Infiltrator
Dick hadn't left his room in what felt like weeks but had only been about three days; it was a good thing school was closed for repairs for the amazo android. He had done nothing but lie in bed during the entire time; he only got up to shower or use the bathroom but that was it. Selina, Bruce, and Alfred had all tried getting him to leave his room but knew it was useless and he would leave when he was ready.
Bruce had come to his room to talk to him about his finding on the mysterious arrow that had saved kid flash from being crushed to death
"Artemis crock the second daughter of Paula crock and lance crock" Dick sat up in his bed and looked over the folder that had Artemis's profile. She was the daughter of two well known criminals one was retired though; he looked up at his dad "What does the league have to say?"
"They want to recruit her for the team"
Dick closed his eye and sighed "Speedy doesn't want to join the team so Artemis should be a good replacement for an archer teammate"
Bruce lifted an eyebrow he had expected dick to be angry that the league was accepting this girl right away but he had been working for five years to do just that "You're not angry"
He shrugged "Artemis has only been trained for the criminal life she hasn't actually committed any crimes, I on the other hand have so I can see why the league is being so accepting"
"Green Arrow has offered to be her mentor…he and I are going to meet with her at her address to ask if she wants to join the team" he saw dick didn't really care about that fact "Because I'm going to be busy I need you to help batwoman with patrol"
His eyes widened he would have been fine with being around the house but leaving the manor he could be a perfect target for anything being so out in the open. Bruce saw his reaction so laid a hand on his shoulder "Dick, Selina is going to be with you during the entire time you have to get your confidence back remember you can take on any talon except for William and it is unlikely that he will come personally even if they have been notified"
He sighed "Alright"
"Thank you dick"
oOo
Unlike dick, Bruce and Selina had been quite angry with the league being so accepting of artemis they didn't have a problem with her becoming part of the team or her in general but she was a direct blood relative of two well known criminals and dick he was only blood related to one talon and that was a great-great grandfather who they didn't even know how he was alive.
Green Arrow had been put on the spot when he offered to be her mentor, he didn't trust black bat at all but he defended himself with the same thing dick had said saying she hadn't committed any crimes and it wasn't like she could choose who her parents were.
So when Batman returned to the Batcave after Batwoman and Black Bat's patrol they weren't really surprised when he told them artemis had agreed.
"She's going to be at the mountain tomorrow so you will be there to introduce yourself too" Batman told Black Bat
"Sure"
oOo
"The Wall-Man is here" Wally had emerged from the zeta-tubes interrupting the conversation introducing artemis to her new teammates and the cave, he was dressed in a yellow and red swim suit carrying a cooler, beach ball, a blue and white beach umbrella, a boom box radio and sunglasses
"Now let's get this party star—" he ended up tripping over his umbrella falling to the ground while the beach ball bounced away past Batman and Red Tornado "-ted"
"Wall-Man huh?" artemis asked sarcastically "Ah I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?"
"Uh, who is this?" he asked once he stood up
"Artemis, your new teammate" Artemis answered
"Kid flash, never heard of you" wally retorted glancing to his other teammates
"Uh, she's my new protégé" Green arrow came up and put a hand on her shoulder
"What happened to your old one?" Wally asked
REDCOGNIZED: SPEEDY B-07
"Well for starters he doesn't go by speedy anymore, call me Red Arrow" Roy declared, he was dressed in a brand new uniform making him look more menacing
"Roy…you look"
"Replaceable" he interrupted what Oliver was going to say
"It's not like that you told me you were going solo"
"So why waste time finding a sub?" roy looked to the girl "Can she even use that bow?"
"Yes, she can" artemis walked up getting in his face
"Who are you?!" wally yelled
"I'm his niece" "She's my niece" Green arrow and Artemis stated at the same time
"She is not your replacement though" aqualad came up to Roy "We have always wanted you on the team and we have no quota on archers"
"And if we did you'd know who'd we pick"
"Whatever Baywatch I'm here to stay"
"You came to us for a reason"
"Yeah" Roy walked up to the holographic computer "a reason named Dr. serling roquetta" pulling up her profile on the screen
"Nano robotics genius electronic expert at royal university in star city, disappeared two weeks ago" Black Bat stated
"Abducted two weeks ago, by the league of shadows" Red Arrow corrected
"You want us to rescue her from the shadows, Hardcore!" wally cheered
"I already rescued her, only one problem: the shadows had already forced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the fog, comprised of millions microscopic robots. Nano tech infiltrators capable of disintegrating anything in their path, concrete, steel, flesh, bone, but its true purpose isn't mere destruction; it's theft. The infiltrators even store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen data to the shadows providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech."
"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking" artemis listed "Yeah sounds like the shadows" dick had to agree with her on that they had always been a rival with the court and he had to learn everything about them if he ever came in contact with any of them
"Like you know anything about the shadows" wally scoffed but she just smirked at him "Who are you!"
"Roquette is working on a virus to render the fog inert" roy interrupted "She's become a target because the shadows have learned of this" he pulled up another image on the screen "Right now she's off grid, I stashed her at a local high school's computer lab"
"You left her alone?" green arrow yelled
"She's safe enough for now" Red Arrow snapped at his former mentor
"Then lets you and I keep her that way"
"You and I?" Roy repeated "Don't you want to take your new protégé?"
Batman placed a hand on green arrows shoulder to keep him from confronting roy any further "You brought this to the team, it's their mission which means it's hers now too"
"Then my Job's done" Red arrow scoffed walking back to the zeta tubes
RECOGNIZED: SPEEDY…
"That's Red Arrow B-07 update"
oOo
Miss Martian and Superboy stood on top of the school keeping an eye on the grounds below for any intruders "everyone online?"
"ugh this is weird" artemis answered while inspecting her hand
"And distracting, coding a distributed virus on a kiddy computer with less Ram then a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to hear team-think in my skull!" Dr. Roquette gripped her head
"Lady do you always complain when people try to help you?" Kid flash asked while eating a granola bar
"Pot, kettle have you met?" artemis asked
"Hey, hey I do not need attitude adjustment from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the team"
"That is so not on me!"
"Fate of the world at stack!"
"She started it!"
Black bat had finally lost what little pieces of patience he had with their bickering he had "Would you two shut up! We have a mission to complete!" he gritted his teeth then stalked off back to his position
The others were quite surprised by his outburst. Artemis had heard about Black Bat's more aggressive days since he had broken her dad's neck making him be out of commission for a few weeks and to be honest she was a little afraid of him thinking he might do the same again if ever angered enough
She sighed hopping off the counter she was sitting on How about I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol he perimeter" Walking out of the room
"Good idea" Aqualad agreed and once she was out of range he turned to kid flash glaring "You should be more welcoming to her she did save you from amazo"
"What no that was speedy I mean Red Arrow's arrow right?"
"No"
"Well still not giving her the satisfaction"
"You know I can still hear you!" artemis glared as she was walking down a hall
"Argh!" wally groaned while gripping his head
Dick on the other hand was trying to dig his finger nails into his head from their antics and trying his best not to burst out again.
"I couldn't get the justice league" roquetta complained
"The virus won't be much use if we cannot find the weapon. Can you track it?" Aqualad asked
"My utility fog is not a weapon, it's science brilliant science, and of course I can track it but I'll have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and assassinate me written in neon"
"We will protect you" Aqualad laid a comforting hand on her shoulder
"Tracking the fog now"
Dick laid his head against the pillar he was leaning on as he tried to find some piece of mine now that it was finally quiet clearing his mind "Mmm that boy" he heard artemis state interrupting him
"He can hear you! We can all hear you!" Miss Martian protested
"oh I know"
Black bat growled driving his fist into the pillar 'yes this is just what we need two hormonal girls fighting over one kryptonian'
Aqualad saw how aggravated black bat was getting by all the arguing "Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the fog. Reconfigure the bioship so that Superboy and Black Bat can pursue"
"Thank you" Black bat stated as he walked out the door of the computer lab and ran outside followed by superboy into the bioship and sitting down at the driver's seat taking off
oOo
The mind-link with their other teammates grew fainter and fainter as they flew off toward the current location of the fog. Dick was happy he was partnered with Superboy this time because he didn't talk at all so he was finally able to have peace and quite
He sat back in his chair as he continued flying the Bio-Ship toward Philadelphia
"You never answered wally's question"
The quite was interrupted once superboy began talking "What?"
"During our report for the last mission wally asked about ivo's statement to you while we were fighting amazo"
"It's none of your concern"
"The team has grown concern from what you said during our first mission that the league dint trust you and now with that 'Don't you miss the thrill of the hunt' statement from Ivo we starting to get suspicious on what you did"
"If the team does not trust me either than I'm fine with being fired"
"It's not like that we just don't understand how the league can't trust the son of two of their members"
Dick sighed he wished he really was their son he hated his birth parents to death but there was nothing he could so about that "It's between me and the league I do not know how much longer I have to work to get their trust but it my problem don't worry"
Superboy finally dropped the topic and after a few more minutes of flying they had arrived at star labs in Philadelphia but as soon as they came into view they were both shocked to see it was crumbling from the effects of the fog
Dick contacted Aqualad "Black Bat to Aqualad, we've arrived at Philadelphia, the target of the fog was a star labs facility, we arrived too late, it has been decimated. What is our next move?"
"Rescann the fog. Find it, we're moving the doctor"
oOo
"The next target is a Wayne tech facility" Black bat's eyes widened he could not have their information fall into the hands of the shadows "Infuriate systems software could be used to hack the—"
"The what?" superboy asked
"Doesn't matter, What matters is that Wayne tech operates a 24 hour work force we'll never evacuate the building in time" he sped up the bio-ship making it hover faster toward the parking lot
Black bat finally received the virus on his holographic glove computer "It's downloading"
Superboy looked out the hatch to see they were preparing to unleash the fog "Don't need it!" he jumped out of the hatch
"Superboy!" dick yelled looking as superboy was shot away by a red laser and landing a few feet away on the parking lot. The fog was unleashed
"No!" Black bat shot off a grappling hook and landed at the front doors running as fats as he could after the fog. He ran past a security guard at a desk "Hey you can't come in here!...unauthorized entry!" he called into a radio
Dick ran faster and was able to slide under the grate just before it closed he followed the fog into one of the cafeteria's and saw a woman standing by a computer. He ran over and plugged his USB cord into it
"What's going on?" what are you doing?" the woman asked
Dick didn't have time to answer her as he quickly typed in the computer's connection to the mainframe and activated the virus sending it into the Wayne Tech systems. It seemed like forever for the virus to work seeing the ceiling above him was crumbling
Access granted
He inwardly cheered seeing the dark clouds of the fog beginning to turn red before dropping out of the air, he finally sighed in relief unplugging the usb from the computer. He suddenly remembered Superboy so he quickly ran to a window and looked out to the parking lot
Superboy was able to force his way through the red laser and knock the shadow out
"Mission accomplished"
BONUS
Unfortunately a few weeks later a new problem emerged in Gotham city for the bats to handle. They had been patrolling when they came across an old woman laughing wildly as she ran out with bags of money from the bank
They blocked her off and batman tied her to a light pole making her drop the bags as she continued laughing wildly
"Tortured laugher, uncontrollable laughing" Batman summed up
"Joker" Black Bat suggested
"Hardly seems like a simple bank robbery is worth his time" Batwoman thought until they heard an alarm set off in a nearby store
A man ran out of a computer store holding an Apple laptop while laughing they were about to go after him but then heard another alarm set off and turned to see another man run off with a flat screen Tv and one after another alarms set off as people ran off with all sorts of merchandise
"Who said it was simple?" Batman asked
They were able to catch all the people but not all of them so they returned to the batcave to see what could be causing this
"Joker broke out of arkham a days ago but usually he handles crimes himself" Selina summed up
"He must have infected these people the question is how?" dick asked
Bruce was looking up files to see what ways joker had used in the past to infect people
"Master Richard your friends from Gotham Acadamy called they want to know if you would like to spend the day with them around the city"
"Go Dick we can handle this" Selina assured him
"Alright I haven't seen them in a while anyway" he shrugged
oOo
Once dick got back from going out with his Barbra, Kevin, and Julie he went down to the batcave to see how they were doing on finding joker
"We haven't found anything yet but we called the team for stand by just in case another one of these stealing sprees burst out" Selina told him
And right on cue the bat computer started setting off an alert from the police station
"Might want to tell them to come help" Dick said and ran to put on his black bat suit
oOo
The team had been really helpful in catching the giggle bandits and after they were done batman had asked them to stay in Gotham until they figured this out each team member was paired with another and told to patrol a part of Gotham while they talked to Commissioner Gordon
Miss Martian was paired with Aqualad
Kid flash was paired with Superboy
And Artemis was paired with Black Bat
"We did what we could but the outbreak was too scattered to random to contain" Batwoman and Batman were looking out to the city on the roof of the police station with Gordon
"Tell me about it I had my people all over gotham trying to chase down these giggle bandits, fortunate the change was only temporary the victims have no idea what came over them or why"
"Clearly joker infected this people to do his criminal work but how?" batman asked
"That's the million dollar question none of his victims seem to have anything in common"
oOo
Black bat and Artemis were walking over a roof top during their patrol
"What kind of person let's themselves go a giggly for that insane maniac" Artemis wondered
"They had no control over their actions… joker infected them somehow"
"How then?"
"We don't know perhaps a gas..or powder.." he gasped for second " or something"
"You said the toxicology test had no trace of anything in the victims"
Since black bat was ahead of her she didn't see him begin to smile and then began laughing a bit "Hey I'm being serious here!" he tried talking during his laughing
"I-I can't …..stop…" he finally burst out laughing and turned around showing artemis to big grin on his face
"Oh no…" she moaned
oOo
Batman was watching while batwoman and Gordon were talking when all of a sudden they heard glass breaking then an alarm buzz from just around the corner so they ran to the other edge of the roof
The bats activated their magnifying lenses to look down "The jewelry store" bruce saw dick run out then look both ways before running down to his right sidewalk followed by artemis
"But who are they chasing?" Selina asked
oOo
Black Bat continued laughing as he ran down the sidewalk; he had gotten about 5 gold chains around his neck and three silver bracelets on his glove wrists
Artemis was trying to keep up with his fast running, she had already contacted the team and they were on their way so then contacted the bats "Batman we have a situation…." She was interrupted when he suddenly turned around and punched her in the jaw then wrapped her in a two lassos for her arms and legs "Hey!"
He just laughed at her then turned and ran down an alley between two buildings but kid flash finally arrived with his running and saw what he did to artemis so ran after him in the alley "Oh no you don't!" he tackled him to the ground but black bat moved making him lose his grip and tried punching him
"Hey!" wally was able to dodge it and grabbed black bat's wrist then pushed him against a brick wall holing him by the shoulder and the wrist. Black bat didn't seem hurt because he just continued to laugh "Come on Bats snap out of it!" Dick brought his legs closer to the wall and ran up it flipping over behind kid and then punched him to the ground and sent a sticky pellet at him making him stick to the ground
"Oh dude! So not cool!" he yelled
Dick continued to giggle as he ran down the alley but he saw superboy land just before the exit and ran at him trying to punch him but he slid under his arm then kicked superboy in the back knocking him to the ground before he ran out of the alley going right
"What happened?" Aqualad asked as he and Miss Martian arrived
"Black bat happened he went all giggly and attacked us!" Artemis cried while Miss Martian helped her up
"He is so washing this!" Wally yelled while struggling to get out of the sticky goo
Aqualad nodded and ran over to superboy "You and Miss Martian help Artemis and kid get free I'll go after black bat"
oOo
Aqualad was able to catch up with black bat while he was running down a side walk by a bridge that went over the ocean.
Black bat turned to see him running after him as he turned to go on to sidewalk for the bridge, because of the turn aqualad was able to finally get on his tail and jumped after black bat. Dick's smiled dropped when he saw kaldur jump then land on him but he quickly kicked him off toward the ocean making him fall in
Black Bat laughed again walking to the edge of the bridge pulling out three of his disks aiming them where aqualad landed "Black Bat!" he heard and turned to see Batman and Batwoman coming up to him. He laughed a bit before throwing his disks at them
They both jumped out of the line of fire and saw dick was trying to run again but Selina grabbed him by the wrists and put him in handcuffs then turned him to bruce. Batman got out a pellet shaped can and sprayed it in black bat's face while he was still laughing
Dick's laugher finally started quieting down as his head slumped and batwoman got the key out for the handcuffs, the team ran up to team from behind, aqualad raised himself out of the water and kid flash still had pieces of the goo all over his uniform but the others seemed ok
"Is it safe?" wally asked
Black bat groaned putting a hand to his head
"A brief time-out should reset his personality" batman told them
"Like that's any better" Artemis muttered
Black Bat looked up while rubbing his head "Batwoman?"
"How do you feel?" Selina asked
"Confused, what happened?"
"Someone got a case of the giggles" Wally crossed his arms but ended up making his arms stick to his chest "Aw man!"
Dick lifted an eyebrow and turned to his parents, they nodded confirming his suspicious making him groan "How could I have been infected?" he looked to the jewelry he had on
"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are" Artemis stated making him glare
"Just like the other victims he didn't have any control over his actions" Aqualad defended him
"Yeah but the other victims aren't trained to fight"
Batman turned to black bat while he was taking off the bracelets "Do you know where you were taking the stolen jewels?"
He frowned and tried to remember but he had blacked out he turned around since that was the direction he was heading in and saw something suspicious "No but I have a theory"
oOo
Over on another bridge more of joker's victims were throwing merchandise onto a boat below "Looks like to fish are biting tonight" Harley smiled over to two of her henchman and they nodded
Harley turned back to the merchandise but then saw the heroes come up to the bridge sidewalk making her frown "Stopped by to see us off? How thoughtful!" she ran into the control room "Punch it!" and a screen pulled over the merchandise and revealed the boat was a submarine when it dived into the water
"Great" Artemis moaned
"Now what?" Miss Martian asked
"We figure out how he got to black bat" Batwoman turned to her son
"And we do that how?" wally asked
"He's going to have to retrace his steps on everything he did today tomorrow and search for anything suspicious"
Black bat inwardly groaned he was going to have to deal with Barbra and Julie's shopping again they had gone to the mall and even thought he and Kevin got to do guy stuff they had to carry their bags around too
"You know this was actually the first time I saw you smile and even better laugh" Wally smirked at him making him growl then stalk off "Where you going?"
"Return these" he showed them a bag he had put all the jewelry in
oOo
Dick ended a phone call to Barbra asking if they wanted to hang out again today she had found it weird that he wanted to redo everything but was happy that she could go shopping since dick had paid for everything
He groaned when she said to bring his debit card "Ok it's set up"
"Good and I'm sure you live" Selina said sarcastically
"You're going to have to wear this" Bruce attached a weird looking arm band to his upper arm
"What is that?" he lifted an eyebrow
"It's used to detect anytime your normal body function is infected so we can detect when you are infected"
He nodded
"Master Richard your friends are here" Alfred called
"Well I'll be going" he waved to his parent before going into a car outside where Kevin, Julie and Barbra were waiting
"Dude have you gone insane this past day?" Kevin asked
"I just want to hang out with my buddies is that so bad?" he smiled
"I think it's a great idea" Julie smiled
"You would" Kevin groaned
The driver drove them all the way to the mall again and for a while they did everything they had the day before after looking through sports stores and the electronic stores the girls finally went on their shopping sprees
Right now dick and Kevin where sitting on a bench outside a fitting room the girls had gone in to try on some clothes, dick was looking around the department store for anything out of the ordinary that could be connected to joker but found nothing
He got a call from Selina on his cell phone "I gotta take this" he told Kevin then walked a few feet away "Yes" answering his phone
"Got anything yet?"
"No but this is pure torture" he groaned
Selina laughed a bit "Well do you have a better idea?"
"No but that doesn't make following the shopping queens around any better"
"Joker did something to you and maybe even the others sometime during your day we have to find out how"
"Yeah but I just spent the last two hours watching them shop for handbags"
"Hey dick they're done!" Kevin called to him
"Not quite we need new shoes to go with our outfits" Julie corrected
"Good luck with that dick" Selina had heard that and hung up
After a bit more shopping dick paid for all the stuff they bought and finally exited the mall with them heading over to the underground subway "Finally free!" Kevin cheered
"Sissy" Julie smirked
Dick smiled at their antics while they all waited for the train, and when it arrived they all sat down on four chairs facing each other. Like everywhere else they had gone while the others were talking he looked around the train for anything and while doing so looked at the other people
While looking at the people a man caught his eye he tried being friendly by smiling but he gritted at him, before he could do anything else the lights to the subway started flickering making the pupils in everyone's eyes get smaller as they stared at the lights
oOo
"Dick isn't home yet?" Bruce asked once he arrived
"No I've tried calling him but he's not answering" Selina was biting her nails "What if something bad happened to him joker's affect doesn't happen right away"
"We just have to track him the arm band has a tracker in it too"
"I do not think the tracker will be necessary sir" Alfred called over to them and turned up the sound on the tv making them look to it
Their eyes widened at the sight "If this particular giggle bandit looks familiar you're right…it's none other than Richard Wayne the son of the wealthiest family in Gotham….he along with other children of well known families were caught robbing the local museum proving that even Gotham's elite can fall prey to jokers antics"
Bruce and Selina saw dick was laughing on the screen while carrying a small statue before the camera switched over to the reporter
"The children are being taken to the local police station for their parents to pick them up and it seems the effects joker are wearing off"
"We need to go pick him up and see what happened" Selina told Bruce and he nodded
oOo
"I have to say Richard was the most hard to catch at the museum he caused some injured to some of our officers" Gordon told the couple once they arrived
"It wasn't his fault joker infected him just like your daughter" Selina argued
"Yes I know I just think it's weird that he can fight so well"
"Dick takes self defense classes so that he can protect himself" Bruce explained
"That makes sense"
Dick was brought out from the back of the station and given to his parent before they left back to the limo
"What happened dick you said nothing weird had happened when I called" Selina asked
"Nothing out of the ordinary I looked around but….nothing"
"Something had to happen" bruce looked to the arm band and took it off his arm "Well have to check the data on this to find out"
Once they arrived back at the cave Bruce began checking over the data on the band and found that around 3:36 pm there was a decrease in brain activity for about two minutes
"What were you doing around this time?"
Dick tried to remember what he was doing he remembered they had left the mall around 3:20 and had gotten on the train at 3:30 "The train!" he eyes widened
"Train?" Selina asked
"I blacked out for a moment while we were on the train I didn't think anything of it but that must have been when I was infected"
"How would joker infect people with a train?" bruce asked
He remembered he had been smiling at the old man just before he blacked out until he heard the lights flickering above them "The lights"
oOo
Back on the train people were seated as they waited for the next stop like any other day until the lights began flickering again "Life getting you down?" joker called over the speakers "Feel like you're just along for the ride…..then relax..clear your minds and look into the light…the peaceful lights….the soothing lights"
Batman attached a small EMP to the train making the lights shut off and the entire train stop in its tracks, the emergency lights outside the train turned on for the people inside to see that the Bat Family of Gotham had arrived
"Make sure everyone stays out of the first car" Batwoman told Black bat while she and bruce went to the first car. There was one man seated in the front car but quickly ran out when he saw the bats approaching
"Blast public transportation!" Joker groaned
"It's not just the lights pudding it's the entire train" Harley told him
"I realize that!"
The door to the control room opened behind them revealing the bats "Your scream has just been derailed" batman punched joker in the face while batwoman grabbed Harley and threw her on the floor of the first car
"Excuse me I'm the conductor here and all passengers must get their tickets punched" joker tried to attack batman but knocked out once batman and batwoman put on their gas masks and let out sleeping gas in the first car to knock out Harley, the henchman and joker
To be continued
I saw that dick had a really small part in infiltrator so decided to transfer an episode from The Batman to young justice I've been wanting to do this episode anyway and I liked how Black bat evaded his teammates while he was trying to steal the jewels
Never know how to end a chapter :/