Okay, so time for the next chapter!
Here we go... Oh and thx to my bf Cassie again for an idea!
Enjoy! I don't own Young Justice.
He awoke in a fog. Feeling cold sweat running down his face, coating his skin in a thin greasy layer. As a gut wrenching shiver rushed through his entire body, making him slightly flinch. He felt the rush of consciousness fill him, shooting up from his previous position.
Robin looked around the room, now fully conscious. He was sitting in an abandoned warehouse, and surprisingly he was not bound at all. Because of this Robin was able to get off of the ground. Now fully standing, he began to walk around the perimeter of the room. The main room was about as big as you would expect. But the windows were sealed shut tight, that of course was bad news for Robin. There was a pair of double doors, but they were also completely sealed shut. Not even air could escape. Although there were a few vents near the ceiling. This would be Robin's only means of escape. Then he realized, this is Scarecrow... Those vents... Oh crap.
Realization hit. Those vents must be for the fear gas. He must be planning on releasing gas in here. That is just great.
"So little Robin... How about we start the tests?" Scarecrow's voice rang through the building.
"Tests?" was all Robin could get out, because that was all he could think about.
"Well... I really need to find out how these new formulas affect humans. So I've decided it would not only be beneficial to me. But it always is great when I get the opportunity to mess with the bats." This made Robin not only angry, but scared to have to be the test subject for these most likely horrid new formulas of fear gas. Because if the original wasn't bad enough, then these new formulas must be a thousand times worse. While Robin was wasting time thinking however, Scarecrow began to let this new gas flood the room. Unlike before, this gas that was seeping through the vents was purple. Different from the usual green.
Robin felt the strong burning in his lungs. As he breathed in the toxins. Usually he could breathe and slip into unconsciousness with ease, knowing what was to come. But now he had no idea what to expect. So the fear of the unknown was suffocating him, literally. He was fighting the pain, and the darkness. Now he dropped to his knees, still fighting it. Holding his throat, trying to somehow force the toxin out of his system. Of course that wasn't going to ever work. No matter how hard he tried. Slipping into the dark, he could feel the horrid sensation filling him. He was now being completely submerged in the fear. Now all he could hope was that Batman would find him in time. In time, before one of these formulas killed him...
Robin was now in a haze. Yet everything around him was clear. He was sitting in a complete emptiness of darkness. He got up, only to be thrusted back down.
"No standing little bird." The voice that rung above him was clear. The Joker...
"Let's see how much it takes to make a bat crack..." Now Robin could feel adrenaline shoot through his entire body as he looked up at the madman with the familiar crowbar. But he now could also see Batman lingering behind the Joker.
"Batman! Help!" Robin shouted as the madman before him drew nearer.
"I can't. You're too weak," Batman said back. Now Robin was really confused. "You're a useless
excuse for a sidekick, and you are not any where near good enough to be my son." These words wracked Robin's mind. Did Batman really think that about him? Was he really useless? Was he really a sorry excuse for a son? Or even a sidekick? Could it be true?
"Ya. Listen to daddy bats... He's always right!" The Joker cackled. Then his team appeared behind Batman.
"Guys help!" Robin shouted, still sort of in shock by Batman's comments and insults.
"We can't Robin. You're too young and immature. You not capable of being on this team. We always have to hold back on you because you're incapable," Wally said slyly to Robin. He looked let down. The same with the rest of the team. Looking down on Robin. They were so judgmental looking. Robin couldn't believe this. They just had this conversation about how he wasn't useless. Now they were telling him that they thought that he was useless.
"B-but..." Robin barely got out before the Joker let his crowbar wail down upon the boy. Making him sharply scream. Now everyone around him, all the people he loved and admired in different ways, people that were supposed to care about him, looked disappointed at the fact that he needed help. The fact that he couldn't handle the Joker himself. And-and... they were right... He was weak... He didn't deserve their help... But he couldn't deserve this? Could he? His question was answered, when two others entered the room.
"Mom? Dad?" Robin whimpered out at the sight of his long dead parents. They stood before him, they looked sad...
"Yes Dick," his tati said. "It's us. We needed you to know something." Dick could see the depression in their eyes.
"Wh-what?" Dick asked, still trying to hold back all the emotions and memories.
"We need you to know that it's your fault we died..." This made Dick's heart stop. His breath caught in his closing throat.
"If you hadn't been so stupid as not to tell us about what you heard the night we died, we wouldn't be dead, and you wouldn't be such a disappointment..." Robin could feel his chest tighten with sobbs. Did they really think that? Could they really think that?
"I-I thought you l-lo-loved me..." Robin sobbed out, looking up at his parents disappointed faces. Tears now streaming freely down his cheeks.
"How could we love someone so incapable?" his mami spat back at him. Disgust in her blazing blue eyes. They weren't her eyes. They couldn't be her eyes. She would never say that. "It's true," they all said at once. And Robin believed it.
"Bu-but I-I..." Robin choked out. He was sobbing now.
"Goody! Now, let's teach this bird a lesson," Joker laughed out. Now all the people he thought loved him surrounded him, taunting and insulting him. While the Joker was bashing away at him physically, the others, mentally.
"Pl-please! St-stop!" Robin forced out. Looking up at his life, crumbling.
"You're too weak Robin. How could we ever love you?" Batman thrusted out. He looked genuine with his emotions. 'It's all true. They hate me. I'm just taking up space in this world. Why don't I just end?'
"Because you can't find the nerve to end it..."
"What exactly happened?" Superman asked curiously, still trying to see if they could find any other leads to Robin's disappearance, besides the busted bike and "funny smelling air" Batman had sampled. Now however Batman was testing the sample. He was hoping that the gas he'd smelt wasn't what he thought it was.
"Well, we may have gotten Robin mad... So he left the mountain on the r-cycle to go home," Wally said nervously. Because now not only Superman was listening, but the entire justice league (minus Atom, and Icon. They were out on patrol.). Even Batman had slightly looked up from the computer to listen.
"We just sort of assumed Robin made it back okay. Until Batman called..." Wally now waited for a response from them.
"Why was Robin mad at you?" Flash asked. Now the team, and Black Canary all looked at each other. Then Black Canary stepped forward.
"He was upset because he figured out that the team was holding back on him in training, making him feel... Incapable." Now Batman was fully looking up from the screen, which had yet to show results to the tests.
"Why did you hold back on him?" Batman asked with a stare. He was very concerned for his son, and he couldn't think of a reason why they would think less of Robin. Besides the fact that he's younger, and that's not a huge reason to hold back. Even he doesn't hold back on the thirteen year old. Especially when their lives are at stake while out in the field, so they need as much safe training and preparation as possible.
"We thought that we may... uh... damage his confidence." Batman was shocked at this explanation. They knew how important training was. So why would they hold back? The people they fight aren't going to hold back. So why should they?
"You realize that by doing that you're only making things harder for Robin. Because if you don't allow him to excel with you, in here, he will only be able to reach your limits, which you are not letting him spar," J'onn said. This was his usual enlightening speech, but now it was a lot more personal, and important.
"I'm not too sure I understood all of that... but... you got your point across well enough," Artemis said looking at the martian. As they all pondered this, Batman looked back up at the screen. The test results had come.
"What does it say?" Wonder Woman asked. She was hoping that she would be wrong with her assumption, but she had a feeling that she was about to be disappointed.
"It came back as knock out gas... with traces of... fear gas," Batman said sparking everyones attention. They knew it would be knock out gas. But they didn't expect it to be processed by Scarecrow. He had to be the one that took Robin. Or at least he was involved with the person who did.
"So, Scarecrow," Artemis stated, worry plainly in her voice.
" Who's 'Scarecrow'?" Superboy asked, clearly confused by the nature of this enemy. "I thought a scarecrow was just a device used to scare off crows from a field?" Superboy said. He obviously learned that from Cadmus.
"Scare row is just a name that this crazy villain in Gotham took. Cause he uses this drug he makes called 'fear gas' to make people experience their worst fears," Artemis told Superboy. She was also directing it toward M'gann, because she was confused as well.
"Oh..." M'gann and Superboy mumbled.
"Is there anyway we can use this information to find Robin?" Kaldur asked. Now everyone was looking at Batman, hoping that he would give them good news on the matter.
"Well now I know who we're looking for... We might be able to trace Scarecrow back to a warehouse or chemicals he uses to make the fear gas. But other than that, I'm not really sure." Batman looked really worried. He almost seemed like he was about to show.. emotion.
"That's something at least. We should start our search. Everyone who can fly, will air search over Gotham. While everyone else available will do a ground search," Superman stated. Everyone nodded in agreement, then M'gann spoke up.
"Okay... But who will tell Robin's family that he's been kidnapped?" Everyone looked at her, then Batman. Wally looked like he was about to fall over, while the rest of the league, and team, just looked at Batman for an answer.
"Batman, you should probably inform Robin's family of what has occurred," Kaldur said. The rest of the league (minus Wally, who knew of Robin's secret identity) seemed like they agreed with Kaldur.
"Ya should probably tell the kids parents," Green Arrow said, hands on his hips.
Because even the league didn't know of Robin's back story. The didn't know about his parents. They didn't even know that he lived with Batman, or that Batman adopted him.
"I'll do that," Batman said, he was completely hiding how uncomfortable he was with the question about Robin's family.
"Good, now we should start the search." Now the league, and the team dispersed. Except Wally and Batman.
"Are we gonna-" Wally began before being cut off by Batman.
"No. I still don't trust anyone, no matter how good, or how long I've know them. Or how much Robin trusts them. The only reason you found out is because of a complete accident. And the fact that Robin, when he was eight, was too trustworthy. But now he understands," Batman said coldly, his mind lingering to his son.
"Okay," Wally said. Then they parted ways. Batman now wondering if he should tell the league about Robin's identity. If maybe being so secretive was what got him into this mess in the first place...
Alrighty then.
LET US SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TIME ON "Incapable of Fear"!
Thx, and REVIEW!