Here's my next story. Hope you guys like it and let me know what you think :) xx
The silence of the cave was deafening. Each team member remained motionless where they say at the table, avoiding all eye contact. M'gann's prepared dinner went untouched, even by Wally who sat staring at his hands resting on his lap. The team were all dressed in civilian clothes, having washed and changed after a particularly...horrific mission. They had failed. Badly. In more ways than one.
"Stupid. Stupid! STUPID!" Superboy suddenly broke the silence, slamming his fists against the table repeatedly. "How could we let this happen?" the clone demanded angrily of no one in particular.
Kaldur sighed unhappily before turning, reluctantly to face the furious teen.
"Conner, we all made mistakes today. The mission did not go well and we should reflect on what went wrong. However, punishing ourselves endlessly will not help us. You know he would not want us- " the leader began before he was abruptly cut off by another voice.
"Don't you dare bring him up! You make it sound like he's dead or something!" Wally yelled, standing up angrily to face the team. "We were meant to have his back, but we failed and now Rob's injured". The speedster finished his tirade before flopping back to his seat, tired and defeated.
"I am sorry I made it sound that way" the atlantean began again, "it was not my intention. I agree, we should have protected Robin as he worked to remove the security. I take responsibility for this miscommunication" he admitted, bowing his head.
"Hey, wait just a minute there, Kaldur! This isn't just your fault. I mean someone was specifically told to watch for any guards entering Robin's side of the building, right M'gann?" the archer of the team hissed, glaring at the martian. The site of their youngest teammate injured had shaken her to the core.
The said martian winced outwardly, before ducking her head to stifle a choked sob. The sound caught the attention of the enraged clone, who glanced at the weeping girl beside him before shooting a glare at the blonde.
"This isn't her fault! Leave her out of it" He yelled, standing up so quickly that his chair overturned to crash to the floor. The noise startled the remainding team members out of their daze.
"Hey, wait a second, Supey! Don't talk to her like that! If you're so tough, why didn't you protect Rob?" Wally pounced on the clone angrily. This retort lead to a chorus of heated comments from various members of the team and the volume of the 'conversation' rose to a high volume. Nobody noticed when Black Canary and Batman walked into the room until the Dark Knight silenced the group with a booming roar of 'Silence!'.
Black Canary took it upon herself to break the uneasy tension.
"Now, I know you're all upset about what happened on the mission, but there is a time and a place to discuss what went wrong. And believe me, we will be talking. However, for now, I expect you to behave yourselves if you are hoping to visit Robin in the infirmary" the blonde explained, calmly, but sternly, before glancing at Batman.
The Dark Knight nodded his assent before growling at the teens in a menacing manner.
"If you disrupt his healing or cause him any anxiety whatsoever, you will answer to me" he threatened before turning to leave the room, followed shortly by the team's trainer.
After glancing at each other uncertainly, the team, lead by Wally, slowly made their way to the med-bay, where they knew the acrobat would be resting. Upon reaching the doors to the room, Wally paused, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Whatever stress he had inside of him, there was no way that he was going to bring any of that to his best friend; the kid needed his family, not an argument. Sighing, the speedster pushed open the doors to move slowly into the room, shadowed closely by his team.
Inside the infirmary, the team spotted Red Arrow, in his civilian clothes, sitting in a chair, leaning over the occupant, who the team presumed to be Robin, of one of the beds. The older teen was brushing the hair from the young hacker's forehead, speaking to him in quiet, soothing tones. The acrobat himself appeared to be awake, if not entirely lucid. He was dressed in comfortable clothes, a white vest and some black track pants, and was looking up at Roy with semi-lidded eyes from his position tucked under the white blankets. There was no mask; there didn't have to be anymore since he'd confided his identity to the team a few weeks ago. Although they couldn't really see the extent of his injuries, the IV attached to the boy's hand and the pained expression on his face, despite the medication he was obviously getting, was a clear enough signal to the rest of the team that he was hurt. Badly.
Roy glanced up as they entered, keeping his hand on the Boy Wonder's forehead. He shared a look with both Wally and Kaldur, before narrowing his eyes at the rest of the team, who we had not trusted before and certainly didn't trust now. However, he'd let it go this time. No need to disturb the injured child in front of him.
While Wally seemed frozen to the spot, staring at his best friend, Kaldur slowly made his way into the room, towards the hacker and archer. He looked painfully at the youngest member of his team before turning to the elder boy.
"How is he doing?" he asked, concern colouring his voice. It physically pained him to see the one he viewed as a younger brother looking so...ill and vulnerable.
The red-headed boy sighed, his eyes roaming over the small boy's still form.
"Not great. He's in a lot of pain and is kind of out of it. I'm trying to get him to sleep; Bat's said it would help him heal faster, but so far, he's being stubborn". The archer smiled sadly, before once more, attempting to quieten the Boy Wonder, who began to groan and toss his head.
The pained sounds of his friend, snapped Wally to attention, and he darted to his best friend's side, gently catching the ebony's hand as it attempted to move towards the gash on his face.
"Hey there buddy, take it easy okay? You just rest alright? The Wall-Man's gonna take care of you, kay?" the speedster soothed gently, keeping hold of the boy's hands as his eyes latched sluggishly onto Wally's.
The remaining members of the team crowded round the bed. The silence of the room was filled with various beeping machine, the continuous calming words of both Roy and Wally and M'gann's quiet sobs as she looked at the small acrobat sadly. Conner wrapped his arms around the martian, looking both confused and frightened about the state of their youngest member. How could this happen to Robin? Better question, how could they let this happen to their youngest brother? Artemis, under the cautious, protective gaze of Red Arrow, sat down carefully on the edge of the bed. She began to stroke her fingers along the Boy Wonder's arm gently, humming softly to help lull the boy into the sleep that he needed so badly.
Despite the viscous, angry thoughts of all of the healthy teens, they focussed only on caring for their youngest member and their efforts were met with success as they watched his eyes slowly close and his pained face begin to relax slightly. Each member breathed a small sigh of relief, happy that the acrobat could now focus all of his energy on getting better. Smiling sadly at the sleeping hacker, Artemis looked up, hesitantly at her team.
"I guess, mistakes happen sometimes" she whispered, glancing apologetically at M'gann, who nodded back at her.
"Yes, but what it important is that we learn from them and prevent similar mistakes from occurring in the future" their leader spoke, looking each of them in the eye. The others nodded gravely, each hoping desperately that such a situation would never happen again. Yes, everyone made mistake, and Robin would recover eventually, but each and everyone of them knew that they had been close to losing their brother and this was not something that they EVER wanted to experience again.