Writer's Notes (cause I like em at the top better)
I'd like to appologise for the rather lengthy delay in following up on my ficlet, between life work etc I write(type) when i can and unfortunatly summer time is the busiest time of year for me hopefully as things slow down a bit I'll be able to add further instalments, I'd like to thank everyone for thier patience with my spotty schedual, and once again sorry for the short chapter. -Saint-
Robin crouched low on the rooftop across from the jewelry store he was currently staking out, the rather through interrogation of a particularly talkative drug dealer had revealed that a heist was being planned on the very jewelry store that the titans leader was currently watching, he could still see Starfire laying in the infirmary feverish, softly crying. he clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, this caused him to miss the rather spectacular explosion of glass and concrete from the store front being burst open, startled from his self deprecation he stared down at the scene the entire front of the store had been turned into a cloud of broken glass brick work, standing in the cloud of debris a trio of men stood, the largest was easily taller than Cyborg nearly seven feet of rippling muscle in an undersized stained white tee shirt that only served to enhance the look of his heavily muscled frame, the pockets of his cargo pants were bulging with ill gotten gains and likely a few barely concealed weapons, the runner up was possessed of a fine runner's physique his dark skin was blotched with concrete dust, his short hair was neatly brushed before the explosion now his track suit and fine runners were covered in a thick layer of dust and grime he had a heavy looking bag slung over his shoulder and was animatedly laughing, the last one was just slightly taller than Robin himself, though height rarely bothered him, he was wrapped head to toe in bandages wearing a baggy jogging suit and carrying a duffel bag that bulged ominously.
Robin leveled his grapnel gun at the ledge of the jewelry store when it connected solidly he activated the high power winch which proceeded to propel him across the street and down towards the taller boy with the suspicious duffel bag, they had just finished dusting themselves off when Robin made his appearance slamming both feet into the chest of the smallest member of their group catapulting him back into the store's interior with a resounding explosion of splintering wood and broken glass, the remaining two spent a moment looking dumbfounded at their fallen "friend" then back at the boy wonder, "this is the part where you surrender" offered Robin helpfully a rueful smirk gracing his features.
The remaining two criminals actually took the time to think it over almost ten seconds passed before the big fella said "nah" and lunged at Robin, meaty fists swinging wildly as he attempted to pummel the smaller man into submission, Robin saw the wild swing coming a mile away ducking under the blow only to stand up strait again leaping a foot or two into the air, and slamming his forehead into the beefy man's chin, the blow was devastating teeth cracked as the man's jaw was forced back into his skull, he swayed for a moment but kept his feet wrapping his arms around the slim form before him in a desperate bid to contain the agile teen in front of him, Robin dipped under his thick arms and leapt backwards, hand turning the leap into a back flip to gain a bit of extra space, landing and snapping out his Bo staff, the dust covered pair lunged towards the boy wonder at considerable speed forcing the masked teen onto the defensive, twisting and ducking away from swift and startlingly accurate strikes forcing him back step by step, until he found himself toppling over a fire hydrant, using his unexpected tumble to his advantage, he snapped his hand into his belt and slapped one of his exploding disks onto the side of the inconvenient obstacle, hand springing away as the explosive charge detonated rather violently sending the chunk of steel hurdling towards the largest of the pair the muscle bound criminal sailed to land in a heap ten feet away, the remaining crook glanced to his fallen comrade, shrugged his shoulders and continued the attack a grin widening across his dark features, his fists swung madly as he continued to press his attack, seeing his opening Robin thrust his staff forward hammering the blunt end straight into the taller man's diaphragm causing the breath to explode from the mans lungs, as he doubled over, robin whirled his staff once more and brought the end down hard onto the top of the winded criminals cranium with a resounding "clang".
As the final criminal toppled to the ground Robin frowned "...clang?" quickly trussing up each of the would-be thieves and dragging them out into the street, Robin proceeded to remove their hats revealing a network of half healed scars and four metal studs jutting from their craniums, "what on earth happened to these guys?" muttered Robin as he took his communicator from his belt and contacted Cyborg, "uh Cy, I need you to come down here theres something I need you to check out", Cyborg's partially metallic features appeared on the screen "whats the deal? didja get your cape stuck in an escalator again?" he teased watching Robin's features darken with embarrassment at the memory, Cyborg frowned when the masked teen glanced to the left and cursed, cutting the conversations short as he snapped the communicator closed.
Carson Renault had it tough, his mom was trucking towards drinking herself to death, his dad was doing five to twenty in the state pen for trying to rob a convenience store and shooting the clerk dead, and he was next to nobody on the street, running errands for people worth a damn, that were just important enough to not risk a standard courier, he was a nobody, so when his boss told him that there was a doctor out there offering to supe up people for a song, he figured "why the hell not?" It wasn't long before he found himself sitting on a bus with almost thirty others all sitting very still and trying to look tough as the bus bounced along towards the heavily wooded back roads on the outskirts of Jump City, soon after he and the others we ushered off the bus and led into the old insane asylum, they passed through the double doors and into the darkness beyond, the way was lit with a scattering of battery powered lanterns that buzzed faintly in the moist heat of the decrepit buildings interior, it seemed that the whole building had been retrofitted into some kind of temporary hospital, several people in thick biohazard suits complete with filtered masks and infrared goggles marched about pushing gurneys coved by red stained sheet, some of those sheet twitched and moaned, others giggled sending cold chills dancing up Renault's spine. At last they were brought into a well lit amphitheater where a tall asian man with a pair of red lensed goggles and some kind of CIA looking ear piece, stood giving orders to the various men in clean suits, finally he turned to address the twenty odd individuals before him, his thin face lined with disgust as he surveyed his subjects, the skinny scientist type didn't look too pleased.
"Gentlemen" soothed Professor Chang as he surveyed the twenty hoodlums he had been given, "I'm sure you are all wondering exactly why you where chosen for this little experiment, the simple fact of the matter is that amongst your peers you were considered the least...useful, either you made a serious mistake and this is your penance, or you were simply to stupid to be useful otherwise" the snarls of outrage from several of the beefier members of the test group were quickly silenced as Prof Chang's assistants leveled several submachine guns in the direction of the testing group, "however" continued the grinning professor, "you are perhaps the luckiest of our test groups, as you get to sample our finished product and hopefully prove yourself more useful to your employers in the future" with that the professor turned on his heel and stalked towards a set of double doors the briefest flash of a blood spattered operating theater beyond set Renault's guts to shaking as he and the others were herded into separate rooms in groups of five, stripped of their clothes and any belongings, had metal detectors run over their entire frames, Renault watched in horror as one of the men, a tall ugly man with a substantial beer belly had his jaw forcibly pried open and a pair of pliers was forced into his mouth with a scream one of his teeth was wrenched from his jaw and cast aside, soon they were forced into chairs and their heads shaved, one man a short, skinny, Hispanic man managed to get hold of a scalpel and began swiping at the men in the hazmat suits cursing and swearing as he backed towards the door, one of the masked, suited men drew his side arm and shot the desperately struggling man twice in the stomach before returning to his task, there were no more struggles after that, the fear of death simply proving too great to allow for further resistance, it wasn't long before Renault found himself receiving an injection and then the world faded away.
Renault shook his head as reality washed over him once more, the visions were getting worse, blinking and glancing around he couldn't remember where he was, his arm was flopping around annoyingly and for a moment he considered tearing it off, before realizing that would be crazy after all then none of his shirts would fit right! He giggled for a moment before forcing his arm into its socket once more, it was strange not feeling pain any more, the sight of his dislocated arm should have brought with it pants wetting pain and the fear that comes with it, now however it was simply a distraction, but a distraction from what? All of a sudden he saw the masked boy wonder Robin round the corner staff in hand ordering him to stop, Ren sighed and shook his head charging off at a dead run, skidding around a corner and continuing his attempt to escape the masked titan that was hot on his heels.