First story, I put Pandora on schuffle and wrote down the first 15 songs that came up
This one is based off of Come as You Are by Nirvana
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or Come as You Are by Nirvan
Come as you are
It's pouring rain and she's taking off in a dead sprint, she's pretty sure he saw her, but if that's the case she doesn't have a prayer of getting away. She knew she shouldn't have come, but when she heard the news she was on the first flight from Gotham to Central City. She only got a glimpse of him, but she knew how he'd look, red always was his color. She's stopping to take a break in an alley far off from where she first started running.
"Artemis"
"Damn," she curses under her breath, "What do you want Kid Flash?" She says it hoping to get a rise out of him so that he would forget why he chased her down in the first place.
"It's Flash now, thank-you very much. Artemis, what are you doing here? I mean it's nice to see you when I don't have to stop you from killing someone, but you know…you were the last person I expected to see here after everything thathappenedbutit'sstiilgoodtoseeyouand…"
"Wally stop, your rambling, and well I just came because I heard what had happened, that's all."
"Are you sure, because you know it's okay if you still have feelings for the Wall-Man, babe"
"Shut up, Baywatch, this is why we didn't work because even in a serious situation you still have to make jokes, can't you be serious for once."
"I was plenty serious when I told you I loved you and that I wanted this to work, but you're the one who said no and that you didn't love me."
"I'm sorry alright, god, how many times do I have to say it until you believe me, and just so you know I do love you too."
"Does that mean you're willing to try and make this work?"
"Fine, Wally"
"See I knew you couldn't resist the Wall-Man for long!"
She laughs in spite of herself taking in his jovial mood. She shivered at the thought of what they would face, and wondered if he had any idea what he was getting himself into. She sees him pulling out his cellphone.
"What are you doing?" she asks him.
"Calling Linda to break up with her," He said it so nonchalantly like it was no big deal. She couldn't believe that here he was telling her that he loved her, but he was just breaking up with that bimbo he'd been seeing. Doing the first thing that came to mind she whipped out her cross bow, held her breath and shot a knockout arrow at him. The arrow was only strong enough to knock someone with his metabolism out for maybe an hour tops. Her flight leaves at 9:30pm, she looks at her watch 8:30.
"Shit," that only leaves her maybe 10 minutes to get to the airport if she's lucky. With one last glance at the prone form of Wally, she off of into the night; stopping the nearest taxi and hoping in.
"Central City International Airport!"
On her way to the airport she catches a glimpse of Roy standing on the sidewalk disapproving look adorning his face, as always. Wally was like a younger brother to him in so many ways. He just didn't get it though, she and Wally were on opposite sides of the law, and okay fine that worked for him and Jade, but that'd never work for her and Wally. So what if she knows how Damian came about, heroes weren't supposed to date villains it just went against the whole hero thing if you were constantly trying to get your villainous girlfriend let off.
The Taxi came to an abrupt stop she hadn't even realized how lost in thought she had been. Paying the cab driver the necessary amount and jumping out, she headed off, hoping to be another nameless face to everyone around.
Wally woke up in the cold alley an hour later to the sound of familiar footsteps walking toward him. He looked up and smiled at Roy with a knowing glance seeing the bruise on his left cheek.
"So, what was it this time?"
"Knock-out gas, but I'm making progress she told me she loved me too this time and that she was willing to make it work. She didn't take the news that I'm still with Linda so well though."
"You actually told her that you're still with Linda?"
"No, I didn't tell her I'm not that stupid Roy, but I called Linda to break up with her right after Artemis agreed to try and make this work."
"Sheesh Wally, no wonder she called you Kid Idiot when you guys were on the team together. That is definitely not something you do with any woman, especially Artemis."
"Well how was I supposed to know that?"
"Ahh common sense, never mind I forget you don't have any of that."
"Whatever, Roy. So, what happened to your cheek?"
"Saw Jade, but Daddy Dearest just happened to be in the neighborhood, she had to make it look convincing, though I'm not sure it was all an act. She doesn't seem to like it when I just pop up while she's working."
"Of course not, she probably thinks you're there to take her in."
"I guess, but do you ever think that we're doing the wrong thing, dating Jade and Artemis, well trying in your case?"
"Hey, not funny, but yeah I know what you mean. I think that a lot, but then when I try to imagine life with anyone other than Artemis, it just feels wrong. I've tried with Linda, but it's just not right, sure in some world where Artemis doesn't exist maybe I could think about life with Linda. The problem is she seems to think it won't work with her being an assassin and me being the Flash. I don't think that she gets that I love her no matter what hero, assassin, doesn't matter as long as she's mine."
"Have you tried telling her that?"
"Well, umm not in so many words, you're the first person that I've told."
"Smooth Wall-Man, very smooth. You know that you should tell her that though right."
"Yeah I know but how, I pretty sure tonight was the maddest I've made her in a while, she knocked me out before she left."
"I think she would have knocked an idiot like you out no matter what."
He just sits there looking at Roy dumbfounded for a minute, then responds, "Oh yeah well look who's talking at least I don't have a giant bruise on my face from my girlfriend."
"Is that the best you can think of, man Artemis really has your panties in a bunch tonight. And all I meant was that I saw her in a cab heading towards the airport, and knowing you, you wouldn't have let her go without agreeing to a wedding date first," Roy chuckles.
"Not funny, was she heading back to Gotham?"
"Nope already checked no flights from here to Gotham for another week, so I'm guessing she has a job."
"Great, just great, that is going to make tracking her down much harder."
"Wally, you're going to owe me one and Jade's going to kill me, but she's headed to Vietnam?" With that Wally took off in a blur of red.
It was another two weeks before Wally finally found Artemis, sitting on the roof top of an abandoned apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City. This night was warm compared to the night when they met in Central City.
"So you found me big whoop." The dry tone in Artemis' voice lets Wally know that something isn't right.
"What's wrong?"
"None of your damn business Wallace! Besides don't you have Linda to worry about?"
"No, I told you Artemis I want this to work we don't always have to be enemies, I mean sure you're an assassin for the Shadows now, but that doesn't matter I'll love you no matter what side you're on." Wally purposely ignores her use of his first name.
"Yeah right, you're probably just saying that so you can get me to trust you and then you'll hand me over to whatever authorities are nearby."
"Damn it Artemis is it so hard to believe that someone actually cares about you?"
"You aren't the only person that cares about me you know, Jade and my mom care about me too."
"Yet they both at some point in time left you alone with your dad when you were little." He can see Artemis wince at his words.
"Sorry I brought that up. Just meet me at our spot two weeks from now at seven, my treat. Come, don't come it's your choice, but you better hurry up and decide because as you know I've never been one for patience."
"Okay, I'll think about it, but Baywatch?"
"Yeah Arty?"
"How'd you find me?"
"Can't really tell you it's one of those if I tell you, you'll be short a brother-in-law type deals." Artemis chuckles to herself at Wally's response.
"So I take it Roy told you after Jade told him not to say anything?" She asks though she already knows the answer, it's just good to have a conversation with Wally that doesn't end with one or both of them pissed off. She'll save her retaliation for his comment about her mom until next time, let him let his guard down...
The two weeks have finally gone by and Wally sits in the very back of Bibbo's Diner waiting for Artemis. They started coming here when they first started dating all those years ago when they were on The Team, neither one of them had jobs, and it was the cheapest, closest place with good food they could find. Wally thinks back to how things were back then, how they thought everything was complicated , with them being heroes and living in different cities and all, and how if their former selves were to see them now they'd learn what complicated really was.
He looks down at his watch 6:30, Artemis never really gave him an answer, but he's still hoping that she'll show. If he's willing to look pass the fact that she's an assassin why can't she look pass the fact that he's a hero. She was a hero once so she probably gets it, or at least he hopes she does. He gets up and starts pacing, Bibbo looks at him and his long absent habits he guesses that he's meeting Artemis or at least he hopes that it's Artemis, Wally is meeting. Bibbo doesn't even get why they broke up in the first place they were good together, sure they had their fights, but every couple does. He doesn't know the whole hero and assassin thing, he's just an innocent observer to the resulting hero-assassin relationship that goes against all of the other's rules, but rules were meant to be broken.
Wally finally sees a hooded figure with just the slightest amount of blonde bang poking out head into the diner he hurries to check his teeth, breath, and hair just like on their first date. He chides himself because he's an adult now, he's taken up the Flash mantle for crying out loud and if he can handle that and a regular nine to five, he can handle a date with Artemis. He hopes so any way.
"Hey," Artemis simply states. Her greeting carries a hidden question, she doesn't think he hears it, but he does she's not sure if she, they should be here.
"Hi," He states back with a smile to lighten the mood, trying to let her know that here they aren't Flash and Tigress; they're just Wally and Artemis out on their first date in a couple years.
She sits down across from him and starts looking at the menu; she can't help but see the smile that he's currently doing a bad job of hiding.
"What?" She asks him.
At her question he knows that she's seen through his pathetic attempt to hide his smile.
"Nothing, it's just you have no idea how good it feels to just go on a date with you. No outside pressure or prying eyes, just me and you."
"True no pressure, but I'm pretty sure Bibbo over there is trying his best to hide that he's watching us and doing his own version of a happy dance on the inside," She laughs.
"Yeah I guess I'm ready to do a happy dance too."
"God Wally do you have to be such a dork all the time?"
"No, but it helps that no matter how big a dork I am I'll always know that I'm your dork."
At his assertion Artemis looks down at her lap.
"Wally, who said anything about us getting back together?"
"Come on Arty, both of us know that we can make this work, and if you didn't want to get back together we both know that you wouldn't even have considered coming here tonight."
"Fine, whatever, I want to get back together, but we can't because you don't understand how dangerous this is."
"See that's the problem you always seem to think that I don't take anything seriously"
"That's because you don't Wally. Yes, Wally, I love you, I told you that when I saw you in Central, but do you not realize what can happen if my dad sees us together. Not only will he get suspicious, but he'll want me to get rid of you or hurt you. It's bad enough if he sees us when you're in your civvies, but can you imagine what would happen if he saw us together while you're in costume, what I'd have to do to keep him from getting suspicious and even then I'm not sure if it'd work"
"That's just it though Artemis I do know what will happen, you don't think that I haven't seen Roy after he's ran into your sister and your dad together, had to carry him home when Jade had to prove she was on your dad's side and broke his ribs, or had to help him put his shoulder back in place when Jade dislocated it. Yeah, Artemis I've seen all of that, and I still think you're worth it, so just give me a chance."
"Alright, fine. Now let's order already, I think old' Bibbo over there is getting worried," She says nodding to the owner of the diner whose patiently waiting for them to order.
Wally orders practically everything off the menu while Artemis just gets apple pie.
Bibbo smiles and says, "It's good to see you two together again," as he's giving them their food.
"Thanks Bibbo," Wally incoherently mumbles in between bites of food. Bibbo and Artemis just shake their heads, because this is nothing new and they pretty much can guess what he's saying.
The food has been paid for and their leaving when Bibbo shouts after them, "Artemis some blonde guy came in here looking for you, said his name was Lawrence."
Artemis mumbles her thanks as she and Wally try to hide their shocked faces at Bibbo's message.
"Do you want me to walk you home?"
"No, Wally I'm not some little fifteen year old girl that's afraid to face her father anymore."
"I know, but still just in case he shows up I can help you fight him off."
"No that wouldn't help because then he'd wanna learn where you learned to fight like that and hire someone to trail you."
"Alright fine I can see this is a fight I'm not winning I'll let you walk home alone at night in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet."
"Wow Baywatch, never took you for a quitter."
"I'm not quitting I'm just not gonna let some silly argument about walking you home dampen my mood," With that he kissed her forehead and sped off into the night being sure to stay out of well-lit areas.
It's almost midnight when he finally gets home between his date with Artemis and having to change to stop petty criminals as he was running home he's zonked. He doesn't even bother calling Artemis because he knows she's been home for hours and if she isn't home she's doing some job he definitely doesn't want to know about. As he showering and putting on his pajama pants all he can think about is his night with Artemis. He's starting to wonder if he should have fought harder for her to let him walk her home, because screw Sports master, if he wants to walk his girlfriend home he should. Even if they didn't get attacked and he didn't have to protect her it would have been the perfect cliché ending to what started off as their train wreck of a date. These are the thoughts running through his head as he finally falls asleep for the night.
Sometime later he's being woken up by a splash of cold water on his face.
"You think that'll wake him up?" The voice is familiar, female, but right now he's too groggy and too busy pretending to be asleep to try and put a face with the voice.
"Hopefully," says another familiar voice, this one male.
"If it doesn't I think we should try pinching him, a little bit of discomfort always woke me and Artemis up when we were sleeping hard."
"Jade," It's a one word answer that speaks volumes to both the voices.
By this point in time Wally finally thinks it's time for them to know he's awake. He herd Artemis' name so he's alert.
"What Roy…."
Wally's cough cuts her off; he finally gets a good look at the mysterious intruders. Roy and Jade he should have known it'd be those two they never did seem to know how to use a phone or door.
"Would you idiots like to tell me what you're doing in my room at," he stops to glance at the digital clock on his nightstand, "at 3:30 in the morning," he demands.
"You went out with Artemis tonight right?" Roy asks. It's more of a statement than a question though, like he knows the answer, but doesn't want Wally to know that he knows what's going on in his personal life.
"Yeah, so."
"Did you walk her home?"
"No, she didn't want me to, you know how stubborn she can be."
"Ugh, well did anything strange happen while you were out?"
"Well, Jade not really sure how this concerns you and Roy, but now that you mention it when we were leaving Bibbo's, Bibbo told us that a "Lawrence" had been by to ask if he'd seen Artemis"
"Oh, great. Wally next time she gets a message or hears anything about my dad being near where she lives, I don't care what she says, you walk her home." The way she said it has Wally panicking.
"W-What happened?" He can barely get the words out.
"We don't know," comes a response it's Roy this time, "we've been by her apartment and she wasn't there, Jade's sure that she doesn't have a job tonight, we were sort of hoping that'd she'd chosen to stay the night after you guy's date."
"Well," says Wally hopping out of bed and putting a shirt on, "there is only one thing that we can do now…look for her" With that they all head out in different directions, using Wally's speed to transport them one at a time.
Covering different areas of Gotham it's been four hours when they choose to regroup. Wally and Roy are debating on whether or not they should notify Batman and Nightwing, but they eventually decide against it. Knowing those two unless it's Talia al Ghul they aren't letting a villainess go, but even with her is circumstantial.
Jade is looking at possible leads at hospitals on a laptop that can be easily abandoned, when she sees it. Girl around nineteen or twenty came in with a knife wound to her side and broken ribs claiming that she fell down the stairs while carrying a kitchen knife. She knows that it's Artemis so she tells the others and they head off in civvies to the hospital, hoping she's still there.
Hope you guys liked it, I'll be writing a Roy/ Jade story that ties in with this one
Please review