Author's Note: No author's note. Except that I'm a mean person for turning this into another cliff hanger.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Rescue, Capture
"Shit. Nice hook up Red," Remy muttered, glancing at the unmarked private jet at the Star City airport. It was either really late at night or rather early in the morning, depending on how you looked at it, and Remy had yet to see many other people catching a flight at this time.
"Wait until you see the inside," Red Arrow smirked, gesturing for her to go first up the steps.
Remy raised an eyebrow, but obliged, jogging up the steps. She had informed Red Arrow of the newly minted timetable all thanks to Black Canary's suspension and he had been more than happy to speed things up if it meant finding Cheshire more quickly.
"I'm not impressed," Remy said, totally straight-faced. The private jet looked like something the owner of Apple would have. It was extravagant in all the right ways without being too gaudy. Really nice leather seats, plasma televisions and a fully stocked bar. "Couldn't you at least have gotten sheepskin blankets for the flight?"
"Ha ha," Red Arrow said, moving past her to the mini-fridge. He bent down and grabbed two cans of soda. "If you really want one though, they're in the closet."
Remy snorted. "How'd you get the hook up?"
"Gift from Green Arrow," he answered, taking a seat in one of the plush airline chairs.
Remy glanced up towards the cockpit, watching them fiddle with the controls, before taking a seat across from Red Arrow.
The pair sat in a tentatively peaceful silence as the pilots announced over the loud speaker that they would begin take off procedures.
Red Arrow was the first one to break the silence. He tossed Remy a can of soda, still fiddling with the other in his hands. "So Canary took you off active duty?"
"Don't remind me," Remy snapped.
Red Arrow raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just trying to be civil."
"You? Civil?" Remy raised an eyebrow. "You weren't exactly civil when you broke into my apartment or at Mount Justice or—wait was it really just last night? Gosh we have such great history together!"
"Spare me the sarcasm. If I'm being honest…" Red Arrow trailed off. "You're helping me with a personal vendetta. And I know where you're coming from with the whole proving yourself thing."
"Yeah, well," Remy shrugged. "Don't expect me to start being nice to you. After we're done with this mission, I can honestly say that I hope I never see you again."
"Likewise," he muttered, a peculiar look coming over his face. However, it was gone before Remy could even notice it.
"One question though?" Red Arrow said. Remy nodded, giving him permission. "You said Ares—your handler—was in the League's custody? How'd you get the down low on the Prince if he's locked up.
Remy's face went blank. "I—I hadn't thought of that." Remy furrowed a brow. Batman had said Ares was in custody not five minutes before she'd made a call to him. "Can we not talk about this? I'll—um explain later. Or something."
A lie. But Remy was truly dumbfounded. Ares had been locked up and there was no way he could've escaped so quickly. They were the Justice League for god's sake, and they were the Justice league for a reason.
"Fair enough," he grunted, popping open his soda finally. He reached under the seat and pulled out a briefcase, opening it to grab an iPad. "Maybe we should go over the plan?"
"On an iPad?" Remy asked. "I need a map, first of all. And something to draw a diagram with."
"Done and done," Red Arrow said, moving something around on the touch screen. "There's an app for both of those."
"Really?" Remy said flatly.
"Oh yeah. There's an app for everything."
Remy shrugged, but relented, taking the iPad out of his grasp. "Let's get to work then."
The plane descended upon the country of Hungary much sooner than Remy had expected to arrive. She had expected the flight to take, well, practically as long as the flight to Bhutan. Then again, she wasn't exactly well-versed in international traveling.
"I've got a call to make," Remy told Red Arrow, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Tell the pilots to land just outside of that little village we just passed.
Red Arrow rolled his eyes but nodded, getting up. Remy slipped out her cell phone and put in a call to Cheshire.
Remy was quick and to the point.
"We're landing in Hungary right now. About two miles from your location. Approximately thirty minutes until building one will be completely clear."
Remy ended the phone call, not even waiting for Jade's agreement, and she stuffed it back into her boot. No reason to wait for Jade's incredibly long list of instructions that was sure to come.
She paused to adjust her costume. It was true, even though Red Arrow was aware of who she was—thanks to her own stupidity—she still didn't want to make it a habit of being dressed like a civilian around him. After all, he had always been in costume when she had seen him. Why shouldn't she be as well?
"Hey!" Red Arrow called, interrupting her thoughts. "We're making contact with the ground in about thirty seconds! Grab your gear and let's get going."
Remy held up her fist in a hold up gesture as she and Red Arrow approached the outskirts of the Shadows complex. A few of the guards were heading their way.
Remy fingered her folded up staff in her hands and waited until the two men passed by their hidden spot in the bushes. She leaped out behind them, extending the staff before promptly clubbing one of the guards unconscious.
Before the other could even turn around, Red Arrow released a small capsule of a gas that effectively put the man to sleep. Remy covered her mouth as the gas dissipated and pulled the body of the unconscious thug back behind the bushes.
"You shouldn't have wasted that," Remy snapped, retracting her staff. "I'm more than capable of taking out those two thugs." She thought for a moment. "And you couldn't have waited until I was out of the way?"
"We're working together remember?" Red Arrow whispered harshly. "Now come on, let's go."
Red Arrow scampered on ahead, leaving Remy no choice but to follow.
Jerk, she thought as she and Red Arrow sprinted towards the first building in sight. they hugged the wall to avoid being spotted. They couldn't see much that was going on above them, however they could easily avoid the guard spotlight roaming the grounds.
Remy secured the staff to her waist and looked at Red Arrow expectantly. The redheaded archer took out his bow and procured an arrow with a grappling hook.
He opened his arm. "Climb on."
Remy raised an eyebrow. "No way. I don't want to catch whatever it is that you clearly have."
"You know how to use a bow?"
"Well no but—"
"Then you can take the stairs I suppose," Red Arrow sneered, unleashing his grappling hook. It made a small metallic sound as it secured itself on the side of the building.
"Fine," Remy grumbled, wrapping an arm around Red Arrow's neck. His free arm secured her and the two of them quickly were lifted up the side of the building and onto the third story balcony.
"That wasn't so bad now was it?" Red Arrow said, smiling condescendingly.
"I am struggling to control my gag reflexes at this very moment," Remy admitted, waiting as Red Arrow retracted his grappling hook arrow and placed it back into his quiver. He made his way over to the door.
Remy waited as he yanked on the door knob all to no avail.
"I think it's locked," she told him after three more tugs on the door knob.
"Shut up," he muttered, pulling out a lock picking kit.
Remy simply stood there her arms folded as he set to work on opening the door.
"You know this is one of those times I actually wish the team was here," Roy grumbled.
"Just break it down." Remy rolled her eyes, casting her eyes in the direction of the guard house not a hundred feet away.
"That'll set off the alarms. Robin at least could've—I don't know—hacked something," Roy said. "Shut off the spotlight."
Remy narrowed her eyes as she watched one of the guards—was he waving at her? She took a step forward, stopping when she hear the almost inaudible sound of someone behind her.. Before she could turn around, a rope wound its way around her neck and she was pulled backwards against someone's chest.
"Red," she choked out almost inaudibly.
"I mean you're pretty useless when it comes to electronics," Red Arrow was saying as he tried yet again to open the door.
Remy's attacker pulled the rope back tighter, cutting off all verbal forms of communication. Getting extremely irritated with Arrow's complete obliviousness and her attacker's flare for the dramatic,—in Remy's opinion, there were much more efficient ways to kill someone than choking them out—Remy threw her elbow back into her attacker.
The attacker momentarily loosened his grip and Remy was able to slip out. She took advantage of this and kicked the guy in a very painful place and shoved her palm to his nose.
Definitely broken, Remy thought smugly as she pushed the guy off the roof. And now… definitely dead. She caught sight of the sickening angle the attacker's neck was currently set at.
"If you'd rather stand there and enjoy the scenery…" Red Arrow's voice sounded from behind her.
Remy absently rubbed her neck and whirled around to find the door open. "Did you not see that?"
Red Arrow raised an eyebrow. "See what?"
Remy groaned.
"The Prince obviously isn't being held here!" Red Arrow snapped after they finished a sweep of the first building. "Cheshire isn't anywhere in sight."
"There are quite a few more buildings Red," Remy said, matching his tone. "She did say we'd have to find her! Don't' tell me it's past your bedtime or something. You signed up for this."
"Yeah," he huffed. "When I was under the impression that you knew what you were doing!"
"I do know what I'm doing," Remy protested, "but see, there's this little thing called patience, something that you clearly don't' have!"
"Oh and you do?"
"I'm not the one who started this!"
"You probably don't even know where Cheshire is!" Roy accused.
"Of course I do," Remy snarled. "She's my mentor."
"Which is exactly why I shouldn't have trusted you in the first place!"
The sound of clapping stopped both Remy and Red Arrow from arguing any further. Remy extended her staff and dropped into a fighting stance. When she glanced beside her, she noticed Red Arrow had drawn his bow.
"Well that was entertaining. You two should consider careers in acting," Cheshire purred from somewhere in the rafters. "Nice to see you again Roulette."
"Cheshire," Remy greeted her. "Mind stepping into the light?"
On cue, Cheshire dropped lithely down onto the hard cement floor of the building. "And Red Arrow as well. Oh how I love reunions."
"Cheshire," Red Arrow snarled, taking a step towards the woman.
Remy put a hand out to stop him. "Not until we have the Prince."
Red Arrow pulled back, making sure to keep a firm hand on his bow.
"Have you brought him like I asked?" Remy glanced at Cheshire.
"Of course," she smirked, lifting her hand to her ear as she spoke into what was obviously a comlink. "Bring the prince in."
She smiled at Remy and Red Arrow maliciously, as she paced. "They're on their way."
"This better not be a trap Cheshire," Red Arrow warned. "We didn't come here tonight to play games."
"I'm not playing any games, in fact I—" Cheshire broke off as a burst of static screamed loudly from her eardrum. So loud, in fact, that Remy could hear it from some twenty feet away.
"I don't have time for this," Cheshire said into her comlink. "I'm handling something much more delicate." She paused, obviously listening to the other person talk. "Well then handle it."
Cheshire turned as the door some twenty feet behind her opened up. Ferdinand was being dragged in by two guards, with shackles around his wrist.
"Well I've lived up to my part of the bargain," Cheshire said, watching as the Prince was released from his shackles and thrown to the floor somewhere between the two groups. "Now it's your turn."
"Our turn?" Red Arrow raised an eyebrow. "We weren't making a deal when we said we wanted the Prince."
As if on cue, Ferdinand started whimpering from his spot on the floor. Quickly he crawled towards Red Arrow, seeking refuge a few feet behind him.
Remy sighed, rolling her eyes towards the heavens. "I'm sorry about this Red."
"About what?" Red Arrow seemed confused.
Good.
Remy suddenly thrust her staff into his abdomen and quickly knocked the bow out of his hands, before delivering a blow to the back of his head.
"That." Remy glanced at his unconscious body and then back to Cheshire. "He's all yours."