Chapter 19
The air at Mount Justice was extremely tense.
Most of the team had been dismissed already. After giving their verbal reports to Batman, they had been sent off to write out their own more detailed reports for the mission records. The general debrief didn't leave much room for elaboration. All that they knew was that as far as they should be concerned the mission was a success with no escapees reported.
That now left the remaining group for the higher ranking debrief.
Batman, Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado as well as Aqualad and Robin were all present in the mission room.
Dick wasn't particularly sure what the adults were talking about. They were standing a bit off to the side around other screens that neither he nor Aqualad could see clearly.
Were they discussing which details to bring up?
Were they discussing him?
It'd been so long since he last saw him. Dick wasn't quite sure how old they were when they last physically met. He was almost sure they had a video call around their 11th birthday.
Right?
It can't have been that long.
Sure, they'd both been so busy and Wally had insisted on throwing a small party with uncle Barry and uncle Oliver there as well. At that point he hadn't met Kaldur yet so he wasn't really close enough to be invited to something like that.
Dick looked up at the Atlantean. Would he have done better? He already out-did the younger when it came to leadership, who's to say he wouldn't have been a better brother?
Was he that much of a fuck up that his own brother didn't want to see him?
That a prison was a better option than him?
Had he been so self-absorbed he didn't even notice anything wrong with his only surviving blood relative?
Is he even worthy of still being called his brother?
Dick felt the beginnings of tears prick in his eye. He looked up and blinked rapidly to avoid actual tears from forming. Of course his movement caught Batman's attention. Trying to play off his sudden reaction, Dick rolled his neck with an audible crack and focused on the debrief that had apparently started already.
"At 21:37 Miss Martian and Superboy encountered an unknown hostile, suspected to be an inmate, and a green hound-like entity. There are no prison records found about the hostile nor the entity outside of vague mentions in staff reports about incidents that occurred sporadically."
If there were no records, then how did he have a uniform and so, so many collars?
Were they just a disguise to make them not suspect anything?
But then how did he fly? Could it have been the green entity that did that for him?
Did he find somebody to replace Dick with?
Somebody or something that supported him better
"At 21: 43 the standby members of the team arrived on site to aid in the extraction of Miss Martian and Superboy. During which the team engaged in combat with the unknown hostile and the entity resulting in extreme damages and injuries to both Miss Martian and Kid Flash."
The sharpness in the Leaguer's voice made Aqualad divert his eyes. He felt the pressure of his decision to act press down on his shoulders. While his teammates hadn't gotten seriously hurt, there had been the potential for more disastrous consequences had their opponent so wished.
Connor was built like a titanium brick, he was fine even with being thrown through a wall.
M'gann still had a headache and a sprained wrist but other than that she was fine.
KF twisted his ankle and bruised a shoulder when he fell but with his healing factor he'd be fine by the end of the day if not sooner.
Dick almost fell but at least his team respected him enough to leave that little mishap out of the official reports.
Would it be in prison reports?
It's not like they could tell him to hide it too
What if he hadn't missed and hit him right on target?
Would it be a different story or would he just abandon him all over again
Batman saved him no time to reflect as he kept going over the debrief. "While allegedly communicating telepathically, the unknown hostile was able to respond and locate Robin's whereabouts."
With a pointed bat-stare, Martian Manhunter took the que and took over. "While my niece's abilities are still developing, they are quite strong for somebody of her age. When she creates these communication links in high stress situations, her mind reaches out to those who feel familiar to her. This is a closed bond that only other equally strong telepaths can breach if they weren't included." The man used the hologram screens to show a closed circuit loop between each member.
Dick did not like how they used prison orange for him. It should have been green.
Hummingbird green
No, not going there right now.
Dick clenched his thumb inside his fist and squeezed a few times, trying to force his mind to stay in the present. Had he not been wearing gloves, he was bound to have imprints from his nails already. Still he did his best to redirect his attention back on the Martian.
"Should it happen that there is a breach, not only should M'gann be aware of this, but everybody in the bond would have felt the disturbance an unwelcomed mind would cause. Somewhat similar to your previous mission with Dr. Rockette, it would have felt, how should I put this, uncomfortable? From my understanding, this was not the case?" Both Aqualad and Robin shook their heads. The link had felt normal as always until he had responded to them.
"I suppose it would be safe to say that forceful entry of the bond can be excluded then." The elder alien took a short pause as Batman grunted and typed away at the notes from this debriefing.
Dick watched Batman's fingers tap away, trying to decipher what the man was typing. Even if he couldn't figure out the code right now, he would later when they went back to the Batcave.
"Then it would be of my opinion that whoever the unknown is, he has a psychic signature similar enough to one of the team that neither M'gann nor any of the others noticed the inclusion until they had been made aware of it by the verbal response they received." He concluded and stepped back from the monitors to let Batman take the lead once more.
Dick felt his heart pause for a second. Had the others not noticed because they were used to Robin's presence? Had he not been there, would the others even notice it wasn't Dick that was talking? Had it really been his fault M'gann messed up and would likely get in trouble for it?
Were they really that alike others couldn't tell them apart at first glance?
Yet so far apart all the same
The young hero had to force himself to keep a steady breath as he did his best to make it through the rest of the debrief.
"-were unable to recover any camera feed of your encounter with the unknown hostile nor the entity. Up until your arrival at the south end corridor there was no interference. However upon entering a certain perimeter of the unknown's location, the camera's in all of your suits started malfunctioning. All trackable tech on your persons went dark until you collectively existed the perimeter where it all resumed as before."
Multiple screens popped up, each showing different angles. Feeds from both the team and security cameras of the prison malfunctioned in similar ways. The only difference being that the prison cameras actually managed to capture extremely distorted figures of what they could only guess was the hound-like entity and the unknown boy in different locations. Judging from the timestamps the green blob and the cyan blob were in different parts of the penitentiary. Upon convening together again the feed completely cut off until they both had left the vicinity.
"From this we suspect at least some type of electrical ability. Furthermore, both Miss Martian and Superboy report the unknown to have ice abilities as demonstrated by manipulating Icicle Jr.'s attacks."
Batman pulled up security footage of the entrance bay. It showed Riddler walking around, how he even ended up there was anybody's guess but that wasn't the point.
Within a few seconds of the footage being corrupted, Riddler had been attacked. Once the video returned to normal it showed a screaming Riddler encased in ice on the wall.
Dick couldn't help himself but smirk ever so slightly as he could lip read the profanities the wannabe supervillain was spouting at his attacker. No matter how upset he was at everything, one could always find the joy in Eddie being frustrated.
He could feel Batman's gaze on him. Cold and calculating to the outside, but Dick knew better. Years of experience allowed him to know there was worry hidden in there. The young bird didn't want to be even more of a distraction that he already was and gave their secret 'Im fine' signal. Too subtle for others to notice, just clear enough that Batman picked up on it.
Moving on he showed another clip from later that night as Red Tornado took word.
"Whatever this power was, it wasn't regular ice like the other villains used." Dick couldn't help the glare he sent at the use of villain. There was no way his other half was a villain, absolutely no reason to suggest similarities. "Guards had stood hours trying to melt the substance with no progress made since they started. By now the warden and guards had long since taken control back of the penitentiary. All collars had been turned on again per protocol yet the substance did not disappear. Then without warning it fully dematerialized in milliseconds."
Had it been any other time, Dick surely would have laughed at the glorious footage of Eddie faceplanting from a few feet up. For now at least it would suffice to have him not glare malware into the android.
Perhaps he could get a copy to show Wally later and have a proper laugh at his misfortune.
Would Danny enjoy it too?
Dick was beyond grateful he still had his mask on, literally and figuratively. Even with tears pricking his eyes again, he was not ready to unpack all of the new information in front of his fellow heros. That would be too unbecoming of THERobin.
"With the penitentiary still under strict lockdown, further investigation will be halted until we are granted more access. Should anything of importance be discovered, the team will be informed. But for now, consider the case closed on your ends. The League will take over."
Dick knew a dismissal when he heard it.
Of course he absolutely couldn't care less what Batman said. They were both well aware Robin would still be on the case one way or another.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise when Dick was the first to leave the room. Debrief ended, they're free to go. Undoubtedly for Aqualad it would be getting a good night's rest after finishing up his own report. For Dick however, the night was only getting started.
Rules be damned, he was getting to the bottom of this and nothing short of Alfreds medicated tea would prevent him from doing so.
Chapter 20
Daniel 'Danny' James Fenton,
Previous alias; Daniel 'Danny' James Grayson
Born December 1 2010
Adopted July 18 2020
Missing, presumed deceased November 7 2022
Family relations;
Parents
John Grayson (deceased March 20 2020)
Mary Grayson (deceased March 20 2020)
Maddeline 'Maddie' Nicole Fenton (adopted, deceased November 7 2022)
Jackson 'Jack' Jacob Fenton (adopted, deceased November 7 2022)
Siblings
Richard 'Dick' John Grayson
Jasmine 'Jazz' Josephine Fenton (adopted, deceased November 7 2022)
Residence
'Fentonworks'
Bodach avenue 11, Amity Park, Illinois
That's it.
That's all their file on Danny had after countless hours of research.
Filled with death and abandonment.
Abandonment that Dick had added onto
Batman, well, Bruce had found Dick at the main computer in the Batcave once the man had finished his business with the League. It had already been a few hours since the debrief and it very much looked like all that time was spent at the desk.
The boy had barely taken any time to change, only removing his mask and cape, before planting himself in front of the machine. His hair looked like a genuine bird's nest, likely from repeatedly running his hands through it. Dark circles were already forming under his eyes.
Bruce could immediately tell something about his ward was off. Dick had gotten obsessive over some cases here and there but nothing to this extent. Not since his parents' accident.
It hadn't taken that much pressure for Dick to crack. Of course the man had noticed inconsistencies in the mission reports the others had handed in. And of course Batman of all people was the one to review them.
Really, trying to sneak something past Batman was like trying to not be seen while having neon signs pointing at you.
Bruce, being the paranoid bastard he is, was sceptical at first. They hadn't received any reports of new metas or anything happening in sleepy Amity Park.
But for the sake of the distressed teen in his care, and knowing the boy had killer intuition, he decided to humor the boy and aid in his investigation.
What a mistake that had been
Within half an hour, Dick had gone through everything he had found and everything they had hidden from the reports. A detailed walkthrough of the incident and the literal digital hole that was Amity Park.
Bruce had tried to double check the research. Backtrack everything Dick had looked for.
Nothing
Everything about Amity had been wiped off the internet.
The only way they even found out about the deaths of Danny's adoptive family was from a post Maddeline's sister, Alicia had made.
The great detective was starting to understand why Dick had looked like an absolute wreck.
Between the two of them, they had gone through copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks. It was an act of mercy that Alfred had continued to supply them after the 24h mark hit. It was only due to the power of the Englishman that they had even gotten out of their chairs and into the showers.
Amity park had been completely wiped from any digital records they could find, even the ones procured in…less legal ways than usual.
As far as they could find it didn't even exist anymore. Anything that ever referenced 'Amity Park' had fully been deleted. Only a handful of articles and various documents made it thought the apparently purge as they only mentioned 'Amity'.
Dick refused to give up.
He knew the answers were out there. He knew something happened. And he damn well knew those answers were somewhere within hidden records in Belle Rêve. They just hadn't found the right ones.
Yet.
Connor said he hadn't seen anybody like him or the entity in the prison the entire time he was there. General Population was ruled out for places he would be at.
He very clearly wasn't wearing a guard's uniform so even if the prison negated youth labor laws, he wasn't working there either. Not officially at least. From what the two resident aliens mentioned, he hadn't outright attacked them. He tried to stop them. Stop the escape. Even with their admittance of striking first, he would still be classified as the hostile one in official records. The League's prejudice against their opponents aside, they were in a prison and he did attack Icicle Jr. That counted enough for the majority to vote him the bad guy.
Solidary was the only option left.
But what could he possibly have done to deserve that? Belle Rêve is very openly against using solidary confinement. Their psychological team claims in sets back their mental health more than active war soldiers experience.
Depressingly enough, when they had looked into the solidary records, they found holes in the logs. Security was also cut down on the second floor about a year ago. It irked them beyond belief that there weren't more records to hack their way into. More files to find and dissect. Hoping to find that one bit of information they were looking for.
But they were getting closer.
That had to count for something
It wasn't until they were nearing the 48h mark that Alfred's compassion ran out and the threats of spiked beverages came up.
Begrudgingly Dick actually got up on his own accord after Alfred gave him the choice of dignantly going to his room on his own or being carried there after being sedated.
Grumbling annoyedly, Dick waddled his way through the manor halls. Socks left abandoned in the shoes he wears in the Cave. He didn't need another lecture about not wearing dirty shoes inside the house on top of everything else.
Dick felt the hairs on his arms stand up as a cold yet fuzzy feeling brushed past him. Stopping dead in his tracks, he looked around but couldn't spot any danger.
Then he saw it
He was almost willing to write it off as Alfred still having drugged his food earlier but that would go against the man's beliefs. He always gives the choice first before secretly drugging you. He was a man of standards after all.
Standards Dick was willing to throw out the window as he rushed to the end of the hallway towards what he had seen. As he rounded the corner, he was sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Going down another hallway he saw little neon green hind legs walk away.
That couldn't possibly be
Right?
Dick chased after it again, hoping to catch up. It wasn't a long halfway, only a few doors, surely he could, right?
The chase continued through the manor. Doing down passageways Dick hadn't even remembered existed until the green entity walked through the door like it wasn't even there. Somehow he had even found himself in crawl spaces that hadn't been on the floor maps Bruce had shown him;
Had this happened even a week before Dick was sure he would have written it off as sleep deprived hallucinations. But now anything felt so out of place, it wouldn't have been the strangest thing to happen.
Dick panted as made his way out yet another vent like crawl space. He looked out in front of him and started straight at what he had been chasing this whole time.
That definitely was the entity they saw at Belle Rêve.
The green hound
Danny's dog
Dick felt his heart race as he watched the puppy in front of him lazily scratch his collar, back turned towards the boy. Did they make a special dog sized collar for the pup too? God, if his own brother suddenly needed five was it really that ridiculous to think they'd make one for a meta dog too?
He stood up straighter again as he tried to inch closer. Years of training, and well maintained floorboards, letting him move without making a sound.
Skills that apparently weren't enough to sneak up on a meta dog. As soon as Dick was only a foot or two away, its head snapped up and looked straight at the boy.
Both locked eyes and froze for a second. Neither even letting out a single breath.
Was the dog even breathing to begin with?
Was it even real?
What if it really was just a hallucination from hours upon hours of stressful research. The mere possibility his brother is in a prison again was painful on its own. But now he also had to factor in that same brother being in a meta supervillain prison. The how's and why's already making him lose focus again even with the entity they all saw right before him.
Recognition flashed through the pup's eyes as it jumped around to wag its tail at the young boy. It playfully bowed forward as its tail wagged up a storm. Yipping excitedly it hopped around a bit, begging Dick to engage with it. Apprehensively, Dick tried to reach out. If he could touch it, it's real, right?
Tried being the keyword here.
The moment he got closer to try and touch the hyperactive pup before him, it jumped up and back. It looked back a few times, egging Dick on to follow it. Taking the bait, Dick took a few steps forward as it still yipped at him.
The moment it seemed to know Dick would follow, it darted across the hall and went straight through one of the doors. Dick cautiously followed but broke out into a light sprint as he heard something in the room fall.
He almost threw open the door. Somehow the entity had led him all over the manor and in some way led him to his own room. Dick looked around, trying to see where it had gone and what the noise had been. His room looked just how he left it, nothing out of place.
Had he imagined it all?
Walking further inside, he still felt that odd cold yet fuzzy feeling. Late September evenings didn't feel this cold, even in Gotham. He started walking towards the windows to check for some type of draft when a noise from behind startled him.
Panicked, he jumped up into a perch on the corner of his bed. There had been nothing behind him. There still was nothing where he knew he heard the noise.
Nothing except for his closet.
For safety's sake, Dick pulled out a hidden bo staff from between his mattress and stalked towards the closet. Now that he's closer, he could tell the door was ever so slightly opened. Keeping his distance in case something actually was inside, he used the staff to pry open the door.
Dick felt all the color drain from his face.
On the inside of his door hung his old Flying Grayson's poster. It was the newer version that they had designed special for when the twins would start actively performing in shows.
Sadly they never actually got to use it as promotional material
That wasn't what had shocked him to his core however.
No, under the poster, on the midrail of the door itself sat one of his batarangs perfectly balanced. It wasn't a brand new one. This one has some scuffs and were those teeth marks?
It can't be
Chapter 21
Bruce let out a breath he wasn't aware he had been holding. Now that Dick had gone to his room the usual chill of the Batcave had become more apparent.
The weight of the whole situation had hit him the moment the only noise left in the cave were the quiet rustling of the bats up above.
Just who exactly was it that the team interacted with in Belle Rêve?
Could it really be Danny or was Dick just subconsciously linking an unidentified meta with his brother?
If it really was Danny, just how badly had they failed him? How did he end up there of all places? Were they not a safe place for him?
Who all knew about their relation to him?
But
What if it hadn't been Danny and they spent the last two days on a wild goose chase? Dick was so certain it was his brother. But what if it wasn't and they wasted all that energy on nothing. Would they need to hold a funeral with an empty casket, so his headstone can be next to their parents? Or would Dick insist on personally going to the accident site and go through all the evidence, or whatever is left of it, himself?
What should he even do, as Dick's guardian, should that be the case?
Was it too late to call in Dinah to have a talk with Dick about this?
About everything?
Bruce sighed deeply, sagging further into his chair and letting his head fall back. Two whole days they already worked on this case. Two whole days without taking a proper break and just letting the info sit before looking for other perspectives. Mentally speaking, Bruce was exhausted. A few power naps and an ungodly amount of coffee did enough for physical tiredness but this exhaustion wasn't something he could sleep away.
"Perhaps some tea, sir?" Alfred suggested from a distance away. Of course the man had noticed Bruce's internal struggle with the case long before he was aware of it himself.
Bruce sighed again, it seemed that was the only thing he was capable of doing anymore, as he reached for the most definitely medicated tea cup. The tea was nice and soothing to his throat and he could already feel some tension leave his body. Perhaps some assistance in getting some proper sleep wasn't that bad of an idea.
Much to his dismay, the tension quickly shot back through his tired muscles as Dick came barging back into the cave. "BRUCE!" The boy yelled out. "Bruce you gotta see this!" In no time Dick had crossed the cave and was tugging on his pseudo-father's arm. He wasn't sure if it was whatever drugs Alfred had slipped into his tea but something felt off about his ward. A glance at Alfred let him know the elder man also had no idea what was going on.
Bruce got up and, with Alfred in tow, they followed Dick as the boy rambled on and on.
"I was going up like you told me to, yeah? And then there was this weird feeling and I didn't know what it was and I swear, Bruce I swear, I saw that dog and so I followed it. Did you know we have so many hidden passages here? Who knew, not me that's for sure. That dog did though, the dog knew. What else would it know?"
The two adults shared a concerned look as Dick seemed to do his best imitation of speedster talk. Perhaps he had been spending too much time with Wally and was picking up on the teen's way of speech.
"Oh who cares about that right now. Anyways, I followed it yeah and like we went all over the place? Like, I'm pretty sure I was inside the walls and ceiling at some point. Somehow we got to my room and I swear I was so close to touching it. It was like RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME but then it ran off again and it went through my door. Like, walked straight into it, not open it like we would do. Through! Crazy to think that's probably how it found out about the passages, no?"
Bruce saw Alfred reach into one of his more hidden suit pockets and pull out a syringe. Not liking the idea of sedating the boy as they were moving he held out a hand to stop the butler. For now at least. Best see what Dick was so riled up all of the sudden. Bruce was already making a mental note to check the cameras later after he managed to get some sleep himself.
By now Dick had let them all the way up to his room and practically shoved Bruce into the closet. "So when I followed it there was like nothing, yeah? But then there was this weird noise and I opened the door and BOOM!"
The adults stared in sheer confusion at the totally normal closet. "Boom, young master?" He heard Alfred ask.
Bruce felt himself get pushed out of the way as Dick looked at his closet again. "What- no, no! I promise it was right here! Right under the poster! I-" Dick seemed to become increasingly distraught as the object he had expected to be there was, in fact, nowhere to be seen. "Chum," Bruce spoke softly so the boy wouldn't panic more, "What was there?"
Bleary eyed, Dick looked up to his mentor. "I - my batarang. It was all messed up like the dog chewed on it. Like, like solid teeth marks in there. Bruce I swear, I swear it was really there." His voice was so small even the few cracks made it sound heartbreaking how upset the boy had gotten over this. As tears started to fall, he held his ward close and gave the sign to Alfred. With a swift move, a now sedated Dick fell limp in Bruce's arms. Silently, he carried him to his bed and made sure he was comfortable before leaving the room.
Out in the hallway, he placed a hand on the wall to steady himself as his own medication started kicking in harder. Alfred silently offered an arm which the hero gratefully accepted. Supported on both sides, he stumbled towards his own bed and decided to let sleep happen as long as his body saw fit.
He didn't know how long he was asleep for, but what he did know was that he felt a lot better than he had the past few days. Stumbling around he took his time going through his morning, or well, waking up routine. Once clean and dressed, he walked to the kitchen for some sweet sweetcaffeine.
"Good afternoon, sir." Alfred greeted as he handed over a prepared cup. Bruce smiled gratefully as he breathed in the aroma. "Good afternoon, Alfred. Is Dick awake yet?"
The butler sighed. Reaching backwards, he grabbed a tablet and handed it over to Bruce. "No, he is still resting soundly. Perhaps that may be for the best considering what I suspect you will be doing tonight." Bruce frowned at the tablet until he read the message Alfred had left open for him.
Hidden between multiple articles was a hidden message from none other than Amanda Waller. Putting all the circled words or lines together, it appeared to be an invitation for Batman to come to Belle Rêve tonight.
Bruce raised an eyebrow and looked over to the elder gentleman. Alfred shrugged as he prepared a cup of tea for himself. "I do not know what her intentions are. But, considering recent occurrences, it might be connected."
Bruce grunted as he downed his cup. "I suppose it'll be a quick meal then. Should Dick wake up while I'm gone, tell him it's League business and that he can cover Gotham on his own until the brewery. And to be back by 2am at the latest."
"Already prepared for that, Master Bruce."
Bruce, now dressed at Batman, wasn't really sure what he expected. What he definitely didn't expect when he walked into Waller's office, was it being in a state of disarray. Boxes upon boxes covered the floor as what little personal belongings she had, had disappeared.
Batman stood in the middle of the room until Waller decided to acknowledge his presence.
"Ah, so you came." She said nonchalantly. Batman didn't give her much reaction outside of a typical grunt. The warden rolled her eyes as she continued packing. "Figures. Where is your duckling?" Batman's lenses narrowed as he tracked her movement with his eyes. "Indisposed." Waller gave a humorless chuckle as she paused her packing. "Might have been for the best."
"What do you mean by that?"
Waller fully stopped her pacing and packing and sat down in her chair. "As you are well aware, there was a recent jailbreak attempt. During this, there was a…situation with some of your undercover heroes. I suspect you and your team already found out about him being a special case. Don't think I wouldn't notice you sticking your nose in my files." She leaned forward onto interlaced fingers. Looking at the dark knight, she raised an eyebrow at his seeming lack of reaction.
"That attempt however," she continued, "was the golden ticket for the board to find grounds to fire me. While I can trust the running of the prison to somebody else, I can't trust them with the boy." From a hidden pocket with her suit jacket, she pulled out a usb drive and slid it towards the vigilante. "On this you'll find all the files on him, including his own testimony and the adjustments he made to his collars. A list of his special allies, not that you would be needing it. Contact is impossible unless they come to you, best not get worked up over it."
Batman examined the usb drive. From the outside it seemed unsuspecting. No hidden buttons or any oddities. Of course he would likely use it on a burner system in case there's a trojan hidden on the device. Still, he pocketed it. "That's a lot of trouble to go to for a prisoner."
Waller leaned back as a soft and oddly warm smile took over her features. "Oh he isn't just a prisoner. He has the potential to be so much more than that, yet he willingly limits himself to be confined here."
"If he is so important, why not take him with you and add him to Task Force X?"
Waller let out a hollow laugh as she walked to the front of her desk to lean against it. "Ha, that boy would take any chance he can get to blow his own head off rather than do something he doesn't fundamentally agree with. He'd sacrifice himself over the thought of being the cause of someone else's grief. He isn't cut out to work with the likes of them. Bigger chance they try and eliminate him before anything else." She chuckled lightly as she looked to the floor in uncharacteristic solemness.
"He won't accept help if you come at him. You've got to let him realize himself that he needs your help or else he'll just find a new hole to hide in. And maybe the next hole he finds would be somewhere even you wouldn't be able to find him. He has a… thing for knowing how to disappear when he really doesn't want to be found." Amanda openly glared at the dark knight, challenging him to object. Seeing no signs of what she was looking for, the ex-warren pushed herself off the desk and walked towards the door to hold it open. "There isn't much more I can do for you."
Batman took the hint and walked out of the office. As he passed, he could faintly hear her whisper.
"Keep him safe, Bruce."
Rattled by the reveal, he turned but the door had already closed. Guards stationed an ends away gave him odd looks before he decided it would be better to leave it be for now. He gave it half a thought to check out the isolation cells in person but decided against it. He had new leads and other concerns that weighed more on his mind.
Chapter 22
A very very grumpy Robin was swinging through the city, trying to calm his mind before he Zeta'd out to Mount Justice.
Stupid Bat. Stupid mystery drive. Stupid sedation.
Prost totul (Stupid everything)!
How dare Bruce go to Belle Rêve and not take him with? League business' his ass, the fool hadn't turned off his tracker. Dick knew full and well where he was the whole time. He even got Alfie to lie to him! That has got to count as a sin on some level!
And not only did both of them lie to him and take him as an idiot, now he won't even tell him what it was all about! The stubborn fool even went as far as to code lock the damn file history on the batcomputer just so Dick wouldn't be able to find out what he looked at.
Ce pusca mea! (what the fuck)
How was any of this fair!
Even now they were still treating him like a dumb child! "HeAd HoMe, YoU'rE dIsTrAcTeD." Dick mocked in his thoughts. No shit sherlock, they were hiding stuff from him after sedating him! Like who does that? He was already going to sleep after, there was no need for that if you asked him. Not like they bothered to ask anyway.
"We checked the cameras, Dick. There wasn't anything there."
"Are you sure you weren't just seeing things from exhaustion, young master?"
Well then they got hacked somehow! He knows what he saw! He would bet his left leg that there was some trickery involved that made them not see the literal glowing green furball. Even volunteering to take Wonder Woman's lasso for a spin wasn't enough for the adults to believe him. "Oh BuT tHe CaMeRaS" DECI CE (SO WHAT)?! They had no right to claim he was just imagining things! Câinele a fost acolo, la naiba (the dog was there, damn it)! They already have proof the câine (dog) can influence tech, was it really that far of a reach that their cameras just couldn't pick up on it?
They hadn't even gotten a chance to investigate Belle Rêve before they decided to violate his rights, so who are they to say their stupid tech was more believable than Dick's own memories. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! He had a missing brother and a trippy little dog to deal with but they were more concerned with his 'mental health'. What mental health? Why would his mental be healthy when his brother was in the most secured prison in the country!
UGH
Of course he wouldn't be fully paying attention! Who would when all of that was going on! It wasn't his fault he didn't see the goon sneak up on him. Batman didn't need to save him, the man chose to do that all on his own. Why was Robin being punished for another person's choices! This had to be some sort of violation of his rights, right? Surely there had to be something he could hold over Bruce's head next time.
Still halfway grumbling to himself, he reached the roof next to the alley where the Gotham City zeta tube was hidden. He looked around to see if the coast was clear when he saw Artemis walk up to it. The girl looked quite nervous and unsure of what to do. Was this her first time zeta-ing in from Gotham after her school transfer?
Ducă-se. (screw it)
Carefully he slipped down to try and scare her. Right as she least expected it he popped out from behind the broken phone booth. "Artemis?" He did his best to sound like his usual, somewhat cocky self. The gremlin in him enjoyed how the green clad heroine jumped slightly at his suddenappearance.
"Robin!" She nervously stuttered, "I-um." Robin decided to have some fun and be a bit of a menace before meeting up with the others. "Random that you are in Gotham City, instead of Star City where your uncle Green Arrow lives." Should anybody ask, he took no enjoyment in watching his teammate nervously squirm while trying to find a cover story on the fly. Of course he already knew she lived here with her mom, but she didn't know he knew so why not have some fun with it.
The poor victim-girl, the poor girl stammered as she tried to answer the young Bat. "I'm uhhm here to um see my cousin! She… was in the state spelling bee. Here. In Gotham." Dick was trying to hide an honest smirk as he saw right through that poor excuse of a cover. Still he had to hand it to her that it might have fooled anybody that wasn't already in the know or looking for the signs of a lie. Maybe he should recommend some improv classes to Oliver so he can help her improve for the real deal.
Still, being the gremlin he is and somewhat surprised at how easily it was for him to get properly distracted for once, he decided to play along. Totally not to make her suffer more. Totally not. "C-O-O-L. Did she W-I-N?" The voice in his head begged him to spell it out, of course he had to comply.
The look on the archer's face immediately dropped to a rather unimpressed stare as she blankly answered. "N-O."
Dick tried very hard to not laugh at her attitude change. The smirk on his face intensified just a bit at her annoyance and slight glare. "D-R-E-G." The smirk faltered just a bit when, instead of looking at him even more annoyedly, she was confused. Did she not know what drag meant? Well her first language might have been Vietnamese so maybe some kind of translation issue?
"What?"
Artemis looked at him as if he had said the weirdest thing ever. He was half tempted to check if he had grown a second head with how she was eyeing him. "Did you mean drag?"
Now it was Robin's turn to look confused. Wasn't that what he had said?
Picking up on his confusion, Artemis clarified. "D-R-A-G. You said E, not A." Both teens kept staring at each other as Robin still didn't seem to grasp what he had said wrong. He knows how to spell, he knows he said drag.
Maybe Batman was right about him not having his head in the game tonight?
Slightly shaking his head, Robin smirked back at her like nothing happened. If he acts like it didn't happen, then it didn't. That is the logic we're rolling with today. Clearing his throat to rid himself of the awkwardness he stepped forward. "Yeah, let's just go to the cave." Luckily for him, Artemis stepped out of his way, gesturing for him to go first.
Before Dick even fully materialized in Mount Justice, he could immediately tell something was off. Unusual heat gave way as his eyes laid upon the hangar being encased in smoke and flames. He yelled out to his teammates but none of them responded. Behind him he could hear Artemis' code being called out as she too materialized into the chaos.
He could faintly see unnatural movement from the smoke and figured the assailant must be hiding within the fire. Prepping some batarangs, he threw them out before yelling at Artemis to dodge the incoming fire ball.
Both teens started attacking the direction from where the fire blasts came from. The only sign they had that it hit their target was a dull metallic sound as the batarangs connected. As they dodged yet another blast, two humanoid shapes started coming forth in the smoke.
"Who are we fighting?" Artemis growled out as she notched another arrow. Robin walked closer to her to keep a distance between him and the figures. "Don't know. But we're sitting ducks here by these tubes. Head for the exit!" Barely finishing his sentence, Robin already started running towards the docking bay.
A pillar of fire blasted towards them as they narrowly avoided becoming roast duck themselves. As they entered the tunnel, a rogue wave of water blocked the way forward. "Or not." Robin snarked before the two of them were hit and dragged along. The water pushed them hard against the opposite wall, knocking the air out of their lungs as they fell back to the ground.
With no time to waste, they ran off again to dodge even more fire blasts. Running down a different hallway that led deeper into the mountain, they only just managed to make it in before a freak fire tornado reached them.
Running through the gym rooms, Robin tries to comm in to his friends. "Robin to team." He called out, "Come in! Aqualad!" Frustratingly he got no answer. While he was doing that, Artemis tried to telepathically call out to M'gann with just as much luck as Robin had.
Somehow the fire whirl had caught up to them and blasted through the gym doors, knocking both of then to the ground yet again. Scrambling back up before the fire overtook them, the teens rushed over to the other side of the room. "Robin to BatCave, override R-G-4." Running through the adjacent rooms, Robin tried desperately to reach out to anybody. "Cave calling Justice League H-O-G / Watch Tower. B 0 1, priority red!" They rushed to the showers and started twisting them all open. "Comm is down. Blocked." He informed Artemis as they grouped together in the middle of the open showers.
"At least the water's helping."
As if the karma gods up above had a persona l vendetta against him, the pipelines in the showers started groaning as pressure rapidly built up. Showerheads started flying off as water spewed out of the wall. "Or not." He mumbled to himself as now the room was quickly flooding. Within seconds the pair was completely underwater as the liquid seemed contained to this one area. Swimming out of it was also not quite an option as the only exit was still blocked by the fire tornado that didn't seem to disparate.
Pulling out some more batarangs, Robin swam towards a wall and set them off to explode, effectively creating a new exit for them before they drowned. The water flooded back out as the teens caught their breath on the floor. Really, at this point the floor was becoming a second home to them.
Not ones to waste too much time, they quickly ran down the hall and entered the kitchen. "We need to get lost, fast." Robin warned as he looked for possible escape routes. "The air vent!" Artemis called out, perhaps a bit too loudly, as she ran over to the big vent over the stovetop. Robin stayed back just a little bit to connect his wrist computer to the panel on the wall next to him.
"What are you-"
"Downloading Cave blueprints. Could come in-" Robin cut himself off as he heard footsteps closing in. Disconnecting, he rushed over to where Artemis was and quickly jumped into the vent behind her. Not a second too late as a blaze of fire shot through right after they turned a corner.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Robin continued to guide Artemis through the vents until they popped out in the old boiler room.
Just as they reached the lower level, fire shot out of the vent they were in just a few seconds before. Within the flames they saw a humanoid figure rise up. Before it could spot them, the pair quickly ducked behind one of the massive boilers. The being commanded more fire to fill up the room, causing the pressure gauges on the boilers to rapidly approach dangerous levels.
Robin coughed as smoke surrounded them. Visibility was nearing zero as it became hard to breathe. Behind him, he was vaguely aware Artemis was also struggling. Brain a total mess, and disoriented from the chaos of tonight, the boy wonder couldn't remember where the escape hatch was. He tried to pull up the blueprint but he couldn't see the screen clearly as smoke enveloped them completely.
Echoing throughout the room were heavy footsteps and fire blasts that seemed to be getting closer and closer.
Dropping to their knees to stay out of the smoke as much as they can, the heroes started to panic. Artemis tried to notch an arrow and aim for their attacker, but she could barely keep her hand steady as oxygen levels were dropping fast. Absolutely adding no assistance at all, pipes around them started to burst as now steam also started to fill up the room.
Robin could feel his eyes blur as the smoke stung his eyes. He tried his best to feel on the ground for where the hatch was but was unsuccessful. Through all the alarms and burst pipes, Robin swore he could hear the faintest little bark. Maybe he had imagined it?
Again he heard a little bark, ever so slightly louder this time. Forcing himself to open his eyes again, the boy saw a bright green smudge just a little bit in front of him. Unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, he shuffled closer and tried to reach out to the smudge.
When his hand wafted through the smoke and vapor, the smudge disappeared. Defeated, he dropped his hand to the ground again.
Only
He found the hatch!
Making sure his foot was over the hatch cover, he stretched out to tug Artemis towards it. Before he jumped through, he deployed a few more explosive batarangs, hoping the resulting outburst took out their attacker.
Chapter 23
They dropped down to another vent tunnel. "Hold on." Dick warned as he paused next to an access panel. Using his favorite weapon, he pried open the covering and connected his wrist computer to it. "Blocking out cave's heat and motion sens-huh." Dick fell quiet as the system didn't directly respond to his inputs.
Furiously, he typed away at the hologram to find out what was causing the issues. Data seemed to glitch out for a few seconds before it showed three signatures. Before either of them could even comment on it, it glitched again. The third signature was gone, and so were the response issues with the system. Writing it off as a concern for later, Dick continued to block out the cave from tracking them. Hopefully with that it'll make it harder for their attackers to find them too. "There, that should do it."
Artemis gave a puzzled yet somewhat annoyed look at her hacker friend. "Who even are they?"
Dick smirked at her as he started typing again. "Why don't we find out? Pulling up security footage now."
What they saw wasn't what either of them was expecting. While their friends were in view, none of the cameras got a glimpse of the attackers before they were all taken out.
"That's it. All four of them are dead. The cameras, I meant the cameras!" He quickly added when he saw the look of horror on the archer's face. "I-I'm sure the others are okay." Despite the stutter, he did his best to sound confident. More for her sake than his. "Just…give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar." The logical part of his head was focusing on the mission as hard as he humanly could. The other, more emotional side of him, was slipping down the same rabbit hole Artemis was going. He couldn't imagine how he would deal with any of what happened recently if he now also had to grieve the loss of his best friend. Was the universe really so cruel to give him his brother back, only to take his best friend away in the same week?
Artemis fell backwards and curled up into a ball, knees pulled tightly to her chest in self-comfort. "Yeah, they're fine." She said sarcastically with a hint of fear laced between the words. "They all got superpowers, they can handle anything." Her head fell onto her knees as she waited for Robin to say anything. Too bad for her that he was too far gone in his own head to have heard her talk.
After a few minutes, Dick finally disconnected and started leading the archer to the vent that leads directly to the library. Skillfully he pushed the cover off and carefully lowered it to avoid making sound. A quick check made it seem like the coast was clear, so the two teens jumped out and ran down the stairs to the lower level
"There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases."
"Ugh, seriously? Cliché much?" Artemis commented in disbelief.
Dick chuckled at the remark and the fond memories that flooded his brain of all the times he got lost in the maze known as the Batcave tunnels. "You should see the Batcave." Maybe one day he could convince Batman that letting his teammates in isn't that bad of an idea. Wally came over often enough, and Kaldur definitely deserved that privilege as well with how long they've known each other already. What are the odds any of them would really betray them when push comes to shove?
With Robin in lead, the two walked past several bookcases until they were a solid end into the room. Behind them, the door suddenly slid open, warning them somebody had entered the room. Grabbing Artemis by the arm, he pulled them both behind cover in case it was their attacker. Dick's heart was racing. He was sure he turned off the sensors, how would the enemy have found them already? The air felt odd as metallic footsteps grew closer and closer to the hidden pair. Like an echo to each step, Dick could faintly hear an angry growl. Something in him told him it wasn't directed at him.
But if not at him, then who?
The shadow of a man started to show on the floor past their hiding spot. They had definitely been found now. As quietly as they could, they pulled out their weapons just in case they would need to make a break for it. As the shadow grew, the sound of a familiar voice filled the room.
"Artemis, Robin."
Immediately the hairs on Dick's arms flew up. The growling echoes intensified when the voice of Red Tornado said his name. Something was wrong but he had no idea what. Before he could say anything to Artemis, the girl already ran past him and into the path of their new arrival.
As she rounded the corner, she came face to face with a red humanoid robot. Much like the real Red Tornado, this one also had yellow markings over its body. Artemis froze in shock when who she thought was their fellow hero made a grab for her. Had it not been for Robin body slamming her out of the way, she would have gotten caught. "Yes on the red, no on the tornado!"
They barrel rolled under a table and started running. They didn't get far as another red android, a female figure this time, appeared in their path. This android started shooting fire at them as they yet again had to change course. These two were definitely the ones that had been hunting them this whole time. Trying to get to higher ground, Robin took the lead and jumped on top of the book cases to cover more ground in a faster way.
"Who-what are they?!" The archer asked as now the sprinkles had been set off by the fire blazing through the room at them. Robin only half heard her as he saw that bright green smudge again, jumping down a particular bookshelf. As he got close enough to see what it was, the smudge was gone. But, just like last time, it had guided him to where the hidden passage would be.
Artemis stayed standing on the bookshelf to try and slow the enemies' approach. The male android used the water from the sprinklers to create a shield to block the arrow. Oddly familiar to how Kaldur would have done. The female android punished the bookshelf nearest to it. As it fell, the ones it hit went down too, causing a domino effect. Ducking for cover, Artemis jumped down to where Robin was. Before her feet could even hit the ground, he already grabbed her hand and pulled her down into the passageway. The door closed right behind her as a couple books made it down with them.
They jumped down the slope and kept running as fast as they could. "Did you know Tornado had siblings?" The blonde asked, still shocked by how easily she had fallen for the cheap trick. "No." Robin, too, was upset but more for his own reasons. Weird things were happening and he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was that was going on. But at least whatever was causing those things seemed to be on their side.
As they got to a crossroads of hallways, Robin was about to lead the way down another direction before Artemis grabbed his arm. "So now what?" Dick stood up straight to face her, prompting the distraught girl to let go. "Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down two of them?" Still trying to lighten the mood as he had done for many years, Dick kept trying to make small jokes to lighten the ever building tension. "They did seem pretty user unfriendly." Apparently his efforts went in vain as the archer glared at him. "Don't joke. They-"
"Attention Robin. Attention Artemis." Red Tornado's voice sounded over the speaker system. "You have exactly 10 minutes to surrender. Or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished."
The two looked at each other as silence once again filled the halls. They were running out of time and had no way to contact the outside world. Just how would they be able to do this on their own?
Or
Maybe not?
If they could manage to get into the hangar, they could see the state of their teammates themselves and try to get a link of communication set up. At least it wouldn't just be the two of them thinking of a solution then.
Robin shared a confident knowing look with Artemis. With a shared nod, they started running down the halls again. The continuous countdown reminders did nothing to curb their renewed vigor. Once they successfully travailed the passages back past the kitchen, it seemed like it would be a breeze. "We can access the hangar from here." Dick informed her.
An echoed warning growl traveled down the hall as the pair could feel the tremors of a sudden rush of water headed straight for them again. "Or not." Because of course this couldn't have gone as smoothly as they thought without enemy interference.
"Would you please stop saying that!"
Try as they might, they couldn't outrun the rush of water as they were soon swept up for the so manieth time that evening. Not wanting to risk it, Dick detached his emergency rebreather from his cape clasp and took in a deep breath before passing it to Artemis.
As they were looking around to where they could go, the male android swam up to them and pulled Artemis back. From the shock and recoil, she lost the rebreather and most of the arrows that were left in her quiver.
She tried her best to fight it off with her hands but it did nothing to his hard outer shell. Behind her, Robin grabbed one of the floating arrows and jammed it into the android's eye. Stunning it enough to release the girl, now it was Robin's turn to grab a hold of her as he left some explosive batarangs behind and grappled towards the furthest wall.
They used the explosions as a cover to swim as fast as they could until they breached the surface in the hangar. Desperately trying to catch their breath, they had to give again to doge a sudden attack of fire. The pair swam up to where Superboy and Kid Flash were stuck in a molten mess of motorcycles.
"You guys okay?"
"Forget us, help M'gann!" Connor almost growled at them. Following his gaze, the two looked up to see both Kaldur and M'gann locked in a cage of fire. Both drenched in sweat, they didn't seem to be doing great. "Aqualad," Artemis called out to her leader, "Is she…" She couldn't finish the sentence just in case it would be true. Up on the platform, their leader had the Martian's head supported on his lap. "She is unconscious. I fear she-we cannot survive much longer."
As if she waited for him to finish his sentence, the female android started up with the attacks again. Quickly, the pair had to dive down again to avoid the attacks. Visibility inside the water was horrendous as the onslaught of fire did little to clear up the murky sea water. They were at a disadvantage even more as from above the android could see them a lot easier than they could see the attacks coming at them.
As if the guardian smudge had heard his pleas, Robin saw it again in the water. He tried to swim towards it, making sure Artemis was hot on his tail as he went. The smudge moved to the side and on a whim, dick did too. Not a second later, a sizzling ball of fire passed next to him in a trail of bubbles. Taking that as enough of a sign, Dick kept following it. With its help, the both made it to the side of the platform steps and out of view of the female android.
Or at least, so they thought.
As they ran up the stairs, the male robot caught up with them. Running further up the steps was also not an option as they were closed in by the female. They tried to attack but it was not doing anything. Artemis used her second to last arrow to shoot at the female but all that did was cause an explosion of smoke. Which the android blatantly ignored. Robin's attacks simply ricochet off of the male. One of his batarangs almost hit Wally as it embedded itself into the molten metal next to the ginger's head.
Both androids used beams of their elemental attacks on the two. Jumping out of the way at the last second, they made their escape once again as the two androids were stuck in their own predicament. The two teens swam down into a cavern. A gate was covering yet another hidden passage that they slipped into. Quickly running out of breath, they swam up the passage tunnels until they finally got to a ladder that lead out of the water. Breaching the surface once more, they heaved themselves up into the connected tunnel as they gasped for air.
"Six minutes." The monotone voice called out their timer again.
"What do we do now?"
Determined and angry all the same, Dick stared down the panicking girl. "We save them. That's how it works." Because that was just it, isn't it. They're heroes. No matter who, it's their job to save those in need. It wouldn't be his first time rescuing supers or having to fight against the odds but he'd rather die than just give up without putting on the fight of his life. Literally.
Artemis however, did not seem to see it that way. "Maybe that's how it's supposed to work. But those robots already took out our four superpowered friends!" Robin knew an emotional reaction wouldn't do them any good at this point. It had been trained out of him long ago to let nerves or fear get to him in such situations. Training his friend clearly didn't have. Keeping his voice calm, he stuck to his usual routine as his own way to cling to sanity. "You seem distraught." He said softly with a smile on his face to try and counter Artemis' increasing panic.
Again, it didn't particularly seem to go the way he planned. "Distraught?! M'gann is dying, we have no powers and I'm down to my last arrow. OF COURSE I'M DISTRAUGHT!"
"Well get traught or get dead!" He hadn't really meant to lose his temper. Perhaps it was the weight of everythingbeing on his shoulders but her voicing the same points he was fearing this whole time was not helping him either. If they lose their heads now, they might as well give up.
Taking a deep breath, Robin kept crawling. In part to get moving but also to separate himself from the situation and that thought process. Somewhat taking the hint, Artemis started to follow him again. "How can you be so calm?" He barely spared her a side glance as he kept making his way forward. "Practice. Been doing this since I was nine."
Not one to give up pushing, Artemis continued. "What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines!" And if that wasn't a lightbulb moment then he didn't know what was. "Oh, duh! They're machines. And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."
"Great," She retorted sarcastically, "except you better have an emp in that utility belt of yours, because I know I don't have one in my quiver."
Even with her pessimism, Dick couldn't stop the genuine smile from crawling up his face. This was exactly what they needed to get the upper hand and get help. "I'm fresh out, but I'm betting we could make one." Robin brought a hand up to his ear and tapped his comm. "What do you say, KF? Sounds doable?" From the batarang Dick had thrown earlier, they could finally talk with their second resident genius and concoct their mad scientist plans. "Totally doable," Wally's voice sounded in his ear.
"Five minutes." The voice called out over the speakers.
"You know, if we had more time." Wally added solemnly.
A/N To avoid the same critism I got last time, I'll be wrting out the actual episodes from the show. There would be minor changes to still make it seem as something new and a bit less predicable. Now for those who haven't watched them or for those that don't quite remember them, they can also follow along with the story and it still make sense with the missing pieces. The parts I orignally planned to leave out might feel like filler now but I truely did my best to give proper reasons for them to be included in the way that they are. I hope this helps with the story looking more cohesive and being easier to understand.
Chapter 24
Not one to give up that easily, Dick lead the way to the main room of the med bay while discussing what they'd need to… borrow, from the supplies. He'd definitely need to make a note for Batman to replace pretty much everything at this point.
"Medlab, X-ray machine. You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator. It converges high energy pulses." Exactly to Wally's instructions, Dick easily finds the part he is talking about while Artemis stands watch. "Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from X-rays to EMP's with a cascading energy vector directed outward." Kid Genius instructed. Within a matter of seconds, Robin was done and extracted the part. "A ripple effect," Dick realized, "Like dropping a stone in a pond."
"A stone with 10 to the 12th wattage, yeah." Wally added jokingly. Their plan seemed pretty solid and it had worked quite well to lift everybody's spirts. "So, I'll have to hook it up to the cave's main generator." He somewhat mumbled to himself. Artemis, who had heard him, glanced somewhat concerned at the serious look on the young boy's face.
"Which is where exactly? The boiler room is a no go so…"
Dick couldn't face her as he kept staring at the part in his hands.
"Robin?" She tried again, shock clear on her face as she mentally went through all the places it could be. "Please don't say…" Realization started to hit as she understood why he had such a serious look on him despite his age. They had to go back to the hangar where the murderous androids were. "You, you can't be serious! There is no way we can-"
Dick turned to face her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Before he spoke, he removed his comm, effectively making sure the others couldn't hear what they were saying. "Artemis, listen to me." His voice was stoic and steady. Just like all those times he heard Batman command others when the situation called for it. "We only get one shot at this. No matter what happens to me, finish it."
"Robin, what do-"
"Focus! We'll need to split up. I'll go here," He pulled up a map of the hangar. He put a dot where there was a hallway that could easily reach the main generators if he climbed his way up there. On the other side was a vent that gave full view over the hangar and the bay. "While you go here. While the others distract, your job will be to give cover."
She looked at him horrified. "But I only have one arrow left, what can I do with only one when all the others had no effect on them!"
"Then figure something out! I know you can. You're smart, and you have Wally to help out if you get stuck." He gave her a soft smile and handed over his comm unit. His features softened as he gave her a genuine smile and spoke in a soft and warm tone. "This isn't a goodbye, mind you." He added as he could see tears starting to well in her eyes. "There's too much I still got to do. Heh, who else is going to make sure Batman doesn't drive himself to insanity. Or the league for that matter… Pretty sure they all need some therapy and learn how to form healthyattachments." They shared a cathartic laugh together before Artemis got up and left for her position.
Dick sat back and leaned against the bed frame. He knew full and well that half of what he said was a lie. The second the EMP works, the connection with Wally will get fried too. If it happened that somehow, the androids didn't get shut down, she would truly be on her own. As much credit as he was willing to give her, he couldn't say with the most certainty that she would handle the stress of being the last one left. He watched her break down from it just being the two of them. Would she be able to handle it being down to just her?
At least he managed to make her laugh once before splitting up. Hopefully that speech did enough to keep her level headed now.
Despite the circumstances and the extreme dangers it posed, the young boy felt an odd sense of peace. They had a solid plan. He has no doubt it'll work, the science was sound and he had all faith in his best friend to be the most annoying brat those androids will ever have the displeasure of meeting in their existence. Robin knew that well enough from personal experience.
In the back of his mind were little thoughts yelling at him how he shouldn't feel this okay about everything. There was still a major threat and he had so much left to do. A brother to find, to prove to Bruce and Alfred he hadn't imagined anything! Still, Dick was sure that would all be solved soon. This wasn't how he was going to die. He refused to let this be his end.
But even if, at least he made sure Artemis would be out of harm's way and had time to escape while the androids were busy dealing with him.
With a heavy sign and an old man's grunt, Dick got up and started making his way to his position. His mind was replaying everything that happened. Everything he knew about his enemy. Clearly the androids were somehow connected to Red Tornado and likely had similar mechanisms. He didn't know much about Tornado's contingencies but the EMP was definitely one of them. It had to work. It will work.
With practiced ease, Robin carefully made his way over to the hangar's upper level with his precious cargo. The last panel into the hallway came off quite easily. Dropping down, he crouched and tried to see if Artemis had made it to her vantage point yet. Vaguely he could see the panel of the vent was gone so she most definitely was in place. Using one of his last baterangs, he flashed the signal to her. Judging from the immediate taunts, Artemis had conveyed the message to Wally and Conner to start the distraction.
"Hey, Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend? Red Onion?" Dick had to hold back a small chuckle as he positioned the line launcher so it would connect with the hallway he was in and the tower of the main generator.
"Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever! We can escape whenever we want!" As he walked across the high tech tightrope, he had to give Connor some credit. The boy really knew how to add snark in ways he hadn't imagined the clone to be capable of. Oh how they grow up so fast.
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can even count to two!" Dick had made it to the platform of the generator. Just a bit of climbing down and he'd be able to set it all into place.
"Ha, and you can't even drown a Kryptonian dumb bots, we don't breathe air." Wally's taunting laughter at Connors retort was just what he needed to keep his nerves calm as he got to the cell connection point. Silently opening the panel, he placed the cell into the open slot and started setting up the programming.
"And Miss Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act."
"Yeah! You know how hard it gets in the caves on Mars? All this is doing is making her homesick!"
"DUH."
There was an issue. The programming was finished but it wasn't sending out the signal. Dick pulled up the holoscreen again, a red light flashing at the bottom of the cell. The circuit's incompleted. The power can't flow through what it can't reach. He tried to fish out one of his batarangs, maybe that would be enough to connect the two power points. It should be conductible enough to work.
"ROBIN LOOK OUT!"
As he was looking through the pockets on his belt, he suddenly heard a loud growl as Artemis screamed out his name. He felt himself get pushed out of the way and a blast of fire hit right where he had been sitting. Almost right after, a massive wave crashed into him as it swept him off the platform.
He was swept down and into raging waters. No doubt the male robot was trying to shake him up and keep him under. Dick could hardly focus on anything as he kept being pushed all over the place while desperately doing his best to not let it knock the air out of his lungs.
For a second it felt like he was getting a break as he quit being thrown around like an underwater rag doll. Then the pressure of the water around him started to increase as he felt himself being squeezed from all sides. He was starting to struggle, tensing his muscles as much as he could. Through water filled ears, he faintly heard a little yip to the side. Struggling to even move, he faced the direction of the noise.
He was certain the universe just had it out for him now. As if being crushed by literal water wasn't bad enough, now in front of him swam the little green pup he had seen in the manor and in Belle Rêve. He almost let out a humorless chuckle as he stared at it. It swam a little closer to him, as if checking if the boy was okay.
Obviously he was not.
He spotted something dull and gray dangling off of the pup's collar. Not really thinking clearly, he reached out to try and get a better look. He fully expected the pup to run again or for his hand to pass through the mirage.
Only for his hand to fully make contact.
Pulling back his hand like the touch had burned him, Dick stared in shock for a second. Hesitantly, he reached his hand out again to see if he could genuinely touch the glowing animal. Just like before, Dick's gloved hand touched something solid. Joy filled his veins as he gave the pup a few pets, amazed at how he could still feel the soft fur even through his thick gloves.
His arm began to still as the pressure around him started to become unbearable. Fully forced to focus on his predicament, he felt a few air bubbles escape his mouth as it was squeezed out of his lungs. The pup seemed to notice his distress as it swam all the way up to him. It let out a whine as Dick couldn't do much except stare at it, hoping it would somehow understand he was in trouble. The pup hesitated a bit, as if waiting for permission. For what he wasn't sure but Dick used all his strength to give a little nod.
Taking that as enough of a sign, the pup put its paws on Dick's chest. As if he was suddenly in space, he felt all pressure leave his body and his muscles relax as they weren't being squeezed anymore. It almost felt like he was in zero gravity with hos weightless he felt. Confused, he looked down at a happily panting pup. It's tail wagging in glee as it was proud of helping the boy. He reached over an arm to give it a few more pets. He overshot by quite a bit as he hadn't expected to not even feel the resistance of the water around him anymore. Still he could feel the pup with no problem. With one arm, he scooped up the pup so it was fully resting against his chest. With the other, he inspected the new dangly thing on its collar. Edged quite messily on the thin metal was a name.
Cujo
Was that its name? Cujo?
Dick couldn't think much more about it as black spots started to appear in his vision. He was starting to feel a bit dizzy as he had been under water for quite a while now. With losing some precious air earlier too, he wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep it up until instinct took over and he gulped down water.
Could he even still do that right now? He didn't feel the water at all, like he wasn't interacting with it anymore. Would he still take in water or would he just gasp for nothing?
He wasn't particularly keen to find out, that's for sure.
The puppy, Cujo, seemed to notice something was wrong. It pawed at Dick's chest, right where his emblem was.
Right, he was still Robin. And he was still in a survival situation against 2 rogue androids. Faintly, he could tell the water around him was rippling upwards as some of the silt was moving in unnatural ways. He figured it was the water robot checking on him. He gave Cujo a tight, reassuring hug. The pup had done good but now it was time to give the performance of his lifetime.
Dick pushed the pup off him. The second his hands let go, he felt the sudden shock of the water around him again. The normal amount of tightness pressed on his chest again as he was reminded of how little time he had left. He let his body go limp as he was nearing the surface. He had to act like he had drowned already so the bots wouldn't suspect a thing.
He was actually starting to feel quite weak as black spots took over more of his vision. He knew for sure if they didn't take him out of the water he would drown for real. He had to let himself ragdoll with the current of the water. Even when it forcefully turned him around and he felt his head fall backwards. To keep it believable, he let a controlled few air bubbles escape. The water around him stopped moving as the bots seemed to be contemplating what to do with him.
Dread filled him as he realized they weren't going to let him out of the water pillar just yet. He did his best to remain limp but even with a lot of experience, he hadn't quite trained for long term fake drowning. It seemed all the more likely he would actually black out if this kept up.
Suddenly he felt pressure on his chest again. It felt like earlier when he was holding Cujo. The feeling of the water left him again as he could feel it stop interacting with him fully. It was like it was just passing through him rather than around him. He could still feel the heat as the fire cage around M'gann and Kaldur had also started to slowly raise the temperature of the surrounding water. For now it was still quite pleasant but he could imagine it wouldn't stay like that forever. Still, he took comfort in knowing the pup had stayed with him.
Carefully he cracked an eye open, the lenses of his mask hiding the movement. He couldn't see Cujo anywhere within his limited field of view, but he could feel the pup curled up on his chest right now. He had a feeling the pup somehow knew how to not be seen as he definitely wasn't imagining anything, Bruce.
Was this what Cujo was like with Danny too? He was sure this was the same puppy he saw back then and it listened to his brother's commands. So, what was he doing here? Was this another sign of Danny? Was this a way to prove it was him? For Dick to know Danny was out there? God he hoped that was true
"Two minutes."
It sounded so far away, the water was definitely getting warmer and thinking became harder by the second. He knew he was running out of time, fast, but he couldn't do anything. Not while the robots were still here.
Vaguely he could feel the water move him around again before darkness fully overtook him.
He wasn't sure how long he was out for, but he knew he fell hard as pain was all over his body. He might have hit his head a bit as he felt some warmth oozing from there. He coughed hard as he tried to turn himself to the side so the water would leave his mouth easier.
"He's- he's breathing too." He heard the relief in Artemis' voice as she helped him lay back down once he was done coughing. A smile crept up on his face as he turned to look at her. "Way to get traught." The archer fell back in relief as Robin coughed just a few more times. "How'd you figure it out?"
The blonde leaned back on her arms as she looked over to the main generator. "You put me in a vantage point remember. I saw you look for something before that wave hit. Wally figured there was a connection issue but-" She paused a second, some fear washing over her face for just a second as she remembered it. "He-they went under water before he could say where to find something. Figured it out on my own though." She spoke barely above a whisper but the pride she felt for her own achievement didn't go unnoticed.
Now he definitely had to talk to Oliver to get her something special. Not like the older blonde could refuse him when he asked for something anyway.
Dick stayed down for a while longer as Artemis helped Kaldur and M'gann recover as well. He was sure, had it not been for Cujo's help in the water it would have been a whole different story. Still, his body needed to readjust to being able to breathe again and have the world stop being so blurry. He felt at the side of his head where he felt the sticky warmth. Sure enough he was bleeding from a small cut. Nothing too serious, he's had worse, but Alfred would definitely insist on having a look at it later.
Once he felt good enough to stand, he went down to where Wally and Connor were still stuck in their metal confinement.
"Dude! Way to give me a heart attack!" Wally complained as Dick made his way over to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry man. I figured it was my best shot to play dead before I actually drowned. Didn't seem like they believed it all that much. Still blacked out though."
"M'gann." Connor reached out his hand as far as he could to hold the Martian's hand. She grabbed her free arm and rubbed reassuring circles on the back of his hand. "I'll be fine."
Over on the other side of the group, Artemis was struggling to get the power drill to work. "Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally remarked annoyedly. Being stuck in the same place was actual torture for a speedster like him and at this point, who knows how long he had already been stuck. "It's not working, genius. EMP shuts down all the machines, remember." The blonde snarked back.
"All machines who were present at the time." The sound of Red Tornado's voice made all the teens tense up for just a second before they saw it was the real Leaguer this time. The friendly android landed next to the group of confused teens. "What has occurred?"
Robin took the word as he glanced back at the pair of red androids behind him. "I don't know, we got a little visit from your family."
"Your extremely nasty family." Artemis cut in immediately. While he was an unfeeling android with only one solid face plating, Dick had the odd sense that even the Red hero was confused. "I was not aware I had relations."
"Where have you been?" Connor sounded half accusatory.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower." Red Tornado replied as he started walking towards the pair of attackers. "When it became clear communications with Mount Justice were down, I attempted to investigate but your Zeta tubes were also nonfunctional." He bent down in front of the female android. "I transported to providence and proceeded here." As the hero finished speaking, Sphere started to sit awake again. M'gann assisted it in getting out of the hole it was lodged in. "Hey boy." Connor greeted as Sphere beeped contently.
The tool in Artemis' hands also came back alive as she felt the knock back from the sudden beam that shot out.
"The pulse has worn off!" Robin and Kid Flash said in tandem as they fearfully looked back towards the trio of Androids.
Red Tornado reached out to touch the female android. Right before he could make contact, a red spark flew off her. Both the female android's as Red Tornado's eyes glowed a bright red. Before any of the teens had a chance to react, the supposedly friendly android stood up and created a giant tornado under himself. Now solidly in the air, the Leaguer formed two more tornados at his arms.
"Can't breathe." Artemis whispered as she fell to her knees. All the air was being sucked away as one by one, the young heroes passed out for a second time that night.