Author's Note: Based on the Episode "Mad Mod" Haha this is actually hilarious to me because it's longer than all my other chapters combined. I totally promise that there will be a point to this and it'll go somewhere, but the first couple more will basically be rewrites. And yeah... Sorry for not updating this for like three years

Admittedly, he'd been in worse situations, sadly enough, but this one had gotten him more angry than he had been in a long time.

From the beginning, he was unnerved, as the echoing sounds and such formed an impossibly, hazy room, and the instant their (British? Skinny yet tall too if his footsteps were anything to go by... and he almost hissed every time that cane hit the floor. He had one that he had to use outside of costume that he hated) captor called him and his teammates children... well, he wasn't happy to say the least. That wasn't what he'd come here to be treated like. Again.

(At least he has a name to the voice now. Mad Mod. Ha. Asshole name to fit the asshole himself)

Not to mention the whole restraints thing. He was as fond of that as the next person. Huge turn off in a new environment. If he was being honest, being blind did cause some behavioral changes. One being that he liked to explore his surroundings physically even if he could get a pretty good picture with sound alone. But he couldn't here. What the he-

Oh damn. Hypnosis screen? Well, it could be worse. It could be something that could actually affect him. But he'd have to fake it, and he didn't feel like doing it with his frustration and confusion. Luckily, his anger was something he didn't have to fake, and he was relieved when his fingers were free and the clanging of metal against the hard floor told him it was something he could probably pick.

Then the humming of lasers and what was probably a large explosive by the smell. Great. Fantastic. But the thought that something was off didn't even shake at that. Even the echoes of his own boots across the floor sounded wrong. Did he hit his head or mess with his ears or something? And if he couldn't trust his ears, what could he trust? The truth was, he had nothing else to rely on... So he just followed the asshole's footsteps and occasionally, figuring he couldn't go wrong there, hoping to god he could just catch the man and get this over with. But then he somehow ended up falling and on the ground somehow where there should have been more stairs. God, this is bullshit. Complete bullshit. Did this even make sense to someone who could see? Fuck this.

The words he was now mentally repeating like a mantra where ones the Bat probably wouldn't approve of, but at least he kept his cool outwardly, his usual wisecracks slipping from his lips and his fighting, almost challenging grin easily settling on his features. The last thing he wanted was for an enemy to see his frustration, much less guess the problem. He'd somehow hidden this from his teammates... it'd be humiliating for a villain, especially one so annoying, to find out his 'disability'.

What seemed like a wild goose chase continued for far too long, until eventually he entered another room, and that man was gone. No breathing, no footsteps, nothing. His anger peaked, and for a moment rage froze his body and mind before Starfire's scream caused him to regain his concentration. He followed the sound of her confused and defiant tone, trying to ignore the wrong things it was telling him. However, it was her sudden silence and the sound of crushing wood that truly got him afraid. He quickened his pace, focusing entirely on locating and then saving her. It was the scream that fully allowed him to find her, and from then on he swooped in and snatched her away from whatever was destroying from above.

After freeing her from that awful chair, he was no longer fearful of her safety and they urged forward, and just after he'd brushed off her apology, more weapons revealed themselves to him by their sound and smell. His irritation showed slightly this time, something he didn't even regret later, but the surprisingly soft hand of his teammate pulled him away. Probably for the best, but that didn't mean he wasn't pissed as hell.

And then ah, the sudden scent of chemicals. He almost felt nauseous for a moment, unpleasant memories with completely different (much more dangerous) villains springing up internally, but they were instantly pushed to the back of his mind for later nightmares when Mad Mod's voice and the endless groan of Beast Boy spiked his concern. Damn hypnosis screen... Though himself and Starfire had been able to avoid it, the young shapeshifter obviously had not. He was more worried than anything else, however. Who knew what kind of affect that had on the brain? Hopefully it was temporary... He didn't know how he could forgive himself if it wasn't. There were things he'd never dealt well with, and injury to his team was one of them.

His nimble fingers moved before his mind did to release the youngest of their group, and only stopped when the memory of what had happened before was triggered by the sound of Starfire's starbolts powering up. Bad things happened with sources of energy and chemicals... But it was too late, and the sizzling of melting objects assured him of that fact. So Beast Boy went to Starfire, and he followed the sounds where the sizzling was the loudest (which meant that there was an object there) and followed that to where he remembered the door to be.

If Starfire's attempts to wake Beast Boy didn't work, he knew for a fact he couldn't, and really it was hard not to wince at her loud yelling. It wasn't her fault that his hearing was much better than most, not that she even knew that. So he just ignored it best he could, at least until she shouted so loud that he almost went deaf too, and then he heard footsteps and assumed the worst in his agitated state. He nearly kicked himself when it turned out to be Cyborg and Raven. He should have known better. He'd heard their footsteps many times before. But there was no time for regret in that moment, and Cyborg even awoke Beast Boy. He had nothing to complain about.

And then they had a plan.

That always made him feel better, especially in such an unpredictable place. Though he hated to say it, it was one thing that he got from the Bat that he was glad for. It had saved him and the other titans multiple times. Including now, hopefully.

Then Beast Boy somehow got hypnotized again. Joy. Even better, the sound of shoes against the floor, a sound he was truly beginning to hate with all of his being, including the fact that it bounced off the walls in all the wrong ways. It continued to frustrate him.

And what he said… well, no matter what Mad Mod said, he wasn't going to continue to play his stupid games.

Though he now had the titans on his side, it was just another wild goose chase. No matter what they tried or did, he slipped out of their fingers in ways that were just annoying and infuriating. All his training he'd just been taught logic and sense, and nothing that was happening here seemed to ignore all the rules of that.

And every time they failed, Mad Mod was there to shove it in his face with his snide comments, and then with almost a smug invite to challenge him… seeming to assume that they'd never win. And honestly? He was starting to feel that way too.

But he was a leader, and experience and desperation told him that fighting was the only option. Giving up was not.

Ignoring the things that did not make sense to his ears, he instead focused on what did, but it wasn't perfect. He didn't think he could have stopped himself from slamming into that wall even if his eyes did work.

They did their best, but one by one he heard the fighting begin to decrease, and he knew that one by one, they were being captured once more.

However, that didn't matter, because lunging and having nothing there was enough to make everything fall into place.

It explained why the sounds were off, why they couldn't win, why this place never seemed to was all being controlled externally.

None of it was real.

He ignored the rockets whizzing behind him and jumped to where he could feel the cold air coming from (a tear), and jumped. Heated exploited from behind his boots but he paid it no mind, feeling for and pulling wires, following them to its source.

(It felt pretty good, actually. Very rarely did he get to destroy things like this)

The labored breathing and heavy footsteps screamed old man, and honestly he almost felt smug about that. A snapped threat was all that left his lips, however, and the sweet fresh air and hearing Mod get booked after the ride to the police station was enough to melt away the lingering anger.

He was still disappointed, however, though mostly at himself, and in his room later that night, he mulled over his own mistakes. He knew something was wrong at the very beginning, but it still took him so long to figure out the truth. He just needed to trust his instincts… trust himself. He shoved headphones in his ear and frowned deeply as he listened to one of his audiobooks. He wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

Research, he'd tell himself. That's why. Research and planning.

(It's too much to admit that Robin, Boy Wonder, is too afraid of his nightmares to sleep)