A/N: Before you read this one, make sure you've read the previous chapter, the one for "Terrors", that I updated Sunday afternoon. Someone PM'd me and said that it hadn't shown up in their email that I'd updated- I don't know if that was just them, or if it happened to more people or not. Better to be safe than sorry.
Dick was walking into the hangar of the cave, in his civvies, when all of a sudden he walked right in on M'gann and Connor kissing.
And despite himself, he couldn't stop the squeak of surprise that erupted from his mouth, and they both whirled around, blushing. Dick backed up, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Uhh... ummm... I was just... yeah... uhhh... I was looking... uh, remote? I mean... have you guys seen...? Er... I'm just... I'm just gonna go."
His face bright red, he turned and nearly ran straight into Sphere as the mechanic creature chirped, and Dick blinked at it, doing his best to avoid looking back at the two lovebirds.
"Hey guys!" a voice called, and Dick turned around to see Wally coming towards them, munching on a sandwich. "Wow, you guys spend a lot of time working on Superboy's bike. Obviously you need the Wall-man's expert help!" The speedster marched up to them, and suddenly looked at Dick in confusion.
"Why's you're face all red?"
Dick blinked and felt his face heat up even more.
"I... um... it's... well, er..."
Wally raised an eyebrow, and Dick squirmed uncomfortably.
"...It's hot in here," Dick mumbled. "I'm gonna... gonna go to my room."
He left as quickly as he could without running, leaving two grateful aliens and one bewildered speedster behind.
As he approached his room he passed the training room, and was surprised to hear crashing and roaring coming from inside. Curiously, he poked his head inside...
...only to be blasted by a funnel of water and thrown out again.
There was a moment's pause where Dick shook his head, trying to shake the water out of his ears and climb to his feet. Suddenly Kaldur was standing over him, an apologic look on his face.
"I am sorry, Renegade," the Atlantian apologized. "I needed a moment to... vent... and was not aware that you were in the room."
"I wasn't even in the room entirely," Dick complained, accepting Kaldur's offered hand and standing. "It was just my head! And you, venting?"
Aqualad smiled at him.
"I have been... frustrated, recently, over a piece of information I acquired... but it is of no importance to you. And in Atlantis, I had much more space to practice. My training takes up a large amount of space."
"Well, naturally," Dick said. "It's the ocean, there's bound to be plenty of room. Mind if I watch?"
Kaldur gave him a surprised look.
"Not at all, my friend. But I am afraid you will have to stand in exactly one spot, and one spot only. I do not want you to be injured."
"Sounds good," Dick chirped, following the team leader into the training room and standing in a corner. He remained perfectly still as the Atlantian took a deep breath and drew his waterbearers.
Dick had always been curious as of how Kaldur trained. Normally he fought with swords and maces conjured up with his waterbearers, but based on the way Aqualad was acting, this wasn't weapons training.
Kaldur's tattoos began to glow, and suddenly, from grates along the sides of the room, water flowed up at his command, sloshing towards him and forming into a huge ball above his head. Then, as Aqualad expertly began to move his arms, the water responded, gracefully winding around the room, creating different patterns. Dick watched in awe as it twisted past the doorway (explaining why he had been doused earlier) and wound around the Atlantian slowly. The room was filled with the sounds of flowing water.
Aqualad moved his waterbearers faster, and in a different motion, and suddenly the stream of water was no longer graceful, but raging and powerful. It began to circle around the room, faster and faster at the Atlantean's command. Dick's eyes widened as teeth and a gaping mouth began to form, and then the water had become a dragon. The trickling, peaceful sounds were replaced by a roar.
The water-dragon charged around the room for a bit longer before it shifted again, and the dragon burst apart and became eight thin streams of water, flying around and positioning themselves around Aqualad. They lashed around for a moment, but Kaldur seemed to be having trouble with this move, because a moment later, the water burst apart and fell to the floor.
Dick shouted in amazement and crossed the room to stand in front of Kaldur as the Atlantian stowed his waterbearers away.
"That was asterous! Way cool! You're amazing, Kal!"
Aqualad gave him a soft, humble smile.
"Thank you, my friend," he said. "I wish I could have completed the second move, but unfortunately it is very difficult to complete without more training... and I am not skilled enough in sorcery." He looked forlorn for a moment, and Dick snorted.
"Who says you need 'em?" Dick scoffed. "That was incredible, even without the last move!" A sudden thought dawned on him, and he looked at his friend curiously.
"Say... can you do it without your waterbearers?"
Aqualad considered his question.
"Yes," he answered. "Although it is a hundred times difficult, it is possible."
He extended his webbed hand and concentrated for a long moment, sweat beginning to appear on his forehead (or was that just water? Dick couldn't tell). Finally, a small strand of water about as long as Dick's arm sluggishly rose to obey, although Kaldur couldn't maintain it for long.
"Wow. Maybe I should be wishing I had gills, instead of wishing I had wings," Dick said without thinking, and then winced at his words. Kaldur looked at him curiously.
"You wish to fly, my friend?"
Suddenly Dick's head was filled with memories- of trapezes, of laughter, of the circus tent, of soaring, of snaps and blood and death and pain and screams and crying and-
He shut it out and forced himself to focus back on his teammate.
"I already know how to fly," he muttered quietly. "Just... wings would be cool, I guess." It was a childish fantasy, but Dick didn't care. Before Aqualad could say anything else, Dick noticed (for the first time) that his clothes were completely wet.
"I'm going to go change," Dick said, louder this time. "Thanks for letting me watch, Kal! It was totally turbing!"
He caught Aqualad's confused expression at his wordplay as he turned to leave, but didn't explain.
It was more fun to watch as they struggled to figure it out rather than simply tell them what it meant.
He got to his room and changed into his uniform. It wasn't that he didn't have anything else to wear, but they were going to have a training session in a couple hours, and Dick was feeling lazy- he didn't want to have to change again.
He flopped down on his bed and sighed, tugging at his collar- maybe he could take a nap. Or go to the gym and do some training himself. Or go wash his hair again. It still wasn't quite the right color- just a shade too light, but Dick noticed it, and hated it.
It was just about then that an alarm began to shriek, and his door slid shut faster than he could say, "disastrous."
He jerked off from the bed and stood, but just as quickly as the alarms had begun, they shut down, and red emergency lights flickered on. Dick bit his lip and grabbed at his door, but it was sealed shut- he couldn't get it open. He banged on it for a little bit, but there was nothing he could do.
Dick narrowed his eyes- something was seriously wrong, and it didn't take his assassin senses to know that.
Suddenly he heard something explode.
The team... the rest of the team was out there! He felt a stab of fear for his friends, and redoubled his efforts on the door, but after the last time he had managed to break the door*(A/N: referring to RingwraithYJLOVER's oneshot), Batman had reinforced the door even more so than how it had been originally. Dick cursed at the Dark Knight's paranoia.
He could hear more faint sounds coming from outside his room- additional explosions, and water sloshing around- Dick seriously hoped that was Kaldur's doing.
Suddenly the noises completely stopped.
Dick found himself pressing his right ear against the door, straining to hear something- anything else. His heart was pounding.
It stayed quiet for five more minutes before his ears picked something up- clopping of metallic feet approaching his door. Only one person sounded like that when they walked, and that person was Red Tornado. Dick sighed as the footsteps got closer, because that meant they were safe, everything was alright- but something was still wrong.
Suddenly a robotic voice was speaking, and it wasn't Red Tornado.
In fact, it was female.
Did Red Tornado have a robot girlfriend?
But then he listened to what it (she?) was saying, and it felt like a lump of ice had been placed in his stomach.
"Another sidekick- the male known as Renegade- is confined in this room. We should remove it and place it with the others while we await the archer's arrival."
We?
Another voice was talking, this one was also robotic, but male, and it sounded remarkably like Red Tornado- except it wasn't.
"He cannot escape the room. He poses no threat."
No threat? Dick scowled at his door. They didn't think he was a threat?
They were going to regret that...
The footsteps walked off, and Dick slammed his fist into the wall in frustration. The team was down- possibly dead, he had to face the facts, so he pushed down his fear and worry and replaced it with determination. And now, whatever those things were, they were after Artemis now.
And he could do nothing.
He closed his eyes and tipped his head back, sliding down into a sitting position until he was sitting with his back against the locked door. He was trapped, again, and he didn't know if his teammates were alive or hurt or unconscious or dead...
All he could do was wait.
He closed his eyes and began to count.
_Line Break_
10,854 seconds later, he began to hear noise again- a lot closer, this time. More water sloshing- it couldn't be Kaldur- and the roar of something else... flames? And then, faintly and through the other sounds, he could hear someone shouting-
Artemis had finally arrived, and she was in trouble!
Dick growled and stood, pressing his ear to the door once more. The sounds were getting closer, he could hear the twang of arrows along with the fire and water. Suddenly his door vibrated, and drops of water worked their way through the hinges. Then there was audible panting right in front of him.
"Artemis!" he snarled through the door, pounding on it with his fist. "Arty... ARTEMIS!" He heard her yelp in surprise.
"R-Renegade?" she stammered, sounding shaken. "Is that you?"
"Obviously," Dick hissed, "as this is my room... Let me out! The door's sealed shut!"
There was a thumping noise.
"The controls are locked!" she told him, speaking much more quietly than before. "I can't access it without a League member!" Dick cursed and glared at the stupid thing.
Suddenly, Artemis screamed, and there was the roar of waves.
"Artemis? What's going on? Artemis!"
He heard her cough.
"I... I don't know! I couldn't even tell what they were! But these giant, evil waves keep attacking!"
Well... that was just great. They were at a major disadvantage here... but, first thing's first.
"Okay... find another way to get this door open. I can help."
"Uh... I could blow it up?"
"...sounds good. Do it."
He stepped away from the door and listened as she drew the bow, and braced himself when he heard the release-
BOOM!
The door was blasted away, and Dick coughed, blindly moving through the smoke and into the hallway. He nearly collided with Artemis, who had a decent-sized burn on her arm. She looked exhausted.
"You okay?" Dick asked, and she glared at him, opening her mouth to answer-
"DOWN!" Dick screamed, shoving Artemis to the floor as a fireball rocketed over their heads. She shot an arrow forward, but through the smoke they couldn't see anything, and together they turned and ran down the corridor.
"I need... weapons," Dick panted. "Anything! Is there any-"
He was cut off as a wave of water sloshed around the corner, surging over his head crashing down on top of them. It smacked them into the wall, and Dick found himself completely drenched for the second time that day. He didn't have any time to mope over it, however, and climbed to his feet. Flames shot after them as they sprinted away.
Artemis lead him into the exercise room, which was stocked with treadmills and weights- not exactly the weapons he was use to, but he snatched up a pair of medium weights as he ran. He was desperate for a weapon, and really didn't care what he used at the moment.
"Do you know what happened to the others?" Dick called to the archer.
"No- nothing!" she answered. "I can't reach anyone on our comms, and M'gann's not answering mental calls!"
Before he could say anything else, suddenly a door to their right burst open, and a whirlwind of flames charged them, throwning them both to the floor. Dick hissed as he felt his cape get singed, but struggled to his feet and continued on. The fire tornado was following them, and Dick twisted as he ran, launching the weights towards the tornado in a half-hearted attempt to slow it down. The equipment flew through the flames, as expected, but past them and out of Dick's sight, they impacted with something else. He could hear the clang of metal- but he didn't have time to investigate with the fire nipping at his heals.
"What about Batman?" he shouted to Artemis over the roar of the flames. "Have you tried contacting him, or any of the League?"
They were in one of the shower rooms now, and with a glance between them they split up and began turning the taps to the showers. Water poured out in a feeble defense against the flame twister behind them.
"The comms are down!" she replied. "Everything's blocked!"
He groaned. Of course they were blocked...
"At least the water's helping..." he muttered, but he must have jinxed it, because a moment later the room began to tremble, and water started to pour out of the taps at a frightening rate.
"Or not," he groaned as the room steadily filled up to the ceiling. They took one last breath before they were immersed in water.
Dick swam over to the wall, motioning for Artemis to follow, and snatched an explosive arrow from her own quiver. He set it against the wall and flicked the tiny switch on top of it, then swam backwards as the tip lit up. A second later- and just as his lungs were beginning to burn- it exploded, and the water drained out, spewing them onto the floor.
Artemis coughed and stood unsteadily, and Dick followed her lead, shaking his head. They began to run again. He needed his weapons! Or at least something!
As they raced into the kitchen, Dick glanced behind them warily.
"We need to get lost," he said, frantically looking around.
"The air vents!" Artemis cried, and Dick almost smacked himself. Duh!
"Good! Go!" he shouted, and she nodded, running for the vent. Dick turned to a control panel on the wall and accessed it- luckily it didn't have a passcode, but it would be a whole lot easier if he had his holocomputer...
"What are you-?" he heard Artemis begin, and he cut her off before she could finish the question.
"Looking for the cave blueprints," he hissed, growling at the stupid machine. "Although it would be easier if I had my..." He trailed off as footsteps began to sound down the corridor- metallic footprints like Red Tornado's, but at this point Dick knew they weren't.
"Go, go!" he whispered, joining her and clambering into the air vent behind the archer.
They crawled through the dim areas.
"There's a fork up ahead!" Artemis hissed, and Dick cursed- he needed his equipment!"
"Take an educated guess," he growled sarcastically, and she snorted, turning right and continuing- just as fire shot down the vent they had been in mere seconds before. Dick blinked at the singed wall for a moment before shoving his emotions to the back of his head. He couldn't afford to feel anything right now.
Soon they came to a vent cover, and Dick hopped out beside Artemis before grinning- sheer, dumb luck had landed them right smack dab in the middle of a weapons room.
"Asterous," he muttered, snatching up an explosive and inspecting it for a moment before stuffing it in a pocket. He took a moment to fill his pockets with equipment- he didn't have his belt, and Batman must have still been in possession of his other stuff, since none of it was there. But at least now he was armed. He picked up a batarang (apparently Batman stored stuff here, too) and blinked at the tiny communicator attatched to it. A... communicator batarang? Okay, sure. Why not? He pocketed it, too.
Suddenly Artemis tossed something at him, and he caught it.
It was a holocomputer- a really old, almost useless holocomputer, but he'd take whatever he could get at this point.
He grinned at Artemis.
"I thought you might want that," the archer told him, stuffing more arrows into her quiver. He grinned at her.
"You know me so well."
Dick poked his head out the door and frowned.
"We should try to find the rest of the team. They were in the hangar last time I saw them... isn't that the other way?"
Artemis joined him and peered down the corridor.
"Yeah. Let's go," she said, striding back over to the air vents. Dick followed her, and this time they went right at the fork. They came out in what had been dubbed, "the cave basement", which wasn't really a basement at all, but it did have most of the equipment for keeping the cave a suitable living place- air conditioning, and the boiler, for example.
Dick began to run down the steps, past the massive equipment. Artemis followed. They had only taken a few steps, however, when an explosion made them pause.
On a catwalk above them, Dick could just make out a feminine figure- that was covered in flames. But the figure seemed oddly unaffected by it, and raised it's arms- the fire rose at it's command. Dick tore his eyes away and sprinted in the opposite direction, Artemis by his side. They vaulted over the railing and dropped down to the floor below.
Some of the equipment was nearby, and Dick glanced at it- the little needle was in the red zone, and the glass cracked as the temperature began to increase.
"That's not good," he groaned, and he continued to run past as the machine sparked dangerously.
The figure had spotted them, and fire flew towards them as they ran- Dick weaved around, trying not to give the figure a clear shot.
"There's got to be another access tunnel somewhere," he hissed as they ducked behind a heavy metal machine, and Artemis blinked before turning.
"You mean... this one?" she said, opening it and leaping inside without even listening to his reply. Dick frowned, but followed, and just as he jumped in behind her he tossed an explosive behind. He heard it explode, and hoped it had somehow taken out their attacker- although he doubted that it had.
They crawled for a couple yards before Dick stopped.
"Hold on," he whispered, digging into his pockets to find a shruiken. He slashed off the cover to an electric box to reveal the wires inside. It only took a moment to plug his holocomputer in.
"This old thing can't do too much, but I can pull up the security feed," he informed the archer. "We can find out what happened to the team."
"Who, exactly, are we fighting?" Artemis asked, and Dick frowned.
"I don't know... let's find out."
He access the feed, and the image popped up. Their teammates were gathered around Superboy's bike. Wally was crouched down beside it, and the rest of the team, including Sphere, were standing nearby.
"Socket wrench," Wally requested, and his voice sounded tinny through the camera. Miss Martian levitated the item to his hand. "Thank you, green cheeks!"
Artemis scoffed at the speedster's words.
Aqualad was speaking.
"I have been meaning to ask- is there any problems juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?"
"Nope," Superboy answered.
"Juggling is just one of my many talents," Wally said before requesting another tool, and Artemis scoffed at his words again. Dick glanced at her before returning his attention back to the screen.
"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge," Miss Martian said cheerfully, "Oh, but my loyalties are always to the team. Er, this team, not the Bumblebees."
"Artemis starts school today. Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?" Aqualad questioned, and beside him Artemis glared at the screen fiercely, as if daring the team to answer.
"Nah, she'll manage alright," Wally said, standing. "I mean, how much more hostile and annoying can you ge-"
He was cut off by a massive wave that crashed into them and destroyed the camera.
"What happened?" Artemis yelped.
"The explosion took out the camera- I'll find another angle," Dick said, typing clumsily at the old fasioned holocomputer. He managed to connect with four different feeds.
The first only showed water shooting through the hangar room before destroying the camera. The second had more potential- he could see the team at least- but only for a moment, and then that camera, too, was destroyed. The final camera showed their teammates racing up the stairs of the hangar, but a wave advanced on them as well- and suddenly the last camera went black as well.
Dick sighed in frustration.
"That's it... all four are dead."
He glanced up and saw Artemis's horrified expression, and suddenly realized what he'd said.
"The cameras... I-I meant the cameras! I'm sure the others are okay..." She didn't look comforted by his words. Dick sighed again.
"Give me a second to try to get this stupid thing to tell me what the fastest route to the hangar is," he muttered.
"Yeah, they're fine. They've got superpowers. They can handle anything!" Artemis growled bitterly.
"Hey, they couldn't handle me. I destroyed them last time we fought, the only reason I got captured is because they tricked me."
Artemis snorted, but still didn't look reassured.
"Finally," Dick said as he managed to pull up blurry blueprints to the cave. "Okay, lets go."
They continued down the shaft and popped out in the library.
"There's a secret passageway behind one of these bookcases," Dick said. "It's really cliche... I love cliches..." He muttered the last part.
They crept along the bookshelves, staying on guard. Suddenly there was a noise behind them, and Dick jerked around, grabbing an explosive from his pocket and preparing to throw it as Artemis readied an arrow. They dove behind a bookcase.
Metallic footsteps rang through the air.
"Artemis, Renegade."
Dick stiffened- it was the robot-with-the-voice-like-Red-Tornado's-but-it-wasn't-Red-Tornado. He tightened his hold on the explosive, but Artemis gasped beside him.
"It's Red Tornado!" she cried, relief audible in her voice, and she dove forward.
"WAIT!" Dick yelped, jumping after her...
A huge, red robot- almost exactly like Red Tornado- was in front of them, reaching for the archer with a massive hand. A strange M-like design was on it's chest, and it's eyes glowed bright red. Dick dove forward and tackled Artemis to the floor, and they rolled underneath a nearby table.
"Yes on the red, NO on the Tornado!" he yelled, and they moved out from under the table just as the robot smashed it to pieces. As they sprinted towards the exit, a second robot appeared in front of them- female, this time, and it had a jagged lightning bolt shape across it's chest. It's eyes glowed red, just like the other. They dove aside as it blasted at them with fire.
Dick leaped up on top of a bookcase using his circus skills, hoping Artemis was following. To his relief, she was.
"What are they?" she shouted as the sprinkles turned on (a result of the fire now licking the bookshelves). Dick hopped down and began tugging on books, and above him he could hear Artemis firing off arrows. Suddenly a thumping noise caught his attention- the shelves were falling like dominoes! He tugged on another book frantically and this one gave way, the shelf sliding aside to reveal the passage beyond.
The tip of his cape was ripped off as they dove into the opening, and it slid shut behind them.
They were running down an empty hallway now.
"Did you know Red Tornado had... siblings?" Artemis yelled as they went.
"No," he replied.
They came to a turn, and Dick moved to go right but Artemis caught his arm. He turned to look at her.
"So now what?" the archer asked. "Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we suppose to take down two of him?"
"They do seem pretty user-unfriendly," he said almost absent-mindedly, and she glared at him.
"Don't joke! They-"
"Attention, Renegade. Attention Artemis. You have exactly ten minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished," a robot voice sounded over the intercom, and Dick clenched his fists. Oh, so that's how they were going to play...
Dick locked eyes with Artemis, and they began to run again.
"Nine minutes, and forty-five seconds..."
Neither of them spoke as they raced down the hallway. They turned left, right, left again- taking the familiar route to the hangar.
"Eight minutes."
Dick swore inwardly. Had it already been two minutes?
"We can access the hangar from here," he said, skidding to a stop, but Artemis gasped beside him, and he turned to see water racing towards them.
"Or not."
"Will you please stop saying that!"
Then the water swept them off their feet.
Dick unclipped his cape as he held his breath- in the water it would only drag him down. Artemis was floating next to him, her arrows drifting out of her quiver- some of his stuff was floating away as well, although luckily a few of his pockets had zippers.
He unzipped one and snatched out a rebreather, taking a long breath before tapping Artemis and handing it to her. She took it gratefully and he turned, searching for a way out, but before he could find one Artemis cried out next to him.
The male robot had a grip on her leg and was pulling her backwards, and the rebreather was floating away. Thinking quickly, he snatched one of Artemis's arrows from the water and swam forward, plunging it into the eye socket of the robot. It sparked and let go.
Dick grabbed Artemis and swam forward as quickly as he could, with Artemis limp in his arms. He dropped an explosive behind him as he went, and heard it explode behind them, propelling them forward and (hopefully) pushing the robot back. He was nearly out of air, and surfaced, gasping gratefully at the air.
"LOOK OUT!"
Dick dove aside instinctively at the warning as a fireball came crashing down right where he and Artemis had been seconds ago.
At least they were in the hangar now, although maybe that wasn't a good thing.
They resurfaced by Kid Flash and Superboy, who were trapped in some sort of metallic glue that apparently Superboy couldn't break.
"You guys okay?" Dick gasped, trying to catch his breath, and Superboy growled.
"Forget us, help M'gann!"
Dick looked up and frowned when he saw the massive fire cage above them, on a platform. Aqualad and Miss Martian were inside.
"Aqualad! Is she..." Artemis began, and Aqualad looked up.
"She is unconscious," he answered, and his voice was terribly strained and weak. "I fear she- we cannot survive much longer."
The fire robot was flying closer, and she sent another fireball towards them. Dick dove back under the water to avoid the flames. Artemis followed him as he swam for the steps.
They emerged on the bottom step and began to charge up the stairs, but below them the water robot appeared, it's eye still sparking (it looked pretty mad), and above them the fire robot landed.
Dick looked between the two, and was suddenly struck by an idea- unzipping his last pocket, he removed the communication batarang and stuck the tiny comm in his ear subtly.
"I'm almost out of arrows!" Artemis told him.
"Distract her, now!" Dick yelled, throwing the batarang. Just as planned, it glanced off the robot's metallic shoulder and embedded into the metal just beside Wally's head, who yelped in surprise. Neither robots looked pleased, and Dick dove into the water yet again as the fire and water flew towards them.
Dick followed Artemis through the water and opened a tiny grate, that was just big enough for them to slip through. It took several more seconds, but they finally emerged into air.
Gasping for breath, Dick hauled himself into a vent next to the archer.
"Six minutes remaining."
Crap.
"What do we do now?" Artemis asked.
"We save them. That's how it works," Dick replied.
"Maybe that's how it's suppose to work, but those robots already took out our four super-powered friends!"
Dick smirked at her.
"You seem distraught."
"Distraught? M'gann is dying, we have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!"
"Well get traught, or get dead!" Dick snarled.
"How can you be so calm?" she asked hysterically. Dick didn't waste any more time- he began to crawl forwards again.
"Practice," he answered. "Deathstroke made sure that I was doing this when I was nine, remember?"
That shut her up for a moment.
"Sorry," she muttered.
"It's fine," Dick dismissed. "It's what I was trained to do. What you were trained to do."
She shivered.
"Not anymore..."
"The killing part? No. But the part where we go in, defeat those robots, and rescue our friends? Definitely."
Artemis bit her lip.
"What good is all that training now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?"
Dick froze. Machines...
"Oh, duh! They're machines! And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine in range!" he said.
"Great! But you better have an EMP emitter in your pockets somewhere, because I know I don't have one in my quiver!"
"I'm fresh out. But I bet we can make one." Dick said, reaching for the communicator in his ear. "What do you say, KF? Doable?"
"Totally doable!" the speedster's voice called through the comm.
"Five minutes remaining."
Oh, great. This was just getting better and better.
"You know... if we had more time."
They exited the vent, and Kid Flash began to direct them.
"Med lab. X-ray machine."
Dick wove through the equipment until he found the correct device, and popped the cover off.
"You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vercator, that converts high energy pulses. Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from x-rays to EMPs."
Dick plugged his holocomputer in- luckily the old thing managed to obey his commands.
"Put the cascading energy director facing outward," Wally continued.
"A ripple effect," Dick said in sudden comprehension. "Like dropping a stone in a pond."
"A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage, yeah,"' the speedster confirmed.
"So I'll need to hook it up to the cave's main generator," Dick muttered.
"Which is... where?" Artemis asked.
Dick looked at her.
"Back in the hangar."
_Line Break_
It didn't take too long to return to the hangar, but only four minutes were left. Dick kicked out the grate of the vent and hopped down to the ground. The hangar was in sight- they could see the fire cage, and the two robots, and Kid Flash and Superboy were two dark spots in the water.
Dick brought his hand to his ear.
"Okay," he whispered to Wally. "Give us a distraction."
There was a moment of silence, and then he could hear Wally begin to yell.
"Hey! Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?"
Dick rolled his eyes.
Superboy yelled next.
Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever! We can escape anytime we want!"
Dick and Artemis darted across the hallway as the clone and speedster continued to talk.
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brain can count to two!"
"Cover me," Dick hissed to Artemis, getting a running start and leaping out into mid-air, just barely managing to grab the edge of the generator with his fingertips. He struggled to pull himself up for one terrifying moment before he finally got a good hold and lifted himself up. He almost dropped the EMP in the process, and his heart nearly stopped, but to his relief he didn't.
"And you can't drown a kryptonian, dumb-bots! We don't breath air!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Dick rolled his eyes again- those two really needed some better insults.
He positioned the EMP inside the generator and plugged it into his dumb holocomputer.
"Rerouting power now," he whispered.
"And Miss Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act!"
"Yeah! You know how hot it gets in the caves of Mars? That cage is just making her homesick!"
"Duh! Haha!"
"It's not working!" Dick hissed, scanning the device for the problem... there! "The circuit's incomplete. I need... something conductible. A piece of metal-"
"RENEGADE, LOOK OUT!" Artemis screamed, and suddenly a tidal wave rose up to meet him, grabbing him and sucking him underneath. He tried to fight it, to swim up to the top, but the water was holding him down, forcing it's way into his lungs-
No! No, no, no! The team would die if they didn't get that EMP working! He couldn't let it take him, he couldn't let the robots kill him!
He could feel himself being lifted up, but kept his eyes firmly shut and his body completely still- maybe he could fake unconsciousness-
But his thoughts were beginning to blur and slow, and if his eyes had been open he was sure his vision would be flickering. His lungs were on fire, and then...
...All he knew was darkness.
It was up to Artemis now.
_Line Break_
Voices.
People talking, shouting actually, all around him.
He hoped they were okay. They sounded concerned- scared even. He wondered if everything was alright.
Suddenly he realized he couldn't breath.
That wasn't good... but his thoughts were sluggish, and he couldn't really bring himself to care.
There was a hand on his forehead, and a hand on his chest. They were cool, and wet, but trembled as if terrified.
He coughed up the water in his lungs and took deep breaths.
Dick slowly, ever so slowly opened his eyes. Someone was hovering above him- someone with long, blond hair and a green mask covering her face...
Oh, right. Artemis.
"He's breathing too!" she shouted, sounding overjoyed, and Dick grinned at her.
"Way to get traught..."
She sighed and leaned backwards in relief.
Looked like she had done it, gotten the EMP to work. They were safe.
The next few minutes flew by quickly. Dick and Artemis helped M'gann and Kaldur down the steps to where Kid Flash and Superboy were still trapped in the metallic glue. A laser was fetched to cut them out, but it wasn't working- Dick assumed it was from the EMP-
Wait. The EMP...
His hands flew up to his collar- it was off. His collar was off-
He could leave now and no one would ever find him. He took a step back. It didn't look like anyone was watching, he could get out of here now, escape. He hadn't protested or even thought about escaping during the Belle Reve incident, because Connor and M'gann had needed him. But now...
Wait. Did he honestly, truthfully want to leave? Did he really want to leave his friendships behind? Kind M'gann, strong Connor, calm Kaldur, crazy Wally, tough Artemis? Did he truly want to abandon them?
Dick froze where he stood. He had wanted to run because he had felt trapped, and because it had been instinct- but recently he hadn't felt trapped at all, besides those times in the day when he'd been bored out of his mind. He really like it at the mountain...
And it was sooooo much better here than it had been with Slade...
No.
He didn't want to leave.
With that thought firmly in his mind, he stepped forward and rejoined the group. It seemed no one had noticed his dilemma... except Aqualad, who was watching him with a knowing look. Kaldur smiled and nodded once.
The Atlantian, the team leader, had been testing him, Dick realized... and he'd passed.
He felt a surge of pride well up within himself.
"What were you thinking, Renegade?" Artemis demanded, punching him in the shoulder. Dick shrugged.
"I figured my best bet was to 'surrender'- fake unconsciousness. Blacked out, though."
Connor looked at M'gann and took her hand.
"M'gann..." he began, but Miss Martian cut him off.
"I'm fine Connor," she said weakly, and reached out and grabbed his immobilized hand. Dick felt his face heat up as he was suddenly reminded of the events he had witnessed earlier that day, and turned away.
Artemis had picked up the laser from the ground and was fiddling with it.
"Hey, will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Kid Flash complained, and Artemis glared at him.
"It's not working, genius! EMP shuts down all machines, remember?"
"All machines present at the moment," a robotic voice said, and Dick flinched despite himself- it sounded way too much like the Red's voices. But this time, it actually was Red Tornado, and he relaxed slightly.
"What has occurred?" the League member asked, and Dick motioned over towards the other fallen robots.
"We had a little visit from your family," he said.
"Your extremely nasty family!" Artemis put in.
Red Tornado looked confused.
"I was not aware I had relations," he said, beginning to cross the room to inspect the evil Reds.
"Where have you been?" Superboy asked.
"Monitor duty at the Watchtower," the robot replied. "When it became clear that cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate, but your zeta tubes were also offline. I transported to Providence, and proceeded here."
Suddenly, from it's position stuck in the wall, Sphere beeped and popped free, rolling up to Connor.
"Hey boy," the clone greeted.
Artemis yelped as the laser she was holding suddenly activated and fired, cutting through a thin layer of the metal restraining Kid Flash's body before it shut down again. Smoke curled from it's tip.
Before anyone could speak again, Dick's collar let off a high-pitched whine.
Oh, crap, it was rebooting, that meant it was going to-
The collar activated at the highest level of intensity it could and white-hot bolts of agony shot through his body. Dick felt his back arch almost impossible far, and he was dimly aware of someone screaming- was that him? It didn't sound like him...
But he was in too much pan to consider it any longer. The scorching electricity wasn't letting up, and Dick felt his muscles contract uncontrollably-
Everything was fading, and darkness was closing in- someone shouted, "The pulse has worn off!" but he couldn't tell who-
And then, for the second time that day, he was consumed by the darkness.
_Line Break_
"..negade! Renegade, can you hear me?"
Dick opened his eyes and winced at the bright light that invaded his senses.
"Renegade... Dick. Are you alright?"
It took him a moment to register that it was Batman standing above him.
"I-I've been better," he croaked- his throat seriously hurt after being shocked so much.
Batman offered him a hand and Dick accepted it, climbing to his feet- and whoa, that hadn't been a good idea, because the world tipped and spun as he did-
Suddenly Batman was there, steadying him with a hand on his shoulder, and Dick took a deep breath to steady himself.
"What happened?" the Dark Knight asked, and Dick groaned, shaking his head as he surveyed the room.
Green Arrow and Superman were attempting to rouse Artemis, while M'gann was being comforteed by her uncle. Aqualad was conversing quietly with his king. Flash and Captain were cutting Kid Flash and Superboy out of their metallic prisons. Black Canary was also there, standing nearby.
The Reds- all three of them- were gone.
"These robots, similar to Red Tornado in appearance, attacked the cave. We stopped them with an EMP, but when it wore off, my collar turned on again, so... I don't know."
Batman frowned, but before he could say anything else, Superman called out from across the room.
"She's alright!"
Artemis had regained consciousness.
"What happened?" the Man of Steel asked Artemis sat up, and the archer jumped to her feet with a start.
"What happened? The Reds happened!" she cried. "Red Tornado and his evil- wait! Where'd they go?"
Dick turned to face her slowly.
"Gone. All three of them... gone."
_Line Break_
They had been debriefed, and were waiting in the mission room, when Batman came up behind him and removed his collar.
Dick whirled around the metal slid off of his neck, and cool air caressed his skin. He gaped at Batman.
"What's this?" he finally managed, and Batman smiled- yes, Batman smiled!
"Aqualad has informed the Justice League of your actions, and has spoken on your behalf. You have been officially released from League custody... and we have extended an invitation to you to officially join the team."
The rest of the team was grinning at him, and Dick blinked one, twice, three times before Batman's words sunk in.
"I... uh... heck yeah!" he cheered, and M'gann let out a happy cry and tackled him in a hug. Wally zipped up and joined them, and Artemis punched him in the arm again, grinning. Superboy even managed to not look angry for a moment.
Aqualad stepped forward.
"Welcome to the team, Renegade."
Dick grinned at his words, and then frowned. Aqualad spotted his expression.
"Is something wrong?" His voice was not accusing, only concerned.
Dick sighed.
"The name. Renegade. It's the name that he- Deathstroke gave me." He shivered. "I don't like it."
Aqualad shrugged.
"That is not a problem, my friend. We will call you whatever you wish to be called."
Dick shook his head.
"No, it's not just that. Renegade... Renegade is a killer. An assassin. I'm not him anymore. I... I need a new hero identity."
M'gann smiled at him.
"Well, you'll need a name, first! Who are you going to be?"
They were all looking at him now, and Dick closed his eyes thoughtfully.
"Fly, my little robin..."
His eyes snapped open.
"Robin," he said. "I am Robin."
A/N: Don't worry, it's not over yet... not by a long shot! Just because he's Robin does't mean it's anywhere close to being finished! :)
I've always wanted to play with Aqualad's powers a little bit, but to be honest, I don't know where that training scene came from. i was just writing, and then suddenly Kaldur was training, and I was like, cool, let's see how he does it, then! I hope it made sense...
I would like to clarify something. In 'targets', Sportsmaster DID mention the mole to Aqualad- Dick just didn't hear because he was busy getting stabbed ;)
Okay, next is 'Alpha Male', which honestly I didn't really enjoy as much as I did the other episodes, but I'll do my best! And don't worry, guys! Slade's master plan will come into the story sooner than you think... MWUHAHAHAHA!
Also: there will be some chapters up ahead that are NOT tied into any episodes. Keep in mind that these chapters all happen pretty close together- some a week or two apart, and some mere days, or even just A day. It all depends on the YJ timeline.
Thanks for the reviews, love you guys!