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a1307s · 1 year ago

Text

Artwork #1

(Garfield Logan)

[Art is not mine! Credit to picolo-kun]

Requested by: Liviejc

Keys:

Y/N: Your Name

Word Count: 2537

Warnings and/or Pre-notes:

Cursing

Mentions of blood

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"This is stupid," a soft voices comes from behind Nightwing.

"It's not stupid," Nightwing answers, continuing to walk towards the front of the team. For whatever reason he called a team meeting so all the members stand crowded in the training room.

"It's not stupid," comes the voice again, a mocking undertone to their voice.

Despite my attempts I haven't been able to catch a peek of the new mystery person or been able to get Bart to spill the beans about them. He says that "it'll ruin the time line" or whatever.

"You have an attitude problem," Nightwing says, reaching a hand behind him. He pulls forward, exposing a white baggy sleeve.

Nightwing continues to pull until a small figure is fully in front of him. The figure is swimming in a spotless white robe, covering every inch of skin. A hood is pulled over their head, only leaving their mouth and part of their cheeks exposed. Their skin is mainly an ashy grey color with small cracks of red running along it.

"Everyone, this is Y/N! Y/N this is the team," Nightwing says excitedly, holding the new person by their shoulders. "Say 'hi' Y/N," Our leader orders.

"Hi Y/N," They say, mocking Nightwing's deeper tone.

"Attitude!" The older hero says with a smile before gently pushing Y/N towards the group of us. Nightwing walks them around the group, introducing everyone to the new person.

I'm second to last in the line up so I'm forced to wait my turn. "This is Garfield! He's the same age as you, Y/N," Batman's protégé says, gently pushing them closer to me.

"You're green," They say, tilting their hood up to expose their eyes. I watch as their eyes shift from the same grey color as their face to a mix of a bright yellows and soft pinks.

"I'm green?" I ask, to entranced by their eyes to fully register their words.

"Are you not normally green? Is he not a Martian like M'gann?" They ask, looking towards Nightwing as they ask their second question.

"Gar isn't a Martian. He's a human that was forced into some mutations when he was younger," Nightwing answers, patting Y/N's head.

"Don't touch me," They say, snapping their head back down so our eyes are leveled again. Instead of the water colored mix from earlier, their eyes are a deep red with the previous grey flickering through them. "You are green," They repeat before stepping away from me to met Bart who's standing next to me.

————————

Over the past couple hours very little has been learned about Y/N but some things have been learned. For starters, Y/N is a girl which has caught Cassie's attention. She's excited that she's not the only girl in our generation of heroes anymore.

We've also learned that Y/N isn't wearing a robe; it's a cloak. I don't see the difference but when Bart accidentally called it a robe he got rewarded with a smack upside the head.

It's also been learned that Y/N's features shift colors. We're not sure why yet but Kaldur suspects it has something to do with the lighting of the room.

That suspicion lead to Nightwing letting it slip that Y/N's abilities are shifting herself along with light and color which launched the new member into a lecture about how color is light so there's "no need to say 'and color'". Since then she hasn't made a pep and has barely moved. That was about an hour ago and within that hour Nightwing has panicked twice about whether Y/N was still breathing or not.

I stand up from my spot on the floor and hand the game control to Jaime after losing a battle of Mortal Kombat to Bart - again. "You're really quiet," I say to Y/N, sitting next to her on the couch.

"And you're fucking green," She snaps back sharply.

"I know," I respond, looking at the pile of white cloth sitting next to me. Her exposed cheeks - which are still the ashy color from before - soon form swirls of dark blue along them. "And you're turning blue," I add.

"Am not!" She yelps, lifting her hand to her cheeks. For the first time, more than just the bottom of her face is exposed. Finger tips poke out from the sleeve of her robe - er - cloak, and caress her cheek. Her fingertips are yellow but not the sun shine yellow from before. They're a pale washed out yellow. Her cheeks - and finger tips - shift from their colors to the dark red from earlier.

"You're annoying," Y/N says before getting up from her spot. It seems like she's floating as she heads over to Nightwing. She tucks herself into the team leader's side before vanishing from sight completely.

"Alright," I whisper to myself before turning back towards the video game fight happening on the tv.

Quiet words are passed back and forth between Y/N and Nightwing for a couple minutes before he plops her down on the floor between Jaime and Bart. "Y/N is playing next round," He says, more of an order than a request.

Before walking away he pulls down Y/N's hood, exposing long, dark red curls that remind me of dripping blood. "The fuck I am," She snaps, going to stand up.

"Ya, 'the fuck' you are," Nightwing mocks, pushing her back down to her sitting position before walking away.

"Dick," She mumbles, slouching over. She stays put, focusing on the video game. After a couple minutes her hair shifts to a soft white and the curls drop into an almost fluffy style. When the game ends Bart tries to hand her the control. "Ya, no," She says, straightening her posture. "I'll just watch."

Bart glances at Nightwing for approval before handing the controller to Robin. Y/N watches a couple more games, her exposed skin shifting styles, switching back and forth from oranges, yellows, and pinks. "How do you do that move?" She asks, leaning closer to Wally. Her hand pokes out again as she lays it against Wally's shoulder to steady herself. Her hand is a soft pink with pedal shaped oranges coating them.

Wally shows her before handing her the controller Roy was previously holding. "I'm going to start a new game so you can try it," Wally says before following through.

"Richie," Y/N says, looking around the room. Nightwing hums in response, looking up from the meat he's preparing for dinner. "I need a hair tie," She says, standing up and walking toward the kitchen. Nightwing stops what he's doing to wash his hands and throw Y/N's hair into a messy bun. Her hair is still the white fluffiness from earlier but the bun makes it look even fluffier.

The rest of the night is spent with different members showing Y/N how to play Mortal Kombat and how to do the different moves. Throughout the time her exposed skin is a mix of oranges, pinks, and yellows reminding me of a sunset. This seems to make Nightwing happy and when Nightwing is happy, the whole team is happy.

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It's been a couple weeks since Y/N has joined the team and for the most part it's been going well. The new theory is that Y/N's coloring is connected to her emotions. This started to surface after she got into an argument with Nightwing, leaving her a mix of dark reds and purples.

This morning Wally set up a whiteboard in the living room to keep track of what colors connect with what emotions to further his theory. At the moment he has red paired with anger, purple for 'teen angst' and yellow paired with happiness. He also has grey, pink, orange, blue, and green on the board but there's question marks next to them.

Y/N walks in as Wally and Conner are discussing what 'teen angst' means. She stands there for a minute, pale orange, before shifting to red and then a dark purple. "You got two of the three right," She says softly before turning away from the board.

"So my theory is right!" Wally cheers, prancing around to brag about being right. Today her hair is a milky grey color and very fuzzy.

Throughout the weeks Y/N has gotten more comfortable about showing her skin but she still walks around in her cloak. Her whole face is usually showing and she has started to show her arms some.

"So like does the shade of your color matter?" Robin asks, walking up to the white board.

"Kinda, I guess," Y/N says, walking around the kitchen to start making herself breakfast.

"What about the different shapes?" Barbra chips in as Robin draws a scale of shades.

"Not really. Each color just kind of has its own shape I guess. I don't know," Y/N stands still, looking down at her cereal. Her skin is no longer purple. Instead it's charcoal grey with cracks of red running through it.

"What about the changes in your hair? How does that work?" Jaime asks, as we all watch Robin make his guesses at the colors.

"I don't know," Y/N says, throwing the bowl into the sink. The room is filled with the sound of the glass cracking as it makes contact with the bottom of the sink. Everyone's eyes turn towards Y/N and follow her as she walks out of the room.

"I think we pissed her off," Robin says as he erases everything from the board.

——————————

It's been a few days since anyone - besides Nightwing - has seen Y/N. She refuses to leave her room and won't let anyone in to talk to her.

When Nightwing got filled in on the incident he dug into everyone about it. His rant went on for a couple hours but the gist of it was that it was 'inappropriate to treat Y/N as a test subject or something to debate about'. At least I think that's what he was trying to get at. I'm not really sure; I mostly just tuned him out during it.

"Gar?" M'gann calls from the kitchen.

"Ya?" I ask, tilting my head back to look at her.

M'gann holds a plate in her hands packed full of the first servings of tonight's dinner. "Do you mind running this over to Y/N's room for me?"

"Why should I? She's not going to eat it," I say, picking my head back up to continue watching the movie Cassie put on.

"You don't know that," M'gann says back, walking the plate over to me and holding it out for me to take.

"She hasn't touched any of the food you keep leaving her, M'g."

"So? Maybe she'll decide she's hungry and if she does I want there to be food for her," My sister says, smiling softly with closed eyes.

"Fine," I say, rolling my eyes and taking the plate from her hands.

"Thank you!" M'gann calls after me as I head down the hall towards the bedrooms.

I walk around the hallway for a while before coming to the conclusion that I don't actually know which room is hers. On the plus side, I know which rooms aren't hers which is somewhat of a start.

After a couple tries - and one very upset Zatanna - I mange to get the right room. I knock softly but get no answer. Maybe leave it outside the door? Probably not; that'll leave to a mess. "I'm coming in!" I announce, knocking again before opening the door.

When the door swings open I'm met with an explosion of colors. The wall parallel to me is a redone painting of Starry Night. The famous blues and yellows of the painting are present but so are orange and pink streaks through it.

Sat on the floor in front of the wall to my left is - probably Y/N - I think at least. Her hair is a cute bob with yellow almost neon colored tips and a matchingly bright pink for the rest. Her skin is as white as her cloak but her wrists are covered in paint blobs. Actual paint blobs this time too; not just the random colors that mix in with her skin color. This is the most colorful I’ve seen her since she’s joined.

Y/N surrounded by plates, each with different shades of paint covering them and a cup of dirty water in the middle of each. Each cup has a couple brushes soaking in them. She’s pushed up against the wall, scribbling something in the wall with a pencil.

“You know, for someone that seems to hate color use a lot of it,” I comment, setting the plate on the dresser next to the door.

“I don’t hate color,” Y/N says without looking away from what she’s doing.

Scattered on the dresser is loose papers covered in art work of all different mediums. “Your melt down the other day says other wise,” I answer back, picking up one of the papers. The page is covered with images of me.

“Stop being nosey,” Y/N says, snatching the page from me and crumbling it up. “And I wasn’t having a melt down. I felt invaded,” She continues, throwing the paper away in the over flowing trash can piled high with other papers and broken art supplies.

Since my distraction Y/N has turned the washed out yellow color from the other day but her hair as stayed the same. My eyes glance from her walking back to her spot to the pile of papers sitting in her bin. “You sure you don’t hate color?” I ask, bending down to go through the waste of paper.

“I’m sure.”

“Then what’s the deal?” I ask, opening a few of the paper balls. Most of them are works of me but a couple are of other members - mostly Lagoon.

“The deal with what?” She asks, standing on her tippy toes to continue her line work.

“The deal with you and your dumb cloak and the hissy fit from the other day,” I say, shoving a few morals of me into my pocket.

I walk slowly up to Y/N, carefully watching her colors switch back to white but this time with pedals of greys, yellows, and pinks. “How can you make really great, colorful artwork but dislike colors?”

“Again, I don’t ‘dislike color’. I dislike my coloring,” She says, falling flat to her feet and turning to look at me.

I stand there, looking at her confused. How can she dislike it? It’s so pretty watching her skin shift and even prettier when her skin is painted like a sunset. “How? How do you not like it? You’re the prettiest piece of artwork I’ve ever seen.” This causes a smile to cross Y/N’s face. My heart flutters at the sight and I set my mind to doing anything I can to see her smile again.

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#garfield logan #beast boy #Garfield Logan one shot #young justice #young justice oneshot #beast boy oneshot #garfield logan x reader #beast boy x reader

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silly-thinkings · 2 years ago

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A gift from Cadmus pt.3

Keys: n/n= Nickname ~Two years till~ Megan took a deep breath before knocking on the door. As soon as she did she turned around to face the grand farm of the Kent family. The door opened, and on the other side Louis stood with a look of concern “Hey, is everything alright?” “I need to speak with Clark. It's about Y/n and Connor” A soft boom could be heard from the sky before a gust of wind enveloped the two ladies. Clark, currently Superman flew slightly above the pair “I came as soon as I heard their names. Are they alright? Have they been taken?”

Megan looked away awkwardly “they’re fine. But I believe I’ve done something. That if Connor found out he’d be furious.”

Clark rose an eyebrow before landing “let me call Bruce. Since Y/N is involved we should speak with him too.”

**** ~At the mountain~

To say it was an intimidating room was an understatement. Sitting infront of Megan was Bruce along with his family, Clark, and finally Kaldur.

“Last week. The night when we found out about the abuse the siblings went through I…. Erased their memories of them.”

Jason slammed his hands on the table “You WHAT!”

Megan put her hands up “I did it for them. So that they could have a normal life.”

“I don’t know if martians can’t read the room. But a normal life is the last thing those two are having.” Jason spat.

Tim crossed his arms and closed his eyes “That probably explains how normal they’ve been acting."

The Martian looked at Bruce. She noticed his brows scrunched up deep in thought. Is he angry? She couldn’t tell.

“Alright… this is… well we can work with this.” Clark stood and walked towards Megan and placed a hand on her shoulder “she did this with good intentions. And by the looks of it it’s been smooth right?”

Bruce finally opened his eyes “Y/n hasn’t shown any signs of distress. Or zoning out for that matter. I don't like the circumstances, but this can benefit them.” Bruce leaned forward with his hands interlocked with each other “Y/N has triggered. Something I’ve noticed before. I’ll let everyone know what that is before we leave.”

“Great, so we gotta hide our night jobs from her” Jason huffed

“Not nessesaraly, just don’t ask her to hack anything. Avoid string of code, she’s too good at those.” Tim interjected

“Connor does seem pretty relaxed. Given how he was prior to this.” Kaldur chimed in. “Although, I still think this is a bit unfair to them to block such memories.”

Silence befell apon the group once more. Bruce spoke next “What’s happened happened. All we can do now is continue-“

“You aren’t seriously taking her side in this Bruce?” Jason looked to Tim “dude back me up here.”

“I also think it’s best if they forgot about it. They only remember things after their escape right?” Tim timidly looked away.

“That’s right.” Megan smiled. Her smile however disappeared seeing Jason not letting up.

Jason turned to Dick who shook his head “they’re doing well Jay. What’s the alternative? Give them back their memories and cause tension? What we need to focus on is what the hell happened in those 16 hours of the league going to space.”

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose “This is going to bite you all in the ass. And I want no part of this.” He stood and made an exit to the zeta tubes. Dick’s phone rang which certainly helped him get out of this awkward situation “Yea I gotta go. Good luck with that.” Kaldur also stood, he took a deep breath before looking at Megan “The team won't know. I think it would be best since the siblings do not like mind-altering. And I do not want to form any sort of distrust among us. Not again.” On that night, everyone vowed to do their best to protect them from their own past.

Three years later48hrs till…

“Mercy, hand me my iPad will you. I would like to check up on the news.” Lex luthor leaned back on his chair as he stared upon the vast city of metropolis. The hustle and bustle of the people down below amused him. So small, yet so full of potential. So full of life.

“Here you are sir.”

Lex took the tablet and scrolled through Gothems latest news. It’s been a year since he lost his experiments. Superboy was out with his team and even though he tried to persuade him. Tried to use him like the weapon he is. The plan backfired embarrassingly. The coverts team managed to regain control of the league. But only after 16 hours.

No matter, not all is lost. For there was another potential candidate that can suit his needs. On the front paper a photo of Y/N Wayne reading “Gothem’s Princess has mastered another instrument and will be playing for her schools end of the year concert” Finally. An opportunity has opened up to properly meet his creation. How she ended up with Bruce Wayne he’ll never truly know. It’s no surprise though. The man’s adopted 3 boys prior to her.

“Mercy. Be sure to get tickets to this event. And order a rose.”

~~~~~~~

Y/n sneezed. The sound of an alarm buzzed loudly annoying the 9 year old greatly. She lightly tapped around the bedside table searching for the noise. When she found it y/n slammed down a little too hard. Breaking not only the alarm but the prestige wooden table that housed many memorabilia. “Oops… Alfred’s not going to like that.”

Y/n sat up and reached for her glasses. That also broke. “Ughhhhh”

Y/n plopped back down on the bed. Maybe she can get away with skipping breakfast. And lunch….

A soft knock on the door startled the poor girl.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Bruce’s voice was on the other end of the door.

Y/n quickly got up and flew to the door opening it. She gave his a tight hug “You’re back! I was beginning to worry!”

Bruce returned the hug “worry? About me?”

“Yes dad. You spend so much time worrying about others. Who’s going to do it for you?” Y/n smiled at him before resting her head on his shoulder.

Bruce tilted his head slightly. He noticed the broken stand and raised an eyebrow. “Sorry…” y/n looked at her hands “still learning how to controle my strength. D-don’t tell Alfred.”

Bruce rested his forehead against hers “our secret”. Y/n, his pride and joy. She was so kind to everyone around her. However, Bruce began to feel guilty. He felt like a neglectful father. Alfred expressed his disappointment as soon as he arrived home from his mission. “Thanks for taking care of me little bat. I heard you have another performance tonight.” Bruce turned and walked down the hall. While doing so he began knocking on the doors of his other children that reside in the home

“Yup! It’s the last one of the season. Then tomorrows gonna be my flag football game. Uncle Clark said he’ll definitely be there for that one. Since it’s the finals.”

Bruce felt another pinch of guilt. He’s been showing up late to her performances, or hasn’t shown up at all. Even News outlets have noticed his absence. Unfortunately, every time he tried to go the bat signal appeared. And yet, after all that, not once has Y/n ever made him feel bad. In fact she would comfort him for missing her shows.

Y/n noticed her father’s furrowed brows and scrunched up lip. He was thinking… hard.

“Father? You aren’t beating yourself up again in there right?” Y/n tapped his forehead seemingly releasing him from his trance. Bruce didn’t even notice that they’ve arrived to the dinner table.

Y/n shimmied herself out of her fathers grasp and walked to Alfred.

“Good morning Alfi!”

“Good morning Lady Y/n. Would you like Superman or Batman pancakes today?” Alfred maneuvered around the kitchen and table professionally, expertly serving for those who have yet to arrive. “Can I have some Superman pancakes? Im going to see him tomorrow.”

Bruce sucked his teeth. Superman? Really? When he’s right here? Alfred and Y/n looked at each other before a giggle escaped the girl's lips.

Tim groggily walked passed Bruce. He could barely keep his head up as he sat down. “Wow, you look beat.” Y/n said stuffing her face with pancakes.

“Training to be Robin is tough.” He reached for his mug and took a sip of coffee. Jason soon joined the table. As the family spoke Bruce stood there watching his children mingle. Watching Y/n as she lit up everyone’s life by just being herself. His hands felt sweaty. How could he make it up to her? “I’ll be going to your last recitals tonight.”

The table stopped moving. Everyone looked to Bruce as if he had two heads.

“You have a show?” Jason spoke next. He too had been showing up less and less to her shows. Only really hanging out with her when he would sneak out as Robin and she would cover for him through the computers. In all honesty, she’s had his back more then he ever did for her.

“And it’s the last one?” Tim followed up. There was one rule in the house after what they heard about what Magan did. And it was to keep her away from any and all hero related activities. And yet Tim has asked for her help in certain things. To which she happily did.

Y/n sunk in her seat “w-well yea. I didn’t tell you guys cause I don’t want you to miss patrol tonight Ya know. You haven’t showed up to my other shows anyway.”

That stung And it showed. Jason and Tim looked away from each other. Even Alfred frowned at the statement. Y/n frantically waved her hands in front of her “No no I don’t mean it like that. I mean, like. You guys are helping the city. That comes first ya know! Don't worry about me ill be fine.”

Bruce finally made his way to his seat at the table. All the children were quiet as he closed his eyes. It was as if he were calculating his next move “I’ll call Dick and Barbra. Have them watch over the city tonight.”

Y/n bit her bottom lip. Excitement wasn’t even close to how she was feeling. Y/n jumped from her seat and flew to her father knocking both of them over “thank you thank you thank you! I can’t wait dad.”

Mixed feelings cursed his mind as he slowly hugged her back. He looked to his sons who were frowning for seeing such a reaction. Guilt befell on them too.

Alfred cleared his throat “Lady y/n”

Y/n stood and quickly adjusting herself “sorry… flying I know.”

Alfred smiled as he amusingly shook his head “I believe I can make an exception to that one Lady y/n.”

Wally fell to the floor with a hard thud.

“Your cooking tonight” Artemis smirked.

Wally rested on his elbows as he looked up at her “yea yea. Maybe Connor can help me.”

“Help you do what?” Connor, Megan, and Garfield walked into the training room.

“Hello Megan. Tonight’s our last team night before they go to college.” Megan clapped her hands excitedly while the speedster groaned “Connor please help.”

Connor crossed his arms. “Hmmmmmmm”

Garfield puffed his cheeks trying not to laugh. The super was greatly extending Wally’s suffering.

“Connor!”

“Alright alright I’ll help. Artemis, Megan why don’t you two buy groceries?” Conner smirked and leaned in for a kiss. To which Megan happily returned.

“Eww gross” Garfield covered his eyes.

Wally finally stood. He too scooped his lovely girlfriend into a romantic kiss. The blond practically melted in his arms.

Garfield turned into a parrot and proceeded to squawk uncontrollably. Breaking the couple up.

Artemis pulled away with a laugh “Ok ok sorry. We’re off then.” She walked to the Martian and wrapped her arm around hers. The two woman left the room.

Connor waited a moment before letting out a sigh.

“N/n you can come out now.”

Garfield turned back into himself “what? Y/n is here?”

Wally zipped and zoomed around every corner looking for the girl “Gothem princess.” he cooed knowing that'll make her respond.

“Ugh. Please don’t call me that.”

The boys all looked up. On the ceiling of the training room were a ninja rope course. Filled with rope swings and hanging rings. Y/n hovered over one of the training equipment, facing them upside down. “Enough people at the academy call me that.”

“Come down n/n they’re gone.”

Y/n hung on one of the monkey bars before doing an acrobatic flip down. When she landed Garfield slowly and sarcastically clapped his hands.

Y/n ignored the behavior and walked towards her brother “So, you guys are planning a dinner tonight?”

“Yup. And weeeee gotta cook.” Wally wrapped his arms around Connor who one rolled his eyes amusingly.

Garfield crossed his arms “I thought you weren’t allowed at the mountain.”

Y/n crossed her arms and faced the green boy “Actually, I am allowed to be here. Dad doesn’t let me near the controls. Or mission briefings… or any of the new tech” Y/n frown slightly. Connor noticed but when he was about to ask she turned to him excitedly “I came to share great news with you brother! I have my end of the year performance tonight and all of my family is coming to see me! Isn’t that awesome.”

Connors face dropped. That was tonight. How could he have forgotten this one? “ hold on. You didn’t tell me that was tonight.”

Y/n gave him a curt nod “it’s a good thing I didn’t. Pfft I don’t wanna ruin your plans. Especially with your… partner.”

Y/n felt her eye twitch at the title. The girl strongly disliked the Martian and everyone knew it. What they didn’t know was the why. Y/n felt her fingers stiffen. She then felt a light tap on her fist. She looked to her right to see Garfield look at her with a shocked expression.

Y/n clapped her hands together “Anyway. There’s a seat for you. Only you… if you can’t make it that’s fine too.” Y/n began to fly “have an awesome night guys!” The girl zoomed out the room. The sound of the zeta tubes confirmed her departure.

Garfield sneered “I don’t get why she hates Megan so much. It’s not like she did anything to her.”

Wally shrugged “I mean… it’s not uncommon for little sisters to dislike big brothers girlfriend. Maybe it’s a girl thing.”

Connor wished it were that easy. Y/n doesn’t do things without reason. And whatever reason she has to avoid Megan like the plague must be a good one if she’s going so far as to hide from her. Maybe tomorrow he’ll ask about it.

~~Later that night

A child- prodigy. That’s what they called Bruce Wayne’s one and only daughter. Y/N smiled on stage as the crowd gave her a standing ovation for a beautiful performance.

She was gifted in any and all things. academics, sports, music, theater! If someone introduced something to her she would master it within the same week!

But all kinds of praise would always fall on deaf ears. No matter what she did it was all the same, and tonight was no different. Y/N looked on the empty seats that was meant for her family and felt an old yet familiar feeling for the first time in a long time. A numbness ebbed in her subconscious as she accepted Bruce’s absence. Her mind felt cloudy as the crowds cheers slowly turned into white noise. She was almost lost in her own thoughts but the voice of her best confidant saved her from the darkness in her mind.

“Brava Miss Y/n. Wonderful performance as always.” Alfred’s voice Of praise made her blush. The butler held up a beautiful bouquet of flowers towards the nine year old girl. She went to the edge of the stage and took them. Some of the crowd laughed as the flowers were just as big, if not bigger than her. Y/n gave one final bow before exiting the stage.

Classmates and teachers all gathered around the little girl and showered her with praise. Of course she smiled and accepted many trinkets and gifts but she wanted to run. She wanted to fly as far away as possible.

“Y/n someone very important is here to see you.” The teacher gently placed her hand on her back guiding her to one of the rooms.

Y/n walked in the room and immediately froze. Lex luthor with his assistant Mercy we’re waiting for her.

Lex smiled apon seeing the girl “Y/n Wayne. I’m familiar with your work. Your father must be proud.”

The girl felt her hands shake. Was this a trick? A trap? A kidnapping?! Y/n looked to her teacher with a smile “can you Bring Alfred to me. I don’t want him waiting.”

“Of course.”

The teacher left without a second thought. Which was odd. What kind of adult would leave a child alone with a guy like this.

Y/n took a deep breath. She placed her flowers on the vanity table carefully. Lex noticed, and smiled.

“I know, you know why I’m here. SB812”

Y/n rose her hand “don’t say a word until Alfred comes in.”

After what felt like forever Alfred opened the door. He looked at the the billionaire with a blank expression. The butler walked beside Y/n and closed his eyes.

Lex eyed him up and down. He didn’t say anything. Nor did he attempt to do anything. Y/N’s back was facing him but he can clearly see her face in the mirror.

Y/n closed her eyes “I don’t want anything from you. I don’t know what you did or said to connor that made him your puppy dog. But it won’t work on me.”

Y/n looked him in the eyes through the mirror. Her eyes began to sting and she cursed herself for it. “Cut to the chase. Why are you here.”

Lex snapped his fingers signaling his assistant to reach into her purse and pull out a single rose. A beautiful pink rose in a glass container in the palm of her hand. It resembled the magical rose from beauty and the beast. She handed it to Alfred who raised an eyebrow.

Y/N’s unease grew. “Is that a bomb?”

Lex chuckled “no my dear girl. A gift. For all your hard work.”

“I don’t want it. You can leave now.” Alfred walked to another table in the room and gently placed the flower down near Mercy.

Lex felt… saddened by such a response. He couldn’t quite place why he felt this way. That look of disgust and anger from the girl intrigued him greatly.

“Y/n… this is my gift to you. Even though you rightfully despise me. I will never forsake you as my own. I’m very proud of you.”

With that Mercy and Lex luthor made their way to the exit. Alfred follows them and shut the door. When he turned back around Y/N’s grip on the table made the borders crack. Her legs wobbled uncontrollably.

“Lady Y/n are you alright.” Alfred rushed to her side. When she felt his presence she allowed herself to fall. She hugged him tightly and felt the tears surge. She didn’t want to cry. Not now of all times, but she couldn’t stop the ever growing sadness that poured from her heart. it was no use. Y/n pulled away and grabbed her hair and shook her head violently. She fell to the floor as all the strength left her body.

Alfred knelt down and checked on her “did he hurt you? Do I need to call Bruce.”

Y/n’s head shot up at the name shocking the poor butler her tear stricken face broke his heart “He promised Alfred. They all said they’d B-be here. But- but-“

Y/N’s quiet sobs grew into a cry. Alfred had no words. He sat on the floor and brought the girl into a hug. Y/n cried. Her attempts in speaking came out mumbled and broken.

“No matter what I do… they won’t come. And when I want to help they won’t let me. I’m not allowed in the cave. I can’t see my brothers train. Why. Why why why!”

Alfred felt the girls grip tighten. Her tears mixed with makeup ruining the fabric of his pristine suit but he didn’t care. All he can do now is provide comfort. He looked to the flower and noticed the small details of it. It was slightly wilted but shone beautifully. Expensive jewels bedazzled the item.

Y/n crying turned into a pained laugh. “Did you hear him Alfred. H-he heard about my show and came to give this to me. He said he w-was- p-p-proud of me. Alfi… he came all the way from metropolis to tell me that He’s happy for me. He came to tell me that he was.. proud of me.” Y/n pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead as a new wave of tears flood her. She used Alfred to muffle the otherwise very loud cries. Nobody came to see her. And the only person who did was an evil villain that funded her creation.

Minutes turned into hours. Alfred felt light hiccups coming from the girl. When he checked his watch it was well past closing. The cleaning crew did come to check but he was able to buy some time for her to calm down. At some point she had fallen asleep. The butler gently stood with the girl in his arms. He looked to the flower, as he did Y/n stirred “can we take it?”

Was it a risk? Yes. Did Alfred care. Maybe. “Let me check it over first. If it’s safe then we can put it on your amazing trophy shelf.”

Y/n nodded slightly before returning to sleep. Honestly he wasn’t even sure if she should return to the manor. Alfred walked towards the car and gently put her down. When he sat at the drivers seat he pulled out his phone. Alfred didn’t expect an answer right away at one in the morning but it was worth a shot to call the Kents.

“Hello?” Clark’s groggy voice was on the other end of the line.

“My apologies for waking you Clark. But can I drop Lady Y/n are your home.”

Clark sat up slightly “y-yea of course. Is everything alright?”

“I’m afraid not. I’ll explain when I get there.” The butler looked at Y/n through the rearview mirror. At some point, the girl hugged herself in a fetal position. 13 hours till...

#batsis reader #young justice #dc fanfic #bruce wayne #clark kent x daughter reader #bruce wayne x daughter!reader

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kattythingz · 8 months ago

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YJ x FMA Pt. 5

Aka the au where Ed absolutely must remind every child soldier hero he runs into that they are, in fact, still children. Without picking any favorites whatsoever, of course.

(Jk, it's obviously M'gann. Fight me.)

🧡 Pt. 1 💛 Pt. 2 🤍 Pt. 3 🩵 Pt. 4 💙

M’gann didn’t think she was fully awake when she opened her bedroom door the next morning to the smell of food.

She’d made a pretty good habit of getting up around nine every morning so she could surprise Superboy with a breakfast. It was admittedly corny of her, and it didn’t always work out, but she made a regular effort nonetheless. If she couldn’t drag him into a breakfast, then she was always on time to make cookies instead. Last week, Superboy had even been waiting for her, asking awkwardly if “she had cookies to make or something”. He hadn’t tried joining her outright in the kitchen yet or anything, but they were getting there! She just knew it.

But she digressed. All that was to say, she was a little surprised when she heard muttering from the kitchen.

She floated instead of walking to avoid startling the person if it was Superboy, and she was almost sure it was him when she got near enough.

That cursing was pretty distinctive, though.

“Ed?” she called tentatively at the threshold, just in time to catch Ed jolting hard enough to slip his fingers on the pan handle and burn himself.

He recoiled instantly, dropping the pan with a loud clang. “FUCK!”

“Oh my god!” M’gann yelped and rushed over. “I am so sorry, I should’ve made some noise first—are you alright?! Here, the sink is right over here if you—!”

She stopped when a smile, of all things, crossed Ed’s lips and he chuckled.

“I barely felt it, don’t worry,” he said, still laughing. “Don’t you dare apologize for something like that, that’s amazing. I didn’t even hear you.”

“That is another thing you will have to ‘get used to’, I’m afraid.”

It was M’gann’s turn to be startled at the amused voice behind her. She spun toward Kaldur sitting at the island, nursing what looked like a slightly burned omelet and a glass of orange juice. Which meant M’gann had definitely overslept, if he was already here at the cave and not his own place in Atlantis.

“Kaldur,” she stuttered, cheeks warm at the dual praise now. “That’s funny, I didn’t see you there either.”

“I have my own methods as well,” he said with a slight smirk.

“Tell me about it,” Ed said, pulling both their attention back to him. “You lot are gonna be the cause of my premature heart attack. Scaring the shit out of me one by one.”

He was already returning to his task of cracking eggs into a bowl, so M’gann asked Kaldur instead, “What did you do?”

“I only thought to help with preventing a mess,” Kaldur said, meaning—

“You literally made water float out of nowhere, you little shit!” Ed whirled around with a pointed spatula, and Kaldur’s smile held valiantly at the other end of it. “I thought I was going crazy. A little warning for that would’ve been nice, considering you’re supposed to be the polite one.”

“I believe I did warn you,” Kaldur hummed, “when I made my presence known first.”

“I changed my mind, don’t fucking talk back to me. You’ve been spending too much time with Ling.” Ed huffed, but he was obviously smiling when he turned back to the stove. “M’gann, have you eaten anything yet?”

It took her a second to realize Ed had used her Martian name. Probably because that was how he’d heard it from Ling, and Ling insisted on using her proper name—if she preferred it. M’gann didn’t mind being Megan to begin with, but she had to admit, it was nice hearing her name in its Martian pronunciation too.

Though, she was surprised Ed had said it so easily. Her name wasn’t hard to pronounce, but it was “heavy” by Earth standards; when Robin and Wally had tried saying it, they’d needed to pause before connecting it in a sentence.

“M’gann?” Ed’s question pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Sorry.” She smacked her forehead and floated over to his side. She didn’t get it yet, but it was apparently considered rude on Earth to talk at someone from a distance. “You can use my Earth name, you know, if you want. M’gann and Megan mean the same thing to me.”

“At this point, I’ve heard the first one more thanks to Ling,” Ed said. “If you’d prefer it, though—”

“Oh, no! I was just saying. I don’t mind.” It made her really happy, actually.

“Good. I would’ve had to kick Ling’s ass too if you had a problem with it.” He shook his head, reaching for something beside the stovetop. He furrowed his brow when he only touched counter, opening his mouth to ask something—

M’gann, perhaps overeager, beat him to it.

“Here!”

Ed turned to accept the plate normally, a “thank you” spilling blindly from his lips, before his eyes widened at the plate being hovered at his eye-level. Catching the muscle memory too late, M’gann lowered it sheepishly to his height instead.

It was a long second before he accepted it.

“Thanks…” he repeated. “Let me guess, another thing I’ll have to get used to?”

M’gann giggled at the resignation in his tone. “Sorry about that.”

Ed finally smiled. He turned back to the pan, freeing the omelet from the surface and passing the plate easily to her.

She started at the offer, accepting without thinking, and he grinned.

“Don’t be,” he said. “That’s still amazing.”

She wasn’t used to hearing such direct praise from an adult—Ling said Ed was older than him, hadn’t he?—so she needed a second to remember to say over her skipping heartbeat, “Thank you. Like you said yesterday, though, that’s nothing special by my standards. Everyone on Mars can do it. We learn it as kids, even.”

“Really?”

Ed sounded genuinely interested, so she moved to the island with her plate and continued, “Oh, yeah. There’s a bunch of local games tailored to nurture exactly that skill. It’s as important as learning our first word—through telepathy, that is. We learn that too before out-loud speaking.”

“We have a similar standard in Atlantis,” Kaldur said. He’d finished his food, and was leaning into the conversation with a noticeable spark in his eyes that M’gann was always happy to see; he was their friend before their leader, though he seemed to forget that often. “All Atlantean children like myself are trained in the ways of hydrokinesis since infancy. Speaking comes shortly after we have usually achieved our first trick.”

Ed’s infamous curiosity must’ve been sparked, because he put his back completely to the stove and leaned against it in favor of the conversation now. “That is so fucking cool, what the hell. But, wait, you said something about knowing ‘sorcery’ too—”

“Atlantean sorcery.” Kaldur nodded.

“Right. That. So, is that a different thing? Or can everyone do that too, and you just chose to get a mentor for it?”

“Actually—”

Kaldur paused suddenly, along with Ed and M’gann, at a distant noise from down the hall. It sounded like the slam of a mechanical door for a split second, accompanied furiously by a mad sprint, and—

“ED!”

M’gann jumped with Kaldur at the yell directly at the threshold, spinning together to blink at the source.

Ed deigned his attention to it much more slowly, and with a great roll of his eyes.

“A little louder, idiot prince. I don’t think Superboy heard you yet.”

Ling’s eyes further widened where he stood panting, swallowing his breath for a palpable moment frozen on Ed. He’d obviously overslept and woken in a panic. His hair was wild and loose around his shoulders, his mouth agape—and he was completely shirtless.

M’gann’s face burned, and she turned away quickly. She didn’t need visuals to imagine the look on Ling’s face, anyway, when he breathed a second time, “Ed. You’re still here.”

Ed smiled in the corner of her vision, lifting off the counter. “Where else would I be, dumbass?”

“You… You weren’t there when I woke up. I thought—”

Ling’s already short breathing cut off at the same time Kaldur looked away with a polite grimace. M’gann could guess the cause of that interruption, then.

She counted one, two, three beats before Ed said, “You thought what?”

M’gann risked a peek at the couple now, and she couldn’t help her instinctive smile at the starry-eyed look on Ling’s face. It felt like, already, she’d seen more faces from Ling caused by Ed’s presence than his absence. And Ling had talked a lot about Ed before his undue arrival in their world.

“I thought…” Ling sucked in a breath. “My hoodie was missing.”

“Is that what this is called?” Ed pulled back from Ling to observe the oversized sleeves of his red hoodie that did belong to Ling, now that M’gann noticed it. She’d known those pants looked familiar too; she helped Ling pick out those black short pants with the golden design up the legs herself, when they’d gone shopping for clothes for him.

Ling’s expression positively melted on Ed as he hummed a noncommittal answer.

“This doesn’t seem like your usual style,” Ed remarked with a questioning eyebrow at Ling. “Isn’t this a little sweltering for your sensitive skin? Not to mention the color. Although, it is an upgrade.”

He cracked a grin there at the end, and Ling chuckled.

“Well, I wasn’t entirely thinking of myself when I chose it,” he said warmly. “I’m glad to see my judgment hasn’t slipped, after all. Those really are your colors.”

Ed blushed bright and spontaneous. “A-Are you still half-asleep? What’s with the directness? And go put on a shirt already! What the hell are you doing running around this freezing place like that? Don’t tell me you’ve been prancing around like you did when you were sixteen—!”

Ed wasn’t the only one caught off-guard by Ling’s loud, bubbling laughter out of the blue. Kaldur’s eyebrows shot up at the rare sound triggered by practically nothing.

“I haven’t, I haven’t!” Ling said, beaming wider than the sun, and Ed’s face somehow colored redder.

“Y-Yeah, well, good! Now, seriously, go change.” Ed twisted out of Ling’s loose hold, grabbing two eggs from the carton as he passed it. “Or I’m eating your portion too!”

That made Ling yelp, and he actually stumbled. “Don’t even joke like that, Edward!”

“Good thing I’m not joking, then! One minute, Ling. One! Two—!”

Ling was gone down the hall in three. M’gann slapped a hand over her mouth to—badly—cover up a laugh, and Kaldur outright chuckled next to her.

Ed grinned by the stove too, and it felt like something in the cave had shifted.

<- prev ◆ next ->

#ed: i don't have a favorite child #also ed: who the FUCK made m'gann cry and ARE THEY READY TO DIE #she'd remind him so much of al. so naturally #fullmetal alchemist #fma #young justice #edling #edward elric #ling yao #m'gann m'orzz #kaldur'ahm #yj x fma #crossover #fanfiction #my fic

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attendsquoi · 1 month ago

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Thea's Quest ~ Ch. 7

Chapter 7: Targets

Summary: Thea and Kaldur spend the day learning about computers, help Superboy pick a name, and save two countries from war.

Warnings: canon typical violence, blood and injuries

Word count: 3.5k

Thea was glad to have a day off. She needed to catch up on some of Diana’s homework and fill out a few mission reports – and of course some rest was always appreciated. But first, she had to meet Kaldur in the mission room. A week or so prior, the team had found out that Thea didn’t know how to use technology, given its habit of attracting monsters. With the help of her magical pendant she wasn’t at as much risk anymore, but she still didn’t really know how to approach electronics. Kaldur had offered to try to teach her some things on their days off, so that was where she was headed.

“Hey!” Thea called to the Atlantean as she walked into the mission room.

“Good morning, Thea.” Kaldur replied.

The two got to work, Kaldur first showing Thea simply how to gesture in order to turn the screen on.

“I’ve seen so much stuff that is unexplainable by science, and yet this feels so magical to me.” Thea said to Kaldur as she practiced.

He had opened his mouth to reply when their comms went off.

“Aqualad.” Kaldur reported.

“Red Arrow.” Came the voice on the other end.

Thea frowned. She wasn’t a fan. Red Arrow was aggressive, which she could look past, but his general distaste and distrust of her and her friends – especially Artemis – rubbed her the wrong way. She just felt like something was off about him.

“I need access to the Justice League's database and the exact height of the League of Shadows assassin known as Cheshire.” Red Arrow said.

Kaldur moved over in front of Thea to pull up the necessary information.

“Checking. Cheshire is 1.67 meters.” Kaldur said.

“Um…” Red Arrow trailed off.

Thea rolled her eyes.

“She’s 5 foot 6.” She clarified.

“And exceptionally dangerous. Do you require backup?” Kaldur asked.

As much as she didn’t like Red Arrow, Thea respected Kaldur’s kindness toward his friend.

“Please. The last thing I need is the Junior Justice League.” Red Arrow rejected.

“Just our computer.” Kaldur said sassily.

Thea couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Good luck, my friend. Aqualad out.”

~~~

After their call with Red Arrow, M’gann walked through the mission room. Thea and Aqualad followed her to the hangar to wish her and Superboy a good first day of class.

“Ready for school? I made our lunches.” M’gann said as she flew toward Superboy.

“The first day of the scholastic season carries great cultural resonance. We want to wish you both well.” Martian Manhunter said as he, Red Tornado, Kaldur, and Thea approached.

“Guess it's not a Kryptonian thing.” Superboy said sadly.

Thea felt a wave of anger at Big Boy Blue. The way Superman ignored his clone reminded her of the ways the gods ignored their unclaimed children.

Powerful people need to learn how to parent. She thought with a frown.

“Wait, Thea, why aren’t you going to school?” M’gann asked.

Thea’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, uh, I don’t go to school.” She said, unsure how to answer the question.

“What do you mean?” M’gann asked. “Surely you care about your education.” She continued.

“No, of course.” Thea said.

“Just, the last time I was in school was five years ago, and a harpy attacked one of my classmates.” She explained.

Everyone looked at her with some amount of confusion of concern.

“He was fine!” She assured.

“But anyway. I’m – uh – I’m homeschooled.” Thea said.

“You may wish to change before you depart.” Kaldur mentioned to M’gann, changing the topic.

“Ah! I spent hours choosing this outfit. What do you think?” M’gann said as she spun around, her clothes transforming out of her hero outfit and into a skirt and blouse.

“Can M'gann M'orzz pass as an Earth girl now?” She asked.

“Well…” Kaldur trailed off, unsure how to break the news.

Thea pursed her lips, holding in a giggle.

“Just kidding!” M’gann laughed.

“Meet Megan Morse.” She said, her skin changing from green to caucasian.

“What's your new name?” She asked Superboy.

“My what?” He asked.

“I chose the name John Jones for myself. And suggested John Smith for Red Tornado. You could be a John too.” Martian Manhunter suggested.

“Pass.”

M’gann – or Megan – put her hands on Superboy’s arm.

“Conner's always been my favorite name.” She said.

Superboy shrugged ambivalently, accepting the title.

Thea thought back to her most familiar Connor: Connor Stoll. Half of the set of twins who consistently lovingly made her life at camp difficult as hell.

“A last name will also be required.” Kaldur said.

“Perhaps Kent?” Martian Manhunter suggested.

“Oh, in memory of Dr. Fate, the late Kent Nelson.” Megan said.

“Of… course.” He replied.

Thea sensed something off and looked over at Kaldur. She tilted her head slightly to indicate her question. The boy winked at her. Thea’s eyebrows raised at the implication. Superman’s last name is Kent; that’s knowledge to file away for later.

“Okay, sure. I guess it'd be an honor or something.” Superboy, now Connor, agreed.

“Well, Conner Kent, time to change your shirt.” Megan said.

Connor looked down at his shirt, then back at her, confused.

“You don't wanna reveal your identity.” She explained, tapping his chest.

Connor reached over his shoulder and pulled off his shirt. Thea’s eyes widened. She may not like the boy romantically, but he was by no means an unattractive man.

“Ugh, will this work?” He asked, pulling the shirt inside out.

Megan looked like a deer in headlights.

“Works for me.” She all but drooled.

Thea put a hand around her mouth to stop herself from laughing, or at least hide her gleeful grin. Kalur glanced at her and chuckled.

“Wait, shouldn't I be Conner Nelson?” Thea heard Connor ask as he and Megan walked away.

“They grow up so fast.” Manhunter said fondly.

~~~

Kaldur and Thea took some time the rest of the morning to do some work, and make lunch. Thea really liked spending time with Kaldur. It reminded her of her early days at camp, meeting and getting to know Luke, Annabeth, and Grover – back when it all felt so simple.

Later, they returned to the mission room. Thea was slowly but surely getting the hang of using the cave’s computer, but she could always use more practice.

Again, their comms went off.

“It’s me. I may possibly be in over my head.” Red Arrow said.

After a brief conversation to plan, the call ended.

“You go ahead.” Thea said as soon as Red Arrow hung up.

“You’re not coming?” Kaldur asked, seeming confused.

“He doesn’t like me.” Thea stated bluntly. “The whole situation will be easier if I’m not there. He’s not upset by my presence and you don’t have to worry about the two of us not getting along.”

Kaldur paused, thinking over her words.

“You do not need to come if you really do not want to.” He began. “But I think we will need your help. As… abrasive as he can be, he does not hate you, and I know that his distrust is misplaced. I will not force it, but I would like you to come with me.” Kaldur said.

Thea’s posture softened.

“Okay.” She said. “But only if you don’t leave me alone with him.” She commanded.

“Deal.” Kaldur said with a smile.

~~~

Kaldur and Thea arrived in Taipei covertly. Zeta tubes meant no TSA, but Thea didn’t want to risk openly carrying her sword into a politically tense situation, so she stuck with her dagger hidden under her jacket. The two were standing in front of a podium where Red Arrow, along with Lex Luthor and the representatives from North and South Rhelasia were.

Thea felt a presence behind her.

“Get ready.” She whispered to Kaldur.

He turned around to face the disguised woman as Thea shifted over slightly, getting out of the way while making sure to watch Kaldur’s back.

“That is far enough, Cheshire.” He said.

The assailant acted innocent for only a second, before pushing a button on the tea cart she was pushing and leaping away. Kaldur pulled the water from the cups on the podium, forming a wall of water just as Red Arrow shot an arrow, setting off the bomb. Fortunately, Kaldur’s wall held, but the exertion it took was obvious. As soon as the explosion cleared, Kaldur dropped the barrier.

“It’s over, Cheshire.” Somebody said.

“You would think so.” She replied coyly.

Thea’s eyes narrowed. A helicopter carrying a group of assassins piloted next to the building.

“Take Sportsmaster. Cheshire’s mine.” Red Arrow commanded Kaldur.

“Thea–” Kaldur started.

“Protect the ambassadors?” She said, already pulling out her dagger to engage the closest Shadow.

“Yes.” He acknowledged, focusing his attention on Sportsmaster.

Thea moved quickly, focusing on the Shadows and making sure they couldn’t get too close to the ambassadors. She only had her dagger, and the Shadows were trained in a different fighting style, but her years of sword practice and combat training made her a formidable opponent. The whole time, Thea was careful. Monsters could be killed and would eventually come back – but these were mortals, and she didn’t want to murder anyone.

Thea ducked a blow from the Shadow in front of her, then kicked their leg out from under them. They fell and hit their head on the ground. Quickly another Shadow engaged her. They circled each other, each landing hits and defending against the others’ attacks. Oddly, this Shadow seemed to be pushing Thea away from the ambassadors rather than getting closer to them himself. Thea glanced over, trying to find Lex Luthor as well as her friends. The slight moment of distraction was enough for the Shadow to push Thea outside the building. As soon as her foot crossed over the threshold, the soldier spun around, heading back to the ambassadors.

“Vlakas!” She swore, realizing the trick.

~~~

Before she had the chance to run back inside, though, a sudden searing pain cut through her shoulder. She grabbed the area, pulling her hand away to see blood coming from a slice – almost like that of a small arrow. Something on the ground caught her eye and she kneeled to find a feather. She picked it up. It was a grayish color, but when it caught the sun it gleamed gold, and when she turned it to the side, it was razor sharp.

“Oh, Styx.”

It was as if her realization summoned the flock. Spinning on her heel, Thea spotted the treeline and ran for cover. It wasn’t great help though – Stymphalian birds are incredibly dangerous monsters. The mortals she ran past looked confused, but Thea paid them no mind, certain that the Mist would do its work. Thea tried not to be slowed down by the birds, even as their feathers slashed cuts in her skin.

“One monster is bad enough, but a whole swarm? Really?” She muttered under her breath as she finally reached the trees.

Of course, it didn’t stop the birds from following her, but at least she wasn’t as obvious a target, and they couldn’t shoot their feathers from above.

“Okay, Thea. Think.” She said to herself.

“Defeating the Stymphalian birds was one of Hercules’ tasks. But he used brass bells from Athena – what am I supposed to do?” The girl thought out loud.

It was too little, too late. Some of the birds had found her. There weren't as many as before, but that hardly mattered. Pulling out her dagger, Thea really wished she had her sword. One of the birds flew close – it looked like a pigeon, but bigger, and stronger – and Thea swung at it. She knocked it aside before its bronze beak could grab her, but it was only stunned for a moment. It flew back toward her, gaining speed. A pigeon shouldn’t be as menacing as a peregrine falcon, but Thea was very afraid.

This time, she had a better idea of what she was up against, and her aim held true. Her dagger sliced through the bird, turning it to golden ashes, though not before its feathers cut open new wounds on her hand.

A much worse pain shot through her abdomen. Thea looked down to find one of the other birds pecking, working its way through the skin of her stomach. She yelled, shoving forward her dagger with her injured hand, but another bird intercepted her, sending the dagger flying a few feet away.

If she made it out now, she would survive – the injuries weren’t too severe. But she was defenseless against the monsters, and she knew that without some loud noise to stop them, they would strip her to the bones.

Suddenly, a resonant boom sounded from inside the building, then a pause before more loud bangs. The lives of the ambassadors crossed her mind, but regardless, she had never been so grateful to hear a bomb and gunshots.

A few of the birds startled, and went flying away. The other, still cutting up Thea’s flesh, stayed for a moment. The adrenaline Thea got from looking down at the wound gave her the energy to kick the bird away and scream. Fortunately, it was enough for the creature to fly away after its family.

Thea slumped against a tree. From where she lay, she could see into the building, though her vision was gradually blurring. Having not prepared for a monster attack, she didn’t have her typical supplies on her. Thea pulled off her partially shredded shirt, leaving her in her sports bra, and balled it up to put pressure on her jagged wound. Her energy was draining, and nectar and ambrosia would have to wait until after Kaldur and Red Arrow found her – if they even would.

“What a way to go.” She muttered to herself in Greek, closing her eyes from the pain but trying to stay awake.

~~~

Fortunately for the young heroes, the guns Thea had heard did not maim the ambassadors, but rather an attacking Shadow. Sportsmaster and Cheshire had disappeared, but the treaty had been signed.

“I can't believe we just did a solid for Lex Luthor.” Red Arrow complained as he and Aqualad walked through the building.

“Not for Luthor, for peace.” Kaldur said, looking around for Thea and concluding that she must be outside.

“Beyond that, if Ra's and the League of Shadows wanted to sabotage the Summit, the signing of the treaty renders their contract moot. It is over.” He assured.

“Is it?” Red Arrow questioned as they stepped outside.

“I heard what Sportsmaster said. Do you really think there's a mole on your team feeding him intel?”

“I cannot rule out the possibility.” Kaldur said diplomatically.

“I will investigate quietly.” He said.

“Not tell them?” Red Arrow asked, surprised.

“I do not want the unit unraveling over baseless suspicions. And if there is a mole, I have no wish to tip him or her off.” Kaldur explained.

“Good luck with that.” Red Arrow said with a salute, turning to walk away.

“One moment, my friend.” Kaldur said.

“Tonight, you could have called Green Arrow for help or the Justice League. Instead, your first instinct was to call the Cave.” He observed.

Red Arrow paused.

“You're right. The team deserves… has my respect.” Red Arrow admitted.

“I'm still getting used to this solo act stuff. But if you need me, I'll be there.” He said kindly, moving to shake Kaldur’s hand.

The boys stepped away from each other. Red Arrow stopped suddenly, furrowing his eyebrows, looking off past the fountain. Without saying anything to Kaldur, he broke into a run toward the treeline.

“Arrow?” Kaldur called after him, but the hero was too distracted and said nothing.

Kaldur, confused, followed after him.

~~~

Thea had remained awake, but was afraid to try to get up due to the injury in her side. She saw Kaldur and Red Arrow walking out of the building, but her voice was strained and she couldn’t yell to get their attention. As much as she had her issues with the man, when Red Arrow looked over in her direction, she was relieved.

He ran up to her, having spotted her before Kaldur. When he reached her he immediately scanned her body, seeing cuts across her arms and legs as well as whatever injury she was hiding with her shirt.

“Holy shit, what happened?” He asked, kneeling next to her, lifting up her makeshift compress to view her injury before pushing it back down with more pressure.

Thea gasped at the sting.

“Did a Shadow do this to you?” He asked, concerned and confused.

She shook her head.

“Stymphalian birds.” She croaked.

“What?” The boy asked.

Thea smiled a little bit.

“Greek monsters – they’re like scary, flesh-eating pigeons.” She explained.

“Jesus.” Red Arrow muttered under his breath.

“Yeah.” The girl chuckled, moving to prop her arms behind her and pull herself up.

“Oh, hell no.” Red Arrow said, pushing her back down.

Kaldur came jogging up behind Red Arrow. His eyes widened with guilt and concern as he saw Thea in her condition.

“Thea…” He trailed off.

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” The girl attempted to reassure though neither boy seemed convinced.

“We need to get you to the med bay.” Kaldur said, putting himself in leader mode to mitigate his distress.

“That’d be great.” Thea said, clenching her teeth as she shifted against the tree.

“I’ll help.” Red Arrow said, leaving no room for argument.

The boys nodded at each other, each moving down to grab Thea under her shoulders.

They pulled her up, Red Arrow keeping pressure on her wound.

“Wait!” Thea said before they could start moving.

“My dagger, it’s right over there.” She said, pointing a little ways away.

Red Arrow shouldered all of Thea’s weight, and nodded at Kaldur who stepped away to pick up the girl’s weapon.

“Thank you.” Thea said, reaching out to grab it.

“I can hold onto it for now, let’s just get you back to the cave.”

With Red Arrow and Kaldur both supporting her, the three young heroes hobbled back to the zeta tube.

“This is where I leave you. At least, assuming you’ve got it from here. If you need me, I can stay.” Red Arrow said.

“We’ll manage.” Kaldur told him and Thea confirmed with a nod.

“Arrow!” She called as the archer began to walk away.

“Thank you.” She said sincerely.

The boy smiled.

“You’re welcome.” He said.

“And, Thea? You can call me Roy.”

~~~

Kaldur had carried Thea to the med bay in the cave, helped her dress the wound in her side, and after some discussion, even got her to sit down on a gurney. The girl protested, but after seeing the worry in Kaldur’s eyes, she agreed.

“I got what you asked for.” Kaldur said as he walked back into the room, carrying Thea’s satchel.

“Thank you.” She smiled, reaching into the bag to pull out a small flask and a ziplock with small, yellow cubes.

Grabbing a piece of ambrosia, Thea took a bite. Closing her eyes, she savored the taste of her dad’s homemade sourdough. It had been a long time since she had seen – or had wanted to see – her father, but the taste never failed to make her feel at home.

Kaldur smiled at the peaceful look on Thea’s face before getting up to grab some disinfectant and cloth to clean the cuts on her arms and legs. Thea swallowed her bite and opened her eyes to watch Kaldur. In some ways, it reminded her of times she got stuck in the Apollo cabin with injuries. Kaldur’s gentleness, though, made the moment far more tranquil.

Kaldur held Thea’s wrist gently as he wiped the antiseptic over the cuts on her arm. He had a small frown on his face as he worked. Thea knew that look.

“I’m okay, Kaldur.” She murmured softly, looking at her injuries, not meeting his eyes.

Kaldur sighed gently.

“I know that you will recover. But I am still upset to see you injured, especially from an unsanctioned mission I convinced you to go on.” He mutters, a hint of self-loathing seeping into his tone. Thea grabbed his wrist gently, halting his movements. She looked up at him.

“It isn’t your fault, Kaldur. My injuries have nothing to do with the mission. This is just a… occupational hazard, I guess. Courtesy of being a demigod. I’m fine.” She insisted quietly.

Kaldur was unconvinced.

“You should have called for help. We would have helped. I…” He trailed off, unable to articulate his thoughts.

Thea sighed gently.

“I know you would have helped me. Of course you would have.” Thea reassured. “I just… I was being stupid. I forgot that I had comms in. I’m still… I’m still not used to this whole ‘having back up’ thing.” She chuckled weakly. “Usually when you get cornered by a monster… you’re on your own.” She said sadly.

Kaldur paused, face softening at her words. Thea let go of his wrist and he resumed cleaning her cuts, mulling over his next words.

“I understand that. It is… quite the transition. Learning how to work with a team.” He acknowledged softly. “But you’re not on your own.” He concluded, voice gentle but firm.

Thea smiled up at him, letting him maneuver her arm to reach her scrapes and cuts.

“No. Not anymore.” She agreed.

#kaldur'ahm x oc #luke castellan x oc #percy jackson #percy jackson fanfiction #young justice #young justice fanfiction #kaldur'ahm #kaldur'ahm x reader #luke castellan x reader #kaldur x reader #kaldur #kaldur x oc #thea's quest

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birdies-aus · 1 year ago

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Au Masterlist / Tagging Key

ok so half intro post half au list

My names Ru or Birdie and i make a lot of AU ideas in my silly little head and i lobe having attention so ill draw those ideas and occasionally ill post them on this account.

most of my aus will go off of the Young Justice (Cartoon) season 1 team dynamics simply because thats the first piece of DC content i consumed.

Though i will eventually try to branch more into comic characterizations of characters (kon) and team dynamics (nightwing being closer with titans than yjcartoon team)

#Birdie AU - Talon!Dick Grayson Au

my second au ever made ... honestly its my au that stretches at the bounderies of whats considered an au the most

most bc along with basically deaging to around tims age i deaged the YJcartoon team with him so i could give him some friends

character list:

- Birdie - Dick Grayson

he doesn't remember his past before the court. Hes spent the last several years either cryogenically frozen or being trained or following orders.

he sees Jason as an older brother. But also a younger brother after hes told that he is actually supposed to be older.

He has a lot of identity issues, unsure of who or what he is or how he should present himself.

its a lot of fun for me

endgame relationships

birdie/wally/artemis/zatanna | birdie&artemis | wally&zatanna || Timber || superbat

#TMAAU - The Magnus Archives Au

An AU placing the YJCartoon team into the Magnus Archives

TMA fans might be concerned bc of the canonical character dwath in the podcast but i am avoiding it bc i am a weak baby

character list:

-Jon - Connor

-Sasha - Kaldur

-Tim - Wally

-Martin - M'gann

-Michael - Dick

-Melanie - Tim

-Basira - Zatanna

-Daisy - Artemis

-Elias - Luthor

-Agnes - Bernard

-Gertrude - i wanna make her Slade for silly reasons

#Mermaid Wally AU - The Little Mermaid Au

Basically the plot of the little mermaid but its Birdflash bc im a simple birdflash fan

characters/roles:

Ariel - Wally

Eric - Dick

Grims - Alfred

Flounder - Artemis C

Sebastion - either Garth or Kaldur

Scuttle - either Mgann or Zatanna

Roy and Jason r in more made up roles that parallel scuttle and sebastion trying to help dick and wally get together. Jason is Dick little brother wants everyone to stop talking about when his older brother is going to get married AND he seems to he making Heart Eyes Around Wally so like win win and Roy is usually fine to let Dick do what he wants, best firend things. but descides to help dicks little brother in his antics

(disclaimer this au is Not Jayroy- jasons story mostly focuses on aroace jason hc)

I have no idea who ursula should be its so hard

#PKMN AU - Pokemon Trainer Au

really a simple au that gives me an excuse to imagine them as pkmn trainers and gives my friend excuses to create plmn teams for them

alsp mostly @mbirnsings-71 s au as she makes the teams tbh i might just occasionally draw things from it

#miracu au - Miraculous Ladybug Au

An au where i take dc characters and shove them into the miraculous ladybug universe !!

the character list would make this pinned post too long, so I'll link a miracu au info post in a little bit but ill add

that obvious its birdflash... im so predictable...

Marinette | ladybug - wally | junebug

TBC...

Adrien | Chat Noir - dick | acrocat

#xmen au - X-Men Au

basically so far ive jsut put thr batfam into the xmen school for mutants

mostly just birdflash content, but i am like trying to think of others in the context of the au! it mostly just started as a way for me to destress from doing zine work :)

there are more, but these are the ones I've posted so far, and im unsure if i should add the unposted ones to the list before i post them / make tags for them

#non au stuff #pinned post

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hardcore-direwolf · 1 year ago

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No More Secrets

WARNING: SMUT, FLUFF, ANGST! Takes place between ! They dated at S1 of late 2010, they got married and have their son on S2 during the five-year gap before Lian was born, and they're in S3 in early 2017!

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Kaldur'ahm or Jackson Hyde aka Aqualad was resting besides his wife Bellatrix or Ophelia Trevor aka Wonder Girl, who was the daughter of Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, and the birth mother of his son...named Calvin after his stepfather. Kaldur almost lost his son and his lover by his biological father, but she manages to bend the water in order for herself along with their kid to survive. Bella heard her husband getting up and opens her eyes to see him gone.

"Kaldur," she mumbled sleepily, yawning as she got up and wraps herself in her night robe. "That grown ass man better not be drinking like last time, we got only one kid to worry about now."

Bella found Kaldur outside with his head in his hands and sighs. She knows he's guilty for what almost happened to her, their son, their loved ones, and their best friend Wally by his undercover mission as the new Black Manta. Bella went to their child's bedrooms to change them, her eyes drifted to Calvin's gills he had inherited from his father and smiled down at them as she left his room.

"You're such a great mother to Calvin," she replied with an appreciative hum and kisses his cheek.

"Kaldur'ahm, you need to tell me what's wrong okay? We married each other for many reasons, a few of them will be love, care, and support. Your son loves you, but you need to realize that sooner before you start acting like David. Your stepfather raised you better than this Kaldur, if your mother was here watching you look and act like this, she won't be the only damn woman gonna be popping some sense right into you. It's either you tell me the truth and get some help from your nightmares like you promised me, or I'm moving back in with my damn parents and taking our child with me if you don't do what I'm pleading you to do for our families...especially our son." Bella told him with a stern look and a firm tone, turning away to go back inside their shared bedroom. "Goodnight Kaldur'ahm, make sure the laundry is done by this evening after I take Calvin to Atlantis to see his grandparents, and get groceries."

Kaldur suddenly stood up and stops Bella for a moment. He was glaring down at her with a darkened look and slams his lips onto hers instantly. The demigoddess was very shocked by his roughness and closed her eyes as she kisses him back.

The half-Atlantean lifts her up and carries his wife to their bedroom. Bella was still mad and tries to get out of his hold. Kaldur drops her on the middle of their bed and took off the raven-haired woman's black robe before stripping her from her black negligee.

"What the fuck are you doing Kaldur'ahm?! I'm not having sex with you if you don't tell me the truth. I'm worried about you and you're keeping things from me like years ago." Kaldur stayed silent and took off everything he has, going between her legs with a purpose.

"Bellatrix, I'm scared okay? I had almost lost you, our son, our family we made cause of what my real father tried to do to both of you and I knew it was my fault. I should've never done that deadly mission, we would've been raising our son and being a happy family if I haven't chose to do it. That dreadful day gave me nightmares every time I fell asleep and stare down at our son...our first-born child. Bella, I want to rekindle our bond...our marriage again, I want to feel complete with you on my side, and fix all of my mistakes I made with you. I love you so much angel, I never wanted to hurt you nor our family, I swore to protect both of you for the rest of my life...and I want to show you how much I miss you being close to me. Let me show you angel, please forgive me for this." Bella was about to say something, but Kaldur put his lips back on hers and pulls the covers over their naked bodies.

Kaldur begun rubbing her clit and trailing love bites on her neck as his wife moans softly in pleasure. He latched onto her full breast and begun kissing them while resting his free hand on her stomach. Bella was feeling her husband please her and never thought she'll miss this interaction that much.

Kaldur felt her slick and smelt her arousal, his pupils dilated in lust while licking his fingers in front of his wife. Bella gently shoves him and begins blowing him off. She hums as she sucks Kaldur's cock and doing a lot of deep throat work on his large member.

The blond-haired Atlantean soldier rubs her hair back and saw his spouse hollow out her cheeks. Kaldur grunts as Bella continues blowing him off and giving him some head. He squeezed his eyes shut when he came hard in her mouth after several long minutes later, she gulped his large load down and pops him out of her mouth.

"Are you still mad at me angel?" Kaldur asked his wife with a deepened tone from experiencing his climax.

"Come pound me then and find out my king." Bella replied in a low tone, laying on her back and spreading her legs open for him. "Your queen needs you."

Kaldur's desires were now fulfilled as he strokes his hardened cock and begun thrusting it inside Bella, groaning at how much tighter she became since they separated from each other due to some complicated issues between them. The raven-haired demigoddess moans and bites her bottom lip at her husband's size...it seems that he's gotten a lot larger than usual like last time. The Atlantean hero notices how much weight and height she got after having their heir...their son, but she's still a bit smaller than him due to their genetics as different races.

"Get ready angel," Bella was moaning and mewling as Kaldur begun showing her how much he missed her.

Kaldur yanks her wrists back and pins them down in his hands beside her head. Bella then arches her back at the strength and pleasure her husband was giving her. The demigoddess felt her wrists were free, so she pulls the Atlantean down for a kiss and rolls him onto his back.

"So good," she said softly as she rode Kaldur's cock and pinning him down this time.

"I feel the same," he groaned out. "Wait till I can get out of your hold Bella, I'll show you what you make me want to do to you whenever you get mad at me."

Bella licks his gills and dodges her spouse's lips with an innocent look. Kaldur's green eyes went dark and narrowed at her sweet refusal for a kiss. He thrusted his hips up hard when he got hers in his hands and she gasps in pleasure.

"Never try teasing me like that with me every again angel," he growled his painless threat at his wife. "Do you understand me?"

Kaldur pulls out and turns Bella right on her knees with her back to his front. He slams his cock back inside her and she begun babbling as he kept the same rough pace with her. Bella threw her head back while Kaldur sucks more dark hickeys onto her flawless porcelain skin.

"Get down angel," Bella bends her body down and lays on the mattress before she screams into the pillows.

Kaldur was laying on top of her and splitting her in half with hardened monster cock. He growls and yanks her hair hard, earning a yelp from his wife. Bella was a squealing mess underneath him and it fueled him to keep going till he cums inside his spouse...his lover...his wife.

"You like when I lose my patience with you huh? You love being my stress relief angel, I wonder if you can take my seeds inside you again like last time when we consumed our marriage." Kaldur growled deeply into her ears as he slaps her ass and kneels her breast hard.

"Yes Kaldur, yes...give it to me. I want it, I need it, now!" Bella pleaded desperately before she came hard and screeches his name.

Kaldur shoves his entire cock inside her to the base, feeling him poke her cervix and unleash what he pent up for months after his undercover mission. Bella felt his hot seeds went deep in her womb and smiled blissfully as his large load was pumped inside her. The half-Atlantean kisses her left cheek and turns them to their sides while keeping his cock inside is wife's creamy stuffed cunt.

"I love you my queen okay? I never want to lose you Bella, you're my wife, and I truly apologize for what happened those years back when I joined David. What do I need to do to earn your trust and love?" Bella nodded and sighs for a moment before blushing.

Last week with the ladies, Bella told them that she wanted a daughter and they understood why. The demigoddess got a deep connection with innocent babies and children. That's why she loved kids and they love her for being a nurturing caretaker that she was now.

"I want another child Kaldur, a daughter...our son's growing up and I think it's time for our family to grow. Calvin's been asking me for a sibling, he wanted us to give him a sister on his next birthday, and I needed to talk to you about that when he's with his grandparents." Kaldur nodded and kisses her passionately, he can do that for her heart and soul.

Kaldur watched how his wife will let their son Calvin play with Lian and her father Will whenever she's free with their son. Jade was there to record this with him and they watched their kids play together. Calvin and Lian were best friends to each other since the former Shadow was around the demigoddess during their pregnancies together.

"Alright angel," he whispered. "I can do that, I believe that our bond will be fixed when I get help from our loved ones...but for now, I'll get some rest for your sake."

Bella held his hand in hers and kisses it where his wedding ring was. Kaldur hugged her close while closing his eyes and let the weight of his fears get carried off of his shoulders. The married couple fell asleep, knowing that they got their loved ones and family to worry about in the future.

#kaldur'ahm #young justice #jackson hyde #yj #ofc #kaldur x oc #kaldur smut #young justice oc #young justice imagine #young justice fanfiction

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vergess · 2 years ago

Note

NOOO I FORGOT ABOUT F/F FEBRUARY TOO

Fuck it, we ball.

Let's do recs.

2022 was not a bad year for femslash fanfiction.

In particular, 2022 was a surprisingly robust year for femslash. No polyships made it to the top 100, tragically for me. But there was a 10% increase in women of colour!

Which means +5.

But still!!!!! Nice work, everypony!

On a personal note, I focused primarily in 2022 on collecting fics with trans characters, which makes f/f recs that much harder for me to give.

But!! I do have some bangers!

These are listed in order of my bookmarks, not in order of preference.

First up (thus, the most recently bookmarked) is this Yu Gi Oh fanfic featuring Rebecca/Téa(Anzu)

At 4k words, it has a roughly 20 minute read time and is terribly sweet. It's not fluffy, mind you, just heartfelt in a way that little autistic lesbians will relate to. It follows many years of Rebecca's life, from learning about sex, to learning about girls, to learning about the trials of being an adult.

Next up, this Deltarune porno featuring Noelle and Susie.

It's about going into heat as a consequence of HRT as a deer. It's Very Good, if you're into that kind of thing (I am).

This next one is for a fandom I'm not in and will have to copy paste the name of.

Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor, with the ship Wen Kexing/Zhou Zisou

It's breeding kink porn. It's Really Fucking Good breeding kink porn. This is distinct from heat porn, to be clear. These characters are specifically trying to have kids.

Next is Utena fic. I mean is it REALLY femslash February without Utena and Anthy? Is it really?

This is a gore/horror/delirium piece with some truly compelling and hypnotic wound fucking.

Next, let's talk genderbends. Specifically, let's talk this rule 63 by way of transition Harry/Draco piece. Obviously I'm a big believer in violently ripping HP away from JKR and letting fans use the framework to make better things. And this is one of those better things!!

A sweet but emotionally brutal little piece about realizing you like girls in a gay way because you are one. Only, you're an adult and quite a famous one, so it's Very Stressful Actually.

This last one is far and away my personal favourite of the list. It's a Young Justice fic, though because it's from early in the canon and diverges hugely, you really only need basic familiarity with the concept of Superboy as a character. The ship is Supergirl/M'gann(/kind of Kaldur, who is kind of a girl at the time)

God it's so fucking good. It's so good that it literally caused me to start a trans-and-t4t collection on ao3. I want everyone on earth to read this goddamn fic. It's not really focused on the femslash, it's more of a gender fic, but still!! The premise is simple. A magical attack swaps the sexes of everyone on the team. They all experience crippling dysphoria, save the already fluid and alien M'gann, and Superboy, now Supergirl, who for the first time in her miserable life ISN'T dysphoric, but has no words for any of the joy, or the fear of going back.

That's enough recs for now, surely?

Happy Femslash February, everypony!

#femslash february #femmeslash february #vees recs stuff

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originaltyphoonkryptonite · 2 months ago

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Chapter 18: Old Friends

Zella pov

It was a slow day today. Dick was taking a nap in his apartment with Cippia. I had the store to myself. The bell above the door rings while I was in the storage room doing inventory.

"Just a second!", I call out as I put down my clipboard and pen. I walk out of the room and head to the counter.

"Welcome to 'Silent Shadow'. Can I help you?"

There were 5 people who had entered. Three guys and two girls. One of the girls had long blond hair and dark gray eyes. She was wearing a brown jacket over a green shirt and jeans with boots. The other girl had amber eyes with short red hair while wearing a red and white dress. The boy that was more muscular then the others had black hair and blue eyes while wearing a black tank with jeans. The next of the group had dark skin, pale green eyes and blond hair with a jacket whose collar covered his neck. The last one was a ginger with green eyes with a long sleeve-shirt wearing a short-sleeve jacket over it.

"Yeah. We're looking for a friend's place but must have took a wrong turn.", The redheaded man says.

"Well if that friend happens to be Dick Grayson, you are in the right place."

"Wait what?", The blond girl says with a raised eyebrow.

"He rents an apartment above my store."

"Oh."

"There is an entrance to a hallway in the alley so next time use that."

"We apologize for the inconvenience.", the one that seemed to be the leader said.

"No problem. The door in the back leads to that hallway too so follow me.", I reply as I take out my keys. They follow me to that door, waited for me to unlock it, and then into the hallway.

"So what's your name beautiful?", the ginger asks.

"Zella but sorry not interested, not to mention I think the girl next to you is angry."

He looks over to the blond and gulps. "Sorry Artemis."

"Watch it Bay-watch."

I lead them to the apartments and knocked on Dick's door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dick pov

I hear someone knock on my door and I groan. I get up and notice that Cippa is asleep on his back on my bed. I pull on a shirt and make my way through the living room after closing my bedroom door. I open the door a crack to my surprise to see the original Team there.

"Sorry for waking you on your off day Dick. I'll leave you to your guests.", Zell says as she heads back to her bookstore. I open the door wider and let them in. We made our ways to the couch and chairs in my living room.

"So why are you guys here?", I ask as I sit down.

"Dude! Why didn't you tell me you're getting married!?", Wally whines at me.

"What?"

"My friend, you are engaged no?", Kaldur asks me.

"Shit! I forgot that either Damian, Tim, or Jason might mention this to the team.", I think to myself.

"We're still kinda planing things so that's why I haven't said anything yet."

"Yet?", Artemis asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"So when do we get to meet her!?", Wally jumps up and down in his seat.

"Huh? But didn't you guys already meet?"

"No.", Conner says.

"Hello Megan!", M'gann says her catchphrase.

"What is it?", Conner asks.

"That lady that brought us up here is your fiancée."

"Yeah that was Zell.", I said with a smile.

"She's cute.", Wally says.

"Yeah she kinda is."

"So has she picked out a wedding dress yet?" Artemis asks.

"I don't think she has. She really doesn't have a lot of friends so I don't know what she'll do for bridesmaids."

"Well maybe Artemis and I can fill in for her?"

"Not sure......she kinda takes a while to warm up to people."

"Maybe Zatanna and Barbra can also help?"

"You want my two exs help my fiancée pick a wedding dress?"

"Good point." Artemis says. "Not sure how that would go."

"Either way not sure what she is going to do about that."

"I have an idea Dick." Kaldur says.

"Oh?"

"We could have lunch, the seven of us. To get to know each other."

"I guess that could work."

"What was that?", Conner asks as he looks around.

"What was what?", Wally asks.

"I heard something.", he says as he stands up. He goes over to my bedroom door and opens it. He narrows his eyes and heads back to his seat.

"I could have sworn I heard something."

I internally smirk as I suspect Cippia woke up and used a shadow to go to Zell's place.

"Let me call Zell."

~Time-skip~

Gus happened to be in the bookstore when I called so Zell is eating lunch with us. She and M'gann made the food and it was good. It went fine I guess. Zell sat next to me and did try her best. Though when asked about a wedding dress she did blush. She's kinda cute when she blushes like that. She got along with Artemis better then I expected.

The Team left and Zella flopped onto my couch on her back.

"How many more heroes am I going to meet?"

"More. Much more.", I reply with a smirk.

"Figures."

I go to sit next to her on the couch.

"M'gann wants to take you wedding dress shopping."

"How wonderful." she says as she puts a pillow over her face.

"It won't be that bad.", I chuckle as I remove the pillow.

"I can not believe you agreed to go on a double date with Wally and Artemis this Saturday!", she glares at me.

"I had no choice. If I said no they would get suspicious."

"You are enjoying this aren't you?"

"Maybe just a little?"

"Just for that you can pay for dinner that night."

"Oh come on."

"Nope."

"Alright.", I reply with a smirk.

"What are you planing?"

"Nothing...."

"Don't you dar-!", she cuts off her own sentence as I start to tickle her.

"Mercy! Mercy!", she cries out.

"Hmm, nope.", I say as I tickle her some more.

"Ci-cippia!"

Cippia appears out of a shadow and jumps on me pinning me down.

"My turn." she says with an evil grin while Cippia has a big doggy grin.

"Mercy?"

"Hmm, nope." she mimics my words as she returns the favor.

#oc #nightwing

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septic-stories · 2 years ago

Text

A Siren's Forte: Another Nightmare

Happy Harbor

October 15, 07:19 EDT

"Recognized: Siren, B-zero-two; Tigress, B-zero-eight; Halo, G-zero-three."

Jenna felt like she could relax once they left the Zeta-Tube. All morning, she had been practically dashing around her apartment. From her bedroom to grab her bag, to the kitchen to ensure Violet was finishing her breakfast, to the living room to make sure the girl's backpack was ready, then back to the kitchen to quickly pour a cup of coffee. Trying to ensure they weren't running late left her slightly frazzled, much to her best friend's amusement.

But they made it through the morning, finally teleporting to M'gann and Conner's (and Lucas') home where waiting for them were Brion and Forager.

Violet let out a giggle as they left the garage, shooting up into the air excitedly. "It's the first day of school!" she cheered.

"Uh, no flying at school please!" Artemis called up to her.

"That is one phone call I would not want to receive," Jenna whined, keeping her metal thermos close to her sternum. Violet listened though, dropping in front of the boys.

Artemis approached the bug from New Genesis. "Forager, Zatanna created this just for you," she said, digging out an item from her jacket. "Your very own Glamor Charm."

She held it out to Forager, but he just bent over halfway, ducking his head. Clearly, he was expecting Artemis to put it on him herself. The woman shared a look with Jenna who just shrugged, then placed the necklace over his head.

It was weird, to see the change happen in real time. Jenna wasn't a stranger to the magic–having seen it on Artemis when she was still undercover with Kaldur–but it still harbored some bad memories. Yet Jenna simply sighed, deciding to shove them back into the depths of her brain.

Forager had straightened back up and was examining his hands. "So...is Forager glamorous now?" he questioned, his voice sounding much clearer and human. He certainly looked more human too, appearing as a short, chubby teenager with a normal set of arms.

"You look human!" Violet said with awe. "...And considerably less naked."

Forager wasn't convinced though. "Is Violet sure?" he asked, looking down at his hands. "Forager still looks like Forager to Forager. And Forager still feels naked."

"Violet is sure. And it's Violet Harper now; I have a new last name!" she revealed.

"Forager is still Forager," he reminded.

"Not today," Artemis piped up.

"You needed a human name for school," Violet explained. "I helped Artemis fill out the forms and picked a name I thought you would like: Fred Bugg. With two 'G's."

That's a bit on the nose. Jenna hid her smile behind her drink as she thought about that conversation from the other night.

Fred mulled the thought over, tapping his chin. "Forager is Fred Bugg-with-two-Gs," he repeated. "Forager understands. No, wait- Fred Bugg-with-two-Gs understands!"

"I'm sure you'll fit right in," Brion piped up.

Jenna quietly shushed the prince, sharing an amused glance with him.

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thebubblesareevil · 2 years ago

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Phantom?

I wanna say this would take place towards the end of season1 young justice

Klarion had been up to his old habits again but this time he was summoning and binding ghosts to his will causing a whole new brand of chaos. the league is getting desperate calling every magic user they have at their disposal to figure out how they can combat the ghosts. While each of them have their own methods they are usually up agains shades rather than fully formed ectoplasmic ghosts. Both the justice league and the young justice team have met to discuss their next move. They all keep trying to come up with solution when then are interrupted by a young girl that appeared from thin air asking if they needed help everyone is immediately on guard prepared to attack

The girl (ghost?) backs up with her hands up and exclaims Woah woah chillax everyone I’m here to help! Batman immediately jumps in demanding she identify herself she says that’s fair the names phantom. Zatanna looks surprised and says that can’t be true Batman says a simple explain and Zatanna tells everyone about how phantom is a ghost who fought off other ghosts hundreds of years ago but to her knowledge phantom is a myth and well male

“Phantom” immediately gets offended im not a myth im dead there’s a difference and so what if I decided to be a girl this century that’s very sexist of you I mean really

Zatanna tries to apologize but “phantom” just says whatever I don’t care whether you believe me or not I’m here to help. Klarion is messing with my friends and that is not okay. She immediately starts explaining her plan and The rest of the league joins in

In the end they decide to use “phantom”as their secret weapon and she travels with Zatanna Conner Kaldur and Robin. When they get to Klarions base they get in position and wait for the signal but Phantom gets bored and start talking to the others asking about what it’s like being on a team and what each of their powers are she gets excited to hear about Kaldur being Atlantean and what that’s like before moving on to Conner asking what it was like being Superman’s son Conner immediately gets defensive and states I’m not his son I’m his clone. Phantom freezes and seems like she has a million and one questions but moves on to Zatanna just as they get the signal to attack.

The fight was hard but phantom managed to pull through and they were able to stop Klarion and free the ghosts. When it was all said and done everyone was injured in one way or another they had all gotten back to base to report their mission success to the league and were talking when a voice comes from behind “phantom” having fun? She turns around quickly and immediately tackles a tired looking teen to the ground yelling DAD what are you doing here you’re supposed to be sleeping. Everyone is confused after all how could an ancient ghost have a dad? He managed to sit up and replied that he’s so glad she brought that up because last he checked he was about to go fight Klarion the witch boy when the next thing he knew he was asleep In his room in his lair. Phantom? rubbed her neck and said sorry about that but you’ve been working so hard lately cw and her thought he needed a break.

Wally chimes in “what’s happening here?” And the teen says oh right nice to meet you guys I’m phantom. And this is my daughter Specter. Reaction is immediate and they start to get mad at her for lying to them and how she put the whole team at risk, they went in there thinking she was centuries old and she was a child. Kaldur jumps in to defend her and says that her help was invaluable, Danny thanks Kaldur and states that he’s not that much older than her and she is just as capable as he is at beating back klarion.

Things calm down and it’s Wally who asks how exactly Spector is his daughter.

They look at each other and laugh before Danny explains that he took her in as his ghost daughter but she was actually a clone made by his arch nemesis created to replace him. You could hear a pin drop even without super hearing before the team all slowly looks back and forth between conner Spector superman and phantom.

Danny and Elle just look at each other and say what did we say?

Honestly I forgot about this but please enjoy this vomit that has spewed from my brain :)

#Danny phantom #dani phantom #justice league #young justice #Klarion #Zatanna #dick grayson #kaldur #conner kent #brain vomit #i do not control adhd

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shadowsndaisies · 3 years ago

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codename: nightingale - insecurity

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 23

WC: 8.6k

synopsis: ng has issues with december, robin is mia so wally steps up. roy is a snarky shit, and tests even ng’s patience. meanwhile oliver and kaldur take turns mother henning our favorite birb. ps: all artemis needs is a little confidence and some tlc

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

a/n: this chapter does get a bit heavier due to some of NG's history. There's brief talk about how she became an orphan spread through the chapter, so if that's something activating; be advised. that being said we get a lot quality bff wally west in this update

STAR CITY

December 4th, 12:35 EST

“I can’t believe you actually told them no,” Roy huffed, opening the door to Lenetti’s for you.

“Roy,” you said his name with a long-suffering sigh. He’d been haggling this point hard since Thanksgiving.

“The Justice League wants to indoctrinate you, making you the youngest member ever, and you said no,” he practically hissed as you skipped past the front and beelined for your usual booth.

“I’m not the youngest; Billy’s in the League,” you shoot back. It was true; Shazam was actually Billy Batson, a 10-year-old kid.

“He doesn’t count. He turns into an adult,” Roy dismisses.

“Seems like a grey area,” you hum as you wave at Mrs. Lenetti, who had smiled as she spotted you and Roy settle in.

“You’re an idiot,” Roy decides as he slumps in his booth.

“Roy Harper, you know better than to call her names. How many times has this sweet girl pulled your ass outta trouble?” Mrs. Lenitti scolds as she approaches, having caught his last statement.

Roy scowls a bit, and you can’t hide the prideful smirk on your lips.

“It’s okay, Mrs. L. Roy just doesn’t understand a decision I made recently,” you cover as Roy rolls his eyes.

“Well, if it’s something she’s serious about, honey, maybe it’s worth it to trust her gut. I don’t believe it’s led either of you wrong yet,” Mrs. L says sagely, gaining a softened look from Roy. “I’ll send your lunch orders in, same as usual?”

“Yes, please,” you smile brightly, and Mrs. L pats your cheek gently as she nods in affirmation.

“I’ll have the new girl bring you some water,” she adds from over her shoulder as she walks back toward the kitchen.

Your eyes catch on a blonde girl who must be in high school, watching as she nervously read the number on the ticket and then counted the tables under her breath.

“I can’t do it,” you finally say, voice low and soft, and it seems to snap Roy out of his brooding.

“What?”

“I can’t be 14-year-old (Y/n) Roxo and be a part of the league. When I’m older, obviously I want to do it, but I don’t think I’m ready for it just yet,” you explain.

“But it’s the League,” Roy’s voice had dropped to a softer tone as well. You could see him mulling over your words as he thought them through.

“The League wants the Sonic Sidekick, not soon to be a freshman in high school (Y/n),” you lament.

“I can’t believe you’re about to start high school,” Roy huffed.

“Makes a lot of sense when you look at it that way, doesn’t it?” you tease.

“Maybe,” he scoffs, dropping your gaze to fiddle with his napkin.

“Okay, Mr. High School Graduate,” you shoot back, and Roy offers a playful smirk.

“High percentile, too,” he winked.

“And yet you broke all our hearts when you decided college wasn’t for you,” you snort.

“According to Dinah and Ollie, I’m taking a gap year,” he shot back with a warning glare.

“Which is bullshit,” you scoffed out, knowing that Roy had no intention of actually going to college at the end of his gap year, despite how he sold the point to Dinah and Oliver.

“Language,” Roy teases, with a very Dinah-esque tone, as the new girl brings your drinks to the table. Once she walked away, he sobered up a little, and you knew what topic was coming before he opened his mouth. “The 6th is a few days away,” he says cautiously.

“Yeah, it is,” you nod, finding your glass of water way more interesting.

“Birdy,” Roy’s voice is gentle as he broaches the topic.

Your lips curl into a very flat frown, “It’s been eight years… what do you want me to say?” you huff.

“Dinah planning to distract you all day again?” he asks, and based on his tone, you know he’s trying to make it more light-hearted.

“I hope not. It worked well the first few years, but there’s only so much you can do to distract from the day a girl watched her parents get killed in front of her,” you lament, your tone flat.

“She means well,” Roy argues, showing a rare level of fierce protection for your shared pseudo-mom.

“I know,” you huff. “Look, I’ll probably stop by the cemetery and talk to them for a bit, but I don’t have a lot of plans. I’m stopping by the cave tomorrow, but Red, D, and Bats know unless the world is ending, I won’t be around on the 6th. I might go to Gotham for a bit, I dunno….”

“I know I’m not always the most reachable, but for the 6th, anything you need, I’ll get it for you, I promise,” Roy said seriously.

“Alright, that’s enough emoting. Let’s move on,” you scoff.

“Says the empath,” Roy smirks.

“I mean this with the most disrespect, fuck off,” you huff flipping him off.

“Oh! Party fowl, Dinah would not approve,” Roy tutted.

You rolled your eyes, but a small smile slipped through, and soon enough, the conversation was moving away from darker themes.

GOTHAM CITY

December 5th, 16:30 EST

“You know coming to Gotham at night is not exactly what I had in plan,” you drawl as you join Artemis on a fire escape a block away from the Zeta Point.

“Thanks for coming,” she said softly, and you frowned at the obviously downtrodden tone in her voice.

“What’s wrong?” you ask, sitting down next to her and letting your legs hang.

You watch her wrestle with whatever she wants to say for a minute. You can feel the conflicted feelings rolling off her, and with the limited space and how your legs are touching, you’re getting clear markers for anger, humiliation, frustration, and pride. So you wait. You give her time to think it through and phrase what she wants to say. Instead, you let your eyes wander on the horizon of Gotham, tracing over buildings and city lights that seem to shine through the smog.

“That first mission we all went on, you told me you knew I wasn’t GA’s niece, but you said you’d be here as a teammate, a friend, whenever I needed,” she began.

“I did, I am,” you assure her.

“Did GA tell you when he took me on?” she asked, voice cracking slightly.

Your lips tighten, “No,” you say the word slowly.

“He tell you anything after?” she followed.

You look down at the alleyway below you, “he did not.”

Artemis’ lips pull into a frown, “I was a pity case,” she frowns.

“What are you talking about?” eyebrows pulling down as you turn to her.

“My mom begged GA and Bats to take me on, to keep me in check. They showed up after I saved you guys against Amazo,” she explains, and for the first time since you met her, you’re finally learning the truth.

“That might be on me,” you smirk. “Rob, and KF, they got excited, thought Speedy was watching out for us, but I’ve spent half my life training with Speedy. I know what his arrows look like. I mentioned it to Ollie later that night because they sure as hell weren’t his arrows either.”

“They only took me in because my mom begged, NG, she begged,” Artemis scoffed.

“Maybe, but that’s not why they brought you to the mountain,” you say. “GA’s got a bit of a bleeding heart, no doubt, but Batman? He brought you to the team, he gave you a chance to be one of us, and you are, by the way. Begging or not, they brought you to the mountain because they saw something in you that means you’re like us. The boys and I started this team because we wanted to prove that we could do more than be sidekicks. Maybe your mom begged, but you’re on the team because GA and Batman think you can be more than a sidekick, that you can be every bit the hero you aspire to be.”

Artemis goes quiet as she takes in what you’ve said, and after a few minutes, you decide to change the topic, “how was patrol last night?” you ask.

Her face lights up in a second, “GA got knocked down! Black Spider was trying to get to this dad, and we swooped in! But Ollie got knocked down, flat on his ass. He tried to play it off, even let me take the lead, but you know him,” she smiled.

“I do,” you smiled back. “Ha! I can’t believe he got knocked on his ass. He’s never gonna live it down,” you cackle. “I wonder if we can find any security footage?” you ask with a mischievous smirk.

“None that he’d let us keep,” she laughs, shaking her head.

“You’re probably right,” you muse, turning to lean against the rail and face the blond. “We should probably get going. We’re supposed to be at the mountain at 5,” you hum softly after some silence.

“Yeah,” she nods, sniffing and standing up.

You follow, and then you both are repelling back to the ground. You walk to the zeta point but stop and grab Artemis by the arm before you walk in. “Maybe you weren’t brought in because you impressed them. But you just spent the last four months doing nothing but,” you tell her seriously, and she stares at you with wide eyes. “You’ve got nothing to prove. You’re one of a kind,” you reassure her.

She offers a hesitant nod and tries to move back to the Zeta point, but you keep your grip, “What?”

“Say it, Artemis,” you tell her. You catch as she rolls her eyes, but you know she needs it right now. You know she needs to say it just as much as she needs to hear it. “I’m serious. Say it.”

She heaves a heavy sigh but nods, “I've got nothing to prove. I'm one of a kind,” she says flatly.

“Say it with meaning,” you press, a smirk quirking at the ends of your lips.

“I’ve got nothing to prove,” she says thoughtfully. “I’m one of a kind,” she finished with a nod, and you can see how the words resonated with her. You can feel it cement a bit, reassuring her nerves from the grip you still had on her arm.

Satisfied, you let her go, “Good, let’s go. We’re already late,” you nod before disappearing through the Zeta.

MOUNT JUSTICE

December 5th, 17:04 EST

“Recognized; Nightingale b-14,” the computer announced as you stepped through the Zeta.

You freeze in place as you take in the group before you—the team, minus Robin, but also Red Tornado, Green Arrow, and most surprisingly, Roy.

“Roy?” your lips purse as you walk up to him.

“Hey, Birdy,” he greets, coming up to you for a hug.

“What are you doing here?” you whisper while he’s hugging you.

“Ollie’s idea,” Roy scoffs as he pulls back.

“What idea?” you ask as the zeta powers up again behind you.

“Recognized; Artemis b-07,” the computer announces.

“Artemis! Just in time, look who’s agreed to join the Team!” Ollie announced, and you felt the fracture in Artemis's armor, even without touching her.

“Finally!” Wally cheered.

You frowned a bit at Roy and then at Ollie. You hadn’t realized this was one of the League's caveats on Roy’s admittance.

“Sure, Team’s needed a real archer,” Artemis scoffs a bit under her breath, but you heard it. Your frown deepened a bit as you stared at the girl in green. You see Wally’s confused expression as he stares after her too.

“Okay, people, listen up! Dynamic Duo’s on a case in Gotham, but Batman gave me a heads up. Sportsmaster was spotted coming through Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport,” Ollie explained, pulling up details on the holo-screen.

“In full costume?” Zatanna asked, “Nervy!”

Her quip teased a playful smile as you took in Ollie’s exasperated expression. “In street clothes,” he corrects. “Facial recognition software picked up the ID. Find out what he's up to.”

“All of us?” Conner asks, gesturing to the ever-growing group that was your team. “Seems like overkill for a shadow job.”

He’s not wrong; you think to yourself as you look around.

“Perhaps a small squad?” Tornado offers. “Miss Martian's camouflage abilities seem ideal.”

“Thought the sidekicks- Sorry, ex-sidekicks could suit up on this,” Ollie offers instead. “Nightingale, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Red Arrow.”

“Good,” Conner huffs, “stakeouts make me crazy.”

M’gann nods in concession, “We could use the night off.”

“I want in,” Artemis’ voice cuts in, and GA seems shocked, though you can’t place why. On the other hand, you had a pretty good idea of why she’s volunteering. “With M'gann and Robin out, no one's logged more hours piloting the bioship,” she tags on.

GA seems to hesitate, “Artemis, are you sure?”

You watch as she squares her shoulders, “Absolutely.”

You all broke away shortly after that to get ready. Before making your way to the landing, you did a quick inventory check. You watched Artemis as you went; she checked her quiver and bow. You catch on how Wally also seems to be tracking all of her moves. When he notices you watching him, a light blush coats his cheeks, and you can’t help but raise a brow. That is definitely a thread you’ll be pulling on later. He ducks his attention away, and you turn back to your gear, surprised to see Roy headed your way.

“Red Arrow,” you tease.

“Are you sure you want to go?” he asks, and your hands freeze.

“I’m sorry, what?” you ask, lips pulling down.

“I know you said you would take it easy today and then be off tomorrow. If you don’t want to go, we can come up with an excuse,” he offers.

You frown at him, “I’m fine, Roy.”

“(Y/n)...” his voice drops low as he says your name.

“This’ll be good, alright?” you tell him. “It’s a chance to focus on something else, anything else… I want to go.”

“Okay,” he nods.

You offer him a small smile, “okay.”

“Now, uh, would you tell Ollie please because he looks like he’s going to climb the walls,” he adds cautiously.

You scoff but pat Roy’s shoulder as you walk past him and over to where Ollie’s leaning against the wall, watching as everyone gears up. You lean against the wall beside him, close enough for your shoulders to touch. You feel him take a breath and release it, and the tension seems to relax as he feels you next to him.

“I know I singled you out for this, but sweet girl, you don’t have to go. Not with tomorrow being what it is,” he sighs.

You take a deep breath and lean a little more into Ollie, “I want to go. I need the distraction,” you admit.

“I worry about you, kiddo, you know that,” he sighs.

“I know, I appreciate it, I really do, but I want to do this, plus someone’s gotta make sure both Roy and Artemis come back without killing each other,” you muse.

“Yeah, not the biggest fans of each other, are they?” Oliver heaved.

“No, they are not, but I like her. She’s tough, but I can feel it; she’s got a good heart. Plus, she called me earlier, you know? Told me all about patrol last night,” you tease.

“And here I was hoping you’d never hear about it,” Ollie chuckled.

“It’s okay to admit you’re getting a bit older, Ollie,” you laugh. “Your balance just isn’t what it used to be,” you tease.

“I’m not above telling Dinah your age shaming me,” he argues, and you offer him a genuine smile.

“I love you, Ollie, you know that, right?” you ask. Oliver finally tears his gaze from the rest of them to focus on you. The whites of his domino block his eyes, but you can feel the surprise sizzling through him. “I really hope you’re surprised because I actually said it and not because of what I said,” you add as you feel the emotion wash through.

“This empath thing is going to take some getting used to,” he huffs, nudging you a bit. “And it’s the first one. I know you do, sweet girl. I always have,” he promises.

“I’ll be okay. I’ll have the boys. Kaldur and Roy know what tomorrow is,” you tell him. Looking over, you notice that the rest of your squad is lining up at the bioship, “it’s time,” you mutter.

You bump shoulders with Ollie one more time before shoving off the wall, “Sweet girl,” he calls, stopping you for a moment. “You have my whole heart, Dinah’s too. We’re here for you, anything you need,” he promises.

He shocks you then, placing a kiss on your forehead, not the action itself, he’s done it more and more the closer you became, but the time and place were jarring.

“I know,” you nod one last time.

Ollie offers you a nervous smile, and you leave him to grab your gear and march onto the Bioship.

“Is something going on?” the rushed whisper surprises you as you turn to Wally with wide eyes.

“What?”

“GA, and you, it’s just you’re normally not like that in the cave. Is something going on?” he asks, brow furrowed.

You fight to keep your expression flat. Wally was way more observant than he’s given credit for, “Don’t worry about it, Wally,” you try to shrug off, though you see his unconvinced look. “Seriously, I’m okay,” you pair with a soft smile.

You can tell he doesn’t entirely believe you, but he does drop the topic long enough for you to load up and leave the Mountain. Soon enough, you’re all in the air, and Kaldur makes his way over. “I have a feeling that your tete-a-tete with Green Arrow has to do with the significance of tomorrow’s anniversary,” he says carefully.

You heave a heavy sigh, “So everyone is making the rounds today, huh?” you huff.

“Shut up, we care. Get over it,” Roy cuts in, and you can’t help but frown.

“I’d appreciate it greatly if we just not talk about it. I’ve already poured my heart out with Ollie and Roy; we talked a few days ago. So, until the clock strikes 12, I am going to act as if tomorrow isn’t the anniversary of the worst day of my life, and I’d appreciate it if you would do the same,” you decide sternly.

Both the older boys share a look and then turn back to you, “fine,” Roy concedes, walking back to his seat.

“His tact has always been less than desirable,” Kaldur decides. “I was supposed to speak with you quietly on my own first,” he huffs, sending a weak glare toward the back of Roy’s head.

“K…” you sigh.

“Palió fílo den eísai mónos. Tha eímai edó se períptosi pou to chreiasteíte, allá den tha piéso poté. To xéreis aftó,” the Atlantean language rolls off his tongue smoothly, and it takes you a second to realize that your heart seems to have stopped beating for a second as you take in the meaning, “old friend, you are not alone. I will be here in case you need it, but I will never push. You know this.”

You take another breath, this time much calmer, “Den se axízo…” you murmur. “I do not deserve you,” you had told him, and he offered a sad smile.

“You deserve it all,” he promises with a gentle pat on your hand before moving back to his seat, though you can see the look in his eyes as he glances back at you one last time.

You take a deep breath and roll your shoulders. In the process, you make eye contact with Wally, and you can’t help but freeze at how intensely he’s staring at you with his green eyes. A piece of you actually stutters because you know him, how big his heart is, and he wants to be here for you but can’t because you won’t talk to him. Your friendship with Wally and Dick had always been different from the borderline mother-henning you received from Kaldur, and there’s a piece of you that still thinks it’s because they didn’t know what he did.

ORLEANS PARISH

December 5th, 21:27 CST

You were crouched with Roy in the trees observing Sportsmaster. You watched as he loaded a small speedboat, fingers fiddling with one of your ring daggers. You had traded your regular leather jacket (stashed safely on the bioship) for a plain-looking zip-up covering your utility belt, leaving you in a somewhat civilian-looking state. Your mask was in a pocket on your belt, and you had shades on as you both watched your target jump into the boat.

“Target's heading north,” you say softly into your comms as you follow Roy down the hill and into the shrubs covering your jetski.

You perched behind him, wrapping an arm around his waist as you tracked Sportsmaster. “Pursue, but maintain a discreet distance. And that goes double for you, Artemis. Sportsmaster's proven adept at spotting Martian camouflage when in motion,” Roy adds, as the two of you followed at a distance.

“Was that necessary?” you ask in a hushed whisper, muting your comm.

“It is if she’s the mole,” he shot back.

“I thought we dropped this particular argument,” you hiss.

“You did, I didn’t,” Roy shot back.

You wanted to continue the argument, but up ahead, you noticed as Sportsmaster began to slow down, “He's stopped,” you mutter back into the comms, switching your mic live once more.

“Hold your positions,” Roy tags on, looking back to make eye contact with you.

He’s posing a silent question, one you can recognize after years of work together, and despite the sour taste in your mouth from your previous question, you nod your head in assent to what he’s asking.

“We’re moving in for a closer look,” he tells the team, and together, you dismount the jetski to creep through the parish as silently as possible.

It’s quiet as Roy focuses on Sportsmaster through his binoculars and as you observe the surrounding area, but when you hear a distant clinging sound, you grip Roy’s shoulder and frown. His lips pull down as you let go and start moving away from him and into the parish. You creep forward, pulling out two daggers as you follow the noise.

You manage to get close enough to spot the source of the commotion and have to stifle a groan at the sight of Cheshire. Quietly you plant your legs and wind both arms back, daggers in both. Right before you’re about to swing, whipping the blades toward the assassin, two hands grab your wrists gently. Peering back with a tightened grip on your weapons, you spot Roy, who silently shakes his head and releases your wrists. He pulls out his bow and grabs one of his trick arrows. He gestures for you to go wide towards Artemis as he pulls back.

You watch as the arrow soars, expanding into a net trap that manages to tie Cheshire to a tree. You both run after it, stopping beside Artemis. A quick visual assessment tells you she’s uninjured, though your attention is snagged away by the trapped assassin.

“Why, Arrow. If you wanted another date, you only had to ask…” she drawls, and your jaw drops.

“You two are dating?” Artemis shouts, whipping to stare at Roy, while you’re left in a mixed state of disgust and amusement, recalling the Taipei mission.

“Wh-what?” Roy stutters, “No!”

Cheshire offers a small scoff, “Why deny the attraction? After all, Arrow, you're here.” She paused for a second, switching her grip and using her katana to cut through the netting. “Really, I'm so fond of you, both. I couldn't bear to hurt you… much!” she grunts, brandishing her blade.

You twirl your ring daggers as you step forward, “and what am I? Chopped liver?”

“Of course not, little bird,” she argues, dropping into a stance, “but you’re about to be,” she hints before charging.

Your blades come up quick, and you use them to redirect hers. And when she draws back, you move forward to lunge at her, “your humor remains unmatched,” you snark as your blades make contact again.

“Hmm, it’s one of my best qualities,” she hums as the two of you continue to fight. “Your technique is improving, pretty bird. It’s impressive, but not enough,” she notes as she causes you to drop a blade and manages a superficial slice through your zip up at your arm and then again at your cheek before kicking you back.

As you stumble down, Artemis and Roy move forward, intent on getting to Cheshire. However, you lose sight of each other when the assassin sets off smoke bombs.

You push yourself up and rip off the zip-up, looking around for any clearing in the smoke or hint at your bearings.

You hear a shout from your left, “Sportsmaster!” It’s Roy’s voice but quickly followed with a grunt.

You start moving toward it, and manage to break through the smoke in time to see Cheshire on top of Roy, sai against his cheek as she kissed him.

“Oh, too bad, lover boy… but at least, a kiss is still a kiss…” she drawled, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes, but before you could get any closer, Cheshire was knocked back.

“And a sai is just a sai,” Wally muses, “And quite the souvenir, by the way,” Wally adds on, noting the weapon now in his hand.

“Artemis, tracer arrow on Sportsmaster, now!” Roy shouts as he pushes himself up.

Wally spots you next. A frown overtakes his face as he takes in your new injuries, but your attention breaks when you hear Artemis utter an upset huff, “He's out of range!”

“Move!” Roy demands, shoving a bit as he launches his arrow, just in time to land a tracker on the boat, before taking off to the jet ski.

“You're abandoning?” Artemis scoffed as he ran.

“I'm prioritizing!” he shot back.

“Arrow!” you shout after him, but he doesn’t respond, simply taking off after Sportsmaster.

“Oh, that's gotta sting….” Cheshire drawls, reappearing behind Wally. “He makes the shot you're afraid to even try!”

Artemis grunts before starting to shoot at Cheshire, and you dive for your daggers still on the ground. Scooping them up, you begin volleying your attack at the trained shadow. With Artemis and Wally, you switch between weaponry and tactics to attack the assassin. When Kaldur comms in with a new plan, you make eye contact with your three teammates before doing what you can to follow through.

You watch Cheshire send Artemis flying back, and when you try to turn to her, one of her shurikens flies dangerously close to your face. When you look back, she’s gone, and your eyes land on Wally helping Artemis back up.

“Hey, did you-” before you can finish your question, Artemis is nodding.

“Tracer’s on her sword,” she affirms.

“Brilliant! I knew you could-” Wally’s statement is borderline flirtatious, but when you hear the jet ski getting closer, he cuts himself off. Instead, his eyes narrow once more on the cut on your face.

“Oh, hey, there's the guys! Birdy, let me see your face,” Wally decides, grabbing at your wrist as you move to catch up to where Roy and Kaldur were.

You try to glance back at Artemis, but Wally keeps a firm grip as he tugs you along, “I’d much rather talk about whatever that was,” you tease but are met with a leveled glare. “You’re usually a lot more fun,” you pout at him.

“Birdy..” there’s a heavy sigh to his tone, “I know you’re not telling me something, and that’s… whatever, but let me see the cut. And whenever you’re ready to talk about, whatever it is you’re deflecting from, I’ll be here,” he frowns.

“Fine,” you huff, turning to face him, pushing your sunglasses up, so he has an unobstructed view. Wally’s eyes widen slightly in surprise, and you roll your eyes at him. “Just ‘cause I’m not telling you something doesn’t mean I don’t still trust you,” you snip, but your words are honest. There were very few people in your life that you trusted as much as you trusted Wally.

A small smile quirks Wally’s lips as he checks on the cut, “how many times a day do you roll your eyes at me?”

His question comes out so genuine, but the words force you to choke down the laugh that threatens to burst through, “too many times to count,” you relent, a smile curling at your lips.

“Figures,” he chuckles, pushing your sunglasses back down. “Surface cut, probably won’t even scar,” he tells you.

“Could’ve told you that myself, but thanks, doc,” you tease, pushing Wally over to where Kaldur and Roy had just stopped, and Artemis joined you a few minutes later.

“So, we threw the fight, as ordered. After Artemis planted the tracer,” Wally confirmed.

“Cheshire's heading North,” Artemis shares, holding up her tracker’s data pad.

“Sportsmaster was headed South,” Roy shoots back. “Kinda like this mission,” he adds with a harsh bite, causing you to quirk a brow at his tone.

“Maybe he'll double back,” you offer, voice level as you keep your gaze focused on Roy, “maybe she will.”

“Either way, they'll rendezvous, and we'll find them!” Wally completes.

“We had better,” Kaldur warns. “Sportsmaster acquired an attaché case. We need to learn what it contained,” he paused for a second, hesitating almost, and your lips turned down as he turned to Artemis. “If you had stayed aboard the Bio-Ship….”

“I saw Cheshire sneaking up on them!” Artemis defended.

“Then you radio a warning,” Roy argues.

“And if she found you by hacking our frequency?” she shot back.

“That’s true,” you note, pulling a lip between your teeth. It was a tough argument. You understand the importance of holding your position during a mission, you know how bad things could go, and the current situation wasn’t ideal. However, you know better than the rest that Artemis needs this right now, needs to feel useful, needs to prove herself. And right now, you don’t think she’d listen if you told her any differently.

“We have come to rely on M'gann's telepathy over our radios,” Kaldur supported.

Wally huffed, interjecting, “So let's stop looking to place blame and start looking for Cheshire.”

Artemis tossed the data pad at Roy, “Here. Since, clearly, I can't be trusted; you track her.”

“Artemis-” you try to cut in, brow furrowing deeper as you turned back to her, as Wally snatched the pad back and tried to give it back to the blonde.

“It’s fine. I'll follow in the Bioship,” she decided, waving you both off before moving back to the Bioship.

“Go, Kid. Arrow, NG, and I will return to the river. And we will all follow, as originally planned,” Kaldur decides.

“Actually, Wally, I’ll meet you by your bike,” you bite out, gaining a few looks, but you don’t elaborate.

You wait a second, allowing KF to take off and for Kaldur to walk out of earshot, gripping Roy’s arm tightly. “I know you’re mole hunting. I know you don’t like how GA brought her to the team. But let me be clear, she has earned her space on this team, and every time you undermine or belittle her, all you do is drive a wedge between her and this team. Jeopardizing how we all work together,” you say levelly, staring out into the parish but keeping your grip tight.

Roy attempts to shrug you off, but you simply tighten your grip a little more, “Birdy,” he huffs.

“No. Since day one, you’ve treated her like shit. I’m sick of it, Roy. You need to grow up. I’m here doing my best to keep my personal shit out of the mission, and if I can do that today of all days, then so can you. This mission just got extended, and I’ll be lucky to make it back before tomorrow, so pull it together because I won’t be able to for much longer,” you huff, letting go of his arm and turning to glare at him before stalking off towards Wally.

“Not that you’re not my best girl, and you know I’d follow you blindly, but any chance you want to elaborate on what’s going on?” he asks, mustering up all the nonchalance he had.

You stop for a second and take a deep breath, “we need to focus on Sportsmaster and Cheshire-”

“(Y/n)-”

“No! Wally, please… I will tell you, but not until the mission is done. I swear I will tell you, but only once we’re done, I can’t-” you cut yourself off to take a deep breath, “I can’t deal with it until we’re done because if I go into it now, it won’t stop,” your tone is borderline begging as you struggle to get a grasp on your emotions.

Wally’s eyes blew wide as he pulled his helmet off, dropping it to the floor to grab your arms, “Hey, hey, hey, okay. It’s okay, I know I’m pushing, but you don’t have to tell me,” he reminds you.

You take another deep breath and nod at him, his grip grounding you, your hand wrapping around his arms as you calm down, “I will tell you,” you repeat, though much calmer. “I will, just once we’re done,” you say softly.

“Okay,” he nods.

“We should go,” you swallow, straightening and stuffing all thoughts unrelated to the mission into a box, closing the lid, and shoving it aside until you are ready to address it properly.

Wally gives you another careful look before picking up his helmet and walking back to the bike, “You wanna drive?”

Your eyes snap to him, lips quirking up a little, “fuck yes,” you huff, and he smiles at you, gesturing for you to hope on first.

NEW ORLEANS

December 5th, 22:18 CST

“Aqualad to Kid and NG,” Aqualad’s voice crackled over the comms about fifteen minutes after the two of you had hit the road.

“What’s up, Aqualad,” KF answered from his spot seated behind you.

“Arrow’s located Cheshire and Sportsmaster, sending updated coordinates now. Kid, you should go ahead,” he instructs.

There’s a ping on the bike’s display, and you start to break immediately, “He’s right, KF. We’ve been going the wrong way. You’re faster than the bike,” you note as the two of you slow to a stop.

“Are you sure?” he asks, hopping off.

“I’ll be right behind you,” you reassure him.

Wally nods once before turning and taking off. You’re quick to do the same, pulling a u-turn before revving the bike up to its max speeds. You’d switched the sunglasses for your mask right before you took off from the parish and had since ditched the zip-up. Instead, Wally’s racing jacket was slung over your bare arms since he’d been wearing his suit underneath.

By the time you regrouped with Aqualad, you could see the slight annoyance on his face, “what is it?” you asked as he slid onto the bike behind you, and you took off once more, heading for the rendezvous point Roy had sent.

“I found our tracker,” he said shortly.

“Okay?”

“It was on a train car. There was no evidence of Cheshire or Sportsmaster,” he explains a bit more.

Your heart thudded; with all of Roy’s accusations, it’s hard to keep from jumping to the worst, “maybe Cheshire ditched her tracker? She’s highly skilled and could’ve spotted it right after Artemis planted it. Plus, there were tracks near the parish. She could’ve meant to send us on a meaningless chase,” you attempt to reason.

“Someone most definitely did, although I am unsure as to whom,” he advised, voice leveled.

“I really hate this day,” you decide suddenly.

“On that, we agree,” he affirms before you both elapse into silence.

The two of you were too late to join the party, unfortunately. By the time you got there, Sportsmaster and Cheshire were gone- with no means of tracking them. And according to Artemis, a chance at Klarion, The Brain, Gorilla Mallah, and Professor Ivo had also been missed. None of you were happy as you piled onto the Bioship. Kaldur helped you load the bike as Artemis slipped back into the pilot’s seat.

MOUNT JUSTICE

December 6th, 03:21 EST

The flight back to the Mountain was in silence, and every minute that ticked by put you further on edge. You summoned a clock to appear in front of you. Even from your spot away from everyone, you could feel their emotions bubbling; Roy’s tension, distrust, and anger; Kaldur’s quiet yet tense contemplation; Wally’s nervous energy was vibrating off the ship's walls; a gut-wrenching mix of unclear emotions from Artemis. You did your best to tune it out and instead watched the minutes tick by, willing your brain to stop.

The second the clock struck twelve, and the date changed to the 6th, you had to fight the swell of emotions; to bite back the scream that echoed in your throat and push down the tears welling in your eyes. The mission was almost done, you were almost home, and then you could fall apart. You had to make it home, away from everyone else and their overwhelming emotions that threatened your own mental stability.

By the time you touched down, you were barely holding it together. Lips welded shut, and fists clenched tightly. The rest of the team met you in the main training space of the Mountain, and you let Kaldur take the lead.

“Let me be clear, we failed. Though the Injustice League is in custody, their allies still scheme. And we have learned nothing of their plans,” he said flatly, after a short recap of the mission gone wrong.

“Gee, I wonder why,” Roy lamented, taking a dig at Artemis and crossing his arms.

“Hey! Who found out Sportsmaster was working for Brain, Klarion, and Ivo?” she snapped, surging forward.

“Yeah, great intel! Except Ivo has been in Belle Reve the whole time!” Roy shot back. “And the guards just checked. It's the real Ivo, not a robot!”

“You know, I'm getting pretty tired of you dumping on her,” Wally stepped up, sliding himself between Artemis and Roy, the emotions in the room were rising, and your hand began to shake in spillover.

Roy simply held up a tracer, “Her tracer, so?” Wally asked. “Cheshire ditched it.”

“No,” Roy corrected. “Artemis ditched that to send us on a wild-goose chase,” he huffed before holding up an identical tracer. “She put this one on Cheshire.”

Your eyes snapped to the girl in green whose energy suddenly flattened as if the heat behind her argument had been extinguished.

“Artemis?” Wally’s voice was soft as he turned to her. He paused for a second, but when she said nothing, Wally’s emotions shifted, and his face hardened, “Are you that freaked out about Arrow joining the Team? You had to prove yourself by bringing down the bad guys solo?” he asked, hints of anger laced into his words. “Please, tell me I'm wrong!”

Artemis looked at him, and all you could feel from her was sadness and guilt as she opened her mouth to say something but then shut it, dropping his gaze.

“Well, nice going. What you proved is that you're insecure and selfish,” he frowned, voice lower than you could ever remember hearing it, but behind his words were the echo of hurt. “Keep the sai,” he decides, letting the weapon clatter to the floor. “This is the right souvenir for the mission,” he says, snatching the tracer from Roy’s grip and stomping off to the locker rooms.

“So, how will you betray us next time?” Roy asked, heat in every word as he readdressed Artemis, and you snapped.

“Enough!” you shouted, and everyone froze, looking at you with wide eyes, and for a second, even Roy lost his arrogance. “Stop it, all of you need to stop it,” you huff, taking in a shaking breath. “If making a mistake was a betrayal, we would all be traitors,” you say seriously, locking gaze with Roy, then Artemis, and finally Kaldur, when he laid a hand gently on your shoulder.

“I must report to Batman. The rest of you, get some sleep,” he decides, and everyone dispersed, casting you another weary look.

The only ones remaining were Roy, Artemis, and you.

“You're not who you say you are. This isn't over. Not by a long shot,” Roy warns before heading to the locker rooms himself.

She stands in front of you, clearly guilty and upset, and finally, you can breathe because now it’s only the two of you, and it’s easier to manage the emotions bubbling out without so much outside interference.

“You made a bad call, but I stand by what I’ve said. It was a mistake on your part, a miscalculation in how much you could trust us. But trust is a two-way street, Artemis. Most of us have known each other for too long to second guess. I grew up with Roy, and spent a year as Kaldur’s study buddy and neighbor. I trained and met with Rob and KF almost the entire time I was a sidekick. We rescued Superboy from Cadmus. He chose us and fought for us. M’gann is still learning, but she’s made choices, trusted us with her life several times, and given us access to her mind. We extend what we can to you, but you barely give us anything in return,” your voice is low as you attempt an explanation.

You watch as her shoulders sag, as she bites her lip to keep from saying something, and so you continue, “I’m not asking for your secret ID. That’s yours to protect, to give. And I’m sorry if this sounds harsh. I’ve got my shit going on too. I’m telling you because I’ve been telling you that I believe in you. I said it before we even got the mission yesterday. I told you, you’ve earned your spot. I told you that you’d proven your worth and skill. You chose to disregard that statement, to put no faith into what I shared, and instead, we lost our target, learned nothing about his visit to Louisiana, and failed the mission. I suggest you reconsider how you want our team dynamics to be going further. M’gann and I are different from the rest. We feel things more intensely, we have a better understanding, and even though I’m hurt that you didn’t trust me the way I’ve been trusting you, I know why you did it. I disagree, but I get it. Not everyone will be so quick to see that,” you further, pausing again.

This time you move a bit closer, patting her shoulder, you want to say more, but you can’t. At this point, you need to scream or cry, or both. You need to let out your emotions because staying in control is too hard and too much. It’s just too much for today, for right now. So you pat her shoulder and walk toward the locker rooms.

You slump onto the bench and close your eyes, trying to breathe. The sounds of incoming steps interrupt you. Opening your eyes, you’re ready to shout at anyone dumb enough to try to talk to you right now, but the words die as Wally crouches down in front of you. He is sitting on the floor and looking up at you with hurt in his green eyes and concern simmering just below.

“Today’s the 6th,” you mutter, pulling the specialized alcohol wipes from your utility belt to help remove the adhesive of your mask. He doesn’t say anything, eyes tracing how your hands were shaking so much that you couldn't tear the packet open even with the fingerless gloves on your hand. Instead, his hands reach out and pull it for you, but his lips stay shut. “December 6th,” you swallow as you start tracing over your mask, using the wipe against the adhesive.

“Eight years ago, today, I watched as my parents were shot and killed in front of me,” you force your voice to stay level as you finally pull the mask off, bearing the rawest part of you to Wally. “That’s why everyone was so concerned about me yesterday, why Ollie and I were the way we were. Why Kaldur and Roy kept trying to check in on me or tell me I didn’t have to go on the mission because today is the anniversary of the worst day of my life,” you hiccup slightly as all the tears you’ve been pushing down for hours, breakthrough. “Which is why I couldn’t talk about it earlier, because that means facing it, and I didn’t want to. Because eight years means I’ve spent more time without my parents than I have with them, and it hurts. It hurts in a way that I hope you never know, Wally,” you manage to spit out before the first sob wracks through you.

You keel over, hiding your face in your arms, and you feel Wally’s hands on your knees, thumbs rubbing circles as he silently does his best to support you. For once, he doesn’t joke or prod. He stays silent as he lets you cry and does his best to support you. Slowly he helps in soft, gentle movements. He unclips your utility belt, then the harnesses for the ring daggers. Unclasps your choker and helps unravel your braids. Unties and unzips your boots. He lets you cry through the process, finally releasing the tidal wave of emotion you’ve been holding back and bottling.

When you calm down enough, he hands you a towel and a change of clothes from your duffle, directing you to the shower stalls. He waits outside for you to pass him your suit, and while you’re showering, if he hears you heave a few more sobs, he never says a word.

He has you sit back on the bench when you reemerge, showered, clean, but with puffy red eyes. You’re dressed in sweats and an oversized hoodie that most likely belonged to Roy or Ollie. He grabs the hairbrush from your locker and brushes your hair back before braiding your hair in a simple single, loose braid that just barely manages to keep your hair out of your face. He forces you to drink water while he braids, and even in this in-between state, you could hear the few swears Wally drops under his breath as he wrestles with your hair. Though, overall you found the action sweet and quite soothing.

When he’s done, he comes back around and crouches in front of you again, hands on your knees, “are you hungry?” he asks gently.

It’s not the question you were anticipating, but you look at him with big, sad, teary eyes and shake your head, no. Not totally a lie because, frankly, you didn’t have an appetite.

“Am I taking you to Dinah or Ollie? Or do you want to go home with me? We have a guest room,” he asks the questions softly and waits patiently for you to answer.

“Ollie’s,” you manage to croak after the silence has stretched for a few minutes, allowing you to summon the strength.

“Okay, I’m going to call GA, so he can come to get you, and take you home,” Wally decides, standing up.

Your arms latch quickly onto his, stopping him from moving, “Please don’t leave me alone,” you beg as new tears slip down your cheeks.

Green eyes wide with concern, he shakes his head, “I won’t,” he promises, sitting back down. He pulls out his phone and taps something, “Computer, please contact Green Arrow immediately and tell him to come to the locker room ASAP. Don’t stop calling until he answers,” Wally calls out.

“Contacting Green Arrow now,” the voice confirms, and Wally returns to rubbing small circles on your knees.

You’re not outrightly sobbing anymore, and tears that slip past are primarily silent and slow, so he cautiously tests the water, “this why you were so quiet on the flight back?”

You offer a slight nod in confirmation.

“Okay, and uh, this have anything to do with what you talked to Roy about in the Parish?”

You hold up your hand, squishing your pointer and thumb together with a small gap between them as a non-verbal answer. Talking just seemed too daunting a task at the moment.

“A little?” he asks, gaining a nod from you in confirmation. “Artemis?” he follows, and you nod again. He waits a beat and then asks, “are you mad at her?”

You pause and think it through before making the same hand motion as before, and this time Wally nods, “Yeah, me too,” he frowns.

Wally stays with you, thumbs rubbing small circles into your knees as you wait for Oliver, and eventually, he shows up. Blond hair in different directions, wearing sweatpants, a hoodie, and his mask. A frow immediately pulls at his lips as he takes in the state you’re in.

“Sweet girl,” he huffs, rushing over to you, one arm lopping around your shoulders, as he crouches down next to Wally.

“She told me, what today is, and I- I didn’t want to leave her alone, she’s present and answering questions, but I don’t think she’s fully aware of everything,” Wally explains, and Oliver nods.

“Good man, Wally. Her first few years were a lot like this. She’d bottle everything and try to carry on until the bottle shattered. She was left like this, disassociating just enough to function after her initial release,” Ollie explained, and maybe if you were fully coherent, you’d get mad at how he was talking about you like you weren’t right next to him. “Thank you for calling me and staying with her, but it’s time for me to take her home.” “All her gear is in her locker. I put it there and wiped down what I could while she was in the shower,” he adds as Oliver shifts you slightly and pulls you into his arms before standing up. You curl into Oliver’s hold as Wally’s grip falls away.

“Thank you,” Ollie repeats, and slowly the three of you make your way to the Zeta. “It’s late, Wally. You should head home,” he adds as they stop moving.

Before Wally can move, your hand swings and grabs onto his arm. Wally freezes, looks at you, and inches closer, lacing your fingers with his. You still don’t want to talk, but you focus the little brain power you have left to send a wave of gratitude his way, pulling on the memories of everything he’s done for you.

He squeezes your hand, eyes wide in wonder as you share your new ability with him. “You don’t have to thank me, (y/n). I already told you, you’re my best girl,” he muses pathetically. Moving to hold your hand and squeeze, “only one to stick by me, no matter what, who never lies to me. You’re my best friend, and I’ll always be here,” he promises, placing a small kiss on the back of your hand, squeezing one more time before letting go. “I’ll see you soon, Birdy,” he adds as he taps at the Zeta stand.

“Recognized; Kid Flash, b-03,” the computer announced, and then he was gone.

“Our turn, Dinah’s waiting on the other side with a car, and then we’re going to go home. And no one, no one, is leaving you alone today,” Oliver promises, and the zeta lights up again.

“Recognized; Green Arrow, 08. Nightingale, b-14.”

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