I am amazed at how popular this story has become. I have never before had such interest so fast for a story. A big thank you to everyone who is following it and I hope you all enjoy this next part.
Silence echoed through the empty halls of Mt Justice, the usual occupants all lost in their own thoughts even as they crowded into the kitchen to try and enjoy Megan's cookies. The girl was stress baking, trying to take out all her anguish on her creations. But the rest of the team couldn't enjoy the food, all caught in their emotions.
Kaldur and Conner were feeling sorrow. The failed training simulation had been tough on all of them, but Robin was only 13 and had been forced to carry all their deaths on his shoulders as he tried to singlehandedly save the world. And neither of the older boys had thought to look into the welfare of the boy they thought of as their little brother until it was too late. They had made the most basic mistake. They had figured, since Robin had a hero longer than any of them, he was more than a 13 year old human surrounded by meta-humans. They had figured that Robin hadn't wanted or needed their support.
At the oven, Megan was trying to fight her emotions, even as she pulled out another tray of hot cookies. She had ruined the training simulation; Robin had been damaged because of her. Placing the cookies on the bench, she quickly covered her mouth with her hand, trying to cover the strangled sob as it escaped from her throat. It was all her fault. Her lack of control had hurt Robin and she had never even thought of helping him heal. And now he was in danger.
Without looking, Conner reached over and took her hand in his own, giving it a quick squeeze. Behind her, Captain Marvel stepped forward. Black Canary had left to talk to this weeks 'Den Mother', leaving the Justice League member to deal with the team on his own.
Resting a hand on the green girls shoulder, the superhero tried to think of how to help the team. He looked around at the long faces.
On the other side of the room, Artemis fumed. She was angry, not at Robin for running away or being kidnapped, not at Batman for being so cryptic and refusing the teams help. No, she was angry at herself. She was a local of Gotham. She had known about the break-out at Arkham and yet she hadn't offered to help. Too worried about her own mental state after the simulation, she had decided to stay home and rest, even when she knew Robin was out on the streets, trying to keep the city calm. He had been through so much more than her, he had lived through the deaths of the whole team, and yet he had still gone out to fight when she hadn't.
Artemis may be quick to judge and quick to lie, but she couldn't lie to herself. Robin was too good a hero for one of Batman's lesser known rogues to get the jump on him unless the kid really was exhausted. And he wouldn't have been so exhausted if Artemis had pulled her own weight, instead of letting the dynamic duo take care of everything. In the female archers mind, it was her fault that Robin was gone. And she was determined to rescue him.
Next to her, Wally grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. Unlike a normal day, it had nothing to do with Artemis being so close. The strange love/hate relationship between the two had been put aside during the hunt for their missing bird and the two had yet to pick the argument again. Instead, Wally's speedster mind was replaying over and over again, his last conversation with the Boy Wonder. The young hero still couldn't believe he had said such mean things to his best friend. To the kid who had inspired him to becoming a hero in the first place.
And he couldn't believe that Batman had cut them out of the plan to rescue Robin from the Red Hood, whoever he was.
Moving from his position suddenly, the speedster smacked his hand down on the table. Ignoring the confused looks from his teammates, the speedster closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hand. It was his fault Robin had run away. He had bullied the younger boy and forced him to leave the cave.
Damn, he had been an idiot! All he wanted was to go and find Robin, to apologise and to try and fix the mess he had made of their friendship.
The speedster sighed; breaking the silence for a moment before it once again surrounded them. That was why all of them heard the soft sounds coming from the training room.
Like a light being switched on, the team roused themselves from their sorrow, all of them turning to Conner. The Boy of Steel concentrated hard, listening to the words only he had the ability to hear. His large shoulders dropped.
"Superman's here." He muttered.
"What is he saying?" Kaldur asked.
Superboy concentrated, his face going blank.
In the training room, the Man of Steel was talking to Black Canary.
"I shouldn't be here. I'm needed up at the Watch Tower."
"Superman, they need someone here for them. The Watch Tower can wait." Black Canary said.
"Dinah, they don't even want me here. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not their favourite person. Besides, you and Billy are here for them." The Man of Steel admitted.
"Yes, but we are not their Den Mother. You are."
There was a grumble from the Blue Boy scout.
"If you want the roster changed, you are going to have to go through Batman." Black Canary said pointedly. "But to be honest, I don't think he is willing to put up with your cowardice at the moment. Not with his son missing."
There was another pause.
"He should be in Taipei by now. I could go and talk to him…"
"No!" Black Canary growled. "You are staying here. I don't care if you hide out in the training room all day and avoid the team, but you are not leaving the mountain."
From his seat in the kitchen, Conner cringed. He had been on the losing end of arguments with Black Canary too many times already and could just imagine the look she was giving Superman. The Boy of Steel quickly replayed the conversation in his head.
Reaching out, he gently nudged the ever present link between himself and Megan, asking her to open up the group link. The girl complied, connecting everyone.
'Batman is in Taipei.' He thought.
Thanks to the open link, the Boy of Steel could feel everyone contemplate his words. Finally, Wally responded.
'Then that must be where Robin is. And where we should be.'
Next to him, Artemis nodded.
'We have been ordered to stay here.' Kaldur pointed out, the team leader once again becoming the voice of reason.
'Please! That wasn't an order. That was Batman once again keeping us out.' Artemis cut in.
'If Robin is in danger, maybe we should be there to help.' Megan stated.
'Kaldur?' Superboy asked, pleading with the leader to agree with them.
The team leader sighed.
'It appears that I am outnumbered.'
'That's great. But how do we get past him?' Wally asked, jerking his head towards Captain Marvel. The Justice League member had seated himself down and was helping himself the Megan's cookies.
'I got it.' Megan cried, standing up.
The girls face dropped until she looking like she was going to cry again. Her hand went to her mouth. Alarmed, Conner stood up but Captain Marvel beat him too it.
The hero was on his feet instantly, wrapping his arms around Megan.
"Hey. It's ok." He said, trying to calm her down.
"I'm…I'm sorry. It's just…everything reminds me of Robin." The girl stuttered.
Conner looked around, confused. At the other end of the table, Wally suddenly grinned. The speedster rested his elbows on the table before his head suddenly dropped, resting on his arms, his face now hidden. He started to shake.
"Wally?" Captain Marvel asked.
A sob came from the speedster.
'Play along.' A voice hissed through the link.
Slowly sitting back down, Conner looked around as his team mates acted, Artemis almost throwing herself into Kaldur's arms.
"I…I can't be here anymore." Megan said aloud. "We just need to get out for a while."
Captain Marvel tightened his hold on her.
"Then why don't we go out for a while? We could go and get ice-cream." He said.
Wally raised his tear streaked face as Megan wiggled out of Captain Marvels grip.
"They won't let us." He gulped. "Superman and Black Canary think we will just run away too. They have locked the bay doors."
Each member held their breath, waiting to see what Captain Marvel would do. Finally the hero nodded.
"I'll unlock them." He volunteered. "You just leave Superman and Black Canary to me."
The teenagers jumped to their feet and ran, Wally speeding off ahead of the group to get to the bio-ship. Megan paused for a moment before flying back and quickly wrapping her arms around Captain Marvel's torso.
"Thank you!" she whispered before speeding off after the team, catching up to them as they reached the ship. The bio-ship was fully formed and ready for the team as the teenagers crowded on-board and took their places.
"Megan, that was amazing! Where did you learn to act like that?" Artemis asked, looking up from her seat.
Megan blushed at her friends praise.
"The Bumble Bees taught me. They said that a girl should always know how to cry so boys will always pay attention to us." The alien girl replied.
"Oh… I don't think that is actually a good thing." Artemis replied.
"Oh." Megan replied. The girl blushed again, this time in embarrassment.
Artemis immediately went into damage control.
"But it was still good. And it worked on Captain Marvel." She lowered her voice.
"Wally, help me out here."
"What?" The speedster asked, looking up from his seat. The teen hero had been staring out the window, seeing something no one else could see.
"Megan's crying." The archer prompted.
"Oh. It was good." Wally said, turning back to stare at the window again. "Can we just go?"
Megan sat down in her seat, letting the controls grow around her.
"All ready?" Megan asked. In front of the ship, the bay doors opened.
Everyone nodded.
"Let's bring Robin home." Kaldur said.
Just so everyone knows, I actually do like Captain Marvel. I think he is a great character, but I also think the team doesn't really understand him and tend to take advantage of his kindness like they did here. As for the Bumble Bees, I don't really like them. There is no reason for it, I just don't care for them as characters. Admittedly, They haven't really featured in the show yet so I may warm up to them later.