Chapter 3: The Dimension Ray-Gun

A/N: Thanks for the reviews people! I thought you guys should know, Joule is basically who I wish I could be, but sadly, am not. Right after some action packed fillers we can meet the main villain!

Robin had awakened that morning and had known how his day would go, more or less, yet somehow, nothing had gone his way.

It was now 11:44 A.M. and M'gann had just contacted the bio-ship. Everyone was ready to head back to Mount Justice, and both Robin and Dick Grayson wanted this day to be over with. Sadly, the day was anything but asterous, and nothing had gone right.

~Dick's POV~

We all walked along laughing, just waiting to stumble upon a good place to enter the bio-ship without being seen. I stopped abruptly as the team's laughing was cut off. I looked up, and to my surprise, the team was… missing. They had been there one second ago, but now they were gone.

I looked around, and noticed something else. Not only were my friends missing, but the street was empty. The whole city was still and stiff. There were no movements, no people, not even a sound. I listened for something as subtle as a heartbeat. Silence. I tried to call out and see if anyone was there, but my own voice couldn't be heard. Again, there was only silence.

To my right, I saw a flicker of movement. A white glow emanated from the alleyway. I walked towards it cautiously. There was a blinding ray of light, much like walking through the Zeta tube, and the shadow of a man appeared. A gruff face looked down at me, and to me, he looked like a hobo with a bad beard. The thing that was wired was that he was diaphanous, clear, and see-through. He was like a ghost, and I was tempted to reach out and see if I could pass through him. But, my better judgment told me to be ready, so I took a step back and took on a defensive stance.

As the man became a bit more solid and opaque, I noticed that he was holding something. The strange white light was coming from whatever was in his hands. 'A flashlight?' I thought to myself 'is that what it is?' All too late I realized it was some sort of gun, and the light shot a bright ray at me. Again, there was a surrounding brightness that engulfed me, and this time, I slipped into unconsciousness.

~Kaldur's POV~

We were all surprised when the quiet footsteps of Robin secede besides us. His laughter was cut off, and he simply was no longer there. We all gawked at the sidewalk where he had been mere moments ago.

"M'gann, do a mental search," I told her. We stepped into a nearby alleyway to avoid suspicion, and M'gann's eyes glowed a bright green. A sudden gasp escaped her mouth, and she looked up at me.

"Kaldur," she said, "Robin is standing right there." She pointed to a spot only three feet away, right at the entrance to the alley.

"Um, M'gann, Robin isn't there. Are you feeling okay?" Wally asked.

M'gann turned to him. "I'm telling you, he's there! I can feel his mind, but it's weak, as if it's only half there."

Now it was Artemis's turn to gasp, and my eyes turned to her. "What is it?"

"I saw a glimmer, as if there was something invisible there and the light was reflecting on it. But it was only for a second," Artemis replied. I walked over to where Robin was supposedly standing and made a wide swooping search with my arm, hoping to feel him if he was invisible. I felt nothing.

The team turned to me for answers. As leader, they needed me to take the next step. I turned to M'gann again. "Miss. M, can you contact him?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I already tried. Normally, he can also sense when I'm in his mind and shows recognition, but he seems to be completely unaware that I'm here."

"Well then, I suppose…" I was cut off as M'gann screamed and fell to the ground.

"M'gann!" Conner called, and knelt by her side. "What happened?"

"There-there," she stuttered. "There is another man here whom Robin could slightly see, but we couldn't. He's in the same place Robin is, somewhere between here and another world." She shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes.

"What else?" I urged.

"Ro-Robin was hit by some sort of r-ray-gun. There was a b-bright light and Robin fell unconscious. I can't feel him anymore. What do we do Kalder?" She looked up at me, slowly standing.

"See if you can feel for the mind of the other man," I replied. She nodded and her hand absently went to her head.

"His mind is farther away than Robin's was, fainter. But, he is still here besides us. I can't read any of his thoughts or tell what he's doing, but I can still feel where he is. He's moving now, going that way," M'gann gestured towards the back, end of the alley. He was going further in.

"Then we follow him," I said. "We may not be able to tell for sure, but he most likely has Robin with him." With that, M'gann called the bio-ship and Superboy and I jumped straight up into it while the others were lifted up.

"He's moving quickly," M'gann began to speak again. She piloted the bio-ship to match his pace, which would be impossible to keep up with on foot.

"He's going as fast as me when I'm actually trying a little," Kid Flash said in surprise.

"But he's there," M'gann said, "If we could see him, he'd be on those rooftops right in front of us."

I nodded, and everyone remained silent for several minutes. A few moments later, we were across Gotham, far on the South side where the crime rate was higher than the East and North sides, but not as high as the West side.

"He's stopped inside that building," M'gann said as we hovered in front of an old, worn out apartment complex.

"Than this is where we get off," Wally said.

"But first, we need a plan," corrected him, and he looked at me slightly annoyed at the delay. I paid him no mind. "M'gann, status."

"There are thirty-two men and one woman, including the man that we've been following and Robin, if he is there. I still don't know if Robin is there or not," she said. I nodded, urging her to continue. "There is an elevator that goes down five levels. The man and two guards are in it, going all the way down. I'm picking through one of the guard's minds now. He doesn't know what's going on, and he doesn't care, but he can see the man and Robin is with them. The guards have some sort of device in their ears that allows them to see the two who are only half in this world."

"Okay, then our first task is apprehension of those devices. Once we have them, we can find Robin. Wally, Artemis, and Zatanna, you will secure the devices and cause a distraction; you are group Beta. When the guards come out, take what we need. Conner, M'gann and I will search the perimeter for another way in; the elevator is heavily guarded, no doubt; we are Alpha. Everyone meet on the fourth sublevel above where Robin is being held. You have your tasks," I commanded, and M'gann opened a hole in the bio-ship. We all clambered out onto the sidewalk, then split into our groups and dispersed.

"Miss.M, mind link," I commanded, and she responded "Everyone's online."

"Good, contact Robin as soon as the opportunity arises."

'Ready for the distraction,' Wally called through the mind link.

'Good,' I replied, 'execute on my command.'

My group, Alpha, was just entering on the second floor through a window. I looked down the stairwell to see two men guarding the elevator and three men securing the halls. If we could manage to get inside the elevator, we could exit through the top and use the ventilation to reach the bottom sublevel. I relayed the information to the team.

'Commence distraction,' I gave the signal to act. I waited as the plans were executed.

~Kid Flash's POV~

Artemis begins the distraction by shooting an arrow at what had been identified as a fuel tanker that was parked across the street. We were lucky it was there. Her arrow stuck and went off with a bang, causing the truck to catch fire. Three guards from inside immediately come out. Before they can signal for more guards, I race forward and knock one of them out. Artemis lets an arrow fly and it releases a knock-out gas in the second guard's face. The third one raises his gun, but a few words are whispered…

"Noitavirped fo snopaew fo mrah!" (Deprivation of weapons of harm!) Zatanna quietly mutters backwards, and the man's weapon lifts out of his hands. I spring forward and swiftly knock him unconscious.

'Now, we have to sneak into the elevator shaft before more guards come up from the sub-levels.' Artemis says telepathically. I nod, and we cautiously walk inside. Two guards are unconscious by the elevator, (no doubt that they were brought down by team Alpha) and the doors had been pried open (probably by Superboy). I look down into the shaft. The elevator is bellow, and begins to move upward.

'Hurry,' I say, 'before the elevator comes up and drops the guards.'

Zatanna levitates to the top of the shaft while Artemis and I climb up. We wait there as the elevator comes closer. It stops directly below us and I can hear the guards clamber off; five or six of them. We fall onto the elevator as it goes down and wait until it reaches the fifth floor. The fourth floor is right besides us and there is an air-vent above the doors to the sublevel. The grate for the air-duct had been removed by group Alpha. The girls and I climb in and follow it down.

'Take a right there,'I hear M'gann whisper in my mind, and I obey. She relays instructions until we come to a drop. I fall down through the piping and into the ventilation system of the fifth floor. With a few more instructions, I see the other half of us waiting and looking up into the shaft.

The other two and I fall into a room with a large window and two guards on the floor. On the other side of the glass is another room where the floor is below. It was exactly like a room from which you would watch doctors perform a surgery from. In the other room, a little ways below, there was a woman in a red silk dress and at least twenty guards.

'I had been wondering why there were only a handful of guards through the rest of the complex,' Kaldur thought, 'and now I know that it is because they have gathered here.'

'But why?'Artemis asked.

M'gann answered, 'it's the man, he's down there and so is Robin. Robin has woken up and I can feel his presence.'

I looked down and my eyes widened as the woman with the long black hair and red dress held up a strange gun. Her bright red lips formed a smile on her tanned skin. She pointed the gun forward and pulled the trigger. A bright white ray of light shot out and struck something invisible in the center of the room. There was a flicker of color and when the white ray ceased, Robin stood in the center of the room. His hands were being held behind his back and he looked up at the woman before him.

She smiled again and said, "Hello Richard, I've been waiting for you."

A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter, sorry, but it was hopefully interesting. I hope you liked it! I'll finally have the next chapter up soon!

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