Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to get back to this one. I had a stroke of inspiration listening to Dan Bull's Assassins Creed raps. In this version Batman does not know that the Court exists. Not much to say here except I suck at nursery rhymes. I own nothing.
3. Trapped
Batman was still in the lab when he heard Zatana knock on the door. He called for her to enter and she did so looking down at her feet with guilt in her eyes. He didn't even need to look up to know what was going on.
"Robin broke medical lockdown. I expected as much. Anything else?" Zatana shook her head and left looking slightly relieved. Batman glanced up at one of the vents.
"You can come out now, I know you're there." Robin dropped down from the vent he was glaring at. She straightened her cape and glared right back at Batman.
"Why didn't you tell me about the Court Of Owls?" She almost always cut straight to the point with him. He looked at her almost with confusion setting down her blood sample.
"Because the Court isn't real. It's a ghost story people in Gotham tell to keep people from ratting anyone out. Keep them scared. How do you even know about the Court?" Robin pulled up the footage from her mask on the massive screen in the lab. Batman watched eyes growing progressively more narrow. By the time the video had ended Batman was glaring at the screen like he glared at the worst of Gotham's villains.
"I'm confining you to the mountain until further notice." Robin began to protest but Batman glared at her.
"I'm not taking any chances on this one Robin. If the Court of Owls is real, then they are not to be trifled with. I'm not risking you, not on this. I'll figure out what's going on and then I'll call you back to Gotham." Robin rolled her eyes behind her mask.
"What about BG I'm supposed to be helping her with her gymnastics remember." Batman's glare didn't waver.
"No. You are confined to the mountain until further notice. No arguments." With that he turned back to the sample of Robin's blood. Robin huffed and stormed out of the lab past a worried looking Zatana who tried to stop her but Robin slipped past and slammed the door to her room.
Batman couldn't find anything truly wrong with Robins blood. No chemicals, or nano bots, nothing. The only thing unusual was that when damaged her blood platelets healed much faster than they used to. It was unusual but he would need to take the sample back to the Batcave. Before he left he found Aqualad.
"Kalduram." The atlantian jumped almost a foot into the air. He turned to Batman and smiled slightly.
"My apologies, you startled me Batman." Batman nodded, only Robin knew that he really enjoyed being able to sneak up on people like that.
"Just so you're aware I placed Robin on lockdown. He is to remain at the mountain until further notice." Aqualad frowned.
"But Robin left about ten minutes ago. He said he received an emergency signal from a friend in Gotham and drove out of the mountain." Batman swore loudly and ran from the room. He raced through the mountain, passing M'ggan and Conner on the living room couch and dodging around Wally and Artemis who were sparring. He rushed to the Zeta tube controls and keyed in the Batcave. As he teleported away Zatana and Rocket walked into the room. Zatana looked worried. Wally turned to the pair.
"Hey Zee, I thought you were busy watching Rob. What's up, you look like you've seen a ghost." Zatana explained what she'd overheard between Robin and Batman in the lab. Wally frowned deeply. Artemis laid a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure Robin will be fine. He's Robin." Wally nodded and walked away to go talk to his best friend. He knocked on her door just as Aqualad came around the corner.
"Wally, Robin isn't in his room." Wally's frown deepened even further. Then he rolled his eyes.
"Should have known. Thanks Kaldur." Wally walked off to his own room and closed the door before grabbing his earpiece off his desk and putting it on.
"Kid Flash calling Robin. Rob! Where are you?" A sigh sounded over the com along with the sound of rushing wind.
"Rob here. What's up KF?" Wally laughed at the beleaguered tone of Diane's voice.
"Well, I hear you broke medical lockdown." Robin scoffed.
"That was like two hours ago, you been sparring with Artemis this whole time? And by sparring I mean flirting." Wally pulled a face then remembered that despite all appearances Robin did not have superpowers and couldn't see him.
"Noo… And Zee overheard you and Batman arguing everything ok Rob?" Robin sighed.
"No. There's something he's not telling me." She explained to Wally about the masked figure from the footage in her mask.
"And then he put me on lockdown at the mountain until further notice. As much as I love you guys I hate being cooped up." Wally laughed slightly.
"Yeah, how does the saying go?" Wally could hear Diane laughing over the com and what sounded like cars passing. Wally frowned slightly.
"Are you on the highway?" Diane cleared her throat.
"Yeah I'm in my civvies though, I'm not an idiot. And the saying goes, gypsies don't do well inside stone walls. Yeah its very true to." There was another rush of wind, followed very quickly by several others. When Diane spoke again she sounded controlled but panicked.
"Wally, something's not right here. I'm on the east highway out of Gotham… I… n… ed… lp… trap…" There was loud crash and then static. Wally leapt off his bed, barely able to breathe.
"Rob? Robin? Diane! Answer me!" There was nothing but static. Wally didn't waste a second, he called Batman.