The most injured in this battle with the League were Oliver and Kara, by far. I would say I was third, but I really wasn't. I could still fight against the League, even with my wounds. There were some members of the Justice League who would take some time to recover, like J'onn and Green Lantern. And there were some who were eager to get back into the hunt for the League of Shadows, like Superman and the Flash, both of whom could heal from their wounds fairly fast.
Oliver didn't seem too devastated once he got all of his wounds treated and some pain killers in his system, but I could tell he was sad to have lost his arm. Roy had told me that Oliver was meaning to retire the Green Arrow soon, but I knew this wasn't the way he wanted to do it. Despite this, he put on a happy face.
Supergirl, however, was critical. According to Superman, who was the only person able to administer any kind of painkiller to her, she'd survive, but it would take a while. For now, she was in a coma. Any human would have permanent brain damage from her wounds, but proper use of yellow sun radiation would restore her kryptonian brain completely. Her mind would recover. The worst she'd end up having was lack of memory about the fight, which was probably better than remembering it.
After all, Talia Al-Ghul had the three of us completely outmatched. She'd made us look like amateurs. The only reason we'd been able to force her retreat was due to my use of magic on Oliver's last arrow.
As I said, the battle felt like a devastating loss, despite the fact that we had defeated and captured every League Assassin present except for Talia. The Justice League understood the threat now. The League of Shadows were not to be underestimated. Talia had weakened us, both in numbers and psychologically. In my eyes, that was a win for Ra's.
I was sitting in Oliver's room. He was resting but I wanted to apologize. I kept running through the fight in my head, trying to find anything we could've done better. Any weakness we could've exploited. Anything.
"Do you think we will really be able to beat them?" I finally asked quietly to Khonshu. His image was sitting across from me. Despite the fact he looked the same as me, he didn't share my wounds. He didn't have a giant cut going from his chin to his eyebrow. I knew this cut was going to scar, but there was nothing I could do about it.
"I am honestly not sure anymore." He told me. His tone was somber and reverent. He didn't turn towards me for this whole conversation. He was staring at Oliver the whole time. "Talia nearly killed all three of you, including Kara."
"We didn't hold back either." I said, "Oliver and I were going for killing blows the entire fight. Kara was even trying to kill Talia."
"Poor girl…" Khonshu muttered, "Danny, I have a serious question: do you really think you should involve our friends in this?"
'Our' friends? I thought, forgetting that Khonshu could hear my every thought.
"Yes, Daniel, our friends." He spat out spitefully, "I was you before all this, remember? And before you ask, yes, I am in love with Megan. Despite us being two different people now, I still have the same feelings towards these people as you."
I was silent. I felt bad for treating Khonshu so harshly. Even just before this conversation, I still thought of him as some kind of grim reaper archetype. It hadn't occurred to me until now that he was exactly like me, in both opinions and feelings.
"Hey kid…" I heard Oliver say as he woke up. I rushed to his side. Khonshu, despite the fact that he was invisible to Oliver, also ran over to the other side of the bed.
"Oliver, I am so sorry." I started to say.
"Don't be, kid." He interrupted, laughing roughly, "I haven't felt a high like this since before I was on that island. What did you guys give me, morphine? Eh, it doesn't matter."
"It's my fault. If I had just fought harder, been faster, you'd still have your arm."
"Don't beat yourself up, kid. You did everything perfect. She was just better, more prepared than we were. I know that Bats wasn't really your dad, but your old man would've been proud."
"Thanks Oliver, that means a lot; is anything you need?"
"I need you to stop calling me Oliver." He laughed, "It's Ollie from you for now on, got it? You definitely earned the right to call me that from now on. Apart from that, just kick that chick's ass for me the next time you see her."
"I will, Ollie." I said, smiling. "I promise."
He went back to sleep, so I went ahead and left him. I exited the room, which was one of the residential rooms at the Titan Tower. The infirmary level had run out of space, so we'd been forced to use some of the personal quarters as extra infirmary rooms. Not that any of the Titans cared. I'm sure most everyone felt guilty for not being there on time to be of more help. I know I did.
I made my way over to Meg's room, one of the few rooms that wasn't used as a hospital room. I knocked the door half-heartedly. I was exhausted and down-trodden. I needed to see Meg.
"Come in!" I heard her say. I entered.
"Hello Friend Daniel." Starfire said in a tone that was definitely less cheery than her normal tone. Even she was feeling it the same as the rest of us.
"Hey Kori." I said, half-smiling when I saw her. I turned to Meg, who was sitting on her bed. I dropped down next to her.
"That cut looks bad." She said, turning my head to get a good look at my face now that I was cleaned up.
"Surface level." I told her simply, "Just another scar. The one that really hurts is my back."
Meg lifted up my shirt back. The cut on my face had been patched up with butterfly bandages. The one on my thigh has been cauterized by Superman. The one on my back had needed to be stitched up. Most of the painkillers were being given to the other more severely injured members of the JLA. Barbara had done the stitches, which I didn't have any pain management for, besides a swig of whiskey. The large cut burned and stung, but I would be ok.
"How's Oliver?" Meg asked, putting my shirt down after looking at the sword slash.
"He's… in better spirits than the rest of us." I told the girls. "But I feel terrible. I keep trying to figure out if there's something I could've done differently."
"Friend Daniel, there are many things we could've done differently," Kori spoke up, "But we should not dwell on the mistakes. We did the best we could've with the information we had. And luckily, not a single one of our friends nor our allies perished."
"I guess that's true. I hadn't considered that." I responded, smiling slightly.
"What's the next move?" Megan asked, changing the subject.
"I wish I had an idea." I told them, shrugging, "I suppose we will head back to the mansion, look around those tunnels. Talia escaped somehow, and she was bleeding badly, so she will have left a trail to follow, at least for some distance."
"Do you think that blood loss got her?"
"No. If she didn't have some kind of escape plan, she wouldn't have fled. She would've continued to try and kill us."
"Friend Daniel," Kori started to ask, "this may not be an appropriate time to ask, but what will you wear now? The outfit you fought in was essentially destroyed."
"I am not sure, Kori." I answered, "I may just wear street clothes. A secret identity won't matter if the world is burned by the League."
"I may have the solution." Kori said, slyly, "But you and Friend Megan must promise not to think strangely of me."
Meg and I looked at each other, questioning Kori's intentions. We looked back at Kori.
"We promise." Meg told her. Kori smiled her big smile, something I had not seen since we got back earlier that night, and went digging through her dresser drawers.
She eventually pulled something out, and turned towards us, holding the outfit in front of her. Meg and I couldn't believe our eyes.
Kori held one of my old Dayhound outfits, the original white and light gray ones, not the dark gray one. She was beaming. I stood up slowly and took it from her, running my hands through the fabric. It was in pristine condition.
"I haven't seen one like this in… what is it? Seven years?" I said, surprised, "where did you get this, Kori?"
"I acquired it in your room after you were arrested!" She told us, smiling even wider.
"Kori, what are you even doing with this?" Meg asked, raising an eyebrow. Kori turned bright red.
"Well, you see, my friends…" she started to explain, clearly embarrassed, "I enjoy collecting memories. Part of this is collecting the costumes of my friends. I… enjoy to try them on and pretend to be said friend, at times."
"Do you… have everyone's outfits?" Meg hesitantly questioned Kori. She turned even more red, and just nodded quickly.
"Both present outfits and past ones." She said quickly, "some don't fit me as well, but I have stretched them. This one was too large for me though, so it should still fit you, friend Daniel. Please, try it on!"
"Yeah, for sure." I said, holding the outfit in front of me again. I couldn't believe it. "Meg, can you help me? It hurts to lift my arms above my head."
Meg stood up and helped me remove my shirt. She stood there for a moment, staring at my chest. Her finger traced the scars of my lifetime. The crowbar wound from Joker the night my mother died. The bite mark that Harley had given me, the sword wound from Ra's the night he had killed me, and many more.
"Everything ok?" I asked her, quietly. She looked me in the eyes and placed a hand on my cheek.
"Just getting my fill before you leave me again." She whispered, her eyes tearing up. I closed my eyes and kissed her forehead softly. We stood there for a while, wrapped in each other's arms.
"Ahem." Kori interrupted, finally, "If you are going to initiate intercourse, I would like to leave the room please!"
I laughed, Meg blushed, and Kori looked confused.
"Unfortunately, no, we aren't." Meg said, smiling, despite the fact her face was still pink, "We have a lot of work to do before we can do that."
With that said and done, Meg and Kori finished helping me get the costume on. I looked at myself in the mirror. It felt… good.
"You know," Khonshu's voice rang out in my brain, "I always liked that one best… Dayhound."
It was time to go to the mansion, to find Talia and Ra's…