Avoiding Past And Future

25

"Robin?"

Who?

"Robin, wake up."

Batman?

Dick slowly opened his eyes. A blurry image of Batman stood before him. He wanted to sit up again but a sharp pain shot through his head as he tried. Hissing out in reflex, a hand shot up to where it hurt. By some evil power, he had yet again landed on the same spot as he did before when he passed out. Batman carefully pulled away Dick's hand to inspect the injury, silently noting the blood on Dick's glove.

Memories of what happened flashed before him. The reds attacking, winning the fight, Red Tornado turning against them, his team! With movement way too fast for his current state, Robin frantically looked around to check on his teammates.

Connor and Wally were still stuck, but Flash and Captain Atom were working on getting them out.

M'gann was sitting on the floor with J'onn next to her. It seemed like they were having a telepathic conversation.

Aquaman was checking over Kaldur, likely the best contender to check if the Atlantean was okay after the fire cage ordeal.

Artemis was still passed out on the floor but Superman was trying to wake her up. Of course the bastard would rather focus on her than help out Connor but it's not like he was in a position to openly question his actions. That would be Bruce's job later.

Canary was there too, likely to supervise the situation should it happen that one of them wasn't handling it all too well.

Wouldn't it have been great if they showed up sooner.

No, he can't fault them. They were likely all busy in their own cities. It was Tornado's job to inform them of issues, yet the android was part of the problem.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, Batman had that look on his face. The look he always uses when he is trying to analyze a situation. Now directed at him, he knew for sure they'd be having words later. Most likely under supervision of Alfred while Dick gets checked out for his injuries. Robin held Batman's gaze, silently trying to reassure the man that he's fine for now, all things considered.

Off to the side he heard Superman speak up after Artemis had gotten up herself. "What happened here." It didn't even sound like a question, it sounded like a command. Big Blue Boyscout seemed to be quite displeased at the mess, much like everybody else was. Too bad for him, he asked one of the snarkiest teens the team had. "What happened?" The bite in her tone was strong enough that he could almost imagine Artemis actually going for an attack. "The Reds happened! Tornado and his- wait, where are they?" Venom turned to fear as she realized the potential threat still lurking around.

Dick turned to face his blonde friend, once again taking the role of calming down her panic. "They're gone. All three of them." He said calmly. "Gone."

"What do you mean gone?! They can't have just vanished!"

Black Canary walked up to the girl, blocking her view of the other heroes so she'd only focus on her secondary mentor. "By the time we got here, the only ones still in the cave were you guys. Flash, Superman and Martian Manhunter already swept the entire area to see if there were any signs of attackers but there were none." Artemis stared at Canary in disbelief and shock as tears welled up in her eyes. "No, no that can't be true! We-we fought hard, two reds were down! We nearly had it! It can't have been for nothing! We almost died tonight! Please, please, please it can't have been for nothing!" Canary wrapped her arms around Artemis to shield the overwhelmed girl from the onlookers.

Batman stepped forward, keeping his tone somewhat softer than his usual gruff tone. To Dick, it sounded like an odd combination of the Batvoice™ and the Brucie voice. "Head home for now, get some rest. You fought hard today, take a break and recover while we investigate."