Chapter Twenty-Three

DISCLAIMER: Like I have said over twenty times before, the only part of this story I own is Nessie and Hallucination, who come from the realms of my imagination. c:

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I noticed the weather was starting to get colder as I was sitting up on one of the many rooftops in Gotham. Tonight was especially cold, after Hallucination's announcement. Honestly, I was scared to death when the day came that he found a way out of Juvie. It wasn't like when Riddler or Mr. Freeze escaped; they could be knocked out without a second thought. But if you could command people like puppets, you could be unstoppable. And I was afraid of that happening to me.

"What, no big parties to go to?" I turned around to see Robin standing there.

"Not much of a party girl," I stated as he sat next to me. "How's your Halloween going?"

"Well, I was going to go to a party with the Team, but I had to go to a meeting. By the time it was over, everybody was gone to other parties. But I'd rather spend Halloween with you," Robin shyly admitted. All I did was smile at him. His face soon changed from happy to confused. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?"

"You would've said something snarky in response to my comment. Don't try lying to me, I know something's up."

"Fine," I sighed, defeated. "I talked to Hallucination tonight." Robin instantly paled, then turned angry.

"Why? How?"

"Batman called me and said that Hallucination wanted to talk to me. So I went to the delinquent center and talked to him."

"What did he want?"

"Um..." I debated about telling him about Hallucination's powers. "He...has powers." Robin looked at me cautiously.

"What powers?"

"He...can control people..."

"Control people? How?"

"Hallucination has psychic powers. Once he finds out about your deepest and darkest secret, he can mind control you. Without you knowing."

"And what does that have to do with you?"

"He knows my secret." There was silence for awhile, then Robin got up. "Where are you going?"

"To the Team's headquarters. We need to talk to Batman."

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Robin and I were soon standing in front of an old telephone booth located in an alleyway I used to spend my days in after I had escaped from the orphanage.

"What are we doing here? I thought we were going to Mount Justice?" I asked.

"We are. This is called a Zeta Tube." Robin then opened the door to the phone booth.

"Please step inside, ma'am." Laughing, I walked into the box. Immediately, a laser of some sort scanned me and a robotic voice went off, saying that I wasn't recognized. "Oops, forgot you weren't in the system." Robin stepped into the phone booth as well, and he pulled up some sort of holographic screen from his glove. He started to click away on the keyboard, and soon the booth disappeared and a cave of some sort appeared in front of us. The robotic voice was back, stating Robin's name and then mine. We walked over to the two people in the center of the room, one of them I recognized as Aqualad. The other person was dressed in red and black, and had red hair.

"Robin! What are you doing here?" Aqualad asked, looking at me.

"And who is she?" the other person stated.

"Aqualad, I need to talk to Batman. And Red Arrow, this is-" Robin began, but I interrupted.

"Catgirl." Red Arrow looked at me skeptically, and I looked away.

"I've heard of you. Aren't you Catwoman's accomplice?" Red Arrow narrowed his eyes at me.

"Yeah. So what?" I stated, glaring at him. Batman soon walked into the room, and stopped when he saw me.

"Robin. What is Catgirl doing here?" he said evenly, his voice having a deadly calm to it. I nervously bit my lip.

"Batman, it's about Scarecrow. Or rather, Hallucination," Robin stated. Batman's eyes narrowed.

"Follow me." Batman turned around and started walking, and Robin and I hurried after him. I looked behind me, and saw Red Arrow glaring at me. Turning around again, Robin and I continued to follow Batman until we came to a room with a couple of green chairs. The door behind us slid shut. "Computer, secure room," Batman commanded, and the robot voice returned, stating that the room was secure. "Alright, start talking. What happened with your meeting with Hallucination?"

I swallowed loudly, then proceeded to tell Batman everything I had told Robin. When I was done, there was silence for a minute or two. "If Hallucination gets out...he's going to try to-" I was about to tell the duo about Hallucination's threat to the Young Justice team, when an ear-splitting siren of some sort filled my head. Dropping to my knees with my eyes closed, I clutched my head in my hands and tried to keep my head from splitting open from the pain. Soon, the pain subsided to a weak throbbing, but a voice began speaking. Opening my eyes, I found that I was in a blindingly white room.

"Not so fast, Vanessa. The Team must not know of our little surprise." There was no one else in the room but me, and I frantically looked around, trying to find where the disembodied voice was coming from.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?!" I screamed.

"You really don't know? This is Hallucination. I've set up a mental link between us, so whenever you begin to tell the Team about the plan, I will stop you in whatever means necessary." As soon as I had appeared in the room, I was back with the Dynamic Duo, laying down. Both of them were kneeled over me, Robin looking the most concerned.

"Wh-what happened?" I wondered out loud, clutching the back of my head.

"Blacked out. You okay?" he asked. My mind was still reeling from Hallucination's news, and all I could muster was a weak 'yeah' in reply.

"Was it another Fear Attack?" Batman questioned.

"Um...yeah. Yeah, it was. But I'm fine now," I lied, then got up with ease. Until I almost passed out again, the throbbing back. Robin caught me this time, though, and he put my arm around his neck, acting like a crutch for me.

"Robin, get her back to Gotham," Batman stated, and we started to walk out of the room in silence. "Oh, and Catgirl?" We stopped, and I turned my head.

"Yeah?"

"Hallucination is not going to lay a finger on you. We'll make sure of that." With a swish of his cape, Batman disappeared down the hallway without another word. I lifted my arm off of Robin's neck and stood up on my own.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? That didn't look like a normal Fear Attack to me," Robin stated, worry etched all over his face.

"I'll be fine. I just need some sleep, that's all," I replied with a weak smile. We started to head to the Zeta Tube, and saw that Aqualad and Red Arrow were gone. Teleporting back to Gotham, we stood by the telephone booth for awhile, until Robin broke the silence.

"Are you sure that you can make it back? You don't look good. I mean, you DO look good, but, you don't look okay, no, wait..." he stuttered, blushing.

"I'll manage." I smiled, then kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer, and we stayed like that for a minute or two. Suddenly, I heard beeping, and we broke apart. Robin pushed his ear-communicator, and I heard a quiet voice, not being able to understand what they were saying.

"Robin here. Wait, we just put him behind bars. How is he out again?" I froze, immediately thinking that Scarecrow or Hallucination escaped. "Roger that, on my way. Robin out." Robin disconnected, then looked at me. He must have seen my scared face, because he laughed.

"I didn't quite word that right, did I?" he smiled. "It's just Penguin. Hallucination's not going to escape anytime soon. Besides, you heard what Batman said earlier. Even if he does, he's not going to get to you. We'll make sure of that." With that said, Robin planted one more kiss on my lips before grappling up to the roof. Suddenly, the siren was back in my head, and I collapsed to the ground. Then it ceased, but I wasn't in the white room like before. I was still next to the telephone booth when Hallucination's voice filled my head.

"You and Bird-Boy sure do like each other. Too bad you're going to have to destroy him." The throbbing was back, a sign that Hallucination had left. Robin's words lingered in my head, though. 'He's not going to get you'. What he didn't realize that Hallucination had already got me. And there was no way to escape his clutches.

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Hello again! I'm going to try to post every Friday, because I don't have any other time to because of school and such.

So, I need help from my fellow readers. Remember the play project that was assigned to Nessie and Richard earlier in the story? I literally have no idea what kind of scene they should do together. If you have any ideas, message me? I'll give you a shout-out if I like your idea....

I do this every time I post, but the number of reads, votes, and comments by my story are in red font now. Thank you to all who have been so supportive! :D

Vote, comment, and maybe even follow?

~~The Bat has left the room~~