Today I surprised mom and dad by showing up for breakfast at 7:32 in the morning. Last time I was up this early Cristine was still doing nail art.

"You're up early, sweety" mom commented.

"Yeah, I didn't really sleep well" I admitted.

Dad looked up from his omelette.

" It's not those pesky nightmares again, is it?"

"Umm, well, maybeee?"

Whatever. I wasn't getting out of this one.

"Do you think it'll be a problem, or was it a one-time thing?" dad asked.

"Well, I did have one the night before too," I told him.

"I'll figure something out, kid. Don't worry. Were gonna get rid of those nightmares" dad assured me.

"Thanks" I mumbled.

~~~

After breakfast, I went back to my room and checked my phone. I had one missed call from Wally and a text.

Wally 8:02 am

Facetime when u get this?

I had a feeling this was about the nightmare thing.

Oh well, better to get this over with than to have to deal with it later.

Wally picked up almost instantly.

His freckled face popped up on my screen.

"Good morning, Robin!" he greeted, sounding as cheerful as ever.

"Morning, Wally. What's up?" I sounded less cheerful and more dead, the black circles under my eyes matching my voice.

Wally sighed and his smile fell into a frown.

"I'm sure you already figured it out, but I wanted to talk about earlier. I know you said you were fine but honestly, I've been worrying all day"

he said.

I couldn't exactly blame him. It's not really normal for anyone to call their friend in the middle of the night, crying about some stupid nightmare.

"Wally, I know I worried you, but I'm okay. I was just a bit shaken. To be honest, you helped me calm down pretty fast though. It was really nice to talk to you about the nightmare" I said, hoping to ease his mind if only a little.

I got the feeling Wally would've wanted to talk about it more, but to my relief, he changed the subject.

"I'll believe you, for now. But if that happens again I'm gonna be really worried. Anyway. I gotta show you something, " Wally reached for something out of frame, almost falling off the chair he was sitting in doing so.

I couldn't help but to chuckle a bit.

When Wally came back into frame he was holding something.

"My uncle came by yesterday and gave me this, " he held up the object, which I realized was a broken batarang on a chain.

"Dude! That's sick!" I exclaimed.

Wally hung the chain around his neck.

"I know, right! I can't believe he found a real one" Wally said.

His excitement was honestly adorable.

"I'm gonna have to see that in person next time we meet," I told him.

Wally was about to say something when the door behind him slid open, revealing Conner.

"Hey, Wally. Batm-" Conner was interrupted by a pillow to the face.

"Not now, Con! I'm talking to Robin" Wally hissed.

Damn. Wouldn't it have been funny if Conner had accidentally outed them both?

Conner looked past Wally and noticed me.

"Hi, Robin. How are you doing?" Conner asked.

He and I had gotten along surprisingly well in the cafe. Neither had felt like sharing anything personal, and I felt for the guy. I mean, he was technically barely a year old and was already facing the harsh reality. He was alone in his struggles, much like myself. Sure, mom and dad tried to be there for me, but having your entire family murdered does give you an unwanted reality check.

Anyway, the point is that Conner and I got along and understood each other.

"Hi, Conner! I'm pretty good. You?" I replied.

Conner shrugged, but the small smile on his lips told me he was in a good mood, so not too bad.

"Sorry to cut it short, Robin, but Wally and I really need to go," Conner said apologetically, sending Wally a glare.

Wally sighed and roller his eyes.

"Ugh! Fine! Sorry, Rob. Gotta go. Talk to you later"

Probably another mission, seeing as Conner had mentioned Batman.

"Yeah. Later"

And we hang up.

So, the team would probably be out for a while. Might as well go outside and fuck shit up.

~~~

I'd decided to go and annoy the Penguin since he wasn't really on dad's "friend-list". Besides, he was incredibly easy to annoy.

I kicked open the doors to the Iceberg Lounge, startling a few people inside.

"Yo what the Fuck is up bitches!" I yelled, getting everyone's attention.

Three guards came my way. They were all long-time criminals, wanted for multiple murders. One of them stood out, however. According to the GCPD files he had child abuse added to his list of charges. I made a mental note to kill him later.

I greeted the guards with a nod.

"Heya fellas! Is your boss busy?" I asked.

The guards obviously didn't know who I was, as they were about to attack me.

I would've killed them on the spot, if not for a familiar voice interrupting our little dispute.

"Stand down! He's an ally" the Penguin commanded through gritted teeth.

The guards shrugged and went back to their posts. Wise choice.

I sauntered up to the Penguin and threw an arm around his shoulder.

"Penguin! My man! Just who I wanted to see. How's life been?"

I knew the Penguin absolutely hated me. The only reason he wasn't constantly trying to kill me was that he was afraid of what dad would do to him if I got so much as a scratch. So he just had to put up with me.

"What are you doing here, Renegade?" Penguin hissed.

That was another thing. He always insisted on calling me by my full name. Well, not name, technically alias.

"Don't worry. It's not business. I just want to hang out with the man himself" I replied, making finger guns at him.

"Renegade, you're about as welcome here as the Bat" the Penguin sighed.

I, of course, knew this. Just another reason why I enjoyed coming here so much. Even though most people here wanted to kill me I was, because of dad, essentially untouchable.

Sometimes some stupid fucker would try to kill me anyway. It always ended with me walking out, leaving behind a messy work of art for the cleaning staff to take care of.

"Not you, nor any of your henchmen could ever hope to even slightly injure me, so your 'threats'" I did a quotation sign, "are about as effective as a toddler with a stuffed animal," I said.

The Penguin growled and rudely shoved me off of him.

"Your insolence will get you killed one day, boy"

I huffed.

"You're no fun!"

"Good! Because that is my intention. I don't care for amusing a mere child" the Penguin spat.

I threw my hands up.

"Fine! Be boring! I'm gonna get a drink"

I walked up to the bar and pushed past the bartender, who was smart enough to not bother me.

None of the bottles really looked familiar, which makes sense since I'm very much still underage.

I ended up just grabbing a random one from the highest shelf I could reach and stomped off to the nearest table.

I used my knife to open the bottle and took a large sip. It was quite strong, but nothing I couldn't handle.

The Penguin was glaring at me from across the room.

I gave him the finger.

I was about to take another sip when the front doors suddenly slammed open and four bloodied up guys stumbled inside.

"The Bat is coming!" one of them screamed before falling unconscious. The others followed suit, crashing to the floor.

The Iceberg Lounge was in full chaos. Everyone scrambled to get their guns ready, and the unfortunate unarmed people we're running towards the nearest back exits.

The chaos gave me the perfect opportunity to sneak away. There was a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling that looked safe enough, so I quickly found the wire connected to it and climbed up.

No sooner had I made myself comfortable in the chandelier before a dark figure crashed through one of the windows. Batman.

He landed on the floor and quickly scouted his surroundings.

There was a moment of silence before all hell broke loose.

Bullets were flying from every direction, none hitting their intended target. Others were getting hit though because Batman was constantly moving out of the way, putting random henchmen in the crossfire. Apparently, his no-killing rule didn't apply to indirectly causing death.

I watched Batman move around the room. It was mesmerizing. You'd think the cape and the body armour would slow him down, but no. He was taking down the henchmen as if they were nothing.

I had to admire his skills. I couldn't clear a room this fast without killing them all.

Suddenly only seven out of the at least thirty were standing. They looked at each other, a silent agreement, and ran towards the nearest exit as fast as they could.

Batman didn't follow them. He'd noticed the Penguin, who was frantically searching for a way to escape now that his defence had been taken out.

Batman approached the Penguin, keeping his hand close to the utility belt where he probably had his batarangs.

"You're going back to Arkham, Oswald. It'll be easier for both of us if you surrender" Batman growled.

The Penguin was looking around, searching for anything that could help him. Then he saw me, and an evil grin spread across his face.

"Why bother with me when you could have the Joker's son," he said.

Fuck! I was going to fucking murder him for this.

"What are you talking about?" Batman demanded.

The Penguin pointed right at me.