BIALYA
September 4, 18:39 EEST
All around me there was nothing but heat. Heat and dry air and something against my cheek that felt vaguely like sand. I cracked my eyes open, the light searing my retinas. I was lying on my side, and all I could see for miles was a reddish sky and endless sand dunes. What the actual fuck.
I blinked, rolling over with a groan. It felt like I had been run over by a transport truck. Sitting up, my mouth parted in pain as my sore muscles burned. The skin of my lips stuck together, telling me it had been a while since I had drank anything. Coupled with the pounding in my head, I was probably nearing water deprivation.
There was nothing around me, and I was in costume. I popped a pill quickly, sighing as my senses expanded. The world became crisper, edges sharpening, and the distinct smell of night approaching travelling over on the breeze. Shaking the sand from my ponytail, I reached for my comm only to remember Bruce's masked face, stark and full of authority, "maintain radio silence."
I dropped my hand and looked around. If I was being briefed like that, Dick was probably here with me, making finding him my number one priority followed closely by my continued survival. Squinting around to look for the sun, I decided it was probably evening based on its position. I promptly started walking towards it, the general protocol for being lost with no idea where to go being head west. If Rob was here, he'd be travelling in the same direction and hopefully we'd stumble on each other assuming we were anywhere near the other.
But that begged two questions, why the hell was I here, and why the hell had we been separated?
I trudged along, trying to wrap my head around the situation. I was trapped in an unnamed desert, with no particular way out. Robin was nowhere to be found, maybe hurt or even dead and I had no way of finding him. I felt the tip of my nose burn, and I drove the heels of my palms into my eyes to fight back the frustrated tears starting to well up.
I opened my eyes when I walked straight into a rock outcropping, bumping my forehead against the stone. It was about thirty feet high, and I eyed the wall of it, sinking my claws into the rock. I started to climb, a delightfully cool breeze stirring my hair as I ascended. Coming to the crest of the rock, I sat and looked around for any sign of life.
There was nothing in all four directions, no people, no animals, no plants. It was a special kind of hellscape, and I flopped down on my back, staring up at the dimming sky as I tried to remember why in fuck's name I was here in the first place. All I could think of was the English assignment I had due on Monday, and Dick's face behind his mask, stern and careful. I sighed, sitting up in a meditative pose and trying to reach the icy place Bruce had always taught me to retreat to. Remember.
I was lying on the bed in Dick's room, the curtain on his window flapping a little in the wind. He was sitting at his desk, finishing an essay for History. I had a book on my lap, and I turned my attention back to it. Crinkling my nose as the protagonist thoroughly embarrassed herself, I flipped a page and sighed in displeasure.
"Having fun?" I looked up from the page to find Dick staring down at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
I tossed the book to the other side of the bed, "this main character is ridiculous. It's like she has no control of her facial muscles."
He laughed under his breath in the huffy way he did when I surprised him with humour, "excited for the big mission in Bialya?"
"Excited to go spend a day surrounded by nothing but sand and heat? No."
"It might be fun, who knows? Wally'll probably do something entertaining."
My eyes snapped open, Wally was here? And here was Bialya? That would explain the utter lifelessness of the place, the Bialyan desert was second only to the Atacama for lack of precipitation.
The landscape was empty and growing darker, soon it would be night and the temperatures would start to drop below freezing if it was early spring. If I hadn't found Rob at that point, I was almost guaranteed to pass out from dehydration, and if I did that I was practically guaranteed to die.
I nearly fell off the rock in surprise when a black, red and green blur came to a stop below me. I peered down at it, only to find that said blur was Wally, with a seemingly gorgeous girl dressed all in dark green with GA's symbol emblazoned across her chest. I leaned over the rock, calling down to them, "Kid?"
Their heads snapped up and I watched Wally squint, "Catgirl?"
I could have cried in relief. Swinging my legs over the rock and jumping down, I hit the sand at a crouch to save myself nerve damage. Standing up, I grabbed his arm, "what the hell are we doing here? And who's she?"
"I don't know, and I don't know," he responded with an unnatural amount of enthusiasm for someone trapped in a desert.
"Artemis," the beautiful girl answered, "and I don't know either but it might be my dad's fault."
I blinked, "okay, I'm going to get back to you on that one." I turned to Wally, "have you seen Rob anywhere?"
He shook his head, "nope, why, is he with you?"
I frowned, "I assumed he was. I've been trying to find him. You, him and I were sent here, I have no clue why though." I was largely comforted by his presence. Despite Wally's shortcomings, he wasn't an idiot and he was someone I was used to and comfortable with. The girl seemed sharp too, with her calculating eyes and carefully arrayed expression.
Our conversation was cut short by a large projectile hitting the ground between the three of us. I jumped back, a yell tearing its way from my throat. The dust settled and the projectile revealed itself to be a shirtless, ripped teenage boy with a face like murder.
He dove after Wally, slamming him into the wall of rock behind us. I took a defensive stance, placing myself in front of Artemis. "You stay behind me, you're more effective there!"
She called her assent, drawing an arrow from her quiver and knocking it. It whistled past my ear and exploded against the boy's chest, which did absolutely nothing to stop him as he barrelled towards us. I ran forward, sticking my leg out as I slid past him on the sand, sending him face-first into the ground. He rose, seemingly even angrier and I moved so I was in front of Artemis again, "okay. Let's see, super strength, indestructibility and apparently the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Who the hell is this guy?"
"Maybe we can ponder over that when he's not trying to rip us to pieces!" Artemis called, sending another volley of explosive arrows his way.
He pushed through them and we flipped out of the way, the sound of a missile screaming through the air pushing in as it zoomed towards the guy. I winced, for whatever reason, I really didn't want to hurt this kid. It landed dead-center on his chest and the shockwaves sent me flying. I hit the ground with a groan, sand making its way into my mouth. I rolled over with a sense of deja vu and surveyed the damage.
Artemis was lying on the ground beside me, groggy from the blast, Wally was still slumped against the rocks and to add to the fun, tanks from the Bialyan army were rolling towards us.
The crazy boy charged the tanks, ripping the canon off of one of them and ripping the machine gun from the hand of one of the men operating it, flinging him from the cockpit. He then proceeded to rip the top half off the tank and throw it like a fucking frisbee, another missile blast sending him into a nearby dune.
"Whose side is he on?" Artemis hissed, coming to stand next to me.
"You wanna stick around and find out?" Wally asked, offering her his arm.
"I sure as hell don't," I said, climbing on his back as soon as he had scooped up Artemis. He took off, the unnatural sensation of running faster than the average sports car sending my stomach into a twist. I propped my head up on Wally's shoulder, "remember when The Flash made you carry me and Rob like this for training?"
"Yeah, it's just as unpleasant now," he snarked back, grip on Artemis tightening. We came to a jarring stop as Wally fell forwards, sending us all flying down a dune and into the sand below. Shadows swooped over us, and we jumped to our feet as fighter jets flew over our heads.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck," I chanted under my breath, peering up at the sky. It was like the universe decided to make us into a living, breathing example of Murphy's law.
The jets launched a volley of bullets and Wally grabbed Artemis' wrist, "get down!" I followed suit, hitting the sand with a solid thump. The jets swooped down, a sea of bullet raining down on us and it hit me that it was very statistically likely that I was about to die.
Artemis knocked an arrow, and the sound of a teenage girl's voice rang through my skull, "don't worry, I'm almost there!"
Artemis's arrow wobbled and fell in the air as she turned to us, face all shock, "did you just hear a girl talking in your head?"
"Girls are always on my mind," Wally said facetiously, "but they're not usually talking."
"We can discuss your depravity later," I hissed, "right now, we're hearing shit whilst being shot at by goddamn Bialyan fighter jets and Rob's nowhere to be fucking found."
Our heads snapped back up to the sky as the jets slammed together and exploded midair, a pretty girl with green skin and a suit bearing Martian Manhunter's logo appearing from the smoke, flying to land in front of us.
"Well J'onn," Wally started, "the costume looks familiar, but I'm not sure the new bod screams Manhunter."
"You know my uncle J'onn?" The girl asked excitedly, eyes wide and face happy despite the current situation. "Hello Megan! Of course you do, you're Kid Flash! Wally! And you're Artemis, and you're Catgirl!" She said, pointing to each of us in turn.
"Wait, wait, wait, Martian Manhunter's your uncle?" Wally asked, face all disbelief, "is that how you know my name?"
"Your name's really Wally?" Artemis asked, partly snarky, partly incredulous.
A grin tugged at my mouth, "if you want to get technical it's Wallace."
Artemis snorted into her hand and Wally groaned. Megan, or whoever the hell the girl was looked between us all concernedly, "it's okay! We're teammates, friends! I made you cookies!" I blinked, I hadn't met this girl before in my life, and I sure as hell wasn't on some kind of a team.
"You know her?" Artemis asked, cocking a hip towards Wally.
"N-n-no I swear beautiful! Never seen her before in my life! At least not that I remember…" He said in a placating manner.
I raised an eyebrow, wondering what happened in the interim before I bumped into them for Artemis to act like a jealous girlfriend. Megan cut KF off, looking rather put out, "you all lost your memories too." She looked back towards the tanks, "come on, I'll fill you in as we go. Robin and Superboy need our help."
"Of course," Wally drawled, "Robin and Super-what now?"
I grabbed Megan's shoulder tightly, "they need our help? Is Robin okay? Where is he? What do you know?"
She blinked a little, taken aback. I made a mental note to tone it the fuck down. "I don't really know, I haven't seen him, but Superboy really needs us."
"Then let's find him," I said as reassuringly as possible, the girl clearly upset over the loss of this kid. She nodded, "so here's what I can remember…"
The moon was well into the sky before we came across anything. The sound of gunfire and shouting in Bialyan indicated that a fight was going on, and Wally raced ahead of us. I heard the faint sound of Rob's laugh on the wind and everything in me stopped dead for a heartbeat.
I chased after Wally, tearing across the sand, "Kid you son of a bitch!" M'gann flew ahead as well, leaving me and Artemis to run after them. As we approached, she knocked an arrow and let it fly, wrapping up the legs of a running soldier she must have caught on the border of her vision. Wally stood, having sent two Bialyans flying and M'gann was hovering above Robin, fading out of camouflage mode. Robin, who was standing there seemingly unharmed. Robin.
I paused, panting heavily and leaning on Artemis as the three of them turned to face us. The wind blew baby hairs into my eyes and I swiped at them, trying to remember how to breathe.
There was Rob staring up at me with the same troublemaker, 'whoops' smile that had grown to become ridiculously endearing over the years. I sighed, all the tension and worry and the sickening, sinking feeling I had been harbouring in my gut flying away as I noted his presence.
We all stopped for a moment, the silence heavy as I realized I was being stared at. A distinct sense of rightness unfurled in my chest as the corner of Dick's mouth quirked up. I broke into a dead sprint, flying down the sand dune towards him. His arms were already outstretched and I braced my forearms against his shoulders as I slammed into him, wondering when in our memory gap he had gained three inches on me. I stopped for a second to catch my breath, hand splayed across his chest to feel for a heartbeat, and when I found it beneath my fingers I pulled back to inspect him for damage, eyes roving his face and anywhere they would have aimed bullets. No cuts or bruises or blood, just dirt and sweat.
I let him do the same, eyes flicking across my face to inspect for scratches and then pulling back to do a full-body scan for injury before his face broke out into a smile, "God it's good to see you Cat."
I could've cried, and the burning in my nose indicated that I was dangerously close to it, "I was looking for you everywhere, never fucking do that again."
"How is any of this my fault?" He joked, pulling away to clasp hands with Wally, "KF! Man it's good to see familiar faces."
"Hey Rob," Wally said with a grin, "memory lost?"
"Six months!" He exclaimed, "let's hog-tie these creeps and compare notes."
We set to work tying up the Bialyan soldiers, and when we were done we gathered in a circle and let Megan, or M'gann as she properly introduced herself, completely fill us in on everything she could remember. We worked together on covert missions, recon for the Justice League, though the 'covert' aspect never went quite according to plan.
"So…" Rob said slowly, "we're a team?"
"The five of us and Superboy," M'gann assured.
"Then this must be his!" Rob said, holding up a black scrap of fabric with a red Superman symbol on it.
"Yes!" She cried out, grabbing it with careful fingers like the piece of cloth was a precious artifact, "did you see him?"
"I think we did," Artemis said, and I realized she was talking about the crazy, shirtless guy from earlier.
"Feral boy?" Wally asked, "some teammate, he attacked us."
"He didn't know who we are," Artemis defended, "I don't know who we are!"
"I remember Batman ordering radio silence," Rob said, "our team must work for him!"
I snapped my fingers, "I remember that too! And us talking about it before we left, you mentioned Wally was going to be there, I thought it was a joint project between Bats and The Flash, but if we're a team it makes way more sense!"
"How do you know we don't work for my mentor?" Wally asked, poking his chest. His suit dramatically changed, fading back to the standard yellow from the emblem. "Woah," he breathed, repeatedly poking his chest, "this is so cool!"
We started prodding our own, looking for a change and Artemis sighed, placing her hands on her hips, "we look ridiculous!" She turned to Wally, who was utterly fascinated with this new concept, annoyed, "quit touching yourself!" I choked down a grin and slid my eyes over to Rob, who had the usual mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Artemis tossed her head in indignation, "we need our memories back!"
M'gann looked worried, and then her face split into one of determination, and I heard her voice in my head again, "to help Superboy."
Her eyes started to glow, and then I wasn't just in my body, I was in a crystal cavern with Dick, Artemis and Wally's minds with me. In the crystals were our faces, scenes I didn't remember playing out across their facets.
A tall, hooded figure comprised of white light appeared in front of us, speaking in M'gann's voice, "I've brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far. But I need your help," the white light drew in on itself, forming M'gann, "together our broken memories can form a whole, if you open your minds to mine."
Oh hell the fuck no. Artemis seemed to have much the same reaction, jerking away from M'gann, "you want to paw through our private thoughts?"
M'gann shook her head, holding her hands out in a placating gesture, "I have no wish to intrude, but-"
"You need to hack our minds to figure out what happened to us, got it, go!" Rob said, giving her finger guns.
"My brain's all yours," Wally said in the 'I'm trying really hard to be smooth' tone he adapted whenever he talked to cute girls, "try not to let it's brilliance overwhelm you."
"Or underwhelm you," Dick said with a roll of his eyes, and then suddenly his eyes lit up with a new thought, "hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"
Wally grabbed Artemis' hand, staring at her reassuringly. She sighed, "last six months only and only what you need!"
"Speak for your own damn selves," I hissed, "I sure as hell don't want anyone traipsing through my head!"
Rob stuck out his own hand, understanding written across his face, "c'mon, I'll be right here."
They all stared me down and I huffed in annoyance, joining hands with Dick, "I am so telling Selina you peer pressured me into having a Martian rifle through my brain." I harrumphed at the look of pure fear on his face, turning to M'gann, "same rules as Artemis."
She nodded and outstretched her arms, creepy blue hands made of energy coming forward to grasp our heads. And then I was taken on a crazy LSD trip of our conjoined memories. At first it was the joining of the team, Cadmus from Rob, Wally and I's perspective. Then every mission we'd ever been on, the addition of M'gann and then Artemis swooping in, all leading up to this mission in Bialya.
Bats stood in front of a holoscreen, a little clicker in his hand, the nerd. A map of Bialya with a blinking GPS marker came up, "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there." This was clearly from Rob's point of view, the other five of us seemingly next to him as the view changed to him looking at us sidelong. It was strange to see myself from his perspective, eyes bright and hair tumbling down from it's ponytail, wild and curly.
Batman clicked again, and the picture of a beautiful, dark haired and tanned skin woman appeared. "Bialya is a rogue state, ruled by Queen Bee and not a member of the League's UN charter. All communications are subject to interception, maintain radio silence at all times."
The view faded to one from a pair of binoculars and Bruce kept going like a voiceover, "you'll land in Qurac, on Bialya's border, two klicks from the Vatso."
"All clear!" Memory-Rob called and Superboy lugged a huge metal box down the ramp of the Bioship. Memories and points of view started to blur together, us staking out the Bialyan camp, Rob setting up some sort of strange system that unfolded from the box, Aqualad giving orders for M'gann to maintain telepathic contact as she investigated the tent. Aqualad, who we hadn't found, whose Atlantean biology made a desert the worst possible biome for him.
Oureyes snapped open and I felt myself return completely to my body, and we all looked at each other, stricken, "Aqualad!"
"Where is he?" Rob questioned M'gann, "what happened next?"
"I don't know!" M'gann said, utter distress painted across her face, "that's the last thing I- we remember!"
Artemis and Wally, seemingly recognizing the meaning of their interlocked hands detatched immediately and without subtlety. Wally scratched the back of his head, "we landed twenty-four hours ago. If Kaldur's been wandering the desert that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills."
I felt my heart wrench, and Rob pulled up a map on his wrist, "now that I know to look for him…" his eyes scanned the hologram, "he's close! He's not moving."
"We need to go find him, now." I said, tightening my ponytail and dusting the sand off my legs.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rob asked, taking off in whatever direction his map was pointing him. I followed a few inches behind, letting him lead. We dashed across sand dunes, diving out of sight when a few tanks drove past. Eventually I heard strange murmuring on the wind and took off ahead of Rob, rushing towards the noise.
It was Kaldur, blissfully hidden behind a large rock outcropping and calling out in Atlantean. I knelt by his side, feeling the rest of the Team come up behind me. Laying the back of my hand on his forehead, I noted that he was burning up. I scooped his head up into my lap, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.
"I can't restore his memories in this condition," M'gann said woefully, face downcast but still determined.
"He needs immediate rehydration, now." Rob said, "call the Bioship!"
"It's out of range," M'gann said, standing from her crouching position next to me to turn to Wally, "but you can get him there fast!"
Wally shook his head, "he's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel. Right now, I couldn't even carry her," he said, jabbing his thumb towards Artemis.
She swatted his hand away with a scoff, looking down at M'gann, "why not just levitate him back?"
"I can't," M'gann said earnestly, "I have to find Superboy! Six months ago he didn't exist, he has no memories, just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him."
"Superboy's indestructible," Wally disagreed, all wild hand gestures, "just ask those tanks! It's Aqualad who needs your help. Like, now!"
M'gann slammed her hands over her ears, clearly hearing something we weren't. Though the wind blew towards us and I caught the faint end of an animalistic scream through my earpieces. I felt my expression fall, and I turned to M'gann, "go find him and get back here as soon as possible."
She nodded flying off, and Rob called out into the sky, "wait! We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!"
Wally whipped to face me, "why would you tell her to go? And who made you leader?"
I regarded him coolly, slamming up every wall I ever made, "Kaldur's in trouble yes, but he's tough. Superboy will regain his memories, and he'll remember everything that's happened to him. Have you read up on Bialyan torture techniques Wally? Because I have, and I assure you they're not something you just walk away from."
He blinked and then paled, hands coming to awkwardly rest at his side. Averting his gaze, he cleared his throat, "no you're right. I forget sometimes, that you've seen so much more than me even though you're younger."
Artemis watched the exchange with curious eyes but I turned my attention back to Kaldur, who was still crying out. I almost lost it when I heard him call out for Tula, and then his mother. I ran my free hand through his hair like Selina had done for me once, trying to remember how to comfort him. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know Atlantean, so instead I just started talking to him in English, hoping that he had studied it for longer than six months. "Hey there Kaldur, it's Arabella. I know you don't remember any of us, but you remember Tula right? Tula, your best friend? The one you're in love with? You have to stay with us for her, okay? Remember how you told me about when you were ten and that stuck up kid in your class dared you to kiss her? Well you never get to concoct an evil plan to steal her back from Garth and do that again if you die in the middle of the Bialyan desert. Or eat ice cream again, you like that, remember?"
As I talked he quieted, and I paused rather abruptly when his head listed to the side, a low groan rumbling up from his throat. Artemis motioned frantically for me to keep going, and I swallowed and kept prattling on to him, talking about the dress Selina had bought me for an event coming up she was forcing me to go to, and how pretty it was but the heels made me want to cry, and about the choreography I was doing for Jessi and how he'd better not kick the bucket because he promised to come watch it, about the TV show Rob and I had just started and how good it was, but I thought the protagonist's boyfriend was a total asshole, and how proud Aquaman and his mom was going to be of him when we went home.
Eventually, his murmuring had stopped completely but he was so still I was starting to worry that he was dying. I looked up at Wally, "can you do a perimeter check for something we could carry him with? He needs to get back to the Bioship."
He nodded and zoomed off, leaving a spray of sand in his wake. I sighed, gently lowering Kaldur's head to the ground and standing. Artemis cast her gaze to the ground, "I just wish there was something we could do."
"We could radio the League," Dick suggested, eyebrows pinched together as he looked down at the Atlantean.
"Absolutely not," I said, "it'd get intercepted, and Queen Bee'd spin it into an international incident. Kaldur wouldn't want that, none of us do."
"You can't know that!" Artemis protested, hands on her hips, "he's dying, you can't speak for him!"
I raised my eyes to hers, keeping a cool composure, "he knew what he was getting into when he signed up to be Aqualad. He knew what he was getting into when he agreed to lead this team and he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to go on this mission despite his biology. We all know Kaldur, and he sure as hell wouldn't want to start a global conflict."
She looked exhausted all of the sudden, voice small and quiet, "why would they give us comms and tell us not to use them?"
I shared a look with Rob and he sighed, "they're a last resort. An absolute, last resort."
"Well Kaldur's awfully damn close to needing that last resort," Artemis sniped, the wind blowing her ponytail off her back.
A breeze and spray of sand accompanied Wally's return. He was holding a ragged piece of cloth and two long bits of wood. "I couldn't find much but I figured we could make a stretcher out of this?"
I looked up at what we had to work with, "much better than nothing, thank you, Kid."
He nodded and we set to work on the stretcher, wrapping the cloth around the poles and fastening it with bobby pins from my utility belt. Artemis shook her head, "I still can't believe you have bobby pins in there."
I shrugged, "Bats always said to bring everything you could ever need to a mission," I gestured to my hair, "the poof necessitates bobby pins."
"The poof?"
"It's her affectionate nickname for her hair," Rob called, not without humour, grabbing Kaldur under the arms, "you guys wanna help?"
He and Wally lifted Kaldur onto the stretcher as Artemis and I held it steady. Kaldur's breathing was even more laboured, and I couldn't tell if that, or the quiet, shallow breaths he had been taking when we found him were preferable.
Wally and Artemis took the front poles, bearing the majority of the weight and I brought up the rear, with Robin guiding us via his map, where a marker that denoted the Bioship was about two miles out, apparently. We trudged on, footsteps quiet and trying our damnedest not to disturb Kaldur.
The slow rumble of tanks on the move filled my ears and I paused, ears practically swivelling towards the sound and I gestured to Robin. He nodded, looking around and then pointing at a large rock outcropping, whisper-yelling, "quick over there!"
We crawled behind it as fast as we dared, soldiers bursting from the tanks. As we placed Kaldur down he groaned, setting off a string of mumbled Atlantean. He called out for Tula, and I only caught her name, Atlantis and the word for 'love'.
"Shh Kaldur," Artemis hushed him, "quiet now."
I risked a whispered sentence, kneeling to speak in his ear, "it's okay, you'll see her again."
Rob peered over the rock, and from the look on his face as he turned back to us he didn't like what he saw, "we can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KO'd like this."
Wally huffed, little pants interspersing his words, "it's not just him… I'm way outta juice."
"And I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis said worriedly, hand coming around to drag her quiver into sight.
I had to agree with them, my limbs ached, I had a splitting headache and there was no way I could concentrate in a physical altercation right now. I turned to relay this to Rob only to find him gone without a trace, a true testament to my tiredness that I didn't hear or feel him leave.
Kid groaned, "ugh I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing." Suddenly his eyes widened and then narrowed, "hey! You never said why your dad would want you to— me," he cut himself off by drawing a line across his throat and making a choking noise.
"She what?" I asked, utterly confused.
Her gaze slid to the side and I filed it away as one of her tells, "I got confused… by uh… some old movie I saw the other night?" She flicked her hand in dismissal, "'bout a ninja girl whose ninja dad ordered her to kill her ninja boyfriend 'cause he was from a rival ninja clan."
That had to be her worst lie yet but Wally was hung up on the end, "so," he said with a smirk, "I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?"
"Hey! She said sharply, "amnesia, remember? Completely forgot how truly annoying you are."
Their noses were inches apart and really wanted to A, yell at Dick for leaving me alone with them and B, be smote immediately by some compassionate god. Wally's eyes narrowed, "oh, like you're the goddess of congeniality!"
"Yeesh!" Rob hissed from where he had apparently magically appeared, "get a room!"
I threw my hands up in the air, "thank you! You know if you two are going to eye fuck and throw your weird sexual tension out everywhere don't do it in front of me."
Wally's cheeks coloured and he abruptly changed the subject, swatting Dick's knee, "dude! Where were you?!"
His eyes narrowed and the usual impish smirk curled its way across his face, "breaking radio silence."
He ducked behind the rock and I refrained from poking out my head as his signature laugh started to echo throughout the dunes. (Seriously, I swear he had that laugh registered with the Copyright Office.) Blinking, I realized he had used his communicator to lure away the soldiers.
Suddenly there was an explosion, sending sand and smoke flying everywhere. Rob turned to us, "that's our cue, move!"
We didn't hesitate, immediately grabbing Kaldur's stretcher and taking off into the dark.
It only took us fifteen minutes to arrive at the Bioship, and then we remembered that M'gann was the only one who could control it. Setting Kaldur down, we eyed the ship.
Wally sidled on over to it, resting his hands against the smooth metal, "uh, nice ship? Let us in?"
Artemis rolled her eyes, "it's not a dog Wally."
I narrowed my eyes, striding over to it, "that's fucking it." I started banging on the hatch, "let us the fuck in my friend isn't dying here to-fucking-day!" I ended with a swift kick to the door and to my utter shock, with low shudder the gangway came down, providing us with a ramp.
"Well," Robin drawled, "apparently if you yell, curse, and beat the shit out of it, it listens."
"Good enough for me," I hissed, picking up the back end of Kaldur's stretcher. "Help me carry him to the back, he needs fluids."
We dragged him to the cabin, setting him up on the medical slab, which was more like a massage chair with its padding and headrest. I made for the drawer containing the IV bags as Rob wheeled over the pump. I squirted hand sanitizer onto my palms, hoping it was enough to wash the sand away. "Let's just pray I remember how to insert an IV."
"Do you need me to do it?" Dick asked, propping Kaldur's head up.
I shook my head, but I threw him the bag containing the tubing, "will you take care of this though while I do the saline?"
He nodded, ripping into the plastic with his teeth. I took the saline bag out of it's wrapping, popping the cap off the spout. Rob handed me the spike, and I dug it into the saline with a plastic squeak, locking the tubing with a swipe of the dial and flipping the bag upside down.
Artemis watched as we worked in tandem, Rob hanging the bag upside down as I squeezed the little chamber to prime it and then let the fluid run through the tube, locking it again once the air bubbles disappeared. She peered over my shoulder, "where did you two learn how to do this?"
I snorted, "weekends at the Batcave growing up consisted of martial arts, language learning and courses in basic medical care. Rob does the best stitches but I'm better at finding veins."
"Speaking of," he said, handing me the freshly sterilized needle after playing around with the setting on the pump, "time to connect it."
I nodded, feeling the pressure as I cleaned Kaldur's arm and tied on a tourniquet. Turning my head to the side and grabbing an extra needle I called out to Rob, "hand me some lidocaine? I don't want him to wake up or move around while I'm putting the needle in."
The bottle appeared in my hand in seconds and drew a little out, and then injected the anesthetic into Kaldur's arm carefully. I grabbed the actual needle now, pausing to call over my shoulder, "I forgot to split some tape, mind doing that for me?"
"On it," he called back, and I focused on making this as easy and painless for Kaldur as possible. The whole ordeal felt too clinical, and I couldn't help but be slapped in the face with the realization that this was my teammate and friend on the table in front of me. Steadying my shaking hands, I slid the needle into the crook of his arm, the saline flush tube in my hand before I could ask for it.
I flushed out the catheter, then took away the flush tube and applied pressure immediately to prevent backflow as I screwed the tubing of the actual IV pump into the catheter, taping it down with the strips helpfully provided by Rob.
Looping the tube and taping that down, I let out a shaky breath as I realized I was done. I buried my face in my hands and steadied myself against the medical slab, taking three deep breaths. I felt an arm snake around my shoulders and Dick's voice sounded in my ear, "you did a good job."
I nodded into his shoulder, trying to shake off the adrenaline rush that was making my hands shake. I brought my face out of my hands and grabbed a medkit, dumping its contents on the counter. I gestured to it, "if you guys are hurt, there's bandages and antiseptic here." I blinked for a second before pointing to Wally's ankle. "You should wrap that, you might've sprained it when you tumbled earlier."
He grabbed a compression wrap and two painkillers, and I followed suit, hoping they'd kill my pounding headache. From there, I filled up the empty medkit with water and grabbed a rag, wetting it and moving back over to Kaldur to apply water from the outside. I cupped some in my hand and poured it over his gills, watching as they puckered in the presence of the liquid.
His skin peeled away in bits and pieces as I dragged the rag across it, trying to convince it to absorb some of the water. Biting my lip, I swiped the little balls of skin away as gently as possible. I made a mental note to give him some kind of painkiller because he was going to be burnt as hell.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt someone rubbing some kind of gel on my face. I looked up to find Rob standing there, fingers swiping across the bridge of my nose. He held up a clear bottle, "aloe vera, you always burn the worst here."
"Make sure you get the back of your neck and ears," I murmured, turning back to the task at hand. Dick, being the luckiest asshole ever, only ever burned there. Everything else just tanned while I turned as red as a lobster and then automatically faded back to porcelain white.
I considered taking some of the aloe vera for Kaldur's skin, but I figured he wouldn't appreciate me rubbing shit into his chest and arms, at least not whilst he was unconscious. Artemis came over, gently prying the rag from my hands, "let me take that for a minute. Why don't you go sit down and decompress?"
I followed her instructions, heading out to the Captain's room with the chairs where I had seen Dick disappear out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting quietly and I plopped down in the chair closest to his. Letting my head loll back towards the headrest, I closed my eyes. Sighing, I forced one open, "the amount I worry about whether you're dead or alive is going to drive me to an early grave."
He cracked a smile, "I feel your pain."
I reached to grab his hand, and I leaned back again, tiredness pulling at my weary limbs. I dozed off like that, in an uncomfortable chair with Dick tracing patterns across my hand.
BIALYA
September 5, 02:32 EEST
I woke up to M'gann's voice bounding through my head, "hey everybody! I've got Superboy, he's back to normal and we're on our way!"
I jumped ten feet in the air, especially as I heard what sounded like Kaldur shouting in the back. From the mindlink, the general sense I got was one of utter what the fuck on his end. I turned to Rob, rubbing my eyes, "how long did I sleep for?"
He smiled, a little softly, "only like twenty minutes. C'mon, let's go explain before Kaldur loses his mind."
M'gann's voice blew through my head again, "hello Megan! Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something."
"Aw man!" Kid called across the link, "me too! I didn't get a souvenir from the mission."
"Don't worry," M'gann said, sounding vaguely amused, "got the souvenir thing covered."
"Do we even want to know?" Rob asked as we made our way to the back. Kaldur had apparently been given his memories back, as an expression of fear was melting away into one of exhaustion and relief.
We walked over and I swallowed as I saw where his skin had peeled away and the dullness of his eyes. I paused a foot away from his slab, "how you feeling?"
"What's the expression? Like I've been run over by a truck?" He answered, peering at us from behind the hand that rested on his forehead.
I winced, "ooh, I can sympathize. Do you need anything?"
He shook his head, "I believe I'll feel better with rest." Suddenly he smiled, "I have to thank the two of you though. Artemis told me you provided me with medical attention."
Rob shrugged, "no big deal. Nice to see you alive and kicking, you had us worried for a minute there."
Kaldur shook his head fondly, "nonetheless, it's appreciated. Will we be heading back to the Cave soon then?"
"As soon as Supey and M'gann get here," Wally assured, typing away at what I assumed was the record for this mission. As per League standards, either before or after debriefing one of us needed to type up a log for the League's database. We took turns going in order of age, and apparently Kid was stuck with it today.
Suddenly a loud bang sounded from the other room and a strange whirring and rolling noise accompanied it. Superboy and M'gann burst into the room, alongside some kind of giant metal ball with a strange marking in the center. It appeared to be moving autonomously and I decided I had seen enough weird shit today.
I leaned against Rob, tiredness hitting in waves as M'gann explained how she found Superboy and they defeated Psimon, the psychic who had wiped our minds and how this ball, which Superboy called 'Sphere', had helped and how we were keeping it as per his request. Kaldur said something vaguely leader-y along the lines of 'good job out there' and I nodded, double-checked that he was okay, brought him a new bag of saline and then went back to the Captain's room to go pass out.
Sinking into the nearest chair, I mumbled a thank-you to M'gann as it stretched out beneath me to become something like a reclined seat in a car. I thought of Kaldur in the back, and the little knot in my stomach tightened. Logically, I knew that what happened to him was hardly my fault, but I still couldn't shake the feeling. Dick would probably say it was a side-effect of my martyr complex, and the boy in question slipped into the room. Sitting in the chair next to mine, he spun it to face me, "you're feeling guilty."
I looked up at him with tired eyes, "I didn't say anything."
"No, but the look on your face says everything. Spill."
I sighed, speaking quietly, "I just… maybe if I had agreed with you guys on bringing Kaldur here first he wouldn't be so hurt."
"And maybe Superboy'd be really injured, or scarred for life. There's always a trade-off, you know that. You can't torture yourself with what-ifs, besides we all know there's no way we could have stopped M'gann. She was hellbent on finding him."
I frowned, "I know it doesn't make sense, it's just how I feel."
He nodded, "and that's okay. But for what it's worth, Bat's would have done the same thing."
My voice was even smaller this time, "is that really good though?"
We both went quiet. Bruce and his decision-making skills was an infrequent topic in our conversations, but we shared the same opinion. He could be too harsh, too clinical. Rob's hand came to rest on my back, "yes, because you two would have made the same decision for different reasons. He would have wanted the manpower, and you did it because you knew he was in pain."
I relaxed into the chair, darkness pulling at me again, "I heard him screaming on the wind. That's what pushed me over."
The last thing I saw before fading into sleep was his face, an expression I couldn't identify drawn across it. He almost looked… sad, and I tried to offer him a sleepy smile.
MOUNT JUSTICE
September 5, 06:38 EST
I sighed, padding down the hall leading towards our bedrooms at the Cave. We had all been debriefed and Kaldur had been moved to the med bay for the time being, hooked up to another IV by Red Tornado. For the time being however, I had something I had to do.
I came up to Artemis' door, knocking lightly. I heard her feet padding towards me, and then said door swung open. She was in civvies, but nothing you would wear to bed. Most surprisingly though, her hair was down, falling around her face in a golden curtain. She looked a little paranoid, "yes?"
I gestured to her room, "can I come in?"
She nodded, opening the door a little wider and stepping away so I could walk inside. I closed the door behind me with a soft click and found her sitting against her headboard, legs drawn up. It was a defensive position, so I sat at the end of her bed, one leg draping over the side and the other bent like I was sitting criss-cross. I tried to appear as open and warm as humanly possible. "So. Couldn't help but notice you and Wally had a moment earlier."
Her cheeks flushed, "it's nothing like what you're thinking."
I shook my head, "that's not what I was talking about. He said something about your dad and you killing him? And don't blame it on some stupid ninja movie, you had amnesia, you weren't incapable of separating reality from fantasy."
She looked scared. So ungodly terrified that it hurt to know I was the one bringing it about. I spoke a little quieter, "I don't know what's wrong, but I think of you as a friend Artemis. I'd never judge you, I just want to help. But I'm drawing the line at mentions of murder." She didn't look convinced, wary with muscles drawn tight, like she was going to sprint away any second. I sighed, making up my mind. "When I was born, my mom left as soon as she could. She knew if anyone found out she had a daughter, it'd draw the biggest target imaginable on my back. So she left, and I grew up being told she had died during childbirth, and when I was five my father was killed by a local gang because he was behind on payments to them. I went across the hall to my neighbour and she found me covered in his blood and crying."
Artemis' eyes were wide, "A-Arabella-"
I cut her off by continuing, "I was brought to an orphanage and then I was placed in the foster system. My first family sent me back after the first few months and after that I was shuffled from family to family until I ran away when I was seven. After that, I lived on the street. The first few months were pretty shitty, but an older girl kind of took me in, and we stayed like that for a really long time. We were pickpockets and petty thieves, and our lives kind of sucked but we had each other. Her name was Carla." I let out a long, shaky breath, "then we got stupid. Too comfortable, too confident. We tried to steal from a really notorious gang, with Carla as the distraction. We got found out and she got shot as we were running away. She died that night, and the police found us and dragged me kicking and screaming away from her body, after that they put me back in the foster system."
I kept going, telling her every little detail about Rick and my escape, how I met Rob, how he and Bats saved my life and how Selina found me. By the end, she was slack-jawed, all the obvious discomfort gone from her body language. I offered her a little smile, "now you've unlocked my tragic backstory, any way I could get yours?"
Her mouth pressed into a tight line, and then she averted her eyes. Sighing she curled back into herself, "my dad's name is Lawrence Crock, but you know him better as Sportsmaster. My mom's name is Paula Nguyen-Crock, and her alias was Huntress."
I blinked, trying to absorb the new information. I immediately ran over everything I knew about the two names in my head. Huntress was vaguely unfamiliar, but I had heard the name before. Sportsmaster however, was very very familiar. Suddenly I saw it, they had the same colour hair, the same cheekbones and sharp jaw. I instantly wanted more information, "you said your mother was Huntress?"
She nodded, looking back at me, "she took the fall for my dad a good while back. She became a paraplegic, went to jail for six years and when she came back she went on the straight and narrow, told my dad to get the hell out of dodge and never looked back." She went on and on, telling me about her sister Jade, A.K.A Cheshire, the assassin we had run into when we were protecting Serling Roquette. That she let her get away so she wouldn't tell us who Artemis really was. How her dad had forced them to train since they could curl their fingers around a weapon, had forced them to fight each other and whoever lost was punished. How he had tried to train and beat the 'weakness' out of them, how he had spiralled after Paula was caught, how he'd become even more abusive and how Jade had run away soon after. After that he'd started leaving Artemis in the apartment for weeks and then months alone on end for 'business trips', and by the time Paula had come home Lawrence more or less just ghosted in and out, leaving checks for food, clothing, the rent, and bills.
The words poured out of her in a constant stream and I realized she had probably been dying to tell someone, anyone. Eventually she trailed off, breathing in shaky little gasps and despite myself I launched across the bed and wrapped my arms around her. I tried to shove all the affection and love she had missed out on into the hug, "I'm sorry."
Her voice cracked when she spoke, "you don't hate me? You haven't stopped… trusting me?"
I tightened my grip, "all you've ever shown me are reasons to trust you, Artemis. Even when you had no idea who we were you had our backs in Bialya, and that means a fuck ton. You're not your parents, and it isn't anyone's place to judge you for who they are or what they did, or for anything you did as a kid when that was all you knew." She made a weird little choking noise, and I realized she was holding back a sob. I pulled away, looking her dead in the eye, "it's okay to cry you know."
Her entire face crumpled, and then she did, breaking down completely in front of me as I rubbed circles onto her palm. Suddenly everything about her made sense, like I had been looking at her through frosted glass and now she was in perfect focus. The defensiveness, the isolation, the lies, the way she shoved down her emotions and hid behind a façade of cool sarcasm. I related to her so much it made my heart break, for wildly different reasons but the end result was the same. So I held her hand as she cried and I swore I'd help her the way I had been helped.
Eventually her sobs quieted to little sniffles and she looked nervous again, "promise not to tell anyone? I know I really, really should but I'm not ready. I just keep seeing everyone's faces and I- I can't."
I nodded, "I won't tell a soul, I promise."
Her eyes were the most vulnerable I'd ever seen them, "not even Robin?"
I blinked, realizing that for pretty much the first time ever I had a secret I couldn't tell Dick. "Not even Robin, but he's not an idiot, and he's definitely caught on by now that you're not telling the whole truth, and he might go looking for the answers on his own."
She looked instantly paralyzed by fear, "he wouldn't tell anyone would he?"
I shook my head vehemently, "no, never. Well, maybe Batman if he thought he didn't know but I'm assuming he does, given that you were allowed on the Team."
She looked instantly relieved, "he knows, the entire League does."
"Then you have nothing to worry about. Rob's an ass sometimes but he's the absolute best person to tell your secrets. You can wait to tell everyone when you're ready, even if you're never ready."
She nodded, "when I'm ready."
Sweet baby Jesus this chapter. Admittedly a little easier than the other one, but I had such a hard time with the pacing and I still don't know if it feels really awkward. But I'm mildly proud of it, pretty sure it's one of my longest chapters yet, so I packaged it in with Downtime because that was so short. But, I'm working on the next chapter right now, and it should be up at least by next Sunday, if not feel free to yell at me I deserve it. Happy Mother's Day to any moms who might be reading this and just a general happy Mother's Day to everyone. See you next time!
