When Tim temporarily vacates the title of Robin, Batman selects Tim's crimefighting partner (and would-be girlfriend) Stephanie Brown to fill the void. However Stephanie's impetuous behavior while facing off against the assasin Scarab causes Batman to later fire her (Robin #128). Desperate to win back Batman's approval and redeem herself in the eyes of the superhero community, Stephanie attempts to squash Gotham City's gang activity by enacting one of Batman's back-up War Games scenarios stored in the Bat Computer.

Not familiar with all of the variables at play, the plan goes horribly wrong. By the time Batman recognizes his own handiwork, Stephanie has been captured by the villainous Black Mask and tortured. After escaping, Stephanie makes her way to Dr. Leslie Thompkin's clinic where Leslie fakes Stephanie's death in order to give the girl an 'out' from the costumed vigilante life. (War Games) When Batman confronts Leslie about her role in Stephanie's death, Leslie takes full responsibility claiming to have let the girl die in order to send a message to any other young crimefighters who might choose to go down this dangerous path. (War Crimes) Batman initially shuns Dr. Thompkins for her perceived actions. However, Batman is dubious as to whether or not Stephanie truly is dead and as such never errects a memorial to her in the Bat-Cave as he had once done for Jason Todd following his death. (A Death in the Family)

Shortly thereafter, Batman finds out that Jason Todd is in fact not dead as the former Boy Wonder returns and runs rampant through Gotham. (Under the Hood) When Batman stops Jason from killing the Joker, Jason leaves town for a short period of time. While away Jason falls in with a group of heroes travelling the newly discovered Multiverse in search of Ray Palmer, the Atom. During this adventure, Jason bonds with the Batman of Earth-51, a vengeance obsessed gun-toting mad man who had murdered the Joker as revenge for the death of that Earth's Jason Todd. (Countdown to Final Crisis #14) Borrowing one of the trophy costumes on display in the Earth-51 Bat-Cave, Jason adopts the title of 'Red Robin' only to watch in horror as Earth-51 Batman is murdered by one of the Multiverse's many Jokers. Upon returning to Earth-0, Jason decides that the costumed life is not for him and ditches the Red Robin outfit in the trash outside the Daily Planet. (Countdown to Final Crisis #4)

Back in Gotham, two shady police officers named Cavallo and Wise force Tim to co-operate with them and advance their careers by threatening Tim's friend Officer Janie Harper. Little does Tim know, Cavallo and Wise play both sides of the fence, working with one of Penguin's informants and then later executing him. Tim remains oblivious to this however as he is distracted by the re-appearance of someone wearing the the Spoiler costume! Following the Spoiler back to her apartment, Tim is shocked to find Stephanie Brown alive and well behind the mask. (Robin #174)

After biding her time in Africa with Dr. Thompkins, Stephanie Brown realized that she can never truly give up the life of a crimefighter and returned to Gotham. (Robin/Spoiler Special #1) Tim, although happy to see his friend again, is somewhat hurt over being lied to and remains stand-offish towards her. The situation is complicated even further when Tim learns that Batman had not only suspected Stephanie was still alive but also instructed her to de-rail Tim's efforts to locate him during the Black Glove attack. (Robin #176)

SUMMARY:
With Batman gone, Gotham city begins to crumble and Robin tries to assume the burden of his absence. In an attempt to take the reigns of the ever-simmering gang war and expose the corrupt cops associated with the gangs, Jason Todd violently begins merging the gangs under his leadership. Learning of the dangerous turmoil, Robin shows up and puts the kibosh on Jason Todd's rally and finally sending the former Robin to prison. The next morning Tim learns that Sprang Bridge leader Ketchum has been apparently killed by Blackgaters' head honcho Dublin which erupts even more violence.

A little detective work however reveals that it was actually crooked detectives Cavallo and Wise who had forced Dublin to pull the trigger. In an attempt to do the right thing, Tim has Cavallo and Wise arrested. In response, the entire Gotham police force go on strike in support of their brothers in blue (not to mention the fear over their own crooked dealings being exposed).

On top of the cop-strike and the escalating gang violence, Tim also finds himself contending with the likes of Scarab, Jaeger and a new Lynx. Although Scarab appears to only be using rubber bullets on the rioting crowds, her presence is something Tim still feels compelled to address. This heavy case load is in part brought on by the Spoiler herself who, following Batman's orders, is pitting Tim against these heavies in an attempt to strengthen him and ready him for the challenge of a Batman-less Gotham. Stephanie has been working in conjunction with the General, Ulysses Armstrong, who has recently hit a growth spurt and now fancies himself the Joker to Robin's Batman. In order to elevate himself to this position, Ulysses has been donning Jason Todd's dicarded Red Robin outfit as an intimidation method to throw Tim off his game.

Tim is able to deduce Armstrong's identity but what he doesn't realize is that Armstrong has adopted a second new identity as the latest incarnation of Anarky. The former boy general seeks to introduce true anarchy to Gotham City in order to force police to declare an order of marshal law in which his militaristic personality will thrive. Armstrong double-crosses Stephanie, shooting her in the shoulder and then revealing his own back-end deals with Scarab, buying out the assassin's contract and ordering her to start using live ammo on the Gotham Citizens. After Stephanie shows up at the Bat-cave with the bullet wound, Armstrong goads Tim into checking her prior GPS locations. In doing so of course, Tim stumbles into Armstrong's hide-out which is triggered to explode.

Burnt both emotionally by Stephanie's betrayal and physically by the blast, Tim decides to wear the Red Robin outfit left behind at Armstrong's. Thanks to a little help from Officer Harper, when Tim arrives to confront Armstrong/Anarky he does so alongside Ulysses's parents and siblings. Unfortunately, Armstrong does not notice his family in time and accidentally triggers a pipe bomb underneath Harper's squad car. Though Tim is able to rescue Harper, the blast kills the Armstrong family instantly. A teary eyed Ulysses Armstrong angrily stomps off into the night, swearing vengeance against Robin for the death of his parents.

In order to stop the cop strike and the rioting, the DA is forced to drop all charges against Cavallo and Wise. Luckily, Tim has been having Jason Bard dig up dirt on the two crooked cops. He ends up securing some embarrassing photos of the two with some street walkers and uses it to blackmail them. The detectives may have their freedom but they are now answering directly to the Boy Wonder.

After establishing "Neon Knights" help centers meant to re-build the community with Wayne Corp funds, Tim also pays a visit to Jason Todd in prison. Following what he believed would have been Bruce's wishes, he gives Jason Todd the JLA teleporter code allowing him to escape and start a new life. Later, when the Bat-Cave reveals a secret room built by Bruce to screen his personalized last messages for the family, Tim allows Jason into the Cave one final time to watch his video.

No longer on speaking terms with Stephanie after he forbade from ever engaging in super-heroics ever again following the gang riot, Tim is alone in Gotham. Even Harper and Bard have started dating one another. But it's of no interest of Tim's. Perhaps solidarity is to his advantage like it was with Batman. Speaking of which, can he be the city's protector? Either way Tim looks towards the future eager for Gotham to see its new Robin.