The fear pumping through Robin couldn't be explained, nor even fathomed. He felt as if his heart were beating so fast it would give out at any moment. At this point, the boy hardly knew the line between alive and dead. He was blind, deaf, about to collapse, and full of fear—so he ran. With one gloved hand trailing along the brick wall that he knew to be in the alleyway, Robin ran and ran and ran.
Each step sent new waves of panic flaring throughout his body. The Boy Wonder was sprinting away from the person he knew hated him, the person who undoubtedly wanted to string his innards up on a clothesline. He was running away from his father. He was running away from Batman.
.
.
.
One Week Earlier:
"Can you at least go out and do something useful?"
"Like what? There is nothing useful to do!"
"You can clean up the mess you made in the kitchen, Wally! You make a mess in there every time you walk in!"
"Seriously, Artemis, that wasn't all me!"
"Then who else was it?"
"Lots of—"
"ENOUGH!" Robin shouted.
The speedster and the archer broke away from their argument and turned to look at Batman's protégé, their eyebrows arched in surprise. Robin let out an exasperated sigh and sank farther into the couch.
"Please stop arguing," Robin said, frowning.
"You two should learn to get along," Kaldur advised from where he sat in a nearby chair, folding the magazine he was reading. "You really have much more in common than you think."
The two ruffled teens gaped at Aqualad.
"Seriously?" Artemis growled.
"I have nothing in common with her!" Wally huffed, looking disgusted at the thought.
"Well then at lest pretend you do!" Conner's voice sounded from the kitchen. "All your bickering has been going on for days."
"That's because I've been stuck with this pig for the last six days," Artemis grunted, jabbing a finger at Wally.
The speedster flushed and crossed his arms. "Hey, I gotta metabolism to keep up! Geez! You wouldn't know what that feels like, you don't even have powers!"
Wally immediately realized that we had gone too far; Artemis stood firmly planted where she was standing but starred at him, stunned. Wally grimaced at his own words and took a step forwards, about to say something, when M'gann's thoughts interrupted him and filled young hero's minds.
"Batman is here," the Martian said telepathically. "We have a new mission."
Artemis, not giving Wally a chance to apologize, spun on her heels and stormed out of the room. Robin sprang to his feet and walked over to the ginger, putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder.
"So uncool dude," Wally groaned, slapping a hand against his forehead. "I can run faster than sound, but I can't even control what comes out of my mouth."
"Not so much aster, but just try to make up for it later," the Boy Wonder suggested, giving Wally a brief look of sympathy before following Artemis and walking to the main room.
Batman and Red Tornado stood by the holographic image of the slowly spinning globe. Artemis stood stiffly facing them, M'gann at her side. As Batman saw his protégé and the rest of the younger team, he turned to them and waited as they circled around, joining the girls.
Batman turned his gaze to Kaldur. "New mission. We have received word that Scarecrow has broken out of Arkham. We've heard he is attacking St. Bartholomew's Hospital in Charleston, a town just south of Metropolis. The Justice League is going to find him and stop him, while your mission is to go to Gotham and help the people escape from the Arkansan Industries building. Arkenson Industries is a company that deals with finance assistance and whatnot, and the building is twenty stories tall and currently on fire. We don't have much time, so you need to get changed fast and get there as soon as possible. We don't know how the fire was caused, but several car accidents are preventing many fire trucks from getting there." The Caped Crusader turned to Red Tornado. "Go ahead and meet at the Watch Tower and prepare to leave with the Justice League. I will meet you there shortly."
The android and Atlantean nodded.
"Right," Kaldur said. Then he addressed his team. "Let's get changed and meet back here in two minutes."
The young heroes nodded, and all except Robin bustled to the changing rooms. The Boy Wonder stood behind for just a moment, walking up to Batman. Red Tornado, with a quick nod to Batman, disappeared through the Zeta Beam, leaving the two alone. Batman's protégé had faced Scarecrow before as the villain sprayed victims with his fear gas and knew what a threat the deranged man was.
Robin removed his sunglasses and looked up at his former mentor. They had fought and defeated Scarecrow a year ago, together, as the Dynamic Duo. It pained the Boy Wonder to stay behind as the man he thought of as his father swung right into combat with someone as fearsome as Scarecrow. A brief thought flashed across his mind to ask Batman if he could accompany him, but he quickly dismissed it, knowing he would say no.
"Be careful," Dick said, stowing the glasses away in his pocket.
Mentor and protégé shared a look that communicated their feelings without the use of words.
"You too," Batman said, allowing a small smile. He put a gloved hand on the boy's shoulder. "Remember, Dick, don't take unnecessary risks. I don't want you burning alive out there."
"Don't worry," Dick replied, smiling a little as well. "Be careful of Scarecrow's fear gas too—he's probably going to use it again, or some form of it."
"Of course," Batman said, squeezing Dick's shoulder lightly before removing his hand. They nodded at each other before Dick spun around and hurried to the changing room, hearing Batman leave in the Zeta Beam as he ran.
Exactly two and a half minutes later, the Young Justice team was clad in their uniforms and bustling towards the bio-ship. As soon as they entered the garage room, M'gann extended her hand and she ship buzzed to life, shapeshifting from its normal sphere to the ship they were used to.
"Hurry," Aqualad shouted as they quickly boarded the vessel. "With a fire, it's always a race against time."
"The building is probably crumbling as we speak," Artemis added with a frown.
The team took their seats in the ship, Miss Martian sitting at the controls. She placed her hands on the glowing blue orbs and the ship reared into the air. It zipped out of the Cave and rocketed into the sky, soon soaring just below the clouds.
"Applying camouflage mode," M'gann announced as the bio-ship's color fogged into the reflective material.
"Let us discuss a suitable strategy before we land at the scene," Aqualad said, spinning his chair so he was facing the other members of the team. "This building is twenty stories high, so the first task at hand is to help the trapped people escape. Miss Martian and I are weak against fire so I will stay on the ground, using the water from a fire hydrant to help quench the flames while you," he looked towards M'gann," will stay at a distance as well, using your abilities to get water to the higher levels of the building. If you see people in the higher windows, levitate some kind of platform for the people to step onto before lowering them to the ground."
The green Martian nodded. "Sounds good."
"Superboy and Artemis," Aqualad continued, "will stay near the lower levels, helping the people there to get out and trying to quench all possible flames. Kid Flash and Robin will be going up into the higher levels, aiding the people there so they can get to the windows and be helped by Miss Martian. Please, try to stay together. You two have the most dangerous job and if you face being engulfed in flames, Robin, take hold of KF and use your grappling gun to swing you both to safety. Afterwards, we can investigate the cause of the fire. Is everyone clear with that?"
The five other heads nodded, all eyeing each other with determination set on their faces. Robin noticed Wally try to make eye contact with Artemis, but the archer deliberately ignored his gaze and stared out the window.
"I've established a mental link," M'gann notified as the bio-ship reached a greater speed. Robin adjusted his utility belt and stared out the window, eyeing the tall buildings he recognized as Gotham. The city was like home to the boy, and he felt a sense of rushing urgency as he saw a column of smoke rising into the sky from the heart of the city.
The bio-ship sped closer and closer until they were flying over the buildings and approaching the stack of black smoke. Robin leaned closer to the window to inspect the scene. Fires blazed inside Arkenson Industries, flickering out shattered windows and billowing smoke into the sky. Several people leaned out of holes in the sides, screaming for help. Two fire trucks were parked on the ground, the men trying their best to extinguish the flames, but there wasn't much of a result—the fires were too high for most of the water to reach.
He felt the bio-ship buzz as Miss Martian undid the camouflage mode and the plane returned to its normal coloring. A small smile touched Robin's lips as he saw the firefighters point at them and start to cheer.
"Robin, Kid Flash, now is the time to go," Aqualad instructed. "Use your grappling gun to get in there and please, be careful."
"Gotcha, will do," KF said, walking over to where Robin was quickly pulling the handy tool out from his utility belt. "We will burst in there, safe the people, and be out in no time. Piece of cake."
"Piece of burning cake," Superboy answered. "Try not to get singed."
"Since when have we been anything but careful?" Wally snorted as M'gann opened the bottom of the bio-ship and angled it so that they were just to the right of the burning building.
"Good luck," the green Martian called. "Remember, if anything goes wrong and the grappling hook doesn't work, jump out and I will catch you."
"You're wonderful, babe," Wally cooed as Robin firmly wrapped his left arm around the speedster's torso, aiming the grappling gun with his right.
"Try to stay whelmed," the Boy Wonder shouted. He felt KF's arms tighten around his waist and stepped off the edge, allowing himself and Wally to fall through the hole and plummet through empty air.
The feeling of falling didn't really bother Robin at this point—he had gotten comfortable with it after all these years. For a moment, he didn't understand why Wally let out a grimaced until felt him squeeze around his stomach so tightly that the dark-haired teen had trouble breathing. Robin started to choke and quickly firing the grappling gun. The hook shot out, catching on a windowsill just below a batch of roaring flames. The two teens were sent swinging towards the building and Robin twisted in the air, aiming for a window and sticking his feet out.
They broke through the glass, tumbling into the heated room and instantly feeling stings of pain. Batman's protégé winced as the shattered glass cut into his shoulder blade and ripped his gloves, creating red streaks across his hands. Wally was flung from his grasp in the impact and Robin felt his stomach twist as he heard a similar grunt of pain from his best friend.
Wally sat up quickly, picking the pieces of glass from his calves. "Not feeling the aster," he grumbled as droplets of blood dripped down his leg.
Robin, tossing the last of his own sharp fragments aside, sprang to his feet and hurried over to where Flash's protégé sat. "Sorry 'bout that," he huffed, extending his hand. "Looks like the glass along the walls in this room shattered."
With a small groan, Wally grasped the gloved hand and heaved himself up. "It's like a frying pan in here."
"You got that right," Robin wheezed. "The smoke in here is almost as bad."
Wally put a hand on his friend's back. "Dude, be careful. Don't want you getting some kind of lung infection or Batman would kill me."
Robin smiled slightly and rushed over to an electrical outlet that was in wall, just below the window. He unhooked a cord from his robotic watch and plugged it in. "Scanning this floor now," he said, narrowing his eyes as the holographic screen loaded. "Currently hacking the code."
Wally let out a muffled cough and raised his hand to his mouth. Smoke billowed all around them, swirling in clouds and pouring in through the air vents in the walls and floor. They were seemingly in an office room now, complete with a wooden desk and set of chairs. The computer that once stood on the desk was now crumpled on the floor, its screen shattered. In fact, the floor was layered with fragments of glass from the higher parts of the dividing walls, picture frames, and even an iPhone. The crumbling walls were singed with streaks of brown, but it looked like the fire in here has somehow been extinguished. What caught the gingers attention immediately, though, was a birdcage that was laying upside-down on the floor, propped against the wall. A small yellow finch frantically hopped around inside, screeching wildly.
Wally quickly bent down and opened the bend door of the cage. He scooped his hand inside and grasped the bird, gently but firmly, and pulled it out. The finch's head swung around and it chirped wildly, but the speedster zipped to Robin's side and held out the bird.
"Look, a little bird, just like you," Wally grinned, trying to suppress a cough. "What should we do with it? I don't think it can fly…its left wing is bent at an odd angle, probably broken."
Robin glanced up, looking at the tiny finch before using his right hand to open one of the pockets in his utility belt. "Here—its an empty slot. The bird might not be able to breath in there, but it'll die if we leave it in here. It's worth a shot."
Wally gently placed the finch in the yellow pocket and buttoned it shut. "How is the hacking going?"
"Done," Robin responded as a satisfying ding sounded from the device. "Let's see…it looks like the layout is pretty simple. I have the blueprints for this floor, but the fire most likely caused some damage and I'm assuming that chunks of the ceiling fell down. There is a long hallway outside this room with offices lined up on either sides, and there are stairs going up and down on the far end. We should go down and—"
Suddenly, Robin was cut off by a series of shrieks that could be heard above the sound of burning steel and blaring sirens. The two teens listened for a moment, staring and the blueprints and trying to pinpoint where the wails were coming from.
Wally gave a harsh sign. "It sounds like a set of screams is coming from up—"
"—and the other is coming from down," Robin finished, frowning. "That means splitting up. I guess we are going to have to temporarily disobey Aqualad."
Wally's eyebrows furrowed together. "I guess so."
Both young heroes suddenly bent their heads down to peer at the blueprints as it suddenly made another beeping noise.
"It looks like it went right on ahead and is getting the blueprints for the entire building," Robin said, watching as all of the codes were disarmed.
"How convenient."
A repeated flaring noise followed. Robin cursed and starred at the holographic screen with narrowed eyes. "It looks like the fire is eating away at the metal support beams throughout the building. They are heating up so much that they're starting to bend, and if we don't stop these fires soon the upper part of the building will lean to the right, breaking off and crashing into the adjacent one."
Wally groaned. "This just keeps getting worse and worse! So not feeling the aster! Ugh—better tell the others."
Wally touched the telepathic link with his mind, instantly alerting everyone on the link to his presence. "Bad news—it looks like the support beams are being bent by the fire."
"If we don't do something soon, the upper part of the building will break off and fall to the right, crushing the smaller building," Robin added, unable to hide his frustration.
"Miss Martian, rush to put out the higher flames," Aqualad's mind yelled. "We can't let the building break in two."
"Almost all of the civilians in the lower part of the building are out," Superboy informed, his voice radiating with energy.
"Good," Aqualad answered. "Go into the building to the right of Arkenson Industries, called Johnson and Company, and evacuate all the people there, just in case."
"Why not let him come up here and help us?" Wally's mind questioned.
"He could break the building by jumping up there," Artemis explained, her thoughts emanating at rage towards the speedster. "And the floors are so unstable that he could fall through if he tried the stairs. You could figure out the obvious if you didn't have such a thick skull."
Robin sprang to his feet, unplugging the cord from the outlet. Wally's face was red with the heat from the burning building and frustration towards the hostile archer.
"Don't," Robin warned as the ginger hero was about to snarl back a biting reply in his mind. "It'll only make things worse and we have a job to do. You go up and I'll go down—rescue all you can and bring them to the windows."
Wally wiped the dripping sweat off his face with the back of his hand. "Okay, Rob. Be careful." And with that, he zipped out of the room in a blur of red.
"Wally and I have to split up for the time being," Robin informed everyone as he exited the office room and took off down the hallway. Debris was everywhere; glass was broken and it looked as though countless objects had been smashed by the people in a mad scramble to get out of the building. "M'gann, be prepared to help people from the windows. Wally is going up and I'm going down."
"Right," the Martian responded, sounding a little distracted.
Robin swept down the hallway, careful to avoid the larger pieces of glass, and quickly descended the stairs. The echoes of his boots scuffing against the metal could barely be heard over the chaos going on above and below him. Wally had been right when he said the place was like a frying pan—it was so unbearably hot that Robin's entire body was slick with sweat and his hair was plastered to his skull. The Boy Wonder wheezed as dark smoke filled his lungs, but he pushed onwards. The shrieks that he had heard earlier grew louder and he pinpointed the sound from behind a large door. Robin's hand darted out and grasped the doorknob, but immediately flinched back, letting out a small howl. His hand, which had already been cut with the glass shards, was now burned and searing with pain. Upon a closer inpection, Robin could now see that the handle was glowing red with heat. A few tears leaked out of his eyes, but Batman's protégé only frowned and kicked down the door.
The door flew backwards, instantly being swallowed up by roaring flames. If the hallway had seemed bad, this place was like hell. Flames were eating up the sides of the wall and charcoal-colored smoke rolled through the air. Desperate to reach the terrified people, Robin covered his mouth with his uninjured hand and leaped over the smaller flames in front of him, landing on a toppled desk that was safe for the time being.
Batman's words echoed in his mind as he scaled a mound of fallen ceiling plates that had fallen through: "Don't take unnecessary risks." Robin quickly pushed the thought away. His ears were ringing, he could hardly breath, and his hand felt like it was going to fall off—at this point, he just wanted to hurry and safe the citizens so he could get them out. He could deal with any injuries to himself later.
The Boy Wonder slid down the other side of the debris only to meet another wall of fire. Suddenly, a flare of panic rippled throughout his body. He was starting to become trapped—the fire was swallowing the walls around him and if he didn't hurry, they would all be stuck in this firery tower of doom. Robin let out a ragged cough and peered around, looking for the source of the shrieks. He staggered into one of the office rooms, finding two women and several children. Two of the kids' legs were caught under a desk and each child was screaming like the world was ending.
It does feel like the world is ending, Robin thought as he rushed towards the desk, jumping over clumps of spreading fire. The woman started crying tears of joy as they saw him, but Robin, now disoriented, could hardly hear what they were saying and focused on trying to move the heavy desk.
"Robin?" M'gann's voice suddenly sounded in his mind as the Boy Wonder used all his strength to heave the heavy desk up. "Your emotions are going wild…are you alright? Your thoughts are growing all jumbled… you should hurry out of there!"
"I'm trying!" Robin shouted out loud, hardly aware that the Martian couldn't hear him. The women and children were all coughing as badly as he was, and Robin scooped up the smallest child in his arms before leading the group out of the office room and into the blazing hallway.
"Stay close to me and watch your step!" Batman's protégé called as he staggered towards the glass window. One of the women quickly picked up a fallen lamp and threw it at the glass, shattering it instantly. A relieving breeze rushed in and Robin stuck his head out the open space, careful not to fall out. Miss Martian, flying farther away, saw him and used her powers to levitate a car up to where the battered group stood.
Robin wordlessly helped the citizens into the car, hardly hearing their shouts of thanks. He was about to climb in himself when he suddenly heard another scream echoing from the hallway. With a groan, Robin turned around and sprinted back into the inferno, too disoriented to even tell Miss Martian what he was doing.
Aqualad let out a grunt as he clenched his teeth and focused all his energy on sending water up to the higher stories of the building. Burned victims shrieked in pain around him as they loaded the ambulance, making the Atlantean cringe. Despite the significant damage the fire had caused to the building, his team was doing remarkably well with the task at hand. They were fighting the clock, as he had said earlier, but he was impressed with their willingness to go into the inferno to help. The lower levels of Arkenson Industries were stained brown but devoid of any flames. The only trouble was the higher part—smoke still billowed out from the windows and fire flickered inside in several places, but he and Miss Martian were quickly taking care of it.
M'gann lowered a car of people onto the ground before sending a pool of water arching into the sky and splashing into the flames, quickly extinguishing them. Drawing water out of the fire hydrant, Aqualad heaved the liquid into the sky, making it easy for M'gann to catch and use.
After two minutes, almost all the blazing flames were gone. Clouds of smoke still drifted out of the upper windows, but the immediate danger was gone. They had managed to save the building from tipping, much to the relief of the aquatic hero. Aqualad let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat off his forehead before touching the telepathic link with his thoughts.
"Good work everyone," the team leader praised. "Let's meet back down by the northern fire truck."
"No!" Robin yelled, his thoughts echoing slightly.
"Rob, where are you?" the mind of Kid Flash shouted, ringing through Aqualad's head. "I've been looking for you forever and you aren't answering!"
"Robin, what—"
Suddenly, Aqualad was cut off as a scream of pure terror blasted out, making Aquaman's protégé cringe once again and cover his ears. Surprise rushed through him when the action didn't change the volume of the sound at all and he realized it was sounding in his mind, on the telepathic link.
For a moment, he couldn't focus and the sound seemed to rip through his consciousness, making him stumble backwards into the fire truck, clutching at his head. And then, the scream was cut off, as quickly as it had appeared.
A jumble of thoughts suddenly rose up at once from the members of the Young Justice team.
"What the—?"
"—heard it too?"
"—make me step on a hot piece of—"
"—who was that—"
"—sounded so scared—"
"—I was forced to cut off the telepathic link—"
"What?"
"Wait!"
"Who said—"
"M'gann what did you—"
"I said—"
"Whaaat?"
"Wally stop interrupting—"
"—could you—"
"—please repeat—"
"—I think it was—"
"—Robin?"
At Superboy's inquisition, everyone's minds quieted. It was true—in the disgruntled voices, not once had Aqualad heard Robin speak. That could only mean one thing….
"KF, search the building for Robin," Aqualad breathed. "M'gann, you too. Superboy and Artemis meet me here and hurry."
Miss Martian's startled thoughts suddenly rang in their heads. "I cut Robin off of the telepathic link because we could hardly think with his mind in such a panic, but now I can't reconnect with him. I can't even find where he is."
Aqualad let out a frustrated sigh and tried to block out all the noise around him except the conversation that was going on in his head. "Alright, just—"
Aqualad suddenly cut off as his communicator gave a buzz. He pressed the button quickly, hoping for it to be from Robin. "Yes?"
"We've been tricked."
Aqualad's eyes widened as he heard the familiar growl from his earpiece. Batman rushed on, not giving the young hero time to speak.
"Our mission is a sham. The hospital was on fire and we were able to save the victims but the person we thought was Scarecrow turned out to be an ordinary man in a costume. Attacking the hospital was merely a distraction. We've been tricked."
Aqualad leaned back against the fire truck, his thumb and index finger pinching the dip in his nose. "I think that—"
Suddenly, Kid Flash's distraught thoughts filled the Atlantean's head. "Robin isn't here! There is a bloody trail leading down the stairs and I'm going to try and follow it down there and find Robin, but there is this beeping noise and I'm not sure if I should be—"
"Aqualad, can you hear me?" Batman growled furiously into the earpiece. "I think Scarecrow is at your location."
Aquaman's protégé ignored Wally for the time being, practically shouting into the earpiece. "You are correct. We have extinguished the fire in the building and there have been so signs of Scarecrow except that—"
Aqualad was forced to stop speaking once again as Superboy's panicked voice yelled into his mind. "WALLY! Get out of there now! Miss M, fling him out of there!"
Aqualad jerked his head up. Miss Martian, seeing Flash's protégé running down the stairs, swung her hands forwards, grabbing onto the speedster with her telekinetic abilities, and flung him out the window. The hero screeched as he fell through the empty air, flailing his arms wildly. M'gann shot towards him, grabbing onto Wally and flying him away from the building as fast as possible.
"Aqualad—" Batman's voice snarled in the earpiece.
And then, the Arkenson Industries building exploded. Well, at least the lover half did, but the vibrations caused all the windows to break on the first five floors and the entire building swayed. Blazing fire erupted in the first few floors and metal screeched as the top half of the building swayed.
"NO!" Aqualad shouted.
The top half of the building teetered, almost as if time had frozen, and then slowly fell to the right. The piles of brick exploded into a cloud of dust as it smashed into the smaller building of Johnson and Company, completely demolishing it in a shower of debris. The lower half of Arkansan Industries rumbled and sunk down into the ground as the basement floors collapsed, making the bottom levels cave in. M'gann, quick as lightning, flew down with Wally and used her powers to stop the rubble from the falling building from hitting the people on the streets.
"What. Was. That?" Batman's voice rang in Aqualad's ear, a hiss of barely controlled rage.
"A bomb," Aqualad whispered, almost stunned into silence for the first time in his life. "The building's basement floors collapsed and the top half broke off and fell onto an empty building next to it."
Batman let out a snarl. "The Justice League is on our way—we will arrive shortly. Is anyone hurt? Any signs of fear gas? Robin knows how to deal with Scarecrow—turn leadership over to him for the remainder of the mission."
Aqualad felt the cold dread of reality sink in; he felt as though he were stuck in a block of ice. "I'm afraid that is impossible."
"What do you mean?" Batman questioned, his voice a deadly whisper.
"Robin has been taken by Scarecrow and possibly killed."