Robin and Speedy

Robin perched on the thin railing as the Dynamic Duo waited for Green Arrow and his new partner, Speedy.

Batman leaned against the wall, an air of indifference in his posture, but he kept an eye on his eight year old partner. Even though Robin braved greater heights every night in Gotham, Batman didn't trust the railing would hold his partner.

Suddenly, Robin leapt off, doing a sharp summersault before landing beside Batman, bowing dramatically. "Thank you," he said triumphantly, "thank you, you're all too kind."

Batman rolled his eyes. "One of these days, you're going to get yourself killed." He said.

Robin gave him a look, hands on his hips, head tilted to one side and one eyebrow raised. The classic 'you're kidding, right?' Look.

"I'm not a rookie anymore, Batman," he pointed out, "I've been your partner for two years."

Batman smirked and ruffled his hair. "I just want you to behave yourself; Speedy isn't much older than you."

Robin sighed. "The Rookie naivety," he said wistfully, "don't want to scare the poor kid before he even starts."

Batman raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you have naivety? You had quite the vocabulary when you wanted."

Robin rolled his eyes. "We all have different phases, but this Speedy kid, I don't think he'd last a week in Gotham."

A red shafted arrow flew past Robin's head, and the Boy Wonder snapped around, his blood red laser sword drawn, he'd been training in swordplay for almost three months now, and had brought it into the field the laser sword could cut if he wanted to, but it was more for disarming and close range combat.

A blonde boy around Robin's age stood beside Green Arrow, a red bow in his right hand and a smirk on his face. "Who's the rookie now, Bird Brains?"

He wore a sleeveless red tunic with black stripes across his chest and a black x on his back, red trousers with black knee pads, black elbow length gloves with black forefingers and ring fingers, red knee high boots, a domino mask, red archery cap, and strapped to his back was a quiver of red shafted arrows.

Robin glared and the put his sword away. "Still you, Legolas," he growled, "any hero knows better than to use weapons or powers against another hero without good reason."

Speedy scoffed and jumped down, landing just a metre from Robin.

Robin's eyes narrowed menacingly.

"Look, Slowpoke Rodrigues," he said, "you're new on the scene, but you're going to get yourself killed if you keep this up."

Batman saw how Speedy jumped; he was trying to show off, and was lucky he didn't land on the railing.

"You should take Robin's advice, Speedy," he said, "he's got two years of experience as my partner in Gotham, he knows when and when not to show off."

Speedy snarled and threw a punch at Robin.

The Boy Wonder dodged the young archer's punch and japed at a pressure point between his ribs and hip.

Speedy stiffened and collapsed, dazed.

Green Arrow jumped down, sighing. "He's not ready," he said softly, picking the still dizzy Speedy up. "When did you know Robin was ready?" He asked Batman.

Batman looked at Robin. "Robin and Speedy are two completely different people, with two completely different upbringings. I knew Robin was ready when he could keep his cool when under pressure, when he didn't show fear when faced with unbelievable odds. When he knew when to fight, and when to take flight, I knew he was ready."

Speedy woke up and groaned. "I'm going to kill that kid," he muttered.

Robin smirked, "get in line," he said, "Joker, Penguin, Riddler, and Black Mask already have my head on their lists."

Batman grappled away and Robin cackled as he back flipped off the roof and grappled away.

"I hate that kid," Speedy grumbled, walking over and picking up the piece of paper on the ground.

See you around, Slowpoke Rodrigues

Love,

Robin

Speedy scrunched up the paper and threw it at the ground, stomping on it.

"Let's go," he hissed, stalking away.

Green Arrow smiled. At least Speedy would take his training seriously after tonight, now that he wanted to beat Robin.