Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Author's Note: This took awhile to write because I kept not wanting to deal with Kent. It just makes me sad and I wanted to avoid this. So it took forever to write. And it's the longest chapter and sheesh I just kept adding words. Sorry I missed Friday, I really did try to get it up by then.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Artemis' voice said, cutting through the silence.
They were standing in front of a rundown four-story building. The street was filled with buildings all in similar states as the supposed hideout. Dick frowned and pulled out his phone. Wally walked up to the front door and tried to peer through the cracks between the boards on it that were covering the glass parts.
"I'm positive this is the place. I have no doubts," Dick answered, putting his phone away. "I did say it was an old hideout, though."
"Well it's definitely old," Wally said, turning back to his friends.
"Dick, are you sure this is a real thing?" Megan asked, moving to stand next to the dark haired boy. "It doesn't look like anyone has been here in years."
"I don't understand! I'm never wrong about these things. This is definitely the place!" Dick exclaimed, walking towards to the door.
Wally moved away from the door to stand next to Artemis. They glanced at each other and Wally shrugged. He was used to Dick being a self-proclaimed know-it-all. He shoved his hands into his jeans' pockets, sighing. Whether or not something was actually going on here, he knew that they were going to be kept at least an hour, if not longer, trying to figure it out.
Dick started to pace in front of the builder as Artemis took her turn sighing. Megan shook her head and walked over to her and Wally. The ginger boy grinned at their friend. Artemis frowned and looked away.
"I don't understand!" Dick shouted again from the other end of the building.
Kaldur walked over to the younger boy, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Perhaps you are thinking this over too hard. You say this is Kent's hideout, yes? He most likely chose this for the rundown appearance to throw off those looking for him."
"Kaldur's right," Artemis said, walking over quickly, "But that still doesn't tell us how to get in."
Kaldur frowned, looking towards the entrance of the building, "I wonder," he said. He walked away from the two other agents slowly. When he reached the doors, he ran his hand down the wooden boards. The other four moved in closer, hoping that the doors would open.
"Of course," Kaldur said, under his breath. He placed his hands on both doors and pushed. Easily they gave way.
"But… How?" Wally asked, taking a step forward.
"If you were to have looked more carefully earlier, you would have noticed a faint line down the exact middle of all the planks," Kaldur explained, allowing the group to walk in before him. "They were never complete boards, they were just there to appear as though the door was boarded up. Kent is very clever, assuming most people will overlook it by seeing just the boards."
"Yeah," Artemis said quietly, leaning towards Wally, "he definitely doesn't have much going for him. Thankfully Kaldur isn't most people and did notice the doors."
Wally shot a glare at the blonde and walked ahead of her, falling in time with Megan, who smiled at him. The boy didn't see Artemis glaring.
They all filed into what had to have been the main lobby of the building. Now it was covered in rubble, though how it got there was unclear. Papers were lying around the floor, scattered haphazardly. Wally looked around the lobby, wondering if this had all been staged like the door, to distract from the things hidden in the building. They spread out a bit to take a quick look around and then reconvened by a cracked pillar. The pillar matched three others, just a cracked, that were holding up an indoor balcony.
Kaldur looked at them all, his face grim, "We will split up and search the first three floors as quickly as we can. Once a thorough search has been of your floor, proceed to the top one. Once we have all reached that floor, we will plan what to do next."
"Everyone please be careful," Dick said, "we don't want any disasters considering this isn't an official mission. Just focus on the aster. All right, so now the pairs."
"Hey Megs," Wally said cutting his friend off while leaning against the pillar, "feel free to partner up with me."
"Wally, I don't think the two non-agents should team up," she replied, cocking an eyebrow at him.
"Don't knock it till you try it," the ginger said, grinning. "I'll probably be able to find this old coot in no time, so you might as well."
Artemis rolled her eyes before jumping slightly at a sudden noise. It was the sound of rock cracking and echoed throughout the lobby.
"What the hell was that?" she demanded, looking around. The group looked around with her, trying to locate the source.
"I don't know, but maybe we should move things along a bit faster," Dick said, "Okay, Kaldur, you can handle this floor alone, I'll take the second floor with-"
He wasn't given the chance to finish his sentence as a large rock fell to the floor, extremely near them. They all looked up and saw that the balcony above them was cracking and now had a large hole it in. The pillar that Wally was leaning on was beginning to crack, small bits of rock already falling out.
"Run!" Kaldur shouted, pointing to a door near them.
Dick led the group towards it as Kaldur waited until they all were moving to start running as well. Dick opened the door quickly as the balcony began to fall down completely. The door quickly closed, stopping most of the dust that was coming towards them. The groups stood in a tight circle, trying to catch their breath.
Wally looked around and saw they were in a staircase. Sighing, he straightened, looking over his friends.
"Is everyone all right?" Kaldur asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Wally answered, panting slightly. Artemis and Dick nodded, both breathing as heavily as he was.
"Oh no!" Megan said, suddenly.
"What's wrong?"
"My sweater, it's ruined," she said, pulling it off. She held it up to show the now torn sweater to her friends. "It's actually Conner's and it's his favourite."
"Aw, come on, Megs, it's fine," Wally said, slinging his arm around her shoulders. "I think he'll be happy to know your beautiful face survived over the sweater."
"What the hell is wrong with you? Would you just stop?" Artemis shouted, pushing him. The small staircase went silent, the only sound coming from the falling rocks from the other side of the door. "How can you seriously be flirting with her right now? You almost got us all killed because you were trying to impress Megan! You have most definitely alerted anyone that's here! Leaning against that pillar caused all of that and you have the nerve to flirt more? And she has a boyfriend, what's wrong with you?"
Wally gulped, glancing at Megan. The girl was blushing and looking down. The tension in the air was so thing it could have held the balcony up from crashing. The boy rubbed his hands on his pants, looking over at Dick who was awkwardly inspecting the handrail near him.
"I'm not actually flirting with her… I mean I am, but it doesn't mean anything," Wally said, avoiding the blonde's stare. "And I obviously didn't mean for that to happen."
"Well it did happen and it's super weird you flirting with her," Artemis said, her fists clenching. "Why do you even do it?"
Wally muttered something under his breath, looking down at his feet. His face was flushed, red beginning to creep onto his ears.
"It's my fault, I should have told him to stop. Hello Megan, it was so dumb to let him continue with it," Megan said, taking a step forward.
"Don't blame yourself, he shouldn't even be doing it in the first place," Artemis said.
"Okay, well now that we've gotten Wally's terrible and inappropriate flirting out of the way, let's return to what needs to be done," Dick said, clapping his hands together. "Now that the first floor has been destroyed, we just have to cover the remaining three. Kaldur, you'll take the second, Megan and I will tackle the third, and Wally and Artemis, you two will take the fourth. Does this work for everyone?"
Artemis opened her mouth to respond, but a voice cut her off.
"Yeah, let's just go," Wally said, looking directly at his friend.
"All right, let's get too it," the dark haired boy stated, starting to walk up there stairs. Megan scampered to catch up, Kaldur closely following her. Wally glanced at Artemis before making his way to and up the stairs.
They made their way up the stairs in silence. The parted with Kaldur quickly, he just nodded as he made his way onto the second floor. Dick and Megan continued in the lead as the group made its way to the next floor.
Wally nodded to his friend as Dick closed the door to the third floor. He sighed and continued their way up the stairs. Artemis walked next to him; the only sound from her was her breathing, which was steady. He glanced over at her periodically, trying to find some sort of formation for the words flying around his head. But her cold look kept him from saying anything.
They reached the fourth floor quickly. Artemis reached to open the door but Wally's hand flew out and caught hers.
"Wait," he said, avoiding her eyes. Artemis glared at him, "I'm sorry, okay? I get that what happened was my fault and I get that it was extremely stupid, but let me explain. Megan, Conner, and I have been friends for a while, and before those two got together I had a thing for her. After they started dating, I guess it felt weird for me to just stop acting how I did with Megan. They didn't seem to mind, so I didn't stop. I'm not trying to justify what I did, I just want you to understand."
Artemis looked him over and sighed, her hand relaxing in his, "You don't have to explain yourself to me, but it is weird."
Wally nodded, smiling at the girl. She rolled her eyes and opened the door, gesturing for him to go through. He walked into the hall, noticing something was wrong immediately.
"Artemis… There shouldn't be any power in this building, it's completely run down," he said, looking back at the blonde.
"Right," she replied. She closed the behind them before meeting his gaze, "Your point?"
"Why is there light coming out of that room down the hall?"
Artemis looked around him and frowned. Sure enough, she saw a yellow glow escaping from underneath a door. She looked at Wally before taking off down the hall. He followed her, wiping the sweat off his hands on his pants. They reached the door quickly. Standing on either side of it, they both leaned up against it to try and hear if there were people inside.
"I can kind sort of hear something," Wally whispered, catching Artemis' eye. She nodded and pressed a finger on her lips.
She reached over to the door handle and began to slowly turn it. Her eyes were locked with Wally's as he gulped. He was really hoping Dick had been wrong the entire time and that this Kent guy was perfectly okay on the other side of the world.
She pushed the door open slowly, looking around the frame into the room. She grimaced and reached to pull the door closed again.
"Oh, but why not just come in, little girl?" a voice called from inside, "You might as well. Bring the boy too. If not, I'll have to come and get you and that is definitely the worst option."
Wally and Artemis looked at each other, gulping. They knew they were screwed; they just needed to stay alive until their friends caught up. Wally could easily admit to his heart rate rising rapidly, but push come to shove, he knew Artemis could easily take down a couple guy, with his help, of course.
The ginger stood up and walked into the room first, Artemis following. He knew she would be annoyed with this, but they chances of this mission succeeding definitely depended on her staying alive more than him. His eyes quickly adjusted to the change in brightness and grimaced when he saw the scene in the room.
Kent Nelson had been captured, that had been confirmed at least. There was only one other person in the room than Kent, and Wally noticed he only looked a few years older than them, though his eyes were gleaming with malice and were much older than his face let on. Kent was sitting on a chair in next to him, tied up. His face was lined with wrinkles and his hair was almost snow white. Wally wondered why anyone would need to kidnap someone so old.
Artemis stepped up beside him, her arm pressed against his own. Wally fought the urge to grab her hand; he didn't want them to seem weak. He stared straight ahead at the two men, hoping this night would end and he can just go to school the next day, alive.
"So, I assume you two are from the Agency," the man said, his mouth forming into a rather terrifying grin, "and here we thought they didn't care about you anymore, Kent. I guess we were wrong. Too bad your rescue team is now stuck with you."
"I highly doubt that they're the rescue team, Klarion, look at them, they're rookies," Kent said, placing one leg on top of the other. The man looked at him as Wally clenched his fists. "They probably don't know anything. Just let them go."
"Oh ho ho, I see what you're doing," Klarion said, turning towards him. "You won't fool me. I'll get this information out of you even if I have to torture you. And maybe I'll torture it out of them too, for good measure. My employers did say whatever means necessary."
Kent grinned and winked at the two teens. Wally frowned, unsure of why anyone but the lunatic talking about torture would grin, and looked at Artemis who kept her head facing straight ahead. Her face was tighter now than it had been when they walked into the room.
"Hey Klarion, don't listen to Kent, the two of us obviously know about the Agency's plans. And trust me, they know about yours, why do you think we're here? In fact, I know even more than this guy. I've been at this gig for years," Artemis said, nodding her head towards Wally.
Wally opened his mouth to say something, but the girl grabbed his arm, shooting a quick look at him. She took a couple steps forward, letting go of him. Klarion turned to her, smiling.
"Is that so?" he asked. He walked up to Artemis, staring down at her. Wally could see her knuckles turning white and that she was starting to shake a little. He willed himself to stay where he was, he knew she had a plan and he didn't want to ruin it. "Well, perhaps you'll want to give up that information before I hurt you. Though… that would take the fun out of it."
"Torturing us would probably be affective, but shouldn't you go after me first?" Wally asked, taking a step forward. "I mean, the two of us are partners so to soften her up, hurt me. It's the smarter thing to do."
Klarion laughed, sending shivers down Wally's spine. He had never heard such an eerier laugh before. He stood up straight as the man walked towards him, Artemis' eyes following. Wally gulped when they were face to face.
"So you want to protect your little girlfriend, do you?" Klarion asked. He lifted one of his hands, which Wally noticed rather long nails on it painted black, and gripped the front of the ginger's shirt. "I will gladly start by playing with you."
"I don't think so, Klarion," Kent's voice said from behind them. Klarion turned and yelled, seeing Kent was now free from the chair. He threw Wally to the ground across the room and started at the old man. Artemis ran to Wally and helped him up. Kent grinned and kicked the chair out at Klarion. "Kids, get out now!"
The teens charged for the door, the boy looking back to see Kent following, Klarion was one the ground slowing getting up. The three of them headed down the hall to the staircase.
Panting, Wally leaned against the door, now in the staircase. They were all trying to catch their breath now. The boy hoped that he would be enough to keep the door from opening.
"Okay, who is that guy?" he asked, glaring at Kent.
"A freelance assassin. He started out at an extremely young age. Klarion is very hard to hire, and hared to handle. He tends to be a bit, well, extreme with carrying out his assignments. He must have some powerful employers, most people avoid hiring him," the old man replied once he had caught his breath.
"Why are they after you?" Artemis asked.
"Well, I know the location of every single headquarter, base, hideout in the Agency, so I'm rather valuable. I normally don't allow myself to go back to areas under the Agency protection, but I needed to find something here," Kent explained, pulling out a pocket watch. "Now what are you two doing here? Also, names would be appreciated."
"Uh, obviously rescuing you," Wally muttered, continuing to glare at the man.
"I'm Artemis, and the incredibly polite person here is Wally," Artemis said, kicking the boy's leg.
"Well, Artemis, we need a plan. Is it just the two of you?" he asked. The girl shook her head and waited for the man to continue. "All right. Artemis, can you go and find the rest of your group, and perhaps make a lot of noise? Wally and I will head to the roof and hope Klarion doesn't follow us."
"Uh, no offense to your agent skills and what not, but I'm not a part of this organization, so maybe you'll want Artemis with you, to keep you safe," Wally said. He made no attempt to sound nice; his voice was dry and sharp.
"No, Artemis will be useful in hopefully tricking Klarion away from us," Kent said. "She'll assume I'm with her, and we can hopefully find a way out of this."
"So you're just going to let her potentially get attacked by that creep?" the ginger exclaimed.
"Wally, relax," Artemis said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, frowning. "This is my job, I can handle it. I'll go find the others and we'll come and help you two."
And with that, the blond began to make her way down the stairs. Wally looked at Kent before gesturing him up the stairs. The boy waited for Kent to disappear before following him, hoping that Klarion wouldn't be at the door already.
The two of them reached the roof quickly, but not before they heard the sound of a door opening. Wally gulped as he stepped out of the stairwell, hoping Kent was right about Klarion thinking he went with Artemis instead. He still wasn't sure if he was going to be able to protect the older man.
Wally went to stand next to the man, glancing around the rooftop. It was extremely bare and open. There was really nowhere to hide if necessary. Wally looked for any sign of a way down and grimaced. If Klarion followed, they were trapped.
"If Klarion comes up here, how screwed are we?" the boy asked, refusing to look at Kent.
"Our chances won't be great," was the reply.
Wally's hands began sweating and he started to pace. Klarion definitely went into the stairwell and he wasn't on the roof yet. That meant he took the bait and they were going to hopefully make it out. Wally stopped pacing, looking over at Kent. He was fingering his pocket watch, gazing faintly at the door.
"Why was that important?" Wally demanded, pointing to the watch.
Kent looked at the watch before up at Wally. His eyes were sad, though there was a smile on his face, "It was from my wife, Inza. She passed away years ago and I only just got around to finding this again. She kept me in check, made sure I lived a life outside of this world. I got to show her the world and I definitely anchored her a bit as well. She was what made my life worth living."
Wally nodded and said, "That sounds nice. You must miss her."
"I'll see her again one day," Kent said, his smiling wavering only slightly, "It's only a matter of time. You'll understand one day what it's like."
As the ginger was about to say something, the door to the roof crashed opened. They both looked over quickly to see Klarion standing in it, his eyes full of fire and insanity.
"Good, we can play here freely," he said, walking forward. Wally made a move to stand in front of Kent, but something flew past him before he had the chance. "Now, do you really think you could stop me? Though I was hoping you'd be faster and take the blunt of the knife."
Klarion stopped walking, a knife in one of his hands. Wally looked at the knife and gasped as he realized what had just happened. He turned quickly to Kent. Klarion had pulled out two knives, one of which was now embedded into the older man's chest. Wally yelled and ran to his side, catching him before he reached the ground.
"Kent!" he shouted, trying to ignore the fact Klarion only had to throw the second knife and this night would be over. "Come on, Kent, just stay awake! It'll be fine."
"Kid… Let me give you some advice," Kent said, his voice growing weaker with each word, "You don't have to look far to fi…"
"Kent!" he shouted again, more desperate then before. He gently shook the man, knowing that it would do nothing to help. Wally looked over at Klarion, who was now advancing again, a grin spreading across the killer's face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I kill him? Pity, I was supposed to torture him for information first," Klarion said, a sigh escaping his lips.
Wally stood up, his fist clenching. He knew that he life was in danger, but at this point he didn't care. His only thought was to avenge the man lying on the ground. Klarion stopped again, only a few feet away, and began twirling his knife.
"Are you next? You aren't exactly what I hoped for, considering you probably don't know anything, but I won't deny it would be fun to try and get you to talk anyway," the man said, smirking. He lifted his hand a bit before whipping the knife towards the boy.
Wally dodged it just in time and charged at the assassin, hoping he would be given the chance to lay a blow on him. Klarion stepped to the side before kicking Wally's side, sending the boy flying. It took him a moment to recover, slowly standing up again. Klarion's smirk widened as he moved at him again.
Just as Klarion started to pull out another knife, a shout came from the doorway. Wally looked over slowly to see his friends come out of the stairwell running. Dick was in the lead; a pair of Eskrima sticks in hand. Klarion frowned as he looked over.
"Oh well, this was fun while it lasted but I really don't have the time to deal with all of you," he said, sighing. He walked pass Wally, who tried to throw a punch at him, only to be knocked down again. He headed to the edge of the building and looked back. "Until we get to have another play date."
The assassin jumped from the building. No one ran to see if he made whatever jump he was aiming for, they all knew he would have made it.
Wally raised himself to his knees, looking over at Kent's motionless body. Kaldur and Dick were both standing over it, heads bowed. Megan was standing near them, hands over her mouth. Wally blinked and saw a hand in front of his face. He looked up to Artemis, her face unreadable. He took hold of her hand, letting her pull him up. His grip was almost a vice on hers; he didn't want her to let go, not yet. Tomorrow they could go back to disliking each other, but right then he needed comfort.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing he was the only one who could hear her.
Artemis took a step towards him as he bowed his head. He couldn't watch his friend discuss with unseen people what to do with Kent's body. He didn't watch Megan fight tears for a person she never met. He didn't want Artemis to see him struggling to keep his composure. He just wanted to run home and pretend this night did not happen.
Wally opened his mouth to respond but closed it, only to squeeze her hand more. When he felt her squeeze back he finally let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. His breathing wasn't as steady as he hoped it would be, but he didn't care at this point. All he wanted was for this night to be over.
Movement in front of them made Wally look up. Dick had moved over to Megan, with an arm now around her. Kaldur was still next to Kent, but no longer talking. He was gazing ahead of himself, shoulders not as broad as they normally looked.
The ginger looked down at his hand in Artemis', and noticed something off. There was red all over it. He looked down at his other and saw it was covered in the colour. Slowly he began to realize what it was. He let go of Artemis' hand and stumbled away from her, his stomach turning.
The blond looked away as she heard him throw up. Once the sound subsided, she slowly walked over to him. He was on his hands and knees, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. She helped him stand up and walked him away from the spot, away from Kent's body, away from any eyes that might be on him.
"Artemis…" he said softly, his head turned away from her. She whispered her acknowledgement before he continued, "if I start crying, just pretend you never saw it, okay?"
She was taken aback by his words, but nodded. She heard a faint thank you before his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. Artemis knelt beside him and wrapped an arm around him as his body began to shake. She looked back at the others; hoping one would come take over for her. Dick met her gaze and muttered something quickly to Megan before making his way over.
"Hey dude, come on, let's get you home," the younger boy said, helping Wally get to his feet.
Once standing the two boys started for the stairwell. Artemis watched them leave and felt guilt about feeling like she had accomplished something with Wally today. For the first time she felt like she had seen him completely opened, with no mask on. It was just Wally, and she hated that that was what she took from this night.