"Wait, What?" Roy asked, looking shocked.
"You heard us, Roy- emergency in the middle east- you have to watch them." Oliver said as he grabbed his quiver, Batman and Flash were already gearing up to leave the watch tower.
"But Ollie- the Metallica concert is tonight!" Roy said, desperate.
"Hero business comes first, Roy- you can go to a concert anytime." Oliver said. "Now quit sulking." and he, Bats, and Flash, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, were gone.
Roy just stared at where they'd stood, immensely ticked off. This was the last concert in Metallica's tour, it'd bee months before they performed again with the holidays coming up, and he was GOING to see that concert tonight.
"Hey Roy- Wanna play hide and seek?" Sparrow asked.
"Nope. Change into your civvies, guys- we're going out tonight." Roy said, grinning.
Oliver had made a big mistake in giving him a credit card, and the fourteen year old whipped it out, buying three more tickets for the concert.
He printed them- it was seven thirty now, if he hurried and zetaed to star with them now, he could make it in time.
Roy smiled as he saw the looks of awe on his sibling's faces as they entered the stadium. The place was massive, with crowds of teens adorned in Metallica Tees and some with classic punk hair and piercings, clearly still reveling in the early, punk days of the band.
"Cool..." Dick muttered, staring at the massive screen setup behind the stage to broadcast the performers. The band hadn't started up yet, the lights were off, and there were the general murmurs of thousands of people talking all garbled into one, white noise. Scarlet held Roy's hand a little tighter, and Wally sniffed the air excitedly, turning his head to the side.
He narrowed his eyes. "Nachos." he ground out seriously. And before Roy could say anything, Wally charged headlong into the line of incredibly intoxicated people waiting in line at the concession stand.
Great. The show hadn't even started up yet, and they were already getting into trouble.
Before they attracted any unwanted attention, Roy seized Wally by the collar, managing to drag him away from the stand.
"I want nachos!" Wally pleaded.
"I'll get you some later." Roy ground out, managing to placate him. By some miracle, he got all three excited kids into their seats.
A generic band was opening that night, and nobody really got into it. Some bottles were thrown onto the stage when the lead singer, whose name Roy didn't even know, managed to blow a mike, and after that they walked off-stage.
People began lighting blunts and passing bottles, and when the man next to them pulled out a fifth of vodka and began blowing up balloons and throwing them around, Roy realized maybe he shouldn't have brought them to a Metallica concert.
But just then, the pyrotechnics on the stage went off, shooting sparks, and James Hetfield ran onto the stage, belting out the lyrics of the Four Horsemen as the guitars began to scream.
Roy calmed down slightly. He could keep his siblings focused on the show before them, distract them from the rampid substance abuse around them, and get them home before midnight, all while enjoying the concert for himself.
But when they began to play Puppet Master, the seats beneath them literally vibrated with the force of the cheering as people stomped their feet.
From there, Roy was powerless- he could only watch in horror as the waves of people enveloped them, racing to get as close to the stage as possible, sweeping his siblings out of sight. The next thing he knew, he was surrounded by screaming, rioting fans. For the first time that night, he absolutely, totally panicked.
They were gone.
He could imagine them all being trampled by the over-zealous crowd, and he fought off the fear rising in his throat like bile as nervous tears sprang to his eyes.
"Scarlet! Dick! Wally!"
But his voice was swallowed up in the crowd. It was no use- they were gone.
Dick found himself being swept towards a mosh-pit below, and he watched, fascinated, as the fans inside the circle of by standards slammed into one another, before bouncing back into the circle and colliding again, and again. It looked incredibly cool.
Just then, a shirtless man raced over to Dick, holding what looked to be an enormous amount of pixie-stick dust in hand, with a rolled up five-dollar bill stuffed up his nose.
Without missing a beat, the man grinned at Dick, managing to suck up every last bit of pixie-stick dust through his nose, before seizing Dick's hand with his own greasy one. "Let's screw crap up, son!" and he was dragged into the mosh-pit.
Wally found himself swimming upstream, making his way towards the concessions stand. He got there, and was greeted by a crowd of glassy-eyed folks stumbling around, glasses in hand. There were really more of an annoyance than anything, and Wally scowled at them, managing to make his way to the counter and order a bucket of fried chicken. The clerk raised her pierced eyebrows at him when she heard the order, but when he slammed a twenty dollar bill on the counter, looking dead serious, she punched in his order.
He happily took his bucket of chicken and started walking towards where he thought they'd been sitting.
He got as close as he could, before finding an empty seat next to a man with a Mohawk that was dyed green and a pierced lip. The man raised his eyebrows slightly when Wally sat next to him, and Wally shot him a glance, nodding cooly to him before beginning to gnaw on a chicken leg and enjoy the show.
Scarlet looked around the crowd, a little bit surprised when she couldn't find Roy.
She was totally dwarfed by taller people, unable to see anything over the crowd. And she was right next to a gigantic mosh-pit. She stared, wide eyed, at people slamming into people, letting out rebel yells.
Lights were flashing, the music was loud, and she had no idea where anyone was. She felt tears of frustration and fear prickle at the back of her eyes, but quickly scrubbed the back of her hand across her eyes, sniffing. She was seven. Seven year olds didn't cry.
It was then she saw a shock of red hair on the other side of the sea of slam-dancers. "Roy!" she yelled, hope suddenly blossoming within her chest.
He didn't hear her, and she realized she'd have to get to him- she ducked behind someone's legs, walking straight into the mosh-pit.
Dick had finally made it to the edge of the mosh pit. He was incredibly disoriented- flashing lights and screaming fans could do that to a person. But he could finally get OUT of this god-forsaken pit, and work on finding Roy. He was just about to step outside the ring of people encircling the slam-dancers, when all of a sudden he was thrown over someone's shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"Yeeeaaahhhh! Star City!" Whoever was carrying him shouted. It was all Dick could do to hold on as the man sprinted through the screaming crowd, cheering excitedly, until they reached the bar near the edge of the stadium.
It was then the man who was carrying him set him down, and Dick saw he was a 6' 3" man with a shaved head, arms covered in tattoos. The man looked down at him, confused for a moment.
"You're not Manny..." he said, looking at Dick like he was a disappointment, before running back into the crowd, yelling, "Maaannnnny!
Dick just stared after him, a slightly confused look on his face.
The bartender did, as well. "You know that guy, kid?" he asked.
Dick shook his head.
"Well, here- have a sprite."
Dick happily hopped up on the bar stool, content to wait until Roy found him.
The mosh-pit had been a terrible idea, Scarlet realized, as she was bowled over for the fourth time. Everyone was so BIG, nobody was paying enough attention to avoid running her over, and she curled into a ball on the ground, trying her best to avoid the feet of strangers as they rampaged around her... She just wanted Roy.
When the fifth person had stepped on her, and she was certain she was going to be trampled, someone seized her by the collar and yanked her to her feet. She found herself staring into the concerned green eyes of a man of about twenty, and he quietly shielded her with his body as he weaved his way out of the mosh-pit.
The man made his way over to a girl who looked to be about the same age as him, with brown hair and blonde highlights. She was drinking from a red solo cup, and her eyes widened when she looked up and saw them. "James..."
"I didn't kidnap her, Lee- I promise. I found her in the pit. She was gonna get trampled."
The girl nodded, and the ginger- called James, she now knew- crouched down so he was eye-level with her. "You alright, kid?"
She nodded, but there were still tears in her eyes.
"What were you doing in there, anyways?"
"I.. I was looking for my brother." she said quietly, sniffing.
The girl nodded to her. Just then, someone who was crowd-surfing to their right nearly fell on them.
"Let's get out of the crowd." the girl said simply, and Scarlet allowed herself to be led away from the insane crowd, towards the more-quiet space near the concession stand.
"Do you know his cell number, sweetie?" the girl asked, pulling out her phone.
Scarlet nodded, punching in Roy's number and waiting as it rang.
"Hello!?" Roy yelled over the crowd. He didn't care if it was Ollie calling- in fact, he was hoping he'd get caught, willing to take any consequences as long as somebody would help him find his siblings before someone with bad intentions did.
"Roy..."
"Scarlet! Where are you!?"
"By the concession stand..." she sounded dangerously close to tears. Hell, he was dangerously close to crying, as well. He just hoped Dick and Wally were alright.
"I'll be there in two seconds, kid, I promise."
The minute he saw her, she was running at him. She threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest, so glad to see someone familiar.
"Scarlet..." he rasped out, so relieved she was alright.
He looked up to find the older ginger man watching them with an arm around his girlfriend, smiling slightly.
"Thank you SO much..."
"No problem." and the two walked away into the crowd, just happy they'd done something.
Wally had finished his bucket of fried chicken and started to chat with the man sitting next to him. He was amazed, oif not a little grossed out, as the man showed him how he took out his numerous piercings and replace them. But hey, he was a science kid, and he was learning.
That was why his eyes widened when the man pulled out something that looked like a mix between a beaker and a test tube attached to it, staring, wide-eyed.
"Never seen one before?" the man asked, smiling slightly. "It's called a bong."
"It looks like a beaker..."
"Yeah, I guess it does." the man pulled a baggie of leaves from his pocket, and caught Wally's stare.
"It's called cannabis, little dude..."
"Wally!" Roy had seen the shock of red hair and, seeing the man next to his brother about to light up a bong, he fairly dragged Wally from the seat.
"Roy! I was learning!" Wally protested.
"Yeah, well now we're leaving!" Roy said simply, dragging the ginger up the stairs. Two down, one to go. "Dick!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, shooting a scathing glare at the potheads who sniggered at what he was yelling.
It was then he spotted a familiar looking ebony-haired boy sitting at the bar a ways off.
Scarlet slung over one shoulder and having Wally by the upper arm, he slowly weaved through the crowd, finally making it and seeing, to his relief, it was, in fact, Dick sipping what looked to be a Sprite.
"Dick! We're leaving!" Roy fairly yelled.
"But we just got here!" Wally whined.
"Nope-leaving- NOW!" Roy ordered. He was almost hyperventilating, now, they were surrounded by people who could be potential drug dealers or murders... He didn't know WHAT he'd been thinking, taking everyone to a Metallica concert.
Just then there was a series of yelling, and an all out melee between police and concert goers erupted as a riot began.
Roy seized Scarlet, fairly shoving her into Dick's arms before seizing Dick by the upper arm and Wally by the hand and sprinting for the exit of the stadium.
He didn't stop to catch his breath until they were in the parking lot, bending over, hands on his knees, panting.
Scarlet was laughing. "That was cool! Can we come back soon!?" she asked, all her previous fears forgotten.
Roy straightened, taking Dick's hand and Wally's, while Scarlet held onto Dick's other hand. They started walking towards the zeta tubes, and Roy shook his head.
"Never again."