Disclaimer: I feel like a broken record or a scratched cd every time I say this. but it's true. I don't own young justice or any DC character. pity that.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! you should have seen your faces when Roy popped up. Priceless. Wish I could have seen them too. =P Apparently that fight scene wasn't too bad but I've tried doing this one over a few times so I'm not entirely happy with it. Another character will also appear along with old names from the comic book world. If you wanna see their old costumes I based the descriptions on, look it up. I tried to describe them right, but I don't think I got it perfect. =/ there's a reason I don't describe people much in fanfiction. Because I don't have to and I hate describing things. Such a pain and it takes away from the intensity of the story. Ah well.

Without Me

Ch. 18 – Old Acquaintances

Robin froze for a moment, just staring at the archer before him. There stood Roy Harper, glaring death under his red mask down an arrow shaft at the boy. His hair was longer than he'd ever seen him have, falling slightly in front of his face, plus an attempt at a goatee. His uniform was red and black, but not at all like his arrow counterpart. And there were a lot more scars on his arms than Robin remembered. He didn't just have arrows on him either. Robin counted at least two guns, a few grenades, and at least half a dozen knives on the young man's person.

Then there was the way he held himself. Tense, angry, anxious. This was not the Roy he knew at all. This was Roy without Green Arrow in his life. And it did not look good. The man snarled at Robin. "How do you know my name?"

Robin gave a weak smile and shrug. "Heh, lucky guess?" Quickly he darted out of the way as another arrow flew at him. This Roy wasn't interested in Robin's jokes.

"Chesh!" The redhead shouted behind him. "We've got company!"

"What was that?" Zatanna panicked, just barely within safety of Robin. Both took refuge behind the truck.

"Chesh?" Robin asked out loud, now completely confused. "Wait, if Roy's with the bad guys, then Chesh is…"

"Robin!" the girl begged next to him. He almost ignored her but reigned himself in as he put two and two together.

"Crap. Run." Robin almost pulled Zee to her feet as they ran forward, barely avoiding Cheshire's deadly sais coming straight at them from above. Robin turned toward her barely in time to see Roy shoot two arrows at him. Quickly he caught one in either hand and put them to work defending himself against the deadly assassin. Not like he had anything else to work with anyway.

'Crap, crap and double crap,' he thought as he evaded the lady's attacks, barely managing to parry her deadly strikes. Cheshire was on his list of people not yet ready for. Roy could take her sure, but he was bigger than her and that helped. Robin was just a little too small for her and her skills. For one, he and the girl fought a lot alike, making this fight particularly difficult. They knew all of each other's holes and the majority of the other's moves. Reading each other was the same as declaring their own motives. Second, she didn't mind killing, he did. Never good when someone had rules and the other didn't.

"Pirts reh ot reh raewrednu!" Zatanna screamed as Robin barely managed to divert another of her Cheshire's strikes. In a blinding instant the young woman was in nothing but skimpy lingerie.

"WHOA!" Robin jolted back, his face burning while still defending himself from the assassin's vigorous attacks. "DID NOT WANT TO SEE THAT!"

"Sorry!" Zee had to dodge an arrow before she could correct her mistake.

"Don't touch her!" Roy shouted, running forward to help the practically naked (and almost completely disarmed) girl. He looked far more enraged than the lady still trying to gorge the boy wonder's flesh. Robin was barely dodging and blocking her attacks, plus not stepping on the sleeping men below them.

"Wasn't planning on it!" he shouted in pure embarrassment. It was bad enough fighting hardly dressed psychos in Gotham on normal days. Going toe to toe against a deadly, naked assassin wasn't what he intended to do that day at all.

Before one of the sais could connect with Robin's flesh, Zatanna shouted, "Dnib htiw leets!"

Instantly steel chains appeared and wrapped around an indecent Cheshire, binding her tightly together. There were no locks to pick and no weak links. It'd even take the dark knight quite some time to get out of. Robin would have reflected gladly on this last thought if Roy wasn't about to hit him with his bow.

Quickly the boy dodged, trying to bat away his friend's double's onslaught. The young man was fuming and obsessed with hurting Robin at that point, not really thinking about what he was doing.

Robin was still getting over the fact that Roy Harper, Red Arrow, formerly Speedy, was attacking him! Helping out the enemy! Watching out for Cheshire of all people! Of all the people in the world, Roy was one of his rocks. He thought the guy would never change sides and would always be a hero. But here…

"Great. Now I really wish Ollie did take you in Roy."

"It's Arsenal!" the man screamed, throwing punches at him wildly

Barely flipping out of another volley of attacks from Roy, Robin twisted around and landed a quick kick into the man's gut. Strangely this is all it took to stop the attacks for the moment. Roy slid back and grabbed his stomach in pain, sweating heavily.

"Arsenal. Not a bad name." The boy hesitated attacking him again. 'Must have reopened a wound,' he thought, but didn't let his guard down. "Shame we're on opposite sides."

Roy crouched in pain next to Cheshire, and the lady was furious. Her glare would have chilled most people, but the boy wonder had seen many like it before. They stopped having any effect on him years ago. Robin only spared her a cold glance before remembering he had backup.

"Zee! Get to higher ground!" He didn't look back to see the magician nod, but ran forward on the other side of Roy to the loading dock again. There was still Sportsmaster to deal with, and likely Artemis.

As he ran, Robin put all his weight on the thinnest part of Roy's bow, snapping it in an instant. No salvaging it. He also dropped his exploding disks onto Roy's guns and into the quiver. If he drew one, they'd explode and the weapon would be useless. The pain on the man's face hurt the boy wonder. 'Sorry Roy.'

Within seconds Robin leapt onto the platform just in time to see two blonds and four ski capped henchmen leaving the building, the thugs carrying some crate out the door. Sportsmaster looked exactly like the one Robin knew, but Artemis obviously wasn't dressed like a Green Arrow groupie anymore. Instead it was all yellow and black, with side stripes like a tiger. A tank on top with tight shorts on bottom, her utility belt held a crossbow and bolts with her other gear. Black gloves and combat boots donned her appendages, and only one eye and part of her face was covered by a mask, as if a cat's paw was placed there. Her spiked choker finished her look of bad-to-the-bone animal.

"I preferred the green," he muttered to himself as he threw gas pellets at the men carrying the crate, who coughed wildly and dropped the thing before passing out. The anesthetic gas didn't stop Artemis though. She ran straight through, rigging her crossbow to fire.

"Get rid of him," Sportsmaster order, glaring at Robin for interfering. Instead of fighting himself, he darted over to the crate, letting his daughter do the dirty work.

"Yeah, I don't think so Arty." Quickly he leapt to the side, dodging the first bolt before throwing a disk at the trigger. It snapped before the second bolt could fire, springing backwards and into Artemis' shoulder. Both her hand and shoulder were bleeding from the impacts, making Robin wince in sympathy.

"Oooo… that's gonna smart in the morning. Should have changed sides Artemis." He grinned to taunt her. "We've got medical benefits."

"The name's Tigress!" Within seconds the blond charged forward, this time taking out a hunting knife to strike him down.

Robin's eyes narrowed as he dodged her attacks. As he flipped backwards, he grabbed another arrow off the ground to parry the knife's swings towards him. He heard a small explosion behind him along with Roy's painful shout. The boy winced again in sympathy, knowing his friend was hurt because of his forethought.

No, not friend. Not here.

'Man this is confusing' he mentally cursed as he knocked the knife from 'Tigress's' hand, heavily bruising it in the process. The girl wouldn't be using either to wield weapons for a day or so. Another 'friend' he was hurting.

Didn't stop her from attacking him. Quickly she changed to every day hand-to-hand, delivering every punch and kick she could. Robin did his best to dodge each blow, but the girl was better at this than her previous methods. She clipped his shoulder and grabbed his cape, dragging him to the ground to knock his head in. Reflexively he rolled into the strike, throwing his legs up into her back, throwing her off balance and over his head. She tried rolling into her fall to catch her self, only for Robin to follow her arch and land neatly behind her. With a series of well placed kicks and a quick blow on the side of her head, Robin forced her to the ground, finally unconscious.

Wouldn't last long, he knew. Artemis was resilient back home. She didn't learn that with the team.

Unfortunately he didn't have time to tie her up either as Sportsmaster had finally decided to join the fight. When Robin and Tigress had their one on one, the man dragged whatever cargo was in the crate to the truck. The box still wasn't in the thing, but far closer than Robin liked. Didn't matter who owned it or what was inside, Sportsmaster wasn't going to get away with this.

The man lunged at Robin, a collapsible javelin raised above him to plunge into the boy. Robin leapt out of the way, diving his hands into his belt for his disks. They flew from his fingers moments after, the majority repelled as the man twirled his weapon around to block them. Two hit their marks on his body, destroying parts of his armor. Not slowing down, the adult ran at him, staff swinging downwards. Robin flipped backwards and managed to yet again grab some loose arrows on the ground to defend himself with.

Really, he had to remember to keep his escrima sticks on him at all times! Grabbing things at random wasn't helping his case much. This man was better than his double back home. Robin kept paring each attack best he could, constantly defending himself. If only the man didn't haven any weapons…

The boy grinned, a plan forming quickly in his mind. Quickly he hit the javelin's center with both arrows and flung them into the man's mask. As he flinched from the impact, Robin grabbed the staff's center and pulled down, swinging himself under the man and through his legs to trip him up, dragging the staff with him. Sportsmaster's balance fell apart, his own weapon used against him as he landed head first into the cement beneath him. Robin used his earlier momentum to fly into the air, twist around and land neatly five feet away from him. He didn't pause for a second. Once his boots hit pavement, Robin darted forward, tossing the javelin to the side and yanking some flares out of his belt. When the man tried to get to his feet again, the boy dived at him, triggering the flares and pinning them to every place the guy hid his weapons. The boy wonder flew off him in time to avoid being burned by his own trick.

Sportsmaster rushed to remove every flaming piece of clothing he wore, and pretty much his entire arsenal. Robin held back for a moment to make certain the guy could make it out in one piece before readying his next attack. All that was left on the man was his jersey, pants, boots and mask. There might be some other kind of weapon on him, but it hardly made a difference. Now everything was back to basics.

"You've got a lot of gall kid," the supervillain started.

Robin grinned, bowing slightly. "Thanks. I've been collecting it." Not giving the man another minute, he launched forward, aiming his punches at every exposed soft spot he could reach.

Sportsmaster parried the majority of them without too much difficulty, but the blows that reached him were strong, forcing him back. He retaliated against the kid, getting his shoulder and chest at least once before aiming his knee into the brat's gut. Dodging this, the kid leapt smoothly back then launched himself forward again, this time placing his hands on the man's upward knee and springing up into a flip. Quickly the man grabbed the cape in front of his eyes to pull the boy back to earth.

"Got a name brat?" he growled.

"Does it matter?" The cape came loose in the nick of time, but Robin caught the end of its collar to tug it over and around the man's head, blinding him. "I'm still gonna humiliate you in front of your girlfriend!"

Enraged, Sportsmaster turned around to kick at the kid. "She's not my—"

"Back story!" Due to the man's blindness, he completely missed the kid. Robin swung around, using the cape as a line, and kicked the man's back between his shoulders. The added momentum and release of the cape from his grasp threw the man forward into the stone steps leading into the cocking port with a bone cracking thud. "Not interested!"

Robin gave another flip backwards and landed in a crouch. That last blow might have knocked the man out, or just made him a little angrier at him. Didn't matter. The guy had muscle memory, not rejuvenation. He wouldn't be healing quickly enough to attack Robin with the same amount of force.

But he forgot about the man's backup. Within seconds of landing, a strong arm wrapped around Robin's neck in a deathly headlock. Reflexively, the boy wonder turned his head into the elbow and tucked it in to keep his airways clear. He stopped short though of his other reflexes when he caught sight of something.

Track marks. Right before him, on the arm of his captor were track marks from heroin use.

"Not another move wise guy," Roy's voice whispered in his ear fiercely. Though for that moment Robin's mind went blank, he could detect a strain in the young man's voice. He was going through withdrawals.

The boy's reflexes came alive once again as the archer pulled him off his feet to have him dangle. Grabbing the guy's arm was all Robin could do to stay alive. He knew how strong Roy should be from back home, and he had a meaner punch than Robin. "What do you want done with him old man?"

Sportsmaster gripped his bleeding head as he slowly returned to his feet, glaring through the mask at Robin. "Kill him. Slowly."

"Not on the menu. Sorry!" With his wits back about him, Robin flung a leg around Roy's middle and turned into his arm while biting it. Roy yelped in serious pain, and despite all his strength had to let go of the boy wonder. Robin quickly landed on his feet and backed down a pace.

"A little help would be nice Zee!"

"PEELS!" Before either man could react both Sportsmaster and 'Arsenal's' eyes rolled back and closed. They fell to the ground painfully, but didn't wake. Sportsmaster was even snoring.

Robin gaped at them, snoozing away as if nothing else in the world mattered. He looked around to the others, seeing the full effect of the girl's spell. Cheshire was halfway out of her bindings but now rested as if on a bed of feathers. 'Tigress' was already unconscious but showed no signs of stirring any time soon. Others previously knocked out seemed to actually sleeping; he could hear half of them snoring and saw a few drooling. This was just…

"Why didn't you just do that earlier?" Robin turned on Zatanna, who shyly left her hiding place behind the dumpster. "Would have saved a lot of trouble!"

"It's a really hard spell," the girl explained. "That's if you want it to hit groups and only certain people, and make it last long enough."

"It's just one word isn't it?" That's all he heard. One word and the people were out cold.

She gave him a halfway cynical look. "There's a lot more to it than just a word Robin. And finding the right word is also tricky."

The boy rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he looked around at the villains again. The earlier cops' backup would be arriving soon, but a little cleanup had to be done. Besides, handling what he knew kept him from thinking about what he didn't. Magic wasn't his thing.

He shoved his hand into one of his pockets and tossed Zatanna some zipcuffs. "Get those on everyone without a badge. Ankles and wrists. Get the wrists behind their backs too, and make sure it's tight. No give, but don't turn their hands blue."

Zee blinked at him as she caught the makeshift handcuffs, but nodded after a moment. She was the newbie after all. As she started on the thugs, Robin looked down to Roy.

By all logic, in this world this guy was just another criminal. He stole, he hurt people, and it was likely he had killed before while working with Sportsmaster. It's possible the guy had met Green Arrow and taken potshots at him. Actually, thinking back to his first night in this world, Robin was certain he had.

But despite all that, despite all logic, this was still Roy Harper. Before him was one of his closest friends and allies. A different one sure, but it was still him. Robin looked at his friend's arm again and cringed. What series of events took place to make his big brother figure turn out like this? A junkie who worked for slimeballs like Sportsmaster?

For a moment he looked over to 'Tigress', Artemis. Robin knew why she was there. She couldn't escape her father. She hadn't found a way out of his grasp. She must have succumbed to whatever her dad was teaching her and decided his ways were best. For her, the choice down this path was easy. It was heartbreaking to see the strong girl he knew succumb to the ravings of a madman.

But she was underage. Her dad was the one calling the shots. The courts would go lenient on her.

But Roy? Roy was an adult. Robin cringed as he looked back to his friend. The courts wouldn't go easy on him. He was an adult. He'd be lucky if they believed he was being coerced into this, but then he'd be charged for illegal possession and use of drugs. This guy's life was practically over.

"Roy…"

"Robin?" The boy wonder snapped his attention back to Zatanna. Concern covered her face. "Uh, I ran out of ties. We should finish up here and get going."

Slowly Robin nodded, then looked back to Roy on the ground. Thoughts and ideas lingered in the back of his mind for a while, then he nodded, a new flame burning within him.

He wasn't done yet.

A/N: Okay, catch all the comic book references? There's also a great Dick/batman line in there. X3 and just an FYI, Robin doesn't know how Cheshire fits into any of this. I watched how she fought in the show and it's pretty similar to Robin's techniques, so I think he'd think this way when fighting her.

So how was this fight sequence? good? bad? like I said before, I'm not very good at them. =/