Chapter 5: Bad Memories
New chapter guys! I hope you are doing well. In this one, I reveal Wondergirl's directing talents. Well, let's just say...the ending could have been avoided.
I won't say more, and I wish you a good read!
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, only a mischievous little brother.
Trigger warning: panic attack, mentions of torture
Mount Justice
June 21, 5:15 PM
Jaime and the team were coming out of the zeta tube. They had just come back from a particularly grueling mission in which they had to fight a 20-foot-tall robot. They watched the debriefing and then sat down jokingly on the couches in front of the television screen. Wondergirl took out her computer and a cable and announced:
"I...I created a little movie of our missions and our time together. I was wondering if..." she stammered, blushing a little.
"We want to see it!" M'gann exclaimed as she rushed to Cassie's aid.
The team members all nodded loudly. Cassie plugged her little computer into the giant screen. She clicked on a file and a movie appeared. The team settled comfortably on the crouch.
The screen flashed through scenes: La'gaan, Karen, Gar and Barbara were playing cards. Someone was holding the camera, probably Wondergirl.
"Go ahead, Gar, it's your turn."
Gar placed a blue 7 on the pile. Then La'gaan quickly placed his second-to-last card on top of the pile.
"COUNTER-UNO!"
"UNO!"
Karen and La'gaan yelled at the same time.
"Come on, La'gaan, take 4!"
"What? No, I said Uno!"
"Karen had yelled counter-uno before..."
"What the hell!? Tell them, Babs! You too, Cassie...But stop filming, dammit!"
Barbara, Gar, Karen and Cassie burst out laughing.
The team on the crouch smiled as the scene changed. It was a compilation of scenes with Nightwing. A small title appeared. It read: "The 3 times Nightwing did his ninja thing." The scene flashed on the screen.
Bart could be seen, focused, holding his communicator close to his lips.
"This is Impulse for Nightwing. We've spotted the drop zone. We're in position, and well hidden."
"Not so much, I think." said a voice behind Wondergirl holding her camera.
Wondergirl jumped so hard that the camera nearly fell to the ground. She turned around and Nightwing could be seen, his arms crossed as if nothing had happened.
"Nightwing!" Cassie hissed in exasperation. "We said: no more ninja stuff!"
A smile slowly appeared on Nightwing's lips.
The team looked at each other. Nightwing didn't smile often. Then they burst out laughing.
New scene.
Jaime and Bart were sitting on the green couch. Jaime seemed to be explaining something to Bart. The camera approached the two boys and was placed on the table.
"I'll be back in a minute." Cassie's voice said.
Jaime gave her a curt nod, then said to Bart,
"Okay, say it after me: Her-man-o."
"Hair-man-o."
Jaime groaned, running his hand over his face.
"Not Hair-man-o, Her-man-o..."
"Heeer-maaaan-oooo..."
"Almost there!"
At that, a shadow passed in front of the camera, and the team could see Nightwing himself silently pick up the camera, without Jaime or Bart even being able to see him. Gar and La'gaan snickered, while Jaime and Bart stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
Nightwing took the camera in his hand and walked away as a shout rang out.
"My camera! Where did it go?"
There was a moment of silence, then Cassie's voice spoke again.
"N...Nightwing? But...what the.."
Nightwing started running.
The team burst out laughing as they heard Cassie roar, who was chasing the leader.
"Nightwing! But leave my camera! Nightwing!"
He finally put the camera in a corner, and placed a small piece of paper clearly in front of it, on which was written: " Always watch your stuff."
Breathing raggedly, Wondergirl finally found her camera and let out a small sigh.
"Nightwing, seriously..."
"If Nightwing finds out you showed us this, he'll think we'll never take him seriously again!" Garfield exclaimed between two bursts of laughter.
The last scene of the compilation appeared on the screen. Robin, Nightwing and La'gaan could be seen hiding behind some rocks. Cassie still had her camera. She approached Robin, who was holding a blueprint of a building in hiss hands. He seemed focused.
"Hey, Wondergirl, don't slow yourself down with that camera." Lagoon Boy snapped.
"I'm not going to use it during the mission, just until Robin comes up with a brilliant plan that will save us all!" Wondergirl said sarcastically.
"Nightwing is the one to count on for that, with his ninja thing." Robin said absently, still bent over his plan.
"Where is he anyway?" La'gaan exclaimed, turning his head.
Suddenly explosions rang out and the team cried out in surprise. Rocks exploded right in front of them, revealing Nightwing. The leader looked at them with an exasperated look.
"I was implementing my brilliant plan like you said, Robin."
"Ninja thing." Robin concluded.
The team looked at each other in delight. These videos brought back old memories.
"There's one last sequence," Cassie said."It has some great fighting from everyone. I managed to get them on security cameras."
At that moment, Jaime couldn't have known that this viewing session was going to end really bad. So Wondergirl restarted the video, and the images scrolled by.
Robin was fighting the Kroloteans.
The team smiled.
Superboy was fighting the Golem.
The team cheered.
Miss Martian was fighting Icicle Jr.
The team whistled in admiration.
Blue Beetle was fighting Black Beetle.
The team suddenly fell silent.
Wondergirl blanched.
"I...I...I forgot that..." she stammered.
She glanced at Jaime. The boy was pale, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles were pale.
Jaime could feel everyone watching him. He looked down at his hands, which were shaking. He wasn't ready. He wasn't ready to see the face of the man who had tortured him for two months again.
"Jaime-" Bart begun, but Jaime cut him off.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's good!" he exclaimed.
Far from being reassured, Bart felt even more worried about his friend. The latter let out a small, strangled laugh that froze Bart's blood.
"I never told you, did I ?" Jaime murmured.
The team exchanged glances.
"Told what?" M'gann said soothingly.
"What he did to me. Black Beetle."
Jaime let out another strangled laugh.
"Mierda...sometimes, w-when he knew I was alone, he would force me to join him in the lab. Then at random times he would tell the Scarab to stop me from breathing, stop my heart, paralizarme, or he would kill people right in front of me...he...threaten to kill you..."
Jaime took a shaky breath, memories surrounding him, choking him. He lifted his face as a stream of words escaped from his lips. He wasn't sure if he was speaking Spanish or English, everything was jumbled in his head and his breathing quickened.
"A veces entraba en mi cabeza por la noche y me hacía levantarme a las 3 de la mañana, ¡solo porque le divertía! When he electrocuted me, I would scream at the Scarab to let me go, y no podía dejarme ir, and he couldn't let me go, and I could feel him in pain! "
Tears were streaming down Jaime's cheeks as all his teammates stood up and looked at him in panic.
Jaime's breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened. His breathing was now in gasps as he clutched his shirt at his heart. He felt someone catch him and Jaime realized he was falling forward.
Nononononononononononononononono
The team couldn't see him like this-
They would think-
What about Nightwing?
He would-
"Jaime!"
Mierda Mierda Mierda Mierda
He vaguely felt someone holding his shoulders.
Who was it?
Bart would never want to go near him again-
He would be sent away-
Even the Scarab wouldn't want to-
"Jaime, it's me, Bart. You're at Mount Justice. Everything's fine."
It was a trap-
Black Beetle was going to-
Or he would-
He couldn't-
"Breathe Jaime. Breathe in for 5, breathe out for-"
Breathe
But Black Beetle-
The orders-
He couldn't-
He couldn't-
He wouldn't-
He-
Jaime let out another strangled cry.
He couldn't breathe-
Nightwing would sent him away-
He wouldn't-
Nononononononononononono
"Do you want me to talk to you?"
Jaime nodded, or at least tried.
He couldn't-
The Reach-
And his illness?
What if the team-
"Remember when we went to the store together? We raided the chips aisle, trying every weirdest flavor we could find."
His heart was racing too fast-
Why wasn't the Scarab talking?
Maybe he-
Or maybe-
"Or the time I came to your house at 4 am because I accidentally drank caffeine? Caffeine and speedsters don't mix, do they?"
Bart Bart Bart Bart Bart Bart Bart
Safe?
Then maybe-
But then-
"Or when we covered Wolf in pink bows and ribbons for April Fool's Day? Or the time we tried to scare Robin, but he ended up scaring us?"
Breathe
Breathe
-aime Reyes. The Impulse is here. It's okay. Jaime, can you hear me? You need to breathe now.
Breathe
Jaime took a shaky breath. He couldn't open his eyelids, which seemed to be stuck together. He inhaled, then exhaled, and did it again and again. After a few minutes he felt his breathing become stable again.
"That's it, I think it's over," someone said.
Jaime had his eyes closed and was too exhausted to open them. He felt his breathing slow, slow, and the darkness took him.
Poor Jaime! Well, in the next one, Jaime is angry and Bart goes looking for him. It will be mainly a preamble to JAIME'S REVELATION TO BART ABOUT HIS ILLNESS in the next chapter! So for those who have not calculated, in chapter 7.
If you have some time, send me a private message, or leave a comment, it would make me really happy!
Thank you so much!
