Obviously, the mission went south.
It started out surprisingly simple: an undercover mission to a high-school dance. Gotham Academy, to be precise. Okay, maybe it had been slightly more personal. Fine, it was more of a spy-on-Artemis-and-get-blackmail-material sort of thing. Wally's idea, of course.
Except, of course the dude managed to get tangled up at his own high school dance, with some girl dubbed Jinx, and totally blew Artemis out the window. With Robin, er, otherwise occupied, Kal'dur underwater helping rebuild Atlantis, and Superboy being, well, Superboy, that left one person for the mission.
Which, unfortunately, had been him.
Roy grumbled, loudly, and slid lower in his seat. The one time Wally manages to actually get a girl, had to be the day Artemis had her dance.
Beside him, Dick grinned. "Come on, lighten up. It's a party."
"Which begs the question: what I even doing here? We all know you are far more than capable of gathering all the info you need." His eyes narrowed. "From personal experience."
Dick let out a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm rather pleased with the what I've been able to find out so far. But me and Walls thought, hey, since ol' Red Arrow here is such a stick-in-the-mud, why don't we go have a little fun?"
Roy groaned, even louder. "I'm not a stick-in-the-mud."
Dick leaned back on his chair, tilting it on two legs, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Prove it."
"How?"
He nodded toward his right. "See that chick over there? She seems interested. Say yes when she asks you to dance."
Roy didn't bother turning his head. "What makes you think she will?"
Dick gave him a look only the thirteen year old apprentice to the World's Greatest Detective could. "She will."
Sure enough, the girl flittered over only a few minutes afterwards. "Hi," she said, her voice sounding oddly familiar. "I'm Jade. You wanna dance?"
Dick's grin split wider than Cheshire's mask, and he crossed his arms triumphantly. He gave Roy a look somewhere between Told you so! and Prove you're not a stick-in-the-mud.
Roy considered it. If he didn't, Dick would probably either announce to Wally that he was a stick-in-the-mud, or he would announce it to the fecking world. But if he did… the girl was pretty, with a black up-do and Asian features.
"Alright," he said grudgingly. The girl, Jade, grinned.
Dick promptly whipped out his camera. "Vaguely interested in how long she can stand your company, Roy."
Jade grabbed his arm with a surprisingly strong grip and pulled him onto the dance floor. "Roy, huh? Cute."
"Yeah," he said distractedly. "Look, have you see a girl named Artemis? Crock? Sorta need to find her."
Was it just him, or did she stiffen slightly at his comment? "Artemis, huh? What do you want with her, anyway?"
"Um, friend. Of a friend."
"Right," she seemed unimpressed. "How about you forget her for a moment? Just enjoy our time together?"
"Uh, sure. maybe later." he twisted around, trying to locate Dick. Where was that brat when you needed him?
For some reason, he wasn't extremely surprised when Jade kicked him in the shin. "Look here, Harper," she hissed, grabbing his shirt. "How about we cut the chase, and you start telling me why you're suddenly so concerned about my sister? I know, you think she's the mole, and not exactly high on your fav person list."
He studied her face. Where the f had he seen her before? He flashed back to battle, when he had been ambushed while he and Artemis were chasing as Sportsmaster...
"Cheshire?"
"Red Arrow?" She quipped back.
"What are you doing here?" He hissed.
"Trying to stop you from hurting my little sister."
"Aw, you came all this way for me?" he couldn't resist. "I'm touched."
"Don't get used to it, carrot-top."
"What else shouldn't I get used to, cat-face?"
"This." She moved forward, planting a kiss on his cheek.
His mouth virtually fell open, shock rendering him incapable of coming up with a witty come-back. "What?" was all his blank brain could come up with.
Jade pulled away, smirking. "Y'know, Speedy, it's like you haven't been kissed before."
He said the first thing he could come up with. "I've been assaulted in many places, Cheshire, but not there. Congrats." Mentally, he smacked himself. Crap. Of course he had to say that.
"Also," she continued. "Your insults are weak. It's like you're not even trying anymore." She pouted. "If you don't kick it up a notch, I'll stop trying to kill you."
"Gee," he said dryly. "I love people trying to assassinate me. What makes you think I won't arrest you now and here?"
She put a finger to her lips, like it was a secret. "Because, my dear apprentice, we're having way too much fun."