mind control shenanigans

TW: BLOOD

Once again, Robin had gone off by himself whilst on a mission with his team. He wasn't aware of it half of the time. He'd drift off from the group and then suddenly he'd been missing for an hour. That was the situation he found himself in now. He'd walked off from the group to investigate a hunch and had assumed at least one of them had followed yet as he stood there alone, he came to realise none of them had. This mission, in particular, was a rather bad time for him to do this as they were exploring dense woodland looking for a UFO that was putting out a distress signal. It was supposed to be one of those team-building missions with low stakes for them to get used to working together but he supposed he failed that side of things. It wasn't his fault he was so independent. Things were just so different with Batman and he could leave for five minutes without any trouble. Whenever he dipped on his teammates, they'd just get mad or freaked out. Maybe he should try harder but old habits died hard. Being silent didn't help with his disappearing acts, well it did help but it made the team even more unaware of his leaving which meant they wouldn't notice until he suddenly popped up again. Considering he hadn't heard anything through the Mindlink and he couldn't feel the presence in his head, he assumed that they'd walked on without him. Now he had to find his team and the UFO. Fun times. He hoped they were alright and he hoped they already found the damn thing. This place was giving him bad vibes and his vibe detecting was never far off bar a few times.

The rest of his team had walked on, not noticing their youngest member had slipped away. They couldn't remember how long they'd been walking as they'd passed the time with meaningless conversations but they knew it had to be a while as their feet began to hurt and it was significantly darker than before. The sun was still up though it would be setting very soon. None of them wanted to be out in the dark. These woods were hard to navigate, and poor visibility would only increase their chance of getting hopelessly lost. Their search continued however and they soon came across a hint of where the UFO was. Superboy stopped and pointed up to a gap in the trees. It wasn't anything of interest to catch their eyes but it had caught him because the branches were broken. The gap was made rather than naturally formed. "Nice spot SB," Kid Flash praised. "Looks like whatever caused it went West from here. Judging by the trajectory, we should find it soon." The group nodded and they changed their course in a new direction. They climbed over thick tree roots and through overgrown bushes, being careful to avoid the random thorned plants that looked to snag their clothes. Soon enough, they came across the UFO. It looked similar to a silver missile though much smaller than the ones they'd seen before. They approached with caution, keeping about a yard away from it just in case it was set to explode. The barrel was clear of any symbol indicating what country it could be from but they were sure it was from Earth. Whereabouts would be a little tricky to conclude. "What do you think Rob?" Kid Flash asked. It was then the group noticed they were missing someone. "Oh, he did the ninja thing again!"

"Great, now how the hell are we supposed to find him? He could've walked off at any point," Artemis grumbled. It would be so hard to find the teen. He was small and his suit helped him blend into the dark shadows the trees cast. Not only that but he was next to silent. The breeze could easily cover up his footsteps and he loved to keep high up off the ground so they couldn't guarantee hearing leaves or twigs crunch beneath his combat boots. 

"Can you feel him close Miss M?" Kid Flash asked. She shook her head with a deep frown.

"He must be far away for me not to feel even a little bit of his mind."

"It's alright. He probably has his comms with him. Aqualad, you got the GPS right?" The leader nodded. "Cool, we'll just call him and then wait around here."

"He better hurry up," Superboy grumbled as the ginger pressed his finger to his ear. There was a soft click in his ear, followed by a brief static then silence. 

"Hey Rob, looks like you wandered off."

"You can say that again. Coords?"

"X is 142, Y is -291," he replied.

"Got it." The speedster clicked off the comm unit and gave his friends a nod to show the other was on his way. 

"Disaster averted," he told them. 

"Now, what do we do with this thing?" Artemis asked. That was the question of the hour. They had a missile sitting right in front of them that they didn't know whether it would go off or not. It was putting out a signal so it couldn't be deadly but it could be a bluff. A risky game to play but they needed to do something. 

"Suppose we can turn off the signal, deactivate whatever it is and then take it back?" Kid Flash suggested. He took a step forward but Miss Martian grabbed his arm and yanked him back. 

"We should wait for Robin. He's more experienced with these things." He rolled his eyes at her.

"I know how to deactivate a missile! I wouldn't try if I didn't know." Was he entirely truthful? No. He'd only deactivated the missiles that Robin had set up for him. They were made safe for him to work on and the worst that would happen was getting covered in paint. He'd managed to successfully deactivate ten...out of twenty but he wasn't concentrating during those times and he was sure he could work it out. There was no need to worry. She looked over to Aqualad who nodded and she let go of the ginger although she was incredibly hesitant to do so. He slowly approached the missile now that he was free of her hold and walked around it where he found a panel that would reveal a motherboard. He put his hand against the rectangular panel only to have it open. The team jumped back but he remained close and inspected the insides. It looked like a spray can nozzle? He reached out to touch it only for him to hear what sounded like a metal ball dropping. Suddenly something sprayed on his face and he scrambled back with hacking coughs. His friends moved in to help as the missile opened more panels and sprayed more of whatever horrible gas it contained. The gas lingered over the group and in a panic, they ran in separate directions to get away from it. What a terrible mistake that would turn out to be.

When Robin arrived at the coordinates, he was met with a small empty clearing with nothing besides some footprints proving there had been life. In the middle of the clearing was a silver missile that went without any identifiable logos. Odd. He cautiously stepped into the clearing and approached the device. He tilted his head to the side as he noticed open hatches that revealed spray nozzles. He narrowed his eyes at them and then looked at the footprints. Judging by their size he knew they belonged to his teammates. Their depth suggested they'd all run away in a rush. Panicked. "Can't just have one nice mission," he complained before turning his attention back to the missile. He got out a cotton swab and swiped it across the nozzle a few times to make sure he'd gotten a good sample. With the sample in hand, he popped it into a device he'd recently developed after watching a Hotel Hell episode. Similar to the hygiene device Gordon Ramsey used to see how dirty his room was, he'd created a machine that detected the different chemicals in the sample. It was connected to the personal and Justice League logs of gases, poisons etc and if it found a match it would beep and then tell him what he was dealing with. So whilst his device scanned through files, he tried his comm unit to see if Kid Flash was near the area and hopefully get an explanation for the track marks. There was a click, static and then...more static. That wasn't good. He frowned to himself and clicked the earpiece off. His team had left in a panic after presumably being sprayed with whatever this thing was and now he wasn't getting answers. No wonder he was getting bad vibes from this place. He strained his ears for any sounds but with quiet. They weren't close then. A beep drew him back to the matter at hand and a case file popped up. "Anger Apocolypse? Barry wrote this one then," he muttered. The older speedster couldn't title things properly to save his life and he would know, Batman had him change most of the titles. This one hadn't come into the router but he could see it coming up soon. He put away the device and took to his holocomputer to get the case file. After speed reading through, he got a general idea of what his friends had been sprayed with. Some kook decided to bring on the apocalypse after watching REC and took inspiration from the rage-filled zombies. Luckily he was caught before damage was done and even luckier, he sucked at what he did. Although he managed to achieve a chemical concoction that made the host incredibly pissed off, it wore off within two hours and had little to no side effects. The worst of the side effects documented were headaches and irritability for the following week. Robin was happy that he wasn't going to have to whip up some antidote in the middle of the woods but now the issue had turned from their safety to his own. He'd not been hit with the dose but they had and they were all getting quite good at fighting. Blind rage wouldn't usually win a fight but these were experienced heroes. He'd have to go about this systematically. Not before sending out an emergency signal though. He wasn't stupid.

There were five team members to hunt down and by the lack of sound coming from the woods, they were all separated. That made things easier since he wasn't likely to get tag teamed but that didn't mean it couldn't happen at all. He'd have to keep himself aware. He went through each team member. Each had an amazing set of skills from Artemis's expert marksmanship to Superboy's super strength. He was of course amazing too but it would be ignorant of him to write himself off as better. He was banking on his experience and clarity of mind to get him through. In his utility belt were ten tranquillizers. That meant two attempts per person but that number could change depending on how many attempts the one before them took. He was aiming for the first try but you couldn't always guarantee that. With this in mind, he walked up to the tracks and picked out the footprint owners. There was a sudden very horrible thought that came to mind. What if they kill you? The formula meant they were so pissed they could kill him. That was the point of the concoction. They could kill him. He could die at their hands and he didn't know if they could live with that. Maybe he should just wait here but what if they found one another and killed each other? He couldn't lose any of them. He couldn't lose more than he already had. Robin gulped and shook his head. This wasn't the time for trauma, this was the time to help. Staying traught was key. Keeping whelmed was essential. "By the power of Wonder Woman, please keep this homicide free," he whispered. He picked out Aqualad's footprints and decided to start with him. Hand to hand combat was something he was good at and that was Aqualad's style. This was just like playing any game. You start with the easiest boss then they get harder. Yep, this was just like any game. Only the deaths might be real. Wonderful.

Robin followed the footsteps carefully until he caught sight of the Atlantian stalking around the woods. He found a big bush to hide behind and prepared himself with the tranquillizer. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to get into a fight to administer it but he'd have to be quick and smart about where he was. His eyes followed the older then flicked over to the tall trees over him. Perfect. Robin looked to the closest and most climbable tree and then proceeded to ascend the tree. Thanks to his acrobatics and trapeze training, he was able to get there rather quickly and was up above the other hero before you could say GET DOWN BEFORE YOU FALL. Ah, the phrase he knew well. So nostalgic. Now wasn't the time to delve into memories of easier days. He had to focus on getting closer. Carefully he manoeuvred from tree to tree, following the older as he walked through the woodland. He could tell the one below him was angry. It was actually odd to see him so visibly mad. There'd only been a few moments he'd seen anger come from his leader and it was not pretty. It never was when calm people lost their cool. Aqualad's features were twisted into a scowl that looked out of place and Robin found himself getting anxious. He took a deep breath and continued to follow his fellow teen, rationalizing his emotions. He wasn't going to be yelled at. Not if his plan of surprise worked out. Ugh, why did he have to like his teammates? This would be much easier, anxiety and guilt-free, if he didn't care. Damn him and his feelings. Bonding bullshit. When Aqualad paused, he took his opportunity to strike. He swiftly dropped down onto the leader's shoulder and stabbed the tranquillizer into the side of his neck. Aqualad clawed at his arms and tried to shake him off but luckily the concoction of sleepy time drugs was fast-acting. After trying to slam the Boy Wonder into a tree, his knees buckled and he fell to the floor. Robin quickly got off of him and moved his body into the recovery position just in case he took a turn. He gave him a quick once over for injuries but found nothing. He let out a sigh and thought about his next course of action. He supposed following the footsteps back and starting again would be his best bet but then he didn't know if he was comfortable leaving Aqualad in the middle of the woods. The older was heavy though and he could waste energy when he was going up against the others. He had to leave him here.  Robin marked down the coordinates of where he was to ensure he could find him again then got to his feet. 

Before he could begin his walk back, he felt a piercing pain shoot through his shoulder and he let out a yelp as the momentum threw him forward. He looked down to the source of the pain only to see an arrow tip coming out of his shoulder. Oh no. Ever the tracker, Artemis had found him and was now hunting him. He rolled out the way of more arrows, wincing as the arrow he'd been struck with shifted, and set off running away from the hero. He really didn't like the deer and hunter symbolism right now. He hoped he didn't have the same ending as Bambi's mum. Artemis let out a growl of frustration and quickly pursued him. This is exactly what he didn't want to happen but he should've known by now that hardly anything went as expected. He needed to lose her to gain back his upper hand and get the arrow out of his shoulder. As he ran, he searched for opportunities to escape. A moment of respite to get the arrow out would do him good but he needed to find a good spot that would give him ample time. Removing this as a rush job would only bring him to cause more damage but as long as Artemis was on his tail, there'd be no respite. He'd have to take her down first. He went into his utility belt and pulled out small bolas. Her attention could be drawn to detangling herself and he could strike. The only thing was he had one shot. After that, she'd know his plan and make sure he couldn't do this again. Please let luck be on his side. He quickly looked behind him to see how much distance he was working with and picked up his pace when he found they were closer than he'd thought. His eyes darted around for something he could use as a springboard and found a fallen log was coming up. Perfect. He prepared the bolas as he pegged it and stepped up onto the log, jumping up and then twisting in the air to face his teammate. He threw the bolas and watched as she tripped up, her bow landing a foot in front of her. Seizing this opportunity, he ran over to her as he pulled out a tranquillizer from his belt. Avoiding her swiping hands that were eager to pull him to the floor to claw his eyes out or something. He knew she'd try something. He skipped over her hands that were waving about and gave her the tranquillizer. A chill ran through him as her movements slowed and her eyes began to drift closed. He really didn't like that. He knew this didn't hurt for her and he knew she was just sleeping but that slow descent into unconsciousness wasn't something he'd like to remember. Yet his brain sucked so he was going to most definitely make him remember it and make him feel guilty for everything. Isn't it just great to be a hero with emotional issues, bags of trauma and no therapist? Nightmare fuel repressed, he put her in the recovery position and took off the bolas. "Alright, that's the double A's down. Now to get this bad boy out. Really let me have the nice one huh?" he mumbled to himself. He knelt and gulped as he grabbed the arrow tip. It'd gone right through his shoulder but he noticed something about the placement. Non-lethal. She was a great shot, landing one on a still target should've been easy and it should've been lethal. Yet here he was with an injury that would ache at best. Interesting. He broke off the tip of the arrow and pulled out the rest with a yell, discarding the bloody arrow by throwing it into the bushes. Artemis would only be upset if she found it before finding him. With a sigh, he rose to his feet and rolled his shoulder. Now for Superboy, Miss Martian and Kid Flash. He hoped Kid Flash's system worked through the chemicals already but he couldn't be sure. 

Not far from him, he heard a loud crunch of branches and a loud shout. Oh great. Robin felt his heart leap to his throat and started off running perpendicular to the noise. He needed to aim this away from his two unconscious friends because the last thing he needed was them getting trampled. How was he going to take down this one? Superboy was a powerhouse. He could crush him or something. Superboy was Superman and Superman was one of his favourite heroes - don't tell Batman - which meant he was very sure of all the ways he could get unalived by the end of the day. Factor in murderous intent and there are a lot more of those ways. Wonderful how he had to plot out his own death whilst running towards the harbinger of it. Though, running through death scenarios was quite common for him. Maybe he should stop doing that it couldn't be good for him. A lot of things weren't good for him. Now that he thought about it, being in the middle of what was essentially a minor battlefield wasn't the best place for deep introspection. As he continued to run, he had the horrid feeling that he'd run out of time to plan. Oh no. He noticed a shadow develop ahead of him. It was small but rapidly getting bigger and bigger and he was pretty sure it wasn't a bird swooping down. He looked over his shoulder to find a hulking Superboy falling from the sky. He stopped in his tracks, knowing if he continued he was going to be crushed like a can after a shotgun and winced when the clone landed a little too close for comfort. "Hey SB," Robin greeted as he took a few steps back. Now here's someone whose resting face was angry. That made this somehow easier and oddly nostalgic. This was how they first met in a way. One really angry clone and one slightly unnerved acrobat. Hopefully, he wouldn't bruise his ribs this time. Then again he already had an arrow wound. With a yell, Superboy lunged toward him but luckily he ducked down. He somersaulted through the clone's legs and got to his feet as the other slammed headfirst into a tree. "Oh, that'll be one hell of a headache." That didn't keep Superboy down for long though and he was back up rather quickly, taking the tree with him. Great. Robin got out an explosive and threw it at the clone's chest, cringing as blew up in his friend's face. Of course, he was indestructible but still, it had to hurt. The clone staggered back and swiped at his face before letting out another angry yell. Robin gulped and moved in with more explosions. Deforestation was never fun but he was going to be balled up like paper. Maybe he could be thrown into the sun. Now that was a hell of a way to go. Robin managed to push Superboy back but other than a burnt off shirt he wasn't making much headway. He really should make these tranquillizers a gas or at least put the liquid in a pellet. Save that thought for later. As he went to grab another explosive, he found he was all out. This was supposed to be an easy mission so he'd packed light. Ugh, he wasn't looking forward to Batman's lecture on that. In the brief time it took for him to come up with a new idea, Superboy had already closed the gap between them and grabbed his arm to throw him against a tree. He collided with the oak but managed to scramble away before the clone could land a hard punch. Unfortunately, he didn't get away quick enough to avoid having his ankle grabbed onto and he was once again sent flying into another tree. He cried out in pain upon collision as the angle he was thrown at this time seemed to dislocate his shoulder. Crap. He tried to pop it back in but before he knew it Superboy was standing over him. He plucked the teen up by his head and held him in his tight grip. The strong hands pressed hard against his skull and he came to the horrible realisation that he wasn't going to be thrown, he was going to be crushed. His head popped like a pimple. He could feel the pressure build and build with no sign of letting up. He grabbed and pulled at the other's arms as he kicked against his chest but nothing changed. Nothing changed. He was going to die. No, no he wasn't going to die no matter how fearful he was of that prospect. Think Robin think. Pain clouded his mind but that wordage was key. Clouded. Cloud. Smoke bomb! His hands quickly went to his utility belt and dug through the pockets until he found the pellets. He grabbed a handful, something that wasn't supposed to be done considering just one could hide him in smoke for three minutes but the convention was meant to be broken. He slammed the pellets into the hero's face which made him stagger back and allowed Robin to escape from his grasp. He grabbed a tranquillizer and through the plumes of smoke, he stabbed it into the clone's neck and hoped to whatever higher power there was that there was enough juice in it to keep Superboy down for a bit. At least long enough to shove his shoulder back into his socket.  

Putting Superboy into the recovery position and running away in case the tranquillizer only gave him five minutes, Robin took a respite to fix his shoulder. Pull-ups would be hell for a bit. At least the dislocated shoulder was the same as his already injured shoulder. He sat down and took hold of his wrist then pulled his arm straight in front of him with a few pained groans spotted in with the movement. He guided his arm back into the socket and heard it pop back in with a loud click. He rolled his shoulder a few times to check it was definitely in there and felt around to make sure. With a sigh, he let himself sit for a moment. His head was pounding from Superboy trying to crush it and he could feel his face bruising. If this didn't teach him not to walk off then he didn't know what would. Then again it was a confusing lesson because he was saving them from killing each other. Yet again, morals are grey and lessons are confusing. What could he expect from dressing up and punching people? He massaged his temples in an attempt soothe to soothe the headache as he tried to psyche himself up for the next fight. "Rob?" The hero snapped his head up to find Kid Flash standing in front of him with a concerned smile. The ginger was sporting a black eye and a cut on his cheek so he must've been caught out by the others at some point. Either that or he tripped and fell down a hill. Both were possible. "Geez, what happened to you?"

"SB and Arty got me but I got them," Robin replied. He got to his feet and cocked his head to the side when he noticed Kid Flash was talking through the Mindlink. If that was back up then this couldn't be too bad. He could actually more than a minute of rest between fights. "Is Miss M okay?"

"Yeah, whatever we were sprayed with didn't affect her for some reason. Did give her a nasty headache though. I ran through whatever it was soon after but those other three were ridden with the stuff. Managed to get away though," he explained. "We were tryna find you since you weren't there."

"Well, you found me. I tranquillized everyone so they should be out for a bit but SB could get up really quick. The same dose doesn't work for everyone after all." The speedster nodded and seemed to relay that in his mind. With that done, he took a step closer to inspect his friend's injuries. He frowned when he saw the blooming bruises on the younger's face. "Someone wanted to recreate that one Invincible scene but I managed to get out of it."

"I told you to stop watching that. Bats might take inspiration then we'll have a Batman vs Superman situation and I'm too young for war," the speedster commented.

"Bold of you to assume he didn't make it for propaganda," the younger argued. He felt something dribble down his face and watched as Kid Flash's eyes widened with horror. In confusion, he brought his hand up to his face where he felt the odd sensation only to feel something liquidity against his skin. It smeared against his upper lip and upon pulling his hand away there was blood staining his gloved fingers. "I think he fractured my skull," he said matter of factly.

"HE DID WHAT?"

"I think he fractured my skull."

"What are we supposed to do about that?" the ginger yelled.

"You can start by being quiet. I've got a killer headache." Kid Flash rolled his eyes. "Second off, there's not much we can do without a scan. Let's just hope the blood, the headache and the bruising are my only symptoms." With a hum, Kid Flash knelt and the younger climbed onto his back. 

"Comfy baby bird?"

"I still have tranquillizers left." 

Kid Flash ran him to where they found the missile and sat him down on the ground. He watched his eyes trail off, seeming in another mind conversation but he didn't mind. He was exhausted and hearing his friend ramble about something would drive him over the edge. In his head, he ran through the symptoms of a fractured skull. It couldn't be a big fracture since he felt fine, he had a comprehension of where he was and he hadn't become unconscious. Skull fractures were never good but he wasn't dying. A bleed on the brain was possible but he didn't think so. He wondered how long the recovery would be. Then there was his shoulder with an arrow and a dislocation. He would have to wear a sling for a bit. Have some painkillers before training and patrol. That wouldn't be fun. Typical. A nice team bonding mission turns deadly. "Rob, you're doing that overthinking thing you do," Kid Flash called. 

"I don't overthink," Robin snapped. "You have your head nearly crushed and see how you feel."

"He freaked you out didn't he?" He didn't rise to the question. "It's okay to be freaked out. Even if you know he didn't mean it." He shrugged and got up, swaying a little as he did. He needed to walk around. Distract himself. "Miss M will be here soon. She's gathering everyone up."

"BC should be here soon too. You know how she gets."

"She should be called mother hen," Kid Flash joked. "She will freak when you show her the arrow wound."

"She freaks whenever we're injured." They laughed to themselves and looked up at the sky, waiting for a jet. Hopefully, the others would forget about the whole attempted murder part but he doubted it. There was nothing on the report to say they would but he hoped they did. It was hard to live with something like this and he'd hate for them to have to learn that hard fact. A jet eventually showed up with the knocked-out teammates and she panicked over the state of Robin. He reassured her things were fine but she was always such a worrier. Black Canary opened the hatch and Miss Martian levitated them up to the jet since she couldn't land. 

"I came as fast as I could. Are you kids alright?"

"We're fine. Get those three to a bed and check them over. I'm gonna write up the reports," Robin answered.

"Nuh-uh, he needs medical assistance. You can write the report after." Canary nodded as Robin grumbled to himself and went with her. He'd only get a warning if he didn't accept it and he really didn't need Batman of all people giving him a lecture on health. "So much for this being a team-building mission."