When they Team arrived at the warehouse, or where it once was, they were beyond disappointed. There was only a black space where it had obviously blown up.
"You-you don't think he was..." Zatana couldn't finish Inside. Miss Martian came up and said. "I don't think that happened Zatana. This is Robin we're talking about, remember?"
"But still..." She whispered. He's still human, and this Shadow has powers!
"But he's smart." Miss Martian's voice was in her head, she had forgotten about the mind link. "You know Robin can wriggle his way out of any situation."
Then Kid Flash gave out a frustrated cry. "We're never going to find him!"
"Kid..." Artemis was standing close to him.
"Kid Flash, if we are to have any hope of finding Robin you must keep a level head." Aqualad said, wanting to keep the anxiety level low on the Team.
Kid didn't say anything but, after a search, they went back to the bioship to tell Batman they didn't find anything.
Shadow's mind was reeling. Going through every possibility. They had graciously turned the lights out when they left so they could sleep. She glanced over at Robin for the hundredth time. He still hadn't stirred. That worried Shadow, a lot.
She had tried calling to him, but if screaming her head off during those lightening tests or whatever hadn't stirred him than she didn't think anything will. She shuddered at the memory. Sure she'd been beaten senseless before, but she never underwent something like that.
Her body screamed for sleep, but she just couldn't close her eyes. She wanted to stay alert in case Robin woke up. But she didn't know if he was, and that scared her the most.
She whispered. "Prostee." I'm sorry.
Sleep was viscious though, demanding she give in, and she had no choice but to succumb. However when she woke up, more in the half-in-half-out-state, she noticed brain at the controls, the ball flashed, but sleep dragged her down. However extreme pain mixed in with extreme fear and she couldn't fight it.
Yelling for all her worth she lost herself inside some distant animal instinct to escape! Get out! She forgot Robin, the experiment, herself, everything. The only two things she recognized was one: she had to leave immediately and two: she would tear the people apart if they tried and stopped her.
She somehow managed to conjure her energy and proceeded to try and kill the brain, gorilla, and the man. They screamed for backup. But a huge hole in the wall had been blown open and Shadow took her chance.
Racing along the skyline past trees and a waterfall. Nothing entered her mind except to get away. The moon however was leaving, unnoticed by Shadow, who was still very high in the sky. She was zooming over a town when the first rays of sun broke threw, she yelled as the energy was instantly sapped from her and she plummeted down and landed on the roof, her body jerked and cried for to keep moving to keep getting away, but sleep once more, the demon that it was, clawed onto her and she thought no more.
When Shadow woke up to herself throwing everything inside of her out. She couldn't stop, but once it was over she collapsed again stomach still trying to convulse.
When she stirred again the stench of her puke was everywhere. She got some on her clothes and in her hair. Her head throbbed, her stomach felt awful, and she had no clue where she was or what to do. She couldn't even recall how she got there.
Well first things first, I better get new clothes. Luckily it was night. She tried flying up but her head exploded with pain, "Aaaaahhhhh!" She fell back down. Bright spots danced before her eyes. Okay...flying? Bad steps. So she tried to get on her hands and knees. Once she could do that with no bright circles to accompany her, she went in a squatting position, then stood up.
She shut her eyes and bit her tongue against the vertigo until it passed. Slowly she turned around and noticed some black stairs leading down. That will do.
Each step was a challenge though and it took fifteen minutes longer than it should have to reach her destination. Now to try and go down... She had to be five floors up. Taking deep breathes she started descending.
She paused after every section of steps. What happened that made me so weak? During one of her breaks she scrunched her eyes and tried to remember something. Bits and pieces images would flash but then fade, only one stood out. Blue lightening in a ball.
She just couldn't remember why that memory was there. She slowly shook her head, then decided to accomplish one task at a time and that was currently getting off of these stairs.
Finally her feet touched asphalt. She felt no better though. Definitely dehydrated, maybe severe head injury. She walked out to where there was a street, not many cars went by. She started walking down the side walk and came upon a run down gas station. This should be easy enough.
She went in, the door jingling her presence. Deermo, I don't have anything to hide stuff in. Oh well might need to make a run for it. She didn't know if she could run far in her condition, but the guy behind the counter was large and talking to another man.
So she maneuvered to where the water was, silently snatching a couple of protein bars along the way and glancing at the mirror in the corner. They weren't even watching!The trickier part would be grabbing a water bottle.
Carefully she opened the glass door, glancing at the men in the mirror. They guy behind the stand flitted his eye over her but that was all, he was to absorbed in his conversation to bother watching her. She got one, then decided to be greedy and took two.
She didn't see any other door leading out, but heard the bells ring as the man left leaving only the guy behind the counter to impatiently wait for her to come and check out.
Shadow saw a few things standing on the counter and formulated a plan. She laid her things down and opened a jar to grab some beef jerky, then she feigned a jerk knocking a stand of various gum at the man, then swiftly grabbed her things and darted out. She heard his predictable angry shout at her to stop.
Her head pounded, the world spun, she felt like throwing up, but she tried to clear her mind and raced back to the alley way where she came from and hid behind a dumpster. She heard the man's heavy footsteps as he went passed the alley, they faded but still she waited just in case.
Sure enough she heard him come back and start his way down the alley. Oh great!Alright...focus. She brought her energy around her so she blended in with the darkness, pain radiated from not just her head but everywhere, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out. The man paused right beside her, she didn't breathe. Then he grumbled and went off back to his store. Only after ten seconds passed did Shadow let out a whoosh of air and let the energy go.
She only meant to doze there for a little while but wound up going to sleep. When she got up again she knew several hours had passed but the stars still shown. She looked down at her shirt, the streak of throw up was still there and ,touching her hair, felt the ends crusted with it.
She let out a sigh and leaned her head against the green metal. Looking down at her food, she didn't even feel hungry but forced herself to at least drink some water. She decided that half a bottle would do for now. I can just hear Sunshine getting on to me for stealing. She thought with a smile.
Then Shadow gasped, dropping the bottle. Sunshine! Rogue! My promise! Picking up the now emptier water she stared it and the other things she stole. What would they say! Why didn't I just borrow money from Robin. ROBIN! She stood up, but instantly had to sit down as it all came flooding to her. The mission with the X-men, getting zapped by the beam, fighting the Freaky Five, saving Robin, riding the subways, fighting the villains, and-and the blue lightening!
"Robin..." She let out a moan. Robin, still in the clutches of those-those pome-shannyy nee-gah-dyay! But she was still so weak! Get better. You'll be of no help to him if you can't even out run a fat store manager!
She calmed herself and thought out a plan, she felt exhaustion heavy behind her eyes and knew she would need lots of rest...but first...a change of clothes.
She still had no appetite and wanted to do nothing but sleep, but focused on centering the energy around her. Her head hurt like crazy, but she attempted to shove the pain aside as a dome of the black stuff formed underneath her.
Breathing deeply she sat down, it wavered but after a minute she got it sturdy enough to where it could support her weight. Now, let's try flying. This was one of the first ways Shadow had learned to fly. Concentrating on the dome instead of a cloud around her was easier but less sufficient in battle.
She had kept her eyes closed so as to better concentrate on what she was needing to do, but in order to find clothes she had to open them. Tears brimmed from the pain and she thought she was going to lose her dome, which would have ended in her falling twenty-five feet, but after fifteen minutes she felt ready enough to try moving.
She was on the look out for those red square donation boxes. She had discovered them when coming to America, people just dumped sacks of old and unwanted clothing. The locks were easy to break and then all what you had to do was grab a sack then flee the scene. Usually there was something worthwhile in those bags, and Shadow was hoping that there would be a red box like that near here.
Found one. She let out a slow breath of satisfaction and preceded the agonizing decent to the box. When she landed she had to lean up against it to catch her breath. Remember this: never get struck by lightening again! She felt so sick and weak. But this is for Robin.
With that though in mind she turned and brought out her blades. Schlink! The sound of the lock being cut off filled the still night. She rummaged threw until she found a kind of small bag. She looked at it and tried to judge if she could carry it in the air when.
"Hey! Hey you!" A man and woman with three black sacks were heading her direction, noticing what she had done they started jogging. DEERMO! Shadow took off in the opposite direction and heard them start to pursue.
Sweat poured down her, her head was an explosion of stars, she could hardly see where she was going. Running down the sidewalk crossing the street, making a left, crossing the street again, she tried to zig-zag away from them.
Finally she stopped, breathing hard then hurled up the water she had recently drank. Passing a hand over her mouth she thought. Great, lost them. Now to find my alley way. But she just couldn't move, so instead she slunk down, hand clutching the bag, and passed out. When she woke again, there was barely a hint of the sunrise.
Need to get up if I'm wanting to anywhere. Groaning she used the wall to get to her feet. Shadow clenched her teeth in frustration at her condition. Least I still have the clothes and those people didn't find me.
By the time she made it to her alley way, the sun was even more present, her headache hadn't let up, a constant blurry black rim circled her vision, and a drowsiness was ever present. Although, her stomach was feeling better.
Knowing she needed sleep she decided to eat a little and change when she woke up. She ate a beef jerky and protein bar and had what was left of the opened water bottle. Then dragged a flat, wavy piece of metal to use as a bed and piled other junk around her to be somewhat hidden from view. Then she opened up the sack to drag out some of it's contents.
She didn't pay attention to what she was using, just tried to make her 'bed' have some comfort value using the clothes. She was asleep before she even realized she was laying down.
The Team had searched all night and into the next day. Still nothing. They were beyond agitated and headed to the the brink of despair. The black out had completely ended at six o'clock, but they couldn't track Robin's GPS unit in his computer glove.
Canary had insisted that the Team take a break, but they wouldn't rest until they found a lead. They were flying in the bioship, not knowing what else to do. It was still shaky even though Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter had fixed it.
8:45, Batman"s face appeared on the screen. "There's a video of a girl fitting the Shadow's description, it was taken at a gas station in Chicago." The video played, the Team tensed as the saw, undoubtedly, the Shadow enter.
They watched as she grabbed a few items, then got some beef jerky and purposefully knocked over a gum stand causing a distraction as she ran. Even though the crime was small, it fueled the Team's anger at her that much more.
Once the video ended Aqualad spoke. "So you wan us to check this lead?"
"Yes," Batman answered. "See if you can find her there." His eyes narrowed. "And bring her in." The screen flashed out. Miss Martian set the coordinates for the gas station in Chicago. The Team was hungry for revenge.
Soon they were in Chicago, around the area the Shadow was supposed to be in. The sun had set as Miss Martian landed the bioship and linked their minds. Aqualad went in and questioned the store manager. "Ya, that punk of a kid got away, ran to the left of here. I searched an alley way but didn't see her. When you catch her make sure she get's what she deserves!"
"Believe me," Aqualad said. "She will." Okay everyone, you heard him! Aqualad started to give the order. Miss Martian and Rocket I want you two to get an aerial view and head in the direction the store manager pointed out. Superboy and Artemis follow them on the ground. Me and Red arrow will search the other side, while Kid Flash and Zatana check the opposite direction in case she's moved.
If you find her let us know before you engage!
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Hope you liked it! Next chapter will have a fight scene between Shadow and the Team, I'm not good at fight scene at all so please bear with me if it's not any good! Leave a reveiw beautiful people!