SUMMARY: After freeing the Justice League from the Light's control, the Team, with the clone Roy Harper, were bonding but they also need a mission bonding. Naturally, they get one. Their mission? Stop a villian with the name "Time Stream". But everything went wrong with the mission. One second they were fighting the enemy, the next they were in Watchtower with Superman and–was that?–Zatanna looking at them. One problem? The Zatanna they were staring at looked a little older and more beautiful and they can't have two Zatannas, can they?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Young Justice, folks! If I do, Wally West should never had ceased and Nightwing should never had leave the Team. Though, I own my OCs in this story.

WARNING: OOC, a lot of that.

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Chapter Fourteen — Interlude:

Drowning with Dizziness

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|January 5, 13: 30 PM EST

|Hollywood

|TEAM YEAR ZERO

Dinah Lance smiled at the photographer as her camera flashed, taking the blonde woman's picture. A photographer shaked Dinah's hand, thanking her for the picture, and promised that she would give an extra to Dinah.

Dinah caught a glimpse of Clark behind the mob of reporters and photographers approaching the famous idols. And to her dismay, she also saw Hal Jordan. The man was flirting with a black-haired woman shamelessly; the woman would occasionally blush or flirt back. Hal not doing his work was enough for Dinah to stomp to him and whack him on the head, but she refrained from doing so; she didn't want to cause embarrassment for either of them or herself.

She felt a slight nudge on her side and she turned to look at Oliver, who was staring at her in confusion with his eyes. Dinah jerked her head towards the Green Lantern and Oliver chuckled when he caught the sight of Hal.

"Cut the guy some slack, Dinah," said Oliver. "He's becoming lonely these days."

Her grip on his arm tightened, "He's not doing his job, Queen," she hissed, her voice loud enough for only Oliver (and possibly Clark—superhearing and all) to hear. "He's not getting lonely, he's getting cocky."

"Isn't he cocky already?" the hero muttered, but Dinah paid him no attention. Instead, her gaze was directed to Superman, a worried glint on her eyes, as the man's eyes widened.

Then, Dinah heard it.

The sound of a bullet whished past her and entered her ears and she watched in horror as it hit an actress, who was infront of her and Oliver, on the back of the head. Screams rang out on the air as the actress dropped on the floor, deadly still and with blood gushing out of the wound.

Dinah's ears ring as she tripped on her foot when she moved backwards, falling on her bum. She managed to stand up with the help of Oliver as the two dove through a private place to change into their hero attires.

When they were both changed, Dinah or Black Canary at this moment tried to track he assassin with difficulty. A lot of people were running around in different directions and screaming bloody murder; few were trampled and got kicked on their heads when they fell on their feets. It was a total chaos.

Beside her, Green Arrow nocked an arrow and let it fly on the air. Dinah discovered later that it was one of his special arrows, as it blew on the air and made an ear-bleeding sound. She covered her ears as the sound met her ears. She could guess that even some civilians were kneeling as they clutched their ears.

She almost sighed in relief when the sound was gone but her ears rang the second time that day. She could faintly hear Green Arrow yell on a megaphone that he seemingly pull out of nowhere, "People, please, run on the same direction so we could prevent some injuries. Thank you."

That worked, and it surprised Dinah that Oliver could handle a chaos like this. Usually, he couldn't handle Roy (not that she called Roy a chaos) so she doubted that he would calm the people. Well, she was learning something new everyday.

The people ran on one direction; Dinah gasped when the view of many unconcious people that was lying on the floor reached her eyes. "Oh my God..."

"Damn, I'd never thought that an assassination of an actress would cause this much chaos," Oliver said, kneeling by the side of a man with mousey-brown hair and checked for his pulse. "It wasn't like this at other assassinations. He's got a steady pulse."

Dinah placed her hand on her mouth, horrified how an assassination could cause such a chaotic mess like he had said. A hand on her shoulder scared her half to death and she tried to flipped the person. The keyword being 'tried'.

"It's just me!" Superman's voice said. Dinah, realizing what she almost did, apologize after that. She regained her composure, keeping her chin up to act confident; when all in all, she was deeply worried of the situation.

Hal was right beside the Man of Steel, producing green gurneys with his ring while Oliver, Dinah, and Clark placed the injured people on it. Dinah faced Clark and asked, "Did you—"

"Find the murderer?" Dinah nodded. "Sadly no, he/she escaped before Hal and I could locate him/her." he sighed, his shoulder hunching. "That means whoever the killer is, is still out there, planning their next assassination."

"We need to plan, too, Clark. Carefully. We can prevent this if only—" Dinah stopped, blinking profusely as a dizziness spell struck her. A strange feeling overwhelmed her and she felt like drowning. She shook her head, hand rubbing her forehead.

"—kay? Dinah, Dinah!" she barely registered Oliver talking to her but when she did, she insisted that she was fine, claiming that she was only feeling dizzy. What she didn't get was why was she feeling dizzy all of the sudden?

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|January 5, 12: 20 PM EDT

|Wayne Enterprises

|TEAM YEAR ZERO

"Mr. Wayne, here are the adoption papers."

"Thank you, Lucius." Bruce Wayne took the adoption papers from his friend's hands. He was secretly jittering with excitement when he examined the papers. Finally, after a long process, he would be able to adopt Dick. He didn't want to replace Dick's father, but he cared for the boy.

They had been through thick and thin. They survived Gotham's worst. They fought and worked together fluidly as the Dynamic Duo, backing each other's backs. Bruce wished that Dick appreciated this. He was going to talk to him tonight.

Speaking of the Boy Wonder, Bruce wondered how his mission was going. This was the first time he sent the Team on a mission in broad daylight and it might take a few adjustements so they could get use to it. He hoped that Dick wasn't hurt. He couldn't afford anyone hurting his little birdie, or else they'll taste the bone-chilling wrath of the Batman.

"May I ask something, Mr. Wayne?" His assistant didn't even wait for him to reply before she continued, much to his annoyance. "Why would you adopt Richard?"

"Ms. Catherine, isn't it?" His hand twitched.

"It's Catalina, sir. Catalina Flores."

"Ms. Catalina, I want to adopt Richard so he could inherit my money. I also want him to become the heir to this company. I'm sure that he would manage just fine, considering that he is very intelligent. I give him my complete trust." Bruce said. His lips was slowly curling into a smile, a genuine one; unlike those fake smiles he gave to the public.

"But, sir, surely you won't be willing to adopt a circus gypsy."

That pushed Bruce on the edge. He pounded his fists on his table as he stood up, glowering on his assistant. Catalina jumped at the action, stifling a whimper when Bruce's steely glare landed on her. Lucius merely blinked, brushing off an imaginary dust on his chest.

"You're fired! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE." Bruce grounded out, his teeth clenched in fury. The assistant scrambled on her feet and quickly left the room, scared out of her wits. Bruce flopped down on his chair and rubbed his knuckles, taking a deep breath.

He read the adoption papers once again before a wave of dizziness hit him square on his brain. He groaned; then he felt like there was water entering his lungs. It burned with pain and Bruce slumped on his chair, his breath labored.

He could see Lucius hovering above him with a concerned look in his blurry vision. He could see the older man mouthing something to him, but Bruce couldn't figure out what was Lucius was saying with the pain clouding his head. The feeling soon subsided, leaving Bruce to catch his breath.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," Bruce wheezed when he finally regain his breath. He gave the older man a stare that exactly said 'drop the subject'. Bruce coughed, sitting up straight on his seat. "Leave me for a sec, Lucius." Lucius nodded, giving Bruce one last look before leaving the office.

Bruce looked down on the papers, wondering what the hell just happened.

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|January 5, 13: 41 PM EST

|Central City

|TEAM YEAR ZERO

Munch. Munch. Munch.

SMACK!

"Ow!" Barry Allen exclaimed, rubbing the area on his arm where his wife slapped him. Speaking of which, his wife was glaring at him with her green eyes and had her arms crossed over her chest. "Um... Hi?"

"Barry, you know that cookies are for Wally when he came back from his mission! Stop eating that." Iris, his beautiful Iris, grabbed the plate of chocolate chip cookies from his grasp.

Barry tried to steal the cookies back but Iris hold it out of his reach. He complained, "Wally's probably back from his mission already and he hasn't arrived here yet. Maybe he would get here later at four in the afternoon, you know how he is when he wants to spend time with the Team. I should eat that cookies while you made a second batch for him."

"Nonsense," Iris bristled, placing the plate on the table. Barry would grab that cookies anytime but when Iris was watching, he knew he would be doomed if he was caught. It was known that he was afraid of his wife, especially when the said wife was scolding him. Barry suppressed a shudder, red headed women were always scary. "And wipe that crumbs off your face."

Flushing red, Barry used the back of his hand to remove the leftover crumbs from the cookies he ate off his mouth. He went on his way to the living room, grumbling all about not getting enough food, or in this case cookies.

He leaned against his couch and close his eyes, resting because he was a bit tired. Batman had worn him and many more League members out, investigating the sixteen hours fiasco. The sweet aroma of the cookies weren't making him rest peacefully, however. It was like the cookies had a mind of their own and was torturing him with their delicious smell. Sue those cookies. Well, not really, Barry didn't want to let the food go to waste.

And he was worrying a little bit, too. Batman dispatched the Team on a mission to stop this new villain named 'Time Stream' (Barry gave an inwardly snort at the ridiculous name) and after learning what the man was capable of, Barry decided that he was supposed to be a League villain, not a Team villain. Barry didn't want Wally to be thrown into the past where the dinosaurs still existed or into the future where a bunch of aliens had conquered the Earth. It was too dangerous.

Maybe he should check if Wally and the others were back from their mission, so he wouldn't worry so much. Yeah, that plan would work. He shifted to stand up but immediately fell back on the couch as his head went spinning. He clutched the armrest on the couch as he fought the urge to retch. Pain exploded on his head.

Black spots appeared on his vision; he could faintly hear Iris screaming his name. It was now painful to breathe and Barry's battle with unconciousness was becoming sluggish and weary. The last thought he had before giving in to the darkness was Iris and Wally.

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CHARACTERS:

•Speaking Roles: Clark K./Kal-El/Superman, Bruce W./Batman, Barry A./Flash, Oliver Q./Green Arrow, Dinah L./Black Canary, Catalina F., Lucius F., Iris W.-A.

•Non-speaking Roles: Hal J./Green Lantern

•Mentioned: Richard G./Robin, Wally W./Kid Flash, Roy H./Red Arrow, ?/Tims Stream

NOTES:

Another chapter done so soon. So, I change the title of the chapter, it's supposed to be 'Vanished Kids' but it doesn't fit the chapter, so 'Drowning with Dizziness' is born. And before any of you ask, no that's not Catalina Flores 'Tarantula'. This chapter went intense: first, Dinah felt an overwhelming sensation but she managed to stand up on her feet; then, Bruce felt the same but that feeling left him almost breathless; and lastly, that feeling knocked out Barry. Hah. Since Catalina wasn't shown to exist in the YJ world, I decided to use her as the assistant of Bruce Wayne (who was fired). And there's a one-shot about those adoption papers, Bruce, and Dick that is going to be published along with other one-shots when this story is finished. Really sorry that Bruce and Barry had short perspectives. By the way, the reason they felt like will be addressed in the third book. And I hope you liked this chapter. This is only a filler, guys, or an interlude so it's not that long-ish. Stay tuned, guys!