[16th October 2010]

[Mount Justice, Happy Harbor, Rhode Island]

I was tired, it was late despite my technical time travel from midnight in Dublin to nine o'clock in Rhode Island, and this whole situation was also rather weird. Well, the part it that was M'gann of all people hugging me and sobbing uncontrollably into my chest was the really weird part, but the grave like silence that seemed to fill the room was also rather strange. Hells even the fact the Justice League hadn't tried to chuck me out yet despite a few members skulking around the place.

Then again considering the vague gist of what I'd been told happened I was rather glad they kept their stupid mouths shut for once. Because, in the name of all the divine realms above and hells below; they seemed to traumatised my (ex) teammates in the space of few hours by something really stupid sounding. So much so that green-skinned alien girl who disliked me was clinging to me like her life depended upon...after Connor of all people rang me to come here. Right the fuck now in fact had been the general tone at that. So for the moment I went with being baffled, hugged back the crying alien girl and going there 'there, there' ineffectually.

Robin at least seemed to be hovering off near Batman as they skulked and acted all silently stoic over in the far corner of the mountain. Honestly though...it was rather a terrifying thought that me and Batman right could be the people assigned to see to the emotionality stability of the Team, as Billy Batson was not emotionally mature enough for this, Red Tornado was a robot-man and...M'gann had basically sent her Uncle to bed to sleep off the psionic beating she'd given him. Something that amused me greatly of course some reason; even though it really shouldn't considering things and the aftermath before me.

"Ishh mui fault! Ever'one coulds...hic...died, ans ans Ishhh didn'ts means itss...hic...anhs so real, Ishh thoughts thatseveryoneswasdeads...waaaahhhhhhhhh..." was being babbled into my chest as I resisted wincing at the rather powerful 'hug' being applied alongside the tears. Part of mind queried if Martian's actually shed tears or if this was due to M'gann's polymorphed/shape-changed form, but that was the mage part and I was more utterly confused than anything as I patted her on the hair with one hand. Nobody moved to help me as I gave a quick a glance around. Yup, everybody off in their own little worlds of personal misery looks like...

'Holy shit what exactly did those imbeciles put my teammates through now?' I wondered as I sighed "Hey, hey, s'okay. Everyone's safe and sound here in the mountain, shhh, shhh, we'll get you all through this. Just let it all out"

Certain things were concerning of course, well other than the martian girl who was general nervous of me balling her eyes out like I was her mother and the others not helping any. Artemis either looked at me like I was a ghost made flesh again, or looking away and being uncomfortable or embarrassed about something. Aqualad far from taking charge was off looking lost, well sort of anyway as he sat looking a combination of introspective and stoic while Superboy paced back and forth growling alongside 'Wolf' the giant dire wolf. Another thing that concerned me slightly as this world should not have giant white direwolves and it hopefully did not hint I had portals somewhere no matter what the story I was being told about 'Wolf' was.

'Because I've trouble enough with Justice League: Idiot Edition right now after all' I groused internally at the stupid of all this. This was evidently supposed to have been a training session...and this seemed more like the fallout of a John Constantine based mission than any sort of training session I'd heard off or seen in any comics for heroes. I really didn't want to criticise right now...after all I didn't have all the facts...but this seemed very much like that lot were at fault here for all this. Training sessions were important, I had pushed for them after all, but they should not end like this with a room like this one was in terms of youngsters.

Manoeuvring M'gann so that we could sit down on the couch now that her sobbing fit had eased somewhat was a little awkward as she was like some big green skinned humanoid barnacle. I decided to try get somewhere in both comforting her and getting words out of the others present. Information made decision making easier after all, and I couldn't really help if I didn't know what was wrong beyond training exercise gone wrong "Hey now, let's sit down here and we can talk things through okay? Shhh...shhh, only if you want too, there we go..."

I resisted sighing. This was going to be a long unhappy night all in all...

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[17th October 2010]

[Annabella's Diner, Happy Harbour, Rhode Island]

Dinah Lance ran her hand through her hair, resting back in the seat of the restaurant's 'private' booth with a tired yawn "Bruce...it's not something that'll be solved overnight, or any amount of rallying around will solve either. They need space, and time, to get over it. Oh, and help too of course in helping them get through all of this as well"

The place was empty so far...then again it was six thirty in the morning and the doors had only opened a few moments ago so that really shouldn't her tired mind noted. Probably why Bruce had chosen the place before they both had the suit back up again and get back on standby, and it had passed the 'Batman hidden spy device check - clean' requirement as well, so hopefully the food was good to boot. Generally speaking, her brooding colleague had decent taste in food after all, and likely had a list of 'suitable' places like this all across the United States for these types of little meetings. He was paranoid and crazy prepared like that Dinah had found.

"What is your opinion of the effect on their group cohesion?"

She knew this was him being concerned, but he was just rather bad at it outside of the gruff, strict-but-fair, parental figure approach that he seemed to take with Robin. Something that often came off as 'I'm going to scare you straight' or 'Do what I tell you!' to others less familiar with him, or were defensive already in personality. Still all she could do was shake her head at it and keep her voice low "God Bruce, it's far too early to be asking anything like that. They're traumatised right now, and amongst a few of them trust in us isn't exactly high right now. Or even in each other after all this if we're not careful..."

Dinah changed the subject to one similar sounding but as if they were discussing a sister-in-law's family as the footsteps of the owner of the diner approached their table at the far end of the establishment and deposited their breakfasts and coffee's with a friendly smile. Sending the children on any 'after-school assignments' till they'd at least talked through what had happened (not even about their problems but what exactly happened as a starting block) was a terrible, terrible, idea. In her opinion there was a real danger of one, or more, of them walking away from the Team as stood. Something so obvious that even Ollie had been able to pick up on it when it was flung in his face.

The food here was nice after all she noted as she dug hungrily into the scrambled eggs. Across the table from her the great detective drummed his fingers on the table after taking a sip of his coffee "I was afraid of that as it matches what I've seen myself. The entire session was a mistake in retrospect, one that I failed to take so many things into account...like how they would interact as a group for one, or the fact of John's niece and her force of personality..."

Well that was one way to put it Dinah considered as she listened. Not that she could be a critic here either as she had supported the decision to go ahead with the session. If she'd known that this could be...but was pointless to dwell on that that neither she, nor any of the others, had thought to ask the question beforehand. They had learn from their mistake here, and in the past while in general, and to stop making them going forward as they tried to fix the damage caused.

"...It was why I raised no objection to the contacting of their friend and his arrival, though whether that was a good decision or not is hard to guess at even if his focus appears to be on supporting team cohesion despite events. Megan, in particular, concerns me; especially her uncle is set to be bed-ridden for a few days to recover his strength. Her reaction was surprising in the aftermath"

Dinah motioned with her fork in a 'maybe' gesture "His presence is both good and bad, as I expect he's still recovering from everything recently, and is a reminder of issues between us and the children. Connor is closer to him, and his family, than he is to his...father shall we say, and Blondie...whatever Ollie thinks, wanted him there even if she wouldn't say it. But your right to be worried about Megan, she's very upset about the whole thing and I think the sudden about turn on her friend is down to him not being involved, while she doesn't overly like him she listens to him...and truthfully..."

She sighed and shook her head "...he can be blunt as a bag of bricks with her, and that's what she wants right now. To be told it's not her fault, or more likely in her opinion, to be told it's her fault for everything and punished for it"

Dinah paused for a moment to think on before replying "Which I'd be surprised if he did after what I saw back there. Who he blames for what occurred is rather clear sadly"

Bruce nodded sipping at his coffee "Yes, it is rather clear he views us as some combination of muscle over brains adults combined with a necessary evil as I've heard him claim of certain things. It is a belief I'd rather not spread to the children obviously, but that requires us to stop living up to such expectations of his as a first step in truth. My own I can handle, as those of with our own personal involvement with the children. I'd like you to talk to them over the coming days, see what can be done to help them get through the..."

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