"He's waking up!"

"Yay! Now we have a brother to play with!"

"I hope he's nice."

"I get to play with him first!"

"No fair!"

Robin groans as he opens his eyes. He finds a ring of young girls bent over him.

"Hi!" chirps one with ash-blonde hair.

"Um, hi?" mumbles Robin as he looks around the dim room.

Blocks and children's toys are scattered everywhere. Bunk-beds line the far wall.

"The Little Sisters have taken a liking to you."

Robin swivels his head towards the voice. His gaze comes to rest on a girl not much older than he is.

She sits on a wooden chair in a neat, white gown, her chocolate-brown hair in a braid.

In one smooth movement, Robin switches to a crouched position with a hand on his utility belt. His muscles are tense as he casts a distrustful glance at the older girl.

"Relax, I'm a friend. My name's Eleanor Lamb."

"Sorry if I don't trust you, but everything kind of went downhill after you invaded my thoughts," points out Robin.

"I'm sorry about your discomfort, but I had nothing to do with it," argues Eleanor lightly.

"You said you had answers."

"Some."

"So answer me this: what happened here?" asks Robin as he begins to relax.

Eleanor sighs.

Robin gets the impression she is preparing to tell him an extensive tale.

Meanwhile, a girl with flaming-orange hair slips a tiny hand into Robin's utility belt. She snatches up a Batarang and runs away to the safety of the throng of girls.

"Hey! Give that back!" Robin pursues the child before scooping her up off her feet.

"No! It's mine!" protests the red-head with a smile.

Mirroring her grin, Robin tickles her sides, so she squirms in his grasp.

"Stop it!" she squeals in between giggles.

"Not until you give it back!" replies Robin.

Wriggling free, the girl lands on her feet and dashes off.

Eventually, Robin gives in and allows the little girl to keep the Batarang.

"Yay! I got a souvenir!" announces the red-head proudly.

Robin laughs a little.

"What?" inquires Eleanor.

"Nothing, she just reminds me of a friend of mine," answers Robin.

Realizing the group of girls are staring curiously at him, Robin waves at them.

They giggle and wave back.

When he turns back to Eleanor, he notices a distant look in her eyes.

"I haven't seen them like this in a long time…You have quite the effect on them," points out Eleanor.

"Wait, so they're not always like this?" A tug on his cape catches Robin's attention.

"Can we play with Little Brother?"

Robin brushes over how she called him 'little' brother, for the fact her eyes were glowing yellow.

"What's with her eyes?" questions Robin, turning to Eleanor.

"She's a Little Sister. They did something to her eyes, so she doesn't have to see what Rapture has become," answers Eleanor with a sad look.

"Little Brother must be thirsty!"

"Yeah, he'll play with us if we can get him something to drink!"

Another tug and Robin looks down to see a cup of red juice placed into his hands.

"What's this?" asks Robin, puzzled.

"Drink it!" orders the red-head as she nudges the cup towards his mouth.

Hesitantly, Robin starts to raise the cup. Casting a glance at the girls, he decides the red liquid couldn't be poison. To humor them, he brings the cup to his lips…

"Now we've lost Superboy too."

Kaldur rests on a bar-stool in an abandoned tavern, as he massages an ache in his temple.

Artemis is pacing restlessly in front of him, obviously unhappy.

Wally taps his foot nearly a thousand times a minute while M'gann sits in another bar-stool looking distressed.

"But why would he just wonder off like that?" questions M'gann, confused.

"This mission is not turning out like I'd hoped," sighs Kaldur quietly.

"Why are we still here?! Let's go out there and find them!" insists Wally impatiently.

"Wondering aimlessly will only get us lost too," points out Kaldur, thinking, "We need to find a map somewhere. Find something that can give us at least an idea of the city's layout."

The gathered teens slowly nod in agreement.

"But where do we even look? This place is such a mess that I can't even see my feet, when I walk!" retorts Artemis.

"Maybe there's a computer somewhere or an information desk," suggests Kaldur.

"This place is behind the times, so I don't think we'll find a computer down here," points out Wally, studying the knobs on the cash register as it sits in a dusty edge of the bar counter.

Suddenly, the room shakes. Tremors ripple through the floor and dust rains down from cracks in the ceiling. Some lands on Wally's head and he quickly brushes it off.

"What was that?" he wonders out loud.

"It feels like it came from below us," points out Kaldur, "Group up. We're going down to investigate."

"What happened to staying here?" snorts Wally, crossing his arms and looking at his leader.

"I know I said we should wait here, but I'd rather know what was coming than waiting to find out what that noise was all about," sighs Kaldur, admitting he's changed his mind.

It takes the team a few tries to find a set of stairs without gaps they could fall through. As they descend one floor, the team prepares for the worse and possibly more of those crazed citizens of Rapture.

"Don't let your guard down," warns Kaldur in a whisper.

Pausing at the base of the stairs, Kaldur glances at Artemis. She stands with her bow at the ready, an arrow notched. When she gives him a nod, Kaldur moves in. Artemis follows closely behind and the rest of the team files after.

M'gann cloaks herself, ready to surprise any would-be attackers.

The corridor is empty. This discovery does nothing to set the team at ease.

Wally zooms past Kaldur to scout ahead. A moment later, he lets out a yelp and the team hears him crash. Cautiously, the team moves forward to check on Wally and find the source of his surprise; the floor is frozen and the walls are layered in thick ice.

Artemis shakes her head at the sight of Wally upside-down against the wall, his feet dangling above his head.

"Ow."

"Idiot," mumbles Artemis.

Kaldur offers Wally a hand and he takes it. Once he's on his feet, Wally glares at the frosted floor like it's the bane of his existence.

"The perfect speedster trap," he grumbles, his ears burning. I can't believe I slipped on a mission!

"Guys! I hear something!" gasps M'gann, waving the team over.

The four of them lean into the hallway and, sure enough, there's the sound of a brawl echoing down the hall. They exchange looks before hesitantly walking forward, carefully maneuvering over the ice.

Pausing outside a pressure door, the team listens. Silence.

"Sounds like it's already over," points out M'gann quietly.

Kaldur gestures he's going to open the door, so Artemis gets her bow ready. Whoosh! The door slides open. Inside, the scene before them leaves the team dumbfounded.

Women in torn dresses and men in masks lay everywhere. At first, no one can tell if they're dead or alive. Obviously, the smoking bodies are deceased…

But that's not the most surprising discovery.

Dangling by his foot and looking very disgruntled is a certain archer. His light, flame-colored hair is a dead giveaway.

"Red Arrow?" Artemis raises an eyebrow.

"Can someone cut me down?" he sighs, swinging slightly from side-to-side.

"First, tell us what happened," retorts Artemis, folding her arms across her chest.

"Can't you cut me down first?"

"No."

"Nice to see you too, Artemis," growls Red Arrow, his eyes narrowing behind his mask.

Then he sweeps his arms out wide.

"Well, I had to deal with a few of these psychos shortly after coming here and they nearly gutted me like a fish and dragged my entrails across the room," Red Arrow's tone of voice makes the team wonder if the stress of being down here is affecting his sanity.

"That sounds…pleasant." M'gann reappears, shaken.

"But then I found this glowing liquid in a needle, used it, and got some new perks~" This time, Red Arrow smirks as he snaps his fingers and a flame appears.

Kaldur is startled and M'gann hovers anxiously nearby. Artemis stares at Red Arrow incredulously.

"Now I think I understand what it feels like to be a Meta," muses Red Arrow, letting the flame go out.

Waving for his attention, Artemis shakes her head.

"Wait, so let me get this straight: you found a syringe with some unknown substance inside and inject it into your arm without thinking twice about what it might do?" questions Artemis, giving Red Arrow a 'are you out of your freakin' mind?' look.

Deadpanning, Red Arrow is silent for a moment.

"…"

"Great, who knows what you'll be addicted to now…" Artemis sighs like she's scolding a child.

"Hey! I've been clean for six months now!" protests Red Arrow defensively.

"Red Arrow, getting your fix from another drug doesn't count as being clean," argues Artemis, shaking her head in disapproval.

Glaring venomously at the blonde, Red Arrow's face turns a deeper red, partially from anger and partially from the blood rushing to his head.

"Would somebody cut me down already?!" he hisses.

"Why don't you just use your fancy new powers?" teases Artemis.

"I can't…" mumbles Red Arrow.

"Why not?" asks Artemis.

Without answering her, Red Arrow digs into his pocket and pulls out an empty syringe. Refusing to look at her, he tosses it to Artemis. She catches it and examines the traces of blue liquid left inside. Armed with new ammunition, she struts up and waves it in his face.

"Really, Red Arrow?! REALLY?! One drug wasn't enough, so you had to take another?!" growls Artemis.

"Well, actually…" The male archer empties his pockets and several more empty syringes fall out.

Jaw hanging lose, Artemis stares. Then she throws her arms up in the air.

"I give up! You're a lost cause!" she huffs in exasperation.

Kaldur picks up a syringe and studies it.

"What was in here?" he asks Red Arrow, less confrontational about it than Artemis.

"Beats me. Shortly after I used the red one and got the ability to shoot fireballs from my hands, I learned a few things: the more I used my new power, the faster it 'burns out.' I soon couldn't conjure up flames anymore until I stumbled on a blue-filled syringe. I pop it in my arm thinking 'what more could I screw up?' and a minute later I'm right back to roasting marshmallows in the palm of my hand," explains Red Arrow.

"And now you're out and can't use your fire powers anymore," states Kaldur.

Red Arrow nods.

After freeing Red Arrow with his water swords, Kaldur offers him to join them. Eying Artemis warily, Red Arrow eventually agrees. Explaining that Robin and Superboy are missing, Red Arrow's face changes.

"I haven't seen Boy Wonder, but you won't believe where I saw Superboy or rather, who I saw Superboy with…"

(A/N - I started this chapter over a year ago and got half-way through before high school took over and I forgot about it. Now I'm working and in college and somehow I dusted off this old fanfic and revived it. My writing style has probably changed and you may notice. I actually decided to finish this chapter, when my friend reminded me where I was going with is. Roy injecting himself with plasmids was something I couldn't pass up. XD )