This is an AU of Invasion after season 1 of Young Justice- mostly Spitfire.
Wally is still part of the team, Artemis ran off to Vietnam for 5 years for reasons that will be revealed. She's been really out of touch- she doesn't know about Kaldur or M'gann and Conner ect. However, this is not going to be a rehash of Invasion with Artemis thrown in there. I hate those.
Mostly Artemis and Wally Spitfire with occasional changes in POV. Also, Angst.
Wally hated the jungle.
It was one of the few places in the world where he couldn't run as fast and as far as he pleased- the underbrush, quicksand, and thick trees saw to that. He felt confined, restricted- trapped.
It figured that she'd choose someplace like this.
"Nhanh lên!" His guide sprang forward across a crude rope bridge, turning back to gesture him to move faster. "Cô sẽ sớm bỏ đi ngay!"
"I'm coming!" Wally grumbled, picking up his pace. If he were in uniform right now he'd-
"This way." The girl said, her English choppy and her accent guttural. Her sallow, thin face was shining in the half-light filtering through the canopy- she reminded Wally uncomfortably of some war orphan from a flickering documentary; a smudged starving face that never quite aged.
Above their heads, the trees buzzed with insects and birds flitted from tree to tree. The air was filled with a low hum that vibrated through Wally's bones. It made the place seem old- ancient even, and full of something that he didn't quite understand.
God, he hated jungles.
"This way." Wally caught sight of the edge of the girls shift as she slipped into the shadows between two looming boulders. The speedster checked over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the encroaching darkness. Then he followed.
"Đây là nó." Her voice echoed in the dark tunnel. She pointed towards the far end, a silver dime of light that dimly lit the rock around him. "She is there."
And then she was gone, melted back into the shadows as if she'd never existed.
Taking a deep breath, Wally walked on. His boots scraped against the floor, grating against the silence. Water dripped onto the back of his neck. Anxiety roiled in his stomach and he could taste the protein bar he'd eaten an hour ago in the back of his throat. "Deep breaths." Wally muttered to himself, taking another shaky, measured breath. "No pressure- this is only the girl who broke your heart and disappeared off the face of the Earth. Take another breath-"
He broke out into the sunshine, and there she was.
"Artemis?"
She started violently, twisting in her seat, throwing her arm out. Something white flashes, pearly in the light, and he dodges and turns in one smooth movement to watch it thud into the rock behind him- out of the corner of his eye he can see blood drip from her hand and she doesn't even flinch.
"Wally." She's trying to get composed again, but he can see the flutter of her pulse in her neck and he knows that she knows she could have killed him. If he'd been a second slower he'd be dead, probably. He looks back, noting how the rock was split like wood from the force behind the throw. Definitely dead.
And that's worrying, because he'd thought she'd have improved since he last saw her. Jumping at shadows, worrying tremors in her hands- if he looks carefully he can see them and he wonders if it's because of the changes or just him-
"What do you want?" Artemis is on her feet and defensive. Her face is tighter, more stretched; she looks so old at twenty that it's a little heartbreaking. Maybe if she'd stayed, had taken the hand the team had offered her instead of running off into the middle of nowhere to figure out what that Venom had done to her-
"We need you." Wally said instead, his eyes matching hers. "M'gann found out what happened during the 16 hours-"-her eyebrows go up and stay there; she remembers, how could she forget? - "and they have to go fix it. Off world."
Artemis slumped. "Help, huh?" She tugs at a lock of her hair. It's dyed black, and even though it can't fool Wally, he knows that to the casual observer she looks like just another Vietnamese native, going about her business. She's clad in rough cotton trousers and a Coke-a-Cola T-shirt; Wally wants to laugh, but she'd probably make an exception to her rule about maiming and kill him.
"I …can't." The defeated posture, the soft words- this is not Artemis. He knew he should have ignored Batman (just once, just for her) and come visit her. It's not like her location was much of a Team secret- not for the Seniors anyway. He should have come and followed up on the New Year's kiss, on whatever they'd had before… before…
Before a lot of things.
Wally knows it's going to be hard, hard for both of them, and he'd like nothing better than to hide Artemis away from the tragedy that their lives have become, and simultaneously, drag her into his world and make her stay.
"Please."
Artemis closes her eyes, knowing that he'd already won. If he'd yelled, demanded, ordered – she could have said no. But Wally, damn him, he knew that if he just asked nicely (It was a rare thing for her to get a thank you, a please, a congratulations) he could get her to do anything.
He had a dangerous power over her, but, as she cautiously took his hand, she really couldn't find it in herself to say no.
How do you like this style? Too memoir-y, hard to follow? Some feedback please.
