Disclaimer: So I keep having these dreams where Tim Drake's real and he's older than me and way cute. he told me to tell people about Young Justice and have a ball. But of course it's a dream. So I own nothing and no really awesome Robin told me to do anything. I'm just having fun.

So 'Where's Robin?' is now on hold until a certain part of this story (near the end) at which point I may or may not put this one on pause to play catch up. which means you've got two to three weeks to wait on that while I give you daily doses of this! Prepare for lots of theories and talking. There will be action later on, plus Rob's usual acrobatics, and quite a few cameos. So don't go away! I know, i'm a brat. =P

Without Me

Ch. 6 – What Happened to the Rest

Before lunch (which was late anyway), Robin told Flash about every one of his friends and the adventures they had. Barry was amazed J'onn had a niece at all, but after more explanations, he learned Martian families were huge. Kaldur was painted quite impressively as well, since he did help save Aquaman. It was strange he never heard of the kid before. But hearing of Artemis and her love-hate relationship with Wally (Robin kept laughing about the two) put him in a slightly sour mood. He chose to keep his mouth shut about Sportsmaster's daughter, but he knew after a minute the kid had guessed what became of each of his team members.

Wally was forbidden from Barry's lab for his own safety, so he never gained superspeed. M'gann never left Mars. Superboy had yet to be found. Artemis hadn't found a way to leave her father. Roy and Kaldur's current status though were mysteries. Barry knew Zatara had a daughter, but he was just as protective over her as he was over Wally.

"I can only think she's one person I have absolutely no influence over," Robin concluded sadly. He seemed to like Zatanna too. He rubbed his chin in thought, an action Flash had seen Batman do quite a few times before. It was kinda cute seeing the kid do it. "I'll have to ask Aquaman about him if I see him again."

"Or I can ask." Flash was very interested in Robin and his friends. If he got the OK, he might even take Robin out to see Wally. His nephew didn't have many friends since he was a science geek.

Robin shook his head. "No, knowing about my friends is my responsibility. You've got enough on your plate with Wally."

The kid looked over to the computer, debating something in his mind. Flash glanced over once and figured it out. He sighed. "I don't think you're allowed on the computers chum."

Instantly the kid's face jerked around to him in alarm. "What?"

The speedster shrugged. "I mean, you're still on probation. Until Bats decides you're safe enough to—"

"Why did you call me chum?"

Flash blinked, completely taken back by the question. That's what the kid heard? "Uh… no reason. It's just something to say instead of kid."

"Oh." The kid seemed a little depressed and looked away.

"What's the matter?" Of all the things the kid would latch onto and be depressed about, 'chum' wasn't on the list of expected words.

"It's just…" Robin shyly looked at his feet. Already the speedster guessed it had to do with Batman. "Bruce used to call me that all the time, when I was little. It's pretty old fashioned so I told him not to when I was in jr. high."

The kid gave a sad smile before continuing. "I doubt this Batman would even consider calling a person that. Didn't think you'd say something so campy."

"Didn't think Batman ever would either." Flash grinned. Batman called his kid 'chum'?

"Oh he can be quite campy." The kid gave an impish grin. "When I was nine, we went back and forth for hours with holisms and silly nick-names. Drove the thugs nuts. Alfred treated us for a Joker toxin afterwards, but Clark got there first and joined in. It was hysterical. Wish I had a camera back then."

"But chum stuck?"

"It was always there. His dad used to call him that." Robin's faced saddened a bit, but some pride remained in his smile. He must have loved being called that growing up. "So he'll probably break your arm if you try calling him that or get anyone in the League to. It's personal."

Flash laughed, appreciating the kid's warning. "I'll remember that."

"Hey, is there any way I can use the gym to train?" Robin's change in subject was so dramatic, Flash found himself at a loss for words. "Seriously, I get antsy if I can't go through my routines."

"Uh… sure." What else could he say? The only extra bit of information Bats gave them was his parents were dead and he grew up in a circus. He didn't give them the kid's real name, and the kid didn't want to say it either. Maybe so they wouldn't look for his grave later?

The kid grinned. "Thanks!" Quickly he hopped over the couch and darted straight towards the gym. They crossed the main hall, the place Robin appeared. Robin seemed to get some sort of idea, stopping just short of the door. He started circling the room, stopping about where he landed. He eyed the place in front of him, seemingly unsure of something. Flashed watched, wondering why the kid went over there and not directly to the gym.

His answer came in a moment. The kid broke into a run, straight across the room from that point, matching his entry path perfectly. If that path was towards a door, Flash would have stopped him. But it led straight to a solid wall, and the kid stopped short of it, frustrated.

"Should have known that wouldn't work," Robin growled, almost in a Batman-like manner. His shoulders slumped and he turned back to the path to the gym.

"What was that about?" Flash cocked his head to the side as the kid made his way towards him.

Robin shrugged. "I thought, maybe if I went back through the place I was shot out from, I might be able to…" He shook his head, reprimanding himself. "It was a stupid Wally idea."

"Hey!" Barry gave him an incredulous glare. "He's not stupid."

"He does come up with some pretty stupid ideas though." Robin put his hands deep in his pockets as he continued down the hall. "Whenever we run out of logical ideas, we look at him and he gets us an illogical one, which tends to give us a new lead and put us in the right path anyway. Really helped with Red Tornado."

Flash stopped short, his face darkening. He remembered clearly what Red Tornado did, and it still sickened him. Robin stopped a second after he did and looked up at the speedster, confused. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." How could he tell Robin about what Red Tornado did? After all, he was—

"Did Red Torpedo and Red Inferno come here to take him away too?" Flash blinked at the kid, stunned he said it so casually.

"How did…"

Robin sighed heavily. "He was our den mother, or supervisor, or whatever you'd call it. Back in September, Artemis and I came to the cave and were attacked by Tornado's siblings. They had Kaldur and M'gann in a fiery cage and Wally and Conner welded in some metal trap. The two of us managed to escape them for a long while, then…"

Robin looked away sheepishly. "I kinda… nearly drowned while setting up with an EMP wave to knock them out. Artemis managed to save us by completing the circuit with a spare arrow we had lying around. Wally's souvenir from Amazo. Red Tornado came in when we were trying to get the guys out of their metal trap, but the EMP wore off and well…" The kid shrugged. "One touch from the reds and he took the air out of us, literally."

Flash's eyes narrowed. It was similar to what happened to them. Still, why was the kid so calm about it? The kid continued.

"When we woke up, all three of them were gone. The League said they were going to search for them, but they never found them. That's when Wally came up with a crazy idea." He grinned impishly. "Dr. Strange owed Conner and M'gann a favor for stopping the breakout at Belle Reve and—"

"Wait, stopping the Belle Reve Breakout?" Flash's jaw dropped in shock. The breakout was the League's greatest embarrassment. They were still trying to catch every criminal who escaped from there, and it wasn't easy. They were on the defensive constantly. If Robin hadn't appeared, Flash would bet money he'd be in Central again trying to take down Captain Cold and bringing him back to justice.

Robin blinked, head jolting back a bit. "Take it they succeeded. That sucks. Oh boy. Wonder how the Injustice Society plant thing ended up now."

Flash groaned at the memory. "That was a disaster. This hasn't been a good year for us. Wait," he jerked in alarm, "don't tell me your team had a hand in taking them down in your world."

The boy looked away, trying to mask his overwhelmed smile. "Heh heh. One story at a time. So, back to Red Tornado."

"I'm going to want to hear the rest on those." This kid's world had different results for the same problems they faced in recent months. Maybe what he knew would help them fix the problems they now faced.

"I'll give you the full story on each of our missions in a bit. So, like I said," Robin turned back around and went back to walking to the gym. It was clear he knew exactly where he was going in this place. "Wally came up with a crazy idea. Ask Ivo where T.O. Morrow was. I mean, he made Red Tornado and the other reds after all. We found him in Yellowstone, right around Old Faithful."

"That's where he's hiding?" The League had been looking for their traitor for months!

"Let me finish!" Robin turned on the speedster with a frustrated glare. It took the man back, forcing him to realize there was more to the story. "Obviously the evil diabolical plan didn't work 'cause we're all here, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Now calm down and let me finish."

For a moment Flash could see Batman in the kid, especially how he could bark an order and demand the full attention of the people around him. The kid rubbed his head and took off his glasses for a minute to calm his glaring eyes. "Sheesh… one person doesn't live in a world and you'd think the whole place had gone to pot. I'll have to tell the others how much we mean to the League when I get home."

He put his glasses back on and gave a long sigh, straightening himself. "We found him at Yellowstone, but he wasn't our enemy. He wrote a message in the ground saying 'play dead'. Red Volcano then came out and tried to do us in, but Tornado managed to convince Inferno and Torpedo to help him stop Volcano from causing a level three eruption. You know, the kind that destroys the atmosphere. The reds grabbed Volcano and went into the lava while we vented the thing to stop it. Conner barely managed to save Tornado before he melted away too."

Flash stopped, staring wide eyed at Robin. Both were coming to the same conclusion. In this world, there was an eruption in Yellowstone last October from a dormant volcano, but it only did some damage to the park. There was no explanation on how or why it erupted. With what was now said, there was only one conclusion.

Red Tornado died saving the world.

"Oh God."

Robin nodded, mentally coming to the same conclusion. He seemed to grieve for the robot and Flash couldn't blame him. Now he felt horrible for wanting to vibrate the machine apart. He could only pray for forgiveness for all the thoughts he had against Red Tornado.

The kid turned away. "Guess we both know what happened to him now. He turned traitor on you guys, then vanished right? Never seen him since. Died a hero without anyone even knowing it. T.O. Morrow is actually a coma patient at a hospital outside of Yellowstone. Red Tornado was trying to find him and take care of his 'father'. For a robot, he's surprisingly human."

Flash stopped walking, taking in what he had learned. The kid was still moving forward, trying not to feel the pain he did. For another moment, like many before, he saw the Bat in that kid's demeanor. Or at least someone trying to grow up to fill his cape.

"I'll meet you in the gym," he heard the kid mumble, his back still facing the speedster. Robin continued forward, not escaping but not stopping either. Just moving.

A/N: YAY! more changes! Really, the team's done a lot for the league. The next two chapters talk about that. Robin's seeing exactly how important he is in the world, just for starting everyone in the right general direction. Red Tornado, Belle Reve, Injustice Society, they're just a few of the things on the list.

I love how much Robin takes after Batman in small ways, a few small ticks he picked up, nothing more. Yes 'Old Chum' is something Bruce calls Dick in the original comics, and it's campy. So are all the holy-isms. I thought it'd be good to give them some fun secret like this about the early days, and give a good reason behind it. I could see Supes joining in on it too, and Alfred curing them.

TTFN!