Chapter 24

Not one to give up that easily, Dick lead the way to the main room of the med bay while discussing what they'd need to… borrow, from the supplies. He'd definitely need to make a note for Batman to replace pretty much everything at this point.

"Medlab, X-ray machine. You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator. It converges high energy pulses." Exactly to Wally's instructions, Dick easily finds the part he is talking about while Artemis stands watch. "Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from X-rays to EMP's with a cascading energy vector directed outward." Kid Genius instructed. Within a matter of seconds, Robin was done and extracted the part. "A ripple effect," Dick realized, "Like dropping a stone in a pond."

"A stone with 10 to the 12th wattage, yeah." Wally added jokingly. Their plan seemed pretty solid and it had worked quite well to lift everybody's spirts. "So, I'll have to hook it up to the cave's main generator." He somewhat mumbled to himself. Artemis, who had heard him, glanced somewhat concerned at the serious look on the young boy's face.

"Which is where exactly? The boiler room is a no go so…"

Dick couldn't face her as he kept staring at the part in his hands.

"Robin?" She tried again, shock clear on her face as she mentally went through all the places it could be. "Please don't say…" Realization started to hit as she understood why he had such a serious look on him despite his age. They had to go back to the hangar where the murderous androids were. "You, you can't be serious! There is no way we can-"

Dick turned to face her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Before he spoke, he removed his comm, effectively making sure the others couldn't hear what they were saying. "Artemis, listen to me." His voice was stoic and steady. Just like all those times he heard Batman command others when the situation called for it. "We only get one shot at this. No matter what happens to me, finish it."

"Robin, what do-"

"Focus! We'll need to split up. I'll go here," He pulled up a map of the hangar. He put a dot where there was a hallway that could easily reach the main generators if he climbed his way up there. On the other side was a vent that gave full view over the hangar and the bay. "While you go here. While the others distract, your job will be to give cover."

She looked at him horrified. "But I only have one arrow left, what can I do with only one when all the others had no effect on them!"

"Then figure something out! I know you can. You're smart, and you have Wally to help out if you get stuck." He gave her a soft smile and handed over his comm unit. His features softened as he gave her a genuine smile and spoke in a soft and warm tone. "This isn't a goodbye, mind you." He added as he could see tears starting to well in her eyes. "There's too much I still got to do. Heh, who else is going to make sure Batman doesn't drive himself to insanity. Or the league for that matter… Pretty sure they all need some therapy and learn how to form healthy attachments." They shared a cathartic laugh together before Artemis got up and left for her position.

Dick sat back and leaned against the bed frame. He knew full and well that half of what he said was a lie. The second the EMP works, the connection with Wally will get fried too. If it happened that somehow, the androids didn't get shut down, she would truly be on her own. As much credit as he was willing to give her, he couldn't say with the most certainty that she would handle the stress of being the last one left. He watched her break down from it just being the two of them. Would she be able to handle it being down to just her?

At least he managed to make her laugh once before splitting up. Hopefully that speech did enough to keep her level headed now.

Despite the circumstances and the extreme dangers it posed, the young boy felt an odd sense of peace. They had a solid plan. He has no doubt it'll work, the science was sound and he had all faith in his best friend to be the most annoying brat those androids will ever have the displeasure of meeting in their existence. Robin knew that well enough from personal experience.

In the back of his mind were little thoughts yelling at him how he shouldn't feel this okay about everything. There was still a major threat and he had so much left to do. A brother to find, to prove to Bruce and Alfred he hadn't imagined anything! Still, Dick was sure that would all be solved soon. This wasn't how he was going to die. He refused to let this be his end.

But even if, at least he made sure Artemis would be out of harm's way and had time to escape while the androids were busy dealing with him.

With a heavy sign and an old man's grunt, Dick got up and started making his way to his position. His mind was replaying everything that happened. Everything he knew about his enemy. Clearly the androids were somehow connected to Red Tornado and likely had similar mechanisms. He didn't know much about Tornado's contingencies but the EMP was definitely one of them. It had to work. It will work.

With practiced ease, Robin carefully made his way over to the hangar's upper level with his precious cargo. The last panel into the hallway came off quite easily. Dropping down, he crouched and tried to see if Artemis had made it to her vantage point yet. Vaguely he could see the panel of the vent was gone so she most definitely was in place. Using one of his last baterangs, he flashed the signal to her. Judging from the immediate taunts, Artemis had conveyed the message to Wally and Conner to start the distraction.

"Hey, Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend? Red Onion?" Dick had to hold back a small chuckle as he positioned the line launcher so it would connect with the hallway he was in and the tower of the main generator.

"Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever! We can escape whenever we want!" As he walked across the high tech tightrope, he had to give Connor some credit. The boy really knew how to add snark in ways he hadn't imagined the clone to be capable of. Oh how they grow up so fast.

"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can even count to two!" Dick had made it to the platform of the generator. Just a bit of climbing down and he'd be able to set it all into place.

"Ha, and you can't even drown a Kryptonian dumb bots, we don't breathe air." Wally's taunting laughter at Connors retort was just what he needed to keep his nerves calm as he got to the cell connection point. Silently opening the panel, he placed the cell into the open slot and started setting up the programming.

"And Miss Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act."

"Yeah! You know how hard it gets in the caves on Mars? All this is doing is making her homesick!"

"DUH."

There was an issue. The programming was finished but it wasn't sending out the signal. Dick pulled up the holoscreen again, a red light flashing at the bottom of the cell. The circuit's incompleted. The power can't flow through what it can't reach. He tried to fish out one of his batarangs, maybe that would be enough to connect the two power points. It should be conductible enough to work.

"ROBIN LOOK OUT!"

As he was looking through the pockets on his belt, he suddenly heard a loud growl as Artemis screamed out his name. He felt himself get pushed out of the way and a blast of fire hit right where he had been sitting. Almost right after, a massive wave crashed into him as it swept him off the platform.

He was swept down and into raging waters. No doubt the male robot was trying to shake him up and keep him under. Dick could hardly focus on anything as he kept being pushed all over the place while desperately doing his best to not let it knock the air out of his lungs.

For a second it felt like he was getting a break as he quit being thrown around like an underwater rag doll. Then the pressure of the water around him started to increase as he felt himself being squeezed from all sides. He was starting to struggle, tensing his muscles as much as he could. Through water filled ears, he faintly heard a little yip to the side. Struggling to even move, he faced the direction of the noise.

He was certain the universe just had it out for him now. As if being crushed by literal water wasn't bad enough, now in front of him swam the little green pup he had seen in the manor and in Belle Rêve. He almost let out a humorless chuckle as he stared at it. It swam a little closer to him, as if checking if the boy was okay.

Obviously he was not.

He spotted something dull and gray dangling off of the pup's collar. Not really thinking clearly, he reached out to try and get a better look. He fully expected the pup to run again or for his hand to pass through the mirage.

Only for his hand to fully make contact.

Pulling back his hand like the touch had burned him, Dick stared in shock for a second. Hesitantly, he reached his hand out again to see if he could genuinely touch the glowing animal. Just like before, Dick's gloved hand touched something solid. Joy filled his veins as he gave the pup a few pets, amazed at how he could still feel the soft fur even through his thick gloves.

His arm began to still as the pressure around him started to become unbearable. Fully forced to focus on his predicament, he felt a few air bubbles escape his mouth as it was squeezed out of his lungs. The pup seemed to notice his distress as it swam all the way up to him. It let out a whine as Dick couldn't do much except stare at it, hoping it would somehow understand he was in trouble. The pup hesitated a bit, as if waiting for permission. For what he wasn't sure but Dick used all his strength to give a little nod.

Taking that as enough of a sign, the pup put its paws on Dick's chest. As if he was suddenly in space, he felt all pressure leave his body and his muscles relax as they weren't being squeezed anymore. It almost felt like he was in zero gravity with hos weightless he felt. Confused, he looked down at a happily panting pup. It's tail wagging in glee as it was proud of helping the boy. He reached over an arm to give it a few more pets. He overshot by quite a bit as he hadn't expected to not even feel the resistance of the water around him anymore. Still he could feel the pup with no problem. With one arm, he scooped up the pup so it was fully resting against his chest. With the other, he inspected the new dangly thing on its collar. Edged quite messily on the thin metal was a name.

Cujo

Was that its name? Cujo?

Dick couldn't think much more about it as black spots started to appear in his vision. He was starting to feel a bit dizzy as he had been under water for quite a while now. With losing some precious air earlier too, he wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep it up until instinct took over and he gulped down water.

Could he even still do that right now? He didn't feel the water at all, like he wasn't interacting with it anymore. Would he still take in water or would he just gasp for nothing?

He wasn't particularly keen to find out, that's for sure.

The puppy, Cujo, seemed to notice something was wrong. It pawed at Dick's chest, right where his emblem was.

Right, he was still Robin. And he was still in a survival situation against 2 rogue androids. Faintly, he could tell the water around him was rippling upwards as some of the silt was moving in unnatural ways. He figured it was the water robot checking on him. He gave Cujo a tight, reassuring hug. The pup had done good but now it was time to give the performance of his lifetime.

Dick pushed the pup off him. The second his hands let go, he felt the sudden shock of the water around him again. The normal amount of tightness pressed on his chest again as he was reminded of how little time he had left. He let his body go limp as he was nearing the surface. He had to act like he had drowned already so the bots wouldn't suspect a thing.

He was actually starting to feel quite weak as black spots took over more of his vision. He knew for sure if they didn't take him out of the water he would drown for real. He had to let himself ragdoll with the current of the water. Even when it forcefully turned him around and he felt his head fall backwards. To keep it believable, he let a controlled few air bubbles escape. The water around him stopped moving as the bots seemed to be contemplating what to do with him.

Dread filled him as he realized they weren't going to let him out of the water pillar just yet. He did his best to remain limp but even with a lot of experience, he hadn't quite trained for long term fake drowning. It seemed all the more likely he would actually black out if this kept up.

Suddenly he felt pressure on his chest again. It felt like earlier when he was holding Cujo. The feeling of the water left him again as he could feel it stop interacting with him fully. It was like it was just passing through him rather than around him. He could still feel the heat as the fire cage around M'gann and Kaldur had also started to slowly raise the temperature of the surrounding water. For now it was still quite pleasant but he could imagine it wouldn't stay like that forever. Still, he took comfort in knowing the pup had stayed with him.

Carefully he cracked an eye open, the lenses of his mask hiding the movement. He couldn't see Cujo anywhere within his limited field of view, but he could feel the pup curled up on his chest right now. He had a feeling the pup somehow knew how to not be seen as he definitely wasn't imagining anything, Bruce.

Was this what Cujo was like with Danny too? He was sure this was the same puppy he saw back then and it listened to his brother's commands. So, what was he doing here? Was this another sign of Danny? Was this a way to prove it was him? For Dick to know Danny was out there? God he hoped that was true

"Two minutes."

It sounded so far away, the water was definitely getting warmer and thinking became harder by the second. He knew he was running out of time, fast, but he couldn't do anything. Not while the robots were still here.

Vaguely he could feel the water move him around again before darkness fully overtook him.

He wasn't sure how long he was out for, but he knew he fell hard as pain was all over his body. He might have hit his head a bit as he felt some warmth oozing from there. He coughed hard as he tried to turn himself to the side so the water would leave his mouth easier.

"He's- he's breathing too." He heard the relief in Artemis' voice as she helped him lay back down once he was done coughing. A smile crept up on his face as he turned to look at her. "Way to get traught." The archer fell back in relief as Robin coughed just a few more times. "How'd you figure it out?"

The blonde leaned back on her arms as she looked over to the main generator. "You put me in a vantage point remember. I saw you look for something before that wave hit. Wally figured there was a connection issue but-" She paused a second, some fear washing over her face for just a second as she remembered it. "He-they went under water before he could say where to find something. Figured it out on my own though." She spoke barely above a whisper but the pride she felt for her own achievement didn't go unnoticed.

Now he definitely had to talk to Oliver to get her something special. Not like the older blonde could refuse him when he asked for something anyway.

Dick stayed down for a while longer as Artemis helped Kaldur and M'gann recover as well. He was sure, had it not been for Cujo's help in the water it would have been a whole different story. Still, his body needed to readjust to being able to breathe again and have the world stop being so blurry. He felt at the side of his head where he felt the sticky warmth. Sure enough he was bleeding from a small cut. Nothing too serious, he's had worse, but Alfred would definitely insist on having a look at it later.

Once he felt good enough to stand, he went down to where Wally and Connor were still stuck in their metal confinement.

"Dude! Way to give me a heart attack!" Wally complained as Dick made his way over to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry man. I figured it was my best shot to play dead before I actually drowned. Didn't seem like they believed it all that much. Still blacked out though."

"M'gann." Connor reached out his hand as far as he could to hold the Martian's hand. She grabbed her free arm and rubbed reassuring circles on the back of his hand. "I'll be fine."

Over on the other side of the group, Artemis was struggling to get the power drill to work. "Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally remarked annoyedly. Being stuck in the same place was actual torture for a speedster like him and at this point, who knows how long he had already been stuck. "It's not working, genius. EMP shuts down all the machines, remember." The blonde snarked back.

"All machines who were present at the time." The sound of Red Tornado's voice made all the teens tense up for just a second before they saw it was the real Leaguer this time. The friendly android landed next to the group of confused teens. "What has occurred?"

Robin took the word as he glanced back at the pair of red androids behind him. "I don't know, we got a little visit from your family."

"Your extremely nasty family." Artemis cut in immediately. While he was an unfeeling android with only one solid face plating, Dick had the odd sense that even the Red hero was confused. "I was not aware I had relations."

"Where have you been?" Connor sounded half accusatory.

"Monitor duty on the Watchtower." Red Tornado replied as he started walking towards the pair of attackers. "When it became clear communications with Mount Justice were down, I attempted to investigate but your Zeta tubes were also nonfunctional." He bent down in front of the female android. "I transported to providence and proceeded here." As the hero finished speaking, Sphere started to sit awake again. M'gann assisted it in getting out of the hole it was lodged in. "Hey boy." Connor greeted as Sphere beeped contently.

The tool in Artemis' hands also came back alive as she felt the knock back from the sudden beam that shot out.

"The pulse has worn off!" Robin and Kid Flash said in tandem as they fearfully looked back towards the trio of Androids.

Red Tornado reached out to touch the female android. Right before he could make contact, a red spark flew off her. Both the female android's as Red Tornado's eyes glowed a bright red. Before any of the teens had a chance to react, the supposedly friendly android stood up and created a giant tornado under himself. Now solidly in the air, the Leaguer formed two more tornados at his arms.

"Can't breathe." Artemis whispered as she fell to her knees. All the air was being sucked away as one by one, the young heroes passed out for a second time that night.