"Robin!" Artemis growled, punching the controls to mute the tv and minimize the window. "We need that location."
"There's nothing around Gotham that's putting out that much power," he said, typing furiously.
"Rob c'mon—"KF started, holding up his hands.
"Man there's nothing here!" Robin roared, hunching farther over his keyboard.
"We're losing time she doesn't have," Megan swallowed hard, trying to keep calm and regain the energy she'd used.
"We're not flying," Conner noted, looking up at Megan.
"There's no point if we don't know where we're going." Artemis said flatly.
"No, I mean, if Megan isn't flying…try telepathy," he suggested.
"It's only good within six miles…" Megan said.
"We have nothing else," Aqualad said, his shoulders tense as he stared out the window, feeling utterly useless.
Megan inhaled deeply and tried to concentrate only on Cailan. There were so many voices, so many thoughts about her floating around in the city.
…
—Cailan pushed herself from the cool wall and burst from the shadows at full speed.
Adrenalin kept her body from collapsing into shock from the pain and her wounds; just like she'd thought Hyena was already charging at her head on. Cailan didn't hear what Joker was saying, didn't listen to her heart trying to erupt from her chest, didn't acknowledge the driving pain burning through her nerves or the drugs making her brain flicker like a child playing with the lights. She simply ran like a bat out of hell head on for the beast tearing across the concrete towards her.
Perhaps it was the drugs in her system. It was in slow motion. She saw the claws glisten and she went down; it was a fall she'd learned in gymnastics and somewhere (through the haze of being high on terror, product x and adrenalin, nestled at the very bottom of her mind) she was thanking God that she'd been convinced to participate on the team in high school. The move was used when an athlete had too much momentum—actually, it was pretty much a baseball slide. The only difference was that gymnast got wicked mat burn.
This time Cailan lost quite a bit of skin as she ate concrete—and she ate it hard, feeling her hip connect with the ground with a final sort of brutality—as she slid under Hyena. While he was crashing face first into the wall she was using her momentum to propel herself onto two feet and dodging around.
She lost a shoe as she jumped on the chair she'd been tied to and off of the back of it, grabbing for one of the broken lights. Someone had grabbed her foot and tried to pull her down; she'd ripped open her hand hanging onto the wire cage around the florescent light. Her shoe came off though, and that made the end of that. Joker stood underneath the light laughing at her.
She was busy scrambling to a secure position. The light was old and already coming down. It wasn't going to hold her for long. However, now that she was here her body was starting to give up. She hurt. Shock would take over soon and she'd pass out—if she was lucky. She had to get some place where he couldn't touch her.
The light exploded in her face and she wrenched her arm as she twisted away. With one hand holding onto the cage she hung there, scared to death of falling. Not because the fall would kill her. No, that wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen. Jack had sent a fireball at her and hit the light. It'd exploded, sending her rolling around the side to get away from the glass and quick fire. She'd kept hanging on though, and she'd wrenched her shoulder out of place. Blood and puss ran down over her arm and collected inside a well in her collarbone.
If she let go, the fall could break her legs.
…
"Megan stop," Aqualad said, his voice so grave they could hardly hear him.
"What?" Robin asked, his fingers freezing over the keys.
"Stop trying to find her." Kaldur said, still facing the view.
"We're not giving up—" Artemis started.
"It is not that. Megan will not be able to find her. Remember? Joker injected Cailan with Product X. The point of that toxin is specifically to alter the brain. Megan's telepathic powers will not work while Cailan has it in her system."
"Rob," Wally put a heavy hand on the kid's shoulder. "It's all you man."
…
"Why is that not down!?" Batman roared at the command place, turning for the first time in hours from his own task—he'd been trying to locate Cailan through the mess of Joker's broadcast.
"Bruce," Wonder Woman said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
The dark knight shrugged her off violently and returned to his own task. This time, he might just kill Joker. He was becoming angrier by the second.
"Do we know how he got her in the first place?" Flash asked, looking up from the powwow he'd been having with Green Lantern and Superman.
"Cailan had a meeting with a woman from the Gotham Troupe named Jennifer. There was a minor traffic accident involving Jennifer's car at approximately six fifty. After that, Cailan disappeared off the grid until Joker's broadcast." Batman said, not bothering to stop what he was doing.
"How did she just disappear?" Barry probed.
"The traffic cams and witnesses say that she got out of the car and just started running," Superman said, looking up from his position at the computer.
"Why would she do that?" Barry asked, putting a hand to his chin and starting to pace slowly. "If it was just a little accident, why would she take off running?"
"It's possible that the accident brought on a mild case of PTSD." Batman said emotionlessly.
"PTSD?" Barry asked skeptically. "You're joking, right?"
"No. When she was a child she was in a terrible accident on the highway that claimed both of her parents' lives. It's possible that the accident she was in sent her into a panic brought on by PTSD. In her panic, she ran."
"Where was she running to?" Diana asked, pulling up traffic shots of the accidents from different street corners and angles.
"Wait, it looks like Jennifer was taking her into the heart of the narrows." Superman started, coming over to stand next to Wonder Woman.
"I've already looked into it. Jennifer was killed shortly after the accident; someone injected air into her veins. When it got to her heart, her heart stopped." Batman said, not bothering to look up at them.
"Wait," Barry said, walking over to the group. "Then—"
"They assume it was one of the traffic officers who arrived on scene; he didn't arrive in a car or with a partner, and he disappears shortly after medics attempt to revive Jennifer." Batman continued dully, as if this was common information they should be well aware of by now.
"If Jennifer was taking her for Joker, why kill her?" Auquaman questioned, his own attention peaked.
"A loose end. She played her part." Batman suggested callously.
"But that doesn't make sense," Green Arrow protested, crossing his arms. "Cailan got away from Jennifer."
"Even so, if Jennifer was to be questioned by the authorities, her story wouldn't add up. There are no producers, or managers around the narrows at that time who were scheduled to see Cailan." Batman's voice had an annoyed edge to it now. "One way or another she'd played her part and become disposable to Joker."
"Why is she running into the narrows?" Aquaman questioned, watching the footage carefully.
This made everyone—including the overly astute detective—pause and join him at the monitor. As he replayed the footage a second and third time for them, it was obvious when switching from traffic cams to a bank camera and finally a store's surveillance camera that Cailan was heading even deeper into the Narrows than Jennifer had already taken her.
"She didn't stay on the scene long enough for anyone but Jennifer to have a chance to talk with her," Wonder Woman stated. "So she wasn't frightened or otherwise coerced into going down there,"
"Unless Jennifer said someone she knew was in danger," Barry suggested, though by his own voice he'd already rejected the idea.
"We need to figure out why she would go down there," Superman commented.
"Didn't she live there?" Green Arrow questioned Batman.
"Yes. She ran away as a child and lived there until she was old enough to start high school. After that she moved to the fringes," Bruce was pulling up files and documents and reports; there'd been a few run ins with the police and children's services, but nothing had been able to keep Cailan under wraps for longer than a few hours. "She was good at staying invisible, it seems. Until she started drawing a crowd for cheerleading."
"It is likely that as she gained notoriety for her skill her secrets became more and more difficult for her to hide." Martian Man-hunter said, phasing through the floor to join the growing conglomeration. "If I am correct, she officially went missing right around the time her child-cousin and adopted sister turned up at a hospital in the narrows?"
"Yes. A few weeks later our team found her and her then-boyfriend, the body Joker aired live for the world. Jake; he'd gotten into some trouble with Joker's goon-squad and it seems he dragged Cailan into it as well."
"They operate in the Narrows," Wonder Woman stated, her brow furrowing.
"Yes?" Superman asked.
"Well…you don't think that this whole time—"
"Joker doesn't have enough insight to place a mole on our team." Batman stated brusquely. "If Cailan Leal were a spy someone would have been planning this since before our covert ops team was even training to be our sidekicks. Joker doesn't have the brain or the patience for an operative like that."
"Could he have gotten to her when his goons went after the girl and her boyfriend?" Aquaman asked, seeking an alternative rout.
"If she's a spy, she's had a serious change of heart." Barry said a little irritably, ready to defend the girl.
"This isn't answering why she would run into the Narrows." Superman said with a heavy sigh.
"If she were running to the Joker, it would." Wonder Woman stated neutrally.
"She was like Robin's family." Batman said coldly. "Like an older sister."
"Maybe that's why she's—"
"She wasn't a spy," Martian Man-hunter said, stepping forward. "Have you all forgotten that I read her mind?"
"Wait, can't you—" Flash started to ask.
"No. Product X affects the brain chemicals and thinking patterns. It alters messages sent around and through the body; it is like crossing telephone wires. It is impossible as long as the drug is in her system."
"And she's had two full doses," Green Arrow said.
"With no food in her system, it'll take hours for it to all burn off on its own." Barry groaned.
"Batman," Man-hunter said, drawing the detective off to the side, though the others were still privy to hear. "Cailan is loyal to a fault. I warned you of this when we first agreed not to wipe her memory. If Joker persists—"
"He isn't killing anyone else." Batman fairly snarled out before turning on his heel vehemently and stalking back to his computer.
"So any guesses why she'd run there?" Barry continued quietly after a prolonged silence.
"Fear," Aquaman suggested. "If it was PTSD as Batman theorizes, it is likely she would have sought safety and comfort. Having lived and cared for herself so long in the Narrows, it is possible she was trying to go back to a place she recalled from her past."
"Joker got to her somewhere in the Narrows," Green Arrow said, looking at a city map. We estimate she went missing around seven or later. So between seven and almost midnight. Joker had five hours to grab her and take her someplace."
"It would have had to been a place he'd already had set up," Flash said. "The equipment needed to broadcast on such a wide scale couldn't be set up in that time or less.
"So that means we're looking in a five hour radius—is there any way to get to a boat from the Narrows?" Wonder Woman demanded, ruling out an aircraft.
"Three shipping ports," Batman said. "And a ferry."
"Hey Aquaman, how far could he get in five hours?" Barry asked, keeping with the boat theme.
"With the currents, not far. Besides, the sea is terrible for broadcasting signals. For him to pull something of this magnitude off he'd have to be decently inland. Even if he did take a boat some place, he couldn't have gotten too far outside of Gotham."
"And if they drove?" Green Arrow questioned next.
"They could have gotten farther, but not by much." Superman said. "There were road blocks set up in the tri state area within twenty minutes of the video airing. Since he was already broadcasting and hasn't stopped, he's not gone farther than that."
"Yet it's still too vast an area to begin narrowing down." Green Arrow protested.
"He hasn't left Gotham." Batman asserted.
"How do you—"
"He called me out. Remember? He's taunting me. It's just like after—" Batman cut himself off and altered his words. "Joker is doing this to get under my skin. He wouldn't leave Gotham."
"You're taking a pretty big risk ruling out surrounding areas on the basis of vendetta." Aquaman said.
"Yeah, I mean, c'mon Bats, this isn't like the kid on the playground throwing dirt at you. He's going to kill her." Flash said.
Batman brought his fists down on the equipment and slowly turned to face the others. He said nothing, simply looked sternly at the heroes. Turning back to the computer he typed some things out and then turned from the group.
"I'm going back to the Batcave. I'll be working things through on my end inside Gotham."
"Bruce," Wonder Woman tried; Superman held her off and they watched Batman enter the zeta tubes and disappear.
"Joker is taunting him. Several years ago, Joker murdered his last partner, a boy by the name of Jason Todd. Bruce lost one kid to the Joker; Cailan has had an impact on him whether he admits it or not, just like she's had on our covert team. He can't handle losing someone else to the Joker's insatiable madness." Superman said, glancing at where the caped crusader had stood not long ago.
"Perhaps it is getting to him," Martian said, eyeing the spot as well.
"Let's focus on his issues after we find the girl," Barry said, walking back to the computer to type in coordinates. "I'm making like the bat; I can cover tons of ground in no time."
…
Another fireball scorched her free shoulder. This can't go on. She was almost ready to drop. It was as if Joker could sense that fact; he stood beneath her, pacing like a Jackal about to feed. The light creaked as she swayed back and forth on it; the chains were brittle with age. Perhaps she'd come crashing down with it. Maybe it would crush her.
"Hehehehahahahahahahahhhhhhhh hahahhhhhhhhhhhhaa!" Joker laughed. "Cailan! You're like a little monkey! I'll admit you're entertaining, but you're really only making this harder than it needs to be!"
Shivers ran round through her body. It was motivation enough. She struggled with her own body but finally wrapped her other hand around the grating. A start. Heaving a deep breath she begged and willed herself to do this one last thing. Was there strength left to pull herself up? Her foot found a grip on the grating—that helped. She had leg power now, better than just her arm strength alone. Her shoed foot got stuck and she had to lose it to keep moving.
"Tch. Really, you don't quite huh?" Joker pouted below. "Jack?"
Cailan gulped and peered over her shoulder, holding back the scream in her throat. It didn't matter what she wanted right now, she was about to get fried. And if she was back in the Joker's hands…she couldn't even guarantee to herself that she'd keep quiet. Running on fumes of strength she scrambled up the light to where the chains were connected to a slat of metal attaching to the grating over the electrical box. Jack let fly with more flames and the box crashed down; Cailan wrapped her good leg around the metal slat, cutting her thigh deeply through her torn jeans.
"Jack I'm getting tired of this. Get her down here now." Joker growled, the fun all out of his voice.
It's like climbing onto a swing, a very high swing, Cailan talked herself, trying to block out Joker's screeching. She was straddling the metal slat carefully, her hands gripping the chains. The initial thought had been to shimmy up them, but she realized now how folly that attempt would be. She hardly had the strength to stay conscious. She could maybe swing and jump to a ledge or a beam if she could find one close enough.
She screamed and toppled backwards; Jack had nearly scorched off her face. She could smell her singed hair as she dangled perilously off her perch. Blood was running freely down her leg and her hand was slippery from her previous cut as she gripped the chain. The swing was tilting, her leg was slipping—
…
"—back off!" Robin roared, shoving his chair back and standing. "I can't do this with you guys constantly at my neck okay?! Give me a little space I swear I'm working as fast as I can!"
"But it's not—"
Artemis put a hand on Kf's shoulder. "Look, he's narrowed it down to somewhere around Gotham City's limits." She said.
Wally groaned and pulled away from her. "Gotham City is—"
"Big. I know, that's why we're going to split up. You, Megan and Conner go down on foot and look around, ask questions, read minds, whatever. Kidflash, you've got speed on your side: think of any place that could possibly send out the kind of signal we're looking for and do a sweep. A SWEEP. Nothing else. Conner and Megan will check the outskirts of town. Megan, keep everyone in touch telepathically as long as you can. After that we'll go to the coms.
"Kaldur, Rob and I will stay here. I've logged plenty of time flying the bioship so we'll be able to fly to whichever of you finds something. Coms online?"
They nodded to her.
"Alright, go."
"You make a good leader," Kaldur said, slumping into a seat after the other three had left.
"It should be you," she returned as she took her own seat behind the piloting controls.
He shook his head slowly but said nothing. He drew forth a bracelet, the likes of which she'd never seen. Its thread was a silver-green metal, braided and beads intertwined within the strands. In the middle was a mother-of-pearl shell. She looked at it and gasped. Her mouth hung open, speechless. Where had that memory come from, and why was it not comforting to him now?
"We have been at this for hours," he commented, looking out towards where the pitch blackness of night was starting to grey around the edges.
"…" Artemis looked over at him from behind Rob's shoulder.
"Megan asked how long she could last—"
"You can't think like that Kaldur," Artemis shook her head and squeezed the boy wonder's shoulder.
"We will be out of time soon Artemis, I cannot help but think like this,"
"Trying to concentrate here," Robin muttered, hunching over the keys.
The two were silenced by a bleeping sound coming from the computer. Kaldur's heart picked up.
"Definitely coming from Gotham." Dick muttered sarcastically. "As if we didn't know."
"That beeping sound—"
"The computer's picking up a strong signal but I haven't been able to hone in where yet. The faster the beeping the closer we get to a strong enough signal that it might be her."
"It is getting faster," Kaldur noted, still hopeful, his heart still rapid.
"Because I'm narrowing down the quadrants she could be in. It's basically come down to the south quadrant: The Narrows and Gotham South." Dick said.
"What does that mean?" Kaldur started, looking from Artemis to Dick and back again.
"Don't get excited," Artemis cautioned him quickly. "That's still a huge area of land and buildings to cover."
The beeping grew faster. "Seven possible,"
"Too many," the blond shook her head. "No time to investigate them all. You've got to narrow it down,"
"I'm trying!"
…
"KF to bioship; what's going on up there? We need a location I'm flying blind here!"
"Working on it KF" Artemis growled into her com.
He heard her talking to Kaldur about Gotham layout and couldn't help thinking how this was a terrible time to be talking realestate
"KF, position?" Conner asked over the coms.
"Uptown, running low on fuel," Wally muttered, his stomach twisting. He burned through way too much tonight.
"Ms. M?"
"Flying over Gotham Harbor. Nothing in sight. What about you Superboy?"
"Staying low on Wayne Tower; I can't see anything from this vantage either, except that damned footage…"
"Don't watch it. Ignore it. Focus on looking for anything unusual—lights where there shouldn't be, buildings with tons of cables, that kind of thing," Wally hurriedly blurted out. He didn't want to know what was happening to her now.
"Artemis, get Wally on the com, NOW!"
…
"Really Cailan how long do you think you can last?" Joker questioned, brushing a fleck of blood off his face.
He motioned and Jack sent another shoot of flame towards her, singeing her back and blood matted hair. The swing tipped and her leg grated off the edge. Cailan screamed as she slid off. She was literally hanging by her fingertips now. My arm…I can't…my…arm—damn!
She wasn't sure how deep the grooves of fingertips ran, but when her hand slipped off the edge she was pretty sure she lost all the prints of her right hand. It was just raw underskin now. She grimaced, tried not to look and made a grab for the metal, but it was no good. Her right hand couldn't make a grab and her left hand couldn't hold her. She was going to fall.
"Let's take bets on how long you hold out! I'm thinking, another few seconds. Two minutes, tops." Joker laughed as she hung there; he was like a child at Christmas.
Sorry...
Joker stepped back, making room for her landing.
Most descriptions make it sound like a twig breaking. But when a twig is snapped it's a clean even break—quick, sharp. When she landed on her leg it was more like the ice over a pond breaking. It crackled, shattering as her weight came down to meet the immovable concrete below her. There also wasn't pain, at first. It was a numbed sensation, like her leg had gone to sleep.
Her body rolled over itself and she couldn't remember what had happened before she was lying in a crumpled heap with a closing circle of bodies around her.
…
"Got it!" Wally yelled and literally turned at the drop of a dime, altering his direction and heading north along a back road.
The world rushed by him but he knew his destination pretty well; Dick was a good instructor and Megan was sending images via her online-telepathy. He was just hoping the others were on their way and fast as he burst through the doors and zoomed down the stairs. By the time the door to the lower parking garage had slammed into the wall he was already breaking through the ring of goons. By the time Joker realized that he'd been found KidFlash had scooped Cailan up and was rushing off into the darkness, heading for one of the upper levels above ground.
He was worried; he was running too low on energy and if he passed out they were both as good as dead. If the others didn't get here to back him up soon Joker could kill them both and be gone and it'd be game over. She was limp in his arms—probably going into shock. Not good. How many levels now? It was still so dark, so they weren't close to the surface yet.
Wally stopped and darted into a corner and slowly lowered her to the ground. This would have to do. He had to save his strength. "Ms. M, change of plans I can't make it up you guys will have to come to me."
"Cailan," he shook her shoulder, clenching his jaw.
She opened her eyes and grimaced as she moved to look up at him. "Sorry," she muttered, leaning heavily against him.
"Guys we gotta get her out of here. Priority should be rescue, not capture." He relayed back.
"Negative. We don't take him out now he'll come back after her again, especially now that we've come to the rescue twice." Dick's voice sounded back.
"Cailan, wake up, ya gotta stay with me alright?" Wally said, shaking her shoulder.
"…down stairs…." He couldn't make out what she'd said.
"What, hey stay with me the others are on the way alright, Kal—Aqualad is on the way just stay with me."
"Downstairs," she took a deep breath and tried again. "if you can get up towards the rafters…there's a place to wait…if you can get up there's a niche…Jack can't reach there…"
"We can't go back there, they'll be coming for us—we'll be blocked with Joker's goons."
"And you can't get higher," she retorted, making him frown.
"Why does this sound the way I think it sounds." He commented, his green eyes darting around the parking level. "Guys where the heck are you!? We need you yesterday!"
"We're coming just hold on! We're not all as fast as you KF." Artemis quipped at him; he knew that the bio-ship was probably being forced to its capabilities to get here but they'd stopped in the business district; even flying dead on would take about fifteen minutes top speed.
"Please don't let him," Cailan said, sounding more scared than he'd ever heard before.
Wally cringed; he could hear laughter and yells marking that they were the level below, getting close. "We gotta move."
"I can't." she gasped out at his slightest movement. "I can't move—m-my leg,"
He let out a hiss of air. He couldn't believe he was asking this. "C'mon I know…I know what he did but I know that you're strong enough. We just need to move a little ways, just a little ways."
"It's broken." She said through clenched teeth shaking her head. "T-The hyena...can smell us out. I-I'm bleeding so much tha—"
"We just need to get somewhere that they can't get to us until help gets here," he said, trying to coax her up; he could carry her but they were in dire straits here—if he wasn't careful he'd be useless when it counted.
"Rob," Wally swallowed hard and lifted Cailan as gingerly into his arms as he could. "Rob you gotta call in the Bat."
…
"That isn't the plan," Kaldur growled aloud in the ship.
"KF is right Aqualad. We've got to call in the league. We're in it already. We need them." Robin said, taking a deep breath.
"Ms. M, Superboy, what're your positions?"
"ETA two minutes," Megan said, skirting carelessly around a building in camo mode.
"ETA seven minutes." Superboy growled, leaping over building after building and crashing into the streets for just a second—long enough to startle a few homeless and degenerates before he vanished over the next tower.
"ETA ten minutes." Artemis said, gunning the ship along and glancing from Aqualad to Robin and back towards her goal.
"What's eating you Rob," She demanded. "I can hear you're gears turning."
"…the place." He said, his restraint and secrets battling around inside him. "it just…seems familiar—I read a crime that happened there, I'm sure."
"Lots of thing have happened, it's a hotspot in the Narrows," Artemis said, brushing him aside.
"But I could have sworn there was something high profile that happened at this exact place," Robin pushed, knowing he was treading on dangerous grounds and still needing someone else to know why this 'circumstance' was bothering him.
"…High profile? Well…it's the site of the Wayne murders, but that was maybe…thirty some years ago," Artemis said, not really caring.
"That must be it." Robin thought; what were the odds that the Joker would take Cailan—Bruce Wayne's protégé—to the very spot where Bruce Wayne's life changed course and made him Batman?
"Why does this bother you?" Kaldur said, catching on to something lingering in Robin's voice.
"I…I don't know. I guess it just won't get out of my head."
"Look the old opera house has been a breeding ground for crime in the Narrows since the economy tanked around the time of the murders. The Waynes' were killed by a mugger who probably fell to crime because nearly half of the denizens of Gotham were either laid off or put on wage freezes around the time. The opera house soon went under—surviving off of patrons to keep open and those patrons got spooked after someone like Mr. Wayne could fall victim to the broken of Gotham.
"Ever since then gangs, madams, pimps, and drug makers/dealers have been in control of the old place. It's part of the reason that the Narrows is the Narrows. We probably should have thought to look here first, actually." The blond said, angry with herself. It seemed so obvious.
"Of course if feels obvious." Kaldur said. "Because we can see logic behind the decision. But Joker does not operate on logic and that is why we did not see this place as probable."
"I need to call Batman." Robin said, shaking his head in sudden remembrance.
The boy took a deep breath and then typed into his keypad and commanded to be logged onto the batcave system. After a moment he was transferred and Batman's masked face came up on his holoscreen.
"Uh…B-Batman," he said, trying to speak over the knots in his stomach.
"What is it Robin?" he sounded more angry than usual, as if he already knew.
"…w-we…we found Cailan and the Joker."
…
"WALLY!" Ms. M soared threw the parking garage, level by level.
"third or fourth from the bottom, beautiful," he thought to her, trying to keep up appearances that everything was fine.
"Conner will be on his way soon! The others are right behind us," she thought back, gliding along at the first level below ground.
"How many feet of concrete can you break through at a time?" Wally directed to Superboy, disregarding how unsafe it could potentially be if someone were to crash a hole through all levels of a structure.
"Dunno. We'll find out in a minute though," the other boy thought back, gritting his teeth and preparing his fists.
Megan figured that they were either a level or two under her entrance. "keep talking to me so I can find you,"
"Tch, as if I've ever had an issue talking." Wally joked, trying to keep a level head. He'd never had anyone die on him—well, not counting Kent Nelson, who he didn't count because a he wasn't young and b he'd died of old, old, old age. "But seriously, those guys are getting closer. I thought Joker was supposed to be crazy and erratic, not cautious and investigative,"
"He isn't." Robin said, his head jerking away from the screen where he was talking with Batman. "He doesn't work that way—it isn't possible for him to work that way. Someone's pulling the strings or that isn't Joker."
"Believe me. It's Joker." Wally groaned as he heard Joker's trademark laugh and he shrunk further into the back of an old and ditched, half-stripped car, cradling Cailan who he'd nearly given up on keeping conscious. "Megan we could really use some crazy cloaking here,"
"Almost there Wally I promise!" she said, noting that the thoughts were getting louder between the two of them. "Keep thinking, anything you're getting louder."
"I'm thinking if we don't do something fast she's going to die." Wally's thought surprised even him and there was silence from his team. "Guys, seriously she's not going to make it. She's bleeding and going into shock and I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do! I'll be useless to you guys soon. I'm burned on energy."
"Stay whelmed," Robin's voice sounded far away—distracted. "Help's on its way, I swear."
"Wally!" Megan threw her arms around him; the voices were echoing madly off the concrete walls.
"They're here," he whispered.
Megan glanced around and then edged the three of them into the car and wrapped her arms around Cailan, held Wally's hand and concentrated on going into camo mode. It wasn't invisible, but it was over-lookable.
"I hope this works," she thought.
"It has to."
"I'm on my way there," Conner said, calmly for him. They could hear deep thuds above them and dust was falling.
"…hmm…" Joker was close and Cailan shivered and shrank into her friends. "we have visitors. Heheheheh, this just gets better and better!"
…
"Command Tower," Batman's face appeared on the screen—he was already making his way to the location Robin had disclosed. "Joker's been found. The location will be up momentarily. Our covert team is already on the scene. They said subject is heavily aided and armed. We'll need backup."
"They went after him!?" Barry exploded, jumping up from his hair; he was yelling at an empty screen by now.
"They disobeyed orders, again." Superman shook his head.
"And I'm sure Bruce will cover it when this all blows over." Wonder Woman stated calmly. "Right now we need to save that girl without letting this turn into more of a situation."
"What do you mean?" Aquaman asked.
"Joker has potentially more hostages, more victims and, if we're exceptionally unlucky," Martian Man-hunter broke in. "the chance to unmask our sidekicks."
"Partners." Roy said, his arms crossed as he walked in behind Green Arrow. "Heard you could use some help."
…
"How long till you're—"
Arrows launched through the darkness and captured a goon in a net and pinned one to a wall. Bat-shaped boomerang like objects whizzed through the air and exploded in a flash bomb, disorienting a few of the assailants.
"KidFlash stay here with Cailan and rest," Megan said, getting out of the car to go help the others.
Wally started to protest when he saw hyena take out Conner and Kaldur go head to head with Jack. If one of those guys got away, for even a second… Wally glanced around; Joker was looking on with crazed fascination not far from where he supported Cailan in the car. He wasn't stupid enough to take on the Joker—somehow the mental patient always seemed to evade the dark knight, even if the bat caught him and locked him in Arkham. But keeping an eye on the fiend wouldn't be a bad idea.
…
Kaldur couldn't believe that they had found her, that Cailan was just a few feet away from him, almost safe. He didn't care about the reprimand he was going to receive from Batman or his King—even if it lost him membership to the Team, the potential for the League, and his apprenticeship with Aquaman. The team had done good tonight, regardless of the consequences.
"Artemis, take out—"
"Already on it Aqualad." the blond said, her arrows-rapid-firing at the goons lined up around Joker.
"Ms. M,"
"The car's under protection, bioship is en route, I'll try and contain the Joker,"
"No!" Robin interjected quickly, leaping in front of his teammate, eyes determined. "he is our lowest priority."
"Aqualad, I'll take Jack," Conner thought, grabbing the hyena's jaws and slinging it into the wall. He made the mistake of leaping towards Jack, trying to wrestle the pumpkin meta away from Kaldur (who's weakness left him struggling). Jack was perfectly fine turning the fire power onto Superboy. The damage wasn't extensive, but it was obvious that the pumpkin headed freak was no one to take lightly.
Kid Flash watched from the car seat, cradling Cailan in his lap protectively. Jack was about as insane as his master. Megan screamed when the flames touched her skin—that sent Superboy into a frenzy, though his anger got him little more than an increased number of burns.
"KF Go!" Robin shouted, appearing at the car and tossing the boy a powerbar.
"where the heck do you keep all this stuff?!" Wally thought as he scarffed the snack, skirting out from the car and then rushing into the fray.
Robin glanced around and then dodged into the backseat. Her pulse was faint but there, he ducked down over her as a goon ran by. The one thing Batman always reminded him was that he was not ever to go after the Joker. Which probably meant that he was to keep Cailan as far from the lunatic as possible. Dick hadn't known Jason Todd, but he was sure that Batman wouldn't be able to take a repeat of whatever had happened to Todd.
Kid Flash ran at Jack top speed and circled. "Ms. M! Pull the winds upwards, like a reverse tornado!"
Without question the martian did as she was asked. "Fire cannot live without oxygen," Kaldur mused, breathing heavily.
The last move left Megan weakened as well however, and she sank to her feet, leaning heavily on Artemis who'd long since run out of arrows. "Where do the bad guys get all their flippin recruits?!" the blond growled, using her bow to deflect a few attacks.
With Jack on his knees Conner and Kaldur managed to deal solid punches and knock him to the ground. However, with Megan unable to maintain the vacuum he was like a dying campfire—if the embers were stirred the fire would rise. Kaldur tried pulling the water from around the depths of the parking garage, but every time he used his attacks it simply turned to steam against the flames issued from Jack.
"Well now, I had half a mind to leave when the Bat showed up but this is much better," Joker crowed, his eyes narrowed slits as he watched from a makeshift thrown of junk. "Besides, it'll be wonderful to be able to gloat to the others about how I defeated the Leagues little brats."
"That's not happening Joker," Robin snarled as he landed a perfect defensive kick to one of the lackeys just in front of Joker."
"Hehehehehehahahahahaha—I never imagined you'd be so excited to meet the fate of your predecessor but if you're ready to die then by all means boy, step this way,"
Dick smirked and with his trademark laugh dashed back into the shadows.
"Not this time Joker."
If Joker hadn't had his face covered with pancake-thick white makeup his skin's sudden pallor would have made him laugh. Just what he always loved—a show-down with the Dark Knight.
Before Joker could blink the tides had changed. The young heroes weren't the only ones he was contending with anymore.
…
"Flash!?" Wally stopped flat and stared at his mentor.
"Nice job Kid, now step back and let us take this jerk on. You just worry about getting her to the hospital—and don't let her out of your sight for a moment."
"He's just like a cockroach," Wonder Woman muttered tossing two of the unconscious helpers aside like trash. "Nothing keeps him gone for long,"
"Tsk tsk tsk Bats, and here I thought we had something special," Joker cackled.
"Aqualad," Batman said. "Take the girl, get your team, and leave. Now."
The kids knew from the detective's voice how angry and pissed off he was.
"I am sorry Batman," Aqualad braced himself. "But that is an order I cannot follow."
"It won't take more than one of us to get her out," Artemis stated, glancing from the adults to her team.
"And how about protecting her?" Flash demanded, taking out a lurker in the shadows.
"This isn't your fight, stand. Down." Wonder Woman—the usual supporter of the young team—cut in, her voice severe.
"He made it our fight when he called us out," Megan argued as she panted from Artemis' shoulder.
"Guys, not really the time to argue!" Robin cut in, shooting back a glance to Cailan. "The…girl won't hold out much longer."
They were trying to take the heat off of Cailan by speaking in a detached manner, as if they didn't know her well, if at all. Joker continued to cackle.
"I thought you'd have fled back to your hole Joker," Batman said, his eyes narrowing. "Weren't you supposed to be gone before we showed?"
"Do you really think all of this is where I'd leave off? That I was foolish enough not to have a back up?" he grinned psychotically. "Oh, no no no no bats, no. Ya know, I'm always surprised how you take things at face value. So serious, too serious, if you ask me," He said as he turned and spoke to a hired gun at his arm amicably.
"You don't really think," he paused and suddenly his attitude had changed; he was cold and there was an underlying melody of malice. "I would go to all this trouble, just for some girl off the street, do you?"
Gas started issuing from the darkness; Batman and Robin pulled respective gasmasks but their allies started to giggle and chuckle all around them. Batman looked un-fazed. A little laughing gas was something they could handle. He didn't need another provocation to laugh, but the Joker seemed to have had a large dose of his own medicine.
The two mingling teams seemed to be working fine, despite the gas that was starting to seriously disrupt the breathing space. But heads began to spin; pupils started to dilate. Bodies started to burn and sweat—the heroes were weaving around, trying with little ease to focus on their targets.
"Don't worry, the air-born version of Product X won't be what kills you," Joker laughed as he darted around and out of the parking level.
…
"Batman," Wonder Woman mumbled; Flash was off coughing against a wall. Most of the young heroes had collapsed.
"Flash, if the gas hasn't fully disrupted your brain clear the parking level." Batman barked.
"not…all of us…have magic utility belts," Flash coughed.
"Superboy," Batman said once the room was cleared.
"On it."Conner shook his head to clear the lingering effects of the gas and used his vision to scan the building for where Joker and his minions had gotten off to. Blinking a few times he looked to the lower underground recesses of the parking garage. There were a few bulky figures—none matching the specs of Joker. He shook his head at Batman and looked above.
"He's trying to escape at ground level. Stragglers both above and below." Conner husked, coughing out the last tastes of the gas.
"What's your call?" Wonder Woman questioned, glancing around at the fallen kids.
Batman looked around too, the glanced to Robin. "Superboy, Flash—lower levels are yours. Collect the stragglers, then report back here. Wonder Woman, with me. We find Joker."
"Batman," Robin butted in, taking a hasty step towards his mentor. "...what about me?"
"Stay with your comrades. Get them on awake and on their feet. Under no circumstances," the detective's voice turned almost to a growl. "are you to go after the Joker or his thugs. Defend yourself and your friends. No unnecessary risks."
"But—"
"It's an order. Listen to it." He commanded and then whisked away into the shadows.
…
Dick checked his teammates; all were as they should be, for the most part. From what he could get off of their pulses, they were simply asleep from the gas (though, he wasn't honestly sure of Megan since he'd never learned how a Martian's pulse was supposed to go).
"C'mon Wal-man," Dick muttered softly. "Wake up."
Dick patted the speedster's cheeks and gave him a rough little shake. The boy was pale and clammy but his eyes began to flicker. Wally's eyes opened fully, but they were unfocused at first, dilated and glazed.
"Hey man," Dick gave him another little shake.
Wally groaned and stirred, his eyes continuing to flicker. His pulse jumped as he gained more and more awareness.
"Stay calm and stay whelmed KF, we gotta get the other's up and moving," Dick said, hastily. He didn't mention that Cailan's heart rate was high.
Wally groaned again but started sitting up and moving around. Dick rushed on to Kaldur—his Atlantian skin should mean he was more resilient to the gas. Dick's guess was right. Kaldur woke faster and was more lucid, moving with Dick to Megan to wake the alien from her fatigue-and-gas-induced slumber. She didn't rouse easily and by the time he'd gotten her to her feet Wally had Artemis standing.
"Batman said stay." Robin stated as he went to Cailan's side.
Kaldur was close on his heels and the team leader noticed right away that something wasn't right with Cailan's state.
"Kaldur!" Robin protested as the Atlantian lifted the limp girl effortlessly into his arms. "Batman said—"
"I do not care what Batman told you! We are not children anymore Robin. We gave up that right when we put on our mentors mantles. Right now Cailan needs us."
"We go up we go down we run into Joker or his goons." Robin held firm. "I'm the only one who wasn't affected by the gas and you've got your hands full carrying her."
Kaldur took a deep breath and looked hard at his team.
"She is dying Robin. Stop lying to yourself and help me save her."
"What?!" Wally stopped dead in his tracks and nearly let Artemis—who was leaning heavily on him at the time—collapse back onto the floor.
"…she's gone into shock…the gas has her stabilized, go figure, but it won't last for long." Robin admitted unsteadily.
"I'm with Kaldur. We get her out yesterday. Dude, what is wrong with you?!" Kid Flash narrowed his eyes at Robin.
"…" Robin looked at them carefully. "There isn't a safe way out."
"You can't just let her die!" Megan was close to tears.
His eyes searched his friend's faces. "…Kaldur I'll lead. The rest of you bring up the back. Megan call the bioship."
He shot one of his 'toys' up to the hole Conner had made in the cement structure and started to climb. The Atlantain went next and held Cailan tightly to him with one hand and grabbed the cable with the other.
…
Saturday 14th of July
2:04am
Gotham General
"We need help here!" Kid Flash yelled through the emergency room ruckus.
Kaldur was making his way towards the first available gurney. Doctors came flocking and chaos ensued around the young heroes. All Aqualad could hear was his pulse in his head.
…
"Pressure rising!"
"Out of the way,"
"Get the scissors,"
"Where's that oxygen?"
"No, you can't come in here! Doctors only!"
Kaldur allowed himself to be pulled back and stared through the window, watching his girl pushed away on a gurney towards an operating room that he might not see her out of.
…
"It's simple, sir," the man in the white coat said, looking more than a little nervous. "She's slipped into a comatose state."
"What does that even mean?!" Kidflash demanded, his anger bubbling over—mostly from worry over Cailan, and slightly over the fact that he'd only had a little of the cafeteria junk to sustain his meta-metabolism.
The man in the coat looked around and then sighed.
"Medically, it means that she's still alive and breathing, but it also means that, for now, she remains unresponsive. She may wake up and she may not—it's wait and see for now."
…
"Her condition isn't going to change just because you glue yourself outside her door." Robin said to Kaldur.
"Like you trust the uni's to guard her?" Artemis sneered over her crossed arms.
They silenced their voices and used their minds. "She'll be taken to a private hospital once she's stabilized completely. Under a fake name with a made up story." Robin informed them.
"how's the league gonna pull that off?" Superboy demanded.
"We've got some heavy rollers backing us," Rob shrugged.
"How can you be so calm?" Kaldur's voice was cold. "She's slipped into a coma."
They all looked away from him, Megan breaking the connection as she pulled furthest from the group. Kaldur's words reminded them it wasn't a victory at all, not really. Joker hadn't even been caught this time, simply escaped into the wind once again. Kaldur was furious, unable even to speak to his mentor and king.
"Aqualad—"
"No Robin. I will not listen to more." Kaldur silenced him with subzero tones and deadly eyes. "I will take the first watch over her, until it is time to move."
…
Tuesday, 24th of July
There was a fog all around her. A dense fog. She was cold and groggy. And somewhere under the confusion and disorientation was a dull and throbbing pain. First she felt it in her head—like a tiny person was pounding away at the inside of her brain. Then she felt something worse. Something terrifying.
There was a chirruping—no, no it was a beeping sound, increasing in rapidity. Her heart was vibrating around inside her chest, a frightened bird. The pain—
"Hey, take it easy," a pressure on her shoulder said.
"Yeah, you're safe now,"
At least the voices sounded familiar.
No, my legs. Is what Cailan thought she said. What her friends heard was in articulate sounds as she shook her head at them.
"…legs…" they finally made out.
"Cailan—" Dick started to say.
Too late. She tore off the sheet and looked over the white casts with near-unseeing eyes. "What…"
She ended up coughing before she could finish her sentence. "…my legs?"
"…you get beaten to a bloody mess and all you're worried about is your legs?" Conner demanded flatly, quirking a curious brow at her.
"Conner!" Artemis scolded.
Cailan heard her voice mumble inconsistently, though she couldn't remember trying to speak, and attempted to focus her eyes.
"Stop," a soothing voice lovingly chided her, brushing warm fingers over her cheek. "Just go back to sleep,"
…
August 3rd, Friday
"I'm not going back to sleep this time Kaldur," Calie muttered tersely as she sat up and gave her head a shake.
"It's good to see you up," Dick said, putting a hand over hers on the bed.
"Why…is my head so light?" she asked, trying to make the sentence sound less ridiculous.
Her question earned her some chuckles and Wally's quip about how she was still fuzzy from doing drugs. After the chuckling died down their faces drew serious and she felt a sudden weight in the room.
"They…" Kaldur startled her clearing his throat.
"…Kal? What, what's so hard to talk about?"
"They had to cut your hair," Conner stated, his voice still holding the flat intonations it had since she'd met him.
Calie saw the looks they all shot him from the corner of her eye as her hand fumbled towards her head. Her hand was heavily bandaged and her limbs felt heavy. The tips of her fingers brushed through greasy, matted hair over her still-tender head; the edges felt frayed, and it was obviously far shorter than the last she could remember.
She forced a small grin and tried to joke. "So my hair looks like chopped salad,"
The room seemed to get more intense. "Geez…guys…its—what's wrong?"
"…Cailan," Kaldur took a deep breath and gave her uninjured hand a squeeze. "It is the reason they needed to cut your hair. I—"
He stopped himself before he said something cheesy about how he didn't care about the length of her hair, he loved it anyway, stopped himself before he said something about not being able to get the image of her blood-matted hair out of his mind.
"…and…wh-why did they have to cut my hair"? she whispered hoarsely.
"You don't want to think about it." Dick interrupted before Kaldur started talking. "We shouldn't have brought it up."
"You didn't. I did." She argued, shaking her head.
"I'm glad that you're feeling better Cailan," Megan said, smiling and leaning over to give Cailan a hug.
"Any chance you guys have a special trick for actually being better?" the girl asked as she glanced around them, going with the new change of subject.
"It's called medicine and sleep." Artemis said, smirking as grabbing her coat. "Visiting hours are almost over,"
…
"Cailan," Kaldur said, his voice husky, after the others had left. "I am so sorry—"
"Kaldur don't. Don't do this."
"Cailan, you don't understand, I must—"
"I don't want to hear it Kaldur." Her voice hardened, but he heard the tired quiver of her words. "I'm tired…I need to sleep."
"…" Kaldur held tighter onto her free hand and drew his lips together in a frustrated line.
"Please," she closed her eyes and took a shaky deep breath. "I can't talk about this right now."
"And I need to talk about this right now." He returned sternly.
At her minutes of silence, he took it as the go-ahead to continue speaking.
"This was my fault…in part. And also the League's. We had the opportunity at the very beginning to make sure this never happened to you, that you were never in danger like this. However, I…I was not able to—to make that decision and instead was led by my emotions. The truth is that you were kidnapped by Joker, frightened, hurt, and…almost injured beyond repair and I, I could have—have stopped it all from happening months ago.
"I was just too selfish to let them save you back then; I thought we'd be able to protect you."
He looked up with pained eyes and watched her swallow hard and her jaw jump a few times. His whole body was tensed, waiting for her to become upset and start yelling, or crying. He felt that anything would have been better than the silence he was enduring. Her hand was ice in his and he felt it so slack, as if she didn't want to hold his and yet didn't have the strength to make him let go. He felt like his stomach was on a trapeze at the circus while his heart was like a locomotive engine. The ticking of the clock seemed to be the only sound he could hear and it was the loudest thing he could ever remember hearing, echoing in his head and reverberating throughout his bones as he waited for her stillness to abate.
"…how could you have stopped it months ago?" she finally whispered.
Kaldur felt like the wind was knocked out of him. It had not been the question he'd been expecting and for the first few moments after she'd spoken he didn't make a sound, unable to respond. He finally swallowed his heart back down to its proper place in his chest and attempted real speech again.
"When…we first ran into Baal and his group…when Jake was first kidnapped and we found you in the alley that first night…and you saw who Kidflash really was… When we took you back to base and you met the League, one of our members—Megan's uncle—has the ability to read minds as she does. However, he can also erase memories and clear minds as well. When you first fell into our hands, we could have erased your memory, taken out all that you'd seen and made it as if you'd never even known us."
"…and…why didn't you do that and save yourselves all this trouble?"
Her voice was so quiet and so strained that he couldn't tell if she was falling back asleep or just so upset with him that she couldn't talk.
"He…would have had to clear much from your mind. Deep down, you'd had suspicions—in your heart you'd felt something different, something special about us. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, the fantasies of a high school girl wanting to get away from a bad situation. Whatever it was, the knowledge of who we really were and what we really did made a connection in you and it ran deep inside your mind. To remove it there is much else he also would have had to remove.
"We would have been wiping out entire chunks of who you were. It is dangerous, clearing memories; he could have wiped us out of your mind but, in doing so, we were worried we would take away some of the very essence of who you are. The league has never had to do this with an ally and was not prepared at the time to make that decision under the circumstances. Instead what it fell to was how much we could trust you, if you were a threat, and if we could keep you and what you knew a secret."
"Kaldur, I need you to shut up right now."
Dumbfounded Kaldur sat at her bedside with his mouth opening and closing like a stranded fish. He blinked at her and almost dropped her hand, unsure of if she wanted him to leave or if she was still a little out of things from her pain medication. Her breathing was even and her pulse felt only slightly elevated. She didn't seem furious, or upset, but then he was unsure of what her true state of mind was in all of this—the doctors said that she might very well remain in a state of mental shock and disbelief for quite some time after she'd woken up. Was this what they'd been talking about?
"Cailan—"
"No. Kaldur just stop talking."
He flinched inwardly and swallowed hard. Resigning himself to the worst he'd been preparing himself for before he confessed he sighed and stood, letting go of her hand.
"I will leave you to rest then,"
In a movement that surprised him she caught his hand back up, her eyes open once more.
"I didn't say leave I said shut up." She said; he was able to discern now that she was in fact upset with him.
"I do not understand…"
"I told you I didn't want to hear it. You shouldn't have said anything," her heart rate went up. "What do you expect Kaldur? Of course right now you me and half the world are thinking that if you could have prevented this hell you should have."
Kaldur flinched and set his eyes downcast away from her poisonous green ones.
"But you and I both know that that isn't fair. If you had asked me my opinion back then I would have made the same stupid choice. You shouldn't have said a damn thing. That's not fair to either of us. You blame yourself and then you get me all…all…"
"flustered?"
"—over a decision we can't go back and change that was made out of the best intentions at the time. Of course I'm angry. I'm lying in a hospital bed, missing weeks of my memory from being doped up in the hospital and I can't remember almost anything in the last few days leading up to being in the hospital. My body is in constant pain, my friends look at me with these mixed glances of 'how pathetic' and 'how tragic' and 'that poor thing', when we all know that a part of all this mess is my own damn fault.
"Of course I'm angry over what that…that…freak did to me—"
"I am so sorry Cailan, I never meant for you to get hurt—never imagined that—"
"But I'm glad I had the chance to protect you." She interrupted him, squeezing his hand and closing her eyes again, her strength nearly gone. "I love you Kaldur. I'm angry with you, with me, with what happened right now, but I love you."
Kaldur remained standing there in a stunned silence only able to stare at her until she'd long since fallen back into a deep drug—happy sleep. There was utter turmoil inside of him—she was angry with him (which he fully understood), but she just said she still loved him, but she was also drugged and in pain and possibly not really within her right mind under the circumstances. And he'd gotten her hurt, and she said she loved him. But she was angry that he'd brought it up, that he'd had to mention it; she was angry that it happened. She was scared. He could see it in her eyes, he'd seen it every time she glanced towards her legs—life as she'd known it could be over, and she was terrified.
With a shaky breath and feeling like he was going to burst with emotions if he didn't dive deep into the ocean soon, he leaned over and kissed her forehead and then each eye lid and turned off the light, leaving her under the scrutiny and lock and key protection of the reclusive private hospital off the records and out of knowledge of all but the elite and turned seaward.
…
August 16th, Thursday
"She'll be lucky if she can walk again without aid. I just don't see dancing—especially ballet—in her future. There was simply too much damage done,"
"How is that even possible?" Dick protested, trying to keep his irritation hidden in a low voice.
"When she was initially taken to the emergency room at Gotham general the doctors just went in to save her life. Once she was stabilized and results came back…the drugs that that madman put into her, when combined they acted like morphine, in a sense. Her body and brain recognized the pain together; however where the pain should have been an indicator of severe damage the drugs somehow manipulated her body's ability to keep going. Instead of collapsing and breaking down her body kept going, furthering the damage she sustained." There was shuffling as the doctor flipped again through some papers in a large folder.
"…yeah…thanks…" Dick mumbled, running a hand through his hair.
"I won't lie to you, it is going to be a lot of work—hard work—and difficult physical therapy to get you to a walking state again." Dick heard from Cailan's room.
"Yeah, of course…of course. When can I start—what will I have to do—how long—?"
"Miss," the doctor held up his hand to her and looked back to the charts in his lap. "Let's…not get ahead of ourselves."
"Get…ahead—what do you mean?" she asked—demanded; Dick could hear a slight panic to her voice.
"There are things you need to know about your…condition, before you set yourself up." The doctor said, patting her hand.
Cailan withdrew her hand callously. "Setting myself up for what, exactly?"
"Cailan maybe you should rest, we'll talk about this later…with Bruce," Dick said, interrupting the doctors untimely reply.
…
"No guys…it doesn't look good." Dick shook his head.
"You talked with the doctors?" Wally asked, perking up in his seat.
The raven headed teen nodded, then shook his head. "Sort of…I talked with one of them and over heard another. Anyways…" he let out a whoosh of breath. "it doesn't look good to any of them. They think the end result will mostly be that she can walk—without aid."
"You mean—"
"Yeah," he nodded at Megan. "putting it lightly, her dancing career is over."
"Damn." Was all Artemis could muster.
"You…mean not ever, not at all?" Conner's usually deadpan demeanor was swept away with confusion and surprise.
"She'll probably be lucky to walk again Conner." Dick looked away.
"Shh," Conner growled, shooting them a look and then turning towards the tv and flipping on static.
The group gave him a puzzled look until the Zeta-tubes sounded out Kaldur's arrival from his Atlantian home. Did he know? Was he going to find out? Perhaps the most important question—what would he do when he found out?
"We have a task. Suit up." Kaldur commanded.
...
"No, we have to move her." Wonder Woman asserted.
"I agree. We're not going to use her as bait." Superman shook his head.
"And where do you purpose we stash her?" Batman rolled his eyes.
"I think I might know a place," Wonder Woman smiled, a peculiar look in her eyes.