Consider it disclaimed.
enjoy.
End Of An Era
The dim light cast towering shadows across the various walls of boxes. The sole low watt bulb made the room look gritty and uninhabitable; but Dick supposed that was the point should anyone stumble across the place. Sitting on a stack of boxes, he tried remembering the good times he had had here. The list was disconcertingly short, but not surprising in the least. Their time here had been short, less than a month, but at least they had gotten to spend it as they did.
As a team.
Just the idea of the Team brought back more memories, ones that hadn't happened here, but Dick supposed the place had never actually mattered. Tim's first successful mission and the way Bruce had scolded him for being too reckless when he had obtain a minor injury was one of the first to pop into his mind. Then there had been the time Barbara had Cassie spouting off outrageous claims of sexist behavior from anyone that so much as spoke to her, which led to another scolding from Batman. The more that he thought about it, so many of the good memories of the team ended with Batman glaring in someone's direction. Jaime and Bart taking a detour on mission to stop for ice cream, Raquel 'unintentionally' picking fights with Tula when she first joined the team, and who could forget, Jason borrowing M'gann's ship for a joy ride in the middle of the night leaving the team without transport during a small crisis.
Taking in his bleak surroundings, Dick felt useless. He had gone through the stages and now here he was, with no other option than to accept the inevitable. The Team was done. He had done everything he could to save it; cursing, yelling, bargaining, and even pleading. In the end everything he had said equated into nothing.
And he was left feeling like a failure.
"Everyone knows you did what you could." Dick didn't bother turning to greet the owner of the voice, already knowing well who it was.
"I didn't do enough," his voice was sharp as he replied.
"To be fair, the League wasn't exactly willing to listen. There are other things going on right now," Zatanna pointed out taking a few more steps into the room. She had waited in the doorway to be acknowledged by Dick for long enough.
"You are part of the League, remember Zee?" He turned to look at the sorceress, eyebrow raised. Zatanna smiled and shrugged at the gaze.
"So how is everyone handling this?" She made a half hearted gesture towards the boxes.
"They're dealing with it." Dick shrugged, feigning indifference.
"How are you handling this?"
"Dealing with it too," he replied shortly. Without missing a beat, he continued, "So what's the League doing while we play clean upcrew with this whole decommissioned thing anyways? "
"Back among the stars." Her response was simple in return.
"Didn't they get enough of space when they were on trial?" Dick jested, but his words came out strained.
"Well they're actually helping this time," she admitted, sounding hesitant to continue. "The Lantern Corps requested their assistance with taking out some sort of robot thing. Its all need to know info, you know how it is, Dick."
"The Anti-Monitor and the Manhunters, you mean? You would think the Guardians would be able to deal with something they created or at least be too prideful to ask for help, but hey what do I know?" The slight smile Dick caught at the corner of his friend's lips made him feel a bit better for the time being.
"I know I shouldn't be surprised after all this time, but you still amaze me by being a complete snoop," Zatanna mumbled to herself, shaking her head.
"I just wanted to see the situation. I do like to be prepared in case something slips by the League and comes this way, Zee."
"I'm sure they have it under control."
"Last time I looked into the state of the situation, well...pretty sure it might be a bit less than under control," he hinted at the mess that was happening in Frontier Space.
"How do you even know these thi- wait, what do you mean? Do we need to send back up?"
"Well another creation of the Guardians pretty much decimated the Anti-Monitor, who was controlling the Manhunters," he continued, ignoring her latter question.
"That's good news."
"Not when the Nav computer that took over is a sentiment AI that now wants to destroy all emotion," he relayed simply, disproving her previous statement.
"So back up? Yes or no?"
"I wouldn't bother, personally. It's out of the League's hands now."
"But if it wants to destr-"
"She, Zatanna. Not it, she. Besides, if something triggered that strong of a reaction in her, there's probably someone there to fix it. Or at least someone to apologize. Like they say, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Another flat joke.
"You can't actually think she decided to go on an emotion killing spree because some jerk said the wrong thing." Zatanna gave him a skeptical look at the mere suggestion.
"I've seen you almost go in killing sprees when someone said the wrong thing to you," Dick countered with ease, a smirk growing on his face.
"That's different, she is an Artificial Intelligence and- why are we arguing about this?"
"As a distraction," he reminded, making a lazy gesture to their surroundings, "From all this, but the Artificial Intelligence has a name."
"Alright, fine. What's her name then?" Zatanna spoke carefully, curious to where Dick was going with this.
"It's Aya. She hasn't been alive long enough to understand dealing with the repercussion the emotions that comes with being a sentient creature. From what I gather, there must have been some kind of emotional overload and she wasn't able to handle it on her own. It's not surprising to me though, if you don't have help when you really need it the most you can do is shut down. I'm pretty sure that's what she did or at least what she was trying to do."
Zatanna looked at him for a long moment before speaking, "Are you sure you're alright, Dick?"
"Zatanna, I told you-"
"And you lied," she interrupted softly. "You lied and you were about to lie again. I know how much this team has meant to you and the fact that you're going on about this Aya thing as a front for your concern for the Team. I know that this team has meant a lot to everyone that's been apart of it, but sometimes you just have to let go."
Dick let out a sigh and shook his head trying to keep the calm he was slowly losing his grip on. "You know how much it means, Zee? Yet after everything, how can you just sit idly by and let this happen?"
"We haven't been sitting idly by. There are still some Leaguers that are fighting to keep the Team going," Zatanna protested. "This whole thing with that Anti-Monitor thing put a hold on the decision. The League is just trying to figure out what's best after everything that has happened."
"Having the Team is what's best, there isn't really any other option," Dick's voice rose in the slightest as he spoke. "It's tough being in the shadow of League members. You have a harder time figuring out where you stand and if you could actually pull it off going solo. The Team is helping to teach them to stand on their own two feet, just like it did for you and me."
"There are other ways of learning how to do that, Dick, and with less resources used," Zatanna tried defending the League's decision with obvious discomfort.
"What about the fact that it allows sidekicks to have friends that get them, some semblance of a normal social life, and an actual support system they may not have elsewhere. There are kids that don't have anyone other than the Team, Zatanna, you of all people should be able to relate to that."
It was Zatanna's turn to heave a sigh. "You know damn well that I do relate, but it's not just my decision to make, Dick. Right now, I don't agree with the temporary disbanding of the Team, but there isn't anything I can do about it. I know that you're upset, so I'll forgive you for using that word this once."
"I'm not just upset, I'm absolutely chalant about this," he muttered. "It isn't fair."
"Being a sidekick has never been fair," Zatanna chided teasingly.
"Don't use that word."
"You used it," she pointed out childishly.
"I was trying to make a point," Dick explained with an equal amount of cheekiness.
"So was I."
The two fell into a comfortable silence that was reminiscent of old times. The only sound in the room was the nearly inaudible buzz from the only light. Zatanna shifted, leaning against her own stack of boxes before crossing her arms and fixing Dick Grayson with a stare.
"No." Immediately came out of his mouth before she got a chance to start.
"And exactly what else will you be doing with all this spare time you now have?"
"I was thinking about catching up on all the sleep I missed in high school," Dick responded thoughtfully.
"You're going to miss the next ten years of your life."
"Impossible. Maybe I'll learn to to be a barista and make coffee so no one has to sleep then?"
"Why do that when you already have the secret to not sleeping?"
"Get a dog?"
"Stealing Artemis and Wally's dog would not go over well. You do remember what happened the last time you pulled that, right?"
"Fine, I'll just get a girlfriend," Dick finally declared.
"I don't even have a response to that," Zatanna deadpanned.
"Thanks for the support, Zee," he muttered, sliding off his seat and stretching.
"So what are you really going to do?"
"Head back to Bludhaven, I guess. Wait for a few people to put in a good word for the Team and hopefully, all will be well," he replied running a hand through his hair.
"I'll talk with Raquel when I see her tomorrow. We'll do our best for the Team, Dick." Zatanna slid her arms around her friend and squeezed slightly. "I promise."
Dick wrapped his arms around Zatanna in response, letting his chin rest lightly on top of her head. "I know you will, Zee, but until then you know where to find me.
I have no comments other than:
-don't kill me
-I referenced GLTAS (a lot) so don't kill me
-the plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone
and
-all will be well
Hope you enjoyed it.