CHAPTER 4:

"The floor was coloured like a chess board. Could that mean anything?" Artemis asked.

Batman and Flash had zeta'd to the cave and were trying to figure out how to find their missing 'family' members.

"It could be some sort of dance club, then the pole would make sense but it could be a bathroom or warehouse basement. Anyone could easily place tiles over a floor and add a pole into the middle of the room" Flash answered.

"No offense, but I was asking Batman"

"Oh, right" Barry tried not to take it offensively.

"Flash has a point" Batman stated "They could be anywhere"

The team felt even more dejected now.

"Couldn't Superman fly around x-raying all of Gotham?" Conner asked bitterly.

"No"

"Well why not!? He has speed right?"

"It's not that simple, we can't just rely on Superman to always come along to help"

"Well isn't that what he's supposed to do? Help everyone. This is Robin and Wally, our friends and now he can't help!?"

"He's visiting his broken planet right now and I can't contact him"

"Convenient time to leave the planet" Conner grumbled.

"Arguing about the supplier of half your DNA and therefore half the reason you're even alive and able to argue now, won't help them either, will it?" Batman asked coldly.

The remark caught Conner off-guard and he just stared ahead blankly, not knowing how to respond.

"Everything CADMUS implanted in your head and you have no idea what to say to that, typical"

Batman's aggressiveness towards them scared the teens and even Flash was concerned.

"You alright?" Flash turned away from the children and put his hand on Batman's shoulder.

"My son and his best friend, your nephew, have been taken by a lunatic that feeds off the pain and suffering of others before killing them. Does that answer your question?" Batman growled.

"Hey, I'm worried too but I'm not lashing out at everyone around me"

"The last time Joker took him, he died three times and are you forgetting what he did to you? Everything he does, he does to hurt me"

"You always manage to find a way to make it your fault"

"I don't hear you denying it"

"Because in this case it's true, but-"

"If I died, would he stop?"

"What?"

"If I died, do you think Joker would finally give up?"

"Of course not! He would find someone else to focus on. You're one of the few people that can actually outwit Joker, this world needs you. You can't just go and die to test if Joker would give up"

"It was hypothetical"

"It better have been"

The remaining members of the team heard the whole conversation between the only two adults present, via Miss Martian's mental link and Superboy's super hearing.

{MENTAL LINK}

"So Robin died three times? After one encounter with Joker?" Artemis inquired.

"Apparently" Kaldur answered.

"Tough kid"

"I never realized Batman had any emotions beside anger before now" Conner remarked.

"Well his son just got stolen by a torturous clown along with his son's best friend, of course he would have emotions!"

"Well sometimes his dark and expressionless face make me think otherwise"

"That mask helps conceal a lot of his real emotions" M'gann pitched in.

"Can you read his emotions whenever you want?" Artemis questioned.

"Well, yes but most of the time it's accidental"

"What's he feeling now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kaldur asked politely.

"I want the specific emotions, can you do it M'gann?"

"I suppose so" The Martian replied, hesitantly.

M'gann pulled into Batman's aura of emotions and linked them to the others.

The flood of horrible emotions rolled over them. Desperation, fear, loneliness, anger, sadness, shame, bitterness and discouragement.

"He keeps it all so well hidden" Kaldur commented.

"Yes, under all the blank stares are a million emotions fluttering about behind his eyes" M'gann explained.

"Robin's lucky to have the Bat" Artemis claimed, thinking about her own father and how horrible growing up with him was.

"I know where they are" Batman addressed the kids and they abandoned their mental chat.