Young Justice -:- Fragility

Thank you so much for leaving the nice comments last chap! I'm just finishing up chapter six at the mo, so here's chapter three with only a two day wait! Please keep letting me know what you think - I'm really not confidant about this fic after the response to Identity; and the structure is so different to what I usually write as well. I love to hear your theories and ideas - so pretty, pretty please leave a review before you go! Thank you and enjoy!

Part Three

"What the hell are you doing here?" Artemis demanded.

She had reluctantly welcomed the two visitors into her temporary home, internally wondering if she was completely insane. From the kitchen she could hear her mother stopping whatever it was that she was doing (how she had missed the doorbell, Artemis had no idea) and begin wheeling herself towards the disturbance. "Artemis? What is going on?"

The crippled woman froze the moment that she laid eyes on their guests. "Jade?"

"And that nice Speedy boy," Artemis added sarcastically, making Roy pull the funniest face that she had ever seen. His expression alone was almost worth her sister's invasion. Almost. "But anyway, I repeat: What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see my family," Jade replied with a mock pout. Artemis just rolled her eyes. "Is that really so terrible, baby sister?"

Paula rolled forwards, still looking slightly stunned by her daughter's surprise appearance. "Of course not, Jade," she said placatingly, the role of mediator really not suiting her. "But how did you find us?"

"Oh that?" Jade replied scornfully. "That was shockingly easy. Then again, we couldn't really expect any better from the Justice League. I'm shocked that no one else has found you yet."

Artemis just about resisted the urge to punch her sister's smug face, figuring that that probably wouldn't help anything – except maybe make her feel a little better. It had been a long time since she had sparred, and she still had a load of leftover adrenaline with nowhere to go now that there was no threat. She was left feeling jittery, her grip on her crossbow still tight by her side. "I thought you were in the League's custody?"

Jade grinned wider than her namesake. "I was. But as I tried to tell everyone from the beginning, I don't know anything. Daddy dearest took my place."

This didn't bother Artemis in the slightest, her Dad deserved whatever the League decided to dish out, but her Mom winced slightly in her chair. It may have been a long time since she was the criminal Huntress, and although she had grown to respect the League since they had done so much to help her daughter, she wasn't always a fan. Technically, she did love Lawrence Crock once upon a time; enough to marry him and have two kids, so she probably didn't like the idea of him being at the mercy of the League.

"So what, you got out of jail and decided to visit?" Artemis asked sarcastically. She knew that she was being unnecessarily short with her sister, considering Jade had tried to help her during the whole kidnapping ordeal, but she was still on edge and she couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong. If Cheshire could find us…?

Roy stepped forward as if to defend his 'girlfriend' (and wasn't that relationship just all kinds of weird?) but Jade just glared at him. He seemed to realise that he was greatly outnumbered by Crock/Nguyen women and sensibly stayed quiet. Maybe that was why Jade liked him – he was smart enough to know when to shut up. "Is there something wrong with wanting to see my baby sister after she gets kidnapped?"

"No," Paula answered. "It is good to see you, Jade. It is just a surprise; as you can imagine, we were not expecting company."

"Always expect the unexpected, mother," Jade replied with a sly smile. "You'll live longer that way."

"Do you deliberately try to sound foreboding?" Roy asked her quietly as Paula returned to the kitchen to brew them some tea. Artemis pretended that she wasn't listening as she tried to pace off her excess adrenaline.

"I am a ninja assassin," Jade retorted coyly. "It's part of the job description."

Artemis snorted, ruining her short-lived guise of not listening and earning herself two irritated glares. "Well, for a ninja assassin you sure suck at stealth," she jibed, making the stares morph into confused looks. "I mean, what was that loud bang you made before you rang the doorbell? Way to announce your presence, sis."

"What loud bang?" Jade asked. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"No, seriously," Roy said, beginning to look concerned. "What loud bang? We just walked up and rang the doorbell. It wasn't us."

"Then who…?"

Ka-thump.

"Mom…" Artemis called carefully, instantly back on alert. She lifted her crossbow that had gone slack in her grip, aiming it at where the noise seemed to be coming from. Roy and Jade armed themselves with their weapons of choice as well, pulling them seemingly out of nowhere from their civilian clothes. Paula wheeled out of the kitchen holding a wicked looking kitchen knife. "Tell me that was you."

Thud.

This time it came from the other side of the safe house. The thump sounded soft; as if someone was completely blind of the small building and just kept walking head first into the side of it. Clearly, it wasn't Paula.

The four occupants remained silent and tensed as several more thuds and bumps echoed around the house like it was the world's heaviest rainstorm. It was coming from everywhere, but there was nothing to shoot at. And then the doorbell rang.

"Did you invite any friends?" Artemis hissed sardonically at her sister. Jade shook her head, her face a passive mask. "Who else knew you were coming? Who did you tell?"

"No one!" Jade snapped back, sounding insulted.

"Then how did you know we were here?"

"Harper asked a friend," Jade replied as the doorbell rang again. "Maybe your Atlantean told?"

Artemis scoffed in disbelief. "Kaldur? No way."

"Were you followed?" Paula asked, looking just about ready to impale someone with her kitchen knife. Whoever, or whatever, was outside continued to throw themselves at the brick walls, while the person at the door held down the doorbell impatiently, producing a high-pitched incessant driiiiiing.

"No, we parked a mile away and walked," Roy replied. He had several arrows notched and aimed at the front door, making Artemis wish that she hadn't left her own compound bow upstairs. "Figured you didn't want this 'abandoned' house to appear to have visitors."

"Enough of this," Jade announced as she stalked right up to the front door and undid the locks.

"You cannot be serious," Artemis muttered under her breath. But Jade ignored her and flung the door open, blade instantly held to the throat of their uninvited guest.

"Good evening, Cheshire Cat," the man on the doorstep greeted, tipping his top hat politely. "I have come to cordially invite my Alice to tea with me."

Am I seriously about to get kidnapped…again?

Dick tensed up as he scanned their surroundings, hiding his fighting stance under the guise of fear. The boathouse was essentially two-thirds of a warehouse, the final third open over the lake. A rickety staircase lead up to a loft-like space that spanned about half the upper floor. The place was full of boats in various states of disrepair, a couple of mostly whole ones bobbing lightly where they were moored on the lake.

The only door was slammed shut behind them and locked with a heavy wooden bar. Two of the joggers stood guard in front of it as the others spread out around them. There were sixteen in all. Tough odds, even if they could fight at full strength.

And then there was Bane.

He seemed to have gotten bigger since the last time that Dick had seen him in Santa Prisca. He was six and a half foot of solid muscle wrapped in a skin-tight vest and cargo pants. The direct line of venom to his brain stuck out of the back of his skull. He grinned through the black and white Mexican wrestling mask.

"Welcome to my trap, niños."

Beside Dick, Wally fidgeted. He was listening to the Boy Wonder and stopping himself from using his speed, but it clearly was not sitting well with him. He was still gripping Dick's wrist, but the younger teen decided not to pull away. Let Bane think whatever he wanted about them.

"Sorry to interrupt your little moment in the park," Bane said derisively. "But my employer would like to have a word with you señor Wallace West. Or should I say, Kid Flash."

Wally didn't react in the slightest, and Dick had to admit that he was impressed by the speedster's acting skills. He wrinkled his face in confusion. "Huh?"

"Do not play dumb with me, niño," Bane warned. "It will only make this experience far more painful for you."

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," Wally replied. He sounded convincing, but his grip on Dick's wrist was getting tighter. "You really think that I'm Kid Flash? I wish!"

Bane raised an eyebrow, which looked quite comical with the menacing mask. He clearly was not buying the act, but he let that line of conversation drop and turned to address Dick. "You are Bruce Wayne's kid, are you not?" Bane's eyes flicked from Dick to Wally and back. "Interesting company you keep."

"He's my science tutor," Dick lied fluidly. It was easier just to say that than to try and explain how a normal kid from Central could end up friends with Gotham elite when their (known) social circles never crossed.

"You picked a bad day for a study session, niño," Bane replied. He gestured at his henchmen/joggers and they instantly closed in. Strong hands wrapped around Dick's upper arms, practically lifting him off of the floor. Wally's protective grip on his wrist was ripped free as the speedster was put through the same treatment.

Wally looked close to panicking as the pair of them were dragged away from each other. "Look, I'm not who you think I am!" he shouted in a desperate attempt to convince Bane that he was wrong. "I'm not Kid Flash! Please, let us go and tell your boss that he made a mistake!"

"My boss does not make mistakes."

"At least let Dick go!" Wally tried. If Dick had been free right then he would have run over and brained the speedster for trying to protect him like some damsel. It was better that they were taken together – Dick had plenty of experience and knew exactly what to do. They had a better chance of getting out of this if they stuck together. But Wally had to try and save him, because they were best friends and that's just what best friends did. "He's got nothing to do with anything!"

Bane nodded, and for a crazy moment, Dick honestly thought that the guy was actually going to let him go. Then:

"Kill the spare."

"I told you to stay off of my streets."

Batgirl lowered her binoculars and looked over her shoulder to find the shadow of the Dark Knight looming behind her. She rolled her eyes beneath the mask. "Technically, I'm on a rooftop," she deadpanned. "Are those off-limits too?"

"Everything is off-limits," Batman replied. "Especially the rooftops."

Batgirl thought that Batman might have just made a joke, but the thought was so terrifying that she decided to let it go. Instead she turned back to watching the street below, using her vantage point to keep an eye on a suspicious group of men hanging outside of an alley over the road. "So, is this the part where you threaten me with extreme bodily harm if I don't give this up?" she asked. She sounded so confident that she almost fooled herself into believing that her knees were not knocking together in fear.

"I found you threatening a corpse," Batman pointed out matter-of-factly. "I have every right to give you a friendly warning about continuing in this line of work. Particularly as you have decided to steal my symbol in the process."

Batgirl turned slightly, mock offended, and gestured at the crudely painted bat across her chest. "This is your symbol?" she asked with exaggerated innocence. "I had no idea! I just really like bats."

Batman glared at her, a powerfully daunting look that quite possibly would have burned her to ashes, if it weren't for the fact that he was smirking. It was subtle, barely noticeable, but there was a slight quirk of his lip. Clearly he would never say it out loud, but Batgirl had the sneaking suspicion that he found her amusing. So sarcasm was how to break through the impenetrable armour – that must be why Robin had such a rep as a wise cracker.

Down below, the gang of men had moved on without causing any trouble at all, which Batgirl kind of found a little disappointing. She wanted to show Batman that she wasn't just some little girl playing dress-up. She knew how to take care of herself, and she wasn't going to be dissuaded from what she wanted to do.

And then there came a muffled explosion a few streets away. Batman immediately had a grapple to hand, his cape billowing behind him as he stalked to the edge of the roof. "You should go home," he announced, before swinging away.

Yeah. Like that was going to happen.

Batgirl backed up for a running start and launched herself onto the next rooftop. She had her climbing rope to hand to span any distances too wide for a jump, but as it turned out the streets were thin enough to allow her to simply run. She was less than a minute behind Batman as she dropped down onto the street below.

The electronics store on Fifth Avenue was being robbed. And judging by the smoke and debris from the explosion, it was being set on fire as well. Batman had already vanished inside, but Batgirl knew that she didn't have the equipment to run into a burning building without becoming a victim as well. Instead she hovered on the street, ready and waiting for when the perpetrators were flushed out of the foxhole.

It didn't take long.

A woman staggered out of the smashed store window, coughing and spluttering on the thick smoke. She was middle-aged, some of the grey in the brown hair not caused by the ash in the air, and wearing a cardigan and sensible shoes. The floppy hat and sunglasses did not go with the mature lady ensemble, leaving Batgirl looking at the woman with a slightly stunned expression. Was she a criminal or a victim?

"…Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium," the woman muttered between hacking coughs. "And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium… and gold, protactinium and indium and gallium…"

Batgirl blinked. First Edgar Allen Poe, and now the periodic table? What in the world was going on?

The woman kept staggering like a drunk, muttering the elements to the Tom Lehrer tune. Inside, the fire was getting worse and Batman didn't appear to be coming out any time soon. Soon the emergency services would show up… and Batgirl didn't know the protocol for that. Were they meant to vanish before people started asking questions? Or hang around like regular concerned citizens doing their part to help out?

Batgirl decided that it was best to focus on the here and now and worry about the approaching sirens later. She carefully approached the woman, keeping her gloved hands visible to try and not freak her out any more than the woman was scaring her. "Woah, now, ma'am," Batgirl said as calmly as possible. "How about we sit down and have a chat for a minute, eh?"

"…phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium," was the woman's intelligible reply. She hovered on the spot for a moment, allowing Batgirl to get close enough to lightly grip her arms. Immediately she wrenched away, a wild fist catching the teen vigilante in the jaw. "…and manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium…"

Batgirl rubbed at her jaw. It didn't really hurt all that much, but it was kind of insulting that this woman had managed to land a hit on her. She stood there, stunned, as the woman dropped to her knees and tore into the satchel slung over her shoulder. She then started pulling out random stolen electronics; a couple of cell phones; iPods, several headphones, even a laptop, announcing a different element loudly as she placed each one on the asphalt before her.

"What in the world are you doing?" Batgirl asked, completely bewildered. She knelt down before the woman. She tried to catch the woman's eyes, but the floppy brim of the hat kept Batgirl from seeing anything above her chin. Gingerly, she reached forward to touch one of the cell phones, to try and figure out why the woman felt they were so important, but a loud shout had her whipping round to face the burning building.

"Batgirl! Get down!" Batman yelled as he emerged from the flames and leapt through the broken storefront. There was a large lump of something slung over his shoulder, but Batgirl didn't pay it any attention as she tried to get the woman to move away from the building. But the damn woman wouldn't budge.

And then the building exploded. Spectacularly.

Batgirl threw herself over the woman to shield her from the blast, but her homemade costume wasn't exactly well-armoured. The bullet-proof vest that she had 'borrowed' from her father protected her back, but she could feel the heat searing through the thin fabric of her leggings and balaclava-cowl. The force wave sent the pair of them sprawling across the street. And then everything went dark.

"Batgirl? Batgirl, can you hear me?" came a gruff voice, hammering through her blessed unconsciousness. She tried to draw in a deep breath, but all she got was a lungful of smoke that made her double over coughing. Strong hands pulled her upright, pausing briefly when the dizziness threatened to make her knees buckle beneath her.

"The woman?" she asked, blinking away the haze as she tried to search for the woman that she had shielded. Her mind felt sluggish and her ears rung from the boom of the explosion.

"Not now," Batman replied shortly. He kept a hand on the small on her back to keep her steady as he stooped down to pick something up. And then he was leading Batgirl forcefully away from the scene and the approaching sirens.

As Batgirl focused on the arduous task of putting one foot in front of the other, a strange smell assaulted her senses. "Why does it smell like barbecue?"

Batman glanced down at her through the white lens of the cowl, but didn't answer. It was then that she noticed a stinging sensation on the back of her calves and her shoulder. It was her that smelt like cooking meat. And oddly, it was making her hungry. Eww.

The Bat led her down several streets, heading deeper into the Narrows. Apprehension settled into the pit of Batgirl's stomach as she realised that they were heading straight for Crime Alley. She may have been dressing up in a bat costume to play teen vigilante, but even she wasn't crazy enough to go down there. "Ummm… where are we going…?"

"The car," was the Batman's succinct response.

"Okay…" Batgirl murmured, still a little dizzy. Her burns were really starting to hurt now that she had noticed that they were there. Part of her realised that if she was about to take a ride in the Batmobile, then she may very well be visiting the actual Batcave, but she was a little too distracted by the fact that the Batman was mad enough to park his car in Crime Alley. That was just asking for trouble. But apparently Batman was a typical guy, because he sounded honestly surprised by what happened next.

"You have got to be kidding me."

The Batmobile was up on bricks, the final tyre being attacked by a small boy. The kid snapped to attention at the Batman's voice; looking two parts terrified and one part smug that he had gotten so close. He put his hands up in surrender, revealing the tyre iron in his right hand.

Batman took one step towards him. The kid threw the tyre iron at the pair of them and ran.

"So what now?" Batgirl asked as she looked down at the tool that had nearly taken her head off. "Time to call the Bat-tow truck?"

Time had never moved slower for Wally West than it did in that moment.

Trapped in the iron strong grip of two of Bane's henchmen, he could do nothing but watch. He saw Dick's eyes widen as the meaning of Bane's words hit him, the younger teen glancing at Wally and trying to communicate so much in that moment. Bane's chosen assassin raised a pistol and aimed. It seemed to take forever for the guy to pull the trigger, the seconds counting down in total silence.

BANG.

The impact made Dick spasm like a ragdoll. Wally just caught sight of a splash of crimson before his best friend was dropped, collapsing onto the concrete with a dull thud. He'd been hit point blank in the chest.

Dick was dead.

Wally sagged, defeated, in his captors' arms. He was angry beyond reason and would have torn Bane apart in milliseconds. But with a final look, Dick had asked him to be smart about things, to think through his actions. Vengeance on Dick's behalf would not save Wally, who at this point was still breathing. It was still possible that Bane and his boss didn't know for sure who Wally was; in which case he had an identity to protect.

He couldn't flying-tackle Bane into the ground and smash his face in with a barrage of super-speed punches, because that would kinda give him away. And then it wasn't that big a leap that Barry was the Flash. And then his whole family could be at risk.

He had to be smart about this.

"Sorry about your friend, niño," Bane apologised, almost sounding sincere. Wally just glared at the masked man, imagining just what he would do to rearrange Bane's face the moment that he could be Kid Flash again. "But my boss only wanted you, señor West."

Wally licked his dry lips before trusting his voice enough to speak. "W-why?" he asked, unable to completely control his stutter. "Who are y-you w-working for? Wh-what does he want?"

Bane smiled conspiratorially as he stepped right into Wally's personal space. "You'll find out soon enough…" The huge man stilled, and then glanced down at Dick's corpse. He cocked his head in surprise as he nudged the boy's arm with his booted foot. "Madre de Dios…"

"Leave him alone!" Wally shouted.

Bane ignore him as he knelt down beside Dick and unceremoniously rolled him over so that he was lying on his back. A pained gasp escaped the Boy Wonder's lips. Blood soaked the front of his once green hoodie, but somehow, impossibly, Dick was still breathing. Bane poked the ragged hole with morbid curiosity. "Well aren't you as fuerte as la cucaracha?"

Dick groaned in reply.

"Dick…?" Wally muttered in disbelief. He had no idea how it was possible, but he wasn't about to question the miracle that he had just been handed. His best friend was still alive… somehow… And it changed everything.

Bane had already proven that he was more than willing to kill Dick, meaning that the next bullet may be in the head rather than the chest. He had already witnessed Dick's death once in the last ten minutes. He wasn't over-eager to watch it happened again.

Compromising his civilian ID seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Using the hold on his arms to his advantage, Wally levered himself up and delivered a double drop-kick to Bane's face. With his Chucky T's firmly smashed against the masked man's nose, he pushed backwards and overbalanced the joggers holding him. To save themselves from falling flat on their asses they let go of his arms, giving the speedster room to move.

The moment that his feet touched the ground he was running.

"Break his legs!" Bane ordered, though his words sounded disgustingly wet and muffled as his newly broken nose bled under the wrestling mask. The joggers seemed to get the gist regardless as they immediately started targeting his shins in an attempt to bring him down.

Wally sped around in a circuit, either punching or disarming each henchman he met en route in order to daze them long enough to delay them. And then he was by Dick's side, gingerly scooping up the semi-conscious Boy Wonder as slowly as he dared while Bane's men recovered.

And then he realised that he didn't have the time nor the dexterity to undo the door to leave that way. Which just left the lake.

Yes, Wally was just about fast enough to run on water like his uncle, but that was when he wasn't carrying anything. And he wasn't the most proficient of water runners even then. He figured that now was as good a time as any to get some practice in.

With Dick secure in his arms he took off. He didn't really know or care where he was going, so long as it was away from there and safe.

The winter wind was painfully sharp at the speed that they were going, making Wally remember why he hated running in civvies in the middle of winter. He was squinting without his goggles, leaving his legs to automatically know the way because he couldn't see a damn thing. He kept checking on the boy in his arms, concern making him fret at every tiny sound and movement he made. Dick had his head buried against Wally's shoulder to stop the cold wind tearing his face, his hand clutching the speedster's jacket for dear life.

Wally didn't slow down until he had put several miles between them and Bane. It had taken less than half a minute for him to get from the park to his parent's house on the other side of downtown Central City.

As always, the back door was left unlocked, allowing Wally to simply barrel through and deposit Dick on the couch in the front room. Taking one look at the growing bloodstain across the once-green hoodie, he sped off in search of the medkit and towels.

"Wally… where…?" Dick hissed between clenched teeth once Wally had returned to kneel beside the couch. He blinked blearily at their surroundings, his breath coming out in short, strained gasps. "Did you… did you take us… home?"

"I don't know if you've forgotten," Wally retorted, hiding his panic behind a thin veneer of sarcasm. He grabbed a towel to clean off some of the blood as he tried to get a better look at the wound. "But you were just shot. I think I can be forgiven for my wonky priorities."

"But… Walls…" Dick tried to argue, even though every word sounded like hard work. He attempted to prop himself up on his elbows, but this clearly proved to be a stupid idea. He flopped back down with a pained grunt (which was Bat-speak for 'I really should be screaming in agony right now') "They know… who you are… They'll look… gah!"

"Shhh!" Wally admonished. "We'll move in a minute once you stop bleeding all over my mother's couch. Now hold still!"

Reluctantly, Dick stopped trying to escape and let Wally tear a bigger hole in his hoodie and t-shirt. The speedster almost grinned when he realised why his best friend wasn't dead. Beneath his clothes was a formfitting Kevlar vest, similar to what Robin wore in his uniform. The armour had taken the brunt of the shot, but at close range the material hadn't been completely infallible. The bullet had gone through (hence why he was bleeding everywhere) but not so deep as to be fatal.

"Dick Grayson's wearing body armour now?" Wally smirked. He put some pressure on the jagged wound to slow the bleeding, eliciting a groan of pain from the younger teen. "Is Bruce as paranoid as the Bat these days?"

Dick shot Wally a half-hearted glare. "I was shot… three months… ago… and it just… saved my life. Paranoid… really?"

"Maybe you should stop getting shot at," Wally suggested. His heart was still thundering in his chest as the panic gradually abated now that he knew Dick wasn't about to imminently die. He could hear the deafening report of the gun firing over and over again in his head, his brain filled with images of the two times he had watched his friend be shot and hit the ground. Not knowing whether Dick was dead or alive… Watching him collapse… believing that he had died…

"Wally…?" Dick asked, dragging the speedster out of his daze. "Are you okay?"

Wally blinked, looking down at the blue eyes that were studying him with concern. He realised that he might have never seen Dick again if it wasn't for that thin layer of Kevlar, and it set off every protective big brother instinct that he had. "Dick… can you not do that to me again? Like, ever?"

They both knew that neither of them could make a promise like that. Especially not in their line of work. So Dick apologised instead. He really hadn't intended to put Wally through that, and the older boy knew it, but neither of them liked seeing the other hurt. But they couldn't change the past.

"I think… I might... need to… see Alfred…" Dick muttered as he got his first look at the wound in his chest.

Wally gave a short laugh. "Ya think?"

So, Bane is a closet Harry Potter fan. He totally idolises Lord Voldermort and has been dying to quote his iconic line 'Kill the spare' ever since he read the fourth book. Secretly, he kinda wanted his minion to shout Avada Kedavra! As he pulled the trigger, but he figured that that would undermine the whole villain aura he was going for.