Disclaimer: Young Justice is owned by DC Comics, Warner Brothers, and the suckers of children's souls, the trolls of the television industry, the clearly blind failures unable to observe high ratings and quality programming, Cartoon Network.
Chapter 6: The Point of No Return
Artemis was at the tail end of a long set of crunches when the familiar electric whirring of her cell door shattered her concentration. Not that it mattered; she had already lost count somewhere around two hundred.
"I've been meaning to say this, but working out while incarcerated?" said the equally familiar and grating voice of her least favorite speedster. "That's so cliché."
"Not all of us have fancy superpowers to do our dirty work for us." Artemis had always taken great pride in her physical prowess. There was nothing quite as satisfying as knocking some cocky little hero with flashy powers flat on his backside with a good old-fashioned haymaker.
She straightened up off the floor and wiped her sweaty palms on a towel. Kid Flash's face reddened slightly when he realized she was only wearing shorts and a sports bra, now heavily soaked with sweat.
"Eyes up here, Kid Pervert," she said when he kept gaping.
"I wasn't – what're you – wait, where did she get work out gear from?" he sputtered. His cheeks now matched the color of his hair.
"My guess would be Miss Martian," said Aqualad, who followed close behind along with a grim-looking Superboy.
It was true. The doting Martian had dropped by with a gym bag stuffed with a set of exercise clothes, water bottle, and towel after noticing Artemis's dedication to staying fit on the monitors. Another ploy to get on her good side, but Artemis couldn't help but feel the slightest bit appreciative. Not that Miss Martian would ever be aware of this fact.
"She looks a bit too at home, that's all I'm saying."
Aqualad promptly ignored him. "I hope we are not interrupting?"
"Not at all, I was pretty much done." She had grown almost fond of Aqualad's polite demeanor. "But thanks for the input, Flash Boy."
"It's Kid Flash," said Kid Flash.
"Whatever you say," Artemis cocked her hip and turned her attention to Superboy, who flinched under her openly flirtatious gaze. "Long time no see, Super Stuff. What's the deal? I've been so lonely since that you stopped visiting me."
Kid Flash looked outraged. "Keep it in your pants, woman."
Artemis laughed. It had been so long since she'd seen someone squirm like that. Boys were so easy.
Men, Cheshire thought angrily as she stomped up the hallway. Why she had to deal with so many of these glorified children who dared to call themselves assassins was beyond her.
For an organization that prided itself on secrets, it had been easy to hear Sportsmaster's plans. A few well-placed knives around Hook and Black Spider's sensitive areas had told her enough. They were still probably stuck to the wall like a couple of circus volunteers on a rotating wheel.
But of all the reactions she had predicted from her father, placing a hit on Artemis wasn't one of them. Why did events never go according to plan?
She found Lawrence standing in a corner of a windowless room, his face illuminated by the bluish glow of wall sized computer screens. The only other light came from a pair of low hanging chandeliers. Her shadow stretched across the rich Persian rugs and tapered along the stones strewn with ivy on the walls. The Shadows always did have a flair for ostentatious furnishings.
Her father was out of place among the wine colored drapery and glowing orange torches. He wasn't so much about finesse as he was crushing skulls in his fists like grapes. From the looks of things he had just wrapped up a powwow with the Shadow's partners. Right on schedule.
Jade pounded on the door and stormed into the room in an unnatural huff. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sportsmaster!"
Lawrence remained perfectly still, not even turning to look at her. "Welcome back," he said conversationally.
That's how you want to play it? Fine. "I'm gone a week. One week in the dark, and I have to hear from some second-rate thug that there's a hit out on Artemis?"
"That's right."
"And you remember she's being held captive by the Justice League?"
"Oh, I am perfectly aware of your sister's mistakes."
Jade invented several scathing names to call him that would've made her mom scrub out her mouth with soap accompanied by a furious lecture in shrill Vietnamese.
But she was a professional. She swallowed the anger and stuck to logic. "We couldn't even find their fortress, let alone break into it. And now every moron on the street with a computer and a gun thinks they can hunt her down. A few weeks ago, no one even knew her name!"
"Artemis," said Aqualad started. He was unnaturally hesitant, weighing each word in his head before speaking. A true diplomat, this one. "Your cooperation in this ordeal would be greatly appreciated."
"And this ordeal would be…?"
"As I am sure you are aware, we have been refraining from asking too many personal questions in respect to your private life," Aqualad explained. "And, were these not special circumstances we would not be inquiring at all, but…"
"We're looking for Cheshire," Kid Flash interrupted without a trace of subtlety. Aqualad let out the smallest of groans. Superboy looked ready to throw him out a window.
Cheshire.
The name burned a curling hole in her stomach. How long had it been since she had even thought about that night? About her sister's laughing eyes and her hopeless last stand backed by a wall of flames.
"Why?" The single word was laced with as much malice as she could muster.
"She appears to have gone…off-grid," said Aqualad.
"So? She's an assassin with the League of Shadows. If you could find her, she wouldn't be doing her job right."
"True, however," Aqualad exchanged a look with his teammates, unsure how to best phrase his excuses. "It is important that we locate your sister, and in this respect we are having some…difficulties."
"Uh-huh," she said with undisguised suspicion.
Here Kid Flash jumped in. "Obviously, we feel more comfortable when we can keep track of psycho feline-themed assassins that could possibly want revenge on us for…y'know…" He gestured towards her general state of being in the room.
Artemis surveyed the trio before her with calculating eyes. "Sorry, boys. I'm going to need a little more detail if you want my help. This might surprise you, but Cheshire isn't exactly my favorite person right now. Ever since, y'know…" She mimicked Kid Flash's previous gesture at the room.
The boys exchanged a long look that seemed to communicate their thoughts to each other. She wasn't about to hand out free information and they knew it.
Finally, Aqualad cleared his throat. "Very well," he said. "I understand that trust must be given in order to be earned."
Now we're getting somewhere. "Spit it out, then. What's so secret and sensitive that you need my help?"
"We're looking for Cheshire for the League," Superboy chimed in, somewhat pathetically as though it was the only contribution he could make.
Artemis rolled her eyes. Good thing he was pretty. "So is everyone she's ever met. Be specific."
"We were hoping you might know any of her hideouts," said the Atlantean. "Places she might seek refuge when under duress."
"As far as I know, Cheshire might as well be a shadow herself. She shows up when there's work to be done and leaves without a trace," she said with a casual flip of her hand. "If my sister wanted to be found, she'd come to you, that's how she is."
To Aqualad's credit, if he was disappointed he did not show it easily. Kid Flash, on the other hand, bit his lip and looked worriedly back and forth between his teammates as though watching a heated tennis match.
"Of course, if I had more details on this super secret operation, maybe I could be of more assistance."
Aqualad considered her for a moment, and then sighed. "You must understand," he said. "These are unique circumstances, and it is imperative that we do not reveal too much. It is not that we do not trust you…"
"I don't," Kid Flash muttered in the background.
"But, as I said, it's a very delicate matter, one which the League has…"
Artemis waved a hand impatiently to cut him off. All of this dancing around the truth was beginning to feel infuriatingly like her time with the Shadows. No job specifics, just do what we say and you might just live to get another job thrown at you. For some reason she had thought the super sidekicks would be different.
A sour taste filled her mouth, one that leaked into her words. "No, I get it. It's fine. Really. Just get on with it."
Aqualad's eyebrows knitted together. "We received word that she would make an appearance at a specific location and she failed to do so."
"Uh, expecting her to show up on time – or at all – was your first mistake."
"However, this meeting was crucial for her and the other involved party. One we can guarantee she would not have missed for any reason unless things went south."
Artemis gripped either end of the towel slung about her neck, digging her fingernails into the damp fabric. "This other party wouldn't happen to be any of you, would it?"
"No way," Superboy said quickly.
"Let us just say it is someone whose current whereabouts are also a concern for us at the moment."
"Uh-huh." Something about this whole deal stunk to high heaven. There was no way Cheshire would cooperate with the Justice League or their super sidekicks so why would they want to find her?
"You won't find her. Not in time," Jade insisted. "Artemis has never been a hostage before. Once she hears you've given up on her, how fast until she gives up the organization? What if she reveals our location? Our partners? The Light won't stand for this."
"You and I both know she was trained better than that. Artemis won't reveal anything. Not even up until her final breath."
The wheels and cogs in Jade's head screeched to a halt. She sucked in a sharp breath.
Of course. She should have known. Lawrence never planned to take any chances with Artemis. Whether she was a POW or not, the plan had always been to eliminate her.
Weeks ago Jade had overheard him confronting Artemis about that job where she had saved a group of civilians. She should have figured from that moment what Lawrence had in store. For him, a pawn has no use when it starts thinking for itself.
"So that's your game," she replied dryly.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have no use for loose ends."
Her options were running low. Jade wanted desperately to slip on her favorite mask; the one of a coldblooded killer. Something its firm edges hugging the sides of her face always gave her confidence. But she had to face her father as Jade Nguyen, not the assassin Cheshire.
This was her last hand.
Her voice dripped with lazy carelessness. "In any case, it sounds like you're offering a nice fat reward. Have you already dispatched a team, or is it too late to raise my hand?" She gave him an oily smile, flashing her teeth like a hungry predator.
Lawrence studied her for a brief moment. She hated how much he loomed over her, both in height and gait. It made her want to break him down to her size.
"I'm surprised, Jade. You'd take a job to kill your own sister?"
Says the jackass who put the hit out on his own daughter in the first place.
Jade leaned against a scarlet chintz armchair in the middle of the room and casually studied her nail beds. "What can I say? Love comes in all shapes and sizes. Artemis screwed up. She put the Shadows at risk. And family cleans up each other's mistakes."
Lawrence suddenly turned his head to look sideways at her. His illuminated profile flickered menacingly in the dim lighting. She swallowed thickly. Well, that wasn't foreboding at all.
"You know, little girl?" he said. "I couldn't agree more."
Wally didn't always agree with Kaldur's plans, but he always followed the chain of command because, seriously, who else was going to give the orders? The others were all seasoned fighters with more than enough experience to handle themselves in the field, but they weren't leaders. Wally was especially proud of his instincts. Being a speedster meant needing to make snap decisions fast.
But this plan? Even if he had a year to think it over, he would still disagree. Putting their faith in Cheshire was one thing, but counting on Artemis to give a straight answer? He wouldn't trust her to tell him honestly what the color of the sky is.
Still…their relationship had been improving recently.
Of course their version of improvement meant fewer death threats and less of him storming from the room in a huff. At one point he swore she had smirked in a mildly threatening way instead of her usual "I will rip your spleen out through your throat and crush your bones to make my bread" way.
It was getting harder to think of her as a despicable villain when all this crap kept happening to her.
Artemis was leaning against the metal bed frame, one hand on her hip and the other gripping a towel around her shoulders. She listened to Kaldur with an angry glint in her eye.
Wally had long since tuned out the conversation, but it seemed like Kaldur was reaching the end of his explanation. Wordlessly, Artemis pushed herself off the metal railing and strode over to her usual armchair.
She had a peculiar way of moving across a room that captivated the eye. Full of confidence, as though she knew all eyes were on her and wanted to give them a show. The atmosphere swirled around her like the eye of a storm, and Wally could feel himself gravitating towards her with each swaying motion of her hips.
Then she fell in the chair with a muffled whump and he snapped back to reality. Thankfully no one had noticed his attention straying where he stood in the back corner. The sheer width of Superboy's shoulders was enough to partially shield him from view.
" – and did she not mention anything about her intentions the night of the museum job the two of you worked together?" Kaldur was saying.
"We were not working together," she snapped. "Cheshire had her own agenda that night, but, as you can plainly see, I wasn't included in her plans. So I don't think you have to worry about Cheshire showing up on your doorstep. Maybe a fruit basket or a thank you card. Either way, I think you'll be fine."
Then Kaldur started talking again so Wally spaced out for a bit. He noticed Artemis's chest heaving slightly at the mention of Cheshire's name. He tried not to gape, but the sports bra wasn't leaving much to the imagination.
He decided to focus on her eyes. That's where his mom and Aunt Iris had always told him to look when talking to girls.
There was a storm brewing in the steel gray whirlpools of her eyes. The intensity was usually enough to bowl him over, but not now. The knives her glares threw now were dulled and worn from use. Maybe she was just running out of reasons to be angry.
The sound of her voice startled him back to reality again. "Look, if you can't find Cheshire it's because she doesn't want to be found," Artemis said, clearly tired with the conversation. "She's good at running away. Trust me. You're talking to the girl she walked out on. Twice."
Now he could see her eyes were tinged with fire; a cloudy, throbbing flame that resonated…something. He couldn't put his finger on the emotion in her eyes. It wasn't entirely anger, though that certainly was a big part. It looked more like pain.
She angrily rubbed one of her eyes as though trying to wipe off her feelings. Wally could see deep purple shadows under her eyes, giving her a ghostly pallor in the bright florescent lighting.
The bags were so pronounced, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before. Had she been sleeping properly? Red Tornado watched the monitors at night, but had never reported anything usual about her sleep.
"Are you sleeping all right?"
Kaldur and Superboy both spun around. Artemis's eyebrows furrowed so deeply they nearly connected in the middle. All of them were looking at him like he had three heads. And it was then that Wally realized he had just voiced his thoughts.
Nicely done, West. Speak then think. Classic.
"I was just…your eyes are kind of…" he gestured awkwardly at his own face. "You've just got really dark circles is all."
Artemis scrutinized him carefully. "Um…as disturbing as your concern is, I'm sleeping fine."
Damn it, this was humiliating. He searched for a way out. Was there a cover that didn't make him sound like either a sap or a total douche?
"I wouldn't call it concern. I was just wondering if you were losing sleep over the fact that the Shadows seem to be coming for you and your family, since it looks like Cheshire's lost in the wind and you could be next."
Nailed it.
The underlying hostility between them that had been dissipating so smoothly now burst forward like water from a thinly structured dam. Artemis crossed her arms over her chest and let out a long exhale. Damn, her chest was really distracting.
"The Shadows don't scare me and neither do you, Kid Psycho."
Having handled that situation, Wally felt this was a good time to storm out. Again. He was so frustrated with himself he had forgotten to correct her on his name.
"He means well," said Kaldur, his deep voice drifting through the door.
"Deep, deep down," Superboy deadpanned.
"Oh, screw you guys," Wally muttered. He stomped all the way back to the control room.
Robin was seated at the computer, still running the same global tracking program he had been tinkering with since the night before. Wally slumped into the chair beside him.
"Where's Miss M at?" He hoped Megan hadn't seen him make a complete idiot of himself. Again.
"Out with the bioship," Robin replied. "She thought it'd be best to distance herself. Her last meeting with Artemis didn't go so well."
"Good thing I'm not the only one."
"Yeah, but she's actually trying to befriend Artemis," Robin reminded him. "Everyone is."
"What's your point?" he asked, even though it was obvious.
"You should make more of an effort to get along. Say something nice every once in a while, or give a little sign of trust."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, whatever doesn't end with you getting your ass handed to you," Robin said, a bit waspishly. Wally didn't rise to his tone. The Boy Wonder had been working nonstop all night and was entitled to some attitude.
Wally sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Right. I'll think of something. Be nice, huh? That feels impossible right now."
"Really? 'Cause it sounded like you already got a head start on it." Robin spun around in his chair. "Did you really just ask if she was having sleeping problems?" His eyebrow was arched so high it peeked out above his domino mask.
Wally groaned. Of course he had been watching the video feed from here. "Maybe."
His best friend smirked. "Smooth."
Smooth move there, Cheshire. Walk right into Daddy's trap. Literally.
In terms of surprise attacks, this is one Jade would kick herself over for years to come. His men had been lying in wait the whole time; wrapped in the shadowy corners of the room thanks to the lack of light. How had she not noticed?
But it was too late to dwell on the past. Especially since her future was looking especially grim.
A group of black clad figures surrounded her on all sides; a few holstered machine guns on their shoulders, others armed with escrima sticks or throwing knives. They covered the door, walls, air vents, and had there been windows they would've been blocking those too.
Jade turned on the spot quickly, searching for a weakened area, maybe a man with a limp or a gun she could easily reach. But there was nothing. Not even a table to dive under.
Lawrence stood calmly in the center of it all, in the eye of the storm. The ring of shadows warriors encircling them remained motionless, waiting for his command.
Strange. It wasn't like him to hesitate.
He began drifting away from the dim glowing light of his computer screens. For every step he advanced, Jade had to steel herself from moving back in response.
"Jade, Jade, Jade," he shook his head sadly like she was ten years old again and had just received a failing grade in class. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out? The botched jobs, hacking into the mainframe, the moonlit meetings with the arrow brat? When will you learn there is nothing that goes on in here without my knowledge?"
Lovely. He wanted to give a sermon before leaving his daughter to the mercy of a small arm.
"You always did have a soft spot for Artemis," he continued. "There's more of your mother in you than I thought. You two were always begging me to keep Artemis out of the spotlight. Letting her skills rust in the dark. She could've been something real special. A lethal killing force strong enough to rival any of those super powered brats or their mentors." A muscle started to jump visibly in his square jawline. "But now she's worthless. It's your fault she got soft, you and your damn mother! If Paula hadn't –"
"Don't you dare," Jade seethed. Her fingers flinched reflexively above the kunai belted at her waist. "I should kill you just for saying her name."
Lawrence just laughed. "Careful, little girl. Your emotions are showing."
He was right. Jade unclenched her fists and felt the skin prickle where her nails had dug little trenches.
He started pacing closer. "I knew one day something like this would happen, but I have to admit I didn't expect such a risky plan, even from you, Jade. I raised you. I gave you those skills. I raised you to be great, and I expected you to use them for better purposes."
"I'm touched," she snarled.
"Really, I am," Artemis twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "It's downright adorable what you think you're doing for me and all, but I'm not worried about Cheshire. She doesn't give a shit about me, and I don't owe her anything. The most I could thank her for is helping to grow as a person who doesn't need to depend on anyone."
"Just think about the person she could've been! Artemis's name would be known and feared throughout the city. She was going to be my masterpiece. My greatest accomplishment." His fists clenched into big meaty wrecking balls.
Jade kept one hand firmly on her waist; the other was clenched in a fist. Every word spewing from this man's mouth seemed to infuriate her more and more. She entertained a brief fantasy of rushing him with her knives even if it meant getting riddled with holes from every direction.
"You think I gave you and Artemis a rough childhood, boo-freaking-hoo. At least I raised you to take care of yourselves. Now look where you are!" He held out an open palm. The men around her all tensed in unison. They were ready to jump. "Don't worry, little girl," he said solemnly. "Your accomplishments in this life will be remembered."
Jade laughed.
The boom of her voice echoed around the silent room. A few of her father's henchmen exchanged confused looks. Lawrence's eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch.
It was all too funny. She had let his preaching continue mostly out of curiosity, but his speeches were even dumber than she'd thought.
Time to bring an end to father-daughter fun time.
Jade spun to face her father with a hand on her hip. "Aww, don't say that, Dad. I'm proud of all the terrible things you taught me. And you're right. I did learn a lot. For instance, when you enter a fight you know you can't win…" She withdrew a hand from the inside of her belt. A thin black device came into view. "Always have a way out."
A wide circular pattern of red lights flickered to life on the back wall. She could see her father's face contort in sudden realization before he hit the deck, and not a second too soon.
The blast shook the very foundations of their stronghold. Lamps swung violently on their chain links and the room was covered in a thin layer of disintegrated rock. The computer system had been blown to pieces. The waves of dark clothed soldiers had either been caught in the blast, their sprawled limbs trapped by chunks of debris, or were just starting to straighten up and charge at her. But they couldn't find her through the clouds of smoke and dust.
Jade kneeled in the jagged hole her bombs had made in the wall. Fresh night air welcomed her with beckoning black arms.
Home free, she thought. Until a thick, meaty hand shot forward and seized her ankle.
Lawrence. Of course a mere explosion hadn't affected him.
For a moment she was filled with pure terror. A million thoughts raced through her head. All the worst-case scenarios and fears she had had since childhood, looking up at that mountain of a man.
Jade had always chalked up his leniency towards her to be because he still had some regard for family and because she was useful. But she hadn't truly considered what would happen when she could no longer bargain with her skills. There was a dark murderous look in his eyes. A look that said, quite clearly, he didn't care what happened to her, and, worse, he would make it happen.
All these thoughts occurred with the space of a second and, in a reflex born from pure panic, she kicked at him.
The momentum tipped her off balance and suddenly her eyes were filled with the sight of a velvety, star packed night sky. The winds she had run through so many times enveloped her in a stomach-curling embrace, and she fell, tumbling along the craggy rocks of Infinity Island.
"It's got to be Infinity Island," Superboy said stubbornly.
"Even if the Shadows are holding her, we don't have the proof and we definitely can't launch a full-scale infiltration of their headquarters," argued Robin.
Wally was sick of this circling conversation, but he sure as hell wasn't going to sit by without adding his two cents. "Well, what if Artemis is right? What if she doesn't want to be found?"
Robin cocked an eyebrow. "Since when do you agree with Artemis?"
"I don't!" he retorted quickly. "I – I'm just saying it's a lot more likely she double crossed us! And, at this rate, should we really be surprised?"
Kaldur shook his head gravely. "This was her plan. I do not believe she has reason to betray us."
By this point M'gann had returned with the bioship. "I checked out every rendezvous point we've ever made with her," she said. "Cheshire's nowhere to be found and we're running out of time." Her doleful eyes slid to the ground.
"What do you mean?" Superboy asked with the special touch of concern he reserved for the Martian.
"I just heard from Uncle J'onn," she said. Her eyes were almost brimming with tears. "The League…they're getting impatient. And with Cheshire gone…they want to move up the deadline."
Wally felt like his heart had thrown itself against his ribcage with a painful thud. His teammate's faces clouded over with similar expressions of alarm.
Kaldur, cool as ever under pressure, took command. "We need to get in contact with Roy." He turned to Robin. "Do we know his location?"
"Working on it," Rob jumped back on his computer and began typing furiously, his gloved fingers flying over the holographic keyboard.
"When you reach him, tell him something has gone wrong on Cheshire's end. If he does not already know."
The team started dissipating from the room, minus Robin clacking away. Wally watched his friend work for a moment before noticing his hands. He lifted one hand, holding it parallel before his eyes. It trembled violently, shivers traveling up through the wrists to the tips of his microscopic nails.
Calm down, he thought. There's no reason to be nervous. So the League pushed up our timeline. Makes no difference. We knew this was going to happen. No point in getting worked up over the inevitable.
So why did he feel like his world had just flipped upside down?
Jade squinted upside down at the sky.
As it turns out, falling five storied jungle fortress with only trees and cliff walls to break your fall is a lot less fun than it sounds. The grappling hook she meant to use lay uselessly on the ground like a curled up snake. The traitor.
She did a quick catalogue of injuries. The five-inch gash on her forearm would take longest to heal, either that or the contusions on her back from smacking a thick tree branch on her way down. She would've been surprised it the fall hadn't knocked out two of her vertebrae.
The foot she had used to kick at Sportsmaster still had his angry red handprint seared on her skin. There was something ironic about how she had kicked him out of instinctual panic. She had made a career from being a carefully controlled killer. Yet primal fear and uncertainty had saved her.
"Hey."
Jade blinked. A fuzzy outline with a shock of red hair and a bad attitude was standing above her.
"What happened to meeting on the shore?" Red Arrow frowned.
She wet her lips and whispered, "Ch-change of…plans." It was hard to be snarky when you had tree bark embedded in your back.
The former sidekick's scowl slipped off his face after fully taking in how much damage she had just received. But he knew her well enough to not damage her pride by coddling her. He helped her to her feet and kept one firm arm hoisting her off the ground until she could get her bearings back. They both knew she was hurt bad, but it would get worse if they didn't get off the island soon.
"So," he said, adjusting his arm around her shoulder. "Mission unsuccessful, I take it?"
"Could've gone better."
"You mean all your idiotic escape attempts don't end with you falling off cliffs? Frankly, I'm shocked."
She let out a tiny laugh and immediately regretted it when a lightning strike of pain shot through her chest. He noticed and kept his tone businesslike from then on.
They reached the dark shore where a boat was covered in a not very subtle camouflage tarp.
Red Arrow glanced anxiously around at the bushes. "Last time I was here, people were shooting at me."
"I disabled the island's defense systems and surveillance cameras. Slowed down the response time," she said. "Won't last much longer. Keep moving."
He let her go to whip off the tarp of the boat. It was, in a word, pathetic.
"What. The hell. Is this?" she said in a combination of exhaustion and utter disbelief.
"You wanted a boat, I got a boat. Though now I'm wondering why we couldn't have taken that perfectly functioning helicopter you sent far, far away," he said, following the tiny shadow of a helicopter trekking sluggishly through the distant night sky with a dejected expression.
She gave him a wily grin. "Because by the time Sportsmaster and the others figure out how to unscramble the hangar lock codes and find a jeep with tires I haven't slashed, the bogey chopper will keep them busy and we'll be long gone."
She hurried to help him push the boat into the water, but he insisted on doing it himself, taking in her various injuries. She punched him in the shoulder and helped anyway. It took a few tries to start the engine, but soon they were speeding off through the dark waters just as the island's security alarms began blaring.
Jade laid back in the back seat. A few quips came to mind about the two of them romantically riding off into the twilight, but she repressed them. For once she was too exhausted to flirt, even for the purposes of rattling him. Red Arrow had really saved her ass back there. Allowing him to keep his dignity was gratitude enough, she decided.
After a few minutes of silent sailing, he asked loudly over the sputtering engine, "You messed with their systems even though you were hoping he wouldn't turn on you. What if your plan had worked?"
Jade took a hesitant breath and then gave a bitter laugh, giving up any pretense of confidence. "Honestly, Red? There was no chance in hell I was getting out of there without a bruise. Or several. I didn't go in expecting it to work at all. But I guess, on the off chance he had played dumb and let me walk away, I could've reset the system easily."
"And the slashed tires?"
She shrugged. "Probably would've blamed it on you."
"Nice. Really nice, Cheshire."
"Oh hush, it all worked out in the end."
Her eyelids began to flutter like sandbags were tied on the tips. The injuries were starting to catch up with her now that the adrenaline was wearing off. She estimated several minutes until she lost consciousness entirely. Perfect.
"I'll just take a quick cat nap," she said with a lazy yawn for added effect.
Roy nodded, his mouth drawn in a tight line. She could tell he understood the truth behind her words. He always did. That probably should have irritated her more, but colored circles were starting to drift in and out of her vision.
"Wake me when we arrive," she said, slightly slurred. "Or when some driftwood pokes a hole in this toy boat and we drown."
The last thing she heard before drifting to sleep was his angry grumbling.
"Everyone has a problem with the boat. Never mind that I keep coming back to this goddamn island to save them, oh no, let's mock the rental."
A/N: So… how 'bout them hiatuses? You know what, let's not open that door.
Wow, I've been struggling with this chapter for so long, I can't believe I actually finished it. The format of this chapter was completely experimental. I wrote and rewrote so much of the dialogue, and then added the parallel transitions, and then it somehow turned into "write all the perspectives!" and...yeah, it's a bit long. That was unexpected but probably inevitable. A big turning point deserves a big page count!
So please tell me what you think! I had a lot of fun with this formatting, and I hope it had the desired effect. Your feedback inspires me more than anything :)
