Disclaimer-Sadly, I don't any of the rights to the DC universe, just to my thoughts.
I love coming back from something or waking to see my phone telling me I've got a new review. XD Though, seriously, they do make me giddy. :D
Oh, and the chapter title doesn't really relate but I was running out of options because I have most of the other ones saved for certain chapters. XD
Warnings-Contains blood, slight torture, and mild language. I think the teen warning should cover the story.
10:07 P.M.
"Think they got the message?" M'gann asked as soon as the last guard had left and the door had closed.
"Better have." Artemis hissed through clenched teeth. Because nine arrows weren't enough, they had to go and shoot her. Then, they had to shoot Wally. The fact that they shot him wasn't what worried her; it was his metabolism. Because of it, the wound could start closing around the bullet, causing for some rather messy surgery when they got back. As for her, the bullet had gone right through a small part of her thigh. It left a hole. A freakin' hole! She could tell there wasn't much damage but it was more the blood that would affect her, or rather, the loss of it.
"Wally, are you alright?" M'gann asked the speedster. She moved towards him instinctively, trying to comfort him.
"Alright? There's a bullet in my shoulder! Of course I'm not alright!" The speedster lashed out, earning glares from the rest of the teens as M'gann backed away. Conner went to comfort her while Robin shot him a glare and glanced towards Artemis, who was also glaring. "Oh, um, right." Wally said lamely before turning to the Martian. "I'm sorry, M'gann. It's just with everything going on…" He trailed off before finishing. "I'm sorry."
The Martian smiled weakly. "I-it's alright. We're all under a lot of pressure." She said quietly, looking at everyone, getting some weak nods in response. From there, they continued to communicate using their made-up way. It was easier for Artemis and it seemed better for Wally because they were worried that he would snap again if he spoke out loud.
They didn't 'talk' about what was going on, just random things, like what pizza they would get when they got back to Happy Harbor. Artemis was 'quiet'. They could see how hard it was just to keep her eyes open. Really, even she didn't know how she'd managed it for so long. So, when her eyes drooped slightly, M'gann suggested she sleep.
"No!" Three voices chorused at once. Artemis, Robin, and Wally looked at each other sheepishly before back at the shocked Martian. They explained that if she did without guaranteed medical help, there was a good chance she wouldn't wake up again. Ever.
"Oh." Was the Martian's only response. Artemis's eyes stayed open more from then on, though they could see the effort in just that. They went back to 'discussing' meaningless things. Artemis 'told' them about some weird kid taking a picture of her on her first day at Gotham Academy, which caused them to all hear Robin's signature cackle.
The mood in the dungeon lightened. They shared stories that made everyone laugh, forgetting at least for the moment where they were. They were smiling and having a good time, even in the face of death. It was something not many people could do but it showed strength. They were strong enough to carry on, to laugh in Death's face.
Meanwhile…
It was eerily quiet on the spacecraft making its way towards the earth. No one had spoken since liftoff, which was rather unusual for Flash. Manhunter could feel the waves of anger, resentment, and worry flowing off of him, off of all of them, even Batman. He, too, was worried for his niece. Nonetheless, the silence was deafening. It was crushing them, waiting for someone to break it apart.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was only about twenty minutes, someone spoke. "So, what's our plan?" Everyone turned to Black Canary, who was clearly looking towards Batman for the answer. After all, he was the tactician, the real leader. Superman was the face of the League but Batman was the real leader.
"We go in, rescue the Team, and get the Shadows to the authorities." Batman wasn't known for being a chatterbox but he did elaborate slightly. He brought up a schematic of the S.T.A.R. Labs facility. "Canary, you'll take the fifth floor, Tornado, the fourth, J'onn, the third, Superman, the second, Aquaman, the first, Zatara, sublevel one, while Green Arrow, Flash, and I will go to the dungeons. When you've each taken care of your floors, meet back up in the dungeons to help. They might try to use the Team as hostages." Batman's eyes never left the window as he spoke. Secretly, he was also worried, but on the outside, he seemed almost emotionless, at least to most humans, anyway.
It was quiet again as they entered the earth's atmosphere. Most of the heroes were memorizing the schematic when Flash posed a question. "How do you know about the sublevels, anyway?" The others looked between him and Batman, now wondering the same thing. The schematic showed the five levels above ground but Batman had modified it to show the sublevels.
"Based on the dungeon in the video. You could tell by the construction of the walls and such that it was only the second level underground. The facility was built where a castle once stood. A man had wanted to rule America from it but was brought to an asylum and the castle torn down. The design of the castle was modeled after medieval ones, whose dungeons were sometimes two levels down. The first sublevel was used as mostly storage as well as a place that could trap prisoners off at both ends." Batman spoke, still looking through the window and pulling up the history of the facility. It was quiet as everyone read through the history.
No one had realized how much time had passed until the screen showed a new email. Everyone groaned internally as Batman brought the ship to a stop in midair. There was no message along with the video so Batman didn't hesitate to play it.
It opened to the teens, again looking somewhat tense. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. A message scrolled along the bottom of the screen.
Tick tock.
Most of the heroes felt a sense of déjà vu, having seen the same message, but it was written in blood last time. Nonetheless, they felt just as tense as the teenagers.
Everyone flinched when they heard the shot and the immediate hiss that came afterwards. Kaldur was clutching his left shoulder. Aquaman's fist hit the control panel in front of him, much the same way as Flash's.
If the money isn't there by midnight, they all die.
The camera panned briefly to Artemis, whose eyes had widened slightly, having seen the message on screen. She could count the hours well enough to know what time it was. The camera briefly returned to the other teenagers, who also had similar reactions, having too seen the message.
Tick tock.
Then, the video cut out again.
And, yeah, I totally made up the dungeon castle thingy. Hey, it's fiction for a reason and I needed a reason. XD