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The team’s ship raced into Mount Justice faster than a speeding bullet, her contents quite upset and eager to make it to safety. Kid Flash ran out the hanger as soon as it landed, shouting for help.
“Red Tornado! Red Tornado! Medic! Robin! He’s –” he stopped in a panic, seeing Black Canary and Green Arrow there. Desperate, he tried again. “He’s not waking up!”
Almost on cue, Kaldur ran in carrying Robin in his arms, the rest of the team following. They all looked drained and maybe a bit feverish, but the nightmarish look on Robin’s face haunted them.
Black Canary came straight to Kaldur’s side and started assessing Robin’s physical condition. Green Arrow failed to keep as calm but did his best to keep control. “Okay guys, calm down! Tell us what happened.”
“What happened?!” Superboy raged. “What happened?! I’ll tell you what happened! We went through hell trying to complete the mission and we got sacked!”
“Superboy, calm down!” Kaldur ordered. He looked towards Black Canary respectfully. “During the mission, we were exposed to some noxious gas and started hallucinating. Robin seemed the most tolerant to it and rushed forward while we were… incapacitated. He completed the mission and saved our lives. He even helped us to the ship when the gas started to wear off. Then he collapsed and became like this.”
Kaldur tried to keep Robin still but it was obvious he was having a feverish nightmare. Something terrible. “We have not been able to wake him.”
“M’gann tried going into his mind to calm him down too but she was shoved back!” Kid Flash interjected. He panicked even more than before. “I dunno what Batman’s been teaching him but if it keeps people from helping him it can’t be – ”
“Take him down to the medical wing,” Black Canary ordered. “We can check him out there.” She looked to Green Arrow and Red Tornado. “Call Batman, priority one.”
Green Arrow jerked, slightly scared. “But he said –”
“He’ll be more upset if he isn’t told about this right now.” Green Arrow stopped for a moment then nodded, going over to the com screens. Black Canary glanced over to Red Tornado. “Take them to the med wing and have them checked out. Everyone.” The team stared at her dumbfounded. They were fine now, weren’t they? She glared. “Now!”
No one argued and Kaldur fought hard to keep a struggling Robin in his arms as they ran. Once there, he set the boy wonder on a bed, only to watch him thrash even more, gasping for air and calling out as if he was being beaten to death. KF and Kaldur ended up grabbing Robin’s arms and pinning him to the bed, trying to stop him from hurting himself. It wasn’t working.
M’gann and Artemis hung behind, too unnerved and worried about Robin to do anything. Superboy stayed back, fearing his strength would only hurt his friend. Worry and dread stayed on their faces as they remembered what happened earlier and the sacrifice Robin made for them.
It was supposed to be a recon mission. Most missions were, but they never stayed that way. Someone was producing some kind of drug for the mob lords, a powerful one no one could name. It wasn’t venom, cobra venom or anything they’d run across before. It was owned and run by some professor (no one bothered to remember his name) and he seemed to be controlling the mob through it. Infiltrating the distribution center was easy, but getting to the production lines was harder.
As always, Robin and KF ran ahead to do some snooping with M’gann joining them incognito. KF was more interested in raiding the fridge of course, but what Robin found seemed more viable. He growled a bit and muttered “scarecrow” under his breath, but did little else to tell them what was going on. He ended up downloading all the files onto his private computer then telling the others to put some gas masks on and get out of there. When they asked why he said something about hallucinogens and shoved his mask on M’gann’s face.
He grinned when she objected. “You need it more than I do. Don’t want any more nightmares and all that.”
M’gann thought now the smile wasn’t for himself but for them. How often was that the case? Put on a smile to make them feel better and to let them worry less about their youngest member? Was it a habit he gained from working with Batman? ‘Hello Megan’ she thought, ‘you knew he was agitated the moment he saw what the drug was.’
Soon everyone knew the truth first hand. Once they rejoined the group, fighting goons in a hallway, they joined in and evened the score. Superboy charged ahead full throttle, batting soldiers away like flies and needlessly destroying their weaponry. Aqualad whipped water around him, knocking down men from behind. Artemis worked on making an escape route and soon KF joined her. Miss Martian flew forward and used her telekinesis to throw more thugs back before they could fire their weapons. Robin though took a look around the hallway and stopped. From the corner of their eyes, they could see a raggedy man with a sack on his head. Some straw came from different points of his clothes and a noose hung loosely around his neck.
He raised his hands towards them.
“Everyone get your gas masks on and get down! NOW!”
Robin’s warning came too late. Within an instant, gas poured out of the vents and from the man’s hands. Everyone gagged, even M’gann. Robin’s mask was meant for humans and only lessened its effects on her.
Instantly the team saw only chaos, felt only fear. M’gann saw and felt her own kind looming over her, trying to hurt her again. Superboy saw monkeys trying to eat away at his body. Kaldur was in a desert and his best friends had left him alone. Artemis saw her father looming over her, ready to discipline her once again. Kid Flash saw everything in the world slow down to a halt and then everyone watching him running around without any pants at school. They each fell to the ground, shaken by fear.
Robin though leapt forward to Scarecrow, right to the source of the gas. They felt it more than saw it, and those who could see it couldn’t believe it. Within seconds which felt like an eternity, Scarecrow was flat on his back and Robin was pulling his costume apart. He found a trigger for the gas and turned it off. Scarecrow tried to get it back from the boy wonder only to get a quick kick in the jaw. Vents sounded and the air cleared above them.
Robin stood up and looked around. His friends were still on the ground, but slowly, shaking, they managed to stand up. They couldn’t let fear rule them. The toxin exposure was minimal but the effect lingered. Some mumbled to themselves.
“I’m with the league now. He can’t touch me…”
“This isn’t Mars. This isn’t Mars…”
“Die monkeys, die…”
Robin smiled to them all. “So, how’d you like your first time with Scarecrow’s fear gas?”
KF glared at him, still shaking from the toxin. “How did we like it? You could have given us more of a warning!”
Robin shrugged playfully. “I was flicted.”
“Flicted?”
“Yep.”
“By what?!” KF was losing his temper quickly.
Robin laughed. “Whether or not I was right about what scared you most! Plus wanted to see your faces. Priceless really.”
“Why you little – ” Superboy started.
A crash jolted them back to the matter at hand. Kaldur shook his head back in the game. “Enough arguing! Everyone back to the ship!”
Of course, they ran as fast as they could, but Artemis tripped for a moment, the gas’ effect still in play. Those with superpowers seemed to burn it away faster. Robin quickly pulled her to her feet and helped her keep running. She got a good look at him and saw he was sweating harder than usual.
“How do you handle it?” she asked blearily. She could still hear her father’s voice and shook from it.
Robin grinned. “You get exposed to a lot of things in Gotham.”
That’s when Artemis realized Robin was affected by the gas, just not showing it. He was just pushing through. It gave her courage to face her own fears and she started running faster on her own. They ran full throttle into the ship, each shaking off the gas in their own ways. Quickly M’gann took off, not waiting for Artemis or Robin to get to their seats. They fell over to their knees and Artemis protested.
“Sorry!” M’gann begged and kept flying. Artemis gripped the wall and got to her feet best she could.
“Could have warned us.” She looked behind her for Robin’s agreement.
“There wasn’t enough time! We have to –”
“Robin!”
Everyone’s heads jerked to the doorway and Robin curling up, shivering and unconscious on the floor. KF was at his side in an instant and Kaldur soon after. M’gann almost left her seat then the altitude of the ship dropped dramatically. She put it back higher before making a second attempt and set it to autopilot so she could help Robin. Superboy was the last to leave his seat, shock controlling his features.
“What’s… what’s wrong with him? Is he alright?” The dread and concern in his voice saved him from glares from his teammates. He almost sounded lost.
“Robin! Robin! Say something! Wake up! Robin!” Kid Flash begged without any response. Robin just shook on the floor, experiencing a terrifying nightmare.
M’gann tried to scan his mind to see if she could help. Quickly she was rejected but she did see a bright colored tent for a moment, and then a man with half a face. The other half was in shadow. All she could know for certain was Robin was terrified, reliving horrifying events in his life, and he couldn’t take it anymore.
Now in the med wing, the large dose of the fear gas he took for them coursed through his body. M’gann still held the gas mask he gave her, too scared to give it back. Artemis was even more worried. “Is… is he going to be alright?”
“Robin calm down! It’s me! Wally!” KF tried again and again in a panic to calm Robin down but nothing seemed to work.
“Please be calm, my friend,” Kaldur tried. “You’re safe here. We’re in our home. Everything is alright.”
Robin just thrashed around, starting to scream.
Finally, Red Tornado and Black Canary made it to his side and tried to soothe him. It wasn’t working and it seemed the more they tried the worse it got. Black Canary couldn’t hide the worry on her face. This kid, just working with Batman, had seen things no one else in that room could. Gotham wasn’t a great place to grow up in.
In the end, she told them to let go of him and let him be. The team gaped at her.
“He’s in pain! Terrified!” Superboy shouted. “And you want us to leave him alone?!”
“There isn’t much else we can do until the gas runs it’s course.” Black Canary turned to them, obviously not happy with this choice either. “Until then, we have to stay by his side and do what we can here. Which means everyone gets an examination. We have to know what we’re dealing with.”
Everyone hesitated, looking over to Robin for a moment before nodding. Letting him be for a few minutes actually calmed his yells to whimpers, but he still tossed and turned as if he was being beaten again and again. While each of them was poked with needles, he yelled out loudly, almost begging for someone to stop. For a moment, they could swear he called for his mom and dad, then for some ‘Mr. Haly’. Alfred and Bruce were also muttered out without him realizing it, and then Gordon, Bullock, O’Hara, Montoya and quite a few other names. Help, please and stop came quite often and it hurt them all to listen. More cries of agony and they cringed.
M’gann burst into tears and Wally punched a wall in anger. Conner watched in lost frustration and Kaldur did his best not to listen. Artemis couldn’t help but feel like it should be her writhing like that, not Robin. Maybe it was because he had a higher tolerance than them that Robin lunged into the danger, taken in more of the gas for their sakes, and held out from succumbing to it until they were all safe. Who among them could be braver?
It had to be an agonizing half hour, watching and trying not to watch him writhe in agony, before Batman swept into the medical wing and saw them all. None had taken many hits, they were just worn out from the gas and fighting. Before anyone knew it, he had scanned over them and spotted Robin. He flew to his side, just as Green Arrow joined them, looking very sheepish.
Batman looked over him once then leaned over the boy wonder. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see how Batman would handle this, their breath halting. By this time Robin was crying and twitching as if someone was still beating him and he was nearly out of strength. His arms and hands seemed pinned to his sides which made it seem worse as if he were tied by invisible cords. M’gann couldn’t help but feel the pain coming from Robin, then a fresh wave of it coming from Batman. He must have known what was passing in his partner’s mind and it hurt them both.
Slowly, Batman took Robin’s hands and brought them to his cowl. He made sure Robin felt the ears poking up before saying a word.
“Robin, it’s me. Open your eyes.”
With a start, Robin’s eyes jerked open and he looked straight into Batman’s eyes. His shaking stopped, the pain subsided, and terror was leaving the boy’s face. He felt Batman’s ears one more time before lunging into a desperate hug around his mentor’s neck. To everyone’s surprise, Batman hugged him back, holding him very carefully. Robin was still crying, but not in pain or fear. With Batman there, it seemed as if, to Robin, nothing bad could happen.
Everyone watched amazed. To think it took so little from Batman to calm this boy was amazing, and to think Batman had it in him to be so gentle even more so. Small pangs of jealousy flew through most of the teens there, but even they felt the warmth coming from the two.
For a moment, it looked like Batman was going to put Robin back down to rest but the boy wonder wouldn’t have it. He held tight to Batman’s cape and nothing would make him let go. Batman sighed, almost as if he’d been through this before and thought it was getting ridiculous at his age, but he said nothing against it. Instead, he picked Robin up, off the bed and started walking out of the med wing. Robin’s face was still buried in his shoulder and he wasn’t going to let go, nor let anyone see his face like this.
Batman turned to Black Canary. “I’m taking him home. He’ll recover better in a familiar environment.”
She nodded, then looked over to the rest of the team. They knew they were supposed to do a report on the mission right after, but all the data was on Robin’s wrist computer and no one was in a condition to tell him what happened quite then.
“You should all go home and get some rest. Report back here at 14:00 hours.”
With that, he left the room carrying away his boy wonder. Silence held them for a while, then Wally smiled and whispered, “I wish I had a camera. That was priceless.”
END