YJ: Finding Robin: Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a routine mission, simple recon, but Young Justice seemed to be especially bad at the simple recon missions. They screwed up. They screwed up big and because of that they had to leave without their youngest member behind in the enemy's hands.

"Report." Batman said curtly as the team returned to Mount Justice.

"We are sorry…" Aqualad started.

"You can be sorry later." Batman's stern voice made the kids wince. "Report."

"We had just gotten into the inner lab." Aqualad said describing the mission.

They had gotten into the building, thanks to Robin's hacking they had gotten past the locked doors, security cameras and the armed security guards. All they had to do was be quiet and follow their youngest they were back up just in case something were to happen, or if they needed to react. Everything had been going great, Robin was almost done sorting through the data when everything started going downhill.

"Rob, hurry up man! We need to kick this joint. This is totally boring." Kid Flash thought through their telepathic link courtesy of Miss Martian while pacing back and forth.

"Back to your post." Aqualad hissed.

"It's fine Kal, I am almost done here." Robin thought at them still typing madly into his wrist computer. "Don't even think about it Con." Robin's thought made everyone in the room look at Superboy who was about to reach out and touch a large glass pod filled with clear liquid that stood in rows with other identical pods. Robin doesn't look up but kept typing. "Uh ho. Incoming, KF your side."

"Damn it." Kid Flash rushed towards his post, but he was too late, the guards had got close enough to notice something was wrong and hit the alarm.

"We got to go!" Aqualad told them.

"Let's go! Uh oh, incoming from all sides." Robin said, "East hall way go!" Everyone followed Robin's direction and began heading out of the hall way. One moment Robin was only steps behind them, the next he was gone. Superboy had been the first to notice.

"Robin!" Superboy's yell make them all turn around, to see the guards pouring into the lab they were just in, several of them piled on Robin.

"Go!" Robin yelled and threw a bataran at a switch on the wall and the metal door began to close.

"Robin!" Superboy cried trying to run towards the boy but his teammates grabbed him and they ran. That was the last time they saw Robin.

"We could have gotten him out of there." Superboy growled glaring at Aqualad who could only look away with regret. "Or at least we could have tried."

"Aqualad made the right decision. Your mission was to get the data out." Batman said emotionlessly. "Had you stayed you would have all been captured. Robin understood that and that is why he told you all to go and sealed the door. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for the greater good."

"Sacrifices? How are you okay with this?" Superboy yelled. "I thought you cared about Robin!" With that the teen stormed out leaving the others to stare after him.

One month. That was how long Robin had been missing. Ever since the day they had to leave their youngest member at the lab the Young Justice team had been searching for Robin to no avail. Not a day goes by do where the teens did not blame themselves for leaving Robin behind. When Batman strolled into Mount Justice and announced that he had found Robin's whereabouts the team jumped into action following the Dark Knight, today they would bring Robin home.

It was as another Cadmus's secret labs, it was hidden under ground, right under Metropolis, and the entrance was in the Metropolis University Hospital. The plan was for them to split up and find Robin then get out. Batman split them up into two groups to search for Robin. Superboy with Kid Flash taking the northern block, Aqualad, Miss Martian and Artemis were instructed to stay in the middle to search and back up if needed, finally Batman went off to search the southern block. As Superboy and KF walked into the northern block of the lab they found that the seemingly endless maze of hallways had rooms almost like hospital room several hundred feet above them. Each identical looking door locked on the outside with a tiny slit of reinforced glass to look inside and each door held a replaceable plaque sometimes with numbers on them. The boys split up looking through the windows hoping to find Robin in one of the rooms. Most of the rooms they peered into were empty but not all of them were empty. KF peered into a window and found something terrible, as he pressed his eyes up to the darkened room something came crashing into the door making KF jump back. Kid Flash a face pressed against the glass clawing at the door. A few more room contained other subjects, all kids, all different ages, the youngest ones were only a little older than Robin, All of the subjects were in different states, some catatonic, some rocking back and forth, others were violent and many others were unstable. When they found came to the last door they were beginning to lose hope. There was a small form lying on the bed it was Robin. Robin was lying there very still, very pale, dressed only in a smock. The two teens stared for a moment unsure what to do. Suddenly the boy's blue eyes flew open and his face emotionless he looked straight at Superboy.
"It is time to go." Robin's voice sounded strange, but they were relieved that the boy was talking. Robin had gotten up to walk only to have his legs fold under him. Suddenly the alarm sounded. Superboy scooped up Robin and the trio ran trying to get out of the maze like lab.

"Guys where are you?" Miss Martian reached out to them in their heads.

"We have him." Superboy thought back.

"There are other people here, we need to get them out." Kid Flash reported.

"The League will take care of them." Batman's voice sounded. "Your mission is to get Robin out. There are guards coming, you guys need to move." As if on cue the alarm began to sound. At the same time Robin who had fallen unconscious began screaming blue eyes wide open but unseeing.

"Robin! It's okay, it's us, and we've got you." Superboy said trying to calm the boy down. Rather than calming down the boy began to struggle against Superboy's hold. The boys ran toward the way they came trying to regroup trying to get to the others before guards got to them. Robin kept screaming fighting desperately to get away from Superboy's arms. Superboy tried to hold onto the boy making sure he held the boy tight enough but not enough to hurt him. Robin kicked Superboy square in the chest as they came into the main room where everyone was gathered.

"Robin it's us." Miss Martian said trying to approach them only to collapse to her knees as she got close to Robin.

"Megan!" Artemis cried helping the other girl up.

"He is in pain, so much pain." Megan cried looking at the screaming little boy. Suddenly it all stopped as Batman injected Robin with something making the boy pass out.

"We have what we came for. The others are on their way." Batman said as he led the teens out of the facility and onto Miss Martian's ship. "We need to get him Star Labs, we need to figure out what they did to him."
The flight to Star Labs was quiet and when they got there Batman took Robin followed by the group of anxious teen towards the infirmary. The youths wanted to follow their youngest teammate into the lab, but one look from Batman froze them in their tracks, they could only watch as the Dark Knight and his broken apprentice disappeared into the white sterile lab.

As the group sat there in the holding area all they could think of was the look on Robin's face as he screamed. It was the first time for them to see Robin's face. Now they knew why Batman had forbidden Robin from telling them his secret identity. Robin was Richard Grayson, the adopted son of Bruce Wayne. It was not hard to put two and two together to know who Batman is. Both Dick and Bruce's faces were always on the cover of magazines, on the news, in the papers, no villain could ever find out who they were, if they did Batman and Robin would never have a moment to rest. Now they understood, and although the teens never said anything to each other they swore to take their friend's secret to the grave. After what seemed like forever in a waiting room area that the teens had been directed to Batman appeared in the door way. The man looked grim even beneath the cowl that hid most of his face.

"I suspect that you want to know what happened to Robin." Batman said looking at all the teens. "They were experimenting on him. From what we could see they were tampering around with his brain. Lobotomy. They've made over thirty incisions all over his brain. As far as they could see it looks like they were trying to rewire his brain. They have taken out certain things in his brain. They've removed the parts of the brain that lets us hold back our emotions." Batman said showing them an image of a brain with several incisions.

"Wait, are you saying that he feels everything?" Kid Flash asked trying to process the information they were given. "Can a human brain even process that much information all at the same time without shutting down?"

"I don't understand." Superboy asked demanding answers.

"You see, you know how when you feel sad, or angry, or scared?" Kid Flash said turning to his friends to explain. "You can always push these feelings aside, hide it deep down. Or when we are thinking, we can focus on one thing at a time. We see or hear things we can focus on one thing at a time."

"Yeah we get it! What's your point?" Artemis yelled stopping Kid Flash's ramble.

"My point is all these things that keep us sane, Robin doesn't have it anymore." Kid Flash said finally. The teens stared at their friend in horror.

"It is a miracle that he is still alive." Batman said softly, "According to the files the previous nine subjects of this experiment died shortly after the procedure."
"Oh my god!" Miss Martian gasped in horror. The others looked grim. Aqualad simply looked over come with guilt.

"We don't know what his condition is going to be like when he wakes up." Batman said getting the teens attention. "I want you kids to be prepared for what he might be like. There were some footages I found in the lab, it is very disturbing but if you are willing… it will help for it not to be such a shock..." All the kids nodded and Batman turned a nearby screen on.

The screen came to life and it was a black and white image of a non-descript room with a plain metal table and a plain chair. Robin was strapped down to the chair dressed in nothing but a medical smock, a man in a lab coat sat with his back towards the camera facing the boy.
"Hi Richard, may I call you Richard? Or do you prefer Dick? Dick Grayson." The scientist's voice was patronizing but Robin remained motionless. "Not answering to your name? Then what would you like to be called? Robin?" Robin turned to look at the man. "Alright Robin it is then. Robin is your father Bruce Wayne or Batman? Or is the famous Bruce Wayne Batman?"
"I will never tell you anything." Robin said with a glare, his voice full of venom. The man's face could not be seen on camera but if it could the thin face would be shown sporting a maniacal grin.
"We will see about that."

The film flickered out and the screen was dark for a few moments. When the screen lit up again Robin looked worse for wear. There were dark circles under his eyes and bandages around his head. The boy was visibly shaking.
"Robin I heard you were not very cooperative with your tests today." The scientist said looking at the boy who was obviously very haggard, the restraints that use to hold him to the chair gone as there was no longer need for them. "You know Batman would not be very happy with you performance. He sent you here because he wanted you to be better."
"Shut up!" Robin yelled his tiny body trembling with effort to speak, "Stop your lies!" But the scientist paid him no heed.
"Don't you want to be useful to your friends? You need power if you are going to lead them. We are just trying to give you that."
"No! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Robin cried his hands over his ears. "I will never tell you anything just kill me!"

The girls cried as they watched Robin on the screen. The guilt of leaving Robin behind that had been eating away at Aqualad all month began ripping him apart. Tears rolled down his eyes as he watched the younger boy cry. How could he, how could he leave a defenceless little boy in the hands of these monsters? Why had he not made the decision to go save Robin?

A new image popped on the screen. Robin sat on the chair and the team had never seen the boy so small, so fragile, so afraid.
"Hi Robin how were your tests today?" At first Robin didn't say anything, he just looked like a scared little boy too afraid to meet the scientist's eyes. The man waited.
"I... I don't think... This program is not for me... I am a bad subject..." Robin's voice was shaky and disjointed. "I... I'd be better on a different project..."
"But you are progressing so well. Much better than we expected. Do you really want to stop? And be left behind again?" At these words Robin drew his knees to his chest and began to shake his head, but the man did not stop there. "Why do you think your friends left you here? You were not useful to them. You were not useful to Batman. And your parents. That's why they all left you." Robin was sobbing.
"I... I will do better... Do better... Please don't leave me here... Batman..."

Wally cringed. Even with all the alterations they had done Robin still held onto being Robin, keeping his secret, as if it was engrained into his very soul, no amount of tampering with his brain could alter. But could Robin still be their Robin after all of this?

The next time Robin appeared on the screen he looked calmer, although he twitched ever so slightly sometimes in the chair.
"Robin why did you kill subject C975?" The scientist's usual cheerful voice was filled with anger.
"She asked me to." Robin said never breaking eye contact with the man.
"How did she ask you? She have no vocal cords and she is blind." It was obvious the man was having a hard time keeping himself in check.
"She was your favourite." A twisted smile graced Robin's lips. "Can't see, can't talk, can't scream. You can't hear because you are not listening." Robin's smile broke into an expression of pain. "She screams and cries so loud but you don't hear it. I do. I protect her. Protect her from being broken by..." Robin's words were cut off by a loud slap which sent the boy flying off his chair. The man went off screen and somewhere off screen they could hear Robin's pained cries and the dull thud of a foot against a small body.

The next clip was dated more than a week later.
"Hi Robin." The man said curtly. "How were your session with Dr Spencer?"
"A boat with no destination." Robin mumbled pacing back and forth. "stairs to nowhere. I have no function. Need meaning to exist." Robin's voice raised in intensity as he spoke still pacing, faster now. "I need a mission!"

The last clip flickered on dated the day after the previous.
"Hi Robin you look better today." The scientist sat down tapping his pen on his pad of paper.
"I exist." Robin replied simply.
"Yes you are right there." The scientist prompted.
"I have a mission. Dr. Spencer gave it to me." Robin replied.
"What kind of mission?" Robin smiled slightly.
"It's a secret." Robin replied.
"You can tell me, we have no secrets." The scientist said trying to coax an answer out of the boy. "When did Dr. Spencer tell you? Did he tell you? Or did you sense it?" Robin just stared at the man.
"I can't tell you, but I can write it down if I had a pen." The scientist hesitated for just a moment before pushing the pen and his pad of paper across the table at the boy. Then in a flash the boy was across the table. All that could be seen from the camera's perspective was the scientist twitching. After a few moments the man sat still in the chair. Robin appeared right up at the camera, emotionless, covered in blood before the camera was shut off.

The group was silent as the video stopped playing. No one moved to turn off the blank screen. They could not believe what they saw. Robin, their Robin, had been broken beyond recognition and made into a killer. The horrors that they witnessed on the screen is only the tip of a very large iceberg of terror that Robin that suffered in the month that they had left him in enemy hands. Batman was the one that broke the silence.

"Regret is not going to help him now." Batman told them as he turned to the door. "I am sure they will be coming after him. If they were successful in their attempt to make Robin able to read minds, then they cannot afford to leave Robin in our hands. He would be a lose end. Keeping him at Mount Justice will be the safest for now. I will see what I can do to reverse the damage. It is up to you all to keep him safe." With that the man swept out of the room.