Sylvia Wayne "Wildcat"
The Cave
November 5th, 2010
We were standing in the hangar, waiting for the Bioship to land while Wally tilted my chin up, checking my face from under my lowered baseball cap. When I woke up this morning, all of the swelling had gone down and my bruised were darker than ever. But lucky for me, Alfred set my nose that night and stitched the gash above my eyebrow. But Wally just seemed to get angry every time he saw then, realizing how personal it was considering how concentrated the injuries were on my face compared to the single cut on my arm and the puncture wound from the syringe. The feel of his warm fingers lightly checking my stitches and making sure the splits in my lips were closing up alright was making me anxious. He sighed as he reached to take off my had to get a better look, but my hand whipped up and grabbed his wrist.
"The hat stays on." I glared at him, releasing his wrist from my hand. Wally hesitated for a moment, looking into my vibrant green eyes with his own. The moment of tension rolled in like a thunderstorm as the silence became deafening. But the tension ceased and he backed down.
"Fine, I'm sorry." He said as the Bioship opened. Out came Superboy and M'gann with crates of goods. Superboy carried more than his fair share of weight while M'gann levitated massive boxes of food.
"Did you get everything?" Batman asked from the group standing in wait to aid in unloading the ship.
"Everything on your list, Batman. Plus groceries." M'gann smiled, setting down the boxes of food. Wally immediately ran up to the box of heaven.
"Cookie fixins?" He asked the martian with excitement pouring into his voice.
"Snickerdoodles." M'gann grinned, feeling a sense of accomplishment for pleasing the biggest eater in the team.
"Babe, you rock my world." He smiles like an idiot as he stared into the box of food. I cleared my voice as I elbowed him in the side.
"You know what I mean!" He stammered, trying to recover from his thoughtless statement.
"I know, I'm just giving you a hard time." I laughed, leaning into him as he slipped his arm around me, his hand resting on my hip. I heard the elevator arrive at the hangar floor, the doors sliding open with a whoosh. I looked over past Wally's shoulder and saw Artemis and someone I hadn't expected to see, and knew Robin would flip when he saw.
"Glad you're back, Zatanna. Does this mean you're officially joining the team?" Artemis asked the petite girl as they walked out of the elevator, but Zatanna grew a weary expression when she heard her father speak an incantation. He levitated a few crates away before Tornado took the last larger one.
"I don't know… Zatara's so overprotective. I mean, just getting him let me visit takes a full day wheedling." She shrugged. I just looked over to my dad, impulsively studying his manner as Robin and I tend to do when he's leading. "I wish he'd just give me a little space." I heard Zatanna say and almost as if on queue, Batman, Zatara and Tornado disappeared in a flash of gold light. I almost cried out for him as Zatara's crate crashed to the ground, but Zatanna beat me to it.
"Dad!" She screamed. Almost everyone gasped as she screamed. I immediately ran to look for them in the cave, but I couldn't find a single trace, not anywhere.
Happy Harbor
"We've set a refugee center at the high school gym." Wally reported into the comm as we carried kids to the Happy Harbor High School. We couldn't find a single adult, even some of the high school senior class missing. "Any luck with…?" Wally asked, neither of us expecting the answer we hoped for.
"No!" Robin snapped. "Can't reach the Batcave, the Hall of Justice or the Watch …or any adult hero. Even Red Arrow." He sighed. Robin was in the Cave control room with Zatanna, coordinating the rest of us as we rounded up all of the unattended children.
"Guess we're on our own. Kid Flash, out." Wally shut off the comm and looked to me, each of us with a kid on our back and a kid in our arms. We both ran for the school, Wally slowing up a bit to keep at my pace. We met up with M'gann outside as she stopped to teens from vandalizing the school. Superboy soon followed with a little boy in a Superman shirt. We all walked in together to bring the kids inside, finding Artemis with all the second graders and under.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star…" She sang, stopping the think as we brought the kids in. "Yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full." She continued, the kids erupting in laughter.
"That's not twinkle, twinkle, that's Baa Baa Black Sheep!" One of the kids exclaimed amongst their laughter. Artemis couldn't help but laugh as well, stopping and pretending to have trouble remembering the song.
"Uh Q-R-S-T-U-V…" She paused, seeing Wally, M'gann and I.
"That's ABC's!" Another child squealed as Wally and I carried our packages to the mat with the other children.
"Oh, for me? Thank you." Wally said as the child he held handed him his sippy cup. His awkwardness was endearing as he gripped the mouth of the cup with two fingers.
"Did you call home?" Artemis asked Wally, and he just looked at the floor as I set the kid in my arms on the mat and removed the other from his.
"No answer." He sighed rubbing his hand on the back of his neck for a brief moment.
"You could zeta there." She reminded him in a sad tone. I knew she was struggling since her mom had disappeared.
"I've been collecting kids all day. I don't need to see another empty house." Wally exhaled, staring at the floor. Just as I was about to reach out and comfort him, Superboy kicked open the gym door to outside. We all looked in his direction and saw the glorious site of an uncomfortable Superboy with a child in each arm and a third sitting on his shoulders, playing around in his hair.
"Got three more." He announced in a defeated voice, walking over to the mat to put all three of the children with the others. It wasn't long before we left a band of trustworthy teenagers in charge of the younger children in the gym. We all together ran back to the Cave, suiting up for the inevitable statement we would have to release to the abandoned children of the world. Robin setup the camera and used a small remote to activate the camera.
"Attention, children and teenagers of Earth." Aqualad began, his tone convicted and commanding. "I am Aqualad. These are my friends, Robin and Kid Flash." He introduced as the rest of us stood off to the side.
"We are using Justice League's tech to cast and stream to every TV, radio, computer and smartphone on the planet." Robin informed our assumed audience. I couldn't stop tapping my claws against my thighs, waiting for it to be over so we could hear what the plan was.
"We know you must be scared and angry. We know with your parents missing, there's a temptation to run wild. But please, stay calm." Kid managed to convey his message so well, that I suddenly stopped tapping, but it quickly ensued again as Aqualad opened his mouth.
"We will find a way to bring the adults back. But for now, the oldest among you must step up." Aqualad got the ball rolling for the last few lines to come.
"Take care of your younger siblings." Robin said, the words sounding odd as I knew that he was getting to be that age that I didn't have to take care of him so much anymore. "Take care of kids who have no one."
"Protect them." Kid Flash chimed in. His eyes drifted away from the camera for a moment, meeting mine.
"It is up to you." Aqualad. "Please, help in any way you can. As the responsibility falls to us, we must stand strong for the children who cannot until we have resolved the issue of the missing adults." A few moments after he finished speaking, Robin clicked off the camera. Kid immediately walked to me and lead me to the kitchen. He started making a sandwich as I sat down, pulling off my cowl and setting my head on the table as it was finally hitting me. My dad was gone and without a doubt, Alfred was as well. All I had right now was Dick and he had his head too deep into the mission to show any real emotion. Sometimes he could really shut himself down.
"We'll get them back." Kid reminded me just before he bit into his triple layered sandwich. I sat up and took a deep breath, relaxing myself as I watched him take another bite of his sandwich.
"I know, but it just all feels wrong." I told him, tightly crossing my arms as my body shuddered in chills. He put down the sandwich and wiped his hands off on a napkin before sitting next to me. He just took my hand into his and squeezed lightly, our green eyes meeting in a lasting gaze.
"Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!" Zatanna cast before a hologram of the Earth. We all watching with anticipation as a red dot appeared on the east coast of the United States. The second I saw the dot, hope ignited in my chest.
"Coordinates locked. Roanoke Island! You did it." Robin said to Zatanna as she looked back, but she didn't look sure of her own abilities. I understood the feeling, but now wasn't the time to feel bad, now was the time to bring the adults back.
Author's Note: Sorry about having to split the chapter into two parts! My computer decided it wouldn't upload the whole 3,719 words... so... But I hope you all liked the newest update!