Chapter 5: Disappointment
SANTA PRISCA
July 22, 23:08 ECT
"Uh... Goldie, you got a little something-" KF pointed at her shoulder, withering under the glare the blonde sent him from her position leaning against a tree.
"I'm fine." Kate pushed out, "And how many times have I told you? Don't call me Goldie!" She harshly whispered, pushing off the tree and leaving a bloody handprint behind.
"GF..." Robin trailed off worriedly, his own gloved hands reaching forward and touching the wet blood. He turned his mask covered eyes to her shoulder, seeing the graze but not seeing blood. His eyes moving down to where she had been holding before. Her side. "It's going to keep bleeding until it's stitched up."
"Which isn't an option right now. I'm fine! I'm good to keep going. Let's go." Kate snapped again, weakly pushing past Robin and KF, Aqualad stopping her by latching onto her uninjured shoulder.
"Goldfinch, you are injured, worse than I thought and a team is only as strong as its weakest link-"
"I am not a weak link." Kate growled ripping herself away from the leader. "How many times do I need to tell you I'm fine before you believe me?! I've taken a lot worse than this on my own and kept going."
"I did not mean to offend-"
"Yeah, well you did. I'm okay to keep going and kick some cultist ass. I won't say it again." Kate steeled her failing center of balance by sheer force of will and continued in the direction they needed to go to get back to the factory.
The team shared a look and followed after their injured member.
~~*~~
Kate went over the plan in her head again as they waited, taking a breath. Ignoring the multiple sets of eyes boring into her being.
"Here." Robin appeared at her side, a container of water in hand and being offered to her. "It should help the dizziness."
With narrowed eyes Kate hesitantly took the offering and gulped down some water. Feeling a bit better as she wiped her mouth with the back of her glove. "Thanks."
"I don't think BC would be too happy if we came back with a dead Goldfinch." He joked, successfully making Kate chuckle. His grin growing at the sound.
"No, no she would not. She would undoubtedly find a Lazarus pit, revive me, only to kill me again. Then bring me back one last time just to make sure I learned my lesson." Robin managed to smother his laugh with his hand at the girl's matching humor.
"Why didn't you use your canary cry back there?" Robin asked, as if knowing he was treading on thin ice.
"What have you done?!"
"It's not exactly inside friendly, and with ceilings like that it would be echoing so loud we wouldn't be able to hear ourselves think." If her response sounded practiced, it's because it was.
"Right. I should get in position, good luck out there." Robin seemed to know that's all he was getting from her, and he left. Taking one last moment to herself Kate looked down at the water in her hands. Finishing what was left and making her way to her position. Superboy a little way off.
"You good?" The clone asked neutrally, Kate simply nodding in response. Which was enough for the clone as he mirrored the action and jumped.
Kate made her way into the thick of it as KF ran around and Aqualad took on big guy. Superboy keeping Sportsmaster busy while Robin disappeared into the fray.
"Come get me." Kate laughed as multiple men in red cloaks came to circle her. Running two steps forward she jumped, her legs locking around the shoulders of her target. Her body weight and momentum taking him to the ground as she twisted around him. Quickly pulling one of her batons she knocked him unconscious and moved on. Dodging bullets as she grappled off the man and landed behind some crates on a knee, hand in front of her to balance herself.
Climbing over she greeted the first person she saw with her boots to their face. Landing over their unconscious form and going right into another fight. And then another, and another. She couldn't keep this up, if her spinning vision said anything. She couldn't hold back anymore.
The amount of red hooded bastards seemed never ending, and she was out of options. She couldn't see the others through the smoke and the bodies, but she knew where they were if they were following the plan.
"What have you done?!"
Planting her feet, she built up pressure in her throat, and screamed.
Kate heard the planned explosion of the helicopter and looked up with a smirk, seeing someone jump just before the mode of transportation crashed into the factory in a fiery boom. Something Kate had thought she'd only see in action movies. Until her life seemingly became one that is.
The blonde's attention was stolen away by a yell, her blue eyes took in the position Robin was in, Kobra leader's foot on his chest as he struggled to breathe, the blonde freezing in place.
"What are you gonna do huh? You weak little-" The foot on her chest, keeping her down, kept her from breathing. She couldn't breathe. He was so much bigger than her and she couldn't breathe.
Robin got out of the pin the Kobra leader had him in, flipping away and landing in front of the team. Kate snapping out of her memories and planting her feet once again. Ready to make this guy's hearing go bye-bye.
But of course, Walmart Voldemort took the cowards way out and backed up into the jungle behind him, "Another time then." Robin leaped after him as he disappeared between to trees, melting into the shadows in a way that would make Batman jealous.
Kate looked around, now that they were relatively out of danger. The loud fire raging in the factory behind them filling her ears with crackles and pops as thick black smoke rose into the sky.
"Looks like we chose the right guy to lead," Robin said, walking up to Aqualad, "Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman!" Robin laughed and Kate couldn't help but chuckle as she passed them.
"Good luck, I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers." The blonde smirked as the Atlantean gave her a small smile.
~~*~~
STAR CITY
The Arrowcave, Queen Manor
July 23, 03:15 PDT
"Dinah- Ow!" Kate yelped as her mentor all but slapped the bandage on over the freshly stitched bullet wound.
"What happened to recon Kate? Observe and report. That's all you had to do. Yet here you are, down a pint of blood and collecting bullet wounds like the doll maker collects victims." Dinah Lance was a strong, independent woman, and was not to be messed with when she went into what Kate and Oliver had coined 'mom-mode'. It was best to just apologize for whatever you fucked up and hope for the best.
"Things evolved in the field, like they always do. Plus, it didn't help that for the first half of the mission Wally and Robin were bickering like an old married couple about who would be a better leader." Kate rolled her eyes, pulling up the collar of her oversized t-shirt that may or may not have belonged to Oliver at some point.
Hopping off the cold medical table, Kate walked over to her bloody suit.
"You have to be more-"
"Careful, I know." Kate poked a finger through the hole in the shoulder and sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I'll do better."
"Kate, I didn't mean-" Dinah cut herself off, taking a breath before starting again. "You did well, don't believe for a second you didn't. Most seasoned veterans don't adapt as well in the face of exigent circumstances as you and the team did, especially you." Kate looked to her mentor out of the corner of her eye, still fiddling with her suit shirt. "I'm so proud of you, I would have wanted you to come back without two grazes, and with all your blood in your body, but that doesn't make me any less proud."
Kate dropped her eyes to her uniform, feeling a burning sensation in her eyes that was worse than being shot.
She hadn't known that she had wanted someone to say those words to her, not until she moved in with Dinah and was surrounded by warmth, love, and acceptance. Things she had never truly experienced in her life and were completely foreign to her.
It was overwhelming to the teen, to have people actually care about her, if she was alive or not, if she was eating right, or was feeling okay emotionally. She had always had to be fine, because no one had ever been there to lift her back up when she wasn't, she had to do it on her own.
But she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve Dinah's... everything.
"I froze." Dinah just looked at the girl, letting her speak in her own time, "Robin was pinned under some Walmart Voldemort's foot and- and I froze." Kate finally admitted, the confession having pent up in her from the second she failed in the field. "I could have helped him... but it was like my legs were stuck in concrete and all I could think of was back in one of my group homes – I couldn't breathe."
"It's okay-"
"How? What would have happened if Robin got hurt? If any of them got hurt and I could have stopped it but... didn't. Because of my own fucked up head."
"Hey." Dinah's voice steeled, "It happens to the best of us, it's even happened to me. We may be heroes but we're not perfect and that's okay. All you can ever do is your best." Dinah wrapped an arm around the teens shoulders gently and just let Kate feel what she needed to feel in that moment.
"I don't want to disappoint you." Kate's voice broke under her stress. Dinah was shocked, her eyes going wide, a slight sting as she took in Kate. Seeing the stress in her sagging shoulders and the worry in her misty eyes and wanting to kick herself.
"You could never disappoint me."
Dinah was almost knocked off her feet when the younger girl turned abruptly and wrapped her arms around her waist, clutching onto the woman tightly.
The older woman, feeling her shoulder dampen, held on just as tightly. Petting the girl's hair that was an exact shade match to her own. Gently cooing to her as Oliver came down the metal stairs, freezing when he saw the scene before him. Not knowing what had happened but joining in on the hug anyway.
The feeling of Oliver's presence was what made Kate break, a quiet sob ripping itself from her throat as her body began to shake, the two adults only held on tighter as if they could put her broken pieces back together, if they just held on tight enough.
Kate slowly calmed down, sniffling quietly against Dinah's shoulder, "Guys? I can't breathe." Oliver and Dinah chuckled and gave the girl some space, her deep blue eyes bloodshot and the tip of her nose was a shade of red that could rival Rudolph's. "I'm sorry about the suit."
"Not a problem, a new one can be made. You though? Irreplaceable." Oliver said wiping away the tears tracks from her cheeks and pinching her chin. Drawing a stuffy chuckle from the girl, a smile coming to her face. "The next one will definitely be a Kevlar tri-polymer, so that this doesn't happen again." Oliver gestured to her shoulder, where the thick white bandage was peeking out of the short sleeve of her shirt.
"Thanks Ollie, Dinah," Kate said quietly, her voice rough, "For everything." Kate felt a lump grow in her throat and if she hadn't of just expelled every last free drop of water in her body, she was sure her eyes would have started to water again.
"No need to thank us. You're family, and we love you." Dinah smiled gently at the girl, her eyes holding an intensity that gave no room for Kate to doubt her words, "Now, come on, I'm sure you're tired, you've had an eventful night." The older woman led Kate to the metal stairs, Oliver trailing behind them as they all entered the Queen Manor.
"Get some rest kiddo, you deserve it." Kate smiled tiredly up at the two adults and started upstairs, stopping at the landing.
"Goodnight, love you."
Oliver and Dinah's eyes went wide, growing to the size of plates. But before they could say anything the teen disappeared down the hallway. The two adults shared a look and Oliver slung an arm over Dinah's shoulder, kissing the side of her head.
"She's going to be okay, she's strong."
"Yeah, she is." Dinah muttered, letting Oliver pull her up the staircase opposite the one Kate had gone up, leading her to their room in a separate wing of the house.
~~*~~
MOUNT JUSTICE
July 25, 13:06 EDT
The day had come, Batman was finally here to give them the bat glare of all bat glares. The team standing side by side as if in a firing line. That's what it felt like to Kate anyway.
"A simple recon mission. Observe and report. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then... Good job." Kate, along with the rest of the team did a double take, had Batman just... complimented them? On their shit show of a first mission? Is this real life? "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, how you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character."
The blonde, as well as the rest of the team, stood a little taller, their posture a little prouder.
This whole team thing... might just work out.
~~*~~