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Robin regarded the rundown mansion he and his friends were investigating with a critical eye.
It was an enormous building, fifty rooms or more he’d wager; abandoned for a long time if the overgrowth, cracks, and mold were any indication. It was located in a clearing, without a path of any kind leading to it through the sea of vegetation surrounding them. Like someone had built it for the sole purpose of isolating themselves from all of humanity.
The team was… in the middle of nowhere, really. And they were supposed to…
Robin’s brow furrowed in consternation as he searched his brain. He couldn’t remember what they were doing here… or where here was specifically.
That was strange.
Robin put a hand to his head and tried to find the information that should have been there. Batman must have given them an objective, a reason for being here. The boy couldn’t have fallen asleep in the bioship and forgotten, could he?
For a moment he felt a surge of panic flood his system; what if this was another situation like Bialya had been? Were his teammates alright or had they forgotten too? Where were they?
“The area appears to be clear,” Aqualad’s voice spoke in his ear before he could try to reach out to them and Robin released a sigh of relief. “Let us regroup at the servant’s entrance on the west side of the building.” Their leader’s words had that ever-present calming tone that often kept the rest of them grounded. There was no trace of confusion or anxiousness in the statement…
So why did something feel wrong to Robin?
He couldn’t put a finger on it, but he felt extremely off-kilter; something just didn’t feel right about this. A thought briefly crossed his mind, there and gone… something about what had happened on his last patrol with Batman.
Robin shook his head as he dismissed the idea; what would a Gotham patrol have to do with a team mission in the middle of an overgrown wilderness?
With a determined frown Robin hopped out of the tree he had been perched in, landing silently on the ground. As the boy made his way to the rendezvous point, he realized how strange it was that Aqualad hadn’t contacted them through the mind link. They never used the ear-piece units unless they were contacting the League or Miss Martian was hurt. He hoped that wasn’t the case…
But Miss Martian was there when Robin made it to the servant’s entrance, floating an inch or two from the ground beside Artemis.
Robin pressed his lips together as his confusion mounted and he stepped out of the shadows. It looked like he was the last one to arrive and he turned to look at Kid Flash, expecting him to have a teasing remark ready; Robin was never the last one there.
But the speedster didn’t say a word, which in and of itself was cause for concern; an emotionless expression was normal for Superboy, but it was disconcerting to see it reflected on everyone else as well. Extremely heavy on the ‘dis’.
“Guys?” he voiced hesitantly as he came to stand beside the team’s archer, “What’s, uh… what’s going on?”
They stared at him for a moment before Aqualad spoke. “We have determined all we can from the outside,” he turned to address Superboy, “What can you tell us to expect inside?”
The other boy squinted his eyes, head tilting to the side, “Nothing.”
Aqualad nodded and moved to go inside followed closely by the others. Maybe they had already discussed how to proceed before Robin had made it there; but shouldn’t they have informed him if they had? They’d never just brushed him off like that before.
What was going on?
He blinked, trying to ignore the unease building within his chest and jogged to catch up; the team had paused at the base of a stairway in what must have been the entrance hall. Robin was distracted by the odd familiarity of the place, startling when he almost ran into Superboy.
“Here is where we will split up,” Aqualad announced, “Kid flash, you can cover the east side of the first floor. Superboy, the west. Miss Martian will phase through the ceiling to the attic. Artemis check for a basement. It looks like there is a third floor, I’ll take that. That leaves the second to you, Robin.”
The others nodded and moved to check out their assigned spots, but Robin felt his eyes widen in shock.
“Wait, what?” he questioned disbelievingly, “You want us to split up individually?”
“Is that a problem?” There was still no emotion in Aqualad’s face or voice… and it was really beginning to freak Robin out.
“Yes it’s a problem!” Robin found himself nearly shouting. Normally, he tried not to question Aqualad’s calls as a leader; he had made the unanimous decision with everyone else to follow his friend, and he didn’t want to be a hypocrite by undermining his authority. But this… he couldn’t help it for this.
“What’s the problem?” Artemis crossed her arms and it seemed strange without her standard contradictory tone.
Robin glared at her, “The problem is we’re about to search an enormous house we’ve never been in before without blueprints or even a computer outlet for me to plug into. If one of us runs into something we can’t handle the others won’t know where to go. Do we even know what we’re supposed to be looking for?”
“Dude, overreact much?” Kid Flash questioned flatly.
“It will be alright, Robin,” Miss Martian didn’t even offer a reassuring smile before rising up to disappear through the ceiling.
The others turned away and Robin was left, gaping after them. They had just… they hadn’t even listened to what he had to say. He’d been doing this longer than any of them and yet they were treating him like… like he was a child.
“This isn’t right,” he whispered to the empty room. The feeling that something was very wrong was back again, twisting his stomach in knots. But there was nothing he could think of to explain what was happening.
Robin looked around helplessly, eyes catching on the ornate front doors rusted over with age. He had definitely seen those somewhere before, hadn’t he?
Maybe if he found out what this place was, who it belonged to, he could figure out why everything seemed so out of whack. With that thought in mind he moved swiftly up the stairs and found himself in a long hallway with numerous doors, old vases, and artwork lining the walls with thick curtains keeping them hidden. He tilted his head, eyes narrowing.
The sight of the hall brought with it the tugging sensation of dread. He cautiously approached the first of the covered artwork and lifted the corner of the torn sheet that concealed it. The picture itself had been sliced by something sharp, the lines too oddly shaped to have been an ordinary knife. But he recognized that frame, however dusty and tarnished it now appeared.
But this place couldn’t possibly be… could it?
Robin glanced to his left, his gaze drawn to one door in particular. There was only one way he could be sure of where he was; he felt his heart quicken as he approached the door, which was slightly ajar. He reflexively held his breath as he reached up to push on the rotting wood.
It creaked loudly on rusty hinges and opened into a spacious room. A broken window directly across from him illuminated everything through filtered moonlight; one look was all it took for a breathless protest to escape his lips.
It had barely left his throat when he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. Screams… achingly familiar screams.
“Wally!” he shouted desperately as he dashed to the end of the hall, away from the stairs. He didn’t even care if they were in costume. He had to get to his friend… and he knew with a certainty he couldn’t explain, exactly where he’d find the other boy.
Robin had hardly made it into the study when Wally’s screams were joined by the rest of the team; rising from below in a cacophony of fear. He ran for all he was worth to the grandfather clock set prominently on display, reaching through the broken glass door to pull on the pendulum swaying inside. The clock opened outwards from the wall and Robin practically leapt into the elevator.
He was halfway down when the screams were abruptly cut off.
“No!” he cried pounding desperately on the walls as the elevator creaked and groaned. “No you can’t stop!” he tried to reason with the machinery, “Wally! M’gann! Guys, I’m coming! Just hold on!”
The doors finally opened and he rushed headlong into an almost complete darkness, but he didn’t need light to know where he was going… not in this place. “Conner! Artemis! Answer me! Please!” He called out as he ran, finally latching onto a dim light shining ahead.
“Kaldur?!” he choked out desperately, “Please, please be unconscious…”
He turned the last corner and froze with wide horrified eyes when he saw what waited for him…
“No,” was all he managed to gasp as he stumbled back a step.
There, lying on tattered, moldy training mats were six coffins; they were simplistic and rough with splinters. The lids were propped up against their sides, names crudely carved into the wood…
And all but one was occupied.
From this angle he could barely see his friends’ faces, but he could tell they were far too pale. Those blank expressions, that had so disconcerted him before, were gone now. Even with their eyes closed, they looked completely terrified.
Robin lifted trembling hands to grasp his hair as he shook his head. “No,” he repeated, “No, this can’t be happening. Not again…” He couldn’t lose another family.
“But it is,” a voice rasped behind him.
Robin’s eyes filled with tears at the sound, as familiar as the bedroom that had belonged to him for the last five years… the one that had clued him into their location. He felt like his legs would give out any second. He kept repeating over and over in his head that this wasn’t happening. The person he trusted most in the world couldn’t betray him like this.
“But he did,” the voice came again, close to his ear, as if it had heard his thoughts. “And now,” it continued in the soft tone that was only ever used with him, “it’s your turn.”
Robin’s head shot up as the strong arms that he had once found so comforting wrapped around him in a death grip.
“No!”
. . . .
Robin thrashed and yelled as he tried to get away but the hands holding him down were like steel. The grip wasn’t crushing or even painful, but no matter how hard he struggled he couldn’t break free. He could feel a few sobs mixing in with his screams as he thought about his impending fate.
Killed by the man who had become a father to him in all but blood.
As his resistance was replaced with hopelessness he became aware of the numerous worried voices calling his name. But it wasn’t possible to be hearing them, was it? Not after what he’d seen…
“Robin? Wake up, Robin. You’re safe,” the concern and fear in M’gann’s voice was practically tangible.
Wake up? Robin thought with mingled confusion and relief; that would explain why nothing had made sense to him… but it had all felt so real.
He forced his eyes open and could just make out his teammates forms, though his vision was blurred by sleep and tears. Conner was the one holding him still and the rest were clustered around the bed looking scared and uncertain. His hand rose to his face, out of reflex, and Robin felt the wrinkled fabric of his mask. Wally had probably made it to him first and thought to put it on for him.
“Dude,” the speedster sat on the edge of the bed, making an attempt to hide the way his body was vibrating with nervous energy, “I know this might be a pretty dumb question but… are you okay?”
Robin let out a shaky breath and let Conner help him sit up. He took a moment to collect himself, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, “I’m fine now… I think.”
Artemis placed a hand on her hip and cleared her throat, “Mind telling us what all that was about?”
Robin frowned and looked away as he thought. He remembered something from the beginning of his dream; something about patrol…
“The copycat,” he murmured in realization.
The others must not have heard him, because M’gann furrowed her brow with a confused, “What?”
“He said ‘The copycat’,” Conner informed them. This apparently did little to ease the team’s confusion as they exchanged baffled looks.
Robin leaned back into his pillows with a heavy sigh, feeling drained. “The past week Gotham’s been having some trouble with a Scarecrow copycat; B and I caught up with him last night. I guess at some point I must have inhaled some of his altered gas,” he rubbed wearily at his face, “Stronger stuff than we thought.”
“Do you believe it has passed through your system now?” Aqualad questioned, still looking concerned; it was a welcome change from the emotionless zombies he’d been dreaming about.
“Probably,” Robin reassured them, “It was stronger than we thought, but it wasn’t anything close to the real thing.”
“It sounded pretty real to me,” Wally refuted, lips pressed thin, “You scared me half to death screaming my name like that, Rob. I thought… it sounded like you were being tortured or something.”
“Yeah,” this was one of the rare times Artemis could agree with Wally, it seemed, “We were all up at that, and then you started screaming our names too. What happened in your dream?”
Robin swallowed and M’gann stepped forward when she noticed his discomfort, setting a hand on his arm. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to, Robin,” she offered gently, “It must have been quite horrible to have that much of an effect on you.”
“It’s okay, M’gann,” Robin looked up and gave the green-skinned girl a small smile of thanks, “I just… we were splitting up and… no one would listen when I thought it was a bad idea. Then I heard you guys screaming and… there were these coffins and…” he trailed off, shaking his head when he couldn’t continue.
“That sucks, man,” Wally grimaced in understanding. Then he reached out to give Robin a light punch on the shoulder. “But, hey,” he grinned, “you know I’ll always listen, right? And I’m sure the others would too.”
There were nods of confirmation from everyone and Kaldur smiled, “You may have elected to follow me, but a good leader heeds the advice of those around him.”
Robin felt his remaining tension fall away with their reassurance, “Thanks, guys.”
Wally clicked his tongue with a small wave of his hand, as though it were nothing, and looked around at the team. “Personally, I still feel a little wired after all that; probably be difficult to fall back to sleep, don’t you think?” he rubbed his hands together and eagerly asked, “Anyone for pancakes?”