Diclaimer: I do not own Young Justice
Author's Note: Part one of two. Sorry this took so long to post. School and personal stuff. I'll hopefully have the next part done next weekend, but school is starting to really pile up. But I'll try my hardest.
Wally stood up quickly after finishing tying he shoe. He jogged to catch up to the blonde girl waiting for him slightly ahead on the sidewalk. The boy put his hands behind his head as they slowly began to make their way down the street again.
"So, a surprise at the warehouse, huh? Should we be worried?" Artemis asked. She was wearing a light winter jacket, a deep forest green colour, and a brown scarf. Wally could see her breath escape her mouth in small clouds. "Like, is there going to be any bodily harm or something?"
Wally shrugged, "It is Dick who's told us, yes we should be worried, no bodily harm. It'll be most likely extremely embarrassing. I have no idea who else has been called to the warehouse so for all we know it's a trap."
"And why would Grayson be trying to set a trap for us?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Oh, you know how he is, he just likes to mess with people. He probably wants to see if he can start a shouting match between us or something," the ginger said. "You know, just cause."
"We haven't had a shouting match in ages, now that I think about it," the blonde pointed out. "We're probably rusty."
Wally smiled as he looked away from her. She didn't need to see just how pleased he was by their ability to keep a civilized conversation going.
It was the middle of December, and Wally couldn't lie to himself about how much he appreciated the winter this year. Every time he looked at Artemis, he could help but think how the season just suited her. She was wearing a light winter jacket, a deep forest green colour, and a brown scarf. She would periodically readjust her scarf, though all he wanted to do was grab hold of it so he could pull her into the kiss he's been dying to give her. The finally touch his lips against hers. The lips that every time he looked, he could see her breath escape in small clouds. He wanted to be the reason that her breath was leaving, not the temperature.
And this 'surprise' wasn't helping him with his wants. The moment school had ended (for the winter break, finally) the ginger had received a text from Dick saying he was needed to go to the warehouse for 'an extremely exciting, and most definitely the most shocking' surprise. Nothing it would be nothing good, he decided that they were going to take the longer route over. He figured that it would be a trap to get him to look like an idiot in front of Artemis. This was partially due to the fact that Megan and Conner were away for the day to visit Gar and Marie now that the boy was well on the mend, and that Dick had been sick all day and wasn't at school, giving him hours to prepare the perfect prank.
He sighed as he thought over how annoying this was. Normally he wouldn't be bothered by his friend's actions, but lately they always seemed to interfere. Today he just wanted things to work out between the blonde and himself. It had been a couple weeks since the mission and the ginger had finally plucked up the courage again to try and ask out Artemis. He just wanted to get this over so he could get on with what could be the most terrifying thing he's ever done.
Soon they found themselves at the warehouse soon and Wally looked at the girl next to him. He raised an eyebrow as he placed his hand on the door. Artemis smiled and nodded her head. Sighing, Wally opened the door, bracing himself for whatever his best friend had planned for them.
"Long time no see, Wall-man," a voice said once he stepped inside. Artemis looked over the boy's shoulder to see who the speaker was. Dick, who was smirking, and Kaldur were standing by the computers with a tall, fairly muscular, ginger haired boy. He was wearing a red jacket and had a pair of sunglasses resting on the top of his head.
Wally's eyes lit up as he began to walk across the building. "Roy! Wow, what… what are you doing here? I mean, wow, it's great to see you! What are you doing here?"
Roy laughed as he clapped his hand onto the shorter ginger's shoulder, "Mission stuff. I need you're guys' help. Who's that?" He pointed over his friend's shoulder, a strange look in his eyes.
Wally turned to see Artemis standing a few feet away. He gestured for her to come over as he spoke, "Artemis Crock, meet Roy Harper, the agent before you. Roy, this is Artemis."
"Oh, the replacement," Roy said quickly, ignoring the hand she had raised. "Hope you can actually keep up."
"Yeah, actually I can, thanks. So mission stuff, are you even allowed to ask for our help?" Artemis demanded, crossing her arms.
"I'm not asking for your help, I'm asking the experienced agents for help," he answered.
"Excuse me?" she asked, her voice rising.
"Dude, what's your deal? Artemis is definitely an experienced agent, back off," Wally said, taking a step forward in front of the blonde. Roy crossed his arms, glaring at the girl near Wally. Artemis grabbed Wally's arm, pulling him towards her and out of the way.
"Okay! Now that we've all met and are reacquainted, how about Roy explains what's going," Dick said, moving over to ex-agent.
"Whatever," Roy muttered. He made his way over the computers. Soon two pictures showed up on the screens.
"Hey, that's the lady who cut my arm on our first mission," Wally pointed out, nudging Artemis. She nodded when he glanced at her, though he noticed she was staring down at her feet now.
"Jade Nguyen, yeah. Dick told me there was a run in with her a few months ago. Well, she's back in town and this time with another member from the League, 'Crusher'. I couldn't find out his real name, apparently he's high enough in the League that they're actually going to protect his identity," he said. "I've been tracking Nguyen for a week now and it looks like they're picking up a package here. Turns out she's working for Luthor. And Crusher, he seems to be working for Vandal Savage. What I need your help is stopping this pick up from happening. I've narrowed it down to possible spots in the town. We'll pair off and keep a watch. If the transaction is happening where you're pair is, radio the other and wait. Got it?"
"Any idea what's in the package or whatever?" Wally asked.
"Not really," Roy sighed. "From what Dick's told me about your past missions, it's likely they're all connected. I know for a fact Queen Bee has been in meetings lately with Luthor. I tracked Nguyen to the meeting but she shook me off. The woman's like a freaking cat or something. I didn't find out what was being discussed."
"Well the snake venom from Marie Logan's reserve could be involved," Artemis said, her voice tight. Wally took a side step towards her, a questioning look in his eyes, which she ignored.
Roy looked at the girl and frowned, "Yeah, that venom.
"Well, I'll be here, dude," Dick said sitting in the chair in front of the computers. "Way too ill to actually be of any use out there, unless you want to pick me up and through me at the enemy."
"Artemis will be a good choice for this mission," Kaldur said, taking a step forward. "She is an archer like you Roy, Wally and I will pair with one of you. It would make the most sense that way."
"Whatever, as long as she can actually shoot a boy. She can go Kaldur. I don't trust her, no offence, so I want her with someone experienced. I just hope she's a real archer, this needs to go well," he stated.
"Okay, back up dude. What? Of course you can trust her, she works for the damn Agency you've just come crawling back to for help!" Wally said, raising his voice.
"Wally, drop it. I don't care what he thinks," Artemis said behind him.
"No, I'm not dropping this. I'll pair up with Artemis, we've worked together a couple times and I do trust her," he snapped. "What's your deal?"
Roy merely looked at him before walking past them saying, "Dick will tell you where to go, by there within the hour. Come on, Kal."
Kaldur sent an apologetic look to the pair that was left before following after the ex-agent.
"What an asshole!" Wally shouted. "Was he like that before?"
"Um… yes?" Dick said, smirking. "You two always bickered."
"I don't remember it being that bad though," the ginger said, rubbing the back of his head. "And what was that, Artemis? Normally you're ready to tear apart anyone who questions you, I would know personally."
"It doesn't matter. What do I care what he thinks?" Artemis said quickly, avoiding he eyes. She walked over to a nearby table and grabbed her usual bag for missions. "I'll probably never see him again. Look, just give us the location so we can go, okay Dick?"
"Yeah sure, just a sec."
Wally's eyebrow furrowed as they got the location. Soon the two of them were on their way out. Both pairs were in the west end of the town, by the harbour. They walked over from the warehouse; it would only take about a half hour to reach their location. The entire walk the boy felt like he was pulling teeth. Every question he asked Artemis just deflected. One worded answers, shrugging, or complete silence. He had seen her in bad moods before, but Wally wasn't quite sure what this was. He could tell she was angry, but she also seemed almost nervous.
They reached their location soon. They were camped on the roof of a two-story building at an intersection. Wally used the comm to tell Kaldur and Roy they had arrived as Artemis set up her bow. Soon they were standing, watching the buildings around them in complete silence.
Time ticked by slowly and Wally was ready to start hitting his head against a wall. His partner was still not talking and there was no sign of either one of the League agents. The sun was beginning to set and Wally just wanted this night to be over. Were Artemis and he really going to go through a not talking phase again?
"Artemis," he said after awhile. He looked over at her from his spot on the roof. She seemed tenser than she usually looked on missions. Her grip on her bow was extremely tight and she was chewing her lip, "just talk to me, okay?"
"We shouldn't be talking, Wally. These people are dangerous. You still have a scar on your arm from last time we ran into them, remember?" she responded. "Just focus one the mission."
Wally sighed and turned away from her. He watched the almost empty street below them, wondering if Roy was even right about the location. Wondering why Roy just showed up out of the blue asking for, it was extremely odd for him to admit he was having difficulties with anything. He started wondering again why the girl he was with was so tense again. It had been months since she had been anywhere near this level of tension on a mission.
He glanced over at the girl again and sighed. He turned to look at her and took a deep breath in, "Artemis…" She looked over at him, her face looked like it was craved out of stone. She didn't say anything and Wally took that as his cue to continue, "Look… okay this probably sounds a hundred times better in my head, and please don't hurt me when I'm done, but relax, okay? Don't let Roy get under your skin. You definitely are a real archer, and a real agent. He's just angry that we have someone amazing to fill the spot. You aren't a replacement, not really. You're just you. And you're pretty amazing. I mean, yeah I gave you a hard time, and yeah you've heard this already, but you were just so intimidating and I was such an idiot, but really don't stress over this. You're a part of this team, your own part. You didn't take over Roy's; you've made your own place here. You don't have to prove anything to us. You don't have anything to prove to me. Okay?"
Artemis stood there, staring down at her feet. Wally suddenly felt the urge to run away. Sure, they were much closer now, but he had this way of sticking his foot in his mouth around here and was starting to think this was one of those times. Soon the girl looked up at him and he braced himself for what she would inevitably throw at him.
"Thanks," she said quietly. "You're right, for once. Relaxing now."
Wally smiled at her and resisted to urge to pull her into a hug. He felt that he had done enough for the situation, and he really didn't want to push Artemis in the wrong direction now that she was in a good place. He turned to look back down at the street again.
"Um, and Wally?" her voice forced him to look back. It was soft and the look on her face was filled with a warmth he could never remember seeing before. His heart swelled as he looked at her. She smiled, glancing down before looking into his eyes. "It was nice out loud. Hearing that, I mean. It was nice to hear that out loud."
"Oh, good. Good." he said, beginning to grin. "Good."
"We should get to, you know, look out," Artemis said, a blush forming on her face. She tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear and looked down at the street. "We don't want Roy to somehow found out we weren't paying attention."
"Right," the ginger answered. He looked back down as well.
Both teens stood there in silence, feeling a warmth surge over them. Wally soon noticed that they both had moved closer to each other. Every now and then they would catch the other one glancing at the other, causing them to smile even more. He knew this should be a problem, but at this point Wally didn't care. Whatever this mission had to bring, he was ready. He wasn't going to let another mission delay or ruin his chances with this girl.