Disclaimer: really, if I owned young justice, I'd probably lose my rights to it with my own hiatus. YAY for March third!
Yes I am still working on this. Finally got this chapter done but it was like pulling teeth. Hopefully the future action packed chapters I'm aiming for will run smoother out of me. XP Yeah, the teams gonna have quite a bit of action to keep themselves busy later. Plotted all out, just need the motivation to do it. Ugh... I have the opposite of writers block at times: too many ideas! Oh well. This'll explain a few things people have asked in this series, so no fretting.
Where's Robin?
Ch. 9 – Signals
"STOP SHOOTING AT ME!" Wally shouted in desperation, still running around the main hall of the cave.
Neither Roy nor Artemis gave him any heed as they continued their archery practice, grinning from ear to ear. Both were enjoying their bonding experience, and for once it looked like Green Arrow's protégés were getting along. Canary had returned to medical for more bandages at the moment to redress Artemis' hands and Flash hadn't yet returned from Central with Wally's homework, so neither were defending the speedster. The only other living adult there didn't seem to care.
Batman just ignored them all and continued his work in the cave. His one warning not to break anything was the closest he came to telling them to stop. If any of them cared to find out what he was doing, they didn't ask. Kaldur drifted in once to see what was going on, making a casual glance at the reports the man was making, but it didn't pertain to anything the team was involved in. Gotham had many ongoing cases. No wonder Robin was always busy when he was away.
Recognized – Superboy B04, Recognized – Miss Martian B05
"Any news on Robin?" Conner immediately asked in a worried tone.
"WATCH OUT!" Artemis cried as her last loose arrow flew into his face. Conner saw it barely in time and caught it just as it hit his cheek. Though its tip didn't draw blood, he still felt the sting from its point touching him.
"Cool it Blondie!" Wally ordered, zooming just within inches of Conner, glaring at the archer. "You just hit Supey!"
"Are you alright?" Artemis asked in a worried panic, rushing over to the boy of steel.
The alien clone blinked at her in surprise. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Nice catch," Red Arrow commented, approaching them calmly. "But just for future reference, most people dodge when an arrow comes flying at them. Like steaker here." The young man poked Wally with the feathery end of his arrow, hard.
"OW! Knock it off Roy!" the speedster barked back, rubbing his side. He successfully avoided everything aimed at him the entire afternoon. He could only pray his punishment would end soon. If he really thought his life was in danger, he wouldn't have stuck around for so long.
M'gann carefully examined Conner's cheek before letting him go. "Seems alright to me."
"I'm fine," the clone repeated, a bit agitated. "Robin's the one in real trouble. Has anyone—"
"No change on his situation." They all looked to Batman, his back turned to them the entire time they were talking. Given how still he was, they weren't sure he even heard them in the room. For all they knew, the man was a robot.
"Isn't there something we can—"
"When I have something more I'll tell you." Everyone stepped back at the annoyed growl in his voice. They were glad he wasn't aiming one of his glares at them, but they could tell he was debating it. Robin occasionally told them he wasn't as mean as the world thought he was. Right then it didn't look like it. "Until then, business as usual."
"That's pretty heartless," Roy mumbled. Batman looked over his shoulder at them, giving him a hard glare. The ginger put his hands up defensively. Even he didn't test the dark knight's patience too much.
"We can't have the criminal world hearing about this," he reminded them slowly before turning back to his screen.
"So… what, you want one of us to play Robin for a while?" Wally offered, zooming up to the consol in hopes to help somehow. The aliens started at the speedster for a moment, surprised he wasn't avoiding the man. Come to think of it, seeing him on his feet at all was a surprise. Last they saw him, he was still shaking from the whole ordeal.
"Don't be ridiculous." The man didn't even glace in the boy's direction. "Robin's been out of commission before. Just go home. There's nothing we can do until Green Lantern comes back with the homing beacons."
"You're not going home," Artemis noted. The group slowly approached the dark knight, and received by a quick glare in their general direction.
"I don't have school."
"School's out, it's the weekend," the girl retorted back. If he didn't go back to Gotham, why should she?
"And don't you have a day job?" Roy pushed in, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah he's got one," a voice said over the computer's speakers. The teens jumped at the bodiless voice, not expecting to hear anything but the dark knight's growling at them. They tried to find the screen where a face could be shown, but there wasn't one. Who ever was talking, he wasn't going to be on visual. "He just doesn't go there very often."
"Are you going to report or are you just planning on antagonizing me Lantern?" Batman's snippy comment made everyone except Wally back away. He stepped closer to the screen unconsciously, recognition on his face. He knew that voice, even if the others didn't at the moment.
Hal's laugh made the others warm up a bit. "Both I think. I got them."
The dark knight's shoulders relaxed a small fraction, hardly noticeable to the group surrounding him. He nodded. "Good. Rendezvous with your backup Lanterns. I expect you back here before the end of next week."
The group behind him stared at his back. He kept saying Robin would be back in a week. He didn't say that was if Green Lantern managed to get what they needed to save him.
"Uh, just want to tell you a few things first Bats." The man on the other end sounded nervous. "I could only get my hands on two of them, and they're one time uses. They'll fry after you're dragged back home."
"Two is all we'll need."
"Just two?" Wally objected. "But, Robin's rescue party—"
"Will just be me," Batman stated flatly. His dark tone made the team step back again unconsciously. As much as they all wanted to go after Robin, they knew the man wouldn't let anyone else go after his charge.
"Is there any way to recreate the beacons?" Conner asked quickly. He really wanted to make sure Robin was okay.
"Fraid not kid." GL said on the other end. "Problem with this tech is the delicate parts and the rare minerals. They're only on Volvion, and trying to tamper with something like this could destroy it. They weren't cheap."
"How much?" There was a touch of annoyance in the Bat's voice, but he kept his usual growl.
"How about a week long pass to Disneyland and California Adventure for five? Hotel services included." They could tell the man on the other end was grinning slightly. "Kinda missed my nephew's birthday with that last crisis on Oa. I was going to make it up with this cool toy I found out here but had to barter it to get your—"
"Done."
The group jerked around and stared at the man, unable to believe he would agree to that so easily. Wally knew Uncle Hal would hand over the beacons anyway, so really the dark knight didn't have to do anything. Why were the two bartering over Robin's life?
The space cop on the other end gave a quick huff of a laugh. "You really aren't any fun you know that?"
"Just get back here with the tags." Batman's growl shoved everyone back in line. This was his son they were talking about. He didn't joke about people's lives, let alone Robin's.
"10-4. And take it easy on the rest of the world Bats," Hal ordered firmly. "How do you think Rob'll feel if he comes back and you've destroyed it on your end?"
Batman tapped the holopad once more, cutting off the transmission. The room stood in silence for a moment, long enough for everyone to explode at once. "You said he'd be back in a week!" "Who are we waiting on?" "We should be in the rescue party!" "What was he talking about with Disneyland?" "Since when did you have such faith in Green Lantern?" "How long would it have been if he didn't find those things where he was?" "One week! You said one week!"
"ENOUGH!"
All the protégés and former sidekicks took a step back as Batman snapped around, glaring at them in frustration. After one long, terrifying moment, when nearly all of them thought he'd rip into them, he spoke again.
"Green Lantern is the only one capable of this task. And when it matters most, he always pulls through. He reported knowing merchants who would have the beacons. We only require two to bring him home, and the less factors involved, the better. It'll take him a week to get back here, barring any crisis he come across. We've sent the other Lanterns to rendezvous with him to ensure his safe arrival. Robin will be back by the end of next week."
His words sunk into them for a moment before he continued. "In the mean time, it's business as usual. Everyone needs to go home and recover. What you're doing right now isn't helping anyone. Unless you can find a way to send a message to him, you're done here until further notice."
They stared at him for a moment before Wally spoke. "You've been trying to contact him?"
If any of them could look through his cowl, they would know he looked away from them. The speedster's mouth dropped open. "I thought you were working on cases!"
"It's called multitasking." Quickly he turned back to the screens, going back to work.
"When are you going to make contact?" Roy asked quickly.
"The technology is designed for objects," Batman stated flatly to avoid more questions. "Radio transmissions won't work."
"What?" a few of them asked, believing this to be unfair.
"What about sending a letter?" the archer offered this time, cutting off Wally's attempt to say the same thing.
The dark knight seemed to look to the heavens before answering. "That may work—"
"Then let's do it!" Both redheads were ready to charge out the door to get things together when the Bat opened his mouth again.
"Or it may not." He looked back to them slightly. "This device was designed for storage, not for much of anything else. We can't guarantee it'll work."
"Better than doing nothing," Artemis insisted. Everyone else grinned towards each other.
"Besides," M'gann offered, "Robin will like it."
At this, the man looked back to them all, lastly looking at Conner. The clone was giving him the pleading puppy-eye look, one Robin would give on occasion and was only doubled by the shade of the kryptonian's eyes. Turning away, Batman gave in. "Fine. Go make him a care package or something. After your homework's done."
With his approval, everyone darted in different directions to fulfill their personal missions. Once the room was clear, the silent observer Red Tornado approached the dark knight. "You appear to be 'soft' on the team."
"Shut up."
A/N: I've decided Conner has super puppy face when he needs it. And it's a common fact that bats has a soft spot for kids in general, the more issues the better. So yeah, other than making one of them take Robin's place, he's pretty easy to get to agree to their antics. It's supposed to be business as usual, but we all know it'll be a bit before they'll let that happen.
This answers someone's question about signals and messages. There will be an issue about it (since we're far past this day and nothing arrived on Robin's end, remember?) and it will be brought up in the last two chapters of 'Without Me'. I didn't forget, sheesh...
Now for Hal and Bat's commentary, yeah, I can so see Hal doing this. As I recall, those two never really got along so well. Hal would make bats pay for disneyland vacations if he could. The whole nephew idea I got from the movie. *shrug* Honestly don't know why Hal's in space here and on earth in 'Without Me'. I think John Stewart ended up in space after Robin arrived. not sure...
now it's time for me to start pulling teeth again to get the next chapter or two done before going on to action plot and not fluffy fillers. Sorry it's gonna take a bit. Lately it's been like pulling teeth to write non-fluff. Oh well.