Ch. 25

Robin relaxed marginally when the long-haired boy left. Shifting slightly to find a more comfortable position, he quickly reviewed what he knew about his situation. He had been bound hand and foot by someone who definitely knew what they were doing. If he was left unguarded for ten minutes or so he might be able to slip his ropes, but he wasn't sure. Batman's lessons in escaping were excellent, but the entrapment skills of his captors were obviously better.

The language they'd been speaking had sounded like Japanese to him, but although Robin was learning a bit of spoken Japanese, he hadn't been able to understand anything past what could possibly be names. The long-haired boy had been Neji, and the woman watching him now was …Koui? He thought that sounded right. Everything else had sounded just slightly… off. It had been Japanese, and yet, at the same time, it wasn't the same. Did they just have a strange accent or dialect? Or was it something different?

Neji had been reserved and borderline hostile, but he'd also had a kind of professional air that Robin couldn't quite place. He was probably the one who'd tied him up. He had obviously disapproved of whatever Koui had asked of him, but had left anyway. So she had some kind of authority or influence over him. They didn't look related, but she could be his mentor or a family friend. Considering how gentle she'd seemed so far, Robin kind of doubted that she was Neji's mentor, which meant that he might have a chance to slip away, with only her watching him.

As stealthily as he could, Robin began twisting at his bonds, testing the ropes for any weaknesses. But before he could make any real progress a hand was laid against his, stopping him. Koui looked at him, face full of disappointment, and Robin immediately felt ashamed. He didn't know why he felt so guilty, but it was like getting caught with his hand in a cookie jar. He stopped trying to escape, and she smiled at him apologetically, speaking quietly. Robin couldn't understand the words, but she seemed to be scolding him.

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"You shouldn't try to escape." Koui said, voice just a little bit stern. "Neji-kun would have to stop you again, and I'm sure you don't want to repeat that experience." The guilty look on the boy's face caused her to relent a bit. "Don't worry," she said, "I won't let Neji-kun do anything to you unless you deserve it. He's really a very good boy at heart; he just doesn't trust others easily."

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Robin felt a little better after Koui stopped scolding him, but the cookie-jar guilt was still there. How does she do that? he wondered.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when the door Neji had left through (the third on the right) opened up and the long-haired boy came back. With him was another kid, maybe a year younger, with his hair pulled back into a high ponytail. The second kid looked bored, even downright lazy, and he made a complaining noise as he followed Neji over to where Robin and Koui sat. He gave Robin a glancing over and said something to Koui. She replied, and he raised his eyebrows, but otherwise didn't react. Neji said something sharply, and the other kid sighed, making the same complaining noise he had earlier. He snapped his fingers, and Robin felt something, he wasn't sure quite what, change.

"So." the boy said, crouching in front of Robin so that they were the same height. "Who are you?"

Robin was sat up straighter, startled and relieved. Finally! Someone who spoke English! "My name's Robin." he said. Relieved or no, he wasn't giving his real name away! And they'd left his mask on too, so they didn't know his face. Neji's eyes flickered, showing that he didn't quite believe him, but Robin ignored him. "What's yours?" he challenged the new boy back.

"Nara Shikamaru." he replied easily. "And these are-"

"Neji and Koui." Robin interrupted.

Neji's eyebrows snapped together, and Shikamaru's rose a little more. "So you at least understood their names." he said. "That's good information."

Neji looked like he wanted to disagree, but he held himself back.

"Alright." Shikamaru continued. "Next question. Why were you following our friends?"

"They looked suspicious." Robin replied shortly.

Shikamaru gave him an evaluating look, and then spoke again. "Explain."

Robin hesitated, and then went ahead. It wasn't like it would change anything. "A guy with no face and big pockets down near the docks in the middle of the night having a clandestine meeting with a timid, submissive, and pretty girl? What isn't suspicious about that?"

"Just calling it 'suspicious' isn't very specific." Shikamaru pointed out. "What did you suspect was going on?"

Robin explained his theories and the reasons behind them. The moment he finished, he felt a hand under his chin and found himself roughly slammed into the wall, pinned there by his neck. Neji's furious eyes bored into his, and veins almost seemed to be popping out of his head on either side of his eyes. "How dare you." the long-haired boy almost hissed, the air around him going cold. Robin kicked out at him with his bound legs, but Neji just put a foot on the rope binding his ankles and pinned them to the wall as well. Oddly, Robin found himself wondering why Neji was speaking English now, when earlier he hadn't shown any understanding of the language whatsoever.

"Neji-kun." The quiet, firm voice belonged to Koui. "Let him down." she said. "I understand your anger, but Robin-kun hasn't done anything wrong."

Neji's hand tightened a fraction on Robin's throat, and a kind of blue aura seemed to surround it briefly—were Robin's eyes playing tricks on him?—and then the long-haired boy let him go. Robin coughed as he slumped to the floor, wishing he could rub his neck. Neji stalked back over to his previous position, still furious but getting himself under control. "If you ever," he threatened Robin, "imply that Hinata would prostitute herself again, I will leave you crippled and spitting blood for the rest of your life."

"Neji-kun." Koui said, almost sharply. "Robin-kun didn't mean to anger you, and I won't have you threatening him like that again.

Neji made an angry noise in reply, promising nothing.

"Neji-kun." Koui repeated sternly.

"Very well." Neji said waspishly. "I won't attack him again unless he poses a threat."

"How…" They turned at Robin's coughing question. "How come you speak English now…?" he asked.

"We don't." Shikamaru said boredly. He'd almost used Kage Mane to stop Neji himself. He would have, if Koui-san hadn't succeeded in making Neji back down. "You can just understand us now." At Robin's opened mouth, he shook his head. "Don't bother asking how that works." he said. "All I can tell you is that it turns on and off when Neji or I snap our fingers."

"…oookay, whatever you say." Robin sighed. "So, what are you going to do with me?"

"That depends." Shikamaru replied. "If we untie you, will you attempt to escape without our permission?"

Robin thought about it. Whoever these guys were, they were good. Not only had he been taken out with little difficulty the first time—his pride whining that he'd been caught off-guard, while his reason argued he shouldn't have been off-guard—but thinking back, he'd obviously been noticed when he followed No-Face and the girl, despite his utmost efforts not to be discovered. "That depends." he finally replied, voice even. "Are you doing anything worth risking my life to expose you?"

"No." Shikamaru answered immediately. "However, that doesn't mean it isn't worth risking our lives to keep you from exposing it."

"In that case, I won't try to escape until you say I can leave." Robin said, wishing he could say otherwise.

"Good." Shikamaru nodded. He snapped open a rectangular holster strapped to his leg and pulled out what Robin recognized as a kunai, a Japanese throwing knife. Walking over to Robin, he crouched down and winkled at the ropes with it until they came loose.

"You could have just cut them." Robin pointed out as he rubbed his wrists.

"Waste of rope." Shikamaru said bluntly in reply. "And we don't have any local money to purchase more. We could steal, but we'd like to avoid that, if possible."

"Ah." Well at least they were relatively honest. Robin stood as soon as the last ropes were loose, shaking out one leg, then the other. "So… what now?"

"Now we introduce you to the rest of our team, and tell you everything you need to know. Then, you will tell us everything we need to know." Shikamaru also stood back up, turning and heading down the hall. "Follow me." he said. "And whatever you do, don't tell anyone why you followed those two here. Not every member of the team is as sensible as Neji."

"If that was sensible, I'm a duck." Robin muttered under his breath.

Neji's lips tightened momentarily, but he didn't otherwise react to the jibe.

"You insulted his cousin, whom he is to protect at all costs. I'd say death threats are pretty reasonable." Shikamaru drawled.

"I wasn't going to kill him." Neji clarified. "I was going to cripple him and partially destroy his internal organs."

"And that wouldn't have killed Robin-kun?" Koui asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Not immediately. Slowly, over the course of a month or two, perhaps…"

"You shinobi are so very vindictive." she said mildly.

"You civilians are too forgiving."

"Not all of us." Koui said softly. "Just me."

"You do realize that I'm right here, right?" Robin asked.

"Of course. Why do you think I'm walking behind you?" Neji replied testily.

"You shinobi are so very paranoid." Koui sighed.

"You civilians are too trusting."

"Which is why we are so necessary to balance each other out."

"Perhaps."

They entered the door Shikamaru had come from with Shikamaru leading, Robin second, Neji third and keeping a watchful eye on Robin; and Koui bringing up the rear.

Batman sat before his Bat-computer with his cowl pushed back, staring moodily at the screen. According to the log, Robin had dropped off the radar almost immediately after the patrol began. Bruce Wayne cursed himself. He should have known something was wrong when his apprentice didn't check in every hour, as he was supposed to do. Instead, he'd put it down to Robin's desire to prove himself capable of handling everything himself the first time. After the second missed check-in, he'd called Robin's communicator to remind the boy that he wasn't going solo yet. The gentle hiss of static had alerted him that this was no innocent ambition on Robin's part. Something was wrong, very wrong, and for the life of him the Batman could not figure out what it was.

Frustrated, Batman refreshed the image manually, hoping to see the tiny white blip that would indicate Robin's position.

Nothing.

Something would have to be done about this. At that moment Alfred stepped from the Bat-elevator. He immediately sensed trouble by the look on Batman's face.

"What's wrong, Master Bruce?" he questioned.

"Alfred, I'm afraid Robin's gone missing. His communicator's dropped off the radar. I believe it's been destroyed."

"The boy does have a bit of the high spirits. Are you quite sure he hasn't turned it off or somehow disabled it? Maybe trying to prove himself, perhaps?"

"Impossible, Alfred. The device can only be opened with the Bat-communicator opening tool that's here in the Bat-cave. No, I believe Robin's gotten himself into some sort of trouble… I just need to figure out what it is."

"Is there something I can do to help, sir? I'd hate to see any harm come to Master Robin."

"Actually, Alfred, you can do one thing. Can you contact Commissioner Gordon and let him know that we may have to postpone our meeting with the new mayor of Gotham tonight?"

"Certainly, sir. I'll take care of it immediately. And you will let me know when you've found him?"

"Of course, Alfred."

Alfred went to the elevator, a concerned look wrinkling his brow. Batman returned to his contemplation of the problem. He reviewed what he knew about the situation, already falling into the persona of the detective.

Robin had been patrolling the southernmost area of Gotham, a little less than a third of the total area of the city. The zone included the docks, hundreds of skyscrapers and other buildings, warehouses, apartment complexes, stores, churches, a few small parks… a quarter of the buildings were abandoned or condemned, or should have been. Those still occupied included shops, businesses, offices, and homes.

The number of places Robin could have been kept hidden was immense, but not limitless, and there were levels and levels of probability to take into account. Moreover, Robin's belt tracking-signal, communicator, and tracking devices had all been rendered useless, and there was a much more limited list of ways to do that. They were waterproof, and with multiple trackers it was highly unlikely for them all to have been crushed without Robin being crushed as well.

Batman set that option at the very back of his mind, unwilling to contemplate it just yet.

The most reasonable way of disabling the devices would be with a concentrated EMP, an electromagnetic pulse. With no blackouts being reported in Robin's patrol area, that was highly unlikely, but Batman couldn't rule out the possibility that someone had created a kind of miniature EMP device… one small enough to be portable would only work for an exceptionally small radius, probably just enough for one building, maybe less. All that would be needed was enough for one person, however.

As he began compiling a list of people with the skill necessary to create such a device, and setting priorities to areas around Robin's last known position as shown in the Bat-computer's tracking history, Batman leaned back thoughtfully in his chair. In point of fact, a miniature EMP would be extremely useful for the Batman, and Bruce made a mental note to start Waynetech researching and/or making a few of them.

In reality there was no EMP device. There was, however, a good deal of chakra. Neji's Juuken was powerful, and he had struck Robin twice, once in the back of the neck, rendering him unconscious, and once in the back of the waist, paralyzing him temporarily while he bound him. Whether through luck, instinct, or hitsuzen, Neji had forced his chakra through the compartment of Robin's belt that held his tracking devices, rendering them useless.

Moreover, in the usual manner of Juuken, the chakra continued all the way forward through Robin's body to emerge a few inches in front of him before dissipating, taking out his belt tracker in the process. Finally, Neji had recognized the small radio in Robin's ear for what it was and had crushed it thoroughly under his heel.

Notes: The belt-tracker tracks Robin's movements, so Batman knows where he is at all times. The signal shows up on the Bat-computer and on a display in the Bat-mobile. The tracking devices are what Robin uses to track criminals or suspect criminals, by attaching them to said suspects/criminals. They also show up on the Bat-computer and Bat-mobile screens, but instead of white blips, they're red.