(A/N: YES, YES, I KNOW, IT'S LATE AS HELL AND I PROMISED IT WOULDN'T BE. I'm sorry, I really, truly am! I'm not even gonna blame my life this time. I'm just lazy. There, I said it! Lazy! LAZY! GAAAH!
Ahem...Anyways...not to brag-
(Marianna): She's totally bragging.
CAN IT- but I think that this might just be the best chapter so far. You know, aside from the climax, which is coming soon after this. (In two years. When we graduate.) I'm warning you, I'll make you kiss Raphael in my next TMNT fic. (I LIKE Raphie.) Oh yeah...ew. Anyways, we're almost there. I go to school soon, and the funny part is, I'll have MORE bored down time once I go back, so the update schedule should return to semi normal. Alright? Cool. I'll shut up and let you read. Say goodbye, Marianna. (She has a Leonardo doll in her closet.)
YOU TRAITOROUS LITTLE LIAR!)
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At that moment, everyone in the room, including Batman, wished that someone somewhere had invented the Reverse Button, or that somebody possessed the power of time travel, so that the last two seconds of reality could be erased from time and space for all eternity. And if the power of wishing alone could have done, it would have happened. Unfortunately, it didn't.
Even though the comment was directed AT him, for half a second after the words hit the air, Robin didn't actually believe that Conner had really said THAT. His own mind, shocked beyond belief and caught completely off guard, simply refused to acknowledge that the words had been said.
Surely, no one could be THAT stupid…THAT uninformed…THAT desperate to die? Surely?
The scariest thing, though, wasn't the expression on Robin's face as he turned around to face Conner. His face was strangely…blank. Empty. Despite the typhoon like storm of pure red fury roaring inside him, strong enough to make the watching Raven and Miss Martian flinch and grab their temples in pain, he seemed…disconnected, as though he were watching this happen to someone other than himself.
His sister was frozen in Batman's grip, in much the same way. She stared at Super Boy as if looking at him through a pane of glass, and her eyes were glazed and glassy. She could have been in a waking coma, except for the fact that her breathing was slowly and steadily getting louder and faster. Like the count down to a nuclear explosion.
"Heeeeh….huuuuuh….heeeeeh….HHhuuuuh…HHEEEEH…HUUUUUH…"
And when Robin spoke…his voice was quiet, and calm, almost lilting. It was disturbing. "I'm gonna give you three seconds," he said, "to take that back."
Miss Martian grabbed Conner's arm in a tight hold and shook him roughly, increasingly alarmed by the rising amount of anger in Robin that still refused to show on his face. "Conner, take it back. Take it back!"
"Apologize, NOW!" Batman snapped. He took a threatening step forward, and made the mistake of letting go of Wren. The other sidekicks, thoroughly freaked out and anxious, added in and didn't even notice as she slowly drew back.
"Con, take it back."
"Come on, man, say sorry. Seriously."
"Supe, that wasn't right. Take it back…"
Through it all, Conner was fixed on Robin, as if breaking his stare would kill them both. His face was grim and unreadable. When he finally opened his mouth, everyone relaxed, expecting that he was about to apologize, and end the ugliness before it began.
"No." They were wrong. The stony look was quickly replaced by a smug, darkly satisfied smile. Super Boy crossed his arms over his chest. "No. I'm not apologizing to you. I'm right, and I know I'm right!"
"CONNER!"
The clone plowed ahead, watching as Robin shook under his tirade. He was fueled by hatred, and the realization that he'd finally gotten a reaction out of the cocky criminal. In his blind anger, he interpreted Robin's fury for defensiveness. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I out you?" he said sarcastically. "Did I air you nasty little secret?" His teammates gaped at him in open horror- he didn't even sound like Conner anymore. This was something else entirely.
"Y-you…you…"
"I saw the medical reports." Conner said loudly. "I saw what they said- 'Anal tearing, ruptured sphincter, internal bruising. Evidence of repeated sexual intercourse.'" he spat. Then he smiled again, and leaned forward. "Was that your reward for a mission completed, huh, ROBIN? Did he tell you he loved you? Is that why you do his evil?! IS THAT WHY YOU KILLED ERIN?! SLUT?!"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Wren exploded first, flinging herself towards Conner with a strangled screech. Startled by the sudden movement, Batman and half the assembled sidekicks jumped on her to restrain her. Conner flicked his gaze to her and moved to take a step back- which was exactly what Robin was waiting for. As soon as his eyes left him, Robin roared and lunged.
Aqualad tried to intercept him, but Robin smashed his elbow into his face and flying football tackled Conner to the ground. The clone hadn't been expecting the sudden attack, and flew backwards with a loud grunt. Everyone screamed as they flew into the glass coffee table, which shattered, and rolled into the hallway.
Conner tried to land a punch to Robin's face and caught him in the shoulder twice, managing to switch their positions, but ended up on the ground again with a howl as Robin SLAMMED his knee into his groin with all the power in his leg.
Robin grabbed his skull and started smashing it forcefully into the ground, anger and adrenaline giving him strength. Conner grabbed his wrists and managed to get a foot underneath his chest, kicked, and literally sent Robin flying into the opposite wall, the impact shaking plaster from the ceiling.
Robin shook his head and screamed, forcing himself to his feet just in time for a brutal blow to his solar plexus. The next one, aimed for the back of his head, was a miss as he ducked away, and it shattered the brick wall behind him as he leapt for Conner's throat, tearing at it with his fingernails like a wild animal. The clone grabbed his arm and flipped him head and heels over his shoulder into the ground, then punched him in the face- or tried to, and snarled as Robin rolled away.
"ENOUGH!" Batman raced over, and tried to intervene, but Conner wasn't on defensive anymore. He was on offense. Roaring, barely lucid, he plowed through the Caped Crusader and the assorted sidekicks like they were a line of bowling pins, straight for his target. There was a snap as Wren broke Hawk Girl's wrist trying to get away, and a scream.
And Robin was ready for him. He took two bone crushing punches to the chest, blocked to the left, and exploded with a flurry of hits to the face. There was no strategy, no method in this battle. It was a brawl, ignited by months and months of built up hatred. No rules, nothing else mattered, just them trying to cause the other as much pain as possible. They savaged each other through the hallways, punching holes in walls and shattering anything standing.
Robin jumped-Conner grabbed for his leg, missed- and landed on Conner's back, trying to claw his eyes out with his fingers. Conner threw himself against the wall back first, pressing down until he heard choking. He waited until he felt Robin start to go limp, then threw his head back and caught the criminal on the nose with a vicious head butt. He grabbed his neck and flung him forward, then started after him, but Robin copied his earlier move and vaulted him away with a foot to the chest.
The super clone's momentum carried him through two walls- the rec room and the conference room- and when he finally burst through the last one, he was back in the living room, lying in a pile of wood, brick, dust, and glass. Robin leaped through the hole after him, snarling, and hooked an elbow around his neck while he tried to stand up. His lean muscles flexed as he threw his whole weight to the ground, forcing Conner's head down and back in a maneuver that would have quickly and horribly broken anyone else's neck.
"STOP! STOP, PLEASE! CONNER!"
Instead of the deadly snap, crackle, and pop of a broken spinal column, Connor twisted away and gripped Robin's arm. He stood up and hefted the criminal up against the wall by his face and hair, ignoring the kicks leveled at his abdomen. His face was contorted with pain and anger, and his stormy blue eyes were almost black, filmed by tears. "I'm gonna kill you, Robin. I'm gonna kill you, just like you killed her. And my team- my FAMILY- will finally be safe." He pushed his arm into Robin's throat, relishing the gurgling gasps coming from the choking teen. Robin clutched at his hand with one arm, the other grasping at the wall above his head.
"Yggg…nvrnnn…huud…fmuggg…"
"What was that, rat?" He leaned back slightly to let him talk.
"You….never….had….family….just…like….me….TEST TUBE!" And he smashed a picture frame over his head, one that he'd taken from the wall over their heads.
Conner growled and shifted to shield his eyes from the spray of glass, and Robin used his distraction to squirm away, drop down, and slam his heel into the back of Conner's hamstrings. The clone dropped to a knee and Robin was on him, brandishing the broken, jagged end of the picture frame like a knife.
"KILL THIS, FAILSAFE!"
With a shout, Robin drove the frame directly into Conner's eye, shoving it down as deep as it could go. Conner SCREAMED, and Robin repeated the move, pulling it out and jabbing the frame back in with a serial killer-esque relish, over and over and over with solid, gruesome thunks.
"OH MY GOD, NO!"
And suddenly, Batman was there again, but this time he went for Robin, wrestling the boy up and away from Conner. He dropped the frame spear and twisted in his hold, desperate to get back to maiming the clone he hated so dearly. Conner groaned and sat up, ready to leap and tear Robin out of Batman's arms- and the only hero that could contain him grabbed his arms and hauled him away. Superman forced the raging alien into a kneeling position and pulled his arms behind his back.
"KON EL! CALM DOWN, RIGHT NOW!" Superman shouted something else, in Kryptonian. The others piled on him. He struggled for a while, then slowed as he realized he couldn't get free. Similarly, Batman had Robin in an arm bar submission hold. The brawl was over. But the fight had just begun.
"MURDERER!" Conner howled. "YOU'RE A MURDERER! YOU'LL NEVER BELONG HERE! I'll hate you until the sun swallows the earth!"
"I AM NOT A MURDERER! I DO WHAT I'M TOLD!"
"LIAR! You KILLED her! You KILLED ERIN! You SHOT her! She was INNOCENT!"
"HE RAPED US!" Robin screamed, straining against his hold until his arm was in danger of coming out of the socket. For the second time in twenty minutes, the jaws of all the assembled sidekicks AND heroes hit the ground. "He RAPED us, and it was YOUR FAULT! YOU GOT US PUNISHED BECAUSE WE FAILED!" He was crying. Hot, angry tears streamed from his eyes and down his face, matching the blood pouring from his nose, choking him.
"I HAD TO LISTEN! I HAD TO LISTEN WHILE HE TORE MY SISTER APART!" he sobbed. "He ripped me to shreds! He SWORE he'd never do it again, but he did, and it was because of YOU." He was slowly calming down, but he was no less furious. He glared at the now silent Conner through a mop of sweaty black hair, thin chest heaving with emotion.
"He didn't even let us clean up. He didn't let us shower. We were BLEEDING. And he told us it was OUR fault." He stopped, and spat a mouthful of blood to the side. "But I knew it wasn't. It was YOURS. I was looking for you to fight you…I knew you couldn't die, but I could. I didn't care anymore. And I knew you'd feel bad about killing me, cause you're a hero. And then I saw you with that girl…"
Robin looked directly into Conner's face, and the memories burning in his grey eyes were hot enough to scald. "I saw how you looked at her. I saw how you touched her. I love my own sister just like that…I knew that hurting her would kill you more. I wanted you to feel what I felt." He stopped, and shivered, tears clinging to his lashes.
"But…I didn't mean to kill her. I didn't. I just wanted you to see…I was gonna scare her. Hurt her. But I didn't mean…to kill her."
Conner stared at him, speechless and gaping, unable to find the words to call Robin a liar.
"You think we wanted this!?"
Everyone turned to look at Wren, who had gone still in Kid Flash's tenuous hold. She too was crying, and her disheveled hair stuck to her wet face. She glared at them all through red, puffy lids. "You think we chose Slade? You think we wanted to be killers? That we begged him to fuck us up?" She dropped her head with a sniffle.
"We didn't want this…"
All the fight had leaked out of them. Batman slowly let Robin go, and he sank to his knees. Wren snatched away from the sidekicks and stalked over to her brother. He grabbed her hand and pulled himself to his feet, leaning on her shoulder, mirror images of pain and hate.
"I…I…" Conner stuttered. Wren shook her head and grabbed Robin's hand. "Just…just shut up." she whispered. "Just shut up. You can hate us- you can all hate us. We don't care. We just want to leave. We just…" Robin squeezed her hand, and she stopped, biting her lip to stem a fresh wave of tears.
No one moved to stop them as they turned and slowly headed to the med wing, not even Batman. That is, until-
"PERIMETER BREACH DETECTED. TWO TARGETS INBOUND. WARNING- PERIMETER BREACH DETECTED."
The alarm began to shriek, and the flashing lights painted everything a red, bloody hue. Wren and Robin stopped in their tracks and stared as the shell shocked heroes and sidekicks gazed around at each other in near disbelief.
"WARNING…PERIMETER BREACH DETECTED."
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(A:N/ MWAHAHA, cliffhanger. Anyway, I know it's been a while, but please review? How was the action? Was the drama good or cheesy? Tell you friends, and tune in next time. More fighting and action to come, I promise.
(M: The sequel is about-)
SHUT UP!)