Sorry for the long delay. School and writer's block got in the way. The only reason I was able to update is because I'm sick. Yay.
ForeverA90'sKid,yeah, the chapter was dedicated to you both.
Oh, and to that one guest. Yes. I know who you are. I literally told you about this story while we were on the bus. HOW WOULD I NOT KNOW?
**I realize the last chapter raised questions, so I'm going to answer them at the bottom of this chapter. Look there for answers!**
Disclaimer: I do not own YJ.
I hope you enjoy!
Consciousness snuck back in silently. He was too busy in his mental cries that he didn't notice the light that seeped through his eyelids and the soft fabric of the pillow beneath his head. He let out a low groan as he opened his eyes, still half in the world of dreams, until adrenaline and panic shot through him.
Barbara.
He sat up quickly, not recognizing his surroundings or remembering what had happened at first. He was covered in sweat and was panting, as if he had awoken from a horrible nightmare. It was only when pain arced down his back and his leg and his whole body ached did he remember and lie back down. His heart was still pounding and his body hurting, but now he was mentally aware and competent. He (much slower and with much more care than before) sat up so he was in a sitting position and looked around the room.
He knew that he should probably alert his Team that he was awake so they wouldn't further worry, but he didn't want to see them. The memory he had dreamed up of when he had been stabbed by one of Two-Face's goons had been so vivid he had thought it was real, and being reminded that it wasn't hurt.
He gasped in a few more ragged breaths, before his breathing went back to normal. His mouth was dry and his throat was scratchy, but he ignored the discomfort. As he mentally replayed the events in his mind. His last memory was Wally carrying him carefully before he completely succumbed to unconsciousness.
Is Garfield okay?
"He's fine dude. We found him sitting in the room clutching your cape." Wally told him.
That was before he passed out. That meant the boy had taken the bribe. He let out a relieved sigh, he hadn't condemned the boy to certain death.
He realized too late, however, that his mental distress would be felt by a certain green-skinned telepath. The wooden door soon opened, with Marie and Miss Martian in front.
"Robin!" Miss Martian cried happily, moving so she was next to him, allowing Superboy, Kid Flash, and a wary Garfield to also enter the room.
As Marie fiddled with the equipment nearby (he hadn't even noticed the low-pitched beeping sound of the heart moniter), Kid Flash asked him, "Dude! Are you alright?"
He gave a weak smile with what little emotional energy he had left, "Yeah KF. Feeling the aster."
"You're lucky," Marie spoke up, "You suffered from minor shock, which quickly wore off, surprisingly. You just managed to avoid a full blood transfusion, only needing a plasma transfusion - which is lucky because I kept my blood supply at the clinic, but I had some plasma in storage here. You needed a total thirty stitches, as well as treatment for other various cuts and bruises." She seemed to be in doctor-mode, her face a serious calm. "It was touch and go for a while there."
Not the worst I've gotten. Bad, but… An image of Garfield lying the rubble of the explosion, his body broken and lifeless sent a shiver up his spine. Could have been worse.
He nodded, knowing that he should give some sort of response, but he couldn't think of what would be typical for his old self to do in this situation. Would he be emotionless? Would he crack a joke, easing the tension? Would that come off as too immature? He didn't know.
Marie let a thankful smile come over her face, "Thank you." She said softly, gratefulness clear in her voice. He gave her a nod and a smile, signalling he knew what she was talking about.
"Thank you, for patching me up." He said kindly, hoping that wasn't too out of character, but not entirely caring. He was getting tired of putting up a facade of being someone else who had died long ago.
She gave him a smile, before leaving the room, guiding Garfield out as well so they could talk alone. The silence, at first, was awkward. Miss Martian, Superboy, and Kid Flash shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say first and who should say it.
It was Superboy who broke the silence, when he asked, straight and to the point, "Why'd you do it?"
He gave a small shrug, "If I hadn't, he would have. And if he had…" he trailed off, the whole room knowing what could have happened if he hadn't gone to let the animals out. It was funny how such a small thing could make such a big difference.
"But you couldn't know that." Kid Flash pointed out.
He gave a slight nod, before saying, "Well, yeah. But I couldn't know that he wouldn't do it the second our backs were turned. I was not going to let a eight year old walk right into the line of fire. Kids don't take orders."
"That's what Marie said." Miss Martian agreed, before a look of realization flashing through her arms that made him wary, "How did you know that though, and why do you say it like that?"
"Like what?" He had made a mistake, he sensed, and he struggled to keep his mental balance, especially because the telepath was getting suspicious.
"Uh, dude, 'kids don't do orders', you do realize you are thirteen, right?" Kid Flash pointed out, and he inwardly cursed but managed to scoff and make his tone hold humor.
"Uh, you do realize KF, that normal thirteen year olds do not work with Batman." He mentally congratulated himself. Perfect excuse. He was Batman's partner, and Batman was, well, Batman. The others didn't know that him - the old him - wouldn't occasionally say something that Batman would say (he could picture Bruce as a ten year old, calling other kids his age children like he was already in his thirties).
They nodded, perfectly believing him as he completely lied through his teeth, manipulated his thoughts and facial expressions, and carefully controlled his emotions. He was a living a life that had been lost long ago, and no one knew how much it hurt to do it. He just wanted to go back! Back to when everything made sense. He didn't care if it was before the simulation or during, but either was preferable to what was happening after.
"We found out that Psimon has been controlling Harjavti." Kid Flash reported, and he nodded.
"Makes sense." He agreed, "He's the only one who could influence Harjavti for Bialya, with Queen Bee having an alibi." Psimon. I definitely jinxed it earlier.
"But how can we get him away from Harjavti?" Superboy questioned, making him think for a moment.
"I have an idea." He said to his friends as one formed in his mind. He then began explaining it to them, wondering what would they would think of it.
[Harjavti's alone.] He reported, and one by one (him last, since they were worried about his injuries. He's done more with worse but he couldn't necessarily tell them that) they entered the dark room.
Harjavti was simply staring out the window, in a trance like state before he turned to them. "Where's my daughter?" He asked, emotionless, before he pressed a hand to his head and asked wearily, "Where's Psimon?"
"Forget him. Let's get you out of here." He said to the man, and - of course - it was at that moment Bialyan guards came in with seemingly alien weapons. One man in particular moved so he was at the front of the group.
"Well well well, American heroes here to assassinate the president." he tutted, and he was dimly aware of Miss Martian sneaking behind the man in camouflage mode. "Such a shame we arrived too late to stop them."
Realization flowed through him. [Those are Apocolytan weapons.] Superboy reported.
[Which they'll use to kill Harjavti. We get blamed, and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac.] He said grimly, moving so he was in a better position to fight. [Form up around the president.]
[I found Psimon!] It was only through their mental link that he was aware that Miss Martian had left the room.
[Wait.] This was not good.
[I'll get her.] Superboy started to move to plow through the soldiers to get to the door.
[No! Rob's injured, and I can't take out all these guys alone. Miss Martian has proven that she can handle herself against Psimon.] Kid Flash told Superboy, and he let some of his annoyance leak through the psychic link. He hated feeling weak.
Before he could properly reply however, the guards began to shoot at them. He nimbly dodged the red discs that were buzzing with electricity, glad that he had left his cape with Garfield. He then leaped over the desk to fend Harjavti from two soldiers who had been preparing to kill him.
It was lucky for them that the soldiers seemed to have little practice with alien technology, and that the weapons seemed better suited for an outdoor, open-area combat. Not close combat with people who could fight back.
As he launched a bola at the last enemy, he was briefly aware of a younger woman enter the room and run over to the Quraci president. She bore a notable resemblance to Harjavti. Must be his daughter.
"Thank you for saving my father." She told them gratefully, confirming his thought, "We will take care of him now."
They nodded, and without another word ran out the door to find their missing teammate.
[M'gann, we're coming!] Superboy mentally yelled to the absent Martian girl as they ran down the hallway. One of the doors was ajar and they could see movement inside, so they barged in.
Instantly, a splitting headache erupted in his head and he fell to the ground, yelling in pain along with the Team.
Psimon!
Their yelling soon ceased at they slipped into unconsciousness. He gritted his teeth and forced the pain away. He had experience - too much experience - with Psimon in the simulation. He knew how to counter the quick but brutal brain blast.
"...brain blasting your own Team…" Psimon's cruel, taunting voice sounded in his ears, and horror flowed through him.
It had been M'gann who had attacked them.
Psimon said something else, and his vision began to fill with black spots. His head was turned away from the wall, so he couldn't see either M'gann or Psimon anyway.
"No!" M'gann's terrified shout was the last thing he heard before he blacked out.
Slowly, he began to awaken once more. The stitches on his back and leg screamed in protest when he stood, and he was forced to lean on the cracked wall behind him.
"And…there's the headache." Kid Flash groaned as he stood up as well, but his eyes drifted toward the Martian who was helping up Superboy instead of the speedster.
M'gann. She did this. Why? He narrowed his eyes at the young green girl, but she didn't notice. "Psimon?" Superboy asked questioningly.
Her face hardened slightly as she hesitated, "He brain blasted you." She lied, "I stopped him." She glanced off to the side and he could see a catatonic Psimon lying in the ruins of the room.
That was something else out of the ordinary. M'gann rarely escalated the fight to that level. Then again, M'gann rarely attacked them.
Psimon did something. He provoked her. Showed her something she didn't want to see.
But what?
"Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that, but I couldn't think of any other way to convince the public Queen Bee was behind this." He offered the apology to the Martian girl as she shape shifted back into her normal, green-skinned self.
"Dude! Saving a country. Pretty big accomplishment for your first time as leader." Kid Flash elbowed him in the ribs gently.
"Yeah thanks." He managed to get out before the realization hit. He had been leader. He had lead his once-thought dead friends on a mission, and he hadn't failed.
I did something right as leader.
No flashbacks (unless you count the dream), no freezing up, no deaths.
I did it.
Ugh. I dislike this chapter more than the others. I feel like it wasn't well written. So sorry. I'll try to do better next time.
ANSWERS (ONLY TO COMMENTS ON CHAPTER 9):
ForeverA90'sKid: The world was in his subconscious. You know how you can think a lot of things in a very short amount of time? It's kinda like that but increased so it was more a simulation. That's all I can say. Sorry if it doesn't really make much sense.
As for Beast Boy, it's going to go the way I described in the last chapter. That whole thing happens and he gets his powers, but Queen Bee perceives the powers as a threat and tries to eliminate him and his mother but they only succeed in killing his mother because he manages to escape at the last second.
I couldn't do the blood transfusion since the clinic's blood supply was gone and it was just too unbelievable to me that him and Wally shared a blood type (and I couldn't have him get it from M'gann cause I don't want him to turn green) so I did the plasma transfusion (they never mentioned THAT in the show. Take that Greg Weisman!). Also, it would be unlikely that Batman would let him keep any on the Bioship because it could compromise their identities. Good thought though!
Guest (2): Not in the foreseeable future. Sorry. I really wanted to but I don't know enough about her character to write her. She seems really interesting to me though.
AlyssPotter: Um, please read the end in the last chapter.
Guest (3): ^^Read message before this.
Friedriceforlife:^Read message before this^