Author's Note: Bwahahahahahahaha yup I went there. Anyway nothing to say here. I own nothing.
6 Hard Truths
The next night found the whole team sitting in the Batcave, many for the first time. They would have been fascinated by their surroundings, Batman's whole story was written here in the souvenirs and reminders carefully arranged in the cave. They would have seen some of Robin's story written in several of the cases around the room but they were all too distracted by a revelation that hit almost all of them two years late. Everyone but Zatana was too stunned to speak.
"So wait, Robin's been a girl this whole time?" Batman nodded. M'ggan was stunned, just floating next to the large dinosaur that stood in the center of the large cave. Kaldur's mouth was hanging open in shock. Superboy's eyes were wide with surprise. Rocket looked like someone had just kicked her in the gut. Wally normally would have laughed himself silly at their faces but these circumstances were far from funny. Zatana looked thoughtful. Artemis didn't seem surprised.
"Yes Zatana. Robin has been a girl the whole time. She made the decision to hide her gender initially because it creates a good cover for her identity as most do not expect a girl her age to dress up like a boy and fight crime. It seems that at least one of you figured it out." Batman nodded to Artemis who shrugged as the others stared.
"I had to give her CPR at one point, pretty easy to figure it out from there. That and she gets supper irritable once a month. I know Wally knew too cause he always keeps her out of fights during that time and is super nice to her, like more than normal." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well yeah, I knew. I know her id dude. But that's not really what's important right now. What's important is what's happening right now." Batman cleared his throat.
"The reason I am letting any of you closer to Robin's identity through this closely guarded secret is because of the information Batgirl, Kid Flash and Artemis discovered yesterday. As you all know Batgirl and I have been investigating a string of brutal murders in Gotham. We believed this to be unrelated to Robin's disappearance as they began only a week ago. We were wrong." He tapped a key on the large computer and pulled up an image taken from Batgirls mask. It was Robin in the tan body suit soaked with blood in the act of lunging forward to attack. Zatana and M'ggan screamed, Rocket flinched backward almost tripping. Kaldur swore in Atlantian, Superboy crushed the chair in front of him as he roared in rage. Once the noise had died down Batman continued.
"From the information I have been able to gather Robin was abducted by an organization called the Court of Owls. An organization that until two weeks ago I believed was fictional. From the information I have been able to gather, sparse though it is, the Court has been around in Gotham and only Gotham since it was founded. Since their founding they have had people called Talons. There is almost no record on any existing Talon until now. But the rumors and whispers I've been able to put together say that the Talons are assassins breed to serve the Owls and kill anyone in their way. We now know that isn't entirely true. From the events of the past few weeks we can guess that Talons aren't breed but selected, likely because of their skills and talents. Stopping her is going to be difficult." Wally nodded.
"She didn't even recognize me, Batgirl or Artemis. It was like there was nothing in there." Batman sighed quietly.
"We have to deal with the possibility that that is exactly the case. As much as I wish it weren't true there is a distinct possibility that there may be nothing of the Robin we knew left to save. The Court has had her for two weeks and quite a lot can happen in that amount of time. It may be she's just their weapon now and has to be taken down." Superboy shook his head.
"I won't accept that." Batman raised an eyebrow at him, barely visible under his cowl.
"He… She's not a weapon, she's a person. She's our friend. So what if she's been lying to us. I honestly don't think there's one of us that wasn't keeping something from everyone else on this team. I'm not giving up on her." M'ggan lay a hand on Conner's shoulder.
"Conner's right. We have to try to help her." Kaldur stood and nodded.
"I am glad we agree on this." Wally raced over and grinned as Artemis walked over to him. Batgirl made to stand but flinched slightly.
"It's ok Batgirl, we get that you wanna come stand on our side of this argument but I agree with Bat's pulling you off this. You're lucky your spine wasn't hurt." Batgirl nodded at Wally once and Batman slowly mirrored her actions.
"I hope you're right. Because if you're not more people are going to die, she's already killed four people in the past week alone, there's no telling how many more she will kill if we don't stop her." Wally raised an eyebrow at him.
"We? So you are gonna let us stay and help?" Batman nodded.
"Yes I am. I am convinced that if I tried to stop you, you would simply go against orders. It wouldn't be the first time." Wally smiled slightly. Artemis nodded.
"We will start by splitting up into three teams. M'ggan and Superboy, you're team one, you'll take the west side. Aqualad, Rocket and Zatana you're team two, you'll take the bay area. That leaves Artemis and Kid Flash to take the east side." Batman turned to Batgirl.
"I want you to stay here but keep an eye on the CCTVs across Gotham, radio in any strange movement to the team nearest it. I will be in Crime Alley seeing if I can get any more information on the Owls. Call me only if you find her. Any questions?" When the team shook their heads Batman nodded.
"Good. Let's move out."