Chap. 10
North
"So where are we headed?" asked Bartman, as he swung from the museum roof. Swinging in front of him, Robin answered, "There's an old abandoned factory near the museum. If Slade was in a hurry, he would've probably gone there first." "I don't know," said Bartman as he shot out his grapple again. "it seems pretty obvious." "Batman taught me that sometimes the most obvious place is the bet place to start." replied Robin. "Makes sense." his companion agreed.
Minutes later, the two landed at the door of the factory. "So how do we get in?" asked Bartman, looking at the giant factory doors. "There's no lock to pick or anything." "You have to ask?" asked Robin. Bartman looked confused for a moment, then grinned and said, "You are learning." The young hero walked up to the door and with one punch, knocked the doors down. "What about not destroying public property?" he asked as Robin stepped over the doors and into the factory. "Technically, it's privately owned." The boy wonder replied. Smiling, Bartman followed him in.
The two of them stepped around quietly, unable to see much in the blackness. "Wish Brett was here; he can see perfectly in the dark." mumbled Bartman as he blindly groped his way through the dark. "You get used to it." replied Robin, who could see almost perfectly, thanks to his late night epics with Batman. "Right." Grumbled his companion, who barley avoided a pipe in the middle o the floor. "Hey what did they used to make here anyway?" "Car parts." replied Robin curtly. The boy wonder then shook his head. "No one's here. They would have heard the door go down and with the darkness they'd have the advantage. But just as he finished speaking, the lights came on. The two heroes found themselves staring down at least a hundred of Slade's robots. "Boy, doesn't this suck?" said Bartman.
The robots leapt up and attempted to cut the two heroes down. But Robin pulled out his staff and violently batted them away. Bartman was able to shoot out his grapple around them, then use it to swing them to the floor, shattering them in the process. Quickly, the two separated, and each took a different side of the enemy. Robin was a whirlwind of motion, throwing punches, Birdarangs, bombs, and staffs every which way seemingly at once. Bartman however, used the more 'smash-and-bash' style, using his augmented strength and agility to take down the droids. However, no matter how many druids they took down, more seemed to take their place. "We've gotta get out of here!" yelled Bartman as he slammed a robot to the floor. "Not without the gem!" Robin yelled back. Suddenly, the boy wonder noticed something sparkle on the conveyor belt. "There it is!" he yelled. Quickly he bashed in the robot in front of him and sprang up, using the droid's heads as springboards. Finally, he managed to reach the belt, where the gem did indeed wait for him. Robin to grab it, but before he could, one of the robots knocked it to the floor and began to fight him. "Bartman! Get it!" Robin yelled as he spared with the droid.
Bartman quickly dispersed the robot he was fighting, then with a series of leaps and bounds, reached the belt. He began to reach for the gem, but then he paused. "What are you waiting for?!" yelled Robin as he used his staff to decapitate the druid. He didn't say anything, but suddenly, his eyes grew wide. Swiftly backing away, he grabbed Robin's vest and began to leap back to the doors the boy wonder in hand. "Let me go! We can get it!" screamed Robin as he struggled against Bartman's grip. Still not speaking, the purple one grabbed one of Robin's Birdarangs and hurled it back into the factory. Then he threw both Robin and himself to the side, just as a huge burst of fire shot out of the factory.
"You okay?" Bartman finally spoke, as he and Robin picked themselves up. "Fine. What just happened here?" "Well, when I looked at the gem, I noticed that it was chipped on one side. It should be much too hard to break that easily. Second, there was a small clock on it's side. I figured Slade built himself a look-alike, then fitted it to blow." "How'd you figure all that out?" asked Robin. "A master prankster always knows what somebody would fall for. In essence, all death trips are really elaborate pranks." "I've never thought about it that way." replied Robin. "Well, at least we know it's not here." said Bartman. "Or do you want to keep searching..." But Robin had already gone. "I should've known he would do that." he said, as he shot his grapple and swung off.
