DISCLAIMER: I HAVE RETURNED from my loooong and difficult quest throughout the wilds of the multiverse with the discovery of an inescapable and indisputable law of reality: I do not own Young Justice.
Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home
Washington DC
December 30, 17:48 EST
"Hey guys!" shouted Kid Flash. "Check it out!"
Wally West twirled a Frisbee in his hands before tossing it to Wolf. The canine leaped to intercept it, but before it could, Wally dropped into a sprinter's position and dashed forwards, vanishing into a blur. Just as Wolf's teeth closed around the disc, Wally snatched it away.
"What do you think?" Wally asked, returning to his initial position.
Artemis clapped slowly in the most sarcastic way possible. "Good job, West. You can outrun a Frisbee. Not bad for someone with super speed."
"Wally, that's great!" said M'gann, floating over. "I'm glad your speed is coming back."
"Yeah, I know what you mean" said Wally, stretching. Man, it felt good to be able to run that fast again. He could still feel (metaphorically, if not literally) the Brain's nanites in his bloodstream. The Atom had determined that they were designed to react only in the presence of a certain radio signal, much like the nanites affecting Zatanna. That had been a problem in the heart of Brain's base, but back in the Hall of Justice, things were as good as new.
"Do you have to mess with Wolf when you do that?" Superboy asked, flicking through TV channels on a nearby couch. He wasn't actually watching any TV, just changing the channels. It soothed him for some reason.
"Oh, come on, SB" said Wally, holding out the Frisbee for Wolf. "I'm just playing with him."
Wolf reached out to take the Frisbee, only for Wally to snatch it away again.
"I wouldn't recommend that" said Superboy.
"And why is tha-" Wally began to ask, only to be interrupted by Wolf jumping up, grabbing the speedster's jacket in its teeth and pulling him to the ground. Dazed, Wally simply lay there as Wolf put a paw on his back, triumphantly holding the disc aloft in its mouth. Artemis burst out laughing.
"That's why" said Superboy, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.
"Ha, ha, very funny" said Wally, getting up. "I'm sorry, boy" he said to Wolf. "I was just messing around."
Wolf looked at him before walking over, Frisbee still in its mouth. The white canine held the disc out towards Wally's hand.
"You wanna play some more fetch?" Wally asked, reaching for the Frisbee.
Wolf waited until the redhead's hand had nearly touched the disc before jerking its head away and running to the other side of the room. Artemis laughed again and even M'gann let out a giggle.
They were in civilian clothes for what felt like the first time in ages, scattered around the library of the (fortunately closed to tourists for New Year's) Hall of Justice, each teen giving their best attempt to relax and not think about all the hell they had gone through just a day earlier.
It wasn't easy.
Black Canary had talked with all of them, of course. And she'd scheduled more sessions for the next day. But for now, the theory was that they could support each other better than any adult could.
"Where is everyone else?" Red Arrow asked Aqualad as the two entered the room.
"Rocket is spending time with her family in Dakota City" replied Kaldur. "Zatanna is with her father and Robin is finishing up with Black Canary. Everyone else is here."
"He's been in there a long time" M'gann said. "Do you think everything is okay?"
"Of course everything's fine!" Wally said. "It's Robin! He's tougher than the rest of us put together!"
"He's also thirteen and spent over a day in enemy custody" Roy pointed out.
"Yeah, well, I was there, and let me tell you, he never stopped fighting once" declared Wally fast enough that he didn't realize that it wasn't quite true until after he had said it.
"That does not mean that he is unscarred from his experiences" Kaldur said. "Hopefully Black Canary will be able to assist him."
"Seriously, guys" said Wally, grabbing a bag of chips. "It's Robin. He's fine."
"Right?"
"Robin?"
"Huh?" Robin exclaimed, startled.
"Robin, is something the matter?" Black Canary asked. "You spaced out for a minute."
"Oh, right" said Robin. "Sorry. I've been… thinking about a lot of things."
"Care to talk about them?" Canary asked.
They were sitting in a side room of the Hall of Justice, the one designated the new 'Shrink Room' until Mt. Justice was operational again.
Robin sighed and sunk lower in his chair. "It's… it's a couple of things, I guess."
"I have time" Canary replied.
"Okay, it goes like this" Robin began. "I know I'm the youngest member of the Team, but I've been doing the hero thing the longest. The others look up to me, metaphorically speaking. I'm our Batman: no matter how crazy things get, I'm always supposed to have a plan and a gadget ready to get us out. When Kaldur's not available I AM the leader, official or not."
"And that's a big burden for you" Canary said.
"It's not that. Not exactly. I can handle the pressure fine. I'm great with pressure. The problem is, when things get tough, when they get as screwy as they did last night, I'm the only one who is able to… who isn't allowed to…"
"Panic?" Canary suggested.
"Something like that" Robin sighed. "Freak out, be afraid, whatever. I've always got to be the one who's willing to keep fighting."
"You're not allowed to show that you're scared" Canary realized.
Robin nodded.
"It's more than that. While Wally and I were in that base, while we were in custody and just waiting, I... I..."
"You what?" Canary asked, leaning forwards.
"I lost hope" Robin admitted. "I legitimately thought that we were going to die there. Worse, I knew that Savage planned to use us as bait to kill the League. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was powerless. No gadgets, no way to use my moves, no baddie to try psychological warfare on, no crime scene to solve. Just waiting in the dark for them to come back and use us to kill our friends and teammates. I hadn't felt that scared and... and... helpless in four years. Which may not be a long time for you, but I'm thirteen, so it's a lot for me."
"Robin," Canary said "everyone gets scared. That's perfectly normal. That's a part of being human. And powerlessness is the greatest fear of all. We humans hate it, but we feel it just the same. It's our job to overcome our fears so that we can protect others; to save them from that same fear. It's not easy, and it never gets easy, but it's clear that you have become very good at it."
"I'm not that good" Robin said, leaning back. "The op wouldn't have been nearly as screwed if I hadn't been messing up constantly."
"Robin, the Team was ambushed by a powerful force that was waiting for you. There was nothing you could-"
"I failed to establish a mental link to begin with, leaving us stuck with unreliable and interceptable radio communication. I encouraged Aqualad to perform solo recon underwater, allowing him to be separated from the Team and be captured. I left a wounded and a powerless rookie teammate alone, leading to both of them being captured and one of them being possessed by a Lord of Chaos."
"You couldn't control any of that, Robin. You were doing the best that you could."
"I know that. But that doesn't mean I didn't make mistakes. We all made mistakes that night. A LOT of mistakes. To be honest, none of us should be alive right now."
Canary started to say something, but Robin cut her off.
"But none of that stuff was my worst screw-up. Not by far."
"What do you believe was?" Canary asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Robin chuckled. "I shouldn't have jumped into that boom tube to chase Zatanna. It was stupid. Actually, it was more than stupid. It was idiotic. I didn't have backup, equipment or any idea of what I'd be going up against. And I dragged Wally into it too. There is no reason for us to be alive right now other than pure luck."
"Well, I think the hard work of the Justice League and your team, as well as your own skills, played some part as well" Canary said.
"No, no. You see, you say that, but even with everything we had, it was nearly a total party wipe. If Superman had landed even a second later, I would have died." He tapped the band-aid on his cheek from where Chesire's sai had nearly skewered him. "If Vandal Savage wasn't a little bit too talkative, if Tigress had been a good shot, if Psimon had been paying attention: I'd be dead right now. We never would have gotten out of the Q.E.D. chamber without Zatanna's help, so if Rocket hadn't had her crazy idea, and the rest of you hadn't been able to pull it off, we'd be dead. I don't care that everything worked out okay. Zatara nearly got fried and we almost lost Dr. Fate for good. Most of the League was KO'd at one point or another, yourself included. M'gann got freeze-rayed. Conner and Roy almost had their brains melted by Psimon. Wally had to fight two expert assassins while exhausted, unarmed and powerless."
He paused.
"If Batman had made even one mistake against Black Adam: BAM! He'd be dead. He'd be dead because I was an idiot."
"Robin, we won" Canary pointed out. "Because of your actions we saved Artemis and Zatanna, and Zatara was freed from the Helmet of Fate. Mr. Freeze, Black Adam and the Riddler were recaptured and Warden Strange had to go on the run. Savage's organization has been exposed, and he no longer has his portal device. Yesterday was a great victory."
"But I had no right to expect the universe to align just perfectly for that to work" Robin replied. "Almost any other sequence of events would have led to one or more casualties. Deaths of friends and teammates. Just to save me from my own stupidity."
The boy sighed again.
"I'm not supposed to need saving. Yeah, I get in trouble from time to time and the others bail me out, just like I do with them, but we're not supposed to have to launch whole missions to get me out of something that's my own fault."
"Robin, nobody expects you to be able to do everything perfectly all the time. You're only human, after all."
"AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM!" Robin shouted, not realizing how loud he had become.
"Sorry" he said, sheepishly.
"No, Robin" Canary replied. "I think this is an important breakthrough. Why do you think that's a problem?"
"You should know" he said. "I know you have the Canary Cry, but for all intents and purposes you're powerless too. We're squishy, more vulnerable compared to them. It doesn't keep us from getting the job done, obviously, but we have to be more careful. Forget getting shot at, if I land a jump wrong I'll break my ankle and be out for weeks. We don't have the luxury of being stupid. Especially not me. Not on this team. If we're going to stop people like Savage we have to be top form, every time, no exceptions. We can't be perfect, but we can come damn close."
"Robin," Canary said. "I know that you have committed yourself to this fight even more than the rest. I know that you're never happy with your results, always wanting to improve, do it better. You may not be his biological son, but you are VERY much like Batman. A bit cheerier, of course."
"I try" Robin replied, smiling a bit for the first time since he'd entered the room. Then he stopped.
He'd almost pushed it back out of his mind.
You may not be his biological son.
Mom and Dad, on the trapeze again...
So much had happened since Psimon had pulled those memories out of the little mental vault where they were supposed to be, but they stubbornly refused to go back again.
"What's wrong?" Canary asked, concerned.
Robin shook his head. "Nothing, nothing" he said quickly. Too quickly.
"Robin...?"
"It's fine. I've got it."
"Robin, if you need to talk about-"
"I don't want to talk about it!" he shouted.
"Okay, okay!" Canary said quickly, backing off. She took a second and made a few notes on her clipboard.
"Sorry" Robin said again. "I'm not ready to touch that yet."
"Of course" said Canary. "When you're ready."
"Let's see here..." said Robin. "How else did I totally screw up? Ah, yes. Artemis gets replaced with Tigress, I figure it out and what do I do? Don't. Tell. Anyone. Not a single person. What if I had died, huh? How would you guys have figured it out? How much more damage could she have done? She would have dragged Artemis's name through the mud, and you guys wouldn't even be looking for the real one. Once Psimon was done scraping her brain of intel, what would they have done? Kill her? Make her a slave? Wipe her memories? Or just keep her prisoner forever, waiting to be rescued by friends who now hate her?"
"You don't know for sure that's what would have happened."
"What if I'd told the others when we'd first escaped? I didn't want to suggest such a thing without more evidence, but why not at least Kaldur? He's team leader. He deserves to know things like that."
"You were being cautious" Canary countered.
"I was being stupid. I didn't even tell Wally while we were trapped in Germany. If anyone needed to know, it was him."
"Robin, there are a million different things that we each could have done differently yesterday. But obsessing over the past isn't going to help."
"Tell that to Batman" Robin muttered.
"All of you are off-duty for at least two weeks. Relax. Have some fun. Be a child for five minutes. Please. For me as well as for you. The League has the investigation into Savage's activities well under control."
"Right" said Robin. "Of course. Can I go now?"
Canary thought for a second. Clearly Robin had something else on his mind, but it was not her place to force it out of him.
"Yes, you may" she said. "I need to head up to the Watchtower to help out with the new member orientation, but I'd like to have another session tomorrow, if that's okay with you."
"Sure, sure" Robin said halfheartedly, shuffling out of the room.
Canary watched him go.
What else happened to you, Robin? she thought to herself. What else aren't you telling us about?
As a licensed therapist and the Team's official shrink, Canary knew that she couldn't share anything specific she learned from the sessions. But she decided to give Batman a heads-up on this one.
After all, who knew him better than his father?
Wow. Who knew that it was so hard to write the Team when they're NOT being beat up, kidnapped or tortured? Good thing I can write the traumatized, which is almost the same thing.
So... we just passed the three-and-a-half-year anniversary of when I started Worst Case Scenario, and we're approaching the one year mark since I ended it. And there's only been one chapter of Madhouse. How disappointing.
However, I have some good news. First of all, I'd like to say that thanks to a suggestion by the wonderful annhug, Worst Case Scenario has been entered into a fanfiction novel contest on the writing site Inkitt. Fanfiction has become EXTREMELY picky about editing out website names, so if either of these links don't work, try Google. The contest itself (on the off chance you are interested in anything else that was submitted) is at inkittDOTcom/fandom?sort=popular . Now, apparently the key to success on Inkitt is promoting one's work. By which they mean busing in a bunch of your friends from another site. In order to win (or at least get top 10%), I'm going to need your help. Yes, YOU. No, not you, the other one. Yeah. You. Go to inkittDOTcom/stories/33933/chapters/1 and click that little heart thing to upvote WCS enough that people who haven't heard of it can read it. Force your friends and family to do so as well. Anything that mildly legal to gain victory. Even if I don't gain glorious victory over those undeserving other fanfics, it'll help new people find the series, and won't that be fun! I should probably also mention that voting closes at midnight Pacific time on Wednesday October 21st, so you MIGHT want to get on this, since if you don't, I won't update Madhouse again. Ever.
...
Okay, I'm lying about not updating. However, to encourage you longtime WCS fans to do help me out here, I should probably sweeten the deal by mentioning that the Inkitt version of WCS is the OFFICIAL REMASTERED DE-TYPOED FIXED TIMESTAMPS ALL AROUND MORE AWESOME SECOND DRAFT EDITION version of Worst Case Scenario. So, if you feel the need to remind yourself what happened in the original, that's the place to do it. (I'll get the updates transferred into this site's version at some point, I swear.) And you're going to want to do that, because in order to make up for the ten-ish months since the last update, I, clcman, will now attempt to finish Madhouse IN ONE MONTH!
(Before you say anything, Madhouse is significantly shorter than Worst Case Scenario, so no, I'm not trying to do a seventy-chapter fic in that time.) So, can I do it? I HAVE NO IDEA! Probably not, if we're being honest, but hey, at this point you guys will be happy with ANY new chapters, right?
That's what I thought. NOW LET'S DOOOOOO THIIIIIIISSSSS!