Chapter 54
Darkness swirled in Artemis vision, tiny yellow and red lights came into focus, a flickering light cast a blue glow across the room, she groaned as she was overwhelmed by the rooms noise, there was the shrill, steady beep of a heart rate monitor, a mechanical whir, there was a the sound of a cartoon explosion from a tv speaker, followed by a goofy audio cue, she tried to prop herself up on her arms, Wally had been sitting in a chair a couple feet away watching tv, but was now standing by her side.
"You shouldn't get up, you took a pretty good beating," He said, Artemis painfully sat semi-reclined against the pillows,
"How long have I been out?" She asked,
"A little over 26 hours, it's around 2AM" Wally answered,
"What happened?" Artemis asked, her head was throbbing steadily,
"We don't have the story, we were hoping you could fill us in, you could start with who the woman who saved you is" Artemis pictured her sister the last time she'd seen her, it had been a couple years earlier, she hadn't been wearing the mask yet, neither of them had been,
"I don't remember" She lied, but she could tell Wally didn't believe her,
"I think it was Jade" He said, Artemis paused,
"She saved my life, I won't rat her out this time" Her voice was raspy and her throat stung,
"She tried to kill you with a power tool last time you saw her, why the change of heart?" Wally asked,
"I'm not sure" Artemis said,
"Why were they here together?" Artemis wondered the same thing, she had come to the only logical conclusion, but instead she chose to play dumb,
"Maybe it was a coincidence" She said,
"Not likely, we know they're both shadows, it's more likely they're working together" Artemis didn't respond.
After a moment of tense silence Wally decided to let it go,
"They want you to stay here a bit so they can keep an eye on you" He said, Artemis glanced at her right arm where several tubes were inserted on the inside of her elbow,
"Fine, so long as 1 of these has painkillers running through it" Wally smiled,
"I would guess so, from what I've heard you probably need it" He said,
"Wanna give the rundown?" Artemis asked leaning her head back against a pillow,
"Where to start? You had a concussion, some general bruises and swelling, you chipped another tooth," Artemis ran her tongue over her teeth and found the newly damaged tooth on the top near the back on the right, it had a sharp edge chipped into it, Wally continued,
"Your left cheek will be sore where they pulled the shards of tooth out, your shoulders were both hit bad, with your right shoulder being worse, your ribs were bruised, swollen, and cracked, your pelvis took damage from every direction, with the left side and back taking most of it, your right arm was dislocated, and you lost a lot of blood, those are the power points" Artemis laughed,
"Did all the swelling finally give me an hourglass figure" She asked,
"More like a sack of Potatoes" Artemis felt a rush of relief as a dose of pain medication ran through her body, her breathing steadied, her eyes closed as she began to drift off.
Artemis suddenly remembered something and her eyes flew open, she sat up,
"Where are my clothes?" She asked,
"Over there" Wally pointed to a set of her pajamas,
"What happened to the ones I was wearing?" Artemis was getting visibly nervous,
"They were soaked in blood, had to toss em" Wally explained, Artemis knuckles were white as she clenched them tight,
"Did you empty my pockets?" She asked, Wally hesitated, his face contemplative,
"Yeah" He reached into his pocket and produced a small packet of white powder, "This what you're looking for?" He asked giving the small bag an aggressive shake, Artemis felt her throat tighten,
"This isn't what it looks like" Wally's eyes narrowed,
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Artemis quietly shook her head, glancing away from his gaze, "What is it?" He asked,
"Heroin" The way Artemis said it sounded like she was hoping he might not hear, he rubbed his race with his empty free hand, "Who have you told?" Artemis knew she shouldn't ask, but had to know, Wally looked away as if feeling guilty,
"Nobody, yet" He said, Artemis let out a sigh of relief,
"Don't tell them, don't ruin everything for me" She said, desperately, Wally's eyes snapped to her,
"I didn't choose this, you did, I don't want to do this, but I refuse to 1 day find out something happened to you because of this and I could have done something" He said,
"It's not like I want this either, it helps with my insomnia, that's it, ok?" Artemis pleaded,
"Pretty sure there are legal, and safer ways to deal with that"Wally shouted,
"I've tried other ways, they don't work, so it's this, or I go off the couple hours of sleep I get when I crash after 2 days straight, or the random 30 minute naps I can pick up if I'm lucky" Wally looked like he wanted to say something, but Artemis gently lifted a hand, "I get it, it's not ideal, but you know I'm not stupid, I'm not shooting up, I'm snorting, which is safer, and I only take enough to get me to sleep, ok?"
"No, it's not ok, you don't have to be stupid for this stuff to kill you, how do you even know how to get it?" Artemis laughed,
"Seriously? For the last several years I've been taught how to find people who deal, and the people who supply those people for that matter" Wally sighed, "Please don't tell anybody, I need to know I can trust you on this" Wally stood for a minute glaring at the small bag, grinding his teeth,
"I'm begging you to trust me" Wally nodded, regretfully,
"Ok" Was all he could say,
"Thank you, I promise I won't let this get too far" Wally just avoided looking at her, "I need you to get rid of that for me, so no one else finds it,"
"Yeah" He nodded,
"Thank you, I do need your help with 1 more thing" Artemis face was red, Wally finally looked at her,
"With what?" He asked, reluctantly,
"I'm about to piss myself and I don't think I can walk to the bathroom myself, so unless you want to be cleaning a soaked bed, I'm gonna need you to help" Wally's shoulders relaxed, and his lips formed a thin smile,
"Yeah I can do that" He stepped over and touched a couple buttons on 1 of the machines beside the bed, and then carefully removed the heart rate monitor device from her, he leaned down and she slid her left hand behind his neck, he used 1 hand under her knees to support her and the other to move the i.v pole that was connected to her, she leaned her face into the crook of his neck,
"You know, we could still work" She said softly, hopefully, he smiled sadly, and she knew the answer,
"You know we cant" He responded, she nodded into his neck.
It was 10:30AM when Kara woke up, she found that she was alone in bed and went looking for the rest of the team, she found Rachel, Garfield, and Barbara in the main living area on the floor their rooms were on, Rachel had fallen back asleep on a couch arm rest, Garfield was wearing a green shirt with a camo patterned dinosaur on it, and sweatpants, Barbara was wearing a Gotham Tech Camp shirt with grey shorts, they were sitting another couch watching reruns of an old cartoon, Barbara had her feet propped up on a coffee table, next to an empty coffee mug and 2 partially empty glasses of orange juice,
Barbara noticed Kara a she entered the room,
"Morning, you wanna watch with us?" She asked,
"Ok" Kara filled a glass with orange juice and sat on the couch next to Rachel, who stirred a little as she felt the weight on the cushion next to her but she stayed asleep, the team had stayed out late the night before helping clean up the city.
The 3 had been watching TV for about 10 minute when Dick walked in,
"Turn it to the news" He said, both Barbara and Garfield looked at him,
"Now?" They asked, disappointed, they straightened up when they saw his serious expression,
"Ok" Barbara grabbed the remote and hit a button, the screen switched to a live video from outside the front of the main LexCorp building, a disembodied came after a few seconds of static,
"For those just tuning in, LexCorp is holding a press conference to announce who will be the replacement CEO, if you are not aware, Alexander Luthor, the founder and CEO of LexCorp, was tragically killed 2 days ago during an attempted alien invasion over Metropolis, this announcement by LexCorp is coming much sooner than any of us anticipated, it looks like someone is approaching the podium."
A young bald man in a black suit stepped up to the microphone, there were audible gasps and murmuring from the crowd, the reporters began talking over each other, asking questions, but the man held up a hand for silence.
"Hello, I'm sure this is a tad off putting for many of you, I'll do my best to explain the situation, and I'll take a couple questions after, you can call me Luthor, I am Lex Luthor's son, or more accurately his clone, Lex trained me to take his place in the event of his death, though I expected we would have a little more time, I have been assured that all laws were followed, I am a legal citizen of the United States, and am legally allowed to hold the position of CEO of LexCorp," Luthor looked to a woman who stood on the stage behind him, she nodded and her turned back to the crowd, "Ok, I'll take a couple questions now.
The Titans sat around the tv stunned, Rachel had woken up and was watching with confusion, Barbara had her hand clamped over her mouth, Garfield jaw hung open, Kara's fingers dug into the sofa cushion, Dick had met Superman the most and recognized the broad chin, large square nose, the light blue eyes with thick black eyebrows, the man on screen looked like a fusion of the man of steel, and the brilliant CEO he had so often fought.
Slade Wilson was on his knees with his arms chained to the stone wall behind him, his white beard and hair had grown out and was stained with blood, he had been in the large prison, in the middle of the jungle for month's, the warden had just finished interrogating him again, the door screeched open, Slade's mouth into a smile, until he looked up and who had entered, a man wearing a grey suit stepped through the door and it was pulled shut behind him,
"William, what are you doing here?" Slade asked, keeping his voice low, "You're gonna blow my cover" William looked back at the metal door, before walking calming over to Slade,
"You've gotten more information than the client asked for, it's time to wrap things up here, we have another client, and they're offering to pay exceptionally well" He said, his tone hushed,
"Surely you could have handled it" Slade said,
"They want to deal with you personally, and it involves the Bat's apprentices, so I thought you might take a personal interest" Slade nodded,
"Do you have the boat prepared for the escape? I've got a few more things to deal with here, I'll meet you back at Valhalla" He said,
"I've got a plane ready to take off at an airstrip a mile east, we'll meet there, I setup a meeting tonight, you can get cleaned up in the plane, your suit's already prepared" Slade cracked the tension from his neck,
"Then get out of here and I'll get to work."