Location: Mount Justice
Date: Nov 29th
Time: 07:13
"Emmy, we officially have a snow day in Keystone. Why are we freezing our butts off on the beach so early in the morning?" Sage frowned and yanked her coat tighter around her body.
"You're the one who wanted to talk more," Emmy rolled her eyes. "And Megs and Connor haven't left for school yet."
"And we can't just wait until they leave?" Sage huffed.
"Hunter will be awake by then," Emmy walked behind Sage and wrapped her in a bearhug to warm her up. "Stop being a baby about a slight breeze."
"A slight breeze?" Sage asked, offended. "My tits are freezing off."
Emmy snorted, "Can't freeze off what you don't have."
Sage turned her head to glare at Emmy while the lantern chortled.
"How dare you," Sage deadpanned.
"Sorry, sorry," Emmy rolled her eyes, tugging Sage to sit behind an extension of mountain to protect them from the frigid wind. "You were the one who wanted privacy."
Sage shoved her hands into her armpits and sat down.
Emmy had managed to get Megan and Connor to take Hunter out of the mountain yesterday under the guise of needing to talk to Sage about 'personal earth girl things.' Megan had been disappointed that she couldn't stick around for the talk until Emmy lied and told her Sage was too embarrassed to have anyone else there. The Martian had then insisted she and Emmy bake cinnamon chip cookies to make Sage more comfortable during the talk, and Emmy once again felt like shit for lying to one of her best friends.
The two sisters had then hidden in Emmy's room and nibbled on the cookies while Sage got the answer to every question she had ever had since waking up with no memories. Emmy hated sharing the knowledge Sage sought, but radical honesty was the best thing for her younger sister. It also gave her an excuse to not think about the mess with Artemis. The archer had ignored Emmy's texts and calls, and the lantern was starting to wonder if Artemis had just blocked her completely.
She and Sage had talked until their trio of roommates came home. Sage had only left Emmy's room for dinner when the elder had promised to answer some more questions the next day after school. Now that they had a snow day, they were being creative to get privacy.
"Okay," Sage leaned forward, tucking her black hair behind her ears. "So, why didn't you want our father to train me?"
"Uh," Emmy raised her eyebrows, managing to be surprised even after the hundreds of invasive questions Sage had thrown at her.
"I just – the training made you into a badass, so I guess I was wondering why you wouldn't want me to be able to fight really well too?" Sage clarified quickly.
"I'm not a badass because of the training," Emmy bit the inside of her left cheek and sighed. "He was really horrible about it, Sage. It wasn't like me teaching you and Hunter how to throw a punch correctly. I was a little kid, and he beat me up every time he saw me. I didn't want either of you to go through that."
"Right," Sage winced. "Sorry."
Emmy felt like Sage had matured years overnight with the revelation of the truth, but Sage was still only a 12-year-old at the end of the day, and she often missed the big picture.
"You're welcome to ask Canary to train you if you'd like some more practice with it," Emmy offered, unwilling to risk repeating any of her father's training techniques by teaching her siblings anything more than the basics herself.
Sage nodded. "I'll consider it. Why did you lie so much about working for Bobby? Like, I get why you'd want to hide the fact that we had an abusive dad and absent mom, but why lie about something you were choosing to do?"
Emmy thought for a moment. "I just didn't want you to worry. And I didn't want you to know that the only reason we were surviving was because I was breaking the law."
"You don't think I worried when you disappeared for hours and then showed up with wads of money and blood everywhere?" Sage hissed. "You don't think I freaked out when you came home with a broken back, and I had to help you move around for months? Without even knowing why or who did it to you? I was so relieved when we moved in with Akio and you finally told me you had been fighting because at least then I knew what was happening."
"You're right." Emmy sighed. "I did what I thought was best for you at the time, but I can see how not knowing what I was up to for the first couple years would just make you more concerned."
"Thank you for apologizing," Sage muttered. "Why didn't you tell me that you were going to steal from Bobby beforehand? Why let me find out you were gone from Mrs. and Mr. Ramirez?"
Sage's clear grey eyes held nebulas of hurt, "Did you not think you could trust me?"
"No! Of course, I trust you," Emmy squeezed Sage's nearest leg. "It was a last-minute decision. I only had a few days to plan the theft, and I didn't want to worry you in case things didn't go correctly, and I ended up not getting the money."
"You do realize that almost all of your explanations include, 'I didn't want to worry you,' right?" Sage raised an eyebrow.
Emmy nodded reluctantly.
"So, can you promise me that next time you're thinking about lying to me, you'll remember that the lies worry me a lot more than the truth?" Sage looked away and wiped her nose.
Emmy sighed deeply, feeling like she had failed her child. "Yeah. I promise I'll think about that next time."
Sage wiped her nose once more before a new thought came to mind and she leaned forward, "Why did you get so upset and break up with Akio when he took us to that parade?"
"The parade was in Gotham. I specifically told him not to take you two anywhere outside of Bludhaven," Emmy crossed her arms, digging her fingertips into her own biceps to repress her remaining rage regarding the parade. Akio had inevitably come up in Sage's conversations given the younger girl's old crush on him and his presence in the Easts' lives for years. The forced reminiscing had been a surprisingly helpful way for Emmy to officially close the door on that part of her past.
"Because we were from Gotham originally," Sage nodded in understanding. "Does our father still live there?"
"To my knowledge, he does," Emmy frowned. "I know Artemis does."
Sage frowned, "She's still not answering any of your messages?"
"Nope," Emmy flopped backward onto the cold sand.
"Do you want me to handle it?" Sage probed.
"Absolutely not," Emmy propped herself onto her elbows.
"I'll do it!" Sage smiled cockily. "I'm great at conflict resolution. My teacher said I did the best during our mock debate last week."
"You're horrible at conflict resolution," Emmy snorted.
"No, I'm the best," Sage glared. "I have an A+ on my assignment to prove it. Trust me, I'll handle Artemis."
Emmy frowned. "I don't want you to 'handle' anything. That's the most ominous thing I've ever heard."
"Oh, come on, Em!" Sage whined. "Let me fix this. She would totally listen to me. I know how she feels."
"It's only been a day, Sage," Emmy reasoned. "If she wanted to talk, she would respond to one of my messages."
"So, what's your plan, then?" Sage raised a haughty eyebrow. "Stubbornly wait until you single-handedly and unnecessarily take care of Sportsmaster alone and then talk to her?"
Emmy's silence was response enough.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Sage frowned. "She's in this with us. We need to work together."
"There is no 'we' when it comes to him," Emmy snapped. "I'm the one with the best shot at dealing with him. It would be irresponsible to put either of you in danger."
"When you say, 'deal with him,' does that mean killing him?" Sage raised an eyebrow.
Emmy's stomach churned, but she answered honestly. "I don't know. Potentially, yes."
"Can Green Lanterns kill people?" Sage frowned. "Isn't that wrong?"
"We can kill in self-defense or in the defense of others," Emmy sighed. "I'm not really sure where this situation falls in the scheme of things, to be honest."
"Even if the lanterns clear it, wouldn't Batman take you off the Team if you killed someone?" Sage bit her lip. "That's kind of his thing, you know, not killing people."
Emmy sighed, "I know." She didn't want to lose the Team. But if it came down to a choice between stopping her father from hurting her family or keeping her place on the Team, it wouldn't even be a difficult decision.
She glanced at Sage apprehensively before continuing, "I was thinking that I would go to Oa for a day or two to ask some questions and figure it out. Once I know what the lanterns are okay with, I can bring a plan to Batman."
"That's a good idea," Sage nodded. "Last thing we need is for you to get kicked out of yet another organization. Especially since if the lanterns kick you out then you wouldn't really add any value to the Team anymore and would probably get kicked out of this one too."
"Rude," Emmy flicked Sage's nose. "It wouldn't bother you if I go to Oa today?"
"No," Sage tilted her head to the left in confusion. "You've gone before without even telling me you were leaving. Once for four months, I might add."
Emmy winced and rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay, fair, but I'm trying to do things differently now."
"Go, Emmy," Sage smiled, softly. "I'll hang out with Hunter in the mountain. We'll be alright for a day. We're supposed to go back to the Todd's House tonight anyway."
Emmy frowned. She did not like the idea of her kids being without her protection now that their father knew they were alive, and the jealous part of her brain did not want Sage going back to the Todd house so soon after learning the truth about their family.
"Actually," Emmy started to call Hal. "What if you two came with me?"
"Really?" Sage shot up onto her knees. "We can do that?!"
"Sure," Emmy grinned and shrugged. "It's a snow day."
Location: Mount Justice
Date: Dec 1st
Time: 14:10
"That. Was. Amazing." Sage slapped her hands against her cheeks, smiling and starry-eyed. "I want to live on Oa. Can we go there for the summer? Hal, what do I have to do to get one of these rings for myself?"
"Kill your sister?" Hal snorted softly, trying not to wake Hunter from the impromptu nap he had taken in Hal's arms when they started flying back to earth.
"I've been tempted for less," Sage grinned at Emmy evilly.
"Ha ha," Emmy rolled her eyes, frowning as she thought back to She-Tak's brother killing him in an attempt to get the very ring she now possessed. "That actually happens, you know."
"Oh," Sage blinks. "I'm like 90% joking, don't worry."
Emmy's frown deepened.
"Like 95%," Sage held up her hands in faux innocence.
"You're not funny," Emmy deadpanned.
"I'm going to take the souvenirs back to my room." Sage beamed, ignoring her sister, "Best. Snow days. Ever."
She disappeared with her backpack. Hal gently laid Hunter on the living room couch before motioning for Emmy to take a seat next to him at the barstools.
"I'm proud of you for asking for help, Kid," Hal clasped her shoulder. "It's the hardest thing we do as heroes."
"I told you not to call me that," Emmy scowled, shaking her shoulder out from under his hand. She felt guilty when his shoulders slumped. "But thank you," she continued, quiet and genuine. "For coming when I asked."
"Anytime, Emmy," he tapped her jaw with his fist. "Anytime."
She smiled at him. "I'm hungry. You still want that sandwich?"
Hal sputtered, "The one I asked for in July?"
She shrugged, getting up to make them each a chicken salad sandwich on sourdough. "I didn't know you like that back then."
He chuckled, shaking his head, "I'll make our salads."
They moved through the kitchen together easily. They didn't have the same flow Emmy and Megan did from hours and hours of practice, but they had been on enough Lantern missions together by now that they could read the other's body language and have an idea of their next move. Hal was uncharacteristically quiet as they prepared the food, allowing Emmy some much needed silence in which to think.
Oa was a planet made for lanterns, so Emmy needed help making sure her siblings would be able alright while she found the answers she was looking for. Hal had accompanied the Easts to Oa on Monday and stayed with Hunter and Sage while Emmy talked to Kilowag and then the Council on Sector 2000-4000 and then dug through a dusty section of an old corner of the library. Hal had shown the younger Easts all the majesty of Oa while Emmy was sneezing into dozens of books and scrolls.
There was an uncomfortable amount of intergalactic politics to consider, but the ultimate answer had been that, as Green Lantern 003 of Sector 2814, Emmy had to right to arrest Lawrence and have him imprisoned at a lantern corps-affiliated prison galaxies away from earth. He would be gone from their lives forever without having to resort to killing him. However, that was only an option if he tried to kill her while she was in her role as a Green Lantern. His past crimes against her took place before she became a member of the corps. So, now, Emmy had a choice to make. Kill him in self-defense and get kicked off the Team, or risk her life to arrest him and appease Batman's moral compass?
"Do you know what you're going to do?" Hal prompted. His wife Carol had updated them during their trip that Keystone schools were still off due to snow, so the group had taken their time getting the details right. Hal knew that her only option to get Lawrence arrested under Lantern authority involved letting him get close enough to try to kill her.
"I have an idea," Emmy bit into her sandwich. "I don't really like it, though."
"You going to ask your friends for help with it?" Hal asked cautiously.
She glared at him, "No. I would have to explain everything, and I'm not letting him back me into any more corners than he already has."
Hal nodded, "Well, once you know your plan, tell Bats. And then let me know when and where you'll need backup."
Emmy's eyebrows rose, still unused to an adult who was willing to help without an ulterior motive. "Thanks, Hal. I will."
"Don't forget," Hal whispered. "Bats is in charge here on earth, but you're invoking Lantern authority here. If he tells you no, I can help anyway."
"I doubt he'll say no," Emmy snorted. She had slowly let her resentment for Batman go as she saw the way he cared for Robin and the Team. She didn't always agree with his choices, but he had done a lot for her and her siblings. She knew he couldn't save every single person who needed help in Gotham, and it wasn't doing her any good to hold onto old, negative feelings from her childhood. "Not as long as he thinks it's a good plan."
"Then make sure it's a good one," Hal ruffled her hair.
She nudged his hand away but hesitated, "It will also depend on if he thinks I'm ready, I think."
Hal looked at her as he finished his sandwich, "Ready to be mission leader?"
Emmy nodded weakly. "I led some other lanterns when sectors overlapped, but I've never done any leading on earth. I don't know if I can actually do it, to be honest."
"Yes, you can," Hal tapped her ring with his own. "You literally have the ability to do anything you can imagine. You just have to have enough willpower."
Emmy bit the inside of her cheek before nodding again, still doubting herself. Do I actually have it in me to face my father and win?
He looked at his watch. "Alright, Kid. I've got to get going, don't want me hanging around cramping your style when Megan and Connor get back from school and start asking questions about your trip."
He walked away, before looking over his shoulder, "Not going to yell at me about that 'Kid'?"
"You earned one free pass," Emmy shrugged, finishing her salad.
He grinned, calling out, "Don't forget, John and I have the next two weeks of calls covered," while the Zeta-tube took him home.
Location: Mount Justice
Date: Dec 2nd
Time: 15:05
Emmy sipped her tea, pensively. She officially had a plan. However, Sage's plea for Emmy to not act alone had permeated her every neuron and resulted in a plan that she, unfortunately, needed both Artemis and Sage to pull off. And as of right now, the archer was still avoiding her like Megan avoids fire.
"What's got you down?" Sage raised an eyebrow, pouring some tea for herself. "Shouldn't you be all excited for your boyfriend's birthday since you haven't been able to smooch him in weeks? Oh, I get it, did you get him a really lame gift and are worried that he won't like it?"
Emmy glared at Sage over the edge of her teacup, "It's only been five days since I've seen Wally, Drama Queen. And there's no 'smooching' going on because it's not the 80's."
"Oh, so you admit that he's your boyfriend," Sage put her hands on her hips, triumphantly.
"No," Emmy rolled her eyes. "He's just the only person you tease me about."
"So, your gift for him is lame then," Sage continued.
"It is not lame!" Emmy snapped, before clearing her throat and sipping more tea. "I just have bigger fish to fry right now."
"Like what?" Sage scoffed.
Emmy pinched the bridge of her nose before signing, "Like Artemis and our crazy father."
She hadn't seen Wally since the fair. Sunday had been spent talking to Sage, and Monday through most of Wednesday were spent on Oa. She had sent a text in their group chat letting them all know before she left earth, but she had been a little too frazzled to text anyone other than Artemis over the past few days. Their fourth snow day of the week also meant that she had spent the morning finalizing her plan instead of seeing the speedster at school. She texted him a gif of an asteroid shower spelling out "Happy Birthday" this morning. He liked the message but hadn't responded. He was probably busy celebrating with his family since the snow had trapped half of Keystone in their homes this week. The Team was throwing Wally a 'surprise' party in an hour, so she would see him then.
"Right, but you have a plan now," Sage replied. "And you said Batman approved it."
"Yeah, on the contingency that Artemis agrees," Emmy frowned. "The same Artemis who hasn't spoken to me since the fair."
"Well, why don't you tell me the plan, and then I'll know how to convince Artemis to listen to you?" Sage probed with faux innocence.
Emmy gave her an unimpressed look. "Nice try. I'm not telling you yet. I need to get Artemis to agree to her part first."
"How are you going to do that?" Sage pried.
"I don't know, corner her before she leaves the party?" Emmy crossed her arms. "I know Kaldur warned her that she would get suspended from missions for a month if she hit me outside of training again. I think I can get her to listen today."
Sage muttered under her breath with a pout before perking up, "Fine. Do it on your own. Tell me about how you're going to woo Wally today."
"Would you let that go?" Emmy pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I think we've established that I don't let the truth go," Sage replied, haughtily.
"You barely know what the truth is at any given time," Emmy flicked Sage's forehead lightly.
"And whose fault is that!? Just don't think too hard and be honest," Sage frowned, smacking away Emmy's hand. "How does he make you feel?"
Emmy sighed and placated her sister.
"Cool, I guess? He always brings this breeze with him since he moves so fast, and that's nice," Emmy scratched her nose. "But he also makes me feel warm, I think. He's so bright and astral. I don't know, it's kind of like I didn't realize I was freezing until he showed up and thawed me out."
A beat of silence.
Emmy's cheeks tinted pink.
"Ew, Emmy," Sage deadpanned despite her growing smirk.
"You're the one who asked," Emmy snapped, indignant.
"I thought you were going to say he had a cute butt or something," Sage fake gagged. "I didn't know you were going to wax poetic about his soul being solar-powered or whatever. That's gross."
"Friendship is not gross," Emmy huffed.
"Friendship? Hello Emmy, it's a big fat crush. And since you're my sister, it's a little gross for me," Sage snorted.
"What? I don't have a crush on Wally," Emmy rolled her eyes. "I just like being around him. And I like when he talks about physics and astronomy, and he looks like sunshine when he smiles, and the sound of his laugh makes my chest hurt sometimes, and damn, is he pretty, and, sure, I get a little moody when I go too long without seeing him, but that doesn't mean that I-"
Emmy sat up straight, tea sloshing out of her mug, jaw slowly dropping open.
"Holy shit. I have a big fat crush on Wally," she muttered.
"I told you!" Sage yelled gleefully. "I told you literally so long ago. Ha! I told you."
"When the hell did this happen?" Emmy groaned, putting her face into her hands.
Sage cackled through her sneer, patting Emmy on the shoulder. "What did you think was happening?"
"I don't know!" Emmy threw her hands up, glaring at Sage. "I was shoving down this whole situation until I dealt with our father."
Sage looked pitying for a moment, "You've already had your life on pause for so long Emmy. Our father doesn't deserve any more of your time. You shouldn't deny how you feel just because you think you have to handle things alone. You don't. You have me, and you have a team, and you'll have Artemis back on board by the end of the day. Why not have Wally in the way that you want him, too?"
"I-" Emmy looked at the counter. "There's no guarantee he even wants me. I wouldn't want me. And he doesn't even know the truth," She admitted, softly.
"Oh, Em," Sage pouted, sitting back down. "He definitely does. Wally is usually so spastic, but he's totally different around you. He even looks at you differently. It's gentle. Like, I don't know, seafoam resting on the shoreline."
"Now who's waxing poetic," Emmy glared, still annoyed that her sister had cut through her denial. Her memories of Wally were flashing through her mind at rapid speed. Fuck. I've been flirting with him for months. "You know, I was doing a really good job ignoring this hiccup until I made the mistake of talking to you more."
"Gimme a break, Em," Sage rolled her eyes, sympathetic yet amused. "You were the only one ignoring how you feel. It is very obvious to everyone else."
"Everyone?" Emmy's eyes widened. "Even Wally?"
"No," Sage snorted. "He's even more of an idiot than you are."
"He's not an idiot," Emmy argued automatically. She winced and put her face back in her hands.
"You finally realize that your gut reaction is to defend him?" Sage grinned, evilly.
Emmy's reply was muffled by her hands. She looked pitiful when she sat up again, "What am I supposed to do now? This would ruin everything. He's one of my best friends, and he doesn't even know who I really am."
"Yes, he does," Sage leaned forward. "He knows who you are, Emmy. Maybe not the exact specifics of your whole life, but he knows that you're strong, and funny, and stubborn, and loyal, and he likes all of it."
"How do you know?" Emmy asked, looking as miserable as she had when she first told Sage their father was still alive.
"Because I have eyes, Em," Sage insisted. "Trust me, Wally likes you too. You need to tell him how you feel."
"I can't deal with this right now, Sage," Emmy scowled. "Our father needs to be dealt with, and I have to get Artemis to talk to me before that can happen. Shoving my so-called feelings onto Wally right now would just be unfair and a waste of time. I would have thought that telling you the truth would mature your priorities."
"My priorities involve you being happy," Sage snapped, putting her hands on her hips. "It's not my fault if that doesn't fall on your own to-do list."
"Happy? You've never cared if I was happy before, why start now?" Emmy shot back. Inhaling quickly when Sage's face fell.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that," Emmy apologized.
"Yeah, you did," Sage scratched her left elbow. "And you're right. I had all these questions and all this anger, and I put it on you when you wouldn't give me the answers I wanted. But you've answered everything I've asked these past few days, and now I need to ask you something else."
"Okay," Emmy raised an eyebrow.
"Do you trust me?" Sage implored. "And I mean really trust me? As in trust that I am always on your team and that I want you to be happy and healthy?"
Emmy regarded her younger sister for a long moment before nodding.
"Then trust me when I tell you that you're not alone in this, Emmy," Sage put her hands on her hips. "Not anymore. And I am asking you to trust me and tell Wally that you like him. It will go well. I'm certain."
"I'll think about it," Emmy acquiesced quietly. "But you have to get off my case about it. Getting Artemis to hear me out and dealing with our father is the top priority."
"Deal," Sage raised her hands. "I just wanted you to be honest with yourself about it."
Emmy blinked once.
Twice.
"Wally is so fucking hot," she grinned wildly, leaning onto the counter to put her chin in her hands. "Like, damn, how many runners have arms like that?"
"Shut your whore mouth," Sage choked. "You're emotionally scarring me."
Emmy snorted and shoved Sage. "You want me to face the truth, then you have to deal with the consequences."
"You better stop talking," Sage looked at the clock on the wall. "Unless you're cool sharing those consequences with the whole team."
Emmy grimaced when she looked at the clock herself. Only a few minutes and she would interact with Artemis for the first time since their fight. Her ring had long since healed the bruised cheekbone and split lip, but she could still see the betrayal in Artemis' eyes as she threw the punches.
The Team agreed to come to the mountain for Wally's birthday party, and she knew Artemis and Wally had become friends despite their initial Red Arrow arguments. The archer would come for Wally even if she wanted to stay away from Emmy. The lantern would use that to her advantage.
"Let me know if you need help getting Miss You-Know-Who to talk to you," Sage winked without subtlety as Emmy's teammates started walking in. Megan happily ranted about the new cheer move she had mastered while Connor and Kaldur nodded at the correct points.
Emmy sighed, looking at the ceiling. Hunter ran into the kitchen, proudly holding up his newly assembled Optimus Prime toy.
"That looks awesome," Emmy grinned, signing. "I see you've put our latest snow day to good use."
"Look," Hunter said, both hands busy messing with his toy. "He gives commands. Like Kaldur!"
Kaldur placed a hand to his heart, "I am deeply honored by the comparison."
"You should be," Sage nodded. "Optimus is the babe of the team."
"Nah, Jazz is hotter," Emmy argued.
"I've always thought that Ironhide has a certain charm about him," Megan mused.
"You have?" Connor frowned at Megan.
"Bumblebee is the best, though," Hunter frowned.
Robin flipped into the room, perching on an empty chair, "We debating autobots again?"
Five minutes later, Artemis walked in on an impassioned debate that included a white board and an impromptu bracket of the transformers.
"You cannot possibly think that Megatron of all people is more of a daddy than Optimus," Robin scoffed.
"Hello Robin," Sage pointed at the bracket. "I'm not saying that he's a hero or a good person or anything, but he has definite dominant daddy vibes."
"Incorrect," Robin scowled. "He can't be a daddy. He has no moral compass."
"And he's ugly," Connor added.
"Inside and out," Megan piped up.
"What do you know about dominant daddy vibes?" Emmy frowned at her sister.
"This is the bracket for the most daddy transformer. This isn't a bracket to find the hottest transformer," Sage rolled her eyes. "That is an entirely different conversation and-"
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Artemis deadpanned, arms crossed and jaw tight.
She had spent almost a week in the depths of anger and confusion and despair, and here was Emmy, the girl at the center of her problems, laughing with Artemis' team about fictional robots.
The atmosphere shifted abruptly, the levity becoming uncomfortable as everyone observed the tempestuous staring contest Artemis had initiated with Emmy.
"Can we talk?" Emmy asked, quietly.
Artemis' glare intensified, "No."
"You can't keep ignoring me forever," Emmy murmured, following Artemis to the tea kettle.
"Fucking watch me," Artemis bit back, somehow managing to even pour her tea aggressively.
Emmy frowned, looking toward their friends, everyone darted to look away and appear innocent. She sighed. Artemis smirked cockily, knowing that Emmy wouldn't risk furthering the conversation with such an avid audience.
Their conversation was further interrupted by Flash and Red Tornado entering the kitchen.
"Kid isn't here yet, right?" Flash zipped around the rooms, making sure Wally wasn't secretly hiding under the couch or in the pantry. "Phew. I did not want to be late to his surprise party."
"What is this?" Red Tornado pointed at the brackets on the white board.
Flash appeared in front of the board, perusing the current winners. "Uh-huh, uh-huh, I respect what you did here, but you're all wrong."
He wiped away the entries he disagreed with and wrote in his preferred winners. The Team looked at his changes in silence for a moment.
"Are you out of your damn mind?" Sage yelled at him.
"You're crazy, Old Man," Robin disagreed just as vehemently.
"Language," Emmy frowned.
"It's not my fault you kids are too young to handle the truth," Flash waved the uncapped marker at them.
The Zeta tube sounded in the background, interrupting their argument.
"Recognized: Kid Flash B-0-3. Zeta tube network now offline due to extreme atmospheric conditions."
They all rushed to shut off the lights, shushing one another and making sure the Happy Birthday banner was still hanging.
Wally shook the snow off his coat. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing away the clump of snowflakes before they could melt on him. He could already hear the team chattering in the other room. He sighed and wiped a hand down his face.
He'd had a great morning. His mom had made his favorite breakfast (heaping piles of everything) and his dad had scheduled an appointment for Wally to do his test to get his driver's license (despite the speedster's insistence that he wasn't in a rush to pay for gas just to go slower). The snow day meant that Brandon, Jacob, and Andre were also free, so the four of them had eaten cake and played video games all day. It had been a great 16th birthday so far.
Except for his, you know, noticeably bad mood.
He had holed himself up in his room once the Team got back from the fair, dodging his parents' questions, and had spent the better part of the first three snow days zipping between the kitchen and his bedroom. He wasn't screaming, or crying, or punching holes in the drywall, or anything. He was just…really sad that Emmy didn't like him. And embarrassed that he had somehow managed to talk himself into thinking that Emmy returned his feelings. For all the time they spent together, how had he not noticed her pining over some other guy? How could he have misread the signals so badly? Even when he explicitly tried to be objective, he was still wrong. He should have known his implicit bias would be too strong.
His parents had been so concerned about his behavior that they called his friends over yesterday to get him out of his funk.
"What?" Wally called in response to the knock at his door, disinterested as he ate more of his triple fudge ice cream and stared at his computer screen.
The door opened slowly, three heads cartoonishly sticking in at varying heights.
"Hey, Bud," Andre entered first. "How's it going?"
Wally grunted, shrugging half-heartedly.
Jacob yelped in pain as he rammed his shin into the corner of Wally's desk, unable to see in the dark. "What are you, Batman? Turn on the lights or open the curtains or something!"
Brandon deftly avoided the hazards of Wally's room, yanking open his dark blue galaxy curtains, illuminating the scene within.
Wally was on the floor next to his bed, comforter wrapped all the way around him, covering his head like a hoodie. He had a mostly empty gallon of ice cream in his lap, and he was staring at the movie on his computer screen.
"Are you seriously watching The Notebook?" Brandon scoffed.
"What? It's a good story," Wally defended. "She loves him even when she can't remember him."
"Uh, it's hella problematic dude," Andre raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he threatens to kill himself if she doesn't go on a date with him," Jacob added.
"And it's a dumb chick flick," Brandon snorted, before raising his hands in peace when the other three glared at him.
"So, uh, anyway," Brandon continued. "Your 'rents called. Mentioned that you've been in a bit of a mood since you got back from your little team bonding event. I take it Emmy shot you down at the fair?"
Wally groaned and let the back of his head rest against his mattress.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Andre slapped Brandon on the back of the head. "We said we were going to be subtle."
"It's fine," Wally sighed, setting aside his now empty ice cream carton. "Yeah, uh, she and one of my other teammates got into a fight over some random guy they both like."
"That bitch!" Brandon put his hands on his hips. "You know, I never liked her."
"Don't call her a bitch," Wally frowned.
"Yeah, we don't dehumanize women when they enact their right to say, 'no,' Brandon," Andre frowned.
"My bad," Brandon nodded. "I'm still figuring out the whole Me Too movement."
"Fucking hell, B," Jacob rubbed his temples. "It's literally just treating women with respect. That's it. That's the whole thing."
"Even when they leave your best bro looking like a sad, pathetic remnant of his former self?" Brandon nodded at Wally.
"Hey!" Wally protested.
"Yes!" Andre and Jacob snapped.
"I was kidding, sheesh," Brandon rolled his eyes. "But, no, I think you're wrong, Dude. Emmy definitely likes you. I'm not wrong that often."
"You were just wrong 5 seconds ago," Andre folded his arms.
Brandon waved him off while Wally sighed, "Look. I appreciate it, okay. But you're here as my friends who are trying to make me feel better, so you're not being objective. She doesn't like me, and I just need some time to wallow in self-pity, okay?"
"Nuh-uh," Brandon started yanking Wally's comforter away. "You're the Wall-man, not the Wallow-man."
"Let me be sad in peace!" Wally protested, tugging back his comforter.
"No," Andre said, joining Brandon in tugging the comforter away.
"You need some fresh air, Wally," Jacob complained, yanking on the comforter as well. "It smells like dank, sadboi in here."
The three traitors eventually managed to wrestle the literal security blanket away from Wally and drag him outside for a snowball fight. He felt better after moving his body, and they all listened patiently while he told them how the fair went down over hot chocolate afterwards.
"I'm still not convinced," Brandon argued. "All they said was that it was a fight about a guy. That's not inherently a fight over a mutual crush."
"I don't know, Dude," Jacob interceded. "They had the fight right after Emmy ditched him to finish the Love Tunnel ride alone."
"Okay, and? She didn't run off for some romantic rendezvous. She ended up in a fight. Maybe this Artemis girl texted her to meet her somewhere or something." Brandon gesticulated with his hands, almost spilling his hot chocolate.
"You know I hate to agree with B, like, really hate it," Andre started, ignoring Brandon's offended expression. "But I think it's clear that you don't have all the information. And we all know the only way you'll get the full picture is to talk to Emmy."
Wally sighed and went for a third cup of hot chocolate. "She's on a trip because of the snow days. And I honestly don't think I'm up to talking to her right now."
"That's chill, Man," Brandon assured. "Let's break out some board games. First person to lose has to prank call Mrs. Espinosa."
The presence of his friends left Wally in a good enough mood to enjoy the perks of having his 16th birthday be a snow day, but now that he was so close to seeing Emmy again, he felt a little off. Like he was a lid that had been screwed on at just the wrong angle to be unable to create a proper seal.
He shook his shoulders out and prepared to act normal. He wouldn't exactly have an opportunity to pull Emmy aside for a conversation in the middle of his party. You got this Wallman. Just be your normal, peppy self.
"Wow just made it," Wally called out from the hallway. "It'd be such a tragedy if I miss my own-"
"Surprise!" the Team called to him, flipping on the lights.
They all chuckled the second Wally tried to act surprised.
"What? Flash? Red Tornado? Oh, you guys, you shouldn't have," Wally pressed a hand to his chest after taking off his coat.
"Not like you've been hinting at it for days or anything," Robin chuckled sarcastically.
Emmy realized that her eyes had caught on Wally's arms in his tight red shirt a second too late. She glared at Sage as her younger sister chortled.
"We made two cakes," Megan grinned, proudly holding the one she had frosted by herself.
"Awesome," Wally grinned, doing his secret handshake with Robin. "What will you guys eat?"
"We made cookies too," Emmy rolled her eyes, playfully.
Peridot eyes latched onto her for the first time since the fair, and her recent realization of her crush. Her stomach jumped as it often did when Wally looked at her like that. Oh shit. It's been a crush for a while.
"Make a wish," Megan smiled, holding the cake up to Wally's face after placing a party hat on his head.
He blew on the candle before sending Megan a dirty grin, "You wanna guess what I wished for, Gorgeous?"
Megan covered her confusion by chuckling and kissing Wally on the cheek. It had been a long time since Wally had last hit on her. She covertly looked around the room to see that everyone other than Emmy seemed to have noticed the change as well.
Artemis was still grouchy, overly aware of Emmy's eyes glued to the side of her head, and sat on Wally's armchair. "You know Megan and Connor are dating, right? Not really cool to flirt with Megan anymore."
"Pfft, Megs knows I don't mean it. Besides that's not exactly breaking news. They've obviously been dating since they went undercover at the prison," Wally replied casually, resting his elbows on his knees as he ate three cookies at once.
"Obviously?" Rob raised an eyebrow, used to Wally being a little more oblivious in social situations.
"Please, it was basically inevitable," Wally waved in Megan's and Connor's direction. "They're on the team together. They go to school together. They see each other all the time. The only options they really had were hate or love, and they clearly don't hate each other."
Emmy's lips parted in surprise at his last sentence. Wally's eyes met hers, and his back straightened involuntarily. The unintentional meaning behind his words cut through the air like a knife through his birthday cake.
The lantern and speedster blinked at each other.
He spun around abruptly, "So, who's cutting my cakes for me? Get your slices now because my piece is going to be whatever you all haven't taken."
Megan started cutting the nearest cake with a poorly concealed grin. Most of the Team were in similar situations as they basked in the tension between the lantern and speedster. They didn't need to be a team of detectives and heroes to recognize that every word Wally had just used to describe Megan's and Connor's relationship also applied to Emmy and him.
Artemis huffed and got off the armchair. She'd just wanted to share a bit of her bad mood, hoping that Wally would at least be a little upset about being the last one to know. But she'd forgotten how gone the speedster was on her lying, half-sister. She frowned at Emmy, but the lantern was busy having a silent fight with Sage.
"Hear that?" Sage widened her eyes, signing with her body hiding her hands from the rest of the group. "Inevitable, he says."
"Stop," Emmy warned.
"You know who else clearly doesn't hate each other? You and Wally," Sage winked.
"I'm starting to hate someone," Emmy huffed at her sister before biting her lip to conceal a grin.
Maybe Sage was onto something when she said Wally had a crush on her too. He had clearly known about Megs and Connor for even longer than the rest of the team, and his reasoning had been so natural that he hadn't thought twice before relaying his opinion. Plus, he blushed before he started asking about cutting the cake. She looked at Wally but found him engrossed in a giant slice of cake.
She glanced between the speedster and the archer. She needed to talk to Artemis, but she found herself wanting to talk to Wally a little more. Emmy shook her head. Focus, East. Just because begging Artemis to talk to you isn't fun doesn't mean that it doesn't take priority.
She had just started moving to interrupt Artemis' conversation with Robin when Batman's voice boomed through the speakers, "Attention, Team. Suit up. Polar stealth. Mission briefing in five."
The teens shared a look before scattering in different directions.
Emmy powered up her ring, turning to Sage and Hunter. "Will you two be alright in the mountain until we get back?"
"Of course," Sage waved a hand as Hunter stole Wally's abandoned slice of cake.
"I'm serious, Sage," Emmy moved closer, lowering her voice to make sure Hunter's cochlear didn't pick it up. "Have a movie marathon. Eat the cake. Swim in the shallow end of the pool with floaties on, but do not leave the mountain."
"I got it, Emerald," Sage frowned, leaning in. "Like I said, same team now."
Emmy regarded Sage for a few moments before nodding. "Good. Have fun. I'll call when I'm on the way back."
"I love you both!" She called over her shoulder while flying to the debrief room.
"Where is Flash?" Wally looked around the briefing room for his mentor.
"Flash and Red Tornado already have their assignments." Batman monotoned from his place on the large screen. "A massive ice storm has paralyzed North America from coast to coast."
Images of aggressive snowbanks across the country flickered across the bottom portion of the screen.
"Satellite imagery has detected five flying Ice Fortresses, source unknown, which seem to be responsible and must be stopped," Batman stated, dodging some unseen obstacle as he flew the Bat Plane closer to the fight.
The bottom of the screen showed one of the ice fortresses. Emmy frowned at it. That seems like something the Corps would call me about.
Her ring lit up as if on cue, "Hey, Kid," Hal's bright voice cut through the room even as it became apparent that he was winded from whatever was causing the fighting noises in the background of his call. "John and I have our hands-full off-world, so you're going to need to deal with this latest call about ice castles or something on Earth."
"Uh, yeah," Emmy turned halfway from the group to get away from Batman's face, unimpressed by the interruption. "Batman is briefing us now."
"Great!" Hal called, before grunting in pain. "Bats! Let Emmy take the lead. She needs more practice leading."
"Hal, shut up," Emmy hissed, pressing her ring, trying to get it to stop transmitting.
Batman had been understanding but largely unamused by her plan to deal with her father. He didn't like the idea of an earth citizen being taken to an intergalactic prison, especially since she had to let her father try to kill her to be able to enact her right to take him to said intergalactic prison, but he had agreed to let her go through with her idea if Artemis became fully on-board to do her part.
"I'm serious, Batsy!" Hal called. "She's ready for it! And she's technically in-charge now anyway."
"Dude, shut up!" Emmy hissed, finally able to cut the communication off, wincing at Hal's last statement.
It was a well-known fact that the Justice League as a whole, but especially Batman, did not take kindly to being told that random people with glowing green rings held the most interplanetary authority in situations that warranted a call from Oa.
"I'm not sure you have the ability to execute a non-Corps-affiliated mission without severe casualties or poor outcomes," Batman had replied. "You do not have the leadership experience to assure your sisters' safety or your own."
"Then give me some experience," she had argued. "Please! This will work. I know my father."
The conversation had ended with Batman's tenuous agreement to consider if Artemis was on board with Emmy's plan. She needed him to approve Artemis' involvement since she was a Team member and Emmy needed his permission to involve her in a lantern mission. The last thing she wanted right now was to piss off the Bat.
"Well, can't the Watchtower blow them out of the sky, or something?" Wally asked, distracting from Emmy's interruption.
Batman sighed, looking unimpressed by Wally's casual mention of the League's secret headquarters, "The League's orbiting Headquarters is not weaponized. And with all fully-fledged Green Lanterns off-world, I need all hands on deck."
"Does that mean what I think it means?" Robin asked with unconcealed joy. "The League and the Team, fighting side by side?"
"Fully-fledged?" Emmy scowled, indignant. Just because I can't legally vote yet doesn't mean I'm not a fully-fledged lantern already!
"Woah, really?" Wally questioned. Now that's at least one birthday wish come true!
Batman pressed a button on his wrist and Emmy's Team-issued watch beeped. She furrowed her brows at the rough mission plans staring back at her. She inhaled sharply and looked up.
"Is this a test?" She asked Batman.
"Yes." He replied bluntly, expertly dodging a chunk of ice half the size of his plane. "Give the orders. You're lead for today."
Oh, shit. Emmy stood up straighter. He's actually giving me the experience.
"This is a different assignment than you're used to," She relayed as she observed the battle plans he had sent. He left gaps in some of the information and remained on the call, obviously planning to take over if Emmy fell short. He's seeing if I can come up with a reasonable plan and execute it successfully. "You're now honorary and temporary affiliates of the Green Lantern Corps." Her gaze pierced each of her teammates individually. Artemis was the only one frowning and looking away. "We operate not as a team today, but as separate parts of the same whole. I want open communication constantly. You see something going wrong, report. You need to change your attack plan, report. You finish your assignment early, go help whoever needs it most. This is not a stealth mission, so do not waste time trying to be subtle or sneaky."
Emmy finished reading the end of Batman's skeleton plans. "This is our sector. Our planet. Our home. And someone has decided to attack it. Our job is to make sure they regret it."
Wally blinked at her rapidly, overwhelmed by her intensity. Damn.
"Superboy, use the Super-Cycle to rendezvous with the Bat Plane at Ice Fortress 1," she commanded.
"You'll drop off Robin and Aqualad, then continue on with Wolf to meet up with Black Canary and Red Tornado at Ice Fortress 2. Miss Martian and Artemis will take the Bioship and rendezvous with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter at Ice Fortress 3. The rest of the League and I will deal with Fortresses 4 and 5. I'll fly to the location myself so we don't waste any time dropping me off."
Emmy looked up at Batman for approval. Did I get the plan right? I didn't see a place for Wally.
He nodded at her once, "Sending all coordinates now."
The rest of the team moved into action, following their assignments. Emmy stayed behind to see what would happen with Wally. If she completely missed where Batman wanted the speedster fighting in the ice fortress issue, then there's no way the Bat would give her carte blanche to involve Artemis and Sage in capturing their father.
"Uh, Batman?" Wally hesitated before stepping forward. "I think you two skipped-"
"Kid Flash," Batman addressed the now smiling birthday boy, "A young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. With all conventional air traffic grounded by the storm, you'll need to pick up the donor heart in Boston and run the 3,000 miles across country."
Wally's grin fell, as he filled in the blanks, "…And we can't Zeta because all the tubes are offline."
Batman sent Wally his mission objective before cutting off communication.
Emmy sighed with relief; she hadn't messed up the orders. She noticed Wally's expression and decided she could spare another moment before racing off to the action.
"You alright?" Emmy put her hands on her hips. "I know missing the first time the Team works with the League is a big deal to you."
"Part of me is really disappointed," Wally sighed before squaring his shoulders, shifting his uniform from the white-toned polar stealth version back to the original yellow and red, and determinedly pulling his goggles down over his fiery eyes. "But I'm not about to complain about being a little girl's only chance at life."
The butterflies moved up from Emmy's stomach, fluttering in her heart. "Damn."
"What?" Wally raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing," Emmy cleared her throat, embarrassed at having muttered her approval out loud. "Uh, good luck out there, Champ."
She turned, flying away with a wince, whispering, "Champ? Seriously, Emerald? Who says that?" to herself.
"Oh, uh, yeah, you too," Wally deflated for a moment. Champ? My dad calls me that sometimes. She didn't just say she wants to stay friends, she put me in the son-zone.
Emmy body-slammed the nearest turret, sending it off the edge of the fortress. She caught it with giant green hands and squished it into a ball, smashing the wreckage into three other turrets. Wonder Woman did a flying kick so fast that Emmy's eyes could barely register the move before they had the fortress officially failing and falling to the ground.
Emmy flew up, getting a more aerial view as she called into her comms. "Fortress 4 is down. Who needs help?"
"Artemis and Green Arrow could use some more firepower," Kaldur called, flipping over Aquaman before using his water-bearers to slice through the turret firing at his king.
"Not from GL, we don't," Artemis bit back, her voice slightly strained. Miss Martian had been called away to help Martian Manhunter with a telekinetic attack, so now she and Green Arrow were lobbing as many arrows as they could at the inside of the fortress.
Emmy frowned but flew toward Artemis' location. She burst a hole in the wall.
Artemis and Green Arrow were back-to-back in the center of the area.
"Go outside and help the Martians destroy the exterior," Emmy landed next to them.
"I don't take orders from you," Artemis snapped.
"You do today," Emmy retorted, already forming a large globe structure to increase the pressure on the inside of the fortress while Miss Martian blocked the vents. "Miss Martian will have this fortress exploding in a minute, so move."
Green Arrow tugged Artemis' arm forcing her to jog outside with him. The archer glowered back at the lantern over her shoulder, firing off one last exploding arrow at a support beam before joining her mentor on the outside.
Emmy flew outside, throwing a platform under the two archers' feet as the fortress bulged and exploded.
"Fortress 3 is down," Miss Martian chirped from the Bioship, audibly pleased.
Emmy grinned at Megan through the window of the Bioship. The Martian returned her enthusiasm with a thumbs-up. The Team was working well with the League, and they only had 3 more fortresses to destroy.
Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter flew toward Fortress 2 to join Superboy, Black Canary, and Red Tornado.
"Do you two want 1 or 5?" Emmy flew closer to the archers.
"I'll help out at 1," Green Arrow grinned. "You both go finish off 5."
"I'll come with you," Artemis said to him immediately.
Artemis had a silent five-second argument with her mentor before he finally nudged her toward Emmy. Artemis grunted at him in displeasure before begrudgingly muttering, "Fine."
Emmy dropped Green Arrow off at Fortress 1 before flying to 5 with Artemis ignoring her from the platform below. Emmy let the platform drop as they approached 5 and Artemis forward rolled onto the base.
Wonder Woman was using her lasso to yank off the towers on the outside to prevent them from continuing fire.
"We'll finish it off from the inside," Emmy called to Wonder Woman.
The older woman nodded with a determined grin, ripping off yet another tower.
Emmy flew back to where Artemis was firing arrows, she used a giant green fist to burst a hole in the wall.
"Artemis," Emmy called over her shoulder. "We're hitting the inside while Wonder Woman deals with the exterior."
Artemis glowered at her but ran to follow.
Emmy created as many sword structures as she could and sent them into the support beams. She could see Artemis firing arrow after arrow at the support beams on her side of the room. Emmy bit her lip. This was the first time she and Artemis had been alone during the whole mission. She can't run away now.
"I'm sorry, Artemis," Emmy called, flying past the archer to prevent debris from hitting her younger half-sister.
"Seriously?" Artemis groused. "You're doing this now?"
"I wouldn't have to if you would actually talk to me," Emmy shot back, punching out one of the beams.
"I thought I made it pretty damn clear that I don't want to talk to you," Artemis snarled, firing a handful of exploding arrows at once.
"I get it! Okay? You're angry, and you're hurt-woah!" Emmy gasped as she dodged an arrow that Artemis had let fly a little too close to her. "Hey!"
"Sorry," Artemis smirked, not even attempting to fake sincerity.
"Listen, Artemis," Emmy grunted, holding up a portion of the ceiling so it wouldn't fall on them while the archer started attacking the last row of beams. "I had a lot of good reasons for lying as long as I did."
Artemis scoffed.
Emmy continued, "But the truth is that, when it came to you, I just felt too guilty to even start the conversation about our relationship."
"Because of the lying?" Artemis glared at Emmy over her shoulder, firing an arrow right at her desired target without even looking.
"Because I left you behind, Artemis!" Emmy's voice cracked, unable to repress her guilt and regret any longer. She blinked away tears before softly repeating, "Because I left you behind."
"What are you talking about?" Artemis asked, firing one of her last arrows.
"I knew that running away after he shot me would just mean that he had more time to train you and Jade but - but I just - I had to get Hunter and Sage away from him." Emmy wiped her eyes with the back of one hand before ripping another hole in the wall. "I am so sorry that I left you alone with him. You will never know how sorry I am about abandoning you like that, but please understand that I had to protect them."
Emmy's throat tightened as she continued, "I thought about you every day. I was so worried that he would-"
"It's going to blow!" Wonder Woman called to the two teens. "Exit immediately."
Emmy grabbed Artemis's waist and flew them away seconds before the building collapsed in on itself in a fiery blast.
"He shot you?" Artemis asked, voice soft in disbelief.
Emmy looked down at the archer wrapped in her arms and nodded. She had forgotten that Artemis wasn't part of the team when they played never have I ever and she admitted to having been shot.
"Then he threatened to hurt Sage if I didn't do better, and I just couldn't stay in that house anymore. I had to get us out. I swear that I thought about trying to take you too," Emmy rushed to get out. "But I had never even met you, and I wasn't sure where you lived, and I didn't know if you would believe me – let alone come with me."
Artemis was quiet, processing as they flew toward the last remaining fortress. The final fortress fell in seconds once all fighters present were free to attack together. The Team all cheered, causing the League members to smirk at their jubilance.
The Team collected in the Bioship, giddy at their success as they rode back to the mountain to debrief with Batman.
"Dude! Kal!" Robin ran a hand through his sweaty hair with a wild grin. "When you flipped off Aquaman's shoulders, I thought he was going to shit himself in surprise! That was so badass."
Kaldur smiled, embarrassed yet flattered, "I was most impressed when you used the force of your exploding Batarangs to launch yourself from one fortress to another."
Robin waved him off, but his grin widened at the compliment, "No biggie. Did anyone see Emmy rip a whole tower off Fortress 4 and hit Fortress 5 with it? That was sick."
Emmy chuckled, blushing at the praise, "Please, you should have seen Artemis shoot five arrows at a support beam at the same time without even looking at it!"
Emmy sat up a little straighter, the whole team becoming tense at the mention of the archer. Only Artemis and Emmy knew why they had fought at the fair, but everyone knew that they hadn't made up yet. We were in the middle of talking when the battle ended, Emmy bit her lip. I haven't explained everything yet.
Artemis narrowed her eyes for a moment before relaxing and allowing herself a small grin, "That was nothing. Did you guys see Connor ride Wolf straight through one of the turrets on Fortress 1?"
The atmosphere relaxed and they went back to giddily recapping each other's triumphs. Connor brushed off his compliment to commend how Megan wrecked Fortress 3 by using her telekinesis to shut vents and build up the pressure within it.
Emmy laughed until her stomach hurt. The Team had had successful missions in the past, but for some reason this one had left them in a hysterical mood. Probably because it was their first time operating with the League without the guise of a stealth mission, and it was clear that they had impressed all the adults.
"Holy fuck," Robin laughed as he watched a news article on his wrist communicator. "Guys! Wally just saved a whole country."
Emmy's eyebrows went up. How had he gone from transporting a 10-year-old girl's new heart to saving a country?
She shrugged and whooped for him even though he wasn't there to hear it. The rest of the Team laughed and let out celebratory calls of their own.
Emmy grinned at Megan as the Martian hugged her before flying off after Connor and Wolf.
They had all managed to calm down enough to look professional as they debriefed with Batman, but they were still buzzing with the knowledge of group victory.
Emmy bit the inside of her cheek, realizing that Artemis was lingering in the room as the others left, hopefully ready to finish their conversation in private. The archer and the lantern walked toward each other, standing in the center of the room in silence for an uncomfortable period of time.
Emmy sighed, nodding once, "I understand if you're still not ready to talk to me."
She was halfway out the door when Artemis finally spoke.
"I wouldn't have left."
Emmy perked up, turning back to the archer.
Artemis had her arms crossed and was avoiding eye-contact, but at least she was talking. "I never would have left my mom while she was alone in prison. So, even if you had tracked me down, it would have been a waste of time."
Emmy's eyebrows raised.
Artemis frowned at the ground, "I noticed that my…dad was around more once Mom went to prison. I thought he was trying to fill the void of only having one parent," Artemis scoffed at her own naivety, "but I guess he just didn't have his secret family to run off too anymore, huh?"
"I wouldn't call us a family," Emmy corrected darkly.
Artemis looked embarrassed but nodded in understanding. She bit her lip, looking like she was trying to stop a powder keg from blowing within herself only the power of her resolve.
"I am so mad at him," Artemis gushed, suddenly. "For all of his many, many faults I at least…I at least thought that he loved my mom." She winced. "You know, in his own messed up way. It hurt like hell to find out that he didn't even respect her enough to stick to his vows when she's a thousand times the person he is."
"I get that," Emmy shrugged helplessly.
She had felt a similar feeling as a child. When she was 7 and found out why she was one of the only kids in the neighborhood whose father didn't live with them, she had gone into a spiral of questions. Why did Dad have another family? Are we not enough? Does he like them better? Is that why he spends more time with them? What do I have to do to get him to stay?
Of course, that was the summer he intensified her training, and she found herself praying that he would go back to his actual family as soon as he got to her house.
"He really shot you?" Artemis asked again.
Emmy nodded.
Artemis whistled. "Bastard. He never did anything like that to me." She shifted her weight to her left hip, arms still crossed. "I have a few scars and all, but he was never directly violent like that."
Emmy sagged in relief. "Good. I always kinda hoped that he would be nicer to you two since you're his actual kids."
Artemis frowned at Emmy in confusion.
"You know?" Emmy pointed at her own face. "Because I'm a bastard child."
"That's not your fault," Artemis scowled. "That's his fault. Everything is his fault. And we don't have to be anything like him. We already aren't anything like him."
Emmy sighed. Is Artemis trying to convince me or herself?
"I don't know, Moon Goddess. You did point out the resemblance last time we talked," Emmy replied weakly.
Artemis winced. "Sorry. I figured that would be a sore spot, so I went for it." She ran a hand through her thick ponytail. "I get what it's like to resent having a piece of him so visible on yourself."
Emmy noticed that Artemis' blond hair was much brighter and lighter than her own. In fact, Artemis' hair was practically the same shade as their father's hair. I never realized.
"Is that why you usually have it tied back where you don't see it?" Emmy asked before she could think better of it. She rushed to continue when Artemis flinched. "I try to avoid mirrors," Emmy confessed out loud for the first time in her life.
"Why?" Artemis asked.
Emmy vaguely pointed at her own face, now the one avidly staring at the floor. "Like you said. I look like him. It's the eyes."
They sat in a new type of silence, sharing a deeper understanding of one another and a commiserating comradery.
"Well," Artemis moved her hands to her hips. "Fuck him."
Emmy looked up, huffing out a crooked grin, "Yeah, fuck him."
Artemis cocked her head to the left before clearing her throat in discomfort, "And, uh, I'm cool if you're cool."
"Yeah, I'm cool," Emmy held up her hands.
"Sorry I kicked your ass at the fair," Artemis smirked.
"Alright," Emmy scoffed. "Two lucky shots is not kicking my ass."
"Lucky?" Artemis snorted. "I was so fast that you didn't even have the chance to block."
"Excuse you, I didn't block on purpose because I felt like you deserved to get a couple hits in," Emmy sputtered.
"Keep telling yourself that, Sis," Artemis cackled.
They both went silent at the new meaning held within the sarcastic title.
"Six months older, huh?" Artemis frowned.
"Yep," Emmy sighed.
"Fucking bastard," Artemis spat through her teeth.
"Yep." Emmy nodded, scratching the back of her neck. "I, uh, I actually have a plan for taking him down. But, um, we would need to work together."
"Shit, really?" Artemis looked pleasantly surprised if not a little disbelieving.
"Yeah," Emmy perked up. "Batman will clear it if you're on board with it."
Artemis looked at her watch, "I have to get home."
"Oh," Emmy deflated. Did Artemis still not want to work with her? She had thought they were making real progress.
"But we could talk tomorrow?" Artemis offered, cautiously. "You could come to my place after school."
Emmy winced, her stomach clenching. "In Gotham?"
"Yes," Artemis frowned. "I'm not talking specifics here."
"Okay," Emmy bit the inside of her cheek. "Just text me your address and when you're free. Now that we've taken care of what was causing all the snow, I'll have school again tomorrow too."
Artemis nodded awkwardly. The two half-sisters were no longer sure of how to act around one another.
"Okay, well," Artemis started walking toward the door. "I'm going to head out. Uh, have a good night?"
"Oh, sure, you too," Emmy waved with an uncharacteristic gracelessness.
She pinched the bridge of her nose, walking toward her bedroom. She felt cautiously optimistic that they could fix what their father had broken between them, but the interim period was clearing going to be uncomfortable.
Her ears picked up Robin congratulating Wally in the distance. She stood up straight. Wally was back in the mountain, probably placing his latest souvenir with his collection. Emmy powered up her ring, racing to her room to get his birthday gift and get to the souvenir room before he went home.
Emmy powered down once she was close to the room. She quickly brushed her hands through her hair and placed his gift in the back pocket of her jeans. Why was she nervous? She had talked to Wally thousands of times.
Yeah, but never when you had admitted to having a crush on him right before he started talking about Megan's and Connor's relationship being inevitable when they're in the same situation as you.
Emmy scratched at the scar on her neck. She had told Sage that her main objective was getting Artemis to talk to her again and dealing with their father. That was still true.
But maybe…
Maybe Sage was right, too.
Maybe Emmy could be a hero and her family's protector and still like a boy.
She cringed at herself. 'Like' seemed so trivial and superficial. And how she felt about Wally, now that she had been forced to think about it, was neither of those things.
He was just so good. Even when he had been an asshole who placed his anger at being treated like a second-rate sidekick onto her, he had still been caring. He still gave her a pep talk when she freaked out at seeing Sportsmaster. He still made sure that she was alright after she got poisoned. He still helped her with her Physics homework. They had started to get along better, the two of them slowly realizing that their inner fires blazed similarly even if they were different colors.
But then they kissed in Bialya, and everything had gone to hell until their make-up fight. Emmy bit her lip, cheeks tinting pink at the memory of Wally pinning her to the ground while he reminded her that Trent had not kissed her like he had. She pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated at her past self. How had she not noticed that she was genuinely attracted to him back then?
After they agreed to be civil to one another, Wally's true self had come out full force. He was bright, and cheerful, and funny, and just as stubborn as Emmy was, and way smarter than she had anticipated. He was the sun, and she was a moon caught in an elliptical orbit around him, reveling in the times she was close enough to reflect his warmth and resenting the periods where she was far from him and cold.
Wally wasn't anything like Akio. She didn't need Wally the way she needed Akio. She didn't need his help learning to deal with Bobby's men. She didn't need him to let her stay in his apartment rent-free. She didn't need him to watch her siblings when she went to fight in matches. She didn't need him to scare away men who were a little too interested in the 13-year-old fighter who didn't cry when a grown man broke her nose. She didn't need him to help her numb out the pain of her life.
This feeling was completely different. She wanted Wally.
She wanted to make him laugh. She wanted to make him blush. She wanted him to show her constellations whose names she would never remember. She wanted to sit on the beach and have conversations that they couldn't have with anyone else. She wanted to take him back to the fluorite cave and show him the newest batch of red and yellow crystals that she had found. She wanted to do their homework together, and cook an obscene number of pancakes together, and go to his house for all the holidays she had never celebrated, and so many other things that she had never allowed herself to want before. Or maybe it was just that she hadn't thought to want those things before. Before Wally became an unexpected constant in her life. The sun remained in the same position even as the moon sped through its orbit.
Emmy gnawed at her cheek, forcing herself to move toward the door. She didn't want to tell Wally that she liked him before he knew the truth about her. But she wasn't going to expose Artemis like that, and she didn't have time to spend days answering questions the way she had when she finally told Sage the truth. But she would tell him. Everything. Eventually. Maybe even soon.
Emmy leaned against the doorway, "Well, if it isn't Kid Famous. We spend half a day breaking apart 5 gigantic, flying, ice fortresses with the League, and all the news wants to talk about is you."
Wally startled at her abrupt entry before smiling, "What can I say? The camera loves me."
"With good reason," Emmy wiggled her eyebrows.
Wally laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks turned a shade darker. Emmy's stomach clenched. How have I not spent more time being distracted by how pretty he is? Oh, yeah, because I've been focused trying to avoid the Kingpin of Bludhaven and my psychotic father.
"I think Bats was impressed by you today," Wally put his hands on his hips, facing the shelves again. "You going to leave us for the League soon?"
"Not a chance," Emmy grinned, walking to stand next to him. "I already have a Team and a Corps. What kind of three-timing woman do you take me for?"
He shook his head with a grin.
"Besides," Emmy nudged his hip with hers. "You're the one who saved a queen and a country today. If anyone's going to get recruited, it'll be you. You going to leave us for the League?"
Wally was silent for a moment before shaking his head, "No. I'm not in a rush to leave. Not anymore."
"What changed?" Emmy asked. Since she had met Wally, he had talked nonstop about what it would be like when he finally joined the League. She hadn't realized his priorities had shifted.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "I did."
Emmy's eyebrows went up for a moment, impressed by him yet again. He had certainly matured a lot since they met. Even a month ago, she wouldn't have been surprised if he had thrown a mini-tantrum about missing the first joint Team-League mission. But today he had just accepted the disappointment and gone to work.
"You've changed a lot since we met," Emmy noted while looking at his new souvenir – the insulated backpack that had held Queen Perdita's heart only hours earlier. "You're more mature. Calmer. Steady. Confident. Dependable. It's impressive."
She felt Wally's eyes on her face as she looked at his collection.
"You've changed too," he admitted, quietly. "You used to lash out when any of us got too close, and you always said you wouldn't be a good leader. But you did a good job today. You gave clear instructions, put people in positions that allowed them to showcase their strengths, rallied the troops to have good attitudes."
Emmy looked at him in surprise, entranced by his soft voice and insightful words.
"I don't think you could have done what you did today when you first joined the Team," Wally continued.
Emmy ducked her head at the unexpected compliment. A flicker of light reflected in the corner of her eye. She looked down and saw the piece of yellow desert glass that she had given Wally as his souvenir from the Bialya mission. The same mission where they kissed for the first time. It was on its own shelf, lower than eye-line, tucked away a little bit. Almost like he wanted to be the only one who knew exactly where it was. Almost like it was important to him.
Sage's words from the afternoon reverberated through her mind.
"Hear that?" Sage had signed after Wally had broken apart Megan's and Connor's relationship, revealing similarities to their own that she had never considered. "Inevitable, he says."
"Here," Emmy held up a long, thin black box in the shape of a rectangle.
"What's this?" Wally took the box.
"Hello Wally. It's your birthday present," Emmy rolled her eyes.
He turned toward her in surprise. "I was just kidding when I said you had to get me a gift. I didn't give you the necklace because I wanted you to give me something in return."
Emmy's stomach flipped again at his sincerity, "I know, you dork." She shoved him affectionately. "Just open it."
He removed the lid, his eyebrows raising, "No way. Are these the..." He trailed off.
"Yeah, they're the chopsticks you liked from the sushi place," she scratched at her scar, uncomfortable and bashful in a way she had not expected to be. She had gone back to the restaurant and gotten Asami to call the manager to get the name of the company they ordered the chopsticks from. The poor hostess was still traumatized by Emmy's previous threats and complied without resistance. "I figured out where they got them and ordered some. They're not stolen, don't worry."
Wally chuckled, even as he stared at her with a look she couldn't decipher. "So, you didn't just yell 'Souvenir' and swipe them?"
"I'm not a speedster," Emmy shrugged with a grin. "The life of speedy crime just isn't for me."
Wally twisted one of the chopsticks, finally noticing the engravings. Emmy bit her lip. She had ordered the chopsticks after Tijuana, (when she and Wally weren't even speaking, gosh, how had she thought that was a platonic thing to do?), somewhat planning to give them to him as she apologized for messing up their friendship.
She had labored over the decision about whether or not to get the engraving option the company offered for days. She had gone back and forth so many times that she and Wally had already made up by the time the shipment arrived. He had given her the necklace when she woke up after the Failsafe mission, offhandedly mentioning his upcoming birthday, so she had decided to just wait for that occasion to give it to him.
The only issue is that – now that she was acknowledging her feelings – what she had put on the chopsticks suddenly seemed painfully intimate and telling. No wonder I couldn't decide if I wanted to get them engraved or not.
Wally's eyes snapped up to meet hers. "Sunrise and sunset?" he asked softly, his face holding what looked a little like hope.
"Uh, yeah," Emmy coughed, newly shy. The grey and white marble chopsticks had gold engravings of "Sunrise" on one and "Sunset" on the other. They were not exactly the same, but they were similar. Two pieces of a set that worked together. Two sides of the same coin. Two phases of the same sun. An East and a West. "Just so you don't forget your favorite smoothie order."
"My favorite smoothie," Wally repeated blankly.
"Mhmm," Emmy nodded, crossing her arms.
He stepped closer to her, not stopping until the tips of their sneakers almost brushed. "I don't believe you, Emmy," he whispered.
She inhaled sharply. Her eyes flickering between the copper-green fire in his irises.
"What do you think it means, then, Wally?" She whispered back.
"I think it means that-" he paused, his eyes searching for something unknown in her own. He frowned for a moment as though suddenly remembering something important. "Did you make up with Artemis? With your fight over that guy?"
"Huh?" Emmy was a little confused by his change in topic but was too mesmerized by his intensity to think about it too hard. "Oh, yeah, we did. Uteruses before duderuses and all that."
Hurt flashed across Wally's face but it was gone before she could figure out why it had occurred in the first place. He took a step back, placing the lid back over the chopsticks.
"Thank you, Emmy," he was looking at the floor.
"Of course," she took a half-step closer, swallowing down the butterflies climbing up her throat as she placed one hand on Wally's chest for balance and pressed a slow, lingering kiss to his right cheek. She felt his sharp intake of breath before she heard it. She pulled a few inches away, "Happy birthday, Wally," she murmured quietly.
He winced, the mysterious hurt returning for longer this time before he could hide it.
"Are you okay?" Emmy asked. "Did Count Vertigo hurt you when you were fighting him?"
"No, I-" he swallowed and bit his lip. Wally gently grabbed the hand on his chest and pulled it away. He placed a feather-light kiss to the back of it before looking up at her and saying a phrase that sent her stomach crashing to the floor even as the kiss still had her breathless.
"I need some space, Emmy."
Emmy snatched her hand blinked at him in shock. They were fighting again? What had she even done to annoy him lately? Emmy wracked her brain but couldn't think of anything she had done that would warrant him repeating the request that had isolated them from each other after Tijuana. All they had done was apologize to each other, spend Thanksgiving at his house, and visit the Canadian fair with the Team. He wouldn't be upset that she couldn't text when she was on Oa earlier this week, would he? That wouldn't make any sense. Hell, they had been complimenting each other until ten seconds ago.
"What?" Emmy glared at him in confusion. "Why?"
Wally ran a hand down his face, looking and sounding exhausted, "I can't do this right now, Emmy. I just need some time."
"Okay?" Emmy frowned at him, still not quite sure how their nice moment had so abruptly turned into this upsetting request.
He took a deep breath, stepping forward once more. He cupped her face, the box holding her gift to him dug into the right side of her jaw. Wally kissed her forehead gently, like he was afraid the motion would shatter her. Emmy's eyebrows furrowed at the action which so drastically contrasted his appeal.
"Bye, Emerald," he tucked a strand of green hair behind her ear, his eyes reflecting the pain she was feeling, and sped away leaving nothing but a breeze and a glaring absence.
Emmy stared at the spot he had been standing in, her hand and forehead still tingling from his lips. Who kisses someone twice while asking them to stay away?
She scowled at the door, "What the fuck was that?"
The second I make up with Artemis, Wally decides he's mad at me? Fucking great. Awesome. Whatever. You have an evil father to catch. You don't have time to worry about confusing boys.
She marched toward Sage's room, shoving down her feelings about whatever the hell had just happened with Wally. Now that Artemis had agreed to listen to her plan, she needed to see if Sage would be willing to do her part as well.
Wally's hurt expression stuck in her mind as she reached her destination. Emmy ignored it, rolled back her shoulders, and knocked on Sage's door. Get it together, East. You have work to do.
Ay, yo, morons. You both like each other. Try communicating, sheesh.
Thank you to everyone who reads and especially those who review! Reviews make my heart happy, and the email alerts help remind me to stop studying so much and write. That being said, my third year of school starts tomorrow, so I think it will be September when I have time to write again. Sorry to leave you with a lowkey angsty cliffhanger for a couple months, but I think you all can handle it lol. There are 2-4 main storyline chapters planned, and then a few more epilogue-esque fluffy chapters. So, fear not, things will be resolved :)
Be back in September,
TheDarkAbyss
P.S. When the main storyline is finished, I'm going to go back through and fix the little typos that I always find in almost each chapter right after I publish it. Le sigh. I know most people don't care, but they have me cringing when I go back.
