Author's Note: Yeah I suck for not actually showing you the fight but don't worry we'll get to see some things from Diane's POV in this one and that's gonna get interesting. I own nothing.

8 Healing

M'ggan could feel Robin's pain as they entered the medical suite. A wave of anger at herself and the people who had done this to her drowned by so much guilt it knocked the air out of the Martian. Quiet sobs echoed out of the small en-suite bathroom. The sound broke all of their hearts. M'ggan carefully deposited Artemis in one of the other wheelchairs in the room before she floated over to the door and knocked quietly. The sobs paused and sniffling replaced it. The sounds of the shower tapered off and a horse but familiar voice spoke.

"I'm not coming out." Artemis wheeled forwards.

"You don't have to. But we're here for you Rob. No matter what."

Diane slid down the door so she was sitting on the floor wrapped in a bathrobe. She pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to hold in the sobs as she heard the door open again and a few more sets of feet and a set of wheels came into the room. She couldn't hold in the tears. They spilled down her face like waterfalls as she sat on the cold bathroom floor. The team remained quiet. Diane coughed and looked down at her hands. They were clean, still damp from the shower but she felt like she could still feel the blood on her hands, feel the blades on the ends of her hands digging into warm flesh, letting blood spill over everything around her. She sobbed a touch louder and snorted whipping her nose on the sleeve of her robe. Finally she had no more tears to cry. She could still hear the others in the room behind her. It didn't sound like they were going away anytime soon. In fact she heard someone, she guessed Wally, sit down on the other side of the door. It was silent for a few more minutes before he spoke in a whisper.

"You're not alone Dia. I cant imagine what you've been through these past two weeks. But you need to know you aren't alone. You don't have to talk about it until you're ready. Hell if you don't want to you don't have to talk about it at all. We all just wanna know you're still with us." Diane sniffled again, feeling more venerable than she had since her parents had died. She laid her head back against the door listening to her oldest friend just breathing. Then she spoke and all sound from the other room died immediately.

"Has it only been two weeks? It felt longer than that." There was a hitched breath from the other side of the door. But when the silence persisted Diane sighed.

"God I'm tired. Near constant physical and mental torture do tend to take it out of one." She was trying to lighten the mood but she could tell it wasn't working. Another tear slid down her cheek, or maybe it was water from her hair, she honestly couldn't tell anymore. There was a gap under the door, about two inches. Slowly, tentatively Wally's fingers slid under the gap. Diane hesitated but after a few minutes she intertwined their pinky fingers. She needed to feel like she wasn't alone right now but she couldn't face them not after what she'd done. She sniffled again and whipped her nose on the sleeve of her free hand. She shook as she remembered what she'd done. Watching the lights leave the eyes of those four men. Screaming inside her own mind, trapped and unable to do anything about it, all because of a chip implanted in her brainstem. She was sobbing again. Wally's finger tightened around hers, a grounding presence as she relived the hell she'd been through. She had no idea how long they sat like that but finally she spoke again.

"I watched them die Wally. I could see everything I was doing but I couldn't do anything about it. I was stuck in my own head, watching while I took four lives." Her words faltered to a halt as she dry sobbed leaning away from the door letting go of Wally's hand.

Wally swore under his breath. She needed him right now, they had sworn years ago that they would always be there for each other no matter what. But she'd locked the door, locked him out, quite literally. That wouldn't stop his Uncle Barry. Why was that all it took to stop him. His best friend needed him. He felt himself vibrate and could only think about how much she needed him right now as he stepped through the door into the bathroom. He knelt down and gently laid a hand on Diane's shoulder. She started and looked up at him with bloodshot baby blue eyes for a moment before she dove into his arms and sobbed into his shoulder. He didn't say anything, he just held her as she cried.

Several hours later Wally opened the bathroom door carefully as his arms were full of his sleeping best friend. He laid her down on one of the beds in the room and Batman nodded at him gratefully. The team slowly trickled out of the Batcave via the Zeta tubes with promises from Batman and Batgirl to keep them updated as soon as anything happened. The healing process was going to be a long one. Once all the teens save Batgirl had left the cave Batman pulled down his cowl. Alfred was in the medical suite with Diane. She was alive which was a miracle. He wheeled Barbra back into the medical suite and was unsurprised to find Diane sitting up holding on to a steaming mug of hot chocolate. She looked up as he entered the room.

"They aren't gonna stop. Not until they get Robin back." Batman nodded and knelt down in front of his daughter.

"I'm not gonna let them anywhere near you ever again." Diane shook her head.

"You're not understanding what I'm saying. They aren't going to stop until they get ROBIN back. Or until Robin is dead." The look in her eyes was dead serious as Bruce processed what she'd meant. His eyes went wide. Batgirl spoke from across the room.

"Are you sure Dia?" Diane stared down into her mug of hot chocolate.

"There's no other way."