Chapter 22: Wednesday 21st February

"No, it's not okay." Thorn said. She detached herself from my arms and stood up, wiping away her tears. "I was supposed to help you, and I failed." She shook her head, probably internally cursing herself.

I stood up next to her. "You did all you could do."

"But it wasn't enough, was it?" Thorn ran shaky fingers through her tangled hair. "Now we're all tapped in here like animals."

"Um," Zatanna said, breaking the silence that had come over us, "how have you been helping us?"

I gulped, locking eyes with the expectant Zatanna. That's when Thorn spoke up and saved me.

"I told her where Zoella was being held captive." She announced. "And I promised to help Shadow get her back."

"You lied to us?" Wally questioned. I clammed up, feeling suddenly guilty about the whole affair.

"I asked her to." Thorn said, then hesitating, continued. "My original plan was to help, undiscovered, the disappear. There was a chance someone could have overheard you talking about me in the station. I couldn't take that chance."

"How do we know you're not just playing us?" Zatanna asked.

"You don't." Thorn replied simply.

"That doesn't matter." Kaldur said. Immediately everyone's attention was focused on him. "We need all the help we can get right now. And since Thorn had worked with the enemy, that gives us an advantage we rarely have had before. We need a way to escape; Robin, can you get a signal?"

"No." Robin groaned. "I had a strong link coming into the building, but this room must somehow block it." He tapped away on his arm. "I'll keep trying though."

"Thorn, can you use your vines to rip out the bars?" Kaldur asked.

"I don't think so." Thorn said. "A few months ago, Wildcard had me do that exact ask to see how strong these metal bars were. I had no idea what they were for, so I tried it. They didn't budge."

"Argh!" Connor screamed, banging his fists against the wall. I counted ten punches that he made before he finally gave up and stepped back. Not one single dent had been implanted in the metal.

Then he started punching it again.

"This is useless." Artemis said, having to speak loudly over Connor's shouting. "Thorn can't break the bars, Robin can't hack the signal, and Superboy isn't hurting that wall in least."

"If you've got a better idea, now would be a good time to share it." Zatanna said to her.

"How about we find a spoon and dig our way out." Artemis retorted.

I stared at the floor while Artemis' words rocked over in my head. 'Dig our way out'.

The floor; it used to stand as wall. When it fell down, I didn't hear a click, or any gears grinding. That means nothing is holding it place.

Gazing out through the metal bars, I could see that pretty much all of the house was made from wood; most of it now rotted. Even so, those materials would have been used to build the original walls of this room. As well as the floor...

"Thorn?" I asked.

"Yeah?" She answered.

"The house is built on stilts, lifted above ground. Could you get your vines to dig underneath the house and break open the floor in here?"

"I guess I could." She said. "But once they hit that unbreakable barrier," she gestured to the floor, "they won't be able to go any further."

"What if you make them small enough to fit through the corners?"

Thorn nodded slowly, thinking the plan over in her head. "I can do that."

"But what will happen when the vines do eventually make their way through?" Wally asked.

Robin looked up from his arm and stepped into the small conversation circle we had formed. "The metal plate beneath us is only attached to something else in one place; and that's the base of those bars over there." He pointed to cage wall. "If Thorn can make her vines seep through the other three walls of the room, we should be able to break the floor enough to have access to the space underneath the house."

"You think you can do that?" I asked Thorn.

"I'm a little tired," She rubbing her forehead, "but I'll try."

Lifting her hands in front as though they had weights in them, Thorn closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She was concentrating, but instead if a red blush forming on her face, the leafy green in her skin became more evident.

Cracking and crunching could be heard beneath our feet. And along with the team, I backed up into the bars as wood could be heard snapping and curling under us. Thorn stayed in the middle of the room though; determined on getting this right.

She stayed there even when the other side of the room started to shift dangerously. Little buds of green started to poke out through the cracks. They were soon followed by larger stems, which twisted their way along the ground then snaked up the poles behind us, keeping grip.

The floor began to dip a few inches every few seconds, creating a diagonal incline that wasn't too steep. After only a minute, the vines had finally wrenched the floor loose.

It landed hard on the ground, but the bang wasn't loud enough to be heard by someone upstairs. Thank god for that.

Thorn started to stumble, reaching out her arms to try and grab into something. I ran forward - wincing when my feet clanged in the metal - and grabbed her right arm, then putting my left around her waist to assist her steadiness.

"Right." Racquet said. "I think we should start to go."

"Agreed." Kaldur said, walking past us down the slope into the blackness that lay under the house. He crouched down, and examined the area.

"I think we may need to go on our hands and knees." He informed us. "But other than that we should be fine. Stay alert though. You never know what kind of things they could have planted here."

Guiding Thorn along as she slowly reclaimed her energy, I made sure to take small, weightless steps that didn't make a sound. Kaldur went in first, then beside him was Robin; using his arm-computer as a source of light. Thorn and I went in after them, flanked by Wally and Zatanna.

I let go of Thorn once we dropped to out hands and knees, feeling the vines that broke the floor slowly retreat back junto the ground from which they came. I stared to crawl along with the others, and heard the noises of Connor, Artemis and Raquel behind me bringing up the rear.

The dirt was littered with blown away rubbish, unwanted toys and even broken glass. But being beside Thorn, I could see that though the soil didn't have any sunlight, little spuds began to sprout as she passed by. Just being with the earth seemed to make her stronger. And I was glad for that, because we needed her strength right now.

We came out from under the building, welcomed by the darkness that painted the sky; signalling that night had begun.

"Which room is she in?" I asked Thorn.

"It would be..." she started, looking up at the second storey, then pointing the window first to the right. "That one."

"But still, it would be foolish to enter from here, with little strength, when they would have taken precautions as to not be disturbed." Kaldur said. "Robin, can you get a signal out here?"

"No." He said, annoyed, tapping at his wrist. "Riddlerette must have a wider area coverage than I fist thought. I can't contact Batman, and even if I could, he'd be trying to stop the break out at Arkham."

Kaldur sighed. "We're going to have to retreat, and come back when we have more knowledge of the situation."

"No, we can't." I argued. "The only reason we got trapped was because Thorn was trying to get me close to the staircase. With her on our side, there's only two girls in there."

"Shadow, you have to understand. Wildcard was the one that figured out Thorn was a traitor. She's the one who actually trapped us the room. And with Riddlerette's help, they're literally one step ahead of us. We need to leave."

"And while we're gone Zoella could die." I turned to Robin. "Is there any other way to get through signal block?"

He swiped something across the hologram that had recently popped up. "... any phone made no later than 2009 has an operating system that could get through."

"I have a phone like that." I said.

"Can you call M'gann and ask her to contact the League?" Kaldur asked.

"Of course." I pulled out my phone; unlocking it and about to scroll through my contacts.

That's when they appeared.

Men - and perhaps even some women - ran out from behind buildings and onto the street, advancing towards us. Though there looked to be no more than thirty, their appearance would intimidate the hell out of you. Their faces were covered masks of the Joker's gang, their hands holding guns that rapidly fired bullets our way.

Robin grabbed my shoulder, pushing me out of the way and into the ground. But as I went down, I got a bullet to the arm, and my phone went flying a metre away. I sat on my knees and gritted my teeth, grasping my injured arm. The bullet was still in there.

Another shot. This time in my stomach.

I lurched over cried out in pain, removing my hand from my arm to my belly. A warm, sticky substance coated my fingers. I had been but enough times to know what it was.

I could hear the gunshots ringing throughout the echoing neighbourhood, some of yells from my team mates accompanied them. We needed help.

M'gann. The phone.

I lifted my head to look around for the device. A faint glow emitted from the grass in front of me. I moved a knee, then groaned in pain when my bullet wounds roared with pain. I held my breath and moved the other knee.

I had to keep going. I moved another knee. It wasn't that far. Another surge of pain. Almost in my reach. I moved my knees twice, three times, then collapsed from the pain. Laying down in the grass, I could see the light only inches away. Just a little further.

I wriggled closer to the phone; almost screaming from the intensity that felt like fire in my veins. I reached out a bloody hand, fumbling almost blindly for a grasp on the edge of the device.

Finally my fingers managed to curl themselves around the thin frame. I dragged it closer with little movements from my hand. I pulled close enough to make out M'gann's name. With a shaky finger I tapped it, and the screen changed to show it was dialling.

I slumped back in it the earth. I'd done it. M'gann would hear the commotion through the line, and call for help immediately. Then, she'd fly done camouflaged and help us.

Ten seconds went by.

Ten brutal seconds when the blood leaked out of my wounds like water flowed through river. I had heard no silence of the guns, no ceasing to shouts.

Where was M'gann? I had pressed her name, the change of screen proved it. I called her, I know I did. Where was she?

My breathing became ragged as my vision stared to dissolve. Little spots of black began covering the world around me; though j could still hear the battle.

Someone came near me. He wore a mask and carried a gun, as well as a hysteric laugh that escaped from his hidden lips. And just as he raised the rifle to finish me off, I could see the glint of steel pass through the front of his chest. He landed with a thud.

A figure of black - no orange; or maybe both, stood in place of him. I could see that much. Behind them, black streams of energy struck down the members of the Joker's gang.

"Shadow?" I heard the sound of Robin's voice. "Ebony, Ebony can you hear me?" His voice was frantic.

"She's bleeding!" A voice that sounded oddly familiar, but yet one I couldn't place, yelled out.

"Superboy, take her to the bioship! Now!" Robin ordered.

I could feel Connor pick me up in his arms, then start running at full speed. Then, there was a jump; a big one.

I could feel myself being sat down on a cool, hard surface. But by then, my vision had completely gone. And I had no idea what had happened.

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Hi. So this chapter is a bit long. I'm really tired so I don't actually know if I done it real good. I actually wrote the first half when I got home from school and found that my mum wasn't home, the door was locked, and I had no keys. So I sat on the front porch and wrote. The rest I did tonight.

And I have question: you know people in the OUAT fandom are called Oncers, one direction fandom are directioners... do we have a name to give ourselves in the Young Justice Fandom? Because if not, then we should really come up with one.

And about the story, how do you think it's all going so far? Did I leave you in comets suspense with that chapter? Do you think you know what will happen? And, I know you guys are all gonna be REALLY pissed at me, but I've decided not to do a part two. I realised the plot wouldn't make sense, and I want to get started on a new story. Plus, I have an awesome idea for the epilogue, which I think some of you fangirls might go a little crazy about...

So yeah, don't hang me, stone me, burn me, or resort to any sort of punishment they would have used centuries ago.

School officially ends for the year in two weeks, so hopefully I won't die of THAT either. Plus I'll have more time to write.

I shall hope to see you next chapter.