Summary: Takes place around August of this year (2012), so 8 months after Auld Acquaintance

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

The team had a relatively simple task: there were several Belle Reve escapees who needed to be locked back up, and so they were sent to take them down. Unfortunately, some of those Belle Reve escapees included heavy hitters such as Killer Frost, Brick, and even Toyman, and the team had been backed into a corner. They barely escaped, made their way to a small room, and barricaded it while they planned their next offensive.

Arty checked her quiver and was nearly out of arrows. Wally had run out of energy bars a while back. Even Connor was feeling depleted, and Dick was running low on gadgets in his belt. The team turned to Kaldur, who was having a hard time figuring out a proper course of action. There were just too many bad guys, and as it was, the team was low on energy and supplies. Dick looked to his girlfriend, clearly exhausted from the spells she had to cast, and he knew a head-on assault wouldn't work, not when the bad guys had Toyman in his massive armor and Killer Frost's powers backing them up.He walked up to Kaldur. "I don't think we can afford to go head-on with these guys again."

"Agreed. They outnumber and overpower us. What do you suggest?"

"I have a strategy we could try, but we'd need to set it up first. Like, we'd need to take out some of their bigger guns first."

"I am not certain...we have expelled far too many resources as it is."

"Could we try it? I mean, as it is, we don't have many options." Kaldur hesitantly nodded. He trusted Dick, but he was also worried for his team.

"Alright. Since this is your idea, you may take command. We will follow your lead." Dick nodded. He was a bit nervous about leading the others, but they needed to try something, and stealth was as good an option as any. It was nice knowing that Kal had faith in him, though. Dick turned to face the team.

"Okay, we could try this. Arty and Raquel, you both take positions on upper walkways and just provide cover fire and support. Zee, if you have the energy for it, it'd be pretty helpful if you could do some crowd control when we go in. SB and Kal can lead the attack, and KF and I can follow them for backup. Megs could stay camo'd and pick them off one by one when we all provide distractions. But first, we'd need to take out their bigger guns. Toyman's mech suit and Killer Frost are our biggest concerns. We need to approach them with stealth, take them out covertly, then start our counterstrike." The team turned to Kal, who nodded in approval of Dick's strategy.

"Follow Robin's lead. Artemis, Rocket, take up sentry positions on the upper walkways, but do not engage until Robin and I give the all-clear. Zatanna, go with them and prepare your spells. Kid, Superboy, Miss Martian, the five of us must incapacitate Toyman and Killer Frost before the others can proceed. M'gann, can you lure Frost away from the group?"

"I think so. I'll just send her a psychic hallucination. She'll come to us."

"Good. Superboy, prepare to take her out, remember, discreetly. Kid, get Robin close enough to the mech for him to hack into it and shut it down. Once you all see the mech deactivate, wait for Superboy and myself to start the attack, then proceed with Dick's plan. Move out." The team proceeded with the plan, and, soon enough, Killer Frost walked straight into a trap laid out by M'gann and Connor. Once she was down, Megan shapeshifted into her to go back so that nobody would be suspicious, and Wally sped Dick over to the mech so that he could hack into it. Damn, this is some high-level coding. Toyman really knows his stuff. Almost got it...Once the mech shut down and dropped to the floor, all the escapees turned to Toyman, confused as to what happened. He panicked and ran over to his machine, and Kaldur and Connor took the opportunity to burst in and surprise everyone. Before they could even react, Dick and Wally jumped in as well, and M'gann, under the guise of Killer Frost, assisted them. Arty provided cover fire and Raquel provided forcefields and protection for the group as Zatanna hovered above the battle in deep concentration. Zee was using the team's distraction and Raquel's cover to charge up a powerful spell that would render everyone unconscious. Once she managed to get the spell off, all the inmates dropped to the floor and she herself lost consciousness and started to fall. Dick caught her before she landed and made sure it was just exhaustion before looking to the others, smirking.

"She'll be alright. Just tired."

"Excellent work everyone. We have accomplished our primary objective. Robin, contact the League for cleanup." Dick called Bruce to send a squad for the wrap-up, and he hesitantly left Zatanna in the medbay of the Bioship after M'gann assured him she would take care of her. He was approached by Kaldur as the others were conversing with one another.

"Uh, thanks backing my play. I-I know there was a lot riding on this."

"Of course. Your plan was sound and I trust your judgement, my friend. If anyone were to take over in my failure or absence, I have no question it would be you." Dick tensed up a little.

"...how do you do it? I...I have a nervous breakdown every time I'm put in charge. How do you handle the pressure?" Kaldur sighed.

"I am afraid...I do not know. All I know is that when I am in command, everyone looks to me. I cannot neglect any one person's wishes, and I cannot fail in my task to lead. It is quite possibly the hardest part of any given mission, and I do not expect you to be able to do it with ease, for I cannot do it with ease myself. However, you are a natural at it, if this mission was any indication. I have always said you were born to lead this team, and I meant every word of it."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I wanna lead. It's...too much stress. I don't trust myself enough to handle that."

"I understand. Do not worry, I have no intent of forcing the mantle onto your shoulders unless you want it. Being the leader is not an easy task, and I have no qualms if you reject it." Dick nodded a bit and smiled as Kal walked away. He was right: being a leader was grueling. Every time Dick had been forced into the role, he was a nervous wreck, constantly calculating every step of the way. He had led his team into many victories when Kal wasn't available, yet he still hated the job. If it were up to him, he wouldn't ever need to lead anyone. It was just too much stress. However, it felt good knowing that the others, especially Kaldur, had faith in his leadership abilities. The last thing he wanted to do was let them all down and not live up to Kal's standards, and he was grateful knowing that his friend did not think as much of him.

Sorry if it's not the best, but what did you think? Feel free to leave comments or suggestions. Suggestions would actually be greatly appreciated because I am starting to run low on ideas, and unless we get more chapter suggestions, I'm gonna have to start working my way through the timeline more quickly and cutting down on these more fluffy chapters, which is actually not the worst thing that could happen since I do want to get to some stories later on like Nightwing and the future Robins, but at the same time, I don't wanna speed to those points too quickly, since it would be nice to be able to fill this book up with more fluff chapters, so any ideas you have would be appreciated. Even if we get to the end of my timeline, we can always come back to add more fluff, so don't worry about that. You can always ask for stuff from previous points on the timeline as chapters, such as a younger Dick or the team pre-Auld Acquaintance or something like that, and I'll always be willing to go back and write that. Doesn't matter how ridiculous it may be, I've written some pretty freaking ridiculous shit already, so just suggest whatever you wanna see and I'll try to write it. Next chapter up soon.