Shade

Downtime

A/N. Short chapter this time, guys. Not much in this chapter, so yeah. Hope you guys enjoy -Anna

GOTHAM CITY 

August 27, 06:17 EDT 

 To say that our mission with defeating a giant sludge monster went bad, that's an understatement. One word to describe how it went: horrible. Or dreadful, that works too. I mean, we were fighting a bad guy that was made out of sludge or whatever and we couldn't defeat it. To add the humiliation, Batman had to come in and save us. Great. 

 Aqualad was just thrown against a wall and was struggling to get up. The rest of us were laying on the ground, covered in sludge, as our only team member was at the mercy of the monster. Suddenly, the skylight above us broke and the shards rained down along with Batman. He threw two disks into the monster, and they blew up inside of him. The monster swung at the Dark Knight, but he just jumped away. Batman fired a teaser gun at the pile of sludge and the monster roared as he slowly shrunk down to just a puddle of sludge. Batman narrowed his eyes at the sight of us, as if wondering what he was going to do with us. 

​​​​​​​MOUNT JUSTICE 

​​​​​​​August 27, 07:58 EDT 

 "I need to talk to Aqualad," Batman said once we had arrived back at the Cave. "The rest of you hit the showers, and head home."

 "Head home? I am home," Superboy grumbled as he walked to the showers. Robin and I stayed by Aqualad in front of Batman.

 "Just Aqualad," Batman said sternly.

 We walked away begrudgingly, and Robin glanced back at the two, probably mad that Batman wasn't letting him stay. But I stayed behind in one of the hallways to hear what Batman was going to say to Aqualad. So what if I'm eavesdropping? I wanted to hear what they were going to talk about and if Batman wasn't going to let Robin and me in on their conversation. 

 "I am sorry you had to intervene," Aqualad said, starting to apologize. "I know the Team preformed poorly-"

 Poorly?

 "The Team preformed adequately. The problem was you," Batman corrected. What was wrong with Aqualad? "You're their leader, and your head wasn't in the game."

 Now that I think about it, Aqualad did seemed to be a bit distracted today. 

 "No you are..." Aqualad protested, then corrected himself, sighing. "...correct." It was silent for a few seconds as Aqualad thought of how to explain himself to Batman. "Of late, I am not even convinced I belong on the surface world. For so many years it filled my every thought. But now that I am here my dreams are all Atlantis," Aqualad confessed.

 Was he homesick?

 "Atlantis...or someone you left behind," Batman asked. Aqualad went silent. Or, he's missing someone he really cares about. That too. "You can split your time on the surface and the sea, but not your mind. Either you're here one hundred percent, or you need to walk away. Make a decision Kaldur, and make it soon."

 I heard Batman walking away and I quickly teleported myself home. I let Alfred and Dick know that I was home, and I went to my room. Sitting on my bed, I thought over the conversation. 

 This may sound selfish, but I wanted Aqualad to stay with us. He was our leader, friend, and the one who could keep us all under control, and in focus. He was also another brotherly figure to me. I would hate to see him leave forever. But, whatever he chooses, I will support him. I just hope whatever he chooses he won't regret it.

GOTHAM CITY 

​​​​​​​August 27, 20:04 EDT 

 A while later, Dick came into my room and asked if I wanted to train with him. I agreed and we went to the gym. While I punched a dummy, my brother did the rings. I could tell he was still mad about Bruce not letting him and me on Aqualad and his conversation by all the muttering he was angrily doing. Usually, Bruce let's us in on stuff like that. Maybe he didn't want us to say anything against what he said, though of course, we would have. Whatever the reason, Dad still hadn't told us about the conversation once he got home. I really wanted to tell Dick, but if Kaldur decided to leave, then I'll tell him. 

 "Just Aqualad," Dick mumbled as he lifted himself up with the rings.

 He flipped backwards off the rings and tried to land on one of the punching bags. He lost his footing though, and fell off while doing a back hand spring, then bumped into a wall. I stopped what I was doing and looked sadly at my brother. Should I tell him? I didn't have time to think about that for long, as Dick angrily punched the wall, making a dent.

I sighed, not too fazed about it. Whenever he gets angry, he tends to take out his anger on training or hitting a wall. Yeah, I feel bad for the guys who have to fix our walls. Dick sat down on a bench as he drank his water, and I sat down next to him. I took his hand that he hit the wall with, and made sure there was no bleeding. 

 "You know, you're gonna bring down the house if you keep hitting the walls," I said, trying to joke to lighten up my brother's mood.

 The corners of his mouth lifted up slightly.

 Suddenly, Alfred opened the door to the gym and cleared his throat.  "Master Bruce wishes to see you, Master Dick."

 Dick's mouth turned into a frown again as he and I followed our butler outside. Once Alfred opened the door, a basketball was thrown at Dick and he quickly caught it. 

 "What's this?" Dick asked the person who had thrown the ball. 

 "Tranning. Hand-eye coordination," Bruce answered, smiling a little.

 Dick's face brightened. "One on one?"

 "If you can handle it," Dad challenged. Dick dribbled the ball, and he laughed as he scored a point. 

 "Yes!" Dick cheered. Alfred and I smiled at the two, happy that they're making up and bonding. 

 Dick, Bruce, and I headed back to the Cave in costume, once the two were done with their game. Dick won, but I'm pretty sure Bruce let him. The rest of the Team was in the kitchen as Miss Martian pulled out a new batch of cookies. She had improved on her cooking skills, thank goodness, and these looked soft and sweet. 

 "Careful Superboy, they're hot," Miss M warned as the clone reached for a cookie. Suddenly, Kid ran in and stole Superboy's cookie. 

 "Not as hot as you, babe," Kid flirted as Superboy got another cookie, and glared at the speedster. 

 "Thanks, Wally. That's, um, sweet," Miss Mreplied. 

 "Mmm. Not as sweet as you, sugar," Kid said through a mouthful of cookie. I rolled my eyes. 

 "Oh, grow up," Artemis said as she slapped the back of his head, then took a cookie. 

 "Team, report to the mission room," Batman's voice said over the speakers.

 I quickly stuffed a cookie in my mouth as we headed to the mission room. We found Batman in there with...Aqualad!

 I smiled as I heard what he said. "I am here. One hundred percent."

 "Just in time for your next mission," Batman said, as we walked in. I gave Aqualad a smile and then listened to what our next mission was. 

A/N. Hope you guys enjoyed even though it was short. Peace! -Anna