Disclaimer: I do not work at Cartoon Network, so I do not have any claim to Young Justice.
TMB Chapter 2
"-temis? … hear me?... rtemis…wake up… Artemis! "
Artemis groaned and opened her eyes, then immediately shut them as dim light rushed into them. She slowly reopened them to a slit to take in a hovering red shape above her. Blinking a few times, the shape sharpened into her concerned boyfriend, Wally. What was Wally doing here? There were other shapes behind him… red and blue flashing lights? What had happened? What was going on?
"Miss, are you alright?" a voice to her right asked.
"Hmm… Yeah," she answered blearily, and swiveled her head to take in a police officer. Deciding he was no threat, she looked back at Wally. "Baywatch. Whatcha doin' here? Wha' happen?"
"Have you been drugged?" Wally asked, squinting at her.
"No. Drugser bad." Artemis shook her head to clear it of the fog.
"Can you sit her up? I'm going to check her for concussion." The police officer said to Wally. He did so. The police officer shined a light in her eyes, causing her to wince. "Miss, can you answer some simple questions?"
"Yessss. I mean, yes. Yeah." Artemis shook her head again, but Wally shot a hand out and stopped her. "Sorry."
"What's your name?"
"Artemis Crock."
"Age?"
"15"
"What's the date?"
"November 8, 2012"
"What is the last thing you remember?"
"Last thing I remember?" Artemis was silent for a second, thinking. What was the last thing she could remember? She had gone to school, left school. That annoying freshman came with her for a tutoring session in Calculus. He was grinning about something, but wouldn't tell her what…. Wait a second, freshman? "Richard. Where's Richard? He was with me, I think."
The police officer froze, surprised. "Richard? Richard who?" Artemis looked at Wally. He was vibrating slightly, but didn't look surprised nor jealous that she had been with another guy—had she told him about tutoring?—just worried. Confused, Artemis turned back to the police officer, and attempted to struggle to her feet.
"Richard Grayson. He's about this tall," she demonstrated, "tan, skinny, black hair, blue eyes. I'm pretty sure he was with me. He was supposed to tutor me in math today."
The police officer cursed, and looked back at his partner who was observing the surroundings. "There's another bag, but you're the only one we found, Mi—"
"Do you remember anything after leaving school? Did you make it home? What time was it? Where did he go? Why didn't you call for help? Did you now have time? What happened? Are you hurt? Was he hurt? How many people attacked you? Did you get any of them? What did they look like? Were they masked?"
"Baywatch. Baywatch!" He paused. "Shut up. Officer, to answer some of his questions, I remember being on the way to my house. Richard seemed happy about something, but wouldn't tell me what. We turned into an alley." She looked up and around. "I guess this one, and it's kind of fuzzy past that point. I remember there being figures… in black maybe? I think they were masked because I don't remember faces. What… what happened? Where's Richard?"
"I think he was kidnapped." Wally stated solemnly.
"What?!"
The sun was coming up, Wally noted, rubbing at his tired eyes. It had been more than 12 hours since Dick's disappearance and more than 11 since Wally's discovery of Artemis in the alley. He had wondered why Dick wasn't activating the celebration chimes that he'd set up for the end of the bet. When all phone calls went to voicemail, he had gone to investigate, piggybacking off Bruce's tracer (God forbid Bruce find out about that), and found Artemis lying there unconscious with their stuff strewn all over the alleyway.
They were in Wayne Manor now sitting on the couch in the living room. Artemis had checked out with the paramedics as having a mild concussion. They also determined that she had been given a mild sedative, similar to the kind that is typically given to Wisdom Teeth patients, in order to knock her out and disorient her. She had a black eye and bruises on her knuckles, indicating that a fight had taken place. She was currently passed out on Wally's shoulder.
Several officers were milling around. They had set up equipment to track any calls that came in, and had already sent out an Amber Alert. Bruce had disappeared a few hours ago. He had told the officers that he was going to search through his mail in the study for any recent threats. Wally was sure he had probably done that already. Bruce was very careful when threats came in, especially when Dick or Jason were involved, and made sure both boys knew who to look out for. Nah, Bruce was probably setting up a search and trace on the batcomputer for any sign of Dick.
Wally sighed. This was not how his night was supposed to go. The two boys had planned a trip to a nearby café, then a movie marathon complete with junk food… well Alfred's cooking, which wasn't exactly junk but definitely sweets. They were planning to blast music and play video games as well until Jason would inevitably stomp in and yell at them to turn it down because he had to go to school tomorrow even if they didn't.
There were still desserts, but they were served by a solemn Alfred and offered to tired officers and depressed, worried teens, rather than two rambunctious teenagers who didn't really need any more sugar. The sweets lacked their usual luster as the night went on and the ones that Alfred had originally prepared were exhausted. Jason had disappeared to bed hours ago at Bruce's demand, and a female police officer named Montaina, Montanyo, Montoya, something like that had followed for Jason's protection. Neither had the energy to argue. He wasn't going to school tomorrow.
Wally dimly wondered if Artemis had figured out he wasn't actually here for her, but rather for Dick. She probably thought he was just hanging around to be an awesome boyfriend in her time of need. That would be the logical conclusion. If that was her assumption, he had no will to correct it. Bruce might kill him if he did; Bruce was certainly wound up enough.
In the corner of his conscious, Wally heard the sound of the front door opening and keys jingling. A police officer moved to the front door to greet the new arrival. Shift change? Was it time for one? Almost no one outside the batfamily had keys to the manor. Clark- because Bruce was sick of him using laser vision to unlock the door-, Wally, Roy, and maybe Gordon were the sum total. Voices echoed in the front hall, but Wally didn't even bother to try to sort them out.
There was the sound of running feet and then Roy Harper burst into the living room. He scanned the scene, taking in the police officers, who had turned to him in surprise, the tracking equipment, and the two human lumps on the couch, one of who was starting to stir from sleep, the other who was staring solemnly at a half eaten plate of food. Roy opened his mouth to ask what happened, but then closed it again. What happened was fairly obvious, given the location and general mood. He tried to ask what Artemis was doing here, but decided he didn't really want to know at this moment at time. Roy made a strangled sound deep in his throat, moved over to the couch and plopped down next to Wally, putting his head in his hands.
At this point, Bruce emerged from his study. The circles under his eyes spoke to his lack of rest the night past. He gave a small start when he saw Roy, then nodded to him. "Anything?" he begged of the police officers.
"Nothing, Mr. Wayne. Sorry, sir. Anything in the mail?"
"No. Nothing." Bruce sat down in the armchair that Jason had occupied earlier that night, and rubbed his eyes. "Why nothing? It's been over twelve hours. It's morning. Shouldn't they have called by now?"
"Typically, yes." Gordon said, entering the room. "However, I'm beginning to think this is not your normal kidnapping case."
That caught Wally's attention. "What? What do you mean this isn't a normal kidnapping?" He spoke before Bruce could, prompting a warning look from Bruce and a nudge from Roy.
"The profile is in keeping with a recent string of abductions in Gotham and, as I've learned, around the world. I was planning on bringing Batman in on it last night, but he didn't show." Bruce instantly grabbed the folder from the commissioner's arms. Batman had been a little busy last night, but might have appreciated this lead. "Three to five armed men attacking in an alleyway near dusk. Three of the six victims match Dick's description. The victims were all with at least one other person, who was given a sedative and left behind as a witness." The Commissioner had the rapt attention of both the redheads, Bruce, who was flipping through the file about his son, and Alfred now, as well as a couple of the officers.
"Why weren't we informed of this immediately?" Bruce asked, switching into business mode, with a slight growl.
"I wasn't sure of it. I'm still not sure of it, but there's been no ransom call, like the other cases, and the possibility seems more and more likely by the minute."
"Give me everything you have on the case." Bruce said, looking up from Dick's file.
"I can't just give that out to civilians. I assure you that we're searching for your son. I just doubled the task force on the kidnapping case in Gotham, and I've contacted other cities to get the Justice League involved, if it's as widespread as we fear."
Bruce clenched his hands, wishing he had gone out the night before, despite the fact he was needed at home.
"I'm as worried about Dick as you are, Bruce." Gordon said, softly. "I may be wrong. This could be an independent case, in which case you need to wait here for a ransom call."
"Which might not come?"
"We have to hope, Bruce. We will find him."
"I need to go check on the teams." He nodded to two police officers, who stayed. He, and the rest of the officers, began to leave. Gordon paused by the door and turned back, "Bruce, keep Jason close for the next few days. If I'm correct in who this group is targeting, they don't need both boys." Bruce nodded. Gordon left Bruce standing in the living room clenching his fists, two shocked red heads, and a still sleeping blond.
"What happened?" A small voice asked a few minutes later. Jason, wearing a too big shirt of Dick's and pajama pants, stood in the doorway looking at the older people inside.
A/N
HAPPY FINALS WEEK and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Did anyone see this week's Flash episode?
Thanks for the Reviews, Favorites, and Follows!
Sorry, no Dick in this chapter, but he has a nice, long chapter coming up.
The reason I'm so specific about the anesthetic is because when I got my Wisdom Teeth out, I woke up in the middle of the surgery. Yeah, that traumatizing nightmare. Anyhow, the doctor told us later that the anesthetic they gave me didn't actually knock me out completely, just disoriented and immobilized me for a while. Thanks Doc. I truly needed that experience. -.-
Next chapter should be out by the end of the week. It was one of my favorites to write.
Review, Please!