"Megan," Robin said while leaning against the wall of her room.
"What did you want to talk about Robin?" Megan twirled towards the window to open it, letting in the warm spring air.
"On your homeworld, can people pay for your telepathic services?" The question left a stingy aftertaste in Dick's mouth; his voice cracked out without his typical boyish confidence.
"The team said I can only read the minds of villains," Megan turned towards Robin, ignoring his glare and smile, "We should hang out on the beach today."
"What's the price?"
The Martian stared at him, focusing her telepathy to graze his mind, "I know your identity."
"That had nothing to do with a price."
"I want something, Dick."
"I want-"
"Wally. I didn't have to read my mind for that," Megan giggled as Robin squirmed uncomfortably.
"What do you want?"
"Superboy."
"I only want you to read Wally's mind and-"
"I only want you to ignore what I'll do to Conner."
The two locked eyes, but Megan kept shifting hers into a variety of colors from an unnatural hot pink to a bold obsidian. Robin stood his ground, but inwardly shook under her gaze.
"The Justice League-"
"Doesn't need to know," Megan corrected the boy wonder.
"Doesn't need to know," the words fluttered out of his mouth a little too easily, but Robin's mind was too focused on Wally.
"We have a deal," Megan grasped Robin into a hug while beaming with an even wider smile than before.
"He's not doing anything. He's still with her," Robin shot himself into the couch, sitting beside Miss Martian.
"Oh…Dick," Megan turned to place her hand on his shoulder, massaging it reassuringly. "I could-"
"No. He wouldn't be Wally then," Robin snarled.
"It worked with Conner."
"Conner isn't human anymore."
"He wasn't human in the first place."
Robin crossed his arms and glared at his teammate, hoping to force guilt or regret from the Martian. "He barely speaks anymore."
"He's busy with me."
"He can't even function without you anymore."
"He'll propose to me soon. He can always be dependent on me."
"He-"
"Let's talk about the real problem – what will you do with Wally?"
"He might actually love Artemis," Robin sighed and admitted defeat at trying to speak with the Martian about the clone.
"He does love you – I told you that already."
"So why hasn't he done anything about it?"
"Artemis is a smart girl."
"And I'm a smart boy – so what?"
"You need to get rid of her. She isn't Green Arrow's niece."
"What…?"
"I can't do everything for you. Find out about her and remove her."
"That's not just-"
"Don't be a 'hypocrite'. Anyway, want to come with Conner and I for some ice cream?"
Megan made absolutely no sense, but she could still affect the cuteness Robin and the team had originally seen in her. Feigning that innocence helped lessen the pain of what he was doing. They could both pretend that everything was normal.
The team hadn't been prepared to deal with a mole within their ranks – especially someone who had become so integral to their team. Artemis's past – from her time with the Shadows and her father Sportsmaster to her current task to spy on the team left Young Justice feeling betrayed and afraid of how the Shadows would retaliate.
Artemis had been swiftly removed after footage of her meeting with her father to give him intel on the team had mysteriously been crudely taped to the entrance of Mount Justice. The League had not questioned who had been the source of the tape – their feelings of betrayal had blinded them to searching further. Even Batman was too motivated by his newfound hatred of Artemis and fear for his ward's safety to live up to the title of the world's greatest detective.
Robin and Megan faked shock, anger, and sadness quite effectively, but the Martian did it less because she often avoided the team to spend time with Conner in her room…
Despite revealing Artemis as the mole, Wally still did not come to Robin – not as a lover but neither as a friend seeking comfort over loosing his girlfriend. Wally West was absent from Mount Justice more frequently than usual and often skipped patrol with the Flash…but even Robin wasn't able to spy on Wally and determine who the speedster was seeing.
"Wally still hasn't come to me," Robin slightly whined as he stood next to Megan while she attempted to make hard-shell tacos for the team.
"Hmm….maybe I don't need these shells…on my planet-"
"Megan, focus."
"Okay….what? Wally's found someone new."
"How can you tell?" Robin's voice tremored as he prepared himself for another round of disappointment.
"What was his name? He was on one of our missions…"
"A he? A he that's not me?" Robin tried biting back the gagging feeling engrossing his throat, "What mission? We haven't worked with anyone our age – it's only our mentors who have worked with us."
"Let me remember…oh, maybe I should dice pickles for this?"
"Megan! Answer me – who is it? Please don't say it's…," Robin paused to create a mental list of who had worked with the team, "Your uncle? The Flash? Red Tornado…Batman?" Robin gulped at the last name.
"No, it's that witch boy."
Robin paced, trying to remember who she was referring to, "Wait…Klarion? The one who tried stealing the helmet of fate?"
"Yes! Now, what should we have to drink with this?"
"He can't date him. He didn't even tell me..."
Megan used her powers to open the cabinets of the kitchen, searching for cups. "I think lemonade sounds good…"
"Who cares about lemonade?"
Miss Martian waved her hand, telekinetically thrashing Robin against the countertop. "Robin, you sure like to complain way too much. How about instead of talking to me, you go and try talking to Wally for once?"
After speaking, Megan returned to her happy demeanor, but Robin only felt nauseated by her increasingly widening smile. Everything they were doing was ethically wrong, but the promise of a life with love hung above him. Something deep within Robin yearned for it, no longer in a teenage hormonal way. The boy was beginning to admit his own psychosis: his dangerous obsession that would do anything to possess Wally.
"Why did you summon me?" Klarion stated gratingly. He still stood within the hazy purple fumes of the ritual Robin had used to summon him in Megan's room. Megan sat on her bed, away from the circle Robin had drawn around Klarion.
"A trade," Robin's voice returned challengingly.
"What could you offer me, little bird? You don't even have powers. Sob, sob, sob. Try not crying away the magic runes you drew over how pathetic you are."
"The helmet of fate."
Klarion's eyes widened, "Wait…you're offering me the helmet? For what?"
"You can't ever see Wally again."
Klarion slowly raised his hand towards the younger boy, slightly unsure if the sidekick was trying to trick him through a deal, "We have a deal…I guess. I would have gotten the helmet from Kid Flash anyway…eventually."
After Robin and Klarion shook hands and kept giving each other suspicious glares, Megan finally spoke, "Klarion, does Wally ever talk about Robin to you?"
"Yes…you have promised me the helmet, so I guess I can tell you – you'll all die anyway. Wally hates you," Klarion sneered as he watched Robin's face contort angrily.
"He doesn't-"
"He does. Little annoying Robin who can't take a hint."
Megan intervened, "I read Wally's mind – he does like Robin."
"Things change. Why would he like a Robin stupid enough to give me the helmet of fate? When this world burns and your precious Justice League becomes nothing but faceless corpses among the hills of the dead, remember what you sold that for."
"You can't…he can't."
"I can. Don't worry, broken bird. I am magically bound to not 'see' him," Klarion snickered before teleporting away.
"You just sold humanity."
"Megan…I-"
"Do you think Klarion will let me join him?"
It should have sounded surprising coming from the Martian, but her and Robin had changed. Both were obsessed and never meant to be heroes. A new world was mixing itself together like paint. Megan and Robin had to adjust to this world, rearranging even their thoughts processes to justify their actions. They were cruel, depraved children, but neither could admit that to themselves.
Embracing Klarion meant accepting their own inner demons as something positive. Megan wasn't impulsive to want to join, she was just more honest about her own nature than Robin.
"Who's he dating this time?"
Megan stopped practicing with Robin in the training room, "At least you started talking to him again."
"He still doesn't tell me."
"Guess."
Robin faked a laugh, "Ooooh, a guessing game. Red Tornado?"
"No, and it's not someone on our team."
"It never is."
"So guess..."
"Okay. Give me a hint."
"He's older than us."
"How exciting," Robin mockingly cheered, "the Flash."
"Not that much older. It's Roy."
"Do we have any blackmail on Roy?"
"Robin…yes. Wally won't stick with him if Roy's drug problem is found out."
"I can have the police searching his apartment by tonight...and then..."
Wally West was chained to the metallic wall alongside Robin. Megan stood in the room, waiting for an order to proceed with their torture.
"You can't do this!" Wally cried out, defeated and just speaking to still prove that he was alive.
"Okay…Klarion just said I could start," Megan felt Klarion's words surge through her mind link with the witch boy. "So should we start with water torture or reenact the Spanish Inquisition? Any opinions, Nightwing?"
Dick choked out an unintelligible response; blood from his mouth dribbled down to the floor.
"Hold on while I get my tools, " Megan flew away from the room, leaving Wally and Dick to talk amongst themselves.
"Dick, I need to tell you something."
"W-wally," Nightwing groggily replied.
"I love you."
"I l-love you t-too, Wally…" Dick spat out more blood before slipping into unconsciousness.
Robin awoke, still with both arms chained against the cell wall, to a heated kiss.
Wally was kissing him?
"No, it's just me, Dick," Megan cooed as she shifted back into her Martian form. "Wally's being interrogated by Klarion now. Do you want to come with me and eat some chocolate chip ice cream?"
"What?"
"Or maybe strawberry? It's red/pinkish like your Wally. Conner misses you."
"No."
"Sad...well at least you know Wally loves you now."
"I guess..."
"Klarion's probably kissing him ten times more intensely than I just did with you."
"I know..."
"Batman's still alive. Him, Wonder Woman and a contingent of other rejects still survive."
Before Nightwing could respond, Megan continued, "Don't get your hopes up. He'll die. Horribly. So how about that ice cream?" Megan beamed at Dick, telekinetically removing his bonds.
Wally's body shivered on the floor, becoming soaked from the blood flowing from his wounds. Dick sat right by Wally, having been released from his chains when he had fallen asleep.
"I love you, Wally," Dick shifted closer to Wally as he placed the speedster's head in his lap.
"I hate you, Dick. Klarion told me what you did."
"I only gave him the helmet-"
"Which gave him the power to kill the League. I can't believe I dated him or even thought about dating you."
"Don't ruin the moment, Wally," Dick launched his chapped lips upon Wally's, muffling the speedster's voice. Wally eventually eased into the kiss and returned it, but as his life force rapidly decreased, Wally lost the energy to continue kissing.
Dick broke away from his teammate, panting, "You love me."
"I...I...don't? I love you..." Wally looked into Dick's glazed eyes, hoping to give his friend some comfort despite what he had done. Wally was close to death, but Robin would mentally suffer for the rest of his life.
"You love me, Wally."
"I l-love you."
"I have you at last."
"Yes...?" Wally whispered, wondering what Robin might reveal.
Wally's eyes flickered to meet Dick's gem-like blues, but the speedster died before he could continue speaking.
"Wally West loved me in the end..."
After years of being Klarion's prisoner but never dying because of Megan's influence, Dick at last wanted to embrace death. The memories of him and Wally still lingered in his mind as he jumped from the top of the building Megan had escorted him to. He no longer knew where he was or what time of the day, month, or year it was. As he plunged himself off the side and into death, his mind focused on meeting Wally...
Again in the afterlife...if Dick would even be allowed in. The world screamed with chaos and bloodlust, but briefly experiencing a relationship with Wally still was worth it. Batman had died, but so had Damian, Tim, and Jason. If Dick could repeat his life, he'd still sell his family...again and again.
"Goodbye, Robin." Megan smiled as she watched her former teammate jump joyfully. Robin's mouth twisted into an intense smile that rivaled Megan's. At long last, the boy wonder had found a sort of happiness at the expense of his best friend and the world.
"Wally only felt worse when he was with you. But who couldn't say that was love?"
