"So, do you have any idea where he is?"
Alfred's eyes flitted away quickly, dark orbs scanning programs and tracking devices and every other system his oldest charge had packed into the team utility belts until he could say. His voice was calm and measured when he answered back, strikingly dissimilar to the state of his head.
"Well, I've determined an approximate location based on the GPS chip in his belt…it doesn't appear that said location has moved in quite a while, so I would assume it's safe to check this area first."
On the vast screen in front of him, Green Arrow nodded solemnly.
"Okay. Is it a safe bet to say he's immobile then? Or has he lost his belt?" The blonde man paused suddenly, quirking a lip as he pictured the deadpan look his coulege would give him for asking these types of questions.
"Oh, the former is certainly a safe assumption." Alfred responded patiently, pulling up an intricate grid map of the city and running the GPS location. His fingers pattered nimbly across the keyboard while Oliver waited, lulled into a fragile calm with the hope of him being able to help, to do something.
"A moment, please, Master Arrow."
Said hero let his mind wander silently. He had arrived at Mount Justice when the flurry of panic filled its corners. Against the screeching of Canary and the shaken huddle of young teens, the man was quickly filled in and drop kicked to a similar state. He had been given the task of informing arriving heroes with the most up to date information he could provide, a job he had willingly taken from his wife with ringing ears.
"I've almost determined an exact location. Another moment, perhaps."
Batgirl had arrived soon after Oliver had taken up greeting, and he had instantly stumbled back at the dread inducing sight. She was deathly pale, ridged on a flimsy gurney and covered to her shoulders with a white sheet marred in the middle with crimson stains. An older women flanked the handles, pushing them rapidly as she yelled out "excuse me's" lost in a haze of medical terms. Her white coat was starch in color, sleeves rolled up to avoid the blood stains that has crept up her wrists, and her blonde hair was tied up in similar fashion, avoiding a smudge of blood splashed across her forehead.
"-You!" He recalled her barking suddenly, startling the room into silence as she jabbed a finger at Green Lantern, causing the man to jump.
"Med Bay. I'm going to need some assistance and you don't look like the type to pass out. High tail it over here, we've gotta run an I.V. and I need the records of her blood type."
It would have been comical in any other situation, watching the muscular man stumbling quickly after the woman, shakily uttering a "Yes, ma'am!" as they disappeared down the hall.
But in that moment, it was a sullen reminder of a horrible situation that everyone wanted to fix.
Oliver hadn't thought that anything would calm the room of jittering superheroes, huddled together and anxious to act, but it happened the second his son stalked into the room with Robin bundled in his arms.
No one had moved, as far as he could tell, but Kid Flash was at Roy's side before everyone had turned their heads, firing questions that seemed to echo in the envelope of silence.
The redhead was jittering so fast his outline was blurring, fuzzy and chopped, taking in the state of his best friend, so small and splattered with blood and streamed out concerns without taking a breath.
"Kid, he's fine. He's sleeping."
That was all it had taken to stir everyone up again, a collective sigh of relief saturating the air.
The next thing Roy had been met with was a crowding of heroes and an abundance of outstretched hands, all willing to carry the boy they had watched grow up, or the friend they had shared a team with. Roy shouldered past them all, whispering again that it was fine, and he had soon vanished down the hall of sleeping quarters, KF tagging behind with fast paced whispers for annoyed answers.
Green Arrow slumped his elbows onto the table before him, dropping his chin to his palms tiredly.
"It appears that Batman is currently in one of the Westward warehouses at the downtown docks. My approximation would be the forty third or forty fourth, but he is certainly there at the moment."
Oliver ran the heels of his palms over the sockets of his eyes, pressing over his mask in an attempt to rub the worry away. Who knows what state Batman is in, what he will find. No one had slept, his wife wouldn't sit down, and he hadn't seen his son since his initial arrival. Stress, stress, worry, and more stress.
"Now, the area is a bit…rough, and that isn't to say that you can't handle it-"
Green Arrow smiled slightly as he raised his head. "Its fine, Agent A. I know what you mean. The truth is, I'm beat, and I wouldn't be much use on my own. I'll ask-"
"Me!"
Flash came, quite literally, out of nowhere, knocking his friend out of the way with a squawk as his cheerful face filled the screen.
"Hiya, Agent A! Where are we going? Is the Bats okay? I saw Batgirl, that'sreallynotgoodIhopeshe'sokay. IsawRobintoo, poorkidWallywasamesswaitingforthemIjusthopeeveryonewillbeokayIwanttohelp-"
Alfred cleared his throat carefully, waiting for the brightly clad speedster to draw a breath before cutting in. "Master Flash, I have informed Master Arrow of the location you will need to go, but, do be careful. It is not the best location to wander, regardless of the time of day."
Barry nodded in determination, flashing a quick grin before latching a hand around his friend's bicep and speeding away. Alfred allowed himself a short chuckle at the startled yelp Green Arrow produced, but he sobered immediately when another hero took Arrow's place.
"I should go, too."
Alfred nodded quietly, taking in the ruffled appearance of the polite reporter. He looked much like the other heroes he had talked to already, remembering the weathered face of Wonder Woman, lined with worry and exhaustion, the flickering sadness that passed Kaldur's eyes as he tried to be the emotionless leader of Robin's team, the growing frustration of Superboy as he was left task less, the nervous fluttering of Hawk Girl as she attempted to be useful and cheery, and the quiet contemplation of Aquaman, who took in every variable and simply had no solution.
These were trying times, and it was hard because it was hitting home for everyone.
"Master Superman-"
The man sighed quietly, leaning forward in his chair. "Canary took the team for sessions, and I convinced the rest of the league to get some sleep. I'm alone."
"Master Kent," Alfred amended. "I understand the need you feel to help, but I feel as though you would be most useful if you stayed in the mountain for now. Dr. Leslie has informed me that Barbara is stable, but Green Lantern is not. She has worked him to the bone, I'm afraid, and she might need someone to step in. It is not that I don't trust anyone else to help,"
Superman leveled the older man with softened eyes, touched at the sentiment.
"I just want to help. This…sitting around, it does not baud well with me." He sighed shakily, running a large hard through his inky hair to push it from his eyes.
"Seeing Barbara, and then Richard…I know what Bruce is going to be like when he finds out…if he doesn't already know, and I don't think Queen and Allen are going to stand a chance."
The butler was thoughtful. "I cannot attest that Master Bruce will be patient, or calm, or even willing to accept medical treatment as I feel he will need, but I do know that the two men I sent are more than capable of handling the situation. And, most of all, I know that Master Bruce will appreciate the fact that, out of the majority, you will be here, watching his charges, protecting them, while he is gone."
Clark's throat constricted. Bruce, Richard, and most recently, Barbara, were like family to him. The alien valued his team members above all else, so whatever he could offer to help, he would offer in a heartbeat. Determination in his eyes, the man nodded.
"Although," Alfred started with a laugh "I doubt Master Bruce would ever admit this."
Superman smiled quietly, his first in many hours.
xXxx
"Something is different."
"You're starting to notice, too?"
"No, I mean..." Barbara poked carefully at the inner bend of her arm, wincing slightly with the stinging pang that came with it, repeating the action to the back of her hand with similar results.
"I feel like…I don't know, like there's something here. I just can't see it."
The caramel haired girl, sitting cross legged in the plush grass beside her, rubbed the inside of her own arm above her vanilla sleeve.
"It's probably a needle." She stated, grinning when the redhead flinched.
"What? Don't like needles?"
"Not if I can't see them. " She shuddered violently, eliciting peals of laughter from her friend. "I can feel it under my skin. Ick."
The honey haired girl chuckled out the last of her laughs. "You get used to it."
Barbara nodded, letting her emerald eyes roam lazily until they found that little Robin, still sound asleep under the cover of a tall, broad tree. It made her happy, in a weird way, but nothing was weird anymore. As long as the sky wasn't melting, she considered that a general win.
"So, does that mean I'm in a hospital? Are these…needles…IVs?"
"Most likely."
A gentle breeze blew in, swirling their hair back with the shudder of leaves from the forest of trees. The tallest stayed still as can be, strongly planted and woven into the dirt. Barbara watched her violet flower sway in the wind, and in a way, she felt peace. She felt stable.
"This is purgatory."
And then it was gone.
Barbara had never jumped so hard in her life. Choked words escaped her as her mind went on autopilot.
"Bu...But you... You said-"
Carmel eyes flickered away. "That you weren't dead. I didn't lie. You're not. But it's something similar."
The redhead felt every theory she had pieced together crumble away. There was nothing magic about this place, and she felt like a child for ever thinking there was.
It was real. And behind all the sunshine and flowers, there was something sinister about it.
XxXx
"She's comatose, Jim."
Being a Commissioner with the police meant being a strong person. There's so much violence shoved in your face at a constant rate, and the oversaturation of it is what hardens your mentality. It's hard to believe that one could get used to the sight of a cold body, lying somewhere other than a warm bed, feeling their wrist, void of a pulse, and looking at their face and wondering what they would have been like, what they were like, as a person. It's hard to believe because it doesn't happen.
Jim had been on the force for over a decade and he'd never forgotten one face, one name, one death. He couldn't. They haunted him.
He didn't ride with her in the ambulance.
Jim Gordon held his daughter while she bled, and he tried to hold her wound closed as he held his own seams together. He knew it wouldn't last.
While deaths haunted Jim, they did not make him emotional. They did not make him emotional, because he was not an emotional person. It was the way he was taught, and he never forgot a lesson either.
But this…this was different. This was his child, bleeding out on the warped wood of a dock in a gritty corner of Gotham City.
He had wanted a challenge, so he chose the crime riddled city in the naivety of youth, and for all his falls he could never leave, because they needed somebody. Soon, that somebody became Batman, and then Robin, and then his own daughter, but he figured they could need him, too.
Of course, Barbara needed him now. More so than Gotham, who bustled about through morning rush like every day. But he couldn't do it.
He couldn't get on that truck and watch her die, watch her lie on a place that was not her warm bed, and feel her wrist, void of a pulse, and look at her face and wonder what else she would have become.
So he pulled away, he let her go, and he went to the precinct.
"Oh, mistah Commish! We're all so sorry to hear about Batgirl! We know you're close to the batclan and it's a shame and all-"
Megsie has clacked after him, the points of her heels pulling at the peeling tiles on the floor, but he couldn't say anything to her because his throat was burning.
"C-Commissioner Gor-gordan, H-hey. I'm really- o-okay, I'll talk to you l…later…"
Kenton. The newest officer stumbled up from his chair as Jim went past, but the man could not look the nervous kid in the eyes because his glasses were fogging, or maybe it was his vision.
When he got to his office, his pushed the rickety door snug into the jam. He sat down at his desk with the sigh of a man holding the world on his sagging shoulders, and looked across the clutter on his desk. His hands were shaking so he busied them with clutters of paper, until his elbow hit a mug of forgotten coffee, and it tumbled to the floor and shattered.
So did his composer.
Coffee dripped melodically off the edge of his crackled desk, filling the cracks in the floor as the tears filled the lines in his face.
He dropped his head to his hand, and he didn't look up when his door squeaked open, rattling the blinds as it was pushed shut.
And he heard someone sigh as they lowered themselves down, knees cracking as they shoveled broken ceramic into the can.
And he heard the swishing of a rag on the floor, soaking up coffee before it dried into a sticky tack.
And he heard the person rise, and felt the hand on his shoulder.
And he heard Clane's gruff timbre utter a single solidary statement.
"She's going to be okay."
And when Leslie called, with exhaustion dripping in her voice, and she told him the state of his eldest child, he cried for a different reason.
Because maybe this time he didn't have to remember a death. Maybe he could have hope for a life.
xXxX
The Flash barely felt the change in terrain beneath his boots, but when he finally did skid to a stop, jagged splinters of wood pulled up with the speed.
The man laughed heartily, spinning with his hands on his hips, then over his eyes to catch sight of his friend's silhouette in the distance. His figure hopped from building top to building top, stumbling in places and cursing in others.
When Green Arrow finally met Barry's side, the speedster had to steady him as his heavy boots made purchase on the dock. He was severely out of breath, shooting a glare at the laughing blonde while he bent over to hold his side.
"Dude," Allen chuckled in amusement. "Next time, just piggy back."
Oliver groaned, pulling a face as he straightened to full height.
"Nah. I already told you. Makes me nauseous."
Flash shrugged. "Offer's still on the table, grandpa."
Green Arrow threw a playful punch to the other's shoulder, falling forward with a yelp as his fist met empty air.
When he regained his balance, the Flash was already several paces down the dock, hands on hips as he raised an eyebrow.
"Coming?"
Oliver chuckled, jogging quickly to join the speedster's side. They both took to scanning the area next, lines of dilapidated shacks and warehouses in a line to the right, vast, rust colored water to the left.
Flash whistled. "How many buildings are here again?"
"Ummm…Agent A didn't mention. He said we're looking for number forty three of forty four."
Flash pointed to the right.
"And, which number building is this?"
Green Arrow squinted slightly, and then groaned.
"Eleven."
"Faaantastic. Mind if I speed this up a bit?"
Queen grinned, throwing a hand out dramatically.
"After you. - But!" He yelled quickly when his friend grabbed his arm. "If I vomit," he warned. "It's your fault."
Building forty three was speckled with chunks of missing wood and littered with stacks of broken crates. The place was partially wrapped in crumbling bricks, and the tin covered roof was warped around the edges, corroded with rust and caving in at its middle.
After winding through a maze of drooping, mildew riddled shacks, the two finally found it. All joking inside, it was on. Mission save Bats, active and in progress.
The metal garage door was rolled halfway down and jammed shut with rust and salt and weather, so the two men ducked under until their boots met cracked concrete.
Tall pillars of industrial steel served as support, but that couldn't stop the old rain water from puddling in or the spiders from building their webs. Rays of sunlight sparked life in spills of oil, sending rainbow waves of color swirling in the cracks they filled.
Green Arrow and Flash walked cautiously around a brick bend, quietly stepping around the jut to find a sight that made their stomachs leap and flop simultaneously.
"Bats!"
The man was suspended, stuck to the mortar bricks with the going tack notorious to Clayface. It took an hour, at least, of prying and cursing and prying some more, as well as multiple sacrificed arrow tips to scrap of the cement strength goo where it had dried around the edges of Batman's suit.
The men stumbled when they were met with the man's dead weight, but the second his legs scrapped the ground, he yelled himself into consciousness.
Green Arrow startled, slapping a hand over Flash's mouth as he struggled to support Batman with the other. He shot the speedster a look.
"Why are you yelling?"
Barry mumbled a reply before Oliver could move his hand, but his response was something akin to "I dunno I thought we were all yelling"
"What-ah- Okay put me down." The growl startled them both, sending Bruce unceremoniously to the floor as they let go. The jarring of broken bones made him groan; loud enough to spur the fluttering of Flash's blurred hands as he stuttered an apology.
The dark knight slapped his hands away, holding onto the plate over his ribs where it was still caked in mud.
He cursed himself for passing out, knowing his endurance to pain was too low and it could have cost him. Broken ribs, broken leg, dozens of bruises and lacerations, sore muscles, sluggish responses...ugh. The drug. his brain calculated quickly.
And then he remembered his belt. It wasn't alerting. Why wasn't it alerting?
Bruce was barley aware of the two bumbling to calm him down, and he wasn't sure how, but he had lurched himself up with a roar and was already slapping his broken communicator in frustration.
He whirled on the men before they could restrain him from taking off.
"Robin, Batgirl, zeta. Information, NOW."
xXxX
It was dark when he woke up, which was disorienting as it was dark when he fell asleep.
Robin shot up fast, grabbing his forehead with the motion as he lurched.
"Whoa whoa. Hey. Roy! He's awake!"
Blue orbs trailed to the hand grasping his arm. Freckles.
Richard breathed out a heavy sigh of relieve before grabbing the redhead in a tight hug, winding his thin arms around the older teen's neck. KF smiled sadly before returning the hug, wrapping his own arms around the smaller boy's back tightly.
"I know, dude."
When Roy ran into the room, he expected the worst, but calmed immediately as he saw the best.
Over Wally's shoulder, those bright blues trailed to his face, and he grinned broadly when the kid wrapped him in a similar vice grip.
Roy locked his dark eyes with Wally questioningly, silently asking the question they'd both been pondering.
'Now?'
Wally nodded.
"Hey, Dick. Do you wanna see Barbara?"
xXx
Hi. My name is Arrow, and I try to make goals and deadlines for myself, and I always fail. I'm really sorry. Sporadic updating seems to be the way with me. This chapter was a bit packed, but I wanted to try to cover everything and make it extra-long to sort of compensate for the wait. I actually really like where I am with the story line now, and it shouldn't be too long before it's…finished. Ah, I don't want to jinx it but that's really exciting.
As always, to those who have read, reviewed, and favorited, I appreciate it so very much! Thank you! And to my quiet readers, join the party guys! It's so exciting that you're reading my work, so let me thank you! Feedback is always appreciated, and it helps my writing immensely. Thanks again all!
TheImaginativeFox- Hiya! Thank you so much. I never know, with the descriptions if it's too much, so that is very relieving to hear that I'm doing something okay. That's so sweet, honestly. I'm sure your writing is fantastic! Writers are so hard on themselves, but on each other, they always have some of the best contributions. Team dialogue will most definitely be next chapter, as I'm planning to have Canary do some sessions, so I hope that's okay. Ah, the insomniacs. I'm kind of disappointed in myself that I didn't take that route. They would have been so interesting to include, as their view would have been so different. Like you said, different feelings for a person who knows they were battling to sleep while someone, not so far away was physically battling. That would have been fantastic to write about, but alas, I don't feel that I would have been qualified enough to capture those feelings. As you've probably noticed from my posting schedule, I'm a bit of a night owl, but I have no real issue sleeping until noon haha. Thank you very much for the perspective, and your lovely review! Enjoy the sunrise, my friend :)
Robinfan72- Thank you! Unfortunately, this story is not going to be paring Dick and Barbara. I'm really sorry! They are a very cute couple, but I'm not the best at writing romance, so I don't think I would do them justice. Thank you for your review!
Phew. You guys are great. I hope you have a fantastic night.
Here's to a new year.
-Arrow.