Chapter 6

"They're not going to leave him, are they?" Hawk Girl whispered.

"Have you ever known us to leave one of our own?" Green Lantern replied. The Team had taken up vigil over Roy's bedside.

"M'gann, you're not getting anything from him? Anything at all?" Wally asked for the millionth time.

"No, it's like radio static. There's the buzz of brain activity but I can't hear anything of use." She said dejectedly.

"And we're absolutely sure he's not dead?" Artemis inquired.

"He's breathing on his own and he shows signs of movement. He can't be dead, just in a coma." Robin rolled his eyes at her even though he knew she couldn't see.

"This shouldn't have happened. We should have been there for him! Somebody should have been there! Where was the League? Why wasn't someone there to help him?" Kid Flash wanted to shake Roy awake and make sure everything was okay.

"We are here with him now. That is all that matters." Aqualad soothed. "I believe he would be comforted to know that we are with him in his time of need."

"He's right." Megan reached over to replace the damp towel covering Roy's forehead. She carefully patted down his red curls. "But I can't help but wonder if that will be enough."

"We've got a cart set up out here with food if any of you are hungry. How about a break?" Superman came in and asked after a while. M'gann snapped back awake. She didn't even remember falling asleep. Funny, she couldn't remember what she'd been dreaming about.

"That's nice of you." Robin said. He stood and stretched. "Let's give him a little breathing room. You know how Roy hates to be smothered."

"Yeah, you're right." Wally's shoulders were still shaking. What if Roy didn't wake up at all? What if they were trapped with no way of ever getting home and Roy died without his family around?

"You can't keep thinking that way Wally. Red Arrow is strong. He isn't going to die and we are going to get home. All of us." M'gann assured him. Superman felt as if he was intruding on a very intimate moment between friends. It wasn't right for him to see.

"I'll be waiting for you guys when you come out. Try not to take too long okay?" The teens nodded.

"I don't understand why this has gotten so far under your skin. They aren't even from this dimension. We don't know them." Black Canary told Green Arrow exasperatedly. "Their opinion really doesn't matter."

"I have to know why I'm a worse mentor than the freaking Batman! Why does his kid stick around while mine doesn't?" Ollie demanded.

"He said the you in the other world babied him. If he's anything like you, the kid probably didn't take it well." She told him.

"But I'm so much better with kids than that guy! This doesn't make any sense."

"Really, a bunch of kids appear out of thin air and this is what you say doesn't make sense? You're unbelievable." They entered the hospital bay and were immediately taken aback by the carnage.

"John said it wasn't as bad as it looks." Canary said hurriedly.

"Well it looks pretty freakin' bad to me." Ollie shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked down at the battered boy.

"He'll be fine." Dinah patted his red hair down. "He'll be just fine."

"Dinah..." Roy's head rolled into her touch and Black Canary yanked her hand back.

"He knows who I am." She whispered.

"If he's around me in that other world, he's most likely around you too. Maybe he recognized your voice." Ollie pulled out a chair and sat next to the boy's bed.

"My voice?" Dinah sat down as well. "I wonder how well I know him in his world..."

"You're close. Really close." Robin had watched the entire scene from the doorway. "In some ways he trusts you more than he trusts Ollie. You're the person he confides in."

"Confides in?" Canary couldn't picture herself being anyone's confident.

"I know you don't believe it but it's true. You're the first one he's responded to. I don't know about you but that means a heck of a lot to me." Robin shrugged. "Then again, could be nothing." He turned to leave.

"You're not lying are you?" She asked seriously.

"Never to you Dinah. Never to you."

In another dimension:

"Roy's gone. I tried calling him but his com-unit's giving off the same weird frequency as the others. Something isn't right." Green Arrow panicked when he entered the cave.

"You're kidding! Now he's gone too?" Hal was in shock.

"I think it have become clear that we are not dealing with a simple teenage prank anymore. Now that Red Arrow has also gone missing while searching Cadmus, we know that that is the common link." J'onn observed.

"We've already checked out Cadmus. There was no sign of them. Everything had been cleaned up." Superman disagreed.

"Still, I have to agree with J'onn. It's one heck of coincidence." Black Canary stepped up. "I know Roy. He probably went looking for the team and got himself kidnapped as well. We find the team, we find Roy."

"Roy's not the only one we need to be looking for." Batman had suddenly appeared. He tapped the touchscreen computer to reveal a host of pictures: all teenagers and children. "They've all gone missing within the last two days."

"All of them?" Superman's eyes widened.

"They get up, they leave and they vanish never to be seen again. No one kid is from the same city. They're being plucked from all over the world. San Francisco, Albany, Juneau, Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio...the list goes on. These are just the reported cases."

"And we're sure there's a connection in all of this? For all we know, these kids are just goofing off somewhere." Green Lantern said.

"All these kids? All at the same time? It's impossible. They all vanish at the exact same time the team did? No, this isn't natural Hal, this isn't natural at all." Diana scanned each picture carefully.

"Who would want to hurt all these children?"

"I don't know but we are definitely going to find out." Superman decided. "This case now takes top priority. We are going to bring these kids home."

'Come now young hero...lend me your dreams...give me their power...'

"No..." 'NO! Let me out! LET ME OUT!'

"Roy! He's in pain!" The plate M'gann had been holding shattered as it hit the ground. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor.

"M'gann?" The team shouted.

"They're in his mind! He can't escape! He's trapped." She whispered.

"And you can't set him free?"

"I don't know...this is different. It's so dark, so...evil...Roy's been sucked into that darkness and he can't find his way out." She tried to explain.

"Then let's help him find his way out." Wally stood up sharply. "M'gann, do you think you can get in there and fight?" He asked.

"Not by myself."

"Well then it's a good thing-"

"-that we're here with you. Soon Mr. Crabby will be back with us too." Artemis chimed in.

"Hey, what's all the sudden excitement about?" Superman asked.

"We have to wake Roy up now. It's an emergency." Robing pushed.

"J'onn already tried. He said your friend can only wake up in his own time. We're supposed to let him rest for now."

"If we don't save him now he may not wake up at all. He needs help." M'gann shoved past him and the team followed her to the medical bay.

She almost ran headlong into Black Canary.

"Where's J'onn? He's convulsing! Something is seriously wrong with him!" She cried.

"We know." Robin informed her. M'gann was already at Roy's side. She placed her hands on both sides of his face and slowly pushed her way into his mind. "Ah..." She groaned.

"M'gann!" Superboy placed a hand over hers and did his best to support her. Kid Flash and the others each tried to control one of the red head's flailing limbs.

'Roy? Roy are you there? Please, don't be afraid...'

'Get out of my head! All of you! Get out of my head!' M'gann cringed at the force of Roy's mental exclamation.

'It's me, Miss Martian...I'm your friend. Please allow me to pull you out of this. We can do this together.' She attempted.

'No! Miss Martian and the others are gone! Everybody's gone! You will not fool me.'

M'gann fell against Superboy as Roy pushed with all his might to get her out of his mind.

"He doesn't trust me...he believes we're gone. I can't get through to him. Not on my own anyway." She told them. "He's trying to protect himself from whatever brought him here and in the process he's blocking me too."

"Then let us take a crack at him. Rob and I have known Roy forever. Maybe we could get through to him, let him know that we're all alright."

"It could work. Still, he's so upset. I don't think anything can bring him back."

"We have to try. We have to help. He would help us if we needed it." Wally insisted. He reached out his hand. "Take us in there. We can fight."

M'gann looked to his outstretched hand and slowly smiled. "Let's do this." She took both Kid Flash's and Robin's hands. "It'll be painful." She warned.

"No pain no gain." Wally responded. He and Robin closed their eyes. The feeling of being submerged into someone else's mind was like nothing either of them had ever experienced before. The darkness shrouded their minds.

'Is this normal?' Wally thought.

'No, no one's mind should look like this. I've never seen anything like this.' M'gann replied.

'Where's Roy? We have to find him.' Robin reminded them.

'He's hidden himself. I feel as if there's another consciousness living in this mind. Like someone else I tormenting him.' M'gann felt as if she was treading through stormy waters. They were moment from drowning. 'Someone else is here. Someone is keeping him trapped.'

'Then let's give Roy his mind back.' M'gann focused hard on the other consciousness, enveloping it with her own psychic energy. She pulled from both Robin and Kid Flash's mental strength to try and yank Roy out from under the other being's control.

'Miss Martian…' his voice was faint, lost in the waves of despair.

'We're here Roy, we're real. You're in another dimension with us. We're working on finding our way home but for now, we're here. Please believe us.' She pulled harder against the unfamiliar consciousness.

'They're taking the children…they're taking them…'

M'gann could feel him getting closer. She gave one final tug and it was like pulling a drain. Roy's mind snapped against hers forcing her to lose control of the link. She toppled out of his mind, pulling Kid Flash and Robin along with her.

"Ah!" the fell back onto the floor.

"Are you alright? Did you succeed?" Aqualad rushed to help them to their feet.

"They must have done something right. He's stop flailing." Artemis could finally let go of the teen's arms.

"We did it. We managed to pull him free but something's wrong. When I pulled Roy free, the other consciousness couldn't keep hold and had to release his mind. It's gone now-"

"Then why are you worried?"

"Roy said they were taking the children…"

"What? What children?" Superboy demanded.

"I don't know, that's just what he said. It was so dark. I can understand why Roy couldn't find his way out. They're taking the children."

"Maybe they meant us. Maybe it's the people who sent us here?" Robin suggested.

"But we don't know who sent us here! We can't remember anything! It's all a blank." Artemis insisted. Roy sighed loudly in his sleep, now content.

"Maybe he remembers. When he wakes up, we can ask him." Robin finally said.

"Yeah, but are we sure we want to hear the answer? I don't know about you but I've got a really bad feeling. This is only the beginning."

So guys, hope you're enjoying the story. Someone asked if I have a schedule for updating. I update mostly in the period of friday-saturday-sunday. Some stories that I keep in my journal (like the Yu-Gi-Oh GX one I'm writing right now, check it out) I tend to update almost everyday because they're easier to get typed up. This story, I type mostly on my smartphone. Anywho, random facts...so...anymore questions, just review or PM me. It's cool!-IFW