A/N: For the sake of the story, let's just say that Wally doesn't know Robin's secret identity when this story takes place, okay?
I do not own Young Justice or Frozen, I'm just borrowing the characters and ideas.
While searching the city for Cameron, Artemis learned quite a bit about Wally. For one thing, he really liked to talk...a lot. And he had plenty of time to do so, because wandering around Star City aimlessly was taking longer than Artemis had thought it would. At this rate, Artemis was beginning to wonder if they would find Cameron. After all, they had no idea where he went, and Star City was a big place. He could be anywhere.
"Alright, this isn't working." Artemis stopped after nearly half an hour of walking around and leaned against the closest building. "We've got to think of a plan here, because what we've been doing is getting us nowhere."
"Well, there's not much else we can do." Wally pointed out. "Unless you know where your friend is, searching is the best chance we've got."
Artemis crossed her arms and glared at Wally. "I already told you, I wouldn't have to look for him if I knew where he was!" Artemis forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down. Getting mad and fighting with Wally wouldn't do any good now. "Look, why don't we just split up? We'll cover twice as much ground that way."
"Are you crazy? No way!" Wally's eyes went wide at the suggestion. "I don't care how much faster we'll go, it's too dangerous."
"Dangerous? Look around." Artemis spread her arms and indicated the empty streets. "Nothing and nobody is around. Why would it be dangerous?"
"Trust me, these days, danger is everywhere." Wally's voice was low and serious, which made Artemis listen to what he was saying. "No matter how safe it looks, there's no telling what lurks just out of sight. So, no we're not splitting up." Having said the final word on the matter, Wally began their search again. Artemis rolled her eyes and begrudgingly followed behind him.
"Besides," Wally continued. "I don't know your friend, so I wouldn't even know him if I found him."
Artemis scowled and was just about to inform Wally that, considering Cameron had such a unique skin tone and nearly white hair, it would be nearly impossible to not recognize him immediately. Before Artemis could say anything though, she froze, her head snapped toward a nearby ally. Part of Artemis' training was making sure she was aware of her surrounding, and she was positive that she had heard something. Based on how tense Wally was as he looked toward the same ally, he had heard something too.
"Not good." Wally muttered as a three guys came striding out of the ally, and all of them looked like they were ready for a fight. Wally swore under his breath, grabbed Artemis' hand, and turned to run in the other direction...only to find their way blocked by an addition six guys.
They were surrounded.
Artemis snatched her hand away from Wally's and took a battle stance. It looked like Wally had been right after all about these streets being more dangerous than they seemed. Artemis guessed that these guys were little more than muggers, or possibly a small gang. Guys who, while not exactly villains who worked for The Light, took advantage of the fear and chaos to get what they wanted.
Well, whatever it is they wanted, if they thought they would be getting it from her and Wally, they had another thing coming. Artemis knew a thing or two about defending herself, even without her bow.
What surprised Artemis was that Wally seemed as prepared for a fight as she was. He didn't look happy about what they both knew was coming, but he was ready for it. This struck Artemis as odd, because Wally West did not seem like the type of person who knew how to fight. Then again, if he had a habit of walking around the streets after dark, it made sense that he would know at least something about defending himself.
One of the punks made the first move. He came at Artemis, a switchblade in his hand. His movements were predictable though, and it was all too easy for Artemis to sidestep out of the way and knock him to the ground. A couple more guys came at her, probably thinking that they could overpower her easily since they outnumbered her. Unfortunately for them, they also underestimated her, which was a terrible mistake on their part, one which resulted bloody noses and a handful of knocked out teeth.
Wally was doing his fair amount of fighting too. From what Artemis could tell from spare glances she cast his way, Wally seemed to be holding up pretty well. He certainly wasn't as violent as Artemis was, and sometimes his attacks were a bit sloppy and he couldn't seem to find a constant rhythm to fall into. Some of Wally's punches were really quick and powerful, which would have impressed Artemis if it weren't for the fact that just as many of his punches were slow and awkward. It almost seemed like Wally was holding back, but what reason would he have to do that?
Trying to figure out boys and why they did what they did would get Artemis killed one of these days. Artemis had let herself get distracted by Wally, and she failed to notice that the first guy she had knocked down, the one with the switchblade, was getting up again, and he was not happy. He dropped the knife and pulled from his inner coat pocket another weapon, one that was even more dangerous.
Wally had just finished fighting his own group of thugs when he turned to Artemis. Wally's eyes grew wide in horror and, when Artemis heard the click that she knew meant that the safety of a gun had been turned off. Artemis turned around just in time to see the guy tighten his fingers on the trigger. Artemis shut her eyes tight and braced herself.
"No!" Wally cried out just before the gun went off. Artemis heard a loud and sharp *bang*. An instant later, instead of feeling pain, like she thought she would, Artemis experienced a very brief and strange rush of wind against her face. The feeling passed just as quickly as it came. Artemis opened her eyes and jumped back in shock when she saw that she was standing face to face with Wally, who had been a couple of feet away only a moment ago.
"Are you okay?" Wally asked quickly, his voice full of concern.
"I...yeah, but, how did-" Artemis trailed off when she saw that the spot where they were standing was nearly twenty feet from where they had been just seconds before. There was no way they could have gotten here that quickly, not unless there was some teleportation involved, or maybe...superspeed.
"Are-are you a speedster?" Artemis asked, barely believing her own question as it left her mouth. The terrified look on Wally's face told her that her assumption had been right on the nose. Wally West was a speedster, or, at the very least, a different type of meta-human.
If Wally really was a meta-human, then Artemis completely understood why he looked so worried about her finding out. These days, meta-humans were hunted down and trained like dogs to serve The Light. Artemis knew that many meta's had gone into hiding, and it was rumored that a group of them had found refuge somewhere near Star City, but Artemis never expected the rumor to be true, or that she would meet one of them.
"Hey, you don't have to worry." Artemis began to assure Wally. She had no intentions of turning him in. "I'm not going to-"
"Look out!" A short almost implike figure that Artemis immediately recognized as Dick leapt suddenly out of the shadows and pushed Wally out of the way just as the thug who had tried to shoot Artemis a moment before was about to attack the unaware speedster.
It seemed that the man had overheard Artemis say that Wally was a speedster, because the man's attack hadn't been meant to kill or seriously injure. Instead of firing his gun, the thug had tried to just hit Wally over the back of the head with it. He had probably been trying to knock Wally out so that he could capture him and sell him to The Light.
However, that didn't happen because Wally hadn't been the one to take the hit. Dick had pushed him out of the way just in time, only to take the blow to the side of the head himself. Dick cried out in pain and fell to the ground, his hands clutched at the spot where he had been hit, right near his ear.
The thug looked furious that Dick had meddled with his plan to catch a meta-human, but Artemis wasn't about to let him take his revenge. She had had more than enough of this guy. Before he could decide whether he wanted to go after Wally or Dick, Artemis jumped in and punched the guy sharply in the face, hard enough to knock him out cold.
With all of their attackers now either gone, having run off like the cowards that they were, or unconscious, Artemis could turn her attention to her downed friend.
"Dick, are you okay?" Artemis asked, concern lacing her voice. That had looked like a pretty bad hit.
" 'm fine." Dick groaned He looked at Artemis and smirked weakly. "Trust me, I've handled worse." Dick began to try to stand again, but Wally put his hands on the younger teen's shoulders and stopped him.
"Don't." Wally said firmly but gently. "You should rest for a minute." Artemis expected Dick to fight Wally on that, insist that he was fine and then stubbornly try to prove it. However Dick nodded and stared at Wally with wide eyes. Not in fear, exactly, more like in disbelief, and Artemis had the feeling that that disbelief had nothing to do with the fact that Wally was a meta.
"Uh, hey, are you okay?" Wally asked a minute later. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Wally was worried that Dick's blank stare and pale skin was a result of a brain injury or something
"What?" Dick shook his head. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just...I'm fine." Dick smiled warmly. "I'm actually feeling pretty great."
Artemis was taken aback. First off, because how can someone say they feel great after getting knocked to the head like that? More than that though, Artemis was surprised by Dick's behavior because he was actually smiling, not in a cocky or mischievous way, but like he was legitimately happy.
"That's good." Wally smiled back at Dick, whose smile brightened. "You good to get up now?" Wally asked.
"Absolutely." Wally held out a hand to help Dick up. The younger boy staggered a bit when he was on his feet, but Wally was there to steady him.
"Are you sure you're okay? Wally asked.
Dick was quiet for a moment before speaking. "I will be."
"You had better be." Artemis crossed her arms. "Now what are you doing here?" She didn't mean for her tone to be so harsh, but Artemis had a tendency to turn to anger when she was worried about somebody. It was easier to show people her anger rather than let them see her fear.
"I, uh," Dick glanced at Wally then turned back to Artemis and smirked. "I just thought you might need some help."
"What made you think that?" Artemis growled.
"Come on, Artemis, get off his back." Wally said. "He did help us, remember?"
Artemis huffed and rolled her eyes, though she had to admit, it was a good thing that Dick had arrived when he did. It wasn't like she was going to tell him that though.
"And I can help even more." Dick said. "I have an idea on how we can find Cameron." This caught Artemis' interest.
"Really? How?" She didn't really want to accept Dick's help, but anything would be better than wandering around aimlessly like she and Wally had been doing so far.
"First, do either of you know where the nearest police station is?" Dick asked.
"Seriously? That's your big plan?" Artemis clenched her fists. "Here's a news flash for you, Dick. The stations are empty. Nobody's going to be there to help us."
"I know, but even if the cops haven't been there for years, their computers should still be up and running." Dick said.
"And you think they might have picked up on news or strange occurrences, and since the city is mostly abandoned tonight-" Wally picked up on the plan.
"Any news we get could lead us to Cam." Artemis finished. Sure, this might not work, and any information they could find might not even point to Cameron, but it was better than nothing.
Luckily Wally knew where a nearby police station was and within minutes the three of them arrived there. Dick immediately sat at one of the computers and began hacking into the system to get the information they were looking for. As Dick worked, Wally and Artemis stood guard by the door, in case any more trouble came their way.
After a few minutes of keeping watch in silence, Wally turned to Artemis. "Hey, so, uh, who exactly is your friend?" Wally nodded toward where Dick was working at the computer.
"You mean Dick? Honestly, I don't know a lot about him, but don't worry. I don't think he'll tell anybody about you being a meta-human. I don't even know if he knows." Artemis said.
"I'm not worried about that." Wally waved it off like it was nothing. "No, I was just curious. Dick kinda just reminds me of a good friend of mine." Based off of Wally's sad tone, he was probably talking about a friend that was now gone.
"What happened to him?" Artemis asked. Wally shrugged.
"I don't really know. We got separated, and then I never saw him again." Wally frowned and sighed. "I never should have left him." Artemis wasn't sure exactly what to say to that. Thankfully, she was spared from trying to figure it out when they heard Dick make a sound of interest, meaning that he found something strange and possibly useful.
"What'd you find?" Artemis asked.
"It might not be anything." Dick said, his eyes still on the computer screen. "It just says that an alarm system had been set off earlier, only to be turned off again within seconds."
"So what?" Wally asked. "It's probably just some guy who accidentally tripped his own alarm. These kind of things happen all the time."
"I doubt that's the case this time." Dick said. He moved over so that they could see too. "The security system is for a penthouse belonging to Oliver Queen."
"And Oliver Queen has been missing for the past three years." Wally said almost sadly.
"Alright, so it's probably not the owner." Artemis said. "Do you think it's Cam?"
"Only way to know for sure is to check it out for ourselves." Wally said.
"Maybe that's not such a good idea." Dick said. "What if it's not Cameron? We could run into some real trouble."
"You don't have to come with us." Artemis pointed out.
"She's right." Wally said. "If you don't want to come, that's fine. Me and Artemis will just go ahead and-"
"No!" Dick exclaimed, his expression darkening. "I'm coming with you guys. I am not going to be left behind again."
Artemis raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that, but whatever. "Alright then, let's go."
Meanwhile, in Gotham.
Oliver Queen stared blankly at the alert flashing in front of him. Three years ago he had left behind his old life and moved to Gotham where The Justice League's temporary new headquarters was. When they had learned that the world saw them as dead, some of the league members had returned to their normal lives and waited, as civilians, until the right time came to rise up against The Light.
Some league members, such as Barry Allen or Clark Kent, couldn't do that because some of their enemies knew what their secret identities were. They had been forced to abandon their old lives. Fortunately, Batman, as always, had a solution. He proposed that they, and any other league members who felt the need to, could stay in The Batcave, which had become the League's temporary headquarters.
Oliver Queen hadn't technically needed to move to Gotham like some of the others, he could have just stayed in Star City as Oliver Queen. However, Batman had pulled him aside and pointed out that if he returned to Star City, he would have to be willing to just sit by and watch as The Light did what they did, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
The Light, after all, did not react well against rebellion, and they certainly would have never allowed somebody with so much money and influence, such as Oliver Queen, to defy them. So, Oliver had made the decision to join the others in Gotham. Sure, he was abandoning his old life, but at least this way he would be able to do some good, to help people.
Besides, it wasn't as if his whole situation was permanent. Someday, they would defeat The Light, and Oliver would be able to get his life back. When that happened, he planned on having a home to return to. So, Oliver had made sure to upgrade the security of his penthouse. If there was a break in or vandalism of any kind, he would be informed of it immediately. In the past three years though, the precautions had been unnecessary. None of his alarms had gone off and his home remained safe.
Until tonight.
Oliver had been quite surprised when, for the first time, he had actually gotten a report that the security at his penthouse had been breached. Somebody had broken into his home, and he was planning on finding out who.
Oliver began to gather his gear. He didn't exactly plan on shooting anybody with his arrows, but it was always good to be prepared. Once he was ready to go Oliver went to find Batman. It wasn't uncommon for the league members to leave for a bit, usually to secretly help some local rebellion group. Anytime any of them left, no matter where it was or for how long, they were required to tell Batman, just so he could know who was where at all times.
Oliver found Batman at one of the large computer consoles in the cave, and he seemed really irritated about something. Oliver grew cautious. He knew from experience that an irritated Batman was a dangerous Batman.
"What's going on?" Oliver asked as he approached Batman. Oliver started a bit when he saw that Batman's cowl was down, which meant that he wasn't currently The Dark Knight, he was Bruce Wayne.
"What happened?" Oliver asked, because he knew that he wouldn't be seeing the man behind the bat unless something had gone seriously wrong.
"It's Dick." Bruce said. "He hasn't called in for a while, and his communicator just went offline."
Oh. Now Oliver understood what Bruce was so tense about. His kid was missing. A few years ago, if one of their sidekicks-no, partners, Oliver reminded himself- had gone missing, it would be cause for a bit of alarm, but not too much. After The Incident though, that all changed. Now, Robin was the only kid left. It was no wonder Bruce was worried.
"Did this just happen?" Oliver asked. Bruce nodded. "If you want, I can look for him. It hasn't been long, so he should still be in Star City, and I was about to head down there anyway."
Bruce turned to Oliver, his eyes narrowed. "Why were you going to Star City?"
Oliver shrugged. "I got news that somebody broke into my home and I wanted to check it out, make sure it's nothing serious. Don't worry though, I'll be careful and won't reveal myself."
Bruce scowled. He obviously didn't like the idea of Oliver returning to his home, especially not when so many of the world's most dangerous villains were in the same city. But, he was also really worried about Dick, and would feel better if there was somebody out there looking for him.
"Fine." Bruce growled. "But you are to report anything, and I mean anything you find."
"Got it." Oliver smirked and headed to the Zeta-Beam system which would teleport him to Star City. Oliver was glad to be back in his home city, though it was unnerving how deserted it was. Well, at least he wouldn't have to worry about being recognized. Oliver walked down the still familiar streets and made his way back to his penthouse, his home.
Oliver furrowed his brow when he saw that the door was ajar, meaning that somebody had definitely been here. And, based on the loud crashing noises he could hear come from inside, they were still there. Oliver grabbed an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to his bow. Oliver kicked open the door, prepared to deal with whoever, or whatever, he found. When he saw the state of his penthouse though, Oliver lowered his weapon.
This...had not been what he had expected.
