DISCLAIMER: All recognizable characters belong to DC Comics.

CHAPTER FIVE: Sleuth

It always amazed Wally just how heavy something as intangible as silence could feel. The interior of Mount Justice was thick with is, the lights dimmed into near darkness as most of the Cave's occupants had retired for what rest they could obtain after the day's events.

The ultimatum delivered to Flash and Superman did not go over well, not that he thought it would have. The pair finally relented to talk to Batman before they came back with the order to stand down. Not that the younger team would listen if it did come to that. They'd disobeyed the League before, and they were all more than ready and willing to do it again. They had both left shortly thereafter, with the promise to return the following morning, leaving Young Justice to wait it out.

He had spent the last hour just walking around. That of itself was strange, as Kid Flash never walked anywhere, but he was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized when his feet had taken him to the door to Robin's quarters. Standing outside the sealed door he found his mind going back to the last time Robin had actually stayed at the Mountain.

"Before Bialya," he murmured to himself as the tips of his fingers brushed against the control panel next to the door.

That had been months ago, before school had started for the Boy Wonder. Batman had kept Robin in Gotham more often after that mission, and KF couldn't fault the man. Psimon had wiped months of their lives from their memories. Despite winning against the bad guys, the debriefing afterward had left a bad taste in Wally's mouth. Batman's too, apparently.

.

.

"After I came to," Robin had told the gathered heroes when it came to his report. "I had seen a rock formation on the horizon and started walking. I used them to hide from a keep full of Bialyian soldiers and considered contacting Batman, when I remembered the order to maintain Radio Silence. I ended up tracking a GPS marker back to our inception point, when I was ambushed by more soldiers. The dialect was different, but one of them shouted something in what sounded like Arabic." Robin pressed a quick series of buttons on his wrist computer and the soldier's shouted command echoed in the briefing room.

صاحبة الجلالة تريد منه على قيد الحياة!

"And what exactly does that mean?" Superboy had asked.

"They wanted him alive," Red Tornado translated.

"Alive?" Artemis snarled. "They dropped a missile on the cabin Wally and I were in, and then they shot at us with tank. TANKS!"

"Was it just Robin they were talking about, or anyone who came back to that position?" Aqualad asked.

.

.

"He was the only one capable of tracking the marker," Wally whispered. With a sigh, he shook his head and walked away from the sealed room.

Queen Bee had wanted him. Robin. No one else.

Sportsmaster had deduced Robin's civilian identity to get to him.

Half the criminals in Arkham had, at one time or another, gone after the Batman's partner.

Wally knew his best friend was unique, special. Hell, he was Batman's partner! Not sidekick, partner! Thirteen years old he had more experience as a hero than some members of the Justice League! There were times when Wally had wanted to be Robin. What sidekick didn't? But now, realizing just how much of a target the kid had made himself...

"I don't think I've ever told him how much I admire him," Wally muttered as he entered the rec room.

He was brought up short in the doorway by the glow of the laptop screen on Artemis' knees. The blonde had let her hair down, the strands cascading down the arm of the sofa which she rested her back on, and let her legs stretch out in front of her. Laid out next to her were several sheets of paper, each filled with writing. Even now she was jotting down something else on a partially filled piece.

So engrossed in the computer was she, that the archer did not notice as Wally came up behind her.

He froze when he saw what she was watching.

The volume was off, but there video image of his best friend being electrocuted was bringing the sound of Robin screaming to the forefront of his mind.

"Why are you watching that?" He ground out.

The girl jumped, the laptop nearly flying on to the floor before she managed to catch it. "What the hell!" She screeched as she put the machine onto the coffee table and started picking up her now scattered papers. "What the hell! What are you doing sneaking up on me like that!"

"No sneaking," He answered evenly, glaring down at her as she paused the video playback. "Why are you watching that?"

"I couldn't sleep." She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her elbows on her knees when she sat up. "I kept seeing him being taken away. And I couldn't stop it..."

Wally felt himself moving before he realized it and sat beside her. "There was nothing you could have done, Artemis."

She snorted and turned her head to look at the speedster. "Right, keep telling yourself that. I was right there, Wally. I was six feet away from him! I could have done any number of things different. But no, I just cowered on the floor like everyone else."

"Not from what I saw," he told her. "You stood up. You got in front of Sportsmaster and the others before you knew it was Robin they were taking." He thought about it for a moment, eyes narrowing. "Why did you? You know we're not to react when in our civvies, not if we can help it."

"I just," she sighed again. "I met Dick, not Robin mind you but Dick, a couple of months ago when I accepted the scholarship to Gotham Academy – which I'm now just realizing was set up by Batman – and he was nice to me. He must have known who I was-"

"He's always know," Wally smirked. "He's just like Batman that way. He knows all the supers and their secret identities."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't just me he was nice to. All the scholarship kids. I mean, here we were, the dregs of society – the charity cases – and he treated us like anyone else. Bruce Wayne is the richest guy in Gotham – hell, I think he owns most of it – and so it's expected that both he and his kid should be a couple of spoiled snobs. Batman's cultivated that persona for Bruce, but Dick..."

"He's a good guy," Wally nodded his understanding. "He tried that 'rich brat' thing, and it just did not suit him. Even Bruce said as much. They came to the conclusion that a kid with his history just wouldn't ever be an aristocratic ass."

Artemis regarded the redhead for a moment. "What kind of history?"

Wally shook his head. "Not my story to tell. But if you really want to know," he gestured to the computer. "It's all on there. But I suggest you ask him."

"If we get him back."

"When we get him back." KF snapped. The heavy silence returned and he motioned to the computer again. "So why are you watching that?"

"Because I had to do something," She hissed and jabbed her finger toward the frozen image of the captive hero. "It may have been Dick Grayson taken, but this is Robin. He knew we could see him; do you really think he wouldn't at least try to get a message to us somehow?"

Kid Flash perked up with that though. "Did you figure it out?"

She shook her head and leaned over the keyboard. "Not yet, but I did find this." The video image minimized and she opened up several other windows. Each contained a picture captured from the video. She pointed to one showing the floor behind the mercenary. "There."

Wally leaned forward for a better look, his eyes narrowing as he tried to decipher what he was seeing. "Are those-?"

"Shadows. Yes." Artemis' lips held a grim satisfaction. "Two of them. Meaning-"

"Someone else was in that room. Too bad we can't see-"

"Ah, but we can!" She flicked through the images until she found the one she was looking for. It was a close-up of a bit of reflective surface from the console that Sportsmaster had been sitting at. It was blurred, making the features impossible to distinguish. "It's not the best, and I can't get it any clearer-"

"But it's something to work from." Wally turned the laptop toward him and his fingers flew across the keyboard. A minute later the image reloaded and the pixels were a little sharper. "That's all I can do."

"But there is definitely two people there," Artemis pointed to the one. "This one's smaller than the other, shorter and skinnier, and... is that a horned cowl he's wearing?"

"Possibly." Wally huffed and flopped back onto the sofa. "Robin could have had a clear shot of their faces and this social security number by now."

"Yeah, well Robin's not here," Artemis snapped at him. "He's the one we're trying to rescue, remember?"

"I get that!" the teen snapped back angrily before the anger disappeared and he took a deep breath. "It's just... I think I'm starting to realize exactly what Robin means to this team."

"I know what you mean," she agreed and leaned back beside him. "I mean, on some level I got that – hey, this is Batman's protégé! He's human, no superpowers, no cybernetic enhancements, nothing! Just a... a thirteen year old kid that kicks ass! And not just any ass either."

A snort escaped from the speedster. "I was thinking the same thing just a bit ago. Seriously, that 'kid' has gone toe to toe with some of the scariest there is out there."

"Two Face"

"Riddler."

"Joker..."

Wally shivered. "Joker... god, just thinking about that guy gets me freaked out! And Robin's never backed down from him..."

"Superman hasn't even faced him," the archer pointed out. "Not without Batman nearby anyway."

"Robin has; a couple of times."

"Without Batman?"

He nodded. "It wasn't pretty, but he held his own until Bats could get there."

"Hell..." Artemis went back to the computer and brought up an image of Sportsmaster. "Robin faces someone like the Joke on his own, and I can't even stand up to someone like this poser... What kind of hero does that make me?"

"One that's still alive," Wally put a hand comfortingly over hers. "He would have killed you if you tried more than you did to stop him. "

She shook her head. "No he wouldn't have. He's not suicidal."

Wally chuckled. "Why, because Green Arrow would have used him as a pin cushion?"

"No," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she stared at the masked face on the computer, "because my mother would have gutted him and strangled him with his own intestines."

"Yeah, mothers are pretty scary when they get all protective."

"Right," Artemis closed the picture and brought up the video again. "So are you going to help me with this? You know Robin better and might catch something I've missed."

"It's not like I'm going to get any sleep. Start it over."