How To Guess a Robin's Identity

Meeting Martian Manhunter

The second time Robin was allowed in the Watch Tower was for training. Apparently he needed to work more on mental training seeing as so many super powered criminals were capable of mental attacks instead of/alongside physical attacks and he needed to be able to defend himself (Batman had given him several lectures on the topic). And who better to train him then Martian Manhunter himself?

It was about a month after his last visit when Batman beamed them both up. Robin could only look around the place as he was taken on a tour around the Watch Tower. He hadn't gotten one last time - he'd seen about three rooms - the Justice League's Headquarters was everything he thought they would be and more. He practised schooling his face like Batman had taught him, hiding his awe and wonder from everyone but Batman (he couldn't hide anything from him - yet). His favourite place by far however was the training room.

It had everything a circus ninja loves. Plenty of shadows around the edges (perfect for hiding in), a target range, punching bags, easy access to the vents and even to his joy a trapeze. This was one of several training rooms in fact but this was the best one in his mind.

Batman only gave him a tiny smile down at him and continued walking towards the target range.

Robin had to run a bit to catch up with his mentor having gotten distracted exploring the training room. He took a mental note to have a go on the trapeze the next time he was at the Watch Tower, he missed being able to fly properly. Running across the rooftops fighting bad guys was thrilling but a different feeling to being on a trapeze.

Behind the target range there was a small door. The door was semi-hidden, not obvious on first glance but noticeable when you knew it was there. Robin followed his mentor through the door, not having to duck unlike Batman - sometimes it was good to be small. The room on the other side was small but bright. It held two sofas, a red one and a green one sitting opposite each other, with a small blue mat in the middle.

Martian Manhunter sat on the mat facing away from the green sofa, back parallel to the red sofa but not touching. Batman nodded a greeting to him before patting Robin reassuringly on the shoulder and moving over to a small chair in the corner that he hadn't noticed on first inspection. Robin was thankful for that, Batman was a reassuring presence even hidden away in the corner and he hadn't exactly been looking towards this training. Being in the Watch Tower again - yes, but actually having someone invade his mind and have to defend it - no.

"You must be Robin, it is nice to finally meet you." Martian Manhunter said sincerely waving a hand telling the little Bird to sit down opposite him. Robin moved over to do so, mimicking the older hero and keeping a straight back, legs crossed.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you too. Martian Manhunter, right?" Robin asked. He was already pretty sure he knew the answer - why else would he be here otherwise? The whole point of being here was for mental training with said hero. Still it felt polite to actually ask and Alfred had drilled politeness into him.

"Yes, but you may call me J'onn."

"Thanks J'onn." Robin nodded, hands twitching and fidgeting nervous.

"Let's get started then shall we. I will try to get into your mind and I want you to try and imagine some kind of barrier to stop me. I will be gentle initially and we will see how you progress. Tell me if you would like a break at any moment. " J'onn explained.

Robin nodded in reply then closed his eyes and got ready. He wasn't sure closing his eyes would actually help but it felt like the right thing to do in the situation. Moments later he could feel the Martian's presence enter his head. Like he said it was gentle and prodding, he could feel him trying to get through and seek out information. He braced himself and tried to think of something to defend himself. What did the Martian say? Try and imagine a barrier. An idea struck and he tried to imagine a ticket booth like they had at the circus and a wall going all the way around blocking the Martian's entry, sheltering his thoughts from attackers. The circus was a comforting memory mostly, it had been home for his whole life and could easily picture it as a defence.

Slowly he could feel J'onn trying to prod further in an attempt to break through. Picking up in force when he didn't get anywhere. Robin gathered himself, the mental strain was taxing at the minute but it was working. He felt J'onn gather himself back before launching a final attack all at once - Robin's defences shuddered but mostly held.

Eventually the Martian backed down, leaving Robin mentally exhausted. He was really hopeful that mental defences like that got less taxing the more he practised, he wasn't sure he could hold up against an actual attack or for longer periods of time.

"You did brilliant for your first attempt. You need to practise more which will enable you to maintain your defences without as much concentration or strain." The Martian praised his young student. Batman offered a secret smile at his protégé before leaving the room, explaining that he had been called away but would be back shortly. Martian Manhunter dragged Robin's attention back to him. "Are you ready to go again?" Robin took a deep breath, mentally readying himself before nodding.

A minute later he had the barriers back up as Martian Manhunter was on the offence again. Everything was going well until he started focussing too much on the details of the booth, allowing memories to distract him from maintaining the defences. The moment of distraction was all that was needed for J'onn to slip into his mind. As always with his memories, he could only focus on the good memories of the circus before it led back to the night where everything went wrong.

Usually he could stop his thoughts before he got to it, he'd had plenty of practise trying not to think about it, but with the Martian in his mind he could not stop the memory playing out clearly in his mind. He still noticed every detail; the sudden silence of the tent, the thud as the bodies hit the ground, the deafening screams and him, a small boy begging for his family to wake up.

It had been nine months since the accident and he still had nightmares.

Robin pulled his hand into a fist and focussed on pushing out the invader and ending the memory. Martian Manhunter was forced out of his mind with enough force to make him sway back. Robin hunched up on himself, knees pulled up to his chest as he took long shuddering breaths. He was trying desperately to stop the tears threatening to fall.

"Are you ok?" J'onn asked unsure what to say, he didn't really have much experience with small children. He looked towards the door, hoping desperately that Batman would return, as he would know how to comfort his young protégé.

Robin nodded, still trying to control his breathing, hands clutching his cape, pulling it around him like a safety blanket. It took a few minutes to calm himself, he took a final deep breath before uncurling himself, and pushing himself into position - leaning against the sofa now though (he wasn't sure he would be able to keep himself sitting up otherwise).

"Do you wish to continue?" He asked uncertain.

"Yes please." Robin's reply was in a small voice. It would give him something else to focus on.

Slowly they tried again until Robin could get his barriers up instantly and worked on keeping them up for longer periods of time. The student and teacher didn't even realise two hours had gone by until Batman came back through saying it was time for Robin to go home.

Robin nodded and pulled himself up only wobbling once as he reached his feet. He turned to leave but not before turning once more to J'onn.

"Thank you Uncle J'onn." His quite voice left a warm feeling in the Martian's stomach. He started to reply only to find the Dynamic Duo had already disappeared. He shook his head slightly, he really should have expected that from the pair.

And that was the first time Robin met Martian Manhunter, but not the last. The lessons continued, fairly irregular due to both being very busy. Robin was determined to practise and get his shield up so that he would be able to defend himself if ever necessary. It helped that Martian Manhunter had mentioned the possibility of strong defences helping with his nightmares.

But despite everything Robin knew his Uncle J'onn would always be there for him when he needed him, despite never really having talked about what he had seen in his memories. It helped that his calm stance and peaceful attitude (when outside the battlefield) made him less of a target for Robin's pranks as he grew up (unlike Green Arrow and Flash who were easy targets - especially when Kid Flash and Speedy were around to help him). And J'onn was happy to have helped the young hero defend himself.