It's been months since roy left the band,and wally still hadn't gotten use to artemis replacing him.
Sure artemis was a good singer when it came down to it. Although he wouldn't admit that to her.
He would never tell her what he really thought of her voice or how much she meant to him.
What he would tell her is how much of a nuisance she was,how roy deserved to be on the team instead of her or even how he hated her. None of these were true..except the middle one slightly,wally was still coming to terms with Roy's leave.
"Hey wally! We need to practice for the sing off." Wally turned around after hearing robin calling him.
"Again! Come on dude it's the voice off we always win." Wally moaned,turning to face his band.
"Not always. The shadows have some really strong singers..like cheshire and cameron." Artemis made a point of the competition being fierce but wally just rolled his eyes.
"Yeah and they have some really crap singers too,like sportsmaster now he just sounds like a dying cat..no offence..to the cats." Wally retaliated.
"Whatever. The JL records are more successful. Who cares if the shadows are good singers." Zantanna nonchalantly stated.
"Erm us?" Robin asked confused.
Just then Oliver was heard coming in to the cave,aka the JL Recording company's headquarters.
"Hey. What are you guys standing around for? We have a show to practise for." Ollie told the team in a slightly babified voice.
"Ollie,we aren't kids you don't need to talk to us like we're five." His protege answered.
"Now artemis is that anyway to speak to your elders?" Wally asked teasingly.
"Exactly-heyy!" Ollie said after realising wally had just called him old.
"I think it would be wise if we began practising." Kaldur the lead singer advised.
"Yeah,very wise." Conner added impatiently. He was anticipated to rehearse,hoping that Clark,his father,would listen to him sing and finally be proud of his son.
Of course Clark never listened to Conner sing,even though he co-owned the company he never had time for his son,not even at home. Conners other father did though,lex loved to listen to his son sing,sometimes they'd have sing offs with each other as practice for Conner... Yes 'other father' conners mother decided to have a sex change when Conner was five. Conner doesn't seem to mind having two fathers but what he does mind is that his original father doesn't care for him or lex.
All of the band went into the rehearsal room,preparing for the voice off which would be taking place in two days.
All of the team,except artemis. Ollie wanted to speak privately with his protégé for a moment to big her up and warn her.
"Artemis,all I'm saying is be careful."
"I'm fine Ollie honestly,I've taken on Jade before." Artemis explained with a sigh.
"I know,I know. It's just,according to..tabloids,jades coming back stronger than ever." Ollie admitted.
"I appreciate your concern but if I know Jade,which unfortunately I do,she's selfish and this is a group voice off. She'll be forced to sing with others,and Jade hates singing with others. Her voice will be strained by the end of this." Artemis replied,turning towards the door.
"Just be careful okay?" Ollie asked concerned for his protege, it was her sister after all and Ollie knew all too well how hard it was to go against family.
"Okay." Artemis said with a shy nod before heading to practice.
"You're late." Jade said to the three late comers.
"Blame that on those two." Tommy answered looking over at his sister and cameron.
"Well you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun." Cameron replied,putting an arm around his girlfriend.
"I do actually,which is why we need to be practising as much as possible. Understand?" Jade told the group,with a threatening undertone in her voice.
"It's different when you're all smoochy smooch with lover boy." Klarion commented,from his sitting position on top of the piano with his kitten 'teekl'.
"I don't know what you're talking about,now if we are ready." Jade cooly responded.
The five began practising for the voice off. "Okay okay stop. Klarion if you don't shut that cat up from singing I will disqualify you." Jade threatened,stopping the rehearsal.
"He likes to join in." Was all Klarion said before being forced to put teekl in another room.
The five began practising again, and Jade was certain that they were going to win this one.
Two days later...
The band was in the middle of doing last minute rehearsals when he showed up. To say artemis was annoyed when he arrived would be an understatement,it would also be an understatement to say she was frustrated with wally for running to him.
"Roy! Man is it good to see you." Wally said putting his hand on Roy's back.
"Hey,what are you doing here?" Robin asked walking over to his childhood friend.
"I came to see you guys perform obviously." Roy answered,ruffling robins hair.
"Do you mind? We're in the middle of rehearsing?" Artemis asked,her frustration showing.
"Artemis!" Wally scolded,turning his head to look at her.
"It's fine wally." Roy said silencing wally. Surprisingly he didn't follow that up with a snobby comment as usual,instead he wished the band good luck and took a seat in the audience.
The voice off began,the shadows began with blank verse,which was then competed by shake if off also by Taylor swift but sung by YJ as the band liked to call them selves.
Round two:
Shadows sang anaconda.
YJ sang all about that bass.
Round three:
Shadows sang toxic and YJ sang circus whilst robin performed acrobatics.
For the final round:
Shadows sang hold on we're going home whilst YJ sang all of me.
Unfortunately artemis messed up on a note allowing cheshire and the shadows to win,to which wally blamed her for the loose.
After the voice off artemis looked at who would be performing in tomorrow's show,she was definitely surprised to see that Jade would be competing against roy,in a solo voice off.
When the team headed back to the cave,wally picked his fight with artemis.
"It's all your fault we lost and all your fault Roy's gone!"
"So I slipped up big deal,we all do it. Besides roy left before i came remember?" Artemis snarled back.
"Yeah,and he'd have probably came back if it wasn't for you!" Wally snapped. His arms flailing around displaying his anger.
"Wally,calm down. If it wasn't for artemis we wouldn't have won the competition back in Porto Rico." Robin stated trying to calm down his friend.
"That's was because of Roy's help,right?" Wally asked,still trying to prove that artemis was in the wrong.
"Yeah not so much." Robin said in a sing song tune.
"Wha-well I'm still not giving her the satisfaction." Wally fumed,crossing his arms.
"Erm,maybe we should calm down,I mean you're both right." M'gann told the team trying to calm the situation down but both artemis and wally shot her a look "I mean you're both..wrong?"
"I think M'gann is right when she says you should calm down." Kaldur settled putting the team to ease. "The other part was just.."
"Confusing?" Conner finished,quirking an eye brow.
Just at that moment M'gann got a text. She subtly left the room,running to an alleyway not far from the cave.
"I didn't think you'd show." A female voice said,concealed in the darkness of the alleyway.
"Look,let's just stop this. No one needs to find out,please." M'gann pleaded,searching the shadows.
"That's where you're wrong. Imagine how much money I could make if I revealed your little secret..after all I do have a child to support,you wouldn't want to see me go homeless..would you?" The voice elaborated before stepping out into the dimly lite alley. Standing under the dim light was Megan,an older version of M'gann. Megan was an old actress,washed up and broke, a young son and no father to support him. Megan could sing,M'gann could not,and that's what Megan did for M'gann..she sung whilst M'gann mimed..no body knew it was perfect,it meant people would be proud of M'gann,people would accept her and she could be with Conner.
She needed Megan to keep quiet so she resorted to begging."If it's more money you're after then I'll get you some." M'gann shackingly agreed.
"Hmm,but imagine how much money I could make off the media if I revealed to them your-our little secret." Megan whispered into mganns ear.
"Whatever you could make by media..I'll double it." M'gann pleaded. She didn't have much money herself..but she had enough.
"Tempting...I'll expect that pay check within the next six weeks. Bye bye." Megan replied before disappearing around the corner of the alley.
M'gann wasn't the only one who had the need to feel accepted. Conner and robin too felt that emptiness,that emptiness that made them feel unwanted,unnoticed and..unaccepted.
Conner had issues with his father Clark whereas robins issues didn't lie with family,the issue with robin was that he was the lie. He didn't want anyone to know,anyone to find out,God he wished he could come out. He was gay,he'd known this for some time now. He'd found out a few weeks back..it was dark and nor could he nor wally see. Unsure how their lips met,but wally made the mistake of thinking it was artemis,Robin had realised this when wally said her name against robins neck. Robin quickly switched on the lights and made up the excuse that he too had mistaken wally,thinking he was zantanna. The pair felt awkward for a while but things had now been sorted. No one knew and they hoped no one would ever know,but robin would. It was complicated,robin liked wally who liked artemis who liked Conner who was secretly dating m'gann. It was more than complicated,it was a..love hexagon.