Avoiding Past And Future

(70) Misplaced 3

(no warnings this chapter)

november 5

Walking back into the training room was nothing but sheer awkwardness. Silent tension rose the moment they came into view of the others, but not entirely by their own doing.

From the looks on everybody's faces, they too had called their junior police forces. At least those with cities to call. Though Gotham wasn't the only one with a junior police force, hers was one of the best equipped with how often things went wrong. But that didn't mean any of them were properly prepared to handle a catastrophe such as every adult going missing. A fact everybody had seemed to realize once they made their own calls.

"Even Atlantis reports of missing adults. But the academy is well equipped to defend should the need arise." Kaldur confirmed, finally breaking the frozen over silence. Though he seemed as collected as ever, it didn't take a genius to know even he was worried for his people. With the Justice League systems down, so were the Zetas. Should a need to escape or receive aid arise, Atlantis was on her own. As were most of the cities as their only currently present mode of transportation was on foot, Sphere or Bioship.

That wasn't a lot of options for them being the acting Justice League for the second time in only just a few weeks.

Robin stayed silent, waiting for Kaldur to start setting up a plan. To start delegating tasks just so he can say he won't do whatever Kal needs him to do as he has to go back to Gotham. Glancing over to his brother, he knew they were on the same page of just waiting to see when he'd snap into action. The team chose to treat Robin like he was demoted even before the official call came through, now they'll get to witness what happens when one refuses to respect seniority.

Call it malicious, but at least they were compliant. Judging off of what happened the previous time, it doesn't matter what they do. They'll be blamed either way.

The silence that settled was a different flavor of awkward this time around. No longer just due to the Bats returning, now they were all expectantly waiting on orders from Kaldur. The Atlantean in question seemed to not be aware of the expectation however. Whether it was due to being blissfully unaware, overwhelmed by the facts or simply too insecure to make a decision given last time, they weren't sure.

What he did know, was that Phantom was getting impatient being a good little soldier. "So what's the plan?" He called out, not caring to correct his tone. They were wasting precious minutes that could be spent going out and helping people. Seconds that could make the difference between safety and far too many people joining him on his side of the veil.

While his remark was met with a handful of glares, it did seem to snap Kaldur out of whatever mental block he was experiencing. "Right." He muttered absentmindedly, moving to face all of the team at once. "Our first step should be getting refugee camp set up at the school's gym, as we are in a city without hero's."

That sounded like a solid first step, it wouldn't have been either of their choices but it was needed nonetheless.

Kaldur turned to face Robin. "Robin, set up a comm center to surveil internet activities. The youth may have more answers than we're aware of."

"Pass." The boy wonder dismissed, already annoyed enough at having to wait ages for basic instructions and just wanting to speed things up. "A trip to Gotham is needed to reboot the system manually. No bueno trying it remotely." Phantom bit his lip, trying to not smirk as he could see Kaldur's eyebrow twitch.

"Unless you want to do this whole thing old school, because it's not our choice to make as nothing but your simple subservient team members." Phantom added on with unnecessary seriousness, clearly jesting with his performative little bow at the end.