"He's getting away!" yelled Artemis, her shout piercing the quiet night, as a cold wind blew into their faces from the rooftops. Below them, Kaldur watched with frustration as their target, a vicious serial killer, began making a hasty get away down the street.

Usually, the Atlantean would be unconcerned at the escape attempt. There were no escape vehicles for him in sight and he wasn't moving that quickly- wounded by an arrow to the thigh earlier on in the fight.

Easy catch, right? Wrong.

Unfortunately for the team, they weren't in the best positions to seize the villain. They had split into two teams, Robin, Artemis and Kaldur on one and Wally, M'gann and Conner on the other. Kaldur's team had started their stake out up high so as to best locate and track the perpetrator when he arrived. That part of the plan had worked beautifully and the leader had instantly been able to spot the man as he arrived on the scene.

Artemis had immediately fired an arrow, injuring the murderer, but not felling him as he continued to run for shelter, now realising that he had been discovered. Usually, this would have fallen to the ground team to easily take out the runner, but it seemed that, on this particular day, fate was not on their side and Superboy, M'gann and Kid Flash found themselves occupied with a sudden gas explosion from a nearby petrol station.

Torn, but knowing that civilians were in danger, Aqualad had been forced to send the ground team in to rescue those in danger, leaving his own team, stranded on the roof top, to finish the mission.

Searching the street below for fire hydrants to use as a potential source of water, the Atlantean clenched his webbed fists upon discovering that there were none in sight. Casting a last glance in the direction of their target, he turned his attention back to his teammates and began to issue commands.

"Hurry, if we find a fire escape from the roof, we may be able to reach h-" he started, but his orders were cut off as a blur of red and black darted past him with a notorious cackle.

"No sweat, Leader-Man, I've got this covered" assured the team's acrobat as he sprinted nimbly across the rooftop towards the edge of the building. While Kaldur knew he should never underestimate their youngest teammate, he couldn't help but worry slightly as he recalled that, no, Robin didn't have the power to fly, that Batman didn't make him pack a pair of wings in his utility belt and that yes, teenage boys were often rash and overconfident.

Robin was thirteen. Thirteen year olds made mistakes. He did not need a Dick-shaped pancake today, thank you very much!

"Robin, wait!"

But he was too late; forced to watch with sinking horror as the smallest of his friend launched himself right off of the building. Slack jawed and wide eyed, the leader shakily made his way to the edge, before falling heavily to his knees, trembling and unable to look.

He had allowed the death of a teammate. No, not just any teammate, Robin, the Boy Wonder, partner of the infamous Batm-

Batman! Mother of Pearl, he was going to die this day. His life would be over. Only fair, seeing as he had carelessly allowed one he considered a younger brother to be kill-

"Woohoo! Go Rob! Nice catch!"

Wait, what?

Glancing up at the cheering archer, the Atlantean found himself only able to utter a noise of complete confusion and disbelief, as he watched his female friend cheer for their surely dead or dying hacker. Hearing the noise, the green dressed girl turned to him, cocking her head to the side in confusion about his horrified facial expression and position on the floor.

"Hey, Earth to Aqualad! Did you see that! Boy Wonder swung down and nabbed that loser before he had even realised the kid was on his tail. Totally badass, and I should know- being the queen of badassery after all..." she grinned, moving past him to wave at the ground team as they approached.

Swung. He swung down to the ground. Undoubtedly using his grappling hook. Really, Kaldur should have felt like a complete and utter fool, but, as he sat back on his heels, a webbed hand clenched over the left side of his chest, he found that relief was the only emotion he could truly distinguish at the time.

Perhaps he would get himself checked into Medical when they returned to the cave. A shock like that one couldn't be good for a person's heart!