Chapter 4: Player Six

The leaguers were still gone two days later. Robin had no idea where they could be by now and when they would ever come back, but he was pretty thankful for the peace and quiet. Mount Justice was anything but lively considering the fact that Kaldur and the other four have been going out every morning to try and track down Butch Reynolds as their previous mission had stated, the one that Robin completely screwed up. So during his temporary suspension the thirteen year old decided to do whatever he could that wasn't past his current 'mind-limits' just to savor the fact he had the entire mountain to himself. At the moment he was in the training room, debating on whether or not he should try performing wall-climbing and trapeze-swinging and cool pose landings. He vaguely remembered yesterday when he had attempted to simply swing from one trapeze to the other- - his vision had hit blurriness at the worst possible time and he had fallen back-first on the safety mat below. Even though his fall was cushioned, it still wasn't pleasant to be out winded for a few seconds. Ultimately he gave up on training and slowly left the room behind him.

He sighed, running his hands through his dark raven hair. "There must be something I can do." He insisted to himself as he scanned every room he went by. He ended up surpassing the entire mountain, reaching the exit that led to the forest. Robin eyed the environment with care, his sights eventually landing on the back shed he and the rest of the team had stargazed on some nights ago. He narrowed his eyes; up there was when he had his first hallucination. The image of hundreds of the world's worst supervillains marching their way to the team of six still hung fresh in Robin's mind.

He shook his head. What was even in the back shed? Why would a mountain dwelling for super heroes even need a back shed? Curiosity flowed question after question into Robin's head to the point where he just had to take a look inside.

Robin went through the undergrowth towards the awaiting storage house, wasting no time to get to the front door. He tried pulling the handle but it was being held back by something, a lock, no doubt. That wasn't a problem for Boy Wonder. He pulled out his utility belt (never leave home without it) and used a lock picker against the padlock, within seconds pushing the way inside. He hummed in dismay when there was another door, and it was much more heavy duty than the first. Whatever was inside there someone didn't want him finding it out. Now even more determined to discover what was being hidden Robin enabled his utility belt once more and got to work.

The first few locks were easy, but the third one Robin needed a bit more time on. He started feeling frustrated when he ended up bending his lock picker, and out of that sensation he tossed the little tool to the side like garbage. He dragged out another one, one that was more durable than the last, and felt satisfaction as he heard the familiar click of the unlocking point. The last few were breezes and finally, finally he was able to open the doors. He crossed his fingers as he pushed through to the other side, hoping there wasn't another door or something that wasn't even worth the effort.

In the center of the dark room was an old brittle chair.

Robin stared at the furnishing in disbelief. "That's it?" he exclaimed, hardly believing what he saw. "All that work for some crummy shambling of splintered wood." His only feeling of happiness was that no one was around to witness this embarrassing scene. Robin stepped towards the small chair, noting the decomposing wood and the slight bits of mold along the legs even in the dim lighting. Robin scrunched up his nose at the horrible stench and tipped backwards. "Who would try protecting something like this?"

Suddenly a small breeze started to wrap around Robin's body. He blinked, loosely wondering where the wind was coming from in the small shed. The doors behind him flapped open and shut, and in their moments of openness he saw clouds cover the daytime sky and darken the world below. His heart rate sped up as the floorboards creaked, though he was the only one in the room and was not walking. He heard a familiar laugh, a familiar voice, one he knew all too well… but it definitely wasn't comforting.

"We're coming for you, little birdy… and your precious kiddy friends, too."

Wait a moment. Robin had heard that before. Where had he heard that before?

The boy stumbled and held his hands to his head, pain pounding his thoughts away. He failed to suppress a cry from the major discomfort but forced himself to look up, teeth gritted and brows lowered in hostility. His eyes were opened but he couldn't see anything straight, whether it was the wind or the distracting pain in his head or plainly failing vision that he had been suffering from lately, he didn't know. What he did know was that voice, the Joker, was not welcome at Mount Justice.

Weakly Robin found his footing and dug in his utility belt, tossing a batarang across the shed. It came back without breaking contact, and when all Joker did was laugh Robin angrily tossed a smoke bomb to conceal himself and threw out more batarangs on either end of the room. Again contact was not made and the laughter was not suppressed.

"Please, please, do it again- - it's just all so amusing to watch." taunted Joker cruelly.

Robin saw shadows dancing on the ground around him and leapt, landing in a cat-like pose and performing a few leg sweeps and kick swings in empty air. Frustrated he stared left and right, the smoke bomb making his vision even worse. His head pounded from all the action and his limbs felt feeble from the very few moves he preceded.

"Tired of our little game already?" asked the villain with no hint of any extreme emotion. Robin tried searching for his face or any sign that he was there, but he still could barely see. He could barely think, or even move- - all he could do was listen.

"Very well. But even when I'm gone you won't be safe. As long as your kiddy friends are around you'll never be safe!"

Robin took that as a threat to his teammates. Adrenaline rushed in his veins at his protective urge to keep his friends out of harm's way and with a battle cry Robin rushed to the voice, landing a powerful sidekick on the source with all the newfound energy he could muster. He dropped to his feet, breathing hard, and blinked his eyes open.

Everything was gone. The wind, the Joker, the smoke… even the sky had cleared of clouds again and was back to the sunny morning Robin had seen earlier. All that remained was the brittle old chair at Robin's feet, broken down to a pile of kindling.

Robin felt a chill run up his spine. Another hallucination? It seemed too real to be imaginary. Then again, so did his last one. His head still knocked with a dull ache, and his body was sore from the moves which he hadn't tried doing in several days. He stared at the broken chair. Feeling rather spooked, Robin spun around and exited the shed, getting as far away from it as fast as he could.

His thoughts went back to Joker's words while he ran. "As long as your kiddy friends are around you'll never be safe."

Yeah right. Robin mused defiantly. They're probably the safest ones to be around.

This reminded him of his loneliness at the mountain, the mountain he had just reentered. The mountain that his teammates called home base. The mountain that was considered their own personal playgrounds whenever they were off duty. The one that Robin really did enjoy visiting… but the encounter outside made the empty Mount Justice all the more ominous. Robin knew that today he wouldn't be complaining when his friends returned from their mission.

A/N: I wasn't planning on this, but here it is. And no, it's nothing superstitious, I promise! It's all just in Robin's head. ;)

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