Disclaimer: *gasp* I... I don't own these characters? Really? *diez from shock* truth kills me sometimes

Yeah, here's another one shot for you all! I'm not sure if Tim's out of character or not, I just wanted to do a thing with Tim and Conner just becoming friends. Probably not going to happen like this but oh well. Just so you know, it's also a future-ish fic and not at all slash. Enjoy!

Friendly Patrol - Part 1

Conner looked around the alleyway he was supposed to meet the new Robin in. It was in one of the poorer parts of town and he'd been there before, but it was always good to be on guard in Gotham. Even metas got mugged there.

Normally he was forbidden from entering this dark city. He came on missions all the time, but the dark knight had some pretty strict rules about other vigilantes in his city. Clark said he was never allowed in town unless he called in first. Never allowed. Didn't stop him from coming whenever he pleased though. Just made the bat really grumpy. And normally, the Bat's dark attitude wasn't as bad as when someone from the League came unannounced and uninvited.

But the Batman was gone, along with Superman. Off world. Right then, Nightwing was the one officially in charge of Gotham City, and he was only apprehensive to visitors if he was on a stake out or undercover case. But tonight his friend and leader not only invited him to Gotham, he practically begged him to go.

Batman and Nightwing were very protective of the new Robin, particularly after what happened to the second one. This new kid hadn't been at the job for very long, but he had more time getting training than his predecessors. Nightwing told him once he had been trained since birth as an acrobat, and that Robin II was a street rat initially, making them both very natural fighters. But the third one, he was from a completely different background and wasn't accustomed to rougher lifestyles until the past year. This Robin was trained from scratch for the better part of a year before receiving his uniform and taking the name. He was just so serious and careful, it was hard to think of him being part of the same legacy as the other two. He was a very different bird.

And that was the reason Conner was begged to go on patrol with this kid tonight. Nightwing and Batman did a lot to make sure the kid stayed safe, but the younger man watched out more for the kid's emotional health than their mentor. This Robin wasn't making friends with the team. He was just being a good soldier. He didn't hang out, he didn't share secrets (Batman's ID gag order was still in effect, but both previous Robins and Batgirl had shared some facts about their lives to spite him), and he didn't smile very much unless he was with the other bats. He was always on guard with them, no matter how much they tried to make him comfortable. Unless Nightwing insisted, he never stayed in the cave long after a mission.

Over all, the kid was far too stiff.

So when the acrobat had pleaded with Superboy to go on patrol with Robin that night, he didn't know what to do. Nightwing had to explain. "Robin's from a pretty uptight lifestyle. He's not used to affection or real friends or even casual conversations without ulterior motives. I've gotten him to mellow out with me on occasion while on patrol, and I've been working him off it. But he needs to know he can have real friends. Especially on the team. He really needs to trust people completely, even with the masks separating us."

"But what can I do?" the clone asked then. He wasn't exactly mister conversation. "I'm not really—"

"Just… Go with him on patrol tonight and try talking to him."

"About what?"

"Anything. Everything! Whatever you can think of." Nightwing ran a hand through his hair. He really was worried about the kid. "I think he thinks the gag order applies to his whole life. I didn't just one day tell Wally who I was you know. I learned to trust him first by talking to him, a lot. We were friends before we ever knew each other's real names."

"So," Conner concluded slowly, "you want me to be his friend?"

The young man nodded, breathing out slowly. "I really think the two of you could get along. You aren't too much alike or too different. Frankly, I think if you two just start talking now, you'd be like Batman and Superman in ten years, without so much arguing."

The comment took the clone back a moment. The two of them? Like those two? Yeah right. But Nightwing continued anyway, starting to look desperate. "I mean, if we don't start turning him now, Robin might actually become a Batman copy. It's scaring me."

"Okay…"

"Seriously! I'm getting nightmares about it. One second he's a cute cuddly little Robin and the next he's a big scary Bat ready to take my head off for—"

"Okay! I get it!" Conner agreed emphatically just to get his friend to calm down. The guy was always worried about himself or Robin becoming like the big scary bat, and he was even more panicky about others becoming like their mentors or something worse. Never objected to Superboy being like Superman though. Seemed to like the idea a lot. "I'll go on patrol with him and try to make friends!"

"Really?" It was almost comical how the guy perked up with a broad grin when he said that.

"Yes!" Exasperation radiated from his every limb. Anything to make this guy, their once baby bird of the group, happy. Besides, he meant to get to know this kid a bit more anyway. Just hadn't found the time or opportunity. "No promises though. I'm not that great in the friend making department either."

Nightwing gave him a broad grin and clap on the back in thanks. "Don't worry about it! You'll get along great! Just don't talk about parents and you'll do fine."

And that was how the kryptonian clone ended up in a dank alleyway in Gotham City instead of his home in Mount Justice. He was planning on seeing Ma and Pa Kent the next day to celebrate the fourth and his birthday before the team's party for him. He knew they'd throw one again. But without his father/brother/Superman, it wouldn't be the same. It'd been months without any word and it was starting to worry him. What exactly were they doing up there in space?

"Ready?"

Superboy jerked around in surprise. On the fire escape not far above him perched Robin, looking down on him like a watchful owl in the night. One thing he had to give the kid credit for was acting more like a bird than the other two. Nightwing moved through the air like one, and the second one was just as energetic, but neither really gave you the impression that they belonged in a nest.

"Uh… think so," he answered awkwardly.

"Great." Robin stood, balancing himself on the railing for a moment before swiftly flipping and jumping upwards towards the roof. "Meet you up top."

The clone blinked. For a moment there the kid reminded him of the first boy wonder. The flipping upwards on the fire escape, not the short sentences. There was even a note of humor in his voice. The moment passed though and he decided to not let the kid make it to the apartment rooftop first. He leapt to the top of the building and landed as softly as he could before turning to greet the new bird.

For whatever reason, this guy wasn't at all hurt for being beaten to their destination. The second one was always a little mad about it, but he was upset when Conner held back too. No, this one's mind was clearly somewhere else, making plans and therefore not caring who made it there first.

As he came towards him, the half alien felt the awkwardness of the situation forward. Nightwing said to talk to him and go on patrol. But what were they going to talk about? "So… See the game last night?"

Robin jerked his eyes up, clearly confused. "What?"

"The game. Did you see it?" That was how normal conversations started, right?

"Which game?" The kid was clearly baffled. "There are hundreds of games on tv. Then there's the radio and school sports. Was it important?"

"Ummm…"

"And what does that have to do with patrol? There weren't any police alerts at any events yesterday around here. Or did I miss something?"

"I…" Conner froze. He hadn't really thought about it, at all. "I was just… trying to break the tension…."

The kid raised an eyebrow. "There was tension?"

The clone drew a blank. Wasn't there some awkward tension? "Ahhh…"

Robin's mouth twitched involuntarily for a moment, secretly laughing at him. "We've worked together before Superboy. I think we can handle a standard patrol route around Gotham for one night. I was just trying to figure out which route."

He brought up his personal wrist computer's holoscreen and started typing, pushing certain files aside to get to his goals. Conner just blinked and watched him move. He still couldn't get over how much faster he was at computers than Nightwing. Or that he had reasoned out tension in moments when the clone felt he was supposed to be the responsible, mature, and experienced one there. This bird always seemed to give the impression that he was far older than he was.

The kid continued without missing a beat. "Considering you're going to be jumping and running a lot more than I am, we should probably stick to flat roofs and keep them on the same level as much as possible. Things have been pretty quiet around here lately. Arkham's full and there aren't really many alerts out. Unless one of the uglies we haven't found since the last breakout shows their head, there really shouldn't be any problems. Muggers, rapists, smash and grabs, burglaries, drug dealers, maybe a mob hit. If we're lucky, there won't be any kidnappings or murders tonight."

The casual yet informative way Robin talked about these crimes almost scared the boy of steel. It almost sounded like something Batman would rattle off and say that was a normal day. Was that really normal around Gotham? The clone was too shocked by the kid's tone and list to notice the twitch again at the corner of his mouth. It was hard to tell which direction the boy's eyes were looking under that mask.

"Is… is that normal?"

Robin shrugged. "It varies. It's what we have to expect on any given night. So, ever been on patrol before?" The new teen wonder brought out some maps on his screen and started cycling through them, looking for just the right one.

Superboy rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Not really… Been doing covert ops my whole life."

The boy nodded, still looking through maps. "'Kay. It's really not that hard. Mostly you go around town, keep your coms and police scanners open, and go looking for trouble. If you find it, you stop it. And you better make sure it's a real crime first. The PD hate it when we botch one of their stings and some people have very weird ways of having fun sometimes. Patrol is mostly a first response thing, putting out what ever fires we find. If the crime looks like it's connected to something more, we look into it. If we find a dead body, we look it and the scene over before calling the cops in.

"Far as I know, there's no open investigations or threats we have to deal with," he continued, settling on one map at last. "So no stakeouts, no psychos, and I think there's currently a truce going on with the mobs. Might have some trouble with lower end gangs but shouldn't be that bad. There's a list of known killers we… or rather I, can't go after if we see them. I'll tell you if we run across them. At which point, we're calling Nightwing and calling it a night."

"What?" The clone didn't like that last part at all. "We're not allowed to—"

"Its part of the rules Batman made when I joined up," Robin stated flatly, focusing more on the map. "No unnecessary risks. And I give up a chase when a known killer is involved. He doesn't want any repeats of what happened to Ja—the last Robin. They're to make sure I don't die."

Conner looked away awkwardly. He worked hard to forget how both Nightwing and Batman were when the second Robin died. Batgirl seemed to take it a lot better than they did. It wasn't that long ago, and it still stung everyone. Of course the third one would be heavier guarded after that.

"I think this route should do," the kid stated, showing him the map. The clone blinked at how quickly the kid changed subjects, apparently fine with everything around him. He pointed to one part of it. "We're here, and if we go this way, we should be able to end up back here by two."

"Two?"

"That's taking into account what we'll run across, if things stay as quiet as they have. If anything jumps out at us, it may be four a.m. before we get you home."

"What about you?" Superboy looked over Robin for a moment, bit worried. "Don't you need to sleep?"

Their new bird gave him an are-you-kidding-me? look before answering. "One it's summer vacation, two tomorrow's the fourth, three I go to bed late all the time."

Conner was starting to feel dumb for asking just as Robin concluded, "And four my dad's out of town. It won't be a problem. Now let's get going so you can get some sleep."

Tables turned on him, the boy of steel gave the shorty a reproving glare as he turned toward the roof's edge. Robin shot off a line before looking back. "You coming?"

Superboy put his game face on, nodding once before leaping after the swinging bird. He had something in common with this kid other than the job? Yeah right.

The two traveled in relative silence, occasionally asking a 'where to next' question or 'is that what I think it is' one. Once in a while Conner would try to talk to him about something a bit more normal, but he really couldn't think of anything that'd stir the boy's interest. He tried to bring up past missions and things they did in the beginning, but the bird only seemed to nod and ignore him, maybe humoring him the whole time. He tried normal subjects like the latest movie or social event, and was pretty much talking to a stone wall. He even brought up girls once, but had no reaction from his companion.

It really was like trying to talk to Batman.

Nearing one in the morning, Superboy decided to try a conversation one more time before giving up entirely. He really had no idea what to say to him anyway. "So… I'm curious, why do you use a staff?"

"'Cause I'm shorter, built smaller, and have less training than my predecessors," Robin answered quickly, landing on top of a gargoyle. "It's something of an equalizer against bigger and stronger opponents."

"Oh." The boy of steel was tapped out of ideas now. He landed on the one rooftop quietly, sighing to himself. Well, it wasn't as if they hadn't talked. The kid did answer his questions. But the way he did it, it was like a kid at school talking to a teacher quickly just to get rid of them. Question, answer. Not really a conversation. And the teen had no idea where to go from there. So they both settled for silence as they looked over the building's edge to the streets below.

Things really were relatively quiet that night. They stopped a few muggings and a handful of burglaries, but really nothing serious and nothing connected to anything else, far as they could tell. At least the kid's detective instincts didn't think so. Nightwing told the team before that this Robin was more of a detective than the second one, maybe even more than he was. Eventually. Who knew. That was the main reason he was Robin now after all.

Conner took a long breath as he thought this over. Well, he could ask for a story too and that'd get the kid talking. How had this teen wonder manage to get into the Bat-clan? As the clone opened his mouth to ask, he was taken for a spin.

"Got any good pranks?"

He looked over to the boy wonder, confused beyond anything. "What?"

Robin gave a slight shrug. "I was just wondering if you got any good prank ideas. I need one to get even with Nightwing."

"Get even… What'd he do?" Superboy leaned against the ledge of the building to get a better look at the kid's face. It was still as straight as ever. Maybe the kid just had a very good poker face. Like the Bat did. Clark mentioned it once.

"I… rather not say." There was a touch of maliciousness in the guy's voice, which confused the young alien. "Let's just say, it's somewhere between hair dye and salty foods."

"So he pulls pranks on you too?" Now here was a subject they could relate to. Nightwing and his mischievous actions.

"Oh we pull pranks on each other all the time," Robin said, this time with a devilish grin. Conner was beginning to feel sorry for whomever the guy targeted. Good thing it was just Nightwing.

"On Batman too," he continued, surprising the clone. "Nightwing usually starts it. You wouldn't believe the stunts he's pulled back in the cave. Agent A tells me stories all the time. Like one time he—"

A police scanner alarm triggered on their coms, forcing Robin to stop his story. He was starting to enjoy telling it too. Conner bitterly listened to the report telling them of some gianormous lizard man not too far from there. The police were having trouble fighting the thing and was making a break for it. The kid became quickly annoyed.

"Crap. Killer Croc." He stood from his hideous perch to send off another line.

"Is he on your list?" the boy of steel asked first. As much as he wanted to take down who or whatever this thing was, going against Batman's rules, especially over this little bird and in his city, was a huge no-no. Didn't matter if he was in space too.

"Yes and no," Robin answered before swinging off towards the danger. Conner leapt after him like before as the kid explained. "If I have back up, it should be fine. I think you're physically a match for him. And if we can keep him out of the sewers, we're clear of his advantage."

"What? Being too big to maneuver around?"

"No, being drop dead ugly." This made Superboy smirk. This Robin may not grin or smile while telling jokes, but he did say something good once in a while. He didn't pull disappearing acts on them regularly either. Nightwing still did those.

"And he knows the underground better than anyone," Robin added after a moment. "Solomon Grundy would have had that title if he weren't brain dead."

"Grundy? The zombie guy?"

"Do you know any others?"

"He's one of yours?" Superboy assumed the guy was just another baddie on the League's general alert. He didn't know any of the guy's history.

"One of Gotham's. I could tell you the legend," the kid started as they game to the street the perp was on, "but that's better for Halloween or campfires. We've got work to do."

This was going to be the third round that night with the reptilian wrestler. First time they fought him, the guy's teeth broke on Conner's arm and nearly ripped his shirt off. They had to fall back when a punk angry at a Robin started to take potshots at them. Croc escaped down the sewers when Superboy acted as a shield and Robin made his way around him to take out the shooter. They had to leave the creep behind.

Thankfully the teen wonder had thought ahead and managed to sneak a tracer into their target's scales. It wasn't much good above ground so they had to track him below. They nearly got the drop on him when the boy of steel slipped on some excrement, falling loudly into the filthy water below. Croc bout faced and charged full throttle, throwing Robin into a wall within moments before grabbing the struggling clone and trying to drown him in the smelly mixture. The kid managed to shake off the blow in time to pellet the guy with stun grenades. Unfortunately, the guy's hide was too thick for it to do anything more than stun him, forcing him to let Superboy go. As the criminal advanced towards the small bird, Conner dived at him, then twisted the creep into a throw over into the next open passage. Which happened to empty into a larger room, effectively losing their target once more.

Hopefully this round would end better. Superboy looked over Robin quickly, making sure the kid was alright. Already the guy had dodged bullets, taken punches, and was thrown into a wall, nearly blacking out. And yet, like the Robins before, he was still standing and acting like everything was normal. He had become quieter though and insisted on a well thought out plan of attack. He also asked why Conner didn't have a rebreather on him, to which the clone had no answer. He was beginning to think the comment was meant as a joke.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked the kid yet again.

Robin wanted to groan. "Nothing a hot bath couldn't cure. Now, you ready?"

"I still don't like it," Superboy grumbled. "You said no unnecessary risks."

"It's necessary. It's also psychology. We play this right and there shouldn't be any problems." The teen wonder looked back to the signal on his holoscreen. They placed some explosives down certain lines to scare the guy in a particular direction. Hopefully the end result would take precedence over the property damage.

"But you—"

"I can take a hit," Robin stated flatly, looking straight at him, "but only you can take him down. Just trust me. This will work."

Grudgingly the clone nodded. He didn't know Croc or Gotham like Robin did. Normally he'd be taking the lead, but this situation called for a better strategy. And bats were known for those. Unfortunately they had a tendency to do whatever it took to get the job done.

"He's almost here."

"Wait Rob—" Before the boy of steel could pull the kid back, Robin darted forward as if searching wildly for their target. The plan was already in play.

Croc bolted towards the teen wonder, roaring madly in hopes to scare and take down the boy. Robin acted out his part perfectly, actually looking terrified of the guy as he came towards him. He threw a smoke screen at the crazed criminal and tried to leap up and over him as if to get away, only for Croc to grab the end of his cape and start whipping him around. Robin immediately grabbed at his throat, holding onto the cloth for dear life along with making sure he didn't get hung by it. After being swung around for a minute, Superboy rushed forward, tackling their target. Robin flew out of his grasp and into a shadowy part of the room they were in.

Conner roared as he wrestled the crime against nature, occasionally getting smothered in the liquid while other times nearly pinning the guy to the sewer floor. After a few minutes, he heard a sharp whistle and something being thrown. He quickly clamped his eyes shut, just in time for a flash bomb to brighten the dark room. Croc roared angrily, blinded instantly. It was almost loud enough to cover the sound of someone leaping over them, pressing something onto the man-lizard's body. As the light dimmed, Superboy stepped and leapt up away from the criminal, allowing Robin's shock disks to activate without harming him. Killer Croc cried out from the intense electricity filling his body for five seconds, only to get punched across the face a second later, knocking him out cold.

Conner gave out a few short breaths before he could breathe at a normal rate. Didn't like the air, but it was better to calm his heart. He looked over their target for a moment before hearing the sloshing of his partner. Robin stepped up next to him, looking over their catch of the night.

"I am not carrying him."

"You alright?" The clone looked the boy over once again, worried how he could have ended up. Nightwing would have his hide if his 'little brother' was hurt.

Robin shrugged, wincing slightly when he moved his shoulder. "Been worse. Sometimes you have to take one for the team. I'll be fine before the next patrol."

"Are you really alright?" The way the kid dismissed his concern was too much like the other bats for his liking. He wasn't taking his injuries seriously. But honestly he couldn't see any apparent injuries.

"Not bleeding and no broken bones," the kid reiterated. "No nausea, headaches, or spinning. And I twisted myself midair for a better landing when he threw me. I'm fine. I'm more concerned with how we'll get this guy out of here and into police custody. You okay?"

Superboy blinked for a moment. Most people didn't bother asking if he was okay after a fight like that. He looked over himself for a moment and noted that his shirt was ripped but relatively still in tact. His pants had a new tear and his whole body stunk. He gave a weak shrug and smile to the kid as thanks for his concern.

"Nothing a hot bath couldn't cure."

This won him a quick laugh and headshake from the bird. His smile was infectious, letting the clone feel relief and some pride in a job well done.

A/N: Separating parts because this felt too long and was posted too late to get a lot of readers. Rest of comments on last part. TTFN!