Chapter 4

Kaldur ran as fast as he could with Rocket bleeding in his arms. The med bay was not far now. One more right turn and they would be in the hall where the entrance of the med bay was. When Kaldur turned, he immediately stopped in his tracks and ran back to hide behind the wall. Black Manta was standing at the entrance of the med bay with two Manta troopers by his side. Fortunately, Kaldur wasn't' spotted, since Black Manta was too busy talking to his troopers.

"No one goes in. Understand?" Black Manta ordered.

"Yes sir." The two troopers replied in unison.

"And if you're outnumbered or in defeat, radio for backup." Black Manta walked off, leaving the two troopers standing alone with their guns in their hands. There was no way of sneaking up on them since they had the full view of the hall. He set Rocket down against the wall and crouched beside her. She covered her shoulder again with a cloth Kaldur had previously given her. She put pressure on her wound which caused her to lightly groan.

"I will take care of the troopers." Kaldur said will rising and reaching back for his water bearers. Rocket tried to protest but Kaldur was already on his way. He observed the troopers by hiding behind the corner of the wall. He pulled out his water bearers which formed into swords. The troopers saw him enter their hall and started firing. He ran and evaded the bullets. He ran up to the first trooper and knocked him into the wall. The other trooper tried to punch Kaldur who dodged and hitting his opponent with his swords. Both guards were on the ground unconscious. Kaldur went back to Rocket and helped her walk to the med bay. She lied down on one of the beds.

"We don't have much time. Anyone can walk in at any moment." Kaldur warned.

"Grab the supplies. We're definitely going to use them again. Besides-ugh-we controlled the bleeding. All we need-ngh-is to remove the bullet and stitch it up."

Kaldur agreed and grabbed a first aid kit and some medical tools. He and Rocket exited the med bay just in time. After some walking, they heard Black Manta's yells. Rocket giggled and a smile cracked on Kaldur's face.

…

Once the battle started, Zatanna used a spell to bind Sportsmaster. Artemis was battling Cheshire which left Zatanna with the shadow ninjas. One of them swung his staff at her which she dodged a few times which was followed by a hit in the side. Zatanna gasped in pain. She then lifted her arm and recited another spell which threw the ninja into the wall. Sportsmaster was now free and threw a javelin in her direction. She jumped to the side as it exploded on impact. It launched her forward. She lifted herself off the ground and saw that Artemis and Cheshire were no longer in the hallway. Zatanna was outnumbered. She started running and casting spells. One of the ninjas was now tied up while the other advanced at her. She threw some punches and dodged a few. She then kicked him in the stomach. He bent over in pain and she delivered a final punch to his face which knocked him out.

"Guys. We got a problem!" Robin's voice sounded into the mind link. "Another boom tube just opened up and Psimon walked out. M'gann, you have to turn off the mind link. He could find us through it. Everyone meet up back at my coordinates." The mind link went down which gave her no way of finding out where Artemis was. She ran as Sportsmaster started shooting at her and eventually got away. Her new goal was to find Artemis.

….

Artemis was still brawling with Cheshire. Cheshire somehow managed to take their fight to the workout room. Cheshire's last kick sent her to the ground. Artemis slowly got up, wiping the blood from her lip which she bit when she fell.

"Really feeling the sisterly love here Jade." She scoffed.

"I'm doing this for your own good!"

"Yeah. Working with Sportsmaster. That doesn't seem like helping to me."

"Sportsmaster's not the one who ordered me to come here. I don't take orders from him. I've only been sticking around him so I could make sure he doesn't hurt you. I got you away from him didn't I? He wants to kill you Artemis!" Artemis paused for a moment, glaring at her sister.

"I can take care of myself. My team can help me. You left me with dad once and I came out of it alive. So what if you do it again?" Both girls had pained expressions on their faces.

"If the others found out you are helping me, they'd kill you." Artemis said a she took her fighting stance.

"They could try." She had a smug look behind her mask. Artemis smirked. They were back to punching and kicking each other. Cheshire tried to punch Artemis's face which she dodged. Artemis grabbed her hand and spun her into one of the treadmills. She grunted as her back hit the treadmill and fell to the ground. Artemis stood over her with a smug expression on her face. A shot was heard and the next thing Jade noticed was her sister falling to the ground.

Sportsmaster stood in the room's entrance with his gun pointed in their direction. He walked towards the girls and aimed his gun at Artemis again. This time it would be a fatal shot. Jade stopped him before he fired. She kicked the gun out of his hands.

"What have you done?! " Cheshire screamed in rage.

"Only what was necessary." He replied, his voice not showing any sign of sorrow. Jade kneeled down next to her sister and turned her on her back. She was unconscious. She was hit on the top right side of her abdomen. Cheshire put pressure on the wound as Sportsmaster went to pick up his gun.

"You can't kill her! I won't let you!" Cheshire yelled.

"That's not entirely up to you little girl." Sportsmaster responded.

"But she's right." Deathstroke's voice came from behind them. They turned round to see him walking towards them. "We need her alive for now. Finding the sidekicks has proven to be harder than we had calculated. We can use her to lure them into or trap. We all know they won't be able to resist coming to save their friend. I say, we take her to the med bay and keep her alive for a little while longer. When she is no more use to us, you may kill her. If the internal bleeding doesn't beat you to it."

"Fine." Sportsmaster responded with some bitterness in his voice.

….

Robin was now thinking of a new plan. Superboy and Kid Flash sat in the hallway behind him along with wolf and sphere. His old plan didn't involve Psimon whose presence was a threat for the mind link which caused him to lose communication with most of the team, including their team leader. Just then, a trooper walked in and walked up to Devastation, Psimon and Black Manta who walked in a while ago.

"What is it?" He asked his trooper.

"Deathstroke wanted me to inform you that we have caught one of the sidekicks. A girl."

"All right. Back to where you were."

"Yes sir." The trooper left the room.

"We have another problem." Robin said as he turned to approach his two team mates.

"What is it?" Kid Flash asked. Superboy didn't seem to be paying attention to Robin since he probably heard the conversation.

"They have one of the girls."

"What?! We should go help! We need to find the others!" Wally rambled. Robin considered it for a moment.

"You're right. There's nothing we can do here anymore." Robin said as they started walking down the hall.

"Guys!" M'gann yelled as she flew towards them. She landed in front of them. I was on my way to find you. Where are you going?" Superboy abruptly hugged her to which she looked surprised.

"I'm so glad you're okay M'gann." He said while still holding her.

"Why? Is someone hurt?"

"We just found out that one of the girls were taken. We don't know if she's injured yet." Robin explained.

"Turn the mind link back on so we can find the others." Wally said.

"I can't. Psimon will just sense it and hack into it. They'll hear everything we say and find our location." She responded. "It will just put everyone in danger."

"We'll just have to find them the old fashioned way." Robin said.

…

Rocket was noticeably a lot better now that her arm was stitched up. After a long time of walking though the hallways, they found some other team members.

"Rocket!" M'gann as she flew over to her. "Are you okay? How's you arm?"

"It's fine. Kaldur patched it up nicely. It still hurts but it's functional."

"Have you guys seen Artemis or Zatanna?" Robin asked.

"I'm afraid not." Kaldur replied. "Any information as to why they're here?"

"No. The only thing we do know is that they need us for something. Probably some sort of extortion for the League." Robin answered. "Let's find Artemis and Zatanna and we'll deal with them when we're all together.

…..

Zatanna wandered around the cave, hoping to find someone on her team. The med bay and the Hangar were the only places she hadn't checked yet. As she neared the med bay, she saw Sportsmaster in the distance at the entrance. She turned left and ran down another hall.

"Etaerc na noisulli of em!" A copy of herself appeared in front of her. The copy then ran towards Sportsmaster's direction, drawing his attention. As he threw a javelin and ran after the copy, Zatanna walked into the medbay. There, she found a bleeding Artemis who was on a bed with Cheshire next to her trying to control the bleeding. She was hooked up to a heart monitor. Her heartbeat then stopped

"She's going into shock, Cheshire muttered. She brought an oxygen mask to her face and covered up Artemis who's body temperature was cold.

Two troopers passed by and noticed Zatanna.

"Hey!" They called out. Only then did Cheshire notice Zatanna's presence. She gave her a sorrowful look. Zatanna ran and escaped the manta troopers. She really needed to find the rest of the team.

For those of you waiting for Deathstroke and Robin to interact: Don't worry. The Slade vs Robin showdown will come very very soon(either the next chapter or the one after that). And more team members will be injured physically and mentally. Or fatally….