"I'm sorry we had to cute your little date short." Artemis snorted as Robin and Kid Flash entered via the zeta tube. KF shot her a disapproving glance before putting an arm around her waist as the three of them continued walking toward Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, Zatanna, and Rocket.
"I am sorry at the time inconvenience but I am afraid that this could not wait." Aqualad brought up a video on one of the multiple screens that spread across the training room of Mount Justice. The clip played, showing a dark figure in a dark green hood. "I somehow have doubts that Green Arrow decided to switch to karaoke as his means of fighting." The video showed Batman and the Flash fighting with different animals throughout the Central City Zoo.
Robin's expression changed for a moment, not that anyone had noticed except for the person closest to him, Kid Flash. This was the Pied Piper, without any doubt. He shifted as KF reacted to the look on his face, nudging his shoulder with his elbow. "Hey Rob what's up, you think he's cute don't you. I know you do." He smirked, playfully teasing at his best friend. Rob released a low growl before looking back to the screen. Yes, because the reason he was disturbed by the video was because he was attracted to Wally's stalker, definitely.
"Dance fighting, seems like something out of a musical." Miss Martian smiled, grabbing onto Superboy's arm.
"Somehow I think we'll be fighting a different kind of shark." The video feed moved to the aquarium view where a shark was biting at the Flash's arm. "He's definitely going to feel that in the morning." Zatanna cringed, watching KF's reaction.
"Yeah, he felt it. He never shut up about it really." He turned back to Aqualad. "So what's the plan, boss?" Aqualad pulled up the live feed from the same zoo.
"He's back and it doesn't look like he wants to dance."
The Boy Wonder was way more than drained at this point. They hadn't even started the mission before he was already yawning. Miss Martian was in the pilot's chair of the bioship, Aqualad in the front with Robin and Kid Flash on either side (Robin normally sat on his right, just a preference) while Zatanna and Artemis sat on either side of Miss Martian. Superboy and Rocket were, conveniently, riding close behind in Sphere (although Rocket was nearly floating off the seat with anticipation, she was still getting used to fighting alongside the team, afterall).
"We could've just zeta'd there, wouldn't it have been faster?" Kid Flash propped his head up in his elbows, obviously bored from the ride.
"Calm down, Kid Eager, we'll get there when we get there." Artemis laughed, moving in her seat.
He hated when she called him that. Kid Eager, Kid Flirt was a little better, Kid Finicky, Kid Mouth, Kid, Kid, Kid. Part of him wondered if she couldn't find any other name to call him besides Kid anything. She barely even called him Wally. At one point, he loved the names she gave him. They were cute, adorable even when they were cute. Kid Adorable, Kid Cute, Kid Marvelous. He didn't hear those ones anymore.
"And, we're here." Robin said nonchalant as as the bioship hovered above the front gates of the Central City Zoo.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious."
"You're welcome. If I'm Captain Obvious you can be Lieutenant Lame." Rob smirked over to where KF was sitting. He let out a small laugh before they were deployed onto the sidewalk.
It was quiet for a minute, one long minute as they walked through the gates. It was almost instantly that they heard a loud, almost haunting music playing. "I totally get a haunted carnival vibe from this." Zatanna pulled her arms closer, almost shivering from the creepiness. "And I hate regular carnivals."
"Tell me about it." Robin smirked to himself. KF turned to look at him briefly before Robin pointed to his goggles. "Maybe find our friend before he finds us?" Rob was obviously tired, Kid clearly saw it across his expression. For some reason it was way easier to place his emotions when he wasn't able to see his eyes. Not that he didn't like his eyes, did he like his eyes? "Kid! Goggles, bad guy, you there?" KF flashed back to reality.
"Oh, yeah." KF fiddled with his goggles, quickly placing them over his eyes and turning into infrared mode. "Staying whelmed?" Had Rob not been sleeping? What was wrong with him now?
"Just tired, dork." He gave a very shallow smile before watching the others turn down a different trail. He had the weekend to look forward to, of course he wasn't allowed to sleep in thanks to Bats giving him weekend duty now that he was going to be in Central City during the week, thanks Bats.
A sonic blast flew past KF who barely dodged it using his super speed, causing both teenage superheroes to turn sharply to see a cloaked figure standing atop one of the empty animal exhibits. "You know, it's very difficult to understand why there are two young boys picking around my park at this hour of the night." Remembering how the park had apparently closed two and a half hours ago, time really had gone by in a flash.
The street lights that lined the walkways did nothing in the realm of lighting up the Piper's face, leaving Robin had to wonder if it was really Hartley Rathaway at all. His voice was low, seemingly disguised by a sonic vibration of some sort. His laughing was like a cackle, crazy and uncontrolled and in reality Rob was wondering why he hadn't attacked them by now. It must've been thirty or forty seconds before he launched another sonic blast, Kid Flash pulling Robin off of the pavement and safely setting him down about thirty meters away from where he was originally standing.
'M'gann we have the Piper, head over toward our location.' Robin telepathically called Miss Martian over the psychic link.
'On our way, what are we dealing with?'
'Kid Flash is kind of dodging some supersonic blasts and by super sonic…'
KF barely dodged the blast of a decorative boulder exploding to his left as he ran circles around the Pied Piper.
'That is so not whelming.' By now he was at least fifty meters away and slowly drifting farther away by the second. From where he was he was getting no positive ID. He was cursing at himself internally for not being able to ID the guy he sat by for at least forty five minutes (assuming that Dick didn't leave early for his next class or get torn away by one of his other friends). If he wasn't so distracted he might've smiled for the fact that he had made a few friends, temporary as they were.
And ignorant to his sexual reproductive organs.
"KF hang on out there!" Seriously where was his team?
'Guys we're a little hung up right now, Connor can you make it over to them?' Not surprising, Supey took his own squad of himself instead of hanging with either group. He was his own Delta, afterall.
'Busy, call back later.'
Robin sighed, starting to sprint toward the couple who were barely fighting each other at this point. Jumping on an already toppled over trash can, he propelled himself atop the enclosure a few feet away from the Pied Piper. He made a few snarky remarks, nothing Rovin would deam as witty. It was quickly deducted that Piper was definitely more of a ranged villain than anything, Robin easily landed a low kick causing him to fall off of the cage and right onto the concrete below. He groaned out in pain, pulling a flute-like instrument out the long sleeve of his hood.
"You're going to pay for that, Birdie!" He growled, KF coming over and landing a swift punch to the back of his head, causing him to quip around and play a deafening note on the flute, causing both of them to fall to their knees.
'Team, we need a little help here!'
Connor's voice was the first to chime out in an annoyed scream. 'I'm in the middle of punching a tiger shark in the face!' If he hadn't been in agonizing pain, he would've laughed at that too.
"What's wrong, caped crusaders, not feeling the beat?" he laughed, tapping his foot and bringing the screech to an end. Yeah, Dick was going to not enjoy sitting next to this annoying brat on Monday. Kid was still on his knees, his head hung low to the concrete his nose lightly draining blood onto it. "You know, I hate the color yellow." He sneered, stomping heavily on Kid's ankle with a loud snap causing him to scream in pain.
"KID!" Robin jumped up quickly, almost falling back down from dizziness. He stumbled, starting to loose the ringing in his ears. Piper smiled and laughed for a second before kicking out one of Rob's legs from beneath him forcing him to the ground in front of Kid Flash. "Are you alright?" Kid's face twisted into an awkward, forced smile before dazily laying his head on the ground halfway out of consciousness.
"I thought you could use a little help." An average man walked toward Pied Piper casually. He looked to be in his early to mid twenties, but he was still way less muscular than the average adult the teens were exposed to on an average basis, but they were comparing this seemingly average civilian with superheros. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses that covered his eyes with long black hair falling against his back tied conveniently into a ponytail. "I guess the Conductor had a little more than a study session with you then." He looked to the Pied Piper who was pulling for his flute.
'Robin?'
The Piper pulled at his flute but the man rose his hand quickly as it shattered in his hand.
"You're not the only one who knows about vibrations." He grinned. Piper growled, throwing a small device that emitted a loud screech, causing them to all cover their ears in shock. By the time Robin looked back up, the Piper was gone. Hart was gone because.. he'd been sloppy? Kid, Kid Flash was hurt? That never happened. They'd taken down the Injustice League with barely any injuries, after they were bailed out of course. Wally had gotten a broken arm and he hadn't stopped fighting but now with a simple stomp he was in tears, bleeding from the nose and mouth, and passed out on the concrete.
"Sorry, I guess he got away this time." The man smiled, offering Robin a hand. It was only a couple seconds before the rest of the team arrived, Superboy being first. Miss Martian was a little tore up at the ends of her cape, Rocket's hair was mussed with dirt, Aqualad was covered in a moist sand from head to toe, and Superboy had his shirt nearly torn off.
Superboy walked next to Aqualad as they walked toward Barry in a hurry. "Next time, you're taking on the sharks."
Robin was pulling at Kid's suit where he had been stomped, causing the older boy to groan.
"Hey, still here." The mystery man waved a hand, being ignored by the younger teen.
"Walls, wake the hell up and stop making us worry." Artemis appeared with a slight limp, her bare torso covered in scratches. "Hey Supey I know why you hate monkeys now," she joked, bumping into Connor. She stopped at Kid's feet where Robin had torn away the suit, showing a badly blackened limb. "Oh my God!" She dropped to her knees, looking at Robin.
"Yeah, being ignored is annoying." Kid Flash jolted up at the man's voice, his eyes showing pain and agony.
"Gah! What did he do to my leg?!" The man turned, looking at the group of teenagers.
"You know, you might want to reset that with the super healing thing."
"Wait, who are you? Robin, who is he?" Artemis nearly spat as M'gann walked over to him. Her eyes glowed white as she searched through the first few layers of his mind.
"Francisco Ramon, Star Labs employee."
"But, you can call me Cisco. You guys must not like secret IDs much then. They call me Vibe."
Robin perked up. "Vibe?" He nodded. Dick had spent hours upon hours looking through the metahuman database in the Batcave, thank God that Batman was paranoid. "You knew who we were, but why are you here?"
"That's another story. Right now, his leg is kind of shattered into a million itty bitty pieces. I suggest getting him to a doctor. Being a speedster and all he should probably get that taken care of." Cisco pulled off his glasses, revealing dark brown eyes. Rob pressed into Wally's leg, it bending slightly and staying in place like compacted sand. 'Wally…'
It was a quick trip back to the cave, Cisco waving goodbye as Green Lantern and Batman showed up, followed by the Flash. "Bats! It's been awhile, Spooky!"
"I told you if you ever called me that again, I would slit your throat in your sleep."
"Sheesh, someone needs a nap. Thank you, Cisco, for the help with the villain, Cisco! You know Spooky I might just let these guys get a little torn up next time." He looked back to Wally who was now being nearly torn from his suit by the Flash so he could form a proper cast around his ankle. "Ok, him excluded. That must've been hell on a silver platter."
"We don't need your help here, Ramon."
"Snappy, Flashlight. Note to self, that's a great ship name." He smirked evilly, looking at the Flash.
Robin was tired of listening to them banter back and forth. He'd been sloppy and that was messing him up. He hadn't even gotten a positive ID on Piper when he'd gotten the chance. Wally was hurt and he was definitely going to have to put up with his whining and complaining while it healed, grabbing him his nachos and his sodas. Him sitting at the cave, his feet up watching TV the entire time he visited, most likely doped up on some form of pain medication. How long did it take for bones to legitimately reform, anyway?
The Flash crouched beside Robin who was now sitting on the ground near Wally who was now drugged and half conscious. At least he wasn't screaming, he thought.
"Don't worry, Rob. It'll only be a few weeks before he's up and running again. Keep him off of that foot until then," he laughed. "You're the only one who can."
'Input Log Entry 1. Date February 3rd, 1:03 A.M.'
He was back home, as in home at the Wayne Manor. It was a temporary stay for the night, even if going back to the apartment in Central City would've been closer. Wally was staying at Barry's for a while, he'd guessed, since he'd overheard him talking to Wally's father on the phone. If anyone could fix up Walls than it would definitely have to be Barry.
He loaded up his laptop computer mainframe, sighing loudly.
"Last night the mission went, well… if Vibe hadn't shown up we would've gotten out of it but it wouldn't have been easy. I didn't get a positive ID on Piper's identification and Wally got hurt."
Dick shifted in his pajama pants, his face tinged with red. It took quite a lot to get Dick embarrassed and messing up was one of one of them especially when his friends, his best friend, got hurt because of it. "Monday, I'll continue searching into Hartley Rathaway's interactions for the next time we meet. But I don't understand why he would hurt Wally of all people, unless he doesn't know who we are."
His face lit up in horror. There was one thing that would be a dead giveaway to anyone, and it would be sitting on Wally's right leg on Monday morning during their class.
"But he will if he sees Wally's cast." He tossed his hand to his forehead, wanting nothing less to die.
Author's Note: Sorry for the late update! My internet was down yesterday *cries internally*. Has anyone watched CW's the Flash? If not, start guys it's great! (But if you're reading this you probably have). Anyways! Follows, Revs, Loves 3