-So yeah.-

Robin's heart sank into his feet the he saw the outline of the bat, from which his arteries refused to leave during the entire flight to mount Justice.

Bruce wasn't saying anything —batman wasn't saying anything— which was terrible. Dick wished that batman would start yelling at him. The longer he was silent, the more tension built in the batwing. Bats was saying it for the mountain, which was a horribly bad sign.

All with their mentors, except Martian manhunter, were brought back to their base, all almost sick from the fear of what the justice league would do next. They were lined up in the mission room, glared down like soldiers who'd joked around and gotten their whole platoon killed.

"Never—" Black Canary broke out, even she was furious with them. "You could have all gotten killed —or worse! You put yourselves and the entire league at risk! And for what? To prove yourselves? You did that last July! 

"That was reckless and dangerous and.. STUPID! You got caught and you LOST CONNER!" She shouted. The league was too scared to stop her, she was vocalizing their points anyways. "None of your liberties or prides are worth your own safety! Your lives are important and irreplaceable! I- WE were worried about you! You matter to me!" 

Dinah stepped out for a moment to compose herself before she strangled her babies for putting themselves at risk.

The teens couldn't raise their eyes from their feet from fear and shame, those who were not yet crying were close, feeling porous lumps secure in their throats. 

"There was a reason we were restricting your privileges;" Aquaman scolded. "it was to keep you safe!"

M'gann had tears streaming her cheeks, almost hiding behind Kaldur, but Kaldur wasn't a strong fortress, from his quivering lip and wavering pupils. His fear and respect for his king forced the boy into a near anxiety attack. 

"If you want to be heroes, you need to listen to us. You  can't disobey just to disobey." Batman's voice was dangerously level. "Aqualad, Robin was injured, he should not have gone, and you should not have let him come; that shows an idiotic and blatantly uncaring disregard For your teammate's safety. You can never let an injured teammate into a dangerous and compromising situation.

"Running into a situation because we warned you about it is childish, shortsighted, imputent..." Even Bats was overwhelmed trying to list all the reasons the team of toddlers should not have run into danger and certain death just because they were sore about being told what to do. "None of you are fit for this line of work if this is how you're going to treat it."

Artemis was also half-blinded by unreleased tears, she couldn't do this, Jade and her dad were right, she couldn't; the thought forced her over the ledge, and tears began dripping down her flushed cheeks. She wanted to forfeit everything right then, she wanted to abandon her consciousness and stop her thinking.

Robin was also crying, but his mask provided enough dignity to hide it. It didn't help though. Bruce hated him. He was disappointed. He didn't want Dick doing this anymore. This was it: the culmination of every time he disappointed him, Bruce had been regretting Robin, and this was it. This was the end.

"You guys scared the hell out of us! I thought you were going to die!" Flash exclaimed. "We wanted to keep you safe, and you just ran in anyways!"

Wally didn't want to hear it. He felt a heavy feeling in his stomach, which contradicted the lightheaded feeling he had from crying so much. 

He didn't want to disappoint uncle Barry, being Kid Flash was his excuse to live with his aunt and uncle for weeks on end. He didn't want to be sent home. He didn't want to lose his uncles trust, he didn't want to go back to his parents. 

He felt his sobs quicken, obsessively, every thought was overwhelming, so he tried to block out every thought. He didn't want to lose his uncle. He didn't want to be abandoned. He didn't- NO! He didn't want! He didn't want to think! HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE!

"We're disappointed, we're angry- We were WORRIED!" GA exclaimed. "You can't just run into Luthor HQ on a whim! This is serious!"

"I think we need to discuss this with you separately." Dinah said, reentering after several long deep breaths. She was about to say that she'd handle Superboy when she remembered why she was so mad. "I'll take M'gann after I've checked in with J'onn." She reported, praying that the martian would have good news about locating the boy.

"We will be returning to Atlantis," Aquaman said, letting them all know that it was not a debatable reality. "I think Aqualad needs time away from the surface to reflect."

Obediently, Kaldur followed, though he looked sick in doing so. They watched in fear as their team leader shuffle after his king to the zetatubes, all certain that he wouldn't return the same —should he ever return.

"Robin will be taking a suspended leave of absence, as will your sidekicks." batman ordered, pulling Robin upright, and forcibly supporting his body as he dragged the crying boy after him.

"Kid, you should go home. We'll talk about this later."

Wally didn't want to listen, his legs were shaky and ill. He tried to follow his uncle's orders, staggering to the tubes, hoping submission may earn him some future forgiveness.

"C'mon, Artemis. It's late. Your mother will be scared!"

"But M'gann will be alone..." The blonde objected, but more feebly and tearfully than normal.

"Canary is staying to talk to her. Let's go! I want to talk to you too!" Oliver took her arm and marched the girl to the zetabeam, she turned to say that she'd left her bow and quiver, but there was a flash of light and they were gone before the words left her throat.

Her friends gone, and Black Canary exited for another breather, M'gann sat down on the sofa and cried.