Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Red Arrow grunted as he squeezed through his apartments small window. It was a tight fit, but it was better than walking through his apartment building dressed in his full Red Arrow costume.
He could have changed into his civvies while he was still on the street, but he really couldn't afford some random civilian stumbling across him while he was changing.
That would be hard to explain.
Red Arrow landed with a thump on his living room floor. His new living space wasn't much to look at; It was a typical one bedroom apartment, but he had grown unnaturally fond of it. It was his first time living by himself and he was loving the freedom that came along with owning his own house. He wasn't so fond of paying the bills that came along with owning his own house, but he could figure that stuff out after he finished his mission to find the original Roy.
Red Arrow threw his quiver onto his couch, shedding the rest of his clothes and equipment as he walked into the kitchen. It was a quaint little kitchen. The cream colored fridge had random magnetic letters plastered all over it and the oven had strange burn marks in various places.
Roy opened his fridge, now clad in only his undershirt and his boxers, and pulled out a slice of his left over pizza. He stuck his head further into the fridge as he started to chomp on the pizza.
The shelves were laden with different types of ketchup and hot sauces. In the back of the fridge was a large, unopened tub of Ollie's chili. He hadn't been desperate enough to eat it. Yet. Over in the side of the fridge was a small white box that he didn't recognize. He pulled it out of the fridge and opened it. Inside were two red cupcakes, 'Happy Un-Birthday Roy' was scrawled on top of them in white icing.
Roy chuckled pulling the cupcakes out of the box. This was a little game Robin, Kid Flash and him had running. They would try to sneak into each others houses and leave 'Un-Birthday' gifts for the others to find. The point was to give as many as you could to the person before their next birthday. If you gave them more gifts than they had given you, then they had to give you a gift on their own birthday. It was a very convoluted game but the three boys had gotten super competitive about it over the years. So far this year Wally had received too many to keep track of, Roy had found ten scattered in various places and Dick had gotten a grand total of one.
It had taken Wally and him months to figure out how to sneak an 'Un-Birthday' gift into Wayne Manor. They had eventually just ended up throwing a pillow, with 'Happy Un-Birthday' stitched on it, through Dick's bedroom window. Roy shivered. The aftermath of that little incident had been terrifying.
He ambled over to the couch, sitting down beside his quiver. He switched on the TV and flipped the channel until he got to the news.
He watched the muted TV, eating his cupcakes, as the local reporters started talking. Some pictures of a forest fire popped up on the screen before the were replaced by giant letters reading 'Explosion at Luthor Lab'.
Roy snorted into his cupcake. This day hadn't turned out so bad after all. He had stopped a few small muggings, he was closer than ever in his search for the original Roy, he had some tasty cupcakes and now Luthor was getting a strong dose of karma. He pulled out his phone to call Dick. He was 86% sure that the cupcakes were his work. The fact that they tasted like Alfred's cupcakes were a dead give away.
He lifted the phone up to his ear as it starting ringing.
He glanced back at the television's screen and his smirk disappeared instantly. The text scrolling by at the bottom of the scene informed him that there were 76 missing workers and 28 reported dead.
His mood sobered. Getting revenge on Luthor wasn't worth it if innocent civilians got hurt.
He turned up the volume, hoping to hear more.
"-mourn as the death count raises. Authorities say that a majority of the workers would have perished in the initial explosion and that any survivors of the blast would have little to no chance of surviving the massive forest fire that followed. However, the police have told the public to not give up hope, as the Justice League was quick to arrive at the scene."
The news channel showed a picture of various members of the League at the fire.
"Many are questioning why Luthor built his facilities over a natural gas spring, but Luthor insists that he didn't know it was there. He is adamant that the explosion was the result of an accident. The evidence seems to back him up, as the firefighters at the scene say that the explosion ignited in a fire pit. Parents are relieved, as most of the children had been evacuated from the camp beforehand-"
Roy cursed, putting down his cupcake. It was a camp for children? His grip tightened on the phone that was still ringing in his ear. He wished that he had known about this earlier, he would've gone out to the fire to try to help.
"-but twenty children still remain missing. The Justice League was quoted as saying 'We can only hope that these kids will be found, safe and sound.' The police warn, however, that the chances of the kids being found alive are very slim."
The phone kept ringing. Would Rob just pick up the freaking phone already?
"The names of the missing children are as follows. Margret Adams. Calvin Affelman. Trevor Cadet. Navaeh Denn. Finn Flanders. Susan Gallium. Micheal Grawnis. Andy Hewer. Amy Kelner. Eliza Lemons. Justin Mill. Felicity Nelson. David Panamol. Erik Pike. Harold Ray. Alexis Starr. Simon Tybalt. Elle Vikenson. And Wallace West."
Roy's head snapped up. He stared at the text on the screen in disbelief.
"No."
The reporter continued. "But probably the most heartbreaking among the missing is 14 year old Richard Grayson, the ward of Bruce Wayne. The-"
Roy stopped listening. The phone gripped tightly in his hands.
This wasn't right. They didn't know Wally and Dick like he did, they didn't realize that they had escaped from worse scenarios. They were alive.
The ringing stopped and a click sounded out.
"Hi, this is Dick Grayson!"
Roy sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god. I thou-"
"Please leave a message after the beep!"
BEEP.
The phone slide from his hands, landing squarely on his half eaten cupcake.
Zatanna slouched further into the couch. She stared at the static playing on the TV. She wished that she could just stay there forever.
She had woken up an hour ago, just in time to hear Batman and the rest of the Justice League yell at them for how 'irresponsible' and 'disobedient' they had been. Even the normally cheerful heroes were upset. The Flash, who Zatanna had previously thought was physically incapable of being anything but happy, looked so depressed that she had wanted to give him a hug.
The team had been verbally reprimanded for around a half an hour. Eventually, Red Tornado had walked over and argued on their behalf. He had said that, other than going on an unassigned mission, they had done nothing wrong. They had gotten all of the children that they had found to safe locations and there was no way that they could have known that the area would explode.
Black Canary had agreed, stating that the team had made a habit of going on their own missions and that they had never had any serious repercussions for their actions before. She argued that this time shouldn't have been any different, seeing as they were not responsible for the events that followed.
Black Canary had managed to convinced the League that this wasn't the team's fault, but the team disagreed. They should have counted the children, they should have scanned the area before they left and they should have done more to save those civilian's lives.
The League had left the cave after Black Canaries little speech, leaving the team to wallow in their sorrow. Black Canary had talked to them about how she was going to schedule mandatory therapy sessions with each member of the team starting tomorrow.
After that the team had wandered their separate ways. Each of them going over different 'what if's' in their heads. The deaths of all of the workers and campers weighed heavily on their hearts.
They had convinced themselves that this was their fault, whether the Justice League believed it or not.
Zatanna sighed. She hoped that Robin and Kid Flash would finish their mission soon. She could really use some cheering up and those two always seemed to be able to laugh, despite the grim circumstances.
Artemis trudged into the room and plopped down beside her.
"I knew one of the kids." She said. Her eyes were red and puffy.
Zatanna looked at her. "What?" Zatanna hadn't even been able to look at all of the names. She wasn't able to handle knowing who had died.
"I haven't looked at the names." Artemis said, mirroring Zatanna's thoughts. "But there was an email sent out by my school. One of the twenty missing kids was a kid who went to school with me. Richard Grayson."
Zatanna looked down. What are the chances of that? Twenty kids from all over the United States and Artemis just happened to go to school with one of them? Wait. Twenty missing kids. Why did that sound familiar?
"Artemis, didn't twenty kids go missing from the camp last year?"
Artemis looked unsure. "Yes. Why?" She narrowed her eyes. "You think it's connected?"
"It at least warrants being checked out. What if they had already been taken before we had even gotten there? That could be why we never found any of them." Zatanna theorized, slowly becoming more animated.
Artemis hesitated. "We'll tell the team, but-" She trailed off. "Just, don't get your hopes up Zee."
Iris sat on her couch wringing her hands.
Why were speedsters always late?
Barry was never on time, always showing up late for work and for his Justice League meetings. Iris remembered that when they had first started dating she had found it incredibly irritating. Now that she knew that every time he was late he had probably just saved someone's life, she had begun to find it endearing. Still, when Wally had first gotten his powers Iris had tried to make him understand the importance of punctuality. But Wally had always followed in Barry's footsteps, even if it made him late to almost everything.
Oh god, Wally.
Iris sobbed into her hands, trying to stop the waterworks. She couldn't let Barry see her in tears, she had to be his rock. The man could be an emotional mess without someone to ground him in reality.
She had to pull on all of her years of being a reporter. Be objective. Learn the facts. Find the truth.
The most important fact to Iris right now was that they hadn't found the body yet. Sure, they had found bodies but not the body.
His body.
Iris knew that, when it came to superheroes, if there wasn't a body, then they weren't dead.
But Iris also knew the reality of situation. The fact that anyone close enough to the blast would have been incinerated, leaving no body behind. The fact that even if he had survived the blast, the fire's immense heat and lack of oxygen would've killed him within minutes. The fact that speedsters were not immortal and that not even they could outrun death.
Iris sat thinking on her couch for what felt like days.
When Barry came home he sat beside her. Barry leaned into her, she couldn't see his face but she could feel him shake as he sobbed into her shoulder. Iris wrapped her arms around her husband and as she hugged him she noticed the smell of soot floating around them. Iris stared in shock. Both Batman and Barry had been barred from the investigation by the Justice League due to them being too emotionally invested in the case. It was a major conflict of interest. Iris' eyes widened as she realized that Barry had gone to the crime scene anyway.
She cried as she understood why her husband had been late.
Where he had been.
Who he had been looking for.
Roy narrowed his eyes at the girl standing across the rooftop.
"Where is it?"
Cheshire chuckled. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Red."
"Where is Luthor's base? The main base." He clenched his fingers around his bow as if he was preparing to shoot.
"Now why on earth would you want to know that?" She purred.
"My reasons are mine and mine alone." Roy growled. His face was twisted in pure rage.
She tutted. "Now, now Roy. You must know by now that I'm not just going to give you information. Not unless I know what you're going to do with it."
Red Arrow glared at the villain. He gritted his teeth as he answered.
"I want to- No. I need to get to Luthor. He killed my- I need to make him pay for what he's done."
She tilted her head, curious. "And what will his payment be?"
Red Arrow straightened his back and stared her in the eye. His face now devoid of emotion.
"Whatever I deem necessary."
A/N:
Oh, No! Are they dead? Guess you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out!
Also, I have decided that Roy is awesome and that I am going to add him into the story! I love writing from his point of view. Let me know if any of you have any questions or concerns, I am happy to answers them!
Rainfall04: No, I don't have a set update time. I've mostly just been writing whenever I have free time, but if I find that I start lagging with my writing then I will make one. I didn't plan on Roy being a major character but now he's probably going to become a crucial character. I think that the rest of your questions were answered in this chapter. Thank you for asking your questions! :)