The Hunt ⋆ Young Justice (o.h.)

thirty-two : the final straw

( CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO : THE FINAL STRAW )

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IT WAS MARCH THIRTY-FIRST. Hearne had been on land for less than twelve hours. The Reach had appeared publicly and the world loved them, not knowing the horrors Hearne had felt by their cold hands. While the League was in a disarray, frantically planning their next moves, Hearne couldn't do much of anything. She was at their new base. While she was gone, which had only been eleven days instead of an eternity, the Cave had been blown up. Everything was gone, for the most part. Gar's fish. Wally's silly little trophies. Hearne's painting of the original team.

It was all gone.

The members that lived at the Cave were staying at a warehouse Dick rented under an alias. Hearne was still weak, but she wanted to go home. She wanted to not be surrounded by everyone with worrying glances or comforting touches. She wasn't someone to be coddled, she wasn't something too sharp to ask a question to. She wanted to be left alone. She wanted her fucking dog, and she wanted her mom. But Bandit was with Wally, who was probably still asleep, and Athena was worlds away on trial for a crime that wouldn't have been committed if she hadn't been close to Hearne.

She was on her second burger. Usually, she ate less meat--she had been raised mostly vegan, before everything--but she was tired. She was going to eat her hamburgers and the stupidly greasy fries with too little salt, and she was going to stare blankly at the countertop as she did it. She was tired. She was tired and she wanted to go home but she couldn't because her body was too weak to do much of anything. She was miserable, she was tired and she, most of all, was hungry. She wasn't sure what they had fed her on that ship--most likely a tube down her nose--but her stomach was positively empty. 

"-earne? Hearne, can you hear me?"

She blinked, her left eye twitching. "I'm eating."

"I know, sorry," Dick said. He still wasn't in civvies, like Hearne was. Or at least someone's clothes, maybe Karen's? "But we need to know if you overheard anything about what the Reach are planning. They met with a UN Ambassador, they're playing the peaceful visitor approach. They say they want to share their research, for our benefit."

"Mhm." She took another bite of her burger. "I know."

"They've already started to work with scientists to create specially engineered food. Who knows what they're putting into it."

"Prob'bly same stuff that went into my feeding tube," she said around her mouthful. "From their home planet. I saw barrels of brightly colored stuff."

"Was it labeled?"

"I don't know, I was . . . I don't know." She took a sip of her juice. "Ask Tim. Or Barbara. They snuck in, right?"

"They're in Gotham, Tim had to go to the hospital after fighting Black Beetle. Broke his radius, I think."

"Oh." Another bite. "And Barbara?"

"Bruised, maybe a lightly bruised rib, but she's fine. She's mostly upset about you, she wants you to visit the Manor."

"Mm." She stared at the counter. She wondered if it was marble or cheap plastic painted to look like it. "Can I eat now?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Have fun. Let--let me know if you need anything."

She barely got through half of her fries before someone else was talking to her. This time Conner, holding a slightly charred book. Half the pages were burnt or damaged, the back half mostly salvaged, the cover hardly legible. But she knew what it would say. The Methods of Sima.