𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚝, 𝙱𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚊
𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝚝𝚑, 𝟶𝟼:𝟷𝟺 𝙴𝚂𝚃

A pounding headache greeted me upon waking up, I held my hand as my other one supported me as I tried to sit up. Sand came off of it as I almost touched it to my head, I cleared the sand off my eyelids as I blinked, my hands coming to the ground to feel the soft, dry sand underneath me.

Why was I here? And judging by the outfit, why wasn't Failsafe here? Actually, where was Failsafe? Not a day went by when she wasn't here when I woke up.

I stood up, hating myself for this outfit and wishing Faislafe would come out and change it into something appropriate, like shorts and a tank top along with a fifty-pound wattle jug because my throat is so dry.

Which raised the question, did I eat sand, or have I been out here that long?

Probably the second one, I don't remember eating sand, but then again I don't remember getting here either.

I'm scared, afraid to be out here, especially with it being so dark. Don't deserts go from hot to extremely cold at night? Like, enough to kill you with the temperature drop. How was I still alive?

I felt something resonate in my chest, and I wasn't afraid. Failsafe is still here, still with me. I'll be okay, she'd kept me safe, she would never let anything happen to me. Because she promised.

I stood up and looked around, sandhills for miles with only a few, dead bushes around, and some other plants I couldn't identify. Not even a cactus.

I took in a dry breath, trying to get my wits about me. Okay, what does dad usually say to do in survival scenarios?

Uhh, I try to think, find food and a water supply and try to find cover before night. Only move when you know it's safe, so only during the day when in dangerous and unfamiliar places and during the night when in familiar places.

Okay, it's dark now, so I should stay put. But, I looked around anyway, and every direction looked the same. I licked my index finger and held it up to the air but there was no breeze. The hot air barely moved. Hot air?

I looked up, the moon was setting in the sky. Okay, okay, that was good. It meant morning, and morning meant direction.

But, morning in a desert? That means it was about to get hot. I removed the half jacket Failsafe usually wore as her hero suit, the sleeveless turtleneck wasn't going to do much for me, but I'd rather keep it on for a little while, it's not as hot yet, and I don't want to walk around in a bra yet.

I will if I have to, but that's not going to be my first option. I also removed my leggings, keeping on the shorts. I couldn't do anything about the boots, but it was better than going barefoot and burning my soles on hot sand.

I noticed the toolbelt hanging off my waist, which was new. Had we had a costume update and I hadn't known about it? Had we stolen it? Did someone give it to us?

My head throbbed and I groaned, clutching it. It doesn't matter where it came from, it just mattered that I had it. In it might be supplies, and those were invaluable right now while I try to figure things out.

The toolbelt. One that looked eerily similar to the one I'd seen on Robin on the news. I looked through it, one pouch was filled with three granola bars, and another had a tiny flask. I shook it close to my ear, noting how it was less than half full. Another had weapons. No cool weapons like a batarang or taser, or something to keep me safe from other people, but I did find three versions of a retractable knife in one pouch. Survival supplies for survival, not for survival from other people.

That was, comforting, right?

I left everything in the toolbelt not wanting to waste anything yet, only taking out one of the knives and holding it in my hand as I continued onward.

Just in case.

I looked up at the moon again, seeing the direction it set in. From what I know, that should be west. So I need to go northwest to go north. My head ached again as I tried to remember it correctly, okay, okay, let's assume I'm right for the sake of my splitting headache.

I started walking in the direction I believed to be north, sliding down the hill I was on and trudging my way through the sandy desert. I stuffed my extra clothes into a stretchy pouch on my toolbelt.

I climbed up another hill and slipped as soon as I got on top of it, falling down. I spit sand out of my mouth.

Ow, what the fuck. I groaned and stood back up. Looking around, nothing still.

Okay, this is going to be a long walk back to the watchtower.

Wait, wait, the watchtower is in space.

Crap.

It's a little while later that I take my first sip of water, relishing in the sweet, refreshing taste of H2O and a bite of granola. Then I keep on going, not stopping. I have to find something, anything, a landmark I can go off of. Somewhere to recollect myself and help me if I get lost. With the sun steadily making its way known in the sky, I need to figure something out fast. Before I'm running around giving myself heatstroke lost somewhere in the desert. I'd be dead by the time anyone found me, without Failsafe's help. And she felt so faint now.

What the hell happened?

I wasn't worried, she'd be okay, she's Failsafe and she's strong, but I was majorly confused.

I continued on. I just need something, anything, to base where I'm going off of.

So the only thing I can do for now? Strive forward.

I tried rationing food as best I could, a single granola bar had gotten me through a couple of hours and the water I had left had done great to get me by, but with it being midday, the sun high up in the sky, beating down on me and becoming worse by the minute, I doubted I'd do as good as I'd been if something didn't happen soon.

I took one final bite of my granola bar before stuffing it into my belt, another sip of my remaining water before stuffing that away too. The knife rested by my crouched form, I grabbed it as I put my flask away.

And then I was jumped from behind, and with a yelp, I was pressed face-first into the ground.

A leg was pressed against my lower back, and a hand made its way over my mouth. The person wasn't heavy, but they knew how to use what they did have to their advantage.

Their other hand went down to mine and bent my wrist, taking away my knife. I struggled against them.

"Shh, quiet. They'll hear us." The person spoke, their voice sounded young and almost familiar. I listened to him, only because he sounded around my age, and he was clearly hiding from some people. I had no idea who was who or what was happening, but it sounded like if I was caught with him then I'd be in trouble only through distance association.

I heard trucks pass us by, and men yelling in a foreign language before the boy let me go. I scrambled away from him and took a good look as soon as they were far enough away.

He looked like Robin. He was Robin.

He was Robin. Oh my god, he was Robin.

Why was I in the same area, desert as Robin? Was this a league mission and Batman brought him in?

No. He wouldn't do that. He values the Boy Wonder too much for that.

"He– Hi?" I squeaked as I realized he'd been trying to convince me he meant me no harm and that he was only trying to help.

He paused, before squeaking out a hello of his own. I sighed.

"Do you know where we are? What happened? I can't remember anything."

He looked confused for a moment, before pulling up a hologram, "I'm not sure, I don't remember anything either," He looked up at me, "I'm guessing you're not a local?"

I scoffed, "Unless this is Florida? No, don't think so."

I got up, brushing myself free of dust.

"September? What happened to March?!" I looked over at his screen.

"Bialya?! That's a real place?!"

The sidekick looked at me funnily, "Yeah, definitely not a local."

I eyed him, "I don't like your tone, kind sir."

He held up his hands, "Just confirming some things."

I shook my head, letting go of it, "You said you don't remember anything?"

"Six months of memory, poof," He expanded his hand near his ear, trying to make it seem like an explosion.

"Same, I'm as lost as you are," I confirmed this with him, looking around again, trying to look for something in the area I might've missed, something that might help us.

There was some black fabric hanging off a rock, Superman's symbol on it. I looked at Robin, concerned, "Superman doesn't happen to have a black suit, does he?"

He shook his head, mask creasing like his eyebrows would have furrowed, "I don't think so."

I held the piece of fabric up, "then this could be worrying."

"Worrying indeed."

There was a worried silence between us before he held his finger up to his ear, "Better radio Batman."

I nodded, staying quiet. I noticed I didn't have a comm on, did I drop it? Or had Failsafe taken it off?

If so, thanks a ton, Failsafe, truly a great move on your part.

"Or not," Before Robin could talk, he removed his own finger from the comms before he could talk to anyone. I raised an eyebrow but didn't question him. He's the more experienced hero, and right now, despite my impulsiveness and pride, I knew when to step back and let more experienced people handle a job.

"We should go then, right? Do you have something identifying on that map of yours?" I questioned him.

He looked down as his map came back into focus, powered by his glove. There was a flashing red marker a couple of clicks from us, "Actually, yeah."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go, bird boy."

"Don't call me that!" His voice cracked and I thought I saw him blush as I turned around, going in the direction of the marker. Probably just the sun though, my own face was getting quite hot too.

Or who knows? Maybe it was embarrassment.

Either way, we've got a distance to go, might as well get some enjoyment out of having a sidekick companion. Especially such a cool one like Robin.

__________
𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚝, 𝙱𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚊
𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟷:𝟸𝟸 𝙴𝙴𝚂𝚃

"I don't remember why I put a marker here, let's hope it's important," Robin muttered.

I huffed, "Better be, we've been walking and dodging Bialyans for hours."

My snark was noticeable, palpable, but the sidekick ignored it.

"Well, we are missing memories, as far as I know, this could have been tampered with, or a location put by mistake, maybe whatever's here is gone–"

"Okay, okay, I get it." I cut him off, "You overthink things, I'm sure whatever was there still is."

"You're awfully hopeful," He sounded amused.

"You're awfully pessimistic for a hero," I pointed out.

He shrugged, a happy noise coming out of his mouth, "A couple of years on this job and you learn a thing or two. Like never expect anything."

I bit my cheek, that sounded saddening, and without me even noticing I had asked him a question.

"Not even a thank you?"

He chuckled, "Well, when you work for Batman, praise isn't something that's said often," He stressed the word said, but even if he hadn't I would have understood. Batman prefers to express things with actions other than words.

I looked at the boy, frowning and walking over to him. Wrapping my arms around him.

"He appreciates you, and so do I. And so do all the civilians you fight for every day." I broke away from his confused state, smiling.

"Just wanted to let you know. Everyone deserves a thank you being said out loud, every now and again," I turned on my heel, "Now, let's go, the marked spots just up ahead, right?"

"Yeah, it is. And thanks." He looked at his hologlove again, more confident. He walked ahead of me and surveyed the area.

"Wait," He held out an arm and pulled me down before we could go over the sandhill. He brought a finger to his lip and I shut up. Nothing good would come out of not listening to him, of talking late at night in an enemy country with no superpowers and only one person as backup.

Though, if something were to happen, I can feel her well up in my thoughts, I knew Failsafe would protect me and deal with anything that came our way.

"I'll check it out first, stay here." He whispered before jumping over the sandhill. I nodded and poked my head up, watching as he slowly approached the giant gray machine with glowing buttons on every side that I could see.

As soon as he got close enough, Bialyan soldiers rose up from their camouflage and shouted in their native language. I ducked under the sandhill, hoping they didn't see me. I'd leave this to Robin, he was better trained, all I had was a knife with no idea how to use it.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'd just get in his way. Fights may be cool, but I also kinda want to live to see my memories again.

I heard the sound of something go off, not a gun, but something, and then smoke. Gunshots rang out soon after, I covered my ears to try and prevent as much ear damage as I could.

Hearing loss is permanent, unfortunately. And I'm not ready to lose my hearing just yet. Though, it's not like I listen to other people anyway, heh.

Maybe I should start doing that. Then maybe I wouldn't end up in situations like this.

Nah. Nope, nada. Where's the fun in that?

The gunshots stopped a few moments after they began, but I still heard the sound of skin connecting in a violent manner, so I didn't look no matter how much I wanted to. Robin hadn't told me not to look, but I knew that if I did I'd want to join in and get myself shot by accident, and that didn't seem fun at all. Plus, I'd be a hindrance to him.

Yeah, keep telling myself that. Keep saying that so you don't look at the super-duper cool spy movie-style fight happening right behind you, (Y/n)...

I'm gonna get myself killed one day.

"(Y/n)! You okay over there?" The Boy Wonder called and I popped my head up at the sound of his voice, seeing a black rendition of Kid Flash's costume and his iconic red hair along with a tall blond and floating Martian chick.

Oh great, more unsolved mysteries.

I would be so happy about this if today hadn't been such a downer.

"Yeah, I'm fine, actually, just enjoying the nice breeze and the sound of gunshots, reminds me of home." I slid down the hill, tripping over the sand, Robin caught my arm.

"Thanks."

"No problem," His smile was infectious, I found myself copying it.

"Yo, Rob, when did you get a girlfriend?" Kid Flash asked, smirking as he looked down at us, Robin's hand still on my upper arm.

"We're not–"

"He got one a lot sooner than you did, that's for sure. Seriously, who let you fight crime dressed like a banana?" The words left my mouth without a second thought. I had no regrets about it either.

Robin and the Archer started to laugh and Kid Flash blundered, trying to think of a comeback, but didn't say anything. Meanwhile, the Martian stared at me, as if she were troubled by my presence. Rude.

Robin let go of my arm and we walked over, gathering up as Kid Flashes group tried to explain the situation to me and the Boy Wonder.

"So, we're a team?" Robin asked, trying to get everything straight once everything had been laid out on the, metaphorical, table.

"I thought it was the four of us and Superboy, but," The Martian, Megan, looked at me, "now I'm not so sure."

Robin and the gang looked at me too and I crossed my arms, "I don't know about that." Robin looked back at Megan, "She doesn't really seem like she's anything more than a civilian."

"We have had six months of memories erased though," Kid Flash pointed out, "Besides, we're in the middle of Bialya and she's definitely," He stressed the word, "Not a local."

"And you are so not the type to sneak a girl into a mission, dangerous or not."

"Stop that!" Robin elbowed his friend. I chuckled as the redhead rubbed the impact point on his arm like it had actually hurt.

"Superboy, huh?" I asked, all the attention on me now, I pulled the spare fabric from my toolbelt and handed it to the female redhead.

"Me and Robin found this, if it's anything important."

She took it from me, inspecting the fabric. Her eyes lit up before getting sad, "Yes, this is Superboys!" She looked me in the eyes, "Did you see him?"

I shook my head, no, I haven't seen him. I felt bad for telling her I hadn't as she dimmed a little more. I felt as if I had disappointed her. And I guess, in a way, I had. Which sucks. I'd rather her have been angry or pouty or something, everyone knows disappointment was worse!

"I think we did," Artemis tried to recall.

"Feral boy? Some teammate he is, he attacked us." Kid Flash spoke up, haughty.

"He didn't know who we are. I don't know who we are," The masked archer defended him.

Robin stepped up to fill in some blanks, "I remember Batman ordering radio silence, our team must work for him!"

I snorted, "Okay, I may think Batman is cool and stuff, but I'd never willingly work under him, he's... He values the mission way too much for me, personally," Everyone stopped as they heard my comment, giving me weird looks before Kid Flash brushed me off, rude.

"How do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Kid Flash jabbed at his chest, the uniform turning from black and gray to bright yellow and red. "Whoa, this is so cool," Kid Flash expressed his delight over this discovery by repeatedly touching his chest and changing the colors.

Robin and Artemis touched their chests to see if they had that same tech on them but to no avail. Artemis put her hands on her hips, "We look ridiculous."

It's getting colder, now that the temperatures are dropping for the night now. I'm glad Robin gave me the chance to change back into my leggings when we first sensed the drop. I grabbed the half jacket from my stretchy pouch and put it on, mumbling, "You think you look ridiculous?"

"Quit touching yourself!" Artemis smacked Kid Flash's hand away from his chest before looking at Megan, "We need our memories back!"

"I mean, I don't really understand everything of what's happening, but as long as one of us understands the mission," I motioned to Megan, "then does it really matter at the moment? They'll have to come back eventually." I reasoned, everyone looked at me, befuddled.

"That's a terrible idea." Robin deadpanned.

"What? I mean, the splitting headache isn't ideal, but that's even more of a deterrent, really, I kinda don't wanna make that headache worse," I shrugged.

"What kind of reason is that?!" Artemis yelled, "That's so shortsighted, getting our memories back would help with that headache of yours, it would give us some direction, and oh, yeah, it's six months of our lives we would be getting back!" She exclaimed, her voice getting higher as she went on. I stepped back, letting her rant.

"Okay, okay, you've proved your point."

Megan shifted, squirming around in her spot as if she were debating something. And then suddenly the world disappeared, leaving only echoes of memories and the glowing hue of minds merging, past events unveiled using all points of view stretching from only Megan's mind and our fleeting memories. The shards moved around in a mechanic-like movement, trying to connect themselves to form the perfect picture, a line of disjointed events becoming more, becoming one.

It was, simply put, beautiful.

I felt Failsafe well up in my chest again, her essence clawing at the tips of my fingers and stretching down to my toes, not enough to move them, just enough to be there. The power, her power, her essence, her, I could feel it within me, faint, but it still felt like an explosion, like at any moment it could break free and destroy everything, create anything, be anything.

I missed this feeling. I missed her. This whole day hadn't been scary, nor had I been afraid, only because I knew she was there. And now here she was, the most I had felt from her this entire day.

"I've brought you into my mind, to share what I've remembered so far, but I need help. Together our broken memories can form a whole," Megan explained to us, hesitating before asking, "If you open your minds to me."

I looked at the others, looking at how they reacted to her words. I have nothing to hide, do they?

Robin seemed cool with it, Kid Flash didn't seem to mind at all, but Artemis, Artemis looked stressed.

"You wanna paw through our private thoughts?" Artemis got defensive, putting her hands over her chest like a barrier. She's afraid of something, and I don't think it's just her secret identity getting leaked. What are you hiding, archery girl? I'm intrigued now.

Aye, no, stop it. Nothing good will come from invading someone's personal space like that.

"I have no wish to intrude, but..." Megan became timid at Artemis' dismissal.

Robin stepped up, nonchalantly, "You need to hack our minds to grok what happened to us. Go." He gave the Martian girl a finger gun for assurance.

"I have nothing to hide, go for it." I offered to her.

"My brain's all yours. Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you," Kid Flash flirted with her.

"Or underwhelm you. Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" Shots fired at the speedster, a noise of amusement escaped my closed mouth.

"Last six months only. And only what you need," Artemis gave in after sucking in a breath and gripping her hand around Kid Flashes after he took hers.

'We will also open up to you, M'gann, our memories have not been affected, thus, we believe we can be of service.' Weakly, a version of my own voice made itself apparent in the air around us, the mind around us.

"Who was that?" Kid Flash asked, looking around.

"I think we're about to find out." Robin shrugged.

Miss Martian's eyes glowed a brilliant white, and spectral hands came and made themselves comfy on our heads as they took in our scrambled brains' lost memories. My mind was suddenly overwhelmed with six months of memories all at once, ouch.

"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert," A flash of Batman explaining things to all of us fit in a recent flash.

"Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site. What landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee... and not a member of the league's U.N. Charter. All communications are subject to interception."

"Maintain radio silence at all times." He strictly ordered us, in my memories I had nodded to signify that I had understood him and his long-winded speech. Really, how had I paid attention that long? Man could talk for hours.

"You'll land in Qurac, on Bialya's border, two klicks from the hot zone."

"All clear." Robins, Dicks(?), voice rang out in my mind. Something fuzzy overlaid that memory though, I felt Failsafe's interference. Oh, she was keeping the memory of Robin's identity from getting out.

"The Bialyans control the site," Artemis informed the team, there was a flash of her overlooking a tent with unsavory noises coming out of it. It sounded like something was getting tortured in there.

"Set up here," Aqualad ordered. We all saw Superboy place down the giant machine in the middle of the clearing as we crowded around it to make sure it was working.

"We'll be up and running in no time," Robin said enthusiastically.

"I hope so, the sand in my boots is killing me."

"You knew we were coming to a desert, you wore the boots, deal with it."

"It's called fashion, you giant banana, you should learn a thing or two."

"Jackpot! This site's lousy with Zeta-Beam radiation!" Kid Flash exclaimed as we moved on to the next memory.

"Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent. I'll check it out in camouflage mode," Megan notified the team.

"Good idea. Go. Be careful. And maintain telepathic contact." Aqualad ordered Megan as he gave her the go-ahead.

"I will, Aqualad," Megan confirmed with him before flying off. Other memories played in our minds as they backtracked on memories from the past couple of days and months. Movie night, Klarion and Nelson, the crazy murder bots, the crazy murder Andriod, the crazy murderous drug ring, the crazy murder wind bot. Wait, hey, I'm sensing a pattern here.

Everyone gasped in shock as our memories returned all at once, the pounding headache got worse before disappearing entirely. One last hurrah I guess. The mindscape around us faded away, leaving only the desert.

"Aqualad!" Everyone yelled.

"Fish man!" I yelled instead.

"Where is he? What happened next?" Robin stammered out his question, worried.

"I don't know. That's the last thing I... We remember," Megan exclaimed in fright. She was worried too, as was I. I don't know how Atlantean physiology worked, but I'm assuming they at least have the drowning in air quality with fish if he's got gills.

"Uh, we landed 24 hours ago," Wally and Artemis separated from each other awkwardly. "If Kaldur's been wandering the desert that long, that's not good for a guy with gills." So I was right, we have to find him, and fast.

"Now that I know to look for him..." Robin trailed off, bringing up his hologlove and pinpointing his comrade's location, I sighed in relief. Let's hope he's okay.

"He's close, but he's not moving," Maybe that sigh of relief came too early.

"Well, on that note, I think we should talk about another important thing too." Everyone turned to me as I got ready to ask my question.

"What is it?" Megan asked, concerned.

"Did we leave the oven on?"
____________
𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚝, 𝙱𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚊
𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟹:𝟶𝟽 𝙴𝙴𝚂𝚃

We'd found Aqualad, Kaldur, a little ways away. Murmuring and groaning to himself, delirious. I felt his skin, he was cold, but sweating like crazy. The language he spoke was foreign to me, must be Atlantean.

Megan put his head on her lap as she looked over his mind, I stayed crouched next to him, fishing the flask out of my belt. There's not much left, and it probably wouldn't help, but I had enough water for a mouthful, at least.

It's something, right?

"I can't restore his memories in this condition." Megan sighed, defeated.

"He needs immediate rehydration. Call the Bioship," as he said this I lifted the flask to the darker man's lips and let him gulp it down.

"It's out of range, but you can get him there fast."

"Well, that's not good at all," I mumbled, trying not to be so worried about my friend. He'd be fine, there's no way he wouldn't be. But yet, why did I feel so worried?

He'd be fine, there was no doubt in my mind.

"He's too heavy and I'm too low on fuel," Wally explained. I fished my pockets for my last granola bar. "Right now, I couldn't even carry her." Next to him, Artemis scoffed.

I tossed the bar to him, and he caught it thankfully, munching down on it.

"Why not just levitate him back?" Artemis questioned Megan. The martian shook her head, "I can't. I have to find Superboy. Six months ago, he didn't exist. He has no memories, just animal impulses. I'm the only one who can help him!"

"Superboy's indestructible. Just ask those tanks," Wally pointed out, still munching on the common brand snack.

"It's Aqualad who needs your help. Like, now," Robin stressed to the green-colored girl, but she wouldn't listen.

"No! Superboy's in pain!" She flew away in a random direction, moving with purpose. Did she know where he was? Probably, if she managed to find all of us.

"M'gann, wait!" Artemis screamed after her.

"We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!" Robin exclaimed too, trying to get her to come back.

"Well, that's just great. Two teammates out and one down for the count, really, we're the best boxers in the world."

"Oh shut it, mini Wally."

"Wha? Hey! I resent that!"

"Me too!"

"Quiet, all three of you!" Robin cut in, checking his hologlove and pointing in a direction, south, I think.

"That's the direction of the bioship, lets go before Kaldur gets worse."

"Yay, more walking."

"Enough with the sarcasm." Artemis bit back.

"No you."

We made a makeshift cot out of some wood and what appeared to be tent fabric and Artemis and Wally started to drag Kaldur over the sand as we made our way to the bioship. It was the best we could do with Robin leading the way and my noodle arms that couldn't even drag Kaldur even with another person's help.

"So, there's something that we should probably talk about, doncha think?" Wally asked out of the blue, like, twenty minutes after we started walking again.

"And what would that be?" I hummed, jumping on random spots of sand that looked less bumpy or just like what I thought to be out of place enough to warrant jumping on.

"Seems like someone had another run-in with Klarion."

I laughed awkwardly, "What? No. Don't worry about it, I'm sure everything's fine."

"You really like living in denial, huh (Y/n)?" Robin asked as he continued.

"Failsafe lives in denial every day, what can I say? Don't really have the best role model." I shrugged, jumping on another dent in the sand.

"Are you at least okay?" Wally asked, I nodded, "Yup! 'M okay."

Robin's GPS buzzed and he pointed to a sandhill, "Quick, over there." He ordered us and the two older teens pulled Kaldur as Robin and I ducked behind the hill.

Kaldur moaned in pain and continued speaking in Atlantean as Bialyan soldiers moved past us in armored vehicles.

"Shh, Kaldur, quiet now," Artemis tried quieting him down.

"We can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KO'd like this," Robin bit his cheek, trying to think.

"Ugh. It's not just him. I'm way out of juice." I gave him a look and he shrugged, "Can only get you so far," was his response.

"And I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis showed her quiver to us.

"Failsafe's down for the count, and you said that I needed more training before I could fight real bad guys." I shrugged. This didn't seem ideal, maybe we could somehow wait this out?

Before I knew it, Robin vanished from sight. Even though I was looking directly at him he just, disappeared. What the hell. I don't remember him having superpowers.

Wally groaned, "I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing."

He turned to Artemis and they started talking, but i tuned them out as he asked her about something something killing in favor of peaking my head up to see a flash of darkness across the field as little blinking things were dropped on the floor.

The two got too loud at one point, so I turned around and exclaimed, "Oh my Batman, get a fucking room."

"For once, I'm going to agree with Evel Knievel here," Robin appeared in a blink of an eye next to me. My soul almost left my body and I had to stop myself from letting out the biggest screech.

"Dude, where were you?" Wally asked like this wasn't the most traumatic and terrifying moment of my life as I slowly died next to the fourteen-year-old boy.

"Breaking radio silence," Robin chuckled as he said it. Confused, I popped my head up again. The glowing things he'd dropped all around suddenly started copying his laugh, drawing the attention of the soldiers.

Robin pulled me down from the sandhill just in time for them to explode in the men's faces.

"Thanks," I mumbled as he pulled me up.

"That's our cue. Move!" Artemis and Wally brought Kaldur with them as we ran away from the still coughing soldiers.

The bioship itself took a couple of more minutes to get to, but we'd found it, piling in and the ship itself made a bed for Kaldur quickly, knowing that's what we needed, Wally found an emergency fluids bag and hooked it up to Kaldur as we all waited inside the ship.

A sigh of relief was shared by all. It's over, for the most part.

It's time to rest easy now. Hell, I don't have to be responsible anymore! Thank the almighty Wonder Woman for that, being a responsible individual is tiring.

'Hey, everybody, I've got Superboy. He's back to normal, and we're on our way,' Megan informed us elatedly.

"Who are you? And how did you get inside my head?" Panting, Kaldur shot up in a panic.

'Hello, Megan. Aqualad's memories. I knew I forgot something.' I could almost imagine her hitting her forehead.

'Oh, man, me too.' Wally whined, 'I didn't get a souvenir from the mission.' I snickered.

'Don't worry, got the souvenir thing covered,' Well, that sounded ominous? Hopeful?

Didn't matter. Everything was okay now.

__________
𝙼𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚁𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝙸𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟶:𝟸𝟼 𝙴𝙳𝚃

I sat with a blank journal in front of me, Failsafe right at the cusp of my mind.

'We're still, tired. Not here yet, it's hard.' She explained to me and I nodded, even though I didn't need to.

"So you need me to write the words down?"

'Yes, we want to start a journal. Today we couldn't protect our memories entirely, and Klarion stripped us of the ones from events yet to occur, it's strange and dangerous, terrifying. We refuse to lose anymore. So we will write them down, all of them, and protect them.'

"Oh, I get it. So then, does that mean we get to start at the beginning?!" I asked, excitedly. Was this Failsafe's way of opening up to me and telling me about her past?

'Yes, we suppose we'll start there, with the beginning of our creation.' Failsafe agreed. 'So then, May thirtieth, two thousand and eight...'

Oh, Failsafe thought I meant when we first met... She probably still doesn't want to talk about what happened. Okay then, I won't force her.

So I wrote it down.

May 30th, 2008. Jacksonville Florida, Memorial Park.