Sorry for the long wait but I was having a little trouble editing this one. I know you all must be so mad at me for leaving you with the cliff hanger for so long but I hope this makes up for it! Thanks again to my reviewers! Even if you did all complain about about the cliff hanger. It's always nice to read them!
Also there is some blood in this chapter but it's not overly-descriptive if you're really squeamish.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice
0:10
Too late. The others had better be out.
"Artemis, untie the guard. Now!"
Without a word the archer obeyed, uncuffing the senseless would-be-robber from the table.
Robin's USB plug came free of the controller and snaked back into his glove as he ran to one of the two windows in the room. He yanked it open as Artemis came over with the guard slung fireman-style over her shoulder. Robin heard a voice from his communicator but ignored it. Hopefully it meant everyone was safe.
He glanced back at the timer.
0:03
"Jump!"
As they did, Robin grabbed Artemis and turned her so she was facing away from the building and toward him. He positioned himself with his back to the building next to the bank they had just left. Briefly their eyes met and conveyed a mutual understanding of what was about to happen.
Mentally, he counted down.
The explosion deafened the Boy Wonder, but he hardly had time to notice before his shoulder and back slammed into the building next to the bank. He felt something crack and might have cried out but he still couldn't hear a thing.
As he started to fall, Robin felt the back of his uniform tear against the brick wall of the building and scrape his back and shoulder, but he just grimaced and again used the split second to almost reflexively position himself to break their fall and save the other two from the worst of the damage.
The landing wasn't to bad, but the large chunk of wall that fell on them defiantly topped the list of "Worst Things to Happen at Bank" right after getting blown up and finding out you don't have any money left in your savings account.
Robin felt his head hit something hard right before his vision went black.
**Wally**
The explosion knocked Wally back and onto the ground but he was up again in an instant and scanning the area for signs of Robin and Artemis. The dust from the collapsing building clogged the air and made it difficult to see and breath, causing many of the people around Wally to cough and back up, but he only felt annoyance at the inconvenience.
Sticking his arms out in front of him, Kid Flash spun them at super speed to clear the air around him. When he did, much of the dust had already started to dissipate on its own and reveal the damage done to the bank. Or what used to be the bank, really.
Some of the walls were still partly standing but the majority had collapsed or blown outward. And that was only with a few of the mines going off. Despite his panic over his friends, Wally couldn't help but imagine what all of the mines going off would have done to the street and other buildings. His imagination did nothing to help sooth his growing fear.
After his brief lapse of concentration, Wally shook his head and ran right into the ruins of the building, not caring for his own safety, only wanting to find his friends. Dimly he was aware of someone calling him, but he ignored them and ran through the rubble, calling for Robin and Artemis.
"Wait!" A shout from Superboy caused the speedster to pause, more at his tone of voice than anything. "I-I think I hear something, but the explosion hurt my ears," the clone said, appearing around a crumbling wall with a confused look on his face. "It's coming from over there."
Without a moment's pause, Wally was off in the direction the clone had indicated. As he ran, a speck of green caught the speedster's eye and he skidded to a halt.
"Over here!" he yelled after seeing the huge section of wall covering the green and knowing he couldn't lift it himself. Superboy appeared behind him once more and without a word lifted the slab and tossed it away with no more than a grunt.
When the small cloud of dust thinned Wally let out a sound somewhere between a yelp of excitement and a groan of fear.
Underneath the wall were his friends along with a man he assumed to be the guard they had taken out. They were all covered with a thick coating of dust from the rubble, but that didn't hide the obvious burns and scrapes each had attained. Worse than that, Robin's right arm was laying at a weird angle and the sleeve of the same arm was torn back to reveal some bad looking cuts. Artemis only appeared to have a couple really bad cuts and burns and some more minor ones. Wally only spared a glance at the guard but he looked to be in the same condition as Artemis.
The archer let out a groan and opened her eyes slowly. "Wha-" she started before falling into a coughing fit. Wally listened closely but didn't hear any wheezing or see any blood, which meant her lungs were fine, just full of dust.
"Don't talk, hold on and we'll get you out," he said in what he hoped was a clam voice, kneeling down next to her.
Unsurprisingly, Artemis ignored his orders and asked between coughs, "R-Robin. Is he-is he okay?" Wally remained silent, which was all the answer the girl needed. She looked over to her left and saw the boy wonder lying - Wally could now tell - unconscious. The archer's face hardened and she said in a stronger voice, "Get him first. I'm fine."
Wally wanted to argue...well, not really. His best friend was obviously in much worse shape than Artemis and he wanted to help him as soon as possible. He nodded gratefully and carefully stepped over to pick up Robin, praying nothing else was wrong with him than what was obvious.
When Wally touched Robin's right shoulder, the boy gave a small whimper of pain that caused Wally's hand to flinch back. Hearing that sound from his best friend wasn't right. Robin never showed weakness, even when it was obvious he was in pain. It just wasn't natural for him to make that pitiful sound.
Then Wally noticed the blood. His fingertips were covered in the bright crimson liquid. Now even more fearful of what he might see, Wally carefully pulled Robin's torso upright, holding onto only his left side, and looked at his back. What he saw made his breath catch in his throat.
All the way from his right shoulder to the small of his back and covering half of his upper back, Robin's suit was torn away to reveal bloody gashes and scratches. A lot of them looked deep, though it was hard to tell from the blood. Wally was sure of one thing though, and the thought only made him grimace, many, if not most, of the cuts would scar no matter what they did.
He heard a slight intake of breath from Artemis when she saw the boy's back. but Wally was already picking him up regardless of the teen's whimpers of pain. To Superboy, Wally said, "Tell Miss. M. to call the bioship. I don't want to run him back to the mountain. It might do more harm than good. Then help Artemis. Leave him to the police." Wally nodded his head toward the guard. Superboy nodded once and then Wally left, trying to go quickly while not hurting Robin more than he had to. He was all to aware of the fresh blood now coating his arm from where he was supporting Robin's back. The thought made him want to be sick.
When Wally finally made his way back to the street, M'gann already had the bipship waiting for him. Without stopping he ran up to the small medical room in the ship and set Robin face-down on the white sheets of the hospital-style bed.
M'gann came in behind him, "Superboy said Robin and Artemis are hurt. I contacted the mountain and Black Canary is on her way there." Wally nodded. "We should clean up his back," the Martian suggested. Wally nodded again, unable to tear his eyes away from his friend's limp form.
With soft hands, M'gann gently pulled the speedster away from the bed and grabbed a white cloth to clean the blood from Robin's back. She wet it and placed it gently on his shoulder only to receive a sharp gasp and to see Robin's masked eyes shoot open. Not a second later the boy let out a pained groan and shut his eyes again.
"Rob!" Wally shouted, taking a step forward but stopping short of touching his best friend for fear of causing him more pain.
"Not so loud, KF. I have a massive headache, maybe a concussion, too," Robin cracked a small grin that did nothing to ease his friend's worry.
"Robin! How do you feel?" M'gann asked, holding the already stained cloth above him, afraid of hurting the young hero.
"Like someone skinned my back," he replied, "Plus my arm is either broken or fractured and my shoulder might have been dislocated but I can't really feel anything there. How's Artemis?" his last question revealed a note of worry in the Boy Wonder's voice.
"I'm fine," the archer's voice came from behind Wally, "The guard's fine too. You took most of the damage. The police called an ambulance for us but I told them we didn't need it." Artemis was leaning against Superboy for support but other than her various cuts and burns she seemed fine. Robin let out a short laugh of relief that ended in a groan and a dry cough. His friends' faces grew concerned.
"I-I think I have a," he coughed again, wincing in pain, "cracked rib. Nothing new."
"We should get you to the mountain fast. There's no point in waiting." Wally managed to say, still elated that Robin was awake but all the more pained to see him so hurt. The others nodded and M'gann followed him out to the main room of the bioship, leaving Superboy to help Artemis find a place to sit.
Kaldur was waiting for them, looking worried. When he saw them, he immediately opened his mouth to speak but Wally cut him off. "Robin woke up. He's in a lot of pain but... he'll be okay. Artemis seems fine."
Kaldur nodded, "Then let's go. We have to give them proper medical attention."
A/N: So Robin's safe and Artemis is fine! Right? You'll see...
I would also appreciate a critique on the characters. I've never been good with angst or fluff so I would love to hear what you guys think I can improve on in this and future chapters. I hope I did reasonably good so far. Wally would defiantly be worried sick about Robin and he obviously cares for Artemis so I think he would be the first to go look for them. Anyway hope you enjoyed it!
