Present Time - Mount Justice
There wasn't a single person in the room who wasn't uncomfortable. Conner Kent surveyed his friends will dull eyes, rubbing circles into M'gann's hand. Kaldur had yet to move after he had thrown up earlier and Wally had taken to throwing a rubber band ball at the ceiling. Artemis had refused pain meds earlier in favor of glaring at all of them. Black Canary had been called away half an hour ago by Batman and Red Tornado had left with her, leaving the teenager alone to sulk in their misery.
"Well," Artemis finally snapped. "Is anyone going to say anything?"
Conner flinched, eyes flickering to the blonde and then back at the small green hand clasped in his. Every time he looked at Artemis, all he could see was his fist crushing her wrist as she screamed at him to stop and Robin vainly trying to pull him off of her. He was going to need months of Black Canary's counseling to get past this trauma.
Wally caught the ball and stopped. "So you're not ignoring us anymore?" His voice was bitter. Conner could tell he was projecting the anger he felt towards himself at her.
Artemis folded her arms, or tried to, as one of them was stuck in a green cast. "Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't deserve it."
Wally started throwing the ball again.
"I'm sorry." M'gann whispered, withdrawing her hand from Conner so she could wrap her arms around her torso.
"Sorry? Sorry isn't good enough!"
The Martian looked up sharply. "Well, what do you want me to say? That I hate myself so much right now I want to die? That I would give anything to go back and change what happened? Well I can't! And neither can you!" As quickly as the fire in her eyes lit up it died, and M'gann paled in remorse. "I'm so sorry. Apologies are the only thing I can give."
"We're all sorry." Conner muttered, the crack of bones breaking still ringing his his ears. "We, I, I don't know how we'll ever make this right. To you. To Robin."
"You can start by admitting that none of this is your fault." Artemis demanded. The other four teenagers turned to her in shock. "It was the fault of the drug, not any of you. Once you admit that, we can finally move on and figure out how we're going to save Robin! Mopping on your asses is not going to help him. So what you guys went crazy and attacked Robin and me, but like you said, you can't go back and change that. So stop feeling sorry for yourselves!"
Her words, instead of inspiring Conner out of his stupor only sent more shame spiraling through him. Artemis's scream. Robin's hand tugging at his arm, demanding to know what the fuck Superboy was doing. Turning on the smaller boy. Robin's grunt as his fist sent him crashing into the stall. The look of betrayal on his face, almost as heartbreaking as it was when Aqualad snarled at him. Fleeing pedestrians, the sounds of a fun festival turning into a hellish nightmare. And Superboy. Didn't. Care.
Nobody said anything to Artemis's demands and the girl threw her head back and groaned. "What happened wasn't your guys' fault, but right now, letting this team fall apart is. Do you have anything to say, oh glorious leader?"
Kaldur tore his eyes away from Artemis's furious glare. "How could I have said that to him?" He asked brokenly. "How could I have let this happen?"
"Did you hear anything I just said?"
Wally threw the ball across the room. It smashed into a glass vial, the shards exploding across the floor. "You don't understand Artemis!" He yelled. "Rob is my best friend and I fucking threw him headfirst into a fucking building! I broke your leg! And you're telling me it's not my fault? Like fuck it isn't! I know we were drugged, but so were you and Robin! And you guys didn't go ballistic and try to kill us! We should have been stronger, we should have fought it! Not each other! Not. . . not you."
"Wally," Artemis said softly. She waited till the redhead lifted his chin and met her eyes. "I forgive you. I forgive you, okay?"
Tears welled up in the speedster's eyes and he buried his face in his hands. "Don't. Please don't."
"I forgive you Wally." Artemis repeated. "I forgive all of you. And if I have to carry this team until the rest of you can forgive yourselves, I will. So please, please stop beating yourselves up so we can work on saving Robin."
"Artemis. . ." M'gann stopped holding herself and gave her hand back to Conner. The clone began absentmindedly resumed rubbing it again, Artemis's words replacing her screams in his mind. He didn't know if he could ever truly forgive himself, but he would try. For her, for Robin, for himself. "Thank you, friend."
Kaldur took in a halting breath. "Artemis is right." The Atlantean sat up, staring at his hand before fisting it. "Lao She said we have five days to find him before it's too late. Team, we have some work to do."
18 Hours Ago - New Jersey
Six masked men entered the warehouse, and Miss Martian felt warning bells go off in her mind. "Guys," She voiced her thoughts. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Same here," Robin agreed. "Something doesn't feel right about all of this."
"Maintain position," Aqualad ordered. "Retreating now would only give our presence away. Kid Flash, Superboy, be ready to move in if we need to extract Robin, Miss Martian, and Artemis."
Miss Martian bit back her retort that she could take care of herself just fine, thank you very much, and started the audio recording of the conversation. The men stood off in silence for a minute before one person from each organization stepped forward. The same man who had told the first group to secure the warehouse, and one of the mask men Miss Martian knew she wouldn't be able to pick out from the crowd if he chose to step back in alignment with his comrades. "Jonathan O'Malley, I presume." The faceless man grunted, his voice distorted by the mask he was wearing.
O'Malley's lips twitched. "I"m afraid I can't show you the same respect you have given me, seeing as the Heishe did not tell us which of their operatives they have sent."
"It's for your own protection as well as ours." The man shrugged. "Did you bring the product with you?"
"No," O'Malley fingered his gun. "It is at another site, close by. It's for your protection as well as ours."
"Very well then," The tone in the man's voice did not change. "I will have my men pick it up as we do the monetary exchange. They will also drop off our second part of the exchange at the site."
O'Malley turned to one of his men standing guard. "Riley, give this gentleman the coordinates of the product."
"The drugs are at a second location. The Heishe are about to leave to pick it up." Miss Martian informed the members that weren't in the warehouse.
"Kid Flash, as soon as that vehicle leaves I want you to follow it." Aqualad replied.
The blond man O'Malley had called Riley handed off a slip of paper to the masked leader. Without looking at it, the leader handed it off to one of his men. "Bring the money."
The transaction was over with quickly, too quickly in Miss Martian's mind, but she wasn't about to complain. She stopped the audio recording as the men filled out of the warehouse. The three in the warehouse did not move until five minutes after they heard the car leave. Miss Martian deactivated her camouflage and Robin flipped down from the rafters. Artemis emerged from the corner she was hiding in.
"Robin to Mount Justice." The youngest activated his communicator. He waited for a reply and then continued. "The deal has gone down. We are definitely dealing with the Heishe triad and I got pictures of every man we think is behind the creation of superesque. Sending them to you now, over." With a flick of his wrist, Robin activated the computer built into his gauntlets and uploaded the video and pictures, sending them straight to the mountain.
Red Tornado's voice crackled in her own communicator. "Red Tornado to team. Maintain pursuit of all parties. Facial recognition has identified Jonathan O'Malley, Riley Christopher, Steven Crocker, Robert Johnson, and Matthew Markley. The five have been arrested for petty theft in the past and have not shown any violent behavior since released from jail five years ago. Regardless, maintain caution. Report back to the mountain in ten minutes, over."
The three nodded and exited the warehouse, meeting back up with Aqualad and Superboy outside. "Kid Flash is already pursuing the second van that left before the rest. Superboy, you and Miss Martian follow O'Malley and his group. Robin, Artemis, and I will take the second Heishe van. Team, move out."
Miss Martian nodded her agreement and took off flying next to her running boyfriend. They did not speak, even when Miss Martian felt distance cut the psychic link to the rest of the team. Her strange sense of something being wrong about this whole thing was still present and growing worse. With a start, Miss Martian realized they had taken a long route down the cliff and the festival was once again back in sight. The suburban they had been following stopped against the rocky cliff face about a mile away from the festival and the men got back out, this time without their weapons and bulletproof vests.
Miss Martian tentatively reached her mind out and felt the presence of the rest of her team once again. "We're back at the festival." She contacted them with surprise.
"I got here about twenty minutes ago." Kid Flash commented. "Been checking out some of the food stalls they have here." Miss Martian rolled her eyes in disbelief and Superboy snorted. "What? I got hungry! . . .Nobody saw me."
"Our van parked a mile out from the activities on the side of the road." Artemis wisely ignored Kid Flash. "But none of our guys have left the vehicle."
"Same here, 'cept ours went into the crowd" Superboy joined in, tracking the men with his excellent eyesight.
"Mine haven't left their vehicle either." Kid Flash inputted. "Though they parked right next to a public restroom, next to a couple of trucks."
"Miss Martian, go cammo and follow your guys." Aqualad ordered. "See where they're headed. The rest of you, maintain position."
Miss Martian faded from sight and floated above the heads of the crowd, following closely behind O'Malley and his men. "I think they're headed to the restroom. I see the suburban and the trucks Kid was talking about."
"Why meet in a completely different place to exchange money and then come back together for the drugs? Something doesn't feel right about this." Robin wondered forebodingly. Miss Martian quiety agreed with his thoughts.
O'Malley and his men disappeared behind the restrooms and reappeared with several crates, which they started loading into the trucks. Out of the corner of her eye, Miss Martian spotted Kid Flash, carefully hidden behind a bush, munching on a donut. She floated down behind him and rematerialized. Quietly, she lightly tapped him on the shoulder. He startled, but didn't yelp.
"Have any of the Heishe gotten out of their vehicle?" She asked, her voice low. He shook his head and swallowed the last bit of his donut.
"O'Malley's loading up the truck with crates. Probably the drug." Miss Martian informed the rest of the situation.
"There's really something not right about all this." Robin hissed. "The Heishe are the ones who bought the drug, shouldn't they be the ones loading it into the trucks? Aqualad, I'm going in for a closer look."
"Alright. Proceed with caution."
Miss Martian gripped Kid Flash's shoulder as they watched O'Malley's men finish loading the last crate into the truck. They had started to walk away when Robin's panicked voice broke into Miss Martian's mind.
"Guys, the sixth person in the van is a kid! The Heishe have a hostage! That must be what the masked man meant by the other part of the exchange-"
Robin's message was cut short by his cry of pain.
Present Time - Watchtower
Batman had picked apart Robin's boot, gauntlets, and utility belt he had recovered from the body is Star City. There had to be something hidden in the objects, some sort of message or clue. Why else had the infamous assassin sent them back to him via murder? The man, another visiting Chinese official named Zhang Liu, had no connections to the Heishe or the O'Malleys that he could. There must be a reason why Lao She had picked this man to send their message, Batman did not believe in coincidences. Lao She seemed to be fond of puzzles, and he was sure there was something more than just the words 'come find me' carved into the man's chest. Something he was overlooking.
"Batman."
The detective ignored the weary sigh of the man of steel, picking up his son's crushed glove. Artemis had said that the thick padding of the tech in the gauntlets was the only thing that had stopped Superboy from crushing his son's wrists like he had crushed hers. His tiny wrists.
"Bruce,"
"Don't." Ice dripped from the venom in Batman's voice.
He felt the presence of the alien behind him, but did not turn around. "There is nobody near us, besides half the league already knows your true identity. The Flash and Martian Manhunter reported that they have subdued the Joker and he is on his way back to Arkham. Just thought I would let you know."
Batman could almost hear Clark's hesitant hand reach up to grip his shoulder, but drop in defeat. "Agent A says you haven't been answering your communicator. The absence of Gotham's most famous billionaire has not gone unnoticed, and the press are starting to get wind that everything's not alright with the Waynes. You need to go home, Bruce. Get some sleep. Staring at that glove isn't going to give you more answers than what you already know."
Batman placed the glove down next to its pair. "My son, Clark," He said thickly. "My son is missing, taken to be tortured and then executed, and you want me to go home. I can't. Not until I find him. The children reported that we only have five days to find him before Lao She kills him. Day one is almost finished. I should have never let him go."
"No one knew." Superman chided gently. "Nobody could have possibly known that the Heishe and the O'Malleys were looking to test their drug on mettas and aliens. If it wasn't Young Justice, it would have been the Justice League who got hit."
He left the unspoken words of how much worse it could have been if members of the Justice League had gone crazy and started attacking civilians.
"I should have known."
Superman sighed again. Bruce didn't know how to forgive himself and always took things too personally. He decided it was time for a subject change. "I sent Wally and Kaldur home to recover. Black Canary says that Artemis needs to rest a couple of days before she can go. I know you're aching to be spitting mad at somebody, but don't blame the team. It wasn't their fault. Robin risked everything to save them. He wouldn't want you to blame them."
Batman snarled at him. "The only ones I'm angry at are the Heishe and the O'Malleys." At Clarks disbelieving look, Batman's shoulders minisculely drooped. "Yet, parts of me wish he didn't save them. An out of control Superboy, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Aqualad are the last things we need to deal with right now, but if he didn't save them, he would still be here. Lao She wouldn't have taken him."
This time Clark did grasp Batman's shoulder, silently thanking him for opening up. Five years ago Superman wouldn't even go into the same room as an angry Batman. The presence of Robin had healed so much in the broken man, making him kinder, more trusting. The Batman of five years ago wouldn't even say hello to him, nevertheless confide his dark thoughts. Superman was honestly scared of what would happen to the man if they didn't get to Robin in time. They had to, for Bruce's sake. For all their sakes.
"New Jersey." Batman shot up suddenly. "We have been searching Star City and Gotham, but Zhang Liu was only in Star for a business meeting. He had been staying in New Jersey for most of his trip. Everything leads back there." With a twirl of his cape, Batman was gone, Superman close at his heels.
Present Time - Location Unknown
Robin had walked for about thirty minutes when he noticed a faint light in the distance. His steps quickened until he was practically running for the source. Soon enough he was in a cavern much like the one he had woken up in, except with another tunnel trailing off to the left. A single bulb lit up the area. However, this time he was not alone.
His breath hitched at the small pile of dead robins in the center of the room. There were five that he could count, and their wings had been broken and their necks snapped. This was obviously a scare tactic, something to freak him out. He was not ashamed to say it was working. There was nothing shameful about being scared - especially when he still had no idea what the fuck was going on. Robin walked up to the pile and knelt down, the hand not still clutching his shoulder reaching out to stroke the feathers of one of the birds. He had only been awake for about two hours now, but he was exhausted. All he wanted was to go home, hug Bruce, and drink tea with Alfred. Not stare at his dead namesake, wondering how the hell he had ended up in this mess.
The dead bird shifted at his touch, revealing something glimmering from underneath the pile. Curiosity overcame his disgust, and Robin plunged his bare hand into the center, withdrawing a black object. Miss Martian's voice recorder! Wait, he had never seen this device before, how did he know it belonged to M'gann?
Robin flicked the switch and men's' voices echoed in the still quiet of his rocky prison. Narrowing his eyes, Robin listened with confusion. He was listening to what sounded like some sort of exchange. Something about a product and a second location.
"The Heishe thank you for doing business with them." The gravelly voice concluded, sounding even more distorted through the speaker of the device. The Heishe? Robin knew of the triad, but had never dealt with them. Batman had heard of reports, though, of the criminals moving into Gotham around the same time Liying Hong was murdered.
Wally's fist pumping in the air as he asked if they were going to solve a murder. Robin's smirking reply. Batman's nervousness about the whole thing only being seen by Robin. His assurance to his mentor that nothing would go wrong, he would make sure of it. The new drug, superesque. Tip of a meeting in New Jersey.
Robin gasped as suddenly the memory of a mission briefing with the team came back to him. Liying Hong and superesque! Of course! That explained why he was in his Robin uniform, at least. But what had happened in New Jersey? Miss Martian's recording indicated that they had watched the exchange go down, but Robin couldn't remember any of it. Most importantly, why did he feel like he went a couple of rounds with an angry Superboy and came out on the losing end?
"Did you like my present, my little Robin?" A heavily accented voice crackled from the voice recorder. The boy almost dropped it in his surprise. "I found it fitting, an excellent prediction of the future. If you're listening to this, you must have gotten out of your restraints, you clever little boy. I knew I chose well when I picked you. The little green girl with the arrows was oh so tempting, but you, you were just so clever I couldn't resist."
There was something so very wrong with the false sweetness in the voice that had dread pooling into the pit of Robin's stomach. It made his skin crawl and his legs itch with the need to run. "You may be wondering why I have brought you here. I would tell you, but that would ruin all of the fun. You may call me Lao She, and I so do look forward to meeting you again, my dear Robin," The voice chuckled. "That is, if you manage to survive the next five minutes."
There was a loud boom and the walls started to shake. Robin sprang to his feet, dropping the device. "Well shit," He spoke to the open air, his panic escaping through words. Alfred would be appalled that he used such language, but Robin couldn't find it in him to care at the moment. The light bulb above his head flickered and then went dead, plunging him in darkness. "Shit."
There was a crack and a bang as part of the rock ceiling gave way and crashed to the ground. Robin, not knowing what else to do, blindly reached out for the walls to stabilize himself. He stumbled, one foot slamming down into the pile of dead birds, the bodies giving way under his weight. Little bones stabbed into his soles as blood swelled between his toes. Something inside him wailed in misery at his unintentional mutilation of the poor animals' bodies, but he had no time to mourn. There was another shudder and Robin's hand finally felt the wall.
Not knowing what else to do, he took off running, not sure if he was following the new path or the one he had just came from. It didn't matter, he just had to get out. There was a splintering noise and before Robin had time to cry out, something struck him in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground. His chin hit the dirt and he bit through his lip, but the pain from that was not enough to keep the impact from knocking him out again.
He didn't notice the rumbling stop or the faceless figure that loomed over his body, cackling quietly in the dark.
Really, thank you all for the wonderful reviews! It means so much to me. I'm predicting this story will be about six chapters total. Just a short thing to wet my feet in this fandom. I have so many ideas for stories, you guys have no idea. And now that Young Justice will be getting its coveted 3rd season, I'm even more excited! When I started this fic, it was going to be an angsty two-shot hurt/comfort story focusing mainly on Dick and Artemis. But then I got carried away. Anywho, thanks for reading and please review! (Like seriously, I'm begging here)
To the anon who was the first review to my story, if you're still reading this I'm probably going to delete those reviews (all six, really really long reviews). At first I thought you were criticizing the power dynamic I was hinting at in the little blurb at the end, but after the first paragraph I was confused. I'm still confused, but then I saw that you posted the exact same review on several other stories posted close to the same time as mine. Seeing as the reviews don't pertain to my story at all-tbh, I have no idea what the goal of those reviews is-I'm not going to keep for the sake of other readers going 'huh, i wonder what this story's about'. Thanks anyway, I guess.