Edward Nygma sat alone in his apartment, deep in thought. A few days had passed since the incident. All he could think of was… Why? Why wouldn't the people of Gotham just give him a second chance? Didn't every person deserve a second chance? Well, if Gotham wouldn't give him a second chance, he wouldn't give them one.
He got up and went into his bathroom and turned on the light. It was old and worn out and the light bulb dangled above him. He looked at himself in the mirror. He then pulled back the mirror and scrambled through the shelves, knocking down any and all things that were in the way of him and the thing he was searching for. He finally took out his razor and turned it on after plugging it in.
He then began to shave away at his thick brown hair carefully to get his image right. After a few minutes, he was satisfied that he had finally gotten his shape right. All the hair left formed one thing and it was… a question mark.
Meanwhile, at the big top in downtown Gotham, Dick Grayson sat on the couch of his family's dressing room, his arm in a cast. He slipped off the platform during preparation for tonight's performance and broke his arm, though he was lucky that was all that was broken. His family was a famous group called the Flying Graysons, which included his mother, father and brother. The family was getting dressed up in their uniforms to perform. It had red covering the body and green covering the limbs. Also, on each costume, was a letter on the left breast of each.
They each had a name of a bird that they themselves chose, and the letter on each represented the first letter of the bird's name . His
father, John, chose Eagle, his mother, Megan, chose Hawk, his brother, Jim, chose Falcon and Dick chose… Robin.
His father was in his early 40s but had an exceptional build for his age, with streaks of grey in his dark brown hair. His mother was in her mid-30s and had almost as great a build as her husband. Well, let's just say they were all fit. She had blond hair, which was the only real way to tell she was a woman other than her face and voice. His brother was in his early 20s and looked identical to his father, except for not having grey hair. Some people mistook them as brothers than father and son sometimes.
Dick himself was 16 and looked similar to his mother except having a male face and light brown hair.
A person came into the dressing room and said, "You guys are on in 15 minutes."
"Thanks," John said.
"Well," Megan said, "Time for the show. You gonna watch Dick?"
"If you had a chance, wouldn't you watch Picasso paint of his masterpieces?" Dick simply asked.
"You've been in it a hundred times, though," Jim pointed out.
"The day we get tired of doing it is the same day I'll get tired of seeing it," Dick said.
"See you later," John said. Dick's mother kissed him on the forehead and the three left. Dick sat for a moment and then got up to go sit in the audience.
As he was traveling down the hall, he came across a family. It had two parents and two children, a boy and a girl.
"Excuse me," the father said, "I don't mean to bother you, but are you Dick Grayson?"
"Yes, I am," Dick said.
"Would you mind taking a picture with my children?"
"No, I don't mind," Dick said, "What are your names?"
"I'm Tim Drake," the boy said.
"I'm Sam," the girl said.
After the picture was taking, Tim said to Dick, "When I grow up, I want to be like you."
"It's never too early to start doing what you love, Tim," Dick said, "How old are you?"
"12," Tim answered.
"I was about your age when I started training for my first performance," Dick said.
"Where you scared when it came?" Tim asked.
"Scared? Compared to how scared I was, petrified would seem like startled," Dick said, "But, like everything else, you do it enough and there's nothing to it."
"Thanks," the father said as the family walked away. The very night, Dick's life would change forever…