Shadow Of The Nightshade

Straight To Voicemail.

AN: I wrote this after I wrote the next chapter I'm publishing, I'm not posting it today because I don't want you guys to get used to multiple updates and start hacking me to bits when I am to busy with school.

I admit that Wattpad is a huge distraction from my studies, but I want to remain an A student so I have to discipline myself because I can virtually feel my grades slipping.

Next Chapter tomorrow.

I'll try to post once a week.

Starve a little, my Sunshades.

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Recognized, Miss Martian: B-05.

Aqualad: B-02.

KidFlash: B-03.

Superboy: B-04.

Robin: B-01.

Artemis: B-07.

'Great, you're back. Shadow has escaped her convoy.' Batman paused, his expression turning dark as he took in the sidekicks' appearances, his ward's being the worst.

'What happened?' He growled, almost no part of Robin was not covered in blood.

Kaldur stepped forward, reporting everything to The Dark Knight without missing anything out, knowing how furious Batman was.

'You left him alone!' If he was furious before, he was raving mad now.

'I. . .I'm fine.' Robin turned to his mentor, his hand clamped around his right arm.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at his protégé. 'Take off your hand.'

Robin stared back, his voice stronger as the team looked his way. 'I'm fine.'

Batman took the boy's hand forcefully.

'You never said he got shot at.' He glared at Aqualad.

The Atlantain froze.

'It's just a scratch,' Dick said, defending his leader.

'What happened?' This time he directed the question to Robin.

'It. . . was a t-trap,' he seemed to have difficulty speaking, his words coming out in stutters. 'We. . . got split up. It seemed im-possible to leave. Shadow. . .'

The he fell forward, unconscious, into Batman's arms, his sentence going unfinished.

Bruce turned to the team as he carried Robin.

'W-we don't know anything about Shadow.' Wally stumbled over his words.

Gotham's protector stared at the teenagers for a while and they stood there unmoving, incredibly nervous and tired.

Finally the Caped Crusader nodded. 'Go to the Med bay then get some rest.'

The team seemed to sag in collective relief as The Dark Knight left the room.

××

'Poison?' Superman asked, referring to Robin's condition.

'Possibly.' Batman frowned, his eyes focused on the computer screen in front of him as his fingers ran across the keyboard.

The League members had convened at the Mount Justice meeting room more often that not since Shadow's arrival that it was now fully operational.

'As most of you know,' Superman started, 'Shadow escaped from custody, killing five CIA agents in the process, yet leaving one alive after asking for his phone.'

'But what you don't know is that before Robin passed out, he hinted the fact that Shadow was at LexCorp.'

'What did she do with the phone?' Martian Manhunter asked.

'She called me.' Batman answered with a frown, staring at the numbers on the computer. 'Eighty seven times.'

'None of them went through. These are the voicemails.'

10:10pm.

'Batman', Her voice sounded tired, 'I know you're probably upset that I escaped, but is Robin okay?'

10:33pm.

'It was suggested, in my conversation with the squadron leader before I killed him, that your team was walking into a trap. Call me back.'

10:34pm

'Don't call me', her voice paused, 'You should go to Lexcorp, that's were you sent them right?'

10:50pm

'Hey,' The sounds of footsteps echoed in the background.
'How far do you think LexCorp is from, uh, Insle street, Metropolis?'

11:00pm

'You know, next time I'll call Black Canary, your line is so unreliable. If Robin gets hurt, I'll help The Joker skin you alive and kill everyone you care about, you can choose to believe I'm lying if you want.'

11:09pm

'Forget what I said in the last message, everybody you care about are probably the same people Robin cares about, and I know he won't forgive me if I kill you.'

11:09pm.

'Maybe I've been over thinking things, maybe there was no trap and they're just finishing up their mission. By the way, I'm at LexCorp.'

11:10pm

'When you get this', she breathed, 'I hope Robin will be at Mount Justice, safe.'

11:15pm

This time her voice was vague, as though the message wasn't meant to be recorded.

'A freaking reconnaissance mission Batman?' She sounded angry. 'Do you have a grudge to settle with Robin? Were you hoping he got killed tonight? Am. . . am I such a bad person?'

The sound of something being shattered followed the recording.

Her last sentence didn't have anything to with the rest of the sentence, and contained an emotion they had never heard with Shadow's voice.

She had sounded lost.

The Leagued stared at The Dark Knight. 'No of her messages went through.' He repeated, a chill in his heart as he hacked into LexCorp's security feed.

Broadcasting it to all monitors in the meeting room, the video started playing.

Shadow was at the front desk, facing the annoyed receptionist.

××