A warning to readers:
I'm writing this by the seat of my pants, so we'll see where it ends up…
(And my first encounter with the DC universe was two weeks ago when I came across the episode Homefront during my channel surfing… it's comfy under this rock c;)
x.x
It was very quiet in room where the team was training. Each member lay on an oblong box, eyes closed and arms limply at the sides. Their heads pointed inwards towards a central point like tines of a six-pointed star. At this central point, Martian Manhunter stood, his arms out and his fingers flexing, his eyes closed as if in prayer.
Batman watched from under his cowl.
Nails clacked against the ground and a wolf with warm amber eyes entered the room. It made its way to Superboy, black nose waffling at him over the top of the block. It snorted. Finished with its sniff, it yawned widely, displaying two sets of teeth that glittered in the white light of the room, and lay down.
Again, it was silent in the room.
Out of the quiet M'gann arched off her block with a cry, her hands gripping at her chest. Batman was instantly on alert. Manhunter's eyes opened, and he became animated: his arms rose and he rushed to M'gann's side, reaching for her as he approached.
"Check Artemis," he said urgently.
Batman was at the young archer's side in an instant. Artemis's brows were unfurrowed, and her lips were ever so slightly parted in relaxation. The skin at her neck was warm and her pulse was as steady as the rise and fall of her chest.
"I cannot sense anything amiss," he reported, scanning her body.
"Artemis's mind believes itself to be dead," Manhunter explained from his place at M'gann's side. "She should have awoken upon her death in the dreamworld, however she has forgotten that it was a training exercise." He crossed the floor to Batman's side, brushing Wolf's side in his anxious hurry. He crouched beside Artemis' head and placed his hand upon her forehead.
Batman waited in tense silence for the verdict.
Manhunter's head tilted down and lines around his mouth deepened. "M'gann is now in full control of the exercise. What she believes, all the others believe. At this moment she believes Artemis dead. I do not need to tell you what will happen if she is not pulled from the exercise before her own death."
Batman looked at each of the teenagers before him, his eyes drawn to Robin. If M'gann died in-exercise believing him to be dead, he might never wake.
"The scenario is a doomed-to-fail mission," Batman said. There was no accusation in his tone, but Manhunter imagined he could hear fear. He met Batman's eyes, and while they were hidden from him he could feel the mind behind them steeling itself against tragedy.
"I will re-enter the dream world and awaken M'gann."
"Do it," Batman responded as Manhunter turned away. This time, he did not go to the centre that the teenages's bodies converged on. He stood above M'gann, and his body stilled as the real world was lost to him.
In the silence, Batman's attention was drawn to Wolf. The creature's eyes were open and it was staring emptily ahead. Its ribcage did not rise and fall. He could not say when Wolf entered the dreamworld, but now one thing was certain.
This training exercise had claimed its first victim.