Now Where Did That Come From?

Possession, magical healing, science gone wrong

Sometimes the team forgot just how dangerous Robin was.

He was thirteen, chipper, could be serious and chose not to be, he could look after himself, sure, but it was because of that they didn't pay attention. They didn't watch the kicks and punches and perfected martial arts, the flips and spins, the throwing of batarangs with perfect precision, they didn't see the shift between his carefree remarks and his utter focus.

Besides, he was on their side. Why would they need to pay attention?

They were paying for that now.

Kaldur got the call at about five in the afternoon. The live-in members of the team were present, beginning to decide on the plans for the night; dinner, activities, whether they'd be secluding themselves in their rooms for the evening out of teenaged boredom, the like. Batman seemed as stony as ever, but he delivered rather worrisome news.

The injustice league had attacked, or at least a portion of them. The absent members place had been filled by a few other Gotham crazies who'd broken out of Arkham. Scarecrow had been present. Batman and Robin had finished apprehending those present, but Scarecrow managed to break free for a moment and attempted to use his fear gas on someone. A civilian or a cop, who knows. Robin jumped in the way.

'Of course he did,' was Kaldur's first thought. Sure, it was instinct to protect people, but of course Robin would jump in the way. In the uniform or not, it was his nature.

His second thought was, 'why is Batman telling me this?'

He voice the second thought only.

It was not long after that the zeta tubes lit up. He didn't even have a chance to warn the team, he bolted out into the main room.

Robin was hunched slightly, staring at nothing.

"Robin?" M'Gann asked, confused as she stood form the couch, "are you okay?"

Kaldur had managed to get there by then, he stood between the team and Robin, "Batman called, he is under the influence of fear toxin."

"what?" Conner asked. M'Gann was just as confused.

"what is-"

Robin lurched, a batarang flying through the air. Kaldur dodged it at the last second, it flew by his ear.

And it distracted him.

The next thing he knew, Robin was on him. moving faster than he thought possible, hits flying, no punches pulled. A hit landed to a spot under his arm before he could defend himself and his muscles screamed. He stumbled back, one hand grabbing a water bearer, the other limp.

Conner rushed forward to get between them, M'Gann announced that she'd call the league for backup.

"Robin, what are you doing?" Conner asked, frowning at his friend. He clearly did not want to harm him, "stand down."

Robin cocked his head, seeming to re-evaluate the fight. he circled, Conner stood in front of Kaldur, a human shield.

Robin dropped a smoke bomb, disappearing into the fog. Conner tried looking for a heat signature but he moved too quick. He was gone before Conner could spot him. he didn't care, he needed to prioritise Kaldur, he seemed injured.

"are you okay?" he asked, looking at Kaldur, "what happened to your arm?"

"I think he attacked a muscle or nerve," Kaldur explained, "it is numb, but it is passing."

"good."

The lights went out.

They froze.

M'Gann flew in, "I called the league, they're on their way."

"then we'll need to handle ourselves till they get here," Kaldur said.

"It's just Robin," M'Gann said, "I mean, he's great, but what can he do against all three of us? Surely we can handle it."

Kaldur shook his head, only Conner could see it in the dark, "Robin is a considerable opponent, and we have no idea how effected by the fear gas he is. He may simply think he is fighting enemies, he may be completely unaware."

"yeah," Conner said, frowning, "CADMUS didn't have a lot of information on the league specifically, and they didn't program me with most of it. but I was taught to recognise certain heroes, Robin was one of them."

"maybe we should call Wally," Kaldur suggested, "but first we need to move, somewhere safe."

"where?"

Kaldur considered, "not sure, but we need to move."

They moved through the mountain cautiously, straining their ears and eyes for movement and sound.

Conner thought he heard someone sneaking up, he turned to find nothing. The hallways spread out into dark nothingness, anything could be hiding anywhere.

"wait," Conner held a hand out to keep them from walking, "I hear something."

A beep. Repetitive.

"bomb!"

They ducked back, running, but the explosion was set, ripping into the air in bright fiery glory. Conner held onto M'Gann in an attempt to protect her.

When they looked up, their ears ringing, they found fire licking on the sides of the hall. It wouldn't spread, the hall hadn't collapsed, it was just the remnants of the explosion.

Conner pulled M'Gann up, Kaldur struggled. Conner heard movement at the last second, too transfixed by the fire's crackle.

A shadow lurched in, hitting Conner back into the wall. He stumbled but regained his footing quickly, but he wasn't the main target.

A bolas fired and looped around M'gann's legs, the surprise and the effects of the fire had her tripping and falling, struggling to get up. Before Conner or M'Gann got their bearings again, the shadow attacked Kaldur, running, jumping, landing with his feet square on the Atlantean's chest, sending him stumbling back into the fire, Robin disappearing with him.

The beeping returned, Conner looked down to find a small explosive. He grabbed M'Gann and ran.

"Wally, get to the mountain now!" M'Gann hissed, "Robin's gone crazy, something about fear toxin-"

"what?!"

"I don't know he just appeared and attacked us!" M'Gann shrieked, running down the halls with Conner, "he blew up a room and he's taken out Kaldur, my mind link can't reach him he must be unconscious, get here, bring Artemis!"

"yeah, okay, give me a minute."

He hung up, M'Gann stuffed the phone in her pockets. Her brow was sweating and she was near-stumbling on every step.

"are you okay?"

"fine," she huffed, "we're headed for the pool."

They stumbled out into the huge room, M'Gann was breathing heavily.

"can you talk to him?" Conner asked, "enter his mind?"

M'Gann seemed unsure but she nodded, "I... I can try."

Conner guided her to the steps into the pool, she sat on the side, ankles in the water. He stayed standing at her side, watching the door, straining his ears and eyes once more for any sign of attack.

"it's so dark," M'Gann whispered.

"yeah, I, uh," Conner cleared his throat, "hadn't noticed."

"right," M'Gann smiled, "fancy super sight."

She took a deep breath and attempted to enter Robin's mind.

And then cried out, shrieking.

"M'Gann!"

She held her head, a tear running out and down her cheek. She hissed in pain, tense, Conner tried to reach out and hold her, figure out what was wrong, but she lurched away, screamed and fell unconscious.

Conner held her to his chest, panic setting in. his head whipped around as he searched for noise.

"Robin?" he heard nothing, "ROBIN?!"

Nothing.

He picked M'Gann up and carried her out, heading for her room. He managed to make it the whole way without being interrupted, he laid her down on her bed and locked the door using the computer so no one could use it but M'Gann.

Conner paced through the halls, following small sounds, the slightest squeak of shoes, a heavy exhale, the sound of a cape moving in the air.

He didn't know where he was, it seemed like it was connected to the ventilation system. There were computers. Perhaps it was the room that controlled the air inside the mountain. It was technically underground, they needed systems to ensure clean air was filtered in and the O2 concentration was correct.

He searched the corners of the room. Nothing. No one. But he could've sworn he heard someone come in here.

The door closed, locked.

Conner turned, about to break it down, when he heard a laugh. The tell tale cackle of Robin. It was inside the room. He looked around once more, staring, trying to find the source. He crept further in, the cackle had petered out. He heard no heart beats, saw no heat signatures.

He got to a chair, it sounded like it was from there, he pulled it from the desk and found a device.

An explosive one, the exact same as before.

It lit up, the cackle resounding through the room once more, then exploded.

Conner groaned, sprawled on the floor. He began to sit up, rubbing his head as his ears rang.

He couldn't breathe.

His ears roared with the sound of blood rushing through them, he heard nothing else. He choked on nothing, hands clawing at his throat as if he could find and remove something keeping him from sweet oxygen. Fire was still slinging to the odd surface, shining in the corners of his now-dewy eyes. He tried to stand but fell, head banging against a desk.

As his eyes closed the fires winked out. He fell unconscious.

"and..." Flash muttered through gritted teeth, "there! the zeta tubes are online!"

Canary sighed, relieved. Wally was vibrating on the spot, heading into the phone booth immediately. Artemis was close behind.

They walked in to find the cave dark.

"Robin?" Wally called, beside him Artemis pulled a glowstick from her quiver that she snapped over her knee then shook, filling the place with soft green light, "Robin?!"

Canary and Flash joined them in the cave.

"are the others still here?" Canary asked, frowning as she moved further into the room.

"the computer has no logs of anyone entering or leaving the mountain since Robin arrived," Flash answered.

"he may have knocked them out," Artemis said, "likely separated them to do so. They could be anywhere."

"one way to find out," Wally announced, then disappeared in a yellow blur.

"kid!" Flash called after him, then groaned in annoyance.

"don't tell me you're surprised," Canary chuckled.

Wally sped through the mountain, looking for his friend. He found him by a computer, he tackled him from behind and carried him back to the other three, all in the blink of an eye.

He dumped him in the middle of their circle of four heroes, he blinked in surprise for a moment but got his bearings quick, launching up to his feet and into he fight.

He incapacitated Flash as soon as he could. Dodging the speed runs Flash attempted, managing to get a hit to his leg that left him out of the fight for a few minutes till it healed. A few minutes was all he needed.

He attacked Artemis next. Knowing Wally wouldn't risk too much if it meant Artemis could et hurt in the process. He dodged all her attacks till he could get behind her, then stabbed down with a batarang onto her quiver, the connections snapped and it fell off her back, arrows and tools scattering on the ground. She turned to attack him, he was a shadow, a wraith, he dodged every hit and threw more back tenfold till Artemis was on the ground.

He turned and was slammed by Kid Flash. Wally and Robin rolled, both trying to get the upper hand. The issue was Wally wasn't moving with his powers, Robin had the advantage.

He kneed Wally in the groin, flipped so he held him down in a lock. It included his legs around Wally's throat, he lurched and Wally's arm dislocated, he yelped, blacking out momentarily from the pain.

And then there was one.

Canary screeched, hoping her canary cry would give her an edge. Robin tapped on something in his ears, his face not even moving. He then lurched forward to continue fighting, showing no signs of fear or pain.

He and Canary seemed a match, guessing each other's movements before they could start making them. Until Canary saw Robin land a back handspring ever so slightly wrong, his face flinching just a small amount.

A weakness. An injury. She could exploit that.

They twisted around each other, the fight moving through the mountain. Robin took advantage of every piece of the terrain, stealing knives from the kitchen, using the irregularities of the stone walls to help him gain footing to lurch at Canary, they went through the gym at one point and Robin actually threw a dumbbell at Canary.

But she got in eventually, managing a few hits that exploited the weakness she'd found. But it wasn't enough, she and Robin were both panting, both fighting with the dregs of their energy.

But he got her down. A lucky shot? A hidden plan? She didn't know. One minute she was standing the next she was unconscious.

Robin panted, muscles twitching.

Something was wrong.

Where was he? Who was he fighting? He didn't know for sure, everything seemed like tunnel vision, but with thoughts. Any time he thought he figured out what he was looking at the memory was swept away.

All he could feel, know, experience for sure, was fear. He wasn't safe, he was in danger, he was surrounded by the enemy.

How did he get out?

Those four... they'd appeared at some location... the... the tubes... with the...

The memory disappeared. But he headed to the location anyway. It had to be an entrance which could possibly become and exit.

Not long after he got there it lit up, glowing, bright, he thought he heard something but it must have been a trick because his mind forgot it immediately.

And there was a new person. Another one. A new enemy.

He was tired, he was injured, he didn't have much more gear on him. but he was in danger.

His heart was racing, he felt almost like tears were trying to break free, he couldn't place why but pure panic was spreading through him.

It only spiked as he tried to defend himself form the new arrival. They were faster, stronger and they were no where near as tired as him.

He went down, kicking and screaming, trying to hold on to consciousness, knowing he was in danger, he wasn't safe, he needed to... he needed to...

He was swept up in the black.

"how," Flash began, "in the hell," he was holding an ice pack to his legs, "did this happen?"

The few present leaguers looked to Batman.

Robin was in the med bay, on his own, cuffed to the hospital bed. Bruce wanted to be there so he could console him when he woke up. So he could explain, make him realise he was safe and that it had all been the fear gas.

But no.

The league wanted answers.

"Kaldur almost died," Aquaman said, "Conner was not much better."

"how did he..." Green Arrow stared at Bruce, "did you teach him this?"

Batman was silent. He looked at the people in the room. The mentors of these heroes they dared to call kids. They'd stopped being kids a long time ago. He didn't know how they hadn't realised that yet.

Canary stood, leant against a table, arms crossed.

"yes," Bruce answered, "I did. I taught him how to observe people and understand how they fight so as to be prepared for the possibility of facing them as an opponent."

"why would he be facing us as opponents?" Flash ground out, "he could have seriously hurt Wally!"

"it is important to have contingencies," Batman explained, "I have them for everyone on the league."

"what," Green Arrow scowled, "so we go bad, you save the world form us. You go bad, you take us all down."

"no." Batman said.

"we don't sit around wondering how best to take our friends down," Superman said, "we're a team."

"it's purely for emergencies," Batman reiterated.

"to hold us accountable," Canary said, voice dry, but not surprised, "and I suppose we take you at your word that you never use that information? that you never turn against us?"

"I have a contingency for that."

"what?" Arrow scoffed, snickering, "why am I not surprised? What is it? a perfect special weapon you can't defeat?"

Batman glared, no longer caring for this conversation.

"it's not a weapon. In fact, it's not an 'it'," he said, walking towards the med bay, "Robin is my contingency. If I am in the wrong, you can turn to him."

He walked away, those he left staring at his back in shock.