Thirteen

Chapter Three - Deception

Chapter 3

October 16, 2012

{07:04 PST}

The flight back to Mount Justice felt endless, the minutes crawling by like years. Robin sat quietly in his chair, wiping the blood off of his scraped arm tenderly. He grappled between different thoughts and theories as he gently ran the cloth over the wet, dripping blood. The color was absorbed by the rag, lightly staining his bare fingers as he went.

His thoughts continued to bump around each other within his skull. The attack, his untrusting teammates, his own mentor who was so furious with him that he couldn't believe his own protegé's word. He couldn't make sense of it, how could he possibly lie about something like this?

Robin grit his teeth out of anger and pain, his head pulsing with his heartbeat. The gash from being hit with the man's bo-staff throbbed with his growing headache. The first hit could have sent anyone normal child out cold, he had been lucky to be able to hand in there a few moments longer. He knew the blood had dribbled down through his hair and now stained his once purely white uniform. It was a sickly feeling that he knew far too well from other brutal encounters.

The boy's arm still ached from it being twisted behind himself against his will. It had been pathetic that he had caved in because of the pain he had felt, he begged for the man to let him go. Robin was furious with himself; a stranger was able to overpower him enough to force the Boy Wonder to swallow his pride and beg.

A small part of him was thankful his team hadn't been there when it happened. It was embarrassing for him to think about, let alone have his older teammates see it. His own actions made him feel weak, like a pathetic child that still struggled to hold his own under pressure.

Suddenly, the Bioship began to rock back and forth, shaking up the passengers with it. Robin dropped the wet rag he momentarily forgot about and gripped the sides of his chair until his knuckles turned white. A sickness began rising in his stomach as him and his teammates faced a forceful shaking by what felt like an invisible force playing Tug-Of-War.

His breathing quickened when his head hit the back of his chair, a sharp pain forcing a small gasp from his lips. Robin held a hand to his closed mouth as the ship finally settled back down. It returned to a smooth speed, straightening out the team inside of it.

"Sorry," M'gann said softly, "It's because of the snowstorm, she has a hard time flying in such a harsh environment."

Robin still hadn't moved his hand from his lips. He felt bile begin to rise in his throat and he quickly stood from his seat, rushing towards the back of the ship. Robin pushed his way through the organic door in the back which lead into a small medical center. Stumbling over towards the small wastebasket, Robin dropped to his knees and threw up.

Back in the front, the team looked at the door Robin so quickly left out of. The bloody rag lie in a crumbled heap before the Boy Wonder's abandoned chair, a mixture of watery blood leaking out from the cloth.

"Should someone go check to see if he's alright?" Superboy asked. He didn't sound energetic enough to go himself, but his plight didn't fall on deaf ears. Artemis shrugged a shoulder, her mystic gray eyes locked gazing out the window along with M'gann's.

Aqualad straightened in his chair, "As his teammates and friends we should. Wally, perhaps you should go because you are Robin's closest friend on this team."

Kid Flash nodded, mentally scolding his teammates for their lack of concern for their youngest teammate. Checking a friend's health was not a burden, and they had no right to imply such a thing. He kept his mouth shut, however, seeing as he wasn't innocent either. He hadn't listened to Robin's story at first, even though he should have.