Hello again! I know it's been a while so I hope this next chapter makes up for the wait. Also, I was reading the previous chapters and I noticed quite a few small holes in my plot that I accidentally left open. So hopefully I will be able to fill a few of those as we go. Also don't be afraid to point those out to me as you read. I would hate to leave you all confused! As always enjoy the chapter, God bless, and Happy New Year!
~Skylar
Recap:
"None of you remember how you arrived here? How convenient." Ratchet scoffed.
…
"If we want to do this right I will need to enter your minds like I did in Bialia. I won't intrude, I promise."
…
'There's a car approaching from the front.' Artemis alerted and everyone tensed in anticipation.
'Finally.' Superboy muttered. 'Some real action.'
…
'Everyone fall back!' Aqualad shouted, his eyes widening in realization, 'We were set up! Get to the Bioship! NOW!'
OoOoOoOoO
|Jasper Nevada
|August 25, 19:43 PDT
Miss Martian called the bioship to the ground and her and Kid Flash boarded quickly.
"Miss M we need to get closer to the building!" Kid Flash said urgently.
Miss M sat in the Captain's chair and directed the bioship right outside of the research facility. Before the ship even had a chance to touch the ground, Kid Flash was zipping out to back up the rest of the team. All four members had been corralled into the middle of the research facility's lobby. Surrounding them were at least fifty men all carrying heavy artillery pointed directly at them. Kid Flash ran in as fast as he could and stole a few of the weapons from some of the men, but that was hardly enough to get the team out of danger. As the men began to shoot, everyone crowded behind Superboy to escape the onslaught of bullets in the tiny space.
"Stop!" cried out a familiar voice from behind the men. The team glared at the infuriatingly familiar face appearing from within the crowd. Lex Luthor.
"Luthor! What do you want?" Superboy snarled.
"All in good time my boy," the man sneered stepping closer to the team, "But for now, why don't you all just relax and enjoy the show?"
"What show?" Robin demanded stepping forward, batarangs in hand. But before he could take another step, all of the lights went out and a high pitched laughter came on over the facilities' intercom.
"Well hello kiddies, and welcome to my freak show!"
"Joker!" Robin scowled.
But the Joker continued with his obviously scripted speech. "First up on stage… KLARION LORD OF CHAOS! Bwahahahaha!" A spotlight shone down on the team from somewhere above, and the witch boy stepped into the edge of the light while the Joker's laughter permeated to the edges of the room.
'Guys what's going on?' M'gann's voice rang in all of their heads.
'We have been surrounded by Luthor, Klarion, and the Joker.' Kaldur replied quickly, 'Miss Martian, do you think you could fly the bioship to the door? We will attempt to retreat."
'On my way Kaldur!' M'gann said, her voice taking on a more serious tone.
Aqualad turned his attention back to the scene unfolding in front of him.
"Grrr! That's cheating!" Klarion whined stomping on the floor like a toddler, "No telepathy!" The lord of chaos, raised his arms above his head and threw a giant red flaming ball at the team, causing them to all jump to different sides to avoid the spell. Kid Flash pushed himself off of the floor and ran towards Klarion to knock him down. The witch boy smirked at the speedster and swatted him into the wall as if it took no effort at all.
'What's he been eating lately?!' Robin exclaimed over the mind-link, 'He's never been this strong before!'
'Robin, distract him, the rest of us will try to approach him from the back.' Aqualad commanded.
'Alright.' Robin agreed and pulled out a few exploding batarangs.
With the twist of a wrist, the young hero flung them at Klarion's feet. The devices beeped three times before exploding and sending Klarion off balance. The witch boy coughed as dark smoke filled his vision. Robin jumped into the smoke, catching Klarion off guard and sending him to the floor. The boy wonder laid fist after fist on the villain. He knew it would not be enough to stop Klarion, but he hoped that it would be enough to allow his team to get in position behind him. Klarion laughed and kicked the Boy Wonder off of him. The villain stood up, dusting off is shirt, and grabbed Robin by the hair, pulling him off the ground.
The witch boy's face suddenly distorted into a menacing snarl. "You're really going to regret that." He growled. Klarion punched Robin in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, and created a swirling black mass in his other hand. The mass grew until the witch threw it to the ground. A tall black swirling cloud appeared and stretched all the way to the ceiling. Klarion smirked, sending a chill down Robin's back. In an instant, the witch boy flung Robin into the mass.
"HA!" Joker's voice rang out, "Have fun finding your birdy now!" He taunted.
"I'd love to stay and make the rest of you disappear myself, but I have other places to be at the moment." Klarion said nonchalantly. Another red portal appeared next to the black mass. The Witch boy stepped into it and disappeared.
"Robin!" Artemis strained to find her friend in the darkness he melted into.
Suddenly a shrill whine rang throughout the mind-link and a familiar empty feeling came over the team.
"M'gann! What has happened to Robin's mind-link?!" Aqualad demanded, his normally calm voice taking on a more panicked tone.
"I-I don't know!" M'gann said resignedly.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Joker's voice rang through the silence.
"Screw this!" Artemis said, "I'm going in after him." True to her word, the archer melted into the shadows just as her friend had earlier. The team, not knowing what to do at this point, continued standing back to back waiting for anything to reveal the fate of their teammates.
"Artemis?" Wally called out shakily after a few silent minutes. No answer.
"Artemis?!" He called out even louder. Still no answer.
"Oh my god." Artemis' limp body had rolled back in through the darkness and settled without so much as a sound.
"ARTEMIS!" Kid Flash yelled out and ran to her still body. "No no no!" The distraught speedster felt a firm yet gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up into Conner's concerned eyes.
"Kid Flash." Came Aqualad's voice, "Bring her into the bioship quickly. We must retreat."
"No!" Kid Flash spun around angrily, "No way I'm leaving Robin in that… thing! What if he ended up just like Artemis!"
"They're not dead are they?" M'gann whispered.
"No." Answered Conner, "or at least Artemis isn't. She still has a heartbeat!"
"Well then we should go after Robin!" Kid Flash cried, "If Artemis survived the portal, then so will we!"
Aqualad looked at the four remaining members of his team considering his options. If they wasted time going back to the league, they may lose Robin for good.
"Very well." He agreed, "We will go in after Robin, but we should go in the Bioship. It very well may shield us from this…portal's adverse effects."
Kid Flash smiled and gave Aqualad an approving nod. The speedster carefully picked up the archer and the team boarded the bioship, a strange foreboding feeling seeping through them. Who knows where this portal would take them, or if they would ever make it back again. Wally gently placed Artemis on one of the Bioship's med beds and sat in his own seat.
M'gann pushed her hands into the Bioship's controls, lifted the craft and slowly guided it into the portal. Almost instantly, the scenery changed. Instead of the dark outskirts of Metropolis, the team could see nothing but dense forest, Robin was nowhere in sight.
"Maybe if we go higher?" M'gann suggested and after a nod from Aqualad, she flew the ship above the trees. "There's nothing but… EVERYONE DOWN!" A dark purple streak violently hit the ship causing it to lurch towards the ground. M'gann regained control but only just. The ship sparked dangerously and lurched again making everyone fall out of their seats.
"I can't get control!" M'gann yelled, "I don't know what hit us but the Bioship is not reacting well."
"M'gann can you land it?" Kid Flash asked.
"Not without crashing." She said, a worried look flooding her face.
"Then we must evacuate." Kaldur said "Conner, take Artemis and M'gann open the doors when I tell you."
"But the Bioship will die if we let her crash!" M'gann protested.
"Then try to fly us as close to the ground as you can! When I say to, you will have to let go of the controls and jump out with us." Aqualad commanded.
Tears streaked down M'gann's face, "ok" she resigned.
"M'gann it will be ok." Conner consoled her, "We will all get out of this somehow."
M'gann nodded and focused back on her task. Conner picked up Artemis and moved towards the door M'gann was opening. Wally and Kaldur stood on its sides watching as the forest floor came closer and closer. Suddenly the Bioship lurched again and Wally lost his footing. M'gann watched almost in slow motion as her red haired teammate was launched from the safety of the bioship, still well above the forest trees.
"Wally!" Without think about what she was doing, the Martian let go of the ship's controls and flew out of the door to catch Wally before he hit the ground.
"M'gann no!" Kaldur yelled as he watched the scene unfold before him. Trying to regain the situation, the young leader grabbed a hold of M'gann's foot trying only to be pulled out of the ship himself. Connor watched in horror as all three of his teammates fell at least a hundred feet towards the unforgiving ground. Connor knew he couldn't catch them while he still had Artemis in his arms, and there was no way he would leave his charge to crash with the ship alone. He only hoped his teammate's abilities would spare them an early death. All of this happened in a timespan of less than a second and the bioship had just begun to fall to the earth. Decision made, Conner hugged onto Artemis firmly and sat against the wall waiting for impact. Not ten seconds later, a deafening sound filled the Kryptonian's ears as the bioship screeched against the hard ground. The force of the impact threw Conner and his precious cargo from the mouth of the ship and out into the open. As Conner hit the ground, he lost his hold on Artemis and watched helplessly as the girl was thrown violently across the forest. The last thing he saw was the bright red gleam of the bioship as it rolled towards him and landed directly on top of him. Connor's world went dark.
OoOoOoOoO
"How long do you think this will take?" Jack asked. It had been a few minutes since Miss Martian had pulled the team into her mind. Since then, all six heroes had been staring off into the distance not moving a muscle.
"Hmm. Not sure." Miko said jumping to the lower level of the base. She strutted over to the heroes and waved a hand in front of Robin's masked eyes. "Hello? Anyone home?" She asked, huffing when she got no answer.
"Miko! Stop that!" Ratchet snapped, "I have no idea how this process works, it would be best to leave them alone until they are done." The orange and white bot turned back to his computer.
"Do you really think we can trust them Optimus?" Arcee said glancing at the unmoving new guests. She, Optimus, and Bumblebee had retreated to the furthest corner in order to keep an eye on the teenagers.
"As of now I do not believe they mean any harm. However, they are far from home and have been forced to trust strangers, fear can be a strong motivator, no matter the situation." The leader replied ominously.
Row dee vip zrow! Bumblebee exclaimed, his door-wings shaking to emphasize his point.
"I know they're just kids Bee, but you of all bots should know that kids can be capable of a lot. Not to mention, we've all seen what Conner and some of the others can do." Arcee looked towards Optimus.
"Look, I'm not saying we should treat them like Cons. They don't seem evil, but we can't just give them a free pass, especially with their abilities!"
"You are right Arcee, we should not underestimate them. However, we may have to trust them if we are to get them back where they belong. Understood?"
"Understood. I'm gonna go for a drive. Think you can hold down the fort without me?" She smirked in Bumblebee's direction.
Zroo dree! He laughed and gave her a mock salute as the femme transformed and drove out.
The yellow mech looked back towards Optimus. Beep zip dree roo whirr? Vizz zur droo.
"Arcee has had her trust betrayed many times. If you remember, she took some time to warm up to Jackson as well. Her spark is in the right place, and I trust her to make the right decisions concerning our new guests." Optimus gazed back at the young heroes. They had a lot of work ahead of them if they wanted to return the teenagers to their families.
|Metropolis
|August 25, 16:50 PDT
As soon as Luthor's main office was in view, Batman landed the Batwing swiftly on the roof of the building. The two heroes inside jumped out of the plane and stalked up to the roof door. Not wanting to waste any time on trivial obstacles, Batman fiercely kicked in the door and marched down the stairs.
"Ok that was unnecessary." Superman rolled his eyes, walking in behind his friend.
"Are you coming?" Batman glared back.
Superman sighed and resignedly followed the hero. He knew that Bruce was stressed because of the team's disappearance. And he understood, he really did. But Batman tended to get more distant whenever something was bothering him. The man still cared just as much as he always did, but it was like some sort of defense mechanism he automatically defaulted to. To too many people, he came off as uncaring and brutal, but Clark knew better. He was just glad that Bruce had at least allowed him to come along. If he knew the man at all, it was probably just a way to keep himself in check.
The two heroes climbed down the stairwell until they hit the seventeenth floor. Batman picked the lock and quietly entered. Superman had no idea how he knew which floor Luthor was on, but he trusted his friend knew what he was doing.
The door opened up to a long dim hallway with only about two or three doors on either side. Batman led Superman to the second doorway and picked that lock too. The next room was fairly large. Even though it was dark, Superman could see that the walls were painted a dark crimson color. How fitting, he thought. On the far wall were two large windows displaying Metropolis' distinct skyline. All of the furniture in the room was a stark white color and the floor was made of a dark grey tile. As he took in the room, he noticed that in the corner sat a large bed…no way!
"Batman," he whispered, "I don't think this is a very good idea!"
But Batman just gestured for him to step into the corner as he silently crept towards the bed. Batman froze as the shape in the bed shifted and turned over. After a few long moments, Batman finally made it to the edge. The hero slowly reached out a gloved hand and grasped the covers over the sleeping figure.
Suddenly, Batman pulled back the blankets and grabbed the collar of Luthor's pajamas. Superman snorted at the sight of one of his deadliest villains being pulled from his bed and slammed against the bedroom wall in his matching pajamas.
Luthor was immediately wide awake. One moment he was sound asleep, and the next he was being held against his will, staring straight into the cold white lenses of Batman's mask. Luthor calmed his pounding heart and glared right back at the man. After all, that's all he was, just a man with no special powers.
"Do you know how rude it is to wake a man so suddenly?" Luthor sneered, a proud smirk lining his voice. The uncovered portion of Batman's face furrowed into a scowl and a primal growl erupted from the back of his throat. Luthor's heart skipped a beat as he witnessed the infamous bat-glare first hand.
"Where are they?" Batman demanded, the fist holding Luthor's shirt pressed harder into his throat, making it harder for Luthor to take a breath. He could have sworn he saw something move abruptly in the corner, but Batman quickly blocked his view. The man's face pressed closer to his own, his eyes conveying all of Batman's sadistic intentions.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." Luthor's confidence was slowly loosing hold.
"Yes you do." Batman growled. Luthor never realized how terrifying a whisper could be.
Batman slammed him against the wall even harder this time and left Luthor almost gasping for breath.
"Batman stop!" Came a familiar voice from the corner of the room.
"Superman stay out of this." Batman demanded without so much as a glance over his shoulder. Oh god! Superman!
"Now now, let's not be too hasty." Luthor said quickly, deciding he really didn't want to tempt either one of them.
"Luthor just answer the question!" Superman said just wanting to be finished with this.
"It doesn't matter anyway! You'll never be able to get to them!"
"What. Do. You. Mean?" Batman snarled slamming Luthor into the wall. "What did you do with the team?"
"I didn't do anything! I-I swear! It was Klarion! He went against our plan. I-I think he sent them to another universe or something."
Batman froze internally. Another universe? The chances of him finding Robin and his team just decreased exponentially. The Dark Knight felt a lump forming in his stomach. No! He thought If I want to find them I need to be focused.
"How do we find them?"
"How would I know?" Luthor spat. He stared defiantly at Batman's masked face.
Batman sighed and dropped Luthor to the floor. He strode over to Superman. "Are you coming?"
"We're leaving all ready?" Superman said glancing over at Luthor who was just getting up off the floor. "What are we going to do with Luthor?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean nothing?"
"I mean nothing. We don't have any evidence to arrest him with."
Superman shrugged and followed Batman into the hallway. As soon as Batman had slammed the door shut, Luthor pushed himself off the floor and pulled out his cell phone. He pressed the second number on his speed dial and pressed the phone to his face.
Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hello?"
"We have a problem, I am calling an emergency meeting tomorrow. Be there."
The person on the other end of the phone hung up and Luthor sat on the edge of his bed. He had quite a few numbers to call tonight.
|Jasper Nevada
|August 25, 19:47 PDT
The Autobots and the humans watched as the teen heroes all blinked back to reality.
"Well?" Mrs. Darby asked before anyone could say anything.
"Did you find anything out?" Raf added.
Aqualad sighed and his shoulders dropped. "Not nearly as much as I was hoping." He said. He looked around at the curious beings surrounding him and his team. It amazed him how all of them seemed to be just as disappointed as he was feeling. Maybe they really did care about the wellbeing of his team.
"Well what do we do now?" Connor asked.
Aqualad turned his attention to his team. They were all fairly good at masking their feelings, but he could tell exactly what each of them were feeling, maybe because he was feeling it too.
"One of our enemies, Klarion the Witch Boy created the portal we entered to come here." He said, addressing the only hope they had in this world. "We entered of our own free will…"
"Uh not all of us." Robin commented. Aqualad ignored him.
"…and to get back we may need him to create another portal."
"Does anyone see a major problem with this plan?" Kid Flash piped up, "Klarion is in our dimension, not this one."
"I have an idea." Raf said pushing his glasses into his face, "Remember when Jack, Miko, and I were sent to that parallel dimension? Maybe we could fix the ground bridge to send them back?"
"Rafael, you Jack and Miko were indeed sent to another dimension, but they are from another universe. It is not the same. The ground bridge is a method of transportation only. Attempting anything else could be catastrophic." Ratchet told him gently.
"Yeah but that could be their only shot right?" Jack added, "Why not try? Unless we can think of another way to send them back."
"I do not think you understand Jack. No Cybertronian has ever travelled through a different universe. I would not even know where to start." Ratchet countered.
"Hasn't the Justice League travelled to another universe?" M'gann said. "Maybe we could try to figure out how to communicate with them so that we could get their help!"
"Not a bad idea Miss M" Robin said switching his computer on. "Not long ago Batman and I started research on a device that could be picked up from anywhere, even across universes."
"What made you think you would need that?" Bulkhead said scratching his helm.
"Besides the obvious?" Robin lifted an eyebrow, "There was one time that Batman and the league went to another universe for a few weeks. In that time there was a massive Arkham breakout and the only people available to handle it were me and Agent A. Hardest two weeks of my life. We had no way of contacting Batman to tell him to come back and when he finally did, Gotham was a mess. So since then we looked into a way to keep that from happening again."
"So how far along are you on this device?" Arcee questioned.
"We haven't gotten past the research phase unfortunately."
"It is not a bad place to start." Optimus said trying to comfort the teenagers. "Ratchet do you think you could look at Robin's research and help them develop this device?"
Ratchet nodded in agreement and lowered his hand to the ground in front of the small hero. Robin looked up at him hesitantly before stepping onto the giant's hand. Robin stumbled as Ratchet raised his hand but quickly found his balance again and stood with confidence for the rest of the ride. It was amazing seeing the world from this point of view. Sure he had been to incredible heights in Gotham, but his vision was always hindered by the tops of nearby buildings. This was a completely different experience. Ratchet carefully carried Robin over to the main computer.
"Does your…computer have a USP cord?" Ratchet voice rumbled louder up here than from the ground.
"You mean a USB cord?" Robin chuckled, "Of course it does. Where do I connect it?"
Ratchet showed him the small opening on the front of the giant monitor. Robin nodded and typed a few things on the holographic screen jutting out from his glove. A thin cord snaked out from the side of his glove and Robin plugged it into the port. With a few quick swipes of his hand, all of his and Batman's research on the communication device were loaded onto Ratchet's computer. Robin unplugged the cord and Ratchet lowered his hand, returning Robin to the rest of the team.
Ratchet looked over the research and nodded. "I will need to look into this, but it may be possible to create what you described."
"Until then, you may stay here." Optimus said looking at the teenagers in front of him. "We do not have any beds or rooms for you to stay in, however that is an issue we can easily rectify."
"Thank you." Aqualad nodded. This was going to be a long night.