Wavering in and out of consciousness, Robin finally notices he's being carried. Fighting to stay awake, he finds himself too weak to lift his head to get a better view of whatever was carrying him. After blacking out again, he regains enough energy to get a quick look of an armored being.
The figure carrying him had enough flowing through its limbs and had no trouble taking on Robin's weight. With metal masking the real being inside from head-to-toe, Robin had no way of identifying the creature, let alone tell if it was friend or foe. He couldn't even see through the dirty, glass window on its helmet.
Feeling another wave of dizziness, Robin had to trust this being for now. His vision fades to black as the metal head tilts down to look at him.
All the maddened raiders were either unconscious or immobilized as the team pauses to catch their breath.
"Well, that was a waste of time," complains Artemis.
"Is anyone injured?" asks Kaldur, a flicker of worry crossing his gaze.
"I'm fine. What about you Rob-?" Wally's voice trails off as he searches the room for his friend, "Uh…when did he pull a ninja on us?"
Spinning in a circle, Artemis visually scans the room for any signs of Robin.
"Great, bird boy ditched us," grumbles Artemis.
Attempting to contact Robin telepathically, M'gann shakes her head.
"I can't establish a connection; his mind it too foggy," reports M'gann with a worried frown.
"Let's go find him before he runs into trouble," suggests Kaldur, casting a glance at the crazed people scattered around the room.
Letting out a soft hiss, the pressure door slides up. Trailing at the rear, Conner follows the group down another hallway. Out of the corner of his eye, he takes note of the rainbow of fish swimming on the other side of the glass.
"Do we seriously have to walk everywhere? This pace is too slow! Robin could have been kidnapped by now! Can I at least run ahead and see if I can come across his trail?" complains Wally anxiously.
"Relax Kid, Robin can hold his own, you know that," reassures Kaldur.
"Yeah, but-"
"He'll probably find us before we find him, so just be patient," interrupts Kaldur.
Conner can see Wally's lips move, but he doesn't pay attention to what the red-head is saying. Instead, he is distracted with the task of tuning his ears to a faint sound.
A shaky voice sobs in the near distance and upon closer inspection, Conner realizes it belongs to a young girl.
Unable to ignore a child so upset, Conner silently removes himself from the group to seek out the girl. Upon opening a wooden door, a wide-eyed man attempts to tackle Conner. Stepping to the side, Conner catches the man by the back of his shirt and flings him aside like a discarded, crumbled, piece of paper.
Crashing into a stack of cardboard boxes, the man is left disoriented.
Shrugging off the encounter, Conner steps up to a barred gate were the weeping is loudest.
Just beyond the gate a small girl in a tattered, worn dress crouches beside a metal figure. Her tears leave a clean trail through the grime on her cheeks.
Movement catches Conner's eye and he notices a woman in a torn, white dress.
The woman walks up to the girl as if she's going to comfort her.
However, Conner quickly spots the crowbar held behind her back and knows she has other plans. Kicking the rustic gate, Conner sends it crashing to the ground with a sharp, metallic yelp.
Screaming, the terrified, little girl dangles from the woman's grasp. She squeezes her eyes shuts as the crowbar swings towards her.
Nothing happens.
The child opens her eyes to find she is now being held by Conner.
The woman is sprawled on the floor, unconscious with a dark bruise on her forehead.
"Are you alright?"
Quickly switching from fear to awe, the little girl stares at Conner and nods.
Relieved she is unharmed, Conner gently sets her down and turns to leave. Suddenly, something jumps onto his back and begins climbing up to his shoulders. His mucles tense for another confrontation, when a small voice stops him.
"Thank you for saving me from the monsters, Daddy!"
Conner freezes. Did she just call him…'Daddy'?
"Actually, my name's Superboy."
"Silly Daddy! Your name is ! You can't trick me!" giggles the girl, her glowing orange eyes dancing with amusement.
"Mr…Bubbles?" echoes Conner in disbelief.
"Yep! Now come with me, Mr.B! We have to find more angels," chirps the girl as she hops off of Conner's back, her brown pony-tail flopping behind her.
Conner simply watches the tiny girl strut into a hallway. Worried something is, in fact, wrong with her, Conner moves to follow. His evening soon becomes full of pyscho beat-downs and skipping down hallways with a pint-sized girl. Yes, she made him skip.