The Dark Squire

by CloakedDragonWing3721

Dick Grayson's parents were murdered and he was taken by the Court of Owls when he was five. Batman rescued him when he was eight, but the Talons took something from him. Five years later, the Court of Owls want their Gray Son back. And they will kill anyone who stands in their way. Part 1 of the Knighthood Universe. Complete. Look out for The White Prince and The Blue Knight.

10. Lacking

A/N: WE MADE IT TO CHAPTER 10! YAAAAAY! I feel so accomplished! Double digits! Ermigerd I'm so excited, I get to torture Robin this chapter! Finally, a release for my sadism! Life stinks right now, I have a C in French, so Dad cut off my data… gah, it's almost physically painful… I NEED to read fanfiction…

Aqualad lead the way back to the bioship, the group of young superheroes trudging reluctantly into the cockpit. They knew that they had to get off the island before the supervillains regrouped and decided to attack, but then again, maybe it would be easier to have death-by-villain than death-by-batglare. Batman was going to kill them.

Whatever happened, Aqualad just hoped Robin would survive.

000000000

Robin awoke in darkness, feeling cold metal beneath his shirtless back. He could feel that he had loose cloth pants on (thank goodness) but he had no shoes, gloves, or belt, which meant that all his trackers and lockpicks were gone. Robin tried to sit up, but felt a coolness restraining him at his neck, ankles, wrists, and waist. Dick tried not to panic, but the cold restraints, the darkness, and the metal table he was no doubt laying on brought back horrific memories of being conditioned, whipped, knifed, and beaten into submission. Dick's hand grasped the edge of the table, and then he shuddered. There was a dent there, a ding. The Court normally insisted that their property be spotless and perfect, but throughout his years of being a Talon, Dick had absentmindedly picked at the same spot on the metal table while he waited for his next torture in the darkness, rubbed it, and over the years it had developed into a small nick.

Robin was being held in the very same restraints, on the very same metal table, that he had when he was a child.

A light turned on in the room, dim, because owls were creatures of the night and the Court was very good at sticking to their theme. Now that he had some light to go by, Robin could see that the room was empty except for his table, with reinforced metal walls that Dick would bet was lead-infused and embedded with tiny bits of kryptonite on the outside. Robin lay absolutely still as a door slid open vertically, and shut behind three members of the Court, his Grandfather, and a Talon whose helmet and the accents on his knives indicated was the second lowest level. Even the Court's servants had a hierarchy. Unfortunately, Robin himself was the highest level a servant could be, almost priceless in skill and value, and therefore the Court would never let him go.

The three members of the Court, the Grandmaster himself, a blonde woman wearing an elegant gray dress who was most likely the Grandmistress, and the Grandmaster's highest advisor and lieutenant took up positions near the wall. Grandfather took his position near Robin's head, hands folded behind his back silently, and the Talon stood on the other side of Robin, near his torso.

Grandfather spoke. "This is your last choice to join us, Gray Son-"

Robin shook his head decisively and mouthed, Robin.

Grandfather sounded irritated. "What?"

My name is Robin.

The members of the Court stood motionless near the wall, along with the Talon and Grandfather. After a second, Robin found out that Grandfather could lip read, because he said, "Very well then, Gray Son. Talon, begin."

With that signal, the Talon next to Robin silently attached cords like the ones in hospitals to his chest and pulled a box from under the steel table. When the Talon opened the box, Robin could see that there was a generator inside. They were going to electrocute him.

Robin steeled his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He was the son of Batman, and he would not give in.

A tiny chime sounded, and Robin's body was charged with electricity, burning, until it stopped and the boy could feel the now welcomed coolness under his back.

"Join us, Gray Son." Grandfather said.

Robin shook his head, not wasting energy on mouthing words.

Then Robin's world dissolved into pain, and the boy wished he could scream.

000000000

Batman and the other mentors, along with Wonder Woman, stood waiting for the bioship to land. When the children filed out, Batman's gaze swept the group and the cold hand of fear closed around his heart as he realized that Robin wasn't there.

Batman stepped forward, a column of darkness and fury that made both the weak and the strong tremble. He was about to ask where his son was when Flash zipped in front of him and interrupted. "Where did you go?! We were worried sick!"

The kids looked at each other, exchanging unreadable looks, and the cold hand that held Batman's heart gripped tighter until the Dark Knight felt he could hardly breathe. Kid Flash answered his mentor's question. "Santa Prisca. We found out that various prominent criminals were meeting there, and we were going to ambush them."

Before anyone could ask what had happened, Batman asked, "Where is Robin?"

The team went silent, and Aqualad stepped forward, next to Kid Flash. The leader of the team looked solemnly at Batman. "The Talons took him." Batman felt his entire world collapse. Grief, terror, and horror swirled through his mind, until Batman grasped his anger, the vengeful anger that had kept him alive in the dark days before Robin, and pulled the pieces of himself together.

"What happened?" Batman's voice had gone so dark that all who heard it shuddered, even the League members who were trying not to panic, and even Icon put aside his confusion.

Aqualad took a deep breath and continued. "When we got there, Sportsmaster, Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Bane, Mammoth, and Blockbuster were there. When we attacked, Robin quickly incapacitated Queen Bee and attacked Bane. The rest of us contained the rest of our foes. Once we had subdued the villains and tied them to a tree, we realized that we had lost sight of Robin in the confusion. We were about to search for him, but a man dressed as a Talon appeared and he was holding Robin captive. Robin had numerous lacerations, was dazed, and his utility belt had been confiscated. The Talon told us that if we did not want him to kill Robin and then bring him back to life in order to enslave him, we had to free the villains. We followed his instructions, but the Talon, whom we discovered was Cobb, refused to free Robin, and tied him up. We were surrounded by other Talons, who helped Cobb take Robin to a waiting helicopter and left after he had. We boarded the bioship and left before the villains could return."

Batman breathed shallowly, trying to control his panic. After taking in the information, Batman looked at the team, meeting each of their gazes. "Robin told you his story?" Each member of the team nodded, and a few murmured, yes. Batman couldn't take time to be relieved that Robin had trusted someone other than himself and Alfred, and whirled around suddenly enough to startle some of the team members as he made his way to the zeta tubes.

Superman took a few brisk steps toward Batman, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Batman… please let us help you. We can help find him faster." Batman cast a glance behind him, looking at the League members and the Team, who looked in equal parts guilty, terrified, and determined.

Batman's mouth set into a grim line. "Fine. My city, my son, I'm in charge. Follow me through the zeta into the Batcave, and don't touch anything."

Superman looked hesitant, but said what was on his mind. "Batman… are you sure Robin is even in Gotham?"

Batman nodded his head sharply. "Yes. The Court is obsessed with ruling Gotham. Robin's full title among the Courts is 'the Gray Son of Gotham.' They'll want to taunt me by imprisoning my son in my own city, and taking the Gray Son out of Gotham is unthinkable to them. To the Court, Robin is their property, and they wouldn't dream of taking their property out of their kingdom. The Court fully believes that they have absolute control over Gotham, and even though I am there, they will believe that they can hide Robin there the best."

With that, Batman walked through the zeta tube.

Batman 02

A/N: Anyone else love how Robin's zeta designation is B01? I think it signifies that he's pretty much destined to lead the Justice League, because let's face it, there is no way Superboy could lead it. I know this is short, but everything will really pick up next chapter. I wanted to get this out quickly. Thanks for all of your wonderful support! Keep reviewing, and I'll see if I can make it to fifteen chapters! GUYS WE HAVE 100 FOLLOWERS! Whoa! We have 79 favorites, we can make that 100! And… whoa, 67 reviews! Please! Let's try to get to 100 on everything! 8,283 views… daaaang. SERIOUSLY THOUGH. 100 REVIEWS. WE CAN DO IT!

Raze Olympus: Thanks for yelling at me to get moving! Most people would get offended, but not I… I need all the encouragement I can get. Hopefully this chapter met (and/or exceeded) expectations!

WhenUniversesCollide: Oh, I DESPISE it when an author hasn't updated for years, and the story is getting tons of attention. I'm like, okay, you have hundreds of reviews, follows, and favorites, and you couldn't bother to finish the story?! Makes me so mad… You should update too! If I can do it, you can do it! Lol, now I think I'll see what stories you have. Maybe I've already read a few of them. And one can never get enough of Robin in peril. Let's face it, we're all sadists.

Tilicia: I see your point, but in this story, Robin's only friend his age (outside superheroing) is Barbara, and she doesn't know about Robin. Yet. So Bats is much more encouraging in this world of Robin. He wants Robin to make friends and not be as antisocial as he is. Here, Batman gave Robin permission to share his ID, but Robin doesn't really want to tell the team his backstory. I'll get more in depth with this in the story later. And I sorta kinda needed the team to know Rob's backstory so that they'd grasp the true gravity of the situation when Robin was taken captive the next chapter.

Rainfall04: Hello, my most regular reviewer! Lol, seriously, you review every chapter and IT'S AWESOME. I'm trying to be original, and keep y'all on your toes. I'm going for 'whoa, never thought that scenario would happen in my wildest dreams!' I think I answered your question about where Robin was going. I love Gotham too much to go anywhere else! And what is possibly more secretive than Gotham?! It's Gotham! As for Psimon… hahaha you're cute. You really thought I'd let Robin off with a bit of mind control?! I'm too sadistic. And it's overdone. BWAHAHA! And yes, the Talon's weakness to cold will be a big help to the team/mentors/Batsy. And ooooh, what I question! I am a blonde caucasian, so I'd go… silver, dark blue, and… hmm. I'd say red, but that would make it a bit too obvious that I'm a demon. I'm trying to blend in with the humans, here! I'd go with… black. Not like, African, but ebony, night black. What about you?

Human Customs Still Elude Me: Love your name! Thank you, thank you, you're so kind! *Takes a bow*

BirdFlashIsNotAThing: Thank you for not assuming my gender lol. I am born and proud to be a girl. Thank you so much for your kind review!

Unlucky Alis: Oh, ho ho. No, there was no way this was going to be all, 'we won!' like in the regular show. I'm almost insulted you thought it would go smoothly. And I hope you didn't forget what happened to the Atom a few chapters back… that'll be important because… SPOILERS! And yes, I myself am a fan of birdnapped Robin. Obviously. And I'm a bit scared I'm digging myself a hole by making the Light so powerful, but… meh. I'll figure it out!

DemonDance: Thank you, thank you! I have updated! You may cheer now…