October 16

Danny woke up gasping breathlessly. He tried to breathe, force air through his lungs but it was like the organ just refused to expand. There was a stabbing pain in his chest that nearly overwhelmed all his senses.

His body ached everywhere, in part because a very panicked Cujo was standing right on his stomach. The pup looked beyond frightened as he struggled to hold onto one form. Switching wildly between his pup and hound form, Cujo licked at his face. His claws accidentally scratched through his clothes, the delicate puppy claws turning into almost talon like claws as he seemed to accidentally switch again. Danny groaned, unable to tell if he felt wet and sticky from sweat or ghost dog drool.

A soft grunt next to him alerted him that he wasn't as alone as he first thought. Sitting up, he saw Dick waking up too. Cujo jumped slightly, nearly tripping as he unexpectantly shifted between forms again. Now licking Dick's face, he noted he didn't have his glasses on anymore. Come to think of it, Danny also didn't have a mask on. Looking around, he noted the familiar barren room they were in.

Huh, he didn't remember going for a nap together in Dick's room at Mount Justice.

Memories rushed back like he got hit by a mental freight train. The aliens, Aqualad, Superboy, the explosion.

He scrambled up, untangling his hand from Dick's as he tried to look for injuries. Dick freaked out too, more so over the fact Danny nearly face planted into him as a wave of dizziness overtook his brother.

Unable to find the words, Danny could only make some strangled noises of panic as he checked underneath his brother's hoodie and through his hair. Pulling off some sticky electrodes from his temple, he just had to make sure everything was okay. Somehow there weren't any injuries, even though Danny knew there was a cut right behind his hairline that Dick had tried to hide.

Waking up enough to remember what happened himself, Dick, too, fearfully checked over Danny. Starting with the compression bandage that had disappeared. Did the blast burn it away? Where did the open wounds go? Danny's temperature was also not quite where it should be. Ignoring the slimy feeling of Cujo's drool, he felt only slightly cold to the touch. Since when was he running a fever? Had he been sick before?

They couldn't think too long over it as Cujo rapid fire shifted before finally settling again and stepped right on Dick's leg with his full hound sized weight. With the grace of a rodeo bull, the panicked pup pushed them both down again. Tail wagging wildly and slamming into the wall, it's speed and height changing so much it nearly looked like a helicopter. Dick was surprised there wasn't a hole yet, or that he hadn't broke his tail. Small wines escaped the pups throat as he pawed at Danny's chest.

Danny reached up, careful with his arm as he still expected it to suddenly start hurting again. Without the compression bandage on there, his arm felt naked. "I'm okay, boy. We're okay. Somehow." He glanced over to Dick who nodded as well. Unease was clear on both their faces. Nothing made sense, especially not with Cujo around.

Cujo knew better.

Cujo knew Mount Justice wasn't a safe place for him to come over with Wolf around. If the wolf mutant could smell ghost dog on Danny, he'd definitely go insane over the actual ghost dog being here. Cujo wouldn't come unless there was danger. Something bad enough that it spooked him.

What could have possibly happened for Cujo to show up now?

Danny was certain the aliens had gotten him. He tried, secretly, to call on Cujo. The pup had always seemed to have a sixth sense for when Danny was in trouble. Lately he seemed to have gotten one for Dick as well. Yet, he never got a response or even the feeling Cujo was around.

The more he thought about it, the more he started to worry. If the Aliens didn't get him, then where was he the entire time? Why didn't he come check-up on them. Why couldn't he sense him nearby, even before he woke up? But then again, they both also didn't make it out of the mothership. Danny knew what dying felt like, he had more experience than the average person after all. Nothing was making sense anymore.

Dick tried to pull Cujo's head down, keeping his arms loose enough should the pup grow into a hound with no warning. "It's okay, Cujo, estas bone. Calm down. We're here." He patted his head. Every now and again he'd use both hands to massage around the pup's floppy ears before resuming pets.

Danny shuffled a bit closer again, lifting up Cujo's body so it was resting in his lap while Cujo's head stayed in Dick's. He sent a tiny wave of ecto in Cujo's body while petting him. It was a small trick Frostbite had taught him to calm down animal ghosts. Ghosts, by nature, are very emotional beings. Their ecto is infused with how they feel. Animal ghosts have limited communication skills so they are more dependent on projection via ecto.

Being a halfa himself, understanding ecto projected feelings didn't come as a second nature like it did for full ghosts. He'd have to create a physical link between himself and the ghost animal to get a better feel for it. Like plugging in earphones to listen to a call in a crowded room. It helped make it feel like his own emotions so he could actually understand what was going on.

From what he could tell, it wasn't a fear fear that had Cujo so spooked. It was closer to a concerned fear, an intense worry. Unexpectantly Cujo grew into a hound again. An overwhelming rush of something he could only describe as protective panic overwhelmed his senses.

Danny nuzzled into Cujo's side, using his big body as a pillow while he petted his furry friend. Whatever had Cujo so worked up, it was still bothering him and that is something Danny was worried about.

A sudden gasp forced all three heads to snap up. By the foot of the bed laid one of Robin's gloves. Live security footage from the training room displayed on the screen. Since when had that been there? Cujo snarled at it, unamused by the reminder they were not at home.

The source of the sound was M'gann, waking up from her own uncomfortable looking nap. The team laid on metal tables in a circle. Everybody was there, even Artemis, Kaldur and Connor. Some of the others had already woken up as well, each of their mentors there consoling the various levels of upset.

Wally was leaning back against his uncle, looking rather out of it. Flash had sat himself behind him on the table. While holding Wally in a side hug, one leg was propped up on the side while the other dangled over the edge. His chin rested in the ginger hair as the man softly rubbed the boy's arm. Wally never was one to be ashamed of physical contact, especially between people he saw as family. Especially now, with what they went through, he would not turn away the comfort his uncle was willing to provide.

Artemis was still trying to sit up, supporting herself on her elbows as Green Arrow held her by the shoulders. Carefully he helped her sit upright, making sure she didn't topple over as she unsteadily shifted her weight to the edge of the table. She seemed to be consciously avoiding eye contact, no matter how hard the man tried to read her expression. Oliver was doing his best to support her, physically and emotionally, but Artemis didn't seem too open to the latter.

Kaldur was sitting painfully straight, his king holding a firm hand on his shoulder as he whispered something in Atlantean. Judging from Arthur's facial expressions it was meant to seem comforting but it didn't look like Kaldur was doing too well with the attention after sacrificing himself. With Kaldur not looking him in the eye, the boy missed the few times Arthur glanced away.

Superboy was the only one who seemed to ignore Black Canary, not having a true mentor of his own as Superman had yet to pull his head out of his ass. The clone was petting Wolf much like how Dick was petting Cujo. The mutant seemed to have a few scratches but they weren't actively bleeding from the looks of it. Though Wolf seemed calm for the most part, his eyes flickered towards their hallway every now and again.

Just off to the side, barely in frame, they could see Batman pulling Martian Manhunter off of the floor. Much like the team had done for most of their time spent with the man, Batman supported his friend as he wobbled to his feet. He helped J'onn walk over to where M'gann was sitting on her own table. Letting the man sit down on the empty table that presumably would have been Dick's.

M'gann looked around the room excitedly, confusion quickly morphing into glee. "You're all alive!" She exclaimed, helping J'onn sit down.

"What happened in there?" Batman asked softly, usual grunt toned down in an unusual show of consideration.

"The exercise. It all went wrong."

"What exercise?" Connor grunted, softly glaring at the two Leaguers as Wolf let out a soft growl. Cujo responded in kind, not liking the show of aggression even if it was just a screen.

Batman looked at him, his usual scowl also notably missing. "Try to remember." All heads of the team looked over to the Dark Knight. Missing memories were never fun and each and every one of them has had experience with it already. The fact it happened again put everybody on edge.

"What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the six of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in." Right, Dick remembered that. It was scheduled for a week ago but something happened that made Batman postpone it to today. Danny had come along as Dick wanted to show off without being limited to patrols or unsanctioned kidnappings. He had even helped set up the neuron connectors for the supervision.

It was quite a pain to get it all set up so their subconscious would be displayed on screens at the head of their tables. It was meant as a way for the mentors to see what the team was seeing and where their focus was during stress situations. To quite literally look through the teams eyes as they went through the motions.

"What you didn't know was that it was a train for failure exercise. No matter what the team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow worse." Dick held Cujo's head closer. It was slowly starting to make more sense, even if he didn't like it.

"Still, you were aware nothing was real. Including the deaths of the entire Justice League."

"That is why you hardly grieved, even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes. But all that changed when Artemis died." Manhunter continued, taking a stand again to face the entire team next to Batman. A few heads turned to look at the archer, but she didn't look up even with all the stares on her. A harsh reminder that her mistake is what set it all in motion. Oliver tried to reach out, hold her hand and tell her it's okay, but she just turned away from them all.

"Though consciously, Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction. She forgot it was only an exercise." M'gann inhaled sharply, tears starting to well in her eyes as it dawned on her that she had caused all this grief for her friends. "And her subconscious took control, making all of you forget as well."

It was all coming back for Danny. He had been there, hiding in the back of the room while the mentors joked around. Watching everything like they were watching security feed from different angles. It was cool, and creepy, but cool. He saw how Dick reacted when Artemis got killed. The small spike in his heartbeat, the way he kept looking down, hands twitching every now and again. He knew the feeling of being alone while suffering with a loss all too well.

All he wanted was to try and reach out, offer him comfort. If M'gann's subconscious was still responding on the outside, then it would make sense for Dick to feel some type of comfort, right? Even if it was just minimal, it was better than nothing. One moment he was trying to weave between mentors, trying to avoid phasing through them so they wouldn't get the telltale chill down their spines.

Or...Was he already there?

A headache stabbed through his skull as he tried to piece his memories together. He didn't start out in there, that he was sure of. He saw Dick, certainly, but was he on the table, or was he in the bioship? That he was less sure of. His memories didn't make much sense. It almost felt like both realities were overlayed and he couldn't tell which one was the right one. The only thing he was sure of was that all he wanted to do was just hold Dick's hand and tell him it'll be okay. The next, actually clear memory he has, he was on the front lines defending the people from an invasion.

M'gann got up from the table, backing away a few steps as the tears started flowing freely. "I...I'm so sorry." Her voice trembled as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to seek out comfort but not able to face her uncle. It was her fault, and he got hurt trying to fix her mistake.

"This isn't her fault!" Connor yelled out in her defense. Sitting up straighter and facing the two Leaguers, Wolf mirroring his actions. "Why didn't you stop the exercise?" Though he remained seated, perhaps due to the dizziness that he was trying to hide, they knew the clone's anger issues would easily have made him get in their face had it been any other time.

"We tried." Martian Manhunter answered sternly, not fazed by the hidden threats in the clone's voice. "But M'gann had a death grip on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should have awakened upon her death, was so convinced she had passed that she slipped into a coma." Artemis tensed up at that, her frown deepening. Oliver tried to softly pull her into a one armed hug, which she surprisingly enough permitted for now. Taking it as a win, he pulled her closer to his chest, pressing a ghost of a kiss onto her temple.

"Due to... unforeseen circumstances," Wolf cut him off, sneering down the hall, in the direction of the bedrooms. A few mentor's heads snapped in the same direction, looking oddly tensed, but nobody said anything on it. Cujo growled in response, slightly getting up from his position. Danny pushed him down slightly, trying to send calming feelings through their ecto connection as he tried his best to not overthink the statement. "It's not your fault. Don't you even dare think that it was." Dick held onto Danny's hand, giving it a tight squeeze as he tried to comfort both him and Cujo.

"I realized I would have to wrest control from Miss Martian's subconscious from within. But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion." Manhunter looked over the team as he spoke, guilt stricken faces of the team avoiding his gaze, unrightfully so. It was none of their faults that it was an overwhelming feeling. Clearly he himself underestimated the strength of their emotional connections. "There was...too much noise to think clearly. To remember why I was there."

"The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped." Kaldur somehow tensed up even more, looking like a well wound up spring that was about to shoot into space. It can't have been nice, hearing a superior say that his death was beneficial. That giving up his life for the sake of his team was helpful. Was his life not worth more than that? As if he could tell what the teen was thinking, Aquaman squeezed Kaldur's shoulder. A soft frown adorned his face, still ever so gentle. Kaldur looked up, meeting his king's eyes for just a moment before looking down again. It seemed to have helped, at least, as his muscles finally started to relax a little.

"But only when the mothership exploded, and Robin, Phantom and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose. To shock M'gann out of the exercise, before your comas became permanent." Nobody moved a muscle, not even the mentors who witnessed it all first hand on the monitors as well. Not just the team, but they too were there to see each of them fall one by one. To see the kids they held near and dear to their hearts lose their lives and almost lose them in real life too.

"My apologies. I had no idea a training exercise could be so dangerous. So damaging."

M'gann was the first to break, quiet sobs escaping her throat as she tried to cover them up. Canary walked up to her, holding her tightly as the overwhelming sense of responsibility crushed down on her. Connor tried to follow, walking about halfway to her before he stopped. Unsure how to help, how to comfort her, he stood there awkwardly.

Feeling helpless wasn't something Connor liked, or experienced often. Upset turned to anger as he faced Batman again. "Why are we the only ones getting a speech. Where are Robin and Phantom or whatever his face is." Wolf got up at the mention of their little intruder, snarling at the same hallway again. Some of the mentors tensed up as well, grabbing the attention of the team.

Batman openly glared at the clone. Manhunter seemed like he would answer but before he could, his knees gave out under him. In a swift motion, Batman caught the man and supported him with an arm under his shoulder. Sparing a glance at J'onn, he deemed it not urgent enough to pull away just yet. Just a momentary lapse in strength as the man was yet to recover from the ordeal. Aquaman came over as well, supporting J'onn on the other side to take pressure off of Batman. "Their absence was a matter of personal safety. What happened is none of your concern."

Wolf seemed to disagree, openly growling down the hallway, a guttural bark filtered between every now and again. The mentors tensed up in an instant, Aquaman and Green Arrow keeping an eye on the mutated canine, ever so slightly twitching towards him. Connor grabbed onto Wolf, more so to calm him down but also as a precaution just in case. He knew, they all knew, that whatever Batman wasn't telling was why Wolf was acting out. Barry, Oliver and Arthur all glanced at Batman, not openly questioning his answer but silently making their disagreement known.

Cujo, apparently, had had enough of the constant displays of aggression from Wolf. Without any warning, he jumped off the bed. Growing back into his hound form, the ghost pup stood tall and barked wildly. "Cujo trankviliĝu! Kio eniris vin." (calm down! What's gotten into you) Danny got up slightly, trying to get a hold of Cujo's collar before he got any smart ideas. Dick shimmied over to the foot of the bed, holding onto Cujo from the other side. Not able to physically do much, he opted to just calmly pet the hound like before, hoping it would have an effect like before.

Echoes of Cujo's barking filtered over the audio from the security feed, somehow unbothered by the supersenses proofed walls of the bedroom. The barks were nearly just as clear as if Cujo was right in the room with them. Wolf made a move in the direction of the bedrooms, clearly ready to fight the other.

Connor had to lean backwards to counter the force Wolf was pulling at, trying to keep him under control as much as he could. Kaldur got up as well, aiding Connor in holding onto Wolf. Oliver moved to stand between Wolf and Artemis, blocking her just in case the boys lost grip. Barry didn't react as much, simply pulling Wally closer and wrapping his arms tighter around his nephew.

Batman ignored their struggles, opting to check over J'onn. "I am fine, my friend. You need not worry for me." The Martian reassured. Batman lingered just a bit, not too sure but trusting Arthur to keep an eye on the man. With a stern nod, Batman started walking away and towards the echoing barking. The closer he got, the more intense the barks got, as if the beast behind the door could sense him approaching.

Wally tried to get up, to follow and go check on his best friend, but Barry held him back. "Shouldn't somebody go with him?" Wally asked, tilting his head up to look at his uncle. Worry flashed over his face as he finally took notice on a bruise forming, or rather healing, on Barry's temple. He gave his uncle a quick once over, noticing some scratch marks on the leg he had kept off the table. Why was he purposely hiding an injury? When did that even happen? He was fine when they started. With the rate Barry healed at, it had to be very recent.

Looking around at the other mentors, he could notice they all watched Batman leave tensely. "No, he knows what to do." Oliver answered, softly glaring in the same direction Wolf was still barking at. Wally finally glanced over at the mutated animal, noting the red slashes against its white fur.

Just what the hell happened while they were under?

Clearly, the mentors and Wolf knew something that they weren't allowed to tell the team. Or, at the very least, not everybody on the team. Batman had mentioned it was a personal safety concern, but never specified what type of safety. Something really didn't sit right with that, especially since all adults in the room knew of a certain secret that the team didn't know. Wally was going to make sure his uncle spilled when they get home. He'll even drag in Iris if he had to, Barry's sanity be damned.