Dick lost track of time as he remained on his knees in the nonstop rain. He continued to sob while his mind spiraled to the sound of rain droplets hitting the ground.

Too many bad things were happening as a result of his carelessly and naivety. He wasn't even over the events of his first mission and now he had more complicated feelings to deal with. It felt like he could hardly breathe before something heartbreaking struck in his life.

Oswald- oh gosh, he thought he could trust Oswald more than anyone. His Ozzie... no, he wasn't Ozzie anymore. Dick had been stripped of the privilege to call him that. The man was Penguin now.

Dick didn't understand why Penguin reacted as badly as he had. Yes, Dick kept a secret from him, and he had every right to be mad, but the level at which it reached? Dick never thought Penguin would have looked at him which such disdain. He had always known Penguin was temperamental. He hadn't cared. It was a facade- partially, at least. Well, that's what Dick had thought. Just as he thought that Penguin had begun to change; to become more trusting. Maybe even kind.

Dick had never once believed Penguin was the monster everyone accused him of being.

He had been a fool.

Now Penguin knew about Robin's identity. Gosh. That meant that Batman's identity was revealed, too. If Penguin had enough of a brain to put the obvious pieces together, that is.

Bruce had warned him about Penguin, he really had! So had Selina and Doctor Thompkins. Why hadn't he listened!?

He knew why. Because he was so blinded by his ideologies of friendship that he had shoved logic and loyalty for his family aside. Perhaps Oswald had been right in that sense. It was stupid. Childish.

Penguin was a criminal. And not just any criminal- a mobster. Dick had known from the first day they met that he was dangerous. He'd killed a man! Though it had been a henchmen doing the work nor had Dick actually seen the act being committed, Penguin admitted to being the one to make the order.

Then he had the nerve to make Dick believe it was... okay? He had given a speech about revenge that made Dick conflicted, unsure of what morals were right or wrong. He knew that Dick didn't like it but tried convincing him anyways!

Then Dick began lying for him. He lied so much for him. It pained him the more he did it. Whether it was to sneak off and meet up him, or to text him behind Bruce's back. Oh, Bruce. Dick felt terrible for choosing Penguin over him. Why did he ever think that was okay? He had been right all along. Penguin was dangerous, unpredictable, and... a bad influence on him.

It took him screaming and threatening to kill him to get Dick to realize it.

And as terrible as it sounded, he was glad it happened.

Dick sniffled as he weakly got up from the soaked ground. He looked down at his wet self. He was still mad at his himself; he had acted so foolishly. But... he was beginning to acknowledge that Penguin deserved to be mad at, too. Penguin wasn't a good person. And Dick... he was just a kid. He had made a mistake.

And now he learned his lesson. The hard way. As usual.

Dick, still getting wet in the rain, blearily searched for Ivy at the spot she said she'd wait for him at. She was nowhere to be seen.

She left me, Dick thought quietly. He would've been devastated if he still cared. After Penguin's stunt, he'd be unsurprised if Ivy was the same way. If all... villains were the same way.

The word villain made him wince.

Though Dick was already drenched head to toe, he didn't want to walk back to Selina's place alone in the rain. He also wanted to give his teary face time to get back to normal. He found refuge from the cold rain under the roof of a nearby plaza store.

"Pzz, Boss! Erm- I mean Dick," a voice whispered from Dick's right. The boy turned his head. He saw no one.

"Will?" Dick asked weakly.

"Over here," the voice called out. The voice was coming from one of the stores in the plaza. It looked like a storage place, actually. Dick rubbed his eyes and looked more closely. Then he noticed curly hazelnut brown hair sticking out from a door with bright, green eyes peeking out, encouraging Dick to come.

Oh, why not? It's not like I planned on leaving anytime soon.

Dick got up from the bench and quickly entered the building with William. The teenager locked the door immediately after Dick was in. Before said boy could raise a brow, the other gang members ran from a room somewhere down the hallway and bombarded him.

"Boss, you're soaking wet! Do you want my jacket?"

"I can get you a towel if you like!"

"We heard you were crying, Boss!"

"Who made you cry? We'll beat their butt so hard!"

Will jumped in front of Dick and put his arms in front of him to shield their boss and push the others away. "You're all up in his face! Quit it."

They froze and took several steps back.

"We're sorry, Boss," a meek boy said quickly.

Dick stared for a few seconds but blinked away his surprise and shook his head. "It's okay. It's sweet that you all care. Um, if one of you have a towel that you're okay with letting me use, then I'd really appreciate it."

"Of course!" One of the gangsters exclaimed before running off to fetch the item. Will moved out of the way, seeing that the others were in check.

"Thanks for allowing me to be here. It's much better than being out there in the rain," Dick said to them all. "Do you guys own this place or something?"

Will offered an unsure smile. "Um, well, no... we just borrowed the key from some guys who rented the place out. We only have a day to stay. But if you want it, we can find a way to keep the place!"

"No, no, no! It's okay, I was just wondering!" Dick immediately explained while waving his hands wildly. "You guys don't have to go out of your way to do everything I ask. Honestly," he sighed, "I don't think it's a good idea that I be your Boss."

The gangsters cried out their protests.

"I just... I can't lead you guys if I can barely lead myself," Dick admitted.

The teenager that had left earlier returned with several small towels in his hands. He handed them to Dick. "I could only find hand towels from the bathroom, Boss. I hope it's good enough."

"It's perfect. Thank you," Dick said with a grateful smile. He began drying himself up while the gang members watched.

Will leaned on a box besides him. "That's why you should be our boss, Dick! You're nice to us. You treat us like equals! We've never had a boss like that before. When you gave us a punishment, it wasn't harsh, and it was to help the city by cleaning litter!"

"Plus, you're a meta so you can protect us!" Another person added.

Dick shook his head. "No.. that's not true. When I "fought" your boss, I didn't actually fight him. I don't have powers. We just ate something from my bag that knocked him out. I'm sorry. I can't protect you with any powers."

They stared at him in shock.

A tall teen spoke up. "Oh. But... but when that crazy lady came, you told us to run. You fought her and did protect us. Even if you don't have powers, you're still a good boss!"

"Yeah, even if you're younger than us, we believe that we can learn from you!" Said another gangster.

Dick observed them with his eyebrows drawn together. "Could you guys tell me... why you're in a gang? Why not be in school right now? Why did you guys steal with your old boss?"

The gang looked at Will to speak. It seemed like he was the spokesperson of the group. "Well... we..." he hesitated, taking a moment to swallow and come up with the right words. He glanced at his peers, and they offered a small nod of approval and encouragement. "We all struggle with money. We have for the longest time. Some of our parents are dead broke, and some of our parents are just plain dead. It's hard to find a job that pays you right, and it's hard to have a job while you're in school. So... we decided to take the easier path. The one that'd ensure us the most money. And that's working for Two Face."

Dick's blue eyes widened, though he didn't interrupt.

"That's how we all met," Will continued. "It wasn't that bad at first. Two Face gave us an order and we did it. It sure paid well. Or at least better than the shitty jobs around our neighborhood. But then the tasks went from bordering the area to threatening people with knifes and guns to making those threats a reality. It was bad. We never... we never wanted to do those things. But we needed the money, and we became too scared to quit.

"Then one day we decided to run away. It was too late, though. We had already committed terrible crimes. We had the police and Two Face on our tails. If we couldn't get a job before, well, now we really couldn't. So we made our own gang. No one took us seriously, though. We were just a bunch of teenagers. Then our old boss came along. He was older and super strong. He agreed to lead us if we shared our profits with him. We shared whatever money we stole with him, and had to give him most of the valuables we took. It sucked at times but at least we managed to stay in our feet. Got enough money to feed ourselves and few relatives."

"But then I took him down and became your new boss," Dick said quietly.

Will nodded. "We were scared of you because of how easily you took down our boss despite your size. And we have a set of rules that state that whoever takes down our leader can become our new leader. But then we decided that it could be a good thing. No one would expect a kid to be able to beat them up. Then you made us clean up litter and it was refreshing to do something good for once. And since you're our boss, we're hoping that you can help guide us. Please, Dick, remain our boss, and us help ourselves without hurting others."

The raven haired boy smiled sadly at them. Of course he'd help them. They wanted to change for the better. How could he say no to that?

If only Penguin had wanted to change...

Well, if he doesn't want to change, then he doesn't deserve my help or friendship! Dick thought confidently. Yes, Dick would only have faith in people who were willing to change for the better for now on.

"I'd love to," Dick answered sweetly.

The gang smiled brightly at him. It warmed his heart to see the anxious expressions shift to hopeful ones.

"My name is Dick Grayson. You all can call me that instead of 'Boss' all the time," he announced to the group. "I have lots of resources that can easily get you a good paying part time job. But first I need you all to try going to school. At least once or twice a week. It can be in cycles. You all can take turns so some of you will be in school while the others are working. You all can still be a gang and do gang stuff, but I don't want you guys stealing or threatening people anymore. There are other ways to get money by being a gang."

"How?" Someone asked, slightly skeptical.

"Offer protective services. Protect people from other gangs," The gang leader explained, a shimmer of excitement dancing in his eyes. "You can help others out while helping yourselves. Would you guys like the try it out?"

The teenagers watched him with amazement.

"That sounds amazing, B- Dick!" A starry-eyed gangster exclaimed.

"Are you rich or famous or something?" Will questioned.

Dick smirked. "Maybe..."

Another gangster hesitantly questioned, "so, um.. about Penguin?"

Dick's smirked quickly fell. His gaze dropped to the ground below him.

Will dared to rest a hand on the boss's shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to tell us."

"And if you do tell us, you can trust us with anything," a red headed teen assured.

"We won't judge," someone in the group said.

Dick brought his eyes back up to them. He straightened his spine and nodded. "Alright. So I've known Penguin from ever since I'd been in Gotham. AKA for several months, almost a year now. And... I've kept a secret from him. Today I told him about it, and he.. he completely exploded on me. He said some mean things and- and our friendship totally ended." The boy bit his lip. "I thought he was changing. I tried to help him become a better person. But I was wrong. He's still as bad as he was when I met him. I just never realized it."

Upon noticing the gang's solemn faces, Dick narrowed his eyes with determination. "I learned from it, though. I don't need Penguin. Not anymore. And I won't let him get to me, no matter how hard he or my brain tries."

An Asian boy cracked his knuckles. "You go, Dick! You're strong without him, and now you even got us! If you ever want us to teach him a lesson on respecting our boss, just give us the word and it's done!"

The others cheered.

Dick laughed. "Got it. And remind me never to mess with you guys." Then he remembered how Penguin knew his identity. "But seriously, there's a problem. Now that he knows my secret, he might tell others. This is bad. Oh gosh.."

"Blackmail him," Will suggested.

Dick blinked. "Hmm?"

"Yeah," a teen with a crazy mohawk said. "Find our one of his secrets and say that if he spills your secret, you'll spill his."

It was a dirty trick, but Penguin was no longer his friend but rather his enemy. Dick would treat him as such.

"Nice idea," Dick complimented. "Thanks, I think I'll do just that."

How long have I been here for? He remembered.

His eyes widened. "Um, so now that I'm dried up, and the rain seems to have stopped, I'm gonna head out. I kinda forgot about the time. But let's come up with a meet up spot. And next time we meet up, I want to learn your guys' names."

Noticing how Dick was suddenly in a rush, he quickly took the hand towels out of the boy's hands. "Uhh... let's meet up at-"

Hard pounding at the door interrupted him.

The gang took out their weapons at once.

Dick out his hand up in warning. "Let's see who it is first," he insisted. Will hesitantly obeyed and unlocked the door before opening it.

A group of about nine men stood menacingly outside.

"Shit!" Will breathed as he hurried to close the door but a large, muscular man held onto the opened door. He grinned as his gaze pierced through Dick's.

"Give us the boy," the man ordered.

The gangs got in front of Dick protectively and defiantly, their weapons ready to be used at any second.

"No! Back off! We won't hesitant, Bitch!" A gangster hissed.

"We aren't interested in starting a fight," a member of the opposing gang stated, "but if you don't give him to us, we will start one, and we will win."

Dick gently pushed through his gang, who watched him with worry for his safety evident in their eyes.

"Let's talk. Why do you want me? And who are you?" Dick began.

"That's part of Two Faces gang!" Will answered before they could respond.

Now that Dick could get a good look at them, he realized he was right. He recognized most of the people there. They had just been at Penguin's club, talking to the man himself.

One of the gang members took out a hand gun and aimed it at Dick. "Enough chit chat. The punk knows Penguin. Real well by the looks of it. Two Face would love to get a good look at this one."

Dick sharply inhaled but held his ground. "I'm not interested. Leave."

The man laughed and merely took a spent forward, still armed.

"Dick, be careful!" His gang warned, ready to leap at any second.

The boy simply exhaled silently, tired of people refusing to handle their problems peacefully. Refusing to talk things out. He's had a long day. He kicked the gun out of the man's hands before anyone could blink, and pushed him backwards, towards the members of the enemies' gang. They stumbled outside, taken by surprise.

"Grab the gun," Dick rapidly but quietly and calmly ordered someone in his gang. "Two take down the ones on my right and another two to the ones on my left. I'll handle the rest. The others stay back and stay alert."

The gang took a second too long to comprehend the command, but they ran outside and went straight to action.

Dick didn't need any weapons to fight, and he was glad for it. While four teens on his side dealt with some of the men, Dick was beating the other's butts. He couldn't help but cackle mischievously.

Then he caught the glint of metal in the light in the side of his eye. "Don't shoot!" He yelled to one of his gangsters who was aiming a gun at the enemy. The boy went wide-eyed at the order, but too late- his finger was already pulling the trigger.

A loud boom echoed the plaza, making everyone pause and stare.

Dick ran up to the injured man who had just fallen on the ground and inspected his injuries. He was bleeding heavily, hot red blood soaking his clothes already. "Take deep breathes, don't panic," Dick instructed.

The boy who had made the blow whimpered. "I'm sorry!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, one of Two Faces gangsters grabbed the back of Dick's shirt and carried him up from the ground. He put a gun to his head.

"Dick!" Several gangsters screamed.

The man flashed an ugly grin. "I told you all that you wouldn't win. You pathetic-"

A plant from the ground below them shot up and wrapped itself around the man. The gangster said, "eh?!" Before the plant tightened enough to kill within seconds. The man immediately let go of Dick and pulled at the plant, unable to breathe.

Dick didn't give himself time to recover. He scanned the plant and looked around his surroundings. "Ivy, you'll kill him! Stop!"

The plant slowly slackened, but only enough to let the man heave for air. From behind him, the green female walked up to them.

Dick turned to the gang members on his side that remained indoors. "Get those towels and bring them here now!"

Two gangsters snatched the materials and dashed to Dick to give it to him. Dick took them and pressed it against the wound.

"Here- you could putting pressure while I call an ambulance," The leader told the boy who had shot the man. The boy complied without question. The towels began to quickly become a wet, dark shade of red.

As Dick took his phone as dialed the three digits, Ivy eyed the dying man with disgust. Disgust that Dick had never seen on the metahuman's face before. "You should let him die." her eyes darted to the man still trapped by her plants. "Along with the other foul man that I could've easily ended. They wouldn't have spared you, Dick." She then glanced at the other men who were unconscious on the wet ground, her upper lip twitching into a small sneer.

Dick first told his location and a very brief explanation of what happened into his phone and hung up. He looked up at Ivy. "No, that'd make us as bad as them. Besides, we don't know what Two Face does as punishment for failure."

He turned to his gang and exhaled. "Well, the police and ambulance will be here soon. So you guys should probably head out. Thanks for everything."

All of the gangsters, save for the one putting pressure to the man's wound, surrounded Dick. They tried not to stare at Ivy, though it was very hard.

"No problem, we're glad we could help," one said, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Call us anytime you need us," another insisted.

Will smiled, his forehead glistening with perspiration. "You did a good job leading. You're a quick thinker and even better fighter. It doesn't matter if your a meta or not. You're already super cool."

The other nodded and murmured their agreements. 

"Well, I don't know when I'll you guys again but when I do I'll learn your names and hopefully help you guys," Dick said.
I really have to head out now, though."

"Of course," Will said," but first, group fist bump?"

They all stuck out a hand and brought it to a fist. Dick replicated the action. Then they brought him in their circle instead of being in the middle of it, and fist bumped the middle. They cheered.

Ivy stifled a bored yawn.

Dick said goodbye again and left them at last before the police came. The only ones who remained were the unconscious and trapped men and the teen aiding the injured man.

"I have so many questions," Ivy Informed as they walked back to Selina's place. Thankfully the rain had stopped a while again and it was now getting sunnier. "Maybe I should start with asking why your absolutely soaked?"

Dick couldn't help but glare at her. Of course he didn't put his heart into it. "I can thank you for that. Where did you go?! I looked for you but you were gone!"

Ivy returned the sharp look. "Waiting out in the rain isn't exactly the most entertaining activity. I walked away to do something. It was only for a few minutes. I didn't think you'd come out so early."

The nine-year-old's face softened. "Oh."

"Something went wrong didn't it?" Ivy asked. "Well, I'm talking about Oswald specifically. I can tell whatever you were doing with those teenagers went very wrong. It's in my list of things I'm going to ask you if you couldn't tell."

Dick's blue eyes trailed on the sidewalk that they were on. They threatened to gather with tears but he blinked them away. He no longer wanted to waste tears on Penguin.

So he told Ivy just about everything. He explained what happened in the Iceberg Lounge. He explained that he'd met the gang before and that they'd made him their boss. And he explained how the Two Face's gang came along and tried to take him because of the relationship they suspected he had with Penguin.

The walked a few blocks without talking until Ivy said at last, "What are you going to do about Oswald knowing you and Batman's identities?"

"I might blackmail him. Or I'll just ask Bruce what I should do. I just hope he isn't too mad," Dick said.

The botanist's green eyes looked away from the boy's, not sure what to say. She eventually commented, "Bruce cares a lot about you. He wouldn't react the same way Oswald had. Never."

A part of Dick felt reassured by that.

"You know," Ivy added, "when you're in a tough situation, you sure mean business. You switch from that silly kid to a mature hero. I think you'll make a good leader one day."

Dick looked at her in awe, not believing his ears. "Really?"

The female nodded slightly and offered a gentle smirk. "Penguin better watch out, because he just lost a good ally and friend."

In that moment, Dick decided she was right. He was capable of a good hero. He shouldn't let anyone underestimate him ever again. He wanted Penguin to regret everything he said with a passion.

He just needed to rise up after he fell.

Robin needed to rise up.

And though he said it would never happen again- he had thought so deeply about it that it followed him in his dreams- he wanted Robin to return.

And he wanted Robin to kick. Penguin's. Butt.