Disclaimer: As much as I love young justice, I can't own it. shame really, I think I'd enjoy it more if I did. =P

Took three days to get this chapter right. I know the end of the hiatus kinda makes my continuity garbage, but who cares! I'm sticking with the cast and crew from before it. Might rewrite one thing in 'Without Me' but that's a tail end thing, no one's read that bit yet. =P

I just find it funny that Justice League: Doom came out around the same time as the hiatus ending. Too bad there's still not gonna be a flash movie, or a robin one. WAAAAAHHHHH! I want barry and tim!

Where's Robin?

Ch. 11 – Escape to Arkham

"What do we have?"

Jim Gordon turned slightly when he heard the deep voice behind him. It was two am, a cold winter night at Arkham Asylum, and he really wished he was in bed. As much as he trusted his fifteen year old daughter, he didn't want to leave her alone at night either. It was nights like these he wondered what Batman did with his boy wonder, and who took care of him when the man wasn't around. If there was a Mrs. Batman he couldn't tell. No rings on the dark knight's fingers.

The Commissioner raised his cup of coffee as if to drink it as he spoke to the shadows. "Multiple breakouts but only two heavy hitters. Looks like most of them took advantage of their actions and followed after them. Joker fashioned himself a bomb and blew his cell clean open. Unfortunately the cells next to him managed to get holes in them too."

Batman glared in thought. Joker was bad enough, but the people on either side of him were pretty bad too. Scarecrow was in the cell on his right while Mad Hatter was on his left. Crane and Tetch couldn't fight to save their lives thankfully, but they were clever ones, as devious as the Joker once in a while.

"They managed to get Tetch before he left the grounds," Gordon continued. "Along with half a dozen others. But we're looking at seven regular crazies and two costumed ones."

"Have men at their old lairs?" the bat asked quietly.

"Naturally." He swirled his cardboard cup for a moment, thinking out loud. "But I don't think that'll help with those two. You should take a look at Crane's cell. He was working on some formulas on his wall."

"And Joker?

He shrugged. "The shrinks here haven't even scratched the surface yet. I don't see any leads here regarding him, but you may be able to find something."

"Know who his accomplice is?"

"Think it's an inside job?" Gordon raised an eyebrow, passing his coffee into his other hand to warm it.

"How else could he get the explosives." Batman took out a grapple, ready to disappear.

"I'll have my people compile a list of visitors and personnel associated with Joker's latest internment. I'm sending a copy of Crane's notes to a few labs around the area. Maybe one of those eggheads can figure out what he's up to and make an antidote just in case."

"Never hurts." His line shot out and within seconds he was gone. Gordon smirked to himself. Never hurts to be prepared. And they called Superman the Boy Scout. With this thought to humor him, he raised his radio and called off his team from the sight. This non-boy scout needed space to get his job done.

"What?" Wally gaped at Black Canary the next morning just as everyone was told the name of their training session. Artemis grinned devilishly in response. Kaldur and M'gann exchanged glances of concern while Conner took a step back. Was she really going to have them do this?

Canary smiled pleasantly. Pleasantly being she was going to enjoy watching someone else suffer, border lining on psychotic. "You heard me. It's called 'Catching Lightning'. It's to train everyone on how to stop speedsters or other accelerated objects in case of an emergency or to prevent a hit and run. It's simple. You run while everyone else tries to catch you. How doesn't matter so long as it's not deadly force. Stay in the mountain."

"Can't we do something else?" the speedster's voice became small and cracked at the same time. Conner's confused look was starting to become like Artemis' grin.

"We were going to 'Find the Ninja'," the lady started, her voice dripping with annoyance, "but we're now short one Robin."

Guilt flooded him once again, Wally's gaze falling to the ground. M'gann gave him a sad, near pitying look while Kaldur looked away, controlling his features best he could. A little guilt entered Conner's face as well, regretting his earlier spark of pleasure from hearing of this activity. The archer's smile shrunk, but she was still determined to give it her all.

"Fine," he murmured at last. "Do I get a head start?"

"Thirty seconds. Go."

Wally didn't need a second word. He was off before the sentence ended. Canary gave an amused smirk before looking to the rest. "Now that he's out of the way, pair off. Two of you will practice drills for an hour before relieving the other two from taunting Wally."

"Seriously?" Artemis started, a tad disappointed. "You only told him that to get rid of him?"

"Yes and no." Her knowing smile made each of them curious. "Flash told me running can calm him down. Wally needs to feel useful, so making him the target of the training exercise is a triple benefit."

"Triple?" Kaldur raised an eyebrow.

Canary's smirk became darker than before. "He's still in trouble for what happened. Until Robin comes back and calls us off. It'd be strange if he didn't receive punishment from all of us don't you think?"

Artemis couldn't help laughing a little. Kaldur actually smirked at the thought, shaking his head. Conner looked over to M'gann who looked down in thought. Everything alright? He asked her mentally.

I just don't think we should be torturing Wally like this, she responded. He already feels really bad about what he did, and every time we learn more, he feels worse and worse. Not as bad as when he thought he killed him, but still… Wally's suffered enough.

"I am surprised Roy is not here for this," Kaldur continued. "He surely would have enjoyed the chase."

"I know I will!" Artemis quipped, making a grab for her bow.

Black Canary placed a hand on hers, shaking her head slowly. "Until those hands heal, no bows."

"Ah come on! How else am I gonna get him?"

"Ease up Artemis," M'gann chided kindly. "If your hands don't heal right, you'll never be able to hold a bow again."

"I have other skills," Artemis reminded them.

"Which will not hold up if you continue like this," Kaldur stated.

The archer glared back at him. "Traitor."

Canary chuckled. "I don't know who you're more like: Ollie, Roy, or Batman. You're all so stubborn."

"Reminds me more of Robin," Conner reminisced. They remembered the last time the boy was hurt. Despite having ten stitches and a fractured wrist, he was still sparing with Kaldur the next day. And he was laughing as he beat his friend, several times. The Atlantian insisted he was going easy on him.

At this everyone gave a reluctant giggle. Artemis gave in, placing her quiver next to her bow at the side of the room. Canary smiled then looked to Kaldur and Conner. "You two are going to chase him first. After you've apprehended him, let him eat something before letting him go off again. The girls will go next. Then we'll switch it up again. After lunch, it's free time."

The team members nodded and split up, ready to get back to work.

"I'm exhausted!" Wally whined as he flopped on the couch. Lunch was later than normal due to their training, but he had been munching throughout the day so he wasn't as starved as he should have been. M'gann gave him a sympathetic look as she prepared a giant sub for him. Conner was helping her as Kaldur was helping Artemis rebandage her hand. "Can't we do something else?"

"Like what Baywatch?" Artemis glared towards him. As soon as he ate that gigantic stomachache, he'd be right as rain. The rest of them would need more than just a full stomach to be better. Once their leader was done with her hand, he placed an icepack on top. Though she never complained, they all knew she had to be hurting. "Solve world hunger?"

"I was thinking visiting Gotham," he started, bringing out his puppy-eyes. "Maybe helping Batman out or—"

"You know he hates it when metas are in his city," Kaldur reminded him coldly. Puppy-eyes rarely worked on him. "He may even end the team if you attempt to assist him."

"I know," The speedster looked away, cringing slightly, "but I've been in Gotham before and he hasn't blown a gasket. If I keep a low profile—"

"That only worked because he was too busy to help the kid," Artemis reminded him. She knew he was referring to that one time they saved Dick Grayson from Two-Face last term.

"I mean besides that." They all looked at him in surprise and he gave them a slightly sorry look in response. "Rob and I occasionally just hang out there okay? Saw a few movies, checked out the sights, the good parts of town. Never seen the cave or gone on patrol, but I do know some of Gotham."

"Why didn't you invite us!" Conner demanded.

Wally looked away, feeling a little guilty. "Roy sometimes came. We kinda thought you guys would be bored with our plans, and the last time we really hung out was just before summer ended. It's kinda hard to do when we're usually here on our spare time."

Kaldur nodded in understanding, having rarely hung out with anyone before the team formed. M'gann and Conner still looked a little hurt at not being invited at the least. Artemis was just glad they never went to the places she did. She wasn't exactly careful about her ID.

"Regardless," Kaldur insisted, stepping up to the couch Wally lounged on, "we need to tread carefully around Batman. At least until Robin is returned. Everyone in the League steers clear of Gotham, and rumor says until Robin joined him, he would do cruel things to those who broke his rule."

"Yeeeaaahhh… heard that too." The speedster cringed slightly at the memory of the stories he heard from his uncle. Bats was particularly mean to Hal and Superman, but as he recalled the guy super-glued his uncle's ring shut once for interfering with a stakeout. Uncle Barry told him that at first he didn't approve of Robin taking to the streets at night, but he mellowed the guy out a lot so he stopped complaining.

How Superman or GL took it back then was beyond him.

"What? Batman pulls pranks?" Artemis asked in curiosity. The aliens gaped at them and the thought. They knew Wally and Robin pulled pranks around the mountain and on their mentors, but the dark knight?

"They're not pranks if someone's definitely going to get hurt," their perpetual target stated. "If Batman likes you, he'll keep it to words. If he doesn't, it's going to hurt. That's what Robin says at least. And Flash says he's gotten nicer. We're seeing a good Batman, one the League likes."

"Yikes," M'gann started, cutting the sub into smaller servings. "We really don't know anything about the man do we?"

"He's still a good guy," Conner stated, instantly defending him. "I mean, he doesn't ignore us and he gives us freedom to move. I think he genuinely cares. Really. If all he cared about was Gotham and Robin, he probably would have beaten Wally into a bloody pulp by now."

"Thanks." Sarcasm dripped from Wally's lips at this comment. He didn't want to tell them about the punch the other day, mostly because it wasn't for them to know. Batman knew what he needed, and he gave it to him. Then the dark knight forgave him (in a way) when he helped him back up.

Batman's not as mean as he lets you believe.

That's what Robin said once. The guy wasn't joking. Conner was right. The guy really did care. And now the guy was missing the one thing he really cared about. Because of him. He had to do something to make up for it.

"Still," Kaldur continued, "getting in the man's way is a bad idea. He said business as usual. I believe we should do exactly that. We stay at our posts and do what we can there."

"We really should do as he says," M'gann said in support. "I mean, what would happen if someone found out Robin was missing?"

"End of the world scenario right there," Artemis joked, forcing others to roll their eyes. Yeah for them it was closer to end of the world, but not for anyone else.

Wally looked up at the ceiling, just thinking to himself for a few moments. "Yeah, you're probably right. I think I'll go back to Central after lunch. I'm sure I can find something to do there."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. Artemis seemed satisfied, turning towards M'gann to make plans for their afternoon of girl time. Conner seemed disappointed, turning away and helping himself to the end of Wally's sandwich. He had his own thoughts on the matter.

It wasn't until the girls were out and Kaldur was shopping when he left. Conner exited the unfamiliar phone booth cautiously, a map of Gotham under one arm and a bag thrown across his shoulders.

He didn't know a thing about this place, other than both Robin and Batman lived there. Others said it wasn't the best place to visit. Logistics said it had one of the highest crime rates in the nation. Social sites online said anyone could get lost there.

And here he felt like a country bumpkin entering the bad part of the big city. Conner shifted his bag exiting the alleyway. Until school Monday morning, he was going to be there, helping the dark knight from the shadows. It wasn't going to be easy, but if he stuck to street crime he might get away with this. He heard of Arkham and saw Joker once. Batman needed to concentrate on that.

And he wasn't the only one who thought so.

A/N: So Conner's run off, and you can guess who else. Bruce is going to focus on his escapees while the others focus on street level punks for a bit. Obviously, them being them, it won't last long. Besides, Conner has school. of course it can't last long.

Like Catching lightning? I thought it'd be a great game they'd play for training, and the league would probably join in. Great torture too. Might make it a game for the others another time.

Glad the hiatus is over *does happy dance* but sad that I didn't predict what would happen to everyone correctly. So I guess my continuity is strictly after Secrets from now on. *shrug* Still have a lot of stories to write. maybe I shouldn't have set dates on this thing. ^^;