"roy"
"i'm not interested"
"Roy please, there's some new... i- we think you should be briefed on this in person"
"What part of 'not interested' do you not comprehend?"
"It's about Kaldur"
"...I'll be there in ten."
Recognized. Red Arrow. B zero six.
"Where is he?" Roy demanded, glaring at the room full of suddenly still teenagers. The team exchanged nervous glances and Roy gleaned that the briefing room was the place to be. He strode moodily to it, aware of the uncomfortable stares his haggard and unexpected appearance warranted.
"Where is he?! Where the hell is Kaldur?" He shoved open the door and entered with a ringing clang announcing him as it slammed shut behind him. He eyed the present group; Batman, Nightwing, Aquaman, Black Canary, and Green Arrow. Shit. His unofficial "support group" Nightwing did not expect him to take whatever this was well. The empty space next to him and Aquaman's distraught countenance sent a lance of fear through him. "I thought he was in Atlantis, with his family...?"
"That's the problem. He is..." Nightwing sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Roy's brain jumped to visions of Kaldur bleeding, Kaldur drawing rasping breathes as he drowned on air, Kaldur in agony- Roy's breath hitched. He'd seen Kaldur shrug off injuries that could incapacitate most people, but he had vulnerabilities - sensitive gills, dehydration, fire, and Roy had treated those more times than he could count.
"Is he..." Roy couldn't finish that sentence.
"No. He's alive." Nightwing said swiftly. Roy felt that anxiety crash down in a wave of relief.
"We've known for some time that Black Manta is Aqualad's father-" Batman began stating.
"Yeah, so? What's that got to do with where Kal is? And that's never been a problem before." Roy said defensively, crossing his arms.
"It is now." Aquaman said heavily. Roy stared at him, mouth agape. This was completely out of the blue. Aquaman was supposed to be Kaldur's number one supporter in the Justice League. He had vouched for Kaldur when his parentage had been previously raised as an issue.
"I- I don't understand?"
"There's no easy way to say this. Kaldur has joined forces with his father." Nightwing informed softly, a hand reaching to Roy's shoulder in support. Roy's stomach dropped.
"No. He wouldn't. You're wrong!" Roy violently jerked Nightwing's hand off and stepped away shaking his head. "Kaldur isn't a traitor. He's more loyal than any of you deserve!"
"I know this is hard for you to accept, he was your best friend-" Green Arrow walked slowly towards Roy, hands raised.
"is" Roy growled. This was surreal. He had to be dreaming, he'd wake up in his hole-in-the-wall safehouse on a mangled couch and he'd check in and make Kal take a night off and do something together and laugh about this idea that he changed sides.
"We have proof that he has turned on us. I'm sorry." Green Arrow said sincerely.
"How do you know it's not mind control? Or he's being forced? Or that it's really him? I mean I'm walking proof that somethings can't be trusted." Roy raged, grasping at every straw that came to mind.
"We checked thoroughly. I think you should watch this, it was sent to us..." Nightwing pulled open a file on the monitor. Roy strode over, and glared at the screen.
Kaldur filled the screen, expression twisted with anguish, a fire Roy had rarely seen a trace of burning in his eyes. His voice was a rough imitation of the soft words and steely commands Roy was accustomed to. Roy barely processed the words, too shocked by the utter pain his best friend was in. Every inch of Kaldur screamed torment. His eyes looked dead and shadowed from exhaustion, a bruise mottled his jaw and his hands were shaking. His words were of blame and Tula and loss. Kaldur held the team accountable and Roy couldn't fault him for it.
"Wow." Roy muttered, his voice shaking. He sucked in a few breaths, gathering himself, feeling a too-familiar protective spark rekindle in him. "Where is his last location?"
"Here," Aquaman said, gesturing at a map of the Pacific Ocean with a red marker in it, "But he is considered a hostile force. "
"Hostile force. So you've just given up on him? Written him off?"
"Roy, its not like that-"
"Of course you did. That's how things work around here. You just give up. You gave up on Speedy, now you're giving up on Kaldur. Somehow I'm the only one who gives enough of a damn to keep going."
"Roy he made direct threats against the team!" Nightwing exclaimed in a tired voice that seemed like he hadn't wanted to divulge that particular information.
"Good thing I'm no longer affiliated with your team." Roy spat, walking stiffly back to the zeta transport.
"Roy, it's not worth the risk." Nightwing cautioned, calling after him. The rest of the team stared at the tense scene.
"I'll make that determination for myself." Roy shot back as he disappeared into the tube.
. . .
Roy wished Kaldur had come to him, like Roy had practically begged him to some many times, for a sympathetic ear. However, Roy knew Kaldur only confessed his woes under duress. Roy regretted every time he had vented to the atlantean, what he thought of as a demonstration of how friendship worked, the younger boy had probably misinterpreted. It was far too easy for Roy to imagine Kal bottling up his problems because he thought Roy had enough of his own on his plate.
Roy pounded a fist against the windscreen of the speedboat he was driving, he should have paid more attention to Kaldur, kept better tabs on him. It was his responsibility as a best friend and he had known that the team did a less than stellar job of caring for their stoic leader. Roy had lost count of the number of times he had dragged out his med kit because the atlantean had been too proud- or shy- to ask his teammates for medical assistance. The team's impression of Kaldur as invincible was mostly due to his trust in Roy's medical skills.
Roy glanced frequently at the gps as he neared Kaldur's last known location. He had a looped message of his location being sent out on the frequency he and Kaldur utilized to speak to one another on private missions. Roy knew this was a major risk- broadcasting his presence in enemy territory- but he frankly didn't give a damn.
He shut the boat's engines off in a spot over the edges of a small trench system. There was nothing he could do but wait and worry. He would wait as long as it took, or until Aquaman forced him back to land.
He only had to wait two hours and forty-seven minutes. His radar pinged, a shape was drawing near, Roy stared over the side of the boat, peering into the depths begging a light swirl of water to rise out depth propelling Kaldur.
A splash and a slight shift in the balance of the boat had Roy whirling and reaching for one of the knives concealed on the boat. He hadn't brought his quiver and bow, it would be useless against underwater attackers and he wanted to "come in peace" per say. Roy stared as a figure dressed in black armor pulled itself onto the boat and then slowly removed a helmet.
"you should not be here Red Arrow." Kaldur formally intoned.
"neither should you Aqualad" Roy's words were bitter, not the ones he wanted to say in his mind, but there would be a time for begging later-only if it came to that.
"My place is with my father. This is where I truly belong." Kaldur stated with a noticeable lack of emotion.
"By that logic, my place is a cadmus test tube, but would you say I belong there?" Roy countered sharply.
"No- Roy you need to leave." Kaldur looked pained. Roy smirked internally at the reflex negation of Roy's self-depreciating comment, his Kaldur was still in there.
"no. Kal, this isn't you. I know you better than I know my real self. I'm not leaving until I at least get an explanation." Roy crossed his arms stubbornly, jaw set.
"After...Tula...I realized I could no longer remain on that team," He spat the last word, looking down to break eye contact with Roy, "I had no choice. I merely planned on leaving but my father found me and showed me the Light."
"Bullshit." Roy snapped, Kaldur flinched. "You've come to me so many times for physical injuries, emotional pain is just as valid. I may not be able to fix anything in just an evening, but God, Kal, you've passed out in my flat enough times to know that my couch is your couch! "
"They killed Tula!" Kaldur's demeanor changed and he snarled at Roy. Roy responded with equal passion.
"Is this what she would have wanted?!"Roy regretted his words when grief twisted Kaldur's countenance.
"You have no right!"Kaldur growled. Roy raised his hands appeasingly.
"I shouldn't have said that. Kaldur'ahm, You can't heal through violence." Roy changed his approach, hoping to avoid further confrontation.
"I thought that was the way of heroes? Channel loss into action?" Kaldur asked in a mockingly innocent way. This was a twisted echo of years of amiable banter, of Kaldur's naive questions about surface life, of late night discussions of motivation.
"Damn it Kal, not like this. Let me help you" Roy implored.
"I am beyond your help." Kaldur resigned. Roy stared with pleading eyes, stripped of a mask or glasses or the fog of intoxication.
"Kal, you'll be forgiven, come back to us. Come back to me. We- I- care about you."
Kaldur looked thoughtful and was silent for a long moment. When he spoke it was with serious urgency.
"It would be dangerous for me to show you mercy if ordered not to. If you care for me as you have often stated you do, then you must let me go."
"You know I can't Kal, I won't just abandon you." Roy was affronted. He could let go of Kaldur no more easily than he could let go his own arm. Kaldur was an integral part of him.
"You must. Roy, do not force me to face you on the field of battle." Finally real emotion showed in Kaldur's face, a desperate fear of fighting Roy.
"Then don't become my enemy." Roy responded with little heat. Kaldur had the decency to look guilty as he refastened his helmet. "Hey," Roy called, Kaldur hesitated at the edge of the boat, "Take care of yourself fishsticks, I know you have no self-preservation ability, but..." Roy paused. Kaldur vaulted over the side of the boat, but clung to the outside of the wall, helmet facing the archer and nodded.
"I..." Roy didn't know how he wanted to finish that sentence. He didn't know how to convey the turmoil of emotion he felt towards the Atlantean. Kaldur nodded once again slid into the depths.
Roy sat alone on the boat another hour before returning to shore.