Mom Friend

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"Artemis, are you okay?" M'gann begged.

"M'good." The blonde really didn't look like it, she had a huge, black eye, and tons of marks on her visible skin.

"What happened?" Kaldur asked. "If you'll share..."

Artemis smacked her lips thoughtfully. "You know how when some girls get drunk they make out?"

"I guess...?" M'gann asked.

"Well at my school they fight instead."

"Oh." She responded.

"Yep, most of the boys at school are all talk, rich kids who think they're tough, but the girls... the girls are brutal. Anyways, I asked this chick to pass her bottle of Captain Morgan..." they stared at her. "Don't look at me like that, I can do what I want in my spare time! Anyways, I didn't get to drink anything because she clobbered me with a half-full wine bottle. Oh- also, this other girl thought I wanted to hook up with her boyfriend, so that's where the punchmarks came from..."

"Are you sure you're alright?" M'gann asked. "Like, sure?"

"Probably, I called my friend Barbra last night, and she came outside to take a look at it, she has early EMT training, don't ask me why, and she said it wasn't too bad." She smiled a little. 

Just then, the zetatubes went on, and Robin stumbled through. "Sorry, bats. Didn't want me to come. What'd I miss?" 

Wally ran up to greet him and paused. "Whoa, Dude, were you at the same party as Arty last night?" He gestured to the blonde.

Robin did look like he'd struggled to get out of bed; black eye visible under his glasses, and his neck and face covered in purple welts

"Robin, What happened?" Kaldur demanded, mom friend energy through the roof, and hurried over to the Gotham kids.

"I got screwed over on patrol last night." He admitted, flipping up his hood to hide some of the injuries. "Bats didn't even let me go school, I had to beg just to come here."

"Your mentor is intense. GA doesn't even call me if I get injured. He's just like 'put some ice on that' and then dips until he needs me again."

"Yeah, well, Batman is protective... hey, you wanna put on some music?" Wally excused, covering for Robin.

"Sure." The blonde replied. "But none of your shitty music!"

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"So I was there, trying to cuff this one guy, and BAM!" Robin gestured wildly as he spoke. "Out of NOWHERE, this other guy pulls me off  him and starts slamming me into the floor, and then... Bam, Bam, Bam!" He punched the air, becoming childish in his excitement. "And I get the guy off me, and then the First one is up again, and," he tried to catch with his breath. "I hit them with a smoke bomb, tripped 'em up, and cuffed them to each other and a lamp post!" He glance up hopefully, looking for a reaction.

"That sounds difficult." Kaldur asked supportively.

"That's Gotham for ya." The thirteen-year old bragged. "Besides, it doesn't hurt as bad as Batman thinks it does." He lowered his voice, as if about to tell a secret. "Before We met up again, I took a detour to Babs-uh, to my friend's dad's apartment. luckily she was already in the lobby, so she patched me up a bit. And that was my whole patrol!"

Kaldur was busy putting two-and-two together in the two teen's stories, but smiled slightly with encouragement. He kept mental notes of what each of his teammates needed from their leader, Robin needed constant validation and someone who would give him undivided attention. The team leader had theories as to why, but they were just theories, and were strictly confidential.

"Rob, get over here and help me convince Artemis that Spongebob the Musical isn't Trash!" Wally called. Robin stood up, trying to make it look efortless, and stumbled over to him.

"Team, Black Canary will be arriving shortly, and training will commence at four-fourty-five." One of Kaldur's notes on kid Flash is that he needed structure to motivate him to do anything; he was an academic genius, he just needed the opportunity and motivation to use his knowledge.

"Got it!" M'gann floated lazily over thr sofa where Everyone was sitting. "I'm going to the kitchen, you want anything? I just made some lemonade!"

Kaldur requested a glass, he didn't really like human food so much, and wasn't a fan of acidity, but M'gann needed encouragement and as much self-esteem as was available. 

Later, during training, the team had been paired up, the younger boys were paired up, as were the girls, and Kaldur had been pitted against Conner. As far as strategy vs. Strength, they were pretty well paired. The sparing was pretty normal until there was a violent shout and a squeal of pain. Robin had tripped Wally, who'd grabbed at the boy. Wally fell, Robin landing ontop of him. Robin had also landed on his hurt arm. Kaldur dropped the fight and hurried to his teammates' side.

"Robin, Kid Flash, are you okay?"

"Yea." Robin forced himself up, blushing. "Fine."

Just then there was a cry as M'gann managed to get a light hit on Artemis. It was clear the injured teenagers were unfit to fight.

"Robin, Artemis, perhaps you should sit out for a couple rounds..."

"What? NO!" The boy whined.

The girl agreed. "We're not crippled, Kaldur!"

"I cannot make you rest, but I highly recommend that you do." He ordered.

Artemis looked up to theadult, hoping Black Canary would back her up. She just shrugged and cocked her head at the team leader. "WHATEVER, this is stupid! come on, Rob." She dragged him to the sidelines, whining.

Even if they were pissed, you don't argue with the mom friend. Ever.

They can be scary.

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