Despite the fact that I had beaten Mauser and Klarion had fled, we still had work to do. I stabilized my arm with a metal cast before we descended from the pyramid, Mauser over my shoulder. Slowly but surely, we began to round up the thugs and lock them down, their guns, knives, and other metal weapons becoming crude manacles to restrain them. I sealed Deathstroke in rock up to his neck when we found him still slumped along a broken wall in the ruins. Unfortunately, Lady Shiva was gone by the time we got back to her, the handcuffs and cordage that Artemis had wrapped her in in a pile on the ground.

A while after Klarion had fled, Superboy and Kid Flash finally arrived, vastly speeding up the process, rounding up the rest of the League of Shadows goons in rapid succession while I restrained them with my bending. When the first League member arrived, the Flash, we had already finished.

The next few hours blew by in a rush. The scene was soon bustling with activity, with League resources arriving, the Guatemalan government showing up, and quite a few other Justice League members. Alpha team never arrived, turning around mid-flight to return to the cave.

By the time Batman arrived, the team was sitting down on a bench I had summoned at the edge of the clearing, watching as artifacts were gathered and stored in secure crates. Most of the criminals had already been taken away, shipped off in chains. Mauser was the last to go, as Zatarra had spent a while going through his clothes, stripping every magical artifact he had, and even removing a few he had implanted inside of him.

"This situation is stable for now," The stoic, bat-themed hero said. "Kent Nelson has agreed to put together a cleansing ritual for the pyramid and will arrive shortly. Zatarra has accompanied UN ground forces to continue de-fanging Mauser. He has been locked into some sort of stasis, his body attempting to fix itself but failing due to the obstruction. What his fate will be after Zatarra declares him 'safe' is up to the UN."

I looked around at the team, most of them seemingly barely alert. When I looked back at Batman, he seemed to have realized how exhausted we were."

"For now, there is nothing left for you to do here," He explained. "Please return to base and head to the League care facility, they will be expecting you. I will stop by sometime in the next two days for a debriefing. Skarn, be aware there may be some questions about your methods over the coming weeks. The League stands by your choice, but there will be some who ask why it was necessary."

I nodded and turned to M'gann, who could sense my intention. She lifted off from the bench I formed and flew into the forest. A minute or so later, Bioship landed in the clearing, and the team piled in.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur. Bioship took us back to the Cave, beating Alpha team easily. Immediately, we stepped through the Zeta-Tube and into the League care facility, several nurses and a few doctors standing ready to take us through an examination.

The injury list was extensive but not life-threatening, my own arm being the worst, quickly followed by Tora's arm. Apparently, Klarion had cracked her cast and rebroken the slightly healed bone underneath. They had to set it again, but they were hopeful that there was no permanent damage. Artemis and Beatriz had a few minor injuries, with the former needing a dozen stitches on her leg and the latter a bandage to cover what was essentially some nasty road rash on her shoulder.

Tula and M'gann only had a few bruises and scrapes, unsurprising considering how much tougher they were than normal humans.

When we had all been treated, we returned to the cave through the Zeta-Tube, Alpha team waiting for us on the other side. After a quick dinner that doubled as an internal debriefing, Beta team headed off to bed. If my own level of exhaustion was anything to go off of, none of us had any issues falling asleep.

The days following our clash with Klarion and Mauser were spent recovering and unwinding. Kaldur and I knew that the team felt at least partially responsible for Mauser, but we had underestimated how much it had affected everyone, including ourselves. Everyone reacted in different ways, but collectively, we breathed a sigh of relief, a thick tension that had been spreading finally falling away. The monster we released was done.

We got together as a group and discussed Mauser's effects on us. With having just experienced the release from responsibility, natural or self-inflicted from guilt, no one tried to pretend they were fine. I pointed out that this was exactly the kind of thing that talking to a professional would help us with, and this time, I got very little pushback.

I went the following day, getting a checkup on my arm before spending an hour or so discussing what had happened, what I had done, and how I was handling them. The people Batman and the League had found were fantastic, and I was delighted with the fact that the entire team would be seeing them frequently. M'gann and I even overlapped our sessions, spending about twenty minutes discussing how our relationship was working in the confines of the team.

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Not long after I returned back to the cave, Batman arrived for the debriefing. We talked about what had happened for a while, going over each step of the investigation. Batman seemed particularly interested in Dr. Fate's fight with Klarion and Mauser, unsurprising considering it led to the death of the helmet wearer. He also revealed some information that we hadn't known yet.

"When the report came in that you had discovered the ritual's location, we informed Nabu with the intention of using his magic to teleport several members of the League to assist. Dr. Fate ignored the request as he felt we would take too long to get to him, and we would only get in his way," He explained, his frustration just barely leaking out around his normal stoicism. "He believed he could handle whatever Klarion threw at him."

"And he got his wearer killed in the process," I finished, my fingers slightly denting the armrest of my chair. "Damn…"

"All other members of the rotation to wear his helmet have resigned, refusing to put it on," Batman continued. "Whether or not we assist in finding him new people is something the League will be discussing soon. We are hesitant to enable a being who refuses aid and, as a result, gets someone killed."

"How is Nabu taking that?" Nightwing asked.

"Not well," The older hero confirmed. "Kent Nelson has expressed further concern about Nabu's behavior. An investigation is planned once the chaotic materials have been dealt with, a much larger undertaking without Dr. Fate's aid."

"Perhaps you could request the aid of Atlantis?" Garth suggested, getting Batman's attention. "I'm sure they would recognize the importance of neutralizing these artifacts."

"...I will speak to Aquaman."

Our debriefing continued, discussing our objectives and how we approached the scenario. When we finally got to the fights, Klarion versus the team, as well as myself versus Mauser, M'gann took over most of the talking for the team's fight while I went over my own fight. After close to an hour, we finally finished. M'gann was holding my hand and mentally snuggling me in support as I described Mauser breaking my arm and my final attack against him. The room was quiet for a while before Batman finally spoke.

"As I said before, the League supports your decision." He assured me. "His healing factor and magical flexibility made Mauser a dangerous adversary. It makes complete sense for you to stop pulling your punches. The UN is investigating, but only to keep its own records. You will most likely have an interview with someone in the next few days."

Batman was silent for a while, looking at each of us, his gaze scanning the room. After a long pause, he continued.

"This mission was, overall, a success. However, I think you all understand that it could have been better. Splitting the team and spreading yourself so thin goes directly against your founding concept. Your investigation was rushed, and while it provided the necessary information, if it was a normal criminal investigation, most of what you found would have likely been useless in court. Still, well done."

Kaldur and I shared a look, understanding exactly what Batman was talking about. We had learned a lot over the last few months, and the team had improved by leaps and bounds. But there was still much to learn. While we were trying to figure out what we could do differently, I watched Batman as he turned off the room's holoprojector but remained standing in the front of the meeting room. After a few moments, the rest of us noticed and slowly went quiet, Wally getting an elbow from Artemis when he didn't realize what was going on.

"Prior to this mission, the Justice League discussed the progress and development of the New Titans. The topic of your integration into the UN charter that allows the League to function as an international policing force was discussed, as was what would be the next step in your team's development," He explained, his face completely neutral, as usual. "Your founding concept has been proven over and over again to be a near-complete success. We quickly came to the conclusion that we would do whatever we could to support your growth and development, as directed by yourselves."

I could see my teammates sitting up a little straighter, clearly proud of our achievements. I smiled and focused back on Batman, who nodded subtly.

"We also came to the conclusion that instead of myself or another member of the League feeding you information at our convenience, we would invite the team leaders to join our meetings so you can get that information firsthand. You won't be able to vote on our decisions, but you would be present while we make them. This has the bonus effect of preparing some of you to deal with the processes that working with the UN entails."

Once again, Kaldur and I shared a look, and I nodded encouragingly, the Atlantean understanding and leaning forward.

"Is this offer only open to team leaders?" He asked. "Or would we have someone dedicated to interacting with the League?"

"We would accept anyone delegated to the task," Batman responded with a nod. "As long as they understand the implications of being present for these meetings."

We both nodded and after a bit longer, Batman left the cave, leaving us to discuss what he had revealed. I put forward the idea that we should think about the offer and decide if we wanted to keep it to the team leaders or delegate the meetings to other team members. The others agreed, deciding to think about it for at least twenty-four hours.

With the debrief over, our week slowed down considerably. Most of Beta team was nursing some sort of injury, which meant participating in physical training was hit or miss. Instead, we focused on mentally recovering, with lessons from the Colonel or Ghost to keep us occupied. By the time the week was over, we were all chomping at the bit to return to our regular schedule.

We had patrols to do, villains to fight, a world to protect.