Chapter 21:- Confrontations
"Thanks," said Raven as Beast Boy helped her up.
"You're welcome," said Beast Boy in an odd comedic tone.
Robin and Starfire crawled out of the bed of the truck.
"Vic? What happened to you?" asked Starfire.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we have to…" Vic started, but the lights that lined his body flickered and he stopped momentarily.
"Vic? You OK?" asked Robin slightly concerned.
"Yeah. Must have been a glitch or…" His lights flickered again, then went out. He fell forward crashing into the tarmac.
"Vic!" yelled Starfire concerned.
Robin quickly ran over to his fallen friend. "Looks like his battery ran out…"
"What?" said Raven.
"Well. It looks like he's all electronic now."
"Well, it explains why he suddenly woke up when I landed on him as an electric eel…" added Beast Boy.
"Yeah. He must have ran out before and when you landed on him you gave him a surge of power, and now he's out again…" confirmed Robin.
"Can you… fix him?" asked Raven.
"I think so. I have the stuff I need on the Redbird, but I'll need to get him somewhere safe."
"But where can we go?" asked Starfire.
"How about the Pizza Place?" said Beast Boy, pointing at their old pizza parlor, and the large 'condemned' sticker lining the door.
The other three looked at each other, then Robin shrugged and sighed. "Why not?"
"What about Jinx?" asked Starfire.
"Leave her," said Robin reluctantly. "She's one of them now."
"Bruce?" said Robin.
"What do you want?" came Batman's voice over the communicator.
"I need you to extend that protection order."
"I'll put Diana on it as soon as I've dealt with the Scarecrow."
"OK. Thanks, Bruce."
"Right."
Vic's organic eye opened and his electronic one lit up. He reached up, and rubbed his head slightly, then sat up. He sat on an old kitchen cabinet, surrounded by electronic equipment and miniature shop tools.
"How's it going Vic?" came Robin's dark, creepy voice from a corner. Vic spun around, and saw Robin leaning in the corner, shadows surrounding him and his mask off.
"Dick? You were Robin all this time?"
"Yeah."
Vic turned and stood up. "What happened?"
"You ran out of battery."
"I guess that makes sense…"
"I've charged you up to maximum capacity and installed a back-up generator capable of running all your systems for about thirty minutes."
"Thanks, man."
Robin stayed silent but kept his eyes fixed on Vic.
"Dick? … Robin? What's up?"
Robin held up a two chips about the size of the palm of his hand. "I found these in your systems."
Vic walked over to him and took the two chips. "What are they?"
"Homing devices, miniature cameras and microphones, and a transmitter sending a radio signal back to S.T.A.R. Labs."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"My father must have installed them…"
"Probably. The question is whether he did so with your permission."
"No, man! Why would I do that?"
"Because the technology your father could get from Gar would make him one of the richest men on Earth."
"And that's the reason I did it?"
"It would be the ultimate way to make your father proud."
"Dude! I wouldn't do that to Gar! He's been my best friend for almost six years!"
"And your father's been your father for your entire life!"
"And I've hated him for most of it!"
Robin was about to yell another comment but Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire burst through the door. Both Robin and Cyborg looked at them confused.
"What's wrong?" asked Robin.
"We got to go," said Beast Boy, throwing a newspaper to Vic.
Vic caught it and read the headline aloud. "S.T.A.R. Labs was attacked last night by an unknown assailant. The assailant not only managed to beat Superman and throw him eleven stories into the street, but put industry giant… Mr. Timothy Stone into a severe coma. Oh my God! Dad…"
"Where is he?" asked Robin, his mask suddenly back on.
"Stone is being held at Metropolis General Hospital until further notice," read Vic.
"Let's go," said Robin.
The gavel pounded three times.
"The court goes in favor of Wonder Woman," said the judge loudly. "Therefore, I hereby place Garfield Logan, Victor Stone, Kori Anderstar and the girl known as Raven under the full protection of the Justice League. Any other attempts to capture or detain these individuals may be stopped by members of the Justice League by any means necessary. Any court cases involving these four must be presented to me, where I guarantee the offenders will lose their company… Do I make myself clear? Court is adjourned."
Wonder Woman smiled and opened a communicator. "Bruce. Order's been cleared. If S.T.A.R. or LexCorp even dream about going after your little friends the police have to apprehend them and we can legally beat the crap out of them."
"Good. Thanks Diana," came Batman's voice.
"You owe me one."
"One what?"
Wonder Woman simply smiled.
Slade watched the screen on the handheld device he had lifted from Stone. It showed Robin, the Boy Wonder looking down at the camera and holding several tools. Then, Robin looked down, directly at the camera, and looked confused, then angry, before he reached down and the screen went black.
Slade replayed it. Over and over again.
"Come on, Robin. Be a good little bird and take the bait."
Slade turned and looked at Mr. Stone lying in the hospital bed, and smiled a wicked smile.
There we have it… Chapter 21 is finished… Next Chapter 22... No-one would have ever figured that out right..? Wish me luck in actually getting that one posted quickly...