Dick Grayson
Somewhere in the Bialyan Desert
Monday, September 3rd, 2012
My eyes open and the blinding light sends spike of pain shooting through my skull. I let out a cry and grab my head, waiting for the pain to stop. Slowly, it settles into a pounding headache that I can at least tolerate. I sit up, wincing when my head throbs again. My mouth is dry and my throat hurts like I swallowed a pile of broken glass. I rub my eyes to relieve the pressure and my hands meet fabric. I'm wearing my mask.
I open my eyes and my mouth drops open. I slam my eyes shut and open them again more slowly to make sure I saw it right the first time. The desert is still there. It's bright and empty, with nothing but yellow cliffs and orange sand as far as I can see. I push myself up using the rock wall at my back. The second I'm on my feet, my head throbs again and I realize just how thirsty I am. With another groan, I walk to the end and look around. A dust cloud forms in the distance, smoky, billowing and dark. The sound of an engine fills the air and my eyes widen.
Someone's coming.
I shoot my grappling gun up into the cliff side and duck between the rocks, hoping that I'm out of sight because my uniform colors could not stand out more. The engine roars and a military grade rover zooms past, armed soldiers hanging off the sides. I study the insignias as best as I can from my hiding place. The truck speeds off towards the east—judging by the position of the sun it's about twelve in the morning—as I try to remember what the insignias represent.
"Those are Bialyan Republican Army Uniforms," I realize suddenly, reaching for my holocomputer, "But what are Bialyans doing in, uh…"
The holocomputer displays my last open program, which for some reason is a GPS map and a red circle flashing over...
"Bialya? Okay, better question. What am I doing in Bialya?"
The timestamp on the bottom of the screen catches my eye.
12:02 03 – 09.
09.
"In September?! What happened to March?! What the hell is going on? Why am I in Bialya anyway? And where's Batman?"
My head aches again.
"Better radio him. He probably scouted ahead and got me lost," I mutter, raising my hand to the comm in my ear but before I can press it, I remember something.
"Maintain radio silence at all times," Batman orders in front of the same GPS map as the one on my holocomputer.
"Or not," I pull my hand away from the comm. I scan the horizon, but it's all clear. Taking two steps off the yellow cliffs, I launch myself into the air and flip, landing softly on the ground. There's a small rock formation sticking out of the ground, covered by something black and red. I pick it up and my eyes narrow.
It's a ripped piece of fabric with Superman's shield on it.
Superman doesn't wear black. He never has and I've heard him and Lois arguing about whether or not it would make him look evil too many times to believe that he ever will. Whoever's this is, it's not Superman's. But there's a reason this is here. There's no normal explanation for why Superman's symbol is in the middle of the Bialyan desert.
A bead of sweat rolls down my back and I lick my lips but there's barely any moisture left in my mouth. I check my utility belt, hoping for something that will help. Against all odds, there's a flask clipped to the back of my belt where mission-specific tools go. The flask is mostly empty, but there's still some liquid sloshing around when I shake it. I unscrew it carefully and take a small sip. The water is cool and soothing against my dry throat and it takes all the self-control I have not to drink it all at once. I screw the cap on tightly and clip the flask back onto my belt for later. My stomach growls and I reach for a protein bar. Luckily, the food-stash Batman commanded me to keep fully stocked at all times still has three bars left. That means I've already eaten two of them. Or at least, someone else has eaten them, judging by the fact that I still have water left and I don't think I've eaten in a while. I rip open the wrapper and take a big bite.
The sun is still beating down overhead and I look around for a shady spot. There's a little crevice between two rocks walls that gives me an idea. I pull on the release clip and tug off my cape. I pile rocks on one end of the cape and stretch it across the gap, yellow side up for camouflage, then I loop the top around a weirdly-shaped rock formation. It's not pretty, but there's a big spot of shade underneath my makeshift tent. I sit down and lean against the rock, letting out a deep breath now that I'm out of the sun. Sweat beads around my mask, making it itch unpleasantly, and I'm tempted to take it off. Instead, I pull off my gloves and let my fingers breathe. Heat radiates off my hands and I wrinkle my nose at the smell.
I must have been wearing these for a while.
A breeze drifts through and the cool air feels incredible. I try not to think about the fact that I'm stranded in the middle of the Bialyan desert with no contact and limited supplies and instead try to focus on figuring this mess out.
How did I get here? Why am I missing six months? Why did Batman say to maintain radio silence? Where did the Superman logo come from?
"You've got superhearing, right Supes? If I stood up and yelled 'Superman' would you come?" I laugh, fanning myself with my hands, "That's a great idea, isn't it?"
It would probably work. It would also probably draw the Bialyan Army to my position. I lean my head back again, staring up at the black fabric of my cape. There are some weird brown stains on it that I hadn't noticed before. Did I have a run-in with Clayface that I forgot about?
"Definitely time for a cleaning."
The wind rushes past again, and it's the only sound for miles. It's eerie.
Eerie.
That's a great word. Not much room for improvement. What if it was spelled Eery? Hm. No, that's just weird.
"Why am I in Bialya?" I mutter, laying my glove across my lap to access the computer again. The GPS map appears and I study it carefully.
Batman sent me. I know that much for certain. What do I know about Bialya? It's a dictatorship, ruled by Queen Bee. That's about it. What do I know about Queen Bee?
Another memory jumps back at me.
"She's capable of enthralling anyone with a mature endocrine system with an attraction to women. Fortunately for you, it will be several years until you reach that point. Regardless, you should not engage her. The metahumans in her employ are incredibly dangerous. Should you ever meet Psimon, you will be fortunate to retain any brain function afterwards," Slade instructs and my hand flies across the page of notes.
Psimon! He's her most trusted enforcer and he's definitely capable of wiping out six months' worth of memories! But since when has Slade taught me about villains? If what I remember is really from six months ago, then has everything changed so much so fast? I never train with Slade more than twice a month, and we're still working on the basics of combat technique. Why would he be teaching me about supervillains?
A shiver runs down my spine.
"That's a little overwhelming," I say slowly, "But... it does explain some things. So what did the Queen do that made Batman send me to Bialya?"
I look back at the map and there's a GPS marker on a spot four miles directly east of here. Which is, of course, the direction that the Bialyan troops went in. At a normal speed, that would take maybe an hour and twenty minutes to walk. But right now? In the middle of the desert with limited water, food and a questionable amount of sleep? It's going to take at least triple that.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I pull my gloves back on, re-attach my cape and take another small sip from my flask.
"Let's go figure out what the hell I'm doing here."
By the time I approach the marker, the moon is high and the night sky paints a blue light over the sand dunes. I'm almost out of water, but the cool night air makes it easier to forget how thirsty I am. I just hope I can figure this out soon, or else I'm going to be in big trouble. I pull up the map as I climb the nearest sand dune.
"Now where are you?" I mutter as I get closer to the dot on the screen.
I scan the horizon in front of me. Beyond the next dunes, the sand slopes down. In the center of the pit, there's a huge mechanical box shaped like a giant trapezoid that has "League tech" written all over it. Not literally, but it might as well. I duck behind a huge sand dune for cover.
"Found you," I grin. Slowly, I peer over the top of the dune. This is definitely a trap. I'd honestly be more surprised if it wasn't a trap.
I scan across the sandy plane. There's no one in sight, but my gut still says something's wrong. I look more closely at the sand. After trekking through the desert for almost five hours, I know a thing or two about sand. Sand is coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. I'm going to be pulling sand out of my uniform for the next month after this. But sand also lies flat or in peaks. The gently sloping sand piles surrounding the giant device look nothing like the thousands of ripples or dunes I've seen today.
I count five of them. I'm probably missing one or two. I jump into the air over my hiding spot and land a few feet from the device. I walk forwards and before I take two steps, soldiers rise out from their hiding spots. I grin.
"Called it," I mutter.
"Her majesty wants him alive!" one of the soldiers shouts. Either that or "Her majesty enjoys newspapers!"
My Bialyan isn't great.
The soldiers rush forwards, and I drop a smoke pellet. The thick black smoke billows out, but the lenses in my mask let me see through it. The Bialyans start coughing, telling me exactly where they are. I kick one in the head, and he's not even looking in the right direction. He collapses, gun flying out of his hands. Two soldiers turn at the noise, guns ready to fire. I throw two bolos at them and they both go down, arms bound at their sides.
I run back into the smoke cloud. The next soldier doesn't see me until I'm right in front of him. I spring up, kneeing him under the chin. The force of the blow sends him flying backwards where he crashes against the ground, flat on his back. I land softly and turn to see that more soldiers have arrived. I pull out two birdarangs in each hand and disarm two of the soldiers. The third one ducks and the projectile whizzes over his head. I charge towards him as two more close in behind me.
Jumping into the air, I grab the third soldier's shoulders and flipping myself over him. I twist, pulling him off-balance and using the momentum to kick the other two in the head. All three go down and I skid to a stop a few feet away. Before I can move, they're back on their feet. Three guns are pointed at me and rage radiates towards me in waves. One of them shouts something and the only word I know is "Fire!"
I flip backwards as they start shooting, landing just beyond their range. They adjust their aim, but before they can shoot, a black blur whizzes past.
"I'll hold that. Thanks!"
The blur skids to a stop and throws down all the guns. I almost cry in relief. Wally grins at me before zooming into the fray. He takes out two while I punch the last one. I hear a trigger click and whirl around to see two more soldiers taking aim. I duck as they fire, but an invisible force throws them back. I turn again to see a green girl materialize out of thin air. Wally takes out three more but the last soldier standing is sprinting away from the battle. There's the sound of an arrow notching and the arrow explodes into a bolo that wraps around the soldier's legs and sends him crashing to the ground.
Okay, so Wally and Speedy are here. Is the rest of the League here too? And who's the green girl standing next to me? I turn around to look for Speedy. Instead, there's a blonde girl dressed in all green. She grins down and Wally gives her a thumbs up in return, so I guess she's with us. Does that mean Speedy isn't?
Now that the battle is over, Wally runs over to me.
"KF!" we high-five and clasp hands tightly, "Man, it's good to see a familiar face."
"Hey, Rob," Wally laughs casually, "Memory loss?"
"Six months!" I exclaim. I nod back at the unconscious soldiers, "Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes."
There's only seven of them in total, which is kind of disappointing. It seemed like there were way more of them. I've got to work on knocking the bad guys out with one hit. We get them tied up quickly, using rope that was in one of their trucks. Then come introductions.
The green girl introduces herself as Miss Martian. The arrow girl is Artemis. Miss Martian explains what she's remembered so far.
"So we're a team?" I ask when she finishes explaining. There's no way! I'm Batman's partner! I don't have time to be on a team and patrol Gotham too. Not to mention the fact that Batman would never agree to let me join a team. But Miss Martian nods.
"The four of us and Superboy."
Oh! I reach into my utility belt and pull out the scrap of fabric.
"Then this must be his."
"Yes!" Miss Martian exclaims, grabbing it out of my hands and demanding, "Did you see him?"
"I think we did," Artemis answers.
"Feral boy?" Wally asks, rubbing his chin in thought before putting his hands on his hips, "Some teammate. He attacked us."
"He didn't know who we are," Artemis pointed out, throwing her hands wide, "I don't know who we are!"
Wally glares at her and is about to retort, but I jump in before the conversation can deteriorate.
"I remember Batman ordering radio silence. Our team must work for him!"
"How do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Wally demands, tapping the icon on his chest. There's a digital clicking sound and bright yellow spreads out across his suit, turning it from a black version into his normal yellow and red suit.
"Whoa! This is so cool!" he exclaims, tapping his chest again. The rest of us all try tapping our chests but nothing happens.
"We look ridiculous!" Artemis growls. She looks over at Wally who is still changing his suit's colors and her face contorts with irritation. He doesn't notice, "Quit touching yourself!"
Wally looks up at her, his face blank. Without breaking eye contact, he taps his chest again. Artemis groans, "Ugh! We need our memories back!"
Miss Martian looks down, rubbing her wrists. Then she brings her hands up to her temples and her eyes glow with white light. Then suddenly the desert is gone. We're standing on a platform in darkness, surrounded by streaks of purple light and shards of glass that are playing videos of the four of us. In one of them, I see myself in a green sweatshirt and dark glasses, grinning at Wally with this Superboy in between us. A column of light forms, splitting apart the fabric of whatever weird reality this is.
'I brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far. But I need your help.'
The column of light solidifies into Miss Martian, curled up in a defensive posture.
"Together, our broken memories can form a whole… if you open your minds to mine."
Artemis backs up fearfully.
"Whoa, whoa, hang on! You want to paw through our private thoughts?!"
Miss Martian holds up her hands, "I have no wish to intrude. But—"
"We need to hack our minds to get what happened to us. Got it. Go," I say, putting my hands on my hips. I'm not crazy about this—judging by the sunglasses, Batman wants me to keep my secrets hidden—but we have to know what happened. Better to just get it over with. Artemis glares at me.
"My brain's all yours. Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you," Wally announces with a flourish and a wiggle of his eyebrows. I roll my eyes. The worst part about his dumb flirting routine is that Wally is actually a genius. Physics is his entire life outside hero work. But I can't let his head get too big.
"Or underwhelm you," I raise my eyebrows at him, "Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"
Artemis still doesn't look convinced, but Wally steps forwards and squeezes her hand. She looks down.
"Last six months only. And only what you need," she finally says. Miss Martian nods firmly. She holds out her arms and closes her eyes. Beams of light shoot out from her hands, and then everything goes dark.
"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there. Bialya is a rogue state, ruled by Queen Bee, and not a member of the League's U.N. charter. All communications are suspect to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times," Batman says in front of the GPS map from earlier.
The scene changes and I'm looking through a pair of binoculars.
"You'll land in Quarac, on Bialya's border, two clicks from the hot zone," Batman's voice says.
I look over at where Miss Martian and Artemis are standing watch as Superboy unloads the trapezoid device.
"All clear," I tell them.
The scene changes.
"The Bialyans control the site," Artemis whispers. Artemis and I scale a sand dune and stare over the edge where a makeshift tent had been established.
The scene changes again.
Superboy is still carrying the enormous device.
"Set up here," a voice commands and it takes me a second to place the voice.
The scene changes again.
"We'll be up and running in no time," I hear myself saying, but all I can think about is Kaldur because that was Kaldur's voice and if he was here and he's not now then he's in trouble and we can't just leave him!
"Jackpot!" Wally yells, "The site's lousy with Zeta beam radiation."
"Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent."
"I'll check it out in camouflage mode," Miss Martian offers.
"Good idea. Go," Kaldur responds confidently.
The scene changes again.
"Careful," Superboy says.
The view pans over to where the rest of us are standing.
"And maintain telepathic contact," Kaldur orders.
"I will Aqualad," Miss Martian responds.
The scene turns to white, and suddenly memories are flooding back into my mind. The past six months fill themselves in and I remember the last months few of junior high and patrolling with Batman and playing hide-and-go seek outside with my brothers and sisters. I remember the day that I was supposed to have become a member of the League, but instead Aqualad, Kid Flash and I infiltrated Cadmus and freed Superboy. I remember arguing with Speedy, going on our first real mission and defeating AMAZO. I remember telling my siblings about Superboy and fighting with Uncle Clark and seeing Babs for the first time in months. I remember Clayface, the failed mission. I remember M'gann coming into my room and telling me that she knew about… about… about…
Black and orange fill my vision and suddenly everything spins and jerks back and the flood becomes a hurricane.
A barrage of memories hit me, all the bad ones at once. I remember the first time Slade brought me to the Haunt, I remember the first time we sparred and he stopped holding back, I remember Slade making me improve my hacking skills, I remember merciless fists pummeling me to the ground for talking back or messing up, I remember lying to Bruce and Alfred and Babs, I remember all the times I snuck away for training, I remember the exhaustion and the pride and the guilt, I remember fear when M'gann came into my room and told me that she knew about Slade. I remember the frustration as he demanded more and more of my time and the stomach curling fear at how much has changed in six months.
The first sensation to come back is that I'm shaking. Then I realize someone is shaking me.
"Robin!" Wally shouts and I open my eyes slowly. I'm on the ground, curled up in the sand. Artemis and Wally are watching me nervously, while M'gann's eyes are wide in horror.
"I'm okay," I tell them, not making eye contact with M'gann. She saw everything. I know it.
Did Artemis and Wally see it too?
Wally squats down and rubs my back in slow circles.
"Are you okay, Rob?"
His voice is so full of concern and helplessness that some of the tension evaporates. If he'd seen it, he would be demanding answers, not checking me for signs of brain damage. I nod.
"Yeah, just a little whelmed."
"What happened?" Artemis demands, looking at M'gann. M'gann frowns and hugs her arms over her chest, but she looks me right in the eye.
"The mind-share was severed," she says intently before looking away, "The sudden influx of memories without a conduit must have overwhelmed his mind for a minute. Robin, I'm so sorry!"
The mind-share was severed. She must have severed it, pushing my mind out so that the others wouldn't see what she saw. She did it for me, to protect my secret.
"It's okay, Miss Martian. I'm fine."
We make eye contact and I nod at her solemnly.
'Thank you.'
She nods back and relaxes, the anxiety fading off her face. I try to stand up but Wally pushes me down.
"Dude, you were shaking! Take it slow."
"I'm fine," I push myself up and Wally grudgingly helps me, "Where's Aqualad? What happened next?"
M'gann and Wally look away.
"We don't remember," Artemis fills in for them, "We don't have any idea where Aqualad is or where they took Superboy. Or why we lost our memories."
"Psimon."
Three sets of eyes snap to me.
"Who?" Wally asks.
"Psimon. He's a powerful psychic and Queen Bee's top enforcer. He has the power to pull off something like this."
"That sounds right," M'gann admits quietly. She looks up, "But we still have to rescue Superboy! And Aqualad!"
I pull up my holocomputer and frantically search for Aqualad's signal.
"He's close! But he's not moving."
"Let's go!" Wally shouts, lowering his goggles.
"Head six-hundred meters west," I point, and he's off in a blur. The three of us start running after him and after a couple seconds we see him trip and fall, crashing into the ground and rolling to a rough stop.
"KF!" I shout. By the time I catch up to him, he's back on his feet and brushing himself off.
"You okay?"
He nods, eyes slightly out of focus.
"Yeah, just low on fuel. Really low."
"Here," I pull out a protein bar and he takes it gratefully.
"How much further?" Artemis asks, eyeing the protein bar enviously. I reach into my utility belt and toss her the last one.
"Thanks," she says, catching it with one hand. Miss Martian's eyes glow and she hovers in the air for a few seconds. Then her eyes fly open and she points at a nearby sand dune.
"Over there!"
We rush over and climb over the dune, picking our way down another slope until we reach Kaldur's unconscious form, lying in the center of a group of rock formations. Kaldur's eyes are closed and he's not moving. M'gann reaches him first, flying directly over to him and putting her hands on his temples. The instant she touches him, he twitches and starts gasping out words in Atlantean.
"Tula, Mi somme, agapa usay."
Tula, my heart, I am with you.
"He needs immediate rehydration!" I shout, "Miss Martian, call the bioship!"
"It's out of range, but you can get him there fast," M'gann protests.
"He's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel," Wally shakes his head, out of breath and clearly exhausted, "Right now, I couldn't even carry her."
Artemis slaps away the hand that he points at her with a scoff.
"Why not just levitate him back?" she demands.
"I can't. I have to find Superboy!" Miss Martian lays Aqualad down gently and stands. Artemis and I exchange glances, "Six months ago, he didn't exist! He has no memories, just… animal impulses. I'm the only one who can help him!"
"Superboy's indestructible! Just ask those tanks!" Wally points back at the ambush site, "It's Aqualad who needs your help."
She doesn't move.
"Like now!" Wally adds sharply.
Miss Martian grabs at her head suddenly, eyes screwed shut in pain.
"No! Superboy's in pain! We can't wait," she yells. She shoots off into the air without another word.
"M'gann, wait!" Artemis yells.
"If Psimon mind-wiped us once, he can do it again!" I shout after her.
"Great! She's gone, and we have no way of getting Aqualad to the ship!" Artemis complains, throwing her hands in the air.
"How far is the ship, Rob?"
I pull out my holocomputer and locate the signal immediately.
"A mile and a half northwest."
"Okay. That's not so bad, right?" Artemis says, looking between us for reassurance. Wally meets her eyes and whatever passes between them, they both look calmer. I reach into my utility belt and pull out my collapsible bo-staff.
"Can you find a long stick?"
I dig through the pockets of my utility belt, praying that Batman's preparedness paranoia will have given me something I can use. The back-left pocket is stuffed with miscellaneous items that I never thought I'd have any use for. I pull out a pack of double A batteries, elastic loops that Batman refuses to admit are just really stretchy rubber bands, and a vacuum-packed cube of cloth. I break the seal and shake the cloth out to its full size so I can start tying it to the extended staff.
"How do you fit all that in there?" Artemis asks.
"You don't want to know."
Somehow, Wally manages to find a stick to use for the other side, and we have a makeshift stretcher. It takes all three of us to lift Aqualad onto it and we head out. Wally and Artemis start pulling the stretcher while I keep watch for Bialyan soldiers. We drag Aqualad through the desert, taking turns pulling the stretcher and keeping watch. We're a quarter mile from the bioship when there's trouble.
"There's a squad. What's the plan?" Kid Flash asks. I'm already gone, sprinting out from behind the dune to plant some explosive birdarangs and a voice recording in the sand behind the soldiers. They don't even glance at me before I'm back with Artemis and Kid Flash.
"Where were you?!"
"Breaking radio silence," I grin. There's an explosion behind us and the soldiers shout. The three of us sprint into action, taking down the remaining three before they have a chance to fight back. Once they're down, we don't waste any time in dragging the stretcher again.
"Just a little further!" I tell them.
Two minutes later, the bioship comes into view with a squad of soldiers surrounding it. Kid Flash and I look at each other and nod. Artemis pulls out her bow and notches an arrow.
"On my mark," I say, pulling out a birdarang and stepping out in the open, "Now!"
I throw it, and the projectile hits one of the soldier's hands and sends his gun flying. The other soldiers in the squad turn on me and start shooting. I flip backwards and stay out of the range of fire.
'Take him alive!' One of them shouts, and I glance down at the bullets littering the sand. My mouth goes dry when I see that they're not really bullets… they're tranquilizers. Two of the soldiers charge me. I throw a birdarang hard enough to lodge it in one of their chest plates. The birdarang releases a cloud of smoke and I rush forwards. Elbow strike, side kick, duck, punch, chest kick. They're down. Behind me, Kid Flash and Artemis finish off the other five and there's silence. The bioship is ours.
We drag Aqualad to the ship and the hatch doors open. All three of us let out a breath when the doors seal behind us and we're safe.
"Camouflage mode," I say and the ship beeps, shifting suddenly so we're hidden.
It's easy to get the ship to reconfigure into an infirmary and Artemis retrieves an IV bag while Kid Flash and I lift Aqualad onto the table. She hooks up the IV drip and it only takes a few minutes before the color returns to Aqualad's face.
The three of us let out another breath but it's still not time to relax. Not until Miss Martian and Superboy are safe.
"Do you have a position on Miss Martian?" Artemis asks. I pull up the Bioship's main screen and show the GPS readout.
"I can't pinpoint an exact location, but she and Superboy are in the same area."
"What do we do?"
I hesitate. Miss Martian is the best equipped to handle Psimon, and if the Bialyans are trying to capture us, running in blindly while we're all dehydrated and exhausted puts all of us in danger. But if Miss Martian needs help, the longer we wait, the more danger she's in. Kid Flash makes the decision for us.
"Give it fifteen minutes. If they don't report in, we give the League our position and go after them."
Artemis and I nod. Kid Flash rummages through the emergency supplies and returns with three bottles of water and a handful of MREs.
Ugh. Those things are disgusting.
My empty stomach spasms at the thought of food, reminding me just how hungry I am. So, I grab one of the packets and the three of us choke down the emergency rations. Actually, Artemis doesn't seem to mind the taste, and Kid Flash inhales four of them in the time it takes me to finish mine.
Gross, but they get the job done.
Aqualad lets out a groan suddenly and we run over. He tries to push himself up but his arms shake so badly he collapses. Artemis reaches him first and catches him just before his head slams into the table.
"Hey, easy, Kaldur. Easy. Take it slow."
Kaldur blinks slowly, struggling to focus on her face.
"Kiven enste? Doanda secaray?!" he asks, clearly panicked. Artemis and Kid Flash look at each other in alarm, but I've never been happier that Kaldur taught me some basic Atlantean.
"Shemla, Kaldur," I move into his line of sight, "Ensten asimitas."
"Asimitas?" Kaldur finally manages to focus on my face, and his eyes flash with recognition while he visibly relaxes, "Robin? Doanda… where are we?"
"We're on a mission. Kid Flash is here too, and so is our friend Artemis," I say slowly, "I know you don't remember but I'll explain later. Just relax. You're safe."
Warily, Kaldur nods. He lets us lay him back down and he closes his eyes. The three of us exhale in unison.
"You speak Atlantean?" Artemis asks, looking impressed. I shrug.
"Enough to get by."
We sit in silence after that, anxiously watching the clock time by and pretending we aren't. We promised we'd give Miss Martian five more minutes.
'I found Superboy and we're on our way!' Miss Martian's voice calls through the mind link cheerily.
"Thank god," Artemis breathes, and just like that, the tension is gone.
But then Aqualad bolts upright and panics, 'Who are you?! How did you get inside my head?'
'Hello Megan! I knew there was something I forgot! Don't worry, I'll be there soon.'
"She's a Martian," I tell Kaldur before he can panic any more, "And our friend."
'Oh man!' Kid Flash thinks suddenly. 'I forgot to get a souvenir.'
'Got that one covered,' Superboy thinks, but there's a lightness in his voice that sounds like he's laughing. That sound is more reassuring than anything else. If Superboy is in a good mood, then the rescue mission must have gone great.
That being said, the second they get back to the ship, we're gone.
AN: Dick and Kaldur's friendship is under-appreciated, and they're much closer than any of their teammates realize. M'gann is doing her best to keep her word, but is she really helping Dick by keeping his secret? And how much longer will Robin be able to pass off his familiarity with all-things villainous as Bat-omniscience?
If you're enjoying this, please leave me a comment and let me know! I've been finding a bunch of small changes and plot holes that I'm trying to close as I go so posting is taking long than I thought. Thanks you so much for reading!
Atlantean Translations: (I made these up so don't worry about it too much)
Tula, Mi somme, agapa usay- Tula, my heart, I am with you.
Kiven enste? Doanda secaray? -Who are you? Where am I?!
Shemla, Kaldur. Ensten asimitas. - Peace, Kaldur. We're friends.