A simple mission to "observe, and not act" as Batman had put it, was completely flipped upside down in an instant. All because of the hostages; it was always the hostages. The arms dealers the team was surveying had brought in some people from off the street for their "entertainment", mainly three young girls in their twenties. The team of teenagers watching couldn't sit idly by, and decided to act.

Robin was the first to move, and in retrospect it was a rash move. He entered the warehouse through a skylight, and launched into the rafters using his grappling gun. He was instantly consumed in darkness. Kid Flash ran around to the back where the doors would be open and he could zip in unnoticed. Miss Martin, Superboy, and Aqualad waited as a standby if anything went wrong. They wanted to remain as covert as possible since they shouldn't have been interfering in the first place. And Robin was clearly the most agile and stealthy of the group.

"KF, I'm going to distract the goons. Get the girls after that," Robin said through the mental link Megan had created.

"Got it," Kid replied. He was waiting outside the loading doors, hidden in the shadows through his stealth gear.

Robin threw a Batarang, which whizzed past the thug's heads and lodged in the wall. It beeped a few times and then a gas began to expel from the small contraption. The men became frantic as they tried to search for Batman in the smoke and shadows. While they were distracted, Kid zoomed in and knocked out the captors of the three girls. The girls ran away as soon as they were freed too startled to bother looking for their savior.

"Gee thanks for the recognition ladies," Kid Flash thought.

"Kid," Robin said with an exasperated tone in his voice. "Get out of here already before they notice."

"I'm already out," he replied nonchalantly.

"You should get out too, Robin," Aqualad cut in. "The smoke is beginning to clear."

"Yeah, I can see that. I'll be out in a sec—"As Robin backed up to leave the warehouse suddenly he tripped and his foot hit heavily against the metal air vents, making it ring. "Oh crap."

The thugs looked up and could finally see Robin's outline.

"It's not the Bat!" one of the men shouted.

"Shoot him!" another one yelled. Pistols were suddenly in everyone's hands and rain of lethal lead pursued Robin as he tried to maneuver out of the warehouse. However a bullet grazed his leg, creating a gash on the back of his right calf, and made him stumble. His footing on the heating ducts was lost. Robin began to fall, and couldn't catch himself. The men below him eagerly watched his decent to the cold cement below.

But suddenly arms wrapped around his waist. He looked up to see Miss Martin's worried face, and then back to the ground where Aqualad and Superboy had barreled into the room, mercilessly knocking out any man within reach.

"Thanks Megan," Robin said, smiling at her.

"Sure thing," she replied as she sat him down behind the cover of some crates. He collapsed to one knee; his other leg was wounded and couldn't support his weight. "Oh no, are you hurt?" Megan asked leaning down next to him.

"It's nothing, just a little scrape," Robin stood back up, although with less pressure on his right leg this time. He looked around the crates, assessing the situation. KF, Aqualad, and Superboy were doing fine on their own but they were still outnumbered five-to-one. Robin was about to jump out to help, when Megan put a hand on his shoulder.

"You can't. You're hurt so stay here."

Robin glared at her defiantly, but nodded. "Fine, but I will jump in if something goes wrong. Besides we need to pull out soon," Miss Martian just smiled and flew into the fight.

Robin was watching the fight, making sure everything was going alright. He didn't have time to react when the he was suddenly assaulted from behind. One of the men came up quietly behind Robin, coming out from his hiding place in between the large crates, and pushed down on the back of his injured leg. The man's steel toed boot digging into the wound.

Robin shouted, flipped around, and did a back handspring away from the guy. He landed roughly by sliding across the floor like a baseball player going for home base. The man laughed at him. His face had an eerie grin on it, which was enhanced by a long scar that dragged across his face from the middle of his forehead, across his eye, and down to his chin. As Robin tried to stand a second man came up behind him, and grabbed his arms as he rose to a crouch, and pinned them behind his back. Robin began to struggle against the man's rough grip, the man promptly responded by lifting his arms up more where they threatened to dislocate his shoulders.

"Looks like we trapped a bird," the first man said. His lopsided grin made Robin want to cringe.

"Maybe we should clip its wings," the man holding Robin's arms said with a chuckle.

Robin rolled his eyes. "Idiots."

"What'd you just say, brat?" The man in front of Robin asked.

"I said you're idiots. My friends are just over there, and they're thrashing your buddies. They're gonna get you too," Robin grinned.

"Shut up," the man with the steel-toed boots kicked Robin in the chest.

Robin grunted, but started to laugh. "You know Superboy has super hearing, right? I'm sure if I call him, he'd come and kick your sorry butts."

The man behind Robin pushed his arms up again, yet this time it was with more force than before. A sickening pop emerged from Robin's body as his left shoulder was forced from its socket. He bit his lip to keep from crying out. He had dislocated it before by accident, but being forced was much more painful.

"What do you have to say now, bird boy?" The first thug asked, grinning maliciously at Robin. Robin didn't respond. Instead he slid his legs forward from the kneeling position he was in, and jumped. His hurt shoulder felt as if it was on fire as he did a back flip over his captor's head. The man effectively released Robin as he moved, and now the Boy Wonder was standing behind both thugs.

"Interesting move," the scarred man said. "But how long can you keep that tough guy act up, huh?" The man mocked him. Robin knew he looked tired, and now he was injured. He was definitely at a disadvantage but he wouldn't lose this fight.

Robin pulled out two of his disks, getting ready to throw them at the opposing men. The men charged at him suddenly and Robin threw his disks. The scarred man dodged, but the second man was hit in the chest slowing him down.

The man came at Robin and attempted to punch him across the face. Robin dodged and connected a right hook across the man's face. Robin smiled, but that slowly faded as the man brought his other hand up to punch him. Robin didn't have enough time to dodge, so he blocked the fist with his forearm.

When his hand connected with Robin's forearm, he knew immediately something wasn't right. He just couldn't figure out what. The man grinned and stepped back as his friend came over.

"We've got to get back to the Boss, and let him know what happened before we're caught too," he said, hurriedly. "Those justice punks almost got everyone else down."

Robin stood there watching the conversation, and wondered why he was reacting. Yet when he tried to move, he couldn't. His muscles wouldn't respond, and with no control over his body he folded to the ground. Darkness was creeping into the edges of his vision, and his thoughts were swirling violently.

"What the hell just happened? I was fine a minute ago," Robin thought to himself.

The scarred man picked up Robin's cape, and began to drag him across the floor. He then kicked him roughly and tossed him into the space between some of the larger crates. The shadows hid Robin's limp figure from sight.

"See ya around, kid," The man laughed and left Robin on the floor. And with that Robin's consciousness slowly dissolved and his world faded to an unsettling black.

I probably shouldn't be starting this, but I've had this idea forever now. I plan to make this into a chapter story, and I hope the first chapter was enjoyed. I'll try to update as frequently as possible, but school tends to get in the way alot. Especially now since I've only got about eight weeks left.

Anyway, if you have any thoughts or comments about this chapter please review. Thanks!