(498)

"Coffee to wake the dead," David said proudly as he handed Roy a mug. Roy could feel the worst of his headache shaved off just by inhaling the espresso.

"Thanks," he grumbled, pulling on a pair of sunglasses. "What did I miss?"

"The entire Mountain has been plagued by a sudden and in no way suspicious case of BatshitCrazy," James said. "An hour ago, they were trying to talk Raquel out of jumping into the aquarium with Waldo."

"Is she serious?" Roy asked.

"Nah. Most of her drunk wore off a few hours ago," James said. "She was just trying to give them a good scare."

"How long have I been out?" asked Roy.

"About four hours," David answered. "We brought you in here because it's a battlefield out there. Seriously. They're killing each other."

"Well, not literally," James said. "But it's a madhouse. I mean it. They're really pissed."

"They're taking this way too personally," Roy said. "They'll get over it. There's plenty of bad-asses like Brick Top out there for them to whop."

"Well, true," David said. "But then there's the whole Gemma thing."

"What Gemma thing?" Roy asked.

David and James paused, looking at each other. "Dude, he's been out for like four hours," David said to James. "He doesn't know."

"Doesn't know what?" Roy asked.

"They found her," James said. "On the asteroid. They found her like a week and a half ago. But they never radioed it in. So now the team's gone ape-shit."

Roy sat up so abruptly he saw green and blue for a few seconds.

"Careful," said James, reaching out and steadying him.

"Where is she?" Roy asked, rubbing his head. A part of him knew he should have felt angry, but he couldn't do it. All he could think of was seeing her.

"In the hospital bay," David said. "She's stabilized. Everyone's at war, though."

"I have to go see her," Roy said, pulling himself to his feet.

"Wait," James said. "Can't you help stop the madness first? I swear they're killing each other out there."

"Actually, they've done some calming down," David said. "But it's still pretty bad."

"The whole team is holed up in Gemma's room. Batman's trying to talk them out to explain, but they won't listen. Zatanna wants to cut the ties to the League and relocate somewhere else. Now Wally and Artemis are backing her up."

"We came up here to check on you," David said. "But the rest of them are losing their minds."

"I—" Roy sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Dude, please," James said. "She's not going anywhere, I promise. Just...just say something to them. They won't listen to us. They're all either stoned or drunk or both and I swear it's not pretty."

"I...fine," Roy said, allowing James and David to help him out the door.

The entire mountain appeared to be empty at first. Roy wondered why James and David had referred to the area as a battlefield, because from what he could see, the only place that had even been touched by chaos was the Briefing Room.

James opened the door to the hallway and led them inside.

"Roy!"

"Roy!"

"Dude, you won't believe what these sons of bitches have been doing!" Conner said as David closed the door behind them.

"I know," Roy said. "David just told me. Can we just talk this through so I can go downstairs and see her?"

"She's in a coma, Roy," Robin said. "She has been this whole time."

"What?"

"That's how Brick-Top got her to create more material," Zatanna said, and the red rims around her eyes—beneath all of their eyes—clued Roy in to the fact that the worst thing he's heard all day has yet to come to light.

"They put her into a medically induced coma," M'gann explained. "And used a telepath to manipulate her dreams. They must have created entire characters just to twist her thoughts and she'd just keep turning out more and more material for them."

"Then why is she still in a coma?" Roy asked. "If they found her a week and a half ago, then J'onn should have been able to wake her up by now."

"That's the thing," Wally said bitterly. "They chose not to. They needed to keep her under."

"Why?"

"Because they sent Uncle J'onn into her head," M'gann said. "To look through her memories. They wanted to be sure she wasn't a PineCORP mole. That's why they didn't call us when they found the asteroid. That's why they never radioed it in when they found her. That's why they left us behind—so we wouldn't interfere with the investigation."

"M'gann fished it out of their skulls," Robin said. "They tried not to think about it, but our telepath is better than theirs. Gem's in the hospital bay right now."

"We wanted to take her and leave, but we thought we should wait until you were here until we decided what to do," Amelie said, and her tears were pouring without a break.

"I think we should leave," Zatanna said. "I think we should leave this mountain and go relocate somewhere else. Any ideas?"

"I'm working on a little place," Robin said. "I mean—it's a serious work in progress, but it's discreet."

"The bunker," Roy said automatically. "You want out of here? Go to the bunker. Gemma hid it in Jersey. Lex Luthor knows the coordinates, but he's got no trouble with you guys. His beef's always been with the League. Besides, Gemma's been trying to get rid of the material. We should probably help her out, I guess."

"I like that idea," Artemis said. "An underground bunker. Very 'Lost Kids' feel to it."

"But we don't know how long it will be until Gemma can actually move," Amelie said.

"We're not taking her to the bunker," Roy said.

"We can't leave her here," Wally said.

"We won't," Roy said. "We're taking her to Ethan. She needs to go home."

"Right," Artemis said quietly, as if Ethan had never even crossed their minds.

"Someone should call him," Robin said. "Let him know."

"Not it," Roy said quickly. "I'm going down to see her."

"I'll be down to wake her up in a little bit," M'gann said. "I just need to get my head together."

"Take your time," Roy said, turning back to the door. "You know where I'll be."

He pushed open the door and stepped out into the hallway. He could smell the scent of warm custard mixed with pot wafting all the way from the Briefing Room as he walked as quickly as his body would allow him to in its given condition. Waldo seemed to swim a little faster when Roy passed him on his way to the medical bay. Or perhaps that was only Roy's imagination.

The mountain appeared to be deserted, but Roy knew better. He was hardly surprised to arrive at the medical bay and find what looked like half the Justice League sitting in the waiting room outside. They looked up as he walked past them.

"Roy—" Ollie started to say.

"Go fuck yourself," Roy said briskly, tossing his membership card over his shoulder. "I quit."

And he pushed open the glass doors and walked inside, his eyes scanning the room quickly before they fell on Kaldur, seated with weapon in hand, watching the door. He relaxed when he saw Roy.

"You've been guarding?" Roy asked.

"We have been taking turns," Kaldur said. "In case they try again."

"I don't think they'll try again," Roy said.

"Perhaps they will not. But it is better to be certain," Kaldur said. "You are not as angry as I imagined you being."

"I'm just...I just want to see her."

Kaldur got to his feet and left quietly. Roy saw him standing right outside the door. He turned back, walking slowly towards the only occupied bed in the room, following the sounds of a progressively beeping heart monitor, feeling his heart pound against his ribcage like a repeated punch in the chest.

There she was.

Roy felt his breath hitch in his throat, creating an uncomfortable lump he had to swallow three times before he could feel disappear. He stepped forward slowly, timing his steps to the beep of the heart monitor, scared that if he made a fast move or even thought too loudly, she would disappear into the sheets and he'd be left staring at an empty bed. He reached forward gently and touched a single finger to her hand. It was solid, not mist. Her hand was real. It was there. Roy leaned in closer and inhaled sharply. She didn't smell the same, but he didn't care. He just pressed his head to her chest and listened, listened, listened to the steady beat of her heart and he exhaled at last, really exhaled, like the fist that had been pounding on the million shards where his heart used to be was gone at last, leaving with the breath that he let out. He lifted his head and looked at her face. The shimmer—oh, he'd missed that shimmer—was still there, and he had either forgotten how that twinkle looked in the past few months without her or she somehow sensed his presence and made her skin sparkle brighter to welcome him. He didn't know which, nor did he care. All he could do was kiss every part of her face he could see and bury himself in her shoulder and it didn't really matter to him right away that she was completely comatose because fuck it she was there—real and in front of him—and not a pile of so many ashes floating somewhere past Saturn. He stayed there with his face buried in the fabric of her white gown, watching her chest rise and fall slowly and curled a lock of familiar brown hair around his forefinger and he fell asleep right there thinking that if that was to be all he'd ever get, the last breath he would ever take, the end of Roy Harper, than perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Roy, wake up," said a voice after a while. His eyes fluttered open. M'gann.

"Hey," he said.

"Sorry I took so long," M'gann said. "I'm ready."

Roy watched her pull up a chair at the head of the bed, flexing her fingers before placing her palms on either side of Gemma's head. She closed her eyes.

Roy wasn't quite sure how long it would take, or what he should do, or if M'gann's furrowed brow meant a good thing or a bad thing, so he just remained silent and watched as the door opened again and Amelie filed in, closely followed by Robin and Zatanna. They tiptoed to the bed, sitting down and watching M'gann.

"Should she look like that?" Zatanna whispered to Amelie, gesturing to M'gann's face twisted in concentration.

"I have no idea," Amelie said, shrugging.

"Did you guys call Ethan?" Roy asked.

"Artemis and Conner zeta'd to Chicago about ten minutes ago," Robin said. "He should know soon."

"We're still debating whether or not to tell him about everything else," Amelie said. "The PineCORP mess and how long the League has had her."

"I don't think we should complicate this," Roy said. "She can tell him everything, if she wants to. He's not gonna care. He just wants her—"

Roy was interrupted by a gasp. They turned to find M'gann wheezing for breath, leaning back in her seat. Gemma's eyes were still shut tightly.

"What is it?" asked Robin. "What's the matter?"

"It's...it's awful in there," M'gann said after a moment. "It's a warzone."

"Can't we fix it?" asked Amelie.

"I—I don't know," M'gann said. "I didn't even see her. I know where she is, but I just—I can't get through."

"Try again," Roy said. "I'll go with you."

"Roy, you don't—"

"I'll do it," Roy said. "Just let me know when you're ready."

M'gann nodded, holding out her hands. "Let your mind go blank," she said. Roy inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "Relax. Forget everything around you. Focus on what's going on inside your head."

Roy tuned out the beeping heart monitor. He tuned out the scent of rubbing alcohol and the cold air around him. He tuned out the League and pot infused custard and vodka and asteroids. Eventually, he managed to tune out himself.

He opened his eyes.

"What the hell?" he scratched at his head, looking around.

"You see?" M'gann said. "It's a warzone."

Roy had heard her when she said it, but he didn't quite think she meant it literally. It looked like an apocalyptic nightmare, the sound of bullets firing but no guns or people, the sounds of buildings collapsing but only charred rubble around them. Even the sky was a dark, dismal gray, colored by ash and smoke but there were no fires in sight.

"Where is she?" asked Roy.

M'gann turned around and pointed ahead. "In there," she said, and Roy followed her finger to a small, square little trailer resting on top of a hill of rubble. "I tried to get in, but her mental defenses jerked me out before I could get close enough."

"Let me try it," Roy said, approaching the trailer slowly. With every step, he heard another round of bullets echoing somewhere behind him. He continued, listening for M'gann's footsteps behind him, before he reached forward and pushed open the door. He stepped inside carefully. He stood in the middle of what looked like a hotel lobby.

"Gemma?" he called out. "Gem? You in here?"

Nothing. Nothing in sight but a woman in the corner, seated atop a desk, fiddling with something in her hands nervously.

"Hey," Roy called to her. "Hey, lady, can you help me find my—" Roy's hand found her shoulder. She turned around.

"Roy?" she whispered quietly.

"Jesus," he breathed. "Gemma?"

"Wha—how is this—how are you—how are you alive?" she asked. Roy took her in. She looked so much older, so much colder, than he could remember her being.

"You're the one that's died, Gemma," Roy said.

"Maybe I have," she said. "Is that why you're so young? Because I'm finally in the afterlife?"

"No, no," Roy said. "I'm here because it's time to get you home."

"Home? I am home."

"Home home, Gem," Roy said quietly. "To Ethan and Amelie and the team. Home."

"I can't leave," she said. "I have to keep working."

"Working for what?" Roy asked. "This place is a warzone."

"Exactly. I have to keep working. Look," and she held out her hand, revealing to Roy what looked like a rock that had been morphed halfway into glass.

"You're making Sambanite," he said quietly.

She nodded. "I'm supplying the resistance," she said. "So we can free the slaves. I'm saving lives."

"Gemma, there are no lives to save," Roy said. "There is no resistance. None of this is real."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "All of this is real. I've been here for years."

"No," Roy said, shaking his head. "No, you haven't. You've barely been here for two months."

Gemma stared at him. "That's not possible," she said.

"It's the truth," Roy told her. "You've been here for three months. Time must be going slower because it's in your head."

"What?"

"Nothing here is real, Gemma. Do you want to know what's real? Right now, you're lying on a bed in the hospital bay at Mount Justice. You've been missing for two months. Everyone thought you were dead. You need to come with me. You need to come home."

"But I can't—"

"Do you trust me, Gem?" Roy asked. "Seriously? Do you trust me?"

"I—yeah," she said.

"Then believe me when I say that you've been in a coma for three months. None of this is real. Come with me, and we can go back. We can be together again."

She bit her lip, staring down at the stone in her hand.

"There's nothing left for you here," Roy said. "Everything you see here is what they put into your mind. Come with me and we can get out. Let's go."

Gemma looked up at him. "How do I know if it's real?" she asked.

"You can trust me," Roy said. "You can trust this."

He took her hand and squeezed it gently. She shut her eyes tightly, inhaling deeply before she let the stone fall from her grip. It shattered when it hit the floor.

Roy led her to the door, watching her carefully as he pulled it open and led them out.

"Gemma?"

"Easy now!"

"Breathe, Roy!"

Roy felt a sharp sting in his cheek as he was slapped awake. He blinked. Ollie was drawing back his hand, ready to slap him again.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Roy waved him away, looking at the bed. M'gann leaned back in her seat, panting heavily. The pillow was empty. Roy squeezed his eyes shut tightly, opening them again.

"Breathe normally, Gemma," Zatanna was saying, rubbing a tiny back in circles. Roy placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her to look at him. A pair of gray eyes met his.

"This is real," she whispered. He nodded. She looked down at her hands—her young, unscathed hands—so different from the way they looked in her mind, and then she burst into tears.

(500)

"I can't believe it," Gemma whispered quietly, hugging her knees to her chest. "Custard?"

"And egg yolks," Wally said.

She wrinkled her nose. "I really wish I could have seen that," she said.

"I really wish we could have used the laxatives," Raquel said.

"I really wish we could go to the fucking bunker," Zatanna lamented.

"You guys," Gemma said. "We can't leave here. It's our home. And we can't break off from the League, either."

"Gem," Conner leaned forward. "You may have forgotten this, but they—"

"Left you here and kept me under while they dug through my every thought," she said simply. "Yeah, I know. But it's done. And I'm here. And I'm tired. I'm really, really tired, you guys. I'm sick of dividing everything. I'm sick of it being complicated. Just leave it all be."

"Where are they, anyways?" asked Artemis. "I haven't seen anyone but RT around here since yesterday."

"Shutting down PineCORP," said Robin. "And tossing Kearney into prison. That stuff takes time, you know."

"Well, it's the least they could do," Zatanna said. She heaved a sigh. "Are you sure we can't just ditch for the bunker? I'll drive the getaway car."

"Nah," Gemma said. "We really ought to stay put. It'll take longer than I care to wait to have a kitchen installed in the bunker. Besides, they dug through my brain. I'm gonna stay here and make a few shallow mistakes. That's what kids do, right? Leave the oven on and set half the mountain on fire?"

"Or accidentally set off a bomb in the garage that mysteriously destroys the Bat-Mobile?" Robin offered.

"Or perhaps they smoke twelve packs of cigarettes next to the emergency sprinklers and flood the area," Amelie said.

"Or they stuff the fridge with chocolate ice cream laced with laxatives," Conner said. "I've been dying to use those laxatives."

"Yeah," Gemma said, giggling. "Like that. Either way, they're gonna be on probation for a long, long time. But what about me? Am I gonna have to leave the team?"

"Well, lucky you," Zatanna said. "That's not up to the League. This team is a separate operation. And we say you get to stay. Besides—J'onn proved you're not guilty."

"But what about PineCORP?" Gemma asked. "Joseph Martin could name me. If it gets to the press, then you'll have to kick me out."

"Yeah," Amelie said. "But he's not going to do that. He's keeping his mouth shut tight. Or he'll end up in prison with Kearney."

"What?"

"Martin's pinning the entire thing on Kearney," Robin explained. "The League is backing this up. Batman said something about a vial of soil with traces of a strange plant...something called a Magdala Fern. And there are only two of those on the hemisphere. One died a few years ago. The other is in the Blue Room in the summer home of Senator Robert Kearney."

Gemma smiled. "But Joseph got away," she said, her smile wavering.

"We'll get him someday," Zatanna said. "He's not gonna be able to do anything now. Congressman Donald Train has opened a new investigation into PineCORP's overseas business ventures. He's grounded for a long time."

"And we can get back to kicking normal, standard evil ass," Artemis said. "Not the supercorporation ass you've been battling."

"It would be nice to kick normal, standard evil ass for a change," Gemma said, giggling.

Roy smiled, leaning back in his seat and watching her. Sometimes he noticed when she thought no one could notice, her smile would falter and disappear. And then she would bring it back like she did for Ethan when he came in when she first woke up. Or for her mother or for Black Canary. It would take a long time to erase the ten or so years she had lived in her mind—perhaps the traces of it would never fade away. But she was there, and she was with him, and she could stay with him for just a little longer, and for that he was indebted.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her later that night, when the last of her daily visitors had disappeared.

"Hm?"

"About the fight," he said. "I'm sorry."

"You should be," she said, poking his shoulder. "But you know—I can barely even remember half of it. It feels like so long ago." And she sighed. "I'm tired."

"Sleep tired or Pixie Hollow tired?" Roy asked.

She smiled. "A little bit of both," she said.

"We could go back upstate later sometime."

"I'd like that," she said. "But I'll have to find a new song to hike to. I can't sing that one about Jesus now. You've totally ruined it for me."

"You can pretend," Roy said.

"Hm...maybe. I think I will," and she leaned back onto her pillow. Roy pulled the sheets over her delicately. "I'm sorry too. It was a stupid fight."

"Then it never happened," Roy said. "Memory erased."

She smiled at him. "Wait—is your wall still crystal?"

"I—yeah. Yeah, it is."

Gemma burst out laughing.

(1)

"Roy!" Wally yelled, jumping up and down and waving his hand. "Over here!"

Roy walked toward the fingers stained blue with cotton candy and was slapped on the back.

"I didn't think you'd show!" Robin said.

"Wally bugged the crap out of me," Roy said. "What are we doing here? It's a freaking festival."

"Dude, it's the first day of summer!" Robin said. "Grab a chick and have some fun!"

"Speaking of chicks," Wally said. "Have you met our new recruit yet?"

"There's a new recruit?" he asked.

"Sure," Wally said. "Come on. She's right there with Zatanna. HEY, ZEE! GET OVER HERE!"

"NO!" was the reply. Wally rolled his eyes and pulled Roy by the arm down the pier. Zatanna was leaning against the wooden railing, looking down at the water, giggling profusely with a girl Roy didn't recognize.

"Hey, Gemma, come meet Roy," Wally said. The girl looked up. Gray eyes. Brown hair. Five foot...Jesus, she was only five foot one. "Roy, this is Gemma Stone. She's our newest recruit."

"Hi!" she said brightly. Roy winced.

Her voice was sweeter then the cotton candy Wally was jamming down his throat. But she was pretty, Roy supposed. He did a quick profile of her. She was tapping her fingers against her thigh. Sugar rush. Something told Roy she had a lot of those. Dilated pupils. Excited. Possibly stoned. Most likely just excited. She was pretty, that much was true. But was she capable of being a part of the team? Roy highly doubted it. He had a feeling she wouldn't be sticking around for very long. A part of him hoped she didn't. She was a bit too much like...candy. He'd hate her. As he shook her outstretched hand, he prayed that no one would ask him to train her.

"Hey," he said briskly. "Welcome to the team."

-end-