War On Justice: Robin

Dick Grayson awoke blearily, sitting in a plush chair in Wayne manor, a cozy fire roaring in the fireplace. The only issue was that he still in his Robin costume. The reason that this was a issue? The man Artemis and Zattana had reported during their adventure with Harm was sitting calmly in the chair opposite, calmly sipping an amber liquid from a glass.

His eyes seemed to dissect Robin as they stared at each other. Robin tensed slightly as he stood.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?"

The man cocked his head.

"The better question Robin, would be who. Are. You?"

the man held out both hands palm out as though weighing something.

"Robin, the boy wonder?"

Raising the left hand slightly.

"Dick Grayson, orphan of the flying Graysons, adopted by Bruce Wayne"

The man raised his right hand slightly as Robin shifted slightly.

"How do you know who I am?"

The man grinned widely, his milky white eyes glowing slightly in the light of the crackling fire.

"That is unimportant wouldn't you say, since I already know?"

Dick shook his head.

"I still want to know. It could be dangerous for me if you have a information route that others could use."

The man shrugged, and snapped his fingers, abruptly the figures of his parents, still dressed in their circus costumes shimmered into existence on either side of the man. They waved briefly, winked, and disappeared. The man looked at Robin, eyes glinting.

"That answer your question?"

Robin nodded dumbfounded, he leaned back into the chair he was sitting in as though punched in the gut, his breath leaving him in a single large gasp. The man nodded in satisfaction.

"Now that we have established my, credibility, shall we say. Let us move on to the meat of the issue at hand. I am an unquiet spirit. A ghost in more colloquial terms."

Robin almost scoffed at that. The man frowned disapprovingly at Robins reaction.

"I would have thought someone who has encountered genuine magic would be more openminded. It matters not."

The man shook his head as he ignored Robin and continued speaking.

"The afterlife is a finite creation."

Abruptly a glass of water was held in the mans hand.

"We gain new ghosts at a steady pace."

The glass began filling slowly.

"We also lose large numbers of ghosts in occasional spurts, wether its exorcisms, business being resolved, or murderers being brought to justice it usually happens in clusters."

The glass emptying in small spurts, all the while continuing to fill slowly as an equilibrium was reached at roughly halfway filled. Robin gazed at the half filled glass of water impassively, his eyes barely hiding his raging doubt.

The man sighed as he looked at Robin.

"You still obviously do not believe me. However, believe this."

The fire in the gray abruptly died, plunging the room into near darkness, the mans eyes providing the only source of light in the dark, smoldering with a bright yellow white like spoiled milk, and his voice as it slithered around the room was filled with the icy sibilant tones as the voice seemed to move around the room.

"Believe this, young hero, I will end you, your family, your friends, your team, and your mentor. And I will do so with the utmost ease. I will drive you mad with grief and sorrow until you beg for me to kill. You and your teams names will become synonymous with a gruesome, prolonged and ultimatly pointless death."

The voice wound its way to just behind Robin, as though the Man stood just behind him, whispering softly in his ear, despite the fact that the two softly glowing eyes in front of him had not so much as twitched the entire time.

"I tell you this so that you might avoid this fate. Retire. Cease any and all hero activities and the coming storm will pass you by relatively untempered. Do not, and well… I suppose this will suffice and as a demonstration."

Abruptly the Eyes lept forth toward Robin with an Almighty roar that left Robin waking with a scream and a lasting impression of large pointy teeth.

He woke to the metal ceiling of the watch tower, and the frantic beeping of machines as he thrashed in his bed, his heart pounding out of his throat, the covers strangling his attempts to win his freedom, limbs strangely weakened.

Batman, sitting outside and alerted by the commotion rushed and cursed as he saw his adopted son thrashing in his bed, screaming in terror.

"Robin, calm down!" Batman dogged the flailing limbs as he gripped Robin by the shoulders.

"Your safe!" Batman paused as Robin froze and looked him in the eye, and the look of utter terror in Robins eyes brought the caped crusader up short.

"Your wrong." He whispered harshly. "No one is safe from him."

Next Chapter: Arlington

Authors Note

Sorry for the short chapter. There was a malfunction in the word count that made me think it was 2000 words. Thanks go to Brother of Kane for pointing it out in a quick manner.

Next chapter Is way longer.