'Parasite has been released by a double agent; your mission is now to apprehend him.' The voice of reason was cool and collected, completely unaware of what the words meant for anyone on his team. It seemed like the average 'Justice System is corrupted so now we have to fix everything' situation. He moved his eyes to look at Roy.

'Got it.' A voice that sounded like it was the oldest of them all thought as he came to a realization, 'Anyone see or hear Robin? He usually isn't gone this long.' Roy had called for back up the moment he noticed Robin had gone missing and Kaldur had been in the vicinity tracking Parasite anyway so meeting up hadn't been too hard.

'You know he goes off and does his 'ninja' thing. I bet he is waiting for us with Parasite already bound.' A female voice hissed out. If it was possibly to have an eye-roll tone she'd have it in her voice.

A green skinned with reddish hair nodded to a taller man that the outline of the Superman symbol embroidered on his bosom.

'Split up. Call if you need back up.' Kaldur stated with a bit of wonderment at the previous thoughts. Red Arrow had a point; Robin would have been back by now. He shook his head light turning to the opposite direction they just needed to find Parasite. Most likely the scenario would be Robin found him first and was just waiting for back up. At least he hoped that was what was keeping their youngest member from showing up or answering their thought calls.

- 000 -

It seemed like M'gann had been searching forever when she found something. It wasn't much but it caught her attention for the moment. It was yellow with a lot of red on it and it glistened in the faintly light area as it hung out of the dumpster. She moved towards the object picking it up and examining it. The red stains were slick with what looked like blood. She wiped it off almost immediately recognizing the object. She screamed loud enough to grab Conner's attention while he was using his 'Super'-patches to help recharge his abilities.

Conner ran towards his girlfriend, her screaming had him beyond worried. He leapt over the building, getting increasingly agitated he suddenly tried to think out to his teammates.

'Kaldur, Artemis, Red Arrow! Do you hear M'gann's screaming?' Conner growled out in his head, she had quieted down but he was near enough to land behind her. He stumbled forward quickly moving to his distressed girlfriend.

"M'gann, are you alright?" He said roughly looking around the area using his x-ray vision. He didn't see anything worth noticing in the alley.

Kaldur, Artemis, and Red Arrow dropped behind them quickly looking around the area as well. The two archers held their weapons at attention, loading an arrow while looking for a threat. Kaldur held with water whips out, waiting for something in the dark to attack. When they noticed there was no one their but themselves they put away their weapons and turned to M'gann, who had tears streaming down her face. She seemed to stare out into space as it trying to find something.

"M'gann, what happened?" Her worried boyfriend said, placing his hand on her shoulders. He didn't notice she had a object in her hands until M'gann dropped it. It made a clattering noise as it hit the ground. Conner jumped looking down before looking up. M'gann's hands shook as they were covered in a wet substance that looked like blood. Her eyes were wide with fear as her body shook.

"R-Robin…" She stuttered out, the tears started to flow from her eyes at a much faster pace. Conner moved his hand to grab the yellow and red thing that had dropped from her trembling fingers. His thumb ran over one of the pocket. He knew this object. It was a belt, specifically Robin's belt. And it was covered in blood.

Conner's stomach fell; he snapped his head around, realizing that M'gann's mind couldn't support the link now. He then turned himself completely around tossing the belt to Kaldur, who caught it with ease. Suddenly the world around the team became a dark, suffocating void as they realized what this could vaguely mean to their team.

"Kal—"

"I understand, I can see. Should we call for backup?" Kaldur spoke his thoughts aloud being the voice of reason and leadership; internally he knew how big of a shit hole he was going to be in with Batman. He wouldn't blame the man from firing him from his role as leader even though he hadn't originally been assigned this mission.

"No. Are you crazy? He'll kill us!" Artemis yelled, suddenly quite scared of how Batman would lash out at the team for having Robin injured… or quite possibly worse.

"But what it this is our only chance at saving him, Art? Unless you don't want to save him and you're the mole after all!" Roy hissed, showing his sudden new found anger at Artemis. He lashed out like a caged tiger that had been released from a too tight cage.

Artemis stayed silent folding her arms, trying not to snap back. Having a yelling match wouldn't help any them right now, especially not Robin.

"…I think you should look first before calling anyone." A gruesome voice echoed through the ally. Conner grabbed M'gann backing up from the voice. The team suddenly moved into attack mode. Then they become confused when Robin walked out of the shadows without his belt and cape.

"The looks on your faces were reason enough to take this form, oh well. I need to leave now." Robin's form morphed into the form of Parasite. The wicked grin that laced his face was enough to ignite even Miss Martian and she was almost catatonic. Parasite started to move catching the arrow that flew out him with high velocity with relative ease.

"Robin's reflexes are brilliant. But I'll never get to taste them again. Pity." The veined creature said with a wicked grin.

"What did you do to him!" Conner yelled out, trying to hold back even though every muscle in his body screamed to run and punch this parasitic man.

"Maybe you should find his body before someone else does. You all don't need your identities comprised now do you?" Conner's emotion control snapped. He ran at the man trying to get a punch into the parasite's face but found himself slammed into the wall. Conner growled noticing Parasite at the other end of the alley fighting off Red Arrow and Artemis.

Conner snarled again taking a step forward before he noticed M'gann's hands moving. She kept Parasite in place as she invaded his mind. Usually thing was against her code of ethics, but ethics didn't matter when a teammate's life was in stake.

Parasite froze in his spot feeling a cold grip on his mind. He shut his eyes, suddenly knowing how to combat the ability that he had previously stolen. He thought a lie so devious that it would leave the entire team ripped apart giving him time to escape to retake his freedom.

It hadn't been that hard of a battle, early on Robin had faltered giving Parasite the perfect opportunity to absorb Robin's strength. After that the fight had been a one-two knock out. He grabbed the teen vigilante by the neck and slammed him against the wall.

Parasite watched Robin fall limp in between his fingers. He felt Robin's throbbing veins in his neck slow until the point where there wasn't even moment, just a calm nothingness. Batman's partner had stopped struggling and had died in his hands. He felt proud of himself for taking out the side-kick. He almost wondered if he could turn the body into Joker to get that reward for Robin's death. He felt the smirk appear on his face as he slammed the teen into the wall again for added measure.

Parasite gave Robin a quick run through; before unbuckling the teen's bloody belt and throwing it into the alley. He needed them looking in the opposite direction of where he was headed. He then took Robin's body and threw it off the building as far as he possibly could, it was quite a distance with the help of the Kryptonian's super strength. If nothing Parasite had done killed him, then sure the fall from the building did.

M'gann dropped him, shaking once more. She started to scream at Parasite, the rage and complete and utter failure that coursed through her veins gave her the ammunition to remove herself from her naivety and innocence persona. She wanted to kill him, just wanted to end him like he had Robin. She felt strong arms wrap around her waist. She calmed down before fresh tears started down her face.

"He… he killed Robin."

Parasite felt the knock out blow before he could register what happened. The inhibitor collar was placed on his neck as Kaldur took a breath trying to think of what to do in the situation at hand. M'gann's bond relinked all of them together, all of their emotions of pain, grief, and never ending agony coursed through their brains. Kaldur close his eyes, trying not to think about the leader inheritance he could no longer give to Robin.

"We have to alert Batman."