Dash City
Roy Harper, former mole and current clone, was having an identity crisis. His regular "guy" had been arrested. Again. Roy was 80% that Oliver and Kaldur made sure that his guys kept getting arrested, and that his drug supply was dwindling.
He was sure Cheshire would approve. For someone who had dabbled in the League of Shadows, she was surprisingly negative about drugs.
He knew that he was testing everyone's patience. The last time that he had visited, Kaldur, the traditionally stoic guy, had lost his temper. But Roy wasn't sure if that was for him, or for Speedy. He couldn't trust that his friends cared about him. He felt that due to Speedy's absence, they were transmuting their feelings on to him. Ironically, he felt sure that only Jade liked him for him.
He knocked on the door.
"It's Roy," he said. Jade tended to be paranoid about such things.
He saw the peephole darken, and then Jade opened the door. She looked worried.
"Finally, you show! Something's come up." Her tone was dry, but he could see the tension in her eyes.
"What's the matter?" he said, stepping in.
Zatanna and Rocket were in the living room of their dilapidated apartment. Zatanna was fiddling with her hat, and Rocket was almost vibrating. He narrowed his eyes.
"This isn't another intervention, is it? The track record for them working is really bad," he said matter-of-factly.
Jade joined them. "It's not. This is serious. Go ahead, you two."
Roy didn't know what to make of that. The 'serious' jab or Jade's friendly tone with the heroes – it was out of character. She was usually bristling around them.
"Okay, seriously. What's going on?" he demanded.
Zatanna stepped forward. "I think everyone's missing. I haven't had contact with anyone from the Team in a while. And when I tried to contact Robin, he was offline."
"And by everyone, we mean everyone we know," Rocket said.
Jade touched his arm. "Roy, the entire Justice League and the Team are missing."
Zatanna explained that she couldn't get in touch with anyone on the Team. She tried calling Robin, then Artemis, and then Artemis's apartment. Dr. Fate was out of touch. She tried contacting the League, but they were also unavailable. Jade added that she had been called her mother, and she didn't know where Artemis was either.
Roy sighed. "Maybe there's some big secret mission we don't know about."
"No, that doesn't make any sense. And even if it were, Mal or someone would have asked for our help." Rocket said a little shrilly.
"Why exactly did you come here? What do you think I can do? I'm a druggie. I'm a clone. My programming is done. Without that, I'm nothing. And you want me go after someone who has possibly defeated every costumed person we know? I can't even hold a bow straight!" Roy stood up, breathing hard.
Jade stood up next to him. "That's not true. I've seen you practicing. And we need to help them. We need to help my sister. I know you think that they don't really like you – "
"Stop," Roy said, glancing uncomfortably Zatanna and Rocket.
" – but you and I both know that's not true. Roy, I've made lots of excuses for you, and it's been fun watching a self-righteous blowhard like you falling into the sinkhole. But I'm helping them get to the bottom of whatever this is. You can join us, or you can wallow in your self-pity and let your girlfriend go off on her own."
He glanced at her sharply. He started to say something.
Before he could, there were simultaneous beeps from Zatanna's and Rocket's belts.
"It's the League!" said Rocket.
They all crowded around her comm.
An unidentified, Purple Man was staring back at them. He spoke in an electronic voice.
"Listen up, Stragglers. We have your mentors and your kiddie friends. You have 24 hours to gather up all the straggler superheroes and surrender in Gotham City. If you don't, we will kill everyone you know. Ta."
There were two imagine files were attached. Rocket opened the first one. It was a picture of the Justice League, everyone, as far as he could tell, lying on the floor of the Watchtower, looking battered.
The second file contained a picture of the Team. They were in a gray room, and again, everyone looked pretty beat up. He felt Jade's hand tighten on his arm, and saw that Artemis was sitting in the corner, looking more out of it than anyone else.
Roy straightened up. "I guess my choice has been made for me."
Jade had already slipped on her Cheshire mask.
"We need to co-ordinate with everyone who's still out there. I'm going to assume that they've received similar messages," Zatanna said. She put her hat on, twisting it firmly over her hair.
"So how many people do we know?" Roy asked.
Somewhere in the East Coast
Kaldur listened as Robin explained his theory to them. He said that he knew that defeating Prometheus was not possible at this stage, and they still didn't know what had happened to the League. So, he had figured, if they got captured, they would be closer to the action, and hopefully get some idea as to the situation.
"I am sure of one thing. It is impossible for anyone to enter the Watchtower and beat the League. I know the kind of failsafes that Batman has in place. There has to be some trickery involved. We have to figure out what," Robin finished.
"Well that's all good, but how do we get out of here?" Conner asked, pointing to the Inhibitor collars they were all fitted with.
"You can't put an Inhibitor collar on pure genius," Robin smirked. "Mine can only deliver shocks."
"Even geniuses need something to work with, Rob. They've taken all our stuff," Wally pointed out.
Robin raised an eyebrow. "Everything but the clothes on my back. And those are enough. I just need to – "
Kaldur cleared his throat. "Before any plans are made, I suggest we think about one more thing. Our captors could have easily killed the Justice League. I assumed they did not because they wanted insurance against us. But now we are captured. For what reason are we alive?
Everyone fell silent.
"Well because…maybe they have plans for us. The League is alive too. Trust me, I would know if Uncle J'onn was dead," M'gann spoke up hesitantly.
Wally frowned. "So, applying the same logic, it means that we're bait for someone else."
"Not someone else, everyone else," said Conner.
Artemis spoke up. "It makes sense. There're still heroes out there who weren't really part of our original team, but they're not in the League, either. So this villain team-up wants all the superheroes dead? Or at least incapacitated? Why? It has to be something big."
Robin was pacing really fast. He rubbed the back of his head. "Not just something big, something impossible. Didn't you guys notice, that Eclipso and Prometheus didn't really try to kill us? Or anyone in the League? They don't need everyone to set us up as bait."
He looked up. "I think I have a theory, but I need some confirmation. And I need to contact the others outside, maybe Zatanna, or Rocket. And I need your help, Artemis. You're the only one who can help me without triggering your collar. Are you up to it?"
"I can help, too. If I'm not running, then the Inhibitor collar won't go off," said Wally.
Robin shook his head. "Sorry, KF, but I need stealth. And that's not you."
"I'm fine now, guys. I was always a fast healer. Let's go, Robin." Artemis stood up.
Conner looked a little confused. "Err, how are you guys going to leave the cell?"
"I've been wondering about that myself, actually," Kaldur said. He was sure Robin would some up with something tricky.
Robin started patting his hands around his costume.
"Oh, it shouldn't be too difficult."
A/N: I really like calling these heroes "the stragglers". That's what I'm calling them in my head.
