89 A New Mission

"Why'd you come here anyway, Roy?" Barbara asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

Roy gave a discreet, almost unnoticeable nod to her as thanks for giving him an out from the hole that he had dug for himself. He was many things, but Roy wasn't arrogant enough to see that he had dug himself a hole and left himself with no way out. As a result, he was thankful that Barbara had not only recognised it but given him a way out as well.

"Yeah, a reason named doctor Serling Roquette."

The name sparked a moment of realisation in Robin, an eager smile coming onto his face as his wrist-mounted holographic computer activated. "Nano-robotics geniuses and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City." Above him, a number of larger holographic screens popped up, each showing information on Serling Roquette.

However, amongst all the information he had revealed, one bit stuck out to them all.

"Vanished two weeks ago." Robin voiced, reading that bit necessarily so as all began to grasp what the current situation was turning into.

"Abducted two weeks ago." Roy corrected. "By the League of Shadows."

This made many pause, including Esau who despite lacking much knowledge of the various criminal organisations that existed in the world, even he had heard of them. They were hardly the most destructive threat out there in the world, lacking the power to match the Justice League, but they were arguably one of the most lethal to exist.

The League of Shadows was an organisation of highly trained assassins that had been prevalent throughout centuries of human history and was often the cause of some of the biggest pitfalls and political changes in human history. Their leader, a man who had personally trained Batman himself was also an immortal thanks to the Lazarus Pit, giving him centuries worth of experience and skill.

Considering all that, Esau would have been a fool to not have read up on them.

"Woah, you want us to rescue her from the shadows?" Robin asked eagerly, as he, M'gann and Wally walked towards him.

"Hardcore." Wally whispered in equal excitement.

Roy however, dashed those hopes instantly. "I already rescued her." Here he walked straight past Esau, sparing him a side-eyed glance as he did so before coming to a stop by the holographic images. "Only one problem. The League of Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon."

Another image appeared showing small, robotic insect-like creatures.

"Doc calls it the Fog. It's comprised of millions of microscopic robots." Esau and Barbara shared a short glance, the frown on her face and the other Leaguers showing him just how serious of a problem this could be. "Nanotech infiltrators. Capable of disintegrating everything in their path. Concrete. Steel. Flesh. Bone. But its true purpose isn't destruction; it's theft."

The lecture could have ended there, it didn't take a genius to figure out what the Fog could be used for, let alone what any organisation would have used it for. As for the League of Shadows, with their mandate, they would go one step further and considering what they were already capable of, with that information at their hands, they would be infinitely more dangerous.

"The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows." There was another tense moment of silence as the full weight of what the Fog and the Shadows could do dawned on them and not for the first time either. "Providing them access to weapons, strategic defence, cutting-edge science and tech."

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power-broking; yeah, sounds like the Shadows." Artemis finished sarcastically.

"Like you know anything about the Shadows." Wally scoffed, hands on his hips at what he thought was the 'rookie' being arrogant. But, in a way that made Esau like her even more, Artemis just gave him a smirk that said more than words ever could and it worked like a charm. "Who are you?!"

Seeing the situation going off on a tangent, Roy intervened and brought everyone back to the current problem. "Roquette's working on a virus that will render the Fog inert."

"But if the Shadows know she can do that?" Robin posed the question.

"Then they'll target her." Roy finished. "Right now she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab." Behind him, a map of the school popped up.

Esau scoffed lightly at his actions. "A school? Like that's safe in any way." Barbara nodded in agreement.

Yet, Esau wasn't the only one to raise his concerns about Roy's actions. "You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked disbelievingly.

Roy tried not to give Esau a reaction, having overheard his snide remark before sharply responding to his former mentor. "She's safe enough for now."

"Then lets you and I keep her that way." Green Arrow continued.

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?"

Before Green Arrow could respond, Batman stepped forward and placed one hand on his shoulder, no words needing to be shared between the two older heroes. They only spared a short glance at one another, but both understood what the other was thinking and Green Arrow nodded his head as he looked back to his former protege.

"You brought this to the team." Green Arrow said firmly. "It's their mission, which means it's hers now too."

Roy wasn't pleased by this at all. "Tch, then my job's done." Uncrossing his arms, Roy stalked off as the group watched him walk away.

"Recognise; Speedy-"

"That's Red Arrow, B-0-8. Update." With that said, Roy was engulfed in light before disappearing from the Cave.

"Someone's got a stick up their ass," Esau grunted earning a smirk from Superboy. "Right, let's get this mission over and done with. Wally, stop being an asshole and get changed." The speedster in question looked ready to argue, but upon seeing Batman's calm, indifferent gaze thought better of it.

No one wanted to be on Batman's bad side.

With a huff, Wally rushed off to get change appearing as a blur as he left the main area of the Cave. "Right, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian. Your job is to secure Dr Roquette and safely transport her here to the Cave." Kaldur indicated to his two teammates and the three of them made their way towards the Zeta-Tube.

"You're not seriously asking us to bring her to the Cave, are you?" Robin questioned, a thought shared by the others as the retrieval team led by Aqualad disappeared in a flash of light.

"No." Here Esau turned to Barbara who nodded her head, having an idea of what he wanted. "Batgirl, Artemis, Robin you three go ahead to Gotham and find a secure location there. There, three of us will have the hometown advantage."

While still unsure, Robin nodded his head and followed after Batgirl and Artemis.

That just left Esau, Green Arrow and Batman.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Green Arrow asked, unsure if Batman had made a mistake, this was a mission even he would find challenging, while not having much in the way of enhanced or superpowered individuals, the League of Shadows were one of the most dangerous organisations in the world, with the Fog at their disposal they would become an even greater threat. As much as Green Arrow trusted the young heroes, he didn't know if Batman had made the right decision to trust them with a mission that had so many things at stake.

Esau shrugged his shoulders. "We won't know until we try," Esau replied and Green Arrow frowned.

"You're not inspiring much confidence."

"Wasn't meant to. Can't really predict what happens on a mission, especially one as sensitive as this so we can't exactly deal in certainties." Esau explained, a frown on his face as Wally dressed in his Kid Flash uniform arrived. "KF, take the Zeta-Beam to Gotham and get to Batgirl's location. I want you to then find the fastest and most discrete route from the Zeta-Beam to the location they've decided on."

"Gotcha." As Kid Flash moves to the Zeta-Beam, Esau then turned to Green Arrow.

"You can be sure, however, that my team and I will do everything we can to ensure that we succeed." With those words, Esau pulled up his mask and activated his radio. "Aqualad, when you've secured Roquette, bring her back to the Cave and then wait for my signal."