Renegade: Chapter 16

Red X sat in a computer chair staring into the glow of the security screens. He was having fun watching Robin escape, lots of it. He had to admit, Robin was near as, or exactly equal to his skills. This was something that X would never, never admit normally. He gave Robin a little edge; he set all the monitor screens in the building, save the ones in his room, to an infinite loop so he couldn't be caught on film. Of course he didn't tell the Boy Wonder this; it was interesting enough to watch someone avoid a camera that wasn't sending any data, of course it was more fun to watch someone try to avoid detection in an area with absolutely no cameras. Alas, the jailbird had better things to do than play imaginary games so he was stuck with the latter 'interesting' situation.

Meanwhile Robin had his hands full, dodging patrols, motion detectors, and hacking pass codes. It had been a tough journey but he wasn't going to give up just then. He had already acquired a fine assortment of weapons including: flash-bang grenades, smoke grenades, bird-a-rangs, and a specialized Robin mask that gave him Night and Thermal Vision, but with all the gadgets it was still a difficult job. Luckily, this was Robin that we were talking about so he has another edge there. He was going through a routine hall-way check which consented of pressing his back against the wall, turned and took a look to see if it was clear, and then either avoid or take out any nearby guards. What he noticed was a guard standing anywhere from ten-to-twelve meters from him walking toward the other end of the practically empty corridor containing only a single utility closet.

"Okay, I don't have time to sneak up on him before he leaves the hallway which may put me in a vulnerable state on the other side. To add to that, I don't exactly have the patrol path of every guard so his next walk-around may lead him my way, but I doubt he would have to check on the closet."

Armed with this revelation, Robin crept to the utility closet closing the door ever so quietly. He took a look around his new surroundings. Inside there were: brooms, mops, dustpans, plungers, Robin's PDA, and other assorted cleaning items.

"Wait." Robin reached his arm toward his next item and placed it on his right arm where it belonged. This little gadget allowed him to store and archive files and access them whenever, it also doubled as a second communicator to Titans Tower where from inside someone could digitally send files to and from his PDA.

"He always hides these things in the most inconspicuous of places." Robin murmured under his breath. The sound of foot steps came to Robin's ear reminding him of why he was even in that cramped closet, to wait for the guard. His feet swiftly passed by the closet door and stopped not far behind. Then Robin heard the sound of him turning around and continuing his patrol.

"Wait for it. Wait for it."

Robin could hear the guard not a few feet from him.

"Now!"

Robin's arm swung open the door hitting the poor guard in the face. Confused, the guard tried to put two and two together.

"What happened? First I'm turning around to continue my patrol and the next thing I know I'm on the ground with some kid looking over me. Wait a sec, that's no kid. That's the prisoner!"

The patrolman stood to attention and planned to shoot the young teen square in the fore-head, but thankfully his plans were cut short by Robin's fist. The guard, now realizing why guns aren't useful in close quarters combat took his finger off the trigger and wailed the rifle in his hand like a club. The inaccurate blows didn't take to Robin where he responded with his own, more accurate attacks. After a few strikes to the head, and a sweeping kick, the guard was back on the ground and this time he won't be getting up.

Robin noted that his sleeping friend's body should be disposed of or another guard might come across it. He lifted his bulky frame on his shoulders giving a grunt of pain as he laid him in the nearby utility closet. Robin figured that if he was lucky sleeping beauty would lay there anywhere from five to twenty minuets. He hoped he was lucky.

Robin continued his hallway routines the next hallway down. Pressing his back against the wall he slowly made his way to the corner and looked around. This one wasn't as empty; there were about five doors with two on the left and three on the right. One of the ones on the left was open showing a single guard casually looking into a panel of computer screens watching for any movement. Robin was fortunate; he seemed so interested in the screens that as long as he doesn't just scream "I escaped" he could just creep by. Robin ordered his steps one by one making sure he didn't land on a stray Cheeto or any other object that would make noise. After getting past the surveillance guy he decided to try one of the other doors. He opened the third one from the right which revealed a dark, dark room. Robin flipped on his Night-Vision mode and walked into the room. It was somewhat of an office room, computers, chairs, desks, etc. The walls were bare of anything save the north wall which had another door.

Robin checked the computers for any useful files that may be contained within them. After finding his search fruitless he snuck over to the north side door and opened it wide. What was inside was disturbing, a commando in Night-Vision goggles with a rifle trained on Robin's forehead.

Before he could react, the commando fired his round off sending Robin's reflexes through the roof. He quickly pulled his body to the left side and watched as the bullet grazed past his head. Robin jumped to the side and quickly hid behind one of the desks. Apparently he wasn't being stealthy enough either that, or the guard was another psychic.

"Come now little boy, I only want to play with you." The crack commando taunted the Titan's leader into coming out. Instead with the situation of a guard at his heels, a room blanked into complete darkness, and Night Vision gave him a witty idea. He reached for his utility belt and grabbed out of it a flash-bang grenade. After pulling the pin he sent it flying over the edge of the desk toward the guard's feet. He plugged his ears, closed his eyes and waited for the boom.

Perhaps this is the most appropriate time to talk about the properties of flash bang grenades. What they essentially do is both blind and deafen an opponent by emitted a loud sound and an extremely bright light. It is so powerful in fact that in a well lit room you would become blind with the last image that you saw burned into your eyes for a few seconds; also, you would only be able to hear a ring for even more time. Now I'm sure you can imagine what it would do to someone in the dark whose eyes have adjusted to it but the chaos that the guard gets is more-so due to his goggles. So it was safe to say that after the 'boom' he was vulnerable enough for Robin to put the beat down on him with impunity. After about five seconds of rapid punches that high and mighty commando was on the ground.

Robin decided that exploring that area was a little too dangerous for his taste and walk back out the door into the aforementioned hallway. The man in the monitor room was still there checking up on everything on the screens completely absorbed. He was about to try another door when a wound of terror came to his eyes via a walkie-talkie in the monitor room.

"The prisoner has escaped! I repeat, Robin has escaped! He could be anywhere in the building sound the alarm!"

The man in the monitor panicked looking around at his surroundings. He looked toward the hallway and saw a man in red and green tights with a black mask on looking like he was about to strike. The guard grabbed for his walkie-talkie and alerted those nearby.

"Prisoner is at section eight, corridor three. Request Backup! Request Ba"

His announcement was interrupted by a dropkick by Robin but it wasn't fast enough. The hallway erupted in a frantic haze and frenzied guards lifted they're weapons at Robin the Boy Wonder. A swarm of bullets whizzed past into the room and others were stopped by the timely action of Robin closing the door. He quickly threw the security lock on and began a search for a way out. He could find nothing so he decided to take a look at the computer for schematics. He found what he needed but also an interesting file entitled: Starfire.loc. He double clicked on this file revealing a map showing how to get to Starfire from Robin's location. He uploaded both into his PDA and began to look at the schematics for a way out.

"That one's for you hero," Came X's voice over the intercom "Just because you've been such a good sport, though I would suggest getting those Merry Men off your back before you look for Maid Marian, Robin Hood."

"I'm beginning to hate his puns." Robin admitted, though he couldn't deny that X was right. They were surely about the blow the door down with explosives and he'd rather pass on being in the room when that happened. He studied that schematics and found that air ducts ran through the building and one ran into the monitor room.

"It's cliché," Robin confessed. "But it works."

So there he went like some kind of Metal Gear Solid cliché. There were many things on his mind, like how the other Titans were doing, how to rescue Starfire and the mystery of his captors as well, but staying alive was at the top of the list at that time.