Hi, I have another chapter for you! Yay for that!
Easter142: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and a Merry Late Christmas to you too! Thanks for reviewing! :D
KaliAnn: Yeah, I love stories with the original team too. I think that the original team were the best personally! Thanks for your continued support! :D
BlueJayRobin: Thanks so much Blue! I'm glad you like the story and thanks so much for the support. You're going to be an awesome writer too, I can tell! Can't wait for some more of your story! ;)
Yuu101cutie: I'm happy that you're curious! See how you like this next chapter ahahaha! Thanks for the continued support :D
soccernin19: I'm happy that you like it, I hope you enjoy this next chapter too! Thanks for reviewing! :)
Allypallycally1: Hello hello! I'm glad you like, and agreed. Robin is cute, no question! Hahaha, I'll keep uploading don't you worry! Enjoy this next chapter! Thanks for the review :)
On to the story!
"There!" Kid Flash shouted suddenly, cutting through the silence. The speedster stuck his hand out in front of him and pointed at a reasonably large collection of houses just ahead. The village was barely visible in amongst the snow that was covering everything; they might have missed it had he not pointed it out. But nobody thanked Kid Flash or offered any indication of their being grateful, and for once Kid Flash didn't want the attention. He was too focused on getting Robin the help that he needed. They had been flying for fifteen minutes, but it had seemed like an eternity, and everyone was relieved that somewhere had finally shown up.
As M'Gann landed the Bio-ship in the least turbulent way that she could manage, Connor got up from his seat and paced over to Robin who was slumped in his chair and would have looked as if he were sleeping if his eyes were not open. The Team felt the ship land on solid ground and everyone's seatbelts were released, Robin's included. Luckily, Connor was already in front of him so when he fell out of his chair the Kryptonian was there to lift him back up again. M'Gann made an opening in the Bio-ship and the Team were immediately greeted with a barrage of snow smashing its way inside the ship accompanied by high winds that seemed to bite at their skin.
The cold temperature didn't really bother M'Gann, Connor or Aqualad; they were used to cold environments. But Wally, Artemis and Robin would freeze if they ventured out there: even with the huge coats that Batman had provided them with to deal with the harsh environment in Siberia. Realising that they couldn't all go together as planned, M'Gann hastily closed the opening in the ship and stared wide-eyed at the huge quantity of snow that had accumulated inside her ship in such a short amount of time. Artemis and Wally traded worried glances, but Aqualad – as collected as ever – simply did as Robin would do, he thrust the previous plan aside and quickly formulated a new one that would work just as well.
"It would seem we have no choice but to split up," Aqualad said, his eyes never leaving Robin's small form cradled in Connor's arms. Wally looked alarmed at the words 'split up', when did splitting up ever actually work? It came in useful sometimes, but only when that was the original plan. Hadn't Aqualad ever seen a horror movie? When things are already starting to go wrong, you never split up because that's how things get even worse! As Wally opened his mouth to voice his concerns, Aqualad silenced him by holding up a hand calmly and continuing, "There is no way I'm letting Robin out in a snow storm in his condition. I'm not certain, but surely it will make him worse."
"How are we going to get him treated then?" Artemis demanded hotly. She had seen Robin drowned only recently and she wasn't willing to come so close to losing him again, he was a valuable member of the Team and a good friend. He helped her to overcome her fears and save her teammates – so she owed him. Just as Artemis spoke her question, M'Gann began to question why taking Robin with them wasn't an option. Then Connor wondered aloud as to why the cold wasn't good for someone who was too hot. After that, Kid Flash saw everyone else talking and didn't see why he shouldn't throw his opinion out there too instead of helping Aqualad to diffuse the mass panic.
"Quiet!" Aqualad bellowed. The Team was instantly silenced, partially in shock. As far as they knew, the Atlantean had never shouted before. Even Aqualad himself seemed astonished at his own voice, like he had never heard it sound like that before. But he didn't regret it, if shouting meant that Robin would receive help faster, then it was worth it. Swallowing his own bewilderment, Aqualad spoke again, "If you would all listen then we can get Robin help faster. Now, it is clear that myself and M'Gann are comfortable in cold conditions. So whilst we go and request help from the nearby village, the rest of you will stay here, watch and care for Robin."
"Just the two of you?" Wally said. The speedster was all for getting Robin help fast, but just the two of them in a hostile area alone? That he was concerned about. The last thing they needed was for the Superman-imposter to have gone to the nearest village too in search of possible saboteurs and capturing M'Gann and Kaldur. Wally shook his head and crossed is arms, this was an argument he wasn't going to lose, "I don't like it Kaldur, what if something happens?"
"I'll go." Connor piped up. Wally dropped his arms to is sides and let his mouth swing wide in shock. The speedster looked him up and down, taking note of his lack of a coat and then squinted one of his eyes in disbelief. He could not be serious! Connor glared at Wally and grinded his teeth in frustration before speaking again, "Listen, I might look human but I'm part Kryptonian, the cold doesn't bother me. Anyway, if I go too then there'll be three of us going and that's enough right?"
"Connor's right Wally, three people is a good enough number and they'll all be okay with the cold. Besides, if all of us were to go together, then the locals would probably be a little overwhelmed." Artemis jumped in, smiling at the word 'overwhelmed' because she knew that it would soften Wally up. After all, Robin played around with that word all the time. Wally looked at the archer for a few moments, as though searching her for something, and then nodded in acceptance and straightened up whilst crossing his arms again.
"Alright then, Superboy, Miss Martian, let's go," Aqualad said with a kind of solidarity in his voice. Connor and M'Gann nodded determinedly, M'Gann opened the Bio-ship and the three of them stepped out. Aqualad looked back inside for one last glance at Robin, the kid looked even worse from further away. He gave Wally and Artemis the kind of half-hearted, concerned wave that a father might give his children before leaving them home alone as the opening closed behind the three of them.
Once the Bio-ship was closed, Aqualad took a few steps back in awe. As he lifted a hand to cover his eyes so that the large, hard clumps of snow wouldn't smack him in the face full speed he looked at the strange and worrying sight before him. In the middle of a large barren plain, the snow was an unbroken blanket of white and because of the shallow angle the snow was falling in, one side of the Bio-ship was completely buried in snow. The other side of the ship had protected one area of the ground from further snowfall and left a ditch like patch where the snow should have landed. The Bio-ship was already beginning to look like a part of the landscape.
"We must hurry; if we are too long then we will lose the ship in the snow." Aqualad stated gravely. He almost considered going back into the ship and re-planning again, but what good would that do? Robin had seemed to be getting worse and worse as the time passed and re-planning again would only waste more time. Aqualad signalled for his companions to follow him and he began to trudge through the deep snow, with both the wind and the storm working against him.
M'Gann attempted to fly, but then realised that the wind was much too powerful for her and she was swept a few feet back before having her leg grabbed by Connor who prevented her from being swept up into the clouds. After planting her feet firmly back in the snow, Connor shot M'Gann a sympathetic smile and stated, "Maybe it's better to stay grounded for now." M'Gann replied with a grateful smile and a nod. Then the two of them hurried after Aqualad who was briskly hauling himself through the snow, already tired from the effort.
After five minutes of difficult walking, Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian made it to the village and saw that already there were a few curious people standing around. But as soon as those people saw the logos on their uniforms they looked scared and began to run away. Miss Martian held a hand out in front of her in a peace gesture, "Wait!" She called.
The people yelled back in some unknown language and continued to run away. M'Gann cocked her head to the side and allowed her curiosity to be voiced, "What language are they speaking? We can't possibly communicate with them if we can't understand them." Both Connor and Kaldur acknowledged this as the truth, but if the people who they were trying to communicate with were running away from them in the first place then they clearly would have difficulty communicating at all.
"It's Yakut," Connor responded to M'Gann. Both Martian and Atlantean were shocked to see that Connor would even know something like that. But then, reminded of his origins, they saw that it was possible for him to have such knowledge. Connor tried not to get aggravated by the way his friends were looking at him and continued, "The Yakut people are indigenous to the Republic of Sakha. You know, the north east where we are now. I'm aware of this language and its general speakers, but I don't actually speak the language. We're on our own there: I could try Russian, they might understand Russian."
"Look, they're coming back!" M'Gann said, pointing excitedly to where some people were emerging from a nearby house. In the lead was a big, important looking man carrying a large shotgun. It quickly became apparent to Kaldur that he and his companions were far from welcome, the expression on the man's face was one meaning business. There were five flanking his sides, three other men and two women. All of which did not look at all happy to see them. Sensing the hostility building in the air, M'Gann suddenly became anxious. The humans stood before them had their backs to the wind, but Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian were facing the storm and could hardly see at all. Still, when the lead man raised his gun, none of the three missed it.
"Wait! We need help, our friend is sick!" Connor called out in Russian. Both Kaldur and M'Gann couldn't understand what he said, but they could clearly hear the panic and distress in his voice. The lead man pulled the fore-end back on the magazine, as though showing the three of them that he wasn't afraid to shoot them. Aqualad looked at Superboy nervously. A short, chubby woman wrapped in a snug fur coat stepped forward and shook her head sorrowfully at the company before her.
"We are sorry, but your kind only ever brought trouble to our village! Please leave, we cannot help you!" She bellowed back in the same language that Connor had used. She began making gestures to shoo them away, but Connor decided to try one more time. As she continued yelling the same phrase over and over again, 'go away' in Russian, M'Gann and Kaldur could only stand by and let Connor do the talking as they had no idea what either person was saying. M'Gann could feel rising tension and she started to feel worried for her own safety, let alone the safety of Connor and Kaldur.
"Please." Connor tried again. But this time, the lead man who they had originally seen had clearly had enough. Instead of trying to get them to leave peacefully, he shot Connor square in the chest. The people obviously knew who he was and that he would survive because they only watched on knowingly as Connor leapt back in surprise as the bullet bounced off of his skin. Aqualad called out Superboy's name simultaneously with M'Gann and then stared back at the lead man who was reloading his gun. But this time he trained it on Aqualad. Connor had a hand over his chest, maybe he wouldn't die from a gunshot, but it still hurt. But when he saw the gun retrained on Kaldur, his protective instincts kicked in and he grabbed his teammates and turned around.
Aqualad protested as Connor turned him around and started to pull him away from the village, M'Gann simply babbled to Superboy asking if he was harmed. As Aqualad continued to preach to Superboy about how Robin needed help and they shouldn't go back without it, Superboy froze and rationalised the situation for his leader, "Look, apparently 'our kind' has brought them some sort of trouble before and they clearly aren't willing to help us. If they shoot you, you will die and you're no use to Robin dead. Now let's just get back to the Bio-ship and think of something else, okay?"
Kaldur was annoyed at the villagers for being so quick to decline them help, but Connor was right. If they were going to help Robin, then they needed to go somewhere else for help. The three of them were now exhausted from the trek in the snow; they may have been fine with the actual temperature, but the depth of the snow made even a short distance feel like a marathon. Then, after another five minutes of walking, M'Gann stopped in her tracks. The two boys looked behind them when they realised she was no longer there and demanded what she was doing. After all, they were getting frustrated with the weather. At first the snow battering them at every moment wasn't so bad, but now it had begun to feel like rocks were being thrown at them forcefully.
"Guys, I – I don't see my ship anywhere. I can't even feel her." M'Gann whispered. Connor and Kaldur had to ask her to speak up because the wind's howling completely drowned her out the first time. So she shouted her words again. This time the boys had heard her loud and clear: and they had been too busy fighting against the snow storm to keep a proper fixation on the ship's whereabouts. Connor and Kaldur frantically swept their gazes across the vast white space and realised that the little red ship was nowhere to be seen. Kaldur's heart began to thud harder in his chest as a horrible realisation dawned on him.
"We've lost the other half of our team." Aqualad said in a voice that was laced with disbelief and fear. M'Gann had realised it earlier, but somehow hearing it from her leader made it too real and she let a frightened gasp escape her. As the three of them stood, the storm became worse and soon enough not one of them could see anything. Not the ship, not the village that they had just fled from, not even each other. They were lost, stranded somewhere in the middle of a storm: and meanwhile the others were trapped in a ship that could only be controlled by M'Gann where Robin was progressively getting more and more sick by the minute.
Thanks for reading guys!
Please review and let me know what you thought!
If you guys are interested, a friend of mine on here is writing a new story called 'BlueJay and Robin' and could really use a bit of encouragement right now! So if you could check out her story (her username is BlueJayRobin) that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)
Love, Varishi x