Chapter Seven

Interrogation Tactics

I leaned back in my chair, letting out a sigh. I had been in the Cave for nearly two or three weeks and I was bored in my mind. I was brought to the cave, my weapons were removed and taken out of the room along with my mask, and was looked in a room. At least it had a bookshelf so I could catch up on my reading. I was allowed to wander around the room, but when I was being interrogated, nearly every freaking day, I was tied to the chair. I got food delivered to me three times a day, as they hopefully wanted to keep me alive.

The door slid open and people entered. Blue Beetle tied me down and I watched the pair after he pulled away. Impulse stood beside him, watching me carefully. Blue Beetle looked down at him occasionally, as if he was checking on him. Impulse crouched down so he was at my eye level, narrowing his eyes at me. I raised my eyebrow at him, staring straight back at him. I had found out about the new speedster when I saw him on the news three weeks before. I found out he travelled back in time from Dick.

Time travel: that was a new one.

Impulse was still watching me and I was still staring back, thankful that I had that glamour charm on still so they couldn't scan my face and realise who I am. "Who do you work for?!" He exclaimed. I leaned back and raised my eyebrows, slightly surprised.

Blue Beetle grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back. "We know who she works for, hermano." He whispered in his ear.

"Oh, right, right, forgot." Impulse said sheepishly, giving him a wide grin. "I just saw a lot of cop movies and they do that a lot in interrogations so I thought I might try it out, test the waters! It didn't work, did it?"

"No, no it did not." I bit my lip to hold in the snort. Impulse nodded before turning back to me. He squatted down at my eye level again. "Anyway, she probably won't talk. Everyone else says she won't talk."

"Can she talk?" He asked Beetle, before turning to me and asking me. "Can you talk? Queen Bee might have done something to her to make her not talk and that's why she's not-"

"Dude." Blue Beetle cut him off. "She's probably just not talking cause she's not meant to give it away. Come on man, let's just go out of here. It's kind of boring and we won't get anything out of her."

"Aw man, you're no fun." Impulse groaned, doing a dramatic eye roll.

"Come on hermano." Beetle said, pushing him out of the room before he untied my wrists. The pair walked out of the room and I could only watch them with raised eyebrows.

Well that was interesting.

Another few hours passed after the…odd interrogation from Impulse and Blue Beetle. They were different to say the least. I had a feeling that Impulse and Wally were related. Impulse reminded me of a younger, more hyper Wally. Comparing him to the Wally I had met a few weeks ago, an angry and clearly upset man, and to the Wally I knew years ago was slightly depressing. Look who's talking. I let out a quiet snort. "Am I laughing at my own jokes? God, I'm a dork." I muttered. "Great, now I'm talking to myself."

"Getting cabin fever?" A voice said. I looked over to the door to see Dick giving me a smirk.

"You would think since, you know, I've been in this room for like three weeks." I said.

"Quit your whining, you could be in a prison." He replied.

"I think I would do okay in prison." I replied. "If they come near me I would cut them."

He stopped and I could tell he was giving me an odd look, even through his mask. "You are terrifying sometimes, you know that?"

I smirked. "Yep. I take pride in it."

I could tell he rolled his eyes, even though he had his mask on. "Of course you do." He placed a plate in front of me and I raised my eyebrows when I saw the sandwich. "Peanut butter and jelly, your favourite."

I smiled up at him and said "Thanks." I then started to devour the sandwich. "Also, tell your team that they need to work on their interrogation tactics."

"Noted." He gave me a look of disgust at me devouring the sandwhich. "That's gross."

I glared up at him and said, through a mouthful of food "I literally haven't had one of these in years, excuse me for enjoying it."

"Glad you remember your manners." He said, leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him, before finishing my sandwich, my back stiffening as someone knocked at the door. I looked up at Dick who just smiled at me. "Relax, someone wants to see you."

I raised my eyebrows at got up. The door opened to reveal Aurora, who grinned widely before throwing herself into my arms. I let out a huff as the wind was knocked out of me, looking up at Dick who just smiled at me. "Thank you." She whispered into my shoulder.

"What for?" I asked, hugging her back uncertainly.

"For protecting me and getting me out of there." She replied. "Sam too."

"I'll tell him that when I get back." I replied, smiling widely before looking up at Dick again. "Speaking of which, how am I getting back?"

He hesitated for a moment, glancing at Aurora. "Hey Rory, mind if you leave us alone for a minute?"

She nodded, tightening the hug for a moment. "Thank you."

I smiled, hugging her back. "No problem kid, look after yourself." With that, Aurora let go of me, before giving me a wide smile and leaving the room. "What did you want to tell me so secretly?"

"Kaldur's coming to the Cave. Rory doesn't know about that undercover opp." He replied. "He can take you away."

My mood brightened. "Kaldur's coming to the cave?" It darkened again. "Why is Kaldur coming?"

Dick sighed. "It's a long story, one that Kaldur would be better at explaining. All that you need to now is that your weapons will be in the grove and Rory will be nowhere near the cave when it happens."

I nodded, feeling slightly relieved. "That's good." I smiled at him, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Look after her and the team Dick."

"Always have, always will." He said with a smile.

Don't forget about yourself too." I said. Dick smiled, pulling me into a hug before saying goodbye. I was left alone again.

I was lying on the small grey bed, tucked up in the corner, a few hours later after Dick came in to speak to me. My legs were pressed against the wall and my back against the bed, actually quite comfortable. There had been a lot of noise earlier, probably the daily going's on of the cave, which I used to be a part of.

Stop it with the longing, idiot.

Finally, I got a moment of peace and quiet. I was just about to drift off to sleep, my eyes closed, when the door slid open. "As much as I would love to be interrogated again, even with all that racket, can we do it later? I'm trying to sleep."

A familiar snort greeted my ears and my eyes snapped open. "Okay then, I'll just leave you here then." Artemis replied, wearing her Tigress garb. I swung my legs off the bed and got to my feet, giving her a wide grin.

"Well, aren't I glad to see you?" I asked, coming towards her.

"You really should be." She replied, giving me a smirk. "Where's your stuff?"

"He said the Grotto." I replied. "Let's go." With that, we turned and sprinted out of the room, coming to a stop when we reached the grotto.

"Oh yeah, let's finish him."

Well that didn't sound good.

"Later!" A familiar voice called. I turned to see Kaldur and this weird thing happened. I just...relaxed when I saw him, like everything was going to be okay. "You will have your revenge when the time is right. For now, I need Superboy alive." He spotted Artemis and I, giving us a nod. It took a lot of willpower to not run over and kiss him.

The others turned to me. "Uh, evening." I said awkwardly. They grunted in reply, before I spotted my hologram. You know what's really odd? Finding out that you've been declared dead.

You know what's even odder? Seeing your memorial hologram.

Seriously, it was of me doing some dramatic pose with my hands on my hips, a pose that I'm pretty sure I've never done before. Scarlett and I were going to have a chat about holograms when I got out of this. I grabbed my things from the foot of the hologram, before putting my mask back on. I turned it was only then I noticed something that made my eyes widen.

She too had a hologram, which only meant one thing.

Tula was dead?

I hadn't known her long, but we had been friends. Of course there had been feelings of mild jealousy when she first arrived as she was the first girl Kaldur-

Oh god Kaldur.

My eyes snapped over to him, realizing that he had been watching my reaction to Tula's hologram. He looked away, a look of sadness and regret appearing on his face before vanishing again, the mask of a cold leader back on again.

Oh Kaldur.

I knew I had to talk with him once we got away from the Cave. I hoped I could anyway. Artemis grabbed my arm and told me to follow her, so I did what I was asked. We ran into the mission room to see Impulse being thrown on the ground by Tommy Terror, before Beetle went after him. She handed me a collar, which I placed on my belt for the time being. Artemis went for Nightwing, I went for Blue Beetle. I sprinted towards him, using the ice to give me a boost, and leapt towards Beetle, slamming my feet into his chest. I landed on my feet, he landed on his back. He got up, letting out a groan before turning to face me. I approached him warily, ready to knock him down.

He got up and his hand morphed into some weird rectangle, before it started to shoot...staples? Well that was a new one. What, did he specialise in office supplies or something? Was he going to shoot pencils at me next?

I leapt over the ones that he shot at me, barely dodging them before one managed to hit me in the chest and pin me to the wall. I struggled to pull it off me as Beetle's arm changed again, this time morphing to a sonic ray thing, one that he had shot earlier. I braced myself for the pain before I heard "Stand down!"

Kaldur, my love, such impeccable timing.

I pried the staple off my chest as Kaldur said "This battle is over." I walked over to the group, trying to regain feeling in my arms where I had been pinned up.

"I don't think so, traitor!" Beetle exclaimed, pulling out the plasma cannons. My hand reached out for my weapons, ready to defend Kal at a moment's notice.

"Rethink Beetle, this is the same bomb that obliterated Malina Island." My eyes widened, what the hell was he doing? This had been a home for so many people and now Kaldur was destroying it? What the hell was he doing? Was this part of the plan? Cause if it was he better know what he was doing. "I am holding down the dead man switch. If my thumb comes off this button for any reason, Mount Justice falls."

Was this a really inappropriate time to say that speech was kind of hot?

Beetle seemed to be thinking it over, before coming down and holding up his hands. "We're standing down."

As I placed the collar on him, Kaldur said "Wise choice."

Jr came down and whined "I'm fine by the way." I could barely keep in my eye roll.

"Good." Kaldur said. "Escort Blue Beetle, Impulse and Beast Boy to the flyer."

"What about these two?" Artemis asked, referring to Dick and Conner.

"As hostages here they have value. However, Nightwing is an ordinary human and Superboy and human-kryptonian hybrid clone. Neither category is of interest to our partner." Kaldur explained. Then Dick leapt up and yelled something about regret and Kaldur said he had outgrown the name Aqualad and it all made me kind of worried, hoping that Kal was a good actor. It was all very dramatic. He started to walk away and I followed. "I will leave the bomb with you, as a souvenir. Oh, and the dead man switch has a five mile range. Do not pursue." With that dramatic line, Kaldur left and I followed.

I felt like an obedient puppy that followed at his heels, which I really didn't like.

We walked outside to a massive ship, one that I assumed was Black Manta's. Did he have a thing for stuff matching? Because Kal's uniform and the ship looked very similar. Just as we walked aboard the ship, all hell broke loose. Blue Beetle managed to get free, hit Artemis and Icicle Jr while also sending Kaldur into some rocks with his plasma ray. I felt a surge of fury go through me, so I went after him, rolling out of the blast's way. "No!" Beetle yelled. I hipped around to see Kaldur's thumb come over the switch. "It was a bluff!" That's a relief. In my momentary distraction, he shot another ray at me. I slipped out of his way, but not before he changed his hands and slammed so kind of ball into my side, making me fly in a different direction.

I looked up as he reached Kaldur, unable to stop the yell coming out of my mouth. "No!" Luckily, he was prepared, blasting him with his electricity. Beetle tumbled back and Artemis sent a dart into his chest. I let out a sigh of relief before getting up and joining the group.

"I was no certain that would work." Kal said. "But it seems Beetle was indeed vulnerable to mystic energy, and sedatives. Bring him aboard." Artemis gave me an odd look as I picked Beetle up easily, swinging him over my shoulder. My strength was still new to her. Truthfully, he was quite heavy but easy to carry. We brought them into the ship and tied them up, giving them the view from the front window. The others took their seats, I hovered at Kaldur's side along with Artemis.

"We did we have to get her? Why's she so important?" I heard Tommy Terror ask Icicle Jr. My eyes flicked down to see them both eyeing me.

Icicle smirked. "She's Queen Bee's attack dog." He replied. "Queen Bee was pissed when she found out she had been captured. I wonder how pissed she'll be now when she finds out her attack dog failed again." The pair laughed and I rolled my eyes. Artemis glanced up at me and I just shrugged

Terror and Icicle's laughter died out. The captured three awoke with the groan. "Can't believe we didn't end Superboy when we had the chance!" Terror added.

"What do you expect? Boss fish still has a soft spot for his old team." Icicle growled, clearly both of their good moods had vanished. At least the annoying giggling had stopped.

Kaldur turned to Artemis and I, or rather to Artemis, as he was looking at her. "Do it." He commanded. My eyes widened in shock. Did he mean what I think he meant?

Artemis took off her mask, blond to us but looking different to the others, with a conflicted look on her face. "You sure?"

He looked away. "Do it." I could only watch in horror as Artemis pressed the button and the Cave exploded in front of us. I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my hands, trying to not let the gasp out of my mouth. I felt a hand squeezing mine gently and looked down to see Kaldur not meeting my eyes. His grip on my hand tightened, trying to be comforting but it wasn't.

Kaldur, what have you done?

Double update! (That is if you read my other YJ story).

Wow, okay sorry about the long gaps between updates guys, I have been focusing all my energy into my other YJ story Catgirl as I want to get it finished before the summer ends, so this story isn't really the priority at the minute, sorry about that. But yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed that! Not a lot of Kalila, but I can promise you that there will be a lot in the next chapter. Like I am increasing it to an M next chapter because they have that much interaction. Also wish me luck, I've never written smut before. So yeah, this chapter was more of a filler than anything, but it leads to Lila being on Black Manta's ship so that's a good reason for it.

Taeniaea-Thank you!

JediKendalina- Thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you liked Shade as well!

Koren Flashblade- Was it what you expected? Let me know what you were thinking! Also sorry about the slow updates and I'm going to apologise in advance for however long it takes me to update with the next chapter. Also Thank you!

The-Moyashi- Thank you! I'm sorry for the slow update, like I said above. Although I think you're going to be even more excited for the next chapter!