With Broken Wings

One aspect of the Justice League that hadn't changed since the beginning were the meetings. Whether it was founding the league, getting updates on various situations, reviewing new applicants who wanted to join, or to discuss the newest threat to the planet, the table always seemed to remain the same. The chairs around it had no real order, but everyone always picked the same seats.

Today was no different. This time it was about the current attacks on the T.I.T.A.N. Initiative. The six founding members had convened to go over the current findings. They weren't…they weren't good.

"Titans North has been absolutely decimated," Green Lantern reported. "Everything points to the fact that they were lured into a trap. Whoever did it, they knew what they were doing. It was hidden, the likelihood of anyone going there on purpose low, and it bought them time."

"Time enough to reach Steel City and attack Titans East," Wonder Woman picked up. The Gateway City heroine was struggling to keep her voice under control.

"The perpetrator took identification from a member of Titans North," Martian Manhunter continued. "This gave them access to the Steel City Tower and the Titans there were ambushed and slain."

"Murdered," Hawkgirl growled, arms crossed. It felt as if the helmet she wore was hiding more of her anger instead of expressing it.

Superman watched each and every Leaguer speak, each piece of evidence more disturbing than the last. It was sickening to hear all this, but it needed to be spoken and listened to. These were children who were given a second chance after being dealt a bad hand in life. For them to learn how to use their powers and to do so in a way that made the world a better place, that they were willing to do that in spite of their horrible experiences, it was inspiring.

Somebody thought differently, though. Where did this bring the body count now?

From a screen, there was a list of the registered Titans. So many names on it were highlighted, an easy way to identify who had been slain. There were so many highlighted names, both the given and the code names. The Man of Steel was memorizing them, a small way to try and honor them.

What was this all for? Why was this happening? More importantly, how were they going to stop this?

This wasn't a matter for the Titans to handle on their own. This was a decidedly League affair now. The League was responsible for the Teen Titans, so what did this imply? Another failure under their belt at the least. At the most…

"...made their way south to Cancun. This attack was not kept secret. Very loud, very public."

"Why do it like that?" Hawkgirl demanded even though no answer was forthcoming. "Two teams are annihilated and done in secret. Why change up now?""

"As of now, only the Titans West have remained without any sign of attack," Martian Manhunter stated. "Based on our preliminary findings, the amount of time that separates each of the attacks is within a day to two days. Our perpetrator has timed their attacks to occur as close to one another as possible, and with only one Tower remaining, it is only a matter of time until the next attack occurs."

"How are we going to handle this?" Superman spoke, arms propped on the table and hands clasping one another. While he wasn't white knuckled yet, his grip was tight.

"I'll tell you how we're going to handle this. We're going to Jump and putting those kids on lockdown, no one in or out until we find the son of a bitch responsible," Lantern stated, his voice hard. "We're late to the party, people, and these kids are our responsibility. I didn't agree to start this thing with the intention of putting children in a meat grinder. There needs to be at least three League members in that Tower at all times, no exception. Call in everyone, even those on reserve."

"That will take time to do," Martian Manhunter commented. "However, without further intelligence available, that may be the only course of action to take."

It did not escape the Kryptonian that no one was saying that this response was overkill. They seemed to be in agreement, though. Keeping the remaining Titans safe was a high priority and until they could stop this threat, whoever or whatever it was, the overkill was within reason.

This wasn't just anyone in danger. All of them here were adults, they knew the risks, and they were all willing to make the sacrifices they needed in order to protect people. The Teen Titans were just starting their lives and had the rest of it to look forward to.

Again, that list…

Argent.

Bombshell.

Bushido.

Damage.

Herald.

Kilowatt.

Lightning.

Magenta.

Mirage.

Molecule.

Thunder.

The ones whose names were not highlighted. Missing. That, or they…they hadn't found those bodies yet. The thought was sickening. Where were they? Bunker? Bumblebee? Hotspot? Pantha? Ridge?

"Who can we call up who can get to Jump ASAP? Hell, who can we teleport now?" Flash. Flash was speaking. Those words brought the Man of Steel back into the briefing.

"I can talk to Steel. Someone who can help upgrade the Tower's security may be better stationed there," Superman offered.

Lantern gave a nod. "If he's available, I'd like to have Captain Atom as well. Big guns."

"If the Tower came under attack, he might be too limited in close quarters," Hawkgirl pointed out. "Hand-to-hand combat definitely. I'll see about getting Vixen in on this."

"Firestorm if we want nuclear powers without nuclear fallout?" Flash suggested.

"Failing that, Fire and Ice," Wonder Woman pointed out.

A plan was being worked out. However it felt like they were…oh yes. "Diana or J'onn, if you can, see about Batman. Getting an extra pair of eyes to try and follow the trail this threat left behind can give us another avenue to work with," Superman said.

There were no instant denials there. Three crime scenes being investigated by one of the smartest and deductive men in the world couldn't hurt. If there was anything missed, the Dark Knight would be able to find it.

He also tended to respond better if it was J'onn or Diana. Superman felt that the Gotham vigilante regarded him as a ticking time bomb at times, liable to blow up and plunge the world into chaos.

…he wasn't wrong about that.

A sharp beep alerted them that someone was trying to contact them. Specifically—

Flash raced over to the nearest monitor. "Guys, we're getting a call from Jump."

There was no fighting the feeling of dread Metropolis' Blue Angel felt in that moment.

His body felt sooooo sore. That meant he was alive, right? If you were dead, you didn't feel pain. Unless…unless that was a lie. Tired, exhausted, sore all over, he didn't think that he would be feeling this way unless he was still alive.

So yay?

What hit him? What took this much out of him? Probably doing something heroic. You'd be surprised, but heroics could really take a lot out of you. Alright, alright, time to figure out what was going on and the first step to doing that was by opening the eyes.

Bunker learned that too had been a horrible mistake.

Why was it so bright? His eyes, they were hurting. Something about eye dilation or whatever. Oh. Oh and great, now there was a headache too. Mucho grande. His day could not possibly be getting worse.

Except! Except he was hearing voices. Soft and low, but there all the same. What were they saying? Something about someone waking up? Wasn't that him? Probably was. Headache was making it hard to concentrate but if he was awake and no one was trying to kill him—

Instant flashes in his mind's eyes. Thunder shot point blank in the head. Lightning impaled on a sword. Mirage and her hands cut off. A man in orange and black leaping through a window while everything turned topsy-turvy.

Once more, Bunker forced his eyes open and worked through the pain. His team! Were they…wait, he remembered—Pantha! Sitting up and feeling a little dizzy as the blood in his body wasn't keeping up with how fast he was moving, the leader of Titans South searched for—and right there right next to him was his fellow masked teammate. Seconds passed agonizingly until he could make out the rising and falling of her chest. Dios mio, she was alive. And so was he. They had gotten out.

Could the same be said for the others?

Exhaustion swept over him, and the sore Bunker began to lean back. He would have collapsed back on…whatever he was laying on, but someone was at his side and supporting him. Good on whoever they were. As long as no sword or gun or anything that went boom was far away from him, he could accept human touch right now.

"See! I told you! Awake!"

"Yes, yes, now keep him steady! We don't want him cracking up his head! We'd be bad at this if we did!"

There must have been a fog around his mind because…we? As in not the royal we but the "there are more than one of us" we? And…there was a second pair of hands on his other side so unless someone had four arms then there had to be at least two other people here.

Please don't let there be orange and black. Please don't let there be orange and black.

Looking to his right, relief, the first good thing he felt this day, swept over him. Not a man in orange and black but a young looking kid in a white shirt and…that was an interesting hair color right there. Most people in these parts had dark hair, either black or a really dark brown. The kid next to him? That was a shock of red hair right there. Red. Not the same shade as…but it still stood out.

"Oh! Mr. Titan! Can you hear me?" the kid asked.

Bunker stared, eyes a little glazed, but he nodded slowly. Words, where were his words again? "You're…" Oh, there was one! Let's add a few more and make a sentence. "...helping. Right?"

"We brought you here!" That came from his left and the wielder of psionic bricks followed the sound until…wait. It was the same kid. Look back to the right. Kid was right there. Back to the left. Kid was there again. But there were four hands on him. Right, left, right, left. Oh, okay, now he got it. Two kids who looked the same from the loose white shirts to the shocks of red hair growing out of their heads. Twins? Identical? Might be. He had seen stranger things than twins so he really shouldn't be making a big deal out of it.

And now the we was making sense.

Other words were starting to make sense. "Brought? So…no saving, right?"

"We saw the whole thing!" the second twin exclaimed. That second twin was the one to his left. "We were going to the Tower, heard all about the Teen Titans and thought maybe we could join? Before we could get close, there was this huge explosion!"

The first twin made sounds that tried to mimic that of an explosion.

"And then the Tower fell over! Like this!" As the second twin continued with the tale, he held his hands together, one hand horizontal while the other was vertical. Then, the vertical hand began to move, shrinking from the ninety degree angle it formed with the horizontal hand and the degrees decreased until both hands were pressed together. The first twin helpfully made a noise to try and mimic a crash. "It was…very horrible to watch."

"And then there was one more explosion!" the first twin added. "It was quiet after that. My brother and I waited until we were sure the coast was clear, and then we tried to see what had happened inside. Next thing we know, a part of the building collapses and you and your friend come stumbling out. We took you here from there."

"And we have been watching over you. You looked very hurt!" the second twin picked up.

Bunker had been turning his head left to right and back to left, always keeping his eye on the twin that spoke. Okay. Okay. So that's what happened from the outside. It didn't really explain why what happened on the inside…happened. This was not how he thought his time with Titans South was going to go.

"Thanks. For helping?" He was feeling groggy right now. It was all a lot to take in. Also a lot to block out right now because the haunting images of Mirage's hands being sliced off… Shaking his head, "Who are you?"

The two twins shared a look with one another, smiling big. Then together, they both talked at the same time. "We never thought you'd ask! We are Mas y Menos! And we want to be Teen Titans!"

Bunker blinked. More and Less? Why would they call themselves that?

"So can we join?" the twin brothers asked, moving into his personal space. Two faces that close and with a headache that seemed to be getting a lot worse. Now was not a good time to be asking questions like…that.

A groan that came from nearby seemed to agree with him. "Will you keep your voices down?" a rough voice demanded, and recognition cleared some of the cobwebs for the psionic powered Titan. His attention shifted away from Mas y Menos—and which one was which—and found Pantha starting to sit up, a hand pressed to her face.

"You…you're alive!" Bunker exclaimed.

"And you won't be if you keep your voice so loud," Pantha grumbled, shaking her head. That did not seem to work and she leaned forward, pressing both of her hands to her head. "I feel as if I have been dragged through the gates of hell and forced to fight an endless gauntlet of demons." She paused. "Where are we?"

Another good question. A look around at their surroundings clued the Hispanic male in that they may not be in the nicer neighborhoods of Cancun. He could make out what appeared to be sheet metal. This room, if you could call it that, was small, smaller than his own room back in the Tower. Most of it was being used by both himself and Pantha laying on the floor. What looked like burlap covered a square hole in a wall, a window of some kind? The walls were patterned mismatched, as if put together with anything a person could grab that wouldn't fall apart if left alone.

Definitely…definitely one of the poor neighborhoods.

While a far cry from the amenities that the Tower offered, so far the two of them were still alive and the man who had attacked them hadn't come looking for them. At least, that was a best case scenario. The bastardo could be looking for them but hadn't found them yet thanks to Mas y Menos here.

Spontaneously, Bunker slapped both of his hands against his head. Right, they needed a plan of action. Something to do. Doing nothing would only make it easier to dwell on those they had lost. Speaking of…

"Did you two find anyone else? Anyone else who also left the Tower?" he asked, his voice a bit more commanding.

The twins shook their heads rapidly. "We went back and tried but there was no one," the first twin answered.

"Then these other people showed up along with the Policia, so we left," the second twin added.

"Other people?" If his mask—wait, was he still wearing his mask? Do a quick check and yeah, it was there—wasn't covering the upper part of his face, his eyebrow would have visibly raised.

"Flying! Superpowers!" the first twin said. "We…uh…"

"Um…" The second twin was fidgeting by pressing his index fingers together and looking away.

"...uh…felt a bit…we didn't know if they would think that we did it so we didn't get close to them!" And now the first twin broke.

"Yes! That's what we thought!" the second twin confirmed.

Flying people. Probably superheroes. Probably the Justice League itself. They were here. So…what came from that?

"Did they get him? Did they get the man who destroyed our Tower?" This was perhaps the most important question he had asked so far.

Two shaking heads. "We did not see this person either."

"He escaped," Pantha growled. "He defeats us and leaves. I cannot let this stand. He…he…" One of her hands groped her mask. "...I am dishonored. Defeated in combat. I have no—"

Didn't need to be a genius to see where this was going. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Bunker said rapidly, hands held up placatingly. "This was not an official fight! No rules! No challenge! This was an ambush! He was not there to fight but to kill! Surviving is a victory for us, not him! We're still alive which means we can rematch!"

Pantha said and did nothing, but it was easy to see she was listening to him. That mask was important to her. Too important. It was part of her identity. Hell, he wasn't sure if he had ever seen her face without it. Since liberation from H.I.V.E., she had embraced her roots with lucha libre and whenever she had her spars with Starfire, the Tamaranean would always refuse to remove it. An act of kindness that was taken as a challenge because one day his teammate would come out the winner. Pantha was sure of this.

"This fight is not over," he continued, his voice softer. "He made a mistake in not making sure he got us. We will beat him next time, and then you can remove his mask."

Those strong fingers slacken. They weren't in safe territory until she finally pulled her little digits away and without the mask clenched in them.

"I appreciate your logic, my friend," Pantha spoke quietly. This would be the closest he would get to a thank you right now. "A rematch. Avenge our comrades."

"Rebuild Titans South." A promise. Lightning, Thunder, and Mirage deserved no less. "Before we do that, we heal, regroup, plan our next move. We rise from the wreckage, together."

The first thing they needed, other than some rest, was to know the lay of the land now. It would be best to learn what the situation was. Unfortunately, both he and Pantha needed to be out of commission for the time being to do that which left one choice he did not want to make.

To the self-proclaimed Mas y Menos, "I know I'm asking you two a lot, but I would like it if you could find out what is going on out there. What's the city like? What's happening at the Tower. All of it? Right now there is not much I can do, otherwise I would do this myself."

The twins lit up; it was easy to tell by the looks on their faces. "Help the Teen Titans! We would very much be honored!"

"And if we do a good job, will you consider us joining your team?"

"Let's not wait anymore!" the first twin cried out, stretching out a hand. The second twin excitedly clasped his own hand with his twin.

As one, they cried out, "Mas y Menos, yes we can!"

Once more, Bunker was blinking his eyes as the two boys became white blurs, air pulling after them, and a sheet that acted as a door flapped back and forth in their wake. Just…gone in sixty…nanoseconds?

He was starting to get some Kid Flash vibes here.

"There is more to our hosts than meets the eye," Pantha remarked calmly.

Well said.

Several streets and a park were cordoned off. Various news outlets were doing their best to cover the breaking story. An attack on a rally was big news, and everyone from the media to law enforcement to City Hall itself was looking for answers.

So too was the Justice League.

Their arrival had caused a lot of commotion. Because they were the big guns, they didn't get the same kind of suspicion or there was a leash on the hostility from the cops. Reporters didn't change one bit and they were like sharks in the water wanting to know more.

Big Blue and Wondy could handle them. Those two were like a PR power team. This left the rest of them to check over the place. Flash himself was already getting into the headspace of a forensics technician. This meant being careful about everything, where you stepped, what you touched, you wanted to keep it as preserved as possible.

There had been fighting, that much was obvious. One street was really torn up, the fronts of various buildings were going to need a makeover and some streetlights carelessly uprooted and left wherever. There was a noticeable lack of cars, but from what the Scarlet Speedster understood, that was intentional. Cars took up space and city officials had wanted to cram as many people into one place as they could. Massive turnout too, they had successfully predicted that.

There were no clues to be found on the streetlights. To the buildings next. That was a bit ambitious because how could you tell who did what there? Could have been the bad guy or the Titans had a lot of misses. Lots of cracks and damage to the street too, but you could write that off. Same thing happened with him in Central and Keystone. He bet it was the same too in Metropolis and Gateway and Detroit and Midway and…

You know, having some kind of cleanup crew handling that was suddenly a good idea. Good thing A.R.G.U.S. had volunteered. Otherwise they'd need someone else, like a Department of Damage Control. Hmm…no, that just didn't roll off the tongue well.

Green light moved past him. GL was doing his own search and was scanning this part. Without needing to be told, Flash moved to another part of the scene. He didn't want to mess up any of GL's ring's scans; forensics could be a very sensitive thing.

His next stop was where the largest disturbance was. Walls of rock had broken out of the street and talking about all the potholes that definitely hadn't been there before. From a glance, he could tell it was hollow underneath this street, so some kind of sewer system was being used here, one with tunnels and not pipes as was typical nowadays.

How bad had the fighting gone on here? Obviously, the girl who could move earth had fought around here. The big rocks that were lying around too were also a dead giveaway from that. But there was more here since there were a lot more people milling around. Hawkgirl was in the midst of it too and the speedster figured he could relay his preliminary findings to her first. Maybe that would help her piece together more of the story.

His speed made it easy to slip around people and reach his fellow Leaguer's side. The Thanagarian was crouched so he had to look down and…

Oh. Oh no.

Sick to his stomach, but he had seen a lot of messed up stuff as a forensics analyst. That did not include anything he did as the Flash. There was one agreement among the police and that was that there was something wrong with finding the body of a kid. You never got used to that.

There was a body. Brown leotard, domino mask, visible blonde hair, and the front and back of her was stained red in blood. So too was the street she rested on. The mask she wore didn't have lens, so her blue eyes were still open and the pupils were dilated. Practically took up the entirety of the iris. The glazed look of death.

They had another death, another one to add to the growing list they were keeping. This…this couldn't be happening.

It wasn't often that true monsters came along. Flash was sure that they were dealing with one right now. This wasn't what the Rogues would do. Thawne definitely. Grodd. That one Ghoul guy maybe. They needed to find who was doing this and stop them, yesterday.

Beside him, Hawkgirl stood up. "Did you find anything else? Anything the locals haven't?"

It took him a moment to really let those words enter his head, and it took several more before he could find it in himself to answer. "Just a big fight. They…the Titans weren't holding back. The mess is making it hard to find any kind of clue."

"They may not know about Terra here. If they do, they will need confirmation. Someone should do that, someone who can break it easy to them." She was referring to him, wasn't she? "An up to date report on the kids' current conditions are also needed."

"Didn't we get some of the others there already?" Flash stated more than asked. From what he could recall, they were able to get Steel, Vixen, and Black Lightning over there ASAP. That would have to do for now.

"I don't think any of them have the same rapport as you do." Hawkgirl chose now to face him. "I heard about some injuries being reported. The extent remains to be seen. We got enough people here already."

"And you think I can't help?" He knew what he was doing. Hell, he got student loans in order to be able to learn how to.

"I know you can help. Right now, it's less about collecting evidence and more about putting it together to make sense. We have our spokesmen over there keeping the media hounds busy, Green Lantern is searching for anything that's not apparent to the naked eye, and J'onn and myself have the deductive skills to piece a story together. Finding and preserving evidence, I trust you with that. You work better with kids, though, and that's what we need right now."

You could easily send Big Blue or Wondy, but yeah, yeah, okay. Understood. He wasn't quiet about his Make-A-Wish volunteer work. He knew how to level with some teenagers, probably better than Hawkgirl here. And maybe…maybe he was finding himself being thrown off his game.

At work, he could keep it professional. There was always a degree of separation between himself and the victim. This wasn't the case here. He got regular updates about what was going on here in Jump thanks to Kid Flash. Still an excitable ball of energy but the poster boy for Speed Force enhanced ADHD had found his outlet.

It had taken so much work to get him this far. To get this Initiative set up. It had been the speedster who had to sell the others on it. It had worked, and now here they were.

"Okay," he told his fellow Leaguer. "Let me know if you find anything, alright?"

After getting an affirmative, Flash stepped away from the body that had once been a living, breathing Teen Titan and began to make his way towards the perimeter. He walked, in case you were wondering, because this was still a crime scene and running now might cause too much of a disturbance to it.

Only after he had ducked under that classic yellow police tape did he race off.

How long he kept his face in his hands, he did not know. Elbows planted on his upper legs helped with that, the slumped posture didn't hurt, and the couch cushion were the only ounce of comfort to be felt.

How the hell did you even…what did you call a day like this?

Routed was a nice way to put it. Devastated was closer to describing it. A slowly unfolding massacre that…

Maybe Red Robin was being too hard on himself right now, but Raven wasn't here to do that for him. No, no, she wasn't abducted this time, just recuperating in the med bay. Prognosis, apparently, was a lot of damaged ribs, broken, fractured, you name it, yet somehow she had managed to work through that kind of pain without giving away anything. If you were to go see her now, there was an aura or glow or whatever that encased her, which she claimed was her own way of speeding up the healing process. Demonic-based powers aside, he wasn't going to argue that one with her.

The empath wasn't alone in the med bay either. Wonder Girl was diagnosed with a concussion so no going to sleep for awhile until the danger was past. She was also not happy, but she had a pass this time. Nobody was happy right now. At least she wasn't being vocal about it, so an improvement in anger management there.

But she was a far cry from Kid Flash. Bart…his leg…he had never seen such damage to someone before. The blood, what might have been exposed bone—get that image out of your damn head! Enough with his discomfort, Kid Flash was experiencing that in spades. The leg was in a brace right now, bandaged up tightly, and plaster casting would be on its way, but…what could you do to heal an injury like that to the knee?

He couldn't get Bart's face out of his head. Devastated. The speedster wanted to be on both legs, but couldn't. Walking prohibited. He was possibly going insane from all the inertia he was having to do. Right now, the fastest teen alive could not run anymore. Most of what he did involved running. How was he going to recover from this?

Cyborg had mentioned calling in a favor from his father, get some researchers looking into developing a new kind of artificial knee, but there wasn't one right now that could take the punishment that superspeed had on the joint.

Speaking of, according to Cyborg he had been halfway to Star City before Starfire was able to catch up with him. The two had returned to Jump City, but by then it was already too late. The fighting was over. The Tower was their new destination once Red Robin got a hold of them. The Tamaranean had some injuries of her own, but some stitches and bandages would take care of that. She'd be on her way to the rec room as soon as she was able.

Last on the list, Beast Boy. Nothing but some scrapes and bruises. He was lucky his injuries were minor in comparison to the rest. The one injury that was probably worse was psychological, but then again, if what he heard was true, and if the news coming in was…no, no was there. Is.

The shapeshifter had witnessed their last-to-join teammate and perhaps the first to fall be fatally injured. Right before Raven had whisked him away, the last thing he had seen… Was it any wonder that they had to sedate him soon after being evacuated? Once he had come to, Beast Boy had closed himself off in his room and no one had heard from him since.

Terra. Oh, Terra. He knew it to be true, to be real, and yet with all of his hope he wanted it to not be true. Not fatally injured, but maybe critically? Intensive care until she pulled through the worst? Coma?

Hope didn't change reality. Maybe the future, but not reality.

What was reality now was that three members of the Justice League had shown up and taken charge. Steel was upgrading and making sure their security was tight. Vixen and Black Lightning were keeping close eyes on them all. Black Lightning was stationed in the med bay. Vixen had just left the rec room, leaving himself and Cyborg in front of the hologram projector that stood exposed in the middle of the room, circled by the U-shaped couch.

The Tower was on lockdown. No one was going anywhere. Not until this was all over.

Goddamn it, what had that been about?!

The only one of them uninjured was himself! Not even a scratch! Everyone else? It wasn't right or fair! He should…he needed to have tried…call in the evacuation sooner…what was he supposed to have done?

Terra wasn't here. Terra was gone. Somehow it felt like he was the one responsible.

Nearby, Cyborg gave a sigh as he walked his way over to the couch and plopped down on it. Red Robin didn't look up, but he felt the couch cushions shifting.

"Just got off with my dad. He's getting a bunch of guys together to figure out a new replacement knee for speedsters. Got to hand it to those guys at S.T.A.R. Labs. Other guys throw their hands in the air and give up, these guys say challenge accepted." There was a slight groan to the couch as Cyborg leaned back into his seat. "I want to hope that Kid Flash will run again."

With years of development ahead? Maybe. Bart didn't have that kind of patience.

Another sigh from the cyborg. "Don't beat yourself up too much, man. I should have been there too. Instead, I let that bastard plant a portable rocket on my back and make me do my best Superman impression. I shouldn't have been faster. Smarter. Not brain dead when he was running behind me."

Sorry, but this wasn't making him feel any better. Because space was limited between his face and hands, the air in that thin crevasse was getting hot. Yet he wasn't about to pull away any time soon. Darkness felt like it could hide him and if he didn't see it with his eyes, then there was no way it was real…

Toddler logic, but sometimes you reverted backwards to cope with something huge.

Good news, that could at least make this whole experience a little more bearable. You could go looking for it, or wait for it to come to you.

A hiss, a door opening. Footsteps. "My friends, we have a visitor." Kori. Minor injuries, so long as they were treated correctly, she would live so there was good news. Had the beginning of a smile forming. But a visitor?

"Hey guys. I know that look."

Any warm and fuzzies that Red Robin might have felt died with the flooding rush of a chill that ran down his spine. He knew that voice. This was…not the person he was ready to talk to right now, and not because he was dreading it. Okay, maybe there was some dread, but it wasn't the kind you felt when facing Batman.

It was the kind of dread you felt when you knew you had to tell a nice guy some really bad news. Did Flash know about Kid Flash?

Yet, the teen vigilante and team leader sat up and pulled his face away from his hands. He rubbed at his face with a gloved hand and then stood up. You always faced the executioner's squad standing on your feet. Turning, he found Flash standing there, flanked by Starfire to the speedster's right and Wonder Girl on the left. The armored blonde must have been cleared to be able to come up here.

"Anything? Have you found anything?" Red Robin asked, and to his shame even he heard the desperation in his voice.

Flash…rubbed the back of his neck. "You heard by now?" the Scarlet Speedster asked.

"Terra. She's…?"

Flash looked down and away. "I'm sorry."

Just more confirmation. If there had been any trace of denial left, it was firmly dead. Goddamnit! He wanted to punch or hit something, but he had to keep a cool head right now. Giving in to anger was not going to help anyone. The rest seemed to be undergoing the same kind of reaction. Cyborg looked down and scowled. Starfire closed her eyes and appeared somehow serene mixed with sorrow. Wonder Girl gave away her frustration by clenching her fists tightly and glaring down at the floor.

"The League is going to do everything it can to find this guy," Flash promised, looking back up and making eye contact. "We're leaving no one hanging. We're going to find this bad guy and make sure he gets locked up in a deep, dank hole somewhere far away."

Consolidation, but frankly it was too late for that. He trusted the Scarlet Speedster's word more than he did the news, which in and of itself was not a high bar to reach, but the Flash always came through on his promises no matter how long it took.

How long was it going to take to find the son of a bitch who murdered Terra?

"I don't think I need to be the one to tell you guys to stay put here. Don't do anything stupid like try and leave to track this guy down," Flash continued when none of the Titans did. "There's been too many as it is."

"One is one too many," Cyborg said, crossing his arms.

Flash glanced at the titanium young man. "It hasn't just been you guys who have been hit. South, North, East, you're the last one standing. Right now, and I hate saying this, but there are more of you guys dead than alive. We were too slow. Everyone was too damn slow. You deserve so much better. Terra too. We're handling it."

It was so easy to forget about the others. Three other Towers, three other teams. He didn't remember if he had heard word from Bunker. Nothing from Bumblebee either. He was still learning his North counterpart's name. Quiet from too many people.

Too many kids.

Cyborg was over eighteen. Who knew how old Starfire was in Tamaranean years and what that translated to in Earth years. He and Wonder Girl were getting closer to that one age, both seventeen right now. Nearly half the team wouldn't be kids anymore. Right now, they still had that luxury while the other teams…didn't.

Like the name of that song, Forever Young.

Not a very reassuring song right now, and Flash was doing his best to reassure them. But there was still that one bit of news that needed to be shared with the Scarlet Speedster, and it was Red Robin's responsibility to do it.

"There's one thing," he began, and now he had Flash's attention. "It's Kid Flash. He's…"

"I know he's still alive," Flash cut in, holding his hands up placatingly. "It's okay."

"No. It's not." The masked teen shook his head. "He's alive now, yeah, but…do you know how hurt he is?"

There was a noticeable drop to Flash's face. It seemed like he hadn't heard yet.

"How bad?" the Central City speedster asked, voice cracking.

Red Robin told him. Flash was out of that room and heading for the med bay. Was probably already there before finishing that last sentence.

It hurt. It hurt to be the bearer of bad news, but they couldn't afford to hide anything right now. Hiding anything wouldn't help anyone right now. The League needed to know what kind of threat they were facing. They needed to know just how close it was to them losing two members.

Two teammates.

They may not be as close to keeping the death count to one as they hoped.