Discovery: A New Villian

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Both the JL and YJ stood together in Mount Justice in hopes of having another clue that could lead them closer to finding Robin. Everyone, especially the young trainees, missed their little bird. Robin was the youngest and was their baby brother they adored and cared for so much... But no one could beat Batman's feels.

Batman just had that heart for Dick like no other father had; Bats cared for Dick kore than he did himself; Bruce would beat the living hell out of those who dared tried to hurt his little bird (Even if it was Dick that was the ass); and he had that protectiveness for the boy. Clearly, one day when this situation had began, it was something the Dakr Knight hid and wished to take back...

Robin, at least half a foot taller than he was at thirteen, stood under the shadows of his mentor, Batman who stared him down with his 'batglare.' The sixteen year old dared not to look up and meet his gaze.

His reason for being in trouble?

During dinner, Dick had asked Bruce if he could do a night patrol all by himself; the sixteen year old had grown into a firm young teen, not to mention his growth spurt, and he felt like it was time to prove the Batman he could handle things on his own. Every bird has to fly, right? But that daddy instinct Dick sometimes found irritating, got the best of Bruce. The man unyeildingly refused to let him do so. Being the stubborn teen in the roleplay, Dick went against Bruce's orders and had gotten captured by Joker.

The madman was so gleeful that he had manage to catch Batman's partner in justice, that he literaly began his torture session in a nearby abandoned building. Robin had no idea how Joker could carry such numerous sharp objects- not mention a hammer- in his many pockets of that damned jacket.

Luckily, Joker only had the littlest time to cut Robin's chest three times (Robin dared not to scream for the clown) before a black shadow swept through one of the boarded windows. Robin winced many times, feeling Joker's pain as an angry Dark Knight beat the living daylights out of him. Once Joker was bounded and laughing weakly on the floor with splatters of blood coming from his mouth, Robin heard footsteps stop right in front of him.

The younger looked up to meet masked eyes with his mentor's narrowed slits. He smiled nervously and strained out a chuckle. "Uhhh, he-ey, Bats."

Robin hated the 'batglare' Bruce was giving him, that even Superman would run away. The teen sighed, before he was grabbed firmly by the arm and dragged out the building. Batman had signaled Gordon to come and arrest Joker. He was so pissed, he nearly shoved Dick in the Batmobile. Robin dared not to speak, seeing the clouds of smoke coming from under Bruce's cowl, and he muttered, "I am SO screwed."

Now, here he was with Alfred dressing his wounds, and Bruce... still glaring down upon him. It began to irritate Dick. "You know you can stop looking at me like that- it is not the first time this has happened, Bruce," he said. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows. "No it is not. But you went against my orders and took matters into your own hands, Dick. If I hadn't been there in time I don't..." Bruce took a calm breath and paced his temper away. Dick rolled his eyes. Sure, he was grateful Bruce cared, but what made him angry was that the man always had to be breathing on his nck. It was like Bruce could never trust him to handle things on his own.

"I'm sixteen, Bruce. I think I can take care of situations... Why can't you just let ME handle things by myself?"

Alfred saw the look and flare in Bruce's eyes as the man swished and stalked over to the teen. Dick himself knew he had struck a nerve within the man. Bruce stopped inches from Dick.

"So you can turn out like JASON?!" Bruce nearly yelled out.

Immediately, Dick's eyes widened in shock along with Alfred. "Master Bruce!" the butler gasped. Dick felt himself cringe at the name of his recently dead older brother. Apperently, Jason had went against Bruce's orders as well and had gotten captured by Joker... the incident was fatal...

Not only was Dick now raging for Bruce mentioning his deceased eldest foster son, but what pissed him off more was that Bruce actually thought he was that reckless. Dick frowned and glared up at Bruce. Fury boiled inside of him. "I... Am NOT. Jason! He did what he did because you PISSED HIM OFF. I did it cuz I do not need you on my case all the time. Maybe, Jason's death was recent because you allowed that fucking pshyco to kill him-!"

SMACK!

Dick had not seen the hand coming till it met with his right cheek with a hard slap, sending his face to the side. Alfred stumbled back in shock. Bruce was heaving red with anger, but the wierdest thing was... He didn't know what was happening. It all went RED for mere seconds that before he knew it, his hands were wrapped tightly around a small neck.

Bruce blinked.

It was Dick's neck. All seemed deaf to him. Even Alfred's words screaming at him, demanding that he'd release the teen. Alfred tried prying Bruce from Dick, who seemed to be losing conciouse every second he lacked oxygen.

"MASTER BRUCE, RELEASE THIS CHILD! DAMNIT BRUCE, I SAID LET HIM GO!"

Dick clawed at his foster father's hands. Tears stung his eyes and his body trembled roughly. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. His father- his guardian... Was trying to kill him. KILL him. It scared him to death that his own mentor would be trying to murder him, but it terrorized him even more to know that it was BRUCE. The man that said he would guide and protect him. His limbs were growing weaker by the second he tried retrieving air.

Alfred was growing desperate as well. Quickly, the man looked around to find at least something to make Bruce stop. He found a knife used for surgery and grabbed it. Sorry son, he thought before bringing it down on Bruce's shoulder. Immediately, the man stopped with a roar of pain and released his ward. Dick nearly slipped off the stretcher, gasping large breaths of air while sobbing uncontrollably at the same time. Alfred took no less to wrap the child in a protective embrace. He held another knife in hand in case Bruce decided to make another attempt that could end p fatal. Dick was a grandson to Alfred and he knew Dick was Bruce's everything, but the billionare was not thinking clearly. It would be just horrible if the man found out his own son died by his hands.

Bruce yanked the knife out, causing crimson blood to flow out his shoulder, but that is what it took to bringbhim back into reality. He blinked several times, seeing Dick shaking in a terrified Alfred's arms. The boy was racking in sobs and gasos of air, cradling his neck that held DARK hand marks. Bruce froze at the sudden memory of a few seconds ago. He looked down at his hands in disbelief. Did he... No... nononono, he just... Bruce gazed up the other two in shock.

It had not took him forever to connect the dots. It was simple.

He just tried to choke his son...

The boy he vowed to protect...

The boy he raised and cared for...

The boy he PROTECTED.

"Richard, I... I-I don't know what... Dick, I am SO sorry..." Bruce stammered. He took a step towards the two. Dick's eyes widened and with a raspy whimper, the teen yanked himself from Alfred's arms and ran out the cave to his motor cycle. Bruce ran after him, but Alfred stayed there, still truamatized by what he just saw.

Before Bruce could reach Dick, the the teen sped off, leaving the man in the dust. "Richard!"

Bruce winced at the memory, still feeling hatred of himself. How dare he touch Richard like that? How could he? It made Bruce sick to his stomach. He could just see it now; Mary and John Grayson were both looking down upon him, wondering how could their precious little boy end up with a monster... Bruce's masked eyes went slit. Dick must have been so scared. Alfred must have been hateful. The League sure as hell was.

But now was not the time to carry burdens. They had just recieved a video from one of the local bank security cameras and had high hopes that it could be a clue. Superman pressed the play button and everyone watched.

Four police officers stood in a line beside each other, pointing their guns threatenly at a shadowed figure, wearing a black shredded, dark-looking hood cape that overshadowed his face from nose to eyes. All you could see were lips. The figure also wore a black leather suit with gun hoisters around his waist and that ran wrapped around his right leg to inside his boot, also attaining a gun. Around the torso was a strap holding something that hid under the cape officers seemed to be shouting demands to surrender. The intruder's thin lips suddenly stretched into a cold, no good meaning, menacing grin. Very slowly, the figure reached into his robes. His hand kept still inside, as well as himself ignoring the officers.

Finally one shot before all the others. With unbelievable speed that would make Flash and KF jealous, the enemy pulles out a long silver blade with a navy blue handle, and BLOCKED the bullet coming towards him.

The heroes felt themselves stiffen in surprise. Clearly, this new enemy was quick, smart, and very skilled.

More bullets zipped at the unkniwn figure only to be dodged by the sword. Finally, he (as it seem because of the lack of breasts, very muscled legs, and toned abs), leapes into the air and raised his sword and swung, slicing one officer on the chest. Crimson splattered onto the sword as the officer fell to the floor. The intruder then stabbed one in the gut and another he sliced in the stomach. Finally, the last officer dropped his gun and shakily went to his knees holding his hands up in surrender.

The stranger stalked to the officer, dragging his blood dripping sword, creating a line of red on the floor. Every step he took, the officer trembled even more ad now began racking in sobs. The intruder's grin only widened. Without hesitation, he placed the blade to the man's throat. Refusing his mercy, the hooded figure slit the officer's throat, never caring of the blood being sprayed onto his body. Looking at the blood pooled room, the figure suddenly gazed to the cameras... Smiling. He pulled out his gun and aimed before shooting the camera.

Everyone was frozen from where they stood, all holding their breaths. This was somewhat an unusual criminal; "Wait, if he knew someone could watch this, why did he wait to shoot the camera until he killed the officers?" Wally asked. His tongue tasted of vomit he swollowed during the video. It made him sick. Batman did not seem affected and tried finding clues in the video. "I am guessing he wanted to make a show," Superman said.

"You are exactly right," Batman agreed with a gruff. No one noticed the Dark Knight's full concern. He has never encountered a criminal use such skill to kill. And that smile... it was familiar... But still, the video gave no lead to find Dick. It scared Bruce...

What if they never find Robin? What if Bruce never gets to apologize to Richard? What if Dick was... Dead.

Bruce sucked in a breath, trying to pull together his thoughts... Those types of burdens alone would destroy him.

"I'm sixteen, Bruce. I think I can take care of situations... Why can't you let ME handle things by myself?"

"So you can turn out like JASON?!"

Bruce felt his stomach churn. Before he could hit a wall, he turned his heel and immediately left the grouo, leaving them in surprise but understanding. They knew the Dark Knighy was hurting as much as they were... perhaps even more.

"I have never seen him like this," Wonder Woman whispered.

Clark placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "Robin is very important to Bats... He just needs time alone. Right now, we have to get to the bottom of things. We will need to do patrols every night- but we still need to keep our duties balances. Find this unknown criminal," he exclaimed, pointing to the screen.

"But how can we find him if we don't even know how he looks like?" Artemis questioned.

"Yes. We need to find more leads. This is the first outbreak of this new villain, we don't know inner status," M'gann agreed.

"Then we find some. Until then-"

Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Mount Justice has been compromised!

Everyone gathered around. Their eyes darted everywhere as the room enlightened with a blinking red light. "Who the hell can break in here?!" Connor asked.

"I see you got my message," a voice spoke. Everyone froze. That voice... that voice- they know that voice. Clark tried using x-ray vision but found nothing. "Who are you?" Kaldur asked. A cackle was what they had got in response. That laugh was familiar. Wally felt his heart skip a beat, but he kept his mouth shut before jumping to conclusions.

"Well, I am touched you asked, Superman... So I should be generous and answer your question..."

From one of the doorway shadows, a figure stepped out. Everyone gasped. It was the same villain from the video. A smirk was played on the intruders lips as the heroes stood ready for a battle. Artemis glared threateningly with her bow aimed. "Reveal yourself. Now," she hissed. The intruder stood there for a few moments, huffing a laugh before reaching slowly to the hood and pulling it down. "As you wish..."

Oh...

My...

God...

Everyone at that second, nearly jumped out of their skin in pure shock and disbelief. There, the stranger looked to br no stranger. It was a teen, at least sixteen with raven hair down in an emoish look, and with a mask that was at a curve tip on the sides like a baterang. A devilish smirk went well with his dark complexion.

Wally's heart thudded rapidly against his chest along with the others. His evergreens squinted in disbelief. Slowly, he slurred out, "... R... Robin?"

The assassin cocked an eyebrow, then laughed. "Robin?... what kindbof ridiculous name is that?... no nonono..."

He ran a hand through his locks with a sigh before gazing back to them with a grin. "... The name's Nightshadow... And either give me what I ask for or else..." He pulled out a black stick. With a press of a button, a long blade popped out with a slick cling. Nightshadow's face darkend.

"We will do this the other way..."

Cliffie!