How to Lose a Bird

Chapter 3

The team hurried through the hanger and to the Bioship, which immediately reacted to Miss Martians approach. The scarlett ship opened the hatch at the back to let it's passengers in, giving off a happy aura as it was finally being used after a long period of inactivity.
Everyone sat down in their respected chairs in silence, with M'gann taking the pilot seat. But before she took off, realization was evident on her face as she turned to face the team.
"Um, did anyone receive the coordinates?" she asked sheepishly, embarrassed that she did not think of the predicament sooner. Almost all of the team looked back at her blankly, also realizing they did not receive them from Batman. Robin, on the other hand, let out a nervous laugh.
"Whoops, sorry, meant to send them to you." The ebony scratched his neck sheepishly as his other hand typed away on his holo-comouter. In mere seconds, a red dot showed up on the ships holomap.
"Thanks, Robin." M'gann said as she rose the ship off of the ground. With a steady screech of metal against metal, the hangar doors opened and the Bioship whizzed into the air. It was well past sunset, and the moon shown high in the sky, glowing brightly, illuminating the calm ocean waters and islands in the distance.
The ship veered in the direction of the coordinates, and they were soon making steady progress in getting to their destination.
Nobody spoke and they rode in comfortable silence. But, as it was in his nature, a certain speedster ruined the moment.
"So, what do you guys think the drug does? I mean, Bats seemed pretty wary of letting us go on this mission. Must be something bad."
Robin looked over at him with the 'duh' look very evident on his face.
"Almost every single drug being sold on the streets is bad. I thought you would have learned that by now." The ebony looked at the redhead smugly now, and he got a very pitiful glare in return.
"You know what I mean, Rob. Before, when we went on these kind of missions, Batman wouldn't even bat an eye."
At this, Robin almost burst out laughing. He caught what Wally had said, and it seemed that Artemis did too, as she looked on the verge of giggling as well. Wally looked on confused, until it finally hit him, and there almost seemed to be a lightbulb that appeared ontop of his head.
"No pun intended. Seriously, that was so stupid. 'Batman wouldn't even bat an eye'. Geez" Wally literally facepalmed as his lips invoulentarilly twitched upward at the pun.
"I could see what you mean, Wally. Batman did seem more...apprehensive than usual about this mission. I also wonder why that is." Kaldur suddenly spoke up, turning the conversation serious again with his monotonous voice.
Robin merely shrugged and looked to Kaldur before replying.
"It's just cause he doesn't know that much about the drug. He gets that way when he doesn't know things." The boy said nonchalantly, but couldn't help feel for himself that something else may have been bothering his mentor.
Aqualad, however, seemed tranquil with this excuse, and did not question the Boy Wonder any further. To him, the Bat was simply a mystery he would never be able to figure out.
But then, as always, Wally managed to abruptly change the subject.
"But, really, what does it even do? Like, does it make you really weak, does it make you really happy, or something else?"
    This made all of the team ponder. All of them came up with theories, but most of them seemed too far fetched, even for the universe they lived in where aliens were real and people had superpowers.
    To pass the time, they all shared their ideas as they headed for Central City. That is, all except Superboy, who refused to even think about the question and instead looked stone faced out the window.
    But as they seemed to think of all the possible uses and affects for the drug, Robin came up with a very disturbing idea.
    He managed to hack into the crime files in which the substance was involved, and saw all of the evidence that the police and Batman had gathered. Robin looked through all of this, and found a pattern in all of the cases. The only thing that troubled him was how the police and, more importantly, his mentor could miss it.
    In all of the cases, the victims had wounds that were self inflicted, and had seemingly killed themselves.
    That fact alone set one red flag off in the ebonys mind. The death seemed very similar to those of Fear Toxin victims. But, it was also similar to a drug he had very briefly run into before.
    It was simply called Rage, and made the victim angry at everything and anyone they looked at, making them attack with animalistic anger. The source of where it came from is still unknown, but I was quickly taken off the market by the Dynamic Duo. And, as far as he knew, all of it had been either used it destroyed. So, he deduced, either the original creator was back and working with Scarecrow, or some random crook who is good in science decided to make their own deadly concoction.
    After a while of thinking it through, he voiced his thoughts.
    "I think it might be a variant of Scarecrows Fear Toxin. It shows signs of being similar, but the victims of this drug seem to have died faster than those killed by the Fear Toxin. And, if my suspicions are correct, it may also have some trace of a Rage Toxin that Batman and I stopped from going global."
    The whole team thought about it for a moment, and they all silently agreed that this was the best answer to their question. And as Kaldur was about to speak again, Robin continued.
    "But if I am right, this is very dangerous."
    All of the team, excluding Superboy and M'gann who was piloting the ship, gave the boy a confused look.
    "How? We all know that the Fear Toxin is dangerous, but we have antidotes for it. And this 'Rage' thing doesn't sound that bad." Artemis said, and the rest of the team nodded in agreement. All but Robin, that is.
    "You don't understand. Rage was a dangerous drug on its own, making people angry enough to kill, and almost nobody could break through the hold it had on them when injected. Now combine that with Fear, and we've got a very bad situation."
    "How bad?" Wally asked. Robin looked at him with a neutral yet concerned expression.
    "Let's just say anyone who has this in their system would not be feeling very distraught. Very heavy on the 'dis'"
    With this being said, all of the team fell into a concerned silence. Fear and anxiety filled the air, and seemed to affect the ship itself, as the lights dimmed slightly.
    Finally, after a long period of silence, they arrived to their coordinates. The Bioship switched to comouflage mode, and flew silently to a small medow in which they could land. With an almost inaudible thud, the ship landed and it's hatch opened.
    All of the team flooded out of the ship and stood for a moment, examining their surroundings, before those who needed to switched to Recon mode. Aqualads shirt became entirely black, and Kid Flash's suit turned black from the middle of his chest outward, covering his entire suit, including his goggles.
"Link online. Is everyone here?" Miss Martian asked telepathy, and got a chorus of 'yes's and 'yeah's in return.
"Okay, what's the plan?" Artemis said as they made their way closer to the intended destination.
"Miss Martian and Robin will get as close as they can without being detected while Artemis and I stay farther back in the brush. Superboy, Kid Flash, you will stay even farther back and act as back up if any one of us is spotted. We will notify you if that happens. Everyone clear?" Aqualad stated stoically, and everyone nodded their heads in his direction. He nodded curtly back, and led the way into the woods towards the meeting point. 
    Once close enough, Aqualad motioned for Miss Martian and Robin to disappear. Miss Martian turned invisible and flew off, while Robin melted into the shadows with a smirk evident on his face. 
    The Atlantian then gestured for Kid Flash and Superboy to stay put where they are, and they immediately followed the order, moving to find more cover in the underbrush.
    Artemis and Aqualad continued slightly further until they spotted a faint light in the distance. Both slowed their approached to a stealthy walk as they got closer.
    At the edge, they saw a large medow that was void of any trees, and seemed generally out of place for such a thick forest. Even the small medow they landed the Bioship in had smaller trees scattered in the long grass.
    Looking closer, they saw a tent that had been pitched recently, with a large truck beside it. Inside the tent they could see the silhouette of two men walking about, seemingly working with unknown materials.
"We have a visual. Robin, M'gann, are you in position?"
"Yes, I am hiding beside the truck. No one seems to notice my presence yet." M'gann replied cheerfully. Not waiting for Robin to answer, Aqualad spoke again.
"Are they speaking to each other at all?"
    There was a moment of silence, then a feeling of disappointment was sent through the link.
"They are talking, but I am not sure what they are saying. Can you hear them Robin?"
    For a tense moment, nothing was heard over the link. Then, just as Aqualad was about to address Robin again, he spoke.
"Yeah, I can hear them. Nothing important so far." was his simple reply. Everyone seemed content with this answer, and the mind link went silent.
     Robin, who was hidden from the shadow the tent made, listened intently to what the men were talking about.
    Most of it was just mindless conversation about sports, cars, and recent crimes they had committed. It was boring, to say the least. Then, after what seemed to be an eternity of talking about football scores and quarterbacks, the conversation took an interesting turn.
    "So, you hear what the boss wants to do with this stuff?" and older man, possibly in his forties, said.
    "No, and I don't really care, I just want the money." the other man, younger, possibly in his twenties, replied gruffly. 
"Stand by team, I may have something." Robin communicated from the mind link, and a wave of excitement from the others filled his mind.
    "Well you should, cause it could get us even more dough than we are getting paid now."
    There was a pause, and the older man took that as his que to continue.
    "Boss wants to use this stuff on the Justice League. Says that he wants to kill all of 'em, even the kid league. And if he doesn't succeed the first time, he will have to come to us for more."
    Without hesitation, Robin communicated back what he just heard. A small ripple of fear was sent back, but Robin continued to listen intently.
    "Yeah, you're right. And we will just happen to up the price on the stuff." the younger man spoke, malicious glee lacing his voice.
    Then, before anything else could be heard, the sound of a car engine was steadily approaching. The whole team heard it, and they subconsciously shrunk back in their hiding places, making themselves even more hidden than before.
Inside the tent, the two men were heard frantically scuttling around, occasionally cussing after the sound of glass shattering. They had heard the engine along with the team, and were now in a state of panic trying to get everything ready for their buyer. After all, before they had heard the engine, they were just messing around with some other chemicals.
After a while of cussing, glass shattering, and frantic footsteps, the two men emerged from the tent carrying a large wooden crate between them.
"Does everyone have a visual?" Robin asked through the link, and everyone confirmed that they did.
And as the men came into the moonlight, Robin saw that his estimates were right. One of the men was older and had light brown hair that was graying slightly, and a poor excuse for a moustache. He was heavily built, but it looked to only be the work of steroids, and not actual physical workout. The other one looked to be younger, but was very simmiliar to the older. This made the Boy Wonder think it was a father-son drug operation.
The sound of the engine gradually grew louder, and the men put the crate on the ground and looked in the direction of the oncoming automobile.
Shortly after, a pair of headlights burst through the shadows of the trees, illuminated the field before it. Ever so slowly, a large truck rolled out into the open. It looked old and rusted, and about ready to fall apart at any minute.
Its lights were directed over the two drug dealers, but luckily missed Robin in his crouched position. The ebony let out an inaudible sigh of relief at this.
The truck then stopped, and the engine was abruptly cut. The headlights, however, we're left on, still lighting the drug duo, who now looked nervous beyond belief. This fact made the ones in close range believe the people in the car were rather well-known and fearsome.
Robin then took a closer look at the truck, trying to see if he could identify it from anywhere. Obviously it was very old and used, but the model seemed unfamiliar to him. But there was small detail that sent alarms off. In the back of the truck were several bales of hay. It could have just been a disguise so the truck would look like it was from a farm, or something significantly more sinister.
The boy was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard two slams of the trucks doors. Watching carefully, he tried to identify who they were from his position in the shadows of the tent.
"Can either you or M'gann identify the buyers?" Aqualad asks through the mind link, and M'gann answers for Robin.
"No, I can't see their faces. They do not look familiar to me, though."
Robin chose not to respond, and instead studied the scene unfolding in front of him very carefully.
The two other figures had yet to step into the light, but something about one of the figures set Robin on edge. It was a male, that much was for certain. He had a heavily built body, but instead of looking useless, he looked as though he knew how to use his muscles. His stride was confident, and the longer Robin looked at him, the more unease krept into his system.
Then, finally, the figures stepped into the light, both glaring daggers at the other two men. Robins breath hitched as he finally saw the figure that made him so uneasy. Now he knew why.
"Scarecrow..." The ebony breathed through the mind link, but he didn't mean to. Immediately, fear and unease rippled through the Boy Wonder mind, and he was now contributing to the jumble of emotions.
"Wait, THE Scarecrow? I thought this was just some random drug deal?!" Artemis screeched through their minds, panic very evident in her voice.
"This is so not whelming." Robin muttered, and for once no one commented on his language. All of them seemed too shocked to reply coherently.
"We should contact the League. They would want to know about this." Aqualad finally replied after a moment of silence, and Wally was the first one to reply.
"No way Kaldur! We can handle this! As long as this stays recon, we will be absolutely fine. And, if it does come down to a fight, we have the numbers on them!"
"He does have a point." Conner replied, finally contributing something other than a grunt to the conversation.
    After a second of pondering, Aqualad spoke.
"Alright. We shall stay. But if anything gets out of hand, we WILL call the League, understood?" He commanded, and everyone agreed.
But Robin was still uneasy. Something about the villains stance did not feel right, as if he knew something that nobody else did.
And, before the Boy Wonder could voice his concern, Scarecrow turned to face the exact spot where Robin was located, and a tense air filled the mind link. Most of it came from M'gann, who was closest, but some was from the others as well.
Robin held his breath as he waited for Scarecrow to point him out, and he could feel his team mates do the same. Those who were aware of the predicament, at least.
A large grin spread across the villains face, and all the other people looked in the direction he was looking, confusion written on their faces. They could not see the bird hidden in the shadows, and therefore were puzzled to why Scarecrow looked there.
"You are good at hiding your fear, little bird, but not good enough."
With these words, Robin knew he was found out. Deciding not to delay the inevitable, he crawled out of the shadows and into the moon light. The three other people looked suprised, and he could see that they tensed at the young boys presence.
    As he felt his team getting ready to attack, he spoke.
"Don't reveal yourself. He might think it's just me and Batman, and could be caught off guard if we attack at the right time."
This seemed to put them at ease, but they were still ready to pounce at any sign that their bird would be in immediate danger.
But, even so, Robin was confident he could get out of this himself, without any help. In fact, he felt sort of obliged to, in order to prove his worth to the team for a final time. He knew that they all thought of him as a vital part of the team, but there was a small part of himself that still doubted it.
And this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to try to prove himself yet again.
But instead of proving it to his team, he more so wanted to prove it to himself.

HOLY CRAP 3058 WORDS THAT IS AMAZING FOR ME. IM SO PROUD OF MYSELF. 〃＾▽＾〃

See Ya in the next chapter!

~BluePinetree