Arc 5 : Anything That Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong
Robin sighs, bored out of his mind, as he looks down at the cards in his hand.
The Team were all hanging out in the lounge, playing different card games and trying to entertain themselves while waiting to see if they'll have any missions. Well, it had started as them decorating the Cave for Christmas, but now they were done and sitting around, listening to Christmas music, eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate. As fun as it was, they had run out of the more interesting card games and were now playing...
"Go fish, Zatanna," Danny says, not bothering to look up from his cards. "Any aces, Robin?"
The Boy Wonder sighs again, and shifts to better see his hand. "No, go fish."
"Bat-Clan Override."
Robin jumps to his feet at the computer's sudden activation, now fully alert and takes off in a full-blown sprint. The only reason any of his fellow Bats would use any kind of override into the League system was if there's an emergency, and that was never a good sign.
"Code : JT-W10-2006-MF4. Recognized : Red Hood."
Robin reaches the Zeta-tubes just as his older brother exits. Behind him, his teammates skid to a halt, falling into ready stances as they stare at the anti-hero of Gotham.
"Hood," Robin says, "what –?"
"Quiet, Birdy." The older Fledgling interrupts, holding up a hand as he turns to the Zeta control systems. He slips a chip into it, which causes the computer to give a shrill chime and shut down completely.
"Dude, what did you do that for?!" Wally shouts.
Red Hood turns to Robin, seeming to not notice, or, more likely, care, about the Speedster's outburst . "Robin, are there any League members present." It's not phrased as a question and Robin can easily read between the lines.
Something has happened to the League. We need to get away from them.
The rest of the Team immediately raises a stink, shouting and inching closer, ready for a fight.
Robin swings around to glare them into silence. This was important, and Team or not, his Clan, his Family, came first.
He turns back to his brother. "No, none that I know of, but Red Tornado should be back in about half-an-hour."
Hood shifts, a sign of nervous energy and being short on time. "We need to get out of here." He says. "Is there any way to leave that will make it hard to be tracked?"
"Yes," Robin answers. "The Bio-ship."
"Let's go." Hood walks to him, and Robin falls into step with his older brother.
The other teen heroes, on the other hand, stand in their way, still gearing up for a fight (except Phantom, who had changed form and now just looks confused).
"Robin," Kaldur says in his leader voice, a serious look on his face. "What is going on?"
"Look, we don't have time to waste. I'll explain everything once we get out of here." Red Hood tries to get everyone moving, but with no luck.
"We're not going anywhere with you!" Artemis shouts, bringing her bow up to aim at him. "I know who you are! You're Red Hood, a Gotham drug lord and murderer."
"Wait," Phantom calls out, floating closer. "If he's a drug lord, how'd he get into the Cave?"
"He's more then a drug lord." Robin snickers mischievously. "He's a Bat, and my brother."
The others jaws practically hit the ground, wide-eyed and staring.
Robin laughs out loud, making a mental to hack into the Caves cameras and get pictures of there faces later.
Suddenly, the Zeta-tubes flash, emitting a whirling sound, before turning back off.
Red Hood let's out a word that should not be spoken in polite company, and starts stirring everyone away. "There trying to remotely restart the system. We need to leave. Now. I'll explain everything once we get up in the air, I swear."
This time, the teens follow willingly, if cautiously, and they make their way to the hangers as a group.
Within five minutes, they're leaving Mount Justice behind.
"Alright, Hood," Artemis says crossing her arms and giving him the stink eye. "Talk. What is going on?"
He takes off his helmet, revealing black hair with a white strip in his bang, and a muted red domino mask. He runs his fingers through his hair and leans forward with a sigh. "I guess I should start at the beginning.
"A little less then a month ago, I got a call from Bats. You see, Bats and I have some... differences of opinion, so he usually sends one of the other Clan members to talk to me if he wants something, either Agent A or Baby Bird here, mostly." He motions to Robin, who blushes slightly at the childish nickname. "So it was a bit of a surprise for him to call personally.
"He wanted me to investigate the reason that Spooky," he nods toward Phantom, whose sitting to the left of them, "got kidnapped. I was supposed to work with Oracle, as our hacker, and RedBird, as my back up. What we found... wasn't good.
"The Light were in the final phases of perfecting an upgrade to the Starro Technology, using ectoplasm collected from ghosts volunteered by Vlad Plasmius. Somehow, they used it to find a way to overcome the vaccine you created.
"We,my team and I, were just bringing our findings to Batman, when The Light somehow found our safe-house. Only Oracle was there, finishing up and putting equipment away. She didn't make it out."
Robin stills, feeling the world crash down around him. Barbara may have been a good six years older then him, but she had been a staple in his life since he'd joined the Bat-Clan, the Batgirl of Terry's and Damian's time. It had devastated the Clan when Joker had paralyzed her (though Jason's death, as BlueJay, had been worse). To loose her now...
"I don't know where they took her, but I do know she's still alive, if under mind-control." Robin releases a inaudible sigh at his older brother's words, relieved. "That being said, she got The Light's men into the Watchtower, and through there, into the Bat Cave. RedBird and Batgirl bought me some time to get to you kids, and gave me a chip that, if placed in a connected computer, would shut down the entire Zeta-tube system. Of course, judging by the way it was trying to start back up, I have no doubt that Red's been assimilated.
"We need to make a plan to free the others, but to do that we need a better understanding of how Overshadowing works." He leans back in his seat and looks to Phantom. "Well, Spooky?"
Phantom rubs the back of his neck, and gives a sheepish smile. "I... don't really know." He says, then raises his hands to hold off the cacophony that surely would have followed. "I didn't even know what was happening when I did it the first time. I was just intangible and moved to touch someone and just got... sucked in. It was kinda weird."
"Right," Hood says, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do you know anyone who might?"
"My parents might." He admits after a brief hesitation. "But they still think all ghosts are evil, so..." He trails off.
"That's fine," Hood returns. "We'll handle it when we get there."
"Very well," Kaldur says. "M'gann, set a course for the Fenton's residence."
"Already on it, Aqualad."
Suddenly, the Bio-ship jerks to the side. Lights flash, and there's a heavy thud.
Robin hangs on to his seat tightly as the ship shudders a second time, almost flipping.
"M'gann!" Aqualad shouts.
"I don't know, Aqualad! Its coming from the ground!" A third hit, this one harder, rocks them yet again. "Everyone hang on tight!" Miss M continues. "We're going down!"
~! #$%^&*()_+
(AN)
(Runs onto screen.) I'm here! (Pants with hands on knees for a moment before continuing.)
Sorry I'm late, guys. This week has been pretty busy. I didn't get to write as much as I would have liked, nor is this chapter as long as I would like, but, oh, well, nothing I can do about it right now.
Review replies!
foxchick1 : A combination of the lazor-beam and Danny's ectoplasm. Other then that, no idea.
kimcat : You're welcome. I... haven't decided yet. I'm debated both them being there and them not, so it could go either way.
hrisi292 : Why thank you.
Morning Bleach : I could try, I'm not really sure I would do it though. Any suggestions?
Thank you all for reading. If you have any comments, ideas, constructive criticism, or spot anything in need of correcting, make sure to leave a review.
See you all next week.