-A series of vignettes in which the team gets in trouble-

It was so satisfying when Laurence Crock hit the concrete. His daughter was on him in a second, landing with one foot in the small of his back. She placed one foot on Sportsmaster's throat and leaned a tiny bit of pressure on it. 

The man grabbed her calf, forcing the much smaller girl off him. He coughed, "No more nights out for you, young lady."

"Don't you call me young lady!" in one swift movement she shrugged off her quiver and struck him over the head with it. Then she hit him again as he collapses to the pavement.

Then again.

Then again.

If took several seconds for her pumping blood to slow down, at which point she caught a glimpse of someone in the corner of her eye.

Red Arrow stood there, gaping at her and the still man on the ground.

Artemis fought the entire way, but Roy was stronger than her, he dragged her back to adjacent alley and dropped her in front of Oliver as if he were a cat bringing in a dead bird. "She tried to kill him," he said, "I told you this would happen!"

"I didn't!"

"You used excessive force, you tried to crush is airway--"

"Oh what, you're siding with sportsmaster now?!"

"Red, go cuff him," Arrow said.

"I think you've forgotten, old man, you don't boss me around anymore." Red Arrow replied.

"Well somebody had better cuff him because I need to have a private talk with Artemis." Oliver snapped and, rolling his eyes, Roy did as he was told. "You, kid," he said, turning to the girl. 

"Since when has attacking the bad guys been the wrong thing to do?!" She exploded.

"You can't go around using lethal force on people because you don't like them." Arrow said coldly. "We both know there are easier, simpler ways you could've taken him down. So why?"

Artemis drew in a tense, shaky breath. "That bastard put my mother in a wheelchair, let her take all the jailtime, and then left her. He deserves it."

"That might be true, but someone deserving 'it' is not an open invitation to murder." Oliver said. "Killing your own dad? That sort of thing will mess you up! And don't for a second think your position on the team protects you from our unnecessary cruelty clause--"

"He's not my dad." She spat. 

"Artemis," he said firmly, "that kind of brutality is too far. You're grounded"

"What?!" She cried, "You can't do that!"

"I can and I am, I don't want you back in the action until you understand what you did wrong, is that clear, young lady?"

Artemis' blood pressure peaked higher and higher. "Fine!" She turned on her heel, storming past Roy. "The fuck are you smiling at?!" She jabbed defensively, shoulder-checking him as she passed.

Roy made to hit her back, but was interrupted. "Don't you dare, we're had enough trouble tonight. Both of you go home while I deal with Sportsmaster myself."

Batman was the first to notice the decline in Aqualad's appearance and hygiene. At least, if anyone else had noticed, they hadn't said anything. At first he chocked it up to the usual culprits: hormones and growth spurts. He had a teenage boy at home too, he'd heard all sorts of excuses for not showering daily, it happened nearly as often as Dick trying to stay in bed on school days.

He watched the boy's buzzcut start to grow out into an unmaintained frizz; too short for braids or locs but long enough for the little blond coils to tangle. He saw the bags under the boy's eyes darken and a couple shy beard hairs creep to the surface alongside an attack of cystic acne. At the time all the team had all looked pretty rough, it being the end of term and thus tests being forced on them, so he hadn't realized just how bad Aqualad looked until he realized that Kaldur was the only one on the team not dealing with exams.

The last straw came about a week later. The team was late to depart on their mission because Aqualad had misplaced his water bearers. The boy's panic was palpable as he searched all the regular places he sat to work, he actually jumped when Batman's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Sir!"

"We need to talk." He instantly saw the colour drain from the boy's face, and for a second Bruce worried he was going to faint. "Calm down, it's not going to go like last time." He grumbled, his fondness of children outclassing his persona. He gestured for Aqualad to sit, and he did.

"The team are waiting."

"Not for long, they'll be departing shortly," Batman explained, "but not with you."

"Sir?"

"Are you familiar with the term 'burning both ends of the candle'?"

"No, sir."

"Recently you've been pushing yourself too hard," Batman said, "It's been no secret."

"Well, sir, you've given me a lot to do," Kaldur said frankly.

"Yes, but a good leader must know when to delegate. You've been putting yourself out too much. Burning the candle at both ends produces more light, but it's impractical, and burns the candle out much faster."

"I think I see the metaphor." Kaldur replied.

"Then you see why I can't let you continue like this."

"Yes, sir." Kaldur conceded. "You want to bench me."

"Don't think of it like a punishment." Batman said, "think of it as bedrest."

"Yes, sir. Will Robin be okay leading the team alone?"

"He's done it before."

"Yes, but..." Kaldur stopped. He didn't need to finish, Batman understood.

"I'll have a talk with him," Batman replied, "in the meantime, you'll be removed from all team activity until you're gotten yourself together somewhat." He turned to leave, "and I'll be having a word with Aquaman."

"We got a call from your mother."

Wally's stomach sank, but he held a poker face. He'd been expecting this, but that didn't remove the dread of what was coming. "What about?"

"Wally," His aunt said, her voice heavy with concern, "You missed your meeting."

"It's not like they would've let me talk anyways." He tried to leave, but Barry caught him, forcing him down onto a chair.

"You can't just miss your meetings with the social worker."

"Why not?" Wally demanded, an unexpected wave of willful petulance taking over him. "Why not? They don't listen to me-- they spend the entire time just trying to get me to go home--"

"Wally," Barry said firmly, "Breath."

Wally deliberately held his breath a few seconds and then exhaled heavily. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You're never going to want to talk about it," his uncle said. "That's why you need to."

"I just..." his voice trembled a little, "I woke up late, and then school was... and I didn't bring lunch... I just couldn't take it today!" He looked up desperately at his aunt and uncle.

"Is this or is this not the boy who took on a giant cobra?"

"But--"

"and freed the Justice League from mind control."

"Just cause I did that doesn't mean I can do this!" Wally whined. 

"Wally, they're your parents." his aunt said. "I know they-- especially my brother-- have clipped your wings a bit over the years--"

"I don't want to go back!" Wally burst out, "I want to stay here!"

His raised voice startled them somewhat. Wally never raised his voice in anger like that.

"Wally," His uncle said delicately, "You know we love having you here, but we can't take you full time."

"I know." Wally muttered. "I just... I want to be somewhere I can talk."

"I know," Iris said sympathetically. "And we'll try our best to give you somewhere to talk, but you have to try to fix things at home. Even if it's just sorting things out for long enough to turn eighteen and move out."

"Is that clear?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have anything to tell me before I put you to bed, Master Richard."

Dick's mind froze. The full name was a bad sign. Alfred  could always tell when he lied, so he thought of an innocuous confession: "I skipped three classes this week."

"I know that already, Master Dick, I received the calls from our teachers." Alfred looked at him expectantly, cornering him just outside his bedroom. "Anything else?"

"Uh, I hacked into B's files so I could see what my monthly report said."

"The fact you're confessing to this seems to prove you're trying to direct my attention away from something." The older man said, "You know all injuries must be reported and recorded before being treated."

Dick felt his heart leap into his throat. "What do you mean?" He said in a last ditch effort at innocence. 

"I didn't want to say anything in front of Master Bruce-- we both know how he can get-- but I couldn't help but to notice you leaning most of your weight on your left leg when you returned from patrol."

Dick blew out a long breath. "Don't tell Bruce?"

"that will depend heavily on the injury, and possibly on how you got it." Alfred opened Dick's bedroom door, gesturing for the boy to sit on the bed.

With a sigh, Dick limped in, sat on the bed, and shook off his sweatpants to reveal a rapidly swelling circle on his thigh. "Blunt force, It'll bruise and hurt, but I don't think they'll be any lasting damage."

"I'll be the judge of that." Alfred stooped before him, gently taking the boy's leg and feeling the area, watching Dick's face closely for signs of pain. Dick tried to mask, but Alfred could read him like a book. "Dare I ask how you got such a large site of impact without Master Bruce noticing?"

Dick sighed. "He was busy, I was..." He rested his face in his hands. "I met with the face of Harley's mallet."

"Do you know how this happened?"

"...yeah," he admitted at last. "I might have been showing off a little."

"Master Dick--"

"I know! It was my own fault! Just-- don't tell Bruce. I know what I did wrong, I'm facing consequences, I don't need him yelling at me and refusing to let me out of sight for two weeks!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to inform Master Bruce, he should be aware of what to look for if you're hiding an injury."

"But--"

"There's a reason we must report injuries, Master Dick, what if this injury turned out to be much more than a bruise?"

"I know, I know."

"I'll have master Bruce suspend you from action for the remainder of the week."

"What?!"

"You need tike to recover, Master Dick, no doubt by the morning you'll be in terrible pain," Alfred paused in the door, "and I must say, it wouldn't be a bad thing for you to think about our actions in the meantime."

"Ms. Martian." 

"Hmm?"

"May we talk?" Tornado asked.

"Uh, okay." She said, taking out her ear buds. "What's up?"

"I found something in your school backpack while searching for your permission slip."

Instantly the martian felt her eyes widen, her skin going pallid. "Oh."

"I would like to give you a chance to explain yourself regarding why you had a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of vodka in our backpack."

"They aren't mine!" She squealed. "I mean-- they are mine! I mean-- I'm holding them!" They stood up sharply. "Ava from cheer didn't want her mom to find them, so she asked if I could hold onto them until the party on Friday, I thought no one would know-- I didn't want to say no cause she's my friend!"

"to be concise," Tornado interjected as soon as she finished, "you're holding these substances for a friend?"

"...yes." She muttered, eyes on the floor. 

"And did you plan to use these substances?"

"No but... I mean.." It sounded stupid now, but she was only planning to drink and smoke if all her friends did. "I just wanted to fit into the group, I didn't want to say no to her!"

"I see," Red Tornado said, "Ms. Martian, are you familiar with peer pressure?"

"Yeah..." She murmured, "But they weren't peer pressuring me! They just asked that I hold on to a couple things..."

"Ms. Martian, we do not currently have adequate testing regarding smoking and Martian health to know if it's safe."

"I know..."

"Further more, I'd like to keep you home on Friday night."

"What?!"

"I don't want you attending a party in which drugs and alcohol are present," He replied. "Furthermore, I'm considering contacting miss Fischer's parents to inform them."

"No!" M'gann begged. "Please don't get her in trouble! Everyone will kick me out of the group if you do that, and then-- and then--"

"I doubt you'll be ousted for my actions. Besides which, the other adolescents must be protected from the influence of drugs and alcohol as well."

"Red, please!"

"I'd like you and Superboy back at the mountain directly after school for the rest of the week," The android said. 

"What? Why?"

"You knew you were doing something wrong by carrying the alcohol and cigarettes for your friends, but you did it anyways," he explained evenly and patiently, "You know you must face consequences at some point."

She sighed, "I know."  

"And you won't be attending that party."

"I know."

"That's all we needed to discuss," Tornado said, "You may continue what you were doing."

"We need to talk."

"About what?" 

Canary paced around, between Conner at the blank TV screen. "We got another call from the school."

"And?"

"Conner," she sat on the coffee table, facing him. "You've missed have three school days this week, your grades are slipping from attendance."

"If I didn't skip you'd be getting different calls from the school." Conner grumbled. "I already know everything they're teaching us, and ever time I'm there it's like everyone's trying to get under my skin!"

"That's not the point," she replied. "We didn't send you and M'gann to school because you needed to know how to solve for x. Sure that might be an asset, but the league wanted to public school you so you got a chance to get socialized, to make connections, and learn how to interact with people your age range-- outside of the team."

"Well it's not like those things are happening when I skip," Conner said coldly. "They don't happen when I do attend, so what does it matter?"

"It matters because you need to build up some social tolerance."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Conner, skipping means you've given up on trying to socialize yourself," She explained patiently, unflapped by his aggressive tone. "You were making progress until a few weeks ago, and now you barely attend class."

"I'm not getting better! It's always the same!"

"You were able to ask that other student to borrow an eraser the other day, that was progress."

"Some progress."

"I know it's frustrating, it's a slow process."

"I just don't see why I have to sit there all day when I don't like it!"

"Because it's teaching you valuable skills," Canary said. "It's teaching you how to talk to people, and I know that part is uncomfortable and difficult, but it's going to help you so much as an adult."

"Sure," He grumbled.

"If you want we can make a game plan for how you'll handle tomorrow," she said, "but don't think you won't face consequences for skipping class."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, but when Red Tornado gets here we might agree on some... fitting solution that leaves you open to learn from our mistakes." She stood. "In the meantime you can spend training catching up on your homework."

-TEAM actually stands for "Trouble Extremists And Mischief-makers"-