A/n: Just a short little no planning done hurt Robin fic I wrote at 10 pm last night ;)
"Ugh, finally it's over. I was starting to run out of snacks."
"And heaven forbid that to ever happen," Artemis said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the speedster who looked offended.
"Hey, not my fault I have a fast metabolism. And yes, 'heaven forbid' it to ever happen because if it had, I might not have been able to save your butt back there."
"My butt didn't need saving in the first place. I was fine."
The two keep bickering, their voices filling the silent night as the rest of the team catches their breath, too preoccupied to tell them to stop. They'd just faced Bane and some of his crew, the fight and the rush to get out of the now-collapsed building they'd been in exhausting them all and making everyone just want a hot shower and a good night's sleep.
Kid Flash and Artemis' voices are starting to get louder, and M'gann, Conner and Kaldur are starting to get tired of it. They wait for it to stop, or rather, for a certain someone to stop it, but Robin's voice is conspicuously silent.
Speaking of… where even was the young hero?
As if sensing her thoughts, Conner joins M'gann in looking around for their missing teammate. It wasn't unusual for him to disappear, but it was rare for him to do so right after a mission - especially without saying something, over the mind-link or otherwise.
By now, Kaldur has noticed what was wrong too, as have Kid and Artemis if their hushed and silenced banter is anything to go by.
"He's over there," Conner finally says, likely having used his enhanced vision to finally spot the boy.
"Robin, are you okay?" M'gann calls out, all eyes now on the boy who's still near the building that'd been reduced to rubble. They can only just make out the shake of his head as he answers, voice barely carrying on the wind.
"So not feeling the 'aster'…"
They see him take an unsteady step towards them before he falls, a blur of yellow passing them, followed by a gust of wind as Wally rushes to catch his friend.
"Rob!"
They all move towards the boy, not as fast as Kid but fast enough until soon they're all crowding the barely conscious boy.
"What's wrong?"
"Is that blood?"
"Oh my god."
"Robin, how badly are you injured?"
The boy in question winces, but tries to maintain his usual playful composure. "It's not that bad, just got shot a little in my side."
It's worse than he says it is, Conner supplies through a mind-link with M'gann, who quickly connects the rest of the team excluding Robin. I can hear his breathing and it's shallower than normal..
"We need to get you help, and fast," Kaldur says, ignoring the looks of worry the others are sharing as a result of Connor's words. "Can you walk?"
"I - maybe." Robin hides how much it's really costing him to stand, even with Kid Flash's help, but he still offers a small smile to the group. "Guess I can then."
His smile is returned slightly as Kaldur nods at him, before turning to the martian next to him. "M'gann can you - "
"Already summoning the bioship so we don't have to go far," she interrupts, holding her hand out and closing her eyes to do as she said.
Guys, I don't think he's gonna stay awake much longer, Conner says, eyes meeting Wally's.
"Hang in there Robin," Artemis says to him quietly, coming up on his other side, ready to help if needed.
The bioship lands in front of them, de-camouflaging as the ramp extends forward. Kaldur and Conner head in, closest to the ship as they are, but they wait near the door as Robin slowly makes his way to the ramp with Wally's help.
Conner, I think you might be right, Kid Flash starts to say over the link, glancing sideways at his friend with concern. He's leaning on me heavier than he should be.
Robin, oblivious to it all, is struggling to keep going; each step harder than the last as the blood loss and pain starts to get to him. Even if the others hadn't excluded him from the mind-link they're currently sharing, he's so out of it that he can't be sure he'd be able to pay attention anyway.
Suddenly, his legs give out and Kid Flash grunts at the sudden extra weight - even if Robin is much lighter than he should be anyway. Artemis immediately moves closer to help, the unconscious boy's head lolling toward her, but she's pushed gently out of the way by Conner who has walked back down the ramp. He takes Robin's arm from Kid Flash and in one smooth move, picks the small teen up and carries him up the ramp bridal-style.
"What?" He says, addressing the others' stares.
"Why couldn't you have done that to start with?!" Wally almost hits M'gann with his arms as he spreads them out in exasperation. Miss Martian for her part just pushes his arm gently out of the way so she can make her way into the ship, joining everyone else in waiting for the speedster to actually come onto the ship with them.
"You really think he'd have let me do it when he was awake?" Connor explains as Wally is dragged past him and into his seat by a certain blonde archer, no one able to deny the logic coming from the Kryptonian.
The ship doors close, and they set off, Connor taking his seat a few minutes after they're on their way, having had to place their unconscious teammate on the bed in the back before being able to sit down with the rest of them.
"Think he'll be okay?" M'gann finally voicing the question they all have.
"Robin is strong. I have no doubt that he will recover quickly and be better for it."
Wally smirks. "Yeah, putting the faith in the injured guy. Nothing at all to do with the fact that Batman will have our heads if he isn't."
"He wouldn't actually do anything though, right?"
The redhead becomes serious as he looks straight into Artemis' eyes. "Oh you have no idea what he'll do if he finds out something's happened to his sidekick. He may seem terrifying on a good day, but you haven't seen him when Robin's injured." He shudders. "You better hope you never have to see him like that, or he might just start seeming nice any other day."
By the time they reach Mount Justice, all of them wish a fast recovery for their downed teammate just that much harder.
None of them actually know how Batman found out about Robin being injured, but sure enough, a few minutes after they return and Black Canary - the only adult at the cave during that time - had started to take a look at the boy's wounds in the small medical bay, the zeta tube powers up.
"Recognised, Batman, 0-2," the computer announces, and the whole team tenses - more than they already had been just from concern for their friend.
The Dark Knight only spares them one glance though, asking just one question - "Where is he?" - before disappearing after Black Canary and Robin. They all glance at Wally, who shakes his head.
"We're not clear yet. Just wait until he's sure Rob will be okay, then we hide."
None of them relax the slightest bit as they all turn back to staring into space, all worried for their friend, and now a little for themselves too.
A/n: See, I would have not stopped here, but recently I've gotten quite fond of open endings (and the bat-family but that's not the point) so I left it right there. Up to interpretation how Batman reacted but in my mind I imagine that when Dick was good enough to be moved to the Manor, Batman is too focused on that and by the time he remembers to debrief the team, he's either had time for some sense to get into his brain or Dick woke up just long enough to tell him not to go too hard on the team. Either way, the team is mad at Wally because they think he exaggerated too much and they stressed for nothing whereas Wally is just very confused.
But if you like to imagine it going some other way then that's fair game too. *shrugs*
Stay safe, and see ya soon.
- CrowofArcadiaOaks