A prison of memories chapter 7.
Yeah, I know what you're all thinking. Two updates within three days? That's crazy! But I really wanted to make an effort for once, and I'm getting enough crap from not updating my other YJ stories and Xover, so yeah… and I know it's weird for a boy and girl to share a cell but whatever.
Thanks to H.N. Dots for the kind reviews. I don't know why but they made my day.
Thanks to all who reviewed last chapter. I would do more responses, but I think everyone prefers more angst, huh? I NEED TO WRITE NIGHTWING AGH. I don't know the schedule of prisoners so I'm just gonna make it up this is Gotham anyway it's not perfect jeez. This will be your last update for a while.
Previously…
"D?" Maureen gasped disbelievingly. Silva's head turned to one side as he was hauled off by the guard, trying to pinpoint where she was.
He twisted and escaped the arms of his captor, who merely shrugged and wandered off – the wardens here didn't receive much more than minimum wage so they were often hesitant to put in more effort when it was unnecessary. For a long moment, the canteen was silent. Robin knew it was risky, pulling off moves like these when there were people who could recognise him. But he also knew that first impressions were vital and that now everyone in the canteen knew what he was capable of he wouldn't get any trouble from them at all.
He stared at Maureen. She stared back. At the table, Wally coughed awkwardly. This brought Robin back to his senses, and he sat down stiffly on the hard plastic chair before turning his face to his so-called meal and moodily picking at it with a spoon. Maureen huffed and stomped off, not without fixing him with a glare that clearly promised a conversation later.
"What was that?" Artemis hissed into his ear. "You tell us all about keeping a low profile and then… and then…"
"You go and knock out three inmates." Conner finished her sentence. "I thought we were meant to be subtle." The irony of Superboy, who was always the one destroying buildings and punching people through walls, was not lost on the leader of this mission.
"We are meant to be subtle," Silva muttered quietly, "about snooping around. But it's all about appearances here. These people are like dogs – it's like they can smell weakness. You let anyone give you shit about anything and people will be at your throats." Artemis was still annoyed but she toned it down, remembering this was Silva, not Robin, at the moment. "So, has anyone seen anyone suspicious?"
"Dude, we've been here one night and we're supposed to have info already?" West snorted, "We've hardly even settled in."
"No. Ro-Silva is right, Wally," Kal interjected, "We have all had contact with our cellmates and therefore can tell anything suspicious about them." Silva nodded appreciatively which looked strange on his dangerous-looking face. "I can't tell you much about the girl in my cell, but she seems to be okay, and I haven't noticed anything suspicious about her."
"I'm in a cell with Emily," M'gann added, "So I can't tell you much."
"And I'm on my own for now, so no information here. What about you?"
"I currently share a cell with a 10-year old," Silva disclosed detachedly. M'gann gasped and even Conner looked uneasy. "Is something wrong?"
"They put a ten year old kid in with a 'sixteen' year old who's committed manslaughter?!" Emily hissed, "That's so unfair."
"Tell me about it," Silva rolled his eyes, sounding sarcastic. Everyone except Wally stared. "What?"
"Nothing," Kal stated, "Just you don't seem shocked at that." Silva shrugged nonchalantly.
"Anyway, my roommate is called Jason and in here for stealing car tyres. He doesn't seem to be connected to any particular gangs or such."
An uneasy silence rolled over the table. A couple of inmates glared at them from next to the unconscious forms of Rat-hair, Marv, and Short and Stocky. After toying with his plate of mush, Silva took it over to a trolley and placed it on the rack of other soiled trays. Slightly confused as to how he knew exactly what to do, but putting it off as him being a Bat, Artemis followed suit slowly. M'gann also wondered about how naturally he was following procedures here, and even Kal was suspicious.
A harsh sound broke them out of their reverie.
"Awwlright, everyone out into the Yard." The Chief Warden, a skinny man named Carl, drawled lazily. A collective groan went through the entire hall (including Silva) as they slowly started filing outside. Everyone stuck next to Silva, completely unaware of what was happening.
"The Yard?" Megan looked at him bewilderedly. "Where's that?" She wasn't the only one confused. Even Wally hadn't a clue as to what was going on and poor Conner was absolutely befuddled. Kal and Artemis looked a bit more relaxed but still curious. Jason drifted through the tide of people near the group. For all his tough infallible exterior, he was still a 10-year old and, loathe he admit it, just a little bit scared by all of the rushing people. He sneaked up to Silva and whacked him on the back with as much force as he could muster.
Silva twisted and raised his fist to strike before he realised it was Jason and calmed slightly.
"D'you mind not hitting me every time we see each other?" He understood how the younger boy felt; hell, he'd felt that way himself for the first week here, but he knew Jason's need for a tough appearance and that that was how he coped with things, by pretending not to be bothered. "I hate it when they drag us outside to exercise, don't you?"
Jason's tiny smile of gratitude was almost undetectable but Robin knew he was thankful for the information and casual demeanour. If he was anything like him, which the vigilante had no doubt about judging by intelligence and quick-thinking, he would have seen the blasé quip was intended to be comforting and reassuring.
"Yeah, it sucks, but let's go anyway."
The team had long been swept away and Silva and Jason were among the last people out of the stuffy hall. He immediately grabbed the younger by his jumpsuit collar in a way that would look threatening and violent but would cause no discomfort whatsoever, and dragged him over to where his fellow fraudsters stood gaping up at the 15 metre high metal fence topped with almost elaborate looking spirals of razor wire.
The yard had a concrete floor and chin up bars along the wall nearest to the building, where the staff would also keep a keen eye out; inside there was little to harm yourself with but there had been numerous attempts at hanging from the bars, so wardens were forced to keep an eye out or risk rumours of their inmates miseries escaping which would inevitably result in a funding cut.
"Sil? Who are these people?" Every head snapped up and M'gann held back an 'aww' at the scene in front of people.
"Don't call me that." He grunted. Wally looked at the kid questioningly.
"Uh, Silva? Did you realise you brought this pipsqueak along or was it an - ack- " He was abruptly cut off when said pipsqueak grabbed his neck and squeezed. In an instant, Artemis pulled Wally out of the way and Kaldur shoved him backwards. Conner stepped forwards, a wall of muscle in front of the boy, and pushed him roughly to make sure he got the message. The whole team was tense because of the situation, and it didn't help that huge waves of stress and fear kept wafting over the residual mind link from Silva. Even M'gann, usually calm and collected, had tensed up and moved to support her teammates.
"Stand down," Silva snarled to Conner. He complied after sending Jason a very nasty look. The kid backed off slightly before remembering himself and smirking cockily. "Remember I told you about my cellmate?" Artemis nodded slowly. "Jason, this is Emily, Conner, Kal, Megan and my wingman, West."
"Oh great. Now I'm your wingman. What does that even mean, anyway? Has it got anything to do with chicken wings…?" Wally trailed off, locked in food fantasia.
"Guys, this is Jason from my cell."
"Hello!" Megan, now aware the threat was non-existent, did a complete personality 180 and bounded forwards to lock Jason in a hug. She let go almost immediately when she remembered she was supposed to be a criminal.
"So, um, are you guys related or something?" West froze. They hadn't come up with a story explaining their relations yet so everyone was uncertain as to how they were supposed to know each other, let alone their sibling-like relationships.
"Um, uh, yeah-"
"Megan and I are stepsisters," Emily quickly covered West's hasty attempt, "Conner is Megan's boyfriend and Kal's half-brother. West's Conner's cousin and Silva just kind of pulled us all together. We think of each other as siblings though, apart from the lovebirds, because it's too complicated otherwise." Robin raised an eyebrow – for a quickly thought out excuse, she surely had put a lot of thought into that one.
Artemis frowned back. She'd always wanted to be part of a large family; her father had tried to turn her into an assassin and between her demented sister and wheelchair-bound mother it was no surprise she craved a proper family. Green Arrow's protégée almost started tearing up when she realised this meant she thought of the team as her family.
Jason nodded, unaware of several sets of conflicting emotions. "Cool!"
Before anything else could be said, three out of shape wardens came out of the door and Carl, the Chief Warden, blew a whistle violently. Silva raced off as everyone started to run laps of the Yard. After two laps, he blew the whistle again and the pack of people changed directions. Poor Jason was nearly trampled underfoot when he ran into a particularly muscly girl, but Kal yanked him up by his shoulders. "Careful, kid." Receiving no reply, he jogged onwards until Jason shouted at him.
"You haven't been here before, have you?" He slowed up enough to let Jason catch up, which was surprisingly little; that kid could run, and fast.
"What do you mean?"
"Silva's been here before. Have you?" Avoiding the question, Kal turned his head to look at the younger, almost running straight into the chin up bars. Jason yanked him back. "Looks like we're even."
"What makes you say that?"
"You don't know? He's practically your brother and you can't recognise the signs?" the whistle blew again for a short break and everyone stood still, some panting and some just looking refreshed.
"Signs?" The undercover Atlantean was bewildered. Surely Batman or Robin would have told him if the little bird had been on a mission here before?
"Oh man, you really don't know. That's not cool. To start with, he knows exactly where to go and how not to attract attention," He ticked the reason off on his fingers. "And, he obviously knows that Maureen chick, probably from here too. He also knew what the whistles meant and about how to get a reputation so nobody bothers you. And he won't sleep."
"He won't…sleep?" Kal was shocked. Robin wasn't one to withhold information unnecessarily, but then he did wear shades all the time and keep his identity hidden. He couldn't deny his curiosity. Kal spotted the topic of their conversation striding over and quickly made a deal with Jason. "Can you keep an eye on him for me?"
"Me? Look out for him? Dude, your brain must be all messed up. He's been here before and knows the ropes – it'll be the other way round and I'm gonna stick to him like glue." Nonetheless, he agreed when Kaldur persisted, only muttering something about crazy family attachments and brotherly rubbish.