"Bats? Can you hear me? Bats?" Flash whimpered softly in the corner as he fixed his eyes on his fallen comrade. He wasn't sure how much time had passed.
The black figure, lying facedown on the concrete, had given no indication of life or death. His cape covered his face.
"Batman please, please do something. Move, curse, anything!"
Batman began to stir.
"Bruce!" Flash shrieked speeding towards his battered body, easing him into a flat position.
"What happened?" He asked.
Bruce tried in vain to sit up, a movement that would only further agitate his broken ribs, but the action was soon shot down by Wally.
"What do you think you're doing? Keep your hands off me!"
While Flash couldn't say that he wasn't hurt by Bruce's outburst of anger, he knew that he was in no condition to fight him.
"You have extensive injuries, and shouldn't be moving around. I know I'm no doctor, but at least I have the ability to care, unlike some people," Wally shot back, not letting his confidence slip too much.
"Now is not the time, gentlemen," Shayera stated, inserting herself into the mix to check Batman's injuries. "We have to care for one another, not fight amongst each other. We have a duty to fill. One of protecting others, including our teammates," she finished, giving each of them a scolding glare.
"I don't need any protection," Bruce said once again trying to sit up, only to be shot down again, but this time the protesting coming from his aching body.
"You've never been one to make reckless decisions, please don't start now."
Shayera quickly conducted a brief examination, poking and prodding at the bones to feel for fractures and contusions.
The wincing and groaning showed how excruciating of a procedure it turned out to be.
"I'm sorry Bruce, just hold tight, I'm almost done," she said making her way slowly down into his legs, feeling upwards of his thighs, down through his ankles and feet.
She looked up at him, not nearly as optimistic as she had once looked.
"Just say it Shayera, I don't need your lovesick sympathy."
"I counted 8 fractures. Three came from ribs, your right leg is completely crushed, and your left hand is broken. Nothing you can't handle right?" She shot at him, not to be intimidated by his sarcasm.
"Pain is psychological. As soon as you surpass your own fears of pain, you can survive anything," he said, sure to snatch the last word as usual.
"Okay, so I guess Batman doesn't want our care and affection. Is there any way to get out of here? I don't know how long I'll be able to last down here with him," Flash snarked, offering a sarcastic glare to the king of all sarcasm himself.
"No, I already checked all the walls, they've been reinforced."
"There has to be a way out," Bruce said surveying the walls, "there always is."
"Don't you have anything in that belt that could provide any kind of help?" Flash said expecting some good news for the first time since he saw the light.
"I have handheld knives, not full-length chainsaws, Wally," Bruce blankly stated, continuing to inspect the walls, as if staring at them long enough would make them crumble.
"Bruce there really is no need to be rude. I know you're in pain, but please try not to hoist your pain on us," Shayera said trying to put out the fire burning dangerously hot inside Bruce.
"How long have we known each other Shayera? How have you not found a way to deal with me yet?"
"I choose to believe that there is good living in all of us."
Her last remarks only further angered him.
"All the good that was once inside of me died with my parents in Crime Alley. You wouldn't dare try to justify yourself if you'd knew what I've lost."
Shayera had decided not to pursue the already agitated Bruce, and instead focus her efforts on caring for his injuries.
"If you don't want me to make you feel better emotionally, at least help me assist you in physically feeling better," she said crouching down, gently laying her hand on Bruce's.
Bruce sighed. "I can feel the bone protruding from my leg."
"Okay, just walk me through fixing it," Shayera sighed, growing increasingly distressed as Bruce's pain seemed to escalate.
"Okay, you'll have to get the fabric off of my leg. There are zippers at the back, but there's no time. Just rip it. Once you get through that layer, there are shin guards, remove them."
Shayera intricately followed Bruce's careful instructions as Bruce was spitting them.
"Then, you'll have to set the bone."
She looked up confused, as Bruce braced himself for the pain that was soon to follow. She motioned for Wally to assist.
"Talk to him. Keep him distracted," Shayera ordered as she lightly grabbed his thigh with one hand, and his shin with the other, preparing to re-insert the bone.
"Um, what am I supposed to say to him? I don't even feel comfortable talking to him when his sanity isn't on the line," Flash said avoiding any and all eye contact with him.
"Wally, look at me," Bruce said forcing the heist of contact to be broken. "Talk to me like you do in the Watchtower. As far as you know, we aren't even here anymore. Just be the same buffoon you've always been."
In that moment, the man who you would imagine would be the most terrified, was keeping the rest of the team sane.
"You're stronger than this. You both are," Bruce said giving both of them a reassuring eye. "Don't be the first to prove me otherwise."
Bruce's hand, which was gently lying on his chest, gliding to the rhythm of his own heartbeat, was soon intertwined with Wally's.
"This is going to hurt me so much more than it's going to hurt you," she said bracing herself as well.
"Somehow I doubt that."
Giving his friend one last glance, she silently counted to three in her head.
Bruce's screams must have echoed for hours. The bone had now been set gingerly back in its place, but as far as Bruce was concerned, that was the farthest thing from his mind.
"How is he?" Flash asked, soon noticing the hellish grip that had become virtually limp.
"He's out."
"Y'know, not wishing Bats pain or anything, but it's actually kind of peaceful, not having a contradicting voice in your ear all the time."
"I won't argue with you there Wally, but he's still our partner, and more importantly, he's our friend."
"Maybe we could take this opportunity to work on getting in contact with our friends in the sky," Flash said taking his only communication with the Watchtower out of his ear.
"Here, maybe you can fix it. It's been nothing but static since I woke up."
Shayera grabbed the earpiece with her shaking hands.
"Are you alright?" He asked grabbing her hand.
"I think I'm still a little shaken up from earlier," she said glancing over at their still unconscious friend.
"He's strong. He'll make it through this. We all will," Wally said trying to refocus.
"I know, it's just so hard seeing him like this. I guess I'm so used to him holding us up."
"Me too," Flash said letting his head fall, soon realizing how much he had missed Batman's cunning remarks about his overwhelming cheerfulness.
"Okay, back to the task at hand," Shayera said interrupting both of their moments of reminiscence. "You said it was all static, right?"
"Yeah, no sign of intelligent life on the other end whatsoever."
"Mine is too. Do you want to grab Batman's?"
Flash looked suddenly confused as if Shayera was asking him to take on such a task as blowing up the sun.
"O-Okay," Flash said with a sudden new-found shake in his voice.
He strode stealthily over to Bruce's body, reaching down to grab the communicator out of his ear when his hand promptly jolted up and grabbed Wally's hand in mid-action.
Flash jumped back like he'd seen a ghost.
"Jesus Christ, Bruce. You almost gave me a heart attack!" Flash scolded, curling back into the corner he'd resided from.
"Force of habit," Bruce said still dazed from the previous proceedings.
"Would you like to sit up?" Shayera asked him. "We wrapped your ribs while you were passed out. There's enough pressure there to prevent most if not all the pain in your abdomen."
"Yes," Bruce stated.
Shayera and Flash moved swiftly and leaned Bruce up against the wall, providing some stability for the man's weakened body.
"Better?" She asked.
"Much," he returned
"What are you doing?" He asked glaring at the communication earpiece in her hand.
"Trying to make contact with J'ohn, but it seems the radiation down here has burned out all our receptors," she said looking down hopelessly at the one life-saving reception in her hand.
Not saying a word, Bruce laid out his hand. Shayera laid it carefully in his palm.
"Not discounting your abilities at all Bats, but if Shey and I's brain put together couldn't fix it, how will you be able to? Especially in your weakened state," Flash said being witty as always.
"And not discounting your abilities, but my brain has been trained in the same way that your body has. Hard. And also, it's my body that's weakened, not my mind."
"Man, Wally, the one who is closest to death seems to have unlimited rounds on the both of us," Shayera said leaning back against the same wall that was supporting Bruce.
For the first time that Shayera could remember, Bruce released a crack of a smile.
"Lucky for us, the receptor here doesn't look too damaged," Batman stated, maneuvering his steady hands around the pea sized object.
"How will you fix it?" She asked growing increasingly stressed.
Bruce looked up, seemingly not too phased by the lack of faith in his abilities.
Shayera, looking as defiant as ever, soon shrunk down, giving Bruce the satisfaction of being more intimidating.
"Will you both give me a moment? I can't concentrate with you both hovering over me like a pair of lost children."
They could tell he was frustrated, but that still didn't stop Wally from being as cunning as ever.
"What gives you the right? What makes you any different from us?" He growled, angered by Bruce's outbursts.
"The difference is, you couldn't solve it so you gave it to me to solve. The difference is, I am closer to getting us out of here than you ever were. That's the damn difference!"
Wally shrunk down.
Feeling the guilt weigh down on his chest, Bruce immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry, Wally. I know you want out of here bad, I do too, just let me work."
Wally seemed more shocked by his apology rather than his flare up.
Not feeling comfortable with his guard being down any longer, Bruce focused his attention quickly back on the monitor.
"It's on the wrong channel," Bruce said, "it must've gotten switched when the building came down. Where's the main receptor?"
Shayera and Wally must have searched under every collapsed pillar and every pile of rubble. Finally, they gave up.
"It must be out there," Wally said pointing at the wall. If it was out there, the three of them were without any means of communication. Bruce hoped Wally was wrong.
"So, we're stuck in here?" Flash whimpered.
"At least until someone notices that we're missing," Shayera tried to console.
"That could be hours!" Flash cried.
"And this is one of the largest skyscrapers in Metropolis. When they notice we're gone, it will take them days to search through all this debris," Batman said.
"We don't have that time," Shayera resolved.
"No," Bruce said, "we don't."