Mount Justice

The Young Justice team eagerly awaited Batman in the center of the main hall as he zeta-tubed into Mount Justice. The hum of the machine and the white light made the team face the opening with anticipation. 

Nightwing moved from the group, holding up a hand to stop anyone else from following him, and met Batman face to face. 

"Anything?" Nightwing whispered. The team stared at the two dark heroes with worried eyes.

Batman glanced to the group standing behind Nightwing. They looked too young. How did he start this? He directed his thoughts back to his protégé and lowered his voice to a somber growl. 

"Nothing you didn't already know," spoke the Dark Knight. 

Nightwing's eyes widened in surprise from sheer awe. Batman raised his arm to put on Nightwing's shoulder, but was interrupted by Impulse zooming forward in between them.

"What's that supposed to mean? Huh, Bats? You look a little paler than usual...," Impulse said as he pointed a finger at Batman. Bruce only responded to Impulse by giving his usual unamused stair. Impulse's fast speech was like a bird being squeezed next to Bruce's ear.  

Impulse gave a scoff and leaned closer to Batman's face. "You look like your hiding something. You are soooo crashing the mode."

Before Nightwing could say anything to get his friend in line, Impulse ran away. It looked like he was gathering the rest of the team in a huddle of some sort in the center of the room.

Batman sighed and walked to the middle monitor, Nightwing following his mentor's lead.

It's about time they know, Bruce thought. 

Batman pulled up Beast Boy's and Wonder Girl's profile along with some of the details of the mission they were investigating.

The team eagerly shuffled toward him. Their confused stares made Batman full of remorse. His plans always led to this kind of thing.

"What's this?!" Me'gann rushed to the front of the Young Justice huddle, "Is it news?" 

Batman could almost feel the desperation etched into her eyes. He took a breath to speak, but stopped when Nightwing placed a hand on Batman's shoulder and squeezed. Nightwing stepped forward. Batman felt melancholy, in a way. Nightwing's voice was just like Batman's. It was the way he had taught Dick to speak with diction and confidence when things went bad.

Nightwing cleared his throat, "As you all know, Cassie and Beast Boy were on a mission to intercept the smuggling of scientific instruments and samples in the Irish Conservatory of Medicine and Technology. As far as we knew, they were illegally testing unknown substances and then selling the experiments on the black market. Their mission was to covertly shut down the operation and retrieve all new inventions and prototypes from the Conservatory."

Blue Beetle separated himself from the group and spoke in a rough tone, "What kind of tech were they messing with?"

Unfazed, Nightwing said, "the only thing we know is that the tech had microbiology metamorphose or the process of-"

Artemis, looking annoyed, quickly stepped in with her short temper, "Look, Ro-"

"Nightwing," he cut in.

"I don't care right now Mr. Bird," her tone was venomous, "all I know is that you just need to cut the crap and tell us what's going on already. We've been gathered in this room for too long without a clue of what's going on. You better start talking in English."

The crowd seemed to murmur in agreement, disliking the way Dick always seemed to take his mentor's side. Impulse ran to Nightwing's face. "What are you hiding this time?"

Nightwing swallowed as he tried to continue the story in a collected manner. "The last known signal of the two was transmitted from the Irish Conservatory. They were in the Micro-Lab when it happened."

Me'gann's eyes filled with fear. "Last known signals? When it happened?" With teary eyes Me'gann flew right up to Batman. "What happened?"

Nightwing turned to face Batman and Me'gann, trying to shield Bruce from the ferocity of his team, "Megan, I-"

"Don't Megan me! What are you not telling us! What happened to them when the Conservatory burned down!"

The team grew silent. Deep inside everyone knew why the two hadn't come back from their mission; they knew that Beast Boy and Cassie were dead or were going to be soon. If the League hadn't been able to find them, who could? 

The silence in the air soon answered Me'gann's worst fear. She reached her arm up to the screen and touched the image of Beast Boy's face. "This can't be real."

Batgirl looked defeated as she stood in the back of the crowd. She felt a million miles away as she stared at Me'gann with the crowd swarming her. Cassie was the only one who knew her here, the only thing that made her want to stay. Nightwing saw her hesitation to join the group and approached her. 

"I know I should have told you," Nightwing whispered.

She answered him the same way all Bruce Wayne subjugates did, with a cold, unreadable expression. 

"Yeah, you should have," she scoffed. 

Nightwing felt he was intruding and began to walk away. The Wayne trainees were never really that close anyway. 

Batgirl grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. Her tone was warmer this time, "but you just did." She swallowed, and looked to the floor. She was trying to swallow her pride and hate for Batman. This wasn't the first time he had done something like this. 

Batgirl gripped Nightwing's shoulder tighter before speaking, "just don't expect me to like it." 

Nightwing understood exactly what she meant when she said that. He was a copy of Bruce sometimes. Batgirl released her grip on his shoulder and Nightwing returned to the front of the group.

He saw Superboy embrace Me'gann, stroking her hair and resting his chin on her head. Nigthwing looked away from them out of guilt.

Me'gann's tears soon coated the room in a layer of emptiness. The team only grew closer to them, trying to isolate the feeling of loneliness they all had. 

The team didn't look at Nightwing, and were sure to leave him out of the group, putting him on his own island. He expected as much. His team would hate him now. They always did when something went wrong. 

Me'gann turned toward Nightwing, choking on her words, "we could have done something!"

"We couldn't have," Dick said without making eye contact. 

"Who did this?!"

"We think it was the Complex."

"But you said the Complex was gone!" Screamed Artemis.

"We thought so, but new evidence is proving that they're planning something big."

"How big?" Questioned Blue Beetle, starting to match Artemis's accusatory tone.

Nightwing looked at Batman for approval and Bruce tilted his head to signal he could continue. Batgirl, saw this from afar, and only shook her head. Bruce could get his grip so deep into everyone he trained. It was pathetic. 

Nightwing crossed his arms. "It's bigger than anything we've ever dealt with before." 

Me'gann marched to a wall in frustration.

Superboy called after her, "Where are you going?"

Me'gann turned her head to view the team. She saw that they were feeling the same things as she was, they could just hide it better. She quietly replied, "I need to go. I'll be back." Me'gann phased through the wall.

The crowd, now crushed by the mood in the air, dispersed. They couldn't handle anymore Batman family pride. 

Nightwing began to pace away from them, heading to a zeta-tube. He'd fix this.

Batman stopped Nightwing from walking any further. "You didn't have to," his voice was fatherly and concerned. For some reason Nightwing scoffed. His kindness couldn't really be genuine. 

Holding his tongue, Dick only responded with, "You can't do this alone."

Batman squinted. "This isn't your concern yet."

"I believe the key word in that phrase is yet." The two faced each other. For the first time, Bruce saw who Nightwing really was: a man weighed down by the curse of the masked he had given him. 

Dick's voice was low, "I know you don't think that we can do this-"

"You can't."

"But we're heroes and that's what we do."

"There are other things you can do."

"Like what?" 

Batman didn't reply. 

Nightwing shook his head. "I know you care about us even if you don't show it. This probably tortures you with guilt. Knowing you, you'll probably hate yourself for it. Don't. You do bad things when your alone." Nightwing walked away from Bruce and was soon consumed by the unrelenting light of the zeta tubes. 

Batman was left alone in the room that was filled with the echoes of his failures. His stomach turned as he remembered the bawling Me'gann. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time he saw his comrades disappear.

The battle had started, and now, Batman was out for blood.