Black Dahlia || Dick Grayson [Titans] ✔️

HURRICANE

Present Day

"That's kind of fucked up to call the person who just saved your life, don't you think?"

I stared up at him, dumbfounded and annoyed. He was clearly dressed as Robin but he wasn't my Robin. He was at least a quarter of a foot shorter, his hair was more tamely styled, his build significantly slighter. The outline of his face was sharper edges and his voice was an octave higher than I was used to.

He saved me, but I had no fucking idea who he was.

"Who the hell are you?" I grunted out, slowly twisting half away from him and sitting up. I rubbed at my sore throat and winced at the realization that tomorrow it was going to be an unflattering violet color.

"I'm Robin," he answered. "Who the hell are you?"

I laughed without any real humor, shaking my head at him and ignoring his question. "No, I know who you think you are. What I asked is who you really are? Because I know the real Robin and you're not him."

"Then you clearly don't know as much as you think you do, because I'm the one and only, baby."

My tolerance hit a low and without even thinking about it vines crashed through the high room windows and wrapped themselves around him, lifting him up so that his feet were dangling and kicking out at the air below.

"What the fuck?" he yelled out, his voice piercing in the silence of the room.

Up on my feet again, I brushed broken glass off of my clothes and inspected them disinterestedly as I went on speaking.

"I'm going to ask you again and one way or another you're going to give me an answer. I can respect the loyalty that Batman has instilled in you, if that's in fact who you were trained under. Otherwise, you're just another wannabe in cosplay who needs to stop ruining the good name of the boy wonder. So... who are you?" I spoke so calmly that I had to admit it unnerved even me.

But to his credit, the boy didn't crack. As much as it annoyed me, I could respect it.

"You can do whatever the fuck you want to me, my answer will still be the same. I. Am. Robin."

I glared up at him in silence only to find his icy eyes glaring right back at me. He'd stopped struggling against the vines and just hung there, waiting for whatever torture he was sure was about to follow.

Despite my thinly veiled threat, I couldn't bring myself to do anything to him. I still wanted answers and god knows it wouldn't have been my first terror session, but I couldn't do it to him. Between the authenticity of his suit and the ferocity with which he claimed the crime fighting alias, I was 98% sure that he was of Batman's tribe.

Maybe he was Robin; a new one to replace Dick after he went AWOL. It didn't have to mean anything bad had happened to Dick. If it had, I'm sure I would've heard something about it somewhere. There was no way Bruce Wayne would have a funeral for his adoptive son without it being in the news somewhere. I had to hold on to that; I didn't want to think about it otherwise.

"Well, hon, if you aren't going to torture the answer from the boy then I suppose I'll have to," an unexpected and British male voice broke the silence from across the room. Lightning struck just outside a window, lighting up the room long enough to reveal a tall man with a scruffy chin and short brown hair staring us down from near the stage. He wore a long dark trench coat over dress clothes and looked like he'd pointedly stood under the downpour taking place outside for at least an hour. He was leaning against the wall as if he'd been there all along. Doused into darkness again, I heard him snap his fingers before electricity sprang from them and acted as a flashlight illuminating him. "Though I can't promise he'll survive."