Chapter 4: An Old Enemy and New Hope
Artemis had never been to Oa before, much less seen the Sciencells. She had to keep reminding herself to stop gawking around like a tourist, even if it seemed they were walking in a green alien equivalent of the Grand Canyon. They were walking in a loose group. Batman and Adam Strange were in the front with Blue Beetle walking next in the middle. Artemis walked beside Nightwing in the rear. The lantern escorting Alpha squad had just finished explaining how the Sciencells had been built by the Guardians of the Galaxy to house the most dangerous criminals while they await trial. Really, the whole place reminded her of a gigantic green beehive, but instead of a towering wall of hexagons, the individual cells resembled the symbol on the lantern rings. Even the way the lantern guards were flying about on patrols gave her the distinct impression of bees doing various duties in a hive.
"This way to the prisoner," stated their lantern guide. He gestured to a floating platform hovering in front of them along a wall of cells. Once the group stepped onto the platform, it began to rise. The lantern flew in his own green aura beside them, keeping level with the platform. Artemis lost count of how many cells they passed after the first dozen or so. If she didn't have so much experience with tall buildings, she might even be nervous about the platform having no safety rail. She chose to focus on the task at hand. Soon she would be face to face with one of the ones most responsible for Wally's death. For him sacrificing himself to save the world. For him missing out on living the rest of his life with her and… She forced herself to stop going down that road in her mind again. It wouldn't help to face the alien woman while fighting back her own tears. Artemis didn't even know how she was going to react, but she knew that she wanted to be ready for anything.
The platform finally came to a rest. Their escort raised his closed fist towards the green dome of energy that comprised the door of the cell. A ray of green energy emerged from his ring forming a bond between the lantern and the door. Artemis could feel the pulsing of the energy passing between the two devices, almost like a key being slowly slid into a lock. After a few moments of communication, the door accepted their guide's credentials, and the energy that made up the door dissolved.
The lantern was first through the door, but the rest of the group soon followed. As Artemis entered the small room, she realized that the door she passed through was only a door to an antechamber of the real holding cell. Their lantern waited until everyone had entered. Instead of opening the inner door, he turned to close the outer door.
"Protocol says that only one door to a cell may be open at any time," he explained. "This one has to close before we can go any further."
Artemis understood the airlock-style security features, but they were grating on her nerves. She was ready to get this confrontation over with. After closing the outer door, the lantern moved to the inner door of the cell and formed a second energy cable to unlock their next obstacle.
When the inner door dissolved, Artemis saw the Reach scientist. She still had that smug sneer on her face as she sat behind a table made of the same green energy as the doors.
"Good afternoon," she hissed with a nod of her head. "Or whatever time of day it is on this accursed rock. How can I help you? And by that I mean, what can I do to remove you from my presence as soon as possible?" The group filed into the room. "You bring the Reach's greatest failure on Earth as well?" she remarked when Blue Beetle walked in. "As a scientist, I am intrigued. What set of circumstances could possibly bring you here?"
Batman growled, "Tell us everything you know about the magnetic field disruptors." The dark knight added one of his menacing glares to the end of his demand.
To her credit, the Reach scientist only flinched for a moment. "That might take a great deal of time," she mentioned. "I know much about the disruptors. Perhaps you can be more specific."
Adam Strange stepped in to confront the alien woman. "For some reason, the disruptors took down the zeta-shield protecting Earth. We want to know how it happened and how to prevent it from happening again," he explained.
Artemis saw the Reach scientist's mind grasp the problem and begin formulating theories. She said, "What do you mean, the zeta-shield fell because of the magnetic field disruptors? The disruptors do use zeta-beam technology to begin a colossal magnetic storm, but at least one of them would have had to have made it to the chrysalis stage to build enough momentum to affect something like that." Her eyes narrowed. "That obviously didn't happen, otherwise Earth would be gone, and we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Rage took over Artemis's actions. "Wrong!" she shouted. "Kid Flash gave his life to stop your bombs after they had activated!" She grabbed the Reach woman and used her forearm to pin her neck to the cell wall. "They ran until all the energy got siphoned off! He was too good of a person to let you win!"
Batman and Nightwing pulled Artemis from the woman. She slumped to the floor gasping for breath. Artemis let them pull her away. Crushing the woman's windpipe wouldn't bring Wally back.
"I see," the scientist rasped. Triumph shown in her features. "The high level of kinetic energy interacted with the disruptor and the zeta-shield. Thank you, Tigress. You have given me an important bargaining chip."
Artemis felt her anger rising again. She was going to thrash the bitch and screw the consequences.
Nightwing held her shoulder tighter. "Not here," he insisted. "Don't fall for her digs. It isn't what he would have wanted. It's not worth it. Come on, Artemis," he whispered.
Her friend's words were enough that Artemis was able to reclaim a semblance of control.
The Reach scientist looked to the lantern observing the proceedings. "Bring me a holoscreen and a computer so I can check my theory," she demanded. She turned back to the heroes. "Now we can discuss my price," she sneered.
Batman stepped in himself to intimidate the woman. "Do you think anything you have to say is enough to buy you your freedom? No deal. Give us the information now!" he roared.
The list of people that had faced a threat like that from the dark knight without folding was small. That day, it gained a new entry. "Is all Earth meat as arrogant as you?" the woman mocked. "After our failure, I am subject to death should I ever encounter another force from the Reach empire. No, what I want to bargain for isn't my freedom. I want to trade my knowledge for something else entirely. I will reveal everything I know to help you in exchange for two conditions. First, I get permission and equipment to continue my research within reason while in Guardian custody. I can make many breakthroughs without the results I was looking for on Earth," she explained. "Second, you do everything in your power to make that fool ambassador and the former Black Beetle suffer to their dying breaths."
The scientist's cruelty chilled Artemis to her core. What kind of warped soul would want that?
Batman glanced at their lantern escort. "Done," he agreed.
"Excellent," the scientist purred. "I have to do some calculations to confirm my suspicions, but I believe that the zeta-shield was damaged in a rogue zeta-transmission."
"What are you talking about, a rogue transmission? The zeta-shield prevents all zeta-transmissions from outside Earth," Strange questioned. "I built the shield myself with help from Rannian technology."
"Not only does your shield prevent zeta-transmissions to Earth from off-world, but it should also prevent transmissions from Earth," the scientist replied. "But no reasonable system is equipped to handle an unstable zeta-transmission boosted by such a high degree of kinetic energy."
A surge of hope flooded through Artemis. "Wait, are you saying that the zeta-shield failed because something crashed into it hard enough to break the whole system?!" she demanded.
The scientist turned her attention to Artemis. "An overly simplistic way to phrase the process, but yes," she answered. "Something moving with a high enough kinetic energy to affect the Reach disruptor could have broken the zeta-shield if the disruptor imparted enough zeta-beams to go to critical levels. Basically, your agent moving fast enough to siphon off the zeta-beams from the disruptor would have been enough to send him on a rogue zeta-transmission that had enough force to disable the zeta-shield. At least in theory." The look of triumph returned to her face.
"You mean our friend might be alive out there wherever he got zapped to?" asked Nightwing.
"I won't be able to confirm my suspicions until someone brings me my equipment," she replied. She glared at the lantern as he began a message to his superiors.
Nightwing glanced at Blue Beetle with a questioning eye.
"The scarab can't find anything to say that she's lying, ese," said Blue Beetle, "but science this deep isn't its specialty either."
Nightwing nodded in understanding and gratitude to their friend.
"Nightwing, take Tigress and report back to the Watchtower," commanded Batman. "We will finish in here."
Adam Strange and the Reach scientist started to discuss the mathematics and physics behind the theory. Artemis didn't pay much attention to them. She was still caught on the glimmer of hope shining through the shadows that had captured her heart. Wally could still be out there somewhere. Somewhere that she could rescue him.
She allowed Nightwing to lead her out of the inner cell. It was clear that Batman had been trying to give them both a chance to compose themselves. The possibility of bringing Wally back was enough to charge every fiber of her body and paralyze her at the same time. She knew that Dick was having the same trouble. There was a new fire in his eyes. He had a direction to go now. They were going to bring Dick's best friend and the love of her life home again.
~break~
A second Green Lantern had finally made it to lead them to the administrative offices, this time a female lantern with bright golden skin. Artemis's alien physiology was a little rusty, but she wanted to say she was from one of the Graxos planets. Artemis was glad that she had finally arrived. The Sciencells housing the criminals were not designed to hold groups of people for extended periods.
The two heroes walked far enough behind the lantern to give their conversation the illusion of privacy. Artemis kept rubbing her eyes trying to conceal her emotions. "How are you holding up?" questioned Nightwing in a whisper, one of his arms around her shoulders.
"It's…it just doesn't seem real yet," she answered after a moment. "I keep waiting for myself to wake up. To realize that this isn't real. It's just a dream. I don't know if I can take it to get my hopes so high only to have them crash down when reality comes back."
Nightwing nodded. She knew he was feeling much the same way. He said, "We're going to find him Artemis, no matter what it takes. I won't stop looking. Ever."
She nodded in agreement and gave him a squeeze before letting go. "We should get a message to Kaldur as soon as we can," said Artemis. "The Team will all want to be in on this. And Nightwing…" He was Wally's best friend in the world. She knew that she should tell him… but… not here. "Um…"
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Never mind, it's nothing. I'm due for a trip back to Palo Alto once we get back. We can talk later," she explained, ignoring Nightwing's concern.
"Are you sure?" he pressed.
"Yeah. Totally," she lied. "Now is not the time." She knew that she hadn't convinced her friend, but he decided not to push any harder. She berated herself for putting off revealing her secret again. It's not like everyone isn't going to find out soon, she thought. "Listen, swing by my place tonight. I'll make dinner, just like old times. See if Barbara can come."
The pair came to a stop outside the administrative offices.
"Sure, I'll be there," Nightwing answered. "Looks like we're here. Let's talk to Kaldur."