Meh. I is tired. The disclaimer doesn't own Young Justice
Sunday, April 29, 2012, 11:27
"Faster," a growl came from the other side of the room, and Robin looked up at the orange-and-black clad man. Not bothering to reply he ran through the sequence of fighting moves again, ignoring the screaming of his sore muscles. Working them was making them feel better, too, so he just kept at it in the hopes that maybe- he might be able to fight Deathstroke with a chance of wresting the controller away from him and making his escape. Of course, knowing his captor, he had another one hidden away somewhere. "Much better." Robin was startled by the praise, whipping his head around and looking at the assassin through his mask. Neither knew each other's civilian identities, and that worked fine for both. "You can take your break now. And, yes, in case you were wondering, that is an order." Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask before slipping lightly over to the bench his water bottle was resting on. Leaning against the wall, he picked up the bottle and took small sips of the water, looking around the room. Sadly enough, Deathstroke's training room didn't have any acrobatic equipment, or really anything to practice acrobatics. All he really had was equipment designed to enhance strength. That just annoyed Robin, because he didn't use strength to take down his opponents- he used his agility and his wits. Along with quite a few acrobatics. Having been 'apprenticed' to Deathstroke for little more than a week, he had been forcing himself to just deal with the man shoving his own fighting style down his throat.
Robin would never let the assassin see it, but he was so damn hurt about this. His friends were infested with tiny nanorobotic probes, which upon activating, would destroy their red blood cells.
And so he had to do what the man said. That didn't mean he liked it.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 23:12
"You're ready," undeniably, Deathstroke was grinning behind his mask. Robin kept a blank face, watching the assassin through his mask. "Your mission is to break in to Star Labs undetected, and steal this." Deathstroke held up a picture of a little broken piece of tentacle, and Robin's eyes widened. Having done his research, he knew that was a piece of an ancient echinoderm known as Starro- which had mind-controlling abilities. "You are to get in, retrieve the target, and get out. If you receive trouble, incapacitate it." Robin nodded, internally shuddering at the thought. Deathstroke nodded back at him, before leading the way to the jet to take him to Gotham. It would be just him on the plane, him and Deathstroke's voice in his ear.
Hopping up into the main body and leaning against the wall as the pilot began taking off, Robin looked out the window. It appeared as though Deathstroke's base was in Jump City- a city without any notable heroes in it. Dakota City had Static, and a new duo of heroes called Icon and Rocket. Robin made a mental note to get in contact with those two. Knowing it would be a long flight to the Gotham City lab, he sat down under the window, knees held to his chest by arms wrapped around them. He rested his head on the side of the plane, looking up at the ceiling above him. He must have dozed off somewhere along the way, for he was jolted awake upon landing in Blüdhaven. There he got out of the plane and into a car driven by Sportsmaster- Lawrence Crock.
"So, ol' Deathstroke finally got you a job?" the blonde looked at Robin with a smirk, and the bird growled. If he was lucky, Roy and Wally would both be there to help take him down- he had educated them on his weaknesses in case he went rogue and Batman couldn't do it. "So you're a little upset about this. Oh well." Sportsmaster chuckled, continuing driving.
Meanwhile, two shadows watched the car of Sportsmaster.
"That's my dad's car," Artemis growled, prompting Batgirl to look at her surprised.
"Who's your dad?" The bat-themed female vigilante asked, raising an eyebrow behind her mask.
"Sportsmaster," Artemis growled back, beginning to follow the car, calling the Cave.
"Artemis, what is it?" Virgil answered, confused.
"We got Sportsmaster here in Gotham. And some random kid an orange and- Holy shit, that's Robin!" Artemis had frozen in surprise, staring as he broke into Star Labs. "Get everyone here- something strange is going on, and we need to find out what."
"Just what is he doing?" Virgil was really confused now.
"Robin's breaking into Star Labs- the one with the piece of Starro in it," she explained.
"He's breaking into Star Labs for a whata-what now? Are we even talking about the same Robin?"
"Ugh! Get me Aqualad. Now," Artemis growled the last word, and she could hear Virgil gulp and call Kaldur to the comm. Link.
"Static says that Robin is breaking into the Star Labs facility with Starro in it. Is that true?"
"Yep. Preferably get Baywatch and Red here ASAP- they're the closet to the guy," Artemis suggested.
"Agreed. Go in with Batgirl, and keep Robin busy." The line went dead, and Artemis signaled Batgirl to follow her in. She followed her gut feeling, and indeed found Robin in the room with Starro in it.
"Robin! Why are you doing this?" Artemis barked, prompting the bird to whip around in surprise. A few expressions flit through his eyes at near superspeed, from terror to apprehension to protectiveness to a stone hard determination. He jumped away from Starro, flipping into the shadows before appearing behind her. Escrima sticks in hands, he attacked, hitting her with rapid-fire hits until Batgirl came in, distracting him from Artemis' and holding him. She kept him at bay until a blur grabbed the ebony, and a pair of red arrows pinned him to the wall. He struggled, before he paused a moment, apparently listening to something. While he was still, Red Arrow turned on the lights, and Kid Flash quickly removed his belt, gloves, and boots. He was soon enough bound at wrists, elbows, and knees, leaning against the wall and breathing in controlled breaths.
Thursday, May 3, 2012, 06:49
Robin sat across from Red Arrow, Artemis, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Ms. Manhunter. The martian frowned, eyes glowing green as she probed through the captive's mind. For the other times she looked through his mind, he was surprisingly open- though sometimes she would find a certain memory unavailable. She could see some of the training with Deathstroke- he had been worked hard- and she eventually found the memory she was looking for.
"What did you do?" Robin shouted angrily as Batgirl passed out, the two Arrows barely clinging to consciousness- Artemis was the first of the two to pass out, followed by Red Arrow. A shriek sounded from behind Deathstroke, followed by a shouted spell.
"Eit Ekortshtaed pu ni-" Zatanna's spell was cut off as Deathstroke shot a gum at her mouth that sealed it shut. He then shot a dart at her, knocking her out and injecting the nanos in her.
"Now, Robin, I'll tell you this- this was originally a trap to get Artemis as my apprentice, but you'll do. I injected them with red blood cell-eating nanos. You don't obey, and I push this button. When I push it, the nanos start eating their red blood cells. Unfortunately I couldn't inject the clone and female martian, but oh well," Deathstroke explained. "Now, you'll be coming with me- if you want your friends to stay alive that is."
Robin swallowed. He knew what would happen if he followed the assassin- he didn't lie about stuff like this- but he felt like he would be betraying his friends, too. Finally he looked up, nodding, and moved over towards Deathstroke.
"That's a good boy," the one-eyed man smiled behind the mask, leading Robin out of the hangar to the sleek private jet waiting outside. When they were in the air, Robin took one last look at the warehouse his friends were unconscious in.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, almost inaudibly. Deathstroke didn't hear.
'He was coerced! Everyone except for me, Conner, Tula, and Garth were injected with nanobots that eat red blood cells when activated!' Everyone in the room turned to stare at M'gann.
'Are you absolutely certain?' Kaldur's eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
'Can't fake a memory,' M'gann replied.
'Then we can get rid of the bots and Rob'll be free!' Wally was ecstatic, grinning widely. Robin still remained silent, praying that the Team would be able to remove the nanobots before Deathstroke activated them.
