Instead of answering, Kid Flash looked around the empty hallway, and then started walking. Robin fell in step beside him, understanding his intent. He knew what Kid Flash was about to tell him, and understood that he wasn't ready for the whole Team to know it too. Kid Flash found the privacy he was looking for in one of the file rooms. He went in and Robin followed, closing the door behind him.

Then Kid Flash began to pace, rather frantically. Robin watched him quietly for a time, but finally broke the silence, realizing that Kid Flash was on the verge of losing it. If he didn't give his friend a nudge, Kid Flash would try to shake it off, and let the tension continue to build inside.

"You're thinking of putting the mask away," Robin said softly.

Kid Flash stopped in his tracks and looked at Robin, eyes wider with surprise than it seemed like they should be. Robin said nothing further, waiting for Kid Flash to gather his thoughts for a second.

"Yeah... I...I guess... well...," Kid Flash turned towards the wall for answers, then back to Robin "Rob... I'm tired of this. All of it. You know it's not because I'm afraid, because I've lost my nerve, right?," he didn't wait for Robin to answer "of course you do. I just... I don't feel it anymore. Whatever it was that got me into this... well... it's gone now. I just want to... rest,"

"I know," Robin told him gently.

"I guess I've always known... well sort of... that I didn't want to do this forever. It's not that I'm afraid to die, or that I don't want to save the world but...,"

"The world will always need saving," Robin said "so long as the universe exists, there will be good and there will be evil. Heroes and villains,"

"Exactly," Kid Flash sighed wearily, sitting down in a chair, then leaping right back up and pacing around the room some more "and... well... I want to do something else. I want out,"

"But?," Robin prompted.

Kid Flash stopped pacing and let his shoulders slump, facing Robin but looking at the floor. He tried several times to speak, but he seemed to lack the words to convey whatever it was he wanted to say.

"Artemis," Robin said for him "you don't want to lose her,"

"I want her to come with me," Kid Flash corrected "but she loves the life... like you do. It's all she's ever wanted. I can't just take that from her. But I can't bear the thought of staying at home, waiting for you to show up at my door and say that some bastard killed her. I'd hate whoever had done it, I'd want to kill them. And I'd hate you for being the one to tell me Artemis was never coming home. And I couldn't live with that. I just... couldn't," his voice cracked and he stopped talking.

"You want to know what I think?," Robin waited for an answer, but none seemed forthcoming, so he went on without prompting "I think you should talk to Artemis,"

"What if she doesn't feel the same way I do?. What if she won't leave the life behind?," Kid Flash asked hesitantly, evidently hoping for an answer Robin couldn't give him.

"That is between you and her, Wally. I can't tell you what she'll say. But I can tell you this. She cares about you, and you care about her. That's what matters. The rest can take care of itself,"

"This from the guy who's gotten out of more relationships than I've even been in," Kid Flash muttered, but he was smiling for the first time in a while.

"I just told you the truth, which is what you needed to hear," Robin told him.

He then attempted to stifle a yawn, and stretched. For him, it had already been a long night. He was most definitely ready to go home and get some sleep.

"Now, if you don't need anymore sage advice, I'm outta here," Robin said "and seriously, go find Artemis. Talk to her," he yawned again "G'night,"

"You mean 'good morning'," Kid Flash laughed, playfully punching him in the arm.

"Whatever. See ya around, KF,"

"Sure," Kid Flash said this quietly, with a certain lack of conviction.

He watched Robin go, halfway tempted to forget the whole thing. It was one thing to talk to Robin about leaving the Team, and the life, behind. Robin understood, and seemed to take virtually any news in stride. But it was wholly different to speak with Artemis about it.

Kid Flash felt torn. He wanted out, but he also wanted... no... needed Artemis. He couldn't just leave without her. But he felt that he couldn't stay either. His heart wanted two different things, and he was afraid of what might happen to him if he had to pick one or the other. But Robin was right, as usual. He had to talk to Artemis.

06:45 AM

"He's irresponsible and reckless, and shouldn't be in the field unsupervised,"

Robin paused at the door between the batcave and Wayne Manor above on hearing this.

He felt fury rising in him at Bruce's words. Hadn't he proven himself yet?. Why couldn't Bruce see that he was fine on his own?. Surely he realized that Robin had learned all that was possible from Batman, that only experience would now further his education as a superhero. He didn't need a protective wing to hide under. He didn't need to observe. And, most of all, he was no longer a child who needed an adult to tell him what to and what not to do.

"Now, Master Bruce, as I recall, it was your idea to allow Master Dick to... spread his wings, as you put it," came Alfred's sensible and unruffled reply.

"Well maybe now I think I made the wrong decision," Bruce spat back.

Robin had never heard his adoptive father take that tone of voice with Alfred. His anger rose to greater heights. It was quite frankly offensive that Bruce was speaking to Alfred that way, not to mention the topic at hand, which Robin felt should have been put to bed years ago. He couldn't understand why it was becoming such a big deal now.

He tried to remember something he'd done wrong, some mission he'd botched up badly enough to warrant being reined in. His mind ran over recent events, struggling to find the thing he'd done wrong. He was sure he must have messed up somehow. Why else would Bruce be so upset over this?. And why now?. Unless Robin had done something terribly wrong, had stepped out of line in such a way as to draw the attention of the eternally busy and often preoccupied Batman.

But, try as he might, Robin could not recall a single incident that warranted this reaction.

"Master Bruce, you have given that boy his freedom, you can't simply take it back," Alfred persisted.

"Can't I?," Bruce growled.

"It would be unjust, and perhaps even cruel," Alfred said.

Alfred very seldom attempted to argue with Bruce, more often letting the younger man have everything his way. Though he had practically raised Bruce, Alfred still thought of himself as being a butler and, as such, it was not his place to argue with or question his employer. But he had a certain fatherly attachment to Robin, as well as Bruce, and this was evidently not something he could find it within himself to simply let pass without protest.

"It would be crueler to let him continue unchecked as he has been for far too long," Bruce told him.

"If I may ask, what is it that Master Dick has done which has so raised your ire?," Alfred wanted to know. For that matter, so did Robin.

"It's not what he's done, it's what he could do," Bruce sighed, his voice drawing level for the first time, before once more taking on its aggressive qualities "quite frankly, he's dangerous. He could get his Team killed, or himself. I refuse to be responsible for his ill-thought out actions,"

The words stung as much as a slap in the face. Robin backed away from the door. He didn't want to hear anything else. He didn't believe anything Bruce had said, it couldn't be that bad. But Bruce never said anything idly, he didn't casually let slip comments about things which concerned him.

Even so, Robin was unable to completely release the anger which had risen in him. Bruce hadn't even seen him in action in recent years, at least not often. By what right did he judge Robin's actions?. Actions he had neither seen nor heard about. On the other hand, since when was Batman wrong about these kinds of things?.

Robin decided to go find a rooftop to sit on. Maybe being alone with the wind in his face and the city below would help him clear his head. Maybe then he wouldn't feel that Bruce was being so unreasonable. Maybe then he could figure out, or at least remember, what it was that he'd done wrong.

He wished now that he'd talked to Kid Flash about what had been going on lately. Maybe KF would know of some mission Robin had messed up. Or perhaps he would know if someone was spreading rumors about Robin for some reason. He dismissed the second thought almost immediately.

He trusted his team, and knew they wouldn't be spreading malicious rumors about him, not even in jest. They all knew that an untrustworthy ally was no laughing matter. That even the slightest doubt in your teammate was deadly. Any reluctance to work together, any hesitation to place your life in the hands of any member of your team, and you might pay with your life.

That is, they wouldn't say anything bad about him if it weren't true. And that brought him back to the heart of the matter. What was it that he'd done wrong?.

He found a rooftop to perch on in the middle of the city, and waited there for the sunrise. The cold morning air did nothing to lift his spirits, nor did it bring anything to light. Even when the sun rose, bringing color to the gray of Gotham city, making even the grime seem to shimmer and glow in its bright light, Robin didn't feel any better.

He sat with his legs dangling over the side of the roof, his hands in his lap, watching the cars and pedestrians scurry about far below. He wondered what sort of problems were taking up their thoughts. He wondered if any of them felt like their world was slowly being chipped apart.

Because that's what it felt like to him. With his best friend soon to be walking out of his life, the Team slowly falling to pieces, and Batman having for some reason lost faith in him... what else could he think but that the world he'd slowly built up for himself since the death of his parents was falling to into ruin?.

He tried to take a deep breath, step back, and tell himself that it would all be just fine. He was getting upset over nothing. This would all blow over and life would continue as it always had. He would continue fighting the good fight, chasing down villains and being the only thing he knew how to be. No matter how much his personal life shifted and changed, the world outside never would. And neither would he. He was bound to the mask and the life. Perhaps he always had been.

October 21st, 12:01 AM

The change was slow, going almost unnoticed. But when it happened, it was sudden. In spite of the increase of Batman's protectiveness, and his inclination towards disapproval, Robin could not have predicted the next step in the slow degradation of their relationship. Even had someone told him that it was going to happen, Robin wouldn't have believed them. He couldn't.

The warmth of summer had been slowly giving way, making room for the chill of winter. Tonight had been no exception. It wasn't quite cold enough to make their breath frost, but it was chilly enough that Robin wished his costume was long-sleeved. He'd wished that a thousand times before, always around this time of the year. But never enough to actually redesign his suit.

Actually, the cold was one of the reasons for Robin's constant activity. It used to be simply a side effect of being a hyperactive kid, but Robin had found the high energy of his early teens slipping into a steadier rhythm. His disposition wasn't at all what it had been two years prior.

The patrol had been relatively uneventful. Or as uneventful as Gotham could ever be. There were crooks on every corner and, if you couldn't find one of those, there was always suspicious activity to investigate. For instance, earlier that night, they had swung by the new location of MinaTech. Security had been greatly increased and anything questionable had doubtless been at least temporarily buried. There was no real point in invading the place again so soon, best to let things settle back down. Still, it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the place.

"Look!," they had just turned onto one of the main streets in the old part of Gotham when Robin spotted an altercation taking place in the seclusion of an alleyway.

Batman hit the brakes on the batmobile and they both jumped out. Two men were assaulting a woman. One of them ran on sight of the vigilantes, taking the woman's purse with him. The other was too busy with the woman to notice.

"Get the other runner," Batman ordered.

Robin at once sprang into pursuit. His quarry was taller than he was, twice as heavy, and also exceptionally fast for an ordinary human. But he had nowhere near the speed or endurance of Robin, nor did he know every crack in every wall of this city as Robin did.

The alley didn't dead end, instead opening out onto another street, this one narrow and in poor repair. The hoodlum ran down the middle of the street, but Robin cut off to the left, knowing full well that there was no place to turn off. Nowhere to go but forward, or back to where Batman was. The street curved in a horseshoe, leading back to virtually where it started.

Cutting across yards and vaulting fences, Robin covered the distance in half the time. One yard had a dog in it, and he had to walk along the top of the wooden privacy fence, but that didn't even slow him down. In fact, it let him look over the top of the short house and catch sight of his quarry, who had slowed down and was now looking around, thinking maybe he'd lost his pursuer.

He was still looking over his shoulder when Robin tackled him from the front. They tumbled off the street into someone's front yard, and the purse went spinning under a bush. The fight was short-lived. In addition to the skills his training and experience lent him, Robin was coming into his full strength as a young adult, where his adversary was leaving it behind, past his prime and clearly having been somewhat lax in the physical fitness department.

Robin wasn't sure what hit him. An instinctive awareness of his environment told him that something was wrong. As if the air had suddenly gone bad, but subtler than that. He had to get back to Batman. Robin retraced his steps with all the speed he could muster, unease coiling in him like an evil serpent. The shrill scream of a woman, possibly the one who'd been assaulted, spurred him to greater speed. He hit the alley at a dead run, skidding to a stop, and reluctantly took in the scene.

The woman had her back to a wall on the left side of the alley, her body pressed against the side of a dumpster. He clothing was badly torn, especially her blouse, which she was holding together with both hands. Tears streamed down her face, badly smearing her makeup.

At her feet was her assailant, pinned on his back by Batman. It was this which Robin found most shocking. Though the man was clearly disabled, Batman was still pummeling him, and didn't seem to show any indication of stopping. There was a savage fury in his eyes, worse than any Robin had seen.

He knew Batman walked a fine line between darkness and evil, ferocious and cruel. Between vengeance, and true madness, violence without reason or restraint. Robin knew that the line they both walked so very carefully was about to be crossed. Would be crossed, if he did nothing. Batman was going to kill the man on the ground.

Robin couldn't say it thrilled him to leave a rapist alive, but he had learned long ago that this was not a decision which should be made in the heat of the moment. When fury boiled in your veins, that was no time to be making judgment calls. That's why it had been so firmly drilled into him not to kill, no matter how much he wanted to. Not because killing was inherently wrong, but because it was a line he didn't want to cross. It was something he could not come back from.

"You'll kill him!," Robin shouted, rushing forward and placing a hand on Batman's shoulder "stop it, he's had enough!," when Batman ignored him, Robin tried a more direct approach.

Putting his shoulder into it, he shoved Batman off the assailant-turned-victim. Before he'd finished the action, he was violently slammed into a wall. Pain flared through his left side. The shock of impact briefly made his right side feel numb from shoulder to hip and he felt the air rush out of his lungs. He staggered, but didn't quite fall. Even as he tried to recover, he was pinned to the wall, a hand was at his throat, choking him. Instinct made him try to escape the iron grip, and he used both hands to try to loosen the fingers around his throat, even as his eyes met with those of Batman and he knew it was a futile effort. There was no escape unless Batman came back to his senses and let him go.