I do not own X-men or Young Justice
*Caribbean Sea: July 22, 20:08*
Laura sat silently as Miss Martian piloted the bioship to towards the location of the Team's first official mission. Batman had assigned them to infiltrate the island nation Isla Santa Prisca. Known to be the world's supplier for the illegal steroid "Venom", the Dark Knight confirmed that while the factory was still producing the drug, all shipments had ceased. Thus the Team was being sent in to investigate.
The one thing she found she didn't agree with was Batman deciding to have the Team choose their own leader. A clear chain of command would be more effective in her opinion. Though from the smirk she saw on Robin's face, Laura knew he thought himself best suited for the job.
"Drop zone A in 30" Miss Martian announced, putting the Team on alert.
Aqualad stood up and activated the newly acquired stealth technology provided by Batman, turning his costume completely black. "Ready."
"Putting bioship in camouflage mode." The ship vanished from sight as it dropped down over the water, opening up underneath to allow Aqualad to dive out.
About a minute later the Atlantean reported his successful disablement of the island's security system, allowing the bioship to approach Santa Prisca undetected. Miss Martian then directed the ship to hover over the jungle "Drop zone B."
Everyone stood up as Miss Martian had the bioship remove the seats in favor of releasing drop cables for X-23, Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy.
"How cool is this?" KF grinned, pressing the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, turning his costume completely black.
"Very impressive" said Miss Martian, using her powers to change her T-shirt and skirt into a skintight black bodysuit.
"Uh, that works too" said the speedster. "Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech."
"No capes, no tights. No offense" said the Kryptonian clone, crossing his arms.
"It totally works for you" said Miss Martian, obviously 'checking out' Superboy. "In that you can totally work in those clothes" she fumbled, giving him a nervous, thumbs up.
Laura silently agreed with Superboy, having simply switched back to the leather vest she had worn when they first met in Cadmus. With the exception of Batman and Robin, it seemed caps couldn't really serve a practical function. All it really did was add the unnecessary risk of getting snagged on something or give the enemy something else to grab.
Miss Martian floated down to the ground with X-23, Kid Flash, and Robin following on their drop lines. Unfortunately for them they were soon forced to scatter as Superboy had opted to simply fall from the ship, making an earth shattering landing.
"Knew I didn't need a line" he smirked.
"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped with the covert" said Robin.
X-23 growled at Superboy, and for a moment considered walking over and punching the clone. Ultimately however the mission had to come first. Afterwards well she'd see how the rest of the mission progressed.
"Aqualad, Drop B is go" Miss Martian reported, over the coms.
"Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."
"Roger that" said Robin. The Team quickly charted the fastest route to the factory and took off.
*Santa Prisca*
The Team traveled quickly and silently through the lush jungle covering the island. X-23 noted that Miss Martian, Superboy, and Kid Flash had some trouble hiding their movements. While she and Robin were able to move through the terrain with considerable ease given they both had extensive training in stealth. Suddenly they came to a halt as Superboy and X-23 picked up on the sound of a twig snapping in the distance.
"You hear that?" X-23 asked.
"Yeah" Superboy replied.
"Is this a super hearing thing?" Kid Flash asked. "Or super sniffing?" he added once X started sniffing the air.
"A large number, and they're armed" she reported.
"Ok, Rob now what?" KF asked, but to his frustration Robin had disappeared. To make matters worse when he turned back to ask X-23 where the Boy Wonder had run off to, she was gone. "Oh great, now there's two of them."
"Kid, Superboy switch to infrared" Aqualad instructed over the coms. "See if you're being tracked."
"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming" KF reported, using his goggles' thermal scope.
"Two squads" said Superboy, using his infrared vision. "But they'll meet each other before they find us."
The two squads were obviously enemies as suddenly the sound of gunfire filled the jungle.
"No super hearing required now" said KF.
"Swing wide, steer clear."
"Yeah, just as soon as I find those two."
Ignoring Aqualad, Kid Flash took off running in search of Robin and X-23. But the terrain ahead was muddy and his poor control of his speed, caused him to trip and fall downhill, landing right in front of the two warring groups, one of which was being led by a muscle bound man in a Mexican wrestling mask.
While the two groups certainly weren't friends neither of them were about to let someone who was obviously affiliated with the Justice League live, and opened fire on Kid Flash.
Seeing their friend in danger Superboy and Miss Martian quickly came to Kid's aid. M'gann started telekinetically tossing gunmen around the forest, while Superboy tackled the masked man. The masked man quickly escaped Superboy's grip, shifting him into an arm lock, simultaneously pressing his face into the dirt. But the boy's superior strength had him break free before grabbing the masked man by his shirt and tossing him into a tree.
While his friends' arrival did help some, Kid Flash still had the majority of the guns aimed at him, forcing him to take cover behind a tree. Suddenly Robin and X-23 dropped down from the trees, with the Boy Wonder took out a gunman with a flying kick to the face. His partner fared even worse as X's claws severed the gunman's trigger hand at the wrist, followed by a knockout kick to the temple.
"What is wrong with you guys?" Robin berated. "Is X the only one that understands the meaning of covert. Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?
"Is that what you were doing?" Kid Flash scoffed, landing a series of high speed punches on a goon. "Why to fill us in. We're not mind readers, you know." Just then Miss Martian telekinetically threw another pair of gunmen into a tree behind him. "I'm not anyway."
"You told me I could only read the 'bad guys' minds" said Miss Martian.
"X, didn't need mind riding powers" Robin argued.
"Standard operating procedure" X-23 explained, just as frustrated by how quickly they had lost their cover.
A lone gunman tried to make a run for it only for Aqualad to drop down in front of him. Placing his hand on the man's chest, the Atlantean delivered a powerful jolt of electricity knocking him out and bringing an end to the fight. Afterwards the Team secured the gunmen to trees, with Kid Flash's eyes widening once he noticed that everyone X had taken out was missing their hand.
"It was the most efficient way to disarm them while still preserving their lives" X-23 justified.
"You seriously scare me" said Kid Flash, looking to the others for support.
Aqualad remembering how he had to talk the girl down from killing Blockbuster, didn't say anything and considered it an improvement. Miss Martian while not a fan of mutilation, didn't want to upset Laura. Superboy didn't even care. As for Robin, he just made a mental note to make sure she didn't go too far.
"These uniforms belong to the Cult of the Kobra" said Robin, identifying one groups' red robes.
"I am certain Batman would've mentioned it, if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation" said Aqualad.
"Agreed" said Robin. "And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal venom supplies have been cut off."
"We get it. Kobra wanted super cultists" said Kid Flash. "Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time for…"
"These cultists aren't on Venom. Kobra's hording the stuff. We don't leave until I know why."
"Until you know why?"
"This team needs a leader."
"And it's you. Dude, you're a 13-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word."
"And you're a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got."
The rest of the Team stood off to the side and watched as Robin and Kid Flash continued to argue over leadership.
"Don't you want to lead?" Miss Martian asked Superboy, but he scoffed at the idea.
"You?"
"No, I think I'm too new at this whole hero thing."
"I think you'd do alright" said Superboy, bringing a blush to M'gann's cheeks. The clone's super hearing then picked up some muttering from their captives. Though they tried to hide it by speaking Spanish, Cadmus had programed multiple languages into his mind.
Sensing someone's eyes on him, Superboy looked over his shoulder meeting the eyes of X-23, who subtly nodded her head. He wasn't the only one that heard the masked man's plan to use the Team against the Kobra cultists.
Having lost her patience with their arguing, X-23 walked up to Robin and Kid Flash, knocking them both to the ground with a solid punch to the jaw.
"Shut up" she ordered, popping her claws for emphasis.
"Heh, maybe she should lead" Superboy smirked, pleased to have an end to the arguing for the moment.
"Such clever little niños" the masked man chuckled. "But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
"There is a secret entrance" Miss Martian confirmed, kneeling in front of their captive. "But he's also hiding something." Her eyes glowed as M'gann focused on reading the man's secrets. "It's no good. He's mentally reciting football scores en Española. This could take a while."
"It's not complicated" said the masked man. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
While the rest of the Team seemed to be considering the offer, X-23 decided to speak up.
"You are Bane" she said, identifying the masked man. "A known adversary of the Batman, last seen in Gotham five years ago (1). A known terrorist, supplier, and user of Venom."
"Your point, chica?" Bane smirked. That smirk was wiped from his face once X-23 held her fist underneath his chin, slowly extending her claws.
"My point is no one will miss you" she said coldly, ignoring the horrified outcry of her teammates. "Hablar o estás muerto." (2)
Bane couldn't believe it. The girl had understood ever word spoken between he and his men. Still he had wanted to scoff at the threat, reasoning that anyone serving under Batman's watch would follow the Dark Knight's one rule. That changed when X-23 extended her claws enough to draw blood, paired with the cold focus in the girl's eyes, Bane knew he was looking into the eyes of a killer.
"There is a tunnel blocked by a boulder south from here" Bane confessed.
"Miss Martian" X-23 called, keeping her claws ready to pierce the masked villain's skull. Though now warry of her teammate, M'gann came to Laura's side. "Confirm the information."
This time Bane didn't make use of his mental defenses allowing Miss Martian to confirm what he'd told them. With that out of the way, X-23 retracted her claws and delivered a knockout punch to Bane's head.
"Let's move" she said, leading the way.
"Ok that girl is seriously scary" said Kid Flash. "You sure she's not related to Batman?"
"Just move" said Robin, pushing the speedster forward. Though he had seen the file on her, Robin was feeling a little intimidated by how effectively Laura had interrogated Bane. Not to mention the fact she knew about a Batman rouge, he didn't.
Following the directions M'gann gained from Bane's mind, the Team located a cliff overlooking the Venom factory. Pulling out a pair of binoculars, Robin reported that Kobra had a large supply ready for transport, their objective now was to identify the buyer.
Proceeding to the secret tunnel, they then made their way inside the factory, where upon entry Robin once again vanished from sight.
"Must he do that?" Kid Flash complained. "You guys stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder."
"Wait, Kid!" but Aqualad was too late and the speedster took off running.
"Idiots" X-23 commented. She unlike Robin had accepted that the rest of the Team wasn't capable of following nonverbal commands. That Kid Flash would simply run off on his own after voicing his own complaint on the matter, was just stupid.
Aqualad sighed as he agreed with X-23's assessment. Neither Robin nor Kid Flash were proving to be up to the task of leadership. Taking cover behind a conveyer belt loaded with old crates, they watched as the Kobra cultists worked on loading the Venom for transport.
"It's a massive shipment" said Aqualad.
"Yeah, but they're only taking new products off the line" Superboy noted. "They aren't touching this Venom."
"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian theorized.
"Helicopter incoming" X-23 reported, her heightened sense of hearing picking up the sound of copter blades.
"Miss Martian, camouflage and get a look at the buyer."
While the rest of the Team moved up to the upper walkway for a better vantage point. M'gann following Aqualad's orders, cloaked herself and flew outside the factory where the helicopter was landing.
Stepping out of the copter was a strongly built man with short blonde hair, wearing a gray hockey mask.
"Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now."
Aqualad shut his eyes and let Miss Martian's image enter his mind. "Sports Master! He is the buyer?" it was time to report back. "Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?" only static. "Can't reach the League, Robin or Kid, coms are jammed. We need a plan now."
X-23 had a plan: complete the mission. Unsheathing her claws, she dropped down onto the factory floor exposing herself. Immediately the Kobra cultists opened fire on the girl, but her accelerated healing factor made the bullets no problem as she charged forward, slashing her claws into every gunman in reach, taking care to make her attacks nonlethal.
Drawn by the sound of gunfire, Robin and Kid Flash raced out of the control room regrouping with Aqualad and Superboy.
"What is she doing?!" Robin snapped.
"Going berserk" said Kid Flash.
X-23 continued to work her way through the cultists, like the weapon she was meant to be, when suddenly she found herself thrown clear across the room, knocking against one of the mixing chambers before falling to the ground hard.
Picking herself off the ground X got a good look at what threw her: a hulking brute with greenish-brown skin, that cracked in several placing exposing his muscles underneath, sharp pointed teeth, and red hair.
Laura couldn't help but be reminded of Blockbuster, and briefly wondered if the formula was derived from Venom.
"Kill her Mammoth" said a tall gray skin man, standing by the factory doors. X quickly identified him as Kobra the leader of the cult. At Kobra's side were Sports Master and a teenage girl with a half shaven head of red hair, and a black Kobra tattoo on the right side of her face.
With a savage roar, Mammoth charged at X-23 only for Superboy to drop down in his path, with Aqualad and Kid Flash landing by their teammate.
"Destroy them all" Kobra ordered.
Mammoth resumed his charge with Superboy happily meeting him head on. Using one of his water bearers, Aqualad formed a shield for protection against the cultists bullets, while using the other to return fire, shooting compressed blasts of liquid.
"What happened to all that talk about 'standard operating procedure'?!" asked Kid Flash, glaring at X-23.
"You and Robin wasted too much time arguing" said X-23. "Kobra was almost ready for transport!"
"You know for someone that doesn't talk much, you really know just what to say to bug me!"
X rolled her eyes as her opinion of Kid Flash went down another level. Still despite finding him annoying she had no desire to see him killed so, when she noticed a group of gunmen had circled around behind him, she didn't hesitate to use herself as a human shield for the speedster.
"X!" KF cried, as the girl dropped to the ground, her body riddled with bullet holes. He wasn't even sure she'd heal from the damage considering there was now a hole in her head.
Sadly, X's sacrifice didn't leave him time to build up speed and Kid Flash had no way to defend himself when the gunmen prepared to fire again. Luckily they were sent flying by an invisible Miss Martian. Now that she was back M'gann added her own efforts to the fight, using her powers to toss around gunmen.
But this didn't go unnoticed by Sports Master, who up until this point was content to just watch the fight. But the masked man, had noticed a slight shimmer in the air where Kobra cultists were being tossed about. Drawing his collapsible javelin, he tossed it through the air with deadly accuracy at Miss Martian, forcing her to take evasive action. But just as the javelin started to pass her by, it detonated blasting her through several crates.
"Miss Martian!" Aqualad called. "Radio is jammed. Link us up!"
Though dazed Miss Martian reached out with her powers creating a mental link with her team. "Everyone online?"
"Yeah" Superboy confirmed, still locked in battle with Mammoth.
"I'm here" Kid Flash replied. "But X is…"
"I'm here" said X-23, opening her eyes to meet KF's concerned gaze. "The brain takes a little longer to heal" she explained, to which Kid breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good. We need to regroup" said Aqualad, taking command.
"Busy now" said the absent Robin.
Leaving his team behind in the factory, Robin circled around to the rooftop to investigate Sports Master's helicopter. But the Boy Wonder wasn't alone as he came across Kobra and his right hand woman.
"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to task me" said the cult leader.
"What's wrong, Koby? You look disconcerted" Robin taunted.
"This is beneath me. Shimmer, take him."
The girl, Shimmer charged at Robin, but the Boy Wonder easily flipped over her, landing in a fighting stance. Robin smirked as he expected it to be an easy victory, when suddenly Aqualad's voice once again sounded in his head.
"Robin, now!"
Robin frowned as he realized the Team must be in danger as it took a lot to stress Kaldur out. So when Shimmer went after him again, Robin dropped a flashbang, covering his escape.
With Robin on his way, Aqualad felt it was time to fall back. Reconfiguring his water bearers into whips, the Atlantean started to force back some of the gunmen. "Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path."
And he did just that, using his super speed Kid Flash turned the gunmen into bowling pins, knocking them out as he passed and clearing the way for the others. Once Robin came swinging in, Aqualad called for Superboy to abandon his fight with Mammoth, prompting the clone to toss the muscle bound monster into a group of approaching cultists before leaving to catch up with the others in the secret tunnel.
Unfortunately, the tunnel wasn't so secret anymore as the cultists tried to follow after them, forcing Superboy to take out the supports, causing a cave in and blocking off their pursuers.
With the cave now submerged in darkness, Aqualad snapped his emergence glow sticks to provide some light while the Team caught its breath.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked himself.
"You do have the most experience" Aqualad conceded. "But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play roles in an unknown plan."
"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands."
Robin groaned as he took a minute to considering how that train of thought had done so far. The only one that was able to follow his lead was X-23, not even because he was truly leading her, but as she said earlier was following standard procedure. Their approaches just happened to coincide with each other.
"Who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can."
"Please!" Kid Flash scoffed. "I can run…ow!" the speedster was silenced by a painful punch in the arm from X-23.
"Shut up" she ordered, glaring KF. She had grown tired of pointless arguing and just wanted to move things along already. When Kid looked like he was still going to carry on, X decided to press the point and unsheathed her claws and pointed them at a very important piece of his anatomy.
"Guess, Kaldur's got your vote X" Robin laughed. "I think we can also give him, KF's support. Anyone else?"
"It's so obvious" said Miss Martian.
"I could've told you" said Superboy.
Wanting full consent, Aqualad looked to Kid Flash and X-23, silently asking the clawed girl to release the speedster, to which she complied.
"Well if you can get her to listen to you" said Kid, trying to laugh off the fact he nearly lost his manhood. "You've got my vote, Kaldur."
"Then I accept the burden" said Aqualad, walking up to place a hand on Robin's shoulder. "Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon." With Aqualad now officially the Team's leader it was time to salvage the mission. "Our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."
"Funny. I had the same thought" said Robin. "X made the perfect distraction to give me time to sabotage Sports Master's ride. But somethings not right. KF and I found out the cultists have been mixing Venom with the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus. But Sports Master, the supplier/buyer doesn't have the juice to acquire the formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work.
"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom" said Kid Flash. "That took some major nerdage."
"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'" said Aqualad. "Still for now we focus on stopping the shipment. Here's the plan."
Despite the delay, the shipment was loaded up and Sports Master's helicopter was fully repaired. He was just about to take his leave when suddenly the cultists found themselves bowled over by Kid Flash, as he speeded through the factory yard.
"Take the shipment!" Kobra cried, wanting it out of the hands of the meddlers.
The Kobra cultists hurried to regroup and open fire on KF, then Superboy made his appearance, crashing down hard in the center of their formation, sending them flying about as he landed hard enough to leave a crater.
"Go again?" he taunted Mammoth. The enhanced Kobra cultist took the bait and charged at Superboy only to be suck punched, with a powerful stream of water, courtesy of Aqualad. "Sorry, not the plan."
With Mammoth pinned, Aqualad finished the job by sending an electric current through the water, shocking and knocking the behemoth out.
Not that Mammoth was out of the way, Superboy prepared to punch a hole in the helicopter when suddenly Sports Master appeared, shooting at the boy with a high-powered plasma riffle. A cloaked Miss Martian tried to sneak up on Sports Master, but the assassin was alert. Managing to pick up on her presence, the masked man jumped over M'gann just as she tried to tackle him, and grabbed her by the neck, trapping her in a one-armed choke hold, while using his free hand to continue firing on Superboy.
Kobra scowled as he watched the young heroes once more disrupt his operations. With a look he ordered Shimmer to join the battle only for her to quickly fall to the ground in defeat, courtesy of Robin's bola.
"I know how you hate to get your hands dirty" the Boy Wonder smirked.
"True" Kobra conceded, throwing of his robe. "But sometimes, even a god must stoop to conquer."
Robin rushed forward aiming a knee at Kobra's face, only for the cult leader to block it. Without losing momentum the boy shifted into a leg sweep, followed by a roundhouse to the face when Kobra evaded him. But while delusional, Kobra was also a skilled fighter, catching Robin's kick he countered with one of his own, knocking the boy back.
Robin quickly recovered and to Kobra's annoyance actually smirked at him. The reason for the boy's confidence revealed herself as X-23 dropped down from the factory roof, hitting Kobra with a flying kick to the head. Stumbling from the blow, Kobra scowled at the girl
"You dare harm a god."
X's answer was a definitive 'yes' as she unsheathed her claws and charged at Kobra with Robin following closely behind. Robin and X-23 quickly fell into a working pattern, with the Boy Wonder's acrobatic fighting style creating numerous openings for X's more brutal attacks, it was all Kobra could do to defend himself.
But even the best defenses crumble eventually, Robin came at a Kobra with a flying kick stopping short to throw off the enemy before transitioning into a flip kick, forcing him to stumble back. Using that opening, X-23 spun over Robin's head, releasing the blade in her feet as she transitioned into a spin-kick, the increased range catching Kobra by surprise, saw the blade carve cleanly across his chest.
"I am plagued by mosquitoes" Kobra growled, clutching his hand over his bleeding chest wound.
"Good, because these mosquitoes are mighty concerted over your pain" said Robin, standing confidently by X-23's side.
Seeing Kobra was in trouble Sports Master decided it was time to make his escape. Shoving Miss Martian into Superboy, knocking them to the ground, he used the opening to rush into his helicopter, getting it airborne before anyone could stop him.
"You got him?" Superboy asked Miss Martian.
"I got him" she smiled, holding a detonator. It's amazing what a few well-placed charges of Robin's explosive gel could do. Activating the detonator, they all had the pleasure of watching the helicopter go up in flames. And as an added bonus the copter ended up landing right on top of the Venom factory, putting an end to Kobra's Venom experiments.
All that was left for the Team was to do now was deal with Kobra himself. And even he had to admit the odds were not in his favor.
"Another time, then" said Kobra, backing up into the jungle.
Robin rushed forward not wanting to let him get away but there was no sign of Kobra. At least not at first but a rustle of leaves to his right, alerted him and the others to X-23 emerging from the bush dragging an unconscious Kobra behind her. It seemed while he could hide from Robin's eyes, he couldn't manage to hide from X's nose, especially not while he was still bleeding all over the place.
"Nice" Robin chuckled, pointing to the burning factory. "This'll definitely help when our fearless leader Kaldur, explains this mess to Batman."
Aqualad wasn't looking forward to that.
*Mount Justice: July 23, 10:01*
"A simple recon mission, observe and report" Batman scolded, getting in Kaldur's face.
The Team had just returned from Santa Prisca and were in the middle of their first debriefing. Unfortunately, it appeared so far that Robin's hopes of their capture of Kobra helping to smoothing things over with the Dark Knight, was just wishful thinking.
"You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then, good job."
The Team looked to Batman with shocked expressions.
"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy" Batman explained, his voice softening just slightly. "How you adjust to the unforeseen is how you determine success. And how you choose who leads determines character."
Robin and Kaldur shared proud looks as they recognized Batman's backhanded praise of both their choice in leader and his protégé's display of character. With that the Dark Knight left the kids to their own devices.
"You'd think he would've mention us capturing Kobra" said Wally.
"Batman doesn't do praise much" Robin chuckled. At least not out loud he added mentally, still feeling proud.
"Maybe we should go out and celebrate our first successful mission" M'gann suggested.
"That does sound like fun" said Kaldur. "Superboy? Laura?"
"Why not" Superboy shrugged.
But Laura didn't respond. She was busy struggling with the fact that someone had praised her. The last person to praise her had been her sensei.
"Laura?" M'gann called, drawing the girl from her thoughts.
"Sorry. Yes, I'd like to go celebrate" said Laura. "Just let me clean up first."
Leaving the others, Laura quickly returned to her room as a powerful urge overwhelmed her. Popping one of her claws, she brought the blade up to her arm and proceeded to carve into her own skin, as she struggled to process her emotions. Once the moment passed, Laura grabbed her jacket and left to meet up with the others to celebrate, allowing her healing factor to remove the evidence.
1: In the show neither Bane nor Robin (Dick Grayson) seemed to be familiar with each other. Why else would the protégé of Batman agree to work with one of his rouges. So the time gap Laura reported was designed to make it so Bane hadn't been active in Gotham since before Dick became Robin.
2: "Talk or you're dead." Translation provided by Google.