Hey folks. Sorry about the wait. I've been pulling 12 hour shifts at work and haven't had two seconds to rub together to create time to post.
Okay, that's a bit of a fib. I have had time. But I was about to post this chapter and I realized that it needed tweaking. Because I'm a tweaker. And I haven't had the time to tweak it and therefore, post it. So, yes, just a bit of a fib. Another fib. It wasn't so much of a tweak as a full-blown overhaul.
But now it is done and now it is being posted. And the next chapter is done, but I think I'll sit on it for a bit. Maybe until I get back from work today.
Anywho. How about that last episode? Last two episodes, actually. Roy is an angry, angry person, clone or original. Hee! AAAANNNNDDDDD! JASON TODD! HE EXISTS! YAY! YAY! YAY! Which makes me incredibly happy because I don't feel too bad about killing canon which I've blown out of the water with this series already, but whatever. AAANNNDD! Could Aqualad really be a bad guy? I'd believe it (although I'd hate to think that Nightwing was so easily deceived). You can't expect to play in the mud for so long and not end up covered in it yourself. Better be careful, Artemis.
Okay, end of babbling. On with the show.
"I'm telling you, they could totally come up with a completely legit food pyramid for the State Fair," Wally argued as soon as he and Artemis materialized in the Zeta Tube at the mountain.
Artemis rolled her eyes. "Oh please."
"No, think about it. For starters you've got corn dogs at the top for meat, then ice-cream for dairy, candied apples for fruits, corn on the cob for veggies and funnel cake for grains."
"Technically corn isn't a vegetable," Artemis countered.
Wally threw his hands out in front of him and shook them. "That's it. That's all you got out of my freakin' brilliant idea. That corn is not a vegetable."
"Hey, I could also point out that hotdogs are not meat," Artemis said. Wally looked appalled. "Look, no matter how you spin this, I can't survive on just fair food," she continued. "I'm not a speedster. So unless you want me to gain five hundred pounds, I think that the next time we hang out, we should go somewhere with decent, nutritious foods."
Wally couldn't help but smirk. So she was planning on hanging out with him again. Sweet. They had just spent the whole day at the Kansas State Fair in Keystone City. And the week before they had spent time together at the Missouri State Fair in Central City. Wally had to admit, it had been fun. Artemis wasn't so bad to hang out with and, as much as he wanted to deny it, he was actually excited to spend more time with her.
"Well, don't worry, I know just the place," Wally assured her. "That's the great thing about having such a high metabolism- you always know where to get good food. Even healthy stuff," he added with a hint of disdain.
"Great. It's a date," Artemis said.
"Okay."
Then, at the same moment, they both realized exactly what she had said and they did a double take. "Uh, I mean, it's settled," Artemis hastily corrected. "It's a plan. To hang out. As friends. At some point in time. To eat. As friends. Oh look, there's Aqualad!"
Her rambling went by so fast that even Wally had a hard time keeping up. And before he could reply, she ran up to Aqualad, whose piercing gaze was focussed on the holoscreen in front of him.
Wally stayed rooted in place for a moment before catching up to Artemis, coming up behind Aqualad. The Atlantian didn't even acknowledge their presence, too absorbed in whatever he was doing.
"Hey Kaldur," Wally greeted after a moment of awkward silence.
Kaldur looked over his shoulder and nodded. Wally arched an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Artemis who shrugged. "Soooo," Artemis drawled, "what's all this?" she asked, gesturing to the holoscreen.
"I am still concerned about the events of the other night."
"The drug bust?" Wally asked. "Yeah, that's been bugging me too. But the League said they would take care of it."
Kaldur sighed. "I know but-"
"But it was our case first," Superboy said, joining the group, M'gann in tow. "I convinced Kaldur that we should take responsibility for it. How are we ever going to be taken seriously if the League swoops in and finishes everything for us?"
Wally thought about that for a moment. Stealing a case out from under the Justice League's nose? How very Robin-esque. After all, it was that same sort of mentality that prompted him, Kaldur and Robin to investigate Cadmus.
"All right," Wally finally said. "So what have you got so far?"
Kaldur furrowed his brow. "I am afraid I have very little," he admitted grimly. "I cannot hack into the Watchtower to gather information from their sensors-"
"Which I believe are still down for maintenance anyway," Wally reminded.
"But, I was able to pull up a file from the Batcave," Kaldur continued.
Wally's eyes widened. "What?! Dude! You hacked the Batcave!" That was… Wally wasn't even sure that was possible for anyone other than Robin.
Kaldur looked somewhat sheepish, an unusual look for their leader. "Robin anticipated I may need to gather information if he were ever absent-"
"Gotta love Bat paranoia," Wally interrupted.
"He gave me an access code in case of emergency," Aqualad continued. "As far as I know, Batman doesn't know about it-"
"If he did, it probably wouldn't exist anymore," Artemis said.
"Indeed," Aqualad acknowledged. "But its security clearance is minimal so I am unable to access anything very important, but I did find case notes for the mission we went on." He gestured to the screen and Wally quickly skimmed through the information.
"And?" Artemis prompted.
"It appears the reason Batman suspected a shipment of Kobra venom was because Intergang had a meeting with Sportsmaster a few weeks ago."
"A meeting that included Blockbuster from Cadmus," Superboy added darkly.
"And the leader of North Rhelasia," Kaldur said.
"Oh, that can't be good," Artemis concluded.
"All of that indicates that there might have been a shipment of Kobra venom, right?" Miss Martian asked.
"As Batman said, it was a possibility," Kaldur confirmed.
"Yeah, but it wasn't," Wally pointed out. "It was just cocaine. Still bad, still good we got it off the street, but definitely not Kobra venom."
"Maybe it was a distraction," Superboy said. "All the information Batman gathered pointed to some sort of exchange taking place at the docks. But maybe there was a second exchange somewhere else?"
"Maybe," Wally said. "But, look, none of this is really important. What's important is finding out what exactly that light was and why those men disappeared."
"I agree," Kaldur said. "But that begs the question of whether it was a planned event or if it was a random occurrence. If it was planned, then there is more to this drug shipment than meets the eye. It was important enough for whoever is behind this to stage a big even such as this in order to protect it."
"And what if it was a random occurrence?" Miss Martian asked.
"Nothing is ever completely random," Wally said.
"Yes, but it mean these are two entirely different situations," Kaldur said.
"And both could be dangerous," Superboy said. "I don't like the idea of North Rhelasia having access to Kobra venom. Nothing good can come out of that."
"And random bursts of light making things disappear is definitely not good," Artemis added.
"So what's the plan, Kaldur?" Wally asked.
Aqualad gazed intently at the information on the screen. "We do not have the resources to investigate the source of the light if it was indeed a random occurrence. We must leave that to the League. However, if it is all connected, then the best way to figure everything out is to go after the people involved. It is obvious that no good can come from a meeting between Intergang, Cadmus and an unstable country. We must find out what this is all about and put a stop to it. Hopefully, along the way, we will discover if they had anything to do with the occurrence at the dock and also put an end to that."
"So where do we start?" M'gann asked.
"Where it began. Metropolis."
That's not the only thing that began in Metropolis.