A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback… Anyways, I hope you enjoy the memory loss chapter… Heh, heh…
Anyways, just an F.Y.I., if you haven't figured it out by now, but Wally and Artemis are in an era with a lot more advanced tech…
oOoOoOo
Wally let a primal noise escape from his throat, and as he did, he winced, rubbing his throat as it burned when he swallowed. He felt a searing pain in his left temple, and he rubbed small circles into his forehead as he got up. He heard a feminine groan next to him, and he jumped, startled. It was a girl, with long, blond hair that polled around her body. She was slim, and muscular, wearing a slightly rumpled leather jacket atop of a forest green tank-top paired with tight black pants. She was wearing combat boot, laced up and if she had been conscious, Wally might had been slightly intimidated by her. Wally noticed a gun holster, two, in fact, one clipped on her hip, and one around her thigh. The around her thigh was larger, one that was obviously for a shotgun, and Wally spotted the shotgun about two feet away from them, on the soft dirt that surrounded them. Wally spotted the handgun that belonged in her hip holster by her outstretched hand.
Wally blinked. She had no police badge clipped to her belt, so why in the world would she need two guns? Wally turned away from her for a moment, taking in their surroundings.
It was night time, tall pine trees surrounded them, and a dirt path was too the right of them. Curiously enough, there was smoke rising in the distance, blocking the light of the stars and concealing the pale moon. Freshly dug dirt was scattered around both Wally and the girl, making it seem like some sort of "greater force" had sent them here.
The girl let out another groan, and as Wally turned to face her, the girl's eyelids fluttered open.
Wally crawled over toward the girl, smiling sympathetically, "You alright?"
The girl propped herself up on her elbow, blinking, "Who are you?"
Wally scratched his head, "Wally West, F.B.I. Trainee."
The girl nodded, "Artemis Crock… I'm not quite sure how I got here…"
Wally nodded, "Me either, Beautfiul."
Artemis quirked an eyebrow at the nickname, but got up. She then looked curiously at something on her belt. It was an identification card, laminated, and Wally recognized the bland white cards that F.B.I. consultants received.
"You're a consultant?" Wally said, surprised, she couldn't have been more than twenty-two years old.
Artemis looked perplexed, "Um… No."
Wally frowned, but shook his head, changing the subject, "Anyway, you know how to use that shotgun?"
Artemis nodded, "Yeah, my dad taught me," Artemis paused, a shock of realization flitting across her face, "Dad! He must've done this. Another one of his stupid tests!"
Wally raised an eyebrow, "And what, exactly, does your dad want you to do?"
"Probably to kill you," Artemis said flatly, not missing a beat.
Wally blanched, and changed the subject abruptly, "What's the last thing you remember?"
Artemis frowned, "I'm in a hotel… I think you're there too… and… there's a man in a suit, he's… telling us something, but I can't remember what he said…"
Wally nodded, "Anyway, we should probably get going."
Artemis grunted, and got up, shuffling her feet after him.
oOoOoOo
Megan's head was pounding. She groaned, placing one of her small, fragile hands on her temple, rubbing small circles into her head. She lying on the ground, the fresh scent of pine trees and soft earth filling the air. Dim stars were in the sky, but they were blocked by thick smoke.
Megan got up, propping herself on her elbow.
She had no memory of this place. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.
"Remember," she whispered to herself.
Megan stood up straight, grinning holding the hot tray of gooey cookies in her gloved hands. She saw a girl with long blonde hair smiling at Megan, taking a cookie off the tray. A red-hairedman strode over, grinning widely at Megan.
"These cookies are amazing!" the man said, winking.
Megan smiled awkwardly, "Thanks, Wally… that's… sweet."
'Wally' grinned again, "Not as sweet as you, sugar!"
The blonde girl from earlier rolled her eyes, smacking 'Wally' upside the head, "Grow up!"
A man in a suit approached them, his face expressionless, "Team, report to the Briefing Room."
Megan smiled, confused, "I'm on a team!"
Megan got up, about to walk away, when a masked man flew towards her, brandishing a large rifle.
Megan reacted quickly, raising the gun in the holster around her waist.
The man faltered, but let out a scatter of bullets, and then dashing into the trees.
Megan dodged them easily, and then examined the gun in her hand.
She'd worked with weapons before, she had trained under military general John Morse himself, who was her uncle. However, the curious thing about the weapon in her hand was that it wasn't designed to kill, only to knock out. There was a shotgun in the holster around her thigh, and that one was designed to kill, but the one in her hand was not.
She looked carefully at the bullets scattered on the ground from the masked man from before, and she was right, they were aimed to knock out.
She got up, and she spotted in the distance a hovercraft, and she looked at it curiously.
Hovercrafts were a fairly new invention, designed to propel itself in the air and drive forwards or backwards. Megan had seen some of them in magazines, while she had been overseas training with her Uncle, but she had never had a chance to actually ride on one of them. It was slim, one of the fancier models with the option to also drive right or left. A clear plastic steering wheel rose out of the top portion of the slim, circular metal, and it was painted in futuristic tones of white and green.
Megan stepped onto the hovercraft gingerly. It beeped to life, lighting up and making a low, rumbling sound. The flat square area on the steering wheel lit up, and Megan, recognizing the touch-recognition software, placed her hand gently on the glowing white square.
It chirped, and Megan, startled, took the wheel in both hands. It jerked forward, and Megan let out a startled shriek. However, it felt almost… familiar, driving a hovercraft. The screen where she had earlier placed her hand on lit up, displaying the date and time.
September 21, 2012 22:38 PM
...September?
Megan blanched. What happened to May?
oOoOoOo
Artemis was exhausted, not to mention slightly freaked out.
Wally was walking slowly behind her, musing on something or the other.
Artemis heard rustling in the trees, however, and paused.
Wally perked up as well, also hearing the noise.
It was a masked man, holding a rifle and waving it wildly in the air.
The man was about to fire at them, when a dart hit him in the neck.
"I'm coming!" A feminine voice screamed.
Artemis turned toward Wally, shocked, "Did you hear that!?"
Wally nodded, also wide-eyed.
The sound of a hovercraft sounded behind her, and Artemis turned.
The voice belonged to a pretty red-haired girl, holding a shotgun in her hand and steering the hovercraft in the other.
"I'm so glad I found you guys! I think we're on the same team…" the girl said animatedly, "I'm Megan by the way. Do you guys have memory loss too? I forgot a whole four months! Anyways, I remembered a few things, you're Wally, right? And you're Artemis!"
Artemis was at loss for words, and then turned to Wally, feeling just a smidge of jealously, "You know her?"
Wally raised his hands in mock surrender, "No, Beautiful, I swear, never seen her before in my life!"
Megan let out a tired sigh, "Come on, we still need to find Connor and Dick."
Artemis raised a brow, but followed silently, Wally plodding along behind them.
oOoOoOo
Dick was surrounded. He was only armed with two guns, and his energy was drained. Not to mention the fact that he was absolutely blank on why he was here, or why the heck instead of real bullets, he was armed with knock-out darts.
The men were masked, clothed in black brandishing large guns and waving them threateningly in the air.
One of the goons raised the gun, pointing it toward Dick, and he closed his eyes, preparing to take the hit.
"Look out!" A female voice screeched, and Dick was pushed roughly out of the way.
It was girl, with long blonde hair her right hand occupied by a handgun, and a shotgun in her left.
The girl kicked herself up, getting off Dick, and then going right into rapid fire.
Dick recognized the red-haired man beside her.
"Wally! Nice to see a familiar face!" Dick said, grinning.
Wally nodded, "Dude, do you know what's going on?"
"Dick! Is Connor with you?" a red-haired girl asked, popping out of nowhere on a hovercraft.
"Whose Connor?" Dick asked, his head throbbing.
The girl let out a long sigh, "You lost your memories too… Anyway, I'll fill you in on the way. Most of my memories come back now."
The blonde girl rolled her eyes at the red-head's chattiness, "I'm Artemis."
Dick nodded, taking this in.
"I'm Megan, you guys can get onto the hovercraft now," Megan said animatedly.
With a few taps of her hand on the screen of her hovercraft, it expanded, creating the shape of three chairs and a place for Megan to stand as she steers the hovercraft.
Dick sat down, slightly fascinated by the hovercraft as he slid in the sleek, futuristic white chair.
oOoOoOo
Megan typed furiously at the keyboard on the hovercraft, "The computer system on this is really ahead of it's time. The memory retrieval program would be ready in no less than about an hour."
Dick nodded, looking at the computer over her shoulder, and Artemis stood in the background supervising their work. Wally sat blankly off to the side, being not that good with the computers.
Connor, who they had found earlier, was sitting stubbornly to the side, in one the chairs of the hovercraft, frowning.
Megan had made it so that a roof had covered it, and the hovercraft had taken the appearance of a jet plane. Megan had quickly found all of the hidden settings on the hovercraft, and she had mastered it with ease.
"What are they doing?" Connor asked Wally gruffly.
"We're making a program that will retrieve our memories," Megan said, without turning around.
Connor grunted, tapping his foot impatiently.
"It's finished," Megan said, grinning.
She tapped another few buttons on the keyboard, and a bunch of helmets extended out of a compartment underneath. She handed them out, placing one atop her own head, and she instructed them to close their eyes.
The five of them were instantly in some sort of white, dull room with a blank screen in the center.
"Let's find out why we're here," Megan said, and on the screen appeared the face of Bruce Wayne.
They were surrounding a table, staring at Bruce expectantly.
"There have been recent reports of some sort of entity along the coast of Lake Erie and the surrounding areas. I want you to investigate," Bruce said.
"You're joking! We're getting another rookie mission?!" Dick asked, outraged.
Bruce did not blink, "I never, joke about missions."
Dic paled, but nodded.
"Megan, you will take the hovercraft to the coordinates I will send to you later," Bruce said, nodding toward the garage where the F.B.I. kept many of it's vehicles.
"When are leaving?" Wally asked.
"When do you think, Baywatch?" Artemis deadpanned.
Wally frowned, "Like you're all that smart!"
Artemis scoffed, and turned away from him.
"Enough. Both of you," Kaldur said.
"Kaldur!" Megan said, her eyes widening with worry.
"Kaldur's our top priority now," Dick said, his face solemn.
Megan nodded, "We should split up. I'll take Connor with me on the hovercraft. He still needs some medical attention. Wally, why don't you go with Artemis, and then Dick, you can take the extra rifle in the back and go alone."
Dick nodded his consent, "Let's go."
oOoOoOo
Wally stood awkwardly to the side, clapping his hands together as he walked through the dark forest. Artemis was decidedly avoiding his gaze, instead analyzing the trees and the fading stars in the sky.
It was nearly dawn, streaks of pink dominating the skies and the moon had completely set by now. The early morning clouds were strewn across the sky, and Wally felt the gentle breeze of dawn tussling his scarlet curls and making him shiver, despite the warmth of the summer surrounding him.
Artemis let out a sudden snort of disgust, and Wally looked up.
She had stepped in a puddle of a dark, red liquid.
Wally was about to laugh, and make a snarky remark, when he saw the look of horror flit across Artemis's face.
It was blood.
Wally then watched in horror as Artemis's eyes followed the trail of blood, and he looked as well, and his green eyes locked onto Kaldur's body.
oOoOoOo
Kaldur had a large gash on his head, and his shaved blond hair was speckled with scarlet blood.
Artemis had not left the hospital room, her gray eyes taking on a permanent widened, wide-eyed look.
She vaguely heard the door to the hospital room open, and Wally walked in, holding a large tray of food.
There was a platter of sandwiches, a couple bags of chips, and two bottles of Coca-Cola. Wally was grinning, his eyes still swollen from sleep-loss and the trauma of memory-loss. Wally placed the tray on the nightstand by Kaldur's bed, and Artemis glanced at him.
She offered a weak smile, too exhausted to say anything relatively offending or snarky.
"He woken up yet?" Wally asked, watching Kaldur's heart rate monitor carefully.
Artemis nodded, "He's just sleeping now."
Wally shrugged, "Then why are you still here?"
Artemis was silent for a moment, "I remember now."
Wally nodded, "I do too, so what's the problem?"
Artemis looked to him, meeting his green eyes with her own silver ones, "I was with him when it happened, Wally, it was my fault."
Wally's brow furrowed, "What happened?"
Artemis sighed, and the images of the mission flitted through her mind's eye.
The mission was simple. Strange activity in the woods, get in, get out, and then return and report. Bruce had, of course, methodically organized them into pairs, and Artemis, being the rookie, had been paired with Kaldur.
They had been bored already, stiffly walking through the dark forest, when Artemis held suspicious rustling in the trees.
Artemis turned, alert, holding her shotgun aloft, when the same masked figure from Savage's safe-house that had stolen the manila folder appeared. As Artemis got a closer look at her, she recognized her immediately.
The same slim body, the hereditary Vietnamese black hair.
It could only be Jade.
Artemis paled considerably, and was unable to even remove the safety before Jade, who was now welding a pair of twin sais, had delivered a sharp blow to Kaldur's head. Kaldur had immediately then been knocked unconscious, and Artemis let out an uncharacteristically loud yelp of horror.
Wally, who had split up from Connor a while ago to investigate solo, heard Artemis's yelp, and immediately ran over to help, Artemis, who had fled from the scene, was met by Wally, who had a bewildered look on his face.
It wasn't long until they heard Megan's scream, and a splitting pain seared through Artemis's head, and she knelt on the ground, clutching her head.
Wally nodded, "It wasn't your fault, Artemis."
Artemis shook her head, "Don't even try, Wally. …I think… I think that Jade's targeting me personally."
Wally cocked his head, "What's your relationship with her."
Artemis was quiet again for a moment, "…She's my sister."
Wally's brow furrowed, "Does the rest of the team know?"
Artemis shook her head, but then her face turned steely, "Don't tell them though, understand?"
Wally nodded solemnly, "I won't, but you have to tell them eventually."
Artemis frowned, and didn't say anything for a while, "I will, but I'll them myself."
There eyes met, and Artemis broke the stare, and taking another glance at Kaldur, who was breathing shallowly.
"Just remember though, it wasn't your fault, okay?" Wally said, it coming out a bit harshly than he intended, and Artemis nodded, getting the message.
oOoOoOo
"So what was it that made us lose our memories?" Dick asked, watching as Bruce typed furiously at his computer.
"I have reviewed the evidence, and I believe that the technology that has been used on you resembles something that Cadmus Labs has been working on. However…" Bruce said, his brow furrowed at something on the screen.
"What is the issue?" Kaldur asked, the bandages on his head drooping slightly into his eyes.
"… The project that resembles this is top-secret, and still in development. The fact that it works at all is disturbing. The project was developed in the late nineties, started by a man named…" Bruce then frowned, and the usual all-knowing glimmer in his eyes disappeared.
"So who started it?" Artemis asked impatiently, her arms crossed over in the corner.
Wally glanced over to her, and then his eyes flickered back to Bruce, waiting expectantly, "Yeah, who was behind it?"
Bruce turned toward them, now addressing them fully.
"Vandal Savage."