May 2016
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Tye flops back against the couch. They'd just found out that Luthor had been playing them all along and now they have no one to turn to. They're supposed to be heroes and yet, they've been kidnapped, experimented on, run away, refused help from the good guys, and now done the bad guy's work for him.
A knock on the door startles all four of them and Virgil is the one to recover first, heading to the door and peeking out the spyhole.
"Who are you?" He asks through the door and there's a deep chuckle from the other side.
"My name is Arsenal."
"And I'm Red Arrow," Comes a second, identical voice, "We heard that you were dumb kids and needed some help."
Virgil flings the door open and glowers at the twin men standing shoulder to shoulder, "We are not dumb kids-"
"And yet you refused Nightwing, worked for Luthor, almost let one of your dads die... Need I go on?" Red Arrow asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Chill dude," Arsenal shoves his shoulder against his brother's, "Listen, we aren't a part of the Team and we aren't Justice League. We also aren't villains," He says before Eduardo can interrupt. "I lost my arm to Luthor and Red here has his own issues."
"Why you here?" Asami speaks in broken English, looking between the two men. "Why you care?"
"Because we were stupid kids once and we had someone to rely on." Arsenal crosses his arms, his expression showing just how not impressed he is with the four teenagers.
Red Arrow smirks, "I like to think that we turned out pretty damn good, myself."
"And who did you rely on?" Tye asks, curious despite himself. He's heard of Red Arrow and Arsenal, and he knows that though they work with some Justice League affiliated heroes, they don't actually have membership. They used to, but both had turned in their membership over a year ago.
"Velocity," Red Arrow shrugs a shoulder, "Best man in the hero business."
"Never heard of him," Virgil snaps, "Who is he, and why should we care?"
"He's a speedster," Arsenal says before gesturing into the loft apartment, "May we come in? The rest of this conversation isn't something that should be heard by the general public."
"Oh really?" Eduardo sneers, "If it's not information available to the general public, why would we keep it from the news stations after you've told us? Godfrey isn't always wrong."
"Well," Arsenal has a look of vast disappointment on his face as he stares at Eduardo, "If the general public know, then the villains know. And I am not putting Velocity or his children on their radar."
"Let us in, or we come in anyway," Red Arrow rolls his eyes, "It's not like we're gonna hurt you."
Tye starts to glow, bringing his power up, "You're just normal humans, what makes you think you can make us do anything?" With his words, Asami also starts to glow, Eduardo shifts into a defensive stance and the air around Virgil starts to crackle with electricity.
"Please," Arsenal rolls his eyes and he and Red Arrow waltz into the loft before any of the teenagers can retaliate, "We've trained with Nike, Velocity, Captain Marvel, and Batman. Like you guys are gonna be able to stop us from doing anything."
There's a blur and rush of air as papers go flying in the backdraft and a man in a dark red uniform is standing between the teenagers and archers. "Are you trying to rile these kids up, Arsenal?" He asks.
"Well, maybe a little. Guys, this is Velocity. Velocity, the runaways."
