Alright, sorry for not updating last week, but I was out of my house (or bunker, you'll never know) for almost all weekend and when I got back I was too burnt out to write! But, to compensate, I'll try and update twice this week. Oh and the winners of the poll is… *drum roll*
Part the Second: Hidden
Chapter 11- Secrets
Superman was angry. He was angry at himself for not insisting that Batman and Flash go on the mission, he was angry at the villains for choosing that exact moment to band together and fight simultaneously, he was angry at just about everything.
"How did this happen?" he growled to Batman as the latter emerged from the cell.
"What do you mean 'how did this happen'?" was Batman's reply, his eyes narrowing to small slits, "I already told you, the team escaped, and when Flash and I tried to apprehend them, they over powered us and locked us up. End of story."
"But how did they escape? Where did they go? We're the Justice league, and we can't even find six kids?" Superman roared, stunning all heroes within earshot except Batman.
"I'm not sure, Robin wiped out the zeta memory by remote control, so we have no idea, and these aren't just six kids. They're our protégés. They know how we tick, and they'll be hard to find. Get over it." Batman stated calmly.
A tense few moments went by as the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel stared angrily at each other. Superman looked away first, and began to walk down the hallway. Heroes with partners, along with Black Canary and Red Tornado followed. Superman entered a small room with a large TV on a table in the middle next to a DVD player and a computer. He stalked over to the computer, and after typing a few keys, managed to get a video file up.
Six different panels popped up on the screen, each showing one of the six kids.
"Alright Batman. Can you get it to show just a few moments before they escaped?" Superman asked, trying to keep his voice under control.
Batman composedly walked up to the computer, pushed Superman out of the way, then began to type. The video on all six panels sped up for a few seconds, then paused and began to play at normal speed. The heroes saw Megan's face shift from a look of confusion to concentration, and then they saw the other young heroes' faces light up.
"I thought you said that you put up a mental block on M'gann to prevent this sort of thing?" Flash questioned Martian Man-hunter.
"I did." came the monotone reply, "But I took it off during the meeting, because it required too much energy to uphold." The Martian fidgeted at the scathing looks he received, "At the time she was unconscious, and the meeting took longer than expected. Had I known…"
"It's not your fault J'onn." Green Arrow said softly, putting a hand on the Martian's shoulder.
They continued to watch in silence as they saw the teens evacuate their cells, gather supplies, then go to get evidence. Most nodded approvingly as Batman and Flash marched them silently down the hallway, before the protégés exploded. Eyes went wide when the teens easily dispatched two heroes, and then the screen went blank.
They sat in tense silence before Black Canary spoke.
"At least they're well trained."
================================================~[,,_,,];3
Kaldur was the first to recover from the shock. He gently pulled the folder out of Robins lap, and extracted its contents.
A single, white piece of paper was all that was in the folder. I black writing, the note said:
TO: The Team.
If you're reading this, it means that you've successfully escaped, and that you are safely hidden from the League. For now. You are undoubtedly confused, as you assumed that this folder contained the evidence for the crimes you committed. However, I have divided the data into two separate bundles. One bundle is in Gotham, the other in Metropolis.
Good Luck.
Underneath the note, in red ink, was a large smiling, trollface with the underlining text of "U mad?"
"All that work, and almost getting our butts back in a cell and this is what we get out of it?" Artemis huffed.
"I'm more concerned that Batman drew a trollface." Dick said slowly, slightly shocked. *
"That was Flash." Wally laughed nervously, "He's been practicing for months now, for just such and occasion."
"What do we do now?" Megan asked, on the brink of tears. Conner put his strong arm around her and pulled her close.
"First," Kaldur ordered, "We need to get out of our costumes. Next, we'll need to find a way to Gotham or Metropolis. Then, we get evidence, and clear our names."
"But, aren't Gotham and Metropolis two of the hardest places to break into?" Conner asked innocently.
"Home of Batman and Superman." Robin sighed, dismayed.
"It's practically impossible." Artemis agreed.
"We're back to square one." Wally groaned, falling on his back and hitting his head on the walls of the wood cabin.
"Look," Kaldur said, narrowing his eyes in frustration, "It's not impossible, and we will find out what we're being accused of. But for now, we must get out of our costumes and into civilian clothing. Then we must rest. After we've done that, we can worry about getting the evidence."
Five pairs of eyes stared up at him. Kaldur took a moment and looked each of his teammates in the eye. He saw, hidden beneath their training, an element of fear. He saw their exhaustion. But he had to be strong. He was the leader, and he was the oldest, and he appeared to be the only one that still had adrenalin pumping through his system. Taking a deep breath, Aqualad addressed his team.
"Wally, are there any big stores around here?"
"Yeah, there's a mall not far from here." Came the shaky reply, Kid Flash rising from the floor.
"And I have some special contacts in my utility belt!" Robin piped up excitedly, "They have a multitude of colours, so we can all have different ones. They're also specially made so that they wont hurt your eyes." Robin proceeded to take out two vials from a pocket in his utility belt.
"Good." Aqualad acknowledged, "Miss Martian, is it possible for you to transform without your Uncle sensing it?"
"Yes," M'gann said hesitantly, "but that's as far as it goes. Anything else and he'll be able to tell it's me."
"Including conversing telepathically?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm." Aqualad hummed. "That complicates things, but we'll make it work."
Robin interrupted his thoughts by asking him what colour he wanted his eyes to be.
"We want to have every one with a different colour. Wally chose grey, Artemis green, Conner brown, Megan Blue. What do you want?"
Aqualad thought about it for some time before choosing a green-hazel. Robin settled on brown-hazel, but had to turn and face the corner to put them on.
"When this is resolved, I don't wanna face the punishment Batman threatened if I tell you guys my Secret Identity." He explained.
Once they were all ready, the team ran quietly to the mall.
"I don't know guys," M'gann whispered as Robin worked on hacking the security, "should we really be stealing? It'll just make us look more like criminals."
"Here." Robin said, giving her a notepad and pencil, "write down the name of the store you took something from. When this is over, we'll come back and return all the stuff."
"Where do you keep that?" KF asked his friend; he read the silent message that Dick would probably give a small donation to each of the stores, anonymously.
"Same compartment as the chalk." Robin said mischievously. His attitude quickly vanished as he came back to reality.
"This is where it gets tricky. The way this alarm is set up makes it so that when we open the doors, we have a half hour to grab what we can and get out. The cameras are offline, so they wont know who broke in. KF, we'll need you to grab a portable DVD player as well as some civilian close for yourself. Each of you needs three pairs of pants, four shirts and two pairs of shoes." Robin rolled his eyes at the confused looks he received. "For emergencies. I'll explain later, but everyone knows what to do right?"
Everyone voiced his or her approval.
"Good."
The next thirty minuets went by as a blur to everyone. "Get in, get out." Was the only thought that went thought everyone's mind. They met up twenty-nine minuets later, and KF was the last person to leave, the DVD player in his hands.
"Cuttin' it kinda close eh Baywathch?" Artemis panted, clothes griped tightly in her arms.
"Shut up."
The team trudged back into the woods, and fell asleep almost as soon as they stepped into the cabin.
BLAME THE PLOT BUNNY! haflway through the INTEROGATION chapters, a plot bunny came to me demanding i change my story to draw it out longer. At first, I was all like, NO WAY! THAT'S BE MEAN! but it kept nagging at me until i couldn't take it any more.
ALSO: I can't believe not a single one of you notcied this. During ESCAPE ACT ONE, Batman and Flash have the evidence. With them. So it couldn't be in the evidence room. Why do you think they took so long to get to the team?
SORRY!
I'll try and update tomorrow, just to make amends for the plot bunny.