Disclaimer: I own the plot. It's a very nice plot. You can't have it.
Warning: one bad word. Not too bad. I think you guys can probably handle it. Also, slight Zatara bashing. Nobody take it too seriously, kay?
This chapter is dedicated to Cyber Orteck, without whom this would something else entirely; something probably very, very boring. :P As it is...well...you can make your own conclusions. :) I am sorry about the (too copious) non-Wally sections. Still. Hopefully this will satisfy everyone anyway, and he'll have the spotlight a little more in the next chapter.
Chapter Six: Discussions and Decisions
Mount Justice was silent. But it was not an empty silence, nor was it a comfortable one. The team, minus its two missing members, was sitting sullenly in the common room, doing nothing. Zatara presided over them from the doorway; he was the only one, out of all of them, who looked halfway alert.
Wally sighed heavily for what seemed to him to be the millionth time. He was sooooo bored! And he couldn't believe they were sitting around waiting for one of them to disappear like some stupid sugerplum fairy instead of actually being useful.
From her place in-between Kid Flash and Aqualad on the couch, Artemis was thinking much the same thing. She didn't like non-action; it gave her way too much time to think, and made her unfocused and angsty.
Artemis wished that she could say something to break the…nothingness that was happening, but she couldn't think of anything. And she didn't like Zatara listening to everything they said.
Wait a minute. Everything they said?
Artemis was both surprised and annoyed at herself for not thinking of it earlier. She reached discreetly behind Aqualad and nudged M'gann. M'gann didn't outwardly react, and for a moment Artemis was afraid she hadn't understood. Then, with what almost felt like a mental snap, the mind link was up. Aqualad, who had been staring dully at the floor, straightened in surprise. Kid Flash stirred slightly and looked around at them.
M'gann?
He must really be depressed, Artemis thought to herself, with a twinge of what might have been worry. He's not even trying to flirt with her at all.
Yes, Wally. It's me. The Martian girl sent back. She still hadn't moved at all. Her quiet sort of depression was almost harder to take than the absence of their friends. Almost.
...Is everyone here? Aqualad, ever the responsible leader. But Artemis could tell his heart wasn't in it; at that point, he was just going through the motions.
Yes.
No.
Wally rolled his eyes at Artemis. Yes you are.
Subtly, she stuck out her tongue. Prove it.
I don't have to! Just by saying that—thinking it, whatever—you just did!
I have no idea what you're going on about.
Kid Flash, eyes wide and mouth agape, just stared at her. Artemis smirked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw M'gann watching them.
It's not often I see you speechless, Artemis sent, snobbishly. Thoughtless, yes, but speechless…?
Zatara was taken completely by surprise when Kid Flash attacked Artemis. One minute, they'd just been sitting there, looking at each other—the next, he shoved her off the couch!
"Children! What is the meaning of this?" he cried, striding towards them imperiously.
Artemis and Wally exchanged glances, then simultaneously swept Zatara's legs out from under him with a well-aimed kick. By then, M'gann was stifling laughter and Aqualad was trying, and failing, to hide a smile. Artemis sat up and high-fived KF; mission accomplished.
Zatara was not amused. "If this is how you repay—"
"Aw, no harm done!" Wally said brightly, standing up. He offered a hand to the downed magician, which was accepted, albeit with some grumbling. "We were just playing!"
Zatara looked at their (faked, but he didn't know that) apologetic faces and the life in M'gann and Aqualad's expressions, and his features softened ever-so-slightly. "I would at least ask an explanation. No matter your intent, understand that that was not an acceptable—"
"We're sorry!" They chorused, a little too quickly.
Zatara sighed in annoyance. "Why—" he started, then stopped. He was staring at them oddly.
Kid Flash had offered his hand to Artemis while Zatara was talking and helped her up. But before either of them could let go, the air stilled, and thickened. There was a sound like thunder and a feeling like lightning stabbed Artemis' exposed midriff. She doubled over, choking, but she moved slowly, like she was underwater, and everything was blurred, and she couldn't see Kid Flash, but she couldn't let go of his hand, and they were spinning, and she heard muffled voices that spiked with urgency and then dropped away, and she couldn't breathe, she was so cold, and then Kid Flash was ripped away from her and she fell.
Kid Flash knew as soon as everything slowed, then skipped in that sickeningly strange way what was happening. He couldn't speak, but he tried desperately to let go of Artemis because he knew—he could feel that he was the one being pulled through, and he didn't want to drag her after him, but he didn't seem to have a choice. And then, just as he was thinking it was too late, but at least they were together, she was gone and he was panicking because they hadn't arrived yet and who knew what had happened, or if she was okay.
He appeared with a crack five feet above an open field, and had to think fast to avoid falling on his head. His shin, however, was not as lucky and he examined the long scrape with a wince. Unlike the others, he'd changed into civilian wear out of boredom and because they weren't on a mission, so why not? Belatedly he realized that seeing as he had known he was probably going to be pulled into another dimension, he really should have kept his suit on, but hey. Couldn't do anything about it now, so whatever.
He stood and looked around him warily. There was no sign of Artemis; there was no sign of anything. Just acres and acres of grass. In the distance, he thought he could see a wheat field.
Kid Flash blinked. "Did I just land in Kansas?"
In a city, in another state, there was a flash of light that was dimmer than the sunlight that fell soft across the buildings and the people and so seemed more like a flash of darkness. No one noticed; they were all too busy staring busily at the police cars and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents pouring into the city's one football stadium. The entrance was closed to anyone unauthorized, and the people were all kept at a safe distance. Still, they milled around and refused to leave on the slim chance they might see something interesting. Ironically, if they had only turned around, they would have.
Artemis dropped from the sky limply. She clipped the edge of a building, hitting her head, spun into an alley and landed on a broken sheet of glass. The blow to her head had rendered her unconscious, which was both lucky and unlucky, as she felt none of the pain as the shards pierced her body. But the pool of blood grew underneath her steadily, and there was no one to stop it.
—lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay—
Connor felt a slight pressure in his head, like when he had been pulled through the dimensional barriers, what—twenty, thirty minutes ago? He hesitated, wondering why, but heard voices and had to move quickly to avoid being spotted.
He'd thought he could just slip away and no one would notice. He really hadn't thought it through very well. It was a miracle they didn't have any pictures or videos of him; the cameras had seemed to malfunction for a few minutes, though the T.V.s he saw in the store window only flickered once or twice and were fine. However, his description was everywhere, and everyone seemed to know it by heart and could instantly place him, which was irritating to the extreme. His shirt didn't help; apparently, it was unique here. Wherever 'here' was. This ridiculous city by the water—well, the ocean, judging by the strong smell of salt.
He leaned against the cold concrete wall behind him and sighed. Suddenly, he straightened, frowning. Speaking of smell…wasn't that blood?
"Hey!"
Connor whirled, surprised. Facing him was an android, colored red like Red Tornado but with yellow complements, a much more complicated design, and glowing blue eyes. Its expression was fixed in cold indifference, but Connor thought he saw a threat in the way it moved forward purposefully.
"Are you—"
It didn't get any further than that. Connor jumped, slamming into the robot's midsection and propelling them both down the corridor to the far concrete wall. The android hit the wall with a strangled, almost human-sounding gasp. Connor wasted no time in punching it in the chest. He had meant to punch right through it, but its armor was abnormally hard and obviously meant to withstand huge pressure. Still, he succeeded in ripping out a chunk of red-painted—what sort of metal was this, anyway? Steel? Iron?
The android placed its hand on his chest and a pulse of hot light the same color of its eyes pushed Connor away forcefully. He checked for damage automatically; none, but his shirt was ruined. Again.
Uttering a low, guttural growl, he looked up at the robot.
"Now, wait a minute," it started.
Roaring like an animal, Connor attacked.
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Kid Flash didn't know what to do. He'd been walking for a while, looking for Artemis, looking for Superboy, looking for Robin, looking for anyone for the past…how long had it been? He didn't even know. How sad. He'd stopped worrying about what had happened to Artemis mostly by refusing to think about it. His biggest problem was that he was lost and he didn't know where to go. He could run, but which direction? He didn't have much food—two granola bars in his pocket wasn't going to last him very long. So he conserved his energy and wandered through the field of wheat he'd seen earlier.
But he knew he couldn't do this much longer. He had never been known for his patience. Soon he was just going to start running and damn the consequences.
—lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay—
Her name was Pepper Potts; or at least, that was how she'd introduced herself to him. She said that the Avengers were out crime-fighting, so she was here to 'make sure he was okay'.
…to babysit, in other words.
Well, fine. He could handle himself; he was thirteen years old and he didn't need help. He suspected they knew that. They just didn't care. She wasn't there to take care of him; she was there to spy. Or perhaps to stop him spying.
Yeah, good luck with that.
She gave him a careful tour that she said encompassed the whole of the tower but really, really didn't. He took note of which parts she omitted, including several hard-but-not-quite-impossible-to-see-if-you-know-what-you're-looking-for doors. He wondered if Pepper knew everything she was skipping, or if she was actually just ignorant. It could be either, he supposed.
"So how do you know the Avengers?" he made sure to ask it casually, like he was mostly asking out of politeness and not out of a burning desire to know, know everything about her especially every nuance of her connection to the Avengers partially because it might be useful and partially because that was how Batman had trained him to be.
She stopped, then, and glanced at him with confusion and a surprised sort of appraisal. He looked at the training room (too tame to be anything more than a back-up, who did she think she was fooling—oh, right, him) and turned away a little like he wasn't paying attention, like every atom of his being wasn't focused on her.
"…I work with Tony," she told him finally. From her tone he gathered that this was common information. "Tony Stark. Iron Man."
Like he didn't know who Tony was.
"Cool."
"It can be."
He looked at her, then. She was clearly uncomfortable, but trying not to show it. Because of him? He'd realized more or less immediately when they met that he wasn't what she'd expected. Yeah, well, get used to it lady, he thought sourly. He wanted to talk to the Avengers. Or hack something to get more information. Without supervision.
So much was common knowledge here. Things everyone else knew, things that made Robin stand out because he didn't know. S.H.I.E.L.D., for example, that Widow had told him about and he had managed to look up before he fell asleep the night before. It reminded him of Cadmus, but without the paranoid secrecy. Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D. was mysterious; but not so much that even their existence was hidden from public view. And then there was Tony Stark, who had told the world he was Iron Man. Why? Sure, it probably made his double life easier…but it also destroyed any mystery the Iron Man persona might have lent him.
Bruce. Not Banner, his Bruce, Bruce Wayne. It was just an idea, but…what would happen if Batman wasn't a secret?
No. Robin pushed the thought from his mind. The criminals of Gotham would hardly be intimidated by Bruce. Batman's agenda, his motivations, were most effective shrouded in darkness.
But what if they weren't? The hardest thing about being Robin had always been the secrets. He'd lost friends—so many friends—over it. He'd trained himself not to care, but he was a social creature by nature, and for his sphere of close human interaction to be so small was…agonizing. Worth it, definitely, but still…
What if someday, when he was older, say twenty if he lived that long, he could be a hero openly? Like Tony Stark—what if Robin just told people? He'd have to change his name, both hero and otherwise, change his face and past, because Bruce's secret would otherwise also be exposed and that was so not Robin's choice to make. But then…everything would be so much more honest. Robin—well, okay, Robin was a liar. But Richard…Richard never had been.
I can't think like this, Robin realized. It is what is. Maybe…maybe someday things will be different. But there's no use thinking about it now.
He turned his attention back to Pepper. She was checking her extremely high-tech phone. From the look on her face, he knew it wasn't a text from a friend.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," she said sharply, snapping her cellphone shut and sliding it back into her purse. "Show news station." Ah, yes, J.A.R.V.I.S. Robin remembered Pepper mentioning him.
"Which—" the disembodied voice even with just one word reminded Robin of Alfred.
"Any of them! All of them! It doesn't matter!"
Robin stood back and watched intently. She wasn't flustered, exactly…startled? No. No, definitely not. Worried? Concerned? Those might be closer…
Screens appeared in the air in front of Pepper. Robin had to move to see them. They looked remarkably like the sort the Justice League used, he noticed. Interesting. But more interesting was what they showed.
On one screen, a reporter stood in front of a large stadium with police cars parked in front. In the background, Robin could see a slight shimmer in the air, almost like Wonder Woman's invisible jet. The reporter was talking, but the sound was muted; her words appeared at the top of the screen. At the bottom; BREAKING NEWS: Super-powered teenager cornered in…
A super-powered teenager? Robin frowned. There was no reason to think it was anyone he knew, but something about it bothered him.
Another screen had another angle of the same stadium. A different newsgroup, reporting on the same thing. Robin skipped over it.
More and more screens were appearing; J.A.R.V.I.S. seemed to have taken Pepper's request for 'all of them' seriously. They weren't even all New York. Reports from other cities, even other states were showing up. Robin wondered if J.A.R.V.I.S. was a bit defective, because this was definitely not what Pepper had meant. She was too busy concentrating on the closest three (all New York news; all pertaining to the stadium) to say anything, however.
Robin started to glance at the screens, dwelling on each only long enough to determine what it was and if it was important before moving to the next.
The president had adopted a dog. Good for him.
A celebrity arrest. Drug abuse. The reporters seemed almost cruelly delighted about it.
An earthquake in California…no surprise there…minor damage. No fatalities.
A report from New Jersey. Brief blackout was strange because…blah blah blah…
Wait what.
Robin looked back at the New Jersey report, but whatever he'd seen, it was gone now. And had he seen it? He was pretty sure he had.
Just for an instant, a streak in the background—something moving very, very fast.
Kid Flash?
No. No, it couldn't be. He hadn't been in the portal. Only Robin had come through.
But…
He looked back at the first news station. A super-powered teenager. Superboy. Robin's breath caught in his chest. Did they all come through, then? His entire team? They must have—they must have. It was the only explanation (he quashed the small, uncannily Batman-esque voice in the back of his mind saying that no, it was not the only explanation, and don't go jumping to conclusions, you're letting your emotions cloud your judgment again).
He wasn't alone.
That was the last thought Richard had before Robin clamped down on his emotions with the force of a sledgehammer. Batman had trained him better than this. Come on, now. Calm down. Think logically. It might be them, it might not be. The question was what to do about it?
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Wally only ran through the outskirts of the city when he came to it. And he was more careful about being seen than when he'd been out in the middle of nowhere. Also, he'd been wrong; according to a sign, this was New Jersey, not Kansas. Didn't make much difference to him, really, but it was good to know. He didn't know this area in his world, so he couldn't say if it was different or not. So far everything seemed…well, normal. This was a completely different dimension—so why was it so boring?
He slowed, and stopped behind a tree. He needed information. His best bet was either a newspaper or one of those electronic stores that had televisions playing news stations in their front windows. How to find one of those…well, there had to be one somewhere in the city. He'd just have to walk until he found it.
—lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay— lookatmeI'mabreaklineyay—
"They were pulled through so quickly…"
"Yes. So were Superboy and Robin. Did you get a fix on their location?"
"Yes. However, it seems I underestimated the power of the transportation; the spell I put on Kid Flash and Artemis partially disintegrated, so I cannot yet send anyone after them. I put a second, stronger spell on M'gann and Aqualad that should—will—work…or I might as well retire as a magician." He muttered the last part under his breath. They both heard him anyway.
"I have faith in you." Black Canary, though worried half out of her mind for the team, managed an encouraging smile.
"Thank you. Now we must choose who will retrieve the children. I myself cannot go, because I must stay here and act as an anchor. We will not be able to communicate, so we must decide on a set time, after which I will recall the rescue team, Kid Flash, Artemis, and whoever any of them are touching—bare skin is best, but even just holding onto someone's sleeve should suffice—back to the mountain. I will not recall everyone immediately, so I will retain an anchor by which I may send people back through again if not everyone has been located. Only when everyone has returned will I sever the spell."
"Batman, you already made a list of who's going, right?" Black Canary's tone was friendly and curious, but her eyes promised immediate and excruciating agony if she was not included.
Batman was unimpressed by her glare. He gave her a look. "Me."
"Just you?" Zatara was confused. Good thing, too; if he hadn't spoken before Dinah could, there probably would have been a short yet violent fight. "It is not as if half the league hasn't already volunteered. Flash, for example, has been particularly insistent. Why would you not take advantage of such resources?"
I work alone, Batman thinks, but does not say. Because he doesn't work alone, not anymore, and it feels wrong and unnatural to patrol the dark alleys of Gotham without his partner and protégé by his side. And, yes, he's commanded the league enough times to be semi-comfortable with it under normal circumstances. But this was not normal circumstances, because Robin wasn't waiting for him in the cave or in the manor, and he wasn't thinking logically anymore.
A part of him knew this, and struggled to make its voice heard. There were good reasons, valid reasons why it might be good to bring someone with him. There were a lot of them. Someone to watch his back (that's what Robin was for. He'd find him first, and then he wouldn't need anyone else), someone who could go somewhere else if they needed to cover more ground (again, Robin), someone who could help if something went wrong (Batman didn't need help)…the list went on.
If Robin was there…but he wasn't. Batman would get him back. He would. But until then…
"I do not require assistance." He strode off. Black Canary stared darkly after him.
"I will assemble a team," she told Zatara as soon as Batman was out of earshot. "He's not going in alone, no matter how stubborn he wants to be."
Zatara watched Dinah walk away and sighed.
"Well, this should be interesting."
A.N. On a completely random note, I hope y'all know how much you've spoiled me. Chapter before last, I got nine reviews. For one chapter. And then last chapter I got ten! So, hopefully this was everything y'all wanted, and no one's too disappointed in me~
Oh, and I found this awesome blog. XD It's for a book that I don't actually think has been published yet…but it's hilarious and really fun. :3 I was honored enough to receive a preview, however, and I can't wait to buy it! It is so cool! I figured I can't be the only one who's fed up with stupid vampire/werewolf/zombie/apocalypse books that all read the same, so I thought I'd recommend…well, the blog at least, and then the book when it comes out. :P The post on commas is my favorite. X3 If you want to read the blog, I recommend y'all start with what he wrote about commas first. Here's the link, check it out;
w ww . epicofahiram .c om
Obviously you'll want to remove the spaces.
Thank you for reading, I hope y'all have an awesome day today. :)