides the lip?"
Robin shook her head, wiping away tears from under her sunglasses. "No, turns out I'm not as predictable as the Joker thought when my dad's hurt."
"Good." The speedster released a sigh of relief before letting go of Robin. "What you need is video games and a cup of my mum's honey tea." He was out of the room before Robin could blink and back after a minute. "It'll be done soon. Mum and Dad were a little surprised you were here, since they didn't hear you, but they shouldn't be. You are the Girl Wonder!"
A groan escaped Robin's lips. The news had came up with that one after they had seen her rescue six hostages without the woman robbing the bank noticing. She had snuck out of the shadows, untied them, gave them instructions on how to get out and made a small distraction in one of the offices. Ever since then she had been called 'Girl Wonder', which had been a source of teasing with Wally, Roy and even Kaldor, who was Aqualad's real name. A dark look covered Robin's face as she remembered what had driven her to her friend's place.
Wally was at her side again, hugging her to him. He rubbed her back as she squeezed her eyes closed, trying to keep the tears at bay. "How about we watch a movie instead?" He let her go to go find a movie in the lounge room. He didn't care if it was one of his mother's girly movies, as long as he thought it would make Robin smile. Once he had found one, he went back into his room and put it on, lying down and pulling Robin to him.
She didn't stop him since she had fallen to sleep lying next to him at sleepovers enough to not care. She simply adjusted the way she was laying so she could see the TV. Robin tried to push away the thoughts of her father, lying motionless on the ground but she couldn't seem to do it, and instead she felt tears leaking through her shut eyelids.
Wally simply hugged her tighter, rubbing her back in a calming method. When she was drinking her tea he still rubbed her back, knowing it was helping. He sat up when she sat her mug on his bedside table and turned to look at him.
"Wally." She stopped, frowning behind her glasses.
"What is it?" he asked softly.
Robin looked him in the eyes, even though she knew his green eyes couldn't see her blue. "Promise me you'll do everything possible to stay with me! Don't… don't leave me."
Wally gave her a small smile before wrapping his arms around her torso. "Forever and always," he whispered into her hair. "I'm not going anywhere, you're stuck with me forever, even if you don't want me."
Robin gave a wet laugh, dropping her head onto Wally's shoulder. "I think I can live with that," she agreed, amusement coating her words.
"You better," the speedster jokingly growled before tackling Robin to the bed. She squealed before laughter issued as a result to Wally tickling her.
For an hour Wally did everything in his power to make Robin laugh and smile, pulling her mind away from the image that had been plaguing it. He would have happily continued all day if a man hadn't came to the West's front door.
He wore a suit, a domino mask and had slicked back silver hair. He seemed friendly enough but Mr. and Mrs. West were hesitant to let him in, even when he smiled.
"I have come to retrieve Miss Robin."
"Who?" Mr. West snapped, thinking he may be a person wishing to hurt Robin.
"I admire that you protect her, but I am Agent A," he explained, stepping into the house without permission. "Miss Robin," he called.
Robin ran out of Wally's bedroom and saw the man standing there. "Agent A," she gulped. "What happened?"
"Batman is awake and resting fine, so I thought I would come retrieve you. He's very worried about you." Agent A gave her a reassuring smile.
With a sigh of relief, Robin turned to Wally, who had run out after her. She gave him a hug before turning to his parents. "Thank you for having me over, Mr. and Mrs. West. I'll try to use the door from now on. Bye Wally."
"See ya, Robin," replied the red head before the Girl Wonder followed Agent A out of the house.
"Was he a Bat-Butler?" Mrs. West asked in confusion.
Wally just shrugged, hoping his friend would be okay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He looked sleepy, making her hesitate at the door, but when he saw her and smiled, she knew she couldn't walk away. Venturing deeper into the room, she ended up at the side of the bed before she sat on the edge. Riley scanned her father's face, trying to see the emotions he was hiding. She could tell he was in pain, but he was also worried about how she was handling the situation. A sigh passed her lips before she started talking.
"I'm okay, I just had to talk to someone," she explained, looking down at the grey quilt cover.
"Did Wally help you?" Came the deep voiced question.
Riley smirked at the fact he knew she went to Wally before she nodded. "Yeah, and I understand accidently happen, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop fighting to keep you alive. I know you probably wish I had turned and ran from the Joker when you fell, but I couldn't."
"You are right," admitted Bruce, sitting up a little and cringing as the bruises on his torso pinched. The Joker had given him a work out and he could see Riley had a split lip. "But I am so proud that you not only stood your ground but took him down. I am furious at myself for putting you in that situation but you handled it so well. You're my little Girl Wonder."
Riley snorted, rolling her eyes. She sobered up after a moment. "You scared me."
"I know." Bruce looked at her with complete sincerity. "And I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I guess I never thought about what it truly meant to be a hero." Riley paused. "We have to give ourselves to justice, so innocent people don't suffer." She went quiet again.
Riley looked at her father again, who was bruised, tired and at that moment, weak. She never wanted to have to see him like that again and would do everything in her power to stop it, from happening, as well as protect others she cared about. To do that though, she had to train harder and not rely on Batman to safe her like everyone else in Gotham. She had to stop being his sidekick and start being his partner, even if he refused to see her that way because she was his daughter.
"Get some rest, Dad," she spoke, kissing his forehead before she got up to go train.
I know this chapter is shorter but it shows the transition from childish, innocent Robin to the Robin who we see in Young Justice. After this, Robin will be 13 and up. I couldn't add 13 year old Robin onto this chapter without ruining the purpose behind it. R and R if you wish.