Ok, so I'm sick and I didn't go to school. Right now since I'm bored I'm just righting a little one-shot. Or two-shot. It all depends. Time set after Invasion, but Wally not dead and there is still a Mount Justice. Also, Artemis and Wally became Artemis and Kid Flash.
Green Arrow, Flash, Aquaman, Superman, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, and Batman were currently in an unused room in the Watchtower. The room had steel gray walls, with a tan carpet. For some reason, it had a lone green armchair which Flash had claimed. Batman had gathered the others here and now they were looking at him waiting patiently. The Watchtower was basically empty, as most heroes were taking care of natural disasters or taking care of their cities. Batman started the impromptu meeting by saying,
"We need to talk." Flash complained,
"Don't we usually do that during meetings?"
"Shut it Allen." ,came the quick retort from Batman. Superman spoke up hesitantly,
"Batman, Flash has a point. Tell us, why are we here?"
Batman opened his mouth to speak, and the others who had been looking around disinterestedly looked at Batman as he said,
"This is about are former and current protégés: Nightwing, Red Arrow, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis."
"How exactly is this about them?" ,Black Canary finally spoke, "And why am I here if it is about them?"
"You are here because you acted as a joint mentor for Artemis and Red Arrow with Queen, and, for some time you mentored Superboy."
Everyone glanced at Superman and scowled. Aquaman asked,
"Okay, how exactly does this concern the our protégés?"
"As much as it pains me to admit it," ,Batman said ,"They have been acting out of sorts. All of them, especially Red Arrow, Kid Flash, and Ro-Nightwing, used to be a force to be reckoned with-" ,a few mentors chuckled at that ,"Recently, however, they can hardly stand to be in the same, and it is-" ,Batman searched for the right word. (Think of those three as sort of brothers. Because they were some of the first partners)
By now, the others, who were listening to Batman, were nodding along and agreeing with what he said. It was J'ohn, browed furrowed in concentration who spoke and offered the word,
"Disturbing? Affecting missions? Yes, I agree with what you say but, the question is what are we going to do about this situation?"
The room went silent at J'ohn's question. Finally, Green Arrow spoke up,
"Well, we would need a truly dumb idea. Something we wouldn't do normally. I mean, these are super powered heroes. Normal will not work."
Every one looked to Flash, who was lounging on a green arm chair, eating Chicken Wizzies. Noticing them staring, Flash said,
"What? Do you expect me to come up with an idea?"
Everyone just continued to stare a him. Flash relented,
"Alright, alright. I do have some ideas..."
Nightwing was having a spectacular week. In case you didn't notice, that was sarcasm. The invasion ended, but because of the plan all of the Team and half of the League hated and distrusted him. He couldn't blame them though. They had good reason. He just wished he had someone to talk to, someone who would not only hear his words but listen to what the words mean. Nightwing sighs. That isn't happening anytime soon. From the building he's on, he spots a man in dark jeans, a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and the back of it facing Nightwing.
Across from the man, another figure dressed in the same way had his face hidden in shadow. He was giving what looked to be a bag of white powder to the other man. Drug deal. Great. Nightwing jumped down from his perch on the rooftop and landed silently behind the first man. Or so he thought. Quickly, the first man turned around and punched him in the face. Nightwing hit the ground, but before he blacked out he saw a familiar person.
Bruce Wayne. And next to him, was Oliver Queen.
Looking at his unconscious former ward, Bruce hoped this plan worked. Dick was going to be pissed off when he woke up. With Queen standing next to him, he sincerely hoped this plan of Barry's worked. They had timed the 'drug deal' so Nightwing would see it. They didn't use actual drugs, the used a packet of refined sugar. This was the last of the seven they needed to round up. They had already gotten the others, using different methods depending on where they were. Hoisting Nightwing's unconscious body, the three headed for the Zeta Tubes in Bludhaven.
"Ugh," ,Nightwing groaned as he sat up.
His head hurt. It took him a moment to figure out why. The ally. The drug deal. Getting punched in the face by Bru-wait, what? Oh, he was so dead when Dick got out of here. That memory made him snap to attention and he looked around blearily, holding his head. He saw they were in the souvenir room. Not just the souvenir room, but the first souvenir room.
The room was small, slightly bigger than the bedrooms at Mount Justice. Of course, this place was in Mount Justice so at least he knew where he was. There were tan, wooden shelves stacked five high. The walls behind the shelves were white, but the entrance where the door was is a different story. The door is smack dab in the middle of the rough stone wall. The door itself was a flat, smooth silver automatic sliding door.
Back before Zatanna and Rocket joined the Team this room was the first souvenir room. It was only the six of them then, sure there was the occasional tag along Red Arrow but it was just them. It was just them. When Kid Flash had picked this room to be the souvenir room, proclaiming it 'Perfect!' he didn't expect it to fill up so quickly.
It was then that they picked out the room on the other side of the room, which was long and had plenty of shelves. They haven't had to move the souvenir room since. When they 'kidnapped' Zatanna the first souvenir in the new room was when Wally picked out the robotic arm (?) and Zatanna had jokingly asked where the other souvenirs were.
To her surprise, they showed her this room, and she had a long, dark piece of wood appear on the inside of the room above the doorway. There names were carved in brass in the order they joined the Team, and one day Kid Flash and Nightwing, Robin back then had hung 'Red Arrow' that was carved on a similar piece of wood, and the name was brass too. They hung it from little chains that were short and thin, but strong to.
There was a scratch in the floor from when Wally knocked the ladder down as Robin was going up. They both burst into laughter on the floor. When the rest of the Team came in Wally told them what happened. The result? They all ended up laughing and Canary walked away without a word when she found them. They did get 'Red Arrow' hung up. The floor was dark tile, but the tile looked like wood.
Looking around now, Nightwing felt sadness. The souvenirs were still there, as was the signs of the Teams' names. He felt sadness because of the memories this place brought, of missions, laughter, bonding, and, most importantly of friends he lost. He felt his sadness grow as he looked at the dust that layered the room. Nobody had been in this room for a while.
It had become forgotten, lost and it was just waiting to be found again by the people who had brought this room to life. Nightwing often wondered how they had all fallen apart. As a family, first. Then as friends. And lastly, as teammates. Nightwing wondered if they tried, if they just tried hard enough could they fix what had been broken? Who knew. Nightwing lay back down on his back and stared at the ceiling.
He was lost in memories of the past, memories of the early days. Memories of when his best bud was Wally, memories of when Roy was his older brother, memories of when Artemis' was the snarky older sister, memories of when Miss Martian was light-hearted, of when Superboy was clueless, yet protective of his family. And Kaldur, good, wise Kaldur who took care of the Team, and whose calm voice reassured the Team in times of trouble, and who would always look after his family.
For there was no better way to describe them. They were a family, albeit a dysfunctional one, but a family none the less. They let each other in when they had a problem, and they would support each other. Heck, they would even have fun, they could count on each other. Nowadays, it seemed like every member on the Team had a wall. And they would let no one in. Everyone seemed to be against each other, and each day felt like a struggle. It just wasn't the same.
Slowly, Nightwing drifted off to sleep. In his quick sweep of he room earlier, he failed to notice the six other forms lying behind him and the note on the door, for two reasons. One, because he was just waking up from getting hit in the head. Two, just being in this room brought back memories and he was only half focused because he was lost in thought.
````` One Hour Later ````
A gas was released into the room, and the seven figures woke up coughing. They looked around confused as to how they got here, except Nightwing who had woken up earlier than expected so he knew where they were. A red-headed boy started to speak,
"Wha-" ,then he froze as he saw the raven haired boy in front of him he hissed, "How did you get here? Wherever 'here' is?"
As the smoke cleared, those words drew the attention of Miss Martian, Superboy, Red Arrow, Aqualad, and Artemis. Nightwing said in response,
"Bats sucker punched me and then he kidnapped me and brought me here."
That threw everyone for a loop. Wally, surprised said,
"Flash knocked me out, to. Did that happen to anyone else?"
The others nodded their heads. M'gann asked,
"Where are we?"
Everyone looked around the dust-covered room. Recognition and sadness showed on their faces, their reactions and thoughts going down the same path Nightwing's thoughts had gone earlier. They all walked around, avoiding each other. It seemed like both Artemis and Wally wanted some time to think. Eventually Nightwing found the note on the door. It was written in a neat scrawl. Nightwing called the others over. They came over warily, but there was no need to. Their had been disabled for all of them. The ones with powers had inhibiters on their wrist. They gathered around Nightwing, and Nightwing read,
Once you guys were a family
Now you can't be in the same room as one another
It's time to remember all the sadness and frustration
All the failures and disappointment
AND
Let It Go
In another room...at the Watchtower...
Flash, Batman, Superman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman watched eagerly. They knew Flash's plan was stupid, but the others couldn't think of a better idea. The seven heroes that they 'kidnapped' had already been in the room a half hour when Nightwing woke up. He appeared dazed and was only awake for twenty minutes. After Nightwing was out again the seven Leaguers thought of separate reasons as to why each hero would be indisposed.
Meanwhile they plotted a 'team bonding' night so no one that the 'prisoners' could contact to escape would be in the cave. They also tried to lower the danger level by disabling their powers and gadgets. 'Course they couldn't take Artemis', Roy's, and Dick's training away but they hoped that the situation and where they were would drive the thoughts of kicking one another's can out of their minds. They hoped this went well. If it did, then all of the sevens anger would be worth it.
Back with kidnapped heroes
Every single one of them was silent after the note was read. They all just started to nervously walk around the room, avoiding each others eyes. Finally, Nightwing sighed. Everybody's attention snapped to him. It was the first noise someone had made in an hour. Nightwing spoke, and just saying things out loud, he asked more to himself than anyone else,
"How did it come to this? How did we end up like this?" Nobody answered him. Nightwing continued,
"We used to count on each other. How did we fall apart? When did we stop-when did we stop being a family?"
Silence. Nightwing just kept on going,
"How did we-how can we call ourselves heroes if we just can't protect ourselves from each other?" Still nobody answered him. Nightwing sounded so lost and confused, tired and worn, like he tried to carry the weight of the world but he only had hands. In that moment, the others remembered Nightwing was only human. And their was only so much he could take before he cracked. Nightwing went on,
"I-I understand that nobody said this life was easy, but they never said it could be so damn hard."
The others had gathered around Nightwing. Wally and Roy had a hand on each of Nightwing's shoulders. Kaldur stood in front of Nightwing a little off to the left. Miss M and Artemis stood in front of Nightwing off to his right. They were supporting each other, and both of them were crying silently. Conner had tears in his eyes, Kaldur, Roy and Wally to. Nightwing was crying unashamedly.
He was staring down at the floor, at an angle. Together, they cried. Somewhere along the way Miss Martian had instinctively linked them up. They felt on another's pain, they felt one another's sorrow. They felt the joy and the excitement, the love and compassion. They felt each other's loyalty for one another. They cried for the harsh words spoken, and for the unspoken words.
Somehow, they ended up leaning against the wall where the door was side by side. All of them weren't aware of the mind link that was up. After all, after all these years it had become second nature. They came to a decision to tell each other all that had happened the last three years, because although their bond with each other had been shattered, and they just became aware of it now, they could try to pick up the pieces.
Nightwing spoke first, and he made the effort to hide the pain in his voice. Each of there voices held pain, and each of them sounded wounded. With each word though, they healed each other and each and everyone of them was able to let go of the pain.
In another room...at the Watchtower...
The minute Nightwing finally cracked and started speaking, the seven Leaguers left. As tempting as it was to eavesdrop, they knew they would be intruding on something private, and personal. The Leaguers gave them there space. They shut the feed down, unlocked the door and left. They had no more business to do there. So they left. Flash's ridiculous 'Game Plan' was working. Time to leave.
Backed with the seven heroes
When they were all done talking, they discovered the door had been unlocked. They left and explored the Mountain like it was their first tour all over again. They looked at the clock and saw they had been in their for five hours when they went to the kitchen. They also found the tools to enable their weapons and powers, and they became bored soon afterward. Why? Because no one was in the Mountain.
Bored, they went to the living room and put on a movie. They didn't pay attention to which movie they put in, they just randomly choose one. Soon, they all settled on the furniture. All of them were so tired that Miss Martian unknowingly disconnected the link she didn't know she put up in the first place. One by one they all fell asleep, comforted by the presence of the others. They were a family once again.
Wow. That was long. Sorry if you cried or got sad. Some of those thoughts about the Team in season two were ones I had, but projected on Nightwing. I hope I got the characters right, sorry if they are off. Oh, and sorry if the end is rushed I need to go to sleep for school tomorrow, but I might do a chapter where some League or Team members find them all sleeping. Wow. I really did not expect that story to turn out like that. It was kind of meant to be a crack fic. Major fail there, I guess the story had a mind of it's own. G'Night, guys.
Oh, in response to a review by a guest I do know the song Let It Go in the Disney movie 'Frozen' but when I was writing this I was listening to the song Let It Go by Linkin Park. It's a good song. I heard it when I watched the Young Justice/ Iridescent by gtgrandom on YouTube.