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Speedy rubs the bridge of his nose.
“Alright, so what is going on?”
“We kinda got in over our heads on a mission,” Robin replies, his normally sassy tone still coming through Speedy’s comlink.
“Why are you calling me? Why not the Justice League? Where even are you?”
“We’re not that far from the cave. We can’t call the Justice League. That line has been compromised, and since you started using your own comms, you were really the only person I could reach out to safely. Can you come?”
“Yeah, just drop the coordinates, and I’ll be there in a few minutes. Can you tell me anything else about what in over your head means?”
Robin doesn’t respond, the comm stays dead silent.
“Damn it, he hung up on me,” Speedy mutters, shaking his head.
He pulls himself out of bed, simultaneously congratulating himself and cursing himself for leaving a comm on his nightstand. He rushes through getting his costume on, and making sure that he has all of his gear before checking his work phone. Robin’s location is on, so he just takes a ZetaTube as close as he can.
The scene he walks into when he makes it through the last few miles between the tube and Robin’s location is one that he’s not likely to forget any time soon. There are smoking craters in the town, the air thick with the smell of coppery blood.
How the hell has the Justice League not learned about this already? Whether the YJ can call them or not.
His eyes scan the area around him, looking for the enemy, but all he can see is smoke. His eyes are already starting to sting, so he takes to the fire escape of a nearby building. He scales it quickly, looking around again now that he’s higher up. He’s looking for the villains, or any allies. At first there’s nothing, then he sees someone moving at least a half mile up the road. He squints, but he can’t see who it is from this distance.
No one is destroying things anymore, but he still is careful as he crosses the distance between him and the lone figure. He runs along the edge of the buildings, stopping a few yards away, and dropping down. He climbs down, peeking out from behind the building. The man standing in the middle of the road has a chilling air to him. He has long hair, and a thick coat despite how hot it is. He’s standing in the dead center of one of the craters.
“Yeah, I’m almost done here,” he says, and Speedy realizes that he’s holding a phone against his ear.
Ok, I’m guessing that’s the bad guy. The question is, how did he manage to take down the whole team? Is there any way that I can contact the Justice League, and should I? That’s a stupid question, get it together, Roy. If he took out the whole team then he’s probably too much for me to handle. How do I get in contact with them though?
“Hang on, I think someone is here.”
Speedy ducks back behind the building, forcing a silent curse back down his throat. He takes a breath, then begins climbing back up the fire escape. He makes it to the top before crouching down. He peeks over the top to see if he can see the man. He can since he’s standing in the same spot that he was in when Speedy started climbing.
He’s looking around now, obviously trying to figure out what he was hearing. Speedy nocks an arrow, squinting one eye closed. He lets the arrow fly, catching the man by surprise. He moves, but not quite fast enough. The arrow still nicks his face, even if only barely.
He sends a blast of pure energy hurling towards Speedy, who races to get out of the way. He jumps off the edge of the building, sliding down the side of it. He grips the wall tightly enough to soften his fall right before he makes it back to the ground. He rolls out of the way as another wave of energy flies at him. This one is made of water. The first one was just wind and pure force, but this one is like a tidal wave.
The water catches one of his feet even with how fast he moved out of the way. His foot immediately twists. Speedy barely manages to catch himself on the wall of the convenience store. He takes off again as soon as he catches his balance. He nocks another arrow, letting it fly a little more blindly. Using the first arrow as a distraction, he sets off another arrow straight into the sky. It sets off a flare. It’s a long shot, especially with the destruction around him.
There has to be a reason that the Justice League hasn’t come yet, but that’s a flare that should bring any hero in the area to him. The man sends a wave of rocks at him, the rocks flying through the air, though it is a lot slower than it was before.
Yes! The paralysis agent that I put on the first arrow is actually doing something!
Speedy smirks as he ducks behind another wall. His foot and ankle throbs horrendously, but he ignores it. He nocks another arrow, shooting it before the guy can figure out where he is. He hears a grunt, but has no way of knowing if the man was actually hit, or where. So, he limps off down the alleyway to make his way out of the other side so he can sneak back around.
Hopefully the guy will be caught off guard when he looks into the alleyway, and Speedy isn’t there. At least that’s the thought process, but he doesn’t quite make it out of the alleyway before the man catches up with him. He has an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, but is still moving as if he has no injuries at all. Speedy’s eyes widen behind his mask as the man throws another wave of pure force down the alleyway. There’s nowhere to run in such a confined space, leading to the wave hitting him full force.
He goes flying out of the other side of the alleyway, thrown against another wall. It’s worse than the time that Connor used his full strength to punch Speedy into a wall after training was over, and he thought they were still going. It knocks the wind out of his lungs immediately. He feels blood coming up his throat, and he barely has time to turn his head to the side before he’s throwing it up. The man pauses, sagging against a wall.
Finally, about time.
Speedy, with his last remaining strength, nocks one last arrow. It has a sedative on the tip. He pops the protective cap off before firing it. The man looks up, but doesn’t have time to move out of the way. He’s out within the next sixty seconds, slumping against the ground. Speedy drops from his knees to the ground.
He breathes heavily, feeling along his ribs to make sure that he’s not going to accidentally puncture a lung if he gets up to look for the others. Once he decides that it’s safe enough, he stands. He fishes his phone out of his pocket. He calls Oliver, not even caring if it isn’t safe to contact him over this line. Oliver picks up as he’s tying the villian up.
“What’s going on, Roy?”
“You need to come to the cave right now. There was a fight in a town nearby. I don’t know what the town is called, but Robin’s location is still up. You should have access to that, so just get here.”
He hangs up before Oliver has a chance to start asking questions. Then he grabs the man by his arm, hoisting him up.
Ugh, I wish I could just leave him, but he’s too much of a danger to do that. Especially since I don’t know for sure that these cuffs will hold him, though they should.
He drags him back to where they started. Then he hooks one of his grapple arrows through his looped arms, and ties it. He drags him from there, looking for his friends, or any sign of where they are.
The first one that he finds is Connor, and he’s not far from where the villain was when Speedy arrived. Speedy ends up finding each and everyone one of them unconscious in different parts of the city before the other heroes even get there. He takes them one by one into one of the still secure buildings.
Finally Superman, Wonder Woman, and Oliver show up. Speedy is leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, and the line still held tightly.
“Speedy.”
“It’s Red Arrow to you. Now, what do you want?” Speedy asks, opening his eyes.
“What happened?”
“I don’t really know. He’s unconscious for now, but you should contain him,” he says, holding out the cord.
Oliver takes it, and Wonder Woman steps forward.
“Red Arrow, report.”
“I got a call from Robin saying that something happened. I showed up, stopped the villain, and then went to find them. The whole team is inside. None of them seem injured aside from Robin, who appears to have a head injury and a minor sprain on his ankle.”
“What about you?” Oliver asks, but Speedy ignores him.
“You two take the rest of them home,” he says to Wonder Woman and Superman as he heads to the team.
He picks Dick up, cradling him close, despite how much pain he’s already in.
“Speedy, slow down. Where are you taking Robin?”
“Home. I’m taking him to Batman, since I’m sure he’d want to know about this. I’m certain that he’s going to be fine, but Batman would want to be the one to take care of him.”
“Just make sure that you get checked out too.”
Speedy nods, carrying Dick out of the building. He watches as the Justice League members start grabbing the rest of them. He turns, heading back towards the ZetaTube that he came through to get there almost an hour previously.
“Don’t worry, we’re going somewhere safe,” Speedy whispers, though he knows that Dick wouldn’t be scared if he was awake.
He takes the ZetaTube straight to the Batcave, glad that Bruce gave him access at some point. He sets Dick down on one of the cots before heading up the stairs to get Bruce and Alfred. Alfred is the only one home, but he immediately calls Bruce before sending Speedy back down the stairs.
Once Alfred has wrapped Dick’s head and propped up his ankle, he turns to Speedy. Speedy looks up from the cut on his arm that he’s stitching. He offers the needle to Alfred, who takes it and starts stitching him up. His torso is covered in bruises, and his foot is already pretty swollen.
“I’ll have to get out of my boots as soon as you’re done with that. My foot is swelling too much.”
It’s only fifteen minutes after that when Speedy lays down on the cot next to Dick. His ribs, leg, and arm are tightly wrapped up, and the exhaustion is just starting to hit him.
I can figure out who that villain was, and why he was there tomorrow.