Who here is pissed that we aren't getting any new episodes until 2012? Because I know I am.

Ok, I'll admit I knitted some of your ideas into the story. I'm thinking of either giving it a climax and conclusion, or twisting it so I'll have to make a sequel.

It will probably be the second option.

Also, I just want to say that Zatanna is my all-time favorite superhero, so I'll be giving her lots of glory throughout my story.

Anyway thanks to all who reviewed!

Chapter 9!

"What in the hell is The Blue Trance?" Kid Flash asked. Ever since Zatanna had told them what she thought it was, she had gotten some looks. How would she know about a dark spell that presumably controlled people?

"It's a powerful and dark potion used to control others." She explained. Zatanna would meet all of their eyes nervously, but always went back to Robin with a worried and somewhat suspicious expression. "It was used in a war in the magical plane centuries ago. It's really powerful, and only the maker of the potion can use it on the victim. It can be submitted to them in any way; they can drink it, bath in it, inhale it, inject it…"

"How does it work?" Aqualad asked the young magician.

"Once the potion is inside its victim, the maker can manipulate them any way they want. The victim literally becomes their puppet. They can control their actions and mind. But it's very dark, and after the war, the recipe was destroyed and the potion banned. But even in the magical plane, people break the law. I know my father's seen it once or twice."

"And how do you know about this?" Artemis asked, suspicion creeping into her voice. It was the same suspicion that was on everyone's faces.

"Like I said, I read about it." Zatanna declared, her eyes shifting nervously. There was something she wasn't telling everyone, but there were more important things to do.

"So, if this stuff was inside of Robin," Superboy said, "and if it's what you say it is, then someone was controlling him."

"Exactly." Zatanna confirmed with a nod.

"Well, I guess we found out what happened with the little Wayne Tech. incident." Batgirl said with a satisfied smile. Everyone else smiled to. They had almost forgotten about that, they had been so consumed with their discovery.

"But he doesn't remember any of it." Miss Martian said. Everyone turned to Zatanna.

"Like I said, it messes with the body and mind. Whoever is controlling him probably blocked out his memory."

The bioship was silent for a long time. This was clearly the work of a powerful and skilled enemy. They didn't know who, which was pretty bad. But whoever it was had been controlling Robin like a puppet, and could do absolutely anything they wanted to him. That thought scared everyone. They didn't know when that person –if it was a person- could take hold of Robin again. They had no idea what else they made him do…. Wait. Yes, they did. Robin's dreams, the ones of the recent crimes where they couldn't find the criminal. Could it be?

Finally, Red Arrow broke the silence. "Is there any way we can extract the potion from his bloodstream? Can you use magic?"

"It's magic resistant. He'll have a bad reaction." Zatanna replied.

"Do you know who could have done this? Anyone?" Kid Flash asked desperately. Zatanna was silent. She looked away and shook her head. The team once again got that feeling that she was lying.

Suddenly, Miss Martian gasped. Then, a big smile came over her face. "Hello, Megan! We have evidence! We can go to The Justice League now!" The team and their allies looked at each other happily. M'gann was right; they had found what they had been looking for for the past few days. They could now face their mentors once again, and have them look into the case. Then, they would get their apologies. Kid Flash grinned widely at the thought. He would have to make a mental note to get it on video. No, he wouldn't forget.

No one had noticed that Robin had sobered up, and had understood everything Zatanna was saying. No one saw that he was silently panicking. He was being controlled. Someone, probably an enemy, was influencing him to do crimes that he couldn't remember. They were inside his head. They could probably control his thoughts. When would they strike next? What would they make him do next? Robin started to breathe deeply. Miss Martian felt his strong, terrified emotions from across the bioship.

"Robin? Are you okay?" M'gann asked worry and fear laced in her tone.

Everyone instantly turned to look at their comrade, unaware that he was aware of what they had been talking about.

"We can't." He whispered. His voice was strained and scared.

"Can't what?" Superboy asked.

"Go to The League." Robin clarified.

Everyone looked at Robin in shock. Isn't this what they had been waiting for? Didn't he want The Justice League to apologize to him? Why couldn't they go back? This was to prove his innocence, after all.

"Why not, my friend? What troubles you?" Kaldur asked, confused and curious.

"My dreams!" Robin exploded. Everyone jumped. "Isn't it obvious? I did it. It was me! I hurt those people, I'm the one the police and Batman are looking for, and I killed all those guards and stole the computer chip! It was all me. I… I'm a murderer." He collapsed onto his seat, head in his hands. His shoulders started shaking, although he made no sounds. Zatanna went over to him, and put her hands on his shoulders comfortingly.

"So…so it really was Robin." Artemis said. Looks like they wouldn't get those apologies after all.

"We do not know that." Aqualad said in a stern voice. "And if it was… We know that Robin was being controlled, and we have evidence of it." He gestured to the broken needle on the tray. "But we will go to The League. If we calmly explain our findings, then they might be able to do something. We could leave the rest of the case to them, and maybe Zatara can find a way to help Robin." Leave it to Kaldur to always look at the bright side.

"And if that doesn't work?" Superboy shot. "What if the very moment they see us, they break out inhibitor collars and arrest us? We'll all get convicted, and no judge will side against The League."

"Connor, they're our mentors. They'll hear us out." M'gann said softly. Connor only crossed his arms and grunted in response.

"I think it is time we finally head back to Mount Justice." Aqualad declared. M'gann meekly turned the bioship around and started home. There was heavy tension in the air. It was clear from Red Arrow, Batgirl, and Superboy's expressions that they didn't think this idea would work. Others, like Kaldur, Wally, and M'gann trusted their mentors and had faith that they would hear them out.

Miss Martian couldn't stand the tension and silence, so she projected the news channel onto the front of the bioship so everyone could watch it. She immediately regretted it when she saw it was a segment on The Justice League. It was showing clips of big fights that happened recently, and then the people hosting it would praise the heroes for their generous and courageous duties. M'gann sighed, and was about to shut it off when Zatanna jumped up and yelled,
"WAIT!"

Everyone jumped. "What?" M'gann asked. "Look!" Zatanna said, pointing.

The news channel was showing a fight from about two months back. The Justice League was fighting Professor Ivo's gigantic Lupine Robots. Of course, the news people only edited their footage to show when members would get the upper hand, which wasn't often in this battle, so they got to the end pretty quickly. Superman had just disabled them with an EMP generator, and blue mist with a silver tone came spilling out of the robots. The League inhaled it, and then the smoke disappeared into the air, as if it had never existed at all.

"The Blue Trance." Zatanna whispered. "The Justice League is under the influence of The Blue Trance. Someone is controlling them." She turned to the others. "We can't go to them now. The potion's maker will know. We'll get in trouble, they could attack us. This is bad, really, really bad."

Aqualad hung his head. They couldn't go to their mentors now, they were possessed. Whatever they said, the potion maker would hear them, and they would get attacked. They would have to figure this out on their own. Wait….

"How would the potion maker know?" Aqualad asked.

"Huh? Oh, he has full control, body and mind over them. Whatever they do, he knows about." Zatanna and everyone on the bioship knew what Aqualad had realized in that moment. "Uh, oh." Zatanna said. Everyone turned to look at a very frightened Robin.

"Guys!" M'gann suddenly exclaimed. "I forgot to turn around! We're almost at Mount-"

It was then that Robin started to spasm and an unknown, outside force attacked the bioship.

Back at the Batcave

Superman's fist collided with Batman's face. The Dark Knight flew backwards, crashing into the Batmobile with a crashing sound. He moaned, and tried to get up, but stopped when a sharp pain shot through his stomach. He looked up to see The Man of Steel standing over him.

Something was not right here. Superman looked furious and vicious. This wasn't like him. Batman suspected something was going on right then and there. Like always, he wasn't wrong.

Superman picked him up by grabbing the part of his costume where the cowl and cape connect. He looked at Batman with his angry blue eyes, and Bruce swore he saw some silver in his eyes as well. Yep, something was definitely wrong. Superman tossed him back onto the Batmobile with another sickening crunch as the metal dented under him.

Bruce tried to get up again, but there was more pain then before, and he collapsed. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was Superman saying into his comm link with an impassive, almost robotic voice, "I caught Batman working on the case, like I suspected. I'm transporting him to the Watchtower for immediate interrogation."

In the Watchtower's interrogation room

Batman awoke with his wrists bound to a tabletop with thick steel. His feet were bound to each chair leg, and the room was filled with security cameras and speaker. Still, his team would have to do better if they wanted to keep Batman contained. He had been in, and gotten out of, worse.

"Good, you're awake." Superman said as he made his way into the room. Batman instantly noticed something different about him. His face was drained of all emotion and color. His voice was impassive and calm.

"Clark, I don't know what's going on, but I will find out. I think- no, I know- that there's something wrong with you. You're not acting like yourself. None of you are. You're all hunting down children-our children- like they're dangerous criminals."

"They were trained by us. They could turn and already know how to be criminals, since they fought so many."

"Exactly. They fought so many; they know how heartless and brutal they can be. They know how much they hurt people, and work hard to save others. Think of all they've been through. They can't just all turn after the things they've seen."

Nothing changed in Superman's face. It stayed cold and relaxed. "They're recent behaviors have given us reason to treat them like the enemies they are. They will be hunted, fought, captured, and brought to justice like the criminals they are."

Bruce stared at Clark. When he saw that the Kryptonian was dead serious, he said, "Clark, listen to me. There is something wrong with you. You need to let me-"

"Enough. You are here for interrogation. I will ask the questions, Bruce Wayne." Clark said his name in an almost mocking manner. "How long have you suspected Robin of being innocent?"

"Always." Bruce said immediately. He might as well keep Clark distracted as he worked to free himself.

"And how long have you been working to help them?"

"Since I saw the video."

"Do you know their current location?"

"No-AAHHH!"

Unfortunately, Superman had caught Batman fiddling with his restraints. He socked him in the torso, leaving Bruce gasping for air. He was about to strike him again when his comm link went off.

"Superman." He said blankly. He listened for a minute. "Hmmm. Very good, restrain them immediately." Clark looked at Bruce. "It seems the children got tired of running and decided to turn themselves in." Superman suddenly grinned evilly. Bruce frowned. He didn't doubt they found the kids, but he knew they hadn't 'turned themselves in.'

"I'll see to it that they're properly restrained. I'm sure Robin would love to share a cell with you. That way, you would be the first- and last- to know his sentence."

And with that, Superman left Batman in the dark.

AN: In case you couldn't tell, I don't really like Superman. My friends finally started reading this, so I'm kind of nervous, but I'll still update regularly, if they don't bug me about it in school. Still ticked about new episodes in 2012.

REVIEW!

Please?