Catgirl: Young Justice BOOK 1 (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER 84

|Gotham General Hospital

|December 10 2010, 12:04

Katherine opened her eyes to look up at bright white light above her. "I'm not dead..." she furrowed her brows at the sound of her broken voice, quickly remembering just how much smoke she'd inhaled in the fire.

She jolted up, yelping once she felt the handcuff press on her burned wrist.

"Oh no.." She looked down at her bandaged body, her throat getting tight at the realisation she wasn't wearing her fireproof suit like she'd thought she was.

Because she couldn't feel the flames burning her skin at the time she believed she was wearing her fire-proof suit, but it was just her body blocking the pain- something cats did when exposed to unbearable levels of pain.

If only her body would block the pain coming from it now.

Katherine grit her teeth through the pain and looked around the room she was in, trying to access just how badly she'd fucked up.

Without a doubt she knew she was in Gotham General, and the police had cleared an entire ward for her to be treated in.

"The team!" she suddenly remembered she wasn't alone; Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis were getting treated too.

The other beds in the room were definitely for them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Where were they?

And Roy- wasn't he with her in the ambulance?

Katherine's memory was foggy. She didn't remember much after The GCPD precinct fell.

So after a minute or so of carefully moving her wrist and hand around the metal cuff, Katherine managed to slip out of what the hospital could use for a restraint, without covering burns they needed to treat, continuing to grit her teeth through the pain of moving as she left the room.

She expected to see at least a couple cops outside her room, but she was completely unguarded. "Weird-"

"Catgirl."

Martian Manhunter revealed himself infront of her, previously standing guard outside the ward, invisible.

The surprise made Katherine squeak and back into the wall, causing her to yelp from her burns again.

"You have suffered life changing injuries-"

"Where's the team?" she asked, ignoring the leaguer's bad news- she knew that was just what the doctors had told him- but she'd heal, she just needed time is all.

Martian Manhunter shook his head, "You aren't allowed to leave the ward."

"Why?"

After she said it she realised that was a stupid question.

Of course Katherine wasn't allowed to leave the ward, she was an internationally wanted supervillain.

"Where are they?" She changed her question, stepping back into the ward to avoid a fight she knew she had no chance winning.

Martian Manhunter replied, "Lunch. They will be back-"

"Katherine!" Robin ran ahead of the others to meet her, "Katherine..." he lost his smile, looking at all the bandages, "Your burns aren't healed.."

"They'll go away eventually" She assured, pointing to her face, "I doubt my face was left untouched. There's not a scratch on it now."

"True.." He put his hand to her face and managed a smile, "You really need to stop saving me though."

Katherine rolled her eyes and walked into the ward to allow everyone in. 

"You really need to stop getting almost killed." She smirked back at Robin.

Artemis and Kid Flash walked in, Kid eating a giant bag of potato chips.

"Katherine." Artemis frowned at her, still not convinced, "Robin's right, you should've healed by now."

Katherine looked down at the bandages on her arms and hands, struggling to look at them for long.

The only part of her that seemed untouched apart from her face were her claws. 

"I'll heal." She reassured them, slowly closing her hand despite the pain.

"When?" Robin crossed his arms.

He came across as aggressive, but Katherine knew now that he was just concerned.

What he didn't know scared him, especially when it came to her.

"I don't know." She admitted, looking out of the ward windows, "Soon though.."

"You don't sound so sure."

"I ran into the flames purposely." She looked back at Robin, her eyes watering as the tightness in her throat returned.

"But if you do that-" Artemis stopped talking, covering her mouth with her hands to muffle her sob.

Kid Flash slowly put his chips down, coming to the realisation.

"No.." The speedster shook his head, looking her up and down, "No...Katherine.."

Katherine waited for Robin to say something.

Anything.

"Robin, say something!" Artemis snapped at him, her anger switching back to despair, "This...you did this to her.."

Robin just stood in silence, his hands starting to shake as he stared at Katherine. 

As far as he was concerned, Artemis was right; this was his fault, and he'd never forgive himself for doing this-

"I'll heal!" Katherine cut off his thoughts, giving him a weak smile as she shakily pointed to her face, "S-See." Despite hoping, the reality of the situation was starting to kick in for her too.

She knew she was wearing her cowl and that was why her face wasn't burned; unlike her suits, all her cowls were fireproof.

"It's not your fault, okay?" She took in a shaky breath, reaching out for him with her bandaged arms for a hug.

Robin shook his head, unable to look back at her bandaged body.

A hug wouldn't make him feel better this time.

He backed up as he felt the ward caving in on him.

The last time he felt like this was when he was revived after Katherine went feral.

Why did he get to live after hurting her so much?

"Robin.." Katherine struggled to keep up her positive act. 

It was starting to sink in that the burns would last longer than she'd originally thought, and she couldn't cope with that on her own. "Robin, please."

Robin slowly shook his head at her, unable to look at the bandages any more.

This was his fault.

He had to go.

"Robin!" Kid Flash yelled as The Boy Wonder ran out of the room. He gave Katherine a sympathetic look, "I'll get him, don't worry." he promised before chasing after him.

Katherine was managing to keep herself together, until she looked over at Artemis and both of them broke down into tears.

She'd definitely gained The Justice League's trust back, but was it really worth the price?

Did it even matter anymore?

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Word Count: 1067

A/N: I was told giving a character a life changing injury can ruin them, so I gave Katherine burns that cover a good 80% (ish) of her body. It's time to ruin an OC, and hurt all the characters around them.