Fawkes

Ruffled Feathers

We entered Mount Justice beaten and broken and covered in sweat, blood, and dirt. No one spoke about the mission or to each other, not until we approached the huge monitor on the far wall of the training room to report our findings to Batman.

I stood near the back of the room, glaring at Robin as he pushed past me aggressively to get to the front of the group. He pressed a few buttons, and soon enough the Bat himself was alight in front of us.

He scanned the crowd until his eyes hesitated on me, probably making sure I hadn't ditched. His facial expression changed ever so slightly when he saw our state.

"What did I say about recon?" He asked in clear annoyance and a dash of disappointment.

Robin stepped forward, "It wasn't anything like our usual threats, Batman. We were ambushed by robots. We don't know if they were being controlled or if they were just mindless creatures."

I examined the way Batsy's jaw was clenched; he was angry. "You shouldn't have engaged in battle. You should have gotten yourselves out."

"With all due respect," Aqualad stepped forward next to Robin, "that wasn't exactly an option."

"The Bots were on us like pickles on bread," Wally mumbled, stretching his shoulder and yawning hugely.

"Pickles on bread?" Artemis crossed her arms and scoffed at the Speedster.

"It's good!"

"As we were saying." Aqualad shot the two arguing teens a warning look and turned back to the screen, "We did what we had to to get out of there alive, but we did not gain any intel on the situation, as we were taken by surprise."

"Maybe we would've gathered intel if someone hadn't jeopardized the whole mission."

He had to say it. I knew he would say it. He just couldn't help but rat me out to his little mentor.

"Seriously?" I glared at Robin, "I thought this argument was over. Why can't you just drop it?"

"Because that decision could've had a completely different outcome and you know it!"

"But it didn't! My calculations were nothing short of perfect, you just can't stand the fact that I took a risk and it payed off!"

"I can't stand the fact that you think it's alright to endanger your teammates!"

"What is this about?" Batman interrupted the argument before it got too heated.

"Fawkes," Robin said my name as if it were a chunk of roadkill, "made a rash decision without consulting the team and threw me off a roof."

"I got you out alive. You should be grateful." I rolled my eyes, "Woody Woodpecker here is only trying to get me kicked off the team. He probably would've made the same decision if it had come to him."

"I don't think you understand what I mea—"

"Robin." Aqualad cut him off, "Fawkes is right. You are picking battles that aren't there."

Boy Blunder looked slightly shocked and defeated at that, and I rolled my eyes at his pathetic attempts at getting me kicked off the team.

"Did you see a source?" Batman ignored our bickering, "Someone has to be controlling these Bots."

"It was a little hectic, so we couldn't exactly find the root of their energy." Aqualad was calm and composed, and I silently congratulated him for managing to be so collected.

"Well this is now your team's responsibility," Batman said, "The Justice League is dealing with . . . other issues at the moment, and can't help. So this is up to you guys. Find out who's controlling the Bots as soon as you can and report back to me."