AN: Lots of things have been changed in this eepisode.
xXx
Robin was extremely agitated.
Leaguers swarmed the Mountain in order to repair the damage that was done, and the noise did not help him with trying to focus on the silent chip in his head. Sure, he had always complained about the information it randomly saved, and the buzzing noise that it made when he was near technology was annoying, but he had grown to depend on it for certain things. Hacking was ten times easier when he took the mental route, and researching specific people could be accomplished in mere seconds.
Besides, the lack of buzzing in his head was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.
There was the sound of a spoon hitting glass as Green Arrow put a bowl of cereal down in front of Kid Flash. The redhead glanced over and gave him a grumpy scowl. "Thanks, but no thanks," he mumbled. Robin blinked slowly, and gave him a strange sideways glance. If Wally was here rejecting an offer of food, then he was most definitely angry. This betrayal didn't seem to sit well with anyone on the Team, now that he thought of it.
"Yeah, what we want is answers about Red Tornado and his siblings!" Artemis added, sharing a glare with Wally before directing her heated gaze towards Arrow.
Robin's computer chip made a humming noise that nearly made him jump, but it went silent just as quickly. He narrowed his eyes and huffed, crossing his arms. This was not the time for a malfunction! The EMP should have only temporarily shut his systems down, and not send them into an indefinite period of silence. He would not be able to concentrate on anything with his chip acting up like this.
He was brought to the present when Kid Flash snatched the cereal bowl away from Green Arrow, and then proceeded to shove spoonfuls of food into his mouth. He apparently gave into the hunger he was sure to be experiencing. Ah, there was the Wally that he knew.
Robin was going to make a teasing comment, but was interrupted by a shouted, "You knew?!" Everyone spun around and watched as Aqualad was suddenly shoved into a wall by an enraged Superboy. "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!" The venom in the clone's voice made Robin shiver. That was the sound of someone who was about to lose it and break some bones.
"Connor, what are you doing?" M'gann squeaked as she flew to his side.
"Kaldur knew we had a traitor in the Team, and said nothing!" He hissed in reply.
The entire world seemed to freeze, and the air was knocked out of Robin's lungs. A traitor? Did he mean... him? He suddenly felt the eyes of both Batman and Kid Flash on his back, and forced himself to relax. He didn't betray anyone, not on purpose in any case. There was no reason for him to feel any guilt. Besides, Aqualad would have at least spoken to him if he had suspected that he was a spy.
But, that also meant that it had to have been somebody else, and who else could it have been but the very android who betrayed them not too long ago? The very idea made him a little uneasy; he used to sleep in the Mountain all the time, and it would have been all too easy for Red Tornado to hurt him. Then again, Red never showed any signs of being an enemy. Something wasn't adding up in this story. Even though Robin didn't know Tornado very long, he could sense that the android had more emotion than most inorganic beings would. At some times, the android had spoken to them in an almost affectionate way, like one would to their children. This act of betrayal just didn't seem right.
'Computer, I need all information on any spies the Light has in the League,' he told his chip.
Silence.
Go figure...
Kid Flash had stopped staring at him, and was now glaring at Aqualad. "You knew?"
Aqualad opened his mouth to speak, but had no time to say anything as another voice spoke up, "And you didn't think to, I don't know... tell us?!" Artemis marched up behind Superboy, face contorted with anger.
"I sought to protect the Team-" Kaldur started, but was interrupted.
"Protect us from what?" The blonde demanded with a snarl. "Knowledge that might have saved our lives?!"
Robin winced as he thought back to his drowning experience. Yeah, it would've been great if he could've avoided that entirely. Thanks, Kaldur.
"Enough," Batman ordered suddenly, bringing everyone's attention to him. "With Red Tornado... missing, the Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take first shift."
A tall, muscular man walked forward and stood beside Batman. His uniform consisted of a red outfit with a lightning bolt symbol on his torso, and a cape that only managed to cover one of his shoulders. A bright smile was on the man's face, an expression far too innocent to belong to someone of that age. "I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," he chirped. Robin stared at him uncertainly, wondering why a grown man would use such childish language. His chip was still unresponsive, so he was not able to look him up, and that made his already sour mood worsen. What if Captain Marvel was another spy? It was unlikely, but without his chip, it brought his usual paranoia up to the next level.
Superboy ignored both Leaguers, choosing to send a glare at Kaldur instead. "After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-"
Batman interrupted with, "Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League. That makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us." He gave Connor a stern glare, making it clear that there was no room for argument. "I have another assignment for this Team."
He waved a hand, and a holographic computer appeared with newspaper articles on screen. Robin blinked slowly as he read the screen, confusion turning into surprise, and finally, annoyance. 'Gorilla Trades Bananas For Bullets?' He couldn't be serious. Batman was really improving on his 'annoy Robin' skills. Giving the Team lame missions like this was a great way to make him want to murder his mentor.
Murder...?
He shook his head to clear it, just as Kid Flash spoke, sounding just as miffed as he was, "'Gotham mayor attacked by Gorilla gorilla?'" He read, voice low with disbelief. "Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?" He directed this towards Robin, who bristled.
The fact that it was his mentor sending them on this stupid mission was embarrassing. "Batman, please tell me you're not seriously having us go on this joke of a wild ape chase."
Eyes narrowed in his direction, but he met the gaze head on. They had just gotten over their last fight, so what do they do? Get into another. Maybe this was their newest thing: getting into arguments every few hours just to keep each other on their toes. Robin's lips twitched downwards in a confused frown as he wondered what happened to make this happen in the first place.
"I never joke about the Mission," his mentor growled out, and the wording made him flinch. Right, he was talking to the man who was willing to sacrifice everything for the Mission. Everything except him, he reminded himself. He then felt himself relax, and allowed himself to feel guilty. Why did he always have a need to lash out at Batman? Batman's posture relaxed ever so slightly, as though he sensed his change in mood. "I've checked the sources. I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."
Aqualad nodded, but his face was lined with uncertainty. Robin had to admit that he too felt a tiny bit of resentment towards Kaldur for not letting anyone know there was a traitor. If it had not been Red Tornado, there was a large chance that the mole would have been him, and he wouldn't have even known about it because Aqualad would have stayed silent. If they were all a Team, wasn't there supposed to be trust?
Sighing, he elected to keep his emotions buried, and proceeded to follow the Team into the bioship. Before they were able to file inside, they noticed that Marvel was following them. "You're coming with?" Robin asked, frowning at him. No, there was no way that the League was sending a babysitter to go with!
"Yep, it'll be a blast!" The man said cheerfully.
...If he was still an assassin, he would have reacted very violently.
xXx
Robin's masked eyes scanned over the thick jungle, hand close to his belt in case he found any trouble. Aqualad had sent him and Artemis to scout the area for any enemies (just being ordered around made him bristle), and the two had begrudgingly agreed to it. The jungle was humming with insects, owls, and other hidden creatures, but there was no sign of a potential enemy.
"All clear," he called to the others.
Aqualad, and the others soon joined the two, and the Atlantian did a quick double check before nodding to himself. Robin glared at him in response; what, was he not trusted enough to do something as simple as scouting?! "Switch to stealth," the Atlantian said, pressing the front of his uniform to make the red colors change grey, "we will review mission perimeters."
Kid Flash also switched his colors to a more darker tone. "Perimeters? We don't need no stinkin' perimeters. It's recon, we know what to do!"
Robin made a noise of agreement, and Aqualad frowned. "Kid, Robin-"
"You started this Team because the League was keeping secrets from you!" Robin interrupted, teeth bared. "Or did you forget that, like you forgot to tell us about the mole?"
Aqualad's mouth snapped shut, and he regarded Robin with a look that was borderline fearful. The younger boy didn't care, turning on his heel and stomping into the foliage. Kid Flash was at his side at an instant, watching him carefully. They walked side by side in silence for a minute, before the speedster spoke, "Are you alright? I've never seen you snap like that before."
Robin glanced at him, and took in his worried expression. After another period of silence, he sighed. "The whole mole thing really threw me off."
"I figured it would." A frown. "But what was Aqualad thinking, not telling us something like this? You nearly drowned when the Reds attacked us! That could've been avoided if we were able to take necessary precautions!"
"Yeah..." Logic finally got a grip at him, and he put himself in Aqualad's shoes. If he knew that there was a mole in the Team, he probably wouldn't have said anything either. He wouldn't want the traitor to know that anyone was onto them. Still, anger managed to cloud his judgement. He had a lot of pent of rage, and Aqualad gave him the perfect opportunity to get rid of all of it. He was about to make another spiteful comment when he heard it: the sound of flapping wings. Big wings, if he was correct. "I hear something," he whispered, and led Kid Flash further into the jungle and towards the ledge of a cliff. He then pulls his binoculars out and placed them in front of his eyes. He was greeted with the sight of humongous vultures, of all things, racing towards them with their talons pointed towards their heads. Robin hurriedly dropped his binoculars, and pulled Kid out of the way, the birds' claws barely ruffling the boys' hair. That was way too close for comfort.
Instead of fretting over nearly losing his head, he switched into hero mode, and took action. "I thought vultures only ate dead meat!" Robin shouted, pulling an explosive disk out of his utility belt and throwing it at the birds. The vultures tilted their bodies to avoid it, and it sailed right past them. As the disk exploded behind them, Robin and Kid Flash scrambled back to their feet and bolted.
"Well, these are some really proactive scavengers!" Kid Flash commented, branches scratching at his arms as they hurriedly dodged the vicious attacks.
"Proactive and supersized!" Robin added, referring to their large size and abnormal amount of muscle. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Kobra venom?"
"Yeah!"
Twigs scraped against his skin as he ran through the jungle, and Kid Flash eventually burst ahead of him to fight in his own style. Robin didn't mind. In fact, it made it easier. He no longer had to keep himself in the speedster's sight, and could use the darkness of the jungle at last.
Memories of stealth training in the Bat Cave surfaced, and he didn't think twice before leaping onto the lowest tree branch and slinking into the shadows. A bird flew right past his hiding spot in the darkness, and he threw a bolas after it immediately, grinning when it brought it down. He was about to go after KF when sharp talons dug into his shoulders from behind, and he was lifted off of his perch and into the air. Robin shouted and struggled to escape from the grip, but found that the claws dug into him even more. It was during his thrashing that he finally took notice of the inhibitor collar that adorned the vulture's neck. He barely had time to ponder over it when a flash of black slammed into the bird, and all three of them fell straight down.
Robin grunted as he made impact with the ground, and barely managed to move before he was again attacked by another vulture. Damn, these guys were persistent! He rolled to the side to avoid a claw to the eye, and threw another bolas. The vulture twisted itself out of the way and screeched before using its wing to swipe at him. Robin flipped over the bird's head to avoid the attack, and then pulled out his escrima sticks. He pushed a switch on his thumbs, and they were suddenly electrified, not hurting him because of his gloves. One quick jab was all it took: the vulture shrieked loudly before going limp, it's unconscious body twitching every so often.
Kid Flash appeared next to him again. "Dude, are you okay?! I heard-" his eyes moved to the bird, and his mouth fell open in shock. "Did you just...?"
"I didn't kill it," Robin assured with a small frown, not liking the implication. "It's unconscious."
"Oh," the redhead visibly relaxed, and he no longer looked fearful, "well, are you hurt?"
Robin felt the sting of the cuts on his shoulders as he shook his head. "Not too badly. You?"
"Nothing that a speedster can't heal in five-"
"Link established," M'gann suddenly announced in their minds.
"Should you really still be giving us orders?" Artemis huffed. "And should you really be following them?" This was directed towards Miss Martian, whose annoyance radiated through the link.
"Listen, please," Aqualad tried, but only received more anger in response.
"Oh, good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that." KF thought sourly, glancing at Robin.
Robin realized that they were probably supposed to report what they found. "Hey, Kaldur, KF and I were attacked by giant vultures!" He said with false cheerfulness.
"'Course, since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves."
"If he did, he wouldn't tell you." Just like everything else, he silently added.
M'gann finally spoke again, "Superboy, are you online or just pouting?"
Connor answered with, "Busy. Call back later."
Kid Flash ignored the couple, turning towards Robin and acting like the rest couldn't hear him. "What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us."
Robin smirked. He had been waiting for this very moment. "He should be chalant." He said through the link, and was pretty sure he heard Artemis make an exaggerated groan in response. Success!
Kid snickered. "Way chalant."
"How can he be team leader when he doesn't even trust us with his secrets?"
"Or if Connor doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves!" M'gann added.
Kid Flash huffed. "Did you really think I could be the mole? We've known each other for years!"
The amount of voices crowding together in Robin's head was starting to give him a headache. Okay, everyone got it, Aqualad was an ass for not telling them anything. He agreed at a certain point, but the frenzy of noises...
People were surrounding him at all sides, the flashes of light made his head hurt, and their chattering voices came together in a cluster of noise...
His tolerance of the noise was slowly crumbling, and he narrowed his eyes at no one in particular as he fought against the urge to shout.
"Trust is a two way street!"
"And you know everyone else would hate it if we kept secrets from them-"
"Not that we'd do that!"
Robin was just about to explode, but Aqualad beat him to it. "Enough!" The Atlantian snapped, a rush of anger flowing through the link from his side. Robin visibly flinched, and Kid Flash winced. "Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team if we are to save him."
Kid Flash brushed his earlier surprise away and scoffed. "Under your leadership? I don't think so-"
"This is not up for debate!" Aqualad thundered dangerously. "You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you choose to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here. Return to the bioship. We will discuss the plan there."
The entire team fell silent, too shocked to make any other remark. Robin shook his nerves away, but found that it was a difficult task. Damn it, he hated it when people rose their voice!
God, he was pathetic.
If Kid noticed his discomfort, he didn't comment on it. "We'd better get back," he said instead.
Robin nodded after pulling himself together. "Let's go."
xXx
After Aqualad had snapped, the Team met up back at the bioship. Everyone was still unhappy with each other, but had decided to wait until the mission was over until they would start arguing again. The only one missing was Superboy, and he didn't answer through the mental link. Aqualad decided to leave him alone, thinking that he was probably trying to calm himself down before attempting to be civil.
After they regrouped, they went back into the jungle, acting as one once again. The shadows gave Robin confidence, and while the Team struggled to see where they were going, he remained a couple of feet in front of them at all times. If there wasn't anyone looking for them, he would have cackled, just to hear the way the sound would bounce off the trees and echoed everywhere. That, and to freak everyone out. He always found immense joy in that.
It wasn't long before a dark building was in their sights, the place where Captain Marvel had been taken. After receiving a nod from Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash crept forward, inching towards the building. After a few feet, Robin stopped and threw a hand out to make KF do the same, spotting some metal rods sticking out of the ground. Something about this just screamed "force field." Kid Flash nodded to him, being able to see the field with his goggles. That was the only thing Robin needed, and he brought up his holo computer on his glove. At times like this, using his chip would have been nice...
"I'll fly over." M'gann suggested.
Kid Flash shook his head. "Negative. The field stands as a dome around the entire compound."
"The pylons are insulated," Robin pointed out. "But one good shock could cause a momentary gap."
"I see a target," Artemis said.
"Then be ready to hit it," Aqualad said in return. "Be ready, all of you." KF glanced at Robin, and sent him a quick grin. Robin returned it, tensing his muscles in preparation.
Aqualad marched up to the field, tattoos glowing as he plunged his hands into the shield. With a grunt, he pried his hands away from each other, slowly creating a small hole in the field.
"Now!" Kid Flash mentally shouted, eyes fixed on the gap that his goggles allowed him to see. Artemis responded by quickly firing an arrow into the hole, which flew through the air and smacked against a panel inside. The panel sparked, and a made a quiet buzzing noise, before dying out and letting the force field go down. Aqualad waved the Team over, and they followed him towards the building.
"Danger alerrrr..." Robin's chip suddenly alerted him, but died out before it could complete it's statement. The boy narrowed his eyes as he continued forward, keeping vigilante. There was danger? Where?
His question was answered when a monkey on the roof let out a piercing shriek. Everyone jumped in surprise, and automatically went into their battle positions. Robin kept a birdarang and an explosive disk at the ready, waiting for an opponent. A loud alarm rang throughout the grounds as an army of monkeys charged towards them from all directions. Without much thought, Robin threw his disk at the closest primate, sending it backwards. No time was given to him to retrieve another disk as another monkey took the other's place. He ducked and somersaulted away to avoid a furry fist that crashed into the ground behind him, and twisted his body around so that he was able to kick the monkey in the stomach. The animal made an angry noise, but was otherwise unaffected. Robin grit his teeth; he was almost useless in a close combat fight like this!
As he moved away to get some space in between him and his opponents, another monkey grabbed him from behind, using his cape to keep him in place. The sound of the fabric tearing as Robin struggled made his blood boil. Batman gave him that! He threw his birdarang at the primate's face, who shrieked in alarm and dropped him. Robin landed in a crouch, and used a series of hand springs to get himself away. When he was at a safe distance, he caught sight of his friends struggling to defeat their own monkeys. If they couldn't do anything, then they were in trouble.
Suddenly, two of the monkeys teamed up to tackle him onto the ground. The breath was knocked out of his lungs, and he let out a startled cry as he was forced to avoid the primate's sharp teeth. Their mouths were so close to his face that he could smell their rotting breath. Gross.
"Remove their collars!" Aqualad shouted from somewhere in the distance.
Robin grunted in response. "Sounds easy... when he says it," he said breathlessly. Before his monkey had the chance to finally tear his head off, an arrow connected with it's collar and it fell off. The monkey blinked down at him and made a disgruntled noise before scurrying away. Robin stood up and turned to thank Artemis, but saw two monkeys coming up to her from behind. In seconds, he threw a couple of birdarangs at their collars. Artemis flashed him a grateful smile, and he returned it almost immediately.
Their moment of calmness was short- lived; the door to the building opened up, revealing a giant ape with a machine gun, a wig on its head, and another army of monkeys behind him. The ape acted immediately by grabbing Miss Martian and throwing her onto the ground. Kid Flash sped over to her to help, leaving the rest of the Team to deal with the smaller monkeys.
Artemis and Robin shared a look, and nodded in understanding. The archer drew and arrow while the acrobat brought out his escrima sticks. The two of them took out the collars on the monkeys, while Aqualad hammered the ape with his powerful fists. Robin used a birdarang to take out the last of the monkeys just in time to watch Miss Martian throw the ape straight through the compound's wall.
"Let's go," Robin called to Artemis, and the two of them ran into the newly created entrance and grouped up with the rest of the Team.
In the dark room they had entered was Captain Marvel, who was strapped down on a medical table and surrounded by surgical equipment. Robin nearly thought the worst, but was reassured once he saw that the Leaguer looked to be okay. His eyes then moved to the figure at Marvel's side. Was that... a brain? Whatever it was, it made him nervous for some reason. Has he seen it before?
"It's the Brain!" Kid Flash exclaimed. Wait, the? Was that like how Joker was referred to as the Joker? That was a high title for a body part floating inside of a container.
Artemis snorted, "I can see it's a brain, Kid Idiot."
"Not a brain, the Brain!"
The organ rolled itself towards the heroes, somehow, and the ape climbed back up to his feet to stand next to... it. "In ze flesh," it said in a metallic voice. If this wasn't so serious, Robin would have asked it how it was able to communicate. It must've taken a lot of work to get a brain to be able to talk without a body, right? "Or so to speak." It turned to the monkey. "Mallah!"
The ape, Mallah, pulled out a small remote and pressed a red button. All of a sudden, metal rods came out of the ground and surrounded the heroes at all sides. Blue beams of energy was produced from them, and it took a split second for it to send the teens to their knees. Robin struggled to control his body, but his muscles were too weak to pick himself off of the ground. Was that what the machine was built for? To make a prisoner too weak to function?
"Miss Martian, Superboy, now!" Aqualad mentally commanded.
Miss Martian's eyes began to glow, and Mallah made a surprised noise as his remote was suddenly torn away. The device hovered over the martian's face, and with a click, she switched the device off. As the muscle weakening power left him, Robin slowly climbed back up to his feet. Feeling more confident now that he could move, he reached into his belt and produced another birdarang. Next to him, his teammates fell into their own battle stances.
An explosion made them all turn, and suddenly Superboy burst through the other wall. His shirt was torn in several places, and shallow claw marks covered his skin. A giant white wolf that had the obvious affects of Cobra Venom stood at the clone's side.
With a snarl, it leapt at the ape and knocked it onto the ground.
Kid Flash then launched himself at the monkey, slamming his foot into his torso before rebounding and speeding away. Mallah shot after him with his gun, but Kid was easily able to avoid the bullets with his speed. Robin shot his grapple at a ledge on the ceiling and swung at the ape next, using his feet to hit Mallah in the face as he moved across the room. He landed and spun around just in time to see Miss Martian use her telekinesis to pick up the ape and slam him into the ground. Enraged, Mallah fired his gun at her, but she turned invisible and floated out of the way. While the ape was distracted, Superboy ran towards him to deliver a powerful punch.
Artemis pulled out a few explosive arrows and rapidly sent them at the ape, and Robin somersaulted over to her to do the same with his disks. Aqualad dodged several of Brain's laser beams and slowly led it over to where Mallah was. As soon as the Team had both villains surrounded, the Atlantian retreated and went to the surgical table to rescue Captain Marvel.
Robin smirked as he brought out two more birdarangs. They now had a Leaguer to help them, so it was almost impossible for Mallah and the Brain to be able to defeat them. They were already victorious! Mallah seemed to think the same, because he let out a loud, angry roar as he bared his fists. Anger issues, maybe?
Superboy gave the ape a glare. "Try it. I hate monkeys."
Brain wheeled itself over to its partner's side. "No, Mallah. Zis will not be our Waterloo."
Brain's body began to expand into a bigger machine, and a low whine began to sound, getting louder and louder with each second. Robin narrowed his eyes at his foe. That certainly didn't look like any weapon he has seen before.
"Au revoir, mes amis" the Brain said as he began to retreat.
The machine let out an even louder whine, which made Kid Flash holler, "Get down!"
Instead of ducking like his teammates, Robin surged forward and chased after Brain and Mallah, ignoring his friend's surprised voices when the lights went out behind him. Ha, so it wasn't a weapon! His hunch was correct! He grinned to himself as he threw his body onto Mallah's back, pulling on his shoulders to force him to fall back. As the ape let out a surprised shout, he jumped off of him to avoid being squished.
"Ah, ze Renegade."
Robin paused, eyes widening. How did he know that he was Renegade?
Mallah climbed back up to his feet and picked him up by his shoulders, taking advantage of his surprise. Robin snapped out of it and grit his teeth as he struggled to escape from his grip. Okay, not good. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to charge after these two on his own.
"Robin! Where are you?!" He heard someone call from inside the building, sounding worried.
Brain looked displeased, if that was possible. "Ze children will be looking for you, vhich means zat I do not have time to call ze Deathstroke to inform him of your whereabouts."
The acrobat stopped his struggling, heart racing in his chest. Shit, Brain was affiliated with Deathstroke? How did he not know that?!
"Robin!" Someone else shouted in the distance, sounding closer than the last.
"It cannot be helped. We must leave ze Robin here." This was directed towards Mallah as it rolled closer to the squirming child. "Falling-"
He heard another word, he knows that he did, but he couldn't remember it. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he quickly was met with the depths of unconsciousness. He was barely able to wonder what Brain had used to take him down before everything went black.
xXx
"Dick, wake up."
"Unng," was the only thing he was able to produce as he curled up in a tight ball. Ugh, his head hurt so much...
There was a sigh. "Dick, I need you to open your eyes for a few seconds so I can check you over."
Dick groaned and forced his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was the exhausted form of his guardian. "I really have to stop being knocked out," he mumbled.
Bruce smiled faintly. "That is starting to become a pattern, isn't it?"
He helped Dick sit up, who looked around the Bat Cave to see if he could figure out what had happened. "So, uh, what was it this time? Another android?"
The small smile faded away, replaced by a look of concern. "You don't remember?"
Oh yeah, that was a bad thing. Amnesia wasn't something to take lightly, right? Dick frowned and tried to piece together what happened to knock him unconscious. "There was that thing about Aqualad not telling us there was a mole," he said slowly, "and then we went to India, I think? We fought a lot of animals with those inhibitor collars on them, and then we broke into the Brain's hideout to save Marvel." He bit his lip as he tried to remember anything else. "That's about it. Kid Flash told us to get down, and that's the last thing I remember."
Bruce shook his head. "You ignored Kid Flash and went after Brain and Mallah on your own. It took them five minutes to get to your location, but by that time, you were unconscious, and the two villains were no where to be seen."
Dick's eyebrows came together, and he struggled to recall what happened while he was alone with the two. "Sorry, but everything after KF telling us to duck is totally blank. Think Brain could have wiped my memory with something that also knocked me out?"
"That's... unlikely, but not entirely impossible." He nodded shortly. "In any case, I need to check you over for a concussion. It's possible that you hit your head hard enough to give you memory problems."
"That would explain the headache," Dick muttered. "If I'm perfectly fine, can we go on patrol?" He asked hopefully.
Bruce chuckled. "If you're up for it. Besides," his eyes shone with amusement, "you haven't driven the Bat Mobile yet."
Dick grinned in return. "Awesome!"
xXx
"You have to be patient. We had an agreement."
"I trained him, just like you asked. He should have completed his task a long time ago."
The first man frowned. "Perhaps stalking him all the time isn't helping. See, fear is an emotion that can work to counter-"
"I'm well aware of what fear can do to him, Luther," the second snapped, scowling under his mask. "I was hoping that his fear would work in my favor, and influence him to work faster."
"I understand why you would think that. You were hoping that being afraid would agitate him enough to give in and accomplish his task quickly?" Luthor shook his head. "Unfortunately, it did not work out in that way. You seemed to have made his Mission recede."
Deathstroke glared. "I understand that now." He took in a deep breath to calm himself. "Maybe if he wasn't keeping track of the entire League and their secrets, he would finish sooner."
"The Light has decided to have him do this in case it could relate to the Second Stage. You understand why, I'm sure."
"Hn. And what about the malfunction he's experiencing?"
There was a dismissive wave of the hand. "The EMP was not something we were expecting. Think of it as a small glitch in the system. It wasn't ready to be forcefully shut down, and its programming didn't prepare it for that sort of scenario. Give it some time, and the boy will be able to fix it himself. How he does it is up to him, but the Light does not think it is necessary to intervene just yet."
"Renegade's Mission is dependent on the programming in that chip!"
"Relax, we are in no need for him to complete his Mission just yet." When Deathstroke gave him a dirty look, he smiled coldly. "Well, you certainly are in a rush. Patience is key to getting rid of the League. They are as much of a nuisance to you as they are to us, as you know. Do not fret, you will have your apprentice before the new year begins, and that is a promise."
xXx
AN: Sorry for the wait! Schoolwork has been keeping me from updating during the weak. Yeah, bad excuse, but I'm bad at multitasking.
Thanks for all of the comments and votes! See you next chapter!