Heya! Okay, here's another short chapter. Nothing really happens here, I just wanted to write something but I didn't think writing them in Paris already was a good idea. So here's the next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!
Chapter 21: Paris, Here We Come (Again)
"You are sure they said that the attack was happening in three days?" Red Tornado asked Aqualad, who nodded afterwards, "Alright, I have just informed the League of your news." The Team's den-mother told them. "And we all agreed that this investigation has gotten too dangerous for children―"
"Teens!" Robin cried out, "We are teenagers." he put his hands on his hips in frustration, "And I'm pretty such children don't fight crime every day."
Red Tornado nodded, "As I was saying, the Justice League has agreed that this investigation had gotten too dangerous for a group of super teenagers. You are all off this case." And pandemonium went loose. The only one who wasn't arguing was Artemis. She stayed silent and pale as ever.
"What do you mean we're off the case?" Superboy asked, annoyed and with his arms crossed over his chest.
But instead, it was Robin who answered, "It means we have to stop investigating Wally's disappearance, at least for us."
"What?" Jane Doe cried out, "That's not fair! We started this investigation. We're the ones who did all the work. We got the info you needed. You can't just cut us off of our own case!" she whined like a little girl.
"Yes they can." Aqualad said, arms also crossed. His eyebrows pressed against each other, his pale green eyes looked worried and he was visibly irritated. "The only ones over eighteen here are Red Arrow and Cheshire, and technically, they are not even members of the Team."
Roy and Jade scowled at his comment but didn't deny it.
Striker took a step forward, "Look, I think you guys are both right, it is dangerous," he face the red robot, "but Red, come on, we were trained for this. This is the reason why we're superheroes. This is what we've been waiting for. This investigation is why we are superheroes. It might be dangerous but it's exactly the reason why we're here." He told the Leaguer calmly, the way he always was. He always had this confidence when it came to talking in public and making his cause. When he was younger, his parents actually wanted him to take Law for his major.
"I am sorry but the League has made its decision." Red Tornado said, showing no emotion, being the robot that he was, "It is just not something for children."
"Teenagers!" They all said together.
If the robot could roll his eyes, he would have but he didn't say anything. "And anyway, we also thought that you have all been working hard trying to locate Kid Flash and you all need your rest. You might be teenagers but you are also still growing." He pointed out but the Team didn't really need to be reminded of that.
Zatanna sighed, "Fine." She gave in, everyone looked at her, shocked, she was always one of the rebellious ones in the Team, yet she was the first one to give up? It didn't make sense. "He's right. We haven't slept in a month. We need some rest…"
Red Tornado thanked her for her understanding and told the rest of the Team to go to sleep.
Once he left the room, a grin grew on the magician's face, "… if we want to defeat the Shadows once and for all."
Artemis sat at their usual booth beside Luke and Cassandra. Luke was drinking a strawberry milk shake while Cassandra was texting someone with her phone and Artemis just stared out the window, clutching onto her silver necklace that Wally had given to her as a Christmas present. She held onto it even more than before.
Eventually, the normally patient and calm Luke spoke, "Who on earth are you texting?" he asked his little sister, "Nathan?" he teased and then chuckled.
Cassandra rolled her eyes, "No," she said, "I'm texting Lou and Vee. They're still at the beach."
"I still can't believe you decided not to go with them. I mean you guys planned that for a whole month!" he threw his hands up in the air and sighed.
The newest superhero pressed the 'send' button on her phone and faced her brother, who was beside her, "Well if Artemis or Alice went missing, you wouldn't want to go either." She spat at him.
Luke looked slightly hurt, not because of her comment though, but because he couldn't even think of losing his best friend. So he stayed silent.
"Alice?" Artemis spoke for the first time they arrived at the diner.
Immediately, Cassandra wished she hadn't said what she had said. Luke glared at her, but that didn't stop him from turning into a tomato. "Uh, yeah." He whispered, "I―We've sort of been going on a few dates."
The archer was taken aback, she had no idea they were dating. Yet, both Alice and Luke were best friends and neither of them even mentioned about it. "So," she mumbled shyly, "are you guys like… boyfriend-girlfriend?"
The tall, blond boy shrugged, "I don't know, really." He said, "We've been on a few dates but we never talked about being in…a relationship." He answered, being even redder, "We used to get together almost every week but in the past month, we've been on one date."
"Wait," Artemis put her hand in front of her, gesturing for Luke to stop talking, "you guys have been dating for over a month?"
Luke couldn't help but smile, "I guess you could say that." Then he looked away, embarrassed, and faced his younger sister, "Anyway, what about your love life, Lil' Cee?" Cassandra's grey-blue eyes grew, "How are you and that Nate kid?" he asked, a bit curious to the answer.
Sandie looked away, "We broke up." She whispered, barely audible from where Artemis was.
Then anger filled Luke's face, he really was the overprotective brother, "What?" he cried out, "What did that ass-whole did to you?"
"Nothing!" Cassandra threw her hands in front of her, showing her palms to her brother, "I broke up with him."
Luke stared at her, "But Wally said you guys always had a crush on each other."
Sandie pressed her lips together, "I know," she said, "but when we started dating, there wasn't any chemistry or anything. There was no… spark." She explained, "At first I thought it would just come in time, but then there was nothing. Just…blank. So, when I told him that I wanted to break up with him because I didn't feel like we belonged together, he totally agreed."
The older boy gave her a suspicious look but pushed his doubts away as he saw Alice come through the door. Then came her brother and then Amy. They sat down at their booth, Alex sat down beside Artemis, across Sandie and beside him was Amy while Alice sat a little too close beside Luke.
Amy looked nervously at Artemis, "So, any news?" she asked her friend.
Artemis explained what they had found out about the Shadows and Wally being possessed. The twins and Amy had demanded to get news every time the Team got new info and they swore to not tell anyone.
At the end, all their faces were filled with shock and worry.
"Okay," Alex gulped, trying to process what was happening in his home country, "and who is she?" he pointed towards Cassandra.
The three of them had met Luke at Artemis's birthday party and he had given the archer the permission to tell them his secret identity but they had never even heard of Sandie before.
"Oh," Artemis said, "this is…" she hesitated, not sure if she was allowed to tell them her real name.
Sandie didn't notice though, she just held out her hand and said, "Cassandra Ausseil." She presented herself and Alex shook her hand, "Also known as Luke's younger sister."
"I―I didn't know that Luke had a sister." Alex said shyly.
"Welcome to the club." Artemis muttered, "I didn't know until last month."
Alice's eyes light up, "Oh well, hi, I'm Alice Karlson." She said, exited, as she shook Cassandra's hand next.
A smirk grew on Sandie's face, she couldn't help herself, "I know," she said, "Luke has said so much about you." Her brother gave her another glare but she ignored it and chuckled while Alice gave a short and confused look.
"And I'm Amy Fernandez." She didn't shake her hand though, she just waved from across the table.
Then silence overcame them, but soon enough, Alex's curiosity overtook him, "Uh, so, Cassandra," he said nervously, "are you like, a superhero as well?"
Sandie smiled again, "Yeah, but I'm still new and in training." She explained to Alex, who nodded. "My superhero name's Jane Doe."
"Cool." He said with a grin, "But you don't mind telling us or anything?"
She shrugged, "Any friend of Wally's is a friend of mine." She said, "And anyway, Arty already told you everything else so…why not just add my secret ID?"
Silence came again.
Artemis was the one who broke it, "Uh, so, the reason why I wanted to meet you guys was because tomorrow morning, the Team will be flying to Paris." She said, "And there's a very high possibility that we won't come back." She gulped.
After they ate dinner, they said their goodbyes, which included a kiss from Alice and Luke, which left him blushing the whole way back to the cave.
Then they went to their rooms at exactly 8 p.m., just as Aqualad had ordered them.
Artemis sat down on her usual seat in the Bio-ship. She clutched onto the sides of her chair. Although they were supposed to get a lot of sleep the night before, she had only slept for a few hours. She couldn't help herself. She was so damn nervous. Nervous because of the Shadows, because of the attack on Paris and because she was going to see Wally again.
The others were fully rested though. They all knew they wouldn't be able to sleep so they had taken sleeping pills while M'gann hypnotized Connor and herself to sleep. But Artemis didn't take them. She didn't want to.
Miss Martian was preparing the Bio-ship for takeoff and then when she was done, she said, "Are you guys ready?" she asked the Team.
"As ready as we'll ever be." Superboy whispered from across the ship.
Artemis took a deep breath and held onto her necklace, she sighed and opened her grey, sleepy eyes. "Paris, here we come."
She couldn't help at wince at her own words.
Déjà-vu much? Yupp Anyway, can you guys like vote on my poll please? It's in my profile. I was just curious so I'm asking you guys that. Anyway, hope it wasn't too boring and PLEASE REVIEW!