"Good job team," Batman said as he signed off the briefing room video screen.
"What the hell did we do?" Artemis whispered, still shell-shocked from their mission.
"We completed our mission." Kaldur muttered, refusing to meet her eyes.
"No, what we did was kill six people!" M'gann sniffled, through her sobs. Connor pulled her close, and glared daggers at Kaldur. He may not feel the same guilt the others did, but he could still be mad at him, Kaldur was the leader after all.
"It wasn't our fault." Robin finally spoke up from his spot at the computer typing the mission report.
Wally finally snapped,"That's bull! How can the two of you be so calm about this! Our mission wasn't a success people died." Even Artemis was starting to tear up.
"But people also lived. And the numbers don't lie, we got fifty people out of that building before it exploded."
"I could have done something, I should have done something! God, I could have been faster, if I had.." Slap! Before Wally could finish his sentence Robin got up from his chair and slapped him across his face.
"No! There was nothing you could have done, and don't you dare go to that dark place again!" He turned to look at the rest of the team, "And that goes for all of you. Those people were trapped under rubble and had been inhaling smoke for over an hour and a half, even if we had gotten them out they would have been too far gone to live from the crush injuries."
After that, they all silently dispersed for the night. Artemis tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes she saw the faces of those peoples faces, one was only a ten-year-old girl. She had died in her mother's arms.
Tossing and turning for nearly an hour, Artemis gave up on sleep and went to the kitchen to get some water. When she entered the living room Robin was sitting on the couch, fiddling with his holo-watch.
"How do you do it?" She quietly asked.
He startled a little, not expecting anyone to be up."Do what?"
"Deal with the losses, the guilt, the..the death."
He frowned for a second, "I've been in the game since I was nine, as much as I hate to say it but after a while you..you kind of just become numb to it all. Sometimes though," He hesitated, "..I wish I felt the losses, wish I felt something at least. But I knew if I did then I'd just crumple up and wither away, then we'd lose even more people though. So maybe being numb is the only way." A single tear streaked down the boys face.
It was then in that moment that Artemis realized how young Robin really was. She quietly nodded then walked back to her room, leaving Robin to his thoughts.
Thank you all for reading so much! As always please comment and tell me what you think! I really wanna hear your thoughts, Do you like the grittier dark stuff or my light-hearted ones. I will write whatever you want! Have an amazing day!
~RedWillow03