A/N
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Episode X: A New Divide, Part I
Always imagining the end of the team would be filled with explosions, heroic sacrifice and general comradery, Robin didn't expect this might be how the secret story of Young Justice might end. No mission, no villain, and no good ending. Just a group of teenagers squabbling amongst themselves as though they hadn't done more for each other than any other team in the world.
They have saved each others lives, teamed together to overcome odds which made everything seem impossible, and yet, they can't band together one last time to finally destroy the obstacles holding them back. Robin is also guilty of this, and for once, he actually believes he is the only member of the team not pulling their weight.
Everyone else succeeds in their selected responsibility. The only one Robin has is to lead them, and even then, he's utterly failing to do it even to a small standard.
They follow their own orders whenever they wish to, and as the days go by, he doesn't even know whether the ones closest to him even respects him anymore. Wally might always be by his side, but lately the chances of him pulling through one last time are slowly eroding away like the rest of the team.
Somewhere along the line, the team forgot they were the sidekicks. This was supposed to be a place to grow up and learn, and maybe they learned just a little too much in a short space of time.
Robin cannot change back what has happened, and he can't even control what might happen in the future. The leash he is still desperately clinging on to moans and splinters under the pressure through every passing hour, and no amount of repairs can stop the inevitable snap.
Perhaps the only question left for Robin is how to stop the team from rampaging afterwards. Artemis and Conner are about to explode as it is, and with everything occurring around them, the others might follow suit soon.
Inviting Zatanna into the group wasn't just a choice made of practicality from Robin, but one of experimentation. Maybe all they needed was a fresh face and a new perspective to shift them back into the correct direction, but his choice has been fruitless so far. He even regrets bringing the magician into this spiralling situation.
Thankfully, Zatanna isn't taking the team's cold shoulder to heart and is trying her best to aid the team.
"Who wants to begin?" Robin commences the session, examining the various moods and expressions on the faces of his weary team mates. Assembled in front of him on chairs, to an outsider it would look like an alcohol anonymous group for the super heroically inclined. "Superboy, anything you want to say?"
Staring back at the Boy Wonder, the clone opens his mouth before closing it again, struggling to form words. Eventually, he manages to find something meaningful to say, and points his frustration towards one thing in particular.
"No-one cares," Conner mumbles, keeping his eyes away from the other team members.
Interestingly, Zatanna is the first to respond. "I'm sorry Conner, but if no-one cares, why are we all here? We don't need to be here - especially not me - but we are here to put a stop to the Light once and for all."
"No-one cares about each other," Superboy reiterates, finally managing to look at his friends. "We stopped doing that a long time ago."
Astounded, Robin is shocked at the sudden display of affection from the clone. Usually, it's reserved for much less serious moments, when he normally can pass off his affection as deadpan jokes. At least they are finally getting somewhere with this session. It's been close to two hours and no-one has actually decided to bring forward something relevant until now.
"I don't think that's the case Conner.. I think.. we are just all caught up with ourselves," M'gann assures the clone, placing a hand on his shoulder. Although brief - as the clone shrugged it off quickly - it serves as a reminder that friendship may break and bend, but never shatters completely.
"If you have something to say M'gann, just say it," Artemis spits out, glaring at the Martian.
"Okay," M'gann responds with a furious glare of her own, "tell me Artemis: when is the last time you actually talked to one of us about something other than a mission?"
"The mission is all that matters, and all of you should remember that. We are heroes, not a summer camp."
"What good is being a hero if we can't watch over the people closest to us?" Wally sighs from his position at the far left of the group, running a hand through his ginger, unkempt hair. When it's taking a toll on the eternally optimistic Wally West, perhaps it truly is time to make or break the group.
Still, Robin won't let it go down without the fight of a lifetime.
"I'm done with this," the Boy Wonder states, and the assembled heroes collectively turn their attention to the Boy Wonder. "We need to make a choice, and we need to make it now - we teamed together to prove to the League that we can do just as much as them, and guess what, we proved we could hang with the best and more. We didn't even need a fully-fledged Kryptonian, or a fully trained Martian to do it. All we needed was the strength and support we provided each other through every step we took. Is this worth something more to us than our own problems? Or can we call it quits here and now?"
Before anyone can respond to Robin's speech, alarm bells ring out from the computer located behind him. Turning around, the Boy Wonder's furrowed brow droops even lower as he realises what the alert is about.
"Kaldur's back in the open. Great, now the team can completely go off the rails."
"Going to tell us what the alarm is?" Artemis questions, knowing full well what Robin had attuned the computer to watching out for. The others know as well, leaning forwards in their chairs in anticipation. Zatanna gives Robin a calming nod.
"Kaldur has been spotted by some satellites I had looking for him. Since he knows we have the capability to do so, I'm assuming he wants to lure us into a trap," Robin explains, stating what's obvious to both himself and those around him.
Kaldur might have abandoned the team and twisted a cold knife into their back, but he hasn't lost his abilities as both a fighter and a leader, that's for certain. He isn't going to come along easily, and if he's planning for something, it's also incredibly likely he's aware the team would know it's a trap too.
Although there's not much Robin can do about that. Undoubtedly, Kaldur is relying on Conner's blind rage and Artemis' deep despair to blind their judgement and take the bait anyway - a solid plan, and one which Robin can't prepare for and avoid. The best he can do is keep Kaldur from hurting anymore of his friends.
Easier thought about than actually accomplished, but isn't this the life he chose all those years ago. Batman gave him a simple choice, and out of adventure or a deeper need to do something about his parent's death, he chose the wrong one. It always seemed like the right one, but moment like these shake his confidence.
"We need to capture Kaldur. He has information we need.. and we have a score to settle," Robin states, more imploring the team to show some restraint than actually needed it to go smoothly for the sake of the greater good.
"He's coming alive," Artemis grunts, eyes narrowing on the Boy Wonder and fingers already twitching with anticipation of pulling back her bowstrings, "depends on how much we wants to get hurt."
"This is it, huh?" Wally asks without his usual humour, solemnly observing the group. "If it is, just got to say it's been one hell of a run."
"Seriously? That's the pun you go for?" Robin snickers, and the speedster smiles back.
A flicker of the jovial atmosphere which used to accompany tense moments like these wash over the group, taking a moment to capture it and cherish it for what it appears to be the final time they gather together. The mission won't matter after this - most of the group just wants vengeance on Kaldur, and without that, there's not reason for them to stick together. To them, the mission would be done.
"It's YJ or the highway guys.. never forget that," Robin ponders, smiling at this rag-tag group which was assembled what seems as though decades ago.
"Kaldur is going to find out the meaning of that phrase," Superboy mutters, cracking his knuckles menacingly.
Silent warehousing facility in the dark of night, with not even rats to make a squeak every so often, Kaldur might be making this trap a little bit too easy for Robin to spot. Robin expects as much, but there's little he can do about it - they have to make this stand now, and no amount of dissuading will stop the more aggressive members of the group.
Ever up, Robin checks in through the telepathic communication.
Once he's satisfied everyone answered with as much gusto as they can muster, he gestures for the team to begin their entrance. Standard formation for the team, with both Conner leading the front and Artemis and Wally at the flanks. With M'gann floating invisible above and Robin watching from behind the group to intervene on any front he needs to.
Kaldur is going to be expecting this particular formation, as it can be argued he's the one who popularised it's use. Robin has simply added some extra surprises in order to throw off the traitor, though he hopes he has enough time to utilise them.
Lucius Fox has truly outdone himself this time with some new additions to Robin's arsenal. Electrifying his gauntlets with enough volts to cause discomfort in a Kryptonian - or a clone of one as they discovered whilst testing them - it means Robin can at least pack a decent enough punch to damage some of the lower durability supervillains.
However, the problem with them for now is simple: it's only single-use until the design is perfected, so he has to choose his moment carefully.
Doublechecking his gauntlets for any malfunction, the team make their way into the main area of the warehouse, eventually coming across an open area which is clearly lit and prepared for their arrival. Stood in the middle is a fairly large group of Black Manta's more elite soldiers, apparently stood on top of weird drawings and symbolism.
Zatanna? Robin contracts the magician to explain, though she shrugs in response.
No idea. My Dad would know. I haven't took the class on creepy evil drawings on floors yet.
"You're late."
His voice heard before the Atlantean appears through one of Klarion's inter-dimensional portals, Kaldur steps out from the scarlet abyss, his weapons already drawn and prepared for the battle ahead.
"Wanted to make sure you wouldn't stand us up," Artemis aggressively retorts, drawing an arrow and fixing it onto the traitor. "Give me one reason."
Looking straight at Artemis, Kaldur calmly takes a ready stance. "You know that arrow will not break my skin."
"I can try," the archer tightens the string further.
"And you will fail, as always. You failed to capture me in Atlantis - an unfortunate oversight on my behalf - and you fail to capture me again. Although, the new addition to the team is most unexpected," Kaldur speaks, turning his attention to Zatanna. "I didn't expect you to bring on another member after what happened to the last one."
Cold. Then again, the Kaldur Robin knew and admired may be so deep down he will never return. At this point, the Boy Wonder isn't sure whether he would accept Kaldur back if he ever changed again - it's far too late for that.
He's trying to antagonise us, Robin attempts to remind the team of what they discussed before arriving.
At the moment, Kaldur holds a massive mental leverage over the team, and he knows this. Kyle's death hit everyone hard, and he can pull the card out whenever he needs to in order to provoke a response. In order to clear their minds, the team needs to remember Kaldur is trying his best to throw them off, because he knows whenever the group is at their best, he cannot hope to take them all on at the same time.
Of course, keeping the rapid Kryptonian's fury contained is more difficult than ever with current circumstances. Even Artemis is crashing down into blind rage whenever she is confronted with something emotional difficult, and it's less characteristic for the archer.
It's working, Wally responds, nodding to both Conner and Artemis. This is about to blow over.
Inwardly agreeing with his friend, he examines the way Conner's hands are about to break through the sheer strength he is clenching them with, as well as the way Artemis' arrow is beginning to shake slightly with the tenseness she is keeping it contained on the bowstring with. All it would take is one more slight comment for them to explode, and then, all hell breaks loose as expected.
An estimated minute before Kaldur intentionally makes a snippy comment and the combat begins, Robin makes sure the collar Zatanna made is still carefully placed with his belt. Miniaturised through magic to fit inside, it's a special concoction of spells Zatanna made up which can hopefully prevent anyone who wears it from being inter-dimensionally transported by a Lord of Chaos at the first sign of trouble.
Hopefully it works, and Zatanna is fairly certain it will, but no-one can definitely be sure where magic and a literal magical god is involved. Zatanna might not be the powerful magician her father is, although she's certainly rising up to her potential and will surely pass him in the future.
Robin just hopes the initial sign of her greatness is placed within his utility belt.
"So this is it? We stand here and trade mean remarks until someone attacks the other? How about you come to us for a change Kaldur?" Robin fires back at the traitor, attempting to somehow draw Kaldur into an unfavourable engagement - at the least buy time for him to come up with a better plan than running at him.
"You're right. The time for talking is over, once and for all. At the end of this, you shall all join Kyle," Kaldur returns, egging them on once more.
"That's it!"
Finally having enough, Superboy snaps and charges at Kaldur and his Manta stooges with his trademark primal roar, and after a brief hesitation, everyone else joins in. As they sprint forwards, an arrow soars back from Artemis' bow, the metal finally gaining the opportunity to escape it's uncomfortable situation.
Time seems to slow down as they move, and it takes Robin a moment to realise that time might actually be slowing down. Either that, or he's became a speedster through random occurrence.
Turning back to where Kaldur was, his confusion turns to shock as the traitor and his goons has disappeared. Even more than that, his team-mates have also disappeared.
Just like that, time returns to normal. Although normal is Robin being completely alone in a warehouse which had previously been filled with superhero and supervillain alike, at least he can move his fingers and not watch them move for a few minutes.
"Great. I give we've split up sooner than expected."
A/N
Thanks for reading folks, I have a few questions for those of you who wish to leave a review.
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