Unlucky 13: Operation

AN: Just assume any medical stuff in here is made up. I did look up a lot of this stuff, but I have no idea how medicine really works, or if some of this stuff is more or less lethal than I make it out to be. Just put it down to Atlantean physiology and superhero science, okay?

XxXxX

Wally is covered in Kaldur's blood.

Wally is covered in Kaldur's blood because he messed up.

Wally is covered in Kaldur's blood because he messed up, because he was too slow, because he might as well be a thirteen-year-old screw-up on his first mission with another sidekick for all the training he's showing right now.

"Kaldur!" Four minds and voices call, and Wally realizes that he's thinking too fast, because Kaldur hasn't even hit the ground…

Wally dives forward to catch his friend before that can happen. Artemis lets loose an arrow before the rest of them can even think, ripping through the MONQI that had played dead and taken the cheap shot that felled their leader. Nightwing is at his side, putting pressure on the wound even as he lays his friend down.

"Damn. Penetrated the Kidneys. Nicked his renal artery." Nightwing diagnoses.

"That's a major artery! He'll bleed out!" Conner adds as he and M'gann hurry over. Artemis has her back to them, surveying the landscape for other still-active bots, ready to send her warning through the mind-link.

Conner's words are what Wally needs to kick his brain back into gear. "Right. Flash to Watchtower! I need an emergency teleport and medical aid, stat!"

"I'm sorry, Flash! We're in the process of bringing up the other teams! We're mid-transfer, and can't stop now! It's gonna be at least a few more minutes!" Kaldur lets out a groan, face pale and eyes unfocused with pain. M'gann puts her hand on his brow, trying to focus and help him block out the pain.

"He doesn't have that long!" Conner insists, overhearing Wally's comm.

"Are you kidding me?!" Wally yells at Conner, then turns back to his comm. "Just get us up there ASAP, and have medical standing by!" He angrily kills the line.

"This artery has to be closed." Nightwing murmurs urgently, wrist deep in Kaldur's wound trying to pinch the artery shut. "Flash can't get him anywhere fast with that leg. We're just going to have to do it ourselves."

"…I still have some Shields," Conner admits. "I can cauterize the wound with heat vision, but it'll be risky. He'd have to be absolutely still." They all watch Kaldur's body jerk in shock and pain.

"Right. Miss M can you-" Nightwing starts.

"I'm attempting to pull him into my mind now. I need someone to anchor me…"

"I've got you, Megs." Artemis is back from surveying the remaining bots. She stands behind M'gann and puts her hands on the kneeling girl's shoulders. "Just like old times." The situation is too dire for them to share even a weak smile at the bad quip. The three go still, M'gann's eyes aglow.

Wally has a thought. "Wait a second." He dashes back to the nearest café, raiding their kitchen for a few supplies and swinging by a nearby bakery on his way back to the Park, all in just a few seconds. "We better get some disinfectant in there. A staff infection in his Kidneys is just as likely to kill him as bleeding out." He dumps salt from the shaker on the café table into an unopened water bottle and adds some vinegar he found in the back room. A few milliseconds of super-speed shaking later, and he pours some of his homemade antiseptic into the wound.

"Good thinking, KF." Nightwing says absentmindedly as he watches Conner put a Shield on his arm. The Kryptonian shudders as he reigns in the drug-induced rage that comes with the suppression of his human DNA. "Ready Superboy? You're going to have to do this as soon as I move my hands…" With one last breath, the clone nods.

And then everything moves quickly. Dick moves his hands, and Conner's eyes glow red. Those beams are hot enough to melt steel; it only takes half a moment burn soft flash to itself. Conner slams his eyes shut and tears the Shield from his arm. He stumbles back, and Wally rushes forward again. He dabs a little of the honey he grabbed form the bakery onto the wound (natural antiseptic properties, alleviates swelling, promotes healing, he mentally recites) and then backs off to let Nightwing wrap it with a compress. That's all they can do for the moment.

Three of them are useless. Two of them are unconscious. One of them is dying.

Wally wants to scream in frustration (How dare you take my family from me! I just got them back!), but he doesn't know who to blame. Conner seems to have compromised and screams out wordless anger. Even Dick's 'traught' mask is slipping under the emotional strain they've faced today.

They're saved by a voice in Wally's head.

"Flash, this is Watchtower. Zeta platforms are clear. Prepare for emergency teleportation. We have medics standing by."

"Do it!"

And suddenly they're in the Watchtower. His friends are stepping back, letting the medical personnel get to their injured teammates.

"Not me, him!" Wally insists when one of the medics tries to check him out. He absently notices dozens of worse-for-wear heroes loitering in the bay, watching the drama play out. Honestly, you think they'd be used to him showing up with bloodstained strangers by this point. It's becoming a regular occurrence.

By the time he finally convinces the medic that Yes, I'm fine, and No, this isn't my blood, and He'stheonedyinghelphimnowdammit! he notices that Dick is embracing Artemis, holding her tight as she comes back to awareness, dragging M'gann with her. Conner catches the telepath as she struggles to come back to herself. Kaldur groans as he is allowed to return awareness to his body, but one of the many things the medics have shot into his arms should have started numbing the pain by now.

Wally doesn't realize that he's been following the stretcher – that they had even left the main bay at all – until a nurse bars them from following the procession into the operating room.

"But he needs us!" M'gann insists, looking like she's willing to fight her way in. "Can't you feel it?"

"It's okay Megs." Conner wraps his arms around her from behind. "We're here for him. We're not going anywhere. Just tell us what we need to do."

"No! We all just got back together! We can't leave him now." She murmurs, looking heartbroken. "We have to go in there with him; I don't know what he'll do if he's left in his mind alone." They don't need to be told twice. Conner turns and sits against the wall of the operating room, pulling M'gann down with him. Wally takes this as an invitation to lay down and put his head in her lap; she forces a smile and lets him even as she leans back against Conner's chest. Artemis takes the hint and sits down next to her earth-sister. She takes the girl's hand in her own, and throws her legs over her boyfriend's torso with a wry grin. Dick actually chuckles at that, lifting Wally's legs to slide under them and lean against Artemis.

Wally's suddenly reminded of their teenage years, when they were still trying to get along as a team. How they could all pile onto a couch for a movie and just enjoy each other's company. The feeling would be familiar, comforting, if it weren't for the obvious absence of their leader. That gaping hole is a reminder of what's at stake here.

They close their eyes, and M'gann pulls them in.

XxXxX

"Where are we?"

The world M'gann has pulled them into is like nothing Wally has ever seen. It looks like it's been patched together by an imaginative 5-year old. Colorful cloth is draped across the sky, its brightness dripping into huge singing flowers that could be seen scattered across the landscape. There seems to be no real organization; gothic skyscrapers stand next to giant trees stand next to the Eiffel Tower. Some areas are dark, some bright. In some areas it's raining, others snowing. Mount Justice can be seen in the distance; standing as proudly as the day they first moved in, all those years ago. Two Watchtowers orbit circus-tent sky.

To Wally, it's something like being in a dream; nothing makes any sort of sense, and yet it all feels right.

"This is our shared mindscape."

Dick wanders over to one of the buildings that are near them and an oven door appears in the side of the wall. He pulls it open, and the smell of burnt cookies wafts out. "We are some strange people."

"First off, I thought we'd established that. Secondly, this place is totally cool!" Wally examines a table that sits in the middle of the street in front of them. Chemicals are laid out in various beakers around a sheaf of scattered papers with mad scribbling and doodles of lightning bolts on them.

"To be fair, it's very unusual to bring six separate minds together like this, and it's never been done with non-Martians. Our minds are a little confused as to how to integrate, but they're figuring it out. It's kind of the way your mind makes a conscious story out of a dream even though there's no real story line when you're actually asleep,"

"Why didn't this happen when you and I were fixing Kaldur's mind?" Artemis asks as she marvels at the world around her. "That time, we were in Atlantis; neither of our minds seemed to have an influence on the landscape."

"That's because we were trying to fix Kaldur's mind. Right now, he needs to feel us, so I sort of... pulled us in a different way. I really wasn't sure it could be done."

"That still doesn't explain why there isn't more... water."

M'gann shrugs. "Sometimes, people's mindscapes change."

Conner has joined Dick in poking at the oven. This time when they open it, unburnt cookies pour out and they're force to jump back from the hot, gooey goodness. Conner stares at the desserts for a moment, before turning back to the rest of his team. "So what do we do now?"

"We have to find Kaldur's mental representation of himself."

"Okay... So search patterns, or...?"

M'gann shakes her head. "No. He'll be closest to the 'center' of his own mindscape. You can see how our minds are integrated, but each still have significant features – the Watchtowers, the Eiffel Tower, the Wayne Enterprises building…We can probably narrow down where that is if we figure out what stuff belongs to our own mindscapes."

"Oh, I get it, Megs. Like, this science stuff is probably me, the random kitchen stuff everywhere is probably you…"

Conner coughs into his hand, a habit he must have picked up from someone because Kryptonians don't get sick. "Actually, uh, I think the kitchen stuff is mine." They all give him questioning looks. "A lot of my best memories are in kitchens, okay? At the cave, at Ma and Pa's house, at the manor... The moon up there with the Watchtowers is probably mine too."

"That makes sense." M'gann agrees. "I think those trees over there are mine- they look like some that grow on mars. The animals under them are sort of like the ibexes from Marie's animal reserve too."

"Well the big top and the Gotham architecture are both definitely mine." Dick says confidently.

"Well, that Watchtower is from this universe. It's where we - me and the other founders, I mean - became close. So it and all this stuff from when I made recreated the Flash experiment must be me."

"I guess the Eiffel tower's me then? And maybe Mount Justice? That's where I first met my family after all..."

"Aw, Arty. You going all sentimental on us?"

"Can it, Boy Wonder, or I'm going to make sure you are not feeling the aster." Artemis shakes a threatening fist at Dick.

"Ah! Wally! Save me from your scary girlfriend." He darts behind his best friend's back, only for Wally to jump out of the way.

"Dude! I am not touching that fight with a ten-foot, chromium-coated pole!"

"Well I think it's sweet." M'gann moves to hug her earth-sister. "I feel the same way."

"Mt. Justice could be any of us, really." Conner murmurs quietly. No one speaks, but there's an air of silent agreement between the five.

"All right then. That's where we'll head first."

XxXxX

They make their way steadily towards the mountain in the distance. Wally's thrilled to realize all of their powers still work.

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Haven't you ever watched movies where people have to go into dream worlds? Their powers never work there!"

"If you say so."

Wally runs, of course, carrying Artemis with him as they dodge between the trees and buildings. Dick swings and M'gann flies above them. Conner leaps, as he always has, but he's learned enough control that Wally isn't tripped up by sudden earth shakes when he lands. They're almost to the mountain, and have thus far encountered no real resistance. Wally doesn't like it.

"I feel like this is too easy. Shouldn't we, like, have to fight off Kaldur's seven evil exes or something?"

"You think Kaldur has seven exes?" Conner asks as he lands

M'gann adds, "And that he'd ever date someone that's evil?"

"You're right." Wally concedes. "He'd just pretend to go evil himself."

Dick chuckles from above, "Touché."

"Guys, can we just agree not to jinx it?" Artemis grumbles in Wally's arms. He kisses her cheek in a show of support. The archer been unhappy since they ran by a Wonderland garden earlier; Artemis' recognition of the red-painted flowers prompted her mind to shift her outfit to an Alice-esque dress. On top of that, the Queen of Hearts, wearing a hockey mask, started to order her execution before the tyrant was attacked by an ephemeral Cheshire Cat. Artemis refused to let anyone comment on the incident or its implications, instead trying to focus on imagining her costume back on.

"She's right, guys. Although I don't think we're going to have to worry about physical threats. This is a time of emotional upheaval for all of us, and our minds are going to be reflecting that. For better or for worse," M'gann explains as they approach the mountain's base.

The 'secret' entrance opens smoothly, allowing them to walk inside, just like old times. On their way up to the main section of the cave, they pass the Bioship, the Batmobile, the Supercycle, and a red van with lightning bolts on its side that Wally insists they hurry past with no explanation. When they finally step into their old living room – the site of so many movies, board games, and pillow fights back in the day – they stop, silent.

M'gann moves first, drawn to the kitchen; unquestionably her domain in this mountain, no matter the changes to the team roster. She can't help but examine the spread of holiday dishes on display. "No matter what was going on, everyone always made it for at least part of Thanksgiving dinner every year. I loved that. Everyone was here together, and every year we tried new dishes because there were always new team members with new cultures to include."

"Definitely the best day of the year, in my book." Wally agrees. "Not to mention the best food I've ever had, Megalicious. Uh, no offense Babe." Artemis rolls her eyes at her Boyfriend's placations; she'll be the first to admit M'gann rules in the gastronomic arena.

"I used to spend hours in here, mesmerized by static on the T.V." Conner says fondly. "It was one of the first things that helped me focus my super-senses. Plus then I was in the way of everything, and you guys always had to tease me when you came through. I was always really happy to have you guys acknowledge me."

Wally zips off to the side, into their training room. "Remember when Dick hacked the training equipment to act like a video game? Giving us points for combos and stuff? Black Canary was so impressed she didn't even make us change it back."

They laugh, and Dick gestures to the ceiling. "Remember how we used to come up with elaborate plots to distract Red Tornado so we could sneak into his rooms? We always left sticky notes on his stuff with memes."

"I loved doing that!" Wally agrees exuberantly. "He was always so confused! Especially that time we left him all those Mother's day cards."

Artemis joins in the fun now. "I remember that! It was like, six months after we got him back from the Reds! We forced him to sit down and humor us with breakfast in bed, and with not having to do chores or respond to the League comm all day!"

"Batman was so ticked when he found out why we dropped off the radar all day!"

"Yeah, but Kaldur stayed cool as a cucumber and convinced him to let us all off without punishment." The team sobers at the reminder of their wounded comrade. They had been so overjoyed to return to their shared home that they had forgotten why they were here in the first place.

"I'll look downstairs." Wally immediately offers, and zips down to check out the largest, most confusing level of the cave.

"I'll get the personal rooms."

"I'll check out the training rooms."

They quickly peel of in different directions, determined to search every nook and cranny of the cave for their injured friend. They instinctively return to the main room as their searches turn up empty.

"Nothing downstairs, and nothing in the grotto."

"What do you mean?" Artemis asks as Wally comes back upstairs.

"I mean there aren't any memorials down there. Just, like, rocks and stuff."

"That jives with what I found in Kaldur's room." Nightwing tosses something onto the counter as he strides in. It's a photo of the team, but not one that they ever took in real life. In it are 32 smiling faces; everyone who had ever been a part of the team, together, happy and alive, as they never had been in real life. Kaldur is in the center of it, the five of them circled around him.

"This isn't good, is it?"

M'gann bites her lip worriedly. "No, it's not."

"Where else is there to look?" Conner puts his hand on M'gann's in a show of comfort.

"The Watchtower."

"Think the Zeta's will get us there? Or is that one of the things that won't work in our minds?" Artemis pokes at the computer that controls the Zeta platforms.

"It should, as long as the mindscape connects it to the right Watchtower." M'gann confirms.

"That's easy," Wally says, "there's tech over there that matches this world's teleportation platforms. I'd bet good food that they connect to my Watchtower, and that the zeta tubes connect to ours."

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's do this." Nightwing squares his shoulders, and steps into the transporter.

Nobody hesitates to follow suit.

XxXxX

They find Kaldur in the main atrium, sitting on a stone bench in the center of the hero's memorial. He is focused on the hologram in front of him and doesn't react as the team approaches.

As they get closer, Wally notices his costume has shifted; he's dressed as Kid Flash again. A glance at Artemis shows that the dress is finally gone too; she's back in her old costume from their time on the team. Artemis' memorial hologram stands proudly next to his own. M'gann, Dick and Conner step back respectfully as they step up onto their respective plates, pulled by some invisible instinct that this is what they're supposed to do.

Immediately, the memorial flickers. Artemis and Wally's hologram's shut off, leaving only their selves on display. Two of the other monuments do the same, leaving solid-looking versions of themselves in place of the holograms.

Kaldur doesn't move.

Artemis looks back at the team, then at Wally. They all shrug, so she decides to take the initiative. She steps off of the platform, and walks over to Kaldur. When Wally follows suit, the other monuments flicker off; even their platforms disappear. Only Tula's remains.

While the others maintain their distance for the moment, Artemis plops down next to their leader and rests her head on his shoulder. Finally, Kaldur moves, slipping his arm around her back.

"Everyone was so happy when we got to deactivate your memorial," He starts. "I mean, you were never truly deceased, but so few people knew that... It was still like you came back to life for them. "If only we had not had to add Wally so soon after..."

"Yeah," She agrees hoarsely, choked up by the memory of that loss…

"It was like losing Jason all over again. Another brother, dead at the hands of a villain that should have long since been taken down."

Artemis reaches for his hand and squeezes it. It hurts, thinking about Wally, about Jason. Wally's death was like having her heart gouged out, but few seem to realize how much Jason's death hurt her too.

She had always loved the street-smart, back-talking little twerp. She and Jason had often ganged up against Dick and Wally, turning their prank battles into wars of attrition. When he fell at the Joker's hands, she had lost a brother as much as Dick had. Luckily, M'gann was there for her, even as Wally was there for Dick and Clark was there for Bruce. They pulled through okay, if a little more scarred then before. Artemis wonders if anyone ever helped Kaldur through it; she knows he's always blamed himself for the team's failures.

"Then Booster Gold shows up with Blue Beetle, babbling about explosions and time travel and coming back a few years later than they meant to... Well. Jaime finally got the mentors he was hoping for, but with Blue's hologram gone, the memorial became a testament to my failures. Three dead young heroes, all on my watch. My fault."

"But Jason came back." She reminds him urgently. "Oracle had to call us back when B figured out who Red Hood was. Remember? She had me and Dick sit on them while you mediated their argument. Got them to stop being complete morons." Kaldur makes a humming noise at Artemis's attempt to cheer him up.

"...Yes," Kaldur finally allows, but he doesn't even try to match her weak smile. In fact, he doesn't even look at her, he's so focused on the hologram in front of him. "Then it was just Wally and Tula left, and sometimes... sometimes it felt like it was just us crying for our dead lovers, like two people who couldn't move on."

She frowns at the accusation, ready to counter it, but he cuts her off. "Please don't misunderstand. I hate myself for that feeling. You were, of course, justified in mourning Wally. You two were actually together, and you kept having to watch alternate versions of him die, not letting yourself heal, and he turned out to be alive, so it's a good thing that you're still so in love with him."

Artemis doesn't miss the implications of that statement. She sits up and cups his cheek with her free hand, forcing him to look at her instead of at Tula's memorial. His eyes are dull and watery. "Kaldur, it's okay to miss her. She was your first friend, your first love! When she died, you lost all of that, as well as your best friend."

"Roy is my best friend." Kaldur corrects her automatically.

"Well Roy was a bit busy being a complete ass and looking for other Roy to support you through it. Garth, at least, should have understood, should have been there for you."

"Garth loved her! He's supposed to grieve for her."

"But you're not?" Kaldur remains silent.

"... I don't deserve to. I'm a terrible, selfish person."

"Kaldur! How can you say that? You're the kindest, most giving person I know! Including M'gann!"

Kaldur turns from her, and says, in a scathing, cool tone, "If I am such a good person, then why, when I look at these deactivated memorials, do I feel such jealousy inside myself?"

She's stunned at the admission. She doesn't know how to reply to that. He swallows, turning back to her.

"Please," he begs with his eyes and body language, "let me explain. I am so, so thankful the others have returned. Our family is whole again." He gestures to where the others still stand a respectful distance away, watching the drama unfold. "I couldn't be happier that Wally's alive, that we have him back... I just... I wish Tula... That she could come back like everyone else." Tears start to roll down his cheeks, and Artemis pulls him into a tight hug. "It's not fair." With that last whispered admission, the floodgates open. He is sobbing in earnest now. Wally zips up to them and sits down on their other side, rubbing circles on the Atlantean's back. The others follow suit. M'gann drops to her knees in front of Kaldur, grasping the hand Artemis isn't holding and leaning against his leg. Conner and Dick stand behind him, hands a comforting presence on his shoulders.

For the first time in years, they are all together, and slowly, that starts to sink in. It takes more than a few murmured, it's okay's and we're here for you's for Kaldur's tears slow, but eventually they're able to enjoy the moment, the fact that they're alive together.

"You know, for the best person in this mindscape, you sure are being hard on yourself." The others nod in agreement at Conner's declaration. "I mean, you're the one that taught me I could be more than a weapon."

"And that trusted me, and made me a spot in this family." Artemis follows his lead.

M'gann adds, "And who worked out earth culture with me."

"And who got Kid Mouth to chew with his mouth closed." Dick smirks at Wally's mock glare.

"And who got our little Robin to admit that he's neither perfect nor as cool as he thinks he is."

"Hey!" Dick protests in 'outrage.'

"Stop it, you two. Your bickering is detrimental to the team's success." Kaldur chides them, but he's smiling. Their antics are familiar, and loving, and more than enough to cheer him up.

M'gann pops up from the ground and pulls them all into a hug. "I love you guys."

"Us too, M'gann. Us too." Kaldur replies.

XxXxX

A while later, they're pulled from their bonding by an earth quake.

"M'gann, what's happening?" Kaldur remains calm even as it the watchtower begins flickering in an out of existence around them."

"Your surgery must be over! They're trying to wake you up!"

"Surgery?"

"You don't remember?"

"You took a laser blast to the gut for Wally."

"Yeah, about that, can I call a vote that we stop pulling these self-sacrificial stunts for each other? It's really stressful for everyone else." The others ignore Wally's half-joke.

"They've been operating on you this whole time."

"I am... glad I wasn't aware of this. So what do we do?"

"I'm letting you go. Just follow my lead. We'll see you on the other side, okay?"

The world continues fading around them as M'gann steps away from the circle, and closes her eyes. The others do the same. When she opens them again, she's leaning against the wall of a very different watchtower. Wonder Woman is kneeling in front of them, shaking Wally awake.

"Hmmfeldible," Wally moans as he open his eyes like the rest of them.

"I'm sorry to wake you guys, but the surgeons just finished with your friend. They say he's going to be fine."

The five younger heroes share a glance amongst themselves.

"Yeah, we know."

XxXxX

AN: Aren't you guys so grateful for that relaxing chapter in Central now that I've spent a few chapters whacking you upside the feels?