Gotham Academy, Gotham City
September 22, 8:00 AM
I turn from my spot with Bette, Barbara and Dick as Bette sees Artemis walking in through the gates, tugging at her skirt. I nudge Dick, who smirks; I decide to walk up to Artemis with Bette.
"Artemis, I'm Bette, your new student liaison. Welcome to Gotham Academy" Bette says once she reaches Artemis.
"Thanks. I'm Artemis. But you knew that" Artemis says with sheepish humor.
"Hey, Arty" I say, tapping her on the shoulder.
"Who- oh, hey Adela" Artemis says as I pull her into a hug.
"You know her, Adela?" Bette asks as we pull out of the hug.
"Yeah, we used to live near each other after..." I trail off when Dick comes to my rescue.
"We'll laugh about this some day" he says, popping up and taking a selfie with Artemis and I.
"Uh, who's that?" Artemis asks, after Dick slips away, disoriented.
"A freshman" "my adopted brother" Bette and I say at the same time. "Ignore him."
"I didn't think you had any other siblings" Artemis says, confused as Bette, Arty and I walk on.
"He's the adopted son of my godfather, now my adopted dad" I tell her.
Later . . .
"Artemis?" Robin asks in mock surprise, and I roll my eyes under my hood.
"Robin? Whisp?" Artemis asks. "I, uh-"
"How random that you're in Gotham City instead of Star City where your Uncle Green Arrow lives?" Robin asks, I lean over to him.
"Aren't you laying it on a bit thick" I whisper.
"I'm, uh, here to see my cousin, she was in the state spelling bee. Here. In Gotham City" Artemis says, stuttering, uncomfortable.
"Never mind" I whisper to Dick.
"C-O-O-L. Did she W-I-N?" Dick asks, trying not to laugh.
"N-O" Artemis says, narrowing her eyes.
"D-R-A-G" Robin says, sympathetically.
"Yeah. Let's just go to the cave" Artemis says, changing the subject.
"Ladies first" Robin says, bowing, and at Artemis's reluctance, I step forward, flashing them a 'peace' sign.
"Recognized Whisp, B-00" right away, fire blasts at me, and I roll to the left, forgetting that I could become fireproof, though it might not hold in my panic. 'What the Hell?! How did someone get into the cave?' I think frantically as I hear the computer announce Dick's arrival.
"Recognized Robin, B-01."
"Move, Boy Wonder!" I shout, ducking a stream of water in shock.
"Recognized Artemis, B-07."
"Get down!" Dick shouts at Artemis and I spot a jetstream of fire come at me. I steel myself and get hit, full-force with a stream of fire.
"Who are we fighting?" Artemis asks, shooting an arrow blindly.
"Don't know, but we're sitting ducks by these tubes" I shout, bending the water shot at me backwards.
"Head for the exit" Robin tells us, but we are blocked by streams of both fire and water."
"Or not" Artemis says in response to the streams just before we are swept away by the water. We grunt as we hit the wall, my head pounding from where it made contact with the rock surface. We run out of the way as fireballs are shot at us from the hangar. It's when we enter the weight room that Dick decides to contact the team.
"Robin to team. Come in" he says, a hand to his ear as we run, trying to get out of plain sight
"M'gann, can you hear me? Are you there?" Artemis calls out mentally as we run through the room. Oh, and did I mention we're being chased by a friggin TORNADO OF FIRE?!
"Robin to Batcave. Override RG4" Robin calls out his override, trying to reach Bruce as we run into the locker room.
"Cave calling Justice League. H-O-J slash Watchtower. B-00. Priority ray," I shout as we run to the showers.
"Comm is down. Locked" Dick says as he turns on all of the showers. "At least the water's helping. Or not" he adds after the water gets out of control, bursting the pipes and filling up the room. Following Robin, Artemis and I swim over to a nearby wall watching as Dick places explosives and sets them off, sending us into the hallway.
"We need to get lost," Robin says, panting as we run into the kitchen.
"The air vent!" Artemis exclaims and I sprint over to it as my brother announces:
"Good. Go!" And Artemis follows me, helping me get the cover off.
"What are you-" Artemis trails off and after looking over at Robin I answer for him.
"He's downloading Cave blueprints" I stop short at the sound of metal clanking against the floor and jump into the air vent.
"Go left" Robin instructs us as we reach our first crossroads... Crossvents? Na, I'll just go with crossroads.
"Too close" I grunt as Robin barely makes it out of the way of a stream of fire.
"Take the first right. There should be a vent cover right in front of you" Robin instructs and, upon reaching said cover, I take it off, sliding into the boiler room. "This way" He tells us after we exit the vents and we run down the stairs, stopping at the sound of pipes clanging. A fiery figure resembling a female lands on a catwalk and makes a small mushroom cloud of fire that makes me want to whistle in admiration.
"That's not good" I state as the machines in the boiler room start going wild.
"I know that other access tunnel is here somewhere" Robin says, pulling up his holo-computer after pulling Artemis behind a machine, saving her from a fireball.
"You mean this one?" Artemis asks from the access tunnel and Robin turns, placing an explosive on a machine. I follow him into the tunnel, hearing rapid beeping as I do.
"Hold on" Robin says, using a Bird-a-rang to pry open a metal box and connecting a USB cord to one of the plug ins. "Locking out Cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us."
"And I ask again, who is the enemy?" Artemis asks, Robin agitated while I sit behind them and shrug.
"Let's find out. Downloading cave security footage. There" he says, successfully bringing up security footage from earlier in the day.
"Torque wrench." Wally asks, fixing a bike and Megan complies "Thank you, Green Cheeks."
"I have been meaning to ask" Kaldur says, walking up to Wally, Megan and Connor. "Any problem juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?"
"No" is Connor's answer.
"Juggling's just one of my many talents" Wally replies. "Socket wrench."
"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge" Megan admits, levitating the requested tool to Wally "Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the team. This team, not the Bumblebees."
"Artemis starts school today, do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?" Aqualad asks. I narrow my eyes, 'what's he getting at?' I wonder mentally. I look over at Robin and Artemis, who look taken aback and annoyed respectively.
"Nah, she'll manage all right" Kid Flash says, standing up "I mean, how much more hostile and annoying can-" the ginger is cut of by and explosion.
"What happened?" Artemis asks.
"Explosion took out the camera, I'll find another angle" and he trys, only finding small clips before the cameras are taken out. "That's it all four are dead" Artemis and I look at him in surprise and he corrects himself. "The cameras, I-I meant the cameras, I'm sure the others are OK. Just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar."
"Yeah, they're fine, they've all got superpowers, they can handle anything" Artemis trys to reassure her self, sitting next to me.
"And we're two ninjas, and ninja in training with exhausting superpowers" I tell her, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder. "We'll be fine" I assure her.
We exit a tunnel into the library. "There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases" Robin announces as we drop down to the catwalk and run down the stairs.
"Seriously? Cliché much?" Artemis asks as we run to the book cases.
"You should see the Batcave" Dick and I respond at once, a smirk coming over my face as I distract myself with the many clichés on the Wayne estate.
"Artemis, Robin, Whisp" a robotic voice calls out, familiar yet different.
"It's Red Tornado" Artemis says, stepping out from behind the bookcase, a grin on her face that quickly disappears.
"Yes, on the Red, no, on the Tornado!" as Dick tackles her, pulling her under a table. We move out of the way, almost running into yet another red robot. This female one shoots fire at us and we run aside, jumping atop the bookcases.
"Who? What are they?" Artemis asks as Robin and I drop down, my brother finding the right bookcase. Just before they are sent toppling down onto us, Robin pulls the right book and we fall into the passageway. "Did either of you know Tornado had siblings?" The blond archer questions as we enter a hallway.
"No" we respond simultaneously.
"So now what? Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League.
How are we supposed to take down two of him?" Artemis demands, stopping Robin from going down another corridor.
"They do seem pretty user unfriendly" Robin jokes, using it as a way to try and relive tension. It doesn't work.
"Don't joke, they-" Artemis reprimands before getting cut off.
"Attention, Robin. Attention, Artemis. Attention Whisp. You have exactly 10 minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished." The voice of the male robot comes over the Cave speakers, the three of us exchange worried and grim looks at the announcement.
"Eight minutes" is announced as we run to the only logical place our teammates could be, the hangar.
"We can access the hangar from here" Robin says, then water comes rushing toward us.
"Or not" I state grimly.
"Will you two please stop saying that?" Artemis demands as we turn and run. Our efforts are in vain as we are engulfed in the water, I insert a rebreather and unclip my cloak as Robin does the same, swimming over to Artemis with an extra rebreather. Artemis gasps in fear as the male robot swims up and grabs her ankle, in a small surge of protectiveness for my friend, I kick the robot as hard as I can (which is very difficult to do underwater) as Robin stabs it with an arrow and pulls Arty out of Red's grasp. We surface in the hangar and only get a small warning of
"Look out!" From Wally as we are attacked by fire. We go under, surfacing once more by where Kid Flash and Superboy are being held.
"You guys OK?" Robin asks once he catches his breath.
"Forget us. Help M'gann" Superboy insists.
"Aqualad, is she-" Artemis calls out, her voice wavering and on the brink of crying.
"She is unconscious" Kaldur reports, looking at the fallen teammate in his arms. "I fear she- we cannot survive much longer." After this, we are attached once more by fireballs and swim to the edge of the hangar. We surface and run up the stairs, the red water robot surfacing not long after us, his 'sister' landing behind us.
"I'm almost out of arrows" Artemis informs us.
"Distract her, now" Robin orders and we try to, Artemis shooting an arrow as I focus on my anger at her, shooting her with a powerful blast of fire. Not my best idea, but I thought it would be possible to fight fire with fire. We jump back into the water as Fireball and Jetstream (I need better names than 'fire/water robot') shoot their respective elements at us. We enter yet another tunnel, gasping for air when we swim high enough to reach any.
"Six minutes" Jetstream announces.
"What do we do now?" Artemis asks once we regain our breaths.
"We save them" I say, confidently.
"That's how it works" Dick adds and we share light grins.
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots already took out our four super-powered friends" Artemis argues angrily.
"You seem distraught" Robin states calmly.
"Distraught?! M'gann is dying! We have no powers, Whisp can barely use hers and I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!" Artemis nearly shouts at Robin and I cringe, trying not to go down memory lane at the sounds of shouting.
"Well get traught, or get dead" Robin says, his voice deadly calm yet icy and I flinch.
"How can you two be so calm?" Artemis demands, her voice wavering as if she were trying not to cry.
"Practice" Robin and I say at the same time.
"I've been doing this since I was nine" Dick continues.
"And I've been in way too many life and death situations to be comfortable with" I add in.
"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?" Artemis demands.
"Oh. Duh. They're machines. And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range" Dick says, turning to us and I slap my hand against my forehead.
"Great. Except one of you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt because I know I don't have one in my quiver" Artemis says with a hint of sarcasm.
"We're fresh out" Dick admits. "But I'm betting we can make one.
What do you say, KF? Doable?" Robin asks over the com.
"Totally doable." Wally responds.
"Five minutes."
"You know, if you had more time" the ginger geek corrects himself.
"Med lab, X-ray machine" Wally instructs as we enter the med lab.
You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high energy pulses. Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from X-rays to EMPs, with a cascading energy vector directed outward."
"A ripple effect. Like dropping a stone in a pond" Robin sums up.
"A stone with 10 to the twelfth power of wattage, yeah" Wally agrees.
"So I'll need to hook it up to the cave main generator" Robin says to himself.
"Which is where?" Artemis asks.
"Four minutes." Jetstream announces.
"Okay. Make with the distraction" Robin cues FK and Connor.
"Hey, red tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?" Wally taunts.
"Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever! We can escape any time we want" Connor shouts.
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two" Wally bluff, because, no, he can't.
"Cover me" Robin whispers to Artemis and I, I keep my eyes on the machines, hoping that they'll stay distracted long enough.
"And you can't drown a Kryptonian, dumb bots. We don't breathe air" Superboy continues, as Robin swings over to the main generator and honestly, I have no idea if Kryptonians breathe air or not.
"Aha ha ha ha ha!" Wally laughs, sounding like a dying duck. "And Miss Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act."
"Yeah." Superboy agrees. "You know how hot it gets in the caves of Mars? That cage is just making her homesick."
"Duh! Ha ha ha!" Wally exclaims, once more sounding like a dying duck, or maybe a dying goat or sheep.
"Robin, look out!" Artemis screams and I turn to look at my brother, who has become encased in a tidal wave. Artemis screeches as I pull her down, avoiding a fireball but costing her her last arrow. We retreat back into the air vent, narrowly avoiding a blast of fire; we come to a stop near a hole in the air vent, giving us a perfect view of my unconscious brother.
"Robin" I mutter, my voice hitched on a sob as I try not to turn into a little girl again. As I try not to relive the death of my family, besides me Artemis gasps and backs into the wall, clutching her head. It's then when I realise I need to keep my cool and help Artemis through this, because if I can, we might be able to still save our team.
"No. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no" Artemis sobs and I move to comfort her.
"I surrender, I die with the others. But if I find a way out, out of the cave out of the mountain I can get help! Call in the League" she says, crawling through the vents and I follow her as she tries to keep herself upbeat. I go to say something, but we fall and I'm interrupted.
"Three minutes."
"Uhh. Who am I kidding? Best I can do is hide, hope the League finds me before the reds." Artemis says, laying on the floor of the trophy room, she gets up and surveys the room, holding the mask of Cheshire and muttering something to the mask of her sister.
"One minute."
"You thinking what I'm thinking, Blondie?" I ask smirking as I explain my plan rapidly.
"I surrender. Stop the clock" Artemis says, her throat hitching as she goes to hand in her bow, she jumps up, kicking the Reds in the faces as she shoots her last arrow. From the vents I use the air around the arrow to propel it into it's mark across the hangar and it hits, completing the circuit for the EMP.
"Kaldur, how's M'gann?" Connor asks once the Reds are down and the water and fire have receded. I hear this just as I run into the hangar.
"She breathes, I believe she will recover. What of Robin?" Ka!due asks and I kneel next to him, across from Artemis.
"He -He's breathing, too" Artemis says as Dick begins coughing.
"Way to get traught" Robin says, and I envelope him into a bone -crushing hug. "Ca-n't br-ea-the!" He chokes out and I loosen my hold on him, whacking him upside the head as well.
"You idiot! I though you were dead! I, I though I was alone again" I tell him tears welling in my eyes behind my mask.
"You still would've had B" he tells me, hugging me back.
"That doesn't mean I wouldn't have missed you" I inform him.
~~~•~~~
"Figured my only shot was to "surrender," pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out, though" Robin says after I released him.
"M'gann" Connor says, reaching for her hand, which she allows him to grab. 'They are so a couple'. I think to myself, smiling.
"I'll be fine" Megan assures him.
"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally demands.
"It's not working, genius. EMP shuts down all machines, remember?" Artemis reprimands him.
"All machines present at the time. What has occurred?" Red Tornado asks, announcing his arrival.
"Had a little visit from your family" I say, a bit of venom in my voice.
"Your extremely nasty family" Artemis adds.
"I was not aware I had relations" Tornado confesses.
"Where have you been?" Superboy demands.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower, when it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your Zeta tubes were also nonfunctional, I transported to Providence and proceeded here" Red Tornado fills us in.
"Hey, boy" Connor says to Sphere who had been reactivated.
"The pulse has worn off" Robin says worriedly. And he has a right to be worried because at that point Red Tornado turns on us, sucking the air out our lungs allowing us to pass out.
~~~•~~~
"What happened here?" Superman asks, supporting Artemis as she regains consciousness.
"What happened?! The Reds happened! Tornado and his... Wait, where are they?" Artemis asks, furious.
"Gone. All three of them. Gone" Dick says darkly from next to me as I lean against Batman, who is supporting me. When we get home, I'm taking a VERY long nap before patrol.
~~~•~~~
Me: I am really, really tired. MyuMyu4ever and DREWdKING know why.
Bear: Speaking of DREWdKING, welcome him to the psycho squad!
Monkey: Sorry it took so long, she had camp and then she had visitors from Japan and a bunch of crap.
Shark #1: You guys are lucky she managed to update today.
Me: I need a nap. Yours in demigodishness and all that, Peace out!