She zipped up her school skirt before grabbing her white, button up, shirt. As she was pulling it closed, she heard a knock on the door, causing her to jump and quickly yell for them not to come in. Riley still found the memory of her father walking in on her after she had put on her first bra highly embarrassing. At least she was not the only one; her father had quickly slapped his hand over his eyes when she screams and apologies repeatedly. She grabbed her red tie before answering the door, finding Alfred.
"Good morning, Alfred, how did you sleep?" she asked, knowing Alfred liked the more polite greetings.
"Rather well, Miss Riley, and you?" He smiled at her as he stepped aside, letting her walk out of her room.
"Alright," she said, leaving out the part where she spent most of the night texting Wally who kept cracking jokes and texting random songs to her. "Is there a reason you're at my door?" She looped her tie around her neck, tying it.
"Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. I was not certain if you realized you slept in."
"I was aware but thank you." Riley smiled at him before walking back into her room, leaving the door open now that she was dressed. She grabbed her blue vest, pulling it over her button up top. She sat on her bed, putting on her socks and shoes before she went down stairs and into the dining room. She was surprised to find her father sitting in his seat at the head of the table, reading the paper. "Hi, Daddy," she greeted with a soft voice, worried he was going to reply with his Bat voice.
"Hello, sweetheart." His voice was pleasant, which matched the smile he gave her when he looked up from the paper. "Did you sleep well... after you had finished texting Wally?"
Riley blushed as she sat in the seat to the right of her father, not realizing her father had known she had been up until four in the morning talking to her best friend. "Yes. Are you mad I stayed up so late?"
"No," he assured, reaching across the table to take her hand. "Barry came over last night and told me what happened with Ashton. I want you to know that the only reason I have been distancing myself from you was because I couldn't promise that I wouldn't interfere with your missions unless I did. I never wanted you to doubt my love for you." He took a deep breath and leant forward, his brown eyes boring into her blue. "There is one thing I can always promise you, and that is that you are my daughter, and not once, not even for a second, have I wanted to change that. You are the only thing that makes life bearable."
Riley sniffed before jumping out of her chair, hugging her father. She was easily pulled into his lap, making her feel weightless and as though she was a small child again, being dwarfed by her father's larger frame. Looking up at her father, her arms wrapped around his neck, she gave a small smile. "There's many times I've wished my parents were still alive, but I've never wished that you weren't still my daddy. Also, I was never angry with you watching over me, more that I felt as though you couldn't trust me.
"I know, and I'm glad you won't get mad at me if I watch out for you," he assured with a soft smile, giving her forehead a peck. "Now you better get back to your seat before Alfred comes back."
She gave her father an expression of mock fright, one he returned, before jumping up and sitting in her seat. During breakfast they talked about Riley's grades, the Wayne business and a possible movie marathon.
"I'll drive you to school on the way to the office."
"Okay," Riley agreed readily, getting up to get her bag. She waited as her father to stand and pick up his suit jacket from the back of his chair.
He led her to the garage, where he selected one of the more low-key, silver cars. He unlocked the door, allowing Riley to slide into the passenger seat as he got into the driver's seat. The drive to the school was not overly long but was filled with a small conversation.
"I should warn you, I gave Artemis a scholarship to Gotham Academy. I thought it might make things easy on her, not having to worry about school fees and such." Bruce looked sideways at Riley before looking back at the road.
Riley nodded in understanding. "When does she start?"
"Tomorrow. She only accepted the scholarship the other day."
"Do I have to behave?" She grinned at her father.
"No, you only need to convince your teachers that you're an angel," joked Bruce.
"Already done."
This made Bruce chuckle as he pulled up out the front of the school. They both ignored the students and parents who stared at them in wonderment. It occurred regularly whenever they were out in public, especially when they were together. For some reason everyone found them fascinating and seemed to wait for them to fight or do something embarrassing. Because of this, Riley's prankster attitude was hidden, knowing that she would be shown in a bad light if everyone knew.
"Bye, Daddy." Riley hugged her father, feeling him hug her back.
"Have a good day." Bruce kissed her forehead and smiled at her as she got out of the car.
With a wave to her father before he took off, Riley walked over to where she could see Barbara waiting for her. When she got there she could tell something was wrong with her red head friend.
"I'm so glad you are alright." Barbara grabbed her shoulders, surveying her appearance before pulling Riley into a tight hug.
"Of course, what's wrong?" Riley yelped, starting to worry for Barbara, who had clearly suffered some distress.
"Ashton was attacked, and you were with him last night. I tried asking if you were safe and he glared at me." When Riley frowned in confusion, Barbara turned her around, facing her in the direction of Ashton.
The dark haired girl gasped, seeing her now ex-boyfriend with a broken nose and two black eyes. It was obvious to her that it had only taken one good hit to cause those injuries to the teenage, making her wonder for only a minute who did it. She thought of her father, before dismissing it, knowing he would never hit a child, so settled on Wally.
"I wasn't with him when that happened," Riley assured her friend. "But I'm not sad it happened. He wasn't exactly pleasant to me last night, so we broke up."
Barbara put on a sad face, pushing her bottom lip out. "I'm sorry, Riley; I thought he was a good guy."
"So did I." Riley shrugged, putting her back to her ex. "But all well, who cares."
"That's the spirit." Barbara slung her arm over Riley's shoulders, guiding her into the school as the bell rang.
At the end of the day Riley put her red hoodie on and her glasses, using the zeta tube in the batcave to transport to the mountain. Since Wally's school finished earlier then hers, and because he could run at super speed, he was already at the mountain when she got there, as was as the others, who either finished as early as him or didn't go.
"So," Robin started, looking down at her friend with the smallest smile on her face as he shoveled popcorn into his mouth. "There is someone I saw today that has a broken nose and two black eyes. Do you know anything about this?"
Wally gave her a large smile, clearly proud of himself. "Perhaps."
Robin shook her head with a soft sigh. "You didn't have to. I was fine without him being hit."
"I know," assured Wally, patting the lounge seat next to him, watching as his friend sat down. "But I was not going to be alright until he paid."
With a roll of her eyes, Robin put her head on Wally's shoulder, stealing some of her friend's popcorn.
"What's going on?" Magann asked in her soft voice, looking at the two.
"I punched Robin's boyfriend," Wally explained casually, shrugging only to get a glare off the girl wonder, who had been jolted off his shoulder. "Sorry."
"That is not a good thing, Wally," Aqualad pointed out with a frown.
Wally gave the Atlantian a dark look. "You should have heard what he said to Robin."
"He's right. Besides, the only one who can be annoyed at this situation is me, and I don't care."
"That's what I said to the Flash when he asked me what you'd think." Wally laughed. "Batman thanked me so if that's what I should measure my moral compass on, then I hit true north."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was fairly easy to spot Artemis talking to Beth, a straight A student who was always doing extracurricular activities. Riley moved closer so as to surprise Artemis when the two girls had a lull in their conversation.
"Hi, I'm Artemis, but you already knew that."
Seeing the blonde's awkwardness, Riley decided this was the perfect time, since it would also break the tension. She quickly moved to her side, slinging an arm over her shoulders and holding up a camera. "We'll laugh about this someday," she assured, smiling at the camera and taking the photo before dashing off. She knew Artemis would be extremely confused, but one day, if Artemis ever found out who Robin really was, she may find it funny… or find Riley/Robin even weirder then she already did, but at least Riley had a nice photo.
"Riley, what was that about?" Barbara asked, leaning against a pillar with her arms crossed, glaring at a particular boy who stood not too far from Artemis and Beth.
"Nothing, Barbara," Riley chuckled, moving out from behind the pillar. "Just being friendly to the new girl."
The red haired girl moved off as the bell rang, making Riley trail after her, looking at the photo she took. Even though Artemis was pulling an unhappy face in it, she still liked it. She left Artemis alone for the rest of the day and only gave her a glance as she hopped into the Wayne car where she was surprised to see her father sitting in the back waiting for her.
"Daddy," she yelped before throwing herself into his arms, making him chuckle.
"Put your seatbelt on," he instructed after returning the hug. As she did as he asked, he turned to her. "Do you have any homework?"
"Unfortunately," she admitted. "I probably won't be able to head to the mountain until night fall but I did get something awesome." She pulled out her camera and showed Bruce the picture of her and Artemis.
"Riley," the man started.
"Don't worry, she just thought I was some weird freshmen." Riley grinned. When she returned home she sat with her father in his study, doing her homework as her father worked on paperwork for the company.
"I want you to help me check out a tip before heading to the mountain. It should only take you an hour and a half or so." Bruce smiled at Riley when he noticed the grin that spread across his daughter's face.
"Alright. I'll just use one of the city zetatubes to get to the mountain when we're done, though I don't mind missing hanging with the gang for a night if you need me."
Bruce chuckled at her eagerness before assuring her that the time he had already requested was enough for the night.
It was almost seven o'clock when Robin headed to one of the zetatubes in Gotham, this one being disguised as an out of order phone booth. When she drew closer, she noticed a blonde woman trying to look stealthy. With a smirk, she walked up to her, not bothering to hide in the shadows but knowing that after years of training her foot steps were naturally silent.
"Artemis," she exclaimed in an obviously fake, surprised voice.
"Robin, I arr," Artemis started with a jump, trying not to look guilty.
"How random that you're in Gotham city," Robin noted, already knowing that Artemis lived in Gotham with her mother. "Instead of Star City, where your uncle Green Arrow lives."
The younger girl watched in delight as Artemis tried to think of an excuse. "I'm um… here to see my cousin. She was in the state spelling bee…" she scratched her head, realizing her story didn't fully explain her location. "here… in Gotham… City."
"C.o.o.l," Robin spelled with a big grin, knowing she could easily poke holes in the story if she wanted. "Did she w.i.n?"
Artemis frowned, realizing that Robin was mocking her. "N.O."
"D.r.a.g."
"Yeah, let's just go to the cave," snapped the blonde.
"Elders first." Robin bowed, gesturing towards the transporter.
"Your town, you go." Artemis put her hands on her hips as though she expected Robin to argue.
With a shrug, Robin opened the phone booth door, closing it behind her. "Recognized, Robin B01," a robotic, female voice noted as she was taken to the mountain. The moment she appeared on the other side she knew she was in trouble. There was thick smoke everywhere and there was a heavy smell of fire. Robin ducked a fireball but made sure she stayed close to the zetatubes, knowing that Artemis was going to appear soon and that she did not have as fast a reflex as Robin.
"Get down," Robin demanded as Artemis appeared, another fireball nearly hitting the blonde who barely jumped out of the way. Robin jumped back so that she stood beside the archer, throwing two bird-a-rangs into the abyss of smoke, causing a gusto of fire when they exploded.
Artemis loaded her bow, shooting arrows into the smoke as Robin threw a handful of bombs. Another fireball flew towards them as they saw the silhouette of two figures appear through the smog.
"Who are we fighting?"
"No clue," Robin admitted. "But we're sitting ducks by these tubes. Head for the exit."
They made a run for it, dodging fire, only to have a tide wave of water appear, blocking the exit.
"Or not," Robin muttered, thinking up a new strategy.
They tried to run back but got swept up in the water and slammed against the wall. The water receded, allowing them to get up and run another way, with Artemis still shooting arrows and fireballs swizzing overhead. They ran into the gym, closing the doors behind them.
"Robin to team, come in, Aqualad." There was a buzz in her ear that tended to come from interference.
"M'gann," Artemis tried, "Can you hear me? Are you here?"
The explosion that destroyed the door knocked them off their feet. They quickly rose only to be chased through the changing room and into the showers by a fire tornado. "Robin to Batcave, override RG4. Cave calling Justice League H.O.G. watchtower B.01, priority red." She gained no reply, making her swear in Romani in her mind. "The comm. is down, blocked." Without saying a word about it, the two started turning the showers on before standing in the middle, water pouring around them. "At least the waters helping," commented Robin before she heard a foreboding groan. The taps burst off, tiles and shower heads flying across the room. "Or not." The room started to fill up. Robin put bombs on the wall, creating a hole for the water to flood into the corridor behind, taking them with it.
Once they landed they ran to the kitchen, coughing up the water they were unable to keep out of their systems.
"We need to get lost," pointed out the younger girl.
"The air vents."
"Good," agreed Robin. "Go!" She turned to the computer on the wall, plugging her wrist computer into it and hacking into the schematics.
"What are you…" Artemis started ones she had removed the cover from the vent.
"Downloading cave blueprints. Could come in…" She heard a noise, cutting off what she was about to say as she listened closely. "Go, go." Robin climbed into the vent after Artemis, instructing her to take the first left. As soon as Robin had turned the corner completely, there was a burst of fire that ran down the vent they had been in. "To close. Take the first right." Robin used the blue prints to help her navigate around. "There should be a vent cover right in front of you." They went through the hole, landing on a platform. "This way," Robin led Artemis to the bowler room staircase.
There was a wall of fire and a figure behind that Robin could not quite make out. They dropped down from the staircase, onto the floor, seeing the heat signatures on the bowlers going off the charts. "That's not good," Robin noted before they ran, pipes bursting on either side of them. "I know the other access tunnel is around here."
"You mean this one?" Artemis said, pointing to one.
With a small smile of relief, Robin put a bird bomb on the closest bowler and followed Artemis. Once they were in the vent, Robin noticed an interface with her cave's computer system. "Hold on." She hacked into the sensors easily, finding it child's play. Her cousin, John, had taught her to hack harder things when he was alive. "Locking out motion sensors and heat signatures to prevent to enemy from tracking us."
"And I ask again, who is the enemy?" snapped Artemis, sounding as though she was not handling the situation as best as she should have been.
"Let's find out," commented Robin in a calm and slightly cheeky voice before turning back to her wrist computer. "Downloading cave security footage… there."
She played it on her holographic screen, seeing Superboy, M'gaan and Kid Flash standing around Superboy's bike, Kid Flash working on it.
"Dart wrench," Kid Flash commanded, M'gann handing it to him telekinetically. "Thanks, green cheeks."
Aqualad walked into the room and over to the other three. "I have been meaning to ask, any problems juggling school with team work?"
"No," Superboy grumbled in his trademark way.
"Juggling is just one of my many talents," Kid Flash assured in a bousterous manner before he went back to using his serious and focused voice that Robin was father used to. "Socket wrench!"
"Being a cheerleader is a bit of a challenge," admitted M'Gann before she realized what she said. "oh, but my loyalty is always to the team, this team, not the bumblebees."
Aqualad was silent for a moment as he contemplated what they had told him. "Artemis starts school today, do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?"
Robin ignored the scoff of annoyance from the girl next to her and instead focused on the scene before them.
"Nah, she'll manage all right," spoke Kid Flash as he rose to his feet. "how much more hostile and ann…"
His words were cut short as the camera was taken out by a wave of water.
"What happened?" yelped Artemis.
"Explosion took out the camera," explained Robin, ignoring how Artemis' tone grating on her nerves. Having a panicked superhero with you made it hard to stay calm yourself, especially when you've just discovered that your three friends and one best friend were in the cave when it was taken over. She thought they might have been but she was not certain until that point. "I'll try another angle." She tried all three other cameras in the room, only to get the same result. "That's it, all four are dead." At Artemis' expression, she realized how that sounded. "The cameras, I meant the cameras. I'm sure the others are okay; just let me find the fastest route to the hanger." She looked at the blueprints once again.
"Yeah, their okay, they all have super powers," Artemis muttered, hugging her knees. "They can handle anything."
Robin chose to ignore her as she found a route they should be able to take. She led Artemis into the library with a simply gesture. "There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases."
"Seriously? Cliché much."
"You should see the Batcave," joked the dark haired girl before she heard the door open, making her pull some weapons out of her belt as she and Artemis ran behind a bookcase.
"Artemis, Robin," someone called, sounding suspiciously like Red Tornado.
Artemis was clearly convinced for she smiled with glee and gave a slight jump of excitement. "It's Red Tornado." She ran out before Robin could stop her, only to see a robot that looked like their friend, but most certainly was not. She froze in shock as the robot went to grab her.
"Yes on the red, no on the tornado," commented Robin as she grabbed the blonde and slid under a table.
The table was smashed by the male robot as a female robot, red like the other one, appeared in the doorway they had been running towards. The female spewed fire at them, making them climb the bookcase to try and avoid the heat.
"Dude, what are they?" Robin questioned out loud as the sprinklers over head activated, dowsing the flames. She threw bird-a-rangs at the two advancing robots distracting them long enough to find the secret passage way and escape.
"Did you know Red Tornado had siblings?" Artemis snapped at Robin.
"No," she answered shortly, walking down the corridor.
Artemis grabbed Robin's arm when she turned down another corridor. "So what now? Red Tornado is one of the super powers of the league, how are we meant to take on two of him?"
"They do seem pretty user unfriendly," Robin jested to try and lighten the mood.
"Don't joke!" Artemis yelled.
"Attention, Robin, attention, Artemis, you have ten minutes to surrender or the lives of your team mates will be extinct." The words were broadcasted over the intercom and although the words themselves were foreboding, Robin released a small, unnoticeable sigh of relief. There was a large chance that the robots were telling the truth when they indicated that the other members of their team were alive, if only for the next ten minutes.
Robin turned to Artemis to try and evaluate her mindset only to find her looking at Robin in a slightly panicked way.
"9 minutes and 45 seconds," the robots announced over the intercom.
Robin turned away and continued down the corridor as she tried to think of a plan.
"Eight minutes."
She stopped and turned to Artemis. "We can access the hanger from here." She turned to look at the direction they had just come from only to see water rushing towards them. "Or not."
"Will you please stop saying that?" snapped the archer as they had been heading. They eventually got swept into the water, making Robin get a breather out of her belt and share it with Artemis. As the blonde breathed deep from the devise she was grabbed by the male Robot, who seemed to be the one who controlled water.
Robin swam over and grabbed one of Artemis' arrows that had floated out of her quiver. She used the devise to stab the robot in the eye, making him release Artemis. The moment the blonde was free Robin grabbed her and used a grappling hook that she shot down the hallway to pull them away. She also thought to leave bird bombs in the water, hopefully doing more damage to their enemy. They swam to the hanger, finally breaking the surface of the water once they reached their destination.
"Look out!"
Robin was trained enough to react quickly to such instructions. She easily tugged Artemis' hand, pulling them back under the water, narrowly avoiding a fireball. They then swam in the direction that Kid Flash's voice had came from, only to find him and Superboy trapped within a rock like substance.
"You guys okay?" Robin asked as she surveyed the material that encased two of her team mates. Hardened magma, that's a problem, Robin thought, knowing how difficult it was to get through this particular substance.
"Forget us,, help M'gaan." Superboy nodded to the upper level, where they could just see Aqualad holding M'gann, both of them trapped by a cage made of fire.
Robin had to give it to their enemy, they certainly knew how to take down the four super powered members of the team. She could not help but find it amusing that it was the two humans who were causing the most trouble.
"Aqualad, is she…" Artemis started to ask, only to loose her nerve.
"She is unconscious," explained the Atlantian, sweat pouring from his form. "I fear she… we cannot survive much longer."
The female robot stopped any further conversation by appearing in the air, covered in flames. She aimed at Robin and Artemis, making them duck under the water again and swim towards the stairs. Unfortunately, once they were out of the water, the male robot appeared at the base of the stairs and the female landed at the top of the stairs, blocking them.
"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis yelped.
Robin quickly thought of a plan before barking two words at Artemis. "Distract her." Robin then pulled out some bird-a-rangs and threw them at the male robot but they simply bounced off the hard metal that made up his form, one landing just where Robin had planned, an inch from Kid Flash's ear.
Things that resembled snakes made of water formed out of the water and aimed for Artemis and Robin, making them jump in the water. Robin led the way to a vent that they could escape through.
"Six minutes," the robots announced over the intercom.
"What do we do now?" Artemis asked once they were safely away from the enemy.
"We save them," Robin answered, trying to think of a plan.
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots already took out our four super powered friends!"
"You seem distraught," Robin pointed out with a tight smile.
"Distraught?" Artemis yelled in a strained voice. "M'gann is dying, we have no powers and I'm down to my last arrow," she brandished it as proof. "Of course I'm distraught."
"Well get traught!" growled the younger girl, her tone resembling her father's serious tone so closely that it made Artemis pause. "Or get dead!"
"How can you be so calm?" the blonde asked as Robin started crawling through the vents again.
"Practice. I've been doing this since I was nine." She was starting to get tired of Artemis' complaining. The older girl didn't seem to be trying to come up with a way out, instead she seemed to have resigned to her fate.
"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?"
Suddenly Robin got an idea and felt stupid for not realizing it before. She stopped, making Artemis do the same so she did not run into her. "Ah, Dah, they're machines! And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."
"Great," Artemis agreed with sarcasm, "but you better have an EMP in your utility belt cause I know I don't have one in my quiver."
"I'm fresh out." Robin could not help but smile at the look of confusion on her friend's face. It was clear Artemis could not tell if she was kidding or not, which she wasn't. She used her last one against two-face and it took time to build one that was portable. "But I'm betting we can make one." She tapped her comm.. "What do you say, KF? Doable?"
"Totally doable," came the reply. Robin chuckled under her breath at the fact that she could practically hear her best friend's smile.
"Five minutes," was announced through the mountain's comm. system.
"You know, if you had more time." The smile was gone this time.
"I love a challenge. Talk me through it, Kid Dork."
Kid Flash chuckled before starting on his list of what they would need and where they could most likely find it. Admittedly Robin had two motives to putting the bird-a-rang near her friend. One reason was to make sure they were all okay and to bounce ideas whilst the other reason was that she felt calmer when working with her father or Kid Flash. She knew them so well that she could also think more clearly with them around, knowing they had her best interest in mind. They would give anything to keep her safe and she would do the same for them.
"So where do I go?" Robin asked, waiting for Kid Flash to think of everthing.
"Med lad, x-ray machine." He waited until they had reached the room through the vents before continuing. "You'll find a small vacuum tube called a Vermeer that converts high energy pulses. Reprogram the microwave conversion from x-ray to trace EMPs with the cascading energy vectrims directed outward."
As her friend had been talking, Robin had connected her wrist computer up to the x-ray machine, doing as instructed, taking out the necessary cylinder when he was finished. "A ripple effect!" she declared, realizing what he was planning. "Like dropping a stone in a pond."
"A stone with ten to the twelve power wattage, yeah," Kid Flash agreed, excitement in his voice. He always did love talking about science with someone who could at least keep up.
"God I love it when you talk geek!" Robin laughed, being up schematics for the mountain.
"You're the only one," muttered Artemis, not realizing that Robin, and Kid Flash (through her intercom since Robin had connected her) could hear her.
"She's the only one that matters," countered Kid Flash.
Robin ignored them both. "So we'll need to hook it up to the KGB generator."
"Which is where?" Artemis asked, seeming to know she wasn't going to like the answer.
The unhappy smile the Girl Wonder gave her confirmed this. "Just in the hanger, where we barely escaped, and where two evil robots are waiting to kill us. No biggie."
"I think I should worry about your take of 'no biggie'." Artemis' grumbled words made Robin laugh as she walked towards the vents.
"Four minutes."
Robin took a deep breath to calm herself when she heard how little time they had left.
"Okay, you're the distraction," Robin reminded Kid Flash as they snuck back into the hanger and over to the KGB generator.
"Hey, Red Tomato," Kid Flash yelled from below, making Robin grin. He certainly did know how to cause a commotion. "Whose your girlfriend? Red onion?"
"Yeah, by the way, worse death trap ever!" Superboy added in. "We can escape any time we want."
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two."
They reached their destination, making Robin turn to Artemis as she cradled the EMP in her arms getting ready to put it into place. "Cover me."
"And you can't drown a kryptonian," boasted Superboy, making sure to get louder to cover what the two girls were doing and any possible noise they might make. "We don't breath air."
Kid Flash laughed. "And Miss Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act."
"Rerouting power now," Robin muttered to Artemis, looking over at Kid Flash to make sure the robots weren't going to shut him up in a violent manner.
"Yeah," added Superboy, "Do you know how hot it gets in the caves of mars?"
Robin connected her wrist computer into the generators mainframe to activate it, only to discover it wasn't working properly. "It's not working." She scanned over the devise, noticing the gap at the bottom of the EMP.
"This heat is just making her home sick."
"Duh."
Ignoring her friends, she informed Artemis of the issue as she reached for her belt. "Circuits incomplete. I need something conductive. A piece of metal."
"Robin, look out!"
She didn't have enough time to react to Artemis' words before a tide-a-wave knocked her off her perch. The water swirled around her, turning and tossing her, making her forget which way was up until she was lifted up in a column of water. She faked unconsciousness before her vision started to gain black dots. There was nothing she could do. If she tried to fight she would just die. As she was dropped onto the ground she felt her mind becomes foggy, giving into the sensation. She could faintly hear the words around her before she coughed, water spraying out of her mouth.
"She's… she's breathing too."
Robin looked over at Artemis who knelt beside her with a large, relieved smile on her face. She sighed upon seeing this, realizing the EMP had been completed. "Way to get traught."
At the joking tone Artemis sighed too. She helped the younger hero to her feet, allowing them to go down the stairs to Kid Flash and Superboy, Aqualad following with M'gann in his arms. The Martian was slowing regaining consciousness. To help her, Robin pulled a canteen from her belt and handed it to Aqualad. He took a quick sip before pouring the rest into M'gann's mouth, helping to cool her down. Artemis retrieved the laser cutter from its storage locker, though Robin knew it wasn't going to work any time soon.
"Rob, are you alright?" Kid Flash asked with a panicked voice once he saw his friend slowly walking towards him.
"Yeah, but they had me," she admitted, stepping closer to her friend. "I couldn't get out of the water. Figured my only shot was to 'surrender', pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out though."
"M'gann," Superboy said, looking at the girl to lay weakly in Aqualad's arms.
M'gann opened her eyes and took Superboy's hand that was poking out from the rock. "I'll be fine."
Kid Flash smiled at the two, glad to see his friend was alright before glaring at the blonde archer. "Will you stop playing with that thing and cut us free already?"
It's not working, genius. EMP shuts down all machines, remember?" Artemis snapped back.
"All machines present at the time."
The voice made everyone bare Superboy and Kid Flash jump, though only because those two could not jump. They turned to see that it was Red Tornado, and not an enemy.
"What has occurred?"
"Little visit from your family." Robin gestured to the two robots who laid on the ground, shut down.
"Your extremely nasty family," Artemis added, something Robin agreed with.
"I was not aware I had family." Red Tornado actually sounded curious as he walked towards the two figures.
"Where've you been?" growled Superboy.
"Monitor duty on the Watch Tower. When it became clear that communications in the cave were down I tried to investigate but your zetatubes were also down. I teleported to provenance and proceeded here."
Suddenly, Supperboy's pet sphere that had been lodged in the wall came to life and rolled towards his master, just as the machine in Artemis' hands activated.
"Hey, Boy," Superboy greeted.
Robin and Kid Flash shared a panicked look before turning their gaze onto the robots that Red Tornado stood near. "The pulse has worn off."
The league hero reached down and touched one of the other robots. Seconds later his eyes glowed and he started creating a tornado that pulled the oxygen from the air. Again Robin found black dots in her vision before she fell to the ground.
There was something shaking her as two voices seemed to speak to her, one much louder than the other, softer one. Her head throbbed and the light that snuck through her eyelids stung. A shadow came over her face, blocking the light and allowing her to open her eyes. Looming above her was a very worried Daddybat. Behind him, still trapped in rock was Kid Flash who yelled out her name one last time before being silenced by the Flash clasping his hand over his mouth.
"You're not helping her."
"Sweetheart, are you awake?" Batman whispered, not being able to tell with her mask still on.
"Yes," she mouthed, putting a hand to her head where she felt a bump forming.
"You hit your head on the rock encasing Kid Flash," her father explained, picking her up before letting her slowly put her feet on the ground.
"Something tells me blacking out twice in a matter of about twenty minutes is probably bad for your health." She stopped for a moment, assessing her body before putting one hand on her stomach, the other still on her head. "I think I'm going to throw up."
Batman instantly moved her off to the side, taking off her mask and looking into her eyes, only to see that the pupils had almost completely encompassed her irises. He replayed the mask with a sigh. "You have a concussion by the looks of things. How's your head?"
"It's trying to kill me," Robin muttered, cringing when Superman yelled that Artemis was okay.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
Robin narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Stop moving them."
"I'm not."
"Oh."
Batman dropped his hand onto Robin's shoulder. "We should get you home. I can already see you want to go to sleep and we can't let that happen."
"Sleep does sound good," she admitted, only paying attention to the first half of the sentence.
"What happened?" Artemis screeched as they drew near, making Robin shrink into her father. "The reds happened. Red tor… wait, where are they?"
Robin looked around for a moment before realizing what happened. "Gone, all three of them, gone." She took a step forward onto for her foot to catch on the ground. Luckily something red caught her. Looking up, she found it was the elder Flash. "I'm going to throw up," she warned. In a matter of seconds she found herself in the closest lavatory, the Flash holding her hair back as she released the content of her stomach into the toilet. When she finally stopped, she was helped over to the since to wash her mouth out. "So this is what a male bathroom looks like," she commented as she leant against the Flash.
He was build similar to Kid Flash, just taller and quite as lean, but comfortable nonetheless. "Hey, no going to sleep!" he instructed, giving her a shake before taking her back out to the hanger where everyone looked at her with worry. "She'll be fine, but someone has to keep her awake."
"I'll take her home," assured Batman, only to see robin pull a face.
"No, our place has too many stairs. Remember last time?"
"Oh, yeah, Agent A threatened to wrap you in bubble wrap, though you were alright with the idea until he told you that didn't give you permission to roll down the stairs." Batman chuckled at the memory, since it had been when Robin was nine, before she became a superhero. She had hit her head on the car doorframe when getting out and had to stay awake until she felt better.
"Batman, we could also use you here to help clean up the mess and try and work out what happened here," commented Superman, looking both regretful that he had to drag his friend away from his hurt daughter and frightened. He may have been invincible but Daddybats could still scare him.
"I can look after her," said Kid Flash, finally free of the hard substance. "My house doesn't have any stairs and my parents won't mind. Let me guess, Rob, you want soup and chocolate cake?"
The girl nodded against the Flash.
"Hey," the speedster yelped, shaking Robin. "No sleeping."
The Girl Wonder grumbled and held her stomach.
"Uncle," Kid Flash chuckled. "That's not how you treat a sleepy Robin. If you do that she's liable to break your wrist." He walked over to them and put a hand on Robin's shoulder. "If you need us, we'll be at my place. The zetatubes are working, aren't they?"
"Yes. And be careful?" Batman gave a warning glare to Kid Flash before hugged Robin to him and kissing the top of her head. "Bye, sweetheart, Agent A will get you in the morning. Don't worry about school."
"Lucky you," Kid Flash declared loudly as they walked towards the zetatubes.
In response Robin clamped a hand over Kid Flash's mouth. "Shhh."
It was mere minutes before they were in the West house, Wally explaining things to his parents as Robin changed into a pair of Wally's pants and one of his shirts. Both were far too big on her petite form, making her roll up the pant legs so she didn't trip. When done she lay down on his bed, feeling as though she was sinking into a cloud.
"Oh, no you don't," Wally exclaimed when he walked into the room. He grabbed her, sitting her up. "I'm not encoring the wrath of Batman just because you want to have a nap. Besides, mum had gone down to the supermarket to get you soup and chocolate cake."
"You should have told me," she said with a yawn, "I would have given her money."
"You know she won't take it." He pulled Robin to her feet. "Come on, I figured we can watch some tv, since playing a game may be too complex for you at the moment. After you have something to eat it may be easier." He sat her on the couch in the lounge room before putting a bag of ice on her bump and handing her a drink. He then sat down and let her lean into him.
They didn't watch any particular show, since they instead spoke of what happened, filling each other in on parts the other would have missed. Robin tried not to laugh at the fact that Wally didn't understand why Superboy was having so much trouble fixing his bike.
"Maybe his just not as handy as you," she suggested, figuring Wally would find out M'gann and Connor were dating when he was ready.
"You think so? I did help you make an EMP. You should have seen Supie's expression when I was talking to you. He was so confused."
"So was Artemis, but it worked in the end. Too bad it didn't work long enough."
"We'll find them eventually," assured Wally as his mother walked back into the house. The red head got up to help with dinner, telling Robin that she had to call out every five minutes so that he knew she didn't fall asleep. This resulted in a chorus of 'you're an idiot' being rang through the house at five minute intervals.
Hope you like. I don't think I'll be doing the chapters involving altered episodes for too much longer cause there are a fair few episodes I'm going to skip, since they aren't really necessary. Hope you like, R and R.