Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice
Author's Note: My usual 'I'm sorry this took so long oh man this was a hard chapter to write wow I promise to get the next chapter up faster' bit is necessary again it seems. I will try to be better. But yes, this was a thing. Sorry it took so long, personal and all being all personal, you know how that is. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the chapter.
"I'm so booooored," Wally whined, drawing out the first syllable as long as he could. He looked to his friend, perched on the ledge of the building they were hiding out on. Dick didn't spare him a glance, eyes glued on the building across the street from them. "Seriously man, we have been here for hours, you've got to be a little bored."
The black haired boy sighed, jumping down from the ledge. He smirked at his friend quickly before turning his attention back to the building, "Of course I'm bored, but a tip's a tip, so we're going to be sitting here all night if we have to."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," the ginger muttered, resting his arms the ledge. "I just wish the bad guys did things earlier in the day so I could actually get sleep."
"Do I have to remind you that you volunteer?"
"Shut up, Dick," he muttered in reply, only receiving a cackle in response. He moved his attention back to the building, sighing as the same two securities guards made their rounds. He saw one was eating something and groaned. "I'm also starving."
"You're always starving," his friend answered. Wally felt something hit him in the head and he looked down. A granola bar was lying at his feet. Eyeing his friend, he picked it up. "What? I knew you would get hungry. Now, would you please focus?"
Both boys smiled and looked at the building. The guards disappeared from their sight and they went back to staring at nothing. They hadn't heard anything from the other pair, Artemis and Kaldur, or from Megan and Conner back in the warehouse. The night had been extremely dull with no change in the building since it closed. Wally was impressed he hadn't fallen asleep yet, though the five-minute rooftop jogs he had been taking helped a lot.
"I think I'm going to agree with you, Wally," Dick said after awhile. The boy slumped down, his upper body hanging off the side of the ledge. "This is the absolute worst. Luthor, come on, just get the evil doing over with!"
"Right? Like, be a punctual bad guy!" Wally exclaimed. "Why is it always like this?"
"The man's evil, obviously," the black haired boy joked, turning his head towards him. "He also doesn't have school at eight-thirty in the morning."
"The worst," Wally muttered, resting his chin on the ledge. He lifted his hand to his ear, pressing the comm in it. "Hey, Artemis, you guys seen anything in the back yet?"
"Nothing but security guards. I'm assuming you haven't seen anything either," her voice said into both boys' ears.
"That would be accurate," Dick answered. "Kaldur, are we positive about this tip?"
"Yes. It came from Agent Kent. He is convinced that Lex Luthor is up to something questionable. The other agents seem to agree. Then Agent Kent heard that the shipment would arrive today on October sixteenth. Now please focus. We will continue to wait until the night is over or the alleged shipment arrives." Kaldur said calmly.
Wally sighed. Kaldur always managed to make them feel like they had been goofing off; granted they normally were, but still, "Do we have any idea at all what this shipment is going to be?"
"No. Agent Kent was not sure of that part," the calmer teen answered.
"That's why you guys are out there, Wally," Megan voiced chimed in. "So stop whining over the comm, Conner and I have to listen to that. It's really annoying."
Wally heard laughter that was clearly Artemis', which annoyed him, knowing she was doing that on purpose.
"Plus, radio silence is important. Stop trying to chat with Artemis and focus," Conner said, and Wally swore he could hear the smirk on Conner's face. He made a mental note to remind his friend when it was appropriate to call him out, ignoring the fact that he subconsciously agreed about try to chat with Artemis.
He moved his chin onto his hand, staring blankly at the building again.
"So, how are you and Artemis, by the way?" Dick asked after a couple of minutes of silence. Wally's head slipped of his hand, almost hitting the ledge. Dick laughed, reaching over to pat the boy's shoulder. "Sorry, didn't mean to shock you."
"Why do you care?" Wally asked, frowning at his friend.
"Well, you two seem to be doing well, but you know, nothing is coming from it. One minute you're all smiles and hugging, the next you're about to tear each other's throats out," the younger boy said, shrugging his shoulders. He turned his attention back to across the street. "It's a bit hard to follow at times."
Wally opened his mouth to answer but quickly changed his mind. He looked up at the sky, trying to formulate a decent enough response. The two of them waited in silence as he tried to catch up with his thoughts. A strong part of him wanted to say that Artemis and he were barely friends and it would most likely stay that way.
But then there was the part that wanted more. He wanted to only have the good moments. The moments when they forgot that they were supposed to always be annoyed with each other. He wanted the quiet walks home they had more frequently as the days went by. He wanted the tender moments like when they hugged the week before. He wanted to grab hold of every smile they shared.
"I don't know," he finally answered. "I think it's even harder for us to follow, you know? I guess we're just a go with the flow pair, but the flow is more like rapids."
Dick snorted, "Yeah, that would be accurate."
"But seriously, who knows where Artemis and I stand. I'm sure we'll figure it out and become friends, like proper friends, but until then all hands on deck," Wally said, sighing. "Could we not talk about this, she stresses me out enough and I already think about this way too much."
The words were out of his mouth before his brain could stop them. His friends joked that his track abilities came from the fact his body could never agree on one speed. His feet would get him across the finish line before his brain could say 'hey we shouldn't run that fast it'll hurt'. Today it was his mouth being too fast.
"You think about it a lot?" Dick asked, smirking at his friend. Wally groaned and slid down the ledge, sitting down hard on the roof. "What else about Artemis do you think about a lot? Do you think about kissing her?"
"Oh god I need a new best friend. I always forget you're a thirteen year old," the ginger whined.
"Yes, but a generally mature one, where as you're an immature fifteen year old. We balance out. Now answer my question," the thirteen year old said, lightly kicking Wally's side.
"I'm going to not answer because you'll use it as blackmail later in my life and I'm pretty sure you already enough of that," he answered.
Dick laughed and looked back at the building, "Wally get up, the shipments here!"
Wally jumped up quickly, ignoring the lightheadedness the hit him as a result. Sure enough, a line of trucks was on the street down below, waiting for the garage door to open. Dick was talking into the comm quickly describing the scene when Wally's eyes landed on the biggest surprise of the night.
"Is that Lex Luthor down there? In person?" He asked, pointing. There was a bald, extremely well dressed man standing by the garage door, talking to a man in a plain jumpsuit. Behind the bald man was a young woman with light brown hair.
Dick's head snapped in the direction his friend was pointing and frowned, "What's he doing here? This is such a minor branch of LexCorp, why would he be… unless this isn't really about LexCorp."
"He shouldn't even be here though. He's supposed to be in Gotham tonight for some business party with all the hot shots of the world. I read about in the newspaper this morning," he added the last bit as friend glanced at him questioningly.
"This is definitely not a good thing," Dick whispered to himself. "Megan, can you try and hack into LexCorp's stuff? I know it'll be hard from there and without me, but this shipment is obviously more important than Agent Kent thought. Conner, I know this is a lot to ask, but could you call up your cousin and see if he has any ideas?"
Wally heard a grumbled yes and looked at Dick, "So what do we do now? We can't try and get a closer look with Luthor down there. Too much bad blood with you agents."
"Hopefully these will work. If I can get what's on one label we'll be golden," Dick said while reaching into the bag next to him and pulling out a pair of binoculars. Wally nodded and focused on the group across the street.
"Ugh, I can't figure anything out! This is ridiculous!" Dick exclaimed, trying to focus the binoculars again. "Every time I almost get something they all move!"
"Maybe Luthor is assuming he's being watched?" Wally asked, his head resting on his hand. "I mean he is pretty legit, right?"
"Too 'legit' at times," the young boy said. He ran his hand over his face quickly and looked through the binoculars again. "Nothing's happening at all… Wait."
"You've found something?" Wally asked, lifting his head up to look at the boy.
"No, lost something. Where did that lady with Luthor go?"
Wally looked across the street and frowned. As Dick had said, the young woman with Lex Luthor was missing. He looked over every person and couldn't spot her.
"Do you think we should warn the others?" he asked.
"Oh, there's more of you?" a voice said behind them. The two boys turned around and gasped. The woman who was with Lex was now standing on the roof, two burly men with her. "So the Agency got a tip it seemed. Lex will be pleased; he was worried you had fallen off you game. Though sending the children is a bit harsh. And people say Lex is a cruel man."
"No chance of you just letting us go and us just pretending we never saw anything?" Wally asked, sizing the two men up. He gulped a little when he noticed that there were guns on their hips. He glanced at Dick who seemed far calmer, though very far from ease.
The woman smirked and nodded her head. The two men started at the boys. Dick was already moving, flipping over one of men and kicking his head. Wally began to wish he had practiced hand-to-hand combat a bit more with his friend as he dodged the first punch thrown at him. After what felt like the longest ten minutes of his life, Wally finally knocked his guy to the ground, turning to face the woman.
"That all you got?" he asked, smudging the blood that was running down his cheek. Dick had just finished tying up the man. The black haired looked up and smirked. "We could do this all night."
The woman smiled, "Well maybe you should make sure that you finished your first job before asking for more."
Wally gave her a quizzical look before being knocked on the ground. He groaned and squinted. The man he had been fighting was back on his feet and running at Dick. Wally slowly made his way to his feet only to have a foot collide with his stomach. He stumbled backwards, looking up. The woman was advancing on him. He threw a punch at her but she caught it in her hand.
"Really, is that all you can do?" she asked. She quickly kneed him and tossed him to the side of her.
As Wally landed, he heard the definite sound of bone breaking. He groaned and looked down. He had landed on his wrist and was sure it was now broken. Using his elbow, he pushed himself into a sitting position. He watched as the woman made her was towards him.
"Not going to ask for mercy?" she asked, smirking.
"I won't need to," he answered, his eyes now looking behind her. "Be thankful we're the good guys."
She stared at him before collapsing. Dick had been standing her, now trying to catch his breath.
"Geez Wally, you were almost useless tonight," Dick said, reaching a hand out to him. He pulled the ginger to his feet. "Thinking about Artemis too much?"
"See, this is why I didn't answer your question earlier – blackmail," he said now cradling his injured wrist. "I think she broke my wrist."
"Oh man, I'm sorry," the boy said, looking down at his hand. "We'll get you over to a hospital, unless you want Artemis to kiss it better."
"Wow you are definitely the worst friend ever," Wally exclaimed. "I'm injured working for you and this is my thanks?"
"Come on, I'll tell the others that we're heading out and that unfortunately this mission was a failure. Luthor is going to send more men soon to find these ones," Dick said, patting his friend on the shoulder. Wally stuck his tongue out and then nodded.
Soon the four teens met up a few blocks away from the building and Wally regretted ever turning up that night. Dick started laughing the moment Artemis looked concerned for Wally while Kaldur hovered over him to insure he was indeed as fine as he stated. He finally just started walking down the road forcing his friends to stop bothering him and to just follow.
Artemis was walking next to him, a faintly smile on her face.
"What are you smiling about?" he asked, not bother to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Nothing really," she answered. She glanced at him and then quickly looked ahead again.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I just can't help but think you being around keeps us all safe," she said.
"Wow… Um, thank you?" Wally said. He was sure his eyes were extremely wide in that moment.
"I mean, no one seems to get hurt on missions your on because you take all the hard hitting blows. You're like a magnet to injuries," Artemis said, now laughing.
Wally frowned and looked back at his other friends. Dick was already laughing and Wally could see the faint smile on Kaldur's face, "Oh, thanks guys, way to make the injured guy feel better!"
"Relax, Wall-man. You'll get you cast and we'll all sign it and you'll feel much better," Dick said once he controlled his laughter.
"Whatever," the ginger said, stalking off ahead of the group. He sighed as he realized he then had to come up with a story for his family and friends at school. Yeah, he definitely was going to start working on his fighting more.
Wally promised himself that the next mission would not result in any injuries, at least not around his friends.