The fancy title is a reminder that this chapter covers two episodes at once!
~/~/~/~
The Warworld
May 27, 06:04 UTC
Siren was seething when she walked into the Warworld through a portal provided by Doctor Fate. The room was nearly empty, certainly missing some important people, and Siren was pissed.
"Someone better start talking," she snapped.
"What happened?" Nightwing said, equally as angry as his co-leader. "What happened to the rest of our team?"
Blue Beetle, the only team member to not have gone missing, looked distraught. In his hands was a mask covered in black metal plating and holes down the front to allow for breathing...or screaming.
Sam. Siren's anger was joined by sudden fear, making her head spin.
"It's all my fault," Blue said weakly.
"That assessment is inaccurate," Green Beetle countered.
"Just...tell them what you told us," Captain Atom encouraged.
Blue Beetle looked up at the two leaders. They mirrored each other by crossing their arms and staring at him in silence. Waiting for an explanation.
"We'd won. We were all here in this bay, and Wonder Girl had Mongul hogtied," Blue began. "Then, suddenly, a boom tube opened up right beneath our feet. I flew up and out, it- it was instinct, you know? But before I could do anything else, the boom tube closed and the others were gone."
Nightwing had opened his wrist computer at the mention of a boom tube, leading Siren to read over his shoulder. "Definitely reading traces of boom tube activity," the former Boy Wonder confirmed.
"But why here? And by who?" Siren questioned.
"We think Mongul may have opened the boom tube as a means of escape, gaining the team as captives in the bargain," Captain Atom explained. "The team...and worse."
"Impulse had the crystal key," Blue Beetle added.
Siren looked away, pressing her fingers to her temple when it throbbed with a migraine. What kind of fucking mentor am I? What kind of team leader? I should have been here.
"So the priority is making sure no one uses it to reactivate the Warworld. Captain Marvel and Rocket are already guarding the key chamber," Captain Atom said. "And the Justice League will continue guarding it in shifts until the key is found and the threat is ended."
"It's all my fault," Blue Beetle repeated.
Siren approached the young hero, resting her hands on his shoulders. "No. It's not. You couldn't have known that this was going to happen and it's certainly not wrong of you to act on instinct. I promise, we don't blame you for this," she said gently.
"We'll figure this out," Nightwing assured from behind her. "For now..."
"I will ensure that he gets home safely," Green Beetle offered.
"No, I wanna stay!" Blue Beetle protested. "I wanna help!"
Siren dropped her hands when Nightwing drew closer to the teenager. "You will help," he promised. "But right now, you need rest, sleep. Go."
At the silent request, Doctor Fate opened another portal, providing the two Beetles a way to get home. But before they walked away, Siren stopped the younger one.
"Leave Banshee's mask with me," she requested.
Silently, he handed it over. Siren's thumbs brushed across the plating as she stared down at it, lost in thought. He must have had it in his hand and dropped it when he fell through the tube.
Blue joined Green but glanced back at the leaders one last time before they stepped through. "I'm sorry."
Nightwing frowned. "No. Whoever did this...they'll be sorry."
Siren was silent as she watched the armored heroes leave, conflicting emotions running through her mind. Once the portal was gone, she did a quick scan of the room. Time to get to work.
After the two Leaguers also left the Warworld upon the assurance that Siren and Nightwing could handle the search on their own, the young adults got busy. Their first discovery was that the Bioship was luckily still docked at the hangar, fitting Blue Beetle's story. But where did they go?
Siren paced around the room for what felt like the hundredth time, picking apart every section piece by piece to find any sort of clue as to what fully happened. She couldn't guarantee that, in his frenzied state, Blue Beetle had given all the details. Not to mention, they had no way of knowing who even ordered the boom tube to take the team anyway.
Sam...I hope you're okay. Wherever you are.
The kid was still fairly new to the game, although it was hard to believe that it was nearly a year since Siren took him under her wing officially. And it's hard to believe that, in a few short months, I'll have known him for six years.
Siren was determined to find him and the rest of her team. Whoever had done this was going to pay. She swore it.
Nightwing, who had been searching up high while she stuck to the ground level, suddenly flipped down beside Siren. She would have thought nothing of it, hardly blinking at the sudden movement, if he hadn't remained in his kneeling position, examining the floor.
"What?" Siren questioned.
In turn, Nightwing remained silent, but she noticed the scratch marks he lightly touched. She realized that she must have missed them earlier, but she, too, fell silent as she let Batman's first protégé do what he did best.
So she followed him when he moved over to the airlock. And she followed his line of sight to see the panel had been busted.
"Airlock's damaged," Nightwing mused.
Siren's brow furrowed. "I'm sure Mongul kept this place in top condition, but Blue didn't say anything about the airlock." She crossed her arms, staring at the panel.
She kept her eyes on it although Nightwing stepped away again, unmoving until he caught her attention. "Si."
She looked over at him, seeing him holding up a familiar weapon. "Robin's birdarang?" she said curiously, walking over to where Nightwing was kneeling.
His computer was open in an instant to scan the object. And the results weren't all that hopeful.
"Birdarang must have scratched Blue's armor," Nightwing surmised.
Siren immediately frowned. Did Robin attack Blue? Was it an accident? ...Or on purpose? She glanced down at Banshee's mask attached to her hip, the unsettling feeling in her stomach only worsening.
"I don't think there's much else here for us to find," Nightwing said with a weary sigh. "Let's get the Bioship and head home."
Siren nodded, but still lingered even as Nightwing began to approach the docked Bioship. She looked around the room one last time, feeling more troubled than ever.
"I'll find you, Sam," she whispered.
~/~/~/~
Star City
May 28, 20:04 PDT
Jenna was curled up on her couch, holding Banshee's mask in both hands. A movie on her television was playing softly, but she wasn't really paying any attention to it.
Never had she felt so guilty in her life. The fact that she had to pay her protégé's family a visit earlier in the day was unbearable. To see his little sister look utterly devastated upon finding out why her brother wasn't home and that the leaders didn't know when he and the rest of their team would be found again.
She meant with all her heart when she told them that they were working hard to find the whole team, assuring them that they at least had a starting point. Even if she refrained from mentioning that the starting point barely gave any clues to begin with.
A soft meow came from behind Jenna's head, making her reach up to scratch Amp behind the ear. "I know, I miss the kid too."
A familiar text tone sounded from the phone resting on the coffee table, giving Jenna a simultaneous feeling of annoyance and hopefulness. She retracted her hand from her cat to instead pick up her phone.
But what was waiting for her wasn't what she expected.
Watch this. Now.
The link to the news broadcast had her intrigued so she complied, standing to take her empty mug to the sink while she watched.
"And in my role as The Reach's ambassador to your world, I want to take this opportunity to thank this great hero, a hero who almost single-handedly saved the planet Earth from the Warworld."
Jenna rolled her eyes as she padded into the kitchen. The voice of the Ambassador didn't get any less irritating and grating every time she heard it. Not to mention his bold-faced lie. Let me guess, Black Beetle saved the day?
"He saved yourlives. He saved our lives," he continued. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Blue Beetle!"
Jenna let out a gasp, eyes growing impossibly wide as she watched the member of her team walk into the frame with a broad grin on his face. No...
She gripped her phone tightly, barely registering the sound of glass shattering at her feet.
"Thank you. Thank you all," Blue Beetle spoke to the crowd. "But it is I who should express gratitude to you, Ambassador."
As he continued, his face plate peeled back to reveal his face, exposing his identity for the whole world to see. "For giving a normal, average human being like me the power of The Reach...the power to save the world."
Jenna's eyes trailed up to read a new message rolling in as the video came to an end. Her teeth gritted even further when she registered what it said.
This is bad.
Swallowing tightly, Jenna pressed her thumb against the side of her phone, effectively powering it down before she slowly set it on the small kitchen table. Then the trembling in her hands increased. It took her a while to even realize that the wheezing noise was her own hyperventilating breath. She stumbled backward, her lower back hitting the edge of the sink but she didn't register any pain.
Kaldur.
Artemis.
Nightwing.
Wally.
Miss Martian.
Sam.
Blue Beetle.
All of their faces flashed across her vision.
Jenna covered her face with one hand when the tears began to fall. Her skin was crawling and the feeling of nausea was unbearable.
I'm done. I'm done. I-
"I'm done," she choked out.
~/~/~/~
Jenna let out a groan when whoever was at her door knocked again. It's four in the morning, who would be awake at this hour? She had finally fallen asleep after her panic attack so her head felt like it was still splitting open.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she called out, shuffling to the door and unlocking it.
All irritation in her expression faded away when she saw who was standing behind it.
"Oh my god," she said with a shaky gasp, immediately yanking M'gann into her embrace. "You're okay!"
M'gann clung to her with similar ferocity, leaving the both of them standing in the doorway for a moment. Jenna might have been more urgent about closing the door since all she was wearing was a pair of skimpy shorts and a tank top, but her neighbors were currently dead to the world so she didn't care.
Finally, she pulled away, ushering M'gann into the apartment so they could talk.
"You are okay, right? You've been gone for over a month," Jenna stressed, eyeing her friend in concern.
M'gann let out a slow breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. So are Kaldur and Artemis."
Jenna swallowed tightly. "Does this mean..." She was almost afraid to jinx it.
But her fear diminished when M'gann nodded. "He's okay."
That was all Jenna needed to hear.
She dropped down onto the couch, covering her face. He's okay. She might not have believed in a higher power, but at that moment, she was convinced that her friend could perform miracles.
She felt M'gann's leg brush against hers once the Martian sat down and without looking up, she hugged her friend again, resting her chin on M'gann's shoulder. After dealing with so much anxiety about her friend's safety for so many weeks, and the episode she had mere hours before, it was a relief to feel her warm embrace again.
"I missed you," Jenna mumbled.
The arms around her body tightened. "I missed you too."
It was extremely late, so Jenna insisted that M'gann stay until morning and they could visit Nightwing together. Her phone was still turned off and in the other room so she silently decided that a phone call could wait until her mind was functioning at a higher capacity.
Which turned out to be late in the morning when Jenna woke up again. As she opened her eyes, she could immediately tell that she was alone. Glancing at the other side of the bed just as a reassurance, she confirmed that M'gann was no longer there.
Instead, she smelled food.
Brow furrowing, she climbed out of bed, scooping a needy black cat that had been meowing by her head into her arms.
"Yeah, yeah, let's get you something to eat," she mumbled.
Jenna shuffled down the hall and into the kitchen, blinking at the sight in front of her. "Uh," she said thoughtfully.
M'gann looked up from the stove, laying eyes on the blonde. She smiled. "Morning. Or 'afternoon', I guess."
She glanced around the kitchen briefly. "I hope this is okay," she said sheepishly. "I plugged your phone up and, uh, cleaned up the broken glass too."
Jenna sighed, kneeling beside Amp's food bowl after grabbing the bag of cat food from the pantry shelf. "I could have done that," she mumbled. She filled the bowl with the usual amount, scratching the cat on his head as she stood again.
She moved to the coffee pot only to find it finishing a new brew. "M'gann," she chastised.
She turned to face her friend, leaning a hip against the counter and crossing her arms. M'gann just matched her unimpressed stare.
"I could tell that you were...unwell last night, even without having to read your mind," she pointed out. "You've already been stretching yourself thin"–Jenna bristled at this, recalling when Nightwing implied the same thing the day M'gann had been kidnapped–"but last night was different. What's going on?"
Jenna's jaw tightened while she remained stationary for a long moment. Her gaze never left M'gann and vice versa until, finally, she broke the staring contest to grab a new mug and fill it with coffee.
While she prepared her drink as she liked, measuring out the exact amount of creamer and sugar she always used, she began to explain. From what happened after her friend was kidnapped by her other friend up until M'gann knocked on her door at four in the morning.
Frankly, there was a lot to cover. By the time she was finishing her explanation of the team's successful infiltration and defeating of the Warworld, M'gann had finished making lunch and both women were sitting across from each other at the table.
"So with Blue publicly aligning with the Reach, I doubt much of his story was actually true," Jenna said.
M'gann looked off to the side thoughtfully. "But think about it. Blue betraying the team? Does that make sense to you?"
Jenna poked at her pasta with her fork. "My instinct says no. That there's something more to this. After all, his technology was created by the Reach. We don't know the first thing about it so it's very possible that Green Beetle turned him when he 'fixed' his scarab," she debated.
Then she sighed. "But I'm scared to trust my instinct right now. Not when I believed without a doubt that Kaldur changed sides and that he murdered Artemis."
"Jenna," M'gann said in a light scolding tone, forcing her to look up. "If I recall correctly, you told me after I hurt Kaldur that it wasn't my fault and I couldn't have known. The same goes for you, you know."
Jenna sat in silence for a moment before she ducked her head, ready to change topics. "So that's what's happened to me for the past month, what about you?"
Before M'gann could start telling her story, Jenna's phone began to ring. Every time... She quickly glanced over at her friend as she stood, picking the phone up off the counter and answering the call.
"What?" she said, pressing the speaker button.
"Hey, I was going to go do another scan of the Warworld later today and I wanted to see if you wanted to come with. Since we now know Blue Beetle could be lying about everything, it's worth another look through."
Jenna watched M'gann's expression as she spoke, "Yeah, that's fine. But I'll be bringing someone along." She raised an eyebrow in a silent question which M'gann answered with a nod.
The voice coming out of her phone was laced with confusion. "Uh, who?"
"Hi, Dick," M'gann called out in response.
Silence followed. Even the blonde couldn't hide the amused grin she shared with the redhead sitting across from her.
"We'll meet you at the HQ after a while so we can talk, okay?" Jenna requested. "Bye."
She didn't give him a chance to respond as she hung up immediately after. Slumping in her chair, she glanced up at M'gann.
"I haven't spoken with him much since you were kidnapped. Same thing with Wally," she muttered.
"...Is that going to be a permanent thing?"
Jenna closed her eyes. "I don't know."
Silence fell over the two until the sound of a chair scraping across the floor broke through. Jenna looked up with a confused frown at M'gann who stood and held out a hand to her.
"What?" she asked.
M'gann smiled. "Get up. We'll go out before we have to go meet with Dick; maybe we can do some shopping or grab a coffee or something else."
Jenna snorted as she took M'gann's hand and was pulled to her feet. "I just had coffee," she said as her friend dragged her to the bedroom so she could get dressed.
Jenna should have felt offended at M'gann's knowing glance. "Has that stopped you before?"
~/~/~/~
The Warworld
May 30, 03:36 UTC
Nightwing was still surprised when Miss Martian walked into the team's HQ with Siren, to say the least. They had their joyful reunion while Siren hung back, not wanting to get in the way. And not wanting to look Nightwing in the eye.
Focus, Jen. You promised that you would keep things professional.
The following conversation was shorter this time around, given the fact that Siren had already explained their side of things to Miss Martian. So that just left her story, taking time to get Nightwing up to speed.
It wasn't any easier to hear the story a second time. About how Manta demanded that she repair his son's mind otherwise she would lose her life. About how Miss Martian and Artemis...Tigress...both went into Kaldur's mind because Artemis believed that, in his fragile state, he wouldn't see her presence as a threat.
She had wished I could be with them because she believed my presence would help him...I wonder if it would have.
Although Miss Martian was brief about their time in Kaldur's mind, she had gone into more detail with Siren. Artemis' panic about being caught 'underwater'. Miss Martian's warning of how none of it was real, but if Artemis allowed it to be, she could suffer permanent psychic damage. Then a sudden attack on them due to something protecting Kaldur in his ruined state.
What surprised Siren the most was learning what the protector was.
It was her.
Even while broken, Kaldur still carried so much trust and love for Siren that his mind designated a version of her to keep him safe.
Nonetheless, the guilt was eating up Miss Martian. Because of what she did to Kaldur, and in turn Siren, she allowed herself to forget her own warning. She believed that she deserved to be punished.
Except Artemis wasn't going to accept that. While Miss Martian was under attack, she had gone out to find Kaldur. Then, she managed to coerce him to go with her. And after a pretty stern lecture by the archer, Miss M got her head back into the game and began the process with Kaldur to heal Kaldur.
And they did. But they weren't out of the woods yet. Black Manta still intended on killing Miss Martian after she cured Kaldur so they began a ruse.
As far as anyone besides the three of them was aware, Kaldur was still not whole. But Manta threatened Miss Martian, telling her that she had twenty-four hours to cure him or she would die. The trio didn't have much time to come up with an escape plan, but before it had a chance to start, the ship was infiltrated.
By none other than Cheshire and Sportsmaster.
It took some convincing, and planning, but they, too, were let in on the secret of Kaldur's undercover mission. And in the chaos of their original attack on Black Manta and his son, Miss Martian managed to escape.
Then she ended up at Siren's doorstep a few short hours after the blonde had a panic attack.
Because during all of that, the team leader was dealing with her own issues. A kidnapped friend, two confrontations with her other friends, an attack on her planet, and her team missing with no trace left behind because Blue Beetle was now aligned with the Reach, whether willingly or unwillingly.
But what really happened? It had to have been a quick and easy job if no clues of what actually happened were left behind. It's a good thing we've got our mind reader back.
And speaking of...
"Anything?" Nightwing spoke up after the long silence.
Miss Martian, who had been focused on searching the Warworld telepathically, sighed. "No. I'm sorry. I can't sense any of them," she admitted turning around to look at both leaders. "But the Warworld is so big, they could easily be out of range."
Siren brushed a hand against Banshee's mask that was on her hip. Great...
Nightwing rubbed his neck tiredly. "We've been flying this surface grid pattern for hours. And- and you're exhausted."
"I'm fine!" Miss Martian quickly tried to reassure him. "I- I can do this."
"Of course, but there's no need to over-tax yourself so soon after your kidnapping," Nightwing pointed out. "Besides, we're not giving up. We'll start over where the team first disappeared. Look for a new lead as planned."
"...All right. If you think it best."
The three original team members returned to the hangar, ready to scour it once more. Although, if Siren was being honest, she wasn't sure what they expected to find even after they realized Blue wasn't telling the truth.
Miss Martian apparently had the same thought. "Haven't you two already scanned every inch of this place?"
"Yeah, but we're obviously capable of missing obvious clues," Nightwing said. "I totally should have spotted evidence of Blue Beetle's defection after Green Beetle 'fixed' his scarab."
"That's my fault. You asked me to scan Green's mind, and I vouched for him without delving deep," Miss Martian countered, laying a hand on Nightwing's shoulder. "I was so afraid to use my powers after what I did to Aqualad...I allowed Green Beetle and his scarab to feed me exactly what The Reach wanted us to believe."
She looked up at Siren as she joined them. "So Blue trusted Green and was turned by him, then somehow abducted the team. All on me," she whispered.
Nightwing grabbed her arms. "Except you never would've been in that position if I had trusted you with the secret of Aqualad's deep cover mission. I put you, Aqualad, Artemis, the whole team, in unacceptable danger."
Siren's teeth ground against each other. She understood that he was trying to assure Miss Martian that it wasn't her fault, which it wasn't. But something about him telling her and not Siren that he should have had more trust in her just...hurt. Resurfacing every bit of anger that she felt a month ago.
Miss Martian only smirked. "So. This is our guilt-off," she said, raising an eyebrow. "I say I messed up, then you say you messed up worse?"
Nightwing dropped his hands with a frown as she continued, "Dick, we both made mistakes, and we both need to get over ourselves. Save the team, then save Blue. As a certain thirteen-year-old was once fond of saying, 'That's just what we do.'"
The smile she got in return was one that Siren hadn't seen for a long time. Tears stung her eyes as she forced herself to look away.
Steeling herself, she stepped forward. I need to tell him.
But before she could speak, one of the hangar doors behind her began to creak and groan loudly. Siren froze for a second before her mind kicked into high gear and she whirled around with a throwing knife in hand. The other two heroes behind her readied themselves too, prepared for anything.
To their surprise, the chatter coming from behind the door sounded very familiar. Siren quickly holstered her weapon, straightening up with a small, relieved smile as the door finally opened. Allowing something to roll into the room.
"Sphere!" Miss Martian cheered.
Sphere was just as excited to see them, bouncing up and down before hurrying to their sides.
Siren happily hugged her, feeling some of the tension in her shoulders seep out. "We missed you too, girl," she said with a chuckle in response to the unintelligible chatter.
She looked up when Miss Martian suddenly gasped. "Can you take up to Superboy?" her teammate wondered.
With no hesitation whatsoever, Sphere morphed into the Super-Cycle, providing enough space for the three adults.
"I think that's a yes," Nightwing said with a grin.
We're on our way, team. Siren took the controls, waiting for the other two to climb aboard. "Super-Cycle, lead the way."
~/~/~/~
The Super-Cycle zoomed down one of the corridors, hardly slowing down. Siren fought a smile when she realized that she was probably just as eager to get to Superboy–and the rest of the team–as her human companions were. Almost there.
Siren felt the Super-Cycle rev underneath her, making her focus on their immediate surroundings as they entered an intersection to a larger hallway. And sure enough, a squad of Reach soldiers came into view, clearly trying to enter a closed door. It didn't take much to guess what was behind it.
Siren put two fingers into her mouth and blew, letting out a sharp whistle to catch the soldiers' attention. By the time they got fully turned around, half were telepathically thrown against the wall and the others had a former acrobat drop down on them from above.
The Super-Cycle came to a stop in front of the door, touching down as Siren began to call out an order, "Nightwing, get that door o-"
Then the door opened on its own.
"-pen," Siren finished with a huff.
And behind the door was the cause.
Arsenal grinned at them. "Hey, fearless leaders. Better late than never."
Siren ignored the irritatingly nostalgic feeling inside her at that nickname.
"Everyone safe?" Nightwing inquired, approaching the team.
"For now."
Siren tore her eyes away from the group, finishing her silent head count. All were accounted for. "And the crystal key?" she asked.
"Gone," he answered, making Siren bite back her frustration.
Then he looked back at an apparent ongoing fight. Siren's eyes widened upon seeing Mongul and Black Beetle. "And we better get gone, too, before one of them declares a winner," Arsenal added.
"Right. Move out," Nightwing ordered.
"Alright, everyone, let's not waste any more time here!" Siren called out to the rest of the team.
The trek back to the Bioship was tedious. Those that were still trying to recover hitched a ride on Super-Cycle with Siren, leaving the others to follow along on foot in any shape or form. The closer they got to the hangar, the lighter Siren began to feel.
"All aboard," Miss Martian said once everyone was together again. "We're almost home free."
Siren swung off of the Super-Cycle, helping the members of her team off so they could slowly trudge up the Bioship's ramp.
She paused at the bottom, watching each team member while they boarded to ensure they were all arriving. ...Robin, Impulse, and-
She let out a long breath, a smile crossing her face as she saw who was approaching. "Hey, kiddo," she said softly.
Banshee still looked disoriented, certainly worse for wear if the nasty bruise on his jaw was anything to go by. But he was okay and that's all that mattered.
Siren held out his mask for him to take on his way past, but she was pleasantly surprised when he made a sudden detour, slotting himself between her arms and burying his face against her shoulder.
Her vision grew a little blurry as she tilted her chin, dropping a gentle kiss on the side of his head. She hugged him fiercely.
"I missed you too," she whispered into his messy hair.
She didn't care that they needed to be getting inside to leave that hellhole; she was more than happy to stay where she was for as long as Banshee needed.
"I think congratulations are in order."
Siren opened her eyes, not moving from her position as she looked down the ramp at her co-leader who stood with the four teenagers that had shown up out of nowhere.
"No training, no guidance, and yet you pulled it off," Nightwing continued with an impressed smile. "When we get back, after a debrief, there might be a place for all of you with the team."
One of the kids was certainly interested in that proposition, perking up with a 'wow, really?' But his companions...not so much.
"So now that we saved your butts, you're cool with us not being STAR Lab's guinea pigs," the long-haired boy said irritably.
"Dude, chill!" his friend admonished.
Siren frowned. She hadn't realized it earlier. They were some of the abductees they saved on the Reach ship. Those four, in particular, had been taken to the STAR Labs in Taos–where apparently one of the boys' dads worked–to be tested, allowing a little more insight into what the meta-gene was.
Obviously, the teenagers weren't happy about it so they had decided to escape one night. Nightwing had sent Blue Beetle on a solo mission to find them and take them back to STAR Labs where they were the safest with the Reach still being a threat. And clearly, the mission was a failure.
Although now knowing what happened to Blue Beetle, maybe it was a good thing.
Almost as if he read Sien's thoughts, Arsenal approached Nightwing. "Before we head back, we need to talk about Blue Beetle. He betrayed us."
"Look who's talking!"
Bumblebee, who hadn't entered the ship yet, walked back down the ramp to stand by Siren and Banshee. "Last thing I remember is you blowing an airlock without warning," she recalled. "Nearly got us all killed and absolutely guaranteed our capture!"
Siren whipped her head around. "Excuse me?" She released her hold on Banshee, moving beside Bumblebee.
"Hey! After eight years on ice, there's no way I was getting grabbed again," Arsenal snapped, ignoring the glares around him. "And in case you hadn't noticed, my escape resulted in you being free now to stand here and complain."
He got up in Bumblebee's face. "So how about a 'thank you'?" he asked sarcastically.
Nightwing reached out to touch his shoulder, preventing a full-blown fight before it even started. "You're right, Arsenal. Thank you," he began. "And after we get back to Earth, you're off the team."
"W- well, wait a minute!"
"I- if it wasn't for Arsenal, we wouldn't have rescued anyone!"
Siren's lips pursed as the runaway teens spoke up to vouch for him.
"That may be, but this isn't the first time he's pulled this kind of stunt," Nightwing told them before turning back to the kid in question. "Intentionally endangering the lives of teammates in order to further his own agenda or guard against his own personal demons...it's unacceptable. So until you prove yourself a team player, you have no place on this team."
"Wait a minute," Arsenal quickly interrupted. "Siren was the one who recruited me in the first place, shouldn't she have the final say?"
Siren met his questioning gaze, staring at the kid that her brother was a clone of. She then turned her head, sharing a look with Nightwing. With a barely noticeable upward tilt of her chin, she knew he would understand. That she agreed with her co-leader.
She glanced back at Arsenal, whose frown deepened when he noticed hers.
"I understand that you've been through a lot. And I understand that you have a lot of PTSD from what happened to you," she began slowly, keeping her voice level. Calm but firm. "It was my fault for recruiting you so quickly. I should have waited, allowed you to have time to work through your problems before expecting you to be able to work with others."
Siren crossed her arms. Arsenal's scowl grew.
"What Nightwing says, goes," she said with finality. "Maybe later on, when the two of us have had time to work on what your priorities should be on a team, you can rejoin if you'd like. But until then, we can't risk something else like this happening again."
"Now, let's get aboard and get out of here," Nightwing quickly said. "We can discuss this further when we're not behind enemy lines."
Siren felt Banshee step away, walking up the ramp to join the rest of the team finally. But she stayed behind so that she would be the last to board. She looked back at the unhappy group of teens, brow furrowing when she noticed the glances they all shared.
"Sounds like there's nothing left to discuss," the kid with the helmet finally said.
"See, we don't need your help getting back to Earth, or your offer to join the team," said surprisingly by the one who seemed interested at first...but not anymore. "We have our own way of doing things."
"What do you say, bro?" the long-haired kid asked Arsenal. "Want to ride with us?"
Siren shouldn't have been surprised when he wasted no time in considering his options. "Sounds like a plan," he said.
"Arsenal, hang on a second-" Siren froze when she saw the girl pull something out of her pocket.
"Wait, is that a-" Nightwing began, but it was too late.
"Home, please," the girl requested to the Fatherbox, and in an instant, a boom tube opened up beneath their feet.
Then they were gone, leaving Siren, Nightwing, and Bumblebee to stand in shocked silence.
Siren's open mouth clicked shut before she took a deep breath. "Nothing we can do now," she said. "We need to go."
But as the other two began to board, she remained where she stood, staring at the spot where the five teens had disappeared. For a moment, she couldn't help but feel guilty, thinking that she had failed Arsenal–and, in turn, the four runaways–because she wasn't thinking like a leader, instead letting the responsibility fall on Nightwing.
"Si, you coming?"
She closed her eyes briefly, turning to join her co-leader inside the Bioship. And before he could walk away, she grabbed his wrist, causing him to look at her.
"We need to talk."
~/~/~/~
Oh man, we're so close to the end! Three chapters to go! I am super, super thrilled to be reaching the end of another fanfic. I hope it's been enjoyable!
Just as a reminder, I do plan on writing a third fic (it's in the works) so if you want to be notified when it drops, be sure to follow me! I'll get a little more into when that will be soon.
See you next week!
