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Jason knew he screwed up the moment they got into that warehouse. Okay maybe not the exact moment they stepped across the threshold but definitely after five minutes.
Now he stood with Beta Squad completely surrounded, and it partially being his fault.
He'd been the one to suggest that they go and try to help this new and mysterious vigilante as opposed to the original plan. Jason had a decent hunch that this guy could actually be really helpful for the team and their current objective.
So one might wonder what exactly was going on. Well… it's kind of a long story.
Robin stood in the Mission Room whole team. All excluding Batgirl who was taking a leave of absence while she dealt with some serious family issues.
Jason was technically still fresh meat. He'd only been on the team for about four and half weeks. It was kind of obvious that he wasn't a fan favorite, and it certainly didn't help that his predecessor dropped off the face of the Earth after supposedly quitting. Jason had met Dick before on a few occasions, usually Dick was simply there to fill Bruce in on sensitive developments from his current super secret mission he was currently assigned to and that was about it.
Batman stood in front of all of them in the same no nonsense way that he almost always did when he meant business.
Robin stifled a yawn. He really wasn't up for a recon mission. The last few nights had been exactly that on the streets of Gotham. His gut feeling was that Batman was planning on doing exactly that.
He watched as Batman pulled up a holo screen of a map of Spain. "There has been a series of new lethal weapons springing up along the coast of Lepe Spain to the border of Portugal. I'm splitting you into two teams to take care of the shipments and make sure they never arrive to their intended locations."
Robin shifted on his feet. He'd never left the country before, and biological weapons were no joke. Very dangerous and extremely deadly.
"Do we know the biological component?" Aqualad asked.
"Not yet. You and your team will be acquiring a sample so we can know what exactly were dealing with."
"If you're splitting us up than who's going where?" Artemis asked, crossing her arms.
"Aqualad, you, Miss Martian, Superboy, and Rocket."
"What?" Robin asked before he could stop himself.
Batman's head turned sharply. "Is there a problem?"
He hesitated for a moment. "Why are you splitting us up like this? I mean wouldn't it make sense to have a few more experienced people on this team too."
"For this particular mission, no. I need all hands on deck. They can handle it. The rest of you will be doing something else. There appears to be some sort of - solo act. He's been trying to take out these weapons for a while. He has had some success. I need Beta to take him down before he gets in over his head."
Robin bit back a groan. It felt like busy work. He knew he was getting assigned to a lot of that lately.
The problem was, while he Kid Flash, and Zatanna had been out in the field, the rest of Beta hadn't yet. This would be their first mission ever. They'd been stuck training. Mal and Beast Boy having to play catch up, Bumblebee was to but she had her suit to help close the gap.
Mal was twice his size, and it took Robin almost no effort in taking him down during their rare sparring sessions. In Mal's defence Robin been training with Batman for three months now, and he'd only been training for about six weeks.
"Why are we trying to take this guy out?" Rocket asked, "If he's had some success in taking out these weapons why send anyone to take him out? Why not help him?"
"We can't risk any of this falling into the wrong hands, meaning we can't assume he has the right intentions and that he's not planning on stealing the weapons for himself."
That sounded kind of strange, almost like Batman didn't really believe it. This whole mission seemed familiar but Jason couldn't quite figure out why.
"Aqualad, you and your team will head out in a hour. Beta will leave first thing tomorrow."
"Whose team lead for Beta Squad?" Kid Flash asked, a mischievous grin growing more prominent on his face.
Batman takes a moment to answer, Robin could almost hear the eternal groan. "You."
Robin wasn't entirely sure how either party felt about the situation.
He glanced over at the members of his team. This is going to be a nightmare.
There were really only three members on Beta Squad could actually hold their own, and their leader was far too impulsive to be an effective leader despite his half decent instinct and experience.
Everyone began to disperse, either getting ready to leave or heading home for a good night sleep before leaving tomorrow.
Robin knew he was going to need a full night of rest before heading into the disaster just waiting to happen.
From what had been reported, Alpha had found three abandoned bases that had been used to transport the weapons and had a good idea as to where it was all heading.
Beta and Alpha were actually rather close to one another because of the vigliante they were trying to get a hold of. Jason had no idea where this guy could be hiding out. Apparently he'd actually he'd been pretty successful in crippling a few of their branches, forcing whatever organization was doing this to narrow down the access ports. It was helpful for all three parties. It showed the vigilante was experienced. Which could easily be a good or bad thing when it came to the inevitable confrontation.
Alpha could find the weapons and get them off the market, the vigilante could corner them and attempt to take them down, and Beta could take down the vigilante.
Only Jason felt that this vigilante might not need to be attacked, that Rocket might be right and they should be helping him. He wasn't unaware that sometimes Batman had a hidden agenda. Jason even half considered contacting Dick and finding out if his gut feeling was true. He would be more inclined to if the amount of words weren't only in double digits. Jason can remember the incredibly high number of three conversations he'd had with Dick.
So Jason felt it best to not contact him. This whole situation just felt weird.
Robin silently observed the people passing him, not even giving him a second glance.
"Anyone find anything yet?" Zatanna asked over the comms.
A series of nopes reply back.
Whoever this vigliante was, he wasn't there.
"We need to regroup and move to another location. We're obviously not going to find anything here." Robin advised.
"And how do you know that?" Bumblebee asked.
"This isn't my first stake out."
There was a sigh. "He might be right. It's been a few hours if there was something here we would've found it by now." Wally tells them.
"Does anyone even know where Robin is?"
"I have eyes on him." Mal admits.
"Only 'cause I'm letting you."
"Seriously? Now is not the time."
Robin shook his head. "We should try and figure out where the next shipment is taking place. He's likely going to be there as opposed to walking around in the open."
"Agreed . Everyone head to the rondevu point." Wally instructs.
Robin peers over the edge of the shades, looking for any sort of suspicious character. The only person who looked remotely suspicious is Mal, and that's not directed towards him.
Robin disappears in a crowd of people heading away from the rondevu point. He's planning on backtracking just on the off chance that they might be followed. He has a sneaking suspicion they might be. This whole mission still felt kind of off.
Robin's comm chirped in his ear.
"Uh, where'd you go?" Mal asked him
Robin bit back a snort. "Don't worry about it. I'll be back soon. Just making sure we're not being followed."
"So you vanished?"
"It's what the other guy did too. I'm right behind you. Just head back, and try to stick out less. You're kind of obvious."
Jason shut off the channel. Every comparison made between Dick and himself left a bad taste in his mouth, even when he was doing the comparing.
Mal had never met Dick. The only new member that had, excluding Barbara and himself for obvious reasons, was Garfield and that was years ago. Garfield joined the team around the same time Jason became Robin.
The hairs stood on end on the back of Jason's neck, someone was watching him. He whipped around. There wasn't anyone there. He didn't relax, it wasn't exactly new for someone to be looking to hurt him. Usually it ended up being some druggy trying to mug him. Good luck to anyone who tried that now. He wasn't as defenceless as he was a few months ago.
After a while he decided it was safe enough to loop back. He played cautious checking over his shoulder multiple times just to make sure. But he couldn't shake the feeling like it didn't matter, something had its eyes on him.
He knew he needed to disappear.
It took him twice as long to get back. His comm chirped several times, team members trying to figure out where he was. Jason, not wanting to give his location away, opted to just ignore them until he got back.
Of course doing that enraged them even more than necessary.
"You know you need to answer your your comm in the field right?" Wally greeted him.
"Hello to you to." Robin replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Dude, I'm serious. We're behind enemy lines. You could've been captured or killed."
"Well I wasn't so you can rest easy. I was however being followed and wanted to make sure they didn't catch me or find any of you. So yeah."
He could tell there were a few comebacks Wally wanted to send his way, but swallowed them. "Anyways, we have a location on the next shipment. Alpha won't be able to get their in time, it's just to far for them to finish what they're doing at their current location and make here to try and take down the distributors. So we're pulling double duty tonight. We need to try and take out, from what I've been told, the main distributor and catch this vigilante."
That plan had some serious flaws. The team could barely hold their own, now they were being told take out a clearly experienced vigilante and a heavily armed facility.
Yeah, that wasn't going to happen unless there were some major changes in the team's members.
"Are you sure we can handle that?" Beast Boy asked.
"We'll be fine."
"You don't sound so sure." Robin comments
"We can do this. It's what we've been training for."
"That doesn't mean we've been trained to handle it."
"Okay enough." Karen stepped in between them, "It's not like we have a choice anyways. If we play this safe we should be fine. Let's not try to wring each other's necks."
It was obvious Wally was trying, trying but failing. He wasn't quite sure what the best course of action might be, and while trying was the best he could do. It just wasn't going to cut it. They needed someone with experience, that could read the situation and people on the flip of dime. They needed a leader who could lead like it was second nature. Wally was a lot of things, a lot of good things, but a natural leader just wasn't one of them. Jason was good at observing and getting a lay of the land, and was decent about finding the best course of action based on limited data, but he didn't want to be a leader he couldn't be a leaded. His temper and patients were far to short and no one trusted him.
Robin took half a step back, realizing just how close he and Wally got to each other during their slight argument. "Okay, what's the plan them?"
He thought for a moment before a sigh of defeat escaped his lips. "I don't know."
"Then let's come up with something, all of us." Robin gestured around the room to the other members of Beta, "Look it sounds stupid, but something's telling me that this vigilante will better serve as an ally than an enemy. Maybe we should try and recruit him to helping us with these weapons instead of stretching ourselves too thin."
"I agree," Zatanna spoke up out of nowhere. "He's been dealing with this for a long time so, theoretically, he should have an end game of sorts figured out."
"Some good old fashioned teamwork." Mal realized.
"Yeah, but Batman said this guy could be dangerous." Beast Boy began playing devil's advocate.
"We know Gar," Wally began, "but we don't know what we're going up against. We need any and every advantage we can get our hands on."
"And if his intentions are truly on the more evil side of things he can't take all of us." Robin continued, the confidence clear in his voice. "I mean yeah he's experienced but the only reason he's gotten this far is… stealth." he trailed off. This sounded so familiar it was actually getting painful. All these details and it was all still a jumbled mess.
Zatanna seemed to pick up on his sudden mood shift. "Something you want to share with everyone else?"
"N-no. It was just a thought, nothing tangible."
It was obvious no one bought it, but it wasn't pushed either.
"So- we have a plan?" Karen asked.
"Yeah I think we do." Wally's grin grew at the revolation.
"Well half a plan." Robin poked.
"Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?" Mal asked him
"Best not to get one's hopes up when one is always being disappointed."
"That's depressing." Wally shoots.
"Let's just iron out the kinks and get this over with." Zatanna repositioned the focus of the conversation. "I think Beast Boy should stick close to Robin."
"Seriously?" Gar asked, half excited half frightened.
"Yeah. Batman wouldn't let him on the team until he could handle himself. You would probably do best staying with him."
Robin rolled his eyes. "Whatever works."
"The two of you can stay up high, acting as our eyes. If anyone's going to see anything, it's gonna be you, so you'll need the best advantage."
"Agreed." Wally adds. "The rest of us will try and narrow down as many escape points as possible."
"This still sounds like a bad plan." Jason murmured.
He was smartly ignored, and still felt this was going to end badly.
They arrived at the shipment location. It was all going according to plan. Wait for the vigilante to make the first move and then assist by cutting off escape points.
The fact that everything had gone so smooth should've been Jason's first sign that things were going to go to shit pretty quickly and spectacularly.
Because Miss Martian was on the Alpha squad, they didn't have the psychic connection to know that there were any Meta Dampeners.
The men walking around were wearing bulky black kevlar and carried lots of weapons. Some of these thugs were sporting fresh injuries. It made Jason wonder where they'd received them from. Was it from Alpha squad or the vigilante?
They looked like standard thugs from what Robin observed, no special skills or anything. Just being paid to work a job. Another thing Robin should've noticed, if they had been attacked this many times, one would thinks that whoever was doing this would get smart and have more than just for hire thugs protecting the shipment. You'd think they'd get some more… exciting people.
Unfortunately, this group was smart and had done just that. They just weren't leaving these exciting people out where anyone could see them. They'd know Beta Squad had broken into the facility before Beta even knew it was a trap. That being said, there had been so much focus on capturing what was supposed to be Alpha squad, that the vigilante had easily slipped past their defences and gotten to work. No one had known the vigilante had gotten anything until much later.
He and Beast Boy had picked their perch and they stayed, waiting. Waiting for the dark and mysterious vigilante to make some sort of appearance so everyone could get to work and go home.
Just as Robin was beginning to consider the idea of moving there was a lot of shouting and gunfire coming from outside the warehouse. Where Mal, Zatanna, and Karen were.
"What do you think is going on?" Beast Boy asked him, keeping his voice just below a whisper."
Robin didn't want to voice what he actually thought. "Hopefully that's out vigilante. Get Ready."
He pulled out a disc, he was going to be ready for whatever fight was about to ensue.
Suddenly his comm started providing loud and disorienting static in his ear, which was not at all distracting. It sounded like someone was trying to tell him something.
Something was going on, something bad.
The tone of the room had shifted to far tenser, the thugs down below knew something was coming. They began to move away from the center to more hidden areas in the main area of the wearhouse. Robin began to look around for an advantage when they became surrounded by a bunch of blinding flood lights. He gasped at the unexpectedness of it, and covered his eyes. As he tried to regain his barings Beast Boy cried out from a sudden burst of pain and fell from the rafters onto the concrete below.
"Beast Boy?!" Robin called out, momentarily forgetting himself. Not that it mattered, they'd already been discovered.
Electricity crackled through the air and shot up every limb that had contact with the metal rafters forcing him to let go and join Beast Boy on the ground.
Robin groaned as he flipped over onto his stomach, landing like that was never safe and his back was reminding him of that important fact when falling from heights like that. He began to attempt to formulate an escape plan when the other members of Beta were brought in to join the unconscious Beast Boy and himself.
He noticed if the individual had powers of any sort, they weren't conscious. It was just Mal, Karen, and himself. They guard had the three of them on their knees with their hands exposed in a circle with the other three members of their team lying on the ground in the middle.
Robin gave the guard pointing a gun two inches from his face a once over. "You're Shadows." He realized.
The man sneered. "And your a Bat Brat."
Robin didn't respond, instead trying to drink in as much of the room as he could while still keeping his eyes trained on the gun.
The feedback he was receiving was negative, the three of them didn't stand a chance taking all these guys out on their own. He needed to figure out a way to get in contact with Alpha Squad, or the League, or Batman. There just wasn't a way he could do that discreetly in his current position.
"You know, I thought our boss was kidding when he said the League was going to send someone after us, but here you are clear as day. Leaguers, if not a little of the young and inexperienced side of things. Now sit tight children he should be here soon."
"Who?" Mal asked.
"I'm assuming a friend of yours."
That seemed unlikely. The back-up they had wasn't going to know they were needed for a while.
"Just one of our friends? 'Cause, me personally, I have a lot of friends. I'm gonna need a little more specificity." Robin begins his subtle interrogation.
"I figured you, out of everyone here, would know exactly who I'm talking about."
That comment caught his attention. He didn't know anyone he, specifically, would know and would be in Spain. "What?"
"Just sit tight… Robin. He's rather predictable. I'm sure he'll be here soon enough. Don't try anything stupid, any of you."
Robin reattempted coming up with some sort of escape plan. His eyes flickered around the room, there wasn't any particular route that was going to work out well. When he found a possible one, it had a figured crouched low almost completely encased in the shadows. It must've realized it had been spotted because when Robin blinked the individual moved.
He almost missed it. Robin began frantically searching for it, figuring it was the vigilante and was fully aware he was going to be their only chance to escape.
Robin must've been moving his head because it was suddenly jerked to face what he could only assume was the leader.
"Whatcha lookin' at?"
"Just a way to escape." Robin told him blankly with a shrug. "That's usually what people do when they get captured. They look for a way out. Are you unfamiliar with that concept, is this your first time capturing someone, because if so, I am honored to be one of the first people."
Something whopped itself up against the back of his head. Not enough to hurt, just to shut him up.
The man holding his chin scowled. He signaled for a few of his men to join them. "You know, normally I just let something like that go. The only problem is you've been trained by Batman. And, like I mentioned earlier, I've been dealing with one of you for a while now. So, unfortunately, I can't let this go."
That's when a theory popped up in his head. There was no way it was him, and yet…
Robin didn't get a chance to even finish that thought before something scrapped the wrist of the guy holding him, came dangerously close to taking his nose with it on it's journey to land thickly in the concrete floor next to him.
The man released his grip causing Robin to fall back into the arms of a different thug who violently pulled his head to one side and forced a syringe into his neck, drugging him. Robin didn't even get a chance to put up a proper fight as the effects of the drug over took at a frighteningly quick pace.
"We need to move!" Their leader shouted.
He was let go as a dark figure dropped in front of him punching the guy square in the face, and attacked just about every thug insight. He didn't seem to bothered by the idea he was severely outnumbered.
Robin heard the others fall to the ground behind him, most likely they'd been injected with the same drug that was making it very difficult for Robin to see straight. He began looking around frantically despite the haze and growing darkness surrounding his vision. Robin pulled at his tracer trying to let Batman know he was in trouble, when a pair of arms wrapped themselves under his armpits and around his chest and began pulling him up and away.
"Ngh- no." Robin tried to swipe at whoever was taking him away from his team.
He twisted out of the assalents arms as that individual got distracted with another thug looking for blood. Robin began to army crawl away as his body began to defeat him and allow the drug to take over.
The kidnapper grabbed him again, hauling him up into a fireman's carry. A position that made it very easy for Robin to grab a few of his weapons if he wasn't sitting at the edge of consciousness. He was telling Robin things, reassuring things.
"We'll come back for them, I promise Li-"
Robin doesn't know what the ending of that statement was, the drugs pulled him under before he could.
Wherever he was, it was dark.
Jason's head felt stuffy. He began to take inventory of his situation. Not knowing how long he'd been out was unsettling, but the fact that he didn't appear to be restrained, didn't seem to be missing any of his weapons, he didn't feel like he had any sever injuries, and still had his mask helped put him at ease. He still had the advantage.
He didn't want to give his captor any edge by allowing him to know he was awake. He cracked open his eyes enough that it wouldn't mess with the lenses on his mask and began doing exactly as Batman taught him. The first thing you do when you get captured, gather as many details as possible before attempting any sort of escape.
After a short time of drinking in as many details as he could gather from that position, he figured he was alone and it was safe to sit up. He'd been lying on a mat of sorts in what appeared to be a makeshift safehouse.
Now Jason won't admit to it, but when he saw the same dark figure he saw in the warehouse casually sitting on the ledge of the window arm propped up on top of his one bent knee while the other leg dangled over the street, he jumped. It was a silent but obvious jump to anyone that might've been looking in his direction. The vigilante however was choosing to overlook the city instead of paying any attention to Jason. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or offended. He was Robin, Robin was dangerous and this guy was just going to sit in a position that allowed Jason to easily stand up and just shove him the rest of the way through and down on to the hard ground below.
For some reason though, Jason didn't feel threatened by this guy. He felt safe, like everything was going to be okay because this random vigilante Batman sent him to apprehend was going to make everything okay again
"What are you doing here Little Wing?" The vigilante asked, turning his head.
Little Wing? That was something Dick had called him before. Suddenly, Jason felt like a huge idiot. Bruce had sent them on a quest to bring Dick home.
Jason knew Dick had taken up a new name and was trying to be his own hero. Like he explained earlier, he and Dick had only had three interactions at three separate times. He did not know this guy. The only thing he did know was that is was going to be very hard to step out of his shadow.
Why had he not figured out this was Dick sooner. It was so obvious now. He began to wonder if anyone else had figured it out.
Dick raised an eyebrow and Jason realized Dick was actually expecting an answer.
"What about the others?" He found himself asking instead of actually answering the question. "Why didn't you save them?"
"Prioritizing." Dick told him blankly. "They knew what they'd caught, and I knew what they had in store for you. I couldn't let that happen."
"But the others…"
"Haven't been moved. I've been keeping an eye on their facility. They can't go anywhere until they get some new trucks."
Jason realized Dick had gotten a lot done. He'd sabotaged all of there trucks, probably gotten some really good intel, and saved his ass.
"What'd you do, sabotage them?"
"Slashed all their tires, burned a few of them too for good measure. Now, answer my question. Why are the six of you dealing with Black Mask, and not, oh I don't just about a whole list of other people."
"We weren't initially supposed to. Alpha squad was. We were supposed to take out the vigilante who'd been attacking the shipments. Now I'm gathering that Bruce sent us here to help you and bring you home."
Dick rolls his eyes. "Of course he did, because just calling is a ludicrous idea." He seemed to mumble that more to himself than to Jason. "Okay, so where are the others?"
"I don't know."
Dick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Great. And your tracer and communicator have been damaged so I can't find them."
Jason could see the frustration in Dick's posture. It was only growing. "Why are you here Dick?"
Dick looked back at him. "Black Mask is shipping dangerous weapons from here."
"And Black Mask is?"
"Just some new crime lord in Gotham. He's growing pretty fast and is accepting a temporary partnership with Shadows to boost his credibility, I'm just trying to slow it down. Anyway there was supposed to be a huge shipment tonight, and I was going to try and land a rather substantial blow in keeping these weapons from entering the states."
"Where is Black Mask. Maybe we could just take him and out and avoid the middleman."
"I like where your head's at but he's in Gotham. Far away from all of this." Dick gestured out the window. "Now like I was saying. That's what I was going to do. Until I saw all of you on the compound, and then get captured."
"We need to help them Dick, I can't get them out on my own."
The look on Dick's face suggested that thought had crossed his mind more than once. Either get his former team to safety and allow his mission to fail and lose any lead he might also be looking for, or continue on with his mission and allow the team to stay captured be Shadows, or really his best friend to remain with Shadows.
Jason allowed a few beats of silence between them. "What are we gonna do Dick?"
He didn't answer.
"We need a plan."
Dick wasn't even looking at him anymore, he seemed to really be looking through the floor. Jason couldn't tell if Dick was actually coming up with a plan or just ignoring him.
"Dick, we can't just leave them. We need a-"
"I know." Dick snapped. "We need to weight out all possible options. We don't want to run in blind. That's suicide. It'd be really helpful to know where the other half of the team is, and we don't have time to fix your communicator so we contact them."
Jason noticed his use of we. As in Jason wasn't alone. Whatever was going to happen next, it was going to involve both of them. It was reassuring to know Dick's ultimate plan was going to include him. But at the same time, he knew he was an obstacle Dick was trying to figure out how to get around. They needed more help.
Dick was talented, there was no point in denying in. But Dick was one person. Jason just wasn't going to cut it, they needed someone with experience that could handle this situation with little to no trouble.
"There isn't anyone you could call to provide a helping hand?"
Dick thought for a moment. He wasn't going to call Batman, they were far to busy giving each other the cold shoulder (thus the reason Jason was here was because Bruce couldn't apologize and Dick wasn't going to attempt meeting him half way). Luckily Dick had been doing this for a long time, so he was going to have contacts and allies that he was on speaking terms with.
"Ah- I, uh, I don't know how easily he could get here, or if he'd be willing in the first place."
"Well call him and find out."
Dick gave a strange half head shake. Jason wasn't sure if he was saying no to calling him or telling himself no about something.
"Okay it sounded like you had a plan."
Dick gave him a pointed look. "I always have a plan."
Jason resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course the former boy wonder would always have a plan. "Is it a feasible plan?"
Dick chewed the inside of his cheek. "Maybe. It's only half formed so…"
"Maybe? Seriously?"
"Well then contribute something."
"I did. I said you should contact someone, as you definitely know more people than me, and it sounded like you had someone in mind."
"Yeah, I do, but like I said, I don't know if he would help."
"Why wouldn't he?"
"He, um, he's got some personal stuff going on."
Apparently Dick wasn't going to get to detailed as to what 'personal stuff' entailed. "Call him anyways."
Dick sighed. "We still need a plan for if he can't or won't."
"Well then we've got work to do."
Robin could see the warehouse from their position. He was getting anxious.
For so long he'd seen Robin swing from the rooftops, now not only was he Robin but he was with that person he'd watched from his window countless times.
They were waiting for Dick's contact to get here. Dick had used the card You owe me, the moment those words left Dick's mouth Jason knew exactly how the conversation was going to go. As to how and why this guy owed Dick anything, it was unclear to Jason and more importantly unimportant.
As they waited Jason gave some thought to Dick's suit. Black kevlar, made for his more flexible movement, escrima sticks strapped to his thigh, an array of various weapons (Jason could only assume were similar to his) stashed away in his belt, a far more advanced holo computer in his glove than what Jason possessed, and a blue bird displayed proudly on his chest. Jason wondered why a bird, was it reminiscent of his past as Robin. It didn't look anything like the a Robin so he didn't think that was why Dick picked that particular bird to be associated with.
Robin heard what sounded like a grapple attach itself as someone swung around the building and on the rooftop in front of the duo.
He recognized the man instantly. "You called Red Arrow?"
Dick shrugged. "He'd a friend."
Red Arrow regarded Robin with a strange expression before turning his attention to Dick grinning. "I see you finally grew out of the Bat's shadow."
"It was bound to happen eventually." Dick responded.
"So I guess with the new suit comes with a new name?"
"Nightwing."
"Nightwing? Where'd you pull that one from?"
Nightwing grinned. "Superman."
Red Arrow snorted. "Yeah, I wanna hear the story there."
"Later. We have to get some old friends out of a particularly disastrous situation."
"Make it a little more asterous?"
Robin made a face, clearly not understanding the inside joke. Nightwing on the other hand smiled.
"There you. Stay whelmed and we should be fine."
"Okay, we're running out of time." Robin interjects. "We need to get them out before the weapons get shipped out."
"Good point, kid. What's the plan?" Red Arrow asks.
"You and Robin are going to go and get Beta out of there. It's Shadows but it's new Shadows, they shouldn't be too much trouble for the two of you. They weren't expecting us. The only problem you might run into are the meta dampeners. Disable them and you'll have more back up. They're these boxes attached to the posted, they kinda look like breaker boxes. Just pick one and it should work on the others. While you're doing that, I'm going to take care of the shipment like I'm supposed to."
Robin didn't like the idea of Nightwing going off and leaving him with this unknown variable. Yeah Nightwing trusted him but that didn't mean Robin did.
"Who down there?"
"Three new recruits, Kid Flash, and Zatanna. They're all in the middle of the main part of the warehouse, shouldn't miss 'em."
Red Arrow nodded. "Alright let's get to work."
There was an ease with the way the two of them interacted. Robin wasn't sure if he was jealous or not of that relationship. He didn't feel like he should be, he barely knew Dick, and Dick had a lot of friends if Wally was an indication towards his relationship with most of the team members. Or really he was jealous of how trusted Dick was compared to him, and Red Arrow was just the first bit of proof Robin had been provided.
He and Arrow went along the rooftops sneaking in through the same window he and Beast Boy had just a few hours prior.
Just like Nightwing had said, everyone was still there in the middle of the warehouse, all awake and looking rather upset at their predicament. There didn't appear to be much going on inside the warehouse, but outside there was shouting and trucks (obviously they'd fixed the slashed tires) moving the product around. They were behind schedule, but making up for it.
Arrow loaded his weapon, pulling back on his bow string, and aimed. "On my signal. Drop down and get them to move out of the middle and assist Nightwing. We can't let these weapons leave the docks."
"Agreed."
Robin shifted his stance, as the tension in the bow string changed. Arrow's back went straighter, his expression far more focused, and his breath even. As he exhaled he released the arrow.
It flew past landing in one of the Meta Dampeners Nightwing described (He'd seriously figured out a lot about this place from maybe thirty minutes of running around doing vigilante stuff). Sparks flew from the damaged box as Robin dropped down throwing a smoke bomb to create confusion.
One of the thugs charged only for Robin to flip him over his shoulder and use that some momentum (and the guy's tense arm) to swing out and kick the other thug over into the wall, and then punching the guy in the face knocking them both out cold.
The gunfire was almost instantaneous with his smoke bomb. Red Arrow was doing a pretty good job creating deversions with various trick arrows while staying out of sight.
The other members seemed to get the right idea and began attacking the various thugs around them.
Kid Flash whipped around the room knock out thugs who had moved to the edge before coming to a stop next to Robin.
"What the hell happened?" He asked.
"Uh, you could say your welcome. We're here to rescue you."
"We?"
As if on cue, Red Arrow dropped from the roof and engaged in brief hand to hand combat with a thug. "Go, assist Nightwing." He reminded.
"Come on." Robin shouted leading the way out to the docks.
"I'm assuming Nightwing is our mystery vigilante?" Kid Flash asked.
"Yeah, amongst other things." Robin replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mal asked.
"That the thug was right and I do know him. He's in charge."
That didn't sit well with any of them.
"Okay, let me get this straight. This vigilante we were supposed to take down is our leader now?" Zatanna asked running in front of him, forcing him to stop.
"Yeah, he is just trust me. It's not like any of you are gonna question him anyways." Robin pushed past her and out the door.
"And why are we not going to question that?" Karen asked.
Robin spotted Nightwing on top of the shipping containers.
He just had to stop and take a moment to appreciate just how much training and experience was behind Nightwing that allowed him to fight like this, and how much you could see was influenced by his background as a circus acrobat. He gave no recovery time, moving with grace and fluidity Robin could never hope to possess. Pulling moves that only the original Robin would know. Like he knew the others would need convincing that it was actually him.
"Is that…" Kid Flash asked
Robin cut him off. "Yes it is, are you gonna trust me now?"
"Assist Nightwing. We can't let the weapons leave these dock. Follow the original plan." Kid Flash grabbed Robin's arm. "I'm assuming you know what his endgame is."
"Right now it consists of not letting these weapons leave the country."
He nodded before racing up to join his friend in the fight.
Nightwing didn't stay put for long, pulling out his grapple and swinging up onto the boat.
Robin took the opportunity while they were firing at him to get the upper hand. Again Dick had been right at how these guys had been trained. The only reason they had overpowered Beta the first time was with the element of number and surprise (the meta dampeners helped to). Now that they had a few more skilled members on their side and no Meta Dampeners it wasn't a fight that Shadows and Black Mask were going to win.
The fight was over pretty quickly, pretty much ending the moment Nightwing came out with some guy (Robin figured he was pretty important) and pushed him to the ground. Everyone dropped their weapons and surrendered at that point.
The guy Nightwing had found clearly wasn't as skilled at fighting as Nightwing. The look of disgust under the black eye, broken nose, and several other swelling cuts on his face told Robin everything he needed to know about how this guy felt about them.
"Meht niartser." Zatanna spell forced the thugs in one big group all tied with on way of escape.
Nightwing wore a strange smirk as he knelt down to the guy tied up as his feet. "Feelin' talkative yet? We could do this the easy way, or the hard way. It doesn't matter which one you pick, we're going to get this information out of you, but it's still nicer if you do it voluntarily."
It would also be the smarter decision, not that this idiot was capable of such an action.
Nightwing caught Zatanna's eye and gave a small nodd.
"Uoy deksa eh tahw su llet."
The man went pale and started spewing information in a language that made Jason's head hurt.
"I hope you at least know what he's saying." Red Arrow comments as he joins the rest of them.
The man stops and looks shocked at what he just said.
"Yeah, I know exactly what he said."
"Why'd you talk to him in english if he doesn't speak it?" Karen asked him.
"Because he does just not very well. He was speaking in German, but when information is being forcibly removed the information is going to come out in whatever is easiest. And lucky for you there aren't many languages I don't know."
"Who is this guy?" Mal asked.
"Nightwing."
"Yeah, got that."
Zatanna smiled at his answer. "It's been a while. Where've you been?"
Nightwing shrugged. "Here, there, everywhere. Been a little busy Z."
"Yeah, we have a lot to talk about man." Kid Flash added. "Because Nightwing? That doesn't really follow Robin."
"Sure it does, it sounds more ominous." He jokes.
"No it really doesn't" Roy shoots back.
"You were Robin?" Beast Boy asks, his voice was filled with wonder.
"Yeah, I was. I met you in Africa remember? With Superboy, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash."
Beast Boy nodded. "I was wondering what happened to you."
"A lot." Was the only answer supplied.
Jason didn't even know why Dick stopped being Robin, but he knew that was the question on everyone's mind.
His tone with that answer threw everyone. Allotting a few moments of silence, until Nightwing took control and started giving out some orders.
"Okay, we need to clean up. KF go and contact Alpha and give them our location because there's a few things we need to discuss, obviously." He gestured to himself before continuing. "Z get in touch with the League for the same reason, the rest of you gather up the guards and weapons and things like that, that you can carry, and bring them all out here. We need it all in one place."
"Do you want me to contact a particular Leaguer?" Zatanna asked him as everyone else began to do as instructed.
There was a sudden tension in Nightwing's shoulders and back muscles. "I'll leave it up to your judgement as to who you call."
She nodded before doing just that.
Robin was almost positive the Nightwing and Batman couldn't stand further apart from each other without it starting to look more ridiculous than it already did.
Alpha squad had arrived first, taken back slightly by Dick's presence before the original members began to pepper him with questions at to what he'd been up to. Robin stood just close enough to hear but not enough to engage (like everyone else that didn't know Dick when he was Robin), and listened to Dick carefully word his answers so it didn't provide a whole lot of information while simultaneously pretending to not dodge each question.
It didn't take long for Batman to show up with Black Canary, Flash, and Red Tornado.
Nightwing was seeming to even refuse making eye contact with Batman, focusing on watching Flash work on getting the crime scene taken care of before local authorities got to work.
Everyone could tell things weren't okay with the original dynamic duo. He could see Canary send concerned looks between the two of them.
Frankly Robin kind of wanted to get as far away from Nightwing as possible, he practically see the anger just rolling off of him. Robin wasn't sure why Nightwing was so upset, but he wasn't going to try and figure it out.
After the reports had been given to Batman everyone had been instructed to go back to the cave and hit the showers. Nightwing tried to make a silent.
"Wait." Batman instructed. "We need to talk."
Nightwing sent a sideways glance that Robin didn't think he'd ever have the gut to send Batman. "I don't think there's much to talk about. It's pretty clear."
Everyone began to move a little quicker. Jason wasn't sure if he should stay or go. Neither one of them seemed to notice him. He really didn't want to stay, but at the same time. This very obvious argument unfolding right in front of him was going to provide a lot of details he'd been denied.
Batman clenched his jaw. "Not here."
"I'm not having this discussion with you B. The kid needs to go home."
"You both need to go home."
Nightwing snorted. "If only felt welcome."
Batman turned his head enough to get Robin in his peripheral. "Go home Robin."
Jason didn't need to be told twice, and took off for the bioship which (thankfully) waited for him.
He climbed in and could feel everyone's eyes on him.
"What's going on there?" Superboy asked him.
"I don't know and I really don't want to. They'll find their own way back, just go." Robin answered shortly.
No one argued.
When they got back to the cave, Jason wasted no time Zetaing back to Gotham and made a beeline for the manor.
He didn't know if Dick was going to come home or not, if his anger was justified or not. Jason had a sneaking suspicion that Dick's presence with the team and here in Gotham was about to become a lot larger, and Jason was actually okay with that.
Dick didn't seem to have any problems with Jason, be it trusting or accepting the fact that Jason was here. He went along with it. Jason was slightly excited to what having Nightwing on the team actually meant. Did it mean the constant comparisons would cease, that the weird looks he'd always get from the original team members would stop and they would direct their attention back to Dick, that they might start trusting him now, and that they would quit treating him like a replacement.
His optimistic view didn't usually work in his favor, but he wanted to hope at some point it would, so why not this. Why not be optimistic for what the future held now that things were actually (slightly) working in his favor. Like not having to sleep on the streets every night or go days without a proper meal. Maybe having Nightwing on the team was just going to make things better, he'd seen some pretty bad stuff in his life for being as young as he was. It could only go up from here.
And another one shot added to my small universe of YJ fanfiction I'm creating. I will address the fact I did delete a story, I don't have the time I would like to have to really work on it and give it the attention it deserves and I didn't want it to sit there and collect dust so I removed it. It will reappear eventually when I don't have quiet as much going on. Hope you enjoyed the small story (That took me forever to finish for the same reasons) and I'll see you when I see you.