Worst Case Scenario

Chapter 30: Inner Demons

He was in the stands. All around him people were cheering and laughing and having a good time. They didn't know what was going to happen. They didn't know that this act would end up as front-page news.

But Dick knew.

A thousand times he'd relived this memory, but never as vivid as this.

He was in the stands. He'd had a cold that day, and his parents had never wanted him to do netless work anyways. Too dangerous.

He wanted to run out of the tent and just run and run until he was as far away as possible, but he couldn't get up. He wasn't sure if it was him or something Psimon had done, but he had to see it again.

The act started off as rehearsed, with Mom and Dad leaping and flying through the air. As much as he was trying to avoid it, Dick couldn't help but feel a little thrill as he saw them dance in the sky. He was pretty sure that only someone like Superman or perhaps M'gann could truly understand the feeling of flying like that.

And then came the moment he'd been dreading.

The run started like any other. Dad looked down at him and gave a little nod, that everything was going to be alright.

Then they leaped from their perch, both grabbing onto the large trapeze at once.

The force of both of them at once was too much for the already weakened safety clasp.

The left rope came loose from its hold on the ceiling. Mom fell first, and screamed.

In slow motion, Dad, holding the other rope with his right hand, grabbed her wrist and held on with superhuman strength.

For half a second, everything was going to be okay.

Then the other rope came loose.

For everyone else in the audience, it was fast. Not for Dick. His mind had been going over every little detail of this memory for years, and had been running at hyperspeed when he recorded it. His mother's eyes locked with his for a split second, but it seemed like forever. He could see her trying to be calm, for him, but there was fear in her eyes as well.

And then they hit the ground.

That day's circus had ended right then. The audience cleared out, all heading back towards their normal lives. Eventually they would start to forget.

But Dick didn't have a normal life to go back to. He stood on the circus floor and stared at them. He knew he shouldn't look at them like that, but he couldn't stop. Only when the police were cordoning off the area did Mr. Haley appear and force Dick to leave, hand on his shoulder.

As they walked out of the tent, Dick knew what had happened at this point. He had looked up in the empty stands and seen one man who hadn't fled the scene.

Bruce Wayne hadn't left, even when the other members of his party had. He had simply stayed and stared. Dick had at first hated him, for watching his parent's bodies like they were cheap entertainment or part of some sick fantasy. Until Dick had realized where Bruce's eyes had been.

They'd been on him. The entire time.

Dick looked up in the stands, where he knew Bruce would be. Where he'd been for the thousand times Dick had replayed this memory. A man was standing there, brown robes resting around him.

Psimon simply stood, and smiled.

Dick tried to lunge at him but found himself tumbling forward into the ground.

Instinctively, he rolled and came up on a concrete rooftop.

Looking down at himself for a second in shock, he realized he was wearing the Robin costume. He looked back up just in time to dive out of the way of a punch.