All seemed hopeless. The Justice League had been defeated and imprisoned by the Injustice League, a horde of the entire League members' villains combined. The evildoers known as Lex Luther, Vandal Savage, the Joker, Sinestro, Deathstoke, and Ra's al Ghul just to name a few, were proceeding with their quest for world domination now that the Justice League was out of the equation.

In an overwhelming impenetrable prison is where we find our heroes. Each one shackled by restraints designed to especially inhibit their skills. Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl were all denied access to their powers. Even Batman, who had no powers to restrain, was this time not underestimated. The Injustice League had learned their lesson on that front, many times over in fact.

"Well this is just perfect," Flash stated sarcastically. "How are we gonna get out of this one?"

"Lex and the other villains have probably already taken over by now," said Wonder Woman forlornly.

"No," said Batman in his gruff voice. "If they had, we'd have been executed by now."

"Any ideas on how to escape, Batman?" asked Superman.

"Just one," Batman stated simply.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Hawkgirl asked impatiently. "Just do it."

"He should be on his way," said Batman cryptically.

"Who? Who else is out there?" wondered Wonder Woman. All seven members were here in the specialized prison.

"I was able to contact him just before they restrained us." Batman said without really answering the question.

"Wait, I thought you worked alone," stated Green Lantern.

"Sometimes," was Batman's short but firm answer.

Suddenly, the lights in the facility flickered briefly, allowing the surveillance cameras to freeze. "What was that?" exclaimed Flash.

Armored guards, who noticed the strange event started to pour into the holding cell, guns at the ready. Then, all but the emergency lights went off, giving the hollow space a shadowy yet creepily visible appearance. The guards tensed. To most everyone's surprise, they heard a childish laughing sound that seemed to come from no direction, yet every direction at once. A guard was snatched into the shadows; reminiscent of the way Batman usually takes one by surprise. A terrified look crossed the faces of the rest of the guards. They spun around to check if Batman was still in his place. He was, with an unreadable expression behind his cowl.

"Bats, What's going on?" asked Flash, just as confused as the others and even a little terrified.

Another laugh was heard that drew the attention of the guards. The form of a small shadow suddenly sprung out of the darkness and took down the rest the guards with nothing but its fists and kicks. The shadow was amazingly agile and used martial arts moves that the team had only ever seen Batman pull off.

Once the last guard was on the floor, knocked unconscious, a small figure stepped out of the shadows. Many of the leaguers gasped when they realized it was a child who appeared no older than eight or nine years of age. He was clothed in a red top with the letter R etched on the top left corner. He had dark green pants, sleeves and gloves, and sported a black cape with a yellow underbelly. He wore a mask over his eyes and a yellow utility belt like the one batman wore. His hair was a slick mess of raven black. His outfit may have seemed a bit colorful compared to Batman but it somehow was able to blend into the shadows just as well as the Dark Knight's. He held himself with confidence not usually seen in a child and gave them an intense look from his masked face that could have passed for a Batglare except for the smug smile on his lips.

"A kid?" Green Lantern asked out loud, unable to contain the shock in his voice.

Said kid arched an eyebrow at him. "This 'kid' is here to rescue you."

Flash looked the kid up and down. "So what are you? Some kind of Batboy or something."

The costumed child glared at the Flash the smile fading. "The name's Robin," he corrected irritably.

"Are you his sidekick?" asked Superman.

"Partner!" Robin corrected at the same time Batman said, "Trainee."

"Robin," Batman scolded bluntly, reminding him with one word of the task at hand.

"Right." Robin walked over to Batman's shackles and held his watch up in front of the restraint controls. A holographic screen appeared and Robin began hurriedly typing away on it. Within a matter of seconds each Leaguer's restraints snapped open, freeing them.

Superman rubbed the circulation back into his wrists. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready to kick Lex's—"

"First we have to get out of here," cut in Robin.

"But we're free now so it shouldn't be that much of a biggie," reasoned Flash.

Robin spared a glanced at Flash. "You guys weren't conscious when they dragged you in here, were you?"

"No," said Batman, looking down at his protégé.

"This place is huge," explained Robin. "It took me forever to get to you guys and now that I've freed you there are undoubtedly several security obstacles that have been set off."

"Can you lead us out?" Batman asked Robin.

"Follow me," Robin said as he took off running down the halls with Batman close behind him. The rest of the group hesitated but followed anyways.

"Wait, so we let a kid lead us out of a heavily armed prison designed by the Injustice League?" asked Flash skeptically.

"Do you have a better idea?" snapped Batman.

"Fine," complied Flash. He started running and soon passed up the rest.

"Wait," cried Robin, "Don't run ahead!"

"Like I need to listen to a—" Flash was cut off as he almost got decapitated and chopped into pieces by multiple swinging blades. Luckily Robin had anticipated that Flash would run down the wrong corridor and had pulled out his grappling gun in time. The cord wrapped around the speedster's legs and dragged him out of the hallway before a metal barrier closed off the passage.

"You were saying," Robin said in an unamused voice, eerily similar to Batman's.

"Heh, heh," Flash chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Ops."

The team and Robin pursued on until they reached their next obstacle. It was a room full of laser detectors that were far too close to one another for anyone to get through. On the other side was the control room.

"I shall handle this," said Martian Manhunter. He used his density shifting abilities to allow him to pass through the red beams. However, the moment his ghostlike form was about to pass through one of the beams, a sharp pain shot through his body as his side was scorched.

"Looks like the laser detectors are actual lasers. And they built them to resist J'onn's density shifting," observed Green lantern.

"Then how are we possibly going to get through?" asked Wonder Woman

Without a moment's hesitation, Robin flung himself into the thrall of intercrossing lasers. Amazingly, he was able to avoid each one with such agility and acrobatics than none would have though it possible if they had not seen it done before their very eyes. Even seeing it the team still couldn't believe it. Backflips and handsprings and summersaulting, vaulting off the walls. Were they sure this kid didn't have superpowers? Once Robin reached the control room, he had the lasers down in a matter of seconds.

"Where did you find this kid?" Superman asked Batman as they made their way across the room. Batman didn't answer.

"Where's the exit?" asked Hawkgirl as she looked around. The grip on her mace intensified, itching for a fight.

"Patience," was all Batman said.

"Patience?" Hawkgirl said exasperated. "Every moment we spend here is another moment the bad guys get closer to world domination!"

"And how are they going to do that?" asked Batman rhetorically. "We can't defeat them unless we know their plan."

"But back at the watchtower, even you could not fully hack into their database as to discover that," stated Martian Manhunter.

Childish laughter was herd once more. The team looked over at Robin, who was sitting comfortably in the chair at the control room monitor. Answering their befuddled looks, Robin smiled mischievously. "There are some things I'm better at than Batman."

"Now there's a scary thought," said the Flash.

Robin cracked his knuckles and began to fervently type away at the computer. One by one, each firewall fell to the hacking skills of Robin until the files of all the Injustice League's nefarious schemes appeared on the monitor.

"Wow, there's even backup and future plans on here," marveled Green Lantern.

"Let's just focus on the current mission," said Superman as Batman downloaded it all on a spare flash drive from his utility belt.

"I've got it. Let's go," said Batman as he pocketed the flash drive. The Justice League started to file out of the room and Robin followed. "Hold up," he ordered, putting a hand in front of the boy wonder. "You need to head back home."

"But I've helped you so far. Face it, you need me." Robin crossed his arms and smiled up at Batman.

"What I need is for you to follow orders," Batman said sternly.

Robin almost pouted before sighing and heading out. "I took the Batjet here, it's gonna need fuel."

"Do you have enough to get back?" Robin nodded. "Then go state home without stopping. I'll fill it up when I get back."

Robin and Batman shared an intense look at one another before parting, as if in their own nonverbal way, saying both goodbye and good luck to one another. Then, Robin ran out of the building and to the Batjet.

"He seemed pretty capable. Why not take him along with us?" asked Hawkgirl.

Batman watched as the Batjet took off into the night sky. "He needs more training," was all he said. What nobody could see, however, was the proud look in the Bat's eyes, hidden behind the cowl.