Robin moaned in pain, putting his hand on his head.
"Robin!" M'gann's hands latched onto his own. "Are you alright?"
"Rob!" Wally hit him in the arm. "You're okay!" Robin yelped; the arm Wally had hit seemed to have a dislocated shoulder as well. "Sorry, sorry!"
"I will strangle you, Wally, if you are ever that idiotic again."
"Rob!"
"Shut it, Flash Boy," Artemis said from where she was picking up her scattered arrows.
"You're the one talking, Arty Farty!" He shot back at her.
"Kid Idiot," She rolled her eyes.
"Replacement!" He stuck his tongue out as she narrowed her eyes.
"Baby Flash!"
"Speedy!"
"GUYS!" Robin yelled at them as he relocated his shoulder, "What is going on?"
"Some other-dimensional type shiz," Wally waved his hand dismissively and went back to arguing with Artemis.
"What?" Robin looked at the remaining members of his team, confused.
"Don't you remember?" M'gann asked.
"I don't either," Conner said from next to Robin. "All I remember is waking up next to you," He gestured at Robin, "And seeing everyone else unconscious on the beach."
"You both really don't remember?" M'gann and Kaldur looked pretty concerned.
"Guys," Robin said calmly. "I don't need cryptic right now. Explain what happened up to this point, in detail."
"Well," M'gann started, "We were going to report to Batman after seeing Sportsmaster in town, because we were on that undercover mission, remember?" Conner nodded as Robin hummed in approval.
"Then," Kaldur jumped in, "We were heading back to the bioship, where we were going to meet up because Robin and Artemis had split up from us, remember?" More nods.
"But," M'gann continued, "Conner, Wally, Kaldur, and I had gotten into the bioship already and you both came running around the corner with Sportsmaster behind you, remember?"
"Guys," Robin snapped impatiently, "We remember, can you please go a little faster?"
"You both got on the ship," Kaldur explained, "And we had taken off. Sportsmaster was all ticked and said 'Yeah, brats? Are you gonna mess with my equipment? Well, you didn't touch this!', remember?" He looked pointedly at Robin as the two nodded again. Robin blushed, 'I didn't think he'd be that mad.'
"And," M'gann looked at Robin also, "He shot the ship with a gun and we began shaking with this purplish light. Robin saw Sportsmaster messing with some device thing, and jumped out to stop him, but the bioship exploded in more of that light." Both boys were staring at her blankly now.
"Conner jumped out of the bioship after Robin, because he had escaped the blast but it knocked you off course," Kaldur looked at them sadly. "Robin would have died and everybody else would be here, in this dimension."
"Then why are we here?" Robin asked gesturing to himself and Superboy.
"Right before we disappeared, we saw Sportsmaster shoot you point-blank with that gun thing. By the imprints in the sand, it seems like Conner wrapped himself around Robin so that he took the most of the damage when you both landed," M'gann looked at her boyfriend proudly.
"And now we're all here?" Robin clarified.
"Yes."
"Even the bio-ship?" He frowned.
"Yes." Robin furrowed his eyebrows.
"You said the light was purple?"
"Yes." Robin looked even more confused.
"Hey, KF!" He shouted to his friend.
"Yeah?"
"You and Artemis remember a purple light too?"
"I do."
"I do, too," Artemis confirmed.
"Why?" Wally asked, "You don't think-"
"I do think."
"Explanation?" Artemis waved her hands at them.
"People would have come by now!" Wally pointedly ignored her.
"Who says they haven't?" Robin pointed behind Kid Flash.
"Put your hands in the air and drop your weapons!" Rang out from the floating ship.
"Dude, I hate dimensional wormholes!" Wally yelped, looking frantic.
"What?!" M'gann, Conner, Kaldur, and Artemis asked in unison.
"Guys, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Robin remarked.
"We never were in Kansas," Conner answered.
"I repeat, put your hands in the air and drop your weapons!" A spotlight fell on Artemis, Robin, and Kaldur, who were all clearly weapon-carrying.
"Don't drop your weapons," Robin and Artemis snapped at Kaldur, who had gone to remove his water-bearers.
"Why? This is clearly an accident. We can get help from them," Kaldur frowned.
"I don't think they will take kindly to extra-dimensionals," Robin said. "Best not assume they're friendly."
"Put your hands in the air and drop your weapons or we will take action!" Robin looked wary and motioned for them to put their hands up.
"Rob!" Wally looked scandalized.
"I only said don't disarm yourselves, we don't want a fight if we don't know what is on their side." The Team slowly raised their hands.
"Robin?" Artemis asked. "This isn't gonna stop anything."
"Why?" Robin asked as Superboy leaped at the ship.
"Because Conner is flipping out."
"Thanks, Artemis, I noticed." Immediately after Conner made contact with the ship from his enhanced jump, smaller planes began pouring out of the larger ship.
"Shoot those down!" Robin ordered frantically. "We don't want a combat battle!"
"Miss Martian," Kaldur addressed as Robin and Artemis darted off, "Link us up."
My arrows aren't doing damage! Artemis informed them. I'm too far off to make a difference and my supplies are limited!
Artemis, Robin! Kaldur ordered. Wait for them to be on the ground.
But-
I know, Robin. But neither of you are making an impact from here. Robin grumbled as he threw exploding bird-a-rangs at the offending ships.
Fine. He thought and moved back to his team. If they overwhelm us, I'm blaming you, Kaldur.
"Six targets," Fury lectured the impatient superheroes before him. He had called the Avengers at the first sign of an extraterrestrial/dimensional change, Tony knew. But honestly, was he trying to tell the Avengers, the Avengers, to be worried about an alien threat? Like they weren't paranoid enough already.
Natasha leaned towards the window.
"They aren't attacking the ships anymore."
"Good. I will be sending you down, but it is a last resort. If they put up a struggle after they have clearly lost, bring them in with force, but we need them alive and preferably not too damaged." Fury looked at Thor pointedly, "Don't kill them."
"Won't that solve problems?" Tony asked. "Kidding, kidding," He muttered when a glare was turned on him.
"And if they surrender?" Steve Rogers asked.
"Then escort them back to Avengers tower peacefully, I will speak to them there."
"Do we go to Avengers tower if we apprehend them?"
"Yes-"
"Wait, why the tower?" Tony cried, outraged. "I don't want to babysit!"
"The tower has cells made for this reason."
"Ugh. I regret knowing you people." And they walked off to a ship, Tony grumbling as he put his armor on.
They stood on the edge of a ship, looking out over the battle below them. The 'targets', as Fury called them, seemed pretty skilled.
They had Greenbean, who was flying above the chaos, taking down random agents and keeping one of her teammates, bruteboy, under control. She was taking significant damage, though. Her flight patterns began to falter as rounds of bullets were fired, but she held her ground -air.
Bruteboy, as Tony had named him, was leaping about, landing on ships. They were well out of reach, as his jumps kept decreasing in range, but every so often he would tear into a ship in a blind rage, and the green girl would devote all of her attention to calming him down. He was taking heavy damage as well, slowing down almost imperceptibly with every tranquilizer dart shot at him. The girl was trying her best to deflect the darts, but she couldn't get them all, and the boy seemed to be tiring a decent amount.
Water Face, again a Tony name, was on the edge of the beach, utilizing the water. Tendrils of liquid lassoed agents and deflected darts. He was slowing down as well, the show his water made attracting agents in swarms.
Zippy and Baby Hawkeye, Tony names, were working as a team. A bright yellow suited boy was running at light speed, carrying a girl with a bow. She was nailing down agents with an assortment of trick arrows. Zippy was running through people, throwing fists and legs, and his passenger, at agents. Her enraged shrieks and his laughs reached them every time she found herself on the ground, surrounded by agents, before Zippy ran back, a handful of arrows for her. But, they could see the dramatic decrease in speed, and how every time the boy went for an arrow run the trips were longer, showing the girl was almost out of ammunition. This super duo thing wouldn't last them much longer.
Lastly, Ninja Freak, Tony name, was making a lot of damage in the ranks of agents. The small child was appearing randomly where his teammates were and had effectively stayed out of their sight long enough to make the Avengers visibly nervous. There was nothing more dangerous than an unidentified threat.
"They have mental communication," Natasha informed.
"How do you know?" Questioned Steve.
"Looked at the Martian girl-"
"Greenbean," Tony interrupted her.
Natasha narrowed her eyes, "Greenbean's head follows her teammates. If you watch, you can see where the raven-haired boy is, based on her eyes. She looks at whoever is talking- thinking."
"I agree," Thor stated.
"So Greenbean has to go," Tony agreed. "What about Bruteboy?"
"He has to also," Steve planned. "Thor could take him."
"Yes! I will crush Bruteboy!"
"No harm policy, Thor." The others chorused.
"Right."
"Avengers, move in. Our agents' forces are depleted."
"Roger that, Fury," Tony sighed. "Ready to attack some not-so-defenseless teenagers?"
"Always," Clint responded.
The ship touched down and all six Avengers stepped out.
"We look HOT," Tony murmured when the teenagers turned towards them.
"Split up, get the green one and, uh, Bruteboy, first!" Steve ordered quiet enough so the teens wouldn't hear. Or so they thought.
The smallest member appeared in front of them, and it was shocking enough to stop them for a moment. He shook his head slightly, indicating the conversation going on. He nodded, and Steve gave in and jumped at him. The boy dodged punches and shield strikes. Tony carefully watched the fight between the two as the rest of the Avengers separated. Ninja Freak's face changed expressions from an unsettling smirk to a wrinkled nose to sticking his tongue out ever so slightly to eyes blown wide in fear.
"M'gann-" He muttered, turning to look up at the green girl. She lay unconscious in Thor's arms. "M'gann!" He called out frantically.
Steve wasted no time in punching the distracted child in the stomach. He hit the sand and the boy scrambled to his feet, a look of anger on his face, a furious glare glinting off his mask. Tony began to shoot at his feet and the boy looked up. Seeing Tony's suit he grinned maniacally.
"Hold on Ninja Freak, don't touch me." The boy leapt past Steve, paying no to attention to the super soldier. "Hey! I will shoot you!"
The boy landed on Tony's shoulders and began to mess with the wires barely sticking out of the neckplate. Steve tacked the child.
"Ah!" Robin cried out, struggling against the arms pinning him to the sand. Tony walked over to them.
"What were you doing to my suit?" Tony shrieked at him.
"Let's find out." And he pressed a button, causing an EMP wave to shoot out of Tony's suit.
"Good Lord!" Tony let out a strangled yell as he fell forwards in his unmoving suit.
"Tony!" In an impulse to catch his friend, Steve let go of the boy so he could soften Tony's landing.
"See you!" The boy ran off, vanishing as soon as he reached the others.
"He is so dead," Tony muttered as he got out of his suit. "It should come back online after a few minutes," He told Steve. "But if you get the kid we could get it back up quicker by finding out whatever the hell he did."
"I'm going to help the others. When they're handled we can team up on the kid."
"Okay. I'll just stay here, then. Being useless!"
"Per usual," The Captain mumbled as he sprinted off.
After Steve joined the fight, the Team went down pretty fast. First, Artemis ran out of arrows and had Wally put her down. She became an easy target and was knocked out by Falcon. Wally had been tripped by Natasha, and the speed he was traveling at caused him to be knocked out on impact. Superboy had attacked Thor in an effort to help M'gann and ended up unconscious with Mjolnir holding him down. Aqualad had been overwhelmed by the rest of the Avengers and was knocked out too. The five teenagers were lying in a heap on the edge of the beach.
As Thor went to put M'gann with the rest of them the Avengers stood around, waiting for Robin to appear.
"What makes you think he will come?" Clint frowned. "They may not even care about each other."
"He freaked when the Martian went down. He'll come."
"Hey!" Tony cried out in joy, "My suit is back!"
"Darn," Came a voice from behind them. "And I thought I used a stronger EMP."
"You," Tony growled at the teen standing in front of his friends.
"Me," Robin agreed.
"Look, kid," Steve started. "You can't beat us-"
"So now would be the time to surrender and, like, eat sedative or something and tell you all my secrets, right?"
"I was going to say come in peacefully, but that works." Steve looked at his fellow Avengers.
"Tony," Natasha said, drawing Robin's attention, "If he takes out another knockout gas bomb, I'll tell you, and you can shoot him." Robin glanced back at Tony and slipped what was apparently a bomb back into his pocket.
"You're right, Ms. Dark, Black, and Brooding," He smiled childishly at Natasha, relaxing out of a fighting stance, "Bombs aren't very elegant." Then, instead of bombs, two beeping bird-a-rangs appeared in his hands. He hurled them both at Steve, and turned to Wally, pulling out a syringe full of adrenaline.
Steve deflected both of them as Tony fired two quick shots at Robin's feet. Robin was thrown away from Wally, and the syringe left his hand. He leaped up, to receive a shield in the stomach.
"Dude, again with the stomach?" Robin asked, struggling for breath as he scrambled away. Natasha pulled out her batons and made to bring them down on Robin's shoulders.
It was fair to say that every Avenger was surprised when Robin pulled his own escrima sticks and blocked the blows. As the two engaged in close combat Widow work hard to keep his attention on only her. He kept glancing nervously at the other Avengers, who moved closer in case Robin somehow got free of Natasha. Every time he looked away Natasha purposely attacked harder, so he couldn't focus on anything else.
"Steve!" Natasha signaled, and Captain America stepped in between them, but instead of punching Robin again he grabbed both of the vigilante's arms. Before Robin noticed what he was doing, Steve had the younger hero successfully pinned.
The group closed in, looking at the thin teenager fighting furiously against the stronger hold. His eyes flicked warily over each hero, struggling harder when Tony stepped closer.
"Hey, Widow? You got any sedatives?" Asked Tony, grinning at the horror-struck child. "I think our friend here needs some."
"I've got some, yeah. But using sedatives could be complicated."She motioned for Tony to step aside with her.
"He's not some little kid that's going to have nightmares from your needle juice, Natasha," Tony grumbled exasperatedly.
"So you want him to be drugged?" Natasha challenged.
"Yes!" Tony wrinkled his nose. "Nat, we don't know what these kids are doing here. For all we know, this is some elaborate plot to get us all on the plane them use another one of his little EMP's and put us all six feet under!"
"With him on the plane, Stark?" She leaned in, "Not to mention his team? You're right," she agreed, "We have no idea what they're here for. But do you really think that a child is going to risk the lives of five other people he's working with? Five other people he clearly cares about?"
"Natasha, what's the harm in one more unconscious teenager?"
"Okay, you ask his medical history then." She backed up, crossing her arms. Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Why? Do your spy thing, spidey girl, stab him with the syringe thingy and we can get out of here!"
"It isn't that simple, Stark!" She hissed. "What will you do if he stops breathing, huh? What then? I know you may not like it, but if we want to know what they were trying to do here then we need all of them. Alive."
"She's right, Stark," said Hawkeye, stepping up to the pair. "Unless you want to interview this kid and see if it's safe, it's better just to keep him awake. Anyways," He grinned, "You can talk with him on the plane ride. Should be interesting."
"Whatever, Barton," Tony snarked as they walked back over to the pile of teens. "So kid," He addressed Robin, "Guess you get to stay awake for our plane ride. Hope you're ready to sit for six hours on end."
"Oh, lucky me," Robin mumbled sarcastically. "Now can you get off me, Mr. Patriot?"
"Nope, Jackie Chan," Tony grinned. "We may not be pumping you with sedative, but you still get to wear the handcuffs!"
After Tony, Thor, Falcon, and Hawkeye tied the others in the ship, Robin was lead in, grumbling and handcuffed, by Steve.
He sat unhappily in his seat as Tony looked through the items in his utility belt. As Tony picked up his holo-computer, which they had confiscated, Robin muttered softly.
"Batman is going to kill me."
"Who's Batman?" Asked Clint curiously. "Actually, who are you? We never got a name." Robin looked away.
"His name is Robin." His head snapped to Steve. "Your teammate said it, the fast one." He looked appalled at Wally, who was lying limply in a seat.
"Yeah, kid," Natasha said from next to Robin. "Do you guys have names?"
"The green one is M'gann," Tony commented.
"I'm pretty sure the fast one's name isn't Baywatch, but that's what me wannabe said." Chimed in Hawkeye.
"Aye, the leaping one is Conner!" Stated Thor. "The one that flies told me so!" Robin looked away from them.
"Come on, kid!" Tony nudged him, "This ride will be so much more fun if we talk!"
"Fun for you," Robin grumbled.
"Yep," Tony grinned.
"No," Robin grumbled, staring ahead because, with Steve and Natasha on either side of him, he really couldn't look anywhere else.
"Why not?" Tony gave Robin puppy dog eyes, which earned him a withering glare from the vigilante.
"Because you seem like a jackass."
"Oh, come on kid. Let's get talking you'll learn that's not true!"
"No."
"Steve? Natasha? I'm bored." Tony simpered, "Ninja brat won't talk to me." Wally moaned in the corner of the ship. "Ooh, I'll talk to the fast one instead. What was his name? Oh, Zippy!"
Robin decided Tony reminded him of the Joker.
"KF?" Robin asked uncertainly.
"Rob…" Wally slurred. Robin's eyes widened as he saw how Wally was restrained. He was handcuffed to Artemis, back to back, and Wally had a tendency to not think things through very well, and any reaction he had in this position would probably end with Artemis having two newly dislocated shoulders.
"Oh, God," Robin muttered, working faster to get his handcuffs undone, so he could stop Wally before him or Artemis was seriously hurt.
"Rob?" Wally seemed worried about the lack of response but kept his eyes closed.
"Yeah, KF?" Almost undone…
"Batman's gonna kill you." Nearly there…
"I know, KF," Done. Robin lunged out of his seat towards his friends. "Hey, KF?" He asked his friend, placing both hands on his friend's arms.
"Hmm?"
"When you open your eyes, don't freak out, okay?"
"Why would I-" Wally opened his eyes and promptly freaked out. Robin felt himself hit someone behind him as he was shoved violently.
"Ah!" A small gasp of pain escaped Artemis.
"OhmygodArtemisareyouokayI'msosorry," Wally rambled on to the unconscious girl. Robin leaped up into a crouch, moving to join his teammates.
"Ow!" Cried out Robin as his face impacted with the ground, hard. Steve held both of his arms at an uncomfortable angle behind him.
"What was that for?" He tried to twist Steve off of him. "Get off me!"
"Kid, you're lucky you're not knocked out with the rest of your team. Do you want to be held down the rest of the way there, or are you gonna sit down and keep the handcuffs on?"
"Rob?" Kid Flash looked so confused.
"Wally, we lost. Can you lean forwards two inches?" Wally did, and Artemis cried out again.
"Dislocated, okay." He looked up at Steve, face still squished against the metal floor. "Mr. Shield guy? Both of Artemis' shoulders are dislocated. Can you set them?" Steve held the handcuffs in front of Robin's face. Robin sighed and nodded, taking the handcuffs and twisting them around his wrists.
Natasha walked over to Artemis and quickly set her shoulders, and Artemis relaxed into sleep again. Steve pulled Robin back over to the seat, earning a frustrated glare from the teen.
"Hello," Natasha smiled at Wally, who smiled back nervously. "Do you have any health problems that could cause trouble breathing, heart problems, ect.?"
"KF don't-" Robin was cut off by Steve's hand held tightly over his mouth.
"I don't think so, why?"
"No reason." Her smile widened as she inserted the syringe into his neck.
"That won't last long," Wally smirked as he drifted off. "I'll be awake in a few minutes." He yawned. Natasha smirked.
"That's a strong enough tranquilizer to knock out an elephant. It should keep him asleep for a while. Clint, could you watch him? We don't need anyone drifting into a coma." She walked over to where Robin and Steve were sitting, pulling a capsule from her pocket.
"Hold on, hold on," Tony stood up, frowning. "I thought we weren't sedating this little brat."
"We weren't, and then he proved himself able to wreak havoc on our ship, and personally I'd rather like a peaceful trip with a partially conscious teenage ninja."
"Fine," Tony put his hands up in defeat. "But if either one of those two dies on us it's your fault because I was listening for once."
Natasha rolled her eyes and squatted down to Robin. "Got any health problems, kid?"
"Yes, very many, and if you put a sedative anywhere near my mouth I might die."
"Good thing it's not a sedative then." Robin's eyes narrowed. "It's Seconal."
"A depressant," Robin mumbled.
"100mg of it, actually. You shouldn't have any problems with it, and you won't fall fully unconscious, making it easy for us to determine any breathing problems you may have, which is really the only reason you haven't been asleep this whole time."
Natasha handed the pill to Steve who looked at Robin.
"No way," Robin grumbled.
"Alright," Steve pinched Robin's nose so that he could only breathe through his mouth. After about two minutes Robin began to look frantic, pushing at Steve's hand. Robin suddenly gasped for breath and Steve put the pill in his mouth. Robin tried to spit it out, but Steve held his mouth shut and plugged his nose, and Robin couldn't breathe at all. "Swallow it," Steve said. Robin shook his head nervously, looking disoriented. Robin went limp against Steve's chest from lack of air and swallowed the pill. Immediately, the hands drew away.
Robin gasped, struggling to get more air.
"You okay?" Robin didn't respond, glaring at them angrily.
"It'll take effect in a few minutes," Natasha informed them. Like Natasha had said, the Avengers watched the smaller hero fade, going slack in his chair and leaning against Steve.
"What are we gonna do with these kids?" Clint asked.
"Babysit," Tony grumbled.