"You didn't know Joan was working for the Reach, did you?"

Everyone in the group looked towards Joan in shock and confusion, begging for an explanation. Joan glanced around, from Wonder Girl, to Kaldur, to Beast Boy, and lastly to Nightwing. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. She could lie to them, deny everything the bird was saying. They might believe her. But if they did, would they ever fully trust her again? If they didn't, she would die right here without any chance of redemption. She wondered if she should try to explain the full truth, but she knew that it would simply mean that she was lying earlier when she said she didn't know the bird, making her even more untrustworthy.

But as she met Nightwing's eyes, her heart fell. She saw it in his eyes. He had already convicted her guilty of her crime and would not even bother to listen to her answer. Even if she could tell him everything, he would never trust her again. He couldn't. Joan felt her heart collapse on itself.

Her head hung down in shame. She heard Oracle's words once more ringing in her ears, "If you shatter him, and truly break him, then I will make sure you feel every ounce of pain he does." Joan didn't even bother to look up. She didn't even bother to beg for mercy. Her fate was already decided. How could she fight it?

"Joan..." Nightwing whispered. "What did you do?"

Joan looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes. His conviction was reflected in the other's eyes as well. Her heart tore even more seeing Beast Boy's eyes. He had reminded her so much of Henry, even the look of betrayal on his face was identical. Joan looked at the bird. "Nothing. I've done nothing."

She heard the click of a pouch from Nightwing's belt. She only had just enough time to see what was happening before an small device exploded upon making contact with her face. She didn't even scream as she felt her face being ripped away from the bone. However, even more surprising was the feeling of her flesh knitting itself back together. She gasped, confused, but grateful for her metagene for the first time. She looked at Nightwing, astonished that he had acted so quickly and without any hesitation. He glared at her, snarling "Why don't I believe you?"

Joan stepped back as he grabbed his escrima sticks. The force of the blow landed on her arms as she raised them to block. She felt her bones crack under the force, but they healed before Nightwing had even realized what had happened. Within a matter of seconds, the rest of the team had joined in on the assault without question. They trusted their leader. They would follow him to the ends of the earth so long as they believed that he was doing the right thing.

Beast Boy transformed himself into a rhino and charged. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, Joan jumped above him, landing steadily on her feet on his back. He reacted, changing into a bull and bucked her off, sending her flying through the air.

Kaldur caught her with his Water-Bearers and tossed her to the ground before they turned into blades. Kaldur came at as Joan struggled to sit up with her head spinning awfully. His blades came down and Joan, turning away, blindly shot out a pillar of fire. She missed Kaldur, but the heat distracted him enough to miss her head and hit her back. She screeched out in agony, deafening Beast Boy who was still an bull. However, much to everyone's dismay, including Joan's, her back healed, giving her the opportunity to run.

Wondergirl blocked off her escape, trying to beat Joan through sheer force. She landed several punched and kicks that Joan would not be eager to remember, but as with Nightwing and Kaldur, Joan's body healed before any sufficient damage could be done. Joan felt the bird behind her call out to her, shouting for her to use her powers. Without hesitation, Joan responded with a burst of fire to Wondergirl's face. The blonde screamed, twisting away from the burns.

Joan cringed away in dismay and fear - dismay at the damage she had caused, fear that she would have to repeat the action. Seeing her chance at escape - no one was nearby anymore - she felt an inherent animal instinct take over and choosing the side she hated more, she ran.

She left the team behind, though they were quickly in pursuit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the scarlet bird flying beside her. It glanced at her, smiled with its beak, and said, "Need a hand?"

"Not from you, not that you have any," Joan shouted. As she ran back towards her house to pick up of one last thing before searching for her family wherever they were, she found her muscles and lungs not suffering in the slightest. She risked a glance behind her and saw that the she was easily outrunning the team. Beast Boy shifted into a cheetah, however in a typical manner, he tripped over a slight dip in the earth. He tumbled over collapsing in upon himself as he shifted back to his normal form. As he got back up, he glared at Joan who was already far away from them.

Joan turned her head to look straight ahead. She had neared her house much quicker than she anticipated and slowed down immediately. She glanced back around and from the distance of the team, judged that she had only a minute before she had to run again. Feeling the pressure she was under, she frantically began to search the charred remains for her house for the only valuable item in her house.

She went to where he parents room was. The bed remained mostly intact with the exception of the dark burns crawling up the light wood. The bedding was ashes, but then to Joan's surprise, the frame was all but intact. She glanced around as saw that the team was still far enough away for her to take a moment. She lay on the bed for a moment, remembering the time when she was just a child. How many times had she crawled into her parents' bed after a nightmare had scared her from sleeping? How many times had they comforted her when she was sad for reasons she could never explain? How many times had she sneaked into the room to see her brother when he was still just a baby? How many times had she sat with her family on that same bed to watch movies? She felt a tear fall down her cheek.

"I will find you guys," she vowed. "I will never stop searching for you. Never."

She sat back up and looked underneath the bed, curiosity taking over her. In between the frame and the remnants of the mattress was what she had been looking for. She smiled, a feeling of comfort overtaking her. She held it up to her heart and released the tension that hadn't left her since the bird told her the fate she had to endure. She glanced over her shoulder. The team was almost upon her. She held her greatest treasure in her arms.

"You should leave it behind," the bird said as it flew next to her. "It will only remind you of what you can never have."

Joan looked at the bird, resentment filling her heart. "No matter what you say, you could never convince me to leave this behind. This is everything my family was about. I'm not going to leave it, or them, behind."

"Very well. Then I suggest you leave immediately. You cannot afford to stay any longer." Joan nodded and with her precious prize, she took off running.


Joan ran into the night. She didn't stop, even though long ago the team had given up on chasing her. They had reached the house, stopping after seeing Joan still running across the fields. Nightwing gave the signal to stop. It was pointless. They would take the bioship and return back to the mountain to organize a more thorough search and include all of Young Justice. All of their operatives across the world would be looking for her. As he boarded the ship, Nightwing made one promise to himself as something inside of him shattered.

"I will find you, Joan. If it's the last thing I ever do, I will find you. There is nowhere you can hide. It's only a matter of time. I will find you."


Author's Note: Wow. This did not end where I thought it would. Great. I took my two main romance interests then pitted them against one another. How am I going to fix this?

Seriously, any suggestions?