The Last One (young justice/robin)

35. missing

"Hold up," Babs stopped me, putting an unconscious Bumblebee in my hands. "Blue's keeping Black busy. Impulse, Beast Boy, and I will drag everyone else into the bio-ship's hold. Once we're in, you need to be at the helm, ready to make a fast exit."

We were moments away from fixing this mess we made.

"Right. Execute."

All the abductees shuffled in, followed by half of the team that was unconscious. "Everyone's aboard except Blue!" Babs announced.

"Going back in for him." Impulse was stopped, though, by the rush of water that surged through the door.

"Where's Iris?"

"Nightwing, seal the hatch! Docking bay is flooding our—"

"I'm not leaving without her."

"We can't help her if we drown or are crushed by the pressure at this depth!" Babs argued.

Begrudgingly, I listened, steering the Bioship through the rain fire while we waited. Lagoon Boy swam out for them, but when he came back to the ship he only had Blue.

"Where's Iris?" Nobody answered me. "Where's Rena?"

"Black Beetle had her... Used her to break down the door." Gar pulled something out from behind his back; one of her knives drenched in blood that I could only pray wasn't hers. "I-I don't think she made it out."

I rounded on him and Babs. "You didn't grab her?"

"Nightwing, she wasn't there," Barbara defended. "I don't think she—"

"She did," I argued, refusing to move the Bio-ship any further. "She has to!"

"Nightwing," Barbara tried to soothe.

"She always goes last to make sure none of you get left behind. So, why did no one bring her back? Why did none of you bother to notice she's not here?"

What have I done?

We circled the perimeter dozens of times, still dodging the open fire. Each of us tried to spot her body, but nothing. We had no choice, but to leave.

By the time we arrived to the Hall everyone was quiet or crying. I've never lost my composure in front of the team, but I couldn't help it. Shouting, pointing fingers, hitting the wall—I couldn't stop any of it.

    The longer my tantrum went on, the more I hated myself. The more I realized what Rens and Wally had been trying to tell me all along. That I was going too far, that there were too many unnecessary risks. Now I might be paying the ultimate price.

My bruising knuckles dug into the walls one more time. Babs had to stop me, "We'll find her."

"Then why is everyone already crying like she's dead?"

"Because we're worried about her just as much as you are, Dick. She's stronger than all of us combined, she'll be okay."

"Black Beetle was stronger than all of you combined," I snapped. "You heard what Gar said. I'm not liking those odds."

"Well, you'll just have to!"

The computer beeped, interrupting our argument: Captain Atom requesting a mission report.

I tried my best to put on a poker face. "...By now, they'll have moved their ship, plus there's still the Beetle connection to figure out.

"Still no word from—"

"No. I don't even want to think that..." I had to look away from the monitor. "But you can tell the world they're here. Their secret invasion is no secret anymore."