Again, I am so so sorry that I've already posted this chapter...I shall never post in a hurry again I promise :) Thanks for sticking with me and for those of you who may not have read this chapter before, I hope you like it.
Dick and Artemis entered the cave, Slade and Rose behind them. Zatanna wasn't sure how they could just turn their backs on the man that had tried to kill them, she was nervous , they all were but they weren't about to show it.
The four of them stopped at the holo-console, Artemis and Dick took their guns and placed them on the side of the console. "Place your weapons on the console" Artemis said, her voiced remained low and dangerous. An unspoken warning.
"I've had enough of this crap" Rose growled, she stepped towards Artemis who dropped into a fighting stance. Slade's reached out and pulled Rose back. "What the hell are you doing?" Rose snarled, "I'm doing you a favour, but if you want to get the living daylights beaten out of you then go ahead."
Artemis straightened up and relaxed slightly, "was that a compliment?" Artemis asked sceptically "I've studied you, all of you. I know that you can handle yourself perfectly well in a fight miss Crock, I must say that I'm impressed."
Dick and Wally noticed Rose tense beside Slade as he complimented Artemis' ability.
Wally moved to stand beside Artemis, over the years he'd come to realise that his presence was usually enough to calm her down.
He grabbed her hand behind the desk and gave it a gentle squeeze. "What is it that you really want?" Dick asked, in this line of work the best way to stay alive was to trust no one, he had to be sure that for this one instant Slade was on their side.
"I've already told you, they killed my team. I want revenge." Artemis looked around, the team was tense, this meeting had to end, soon.
"When you get you're revenge, what happens to us?" Artemis asked, it was the question that no one wanted to ask but everyone wanted the answer to.
"I won't stop chasing after you?" Slade answered, "but I will give you a twenty-four hour head start. Take it or leave it."
"How do we know you'll keep your word?" Zatanna asked sharply, she didn't like the idea of having to work along side a man that had tried to kill her and her team.
"You'll just have to trust me" Slade taunted.
"Does any one in this thrilling group have a plan?" Rose asked, the team glared at her, who did this girl think she was. First she tried to kill them, then she threatened a team member and now she was in their house being a complete bitch. Artemis and Zatanna tensed, both ready for a fight.
"Actually..." Dick started before any fights could break out. "We do...Artemis care to explain your plan to the newbies?" Dick asked, the look on Rose's face told him that he had gotten under her skin.
Artemis pulled up a map of Rio, there were four buildings circled in red. "I did a little digging, and I found that there are five cash houses here in Rio. After some more digging I managed to find that the cartel is holding Kaldur in one of these locations."
"That doesn't sound like much of a plan" Rose sneered. Artemis took a deep breath and continued, she squeezed Wally's hand to let him know that she wasn't about to attack Rose, before she let it go and tapped on one of the four locations on the map.
The holo-console brought up a Satellite image of the first circled location. "Location A, a small clothing boutique to the naïve public eye but when you venture through the back of the store, you'll find one of Vertigo's cash houses." Artemis explained, she waved her hand through the hologram and the image rotated to show the back of the building before she continued.
"Slade, Rose. You'll stake out this location, when they move the money tail them and find out where they're moving it to." Artemis explained. "When they move the money?" Slade asked, he seemed genuinely curious as to where this was heading.
"Trust me it'll make sense when she's finished" Dick said, Slade motioned for Artemis to continue. Artemis brought up a second location on the holo-console.
"This is E-life internet cafe. Again it's one of Vertigo's cash houses." Artemis explained, the team hung on her every word. "Wally and Zatanna will keep watch and tail Vertigo's men when they move the money to a secondary location."
"Location number three is a fabric house which I'll stake out, and the final location is Maria's dry cleaners. This is where they're holding Kaldur."
"How are we going to get him out?" M'gann asked, all traces of the sweet innocent girl that they'd come to know was gone, she was all business.
"Dick, Connor. The two of you will enter the dry cleaners and send a message." Dick looked at her his eyes full of mischief, "what kind of message are we talking about here 'mis?"
Artemis looked back at him her eyes mirrored his, "the fun kind, you're going to round up as much money as you can find...and you're going to burn it."
"What?!" Rose screeched, "I always heard that you and your partners were crazy Grayson...but this is another level all together."
The team looked at Artemis with approval, "the priority is to retrieve Kaldur, make sure he's with you and safe before you proceed."
"What do you want me to do?" M'gann asked, she understood why she wasn't part of her partners rescue team, she was too involved, too emotional. She understood that that could make the situation worse.
"You'll be here..." Artemis pulled up an image of a tall building. "You'll set up on the roof and keep an eye on the transports, you'll be our eyes and ears."
M'gann nodded. "What do we do about transport? We have two bikes and one car" Wally asked. Slade stepped forward, "we have a military impound lot roughly half hour away from here, I could get you a few vehicles from there" he said.
"Sounds asterous, Wally and I will go with you to bring the cars back" Dick said, he tucked his gun back into the back of his jeans.
"Asterous?" Slade asked, looking to Artemis for an explanation, she shrugged at him before she picked up her own gun.
"we have roughly and hour and a half to prepare, what ever you need to do I suggest you do it now" she said, her eyes darted between the members of the team.
Wally bent down and kissed her. "Stay safe" Artemis whispered as she handed him her gun. Wally took it and kissed her forehead before walking out with Dick, Slade and Rose.
"What do we need?" Connor asked, surveillance wasn't really his area of expertise. "Zee, you want to take this?" Artemis asked, as were Artemis and Dick, Zatanna was an expert in stealth and surveillance having staked out many hotels to find their inner workings before her shows.
"We'll need a way to stay in contact, we all have our comms but see as none of us trust Slade and Rose with a full time comm link to us we'll go with radios this time. That way we can stay in touch privately via the comms and we can contact them over the radio. Even though it's only surveillance it's best to be armed just in case, I recommend something small and easy to conceal" Zatanna explained.
"We'll arm the team with standard issue military hand guns, Connor, you and Dick will need something with a little more fire power, I'll have your guns chosen and ready by the time we all leave" Artemis said.
"While we sort out the weaponry can the two of you sort out the radios, we need them all tuned to the same frequency. Also M'gann seen as you'll be our main set of eyes you'll need a strong set of binoculars."
"Got it" M'gann said, a big warm smile on her face. Connor took her hand and the two left to prepare.
"Ooh, what's that about?" Zatanna asked as she watched M'gann and Connor walk away, M'gann giggling at something that Connor had said.
"I guess crazy things happen when you could die at any moment" Artemis answered light heartedly.
"You mean like Wally proposing to you?" Zatanna giggled. Artemis laughed, "yeah, like that...also like the googly eyes you've been making at Dick.
Zatanna glared at her. "Is he single?" she laughed.
"You really wanna know?" Artemis asked, she raised her eyebrows at the magician which earned her a punch to the arm. Artemis laughed, "he's single" she answered breathlessly.
Zatanna's eyebrows raised, "oh really..."
"How heavy are we talking here with firepower?" Zatanna asked as they entered the large armoury. "Nothing big, they need to be easy to conceal, apart from Dick and Connor's weapons" Artemis answered. "I'm thinking standard issue military with a couple of pump action shot guns thrown in for Dick and Connor" she added.
M'gann and Connor sat in the secondary surveillance room various radios scattered on the desk in front of them. "Have you done this before?" Connor asked, as he stared blankly at the radio he was supposed to be tuning.
"Have I ever tuned a radio set? Or have I ever gone up against a major criminal organisation?" M'gann asked sweetly. Connor had noticed that there were two sides to her, she was sweet, innocent. But she was also smart, dangerous...maybe even deadly.
"Erm...both?" Connor replied uncertain of what else he could possibly say. "I've done this hundreds of times on missions with Kaldur. As for going up against a seriously powerful organisation, nope, never done that" M'gann's smile was warm and friendly. She calmed Connor's nerves and kept him stable, he needed someone like her around.
"I can show you how to do it if you'd like" M'gann offered, she put down her radio and placed one of her hands over Connors that was holding his radio. "All you have to do is match up the number on the radio to the number on the transmitter, just keep turning this knob until they match."
Connor looked down at her, slowly he'd come to realise that this girl was everything that he needed. He also realised that she was so much more than he deserved, he'd almost killed a man, he was violent and a complete loose cannon. What if he hurt her?
It may have been selfish, but Connor refused to let himself think like that.
"I won't be able to get you in for long before people realise that you're not supposed to be there. Choose your cars fast, the keys will be in the ignitions ready to move them out" Slade explained.
Dick and Wally were only half listening, this wasn't the first time that they'd had to do something like this. As the barbed wire gates of the impound lot loomed ahead of them, Dick scanned the lot for exits. He sighed, there was one way in and one way out, if they got trapped inside there was no way they could escape unaided.
The walls were tall and intimidation with their sharp edges and barbed wire tops. The sky seemed to turn from the dazzling blue that usually hung above Rio to a depressing shade of grey.
Slade rolled his window down as he approached the security booth. He passed his ID to the young woman on the booth, "welcome back Mr Wilson" she smiled sweetly. "I won't be here long, my team need to borrow a few vehicles." "Pick the one's you need, log them and you're all clear to drive them out" the guard said.
Slade smiled at her before he rolled up his window and drove into the lot. "Now's your chance guys, get the cars and get out, leave everything else to me."
Dick and Wally jumped out of the vehicle and quickly scouted the area, careful to stick together just in case anything went wrong.
"Dude, I think we just struck gold." Dick turned around to see what his friend was talking about. Stood before him were too shiny black Dodge Chargers. Dick let out a impressed whistle. "Speed, precision, good handling. It'd be rude not to take them" Dick laughed, he skimmed his hand down the side of one opened the door.
Wally bent down and poked his head into the car, "the keys are inside, just like he said."
Dick climbed into the second car, and saw that the keys were already in the ignition. He lifted a finger to his ear and pressed in his communicator, "Slade seems to have things covered here, let's get back to the cave and get Kaldur back."
Wally revved his engine in response, he rolled down his window and leant out of the car. Dick mimicked Wally and leant over towards the open window. "Hey Dick?"
"Yeah?"
"How long do you think it is until Rose and Artemis go at it?" Dick chuckled at his friends question, he knew that in his head he was thinking some rather explicit happenings between his fiancé and the ice cold mercenary.
Dick thought for a moment before he spoke again, a rather fun thought popped into his head.
"You know what is cool?" Wally raised his eyebrows intrigued at where this conversation was going. "Artemis and Zatanna seem to be really good friends now."
"Never gonna happen man, they'd kill us just for thinking that" Wally laughed. Little did they know that Dick had accidentally left his comm line wide open.
Dick revved his engine twice to let Slade know that they'd found what they were looking for. Slade busied the security guard by filling out forms for different cars, if the higher ups knew exactly what cars they had taken it would be ridiculously easy to track them and shut the whole operation down.
Dick and Wally sped past the security booth as Slade finished the false paperwork, Rose pulled up his Jeep around and he jumped in quickly.
Dick pressed in his comm, "Arty can you hear me?" "Loud and clear, and if you ever call me that again I will pile drive you" Artemis responded. "I don't doubt that for a second, look we're on our way back now, make sure everyone's ready, we leave as soon as we get back."
The Cave, Rio de Janeiro
As the sun rose and painted the valley a beautiful orange Artemis rushed about the cave gathering the various members of the team and their gear. Ten minutes later after a lot of running and a bizarre unplanned game of hide and seek, she stood breathlessly in the main hanger having managed to round everyone up.
M'gann had changed into three quarter cream jeans with a pink tank top, Zatanna wore black skinny jeans tucked into red docs that matched her crimson red halter top. Artemis thought practically and changed into light blue skinny jeans, tan leather boots with matching jacket and a dark green tank top.
"Is everybody ready?" Artemis asked loudly, earning her the rooms attention. "We're ready to leave as soon as Dick and Wally get back with vehicles" M'gann informed her. She handed Artemis a small case.
Artemis lifted the case onto the holo-console and opened it up, "were there any problems?" she asked er eyes darted between M'gann and Connor. "None, we've tested them and they all work perfectly, no interference." M'gann explained.
Artemis handed out the radios and weapons, and Zatanna monitored the main entrance camera to look for the guys arrival.
"You know..." Zatanna said, innocently. She threw an arm around Artemis's shoulders, "if Dick and Wally want a show, why don't we give them one?"
"Zatanna!" M'gann squeaked from beside Connor, she smiled brightly at the other two women. This was the first time in her life that she'd had female friends, it had always just been her and Kaldur.
"That's not a bad idea" Artemis said, her eyes full of playful mischief. "But first let's bring the bikes through, that way we can leave when they get here" Artemis said. Connor stood up and joined her as she grabbed the keys off of the desk and made her way to the garage.
The two walked in a comfortable silence, in some ways Connor and Artemis were a lot alike. Both had a hard time controlling their emotions and tended to let them get the better of them. Both also knew when silence was the best option, they both recognised that sometimes people needed some time with their own thoughts. They knew that this was one of those times.
What was about to happen in the next few hours would determine how the rest of the mission went.
As she climbed onto her bike, she thought back to what Cameron had said to her at the race.
"Long time no see Artemis, I'll be honest though this comes as no surprise...I know you Artemis, you live for the chase, the adrenaline that comes with the job. I always knew that you'd come back."
The harder she thought about it, the more she realised that he had been right. She was born into this game, she'd gotten away from the darker side of the game once thanks to Dick. That didn't mean that she was out though.
She was still a wanted criminal, the only difference was that her and Dick did what they did for the right reasons. She'd managed to get a brief break for a year or two, she'd settled down with Wally and opened a garage. Things were good, but this, this is where they both belonged.
This is where all of them belonged.
Artemis drove her bike up into the main hanger and parked it beside the other.
Zatanna grabbed Artemis' leather jacket and helmet, plus a spare set for M'gann and took them over to the two women.
"M'gann you're gonna be riding Wally's bike" Artemis said as Zatanna passed her the jacket and helmet. Connor pulled a small duffle bag off of the table and threw one of the radios inside, he then took it over to M'gann.
"There's binoculars, you're small telescope and a gun in there. Be careful." "Thanks Connor" M'gann said, she slipped the jacket on, threw the duffle over her shoulder and climbed onto the bike.
Connor leant down and pulled her into a hug.
Zatanna had been monitoring the security feeds while Artemis was gone, opened the hanger door to let Dick and Wally enter.
After deciding to play along with Dick and Wally's little fantasy that they over heard on the radio earlier, Zatanna walked over to Artemis.
"Where are Slade and Rose?" M'gann asked, "they stayed out front seen as we'll all be leaving in a minute anyway" Wally answered.
"I'll take them a radio out" Connor offered, snatching up a radio for himself and one for their temporary team mates.
Zatanna leant down next to Artemis' bike and picked up her leather jacket. She turned her back on Dick and Wally. "Play along" she mouthed. Slowly she leant down close to Artemis' neck and began to slowly put her jacket on her.
This caught Dick and Wally's attention.
After slipping the jacket over Artemis' arms Artemis placed them behind her and leaned back on the seat. Zatanna moved in front of her, careful not to block the Dick and Wally's view and began to slowly zip her jacket up.
She took extra care to take her time and made sure that she was very hands on. Artemis sat up once Zatanna had finished with her jacket, Zatanna took the helmet off of the front of the bike and handed it to her, she leant over so that their faces were inches apart.
The two women erupted with laughter.
Zatanna took in Dick and Wally's faces. Both looked on in complete shock, she noticed Wally had his phone pointed at them and giggled.
"Were you taking pictures of us West?" Zatanna laughed. Artemis watched as the tips of her fiancé's ears reddened and a cute blush provided a cute backdrop to his freckles.
"I may have gotten one or two" Wally mumbled to Dick.
Connor walked back into the hanger to find a red faced Wally stood in the midst of everyone else's laughter.
"Does everyone know their assigned locations?" Artemis asked, being the first to compose herself.
Every one agreed as the room calmed down, Connor handed out the rest of the radios and passed Dick his own shotgun.
"Everyone comes home tonight...got it?" Artemis said, she pulled on her helmet and put the visor down. "Got it." Artemis and M'gann sped out of the garage, Slade and Rose followed their lead and left to their given location.
Dick, Connor, Wally and Zatanna climbed into their respective cars and left the cave. It was time to get their team mate back, plus a little revenge.
Wally and Zatanna sat low in the Charger, Wally had pulled over across the street from the internet cafe just out of sight of its main entrance.
"How long until this goes wrong?" Zatanna laughed quietly from beside him. Wally looked over at her and smiled at her enthusiasm. He had forgotten that this wasn't usually her kind of job.
"If I'd have planned this...not long" he laughed, "seen as this is Artemis' plan and has been approved by Dick I have a feeling this should be a pretty easy job."
Zatanna smiled, "you know...I could get used to this whole team work thing...If it's with this team I mean."
She leant forward and pulled a small hard case out of the glove compartment. Wally watched intrigued with her actions as she opened the case and began assembling her camera.
"Say cheese West" before Wally could turn away Zatanna snapped a photo of his surprised face. She turned the camera and tapped the screen. "Now that is priceless" she laughed.
She trained the camera on the their target and waited for something eventful to happen.
They had been waiting for what felt like hours when Wally unbuckled himself and got out of the car. Zatanna watched him curiously, unsure of what the hell he was doing. He returned a few moments later with two hotdogs complete with ketchup, mustard and two cans of red bull.
"You risked blowing this whole thing for hotdogs and red bull?" Zatanna asked dryly. Wally handed her a hot dog, "of course...I'm stealthy" he laughed before he stuffed his hot dog into his mouth.
Slade and Rose sat in their jeep, their attention firmly on the clothing boutique that they had been sent to stake out. Boutique Santina.
"This 'mission' is a complete joke." Slade turned to look at her, his daughter had a serious temper. Something that in his opinion she had gotten from her mother, but it never compromised the mission...why was this time different?
"We're doing what needs to be done Rose" he said, calmly, more than a little fed up with her constant attitude.
"Who does she think she is...she can't just tell us what to do! We're higher up the food chain!" Rose snapped, Slade had sensed from the beginning that Rose had a problem with Artemis. She'd made it perfectly clear to the whole team that she hated the blonde.
"What ever your problem with her is, put it to the back of your mind we have a job to do."
"I want a shot at her" Rose growled, her knuckles white around her gun. "You'll get one...when this is over" Slade responded.
Artemis sat calmly on her bike, her helmet in hand, she'd parked at the opposite end of the park to the fabric house.
To most people, stake outs were boring. It was usually just a stupidly long period of time where nothing happens, for Artemis it was peaceful. A time where she could be alone with her thoughts.
She loved the feeling of the sun as it beat down against her back, the cool breeze as it stroked her face and played with her hair.
She watched people come and go through the fabric house, it was easy for her to see who was legit and who was dirty. She'd been doing it for years, it was second nature now. She leant back and watched the passers by as they went about their business.
She watched wide eyed as a young boy played fetch with his dog, his parents smiling at him from their bench. She wondered if she'd ever end up like that, would she ever have children? She knew that her and Wally wanted a dog, but children?
She always thought that she'd be awful with children, but Wally, he loved kids. He was a natural born father...but her...she had issues.
Absentmindedly her hand moved to her neck and she began to play with her rosary. Jamie... He'd never get the chance to be a father. She had to remember why she was doing this, this wasn't just another mission. This was personal.
The radio clipped to Artemis' jeans crackled to life.
"I've got eyes on everything from up here" M'gann said, she stood at the top of one of the largest buildings in the area. Her telescope beside her and a set of large binoculars in hand. One by one she spotted each of her team mates in their set positions, each one blended in perfectly.
Artemis unclipped her radio, "it's time team, every one stay safe and keep your distance. Dick, Connor get out of there in one piece."
"It's show time ladies and gentlemen" Zatanna laughed.
M'gann looked on anxiously as Dick and Connor exited the safety of their car and disappeared inside the dry cleaners. "I've lost sight of Dick and Connor, they're on their own now" she said, a small break in her voice.
"We're not too far away, if anything goes wrong we'll be right there" Wally said, he just really hoped that nothing went wrong. They'd already lost two of their friends to these people.
Dick and Connor entered the dry cleaners, Masks pulled over their faces. Connor entered first (being the more intimidating of the two.) The woman behind the counter screamed at them as Connor kicked the door to the back room in.
Dick rushed into the back room after Connor and shot one shot at the ceiling, now they had the room's full attention. Dick stood at the front of the room, his gun pointed at anyone who came close to him while Connor searched the room for Kaldur.
He kicked in every door that he could see until he finally found Kaldur in a supply closet near the back of the room, he didn't need to kick any of the doors in but they were there to send a message right?
"We'll make this simple, put down your weapons and get on the floor!" Dick yelled, when he noticed that none of the four hired thugs in the room had moved he shot at the roof again.
One by one they threw their guns on the floor and laid on the ground. Connor helped a beaten and disorientated Kaldur out of the closet, together the two of them stumbled towards Dick.
With Kaldur now stable Connor handed him his gun together Connor and Dick began to pile up all the money that they could find at the front where everyone could see it.
"You think you can just waltz in here, steal the cartel's money and live?!" one of the men shouted. Kaldur pointed his gun at him, a new fire in his eyes. He cowered and laid back down on the floor.
"Who said anything about stealing it?" Dick asked, his voice rich with satisfaction. "Then why do you hide behind your masks?!" Dick pulled off his mask and threw it on the pile of money, "who's hiding?" Connor smirked, he took off his own mask and tossed it onto the pile.
