Guys, sorry this is posted a bit later than usual. I was having a bit of trouble with this one.
Barry was stuck on monitor duty. It wasn't so bad, except his attention span was quickly waning. He should be out running; saving lives and cheering up the kids. He drummed his fingers on the many keys in front of him lightly, so as not to actually press them.
"Watch Tower, this is Robin. I repeat, this is Robin. Come in, Watch Tower."
Barry immediately sat up. "Robin? Robin, this is Watch Tower! Where are—"
"Watch Tower, this is Robin. Come in, Watch Tower."
"Robin! Can you hear me? Hey!" Barry tried everything he could to try and get Robin to hear him.
Robin couldn't hear him; and while Barry couldn't wrap his mind around how this was happening, he listened intently to the message Robin gave. Feeling his heart leap into his throat, Barry did the one thing he was good at. He ran.
Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern—everyone came running once Barry delivered the news. The message was constantly on loop, and many of the League were in tears.
"He's alive." Batman breathed, so softly only Superman heard it.
"Yes, he's alive." Clark couldn't help the smile on his face. "We can go retrieve him."
"I'll retrieve him now." Bruce asserted, turning and stalking towards the door.
"Whoa, hold on!" Clark blocked Bruce's exit, effectively gaining the attention of the rest of the League that had been gathered. "It hasn't been tested yet, Bruce! That was the point of bringing you here!"
"You're a fool Superman." Batman's eyes narrowed and his voice reached a dangerous tone. "The reason we built the second device is to get back home. I will be leaving now with the first device. We'll test it once I've retrieved my partner."
"That… makes sense." Flash said slowly, before perking up. "The kids!"
Before anyone could stop the fastest man alive, Flash was already headed to Central City to tell Wally.
Wally smirked at Connor. "You really think you can beat me? Not even Superman can beat Flash you know."
"We won't know until we try, now will we?"
The two got into position and M'gann held the racing flag above her head. She was about to swing it and start the race when a red blur knocked her over.
"I'm so sorry!"
"Uncle Barry!" Wally whined. "We were about to race!"
"Now's not the time! Hurry!" Flash grabbed M'gann's arm and hauled her up.
"What's wrong?" She asked, before squeaking as he slung her over his shoulder.
"To the Watch Tower, now!" Barry ordered, taking off.
The race was forgotten, and the two boys took off after the blurring red. It didn't matter that they were in their civvies, focused solely on Barry in front of them. Superboy was proud to be able to keep up with Wally, having trained so hard with him to develop his super speed.
Connor had gotten Wally to help him after Wally had proclaimed he was a whole 20 miles per hour faster than he was when Robin had disappeared. It was after two weeks that Connor had sprinted faster than anyone thought he could. He had been racing a car down the street. That was the best way to gauge his speed, and then suddenly, he'd beaten it. Of course, he hadn't known how fast he was going and didn't have time to stop before he ran through an entire tree, knocking it over.
The three remaining members of Young Justice had never been inside of the Watch Tower, but their awe was quickly muffled by concern. Barry sounded so… jittery.
"What's going on?" Wally grabbed his uncle's arm and pulled hard enough to stop him.
"You'll see! You just need to hurry up." Barry answered, in turn tugging Wally forward. "You guys are so slow!"
They were ushered into the control room, where a few of the League had remained, but most had followed Batman out of the door earlier. Wally didn't understand what he was doing here. There wasn't any crisis as far as he could see. No surprise birthday party, no one was dying.
Then he heard it.
"Robin…" M'gann whispered, coming closer to the screen where the audio was playing.
"What's going on?" Connor growled. "Why are we—when was this…?"
"It was sent to us about twenty minutes ago." Barry answered. "I tried to get him to hear me, but he couldn't. J'onn thinks the message could have been sent anywhere from hours ago, to an entire year ago, when Robin was thrown through."
Wally didn't even respond. He just listened; listened to the nervousness in Robin's voice, the strain on it when he was apologizing to Batman, the fear and desperation when he called for help.
"He's alive…" Wally couldn't stop the tears. The relief was just so overwhelming that he didn't have to the energy to hold himself together. "Rob's alive!"
"Why is Superman trying to break down the door?" Connor asked, eyebrows drawn in confusion. "That was Green Lantern in the background, wasn't it?"
"We've had encounters with alternate dimensions before;" Barry answered, "that's what got us a little worried. If Robin was being attacked by the League, he could be seriously injured. One little guy, even a bat, couldn't take on the entire league and get away without some serious damage done to them."
"We have to go get him." M'gann turned to Wally, who sniffed and swallowed down the tears from earlier. "He's in danger!"
"Bats is already on that. He's come up with a plan, and they're preparing right now." Barry pulled his nephew into his chest and ran his hand through Wally's red hair. "Easy, Walls, it's going to be just fine."
"I'm going." Wally pulled out of his uncle's embrace. "I don't care what Batman says, I'm going!"
"No, you're not." Batman's deep voice rumbled from the door.
Wally, Connor, and M'gann were fuming.
"Why?" Connor shot back. "Someone needs to be there to make sure you don't hurt him again."
Batman didn't even blink. The comment hurt, but he was not going to let it show to a bunch of children.
"I don't need any more factors to watch out for." Batman replied icily. "Robin is my responsibility. I will be the one to bring him home."
"If the League is attacking him, you're going to need all the help you can get!" Wally shot back.
"Then I'd get this League to go. Young Justice was disbanded months ago. You haven't worked together since and your inexperience would hinder this mission."
"We're his friends." M'gann said quietly. "We're his friends and he trusts us."
Batman stewed on this for a moment. Robin called for Batman, not Young Justice. Yet, the teenagers were correct. They were his friends, his colleagues. What if Robin ran from him? What if he failed to talk to Dick? Would they be able to do what he could not if it came to that?
"No."
Frustrated tears were beginning to form in Wally's eyes. He felt nothing but hate toward the Caped Crusader. Fine, if Batman wanted to play this way, then they'd play. Batman walked away and no one said a word, the silence thick and the tension heavy.