Dinah tried hard to hold back a sigh. The team had their second session today and it was going about as horribly as it was the first time.
Artemis was still resisting the thought something was wrong. Putting on a brave face, she clung onto the fact she was 'coma girl'. The first to go down. She didn't experience any of the fun parts so why would anything be wrong.
Except both Dinah and Oliver had noticed something was…off. She was acting more closed off, avoiding Oliver's offers of staying the night in Star City at the Queen estate rather than Zetaing back to Gotham during Bat hours. Usually she would have taken the offer, but for nearly a week already, the blonde had dipped as soon as they called it a night.
Maybe it was related to Oliver trying to be there for her, physically and emotionally, more than he had before. Always hanging around the girl and taking the same patrol paths. Near nightly invitations to stay the night while before it was only a weekly thing. "He's just worried about you." Didn't help at all.
"Yeah, well, he's not my dad so it's none of his concern. I can take care of myself."
The glare she had received said enough. Artemis never liked talking about her family and something about the way she said it rubbed Dinah the wrong way. While it was a good thing Oliver was nothing like Sportsmaster, she doubted that's what Artemis meant.
No more pushing the subject.
Dinah tried bringing up talking to the team about what happened but that seemed to just make it worse as well. The suggestion of opening up was met with Artemis curling up in a self-soothing ball. Gripping her arm so tightly Dinah was sure it'll leave a bruise, the girl nearly glared a hole in the floor.
"Because exposing secrets is just such a great idea. Look where it got Robin. Have you seen how mad Wally is?"
Cornered once more, Dinah opted to sit in silence. She made a mental note about how she only seemed worried about Wally's reaction, or rather, most worried about his reaction. Little mentions like that happened before, on patrols or just hanging out before the current situation. But the sole focus on Wally's reaction now stood out among the rest.
The entire team used the situation with Phantom to avoid actually talking about the simulation and their feelings regarding it. While it was great some of them at least talked, it wasn't what Dinah intended for them to talk about. But, discouraging it wasn't an option either. Something was always better than nothing.
Next on the roster was Kaldur. The young Atlantean already expressed how he blamed his shortcomings as a leader for the deaths of the team. Though only 16, he was the eldest in the group and placed most, if not all, responsibility on himself. He had tried, yet again, to resign as leader of the team. It was becoming a worrying pattern Dinah noticed. Kaldur took on more than he should and had the need to depose himself as the self-proclaimed cause of the problem instead of working on improving first and foremost.
She didn't invalidate his feelings however, no matter how illogical the thought of stepping down for a small mistake would be. They are still learning after all, they're here to learn in a safe place. Instead, she tried to use his own logic against him. Thinking of who should be his replacement, she let him come to his own conclusion on the matter.
Artemis was still too raw and untrusting of others.
Wally being too rash and impulsive.
M'gann tries too hard to please everybody.
Connor carried too much anger.
And Robin…Kaldur had paused for a moment, not wanting to admit it himself. Robin had always been the most logical choice to be the leader, they all admitted so. But, just like the very first time they had to decide on a leader, he was still so young. A level of immaturity that came through clearly now with the current debacle regarding Phantom.
Kaldur blamed himself for that whole mess as well. If he had made better choices, not sacrificed himself like a soldier, Robin wouldn't have been forced into the leading position. He wouldn't have been pushed into making an unknown his co-leader and causing so much unrest between everybody and themselves. It was his fault, after all, that the tensions got as bad as they did. Had he not let Robin pressure everybody into blindly accepting a stranger into their ranks, there wouldn't have been as much commotion surrounding it.
The way Robin had carried himself was not unlike Batman did, making it all too easy for him to silence any questions. Questions that could, would, have avoided a lot of the problems they currently faced.
As it stood, Robin was in no position to take lead. Not for the current issues, nor for the unrest his absence continued to fuel.
That left them with only one viable option. Kaldur had to remain as leader of the team and guide his comrades into resolving the issue. That is what a good leader would do after all. It is what his King would expect of him.
Kaldur left with his head held a little higher than when he walked in, so at the very least it was progress.
Wally sauntered in next. The young speedster was a special case it seemed. While he was clearly comfortable with staying in denial about how the simulation affected him, it was a whole other story when it came to the other topic.
While he was happily munching on an extraordinarily large bag of Chicken Whizzees while lounging upside down in the armchair, he nearly choked when Dinah asked how Barry was doing. Last time the boy had made it rather clear he was comfortable staying in denial about his extreme reaction to Artemis' death. Maybe, just maybe it would work to get the talk started from a different angle.
And started it did. His laissez-faire attitude went out the window as he nearly stumbled over himself to sit upright again. Dinah was thankful she had spent countless hours with Barry already as Wally had a habit of slipping into speedspeech when overwhelmed. Though usually it was reserved for happy hyperactive talk, now it was more like the dam of frustration was opened and words just rushed out.
She couldn't catch every word, letting the boy ramble on about how apparently Barry's scratch was healing oddly. It was still fast, superior speedster metabolism and all, but it was slower than Barry's standard and that worried Wally. They didn't know if the beast's claws had any kind of venom on it but it did seem to have some type of effect on their ability. And if Barry was getting slowed down, that would mean Wally would be stuck to normal people healing speeds.
Dinah physically had to hold herself back from rolling her eyes. She knew the boy didn't mean it in a bad way. He had been rather annoyed to still be in his cast after all. Though he didn't milk it for attention anymore, his annoyances at the thing remained.
Without leaving any breathing room for Dinah to guide his frustration into a calmer speed, Wally went off about the communication block the League had put up. He felt like it wasn't their place to dictate who he could or couldn't talk to, especially his best friend of all people.
If they could go out for drinks and snacks with Trickster and Captain Boomerang on occasion, their own rogues for crying out loud, why couldn't he talk to a fellow hero?
Dinah wasn't sure how to answer, if at all considering she literally couldn't get a word in. Sure, the League had put up a contact restriction on the Bats until they had their meeting, but beyond that it was up to each mentor themselves on how to treat the situation. Barry had opted for continuing the contact restriction, as did Arthur and Oliver. Dinah had agreed as well, but they were mostly in agreement to wait until she had a chance to talk to the two boys and report back to the mentors. The fact they were both absent from the first session didn't bode well for either relation.
Still, it wasn't her place to explain that. Barry likely had his reasoning for withholding it and considering how much Wally kept slipping into speedspeech, this would be a conversation better had between the two speedsters.
"I just don't get why Dick didn't tell me anything!" Wally complained, shoving a fistful of chips in his mouth and not gagging by some miracle. "I mean, I've known him the longest out of the entire team. First and second sidekicks ever, duh." He bemoaned as some chips got crushed by his frustrated grip on the bag. He was getting annoyed enough he wasn't just bouncing his leg like any other would. Thanks to his oh so amazing powers, Wally was vibrating in place, nearly burning a hole where he sat.
She could already hear Iris scolding the boy for it, too used to being there when Barry tapped a foot shaped hole into their floor.
"I'm sure he had his own reasons to wait. None of us knew so it wasn't anything personal." She tried to reassure him, hoping to diffuse his growing anger. Teens in their own right hopped between emotions rather fast, quick to sudden outbursts. Speedster teens seemed to be on the same level as their resident Kryptonian when it came to keeping their anger contained.
Wally scoffed, slowing down just enough to shove another fistful or two down his throat. "Yeah, right. Because that totally explains why the kid knew all about us and we know jack shit about him. I mean, what was it with that thank you anyway? Fuck does he have to thank me for if I don't even know him." Thankfully, he did stop vibrating as he continued on with his grumbling complaints. "The least Bruce could do is tell us the kid's name to make it even but nooooo the big broody bitch rather keeps his secrets. I'm telling you, one day it'll come to bite him in the ass harder than this mess already did."
Dinah let the boy talk, interjecting here and there as he voiced some more complaints about Phantom. She had heard them all in passing from either her own colleagues or from observing the team. Though a lot of opinions differed between those with other info, their overall consensus remained the same. Nobody liked it being kept a secret until it got accidentally exposed.
It didn't seem like Wally had anybody he could actually vent to. Being the only person on the team to know Dick's secret identity, much of his personal issues remained unvoiced until this very moment. She'd have to make a note for Barry to just talk to the boy about it. Knowing that man, he was probably waiting for Wally to come to him, much like how Wally needed somebody else to start the conversation.
Regretfully, Dinah had to cut her time with Wally short, promising to talk to Barry about anything he felt okay with her sharing. Wally seemed skeptical at first but agreed it might be for the better if that meant he'd finally get some actual answers.
She took a small break for herself. Immediately sending off a message to Barry that they needed to discuss some things and asking when he was free. It didn't take too long for the man to answer and set up a time with Iris to go over what Wally cleared her to talk about.
Against her own better judgement, she used the hidden panel on the wall to check on the team in the living room. Wally only just walked back out, his favorite chill guy mask back on as he plopped down on the couch next to Connor. He offered the clone some chips but got ignored. Shrugging to himself, Wally kept snacking as he zoned out to the static of the TV.
One didn't need to have a psychology degree to notice the obvious tension between the members, or rather the current members in attending. Sure enough, they all had their favorite spots in the lounge to hang out and gravitated towards it like it called their name.
M'gann stood in the kitchen, looking over her cookies in the oven.
Artemis sat on one of the kitchen island chairs, avoiding eye contact as she cleaned her arrows and quiver for the 4th time since she got to Mount Justice.
Kaldur stood off to the end of the island, leaning against it while still lost in thought. He had his back turned towards the others, though, keeping his eyes fixated on the ground.
Connor sat on the couch directly across from the TV, still completely ignoring Wally who sat on the other end of the same couch.
Of course, all that just made it stand out even more that a certain little bird was missing from their configuration when the lefthand couch remained empty.
Not needing to hold back for the moment, Dinah finally let herself rub her face exasperatedly. Of course neither of the highly expected boys were in attending yet again. She was very tempted to contact Bruce about it, but she doubted he'd even look at it. Sure, he had said they would be there, both of them. But this was still Batman they were talking about. If anything were to happen in Gotham she was sure he wouldn't hesitate to pull them both out a second time. It wasn't like he hadn't held Dick back from a team schedule before if he deemed Gotham a higher priority.
Letting out a deep groan, she stretched and cracked her aching joints before calling in the next kid.
When it was M'gann's turn, she still had some flour on her from baking. The girl seemed to use it as a distraction, baking dozens upon dozens of cookies every day. Luckily Wally was there to finish off all the left overs if she didn't keep them reserved for others.
She seemed a lot more exhausted than last time. Small bags under her eyes as she floated over to the chair rather than walking. She had seemed rather tired during yesterday's training session with Zatara as well. She weakly lifted her head, offering a ghost of a smile before she lowered her gaze again.
"Is everything alright, M'gann?" Dinah asked, worry slipping into her tone as she leaned forward to try and meet the Martian's gaze on a lower point.
M'gann's eyes ticked up for just a second before she sighed. "I'm…I'll be okay. Just didn't sleep well." She hugged herself tightly, squeezing and rubbing her left arm to force a different sensation than the one burned into her mind. M'gann had been having nightmares ever since the simulation. She had already talked to both J'onn and Dinah about it.
From what she managed to explain, it's connected to when Phantom first went through the Zeta. With her mind dragging him in on accident, and what Zatara claimed to be evil intentions, his emotions were linked to the simulation just as much as the others. When he had that…reaction, she felt it every bit as much as he did. She remembered images flashing through her mind, though they are all but blurry colors now.
She could almost feel herself living through whatever happened to Phantom. Feel herself touch something solid and hard before burning pain shot through her entire soul. As if she was being burned from the inside like no fire or heat had ever done before. Not like anything she had ever experienced. Even the lava in the tower of Fate and the fire cage from the Red attack were more pleasant than whatever that was.
She felt like she was drowning in pain and suffering that wasn't her own. Memories that weren't her own invaded her mind like a parasite. Not even J'onn knew how to make it stop outside of psychically locking the memories away, something M'gann wasn't too comfortable with for the time being.
The comments Giovanni made didn't help her at all. With M'gann barely able to focus, they had gotten absolutely nowhere. J'onn had to step in as a barrier between her actual memories and the ones that haunt her. Zatanna had tried her best to distract her as well, but she could only do so much against her father's constant remarks.
Yet another reason it was so important to get the Bats all on one page with the others. So long as she couldn't talk with them in the official settings, there was no hope in mending the tensions between all parties. And as it stood, there was a lot of mending to do. Especially regarding the information they had gotten from Giovanni. Of course they had tried to reach out to others, aka Constantine, but no luck there yet. They really were dependent on having a chat with both Dick and Phantom to get a better view on all of this.
M'gann was an easy talker, always rather open with how she was feeling about it all. She had been the first to reach out for help from the mentors after all. Other than Kaldur, the Martian also felt like the majority of the blame was on her. She mostly blamed herself for getting Robin into so much trouble with everybody while also causing such grievous suffering to all her friends in the process.
There wasn't much Dinah could do to comfort her. It had been her powers that went out of control. There was no denying that fact, especially since they had a few extra training sessions already regarding exactly that. Dinah had argued to wait a bit longer, to let her rest and recover first. But Giovanni had insisted on starting as soon as possible.
"It is for the sake of keeping everybody safe from deceptions!" The man insisted. At least it allowed for Zatanna to spend time with peers again, albeit extremely limited and supervised. She had lost pretty much all non-supervised privileges after Giovanni caught her with his communicator and a log to Robin's.
Dinah wanted to ask if she could have a talk with Zatanna as well, knowing the girl was likely taking this whole thing rather hard too. It was no secret among just the mentors that Zatanna had known, Red Tornado confirming so. She adamantly defended both Dick and Phantom but speaking up around her father wasn't the easiest for the young magician. Anybody could see she could use a safe place to talk about her side of things, if only Giovanni would actually trust them enough for that.
Not after all the revelations made within the past week.
M'gann had seemed rather concerned about the girl too. Outside of Dick and Phantom, she was the next runner up to be closest to Zatanna on the team due to the extra training sessions. Especially since it was telepathic training and learning how to see things from whatever perspective Zatanna had that allowed her to differentiate between the two boys. She had asked for the two to be in attendance so they could actually practice and see if there was any progress being made, but Giovanni had nearly gone off on her for simply suggesting letting Phantom anywhere near his daughter again. Had it not been for J'onn and Dinah stepping between, the Italian may have crossed a line in that very moment.
Perhaps setting up a talk with Giovanni as well wouldn't be too bad of an idea. Especially if J'onn could join in as mediator in defense of the telepathic aspect of it all. Practicing the difference between two people without said people present was quite a difficult task. Dinah also had the feeling there was more behind the man's very verbal dislike of Phantom. She doubted it was simply because of his supernatural existence that the man was so bothered.
Unfortunately, that would have to wait for some other time. She wanted to check the security feed another time after M'gann left, hoping to see their two lost souls having wandered in. Instead, before M'gann even opened the door, she visibly relaxed a bit. Dinah didn't need to be a telepath to know she had linked up with her friends again.
Having the mind link up did seem like a comfort thing for her, knowing the people she cared about were nearby enough that they could call out for help if needed. But that was also exactly why the link had to be closed off while she was in session, as well as excluding anybody who was in. It was a simple privacy thing for all of them. Though the link was a comfort, it was also an unspoken pressure of an invisible presence looking over their shoulder at all times. That wasn't something Dinah could condone during sessions, especially not when all of them struggled in their own ways.
Connor had been waiting by the door for M'gann to exit. He held out a plate of still warm cookies for her, likely having rescued them from Wally. Dinah suspected it might also have been an excuse to personally check in on M'gann after her session. The two had been even closer after this whole ordeal and with how exhausted M'gann was, it may have been for the better that somebody could escort her back to the lounge.
"It's okay, Kaldur said he's coming over. It's your turn." M'gann smiled as warmly as she could at him. Connor didn't seem like he agreed to it, more than keen to avoid the session as much as their missing Bats had been. After a deep sigh, his gaze steeled again as he reluctantly walked over to the armchair. Though the boy had always been rather stoic, there was still a noticeable shift the moment he got cut from the link.
Much like last time, they sat in silence. Connor didn't want to talk, that much was clear. He never had been quite a talker, and will likely never really be. But that didn't mean he didn't deserve the same opportunities as the others.
Their first session Dinah had patiently waited for him to find comfort. The room was super-proofed, providing a safe room where not even superhearing could let anybody listen in. Of course, that meant he couldn't listen outside of the room either. So while he didn't have his beloved background static, the waterfall on the far end wall of the room should have had the same calming effect.
Should being the keyword.
Kryptonians were famously stubborn after all. Perhaps that was one of the more resented ways in which he did resemble Clark. It was an open secret that he had less abilities than the elder alien did, so any connections and differences they had stood out even more with Phantom on the scene.
Dinah had, in an attempt to lure the boy into talking like she had with Wally, tried starting the conversation about Phantom rather than the simulation. Had Connor had more of Clark in him, she was sure she would have gotten laser eyed on the spot. The glare had been the most intense reaction he had given her since the start of trying to talk to him, so even if it wasn't the most positive thing, it was still better than being ignored.
Taking her shot, she continued idly talking to herself. "I can't imagine what it was like in there. It couldn't have been easy, being forced to trust a stranger like that. Not only losing your friends and family, but also the trust in your remaining leader." Though pushing buttons really wasn't the appropriate thing to do, past experiences had shown that it did help him loosen up over time. Except, she couldn't just rebuild the Amazo android for the clone to beat up and learn another life lesson from. "I know it can't be easy, seeing another clone show up the way he did."
Connor gripped his bicep harder but gave no further reaction.
Leaning forward ever so slightly, Dinah tried to physically close the distance just a bit. She kept her posture lose and open, hoping he'd take the invitation to relax as well. "Watching Robin blindly accept him like that must have-"
"You don't know what I feel." He growled at her as he suddenly stood, fists balling as he glared at the blonde.
Dinah prepared for whatever reaction he could have. She was a trained fighter after all, even the disadvantage of sitting down wouldn't stop her from defending herself against a raging Kryptonian. Not that she would blame him, she did somewhat push him on purpose.
There was a tense moment between the two, waiting for either to make the first move. Not wanting to push him any further, she left the first move over to Connor. Prepared for the worst, she hadn't expected the boy to let out an annoyed growl before he stormed towards the door. "Connor!" She called out perplexed. The clone's anger issues and quickness to punch something were well documented. Though she felt bad for thinking it, she had fully expected him to react more…more.
"Just leave me alone!" He called out over his shoulder as he stomped out of the room, leaving everything the room as well as the door perfectly intact.
Well, everything except for Dinah's brain. Still rather shocked at how unexpected the change in behavior was, she slumped down in the armchair. That had gotten way too close for her liking. It wasn't what she was trained for. Normal therapy and hero therapy, that she could handle. But grumpy Kryptonian therapy was not something she had a lot of practice in, definitely not with how different Connor and Clark react to attempting to talk about things.
She gave herself a moment more to breathe, letting her racing pulse slow down a tad bit more. Pulling up the panel once again, she checked in on the kids. Glaring at the screen, she let out a string of curses before pushing herself out of the armchair, already regretting the therapy set up at Mount Justice rather than anywhere else.