| BIALYA
| September 5, 4:30 PM
"I can't sense him here," Megan tells them through the link. They've been searching since the regroup in Quarac, and as each hour passes, everyone feels the growing anxiety.
The desert is completely barren, no sign of life in sight. Even the troops they saw earlier have retreated without a trace. There are no leads, no one to question, and no direction in their investigation.
"We should have looked for him earlier!" Wally snaps through the link. The restlessness and guilt that the speedster is radiating feels almost tangible through the mental link, and the other members go silent. They are equally responsible for this failure, for losing their youngest. The question of "what happened" lingers, and one bad scenario after another flashes through the mental link to Megan's mind.
Robin may be buried under sand, skin red from the hours under the raging sun. Or he may be alone, confused with a gaping six month hole in his memory, wandering the seemingly endless desert landscape, abandoned. Or he could even possibly be captured, caught unaware when fatigue and dehydration had him down. He's out there, waiting for Batman, but Batman isn't in Bialya. They are.
And they're failing him.
Then, they hear a frustrated growl - Superboy. The sound of his fist impacting the ground breaks the silence even further, causing tremors that manage to reach the team yards away.
"Superboy? What's wrong?" Megan is not the only one worried, because by the time she reaches Superboy, the rest of the team is already there as well, looking over in concern at their teammate who is staring at the self-made crater with an almost feral expression.
"Be quiet!"
In a split second, another punch follows the outraged cry and the whole team backs off immediately from the backlash of sand.
From under a layer of sand, Artemis groans. "Please don't tell me someone mind-wiped him twice in one week."
"No," Megan assures herself, flying to Superboy's side. She would have noticed, because that's something Megan will never let happen to the team ever again. Still, something is wrong, and she needs to check. One touch is all the Martian needs to pick up on the frustration of a fruitless search, the irritation of an unending loud buzzing that only grows more overwhelming by the second, the sense of failure - he's failed Robin, failed as a clone, failed to - get out of my head!
A strong arm flings the Martian backwards, breaking the contact. Wally is by her side in an instant, but she reaches out to Superboy instead.
"Wait! Superboy, I didn't mean to-"
"Shut. Up!"
He's sick of it all: this burning heat, this pathetic search, this unbearable failure. The noise won't stop, and none of his teammates can hear it like he has ever since they set foot in the country. But it was only humming then, now it's practically screeching. They're looking at him with confusion and concern, but they don't get it. And he can't explain it, because the noise keeps breaking his train of thought until all he can think about is his annoyance and rage and that noise.
It needs to stop-
He needs to stop it-
Now.
Without a word, he's off to a sprint towards the noise, leaving the other chatting members behind. Superboy hears the cries of his name, because he can hear everything and that's part of the problem - everything is being drowned under that incessant buzzing.
"...looks like we have our lead," Wally comments while pulling down his goggles in anticipation of a chase. Kaldur stops him though, gesturing at Artemis who is still trying to get the sand out of her costume.
"We must stick together," Kaldur firmly insists in a tone of voice that reminds the team exactly who is the leader of their group. Then, he looks over to Megan. The Martian still looks shaken up, but they do not have time to dwell on mistakes. They can't lose track of their teammates again.
"Call the bioship."
| GOTHAM CITY
| September 5th, 9:50 AM
(7 hour timezone difference)
Bruce usually knows when Gotham shifts in uneasiness, because Gotham is his city, but what's disconcerting is that he doesn't realize it earlier. For the first time in months, his surveillance system has failed to go off. Yet outside his home, he can easily hear the noisy mess of cars that is worse than just the usual morning traffic - a sure sign of a disturbance.
His suspicions grow as he tries to switch on the television for the news, only to find static.
The reality of the situation only fully hits him when he tries his Justice League communicator and finds it dead. It should be impossible for the League communicator to go off - the security of the line is even heavier than that of the Pentagon. He knows, because he helped design it.
All his morning plans are pushed aside in favor of heading to the batcave. Like so many times before, he pushes back the head of the statue that opens the way to the elevator. Except this time, nothing happens.
Bruce frowns.
"Computer override, BW1991."
"...Access Denied," replies the computer system.
This is the only hint he needs to deduce exactly who is responsible. There is only one person who could delete his own override code - one person who he trusted to do so if necessary. Except he knows that this is probably not that time of necessity. This is something else entirely, and he is more worried than ever for his missing ward.
But now is not the time to dwell on his thoughts. He needs information, needs to ascertain the scale of what has happened. This is not the least of the things his ward can do. Robin has far surpassed him in the area of technology, and he is almost kicking himself about trusting the boy with so much access. Bruce curses the blindness of his own pride.
Thankfully, he is prepared in other ways. He changes with well-practiced efficiency into the spare batsuit he keeps hidden elsewhere in the manor, and he's out before Alfred could even inquire about his actions.
Gotham is in chaos.
The traffic lights have all shut down, and people are out on the streets in a riot. From just snippets of conversation, he learns that most electronic communication is down - the internet, the radio, the television, everything. No one knows what is going on, and conspiracy theories ranging from alien invasions to a government agenda proliferate from word of mouth.
It doesn't take much to realize how severe this is for a nation that relies so heavily on these communications. Banks, businesses, law enforcement, hospitals would all be feeling the repercussions. And to be honest, Batman has no plans for this. He's cut off from his resources and from outside help. All he can do is keep watch, trying to keep some semi-balance of order. He has to trust in the team, trust in his partner, to stop this. It's a job for a covert team, not for Batman who still has a city to monitor, and definitely not for Bruce Wayne who will inevitably be put into the spotlight for this incident considering the fact that he owns half of the now malfunctioning communication lines in Gotham.
However, unbeknownst to the Dark Knight, Sportsmaster smugly slips out of STAR Labs with a suitcase in hand. The job is almost pitifully easily - the alarms are dead, and the building is as empty as a ghost town with its employees caught up in the traffic jam. He doesn't mind, though. What matters most is that the Light is one step closer to their goals, and the heros are far too late to stop them this time.
| BIALYA
| September 5th, 5:20 PM
The team grows even more and more concerned as Superboy leads them out of the empty desert and towards much more dangerous territory: the capital.
"Remind me again why we aren't stopping our rampaging teammate from running straight into enemy territory?" Artemis stares at the image of Superboy just yards away, and although she knows that she probably can't stop him, she also knows that running straight into enemy territory ranked high on the common-sense list of "things not to let your teammates do."
"For once, I think I agree with you," adds Wally, but he is too consumed in his own thoughts to notice his teammate's look of surprise. He stands up, slamming his palms on the bioship and attracting everyone's attention. "I figured it out though - where Supes is going that is. Miss M, you mentioned Superboy was hearing some sort of noise, right?"
"Yes...for a while now apparently."
"And Kaldur, have you tried contacting Batman?"
The Atlantean looks puzzled at the question, but answers nonetheless. "Yes, in Quarac."
"Can you try again now?"
Kaldur complies, and the bioship is eerily quiet with only the sound of the static from the communicator filling the hull. Finally, he states the obvious. "It's...not working."
"Exactly," Wally says triumphantly. "It's not working, because it's being jammed. And do you guys know how hard it is to jam the Justice League line? Most non-leaguers don't even know how it works because it incorporates alien technology. Only someone from the league could be doing this, or one other person."
The rest of the team comes to the conclusion immediately. "...Robin?"
Quietly, Artemis adds, "but why would he do that?"
"He wouldn't."
Everyone is silent because the implications of the statement are obvious, and this only fuels Wally's momentum further. "You know what else Robin can do? He has access to the Batcomputer, the Justice League's supercomputer, and he can hack into practically anything else just as easily. It's Justice League technology! You know, ten times more advanced than anything on earth?"
Wally's arms are raised in exasperation since all he is met with are blank stares. No one gets it, and he's not sure explaining will do much good for the Martian and the Atlantean who are even more unfamiliar with technology than the already-lost Artemis. They just cannot comprehend the power of the supercomputer that lies at the heart of the Justice League's watchtower.
They've seen the ease at which Robin slips in and out of it, coaxing it to do his bidding, but it's only been small tasks. They don't realize how easily the same computer can bring down a country's entire network.
"Okay, we get it," Artemis finally speaks up although her face still does not look too sure, "but what does that tell us about where he is? Or where Superboy is going?"
"Robin wouldn't be doing this willingly - someone's making him. Since Psimon is out of the picture, there's only one person in Bialya who could possibly pull it off, and we know exactly where to find her."
"Hello, Megan," the Martian says, although her tone is much less cheerful than normal. "Queen Bee!"
"Right. And she's probably close to Robin, who's probably close to their technology center which Supes is likely bent on destroying now and blowing our cover if we don't stop him."
"No," answers Kaldur, much to Wally's surprise. They are far too close to the capital now, and as a military-trained soldier, he knows it is more than likely that Superboy has already been spotted. Any attempts at stopping him would only get them all discovered. It is his mistake for not stopping it earlier. Everyone is a little off their game today, but the mistake isn't a total failure. They can use it to their advantage. "What we need is...a distraction."
A/N: Thanks to I. Love. Dick. Grayson for doing a quick read for me (completely off the fly too, thanks for responding to my random tumblr flailing!) to make sure this chapter made sense. I have no clue what I'm writing sometimes, especially when it goes into technology. But I've always wanted a plot like this, where Robin is wanted not for his physical skills (because there are so many better candidates), but rather for all the information, secrets, etc he has access to since he's the ward of the goddamn Batman. That's something no other sidekick has.
...Oops this fic is growing obnoxiously long and slightly skirting off OP's prompt. It always happens when I try to do a long fill. But I promise this all ties together!
Now I'm going to return to having seizures while waiting in anticipation for the new episode and somehow studying for finals. Nevertheless, my slowly dying soul will always appreciate any and all feedback :)