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Dick found out from Kori – not Bruce – Kori. He couldn’t even say the news surprised him. Ex-sidekicks don’t need to be caught up in the important news: a new Robin, a dead Robin, a Robin beat half to death by the old-new Robin.
He hacked the batcomputer as soon as the words came out of Kori’s mouth.
Tim alone in the tower.
Jason in his old suit.
“You can’t be that good…
“I bet he said the same thing to you that he said to me, didn’t he? That you had the talent to make a difference in Gotham. That he needed someone he could trust in his war on crime. That you were one of a kind. The light to his darkness. Robin, the Boy Wonder.”
Dick rewatched the footage so many times that he memorized the words. He mouthed along with Jason. He flinched before the punches made contact. He came up with quips that he wished he could shove back at his younger brother.
Anything to lessen the pain of not being able to be there.
Bookworm Jason Todd always knew how to weaponize his words. Even with his bright smiles and laughs as Robin, words were always his first line of defense.
Dick hated it.
At that point in his life, he lived with Bruce for almost ten years, and he never learned how to use his words as well as his actions. Quips were one line of defense – a distraction for the enemy, but punches always conveyed his anger better than any prose. Laughter could convey his happiness better than any compliment. He and Bruce always held that in common.
Dick never got the chance to mourn his loss of Robin and accept Jason. He never got the chance to put his feelings into words. The boy died too soon.
Now, he arose, spitting the words that Dick wished he could say years ago. He was supposed to be ‘one of a kind.’ He was Bruce’s ‘light to his darkness.’ Robin was the name his mother gave him.
Jason didn’t deserve his argument.
And Tim…
“No one could forget you. I spent my career wearing this mask under your shadow.
“I had to convince Batman to let me try this. All because he’ll never stop blaming himself for what happened to you.
“You ask me, that’s the only reason he hasn’t taken you down. He’s holding back. But me? No freakin’ way.”
Bruce didn’t deserve Tim. Dick regrets not telling him to run as soon as he told him about his identity. The child wouldn’t have listened anyway.
The kid built a god complex. Not an egotistical one – no, Tim needs to hold the world on his shoulders. He wants to ‘fix’ Bruce. He wants to live up to the name of a ‘perfect’ Robin. He needs to prove himself.
His goals aren’t achievable because they don’t exist; Dick can’t put the words together to tell him that.
Dick wonders if Jason had ever thought like Tim.
Jason’s punches pounded down at the boy, crushing into his skull.
Dick would be lying if he said he hadn’t imagined doing that to Jason once – proving that no matter how much he failed in Bruce’s eyes, he was better than the replacement.
And Dick listened, for what seemed as though the millionth time as Jason said the words, “The whole idea of training a teenager to fight against something he’ll never eradicate is a mistake.”
Words Dick can’t argue with because he believes them himself. Bruce was dumb to take a child in the line of fire, but Dick would have done it anyway. The same can’t be said for Jason and Tim.
Crime fighting acted as the number one goal in Dick’s life since his parents died. That was his goal.
It should have never fallen on anyone else.
Jason beat Tim to the brink of death, but he wasn’t yet dead.
Titan’s Tower was built for Dick’s generation as a safe haven for teen heroes like himself. A place where they could bond. A place where one child didn’t have to worry about the weight of the entire world. A place for friends.
Would Tim have survived this attack without them? His body waiting for Kori and the rest of the Titans to find. Dick wasn’t sure he could lose another brother.
And Jason…
Maybe Jason wouldn’t have fallen so far if he had support – a brother to look up to, rather than a figurehead he felt impossible to replace. A team that could have lessened the burden that came with the Robin suit.
Dick created Robin to cope with the murders of his parents. He should have kept the childish ego locked up and caged the bird as soon as his mission was accomplished.
No other kid deserved to go through all he faced. Children should be kids first, not soldiers.