Author's Note
Please forgive me for the delay in updating this fic and Beyond and Between, I've had some snafus with my beta needing to take a break and thus asking another good reviewer for some help proofing and betaing this chapter. I want you guys to all give a huge word of appreciation to Jesters of the Moon for being a great beta for the chapter and giving me some of the best feedback about what to keep putting in the story. According to both Jester and DragonflyThief the little hilarious, yet totally accurate descriptions are well liked and perfect. (Examples: Psychotic tree hugger girlfriend, Junior Musketeers, "entirety of his bat-themed arsenal"...) Is that a true fact? Let me know.
On another note, this chapter is by far the longest I've ever written. It stands at just over 6,000 words, so I would hope that that makes up for my slow updating. Don't expect chapters this long though, it's only because it didn't feel fair to leave you guys on too big of a cliffy after so many recent ones. But never fear, this is not the end of the fic. Not even close.
So, enjoy. Read on and please review. I'm getting lots of favorites and follows on this and Beyond and Between, but what I want and need to keep writing these fics is reviews. That's what tells me that you're reading and are interested and want more. I love that you're favoriting or following the fic, but the reviews are what helps and really make me want to write.
Anyway, I wish you all pleasant times and warn you all not to let the Joker in tonight...
Luffles, Creative ;D
Miss Martian sat at helm of the bioship, her gaze focused on the visible sky ahead of her as the Team below her chatted nervously. The martian empath felt the nervous emotions of all the heroes around her, despite the efforts of some to conceal them. Worry. Anger. Impatience. Even fear. The green girl repressed the shudders of fear that rolled down her spine as she recognized the source of the strongest fear in the room, aside from her own.
Soft amber eyes drifted to the seemingly lone hero in the crowded room. Normally on large team missions the solitary red-headed heroine would be seated with Nightwing and Robin, typically all sharing some sort of joke or laughing at the latest prank their merry troupe had pulled. But now neither of the third bat-protege's companions were present and that seemed only to amplify the state of the girl's emotions. A mixture of everything the others were feeling, and then some. Regret. Dismay. Deep sorrow. Spiralling self-blame...
A small shake of the bioship made Miss Martian refocus on her task of piloting the vessel. Concerned looks from the gathered team made the green girl scold herself for losing so much of her focus in her empath powers.
"What's up Miss M? Something bothering you?" A peppy voice sounded from below.
"It's nothing. I just got lost in a train of thought."
"We require the full attention of all members present. We cannot afford for your attention to be divided Miss Martian. Please, tell us what it was that you were so consumed by within your thoughts." Her amber eyes lifted to meet the calm green gaze of her leader. "We wish to aid you in placing your focus where it is needed."
"It is not my place to tell. Really it was just that everyone's feeling so upset about Nightwing and Kid Flash that it's a lot to handle in such a confined space."
"Perhaps someone who is not as in tune with the emotions of the Team could pilot the bioship, to allow you some time to recollect yourself so that we may proceed to plan our rescue mission with care."
"I'll do it. Flying this plane's just as easy for her as it is for me, or at least almost as easy." Bumblebee said as she got up from her seat.
The martian nodded almost eagerly as she stood and stepped away from the now manual controls for the bioship. As the yellow-and-black striped heroine sat the controls, Miss Martian sat in the girl's seat beside Batgirl.
'Batgirl, do you want to talk?' The green girl asked telepathically.
'Not really, but I guess if you're asking that I'm not doing too well at hiding.'
'Hiding what?'
'I'm worried about him.'
'We all are; that is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of.'
'You are all worried because he's in danger of losing his life. Me? I'm scared of never seeing him again.' Batgirl's telepathic voice quivered as she started to pull her arms around her before realizing that there were others around her.
'Batgirl, don't worry so much. We'll find Nightwing. I'm sure we will. We'll find KF too. They'll be alright.'
'It's not that I don't trust those two idiots to stay relatively safe or us to get there on time, but I just can't get rid of the feeling that something's going to go wrong. Something always does on jobs like this. And just for once, just this once, I want to be wrong. I told him no when he asked me out because I thought that it wouldn't be right, and I refused to admit it to myself that I liked him.' The red-head felt the telltale prickle spring to life at her eyes, soon to cause the beginnings of tears concealed beneath her mask. A quick hand darted up to erase the offending tingle and halt the offending tears before they started prior to continuing, 'I didn't want to let myself believe that we could be together because we can't be. If we were together, it would put us, and you guys, in too much danger because of how we live and that if we ever got together.'
Miss Martian lifted a cautious hand from her knees and began extending it towards her almost crying companion, hoping to be able to soothe the increasing waves of sadness and regret that spilled off of the red-head. Before her hand could reach the silently suffering protege Miss Martian heard a faint tugging at the back of her mind. Immediately all her attention went to that familiar sensation. It was a mind that she knew well, a mind that she had been linked with so many times. The martian raised her hands to her head and closed her eyes as she focused. However, as the young green girl honed in on the well-known-speeding-mind's location she neglected to separate her own from Batgirl's.
'It's Kid's mind, isn't it?'
'Yes. It is. I'm almost sure of it. No one else can think this fast, or at least this many random things this fast.'
'If we've found him, then that means that Dick is close! He should be fine right? I mean, you can feel his mind right?' Too late did Batgirl realize the amount of hope that had seeped into her mental voice.
'I'm feeling something faint. But, I'm not sure. There is something surrounding it, too many minds and so much pain.' Miss Maritan's face contorted into a face of dread and aprehension as she tried to probe the pain-concealed mind, 'So much pa-'
A sudden, piercing shriek ripped from the pained mind, tearing into Miss Martian's open one. Both hands snapped up to Miss Martian's ears to attempt blocking the horrific, blood-curdling caterwauls. In a split second of rational thought Miss Martian, brought on by her and Batgirl's panicked screams, cut the Bat protege from their mental connection The green girl let out a stifled cry of her own, causing the entirety of the ship's occupants to rush to her side.
"M'Gann!" A gruff voice called as he kneeled beside the stiff form of his girlfriend.
"Miss Martian, what is the cause of this? Batgirl, do you know what caused the outbursts?"
"We were talking, Aqualad, that's it. And then this-this shrieking suddenly cut in. It kind of sounded like Nightwing." Batgirl's chest rose and fell at an uneven rate, her heart hammering madly against her chest as she thought through what she had just heard.
Her mind didn't care that there was a possibility that it could not be him. She had recognized that familiar rumble in the shriek, the little rumble that she had grown to appreciate more than any other sound, no matter how much she wanted not to. She had never thought that the little things that she thought were so special to the Dark Knight's first protege would one day inspire this type of fear in her. The agonizing tone of the shriek scared her more than any other possible worldly form of pain or harm.
After tense seconds recomposing herself Batgirl looked up from her once-shaking hands to the dumbstruck people around her. They were still watching Miss Martian. Batgirl turned her eyes to look at the green girl as well, her stomach almost doing a belly flop when she did.
The martian's entire focus was put to concealing her mind and keeping her voice from letting out it's own version of the sounds echoing in her head, leaving her usual green form to melt into her true white martian one. The newer recruits, Batgirl included in part, could only stare at their teammate.
Superboy was still at Miss Martian's side, holding onto one of her hands as he spoke soft words, words that the Team never thought they would hear Superboy ever say. Several tense minutes passed before Miss Martian opened her tightly shut eyes and acknowledged the world within the ship. Slowly Miss Martian shifted her form to the one the Team was accustomed to seeing. However, her normally expressive face was blank and almost detached. She lifted her amber eyes to meet the questioning green gaze of Aqualad. As she let out a sigh, even in her non-emotion conveying state the Team could sense the words they already knew were coming.
"I found Kid Flash for sure, I'm not certain about Nightwing though. I heard Kid and then when I tried to find Nightwing, I found a mind that was a jumbled mess. There was so much pain..." Miss Martian curled deeper into Superboy's waiting arms.
Aqualad opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a sudden interjection from Batgirl, who rose quickly from her chair wearing an expression not unlike Miss Martian's as she almost growled, "It's him. I recognized the sound of his voice, that was Nightwing. They're both down there, and he's in pain."
The Team looked at Batgirl, eyes wider than normal and mouths slightly agape as she moved from the huddled group to the pilot's seat. She shooed a shocked Bumblebee from the seat and took control of piloting the ship, steering it towards where she had felt Miss Martian's mind wander before the sounds of Nightwing scre- no, where Kid Flash was being kept along with Nightwing. That was how she had to think about it. There was no other way. She had to keep thinking that he would be strong, strong enough to make it through that. There had to be a way for Dick to make it through the pain.
Not even minutes later Batgirl stood up at the pilot's chair, having stopped the ship a half-mile from where the computer had said the warehouse was. Her stern glare snapped all the heroes from their stupor. Aqualad, who had been thinking up a new strategy, turned his attention to the archers and the magician, who had separated themselves from the group and were looking out the window over the vast desert.
"Red Arrow. Artemis. Zatanna. Join us, I wish to discuss the final plans before we move in on the warehouse."
As the three shared one last worried look, the steady-minded leader of the Team began to re-explain his final ideas for a plan, repeating to everyone where they were to go and what they were to listen for. The Team shifted around him, settling into their covert operations mode and focusing on the task at hand with the utmost drive and seriousness. This was one mission they could not afford to mess up on, and they all knew it.
Loud shouts rumbled from the other side of Kid's prison walls. The redheaded speedster leaned heavily on the wall as his heart hammered madly against his chest. Nervous anger had seeped deeply into his skin as the sounds of fighting had erupted beyond his reach. As Kid struggled to stay upright his left leg throbbed, almost buckling beneath him when he tried to put weight on it even with the support of the wall. Teeth gritted in determination, the speedster took a step straight across the room, towards the door out of his room-like cell. Naturally fast reflexes were the only things that kept him from landing face-first on the hard, white floor. Frustrated curses burned into the air as Kid shifted, ignoring the painfully loud protests that his limbs gave him, and glared green daggers at the shimmering white door; the only thing that was separating him from his friend.
Determined anger replaced the nervous feeling in his gut as strong fists clenched at his sides, sliding under him as he once again tried getting to his feet. Once he was standing again, though leaning on the wall, Kid took a deep breath. He wanted to just cross the room, bang on the door with all his strength and hope for a different outcome of the repeated action. He didn't care if that was the definition of insanity. It was his only option besides sitting down and just listening to the commotion happening just beyond the four walls surrounding him. But his leg seemed opposed to that. It wanted Kid to just sit down and let it heal, but with the collar active and cutting off all his supernatural abilities, including his super-healing; leaving sitting down and waiting for the leg to heal would take longer than he ever cared to imagine.
A harsh fist collided with the unmoving wall as Kid let out a vicious sounding growl. His green eyes were alight with an unfamiliar fire as his face wrinkled in anger. His curled fist rested against the wall as Kid shook with anger. He wasn't angry at Nightwing, or Joker, or Batman, or anyone, except himself. He was the one who had let himself get captured. He was the one who had started the fight with the villains. And most importantly, the one who had lost focus during that fight and ultimately lost it.
The scene wouldn't stop playing over in his mind; the smart-assed quips from Nightwing, the narrowly missed clawing attacks from Felina coupled with Hook's extendable appendage, the second too long cockiness in his stride... Another hit shook the white wall infront of Kid, causing minute cracks to appear in the solid block as Kid's hand stung angrily.
The rumbling clamor of fighting increasing across the room and beyond the wall was like the never-ending background music to a song he couldn't stand, nerve grating, irritating and only making him more worked-up. Frustration boiled in Kid's blood as he growled silently to himself, 'If Nightwing can fight with all of his injuries, then I can damn well make it the door!'The speedster let out a determined snarl as he leaned almost completely on the wall and took a step forward. To his surprise and pleasure neither leg gave out beneath him despite the searing pain. The pain, the grating sound of fighting and the thought of his friend push Kid to take another step. And then another. And one more. And the next step. One step at a time, sometimes falling and having to haul himself back to his feet, sometimes being able to take two strides without stopping, Kid made it around the room.
At the foot of the door he collapsed into a limp pile of red and yellow, body burning as if lit on fire and then doused in hot metal. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep, but being so close to the door he heard the fighting clearer. He heard the sounds of shoes knocking into bodies, armor hitting the floor, metal against metal, grunts and shouts and a scream now and then. That was more chaos than even Nightwing could create.
"They found us." He whispered almost joyfully to himself, a faint echo of a smile ghosting on his cracked and broken lips.
He knew that he should be happy that there were other people outside, fighting either alongside Nightwing or without him altogether, to get them out of there. But, Kid couldn't help but feel the growing sense of nervousness and inadequacy. Here he was, the Fastest Boy Alive trapped in a little white room while his teammates battled some of the more dangerous foes that they've gone up against. That smarted a little bit, like the time when Artemis had told him that M'Gann was with Conner. That had been a sad day. And his birthday no less! An oddly playful scowl crossed over his face as Kid remembered that he was still angry at Artemis for ruining his special day with that news. Then again, it was better to have a smarting heart than a broken face after a punch from Supey at kissing his girlfriend.
A rough, hoarse chuckle echoed from Kid before being replaced with squeak of surprise at seeing a blue-green blur phase through the white wall. Kid struggled with his natural urge to rush over to the figure laying on the floor, after slamming into the wall cracking the spots where Kid had punched it even more. He had barely managed to get over to the door in the first place. But then again, someone had just flown through a wall and into another. A low groan echoed in the almost quiet room.
"Miss M?" Kid asked cautiously as he attempted to at least stand and hide some of the injuries or pain he was feeling. "Why is Nightwing so good at covering up that sort of thing? I mean you never see him in pain, no matter how much he should be." Kid thought to himself.
"Because he doesn't manifest it externally. I felt his mind, he was in so much pain..." Miss Martian groaned telepathically as she sat up and suppressed a shudder at the memory of the terrifying sounds of utter pain.
"That makes sense." Kid said aloud, managing to lift his left leg off the floor without arousing any suspicion as to why.
The green appearing white martian stood shakily on her feet as she walked over to Kid, steps growing steadier with each stride. Her hood was pulled, once again, over her face as she approached. She grabbed Kid's hand and yanked him towards the door, phasing herself and the speedster through it.
'Team, I've found Kid. He seems to be, mostly, in good condition. But Nightwing wasn't with him.' Miss Martian said to everyone as she and Kid paused beside the wall, allowing the speedster to recover from density-shifting through the wall.
'Noted Miss M. Now, will you and KF come help us please? Getting tails kicked by crazy ninjas now!' Beast Boy said over the mind-link, evidently strained and unfocused.
The martian almost sped off down the corridor before seeing Kid still on the ground and not rushing ahead of her. She knelt beside him, concern knitted on her face.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to get the collar off before I can do anything." Kid said, his voice echoing a partly-failing attempt at a laugh.
A pensive expression crossed Miss Martian's face as she thought about what to do. She didn't have the brute strength to break it off and nor did she want to attempt any kind of phasing it off. With a sudden light bulb and, "Hello M'Gann!", she began telekinetically floating Kid down the hallway after herself.
Seconds later the two emerged from the dark hallway and were met with an almost distressing sight. The Team had been surrounded and cornered in a circle by what seemed like a sea of black garbed ninjas sporting a half-orange-half-black mask. The Team was still fighting, despite there being no obvious end to their situation besides the obvious. Both the martian and speedster let out small growls of pure annoyance and fury at the ninjas. Miss Martian dropped Kid to the ground as her eyes glowed a dangerous green. Her arms raised into the air, bringing with them ten of the black dressed men in front of her. With a sweeping motion she flung the suspended men into their comrades, knocking more to the ground and causing a much needed distraction for the Team.
The superpowered juveniles leapt into action once more. Blue glowing hammers smashed down; sonic beams ricocheted off walls; varying degrees animalistic roars echoed; shouts of pain, exclamations of surprise and colorful curses lit the air. The black sea writhed as the fighting took on another degree of ferociousness.
Kid watched, angrily, as his teammates fought, wishing that he could be beside them. He pressed his back against the wall and began a new attempt at standing. His teeth grinded together almost painfully as he forced the protests of pain rising in his throat down. Once on his feet Kid looked out at the fighting mass of black dotted with color. He steeled himself, or tried to, against the onslaught of pain sure to follow him. He began stepping awkwardly into the battle. The pain that sprang to life from his leg was almost enough to send him to the ground, but as a ninjaesque figure approached him, followed by more, Kid snapped into hero mode and forgot all about the pain. He tried to dodge the hits as much as he could, but ended up taking the brunt of the beating on his arms before getting some choice hits in and sending his attacker to the ground. Moving on to his second foe Kid felt the nagging of not only his injured limb but the disaster looming from his lack of food consumption. The red-and-yellow speedster didn't have time to continue down the train of thought or his fight as a loud shout rang over everything, catching all the heroes' attentions.
"Drop your weapons and surrender, unless you want to see your leader in a coffin!"
All the fighting in the room ceased, leading to a strained silence. All eyes quickly found the source of the booming voice standing high upon a thin, metal balcony, large hand clasped around the back of Nightwing's uniform while he suspended the heroic youth above the ground. Panic surged in Kid's chest as he saw his friend. More cuts had appeared scattered over the black kelvar and now one arm looked definitely longer than the other and twisting oddly at the shoulder. Gasps of surprise and stifled growls of anger rose from the heroes, reminding Kid that he wasn't alone anymore. But when he looked up at Nightwing and saw the precarious position of his friend, the speedster couldn't help but think, 'I'm responsible for this,' as he glared more than angry green daggers at the man holding his friend, at the near-fear inducing orange and black mask of the most annoying and dangerous villain behind the Prince of Gotham Crime; the only villain to spark fear in the speedster besides the Arkham Crazies like Scarecrow, the Joker or Bane. The terrified eyes of the young heroes fell upon the shadowed figure of Deathstroke.
"I said drop the weapons," Deathstroke glared at the heroes with his single eye and leaned into his leg resting on the upper bar of the balcony. "Drop them or I drop him."
Aqualad's green eyes narrowed as he locked sights with Deathstroke, trying to read the man. A frustrated expression found it's way through the cracks of distress on the leaders face. With barely noticeable turns of his head, Aqualad turned to look at his teammates.
'Aqualad, I can take a shot. I don't think ugly has spotted me yet,' a rough, melodic voice rang through the Team's collective mind-link.
'Is there anyone who feels as though they can retrieve Nightwing as he falls if Artemis distracts Deathstroke?' The Atlantean asked.
The ensuing silence was all Aqualad needed in answer. His light green eyes lifted from the dark floor, littered with unconscious forms, to Deathstroke. The Atlantean's face was calm and collected, though to one who knew him it was a forced look of placidity. His hands clenched around the water-bearers they held. The Team around him tensed for a fight, not expecting what followed. A sudden clamor rose as Aqualad sighed and released his hold upon the black contents of his fists. In awe the rest of the Team, especially Kid, could only gawk at the leader.
"Team, relinquish your weapons," a clearly defeated tone ringing in his voice.
The sounds of dropping weapons were few, but there weren't many members of the Team with them in the first place. The Team gathered closer together, though missing an archer and a speedster. None seemed to notice the absences as they watched Deathstroke smirk at them. The masked villain pulled Nightwing back onto the balcony and begins to walk down the stairs, hauling the immobile form over his shoulder.
Low, muffled grunts escaped Nightwing as each step jostled him and his injuries. He was almost certain that his shoulder was dislocated and that he had several broken ribs. After the beatings he had taken, there was no doubt in that. He also knew for sure that he had some measure of fracturing his non-dislocated arm, not to mention the probable bone bruising to every inch of his body. It would take him weeks if not months to fully heal. He groaned at the thought before letting out another sharp hiss of pain as Deathstroke shifted the hero's position on his shoulder, almost purposefully putting pressure on a still gaping wound.
Nightwing barely held onto his miniscule thread of consciousness as he felt Deathstroke walk through the complex, only to halt abruptly at the entry way. The villain turned to look at the heroes surrounded by his lackeys. A sharp groan of displeasure left the impatient villain's lips.
"You crazy assed clown, get your bumbling buffoons and your butt in gear before I leave you to deal with the Junior Musketeers alone." Deathstroke shouted hoarsely, his loud voice causing Nightwing's trained one's to ring in pain.
"Calm down, will you? Not like we planned on having to pack up our base in five minutes or less with a group of kids in the way!" Ivy snapped at Deathstroke as she peeked her head from behind a monitor and stack of piled boxes.
Hook, Felina, Black Spider, Luma and the rest of Joker's gang, minus the clown himself, were all carrying boxes and crates out of the warehouse and loading them on trucks. Deathstroke let out an exasperated groan as he signaled for the remaining conscious lackeys to go and help the slow-moving villains. It didn't take long for them to finish loading then. After the final box left the warehouse Deathstroke and Joker stopped at the doorway, looking back at the Team. Deathstroke still held Nightwing over his shoulder.
"We'll see you around kiddies. Daddy Joker's got some things to do. Be good, do your homework and be in bed by nine," Joker chortled evilly as he looked at the heroes.
"Leave Nightwing," rose a hoarse, anger-laced voice.
A spot of red limped through the downed throng of Deathstroke ninjas. The Team turned to see Wally limping heavily towards them while he leaned on a broken pipe for support to avoid falling down. His suit was almost as torn as Nightwing's, making the typically joking speedster appear almost feral with his anger.
"No can do, Flash Kid. See, old mister Death and I have an agreement, an agreement that needs to be settled. And for that to happen your buddy the bird has got to come along with us." A characteristically sadistic grin splashed across the twisted clown's face as growls of anger rose from the group of heroes to cover the few shocked gasps. "Now just sit tight on and be quiet until we get out of range, otherwise we'll get to see some fireworks!" Joker said, putting an arm over Deathstroke's unoccupied shoulder.
The Team's expressions all mimicked Kid's now, pure and unbridled fury plain upon their faces and in their stances. The majority of the young heroes managed to keep their tempers and emotions in check, both inwardly and outwardly. However, two were not doing so well.
Batgirl, hidden in the shadows as always, was forcing herself to stay still, imposing her iron-will, strong enough that was fabled to have bent Batman's, to make her body listen to her rational mind despite the overwhelming urge to leap at the creeps and beat them into oblivion. Her eyes were shut tightly as she focused on trying to calm that emotions running wild in her mind. The anger, the regret, the fear, the helplessness... She let out an inaudible groan as she attempted to box up her emotions. Success was almost her's until her ears caught a drifting bit of the conversation happening around her.
"Little Boy Blunder's much more important than you meddlesome children. Not to mention, so much more fun. I think I'm starting to see why old Scarecrow is into creating fear. It is so much fun. But, being a clown at heart, I will always strive for laughter." Green hair bobbed in dull light of a setting sun from the door as Joker leaned forward in a mocking bow. As he came up, his acid green eyes locked with Kid Flash's; a taunting smirking grin passed over the too-rosy-red lips of the clown before continuing, "Now, not to be a spoilsport kiddos, but your dear Uncle J and his crew have got to go. So many jollies to be had out there in the big bad world. All you children be good heroes, finish your homework and be in bed by nine, and hey please tell the big man I said-"
Joker narrowly missed a yellow rimmed batarang flying his way before it embedded itself in the metal behind him. Looking from the object to it's origin the clown saw too late a very ticked off Batgirl charging him from the rafters. Her cape fluttered madly as she swung down from the rafters above the villains with infuriated grace, all the while launching almost accurate batarangs at them. Superboy and Aqualad rushed forward, trying to get a hold on the raging bat without hurting her. Unfortunately, the upside of being the Batman's protege was the downside to controlling an enraged teenager.
With the same startling ease that Batman dropped from rooftops, Nightwing swung from the rafters and Robin melted to the shadows, Batgirl threw off Superboy and Aqualad before turning to face the villains, scathing, anger-fueled words at the ready.
"You psychopathic son of a-" she started shouting before the rest of the sentence died in her throat.
The metallic door of the warehouse swung completely open, orange setting light sweeping in unhindered by the three forms once standing there. All the anger and rage that had been boiling so hot in her veins only seconds before had died down to freezing, congealing her blood within her veins. Slowly she sank to her knees. Incomprehension filtered onto the broken mask that Batgirl typically wore. A numbness set in, drifting over her like waves over the beach at high-tide, as realization dawned on her and regret nipping at her heels. She had been the cause of them losing Nightwing this time. Her eyes prickled madly, letting her know that she was on the verge of showing more pure emotions. She tried to care, to hide the pain and bury the want to cry like she always did; but the pain clawed harder to be felt, the want-no need- to cry swamped her harder than ever, and she just couldn't let go of the things reminding her that she had failed. The muscles and tendons of her jaw tightened as she gritted her teeth and forced everything remotely related to feelings into a box, a lead box, before locking it and dropping the box in her mental ocean of Forgetfulness, more like a puddle in her case but it would work, and dropping the key there as well.
Now was no time to breakdown, her failure was showing her that much. Mind steeled to her heart, Batgirl closed her eyes for a few brief seconds. She felt the familiar touch of Miss Martian's questioning mental hand and allowed her in. The quiet feeling of Miss Martian's mind inside her own made Batgirl focus even more. The girl pushed of of the ground with her hands, standing unsteadily but sure of herself. It was her turn to be told, "Get traught or get dead." She began walking towards the door, Aqualad and Superboy in close pursuit with Red Arrow mysteriously having come out of nowhere to follow. Slowly the Team snapped out of their stupor from witnessing the, possibly, only time Batgirl ever let her focus and control slip on a mission, and began to trickle outside. The practically set sun gave a barely hopeful atmosphere to the disheartened group.
The tuned ears of the group all listened and turned their heads to watch a pretty mangled looking Kid Flash limp and stumble through the doorway. Their mission to save their teammates had not been a total failure. One out of the two was safe. The Team converged on top of Kid for a group hug, all but Batgirl.
The gray-black heroine hung back as she looked up to the darkening sky set ablaze with the mysterious pastel colors of the setting sun. The sunset signified the end of something, leading to the darkness before the rise of the light. Maybe that was what had happened. The Team had failed, she had failed, because if they succeeded then they wouldn't be done, there might have been something else to figure out. Maybe Nightwing would lead them to an even bigger organization.
With her sapphire eyes turned towards the seemingly painted sky, Batgirl sent up a silent wish to anyone who was listening above to just give her a little bit of a break and let her be right once again, that there was something else to discover... that she had not just screwed up the only chance the Team would ever get to save their teammate.
"Team, report immediately. Status of message urgent. When not in danger zone, contact Watchtower," rang a deep gravelly voice through all the communication devices.
A collective groan escaped the entire team at the non-reassuring voice of Batman. It was going to be a very long next few weeks, very long indeed if the heroes ever got to sleep. Training, eating, homework and school would be the only things on the schedule for many weeks to come, and none of the heroes anticipated the non-stop rigor of both Canary and Batman as training mentors.
With lead feet dragging in the ground the heroes all loaded into the bioship, settling into chairs and preparing to leave. They would face whatever came their way to protect their friends. They had just proven that with Kid Flash, and it would soon be turn to do so with Nightwing.
