Hi everyone! Wow, this is the final chapter! Just to let you know, I don't intend to continue this story further as it stands. If however you would like to read more on this storyline when you reach the end of the story then please do let me know in a review or a PM and I will then consider a sequel.
KaliAnn: Indeed, trouble lurks. Still, they'll be alright have a read!
DARKSOMEONE41: Thanks a lot. I didn't place a big focus on the pairings so that nobody would argue over it. I'm not big on pairings anyways, but since my sister loves it I put it in for her reading pleasure. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the final chapter!
soccernin19: Thank you so much! Batman is so difficult to write for! I'm glad you think I got it right. I hope that you enjoy this last chapter and thanks for sticking with me this long! :D
sharyvagram: Thank you. Daddybats yay! I hope you like this chapter too, it is the final... Sad times :'(
ForbiddenVoid: Maybe... Read on and find out! Enjoy the last chapter!
weathergirl17248: Thank you so much! Enjoy this last!
So readers, here we go! Let's get this finished! It had been my pleasure writing for you and I really hope that you like the last chapter!
On to the story!
Batman walked slowly and purposefully back to Martian Manhunter's ship; the kid that he was carrying hadn't stirred since he had been picked up. The Dark Knight was having a very tough time keeping the worry off of his face. He entered the ship and checked around to be sure that everyone was aboard before nodding sharply and setting Robin down on a flat surface that Manhunter had his ship morph out of the ground. Batman's eyes lingered on Robin for a moment before he turned away quickly and told Manhunter to shut the doors and take them back to Happy Harbour.
"Wait," Wonder Woman said quickly. She walked out of the ship and then turned back to meet Batman's intense gaze. He was clearly very angry with her and she had expected it, no smart person would get in the way of Batman when he was trying to help Robin. She was holding everyone up, and she knew it. Glancing back towards the Bio-ship for a moment, Wonder Woman announced, "I'm not coming with you. Someone needs to stay behind and make sure that the crash site isn't tampered with until we get back. This place is dangerous too, we can't just leave it for heaven knows how long; someone might hurt themselves."
"Fine, fine. Just be careful and stay in contact, we don't want any of those things coming after you." Batman said, gesturing to the pile of mechanical monkeys that Superboy had dismantled. Both heroes knew, however, that the monkeys weren't really what Batman was worried about. He was a lot more concerned that whoever was behind the machines might show up and there would be only Wonder Woman with no back-up against whoever that may be. Either way, Batman had to tell himself that Wonder Woman was very capable of taking care of herself and on the off chance that anything did happen in the next six to eight hours then she could easily call for help. So, Batman signalled to Manhunter to close the doors again and watched stoically as his colleague gave him a confident smile before they left.
Once out of the atmosphere, Batman walked over to where Robin lay in the same position he had been in earlier. He hadn't moved at all. A quick examination said that Robin had the flu or something very similar and so Batman got a packet out from a compartment near to the pilot's seat which contained a clear liquid to begin intravenously rehydrating Robin. After pushing the needle into a vein on Robin's wrist, he secured the bag to a hook on the ceiling and laid a hand fondly on his partner's forehead. It's alright, you're safe now, Batman thought. A sense of relief washed over him when he realised that for everything the team must have gone through, each and every one of them would return home.
Kid Flash's external injuries were far worse than Robin's however, so the Dark Knight got up and moved to the speedster to see what he could do for him. Kid Flash had a nasty burn running down his back and he seemed to have banged his head pretty hard too. The burn would be painful for a really long time, perhaps a month or so. But Batman seemed to have forgotten that Wally wasn't fully human for a moment there, he was a speedster and by description he healed more speedily than an ordinary human. Still, a soothing cream would be useful and so the Bat called to Manhunter as he piloted the ship, "Have you got any cream for a burn in your first aid kit?"
"Yeah, it's in the smaller orange bag. It's probably right at the bottom – we don't need to use it all that often." Manhunter replied not taking his eyes off of the distant speck that he seemed to be using for concentration. Believe it or not, steering a ship was a lot harder in zero gravity than it was in atmosphere. There was no pull at all, so it was all the harder to keep everything steady. Batman probably didn't nearly appreciate just how injured M'Gann could possibly be in her mind. He was far too distracted by his own protégé to be nearly as concerned about the rest of the team. It sounded selfish, but really J'onn understood very well. Still, the Martian would look more closely at his niece's mind when they landed safely.
Batman rummaged around for the orange bag for quite a while before his fist closed around a really small bag. He knew that Manhunter had said 'small' but he didn't realise it would be only just as big as the palm of his hand. The Bat emptied the contents of the bag into his hand and nodded in approval upon finding that the tub of cream was just the one that he would have wanted to see. He took off his bulky gloves and put on the more suitable medical gloves before popping open the lid to the little pot and scooping some of the cream onto his fingertips. Batman mentally apologised to Wally before rubbing some of the ointment into the burn.
It was immediately obvious that Wally was very uncomfortable during the process. Burns were possibly the most painful injury to endure in the first place and the only thing that was worse in Bruce's own opinion in terms of physical ailments was actually the process of healing the burn after it had happened. So he really did feel for the kid, and the fact that he had clearly gotten up after being burnt this badly and had actually attempted to fight a strong opponent was no small feat. In his eyes, Kid Flash was nothing short of brilliant.
Kid Flash regained consciousness just as Batman was covering the last of the burn in cream and began to panic almost instantly. His breathing quickened at the pain that he became aware of on his back and also the knowledge that the android could still be around somewhere. It was only when Batman leant down so that they were looking into each other's eyes, well eye-to-mask, that Wally realised he must be safe. Batman patted his head as if reading his mind and consolidating his suspicions and then he stepped out of the way and turned Wally's head slightly so that he could see where Robin was laying (still unconscious) atop a flat surface where an IV slowly helped the kid to clear away the illness. Wally smiled gently and breathed a short sigh of relief. It was over.
With both of the priority patients treated as well as they could have been for the moment, Batman then turned his attention to the rest of the team. Artemis clearly was in the most need out of the rest of the Team that Batman could actually help with. M'Gann was probably best left to Martian Manhunter – Batman didn't even understand how a mind could be diagnosed. Not unless it was a mental illness anyhow. So Artemis was seen to first, the archer had been staring blankly at a wall for a long time now trying to ignore the pain ringing in her ears and her head. It was only now inside the safety of Martian Manhunter's ship that she realised just how much the lights were bothering her. Honestly, she just wanted to go to sleep and rest for a week.
Batman knelt down in front of her and she was forced to look up at him. He shone a light into her eyes and she edged away from it slightly. The Dark Knight did it just once more before his lips pressed into a hard line and he switched the light off. He then leaned into her face and asked her the most stupid simple question ever, "What is your name?" He demanded in that frightening voice of his. She opened her mouth, ready to blurt out her name and then share a piece of her mind too, but somehow it just wasn't coming out. She had to struggle for a while before she managed to form her name. Batman then stood up unhappily.
"You have a concussion, Artemis. I can't say for sure how bad it is until we land, but you should lie down and try to get some sleep if at all possible. We have about two hours until we get down to Happy Harbour." Batman said assertively. But there was a sort of softness to his voice that almost explained Robin's fondness for the man, but then again with a concussion Artemis knew that there was every chance that she was imagining it. Still, whether she was imagining the voice or not, he was giving her good advice and she decided to take it. She was sat apart from the others, so she wouldn't be bothering anybody by lying down and stretching out.
The next thing on Batman's agenda was to make the other three more comfortable and so he went into a different compartment at the front of the ship which held emergency blankets and got out four of them. He stopped on his way over to Aqualad, Connor and M'Gann and tucked one of the blankets he had retrieved around Artemis' settled body and then quickly moved on. The Dark Knight didn't miss the bemused look that Manhunter threw him. See, that was why he didn't enjoy showing his caring side.
Connor received a blanket and he gratefully wrapped it around himself before accepting the other one that Batman was offering to him to cover M'Gann who appeared to have fallen asleep in his lap. A smile touched on Connor's lips as he spread the blanket around M'Gann. The Bat took a moment to recommend sleep to Connor as well before moving on to Aqualad who sat not too far from Robin and Kid Flash, his eyes were fixed on the two of them like a security guard's eyes would fix on a potential thief. Batman approached slowly and recommended to the leader of the junior team the same that he had recommended the others. But Aqualad simply let the blanket drop by his side and stared defiantly up at Batman.
"I'm not going to rest until Robin and Wally are safely back at the mountain and I know that they'll both make a full recovery." Aqualad said quietly. Batman sighed and nodded, already knowing that there was no point at all in arguing with Aqualad. It was likely that he'd fall asleep of his own accord at some point during the journey in any case. So instead of saying anything else, Batman went to retrieve the head of the android and then moved back to Aqualad's position before heading the metal skull to him to look after: similar to the way a mother might give a small child her keys to play with. Just to shut them up.
After Batman had attended to everyone on the ship, silence fell. Apart from the occasional wince from Kid Flash and a rare stir from one of the other members of the team, there was nothing. Everyone was just too relieved that the nightmare was over to say a single word. Kid Flash took the time to stare at Robin's face in wonder. It had seemed as though the moment the little ninja had known that Batman was coming for him, he had just released whatever grip he had on resisting his illness and had just let go. His faith in Batman always astounded the speedster.
The ship eventually landed in Happy Harbour and everyone aboard was asleep aside from Batman and Martian Manhunter. As the doors opened, Batman instructed Manhunter to get Kid Flash and Robin to the medical bay where Black Canary could treat them first. Obediently the Martian levitated them both and rushed off to the medical bay where Canary should have already been waiting. Batman then got Aqualad up next, because he would be the most awkward to control. He gently shook the Atlantean's shoulder and informed him of their arrival.
"You should get some bed rest before you get checked out. You'll be no help and there's no sense in staying up when you're exhausted." Batman said shortly and bluntly. Kaldur (shockingly) nodded and allowed Batman to help him to his feet. Manhunter had already returned to the ship and was moving both M'Gann and Artemis to the medical bay next. So that left Batman to assist Kaldur to his room and then drop Connor off at his room too. The two of them only really needed rest as far as he could tell. So, clear on his objective, he slipped an arm around each boy's waist and then helped them both to their rooms before dropping them down on their beds and making his way to the medical bay.
On entry, Batman observed that Manhunter already – even after such a long and probably exhausting trip – was diagnosing his niece's injured mind. Also, Robin had already been retreated by Canary and she seemed satisfied enough that he was alright to have turned her back on him to treat Wally. Canary had a look that took a mixture of concern, concentration and anger into the same place in her features. Happy that everyone else was in good care, Batman walked over to Artemis and told her to sleep in the medical bay where he and Canary could keep an eye on her. She nodded and laid down on the bed she was seated on.
Martian Manhunter told Batman after diagnosing M'Gann for a while that she had what was equivalent to a sprain in her subconscious, probably from overexerting her mind. She was strong, but even the strongest of minds would have been hard pressed to halt a crashing ship and she had done remarkably well considering. She needed plenty of bed rest and would probably be unable to carry out any active duty for a month or so to give her mind a chance to heal itself. She would likely be plagued with severe headaches for at least two to three weeks.
Black Canary had stabilised Robin and he was likely to regain consciousness in an hour or two. Kid Flash's injuries had been cleaned and after having eaten a few dextrose tablets to get his energy levels back up, he had gone to sleep. She had then taken it upon herself to pay Aqualad and Connor a visit to make certain that they didn't have a concussion before bandaging a few minor cuts and then letting them return to sleep. So, with the team stabilised and sure of a full recovery, Batman saw fit to analyse some of the information that was in the android's skull. He also took the liberty to call Superman and Green Lantern to meet Wonder Woman in Siberia so that they could all get a clean-up mission under way.
Batman plugged the android's head into his computer drive and set to work on decrypting the various codes that had been placed around the data he needed to get to, namely the memories. After a long time spent on the encryptions, Batman found that actually the person behind everything was Dr. Ivo. He had apparently been working with the crime gangs in an attempt to 'buy their love' so that when the time came they would owe him a favour. The favour would be coming to work for him so that he could mass produce his robots in secret to overthrow the Justice League. Naturally, this plan probably had a world domination intention behind it.
Well then, Batman supposed that he ought to get together a team to go after Ivo and see how far his plans had advanced. The Dark Knight supposed that he should notify Green Arrow given the history between the two of them, and maybe he should contact Red Arrow as well. Then of course he would need Superman and Wonder Woman. Manhunter made an off-handed comment – something about him 'not hurting himself'. He must have been making a strange face whilst thinking or something.
Robin opened his eyes and looked around him. Wasn't this Happy Harbour's medical bay? Could it really be? It was; as Robin looked around he saw that he was completely safe. Batman had come for him, just like he had known that he would do. Bruce had come for him, and no doubt he wouldn't be allowed out of the house for a week or two for lying on that first day when he had told Bruce that he was okay to go on the mission. Robin chuckled slightly, he really had messed things up for everyone this time hadn't he? He had even dragged Bruce and probably some others into it as well.
"Batman, Robin's awake!" Black Canary called out to the Bat who was sitting in deep thought. He was making that face that said he was planning a new mission and she sincerely hoped that he wasn't going after who did this to the team. Although somehow she always knew that of course he was. It was just so typical of him. After all, there wouldn't be a Dark Knight if Bruce wasn't the vengeful type would there? Canary was always reassured however of Batman's humanity when she saw a vision such as what she was seeing at that very moment.
Batman had rushed to Robin's side and the two of them had communicated silently for a moment or two before the older Bat had ran forward and wrapped himself around his protégé. Everything was going to be alright now.
Thanks everyone for reading. Once again, I wasn't intending on continuing this story any further. This is the end of this story. However, if you would like to read more about taking down Ivo then let me know in either a review or a PM so that I can think about whether it would be worth writing a sequel or not. If enough people would like to know how everything unfolds with Ivo's plans, then I will write a sequel to this story.
Thank you all so much for sticking with me this long and lending me your kind thoughts! Please review this chapter and tell me what you've thought of the story! Thanks so much!
For the last time in this story, if you spot any mistakes, you know what to do!
Varishi x