AN: Well this took longer than anticipated, but I finally posted it! Thank you, first day of NaNoWriMo for helping me push out the last thousand or so words to finish this chapter! Hopefully, I'll have a few chapters hammered out through this month this time around. No promises. Adulting is annoying, but I have to do it...

With March wrapped up easily, Randy was starting to feel the effects of his completely messed up sleep schedule. He had fallen asleep during a few courses, though it seems with his usual habits for studying, he's still maintaining his grades. He once fell asleep during his English class, yet since then, never again. The real interrogation started when lunch did with his new friend group.

"So, gaming too late?"

Randy violently shook his head. Maggie, appeared to ask the question, though everyone looked at him, curious. He momentarily flashed back to last night.

Just after Randy wrapped up training with the Dynamic Duo and was dropped off by Robin, he felt his cell ring in his pocket through his suit. Freezing for but a moment, he reached through the suit as it moved out of his way. Thankfully, upon inspecting the screen, it wasn't his mother, however, it was Howard. Brow raised, he hesitantly answered, "Hello?"

"Hey! Cunningham!" Well didn't he sound wide awake. "You're up! Good. Wanna hop on and help me with this level?" In the background, he could hear noises from a video game. Grave Puncher: Punchline, by the sounds of it.

"Heck yeah!" He yawned a bit. An all-nighter he wasn't any stranger to when it came to gaming. "Give me a bit to get home. Have I got a story for you!"

On his way home, he told Howard everything of the past month.

Randy blinked rapidly, attempting not to fall asleep. "What gave it away?" He asked, a strange mix of confident and sheepish. It wasn't a total lie, anyhow…

"Ha! My dude, you gotta stop gaming so hard!" Jason chimed in. "You need sleep, too! It's not like you're Batman."

Everyone seemed to roll their eyes at that. Save for Randy. "What, does he not sleep?"

"Seems like it," Artemus said, shrugging. "Some conspiracy theorists like to say that he's more like some sort of 'Bat-bot' than a person." She even used air quotes around the pseudonym.

"Sounds wonk," Randy finally said after having to pause for a moment to process. Two reasons: obviously tired and a bit out of left field.

"I'm still pretty sure Batman's-" Before he could continue, Jason got interrupted by Jessie.

"Bro, come on. There's no way he's some playboy millionaire."

"Okay," Randy cut in, "what am I missing?"

Maggie sighed dramatically, "These two keep arguing about who Batman could be. Jason says it's Bruce Wayne of all people, but Jessie keeps saying he's probably just some random sponsor getting him all the tech and it's some ex-military guy no-one's heard of."

"I mean, come on! Both of them have been at the same building before but no one's seen them at the same time in the same room!" James argued. Quickly, the two boys were unintelligible as they argued.

Maggie and Artemus just sighed and shook their heads.

"I guess you've heard this argument a lot, huh?" Randy asked.

"You have no idea," both girls droned.

Maggie spoke first, "I met them both in seventh grade. It was already this bad."

"Lucky," Artemus retorted, "I met them in sixth…"

Randy just chuckled and ate his packed lunch. At least the argument distracted even Randy from his exhaustion.

Randy hated training tonight. A month in, halfway through April, and him not taking appropriate or enough naps was taking it's toll. Somehow, this made Randy a bit more efficient. He almost called out his moves only twice, yet he didn't because of him being too tired to do so. He only spoke outside of the training to go over what he needed to brush up on.

"Not too bad, Ninja," Robin commented on today's training. Though Randy still couldn't catch the Boy Wonder, he managed to tag him in various methods today. "Another week, and you might be able to catch me."

Randy chuckled sheepishly and pushed up he mask enough to drink from a water bottle. "Thanks. Anything I should practice? Oh! When's Batman going to teach me something, himself?"

Robin adopted a look he was too familiar with when he was younger from his mom. "Sorry. Bats insists that you train with me, still. Trust me, I've been bugging him about it. You've improved more than just your perception."

Randy blinked, clearly confused. "I thought that was the only thing we were training?"

Robin's look this time was a sly smirk. He held up a gloved hand and counted the methods, "That's just one. You've also been working on your aim, tool conservation, situational awareness, and not calling out your moves." He then lowered his hand and gave a pointed look. "You did that a lot and it's making you easy to read, so I'm glad we're getting you to finally stop that."

Randy blinked a few more times and thought back to some of his more intelligent foes. They certainly capitalized on when he did that. "Huh, how about that."

Robin sighed heavily, "Please, don't tell me you're just realizing this…" The whole sentence seemed stressed.

Randy just stared back. "I feel like I shouldn't answer."

Robin blinked and barked out a singular laugh. "I don't know why I'm surprised."

Randy returned the phrase with a glare that had no heat behind it. After all, Robin had a point. Looking back, Randy either ignored or missed a lot of what the 'Nomicon was trying to tell him. He thought back to the latest lesson it gave him.

It was strange. For once, it wasn't mad that he hadn't learned it by now. If anything, it seemed pleased to a degree he was making some unseen progress. He wished he knew what it was. All he wanted to do was train with Batman, too. Maybe learn to fight with him and Robin as a team. It'd be a great skill set to have if he was going to do hero work in Gotham.

Suddenly, the emergency lights and siren blared in their training hideout. A screen on a far wall flickered to life.

"Robin." It was Batman! "Scarecrow is over at the Lex Corp branch in town, threatening the workers."

Oh! Randy thought, hopeful. Maybe I can help?

"What's he up to this time?" Robin inquired.

"Uncertain," was Batman's response, "though whatever issue he has with Luthor needs to be stopped when Crane's threatening innocent people."

"Cool! Where do we meet? I want to put my new skills to the test!" Randy jumped in eagerly. If Batman wouldn't take time to train him, maybe dealing with-

"No. Go home."

Well that sucked the air out of his sails. "What?!" He cried out at Batman's decision. A glance at Robin told him that he, too, was disappointed, yet unsurprised. "Come on! I could help with whatever goons are there!"

"Absolutely not." Batman gave his patented glare. It had a minimal effect, if only because of both Randy's determination and usual obliviousness.

"But-!"

"End of discussion. Robin, I sent you coordinates. Batman, out." The screen darkened and a panel on Robin's left glove blinked.

"Sorry Ninja. Better luck next time." He gave an empathic pat on Randy's shoulder before grabbing a helmet and hopping on his bike and revved off.

"Don't feel too sorry, Robin," Randy said to himself. "I'm tagging along!" He darted off in Robin's direction, grateful that he had lately gained enough trust from the Caped Crusader to know the location of these training grounds. Eventually, he found and followed Robin at a distance.

Though, I'll let you guys fight Scarecrow, he thought to himself. I'd rather not deal with my phobia today if I can help it. He resolved to watch them fight, to see if he could pick up any pointers in modern martial arts. The Ninjanomicon was good, but who knows how much more he could learn about crime fighting!

Robin rode on his cycle and took a glance in his side-view mirror. A flash of red interrupted the sky as the Ninja followed him to his destination.

Looks like he's not giving up, he thought to himself. Reminds me of the time I first tagged along with Bruce on his outings. He smirked at the thought. He was pissed off, but it was understandable. Maybe he'll finally take off the training wheels.

Randy's feet couldn't stop moving. He leaped and swung across the cityscape to keep Robin in his sights. I really want to see them in action, he reminded himself. As much as he wanted to take on a proper villain in Gotham, he figured that it might end up a bit like his first time in the suit: getting totally PWND. He'd rather avoid repeating that particular humiliation. Finally, Robin parked at a massive building with huge letters at the top declaring LEXCORP. The Boy Wonder then practically ditched the cycle and ran to an open bay door. Randy waited two seconds before he jumped down and landed by the wall next to the door. Sounds of fighting could be heard from within. A deep maddened cackle interrupted occasionally with the same voice grunting in either pain or frustration.

Randy looked around, thinking out loud to himself. "There's got to be a way in so I'm not in their way, but I can watch the fight…" A couple of scans on the wall and he sees a large air duct vent cover.

"… That'll work." He then leaps up to the wall, spikes jutting out from the bottoms of his shoes thanks to the suit, and he pries the vent cover off with a sai. Slipping in, he's able to hear the distant sounds of fighting muffled and carried through the ducts. All those weeks of training and he's picked up a few things from Robin on how to move without making noise. As he slides through the ducts on his belly, he's grateful for these tips. Especially since the sounds of Dynamic Duo fighting Scarecrow and his goons drown out even the smallest noises he's making.

It takes some navigating and a few corrections on some wrong turns, but eventually, he's up a floor and who knows how many rooms in and is able to hear the fight going on. Randy peeks into the room and surveys the situation.

Batman is taking on five random lackeys at once and occasionally tossing batarangs at a man who does indeed look like a demented scarecrow. Huh, he thought to himself, literal names are pretty literal around here, too. Scarecrow held a mysterious vial in his hand and flailed the other, fending off Batman's attacks with practiced - yet jerky - movements. Robin, on the other hand, was sailing around the room, jumping and flipping. Every jump got him closer to an opponent, every flip was a set up to kick or punch. Every bit of momentum used. Ooooooh, now I get it, he thought to himself, No wonder he didn't like the extra flips I kept doing. Occasionally, Robin swooped over to Batman and he would toss his partner over to another group attempting to do some sort of set up by some terminals. Though, for some reason, as they fought, Scarecrow seemed pleased with himself.

"That can't be good," Randy muttered to himself under his breath. He didn't see anything going on outside as he swung in, but the building was quite tall, so perhaps there was something on the roof…

A goon got hit and they skidded away from the main body of the fight. He propped himself up for a moment before flopping back down, eyes closed in pain. Randy heard a walkie talkie chirp alive from the downed minion. Curious, Randy carefully pried the grate off of the duct he was looking out from and silently dropped down to him. Once he landed, he briefly made eye contact with Batman.

Randy's eyes about popped out of his head because the absolute death glare he got was chilling. It lasted only a second and Randy knew that he was in trouble. Quickly. He picked up the walkie talkie and darted back into the duct system. Holding the small box up to himself, he heard someone talking through it.

"- most done with preparations on the roof. Ready to release the fear gas, over!"

Fear gas?! That better not actually be what it sounds like! Randy panicked over that for a moment before stuffing the walkie into the suit's inventory via the sash. He then bolted back the way he came, grateful he had a decent sense of direction, and practically launched himself out of the building from the ventilation before springing back onto it and scaling up to the roof.

"I have to hurry!"

In almost no time at all, Randy made it to the roof. Right as he landed, the walkie in the suit's inventory chirped alive as one of the three grunts surrounding a strange device by a large fan spoke into one of their own. "Set up complete!"

"Then what are you waiting for?!" A scratchy voice called out from the walkie talkie -Scarecrow, from what Randy recalled, "Turn it on!"

"Hup!" Randy was indeed getting better at using his call-outs. Instead of saying what he's going to do, he's been practicing interrupting himself by just using an exclamation of exertion. Whatever that was. Robin told him that's what they're called. He launched himself forward and reached for his sword-

Only to pull out a blade that was cut and melted about three inches from the guard. Drat, he thought, no time to switch. Gotta make do! So Randy swung the small blade and attempted to cut through the piping that led to the fan.

It worked! It took a little more finesse than usual, but the pipe was cut through! Right as the button to start the machine was pressed! A strange fog started to pour out and caused Randy to cough. "Ugh!" He coughed a few more times, his head starting to feel light, "Jeeze, that's rank!" He kicked the machine heavily with enough force to dent it and knock it from the fan and others nearby. The shock of the blow it received caused the machine to detonate, the strange fog spreading all over the rooftop. Thankfully, it seems the explosion knocked out the power to the building, as the rooftop suddenly grew dark right after the explosion and the sound of the fans stopped…

Rather than be holding a sword - broken or otherwise - against human opponents, Randy swapped to his nunchuku, twirling them and causing some of the fog to disperse. He coughed a few more times and listened.

The three goons were also coughing, but he heard one of them start breathing a little quickly. Soon, the other two were caught in a bit of a panicked frenzy. They were each at his 11 o'clock, 1 o'clock, and 2 o'clock. The ones to his right ended up bumping into each other and they both gave out a startled exclamation. However, that's not what caused Randy to stop spinning his nunchuku in confusion. It was the fact that they started yelling at each other in fear and fighting.

"N-no! I won't let you hurt me! Get away!"

"Back off! Don't think I can't fight back!"

He had no idea what was going on with those two, but the remaining goon on his left was all that he had left to deal with. Turning to face them-

Oh. Oh no. He didn't like that.

The shadow of the lackey was bobbing and weaving in a hauntingly familiar manner. The footsteps clacked on the rooftop gravel strangely and he couldn't tell if it was human feet clad in boots or a clawed talon.
Once the grunt was in view, occasionally, Randy would see a chicken head where there should be a human one.

"Oh, sweet cheese, this is probably worse than the rhino…" Randy bemoaned. He'd rather fight fart clones of chickens than occasionally see a chicken-headed man because of this fog- this fear gas. Randy briefly lamented that lacking any context, that thought probably made absolutely no sense before he was harshly brought back to the present by the Occasionally Chicken-headed Man.

The minion lurched forward - out of panic, instinct, fear, Randy couldn't tell - and swung both arms forward in a clumsy grapple attempt. Randy did a quick half-step back and resumed twirling the nunchuku and swung with the right one, aiming for his left knee. The goon didn't notice - head temporarily morphing into a chicken's complete with a "bwok!" of fear mingled with pain - as the metal bar of his weapon struck home. The goon crumpled and briefly, Randy worried he broke something in the man. That concern was quickly overridden for concern for himself when the lackey suddenly jumped up and swung a wild hay-maker.

He attempted to dodge, but was rewarded for his efforts with a grazing blow across his forehead, stunning and staggering him for a moment. This foe - high on adrenaline and fear - had tossed out all caution to the wind. Randy dodged the next three wild grabs for him, back stepping the whole time. On the second step, he had started rotating his nunchuku and on the third step, he swung forward with his right nunchuck hard and fast. He managed to pull back the strength and trajectory of his swing to knock the goon to the side with a body blow. The minion skidded two feet to the left before wobbling dangerously, yet he lurched forward with another wild hay maker. "Jeeze, how many more of these are you going to throw?"

"I won't- you can't make me!"

Randy just stared at the lackey for a moment, confused. Whatever they were seeing was worse than his own phobia, that's for sure. Randy pivoted to his right foot and used the momentum to swing his left around in a round house kick to the man's temple. Thankfully, it struck true without too much harm, knocking the poor guy right out. Randy stopped spinning his nunchucku for a while and had them swing and holster - in a sense - right under his armpits as he scanned the area.

His vision kept spinning, but all the humanoid silhouettes were down on the ground. The other two that busied themselves with each other seem to have ended their spat with a panicked draw as both were laying in a fetal position. "Ugh," Randy moaned pitifully. The gas was thick and heavy. Even spinning his nunchuku earlier didn't do much for dispersing it. Randy coughed a few more times. Regrettably, he was confused and just a little bit scared. Looking around, he couldn't hear nor see much of what was going on around him beyond a few feet to just a dozen.

Then, the door to the roof opened.

Batman opened the door to the roof, expecting there to still be a fight happening. He was grateful for his pocket respirator that he was using when the fear gas fog rolled at the movement of the door. Scanning the area, he noticed that it was surprisingly clear. Far to his right, there was a few silhouettes. One was a wrecked machine, upon further inspection. Two more were downed men, appearing to have fought each other in a panicked daze.

Sweeping to the left, he noticed The Ninja in a defensive stance staring directly at him. "Oh, boy," Robin has muttered next to him through his own respirator, returning from tying up a few of the hired help that fought alongside Scarecrow. Batman went through the file he had on the boy that he memorized from the computer to recall any recorded phobias. Alektorophobia is not a common phobia, but he briefly wondered if staying still would help calm him as well speaking in his naturally low voice.

"Ninja. The fight's over-" He stopped right when he saw him tense. He's only seen the Ninja tense like this - at least this one - when a serious threat appeared. Such as a foe like the Sorcerer or the Sorceress. Seeing the Ninja's gaze locked on and unwavering focus, it seemed that prolonged exposure to the fear gas caused him to see something he considered more terrifying that his own phobia. He lowered his voice in hopes that the Ninja wouldn't hear him. "Robin-" He cut himself off right when he saw the young hero react, his eyes darting around once or twice before locking back on to Batman. Instead, he used a hand behind his back to signal to Robin to knock out Ninja.

Fighting a super powered person with just under a year of experience while addled with fear gas had Bad Idea written all over it.

Robin had gotten the message and used Batman as a visual shield to allow him to disappear on the rooftop and sneak up behind the poor hero. The poor boy was tense and over focused on Batman for the time. Silence consumed the area, fear gas eddying and rolling across and over the small ledges. Batman counted the seconds that passed. Two minutes. It doesn't take long for a teen with ADHD to loose focus or to forget that there were multiple targets. Robin just had to as fast was all…

Thankfully, act fast he did. He darted from cover in the Ninja's blind spot and ran behind him. Right as they were turning, Robin hit him a couple of times in a few nerve clusters that would certainly knock him out. Batman's heart lurched for a moment when he noticed that the first few seconds, all the Ninja did was stagger. However, he felt immense relief when they fell over, asleep.

"So…" Robin started, his voice slightly muffled from the pocket respirator, "new recruit, right."

All Batman could do at that point was sigh deeply. Of course that's still on his mind.

Randy's eyes fluttered a few times. It took a while, but opening his eyes right now was tricky and an absolute pain. When he did manage to open his eyes the first few times, he was absolutely blinded by the lights nearby. Ugh, he thought, feels like Bash decided to use my head for soccer practice… Once the lights weren't quite so blinding, he noticed that he was back in that training spot he was previously. He felt like his limbs were filled with lead and his eyes were in close second with how heavy they were, his arms taking first place. What happened?

He scanned the area around him, most everything being a blur. There was a couple of dark shapes near him. Oh, I hope I'm not in trouble…

Instead, the smaller shape just patted him on the head. That actually feels nice…

It was the last thought that passed through his head before he passed out.