Ran out of things to say here...Oh! I have had a burst of inspiration, so expect a couple of new fics in the following few days/next week.
Warnings: Slash, minor gore.
Note: Again, a LARGE thank you to zotSOS! My wonderful beta, if you have the time, I urge you to read and review her fics~
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Necessary
Wally, at the urgent distress call, ran into Mount Justice. He joined the rest of the team whom were beginning to be briefed by Zatara, Martian Manhunter, and Batman. Robin and Christopher were notably absent.
"Kid Flash, we almost started without you," Batman stated.
"Sorry. I had to get away. You know, it is lunchtime and—"
Wally was about to ramble on when Batman cut him off. "This meeting is more important," he said, "it's about Robin."
Zatara stared at Batman.
"And Doctor Fate," Batman added. "This morning, Robin and Doctor Fate went undercover. Zatara and I sent them on this mission to discover whoever has been kidnapping couples this past week; however, after a few minutes into the mission, both Robin and Fate were kidnapped. We've lost contact with them."
Wally and M'gann audibly gasped at this news.
"The Helmet of Fate," Zatara continued, "managed to pass on one last message: kidnapped. Unfortunately, the locations from Robin's GPS and Christopher's magical aura are not matching up."
Martian Manhunter nodded. "Due to the mixed signals, I will follow their telepathic signatures and take the five of you to the possible location. Meanwhile, Zatara will seek out Doctor Fate's magical aura and Batman will take the last location from Robin's GPS."
"Care to explain why the teams aren't even?" Wally asked. "I mean—Hey!" Wally rubbed the back of his head where Artemis smacked him.
Batman offered his explanation, "We must assume a sorcerer is masking Doctor Fate's magical aura. Therefore, Zatara will have to go in alone since any non-magic user would only get in the way of a magic duel. As for me," Batman paused, "I do not need backup. In order to simulate the idea that we are all concentrated in one area and allow us more time to search, Zatara and Martian Manhunter will create decoys. Zatara will send a carbon copy of himself along with you and J'onn will shape-shift into my form."
The young heroes all nodded in understanding and headed out to reclaim their youngest teammates.
The Team, after escaping from Brainwave and Wizard, returned to the bioship. They were welcomed by Joker's appearance on their monitor screen. They stared attentively as he spoke.
"Dear World, I have here, chained to a wall, in the middle of nowhere, Robin and this boy, whose name escapes me. The Boy Wonder and this Boy Whoever will receive one cut from this very rusted and dirty crowbar for every minute that Batman does not show up."
"NO!"
Although Brainwave focused the camera on Christopher, Wally's eyes were strained on Robin. The boy seemed scared out of his mind.
"No? No? What makes you think you can stop me?" Off screen, Joker was evidently picking up the aforementioned crowbar.
"Don't hurt Robin," Christopher whispered.
Wally and the rest of team overheard Chris despite his hushed tone. Wally smiled; for the first time, he was happy about Christopher being a part of their team.
"With magic, everything comes at a price, right?" Joker asked.
Christopher weakly nodded his head. "Yes."
"So, if I didn't hurt Robin every minute Batsie doesn't show, what would you give me?"
"Y-you can cut me twice for every minute Batman doesn't show up," Christopher said.
On the bioship, each sidekick's eyes widened. Wally and M'gann gasped again.
"What! No! Chris! Joker just cut us each once," Robin said quickly.
Wally glared at the image of the Boy Wonder on the screen. Robin always had to not accept help from others when it was offered to him.
Before Joker could manufacture a response, Christopher spoke up again. "You can cut me thrice! Just don't hurt Robin," Christopher pleaded.
"Chris, stop! I've got more exper—"
"Robin, I will heal faster than you will. What will Batman say if I allowed you to get hurt when I can do something to stop it?"
Robin and Christopher looked long and hard at each other until a bell dinged in the background.
"One minute's up! Who will I be cutting?"
Wally leaned forward against the back of a chair.
Robin sighed in defeat.
"Me," Christopher said defiantly. He didn't whimper as Joker took the rusted crowbar and made three incisions to his left wrist.
Megan looked away and covered her mouth with a hand to muffle her gasps. Wally's hands latched roughly onto the back of the chair he was leaning against while Artemis began playing with her hair. Kaldur, Conner, and J'onn appeared to not be watching the same thing as the others. Each of them remained emotionless, even if a trained eye could see the ghost of a frown forming on their faces.
"That face is absolutely thrilling; I can't wait until another minute passes by!" Joker said excitedly to the world-wide audience.
"M'gann, start the bioship," Wally said. "I don't care what Batman says. We are going after Robin and Chris."
No one objected. They all took their seats.
"Let's raise the stakes even more. What will you look like with one arm, Pretty?"
Christopher closed his eyes as the Joker raised the bloodied crowbar. He let out an ear piercing scream as the crowbar slashed down through his muscles and tendons, spraying his blood everywhere. Christopher's pain was intensified as he felt Robin's emotional pain flowing off of him in spastic waves. "You shouldn't have done that," Christopher growled at Joker. His eyes began glowing mystically.
"Wh-what's happening?" Joker screamed. He dropped the bloodied, rusted crowbar.
Christopher's entire body began glowing an ominous white and soon his severed left arm reattached itself to his stump. "You've broken our contract," Christopher declared. As he floated midair, his chains broke.
"Excuse me? I haven't hurt Robin at all," Joker complained.
Christopher smirked. "Not physically, but I can feel the psychological and emotional pain flowing off him in waves larger than tsunamis. Allow me to explain further:
"When you, Brainwave and Wizard left for the first time, Robin told me of his plan. Robin knows that Magic comes with a price, he knows that you know that Magic comes with a price. So, because it was very likely you were going to cause us pain in some way, if I could somehow redirect that pain at myself only, while having an emotional connection with Robin, I could regain my full powers by having your end of the bargain be to not hurt Robin," Christopher explained.
"And! Now that I'm back to full power, allow me to introduce," the Helmet of Fate gleamed in the light of Christopher's glowing aura as it materialized into his hands, "Doctor Fate!"
Before anyone could stop him, Christopher placed the Helmet on his head. "The chaos you have created today must be rectified. Prepare to be brought to justice," Nabu exclaimed. As he raised his hands, bursts of energy exploded from each palm and knocked out Brainwave.
Joker swiftly dodged the beams of energy. "Looks like it's the time for me to retreat. Another time, Pretty." Joker threw several pellets to the ground which erupted into a cloud of dense, green gas. The only sign of Joker in the smoke was his laugh. "30 seconds until BOOM time!"
Robin gasped. "Joker's laughing gas, it's explosive!"
As Doctor Fate moved to apprehend Joker, Christopher mentally screamed at Nabu. "Robin's more important! Joker can always be captured later…saving Robin is top priority."
Nabu sighed as he freed Robin from his chains. He grabbed the unconscious Brainwave before teleporting out of the warehouse.
"What are you doing?" Robin yelled. "Joker is going to get away!"
Doctor Fate took off the Helmet. "I decided that your safety is more important, Robin."
Robin crossed his arms across his chest. "Why? That's not good enough. Joker's dangerous; you should've gone after him instead. So, why?"
Christopher walked closer to Robin and tilted his chin upwards. He pressed his lips onto Robin's own. Their kiss wasn't like in the movies. No fireworks or a roaring applause were in the background, but the exploding warehouse was good enough. Both their lips were dry and chapped and yet something never felt so wonderful.
Butterflies erupted from Robin's stomach. Christopher felt light-headed; he ignored the phrases 'Haley's Circus' and 'The Flying Graysons' which flashed through his mind.
"Oh..." Robin's face was tomato red. "So…that's why," Robin said lamely when they separated.
Batman appeared out of nowhere. "Robin, are you alright?" he asked as he threw Joker to his feet and ignored the clown's feeble moans.
"FYI, I'm fine too, Batman." Christopher's tone was sarcastic. "I only just, y'know, had a rusted crowbar jammed into me. No biggie."
Batman's face remained emotionless. "Did you reach your initial objective?"
"No, Joker didn't kidnap any other couples," Robin reported, "unless he was lying."
Batman put the villains into the Batplane. "Have Zatara check your wounds when you return to Mount Justice." With that, he jumped off the side of the building then flew away in the Batplane.
When Christopher took Robin's hand, it was hastily jerked away. "Let's just walk," Robin said pointedly.
They didn't even start walking before Miss Martian's bioship approached. A hatch opened for them to step aboard. Robin and Chris, despite everyone's apparent eagerness to hear about the mission, both remained silent.
When they reached Mount Justice, Robin rushed to the med bay; Christopher trailed behind him slightly. The rest of the Team was left confused by the unusual behaviour of their youngest teammates.
After looking over Robin's injuries, Zatara handed Robin a red lollipop. "You're fine, Robin. You only had chain burns, so to speak, but I've healed them," Zatara said.
"Thanks," Robin muttered quickly, taking the lollipop then leaving the medical bay.
"You on the other hand," Zatara scolded Christopher, "your magical aura has mended most of your physical wounds, but allowing the Joker to use that rusted crowbar on you in the first place…what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I should move on," Christopher replied calmly.
"What?" Zatara was bewildered. When Christopher didn't answer, Zatara spoke up again, "I'm sensing something is off; something that can't be fixed by magic."
"It's nothing," Christopher dismissed in a monotone. He looked away from his mentor.
Zatara exhaled. "It's not nothing, is it?"
"I can't," Chris sighed, "tell you right now."
"Well, I'm here if you need me…" Zatara's parental side kicked in. "And finish your spellwork!"
"Sure," Christopher said as he wandered out the door. He quickly re-entered. "Why didn't I get a lollipop? I was the one with the crowbar in my leg!"
"You're also the one with uncompleted spellwork," Zatara reminded. "Now get going."
Christopher reluctantly left the medical bay. Suddenly, Christopher found himself roughly shoved against the wall, face to domino mask.
"You will not tell anyone about what transpired on the top of that building," Robin growled into his ear before swiftly disappearing from sight.
Christopher irritably looked to his dancing teacup. It was once a bunny he had conjured out of thin air. Now, it was dancing a sort of tap dance with no rhythm whatsoever and crashing into the wall every now and then. Christopher, as he watched the cup, thought about what Robin had said and done both consciously and subconsciously.
Chris recalled how Robin had quite venomously growled at Joker to not touch him. Perhaps, this was subconscious residue from the spores that Ivy had given him. Robin had experienced emotional pain when Joker had severed Chris' arm. Christopher figured this had little deeper meaning than due to the empathic connection Christopher created between them. Robin had apologised for allowing him to take the blows, but probably only as the courteous thing to do.
Chris thought about how Robin was inexplicably embarrassed when he had thanked him. It didn't make any sense. After all, Robin was the world's first superhero sidekick. He had to be used to praise by now, so why was he not also used to gratitude?
Christopher's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. When he opened the door, he was perplexed by his visitor. "Wally?" he asked.
"Hello, Chris," Wally replied happily.
Christopher leaned against his partially opened door. "Hi?"
"So, Robin tells me that you like licking lips," Wally said nonchalantly.
They both ignored the dancing teacup as it shattered into dust. "He what?" Christopher seethed.
Wally smiled smugly. "He told me you lip-locked him."
Christopher magically pushed past Wally with somewhat excessive force. Chris, however, before he could get pass, found himself in his room again with Wally pinning him into the wall. Christopher gasped as Wally got uncomfortably close.
"I'd like a taste of your lips," Wally huskily whispered into Christopher's ear.
"I've got control over my empathy, why are you still—" Chris's voice was muffled by Wally suddenly shoving their lips together.
Wally's stomach burst open from the sheer number of butterflies flying around. His lips were soft and warm and gave Christopher a pleasant feeling, despite his clairsentience acting up, showing him a father throwing things, at no one yet everyone, breaking several vases and chairs in the process.
They broke apart, panting. "That was…um...nice," Christopher lamely said.
Wally winked. "Of course! It must be when it's me." He slung an arm around Christopher's shoulders. "So, you wanna grab a bite to eat or what?"
"What's with the change in heart?" Christopher asked breathlessly. He enjoyed the feeling of being in the arms of somebody who wasn't just comforting him, but truly wanted to be there.
Wally smirked. "We're going to make the Boy Wonder see who he belongs to," Wally whispered into Christopher's ear.
Chris perked up at this. "You mean we're making him jealous?"
Wally ruffled Christopher's black hair. "Yes, yes indeed."
As chocolate brown met emerald, both boys smiled. "So, where do you want to go for our first date?" Chris asked.
"It would appear that Joker, Brainwave and Wizard were unsuccessful in completing the goal set," a set blurred figures appeared on seven different screens.
"Sometimes, a loss is necessary for a gain. As with the Superboy, even a temporary loss of the sorcerer may result in a large gain in the end," a particularly deep and commanding voice told his fellow members.
"After all, everyone sees the light," a feminine voice reassured her fellow members.
Well~ I finally included the Light after including Sportsmaster in Exposition~
BTW I was super excited that they revealed the Light members at the end of Revelations. I like DIED when I saw who was L-7, I'm serious I like screamed in elation LOL I was also excited when they had Kaldur place the Helmet of Fate on, but not as ecstatic as I was when I saw Klarion the Witch-Boy as L-7, whom I may mention I made referenced to in Introduction.
Yes, if you have not noticed, or if I have not told you; everything is done for a reason, just like on the show, everything is connected and will become important later on~
I strongly urge you to reread the earlier chapters from time to time ^.^ Aside from the fact that seeing a high number of hits makes me happy, it's good to know what I'm referencing to without having to go back and read it after I make the reference as I am here to entertain, not confuse (Though, I have been known to confuzzle you from time to time (Onesided, yes?)) =D (Well, that and improve my mediocre writing skills~)
Please do review and tell me what I'm doing wrong, or if something doesn't make sense~
While you're waiting, perhaps you'd enjoy reading some of my other fics? And if you're not too busy, could you also review those as well?