Disclaimer: ownership is such a fickle thing. It never seems to come to me. =(

As much as I enjoy comments, I must remind people who want me to rush through things that life goes on without Robin. These events are important because it shows the team can survive without Robin, and answers the questions of what happens in the world when Robin's not around. In 'Without Me' Batman was a no show until Wednesday. DaddyBats appears there on Thursday night. The next three chapters are all Sunday night/Monday morning. I'm not gonna make you live through their schooling hours, just certain events.

On a sunnier note, all these places mentioned are DC cannon. I've worked on picking these locations and making them likely targets for days. M'ganns was the hardest. Enjoy!

Where's Robin?

Ch. 16 – Divide

Wally dashed as far north as he could without being seen. Batman had sanctioned powers so long as their hero identities weren't used this time. They had to remain under the radar, and if Kid Flash suddenly appeared in Gotham when there was no Flash or Robin around, it would be noticed. Since both Conner and he left their costumes at home, this wasn't really a problem for them. It was not using their powers besides for transportation that made it difficult. Sheesh… Advanced Batman training. This sucks.

He skidded to a halt as soon as he saw the street sign marking a particular district. Park Row. Crime Alley. Reportedly one of the worst places to be in Gotham. Maybe in the world. Quickly he took a glance around the area. Many homes and apartments looked rundown and in disrepair. There were signs of construction around the area, but the sanitation department should have been there instead. Litter, sludge, and a lot of unknowns he didn't even want to consider the name of, covered the ground.

Then there was the people. So many drunks, junkies, and homeless on this street alone, it nearly broke his heart looking at all of them. Central was paradise compared to this, and his uncle dealt with crazies there too. And what were those kids doing up so late? Who was watching out for the people there?

Inwardly Wally cringed in sympathy for this place. He'd never want to live there. If he hadn't found the shelter the other night, he might have had to join these people. One night of homelessness would have been enough to make him run home and probably forget about the whole thing. Wasn't there another shelter these people could go to? Why were they living on the streets here anyway? Didn't they have families who could help them?

Someone stepping on an empty can brought him back to reality. He had a mission to complete, and he wasn't going to mess it up. He really couldn't. A ticking bomb wouldn't wait for him to be ready before going off. He had to find the thing and disarm it before it exploded.

Hard part now was finding it.

Kaldur had a hard time looking around China Town for his explosive. The streets were cluttered with stalls and mysterious crates. It didn't help that the streets were still active, even as midnight drew nearer.

Searching this place was going to be a nightmare. The only thing he could hope for was someone seeing something earlier in the day. That meant talking to venders and praying they knew English or another language he learned.

"Excuse me ma'am," he tried, stopping at a fish stand, trying to ignore the smell. He may eat fish like other Atlantians, but he never had to smell them when they weren't fresh. Revolting. "Have you seen any men wearing a catering uniform and carrying a large metal device today?"

All he got in response was a fish being thrust into his face and an earful of Chinese. This was going to be a long night.

As the Martian flew in camouflage mode over the sky scrapers of Gotham, she started to see what Robin and Batman did. High above, the lights of the city were beautiful. If she saw it from a distance, it almost looked like the Milky Way was brought down to Earth. And as she neared her designated area, she saw even more of the structural beauty of this old city.

Chelsea was a college town within the bustling city. Gotham University sat in the heart of it all, brightly lit even at night. From above she could see many students leaving campus to try and catch some zees before their next exhausting day of classes. Only a handful of others were leaving their apartments to get to a night job. There were others lazing about on dates or going to the bars and dance clubs around the place, but for the most part the people were winding down for the night. Near the harbor there was little activity, but for the most part it was dead.

As she settled on top of the Kane Planetarium, M'gann tried to think of where the Joker and his men would hide the bomb. This place was filled with people coming and going every which way. There was no way someone didn't see it, right? But if someone saw it, they'd report it, especially after that news broadcast. The person who reported it could get some money as a reward, or go on national television and become famous. But as far as she could tell, no police were in the area so it hadn't been reported yet.

"So maybe they hid it in plain sight? Or somewhere more deserted? Hello Megan! Those warehouses on the harbor! That's got to be where it is!" Quickly she took back to the skies and zoomed over to the darker side of the district. It was a place to start at the least.

Batman told Conner to take the subway to the Upper West Side, and to always keep a lookout for pickpockets. Apparently this place wasn't as friendly as other neighborhoods. Even compared to the East End he'd stayed with all that day. At least people were trying to fix that part of town.

As soon as he exited the subway terminal, he heard gun shots and shouting. Most of the other tired passengers hurried away in the opposite direction, but the clone ran forward to try and stop whatever was happening. Little did he know he just walked into the 'War Zone'. Even the toughest cops didn't dare enter that part of town without lots of backup, and only for the worst of crimes. Batman only seemed to come there when it became part of a case he was working on or needed something to hit, badly.

For one super clone, it looked like a nightmare. The streets were littered with every kind of trash possible, and if you were the unlucky person looking through it, you could find dead rats in it. Most houses had broken windows and the apartments were tagged over and over again. He saw signs for several gangs, and if he knew anything about them, he'd have turned around and walked the other way.

As it was, Conner was the good Samaritan who wandered into a lion's den.

"Hey farm boy!" The clone jerked his head around to see a punk with too many earrings coming up to him. He and his four other friends had a couple knives out and guns poking out of their pants. The leader of the pack grinned lopsidedly at him. "Got a delivery for me?"

"No." He took another look around. "I heard some gunshots from around here. Is everything alright?"

"What shots?" the punk joked. His friends laughed along. "I didn' hear nuthin'."

"I heard gunshots." Was this guy deaf or something?

"Ya need ta get yer ears checked. It's a quiet night out here."

"Ya got anythin' or what?" another punk demanded. Another one of them fingered the edge of his blade while the last had his hand on his gun.

Conner gave them a cold glare. "All I've got are questions. What happened here? Where's the shooter I heard earlier? And did any of you see some clown with a bomb earlier today?"

For some reason their leader just laughed. His friends seemed to roll their eyes or glare at Conner before joining in. "Yer a lon' way from home farm boy. Ya don' know nuthin' about life here."

The clone's eyes narrowed dangerously. If he didn't know any better, he'd say these guys were picking a fight they didn't really want. Course they didn't know who he was or who he was supposed to be. Unless they had Kryptonite, they were pretty much screwed. He hoped his glare and muscles bulging through his jacket would warn them away.

Apparently not.

"Nice jacket." Mr. Too Many Earrings grabbed Conner's collar, rubbing the material with a hungry look on his face.

This was going to be a long night.

The drive to Ottisburg was longer for him than for any of the others. He didn't have flight, superspeed or a nearby destination. Batman's only prayer was the four of them wouldn't get lost on their own. At least with the coms and trackers he'd be able to find them again and keep them on track.

But finding the bomb was always tricky.

Joker always wanted something to be as public as possible. And if not public, stupidly ironic. And the more bodies the better. All the way up through Gotham Batman thought of all the possible targets within each district. Each one had people by the hundreds out at night. Many locations were especially active then.

Aqualad would probably have the most trouble in China Town because of how crowded it was and because the majority of people there refused to speak English until you bought something from them. He'd have sent Kid Flash to do a quick search of the place instead, but he needed someone to get to Crime Alley quickly as well. And handling that particular district would be just as time consuming, even when the residents were on their best behavior. Miss Martian was best for Chelsea due to the traveling distance and how crowded the place could be at night. Besides, if she was seen there, most people would attribute her to alcohol or another experimental drug a student was using, or just sleep deprivation from studying too hard. And the Upper West Side was brutal. Superboy had the highest chance of surviving there, maybe even knock some sense into people's heads as he took out his repressed anger on them.

Which left him with Ottisburg, one of the more normal places in Gotham. It was mostly residential but it had its fair share of landmarks. A handful of schools and a couple of stadiums. Unless one of Joker's henchmen had the audacity to put the bomb in someone's home, his best bet was to look at those. Top of the list was the Knight's Stadium.

Fortunately the season was over and only the occasional practice session or charity game went on during the winter months. Other than security, there shouldn't be a soul there. The place was due or renovations, but considering the weather, it was being held off until April. Right now only preliminary assessments were being done. Which meant odd comings and goings from random people claiming to be part of the renovation team wouldn't be noted as suspicious by the security.

But security might remember where they went when they visited that day.

As soon as he was in the parking lot, Batman leapt out of his car, secured it, and bolted into the building to the security office. It was the only light on in the entire building, making it easy to find. And as was usual of Gotham security personnel, this rent-a-cop had his legs propped up on his desk as he snoozed away in his chair. The portly fellow even had 'The Three Stooges' playing on his spare tv.

Batman glared at the man for a moment, annoyed once again that this was the norm for Gotham security. No wonder crime rate was so bad. Granted there was little of value to take from this place, and most people wouldn't vandalize the stadium, but the man should have been alert. This was his job after all.

To send the message home, and to ease his frustration, Batman kicked the chair out from under him. This rude awakening jolted the man awake, crying out as he hit the floor and sending pain up his humorous.

"Geeze! What was that…for…" The guard gaped as he spotted the dark knight looming over him dangerously. If he wasn't awake from the fall, he sure was now.

The Bat continued to glare at him as he started his questioning. He had a long night ahead of him, and an even longer next couple of days. And unfortunately for Gotham scum, the Joker and his flunkies, there was no Robin around to stop him.

A/N: so I have good news for you! Finished the bomb section so the next two chapters are coming shortly. I kinda did cop-out with the bombs, as I'm likely to describe how you can blow yourself up over disarming one. But now that the bombs are done, I can get back to the character interactions/emotional results of all this. then go back to catching Joker and scarecrow. remember what happened to bats in 'without me'? This world and that aren't that much different. *evil grin*

And to answer someone's question as to where artemis is, her hands are wounded and not everyone watches TV at night. She may even be in Star. but it doesn't matter. She gets her fun after the bombs are done. *evil laugh* TTFN!