Fear

by ~lolmak

None of the Characters are owned by me but are owned by the DC universe

Artemis stood up and backed away from the body. Her heart ached like never before. Life had shown and taken away Wally, and she sobbed knowing it was her fault. She was the reason Wally had followed her; She was the reason that her dad had killed him. And there was no restart button, just game over.

The rest of the team stood there faces scrunched up in a variety of emotions. Fear, Anger, Sadness.

She felt them all and it hurt.

"Team come in." Came the voice of Batman through their earpieces. "Come in team!" Robin looked at all of them and slowly pressed a finger to his communicator.

"Team here…" His voice broke part way and a sob burst from his throat.

There was silence on the other end for a while. "Who was it?" When they remained silent he tried again "Who is it?" Batman yelled through their coms

"It….. It was…."

Cough

Artemis froze and slowly turned around. She saw Wally's body convulse and cough again. She rushed over to him and felt his pulse. It was there but weak. She saw his chest start to rise and fall. He was alive!

Her team looked at her expectantly not sure what had happened. She turned towards them. Though Wally was alive, there was a good chance he wouldn't make it. "No "She couldn't allow herself to think such thoughts. "He's breathing, but he won't be for long unless he gets medical attention."

Robin stood there with an expression of disbelief written on his face. "But I checked three times and got nothing?" He paused; he wanted to believe his friend was back but didn't want to get his hopes up unnecessarily. Robin rushed over to his friend's body and felt his heart beating beneath his trembling fingertips.

"He's alive! Get him to the ship!" Robin grimaced. He had seen his fair share of injuries and had experienced many of his own. But he was unsure if anyone, even a certain speedster with enhanced healing could withstand such abuse. "Let him live" he thought fearfully "Please let him live."

The bio-ship came out of its camouflage mode and landed beside the warehouse. A minute later, the ship took off in the direction of Mount Justice. Robin re-opened communications between him and Batman.

"There better be a good reason…" Batman started to say, but Robin quickly cut him off. "Batman, we have Wally on board the bio-ship. He's in bad condition and will need immediate medical care at base."

"There was a slight pause and Batman replied to him. "We are prepared to bring him into immediate surgery, Batman out." The line then went dead.

The ship flew steadily and all the while Megan muttered "Faster, faster!"

Wally's breath became laboured again and every time he took in a breath there was a wheezing sound. He was still unconscious but grimaced every few seconds. Artemis felt his Wally's hands; they were freezing while the rest of his body was hot with fever. His skin was pale…. too pale. "Please make it Wally." Artemis whispered to him. She could never forgive herself for what happened. Never.

Looming ahead of them was Mount Justice. Though the sun was setting and the harbour was in its entire splendor, no one noticed, no one gave it a second thought. Each moment brought them all closer to despair, closer to a near insanity. No one spoke, no one moved; it was as stressful as it ever would be.

The cargo bay doors started to grind open at a pace that would glorify a snail. All of a sudden they blasted open as if some angry giant decided that demolition was well overdue for the specific area. Behind the cargo doors floated the famous Martian Man-Hunter his arms outstretched, a scowl disguising the fear and worry he held inside. He felt emotions in the young team that once mirrored his own in the multiple losses he had sustained in the years. He had learned to get over such instances else he would be unfit to command. But they were young, ruled and controlled by their emotions.

"Weren't there six of them?" He noticed in alarm when he could only sense the five. He scanned the ship again and this time barely detected the small glimmer of life held within a still body. "Batman, they have arrived in the cargo bay." He silently communed with Gotham's' hero. Batman affirmed and strode into the cargo storage bay. "J'onn, levitate him to the medical bay. Try not to move him as much as you can."

The Flash zoomed over to his nephew who was now suspended in mid-air by J'onn's telepathic power. "Is… Is he….?" He started to say but was assured by the Martian "No. But he is very weak." The Flash looked like he was punched in the gut. "Will he…?" "That remains to be discovered."

The Flash's features became hard and a deadly tone entered his voice. "How did this happen? I am going kill the guy who did this." The usual energetic joyful mood of the speedster was gone replaced by one of his rare rages. When this happened, no one wanted to be on the receiving end. In reality the speedster was one of the most powerful heroes but chose to hide behind a mask of comedy and oblivion.

"The surgery room is ready sir" a man came up to the heroes. "My name is Dr. Brown and this is my assistant Dr. Ford." He said gesturing to a woman standing behind him. "We are ready, but I need to check the patient to know what injuries we are dealing with."

Flash nodded grimly "Do what you have to." His expression softened "Save him doc… please, you're the only one who can."

Dr. Brown looked at him. "I'll do what I can." He then proceeded to prod the levitating body and relaying his results to Dr. Ford who jotted everything down onto a clipboard. "Broken right arm, shattered wrist, cuts and bruises all over, collapsed lung, dislocated ankle and internal bleeding all over by the looks of it." Dr. Brown concluded grimly.

"The rest I can only find out during the operation. Bring him to the table." He told The Martian Man-Hunter. He was listened to without question because everyone was on edge, even people who had suffered the worst of injuries.

There was a large crowd huddled beside the door to the surgery room until finally Superman cleared them away to give the surgeons space.
But Flash would not budge. "You can't make me go!"

"Flash…."

"NO!" Flash yelled. "It's my fault! I roped him into this! I put him into harm's way! If I had never agreed to let him be my partner, this would have never have happened!" A tear rolled down his cheek. "And I know the extent of my abilities and I know that I would have trouble… A lot of trouble, to live through what he's going through. And I'm at my peak!"

Flash felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Batman of all people coming to comfort him. "He's strong….. He'll make it." Flash sat down his head in his hands. "What will I do if he doesn't?"