The Rogues
Chapter 7: Bereft Part 1
When the Pied Piper came to it was to find himself in a desert. "Huh?" he groaned as he pushed himself up on his elbows. "What in the-where am I? Where are the others?" he then looked down at himself and his eyes widened. "And why am I wearing my costume? Len said he'd kill me if I ever wore this!" hesitantly he reached inside his clothes and sighed in relief when his fingers closed around a familiar object. "My flute," he whispered jubilantly and began to play.
Slowly but steadily rats began to trickle towards him. They came from behind rocks, from in caves; they came from everywhere in silent obedience to their master's call.
Piper smiled widely for as the rats trickled towards him so did his memories. "Go my lovelies," he ordered. "Find the others and bring them to me. So commands the Pied Piper!"
Miss Martian was more than a little confused when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was having another fight with her parents and going to bed but she wasn't in her bed. In fact she was pretty sure that she wasn't even on Mars anymore. Her memories of TV shows and Uncle J'onn's stories all seemed to indicate one thing; she was on Earth.
"Yes!" she cheered. "But how did I get here?"
It was then that she spotted several small animals walking past her in a straight line. Curious by nature M'gann decided to follow them. After all, what could it hurt?
Her head hurt, was Artemis's first thought, the second was, where the heck am I? But the third and by far most pressing thought of all was, Why is there a boy lying next to me?!
"My head is killing me," the boy groaned as he sat up. He was wearing a black version of the Kid Flash costume.
"Where are we?" Artemis asked, hoping against all hope that the other kid knew.
But, before he could answer her, a rat ran across the floor in front of them. Seconds later a couple dozen more followed and that was when Artemis decided that they should probably go to. One thing she had learned from living in crappy apartments was that when the rodents left you should too. She grabbed the other kid by the arm and yanked him out the door.
"What are you doing?" he asked in protest.
"We need to leave," she hissed as they hid behind a rock outcropping.
"Why?" he asked then the shed where they had been hiding blew up. He blinked. "Good idea."
"What are they doing?" Artemis looked down at the rats which had formed the shape of an arrow.
"Maybe we should go that way. I'm Kid Flash by the way." He offered his hand and after some hesitation Artemis took it.
"Artemis."
As partner to Batman (he refused to say sidekick) Robin had gotten used to some pretty weird things. He no longer thought it strange to see grown men and women wearing little more than swimsuits going around and fighting crime but he did find it pretty unusual to wake up in the middle of the desert. Last time he checked Gotham didn't have deserts and he was pretty sure that he would have remembered Batman taking him to the desert. Unless…this was another one of Batman's stupid training missions but that thought was quickly dismissed by the realization that Alfred wouldn't have allowed it.
But even the fact that he was used to weird things still didn't prepare him for the rats that walked past him, carrying an unconscious Aqualad. Robin blinked then blinked again and rubbed his eyes for good measure. Once he was certain of what he was seeing he decided to follow the rats and make sure that his friend was okay. He also thought it would be better to wait and call Batman until after all of this had been settled.
Anger. That was the first thing he felt when he opened his eyes. He was angry at someone, wasn't he? He couldn't think, couldn't feel anything except for angry. He wanted to hurt someone, he really did but the music was so relaxing…it washed over him in waves, telling him to go to sleep. Was sleep good? It was, wasn't it? Yes, sleep would be so very nice. He could be angry later. Much, much later.
Piper mentally sighed in relief when Superboy finally fell to the ground. That had been slightly more difficult than anticipated but he had always liked a good challenge. Some of his rats were beginning to return and they quickly relayed their news, sensing that their master would reward them. And he did, feeding them peanuts from somewhere hidden deep within his clothes and petting them on their little heads. "So the others are coming? That's good; I believe I shall play them a song."
The first thing that Miss Martian was aware of was the music. It was so beautiful and unlike anything the Earth transmissions that her uncle had sent that she simply had to follow it no matter where it led her.
Artemis and Kid Flash had been making pretty good time despite the fact that she was making him walk so they could keep up with the rats when the first strands caught their ears. They stood still for a moment then Kid Flash picked her up and ran as fast as he could, if only to reach that glorious sound as fast as possible.
When he heard the sounds Robin immediately knew that he was probably being placed in a hypnotic trance but he didn't really care. The rats that carried Aqualad seemed to want to go there too so that was fine by him. He did force himself to hold onto a birdarang but highly doubted he would be able to use it once they reached their destination.
They all reached the area at the same time, easily finding it because of the rats that were pouring in from all sides as they flocked to the center of the distraction. It was a peculiar figure, wearing a green cloak and playing a flute. A green glow could be seen beneath the hood and, even though he was seated, he didn't appear to be very tall. He glanced up at them, allowing them to see that the glow was merely a pair of green sunglasses then continued playing. The rats that carried Aqualad moved towards the small body of water behind the figure and didn't stop, plunging into it before swimming to the edge where they were carefully plucked out by the figure who petted their fur before giving them pieces of food.
"Glad you guys could make it," the figure stood up and pushed back his hood, revealing himself to be a red-headed boy about their age. He wore black pants and shirt with green boots and matching utility belt. "I was actually getting worried about you," he scowled. "Don't ever do that to me again."
"Who are you?" Artemis asked.
The boy's shoulders slumped. "I am…the Pied Piper! And everyone has to pay the Piper," he smirked.
"Like the fairy tale?" Kid Flash asked then scratched his head in confusion. "Well I guess that would explain the rats."
"I hate you all," the Pied Piper declared as he sat back down, crossing his arms and letting out an annoyed "humph".
"I'm terribly sorry," Miss Martian said apologetically as she flew closer to him.
"Its fine, I guess," he grumbled.
"So where are we going?" Piper asked.
"I beg your pardon," Batman frowned at him.
"Where. Are. We. Going?" Piper repeated slowly. "You said I could go along if I wanted to and I do. So, where are we going?"
"Bialya."
"We're in Bialya," Robin said suddenly, clutching his head as the memory fled. "Batman sent us here."
"Finally!" Piper threw up his arms. "Someone else is remembering."
"Well what do you remember?" Kid Flash challenged.
Piper glared at him, causing the other red head to back up uneasily. "My memory isn't the best either," he admitted. "I remember pretty much everything from before this mission."
"Who is that?" Artemis had caught sight of the unconscious, half-naked Superboy lying nearby and her already paranoid mind was now in overdrive.
"His name is Superboy," Piper told her. "But I'm getting really tired of all this. Why don't you go away and come back when you remember?" he suggested.
"Or," Miss Martian said hesitantly. "I could use my telepathy to link our minds and try to piece things together that way."
"No way," Piper said immediately. "The last time someone tried to go in my head I almost had a nervous breakdown, I'm not that eager to do it again."
A groan interrupted them and they turned to watch as Aqualad slowly climbed out of the small body of water. "Where am I?" he asked weakly. "And why is it so hot?"
"We're in the Bialyian desert," Robin told him. "And from what I've been able to piece together we're missing six months of our memories."
Aqualad blinked. "That sounds rather alarming. What can we do to rectify the situation?"
"We were discussing the merits of having gorgeous over there," Kid Flash jerked his thumb toward Miss Martian, "read our minds and help us get our memories back. But the rat guy says no."
"It's Piper," the teen hissed. "And in case you've all forgotten, I'm the one who brought you all here, including Aqualad who, without me, would no doubt be dead so the least you can do is get my name right."
"And we really do appreciate you helping us like that but we would like to get our memories back and since you seem to be the only one of us that remembers anything recent I believe that only you can help us. Please, I promise not to dig anywhere that you don't want me to go," Miss Martian's voice was sincere and her eyes wide as she pleaded.
Piper sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but I reserve the right to kill you if you find something I don't want you to."
A/N: Hope you guys liked this chapter. Please read and review!
