Megan was walking past the couch and gasped,
"Oh, Robin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
Robin waved her off.
"It's alright, I shouldn't be sleeping right now anyway." He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What's everyone doing right now?"
Megan smiled and quickly rattled off their friend's whereabouts when she had last seen them.
"Wally and Kaldu'ahn are sparing, Conner is with Wolf and Sphere fixing his bike, and I don't know where other three are at the moment."
"KF and Kaldur'ahm?" There was no way he was going to miss that. Robin jumped to his feet and darted through the mountain to the giant computerized mats. Sure enough, Wally and Kaldur'ahm were grappling on the computerized mat. Kaldur'ahm was holding Wally tightly and just barely managing to keep the other boy's feet from touching the ground. Wally was struggling like a wild man trying to get free. He started to twist in Kaldur'ahn's hold until he was a blur. Kaldur'ahn was forced to drop him, which sent the other boy spinning dizzily to the floor. Wally was just rising when abruptly the match came to a halt when Batman's face appeared on the monitor.
"Everyone to the briefing room."
It was like a giant switch had been flipped in everyone's mind. Everyone had the same serious face as anyone who wasn't already there rushed to the briefing room. Batman walked in and stood in front a large screen. Once everyone was assembled Batman began,
"A few minutes ago there was an attempt to assassinate two UN workers." Batman clicked a button on the remote he held and the screen divided in two separate camera feeds. It showed a man walking down a hallway in the feed to the right. The left feed had a woman in a large board room. Both places appeared empty until at the same time shadows seemed to unfurl to reveal two men dressed in old animal skin clothing. A howl echoed out of the speakers as each man stalked towards their victims drawing a knife. Suddenly, both men stopped as if restrained by a giant hand. Their weapon hands trembled as some unseen force made the would be assassins drop to their knees. Both of them struggled to maintain their grips on their weapons. Their appearances shimmered and they took on the form of a modern day soldier for a brief moment. Then they flickered back to their wild man look. By this time, both their intended targets had fled and found guards. The assassins simply slipped back into the shadows and vanished as the guards approached with stun guns drawn.
"Wow, I've never seen magic like that." Zatanna was studying the way the two men had melded with the shadows. She rewound the clip to the part of them stepping out and watched it several times. Robin watched it again and felt an odd itching feeling like when something reminds you of something else but you can't place it.
"Doctor Fate does not believe it was magic. Apparently it does not follow the normal laws of magic as he understands them. However we have no other explanation for how they managed it. We had someone go back and search the shadows and they didn't find any clues other than this." The videos were minimized and a single hair appeared on the screen. "All we know about it is that it comes from some type of wolf and that there is nothing like it here on earth."
"So, you want us to protect them from future attack," guessed Wally.
"No, your primary mission will be to capture the assassins. We would like to know how they were able to pull this off and who ordered the hits." The screen cleared off. "You will be divided into two separate teams. Aqua Lad you will lead a team consisting of Kid Flash, Rocket, and Zatanna. Robin you will lead the second team with Artemis, Miss Martian, and Superboy."
With that the group split into the two separate squads and headed out. Robin's group was watching over the woman. She was tall, dark skin that was flawless, and she dressed impeccably; a blouse that was neatly pressed and tucked into a long pencil skirt. Papers were scattered around her on the table, each of them filled with red pen marks. She twirled the pen between her fingers seemingly completely oblivious to the four people gathered around the room and the mounting tension.
The clock ticked in an endless drone behind them. Robin paced by the door his eyes peering at every shadow; waiting. Miss Martian was hovering in a corner, Superboy was standing stoically over by the window, and Artemis seemed to be intently inspecting one of her arrows as she sat crossed legged on the desk. The hours continued to tick slowly by with nothing to show for it. Then at exactly two in the morning something was suddenly different. The smell of wet dog waft into the room along with a feeling Robin couldn't place. Robin glanced around the room but saw nothing.
Miss Martian, you sense anything?
The feeling of unease rose like a foreboding mist in the back of Robin's mind.
No, why?
Robin didn't answer because he had nothing but a feeling.
Superboy?
Nothing. His nose twitched like he might sneeze.
Artemis?
Artemis glanced around the room and wrinkled her nose like she smelt something nasty.
No, but it does stink.
Exactly, somehow I doubt a dog just entered the room.
The shadow cast by the door unraveled and the man walked out of nothingness. The stench of wet dog hit them harder as the big man stepped out brandishing an antler dagger. His deerskin jerkin was roughly made and well worn. A thick black wolf fur cloak bellowed behind him as he lunged for his intended victim. Superboy jumped the table and met the attacker head on. Time seemed to slow as the man swung under Superboy and lashed viciously at the stunned woman. Miss Martian dragged the woman and the chair she was sitting in to the other side of the room. Artemis sprang in front of the woman and fired two arrows into the man's thigh. He didn't even grunt in pain; he swiftly broke the shafts off and continued to stalk forward even as his blood flowed freely down his body. This time he threw his dagger at Artemis. She knocked it away with her bow, but then found herself nose to nose with the assassin. His fist was a blur until it connected squarely with her jaw. Robin felt Artemis disconnect from Megan as she was knocked out.
"Artemis!" Miss Martian was just barely able to catch her. The force behind their friend carried both girls back against window. Then window shattered sending both girls tumbled out.
"Megan!" Superboy was about to rush out the broken window when Miss Martian flew back in carrying Artemis's unconscious body. Robin didn't even think as he launched himself on his attacker's back. No one messed with his friends without some serious hassling if he had anything to say about it. But the would be assassin already breaking free from Robin's hold with sheer strength of his muscles.
"Superboy!"
Superboy turned away from Miss Martian and slammed his fist into the man's face. The man stepped back and dropped to one knee, he wobbled like he might collapse and he quit fighting Robin. Then a howl spilt the air and his cloak came alive. The cloak's hood formed into a wolf head and tried to bite Robin. He scrambled back and threw a small delayed explosive knife at the wolf that was now taking form behind the assassin. The creature chomped down on the blade and glared at Robin with hateful yellow eyes.
Robin watched and shuddered as the beast approached him. It didn't seem solid, like it was made of shadow. The thing spat out the knife which then exploded next to him. Robin was sent toppling over and the wolf rushed him. Teeth flashed near his face. Fear was a tangible weight in his stomach as he struggled to keep the massive jaws from closing around his throat. He jerked the muzzle away and the teeth scraped painfully down his shoulder. Something in him screamed in rage. Strength flooded his limbs and he threw the dog off him and threw a small flash bang grenade at the creature as he moved away from it. It whimpered when the blinding light flashed and a bang went off. Robin ignored the ringing in his ears as he moved into position to attack the wolf again, only to find the beast had mysteriously vanished. Maybe it could stand such a blinding light, he thought.
Stop him! Poison master. Hemlock. Suicide if caught. Mouth.
Robin had just enough time to see the man graze his intended target with a small knife and step back.
"Superboy! Stop him! He's got poison in his mouth!" To Robin relief Superboy didn't even question him, he simply slammed his fist into the man's mouth, breaking most of his teeth in the process. When Superboy withdrew his hand there was a small pouch in his hand. "Miss Martian tie him up." The curtains seemed to shred themselves into long strips. Then they started winding up the man's torso and arms. Robin rushed forward to their charge. "Anyone who was cut by the blades needs to get to the hospital. Everything he had was poisoned with hemlock." He clicked the radio in his ear. "Aqua Lad, you copy?"
"I hear you loud and clear. But it is too late for our assassin. He took a large dose before we could stop him. Other than that only Kid Flash got scraped." The sounds of sirens blaring outside the broken window interrupted Robin's thoughts.
"Take the body and our assassin back to the cave I'll give the emergency workers a heads up." Robin jumped out the window, landing near the emergency vehicle. Immediately pulled aside the beautiful brunette paramedic. "The people you are going to be treated for hemlock poisoning. It will be in a concreted form so please hurry." The woman looked him up and down.
"Hemlock you say? Normally the poisoning is accidental, it hasn't been used in an actual murder a long time." The woman turned back to her other partner and said "We will need Phenobarbital. Hemlock poisoning." Then the other paramedic rummaged through the cabinets until he found a vile. In only moments the UN member was brought down her body trembling and seizing. The paramedics had her on a gurney and were rushing her to the hospital before Robin could say anymore. Kid Flash came to stand beside him looking at the retreating ambulance with great dismay. His whole body started to shiver
Hand on him, won't make hospital, poison spreads, I'll help. The voice panted in his mind like the speaker had just finished running a marathon. Robin glanced at Wally who was starting to shake. If he ran to the hospital it would only spread the poison that much faster, even with his speed he might not make it to a hospital before the poison stopped his body from functioning. The voice hadn't been wrong yet Robin mused. Placing his hand on Wally he steered him to a bench.
"Maybe you should sit down KF." Warmth spread out from Robin's hand and entered Wally, in a matter of minutes his shaking had subsided and he leaned his head back against the wall drawing in deep breathes.
"I feel better now." He flexed his hand to reassure himself that the shaking had stopped.
"Good, then we should probably get back to the cave."
"What about Artemis? I heard she was hurt."
Robin tried not to smile. Wally might hit on Megan whenever possible, but it seemed that it was Artemis who was always at the forefront of his mind. He hoped his friend would wake up and notice soon.
"Miss Martian is bringing her back to the cave." Wally nodded and slowly got to his feet using a hand on Robin's shoulder to steady himself. Robin led his friend off to the Zeta tubes to catch a ride back to the cave.
