Waiting. If you do it correctly, can be torturous. Not knowing what's in store or what to expect. Being in the dark. Holding your breath, tapping your fingers, watching the clock tick tick tick tick past five minutes. Ten, twenty, an hour. No word from anyone, no answers. Silent suffocation in heavy thoughts.
What's going on?
Tick, tick.
Comm links are down, tossed on the coffee table. Too much anxiety, too much concern. The flood of emotion left M'gann in helpless tears.
The team had done all that they were allowed to do. Now, they were stuck. Waiting.
Tick, tick, tick.
Black Canary's gone. The blonde had stormed off in a whirl wind, clicking buttons and yelling for Tornado to call Batman. Her voice had floated through the halls, leaving every one of the teens in a tense state of worry.
'I don't know Leslie's number! It's not on record! Someone's got to have it- Hold on hold on- Oh hell. –No, you listen to me! That boy is thirteen years old!- Five heads had shot up, eyes widened in concern.-then don't grab him! Sit him down and keep an eye on him. From a distance. The last thing the poor kid needs right now are a bunch of people breathing down his neck. Here, put him on the phone. No, I'm his aunt. Just put him on.
The woman's voice had grown soft after that, too low for anyone to hear, aside from Superboy of course. His icy blue eyes had grown darker and darker as his sensitive ears picked up broken words, jaw clenching along with his fists. It was no secret that the meta human had a strong connection with the Boy Wonder; a fierce instinct to protect the small acrobat kicked in whenever there was danger. Hearing the boy struggle to keep his voice even as Canary consoled him was enough to make him see red. Whoever had started this mess was going to pay. Dearly.
XxXx
They had taken him to the precinct. He had been there before, of course, but never under these circumstances. An officer; young, paling at the site of the blood covering Robin's uniform, kept a steady hold of his arm, guiding the boy through halls that smelled of stale coffee. There were about a dozen police men there at this time of night, footsteps clinking as the contents on their belts rattled. Every one of them sent a glance over as he was lead past, surprise the dominant emotion they displayed. Probably because he was alone.
The duo turned a corner, and the officer pulled the teen down a hall of glass windows.
Interrogation rooms. Great.
Robin kept his head down as they walked, trying to control his breathing as the images replayed through his mind over and over again. He had gotten it together in the squad cruiser on the way over here. The last thing he wanted was for all his hard work to be destroyed just like that, just because he was going to have to talk about Barba-
Stop. Not now. Not now.
Breath.
Jingling keys barely caught the boy's attention, but he was glad for the distraction. They had stopped in front of one of the metal doors, and the young guy- Officer Kenton, his name tag labeled him-was shakily trying to unlock it.
Robin chose then to look around, studying his surroundings with little interest. His eyes just happened to flicker to the right as the door clicked open, and before he was pulled into the room, his gaze locked with another's behind the neighboring glass.
Navy blue eyes hardened, and the figure sneered; the same sickening smile he had worn when he watched his buddy cock his gun and shoot Batgirl.
xXxX
Her bandaged hands were caked with soil, having spent some time replanting the drooping violet flower. Barbara sat on the plush grass and watched quietly, hugging her knees to her chest. The Robin was long gone, having flown off without stopping to linger in the trees.
The honey haired girl sighed, giving the packed dirt one final pat before dusting her wrapping off and plopping down cross legged in front of the red head.
"Phew. That was close." She breathed, releasing one of her bubbly laughs.
Barbara, however, stayed emotionless. "I…don't understand."
Irises glowed brightly as the other teen perked. "Finally!" she giggled, looking very much like an excited child on Christmas. "I was wondering when you'd start asking. Whatcha wanna know?"
The redhead sighed, chewing on her lip. What did she want to know? She didn't know where she was or who this girl was, and those seemed like some pretty important details.
Jade eyes lifted up to the sky, watching as the puffy white clouds churned and morphed into silly little shapes. She smiled lightly, leaning her head back to watch.
"Everything I guess."
The other girl snorted, crawling over to lie next to Barbara. "Hm. Well that really gives me something to work with. Bunny." She laughs, sticking a finger in the air to trace the lumpy shape.
Barbara grins, pursing her lips. "Nah. Turtle. Let's start with "Where am I?" she prompts as the other girl squints.
"Okay. Well, you're in my place. I made it a long time ago."
"Yeah? Lion." She points.
"Uhhuh. Everyone I save comes here. Most of them end up leaving though." The honey haired girl frowns, pausing. "Tree?"
Barbara nods "Tree." Before turning and raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know leaving was an option."
"Yup. Not saying you have to or anything. But you can."
"Huh." Green eyes trail back to the sky. "You know, I thought I was dead."
The other teen laughs. "I told you you weren't. You could have chosen that though." She nudges Barbara's arm. "I'm glad you didn't. I saved this boy once. He was attacked in an alley a few years back. I was pretty new to this back then. Gave my crystals out carelessly." She sighed "I never regret saving anyone of course. He was just… so bitter. He chose the other way." Her lips quirked slightly in thought. "I ended up breaking the rules though. I brought him back, and now he does this." Another giggle spills from her lips, cheeks frosting with color. "You could say I was fond of him. What a cutie!"
Noticing Barbara's quizzical look, she pauses, slightly confused. "What?"
The redhead shakes her head, eyebrows scrunched. "I'm sorry. You said something about crystals?"
The girl smiles, smacking her forehead. "Oh, duh!" bandaged hands reach down to pull the rest of the silver chain around her neck out of her vanilla shirt. From the end hangs two beautiful cube shaped crystals, each glowing with rainbow color. She displays them for Barbara, grinning ear to ear. "Yeah! These are what I use to save people! I had ten in total, but I've saved eight people now, so this is all I have left."
The other teen smiles softly, hoisting herself up onto her elbow to get a better look. "Wow. This is incredible. Where do they go?"
The honey haired girl tucked the necklace back into her top carefully. "They dissolve. Into your wound."
xXxX
Now that summer's here, I'm hoping to get these updates out a little quicker. Hopefully.
Quiet-raindrop- Hang in there! This won't be too sad; otherwise I wouldn't be able to handle it either! :3
BatShitCrazy21- Thank you thank you! Don't worry; I won't go too hard on Babs.
InsertDecentNameHere- :D Hopefully this chapter cleared some things up for you! Don't worry, things are going to start coming together very soon, I promise! (P.S. I love your user name xD )
Keepmovingforward2- *Cracks fingers* Okay! I won't!
Dancingandsingingintherain- Thanks! You are very very very close!
LordOfTheBooks- Sorry! No romance here. I wanted them to have a more brother-sister vibe going here. You know, really awesome friends. I guess it could be romance if you wanted, but it might be a little hard to find it. Sorry sorry sorry :/
AmaraRae- Thank you just plain Thank you. :)
Guys. That's a lot of reviews. Thank you! Ah! I needed to use a ton of exclamation marks there, but I wasn't allowed to! Expressing my excitement is not easy over the keyboard. Keep 'em coming! We're almost to 20!
Until next time!
-Arrow.