*I don't own Young Justice, but if I did the Speed Force saves Wally*

Thoughts

"Talking"

Chapter 2 has officially been posted! Um, so yeah it's a cliffhanger, but a least I warned you right. I have a bit of a confession… I love writing cliffhangers so I apologize to the readers in advance. But, without further ado…

Chapter 2 – Minds and Monsters

~ One Week Later ~

No one had seen hide nor hair of Robin or Batman since the 'Incident' as the team had dubbed the events of last week's fear gas ordeal. The team was all present in the cave, each doing something with their rare, but valued free time.

The cave hummed with the low buzz of the TV as Wally flipped through the channels while stuffing his mouth with popcorn. In the cave's kitchen, M'gann and Connor attempted to 'bake a cake', but everyone knew what they were actually doing. Artemis was sitting on the couch next to Wally as she cleaned her bow. In the arm chair, Zatanna sat curled up with a well-loved paper back novel. Lastly across the room Kaldur and Raquel were playing a very 'intense' game of Go Fish. The person who laughed first lost the game.

After several hours of the quiet buzz of tranquility, Artemis finally broke. "Are we ever going to talk about what happened last week?"

Everyone stopped what they had been doing; even M'gann and Connor came out of the kitchen. No one said anything for several minutes, until Wally switched off the TV and turned to look at his girlfriend. "What specifically did you want to talk about?" he asked carefully.

"Well, if someone hadn't gassed me, then I wouldn't have had to check the surveillance footage to find out what my teammates weren't telling me. So why don't we start there?" Artemis said exasperatedly.

"Artemis we are not sure as to what exactly occurred that night, but clearly Batman and Robin have an odd relationship. It, however, is not our place to question it." Kaldur said calmly.

"Well, why not! Batman doesn't have the right to just push us around!" Connor shouted angrily.

"Yes, but the way they spoke after Robin was reprimanded had so many warm emotions I was a little overwhelmed. I don't think Batman was pushing him around." M'gann said as she put a hand on Connor to calm him down. In the background, the Zeta tubes could be heard activating.

"M'gann, don't you know what they said? I mean you can translate any language, right?" Artemis questioned curiously.

"I… No I couldn't. Normally I can identify the language and then find the proper translation, but only if the language had been written down. Whatever they were speaking in never has, but it sounds like it could have been comprised from an assortment of different European languages." M'gann said.

"Hey, Wally. You're Robin's best bro right? Do you know anything about the language or about why the Bats went totally haywire?" Raquel questioned.

Wally fidgeted in his seat and then stuffed a large hand fully of popcorn in his mouth. He then mumbled something while he was still chewing. The moment he swallowed, Artemis smacked the back of his head "Spill it, Kid Mouth."

"I-I can't you know bro-code and stuff…" Wally trailed off lamely. Artemis just stared at him and Wally began to squirm under her gaze. "Seriously I can't tell you about the language thing, and the deal with the craziness is something you all can figure out."

"What do you mean, we can figure it out?" Raquel asked.

"Think about all the stuff Rob told us about the effects of fear gas." Wally said as he leaned back to put his feet up on the table.

"Um… He said that the fear gas cause people to hallucinate their fears…" Artemis said racking her brain for more information, that night was still a little fuzzy.

"He said that the more you are exposed to fear gas the worse the effects are…" Zatanna chimed in.

"Okay, now how many syringes did Robin say he had?" Wally said.

"…two… Hello Megan! He used both of them on me and Connor…" M'gann slowly trailed off as she realized what that meant.

"Robin did not use the antidote; instead he let the toxin spread… even though he had been exposed to the chemical on numerous occasions while fighting the Scarecrow in Gotham." Kaldur said quietly.

"That's why he had me end the mind link, so we wouldn't know… how bad he was suffering…" M'gann turned to hug Connor as tears welled up in her eyes.

"…Think about everything Robin has been through… he and Batman fight in Gotham… the things they must have seen while fighting the psychopaths of Arkham…" Zatanna said with a horrified tone.

"What kind of things does a bat fear, I wonder?" Robin said as he lounged on the back of Zatanna's armchair. Everyone in the room jumped a foot in the air, Robin only cackled. "The zeta tubes announced my entrance and everything. You guys have disastrous perception skills, heavy on the dis." He said merrily as he looked up at the cave's celling. "Oh, if you are going to discuss my mental stability and the things that I might fear, pick a place less open. Someone might over hear you." And with that Robin jumped off the chair and made his way towards the hall.

"Wait! Robin we didn't mean to make you upset!" Zatanna called after him. Robin stopped and turned back to the others.

"I'm not upset. Curiosity is kind of my thing, so I get it. However your concern is unnecessary. I am perfectly capable taking care of myself and dealing with my own monsters. After all, the only thing to fear is fear itself." Robin said as he headed for the training room.

~ Two Weeks Later ~

The zeta tubes activated and the team stumbled into the cave. The mission had been a long and grueling one that turned out to be a massive waste of time. They had been out in that jungle for three days all based on some bogus source, which resulted in the young heroes capture and inevitable escape.

Now they were all exhausted, hungry, and pissed at 4:45 am.

The team dispersed each shuffling off with a different goal in the mind. Wally and Connor made a B-line to the kitchen, fully prepared to eat everything in sight. Raquel and Kaldur limbed to the Medical ward in search of pain killers and sleep. Zatanna, Artemis, and M'gann went straight to the showers hoping to drown their fatigued muscles in scorching water. Robin was the only one who couldn't rest yet. He had a report to complete and submit by 5:30.

~ The Next Morn-er… Afternoon ~

No one in the cave woke up before 12:30 pm. They currently did not have a 'den mother' because the team wasn't supposed to be back for another two days so none of the leaguers had been assigned yet.

Wally was the first awake soon followed by Artemis. Both walked into the kitchen like zombies. To them the only kindness in the world was the fact that the coffee machine has an automatic setting. Next were M'gann and Kaldur who needed to check on their wounds, but soon joined the others in the kitchen. Lastly Connor, Raquel, and Zatanna stumbled into the kitchen. They ate in quiet, letting their brains catch up with the rest of them. Wally broke the silence first. "Hey, has anyone seen Robin?"

Connor grunted "He's here somewhere." Then he went back to eating his Captain Crunch.

Zatanna decided to go search for him. She shuffled out of the kitchen with a piece of toast in her mouth. When she spotted the Boy Wonder sound asleep on the couch in the common room she almost dropped her toast on the floor. The team hardly ever saw Robin sleep, even on the long missions he would be the last to fall asleep and the first to wake up. Yet here he was sound asleep in pajamas on the couch. His mask was on still and from the looks of it Robin changed in to pjs then sat on the sofa to work on his laptop, which was closed on the floor rear the sofa, and fell asleep before he could head back to his room. Zatanna quietly moved back into the kitchen.

"I found Robin, he's asleep on the sofa in the other room." Zatanna said with a smirk. It wasn't every day you got the opportunity to prank the Prankster.

"What?! Really?" Wally said excitedly. Revenge was going to be so sweet.

The whole team was rather curious about the fact that they could witness a bat sleep, so they all crept into the common room and snuck up to the couch. They didn't know really what to expect as they got close enough to really see him, but they most certainly were not prepared for what they did see.

A kid sound asleep.

Seeing Robin sprawled out on the sofa made everyone acutely aware of the fact that Robin was just a kid. The sofa made him look so small by comparison and the complete relaxation of his body and face made him look like the youth he was.

Hey guys, I set up the mental link so we can talk without waking him up. M'gann thought as she leaned forward to lean on the back of the couch.

Just how old is Robin? Raquel questioned the group in general.

Fourteen… Sometimes I forget that… Wally replied all mischievous intent gone.

Is this really the same kid, who acts like nothing is wrong because he thinks we can't help him…Zatanna thought. Frustrated by the fact that Robin was younger than her, but he still didn't trust her or the rest of the team to help him.

He told me once that he had been a hero since he was nine, is that true? Artemis asked curiously. She had no problem with crime fight as a young teen, but to think that he had been doing it for so long.

…yeah…The kid has had a hard life… Wally relied remorsefully thinking back to the time when he went with Dick to go visit his parents' graves.

And like us, he has a hard future. We should let him rest without prying eyes. Kaldur said calmly feeling that Robin would not be happy about the invasion of privacy and personal space.

Yeah Kaldur's right; 'Sides, you and I still have a game of Go Fish to finish. Raquel added. She didn't want to dwell on the fact that the most experienced member of her team was a kid.

That we do. Kaldur said with a smile and took hold of Raquel's hand and led her off into another room. M'gann broke the mental link between them and the group to give them their own privacy. Just as she was about to end the group link for the others, Robin sat straight up. He went from a sound sleep to completely awake and aware of his surroundings. Being trained by Batman gave Robin the uncanny ability to tell when people were near him, irrelevant of his state of consciousness. This of course completely alarmed the remaining teens who were gathered around him. Each let out a shriek of surprise, however Zatanna's shriek was followed by a knee-jerk spell "PEELS!"

And Robin slumped back on to the couch fast asleep. Everyone but Connor had to try and get their heart rate back down to a normal speed.

"'Tanna what did you do?" Artemis finally asked.

"I cast a sleep spell" she said as she smacked her forehead "It's a knee-jerk sorta thing, like a defense mechanism… Robin's not going to be feeling the aster for the next four to six hours" she said with a sigh.

"Four to six hours, your spell lasts for that long?" Wally asked an idea forming in his head.

"What is it Kid Idiot? It never ends well when you start thinking." Artemis said in a snide tone.

"Ouch Beautiful, But I'm thinking that maybe we might be able to use this to our advantage. I mean with a little help from Miss M here, we'll learn a bit more about Rob." Wally said while a grin spread across his freckled face.

"I don't know Wally, Robin wouldn't like it if we invade his personal space… And reading a person's mind without their permission is wrong." M'gann said as she took a step away from the sofa.

"Then don't read his mind, just get a glimpse at the sort of emotions he had, oh about three or so weeks ago. You know during the Incident" Wally said his smirk still in place.

"But… I don't know, I can't really tell you about a person's emotions, I can sense them, but not explain them…" M'gann said a little leery of the concept still.

"Don't tell us then, you can just show us with the mind link" Artemis said. She still really wanted to know more about the stuff she had seen on the security tapes. At this point, Connor began to head for the door. He wasn't a big fan of the touchy feely stuff anyway. Just as he was about to reach the doorway, M'gann called out to him "Wait, Connor don't go… I need your help."

Connor stopped and was about to speak when he heard …please… in his thoughts. Connor closed his mouth and grunted as he walked back into the room to stand next to M'gann.

"Are you guys sure you want me to do this…?" M'gann questioned. All she received were three nods in reply. "Okay, here we go" M'gann floated over Robin's head she sat cross legged in the air. Her eyes began to glow and then she was in. The others felt Robin's mind enter their mind link session.

Um… just give me a second…I don't quite have a good enough connection… M'gann thought casually.

Wally snickered as he thought Who knew psychics could have a bad connection…Ha, it's like poor Wi-Fi.

Shut up, you're distracting her. Artemis thought as she wacked Wally. The group waited in silence for several minutes and nothing really happened.

Hey, M'gann is something wrong? Zatanna asked slightly concerned that her magic might have affected M'gann's ability to read Robin's mind.

After another minute she finally responded No… I just can't seem to get through; it's kind of odd… Then suddenly she thought Ha! I've got it- oh no Wait – I can't-

The whole world around them suddenly shifted, as their vision tunneled. Then the world faded to black.

So that ends chapter 2! What do you think? Hey, I know you could tell me by reviewing! So you all go do that and I'll go write the next chapter.

Later Gators ~