Shadows of the Bat

[Deleted]

More deafening silence poured from the Bat during the drive from the little safe house of a "flower shop" Nightwing had secured himself into, all the way to the depths of the more than well hidden cave deep below Wayne Manor and the surrounding forest just outside of Gotham's main city limits. The fact that Batman hadn't even given Nightwing so much as a head turn said something about the demeanor of Gotham's Guardian.

Down, down, down below surface level the batmobile finally was parked in its spot of the cavernous, enormous, fresh water filled cave. The hum and whir of all the electronic devices and security systems were heard in the background like a symphony to play off the churning well water below. The faint echoes of leathery wings and silent screeches piped up every now and due to the thousands upon thousands of black and dark brown fruit bats that had made their home in such a vast system of underground caves. Just like the Batman had himself, a home away from home.

Besides the batcave acting as his hub for all information that was held for crime fighting purpose--massive computers and machines, vehicles, weapons, armored uniforms, arenas for training--all of it there for his disposal as the Bat, it was also his sanctuary, his truest realm--the real master's chambers. The moment Nightwing was out of the vehicle Batman removed his own cowl of a mask, revealing the harsh scowl of Bruce beneath.

[glow=navy,2,300]"What were you thinking, Dick? Taking on a challenge like that without any prior information to anyone of where you were going? This isn't some game, Dick--and with your training? You should've known better. It was more than clear that set up was a trap, Dick, especially one set by the Joker. I think you know why--he hit a nerve in Arkham. That fact made you sloppy, hot headed, unprepared. Were you even thinking?" [/glow]

Immediately the reaming now began from Bruce to his first ward, Dick Grayson. No "atta' boys" or "good jobs" or some other semblence of validation or kudos wasn't even remotely hinted at or given. Of course the young man was now 18 and Bruce had since been removed as status for legal guardianship, but given the fact that Dick now existed as Nightwing? He would forever be both Batman's and Bruce's responsibility. Not to mention Bruce seemed to have maintained a good handful of information about the situation of Nightwing's beat down by the Joker... Batman had his ways of always, ALWAYS knowing.

[glow=navy,2,300]"You took on the JOKER alone, Dick. That is a practical death sentence in itself. I don't think you can truly comprehend what the man is capable of. You're lucky you're still breathing."[/glow]

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

The ride in the Batmobile back to the batcave was one of a stone cold silence between the two within it. Not a words had been said. And neither looked at the other, It had been a long and terrible night. After all that had happened, the morning light began to just rise above the horizon as the Batmobile had made it back to the cave.

Nightwing had gone along quietly, hardly any protest as to what ever Batman was planning on. The thoughts of that night still haunting Dick, but he tried not to breathe a work or let any sign of it cross his body. Black Canary had done all she could to help him. And he was grateful to her for that. Batman had come a long as well after the call. Dick had hardly known who was there when he had fought against them in protest. His mind lost in the flash back.

Dick wondered just how often these flash backs would strike. He didn’t want them around. He blocked them out to the best he could. The terror of being locked in that bell tower, on his own and no way out. The Joker could have killed him, but he didn’t. It was all just a sick game to the Joker. He had been trying to drive him mad. Though he had not succeeded. But his will had been broken in crying out for the torture to stop.

He had sat in silence the whole ride, his mind flashing back to those moments strapped to the slab and the electric current surging through his body. His mind traced back over detail of the conversation that was held between him and the Joker. Doubt was playing in Nightwing’s mind. And now pain, suffering, and humiliation filled Dick with regret.

The dead silence between them had been driving him mad. Bruce had hardly said more than a few words to him since they had left the safe house. Dick may not be able to know exactly what Bruce was thinking, but his mind set was getting back to a somewhat stable setting as it had been before. He was starting to think of what might be going on in Bruce’s head. During that time, Dick had just remained silent, not wanting to be the one to speak first.

As soon as they ha pulled into the batcave, Dick had not wasted any time trying to get out of the batmobile and away from Bruce at the moment. The set of crutches Canary had gotten for him had been set along the side in the batmobile. Dick grabbed for those right away as he opened the door to get out. It was definitely interesting trying to get on with crutches with broken ribs and a wrist that had been dislocated, then relocated.

The damp, cold air of the cave stuck his chest like a ton of bricks as he got out of the batmobile. His bare chest only covered in layers of ace wraps and bandages. He could feel an icy, cold stare his way. He didn’t want to look back and face Bruce. He knew what was coming. And he didn’t want to hear it. His mind blocking out the event prior to this and now settling to be annoyed with this information or lack of. Dick knew Bruce well enough.

He had since then removed the sunglasses Black Canary had lent him to keep his identity a secret against her. His barefoot touched the cold flooring of the batcave as he moved away from the batmobile slowly, in pain. The discomfort of his ribs and his wrist, causing problems for him as he tried to get away. His body stretched out, straining his muscles that had been beaten and slashed.

Dick had seen out of the corner of his eyes, Bruce removing the cowl. He kept his back turned to him. He didn’t need to see the look he knew he was getting. He kept turned away as Bruce’s voice now spoke out over the situation at hand. The tone was harsh. There was never any kindness to his tone. Dick knew that. He had grown up learning all this.

Bruce’s words were harsher than his tone. They cut right into him. Cutting him down to a lower size than he already felt after all that had happened. He stood there seeming to let the words go in one ear and out the other. But he was listening, he didn’t want to face Bruce on this. He heard the mention of the situation that went down between him and the Joker at Arkham. Of course Batman would have found that out. Nothing could be hidden from him.
He remained silent to all the questions Bruce was yelling at him. He just stood there, hardly a few feet from the batmobile, not moving. And when Bruce continued to lecture on at him about what he had done. Dick’s words were caught in his throat. It was hard to fight back the points Bruce was making clear.

Finally finding his voice, Dick still didn’t turn to face Bruce at first. ”I was thinking Bruce,” he started some where. This was almost a losing battle already with what was said and what he was about to say. ”I was blindsided in the attack.” His voice still low. Though he was slowly building up the steam to gain his voice.

”You know,” Dick started again as his tone was more serious and finding its grounds. He turned to face Bruce now, looking him in the eyes at that moment. ”I tried to do what I could Bruce. I know what he’s capable of, I saw that for myself. I know what I can handle. I made it out alive.” His voice had grown stronger, there was still an uneasiness to it though. His points were not all the strong at all. This situation had gone wrong all around and Dick knew it. But he wasn’t about to just be beaten down again. Dick held back from letting anything out about the event that had taken place. The story was written all over his body and his eyes held the sight and experience he had faced. But his mind was closed, not wanting to travel down that trail if he could argue without using that.

”I didn’t have the chance to call any one in. This place is crawling with the FBI. I couldn’t risk anyone else getting pulled into this,” Dick tried to make a better fight. His gaze dropped and his voice as well when as he said, ”I didn’t plan for this.” A slight caving in defense of his fight. It was a hard one to up hold with what Bruce was already pointing out about it.

[Deleted]

Upon hearing the words of his first protégé his back turned to the boy, moving to quickly ready the medical machines within the med-lab portion of his batcave. He had waited for Dick to make his way over towards the fully operating yet compact medical center complete with all sorts of equipment specialized to handle almost any and all injury to a very viable extent.

Bruce was still no complete medical doctor or trained surgeon, neither was Alfred, or anyone else in the Batfamily for that matter—but the presence of such sophisticated machines to help provide aide to those in need would greatly increase the success of tending to most any injury despite one’s depth of knowledge in medical care. And even still, if things got really hardcore, Bruce had invested in a few non-for-profit urgent care clinics along the Narrows within Gotham complete with specially hired staff to handle any severe injuries or surgeries if need be without leaking the information that Bruce or one of his wards had come to seek severe medical attention.

Of course, their alter-ego identities were shirked if such a visit took place and the staff was made to simply provide medical attention without question, much like how other celebrities sought secretive medical aid for their lifestyles or private issues when they needed to. Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, and Dick Grayson were no different—not to mention Barbara Gordon’s on and off again rare appearances. As Dick entered the med-lab area Bruce had already removed his cape and gloves of his specialized, armored black batsuit. Proper cleaning procedures taken Bruce nodded to the examining table for Dick to rest on while Bruce would began to administer and tend to the rest of the boy’s wounds as well assess the rest of Dick’s physical health.

[glow=navy,2,300]“Blindsided? Dick, you were trained better than that. Always have another option, another solution, always be prepared. You weren’t. You reacted, Dick. You didn’t act.” [/glow]

Once he over looked all wounds on Dick and provided fresh and sterilized complete medical care and attention to each abrasion and injury, he washed up once again, re-sterilizing the equipment.

[glow=navy,2,300]“As Robin, you would’ve never pulled such a stunt, you would’ve understood that a plan is always needed—nothing in our line of work is impulse. As Nightwing, you’ve forgotten that important fact, the will to act is much more powerful than reacting to the will of others. By exposing yourself like that Dick, you didn’t just risk us, you risked everything.”[/glow]

Cold blue eyes watched the former ward before him, and finally tone seemed to lessen—but only briefly.

[glow=navy,2,300]“You can stay here while your body heals -- your room is still how you left it, if you want to use it. You do need rest.” [/glow]

And staying true to its brevity, the ‘softness’ from his demeanor vanished.

[glow=navy,2,300]“Your studies are expected to be maintained in school, and if you stay here, a review of your training is in order. You wanted to define yourself by discarding the Robin identity to create one of your own, Nightwing? Fine. But if you intend to keep association with Batman’s cause, then the elite reputation of incorruptible vigilance is expected to be upheld.” [/glow]

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

The silence as Bruce turned away from him only worried Dick more over the matter. Usually he could just brush this sort of thing without thinking twice. But the silence of Bruce only seemed to mean more anger building or being held back. He watched as he walked away and toward the med-lab.

Dick silently followed after Bruce. At this point, he just wanted to go lay down and forget about all this. His body was still weak and his energy was running low again. Even the simplest things were tiring him out, the crutches were only difficult because of his wrist, broken ribs, and his wore and tired muscles.

He watched as Bruce moved about the room getting things ready and cleaning up a bit. He stayed quiet, not wanting to see what would come if he said anything further on the subject at the moment. These were not the times to be in constant protest at the moment. He knew when to hold back on his comments with Bruce.

Quietly he crutched his way over to the exam table after Bruce had nodded to it. He knew what to do and he was going to do as he was told at the moment. These injuries were no joke and he would not disobey at the moment over how serious they were.

Once at the table, Dick set the crutches to the side and was standing on one foot. He leaned onto his left side with his good arm and eased himself onto the table carefully, cringing in pain of his chest. He did what he could with how limited his movement was and how weak his body was. But after a few moments he manage to get himself up onto the table and lay out on it. It hurt his abs too much to be sitting up with the gashes he had sustained.

He looked at Bruce as he worked on him. He winced as some of the wounds were being re-sterilized and looked at again. He was silent and did not reply to Bruce's words again at first. Bruce was hitting the nail on the head with his comments. Dick knew that. But didn't like to listen to it.

At the next bit, Dick was a bit confused over Bruce's words. "Things change," Dick said weakly. Not sure if he wanted to start down that road. "How do I risk us and everything? The only think I'm putting at risk is myself." He next comment responding to his own confusion and trying to understand more. He wasn't sure if Bruce meant about the vigilante life style or what. His mind was cloud with confusion again. The weakness taking on again his body again, tell him it needed to stop and rest.

Dick's eyes showed his confusion, this was usual for him at all, but it was that way at the time after all that had happened that night. He notice the change in tone of Bruce's voice. Something he had not heard in a long time. Dick looked at him as he spoke. He gave a slight nod at his words. "It's probably best," he replied, he knew too much moving around could stress his body out more and it wasn't needed.

And just like that, the tone in Bruce's voice was back to lecturing mode of the mentor again. Dick listened to him. What did he mean by some of this? He was questioning his way of work? Did he think he wasn't able to do the work any more?

Once again a spark of protest came to him again over these issues. "What do you mean a review of training?! i haven't forgotten," Dick protested a bit as he propped himself up on his left arm and winced at the quick movement. "As Nightwing that what it is seen as," he was referring to being associated with Batman. And costumed crime fighter seemed to be associated with the Batman. And Dick knew he still worked along side of Batgirl at times. "And what incorruptible vigilance?"

Dick wanted answers to his questions. He wanted to understand what he meant by a review. "This isn't going to include lectures and combat training is it? Not during rehab," Dick questioned out loud.

[Deleted]

Bruce was taking inventory of his supplies while Dick retorted back to his own fierce statements. He always wanted to be sure the batcave was stocked and re-stocked, everything in its place and a place for everything. The looming and ominous super computer, “batcomputer”, wasn’t too far away from the med-lab portion of the cave. Though Dick rested behind him against the examining table in clear need of a bed and complete rest for his damaged body, Bruce had to upload the recordings, playbacks, visuals, and calculated coordinates from his evening out as Batman into the massive computer. He missed nothing, watched and recorded everything—all done to play back later to study and learn from, improve from. Silence at first met Dick’s response and once all was loaded and typed into the computer, more files brought up to be downloaded into his specialized personal computer that linked into the fiber optic mainframe hard drive hidden within his batsuit, he finally got up and turned to face Dick, solemn and stoic.

“Nightwing has an identity with the people he protects and the justice he stands for; that cause becomes risked when your life is carelessly placed on the line. Your assistance and uniquely professional skill for the life of crime fighting becomes risked due to a stunt like tonight. And the risk of losing you, Dick, isn’t something that just only affects you.”

He now moved to stand before Dick, blue eyes taking in the sheer exhaustion of the young man before him.

“Up-training would never hurt, not to mention it would help to keep muscles and joints from becoming atrophied while you recover.”

He slid an arm beneath Dick’s—now allowing the boy the rest on him as he moved him from the table, now going to head towards the small area disclosed for privacy in order to discard one’s suit and change clothes. Spare sets of sweats and bathrobes were kept in the small makeshift side room as well.

“Incorruptible vigilance is what the Batman stands for—a symbol, untouchable, more than a mere man acting as vigilante. Nightwing is additional to that ideal, so you must uphold it as Nightwing at all times—without waver, it’s expected.”

He now slid free of Dick’s hold once the boy was stable and nodded to his attire, “You should get out of that suit. I can repair it—add in some upgrades.”

And as Bruce spoke, he disappeared into the small room, within moments he came out in black sweats. He would give assistance to Dick if he needed due to the injuries the youth had, and once Dick was changed, Bruce allowed him to be leaned upon again as they left the batcave and now reached the surface level of Wayne Manor. Soon enough Dick was shown his room and once Dick found solace of some comfort on his old bed, Bruce—leaning against the room’s door frame—nodded to his first partner in crime fighting.

“Actually, I was thinking of bombarding you trips to a day spa where they specialize in deep tissue massages and facials from an all physical therapist staff, who all also happen to be models-in-training.”

And though his tone was dry and sarcastic as ever, it did mean one thing, his demeanor had calmed and changed. He was actually… ‘happy’ (in his own warped way) that Dick was temporarily back in his home.

“Get rest, we have a long day tomorrow.”

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick’s eyes followed the line of movement as Bruce walked about the Batcave working on things here and there. And at the computer he figured what he was doing. The silence was a bit intense as Dick waited for Bruce to answer him back on all his questions. That usually was only to build and add on to how serious Bruce was over the matter.

When Bruce finally turned to him and spoke, Dick was quiet as he listened. He didn’t reply to Bruce’s response. He could protest a bit over the reckless statements. But just the way Bruce was wording everything was enough to keep Dick silent over the matter. Bruce was right about his risks didn’t only affect him. And he wasn’t about to argue that.

”Alright, lead me to the punching bag, we can see how many rounds I can go,” Dick replied half jokingly, knowing fully well he was in no condition to be trying any types of sharp fast movements that could strain his muscles too much or cause further irritation to his rib cage. Though some work along those lines were not out of the question as far as for the rehab would go. It was just a matter of how not to over do the work outs and physical work.

Dick tried to prop himself up the best he could seeing Bruce’s movement to start to help him up. As soon as he was on his feet, Dick kept a firm hold on to Bruce with his left arm as he tried to lean his weight onto him for support. Dick absolutely hated this. He wince in pain and groaned, but didn’t say a word otherwise at it. His ribs stinging as he moved and tried to keep up. He was trying to keep as much weight as possible off his left foot as he tried to walk.

Once over at the side room, Dick was still silent over the lecture of upholding the fight of crime and the image as a vigilante. He was losing the fight in him to fight back over the subject. He was much to tired, those sparks of energy starting to come less and less. Especially after what ever had happened when he had been restrained on the medical table at the safe haven.

As Bruce’s was free of his grip and he was now supporting himself along a rail and the wall near the small room, Dick heard his comment as Bruce walked away. ”Yeah, well what’s left of it anyways,” Dick replied knowing the top half had been torn and that Black Canary had removed the rest of the top of the suit so she could work on his wounds at the time. He had a spare suit at his place, but a few upgrades to one of them wouldn’t hurt.

When Bruce come out again, changed out of the Bat suit, Dick gave a some what stern no look to the help just getting a little defensive over feeling helpless as he was at the time. Dick got into the changing room slowly and in pain. He grabbed a pair of grey sweats and a white t-shirt, and draped them over his shoulder. He made his way over to the small benched and worked on getting the rest of his suit off. His body aching in pain as he got changed. As he was finishing up and getting the shirt on, he gave a slight “Ah” in pain over one of his ribs being jarred at the movement of this.

After getting changed and took his time getting up and when Bruce helped him, Dick just followed his lead as he was helped back up to the main floors of Wayne Manor. It took a while to get to his old room, but they had made it. Everything liked the same from when he had left it to move into his own place. Once laying down on the bed, it felt good to be off any medical tables or having any medical stuff done to him. He could finally rest after all that had happened.

Dick looked over at Bruce in the door way as he spoke. ”Haha, very funny,” Dick replied to Bruce’s comment. Though he was glad to hear a bit of a change in his tone. It wasn’t the icy stern lecturing mood he usually seemed to be in lately against him. ”The day that happens, you can expect a full investigate into the matter and the reason,” Dick replied.

”Can I ask though what might be in store for the activities of tomorrow,” Dick questioned him wanting to know just what he had to face tomorrow.

[jason]

It had been a long night and Jason had done a routine patrol on another one of the easier routes earlier that evening as Robin. Bruce had told him Batman would be picking up the later routes. That and partly because it was a school night. Jason had been a bit bored with no action going down on his patrol. Not even a minor crime. It had been quiet. Though he had been set down a route that was a bit out of the way of the FBI. The people around that part of town were starting to fear the FBI more than the criminals.

So, all the while Bruce had been out as Batman, Jason had been in bed at least trying to get a few hours of sleep before he had to head to school. He hadn't heard anything of what had gone on that night.

Jason had been laying in bed when he hear someone coming down the hall. That wasn't the normal footstep pace of Bruce or Alfred going about in the hall. Jason was a bit curious as to what was going on. He could hear the sound of Bruce's voice down the hall, but couldn't hear what was being said.

Looking at his clock to see that it wasn't even six o'clock yet and the sun was just rising. Jason rolled his eyes about being up this early. Just once he wished he could just sleep in and skip school. And now he was up earlier than he had wished to be for the day.

Though, Jason threw the bed sheets off him and got up and out of bed. He was wearing a part of gym shorts and a black t-shirt as he walked barefooted out into the hall to see what was going on. Jason walked down the hall a bit and down in the direction he heard the voice.

He was a bit curious when he heard it coming from the direction of Dick's old bed room. And was more surprised to see Bruce leaning against the door frame talking to some one within the room. Jason walked up to Bruce. "Wasn't going on this early in the morning," he asked as he joined him at the doorway and then looked into the room.

There he saw Dick Grayson laying on the bed. And he was beaten to a pulp. "Gees Dick, you look like hell," was Jason's reaction to seeing Dick in his condition. "What did you do? Lose a fight to an aligator?" Jason stood their with a smirk on his face over the new situation. Though he did wonder what had happened to the older boy. Something must have happened for even Bruce to have him staying here.

[Deleted]

Before Bruce had a moment to explain what he had in store for tomorrow, a shadow crept along the hall followed by the well-known echo of footsteps—Jason Todd. Jason was his current and closest partner in crime, the new Robin, and of course his newest ward. Taking Jason under his wing hadn’t exactly been planned, but since Dick’s departure, his methods as Batman had been more edgy and careless—something he had the hardest time admitting when a questioning of his actions came into play. Without Robin, he had been more brutal, more vindictive, less strategized when it came to taking down assailants and thwarting criminal masterminds; Batman needed Robin to level him, to keep things steady, to clean up any loose ends and to bring a sense of humanity to the Dark Knight’s crusade against crime.

Jason Todd however, had turned out to be a little more rough and gritty than he had anticipated—not to mention more hot headed and prone to violence than he would like for Robin to be. Dick had maintained a perfect balance of physical force and humane kindness, giving Robin a sort of savvy, carefree yet diligent visage. Jason Todd’s Robin was much darker, brooding, and quick to attack rather than question/reason—he was definitely a handful, but one Bruce was more than willing to take on, train, assist, and trust with his very life.

“What’s going on early in the morning is you making sure you’re up and ready to go for school like usual.” Bruce retorted back to Jason’s sudden question upon his arrival to the scene before Dick’s room. “Dick will be staying with us for a while, Jason. He had a bad night—unexpected run in with the Joker, so he’ll be staying here while he recovers.”

Bruce had no reason to hide anything from Jason, but, he also didn’t go into grave details about the situation either; he only picks and chooses what he feels is necessary for his protégé to know.

“I expect you to show him the same respect you show Alfred and myself, Jason.” His tone paternal, swiftly taking control over the situation. “He may need assistance with a few things during his recovery and I may need your assistance when it comes to doing recovery sessions with him. Think of it as extra training to better handle the new patrol rounds,” A sudden playful pat on Jason’s shoulder was given.

“Speaking of which I need an update of your night report.”
He looked back to Dick. “Get rest some rest Dick, tomorrow we’re going to focus on making sure things are healing properly—not too much too fast, so relish this time for now.”

With that he closed Dick’s door and turned to Jason now walking with the boy down the hall.

“How did the new patrol route work out? Anything new? Or have you run into any new masked vigilantes out there working Gotham?”

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Dick's attention was drawn to the fact that someone else was coming. He pushed away the thoughts and fears that wanted to cloud his mind with the affect from the events. Fighting it off, there was hardly a hint of that fear. Then he heard the voice of someone familiar.

He heard Jason question Bruce as he walked up toward the doorway. Slightly watching the two, he just wanted to lay his head down and rest now. Safe and away from the Joker.

Thought at Jason's comment and that stupid little mocking smirk of his, Dick shot him a weary glare the best he could. That kid could be such a pain. Leave it to him to kick someone when they are down.

Dick was about to reply with something equally nasty to the boy, but Bruce had set in quick with filling Jason in and expecting him to be ready for school. What Bruce was thinking when he took in that kid, Dick will never understand. That kid had trouble written all over him. Even in trying to help there was just something off about him.

And at Bruce's instruction to respect him, Dick gave a slight cough instead of a somewhat sarcastic laugh. Like that kid had respect for anyone. Dick wasn't sure how Alfred could put up with him. And there were a few reasons to follow Bruce's rules. Rule one, he can limit the patrols or even bench the vigilante work. Two, you didn't want to get on Bruce's bad side.

At Bruce's work to ending the discussion going on between then and preventing Jason from starting in on anything else, Dick leaned back more on the bed. He laid his head down to relax. Letting his alert mode rest for once since the accident. Dick was going to take full advantage of the recovery time before it would end and rehab started.

Dick was very glad to see the door be shut. He could get some rest without being given any type of sedatives. And with the two leaving him for now, he could just relax for the time being.

[jason]

Jason stood silent as Bruce spoke about the situation. So, the older boy had had a run in with the Joker. By the looks of it, you could easily see who had faired in that fight. Jason wanted to roll his eyes slightly at this. First it had been the Jane Doe attack to his Achilles muscle and now this.

Yet, this was worse....Bruce was actually letting him stay HERE?!!! Jason was rather irritated with this new found fact. There had been enough tension between the two when they had lived in separate places and now the problem was under one roof.

Jason had seen the way Bruce acted out as Batman some nights on news of Nightwing’s work. It was different from Batman’s a bit, but there was some resentment that seemed to sit within Bruce over this all. Jason wasn’t stupid he had picked up on the two’s attitudes about each other.

And now it was one of those sit back and enjoy the show deals. Or even it just going to be interesting. Jason just didn’t like being told he was going to have to help the older boy out. Jason knew that Dick didn’t like him to begin with. The feeling was mutual.

At all this being mentioned, he glared back at the older boy in the room. And then replied,”Extra training?” You’ve got to be kidding....was the only thought going through his mind. He was already picking up double time on his training with the FBI in town and he had been keeping up on his world studies and crime files.

He let it trail off for now. And as Bruce close the doors, turned to head off. Though only to have Bruce along with him. This morning was just an odd start to the day...

”It was rather dull,” Jason replied right away, There really hadn’t been much that night on the patrol route Bruce had given him.

”The FBI’s got everyone all stir crazy over keeping out of everything. Even the streets. And haven’t seen any new masked faces out there,” Jason continued. ”Really, I didn’t see anyone last night. Just some loser trying to break into someone’s apartment window. But I broke him before he could get into anything.”

Jason gave him a straight forward report of that night. He had only been patrol a few hours and a few streets. And tonight had been quiet. Though the person trying to break into the one place had been the only sources of entertainment for Jason that night. He had stopped the crime and literally left the guy with maybe a broken rib and finger. The guy had been asking for it for coming at him trying to hit back at him with the bat he had along with him.

[Deleted]

Bruce now moved with Jason down the hall towards one of the many main rooms within the massive manor. Even though he was going on no sleep for 24 hours now, he didn’t feel exhausted in the least bit. If anything he had his morning workout in about an hour, business meetings with the board at Wayne Tower in 3 hours, a clearance release to see the hospitalized Selina Kyle to obtain, and a lunch date of sorts with his newest “fling of the moment”—some Russian model whose name he couldn’t remember to save his life.

Still, as his morning schedule flooded his mind, he was also intensely listening to Jason’s recanting of his own nightly patrol. Though the boy had done well to stick on his newly projected route Bruce had given him, his eagerness of violence—especially in the way Jason described the take down he gave to the unjust was a little alarming and something that hadn’t been unnoticed by Bruce, nor was it entirely new behavior by the boy. It was no secret that Jason was rough around the edges, especially given his hard knocks background, but still there was administering justice and then there was just being sadistic. Jason walked a very, very, VERY line between the two stances.

“You’re still following protocol when you apprehend these thugs, right?”

Bruce asked, deciding to hold back in his concerns over Jason’s demeanor. Despite the streak of violence, Jason was good at what he did and was proving to make a commendable Robin.

“As in, placing a tracker on the perp’ for the police to locate, or at least dropping them off right outside the precinct?”

[jason]

Jason continued down the hall with Bruce. It was just the usual going over patrol reviews of anything suspicion. Like there wasn't anything in Gotham that didn't turn out to be suspicion. There were always people up to something in this city. Most of them just like to hide under a rock for safety.

Jason was only doing what came best to him. And that was take down the threat and become the threat yourself. For the most part he tried to follow Bruce's rules. But there was an edge to him that like to push them just a bit to fit to his fun.

"As far as I know," Jason shrugged at the first question. He was pretty much beating up the creeps and getting them sent to jail. Often just leaving them for the police to get them. Some times unconscious when the situation called for it.

As they enter the room, Jason followed along side of Bruce. He still had about a good hour or so before he would have to head out and he wasn't looking forward to it. The last place he wanted to be at the time was in school. He rather just be sleeping in at this point. Thanks to all the morning activity, he was up and awake now.

Jason half rolled his eyes at the routine questioning of the protocol. "Yes, Bruce. I've been follow protocol. But I'm most often leaving them for the police to get them," Jason said, quite satisfied with his own work over apprehending the crooks.

[Deleted]

Bruce eyed the youth for a moment, but given the state of affairs Gotham was in? He decided not to press. Instead? The rest of the day needed to begin.

“Don’t give me reason to check up on your work, Jason. Especially now, I need you to follow my rules as closely as possible. Things in Gotham are just starting to escalate and don’t show signs of easing up.”

He left things with Jason's work as Robin at that, simply letting the boy know where he stood should something not bode well with the Bat. He walked with the boy down the halls of the manor, heading closer towards one of the many hidden entrances to the bat-cave.

“Join me in a quick work out session before school. We can work on your sparring. And when we’re finished, I’ve got some new tech I want to give to you for patrolling and keeping in contact.”

When Jason agreed to the workout, they headed to the bat-cave and proceeded to work on an hour long sparring session—Bruce more than impressed with the boy’s fighting tactics. For his age, he was good, very good; though Bruce never verbally acknowledged as such to Jason. He then gave a quick tutorial to Jason about the new tech devices he was sporting, informing him on his stance about allowing new heroes and masked vigilantes joining in on the fight to rid Gotham of the FBI. Once Jason was caught up, he sent the boy on his way and prepared the same set up for Dick. The rest of the day now at hand…


((OOC: I have nothing further for this thread, unless if you wanted to add something more? I'm cool with closing it.))