AN 1: I wonder how many people actually read these things... Regardless, please allow me a minute to express my deepest and most sincere apologies. I honestly didn't mean to leave you guys hanging this long. Life just kind of went crazy on me and a lot of my plans I had for myself fell apart. On top of all of that, the Universe decided to slap me in the face a couple times for no other reason than it thought it would be hilarious. As a result, writing of any kind pretty much stopped for me for a while. I couldn't find the will or energy to even work on my original work. Things are finally getting back on track now and hopefully I can get my writing going again as well. Thank you all for being so patient (and for the reviews and PMs about getting back at this. Believe it or not, those do actually inspire me to keep going, even if it does take a while for me to pump out a new chapter). Thanks again and enjoy to chapter :)
Oh! Also, a few of you sent in OCs and you may see some of them here ;) I'm not telling which ones yet cause I want it to be a surprise, but credit for the characters is in my AN at the end.
Disclaimer: I in no way own Young Justice, nor do I profit from this in any way. This story is written purely for entertainment (and because the plot bunnies refuse to leave the author alone until they're written down, the pushy little jerks).
It didn't take Wally long to run them back into Gotham from the airport, despite feeling run down already. He ran them right to their hideout and waited patiently while Artemis typed in the code.
"You all right?" she asked as she pushed the door open.
"Just need to eat something and rest up," Wally answered, leaning against the door frame for a minute before following Artemis down the stairs and into their abandoned substation. He watched contemplatively as Artemis bustled around and shoved half-finished projects into a bag and dug out her bike helmet.
"You going to pack anything, or just stand there?" the blonde archer asked with a raised brow.
"Not much to pack," Wally replied with a shrug before tapping his own helmet once with his knuckles. "Everything else is too big and too easily spotted to take with me."
"Any samples you want to take?" Artemis pressed, nodding her head in the direction of the large fridge where Wally kept everything he wasn't currently using.
"No way to store anything," the red head negated with a shake of his head. "Besides, I've run all the tests I can think of on the venom we confiscated," he added with a smirk. "If the League gets in here I say they can have the scraps I've left behind. Oh! That reminds me," he mumbled to himself as he turned back to his work desk and shuffled all the papers strewn about into a single pile. "Got any more room in that bag for these?" he asked, holding up the mess of papers.
"Yeah," Artemis replied, walking over and holding the bag open. "Dump them all in. What are they anyway?"
"My notes," Wally grinned. "No need for them to find out what I've been working on."
The two packed up quickly, making sure to take their stashes of spare civilian clothes from their hiding places, before flipping off the lights for the final time and sending their small hideout into a complete lockdown. Wally quickly belted down their bags to the back of his bike and pulled his helmet over his head.
"Forget anything?" he asked over the link in their helmets.
"Nothing that's important if I can't think of it," Artemis replied as she gunned the gas on her bike.
"So where to?" Wally asked as he sped out after the blonde archer, both of them easily flitting through the Gotham Central traffic as though it wasn't there.
Artemis was quiet for a moment, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. "Can we?" she questioned, knowing that Wally would understand.
"Yeah, I wanted to stop there too," Wally replied just as quietly.
The two teens quickly weaved through cars and pedestrians alike, not paying any attention to the honks and yells that followed them as they cut people off and darted through narrow gaps. Before long they reached the most familiar street in all of Gotham. Quietly, they pulled into a narrow alleyway and shut off their bikes.
"Think they're asleep?" Artemis asked as she pulled off her helmet. Her eyes were trained on the fire escape, searching for any light coming through the window on the fourth floor.
Wally glanced at his watch for a moment before answering. "Probably," he said at last. "It's after midnight and they both have to work in the morning."
Artemis nodded to herself a couple of times before softly springing up onto the fire escape and making her way to the fourth floor. Wally came up right behind her and they both jimmied the window to the fourth floor open, slipping silently inside. For a moment, the two of them just stood there, taking in the living room that had pulled double duty as their family room and their bedroom for years. For now, no messy piles of blankets decorated either couch and their pillows were probably tucked safely away in the hall closet. The pair spared each other one look before taking off through two different doors.
Wally stood in his mother's doorway, almost afraid to step inside. Finally, his desire to say good-bye won out and he made his way to her bedside. "Hey mom," he whispered softly, too low for her to hear in her sleep. "I just, uh, I just came to say good-bye. Artie and me, well, we've got to go away and, uh, I'm not sure when we'll be back. If we'll ever be back. So I guess I just wanted to say thank you, you know? For everything you've done for me. I'd tell you not to worry, but we both know it wouldn't work," he added, smirking slightly for a moment. "Anyway, uh, yeah. I guess that's all I have to say." Without another word, the red head got up and made his way back to the doorway, only to pause one more time. "I love you mom," he said into the quiet room. "No matter what, no matter what I become, that will never change."
While Wally was saying his good-byes to his own mother, Artemis had made her way into her own mom's room. For the first few minutes, the blonde archer just stood there, staring down at her mother and willing the tears in her eyes to stay where they belonged. "Please don't be disappointed in me," she finally whispered, her voice sounding choked and hoarse. "We had to do it. And we'll be safe. I'll be safe, I promise." She paused for a minute and shook her head. "Okay, so I can't really promise that, we both know that. But you know Wally, he'll do his damndest to keep me from getting hurt and you can be sure I'll do the same for him. I wish I could say I'm sorry, but I can't. I know you probably won't be proud of me, and I can only hope you'll eventually forgive me, but I still love you mom," Artemis forced out through the lump growing in her throat. "I know what I'm going to do is a really poor way to show it, but I do love you." Gently, ever so carefully, she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her mother's forehead. "Good-bye mom."
Before her tears could actually fall, Artemis dashed out of the room and slipped back out on to the fire escape. She leaned back against the wall, her head tilted up in hopes of keeping the water leaking from her eyes to an absolute minimum. She didn't have to wait very long for Wally to sneak back out and stand beside her. He didn't even hesitate as he pulled her into his arms. She immediately tucked her head into the crook of his neck and shoulder, her arms wrapping around his torso tightly. With her face hidden and being wrapped securely in Wally's arms, Artemis didn't even try to hold back anymore. She shuddered silently once before the dams behind her eyes broke and the tears came pouring out.
"I've got you, Angel," Wally whispered into her hair. "I've got you. Forever and always."
"Forever and always," Artemis eventually answered, her voice sounding thick. "We've got to go, got to keep moving," she added, though she made no move to untangle herself from the red head's arms.
"Are you ready?" Wally asked, his hold tightening slightly. "I think we're good if you need another minute."
"No," Artemis mumbled as she finally pulled herself from his arms. "We don't know how far behind they are and we need to be gone before they get here."
Wally watched her face for a moment, gently brushing his thumbs across her cheeks to wipe away the stray tears. He leaned in and softly pressed his lips against hers, gently cupping her face between his hands. "All right," he said when he pulled away. "Let's get out of here then." He didn't say another word as the two of them climbed back onto their bikes, spared one last glance towards the fourth floor window and drove off into the night.
The rode in silence for a while, both of them lost in the melancholy of their own thoughts, before they realized they hadn't really picked a final destination. They weighed the pros and cons of finding a big city over a little back water place in the middle of nowhere for a good half hour. On the one hand, slipping into a big city would give them the anonymity of crowds to blend into, but almost every single city big enough to hide in had at least one hero assigned to it and sometimes more than one sidekick. On the other hand, hiding out in the middle of nowhere would give them a chance to get lost off the grid, but strangers were almost always noticed in places like that and all it would take would be a couple of questions and they'd be caught. They even thought about slipping out of the country, but quickly dismissed the idea since going through customs would only make it that much easier for them to be found. Eventually they decided to slip off to the Southwest and hide out somewhere in Arizona.
For the next four days the pair stayed in a cheap motel just on the outskirts of Tucson. They were still close enough to the big city to be anonymous in a crowd, but far enough removed that they didn't have to worry about getting spotted because of a random security camera that happened to get a lucky shot. When they had first arrived they had briefly considered staying in Summerhaven up Mt. Lemmon, but quickly shot the idea down as being too much of a risk. While it was a nice little place, it wouldn't give them anywhere near the anonymity they needed to keep a low profile.
Artemis had decided to hit the pool that afternoon while Wally was out on his daily run. Once they had settled in the red head had taken to going on runs through the city to get a feel of where they were and what was going on. He figured if he could keep his ear to the ground, so to speak, they'd be one step ahead of the Team if they ever managed to track them down. The had talked the night before about maybe moving on, to keep moving, but figured they could probably get through the end of the week.
When Artemis surfaced for air she found herself looking up at her red headed, freckled boyfriend. She smiled in greeting until she saw the frown pulling at his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"We might have a problem," Wally answered as he sat down on the edge of the pool and let his legs fall into the water.
"A problem how?" Artemis pressed.
"Well, when I was out running I thought I saw Dick in street clothes, obviously looking for someone, but I don't think it was us," Wally replied.
"Okay, so what does that mean?" the blonde archer continued as she pulled herself out of the water to sit beside Wally.
"I don't really know," Wally shrugged. "He said something like 'her plane landed an hour ago' but I didn't exactly stick around to get more details. I didn't see the others, but they must have been spread out pretty far if he was using a comm. link instead of the psychic connection."
"Do you think it's safe to move then? With them already in the city?" Artemis asked, a frown of her own tugging at her lips.
"Can't say," Wally replied with another shrug. "Without knowing where they are and where they're watching, it might do us more harm than good. At least right now they aren't actively looking for us; that gives us something."
Artemis nodded absently, getting the rest of the way out of the water and beginning to wring out her hair. "So do we just stick it out in the room for a couple of days?"
"Maybe," Wally said, standing up as well and snagging his sneakers from the ground and following after Artemis as she made her way back to their room. "I saw Dick in the downtown area, so we may be safe out here."
Artemis slipped the key card out of her bag and through the reader, pushing the door open only to freeze in the doorway. She felt Wally bump into her and mumble out half an apology before she felt him stiffen behind her as well.
"You know," Jade began conversationally, stretched out lazily on Artemis' bed. "With that sign on bonus you got from the Shadows, you could have gone anywhere. Why pick a dump like this?"
"What are you doing here?" Artemis demanded, her hands curling tightly into fists.
"Well, if you'd answer the phones we gave you, then there wouldn't be a need for me to drop in," Jade drawled. "Or lead your little playmates here."
"So it's you that they're tailing," Wally growled. "I'd say that's a rookie mistake, but we both know you did it on purpose."
"Then why bother stating it?" Jade drawled as she rose from the bed. "So you've got two choices here. You can stick around and wait for them to find you, and you know they will," she added with her signature Cheshire smile growing on her face. "Or, you can listen to me and get the mission you should have answered your phones for."
"What mission?" Artemis grumbled as she flopped onto the bed her older sister had just vacated.
"Nothing complicated," Jade answered with a flippant wave of her hand. "You two will be...acquiring something while I'm off on other...business."
"So basically you need us to steal something else and you'll be putting a knife in someone's back," Wally returned completely deadpanned.
"Well, it may not be a knife in the back," Jade smiled again, easily putting her mask to shame. "So, what's your decision little sister? We both know your red headed pet will follow wherever you go."
Wally bristled and growled at Jade's comment, his hands clenching tightly into fists, but he settled for simply glaring at his girlfriend's dark haired sister when the blonde placed a hand on his arm.
"Such hostility," Jade laughed, completely undeterred from the speedster's glare. "What did I ever do to you, I wonder. I hardly remember ever having much to do with you at all really."
"It wasn't me that you did anything to," Wally spat back.
Jade spared a glance towards Artemis, looking her over once, before turning back to Wally and raising one eyebrow. "She turned out just it seems. No harm done."
"Are you kidding me?" the red head explode, nearly launching himself into the dark haired girl across from him. Only Artemis placing a hand on his arm stopped him.
"Well, not that it hasn't been fun chatting about nothing with you, but you've got a decision to make," Jade drawled. "Are you coming with me, or am I telling our superiors you're ignoring mission orders?"
"Yeah, yeah, we're coming," Artemis replied. "Where are we meeting you?"
"Private airstrip just north of here," Jade answered. "The address is in a text message on your phones. You've got one hour to get ready and get there; don't be late."
Without another word, Artemis' older sister swept out of the room; never once looking back at the pair she left behind. When Artemis was sure she was gone, she snatched a pillow off of the bed, shoved her face into it and screamed as loudly as she could. Wally waited and watched patiently until she collapsed bonelessly onto the bed, the pillow still over her face.
"Are you okay?" he asked, carefully removing the pillow from his girlfriend's face.
"I will be," Artemis grumbled after a brief pause. "Let's just get this over with."
Almost an hour later saw Wally and Artemis standing on the tarmac outside of a private hanger. They had stowed their bikes in the back, behind racks of tools and tarps and waited for Jade to arrive. The dark haired girl finally showed up fifteen minutes later; which had Wally scowling darkly and tapping his foot impatiently.
"Bout time," he growled.
"Oh calm down," Jade returned with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I could have led your little friends right to us if you'd have preferred. You could have had a rematch and lose just as horribly as you did the first time."
Wally opened his mouth to spit back an insult but got cut off when Artemis beat him to it. "Are we leaving or talking? Cause the longer you have us standing out in the open the easier it'll be for them to find us. If you really went to the trouble of ditching them it'd be pretty stupid to let them catch us now."
"Follow me then," Jade returned with a smirk as she led the way up the steps and into the small, private plane.
Wally and Artemis shuffled in behind the older girl, both of them tossing their bags onto the first seats they could and claiming the next two right behind them. Artemis waited for Wally to get situated against the wall of the plane before sliding in next to him. She stared at the armrest for half a heartbeat, lifted it and Wally's arm out of the way and turned to fit into his side and sprawl across the seat. She smiled a bit to herself when his arm automatically wrapped around her and he threaded his fingers with hers.
"Wake me up when we get there, wherever there is," the blonde mumbled as she let her eyes drift closed, falling asleep quickly despite the roar of the engines starting up and the jolt of takeoff.
The ride was quiet for the first forty-five minutes while Artemis slept and Wally spent his time staring out the window. His mind was strangely blank as he watched the clouds float lazily by. Ever since the accident, his mind was always on "go"; it never stopped, never slowed down. He had to make a conscious effort to dial it back and focus on the world around him just to interact with everyone. But here, in the plane, flying off to who knows where with one of the few people he truly hated sitting just a few seats away; he felt oddly calm. He wouldn't say he was at peace; he was a long way from ever reaching that state of mind, assuming he ever really wanted to anyway, but he was calm. It was an odd feeling, one he hadn't had in a long while, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it.
"Was she okay?" Jade finally asked after a while, her tone oddly soft and almost hesitant.
Wally glanced up, sparring one look towards the older girl before his attention shifted back to his sleeping girlfriend. "No," he answered shortly. "No she wasn't. After you left it seemed like I was patching her up more and more often. Your bastard of a father got increasingly violent; especially when she didn't quite match up to you."
"I had to leave," Jade returned, an edge her voice making her seem defensive.
"Whatever," Wally replied as he shrugged the shoulder Artemis wasn't using as a pillow, instantly dismissing the older girl. "You did what you did, and what happened has happened. You can't change it, even if you wish you could."
"I do," Jade said quietly after a lengthy pause, her voice quiet once again. "She's my baby sister and I shouldn't have left her. I should have stayed to protect her, but she had you. I thought she would be fine. I thought if I left, dad would back off and leave her alone."
Wally looked up once more and a moment of quiet understanding passing between them. He was still angry with her, but he supposed he could at least admit he could see where she was coming from. "Then that plan of yours really backfired."
"Just because I left, doesn't mean I stopped caring," Jade added quickly before a small smile stole across her face for a brief moment as she glanced at her little sister. "The Cheshire Cat usually watches over Alice from afar. That said, she is still my baby sister and if you hurt her, I can promise you right now that you will be begging for death by the time I'm done with you."
"If you have been watching over her, even a little, you would know that would never happen," Wally whispered quietly, his arm tightening slightly around the sleeping blonde. "Everything I am is hers and I'll be by her side until she doesn't want me anymore."
Jade snorted, but a smile briefly flashed across her face again. "That was sappy, West, very sappy. Besides, you and I both know that you're stuck with her for the rest of your life if that's the case."
Wally nodded once in Jade's direction before turning back to stare out the window. The silence that fell over the cabin wasn't as tense this time; an unlikely sort of peace had settled over the two still awake and even Artemis seemed to smile slightly in her sleep.
Before long Wally felt a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him awake. He groaned once and tried to shove the hand away even as he tried to back further into the wall behind him.
"Come on, Sleeping Beauty," an amused voice trilled lightly at the edges of his consciousness. "It won't help no matter how long you sleep; you're still going to look like you."
"You're just lucky I love you," Wally grumbled as he cracked an eye open to frown up at the grin spreading across Artemis' face.
"No, you're lucky I love you," the blonde teased back, playfully sticking her tongue out at him before leaning in and giving him a quick peck on the lips.
"You're in a good mood," Wally commented around a yawn as he stretched out his arms and legs. He let out a small sigh when his back cracked loudly before he stood up and snagged his bag from the seat in front of him. "Any particular reason?"
"Because right now I'll take anything to keep my mind off of the darkness we're walking deeper into," Artemis replied solemnly.
Wally just nodded in response and snagged her hand, lacing their fingers together in an easy motion that spoke of plenty of practice and familiarity. "Would you go back if you could?" he asked quietly before they got off the plane.
"Never," Artemis hissed instantly, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Would you?"
"Not a chance," Wally replied, his eyes shifting to a toxic green as a wicked smirk flitted across his lips.
"I didn't realize you slept like the dead West," Cheshire taunted as she stepped out of the shadows and onto the tarmac. "If I had known then maybe I would have tried harder to keep you awake."
"We've got time," Artemis dismissed as she let her bag slip to the ground. "It's not even full night yet."
"Says who?" Cheshire questioned, her hands on her hips. Though they couldn't see behind her smiling mask, both Artemis and Wally were sure she was smirking at them. "You don't even know what you're doing or where you are."
Wally paused for a moment and took a look around. He felt colder than he usually did in Gotham and he could vaguely make out mountains in the distance through the gloomy dusk, but nothing gave away their position. He tried to check in with his innate GPS, but because he had fallen asleep he had yet to reorient himself. "I'll bite," he said at last. "Where are we?"
"Switzerland," Cheshire finally answered. "You'll be breaking into a secure weapons facility and copying their server onto this," she added as she tossed an external hard drive to Artemis.
"A secure weapons facility in Switzerland?" Wally questioned skeptically. "They're always neutral; what could they have that the Shadows want?"
"Never trust the quiet ones," Cheshire sing-songed back. "Besides, you're not paid to know what we do with the information; you're just paid to retrieve it."
"And where will you be?" Artemis interjected.
"Oh, I'll be around, eventually," Cheshire laughed. "I've got my own job to do that just so happened to be around the same area you'll be."
"Uh-huh," Artemis returned with an upward quirk of her eyebrow and a slight frown on her face. "Whatever, just give us a second to gear up."
Without another word Wally and Artemis slipped past Cheshire and into the dark hanger behind her to change. They were quiet as they tugged on their uniforms and Artemis made sure her bow was in working order and enough arrows were loaded into her quiver. When the pair walked back out they paused for a moment to see three other people standing around near Cheshire. All three figures were definitely female, and all fairly tall. The girl closest to Cheshire was dressed in a dark orange bodysuit with fingerless gloves, which only highlighted her dark orange hair and her red-orange eyes burning out from beneath her domino mask. As Artemis and Impulse moved closer they saw a fox tail twitching and swaying behind her and two guns holstered at her hips. When she noticed them her lips lifted slightly in a silent snarl and fangs glinted briefly in the quickly waning light.
The girl next to her had pixie cut, dark auburn hair and pale white skin. She was dressed in a long sleeved black shirt with a purple swirl design splashed across the front of it. Tight black pants covered her legs and knee high black boots completed her outfit. A dark belt hung loosely around her hips and a long, wicked looking knife was sheathed on her thigh.
The last girl, the oldest looking and tallest of the three, was dressed in a red vest zipped to the bottom of her bust, covering the orange spaghetti strapped shirt underneath. She wore orange pants with flecks of blue throughout and knee high boots with the same color scheme. The color of her clothes only served to make her red hair with orange highlights stand out even more.
"And they are?" Artemis questioned, her hands on her hips as she glared at Cheshire.
"Oh, did I forget to mention the team you've been assigned to for this mission?" Cheshire laughed back. "After that close disaster from your initiation, the higher ups decided to make sure you didn't lose again."
"That doesn't really answer the question," Impulse shot back.
"It's not my job to give introductions," Cheshire replied with an unconcerned shrug. "If you want to get all buddy-buddy that's on you. I've got a job to do." With a quick, mock salute, the older assassin disappeared into the shadows.
"So who are you?" Artemis demanded of the other girls.
"Shouldn't we be asking you?" the girl with the fox tail asked. "We've been working for the Shadows a lot longer than you have. Technically, we have seniority."
"I wouldn't count on that," Artemis snorted. "We've been in this one way or another for years."
"Whatever, we have a job to do," the girl with fiery red hair interrupted. "Standing around trying to figure out who's been working this the longest won't get it done. I'm Blaze; the girl with the fox tail is Fox and the other girl is Belle. You two are Impulse and Artemis. Your abilities include super speed, expert hand-to-hand combat and deadly accuracy with a bow. Until further notice, we're stuck working together so we might as well shut up and get this done."
"You seem to know a lot about us," Impulse replied, an eyebrow raised under his cowl as he stepped subtly closer to Artemis. "I'm not entirely comfortable with that."
"Really?" Fox asked with a teasing grin. "Cause I would think it would be a bit more difficult for you to be the only guy on a team of girls."
"I think the biggest problem here is whether or not we can trust them," Belle said, sweeping her arms to indicate the two other girls with her. "Remember, they were baby JLA members for a while."
"Not by choice!" Artemis spat. "We got tricked into it and we were lied to the entire time. We're done with them."
"You'll have to forgive me if I hold out on that until I actually see the proof," Belle replied. "Now let's get moving. We've got a secure weapons facility to break into and you've got an entire server to compress and copy," she added, gesturing briefly to Artemis.
"Are we walking then?" Impulse asked.
"You've got super speed," Fox taunted. "At least, that's what we were told," she added with a sly grin.
"I'm not carrying all of you," Impulse shot back immediately.
"You won't need to," Belle answered. "Fox and I can hotwire a car on the way, Blaze has her own way of getting around and you should be used to running with Artemis."
Impulse and Artemis shared a look, the blonde rolling her eyes as he shrugged and crouched low for her to climb on his back. "Where are we headed exactly?" Impulse asked.
"Here," Blaze said, tossing a small slip of paper to the pair before fire erupted around her, coalescing into fiery wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. "Don't be late." Without another word, her wings beat once and she took off into the sky.
"Meet you there," Fox added with a mock salute and a grin before she and Belle turned and headed for the parking lot to find a car.
"What do you think?" Impulse asked quietly after the other three were gone.
"I think they're meant to keep tabs on us," Artemis replied just as softly. "Make sure the Shadows can actually trust us."
"They're different than the normal experimented teens," Impulse added. "They actually have free will."
"Some other sort of experiment maybe?" Artemis suggested. "Or maybe they're born Metas and they sided with the Shadows. It wouldn't exactly be the first time."
"True," Impulse sighed. "Well, let's get this over with."
Taking her cue, Artemis wrapped her arms a little tighter around Impulse's neck and buried her face into his shoulder to keep the wind from her eyes. A smile stretched across her lips when she felt him shoot forward; no matter how often she had traveled like this, it never failed to send a thrill through her each time Impulse rocketed off. Before too long though, they were skidding to a stop and she lifted her head to see where they were. She frowned at the squat, dark building surrounded by a high concrete wall and an even higher chain link fence that wrapped around the entire structure. A guard tower was posted at each corner of the wall and guards periodically walked around the perimeter at random intervals.
"Is this a weapons facility or a prison?" the archer asked after a moment.
"Maybe a bit of both," Impulse answered. "Looks like we're here first anyway, want to scout around and see if we can find a way in?" He took off again when he felt Artemis nod her head next to his.
After making at least three complete cycles around the building and even pausing every once in a while to try and find a pattern in the guards' routes, Impulse and Artemis returned to the rendezvous point and waited.
"I'm not seeing a way in," Artemis said after she climbed off of Impulse's back. "At least not one five people can exploit." She looked over, a frown forming on her face, when she heard the tell-tale crinkle of an energy bar being opened. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Impulse replied after swallowing a mouthful. "Sleeping on the plane helped. This is really just to make sure I don't crash once we're in there. We haven't really gotten a lot of information on this mission."
"That's something the Shadows and the League seem to have in common," Artemis snarled. "I'm not a fan of being kept in the dark."
"Prove you're actually worth our time and then the higher ups might start telling you something," Belle said as she and Fox slipped out of a dark patch of shadows.
Artemis scowled, about to throw back her own comment when Blaze dropped out of the sky, landing neatly next to the group. "Good, we're all here," she said. "Let's get moving, we don't have all night."
"And how are we getting in?" Impulse demanded. "Artemis and I have already scouted this out; there's no viable point of entry."
"Oh ye of little faith," Fox smirked. "Just watch and learn something." She reached into her pocket, smoothly pulling something small and white out and confidently striding right up to the guard post at the front gate. After a short conversation and waiting for the guard to read what was on the white slip, she waved the others over and they all walked right in through the front gate.
"Well, this is new," Impulse mumbled under his breath.
"This is what happens when you work with the right people," Belle answered. "You have more agents and operatives in all the right places."
"So what do we need all of us here for?" Artemis demanded.
"Well, we need you to hack in and get the files sweetheart," Fox answered. "Just cause we got you through the front gate doesn't mean we can do everything for you. And then there's the matter of the baby heroes," she trailed off.
"Put simply, you had your asses pretty much handed to you last time and our bosses want to make sure that the information they need actually gets to them," Blaze added.
"Let's just get this over with then," Impulse grumbled as he moved forward, using the shadows around them to stay as hidden as possible.
The group of five moved easily through the complex, no one glancing their way once; Artemis strongly suspected that might have had something to do with Belle since the girl seemed to have some sort of control over the shadows around them. Before long they arrived in the server room and Artemis slipped quickly inside. She took a glance around the room before zeroing in on a terminal towards the back of the room and stalked towards it.
"This one has all of the other terminals routed through it," she explained before she stuck the external hard drive in and booted the system up. "Anything I should be looking for specifically?"
"Weapons division," Blaze answered immediately. "They want anything and everything you can dig up from that division."
Artemis only nodded once as she focused in and dug through the kilobytes of information to find what she was looking for. Within a few keystrokes she had hacked the system and began copying every last byte of information onto the hard drive. "Done," she said a few minutes later.
"Good," Belle hissed. "Cause the guards have changed and we're going to need to sneak out of here."
The group of five slunk through the hallways, ducking into darkened corners and doorways occasionally when armed patrols walked by.
"This is never going to work," Impulse grumbled. "We need to split up and meet back at the air field."
"I think Fleet-Feet there might be right," Fox added as she tilted her head slightly towards the dark gray and black clad boy. "If we stay as a group, we're bound to get caught."
"Go out individually then?" Blaze asked softly.
"No more than two," Belle added, with a knowing glance towards Artemis and Impulse. "Don't engage unless you have to and get back to the airstrip as fast as possible," she continued as she slipped back and seemed to virtually melt into the shadows.
"Good luck then," Fox said with a mock salute and a teasing grin towards Impulse and Artemis as she turned away as well. "Don't get shot," she added with a soft, quick laugh. "It's a pain to explain why people got all bloody and riddled with holes."
"Don't be late," Blaze merely said with a single nod of her head before she too turned on her heel and walked away.
"I get the feeling none of them like us much," Impulse mused thoughtfully.
"What was your first clue?" Artemis asked. "And who really cares; we're not in this to win any popularity contests and we never wanted to work with a team anyway."
"True, but if we get stuck with them, hostility won't help us get anything done," Impulse shrugged as he knelt down to let Artemis on.
"We'll deal with it then," Artemis sighed in return, wrapping her arms around the red head's neck. "This is not turning out the way I thought it would. I suppose it doesn't help that we're not being completely honest either. I managed to copy the files I downloaded for the Shadows. I wonder what would happen if they ever found out."
"You've still got me," Impulse promised, giving her legs a gentle squeeze as he stood back up. "That's never going to change, no matter what. Now let's get out of here, pick up our bikes and find another place to lay low for a while." He waited long enough for Artemis to tuck her head into the crook of his neck before he sped off back the way they had come.
They didn't make it back to the airfield. In fact, they didn't even manage to get halfway there before Impulse came to a sudden, screeching stop. Artemis looked up, hands already reaching for the bow slung across her back, as her eyes darted around the dark landscape.
"Impulse?" she asked softly, frowning when she felt his muscles remained tense, practically vibrating beneath his skin with strained effort. "What's wrong?" she demanded a little louder when he didn't answer right away.
"Can't...move," he managed to finally get out between gritted teeth.
Artemis spat a curse and quickly disentangled herself from Impulses arms. Her feet touched the ground lightly and she set her eyes to scanning the countryside. "I know you're there," she growled. "No one else would be able to stop him dead in his tracks like that. Come out so I can beat you to a pulp and we can get out of here."
"Artemis, please," Miss Martian said, materializing a few feet to the left. Her eyes were pleading and her hand was outstretched. "We don't want to do this. Please, come back."
"Like hell," Artemis hissed viciously, swinging her bow up and drawing an arrow in one fluid motion. "Now release him or this arrow is going through your skull." She wasn't sure what warned her, he didn't make a sound or laugh like he usually did, but Artemis felt movement behind her and, without consciously registering why, she dropped the shot and rolled to her right. She sprung back up on her feet, eyes narrowed at the younger boy dressed in reds and blacks. "Wasn't expecting you," she growled.
"We decided I'd probably be the only one capable of keeping up with you," Robin returned, a certain steel in his voice. "It's not too late you know," he added, his tone softening a bit. "Miss M is right, you can still come back."
"Not happening," Artemis spat back. "Now let him go."
"We can't do that," Robin answered, the hard edge back. "Whatever you took from that base, we can't let the Shadows get it. We will stop you."
Artemis didn't bother answering. Instead, she dropped her bow and slipped her quiver from her shoulders, making sure nothing would hinder her in any way. She dropped low, spreading and lowering her center of gravity to make it more difficult to send her flying. She kept her muscles ready, but her stance loose, ready to react and act quickly to whatever the Boy Wonder decided to throw at her. It helped, she realized, to have fought beside them before, so she wasn't at all surprised when Robin tossed out a couple smoke bombs. Thick clouds of white smoke obscured her vision and she closed her eyes, focusing on everything she could hear around her. Using that same sixth sense she had honed from years of practice and actual fighting, she managed to dodge the fist flying for her gut, but missed the sweep that took her legs out from under her.
"Asshole," Artemis grunted as she flipped herself back up to her feet.
"Like you wouldn't do the same," Robin returned, sounding for a moment like the thirteen year old boy that he was, simply having a friendly match with one of his closest friends.
Artemis smirked to herself, springing forward to the sound of his voice, a kick of her own catching him on his crossed arms he had thrown up to cover his chest. "I thought you knew better, Baby Bat," she taunted.
The smoke had begun to clear and Artemis spared a glance over to see that Impulse was still being held immobile, though it looked like Miss Martian was straining with the effort now. "So, how long do you think she can hold that?" the blonde archer wondered out loud as she ducked a kick to her shoulder and lashed out with a quick jab of her own. "Cause it looks to me like she's about to lose her hold and then what are you going to do?"
"She's stronger than you give her credit for," Robin replied, jumping up and leaping over her in an attempt to catch her off guard. He managed to throw a kick to the middle of her back that sent her flying, though she ended up using the momentum to launch into a front handspring.
"And you obviously don't know him very well either," Artemis spat back.
The two of them were about to launch themselves at each other once again when a column of fire suddenly erupted between them.
"What part of do not engage unless necessary was confusing to you?" Blaze demanded as she touched down near Artemis, her fiery wings winking out as soon as her feet brushed the ground.
"The part where their stupid telepath froze Impulse and made it necessary to fight back," Artemis snarled. "Where the hell were you guys anyway. Isn't it your job to make sure our 'asses don't get handed to us'?" she sneered.
"The other members of their little club caught us off guard as well," Blaze admitted after a brief pause. "Fox and Belle are leading them here as we speak."
Almost on cue, Belle seemed to materialize out of the shadows to Artemis' left. "Fox is right behind me," she said. "Their water user is coming, you may want to be careful Blaze."
"He's Atlantian," Blaze answered. "I am more of a threat to him than he is to me."
"Just don't say I didn't warn you," Belle replied with a shrug.
Suddenly a loud laugh floated through the air and the three girls turned in time to see Fox dashing towards the Martian, Aqualad and Superboy right on her heels. "No, no, no," she taunted the green girl as she used her momentum to knock her to the side before locking on arm around her throat and pressing a gun to her temple. She turned to face the two boys from the other team, a grin on her face. "Don't you know that it's not the good guys that take hostages? That's strictly our job."
Artemis allowed herself a brief smile when she felt a slight gust of wind and the press of Impulse's hand on her back for a quick moment. "You all right?" he asked.
"Never better," she replied.
"Good, then I can downgrade from tearing the little troll apart to severely wounding him then," Impulse said before another gust of wind signaled that he had gone.
"You should keep that boy of yours on a leash," Belle sighed. "We really only came to get you and get out of here."
"If you can find a leash he won't just vibrate through, be my guest," Artemis quipped back, startled for a moment when Belle offered a smile.
"Valid point," the other girl replied with a rueful shake of her head. "I honestly don't know how you do it."
"Years of practice," Artemis answered. An enraged shout suddenly had both of them turning to see Superboy rushing Fox as Aqualad headed right for them. "You cover Blaze," the blonde said as she quickly scooped up her bow and made her way towards the enraged Kryptonian. "I'll cover Fox and get her out of here."
"Got it," Belle replied, eyes already tracking the movement of the Atlantian. "We may want to think about ending this quickly; we are on a time table."
Artemis only grumbled out a reply that sounded vaguely like "of course we do!" mixed with a few choice swears and curses aimed at their bosses. She knocked an arrow quickly and sent the projectile flying. The tip hit the dark haired, blue eyed boy dead center of his chest, though he brushed the hit aside; at least until a sticky good began to spread almost violently across his chest, down his arms and over his legs. "I came prepared," she taunted when furious blue eyes turned to her. "Oh, I know you'll get out eventually, but for now you're stuck and that's all that matters. You okay?" she added turning to Fox.
"Peachy," the other girl replied, though a smile tugged her lips. "Thanks for the assist."
"You got Impulse free," Artemis returned with a shrug. "Figured I could return the favor. You might want to knock out the telepath though," she added, gesturing to the green skinned girl with one of Fox's guns still pressed to her temple. "She's crap at hand-to-hand but if she gets in your head there could be some big problems."
Fox nodded once, pulled the gun away slightly, flipped it in her grip and brought the butt crashing heavily down on the other girl's head. "That should take care of that," she laughed. She only stuck out her tongue when Superboy howled again. "Face it, we're just better than you," she smirked, throwing an arm over Artemis' shoulders. "Nice work with the goop, by the way. We make a pretty good team. Wanna ditch the speeder and tag in with me instead?"
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Not gonna happen," she replied flatly.
"Didn't think so," Fox laughed back. "Can't blame a girl for trying though. So, how about rounding up the others and blowing this place?"
Artemis only nodded and turned to head back to Blaze and Belle.
Despite Aqualad's training and his ability in melee combat, it's not a lot of use when he's fighting two on one and both of his opponents can used ranged attacks. It didn't exactly help that one of them was constantly throwing fire around and keeping him trapped in and almost oppressive heat.
Blaze and Belle, on the other hand, were having an easy go of the entire fight and were honestly a little bored. Blaze kept a curtain of fire around them, practically roasting the Atlantian, while Belle darted around slinging coalesced shadow energy to keep him off guard. By the time Fox and Artemis showed up they pretty much had the dark skinned boy flat out and beaten.
"We got this," Belle said as she slid from the shadows to stand next to the other two.
"So we see," Fox said admiringly. "Way to exploit weaknesses."
"That's why we were assigned," Belle answered with a quick grin. "If we're going to take the baby heroes down you might as well do it effectively." All four girls turned vicious smirks to the Atlantian when they finally heard the tell-tale thud of his body collapsing to the ground.
"Well, that's three down," Blaze commented as she let the flames die down. "Now we just need to collect your speedster and we can get out of here."
Impulse was having a hard time of it, comparatively speaking. Yes, he was still much faster than the Boy Wonder, but the little bugger seemed to have gotten trained to deal with people like him. He let out another snarl as his fist didn't make a completely solid hit once again. Acting on his rage, he snapped out a kick to the younger boy's stomach that sent him flying.
Robin surged to his feet as quickly as he could, dropping down into a ready stance. "Come on man," he tried. "What happened? I thought we were friends."
Impulse let out a humorless laugh. "Guess you're not as smart as I gave you credit for."
"But..." the younger boy began before Impulse dashed in and he had to throw up a hasty block to stop the incoming punch. He hadn't been expecting the force behind it though, and he went flying, finally skidding to a halt along the ground a few feet away.
"I would stay down if I were you," Impulse growled down at the younger teen. "If you get back up I will beat you back down until you stop moving." With one last snarl, the red head stalked away to catch up to the four girls.
"Well, if we're done here, I think now would be an excellent time to slip away," Fox said brightly when Impulse stepped over to them.
Impulse didn't say a word as he knelt back down and waited for Artemis to climb on. They made sure the rest of the team had a way back to the hanger and then quickly zipped away.
By the time all five of them made it back to the plane, they were exhausted and collapsed bonelessly onto the seats.
"Not bad for a night's work," Fox said.
"Maybe the two of you aren't so bad," Blaze added. "You definitely pulled your weight."
"I suppose you weren't all that bad either," Artemis admitted after a moment. "You did save our butts back there."
"Just doing our job," Belle replied.
"We still don't know if we can trust you," Impulse said after a brief pause. "But if we have to, I suppose we can work with you."
"No offense, but hopefully you won't have to," Fox said. "We generally have our own jobs with the Shadows that don't involve teamwork. This mission just happened to be important enough to make sure it got done."
All conversation cut off as Cheshire slipped back into the plane. She was slightly worse for the wear, a few new tears in her clothes flashed bits of reddened skin beneath. "Well, don't stop talking on my account," she teased before letting out a soft sigh. "I think it's time to get home though; you all look like shit."
No one said anything about the older assassin's appearance; which, Cheshire reflected was probably smart of them. Who said teenagers had no sense of self-preservation these days?
INTERRUPTING AN IS INTERRUPTING: So I was just going to leave this chapter there; I mean it's already pretty long. But a while back I had someone point out that you can't have Chesh. and not Red and I happen to agree wholeheartedly. So, consider this a little extra, a bonus if you will, for being so patient with me during my long hiatus. Here's what Cheshire was up to while our duo (plus three more) were doing their thing. Also, I'm taking the liberty to have a relationship-type-thing-ish already established between Red and Cheshire. They pretty much did it in the show so I figure I'm allowed to take the same creative license on that ;)
Cheshire didn't stick around to see if the new team would work with her baby sister, or even find out what she thought about having to work with a new team. She had a job to do and she was damn well going to do it; she'd just have to wait and see if Artemis came back out of her mission in one piece as well. She supposed she had the easier job of it; she only had to kidnap a scientist from his own home (or, failing that, bring back his notes, journals, laptop, anything that might be useful). Getting in had been easy; there were very few security systems that could keep her out if she really wanted in. She had made her way to his lab first, picking up notes and copying hard drives, before going after the man himself. That's when it all got shot to Hell though. Really, she should have been expecting him; it's almost insulting he hadn't shown up earlier.
"Well Red, took you long enough," Cheshire grinned beneath her mask. "I really expected you here a lot sooner you know," she added, pressing her sai just the slightest bit harder against the captive scientist's throat.
"Just let him go Cheshire," Red Arrow demanded, a frown tugging at his lips as he sighted down the arrow at the dark haired assassin.
"Aw, Red, I thought you knew me better than that," Cheshire teased. "Just cause you ask nicely doesn't mean I'm going to do it."
Red Arrow let the arrow fly, knowing full well that she'd dodge. He used the opportunity to get in close to the scientist, cut him loose and yank him roughly to his feet. "Get out of here," he barked. "Find someplace to hide and don't come out until morning."
"Why Red, if you wanted some alone time, you could have just said," Cheshire smirked as she turned to face him. "I'm never opposed to that."
"Why are you here Jade," Red Arrow asked once he was sure they were alone.
"For the same reason you are Roy. I've got a job to do," Jade answered.
"You can stop this you know," Roy replied, lowering his bow and sliding the arrow back into his quiver. "You don't have to do this."
"Oh, on the contrary," Jade smiled, pulling the mask away from her face. "All of this is just too much fun to give up. Besides," she added, her eyes flashing almost black and her tone darkening. "I can't leave Artemis and Wally alone in this. Someone has to watch them from this side, make sure they don't hurt themselves. Your little club dropped the ball and pushed them into this. I never wanted them in this mess, but now that they're here I'm going to make sure they stay alive. I can't do that if I'm running around on rooftops with you."
"I'm sorry," Roy said after a moment of silence.
"I don't blame you," Jade returned with a wave of her hand. "It's not like you could have done anything anyway. The damage came from the sidekicks and the people that decided to lie to them."
"I'll keep an eye on them from my end, make sure they don't get in over their heads," Roy insisted.
"Now why would you do something like that?" Jade asked, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Because they're important to you so they're important to me," Roy returned instantly. "And deep down they're good kids and don't deserve the cards they were dealt."
"I'm holding you to that then," Jade replied solemnly as she stepped up closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. She smiled challengingly before she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. She smiled slightly when she felt his arms slide around her waist and pull her closer even as he returned the kiss with equal fervor. "Now," she began after she finally pulled away; the teasing grin back in place as she settled the mask over face. "Let's get down to the gritty business of beating each other up without doing too much damage. Try not to enjoy this too much Red."
"You're the one we need to worry about getting too excited Cheshire," Red Arrow taunted back. He quickly adjusted the strap of his quiver and settled his bow comfortably across his back before he dropped low and stood ready. Even if she wouldn't seriously injure him, she could (and generally would) still pack a mean punch.
AN2: So, there's chapter eighteen. Again, I'm really sorry I left you all waiting so long. Life kinda shoved me in at the deep end but forgot to teach me to swim first. It looks like things are finally settling now; or at the very least I'm managing to keep myself floating instead of sinking. Also, as promised in the AN at the beginning, I have credits to hand out to the amazing people that provided OCs for this (I hope I did them justice guys and kept them at least close to your vision of them). Thank you to all of you that did provide OCs and don't worry if you don't see yours here; I couldn't use all of them in this chapter but that doesn't mean I don't have a place for them! (Maybe... Honestly, the characters write the story and I just happen to be the outlet for it to get on paper, lol). Anyways, as I said, time to give credit where credit is due :)
Blaze-Courtesy of Justin the Constant Reviewer (I didn't see a name so I hope it was okay that I gave her one)
Belle-Courtesy of SunnyBunnylove77
Fox-Courtesy of Dark Goddess of Shadows
Thanks again guys and I hope I did okay with your characters! Also, to everyone, please review (if you've got the time of course). I was blown away by the number of people still reading, favoriting, reviewing and even PMing me to stop being lazy and start writing. Believe it or not, your support and reviews help :)