A Chance to Trust (YJ/DP)

-18- Code Red

Danny shuddered, clutching onto Robin's clothes, he no longer had the strength to hold onto his hand. His knees felt wobbly, his stomach weak, his vision went in and out of darkness, he recalled blinking.

Approaching him was a robot, a bright shiny red robot with a cape and yellow markings. It had slits for eyes and a mouth, something Danny had never seen before. He whimpered as it came closer, wanting Robin to do something, anything, to stop the terrible monster. His brother did nothing.

"Red Tornado, what are you doing here?" Black Canary asked, confusion written on her face.

"I received a message that the Mountain's alarms had been triggered and was informed to come as back up." The robot said in a metallic voice, that was new too. Indeed the alarms were blaring, adding an annoying throbbing background noise to Danny's already thumping heart.

"It was just a bird, it somehow got into the mountain and went out through the door..." Canary trailed off, something didn't add up. He was here before the alarms started, why would he lie about his reason for coming? He should have gotten a message from Batman telling him to steer clear of the mountain for the time being.

"Interesting, perhaps we should find out how the bird came into the mountain and make sure it doesn't happen again." Red Tornado said, it sounded reasonable, but there was something extra in his voice that didn't settle well with Robin.

He checked on Danny behind him, he was shaking big time. His eyes were closed and he shook uncontrollably, he was so pale he would have thought him dead. Oh wait.

The team ran into the room, hearing the alarms, their respective weapons raised. When nothing looked inherently threatening the team relaxed, except for Kaldur. He walked forwards with his water bearers in hand, he approached slowly, noticing Danny's frightful state.

"Is everything alright Red Tornado?"  The Atlantin asked, the robot nodded while Canary spoke the situation.

"A bird set off the alarms, Red Tornado came to make sure things were good."

"If you don't mind me asking, who is the little boy behind Robin?" Red Tornado inquired, his head declining down to look at the halfa. Danny froze, this was even worse than training with the GIW, at least then he knew what to expect. This robot was going to hurt him, he had absolutely no doubts, he only wondered why Robin didn't think so too.

"This is Phantom, me and Batman are taking care of him for a while. He's uh, not very comfortable with matchinery, especially robots." Robin said in a sort of apolojectic way, Red Tornado was still his superior, he couldn't just tell him to bug off.

"I see, and an android like myself would be concerning to him." Robin nodded, "my apologies, perhaps he would feel better if I left. I will take the Zeta Beams." Red Tornado walked passed Robin and the others, no one noticed he had purposefully hit Danny's foot. It was not Red Tornado.

Danny was paralyzed, the memories rushing back to him, all the robots he had ever fought always went for his legs. All sounds were drowned out, he could only hear the rush of his blood and the warning bells ringing in his head. Code red! Code red! There is a robot right in front of me! I gotta get out of the way! Or at least fight back! His face became hot, this was a training session, if he did not engage the enemy he would be horribly punished.

He stood stalk still, his head lowered and his arms limp at his sids. Robin noticed his little brother's new position and frowned. M'gann put a hand to her head, suddenly getting a very sharp migraine.

"Phantom, you ok buddy?" He asked, kneeling down in front of him. He couldn't see his eyes, but something was glowing green under his mat of white hair. Danny didn't hear him or feel the hand on his shoulder, all he could hear was the laughter of the GIW.