Under the Mask

Chapter 9: No Time to Explain

-ARTEMIS-

5:30 P.M., Tuesday, Batcave (Wayne Manor, Gotham)

Artemis' sneaking suspicion was right! 

Well, probably right.

The idea that clicked in her head while they were running from the Joker was that Dick Grayson was actually Robin in disguise. 

Now that they knew Bruce Wayne was actually Batman, Dick had to be Robin, right?

Dick fumbled with the remote and pressed a green button. Artemis assumed that the button was closing the fireplace. 

They stood there in silence.

"So, since Bruce Wayne is your dad, and your dad is Batman," Artemis started, "does that mean you're-" she was cut off when they heard an explosion.

Everyone in the room took a perfect fighting stance, even Damian, though Artemis didn't know why she was surprised. The Wayne family was weird. 

Silence.

Then, footsteps. 

Artemis cursed under her breath, "How did they find the stairwell?"

Dick shrugged, "Maybe we didn't close it fast enough, and they slipped in."

"Ya don't say," the archer muttered.

"Okay, team," Aqualad announced, "the stairwell is quite long, so we have 1 minute to plan. We need to make sure the Joker and Harley Quinn don't see much of the Batcave before we knock them out. We can still save Bruce Wayne's identity."

"Got it," everyone said. 

"Superboy will stand at the doorway, read to knock out who comes out first," Aqualad continued, "and everyone else will stand or sit in front of the computers, Batman symbols and do their best to cover up anything that relates this room to Batman or the Batcave."

"Gotcha," Wally finger gunned.

"Now, we have about 30 second before they appear. Let's go!"

Everybody did their best to tidy up the loose computers, and used sheets of paper to cover up the Bat symbol. It was fortunate the the children had Kid Flash, otherwise they would never have finished before the Joker came strolling in the room.

"Now, now, what do we have he-" the villain was cut off when Superboy jumped in front of him and punched his nose so hard that he got knocked out. 

Harley could only gasp before also being knocked out by Superboy.

"That," Superboy rubbed his knucles, "was surprisingly easy."

"Well why don't we just drag these two," Dick nodded towards the two unconscious criminals, "out of here before things get harder."

"Good idea," Aqualad nodded, "let's go."