The New Generation: Earth-53

"Like hell I want your magic," Rose said, scowling intensely at him. "Magic is for cowards. For soft, weak nobodies and can't do shit otherwise. You can take your magic and shove it up your girlfriend's ass."

"I'd like to see you try," Cheetah hissed back, baring her claws. She was about two seconds away from pouncing herself.

"Would everyone just calm down?" Robin said, holding his hands up cautiously. He didn't want to inadvertently set something off.

Rose glared at him. "Tell him that. He started this. He attacked me, not the other way around."

Suddenly, a long silver plasma construct shot towards the both of them, encasing both Rose and Neal inside protective bubbles, to keep them away from each other. "Okay, everybody stop!" Argent shouted. "First of all, Rose, calm down. Second of all, Neal, what the hell? We don't just attack our teammates!"

"Toni," Rose said, slowly turning her gaze to her only other friend. "I swear, if you don't let me go so I can strangle him..."

"Rose, I'm not going to let you two keep fighting."

"Damn it, Argent!" Rose was seething now, despite the pain in her leg. "If you're at all my friend, then don't fucking get involved!"

Argent paused momentarily, giving her friend a shocked look. "But, Rose, I'm..."

"Just trying to help? If you want to help, then let us go."

"I wouldn't do that..." Kid Flash said, shifting awkwardly.

And yet, she did, albeit very reluctantly. Lowering her hand, the silver constructs disappeared. She turned away, holding her arms around herself and letting out a long sigh. "Fine."

Once they were free again, Rose took in a deep breath and defiantly crossed her arms over her chest again. "I say it again. You want me to delete them, make me."

"I told you to leave her out of this!" Neal shouted as Rose once again shot another insult in Cheetah's direction. While Neal normally hated Rose's pride he was copying it this time around. Much like how Rose didn't want help from Zoe, neither did Neal want help from Cheetah. This all came down to Rose and Neal, and they were going to settle it between them and them alone. It was just the way that Neal wanted it.

"Don't try to pin this on me you bitch," Neal said as Rose spoke to Robin. "You're trying to blackmail me when I went out of my fucking way to apologize to you where you shot me down anyway. You brought this upon yourself. I tried to avoid this from happening" Neal challenged as he looked from Rose to Robin. It wasn't like it really mattered who believed who anyway.

"Hey I tried to do my part to make peace with her! I don't care anymore what she thinks about me. She made it very clear that we aren't ever going to be friend again, so if she wants to be enemies than this is my time to show her that she will not ever push me around again," Neal said to Argent as they were both trapped. We don't attack teammates? What a load of crap, Rose had gone out of her way to make everyone miserable since she had started being here. Neal was going to make her actions cease once and for all.

Once Argent released them both, Neal thought that Rose would immediately rush in for an attack, and yet all she did was cross her arms over her chest and continue to challenge Neal. What was she, stupid? Neal only needed to chant a few words in order to harm Rose and yet there she stood? Fine, he wasn't going to complain if she was gonna make this easy. "Kaiaph go noe!" Neal shouted before sending a large burst of magical energy. This time it was directed straight in to Rose's face.

Shot. By a cannon. In the face. That's about what it felt like when a sudden magical burst erupted right in front of her head. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground an everything was spinning. She felt a wetness leaking out over her face, no doubt blood streaming out of her broken nose. It took several moments to get her bearings back, rolling over and very awkwardly staggering back up to her feet. She stumbled forward, spitting out a glob of blood, and caught herself against the kitchen counter.

"Ass...hole..." she breathed, the flow of air through her nose coming out in a shrill whistle. "Some things... you can't just fix with an apology. That includes... molesting me, you son of... bitch... How would you like it... if it happened to you, huh? What if someone... did that to Jordan, huh? Would an apology make it all better? Would it?"

As she stood there, waiting for him to answer, her hand came down over a stray kitchen knife on the counter. Though her fingers closed around the handle, she made no act with it yet, simply waiting. A steady trickle of crimson dripped down off her lips, blotching and staining the marble counter top.

When Rose went flying back Neal thought that she might stay down for good, he should have known better though. There was no way that Rose was going to go down with that little of a fight. If there was any good quality Rose was, it was that she was tough. Despite the fact she got back up it really did look like his attack had done quite a bit of damage.

"Leave Jordan out of this, don't act like you can even understand what it means to care for someone else. The only thing you're mad about is that you got showed up, by ME of all people. You hated me long before this incident you keep referring to," Neal said as he kept his gaze upon Rose. His eyes trailed down as she gripped the knife, despite the fact that she didn't make any sort of action yet Neal couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. Rose's feet were one thing, if Neal got hit by those he could recover. A knife was very different one the other hand though.

"So what are you going to do now Rose? You going to try and kill me?"

"You think you know everything," Rose muttered, gripping the knife tighter. "Just because I don't care about you doesn't mean I don't know how to care about anyone." Her eyes slowly drifted over towards Zoe, then dropped back down to the counter shamefully, watching the blood drip from her nose. "I know that very much. But you didn't answer my question, which tells me you can't, because you know the answer makes you look like a hypocrite. I might have been a bitch, sure, but at least I didn't violate someone like you did." She quickly raised the knife, only to stab it down into the cutting board next to her with a wooden thunk. "There's no excuse for that."

Turning from the kitchen, she began to march off back down the bedroom corridor. "I'm taking a shower. And for your information, genius, it only qualifies as blackmail if I use it to extort something from you. Otherwise it's just a harmless prank." She shook her head, as she hobbled away, forcing herself to walk in spite of the crippling pain still in her leg. "Which I sent before your little 'heartfelt apology'. You'd have seen that if you checked the date on the email. Dumbass."

Neal didn't say anything as Rose spoke. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. She may have been a terrible human being overall, but he made a choice to cross a line of sorts. Despite the fact that he felt like she deserved it, it wasn't his choice to make to punish her. He just hated the fact that besides Zatanna no one else seemed to agree that she needed to be put in her place. Was he really the bad guy here? How could that be though? She was the one that became mean, she was the one that tried to set everyone off.

Rose left and Zoe soon followed after her. It was at this time that Neal realized that he was probably the center of attention right now, and he couldn't seem to make eye contact with anyone. M'gann had been the only person who knew about what he had done to Rose, but that secret was out now. Without saying another word, he tried to make his way to the hallway, hoping that no one would stop him.

"You should have just let me shoot him when I had the chance," Zoe remarked as she walked a few feet behind Rose.

Fortunately for Neal, everyone was still far too stunned and confused to stop him. Thy just sort of stared at each other, wondering what the fuck had just happened. Either way, it wasn't good for the team dynamic, obviously. Not to mention, there would be repercussions to come very shortly, for one big reason in particular... Power Girl had seen most of it from up above the upper cave levels, with her x-ray vision.

"Doesn't make a difference now," Rose muttered, wiping a long line of blood on her sleeve. Yup, her nose was definitely broken, and it wasn't going to stop bleeding any time soon if she didn't get a cloth to her nostrils real quick. "Besides, you didn't have your guns with you. That's what happens when assholes ambush you at breakfast, you get caught with your pants down."

"Yeah well, any chance of just ignoring him just went down the drain. Shit just got real," Zoe muttered as she took a few quick steps forward so that she could get a look at Rose's nose. God, that magic spell had really done quite a number on Rose's face. "You should let me make something for that. I'm not doctor but my dad taught me how to fix things like that," Zoe informed Rose as they kept moving.

"And next time he tries something, I'm gonna fire a bullet straight in to his throat."

"Normally I'd say I'm fine and not to worry about it," Rose said, as she pushed the door open to their room. "But since it's you... I guess I can let you take a look at it." She sat on the edge of her bed, tilting her head back slightly and cringing at the throbbing straight in the center of her nose. "Can you believe what he said, though? I don't know what it's like to care about someone? Clearly he doesn't know you."

---

"Neal?" Cheetah uttered, poking her head in the room. After what had just happened, she figured it was probably a good idea to talk to her boyfriend. There was also the matter of the giant skeleton that had just tumbled out of the closet during that confrontation. She really rather hoped it wasn't true, but... something in her gut feared it might be. "Are you in here?"

"Let's just not talk about him right now," Zoe said as she took a look at the damage that was done to Rose's nose. Thankfully it wasn't going to be permanent, but it was definitely something that was going to take some time to heal. "I might be able to make some kind of a splint for it, but it might be a better idea to ask.....well never mind," Zoe caught herself. She was about to suggest asking Zatanna to fix it, but considering she was Neal's mentor Zoe had a feeling that Zoe wouldn't dare ask.

"You want me to try to set it back in place?"

---

"Yeah, I'm here," Neal remarked as he was seen laying down on his bed. He wasn't doing anything but staring up at the ceiling. Clearly he wasn't in the best mood right now, but maybe talking to Cheetah would make him feel better. He waited for her to come further in before speaking. "I just don't get it Barbara....why do I let her bring out the worst in me?" he asked weakly as he still didn't look at her. "It's like I'm an entirely different person every time she enters the room. I hate it."

"Yes, please," Rose said, sniffling back a glob of blood. "Don't be gentle, I can take the pain. just make sure it's straight again. I am not going to live with a crooked nose the rest of my life." Zoe made a good call, too, on not bringing up Zatanna. Rose was just now starting to calm down after her altercation with Neal. Bringing up his mentor likely would have sent her off into a tirade. After all, he had to learn the spell that sexually assaulted her from somewhere.

---

Cheetah wandered over to Neal on the bed and leaped up next to him. She paused a moment, then curled up with him, wrapping her tail around the both of them. "I don't know, Neal... sometimes there's just some people that you can't get along with," she said, with a long sigh. "No matter how much you try... though, I have to say it was nice seeing you put her in her place like that."

Again, she paused, as if hesitating to continue. Eventually, she worked up the nerve to ask, "But, um... that part where she said you molested her...? That wasn't... I mean, you couldn't have really... right?"

"Don't worry, I can definitely make it straight again. After I started a fight at school my dad made me fix my own nose as punishment, figured that it might make me think twice about starting once again," Zoe said before suddenly twisting her thumb next to Rose's nose and causing it to be set back in place. The story, while true, was clearly a means of distracting Rose before the sharp pain came back to her again. "Alright....how does that look, minus the blood marks of course," Zoe asked before holding up a small mirror for Rose to check herself out in.

---

Neal closed his eyes as the question he feared would come came up. Cheetah wanted to know if Rose was telling the truth or not. Neal supposed that there was no hiding it anymore, M'gann already knew after all and now that Rose had screamed it out there was no way that it was going to stay quiet. "It's true. I can't deny that I did something horrible to her. One night Zatanna and I were talking, I think Rose did something to frustrate me or something, and so Zatanna helped me to get a little payback," Neal began while still not looking over at Cheetah. "Zatanna told me the spell that made people climax, and so she used it on Rose before teaching it to me and using it myself," Neal said in a soft and quiet voice.

"I felt so justified at the time, thinking it was the funniest thing that I've ever done in my entire life," Neal admitted. "But, for once, I was wrong and Rose was right. If anyone ever did that to Jordan or you or M'gann, or anyone I cared about.....I wouldn't tolerate it for a second," he said seriously. "And yet in my anger I felt SO justified......and now everyone out there must think that I really am the jerk of the two of us," the sorcerer added before looking at his hands for a second. "Maybe I'm not ready to have these powers. I thought I was, but maybe.....I don't know," Neal said as he trailed off in thought.

Rose cringed slightly, but uttered no cry of pain as Zoe twisted her nose back into place When it was done, she sniffled again and then grabbed a tissue. After blowing out a veritable puddle of blood into the issue, she tossed it in the trash and stared at her reflection in the mirror that Zoe held up. Her face really was a mess, not just with blood everywhere, but also bruising around the eyes, and a very clear, red break line across the bridge of her nose. "I look horrible," she muttered, grabbing another tissue to start wiping her face off. When that did very little, she grumbled quietly to herself and stood up. "I'm gonna take a shower and clean off... I'll put a splint on it when I get back."

---

Cheetah went quiet for quite a long time after Neal spoke. Her gaze drifted lazily up to the ceiling, as she rolled over onto her back, hands folded over her stomach. Taking in deep breaths, she waved her tail around aimlessly in the air, watching it move. "You know, I... I never told you this before, but when I was being held prisoner at that facility... some of the guards, when things were quiet and I wasn't being experimented on that day, they would... they did things to me." She didn't feel she needed to elaborate further on the details. Neal would get the message.

"Those moments were... by far the worst in my life. What they did, the way I felt afterwards... like some kind of used, dirty rag tossed in the garbage. I wouldn't wish something like that on anyone." She shifted slightly, looking away towards the far wall. "Not even her. I mean... what you did wasn't quite the same, yet it sounds similar, too. You forced her to do something against her will, made a spectacle of her, degraded her... normally that sounds like something I'd have jumped on board with, but not like that. That's just... wrong. I'm sorry I have to say it so bluntly, but I could never find a reason to do something like that to anyone, short of killing someone I loved."

Neal didn't feel like saying anything and when Cheetah spoke up it continued to solidify the feeling. As she spoke about what happened to her at the facility Neal only continued to feel a knot form in his stomach. He had no idea and she never would have guessed that she had been touched inappropriately there. Course, now Neal could probably understand why her animal instincts had her kill so many of the men that had tried to follow and capture her. Still, that did little to help Neal feel better. Cheetah might not have meant it, but Neal felt like he was being called scum.

Perhaps she was right.

A few tears slipped from Neal's eyes. Why had he gone and buried himself in this hole? It didn't feel fair. He had tried to play nice for so long and no one ever gave him any recognition. No one tried to calm Rose down or stop her from being an ass, and yet now here he was for finally retaliating after six months of taking her shit. It just didn't feel fair, but now there was nothing that he could do about it.

"Everyone out there must think that I'm the biggest scum on the planet now," Neal said as he continued to stare at the ceiling. He couldn't look at Cheetah before, but after what she had just said there was no way he could look at her now. He had probably gone from the guy that everyone liked to the guy that everyone hated. After all, Rose had hardly touched him during that fight. With what she said in combination to breaking her nose he must have looked like the biggest bully in the world.

"I should have just left like I planned. It would have been better that way."

Cheetah remained calmly on her backside for a long time, just staring up at the ceiling as Neal spoke. A part of her felt very hollow at the moment, not sure what to think of Neal's actions. On the one hand, god knows Rose deserved to be put in her place, but at the same time, she didn't deserve anything quite that severe. Cheetah could have dealt just fine with Rose being blooded and beaten, maybe a broken bone or two, but... not with how she'd instead been abused. It made her sick just thinking about it.

And yet, she knew Neal felt remorse for it. It didn't take a genius to tell that his actions were eating him up inside. He was a good person at heart, and having to play the bad guy, even in this instance, was very nearly destroying him. So, she reached out to him, bringing her hand down and tightly squeezing Neal's fingers with her own. With a long breath, she curled up next to him, closing her eyes.

"It's okay... we all make mistakes," she said, starting to purr again. "We'll get through it, though... promise."

Neal felt Cheetah's hand move down on his own, squeezing her fingers around his hand before speaking. The words were not what he had expected. He thought that she would be hard on him, or perhaps even agree that he should decide to leave again. He was happy to hear what she said, even if he still felt terrible on the inside. He moved his other hand over her own before slowly turning his gaze to look at her. Cheetah's eyes were closed, but there was one last thing that he needed to ask.

"Can you forgive me for what I did to her?"

Cheetah bowed her head momentarily, taking in a deep breath. "Not right away..." she admitted, in response to his question. "But... eventually. It'll just take some time, is all. But we'll get through it, okay?"

And then, a knock came on the door. Cheetah blinked, turning back to look at it. Another knock came, and this time Cheetah bounded across the room to open it. Miss Martian stood there, standing awkwardly with her hands folded in front of her and staring at the ground. She paused a moment, then cleared her throat and slowly looked up.

"Um... Neal's wanted up in the main meeting hall," Megan said, shifting nervously. "The League wants to... talk to him."

Well, it wasn't the answer that Neal had wanted, but it was probably the honest one. "Thank you Barbara," Neal said as he gave her hand another gentle squeeze. If he was going to have to earn back her trust, there was no telling what he was going to do have to do to earn everyone else's back.

As the knock came Neal looked up in concern for a moment. Who else would want to come and find him at his room. When it was revealed to be M'gann Neal grew nervous, but that was nothing compared to what she said next. The League wanted to talk to him? Could they have heard about what happened? Neal had no idea, but the feeling in his gut was back and stronger than ever.

"I guess that I'll be back later," Neal said as he sat up and moved over towards the hallway. "See you soon," he said in what he tried to keep a calm voice. His face said something completely different though, and it was clear that this meeting had him concerned. He walked out of the hallway and began to head up to the higher levels. If the Leauge wanted to talk, keeping them waiting wasn't going to put them in a better mood.

When Neal made it into the main meeting hall, he would be greeted by possibly one of the most intimidating sights imaginable: the entire Justice League sitting around their table and staring at him. Well, all except Zatanna, who was sitting on the other wide of the table, in between two other chairs. Her back was to him. When Neal entered, Power Girl rose to her feet and pointed at one of the empty chairs.

"Sit," she said. It wasn't a request.

Once he was seated, everyone went quiet, not saying anything. It soon became apparent that they were still waiting for someone else. Eventually, the door at the end of the room opened once again, and this time Rose walked in. She looked pretty roughed up, what with two black eyes and a broken nose covered with a splint.

"Alright, I'm here," she muttered, taking the last seat. "What's going on?"

"What's going on," Power Girl said, leaning forward and folding her hands, "is that it's come to my attention that you two attacked each other today."

"Hey, he attacked," Rose insisted. "I defended."

Power Girl's eyes narrowed, her expression not shifting. "Yet you were the one who provoked him into attacking, so the blame falls just as much on you as it does him."

That seemed to shut her up. It was one thing to push Neal's buttons and argue with him. It was another when you had an angry Kryptonian staring you down.

"Neal, what you did today was so far over the line that I don't even know where to begin," Power Girl explained. "You attacked and injured a fellow teammate. That is not how we act around here, and I ave to say that your actions were deplorable today."

Rose carefully glared at Neal. "Yeah, what she said."

"Quiet, Rose." Power Girl's eyes shifted over to the white haired girl. "I'll get to you in a minute."

Intimidating was one word for it, downright horrifying was another good term to describe what he was feeling right now. Batman alone staring at you was bad, but the entire Justlice League doing it was a whole other story. It didn't take long for Neal to move forward and sit next to Zatanna, speaking of which why was she over on this side anyway? Neal could only think of one reason that she would be here. Did J'onn let it slip about what perhaps really happened that night? After today's incident perhaps he felt best to share it.

Neal sat still, only barely glancing over at Zatanna as they waited there. Everything was silent, and Neal sure as hell wasn't going to be the one starting any conversations. If he had a knot before, he must have had two whole bundles of rope in his stomach now. Whatever was going to happen here, it wasn't going to be any good. Thankfully Rose showed up not long after that, and the meeting began.

As the words came forward Neal just listened, not really certain if he was supposed to speak or not. It was only after he had been completely called out that Neal finally felt like he should say something in defense of himself. His gaze was mostly on the table though, not quite looking up at all the other members of the League. "I made it clear in the past that Rose and I don't exactly play nice. Despite that I tried to make things work for the team's sake, but even I have my limits to what I can take. She had pictures that I wanted deleted, when she refused she made it clear that the only way she would was if I made her. So I did.....it was a dumb call but I was angry and I have had a LOT of built up aggression towards her. That's no secret."

"Yes, we're well aware of the issues between you and Rose," Power Girl explained. "And to be honest, I feel we made a mistake in thinking it would resolve itself. We should have been more active in solving the problem, in retrospect. However, that is still no excuse to viciously attack your teammate. If there is a problem, you come to us." Her gaze then shifted slowly back to Rose. "And of course, you are not the only one at fault here. Rose, over the course of your stay on this team, you have been abrasive, disagreeable, cold, and downright cruel to most of your other team members. This has caused a great deal of tension amongst the team, instigating situations like what we had here today."

"Hey, it's not my fault if I'm too much for them to handle," Rose said, brushing off the chastisement.

Power girl pressed on. "That is exactly the kind of attitude I'm referring to, the kind of attitude that is ruining your team dynamic. Your mentor, Black Canary, has tried to speak with you about this multiple times, but you refuse to listen. I'm afraid that won't be tolerated any longer. We won't have anyone on this team who causes these kinds of problems."

"The hell are you trying to say?"

"What I'm saying," Power Girl explained, tapping her fingers on the table, "and the others have unanimously agreed with my decision, is that you are hereby indefinitely suspended from the team, until there comes such a time where we deem you fit to return." She paused only briefly, moving her eyes over not just Rose, but the other two as well. "All three of you."

"What?!" Zatanna cried, practically bolting out of her seat. "You can't be serious! All Neal did was stick up for himself! You can't suspend him for that! And while we're at it, you're suspending me, too? Why?"

It was Martian Manhunter who responded this time, glaring intently at her. "In light of the recent occurrences here today, I thought it best to open an investigation regarding our untimely meeting the other week."

Zatanna lifted an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"I read your mind" was the terse response. "And what I learned was appalling. You were just as responsible, if not more so, for what happened to Rose that night. Your behavior was juvenile, unbecoming, degrading, and highly unfit for a member of the Justice League. We have put up with your obscene behavior for quite long enough, and this latest act has crossed too far over the line."

"In other words," Batman said, his deep, ice-like voice biting across the table, "grow up."

Neal wanted to speak further to say more in his defense, but Power Girl was quick to switch her attacks on to Rose now. Neal supposed that if there was anything he was going to interrupt, it definitely wasn't going to be this. It was about time that someone other than Neal said how they really felt. How someone as nice and calm as Argent could stand Rose was still beyond Neal's comprehension. Along with that, how could Rose even have a girlfriend given the way that she treated everyone? It was beyond Neal, that much was clearly already certain.

Neal just continued to listen until Power Girl finally announced what the group's decision would be. The three of them were going to be suspended, Neal, Zatanna, and Rose. He could hardly believe it. Neal just stared for a moment as Zatanna tried to make her case, first trying to go out of her way in order to save Neal from being kicked out before eventually questioning why she was being punished for a fight that she had nothing to do with. Neal had to agree, she didn't deserve to be punished for this.

Course, if he was getting suspended he might as well say something right?

"Look, I know I made a REALLY bad call today but you can't blame Zatanna for what happened," Neal said as his voice seemed to move to desperation. "She was just trying to help me get over my problems with Rose but....but..." Neal somewhat trailed off as he realized that he didn't have much of a defense to help himself with. "Zatanna is a great teacher and she's done wonders to help me get stronger. Please, punish me for what I did to Rose but please don't suspend Zatanna," Neal pleaded as he looked across the table.

He was trying to help Zatanna in whatever way he could. He had his own reasons for wanting to help her, more than the fact that he was her student. The reason was much more powerful than that.

"Were this the first instance of such behavior with Zatanna, we might be willing to overlook it with a stern warning," Power Girl informed. "But this is merely the latest in a long string, stemming from well before you came to the team. We overlooked it before due to her value to the team, but we are not going to tolerate it anymore."

Zatanna slowly glanced back at Neal. "It's... it's okay, Neal. She's right. They're all right... I'll, uh, I'll just go pack my things, then. I can be gone by tonight." With that, she stood up from her seat and let out a deep sigh, bowing her head. She always knew she should probably grow up and mature, yet her childish nature never wanted to go away. Now, it had finally coem back to bite her big time.

---

During the altercation with Zatanna and Neal, once they'd been informed of the suspension, Rose had taken the opportunity to slip out without further conversation. She didn't need to talk anymore, didn't need to hear them ridicule her. She didn't need that. No, if they wanted her gone, then fine, she'd just go. Throwing the door open to her room, she marched right past Zoe and threw open her closet. Taking out one of her large duffel bags, she very angrily began to pack it with her clothes, saying nothing.

Neal just stood there as his claims went unheard, apparently since this was just a continuation of Zatanna's overall behavior the Justice League decided that they weren't going to take it anymore. If Neal had felt bad before, he was devastated now. "I....I guess that I'll go get my things as well," Neal said before slowly standing up after Zatanna.

As the two of them left Neal looked over towards his mentor. "I am so sorry, I never thought that what I did would come back and hurt you like that," Neal admitted as he looked right at the person he had clearly connected with the most since he had gotten here. "Had I known that fight would get you suspended, I would have shut my mouth. I wouldn't have confronted her, I would have.......god I'm so sorry," Neal uttered as he looked at the ground. "I never wanted this to happen to you......I'm sorry Zatanna," Neal repeated as he looked towards his mentor.

---

"I remember when there were only one hundred and fifty of these bastards," Zoe muttered to herself as she found herself playing one of the newest versions of pokemon on her handheld system. When she was seven she had made a goal to catch them all, so far she had failed at every game she had purchased. Thankfully Rose's entrance caused her to look up and forget her own predicament. "Hey hey hey, what the hell happened up there? And why are you packing?" Zoe asked as she got up from her own bed.

Once they were in the elevator, Zatanna let out a heavy breath and bowed her head, staring at the floor. She leaned back against the wall, and stuffed into the pockets of her magician's coat. "Look, don't worry about it, really," she said, not looking up. "I mean, I get why you did what you did, and considering how she's been treating you I can't blame you for going off on her like that. Of course, I probably wouldn't have condoned actually attacking her, considering it leads to situations like this... but then I'm not one to talk with how I pushed you to humiliate her. Honestly, if it wasn't this, it would have been something else that got me suspended. You know me, how I am... my kind behavior really doesn't sit well with the others. I just... never really paid any attention, since they always tolerated it, you know? Even when I knew they were always right... maybe I do need to grow up."

---

I'm packing because I'm leaving," Rose said, tersely. She didn't even look up from her duffel bag, as she continued throwing her clothes inside it. Considering it was one of the large, heavy duty military bags, it was built to hold quite a lot. "They want to kick me off the team for defending myself against that psycho? Fine, I'm done. Suspend me, my ass, I quit."