Later that night, an angry Jay was prowling around his territory.

He was about to go turn in for the night when the alarm to a nearby bank sounded.

'It's been so quiet tonight. But that's fine. At least I get to punch something!' Richard smirked, ready to get some stress relief.

Jay cut the power to the lights of the bank so no one could see him slip in.

"Heya boys, I wouldn't be stealing from this bank if I were you." Jay said.

He startled the closest thug to him and said thug whipped out an AK-47 and started rapid shooting everywhere.

Richard dodged to the best of his ability, but he wasn't fast enough.

A bullet got him in the chest.

Richard gasped out in pain and almost fell to the floor.

'No! Can't stop now. Innocents around! Have to help!' Richard thought and go up.

He made quick work of the thugs and then quickly left.

Richard got into Wayne Enterprises and quickly grabbed onto his desk to keep himself from colapsing painfully onto the ground.

'Need medical attention. But I can't go to Alfred...Guess that I'll have to do it myself.' Richard got a first aid kit out.

He pulled out the gauze, tweezers, an anti-bacterial wipe, and some tape.

"Here goes nothing...arrrrrggggggggg!!!" Richard said as he started to take the bullet out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richard soon had the bullet out and the wound bandaged.

He felt very tired, so he decided that that would be a good time to go home and get some rest.

He called Alfred.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richard made it to his bedroom without anyone noticing that he was injured.

He collapsed on his knees right before he got to his bed.

"Hey Dick, I wanted to know if-" Tim walked in at that moment.

"Richard! Are you okay?" Tim asked and dropped the two books he was carrying.

Richard groaned and pointed to his chest.

Tim lifted his shirt to find bandages on his chest.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" Tim started to panic.

"Shot. I think I got most of the bullet out." Richard gasped out.

"I don't know what to do! You need help! I'll get Bruce!" Tim hurried said.

"NO! You promised you wouldn't tell!" Richard pointed at him.

"You broke that promise when you got shot! You NEED help Richard! You might die!" Tim harshly said.

Richard shook his head.

"What about Alfred?" Tim asked.

Richard shook his head and then passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few hours were a blur.

He was drifting in and out of consciousness, but never awake for a full minuet.

All he remembered was panicked voices, clinking of metal, and white gloves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Richard groaned as he woke up.

"Master Richard! Good to see you awake!" Alfred smiled.

"A-Alfred? W-What happened?" Richard asked and tried to sit up.

"No. You mustn't sit up not. Rest, you need it." Alfred said.

"Sorry Richard, but you passed out. You needed help and since you wouldn't let me get Bruce, I got Alfred." Tim said.

"You promised." Richard pouted.

"And you promised to be careful! Getting shot is not careful!" Tim almost screamed.

"He is right Master Richard. And speaking of which, Jay, was it?" Alfred gave Richard a stern look.

Richard gave a nervous laugh and hid more behind his blankets.

"How could you be so irresponsible?! What were you thinking? Going out with little to no protection, no com link, no help? When you're better you will be in a LOAD OF TROUBLE!" Alfred was ANGRY.

And it was hard to get Alfred angry.

But there was something else in Alfred's eyes.

He was scared.

"You died on us Richard. Three times!" Tim glared at him.

Richard's eyes widened. "I didn't think it was that bad!"

"While you did get a large portion out, you still had many little pieces in you. You were still bleeding. You lost a lot and you passed out because of it. THANKFULLY Alfred saved you." Tim explained.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just that-I-I" Richard looked down at his lap shamefully.

"I know. It's hard. I was in your shoes at one point to, remember?" Alfred hugged Richard tightly, but not too tightly that it hurt him.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think that it'd be so hard! I can't stop! I can't let innocent people get hurt while I could've helped them!" Richard started crying.

"I know. I know." Alfred rubbed circles on Richard's back.

"You need to rest Richard. I'll see you two later." Tim waved and walked out.

"Master Richard. I need to tell Bruce about your nightly activities." Alfred said.

"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Richard started to panic.

"Master Richard! You were severely hurt tonight! I can not allow this to continue! If you really need to crime fight, then you will do so where you are safer!" Alfred frowned.

"Please Alfred! You can't tell! Bruce will be so disappointed and he'd be right! He'd be right about me not being able to handle being a full-civilian!" Richard begged.

Alfred sighed.

"As long as you don't come home like you did last night, I will not tell." Alfred said.

Richard smiled widely.

"Wait-last night? What time is it?" Richard looked around for his clock.

"Bruce called you off of work this morning. You need not worry." Alfred said.

"Oh." Richard blinked.

"Please try and get some rest Master Richard. You need it." Alfred said.

Richard nodded.

A nap didn't sound like a bad idea after all.

Another chapter coming today!

Please be patient while I type it!