"Alright, your turn."

Robin shifted on the rooftop, propping his elbow on his knee and leaning forward, making a face in thought.

"Okay, Jimmy puts a nail into a tree to mark his height at six years old. Ten years later, Jimmy returns at sixteen to see how much higher the nail is. If the tree grows five centimetres a year, how much higher would the nail be?"

Kid Flash stared at his friend for a moment before leaning back, his weight on his hands behind him.

"Dude, you're not even trying. It wouldn't be any higher. Trees grow from the top."

"Fine, that was an easy one."

"No, this is an easy one. You put a bug in a jar. Every minute the amount of bugs in the jar doubles. At 11:59 pm, the jar is half full. At what time will there be no more room inside the jar?"

"Midnight."

"See? Easy." The teenaged speedster yawned and stretched his arms above his head. "Speaking of. What time is it?"

"Just past midnight, coincidentally." Robin watched as his elder friend produced another energy bar from the compartments in the braces on his wrist.

"Last one," he remarked idly. When he spoke again, it was around a mouthful of granola. "Dude, if this is what patrol is like for you every night, I feel for you. This is boring."

"Yeah, but a quiet night is better for the city. I can't complain."

Kid grunted in agreement, making short work of the energy bar as he stared out over the city of Gotham. It had been four years since his very first visit to the city, but it still seemed as mysterious and dark a place as ever. The lights certainly provided a nice view in the dark of night, but the speedster could never imagine living here. He preferred Central.

"I'm bored. Your city is boring," said Kid after a lengthy pause. He polished off the last of his snack and brushed stray crumbs from his uniform. "Let's play I spy."

"I spy?" scoffed the younger boy. "What are you, six? That's such a kid's game!"

"Hey! Don't be dissing I Spy. That game makes many a road trip a little more bearable."

"Road trip? When have you ever been on a road trip? You could go wherever you wanted in like, no time at all."

"Yeah, but civilians drive cars. We can't always run everywhere. We gotta put up a normal front every one in a while."

Robin snickered.

"You? Normal?"

He wasn't surprised by the sudden, playful smack upside the head. Robin laughed at the exchange, and when their chuckling settled, stared over his city wistfully.

It wasn't often Bruce let Wally join him on patrol, but having his friend around certainly made the night more bearable. Patrol on his own was lonely and boring and more often than not, completely unnecessary. Despite the rumours, Gotham wasn't always under the threat of some deranged maniac.

Only once in a while.

But with a good friend to kill time with, Dick found he actually enjoyed patrol. It gave the two friends time to catch up with one another, to trade stories and keep each other up-to-date with the happenings in their daily lives and respective cities. When they ran out of news to share, they would turn to simple games to pass the time, or make idle conversation about comics or computers.

This was one of those nights where they'd run out of stories to tell and decided to pass the hours trading riddles, each boy trying to outsmart the other.

Which was a challenge, considering they were both remarkably intelligent, though their fields of expertise varied slightly. Robin was good with the software – the programming behind machines and was an adept hacker. Kid Flash on the other hand, was adept with the hardware. He could take things apart and rebuild them perfectly in no time at all, and had many a schematic for useful devices memorized should he ever need to build something in a pinch. In short, Dick was good with numbers and math. Wally was good with his hands – he was all about the sciences.

With each boy equipped with a brain built for thinking and solving, riddles were a good, entertaining way to pass the time.

Well, they would be if Wally didn't have the attention span of a goldfish.

"Aw man, I'm hungry."

"Again? You've been downing those bars since we got up here!"

"I can't help it. I've got a-"

"Ridiculous metabolism. I know. How do other people react when they see how much you eat? ...And then notice that you manage to stay scrawny."

Kid Flash feigned offence.

"I'm not scrawny! Look at these muscles!" To demonstrate, the teenager flexed his arms in that typical, body builder fashion. Because of his metabolism and the amount of physical labour Kid Flash did in a day, all of his muscles were well developed. There probably wasn't an ounce of fat on his body.

"Okay, but you eat like you weigh five hundred pounds."

"I'm five hundred pounds in spirit," said Kid with a grin, reclining back on his hands once more and gazing up at the stars. His stomach rumbled quietly, but he paid it no mind. "If anyone complains, I tell 'em. I've got a killer metabolism and I do a lot of running."

"Well yeah, I guess there's no harm in that."

"'Course not."

Now, the elder boy flopped onto his back and yawned loudly. Robin contented himself by swinging his legs over the side of the rooftop and staring down into the city, his eyes habitually scanning for what may lurk in the shadows.

Then, as if by divine timing, something in the darkness shifted.

"Hey!" Robin swatted at his friend's leg, who was upright in an instant. "Look!" Already, Robin was shifting to crouch on the rooftop. The pair stared down into the empty streets below and at one dark alleyway in particular. Two large men pressed themselves to the walls, running from shadow to shadow. They wore balaclavas over their faces and similar dark sweaters. One of them carried a fair sized box in his hands.

"What do you think they're doing out dressed like that at this hour?"

"Nothing good. Come on. Let's follow them."

"I'll tail 'em on the ground."

Robin nodded, already having launched his grapple to a neighbouring rooftop. As he swung out into the darkness, Kid Flash dashed down the side of the building. The pair tailed the men to a darker part of the city, where they stopped to open the box and admire their prize just outside a factory warehouse. They dark duo had managed to swindle some form of coloured gem, large and probably valuable. They whispered hushed words to one another that neither boy could accurately make out before shutting the gem away in the box and vanishing into the factory.

Kid Flash appeared next to Robin, who'd perched himself on the roof of the factory and was now crossing to find an entry like skylights or a vent.

"Did you recognize the stone?"

"No. But I don't think they paid for that. Catch what they were saying?"

Kid shook his head.

"Alright, well we're just going to have to go in and find out, then."

Crouching over a skylight, the young boy lifted the glass pane with practised ease, setting it aside without making a sound. He fixed his grapple to the side of the window, then repelled down to the factory floor. Kid Flash waited a moment or so, then followed by sliding down the grapple cable. He landed quietly beside his young friend, though he only knew that because he brushed against the boy. It was pitch black.

"I can't see a thing," muttered the ginger under his breath, squinting into the darkness.

"Me neither. Try your infrared."

Wally was already in the process of pulling his goggles down when the boy suggested using them. What he saw through the tinted lenses was confusing. There was heat everywhere, like a thick, yellowish fog surrounding them.

"Robin, something isn't right."

The room suddenly erupted into flames, originating from somewhere in the back and surging forward in a wave of fire. Robin retreated as much as he could behind his cape, hiding his nose and mouth in an attempt to minimize the impending damage, but there was no need for this precaution.

Acting in the instant the fire was started, Kid Flash began circling his younger friend. The resulting cyclone he created kept the flames from the blast at bay, preventing either of them from being burned. Robin still kept his cape in front of his mouth, simply to shield himself from the smoke what whipped around the room. The speedster only stopped running when the flames had subsided into small, harmless fires that hard started atop of crates or around dormant machinery.

"So. Trap?" said Kid as he skidded to a halt beside his friend.

"Trap," agreed Robin, withdrawing a retractable Bo staff from his belt.

"Oh don't flatter yourself," cooed a voice. Both boys whirled to face a lone man standing in the empty space of the warehouse. While Kid Flash had never seen the green uniform before and found the whole question-mark theme to be laughable, Robin was not amused. "You are not the ones I am trying to trap. But you, bird-boy, are the bait."

As if these words had been a signal – and they likely were – hired help slunk out of their hiding places, armed with bats and clubs and solid looking pipes.

"I'll take the goonies," said the ginger with a grin, "you take the leprechaun."

"Deal."

The Kid was gone in a fitting flash of colour, while Robin dashed forward at a much more human pace towards the villain known as the Riddler.

It was impressive that the duo handled a surprise attack so fluidly. Kid Flash zipped from opponent to opponent, dodging strikes meant to break bones and returning with one or two well placed, super speed hits. Robin met the green costumed kingpin head on, delivering a relentless series of blows that the man struggled to parry with his question-mark shaped staff.

"Hey Riddler," taunted the boy with a wide grin, "I got one for you. What's black and blue and green all over?" Robin jabbed the man in the stomach as a crude hit, distracted only momentarily by the call of his friend from somewhere behind him.

"Seriously dude?" Kid Flash's voice was unamused. "You had to go there. Of all the cliche jokes...I mean, come on, even I wouldn't try that one!" The boy blurred into motion before Robin could defend his choice in mid-battle banter, which was probably for the best, for it allowed the acrobat to keep his attention on his target.

The Riddler was driven further and further back by the advancing child, whose blows gave no room for retaliation.

"Where's the Bat, boy?"

"On vacation," replied Robin flatly, knocking Edward back a few more paces. Soon, the villain would be against the wall and with nowhere to run.

"And he sends children to babysit his fair city?"

The Riddler was smacked solidly across the jaw by the end of Robin's staff.

"We're not children," the boy shot back, missing a second swipe for the man's face, "and we're more than enough to handle the likes of you, Riddler. If you can't even beat me, how do you expect to take on Batman?"

The man stumbled back a few more paces, stopping himself on the solid concrete wall that marked one side of the factory. Robin stood confidently, both hands securely around his staff and smiling slyly. What he wasn't expecting was for the man to suddenly straighten out and mirror the boy's expression with a sinister smile of his own.

"Where do you all come from?" Kid Flash sent a man twice his size sprawling to the ground with a solid punch to the jaw, taking a long enough pause to sweep the warehouse and admire the litter of bodies on the stone floor. Near the other side of the large room, Robin backed the green man into a wall. They were winning this.

As another man lunged at him from behind, Kid sidestepped smoothly out of the way, sticking out his foot to trip the thug. The man groaned, pushing himself to his knees. When he looked up, the young hero was standing just above him.

"'Sup?"

A kick to the head knocked the large man out cold.

A growl brought the teen's attention down – not to the floor, but to his stomach, which rumbled loudly in protest to such activity while empty. The rumbling was accompanied with a wave of nausea and a sudden shaky sensation. Hoping to ease the pain, the boy pressed a hand into him abdomen as he kicked another sneak-attack attempt in the face.

When both feet were on the ground again, Kid Flash stumbled a little.

"Couldn't you guys have done this a little earlier in the night?" he complained, punching aside a third guy with a shaking fist. When the last man clattered to the floor unconscious, Kid Flash was free to press into his stomach with both hands. He turned towards where he'd last seen Robin herding their big baddie of the night. He did so just in time to see a solid iron cage drop down on top of his young friend.

"Rob!"

Instantly, the youth went to grasp at the bars that trapped him, only to yelp and retreat as an electric shock leaped from the iron to the boy wonder's hands. The Riddler laughed, paused in order to cough when the sensation irritated his bruised lungs, then continued with a quieter chuckle.

"How fitting, I've caged the bird," the man snickered.

"But not me, you stupid leprechaun!"

Kid Flash had crossed the space between him and the villain in a heartbeat, delivering a solid punch to the side of the slender man's jaw. The Riddler stumbled back, rubbing at his jaw as his eyes fell upon the sight of the panting, angered speedster. He studied the boy for a moment, then spoke slowly and carefully, as if only thinking aloud.

"Do I need to, though? It looks like taking out all those men by yourself was a little taxing."

"Still got enough juice to run you into the dirt."

"And leave your friend trapped?"

"Ah, Right. Let me rephrase. Still got enough juice to demand you let him go before I run you into the dirt."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. You are the one who doesn't belong in this scenario."

Kid Flash made an annoyed face and tensed his muscles as if he was about to sprint into action. The Riddler pointed his staff in the boy's direction, who might have reacted faster to the threat on a full stomach. Instead, the youth let out a cry when an arc of electricity crossed the space between sidekick and villain.

But something was unusual about the shock. Instead of discharging into the ground and leaving the boy in a fair amount of pain and an even worse disposition, the shock continued to circulate through the speedster's veins.

"KF!"

Wally barely heard his friend's cry as his entire nervous system was set ablaze. His muscles seized up, bringing the boy to his knees, the dim warehouse lit up by the blue of the electricity sparking around his hunched body.

"But...I've heard such fantastic things about the Flash." The Riddler approached the boy, whose muscles were so tense in contractions that he couldn't even lift his head to direct his glare at the villain. "I can't help but to wonder what makes a speedster such as him tick?" Edward nudged the child with his foot, knocking him over onto his side. "Of course, catching the Flash has always been too daunting a task when I have so many other things to worry about in a day...but with you here, at my mercy, I have the next best thing."

The red-headed boy struggled to roll over onto his hands and knees again with the notion that he could work himself back to his feet with enough time.

"Leave him out of this, Riddler! You've got me! Batman will come!"

Robin's pleas were ignored.

"I would've preferred the Flash himself in this situation, but his less dangerous sidekick will do nicely."

The Kid cried out loudly as the shock seemed to intensify. He gasped for air, his lungs constricted as every one of his muscles contracted around them. Riddler watched, intrigued, as the boy managed to will himself to roll onto his hands, though to think he could do much more was naive. Entertained, the villain lifted his foot to knock his trapped speedster over a second time, only to hesitate as the shape of the youth below him began to blur around the edges.

"What are you-"

"Being...Dangerous."

Suddenly, the ground exploded beneath them, sending the boy flying upwards and the Riddler into the electrified cage which trapped Robin. As the electricity coursed through his body, he couldn't bring himself to react when Kid Flash appeared in front of him, both of his hands pressing into the man's shoulders and forcing his back into the bars of the cage. He could only cry out in agony as the electricity burned at his muscles.

The electricity plaguing the speedster seemed to short circuit the electrical power of the cage. Kid's actions had gotten rid of both his own electric charge as well as the charge of the iron bars. Satisfied he'd levelled the playing field, the boy tightened his grip on the madman and flung him into a stack of wooden crates nearby.

With the charge on the cage gone, Robin was free to heave at the bars, lifting the cage high enough for him to wedge his stave under. From there, he was able to lift the prison high enough to tip it over onto its side and gain his freedom.

Kid Flash was still standing, though hunched over and swaying. As Robin approached, the boy tossed a cheeky grin over his shoulder.

"See? Your city is boring."

A stream of blood leaked from the teen's nose, bright red against the unhealthy pale of his skin.

"KF? Everything okay?"

Instead of answering, the boy swayed further, more blood beginning to spill from the teen's nose. Alarms went off in Dick's mind as Wally's eyes rolled back into his head and he dropped to the floor, silent and unmoving.

How now, Brown Cow?

You know what makes me smile? All of your reviews. Don't ever stop being so awesome, friends, or I will cry.

Seriously, I mean like, bawl-my-eyes-out, tears streaming down my face, snivelling, red-faced unattractive cry. We don't want that.

Keep them coming, and I promise to keep posting! :3

Thanks for reading this far!

Toodles~ (In a while, Crocodile.)

Shmee