Gotham City, Saturday night
"If I knew it was going to take this long, I would have brought something to read," Robin whined. Batman continued to watch the construction site through his binoculars. "Are you sure about this extortion ring?"
"Uh huh."
"It's been four hours."
"Uh huh."
"You still think they'll show?"
"Uh huh."
Giving up and laying down on the gargoyle he was perched on, Robin joked, "Good thing for me you're such a good conversationalist."
"There's the slime," Batman said.
"All right!"
"These are contract saboteurs, Robin," Batman cautioned. "Let's take it by the numbers, nice and easy."
"Yeah, time to kick some butt!" Robin said, firing his grapple and swinging down towards the saboteurs.
"Good thing we had that little chat," Batman said, following.
Robin lead the charge by swinging into one of the saboteurs with a dropkick to a landing below, leaving two for Batman to handle. Robin took his thug down quickly, but one of Batman's had gotten away and grabbed a rivet gun, which made Robin's life more interesting for a minute.
And then Batman hit the rivet guy with a wrecking ball. The rivet guy and Robin's thug ran off.
Before Robin could give chase, Batman stopped him. "Let them go," the Dark Knight said. "He's all we need." With that, Batman glanced at the third saboteur, hanging onto a girder for dear life. He looked terrified. Robin couldn't help but wonder how exactly he ended up there. Well, besides the obvious answer of 'He ended up there because Batman, that's how.'
"Now, who's behind this little enterprise?" Batman demanded to know.
"I ain't... I ain't sayin' nothin' till I get my lawyer!" the criminal responded with as much bravery as he could fake.
"Suit yourself. Let's go," Batman said, as he and Robin turned and started to walk away.
"WAIT! WAIT!" the saboteur called out. "You gotta help me! The cops wouldn't leave me!"
"We're not the police," Batman snarled as he turned back to the hanging man. "You want help? I want a name! Who's your boss?!"
"I can't! I can't say nothin'! He'll tear me apart!"
"Oh, then you've got a problem," Robin snarked as he and Batman started walking off again.
The saboteur yelled some more. They usually did while they were dangling precariously. That was usually followed by squealing. "Oh, for pity's sake! It's Marrin! Billy Marrin!" Robin immediately turned around and threw a line to catch the saboteur just as he started to fall off the girder. He ended up hanging upside down right in front of Robin.
"And where would we find Mister Marrin?" Robin demanded. "Spill it!"
"Forget it, Robin," Batman said calmly to Robin's astonishment. Robin gave Batman a confused look, to which Batman responded, "I said forget it!"
"But this guy's ready to sing!" Robin pleaded in a whisper.
"Let it go! The police can take it from here," Batman said. "Go get the Batmobile. NOW!"
As he made his way back to the car, Robin couldn't figure out what made Batman react like that. The intimidation had been working like a charm. It wasn't like Batman to back off at that point.
After a few minutes, Batman joined Robin. They drove home in silence until Batman declared that he'd be on patrol by himself the rest of the night.
"What? Why can't I go with you? What's the big deal?" Robin asked as they drove into the Batcave.
"I'm working alone tonight," Batman said, driving into the Batcave.
"Come on, I don't get to do this much since I went to Fandom," Robin pleaded. "If it's because I jumped the gun back there, I'm sorry."
"It's something I have to do alone," Batman declared. The Batmobile pulled to a stop and the roof slid open.
"So that's it?" Robin asked, climbing out of the car. "No explanation, no apologies? Just 'See you later, kid'?"
"You know the rules," Batman said. The platform the car was parked on rotated so he was facing the exit to the Cave again. "There are times when I can't explain --"
"'--my actions, even to you.'" Robin quoted. He had obviously heard that rule many, many, many times over the years. "Hey, that line worked great in sixth grade, but in case you hadn't noticed--"
"We'll discuss this later!" Batman yelled as the roof slid shut and he drove away.
Robin spent some time after that whining to Alfred. 'He treats me like a kid' this and 'I'll never be like that self-righteous jerk!' that. "I don't get it, Alfred. Everything was going great until that Marrin business came uo. Have you ever heard of a crook named Billy Marrin?"
"I can't say that I have," Alfred said. "But I'm not one to peruse the post office walls."
"I think Batman has." Robin sat down at the Bat-computer and began searching for Marrin's name in Batman's files. "There. 'Billy Marrin. Alias: Simon Dirks, Sid the Squid, Killer Coburn, Punky Lesh.' But who is he really?" Robin followed a link in the files, which brought up another page. Robin was stunned. "Tony Zucco. Finally."
Robin thought back to how he came to live with Bruce Wayne. The day in the circus when a sabotaged rope on the trapeze took Dick Grayson's parents away. The same day a man named Tony Zucco threatened the circus owners for protection money. Dick saw Zucco yelling at them when they refused. Then, right before the show, he saw Zucco wandering around as part of the setup crew. He had cut the trapeze. Zucco was the one who killed his parents.
Dick didn't have any family, and as the only material witness to the crime, it was too dangerous to stay with a circus. They couldn't offer the proper protection. So Bruce Wayne offered to care for him in his fortress of a mansion. The early days at Wayne Manor were rough, but Dick later learned that Bruce was neglecting him in favor of searching for Zucco as Batman. After a few weeks, Bruce realized that Dick needed care rather than vengeance to help him through it. This later allowed Zucco to escape Gotham, where he was never seen again. Until now.
"He can't take Zucco away from me! I won't let him!" Robin rushed over to the radio to the Batmobile, not wasting time with any pleasantries. "You deceived me!" Robin yelled into the radio. "You can't take this one! Zucco's mine!"
"Sorry Robin," Batman said. "But on this team, I call the shots."
"But I've waited half my life!"
"Batman out."
"Oh no," Robin said, smashing the radio out of frustration. "He's not going to ace me out." He stalked towards the Batcycle as Alfred pleaded with him.
"Please, Master Dick. You must do as he says."
"Not this time, Alfred. Maybe not ever again." And with that, Robin rode out of the Batcave.
[OOC: Lifted directly from Robin's Reckoning, Part 1. Just be glad I didn't transcribe the flashback, too. Part 2 will be up later.]