A/N: I'd just like to point out that this is not a Superboy/OC fic, because some of you were wondering :) (Actually, it was originally one, but then I changed once my love affair with Roy started – not to mention how many votes he got on quizilla. I mean, damn there was a lot!) I support Supermartian like a freak...even if it is really awkward and ill-timed. No, the reason Echo and Superboy had those 'moments' last chapter were basically because she was trying to be nice to him. You know, get on his good side so a, he doesn't attempt to crush her again, and b, she felt really sorry for him. When I first watched the episode, before Black Canary playing a role in his life, I felt that at least someone needed to be there for him, and when I made Echo I wanted her to be that person. Like mother, like daughter, huh?
Anywho, if I reach 20 reviews by the end of today, then the next chapter will be up tomorrow. Sounds good, right?
Oh, and be prepared, cuz this chapter's got plenty o' Roy, well, I wouldn't really call it loving. You'll see what I mean. :)
Oh, and I forgot to mention: Echo's real name is Tessa Flynn, which is revealed in this chapter :)
"Pick up...pick up, please," I muttered, cell phone pressed to my ear as I paced the length of my room. It was around ten at night, and Dinah was out doing hero work, leaving me alone at our apartment in Star City. I was still grounded, unfortunately, since it was only nine days after our team got together officially, and so we hadn't been on any missions, most likely as a form of punishment for being 'reckless.'
Canary had suspended me from going anywhere with her as part of my cruel and unusual punishment. I mean, 'you can't go out and fight bad guys with me because you went and fought bad guys without me.' How is that fair? Anyways, I was getting restless, and went snooping. That led me to finding out that a metahuman named Brick was going to be transporting weapons, and I figured I should jump in since nobody else would. I, while I may be impulsive and annoying, was not an idiot by any means, and I knew that I couldn't just waltz in there and take down this guy on my own, so I called the only person I could think of;
Roy.
Yes, yes, scold me for being stupid because we obviously did not end things on a good note the last time we spoke to each other, but I certainly did not want to have to awkwardly avoid him for the rest of my life. That would just be a pain in the ass. Speaking of pains in the ass...
"Hello?" I froze at the sound of his voice, and all the things I planned on saying to him suddenly left my brain, leaving me gaping like a fish out of water. "Hello?"
"Roy?" Of course it's Roy, you idiot.
"Tessa? Why are you calling me?" Oh god, he sounded mad. Maybe this is a bad idea, maybe I should...Jesus, pull yourself together Flynn! You're Echo, dammit, you will not be intimidated by a single question.
"Look, I wanted to say I'm sorry for yelling at you the other day," I sighed. My pride was significantly wounded at being the one to apologize, but it had to be done. "I was out of line and you were right, we were being treated like sidekicks in there."
..."Alright."
What did he just say? "That's it?" I blurted out. "Alright?"
"Well, what did you want me to say?" What did I want him to say?
"I dunno...I was hoping you would apologize for being a swirling vortex of teenage angst," I frowned, plopping down in my desk chair and spinning around.
"I'm not going to apologize," he growled.
"Of course you aren't," I sighed. "Look, I didn't call you just to argue. I just found out that Brick – you know the creepy, muscular, red guy? – is going to be transporting weapons down by the docks tonight, and I planned on stopping them. Being the wonderful person that I am, I was wondering if you wanted to join me on this little escapade."
He paused, and I waited with bated breath for his answer. "...Yeah, I'll come." I sighed in relief. "You sound relieved," his voice took on a teasing tone, and I let a smile spread over my face.
"Ah, there's the Roy that's not an ass!" I exclaimed happily. "I'll meet you down by Pier 6 at eleven, okay?"
Roy chuckled. "See you there."
After I hung up, I went into Dinah's room and opened up her closet. I brushed past the tons of clothes until I reached a box titled 'Junk.' Scoffing, I opened the top and pulled out my costume, before heading off to my room to change. She thought she was being so clever, hiding it in a place that she thought I wouldn't look if I decided to disobey her order to stay inside the house. Lucky for me (and unlucky for her) I was much smarter than that. It was like she wanted me to find my suit.
After I yanked on my leotard/bustier thing on over my tights and grabbed my jacket, I realized that I had about an hour to get to Pier 6...which was about twenty minutes from my house by my grappling gun. Why bother going now? Roy will undoubtedly be 'fashionably late' like always, so I made the decision to sit down on the couch and watch the news.
"And over to you, Betty!" the cheery news anchor beamed at the camera, and it switched to an image of a very fake blonde woman standing in front of the camera, microphone in front of her bright red lips.
"Thanks John!" she grinned. "The Flash and his sidekick Flash-Boy –"
"KID FLASH!" Wally shouted, running past them. "And I'm his partner!"
"Right, his partner Kid Flash, have just defeated Captain Cold yet again here in Central City, and as you can see they are cleaning up the damage as we speak. Let's see if we can get an interview. Mr. Flash!"
"Here," Barry shoved Kid in front of the press. "Talk to him."
The lady and Kid both seemed shocked, but she shoved the mich in his face anyways. "So, Kid Flash, how did you do it?"
"Well, the Flash and I simply –" He paused as the air was filled with an obnoxious buzzing along with the wonderful musical stylings of Right Said Fred, and he blanched.
"I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want
So tell me what you want, what you really really want –"
"I gotta take this!" he shouted, horrified, and sped off. "Tessa!"
"Um, what just happened?" the camera man asked as they both stared after the yellow and red blur.
"I'm not sure," Betsy answered. "Uh, back to you, John."
I smirked as I watched the situation unfold, and waited for Kid to answer the phone. "Tessa! Why are you calling me?"
"Hey Wally!" I greeted happily. "You know, that seems to be the greeting of the day. It's like you guys don't want to talk to me or something..."
"Spice girls, really?"
"Hey, it was either that or I'm Too Sexy, Wallace."
"You were watching the news, weren't you?" he deadpanned.
"Yep! Well, I didn't just call to humiliate you, I'll have you know. I just wanted to tell you that I've got Roy under my thumb; we're going down to pier six in an hour to stop Brick's weapon shipment. I figured you would want to call the boys and beg on your knees for him to join the team."
He sighed."How desperate do you think I am?"
"Very desperate, KF," I answered truthfully.
"...You would be correct in that assumption."
"Good! Just call Aqualad and Rob, give your parents the slip, and then hide in the shadows for a while until we actually start moving in. Don't mess anything up."
"Why do you always assume I'm going to fuck something up?" he asked.
"It's inevitable. See you then." I hung up, feeling quite proud of myself, and grinned deviously. "The trap is set."
"Think you can handle Brick?" I hissed to Roy – who told me his name was Red Arrow now (I was incredibly amused at that, but kept my mouth shut). We were currently positioned up on the rafters, hidden by the shadows, and were watching the scene below us. There were three moving trucks parked out on the pavement, and a group of ghetto-esque lackeys were getting out of them. Brick got out of the last one, and stood in the middle of the pier as his men began to go to work.
"Duh," he snorted, and I knew he had just rolled his eyes at me. "Think you can handle his men?"
"Those ghetto fools?" I scoffed. "Just watch me." I ran across the rafters and leapt onto another roof, flipping off of it and onto the ground behind the two that had just opened the back of a case that was lowered by a crane. I aimed a swift blow to one's temple, successfully knocking him out. The other turned and tried to punch me, but I dodged it and kicked his gut, and he doubled over. Not giving him time to recover, I aimed my hand upwards towards his face, and heard the sickening crunch that told me his nose was broken. I knew I was taking this too far, but I figured that I should have a little fun after being cooped up all the time, and knocked the other one unconscious, and he fell into a box they had just pulled down. It toppled over on it's side, and a very expensive looking gun skittered across the pavement into Brick's awaiting hands. I froze when he turned it on me, glaring.
"Well, well well, what do we have here?" he smirked. "Baby Canary, I don't appreciate you taking out my men." Brick was just about to shoot, but an arrow hit his back, creating an explosion made him stumble. He whirled around and pointed the gun at Roy, who was standing up on the rafters. "You again! I'm starting to get insulted Green Arrow's not messing up my operations personally."
Roy dodged the beams of energy that Brick fired at him, running across the rafter and doing a flip, shooting an arrow into the barrel of the gun and exploding it. The explosion tore Brick's suit, leaving it in tatters around his lump red skin. "Do you know what I pay for a suit in my size?" he roared, and turned to the other goons that were watching the exchange – and me. "Scorch the earth, boys."
I ran at the group, intent on pummeling them, when KF suddenly ran out in between them, knocking two of them out. Robin swooped overhead and hit the other two with Batarangs, his eerie signature laugh echoing throughout the docks. Aqualad water whipped two more into the side of the truck, and as one tried to get up, I kicked him in the temple, making him slump back down. "Seriously? I totally had that!" I scowled, running after him.
"Were you not the one that told KF to call Robin and I?" he asked, slicing threw a giant slab of concrete that was about to hit Roy.
"What?" Roy glared, looking pissed at me.
"Nothing!" I squeaked. "He said nothing!"
"The cave is perfect, it has everything the team will need," Aqualad stated, turning to Roy, who was still scowling.
"– For covert missions!" Robin added and landed behind us. "You know, spy stuff."
"And wait 'till you meet Superboy and Miss Martian – but I saw her first!" Of course Wally would say that.
"Am I the only one paying attention?" I asked, crouched down at the edge of the platform. Brick ripped up more concrete and threw it at us, and I threw it back at him with a sonic scream. The others leapt into action. Roy shot two more explosive arrows at his chest, who seemed pretty unfazed by them.
Brick chuckled. "Tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job."
"Excuse me?" I shrieked, elbowing a guy who tried to come up behind me in the face. He fell to the ground, clutching his nose. KF stared at me, wide eyed, and I shrugged.
"Go ahead," Brick grinned, opening his arms to Roy, who had docked another arrow. I ran forward and grappled up onto the platform just as the arrow exploded, encasing him in a mountain of reddish foam. Strangled shouts came from him as his head disappeared under it, and then he stopped moving altogether.
"High density polyurethane foam," Kid grinned, appearing beside me. "Nice."
"So Speedy, you in?" Robin asked as we began to walk away. It was done, and the police were already on their way to get Brick and his unconscious guys carted off to jail.
I frowned as Speedy turned to look at him. This was not one of my best ideas. "Pass. I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hangout with the other kids. Your Junior Justice League is a joke; something to keep you busy and in your place," Roy growled, and began to walk into the shadows. "I don't want any part of it."
I turned and gave the guys a sad smile. "I'll see you guys later." They nodded, and I jogged to catch up with him. "Roy Harper!" I shouted, grabbing his shoulder. He whirled around and glared at me.
"What?" he spat venomously.
"Don't you dare start with me!" I warned, pointing a finger at his chest. "Those guys are your friends, are they not? And you're just standing there and treating them like dirt! All they want is to give you a chance to be a part of something that you always talked so adamantly about, and you just brush them off! I just don't understand!"
"I'm not going to let the League walk all over me anymore –"
"They weren't walking all over you before!" I screeched, throwing up my hands. "Your pride is just too big for you to admit you made a mistake and ask for forgiveness."
"It's not the only mistake I've made recently," he mumbled under his breath, looking away from me. My eyes widened and the words I was about to scream at him died in my throat, which constricted as if I was going to cry. I wasn't going to cry, because I was way too pissed to feel any other emotion.
"What did you just say?" I hissed.
He faltered. "I..."
But I had heard enough already. I was done with this; I was done trying. "That's it, I'm leaving!"
"Wait, where are you going?" he called, running after me and grabbing my arm. I wrenched it out of his grasp and kept going.
"Home," I answered shortly.
"You can't walk that far alone, it's twenty blocks from here!"
"Don't act like you fucking care!" I growled. "The only thing you care about is yourself."
He stopped trying to run after me, and I snuck a look over my shoulder to see him standing there, frozen and staring at the place I was just standing. His face was void of any emotion, but I could tell that if he took off his mask his eyes would tell me everything, but he didn't, and I was pretty sure I didn't want to know. I didn't want to feel guilty for making him realize the truth.
Feeling angry tears prick my eyes, I turned away and began to run towards my house, hopefully before Dinah got back. But knowing my luck, which proved to be quite awful after tonight's events, she would be home, and angry. But that was the least of my worries. As far as I knew, Roy and I weren't friends anymore, and it left horrible feeling in my chest, like I had just lost a loved one. I would have to get over it though, because I wasn't going to apologize, not when I had nothing to apologize for.
I climbed the fire escape to our apartment and wrenched open the window, praying that Dinah wouldn't be home. I quietly slipped inside and looked around the dark room, looking for any signs of life; there were none. Sighing in relief, I closed the window behind me and turned back around, only to have the lights turn on. There stood Dinah in all her robed glory, holding a coffee mug and fixing me with an amused look. "So, did you have fun?" she asked lazily, sipping from her mug. I winced, shaking my head. "Oh, that's too bad. But you're still grounded for another week."
Oh come on! "We'll talk about this in the morning," Dinah sighed. "Just go to bed."
I hung my head and trudged past her to my room, even though I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night.