A/N: It's the last chapter people! OMG! This'll be my fourth story finished! AH! Thank you guys so much for your reviews and everything! This story was so popular, which made me feel so awesome! Thank you! Thank you! Now let's finish this!
Oh, and in my perfect YJ world, Wally's parents abused him so he lives with Barry and Iris.
The Team:
Robin's first conscious thought was that he wasn't alone. He slowly blinked his eyes open and instead of seeing the gray, blank ceiling of the facility, he saw the dark rock of the Cave. Robin's eyes widened as memories of what had happened passed through his head.
"Robin!" Robin looked over to see the Team rushing towards him.
"Oh Robin!" Zatanna hugged him, "I- we were so worried!"
"I missed you too." he rasped. He was parched. It felt like he hadn't had water in a week, "Where's Wally?"
"Right next to you." Robin looked over to see Wally sitting up, eating a sandwich and grinning at him at the same time.
"Keep the food in, Baywatch!" Artemis snapped, though she looked relieved to see them both ok.
"What happened? How long was I out?" he asked.
"You were out for 2 days, but that doesn't matter because you saved everybody!" Wally exclaimed, "I thought I was done for and then out of nowhere BAM! You nail him right in the back of the head with a batarang!"
Robin's eyes widened again, "The Supreme! What happened to him?"
"You don't have to worry about him." Everyone turned towards the doorway to see Batman gliding into the room.
"What do you mean?" Robin asked.
"He's in a coma. The doctors say that it's permanent."
"I put him in a coma?" Robin seemed to think, "Should I be ashamed that I'm kind of happy about it?"
Batman's eyes narrowed, "No. You didn't break the oath and he deserved it."
Robin sighed in relief. Then, he remembered something.
"What about the kids? Did they get back safe?" Batman nodded, "What about the families whose kids were… you know…"
"All of the children made it back safely and a memorial service will be in session simultaneously in every city in a week at noon." Robin nodded.
"Did Mary make it back safely?" Robin asked softly. Batman nodded again as Zatanna narrowed her eyes.
"Who's Mary?" Zatanna asked. Robin and Wally chuckled.
"She's a five year old little girl that helped keep us alive." Wally said. Zatanna blushed.
"How did she keep you alive?" Kaldur asked.
"She gave us hope." Robin said, smiling. Suddenly, he felt something crash into him.
"Group hug!" Wally yelled. The Team gathered around and hugged him, some (Zatanna and M'gann) shedding tears of joy and relief. Zatanna even kissed him on the lips!
Robin had never felt so happy.
Barry and Iris:
A few days after reuniting with the Team, Wally was ready to go home. As soon as he opened his front door, something yanked him inside and hugged him.
"Don't you ever do that to me again, Wallace West!" Iris yelled.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Iris." Wally said, a little shocked.
"You could have died!" Iris sobbed, "I was so worried that I would never see you again!"
"I know."
"Thank God you're ok!"
"I know, Aunt Iris. I'm sorry that I worried you." Wally hugged Iris closer as her tears overwhelmed her. Wally felt another pair of arms wrap around him and he looked up to see Barry hugging both of them.
"Thank God you're home." Barry said.
"I know, Uncle Barry." Wally said, smiling, "I missed you too."
Bruce and Alfred:
"Welcome back, Master Dick. It is wonderful to see you're all right." Alfred said, though he couldn't hide the relief in his voice. Dick walked over and hugged him.
"I missed you too, Alfie. Do you have any more or your awesome cookies?"
"Of course, Master Dick. Let me go and get them." Alfred smiled as he walked away. He had really missed the boy. Already, the manor seemed to brighten with his presence. Bruce chose that moment to walk in right as Alfred walked out.
"Bruce!" Dick ran over and hugged him.
"Hey, what's got you so excited? You saw me already." Bruce said, chuckling.
"No, Batman and Robin had their reunion. Not Bruce and Dick." Dick hugged Bruce tighter. Bruce wrapped his arms around Dick, "I missed you, Tati."
"I missed you too, pasăre mică." Bruce murmured, "I tried finding you."
"I know, but The Supreme was prepared. He took every precaution he could to keep the Justice League from finding us."
"I still should've been able to find you." Bruce said.
"Here, Master Dick." Alfred walked into the room with a plate of his famous cookies.
"Thanks, Alfred!" Dick took a cookie and bit into it, "I really missed these cookies."
Bruce chuckled and ruffled Dick's hair. He walked towards his study, "Enjoy them. You deserve them after you saved everybody."
Dick beamed at him, "Thanks!" Dick dug into the cookies.
Alfred smiled. Everything was back to normal.
Mary:
The day before the memorial service, Robin went to go visit Mary. Being the detective that he is, he easily found her address. Robin walked up to the door and hesitated before taking a deep breath and ringing the doorbell. The door opened and a woman with dark hair in her early 30s smiled at him before staring in shock.
"Hi." Robin said after a long moment of awkward silence, "Is Mary here?"
The woman's eyes widened and Robin suddenly found himself being hugged.
"Thank you!" she cried, "Thank you so much!"
"Uh, it was no problem." Robin said, having issues breathing with the hugging. This woman was strong.
"No problem? You saved my little girl! Oh! How can I ever repay you?" The woman was sobbing into Robin's shoulder. Robin smiled and patted her back.
"Trust me. The debt has already been paid."
"No. There must be something-" Robin pulled away from her.
"Shhhhh." he interrupted, "Saving her made me feel more…. Better about myself. There was a situation a few years ago and I could never forgive myself for it. Your daughter looks like the person I couldn't save, and saving her makes me feel redeemed."
Mary's mother smiled at him, tears still in her eyes, "If you're sure…"
"I am." Running could be heard from inside the house.
"Robin!" Mary sprung out of the house and jumped into Robin's arms. Robin laughed as Mary wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Hey, Mary! How are you?" Mary beamed at him.
"Fine! Thanks to you." She snuggled into his chest. Mary's mother smiled at the heartwarming sight.
"I'm just glad that you're ok." Robin said.
"I'm glad that you are ok, Robin! You were so hurt!" Tears formed in her eyes, "I thought… I thought…"
"Shhh." Robin said, rubbing her back, "I'm all right now. Don't worry."
"Why don't you come in, Robin?" Mary's mother asked, "We were just about to have lunch."
Robin grinned, "Sure." He followed her into the house.
Memorial Service:
In every city throughout the country, the mayor was standing at a podium, giving the exact same speech. But we'll be watching from Gotham.
"Over the past month, this country went through what could undoubtedly be it's most troublesome time in history. All across the country, a madman was kidnapping children. The children were being trained for something. The Justice League weren't able to find out for what though. If these children weren't good enough for the training, they were harshly executed." Angry yelling started, "Settle down! Settle down!" The mayor cleared his throat, "20,309 children were kidnapped. Out of those children, only 11, 671 were still alive by the time they were rescued." More angry yelling started.
"My baby is dead!"
"How could the government let this happen?"
"Why didn't the Justice League save them?"
"Settle!" The mayor yelled, "The government and the Justice League did their best to find them, but the man, who called himself The Supreme, was prepared. I am told that he took every precaution he could to not be found! So don't be angry at the government! Be angry at that man!" Shouting filled the plaza.
"Kill him!"
"Make him pay!"
"Citizens! Citizens! You do not have to worry about that man! We are told that he has been put in a permanent coma! We believe that is punishment enough." Silence filled the plaza until one person spoke up.
"Who put him in the coma?"
The mayor was silent for a minute before answering, "We are told that Robin, with the help of Kid Flash, saved the children. It was Robin who put him in a coma." Silence filled the plaza once more.
"Go Robin!" Someone shouted. That was the catalyst. Soon, Gotham (and eventually every other city) was filled with cheers and shouts for Robin.
"Robin! Robin! Robin!"
"Citizens!" The plaza fell silent once more, "Yes! Robin is our savior! And thanks to a generous donation from Bruce Wayne, we have built a statue in his honor, and it will stand there!" He pointed to a large shape covered by a tarp. More cheering erupted as the statue was uncovered(1), "Now, for a moment of silence as I read the some of the names of the Gotham children that were lost in this horrid time."
"Alice Johnson." A woman sobbed.
"Frank Parker." Another woman sobbed.
"Ivy Zeller." More sobbing.
"Kyle Hutcherson."
"Zachary Powers."
"Elena Stewart."
"Jacqueline Rogers."
"Candace Fletcher."
"Christopher Evans."
"Nina Davidson."
"Xander Biers."
"Patrick Allman."
"Olivia Wade."
"Victoria Rainer."
"Bryson Ford."
"Sarah Freeman."
"Nancy Copper."
"Thomas Brown."
"Dean Thompson."
"Chloe Prince."
"And many more names. There are too many names for us to say, or else we would be here all day. All of the names though are encrypted into the base of the Robin statue. Thank you, Robin. You have saved us." The mayor bowed his head and left the podium. The citizens took this as a cue to leave as well, some of them going to the statue and thanking Robin.
Richard Grayson stood in the crowd. His heart was heavy with grief that he was unable to save all of the children, but awed and somewhat (joyfully) tearful at how considerate the people had been. They had cheered for him. Hell, they had built a statue for him!
Bruce Wayne put a hand on Richard's shoulder, "Come on, son. Let's go check out that statue."
Robin grinned at him and ran off towards it.
Black Canary:
"Batman told me you wanted to do this?" Black Canary said, saying it more as a question than a statement. She was sitting in a green chair across from the two boys. They were sitting in the same room they had when they had their therapy session after Failsafe.
"Yeah." Robin said, "We wanted to make sure that we were… you know…"
"Not completely traumatized." Kid Flash finished. Robin nodded.
"I understand." Black Canary said, "What you went through must have been horrifying."
"Horrifying? Try Scarring." Robin said, "The images of those children will never leave my mind. They'll be with me for the rest of my life."
"Don't forget the mental training." Kid Flash said, shivering.
"Tell me about the mental training." Black Canary said. Robin looked up at her.
"A helmet was put on you and you would pass out." Robin said, "That helmet took your worst fears and memories from the darkest corner in your mind and made you live them."
"It also forced you to believe that it was real, no matter how much you didn't want to." Kid Flash said.
"I watched everyone fall to their deaths and drowned in everyone's blood." Robin whispered. Black Canary's eyes widened.
"I watch everyone die in sickening, scream-inducing ways." Kid Flash whispered.
"You told Batman that The Supreme made you watch the children die?" Black Canary asked.
"Yeah." Kid Flash said, "It was supposed to motivate us to train harder."
"And what about Mary?" Black Canary asked.
"Mary was my… was my hope." Robin said, "If it wasn't for her, everyone in this room would probably be dead by now."
"Why did you choose her specifically?" Black Canary was honestly curious. Robin took a deep breath.
"Because she's almost an exact replica of my mother." Black Canary's eyes widened, "I felt that if I saved her, it would almost be like I saved my mother. If I saved her, I could redeem myself. I could feel… better about myself.
"Oh Robin…" Black Canary got up and hugged Robin.
"Aunt Dinah," Robin said. Black Canary's eyes widened slightly at the use of her civilian name, "I- I think I need a few days off. I'm still all in for the hero bit, but what we saw…"
"Yeah," Kid Flash said, "a week. We need time to get over it. Right now, when I think of going on missions, I'm scared to think that I might see a child. I'm scared that I won't be able to save him or her."
"Me too." Robin whispered.
"I think that's understandable. I'll talk to Batman about it."
"Thank you. I think we're done here." Robin said. Black Canary let go and looked at Robin.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Robin smiled slightly, "I feel a little better."
"Alright." Black Canary said getting up, "I'll go talk to Batman." She left the room. Robin turned to Kid Flash.
"You ok?" he asked. Kid Flash nodded.
"Yeah, I just…"
"You just wish that this experience had never happened?" Kid Flash nodded, "Yeah, me too. It really sucks though. When I was stuck there, alone, all I could think of was that I wished Batman were there to comfort me."
Outside, Black Canary held a hand to her mouth and quickly walked away, tears slowly falling down her face. She felt ashamed. These boys had needed someone, a hero, to save them.
But no hero had come.
A/N: And that's it! That's the end of the story people! Wow, that was a looooong chapter! Thank you guys so much for the reviews, favorites, and alerts! You guys really are the best! Anyways, I'll have the oneshots out soon! And the de-aging story! Which one should I do? Young Justice de-age or Teen Titans? Thank you guys so much again! Review!
(1) I couldn't help it. I think Robin deserves everything he got. Oh and the statue is only in Gotham in case you're wondering.
Love,
Browniesarethebest