Author's Note: Well, I'm still working on an absolute direction for this story, but I'm getting there. I almost decided to wait to update, but figured y'all might come after me with the pitchforks. Yikes!! :D
I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. In some ways I like it and in some I don't. I suppose I'll let you be the judge.

Disclaimer: Sapphire and Faith are the products of my overactive imagination. The rest are the products of someone else's.

Chapter 21- In Need of Healing

"It's not me it's you.

It's not me it's you.

Always has been you.

All the lies and stupid things you say and do.

It's you.

It's not me it's you.

All the lies and pain you put me through.

I know that it's not me, it's you."

-It's Not Me It's You by Skillet

Superman, J'onn, Wonder Woman, Shayera, and Green Lantern sat around their conference table. Each had sort of migrated in there, somewhat confused over the new splashes of emotions their fellow teammates had shown- ones they'd never seen from them.

"What's with them? I've never seen them act like this before." Shayera blurted out, fingers toying with her mace nervously.

"I've never seen Batman so worried in my life." Superman agreed, who'd known Bruce the longest. "I expected him to be angry, but this..." he trailed off. Wouldn't he be just as upset? But no one anticipated that kind of emotion coming from Batman.

"He usually hides it better." Diana commented. "These cowards tread dangerous ground."

"And Flash, he's beside himself in worry. He's going to make himself sick." John added, thinking of his best friend.

"He hasn't slept either." Shayera nodded. "He's blaming himself." She knew the boy better than even John did.

Everyone looked at J'onn for his analysis. The martian shrugged, brow furrowing.

"Both Batman and Flash have... walls. In their minds, I mean. Ones that none of you have. It has always prevented me from reading more than the surface of their minds, though I normally don't peer that far. Somehow, this whole ordeal is affecting those walls, letting feelings and emotions through that they don't know how to deal with."

This new bit of information seemed to shake them slightly.

"Wally? A wall?" Superman asked. "What could Wally possibly be hiding?"

It was no surprise to any of them that Bruce had walls. That much was clear. But Wally? He was the happiest kid any of them had met.

"Most walls are formed from traumatic experiences, hard times, and other such things. As time passes, those walls often get stronger if they're not broken when small. A sort of shell, like Earth's turtles."

"A shell that keeps the inside in and the outside out." Shayera added. J'onn nodded.

Yet the question still lingered in all of their minds, though all knew there was no immediate answer-

What is Wally hiding?

Dick paced the floor of the Batcave angrily. Barbara had already gone back to Bludhaven and he was glad to be left alone for a few minutes.

He hated feeling helpless. It was the way he'd felt when his parents had been killed. He'd watched them fall. He'd seen their faces, their expressions of terror as they plummetted toward the ground.

Dick shook his head, ridding himself of the thought. He'd already played the scene over and over in his head since their deaths and didn't need to play it through again.

Seeing someone die was a traumatic thing. A scarring that he didn't want to remember- didn't want to have lived in the first place.

He supposed that was why he and Bruce were so much alike. Both of them had watched their parents die, helplessly standing by as their lives drained from their bodies.

Thinking of Bruce, his mind began to rage, a welcome escape from the memories.

How could Bruce let this happen? How could he let Tim and Sapph be taken like this? How dare he?

"It's not his fault, Dick." Barbara yelled, standing between the two.

Dick stared at Bruce's cold unfeeling eyes.

"You're sick, Bruce." he spat, then looked at Barbara thrusting a finger at his only father's face. "Look at him! He doesn't care. He's not even worried. He doesn't care that they're gone!"

"He does. He just-" Barbara began, but Bruce pushed her aside, getting in his eldest son's face with a display of emotion that shocked them.

"You think I don't care?! You think I'm sitting here thinking that we're better off without them? You know I love them. You know I care!" Bruce's eyes were flaming and Dick was taken aback, speechless. "I've always cared! I've always worried! Do you think I made them my children so I could have new partners? Do you think that's why I took you in when your parents died? No!"

"Bruce..."

"Quiet, Barbara." he cut her off again. "Do you think I sat back and fiddled around when I found out Slade had kidnapped you? Do you think I didn't care then?"

Stunned silence.

"No! Even though it was already over, I was worried sick. Alfred had to keep me from hunting down the man and I'm eternally thankful he did."

Dick was taken aback by Bruce's outburst, and at this point so was Barbara.

Having finally calmed down, Bruce stepped back, shaking his head with disappointment.

"You should know me better than that, Dick. You should know me better."

And then he was gone.

Dick fumed as he recalled the memory, allowing his anger to soothe his wounded spirit.

How dare Bruce change the tide like that? How could he make this about him? Dick was supposed to be mad at Bruce, not the other way around!

Throwing punches at a nearby punching back, he took out his anger on the inanimate object. His emotions jumbled themselves together.

Bruce had cared? Really? He had worried about Dick?

Tears stung the back of his eyes. He recalled his short conversation with Slade so many years ago.

"Who knows? I might even become like a father to you."

"I already have a father."

He'd remembered his father, even then. Knowing he loved him, knowing if all else failed- it would be his dad that would come in and save the day- Bruce.

When had he forgotten?

Dark Falcon was lead to a large room some number of hallways away. She'd tried to memorize the way, but even with her training it was practically a maze to her. This room was at the end of the hallway and was a long rectangular shape. Filling a majority of it was a long conference table, black, with a neon yellow slope upward to a raised middle. The lights were three circles of the same yellow color.

The rest of the room was colored in hues of red and orange, shadow used for affect added to the black accents.

At the head of the table, a single chair was bolted in the floor. It spun around to reveal the bald man easily identified as Luthor. Nearly anyone in the world could identify him- the same way they could identify Bruce Wayne. They were some of the richest men around, they're names were practically household.

"Leave her." he ordered, fingers pressed together as he watched the men leave.

Dark Falcon stood there, suddenly feeling vulnerable and her heart began to pound. Her arms were still in shackles and she fidgeted with what she could reach, feeling for any weakness. She knew it was useless, but she might as well try.

"Why don't you take a seat?" he asked, gesturing toward the chair on the right side of the table.

"I'd rather stand."

"It doesn't make a difference to me." he shrugged, studying her as she stood close to the doorway. He stood and paced across the floor, glancing back at her every few moments. "Do you know what day it is?"

She didn't answer.

"No, of course you don't." he chuckled. "You're still confused from your capture. It's only been a day. It's December 12th."

Still, Dark Falcon didn't speak. She saw no reason to. All she wanted to know was why he'd kidnapped her and the others, and why he'd brought her here now.

He leaned back against the wall and watched her, so she decided to speak.

"What do you want with me?"

"What do I want with you?" he repeated, pushing himself off of the wall and he began to walk toward her. "I have a mission for you."

"A mission?" she asked as he drew closer. She felt her body begin to tremble and took a step back, not wanting to show weakness, but afraid nonetheless.

This didn't go unnoticed by Lex, who stopped and looked at her thoughtfully.

She felt cornered. She'd been cornered before and vulnerable. Flashbacks of Tony, of Braden, of her biological father. She closed her eyes and looked away.

"We're taking you to Metropolis."

Dark Falcon opened her eyes and looked back at the man before her, shock overcoming her somewhat irrational fear.

"What?"

"You heard me, you're going to Metropolis."

"Why?"

"You're going to fight the Justice League."