*gasp* is it true? another chapter so soon?! yes! yes it is! Good news people! I just finished writing the entire story! Sorry it took so long but in the next three days, you'll be getting the end of Where's Robin at long last. I decided to say, 'forget Joker! he had his day! Robin's coming home now!' and move on. This chapter is a bit choppy and a touch fluffy, but it covers everything that needed to be done. I wanted to get this thing done at last and now it is! Can you tell just how happy I am to finally finish this guy? :P Anywho, enjoy what you can.

Ch. 27 - One Day More

"What happened to you?" Commissioner Gordon looked over the Batman in the nearby shadows, a bit concerned. The large hero was a little hunched over and other signs he learned over the years told him of injuries sustained in the evening's events.

Jonathan Crane was well locked up in the back of a police swat car while several ambulances at the theater's side entrance took in as many new patients as possible. About a dozen people were exposed to the rage formula in the end, and only half of them were knocked out due to Batman's emergency drug. Manhunter informed him the vaccine was finished at last and Flash played courier to the hospital. Everyone would be back to normal within the hour. Best part was the event wasn't spoiled. This would merely be a footnote in tomorrow's paper.

"The usual. Anything on Joker?"

Gordon eyed him for a minute longer before sighing and taking out his pipe. "Nothing. There's a rumor he's headed out of town, but nothing more. I'm surprised he didn't attack cake shops after Sunday night."

"Keep an eye on any bakeries starting up for a while. He might be planning something in the near future there."

"Or he could throw us for a curve ball and go after puppies. Where's Robin these days? He always comes up with interesting ideas." The officer lit a match and set fire to his tobacco, warming himself up a bit. Stupid January weather. "His grades drop?"

"Early prevention."

"Good for him. My Barbara should follow his example." He puffed out some smoke, chewing on his pipe. "Crane said something about a green girl and some super kid. For a moment I thought Robin suddenly sprouted wings or something. Any connection to those kids Sunday night?"

When he didn't get a response, the Commissioner turned back to the shadows and sighed. He was gone again. Such a mysterious, yet predictable fellow. Whenever things became the slightest bit uncomfortable, he vanished into the night. "One of these days I'm gonna nail that cape of his to the wall."

Bruce somehow managed to get home and patched up before two am that night, having gone on patrol after his conversation with Gordon. After the team went home, he needed to clear his head.

In nearly twenty-hour hours, it would be a complete week since Robin last stood in their world. The last time they spent that much time apart, Batman was the one far away, captured by the League of Assassins with the League. And all he could think about during his captivity was how his boy must have felt.

The mindless fighting and apprehending of low end criminals helped distract his anxiety and tired him out, but he still found his feet coming to a stop before Dick's bedroom door. Heart aching, the father quietly open the door and stepped inside. Equally silent, he closed it and made his way over to the large chair sitting next to the bed. They always meant to put it back where it belonged, but never did. Whenever Dick was badly injured or ill, Alfred or he would be sitting there through the night to keep an eye on the lad. Now all it could do was show him an empty bed.

Not listening to that small reasonable voice in his head, Bruce sat down in that chair and set his eyes on where the boy's head would normally be, imagining he was there. Part of him knew this wasn't healthy, but the rest of him didn't care. He just sat in that chair, watching the empty bed until he passed clear out.

'Just a little longer Dick. Today or tomorrow. I will get you home.'

Artemis rebandaged her hands after her shower at PE, admiring how much better they looked. Not much really, but at least they could function. Explaining the wrappings all that week was fun, but all she really needed to do was explain that she had an argument with someone and it deteriorated. Helped she was a scholarship student from a bad part of time.

Course, not everyone took her excuses at face value. Barbara Gordon was in her PE class and grimaced at the sight of them. "Ouch. How'd that happen?"

"Fight back home." She quickly finished wrapping them up and getting back in her uniform so she could escape the commissioner's daughter. She was quite astute.

"Looks more like training welts." The archer had to look at the redhead a second time before it all registered. Barbara was very clever. It was kind of annoying. "You do archery?"

Sensing there was no point in denying it, she shrugged sheepishly. "I try. Obviously not that good. How do-"

"My dad got me into a lot of things when I was younger. Thought they were useful, but I got bored and quit things all the time." She showed Artemis her hands so she could see the callouses there. Honestly their hands looked a lot the same, minus a few scars. "When we could afford it, I took martial arts classes. A few officers even taught me boxing."

"Cool."

"So who's teaching you?" The girl gave her a curious look, one that reminded her of a cat who already knew the end result, or had an idea.

Gordon was getting too close.

Quickly the blond stepped away, grabbing her bag as she made a quick excuse. "Mostly pick it up as I go. Not really something I want to talk about, okay?"

Twisting her lips, Gordon's girl thought about it then nodded. "Guess this is the wrong place for that. Man I hate rich brats..."

"Join the club," Artemis joked, headed out the door. "We meet on Mondays. Later."

"Later." The archer got chills as she left the lockers and entered the winter air. That girl was way too bright. One of these days she was going to be trouble.

Little did she know the little lady was already figuring everything out. Watching the blond walk away, Barbara smirked. "Really need to get a less obvious name, Artemis."

Now if only she could some evidence on Robin...

The day seemed to drag on, for all of them. Kaldur and Roy were especially bored. With everyone else at school and them with nothing but keeping tabs on each other, they were bored senseless. And they couldn't nap the day away. Martian Manhunter said to keep Kaldur awake for the next 24 hours for observation, and Red Tornado was busy making sure the projector thing still had enough energy for a two way trip later.

So the archer and fishboy were stuck together all the day long being bored. Oh joy. "We could watch another movie."

"Monty Python gets boring if that's all you see," Roy stated flatly, debating putting an arrow through something, just to alleviate the boredom. The TV did have it coming. "We need to do something cool."

"The water is too cold for you to survive it," Kaldur reminded him. The Atlantian felt sluggish and really wanted to get back into the sea, but until his king could escape his meetings and disputes, he was stuck where he was. Everyone was certain the doctors there would be better handling his recovery than they were, but timing was not in their favor. "And they said sparring was out of the question."

"Did Robin or Wally leave a game system here?" Bored, the ginger peeled himself off the couch and started shuffling through the cabinets to find something to watch or do. Man he was bored! Even Pokémon would do!

"If they did, it is in one of their rooms." Kal rubbed his eyes tiredly, just wanting to sleep. When he woke up around midnight, he just wanted to pass out again. Instead he spent nearly fifteen hours awake, slightly grumpy, and watching pointless, sometimes funny, movies with Roy. Red Tornado kept him up with conversation until the archer was awake enough to take over. No doubt the young man was tired of this as well. "I do not know their codes."

"Knowing Wals it's lame, and Robin would have something complicated yet silly. Ugh..." He looked over to the pile of board games and card games they tried earlier. Boring, boring, and dullsville. All that was left was the puzzles and they were not that patient. At least he wasn't. It might work for Kaldur though. He picked up one featuring Robin Hood and showed it to his friend. "Interested?"

He sighed, inching his way off the couch to the coffee table before them. "May as well. Nothing else to do."

"Except maybe update us on recent events."

With a snap, both teens looked up and towards the doorway to see those who just arrived. Standing just inside the room were Green Lanterns Hal Jordon and John Stewart. Guy Gardner was in the kitchen raiding the fridge. They had a few fresh bruises and Stewart had his arm in a green sling, but otherwise they were in pretty good shape. Smiling even. They made really good time.

"You're back!" Roy leapt to his feet, grinning and meeting them half way. Kaldur struggled to get to his feet to meet them as equals. The fight the previous day took more out of his body than he realized. The archer grasped hands with Hal, beaming.

"And baring gifts." The first lantern raised two round disks about the size of campaign buttons to eye level. "We can get Robin home in no time."

"Sweet!" They looked at the troublesome tags for a moment before looking back to the space cops. "But... I thought you'd be here tomorrow at the earliest."

"We found a shortcut."

"After a skirmish with a few pirates, one of the grateful cargo ship captains gave us a lift just outside the system. Took two days off our flight and gave us a chance to rest." Stewart, looked over to Kaldur curiously. "What happened to you?"

"I was doused with Scarecrow's latest drug and attacked my friends and colleges."

"It was no picnic on our end you know." Roy gave them a knowing smirk, folding his arms proudly. "Kal's not that easy to take on when he's going all out. The team had to deal with Batman and his rogues all week long. If this is what Rob goes through all the time, then it's a miracle Gotham's not in rubble by now. Not to mention I took on Cheshire, Sportsmaster, and a few of their goons to stop some weird theft around here."

"Which still makes little sense," Kaldur elaborated, smirking at his friend. The archer just shrugged.

"Still couldn't be cooler than fighting space pirates." Gardner came out of the fridge with some leftover fried chicken from Wally's binge last night. They were saving it for when he arrived after school. Whoops. A can of soda found its way to the counter as he closed the thing. "There had to be-"

"Some criminals rarely make sense," Hal interrupted, stopping things before they started.

"At least until there are more pieces to the puzzle," John amended. "So things been pretty normal around here."

"If what the team faced in Gotham with Robin away is considered normal." Roy looked at the locator beacons in Hal's hand again, curious. "Why didn't you phone ahead? Batman would have been here waiting for you. Or you could have gone straight to him."

"Interrupted his day job before," he grimaced. "Never a good idea. Besides, knowing him he'd want to completely recreate the night Robin was shot out of this universe. Which means pulling everyone else out of school early."

"Not going to happen." John looked at the clock and nodded to himself. "Wally should be out of school in an hour right? We need to rest up a bit and catch up on reports in the meantime."

"I'll call Bats in a few," Hal promised. He set the tags on the countertop on his way to the kitchen, grabbing a chicken leg before grabbing a drink for himself. "If everything goes well, Robin will be home before dinner time."

Wally could hardly contain himself the last hour of classes after he got Roy's text. With Batman's text twenty minutes later telling him to go straight to the mountain after school, it was nay impossible. As soon as the last bell rang, he was out the door. And as soon as he was out of sight of the school and buses, he kicked up his running to the speed of sound. It took a grand total of ten minutes to make to the mountain and get past security, but it was worth it. "Ya got 'em?!"

Batman presented the tags to the teen while the rest of his team and associates jumped at his entrance. "Not yet. To ensure everything is done perfectly and I go right where Robin was sent, we have to recreate that night. Stand over there."

"Gotcha." The speedster looked at the holoscreens already up displaying every one of his hand movements so he could press the right buttons in the right order as he got back to where he stood that night. A red tape X was on the floor so he wouldn't mess that up.

"Hey," Conner interjected, coming up with something they hadn't dared talked about in detail. "What if Robin was sent into a rock formation? If you go through then-"

"Then I die." The implications struck each of them in turn, realizing how dangerous all of this was. Pinning one beacon to his belt and activating it to ensure his retrieval. "Every half hour after the sendoff, activate the retrieval mode unless I manage to send a message back saying otherwise. If we are sent into stone and die, you'll at least get a body out of it. That being the case," he looked over to Superman who was starting to stress in the corner at the idea, "talk to Agent A. He'll handle the rest."

"Likelihood of that happening though is small." Hal stepped forward before things got too gloomy. "The dealer I got those from said the beam sent things to safe, vacant areas in alternate universes. It doesn't kill things... I don't think..."

"Didn't do that box much good," Artemis murmured, getting a few nods from people around the room.

"There's a weight requirement," he explained. "Your box didn't meet it."

"Got the sequence?" Batman dragged them back to the moment, a little annoyed. Though it alleviated some tension knowing they would likely both be coming back, the next question was how soon.

"Think so. Is speed a factor with this?" Wally looked over to Hal who shook his head. Nodding, he looked to Red Tornado holding the device. "Give it here."

The android passed over the projector, careful to point it in a particular direction. "Batman, you should stand in position."

"Done." Stopping just a foot in front of Wally, the dark knight stood on a second X (black), his eyes on the teen. "Be ready."

Dry mouthed, the teen nodded and proceeded to press buttons, following the exact sequence he did the other week. Batman turned around, his back facing him and braced for impact. All the evidence suggested Robin was thrown backwards and into danger. Batman would not be repeating that bit. Within seconds the machine was humming and glowing again. Taking a deep breath, Wally braced himself for the second shot in his life. "Every half hour?"

"Every half hour."

"Got it. On the count of three. One, two, three!" Again he squeezed one handle, sending a surge through the crystal end once again, blinding everyone. An earsplitting snap filled the air, deafening them for a minute. As soon as they opened their eyes and looked at the X's, they knew everything was done.

Batman was gone and the machine was quieting down once again. Wally stood alone in the center of the room, trying not to let go of the device that started the fiasco.

He looked over to Red Tornado once again and swallowed. "Start the clock."

A/N: told ya it was choppy. so the Gordons are suspicious about Robin, Babs figured out Artemis (important in epilogue), the Green Lanterns are back, they have the tags, and they have shot Bats into the next world with the tags for Robin retrieval. I estimated that it took about half an hour in Without Me for Robin to say his goodbyes and get zapped back home, so I made that the amount of time Bats would have told the others to wait before zapping them back.

Tomorrow will have a pointless fluff scene before the Bats come home and the day after will tie up all loose ends minus Joker. Sorry, he's still loose. It'll be short and sweet, but done! Hope you've liked! ^^V