Chapter 19

"Bruce I can't do this. What if he dies? He's my best friend. I can't lose anyone else. I can't! Please, you have to help me!" Robin heaved a breath and looked away from the camera.

He couldn't let Bruce see him cry. That would just be too much. Bruce would never let him go out on team missions again if he thought Dick was weak.

"I'm doing my best to help you on this end. Really, truly I am. You have to believe that. Right now? Your friend needs you to be strong. He can't lose you right now. You have to be strong, for both of you. Wally can't fight so you're going to have to do it for him." Bruce advised. "We'll get all of you back soon."

"But there's nothing to fight! This is a sickness! It's not like I can go in Wally's head and save him! M'gann tried, she failed. I don't have any powers, Bruce!" Robin shouted angrily.

"This isn't about powers, Robin. This is about you fighting to save a friend. If you can't go inside, then do what you can outside his mind. Fight the best way you know how. Fight to keep Wally alive. If he dies, you know you fought as hard as you possibly could. You can't give up. You can't stop fighting." Bruce said quietly.

"I...want to come home, Bruce. I miss you Bruce. I miss my life at home. I want to just forget this ever happened. I just want this all to end. I want it all to be a stupid dream! I want to just wake up and have you and Alfred with me again." Robin bit his lip and did his best to hold in his tears.

"If I could give you that, I would. Believe me, I want nothing more than to have you back safe with me. I would but I can't." Bruce sighed deeply. "I want you home too. I shouldn't have let you go this long feeling so alone. We should have talked sooner."

Robin bowed his head and closed his eyes. This was his Bruce. This wasn't some imposter. Maybe he couldn't be home just yet but hearing the older man's voice. That was good enough for now.

YJ

Artemis Crock had dealt with a lot in her few short years. She'd watched her family fall apart under the weight of its sins. Her father was gone. Her sister was gone (and apparently sleeping around with Roy) and her mother, her mother was damaged beyond repair. She'd done her best to devote her life to doing good and to cleanse herself of the evil that always seemed to follow her around. She was covered in the blood of those her father and sister had killed.

It was like a curse.

And now her curse had claimed another victim.

She and Wally had always had problems. They bickered and fought but when it came down to it, they made one hell of a team. She cared for him, just as she cared for everyone else on her team.

Wally had to live. What would they do without him? How long would it be until her curse took the life of another team member?

"Artemis?" A voice called quietly to her. The blonde teen swung around to see Black Canary watching her. God, she hadn't even heard the woman approach. All her time on that stupid satellite was killing her senses. She needed to train. Heck, she needed to stay out of her own head. She'd end up letting her own demons swallow her if she wasn't careful. Her hands itched for her bow.

"I notice you haven't said much. Just wanted to make sure you were doing alright.

Apparently, we all really need to watch each other." Dinah shrugged.

"I'm fine. Really. If Roy even gets a whiff that I'm losing it, he'll go superhero on me too. It's only a matter of time. He's making his rounds."

"Would that be so bad? Roy is just looking out for all of you. I'm told he's the oldest. Maybe he's just playing the part of a good big brother." Dinah asked. "I'm going to assume that you two aren't close."

"We're not. Roy hates me. He always has. He's Robin and Kid's big bro, not mine."

"Hate's a strong word. You weren't fighting when we were at Ollie's. As a matter of fact, you seemed like a team. You protected him. Now he's protecting you."

"He was the only one there and I needed someone on my side." Artemis said grudgingly. She didn't like talking about Roy. "Besides, we have to be able to work together. Whether we like it or not, we are a team. It's all about putting the personal stuff aside." Artemis shot her a wry smile. "What can I say?"

"He cares about you. I can tell. You two trained together every day on your own. No one told you to and you didn't have to work together. And you didn't have to take care of him Artemis, you know Ollie and I would have never hurt him. No, you did it because you cared." the older woman observed.

"You're looking way too deep into this. There's nothing to see. Roy and I will never get along. We work together when we have to. Nothing more, nothing less." Artemis's shoulders slumped lightly.

"You didn't think you'd ever end up working together either and yet here we are." Black Canary sat down. "Maybe it's time you two talked to each other."

"Okay, I get why Robin needed to talk. He was going stir crazy in his own head and his best friend might be dying. It makes sense. Roy and I, we had our little pow wow. We're still not friends. We're not enemies either. It's not going to change. Listen, I should probably go see what M'gann is up to." Artemis quickly jumped out of her seat.

"Alright. I won't pester you anymore about it but…just know, there's more to being a team than just getting along. If you let your problems just sit there unsolved, they'll come back to haunt you." Dinah stood up as well.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll be sure to remember that." Artemis chided sardonically. Dinah just smiled and shook her head.

"You're hardheaded just like he is. You have a lot more in common than you think." She replied softly.

Artemis squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Shouldn't you be counseling Superboy or something? He's the one with the real issues here." Dinah nodded and patted the younger girl's shoulder gently before bidding her goodnight. Just like that, Artemis was left alone to her thoughts.

YJ

M'gann held her fingers gently to Wally's temples and tried to focus herself. She could do it. She knew she could. Wally needed her to be able to. All of those kids were dying and soon, if she didn't save him, he would be dead too. She's tried so many times before but she knew that somehow this time would be different. Wally needed this time to be different.

"C'mon..." She said quietly to herself. She did her best to slowly and gently push into his mind. She didn't want to do any more damage than what had already been done. Suddenly, she felt something give. The shield blocking her from Wally's mind snapped, just for a second, and she found herself submerged in his mind.

Cold darkness was all she felt. It seeped through every pour of her skin and tugged her deeper into Wally's mind. It was like she was falling into a vortex. The blackness wrapped around her and refused to let her go. She was trying her hardest to get out of the mass of darkness. She had to get to wall, she had to save him.

But she was drowning. The darkness swarmed her body, filled her eye sockets, her ears, and her nostrils. She couldn't get away.

And then she felt it.

Chaos.

"Klarion!" She suddenly exclaimed. Everyone turned towards her shriek and watched as her body suddenly began to seize. M'gann began to shake and foam formed around her lips.

"She's having a seizure!" Artemis cried.

Roy caught her before she hit the floor and did his best to hold down her flailing limbs.

She writhed and shook against him, smacking him in the arm and face. Roy knew he'd have a nasty bruise.

"M'gann!" Conner was behind him in a second. "What do we do?" He cried in anguish.

"Hold her down, make sure she doesn't hit her head." Black Canary instructed easily. She brushed M'gann's hair out of her eyes to check for dilation.

"That's not going to be easy, she does have heightened strength after all." Roy bit out as one of M'gann's hands slapped him in the face.

"Perhaps Superboy and I should take over." Kaldur suggested gently.

"Yeah, that'll work." M'gann's body had slowed to tremors. Her eyes slipped closed but her body still shook.

"Klarion. She said something about Klarion. He's a part of the light isn't he?" Artemis questioned.

"Yes, but this is not his strength." Kaldur nodded speculatively. "Klarion is a sorcerer. He would not attack us this way."

"He's right. This is more up Psimon's alley." Superboy commented.

"But Psimon works for Queen Bee. Roy encountered the two of them together along with the other members. This situation is more grievous than we had originally thought. We should contact the League immediately."

"Robin's got Batman up in the monitor room. We can talk to him now." Roy informed them.

"I'll wait with M'gann." Superboy told them.

"And I'll go wake the others." Black Canary nodded towards them. "You all need to get home, fast."

YJ

"Batman?" Roy quirked an eyebrow at the man standing outside the monitor room.

"The room's in use. I'm attempting to be patient."

"Un huh. That's what you're doing." Roy rolled his eyes. He knew an eavesdropper when he saw one. "We need to get inside." He knocked gently.

"Robin?" Artemis called next to him.

The door slid open with a 'swoosh' and robin stood before them, mask less. His blue eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were red. It was easy to see he'd been crying.

"Robin, we hate to interrupt you but-"

"It's okay. We were done anyway. Has something happened?" the younger boy asked groggily.

"M'gann just had a seizure. She found a way into Wally's head and something pushed back. She said something about Klarion."

"Klarion? Roy mentioned him." Robin remembered.

"Yeah. We need to radio the League and tell them to be on the lookout. If they can capture Klarion-"

"Klarion can't be captured. He's chaos personified." Robin reminded them. "He'll just open a portal and escape."

"Not if his familiar is taken. The cat, his weakness is the cat." Artemis suddenly remembered. "Remember the last time we fought him? Wally, Dr. Fate, defeated Klarion by attacking the cat. If we capture the cat instead, we can also capture Klarion."

"I do not know if it will work but it is the best we have right now." Kaldur nodded.

"At least it's a plan. It's the first one we've had." Roy agreed.

"Something happened?" they all turned to see a drowsy Superman coming their way. "Where's Conner."

"He's with M'gann. She's hurt." Artemis said quickly. Why was everyone dawdling? They had a plan!

Clark frowned. "Hurt? What happened to her? Is she going to be okay?"

"We don't know. Right now, we're trying to get in contact with our League. We think we have a lead on something." Roy said hurriedly.

"Then by all means." Clark gestured to the monitor room. "Lead the way."

YJ

"The cat?"

"Klarion's cat is his familiar. It's what keeps him tied to this world, what keeps him solid. If you get ahold of the cat, you can keep Klarion in one place. Then you can actually question him." Robin explained.

"And how do you propose we actually find the sorcerer?"

"Easy, follow the chaos."