Chapter 14
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! Thanks for all the reviews, I'm happy to see them. Anyways, remember, I just own the story, none of the characters are mine, sadly. Enjoy!
/comms/
Telepathy/Flashbacks/Whatever else italics works for
Gotham, September 22, 19:02EDT
"Hey Artemis!" Mike called, jogging over to where the archer was as she was about to open the door to the Zeta-booth.
The blonde visibly jumped, turning to look at him before relaxing and rolling her eyes. "Oh, hey Remnant," she said looking at him again, not noticing how he winced at his own chosen name. "Sorry, I'm still trying to wrap my head around earlier. You looked so different."
"Eh, I'm used to it," he shrugged. "I mean, it makes sense, since this is the only way you've seen me before. Trust me, seeing my normal face again is a bit weird for me too."
"Artemis?" Robin's familiar voice called out as he stepped out from behind the booth, causing both of them to jump.
"Robin? I, uh…"
"How random you're in Gotham City, instead of Star City where your uncle Green Arrow lives."
Oh, the Boy Wonder was totally onto her.
Artemis tossed Mike a glance and he shrugged. He wasn't a snitch, but this was her lie. "I'm uh, here to see my cousin," she decided, "She was in the state spelling bee, here in Gotham City."
Mike had to keep himself from facepalming. His sister used to lie better than that.
And clearly, Robin had picked up on it too as his knowing smirk somehow grew wider. "C-O-O-L. Did she W-I-N?"
"N-O."
"D-R-A-G."
"Let's just go to the Cave," Mike sighed.
"Ladies first," Robin bowed dramatically to the archer.
"Your town. You go."
Robin gave him a look, "What do ya say Rem? Rock, paper, scissors?"
Mike shook his head, raising his hands, "After you."
With a shrug, the Boy Wonder stepped into the booth. "Recognized: Robin—B01." Both remaining teens covered their eyes as the younger vanished in a flash of blinding light. Once it faded, Artemis stepped in next. "Recognized: Artemis—B08."
"They really need to make this thing bigger," Mike muttered, stepping inside once the light faded away.
"Recognized: Remnant—B07."
-.-
Mt. Justice
"GET DOWN!"
Seeing something fly towards him, Mike dodged to the side, almost knocking over Artemis as he barely avoided being lit on fire by the fireball flying past them.
Artemis shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the Zeta-Tube. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. "Are you ok?"
"Y-Yeah, just a bit surprised. What the fuck is happening?"
"I don't know!"
Robin leapt from the smoke, hurling two disks into the plumes as Artemis pulled out her bow. There were clangs of metal as something hit its target, but the relief of knowing where their opponent was didn't last long as another burst of flame flew at them forcing the three teens to dodge.
Rolling to his feet, Mike made out two tall forms approaching through the smoke. One male, one female. Reaching into his belt, he tossed two of the explosives Batman gave him, smirking as he heard the same metallic clangs from earlier before the resulting blasts knocked their enemies away from them.
"Who are we fighting?!" Artemis exclaimed, notching another arrow.
"Don't know," Robin answered, "but we're sitting ducks by there tubes. Head for the exit!"
Nodding, the trio ducked under another torrent of flame as they raced for the hall. Artemis fired another arrow in the direction the flames came from. However, as they entered the hall, the trio was forced to stop as a torrent of water came towards them.
"Or not," Robin muttered.
Turning to run, they didn't get far before the wave slammed into their backs. Mike lost track of Robin and Artemis as he hit the floor, the force of the current dragging him along the ground until he was slammed against the wall.
As soon as it came, the water retreated. And just as soon, the fireballs were once again being hurled towards them as they raced away from the hangar towards the gym. "Robin to team. Come in. Aqualad."
"Any luck with telepathy?"
"No—" An explosion cut off Artemis's response, knocking them to the ground as the tornado of fire burst into the room, chasing after them.
Scrambling back to their feet, they ran through one of the doorways, turning a sharp corner as they ran into one of the locker rooms. Mike almost slammed his shoulder into the wall as the flames came uncomfortably close. It was official: fire was his new greatest fear.
Racing through the locker rooms, his stomach sank as they hit the showers, or, in other words, a dead end. But, it was a place the fire couldn't reach. Splitting up, the three of them began turning the knobs, ignoring the fact they were getting soaked as water poured down on them.
"Robin to Batcave: Override RG4. Cave calling Justice League. H-O-J slash Watchtower B01. Priority ray," Robin tried. "Comm's down. Locked."
"Is there a way to bypass it?"
"Not without getting out of the Cave."
"Well," Mike chuckled, "at least the water's helping till we figure out a plan."
The universe, being the asshat it was, decided to prove him wrong as the room began to shake. Metal knobs of the showers shot off the walls, flying across the room and shattering tile as the force of the rising water pressure exploded through. The metal of the showerheads soon followed, popping off into the rising water.
"Or not."
Taking a deep breath, Mike kicked off the room, swimming towards the door. However, he quickly rethought his choice as he got to the edge. The water was stopping at the edge, almost like an invisible plane of glass was blocking it, separating the room from the swirling fire tornado beyond. Yeah, they weren't getting out that way. Turning to look to the others, he watched as Robin appeared to pick up on why he stopped, the Boy Wonder quickly swimming to the wall and planting one of his explosives before kicking away from the bomb.
Mike was pretty sure the following explosion actually bruised his internal organs, but he was more relieved to take in a breath of fresh air.
"We need to get lost," Robin said as they raced towards the living room.
"Air vents," Mike replied. "If they're big enough, we could bypass whoever the fuck is hunting us."
"There!" Artemis pointed, spotting an entry above the stove.
"Good. Go!"
Neither of them needed to be told twice as they leapt over the kitchen island to rip off the vent cover. However, they both noticed they were one person shot. "Robin!"
"What're you doing?!"
"Downloading Cave blueprints could come in…" he trailed off as they all heard footsteps approaching. "Go! Go!"
Kneeling down, Mike interlaced his fingers together, vaulting Artemis up the shaft before making sure Robin followed. Grabbing the vent cover, he hurled it like a deadly frisbee in the direction of the footsteps before leaping up into the vent.
Hopefully that slowed whoever was after them down.
Climbing up the shaft, he pulled himself up onto a flat ledge, quickly crawling after to catch up with his friends. These vents were much nicer than those at his last job, he almost had to army crawl through those things.
"Go left," Robin said, pulling up the map while he was crawling.
Mike couldn't help but notice that it suddenly felt very hot in the vents. Crawling forwards quickly, he bit back a grimace as a massive blast of fire shot through the vent passage they'd just been in. "Too close."
"Take the first right," Robin directed. "There should be a vent cover right in front of you."
At the back, he couldn't really see what Robin was talking about, but he could hear the metal scraping as Artemis pulled the grate off. The air tunnels shook as she jumped down, but Mike was more focused on a different sound. The vent cover was flat on the ground, there shouldn't have been anymore metal scraping…unless…
"Shit." Leaping down the shaft, Mike rolled at the bottom, quickly, swinging out behind the others into the boiler room. "They're in the vents."
Robin didn't waste any time pulling up their map. "This way."
As they ran down the stairs, they heard the vent explode behind them as the flaming figure landed on the platform. Their back was turned to them, but it was clear from the movement of their head that they were scanning the room. Until they raised their arms, raising the flames.
This time they didn't even bother with the stairs before jumping off the catwalk beside some overheating boilers.
"That's not good."
"No shit," Mike snapped, pushing them both out of the hiding spot to run. Overheated steam hissed around them as the temperature continued to climb, coming dangerously close to hitting them as they raced under the ball of fire chasing them. Spotting them, it began to hurl fireballs at them, the ones that missed partially melting the metal it hit.
Yeah, getting his by that wouldn't be good for his possibly very flammable ass.
Though he wasn't fast enough as another fireball hit his shoulder. Already he could tell that part of his shirt had been burned away, but he could acknowledge the injury later. The longer he ignored it, the less he would focus on any pain. Rolling around the corner, Mike joined the others as Robin searched for their next hiding spot. "I know that other access tunnel's here somewhere…"
"You mean this one?" Artemis retorted, standing by an open vent.
Planting explosives on the boilers, the two teen boys quickly leapt into the vent. "Hold on," Robin said. Reaching into his belt, the Boy Wonder pulled out something, using it to pry off the cover for an access port. "Blocking Cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us."
"And I ask again: Who is the enemy?"
"I got a glimpse of them, one male, one female," Mike replied. "The chick controls the fire. Meaning that the man controls the water. I've heard metal a few times too when we've managed to hit them. They might be wearing armor, but…" he trailed off. Yes, it could have been armor, but their movements, the way Human Torch back there had been scanning the area and the way she moved to raised the temperature, the seemed almost…robotic.
"But what?"
"I dunno, it's just a theory."
"Well theory's all we got, so spill."
"They could be robots," he suggested.
"Let's find out," Robin smirked, typing on the holopad. "Downloading Cave security footage…there!" Four camera feeds came up, and Robin zoomed in on one, revealing the forms of their teammates standing with Sphere and Superboy's bike.
"Torque wrench," KF demanded, holding out his hand as M'gann levitated it to him. "Thank you, Green Cheeks."
"I have been meaning to ask," Aqualad spoke up, "any problems juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?"
"No."
"Juggling's just one of my many talents. Socket wrench."
"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge. Oh, but my first loyalty will always be to the team—this team. Not the Bumblebees."
"Artemis and Remnant start school today. Do you think they will have trouble maintaining their loyalties?"
"Mike?" KF scoffed. "Dude's a bit shy but he's fun to hang with, he'll be fine. He's not like Artemis. I mean, how much more hostile and annoying—"
Whatever the speedster was going to say next was cut off as the screen cut to static. "What happened?"
"Explosion took out the camera. I'll find another angle," Robin growled, switching to the next feed.
A new screen pulled up and they could make out their friends' forms as three columns of water burst from the pool towards them before another torrent flew towards the camera. The next feed showed the others getting up before it was taken out by another burst of water. Switching to the final feed they watched as Miss M and Kid looked towards something off camera before another explosion cut off the signal.
"That's it, all four are dead," Robin sighed, quickly noticing the rather alarmed looks on his teammates' faces. "The cameras! I meant the cameras. I'm sure the others are ok."
"Hopefully…"
Mike nodded in agreement. But his attention was more focused on something else, "They knew exactly where to hit."
"Huh?"
"The cameras," he supplied, looking over the static-filled screens. "In each feed they managed to stay out of sight and cut the signal before we could get eyes on them. I mean, I'm new to this hero thing, but Batman doesn't strike me as the type to leave cameras in plain sight where any enemy could find them."
Robin frowned, eyes narrowing. "You think they knew where they were?"
"With how fast they cut the feed? Yeah, they knew exactly where the cameras were."
The Boy Wonder scowled, clearly feeling as pissed about the revelation as Mike felt. Someone had told these intruders where the cameras were. Someone had betrayed them. "I'll find the fastest way to the hangar," Robin said. After a minute, he pulled his glove away and motioned for them to follow. Crawling down the maze of vents, they made their way towards a panel that Robin kicked open. There was a dull clang as the piece hit the floor, allowing the trio to climb out and land silently in the library. "There's a secret access panel behind one of these bookcases," Robin whispered as they darted through the narrow isles.
"Seriously, cliché much?" Artemis muttered.
"You guys should see the Batcave," Robin scoffed.
A door hissed open, and they all stopped, pressing themselves against one of the shelves facing away from the door. Mike put his hand on his hip, pulling out his wrench. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Robin holding a batarang on the opposite aisle and Artemis was notching a bow behind him.
"Artemis, Remnant, Robin."
Almost instantly, the archer's stance relaxed as a grin came to her face. "It's Red Tornado," she said starting to come out. An unfamiliar android stood in front of her.
"Yes on the Red, no on the Tornado," Mike said coming out and hitting the robot across the head with his makeshift weapon. The force of the impact knocked the robot into one of the shelves, knocking it over and leaving a dent in its helm. As it began to get back up, Mike grabbed its arm and turned on his heel, hurling the android into the wall, causing cracks to spread out. Running to the library entrance, they stopped as they same flames and another android slid on the ground in front of the door, blocking their way out.
"What are they?!" Artemis exclaimed as they ran back through the shelves towards the back.
"Androids, probably similar models and generations as Red Tornado," Mike answered, joining Robin in ripping books from the shelves, trying to find the secret passage. "Maybe older since we haven't heard of them before."
"Did you know Tornado had siblings?!" Artemis asked firing an arrow at the android marching on them.
"No!" Robin exclaimed grabbing Artemis and dragging he through the now open passage as bookshelves began to fall towards them.
"So what now? Red Tornado is one of the main powerhouses of the League, how are we supposed to take on two of him?!" Artemis exclaimed.
"They do seem pretty user unfriendly," Robin quipped.
"Don't joke!"
"Attention Robin. Attention Artemis. Attention Remnant. You have exactly ten minutes to surrender or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished."
"Well shit."
"At least we know they're alive."
"Nine minutes and forty-five seconds."
"We can reach the hangar through this way," Robin motioned.
"So now we have a time limit, as if this couldn't get any worse," Artemis grumbled.
A roar started coming towards them and they all stopped as all eyes went wide as a torrent of water came around the corner and slammed into them. "You were saying?" Mike grumbled grabbing his friends as they struggled to orient themselves in the now underwater hallway.
Robin pulled out a pair or rebreathers from his belt putting on in his mouth and handing it to Artemis. Reaching into his own belt, Mike felt around until he eventually pulled out one of his own, popping it into his mouth. Movement came from the corner of his eye and Mike pushed Artemis out of the way as a red and yellow hand tried to grab her ankle. Handing her off to Robin as he pulled out a grapple, Mike grabbed an arrow and stabbed it into the android's eye. He was going to stab the other eyes, but the android tried to grab his arm, forcing him to kick away from the attacking robot.
Firing his own grapple like Robin had, he shot away from his attacker. He pressed the button to detach the line, allowing him to put the grapple back onto his belt as he shot towards the surface where he could make out Artemis and Robin dodging fireballs hitting the surface.
Breaking out of the water beside them, he took out his rebreather.
"Rem, you're not dead!" Artemis exclaimed.
"Nope."
"You guys ok?" Robin asked, bringing KF and Superboy to his attention. Both teens were up to their necks in rising water, trapped in place by some twisted metal.
"Forget us! Help M'gann!"
Looking up on the higher platform, they could see a cage of fire, undoubtedly with Kaldur and M'gann inside it. "Aqualad! Is she…?" Artemis trailed off spotting the unmoving form leaning against the Atlantean.
"She is unconscious," Kaldur replied, his voice sounding strained, "I fear she—we cannot last much longer."
Cursing, Mike handed his rebreather to Superboy, reaching around in his belt for a second one to hand Wally. If they had something to use as the water rose, then the rest of them could direct their attention to rescuing M'gann and Kaldur.
However, the fireball barely missing his face cut that process short. Diving underwater, he and the others swan for the stairs, gasping for air as they scrambled up the steps as the androids closed in around them.
"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis spoke, notching her second to last arrow.
"You guys distract them, I'm gonna try to get M'gann and Kaldur," Mike said, leaping up to grab the ledge. "If something happens, leave without me." Pulling himself up, he ran over to the flaming cage, wincing as he could feel the scorching heat. The flames weren't coating any metal bars, which meant that this prison was just one of flames. Perfect to contain beings whose weakness was fire.
Unless they were willing to be burned for a moment.
The water wasn't far. Theoretically even if their clothes did catch fire, he could throw them in to douse the flames. The only problem was himself. From what he'd read in his father's experiments, the stuff that he'd potentially been drugged with for years was highly, highly flammable.
Hearing a small explosion behind him followed by a splash. Mike cursed. It was a risk he was going to have to take, because his distraction time just ran out. Leaping through the bars, Mike ignored the singe marks on his shirt as he knelt by Kaldur. "Sorry about this, but you'll thank me later." Grabbing his team leader, he yanked them both through the flames and was about to toss the older teen into the waters below. However, that plan was thwarted by a blast hitting his chest, knocking him on his back.
Pushing himself to his feet, he glared at his attacker as she landed a few yards away. He cursed to himself as he quickly looked over his opponent. Other than Red Tornado, he wasn't fully familiar with this android model. The exoskeleton was almost seamless. Save for the elbows, shoulders and knees, there weren't many gaps large enough for him to pry something in to take her apart. And even those gaps were going to be difficult to reach. Ducking under a fireball, Mike slid past the robot, tossing an explosive at her back, letting the blast put some distance between them.
She got back up. But, he couldn't help but notice her left shoulder hitching slightly as she rose.
Mike smirked. He would bet that there'd been previous damage there before. That meant that side was weaker. Reaching down to his leg, he grabbed the one weapon he kept on him in case of emergency.
Fire lit in the android's hands and she threw them at him. Dodging to the side, he hurled the knife not noticing the momentary lick of fire on the tip of the blade as it flew towards the robot. The blade hit its target, burying itself almost to the hilt in the robot's shoulder. It wasn't much, but hopefully a few major circuits had been damaged. At least enough to make fighting these things easier for his teammates.
A metal fist made contact with his cheek as the other android joined the fight. His jaw hurt. Something had probably been fractured at least. Looking up, he glared at the two androids as they loomed over him. "Surrender Remnant."
Mike spat blood at their feet as he got back up raising his fists. "Fuck you."
-.-
"Six minutes."
"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, leaning back against the wall, still trying to catch her breath from their watery escape.
"We save them, that's how it works," Robin stated.
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work! But those robots took out our super powered friends!" Artemis exclaimed.
"You seem distraught," Robin commented.
"Distraught! M'gann is dying! Mike's probably been captured! We don't have any powers! And I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!" she snapped.
"Well get traught! Or get dead," Robin snapped as he started leading the way.
"How are you still so calm?" she asked.
"Practice, I've been doing this since I was nine," Robin answered.
"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?" she scoffed.
"Duh, they're machines," Robin groaned, turning towards her with a grin. "And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine in range!"
"You two better have an EMP emitter because I know I don't have one in my quiver."
"Fresh out," Robin said. "But I know we can make one. What do you say KF, doable?"
/Totally doable/
"Five minutes."
/You know if you had more time/ Ignoring the speedster's remark, the pair began to crawl through the vents making their way to an exit. /Med-lab, x-ray machine/ KF said as they kicked open a vent. /You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high energy pulses, reprogram the units high energy pulses from x-rays to EMPs with a cascading energy vector directed outward/
"A ripple effect, like dropping a stone in a pond," Robin said, kneeling down beside the machine, pulling out the component.
/A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage/ Wally stated. /You're gonna to have to hook it up to the cave's main generator/
"Which is where?" Artemis asked, only to get a sheepish look from her partner.
-.-
"Four minutes."
Removing another panel, the pair crawled out of the vents onto a ledge in the hangar. Down below they could see the two androids keeping an eye on their friends. The water threatening Superboy and Kid Flash was still rising, albeit slower than it was earlier, probably to keep them from dying too soon. On the upper platform, the fire cage was still lit trapping the unconscious forms of their other three teammates.
"Ok…start the distraction."
"I really hope this works."
"HEY! RED TOMATO! WHO'S YOUR GIRLFRIEND? RED ONION?!" KF shouted.
"We're screwed," Artemis muttered.
"Be positive," Robin scolded.
"YEAH! AND BTW, WORST DEATHTRAP EVER! WE CAN ESCAPE ANYTIME WE WANT!" Superboy joined in.
"I'm positive we're screwed."
"I CAN VIBRATE MY MOLECULES OUTTA HERE BEFORE YOUR BINARY BRAINS CAN COUNT TO TWO!"
"Cover me," Robin said as he swung over to the main generator.
"AND YOU CAN'T KILL A KRYPTONIAN DUMB-BOTS! WE DON'T BREATHE AIR!"
Crouching down he opened a panel and began to attach the vircator.
"AND MISS MARTIAN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE BUYING HER ACT!"
"Rerouting power now," Robin said.
"YEAH! DO YOU KNOW HOW HOT IT GETS IN THE CAVES OF MARS! YOU'RE JUST MAKING HER HOMESICK!"
Sticking the component in, Robin cursed as he noticed a gap. "The circuit's incomplete," he hissed as he began searching his pockets. "I need some piece of metal."
"ROBIN LOOK OUT!" Artemis screamed as a wave slammed into the generator.
Grabbing her arrow, Artemis aimed it at the water android, only for a fireball to throw off her aim as she shot the arrow, making her miss her target. Backing up she reached for her quiver only to find it empty. Rushing back into the vent, a blast of flame came in and knocked her forwards.
Rubbing her head, she got up and continued crawling to a tear in the tunnel that had obviously been made by several distinct claws where she could see into the hangar.
A column of water rose with her friend trapped inside, looking closer she saw Robin wasn't moving.
Crawling back, she put her hands on her head, tears streaming down her face as she saw the images of her trapped friends flash through her head. "No, no, no, no, no," she whimpered.
Looking out again she saw the water was now at Conner's and Wally's chins, the water torrents had deposited Robin's limp form onto the ground, and Remnant was trapped in the cage with Aqualad and M'gann, his shirt had been scorched.
Retreating from the gap, Artemis slumped against the wall, her heart pounding in his chest. "If I surrender, I die with the others, but if I find a way out, out of the cave, out of the mountain, I can contact the League, get help." Yes. The League could handle this. They would be more than prepared to fight these things, save her friends.
The tunnel suddenly sloped forwards and sent her tumbling down the vent shaft and into the trophy room.
Sitting up, she sighed in defeat. "Who am I kidding, best I can do is hide, hope the League finds me before the Reds," she murmured. Looking to the trophy case, she saw the mask of Cheshire. "I know you understand."
Eleven-year-old Artemis held her Freddy plush close to her chest, watching the form of her older sister move back and forth across the room as she packed her things. "We have to keep this family from falling apart," she pleaded, hoping that her big sister would listen to reason.
Her sister stopped moving in front of her bag, causing the little girl's spirits to rise in hope. They dropped just as quickly as Jade smacked her forehead, "Toothbrush, duh, knew I was forgetting something," she said stomping towards their shared bathroom.
Artemis clutched the bear tighter. If love didn't work, then maybe her father's method of fear would, "Dad will come after you."
"Let him," Jade smirked putting on a baseball cap, "I'll just disappear, like the Cheshire cat." Slinging her bag over her shoulder she stopped in the doorway. "You should get out too. I'd take you with me, but you'd slow me down."
"Someone has to be here when Mom gets out," the little girl responded.
The elder rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Haven't you learned anything? In this family, it's every girl for herself."
Picking up the mask Artemis gazed at it. "That might've been true about our family, but I've found a new one, and here we're all for one and one for all," she said.
"One minute."
She was out of time. Getting the League would take too long. By the time back-up arrived all her friends would be dead.
Looking next to the mask, she found the arrow she used to save Kid Flash's life when they fought Amazo. Snatching it from the shelf, she put it in her quiver and made her way to the hangar.
Getting into the elevator, she took a breath to calm her nerves down. The door opened and the two androids looked at her. "I surrender, stop the clock."
She looked into the flaming box to see Kaldur roll over and look at her his body trembling violently, Robin was still lying where he was dropped, M'gann still hadn't moved since she last saw her, Mike hadn't moved either, though she did notice that his shirt had practically been scorched away and he had some cuts, and Conner's and Wally's heads just vanished under the water as they took a last desperate breath.
It was now or never.
The aqua-droid held out his hand for her bow, but she jumped, vaulting off the metal hand. The second one raised its hand to shoot fire at her, but she pushed off its face, using it to flip her. Grabbing her arrow, she took aim and fired it towards the main reactor, completing the circuit.
The sound of electricity filled the room and a pulse spread out across it, deactivating both androids.
As the bots crumbled to the ground, Artemis ran forwards, crouching by Robin as the water levels sunk and the fire died out.
"Kaldur! How's M'gann?" Superboy called.
"She breathes, I believe she will recover," he replied. "What of Robin and Remnant?"
Looking back down at the Boy Wonder, she put a hand to his chest, hoping to feel a heartbeat. To her relief, Robin began coughing. "H-he's breathing."
"Way to get traught," Robin smiled, slowly sitting up.
A groan came from behind her, and Artemis turned, sighing in relief as Mike slowly pushed himself to his knees, blood trickling down from a gash on his forehead. "Ow. Ok, what dumbass idea did I try this time?"
"You tried to fight two angry robots alone," Artemis retorted, coming over to help him up.
"Ah, sounds about right," he grimaced, touching his head as he got to his feet. "I really should stop getting into fights with murderous robots. Never seems to go well." Striding towards the fallen android, he bent down, pulling his knife out of its shoulder, sticking the blade back into its clip.
"You make it sound like this is a regular thing for you," Robin remarked jokingly as he joined him beside the android.
"Eh, it's only like the fifth time it's happened."
"…Why is fighting angry robots a norm for you?" they heard Wally call from below.
Mike just shrugged as he pulled off the female android's arm. "Because that just seems to be my luck."
M'gann groaned, turning all attention to the Martian girl regained consciousness. "What happened?"
"Evil Red Tornadoes invaded the cave, Artemis saved our butts, so all-in-all another wonderful victory," Mike replied, pointing in the general direction of the archer with the detached arm.
"I wouldn't have saved you guys if you hadn't almost gotten yourself killed distracting the Reds to allow Robin and KF to set up the EMP," she reminded.
"Yeah, don't let her take all the credit," Robin grinned, picking up the arm the moment Mike set it aside.
As soon as Kaldur had M'gann supported on his shoulders, they headed downstairs. "You two ok?" Wally asked looking at Robin and Mike.
"Yeah, I figured the best shot was to surrender, I pretended to drown before I actually did, blacked out though," Robin shrugged.
Attention then turned to Mike, who looked down at himself, finally noticing his shirt had basically been completely burned away, exposing the ghastly scar on his torso alongside a few other scars. "Eh, I've had worse."
"Well, we're glad everyone's not dead," Wally grinned. "But, uh, can you get us out?"
"Yeah, I think there's a metal cutter in medbay?" Artemis said.
"Probably storage," Robin corrected I'll go get it.
"So…evil Red Tornados," Artemis said, putting her hands on her hips, "this is different."
"Think Red Tornado knows about them?"
"Considering they aren't in any of the League villain files, probably not," Mike remarked, taking off the shoulder plate of the other arm to begin detaching it. "But where is Red Tornado? Shouldn't he be here?"
"He had monitor duty on the Watchtower," Kaldur replied as Artemis helped him up.
"I thought he was exempt from that?" Kid frowned.
"Perhaps he was covering for someone?" M'gann suggested.
"Green Arrow," Kaldur supplied.
"Hey Rob! Cut us out please!" Wally called as Robin entered the room with a gun-looking device.
"It's gonna take a minute to power up."
"M'gann?" Superboy said taking her hand.
"I'll be fine, Conner," she said weakly.
"Will you quit playing with that and cut us free already!" Wally snapped at Artemis as she shook the laser, trying to turn it on. "How long does that thing take to power up?! I have to pee!"
"Well, you better hold it! It doesn't work remember? EMP shuts down all machines," she retorted.
"All machines present at the time," Red Tornado said flying in, making all of them jump. "What has occurred?"
"We had a little visit from your family," Robin said.
"You're very nasty family!" Artemis added.
"I was not aware I had relations."
"Well, here they are," Mike said, pulling off the other arm of the female android. "Surprise!"
"Where have you been?" Conner demanded.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower," Tornado stated walking to the androids, "when it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate, but your Zetatubes were also offline. I teleported to Providence and proceeded here."
"Took you long enough to get here," Mike commented, not looking up from dismantling their attackers, "Did you take a cab?"
"No," Red Tornado replied. Approaching and kneeling beside fallen androids.
A shaking came from the wall and Sphere hopped out. "Hey boy," Superboy greeted.
Artemis grunted as the laser shot off, making her step back to deal with the sudden kick.
"The pulse has worn off!" several voices exclaimed in unison.
Their attention snapped towards the Leaguer standing beside the androids Mike was trying to dismantle. Tornado stood up from where he was looking at the other two androids and flew up into the air. Two cyclones formed around his arms, sucking in the air around the room.
Several gasps echoed around the room as the air was sucked from their lungs. Grabbing his throat, Mike glared up at the Leaguer. Of course, he had suspected this was an inside job. It should have been obvious. "Traitor," he hissed, black creeping into his vision as he began to pass out.
-.-
"Mike."
"Michael."
"Michael, wake up."
A weak groan escaped his lips as he slowly sat up, his head throbbing. A hand rubbing his back, and he slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to focus on the blurred figure kneeling beside him. "Hey," his mentor smiled gently taking his arm and helping him up.
"Ow," he muttered holding his head. Looking around the room, he grimaced as his head continued to throb, but pushed past it to take in the situation. Batman was talking with Robin, Superman was helping Artemis to her feet, Captain Atom and Flash were trying to cut the others from the metal prisons, and Manhunter was helping Green Arrow rehydrate M'gann and Kaldur.
"What happened here?" Canary asked.
"What happened?!" Artemis snapped. "The Reds happened! Red Tornado and his…siblings!"
"Speaking of which," Mike growled, his eyes flashing red as he rose to his feet unsteadily. He ignored Canary as she tried to get her protégé to sit back down. "Where the fuck is that traitor?! I'm going to make him a paperweight!"
"Gone," Robin answered. "All three of them, gone."
