Nine Eleven
Artemis had been only five when it happened, but she remembered what was going on at her house. She had been locked in her room, listening to her mother cry.
Slowly Artemis pulled something out of the closet. It was a TV. Her mother had forgotten she had a TV in her room. It was in her closet because she never used it, really.
She turned it on and switched the channel to which her mother was watching. She absorbed the information silently. After thirty minutes of watching people plummet to their deaths and the Twin Towers burning she turned the TV off.
She put the TV back in her closet and flopped down on her bed. That's when she cried.
After ten minutes of crying she mustered enough courage to walk downstairs. She was met with her mom, tears streaming down still, and the TV still on. Artemis turned it off and sat next to her mom.
"Mommy, why do bad things happen?" she asked in her five year old voice.
Her mother turned to her, realization dawned upon her face as she remembered the TV in her daughter's room. "Oh, Artemis," she murmured sadly. She felt a tugging on her shirt.
"Mommy?"
"Artemis, there are bad people in the world who do bad things. They have reasons, but most are reasons that are greedy. Some people do bad things out of anger at someone or something. But always remember, stay on the good side."
Artemis was silent, her blond hair tangled. Then, "Can you explain what happened, Mommy?"
Her mother started talking.
Artemis locked the flashback back into her brain. Live in the present, not the past. She scolded herself. She looked around. They'd left Wolf at Mt. Justice so she, the rest of the team, and their mentors were standing on a hill.
They could see New York City and they were safe from the view of civilians. They were all looking at one place.
The place where the Twin Towers once stood.
..oo0*0oo..
Robin had been three when the attack happened. An airplane had just flown above their circus and disappeared, going beyond their view. "Look Mommy! Did you see that?" he had pointed at the sky with one hand and tugged on his mother's shirt with another.
"I did," Mary Greyson replied turning to her son.
That night they'd all been eating when a one of the circus' clowns rushed at their doorway, breathless. Dick's dad, John, ran to the clown and they had a quick conversation. When it was over John's face was chalk white.
"What's wrong, John?" Mary asked putting down her fork.
John sat down. "The Twin Towers have been attacked," he announced. Mary paled.
"Wots 'Twin Towers', Daddy," Dick asked.
"The Twin Towers are where airplanes land." Mary answered for her husband.
"Like the one we see in the morning?"
"Like the one we saw in the morning."
Robin hadn't understood what the Twin Towers where at that age or what it meant to be attacked but when he was ten on the night of September 10, 2008 he'd dreamt of that night. Then he woke up screaming.
"What's wrong?" Bruce had asked rushing to his room. Dick checked the time, 12:01. What a coincidence.
"It's September eleventh." He said in a monotone voice. Bruce's eyes softened.
"Seven years ago," Dick continued, "I didn't understand what was happening. Then again, I was three, but that doesn't matter. All those people…" He started crying. "All those people, dead. Some jumped." Dick hiccupped. "They fell to their deaths. Just like my parents."
Bruce sat next to Dick on his bed and comforted him the rest of the night.
Robin always regretted that he hadn't understood. He felt guilty that seven years passed and he hadn't recognized the deaths of over three thousand people. He looked down in shame.
Robin felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. "Don't beat yourself up about it," Batman said and Robin smiled. Batman knew his protégé too well.
..oo0*0oo..
When the attack had happened Kaldur was in Atlantis. He'd been six, and was playing with the other children when they heard a boom that shook the ocean floor. All the citizens of Poseidonis swan to the surface.
There they watched the attack. Most mothers upon realizing what was happening grabbed their children and swan back to Poseidonis, but Kaldur's was too late. He'd seen it and been scarred mentally for life.
Every September eleventh he'd have the same flashback of what he'd seen. He'd seen the first place crash. Kaldur shuddered, experiencing another flashback.
"It's okay," a voice told him. His king!
"My apologies," he said.
"It's okay, Kaldur," Aquaman had heard that Kaldur, the only child, had seen the first plane crash. It was bound to hurt him mentally. "It's not going to happen again."
..oo0*0oo..
Megan didn't know what had happened ten years ago. Not until she was watching TV yesterday due to the fact that everyone minus herself and Superboy where being so sad and talking about this 'Nine Eleven'.
She watched the footage in horror. A hijacked airplane hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. She watched as another airplane crashed. As people jumped off the eightieth floor, knowing they were going to die. As over three thousand people died.
Megan snapped her mind away from the footage and back to the present. She looked down at the area where the Twin Towers had been sadly. Her Uncle John had explained the attack to her as they were leaving.
She looked at Superboy. She wondered how he was taking it. He looked okay, but he never showed emotion so it was hard to tell. Also Superman hadn't come. Instead Black Canary came in his place as Superboy's mentor.
Megan glanced at the others.
How were they feeling?
..oo0*0oo..
The G-Gnomes that were teaching him had taught him about the Nine Eleven attack, but when he'd watched the footage what he'd learned didn't stop the horror creeping inside him.
When they were going to see the place where the Twin Towers stood, he was glad Black Canary offered to come since the chances of Superman coming were slim. Black Canary was more of a mentor to him than Superman would ever be.
He looked at the place where the Twin Towers had stood and sadness flooded him. Why'd so many have to die?
..oo0*0oo..
Over three thousand.
The death toll had been over three thousand! Even though many survived, that number made Wally want to scream.
So many had died on that one day. In that one city. All because of some stupid terrorists.
Wally remembered where he was when the attack had happened. He'd been five, and been on the couch watching TV when his mom had burst in the house and switched the channel, ignoring his dad's complaints.
He remembered his mom covering his eyes and his dad and mom crying. He couldn't see, but he'd heard screams of terror and booming. That'd scared him.
Two years later he was flipping through the channels. Then one caught his attention. He watched it and silently cried through it. The attack of the Twin Towers. It became a custom for him to watch the attack, even though his family told him not to. Even though it made him cry each time. Each time the anger and sadness never changed.
Also a part of his custom was to go to the Twin Tower's location. This year he was with his team. He knew he was acting unlike himself and wearing a serious expression that wasn't usual worn on his face, but he always wore it on this date.
The feelings every year never change.
..oo0*0oo..
Wolf had been forced to watch the attack, live and in person. She had to watch it all when she was three, but she had the maturity level of a ten-year-old. Forced to whitness the most horrible things will have that effect on you.
The jumping, screaming, burning, and the two crashes. She'd watched the smoke from the fire rise from the fallen towers and cover the sky in a smoke, grey blanket. The smell of smoke and fear was everywhere.
She'd started running toward the towers when she'd first gotten there. She'd known she could save some people, but a hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
"You must witness this," a voice hissed in her ear.
So she did. She never forgave herself for not helping.
Wolf sat on her bed reliving that memory. Then she made up her mind. She didn't care about Batman's orders. Wolf ran to the Zeta Beam and got flashed to The Wolf's Den.
There she grabbed her jacket and a backpack. Then she packed it. Then she ran to Room S, hopped on a jet ski without a lifejacket, and started it.
She was going somewhere.
..oo0*0oo..
Slap, slap, slap.
Robin heard running and turned around. To his surprise Wolf was there. It was a surprise for everyone. She was wearing her civies and a black leather jacket. In her hand was a backpack.
She ran in front of and unpacked her backpack. "Sticks and newspaper?" Green Arrow was confused.
Wolf set up the sticks in paper so the paper was underneath the sticks. Then she stepped back and took out a match. She lit the match and hurled it onto her pile. It burst into flames.
Wolf then reached into her bag again and withdrew a small wooden pin and a black ribbon. She folded the ribbon so it was shaped like the breast cancer ribbon. Then she took the pin and pinned it onto the ribbon so it would maintain its shape.
"I hold no grudge against the people who are Muslin and live in Pakistan." She started, "My only grudge is against Osama bin Ladin and the terrorists who took part in this attack. We have to stay strong and ignore the mockery found in the date of this attack."
"We have to remember the passengers of Flight 93 who died in their successful attempt to stop their plane from crashing the Pentagon. We must stay strong."
Wolf threw the ribbon into the bonfire. For a second it was fine, but then it burst into flames. "We must remember Nine Eleven."
(A/N) September 12, 2011
This was my tribute to 9/11. I would've had it done yesterday, but I couldn't type fast enough.
Thank you Adoglover5 for the inspiration on what Wally was doing.
Thank you Google for the inspiration on the black ribbon.
Remember each September 11 to do something in honor of the people who helped. Write a chapter in one of your stories (like this one) or pay a tribute. Anything.
Review!
-wolfeclipse25
