A/N: "Because the last time you saw me is still burned in the back of your mind. You gave me roses, and I left them there to die." ~ 'Back to December', Taylor Swift.
Paying more tribute to my muse. Anyways, sorry for the delay on this one, had to wrap up my other stories then get back to this. Also, sorry if this one's a bit more choppy, but if I let it flow too good, it'd be… strange. Thoughts through mental link are in italics.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice nor any associated characters. Everything belongs to DC Comics. Quote belongs to Taylor Swift.
The Last Time I Saw You
Wally put Artemis down, knowing the others would take another minute to get here. His eyes turned on her expectantly as the two crouched behind bushes outside the facility. "We need to talk."
"Wa-"
"You killed Kaldur, you didn't return my calls, and we've danced more than once in the field. We're going to talk." His voice was solid; this was a fight he wasn't backing down from. He wanted his answers and he was damn well ready to get them. She wasn't getting away with this; Artemis wasn't going to escape him again. He was nearly the fastest man alive and she was always getting away. How that happened, he had no idea.
"Wally, I love you, I do, but we've got a mission and teammates so this discussion will have to wait, seriously." She had put two fingers to his lips and hissed out the words like a cobra, venom in her voice. "Shut up or I'll kill you, cool beans?"
He knew her just a little too well. He shut up. But Wally's heart continued to thump in his chest with the sound of a big bass drum. He'd heard her say the first part. Yeah, she'd threatened to kill him, but that was a normal thing nowadays. Everyone was always threatening someone.
Red Arrow dropped in through the trees as M'gann landed; Superboy took up his mark, blazing blue orbs finding their target before firing off red-hot lasers at the building, ice instantly melting into water that rushed down the sides of the building, his dark form floating in the air like a black ghost. "Show time, ladies," breathed Roy as he nocked an arrow and led the way out of the bushes, moonlight washing over his crimson costume as he moved forth to flush out the baddies, Artemis at his side as the Kryptonian had instructed. No one was stupid enough to argue with Superboy.
Wally was out of the bushes and into the building faster than all of them; he was just a blur that disappeared inside, a flash of yellow in a tight costume, no name, no emotion, just a mission. The redhead quickly set to work in trying to find Cassie as instructed. They'd need Wonder Girl if she were still conscious and active.
M'gann's telepathic range cast out into her surroundings. She felt the link between teammates, her mind connecting with Conner's first as was only natural; Artemis came online second, Roy soon after her; Wally was last and all she could feel from him was a desperate need to find Wonder Girl. Everyone online?
If Artemis doesn't kill one of us first. It was obviously Roy.
If it were possible to give mental slaps, Roy would've gotten one from Wally. A scolding came from Superboy with words that Megan didn't want to repeat, not even in her head. She wasn't sure why there was so much bad blood here. Wally didn't want to try. Roy was being a pain in the ass, to say the least. Artemis was putting forth the effort, but that was useless since she was always being pushed back by her fellow archer. Superboy and herself seemed to be the only two with their heads on straight.
Eyes on the prize, reminded Conner gently, his gaze still frying the building's frozen hull. Captain Cold, then Robin.
Bloody images of Robin flooded through the minds of the newly reformed team. Bullets whistling past his face, blue eyes shining through the domino mask with fear, blood, blood, oh the blood, a limp child in the cold hands of death, ice everywhere, so much blood... so much blood...
Pull it together, reminded Miss Martian, doing her best to block those thoughts in her own mind. With the war and thoughts going on through so many of her people's minds, this wasn't anything new to her. War was war and blood and death was a factor in it. She knew the pain the Boy Wonder must be suffering as much as they did, but she didn't have to think about it. There was a mission; their priorities had to be straight or else the whole thing would be for nothing. Focus.
Thoughts of bows and corridors and heat filled their minds again like a song that belonged there. Sure, it wasn't the teen thoughts M'gann was used to, but it was better than Roy's harping and the bloody images of their little bird.
Found Cassie. The image of the girl frozen in ice came through the link, the path that the speedster had traveled being specifically sent to Red Arrow and Artemis; the two quickly changed their course. Wally took a moment to observe the frozen girl, her lasso frozen solid, her facial expression one of sheer horror, her body, well-
Wally! It was that familiar voice with that familiar irritated ring to it that made his heart shudder a little bit. You're such a pervert! And he knew he was still in love with the damn archer.
Take care of it, Wally, came Roy's instructions as he ran alongside of the blonde whose face had turned disgusted in a heartbeat, possibly less. We need her help. Although he didn't want to admit it, Red Arrow was pretty sure that whatever had happened before with his two teammates hadn't ended yet.
Wally was already running. On it.He was so glad they had the mental link.
Megan's range caught three more minds. Barbara was nearby. Near Wally, she could tell. Artemis and Red Arrow were on their way over there; they'd help her. Then another mind was linked up. All it was thinking was Pizza with rutabaga, pizza with rutabaga, pizza with rutabaga. Beast Boy was alive. From the sound of it, Miss Martian assumed that Wally was right: the shapeshifter had gone into the wrong body and drifted into hibernation. She could sense a dreamlike quality to his thoughts.
A bit further out was Tula. She was still in the building, cursing as something or someone with foul words in her native language, the words unable to be translated by the Martian girl who was hearing them. She was from Mars, not Atlantis.
One of the two problems could be solved simply by sending a command. M'gann fired off something like a mind-bullet that jolted Beast Boy awake, his head suddenly back in the game after three days of sleep. Find Captain Cold, instructed the White Martian to green-skinned boy, her command fierce and focused. There was no argument from the other end.
Tula, on the other hand, would be a bit harder to deal with.
Artemis and Roy made their way past Wally who had melted Cassie only a little bit, water trickling down the rest of the ice like a pitiful waterfall. The redhead fired off his shot, a wire attached. The arrow met its mark. "Come on." Without hesitating, the older grabbed the blonde by the waist and held her close to his chest while the grip that had been sealed into his quiver and attached to the other end of the wire was pulled out; Roy clasped the grip and allowed it to reel them up into the rafters where they could faintly make out the purple outline of a bloodied Batgirl.
Coming in, informed Superboy, floating in to join the red-haired girl that was floating just inside the doorway. "What's the status?" he asked, hanging in the air beside her and resisting the urge to reach for her hand.
"Beast Boy has been taken care of, Aqualass is still questionable, Wonder Girl is semi-melted, and Batgirl's status is in the works," said Megan, managing to listen to all the minds around her as if they were one working body, a machine, almost. She didn't even need to ask. "Everything is going smoothly for now." Even she wasn't going to assume that this would go perfectly. It never did. Even recon missions went badly for them back when they had had more experience in the field.
"Then let's go find Aqualass." He took the lead, taking the instructions that she fed him as the two soared down halls and corridors in search of their quarry.
"Wow," remarked Roy with a wince at the sight of Batgirl's blue and black leg, crimson staining her costume. Frozen crimson. "That's really bad." He had an arrow in his bow, strung and ready for any sudden movements that should reveal the location of a minion. He wasn't taking any chances. Not with Robin already on the line.
"Fifth pouch to the right," instructed Batgirl as the green-clad archer began to mend wounds that the redhead knew wouldn't heal. "It's not as painful as it looks. The ice numbed it, I guess. Froze my blood." The bat elicited a sad laugh. "Can't die. I drink the melting water, food in my belt. It could be worse." She gave a weak shrug and winced as Artemis moved her a little bit to get to the said medical supplies.
"In my quiver, I have a flare. Grab that," instructed the blonde to Roy. "If you can take the tip off of one of my arrows and put some of the flare's lighter fluid on that, you can use the trigger mechanism to start a little fire and use that like a giant match." Artemis pulled out a gauze wrap and an array of disinfectants and painkillers in small bottles and tubes. How Batman managed to fit so much worthless stuff into those belts, the world may never know.
"Resourceful," muttered Barbara with a weak smile. "I always did like that about you, Arty."
Roy, grudgingly, did as was instructed, the flare pulling apart quickly as an arrow tip came off and his own bow was put down.
And Cassie is good to go! Wally caught the falling demi-goddess in his arms as her icy cocoon fell away to reveal her form as glowing as ever. She was shaken out of her stupor with surprising vigor, her eyes widening at the sight of finding herself falling into the arms of the ginger speedster. He wasn't even a hero anymore! How had he ended up on this mis-
"Captain Cold," instructed Wally with a brief nod, only to see her return that nod and head off to take care of her business. Taken care of, what's next?
Two out of five, replied M'gann as she and Superboy hovered just outside a doorway while watching Tula sitting tied to a chair with ice all around her, her breath coming out in puffs of white smoke. Guards stood around her, all dressed like Eskimos in Alaska. It only took a moment for Superboy's heat vision set the room sizzling and send the men fleeing, all of them being whisked into an open box that Miss Martian had placed in front of the only other open doorway. Her telepathy closed the box, screams of terrified men coming from within. Conner was quickly down untying Tula's bonds. Three down.
Two to go, finished Roy as he melted the icicle that had driven into the leg of the female gymnast. "Have you heard from Robin?" asked the archer as he waved the burning shafts near the ice and watched beads of water drip down it.
"Our comms died yesterday," breathed Batgirl as pain shot through her. Artemis was careful wiping up the freshest of the blood. The redhead knew this wasn't going to work. She wouldn't be able to walk, she wouldn't be able to be Batgirl, this whole thing would be over for her just because of this one stupid mission, the Olympics down the toilet, all her dreams tossed into the wind... "I haven't heard from him."
There was a pause. Artemis even stopped working. The same thing was on everyone's minds. We just got the message earlier tonight. Artemis was the first to react to this.
He said three days, added Wally, the seriousness of this situation finally dawning on him.
And that they had communications at the time the message was sent. Megan was doing her slow and painful calculations.
Roy swallowed hard. That means it could've been sent as early as-
No one wanted to finish that.
How's Batgirl? came Conner's voice through the link, trying to keep a cool head like Kaldur would. He wished Kaldur were there so badly... He would always know what to do... Kaldur knew how to fix everything...
This is really bad. Artemis sent a few images of the wound to the rest of the crew. We need to call the League in for this because I can't fix this. It's too big. Too much blood if we melt it much farther. Batgirl needs serious medical attention, stat.
But Rob, whimpered Wally through the link, not wanting to call in the League and deal with that confrontation now. What if Cassie or Gar came back and-
Two separate missions, reminded Superboy, making his way to the front of the building once more with M'gann close behind, his ever loyal follower in mind and spirit. We have to put Robin second. Someone call the local hospital.
Roy handed the flare to Artemis. "How do you explain this to the local law?" he asked with a heavy sigh as Batgirl gave a little moan, her leg regaining some feeling as the ice melted away into droplets of water. Like tears.
"Tell them, don't explain. Girl in the rafters, bring a firetruck, hurry your asses up and here are our coordinates, it's Justice League business, chop chop or else Batman'll kill you," said the female archer in her blunt, yet effective manner. Artemis continued to wave the flare as it burned down further and further on the arrow's shaft. "Try not to think too hard, Arrowboy."
He hissed and pulled out his cellphone.
Sirens were wailing within a few seconds and the five, not heroes but something damn close, stood there with the icy building behind them, one White Martian giving instructions to where the broken girl was being sheltered before rejoining the rebuilt team. "She's been taken care of," breathed Megan with a slightly relaxed sigh.
"Robin time," said the ginger speedster, jade eyes flicking around to the array of faces that bore worried and hopeful expressions.
"Let's go." Superboy clasped Roy's wrist as the archer did the same.
Artemis wasted no time in moving to her redhead and letting him once more scoop her up in his arms and carry her to their destination. Wally was off in a blur.
Megan stayed close behind Superboy, her mind trying to keep happy thoughts going. Happy thoughts. She could only think happy thoughts...
A/N: I know there was one awkward part where Artemis and Roy were going up to Batgirl with the grip and wire and stuff. Generally, it's a grappling hook, but arrow-style. I had a hard time writing that. Also, I don't know the personalities of Aqualass or Wonder Girl, so I was avoiding writing them. Beast Boy, I'm using the Titans version as my basis. Anyways, sorry if any of the three feel OOC to you. I'm not very savvy in the comic world ^.^'
Reviews are good, feedback is better, and chocolate cake is love!
~Sky
P.S. This is now a four-shot.
