{Robin?}
Dick met M'gann's gaze. {Yeah?}
{How did Batman get a new partner? How come you didn't tell us?}
Aqualad was watching him now with interest. Robin sighed and went back to his binoculars. None of the Biyalian soldiers seemed to be accompanied by Psimon, but they appeared to be up to something. They rushed about the base like a hill of red ants.
He rifled through his belt, but stopped when M'gann thought his name again.
He sighed. {She followed Batman home one day like a lost puppy. He found her in an alley being beat up by some thugs.}
{That's terrible!} M'gann thought.
{Yeah. Well. She's made herself at home. The boss man's new favorite.}
Kaldur placed a hand on Dick's shoulder. The physical contact was almost enough to make him look up from the soldiers scurrying like ants around the aircraft hangars. Almost.
{I do not think, old friend, that it was ever Batman's intention to replace you.}
Robin turned on the Atlantean.
{Now's not the time, Kaldur. Let's focus on the mission.}
Both of his companions sighed.
It was all going so well. At least at first.
Batgirl led Kid Flash and Zatanna into one of the warehouses on the west side of the military encampment. They seemed hesitant at first, but Batgirl assured them that the best way to gather intel was from inside.
"Ekam su elbisivni," Zatanna whispered, and their forms flickered until they were hidden from view.
After going invisible, sneaking in was a piece of cake. Barbara settled her Beta squad on an upper level of the warehouse, behind a few crates. The floor of their storage level was almost completely missing in the middle, so they could see and hear everything on the ground floor.
Carefully, she shook a few mics out of the pocket in her utility belt and placed them all over the room. A grappling hook lowered her like a cat burglar down to the ground level. A few flicks of her wrist later, and there were microphones and cameras on the ceiling. Complete coverage. The boss man would be proud.
The grappling hook whined a little as she pulled herself back up, and a few of the Biyalian soldiers below looked around in confusion. Batgirl watched them apprehensively, and stopped the wire.
{Batgirl?} Zatanna's voice said in her mind. {Everything okay?} Wally asked.
{Fine. My hook's making too much noise. I-}
Suddenly, everyone in the warehouse bowed, clapping their fists to their chests with resounding thumps. A woman stepped through the open doors and out of the desert heat. Her entrance killed the words before Batgirl could think them.
She was imposing. Tall and graceful, with a neck that arched like a swan's above the collar of a thick white cloak. Her skin, too, was pasty white. She was completely bald, and blood red tattoos spider webbed over her scalp.
Her appearance reminded her of the pictures she'd seen in reports about Psimon.
A psychic. Oh crap-
{Batgirl,} Wally thought, before Barbara could send her squad any warning, {Who is that?}
The woman's eyes darted upwards, latching onto Barbara's position exactly. She thrust out her hands, and Batgirl felt her head explode. Her fingers loosened from the wire, and she fell, down, down.
She hit the floor with a crack, and white filled her vision. Flaring pain in her ribs and right arm, but she ignored that. The strange woman was walking to her side, and Batgirl realized that she was in full view. Zatanna must be unconscious.
"Well," the woman said as Batgirl let out a grunt of pain, "It seems as though I get to make myself useful once again, yes?"
Her head whipped to the side, and she barked an order at a group of soldiers. Batgirl knew enough Biyalian that she could get the gist.
There are two others upstairs. Bring them to me.
"Now, little one." The woman turned her gaze on Barbara, a cruel smile dancing on her lips. Batgirl could see that her eyes were the color of blood. Probably contacts; there was no way they were real. She knelt at Barbara's side, and placed a hand on her forehead. Even through her thick cowl, Barbara could feel how ice cold the woman's skin was. "Are there more of you? Tell me."
Mental barriers. Something Batman had drilled into her head more than once, no pun intended. Keep up mental barriers. She thought of a yellow dog running in a field of green.
The woman's eyes narrowed, and Barbara could feel the barriers strain. The dog chased its tail.
The strange lady's nails dug into her forehead, but she couldn't feel it. She only thought of the dog as it sniffed a patch of daisies.
Batgirl met the woman's eyes, and smirked as her expression turned to that of shock.
"Why can I not read your mind, little girl?" she snarled.
Soldiers thundered down the stairs, two of them with her teammates thrown over their shoulders like sacks of potatoes. They were thrown to the concrete floor beside Batgirl, and they stirred a little bit. Then, they twitched, arms moving like a spider's, legs jerking unnaturally. Hesitantly, both got to their feet.
"Your companions are much better," the woman said. "They've told me that you've come with…six others? Yes. And now, they will hunt them down for me."
Zatanna and Wally straightened, and marched towards the open door. Two groups of soldiers followed after them.
The woman returned her attention to the girl lying battered on the floor.
"I can't glean the secrets from your mind, girl. I can't force your mind to dim and your muscles to bend to my will."
"Lady," Barbara croaked. Her ribs were on fire. "You really need a new hobby."
"But." The woman caressed Batgirl's cheek with an icy finger. "I can show you things. Little nightmares that your own mind will create. You will feel agonizing pain, and I'll not even have to lift a finger." She seemed to relish the idea. She shouted in Biyalian, and two soldiers dragged Barbara to her feet. With a length of chain from one of the crates, they forced her to her knees and wrapped her wrists to one of the steel support pillars. Batgirl did her best to keep from screaming aloud. She was sure now; fracture in right wrist. Bruised ribs. The soldiers let her fall to her knees, and she almost lost it when she felt the sharp jerking in her elbows and shoulders.
"You may let me know when you've had enough," the woman said, "By telling me so. Then…you and I may have a-what's the expression-heart to heart? Yes, you will tell me what I would like to know."
She placed a finger on Barbara's forehead, and the nightmares began.
Robin was watching Zatanna march up the sand dune towards them with a squad of Biyalian soldiers right behind her. A grin lit up his face. Leave it to Z to use some backward spell to sway an entire legion of the enemy over to their side.
{Something is not right.} Kaldur's voice sounded nervous.
M'gann seemed to agree. {Where are Batgirl and Kid Flash?}
Zatanna seemed to grin, and thrust out her hand. Even Robin recoiled as his muscles locked up.
Batgirl screamed as Batman advanced on her. His muscles heaved, a growl low in his throat. Beside him, Robin stalked towards her, a smug and evil grin on his face.
She'd already had her spine ripped out by Bane. Poison Ivy had impaled her with sharp spikes. Joker shot flags out of his gun, and the sharp ends pierced her chest. In the back of her mind, she kept telling herself that all of the hallucinations were fake; just a product of mental manipulation. But the pain felt too real. Batman's breath on her face, his fist clenched around her throat, all of it felt too real.
He drew her toward him, then slammed her into a brick wall. A Gotham city alley materialized around them.
"Wow, Babsy. I had no idea you were so pathetic." Robin's voice cut at her like a knife. He let out one of his impish laughs, but this time it sounded like an evil cackle.
"A failure," Bruce growled, " I should have left you where I found you. Bleeding in a gutter with the rest of the trash."
Slam. Her head cracked against the brick, and her cowl crumbled and fell away. She could feel her hair hanging matted over her face.
"Please…" she whispered.
"Go on," Dick taunted. "Beg. Isn't that your specialty?"
He stepped forward and leered at her, breath hot against her cheek as he whispered something in her ear. Wet tears streamed down her face, and Robin laughed. He spit a wad of saliva in her face, and suddenly, the whole Team was there. They laughed in her face, calling her names, insulting her. Their faces were too close, too big. She struggled to get away, but her mentor's fist held her in place. His grip was getting tighter, tighter. The Team got louder and Robin became more and more savage with his insults.
Batgirl sobbed.
Robin was thrown to his knees beside the others. His kneecaps cracked against the concrete, and he paused to take in the conditions of his teammates.
Alpha squad had gotten off easy, no injuries that he could see.
But Gamma had gotten battered. Rocket had a purple bruise slowly forming under one eye. Superboy, though physically unharmed, sported a ripped shirt and a rumpled disposition. A stream of blood ran from the corner of Artemis's mouth.
KF and Zatanna flanked them, facing a crouched figure a few yards in front of them. Robin was still kicking himself for letting Z get so close without even a double-check. Psimon must have been controlling his teammates.
The crouched figure was wearing a long white cloak, a hood covering its head. Pitiful whimpering and gasping issued from the stranger, as though it was in pain.
One of the soldiers on Robin's right spoke a word in Biyalian.
Mistress.
The cloaked stranger stood up and turned. Two ghostly white hands pulled down the hood, revealing a woman that reminded Robin of Voldemort from the Harry Potter movies he'd watched with Alfred and Bruce. She smiled, and a chill ran up Robin's spine.
"Who are you? Where is Psimon?" Aqualad demanded.
The woman blinked and said, "I am the best of Psimon's students. In this country, my home country, I am known as Imbalilik."
"Synapse," Robin translated.
The woman seemed delighted. "Ah, a speaker of my native tongue? Excellent. Though, 'mind connection' is a more accurate meaning."
"Oh, I know," Robin said. "But what kind of supervillain name is 'Mind Connection'? Synapse is a little better, though I would have gone with 'Tattoo Lady' if I were you."
Synapse smiled very slowly.
"You are a very rude boy. Your fellow student of the Batman was rude as well."
The Team seemed to tense. "Where is she?" Robin demanded. "What did you do to her?"
Bats would kill him if his perfect little girl got herself killed on a mission that he'd been leading.
The woman let out a long cruel laugh.
"See for yourself, my little bird."
Synapse stepped aside, and Robin saw Batgirl. Her arms were secured over her head to a support beam with a chain. She knelt, just like the rest of them, but though she was looking right at them, her eyes were a million miles away. She was shaking violently, her face wet. Whether from perspiration or tears, Robin couldn't tell.
"N-no," Batgirl whimpered softly. " D-Don't. Stop. Don't t-touch me."
Beside him M'gann shifted and let out a little gasp.
"You're," she started, "You're torturing her with-"
Miss Martian seemed unable to finish. Batgirl shuddered horribly and let out a gasp.
Synapse ran a loving hand over the top of Batgirl's cowl. "Yes. She is…resistant to my mind control. I cannot tame or take from her mind." Batgirl flinched away from Synapse's touch. "But I can give."
"Please…" Batgirl whispered, then let out a sob.
"Sadly, showing the girl her worst fears have not yet yielded any information. She is surprisingly strong for someone whose mind is so…damaged.
"But alas. I will keep trying to get the information I seek out of her." Synapse paused, as if mulling over an idea. "You, my little bird, are also immune to my control. I suppose I could kill you, but that seems so wasteful." She snapped her fingers. "Yes. I know what I'll do."
Around him, his teammates stiffened. Rocket's back arched. Connors arms jerked upwards slightly at the elbows. The rest of the Team stood shakily, like marionettes being taken out of their boxes.
Then, aghast, Robin watched them all straighten and stand at attention beside Kid Flash and Zatanna.
Synapse turned to Robin and crouched, placing her palm under Batgirl's chin. "Such a sad little mind. Hurt. Trauma. Insecurity. So much for me to work with."
Robin wet his lips. "Leave her alone."
"Oh," Synapse laughed. "Not yet, little bird. You are going to tell me a few things first."
"Like heck I will."
"Where is your little team stationed?" She tightened her grip on his partner, and Batgirl's eyes widened in panic. And then, suddenly, the fear dissipated from her expression. Her eyes cleared, becoming less glassy and unfocused. She looked at Robin. Then, she blinked. Short-short long. Etc. A message began to form. Then, she let out a theatrical scream.
Robin gasped. "Alright, alright! Just…let go of her, and I'll tell you."
Synapse smirked. "Yes. I was right. You do care very much about this one. I could sense it. Now, boy. Tell me."
Robin sighed, and dipped his head. "Fine. There's this secret entrance."
"Yes? What does it look like?"
"It looks like an old wardrobe. We go in, push through the coats, and land in our base."
The crazy tattooed lady leaned closer, a triumphant smile twisting at the corners of her lips.
"Fascinating. Some form of zeta technology, I assume?"
Batgirl was fiddling with her glove. A lock pick clicked silently out of her index finger. No. Not a lock pick. A laser. It was almost enough to make Robin lose focus; she got all the best toys. Her eyes told him to keep going.
"Something like that, yeah."
"Go on." Her grip hardened, and Batgirl reacted accordingly with a muffled scream.
"Okay, okay! Our base is this really old castle in the mountains. It's guarded by different members of the League."
"What is this castle called?" Synapse demanded. Batgirl had almost cut through the chains. Now, she seemed to say.
Robin smiled. "We call it Narnia, baldie!"
The chains exploded and Batgirl leapt to her feet, slamming a gloved fist against Synapse's forehead. The psychic tumbled backwards, giving Batgirl the opening she needed to shoot her with a Taser. The two tendrils collided with the woman's chest, and Robin felt the hairs on his arms stand up as the air crackled with electricity. Synapse jerked and twisted, screaming. The Biyalian soldiers opened fire.
Both batkids somersaulted and flipped to avoid the bullets. Batgirl took down one solider with a swift uppercut, while Robin leapt over a pair of goons and slammed their foreheads together.
"You okay?" Robin called out.
Batgirl let out a dull laugh. "Definitely not feeling the aster. What's the big man gonna say when he finds out?"
"Beats me." A solider shrieked as he planted a kick to the groin. "Two against one," Robin said. "I'm winning."
Batgirl smirked and threw a little black pellet to the ground. "You are so not."
The pellet sprayed a thin gray mist into the air, and Robin barely had time to put on his rebreather before all the soldiers passed out.
Including their teammates.
"Batgirl!" Robin protested.
She shrugged. "That's, what, thirty for me? I win. Let's get these guys on the bioship."