Roy couldn't believe his eyes. One minute, he and Apollo looked like they were about to get into a brawl with half a dozen gangsters, and now, one voice calling out from behind them was enough to get the men to freeze in place.
"Hello, boys."
"Yo, Jade!" The one in front replied, grinning widely. "Long time, no see, Hot Stuff."
"Ah, you always were the flatterer, Mills." Wearing her own form-fitting civilian clothes, Cheshire stepped up between the pair of startled archers, resting her elbows on their shoulders. "Now, why are you hunks looking to mess with my baby cousin and friend?"
The guy who'd initially noticed Apollo let out a huff. "Knew he looked like Artemis..."
"No real reason, Hon. Kev just picked up on the family resemblance, and we wanted t'make sure no one was start somethin'."
"Pretty sure they were the ones about to start something," Apollo muttered under his breath. Jade's elbow moved from sitting on his shoulder to digging into his ribs.
"Hold up," The apparent leader, Mills, pointed at Roy. "This guy a friend of the kid's, or your's?"
"Well, as long as you're asking..." Jade turned her head, then leaned forward and met Roy's lips with her own. Instantly, Apollo's jaw dropped, and every single member of the gang focused their suddenly intense hostility onto Roy.
"I don't believe it," One of them groaned when the two finally separated. "Years of asking, and she never goes on a date with one of us..." Jade just grinned lazily at them.
"Takes the right time and place, boys. See ya!" She started to steer the two boys back around the way they'd come, but held off long enough to say one more thing. "Oh, and if I hear about any of you fellas giving my boyfriend trouble, you can be sure I won't be pleasant about correcting to behavior."
Roy didn't miss the way the gangsters paled at her words, though he waited until they were a few blocks away before commenting on it. "Where did the word "boyfriend" come from?"
"I decided you owe me a minimum of three dates for this," Jade slipped a box out of her pocket and held it up for them to see before continuing. "And that word just makes things simpler."
"For who?" Apollo cried indignantly. The assassin just chuckled, ruffling his blond hair before the teen pushed her away.
"What's in this, anyway? And why the increase of your price?" Roy felt he had to ask, taking the box.
"One date for the complete list of chemicals that resulted in the switching of the Teams. Another for samples of the rarer ones, which you'll need for getting this kid and his friends home and bringing back Artemis. And a third for the location where these nutjobs have been gathering the Astral energy to use in their experiments, which you'll need to get for yourself."
Apollo's eyes widened. "And maybe find Robyn!"
"Maybe. I'm not promising that, though, which is why it isn't four dates." She landed another kiss on Roy, then stepped back into a shadow filled alleyway. "Speaking of which, I'll meet you at Gordino's on 17th tonight. Seven thirty sharp, and while it's not pure white collar, make sure you wear something presentable." By the time Roy blinked, Jade was gone, and Apollo was gently thumping his head against the bricks.
"If I find out Reyna is dating Jaden back home, I swear I'll murder both of them." The younger archer growled.
"Quit worrying about that now, we've got to get this stuff to Batman!"
-CC-
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us when we crash this place?" Green Arrow asked, frowning. He only grew more perplexed at Roy's growl.
"I want to. I really want to, but I can't."
"Why not?"
"I have... A date. And before you ask, it was the price of getting this stuff. I might tell you the full story later, but only if you promise not to laugh." Raised eyebrows were Ollie's only response before Roy waved his goodbyes to the Team and headed out the zeta tube.
"A date?" He finally wondered.
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Apollo muttered, suddenly standing beside the older archer. "Now get over here, Batman's ready with the plan."
While Roy had called the Dark Knight with their news, the younger teen had gotten back into costume and gathered his teammates for the mission briefing they knew would come.
Because past failure aside, this endeavor concerned them even more than the League. This was about their getting home, as well as getting their missing member back.
Batman checked once to make sure the assembled Team and handful of Leaguers were ready. An earthquake on the West Coast was taking up the time of the other adult heroes, so this mission had to make due with the seven teens and most of their alternate mentors, along with Black Canary, Red Tornado, and himself.
"This is an aerial view of the target, disguised as an observatory in the Appalachian foothills. According to our information, security outside the base is minimal, focusing more on the interior of the main work and testing room, as well as the underground tunnels that house most of their supplies.
"For this attack, we'll separate into three groups: One squad to attack from above, and two others for sneaking into the depths of the base. Superman, Supergirl, Icon, Rocket, and Red Tornado, you five will land on the observatory roof, get it however you can, and proceed to create as big of a distraction as you can. Understood?" They nodded with varying degrees of vigour. "Flash, Kid Flash, Martian Junior, Aquaman, and Aqualass, the five of you will be entering from the eastern doors. Search through each level for the Astral energy samples before descending to the next one. Apollo, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Zetenni, and I will sneak through the delivery doors to the north, and once I hack into the base's security systems, our objective is to find Robyn. Any questions?"
"... What if she's not there?" Zetenni asked quietly, staring at the floor. Everyone looked back and forth between the young magician and Batman, who refused to show just how much that same question concerned him.
"Then the information we get off of their network should point in the direction of where she is being held." He said firmly. "Do your final checks, and we'll leave aboard the Bioship in five minutes."
-CC-
Fortunately, in the days before, Mar'gann had managed to convince the ship to trust him; his mind was close enough to M'gann's that she would accept his telepathic commands. The ride to the observatory took a little less than an hour and was spent in complete silence. No one liked contemplating Zetenni's question, but they couldn't stop thinking about it, either.
"We're here." Mar'gann finally announced, bringing the ship in a wide loop around the domed building to allow everyone a chance to see it.
"Now, this place actually looks like it's supposed to," Willow muttered, and Apollo had to agree. The observatory looked just like the name said - there was a telescope poking up from the roof and everything. "You don't think the information was wrong, do you?"
Before the archer could respond, said telescope started glowing with a blue-green light that hurt all the eyes watching it. After a few seconds where the light brightened it's intensity, it was launched out from the device in a long beam. A long moment of stretching out, and then the beam retracted, a thick lump with orange streaks now on the end of it. All the light vanished back inside the supposed-telescope, and just like that, the scene was back to normal.
"Nooo, Baywatch, I think this is the right place."
Howdy, folks! Isn't this a lovely place to leave you hanging for a few days? Yeah, I thought so too.
Unfortunately, my school year has begun again, which means my free time is about to decrease dramatically, and as a result postings will become much more sporadic. I really want to take the rest of this week, and possibly weekend, to build up a buffer of chapters before I keep updating.
Now, I don't want to give anything away, but to answer some reviews, yes, we will be seeing a bit of the other dimension within the chapter after next. And the epilogue of this story will see wrap-ups with both Teams in both worlds - so just hold your horses, and let me get there!
Happy new semester, guys - try not to cry too much.
-Triscribe
P.S. Ack, I almost forgot again! Go to my profile page and fill out to poll I've set up, please! The more folks who do, I guarantee we'll be seeing an update sooner rather than later.