Alright, it's been a too dang long since I've updated this, but I had a spark of inspiration for where to take the story. My work on Sigma Squad and Movies Are Awesome has taken up a lot of my writing time in the last few months, but with the former coming to its conclusion that will be changing, leaving me plenty of time to get to work on this story.

The Batcave – 11:30 a.m.
March 4, 2015

Nightwing lay on the examination table in the Batcave, surrounded by Batman, Hawkeye, Superboy, and Alfred. His leg was stitched up, and barring any strenuous activity it would heal properly. Once he had a good rest he explained the situation to the two newcomers to the cave.

"So you're telling me that some centuries old Gotham myth is actually the real deal?" Hawkeye was a little confused to say the least by the current situation, but he knew not to really question Nightwing or Batman. "I mean, if you're filling me in on this I can only assume you're not putting on over on me."

Kon-El was more concerned with a very particular aspect of the story. "So are they after Batman, or Bruce Wayne?"

Batman's eyes narrowed. The use of his name was not something he was used to. While Hawkeye had already been aware of his and Dick's identities, he was less than pleased the Kon-El had been accidentally included into that small fraternity.

"Both."

"And me." Everyone's attention snapped back to Dick. "But not as Nightwing, they're after Dick Grayson."

Alfred took it upon himself to divulge the remaining information. "Master Grayson, it would seem, was chosen from an early age to become one of the next Talons, the order of assassin's you had the pleasure of greeting earlier this morning."

"What do you mean chosen? You think Haly knew about this." Hawkeye's name dropping of Jack Haly made it clear he was speaking to Dick.

The acrobat sat silent for a moment, pondering the different scenarios. Haly was like his grandfather, he didn't want to believe that he would be capable of such an act, but his training suggested it was an avenue of investigation to follow. "I honestly don't know Thomas. But it's something we're going to have to check up on."

Dick moved to get out of bed, but grimaced in pain as he propped himself up on the crutches. Alfred stepped in to support the younger man. "Master Richard, I advise you return to the bed. Your wound will not heal if you try anything to rash."

Dick ignored the butler's suggestions. "Bruce, think you can spare Robin for a little detective work?"

Bruce shook his head. "Robin isn't ready for this. He'll need more training before I let him go off on his own."

"I never said he'd be going out on his own. Obviously, you and I are going to be out of commission for a while, but unless Alfie's pain meds are making me hallucinate, I see two perfectly good heroes standing right here." Dick gestured to his two teammates and friends.

Bruce's analytical mind ran through the various arguments both fo and against Robin's involvement in this case. On one hand, Tim Drake was still young and very inexperienced. On the other, he did possess as keen detective's perspective making him very useful in a case like this. In addition he would be accompanied by two well-trained heroes who had both earned Batman's trust over the past four years in which he'd known them.

"Very well, but the mission will have to wait until he's available. I doubt I could realistically convince the school to excuse him for the rest of the day considering how many excuses we've already used."

Dick laughed, remembering all the times he's had to cut class to don the Robin costume. "What, you don't think saying you're on your deathbed for the umpteenth time would work? I don't know how that could ever be the case."

After returning to the table, Dick grabbed Thomas by the arm. "Make sure Robin makes it back in one piece."

"Something I should be worried about?"

"Not sure, been a nasty drug dealer muscling into Gotham lately. Been a lot of bodies lately."

En route to Haly's Circus – 10:45 p.m.

Haly's Circus had been in Gotham for a few weeks, which meant travel wouldn't be necessary for Robin, Hawkeye and Superboy as they tracked down any connection between Haly and the Court of Owls. While Robin had gone on multiple patrols with Batman, this was his first experience working with any other heroes other than Nightwing or Batgirl. He'd, of course, already read the files on the heroes he was working with for the night, but nevertheless felt he should attempt to actually get to know them in a little more in depth fashion.

"So you're a super-soldier?"

Hawkeye didn't break stride as they all continued along the Gotham rooftops. "Yeah, pretty much. That all Bats's file says about me?" Something in Thomas's voice made Tim feel as though he was already certain of the answer.

"No, you are possibly immortal as well along with having the ability to create and manipulate flames."

"That does about sum it up. Though, I'm not 100% sure how Bat's classified my ability. I mean, you are asking to better get to know my strengths and weaknesses right?" Tim nodded. "You're certainly trained well. Basically my strength was on par with Kaldur. I rarely use my pyro kinetic ability, mostly because I use it as a last resort. Fire's pretty deadly to humans as you might imagine."

Tim silently digested the information. He'd definitely have to add Thomas's assessment of his own abilities into the file. Superboy landed softly next to the pair.

"The new Robin already interrogating you?" Superboy chuckled as Thomas nodded.

"I do believe it's your turn Supey."

Kon's expression faltered as he turned to the kid. "Seriously?"

"Yep." Hawkeye smirked as Robin turned his attention to the demi-kryptonian.

"So, file says your Superman's clone."

"It does."

"SO would that make you like Superman's son? IF so, that would speak negatively of Superman's character for what the file deems as 'negligible behavior."

Superboy bristled at the mention of Superman. "Then whatever file Batman have you is out of date."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No.

"Indulge me."

Hawkeye suppressed as laugh as the conversation continued. "Fine. The whole father-son thing turned out to be pretty stupid. I mean, him being told to treat me like his kid was obviously unsettling to him. I hated him at first, but after we reconciled I realized that how bad the whole situation was for him. He'd been cloned and now everyone wanted him to treat that clone like his own, except for that tiny little fact I was made explicitly made to kill him and my other donor is his biggest enemy."

Tim's eyes widened at that particular revelation. That was definitely not in the file. He kept his mouth shut as Superboy continued. "We're more like brothers anyway." Silence retook the group until Superboy spoke again. "I've got to say you are much less of a talker than your older brother."

"Which one?" The question remained unanswered for a moment as Kon realized how sensitive the matter was. Even 8 months didn't make the passing of a Robin any less depressing. Kon pushed through the awkward silence to answer the teen's question.

"Nightwing." And just like the, the mood changed for the better as they had just about neared their target. "And I would say he's more annoying than chatty."

Superboy peered over the last roof. "Does he still do that annoying cackle when he patrols in Gotham?"

Tim looked over the circus grounds with his binoculars. "Yes."

Hawkeye took stock of the situation. "Alright, let's cut the chatter fellas. Superboy, I want you to circle around the exterior of the grounds, using your infrared to scan for possible hostiles. Robin, you're with me."

"And how are we getting in?"

Hawkeye flashed a smile. "We're going through the front door."

Superboy had completed his survey of the circus grounds and radioed that it was clear for Hawkeye and Robin to enter, most of the grounds were deserted and the performers had all gone to their bunks for the evening. Robin walked through the main gate, the light fully showing the world that Robin was on the scene. As he walked he noticed several outlines darting in front of him just outside of the light's reach. While he noticed them, he paid no attention to them. That was decidedly harder to do when one of them jumped in front of him.

"It seems Batman's little bird has much to learn." One of the remaining Talons stood in Robin's path, brandishing an ornate sword. Clearly, his intention was the kill the young hero.

As the assassin raised his blade to strike, Robin made no move to defend himself. This didn't faze the Talon as the blade arced toward Robin's head. But then something happened, something that definitely wasn't part of the plan. A gun sounded to Robin's left, the bullet impacting with the blade. The assassin stumbled as the force pulled the sword from his grasp. He wheeled around to face his attacker, but saw nothing. From the darkness as second blast was heard and the assassin crumpled to the ground with a bullet hole in his forehead. Robin moved to get into the shadows, but before he could move the gunmen was tackled from behind, bringing he and Hawkeye into the light in front of Robin.

Robin would have moved to attack the newcomer, but stopped when he saw that he had a gun pointed at Hawkeye's head from point blank range. Hawkeye stood from atop the man and back away. Thomas stared at the gunman as he stood up as well, trying to read him through the form fitting red helmet.

"You know, if you shoot me, I'll just come back."

"I know. But by the time you do I'll have killed the replacement." There were multiple things that set off alarm bells, but Hawkeye didn't have time to ponder them as the gunman continued to speak. "So, Batman couldn't even come after me himself?"

Robin and Hawkeye paused, wondering what the gunman could mean. Robin figured it out first. "You're the new dealer in town."

The gunman's response was quick and harsh. "I wasn't talking to you, replacement!!"

The use and tone of the word gave Hawkeye a suspicion about who the masked man might be, but he needed to keep him talking. He also positioned himself between the gunman and Robin, mostly to make sure the kid didn't take unnecessary action. "Well, sorry to insult your ego, but we aren't here for you. And I think you already knew that when you took down that assassin."

"Well, brownie points for you asshole."

"Since you should up when you did, I can only assume that you've been following us. Not any easy thing to do that undetected. When you get on our trail?"

"Wasn't, been here talking to old Haly. And man, does he have a story waiting for you guys!" Suddenly the gunman pulled out a incendiary explosive and threw in at Hawkeye's feet. Hawkeye's easily controlled the explosion with his pyro kinesis, but when he looked the gunman was gone.

"Where'd he go?"

Superboy jumped into answer Robin's question. "No clue. Explosion's mess with my infrared vision so I couldn't track him. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner."

"What happened?"

"Found Haly in his office."

"And?"

"He's dead."

The trio stood for a second before Hawkeye formed a new plan. "Alright, let's check the scene before the cops show up. Superboy, grab the Talon and hightail it back to the cave."

When they made it to the office, which was really just a desk under a tent, they found Jack Haly's body on the ground surrounded by a pool of his own blood, his hand clutching an old leather-bound book. Robin surveyed the crime scene.

"The hood guy didn't do this."

Hawkeye looked from Haly's body. "How can you tell?"

He'd have just shot him with his gun; this was probably the work of the assassin that attacked me earlier. See the blood spatter? His throat was sliced while sitting in his chair. He slumped forward." Robin looked at the underside of the desk, just above Haly's body. "Looks like be managed to grab this book from the desk. It doesn't have as much as blood on it as it should if it was on him when he was cut."

Hawkeye picked up the book just as sirens could be heard coming toward the circus grounds. "Nice work kid, take this back to the cave."

"You not coming?"

"I'll catch up, should probably tell the commish what happened. You just make sure Bats gets that book."

Hawkeye watched Robin shot his grappling line and took off back toward the cave. He too left, never intending to speak with Gordon. Instead, he opened a comm line to Batman.

"Bats, I need a secure line."

There was brief pause before Batman's voice came over the comm. "Line is secure, go ahead."

"Haly's dead, the kid's on his way back with some evidence you need to look at a.s.a.p and Superboy should beat him there with a body of a Talon. And one other thing, you're not going to believe who I think I just saw."

I'll give you three guesses who the red helmeted gunman might be. Please review!