I don't own Young Justice

A/N: Sorry for the wait, again. With college and school, it's hard to find time. Just as a head's up, this chapter is kind of gory. I'm not good at descriptions, so maybe not too much, but just be warned.

READ. REVIEW. ENJOY.

PAGE BREAK

"What's up Vanessa?" Derek asked.

I simply looked up and back down at my "food." Couldn't he see I just wanted to be left alone?

"We didn't expect to see you back so soon, if at all. Once you and your brother made a run for it, the rest was history."

I didn't know if he was looking for a response or not. If he was, I didn't give him one. I continued poking at the unappetizing mush in front of me.

"Speaking of the devil, where is he?"

Again, no response from me. I was hoping they would both take the hint and just leave me alone. Though part of me still didn't want them to leave. I liked the company, but I just wanted to sulk in silence. Thinking about Alex was only going to make things worse.

"Vanessa, I'm running on empty, and it's rude to not to respond back."

I didn't care, couldn't he tell?

"Vanessa, are you okay?"

Sierra had spoken for the first time, her voice calm and soothing despite the damage she had taken herself.

Sierra was a hero-like figure. She spoke few words, but when she talked, her voice commanded attention. She had been here even before me and Alex. A veteran warrior, she knew how to stay alive. The fact that she had spoken to me was psyching me out, but my melancholic mood was overtaking the feelings of awe.

Before I could even answer, Derek chimed up again.

"What could possibly be wrong with her? She hadn't gone through anything as bad as you, and she's like 6 years old. What troubles could she get in?"

"I'm nine," I responded, a little hurt and angered by the comment.

"Oooh, excuse me. Will the years change anything though? The worst problem you could have are petty squabbles like you and Alex do from time to time. You GET OVER IT."

"Derek, shut up," Sierra said.

"Why, she hasn't said anything and this won't make her change that."

"You don't know what you're talking about okay Derek." I was getting tired of his accusations.

"Really? Then prove me wrong."

"Derek," Sierra started to scold.

"Derek, do you know where your parents are or even who they are?" I asked him. Though my voice was soft, I was screaming in the inside.

"Yeah, I know 'em and I've got a pretty good guess where they're at."

"Are you siblings well? "

"Yeah, they're good last I saw them, 'bout 2 years ago. But I don't get where this-"

"Have you ever made a decision that turns your life completely around? That causes people to hate you? A mistake that took away everything you could have ever wanted?"

"No, but-"

"Have you ever been the reason for someone's death? Have you ever cared for someone then killed them off because you believed in a lie?"

He shook his head shamefully, avoiding my gaze.

"No?! Then don't talk about things you know nothing about and aren't your business!"

As he looked down, the light glistened off the top of his head. It taunted me as I looked down from my sudden standing position, reminding me of a freedom I had let go. The tears flowed down my face, but I barely noticed. I was angry, confused, sad, tired all at the same time.

Peeling my eyes away from Derek, I could now see I had the attention of the whole cafeteria. Sierra came around from her seat and gently pushed me back into mine. Sitting down next to me, I could feel her watching me, studying me to see what my next course of action was gonna be. I closed my eyes and felt my hands shaking on the table. I was unable to control this onflux of emotion.

A pair of arms surrounded me, and almost immediately I was relaxed. I leaned into the warm body that enclosed me and let my emotions drain on to rhythmic heartbeat allowing me to feel free to let go of all my pent emotion and confusion. The comforting voice soon followed.

"Vanessa, it's okay."

They softly stroked my hair, and gently pushed my head so I could see their face. Sierra gave me a small reassuring smile as the tears continued to fall. She spoke once more, soft but forceful.

"Vanessa, I can't say I've been through any of that, and for that, you're braver than most of us in here. These moments are needed, but you can't let them see you cry. That's how they know you're weak, vulnerable, and that's when they exploit you. And I know you've seen what happens when someone loses their will to fight. You have to keep the will to escape. Everything will be fine, including your brother."

She wiped my last tears off my face. As she left, I hugged her harder than I hugged anyone else. She lingered for a few more seconds before she detached kindly and went back to her original seat, Derek staring at her as if he had seen a ghost.

"I didn't know you had a soft-," he started to say before a daring glaring was pointed in his direction causing silence to fall on him.

"If your not gonna eat, then save it for Alex. He'll be grateful," she continued. "But you have to keep trying to get out of here, otherwise, you're done."

I placed the food I hadn't touched into a bag she had given me and hid it under my shirt.

"So, you got to stay with the Team. Was Superboy as nice looking as they say?"

"Sierra, who are you?" Derek scoffed.

"I'm a fifteen year old girl Derek. Is it wrong for me to have a slight crush?"

"It's just weird coming from you."

I was only half listening to them. A question was nagging at the back of my skull.

"Sierra, you said don't lose the drive to escape. Why haven't you left yet?"

She gave a slight chuckle.

"You don't think I haven't tried do you? Your escape was do to me. I took out the security alarms and killed the motor."

"But why didn't you come with us?"

"Because I can't. I have to stay here. It is physically impossible for me to leave." She paused, debating whether to tell me why.

"When I was a little younger than you, they threw me into this hell hole. I was scared. My cellmate had been here a few years, and she taught everything I told you, and she put it to action.

"One day she went out to escape and took me with her. I was eager and too inexperienced, and because of it, I tripped an alarm and got us caught. One of the leaders of the Light, Ra's Al Ghul, came and personally took care of us. Shot us both in the leg. I was lucky, I just got a limp for the rest of my life. She ... she was hit in a major artery and bled to death.

"So I kept her legacy going. I couldn't let her die in vain."

"Who was-" I started to ask, but the rapid shaking of Derek's head deterred me from finishing my question. Sierra continued.

"They put a kid in my cell, and I helped him escape. He was to excited and accidentally tripped an alarm. Wewere found and in the process, I saved him from a trigger happy guard. The bullet hit me between the shoulder blades in my spinal column. I was paralyzed from the neck down. The kid got out, but I was sure the Light was gonna let me die just like ... Wellsworth convinced them otherwise. I guess I should be grateful. He put a metal pole down my back and sine electrodes in my brain. It was shady, but it kept me alive. But now I can't leave. If I get outside of fifteen feet of their base, the electrodes that help me move shut down and I'm defenseless and as good as dead."

We all fell silent. The soft look in Sierra's eyes had disappeared, leaving behind the familiar hard eyes that had seen so much. But there was also the subtle appearance of tiredness, as if she had been fighting a losing war with no end. She was focusing on something in her hand, out of my line of sight.

The silence was only broken by the guard telling us to leave. As I started walking back to my cell, a hand was placed on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean to make ya cry like that ya know."

I nodded, accepting Derek's apology. Sierra followed behind him slipping something into my hand. I examined it, but before I could ask what it was, she was gone.

The guard manhandled me back to my room. As I looked around, I remembered how alone I was.

PAGE BREAK

I was in a small room. It wasdark. I groped around for a light source or a wall so I could get my bearings. The smell was unbearable, flooding my nostrils with its putridness.

I finally found what I had been looking for. I flicked on the light switch, regretting it as soon as I beheld the sight around me.

The bodies were lain all across the floor. Mutilated and ravaged, blood covered their clothes and death was written on their faces. A closer look, and I was hit with a small feeling of familiarity. They were people I should've known, but I couldn't place who they were.

I looked for a door, not being able to bear my surroundings any more. Even with being careful, I still mans managed to trip on one of the bodies. As I landed, the warm blood on the ground covered my clothes, making me apart of what laid beneath me. I turned back slowly to see whom I had tripped over, breaking down as I recognized the face.

It was Alex. Blond hair strained red, vibrant green eyes faded. I quickly backed away, unable to endure the sight. He was gone, and now I truly was alone.

A hand rested on my shoulder.

"Great work. I didn't think you had it in you, but did you prove us wrong. First the Team, then your own family. And what surprised me the most was how easily you killed your brother. He stood no chance. Even after all he did to protect you. It felt delicious didn't it?"

I didn't have to turn around to recognize the voice. B'rnazz stood behind me looking at the destruction before him. I yanked away from him.

"No. You used me; tricked me."

I began firing at him despite the fact that the attacks were causing no effect.

"Oh no sweetie, you did this on your own. You work for the Light remember? And now my daughter, here's your sweet reward."

He stabbed me in the chest. My world came crashing down as I fell next to my dead brother. The sound of B'rnazz's laugh like that of a rattling cage mocked me as I joined my brother.

I woke up, hands shaking as they covered my ears, nose scrunched up. I began humming to make my feeling of fear depart. However, it didn't last long as I was yanked from my cell by a yelling guard. The rattling of the door resembled B'rnazz's laugh. As I followed him out, I saw the damage marks on the cell walls. It was the nightmare that had caused them, just like the destruction at the cave.

I was thrown out my cell. Looking around, it seemed as if every kid in the facility was gathered under the watchful eyes of the guards. I didn't recognize many, and it seemed as if the only three I knew were missing from attendance.

A boy barely older than me was handcuffed in the middle of all the captives. Suddenly, the guard who had yanked me out if my cell was knelt down beside me, fist to his heart, same as the other guards. From the back, a man in a green cloak with white and black hair appeared before us.

"Children," he began, "we have told you time and time again that escape is futile. But perhaps we have been to lenient in our punishment."

He strode over to the boy in the center. "Perhaps excruciating pain isn't enough to deter you from leaving."

He placed two fingers to the boy's chest and pressed against it until a break was heard. Immediately the kid screamed out in pain, caressing his broken rib. The cloaked man continued.

"Because you have exploited our grace, you have forced us to take more drastic measures to make this point clear to you."

He then grabbed the boy by his shirt collar, and in one swift motion, slit his throat. Blood spilled out into the ground below him as gravity guided him down.

"Escape is futile." The man who I had now determined was the monster that killed Sierra's friend, Ra's Al Ghul, walked away. As he did so, a struggle revealed itself from the back.

Another boy, a little older than the one just slaughtered was attacking the guards. The similar facial features showed that he was some kin to the boy on the ground. The guards restrained him, one holding each arm. Before anyone was even able to react, a ninja star lodged itself in the older boy's head, killing him in impact. His body slumped to the floor as he was released.

"Anyone else disagree with my decision? How about you Susanne? Care to join your brothers?"

He strolled over to a girl about my age. She was wild eyed as she stared in disbelief at the scene in front of her. She shook her head slowly before answering the Demon.

"No," she replied as she slowly kneeled, fist to her heart. "All hail the Light."

"Good. Now everyone, back to your cells."

I was roughly replaced in my cell, and immediately my thoughts found Alex. We had to leave now.