This is a filler, my next chapter will be "Schooled" I hope you like this.
The first two new heroes that appear in this chapter, their design is that of the versions found in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Robin was once again hacking. It was a few days after their last mission and he was trying to extract data from the Penguin and Black Mask in Gotham. He'd already worked on the data that Aqualad had gotten for him in Santa Prisca. He'd hacked until he'd come up against a Firewall that he had no idea how to beat. The Firewall was structured in such a way so that there was only one way to get in and that was through a password. Robin technically could look at all the data but it would just look like gibberish to him. The data was coded in numbers that corresponded to letters in an alphabet. The problem occurred in that he didn't know which alphabet from what language, it could be English or it could very well be Elvish. The password was the key to the entire data. The data was coded so that each letter in the alphabet used was attached to the letter after it. Thus the letter "A" would actually be a letter "B" in the code. To put it simply the word "Cat" in the code would be "Bzs." The code didn't stop there though, the word that was the password, all the letters in that word stayed the same, they didn't move at all.
Robin had no idea where to start so he put the code aside to work on later. Currently he had discovered that they had a long chain of high end weapons deals. He was trying to hack to find out the locations of the pit stops on the chain so he could shut them down. He had almost got it when suddenly the screen flashed "ACCESS CUT OFF." He had been booted out of the system.
For several more hours he tried to access the programs he'd planted in their systems but couldn't. He surmised that they had done a complete system wipe to get rid of his hacks. Finally, he decided he needed to go to Gotham himself to hack their system.
He began packing. He packed several utility belts and a good amount of food. He then got his motorcycle and began riding it slowly towards the teleporters. When he got it into the main room he left it there and walked to the kitchen. Once he got in there he saw that all three of the other people living in the base were there. Skip had a huge plate of Chicken in front of him that he was tearing into with gusto, Superboy was (Robin had to exert great self-control to keep from laughing) trying to learn how to bake some cookies. Megan was helping him. Superboy grabbed an egg and held it over a bowl. He tried to crack it gently but he squeezed too hard and it cracked with both the yolk and the shell falling in. He growled and Megan helped him with the next one. He managed to do it gently this time but Robin noted he was having a lot of trouble controlling his powers. He'd have to have a chat with Superman about that later.
They noticed his presence and looked towards him (Skip still stuffing food in his mouth.) Megan said "Hey Robin! Did you come to help me teach Superboy how to cook?"
Robin grinned "sorry, I just came to tell you guys that I'm going to be away for a bit, I have to find some criminals in Gotham. Hopefully I'll be back soon."
The three looked interested as Robin turned and left the room. He got back into the main room but before he could go through the teleporter the other three came running into the room. Robin turned and looked at them and Megan said "we want to come with you!"
Robin blinked and then said "thanks for the offer guys but this is a dangerous mission and you might ge-"
"Like you did last time."
Robin opened his mouth to protest but then stopped because he remembered that during the mission with Slade he'd failed because he'd done it all alone. Superboy crossed his arms and looked at him with a face that said "you know I'm right."
Robin thought a little while more, this could be a good opportunity for them to get some more experience in the field and for him to know them better. Finally he said "alright you can come, go pack whatever you want and meet me here in 10 minutes."
They all nodded and ran off. Robin walked up to the computer and sent a call to Bruce. After a few moments it opened up and Batman's face appeared on the screen "what is it Robin?"
"I'll need to come back to Gotham for awhile to work a case, so I'll need to use the Batcave."
Batman nodded "you knew I would give you that no problem so why are you really calling?"
Robin looked a little uncomfortable "well, the other three who live in the base with me wanted to come and I said they could. I was wondering if you wanted me to keep them out of the Batcave or if I could bring them into it. I wouldn't reveal our secret identities to them."
Batman looked pensive, Robin was wondering what he would decide. This Batman seemed more lax than his had been, but of course his Robin had been extremely comfortable in his role as sidekick.
"Very well, I'll allow them to use the Batcave, provided they aren't told our secret identities."
Robin nodded and thanked him. About 10 minutes later the others came back into the room. Superboy had a simple backpack that wasn't very big, Megan was levitating several backpacks, but Skip was riding on top of an enormous dog that looked more like a wolf. But Skip had about 5 large dogs following him and all where slung about with various foods, many of them were ones Robin had never seen before and some of them looked downright disgusting.
"Uh, Skip, what's with all the food?"
"I'm just really hungry."
"Skip, some of that stuff is bigger than you are."
"Yeah, so."
Robin slapped his head and asked "how long have you been eating like this?"
"I just started nibbling on some eggs this morning and now I can't stop eating."
He said this while trying to tug some food off one of his dogs so it made the phrase quite comical. Megan giggled and Robin chuckled. Then Robin set the teleporter and they all walked through it.
As they came out on the other side they heard the computerized voice "recognized coordinates unknown, Superboy, Robin, Ms. Martian, Skip."
Skip and Megan gasped as they saw where they were, Superboy just mutely looked around. The Batcave stretched out before them.
Before they could move Robin turned around and said "now before you go anywhere I need to make one thing clear, Batman let you in here as a favor, he doesn't want his or my secret identities compromised so while you can wander around a bit don't go too far."
They all nodded and then Robin went to go use the Bat-Computer. He brought up the extensive files that Batman kept on the criminal underworld of Gotham. He specifically looked up the Black Mask and the Penguin. Penguin had lately escaped Arkham and was at large on the streets of Gotham.
The others admired the cave. Megan was particularly interested in the trophy section. Objects taken from various villains where kept in pristine condition by someone. She was especially interested in the Joker section. She was looking at what seemed to be a stretching rack when she heard a voice behind her "the Joker almost tore me in two on that thing."
She whirled around to see Batman staring at her with a girl who had red hair, a black cowl and purple costume on behind him. Batman then walked over towards Robin. Batgirl walked up to Megan and said "nice to meet you, I'm Batgirl."
"I'm Megan, nice to meet you too."
They shook hands.
Batman walked up behind Robin and watched his progress. He was now looking up the time when Black Mask's skyscraper was closed.
"What's you're plan?"
Robin finished and then turned around "I'm going to break into the skyscraper and hack the mainframe to get the data I need. They got rid of my hacking programs so I need to get in there directly."
Batman nodded and then said "do you need any help?
"I already have help" Robin said, gesturing to his friends from Mt. Justice.
"I meant do you want my help?"
Robin considered this, with his own Batman he would've probably said "no" right away but (he was surprised to admit it to himself) he liked this Batman better than his own. The idea of putting himself back where he had been when he'd started his hero career wasn't one he relished but he would be the first to admit he had stubbornness issues. This was an opportunity to break that down, at least the bad part of it.
With great effort he said "fine, I'd like your help."
Batman smiled and then said "when were you planning to go there?"
"11:00 pm."
"We can wait in the Batcave for that time."
He then went off to introduce the others to some video games he'd had installed just in case he needed to keep someone busy and inside the Batcave. Robin played some with the others as they waited but noticed that Skip kept horking down enough food to make him sick every half-hour. Skip also needed to use the restroom a lot for apparent reasons.
Finally the allotted time came and they all went through the teleporter to a place in Gotham close to Black Mask's skyscraper. They approached the skyscraper through an alleyway. Buildings in Gotham always where built slap up against each other as people competed for more and more space. They got to the end of the alleyway and Robin and Batman peered out at the building. Several entrances were along the side in the alleyway facing them and several guards patrolled it. Robin turned to Batman and said "so what's the plan."
"You tell me, you're leading the team."
Robin looked at him with disbelief "are you saying that you'll follow me instead of vice versa?"
Batman nodded with the tiniest trace of a smiled coloring his face.
Still shocked Robin said "you and I will take out the two guards and disable the security for the door going down. Superboy will break it open and then we'll make our way to the computer lab."
They all nodded and set to work.
The two guards both where a bit bleary, it being late at night. Thus they never heard the two cloaked figures or the lassos that tied them up. Before they could think to cry out however two shadowy figures had gagged them and had confiscated their walkie talkies.
The gang moved inside.
Once inside Robin said "Superboy, use your heat vision, who's in the vicinity besides us?"
It looked like Superboy squinted as he engaged his X-Ray vision combined with his Thermal Vision.
"Some of the rooms are occupied but they're probably just people working late, there are several guards but I can lead us away from them."
Robin nodded and they continued on. Finally after descending many stairs they got to the computer lab in the Basement. These were hooked directly into the mainframe. Robin hooked in his hacker tool and began hacking. While he was doing that he said "look around, make sure we aren't in danger, if you see any guards, knock them out."
The others nodded and fanned out a bit. Robin continued hacking. The Black Mask had reuploaded the information after the system wipe and Robin sought to ferret out that information. After about 5 minutes the others came back. Finally, Robin found the info he was looking for and began downloading it.
The download took about 3 minutes but to them it seemed like an hour. Finally it was done and they began sneaking back outside. Surprisingly nothing happened, they made it back out without a problem and took the teleporter back to the Batcave.
Back at the cave, the first thing Robin did was ask Megan to get the Bio-ship and store it somewhere outside Gotham and wait for them, because they'd need it soon. As she left Robin walked up to the Bat-Computer and inserted the information he'd gotten. A bunch of what looked like random gibberish appeared on the screen.
"Why is the data fragmented?" Batman asked.
"Mask only stored half of it in his mainframe, probably a precaution after they found my viruses. I'll bet my cape that Penguin has the rest of it in his Nightclub."
The Penguin's main staging ground for his schemes was his nightclub named "The Iceberg."
"Maybe you and I should go there on your time off" Batgirl said. Robin looked at her in confusion and then shook his head and said "anyway, that's our next target."
Batman nodded and asked "are you planning on going there immediately?"
"Yes, now's as good a time as any."
They all walked back into the teleporter. They came out near the Nightclub and climbed to the top of a building overlooking it. It strangely was closed.
"They know we're coming" Robin muttered. Batman nodded and Superboy engaged his vision again.
"Nobody's inside."
"That's weird . . . we're going to go in through the top through the air ducts. We'll make our way to the computer lab from then on. Skip and his hounds can keep watch."
Batman nodded and he, Robin, and Batgirl fired off their grapples. Robin grabbed Superboy by the arm as they swung onto the roof of the nightclub. They found the air duct and got into it. Robin had been in this building many times in his career with his Batman so he knew the building like the back of his hand. They made their way easily to the basement which contained a few high-level computers.
Robin began his usual hacking procedure. Then Skip's voice was heard in all of their heads besides Superboy "guys, a lot of people are gathering outside the Nightclub. They're surrounding it. Some have gone in already, I think they were waiting to attack anyone who came in without permission."
Robin nodded and informed Superboy. Then he said "I need you three to hold them off for at most five minutes, I should be done by then. Batman and Superboy nodded and walked off quickly.
The gang members moved through the silent night club. They were one of many that inhabited the dark underworld of Gotham and they had been hired by Penguin to protect his Nightclub. They had seen three figures go in through the top and now moved to capture them. Three entered a room and surveyed it. Their comrades outside moved on, not noticing that they didn't return.
One man walked into another room and they all heard some grunts and the sound of a body hitting the floor. One scared crook backed up into another door and a hand literally broke through the door and pulled both him and the door back into the room. As the criminals turned to look at the doorless door frame a bunch of smoke bombs landed at their feet and exploded.
The criminals didn't know which way to look as three figures entered the room and began laying into their ranks. More and more rushed in, only to be met by a defense the likes of which they had never even imagined. There were a lot of gang members and they all attacked but the mantle of Batman held great fear and any who he brought along were certain to inspire fear in any criminal. Needless to say the criminals were skittish with this fight. Their morale dropped with each punch thrown by the three crimefighters.
The final stroke came when a loud baying was heard and a hoard of dogs, most of them common strays rushed in with Skip on the largest one leading the charge. The dogs attacked the men whose lines disintegrated. They ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.
Back inside Batman, Batgirl, and Superboy wondered at all the dogs milling around.
"You certainly seem to have good control over them" Batman remarked.
"I just gave them the impulse to attack the gang members, they did the rest."
Robin came up from the downstairs with a grin on his face.
"Did you get the data?"
"Yep, looks like the route passes through a number of small towns but the main stop before it leaves the states is in El Paso, Texas."
Robin turned to his mentor and Batgirl "thanks a lot for your help, I really enjoyed it. Goodbye."
He began to walk away but felt Batman's hand on his shoulder "wait, you don't seriously expect me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while a lead like this is ready and waiting. I'm coming."
Robin sighed and said "fine." Actually he felt quite good, this reminded him of the better moments he'd had with his Batman, they'd been bros, father and son, mentor and student, and he'd been living the dream of becoming a hero, a legend. He mused as he walked out of the nightclub and through an alleyway with the others behind him that he really was liking this gig as Robin again with the way this Batman acted.
Then several people unexpectedly jumped out of side-passages and grabbed Robin. He struggled as the dragged him away and he heard Batman's shout.
"Still serving as lackey to the Dark Knight eh, I thought sooner or later you'd get tired of shining his utility belt" one of the crooks said mockingly to Robin.
"Nah he's too much of a wimp, he needs Batman he can't do anything without him and will always be chained at the hip to him. How pathetic that he can't be anything besides apprentice to Batman."
The others who were running after the crooks suddenly heard a scream sounding nearly as insane as the Joker's and then yells and cries of pain. They ran around the corner and saw Robin beating the four men. He'd broken their noses and twisted several of their ankles. Once they fell to the ground Robin didn't stop but continued kicking them.
"ROBIN! STOP!" Batman ordered and grabbed Robin on the shoulder. Robin whirled around and seemed he was going to attack Batman, indeed Batman felt through Robin's body language that he would've loved to have done nothing less than lay into him.
But then Robin seemed gain control of himself and forced huge breaths to calm himself down. Then he said "Megan will be at the edge of the city in a few hours, we need to meet her." Then he walked off.
The others stared in astonishment off after him and then, remembering that they were coming with him, followed.
The whole time they waited for Megan Robin didn't speak. He was regretting his outburst but what the crooks had said had hit one of his worst nerves, and one of his great fears. Worse, it seemed to have spoiled the affection he had been starting to feel for this Batman, whenever he saw the symbol on Batman's chest and the cowl a wave of hatred coursed through him. Eventually he reined in his emotions but the fact remained that the good feeling he'd had about Batman joining him on the mission had been spoiled.
Then Megan finally arrived he informed her of the destination and left it at that. She felt worried at his countenance but didn't press him. The Bio-Ship would get to El Paso about noon the next day. Skip began eating again.
After everyone had mostly gone to bed Robin sat staring out of the window. Batman walked up behind him "you should get some rest, if you want to lead effectively then you need your rest."
Batman noticed Robin's fist curl into knuckles as Batman spoke to him.
"What did the gang members say to you concerning me?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Don't lie Robin, not even to yourself, especially not to yourself. If I'm anything like the Batman you knew he would've taught you not to do that. They said something as evidenced by you wanting to drive your fist into my face whenever I talk to you."
A long silence greeted them. Finally Robin spoke.
"They mocked me" he said simply, not saying about what.
"They mocked you about being my apprentice" Batman stated simply.
Robin turned and nodded "how did you-?"
"A matter of what I know about you. You left your Batman and formed your own Justice League per say, you wish for people to view you apart from Batman, and are intensely riled whenever someone tries to force you back under my cowl so to speak. Thus, one of the only things that is related to me to make you so angry would be to remind you of how people view you as a sidekick in this universe."
Robin looked away.
"I'm sorry Robin. I know this must be frustrating for you. Having to live the life you hated all over again. I know that I probably don't know what it feels like, never being a sidekick myself but I will try to make this as painless as possible for you."
Robin turned back, the anger was gone. He smiled and said "thanks, you know, you're not so bad . . . for a Batman."
Both of them grinned.
They arrived in El Paso on schedule. Robin had Megan put the Bio-Ship in Camouflage Mode as they descended. They exited on top of a building and Robin looked around using some binoculars.
"Well, where's the secret hideout where their stashing all these weapons?" Superboy asked.
"The information obtained didn't tell anywhere specific but gave a riddle. It reads:
When you come to the place I pointed
Look out for the right place
And then on the time appointed
Go to the building with both his and my face
"Well that's a load of gibberish" Superboy commented. Megan however wasn't brought down by the riddle "well we're obviously gonna solve it, we have the worlds greatest Detectives right here with us!"
Robin smiled, grateful she had said he was on par with Batman.
"Actually it tells us a great deal, I gained the times when the people working the arms dealership hand off weapons, the "appointed time." It also mentions that the building they're using has both the Black Mask and the Penguin's "face" on it. Most likely it's has a logo that's a combo of their motifs."
Megan clapped at his solution and the others smiled. Then they heard an explosion. They all looked over the edge and saw that a bank had smoke coming out of it and a lot of people were rushing into it. The people rushing were all dressed identically, probably part of a gang conducting a joint robbery. Robin looked at Batman and they nodded.
"TEAM GO!"
The three caped crimefighters leapt off the building top and shot their grapples. Superboy simple leapt off and Megan flew after them.
Skip watched them go, it looked like they had the fight well in hand and he was hungry again. He had a dog bring him a chicken leg and he began eating it while watching the fight like a kid watching the movies. He held the piece of chicken under one of the dog's noses and asked "you guys want some?"
Down on the ground the gang was astonished to see 5 heroes suddenly fall out of the sky so to speak to stop them. They immediately went to work fighting. Those who did hand to hand combat got up close and personal while Megan pelted them with bits of whatever she could find.
Partway through the fight Robin was fighting a man who seemed to have some martial arts skill. The man advanced and Robin feinted a hit to the face. As the man started to block Robin's foot slammed up into his crotch. As he fell over in agony another goon leapt and landed on Robin's back. As Robin struggled he suddenly heard what sounded like a laser blast and the man on Robin was flung off. Looking up he saw that what looked like a teenager in black and blue armor stood before him. The armor had several bug-like qualities; it had what looked like dragonfly wings, bug feet and bug eyes.
The armor seemed to have sprouted laser guns but they quickly collapsed back into the suit. Then Robin recognized him, the Blue Beetle. The Blue Beetle had been one of the potential recruits Robin had considered during the war with the Brotherhood of Evil. He was a regular contact with the League and the superhero community at large but only a few knew his true identity, Robin was one of the few. After working with Batman and Robin for a bit he revealed his secret identity to them, Jaime Reyes.
Robin got up as Blue Beetle walked up and helped him up.
"You alright man?"
"Yeah, who're you?"
"The names Blue Beetle. Who're yo- . . . yo . . . your . . . your"
"Robin."
"DUDE YOUR ROBIN! AND HE'S . . . HE'S . . . BATMAN GET OUT!"
The others had practically wrapped up the fight and walked over to the two young heroes. Blue Beetle was gawking at Batman with his mouth wide open until Batman held his hand forward and said "I'm Batman, pleased to meet you."
The young hero grabbed Batman's hand and shook it quite vigorously. Robin cleared his throat and said "I think we should get back to the ship in order to begin our search."
Batman nodded and they began walking back towards the Bio-Ship when they were stopped by the voice of Blue Beetle.
"Wait, you guys are looking for a lead here? Why not come over to my place, I know this town way better than you guys."
Robin considered this for a bit, then he turned around and said "okay, just lead the way."
Blue Beetle smiled and did as he had been told.
Along the way to his home, or rather his hangout outside his home Blue Beetle told them his name. Robin played the part of not knowing but privately began to evaluate him, if was to have any say in it Jaime might help him in the battle against the Light.
Jaime's hangout consisted of a large shed that had a TV, a computer and several other features.
"Put it together myself" he said as he showed them it. Then he sat down and asked "so, what are you guys looking for in my neck of the woods?"
"We are tracking a weapons trade route and here is the last stop off before the weapons leave the United States. We have a clue that will help us find the place but perhaps you could help narrow the search."
Jaime thought for a moment "well, there's a casino that belongs to a crime-lord that I know of. Practically everyone does know that he's a crime lord."
The others nodded but Megan asked "why hasn't anyone arrested him then?"
"Lack of evidence, I've actually been trying to gather something to implicate him but haven't gotten anywhere so far."
"The clue said the building had a logo concerning a Black Mask and a Penguin, does that help."
Jaime grinned "the Casino's name is the Masked Penguin and its logo is a kung fu penguin with a Black Mask."
"Sounds like our place."
They all got up and left for the Casino.
The Penguin was currently playing a game of poker. He was seeing that the last of the cargo was being flown out of the country while the Black Mask had gone on ahead. He played well into the night and finally retired. He left and got into a limousine, not noticing the black figures that came out of the air-ducts of the building to follow him.
He had his driver take him back to the hotel and never noticed when a gloved hand placed a weird shaped device on his ceiling.
Robin sat back in Jaime's hangout, listening to the bug he'd placed in the Penguin's room. It was late and most of the others had just gone to bed. He heard Batgirl coming up behind him and said "what do you want Batgirl?"
"Sheesh, why so serious? I was just coming to say you should get some sleep."
"I can't just yet; I need to get as much info as I can."
"So in other words, you're a stupid workaholic, how you ever could think your different than Bruce I don't know."
Robin was silent as he continued to use the bug which had both a camera and listening abilities. Then Batgirl placed a hand on his shoulder and said "maybe sometime I could show you the nightlife in Gotham."
Robin froze, and then forced himself to go back to work. Batgirl smiled at him and gave him a hug. Robin froze when she hugged him and sat still when she left. He then shut down the computer though he left it recording and walked off towards the Bio-Ship. Before he walked up and in however he heard Megan's voice whisper to someone "I'm cold."
"Well light a fire or something."
"Martian's are weak to fire . . . do you think I could . . . maybe . . . sleep . . . next to you?"
"W-well I-I g-guess so."
Robin waited a few minutes then walked inside. He saw that Megan and Superboy where sleeping in the same bunk. He smiled as he closed the door and made his bed, they reminded him of Starfire and himself so much. Megan the sweet innocent girl and Superboy the tough and serious guy. But as he drifted off to sleep he thought
I'm not as serious as Superboy though . . . right?"
He never received an answer as he was fast asleep.
The next day both Robin and Batman rose early and examined all the recorded material. It yielded one useful piece of information. The Penguin was leaving today and soon. Batman rousted the others up while Robin went to investigate the plane the Penguin was leaving on. Ever careful he placed a tracer on it and then returned to the others. Jaime had joined them and Robin addressed them all.
"Now, we're going to follow the Penguin to wherever he's going in his jet today. He's leaving any minute now. Jaime, I don't want to drag you into this so you can stay here."
"No way man, I always dreamed of an adventure like this. But I have one question."
"Ask away."
"Why are you in command, shouldn't Batman be leading us."
Jaime didn't expect the look of annoyance that came over Robin's face and turned as Batman answered "Robin is leading this time in order to gain experience, I believe he's ready."
"Oh, okay. Still, if you ever need me my cell phone number is-."
But what his cell phone identity was they never found out for at that moment a huge green glove seeming to be composed of energy smashed down in the middle of them and they all were flung back.
Robin got up coughing and looked up to see a man flying down towards them. He instantly recognized the man as a Green Lantern, the greenish glow and the ring gave that away. But the man wasn't the two Lanterns in the League he had red/orange hair and had a look of extreme determination on his face. He landed and began walking towards Blue Beetle. Jaime backed up, wearing a confused look.
"I'll give you one chance to give up Scarab."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Playing dumb eh, fine then, more of a fight for me."
Batman stepped in front of Jaime "stand down Gardner, the League has this under control."
"Standing up for the Scarab eh Batman, well you won't stop Guy Gardner from fulfilling his duties as a Green Lantern!"
With that the man attacked. He slammed Batman out of the way and shot a huge fist off towards Blue Beetle. It hit him and he fell on his back some 20 feet away. Robin wasted no time talking but flung some cords that promptly wrapped themselves around Gardner's waste. He conjured up a green scissor's that cut off the bonds and blasted at Robin with blasts of green energy.
He then turned and charged at Jaime. He formed a large spiked mace which he used to smash the teen into the air. Then he used it to fend off rocks being flung at him by Ms. Martian. He conjured up a large green bow and shot a large blunt arrow at the girl. Before it hit her however Superboy leapt down and smashed it into pieces. Then Superboy leapt at the man. Robin charged as well as Jaime got up and did the same.
In response to the three pronged attack Guy Gardner created a spiked ball on the end of a chain and swung it around. It struck both Superboy and Jaime but Robin avoided it and punched the man straight in the face. He stumbled back and with a growl of anger leapt into the air and formed a large green mortar cannon which began firing off rounds at all of them. They all ducked and dodged as the rounds hit the ground and caused large explosions. Batman had run into the bio-ship in order to do something, leaving the others at the mercy of the rampaging Lantern.
Jaime engaged his rockets as Gardner aimed at him.
"C'mon suit, gimme something to use!"
In answer the suit suddenly grew large laser guns out of its arms and shot them straight at Guy. They hit and slammed Guy into the ground. He got out of the sizable crater and roared with rage, he seemed to have temper issues and blasted back at Beetle while forming a large punching glove. He hit Jaime and he fell to Earth. Gardner propelled himself at the downed hero with the punching glove ready to crush him, only to be slammed into by Superboy mid-flight and knocked to Earth himself. He got up and formed an overlarge tank which he hopped into and began driving towards them. The tank fired and a shell headed straight for Superboy. Megan plucked him out of the way and Robin shouted orders.
"SUPERBOY, BATGIRL, YOU KEEP HIS FOCUS, MEGAN AND JAIME WILL BE ON RANGED ATTACK WHILE I GO AROUND BEHIND HIM!"
They all nodded and went to work. Superboy charged, only to be knocked back by a shot from the tank. Batgirld charged but put more energy into dodging the blasts. Jaime pelted it with laser blasts while Megan did likewise with rocks. Robin snuck off to the side and around the back. He snuck up behind the tank and got on it. Finding the entrance hatch he quietly as he could opened it. Gardner, who was completely focused on blasting the others, didn't hear him. Gardner suddenly felt a huge blow to the back of his head and he fell unconscious. The Tank around them dissolved.
When Guy Gardner woke up the first thing he saw clearly was the Blue Beetle. He tried to leap at him but found himself immobilized by green bands. Looking around he saw that the two Green Lanterns who were part of the League, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, holding him down.
"What are you doing? Attack the Scarab!"
"Gardner, if you'd have just listened before you dashed off you would've known why we're allowing the kid to keep the Scarab."
Batman explained the situation to the other three who had no idea of what was going on.
"Blue Beetle here, his suit which gives him his powers comes from an ancient civilization of people called the Reach. Unfortunately they were galactic conquerors and their arch-nemeses were the Green Lanterns. The Lanterns eventually won but the Reach scattered many Scarabs like the one our friend uses across the universe. Each Scarab picks a host and makes them into heroes, biding their time before the Scarabs will unite in order to destroy the Lanterns. Upon coming into contact with the Lanterns in the League Jaime's suit tried to destroy them, but Jaime managed to rein it into his will. The League decided to work with Jaime on the suit to study it and make counter-measures for the eventual Reach invasion. Jaime agreed and we have been studying the suit ever since."
Robin nodded, memorizing every detail, he'd done much the same thing with Sladebots. The Lantern's finished explaining things to Guy and he walked over to them. He walked up to Jaime and said in a rather embarrassed voice "uh, sorry I went medieval on you. I kinda gotta work on my anger issues."
"No big."
As the two League Lantern's flew off everyone turned to Robin "so, what did we miss due to the fight Robin?"
Robin checked the tracer he had on Penguin's plane. It was far out over the Atlantic, almost to Europe.
"Well, Penguin's already got a good headstart on us but we can still trace him."
Gardner's voice broke in "wait, you guys missed someone because of me?"
"Sort of."
"Well, I gotta come with to make it up to yeh, Guy Gardner never lets a criminal get away."
Robin stared at him, thinking of excuses to make to keep him from coming. But then he thought that with what Penguin and Mask had been shipping they could use some muscle besides Superboy.
"Fine, I'll let you join up for the duration of the trip."
Guy punched his fist in anticipation but then said "I just got one question?"
"Sure."
"Why are you leading?"
Robin threw up his hands as Superboy and Batman slapped their foreheads.
The tracer led Robin to a place he had most certainly not expected. It led him and his team to a snowy city that was so worn and broken down that it really wasn't fit to be called a city anymore. It was in Russia and it had been left by the uncaring government to its fate after serving its purpose.
Robin and his team dressed warmly and got out. Robin's sensors told him the scanner was nearby and he followed it into a dilapidated building. It led him up to a closed door in the basement and he kicked it down to find . . . nothing.
The basement had obviously been hastily vacated but nothing was left besides his tracer. The Penguin must've discovered it in mid-flight.
Robin went to pick it up as Batgirl said "well now what?"
Noticing that it was only he, Batgirl, and Batman Robin decided to spill.
"Guys, I've been here before."
"How do you mean."
"Batman, remember how I told you about the Russian man who was part of the Teen Titans?"
"Yes, what of him?"
"This is the same place I met him, this city is the place where my team met him."
"So are you saying that he is around here too?"
"I don't know, things may be different here but the city was in the same condition when we arrived."
"Are you saying you want to drop the mission in favor of this?"
"We've run into a dead end Barbara. The data I had only extended as far as the USA, I was planning on tailing Penguin once we went international but since I can't do that the only thing left is to see what I can do for these people."
After some thought Batman and Batgirl nodded and then they heard Jaime's voice calling them, saying "uh guys, there's a crowd forming outside, you might want to see this."
The three heroes walked up and Robin saw the crowd that had formed. But he instantly recognized the old face of the former General who had greeted him back in his universe.
"I thought it was impossible but it is true, are you the American heroes known as Batman and Robin?"
"Yes, we are."
Robin saw hopeful looks appear on many of the faces of the people. Then he listened as the General gushed out his explanation "we are under attack, each night he comes. He was once one of us but now he is something else entirely. I beg you, I implore you to please track him down and put a stop to him. He will be our destruction."
The General looked old and tired as his head bent down "I know what many of you American think of my country and I must say that now I agree. My government, the maniacs that they are, have done horrible things, as have I. But now I beg you to help me make it up by correcting one of my sins. Please hunt him down and stop him. His name is Leonid Kovar."
Robin put a hand on his shoulder "we will, what direction does he come from?"
The General pointed the way and they all got into the Bio-Ship and flew off. While in the ship Guy Gardner started speaking "so basically we're hunting down a radioactive monster who acts like a vampire in that he only comes at night to destroy what little those people have left."
Robin nodded and Guy's face broke into a grin of anticipation "perfect, just what the doctor ordered."
Then suddenly they rocked as something hit the ship. Megan looked at the reading and said "hold onto your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"
She banked steeply as another bolt of reddish energy flew up at them. Then, just as she leveled out, they were hit.
The Bio-Ship slammed into the ground and they all got out. They saw something glowing red off in the distance. Batgirl was about to charge it when Robin shouted "THAT THING IS COMPRISED COMPLETELY OF RADIATION, DO NOT GO NEAR IT!"
Lantern formed his trusty mortar cannon and began firing at the creature. Superboy picked several boulders and began chucking them at the creature while Jaime formed his lasers and began firing as well. The creature roared and a single blast of energy came before it retreated. That blast unfortunately hit the Bio-Ship and its backblast slammed Megan onto the ground. Superboy ran up to her and shouted "she's unconscious!"
Robin brought up a map he had of the area and shouted "THERE'S AN OLD ABANDONED RADIOACVTIVE POWER PLA NT NOT TOO FAR AWAY, WE COULD TAKE SHELTER THERE!"
Superboy gave Megan to Batman to carry and then hefted the Bio-Ship to carry on his back. Robin led towards the abandoned power plant. But he of course knew that the plant stood a good chance of not being abandoned at all.
The Plant was there all right. Robin led them up to the entrance and dragged the doors open. The walked in and suddenly lights flared on.
"Uh, lights don't usually flare on in an abandoned building . . . do they?"
"No . . . they don't."
They all started at the unfamiliar voice, though Robin had heard it before. They saw a man dressed in Green clothes with a fur cap on approaching them. Robin crossed his arms; he had to go through the motions here.
"Leonid Kovar?"
"Most people call me Red Star, but how did you know my name?"
"Your old friend General Raskov told me. He also told me several other things about you."
Red Star, or Leonid as he was being called looked confused. "What could the General tell you that you wouldn't have already known? But wait, I see that you have an injured comrade, I was never called a rude host so I shall give you a place to rest from the elements for awhile."
With that he strode off and prepared a bed for Megan, Robin meanwhile took a look around the place his friend and teammate had called home. He found the capsules in which Leonid stored his excess energy and found the same leaks as back in his own universe that eventually led to the monster they had encountered. He didn't hear Red Star come in behind him but did hear him when he spoke "I see that you have found my room of capsules as I call it. I am sure Raskov told you of my powers."
"Actually, I like to keep up with government dealings so whenever I can I or my mentor investigate the government programs we can."
"Ah, but still you know of my radioactive powers. Whenever I must get rid of it I come here and distill it into these capsules. Your arrival presents a rare opportunity."
Robin listened, though he had an inkling what this was already.
"I live alone, with no contact. When I am gone I do not wish for all of this to be left to the elements. I am hoping you could make some provision to have these used."
"Maybe, but first I need to show you something."
He took him to the leakage of radioactive material and Red Star grew pale. Then they heard a large crash and a roar. They rushed back inside to the main room came upon a rather unpleasant scene. The radioactive monster had broken in and was now looking around as if trying to decide what to do.
Robin again wasted no time "ATTACK!"
The monster was pelted with all manner of bombs and ranged attack, Superboy and Red Star, both being immune to radiation because of their powers, charged. Both gave the monster a large number of extremely hard hits and it turned away and began running. But Robin noticed it was running in the direction of the city. Red Star suddenly was groaning and was glowing red. He ran into a construct full of metal pipes and they all heard him scream.
When he came out he was holding two capsules full of radiation. He deposited them on the ground and asked "that thing is the result of me?"
Robin nodded and he said "and now it is going back to terrorize the people. . . I MUST STOP IT!"
Robin nodded and then Megan's voice rang through their heads, apparently the loud fight had awakened her "the Bio-Ships auto-repair is at work, it's able to fly and could get us back to the city in time."
They all piled in and the Bio-Ship took off.
The monster was already in the city by the time they had gotten back. Raskov was there to meet him but everyone shied away in revulsion when Red Star got out of the ship.
"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?"
Robin stepped forward "HE IS HERE TO HELP! HE WISHES TO MAKE UP FOR HIS MISTAKES!"
Robin then led the team after the monster but, looking back, he smiled at Red Star shaking hands with the General. Then they joined battle.
The monster was headed up a hill when it was suddenly hit by a large bat. It turned and saw the team of heroes facing it. Howling a howl of rage it charged but they seem to give way before it, except one. Superboy met the charge and grimaced as the thing tried to crush him. The monster was hit from the side by several Batarangs which exploded and blue beams of energy from Blue Beetle.
As they fought Jaime kept repeating in ecstasy "I'm fighting by Batman . . . I'm fighting by Batman . . . I'm fighting by Batman!" The monster charged and they ran, but Jaime was a bit too slow as it swung and hit him squarely in the back.
He sailed away, flung to some distant part of the city as the monster felt a rock slam into its back. It turned and saw Ms. Martian fling rocks at it. It charged but suddenly Green Lantern was there and conjured up a gigantic anvil to fall on top of it. Red Star leapt in and began laying into the monster. The others marveled at his ferocity and then all but Robin grew alarmed as the monster began glowing like the sun. They all looked away and when they looked back the monster was gone. In its place stood Red Star but he was glowing completely red.
They approached him and he said in a strained voice "something inside me is changing . . . you . . . must take . . . me far . . . away."
Robin nodded and Megan called the Bio-Ship. Robin, Megan, and Red Star piled in quickly and they flew straight out into space. At his request, they let him loose a safe distance from the planet and watched him float away. He and Robin locked eyes and, after requesting it from Megan, Robin sent the telepathic message "you're one of the bravest people I ever knew." Then what looked like a mini-supernova occurred as Red Star's transformation took place.
Megan began to fly back to Earth but Robin said "wait."
They watched and then they saw, flying towards them, beyond all hope, Red Star. Robin smiled as he came back into the ship. Red Star flexed his hands and then said in a voice that said he could hardly believe it "my powers . . . I can control them. Before I couldn't but now . . . I can."
He flung up his hands and gave a great whoop of joy and Robin patted him on the shoulder as they flew back to Earth.
Once back on the ground Red Star was greeted as a hero. The general thanked them all and invited them to dinner but Robin politely declined, saying that they didn't want to tax the poor people of the city. Robin heard Batman offering to Red Star to join the Justice League but Red Star refused on the grounds that he could best help by rebuilding what he had inadvertently destroyed.
Robin gathered all of them together and said "well, I guess this is the end of the mission for now."
"Ah c'mon, I never got to kick as much butt as I wanted to!"
"And I want to go with you guys on more cool missions!"
"I would certainly not say no to a trip from my motherland."
Robin smiled and brought out some very special items he'd made for just such and occasion. He handed each of the three people they'd met on the trip a communicator with a YJ on one side.
"When there's trouble, you know who to call."
Batman insisted that they come back to Gotham before going back to Mt. Justice. To Robin' astonishment he landed the ship right in front of Wayne manor and invited them inside. Megan was extremely happy to try out all of the food selections to be tried, provided by Alfred. Even Superboy seemed to enjoy himself as they all sat down to a movie night.
Midway through the movie Robin got up and wandered out to a balcony with a good view of Gotham. Barbara found him and walked out beside him.
"It can be a beautiful view can't it. So deceiving . . . not revealing that Gotham is battleground."
Robin nodded, ever since the start of Batman's career Gotham had been the staging grounds for a war, a war on crime. Batman would not relent until he had cleansed crime from the streets and brought criminals to justice. Robin knew better than anyone else the drive that Batman had and the fact that they both would spend the rest of their lives fighting crime.
"But it also has good people . . . Batman . . . my dad . . . you . . . and me . . . you and me.
Barbara moved closer to him and before Robin could say anything she'd given him a peck on the cheek. She was about to leave when she felt Robin grab her shoulder.
"Babs, I'm sorry but I can't do this."
"What do you mean?" Barbara said in a confused voice.
"I can't be your boyfriend. I already have a girlfriend back home."
Barbara's face fell, and then she looked up and said "it's just that you're so different from him, my Robin I mean and well I . . . liked it. You're different from anyone I've ever met and I really like you. But I understand that you can't even consider it until you're certain you can't get home."
Robin turned to face her and said "I do think you're beautiful and I thought your counterpart was too, your mirror images. I had a crush on her but was too nervous to act on it. When I left Gotham I thought I'd never get over her but then I met another girl."
"Who was it, Raven?"
"Nah, it was Starfire. We're together finally after two years. Besides, I think Raven likes someone else on the team."
After a long silence Batgirl said "Starfire is lucky to have a guy like you."
Robin chuckled "no, I'm just lucky to have a girl like her. Now I think we should get back to the move before they think I've flown the coop again."
They both returned to the movie and the whole team slept that night in Wayne Manor.
I really sincerely hope you liked this; I'm a bit nervous about the last part with Red Star. I hope this is up to snuff.
I'm sorry for the long update gap. "Schooled" will be coming next.
I wonder if you got confused with all of the technobabble in the beginning, sorry if I did a poor job explaining about the codes.
Now for the Mailbag:
Evil Soul
Hey, sorry I haven't reviewed sooner but this is the first chance I've had in a while. Not much to say this time round. I personally enjoyed the chapter and eagerly await the next. If you have the other filler already written, it doesn't really matter if it comes before or after the next episodesince it will have to be done anyway before the episode that introduces Artemis.
When you do bring her in, you may want to consider having Batman talk to Robin about her, given he's not only the leader but he's not YJ-Robin and Batman both respects - mentioned in an earlier chapter - him and has been trying to avoid conflicting with him.
Only one issue as far as I can see. Robin mentioned - well, he thought it, you mentioned it really - in an earlier chapter (three, I think) that he didn't think Slade could have been married or had children. In this chapter you show that Robin knows that Slade is also known as Deathstroke and that Jerichco is his son - which is correct by the mainstream comics canon, Slade was married and has three children (that I know of). Since Robin knows that Slade and Deathstroke are the same person, he would know that information. Just wanted to point out that now there is a descrepency (may have spelled that wrong). If you can you should correct the earlier chapter so it makes more sence.
Again, great chapter and please update soon.
Sorry for the error. Thanks for the long review, I enjoy them. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Fan-Tasticly-Lame
Thanks for this story! I love the part with Sl- I mean Deathstroke. I hope Robin gets busted soon. That'd be kinda interesting, haha! I hope you update soon! :D
When Robin finally get's busted that will be a sight to see.
WiseGirl-AC
I love the fact that more of the team is starting to realize the truth slowly because of Slade's interactions! Bringing him into the story in this universe was genius!
Thanks a lot. I hope you enjoyed this filler.
darkmist111
awsome
Thank you.
Riqis Inna Sunja
That was great! I'm very happy to see this filler! it was even better than i thought itt would be! i think you should do the 'Schooled' episode next, to see what robin would say when he sees amazo and superboy in 'his' school. great job and please update soon!
I hope you enjoyed this filler. Sorry but "Schooled" shall have to wait until next chapter.
SuperninjaX
It's lexcorp, just so you know. DUDE! ROBIN IS A BEAST! YOU DID AWESOME! THAT WAS LIKE THE MOST EPIC BATTLE OF ALL EPIC BATTLES!
Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it.
potterinu
Slade Awesome! Happy graduation day.
Thanks, it was.
KaliAnn
Robin certainly has a lot to think about such as fitting in with the facts of the Robin he replaced and the information Skip provided him. I'm glad that Batman respect his choices of Honorary Titans. This filler was interesting, but Robin let his anger and hatred blind him, but he's should have a better control after everything he's been through with Slade. I loved the jetpack/glider cape. I'm glad his friends were happy he was okay, but both Aqualad and Kid Flash are now poking their heads where they don't belong. The Light is very interested in Robin and I wonder what your going to do with that. Another filler would be nice and so would School. Just chose what you like the best.
I hope you liked this one. Robin certainly has a lot on his plate but some might say that he is constantly shoveling more and more on himself.
Darth Sanctus
Where you watching Get Smart when you wrote this chapter, because the whole action scene is basically the ending of Get Smart?
It was based on the movie. Sorry if that detracted from the quality of the chapter.
One last thing. The newest episode of Young Justice has been leaked online. I watched it on Youtube. Just a little heads up. I will probably use the episode along with the other ones. It is only online and hasn't been released on television yet.
Good Day and God Bless :)
Sincerely, LordGodsServant