Author's Note: Yes, I know I still have two more scars to get through at least. I cut that last chapter off pretty abruptly I know. Also I'm pulling the location for their showdown with the riddler from an old episode of Batman The Animated Series, no I don't remember the name of the episode but it was the first appearance of the mad hatter. Once again this is gonna get pretty dark. I own nothing.
Scars Part 3 The Riddler
The matter of Robin's scars was dropped for a few weeks until Zatana flipped to the Gotham news channel by accident. A pretty red head was on screen talking.
'And in other news the Riddler is back behind bars today thanks to our very own Dark Knight and his partner the Boy Wonder. According to a statement from police commissioner James Gordon the Dynamic Duo cornered the pernicious prince of Puzzlers in the old Gotham storybook maze.' The video feed cut to a prerecorded clip of Batman and Robin fighting the Riddler and a few of his goons. Batman was busy fighting off several goons and didn't see the Riddler leveling an Uzi at him. Robin swung across the room and tackled the Riddler, knocking the both of them off the top of the large mushroom the Riddler had been standing on. Both of them fell out of sight and there was the sound of gunfire from behind the mushroom. The news feed cut back to the red head.
'We have no word as of yet as to whether or not the Boy Wonder survived this latest encounter with the Prince of Puzzlers. We'll have more on this story as it comes to us. This is Vicky Vale for Gotham News, back to you Troy.' The team had been so wrapped up in the news cast they didn't notice someone come in until she plopped down on the couch.
"What are we watching?" Zatana shrieked in surprise as the others all jumped. Robin grinned then stiffened as Zatana leapt into her lap hugging her tight.
"Oh my gosh! Robin you're ok!" Robin nodded hiding a flinch as she pulled her arm out of Zatana's tight grip.
"Yeah. Couple of scratches but nothing too bad. Why would you think…" Robin looked over Zatana's shoulder to the TV where Vicky Vale was now talking about an upcoming Wayne Enterprises charity event.
"Ah that's why. Don't trust that news channel they almost always exaggerate, especially Vicky Vale. She used to be a gossip columnist you know." Zatana smiled at Robin and put her hand on Robin's left bicep and this time Robin couldn't hide the flinch. Zatana stumbled back her hands flying to her mouth as she spotted the blood seeping through Robin's green hoodie. Robin swore under her breath and flipped one handed over the back of the couch.
"Be back in a minute." Robin raced off towards the medbay and Wally didn't hesitate to follow her. The team paused for a moment before following the two.
"You gotta be more careful Rob." Diane rolled her eyes under her shades as Wally re-stitched the cut on her left bicep.
"It's not like I tried to get shot Wally." Wally shook his head focusing on his task.
"Besides it's not the first time, nor will it be the last. It didn't even really hurt." Wally finished the stiches and searched for a bandage as he spoke.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I just… I don't like seeing you hurt dude, I remember the last time the Riddler got his hands on you." Artemis, who was standing in the doorway with the other members of the team, raised an eyebrow.
"What happened last time?" Robin grinned as Wally jumped, not having noticed the others come in. He cleared his throat and tied the bandage around Robins arm.
"Looks like it's story time again kids, lets head to the living room though, it'll be more comfortable there." Once they had arrived in the living room Robin grabbed a chair from the kitchen and sat in front of the group in a Flash t-shirt Wally recognized as his, he didn't comment though.
"Alright. Remember you asked for this so yeah. It's not a pretty story. Almost none of mine are." Robin frowned slightly before shaking her head.
"Anyway it's also how I got these." Robin motioned to several question marks carved into her left arm near where the white bandage now sat. There were six of them in total.
"I got these about a year after I got this one." Robin tapped her right leg where the smile was carved into it. Zatana flinched at the mention of that scar. Wally refused to look Robin in the eye, he hated seeing his best friend hurt, but there was nothing he could have done about this, after all at the time he had been just plain old Wally West, Kid Flash hadn't existed until about six months after that incident.
"I got them from the Riddler if you hadn't guessed. So when I was ten he broke loose and hid a bunch of bombs around Gotham, and set a three-million-dollar ransom for the city. But of course it had to be more complicated than that. So he set a timer that was real and a timer that was fake and set up a riddle to figure out which was which. So Bats was trying to figure out the riddle and sent me off to find others. Turned out that's exactly what the Riddler wanted him to do. I ended up getting ambushed while I was defusing one of the bombs." M'ggan was leaning forward in her seat, Artemis was on the floor in front of Wally who was playing with her hair trying not to focus on the story. Superboy sat next to M'ggan, his arm around her shoulder. Zatana had her arms wrapped around her knees eyes fixed on Robin as she continued.
"Turned out he wanted to up the stakes of his little game. He set up a bunch more riddles for Batman to figure out. Every time he got one right Riddler would carve a question mark in my arm, if he got one wrong Riddler was gonna slit my throat. The last riddle lead Batman to his hideout and me. I wasn't in nearly as bad a shape as when the Joker got a hold of me." Robin absently rubbed her leg.
"They've actually faded quite a bit since then. They weren't near as deep as the other one I told you about, mostly just surface deep you know. Riddler's goal wasn't to hurt me so much as to hurt Batman through me, course stuff like that just makes Bats mad." Robin grinned slightly, tracing one of the question marks absently. Artemis frowned slightly.
"So wait, how do you hide scars like that when you aren't Robin? I mean makeup only goes so far." Robin grinned and placed a finger against her lips.
"Can't tell you that, it's a secret. Besides it would take away some of the mystery wouldn't it?" Robin grinned and took the chair she had been sitting on back to the kitchen. She came back to the living room with an apple in hand. She munched on it as she searched through the movie cabinet next to the TV. She made a triumphant noise and pulled out a box set of Lord Of The Rings with a grin.
"Wally, what do you think? Shall we introduce M'ggan Conner and Kaldur to one of the most epic movie series ever?" Wally just looked happy that the subject had changed as he nodded. Robin grinned and put in the first movie before flopping onto the couch next to Wally, resting her head on his shoulder. She fell asleep to the shrieks of the Nazgul.