Miss Martian stared ahead, concentrating on making the bioship speed through the skies as quickly as she possibly could. She had already called ahead and alerted Black Canary to have the med-bay prepared upon their arrival.

Kid Flash sat nearby his two injured teammates. Artemis had coughed up some blood a few minutes prior, having scared both him and Miss Martian quite a bit. Robin's breathing had also become more labored and he had begun to wheeze. Kid Flash had activated some instant ice packs they had in a first-aid kit and put them under the acrobat's armpits* to try to help alleviate his fever. He'd put a damp cloth on his forehead and removed his gloves and boots as well. He had sat watching over them since. There was little else that could be done until they were back at Mount Justice.

"How much longer?" the speedster asked in a soft voice. He didn't want to make Miss Martian feel any more pressure than she already did, but the worry was eating away at him.

"No longer than ten minutes," she replied just as softly. It was evident that constant worry was gnawing at her as well, but she continued to keep her focus on getting them back.

Kid Flash returned his attention to Robin and Artemis, silently hoping that they'd make it back before the two got any worse.

Meanwhile…

Batman threw a punch and hit Joker squarely on the jaw, sending him flying back a few feet. It seemed the crazed clown was enjoying the punishment, however, if his cackles that filled the room were any indication.

"You should have heard him beg me to not hurt the girl, Batsy! The fear in his voice, music to my ears! Poor boy even offered himself to me, ME, in exchange! You must be so proud!" More cackles erupted from the maniac.

Batman gritted his teeth and frowned deeply, refusing to let Joker's taunts get the better of him.

"Oh Batman! You really ought to try laughing more. It'd do you good!"

The Dark Knight was getting fed up with Joker's antics. He needed to finish this quickly and get back to check on Robin.

Joker apparently wasn't taking Batman's silence too well. "You're not much fun today. Come on now, I didn't hurt your little birdie that much!" More insane giggles bubbled up from his throat. "Lighten up and let's see a smile on that face!" With that, he charged at the caped crusader, switchblade at the ready.

Batman was ready, though. He swiftly threw a well-aimed batarang and knocked the blade cleanly from Joker's hand. The clown seemed surprised for a moment, but continued his dash, balling his fist for a punch instead.

Batman was faster. He ducked under the hit and delivered a harsh uppercut right into the Joker's diaphragm with his left fist. Not stopping there, he quickly swung his right fist around into the Joker's ribs, hearing a few satisfying cracks as he did so. The momentum of the hits sent Joker crashing into some boxes nearby on the side, coughing a bit. Batman didn't give him time to recover, running over and securing his hands and feet with handcuffs. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to do more to the psycho, but he also didn't want to waste any more time. He sent out a signal for the police to come out and pick up Joker and his henchman, whom he, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash had rounded up before entering earlier. He stood, impatiently waiting, not willing to risk allowing Joker to escape, and hoped the police wouldn't take their time getting there.

Twenty-five minutes had passed since M'gann and Wally arrived back at the mountain. They had rushed Artemis and Robin to the med-bay and then were shooed out to the waiting area by Black Canary and Red Tornado as they got to work.

Connor had joined them shortly after their return and they'd filled him in on the situation. He sat quietly next to M'gann, offering her silent support. The Martian girl was rarely this deflated and looked on the verge of tears. Who could blame her, though? Seeing their friends in that state would put anyone on edge.

Wally was having an especially hard time remaining calm. Every minute that passed with no news felt like hours to him. He was fidgeting nervously, but forced himself to keep quiet. Nothing he could say would really help anyway, and no one needed to be more upset than they already were.

"Do you think they'll be okay…?" he heard M'gann whisper, voice thick with emotion.

He didn't know what to think, to be honest. He couldn't remember ever seeing Robin that ill before. The guy rarely got sick as it was, much less to that extent. And he certainly had never seen Artemis badly injured. The red-head wasn't even sure what the extents of her injuries were at this point. But he couldn't tell M'gann any of that, although she was likely having similar thoughts of her own.

"They're both really tough." He said it to convince himself as much as her, and added a small smile that he hoped was at least a little reassuring.

She nodded mutely and then hung her head down slightly, once again lost in her own thoughts. Connor put a supportive hand on her left shoulder and she smiled gratefully up at him.

Recognized Batman zero two they all heard announced faintly and began staring expectantly towards the hallway.

It didn't take long before the Dark Knight appeared, eyeing the three young heroes as he walked up.

"Go get some rest. There's nothing to be done here," he told them, his voice lacking a bit of its usual sternness.

Wally immediately sprang to his feet. "What?! No! We-" Batman's glare made any further protest die in Wally's throat. The red-head scrunched his eyes closed and balled his fists at his sides, forcing his anger under control. He didn't want to be forbidden to see his friends at all and he knew Batman was likely to do just that if he continued to argue. He suddenly felt a heavy hand placed on his shoulder and looked up into the cowled eyes of Batman.

"I'll let you know when you can see them." Wally could only stare in mild shock and silently nod. He definitely wasn't used to Batman being this, well, kind. Batman removed his hand and swiftly entered the med-bay.

With that, Wally, M'gann, and Connor reluctantly left the waiting area and headed for the living room, hoping they would be able to see their teammates sooner rather than later.

It was three hours later that Batman proved true to his word. By that time, however, Wally was the only one still up. Connor had convinced M'gann to go get some sleep thirty minutes ago, believing they probably wouldn't see Robin and Artemis until much later. And she had been clearly mentally and emotionally drained. He had gone to bed himself shortly after. Wally had taken the time to change into his civies, but knew there was no way he'd be able to sleep, even if he wanted to, so he had sat impatiently on the couch, trying to keep his mind occupied as time had passed too slowly by.

As he saw Batman walk up, he quickly stood and locked eyes with him. "Come with me," he stated, tone serious as ever, as he turned back towards the med-bay. Wally needed no further prompting and hurriedly followed after him.

"How are they?" the speedster asked, not being able to contain his worry any longer.

"They were both dehydrated. Artemis has a blunt injury to her liver, which was the cause of her internal bleeding. We were able to treat it without complication. She has a few other minor injuries and will need to take it easy for a while, but should recover fine. She is sedated for the time being to prevent any further irritation to her liver."

"And Robin?"

Batman was silent for a moment. "Robin was ill before this incident, it seems. With the extra strain on his body, it has developed into pneumonia." Wally's eyes widened a fraction and he felt his heart clench a little in fear. His mind began to race; pneumonia could become serious and Robin had certainly been exerting himself, making it harder for his body to fight off something like that…

"…started treatment…" Batman's continued explanation brought him out of his thoughts and he forced himself to swallow most of his panic. Panicking would do no good right now.

They finally reached the doors of the med-bay and stopped in front of them. Batman turned and fixed the red-head with a stern look, almost causing him to flinch. "Don't disturb them and don't stay long. Alert me if Robin wakes up. I won't be far."

"Y-Yeah, got it." Wally couldn't help the nervous stutter. Batman gave him one curt nod and then walked off.

As silently as he could manage, Wally entered the med-bay and quietly closed the door behind him. Robin and Artemis were on opposite sides of the room. He went up to Artemis first. Her hair had been taken out of its usual ponytail and laid freely about her. She had been changed into one of the gowns they kept in stock there. An IV line was hooked into her left forearm, pumping in fluids and likely pain medicine as well. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Wally glanced over her stats, satisfied that they were relatively okay. He knew she would be out for awhile due to the sedatives, so he made his way over to Robin.

The acrobat had also been changed into a gown, his mask still in place. An IV line was placed in his right forearm and he had an oxygen mask placed over his mouth and nose. Wally noted that his complexion had thankfully improved since the rescue. His breathing appeared steadier too. Wally looked over his stats, noticing that Robin's heart rate was a bit elevated, but that was to be expected with a fever. His face still held a slight flush, but it was much better than it had been earlier.

Wally breathed a heavy sigh of relief. They were both okay. Of course they had a lot of recovering to do, but at least now, after seeing them, he could be sure that they would recover.

The speedster was about to turn to leave when the lenses of Robin's mask suddenly widened and he sat up abruptly, ripping off the oxygen mask in the process. The movement was apparently too quick for his body to handle, however, as in the next moment he was falling forward, his eyes scrunched closed and left hand to his forehead.

Wally was by his side in an instant, steadying him. "Whoa dude, take it easy. You shouldn't be moving like that yet."

"W-Wally? Where's…Artemis?" His voice sounded tired and a bit raspy still. He kept the hand pressed to his head and eyes closed, not yet able to focus.

"She's here in the med-bay too. We got back to the mountain safe and Batman took care of Joker."

Robin nodded in understanding, slowly opening his eyes and looking across the room to where the archer laid. "How is she…?" he asked, voice still groggy.

"Batman said she has an injury to her liver, but she'll be fine. They sedated her for now. He was more worried about you."

"…I'm fine," Robin answered, even though he clearly wasn't.

"Uh huh," Wally retorted, trying not let his tone be condescending. It was just like Robin to try to pretend everything was okay and hide how he was really feeling. "Either way, I think you should rest some more." He eased Robin back down onto the pillow with no resistance. "And put this back on. Your oxygen levels are starting to fall." He nodded as Wally gently replaced the oxygen mask. "Batman wanted me to tell him if you woke up." Robin was already drifting back to unconsciousness as he spoke those words, though.

With a small smile, Wally made his way back to the door and quietly exited. He felt literally lighter as most of the weight of worry left his body. Exhaustion began creeping in in its place, however. He headed off to go update Batman and decided he would then use his room at the mountain to get some rest himself.

Now that he knew he would actually be able to, sleep was sounding better and better.

A/N: Hey, look at me not taking half a year to update! It's about time haha. :) I had planned to have this up even earlier, but my sister got in a car wreck (she's fine other than some bruises, pain, and a broken wrist, thankfully). But at least I took less than a month. :))

*When my husband was in the hospital, he had frequent, bad fevers. The nurses taught me that the best places to put ice packs in order to lower a fever are under the armpits and in the groin area.

As always, I love to hear from you all. Your reviews have meant so much to me throughout all of this! I think just one more chapter and this story will finally come to a close. Until then. :-)