In my hurry to upload my first story, I forgot to note that I don't own any of these characters.
In this chapter, Robin and Batman take on the Scarecrow, and Robin has an actual conversation with the Caped Crusader.
Robin wrestled with himself for which question he wanted to ask first. Finally he settled on the mission-critical one; the team and Zatanna would have to wait.
"Has the Scarecrow deployed the new toxin yet?" Robin asked.
"No. Catwoman gave me a tip, which led to some crates that Bane has been shipping into the city. The lab has been set up, but he hasn't had time for mass production yet."
"So what's the game plan?"
"We stop Scarecrow. We confiscate the Venom and Toxin," Batman gruffly responded.
"You sound kind of disgruntled," Robin hesitantly said.
"I don't. Like. Being. Played. And someone has been stringing us along since the 4th of July. Give me a rational use for the Venom-toxin," he demanded of Robin.
Robin thought about it as they raced towards the city-center. While creating terror could be useful in certain scenarios, creating hallucinating fearful berserkers was of limited use. And while the Scarecrow might cause hysteria for its own sake, Bane was all about the bottom line. In fact, there was only one thing he could think of that Bane would get out of this.
"Distraction," he said with confidence.
"Yes. Misdirection. When this is unleashed we, and the entire JLA, will be trying to save those people. And something else will disappear," Batman seethed, thinking of the data and samples from Star Labs. He had followed the tracer in the case, but the trail dead-ended in an alley. He suspected that whomever had the Star-ro sample now had teleported out while the JLA was dealing with the apparent loss of everyone under the age of 18. Frustrated, Batman ground his teeth and tightened his grip on the wheel.
"You think this is connected to the group who's been fronting the Injustice League?" Robin asked.
"Why else would Bane work with Scarecrow. Crane is many things, but rich isn't one of them. Someone set this up."
They drove in silence through the heart of town, and off towards the warehouse district. Batman waited for Robin to ask the obvious question. His pupil was smart; shortly Robin asked, "Is this going to be a trap?"
Batman almost smiled as he responded, "Probably."
"So, we're going to rain on their parade?"
Batman's only response was to bare his teeth in what was the second most sinister grin Robin had ever seen.
Robin threw his last shuriken at the back of the remaining goon dressed like the Scarecrow. He followed it up with a blow to the back of his head and was rewarded when the mook stayed down. He unmasked the prone body, but this one wasn't the real deal either. Robin sighed as he zip-tied his wrists to a pole and left him to sleep until the police got here.
"Batman, no sign of the Scarecrow," Robin murmured into his earpiece.
Batman was mopping up on the floor above where Scarecrow had gotten a chance to release some of his new toxin into a room full of hostages. They had split up once it become obvious that the filters were effective, but the antidote was of limited use. Robin had gotten to take on 15 scarecrows, and so far he had accounted for 13 of them.
"Busy. Keep looking," Batman grunted.
Robin carefully checked the cavernous room to make sure he hadn't missed anything before he moved onto the hallway. On the way he recovered a few of his shuriken. He still had half his smoke pellets and the tazer, so he should be ok to take on two guys. It's not like the Scarecrow was any good at fighting, as long as he kept himself fear-toxin-free he'd be fine.
They had started upstairs in an administrative area that had been converted to a lab, and Robin had already cleared the thankfully empty storage area. All that was left was the first floor offices. It was easy to clear the first few rooms with their open doors, but at the end of the hallway, there were two closed doors. Robin paused, crouching under the window, debating on the best angle of attack.
While he waited, the shadows in the hallway shifted slightly and Batman was there. Robin smiled up at him, and pointed at the two closed doors. Batman nodded and kicked down the right-hand door. The splintered door flew inward and landed on someone with a meaty thud. The left door bust open, and Robin immediately flew into action. He swept the scarecrow's legs out from under him and punched him in the solar plexus. Robin giggled slightly as the goon collapsed; all his attention was guy in front of him, so he was completely surprised when another scarecrow jumped up, this time with a gun.
Two years ago Robin would have hesitated at the sight of the gun. One year ago, Batman would have responded to the threat first. With smile, and no hesitation Robin released the shuriken he had been holding and knocked the gun out of his hand. He followed it up with a kick for good measure and the scarecrow crumpled. Quickly he secured both of them, and stood back up. He heard the rustle of Batman's cape as he walked back into the hallway. Stepping back Robin let Batman have the unmasking rights.
The first was yet another henchman, but the one with the gun was Dr. Crane. Batman made a pleased noise, and stood up as the Scarecrow struggled against the bonds.
"How did you get out of that room alive?" Crane demanded.
"Your new toxin still needs some work," Batman growled to the Scarecrow.
Batman enjoyed watching the Scarecrow cower back from him. If any of those hostages had died, Batman would be taking it out on the Scarecrow. Crane actually whimpered as under Batman's glare.
"Who are you working for?" Batman demanded in his most menacing tone, leaning in towards Crane.
"Wha-What makes you thi-thi-think I'm working with anyone?" Crane stammered as he cowered as far from Batman as he could get.
"You can't afford a setup like this. Someone. Paid. For. This," Batman growled.
"Uh-uh-uh," Crane swallowed nervously.
"Who?" Batman yelled, pulling back his fist.
"Luthor!" The Scarecrow screamed as curled into as much of a ball as his restraints allowed.
Satisfied, Batman stood up and turned to leave. He nodded at Robin, who also knew the significance of Luthor's involvement. Something big was coming.
"You can't leave me here in the dark!" Crane screamed as the dynamic duo walked away. The police would be half an hour, but Robin didn't feel even a little guilty about leaving the Scarecrow all trussed up.
"So, will the people exposed to the new gas be ok?" Robin asked as they headed back up to the lab section.
"Maybe. Star Labs is working on it."
Edging past the support column that the 5 hostages were strapped to, they started going through the lab. Thankfully the poor people didn't seem as deformed as someone who had been exposed to the Blockbuster-Venom. Wordlessly Batman pointed to laptop on the lab bench as he started to collect the canisters of Venom and fear-gas.
As Robin connected his glove computer and began downloading the hard-drive he asked, "So… what are we going to do with all that Venom?"
Batman's cryptic response was, "The same thing Luthor was going to."
Accepting that he wasn't going to get a better answer, Robin concentrated on his task to make sure he didn't miss anything on the computer.
10 minutes later they finished loading the materials to make the Venom-toxin into the Batmobile. It had a surprisingly large trunk, as many a criminal had found out on their way to one of Batman's patented high altitude interrogations.
Jumping into his seat in the car, Robin reclined as much as the 5-point harness would let him. Seconds later Batman slid into the drivers seat and they headed back to the cave.
After they had been driving for a few minutes, Robin decided now was as good a time as any to try talking to Batman.
"So, now that you're more gruntled… I was wondering if I could talk to you about something."
Batman glanced dubiously at his protégé. Dick knew that he wasn't good at talking.
"You can try," he said, using his Wayne voice to seem approachable then his usual of not-at-all.
"Well, I'm… err… I… Zatanna…" Robin trailed off. This was harder then he thought… Batman, was just so, Batman. Even when he wasn't.
"Try pretending you're talking to Alfred," Bruce suggested in a more gentle voice than anyone would expect to come from the Dark Knight. He didn't want Richard to be so afraid of him; they needed to be able to talk to each other. A partnership built on rocky communication didn't work well.
Dick sighed and closed his eyes. He imagined himself in the cave, talking to Alfred while Bruce was at the computer.
"I'm worried about Zatanna," Robin stated with somewhat more confidence, "Her dad basically disappeared from her life, and she hasn't been doing anything besides brooding in the cave. I've talked to the team, and they say she's been quiet and withdrawn all month. I think she needs to get out, get back to life."
"What did you have in mind, Master Richard?" Batman asked in a passable impression of Alfred's voice.
Robin grinned as he answered, "I think she needs to come out with the team, needs to deal with her feelings. I think she needs a sense of purpose again. A lot of people say that if mages hold onto strong feelings, it can warp their magic and eat them alive. I won't let that happen to her."
"And I assume you have tried talking to the young lady in question?"
"Well… no. I want to talk to her. You know that I know what she's going through, but…" Robin trailed off again.
"But I said you have to keep secrets from your team," Batman said in his usual gravely voice.
"Yeah," Robin sighed.
"You agreed to that condition before you joined," the Dark Knight pointed out.
"Yes, but it's still not fair to the rest of the team," Robin argued.
"Hh. And how many other people on that team are keeping secrets at least that damaging?" Batman countered.
"All of them but Wally maybe Kaldur. And Zatanna," he admitted, "But that doesn't help them trust me…"
"The team trusts you because they think your secrets are my fault. Wally trusts you. And because of that I didn't take steps when you told me Kid Flash knew your identity. I didn't take steps when he started combing through articles about you and Bruce Wayne. I didn't take steps when he was trying to raise suspicions about Wayne during the mission debriefing," Batman growled.
"Yeah, he's going a little far. I've talked to him about it."
"Good…" Batman paused and added, "There is a mole in Mount Justice. And until we take care of that I can't let you tell Zatanna about your parents. It's too easy to trace backwards from there."
Batman watched Robin slouch a little further down in his seat at this news. He knew secrets weren't easy. But unlike the other members of the Justice League, so much of his advantage was due to the aura of fear and secrecy he cultivated. If people lost the fear of Batman, he was just a man. But still, he felt uncharacteristically guilty as he drove back to the cave.
Robin was right; Zatanna needed help. He had tried talking to Dr. Fate. He had even offered to wear the helmet for a time, so Zatara could visit his daughter, but Fate had not accepted. He had tried talking to the girl himself, but while he could relate to Richard, he did it mostly as Bruce Wayne. It didn't help that Zatanna was too scared of him to say more than a few words. And he was fairly certain that she blamed him at least in part for her father's actions.
Batman didn't get the sense that Zatanna was making any progress in her sessions with Black Canary either. Maybe Robin was right, she needed a goal to focus on. The next project he had planned for the team could certainly use extra manpower, especially someone that he was certain wasn't the traitor.
"You're right. I'll include her on the next mission," Batman eventually decided.
"Yes!" Robin cheered, and then reined himself in a bit to add, "I mean, thanks Batman."
His only response was a grunt as Batman turned his attention to the hairpin turns leading up to the cave entrance. He was actually glad Robin had talked with him; Bruce knew he wasn't good with people, but Dick made him want to try. And it was always rewarding to make him happy.
Bruce was determined that Dick wouldn't end up like him, and he would do anything he could to help Dick have a more or less normal childhood. He clenched his jaw as he pulled into the cave. The mole was going to pay for endangering the few friendships Dick had been able to make.
The car came to a stop and Robin happily jumped out. As Robin stepped away from the Batmobile and stretched, he felt a hand come down on his shoulder.
Batman squeezed his shoulder and said, "I'll have that mission for your team in a day or two. I need to set something up with the Justice League first… You did a good job tonight. And, if you need to talk to me about anything else, I'm here."
Dick grinned so widely, he think his face almost split in half. Impulsively he did a cartwheel, grabbed the sandwich Alfred was holding and rushed off to get changed for bed. He should be able to get five hours of sleep before it was time for school.
Alfred and Bruce watched Richard inhale the sandwich and dash upstairs to the manor.
"I'm pleased to see young Master Richard is in such high spirits at such a late hour," Alfred remarked to his employer.
"I told him that Zatanna could come on the next mission," Batman wryly answered.
"Has Master Richard met a nice young lady? Perhaps we should have her to the cave for tea."
"He's a little young for that isn't he?" Bruce asked with a worried look.
"Nonsense sir, he's 13, the perfect age for young love to blossom," Alfred replied, having years of practice at keeping the smile off his face. He did so enjoy making Bruce uncomfortable when it came to feelings.
"Hmm," was all Batman said as stalked off to the computer to go over the data they had retrieved from the Scarecrow.
Thanks for reading! As ever feedback is welcome.
Coming up next, Young Justice gets their new mission, and no one but Robin is happy about it.