Artemis got unsteadily to her feet. Her head was spinning and her vision kept flickering with little fireflies. Her back ached from where it had slammed into the tree and for the first time since they’d been missing, she was glad she didn’t have her bow and quiver – the blow would’ve smashed them. The archer ran a hand across her eyes, attempting to forcefully clear her vision as she blinked rapidly, trying to locate the source of the light beam that had hit her. A quick survey of the area found nothing. Nothing, and no one, meaning –
“Robin!” Artemis’s eyes widened, her stance becoming panicked as she yelled. “Robin! Robin!” There was no answer.
She tried her com-link, only to be met with static on Robin’s channel. The mental link was down as well as Miss Martian was out of range.
“He’s gone.”
Artemis spun around at the sound of the voice. Superboy was making his way out of the trees, his face a mask of anger and his fists clenched like he wanted to punch something. Hard.
“What?”
“Atomic Skull,” Superboy growled. “The guy that looks dead. He shot him with his light beam thing and then disappeared.”
“Wait, he took,” Artemis paused, scared to finish her sentence, “Robin?”
Superboy nodded, his knuckles cracking as he glared at a spot on the ground, probably where Robin had last been.
Artemis felt her heart speed up and her fingers grow cold as the realization that Robin was kidnapped finally sunk in. She hadn’t been able to protect him. Cadmus had succeeded. Robin was in the hands of the enemy and was probably being taken to be prepped for experimentation at that very moment. She could feel herself on the verge of a panic attack, maybe a mental breakdown -
No. She wasn’t going to let that happen. Not while she still stood. If the experience with the Red’s had taught her anything it was that curling up in a ball and crying for the world not to be like it was wasn’t going to help anyone. Robin needed her now and she had to be strong. She was a trained assassin. There was still hope. He’d only just been taken. There was no way Atomic Skull could be more than five minutes away from them as it was impossible to maneuver any type of aircraft through the forest.
“Superboy,” Artemis turned to the clone. “Which way did Atomic Skull go?”
“North, I think.” The Kryptonian’s face was still screwed up in anger. “But he, he just disappeared. One minute he was there and then he wasn’t.”
Artemis frowned. That sure put a damper on her idea. But maybe….
“Artemis to Batman.” The archer put her finger to her ear, switching to the correct channel.
“Batman here.”
“It’s Robin, he’s been kidnapped.” Artemis could hear the throaty growl that travelled through her earpiece. “It was Atomic Skull. Superboy said he went north but disappeared before he could be followed.”
“I’m tracking your coordinates. I’ll be there soon. I have a tracker on Robin that will lead me to his location.”
“No.” Artemis was only slightly surprised by her outburst. She was an assassin. “Skull will be long gone before you catch up to him. Besides, the League needs you and Superman right now. We’re closer than you. Have Kid Flash bring us the tracker and we’ll go after him.”
There was a long pause before finally:
“Fine, but if he leaves the vicinity report back immediately. I’ll send the Flash to assist you as soon as we can spare him.”
“Right.”
“And Artemis: be careful.”
Then the signal was cut.
Artemis took a deep breath, her hand slowly falling from her ear to her side. This was it. Batman was trusting her, her, the ex-assassin whose father was Sportsmaster. He trusted her to save Robin, his protégé, and to bring him back before it was too late. She knew that if she failed, how little a chance there might be of Batman ever finding him. How long until someone found the tracker? Once they did, Robin would disappear. If Batman hadn’t managed to locate this ‘Cadmus’ yet, how likely was it that he would anytime soon?
Artemis mentally shook herself, steeling her mind and body for the task ahead. She’d been trained in this since she was little; she knew what she was doing. Turning to Superboy she said:
“Wally will be here soon with a tracker. Then we’ll pursue Robin.”
Superboy nodded and almost before he was finished there was a flash of bright colors and Kid Flash stood in front of them, panting slightly, his right arm still suspended in the green make-shift sling Artemis had tied around it. His uniform was still in camouflage mode but Artemis could see the mud that was plastered across the front and back along with that that was caked into his fiery hair. His face was smudged with dirt and he looked near exhaustion yet his features were hard as stone and the archer could tell he was worried about his friend.
“Here,” Kid Flash reached out his good arm and dropped a small device into Artemis’s hand. “I also brought you these. GA thought you might need them.” The speedster reached behind his back pulled off her bow and quiver, which was fully stocked with her arrows.
“Thanks.” Artemis said, her voice coming out hoarse as she found some sort of lump in the back of her throat.
“I would come with you,” Kid Flash started, looking slightly downwards. “But Flash won’t let me, cause of my arm.” He absently fingered the green cloth hanging from his neck.
Artemis just nodded, taking her weapons. She slung the quiver behind her back and pulled the straps over her shoulders, her bow remaining resting in her left hand. She reached behind her and experimentally drew and arrow from the quiver, swiftly bringing it to rest on her bow before she drew the string taught and sighted down the shaft. Satisfied, the archer replaced the arrow, aware of the boys watching her every move.
“Ready Supey?” Artemis asked, shouldering her bow as she turned her attention to the tracking device, the screen showing a small red dot slowly moving away from a stationary blue dot on a gridded map.
Superboy nodded and Artemis was about to take a step forward when a gloved hand came to rest on her shoulder.
“Bring him back, okay?” Kid Flash said in a low voice, quite unlike his usual tone.
Artemis just nodded dumbly, watching the redhead’s eyes as they glared into hers. It was… rather disconcerting. His green eyes were sparking fiercely and the archer could only imagine how hard it was to leave the fate of his best friend in someone else’s hands while he sat back and did nothing. Especially if that someone was the one person in the world he hated.
“And Artemis?” She looked up. “Don’t die.”
oOo
Robin’s world was a haze of pain. His eyes flashed open only to be squeezed shut again as the flashing of colors before his eyes made him nauseous. He struggled to force his mind to think, despite wanting nothing more than to pass out again. Slowly he became aware of being continuously and painfully jostled, each bump causing pain to fly across his chest. Gritting his teeth he mentally ran over his current position, finally deducing that he was lying across a broad shoulder of a jogging figure. With this realization the events of the past... however long it had been came rushing back.
Atomic Skull. He’d shot Artemis. And then…. He must’ve shot him as well and then grabbed him and ran. With this deduction came a sudden speeding up of Robin’s heart as fear-induced adrenaline shot through his body. He immediately began struggling, attempting to dislodge himself from his perch on the shoulder but soon found both his legs and arms were tied tight at his wrists, ankles, elbows and knees – his arms behind his back; Skull wasn’t taking any chances. He was screwed until either they released him somewhat or someone came to save him.
The figure carrying him, most likely feeling his movements, tightened his grip and called: “Skull, he’s awake.”
Robin winced at the sound of the voice right next to his ear. It was low and scratchy and sounded like a rock being dragged across concrete by an old cart with squeaky wheels.
“Gag him.” This voice came from farther away and was hollow sounding with a weird, almost echo effect. “We’re almost there, but I don’t want to take any chances. Superman is in the vicinty after all.”
A rough hand latched onto Robin’s hair and he felt his head being yanked backwards until he was staring into the face of a large, muscular man with blonde hair and a mustache; he actually kind of resembled Oliver Queen in a weird, Viking-ish way. Before Robin’s sluggish body had a chance to react, a strip of cloth was shoved roughly into his mouth and tied off behind his head, catching some of his hair in the process. The cloth tasted like blood and sweat and Robin tried not to think about where it’d been.
Once the cloth was secure the small acrobat was hefted unceremoniously back over the mustached man’s shoulder and he continued running at the slow, bumpy jog.
They continued on like that for… Robin couldn’t keep track. His headache from earlier returned full force and each bump sent shockwaves of pain through his skull not to mention that his shoulders started to burn from the position the bonds on Robin’s elbows forced them into. If his shoulders hadn’t been double-jointed, he was sure they would have been dislocated by the bumps. The cuts on his chest from Poison Ivy’s plants bit painfully as well, though thankfully whatever Artemis had given him had halted the effects of the poison. His ankle also hurt, though only dully for which Robin was thankful. He was just glad Skull didn’t make him run on it.
Robin struggled to keep his eyes shut as the sight of the ground hurtling by beneath him did nothing to help his headache. He was glad they hadn’t taken off his mask, but he soon found that they had taken his gloves, belt and com-link. His boots were still on, but tied together as his legs were - about all he could do with them was attempt to kick his holder by flopping like a dying fish. Somehow he doubted that would be very affective.
Robin knew that in his current position he had virtually no chance of escaping so, to try relax his body, as he soon found that his previous outburst had caused the cuts on his chest to start bleeding again, he began to slowly recite the digits of pi as far as he could remember. Once he reached the end of his knowledge he would begin counting backwards, focusing his brain on the numbers, keeping it from thinking too far ahead into what might result if he wasn’t rescued.
“Seven, zero, six, seven,” He thought, wishing, for once, that his thoughts were being projected through the mind-link. «Nine, eight, two, one,»He subconsciously switched to Romany, continuing in that until suddenly the jostling stopped.
Robin cracked his eyes open, relieved to find the ground stationary as it should be. He felt his body moving as the Mustache lifted him off his shoulder by the back of the acrobat’s cape. He was then swung around before being deposited, rather roughly, against a tree. He quickly slouched, not wanting to put anymore strain on his aching shoulders, before something, it felt like a belt, was wrapped around his chest, securing him tightly to the tree. Blinking, Robin lifted his head and looked around, his Bat-senses kicking in as his brain began analyzing escape routes.
They were in a clearing, similar to the one where the Injustice League’s base had been, only smaller and the surrounding forest seemed denser. In the middle of the clearing there was a helicopter of some sort, painted a murky black-brown color, probably to blend in with the landscape. It was off, the blades still and the engine silent. There were two men on top of the helicopter near an opening where a bunch of wires and machinery was visible. Another man was climbing down the copter’s side near where Atomic Skull now stood. All the men were dressed in black, non-descript clothing with black helmtes and had guns strapped across their backs and at their hips.
Mustache stood a few feet from Skull, his back to Robin and a gun in his right hand. Though Robin couldn’t see his face, he could tell Atomic Skull was angry as he watched the approach of his unfortunate henchman.
“I told you to be ready for lift off as soon as I arrived.” Skull growled, his voice low, though the same tone as last time he’d spoken.
“Sorry boss.” The henchman apologized, his voice sounding muffled and slightly crackly and Robin guessed there was a microphone inside the helmet catching his voice and projecting it outside. “When we landed, we clipped one of the blades on the trees. The men fixed it but we’re still trying to get the engine back up again; it cut out once the blade broke.”
“Move faster!” Skull demanded, his voice still barely rising above what it had been. “Once the League notices I’m missing they’ll be on our tail. The speedster could catch up to us in a minute if not less.”
“Yessir.” The henchman, obviously in charge of the others, nodded. “We’ll be out of here as soon as possible.” Then he turned and quickly headed back up the ladder as Skull turned as well and made his way back over to Mustache.
“Sir.” Mustache stood, his right hand lazily swinging his gun back and forth.
“How’s the boy?” Skull asked, his eyes roving to Robin briefly before flickering back up.
“He’s okay.” Mustache too turned to look at the acrobat. “Though I think Poison Ivy got him with her vines.”
“I need him alive, that is all. Though Ivy should know what damage her poison can do.” Skull’s eyes returned to Robin again and he shuddered slightly as they raked over his body.
“I believe the poison has been halted for the time.” Mustache said, running his left hand over his gun.
“Still, Ivy shouldn’t have been so reckless.”
So, Poison Ivy was working with ‘Cadmus’ too? Robin scrunched his face up as his brain processed the information. Atomic Skull and Mustache continued to talk but a sudden pulsating of pain caused Robin’s brain to drown out the words. He tried to focus his thoughts and keep himself calm, reminding himself that, although his belt and gloves were taken, he still his tracker so Batman would find soon, right?
“-McGrubsnic took them down-”
“-Shouldn’t interfere-”
“-Don’t know-”
“-Secretive-”
“-Injustice League… a front-”
“-Count Vertigo-?”
“-Another Count-”
“-Knights from Coruscant-”
“-Connecting Signal, sir-”
Robin leaned his head against the rough bark of the tree, snippets of conversation permeating the haze surrounding his consciousness, but ever so slowly the effects of the anti-poison were wearing off and he couldn’t bring himself to concentrate on what they were saying. He knew that now was an ideal time to try to free himself, but his limbs felt sluggish and nothing was concrete in his mind. Maybe the poison was beginning to take affect again.
Suddenly Robin felt a tug on the back of his cape and felt his body being lifted in the air. He was momentarily airborne and then was deposited back on the ground, something still latched onto his cape holding his limp body up. Robin forced his eyes open, coming to face to face with a holographic screen of blackness. He screwed his eyes up in confusion, trying to get his brain to process this new information when a voice spoke, high and bone-chilling and crazy:
“Hello Robin.” The voice laughed, and Robin blinked rapidly while swiveling his aching head, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
“I’m right here, in front of you.” The voice giggled. “You should be able to see me, but apparently we’re suffering from poor reception.”
Robin stared at the black holo screen, the voice apparently emanating from within.
“I can see you, though,” The voice continued. “And a very interesting sight it is. I just can’t wait to get my hands on you and see what will become.”
At this, Robin shuddered, unconsciously drawing in on himself as he made the realization that this was the person who was after him – who’d been chasing him since he’d escaped from Cadmus Labs. This was the scientist, if he could be called that, who’d authorized whatever procedure they’d performed on him and the one who wanted to finish said procedure.
“Hmm, yes, you are a good one to be sure.” The voice was still talking in the creepy, high pitched tone usually associated with the insane, coming through hidden speakers with strange crackling sounds accompanying it. “Trained by the Batman, an acrobat since practically birth. Rather small, but that will be fixed soon enough. Young and impressionable, influential….”
Robin’s mind had stopped. ‘Acrobat since nearly birth’…. This man knew his secret identity; knew who he was, who Batman was. But how? There were only a handful of people who knew and none of them would willingly tell. He hadn’t heard of any Leaguer’s that had been captured and he would’ve been one of the first to know if something had happened to Wally….
“According to my calculations,” The voice continued, now seeming to be talking to itself instead of Robin. “The DNA is still activate-able despite how long it’s been, though I fear the cloaking feature is wearing off. No matter, all will work out, yes, all will work out. Good good good….”
DNA? Now Robin’s throbbing mind was overrun with a hundred other thoughts. This had to do with DNA? Had they injected him with some kind of DNA? But Batman scanned him hundreds of times and there had been nothing. But cloaking feature… he’d said something about a cloaking feature. Was it even possible to shield DNA from being discovered? Then why hadn’t Robin suddenly developed wings and fangs and an eight pack? Well, not that he didn’t already have amazing abs, of course….
“Alright, alright, that is good. Bring him and don’t delay. I’ve been waiting for this for far too long. Now if you’ll excuse, I have a rather important something or other to do because I am sick of seeing your ugly faces.”
And then the holo screen disappeared.
Robin’s head was pounding as all the new information danced around in his head, causing his brain to feel nauseous, if that was even possible. It felt like all the information was having some sort of tribal celebration around a campfire, chanting nonsense and banging his brain cells together like drums. And he was going crazy on top of all that; great.
He barely registered being picked up again and deposited back against the tree, the belt once again secured around his chest, this time digging into his cuts. He was vaguely aware of talking above him but he couldn’t decipher the words or meaning. He felt himself slowly loosing grip on his thoughts, his mind beginning to play tricks on him as he watched little DNA strands dance around his burning brain cells with Wally sitting in the flames singing My Heart Will Go On.
And then suddenly, something blew up.
oOo
Artemis clutched the tracker tightly as she jogged through the forest, wishing for what she hoped was the only time in her life that she was Wally. Or at least had his speed. Superboy jogged along behind her, his face stony as he stared straight ahead, nothing but determination showing on his features. Artemis figured he felt guilty over what had happened, maybe even blaming himself, judging from his actions and how he’d seen Robin get kidnapped in the first place. The archer wasn’t sure whether his beliefs were well-grounded or not, but didn’t give time to think over the matter and only hoped his guilt wouldn’t cause him to do anything too rash.
“How close are we?” Superboy growled, his eyes remaining locked on the forest ahead of them.
Artemis glanced down at the tracker, taking in the map, the dots and the key at the bottom. They’d been jogging for a good ten minutes, too long in Artemis’s opinion, and she was beginning to wonder what was holding the Flash up. Of course she was confident in her and Superboy’s abilities, but they had very little, if any, knowledge of who they were dealing with and, as much as the archer hated to admit it, she actually wanted help, if only for Robin’s sake.
“We’re within five hundred meters,” She told the clone, looking up from the tracker and brushing a piece of muddy hair out of her face before reaching behind her and pulling out her bow.
“Then we’re getting there now!”
Artemis didn’t have to time to ponder the odd exclamation as next thing she knew, a large, muscled arm wrapped around her waist her feet left the ground and Superboy leaped clear of the trees, sailing high over the forest. Artemis felt the air leave her lungs at the sudden increase in speed and height and quickly regretted eating before the mission.
As they sailed downwards, the archer tried to brace herself for the impact, thinking it would probably be hard enough to knock her teeth out and give Gotham Dental another denture patient. They were ten feet from the ground and Artemis squeezed her eyes shut, clenching her jaw in hopes of maybe clamping her teeth in place, but the impact, while rough, seemed to be absorbed mostly by the ground as a giant crater formed around them as they hit. And why hadn’t they done this earlier? Superboy set her down before spinning around and knocking a man in a black helmet and some sort of stealth suit fifty feet into a tree.
Artemis shook her head, trying to take in the situation before it took her in. They had landed in a clearing: small, and home to a helicopter and black clothed men in motorcycle helmets. Artemis quickly located Atomic Skull, who was currently firing brain-beams or whatever they were at Superboy. The clone was yelling like Tarzan and smashing things left and right and Artemis almost wished she’d taken Kid Flash instead. Almost.
Superboy was actually doing a fairly decent job of ridding the field of competition, which left the archer free to find Robin. Maybe she should give the clone more credit in the brain cell department. Artemis drew an arrow and nocked it in her bow, jumping out of the mini crater as her eyes roamed the clearing, passing over five or six helmet-men, a man who looked strangely like Ollie-turned-Viking and Atomic Skull before coming to rest on a small boy tied to a tree.
The archer sprinted over, smacking a helmet-man in the gut with her bow when he got in the way. Reaching Robin she slid to a halt, collapsing to her knees as she lifted his head to see if he was conscious. She ripped the gag out of mouth as he started mumbling.
“Don’ worry, W’lly, m’eart will g’on.”
“Robin!” Artemis snapped, confused, amused and worried at the same time. “Robin, it’s me, Artemis. Are you awake?”
“Mm, ‘temis?”
“Yeah, Artemis. Hey, listen, you gotta stay awake, okay?”
Artemis quickly assessed his condition as best he could. The front of his uniform as well as the belt circling his chest was stained red, or a darker red in his shirts case, with blood and Artemis could see the gashes through the tears in the fabric. His face was covered in dried mud and guck but she could make out bruises forming on his cheek and under his eye. His injured ankle looked the same, still in the right position, but with his boot on, there was no way to tell what damage there was.
“You’re not looking to great, Wonder Boy.” Artemis muttered, brushing strands of hair off his masked eyes.
“Yeah, well,” Robin panted, finally sounding coherent. “You can tell yer sis’er that her s’uff doe’n’t work.”
Artemis gave him a weird look until she remembered: poison. Robin was poisoned. With the amount of time that had passed since she’d given him the anti-poison it had no doubt worn off and the acrobat was beginning to feel the full effects of the poison. It would explain the delirium at least.
This information on the forefront of her mind, Artemis reached around behind Robin and the tree and began undoing the belt that held the boy in place. Once he was free, Robin slumped forward and would’ve probably ended up face-planting into the ground if Artemis hadn’t caught him. She slowly eased him back up into a sitting position and before pulling a knife out of her belt and proceeding to cut through the ropes encircling his wrists. As the ropes fell away, Artemis saw that they’d rubbed open the previous cuts and that Robin’s bare wrists were slowly oozing blood.
Once she’d finished cutting through all the ropes she leaned the boy back up against the tree, him not having said a word the whole time. Artemis replaced the knife in her belt and pulled out instead a small roll of gauze and a tube of antiseptic ointment. Artemis cautiously unscrewed the cap, not really sure how the whole disinfecting thing work as she usually skipped that part or someone else did it for her but she didn’t want Robin dying of infection because of any stupidity on her part. The archer squeezed out some of the clear goop and gently spread it on Robin’s skinny wrists, hoping that her hands weren’t too dirty. She considered trying to rub some on his chest too, but she wasn’t sure how it would react with the poison. Why hadn’t she paid more attention when Green Arrow taught her about this?
Once Robin’s wrists were slimy with antiseptic Artemis carefully wound gauze around them. She was just about to move onto his ankle when a shout sounded behind her:
“Watch the archer! She’s freed the boy!”
Crap, Artemis thought, standing up and positioning herself in front of Robin, bow taught as a helmet-man and Ollie the Viking charged towards her. She released three arrows in rapid succession, one successfully trapping the helmet-man in polyurethane foam. The other two were dodged by the Viking-man and hit the ground harmlessly behind him. Artemis reached for another arrow and fired it as well but this one was batted away by the Viking’s metal-encased wrist.
Artemis reached for an arrow but thought better of it, instead holding her bow out in front of her like a staff. Once Ollie-Viking got close enough she delivered a hard smack to his head. He shot out a fist at her and she ducked, bringing up her bow to block before driving her knee into his solar plexus. He stumbled back, pausing for a moment before going at her again, his tree-trunk arms swinging like clubs.
“Can’t you see I’m busy here?” Artemis growled under her breath, ducking blows as she was slowly pushed backwards, almost on top of Robin. As she reached up to block a hit with her bow, another giant fist came hurtling through her peripheral vision making a beeline for her head. Artemis braced herself for the hit, knowing there was no way she would be able to block with bow her hands on her bow, when suddenly, Ollie the Viking wasn’t there anymore.
“Need a hand?” Flash was suddenly standing in front of the archer, grinning and brushing off his hands as he glanced briefly behind his back. Artemis peered over his shoulder and saw the Viking-man crumpled against a tree, appearing to be out cold.
“Mini-Supes is taking out Skull’s cronies,” Flash announced, his smile gone. “That’ll buy us time to get him outta here.”
Artemis blinked, glancing back at Robin as her brain struggled to catch up. “O-okay, but what about Skull?”
“Superboy will take care of him too.”
The archer nodded, watching briefly as a Helmet-man slammed into a tree before returning her attention to her teammate. Flash was already crouched down inspecting Robin, his hands a blur as he gently ghosted over the boy’s injuries. Once he seemed satisfied he’d found everything, the speedster reached down and lightly picked up the acrobat, cradling him in his arms like a bride. If men even carried their brides anymore; Artemis had no idea.
“Let’s go.” Flash straightened, Robin still clutched in his arms. “Supes’ll catch up when he’s finished here. I need your help with him.”
“Right.” Artemis collapsed her bow and stowed it away. Flash had already disappeared into the woods, but Artemis could still hear him, meaning he wasn’t using his super-speed. The archer threw one last glance at Superboy, hoping he would be able to handle Atomic Skull by himself, before running off into the woods as well.
A little ways in, Artemis found Flash kneeling on the ground in front of Robin, the boy propped up against a tree, his masked eyes closed. The speedster appeared to be inspecting the boy’s bandaged wrists and Artemis winced, hoping she’d done a reasonable job. Flash seemed satisfied with her job, for which Artemis inwardly sighed in relief, and moved down to inspect Robin’s injured ankle.
“How is it?” Artemis asked, crouching down beside the man.
“Hard to tell with the boot on,” Flash replied, his words coming out fast but clear, something Wally hadn’t yet managed to accomplish. “It’s definitely sprained – you can tell by the swelling – and probably broken, but not too bad. I’d take the boot off to be sure, but I’d rather have it stabilizing the injury if I have to run him back.”
Artemis nodded.
“I’m gonna go find some sticks to splint it with.” The speedster announced, standing up quickly. “You stay here; talk to him, try to keep him awake. That poison’s gotta be doing a number to him.” And then the speedster was gone. Artemis was tempted to roll her eyes, but decided that now wasn’t the time.
“Hey, Rob,” Artemis started, squinting into his masked eyes that appeared to be closed. “You awake?”
The reply took a moment to come: “I th’inkso.”
“Okay, uh, how do you feel?”
“’Mgl’r’igh’ow.”
“What?” Artemis moved her ear closer to his mouth.
“I said: I’m glaring right now. Tha’s a stupid qu’stion.”
“Oh,” Artemis sat back on her feet, feeling stupid. It was probably all these protective instincts running through her body, bemusing her brain and addling her senses. Someone needed to go in there and knock her mind upside the head. Maybe Superboy when he was done taking care of Skull….
“’temis, Ar’emis, did you ‘ear me?”
“Wha-?”
“Call Ba’man. Tell ‘im to disable my belt an’ gloves.”
“Right, okay.” Artemis reached up to her com-link and switched to Batman’s channel. “Artemis to Batman.”
“Batman here.”
“Uh, we got Robin. He wants you to disable his belt and gloves….” Artemis trailed off, unsure how to continue.
“I know. Flash called. Tell Robin it’s taken care of. Batman out.”
“He says it’s taken care of.” Artemis told Robin, switching her com to neutral. She was surprised Batman hadn’t asked to at least speak to Robin, but Robin didn’t seem to think much of it so she assumed it was normal. Maybe they had some sort of way of communicating through bat sonar or something….
“Back.” Flash appeared at Artemis’ side, two sticks in his left hand. “Sorry I took so long. Had to help Supey tie up Skull.”
The speedster dropped to the ground next to the archer and immediately started working on Robin’s ankle, tearing strips from the boy’s cape to use to tie the sticks to his ankle. Robin was silent all through it, though he hissed in pain when Flash had to hold his ankle up so as to be able to wrap the strips around the back. It only took him seconds and when he was done, his stood up, brushing off the knees of his uniform.
“There, that should be good enough till we get back to Bats. He’ll look at those cuts too. And the poison. And your wrists. Man, you’ve had a rough day, huh?”
“’M glaring ‘gain.”
“Alrighty,” Flash continued, ignoring Robin. “Artemis, you help me stand him up and get him on my back. I’m gonna run him back to the clearing so Batman can hopefully take care of the poison before it gets worse.”
Artemis nodded, and got into a crouch, grabbing one of the Boy Wonder’s arms while Flash grabbed the other. “Sorry, Rob,” She muttered before they both pulled him up.
Once on his feet, Robin swayed, his eyes clenched shut and his jaw locked while Artemis steadied him with her both her hands and her body. Flash crouched down again, his back to the boy while Artemis guided Robin onto until he was lying on the speedster’s back.
“All set?” Flash stood up, careful to bring Robin with him. He let go of the boy once he was standing, only for the acrobat to nearly slip off. “Maybe we should tie you on.”
Artemis ripped more of Robin’s cape with her knife and wrapped it around the acrobats waist and then around the Flash’s as well before tying it securely. She tied some around the boy’s arms as well, careful not so wrap it around his injured wrists.
“Now we good?” Flash released his hold on Robin and found that he stayed on, only slipping a little. “I’ll try to hold on to ya as best as I can, alright?”
Robin only grunted.
“Alrighty then, we are off! Oh, and sorry ‘bout the cape.” Flash shot a quick look around the area before turning to Artemis once more: “I’m back to the location of the dome. Batman’s sending Hal to pick up Atomic Skull so you can go back and wait with Mini-Supes.”
“Kay.” Sounded like some more great bonding time with everyone’s favorite clone.
“And Artemis? You did good.”