A prison of Memories chapter 8.
I haven't written for ages. Sorry. I'm aware some of this is a bit far-fetched but just roll with it.
After the exercise time took place, there was supposed to be lessons for everyone under 16. However, the centre barely had enough staff to prevent utter anarchy and definitely couldn't maintain lessons, so everyone just sat in the dining hall again, half-listening to someone's speech about 'how to be a model citizen'.
He was blabbering on and on about respecting each other and the environment, and had managed to unearth a dusty projector from somewhere which was showing a very low-definition slideshow of what was meant to be a fun game. Only the young ones or the people serving a minimal sentence actually paid it any attention. The rest of the inmates slouched on plastic chairs and tables, chewing gum and talking noisily, occasionally having arm-wrestling competitions; someone even managed to discreetly smoke a cigarette behind their friend, which was quickly extinguished by said friend when he coughed all over it.
Kaldur had been thinking. What Jason had said before kept nagging at him. He'd seen the signs himself, had wondered why Robin seemed so familiar with this place. He'd known exactly where to put his tray and had changed directions at the pip of a whistle without even thinking about it. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt – the boy had been here before. But how? When? And more importantly, why?
Unbeknownst to Silva, Artemis was also thinking along the same lines. All their trains of thought abruptly derailed, however, when Jason spoke quietly.
"Um, guys? I'm pretty sure that guy hasn't finished his lecture." Wally looked at him as if he'd just announced he was going to eat the sky.
"So what? It's not like we're missing mu-"
"No, you piece of shit. If he's not finished, why has he stopped talking?"
That got the speedster's attention. Frowning slightly at the not-so-flattering language, he nudged Silva and stood up. Of course, the bat was already standing and sprung into action before Kid Flash even realised what was going on.
He took in the situation quickly, like all the things he did. The fat man who had been talking was now struggling to breathe, small green wisps coming out of his nose and gaping mouth. Standing over him was a thin skinny figure in a raggedy, patched brown tunic, with a plain white masquerade mask over their features. The inmates who had seen this were charging towards him, desperate for some kind of vengeance, eager for violence after months of false pacifist behaviour. The three guards in the room managed to restrain one prisoner each, but had been disarmed and stripped of their radios in seconds, which were quickly smashed against the wall. M'gann had quickly stood up and Conner looked ready for battle. Artemis was reassuring Jason and helping him under the desk just in case.
He catalogued all this within milliseconds. He shared it on the Link as soon as it was up.
Miss Martian flung up a shield around the fat man, and the surge of youths stopped in their tracks. The man twitched and convulsed violently, and she winced. The torrent of fear coming from him was overwhelming, and there wasn't even any rational reason for him to be this terrified. Sure, any sane person would be afraid in this situation but the mind-numbing terror this man was feeling made no sense at all. In an effort to see what was wrong and perhaps aid the man, the alien girl floated over to him quickly, but was immediately knocked to the ground as soon as she crossed the boundaries of her self-produced barrier.
"M'gann!" Conner bellowed, trying to wade through the offenders. Robin quickly reassured him that the girl was okay – despite her being unable to move, her shield did not fluctuate and she was undoubtedly safer inside it. However, the reason for her predicament was unknown and her eyes were wide with panic – she was clearly still conscious, just paralysed for some reason. It appeared she could only use her mental powers inside her shield and her frozen state seemed to be the cause of that as a self-defence mechanism.
Just before Artemis was overwhelmed, Kaldur stepped in and took the hit for her. It would have knocked the girl out cold for sure but just made the Atlantean yell out in pain. He returned to the fray a little disorientated, but quickly recovered and managed to come up with an effective method of slowing/stopping people leaving. He picked up a random convict and spun them around, knocking as many other people over as he could. Being Atlantean, his stamina lasted longer than a human's and he kept steaming through people, and had racked up an impressive twelve inmates all by himself.
Artemis managed to knock out a few but eventually had to retreat slowly as a tide of highly dangerous juvenile delinquents was not something she wanted to get stuck into, especially without a bow or other projectile weapon. She was armed, of course, but a small truncheon didn't have much affect amongst hardened criminals although everyone she hit went down like a stone in a river. Being of the heritage she was, Artemis was never without a lethal weapon close-by, but couldn't risk unsheathing her dagger just yet. It was better to at least try and keep some of their cover intact, just in case they got out of this alive.
Conner stayed on his feet and used his body as a very effective barrier, trying to stop them leaving the room, but he was fighting a losing battle as there was only one of him and it seemed like three quarters of the inmates had been in the room at the time. Everyone who collided with him gave Superboy a brief, fleeting glance of confusion but it wasn't long before they were gone.
Wally zipped around the room, closing doors and windows (seriously, who thought to put like ten different exits to a canteen room in Juvie?), but the damage was done and no sooner were all the exits closed than they were being forced open again. Even as a speedster, he could only be in one place at once. He beckoned and yelled for Superboy to help him, but even though the clone's superhuman hearing enabled him to understand he couldn't move for the throng of people surrounding him and didn't want to risk killing them.
After most of the threats had ceased and the room was empty apart from about thirty five bound, gagged and unconscious convicts, Wally realised something. The shadowy, gaunt figure who had been standing over the lecturer-man was nowhere to be seen. The perpetrator leaving the scene of the crime was nothing new to him, but the figure had neither taken anything nor planted any dangerous devices. It seemed his entire purpose was to appear, scare the man, then vanish.
Of course, their main priority couldn't have been clearer. They needed to make a plan to get all the inmates back and then-
Wait. Wally did a quick headcount.
Robin was gone.
And without him, their main strategist, most plans went completely out of the window. Okay, so maybe he should give Kaldur some more credit, but it was always Robin who made the plans. As he knew a little bit more about the centre due to also being informed of some of the bird's past here, he gritted his teeth and called roll.
"Roll call. State injuries. Conner?"
"Fine," The clone grunted.
"Artemis?"
"A little winded, possible bruised rib, but I'm still fighting fit." The speedster didn't doubt that for a second; the archer was tougher than nails and always, always kept going.
"Kaldur?"
"I'm a little dizzy but everything else seems good."
"M'g-" They all looked over to the Martian girl, who was still on the floor next to the lecturer man. As soon as he saw that her shield had dissolved, Conner rushed up to her and shook her with a gentleness nobody knew he possessed. Kaldur approached slowly behind him before kneeling by her side and picking up her wrist. Thankfully, he felt a reassuring babump of blood through her veins.
"Her condition is stable physically," But her mental state is unknown, he didn't need to say. Being a telepath was dangerous because the emotions of others could be thrust onto you without warning, and it was a wonder she'd lasted this long in a horrible place like this.
"Where did Robin go?" Artemis asked slowly. They were all used to their youngest member sneaking off but he rarely did so this abruptly, and he usually left a batarang or some other sign of his absence, or even an echo of a cackle. "Wally?"
"Um, I'm not quite sure, I think…"
Robin, unbeknownst to them, was in big trouble. Before the lecturer hit the ground, he'd noticed he had been acting jumpy. And the trails of green gas that puffed out of his nose and mouth was a sure sign. Batman's protégé had immediately followed his attacker out of the room and down what he presumed to be an emergency exit corridor.
He wasn't quite sure who he was chasing, but he knew they were wearing a ragged hemp tunic which wasn't hard to spot amongst the bright orange of the prison jumpsuits.
He turned a sharp left, listened for a second, then swerved right again. The labyrinthine maze of alleys was probably to confuse inmates if they tried to escape, and by the wobbly tones of the walls it seemed to be working. Robin eventually screeched to a halt when he had the minion cornered in what appeared to be a storeroom, but must've been emptied of its payload a long time again.
The figure had his back to him and was pulling something out of a pocket in his threadbare tunic. His face still wasn't visible although the masquerade mask had long since vanished; he had pulled a bandana over everything but his eyes. The little bird started to slowly circle his opponent and the dance of death begun.
"So we believe Robin went after the attacker," The reassuring tones of their usual leader calmed Artemis' fraying nerves slightly.
"Yeah," Their resident redhead confirmed. "So, what now? We can't leave M'gann here in case she's attacked, but if we want to stop the inmates becoming out-mates, we've gotta get going, and fast."
"We're not leaving her." The clone left no room for argument.
"Could we trust that little guy to keep an eye on her? I know he's not the strongest but if they hid somewhere or something…?" Wally's idea wasn't bad at all.
"What little guy? You mean Jason? The kid who was kissing up to Silva?"
"Um, guys," Artemis tried to butt in.
"He's not even twelve yet! He couldn't fight off a thirteen-year-old, let alone one of those addicts!"
"Guys!"
"I bet he could! He's tough as nails and anyway it's not all about fighting-"
"SHUT UP! In case you haven't noticed, Jason has gone!" Silently, they looked around the room only to find it was true.
Either the kid got scared and hid (very unlikely) or…
"He went after Robin!"
Ahahah aren't I evil.