dedicated to Morally_Gray for their birthday

First aid wasn't something that Connor was adept in or knowledgable of beyond you shouldn't let a cut get dirty and plasters should be put on small ones. He never saw a need to learn more about it considering he was practically indestructible and there were plenty of other people around him who knew better. 

When someone got hurt on a mission, the person who swept in was usually Robin. His first-aid training was extensive from his years of patching himself and Batman up on the field. He taught them things every so often just in case he couldn't be there but why go with someone who had the bare minimum training when you could have someone advanced? He didn't complain about being called on so often, even seeming to prefer treating his friends until he could pass them on to someone he trusted.

Robin had always been hurt in a manageable way or at least he could manage it without worrying everyone. He was a tough kid and if they didn't know any better, they'd think he was mixed with some Superman DNA with how indestructible he seemed to be. Whether it be an explosion, an impossible bomb defusion, a cave-in, a fight with a super-powered mutant, or a whole building falling on him, he came out relatively fine if not sore, and smiled as though it had never happened. Hell, he'd drowned before and woke up with just a sore throat from the salt water. 

Connor always found it interesting that a human, something he considered to be fragile in many ways, could survive all that and still move the same. He'd never seen Robin cry when he was hurt and he'd never heard him call out for help in a desperate voice. He wouldn't think differently if he did hear any of that. For a while, he assumed that Robin just didn't feel pain correctly but he'd seen Robin wince when he got an injury and yelp in surprise when he got wounded so it couldn't be that. He had to assume that Batman's training was just that good that even if something did really hurt he wouldn't cry. Connor took some comfort in it. He wasn't the warmest person on the team so it was nice to know that at least one person would never require him to be emotionally available. Someone should've told him about jinxes.

The team had been flustered from a sudden retreat when it happened. They got separated as they ran for cover, dodging bullets and throwing stars because of course some of the mercenaries thought they'd be different. In the panic, Miss Martian tried to find Superboy so she knew he was safe but she'd stopped right before she could fully hide herself in the treeline to concentrate on reconnecting the link. A mercenary picked her out easily and was about to earn one hell of a bonus before Robin shoved her out of the way.

"Cloaked and in the trees now!" he ordered, his voice straining to yell over the chaos.

"Sorry!" she replied before continuing to fly for cover without looking back, allowing her body to become invisible to seamlessly blend into her surroundings. Had she looked back, she would've seen that he'd been shot in her stead and then shot again whilst trying to divert attention away from her. Had she looked back even when she was under the cover of the trees, she would've seen him hit the deck and not get up. 

Instead, she kept flying and when she was too tired to fly, she ran.

What felt like forever but in reality had only been a little less than a half hour but she finally found Superboy alongside her team members minus one. It hadn't frightened her immediately that Robin was the one that was missing. He'd never shaken the habit of melting into his surroundings and disappearing for a period of time usually to better help the mission as a whole. Her first thoughts were ones of relief that everyone seemed to be relatively unscathed with only scrapes and bruises likely from the retreat. 

"Are you alright?" she asked Superboy. His superhearing meant the shots and explosions were ten times louder than for the rest of them and she hadn't seen him run into the trees like she had the others. He nodded, a little confused.

"Yes. I'm bulletproof."

"You never know, they might have had kryptonite bullets," she fretted.

"Those things are expensive. Unless they're getting better pay than the president, they're not spraying those suckers," Artemis explained, gaining a weird look from the team. "What? Rob told me it's expensive."

"Speaking of, has anyone seen Robin?" Kid Flash asked. "He was taking down the rocket launcher guy last I saw."

"I saw him right before I got to the tree line," Miss Martian announced. "I stopped for a minute and he shoved me out of the way, I'm guessing he saw someone aiming for me. He told me to run and I did."

"He shoved you out of the way or did he tackle you out of the way?" Kid Flash inquired, his voice tight with anxiety. She didn't understand the need for clarification since it seemed like a game of semantics but she played it only for his peace of mind.

"It was more of a tackle I guess."

"Did you look behind you when you ran? Did you see him get up?" She shook her head and the speedster paled. His eyes went wide and he vibrated slightly, a nervous behaviour his mentor also displayed but had better control of. "We need to find him like yesterday."

"What's wrong?" Aqualad asked.

"When he tackles you out of the way, it's because he's taken the bullet in a spot safer than it was intended for. A bullet heading for your spine would probably hit him in the arm or shoulder," he explained, only just keeping his words identifiable as he spoke fast. That's when the fear kicked in for her and she instantly tried to reach out to him. "The move can go wrong sometimes, the bullet can get stuck or he'll be slowed down. For all we know, those gunmen could've caught up with-him-by-now-and-finished-the-job." He spoke far too quickly for them to understand what he was saying immediately but they knew it was bad. Artemis put her hands on his shoulders and squeezed tightly.

"Okay calm down. Rob is trained by Batman. Stop panicking and think about what he would really do if he was injured." Kid Flash stayed silent for a minute before his mind settled on something plausible.

"He'd find shelter, treat himself and wait for us."

"I can feel his mind but he's not close enough to communicate yet," Miss Martian stated. Her face scrunched up in concentration before relaxing into disappointment. "I can't even tell which direction he's in or his condition. I'm sorry."

"Then get the mindlink up for the rest of us. We'll fan out individually since he's injured and will need medical attention immediately so remain aware of your surroundings. Got that?" Aqualad ordered.

Superboy found that he wasn't worried like the others were. This was Robin after all. He'd been through worse without getting hurt and even if he was hurt, he knew how to take care of himself. Whilst his teammates worried about finding him alive, Superboy concentrated on simply finding him because, of course, he would be okay. 

He wandered for no more than five minutes before hearing something other than distant voices and animals. It was hiccups and half contained sobs. Briefly, he wondered if he'd stumbled into the path of a guilt-ridden M'gann or a worried Wally but it didn't sound quite like either of them. This was younger and sounded desperate to not be heard but failing to keep silent. He frowned to himself since Artemis and Aqualad were never ones to cry. They only really cried when someone died. 

He found himself being drawn to the noise and walked towards its source. Maybe Robin had found someone and was comforting them whilst injured, that's why they were trying to be quiet. Why someone young was crying in these woods, he didn't know, but it was worth a shot to investigate. 

As he walked, he noticed the imprints of boots in the soft mud although oddly enough only one boot print could be seen followed by a long gouge in the dirt. Someone had been dragging their other leg through here. They were likely injured and he placed a silent bet that this could be Robin. He saw that they were going towards a thicker part of the woodland where it seemed to close into a secluded spot. A perfect place for an injured Robin to hide whilst he waited for his friends to regroup and just far enough that Miss Martian wouldn't have been able to know where he was lurking. 

Superboy smiled slightly, proud of himself for being the one to find his fellow hero, and pressed on only to freeze when he saw the scene laid out in front of him.

Robin was crying, his shoulders jumping with every sob that racked through his body. He was on the floor in a way that looked like he'd fallen rather than sat down but he made no attempt to move himself into a more comfortable position. Instead, he gripped onto his arm so tightly that without his gloves his nails would dig into his skin. Blood dripped down from a hole in his shoulder and a matching hole in his leg that was now adding to the growing puddles beneath him. The bottom of Robin's mask was peeling away from his skin thanks to his tears and whilst the rest of his face had drained of colour most likely due to the blood loss, his cheeks were red. He snapped his head in Superboy's direction and for a brief second, it looked like he was going to fix himself and slip into the persona Superboy knew so well but it shattered the moment he moved his arm. 

"Supes," he whimpered in between cries. That sent the clone into action and he ran to his side, dropping to his knees beside him. 

It was at that moment, as Robin reached for him despite how it obviously hurt more to do so, that Superboy saw the frightened child behind the vigilante persona. He scooped up his hurt friend, wincing at the scream that he'd let out, and went in search of the others. Black Canary or Batman could fix him but for now, he had been entrusted with protecting Robin. He couldn't do much first aid-wise and he wasn't the best at offering words of encouragement but he could get him to someone who did know how to fix his wounds and he could repeat what he'd heard Robin say on occasion.

"You're okay," he said as he stood back up with his precious cargo. "I've got you now. We're going home."

"M sorry," Robin whispered, his cracking voice unable to be any louder. "Just hurts so bad." It must be really bad if he was crying. So bad that he probably needed first aid right now but he wouldn't get it for a while. At least, he wouldn't get it at the level he needed for a while. "So sorry." 

That was something Superboy couldn't understand. You apologise when something bad has happened to someone you know or you apologise when you've done something wrong. Neither of those explanations really fit into Robin's situation as the bad thing had happened to him and he hadn't done anything wrong. The clone thought about whether he should as considering some people didn't like his probing when they were preoccupied but he remembered how Robin always tried to find time for his questions. When he couldn't, he would just say that he would answer it later. It couldn't hurt to ask now and find out later.

"Why are you apologising?"

"Coz I'm crying," he replied.

"But there's nothing wrong with crying. You're hurt. Humans cry when they get hurt." Robin looked up at him with a shocked look that soon morphed into a watery smile. 

"Yeah, guess so."

"You say it to the others when they're hurt. Why are you different?"

"Just am."

"Hm," he mumbled, unhappy with the answer but not knowing how to phrase an argument. He decided to instead concentrate on trying to find their teammates.

It didn't take long for Superboy to decide that he wholeheartedly hated Robin crying. Not because he found it annoying but it made him annoyed that he couldn't do anything. He couldn't punch a villain causing the pain and he couldn't intimidate the bullet to stop hurting his friend. It was strange to be so powerful yet so helpless. All he could do was protect Robin until he found someone who could do something and make sure he didn't get hurt any further. He was going to save Robin as Robin saved him from Cadmus. 

The team were surprised when they finally grouped together and Superboy, out of everyone, refused to let go of their injured teammate. Very briefly, he almost gave away Robin when Kid Flash reminded him that he was faster and therefore when they landed, he would be able to get him help sooner. Unfortunately, the pass-over agitated Robin's wounds which made him cry louder and to Superboy's sensitive ears, that sounded like fear. He immediately pulled away and gave the speedster a glare. Robin had gone quiet, likely from a mix of pain and blood loss, but seemed content to be held by the clone so they let him be.

When they got to the Mountain, Canary was waiting for them with a team of doctors only brought out when things went tits up. This was one of those times. A crash cart was ready with various strings of IV and machines Superboy didn't quite understand or recognise. He squinted at the doctors, surmising them, and held onto Robin a little closer. He didn't know these doctors very well since he was basically indestructible. He'd never had the need to see such specialists. Canary was the one who fixed him up so why wasn't she helping Robin? How could he trust these two women he'd never met?

"Superboy, can you get him on the crash cart? Dr Yang and Dr Grey are going to get him fixed."

"They'll make him better?"

"We'll do everything we can," Dr Grey assured him. 

"SB, they're safe," Robin whispered, barely having the strength to get the words out. Superboy tilted his head in consideration before taking the leap of faith and placing him on the crash cart. As soon as he was done, the cart was wheeled away by the two doctors as they spoke in terms he didn't understand but from their panicked voices, it couldn't be good. 

"Can I stay with him?" he asked. 

"You can wait outside the room," Black Canary compromised. "The doctors need as much room as they can have to work on him. The rest of you can hit the showers unless you want to join."

"He'll be alright, won't he?" Kid Flash asked. 

"He's Robin, he always will be."

Connor ended up being the only one sat outside the room either because he was the only one who could bring himself to do so or because the rest were trying to distract themselves from what was happening. The room had a large window to look into it, something he sat himself in front of perhaps for peace of mind or perhaps out of interest. He sat still as they injected things into Robin and felt his stomach churn when the cries he'd grown sort of used to ceased. 

Batman appeared a few minutes after he'd sat down and took a seat near him without infiltrating his personal space. He was silent, something Connor found himself liking. 

"Are they cloning him?" Connor asked, his usual monotone voice breaking around the horrid words. He wouldn't have brought Robin here if this was what waited for him. He stared at Batman with disbelief. How could someone know to be protective when his protege was hurt just to give up and clone him? "He was saving M'gann when he got shot but he's hurt bad. Are you cloning him?"

"Nobody is cloning him," Batman replied evenly.

"Then what are they doing? Why do they need all those needles?"

"They're preparing him for emergency surgery. You did fine getting him here but he hasn't received any real first aid let alone proper medical attention. He's going to need blood transfusions and exploratory surgery," he explained. He wasn't rude or blunt just factual and that was something Connor was grateful for. He despised when people danced around the truth and their feelings. 

"Then he'll be okay?"

"If he survives surgery, yes. He's lost a lot of blood but the bullet didn't hit anything vital. Physiotherapy should fix any damage."

"Physiotherapy?"

"Not all of us are indestructible. Even when we convince ourselves we are," he replied softly. The older seemed to contemplate something before putting a hand on Connor's shoulder. "You did a good job. Thank you for bringing him home." 

"Batman or Mr Batman- just your protege, ward-"

"My son."

"Right, your son. He's going into surgery now, would you like to follow us to the OR or be brought to the waiting room?" Dr Yang asked.

"I'll follow."

"Is he coming too?" she asked, nodding to Connor. 

"He's Robin's family, he can if he wants." 

So Connor followed. Robin wasn't indestructible like him so someone had to be indestructible for him. He would be that.