How To Guess a Robin's Identity

Mysterious Ball

"I'm fine, but have you guys noticed anything weird?" Artemis questioned looking around suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Conner asked confused, looking around at the surroundings, trying to spot what Artemis had noticed. He could just about see Artemis across the room from him and M'gann. They mad their way towards their teammate, who had abandoned Barbara in favour of hunting down her teammates. It only took a few minutes for the team to congregate at the edge of the ballroom, watching guests go by.

"There are a lot of heroes in their civilian identities." Artemis said. "There's both Green Lanterns and that's got to be Hawkwoman." She indicated subtly at Hal Jordan who was talking with John Steward and Shayera.

"Hey there's Uncle Barry!" Wally added.

"That's my uncle J'onn." M'gann spotted her uncle walking towards the refreshment table with a reporter, Conner Kent.

"That is my king Orin taking with Hawkman." Kaldur pointed out.

"Do you think this was all a trick and that they decided to test us? Or maybe they trust us enough to reveal their identities." Wally asked glaring at his Uncle, who didn't notice him.

"But that would mean people like that clumsy reporter Clark Kent and womanizer Oliver Queen were heroes." Conner suggested looking at the accused people.

"Hate to break it to you but Oliver Queen is Green Arrow and Roy, his ward, is Red Arrow." Artemis shrugged in her mind. Barbara had found her and dragged her away back into the mess of guests and she was struggling to keep up both conversations at the time. "And why would Barbara be here?"

"Maybe she's a hero." M'gann suggested. The rest of the team split up again, still trying to spot possible threats, but maintaining the group discussion.

"That might mean that Bruce Wayne was Batman." Conner added.

The rest of the team burst out laughing in their heads and even a few chuckles out loud drawing some weird looks from nearby guests.

"Sorry Conner but that's not likely. Have you see the man?" Artemis laughed.

"Hey Robin, you've been awfully quiet, do you have something to say?" Wally prodded his best friend. He was the only one on the team that knew Conner was spot on with his guess and couldn't help himself from messing with his friend, especially if this was a prank.

"Nah, just can't believe your theories. Bruce Wayne's an important guy, he funds a lot of League stuff in secret, him getting killed would be very bad." Robin cackled. He'd been enjoying the discussion greatly. Artemis's denial of Conner's (correct) guess had made him cackle out loud, drawing a raised eyebrow from his mentor.

Said mentor was moving through the ballroom towards the stage. "Now, I would like to thank everyone for coming and hope you are all have a relaxing and joyful evening." Bruce Wayne spoke up. He continued his speech (which the team only payed half their attention to), once he finished music started, interrupting the team's conversation.

"Would you excuse me, I think I see a friend." Barbara asked Artemis with a small grin on her face.

"Sure." Artemis replied still distracted with their theories. Barbara walked away, hiding a grin.

"Hey Boy Wonder, where are you?" Artemis asked.

"I saw a friend and we decided to catch up." Robin replied with a grin obvious in his voice.

"Wait they know you're Robin?" Wally protested.

"No, She knows my civilian identity and recognized me, I am just wearing sunglasses."

"So what are we even supposed to be doing?" Conner questioned looking suspiciously at Clark Kent who had just stumbled and poured wine all down himself.

"I am not entirely sure." Kaldur replied confused. "There does not seem to be any attacks. Try to enjoy yourselves but keep an eye out just in case."

"Hey Bruce." Robin - now Dick walked up to Bruce, who had been talking with Barbara.

"Hi Dick, how are things going? The team suspect anything?" Bruce turned to his ward and Barbara (who to a very select few people was known as the new heroine Batgirl. She was still mostly in training though, with only a few experiences on the streets).

"Nope, they got a little suspicious after Artemis pointed out the few heroes she knew, but Conner unknowingly directed them off that path. Hi Babs."

"Hi Wonder Boy. Your team is pretty obvious. I was taking to Artemis and it was pretty clear that she wasn't paying attention and she kept looking around for something." Barbara replied. "The team looks so confused it's funny. Are you ever going to get enough of teasing them with your identity?"

"Nope, it's just too much fun. I will tell them eventually though." Dick replied grinning.

"You two continue to look out and keep everyone distracted, I need to go check on Alfred." Bruce sighed before walking away, he didn't want to get between the two friends, he knew what trouble they could cause.

"That's Bruce for 'I need to get out of here'. He was probably embarrassed about Clark, I mean almost everyone here knows his identity, does really he still need to make a fool of himself?" Dick shook his head in an over exaggerated way causing Barbara to laugh.

"Come on Boy Blunder. We need to get back into the crowd to stop people, meaning the team, getting suspicious." Barbara ordered, already moving back towards the centre of the room.

"Yes Babs!" Dick mockingly saluted her before walking over to talk with Billy Batson AKA Captain Marvel in his ten year old form.

Later that day when the ball was (finally) over and the team had returned to the Mountain, most of them rushing to get out of their fancy clothes and dressed in normal clothes. Once they were more comfortable they met up with Batman who had come to debrief them.

"I am glad to see that nothing happened during the ball, the tip off must have been wrong. I am sure you all learnt a lot. I still expect your mission reports tomorrow though." Batman said in his deep voice. The team scattered taking that as a dismissal, moving away to relax after being on edge for the last few hours.

Robin stayed behind, waiting until everyone was out of hearing range. "Their faces were hilarious. Are you ever going to tell Wally that you never read his reports?" He laughed.

"I only read your report and Aqualad's. And on the rare occasion the others. Wally's never makes any sense." Batman replied shaking his head gently at his son.

"Come on let's go home, you have training and patrol tonight." Batman continued turning to leave.

"Actually, can I stay here for a little bit longer? Just an hour, to see what they think. Please." Robin begged giving the Dark Knight seal eyes, that worked even behind the mask.

"Fine." Batman sighed. "But only an hour."

"Thanks B, see you later."

"Hey guys, Bats allowed me to stay for another hour." Robin smiled as he entered the main room where his friends sat.

"Great! Hey Bro, I now understand why you hate those charity balls so much." Wally complained.

"Wait, you've been to those things before? How do you survive?" Artemis demanded.

"Thanks Kid Mouth. Yeah I've been to them many times before, Bats and I protect Bruce Wayne and his ward a lot as I mentioned before. I have no tips for survival, I hate them with a passion." Robin admitted. The team continued to talk (mostly about how horrible the ball had been) before it was time for Robin, Wally and Artemis to go home.

They never did figure out that it was all training exercise, that there had in fact been no threats and the only goal was for them to work on their observation skills (to figure out the League's identities) and ability to fit into high society (in case of similar events with real threats).

Well at least Robin and Barbara got some amusement out of it, right?

And finished.
Hope you guys enjoyed.
Robyn out.