A/N: Oh my gosh, did you guys watch yesterday's episode? I love the runaway group, they are so cool. I hope they are in future episodes, and where the hell is Wally? Gah, okay, so that was my really small rant. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it was fun to write. Read and review.
Again, I do not own Young Justice. It would be fun though if I did.
The Replacement
"You did what?" Wally asked, nearly spitting out the chips in his mouth. Dick slapped him on the back to keep him from choking, before commencing to give his signature cackle.
"I invited her to come hang out with us. She should be here soon." Megan replies. Wally sat up in his lounger and looked at her.
"Why Megs? Why?" Wally asked.
"She's really nice, you would like her Wally if you weren't so rude to her." Megan replies, resting her head on Connor's chest.
"Whatever." Wally says, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back in his seat. They all stared out at the disappearing shore. The boat had left the docks a few hours before and the land was just a distant set of lights.
"Where are we stopping first this time around?" Raquel asks. She sat along the railings, her legs dangling over the edge of the boat.
"I believe we are going across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean." Kaldur says.
"Mmm... I like the sound of that." Raquel replies.
"Me too." Zatanna says.
The teens all continued to talk amongst themselves. They laughed, they teased, and just had a relatively good time. They did not notice the girl watching them from the shadows.
Artemis was nervous. They looked like they were having a good time; she doubted that they really needed her. Maybe she could escape back to her room and read or something. She heard there was a library; she could get a book there.
No, she would do this. Dinah had seemed so excited when she heard that Artemis was going to actually hang out with people her own age. She would do this for Dinah. She approached the group.
"Artemis." Megan said, pulling away from Connor to give the girl a hug. Artemis stiffened as the girl's arms went around her. This was the second time today that she had been hugged. In her whole life she had maybe been hugged twice before today. "Welcome to the group."
Artemis gave a little wave to the teens. They all smiled and waved back, except for Baywatch.
"You know Connor, next to him is Kaldur, and then Zatanna, and Dick. And over there is Raquel." Megan introduces Artemis to everyone. "Pull up a chair, we were just debating which is a better job, kitchen duty or dining duty."
"Kitchen duty is way better." Connor informs her. "You don't have to deal with anyone really. You just cook what you are told to cook."
"Yeah, as a waitress you have to deal with whiny diners." Raquel says, spinning around so that her feet no longer hung over the edge.
"Yeah, but the kitchen is so...chaotic." Kaldur states "and the people aren't that bad."
"That's because you are a saint Kaldur and can deal with anyone." Zatanna says.
"I would have to agree with Kaldur." Megan says.
"Okay, so we stand, two for dining, three for kitchen." Raquel summarizes.
"I don't mind serving, because if somebody is a jerk, you can sneak extra chili powder or something onto their food. There are so many ways to get back at them without them knowing." Dick says.
"Wait, were you the one who put hot sauce on my BLT two weeks ago?" Raquel accuses him. Dick cackles.
"Jerk." Raquel huffs, narrowing her eyes at the boy.
"Both jobs just make me hungry, so both are terrible." Wally says munching on chips.
Artemis watched this all. It was so... weird. She hadn't contributed to the conversation in anyway, but just being apart of a group, it felt nice.
"What do you think Artemis?" Dick asks.
"I'll pass considering I haven't done either yet."
"Well which do you think is worse?" Zatanna asks.
"Um...I've never really cooked before, but it looks like it might be fun, and people can get really annoying, so I would have to say that dining duty would probably be the worst." Artemis concludes. Raquel high fives her.
"Good answer newbie." Raquel says to her. Artemis smiles.
"What do you think of the S.S. Justice so far?" Kaldur asks her.
"It seems pretty cool." Artemis replies.
"Just out of curiosity, why are you here again?" Wally asks her. She narrows her eyes at him.
"Oliver and Dinah offered me the chance and I figured it would be a good opportunity." She replies. This is enough for everyone else, but she could tell that Wally didn't really believe it. Well, he can deal; they don't need to know the full truth just yet.
Wally's alarm clock woke him up the next morning. The ringing in his ears was annoying enough for him to stop it. He groaned and stumbled out of bed, throwing on a pair of shorts and a red and yellow t-shirt. He walked into his bathroom and brushed his teeth.
Last night had been weird. Artemis was actually not that bad...to everyone but him. She got along with everyone really well, but then he would say something and she would have some really sarcastic thing to say in reply. It was infuriating. What was even more infuriating was the fact that he couldn't get her out of his head. She was hot definitely but when she smiled, it was rare, but when she did, the world just seemed to grow brighter. She was still insufferable in his mind, but maybe... just maybe...
Wally shook all the crazy thoughts out of his head and walked out of his room. He stepped into the elevator and a few seconds later another person was running into it. Wally looked over to see that it was Artemis to have catapulted herself into the elevator at the last second. She wore a green tank top, leather jacket, and jean shorts.
"You know, you'll probably get hot wearing a jacket all day." Wally stated. It was May and they were on course for the Mediterranean, she has got to be crazy.
"Mind your own business Baywatch. Who made you the clothing police?" Artemis asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He could think of a bunch of dirty comebacks to make, but based on the look in her eyes, he shut his mouth.
"Fine, just trying to be nice, don't need to get so pissy." Wally replies.
"Whatever, I'll be fine. No need to worry about the charity case." Artemis says. Wally gulped, so she was still mad about that. Luckily, the elevator reached the main floor and Artemis got off and walked away from him quickly. He followed her to the employee lounge. Dick was already they're eating an apple. He and Artemis begin to chat amicably. When did they become friends?
Wally grabbed three pop tarts, a pear, and two apples from the employee's food supply to tide him over until breakfast. Artemis stared at him as he ate.
"What?" He asked.
"I thought we had breakfast on the starboard deck?" She asked.
"We do. This is my pre breakfast snack." Wally tells her as he quickly polishes off two out of his three packs of pop tarts.
"That is disgusting." Artemis states. Dick laughs as he finishes his apple and throws the core in the trash.
"Nobody asked you Blondie." Wally retorts. Before she could reply, Roy walked in, joining the three of them. Wally brightened when he spotted his friend.
"Hey Roy." Dick said smiling. Roy nodded at the two boys, but looked over at Artemis.
"I see you arrived in one piece, pity. I see you're still wearing that jacket, do you ever take it off? Or do you use it as a security blanket?" Roy states. Artemis rolls her eyes, only looking slightly more annoyed then before.
"Nice to see you too carrot."
"Don't call me that, Arty."
"Don't call me Arty."
"Wow, you two are practically siblings already." Dick says laughing. The two of them both glare at Dick as the others walk in, followed by Bruce, who was in charge of giving all of the teens their "missions" for the day. Wally quickly finished his last apple.
"I see you have all met Artemis already." Bruce begins. Everyone except Wally and Roy smiles over at her. "Roy, you have been given a permanent position in the archery range. You may leave now."
Wally watches in disbelief as Roy smiles and walks out of the lounge. Everyone looks equally shocked.
"Wait, Roy isn't working with the rest of us anymore?" Wally asked in disbelief.
"We don't need nine floaters." Bruce begins using the unofficial title for the work the teens did. "Roy is eighteen and old enough to have his own official position. Oliver, Roy, and I decided that this would be best for him with Artemis joining the crew."
Wally glared over at the new girl, her arms smugly crossed across her chest as she leaned against the wall. She was beautiful, which was even more frustrating. Wally seethed at the girl as Bruce continued to speak.
"You eight will be working this afternoon. Kaldur, Raquel, and Conner will working lifeguard duty, Megan and Zatanna will be waitressing lunch, Dick will be giving Hal and I a hand in the gadget room," Wally looked over at the boy genius, sixteen and he knew enough about electronics that he didn't have to bother with the menial labor, "And Wally and Artemis will be manning the towel station."
"WHAT?!" Wally proclaimed. All eyes turned to him. "I can't work with her! She's an annoying harpy and Roy's replacement."
For just a second, Wally thought he saw a look of hurt pass through the blonde girl's eyes. It was gone so quickly though, that Wally was sure he just imagined it.
"Wally, that is your assignment for the day. I expect you to be there at twelve. Until then you guys are meeting Ms. Lance for a short class. You are all dismissed to get breakfast." With that Bruce walked out, leaving the eight teens all alone.
Suddenly Artemis was pushing him up against the wall, holding his shirt. She had fire in her eyes and looked pissed.
"What the hell was that about Baywatch?" She practically shouted in annoyance.
"Just saying the truth, I don't want to work with Roy's replacement, because that is all you are." Wally said, knowing it wasn't true.
Artemis gave him one last glare before releasing him and walking away. His friends looked at him in confusion.
"What?" He asks them.
"That was not very nice my friend." Kaldur says. The others all nod.
"She started it!" Wally protests.
"Well then you should finish it." Raquel states. "I like Artemis, she's cool. You would like her too if you gave her the chance."
"She's Roy's replacement!" Wally says.
"Roy wanted to leave. We all know it, you do too." Zatanna says.
"I don't know about you guys, but I am hungry. Let's go get food." Dick finally says. They all nod and walk out, leaving Wally alone. He sighed, realizing that he may have made a mistake. He would apologize later. He quickly ran after his friends, his stomach growling.
Artemis wasn't interested in breakfast anymore. She walked right to the archery range, relying on her old friend. She walked in, grabbed a bow and a set of arrows and began firing at targets, alternating between picturing the targets as Wally's face or Roy's. She hit eight bull's eyes in a quick succession without even thinking.
"Nice shooting kid." Artemis spun around to see Ollie standing behind her, watching her shoot. "I wish I could take credit for your great aim like I can with Roy's."
"Hey!" Roy said, emerging from a small shed storing targets and spare bows and arrows. "I take offense at that Oliver."
"I'm just kidding." Oliver says, patting the boy on the back. Ollie was not oblivious to the glares passing between the two kids in front of him. "Alright, what is with the eye lasers guys?"
"He made me look bad." Artemis started.
"I said one thing to you Arty, grow up." Roy spat back.
"You were a jerk!"
"You're acting juvenile!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Want to know what I think?" Artemis starts, unconsciously aiming an arrow at Roy. Oliver realizes that now would be a good time to intervene.
"Guys, guys, settle down. Artemis, lower the bow." Oliver says. Artemis stares at the bow in her hand, before doing as Ollie said. "Good, now let's talk about this like a normal family."
"We're not a family Oliver." Roy states. "I'm going to go get breakfast, see you later Arty."
With that Roy walks out of the archery range. Oliver watched him go before turning back to Artemis.
"He's right Oliver, you can adopt me or whatever, but we aren't actually going to be a family of any sort." Artemis placed the bow on the rack before walking out as well.
Oliver watched her go, and sighed. He had known that this was going to be difficult, the girl had been through a lot, but he hadn't really anticipated this. Maybe this had been a bad idea.
Ollie quickly shook his head. In the past two years that he had known the girl, he had come to think of her as his daughter. She belonged here just as much as Roy. He was just going to have to find away to make it more apparent to her and everyone else, besides him and Dinah.
After returning the range to its pristine set up, Oliver walked out to meet Dinah for breakfast. Hopefully she would have some ideas.
A/N: I hope Roy and Artemis sounded in character during this. I was having some trouble to make them sound like their characters. Review, I love hearing what you guys have to say. Next chapter will have some good Spitfire moments, I promise.