"3… 2… 1!" counted down Robin as he, Wally, and Artemis all began to violently chug their designated glass of … whatever it was. M'Gann has mixed something together, under the request of the three in the current competition. They had a bet going, and needed a forth-party outsider to concoct the mixture. They were competing to see how could finish their glass of … something first. Winner earned respect, loser had to throw each fight in Black Canary's training sessions for a whole month.
"Done!" yelled Artemis.
"Done!" yelled Robin.
"Gah…" gagged Wally.
Superboy, M'Gann, and Aqualad all applauded as Artemis milked her winnings by sarcastically bowing over and over again. "You know," she began. "Some call me a queen! Others, a God! They are both right!" The group (including Robin) all burst into laughter and louder applause. Wally, however, growled.
"We get it, okay? You won!" he sneered as he whipped his mouth. "Jesus, M'Gann, what the hell did you put into this thing?" he asked as he analyzed the turquoise liquid.
"Umm… mint ice cream, ketchup, barbeque sauce, soy sauce, and a bit of salt," said M'Gann as she listed off all the ingredients. Hearing the ingredients caused Wally to gagged again, to which Artemis laugh maniacally.
"For the fastest boy on are team, you sure do suck at these, Mr. High metabolism," she taunted as she dance around the room, letting her blonde hair flutter around her lower hips. Wally eyed her, but refused to say anything. He was scared that if he spoke, a waterfall of vomit would spill from his throat. However, he was able to grind his teeth at the sight of her celebrations. Maybe it was because he lost, but she was really pissing him off today.
After Artemis felt satisfied in her celebrations, she glanced over to Wally with an evil smile growing on her face. There was one more part of the bet that Wally had to complete. "Now say it," she said in a whisper – but loud enough for everyone to hear.
Wally quickly looked away. "Never!" he vowed dramatically.
"Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it!" chanted the rest of the group as Wally's angry expression only grew more intense.
"Dude!" he said looking over to Robin, hoping that his closest friend would put an end to the humiliation.
Robin, however, just threw his head back in laughter. He was probably enjoying more then anybody "A deal is a deal. Now say it!" he demanded.
The group continued to chant as Wally's emerald eyes began to glare once more at Artemis's grey eyes. Just by looking at the expression on her face, he could tell that she was enjoying this whole thing too much. Her right, golden eyebrow was slight raised, and a very faint smile was stretched on her face, looking as though she was patiently waiting for something. Her hands were also on her hips as her body weight rested on her left hip, causing even her stance to look as though it possessed more authority over him. "Say it," she commanded calmly.
Wally released a sigh, and moved his eyes to look at the floor. "Artemis is a stone cold fox, and I'm her whinny little biatch," said Wally through gritted teeth. Artemis clapped her hands together in laughter along with the rest of the group. Even Kaldur was having a hard time keeping his laughter under control. M'Gann look as though she was laughing even harder then Robin. This was her first 'earth bet' and absolutely loved the outcome of it. Superboy was practically in tears as he tried to support himself on Robin's chair and Robin laughed his signature laugh. "Okay, okay, we're done now, right?" pleaded Wally, not wanting to take any more embarrassment.
Artemis let herself calm down before responding. "Yes, Kid Loser, we're done," she said with great satisfaction.
Wally freed a loud huff in angered thanks before trying to stand from his chair. However, as his body began to arise, a strong hand shot out and pushed him back into his seat.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked Superboy evilly.
"What the hell? I thought you said I was done!" yelled Wally, trying hopelessly to push himself back up from Superboy's grip. However, it was useless. Superboy was way to strong for Wally to challenge.
"Loser does the dishes!" giggled M'Gann as she gestured to the full sink. Wally glanced over before roughly shaking his head.
"Nope! No way! I'm not doing that! That wasn't part of the bet!" he raged. He was right to; none of the competitors had said anything about doing the dishes.
In response to his answer, M'Gann pouted her lips a little, and clasped her hands together. When she had Wally's full eye contact, she made her eyes a little wider, and ever so softly knit her brows together. "Please, Wally?" she pleaded in her most innocent tone. She wasn't trying to trick him, she just really didn't want to do the dishes.
Wally sighed. He didn't want to do the dishes either, but his hormones got in the way of his headstrong mind. "Anything for you, beautiful," he weakly winked. To this, M'Gann nodded in thanks and gently glided out of the room. Superboy followed her lead and chased after her out of the kitchen. Kaldur gave Wally a small pat on the back before leaving the kitchen himself.
Robin stood from his seat and also patted his friend on the back. "Maybe next time, bro!" laughed Robin as he too began to exit the kitchen as well.
When the group was gone, Wally dropped his head to the counter. This was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. Not only had he lost a bet in front of M'Gann, but he had lost the bet to Artemis. The Artemis! To him, that was worst then death.
Eventually though, he collected himself and trudged over to the kitchen sink. There wasn't much in there, just the blender M'Gann used to make the 'drink' and the glasses the competitors used to drink the liquid out of. Sighing again once more, he turned on the tap and began to scavenge around for the sponge. When he couldn't find it right away, he felt himself becoming really annoyed. "Great! What a fucking crap-tacular day this is!" he thought to himself. "Where is it?" he asked, this time, out loud.
"Looking for this?"
Wally turned his head to see Artemis standing only a few feet away from him. In her right hand was a small yellow sponge – the one that Wally was looking for. What shocked him though was her presence. He didn't at all expect for her to still be in the kitchen. But as he thought back on it, Wally didn't recall hearing or seeing Artemis leave the room. He just assumed he was on his own. "What do you want?" asked Wally, making a reach for the sponge. Unfortunately for him though, Artemis was too quick for him yet again as she dodge his on coming hand.
"Wow – you're really slow today," she snickered.
Seeing her laugh at him made his blood boil on the inside. The last thing he needed was more ridicule from her. "You didn't answer my question," he growled. His hands were forming a tight fist and his brow was furrowed as he angrily glared at her.
Artemis noticed his growing rage, and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Calm down Kid Loser. I'm here to help," she said, joining his side at the sink.
Wally's hands suddenly fell at ease and his original expression of anger changed to a puzzled one. "You – want to help me?" he asked.
"Nothing gets by you," commented Artemis as she changed the water temperature from cold to hot.
Wally cocked an eyebrow at her seeming niceness. "W-why?" he asked. He honestly couldn't comprehend why Artemis would want to help him.
Artemis bit her lip slightly to keep from laughing. "Well not only did you embarrass yourself in front of the whole team – you know, when you lost to a girl, came in dead last, had to-"
"I get it," he cut in, not wanting to hear his whole list of failures.
"But you let you hormones trick you into doing the dishes. That's just sad. So, I'm helping out of pity," she explained.
"That, or you just want to spend more time with me," said Wally as he wiggled his eyebrow at her.
She responded by giving him a light, but firm, kick to his left shin. Wally reacted by letting out a small yelp of pain and bent down to rub his aching leg. "You're impossible," she snarled.
"Just stating the facts, blondey," he mocked harshly, trying to sooth his shin with his hands.
"Look, do you want my help, or not?" she asked, extending her right arm out to him. Wally hesitated before grabbing for her hand with his. They always argued and fought like crazy, so Wally couldn't understand why she was being so nice to him. With ease, she pulled him up, and the two got to work. After a few moments of silently working, Wally picked up the first glass they had to clean. As he began to wash it, he couldn't help but notice a light pink lipstick smudge on the rim of the glass. Glancing over to Artemis, he saw that she was wearing a light pink lipstick colour herself.
"How did you win?" he asked, returning to examining the glass. The last thing he needed was to be caught staring at her lips "Which I wasn't," he thought to himself.
Artemis thought on his for a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't have a gag reflex,"
Wally almost dropped the glass that he was holding in his hand. "She doesn't have a gag reflex." He thought to himself. "W-what do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his cool.
Artemis twisted her lips, once again, in deep though. "I just don't have one. I can put anything down my throat and not gag,"
"She can put anything down her throat," Wally chewed over that thought over and over again, trying not to make eye contact.
"Yeah. Oh – I can also put my whole fist in my mouth,"
Wally literally had to stop working. Either the steam from the water was warming him up, or the temperature of the room grew to a hundred. Whatever it was, the heat was making standing next to her unbearable.
"Wanna see?"
Before he could object, Wally watched in awe as Artemis effortlessly slipped her left fist into her mouth. Wally was defenseless. He couldn't stop staring. It was amazing … and extremely hot.
She chuckled some before removing her fist and running it under the water. She knew he was staring, and enjoyed the attention. "Don't get to excited," she said as she returned to work.
Even if Wally wanted to respond, he couldn't. For one thing, he was still memorized at the action that Artemis had fluently completed. For another thing, his body was hot all over and he couldn't explain why. But the biggest reason would have to be that they were interrupted when they heard-
"Guys! Bats is here,"
The two turned to see Robin standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He was still in his street cloths so this visit from the Dark Knight wasn't scheduled. He was also out of breath, probably from running from one end of the mountain to the other.
"What? Why?" asked Artemis, quickly turning off the sink.
"I don't know. But come quickly! You know how he gets," warned Robin as he turned and began to run again to the main chamber.
Artemis glanced over at Wally with a worried and confused expression on her face. The glance only lasted for a second as she began to pace out of the kitchen herself. "Should we change-?" she called to Robin.
"No time! Just c'mon!" interrupted Robin as he yelled from a little ways down the hall.
Artemis exited the room swiftly, leaving Wally completely dumbfounded. He was still stuck in his trance, completely paralyzed as he replayed the image of Artemis shoving her fist into her own mouth in his head again and again.
"Come on!" yelled Artemis, slightly snapping Wally out of his abstraction.
When he heard her voice, Wally shook his head. "What the hell Wally? Get it together! It was nothing," he thought, trying to convince himself that it really was nothing.
He he began to lightly jogged down the hall (which to a normal person would be a full out sprint), until he caught up with Artemis. When he did, he noticed her smirking. Obviously, she was smirking at his reaction to her little trick. He frowned at that - He couldn't let her win this. He wouldn't allow for her to be satisfied. "Just so you know, I wasn't excited. I was grossed out," he whispered to her firmly.
Artemis lightly smiled to herself, but quickly went back to looking confused and annoyed. "Whatever, Baywatch. Just calm down before we see Batman,"
"I told you, I-"
"Glad you could make it,"
Wally hadn't realized it, but he must have walked into the main chamber without noticing it. Looking around, he saw his whole team staring back at him with puzzled expressions. But what scared him the most was the look that the Dark Knight was giving him. Knowing it would be better not to talk back. Wally hung his head in shame and looked to his feet.
"Recognizing: Red Arrow – Bee, Zero, Six"
A flash of white light , and there appeared the archer formally know Speedy. However, when Roy stepped out of the zeta tubes, he quickly surprised everyone. For one thing, he wasn't wearing his new uniform. Instead, he sported charcoal gray t-shirt and electric blue leather jacket. His pants were baggy dark-wash jeans and his shoes were a pair of old black runners. His eyes weren't covered by a mask, but with a thick pair of sunglasses that he probably wasn't going to remove anytime soon. No one on the team had ever seen him out of uniform before, but that's not what surprised them. What really got them was the person he was walking with.
Accompanying Roy was another boy that was his height and build. His slanted eyes gave evidence that he was Asian, and his hair was dirty blonde and extremely shaggy, seeming to stick out in every way possible. The boy had a narrower face then Roy's, and his chin was covered with light stubble – that kind of stubble that gives most guys that rugged look. His eyes were hazel and his arms and legs were big due to the protruding muscle. He wore a pair of light navy blue jeans and worn-out light brown hiking boots. Covering his chest was a loose fitting white tank top, and a red flannel unbuttoned shirt rested on his shoulders exposing the white top underneath. On his back was a huge backpack. It was probably the size of his torso and no one even tried to guess what was in there. As the two walked closer and closer to the team of curios teens, they could hear what seemed to be the end of a conversation.
"… and then the doctor said 'I'm pretty sure that's impossible if not illegal,'," explained the other boy with great enthusiasm.
"Then what?" asked Roy was a genuine interested and a slight smile on his face.
"I did it to her in the bathroom," shrugged the boy.
"No you didn't," smirked Roy.
"… you're right, I went to my friends house and put all of his little sister's Barbie girls in sexual positions."
Roy let out a hardy laugh. One that actually scared the group of younger teens because they had never heard it before, and never expected for a sound like that to be heard from Roy of all people.
When the two older boys finally reached the group, Batman cleared his throat loudly, and with authority. Roy shut his mouth right away, as did the unknown boy. There was something about even Batman's grunts that could silence a screaming baby.
"Who's the other guy, and why does he look so yummy?" whispered Artemis to M'Gann. M'Gann chuckled lightly in agreement. Apparently though, Artemis wasn't as quite as she had anticipated as moments later, Wally scoffed loudly. Artemis snapped her head in his direction and narrowed her eyes. "Got a problem, Kid Mouth?" she sassed.
Wally rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I do. You don't even know this guy and you're acting like a geeky fan girl," he snapped in retaliation.
"Since when do you care?" challenged Artemis, crossing her arms firmly.
Wally went to say something as his mouth cracked open. However, he was silence by the Dark Knights booming, yet subtle voice.
"I'm sure you've all met Red Arrow," began Batman. The younger teens murmured with positive responses. "He has requested your help for an assignment of his. Should you accept or deny – that's up to you. This is not a league priority, nor should it be yours," Everyone could detect the spitefulness in Batman's voice, however, no one could explain it. Yes, Red Arrow had abandoned the league some few months ago, but Batman would never let a team pass up on a mission that could possibly save society. Red Arrow's eyes narrowed behind Batman's back. It was hard to see due to his sunglasses, but his harshly furrowed eyebrows gave him away. His glare stopped though when Batman turned back around. "They're all yours," he muttered sarcastically as he swiftly made his way back to the zeta tubes, leaving the young team with the two older boys.
"Affirmative, Captain!" called the unknown boy, giving a rather sassy and sarcastic salute to Batman. Artemis and M'Gann giggled at his seemingly unintentional mockery, and the other boys looked at him strangely. No one mocked Batman. No one. Batman was able to shoot one last glare before disappearing in gusto of white light, causing Artemis and M'Gann to silence their chuckles. "Jeez. What's up his ass?" asked the boy.
"Probably something he can beat your ass with if you ever ridicule him again," shot Robin. His fists were clenched and so was his jaw. Obviously, he didn't respect this new boy for poking fun at his beloved mentor.
"Scratch that; what's up your ass, kid?" Robin growled slightly at the comment, not quite sure how to retaliate. Frowning at this new comer, Robin seemingly mumbled a 'whatever' under his breath which displeased the older boy. "Listen. If you ever say something snarky again, I'll punch you in the face. That's my rule," threatened the boy with a frown.
"And you should all follow that, because he means it. He's actually pretty fucked up, so I suggest to all pay attention to him," noted Roy. His tone was menacing, and the lines of anger on his face matched.
Then, the angry expression that was on the unknown boys face quickly melted away to a giant smile. One where all of his sparkling white teeth could be exposed. "But I really am a nice guy who enjoys long walks on the beach and the works of Dr. Seuss … and fucking. That's always fun," he reassured with a cartoonish wink. The comment made M'Gann blush a bit, and caused Roy to throw himself into another fit of laughter. The other boys seemed displeased, and Artemis only smirked.
"So you're threatening us? Like that would last very long. Do you know what I could do to you?" asked Superboy.
"I dunno. What?" asked the unknown boy, changing his voice to sound very high-pitched and sarcastically interested.
Superboy seemed taken back, but nevertheless, remained on point. "I could squash you like a bug,"
"But you won't, or I'll report it back to the league," interject Red Arrow. The two boys started down each other for a bit before Superboy stepped back. Superboy didn't like taking orders from anybody, and could enforce his ways upon anyone who tried to. However, dealing with the league was a whole other issue. An issue that Superboy just didn't want to deal with. "I don't want to threaten you, I just want to warn you. This guy is a loose cannon. He's been tested and … let's just say … some screws are loose," admitted Roy as he delicately tried to choose the right words to string together.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Wally.
The boy crossed his arms together tightly and put his nose up in the air. "None of your fucking beeswax,"
"Okay. Dude. Chill," said Wally, raising his arms defensively.
"Can we just get back to the topic of 'why the hell you're here'?" asked Superboy. His eyes seemed plastered to the other end of the room, almost not wanting to admit that an older guy embarrassed him.
"Good question," said the, so far, unnamed boy. "Roy-boy, do you want to take this one?" he asked his friend. Roy nodded and summoned a few holographic screens to appear before the Young Justice team.
"Well, I think we should start off by introducing our guest of honor. Everyone, meet Apollo Dunk," said Roy he nudged the boy next to him.
"Chào," said Apollo with a slight wave. The group exchanged puzzled glances. None of them knew what he was saying let alone what language he was speaking. However, one of the teammates did:
"He's saying hello in Vietnamese," explained Artemis, her eyes staying glued to Apollo.
Apollo smiled at her. His smile was one that was slightly mischievous, only making him look more attractive to Artemis. "Ah! I native tongue I see. And in such a pretty mouth," Artemis did blush a bit, but was able to hide it very well as she maintained face. "What's your name, girly?" he asked.
Artemis smiled some before responding. "Artemis,"
Apollo's smiled only grew more devilish to the sound of her name. "Lovely," he complemented.
While the two gaped suggestively at the other, Wally's body almost seemed as if it was vibrating with anger. He didn't know what pissed him off more; that Artemis was throwing herself at a total stranger, or that the stranger she was throwing herself at with a total maniac! Either way, Wally couldn't contemplate what she saw in him, or why he was getting so agitated about the whole thing. By now, Wally had convinced himself that he hated her, and thought nothing more on the matter. Suddenly, his body took over control "And I'm Wally!" he said unnecessarily loudly, jumping in between the two, breaking their flirtatious stare. "Nice to meet you," he said extending his hand.
Apollo smiled at him and took his hand in for a handshake, after a while, Apollo glanced at their enlaced fingers and asked. "Why are you squeezing so hard? Oh! Are we playing that game where you have to squeeze the other person's hand really hard? Okay!" Within seconds, Wally fell to his knees in pain from Apollo's overly firm handshake. Obviously, Wally had no intention of playing a 'hand squeezing game' with this guy. Artemis had to giggle at the sight, and, as most good friends do, Robin rushed to Wally side and helped him up. "Does that mean I won?" asked Apollo to Roy with great curiosity. Roy didn't answer, instead he was too busy stifling back yet another set of laughs. Wally began to extend and bend his fingers in order to get the feeling back in them after being nearly crushed off – not taking his angry glare off Apollo.
"Shall we return to the mission now?" asked Kaldur, trying to re-establish some focus to the assignment.
"Right," said Roy, finally able to let himself calm down. "Anyway, this is Apollo's brother: Flint Yuan," On the screen appeared a tall figure. He looked older than Apollo, but shared many similar features. The only obvious difference was the hair. Flit's was an electric black as apposed to a dirty blonde like Apollo's. He was dressed in a traditional, red Vietnamese outfit and wore an elegant, black rabbit mask over his face. "He is often known as 'March Hare', and has been assassinating political figures around the world along with his father; Robert Dunk – known as 'Gamesexpert'," Another image appeared on screen of a much older looking man wearing a dark orange shirt and pants and white body armor over top of it. His face was completely covered with a white mask, but the hair that could be seen on his head matched that of Apollo's.
"So both your dad and your older brother are on the wrong side?" scoffed Wally. "That must be a fun dinner time discussion," he said sarcastically. Artemis let her eyes dropped to her feet.
Apollo just shrugged. "Hey, if someone picked on me at school, I'd know who to go to, am I right?" he winked at Wally. Wally shut his mouth and looked away.
"Apollo followed Flint to America, and with my help, we've tracked him down. He's hiding out somewhere in Washington at the moment, and he's doing a good job of keeping it a secret. But we know he's planning something big, and we need your help with it,"
"Why do you need our help?" asked Aqualad with confusion.
Roy looked away in shame. He never liked having to ask for help. Especially from these little sidekicks. However, he would always man-up and just ask if he needed it. "I didn't want your help. I wanted the help of the real hero's. But you are all that I get,"
Artemis barred her teeth at him. She felt that she was just as good, if not better than him as an archer. "Well, we're what you got, so enough with the bitch-fest and get back to the point," she sneered.
"Feisty little one aren't you?" asked Apollo as he cocked his eyebrow.
Artemis smirked at him, and Roy gave him a dirty look. "I'm trying to debrief here," he said, gesturing to the team.
"Sorry. My libido got in the way," said Apollo defensively. Artemis found herself blushing again as Roy continued.
"Flint is a sneaky bastard. After watching him for sometime, we've noticed that he's been meeting up with certain 'contacts' that we believe might be helping him. So far, the two of us are out numbered – and that's were you come in"
"Then why doesn't the league find this to be a priority?" asked M'Gann.
"Cause they haven't met my brother," said Apollo darkly. "They've analyzed the 'contacts' he's been meeting with, and have conclude that they're harmless. But I know my brother better, and I say he's building a small army for something,"
"The most we know about his contacts are that they have some connection with the League of Shadows. Clearly, Flint is planning another assassination,"
"What about you're dad? Shouldn't we worry about him as well?" asked Superboy.
"No, no," chuckled Apollo. "I killed that mother fucker months ago,"
A silence fell upon the young team. Never could they even imagine just killing off their parents, even if they were evil (which in Artemis's case, was true). It was a weird thought to just murder the one they loved, and shuttered at the consequences that they would have to face. "But … he's your father. You can't just kill you're father," stammered Robin.
"Well … I did … cause he was a shit-faced looser … and I'm awesome … so I can only see this as a win/win situation for me … yeah me!" said Apollo, thrusting his fist into the air in celebration. The group shifted awkwardly for a moment before Roy brought them all back to their senses.
"If the Shadows are involved then something's going down. And soon,"
"Wait a sec; so the Shadows are involved and the league doesn't care?" questioned Robin. Robin knew Batman well enough that if the Shadows had any connection, Batman would be all over it. And they is no way that Batman wouldn't have known, because he's Batman, and Batman knows everything.
At that, Roy and Apollo exchanged a sideways glance. "To tell you the truth, Batman doesn't know the Shadows are involved. I just told him that Flint was gathering contacts," admitted Roy.
Robin let out a sarcastic laugh. "Anybody else want to call bullshit on that?" cried Robin. "Batman would know even if you didn't tell him! He watches the Shadows more closely than anyone here! "
"Oh yeah? Then where was he when they tried to kill Lex Luthor?" challenged Roy.
Robin had nothing to say to that. He just kept his mouth shut and clenched his jaw tightly. That's when Apollo stepped forward and placed a hand on Robin shoulder. "You have to stop holding Batman in such a high regard. He's human. He's going to make mistakes. He knows a lot, but he doesn't know everything," Robin rotated his shoulder in order to knock Apollo's hand off of it. He didn't want to admit it, but Batman did make a few mistakes, and this must have been one of them.
"Well if you tell them that the shadows are in on it, then I'm sure the real hero's could help you out," growled Artemis.
Roy just frowned. "This is a very delicate operation," he said seriously. "We need certain events to happen before we stop it completely. If the league new about the Shadows, they would put an end to it without listening to reason," he explained thoroughly.
"What is it that makes this mission so delicate?" asked M'Gann with genuine interest.
"I'll tell you when I get there," said Roy, starting to get really pissed off. "Right now, just let me explain it, then I'll tell you," The younger teens nodded with understanding before Roy continued. "Now then; Flint hasn't been meeting with any named contacts, but each of them are experienced in the martial arts and are full of knowledge on science and computers," On the screen appeared a picture of three boys. They were all identical and looked the age of collage students. "We'll call them 'Flit's Triplets' until we find out their names,"
"I been watching them ever since Flint started meeting with them, and here's what I got," said Apollo. "Tomorrow, the President will be meeting with a German scientist named Dr. Töten at the White House. Dr. Töten's grandfather, however, was a Nazi in World War 2, and raised Töten since he was born. Töten has been convicted of hate crimes and assisted murders. However, he had come up with a drug to aid HIV that is cheap enough to send around to Africa. The problem is, the drug has gone without testing and could possibly kill millions of African civilians,"
"Why did it go without testing?" asked M'Gann.
Roy rubbed the tips of his fingertips together in order to symbolize rubbing money. Then, he continued where Apollo left off. "A shipment of the drug is being flown over and is set to land right when the President shakes hands with Dr. Töten. Once it lands, the President will use the drug on a volunteer patient during a press conference,"
"Now, this is where it gets tricky: Dr. Töten has sworn to the US that if anyone is to interfere – such as the Justice League – he will destroy the drug as well as himself, and the secret of curing the sickness might be lost forever," said Roy. "He doesn't want either him or the drug to be confiscated or touched by anyone except for him and the President,"
"Why?" asked Wally skeptically.
"We don't know. It could be that it actually is poisonous," suggested Roy. "And as you can see, the doctor is one proud mother fucker. If we doubt him for a second, he'll go ballistic. He has set the medication to be completely resistant to any powers of the Justice League. And if the medication detects that the Justice league is near, or that it is subject to any kind of threat, it will dissolve and Dr. Töten will kill himself on the spot. America would have no one to blame but the Justice League. Yet the drug still needs to be confiscated and tested else where, and the President can't be in on it or ties with Germany will be lost. Now, we could just wait for the drug to get here, and wait for Dr. Töten to deactivated whatever it was that could make the medication dissolve, but the Shadows are set to kill him the second he arrives at the White House. If they do, the medication will dissolve as they had not been set off,"
"I'm still confused why you didn't just tell the league that the Shadows were involved," stressed Robin.
"The Shadows are good at making themselves disappear … get it?" joked Apollo. Roy frowned at him and nudged him to continue. "They will only be visible that night (if they plan to strike at all),"
"And knowing the League, they would try and stop the White House conference from happening, but if Dr. Töten here's that the Justice League are involved with anything, he will refuse to bring the drug over at all. The President can't cover it up, because the German ambassador will tell Dr. Töten either way. We can't imprison the ambassador, because then Germany would take it offensively. Even if we tried to explain it to them, Dr. Töten would still refuse to share the drug," added Roy.
"I hoped that the League could confiscate the drug while we deal with Flint, but Batman would figure it out, get involved and ruin the operation. So we didn't tell them about the shadows," said Apollo.
"Hold on. Batman would defiantly be in on this if the drug might be poisonous," pointed out Robin.
"Batman doesn't believe that Dr. Töten would poison anyone. It's too risky to just kill off a volunteer at a press conference. Even though Dr. Töten could just use a normal vaccination on the volunteer then send the bad ones off to Africa, Batman still thinks' he's clean. But if the Shadows are involved, then obviously something is wrong,"
"How did you convince him to let you ask for our help?" asked Kaldur.
"I wouldn't take no for an answer. If said I could ask you, but that it would be up to you if you wanted to help or not," said Roy, trying in a way to mock the Dark Knight. "So, the answer is up to you,"
Apollo began humming the Jeopardy theme song as the team glanced around at each other. Everything seemed legitimate, but there was a lot of question about this new character. Was he legitimate? Or was this all just a big joke? But alas, people's lives could possibly be at risk, and that was something the team couldn't question.
"What happens if we take the drug, test it, and it turns out to be fine?" asked Kaldur.
Apollo shrugged. "Then we owe the doc a BIG apology. One that he'd probably never accept. Then the world can blame us for preventing a cure to HIV!" cheered Apollo. Kaldur bit his lip and darted his eyes over to Robin. Robin looked to the older boys, then to the floor, then back to Kaldur. This operation could put them in a lot international in trouble, but the Shadows were involved and they were a huge priority. Regretting his decision a second later, Robin nodded. Apollo smiled and jumped into the air. "Eat shit, Flint! You're going down!" he cried.
"What is the plan you have for the mission?" asked Kaldur.
"Pretty simple," said Roy as the holographic screen showed a diagram of the White House. "We're splitting ourselves up into three teams. Team 'A' will be M'Gann, Robin, and Superboy. Team 'B' will be Kaldur and myself. And Team 'C' will be Apollo, Artemis, and Wally-"
"Ugh! I have to be on a team with her?" complained Wally. Artemis opened her mouth to insult him back, but Apollo cut in.
"I don't see what you're complaining, kiddo," he said suggestively. Artemis turned her head in his direction, and smiled a smile just as suggestive as the one that was plastered on his face. Wally was about to say something until Roy continued with his debrief.
"Team 'A' will be the ones getting a hold of the drug. Robin, once the plane lands, wait till you know the medication has been deactivated. Before it is administered to the volunteer, create a distraction," Robin nodded affirmatively. "M'Gann, you will use your camouflage to take the needle that the President will use on the volunteer," M'Gann nodded as well. "Superboy, it will be up to you to keep the helicopter from leaving. Think you can keep it on the ground?"
Superboy, feeling insulted, growled. "I can burry it if you'd like," he sneered.
Roy furrowed his brow, but continued. "Then, Robin will run to the helicopter in time to hack the system and see if there are any other booby traps-"
"HA! You said 'booby'," snickered Apollo.
"This is where Team 'B' comes in. Kaldur. You and I will be on the roof as surveillance. Once we find them, we will tell Team 'C' where the Shadows are hiding. Once we've spotted them, Team 'C' will move in and take them down. From there, you and I will split up. One of us will assist Team 'C' if needed while the other helps Team 'A'," Aqualad nodded with understanding. "As for Team 'C', you will wait in the crowd until further instruction. Once you have location of the Shadows, move in," Artemis and Wally nodded after being instructed. "Other then that, we have a day to get ready. Pack all weapons you need and be ready to head over to Washington in…" Roy checked his watch. "Exactly 30 hours from now. Any questions?" The team shook their heads and Roy clapped his hands together. "Whelp. I'm out. See you guys in exactly 30 hours," Roy then turned on his heels and headed for the zeta tubes.
"Wait!" called Wally, causing Roy to stop dead in his tracks. "Aren't you taking him with you?" he asked, pointing at Apollo.
Roy looked over to Apollo and chuckled. "Nope. Have you met this guy? He's crazy! He's your problem now!" The team exchanged worried expressions. "Either way, he wants to train you guys a little bit for when you face Flint. Have fun!" he taunted as a white light zapped him away.
Following Roy's absence was silence. "So…" started Apollo. "Where's the crapper?" he asked overly enthusiastically.
"Down the hall and to your left side," said Kaldur.
Apollo smiled at him, and started to whistle as he proudly strutted to the toilets. "Oh. There's something else I should add," he said, cocking his head around ever so slightly in their direction. "Leave Flint to me. I want to kill him with my own two hands," he said darkly. But then. with a smile, her said "Chào" once more and continued his journey, whistling again - just loud enough for the tune to vibrate off the walls and create an echo.
"I don't like him," growled Wally when he was out of sight.
"Speak for yourself," mumbled Artemis with a sly smile. Wally frowned at her.
"It does not matter if we like him or not," said Kaldur. "What matters now is that we assist him on this mission,"
"And what happens if it's a total mess?" asked Superboy.
Kaldur sighed. "I do not know the answer. All I know is that we are heroes. And heroes never deny the opportunity to save someone's life,"
Everybody was silenced at that as they each murmured in agreement to each other. Apollo may be mentally insane, but at least he was honest … hopefully.
First chapter done! I'm sorry for the long length, but I didn't know where to break it.
I hope you guys liked the little bet at the beginning. I wanted to show the more 'teenager' side of them, and give a bet where Artemis won. I don't know why, but every fanfic I read where there's a bet between Artemis and Wally, Wally wins. Let Artemis win a few once and a while, eh? ;).
As for the character of Apollo, I created him because I feel as though most OC's in fanfics are girls and not so much boys. Artemis and M'Gann deserve some eye candy to, don't they? ;). Anyway, I tried to make his character a little like Deadpool. Don't know why, just did. Deadpool is awesome and there really isn't anyone in the DC universe like him. So there.
I hope everyone liked it... liked it enough for a REVIEW that is! Positive or negative, I accept all!
