Hey Guys! I am so, so, SO sorry I took so long to update! I've really been into art lately - I've always loved drawing, and I take classes, but I recently discovered the joy of oil pastels! I know; I took forever. Rest assured, I will not abandon this story, short of me unfortunately dying. I hope I still have some followers, after making you wait so long!;)
Anyways, enough of that - onto the story.
Flash, the Cave's current 'den-mother', was currently whipping his nephew's butt at air hockey. Badly.
Artemis and Robin were looking on, giggling, while M'gann cheered for her redheaded teammate, throwing in random things like 'no offense, Flash', even when Wally was losing 23 to 2. Kaldur looked amused by the game, though quite perturbed that a grown man was so prideful in beating a 15-year-old.
As the score became 24 to 2, Flash's comlink went off. He groaned, disappointed he had to leave the game, but answered anyways. "Flash here."
"I've located Dick Grayson's position. I'm going to need some aid to extract him. Sending coordinates." The gravelly voice, easily recognizable as Batman's, spoke through the comm. Flash brightened.
"Gotcha, Bats. On my way." He clicked off the device and turned to see the expectant faces of the team.
"Let me come!" Wally exclaimed, green eyes wide with excitement. "After all, I saw him get kidnapped! We almost got him the first time. Now I can finally prove myself to Bats!"
Flash shook his head, laying a hand on the teen's shoulder. "No, Wally. This is a…delicate…mission. A misstep might prove fatal for Dick, and that would be awful."
"You're saying I'll mess up?" Wally asked, furrowing his brow in irritation.
Flash quickly backtracked, shaking his head. "That's not what I meant. Wally, I just need you to stay here, okay? I mean it."
Wally was about to argue more, but stopped. He drooped visibly. "Fine," he mumbled. Flash smiled, patting his head.
"Now, I've got to get going. Back in a flash!"
There was a blur of red, and then he was gone.
This was it. The hunt.
He was in a room much like his 'training' room, with artificial trees, logs, and even a sky. If he made it out if this, he was so studying this technology.
Not if, he reminded himself, when. You'll get out of this.
Still, he had to admit that in some small corner of his mind, he was doubtful. There was no clear exit, and even if he did find one, there were dozens - who knows, perhaps hundreds - just waiting to take him down.
Shaking those thoughts aside, he carefully turned and climbed the nearest tall tree he saw, settling in its upper branches. Hopefully the adults wouldn't think to climb the tree, and if they did, maybe they wouldn't be very good tree climbers.
Yeah, right. And Chuck Norris was his father.
Pursing his lips, he saw a woman dressed in green, with black streaked on her face, creep past his tree. What, did she think she was on a deer hunt? Was there a blind somewhere to use?
Smiling slightly at his little joke, Dick watched the woman pass. He breathed a small sigh of relief, settling down. He saw no one else for five minutes.
Eventually, a heavy-set, muscular man walked passed. He seemed more alert than the woman, and held a pistol in his right hand, constantly looking around. Soon, he'd looked up.
Dick was still clothed in his original outfit, khaki pants, a dress shirt, and a nice jacket with Gotham Academy's emblem on it. He'd long since abandoned his tie…he always hated the things anyways.
Still, he certainly didn't blend in with the trees.
The pistol was pointed upwards, and there was a bang. Wood shavings exploded in front of his face, and he instinctively dove behind a larger branch for a bit better cover. Maybe a tree wasn't the best idea. A couple more shots, both wide.
There was silence for a couple moments and he peeked out from behind the leaves in front of his face. Something small and black was soaring through the air towards him, and his eyes widened. A hand grenade. Awesome.
Knowing the 20-foot jump from the tree was better than being blown up, he dove head-first, flipping once before landing on his feet. Pain shot up his injured leg and he almost fell.
Above him, the tree's branches burst into flames. The man was approaching with the pistol, aiming it at his head. Dick fled, zigzagging through the trees, bullets whipping passed his face and biting into the ground at his feet. Breathing ragged, fire racing through his thigh, he dove into a small alcove that a tree's roots had made, curling into a ball and trying to still his heavy breathing.
Footsteps thudded up to the tree, and he held his breath as he heard the slight crackle of dirt and leaves. After a moment, the man took off in the opposite direction.
Letting out a relieved breath, Dick took a moment to inspect his wound. It was bleeding again. Awesome.
He settled against the tree, suddenly very tired, and closed his eyes, just for a second. Before he knew it, a knife was slashing down towards him, courtesy of the woman who'd passed him the first time. He gasped and rolled sideways, feeling it slice across his stomach.
He leapt to his feet, sweeping her legs out from under her. She retaliated with another knife swipe at his ankles, which he smoothly jumped over. He grabbed her wrist holding the knife and squeezed, forcing her hand open. Taking the knife, he smashed the hilt against her forehead, and she slumped sideways.
Satisfied with his handiwork, he stood and limped away, one arm wrapped around his stinging midsection.
"I still don't know about this," M'gann said timidly, glancing nervously at Wally. The others were silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts.
"Don't worry!" Wally said with a blinding grin. "See, stay here is actually code for come after me after you're sure I'm gone."
M'gann bit her lip. "If you say so," she murmured, glancing out the window. Artemis snickered, covering her mouth.
"How'd you even get the coordinates, Baywatch?" she asked, glancing at the green-eyed speedster.
"Every message in text format goes through the Justice League mainframe," he explained. "And since the Cave's computer is hooked up to the Justice League's, it just took a little…maneuvering through the files till I found it."
"Hm," Artemis said noncommittally. "Is that the place?" she suddenly asked, pointing to where the Batmobile was parked.
"That's it!" M'gann confirmed, bringing the ship down. Everyone hurried from the ship, carefully walking around the odd, gray circle's perimeter.
"Batman's been here," Superboy said suddenly, pointing to something on the circle. A smaller circle had been carved out and put back, but you could tell by the slight cracks going around it.
M'gann lifted the circle up with her telekinesis, and Wally almost jumped right into the hole. "Whoa, slow down, Baywatch!" Artemis exclaimed. "Why are you so eager to go on this mission, anyways?"
"I was on the mission to try and get him before he was kidnapped, at his school," he explained. "I was…too slow. They'd already shot him, and dragged him to a van with a gun held to his head. His foster dad was there, too - he looked scared, like he was never gonna see him again, and even offered to trade himself." He sighed. "I became a hero so I wouldn't see things like that. I'm going to get his son back, one way or another."
Artemis almost looked sympathetic, patting his shoulder. "We'll get him, Kid. And you'll get to see the dad's smile when he finally sees his son again." Wally shot her a grateful smile, then carefully dropped into the hole.
Below the teens was a near-empty room, save for about five technician-looking people and a bunch of machines, plus a couple guards holding scary-looking guns.
That, and a chair that had a small bloodstain on the leg.
"He's been here," Wally said through the mind link. "See? There's blood on the chair."
"Then where is Batman and the others?" Kaldur asked, wrinkling his brow. He hadn't been very happy with this plan to begin with, so if anything went wrong, he was not going to be a happy person.
"Um…there, I guess," Wally said, gesturing to the only other door that wasn't rusted down or broken. "I bet Dick's in there, too."
Artemis attached a grapple arrow to the ceiling, and with a grin went swinging towards the guards. Their eyes widened in surprise right before her boots thudded into their chests, sending them to the floor. Kid Flash was right behind her, sliding down the rope, and aiming two solid punches to their heads, knocking them out.
He turned, expecting the technicians to at least trigger an alarm, but they were still just standing there, emotionless, occasionally writing things on their clipboards. "Well…that's creepy," Wally decided. The Team walked over to the door, carefully opening it.
Needless to say, they were confused at what they saw. Trees, logs, grass, sky…weren't they underground?
Wally turned in a slow, deliberate circle. Everywhere looked the same. Even the door they'd just come through was now invisible, appearing as a solid rock wall. On a hunch, Wally knelt and brushed away a good six inches of dirt. As he suspected, a metal floor, covered in small glowing lights, stared back up at him.
"That's so weird," he murmured. "They're like holograms, except they're solid…"
"You can go over all that sciency tech stuff with Robin when we get back," Artemis said. "Let's find the kid. He's probably terrified."
Dick couldn't help but smirk as his feet collided with the man's back, sending him to the dirt floor. His head thudded into a blunt rock, sending him into unconsciousness. Robin grabbed his gun and hid it in a nearby bush.
He had to admit, that while he liked taking down the bad guys, he really didn't feel too good. The wound on his stomach, though not deep, stung whenever he moved, his gunshot wound wasn't helping matters, and he was pretty sure he was sick. Illness tended to strike when you're kidnapped, tied up for several days, shot, cut, and hunted through an artificial forest.
Rubbing his clammy hands together, he heard faint footsteps crunching through the leaves and rolled behind a thick tree trunk. His stomach and leg protested painfully, but he ignored them. He peered around the trunk, seeing two large black boots, gray leggings, a utility belt-
"Batman!" Dick leapt from behind the tree, stumbling when his leg didn't like that much. He grinned up at his mentor, who smiled back slightly. Knowing that he couldn't do much, to maintain his secret identity, he laid a hand on his son's shoulder.
Dick suddenly realized Wonder Woman and Flash were behind him, and smiled at the two. "Hi, guys!"
It was Wonder Woman and Flash who fussed over him, not having to keep up the appearance of a big bad bat, checking his bullet wound - which, despite the woman's 'care', was infected -, the cut, and Wonder Woman put a hand on his forehead.
"You have a fever," she said in her smooth, calm voice reserved for injured teammates and children. "Why don't we get you out of here?"
He nodded gratefully, starting to limp forward before Flash picked him up and put him in a cradle hold. "You've lost weight, kid," he murmured quietly. "Are you okay?"
Dick nodded, ever so slightly, lying his head on the hero's chest. He was so tired. He just wanted to go home.
GUYS! THIS CHAPTER IS OVER 2,000 WORDS! That's a new record for me!;-)
Rest assured, it is far from over =) There's still much, much more plot left!
Okay, so I know this is Young Justice, but have any of you ever watched the show Psych? It is SO. FUNNY. Seriously. If you haven't seen it, watch it. I guarantee you'll enjoy it.
So, last chapter's riddle: "It's better than God and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich want it, and if you eat it you'll die. What is it?"
The reviewers that got it right were: () Nightwing Forever (), ShripmyJess97, totallyawesome1398, Hawkwing-Miskit, XxNeonShadowsxX, nautrolover6661, romirola, READINGhearts17, NerdGirl112, Glacier22, minichurros123, Gilmare, celestialstarynight, AdenaWolf, Drindalis, Sairey13, animecutie610, Eaglator23...whew! I think that's it, but if I missed you drop a line and I'll add you!;)
A bunch of you got it, but I had some other good guesses too! I guess I'll need a harder one. Hmmm…how about:
"The person who makes it has no need for it. The person who purchases it does not use it. The person that does use it doesn't know he is. What is it?"
This one stumped me! Hopefully I've got you, too!;)
I'll try to update as soon as I can, but with the holiday rush I'm not sure when that'll be. But I know how it'll all play out a little better now so hopefully that'll help. I guess those English outlines were good for something after all…
Oooohh! Before I go, I'd like to encourage you to ask your parents or grandparents to just make a donation in your name to World Vision, PETA, or some other nonprofit - instead of that new iphone, laptop, or whatever it is you're wanting. I know, I'm preaching, but I felt like I've really been called to missions, so why not start in the place where I reached 25,000+ visitors since I uploaded this story? Just a thought…
Anyways, I gotta go! See you later, guys!