Chapter Three: MIA

A/N: Hello! Sorry it's been a while! I hope it was worth the wait! Also, if you care to notice, this story now has a new title; "Beautifully Brilliant." I personally like it better than the old title; "Brilliant Boy," so thanks to ArtemisCrock73 for the new title suggestion!

Oh, and if you don't know, MIA is short for "Missing In Action." It's a military term. X)

Well, I hope you guys enjoy! Please review when you're done reading!

"Okay Superman, I'm going to instruct you on how to do this as we go along. I'll keep it as simple as I can," Robin said through his earpiece. Superman was wearing a special earpiece that Robin had made at last-minute to withstand the high temperatures of the reactor room. Superman was now opening the large metal door which moved easily under his super strength. Meanwhile, Robin opened up some blueprints that he'd found in the file room where they kept hard-copies of a lot of the digital files they kept, and hard copies of all the blueprints and maintenance instructions on the Watchtower systems and such. Robin had pulled out everything he could find on the Watchtower reactor, particularly on its backup systems and power diversion routs. He'd found a way to trick the reactor into sending power to the Zeta beams by making it believe that they were the emergency life-support systems. The components of the Watchtower had intelligence. Not intelligence that allowed it to talk to the occupants or anything, just complex sets of priorities. No matter what happened, there was programing in place that made the systems work together to do everything they could to sustain life during emergency states. If the Watchtower thought that keeping life-support on was more important than the Zeta tubes, then it was working properly. But in this situation, escaping was more objective, so he'd just have to trick the systems. It wouldn't be too hard, really.

"Alright," Robin said, looking between fifteen different blueprints that he'd laid out around the room he was in. "What you need to do is..."

Superman waited patiently for Robin to continue. After ten long seconds he radioed Robin. "Uh, Robin? What do I do again?" There was no response.

Suddenly, Batman's earpiece became active and he spoke to Superman. Batman had been in the room with Robin, but now he had found himself alone.

"Superman, Robin's gone." Superman made a look of questioning that only he could see.

"Gone, what do you mean gone?"

Batman contacted Flash and Martian Manhunter. "Robin was just teleported out of the Watchtower by a targeted Zeta beam. I have a good guess as to who's taken him."

"Do you believe it was Luthor?" J'onn asked. Batman grunted confirmation.

"So," Flash wondered, "What do we do now? Robin was the only one who knew what to do! He's the only one who can get us out! Does anyone know what he was trying to do?" Flash asked.

Batman grunted again. "No. But all of the required blueprints to do it are here."

"But to do what?!" Superman asked, stepping out of the reactor room and closing the large metal door.

Batman was silent for a moment. "I don't know. But whatever he was attempting to do in order to get the Zeta beams operational, we have to figure it out quickly and get back to Earth. If Lex has Robin then we don't have long before…" Batman stopped, not really wanting to finish that sentence. "He's probably using everyone in the station as hostages. If Luthor is in control of the Watchtower, than we're all at his disposal. No doubt Robin knew the moment he read the message that 'the ones he cares for' means everyone in the Watchtower. We have to escape." The other three heroes nodded.

"Batman, you are the only one who has a chance of sorting out what Robin was attempting by these blueprints. Are you confident you can figure it out?" Martian Manhunter asked. Batman looked at him, the Martian not seeing, but sensing the worry behind Batman's cowl.

"I have to."

(*) Down on Earth (*)

Robin was staring down at a blueprint in his hand one second, and the next thing he knew there was a quick flash of light and the blueprint was gone. He assumed at first that Flash had sped by and snatched it out of his hands in a blur.

"Flash, I don't have time to screw around, now give it back," the ten year old said before looking up. He was taken aback as he looked around and saw no familiar environment.

"Batman?" He called out, slightly afraid now because he was standing in an unfamiliar place and because he was supposed to be saving the lives of the people on the Watchtower, not standing in a plain gray room, the only piece of furniture or color being a bed with a red comforter on it.

When Batman was nowhere in sight, Robin tried his earpiece. "Batman? Superman? Anyone? Are you guys there? Hello?!" He was getting a little panicky now. None of them were responding. Where were they? Or, perhaps he should be asking where he himself was.

Robin saw two doors in this room, both metal and on opposite walls. One was ten paces to his right, the other ten to his left. He ran to the one at his left first. He pulled at it, not at all surprised to find it locked. He was surprised, however, to find that there was no key hole to try and pick the lock. The door must only lock from the outside… great. He twisted the metal doorknob a few more times, testing to see if maybe he could get it off and get to the lock working gears behind it. The knob was sealed onto the door tightly, it wouldn't give way to any of his toys, so Robin tried the other door.

It was just like the first except for one crucial thing. It was unlocked.

Robin twisted the knob and flung the door open in a rush to get back to Batman and the others in the Watchtower. What he saw was unsettling though. Before him was simply another room, no other doors or exists possible. What there was were people. Some were only children, the youngest looking to be about seven years old. The next child was perhaps just a year or two older than the first, and the third was a teenager older than Robin himself, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. The seven year old was the only girl of the three minors there, all of them in cages no larger than dog crates. The other five people were adults; two men and three woman. One man was in his thirties or so while the other was old, well past forty and looking extremely uncomfortable. The adults were all chained in a standing position to the wall, and the way most of them slouched and hung by their chains it seemed they'd been here for at least several hours.

The second thing Robin saw in the room was lab equipment and metal tables, but that didn't matter so much right now. Putting everything else aside, Robin ran over to the people and began to unlock the younger man's restraints. If guards were to come in, it would be best to have the man ready to fight with him if he could.

"Don't worry, I'll get all of you out of here," Robin promised, mostly to the two younger children who were crying. Robin had just gotten the man's left hand free when the door Robin had come through shut closed.

Robin turned around, startled by the noise. He immediately took up a fighting stance. It was too bad he'd only been able to free the man's left arm, he wouldn't be able to aid in fighting much that way.

Robin's eyes widened as he saw who had come through the door and shut it. Before him, just across the room, stood Sportsmaster. He was definitely someone to be careful about. He and Batman had only gone against Sportsmaster once, and he had been really hard to take down, even though it was just him against the Dynamic Duo. Robin had still been new to the hero business, and the main reason Batman had trouble taking Sportsmaster down had been because Robin had been caught and used as a hostage. In a one-on-one fight, Batman would beat Sportsmaster, though it would still prove difficult. But Robin against the well-built and trained man? Robin didn't think he stood a chance. He was only ten, after all.

Still, like the brave kid he tended to be, Robin wasn't going to just give in. He couldn't fail too miserably, right? I mean, he was still trained by the Dark Knight himself. In Robin's mind, he could do almost anything! Almost…

Sportsmaster was a bad guy, so Robin saw no point in talking to him. Instead, the boy rushed forward, and attempted to kick the man in the stomach. Before anyone had even understood what happened, Robin was suddenly pushed against the wall, his arm being twisted painfully behind his back. He let out a yelp of pain as he was slammed against the wall and his arm was bent into an uncomfortable position. Sportsmaster scoffed down at him.

"Please kid, don't lie to yourself. I'm way above your level, so don't even try to fight me." In this whole time Sportsmaster had only used one arm, the other being held behind his back. He had literally taken the young hero down with one arm in less than a second. Robin didn't want to know what it felt like to be taken down with both arms.

Sports master let Robin go and he slumped away from the wall, cradling his hurting right arm for a moment and letting out a small sigh of relief. A sudden voice sounded by Sportsmaster's side.

"I told you not to damage him. If you had broken his arm, how would he have drawn up the blueprints?" That almost made Robin wish his arm had been broken… almost.

Robin turned to look at who had spoken. It was Lex Luthor, of course, who had apparently walked into the room while Robin was painfully pinned against the wall.

"I didn't leave any damage," Sportsmaster assured. "His arm is fine. Can't say the same for his pride though." Robin glared at the man, but looked hopelessly like a pouting child to the two older men. At that, Lex snickered.

"Come now, Robin. Ensure that you don't cause any problems. Remember that there are hostages involved. Robin looked to the people restrained against the wall and the children in cages. "No, not them," Lex said, anger seeping into his voice. "Those are the hostages Sportsmaster brought. He'll do whatever he wants to them if he feels you are being uncooperative. Sportsmaster seems to think that promising death to your friends in the space station isn't enough. He thought that you'd have to actually see some people get hurt to for you to believe that we are serious. Whatever he does to them does not fall on me. However, what happens to Batman and the other hero friends of yours is completely up to me, so you will do what I say." Robin glared up at him again.

"And what if I refuse?" Robin asked, defiance radiating from the boy. He had no intention of doing what this man wanted, especially if it was anything like last time. Last time Luthor had wanted him to design weapons of mass destruction. And Robin was never going to do that.

Sportsmaster glared down at Robin, the boy's defiance clear as day. Because of that, Sportsmaster pulled out a gun and pointed it at the boy. The young hero turned his glare on Sportsmaster now. Robin knew he wouldn't be shot because Lex still wanted Robin's genius designs. He wouldn't let Sportsmaster shoot him and risk the boy's life.

What Robin wasn't expecting though was for Sportsmaster to suddenly point the gun in a different direction and pull the trigger. Robin's eyes widened in horror and he tried to tackle the villain, but it was too late. The shot rang out, echoing in the enclosed room. Robin let out a short call of horror as he watched the old man chained to the wall slump, red liquid erupting from the man's chest.

Robin ran over to the man, momentarily ignoring the screams and gasps from the other present hostages. Robin placed his fingers over the man's artery in his throat and waited for a pulse. There was nothing.

He was dead.

A/N: And with those intense words hanging dramatically in the air, I bid you adieu.

Oh, and please review! Much appreciated! X)