My second story although I am really unsure about this one!
Can Lizzy find this story, or will she never know?
Please enjoy!
Early in the morning, Batman had called the Team into the mountain for a mission briefing. When they arrived, they lined up and batman told them the mission.
A man or woman was kidnapping kids between the ages of 5 - 14. Forty-nine kids had been reported taken so far and the Justice League had only just found out where they were suspected of being taken. With each kid taken, a note was left saying that the kids had been unharmed or something along those lines.
The first child had been Eleanor Taylor. She was a fourteen year old and had been taken one year and five months ago.
There had been a gap of eleven months before more kids had gone missing and all the kidnappings had been related through the notes and how they were taken.
It took seven months for the issue to catch the attention of the league and then for them to find what the person was doing with the kids. There had been no kidnappings for a month.
They thought the kids had been taken to a remote island in the middle of the Indian ocean and now the issue had been bought, by Batman, to The Team.
The Team was to go to the island and locate if and where the kids were. They were not to engage or attempt to free the kids. Once they had visual on the kids and kidnapper, they were to call the league with information on how to get around the island and the entrances and exits.
The League would then take it from there and conduct a proper rescue plan.
Batman emphasized how they were only to gather important information on how the League should rescue the kids.
The mission was going to last for a whole thirty hours and they were to radio if any trouble occurred.
As they were loading the Bioship, their mentors came to say bye and wish them luck since it was going to be over two days before they saw them again.
Wally was ecstatic that he would be away from his father for so long. Although the security precautions were a bit much.
If they didn't radio in when they got there, the league would come. If they didn't radio in at the 115th-hourmark, the league would come. If they hadn't radioed in by the 31st-hour mark, the league would come. If they reported any trouble, the league would come. If the league didn't like it, the league would come. They were taking no precautions about a person who had managed to kidnap fortynine children and hadn't been found.
They knew nothing of the kidnapper which was why they were taking their time with the mission. It could be a powerful metahuman woman, or it could just be a random normal creepy dude. They had reason to be paranoid.
The team waved goodbye and off they went towards the island.
It was a twelve hour flight and they were expected to get there about three in the morning. They would be gone a total of fifty four hours including the flights there and back. They had plenty of changes of clothes and the back of the ship was full of food (mostly for wally) and medical supplies.
The team played games or entertained themselves on the way there. When it got darker, they slept so that they wouldn't be that tired when they arrived.
Miss Martian changed the seats into sleeping pods meaning each member got a bit of privacy as they slept. She set the ship on auto pilot and told it to wake her at two in the morning.
Five hours later, Miss Martian woke the rest of the team and they prepared to land.
They landed in a secluded area of the island that was hard to get to but that just helped their chances of success.
For the first fifteen hours, the mission went well.
Making camp had been tough because of the rain that seemed nonstop.
They found a house on the side of the islands resident mountain and spotted a man who was assumed to be the kidnapper. He was tall, looked strong and Kid named him Cuddly as when they first saw him, he had been asleep cuddling a teddy bear.
They examined the house and surrounding areas. There was no signs of the kidnapped children but plenty of ways to get into the house. They watched Cuddly and focussed on that half of the mission for the first fifteen hours. Nothing bad happened. Yet.
After they called in on the fifteen hour mark, they started looking for the children, splitting into three pairs. Kid Flash and Robin went together, Artemis and Aqualad went as another pair and Miss Martian and Superboy were the final pair. They decided that they would spend three hours at one task and then the pairs would rotate after meeting up and sharing info.
Robin and Kid went to the south of the island to search for the missing kids, Aqualad and Artemis watched Cuddly to see if he either led them to the kids, gave away important information or to just see if he went near to where the other two groups were. Miss M and Superboy searched the north of the island.
The island was small enough for Miss M to keep up a mind link without trouble.
It didn't go well. The south part of the island that they had managed to search was empty without any signs of the kids. The kidnapper spent his day watching tv or on his computer. The north side was just as empty as the south.
They met up to share information and that's where things really didn't go well.
Out of nowhere, Artemis and Robin were both shot with tranq darts that left them down in the mud unconscious. The others didn't even have time to panic.
Superboy went down after inhaling some green gas that came from nowhere and Miss M went due to a mysterious fire that appeared.
Kaldur was electrocuted by… something.
In his panic, Kid tried to run but he slipped on mud and went tumbling down a hill. He hit his head multiple times on the way down which effectively knocked him out. For once, his clumsiness saved him. Just, not for long.
Five members of the team were taken and the sixth was left unconscious at the bottom of the muddy hill hidden by some plants. The marks he left on his way down the hill were washed away by the rain that started just as he fell into unconscious as he watched a blurry figure drag away a blurry green figure.
A few hours later, something was dragging the unconscious teen hero away.
Robin, Miss M, Artemis, Aqualad and Superboy woke up in some cave. They had been stripped of their costumes and earpieces. They were wearing some strange brown clothing that seemed designed for outdoor use
Robin and Artemis were both wearing brown domino masks. The other three wore inhibitor collars effectively robbing them of their powers. Robin couldn't get them off without any tools.
They all felt like a mouldy log that was being eaten from the inside out by some gross bug things. They just felt tired and a bit sick. Teenagers are so dramatic.
It took them about half an hour to recover enough to stand and leave the cave where it didn't take long to realize that they were on a completely different island.
Kid woke up in a hammock that hung in an impromptu tent. He wore the same style of clothing as the others and he had a mask like Robin and Artemis but he also had an inhibitor collar. He slowly came to properly and took note of his surroundings.
Through a gap in the tents door, he saw that he was in a rainforest. There hadn't been a rainforest on the island so it took his brain about ten minutes to guess that he was on a different island.
He slowly got up and a girl of around ten walked in with food and water and told him it would all be explained when Ela got back.
Ela turned out to be Eleanor Taylor. The first kidnapped kid. She was now fifteen, nearly sixteen. She was tall, fit and had a survival feeling about her.
Her brown hair was plaited, when Kid thought about it, most girls had their hair plaited here, and it had flowers in it. When plaited, it reached halfway down her back meaning that it must be really long when out the plait. Her eyes were a beautiful blue that reminded him of the northern lights.
Kid decided she was more stunning than even Megan with cookies. She was more beautiful than Artemis when she shows one of her rare smiles. If this girl was here, then he never wanted to leave.
Her voice was the most amazing thing he heard as she explained the whole story to him.
When she had been taken, she had woken up here in this style of clothing and told to survive. All she was given were the basics. At first, it was nearly impossible but eventually, it became easier.
When she became ill, somebody helped her. She then realized that the person she thought of as the bad one was actually being threatened to do this. If he didn't kidnap them then his two daughters and wife would be tortured and killed. He had no choice and in the end, she understood.
When others started arriving, she was happier about it and soon they had a community built in the jungle with everything they needed.
What shocked Kid the most was what she said next. Most kids were happy to be here. A lot of them never tried to leave because this was a nice life. They had their own island and a guaranteed survival.
The man had bought them animals to farm and they had other farms around the island and hunting was good due to the amount of animals. They were careful not to kill too many animals or to overfish but even without the precautions, they would still have plenty of food.
Life here was good. If they tried to make a raft to leave, they could easily die in a storm. She was hiding something but Kid didn't push it.
He asked the time. When she answered, he realized that the thirty first hour mark wasn't for another nine hours. He settled down and decided to enjoy his time there. He slept from one in the morning till six in the morning when he was woken by Ela.
The place was a village of tents that went from the ground and up into the trees. It was amazing.
Campfires were spread around everywhere. There was the main campfire which was taller than Kid himself.
Kids of varying ages walked around doing daily tasks. Everyone had a job and in the end, he ended up spending the rest of the daylight hours helping with one job or another.
All the kids here were wearing the same brown cargo shorts and brown top with the lighter trainer like combat boots. He was told that everyone shared everything but underwear and they had shorts, tops and boots for the day, trousers, jumpers and lighter trainer shoes for the cooler evenings or during storms and loose, light cotton tops and trousers for sleep.
Ela said that the man gave them plenty of what was needed clothes wise. He understood bra sizes for the "growing" girls and was… understanding of the girls recurring problem. All she said for an explanation was "biodegradable" and "very very deep pit."
So there he was. He was happy and relaxed, sat around a massive campfire eating some animal that some of their hunters had caught earlier and it tasted amazing. Especially to his belly that hadn't eaten in too long.
He was worried for the other but they could handle themselves. They had each other. Or so he assumed they did.
He looked at the people around him. He was surrounded by kids who had been here at least a month. It had been a month since the kidnappings stopped. Each of them looked ready to survive something terrible. Each and every one of them were survivors.
Something in the back of Kids mind stirred so he did a quick head count. He counted just over sixty kids in this village. Ela had said that this was pretty much everyone except some who were busy with the other jobs.
He turned to Ela who was on his left. She was eating and looking off into the rainforest. They had become fast friends during the day as he trailed her around helping with jobs.
"Hey, Ela?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah Kid?" she replied easily with a smile on her face.
"Well… we were told that there were only fortynine kids kidnapped but… well, there's easily over sixty kids here. Why?" he asked her, watching as she debated how to phrase her answer to the question.
"Well you, you see, only ten of the kids here want to go home. The reason behind that is all the other kids, well they either came from bad homes or off the streets. A lot of the kids here were either abused by their parents in some way, they have bad homes that aren't worth returning to or they came from nothing to this. A lot of them call it Oasis because it's a secret, hidden and safe place for them to live in and they want to be here. Here were they are safe and happy. The ten that want to go back have reasons to go. A loving family. People to worry for them. They have something to go back to."
Kid had been silent as he listened to the explanation. He couldn't believe these kids could have had such bad lives and the league had not known. Batman had not known. Nobody had known that these kids had been suffering. They didn't know that these kids were safe and happy.
He understood what she said though, all too well.
"So, why dont they find a way to leave?" he asked silently. Despite all the people around, it felt like it was only him and Ela.
"They don't want to risk it. They may have something to go back to, but they have more reason to stay here safe and untroubled where they know that they won't be hurt. The man who took us all, he says that he chooses those who deserve to be free from the life they have. He takes those who don't have anything to be there for but sometimes, people can suffer for something good. That's the difference between those ten and the rest of us, those ten have a reason to suffer. They have a silver lining. The rest only had the storm clouds and being here is the silver lining."
He thought about her answer.
"Which one are you?" when she looked at him, he went on. "Do you have something to go back to or are you in your silver lining?"
"I never had a reason to go back." she looked at the fire now as she spoke. "I came from a fake family. They showed so much love and compassion on the outside but behind closed doors, they saw me as a freak. They took all their troubles out on me. My siblings saw me as a piece of dirt and… I was a freak. I was hated at home. Here however, I'm loved. I can be free and happy and don't have to hide anything."
They had subconsciously moved closer for support but they were telling themselves that it was just for warmth.
"What did they think made you a freak?" she turned her head and they looked into each others eyes. She looked away slightly and began speaking.
"When I was young, there was a… an incident. It made me different. After I could, well... " she looked away almost ashamed and before Kid knew what he was doing, he removed the stupid mask that had been on his face the whole time. He reached out and grabbed her face turning it back to his gently and they looked at each other for a while.
"I will never judge, no matter what you say." he smiled to her. "For all, I care it turned you into a zombie, vampire thing and you're planning on eating me. I still won't judge or care. You are a good person. Nothing can make you a freak." he looked at her and he moved his hands to her shoulder. She fell into him and hugged him. He hugged her back. One hand on her back and the other playing with the flower in her plait on her head. She had her arms wrapped around his chest.
"I became a shapeshifter." she whispered into his ear.
After a pause, he spoke up, quietly.
"Tell me how it works. What can you change into?" he asked her, moving so that they were looking at the fire with her head on his shoulder and his arm around her shoulder.
"Well, I can be any animal I know of. I can give myself wings or horns or a tail or scales. Its like I can alter my appearance with animal features but I can't change my actual appearance. I keep my original appearance the same to how its always been anyway. It's something that will never change. I can also change details of the animals I change into. One minute I can look like a cheetah and the next minute I'm still a cheetah but a different one. Everything about me changes. I usually keep my eyes the same unless I want the advantage of that animals eyes or I want to look exactly like the animal."
The explanation made sense to Ki… Wally. He didn't have the mask. He was Wally now.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
"Wally. Wally West." they were silent after that. They sat there watching the flames until late when Ela showed him a tent that was up in the trees next to hers.
"Goodnight Wally." she said to him smiling.
"Goodnight Eleanor." he said smiling back making her roll her eyes at the use of her full name.
Wally went into the tent and promptly fell asleep in the hammock. Wally had barely thought of the team during his day there. He had thought of the League though. It had been thirteen hours since the thirty first hour mark. Why hadn't they found him yet?
Whilst Wally had been enjoying his time at the Oasis, the others had experienced a really bad day.
It started when they decided that they felt good enough to look outside the cave that they woke up in.
Artemis stretched and walked over to the entrance hoping that her head stopped hurting at some point. Robin was already there. He had been sat there for a while whilst the others had been recovering from whatever was ailing them.
M'gann had been in general pain and weak from the fire. Conner had been struggling to breath and his lungs hurt. Kaldur was dizzy and disoriented as well as he felt sick when he stood. Robin was tough. He dealt with the pain. (he pouted in the corner.) Artemis had a killer headache and felt slightly queasy.
Looking out, Artemis's stomach dropped. Wherever they were, it wasn't the island they started on. That meant that they would have no way of finding their stuff. The bioship would almost definitely be out of range. They had nothing on them except for a fire starting kit, a water filter, three containers, a metal rod with a sharp end, a machete and a note saying 'good luck'. All in all, they could survive but not get off.
The island that lay sprawled in front of her was rocky and bare. There were very few signs of any animals except birds and the plants that were not promising.
Turning to the pouting Robin, she frowned that even this mask had some eye covers. Although hers had the same and they helped with the very tropical sun.
Looking around, Artemis noticed three pairs of sunglasses laid out on a rock. She picked them up and handed them to the others.
Having done that, she didn't know what else to do. Everyone else was silent. Conner still coughed occasionally and M'gann was leaning against him half asleep. Kaldur was sat against the cave wall with his eyes closed resting. Robin was pouting as he looked out to the rest of the island.
She just wished that Zatanna or Raquel were here. They were off on some different mission. They had probably gotten back to the mountain by now. They probably had a nice cool drink.
She had no idea where Wally was. She was worried about him. Artemis couldn't help but think about Wally. After their kiss on new year, they had gone on a few dates. They still fought though. She just wasn't sure what to think about their relationship but she did care. She was worried.
This was getting boring. Nobody else on the team were moving apart from her. She was hungry and thirsty and the sky looked like it was nice and sunny.
Picking up the machete and one of the containers, she set off. As she left, Robin looked up from his pouting.
"Where are you going?" he asked faintly.
"I'm going to look for food and water," she replied casting a worried glance at him.
"Okay." he went back to looking out at the island.
With a shrug, Artemis set off. She went down the hill carefully and found a walkable path.
She managed to find a stream and so she followed it up to its source where she collected a container full of water. Luckily, the container had a strap that allowed her to sling it over her back.
As she went in look for food, she found a crate. In the crate, there was rope. Three different sizes and thickness. She also found some cloth that seemed waterproof and some different cloth that looked warm.
She used the fabric and rope to make a temporary backpack and she put the rest of the fabric and rope in there along with the machete.
The next thing she found as she climbed over the rocky landscape was another crate. This one had food in it. It had some meat that had salt rubbed into it and some fruit that looked at the perfect ripeness. This was strange. Why had they been given these things?
When she got back, the others had done something. They had made a fire at the entrance to the cave and moved rocks to make seats around it. Moved rocks also made their little corner more secluded. There were two piles of large sticks and small sticks.
Dumping the bag, Artemis grabbed the waterproof fabric and using that, string and some large twigs, she made a little roof over their entrance that would shelter them from any rain and the worst of the sun. She spread the other fabric out at the back of the cave leaving about two meters in the entrance of the cave.
After informing everyone that shoes were not allowed on the fabric in the cave, she shared out the food.
M'gann insisted on heating it up so they used the pointy metal stick and some twigs to make a spit over the fire.
M'gann and Kaldur kept their distance from the fire and they all sat there eating their meal, sparing plenty for the next day.
Conversation was sparse and muted. Nobody was in a good mood. After eating, they filtered the water out, letting Kaldur have more than the rest of them before they took off their shoes and got onto the fabric makeshift bed and they slept.
Robin alone in the corner, M'gann and Conner loosely cuddled together, Artemis and Kaldur slept alone but they weren't separated like Robin or cuddly like M'gann and Conner. They acted like the good friends they were.
Their day had been bad but they all knew that the Justice League would come and they were reassured that they were not alone. It wasn't them they were worried about. It was their missing member that they worried for. They didn't know where he was and they could only fear for his safety.
Hope you enjoyed it and it would be wonderful if I got some reviews.
Thanks for acknowledging.
Sheep Queen
