Behind the Mask

Chapter 8

“Well?” A whiny voice demanded.

“Penguin failed to retrieve the subject, sir.”

Grumbling.                               

“Sir?”

More grumbling.

“Um, sir?”

“What?”

“Well, um, I just-”

“Who’d you send out this time?”

“Um, no one sir-”

“Why not?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to switch tactics, because, you know, this isn’t exactly worki-”

“No, I do not. The boy’s in Gotham, is he not? It’s not like he’s hard to find.”

“Well, no sir, but-”

“Then why hasn’t someone caught him yet?”

“Well sir, he’s hard to catch. The Batman is always protecting him and-”

“Get him when he’s not with the Batman then.”

“You see sir, when he’s not with the Batman, he’s with the other sidekicks.”

“Then get him when he’s not Robin.”

“But sir, we don’t know who he is when he isn’t Robin.”

“Then find out! Must I really do everything for you?”

“Of course sir.”

“I must do everything for you?”

“N-no, no of course not.”

“Then why did you say ‘of course’?”

“I was saying ‘of course’ I’ll find out who he is when he isn’t Robin, sir.”

“Then why are you still here? Go!”

“Y-yes, sir.”

oOo

Dick Grayson was bored. It wasn’t a normal occurrence in the thirteen-year-old’s life, for which he was grateful, but today was one of the unfortunate occurrences. Batman was out with Green Arrow talking to Artemis Crock, as he’d learned her real name was (seriously, Artemis and Artemis?), and despite all of Robin’s pleading, he still wasn’t permitted to accompany them. So he was stuck at the manor, homework long finished, waiting on Alfred to finish cooking dinner and Batman to come back so they could head out on patrol. He could, of course, go out patrolling by himself, but some sort of sixth ‘Batman’ sense told him that his mentor wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about the idea.

Honestly, Dick couldn’t understand why the man was acting this way. He was being way more overprotective than usual and it was starting to get on Dick’s nerves. So far it had just been subtle things, like demanding that he stay back and keep lookout in a certain fight that he’d normally be allowed to fight in, or that he return from patrol early on some nights, but Dick could only assume that it would escalate. No doubt this behavior had something to do with the kidnapping attempts, but that didn’t make it any less odd. Dick and Robin had both been kidnapped multiple times and while Batman had been overprotective for a little while, it had quickly faded. This showed no signs of letting up. The Dark Knight even seemed to be doubting the Team and his protégé ability to work out of the safety of the Bat’s wing.

This better end soon, Dick growled to himself, pacing his bedroom. He had nothing better to do, really. He could train, of course, but wasn’t really in the mood, for some reason he couldn’t quite place. Normally with such free time, Dick would have called Barbara and meet up with her somewhere, but she was visiting her mom in Chicago, so that wasn’t an option. He couldn’t help thinking how pathetic it sounded that he really only had one friend he’d ever really hang out with. Sure, Wally knew his secret identity, but Bruce didn’t know he knew, so hanging out with him, while Bruce was around, was just asking for trouble.