Q & A

He was standing outside the door of the Senior Honors Social Studies classroom in Midvale high School chatting with the teacher and Linda while the students filed in. The kids in the class paid him passing attention, at best. He was wearing an old pair of jeans, a worn looking long sleeved black Tee shirt and the usual ratty sneakers. And he was facing away from the students so no one could see his face. Dark hair, maybe 5’ 8” and slender but seemed to be pretty well built.

He was just some kid, maybe a transfer or something. They’d find out soon enough, no big deal.

“Okay, take you seats, please. You all know your assignment to write to a public figure was due this week, well today we have a special guest with us. Linda, would you like to introduce him to us?”

She glanced around the room; the students were just waiting. “Um, hi.” She suddenly seemed shy. “This is Robin, we’ve known each other for a few years now and we’re, um…he kind of agreed to be my ‘public figure and answer questions in person instead of just on paper or in an e-mail'.” She trailed off as the kids stared at Robin who was wearing his mask, the only part of his uniform he had on today though GCPD was embroidered on the chest of his shirt. No one really believing it was the real deal standing in front of them, there was a very loud silence punctuated by a few quiet whispers and giggles.

He walked over to the teacher’s desk, next to Linda to help her out. “Linda asked me if I’d come in today so I can answer questions you may have about me or the Titans or the stuff we do.” He sat on the edge of the desk, completely relaxed and casually waiting for a hand to be raised. “I think I’m show and tell.” That got a small laugh and some smiles. Mostly the kids just stared at him, waiting for the joke’s punch line from the look of them.

A voice in the back: “You’re really Robin? And I’m frigging Batman.”

Rob took that in stride. “I am Robin and you’re not Batman. I know, I work with him; he’s taller.” That got another small laugh.

Finally the teacher seemed to mentally kick herself a little and got things started. “Robin, how do you and Linda know one another?”

“Right after she lost her parents she was staying with a relative of hers who wasn’t really set up to have her around and so, since he’s a friend of my guardian, she stayed with us in a guestroom for a few weeks before she ended up in an orphanage. We became friends and stayed in touch.”

The silence was still a little stunned but than a small brunette girl in the third row raised her hand. “You have a guardian?” He nodded. “And how come she couldn’t just stay with you?”

Damn, this was the kind of thing he didn’t want to get into; personal stuff. “I don’t live with my parents, but I can’t get into anything about my private life. Sorry. And we just aren’t really set up to take another person in, either. Linda knew that going in.” Over on the side, Linda nodded; yes, she knew she was only at the Manor temporarily.

A very thin guy in the third row: “You’re Robin? Yeah, right. You look like any freshman in the country.” There was some laughter, including Robin’s. “Aren’t you supposed to be busting crooks or something? And where’s your costume?”

He was completely at ease; used to being stared at, used to being in public and the center of attention. “I’m kind of on sick leave right now—I’m getting over pneumonia—and it’s like twenty-five degrees out; no one in their right mind would wear shorts today if they didn’t have to. I do own more than one shirt, you know.” And he didn’t care if they believed him or not. “And I am a freshman. Not here, back home.”

“In Gotham?” It was the small dark haired girl again. He just nodded.

Actually, he’d been holed up in the Manor for almost a full month getting over a semi-severe case of pneumonia. He needed naps every afternoon, wasn’t eating and he had no stamina. Walking up the stairs to his room was enough to wind him and he hated it with all his heart and soul. He was used to being healthy and having more energy than anyone he knew.

This sucked, so when Kara asked him he said he’d help her out—anything to see something other than the same four walls.

“How come you’re Robin? I mean, what made you decide to do that—be like a cop? At like ten years old or something—what was that about?” The guy asking was in the back row and looked like a football linebacker, which he was. “And why the hell would anyone allow that—let you arrest people? You were like eleven or something when you started, right?”

This was one of those questions Robin usually managed to avoid answering, but today he simply decided ‘oh, what the hell’ and would deal with the Bat later. It wasn’t that big a deal…"I was a crime victim when I was a kid.” He looked a little self-conscious. “I mean when I was younger, about eight years old. It made me angry—really angry, angry all the time. I hated the idea that someone could do what happened to my family and get away with it and that I had no power to stop it; that I had no control over my life. One day I sort of realized that if I didn’t do something to get even I’d just stay angry and probably end up in jail myself. I didn’t want to do that; it seemed stupid.”

“So you became a cop?”

“Yeah, basically.”

“You catch the guys who messed you over?”

“Yeah, I did. My first collar, in fact. It felt better than se…” He stopped himself just in the tick of time, blushing, the teacher annoyed and the class laughing.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re precocious?”

He smiled. “All the time.”

“What do you think you’d be doing if you hadn’t become Robin?”

“I think I’d be in a cell in Juvie. I’d say there’s a good chance, anyway.” This caused a buzz of whispered comments in the classroom—Robin a teenaged hood? Yeah, sure; the guy was a professional Boy Scout. Fat chance.

“You kidding?”

“No.” He paused for a moment. “It was like sitting on a fence, sort of—it would have been really easy to steal stuff and you really can make a ton of money dealing if you have half a brain. You fall one way one thing happens, you fall the other way something else happens to you.”

The teacher asked, “So how did you meet Batman? Or did you know him before you were victimized?”

“He happened to be there when the crime happened and basically felt sorry for me. He took me in and taught me the stuff I needed to know to do this.”

“Why?”

“Because he knew that if I didn’t help catch the men who did the crime, I’d probably keep punching walls and make myself and everyone around me miserable.” Robin coughed for a few seconds then took a sip of bottled water. “He was right, too.”

“Isn’t he scary, though?”

Robin smiled. “He’s mostly okay but, sometimes, yeah.”

“You ever push his buttons or would that be a dumb thing to do?”

Robin laughed out loud at that. “It’s a very dumb thing to do and, yeah, sometimes I do it anyway.”

“And then what happens?”

“I duck.” The teacher looked alarmed at that. “Joke.”

A very plain, ugly-duckling girl over on the side shyly raised her hand. “Do you ever have time to, um, do you have like, you know, a girlfriend?”

A male voice from the back lobbed out “Or are you a fag?”

Robin’s expression didn’t change, just remained pleasant as his eyes found the jerk in the last row and held him impaled. “I don’t have time right now for a girlfriend and I’m straight. Why, was that an invitation?” No answer. Robin let him swing in the wind for a full minute while he turned a progressively brighter red under the younger kid’s stare and the rest of the class turned to look at him.

Finally the teacher broke the deadlock. “Robin?” He turned back to the woman. “I was wondering if you go to a regular school or have tutors or are home-schooled or something.”

“I was home-schooled until I was almost nine. Now I go to a regular school during the day, unless I have a reason to skip.”

“But how do you fit school work in with everything else you seem to do—and what all else is it you have in a typical day?”

“You mean a normal day, when I’m not sick or something? I get up around five or five-thirty and work out for an hour, get cleaned up, change, eat and go to school till about three. Come home, do whatever homework I have—by then it’s usually about dinnertime. Eat, hang for an hour or two, change and go on patrol with Batman. Unless there’s a specific case we’re working on, then we’re on that. I’m usually home around two or, if I’m lucky, sometimes as early as midnight.” He shrugged. “That would be a pretty typical day.” He saw the looks on everyone’s faces. “I don’t usually need a lot of sleep but, yeah—I get tired sometimes. I crash on weekends.” He smiled. “Try to, anyway.”

“Any sports or school clubs or anything like that?”

“No time.”

The plain/ugly girl raised her hand again. “Uh, um, what are the rest of the Titans like? Are you guys really friends?”

“Yeah, sure we’re friends, good friends; family.” He paused for a moment before going on. “We’re best friends; sometimes I think it’s because we’re about the only people in the world we can relate to and really talk to; you know—no one else really does what we do, right? If you play football, there are a lot of other football players you can talk about the last game with but us….not so much.” The ugly girl nodded and Robin had a sudden insight that she probably didn’t have any friends. “I don’t usually talk about them but…Kid Flash is kind of hyper, kind of conservative, pretty corn fed; he’s a really good guy. He’s always eating because he burns an incredible amount of calories with all the running. Speedy always has my back and I know that. But he’s sort of like dealing with the class blowhard and you aren’t sure if you want to punch him out or ignore him.” The class laughed at that—he seemed like he’d be about like that. “Aqualad is quiet, kinda shy. He still has some trouble knowing what’s going on sometimes because he’s from a totally different culture and he wasn’t raised with everything we all were—TV, modern music, stuff like that, so he doesn’t always ‘get’ it. And English isn’t his first language. I know he had to kind of fight to be allowed to go to school down in Atlantis and so he reads a lot on his own—really a lot. He kind of educates himself because he’s had to.” He paused, gave a half smile. “Wonder Girl is great. She’s pretty—that’s obvious, but she’s like the nicest girl in the school. She’d do anything for any of us and I think all of us will pretty much always be friends.”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

He shook his head, maybe a little regretfully. “Nah, she’s like my sister more than anything. Besides, she’s dating someone else.”

“Who?”

Robin just smiled and shook his head.

“Robin?” The teacher was looking concerned. “You and your friends are all minors—who looks after you? I don’t mean your parents, but when you’re working; who looks after you, makes sure you’re not injured or over your heads on some case? Who…takes care of you?”

He’d heard this one before, too. He’d heard all these questions before. “For starters we all have our own mentors. I have Batman and he keeps a pretty close watch over me. Like now, being sick—I almost didn’t get out of the house today. Kid Flash has the Flash, Speedy has Green Arrow; like that. Plus the entire Justice League makes sure we’re okay. If anything happened, like if anyone of us gets hurt they all pretty much scramble.” The kids in the class hadn’t thought about any of this, but it made sense. And having the JLA watching your butt? Was that cool or just too weird?

An oriental girl in the front: “What sort of crimes do you generally get assigned to? And, come to think of it, where do you get your authority?”

“I’m licensed by Interpol and I’m a full detective with the GCPD—Gotham City Police Department and I had to pass the police exam just like anyone else would. I usually work violent crimes. Sometimes I get assigned to vice.”

“Vice?” The teacher looked horrified.

“Yeah, it’s not that big a deal. I have a lot of backup and nothing really happens or anything. Batman kind of gets upset about that though, so I don’t do that all the time.”

“But how on earth do the police justify allowing a minor to be in a dangerous situation like the ones we read about? Joker? Two-Face? These men are homicidal maniacs! How is this allowed?”

He suppressed a sigh. This one—again. “Like I said, I’m a fully licensed and trained officer and have passed all the tests. And we all have back up on cases; the cops, the JLA. It’s not like any of us are out there on our own.” Or not all the time, anyway. The teacher seemed dubious. “Really, we’re watched pretty closely.”

A pause while everyone digested this then a heavyset girl over by the windows raised he hand. “Do you think you’ll keep doing this or…”

“Or is there something I want to be when I grow up? I have some ideas, but I don’t know what will happen with them.”

“What kind of ideas?”

Robin hesitated, debating about his answer. “I think I might like to go into my parents business, but that’s complicated. I guess for now this is pretty much it but it’s not something you can do forever.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some of the League guys are already complaining that they’re getting too old for this—you get wracked up a lot—and I can’t really see wearing spandex when I’m like fifty. Gross, y’know?” The kids laughed at that—someone like their math teacher in a leotard? Seriously gross.

“Would you stay in police work, though?”

Robin just shrugged. “I dunno—I’m still like fifteen. Ask me again in maybe ten years.”

The jock in the back: “What about rewards or just a paycheck? Don’t you get stuff for solving crimes sometimes?”

“Sometimes. I give the money to charity.”

“So you’re a rich kid, huh?” Robin said nothing. “You must be; all those things you guys have—the car, a helicopter, a boat and whatever else you have; you must be loaded.”

“I don’t really think my personal worth is any of your business.” It was said reasonably politely but had a definite ‘drop it’ vibe to it.

“Excuse me?” The foot-baller in the back looked insulted.

“It isn’t.”

“’You always this snotty?”

Robin just gave that small smile again, the one that said this wasn’t worth his time. “Any other questions?” The football guy stewed in the back, grumbling to himself and the kids beside him.

“Who’d’ya think’s the most impressive hero?” It was the skinny kid again.

“Superman.” This brought a laugh.

“Batman know you think that?”

“He pretends I’ll outgrow it and wise up.” He laughed and the students wondered if that had been a real conversation.

“Are there any members of the Justice League you think is a jerk?” Laughter.

Robin laughed himself and raised an eyebrow. “…No comment.”

Linda raised her hand. “Rob—do you ever think about competing in gymnastics? Like in the Olympics or something, I mean.” She half turned to the class; “He’s ranked in the top five worldwide and the US coaches are after him. I’ve seen him and he’s amazing.”

“I pay her very well.” Laughs. “No time.” There were some disappointed sounds in the room. “To do that and really do it right you have to assume at least four to five hours a day in a gym, six days a week with a top coach. Even if I had the time—which I don’t, I don’t care about medals and all that side of things. I just do it because I like to.”

Football guy: “Afraid you’ll lose?”

“No, just have more important things to do—well, other things to do, anyway.” This guy was starting to annoy him. “Besides, if I did enter, I’m not all that sure I’d compete for the US.”

“You’re not an American?”

“Yeah, I am, but there aren’t any rules that say you have to be a citizen of a country to be on their team. The Russians, the Romanians and the German coaches have all asked me to join them. I could go with any of them if I wanted, but like I said; I don’t have the time and don’t care about titles.” Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, moron.

The teacher glanced at her watch. “I think we may have time for one more question before the bell rings.”

Robin looked at the class, there were at least ten hands up; he picked a boy who hadn’t asked one yet. “Yes?”

“Oh—ah, how do you get to be, I mean—this is kind of stupid, but how do you get to do what you do?”

“You mean how do you get to be one of the sidekicks?”

“Ah, yeah—I guess.”

Robin actually sighed and then fought off another coughing fit with a long swallow of bottled water. “Sorry. Um, it helps if you know one of the members of the Justice League or one of the established heroes.” That brought some laughs; like how does someone manage that? “Most of us, the sidekicks, most of us either have some special abilities, like Speedy or Aqualad, or have some actual powers, like Supergirl. This isn’t really a requirement, but almost all of us come from some kind of broken home. That means we don’t have parents to tell us when to be home or to stop us.” There were murmurs of surprise.

“Are you?—from a broken home, I mean.”

“Well yeah—I just said I don’t live with my parents a couple of minutes ago.” Damn. “I can’t really talk about my own situation, but several of the sidekicks are orphans for one reason or another. The ones who aren’t come from families where there are other heroes already working so they just either grew up with it or sort of joined the family business.”

“How come all the secrecy? You’ve been fobbing off questions since you got here.” Football boy was still at it.

“Because if you knew my real name or where I live then it would get out. Obviously there are some serious bad guys who would like to stop us—I’ve had a price on my head from the mob since I was eleven— and besides, I do have a life outside of the spandex and would like to keep it. You not knowing where I go to school or anything let’s me do normal things like going to a movie with my friends without being part of a freak show.” Like, duh.

The class bell—a loud buzzer, sounded. The period was over. The teacher moved over to the desk. “I’d like to thank Robin for agreeing to come in this morning—it was fascinating and I’d like to tell you how impressed I am with your work.” There was the usual perfunctory applause from the students.

The students straggled out, some lingering—especially the girls—as Robin perched again on the edge of the desk, chatting, answering final questions, signing a few autographs and generally waiting to leave. He was exhausted from being sick and wanting to go home. “Linda? You think you can call my ride for me?”

“Still don’t feel good?” He nodded. He was pale and looked like he was ready for a long nap. “Okay, and thank you, Rob. I owe you for this.”

About twenty seconds later Kid Flash was there. “Ready?” He picked Robin up, fifteen seconds after that Dick Grayson was in the Manor, in his own bedroom. A hot shower would feel good, help him relax and fall asleep easier.

“Master Dick, if I may—the next time you feel the need to provide a favor to a friend of yours, I would appreciate your informing me first.” Alfred went into the bathroom, making sure the rack was set to heat the towels for when the boy got out of the water. By the time he walked back into the bedroom Dick was stretched out on the bed, asleep; the shower could wait. Quietly he turned off the shower, gently placed a comforter over the lad and closed the door behind him.

With any luck, and assuming he didn’t overdo like he had this morning, the young master should be back to normal in another month or so.

5/16/08

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