Behind the Mask

Chapter 12

Robin threw himself to the floor, springing up again once the cannonball hit the wall. He backed up until he stood parallel with Artemis, who was still firing arrows, the exploding kind this time, and braced himself for another attack. He squinted into the smoke as two figures became visible, one resembling a man and the other, a woman. Both, though, didn’t look quite right.

“Who are we fighting?” Artemis screeched, more arrows flying from her bow. Robin couldn’t help but wonder how many she had in her quiver.

“No idea.” He answered her, letting another batarang fly. “But we’re sitting ducks by these tubes. Head for the exit.”

And without a pause he took off across the floor towards the door, the sound of Artemis close on his heels reassuring him to keep running. Another cannonball followed behind them as they made it to the hallway… only to run into a giant wave of water.

“Or not.” Robin decided, skidding to a halt as he watched a newly formed river flow down through the cave’s corridors. So, this was new. Batman never said anything about landscaping the inside of the cave….

A giant wave rose up and crashed into the two heroes, hurling them violently against the wall. Robin gasped as the water receded, but had no time to catch his breath as another fiery cannonball, fireball, shot at their heads. Robin grabbed Artemis’ hand and yanked her up and running. Though Robin didn’t glance behind him, he heard what sounded like a tornado of fire following them as they headed for the training room. Crazy weather we’re having today, huh?

Robin sighed in relief as the sliding doors shut securely behind him and the sounds of the fray were semi drowned out. He didn’t stop running though, but a put a finger to his ear and pressed his com link:

“Robin to Team: come in. Aqualad!”

Behind him he heard Artemis do the same. There was no response. Robin heard a snapping sound and then felt intense heat on his back before he was thrown forward by the force of the fireball that had just broken down the door. He landed heavily on his chest and saw Artemis had landed beside him with an “oof”.

They both struggled to their feet and took off running again as they were chased through the training room by the fire storm. Yeah, this would be an interesting story to tell Alfred. ‘So Master Richard, what did you do today?’ ‘Oh, you know, got chased through the cave by a giant tornado made of fire and water. Nothing new.’

Oh, but speaking of Alfred….

“Robin to Batcave: override RG-4. Cave calling Justice League: HOJ slash Watchtower, B-01. Priority: Red.” He received no response.

Robin sprinted into the showers, the doors closing behind them, and immediately ran over to the knobs and started turning them on, knowing that Artemis was copying him on the opposite wall. The water felt good as Robin walked through it, the heat from the fire tornado getting to be almost unbearable. Once done he turned to Artemis, who had drawn her bow.

“Com is down.” He told her, getting into a defensive position. “Locked.” He glanced around the room. “At least the water’s helping.”

There was a rumbling noise and the knobs burst off the wall, followed by the shower heads and tiles. The room was quickly filling up with water.

“Or not.”

Robin felt his feet leave the ground and soon he was treading water. Even sooner they were completely underwater. Robin saw Artemis’ eyes grow wide with fear and he quickly swam over to the wall, planting an exploding disk on it before backing off. It blinked three times before blowing the wall away and releasing the water in a wave.