Ladies and Gentleman I present the next chapter. I apologize for how long it took but better late then never right? Anyway, I don't own DC and onto the story...
YOUNG JUSTICE
ALPHA MALE
BATCAVE
September 23, 06:15 EDT
"Permission denied," Batman stated, looking at his protégé.
"What do you mean by 'permission'?" Red Robin asked frustratedly, "I quit, end of story." he finished, swiping his hand in front of him.
"You have a mission in fifteen minutes with The Team; go shower, resupply and be back here ASAP. I'll have the zeta-tubes ready to go." Batman continued, skipping right over Red Robin's interruption.
"I don't think you get how quitting works," Red Robin stated, giving his best bat glare and not wavering from his earlier decision. "The Team… Batman," he stated defiantly, "is why I'm quitting."
Batman, unwavered by his protégé's own use of his signature glare and rebellious speech, just narrowed his eyes in response. "After this mission, if you still want to quit then we can talk, but for the time being your team needs you and I know you aren't the type of person to leave your friends hanging." he finished, looking at his student as their defenses fell.
Red Robin sighed, his resolve leaving him, "Fine", he stated as he caught his cowl that Batman tossed back to him, "Tell that to Barbara," Red Robin mumbled as he turned and started to walk towards the showers, but stopped and spun back around to face his mentor, who still had his eyes on him, "After, we talk," Red Robin stated bluntly, getting a slight nod in return.
Red Robin walked off to the showers and as he entered the changing area, his cowl still clutched in his hand. Tossing it aside, it bounced off a nearby mirror and fell to the floor. Seeing his reflection he stopped and stared at it.
"Red Robin," he sighed his hero name out, frustrated, "the start of all my problems. The start of all the lying it takes to be a hero, someone people look up to," he stated before letting out a chuckle, "ironic."
"The team," he continued, as he started to change out of his uniform, "The other crux of my problems. Every date with- was canceled, rain checked, or cut short due to their damn missions from Batman."
"Batman," one topic just seemed to lead him to another as he stepped into the shower and water started to hit his body, "training me to keep emotions bottled up, to push them further down every time they start to resurface," he rattled off before finishing the rest of his shower in silence.
When he stepped out in his cleaned up Red Robin uniform, the uniform felt heavier than before, but nevertheless he made his way over to Batman, who stood ready for him by the Batcave zeta-tube.
THE CAVE
September 23, 06:28 EDT
[Recognized: Batman Zero-Two, Red Robin B Zero-Four] the computer introduced the new arrivals to The Cave. Red Robin watched as Justice League members worked to get the cave back up and running. The first thing he noticed was that the power was fully restored and next was his teammates- or soon to be ex-teammates if he had his way after the mission they are about to go on- he would never see again, excluding Robin of course.
Red Robin casually made his way over and sat beside Kid Flash, who just got handed a bowl of pretzels by Green Arrow.
"Thanks, but no thanks," Kid Flash stated to the emerald archer.
"Yeah," Robin echoed Kid Flash's remark, "What we want are answers about Red Tornado and his siblings."
Green Arrow looked between the two before grabbing the bowl of pretzels, only to be stopped by Kid Flash grabbing the bowl. "Leave the bowl," the hungry speedster stated before placing the bowl of pretzels in front of him as he started to devour them.
Red Robin noticed Batman away from everyone else with Aqualad but his attention was quickly brought to the teenage Kryptonian amongst them as he lunged towards Aqualad, grabbing him by the shirt.
"You knew!" Superboy yelled at his Atlantean leader, hoisting him up slightly into the air.
Red Robin made to intervene, leaving his seat slightly, but sat back down as the rest of the team stood up as well, wanting to figure out what Superboy's outburst was all about.
"That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!" Superboy continued to shout at their leader, getting in Aqualad's face as he yelled.
Red Robin lifted an eyebrow towards Superboy when he mentioned Miss Martian but nothing about anybody else, if they were trying to keep their relationship secret they were doing a bad job. He glanced at Kid Flash, but he seemed oblivious to Superboy's clue he just dropped, which didn't surprise him.
"Conner, what are you doing?" M'gann asked frantically as she flew in to see what the problem was between her boyfriend and team leader. Red Robin took the time to finally stand up and make his way over to the commotion since the actual leaguers started to make their way over.
"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!" Superboy quickly explained, defending his actions.
"You knew!" Robin exclaimed.
"And didn't tell us!" Kid Flash finished Robin's sentence, standing alongside his long time friend.
"I sought to protect the team from-" Aqualad tried to speak but was interrupted by the teen archer.
"Protect us from what?" Artemis interrupted, "Knowledge that might have saved our lives!"
Superboy turned his head to look towards Miss Martian, but never wavered in his grip of Aqualad, "You almost died!" he exclaimed to the green martian.
"Enough," Batman spoke, immediately silencing the room. Red Robin, no matter how many times he's seen Batman take control of an entire room just by speaking or even simply walking in, was always impressed by it.
Superboy looked towards Batman, who just narrowed his eyes at the Kryptonian clone and Red Robin watched as Superboy let Aqualad go immediately.
"With Red Tornado… missing, The Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift," Batman explained as Captain Marvel walked up beside Batman to introduce himself.
"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," Captain Marvel spoke in greeting.
Red Robin watched as the team exchanged looks with each other, but he kept his focus on Batman and Superboy. The latter leaning in towards Aqualad to whisper a threat.
"After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-,"
"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, that makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us." Batman spoke sternly looking at Superboy mostly as he spoke, "I have a different task for this team," Batman continued, changing gears.
Batman turned slightly and gestured towards the holoscreen where The Team's next mission was visible.
"Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerilla Gorilla," Kid Flash read aloud, not impressed with this 'mission'. On the holoscreen stood a news article of the Gotham Mayor being attacked by a gorilla with a minigun.
"Batman please," Robin stepped forward, "tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase!"
"He doesn't joke," Red Robin mumbled, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at the ground as he spoke, before turning his attention back to the article.
"I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents," Batman explained, before turning to Aqualad, "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."
Aqualad nodded, as his team made his way to the hangar to depart on the bio-ship.
Kid Flash brushing past Kaldur decided to get one last rub in before making his way, "huh," he stated glancing at the Atlantean, "your team," he stated defiantly.
As Red Robin made his way towards the bio-ship Robin strode up alongside, "Dude, you ok?" he asked with concern.
"Yeah," Red Robin stated, before adding seconds later, "I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" he asked, more in his normal voice this time, looking towards his partner and friend.
"Oh I don't know," Robin stated sarcastically, "how about our leader hiding a traitor from us?" he asked, gauging Red Robin's reaction, but when he saw none, he switched back to concern, "Barbara break up with you?" he asked his friend.
Red Robin was taken back from the question, not angered, cause he knew Robin asked out of actual concern for his well being, but he didn't show any of that on his outward expressions, "No Ba- she didn't." he said, hating himself for slipping up, but Robin showed no signs of catching it so he let it go.
Just then Captain Marvel landed in front of the two Bat sidekicks, "You're coming with?" Robin asked, looking up at the great captain.
"Sure!" Captain Marvel stated enthusiastically with open arms, "we'll have a blast," he finished before turning to board the bio-ship.
"Translation," Robin stated, leaning towards his partner, as Kid Flash walked up behind the two teens, "he blames us for Red Fiasco; doesn't trust us." he stated before boarding the bio-ship.
"It's a big club," Kid Flash stated, looking directly at Aqualad with menace plastered on his face.
Red Robin gave an apologetic look to Aqualad before boarding himself, taking his usual seat for the trip to India.
NORTHERN INDIA
September 23, 21:36 IST
The bio-ship hovered over the team's drop zone into India and Robin, Artemis and Red Robin using the cables from the bio-ship dropped down quietly to scout the perimeter. Once the three teens touched down, Robin and Artemis drew weapons and took off to scout, while Red Robin took his time unclipping from the ascension cable and just quietly walking over to his scouting area to make sure everything was fine before returning back, long after Robin and Artemis returned from their areas. When he returned the rest of the team had touched down as well.
"We don't need no stinkin' parameters," Kid Flash, now in stealth mode, shouted back to Aqualad.
"It's recon we know what to do," Robin stated, before he and Kid Flash turned to leave.
"Kid, Robin," Aqualad spoke, taking a step toward his friends.
"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us," Robin shot back at Aqualad.
"Or did you forget that." Kid Flash added, glaring at Aqualad.
"Don't you mean four," Red Robin stated, looking to his partner and Kid Flash, "or did you forget that," he spoke calmly, only emphasizing the last two words but not yelling, like the rest were.
Robin looked over to his partner and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a word, Red Robin spoke up, "Just go, since you already know what to do apparently." Red Robin again spoke calmly to deliver his verbal blows. Robin looked like he wanted to stay and talk but Kid Flash started to take off, and Robin eventually turned to follow.
On the inside Red Robin hated himself for speaking like this, but it gave him an excuse to push himself further from the team so quitting would be easier.
"Come on," Superboy said, taking hold of Miss Martian's arm lightly, but she immediately removed it and the two started what Red Robin knew was a telepathic argument, reading their faces.
"But I just want to protect you," Superboy defended, speaking out loud to Miss Martian. Again, hearing those words hit home to Red Robin and just made him want to quit more, remembering his argument with Barbara earlier.
"Like Aqualad protected us?" Artemis asked, pointing her bow into Superboy's chest, "I'm not sure your protection or your patronizing is good for our health," Artemis stated before she and Miss Martian took off together as well.
Superboy looked over to Red Robin, who only gave an apologetic look, before turning to Aqualad, "Why didn't you stop them? You're supposed to be in charge!" Superboy yelled at his leader.
"I am-," but Aqualad was silenced by Superboy shutting him up with an outstretched hand in his direction before turning to take off in the opposite direction.
Red Robin watched as Superboy left, but turned when he heard Aqualad sigh after talking with Captain Marvel and when he felt Aqualad looking in his direction. When Aqualad didn't speak right away, Red Robin raised an eyebrow towards him.
"What about you?" Aqualad asked.
Red Robin this time turned to face Aqualad head on, "What about me?" he asked.
"Are you not going to tell me how I was wrong about how I acted with the mole?" his Atlantean leader asked.
"I agree with you actually," Red Robin stated, "I understand that some things need to be kept secret. I also understand why you did this to protect us. It's funny how we make decisions to protect people, only for those same people to reprimand us in return for thanks."
Red Robin watched the surprise melt off Aqualad's face before he got a nod in return as thanks for his understanding, "Guess we should get moving," Red Robin stated, "lead the way," he gestured to Aqualad.
GOTHAM CITY
September 23, 02:03 EDT
Barbara punched the wall as tears fell from her eyes. "Why do boys have to be so dumb?".
She turned and leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it as her anger subsided and was replaced with sadness. Nathan was her best friend and it was really hard on her to cut him out of her life like that, but she couldn't get over the fact that he kept such a big secret from her. Not only that but he had the audacity to criticize her for wanting to be Batgirl while he was off doing the same thing. The hypocrisy of it was rage inducing. She stood up, her blood boiling again as she remembered the times he told her she was making a mistake and warning her of the dangers.
"It's ok for him to risk his life but not me! I'm just as capable as him, if not more! Aggg" she muttered to herself finishing with an exasperated scream.
She was just going in circles at this point, sad at losing Nathan, and then anger at how he manipulated her. This wasn't something she was going to work through in a couple of hours. She had been wandering around the city since her argument with Nathan and still wasn't feeling any better. She decided to go home, take a long shower, have a cup of tea and try to forget about Nathan for the time being. Maybe later she could sort out her true feelings on this mess.
NORTHERN INDIA
September 23, 22:03 IST
Red Robin scouted along with Aqualad on the ground, while Captain Marvel had eyes in the sky. Eventually the two came to a small clearing where tracks littered the ground. Captain Marvel also landed by them and knelt down to look at the tracks.
"Looks like this is where Mayor Hill's monkey business went down," he stated, observing the tracks.
Red Robin quickly took to the trees to scout the surrounding area of the clearing, but before he could even really get started, he was alerted by what he could tell were several massive creatures coming their way.
Just then an oversized elephant broke through the treeline and started to make its way towards Aqualad before Captain Marvel shot up from the ground and slammed into the elephant's forehead. The elephant grabbed Captain Marvel with its trunk and flung him away like nothing.
Red Robin was forced to move to a different tree as Captain Marvel was heading towards the tree he was in. Red Robin was looking for a strategic advantage to open up for him, but was blindsided by something latching onto his face.
Red Robin fell with his back now on the branch of the tree as whatever had blindsided him was scratching and clawing at his face. Red Robin worked his hands and feet into position and pushed whatever it was off of him.
He watched as the creature's back hit off the center of the tree before landing on his branch again hissing at him. Red Robin then saw a kobra-venom, blockbuster supersized baboon.
The baboon charged forward again leaping into the air to latch onto the face of Red Robin, but Red Robin, ready this time, ducked to miss the baboon, but kicked it as it went by, sending it to the other end of the branch. The baboon landed this time, but Red Robin turned and let loose a birdarang that connected with a collar that the baboon was wearing, severing the collar from the baboon's neck.
Once the collar was off the baboon looked at Red Robin and this time shouted for a second before making its escape now frightened of the human in front of it.
"The collar!" Red Robin shouted, just as he heard Aqualad yell to Captain Marvel to remove the collar as well.
Red Robin dropped down from the trees and made his way over to Aqualad as the two watched the elephants, who were now free of their collars, disappear into the treeline no longer hostile towards the superheroes.
"Pretty sweet how you figured out that the problem was the collars," Captain Marvel spoke to Aqualad. Red Robin nodded along as well, trying to give his leader a boost.
"But the collars indicate an intelligence behind this attack. The rest of the team may also be at risk," Aqualad stated, going in line with Red Robin's train of thought so far, "Team report status," Aqualad spoke into the comms, but only getting interference in return, "Ugh, Comm is jammed, and Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up."
"Actually," Captain Marvel interjected, "You let everyone split up before communications were set." Captain Marvel corrected him.
"They would not listen," Aqualad retorted, gesturing with one arm back towards the direction they came from.
"That's true," Red Robin agreed, "but Batman stopped everyone from arguing at The Cave with one word." he added on.
Aqualad looked at his fellow teenager, "Because Batman is… Batman." he put forward as his defense.
"Hey I'm the last guy you need to explain that to. I get it." Red Robin stated, putting his hands up in mock surrender.
"When I first joined the league all he did was boss me around," Captain Marvel started explaining to Aqualad, getting a nod in agreement from Red Robin who Batman also bossed around when he first decided to train to become a hero, "and it's hard not to take it personally , but I never disobeyed an order and it's probably what kept me alive." Captain Marvel explained.
Red Robin watched as a lightbulb went off in Aqualad's head, "Batman takes command… cause he has to for the good of The League." Aqualad then looked towards Captain Marvel, "Thank you for helping me understand."
"Hey," Captain Marvel said nonchalantly, "Wisdom of Solomon."
"Yes, Miss Martian report." Aqualad suddenly spoke with determination, putting a hand to the side of his forehead.
"Hey cool!" Captain Marvel exclaimed, taking flight to the air, "the tiger."
"Cap wait." Red Robin stated turning his attention to the hero, but Captain Marvel was already gone. "Speed of Mercury," Red Robin mumbled, before turning his attention back to Aqualad.
"Link established," Red Robin heard Miss Martian say in his head.
"Should you really be giving us orders?" Red Robin heard Artemis next "and should you really be following them?" she asked, Red Robin figured to Miss Martian directly since those two went off together.
"Listen please," he heard Aqualad speak next.
"Oh good Aqualad's voice in my head," Kid Flash spoke with sarcasm, "I so missed that."
"Hey Kaldur," Robin began, "KF and I were attacked by giant vultures, of course since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves."
"If he did he wouldn't tell you," Artemis added. Red Robin looked over to Aqualad and wasn't really surprised to see Aqualad taking the hits like a champ. He and Aqualad began going in the direction Captain Marvel disappeared in because The Captain was gone for a long time.
"Superboy, are you online or just pouting?" Miss Martian asked.
"Busy," Superboy stated bluntly, "call back later."
"And Red Robin?" Miss Martian asked next.
"I'm just waiting for the kids to be finished talking so the adults in the room can speak." he stated bluntly.
"What do you mean kids?" Robin and Kid Flash spoke at the same time, starting a whole other conversation with Artemis and Miss Martian that both he and Aqualad had to listen to in their heads.
"Listen up," Red Robin spoke at the same time Aqualad in his head yelled, "Enough!"
"Captain Marvel has been captured," Red Robin stated again bluntly trying to help Aqualad regain control over the bickering in his head.
"We must act as a team in order to save him," Aqualad spoke, taking over Red Robin's talking point.
"Under your leadership?" Kid Flash asked, "I don't think so,"
"This is not up for debate," Aqualad spoke more sternly towards the team then he ever had, "You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader I will happily step down, but until that time I am in command here."
Red Robin listened to Aqualad speaking in his mind to the rest of the team as he and the Atlantean investigated the area Captain Marvel disappeared. What stuck out obviously was the three metal high tech rods that stood up from the ground to form a triangle. Investigating the area between the rods, Red Robin found tracks that looked like Captain Marvel was dragged for a short distance before being carried away. According to the tracks Red Robin assumed was the Guerilla Gorilla the newspaper in Gotham spoke about.
Red Robin then turned and raised an eyebrow at his leader, when he heard Aqualad rip up one of the metal rods and throw it to the side in frustration.
"I am fine," Aqualad spoke before he and Red Robin started to follow the tracks that were left behind.
"Then we best start heading towards the coordinates you just gave telepathically then."
GOTHAM CITY
September 23, 10:28 EDT
Barbara laid sprawled on her bed, legs dangling off the edge. She sighed heavily thinking over everything that happened with the reveal of her boyfriend being Red Robin. The tea nor the shower helped sort any of her feelings out. No matter what, Nathan was her best friend, and she didn't want to cut him out of her life, but the feeling of betrayal hit really hard.
When she didn't know he was Red Robin his insistence of her not being Batgirl made her mad, but it made sense. In her mind he was just worried about her and didn't know what it was like. The thrill and the feeling of accomplishment you got from stopping a villain yourself instead of just reading a case file and handing off information to her father. That was all flipped when she recontextualized his misgivings with the knowledge that he himself was a vigilante. With this knowledge his arguments seemed more patronizing, he knew the feeling, he knew what was involved and he didn't think she could handle it. Sure he said he was worried about her safety, but what about her? Didn't she have a right to be worried about his safety?
She remembered back to seeing him in the alley, when Red Robin walked down the alley looking slightly charred and burnt, a weary exhaustion in his step, and he seemed to be favoring his left arm. Even without being able to see his face at first it looked like he had a million problems. For those few moments she questioned her choice to don a mask seeing how low he was, and then he took off that mask. It was one thing to see a nameless hero look beaten and broken, it's an entirely different situation when it is… was your boyfriend. At first she wanted to run up to him and check on him, and then the ramifications and the meaning of him taking that mask off slammed into her. Red Robin telling her to quit, Nathan telling her it was dangerous, ganging up on her making her feel like she wasn't wanted.
Barbara shook her head and curled up on her side, getting angry wasn't going to solve anything. As she breathed out and let the anger go she realized that the anger was the only thing keeping the sadness away and she slowly started to cry.
NORTHERN INDIA
September 23, 22:52 IST
Red Robin along with Robin knelt down in the brush scanning the surrounding area of the compound that they just reached following the trail of Captain Marvel. Red Robin kept scanning the area seeing nothing too alarming while the rest of the team took up positions to join in the scouting. Red Robin looked at Robin's holoscreen seeing a dome field over the compound that was invisible to the naked eye.
"I could fly over," M'gann offered telepathically.
"Negative. The field extends like a dome over the whole compound," Kid Flash advised, seeing the dome through his goggles.
"Pylons are insulated, but one good shot could cause a momentary gap," Robin stated, looking at the information on his holoscreen.
"I see a target," Artemis stated.
"Good, be ready to hit it. Be ready all of you," Aqualad spoke to the minds of his team before going down to where the barrier was surrounding the compound.
Aqualad raised his hands and placed them on the force field. As he did his arm tattoos began to light up and sparks of lightning sparked out from Aqualad as he tried to break through the field to cause a gap for Artemis' arrow to hit her target.
Red Robin watched as Aqualad created a circular gap to appear in the field. Red Robin had no idea what Aqualad was doing but saw it was working. "Now," Red Robin stated telepathically and Artemis let her arrow fly.
The arrow struck true to its target which dropped the dome-like field and The Team rushed inside the dome with their leader. As Red Robin crossed to go inside the field he looked up and halted, along with Robin, as baboons appeared on top of the compound, looking at the teens.
"Not you guys again," Red Robin mumbled.
The baboon then let out a cry as the base's alarm system started going off and other baboons dove off the roof of the compound and towards the teen heroes.
One baboon charged at Red Robin, but Red Robin used his collapsible bo-staff to lift and throw the baboon over him, as the baboon landed and turned to strike again Red Robin let loose a birdarang that severed the collar from the baboon, which immediately took off in fear of Red Robin.
"Remove their collars!" Aqualad yelled out to the group.
"Sounds easy when he says it," Robin stated, as two baboons were pulling at his arm and leg.
Artemis appeared by Red Robin and an arrow and birdarang were let loose at the same time each hitting one of the baboons on Robin, freeing him from their clutches, but also freeing the baboons from their collars.
Robin in turn launched two birdarangs towards the two teen heroes that just saved him, each striking one of the two baboons as they were about to sneak attack Artemis and Red Robin.
"Thanks partner," Red Robin stated, turning to realize what his fellow Gothamite did for him and Artemis.
Red Robin turned just in time to hear Kid Flash yell, "Get your paws off her you darn dirty ape," which Red Robin smirked before pulling out his retractable bo-staff and extending it to its full length to get ready to fight the 'guerilla gorilla' but he didn't need to as he saw Miss Martian get up from the ground and blast the gorilla through the wall. He made his way over to the female martian to back her up, and he was joined by the rest of the team after quickly dispatching the remaining baboons. Red Robin immediately put his bo-staff back and made his way with the team inside the compound.
Red Robin entered the compound with the rest of the team through the makeshift opening that Miss Martian made via gorilla in the wall. He looked to his left and saw The Brain. Red Robin never really encountered The Brain so he was sorta taken back by seeing The Brain in person. The best he could describe The Brain as, was a snowglobe on wheels but where a winter scene would be was a human brain.
"It's The Brain!" Kid Flash pointed out to the team.
"I can see it's a brain," Artemis stated.
Red Robin chuckled, "Not a brain," he stated.
"The Brain," Kid Flash reiterated.
"In the flesh… so to speak," The Brain stated, wheeling slightly closer to his new guests. Red Robin then noticed the tiger laying on the floor and Captain Marvel being strapped down to a metal, high tech operating table.
"Mallah," The Brain addressed, looking towards the gorilla.
The gorilla who was wearing a beret and holding a minigun that was attached to a ammo canister on it's back, whose name was apparently Mallah pulled out a small box and hit a button activating more of those metal high tech rods that sprung out from the base floor around the teen heroes, making them all collapse to the ground, unable to move anything but their heads.
"Miss Martian, Superboy now!" Aqualad spoke telepathically.
Miss Martian using her telekinesis powers pulled the device away from Mallah and deactivated the rods, gaining the freedom of movement back to her team, while Superboy at the same time crashed through the opposite wall, with a white wolf that he mentioned he picked up, to the team in an earlier telepathic communication.
The wolf charged Mallah knocking the gorilla on its back and leapt away, positioning itself to be ready for another attack. Mallah stood back up, and turned to face the wolf, but Kid Flash took the opportunity to land a kick to the gorilla, and take off in super speed, as Mallah quickly recovered from the hits and regained it's footing and started to fire it's minigun.
Red Robin and Robin already in full swing let loose double kicks to Mallah's face, taking the opening given to them by Kid Flash and also keeping the most dangerous foe off balance and not able to tip the scales to the bad guys.
Red Robin landed by Artemis and saw Miss Martian lift Mallah up and drop the gorilla telekinetically. Red Robin then heard an arrow let loose past his head and watched it connect with the ammo container on the back of Mallah. Red Robin watched the arrow explode, it didn't seem to do much if any damage to the ammo pack, but it did continue to annoy and distract Mallah, keeping the gorilla from helping The Brain who continued to fight Aqualad and Superboy.
Red Robin looked towards Artemis, "Do it again," he stated, pointing towards Mallah's ammo pack and pulling out two birdarangs as he did so. Just then Robin landed by them and pulled out his own and nodded.
Artemis let loose another arrow, while the Gothamite hero's let a few birdarangs fly, all hitting their targets. Upon exploding, the pack was separated from Mallah, rendering the minigun useless, which Mallah dropped anyway from the impact of the explosion.
With Mallah's long range combat capabilities neutralized, it allowed the time for Superboy and Aqualad the breathing room to separate from their fight with the brain. Superboy joined the fight against Mallah punching the ground forcing Mallah back closer to The Brain. During this time Aqualad was able to circle around to where Captain Marvel was being held down and release him.
Captain Marvel quickly got up from the table and released the collar from around the tiger that he had chased after earlier. Once free Captain Marvel and the Tiger turned their attention towards The Brain and Mallah, while this was happening the rest of the team and continued their assault on Mallah and was cornering the gorilla back towards the operating table and their Justice League supervisor.
Mallah roared with anger realizing all their escape routes were cut off and deciding to make a last stand.
"Try it," Superboy threatened, bumping his fists together itching to give the gorilla a beat down, "I hate monkeys."
"No Mallah," came the french accented brain, "this will not be our Waterloo." he stated.
Red Robin watched as The Brain, moved his robotic parts around unfolding into what Red Robin thought was a bomb.
"Get down!" Kid Flash yelled, echoing Red Robin's thoughts aloud, before the room went pitch black. Red Robin dove for whoever was closest to him, which happened to be Artemis and used his cape to cover them since his cape was fire resistant.
After several seconds the lights came back on and no explosion ever happened. Red Robin got up then helped Artemis to her feet and both looked around to notice both The Brain and Mallah were gone.
"Wait," Kid Flash spoke up, rubbing his head as he did, "that big weapon thing was a… light switch?"
"Uhhh yeah," Red Robin answered, honestly puzzled himself.
GOTHAM CITY
September 23, 16:57 EDT
Barbara woke up a few hours later after crying herself to sleep. She rolled over and was going to just try to force herself back to sleep, but decided that this wasn't going to help her, nor was it any good to mope around like this anymore, so she decided to take her anger out on the thugs of Gotham. Barbara made herself get off her bed and slowly made her way to her closet, and dug out her costume and prepared to go out and kick ass and take names on the streets.
NORTHERN INDIA
September 23, 23:57 IST
"What are you smiling about?" Artemis asked Kid Flash. Red Robin who walked beside Artemis could easily tell she was annoyed, and he guessed so could Kid Flash, but he didn't seem to care and liked annoying her so he just kinda went with the flow.
"One word, souvenir," Kid Flash happily exclaimed, putting Mallah's red beret on his head. Walking confidently as he did so.
Artemis smirked at Red Robin before turning back to Kid Flash, "Two words," she stated.
Red Robin rested an arm on her shoulder and leaned forward to look at Kid Flash, "Gorilla." he stated and his thought was finished by Artemis, "lice" and the two walked off, Red Robin laughing out loud as he did so.
"Ah man," Kid Flash stated, taking the beret off and then deciding to go annoy Miss Martian and Superboy or that's what Red Robin thought the speedster would do.
Red Robin and Artemis arrived at the bioship and Red Robin heard his best friend ask Aqualad the question on everyone's mind.
"Look I need to know," Robin started his question, gaining the attention of the entire team, "why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"
Aqualad turned so that he faced the entire team, who waited for his answer, "The source of the tip was Sportsmaster," he stated, immediately being interrupted by Artemis.
"What?!" the archer raised her voice, "You can't trust him!" she yelled. Red Robin put a hand on her shoulder and pulled back slightly to give her the notion to calm down.
"I do not," Aqualad answered, "It seemed possible, even likely that he was attempting to divide the team with false information," he explained, looking towards Robin.
"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded, but you had to consider it might be true." Robin stated, thinking his thoughts out loud, getting a slight nod from Red Robin, who played how he would react out in his head.
"Yes," Aqualad answered, "As leader I did, and in which case I did not want to alert the traitor."
Robin sighed, coming to the same conclusion that Aqualad did, "Hate to say it, but… makes sense."
"I am still prepared to step down," Aqualad stated matter-of-factly, showing The Team he meant what he said earlier about stepping down after the mission if they wished for him to do so.
"All in favor of keeping Aqualad leader?" Kid Flash asked aloud as he raised his hand, but he was not the only hand, as every member of the team raised their hand to keep Aqualad his leader.
Red Robin watched as he and the rest of The Team raised their hands to keep Aqualad leader and then all of a sudden a new train of thought of a certain heroine hit him like a freight train. Somewhat similar to what The Team was dealing with with Aqualad, he realized the real reason he and Barbara were fighting was because he didn't fully trust her. More specifically he didn't trust her with his identity and he didn't trust her to make the same decisions he did.
"Guess it's unanimous," Captain Marvel spoke, bringing Red Robin back to reality, and seeing Captain Marvel making his way to Aqualad and shaking his hand, "See you tomorrow," Captain Marvel stated, turning to leave but stopped by Aqualad questioning his abrupt exit.
"You're not coming back with us?" Aqualad asked.
"Nope. Got to fly," was the only response Aqualad got before Captain Marvel took off.
THE CAVE
September 23, 20:16 EDT
Red Robin and the rest of the team departed from the Bioship, after returning to the cave from India. The team made their way to the main room of The Cave and waiting for them was Batman, who seemed unphased by the new white wolf that now followed Superboy. Batman quickly turned his attention to The Team and the more important matters he had at hand.
"Did you make your decision?" Batman asked as the teens gathered around him.
"We did," Kid Flash answered.
"We decided that Aqualad will continue to be the leader of this team," Robin continued, continuing Kid Flash's sentence himself.
Batman slightly nodded, but turned to face Red Robin directly, "I mean did you make your decision?" Batman asked again.
Red Robin saw the rest of the team now look at him, but he focused on Robin the longest before looking back to his mentor, "I have," Red Robin stated before letting out a sigh afterwards.
"Wait," Robin interjected.
"What do you have to decide?" Kid Flash asked, this time finishing Robin's thoughts.
Red Robin looked at each of his teammates again before speaking, facing Batman as he spoke, "In order to take care of some things in my life, I must…" Red Robin stopped and let out a shaky sigh, "quit The Team," he stated, looking at Batman with whatever resolve he could muster. This was harder to say and do then he thought it would be. He loved being on The Team, but he had some things he needed to find out for himself.
Red Robin ignored the outbursts of shock and surprise and the begging of him to reconsider, but it was hard to do so, especially when Robin wouldn't let him look away till Aqualad was able to calm the younger Batman protege down.
"Your spot on this team will not be filled by anyone except you when you are ready to return," Aqualad stated to Red Robin, while keeping a hand on Robin's shoulder, "I know some of what you are dealing with as I went through something similar myself."
"Thank you," Red Robin mumbled, giving Aqualad an appreciative smile in return. He also felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Artemis with a saddened and worried look on her face, "I'm ok," he spoke to her, turning so her hand fell from his shoulder and back to her side, "I just need to sort through some things."
Artemis nodded and backed away and Red Robin walked up to the terminal to activate the boom tube in the cave so that he could make his way back to Gotham, the city of all his current problems. Before he left he turned to see Superboy before he was engulfed in a hug by Miss Martian.
"Please hurry back," Miss Martian spoke as she let Red Robin go, "It was great having you on The Team."
"I will," Red Robin answered before turning to Superboy who extended out his hand and Red Robin immediately grasped his forearm, "Good luck Labrat," Red Robin stated with a smirk seeing Superboy's face tighten slightly before relaxing into a small smile, "Keep them safe."
Red Robin then put his destination into the terminal by the boom tube, but turned back one last time to look at Batman, "I owe you a lot, more than I could ever repay, but if you ever need me I'm always there." Red Robin then turned and walked through the boom tube, leaving The Cave and its members.
GOTHAM CITY
September 23, 21:17 EDT
Night had descended upon Gotham City and Red Robin sat atop the ChloroGene Corp building just overlooking the city he now protected alone. He had done what he thought he would never do and quit The Team. Sure he enjoyed it and he almost didn't go through with it because the biggest reason he was going to quit was no longer a part of his life though he wished it was. Well it was still part of his life, but not how he wanted it to be, but he was determined to start to mend things back to how they used to be.
"I need to speak with you," came a voice Red Robin knew all too well and turned to see the person he wanted to see the most, but also the person he was scared to face the most as well.
"Barbara I-" but he stopped, seeing Barbara raise her hand to stop him from talking.
"I'm not here for apologies," she stated firmly, "I came to give this back to you."
Red Robin looked down at her hands for the first time since she showed and noticed the belt he gave her and his communication device. Red Robin shook his head and pushed the hand Barbara had outstretched with the belt and communication device back towards her.
"I can't take those back," he explained to her, "I know you're mad at me and you have a right to be, but I gave you those things to keep you safe and if you're going to continue with this you'll need those more than I do."
"So now you're ok with me doing this?" Barbara asked, already irritated.
"What? No," Red Robin stated, "but I can't stop you and the reason I gave you that stuff hasn't changed"
"And what was your reasoning for giving me this stuff?!" Barbara asked.
Red Robin sighed "I gave you that stuff because I knew no matter what I said you'd use your own misguided reasoning to continue this work, and I wanted you to have some actual defenses.
"Misguided?" Barbara queried her voice, getting a hint of steel. "And why are my reasons misguided and yours aren't?" She continued taking steps closer to Red Robin and with every step her voice got louder, direct and angrier.
"Because you're doing this because your daddy won't let you join the police force," Red Robin shot back with attitude of his own, "and because you want to." he then paused to let his words sink in before continuing, "I do this because I don't want what happened to Lily and to me to happen to anyone else!" raising his voice at her the more he spoke.
"I'm not Lily!" Barbara shot back.
"You're right, but you're like her," Red Robin retorted, seeing Barbara freeze up after that, but the anger still on her face, "My girlfriends keep putting themselves in danger!" Red Robin stated, voice raising after every word, but not in anger this time, in worry, "I wasn't able to protect her. I blacked out after getting shot and while I laid there unconscious, she bled out!"
Red Robin stopped himself from speaking, feeling himself lose control, "I was a coward, I should have got in front of her and took those hits myself, but I stood there frozen in fear, then next thing I knew I was waking up in a hospital and was told she was dead. So I swore to myself after things between us started to change that I'd protect you, and not let what happened to Lily happen to you, I'd keep my bestfriend, my new girlfriend safe, but I failed…" he sighed, covering his face with his right hand and then dragging it across his face, trying to get rid of the stress, "If you want to continue this I'm not gonna stop you, you wouldn't let me anyway, but I want you to have those things when you get in over your head because I still care about you."
Red Robin turned his back towards Batgirl, unable to face her as he continued to say what he wanted to say to her, unable to look at her. He decided that with his new solo career that it was best to just push her away like he did to everyone else recently.
He hadn't talked to anyone from The Team since he quit, and was avoiding Dick like the plague. Since he quit the Team all that Dick had done was to try to recruit him back. He figured if Batman needed him he'd contact him, otherwise Bruce would give him the space he requested, but Dick had tried to text and call him on a daily basis since quitting, and Red Robin had yet to answer or text back, hoping his silence would be enough to give Dick the hint, or that maybe Bruce would eventually have that talk with Dick.
"If you came here to just give that equipment back, then you should just leave." Red Robin sighed and knelt down to look out over the city of Gotham as it pained him to give Barbara this kind of talk and he could barely stand it.
"Leave?" came a voice that jumped Red Robin and caused him to spin around on a dime into a defensive position, "I just got here." finished Catwoman, who wore a slight surprised look on her face when she realized she had snuck up on Red Robin without him noticing her presence, but her shock quickly disappeared.
Red Robin just turned back around and knelt down and returned to watching the city, "What do you want?" he asked.
Catwoman stood there watching the young hero, and could tell something was bothering him immensely. She knew what it was since she heard a lot of his conversation with the red headed bat heroine and it took her resolve not to go full concerned mother on him right now.
"Well I was having a quiet night in my apartment across the street when some noisy neighbors decided to air out some dirty laundry," she said in a playful tone, gesturing to her apartment building across the street.
She watched as Red Robin's face morphed to show pain and worry, "How much did you hear?" the teen hero asked.
"Enough that I felt I should come over and advise you not to look for trouble in your current state," Catwoman softly spoke, walking up alongside and kneeling down beside Red Robin. She looked over and was still able to see the pain on his face he was trying vehemently to hide from her.
"You here to take advantage of that?" he asked sternly, before realizing what he said and looked over at her with shock plastered on his face, "Sorry," he said quickly, holding his hands up, "I didn't mean to-"
Catwoman shook her head at him, "It's fine."
"I've actually been here for a while debating if I should go talk to you," he stated, nodding over to her apartment building. He watched as Catwoman looked back at her apartment as well, then turned to look at him again with an eyebrow raised.
"I need some advice actually," he stated, causing her to narrow her eyes at him in curiosity, "I was hoping you could help me with flying solo," he explained to her after collecting himself.
"You want advice? From me?" Catwoman asked, unsure of what was happening in front of her and was surprised when she got a nod as her answer, "You're flying solo now?" she asked in disbelief after realizing what he said. Catwoman made a mental note for herself to talk to Bruce about this.
"Yeah," Red Robin answered her, while nodding his head.
"This isn't because of the argument I heard from my apartment?" Catwoman asked seriously, but with a small smile to also cut through some of the tension she was getting from the kid in front of her.
She watched as Red Robin didn't answer her right away, before shaking his head, "No, though I am dealing with some things, this is just something I need to do. I need to know I can do this. I want to be like Batman and I need to know I can reach that goal."
Catwoman listened intently to every word and gave a small sigh once he was done. "Going solo is easy if you have the skills, which I think you are close to having. Though I will admit it does get a bit lonely, it makes me kinda glad I have you and the bat to torment." She said jokingly. "Honestly though, going solo just means you have to be on your A game at all times, and make sure you know as much as you can as often as you can. You can't fly into a situation and expect someone to bail you out." she answered with a more serious tone.
"Thank you" replied Red Robin, as he started to stand up. "I should get started on patrolling, I don't have to worry about any plans interrupting now." he finished with a bit of disguised hurt in his voice.
"You know, there are other fish in the sea," she calmly spoke to him, using her motherly voice.
Red Robin looked at her with a 'did you just say that?' look and shook his head, "I don't know any other girls, the ones from school are too naive to this kind of life to pull them into it, and it's not like I know all the superheroines and the ones I do know are all too old," he spoke, smirking at the end.
Catwoman gave him a stern look before smiling, "I felt that one, but really? Surely you know some other girls, I mean someone as handsome as you should have a line at their door, the way that cowl still sets off your chin," she purred, echoing what she told him from their most recent encounter.
Red Robin decided to grant her request and went through who he knew in his head, first obviously being Barbara, he still wanted to try and patch that up but if tonight showed him anything, Barbara was going to have to be the one to make the first move on that. Then there was Miss Martian, but he knew her and Superboy were a thing even though they tried to hide it, then there was…
"Maybe," Red Robin stated, getting a smirk from Catwoman at his answer.
Well there you go everyone. Again I apologize for the wait time, but some good news is that I already got a jump on the next chapter. I also at some point want to go back and change up the first chapter and part of the third just cause of how similar it is to the other story and so that is in the near future too, but I'll still be working on the next chapter as well.
Please leave reviews and give me your thoughts and ideas and hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter.