What?

Chapter Twenty-Four: Epilogue Pt. 2

The city lights began to shine brighter than normal to adapt to the absence of the sun. I sighed. The day had been long and not one that I was fond of in the slightest. It wasn't until about half and hour ago that things calmed down. Wintergreen had just patched up the side of my stomach and told me to relax. I was trying to relax, but my mind refused despite my injury.

Of course, I wasn't in the Haunt since it self-destructed. Instead, I was in a penthouse downtown that I had as a back up for any emergency situation. Only Wintergreen and I knew of the safehaven. Wintergreen was in the main room at the moment preparing something to eat. The smells were reaching my room, but I didn't care or bother to try to identify them.

I was tired, irritated, annoyed, and to put it lightly, angry. I soon threw away Wintergreen's advice to relax and got up from lying down on the bed. I walked around the room. All of my things had been brought out of the Haunt before its meltdown. I had programmed robots to take everything (other than furniture) in certain rooms if a meltdown ever occurred such as it did today. And my room was one of them. The items had been unpacked and placed around the room.

I walked around the room and found on the dresser the address book. I opened it up to find a small picture with a woman and two kids in it. They all smiled, but I couldn't smile back. I put the picture back inside and went over to the window. I put my hand in my jean pocket and leaned against the window. Outside was Titans Tower in obvious view. I clenched my teeth.

Yeah, I had lost the kid. Robin wasn't here. He was in that taunting Tower with those pathetic, useless friends of his. He had outsmarted me at my own game. "And I know how you hate to lose." He was right. I do hate it. My apprentice had gotten out of the deal in a way I had not foreseen or at least I had guessed that he wouldn't see it. I was wrong. The child was indeed a detective if I ever saw one.

While I may still be simmering over the loss, I will say this. I was right. Choosing Robin, he was the perfect apprentice. He performed above and beyond expectations. The last fight, I kept seeing myself in him. His fury, his rage, his determination, and his calculating attitude. All of it was impressive.

I kept staring at the tower as though I would burn a hole through it if I stared long and hard enough. Despicable thing. It may have not been inconspicuous like many headquarters of super heroes, but it did put a plain reminder out to every villain in view of what they were up against in this city. Knowing that Robin was back inside it was like a knife in my gut. He could have been so much more than a member of some team that I would make sure would someday disband.

It's interesting how when one doesn't choose to see things, that is the act that tends to undue all of one's work. Like Jor-El's plead on Krypton, the warnings are ignored. And I did it, too. I guess we are all guilty of it at one time or another. I focused so intently on coercing Robin into realizing that he could be so much that I forgot that I was opening the fortress to attack. I was... well, impressed...

-T-

I was reviewing Robin's performance at the Wayne Enterprises building. It was unfortunate that he had lost both the blasted and had not gotten the prototype, but I really didn't pay attention to that. I got an adrenalin rush from just watching. The boy was improving and fighting much better than I would have thought. Sure, he was holding back, or at least he was till the end. It was sad that he ended the fight just when things were getting good. He should be back around now. It wouldn't take that long since his muscles are probably numb.

"Thrilling," I was recording my analysis of his performance. I leaned back in my chair and continued, "My apprentice is progressing even faster than I had hoped. All he needed was a little motivation."