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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:38:45 GMT -5
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:39:42 GMT -5
Robin: Betrayal # 3 Written By: Cam Cover By: Andy Gray Edited by: Jay McIntyre
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:40:39 GMT -5
Robin, along with the others, stood in front of the monitor, eyes glued to the screen as the rest of Donna’s message played.
I know it’s hard but, there’s no other way. And I also know that being a hero means we are never to take a life but this time is different. Raven’s life has already been taken from her. What you saw was nothing more than an empty shell. A puppet. I hate this as I’m sure the rest of you do as well, but Raven wanted it this way, and to honor her memory, we have to honor her wishes.
Donna paused for a moment as a lone tear ran down her cheek. It seemed almost as if she had to force herself to start again.
But before you can access the Emerald of Twilight, you’ll first have to find two other artifacts: the Diamond of Dawn and the Sapphire of Night. After finding the two of them, carry them to the shrine of Rama Kushna in Nanda Parbat and the Emerald of Twilight will be revealed. The Diamond of Dawn’s last known location was somewhere in the arctic, so it could prove difficult to locate; the Sapphire of Night, however, should be a little easier to find. It’s hidden in a temple in the heart of Africa. Sorry I can’t be there to help you guys, but I’m still dealing with this uprising on the planet Shr’nai. Please know that I’m with you in spirit. Oh, and one last thing: Raven’s power will continue to grow exponentially until she’s finally powerful enough to consume all of creation. Time is rapidly running out, so please, hurry!
The message ended and the screen went black. Not a word was spoken for several minutes. Everyone stood in place, looking at each other with grim disposition. Batman spoke first.
“We have to get going. The longer we wait the more powerful Raven becomes. We’ll split into two groups. Tim?”
“Yes?”
“You’ll take Wonder Girl and Flash to the arctic to search for the Sapphire. I’ll lead Hawkman and Starfire to Africa. We’ll converge in Nanda Parbat when we finish, understood?”
Robin couldn’t believe his ears. Was Batman actually putting him in charge of something?
“Y-Yes. Understood.”
“Good.”
“What about me?” Nightwing said, through the doorway.
“Dick, with your extensive injuries, you’d best stay here for now.” Batman replied.
“I was just kidding, Bruce.” He chuckled. “Unlike you, I know when to listen to the doctors orders.”
“Funny. Alright then, let’s move out.”
As everyone left the room, Tim stayed behind to talk to Dick.
“You seem to be handling the destruction of your home pretty well, Dick.”
“The loss of Bludhaven is horrible, Tim, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to cry right now. But the fact is, right now there are bigger problems. Unless Raven is taken down, the death toll will be off the charts.”
Robin paused for a second.
“I’m sorry, Dick.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Sorry we didn’t stop Bludhaven from being leveled.”
Dick’s face softened, and he placed a hand on Tim’s shoulder.
“Listen, little bro. There was no way anyone could’ve known that this would happen. It kind of came out of nowhere and knocked us all on our asses. It’s not Bruce’s fault for taking you guys to the Watchtower, it’s certainly not your fault, hell it’s not even Raven’s fault, all the blame falls on Trigon’s shoulders. And don’t worry. We’ll kick his sorry demon ass so hard, he’ll cough up another Bludhaven to replace the one he wiped out.”
Robin laughed at that last part. He could always look for Dick to make things a little easier to bear in times of crisis.
“Thanks, Dick. Well, I’d better get going. Get some rest, and heal up.”
“Sure thing, chum.” Dick said with a smile, patting Tim on the shoulder.
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:41:17 GMT -5
“It’s a good thing you guys keep a few spare Javelin’s here at The Hall.” Robin said, taking the pilot-seat.
“It was Bruce’s idea.” Superman replied. “Guess he really does plan for everything.”
At the same time Batman was taking his place in the pilot-seat of the other Javelin as Hawkman and Wonder Girl took two seats behind him.
“Tim, be careful out there. Raven could attack again at any time, so be on your guard.”
“I’m always on my guard, just like you taught me.” He smiled.
Batman nodded.
“Well, looks like you’re all ready to take off. Good luck out there and Godspeed.” Superman said.
Everyone gave their farewells as each Javelin fired its rockets and took off.
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:45:24 GMT -5
Can’t believe he put me in charge. Robin thought as he piloted the Javelin over the Hudson Bay.
They were still a ways from their destination but, with the Javelin flying at top speed, it wouldn’t be long before they got there.
He never throws leadership roles out lightly. Bruce, what do you know that the rest of us don’t, damn you!?
“Tim, are you okay?” Cassie said softly, gently resting a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m fine, Cassie.” He responded with a reassuring smile. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you haven’t said a word since we left ground. Wally even fell asleep in all the silence.”
He turned around in his seat and sure enough, there sat Wally, his head thrown back, mouth wide open and snoring.
“Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t hear his snoring, it’s been driving me nuts!”
“Sorry, Cassie. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“You’re worried about what Donna said, right?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Alright, Tim” Her voice became more stern. “,what’s really bothering you?”
Damn! How does she do that?
He let out a deep sigh.
“Batman knows something that the rest of us don’t.” he relented
“What makes you say that?”
“You don’t know him like I do; he never tosses authority around without good reason. I know he had a purpose in putting me in charge of this team, but I just don’t know what it is.”
He looked her in the eyes. God, she was beautiful.
Wait, you idiot! She was your best friends’ girlfriend! You can’t think about her that way, it’s just not right! You can’t keep doing this! You’ve staring at her like this since you arrived at the Hall; keep it up and she’ll be suspicious!
He sat there for a minute, lost in thoughts, still staring into her eyes.
“Ummm… Tim?”
He realized what he was doing and quickly broke eye contact and turned back around to face the console.
“S-Sorry, Cassie, gotta keep my mind on flying. No time to talk.”
Her fists clenched. He had another thing coming is he thought he could cut her off like that. She roughly spun the seat back around.
“Oh, no you don’t, Tim Drake! Something’s up with you and you’re going to tell me what it is!”
“What do you mean?” He asked sheepishly.
“You’ve been looking at me funny since before we left the Hall, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“It’s…It’s nothing. Just forget about it.”
He tried to turn around again but she caught the chair by the arm before he could.
“Tim.” Her voice softened. “If there’s something wrong, you can tell me. We’ve been best friends for a long time; you know you can trust me.”
“I know that. And believe me, if there was anything I really needed to tell you I’d tell you but..”
As Robin prattled on with another bogus excuse, suddenly it dawned on her what was really wrong.
Oh no! she thought. He’s afraid that what happened to Connor will happen to me! It makes sense since he was always a best friend to Connor and I.
“It’s okay, Tim.” She cut him off. “I get it now, and you don’t have to worry, I feel the same way.”
“You do?!” he asked quizzically.
Wait! She has feelings for me too? Alright, now I’m confused! How the hell can we have feelings for each other when her boyfriend –and my best friend- just died a few hours ago?!
“Sure, Tim. It’s only natural after what happened to… to Connor.”
A tear escaped from her eye. Robin quickly got up and put his arms around her.
“I’m sorry, Cassie. I miss him too.”
My God! One second she’s saying she has feelings for me then she’s crying over Connor. What the hell am I supposed to do!?
“We all miss him.” He finished
She slowly pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes. Why didn’t she want to let go of him? Come to think of it, now that she looked at him, he looked......No! Her boyfriend had just died, how could she have feelings for her best friend now?!
“A-Anyways, Tim.” She continued, trying to push the thought from her mind. “As I was saying, it’s perfectly natural to feel that way after what happened. So don’t worry about what you’re feeling; I feel it too.”
“Thanks, Cassie.” He smiled. “That really helps.”
That didn’t help at all. How can she say she has feelings for me then act like she still misses Connor then say she has feelings for me again? Damn it, I’m more confused than before! I’ve got to wrap up this conversation before I get even more confused.
“I think it’s about time we woke up Wally.” He said quickly. “He needs to be wide awake when we touch down.”
“Oh, I guess you’re right.” She agreed.
That’s just like you, Tim. Rather than talk about you’re feelings, you try to find any way you can to avoid them. But damn it, why do I suddenly feel so…attracted to him? Come to think of it… Something’s been eating at me every time I glance his direction since… since we… since after Connor died. Damn it, Cassie! You can’t do this, he’s you’re best friend. And right now he’s the only person who understands how you feel. He and Connor were very close after all. What would he think of me if he knew I felt this way? He’d think I was trying to replace his best friend with him. That would tear him apart. Cassie, you have to get it together! This can never happen and you don’t want it to, got it?
“Cassie?”
Suddenly, she realized she’d gotten lost in her thoughts.
“Oh, sorry, Tim, just thinking.”
“About?”
“About Raven.”
She felt terrible for lying, but she couldn’t let him know what had really been going through her mind.
“Oh, well don’t worry too much about it, Cassie, everything will be fine. Now, would you mind waking Wally?”
“Sure thing.”
She turned and walked towards Flash, still snoring like crazy. Robin turned back around to face the console. Luckily, he’d managed to hit the auto-pilot switch just as Wonder Girl jerked him around. They were almost there; another five minutes and they’d be ready to touch down.
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:46:07 GMT -5
As they stepped out of the Javelin, Wonder Girl bundled up in one of the parkas that had been stored in the back of the Javelin. After she finished putting on, she looked at Robin and Flash, shocked that they weren’t so much as shivering.
“W-Why aren’t you g-guys bundling up? It’s f-f-freezing out here!”
They smiled.
“Thermal tights.” Robin chuckled.
“And I can regulate my body heat by vibrating at a certain speed.” Flash chimed in.
“W-Well, aren’t you t-two s-s-special!”
“Here, I can help.” Robin said, walking towards her.
As he stood in front of her, he pulled what appeared to be a small, square patch.
“Okay, now pull your hood down.” He said.
“Are you c-c-crazy?! I’ll f-freeze if I d-d-do that!”
“Look, do you want to be warm or not?”
She muttered something under her breath as she followed Robin’s instructions. He moved her hair aside and placed the patch on the back of her neck. Almost immediately she stopped shivering.
“Wow! What did you just do?” She asked in amazement.
“It’s a thermal patch. Batman and I always carry them, just in case.”
“Geesh, do you prepare for everything?”
“He was trained by Batman. What do you think?” Flash interjected.
“Good point.” She smiled.
“Alright let’s just get busy.” Robin responded, shrugging off their remarks. “Wally, can you..”
“Done! It’s this way, follow me!”
“Alright, but next time, how about letting me finish a sentence before you run off!”
“No promises there, buddy!” Wally chuckled.
The wind started to howl as they began their trek across the brutal, unforgiving arctic.
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:47:08 GMT -5
“Are you sure it was a good idea to split everyone up like this, Batman?” Starfire asked, sitting in her assigned seat.
“With every passing minute, Raven’s power grows. And even if we were to get both artifacts, it wouldn’t mean anything if we didn’t get them to Nanda Parbat in time. This way, we cut our searching in half, giving us that much more time.”
“That is true but… With Raven already displaying such tremendous power, is it really wise spread ourselves so thin?”
“I underestimated Raven’s power when I took everyone to the Watchtower. I didn’t think that she would be able to strike at us from that great of a distance so soon. Now that I’ve reassessed, however, I’ve concluded that, unless we stop her very soon, she’ll reach her limit, and when that happens, the entire universe will be ripped apart and every trace of life will be wiped out.”
“Can you really be sure of this, Batman?” Hawkman queried.
“I’ve never been wrong more than once.”
Starfire’s heart skipped a beat.
“Batman? Is… is there any other way to stop Raven? I mean, even you, for all of your fierceness, are generally unwilling to take a life.”
“An oath I still hold to, Starfire. But the Raven you knew is gone just as Donna Troy attested. What we saw in that cave was an empty shell; Trigon’s puppet. I felt it, just as I know Tim and Dick did. We’re not taking a life; we’re stopping Raven’s body from being used for something that she hates.”
Her eyes widened just a bit.
“You seem to have an understanding of Raven’s sense of honor. How is this possible, seeing as the two of you have barely spoken?”
“I make it a point to know things like that.” He responded coldly.
“I see.”
No one spoke for awhile. The three of them just waited through the silence until finally, Batman spoke.
“Alright, here we are. I already know where the gem is, it shouldn’t take us long to secure it.”
“How do you know its exact location?” Hawkman asked, puzzled.
“Because I’m me.” Batman replied casually as he pulled the Javelin in for landing.
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:49:10 GMT -5
As Robin, Wonder Girl, and The Flash were making their way through one of the many dark caves of the arctic, Flash suddenly noticed Tim and Cassie were acting a bit funny.
I think they need a few minutes alone to discuss…whatever it is they need to discuss. He thought to himself.
“Hey you two... I umm….. I really have to go. So I’m gonna try and find a place reasonably warm while I ah….. you know… Anyways, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
His last words still hung in the air as he rocketed out of the cave.
For a moment they said nothing, then Robin broke the silence.
“It looks like this cave’s going to get even darker as we move along. Better get a light.”
He pulled a small flashlight from his belt and turned it on. They moved a little deeper into the cave and suddenly, Tim stopped in his tracks.
“Cassie, we need to talk.” He said reluctantly.
“What about?”
“About our ‘feelings’.”
“It’s about time. You cut me off last time, so I was waiting for you to bring it up this time.”
“I know, I just didn’t want to… I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”
“Tim, what made you think I wouldn’t feel the same way?”
“Well, with Connor… not being here anymore, and us being such good friends for so long… it felt almost like… I don’t know… just wrong, I guess.”
“Tim there’s nothing wrong with what you’re feeling. It’s a natural thing.”
“I’m sorry, Cassie, but I don’t really see how this is natural.”
“Of course it is! Seeing Connor die like that, you just don’t want to see another friend hurt.”
He stared at her blankly for a minute, confused.
My God, she wasn’t even talking about the same thing! Damn it, I dragged this on thinking she felt the same. Idiot! How the hell do I get out of this now?!
“Uh… Tim?”
He gave a start. He’d zoned out without realizing it.
“Oh, sorry, Cassie. Umm…. Anyways….. Thanks for understanding how I feel. Let’s just move on.”
He turned his back to her.
“Hold it, Tim!” she said sternly. “Something’s not right with you.”
He turned back around and she stared at him for a moment. Without warning, her eyes widened.
“Oh my God!” She said, slapping herself on the forehead. “I was totally off, wasn’t I?”
He didn’t respond, giving only a shrug.
“Tim… You’ve been having feelings for me, haven’t you?”
“Yeah… but how did you know?”
“Because…… I’ve been having the same feelings, Tim. I just didn’t day anything because… well one: the timing was horrible, it being after Connor’s death, and two: I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it, our being such good friends and all.”
“Same reason I didn’t say anything. Look, Cassie, now that this is out in the open we need to deal with it… just not now.”
“Right.”
“We’ll put our feelings on hold until after we deal with Raven. Agreed?”
“Agreed!”
“Good, now where’s Wall…”
“Right here, Timmy boy!” Flash said, popping out of nowhere. “Oh, and while the two of you were talking, I took the liberty of grabbing the Diamond of Dawn. Oh, and I found something out about it.”
“And that would be?” Robin asked.
“Well, this thing radiates a lot of warmth. I’m pretty sure this little baby was causing global warming. Sounds crazy I know, but let’s face it; we’ve fought against reality-bending psychopaths from outer space, so this really isn’t that much of a stretch if you think about it.”
“True, Wally.” Robin agreed. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get back to the Javelin and head for Nanda Parbat!”
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Post by arcalian on Feb 26, 2009 16:50:10 GMT -5
Batman, Starfire, and Hawkman sat in the Javelin, on their way to Nanda Parbat. Hawkman held the Sapphire of Night in his lap.
“So, that tribe kept this artifact hidden in their temple because it provided them with cold during the hotter months.”
“Correct.” Batman replied. “And anyone else who tried to use it was killed on the spot.”
“Savages. Something like this should be used for the benefit of all, not horded away by the greedy for their selfish desires.”
“Agreed, Hawkman, but now isn’t the time to worry about it. We’re set to converge with the others at Nanda Parbat. And I have a feeling that something is wrong there. Be ready for anything.”
An uneasy quiet swept over the group.
Batman's mind raced. He argued with himself. Or rather, with another side of himself.
There has to be a way to stop Raven without killing her. I won't resort to murder...
Not even if millions of lives hang in the balance?
...I swore I'd never take another human life.
Raven can barely be called a human!
Barely is still there.
Whatever. You keep telling yourself you won't do it, but we'll see how well you stick to your rule when things take a turn for the worse.
The voice stopped after that, leaving him to wonder in the back of his mind: was the voice right?
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