Where's the boom? There's always a boom. Then again, my spider-sense is not going off. I don't remember it giving me a warning. I reacted beforehand. My priority was to get tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum along with clown-chick out of the building before the boom. I didn't stop to think or feel. I'm such an idiot. And now the clown got away. But maybe that's a good thing with all those chemicals in the building. I wonder what they could be? The chemicals did register to my spider-sense as dangerous. Maybe I should ask the clown-chick.

Peter turned to look at Harley who was screaming through the gag. He walked up to her and pulled the gag off of her mouth.

"Now you let me talk?! I've been trying to tell you that Pudding was getting away! The bomb was a dud!"

"Yeah, I got that," Spider-Man said and pointed at the building across the street. "But what were the chemicals for?"

"How should I know?! I only came to get my baby!"

"GCPD is on route to get Harley and the others," Robin said, closing up the holo-screen from his wrist.

"They better not hurt my babies! And they better hurry, it's poker night!" Harley said with a big grin before the Red Hood reapplied the gag.

"The clown got away, but we can still figure out what he was planning to do if I can get a closer look at those chemicals," Peter said to Hood. He gestured with his head that they should go back to the building.

"You two go on ahead," Hood said and gestured to the three idiots tied at his feet. "I'll wait for GCPD."

"Um, okay," Peter said and looked at Robin. Not that he thought the boy couldn't help, he just didn't want the Red Hood to go off half-cocked after the Joker. He was seething. And Peter felt guilty. It was his fault after all.

"He's the one with the brains," Hood told Spider-Man then turned to look at Robin. "Did you inform them to contact HAZMAT?"

Robin nodded.

Well, at least he calmed down, Peter thought as he shot out a web line. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

"Doesn't he remind you of—?"

"Go after him before he gets into any more trouble," Hood said with a shake of his head.

Robin sighed and walked across the street.

"Took you long enough," Peter said while looking at the boxes the goons had brought in. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he studied the label. 'Danger. Fear Toxin.' There were other chemicals in barrels off to the side. The liquid was green in color but Peter couldn't make heads or tails of anything. If he had to hazard a guess, the chemicals in the barrels were a conglomeration of waste from various sources. But the fear toxin, he'd read about it in the Scarecrow's file. He just didn't understand, from a scientific standpoint, how that would actually work. And since he only skimmed the file, he hadn't learned anything about it. "Why would the clown need fear toxin?"

Robin had taken a sample of the chemicals in the barrel. He used a small lead cylinder that he stored in his belt. When he heard Spider-Man's question, he walked over and crouched down by the boxes. He opened his holo-screen and took a sample of the toxin with an attachment that was part of his gauntlet. His screen beeped immediately with the results. Robin stood up in a hurry and pressed his comm.

"Oracle, contact Batman," Robin told her.

"Do you need me to patch him through?"

"No," Robin said and rattled off an address. "Let him know that the Joker stole a brand new batch of fear toxin from the Scarecrow. When the Scarecrow finds out…"

"Got it. Relaying the message now."

"Thanks, Oracle."

"You don't have a direct link to Batman?" Peter said curiously.

"I do," Robin said but didn't elaborate.

"Not to be a Nosy Parker, but I have to ask—"

"Oracle can encrypt the message better than I can," Robin said, taking samples from the boxes. "If Scarecrow isn't aware he was a victim of theft as of yet, I don't want him to find out through me."

"Gotcha," Peter said and crouched down next to the boy. "What is it that you're looking for exactly?"

"Clues."

"Oh, yeah. You're a regular Sherlock Holmes, are you? Am I supposed to be your Watson?" Peter said sarcastically.

"Hood would make a better Watson," Robin said distractedly. He was walking around the area looking for specs of dust if Peter had to hazard a guess. "But he hates this part of the job."

"What part is that? Searching for clues?"

"He doesn't have the patience to gather information. He's more gung ho."

"Could've fooled me. He's spent the better part of the week going through footage to find this joker."

Robin turned around and stared at Spider-Man. Then he pressed his comm just as they heard sirens outside. "Oracle, do you have a location on Red Hood?"

"Negative. He's gone dark."

"He went after the Joker. Try to find him first, will you? The last known location was this warehouse about fifteen minutes ago."

"Where are you heading?"

"Scarecrow's stash house." Robin made his way up to the rafters with his grappling hook. "Now I know why he paired us up together."

"Yeah, he wasn't subtle about it," Peter said and followed Robin out of the warehouse.

"You surprised me," Robin told him. He looked at him from the peripheral before he landed on a roof and ran jumping over to the next building.

Peter decided to go on foot as well to keep pace with Robin. It wasn't like he knew where they were going. But he had questions about the fear toxin and he knew that Robin knew more about the subject than what was in the files that Hood shared with him.

"How so?"

"You don't treat me like a kid. Most adults are patronizing. You, well, you sound like a kid yourself."

Peter chuckled. "Yeah, I tend to annoy the 'adults'. But doing this takes a toll. If you can't loosen up a little every once in a while, you can burn out. Unfortunately, I've seen that happen a few times."

Robin looked over at him and nodded. He'd seen that happen too. It was why he'd become Robin, to begin with. Batman would've killed himself otherwise.

"So, what do you do for fun?"

"Fun?" Robin said, sounding confused.

"Yeah, you know, do you have any friends you hang out with?"

"Oh," Robin said with a nod. "Yeah, of course. When I need a break from B, I go to San Francisco. He can be a little intense sometimes."

"Why San Francisco?"

"Titans Tower is in San Francisco."

Peter was quiet for a beat then he shook his head. "Oh man, kid. Are you telling me that when you need a break from being a vigilante in Gotham you go to San Francisco to be one out there? Don't you ever do anything fun out of your mask? Do you have any hobbies? Or any civilian friends? Here. You know, close to home?"

"For the record, the Teen Titans are considered heroes, not vigilantes. And yeah, we go on missions but we also just hang out. Bart likes to go to different places around the world to try new food. Conner sometimes takes me to the farm, just to relax."

"The farm? That's not a euphemism for a psych ward is it?"

Robin started to laugh. "No. A farm. With cows and corn and tractors. His family lives on a farm. His Ma' makes the best pies. She's famous for them."

"Oh! Well, that sounds great, kid. What about closer to home? What do you do in Gotham to unwind?"

"Well, I like photography. And I do have a girlfriend."

"What do you use?"

"You mean, as in protection?"

"Pro—? Ugh! No, gross!" Peter said and shook his head. He stopped on a roof to face Robin. "I mean, yeah, use protection. I just meant that's not any of my business. Unless you don't have an adult to talk to about these things?"

"Uh, yeah. I do."

"Cool," Peter said and sighed. "Sorry. I shouldn't have reacted like that. It's just that it came out of left field."

"Um, it's fine."

"No. It's not fine. And if you ever need a listening ear or a third-party perspective, know you can come to me."

"Um, sure?"

"Seriously. I'm not just saying that to brush you off later."

Robin knew that he meant it. He knew who the man was under the mask. And he knew what he did for a living. He'd gone so far as to listen in while he was teaching and he knew the man cared about his students. He was a good teacher. And Robin knew he could trust him. Though not with his secret identity. Unless Spider-Man figured that out on his own, Robin was not going to tell him. That or that he knew he was Richard Peter. That was something he kept to himself. Tim thought it was funny that Jason, who spent the most time with the guy, hadn't figured it out.

"Okay."

"Okay," Peter said with a nod. "But I was asking about your camera. What do you use?"

"Oh," Robin said and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. I'm the one that overreacted," Peter said with a self-deprecating chuckle. "Personally, I prefer to take action shots..."

As they made their way to Scarecrow's stash house, they talked about their favorite cameras and whether or not digital is better, amongst other things.

The place was empty when they arrived. There was no way of telling if what the Joker took was the entire stash or only part of it. Robin guessed that the Scarecrow was moving his supply and Joker's thugs took advantage to steal some of it. Either way, there was a potential stash of fear toxin somewhere in the city. They needed to coordinate a search to hopefully stop both the Scarecrow and the Joker from unleashing it in the city. Robin contacted Oracle to let her know. He asked about the Red Hood and the Joker but she had no updates on either of them.

"How dangerous is this stuff really?" Peter asked, gesturing to the empty warehouse.

"Highly dangerous. It's a toxin that specifically targets the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for the fear response, and especially glutamate, the key neurotransmitter that generates fear," Robin told him. "If Scarecrow has enough fear toxin, he can poison all of Gotham through the city's water system."

"I don't buy it. He can't infect the entire city with fear. It's simply impossible. Even if he can create hallucinations and can cause feelings of fear or terror in his victims, the effect is not guaranteed since they could vastly differ from person to person. It may cause terror in one person and euphoria in another, making it unpredictable and potentially useless as a fear inducer." He was pacing as he talked. And didn't realize he was walking in a circle from the ground to the walls to the ceiling and back. "He would also need an effective delivery system to make sure he had optimal effects on his victims.

"If he dumped it in the water supply, it would dilute and the effects would be minimal. Dart guns would also be unsuitable since they are single-shot weapons. You would need to be an expert marksman to hit every target. By the time you reload, your next victim could be long gone. With these limitations, any attempt to weaponize a fear toxin would likely require it to be in aerosol or gaseous form. Going that route it can be dropped or fired into a target area, and the clouds produced can affect more than one person. However, gas or aerosol clouds are vulnerable to winds, which can break up the toxin or move it to another area. Not to mention, if the citizens had gas masks, the matter would be moot."

"Not to be the bearer of bad news but the Scarecrow has dedicated the major part of his life to creating this toxin. With his advanced knowledge in chemistry and neurology, he was able to come up with a compound that includes hallucinogens, neurotoxins, and hormones. Each time he attacks Gotham with the toxin, he's doing it for research to perfect the formula." Robin showed Spider-Man the results of the sample he took and the program he ran it through to find out its effects on the victims, from the widening of the mask's eyes Robin knew that Spidey had an idea of how dangerous the substance was even if it was diluted in the water supply. "We need to find out if there is more. We also need to come up with an antidote as fast as possible. Because the last thing we need is the entire city running scared and hurting one another. Or worst-case scenario, not coming up with a solution fast enough and risking people going insane or dying."

If Peter felt bad before, he was feeling an extra dose of guilt for letting the Joker get away. He really hoped the Red Hood found him and fast. Or that Batman found Scarecrow. With the two out of the picture and interrogated, the closer they were to keeping the citizens of Gotham safe for another night.

"What can I do to help?"

Robin was surprised that Spider-Man, an actual adult, was deferring to him. But he rolled with it. The antidote was the priority. He quickly made a copy of the formula and the results of the program and saved it to one of his Robin flash drives.

"Take this to Lucius Fox at WE," Robin told him. "He has the means necessary to create an antidote. He'll also need a sample of the toxin the police recovered. I'll let the commissioner know that you will stop by the station to pick up one of the bags of the toxin."

"You can count on me!"

Peter took off in a hurry. The Red Hood had been right about Robin, he was the one with the brains. Not that he was lacking in that department. It was just that he still had a lot to learn about this new dimension.

As he webbed his way to the GCPD, Peter couldn't shut up his brain. He was thinking about why he hadn't noticed that his Spider-sense hadn't gone off earlier. Or why it was that he was easily prone to injury in this new dimension. Could it be that he wasn't as strong here? Perhaps the weakness of his organic webs should have clued him in on that. Not to mention, what was it with the baddies in Gotham. They were all insane. Like Green Goblin insane. Or maybe worse.

Stop thinking Peter and just move! No more failures tonight.