AN: So I felt bad enough about leaving you hanging for a month that I'm giving you lovely people two updates in one week as an apology (and this one's pretty long…). Thank you, as always, to those of you that have favorited/alerted me and/or the story and a big thanks to all you wonderful people that have reviewed. I seriously smile every time I read your reviews and find that you're all still enjoying this story. See what kind of power you have? You guys literally bring a smile to my face! :) Anyways, here's chapter thirteen. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Young Justice. However, I do own a completed manuscript for my own original work that I am now trying to get published (so if any of you know anything or have any tips or tricks, please let me know)
After the Team got into the air and away from Long Island things went fairly smoothly for them. Well, except until Black Canary contacted them over their comm links in full on "overprotective mama bear mode". She calmed down, though only slightly, when she learned they were just leaving Long Island and then went right back to a full on freak out when she found out exactly where they were and what they had been doing. The six younger teens snickered as quietly as they could when she focused her attention on Red Arrow, fussing over him as much as possible over the air waves and generally acting as the concerned mother figure that she was for the oldest member of the group.
"After you drop off those kids you are all to come right back to the Mount, am I clear?" she had asked after she had finished her worrying, her tone leaving no room for argument.
The seven teens exchanged wary glances, but swung the jet back to Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, after making sure each of the eleven children got home safely. Robin guided the plane into the hanger and offered a chagrined smile to the assembled mentors as the Team walked out.
"You stole a jet?" Black Canary asked incredulously.
"I told them to," Red Arrow defended, stepping forward. "I needed a little help on a job and asked them to come along. They agreed and this was the only way off Long Island with all those kids. Besides, we all got off all right and the kids are all back home safe and sound."
"Be that as it may, you still put yourselves in a dangerous situation without a lot of prior knowledge," Batman rumbled. "I will agree that everything turned out in your favor, but it could have just as easily gone bad. I thought I had been teaching you better than that."
"Based on what Red Arrow already knew, we had just about as much information as we do when we run ops for you," Impulse pointed out, albeit a little belligerently. "I will admit that things could have gone bad, but the fact of the matter is, they didn't. We got in, got the kids, got out, got them home and got back here in one piece. Besides, I think there's something in the cargo hold of that plane you'll want to have a look at."
Batman raised an eyebrow before stepping around the assembled teens and making his way into the plane. A few minutes later he came back out, already handing out orders. "Get someone in there to unload the plane and get the cargo to the Watch Tower. Someone also let Flash know he's got a lot more samples to work on and break down," he added before turning back to the Team. "Were you able to find out anything about the serum and why it was there?"
"We didn't know about it until we were already in the air," Robin answered immediately. "We had thought we were just there to rescue the kids."
"One of the kids did mention something about being taken for 'placement'," Artemis interjected. "Though none of them could tell us what that meant."
"This bares further consideration," Batman said more or less to himself. "I'll let this slide this once, but I expect you to clear any side projects through me first in the future."
"And if I need the Team for an op I'm running?" Red Arrow asked. "I'm I supposed to get your permission to ask my friends for help? I didn't realize that they had all regressed in years to the point where they still needed their hands held."
"Roy!" Black Canary chided.
"Sorry," Red Arrow replied with an unrepentant shrug. "But that's just how I see things. If you don't trust them enough to run ops like this, then what was the point of forming their team? Unless it's just an elaborate way to play baby-sitter and keep them relatively happy and off your back. Anyway, I've got to go. I'll catch you all later," he added to the six teens before leaving the hanger and jumping into the nearest zeta tube.
"You're dismissed," Batman said after a moment. "Try and get some sleep tonight, you all have school in the morning." Without another word, he headed for the nearest zeta tube as well, already calling instructions over his comm link to other League members.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm headed back to campus," Robin said after everyone else had cleared the room. "The beds here suck."
"Right behind you," Impulse replied.
By the time the six teens made it back to Gotham Academy, into their dorm rooms and showered it was already eleven at night. Wally said a quick "Night!" to Dick before disappearing into his own room. He wasn't at all surprised to see Artemis sitting on his bed, waiting for him.
"So, how much trouble am I in?" he asked as he took a seat next to her. When she remained silent, he looked over at her and frowned. "That bad that you're not talking to me?"
Artemis didn't say anything, but she did lean over to rest her head on his shoulder and wrap her arms around his torso.
"All right, Beautiful, what's wrong?" Wally asked, using the nickname he only used when he thought she might be mad at him and he wanted to attempt to placate her. He wrapped his own arms around her and pulled her a little closer.
"I know you're fast," Artemis finally mumbled. "But seeing all those bullets flying around you and not being there with you just felt so wrong. We've been together as long as I can remember and not being with you when you're risking your life was terrifying. I can't lose you, Wally. Not now, not ever; especially with everything that's been happening lately."
"You're not going to lose me, Angel, I promise," Wally told her, holding her just a little tighter.
Artemis smiled at the nickname; he hadn't called her Angel since the time he accidentally let it slip that she looked like an angel when they were eleven. She suspected he hadn't meant for it to slip this time either and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of that realization. "I better not," she replied after a moment. "Cause you know I'd just have to follow after you into the afterlife and kill you again for being an idiot," she added with a laugh.
"Of course you would," Wally chuckled. "So would I be correct in assuming you're staying here for the night?"
"Yes," Artemis replied as she allowed herself to fall backwards onto the bed, unbalancing Wally and dragging him with her. She waited long enough for him to get situated and comfortable before she snuggled in close and pillowed her head on his chest. "We haven't been on our turf for a couple of days," she said aloud after a moment of silence.
"Mmm," Wally hummed, the sound of it vibrating through his chest. "Do you want to go tonight?"
"No," Artemis said after a moment. "You're running low enough as it is. We'll go out Monday and call it good."
"If that's what you want," Wally mumbled sleepily.
"Go to sleep, Wally," Artemis chuckled. "I'll see you in the morning."
Wally simply hummed in acknowledgment once more, already halfway into dreamland. Artemis lay awake for a few more minutes, simply listening to Wally breathing that feeling the rise and fall of his chest beneath her head. Discordant thoughts danced around her mind, none of them sticking long enough for her to really consider them, until they all scattered as her heart gave a sudden, though not unpleasant jump, when Wally pulled her closer in his sleep and nuzzled into her hair. Something's changing, she thought to herself as she allowed the steady beat of Wally's heart lull her into sleep. Or maybe not changing. Maybe it's always been there and I just didn't know what it was. I just don't know what to do about it yet, she admitted to herself before her eyelids drifted closed and her conscious thoughts gave way to the world of dreams.
After such a busy weekend, the rest of the week was comparably slow. Wally and Artemis still went out on Monday and stayed out a little later, cleaning up what they could of Central Gotham in hopes of making up for their weekend absence, though it seemed to be a fairly slow crime week. Even their nights out with their mentors were slower than usual. By Thursday night they had found out that there weren't any missions for the weekend and they decided it was time they went home for a change. They would still show up at the cave for combat training, but there was no reason they couldn't spend a weekend at home with their mothers.
It was a rather dull Saturday afternoon and Wally and Artemis had taken up residence on the couch, television on as they munched on various snack foods they had dug up in the kitchen.
"So, how goes your science project?" Artemis asked around a mouthful of popcorn.
"What science project?" Wally's mother asked.
"The school's holding a junior science fair deal," Wally answered as he rolled his eyes. "First prize is a scholarship to the school of the winner's choice for college. I wasn't going to participate but my AP Chem teacher practically forced me and he teamed up with my Physics and Biology teachers when he couldn't get me to sign up by himself," he added with a growl. "Now I've got to come up with something and get it submitted before the deadline."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Wally's mother gushed. "Do you have any ideas?"
"A few," Wally sighed, finding it hard to remain completely surly about the whole thing when his mother was so excited.
"Yeah, apparently they're getting people from big companies across the nation to judge," Artemis said. "Like that guy, from Central City Labs," she added, gesturing to the news report on a new finding by Barry Allen. The blond headed scientist was smiling into the camera and politely answering all the questions the assembled press posed to him.
"Is it too late for you to back out?" Wally's mother asked suddenly. Her voice was low and she was staring wide eyed, almost terrified, at the man on the screen.
"Uh, mom?" Wally began, looking nervously over to his mother. He had never her seen her like this before and, if he were being honest with himself, it kind of unnerved him. He was used to the happy, but pig-headedly stubborn woman that had raised him so to see her practically on the verge of a breakdown was new and worrying to the young hero. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"
"You need to talk to your teachers and back out of this, Wally, please," his mother practically begged him.
"Um, not that I'm complaining or anything; I didn't want to do this anyway, but, uh, can I ask why?" Wally asked hesitantly.
"Because," Wally's mother finally whispered after a moment as she turned to face her son. "That man sat back and watched while our parents disowned me. He could have done something to stop them, but he chose not to act. He's the reason our live turned out the way they have and I don't want you anywhere near him. Please, Wally. He made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with me and I don't want you in a situation where he could hurt you as well."
For a moment all Wally could do was sit and stare at his mom. For a minute, noting really made much sense. His mother had never really talked about her family, except the one time she had to explain to him why he didn't have any grandparents like all the other kids; that particular conversation hadn't been pleasant and it still made Wally angry when he remembered the painfully sad look on his mother's face when she told him what her parents had done to her. After a few moments of processing what she had just said, the implications finally caught up to him. "Wait, so he's my uncle?"
"Was," Wally's mother corrected. "He made it clear he didn't care when he watched our parents sign the documents for my disownment."
"But he is your biological brother?" Wally asked, having a hard time trying to process all the new information despite the speeds at which his thoughts could move now.
"Yes," Wally's mother answered hesitantly as remnants of that haunted, sad look clung to the edges of her eyes. "But that doesn't mean anything to him; to any of them."
"Then I'm definitely backing out," Wally snarled as he threw a dark look to the blond man on the screen. "No way am I participating in anything that any of them are a part of. I'm not relying on their attempts at charity to get anywhere on life. If we weren't good enough for them, they're money is definitely not good enough for me," he added venomously. While Wally knew little about his mother's family, he still knew quite well what they had done to her when she had left to be with his father. They had promptly disowned her and then actually placed a restraining order on her when she had tried to get help after Wally's father had left them. They had turned a blind eye and deaf ears to her pleas for help, especially with a young son, no job and no money. Not that Wally would change the life he had for anything, mostly because it had allowed him to meet Artemis, but it still pissed him off that people who claimed to be family would treat someone like that. It didn't exactly help matters that any thoughts of his mother's situation with her family always ended up cycling back to his father and the night he left them. With one last snarl at the television, Wally got up from the couch and walked over to the door. "I'll be back later," he said as he stepped out into the apartment complex hallway.
Without missing a beat, Artemis was up and at the door right behind him with a speed that would have impressed Wally, had he been thinking straight. "You're not driving," Artemis told him as she grabbed his arm and pulled him down the hallway.
"I need to move," Wally complained in a low tone that warned her not to try and stop him. "Preferably in a fast and unreasonably reckless manner."
"Says the boy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," Artemis replied, giving him a look over her shoulder. "If you need to move fast, fine, but you're going to run. I'm not going to let you drive when you're too pissed to think clearly."
"I guess I hadn't thought of that," Wally admitted after a moment. "You coming with?" he added as he pulled a pair of goggles from his pocket.
"Did you seriously just ask me that?" Artemis responded. Though her tone was light hearted, she couldn't help but feel a little worried for her best friend. Whatever was going through his head was enough to unbalance him enough not to be thinking completely clearly. She'd let him run until he decided to stop, but then she'd get him to talk to her for sure.
"Right, right, sorry," Wally said with a humorless chuckle as he knelt down and waited for Artemis to climb onto his back. Once she was situated securely and had tucked her head against his neck to protect her face, he was off like a shot. He zipped out of the building, down the street, out of the city and well past the state lines. He didn't hold anything back as he ran and he didn't allow himself to think beyond making sure he didn't run into anything as his strides ate up the ground below him. In no time at all, he came to an abrupt stop and carefully let Artemis down to the ground, making sure she could stand on her own before he pulled his hands away.
For a while, neither teen said anything as they stared out over the expanse of the Grand Canyon below them. Wally had run them to a secluded cliff edge, how he knew it was there Artemis had no idea, but the sight was breathtaking and both teens took a moment to admire the view.
"Speak," Artemis finally commanded after she decided she had given him enough time to collect his thoughts.
"It's stupid," Wally grumbled back.
Artemis didn't reply, but she turned her entire body so she was facing her red headed best friend and watched with a vague sense of smug satisfaction when he sighed and shook his head.
"I just, I don't know. I guess I just got wondering why life isn't fair," Wally said at last.
"We've known for years that life, Fate, the Universe, whatever you want to call it, is a petty, vindictive bitch that singles people out to mess with for its own sick amusement," Artemis replied. "But whatever got you so pissed has much more to it than that irritating little fact of life."
"My mom never deserved what happened to her," Wally growled as he picked up a sizable rock and flung it out as hard as he could into the canyon below. "All she did was fall in love with an asshole and her family decided, "You know what? Screw you!" and then said asshole made light of that sacrifice and walked away because he was "bored" and "just didn't want to deal with it anymore". Then there's your dad," Wally continued. He felt Artemis tense beside him but he was on a roll and didn't feel particularly inclined to stop now. "He abused you and your mother emotionally and physically for years all because he's a sick, twisted prick. And then we go and learn that he's at least neck deep in an extensive and far reaching crime organization that's responsible for the disappearance and deaths of a bunch of teenagers. If it wasn't enough that he hurt you in the past; now the damn cockroach has to pop back up and pretty much do it all over again. Tell me, what did we do to get lives like these? What the hell did we do to merit this level of emotional pain? What did your mom do? Or my mom? To get stuck with such assholes?" he demanded as he threw another rock into the canyon.
"Nothing," Artemis replied quietly after a moment as she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. "We didn't do anything, Wally."
"Then why the hell is all of this happening to us? To them?" he raged. "Why do some of the scumbags we go to school with get to lead rich, perfect, entitled lives and we spent pretty much all of our childhood scraping the bottom of the barrel just to get through one more day in the hellhole we were forced to live in?"
"I don't know," Artemis answered, even quieter than before as she hugged her knees even tighter to her chest, her eyes straying out over the canyon instead of looking at Wally, trying hard not to recall the more painful parts of her life with her father. "I gave up trying to figure out why the world isn't fair a long time ago and to just accept the shitty hand I was dealt; it was easier that way, to think there was nothing I could do to change it all."
"I'm sorry," Wally said after another pause and a long, loud sigh when he finally looked over to Artemis. "I didn't mean to… I'm sorry. I was pissed, I am pissed, and I didn't stop to think."
"It's okay," Artemis replied, finally looking at Wally again. "You learn to take the good with the bad and just get through. My life up to this point sucked, both of our lives have sucked, but I wouldn't trade them up for anything. I promised you forever and always years ago and I intend to keep that promise till my last breath. The people around us can be jerks and our fathers can be the biggest assholes on the planet, but you'll always have me. I'll be right there with you till the end and beyond, if it's possible. Just don't keep stuff bottled up anymore idiot. When you do it all comes rushing out like this at once and you're not thinking clearly anymore," she added with a small smile to let him know all was forgiven.
For a moment, Wally just stared at his best friend, taking in the way the setting sun painted her bright blonde hair with streaks of fiery orange. A long ignored part of him burst to the forefront and sent his heart racing. Before he could stop himself, before he could take a moment to pause and reconsider, he followed his instincts, leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers.
For a minute Artemis was stunned motionless and then her heartbeat picked up, her eyes fluttered closed, her arms came up to wrap around Wally's neck and she was kissing him back just as fiercely.
"What was that?" Artemis finally asked when they separated for air.
"I don't know," Wally replied. "It just felt… right."
"Yeah," Artemis responded after a brief pause. "Yeah it did. When did all this change?"
"Has it changed?" Wally asked as he pulled back a bit and ran a hand through her long hair to tuck it behind her ear. "I don't feel any different, do you?"
"No," Artemis admitted. "Not really, I guess. So now what?"
"Now, I think we should get back into Gotham before our moms start to wonder where we are," Wally replied as he stood, taking her hand and helping her up as well.
Artemis allowed him to pull her to her feet, but stood her ground and crossed her arms over her chest while giving him an unamused look. "That's not what I meant."
"I know," Wally sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "What do you want to do about it?" He bit his bottom lip and refused to look her straight in the eye as though he was afraid of her answer.
"I think I'm willing to see where this takes us," Artemis said after a moment and trying (and failing) to hide the smile that came to her face when she caught sight of the hopeful look in Wally's eyes. "You're right that nothing's really changed; you're still my best friend and I'm still in this with you till the end."
"So what brought this on?" Artemis asked as she climbed back onto Wally's back, making sure to lock her arms securely around his neck.
"Honestly, you've got Dick and the Flash to blame," Wally replied with a wry smile and a shake of his head. "They both mentioned something about you being my girlfriend and I've had the idea floating around in my head for a while."
"So I'm your girlfriend?" Artemis teased lightly.
"If you want to be," Wally said with a shrug, trying to be nonchalant about it.
"I do," Artemis answered before pecking him lightly on the cheek. "But if you've been thinking about this for a while, why haven't you done anything until now?"
"Because I wasn't sure what to do," Wally answered truthfully. "Like I said, nothing's really changed about how I feel about you. You're still the most important person in my life and you're still my best friend. All that's really changed is that I get to kiss you now," he added with a mischievous smile over his shoulder.
"I see," Artemis laughed. "And what made you decide to kiss me then?"
"Nothing," Wally chuckled. "For once, I stopped thinking, stopped analyzing, and just acted. I think it turned out in our favor."
"I think you're right," Artemis replied. "Nothing really has changed. You know, maybe we've really been together for years and we've just been too oblivious to see it," she laughed.
"That would definitely explain a lot," Wally chuckled. "At least why we kept getting those weird looks from the people that know us. So, you ready to head back to Gotham?" he asked.
"Are you feeling better?" Artemis returned. "If you still need to run, go for it."
"Nah, I'm fine," Wally answered. "I'm no angrier about it all than usual anyway."
"Well, let's get back before we're missed then," Artemis said. "I have a feeling our moms are going to pick up on something and the sooner we get back the sooner we can get through their questions."
"Hold on tight then, Beautiful," Wally grinned. "I'm not holding back on the return trip."
Artemis had enough time to let out a short laugh before Wally was off like a shot. Strangely enough, their mothers didn't say a word when they walked into the apartment not even ten minutes later, hand in hand. They simply exchanged a knowing smile, smiled a little more widely at the pair and left it at that. Monday morning, however, was an entirely different matter.
Wally and Artemis had decided to stay home through the weekend and then take the bus back to the Academy Monday morning. This gave them the added advantage of not having to face the rest of the team until lunch. It wasn't that they were trying to hide their relationship; they just weren't looking forward to the inevitable smug and knowing looks and the endless squeal of questions (most likely all from M'Gann). As expected, M'Gann pounced the moment they were at the table.
"When did it happen?" she squealed. "How did it happen? Oh, I'm so excited for you two! I always thought you were the cutest couple; you just needed to realize you were a couple! Artemis, we should totally have a girl's night! We'll be able to talk about all of this without the boys around."
"Uh, yeah," Artemis replied warily even as she shot Wally a look that promised him holy hell if he even thought about leaving her alone with M'Gann for even a minute.
"Congratulations, my friends," Kaldur said as he smiled warmly at them. "I am most happy that you have found happiness with each other."
"Dude, you're making it sound like they've gotten married," Dick snickered. "They've just stopped being blind and realized they've been a couple for years. And probably enjoying the perks that come with it," he added with a mischievous smirk at the pair.
"Yeah, whatever man," Wally replied with a roll of his eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's lunch period and I need food." Without another word, he stepped away and headed for the lunch line, pulling Artemis along with him by their entwined hands.
The rest of the week went fairly smoothly after that Monday morning. They still got some good natured teasing from the rest of the team and Artemis was on the receiving end of quite a few angry glares from fans of Wally's. By Thursday she'd decided enough was enough, woke Wally up from his nap during lunch, pulled him up from his seat and kissed him soundly in the middle of the cafeteria. She then smiled sweetly, though there was obviously a sarcastic edge to it, at every girl she knew had been glaring at her before returning to her seat and pulling Wally back down with her. He stared at her for a moment, hopelessly confused, as his mind struggled to shake off his drowsiness and process what had just happened. It didn't exactly help that Artemis had left him breathless from her little stunt either.
"Just go back to sleep," she had told him. "It'll make sense to you later."
Wally hesitated for a moment before he shrugged, leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder. "Night," he had mumbled quietly before he was out like a light.
After that stunt, no one bothered Artemis again and the girls from Wally's fan club backed off and pretty much ignored her completely; not that it bothered her at all. As a matter of fact, she found it laughably hilarious.
Friday morning every member of the team woke up to a text message on their phones to report to the Mount right after classes let out for the day. No one, not even Dick, knew what was going on and after almost two weeks of inactivity, they were all ready to get out and do something.
"So what part of the world do you think we're jetting off to this time?" Artemis asked as the six teens made their way to the nearest zeta tube.
"Who knows," Dick answered. "We'll find out once we get debriefed. Personally, I'm hoping it's somewhere dry. I've had enough of the rainy weather that's settled here this week," he added before he stepped into the abandoned phone booth that acted as the portal for the zeta tube.
"Has the Little Bird had enough of the water wetting his wings?" Artemis teased.
"Birds usually nest and wait out a storm, but I have to stick around because you sorry lot would be completely lost without me," Robin quipped back, an easy grin on his face.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say we'd be lost," Wally interjected as the six of them burst into the Mount in the usual flash of white light and mechanical voice announcing their presence. "I'd say we'd more or less vaguely wonder if we were missing someone but be completely unable to place who."
"Ouch man," Dick said as he placed a hand over his heart, a frown on his face though anyone could see he was struggling not to grin. "That wounds me, right here; cuts me right to the heart."
"You'll live, I'm sure," Wally retorted.
"You don't know that," Dick continued, overly dramatic. "For all you know, you could have just delivered the final blow."
"If you can take a kick to the stomach from me and still get up and walk away, then I'm sure a little teasing won't kill you," Conner said as he walked past the three of them.
"All right fine, ruin my fun," Dick replied with an exaggerated sigh.
"There will be time for fun later," Batman said as he walked into the room. "For now, I need you to head to the Botanical Gardens in D.C. We've had reports that certain plants have been disappearing or have appeared to have been harvested for their sap or seeds. The scientists have been reluctant to explain which plants have gone missing and then all communications with them stopped early this morning. You're going in on recon. Take a look around, find out what's happening and put a stop to it if you can."
"Is Ivy behind this?" Dick asked, all joking gone from his tone to be replaced by an alert calm.
"It's a possibility we have considered," Batman answered.
"Wait, Ivy as in Poison Ivy?" Artemis asked. "You think Poison Ivy could be behind this and you're sending us in to deal with it?"
"I'm sure you can handle yourselves," Batman replied. "Besides, I was under the impression you wanted to be taken more seriously."
Artemis stared him down for a few minutes before huffing loudly and looking away. "Can you at least tell us a little about fighting her?" she asked. "We've heard of her, but Wally and I have never had the misfortune to cross paths with her."
"Robin can fill you in on your flight there," Batman answered. "It's hard to prepare to fight her because of the unique nature of her abilities. Keep in mind she can spread her spores by touch or by air. Now suit up and get going. I don't see any problem with open channel communications on your comm links so if you do get in over your heads you can contact nearby League members."
"So much for going someplace warmer," Dick grumbled as they all headed into the locker rooms to change.
"Cheer up man, it'll be stifling in the gardens," Wally said. "They have to keep it at temperatures comparable to the Amazon Rainforests."
"Yeah, but I'm not relishing the idea of going up against Ivy," Dick said before he shuddered.
"I'm sensing a story in that one," Wally said as he opened his locker door and pulled out his suit.
"About three months after our team formed we went up against her," Conner supplied as he dug out his usual jeans, black t-shirt and combat boots. "We were caught pretty much the second we got in the door. Whatever spores she had floating around in the air got us hallucinating. We didn't notice because everything was practically the same, except for subtle differences. We only realized what was going on when M'Gann noticed we weren't linked telepathically any more. She managed to reestablish the connection, shut down our senses and basically reboot everything in our brains to counter the effects of the spores."
"And that's what we're going up against?" Wally asked skeptically.
"She's actually pretty easy to beat," Dick said as he fit his domino mask over his eyes. "As long as you can avoid her plants and whatever spores she decides to throw at you."
"Well, that's the trick isn't it?" Wally retorted as he pulled his cowl over his head and situated his high impact goggles across his forehead.
"Let us focus on trying to survive," Kaldur said. "We have bested her once; we can and will do it again. We are not as weak as we once were, and our number is larger. I am not saying this will be easy, far from it I expect. However, I do not think we should let ourselves worry about the "what ifs"; it will only hamper our ability to act."
"Well said man," Impulse said as he stood from the bench he had been sitting on to pull on his boots. "Let's get the girls and get going then."
The flight to D.C. was short but interesting. As Impulse and Artemis had never fought Poison Ivy before the rest of the team tried to fill them in verbally until Miss Martian came up with the idea for the rest of the team to simply share their memories with the pair. For lack of a better expression, it was a completely trippy experience for Impulse and Artemis to relive the past fight (or in the case of Robin, the past fights) the rest of the team had with the deadly floraphile. They were practically sucked into the memories and saw the same fight from multiple points of view, feeling phantom pains when the originator of the memory recalled being hit. When the entire team had finished sharing their experiences, Impulse and Artemis returned to themselves and had to take a minute to readjust.
"While that was incredibly helpful," Impulse began. "I suggest we don't do that again unless we absolutely have no other option."
"Are you all right?" Miss Martian asked, suddenly concerned. "I didn't do something wrong, did I?"
"No, no you're fine," Artemis replied, waving off the green girl's concern. "It's just incredibly disorienting to go through the same memory from four different perspectives and then return to your own head to try and make sense of it all."
"I'm sorry," Miss Martian replied as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
"Seriously, no worries," Impulse said. "Just give us a few minutes to shake off the headache and we'll be fine."
"You think about ten will be enough?" Robin asked. "Cause that's all you've got till we reach the gardens."
"We'll make do," Artemis answered as she rubbed her head at her hairline.
"Miss Martian, I believe now would be a good time to put the ship in camouflage mode," Aqualad interrupted. "We do not want any advanced warning of our presence."
"Already on it," Miss Martian responded. Though the Team couldn't tell the difference, anyone on the ground looking below would have seen the red bioship shimmer slightly before winking out of existence completely.
Ten minutes later the six teens arrived at the Botanical Gardens and Miss Martian set the bioship to hovering over the roof. She quickly created an opening in the bottom of the ship, large enough for each of them to slip through and drop to the roof below. Once all of them had made it out of the ship, Miss Martian closed the hatch back up and sent the craft skimming away, though still close enough to be reached telepathically.
"I think the best plan will be to spread out and work in teams of two," Aqualad said as they quietly made their way to the roof exit. "Batman said that there should not be problems with electronic communication, but we should probably keep that to a minimum. Communicate through the telepathic link unless you have no other choice."
"The usual teams?" Robin asked.
"Yes," Aqualad answered. "That should balance out the power and speed between groups. Well, except with you two," he added to Artemis and Impulse.
"No worries, we've managed pretty well so far without a heavy hitter," Impulse replied with a shrug.
"I suppose it helps when one of us can literally run circles around the bad guys and the other one can snipe them off from a distance if need be," Artemis added with a smirk.
"Yes, well, keep a sharp eye out and remember, our first priority is to locate the scientists and find out what has happened here," Aqualad replied.
The Team waited around long enough for Miss Martian to reestablish the telepathic connection before the six of them drifted off in separate directions, conveniently forgetting that the trees, and indeed all of the plants in the large structure, had eyes and every last one of them were intently watching their every move.
AN2: Okay, so admittedly this could have gone on a little longer, but when this hit fourteen pages I figured it was time to stop so you guys wouldn't be hit with a big wall of text this update, lol. Well, Wally and Artemis are finally together. I do, however, feel compelled to point out that not much of anything is going to change between them. As Artemis pointed out, they may well have been together this whole time and not really even noticed because their closeness was one that came naturally and only grew deeper with time. Plus, add to the fact that both of them are fairly emotionally closed individuals (who wouldn't be after the lives I've given them…) they don't exactly have any prior experience with loving someone and actually recognizing it for what it is. Long story short, they're together, but please don't expect flowery speeches and over-the-top declarations of love; that's just not who they are. However, if you've liked the way their relationship plays out so far, then don't worry, you can expect much of the same. Oh, and before I get a bunch of reviews on this, I know Barry is Wally's uncle by marriage in Canon-Verse, but I had to tweak that relationship in order for the storyline I've got planned to work. I think that's all I've got by way of explanations this time. If you have any questions, drop me a line and I'll do my best to answer (without giving away any plot details, of course). Don't forget to leave a review! Seriously, you guys make me smile every time I read one! :D