Riza Hawkeye has been a witness to many strange things in her life.

Many of them were traumatizing. But, what she had witnessed a few moments ago was just downright strange.

Before the array had been broken (courtesy of the Major and her Colonel, no doubt), little streamlets of water had been floating through the air, all depositing to the channel of water below. She had looked around then, attempting to find maybe another alchemist responsible for such a feat, but the only people around her were just regular soldiers. Granted, she could tell that the water traveling through the air had been siphoned away from the offending glaciers they were trying to destroy, making them smaller. Amazingly, the glaciers themselves had not begun to reconstruct like how they had before with their efforts. Despite the mystery of it all, she was grateful that the action had been weakening the structures all the same.

Hawkeye snapped out of her reverie, as she noticed the Colonel and Major approaching. Her hand automatically coming to a salute, she greeted them.

"Colonel. Major. I'm glad to see everything went well."

The Colonel smiled. "So are we. I trust everything was well-maintained on your end, Lieutenant."

"Of course, sir. Although, we still haven't been able to get eyes on McDougal."


"What were you thinking, young man? You could have been killed!"

Kaldur rubbed his bandaged arm absentmindedly as he watched the man gesture wildly in front of him. Maes was - unsurprisingly - not happy when he came home and found out that he had taken off in the midst of everything. He noted Gracia standing off towards the back of the room, regarding him with a worried frown.

He supposed he could have given his actions a little more thought before actually doing them. But, he wouldn't have felt at ease simply just standing off to the side while everything continued to be overrun by chaos.

It was in his nature to act, not run or wait.

Maes sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "Don't get me wrong, it was very noble of you to do what you did. But, how exactly were you going to lend your help against alchemically charged glaciers? You're not an alchemist and you're not military. You would have gotten escorted away along with the other civilians."

Kaldur frowned. That is true... "I suppose you are correct.. I apologize for the recklessness of my actions. However, I refuse to stand to the side while others are being hurt. That is something I cannot do."

It was Maes' turn to frown. "Kaldur, I get it, believe me that I do. And I'm sure you're more than capable of defending yourself, considering your background. But, this isn't what you're used to. You aren't used to the dangers that we have here. You don't know what people are capable of. You can't run head-first into a situation thinking you're going to automatically come out on top."

Maes placed a hand on his shoulder. "You have to think about all the factors before you get yourself involved." From behind him, Gracia moved to stand to the other side of her husband, grasping Kaldur's hand as she did so. She smiled at him. "We care about you, Kaldur. We haven't known each other for long, but I can tell that you have a good heart. Both my Maes and Elicia have taken to you- please don't make us worry about you like that again. I'm not sure my poor heart could take any more worry."

Kaldur regarded the couple in front of him; the hand on his shoulder and the one grasping his own. This feeling... it felt..

Warm.

When was the last time that someone had expressed worry over his own well-being?

He was the leader of Young Justice. He was the one who made sure everyone else was okay. He was the one responsible for making sure the mission was a success. His Team and the mission- they were the most important objectives.

But where did that leave him?

Kaldur breathed deeply in to steady himself, refocusing on the pair in front of him. "I... will do my best. I apologize for making you all worry over me. Please, forgive me."

Maes smiled gently at him, patting him once more on the shoulder before letting him go. He wrapped an arm around his wife, pulling her close, as she let go of Kaldur's hand.

"Apology accepted. Just make sure to think a little bit more about yourself, before you try to rush in for others. Your life's worth just as much as anybody else's."

Kaldur nodded, head bowed down slightly, the warm feeling growing just a tad bit stronger.

Maes beamed as he let go of Gracia to stretch his arms above him. "With that resolved, what do you guys say we turn in for the night? It's getting pretty late."

Kaldur tilted his head up a fraction, eyebrows furrowing slightly in curiosity. "Where are the brothers? I thought they would have returned with you."

Maes huffed a tired sigh, his face shifting into an equally tired smile.

"Well, you see..."


Connor was well accustomed to the feeling of anger. He expected to feel angry and he was. But he was also sad. Disappointed. Worried.

A whole slurry of emotions that he didn't quite know how to handle. So, he defaulted to what he's done before and sought out the training room. Punching dummies wouldn't make everything right again, but at least it would help him expel some of his pent up energy.

Connor rubbed his neck with the cold towel he had slung around it and took a swig of his water bottle. He almost wished Batman would give them another mission, if only to distract him from the present situation. But, he understood why that hadn't happened yet. The Team wasn't anywhere near ready for another mission, not with their friend missing.

The teen frowned as he looked at the clock. It wouldn't be long until the others were up and about. He hadn't been able to get too much sleep himself, having found himself in the training room at around 3am. It had only been two days since Kaldur went missing and his mind kept replaying the events leading up to it. From Red Tornado's betrayal to his treatment of Kaldur after learning he had known of a potential mole, Connor felt the fire of shame and anger burn a little harsher inside him. He couldn't help but feel that if he had only listened a bit more before succumbing to his anger, maybe things would not have happened the way they did. After all, the only reason the rest of the team knew about it was because of his outburst after overhearing Kaldur's conversation with Batman.

Connor shook his head. There was no point in continuing to think about the "what if's." What they needed to do is find Kaldur. But they hadn't really gotten anywhere substantial on that front.

Robin had attempted to get in contact with a girl named Zatanna, who supposedly could do magic. But he wasn't very successful, given his very poor mood for the better part of the morning after. Connor had asked him about it, but only got a grumble about "overbearing, nosey fathers" from the smaller boy.

Connor stretched his sore muscles. Belatedly, he remembered Robin mentioning something about Batman coming to the Cave today. What exactly for, they weren't sure, just that the man was going to drop by. Trudging towards the exit of the training room, he couldn't help the feeling that he was not going to enjoy whatever Batman had in store for them.


Ha-zaa! I continue to liveee! Please excuse the slightly shorter chapter, the next one should be a bit more beefy.

I do apologize for the several months in between this update and the last. However, I am very happy to announce that I will *finally* be able to commit to a somewhat regular update schedule. My mental health, life shenanigans, and work schedule have all aligned (knock on wood) in a way that I feel okay to try my hand at putting a stricter deadline on myself. Plus, my creative block has now dissolved and I have a few other projects I want to start, but only after I get this one a little more stable.

You can expect an update on Sundays every two weeks :) I may be a little earlier sometimes, but that will just have to depend on the flow of that week and chapter.

As always, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited or followed! Even if you were just passing through, I appreciate each and every one of you!