Disclaimer: I do not own either Young Justice or its related characters. Such are the property of DC Comics, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Lucidity

Epilogue: All's Said & Done

Kon pulled Sphere level with the window and asked her to hover as silently as she could while he helped Tim climb in through the open sill.

"Thanks for the ride." Said the Boy Wonder as he threw the strap of a backpack containing his Robin costume over one shoulder. "I really appreciate it."

"You're sure Batman will be okay with me knowing where you live?" Kon asked with the slightest bit of unease in his voice. "I mean, I already know he's gonna be pissed-off to high holy hell when he gets back and learns that I know who you are."

Tim finished climbing in through the window and turned back around to face his companion. "See, that's the thing with the gag-order." He shook his head. "We're not supposed to share our identities and we're supposed to do everything within our power to keep people from figuring out our identities. But if an ally somehow manages to learn who we are, then we're allowed to keep-up the friendship. Something about building trust, or something like that. That's why Bats and Superman hang-out in their civilian guises sometimes."

"I… see…" Kon said slowly. Then, "Does that mean I'm supposed to invite you to the farm then? Since I know where you live now, its only fair that I share the other place that I live with you."

"Only if you want to." Tim assured him. He dashed from the window to his desk, pulled out pen and post-its and jotted something down quickly. When he returned to the window, he passed the post-it note to the Superboy. "Okay, so here's my civilian number. Call me, maybe, if you do wanna hang-out outside of costume."

"Okay." Kon placed the note in his pocket. "Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow for your talking session with Black Canary?"

"Okay, so how does this work? Do you ask me questions or am I just supposed to start talking about random stuff and you pick out the important bits?" Tim sat across from Black Canary in one of the lounge's green armchairs. The room had been set aside so that each member of his squad could have their own private counseling session with Canary.

"Whatever makes you feel most comfortable." She replied, folding her hands over her crossed knees. She waited patiently.

"Are you even licensed to practice psychology?"

"Of the available candidates for this, I'm the best suited." Dinah answered diplomatically.

The Boy Wonder leaned back in his chair. "Right. Not many options when it comes to choosing therapists for superheroes, is there."

She flashed him a lopsided smile. "No, there aren't."

"Its just that, psychology is a big part of Batman's training, so I already know a lot of this. I don't see how talking is gonna help. I can already diagnose myself."

Canary's smile turned serious. "Robin, these talking sessions aren't to diagnose you, they are just to talk. About what ever you might want to talk about. I read the mission reports. It must have been hard for you, having your mother back…"

"Oh, that." Tim looked up. "Yeah, it was really weird, but… but it didn't really get to me. I knew something was up from the very beginning, I never really believed she was real. What really bothered me… what really bothers me…"

The Robin paused. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. He began again. "Nightwing told me that he and the original Team went through something similar, except it had been staged by Batman for the purpose of training. A sort of Kobayashi-maru dream simulation. –You know what the Kobayashi-maru is, right?- Anyway, he said that he watched everyone on the Team die, and he came up with a plan that got even more of them killed and it just… It reminded me… It was my idea to go to Arkham –in the dream, I mean."

He paused to adjust his shades. Taking the opportunity, the Boy Wonder looked up at the Black Canary to gauge her reaction so far, but she only sat patiently waiting for him to continue.

"We were only out for like seven hours, according to Nightwing. But in the dream it was like several weeks." He began again. "In those weeks, Superboy and I worked together a lot. We were a good team –I think. But then, when I saw him get shot… Because of something that was my idea… God! I watched him die! He's not supposed to get shot! He's the freaking Superboy! He's supposed to be bullet-proof, things just bounce off his skin. A strong pillar of invulnerability, ya know? And he would act like it too, even though he didn't have his powers in the dream, he was always placing himself between me and any possible threat. The mother-henning little idiot."

Here, Canary did pause him to comment. "Why do you think his death affected you so badly?"

"I have no idea. I've seen people get shot, its no bid deal; and I don't have Batman's gun-phobia either. And I've seen people die before, too. Gotham isn't as nice a place as Star City, it mean. There's a reason the government declared Gotham a 'no-man's-land' a couple years back. Bats says Superman once called Gotham a nightmare that someone had built. Sometimes, it kinda is. I don't wanna say I'm 'desensitized', but death and violence just don't bother me as much as they seem to bother other people. But when Superboy got shot… I don't know…"

"The pair that was holding you were just middle-men working for a much larger, more influential employer."

Nightwing and Kon had locked themselves in one of the Cave's private debriefing rooms to discuss the botched mission more in-depthly. The two stood in near darkness, the only light provided by the wide array of holo-screens projected around them. The former Boy Wonder flicked his finger over the screens to display relevant information or to illustrate his narrative to the Superboy. Kon, for his part, stood with arms crossed over his chest and a dark scowl seemingly permanently plastered over his usually handsome face.

"The Light." The demi-kryptonian concluded.

"Probably." Dick gave a self-deprecating shrug. "But, really, we have no evidence one way or another. After I sent your squad back to the Cave, the rest of us did a thorough sweep of their lab. We found six other levels farther down –all full of children in their mid-teens in similar induced dream states. We think it was actually a testing lab looking for the meta-gene."

"But La'gaan and I are already metas." Kon shook his head. "Robin, I understand them taking him, he's normal –or as normal as you bats get. But what could they want with me and the fish-boy?"

"From what I managed to get out of the two, they found Robin spying on them and somehow managed to subdue him." Nightwing placed an unusual amount of stress on the word 'somehow'. "They were not very forthcoming with their methods, even after using some of the lass savory interrogation techniques Batman taught me. I think there was someone else with them at the time, someone who didn't go with them back to the lab when they took all of you. Do you remember how they managed to get you?"

The Superboy shook his head. "Memory's still a bit foggy. But I agree with your theory. It would have to be by some Amazing Grace that two normal humans could take me down without using magic or kryptonite."

Dick nodded his agreement. "So, they took out Robin but didn't know what to do with him. Before they could decide, you and La'gaan showed up and they had to deal with you too. Then they had three incapacitated heroes and no idea what to do with you. So, they did what all animals do when they're scared –they ran home, and they took you with them. I assume you ended-up the way you did because they were scientists and just wanted to see what would happen. That's probably also why they kept you sequestered from the rest of their subjects. Can't have the side-projects contaminating their real work."

"So that's it then?" Kon's scowl contorted into a snarl that died silent on his lips. "The three of us went through all that just so a pair of brain-bending scientists could get their 'shits and giggles'?"

Dick remained tactfully silent.

The demi-kryptonian's anger deflated quickly. "Well, its nice to at least have some sort of reason."

Nightwing placed, what he hoped was a comforting hand on his old friend's shoulder. "I know you've got a talking session scheduled with Canary, but do you wanna talk to me about it? I still remember the Failsafe-sim that Bats put us through way back when."

"Thanks, 'Wing." Kon brushed his hand off. "But I'm alright. Like you just reminded me, I've been through something like this before. Its really not that big a deal."

"Is that Kon-speak for telling me that you don't actually intend to talk to Canary about it either?"

"I'll be fine." The Superboy deflected.

Water dripped on the carpeted floor from the chair in which the Lagoon Boy sat. "Man! Does it feel good to be able to swim again!" He exclaimed with glee. "I mean, yeah, I could still swim in the dream and everything, but it just wasn't the same, ya know?"

"It must have been difficult for you, adjusting to such a dramatically altered physical form." Canary nodded. While she couldn't relate to the fish-man, she could still imagine something of what he had gone through.

"Oh, I didn't try to adjust. I didn't want to adjust." He told her. "I knew what I was and what was right and that everything I saw was wrong. I just didn't know how to fix any of it. They tried to convince me I was crazy, ya know."

Canary nodded. She had read the reports.

"But if it hadn't been for Superboy getting shot and waking up, we never would have gotten out of there. As much as I can't stand that guy… If it weren't for him, I'd probably still be trapped in that world."

At that admission, Black Canary leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees, she asked, "Does that mean you'd like to try and reconcile your differences with him?"

"I… I don't know, yet." La'gaan admitted. "He…"

The Lagoon Boy trailed off into a pregnant silence filled only by the ticking of the clock against the far wall. Canary waited patiently, she had no intention of forcing him to open-up before he was ready. The purpose of these sessions was to put the young heroes at ease, not interrogate them on their personal lives. Finally, he said…

"I feel threatened by him."

"I don't believe Conner would ever hurt you!" Canary gasped in horror.

"No, no, no!" La'gaan amended quickly. "I don't mean like beat me up or anything. I mean… well, it's just… M'gann never did tell me why he dumped her, and… I see the way they still look at each other sometimes –both of them. It makes me think… I wonder if…" He sighed in irritation. "This is stupid. We're supposed to be talking about how the latest mission affected me, not my stupid romantic bullshit. Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Canary shook her head. "If this is what you feel you need to talk about, then its what we'll talk about. I wonder, have you ever asked Conner why he broke-up with M'gann?"

"No…"

"Why not?"

"I just… never did." He said slowly.

"Well, if it bothers you that much, and M'gann won't talk to you about it, the only other way you're going to find out is by asking him. Talk with him. You might find that you two have more in common with each other than just M'gann M'orzz. I honestly think you cloud be friends."

The Gotham streets were dirty and dingy and they should be. Trash cluttered the curbs and storm drains. The tight building's and narrow streets blocked most sunlight, turning even the brightest of Sunday afternoons into dusty dimness. But the ice cream parlor's patio was clean swept, the tables were whipped and Kon had been sure to take an extra long sunbath prior to meeting up with Robin –er, Tim.

The two sat at a tiny cast-iron table. Tim with a cone of butter pecan over devil's chocolate in one hand, his other arm thrown carelessly over the back of his chair. Kon had a single scoop of plain vanilla, no sprinkles, in cup because he dripped. He hadn't been out like this since… well, since he had broken-up with M'gann.

"I feel awkward." He announced.

"Oh, come on. Gotham's not that bad." Tim insisted.

"No, not that." The demi-kryptonian was quick to assure his friend. "Its just… Sorry, I've never been very good at social intercourse. Its what I don't have many friends outside of the Team."

Tim took a long lick around the base of his ice cream to prevent drips before he answered. "Pro-tip: Don't call it 'social intercourse'. It kinda put people off."

"Oh. Okay." He took a bite of his own ice cream with the obnoxiously brightly colored plastic spoon that was provided for him.

"Alright, so you don't really know how to talk about anything other than Team stuff. Okay." The By Wonder gave a shrug and took another lick of his cone. "I gotta say, I'm impressed with Black Canary. I checked her file on the computer and she's not a licensed therapist in her civilian identity, but I still found talking to her to be really helpful."

"Yeah, she's great." Kon agreed. "And –Hey! You're not supposed to hack people's civilian identities! Superman says that even Batman believes that they're entitled to their secret identities."

"I know. I know." Tim nodded, sounding adequately chastised but not looking the slightest bit remorseful. "I was just curious. That's all. oh, by the way, you don't have to keep calling him 'Superman' around me, either. I know who he is too."

"Does he know that you know?"

The younger boy was a long time in answering. Finally, "Probably. I think he just assumes that anyone who works with Batman knows at least his name."

Kon leaned back in his seat and groaned with a sigh –or sighed with a groan, it was hard to tell. After a few more bites of ice cream he decided to swing the topic of conversation back to what Tim had originally began it with. "So, what about talking with Canary did you like?"

The Boy Wonder shrugged. "I guess how relaxed everything was. I could say and much or as little as I wanted and she wouldn't press for more, or she would stop and drop a topic if it made me uncomfortable. That's something that never happens when I talk to my dad or step-mom, or even Nightwing and Batgirl."

"Yeah." Kon agreed. "That is something that I've always liked about her too. She's like a mom, big sister, and mentor all rolled into one."

"Yeah… she kinda is!" He took another long lick of his cone. "So, what'd you talk to her about?"

"Oh, I haven't seen her yet, actually. At least, not since our last mission."

M'gann was on the couch when the Superboy returned to the cave later that evening. Actually, she was on the couch with La'gaan, but Kon didn't see the atlantian at first due to the fact that the martian girl was laying on top of him. Not inappropriately, they had been lectured about that several times already. No, they were just cuddling while watching the end of Pan's Labyrinth.

The demi-kryptonian tried his best not to disturb them as he went by.

"So, what do you think, baby? Did all that actually happen, or was it all in her head?"

"Angel-fish, do you think we coud maybe discuss that particular aspect of the movie in another couple of weeks after this last mission is good and behind me?"

"I still think you should let me help you with that."

Kon paused at that. He turned. Opened his mouth to say something. Stopped. Turned back around without saying a word. But before he could disappear back down the corridor…

"Is that you, Old Chum?" the fish-boy called him back.

"No, its Bruce Banner." The Superboy bit out.

There was a pregnant pause. Then, "I was just wondering if we could talk some time."

"I'm really busy, La'gaan." He lied. "So if its not about Team business, I don't think we'll be able to talk for a long time."

Silence filled the private louge set aside for Black Canary's talking sessions, a silence interrupted only by the regular ticking of the clock on the far side of the room. Dinah waited with her legs crossed at the knee, hands folded in her lap. She was used to this patient's habits, she had grown very familiar with them over the past five years. He would talk when he was ready.

"Sorry it took me so long to get around to this."

"I understand." She assured him. Kon always seemed to procrastinate when it came to talking about things that bothered him.

The Superboy said no more for a long time after that. The silence returned, thick around them. The click of the clock becoming ever-so-slightly irritating.

Finally, Canary prompted, "It must have been a disorienting experience for you, not having your powers and just being an ordinary boy for once."

"Uh, yeah. It was really weird. By the way, getting shot –way less pleasant than being disintegrated."

"I'm sure." She nodded. "But that's not what's bothering you."

"What? Getting shot or not having my powers?"

"Either."

Kon leaned back in his chair, muscular arms thrown limply over the armrests. "Yeah, neither of those bother me now that I'm back in the real world."

"But something about the incident is bothering you." Dinah continued. She didn't usually like to press the Team during these sessions, but sometimes it was necessary to lead them a little. "Was it the fact that in that world your father was Lex Luthor?"

"No." He groaned. "Well, maybe a little. But not really."

Now Black Canary waited. Kon knew what she wanted to know and if he wanted to tell her, he would. But in his own time. The demi-kryptonian always did everything in his own time. He did not like it when others dictated to him or made unfair demands.

The minutes ticked by.

Finally, when their hour was almost up and Canary was ready to call it a day and ask Kon to come back for another session…

"I'm just really sick of it." He said.

She blinked, not understanding. Without a context his outburst sounded so random. "Sick of what?"

"People messing with my head." He said with all the seriousness of an undertaker. "Mind-control, manipulation, memory loss, control-words, life-like dream simulations… I'm just sick of it. When I left Cadmus I thought things would be different. A brave new world of freedom. But since then, all I've found is more of the same. Different names and faces, same old song and dance. Cadmus, Psimon, Lex, M'gann, these new guys… I'm just…" He placed a hand over his eyes, but Canary couldn't tell if it was to block the sight of sympathy on her face, or to hide unshed tears in his eyes. "I'm so sick of people messing with my head!"

END