Author's Note: Hey! Hope you're all feeling the SUSPENCE! ... i hope i spelt that right! Thank you for reading! And thanks SO much for your reveiws! Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Chapter 9: CONFUSION
"C'mon! We've gotta hurry!" Miss Martian exclaimed, turning to Superboy, "If we don't get up there quickly . . . well, we've just gotta hurry!"
Superboy sighed, "Right." he looked up the huge office building, craning his neck to see the top. "So how do we get up?"
Miss Martian rolled her eyes, "We take the stairs, DUH!"
"Wouldn't that be a little, well . . . Slow?" Superboy objected
Miss Martian rolled her eyes again, "Well how else would we get to the top? Fly?" she scoffed, heading towards the doors to the building.
"Wait, I though you could fly?" Superboy objected, hurrying after her.
"Pfft! Ye-ah! But you can't!" she shot back.
Superboy looked down at Wolf and shrugged before following after the Martian.
Inside, there was a row of shiny white chariots lined up against the wall in front of an elevator. "Hey, M'gann! There's an elevator, maybe we should . . ."
"Oh look! There's chariots!" Miss Martian exclaimed "We should take one of them and hitch it to Wolf! That would be much faster!"
Superboy opened his mouth to object, but Miss Martian had already flown to a chariot and hitched up Wolf. With another, exasperated sigh, Superboy hopped into the chariot and Wolf sped off up the stairs as fast as he could go.
They were about halfway up the stairs when . . . "Grr! Can't this thing go any faster!" Superboy stared at the cranky Miss Martian in shock. Wolf was starting to get dizzy, but the Kryptonian and the Martian weren't affected.
A few minutes later, and . . . "Oh! This is taking too long!" Miss Martian exclaimed and jumped out of the chariot. She morphed into a cheetah and sped up the stairwell. Wolf stopped short and Superboy jumped out of the chariot as well, unhitching him. "And she didn't want to fly why?" he asked himself, "So she wouldn't be rushing ahead of me! Yeesh!" he and Wolf ran up the stairs the rest of the way.
Miss Martian arrived at the top storey and found herself looking into a very large, very empty, white walled room. She looked around for a while, before stepping forward, and . . . falling through the floor. She fell and landed on the floor of a room identical to the one above, but the floor disappeared there as well and she fell again, and through the next floor, and the next, and the next, and the next. She landed softly on the dirt floor of the basement, wearing a long plain white dress, white shoes and a mask with her hair pulled back from her face and tied loosely in a pony-tail; her skin had turned Caucasian.
"You OK?" Superboy hollered down the tunnel Miss Martian had made through the floors of the building.
Miss Martian looked around, yeah, she replied telepathically, I'm fine. She saw a sign standing beside her, it read: SECRET MEETING = THIS WAY and had an arrow pointing to M'gann's left. She looked over and saw a doorway, beyond she could see a large congregation of people dressed just like her. I found the secret society! She called up to Superboy excitedly, And I have the perfect disguise! I'm going in.
Superboy sighed and turned to Wolf, "I suppose that means you and me take the long way down. He headed for the stairs, Wolf growled. "Good idea." Superboy agreed, "Let's take the elevator."
Miss Martian joined the stream of people heading into the meeting hall.
Robin crouched behind a column in the shadows of the balcony overlooking the conference hall. He peeked around and watched the crowd coming through the doors through a pair of binoculars. Little boxes appeared around the faces of every person, but each box turned red; not recognised. He frowned in frustration and wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead, swallowing to resist the urge to cough. I simple head cold wasn't going to put him off. He peeked through the binoculars again, suppressing his headache.
C'mon, the leader's gotta show herself some time! he exclaimed mentally, then one of the boxed flashed yellow; recognised. He zoomed in . . . M'gann! What's she doing here?
Miss Martian walked through the doors; mimicking the smooth, floaty way the other people walked. Robin frowned; well, missions often take unexpected turns. He reasoned, Better hope Superboy sets off the alarm upstairs by himself and the distraction goes off; otherwise, this mission will get even more difficult.
oooo0000OOOO {-} OOOO0000oooo
Superboy and Wolf found the elevator and happily rushed over to it; Superboy went to press the button to call it up when Wolf began to growl. "What is it?" Superboy looked around, Wolf stared at the button and growled again. "What?" Superboy exclaimed, "It's just the button that'll bring the elevator up here!" He went to press it, and Wolf lunged forward and bit his arm. Superboy pulled his arm away from the button angrily, "Well, we can't take the elevator without pressing the button!" he shouted, "So it means we're stuck with the stairs!" Wolf growled, but led the way to the staircase. Superboy shrugged away his annoyance and followed.
The alarm trigger behind the button remained untouched.
oooo0000OOOO {-} OOOO0000oooo
Robin peered through his binoculars at the doorway, but the leader of the congregation never showed. The stream of people thinned and stopped. The huge hall Robin was looking down on was now filled with people wearing white. He noticed there were very few men, and those he could see wore long white robes and stalked around with very solemn looks on their faces.
His attention was drawn to an argument that had broken out between several women. He zoomed in and groaned; in the centre of the circle, with three women pointing accusing fingers at her, was M'gann. That can't be good . . .
"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" a cold, female voice sang out from behind him. He spun around and found two female guards standing behind him, tapping their feet impatiently. Well, this can't be good either.
Before he could react another guard pounced on him from behind and in a matter of seconds he was well and truly caught. He was dragged to his feet and one of the guards shouted to get the attention of the congregation. Instantly everyone was quiet, and the argument M'gann was in was ended abruptly. Glad that she was no longer in hot water, Miss Martian looked up, and gasped when she saw Robin.
"There are spies among us!" the guard shouted, pointing to Robin; who coughed nonchalantly.
Miss Martian turned red, and made the mistake of trying to back away. She was quickly spotted, overpowered and seized.
"These two are spies!" The guard shouted, "They must be dealt with accordingly!" The crowd cheered in agreement. Robin coughed again, his head pounded;
Maybe I have a bit more than a cold . . .he thought absently as he and M'gann were tied up tightly, blind-folded and led away.
They found themselves, half an hour later, on the back of a bus in a dark tunnel . . . at least, to them it appeared dark; because they were blind-folded.
Anyway, Robin's hands were tied behind his back, his feet were tied together and his arms had rope wrapped around them for good measure. He was seated on the bumper of the bus, and almost fell off when it lurched to a start.
Miss Martian was tied up just the same as Robin, only instead of sitting on the bumper like him; she was hanging down the side of the bus from a rope tied to the rack on top.
Robin sat somewhat calmly, focusing on balancing on the bumper as the bus picked up speed; soon it was zooming down the tunnel at top speed. Robin didn't even try to untie himself, and soon stopped trying to balance. Miss Martian used her telekinesis to stop him from falling off, as well as trying to stop herself from slamming against the walls of the tunnel. ROBIN! She shouted telepathically, Robin! Untie yourself!
"Huh?"
Use your utility belt, or your ninja skills and get yourself loose!
"Which way's up?" Robin asked groggily,
The way your head is facing! Now get yourself loose! Miss Martian was losing patience and energy fast.
Robin didn't seem to hear the second half of her reply, "Oh." He mumbled, ". . . Then which way's left?"
"Grrr! ROBIN!" M'gann yelled, "What's wrong with you? I can't hold you forever! Set yourself free so I can get myself loose!"
"Nothing's wrong with me!" Robin replied indignantly, "But what's eating you?"
"It's getting hot in here! That's what!" Miss Martian shouted above the roar of the bus, "And I'm running low on energy!"
"That's funny . . ." Robin wondered out loud, "Y'know, seeing as you're not running . . . come to think of it, you never run, you only ever fly . . ."
"Robin! This isn't the time for jokes!"
". . . But, we're not seeing either, coz we're blind-folded . . ."
"Robin!"
". . .Though I wonder whether we could see anything even if we weren't blindfolded. . ."
"ROBIN!"
The bus lurched and Robin almost fell off, M'gann grunted as she grabbed him mentally. "Robin! Untie yourself!"
"Huh?"
"The knot in the rope! Find it and untie it!"
"What rope?"
M'gann groaned and tried to feel for the knot with her telekinesis, she prodded Robin's side and he laughed and almost rolled off the bus, "Ha-ha! S-stop tickling me!"
"Robin! PAY. ATTENTION!" Miss Martian hollered, "Use your fingers to . . . Ahh!" She slammed into the wall of the tunnel and lost her mental grip on Robin as she tried to righten herself. She slammed into the wall again and swung around the back of the bus, brushing past a completely disoriented Robin with a squeal.
"I got you!" Artemis caught M'gann and pulled her up onto the top of the bus; quickly helping the Martian get out of her ropes. The bus lurched again and the girls jumped off, landing softly and rolling on the dirt floor of the tunnel. Robin toppled off the back of the bus, right into Kid Flash who had zoomed in to help Artemis. Wally zipped back to the girls with Robin and put his friend down.
"See." Robin said indignantly, "There was nothing to worry about." He said, just then the tunnel was flooded with sunlight as the bus shot out of the end of it and plummeted over the cliff.
"Yeah, totally." Kid Flash agreed sarcastically, "By the way, you're welcome. I mean, it's not like I just saved you from falling to your death or anything."
"You're right, it's not like that at all." Robin agreed wholeheartedly.
oooo0000OOOO {-} OOOO0000oooo
oooo0000OOOO {-} OOOO0000oooo
A woman wearing a long white dress reclined on a red couch and clicked her long nails nonchalantly, her long brown hair curled around her pale face and her venom green eyes flicked over to the female guard standing at the doorway to her large lounge room. "What do you mean they escaped?" she asked coldly, and clicked her nails.
The guard stared down at her feet, "Well . . . they, uh, escaped."
"From you?" the woman's sarcastic shock was laced with ice.
"N-no." the guard stuttered, "We dealt with them, but they managed to escape the tunnel. I believe they had help."
"Help?"
"Security reported four spies leaving the tunnel, Ma'am."
"Well now, we can't have that." The woman continued clicking her nails.
"Do you want us to track them down?" the guard finally looked up from the floor.
"Oh, no! Of course not!" the woman said calmly, "My dragon is already on the job."
The guard gave her mistress a bewildered look, "Your dragon, Ma'am?"
"Yesss!" the woman hissed, "My dragon." She clicked her nails, "My dragon as an amazing creature. He does special deeds for me, without being told. In fact, when he does all the deeds I never mention, or express that I want them done; he grows stronger. And he is close to reaching his 104th deed, at which point he will grow!" she looked up triumphantly, "He will become invincible! I will become invincible!" she sobered and lowered her voice, "But if he has help, or fails to complete a deed, he could possibly die. If he survives, he had to begin all over again." Her eyes seemed to glow evilly under her arched eyebrows, "And we can't let that happen, can we?"
oooo0000OOOO {-} OOOO0000oooo
Superboy, Aquaman, Aqualad, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Arrow and Red Arrow met Artemis, Kid Flash, and Miss Martian in a car park that was bordered on one side with the forest. Batman, with Robin leaning heavily against him, was near the centre of the group. The heroes had just begun discussing the missions they had just returned from when the huge grey dragon appeared. It hovered over them for a whole minute, before gliding over and landing beside the group of heroes.
The heroes stared in shock, and even Superboy's face showed some hint of fear. The dragon looked over at them and roared loudly. Miss Martian squealed and the heroes trembled.
"Shut up." Robin grumbled groggily, "You're giving me a headache." Kid Flash and Batman stared at him in shock. Robin pushed away from Batman, "Go away, you big oaf." He grumbled to the giant dragon. The large creature took a menacing step forward, and picked the teen hero up in one giant fist. The dragon sniffed Robin, sneezed and put him back down again. Robin stared up at it defiantly before losing his balance and toppling over. Batman caught him and Robin leaned on his mentor's shoulder heavily. The rest of the heroes were all in battle positions, having recovered from their shock. Superboy was ready to attack.
From seemingly nowhere, Robin suddenly had a sword. The dragon glared down at the heroes, drooling slightly, with malice in its eyes. Robin did nothing with the sword, much to Kid Flash and Superboy's horror, until he noticed a certain teddy-bear lying on the ground at his feet; at which point Robin speared the Teddy on the sword and held it up to the dragon.
"Want the Teddy?" he asked calmly.
The dragon bent over slowly and carefully picked the Teddy off the sword with its teeth, before gently tossing it into the air, spinning around quickly and . . . swatting it hard with its tail, sending it flying into a tree and falling apart. The dragon whirled around and glared down at the heroes growling and drooling. It leaned in menacingly, but something it its peripheral vision caught its eye and it turns quickly to see a red rubber ball on the ground. The dragon's yellow eyes lit up happily and it gently picked up the toy and flew away happily.
The woman, still reclining on her couch, had been watching the whole encounter though a crystal ball. Her face twisted with fury as her dragon flew away with the ball, leaving the heroes alive and unharmed, and the objective incomplete. "No!" the woman stormed, "No, no, no, no, no!"
The dragon suddenly stiffened and plummeted to the ground, making a small crater. "NO!" the woman shrieked, as the dragon shrunk, shrivelled up and disintegrated,
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
oooo0000OOOO {-} OOOO0000oooo
Robin sat up with a gasp. He was panting heavily and soaked with cold sweat. He caught his breath and glanced around. Where am I? He was in a white-walled room, with a pale blue linoleum floor; he was lying in a cot, and an identical -but empty- cot was on the other side of the room. He was attached to a drip and a heart monitor.
Sitting on a plastic chair beside the cot, his face streaked with worry despite the fact that he was asleep, was Bruce Wayne. Robin looked over at his guardian and mentor worriedly, "Bruce?" he whispered weakly.
Instantly Bruce was awake and out of his seat. "Dick!" he exclaimed, and hugged his shocked ward "Oh, Dick! We were so worried!" he ruffled Dick's raven hair, "Don't ever scare us like that again!" he ordered.
Just then Wally appeared at the doorway to the hospital room, his pale face lit up when he saw Robin and he zipped over. "Dude! You're all right!"
Robin looked around again in confusion, "Yeah, what happened? Where am I?"
"Try to remember." Bruce said in a low voice.
Robin frowned in concentration. His memories slowly returned, "I remember we were in the woods . . ." he looked over at Wally who nodded enthusiastically ". . . And we found a shack, and there was some gas in there . . ."
"Dude!" Wally exclaimed, "That gas totally poisoned us! We . . ."
Bruce held up his hand, "Let him think." He ordered.
Dick frowned again, "Uhh, I was at school; and everything was swaying . . . and I remember falling, and Barbra screaming, then . . ." he paused, remembering the queer dream he had had.
"Then. . ?" Bruce and Wally prodded in unison.
"Then . . . nothing . . . I woke up here." Robin decided to keep his dream to himself. "What happened?" he asked again.
"Dude!" Wally exclaimed, before Bruce could reply "You've been in a coma for, like, four days! I was too; I only woke up a few hours ago . . ." He pulled over another plastic chair and sat down wearily, "I'm still feeling a little drowsy, but the doctor said I'll be fine, you too; whatever that gas was, it's completely out of our systems now."
Dick nodded and lay back down. Only then did he notice the teddy bear lying on the pillow beside him. He sat up again, "Where's my ball?"
"Huh?" Wally looked over, "Oh that ball. Well . . . when we were out to the world, Uncle Barry got a little stressed out and he borrowed it and went outside to burn off a little steam."
Dick quirked an eyebrow, "And . . ?"
"And he popped it." Bruce finished, "He went to buy you a new one."
Dick shook his head in disbelief and lay back down. "Bruce?"
"Yes?"
Dick changed his mind, "Never mind." He would reveal the teddy-bear moving culprit himself.
