This is a filler chapter that i felt like writing... shut up haters...
Chapter 9 – Peace that Lasts a Day
September 12
Today in an effort to get the teens to bond Black Canary and Batman had sent them off to spend the weekend camping in the woods. They had to get through the night together by cooperating or else they'd be very pissed when they got back. Provisions had been randomly distributed throughout the Team and it was up to Kaldur to make sure everything went smoothly.
The Team was hiking through the woods where they'd been dumped by Batman. They had no idea where they were and only knew that they'd be picked up some time the next day. No one *coughcoughKidFlashcoughcough* could leave until then.
"This is so not fair!" Wally cried for the hundredth time that day, they were finding a good place to camp at the moment.
"Ugh suck it up Baywatch and stop complaining!" Artemis snapped she was walking up front with Red X.
Red X herself was texting her boyfriend in another attempt to explain to him what was going on with her. It looked a little like this: Will you just talk to me already? Stop ignoring me so that I can explain! Okay fine be that way; just know that I can hunt you down if I want to. She was frowning at it unhappily as she wasn't getting any responses.
"How are you getting a signal?" Robin asked he was walking next to Wally and behind the two girls.
"I have living tech inside me I'm working on hacking stuff from anywhere. It helps to have multiple personalities to send to do stuff, if there nice and feeling helpful," X explained.
'I still think we should hunt him down now and force him to listen,' Ravager piped up from the inside of X's head.
'Well no one asked you, you barbarian,' another voice said.
"Can't I download you guys into a computer or something?" X sighed, bringing the heel of her hand up to rub her forehead.
'You're not the boss of us, you can't make us leave without our consent, and I sure as hell ain't giving it,' Ravager glared, her psychic image appearing in the phones screen.
"You know what? I give up," X growled exasperated.
"This is going to take some getting used to," Artemis eyed her friend warily. She hadn't met any of the other "hers" yet and wasn't sure what to expect.
"Yeah well I have to live with them," X sighed again. The teens reached a clearing big enough to fit all three tents and a fire.
"Check to see what Batman has given us," Aqualad suggested.
Everyone rifled through the packs they had been given before departing. The only thing's in there where the supplies to construct the tents, sleeping bags, a change of clothes, a bucket, and some personal items.
"You have got to be kidding me," Wally exclaimed when he saw no food.
Kaldur studied the supplies, "M'gann, you and Wally will construct the tents. Conner can you find some water? Robin we need fire wood. Red X…"
"Me and Artemis will go get some food," X declared, dragging her friend into the woods.
The others left as well to complete their respective tasks, leaving Kaldur standing there awkwardly with nothing to do.
About three minutes out Artemis asked, "What exactly are we going to use to hunt?"
"Hmm… you have a crossbow with what, 20 bolts? I've got 15 knives on me. I'm sure we can figure something out," the last part was laced with sarcasm.
Red X slipped through the underbrush like a shark through water. She was a shadow in the dark forest and in comparison Artemis was like a bull in a china shop. The archer rustled leaves and stepped on twigs, but overall was still pretty quiet. The two ex-assassins-in-training where perfect hunters, it came with the job.
M'gann and Wally where attempting to set up the tents. Wally had gone camping before so he knew, vaguely, what to do. M'gann kept trying to help but ended up destroying whatever work they had managed to get done.
"Okay this is clearly not working. We have to come up with some sort of plan…" Wally trailed off as he spotted some instructions. "Well that would have been useful to know existed."
M'gann laughed nervously as she levitated all the objects and began untangling certain things. With the instructions now helpfully flouting in the air they restarted the task of putting up the tent, this time with very little difficulty.
Robin had decided to tag along with Conner. He picked up firewood whenever he saw a piece of wood that looked suitable. Conner was using his super hearing to locate a source of water. The Boy of Steel was making a bee line for a stream, leaving a path of broken trees in his wake. This was one of the reasons Robin had decided to follow him, the other was because he wanted someone to talk to.
Robin's chatter filled up the air, Con making comments every now and then. That's how they made their way to the sounds of water Con was hearing. And Kaldur… well he was clearing the campsite of debris…
When everyone came back to the campsite the area was creepily clean, the tent's where successfully set up, and now all they needed was a fire and food. Robin created the fire pit while Red X and Artemis skillfully prepped the animals they had caught; 3 rabbits, and a deer. Kaldur was "purifying" the water.
"So… who wants to light the fire?" Artemis asked subtly glancing at Wally.
"Oh I can do it, anything to help get some food," Wally said in response.
X shot Artemis an amused look before saying, "Well then get to it."
30 minutes trickled by before Wally shouted in frustration, "I can't do it!"
Robin snorted at his friends in ability to produce fire and then burst out laughing as his sister pulled out a lighter from her pocket and lit the wood. "You'd think… the guy… who can… break… the sound… barrier… in his… sneakers… could make… enough… friction to get… a fire… started…" he got out between laughs.
"Why didn't you do that earlier!?" Wally hollered.
"I wanted to see your reaction," Red X deadpanned.
"What! But then…" Wally sputtered and then began mumbling incoherently, "you didn't think I could start the fire in the first place!"
"Well duh," Artemis said, "you're an idiot."
"Hey!" Wally cried out indignantly.
Robin rolled his eyes unseen as he began to cook the food, not paying any attention to the bickering not-a-couple. They would have let M'gann cook but they actually wanted to eat; besides she can't get too close to fire. Kaldur just shook his head and continued making small talk with Superboy.
Red X was humming silently to herself as she tried to text Grant again. She had managed to get him to agree to meet her and let her explain herself. In exchange she had to attempt to "talk" with Joey. This was why she was hacking into files to track said younger brother down.
"And done!" Robin called out; at that call everyone stopped what they were doing to grab a bite.
"This isn't half bad," Wally said through a mouth full of food. "Hey how do you two know how to hunt anyways?"
"I'm an archer," Artemis deadpanned.
"I'm just plain awesome," Red X said absentmindedly, she had started whittling after she had finished her portion of the meal.
"Okay so now what?" Robin asked.
"Oh, how about we exchange stories?" M'gann suggested.
"Like any story?" X glanced at the Martian, "how about we see who can come up the best story?"
"That sounds like a good idea," Kaldur nodded his head in agreement. "Who shall go first?"
"Oh I will!" Wally cried. "Okay so in a kingdom far, far away…"
…there was a young girl named uh, Megan yeah let's go with that, she was the princess of a small kingdom. She was very beautiful, more so than her mother. So her Mom was incredibly jealous, looked her away and pretended that she never existed. Megan was very clever and came up with a plan to escape.
She tricked the guard into opening the door before knocking him out with a book. Once she was out of her room she crept through the castle, making her way towards the kitchen. From there she slipped out of the back entrance and made a run for the gates. Megan made it out safely and made her way into town. She stumbled into an inn where she met the handsomest knight of all, Sir Wally West."
"(That's stupid, Baywatch, here let me make it better.) But before the supposed knight could take advantage of the naïve princess, two helpful people intercepted the girl.
'Hey there I'm Artemis and this is… (Um, what do I call you? "Uh, how about Rose?" That works) …and this is Rose,' the blond archer clad in dark green said.
'Hi,' the dark haired girl standing next to her said, she was wearing all black with red accents. 'Don't talk to that guy he's a major perv.'
'Okay,' Megan said quietly, 'my name's Megan.'
'Nice name,' Artemis commented, 'well it was nice meeting you but we have to go, common we got a job to do.'
'Umm, what exactly are you two doing?' Megan asked.
'That's really none of your business, now is it?' Artemis looked at her suspiciously."
"(Okay my turn now.) In truth they were members of the resistance against the tyrannical Queen. They were meeting up with one of their allies, a spy that had infiltrated the castle. They were to meet him at the inn soon. Actually right now as their informant walked in, he was dressed similarly to Rose. His name was… ("David") David, he's Rose's twin brother.
'I'm back, and have I got news for you,' he said walking up to them.
'Oh I'd like to hear too please,' Megan smiled shyly at them.
'Let her listen, what's the harm!' David grinned cheerfully.
'Why am I related to you again?' Rose shook her head at her brother's overwhelmingly bright smile. 'Come on let's talk about this in my room.' Rose led the small party to where she was staying in the inn. She locked the door behind them.
'So what happened in the castle?' Artemis said getting straight to the point.
'Apparently the princess ran away,' was the first thing out of David's mouth."
("Hey this is my story! Stop butting in!"
"Shut up KF it's getting good. Can I try?"
"Go ahead Robin, it's already a free-for-all"
"Yeah!")
"'What!?' Artemis and Rose said, they both froze and turned to look at Megan. 'You're the princess.' Rose stated calmly while her companion repeated that sentence over and over again.
'What!? No, no, I'm not,' Megan tried to cover up the fact that she had been discovered so quickly.
'No need to be afraid where the good guys,' David smiled again.
'Yeah we're the resistance,' Rose added.
'You-you knew!' Artemis said indignantly, point at David accusingly, 'That's why you let her come!'
'Of course, I am all knowing after all,' David smirked at the huntress.
'Why you little troll,' Artemis growled."
("Okay that's it. This is my story and I'm going to tell it."
"Too bad Baywatch, I'm going again.")
"'Calm down Artemis!' Rose said glaring at her brother, "what other news is there?'
'Oh well the Queen want's to send out a group of knights after her. So we should probably leave,' David said way too casual.
'Why didn't you tell us that earlier?' Artemis coolly glared at the ninja.
'You didn't ask,' David shrugged.
Artemis sighed at the response but opened a window and shot an arrow with a rope attached to it. The arrow hit its mark and the four fugitives left the building. Just in time too as the door was forced open behind them."
"(My story.) The knights; Sir Wally, Sir Kaldur, and Sir Conner, ran to the widow and began propelling after them. But the line was cut and they were forced to run after them. The three rebels where faster but had to slow down to help the princess. That's why the knights soon caught up to them.
'Halt by the orders of the Queen!' Sir Kaldur said.
'Yeah what he said,' Sir Wally added.
'Now why would we do that?' David called over his shoulder letting smoke bombs drop behind him.
"(Oh I like this part!) The smoke screen was thick and the knights couldn't see a thing. They blundered around, desperately looking for their targets. But their quarry had already escaped. The rebels, in their natural element, led the princess to the safety of their headquarters. A massive tree house like thing built in the heart of the woods, it was an entire village built in the sky…"
"That's it how do you expect me to tell you a story when you guy's won't even let me talk!" Wally cried out.
"We don't," Artemis deadpanned.
"I think it is time we all went to bed," Kaldur sighed.
Grumbling everyone went to their respective tents. After an hour Red X crept out of the tent she shared with Artemis and sat down near the dying embers. Robin, who was also still awake, soon joined her. They sat there quietly watching the night sky, an echo of the past and of what could have been.
A past where they didn't dress up come night time and beat people up for various reasons, a time where they were just two silly little kids growing up in a circus. That small scene is a reminder of something that can never be again, small wishes that go unheard, little dreams that are ignored, and questions never to be answered. They sit content in that brief moment of peace, happy knowing the other was alright.
When morning came the two ninjas had returned to their respective tents. The team was patiently waiting for Batman to pick them up. They were spending time by eating or cleaning up, making small talk as well. Around midday the bio-ship had arrived and the Team left the woods.
Batman stood in front of the team, after they had briefed him on the "mission" they had started arguing about some story. M'gann, Kaldur, and Conner having not participated in the event had gone off to eat some "real" food. Robin was just laughing as Artemis and Wally argued whereas Red X was texting someone, but was apparently paying attention as she reacted to certain comments. Batman just sighed and left.
X looked up and realized that everyone was distracted. She slipped out of the room went down the hall to where the armory was. Entering the room she looked around at all the tech that had been abandoned in the Cave. She began going through the aisles and checking out the leftover weapons and other things.
Kaldur had been unsure of the warning that Sportsmaster had given him, but he was slightly suspicious of Red X's behavior. That's why when he saw her enter the armory he followed her as silently as possible. He observed her as she went through the room grabbing things holding them for a sec and then moving on, sometimes she took certain objects with her and placed them in the center of the room. X had obviously been doing this for a while because the pile was already fairly large.
"Would you all just shut up?" X sighed in exasperation.
Kaldur jumped at the sudden break in silence, "Do you require assistance?"
"Oh… Kaldur, how long have you been standing there?" X murmured.
There was something off about her at the moment, the way she held herself, her speech pattern, and the fact that she was avoiding looking at him. Then Kaldur realized something, "You are not Red X."
That's when "X" actually looked at him, "That's where you're wrong, I am Red X, or at least the original persona of the costume. Oh yeah you're the Baby Justice's leader nice to meet you. (Cue mock bow.) I'm the original Red X, thief for hire extraordinaire." "X" cocked her hip and held out her hand for a handshake.
Kaldur stared at her processing what she had said, "Red X is a thief."
"Yep, but don't worry I ain't doing anything illegal. I just have a keener eye for quality, the one you know as 'Red X' asked me to look for certain things. I bet you didn't know that each of us crazies up here (she tapped her head at this) can use D's enhancements in a different way. Well that's not entirely true, you could say we use them differently," "X" shrugged. "If you have to differentiate I guess I'm 'Red'"
"What does X have you doing?" Kaldur questioned.
"She's looking for a way to return to normal," Red lied easily, "now if you could just leave, so I can continue my work?"
"I wish to assist," Kaldur replied still suspicious.
"Suit yourself," Red grinned like she'd just won the lottery.
Sorry this took so looooooooong, but school started and then tumblr distracted me...
Stupid tumblr... But yeah i had this crazy dream that you can skip if you want but...
I was in school and then reports of Titans came in. So then the top part of the school breaks of and fly's into the sky. For some reason their are ropes connecting the two parts and I somehow manage to climb up. Then reports of smaller creatures killing humans arrive. Several people on the flouting bit go down the ropes and just hang there. When i actually look the students are care bears. Then there's an actual person jumping on the top of the rope trying to get them to let go and they do. Then I go down to find my friends and the seen shifts. I'm in front of the school near the gates, there's a truck entering school grounds. I also see Titans heading towards the school. Then I start heading back to the flouting bit and then my mom calls. She says to come to the sixth grade science room on the second floor. I'm already on my way. Then the two PE teachers are there holding the ropes and I tell them I need to go up. They look at me annoyed but let me climb the ropes again. So when I do get to the classroom instead of an actual classroom I see the back part of the truck that came in earlier. It's filled of tables full of food, apparently it's Thanksgiving, and there are the little kids from my bus sitting with the care bears, eating. Then I see my mom and she asks me, "How are you feeling?" And I look at her and say, "Like we're all going to die." Then I sit down, "Like this is our last meal."
What does this mean?
That's it no more tumblr before bed.
Is it sad that I'm sharing this with you guys instead of therapist or something?
