Aqualad hid within the shadows, only his eyes peering through the darkness as a couple of men walked down the hall adjacent to his position. He glanced down at the device in his grip, the flashing indicator displaying his destination, which appeared to be only five minutes away. His gaze removed itself from the tracker and instead focused on his surroundings. Back behind him, safely hidden thanks to camouflage, was Miss Martian. She pinned herself up against the wall, keeping the distance from the traffic tending to walk down the middle of the hall.
The Atlantean checked both ends of the hall before motioning Miss Martian to continue forward. Even though invisible, she nodded her head and floated silently down the corridor. The hall was clear.
Landing onto the ground, she removed her hood and became visible again, waving her hand for Aqualad to follow on up. He rechecked the surrounding out of habit before sneaking over, staying on the other side of the hall from where Miss Martian was.
"Okay, Robin should be that way." The sea farer pointed off to his right. Miss Martian replaced her hood and camouflage before floating down the hall. She checked and rechecked again, listening intently for any signs of the enemy. With nothing, she repeated her last action. Just as before, Aqualad checked the hall he was currently in and then proceeded to catch up with his teammate.
"Through that door." Aqualad whispered as he pointed up ahead. The two glanced at each other before bolting.
The door was kicked off its hinges thanks to Aqualad's Atlantean strength. It crashed on the floor ahead, scaring the guy, who had his back turned, out of his skin. The only one in the room, he looked at the hero with surprise and placed the object he was holding down on the table behind him.
Miss Martian floated in and raised her hand, sending the man flying backwards and smacking into the stone wall on the far end of the room. He crashed to the ground, not a movement shown as his body lay still.
Kaldur rushed over to the desk, noticing how the tracker in his hands indicated the location to be here. He furrowed his eyebrows before picking up the glove on the table.
"Where is he?" Miss Martian asked, coming over to her leader's side.
"He's not here." He stated grimly, holding up Robin's left glove that held his portable computer. They both sighed, before Aqualad took both gloves and turned around. "Come on, we have to keep looking. He's got to be around—"
"AHHHH!" M'gann screamed as she clutched her head and fell onto her knees.
"—Miss Martian!" Aqualad called, running over to kneel down beside her. He gently grasped her shoulder, his face leveled with hers.
"It's Robin! He's in pain!" she informed with falling tears. She tossed her head back and forth, her eyes shut tight as she whined.
"Where is he?" Aqualad pried. M'gann bolted upward, running forward a bit.
"I have to do something!" she hollered, her eyes glowing white. Aqualad caught her arm and brought her back to face him.
"No! You can't! If we get discovered… we can't afford it, he can't afford it!" He reasoned, grasping both of M'gann's arms. She looked at him with a horror stricken expression, her hands dropping down from her head.
"Right," she whimpered out, looking downward as an idea popped into her head.
I'm sorry, Aqualad.
Closing her eyes, she replaced her hands to her temples. She hid her face from her leaders' so he wouldn't see. "I—I think I can locate Robin." Aqualad relaxed a bit, releasing his grip on her. He gave her the go ahead.
Her mind reached out, the very order given to her ignored as she wandered over to Robin's consciousness. The pain from earlier was gone, but still lingering as a nightmarish thought. She was about to speak when another voice rang beat her to it.
Let me in…
She mentally gasped.
No! Robin's voice echoed back in protest.
I said, let me in…
Robin! She thought to herself.
And I said NO!
Don't make yourself more trouble than your worth, boy. The voice hissed.
I won't give in!
Will you now?
No… she mentally gasped out.
No… Robin's concentration was starting to waver.
That's it…
Get out!
Just let me take control…
M'gann racked her brain, anything other than her current idea.
I… said… get… out…!
You're slipping.
I can't… she told herself.
Stop…
I can't help without endangering the mission…! She told herself.
Batman might have trained you to resist, but you can't hold on forever.
…but he needs my help! She screamed to herself.
The voice giggled.
You're only human.
M'gann fear instantly vanished as the phrase 'being human' rang through. He was right; Robin was only human, as was Kid Flash, Artemis, and Zatanna. Half the case with Superboy! But she wasn't.
Her eyes opened to a white glow as she made contact with the assailant.
I'm not! She snapped back with ferocity, sending a powerful brain blast his way. The connection was lost immediately afterwards, the white glow fading away from her eyes. She looked up at Aqualad, the Atlantean sporting a puzzled expression.
"I know where he his!" she announced swiftly.
The dirt floor gave way to a metal-platted midsection; a couple support beams lining the walls as Artemis and Kid Flash continued along their path. The two trotted side-by-side, Artemis clutching her bow and an arrow out in front of her. It had been a while since they saw or heard of anyone else; no people, doctors, scientist, or vampires had come after them since entering the labyrinth of the cave. It put both heroes on edge. If this place was supposedly a sanctuary for this vampire dude, why wasn't it crawling with thralls? It was quiet, and they didn't like it.
Shuffling was heard to their left and both heroes whipped into a fighting stance. Kid spread his legs apart, reading to run, while Artemis cocked her arrow towards the noise. Upon fixing their focus, they noticed a small mouse scurrying along the side of the hall. Running away, he dashed ahead and disappeared around the corner of an upcoming intersection.
Both sighed and relaxed, Kid chuckling as he watched Artemis.
"Calm down, Artemis, it's just a mouse." He teased, earning a whack to the face with her bow. He grunted on its impact.
"YOU flinched too." She answered back, annoyed at his choice of 'fun'.
"Not as much as you." He continued.
"At least I was ready to fight. You were probably a second away from running off. That is what you do best." She retorted.
"Why did Aqualad put me with you?" Kid questioned with narrowed eyes.
"Good question." She agreed sourly. She looked off down the corridor, her façade fading as she glanced down grimly. Why did she always fight with him? It wasn't like he deserved it… most of the time.
"Hey, did you hear that?" his voice came up from behind her, taking her out of her thoughts. At his acknowledgment, she began to listen. A distant, low rumbling sound reverberated down the hall. It was there before.
"What is that?" KF questioned, taking a few steps forward.
"It sounds like machinery." Artemis shared. They both ran up to the intersection, checking the adjacent halls for anyone before listening for the noise.
"It's coming from down there." Artemis pointed out, lifting a finger to her left. They followed the low rumble for a couple minutes, keeping a look out for anyone and anything. The sound lead them through the cave, down a flight of make-shift stairs, and up to a sealed, automatic door.
Artemis tapped on it lightly, not trying to arouse anyone inside of their presence. Kid glanced down at a pad on the wall, getting eye-level with it for better observation.
"I think it's locked." Artemis informed as she felt the rim of the door, seeing as there was no door handle.
"And I bet this is what opens it." Kid Flash added, pointing at the pad.
"Hand-print?" she asked, but Kid shook his head no. "Well, it's not an eye scan." She stated as the device was positioned too low for such. Wally tapped the pad before flinching back as a small portion of the bottom jutted outward. A tiny needle faced upward at the speedster and archer. Both shared glances.
"Blood, well, that's original." Artemis commented dryly, dropping her shoulders as their chances of getting access to this room was now very slim.
Kid placed his pointer finger over the needle, "Should I?"
"How do we know it's not just looking for that vampire's blood?" she questioned.
"It's worth a shot." He glanced at her, looking for some condolence with his choice of action. She looked at him, obviously deep in thought, before closing her eyes and shaking her head.
He pressed his finger down on the needle, lifting it up quickly as the pinch caused his brain to react. He shook his hand before looking down at the needle point, blood already oozing out of the tiny opening.
The plate retracted back into the pad, its screen coming to life as it began to decipher the sample. It flashed green and the door hissed, sliding open.
One look inside told them everything this room was meant for. They both walked in, the door closing shut behind them, and glanced around with wide eyes.
It was a small room, six computers lining both sides of the room with a metal science table centering it. Papers were scattered on the desks underneath the computers which were attached to the walls, while only one fold sat on the science table. Artemis picked it up and flipped it open.
"Oh my gosh," she breathed out softly. Wally glanced at it from her right. "These are reports from Gotham about Batman and Robin." Wally searched the other desks, finding similar reports of Star City and one about the theories of Atlantis.
"This is where he did his research." The speedster concluded, flipping through the papers, finding newspaper photos of himself and his uncle. He looked up at the photos tapped to the bottom of a computer, his face and one of Aqualad's marked out with a giant X.
Artemis moved to the computers off on the other side of the room, popping up video files that were currently minimized.
"Wally." She called him over. In the blink of an eye, he was right beside her watching the video.
It was an old surveillance tape showing a large room with a single pod, wire and tubes hooked into it from various angles in the back. A young man, no older than eighteen, was strapped in the pod. Several scientists held clip boards, taking notes on the man's vitals and condition.
"Do another round." One of the scientists ordered calmly before jolts of electricity where sent into the teen's chest. The footage was in black and white, its audio crackling, but warm in the human tone. The teen's screams weren't nearly as loud as video showed.
The whole scene reminded Kid Flash of when Cadmus had a controlled Superboy capture him, Robin, and Aqualad. Placed in those pods to eject their blood and DNA for cloning. From the look and sound of the video, this seemed to have been taken long ago, early 1940's at the latest.
The experiments went on; painful injections had been given to the young man as well as more shock treatments. For a second, he figured this was some freaked out therapy session; that is until the next treatment. Two needles were injected into the young man's neck, blood being drained out the tubes connecting to them.
"Remove forty percent, let it regenerate, and then remove it again. Repeat the process." One of the scientist read from his clipboard.
"What are they doing?" Artemis questioned with a disgusted look.
"They're making him into a vampire…" Wally concluded, seeing how that teen in the pod had a few similarities to the pale dude that took Robin.
"How does that even work?" she questioned, removing her gaze from the screen.
"It's Cadmus." Kid replied simply, he didn't need to explain more.
"Wally," Artemis tapped him on the shoulder and pointed behind him. "Where does that door lead?"
There was, in fact, another door in the room, directly parallel from the one then entered through. The only difference between the two was that this door had no pad lock, had a handle, and wasn't locked.
Kid opened the metal door and both step in. Another small room, more crowded though. Wire and tubes lined the walls, all connected to a single pod at the end. A console and screen showing life signs sat off to the left, a short walk from the door and the pod. But what was inside was what froze both teens.
"Rob!" Kid Flash screamed as he ran over to the glass concealing his friend. He placed his hands on the glass and leaned in, his mouth hanging open as he peered at his best friend.
Four needles were injected in his neck, two on each side, all of which were draining blood from his body. The raven haired boy himself was still, his head bowed from apparent unconsciousness.
"Rob, dude, can you hear me?" Wally asked, fear lacing his voice.
"I'm… awake…" a small, soft reply sounded from within the pod. Robin's head lifted up slowly, his eyes barely open behind the mask as he looked out at his friend's face. He wanted to smile, but couldn't. Wally looked terrified.
"Wally, we need to shut this thing off!" Artemis announced from behind. He ran over to her and glanced down at the console.
"33%?" he read off, noting that any more blood taken was now life threatening. "Artemis, see if you can get the pod open, I'm gonna try to stop this thing." She didn't need to be told twice, already over by Robin as soon as Kid called her name. She placed her bow on her back and wrapped all fingers around the crevice of the pod. Upon pulling, she found no such luck at opening the glass.
She grunted with effort, "It won't open! Maybe there's a button over there!"
Wally stuttered as his fingers zoomed around the console. The blood drainage was now at 35 %. Robin moaned and closed his eyes, wincing a bit as he tried to move his head. Artemis watched with horror, whipping her head around toward her teammate.
"Wally, hurry!"
"I'm trying! I don't know how to work this thing?"
Robin's breathes were heavy, his heart rate fast. His skin was extremely pale and his body unresponsive. Confusion riddled his brain as he tried to move but couldn't, and even when he did manage to twitch, it felt slowed like one of those dreams where no matter how hard you try, you're stuck in slow motion.
"Wha…" he murmured incoherently, a sign both Wally and Artemis knew was bad.
"Wally!" Artemis shouted back. Kid had just pressed a button on the console before looking up at his two friends. The evident machine behind the pod crackled, and died down, the percentage on the screen stopping at thirty seven.
"I think that did it." The speedster stated with a huge sigh, rushing over to Artemis and helping her open the glass door. The thing hissed, and released its grip, allowing Kid and Artemis to reach in and pull away the needles inserted in Robin's thighs.
"Careful, careful!" Wally urged, getting an annoyed look from Artemis.
"What do you think I'm doing, Kid Idiot?!" she half-screamed at him. When those needles were out, they moved on to the ones at his neck.
"Crap…" Wally spat out. "Do you have any bandages?" he asked Artemis. She shook her head in response. "Right. Rob, can you still hear me?"
Robin moaned.
"I'll take that as a yes." Wally replied. "We're gonna get you out of this thing, but I need you to put pressure on your neck once we get the needles out. Can you still move your arms?" He questioned, watching his friend with pain in his heart.
"We'll need to get his hands free first." Artemis said, taking out an arrow and pointing at the foam above Robin's head. She burned through the stuff in no time, digging his hands out as quickly and gently as possible before moving on to the ankles. Wally kept him up, seeing how Robin's free hands weakly reached up at the needles in his neck.
"Hang on." He intervened, putting a hand on Robin's.
"Got 'em." The blonde announced as the iron clasps broke. Both of them, grabbed a metal arm and counted to three before pulling out the needles. Robin grunted from the numbing pain coming from his neck and tried to apply pressure with his nearly uncooperative hands. Artemis twisted him around as Wally picked him up bride style. Blood began to seep through his fingers and run down his arms.
"He's going to lose too much blood." Artemis exclaimed in sorrow, watching as the red cells began dropping off onto Kid's arms.
"No, no, I can make it if I hurry." He proclaimed, glancing up at his teammate as if looking for a correction.
"What are you waiting for?" she questioned. At that, Kid was gone, the wind attempting to catch up with him as he sped off at speeds unnatural for any human.
Artemis stood in her spot for a while, glancing around the room, trying to register everything that was happening. This man was trying to turn Robin in a vampire…
She shook her head and ran out, just about to open the second door before stopping and glancing over at the science table. A red leather book sitting beneath a pitcher caught her attention. She reached out and grabbed it, opening the first few pages up and taking a look.
A journal…
She closed its cover and took it with her, running off to the Bio ship in hopes of catching up with Kid Flash.
Hey, Merry Christmas to all my readers! I wanted to get this chapter posted before going on break, a little Christmas present for you guys. I really appreciate all of the traffic coming in and out, love to see people reading my stories. Sorry if the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, but hey, better to keep you entertained than bored. I'll be updating weekly as I have been, but with my limited internet access right now, next week might be troublesome. Expect a late update, but expect one all together. :)