A/N - Exams are finally over so I can return to writing and updating again hurrah! Sorry for the delay and returning with this disappointing chapter but I needed it to move the story along to its designated position. Next chapter will have more action and Birdflash, I'm hoping the Spitfire banter and moment in the beginning made up for the rest of the chapter?
Artemis found it very difficult to trust people. It wasn't paranoia, it was just... a very cautious outlook on life. But who could blame her? Her pops was Sportsmaster! That was enough to damage anyone. So when I found out her and Dickie bird were pretty much best friends, I was confused as to say the least and slightly intrigued.
The delicious smell of double chocolate chip cookies (both white and milk chocolate ohmygoshyes) coaxed me into the kitchen. M'gann was stood in the corner pondering over a cookbook with her back to the cookies.
I had two choices: a) persuade the Martian beauty to let me swipe the plate for myself or b) grab the cookies and run far far away.
I can admit, guilt washed over me when her amused voice drifted into my ears. "Wally, put the cookies down. They're not just for you," Sighing and hunching my shoulders, I put the plate back down on the counter. The girl turned round and smiled. "Oh...but you can go offer them out to people if you like."
I punched the air in triumph, grabbed the plate and ran...
...Straight into Artemis.
"Ugh! Wally you idio- are they M'gann's cookies?" Hastily I twisted my body to shelter the glorious treats from the archer and pouted at her. She couldn't be trusted - especially when marvellous cookies were at stake. She snorted. "Whatever, Wally. I'm going to see Rob anyway-"
At this I straighted up quickly. "What, why?"
She raised a thin eyebrow. "Why not? Am I not allowed to hang out with my friends?"
Her lips began to quirk upwards, forming a satisfied smirk at my obvious discomfort. Gently nibbling the inside of her top lip, Artemis shoved her hands into her jeans pockets awaiting an answer.
Supey was also sat in our living area watching the news. I guess he'd finally learnt that more interesting shows lie beyond the grey static, funnily enough. His arms rested on the back of the sofa and his head was turned, preparing himself for another Wally and Artemis argument, AKA the team's entertainment when there's a noticeable lack of anything else to grab their interest.
I coughed and traced swirls along the edge of the plate with the tip of my finger nonchalantly. "He's not here anyway." Looking up into her ashen eyes, I set my own lips into a line and shrugged in an attempt to appear indifferent.
The blonde's smirk grew. "Yeah, I know. That's why I'm grabbing my coat," Slipping past me to retrieve a dark green parka, which had been slung over the back of the couch, Artemis' hand flew out to snatch a cookie off the plate. "And I'm taking a cookie with me. Thanks, Baywatch."
Due to the lack of an argument, Conner stood and stretched his arms upwards. His spine popped and cracked as a sleepy sigh left his lips before he left the room. The T.V remained on.
Strolling past me, the girl winked as she shrugged on the fluffy coat. I sighed and fell into the couch, completely forgetting about the impact it would have on the cookies. My arms flailed out in a desperate bid to save them and luckily I managed to catch most of the treats. I breathed out a sigh of relief and shovelled a handful into my mouth before a quick giggle caused me to look up into the dark eyes of Artemis. She collapsed beside me.
We watched the T.V together in silence. A man with round glasses and huge front teeth like a horse's read out the scores of various sports. Turns out Central absolutely kicks ass at Golf and were in the final tournament, or something along those lines. Suddenly, the screen flashed and Horse Teeth Man was interrupted by a brunette beauty. Her dark lips formed a straight line before she began to talk and her eyes showed no emotion except that of slight distress which was obviously trying to be hidden.
"Another two girls have been reported missing this week. Abigail Hatch and Vanessa Adams were reported to have left school together at three o'clock yesterday afternoon but both appeared to not have not made it home.
"Earlier this week, Zack Humley was also seen leaving for work early morning but was not reported to have made it to the workplace-"
Artemis switched off the T.V aggressively. Could she do anything without the ambition of causing it harm?
I looked at her, wide eyed at the abruptness of turning the device off in the most violent manner she possibly could. She rubbed her temples. "I can't deal with anymore depressing news," I raised my eyebrow in question, urging her to elaborate."You know me and Rob go to school together? That's why we've been able to become pretty good friends."
The change of topic threw me slightly, but I decided to humour the girl and carry on. She'd soon get to the desired point."Yeah. He said he saw you on like, your first day," A small chunk of cookie flew out of my mouth and Artemis looked absolutely mortified. "Uh...Sorry?"
"That's disgusting, swallow before you speak. Ew," She shuddered. "Anyway, the little troll ran up to me, took a photo and bolted. Bette told me to ignore him," She let out a soft chuckle.
"He took a photo? He never told me that. What a little creep," Feeling myself begin to smile, I grabbed another cookie.
"Yeah, haha. He said 'one day we'll laugh about this' or something and I was just so confused because I didn't talk to him for near enough another year," Also picking up a cookie, Arty fiddled with it. Her demeanour grew serious. "But he's changed, Walls. I don't know what's up with him but he's not like that in school anymore. It's... It's weird," She snapped the biscuit in half, causing a golden avalanche to sprinkle over the cushions. The corner of her mouth reclined into a frown. "He's not himself and I'm worried."
And that was the point. Can't say I blamed her. The little troll had been off with me recently, steadily growing more and more distant by the day. Although he's an annoying little shit, I missed him.
"He won't talk to me about it. Trust me, I've noticed and I've tried," I mumbled, staring at the quarter of the cookie that remained in my chocolatey hands. "But living and training with Bats has definitely rubbed off on him. As soon as I bring it up he just switches off or changes the topic."
Her tanned hand rested against my arm and I slunk down in my seat. "I'll try to get through to him. And don't worry, I'm not out to steal your best friend." Her face broke out into a small smile before she got up and left, promising to keep me updated.
Artemis wasn't always that bad, I guess. She had her moments. Although, I was conflicted: Dick was my best friend, I wanted him to tell me what's wrong, not Artemis. But I also wanted him to be okay. I know it's kind of selfish, but I wanted to be the one who he could run to in an emergency regardless of how urgent it is and the thought of him having that with Artemis made my stomach lurch and growl. I grabbed another cookie.
She never did tell me what was wrong with him.
It seemed that anything that could go wrong in a covert mission had, in fact, gone terribly wrong. I mean, we were no longer covert as everyone within the premises were aware that we were trying to invade their evil privacy; we still had no idea where Robin, Zatanna, Aqualad and Superboy had disappeared to; we hadn't actually found anything out except for the fact that we were wanted by these guys as hostages, and the icing on the cake: M'gann was being off with me. Ugh.
I followed the girls begrudgingly as we attempted to find an escape route before collecting the group. It was better to be prepared plus... I think we were all a bit scared if I'm honest. Except me. I take that back: nothing scares me. Ever.
"Quit sulking, Baywatch. We'll find your boyfriend soon enough," Artemis called out as she threw her head over her left shoulder. A smirk adorned her lips whilst Megalicious giggled into her green hand beside her.
I pouted angrily and in the most masculine way you can imagine multiplied by ten. "What's that supposed to mean?" It was meant to be a ferocious demand, but instead it came out like a puppy whimpering. Dammit Wall-man, just blow your cover why don't you?
"It means that we're looking for the others and we'll find Robin soon enough," She said flatly, not even casting me another glance. I tried to play it cool, despite the anxious whines and churns of my panicked stomach.
"He's not my boyfriend."
The archer's lip quirked upwards as she hummed out "mhmm, sure thing sweetie."
I furrowed my eyebrows together and raised my voice. "He's not! I'm straight. Very much heterosexual and into the ladies," In case she still didn't understand I decided to add, "I like boobs," and motioned towards the blonde's chest area just to have my hand slapped away rather aggressively. Ouch.
"I'm sure you do, but everyone has an exception."
"Not me," I spat, invading her personal space.
"Right," Her tongue curled underneath her tooth in that cocky grin of hers, as she (attempted to) menacingly stepped forward. Underneath her lashes, her eyes were alight like a spark just burning to be lit, brimming with excitement and amusement.
She was totally getting off on this.
I take back what I said earlier: this was the icing on the stupid metaphorical cake.
We walked for what seemed like hours when it occurred to me: why hadn't we contacted the League if things really were as bad as the ladies had made out? Naturally, I voiced this perfectly reasonable and sensible question.
"You think we haven't already tried that?" Artemis spat, her upper lip set itself into a snarl. Jeez. How the fuck was I supposed to know?
"Um, yeah. There was no connection available, unfortunately." The Martian glided in between Artemis and I as we started to square up to one another. A deep growl vibrated from my throat just as the archer took a threatening step towards me.
Taking a deep breath, I turned towards M'gann and plastered a smile on my face. "So now what do we do?" Behind me, Artemis huffed.
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Well, I was thinking we could go to the control room and check the connection there. That way we can inform the league of the situation and hopefully find the rest of the team along the way. I mean, that's where Robin was before the alarm went off, I think."
"Sweet thinking, babe!" Winding my arm around the Martian's shoulders, I winked up at her and grinned widely.
Artemis scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, cocking her hip out. She chewed her tongue whilst staring at me and shook her head disapprovingly. I narrowed my eyes at her. She was ruining mine and Miss M's moment.. Again! I mean, what was her problem all of a sudden? She never used to get so bitchy about mine and M'gann's flirting and it was creating a whole new level of confusing which I really did not want to think about right now.
Megalicious slowly extracted my hand from her shoulders, twirling out of my grip. I pouted slightly, ignoring the smug grin from the super annoying archer.
A scream erupted from below our feet.
The shriek exploded in my head and I sank to my knees, gripping my ears as my ear drums throbbed. I could hear the blood swirl and it sickened me to the point that I rolled onto my side, desperately trying to ignore the squelch of blood that my mind felt necessary to envision. Curling in on myself, my arms protectively covered my head, which tightly wedged itself against my chest. I brought my legs up as the ground vibrated, groaning at the intensity and pain in the familiar sounding screech. But, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
The silence that commenced was even worse.
With my head pounding and my vision blurred, I peeked upwards through the space in between my elbows. In my direct line of vision was Artemis, also curled in on herself. Although, unlike me, she was sat up against a wall with her forehead pressed onto her knees. As she cuddled her legs, her extensive amount of yellow hair splayed out from her ponytail. The ragged locks smothered her shoulders and knees, with tanned and mutilated skin shining through. Warily she lifted her head, locking her grey eyes with mine. It was one of those rare moments where, instead of showing a stony expression with cold eyes and a slight snarl, she showed something more. The archer's watery gaze was wide and showed a range of conflicting emotions: fear; concern; anger and confusion.
She recognised the voice behind that scream too.
We thought it was bad before, but now that we had the outrageous possibility that we were working against time, things had suddenly gotten worse. Disgustingly so much worse. The bad guys had upped their game, so we needed to up ours helluva lot, starting with finding the rest of our team.
Miss Martian shot upwards, her firelight eyes sparkling as she battled against her will to cry. I guess the shrillness of the scream had taken a more intense effect on her because of her sensitivity to emotion. Her bottom lip jutted out and quivered, before the quivering consumed her entire body thus transforming her into a shaky mess. Wrapping an arm around M'gann, I did my best to support the Martian, letting her slump against me. From the floor, Arty shot me a warning look before softening her steel gaze. Miss M let her head loll forward as she tried to even her frantic breathing. A green ear poked out shyly from her cherry hair which hung limp against her head. I hugged her closer to my chest and rested her head under my chin. Was a that a hint of a smile from Arty? Wow. The witch had a heart after all.
As Artemis shakily got to her feet, I did a quick scan of our surroundings: a white corridor. Again.
"We need to go below ground," I stated.
"Duh," I bet you can guess who gave that very helpful input.
I rolled my eyes and started walking with M'gann, holding her close to me. It wasn't long until we actually bumped into Supey and Kaldur, who rounded a corner.
"Superboy!" Relief washed over me and M'gann flew towards Conner, almost crushing him in her embrace. His eyes widened and he froze at the sudden and unexpected contact. His arms were stiff at his sides but slowly he wound them around the Martian, holding her just as tightly back. She had nestled her head into his chest, inhaling and exhaling deeply whilst he rubbed soothing swirls of comfort onto her back with his large hands.
Artemis, on the other hand, stood silently next to me. "That was a quick recovery."
I simply hummed in response. I didn't really want to dwell on conversation and reunions too much because y'know there was a possibility that our friends were getting tortured.
Aqualad hobbled towards us, causing the archer to hold out a hand. He gripped it tightly. She exhaled through her nose and allowed him to lean against her. Kaldur's leg looked mutilated beyond repair. The material of the costume on his calf had been torn away, along with the majority of his shredded skin. Black blood stained the trouser leg, still slightly seeping from the deep wound of marred flesh. His face was weary and lines creased his forehead.
The blonde archer was slouched slightly under the weight of Aqualad, whom was staring at her gratefully. I couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but she murmured into his ear. Sincerity was painted on her face whilst sorrow was carved on Kal's.
I felt like I was imposing, so I ducked my head and coughed, awkwardly.
Supey looked up at me. His usual intense scowl had slacked slightly and instead he also donned a wrinkly forehead. "I heard Zatanna."
At that, Arty's head snapped upwards. M'gann also raised her head from Superboy's quite large chest (I never realised how gigantic he actually was hm), waiting for some sort of elaboration.
"We must contact the League before-"
"We can't just leave Zee. She was fucking screaming!" Artemis flew a lone hand in the air, exasperatedly. I raised my eyebrows and Aqualad's eyes widened. Her grip on Kaldur had tightened to the point that her knuckles had turned white and her voice rose several octaves. She slightly pushed Kal away from her, where a frown sat on her lips. I understood the desperation and fear in her voice perfectly, because Zee's her best friend, just like Dick's mine. I think. Well, we are but not in the way that Zee and Arty are. Well, they might be. That'd be kinda hot. Anyway, I have no idea what the fuck is going with me and Rob because 'friends with benefits' sounds too casual for us. I've known him for six years and he's worth so much more than being a 'fuck buddy' and I need to stop dwelling on this right now.
"I'm with you on this one, Wannabe Roy. Chances are Robin's with her too," She blinked up at me, grey eyes widening in shock, liquidising from a cold, hard gaze into a warm, messy puddle of thankful understanding. The corner of her mouth twitched into a smile before her eyes narrowed, cooling and hardening back into solid steel, and a growl rumbled through her twitching lips at her nickname. She looked conflicted: shock; annoyance and a mutual understanding. In the words of Ron Weasley: it was bloody brilliant.
My stomach roared and I whined alongside it. I hadn't eaten in hours. I hadn't ran in hours. It was all becoming a bit whelming and I did not like it in the slightest. All that that I was aware of was the burning desire in both my stomach and my legs. I itched for food and I itched to burn it up: to gobble and go. However, when I voiced my reasonable complaint, I was met with an eye roll and a smack in the face.
Aqualad and Miss Martian had agreed to go on a hunt for the control room to try and get a hold of the League since Kaldur's brutal leg wound had promptly put him in no state to face any kind of battle. Nor was Megalicious for that matter. The scream had seriously shook her up. Rabbit eyes and squeaks commenced at every corner we turned into throughout this labyrinth. Fortunately, the pretty Martian volunteered to go with Kal in case someone had tried to attack him, because, although she was in a state of shock, she was still stable and she rightly knew that there was no way in Hell Arty and I weren't going to go save our best friends (possible fuck buddies?).
So, that left us: Kid Flash, Superboy and Artemis.
How fucking fun.
Starting off with a bouncy jog, I tossed a grin at Arty and Supey before racing down the steel staircase, letting the wind from my speed rush pass me. My hair tangled and twirled in the makeshift wind and I squinted my eyes behind my goggles, focusing intently on my surroundings to avoid another tumble. I pushed my legs further, calming the storm that was threatening to explode in my calves because I wasn't going fast enough. The quicker I ran, the less my feet clattered against the metal. Instead I was gliding like an eagle; flying as I dashed further below ground, twirling at each bend of the spiral staircase. Eventually I reached the end of the staircase. Disappointment bubbled up within me upon seeing a double set of metal doors. An urgency grabbed ahold of my throat. I gasped as my throat swelled up, restricting the airflow to my lungs. Grasping my throat and coughing, I dug my heels into the dirt, skidding as I attempted to stop.
In a panic, my arms flailed outwards. I couldn't get a grip on anything. Tears blurred my vision. Friction burned my heels. I was wheezing from the lack of air. What was happening? I needed to stop.
I flew into the door.
It fucking hurt.
The crash echoed throughout the cold corridor, clanging up the steel staircase. I bounced off the door and slid backwards once my butt reached the floor and winced as my head was thrown backwards from the impact. I was a frozen mess, sprawled out on the floor a few feet away from the staircase I used as a crash course a few moments previous and I was in a state of panic because holy shit what if Psimon heard that?
Groaning inwardly and clenching my eyes shut, the faint sound of footsteps flooded my aching ears. Accompanying the footsteps were various scoffs of disgust and slight amusement. A really gross taste infiltrated my mouth and I stuck my tongue out, frowning. Suddenly, I coughed and raised a hand to my head, reeling it back when I was met with a sticky substance. I retched.
"What the fuck was that all about?"
I sat up, pushing my goggles up my head and rubbing my eyes, "I think something flew into my mouth."
"You're a fucking idiot."
I scowled at Artemis, opening my mouth ready to unleash a snappy comeback but she rudely interrupted me. Crouching down behind me and clamping a hand over my mouth, Arty shushed me. Superboy's ears perked up as he glared iron daggers at the door in question. He stood above us like a guard dog: his chest puffed outwards, causing his shoulders to appear broader and his arms larger. His lips were set into a firm line and his jaw locked whilst his eyebrows furrowed, making his intense eyes almost disappear underneath them. Beside my head, I noticed his fist clenching and unclenching. For some reason this unnerved me.
Suddenly, with one sweeping arm movement, Conner pretty much threw Arty and I across the corridor to duck behind a corner. He followed after just as the metal doors flew open. I almost groaned again because there are only so many times you can pelt into a hard surface, but Artemis again cut off my air flow. Almost as quickly as she grabbed my face she withdrew her hand, poking her tongue out and screwing her face up in disgust. She wiped blood off her hand which I presumed to be from my nose since I did collide rather harshly with a heavy metal door. I barked out a laugh. Supey shot me a warning look. I shrugged.
I mean, I'd already smashed into the doors, I really don't think a laugh is going to make that much difference.
Stumbling out said doors was a rather pathetic looking creature all geared up in a full body suit of armour that crudely mimicked Batman's. Who's to bet Rob saw him and cracked a a disgusting amount of sarcastic comments and jokes over it? I could just imagine it now: a really lame joke paired with his super creepy cackling mixed with the adorable giggling-
Stop Wally. Now is not the time to get a bloody boner over the thought your best friend (friend with benefits?) being an arrogant and annoying little shit.
Shitman trembled as he tightly gripped his gun and made his way towards the steel staircase. Rabbit eyes darted left and right whilst a little white tongue poked outwards to lick his dry lips nervously. Naturally, he lost his footing and in a bid to right his mistake he dropped the gun, resulting in a deafeningly loud crash to bounce off the whitewash walls in contrast to the eerie silence that had enveloped us mere seconds ago. I snorted as he scrambled for his gun and scurried the remainder of the way up to the higher levels in this maze. Poor guy. Artemis punched me in the arm.
"Oww," I glared at the blonde. "What was that for?"
"Being an idiot."
"Being an idiot," I mocked in a ridiculously low and husky voice as I heaved myself up from the floor, dusting myself off. The blonde growled under her breath and I rolled my eyes, pushing her back with the palm of my hand. She swatted my hand away as she turned her face towards mine. Her mouth began to open, ready to retort in that stupid husky voice of hers before a very faint whimper floated out of the doors.
Our necks snapped towards the sound. Then we froze.
"What...what was that?"
"Not what. Who," I cast my eye towards Conner expectantly, not moving my head. He looked pretty serious. "Zatanna."
A half-hearted cackle joined the whimper and it zipped up my spine. "Robin!" And I was gone.
