Chapter 25
"Robin?"
Who?
"Robin, wake up."
Batman?
Dick slowly opened his eyes. A blurry image of Batman stood before him. He wanted to sit up again but a sharp pain shot through his head as he tried. Hissing out in reflex, a hand shot up to where it hurt. By some evil power, he had yet again landed on the same spot as he did before when he passed out. Batman carefully pulled away Dick's hand to inspect the injury, silently noting the blood on Dick's glove.
Memories of what happened flashed before him. The reds attacking, winning the fight, Red Tornado turning against them, his team! With movement way too fast for his current state, Robin frantically looked around to check on his teammates.
Connor and Wally were still stuck, but Flash and Captain Atom were working on getting them out.
M'gann was sitting on the floor with J'onn next to her. It seemed like they were having a telepathic conversation.
Aquaman was checking over Kaldur, likely the best contender to check if the Atlantean was okay after the fire cage ordeal.
Artemis was still passed out on the floor but Superman was trying to wake her up. Of course the bastard would rather focus on her than help out Connor but it's not like he was in a position to openly question his actions. That would be Bruce's job later.
Canary was there too, likely to supervise the situation should it happen that one of them wasn't handling it all too well.
Wouldn't it have been great if they showed up sooner.
No, he can't fault them. They were likely all busy in their own cities. It was Tornado's job to inform them of issues, yet the android was part of the problem.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, Batman had that look on his face. The look he always uses when he is trying to analyze a situation. Now directed at him, he knew for sure they'd be having words later. Most likely under supervision of Alfred while Dick gets checked out for his injuries. Robin held Batman's gaze, silently trying to reassure the man that he's fine for now, all things considered.
Off to the side he heard Superman speak up after Artemis had gotten up herself. "What happened here." It didn't even sound like a question, it sounded like a command. Big Blue Boyscout seemed to be quite displeased at the mess, much like everybody else was. Too bad for him, he asked one of the snarkiest teens the team had. "What happened?" The bite in her tone was strong enough that he could almost imagine Artemis actually going for an attack. "The Reds happened! Tornado and his- wait, where are they?" Venom turned to fear as she realized the potential threat still lurking around.
Dick turned to face his blonde friend, once again taking the role of calming down her panic. "They're gone. All three of them." He said calmly. "Gone."
"What do you mean gone?! They can't have just vanished!"
Black Canary walked up to the girl, blocking her view of the other heroes so she'd only focus on her secondary mentor. "By the time we got here, the only ones still in the cave were you guys. Flash, Superman and Martian Manhunter already swept the entire area to see if there were any signs of attackers but there were none." Artemis stared at Canary in disbelief and shock as tears welled up in her eyes. "No, no that can't be true! We-we fought hard, two reds were down! We nearly had it! It can't have been for nothing! We almost died tonight! Please, please, please it can't have been for nothing!" Canary wrapped her arms around Artemis to shield the overwhelmed girl from the onlookers.
Batman stepped forward, keeping his tone somewhat softer than his usual gruff tone. To Dick, it sounded like an odd combination of the Batvoice™ and the Brucie voice. "Head home for now, get some rest. You fought hard today, take a break and recover while we investigate."
Slowly and with some reluctance, the teens and some of the mentors started to filter out of the room. Both Connor and M'gann were offered to stay at J'onn's place where they could feel safer than staying at the cave as neither had anywhere else to go.
Luckily for him, Dick didn't need to go far off to a different Zeta as Batman had flown the Batwing over. The short trip back home was quiet as neither hero spoke up first. When they got to the Batcave, Alfred was already waiting with a gurney. "Alfred, that won't be necessary. I can walk." Dick said lightly as he took off his mask. Still, the butler gestured to it. "For my own reassurance, young master?" Well, when asked so politely, how could he say no?
Dick climbed on with a little bit of assistance. He already dreaded the day he would grow up enough that he didn't need the little boost Alfred always gave him. Still, he somewhat enjoyed the little ride to the medbay where he easily transferred himself onto the cot.
"Now my dear boy, what happened?" Alfred started up, knowing neither of the heroes were going to speak up themselves. Dick started easily helping Alfred in removing most of his suit so the man could have a better vision over the numerous little cuts and scrapes all over his body. As the pieces came off, and Alfred treated whatever he could, Dick gave a rundown of what happened from when he entered the zeta tube until Batman arrived on scene. Here and there the two adults glanced at each other, noticing Dick was clearly leaving out some parts.
As Alfred had made his way up to the cut on his head, Batman was finishing up the notes he was taking while Dick talked. He knew full well he still had to write a detailed report on everything but with his current testimony, the League could already work better than having to wait for Dick to write up the report.
Bruce, currently decowled, was having a silent stare down with Dick. Bruce knew the boy was leaving out details. Dick knew he wouldn't be believed anyway. Yet again it was up to Alfred to cut the tension with his calm voice. "Is there anything else, Master Dick?" The boy looked away from Bruce's gaze as he focused on twiddling with his fingers instead. "Not unless you promise to not sedate me again?" He hadn't meant for it to sound like a question but it had the same effect. Both adults tensed slightly at his words, likely knowing they overstepped last time even if it was supposedly for his own good.
"I saw it again, the dog I mean." Dick started quietly, already feeling the need to hug his knees to his chest in self-comfort. "I swear I'm not imagining it! It really was there and it had a name tag and all! I even touched it. I swear, if you ask the others they'll be able to confirm it was there. At least Artemis for sure!" Dick's tone was so small yet slightly erratic as he tried to plead his case. He was desperate for the adults to believe him this time. He knew it was real. There was no way he imagined it! Cujo was real.
"And what did this dog do?" Alfred asked cautiously. Dick finally did bring up his knees as he could clearly still hear the disbelief in the man's voice. "Cujo helped. He guided us in the boiler room and in the library. I'm- I'm not entirely sure if that was him but what else could a bright green smudge be?" He laughed humorlessly, knowing that his words were only making the adults believe him less.
"I-he helped guide us when we were swimming too. Like he knew where the hits would go and helped us dodge it. And when-" Dick paused a bit. He wasn't particularly proud of having to admit he messed up, especially not when he knew his truth wouldn't be believed.
"When?" Alfred pushed slightly as he finished up with Dick's medical care. He set aside all the stuff he used and took a seat on the foot of Dick's cot. The boy in question turned his head away from both adults as he talked barely above a whisper.
"When the water dragged me under. Cujo helped. I don't know how, but one second I was getting pushed around and crushed and the next it's like I couldn't feel anything except his fur. It..helped to fake the drowning. Less energy wasted, easier to hold my breath and all that. The Reds didn't believe the act or something and kept me in the water longer than I expected, so it was a welcome help to keep it up for longer."
Bruce was typing away at the tablet in his hands, purposely not using his wrist computer so Dick couldn't see what he was doing. With a frown he handed it over to show Alfred what he found. Dick found himself not caring, he already knew they wouldn't believe him anyway. "Master Dick?" He hummed a response. "Are you sure you saw a dog?" The way Alfred asked gave Dick the false hope that maybe, maybe they found some type of proof.
Expectantly, he raised his head and looked over. Alfred was showing him the camera footage of the library and boiler room before the boiler room exploded. Just like the camera's in the manor, there was nothing there. There were a few odd glitches that he found noteworthy though. They looked oddly similar to the way the cameras in Belle Rêve glitched when Cujo and Danny appeared. Just a small portion of the entire view was distorted. But of course, that just wasn't it.
The most damning part was that the one place where Dick had full contact and vision on Cujo, was the one place where all cameras were destroyed. The only proof he had was his own testimony. With a heavy sigh, he got up from the cot. Alfred offered assistance but Dick politely declined. "I know you don't believe me. But I swear I didn't imagine anything. Just…Just ask the others. If you even care enough." Not checking for a response, he made his way out of the Batcave and went up to his room. Feeling utterly alone and the final remnants of adrenaline finally leaving his body, Dick crashed in his bed and silently cried himself to sleep.
The next morning, Dick still felt exhausted and very frustrated. Still, he got ready and went to Mount Justice to meet up with the rest of his team. It was the weekend so it wasn't like they had much else to do other than just sit together and support each other in ways the adults couldn't.
Leaguers were everywhere, performing various types of repairs that only they could do. The super abled Leaguers were off working, while Canary and Green Arrow were babysitting the team at a table one of the Lanterns had brought over for them. They were sitting in awkward silence, except for Connor who was standing up and brooding by the end of the table. Wally was slumped over the table, pointedly rejecting the offered snacks Green Arrow gave the speedster. "Thanks, but no thanks."
"Yeah," Robin finally spoke up, "What we want are answers, about Red Tornado and his siblings." His comment only got a slight glare from Green Arrow. The Leaguer likely knew it wouldn't do anything to somebody used to the Batglare™ but at least it made his disapproval known.
Not like Wally cared much about that.
"Exactly!" Much to his displeasure, Green Arrow only responded by taking the bowl of snacks away again. As if he only showed up to get on the green clad hero's nerves, Wally grabbed the bowl out of his hands and started eating the mini pretzels anyway. Canary just stood by watching it all happen, knowing the teens needed to vent out their frustrations. They, more like just Oliver, just happened to be the easiest target at the moment. The man was somewhat family to the two boys, considering both their mentors are rather close and they are also great friends with Roy. Well, until Roy stepped out that is.
Still, between them, it was all just friendly banter. None of them really took it to heart. Oliver had more than enough experience with moody teens to care too much about what they said.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Connor freaked out and attacked Aqualad who was talking to Batman on the side. "You knew?!" The clone yelled out as he grabbed Kaldur by the shirt. "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!" He growled out, nearly spitting in his supposed leader's face. Hearing the commotion M'gann quickly flew over to her secret boyfriend and her leader. "Connor, what are you doing?"
Superboy tightened his hold on Kaldur as he seemed ready to punch the Atlantean any second. "Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and SAID NOTHING!"
"You knew?"
"And didn't tell us?"
Now the others were also surrounding Kaldur, not ready to throw hands but more in disbelief that their friend broke their trust. Kaldur spoke in his own defense, voice calm despite the threat he was under. "I sought to protect the team." Apparently he had chosen the wrong words as the resident spitfire also chimed in. "Protect us from what? Knowledge that might have saved our lives? Or did you forget you yourself weren't doing all too well yesterday and three of us nearly drowned!"
"You almost died!" Connor half pleaded with M'gann as the Martian seemed to remain neutral.
"Enough." Batman's gruff command echoed through the room. With a pointed Batglare™ directed at him, Connor released Kaldur from his hold. "With Red Tornado… missing, the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."
"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys."
M'gann, Artemis, Robin and Wally all shared a questioning look as Superboy glared at the Leaguers and Kaldur remained his stoic self. Still, none of them seemed all too pleased with the new change.
Setting aside the physical animosity for now, Connor turned to Kaldur. "After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-" He wasn't able to finish his threat as Batman walked right up to the clone and Atlantean. "Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, that makes him a Leagueresponsibility. You will leave it to us." The tension in the air was rising rapidly, either due to the threatening tone of Batman or the pure annoyance of being sidelined in a case they were all personally affected by.
Doing absolutely nobody a favor, Batman continued like there was nothing wrong. "I have another assignment for you." He gestured behind him as various news articles popped up on holoscreens. "Gotham mayor attacked by Guerilla Gorilla!" Wally read out the headline sarcastically, somewhat surprised Batman was giving away a mission so closely connected to the man's precious city. Under normal circumstances, this would definitely have been a Dynamic Duo mission, NOT a team mission. Something fishy was going on.
It seemed like Connor also picked up on it as he spoke up over the mental link. "Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?"
Absolutely not whelmed by the idea, Robin full on sent a Robinglare™ to his mentor. Wally spoke up against his best friend's mentor and his supervisor, against his own better judgment. But if Dick won't do it, then he had to. "Batman, respectfully, please say you aren't sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase." Batman glared harder at the teen, the type of glare that would make even the toughest of Gotham goons piss their pants if they were at the receiving end of it.
"I never joke about the mission." The man nearly growled out every word with how deep and gruff his voice went. Clearly they were pushing a boundary better not crossed. Definitely not in public where certain reputations were to be upheld. Giving in, both boys looked away and stepped back from their defiant stances.
"I've checked the sources," Batman continued in a slightly toned down growl. "I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents." Not taking a break, he turned immediately to the Atlantean. "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India to check this out."
With a final nod from Kaldur, the others already started to leave the room. All ignoring the chain of command except for Wally. "Ha, your team." He scoffed in Kaldur's face as he glared at who he had considered his close and trusted friend before following the rest of his teammates to prepare for their upcoming mission.
Chapter 26
The tension on the bioship was so thick it nearly made it hard to breathe. It took the team nearly all day to travel and wait for an opportune time to start scouting. The whole time, Captain Marvel would keep trying to start up conversations nobody was interested in. Most of that seemed to go fully over the adult's head as he tried failed conversation starter after failed conversation starter.
Once the time finally came, Robin and Artemis silently dropped out of the camouflaged bioship. The second they hit the ground, they took off running to scout the area. Slowly the bioship landed and a bigger door opened up for the heroes. "All clear." Robin reported back as the others exited the spaceship.
"Switch to stealth. We will review mission parameters." Kaldur commanded what earned him a heated glare from Kid Flash. "Parameters? We don't need no stinking parameters." While disrespectful on its own, the added disdain did nothing to ease the slight to Kaldur's leadership. "It's recon," Robin added, much in the same tone as his best friend. 'We know what to do." As if sharing the same braincell, the boys turned around and started to walk away from the group.
Kaldur took a step forward, trying to close the distance between him and the first friends he made when he came to the surface. "Kid, Robin." He called out softly. The pair turned around. Well, Robin turned around fully, Wally only turned enough so he would be looking at Robin speaking for the both of them. "The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us." He nearly growled at his once friend.
Dick was beyond pissed. Why was it that everybody seemed to have it out for him lately? Batman is STILL hiding that damn usb drive from him and refusing to share what happened while he was at Belle Rêve. Both Bruce and Alfred don't even believe facts Dick KNOWS to be true. Hell, the entire mess with Danny was one gigantic secret that he was given absolutely no time to even work on unraveling because more shit just kept being added to the propeller of a fan! To add insult to injury, he was also barring Dick from helping in the Red Tornado case. A trusted colleague nearly killed them all yet somehow that isn't enough to let him work on it just like he had done countless times before? And on top of all of that, somebody he held dear to him turned out to have known there were issues all along.
Just how many more things are going to happen that he gets to add to his 13 reasons list?!
"Or did you forget that, like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Wally added sarcastically as he pulled on his goggles. With both of them being beyond frustrated, they ran off together to do what they do best. Work together as a team who could be trusted.
As they made their way through the forest, Dick couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched somehow. Of course, he expected there to be animals in their natural habitat.
Yet
Something about the vibe of the forest threw him off. Even though it's night and most animals would be asleep, it's just too quiet. The normal ambiance of the forest seemed thrown off. Somewhat similar to when a forest goes deadly quiet when an apex predator is near. But, they shouldn't have made enough of an impact to have this effect on the creatures here, right?
After a while of being lost in thought, swinging or jumping around and watching Wally nearly run circles to burn off their frustration, the two decided to continue on foot. "You feel it too, don't you?"
"Burning hatred and severe disappointment that fuels the hatred for being betrayed? Yeah, I thought that was obvious." Wally half joked, trying to get out some more frustrations while still keeping his tone light. He snorted lightly as Robin rolled his head at him, having to exaggerate his movement to replace the eyeroll the ginger couldn't see. "Yeah, forest feels wrong. Something's off for sure."
Dick let himself fall a few steps behind, letting Wally take the lead. At least he could trust the redhead to tell him the truth. He spotted an odd shadow passing over the little clearing they walked through. But, as he looked up, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Probably just a bird or a bat, he thought.
As they were walking, Dick froze as he heard oddly loud thuds from far in the distance. Perhaps it was Superboy moving around but it still put him on edge. The trumpeting noises of upset elephants he knew all too well weren't helping his nerves at all. Signaling to Wally that there was something more off than before, the two climbed up on a hill to check out the area. Once they found a good spot to use as a vantage, Robin pulled out his binoculars to survey the area. Wally, with his special made goggles, did much the same.
They found nothing out of the ordinary.
Oh no.
The something had found them.
Loud screeching came from behind them as only warning to a flock of three massive vultures dived down towards them. They barely had any time to dodge the sharp talons grabbing at them. Robin used his cape as defense, while all Wally could do was lay flat to the ground in hopes they would miss. Unfortunately for him, that resulted in him getting a small slash across his chest. At least somewhat fortunately, it wasn't all too deep so as long as he didn't overdo it, his body would be able to heal it up come noon.
"I thought vultures only ate dead meat!" Robin threw a batarang at the birds who were already preparing to dive down again. The boys set to running, Wally purposely not using his super speed to make sure he didn't leave Dick behind. The batarang exploded behind them but it didn't seem like it had any effect on the animals. "Yeah, these are some very proactive scavengers!" They had to duck down yet again as one of the birds made a grab for them.
"Proactive and super-sized! You thinkin what I'm thinkin?" Dick looked behind him to see a second one of the birds diving down to grab at him. Wally looked back to check on Dick. "Cobra venom?" He didn't wait for a response as they both had to jump out of the way of the bird dive bombing them.
They had to forgo their usual quips as the birds became more obsessive in their hunt for young meat. The vultures had managed to split the two up as Wally now had two of them hot on his tail. Even using his superspeed wasn't enough to outrun them. Meanwhile Robin had no choice but to use his smaller stature to his advantage to dodge and evade attacks by slipping under fallen tree trunks or swinging between a mess of vines. The oversized bird struggled to follow Robin as it crashed into everything.
Wally had already looped back to where Robin was, expertly using his speed and momentum to run up a tree and catapult himself directly into one of the flying fowls. With perfect calculation, he hit one of them dead on, knocking the overgrown chicken down into the forest floor.
Now all alone yet again, Robin was really struggling against two of the feathered fiends on him. They seemed to notice how hard he had it against two of them and changed their tactic. Instead of only going one by one, the avian attackers came at him at the same time. Robin rushed to grapple out of the trap and only managed to escape by a hair as one of their beaks ripped a gash into his cape.
One of the Thanksgiving feasts was stuck, talons lodged into the tree. The other was still out for blood as it tried to snatch the hatchling out of the tree. Robin had to jump out when one of its attempts at bird-napping was nearly successful. He was almost back on the ground when he heard a monstrous growl. Doing a defensive barrel roll, Robin managed to not only evade the now freed predatory pigeon, but also the 10 foot hound that was holding its wing down.
"Cujo!" Robin yelled out in glee as the hound shook his head with the vulture still stuck in his mouth. The happiness was short lived as the other balding peacock dived down to aid its trapped companion. Cujo was forced to let the mutant bird go as he jumped back to stand next to Dick. The boy reached out a hand to pet the massive shoulder of the hound, thanking him for his help.
With one of the birds now injured, they were a bit easier to deal with.
The pair readied up as the enraged emu prepared to attack once again. Robin threw out a batarang that exploded the second it collided with the beast's head. With the smoke blinding the thing, Cujo jumped up to grab it by the leg. Defying all laws of the universe, the hound spun around and flung the mutant at its friend, knocking both of them out of the air and towards somewhere in the distance.
Cujo came back down, very much by his own volition. As he came closer to Robin, he shrank back down to pup size much like he did with Danny. Dick caught the pup in his arms as Cujo slobbered all over his face. Giggling a bit at the odd sensation, Dick welcomed it all. For once getting a pleasant break from the literal shit show that was his life at the moment.
But as always, happiness couldn't last long. Dick heard the telltale signs of a speedster coming at him while struggling through the forest vegetation. Somewhat reluctantly he put Cujo down on the ground and gave the pup a little push away from him. "Go." He whispered. "It's not safe here right now, I'll be fine, I promise." With another small push and a genuine smile, Cujo finally agreed to leave, fading out of view as he went.
Behind him, Dick heard the rustling of plants getting slapped out of the way. He faked a little run so he could come to a stop when his best friend sped into view. "Are you okay?" Wally immediately asked as he did a speed check over to make sure the younger didn't have any injuries. Dick gently pushed Wally off him. "I'm fine, man. What about you?"
Wally pointed back to where he came from. "Louie's stuck in some very annoying and very slippery vines. What about Huey and Dewey?" Dick couldn't help but snort. "Crashed into each other, probably not doing much better."
A very angry screech echoed through the forest, most likely from their trapped Tweeties. The pair didn't need any communication to confirm they had to get the hell out of dodge before the vultures found them again like sitting ducks. They rushed through the clearing and found a good spot to hide between bushes and the canopy of a dense canopy by the river.
Just as they settled into their little vantage point, M'gann's voice called out in their minds. "Link established."
"Should you really still be giving us orders?" Artemis snarked as she did best. "And should you really be following them?" She remarked to M'gann.
The two of them shared a smirk, very much enjoying the somewhat friendly banter between their teammates. Until Kaldur's voice rang out and ruined their fun. "Listen, please." Not one to give up on some good fun, Wally joined in on the sarcasm train they had going on. "Oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I sooo missed that."
Robin cackled audibly as he couldn't take the face Wally was making. Now with a lot of the previous tension out of his system, he found it easier to have some fun again. Still, they are on a mission and as the experience senior, he should be setting an example. "Kaldur! KF and I got attacked by giant vultures." He couldn't help himself but raise an eyebrow and give a soft slap on the arm as Wally's shoulders and smile sagged at Robin's statement. Not one to completely ruin the fun for his best friend, he made sure to add his own sarcastic quip into the mix. " 'Course since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves."
"If he did, he wouldn't tell ya."
Both of them snorted at Artemis' response. It was starting to become really tempting to see who would win in a competition to piss off the leader in charge. Be it Kaldur or whoever became their new mission babysitter- sorry, supervisor.
"Superboy, are you online… or just pouting?" One of M'gann's rare quips rang through and by no surprise is it directed at the emotionally challenged clone.
"Busy." Came the very short response. "Call back later." So much for his addition to the fun.
"What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us." Wally added again, fueling the growing fire enough they could start roasting marshmallows any second now.
"He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant!" Robin felt the need to watch his friend visibly deflate as he took joy in butchering the English language. Some things just never get old.
"How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?"
"Or how Connor doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves." Dick was pretty sure that was a type of frustration only M'gann felt. Especially with how protective the clone had gotten over her in the past day since the attack.
"Did he really think you or I would have been the mole?" Wally gestured his way through his sentence, nearly forgetting Dick was right next to him and slapping the bird off his perch.
"We've known each other for years!" The boy added as he caught and threw back Wally's wayward arm.
"Trust is a two way street!"
"And you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them!"
"Not that we do that. Never."
"Enough." Kaldur's voice rang out, effectively quieting all the banter going on. The Atlantean definitely was not amused at their casual roasting of his actions. "Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him."
Wally did not seem impressed by Kaldur's order, still feeling quite bitter about it all. "Under your leadership?" He snorted, "I don't thi-"
"This is not up for debate." Kaldur's sudden outburst threw them all off guard. "You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over and you wish to select a new leader, I will happily stand down. But until that time, I am in command here." Kaldur's frustrations and sincerity flowed through the link to the others. Robin felt a little guilty at enjoying the somewhat unfriendly banter, deciding to respect the rules and listen to his friend.
They all agreed to rendezvous at Kaldur's location. Silence over the link as they all kept to themselves. Back under his command, the team moved as one to follow the tracks. After some tense time, they reached a compound in a big clearing.
Wally and Robin went up ahead as Wally used his special goggles again to survey the structure. The others spread out in the edges of the forest not too far from each other. Wally tapped Dick's arm and pointed to some odd pillars that surrounded the clearing. Having his wrist computer synced to Wally's goggles, he checked out what they were. Before he could give a warning, M'gann beat him to it. "I'll fly over." She suggested unknowingly.
"Negative," Wally warned for him, "The shield extends like a dome over the whole compound."
"Pylons are insulated," Robin added, "but one good shock should cause a momentary gap." Momentary for them to slip through, hopefully.
"I see a target." Artemis reported, the subtle noise of the taunt drawstring passing over them.
"Then be ready to hit it. Be ready, all of you." Kaldur ordered. Dick wasn't sure how he felt about this. Even though they were in a dense forest, this seemed like a very weak amount of security for the likes of Guerilla Gorilla. Glancing to his side, it seemed like KF had the same idea. Still, they decided to stick to themselves. Whether in fear it would cause issues with Kaldur, or because the had no solid evidence to back the hunch, they weren't sure. What he was sure of though, was that I don't know man, the vibes are off wouldn't come over right.
So, they watched as Kaldur ran up to one of the pylons. Using his Atlantean magic, he sent a strong electric current through it. Just as expected, it created a hole in the shield, just wide enough for Artemis to have a clear shot.
With a small echoing beep, the shield powered off. Becoming over the others, Kaldur stood firm until they regrouped at the base of the slope. As Wally sped over, Robin hesitated a bit. He had that same feeling as earlier, when he felt like they were being watched. And just like last time, they were.
He froze as he spotted an unnaturally jacked monkey sitting atop the compound. As if it knew he had been spotted, the monkey screamed out in alarm. The team heard the ape and all got in defensive stances as a mechanical alarm rang and hundreds of equally jacked primates jumped out from behind the first one.
They fought hard against the onslaught of furry fiends until Kaldur called out. "Remove their collars!"
"Sounds easy when he says it." Robin grumbled to himself as he was struggling to keep two at arm's length. Luckily for him, Artemis assisted in shooting off the two collars, freeing both the monkeys and Robin. As the two scurried off, Robin returned the favor and threw batarangs at the primates that snuck up on the archer.
Much to all of their displeasure however, Guerilla Gorilla decided to join the battlefield with an honest to god rotary autocannon. They all tried to focus their attacks on him while also trying to keep the smaller apes off their backs. With the combined effort of M'gann and KF, they managed to send the overgrown chimp barreling through the wall.
Now with a newly created entrance, they rushed in. Before them laid Captain Marvel, strapped head to toe on an operating table. Above him stood The Brain, affectionatelycalled so because it was a robot body controlled by a literal brain. Villains were just so amazingly creative with their names weren't they.
"The Brain!" Wally oh so helpfully called out in quite genuine surprise. Artemis rolled her eyes behind him. "Oh really? I thought it was meatloaf in a microwave!"
Seeming not all too amused, The Brain gave a signal to Guerilla Gorilla. Before they knew it, they were trapped inside a circle of the same pylons as where they found Captain Marvel's tracks. A high pitched frequency rang out and they were all pulled down by an invisible force.
"Miss Martian, Superboy, now!"
With her telekinesis, M'gann levitated the controls out of the stinky monkey's hand and turned off the forcefield. As if right on cue, Superboy came crashing through the wall behind the ape like an angry version of the Koolaid Man. Somehow, Connor had forgotten to mention he managed to find and befriend a mutated white wolf on his way over.
With the combined efforts of everybody, it was child's play to disarm Guerilla Gorilla and render him defenseless. Enraged, he growled out, bearing teeth to all in aggression. To Connor, however, that meant nothing as he cracked his knuckles. "Try it," he taunted, "I hate monkeys."
"Non, monsieur Mallah." The Brain called out in a snobby French accent. "This will not be our Waterloo." Its robot body started to reconstruct itself with a multitude of what seemed to be weapons, pointed straight at Superboy. "Au revoir, mes amis."
"Get down!" KF yelled as The Brain's weapons powered up. Like the idiots they all were, instead of listening to KF and getting down, they all got in defensive stances.
Around them, the lights turned out, leaving the team, Captain Marvel and their new pets in darkness.
A single purple light flickered back on to reveal the pair of villains had somehow managed to escape all of them. "Wait." Wally said confusedly as he relaxed out of his defensive stance. "That big weapon? Was a light switch?"
With their mission now…somewhat completed, Dick felt…weird. While the mission did successfully keep them busy and distracted, it did nothing to negate what happened both a day ago at Mount Justice, nor the shit show that was his past week. But, at least most of the infighting had been resolved as they collectively voted to keep Kaldur as their leader. And ironically, also keep Connor's new stray, affectionately named Wolf.
Dick couldn't help but wonder if Connor had somehow picked up the same horrendous naming habits as their rogues did as this marked the second stray he collected and named after what they are.
May you rise in glory amongst the heroes, Sphere the spherical robot, and Wolf the mutant wolf.
Chapter 27
Dick slammed the door behind him as he angrily entered his room. After the mission debrief, Bruce had pulled him aside. The tech in the Robin suit was acting up so he felt like he had no choice but to explain what happened. Of course, he felt like an idiot for thinking the tech malfunctioning would finally be enough proof.
Nope
Bruce had yet again doubled down on Cujo being a hallucination.
"Dick, we are both aware of how strong hallucinations can be. It may feel real in all senses but that doesn't make it reality."
How could that man still think Dick was lying?! The tech proved something happened! And, please, while he is a skilled fighter, who in their right minds would think a 13 year old powerless human could singlehandedly take down not one, but TWO mutated birds while his superabled friend struggled with just one?
The signs were all there
So why did nobody believe him?
Dick curled into a ball at the foot of his bed, tears streaming down his face in both anger and sadness.
What hurt even more was that they weren't even alone. Both Alfred and Wally were there to witness the fight. Wally was here for a sleepover but truth be told, Dick really wasn't feeling like it anymore. He knew from the pitying look the speedster gave him that not even he really believed what Dick was saying. Why should he? Wally had always been more science-based in his beliefs. If he didn't get solid proof himself, there was no way Wally would believe Dick being followed by his brother's meta dog.
Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but Dick really had hoped this was the last bit he was missing to prove he didn't need a one way ticket to Arkham.
He looked up in a haze, attention drawn to his partially opened wardrobe. His old family poster hung there, mockingly. Of course the only people who would have believed him before he could utter the first word were either gone or unreachable. His eyes zeroed in on the support beam right under the poster. The one time he had physical proof and it just vanished. Disappeared just like his new family's trust in his sanity.
Loosing his temper just a bit, Dick angrily punched his bedframe. He could feel the bruises on his knuckles forming already but at least the pain kept his brain occupied enough to prevent spiraling more. At least there would be no marks left on his bed as it was meta-proofed. Just yet another thing where only he would bear the signs that it even happened. Would they also not believe him, just because the bed has no marks? Sadly enough the current events would point towards a negative.
Before he could go down that doom spiral, a soft knock sounded from his door. Dick slid off his bed, setting himself with his back to the door and facing the window. After a moment, the door opened and the person wordlessly slipped inside the room.
Wally cautiously sat next to Dick, leaving enough space so the younger didn't feel like he was intruding in his personal bubble. Little did Wally know Dick's entire room was currently his personal bubble and he wasn't particularly welcoming to guests at the moment.
Still, the two sat in silence for a bit. Neither really speaking as they gazed at the sun setting over the gardens. Small mercies Dick thought, happy to not need to speak when he wasn't sure if his voice would handle it. It gave him time to calm down a bit before the older started getting twitchy from sitting still for so long.
Oh the joys of being an overenergized speedster
"So…" the ginger started.
Dick lifted his head slightly to raise an eyebrow at his friend.
"Look man, there is no easy way to say this and you know I'm horrible with words."
That's an understatement Dick thought humorlessly.
"But you gotta see it from our side too."
There it is
"We all get how the Belle Rêve thing has messed with you, and and don't get me wrong. I know that green thing is real. It tried to eat me for Christ sake!"
Maybe…maybe Wally did believe him?
"But the first time you talked about it was when you were drowning man. I've see some crazy shit too when adrenaline was going insane. Hell, to this day I'm still not sure what happened on my first patrol or my first big fight because it was all just so intense you know?"
Dick straightened up from his curled up position, looking up at his best friend. Hope was sparking up that maybe he did believe what Dick had been saying. Maybe he just couldn't speak out earlier because Batman is, well, Batman. The man doesn't particularly invite interruptions during a discussion.
"But that doesn't mean that there weren't others there who could walk me through what happened when my own memory was…compromised. In my heart I know what I saw, but in my head I know it was just the adrenaline and novelty of it all. Well that and the fact I was still recovering from the accident."
Dick could almost hear all his newfound hope shatter the more Wally talked. He started tuning out the speedster as he fumbled his way through a long winded monologue. It felt almost insulting, how he was trying to explain it. Dick had been a hero for way longer than Wally had. Dick was the first child hero for fucks sake! In Gotham of all places too! He had been through more than any of the others could imagine, especially after some rogues declared open season on him just for being able to beat them in a fight. The others would never understand how strong you'd need to be to get through that kind of stuff, especially with Gotham's particularly spicy rogue gallery.
He knew, in both heart and mind, that he didn't make anything up. That the adrenaline of the N'th life threatening attack he faces didn't break him. But how could he even find a way to convince the others if they didn't even believe the proof he already presented. What more could they possibly expect him to do to prove he isn't crazy?
"I can't say I know what you think you saw, but… Look man, all I'm trying to say is, maybe you just need a break? Sit out a few patrols or missions, catch up on some sleep and just take a step back, you know?"
Now that made Dick's head turn. "You can't be serious. Tell me you're joking."
Wally immediately sensed the quickly rising tension, holding his hands up in surrender. "All I'm saying is-"
"Is that you think I'm not fit to be Robin anymore?" Dick growled, hands balling into fists.
Wally sputtered as he tried to wave off the accusation. "No, no of course not! That's not-"
Dick, again didn't let Wally finish. "That is exactly what you said! You're trying to bench me from something none of you have control over! B doesn't own Robin and you most certainly don't either! You can't just decide for me when I am and am not allowed to go out!"
"Dick, that's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean? That I'm too fragile and unstable to make my own decisions anymore? Or did B send you up here to tell me instead of owning up to it and telling me himself?" Dick was practically shaking as angry tears streamed down his face. "Is that why you're here? To keep me busy and occupied so I wouldn't go out?"
Wally's silence pretty much confirmed Dick's suspicions. When he tried to reach out to the distressed bird but Dick just shot up and walked away from his grasp. "Get out." He mumbled under his breath.
"Dick-"
"I said GET OUT!" Dick yelled at his best friend, anger preventing him from fully breaking down a second time that evening. Luckily, Wally finally listened for once and left the room. Now finally alone, Dick felt himself get overwhelmed by it all and cried until his voice got hoarse.
A while later, another knock sounded from his door. "Dick?" Wally called out, "Dinner's almost ready and Alf asked me to come get you." He received no response. Feeling brave enough to risk a batarang to the head, Wally entered the room, only to be met with an empty room.
Of course Dick wouldn't stick around where he knew he was unwanted. He was already running across rooftops in Gotham, trying to run from the words haunting his mind. He wasn't in his Robin gear so he wouldn't attract too much attention. Just another kid hiding out on the rooftops to avoid a fight at home. Gotham saw more than enough of those to not mind kids up there so long as they stayed away from the edge.
Dick jumped across yes another roof as rain started pouring down on him. It seemed like Gotham wanted to match it's favorite's mood. In the distance he could faintly hear thunder as he landed. Wet gravel slipping under his feet as he just kept running.
Running from the anger
Running from the betrayal
Running from the hurt
Tears blurred his vision as he jumped again, missing his landing and coming to a rolling stop. Dick pushed himself up again, not wanting to stop. He had no destination other than away and sitting still only increased the chance of more unwanted visitors. So he kept going until he felt his energy drained enough. Anger burnt off and making way for sadness yet again. He rested by one of his favorite gargoyles. Silently watching over Gotham, yet unable to stop any crimes. If he had just taken his suit or gear he could at least be useful. But the suit also meant trackers and tech that Bruce would use to find him and that seemed like the worse option.
So he sat, letting himself get drenched in the late September rain.
He felt a presence behind him. Tensing a bit he listened to see if he could identify them without letting them know he was aware. A noise, soft crushing of gravel. Not heavy enough to be Batman, not light enough to be a pigeon. If not Batman, it was ignorable. None of the current rogues knew how to get this high up anyway. It's one of the reasons he liked this particular spot so much.
An odd noise, rustling metal, pulled him out of his musing.
Dick sighed as he turned around to face whatever was behind him and froze. He gaped slightly as he watched Cujo scratch behind his ear, collar shaking violently as he did. Dick rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure it wasn't some light reflecting in the unfallen tears in his eyes. Surely fate wouldn't be so cruel as to show him the driving factor to all the mess he was in for nothing.
Right?
Cujo finally finished scratching and looked towards Dick. Realizing the boy saw him, he yiped happily and trotted over. The pup stopped just a bit outside of the boy's reach as it noticed how upset Dick was. Tilting his head a bit, Cujo whined.
Dick shakingly got up, actually starting to doubt if he was actually seeing this or not. It would be too much of a coincidence. Every time he was alone and needed somebody, Cujo would magically appear. Sure, it was a meta dog, but was he really that special that he could sense Dick's distress? Now that truly sounded like he was losing it. Still, he had to be sure. With a shaky hand, he reached out. He stopped right before touching the pup, unsure if he could actually handle it if he couldn't feel anything.
He didn't get much choice though as he felt his brain blue screen. Cujo stepped closer and sniffed his hand, the hot breath from the pup's nose tickling his cold skin. Cujo helped himself to some pets, rubbing his head and body against Dick's frozen hand.
Dick, meanwhile, felt like all the mess from before lifted off his shoulders as he only existed in this moment. He felt the warm breath. That couldn't have been the wind. He felt the soft fur against his palm. That couldn't have been anything up on this roof. He felt that same tingly sensation he always got when Cujo was near.
Dick choked out a sob as he collapsed to the ground and tightly hugged Cujo. The pup didn't seem to mind as it softly licked Dick's falling tears. He didn't know how long he sat there, crying into Cujo's fur. Broken sobs drowned out by the storm. It wasn't like he could make the pup any more wet than the rain already did.
The lightning seemed to make Cujo restless as the pup wiggled its way out of Dick's grasp. "What's wrong, boy?" Another crack of thunder and lightning answered him as the storm had settled right above Gotham. Cujo shifted into his big hound form for just a second, growling at the sky, before shrinking down and cowering as the clouds illuminated with crackling electricity. The pup grabbed Dick's arm softly and started to nudge him away from the open sky. Confused, Dick tried to follow him. "It's okay, Cujo, its just a little storm."
As if the heavens took insult to being called little, another massive boom echoed across the city. Seemingly spooked by the noise, Cujo set off running. Equally spooked by Cujo's sudden escape, Dick tried his best to follow the pup. Focused on following the green dog, he didn't even pay attention to where they were going. Rooftop after rooftop, he followed Cujo until the pup started to slow down. Finally catching up to him, Dick practically tackled Cujo. Breathing heavily, he wrapped himself around the pup so he would be somewhat shielded from the storm. "It's okay, Cujo. You're safe." Cujo whined softly, nudging Dick's head up. With a soft bark he looked over to an all too familiar window.
It only registered now where Cujo had led him. Out of all places in Gotham to run to.
"Cujo, I- You can't come in there with me, buddy. The other residents there wouldn't really like you." He chuckled a bit. Cujo whined a bit, standing up on his hind legs and using Dick's chest as support. Another crack of thunder boomed and Dick couldn't help but curl protectively around Cujo. "It's okay, it's okay. You're safe." Cujo whined and licked Dick's face again. He let out another soft bark and looked back over to the window of the apartment across the alley. "Buddy, you can't go in there. We'll look for another place, okay?"
Even the sky didn't seem to agree as more thunder rumbled. Cujo jumped out of Dick's grasp and ran behind him. Pushing the boy towards the edge of the roof, a bit harder as the thunder and lightning increased in repetitions. Each crack making him push harder as Cujo desperately tried to get Dick closer to the apartment. Finally it seemed to click as Dick got up and picked up Cujo. "Okay, okay I'll go. I'll go." He gave the pup a right squeeze before setting him down again. It wasn't much effort to jump across and hang onto the window ledge. Cats scattered away with a hiss.
Dick looked back after knocking on the window, but Cujo was already nowhere to be seen. He was getting used to the pup's vanishing acts. If Bruce would only listen, he'd agree that Cujo had already learned the family art of quiet disappearances.
His musings got cut short as the window opened. "Oh, kitten, what are you doing here all soaking wet?" Selina said as she pulled Dick inside. Cats all around him scurried away with varying degrees of hisses. "What's up with them?" He asked, reaching out for one, only to get swatted at with another hiss. Selina chuckled softly as she pushed his hand back to his side. "They don't like the smell of dog, sweetie, you should know that by now."
Dick froze. "What?"
"Believe me, if I could, I'd purge the world of wet dog smell and, Dick, you reek of it." Selina tried to guide him towards the bathroom but Dick was anything but cooperative.
"Wet…Dog?" Was this really happening?
"Jesus, honey, did you run into some strays on your way here? You're going to stink up the whole place if you don't take a shower."
They could smell dog.
They could smell Cujo.
"Dick?"
He was real
"Kitten, are you okay?"
Finally, finally somebody else could tell he was real! He knew he wasn't hallucinating!
"No." Dick's voice cracked as, for what felt like the millionth time today, Dick felt himself break down. He turned around and hugged Selina as he tearlessly cried. So, so incredibly overwhelmed by quite literally everything. Selina let him, holding him as they sat in a tangled up mess on her living room floor. She rubbed comforting circles on his back as she whispered sweet nothings. Eventually sobs turned into hiccups as Dick felt absolutely drained. With a little help, he finally took a warm shower. Afterwards, he passed out the second his head hit the couch pillow.
Dick stayed at Selina's for a few days. He pretty much ignored his phone outside of talking to Alfred. The man knew he was safe after Selina called him the first night. She always did, just so Alfie would know he was safe. He wasn't doing full patrols but he did go out at night with Selina by his side. Both as security when he didn't have all his stuff, and to make sure she stayed out of trouble while he was there. A win-win for all he cared.
Today was a more casual day. They were eating cereal on the couch as they watched some random cartoons. Gotham had been feeling weird the past few nights and it made getting proper sleep hard. The air was tense and the goons more restless and jumpy than usual. All the usual signs before something big would happen. Judging from the serious look on her face, Selina could feel it too.
"Dick?"
He hummed in response, mouth full of his favorite sugary meal.
"You know I don't mind you staying here." She started. Dick swallowed his mouthful and put his bowl down. "I'm sensing a but here." Selina sighed, also losing her apatite. "But something's off with Ivy. Like, really off. Maybe it'll be better to go back. Just so you can be prepared for whatever she is growing. Not to mention that stupid clown broke out and is laying low for once."
With all their years living in Gotham, they both knew she was right. Something was wrong, and it'll be a big mess to fix.
Danny was absolutely not having a fun time.
After miss Waller had left, she had left the remote to his collars in his cell. Now, a normal person would think she simply forgot it. But neither he nor Waller were normal. No, she left it there on purpose. They couldn't risk the wrong person having their hands on it. So now it was wholly Danny's responsibility to decide when to shut down his collars. Because that's just such a great idea in a superpowered prison. Danny couldn't blame her though. Rather he have it than that creeper Dr Strange.
Not even the day after Miss Waller was officially let go, the entire atmosphere in the penitentiary changed. Danny and the other isolation inmates were moved to gen pop, much to Danny's dismay. He got paired with that ice kid, Cameron, so that was incredibly awkward. But the teen didn't seem to recognize him at all so it wasn't all that bad. Plus his frosty nature kept their cell nice and cold which was a bonus in Danny's books.
Speaking of books, Dr Strange had confiscated all of them. Since he didn't have his own cell anymore, they were found pretty fast and taken away. If he wanted to read or study again, he'd be forced to go into these meetings with Strange. If Danny didn't know any better he'd think Spectra had possessed the man. His vibes were beyond rancid, which was rather impressive for a human but anything but good for him right now. Dr Stinky would try to have therapy sessions with him as well, try to figure out what got him in here and all that. At least he was sure Dr Stinky wasn't the trusted person Miss Waller had promised to give his file to. Unfortunately, that also meant that Danny became Dr Stinky's favorite person to harass into conversations. He was particularly hard to get rid of when Danny had a nightmare and woke up screaming in the middle of the night. No way in hell would he ever tell Dr Stinky how he kept having nightmares about his parents and Dick falling to their deaths.
At least Cameron wasn't all that bad to talk to. Apparently his previous cellmate was a snitch so the teen had some interesting stuff to share. He also never asked Danny about the nightmares, just stayed up with him and talked to keep his mind off of the images flashing before his eyes every time he blinked.
Danny didn't really like going out for social hours or to eat, truth be told. He enjoyed solitary because he was left alone there. It was quiet and peaceful, outside of some angry screaming and some shitty guards. Not that he didn't have shit guards now. Wilcox and the others were all on sick leave until they could recover from their injuries. That meant that half of the guards were transfers. And of course, with Danny's luck, they all hated him. They saw him as nothing more than a deranged child who must have messed up big time to land in adult prison.
Mess up he did indeed. On more than one occasion they almost caught sight of Cujo. The pup had been hanging out with Danny as much as he could but since his transfer, that was a horrible idea. Somehow, Cujo had found a batarang left behind from the fight with the heroes and decided it would be his new favorite chew toy. Danny was almost sure it wasn't one of the explosive kinds but it's not like that would hurt either of them. Still, after the attempted breakout, it wasn't safe for Cujo to be seen anymore. The guards knew Cujo was connected to him and they blamed Cujo for helping with the breakout. It just wasn't safe for him anymore so Danny had no choice but to send him away. Find a safe place to stay he said, as if there was still a safe place the pup would want to be at without Danny.
Cujo refused to leave, however. Danny promised they'd stay together after all. Danny would need him sooner or later and Cujo refused to not be there for him. Danny, of course, tried everything. Send him on a quest, send him on errands, even tried ignoring him once. That one was particularly painful because he wanted nothing more than to just cuddle with the pup until it all got better again. One day, after being forced to the mess by Cameron, Danny broke off a soda tab. Later when Cameron was out for leisure time, Danny used that stupid batarang and carved Cujo into the soda tab. With some struggles, he finally got it attached to his collar. At least now, Cujo finally had a tag again.
Of course, somebody saw him take out the tab and snitched to the guards. His whole cel got ransacked trying to find the 'prohibited item'. Really, he was sure they were just making a mess for the fun of it. Of course they didn't find it, but they were so damned close to walking in on Cujo chewing on the batarang. The guards were pretty heavy handed in their disciplinary actions and that day was no different. After that, it seemed to finally click for the pup that it really wasn't safe anymore and finally agreed to leave for the time being. It was hard, and there were too many tears for him to admit to, but at least he knew Cujo would be safer now.
Because of course Cujo's safety came before his.
After he left, Danny's nightmares increased in frequency. Some nights he would even wake up twice. It was starting to take a toll on him. He was exhausted which made it harder for him to cope with the sensory hell that was the mess hall during lunch times. Cameron had gotten into the habit of trying to drag him out of bed and practically force food down his throat. Oh, yeah, of course he had also been losing even more weight.
Because what else could go wrong
That was entirely the wrong thing to say.
Here he was, forced into the mess hall for dinner service. Everything was so loud and bright all around him, it was making him dizzy. But then, as all predictable downfalls into madness would predict, it suddenly got quiet.
"Dude what the fuck?" Cameron muttered under his breath, eyes transfixed on the tv screen somewhere next to Danny.
"Yo, turn that shit up!" One of the inmates loudly yelled.
"-attacked all over the world by these strange plant creatures. The Justice League has been fighting hard to subdue the vegetation but it seems immune to normal attacks. Earlier today, our broadcast was hacked by the villains behind this attack. For those of you only tuning in now, we will play the clip again."
Ah, yeah, because giving crazy criminals even more attention has always worked out so well. Danny almost snorted as he tried to swallow a particularly nasty bite of blubbery mashed potatos. The moment that voice echoed though the mess however, Danny's head snapped towards the tv as well.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement." Inmates were cheering on as Joker appeared on the screen, threatening the camera with a knife. Not long after that, the camera got pointed towards a group of….oddly dressed people. "From the Injustice League."
"Injustice League?" Danny scoffed. "Surely something like Secret Society of Super Villains would have been more creative. S³V for short if you wanna keep it easy."
Across from him, Cameron almost choked on his food. "Dude, that just sounds like a chemical compound." Danny couldn't resist the smirk as he snarked back. "A criminal compound, you mean." One of Danny's rare laughs escaped his throat at the utter dismay on Cameron's face. Clearly the teen didn't have a good sense of humor.
Trying to keep the mood up, Danny kept up with the comments. "Did anybody tell grumpy elf man over there where the camera is? Dude's looking the wrong direction."
"You know, I'm pretty sure he's just glaring at Joker."
Danny hummed, "Yeah, yeah I can see why. I'd be glaring too if I had to stand next to all those fashion rejects and a fucking monkey." Danny's breath got caught in his throat as he looked over to Poison Ivy. There was this odd aura about her and he could swear that every time she was in frame the camera would glitch out a bit. He was so focused on her that he didn't even listen to what the bleach blonde prick was saying. Something about her felt wrong but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. The video ended and the news anchor continued with the report. Video of raging plants from all over the world.
Danny felt a chill go down his spine.
All those plants had a soft green glow to them, like an unnatural hue illuminated the plants from within. Many heroes were struggling against it. Some of their attacks didn't even seem to hit as their weapons just went right through them. But if that wasn't bad enough, it surely was when they showed footage from Gotham. Plants were all over the city, attacking civilians and news helicopters alike. Batman and some of his fellow Leaguers were fighting the plants but there wasn't a single sight of Robin. No way in hell would Dick sit out something this important, not when his city and the entire world are under attack by at least twoof their own rogues.
And then he saw it.
It was almost a blink and you miss it moment, but the camera footage glitched every time it focused on Batman. Danny felt his anger rise even more as he finally spotted the cause. Cujo was out there fighting the plants.
And he was losing
Plant-tentacles shot out towards the pup who was doing his best to bite through them all in his hound form. But he got quickly overwhelmed and engulfed. Danny watched on with baited breath. He could feel his collars starting to act up as his powers reacted to the growing rage he felt watching his best friend be hurt. He was getting hurt and all Danny was doing was just sitting here doing nothing!
"Yo, dude are you okay?"
He heard Cameron's voice but couldn't care even a single bit as the tendrils balled up around Cujo. The idiot who controlled the camera moved it away to focus more on Batman, effectively cutting him off from what was going on with Cujo. Danny was only vaguely aware that the fork in his hand got bent fully out of shape as he was losing his grip on his powers. An angry, burning hum came from his collars as they went into overdrive trying to syphon off his excess energy. But even with 5 on, it didn't seem to be enough. He wasn't sure what the teen said, but he was pretty sure at this point his eyes were already glowing green.
Precious seconds went by with no sight of the pup until Batman got knocked back. Finally he saw Cujo again, now in puppy form as he dodged and ran from the plants chasing him. He could tell whatever happened to escape must have hurt him as Cujo was limping slightly. At least in his smaller form he was more agile. But not agile enough as a rogue tendril slammed into his body. Danny's entire vision went green as he saw Cujo whimpering on the asphalt. All his anger overwhelmed the collars as they angrily sparked and short-circuited . Not even a split second later Danny felt his transformation flow over him as he shot into the sky, instinct taking over just in time to prevent a Danny sized hole being left through multiple levels of ceiling and floors. He had no idea where he was or how to get to Gotham but his core was locked in on Cujos and he knew where his friend was. And he'll be damned if he was too late.
Danny zoomed through the sky, racing towards Gotham to help his friend. Nothing except helping Cujo was on his mind. Once he got Cujo, he'll make whoever did this pay.
Somehow, luck decided to be somewhat on his side as it didn't take long for him to find Cujo.
Or rather, for the pup to find him.
As Danny was flying, a green blob crashed into him and licked him all over. It seemed like Cujo had felt Danny's distress and rage and had gotten out of dodge to find him. Danny felt the edge being taken off his anger as having Cujo here with him helped him calm down. Well that and the fact Cujo was feeding off his excess energy and ectoplasm to heal himself up from whatever injuries he sustained earlier. The happy reunion didn't last for too long, however, as there was still some assholes to beat up. Danny held Cujo in front of him as the pup kept trying to lick his face. "Cujo, Cujo focus." Cujo's stomach, however, didn't particularly seem to agree with this new position. With little warning, Cujo puked out a part of the plants he had been fighting earlier. Utterly disgusted, Danny almost joined him, if it wasn't for his ghost sense going off as the dead vine fell to the ground below. His anger returned almost full force.
Of course it had been another ghost. No wonder the heroes were having a hard time and Cujo got hurt. Danny looked back to Cujo, careful to not shake the pup any more.
"You wouldn't happen to know where the ghost responsible would be, would you?" Cujo responded by excessively barking and wiggling even harder in Danny's grip. Not wanting to risk getting puked on again, Danny let go of Cujo. The second the pup was freed from his cuddly prison, he shot off with Danny struggling to follow up behind him. He hadn't used his powers much lately, let alone flying, so keeping up with a hyperactive pup with the nose of a bloodhound was quite the challenge.
Cujo, on the contrary, had no issue taking the lead. The pup knew full well that Danny could follow his track just as easily as Cujo had sniffed out this other ghost. It wasn't that hard as all the vines in Gotham connected to the same root system that he was following now.
What Cujo didn't expect was to find another familiar sent near where the ghost was. Sensing the possible danger, Cujo sped up even more, ignoring Danny's indignant cries.
Cujo raced forward, growing into his hound form as he closed in on where other Danny was. Between the trees, Cujo saw Other Danny and Other Danny's friend stuck in those same nasty plants. "Who dares?!" The ghost said, sensing Cujo's presence. He growled as he lunged at the big monkey holding a gun, causing it to misfire. Other Danny's friend fell as the nasty plants let go of her. Cujo bit though the monkey's gun, causing it to break and explode.
The ghost was angry but it couldn't do much as Other Danny and his friend ran into the jungle. "The stupid mutt won't stop me, Boy Wonder. I'll be sure to put an end to your little reconnaissance mission." Using its host's powers, the ghost summoned more nasty plants to attack Other Danny and his friend. Cujo tried to bite through as many as he could but more kept spawning. At least Other Danny was good at flying. "Cujo!" Other Danny called out. "Can you take out Ivy?"
Ivy?
Was that the ghost's host's name?
Either way Cujo happily obeyed the request and slammed into the ghost's host, knocking her back into a tree. The ghost seemed dazed as the nasty plants stopped following Other Danny and his friend.
Cujo happily trotted over to Other Danny as Other Danny ran over and hugged him tightly. "How nice of you to show up here, buddy." The smile on Other Danny's face faded a bit as he muttered "Artemis?" Other Danny shook his head and patted Cujo. "Do you think you can take me up there? My friends are stuck." Cujo happily obliged by bending down a little. Taking the hint, Other Danny climbed on his back. Cujo flew up into the air towards a strange glowing yellow cage. There was a man in red that smelled of rot and tar. Cujo did not like this man at all.
"What the fuck?!"
"Robin?!"
Other Danny's friends called out from their cage. Cujo paid them no mind. Dirty man was their main target as he was connected to the yellow cage. Before Cujo could get to him, a camouflaged being hit the dirty man. Seeing the opportunity, Cujo lunged forward and bit into the dirty man's leg. He spun around a few times before launching the dirty man towards the ground.
Other Danny's friends all landed safely on the ground as they weren't that high up. "What the fuck man?!" The Danger One yelled out to Other Danny. Cujo also didn't like him. But Other Danny seemed to like him so it wasn't like Cujo could do much, except for growl disapprovingly.
"Do you believe me now?" Other Danny said smugly as he jumped off Cujo's back.
"Unpacking that later," Danger One said, "If he's here, where is-"
Danger One didn't get to finish his sentence as Danny came crashing down and decked the ghost's host straight through a tree.
"Again, what the fuck?!"
Danny got up from his landing crouch as he glared at the ghost. "Leave her body." Danny growled, his hands already charging up with ectoblasts. Danny seemed very angry but Cujo knew Danny could handle this ghost on his own. The ghost laughed as it got up. Danny however, shot off a warning for the ghost to listen. "I said leave." The air around them chilled. Danny was really getting angry now. Cujo also growled at the ghost's host, placing himself between the pending fight and Other Danny. Other Danny was practically radiating shock and happiness at Danny's arrival so that had to count for something.
The ghost's host body glared at Danny before her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground. That dirty monkey caught her before she fell into the swampy water. The monkey was also not on Cujo's list of liked individuals. The ghost finally appeared as it grew into a big plant monster. "I am Undergrowth, you insolent meat bag! How dare you challenge me?!"
Danny rolled his eyes and let out a haunting cackle at the usual ghost theatrics, effortlessly falling back into old habits. "Challenge? I thought we were having a nice little picnic."
Undergrowth sputtered before recognition flashed through his eyes. The being gleamed down on Danny. "Ah, the boy who ran. I have heard much of you."
Danny cracked his knuckles as he stalked closer and higher up to the ghost. "Oh? All bad things I hope, wouldn't want to make a bad first impression when I have no idea who you even are." That seemed to piss off Undergrowth as the plant monster roared. "Insolent child!" He made a swing towards Danny who lazily dodged. "I am the Ancient of Vegetation! I demand respect!"
Danny charged up a fist as he flew straight for the ghost's stupid looking beak. "Any ounce of respect you could have gotten was lost when you decided to attack my friend!"
Undergrowth tries to evade by going underground but Danny easily followed intangibly. Danny was getting increasingly annoyed at how much the overgrown fern tried to run so using the bayou as a weapon, he started freezing all the connecting roots before blowing them up. Undergrowth didn't quite seem to like that as every root Danny destroyed, the Ancient shrunk in size. There was one giant root that seemed to connect to the greenhouse that was particularly well guarded but with a years' worth of pent up energy and immense anger, that didn't last long either. Before long, Undergrowth was nothing more than a little sapling. Undergrowth raged at him, demanding he submit and whatever else in a high pitched tone even worse than Skulker. Deciding to save himself the headache, Danny froze Undergrowth in a block of ice.
A loud explosion echoed across the bayou as the massive plant in the greenhouse went up in flames. A few whisps burned bright green as the last of Undergrowth's influence burned away. Danny could see there was still a fight going on and had no visual on Cujo so he made a break for his friend.
Some weird dude with a golden helmet was shooting brain lasers at everybody. Everybody that seemed to be those same heroes as the attempted outbreak. Danny sighed heavily as he slapped the Undergrowth icicle against his head. Just his luck. With his track record, he'd be willing to bet Clockwork had a hand in this. Nevertheless, Danny called out to Cujo, throwing the ghostly ice cube at his favorite hound, who promptly ate it.
Well
That was one way of getting his hands free. Maybe he could get Cujo to shit out the wannabe world dominator into one of Walker's cells, preferably next to skulker so they could squeak at each other about how much they hate him. See, Danny was nice, he was helping ghost make other ghost friends!
Now he could at least join and beat that weird guy before he hit Cujo with the stupid brain lasers.
"Enough." The Halloweentown reject proclaimed from in the sky. Without a warning Cujo lunged towards Danny as the magician shot out bolts of electricity towards the heroes. Danny sat in shock as the air prickled at his skin. Danny could feel his vision getting blurry as his breath sped up. Cujo nuzzled into him, trying to distract him from the electricity quite literally all around him. Before he could panic too much, the electricity dissipated as a new magic user entered the playing field. A young man dressed in gold and black fought against the evil wizard, with very little regard to the people below them.
Typical magic users
"Cujo," Danny called out, "Go help them." Danny gave Cujo little time to react as he shot up into the sky again while creating a protective dome over the heroes and the other attention seeking villains. "Surrender, sorcerer. You cannot hope to defeat a lord of order." The golden man spoke in a layered voice. Danny got a bad feeling from him but it beat whatever tarpit the wannabe vampire bathed in. Honestly, what is it with evil guys and looking like vampires?
Danny wasn't quite sure how to help outside of providing shielding to the golden man as tarpit guy kept using dirty tricks to get the upper hand. "I can defeat you, and I will!" Tarman shouted as he prepared for yet another onslaught of spells.
"Eskirts natoW nwod!" A voice called out from above them as a third magic user joined in the fight. Absolutely not vibing with the new magic user's entourage, Danny quickly dispelled the dome and flew down to hide Cujo from the arrival of the Justice League. They watched from the tree line to make sure everything was dealt with. In all honesty, a small part of Danny also just wanted to watch the young heroes fight. Last time he was a bit preoccupied but now? Now he could watch and marvel at how well his brother was doing. The amazement was short lived however as more members of the League, including Batman, finally arrived to the party.
With ease they surrounded the villains as they all surrendered one by one.
"It's over." Batman grunted. A pretty classic one liner.
"There will be another day." The bleach blond prick retorted. Danny might not like the guy but he'd have to admit he had the better one liner.
Joker, however, didn't seem all too happy. "Another day? Another day?! There will be NO other day! Not for any of us!" He slurred out as he slipped further into madness. Using his weird little tech gloves, Joker commanded new plants to spawn. The buds on the vines exploded and green gas started to fill the air. Danny took a step forward, ready to jump in and help, but the golden man sucked out all the poison gas from the air.
Danny let out a sigh of relief. Everything was taken care of. He should probably go back before anybody-
Go back?
Go
Back
Danny started to panic as realization of what he had done dawned. He just broke out of prison. He broke out of theprison! He can't go back now! They all know he escaped! Oh no nononono what had he done. He promised! He promised he'd behave and try to avoid issues yet here he was, barely a month later and already messed up beyond fixing. Oh gods what should he do now?
Cujo tried to nuzzle up to him and break him out of his spiral but it wasn't working. He promised he'd behave and he broke his promise! Cujo whined softly, feeling Danny's declining sanity.
A broken twig behind them snapped Danny out of his thoughts as he came face to face with Robin. Danny felt his heart quicken even more as a different kind of panic took over his whole body. "Danny?" Robin called out softly, but Danny didn't answer. Danny was hoping that if he kept standing still, Robin would somehow just not see him. That strategy clearly didn't work as Robin took another step closer. Danny's brain finally sparked back to life as his brother tried to approach slowly. As Robin took a third step, Danny mirrored by taking one back. Robin held up his hands, trying to not come over as a threat but that was long too late. Before the boy could move another muscle, Danny set off flying.
"Danny wait!"
Danny did not wait, Danny did what he did best.
Run