Verisimilitude

The Almost Fatal Mistake

"Woah," Kid Flash looked at the piece of equipment, "You still have VHS. Where's your 8-Track?" He remarked jokingly.

Just as the copyright information began to play, Superboy turned suddenly. "Wait. Aircraft; headed this way."

Superboy ran towards the door, with Kid Flash behind him.

He stood, "Gar, stay put." He ordered, flinching inwardly when he used the boy's old nickname before moving to follow his teammates. He paused in the doorway, a thought occurring to him as he looked back at the eight year old.

Beast Boy never followed orders in the beginning.

He cursed underneath his breath as he rushed towards the younger boy just as he exclaimed, "The animals! We have to get them out."

"I'll do that." He assured the boy, knowing that if he didn't, the eight year old would. "Where are the animals?"

"Follow me." Garfield began running towards the back door, but he caught the boy's shoulder and gently turned him back around so they were facing each other once more.

" Tell me where." He expanded on his previous statement.

"The barn." Gunfire sounded from outside. He cursed inwardly once more.

"Okay." He said, thinking quickly before unclasping his cape, "If you stay here, you can keep this." He told Garfield, whose face lit up as he handed the cape over.

"I'll stay! Promise!" The boy nodded eagerly and he smirked slightly on the inside.

Bribery. Always works. He mused as he turned and opened the door.

He ran towards the barn, managing to open up the door to let all the animals run out without being shot.

Easy.

He began to run back towards the house.

That was when the barn exploded.

It was thankful that he was a fast runner, being the protégé of Batman (he would never get used to the sound of that. Batman was dead), so he managed to get a safe enough distance away that the actual blast only knocked the breath out of him. He hissed as a shard of wood embedded itself in his leg, and another in his back.

Taking a deep breath and blocking out the sounds of explosions, gunfire, and yelling, he concentrated on turning from his position in the dirt and examining the wound. The simple action made him let out another hiss of pain but he managed to accomplish the task.

The debris was lodged in his thigh, and he couldn't just take it without it splintering and causing more damage. Blood was beginning to leak out. He couldn't tell anything about the other wound, but he guessed that it was about the same.

He could feel that there were small pinpricks down the back of his arms and back, but they would just be small splinters - nothing to worry about yet.

He - carefully, so not to further aggravate his wounds - began to move back so that he was lying on his stomach. This way he would minimize blood loss because gravity would be working with him.

Plus, he doubted he would be able to get up.

Lying there in the ruins of the barn, a thought came to him.

Garfield.

The boy would have been caught in the explosion. He wasn't as fast, as focused as he was. He would have hesitated after releasing the animals, if he had even made it that far before the gas tank was hit.