It was day six in Gotham City. The last performance would be that night, and then they would pack up and move on to another town. But for the time being, Dick had the day off to do whatever he wished.

Today, that entailed wandering around, talking with whoever would reply, and eating unhealthy food away from his mother's watchful gaze. He still didn't get how overprotective she was, but he supposed that was just what mothers did. Even if he was almost thirteen now.

He munched his caramel apple as he made his way to the animal tents. They always seemed to enjoy his company.

He strolled between the enclosures, stopping at each to greet his animal friends. For several, he had to hold his snack away from the hungry creatures inside to keep them from eating it and possibly getting sick.

Finally, he stopped at the tiger Kito's cage. It was presently relaxing in a pile of hay, dozing the afternoon away.

"Hey, Kito," Dick murmured as he let himself into its enclosure. The big cat opened an eye to look at him, then shut it again as the young acrobat sat next to him. 

"Big show tonight." Naturally, it didn't respond. Dick started to rub its soft hide. "You ready? You seem kinda tense."

Deep rumblings could be heard coming from deep in the tiger's throat as he stroked its fur. "Yeah, you like it. Admit it, you're a big softie."

"DICK!" his mother exclaimed from outside the cage. "What did I tell you about massaging the animals?"

"Not to. But they like it so much!"

"And one of these days one of them is going to be in a foul mood, and they're not going to consider that you don't have a thick fur coat to protect you like they do. Come out of there." She opened the door and waited expectantly.

"But mami..." he whined.

"No buts. Come out of there this instant. And what are you eating?"

xXx

Dick trudged along the lines of booths and tents, dragging his feet and generally sulking. Now he couldn't even eat his junk food.

He stopped by the entrance to the main tent, closed for now. What was he supposed to do for the next hour before setup?

"Hey!" a woman yelled. Dick turned and saw her looking angrily after a young man running with a purse. It didn't take long for Dick to put the pieces together.

He ran after the purse-snatcher, intending to simply catch up the simple way. But he quickly realized that running wasn't going to work. So he did what he did best.

He climbed on top of the booths, jumping from roof to awning to awning to roof. And he caught up.

He wasn't sure how he was going to actually catch the guy at first, but he had to do something. So he settled for a good old-fashioned tackle, rolling forward over the thief with his own momentum and landing on his feet with one hand on the ground to stabilize him. As the would-be thief groaned, Dick picked up the woman's purse and handed it back to her amidst the loud cheering of the growing crowd.

Ringmaster Haly clapped him on the back. "Nicely done, Dick." He turned to the gathered mass of people. "Dick Grayson, everyone!" Another roar of applause. Dick blushed furiously and ducked away to find his mother to prepare for the show.

xXx 

After the show, in which Dick had only done a few backflips to fill in gaps between performances, he was bored. Once the endorphin rush from catching the crook receded, he was left wanting it back. So he made the only decision that a reasonable young adrenaline-seeking fellow would. 

He decided to hit the streets.

He pulled on his gray hoodie as he snuck out of the trailer, heading to the nearby city, Gotham. The scummiest city on the coast. It couldn't be long before he found something to distract him.

"I-I don't have anything!" he heard a teenage girl, probably not much older than himself, saying as he drew near an alley.

"Well, that's just too bad, isn't it?" was the gruff reply.

Dick glanced down the alley and saw what was happening. A man was brandishing a gun in a brunette's general direction, clearly asking for money in an unfriendly way. Dick didn't like the sound of that.

"Don't you know that you're not supposed to point guns at people? You could hit somebody!" he quipped as he stepped into view.

"Who're you?"

A small grin spread itself across his face. "No one of consequence." 

Trying (poorly) not to laugh aloud, he kicked the gun out of the man's hand and planted his other foot in his gut. The mugger let out a whoof as he clutched his stomach in pain.

Dick grinned and turned to face the terrified teen. "You all right?" he asked.

She seemed about to respond, but suddenly pointed behind him and exclaimed, "Knife!"

The acrobat leaped aside just in time to avoid being stabbed by the switchblade the mugger was now holding. As the man swung over and over again, swiping at his abdomen, Dick realized something that would have been good to know before he'd left the safety of his trailer: he didn't actually know what he was doing.

Before he could be wounded, something flew out of nowhere and knocked the blade out of the would-be thief's hand. A second object knocked the mugger out. Dick looked where they seemed to come from and caught his breath.

A huge shadowy figure towered over him. All he could make out were two whites for eyes and pointed ears.

The figure turned to the girl. "Are you all right?" he asked in a terrifyingly deep voice. She nodded. "Go home. And try not to walk alone at night through these parts of town." She nodded again and ran off.

The looming figure turned its attention to Dick. He involuntarily flinched slightly.

"As for you, that was reckless. You could have been killed."

"I was doing just fine!" Dick protested.

"And that's why I had to intervene?" The teen glared at the ground. "You're untrained. You don't have any combat ability, and you were more of a hazard than a help tonight. This cannot happen again."

Dick shoved down his fear, knowing that it was exactly what the performance this masked man was putting on was meant to create. This intimidation was just another show. And Dick had seen his fair share of shows. 

He stared up at the imposing shadow. "What are YOU gonna do? What's going to keep me from coming out every night? What's stopping me from helping people like I suppose you think you are?"

The dark figure narrowed his eyes. "Me." The single word echoed around them, barraging Dick with its sound. He tried not to flinch again when the figure turned to leave.

He forced himself to speak. "What happens if you're not there?" That made the mysterious man pause. "I'm going to be a hundred miles from here in a couple days. What's to stop me from doing the same thing there?"

"This." Faster than Dick could blink, his right arm was in a vice grip, twisted almost to the point of breaking. His eyes were no more than half a foot from the man's as his shoulder popped out of its socket, and he cried out as waves of red-hot pain engulfed his arm. The man released him and he fell to the ground, clutching his arm and groaning in pain, holding back tears. The man walked away, leaving him to his misery.

As the pain started to subside, he picked himself up and hurried home to fix his arm before anyone noticed his absence.

Fortunately for him, the injury could be passed for an acrobatic blunder.