Chapter Text
It was evening in Sherwood when Robin walked, slightly rushed through the woods. He had his usual determinated demenor on him, but if you looked closely, you'd see the worry in his eyes clear as day. He was currently heading back to their hideout, taking shortcuts and paths through the rather dense forest to get there even faster.
He was looking for Tuck. Maryan told him earlier that the boy left for their hideout alone to get some rather important notes on their current case. They were in a hurry, so little John and Robin both weren't there to accompany Tuck. It was getting harder and harder to keep their self imposed rule of no one going anywhere alone.
You see, after just finally loosing their outlaw status and FINALLY not having wanted posters of them hanging everywhere, an anonymous Person set a bounty on their heads again. This time, the amount was double than what John offered for their capture. Due to this, both the Villains and some guards are on their backs now like crazy.
There are some theories on the anonymous hunter, one of them being that it's just Prince John again. And even though it sadly seems likely, Robin didn't quite believe it yet. Even John wasn't so stupid as to risk his fragile trust with Richard and by extension the entire Castle Staff with a stunt like this. But other than him they really didn't have any good candidates.
So they decided on a new rule. None of the trio was leaving anywhere alone. There has to be at least 1 additional person. Well, keeping that rule was a challenge for all 3 of the boys. Robin was literally breaking it as we speak just because Tuck already broke it first. And little John was no better, he headed off alone all the time to chase after the Villains who dared approach them.
The ginger huffed, fighting through a particularly dense patch of branches and leaves to get to the other side.
At least they were getting closer to the black market. The case that caused this event in the first place was about figuring out the specific locations and hot spots for the Villains illegal tradings. And if they were correct, this entire spiel was even more big and sinister than they thought. Human trafficing, drug selling, you name it.
So yes, he was a bit worried about Tuck walking through the forest alone. But he trusted in the boy. Even though he might be small, he is filled with surpises. Literally. Robin chuckled when he remembers the time Tuck got grabbed by a guard, just to see them yell in pain as 500 fire Ants were on their armour.
Still being deep in thought, Robin turned another corner. He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings, focused on getting back home, so he didn't hear the cracks of the wood near him, or the rusteling of stepped on leaves.
Barley registering what was happening, Robin dodged the incomming knife with a yelp. It grazed his shoulder, slightly cutting his lime shirt. He stopped dead in his tracks, immediatly focusing back to reality. The gingers eyes rushed around to see who was attacking him, realizing with dread that the three bandits were following him. He only saw one of them, Filtcher, approaching him from behind a tree, but he knew the knife belonged to Jack. This means the other two had to be hiding somewhere aswell.
In a rushed decision, Robin decided to bolt into the complete other direction of the Hideout, not risking that location to be found out. He could hear footsteps behind him, but he couldn't risk looking back just yet.
With a swift motion, he took out his bow from behind, equipping it and one of his arrows. Then he stopped, turning around in a second while drawing the bow and aiming at the bandit behind him. To his suprise, it wasn't Filtcher anymore, but Doug. Still, he fired the arrow containing a sack of itching powder and managing to hit the man square in the chest. He yelled, having to stop and fall to the ground while his body broke out in hives.
Robin considered continuing his run, but now Filtcher was approaching him rapidly from the side. The ginger managed to dodge a punch, skillfully evading all the attacks. He waited for an opening, before finally Kicking the man in the stomach and using his elbows to ram into his head.
Robin watched both the men go down, taking a few triumphant steps back. He took a few breaths, already preparing to start running again. But the glory was short lived as two hands grabbed him from behind and held his arms in place. He yelped in suprise, trying to free himself from the third bandit behind him. The ginger quickly recognised the chuckle comming from the man. He completely forgot about Jack also being there.
And suddenly, there was a cloth shoved in his face with a strong scent. It made Robin recoil, but Jack didn't let him get away. The scent made him feel woozy and disoriented, immediatly causing him to panic. While trying to stay awake, he started to kick and struggle against Jacks hold, dropping his bow in the process. His yells were muffled by the rag so he didn't have any chance of someone comming to help him.
It slowly dawned on him that there wasn't a way out of this. Jack was too strong and he had barely a minute left before passing out. They were going to catch him and do god knows what. In a last efford, Robin kicked his bow away into a patch of bushes, hoping that at least someone would find a trace of him. A few moments later and his resisting became weaker. He slowly slumped in Jacks hold, his vision turning dark as he saw Doug and Filtcher get back up from he ground, talking to each other. He couldn't hear any of it, a loud ringing taking over his senses before he blacked out completely.