Author's Notes: At this point, I would alert your attention to the first October posting (especially the sentence that begins: "Bruce grabbed a baseball and tossed it in his hand.") That will give you the set-up for this month's post.

Enjoy and remember, one more to go and then we have our Robin :-)

The Pinnacle

August:

Even though he had been terrified the first time he held a bat-a-rang and a near disaster his first jump off a building. Not to mention the fact that he'd nearly decapitated Bruce the first time he'd thrown a 'rang at someone, Tim found he was strangely calm about all of this.

He actually felt ready.

As sounds of a struggle reached him, Tim looked over the ledge and smiled at what he saw.

On the street, the teenager saw a man holding a gun to the head of another. Without a moment's hesitation, he teenager jumped headfirst off the building.

Tim counted the windows in his peripheral vision making certain to track how close he was to the ground, while he kept most of his sight on the pair across the street. Needing to slow his descent, Tim turned so his back faced the hard ground below him and released a grappler. Trusting it to hook appropriately, Tim held the grappler's handle tightly in one hand while he prepared a 'rang in the other. Feeling the line begin to go taunt and slow his downward movement, Tim threw the bat-a-rang at the perp's gun.

Not seeing if the 'rang hit ("If you don't trust your aim then it will be off," Bruce had lecture more than once) Tim turned his body around so he was feet first, released his grapple and landed in a crouch. Looking over at the perp, he was satisfied to see the gun laying off to the side and the victim retreating; his bat-a-rang has successfully met its target.

The young man moved towards the perp smiling and was surprised when the man lunged quickly. Tim ducked under the fist and rolled.

"What are you doing?" He asked, but no answer came. Instead, the perp charged again. This time a hit broke through Tim's defenses before he was able to back-flip out of the way causing him to land awkwardly. A kick at his feet ended with Tim flat on his back.

Noticing the heel coming to his face, Tim stopped thinking and moved instinctively. Rolling, he kicked back and was satisfied when his foot connected with the man's mid-section. Hand-springing over, Tim grabbed a bolo, holding it defensively.

"Stop," he ordered, but the man didn't listen and Tim flipped backwards again as he released the bolo. It caught the perp in the legs, twisting around and causing him to fall to the ground. Not waiting a moment, Tim jumped on the man's back and had him instantly restrained.

Stepping off, the teenager shook his head. "What was that?"

The man on the ground rolled and sat up, looking the younger man directly in the eyes. "There was a goal, but merely stopping the gun from firing isn't the end."

Tim bent down, removing the bolo and restraints. Holding out a hand, the teenager helped Bruce to his feet.

"I hate you," he said with a smile.

"I wanted to see how you'd react to a bit of a surprise."

"And?"

Bruce dusted himself off while he spoke. "You hesitated, but regained your composure quickly and effectively. If it wasn't me I don't think that hesitation would have been happened."

Tim held his breath and waited a moment longer.

Bruce looked him in the eyes. "It was acceptable."

That was all the teenager could ever hope for.

………

To clarify, the part of October that I was pointing people to was this:

"Bruce grabbed a baseball and tossed it in his hand. 'You must be able to throw a bat-a-rang with enough accuracy to remove a gun the is being held to a hostage's head from a hundred feet while falling head first and releasing a grappling line.'"

The aim of this post was to quickly show that Tim, many months later, reached the level of grappling and bat-a-rang handling Bruce had strove for since the very beginning. Kind fun how everything turns back around in a neat little circle, eh? ;-)