#cnng episode

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale - usual suspects

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 25

WC: 7.4k

synopsis: fuck cadmus tbh, robin needs to work on his timing, kaldur’s got birdy’s back, and roy finally gets what he wanted

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

a/n: guys, there's only one more in the season after this. i cannot belive my little hyperfixation fic of pure self-indulgence has come this far. i love you all so much and your support means so much, especially when i know that i go months without posting but you all come back so excited with each update! xoxo

WASHINTON, D.C.December 30th, 09:16 EST

You were all in the Hall. The mega screen before you shows the official Justice League Induction and announcement playing on every news channel. Wally and Dick were standing on either side of you, and all of you had your eyes glued to the screen.

“The Justice League was formed for two reasons: first, as an acknowledgment that no single individual, no matter how powerful, can solve all the world's problems alone. And second, to uphold the values of truth, liberty, and justice,” Superman was making the announcement this year. Usually, it was him or Wonder Woman, seeing as the Bat didn’t exactly exude charming. “That, uh, last one's even in the name,” Superman muses, gaining a few laughs from the crowd before him. “These five heroes have sworn to uphold those values,” he continues, and the camera pans over Doctor Fate, Plastic Man, the Atom, Icon, and finally, Red Arrow.

Your lip quirks a bit as you stare at Roy. he had sent you a message this morning, reminding you that you could be standing with him today, but you had just laughed and mused that with how badly he’d wanted this, it’s surprising anyone else can stand up there with him, never mind you, who would undoubtedly steal the spotlight. You were happy for him, you were, but you were also bummed. You all had just gotten into a groove with Roy on the Team, even if it was only for a few missions, and once again, he was gone.

“You are watching live coverage of the Justice League's induction of its five newest members,” Cat Grant’s voice pulls your focus back to the News. “Looks like the entire League has shown up to welcome the new blood. Everyone from Batman to Captain Marvel!” she exclaims.

“I’m glad they didn't kick Billy out,” Wally decides, and you can’t help but nod. Dinah had mentioned briefly that there had been a chance he wouldn’t be. “And I love the fact there's a ten-year-old on the League,” he says, taking a bite of his apple.

Dick hangs his head, and you see Kaldur turn toward your redheaded best friend while the new girl, Raquel, turns to you all, “There is?” she asks.

You elbow Wally squarely between his ribs, and he hunches over, “Ow, Birdy!” he groans.

“Way to keep a secret, genius,” you scoff, glaring at him through your blacked-out lenses.

“Hey, she's on the Team now, right?” Wally defends, one arm rubbing at his side while he eats his apple.

“Is this going to be a regular thing, you just blurt out secrets whenever we get new people?” you ask.

Wally has the audacity to look affronted, “I don’t-“

“You told me about the Watchtower,” Zatanna cuts in before he can say anything else, and you snort.

Wally retorts by taking another bite of his apple and glaring at you.

Everyone’s attention shifts back to the screen, “Superman is now handing out official League membership cards starting with Doctor Fate…” You and Dick both step forward briefly to squeeze Zatanna’s shoulder in solidarity, something she smiles gently in response to, and you can feel the comfort she takes from the action in the seconds you’re touching. “…The Atom, Plastic Man, and Icon.”

“You know, I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place. I should be celebrating with him, not hidden away in here!” Raquel complains, and you bite your lip to keep from laughing.

“Welcome to our world,” Kaldur laments.

“Well, I suppose there's an upside, too,” Raquel flirts as she eyes Kaldur. Quietly to Rob, you roll your eyes and fake a gag, which gets a silent chuckle out of him.

“Finally, Green Arrow welcomes his former protege, Speedy, now known as Red Arrow, to this roster of heroes,” Cat’s voice continues, but it’s quickly drowned out by your cheers.

“Way to go, Roy!” Wally shouts, pumping a fist in the air.

“At last, he has his wish,” Kaldur nods.

“Woohoo!” you exclaim, smiling at the screen. “The first of us to make it,” you breathe.

“No one'll call him a sidekick anymore,” Dick nods.

“Wait- Since when is being a sidekick a bad thing?” Raquel demands, and you can feel the twinge in the air. “You sidekicks were my inspiration.”

“Well, see, six months ago-“ Robin explains, but he’s quickly cut off when his communicator starts to beep.

You hover over his shoulder to look at what he’s looking at and can’t help but frown. In the background, however, you can hear as Cat Grant finishes her report, “So there you have it. The world's officially a safer place!”

There are tons of questions being shot out to Superman, who was still running the press conference.

“Looks like we can’t stay,” you announce, and everyone turns to you.

“We have a mission,” Robin tacks on, and the shift is evident as we all turn to the Zeta.

SMOKEY MOUNTAINS December 30, 10:48 EST

“Are you sure it's her? I mean, are you absolutely positive?” Artemis asks, and it’s easy to pick up on her anxiety in the enclosed space of the bioship.

After the alert, you quickly got to the cave and changed before loading onto the bioship. The alert in question had been about a Cheshire spotting. After everything that’s happened in the last few months, especially in Taipei and then again in Louisiana, catching her was a top priority for the team.

“See for yourself,” Robin says, displaying the details on the screens in the bioship.

“This is the security footage from the Asheville Regional Airport. Facial recognition confirms that's Jade Nguyen,” you explain, having witnessed the details when they first came through Robin’s wrist computer. “But you've seen her without her mask. What do you think?”

Artemis stares at the screen for a second before her lips tug down, “It's Jade. Cheshire,” she confirms.

“Agreed, but focus on what she carries,” Aqualad hints. “Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away?” He asks.

Artemis’ eyes harden, and her jaw sets, “Yes.”

“Okay, I'm guessing from the mug shot that this Cheshire's the bad guy. But what's so important about that case?” Rocket asks.

You have to bite back the urge to say you mean other than the fact that we fumbled the ball and lost it? Luckily, Robin speaks up first.

“Remember the Injustice League?” he asks, pulling up a photo of your friends from the bayou.

“And their giant evil plants? Uh, yeah,” Rocket confirms.

“Evil and Nasty plants,” you mutter lowly, glaring at the photo.

“The Team and the League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme, and whatever is in that containment case seems important to their plans,” Aqualad explains.

“We had a chance to grab it in New Orleans, but someone-“ Wally tacks on, but you interrupt him with a glare that he seems to miss as he focuses on Artemis.

“But we screwed up,” you correct. It was a team mission and the team’s attitudes and environment that culminated in what had happened. You weren’t going to place the blame squarely on Artemis.

Wally’s eyes dart to you, and you quirk a brow challengingly. He, in turn, scoffs and turns back to face the front instead.

“Approaching Cheshire's jet,” M’gann announces.

Everyone’s focus turns to the front, but when you get close enough, you let out a low gasp, and a wave of shock rolls over everyone at the scene of the downed plane. The crash had evidently been rough, but it’s a sharp note of grief that hits you that has you turning to Artemis, who is resolutely not staring at the crash anymore.

“Looks like there were no survivors,” M’gann notes, and your lips tug down as you try to assess the scene from the air.

“We need to go down,” you decide.

“NG-“ Wally’s scoff has everyone turning to you for an explanation.

“We need to check the wreckage,” you state.

“Are you serious?” Rocket asks, eyebrows raised.

“Cheshire and the case are our responsibilities, we check the wreckage,” you affirm.

It’s quiet for a moment before Kaldur speaks up, “open the hatches,” he agrees, and Wally lets out a puff of air, shaking his head, but stands up regardless.

M’gann opens a few drop hatches for those who can’t fly while the rest go ahead.

Soon enough, you’re spread out through the crash, analyzing anything you could find and looking for any indication that Cheshire was still in the plane when it went down or the case itself.

“How come Homeland Security and the N.T.S.B. Aren't all over this?” KF shouts, asking anyone.

“Cheshire's ID was a League alert,” you answer from where you’re crouched near the front of the plane, grabbing the black box and tossing it to Rob.

“Authorities didn't pick it up, and her jet didn't follow its flight plan,” Robin supplied.

“Flew under the radar, literally,” you note, standing back up.

“The Watchtower auto-tracked the jet and recorded the crash,” Robin continued.

“Then why isn't the League here?” Rocket pressed.

“Because our Boy Wonder has hacking skills and arranged to get the alert first,” Zatanna smirked. “Well that, and because Nightingale said to make it so,” she teases, gaining an eye roll from you.

“And because Cheshire and that case represent our unfinished business,” Aqualad corrects.

Superboy moves another part of the plane before asking the question that everyone had been wondering, “Where are the bodies?”

“Here's one. And it is stunning….” a voice all but purrs, grabbing everyone’s attention.

You can’t tell if you’re relieved or annoyed that Cheshire is standing tall, all in one piece, but you’re positive that this was the best outcome you could’ve hoped for, at least you were until the next voice pipped up.

“I am flora, not fauna,” the voice begins, and your gaze shifts as you spot the camouflaged ninjas along the mountainside. “I am foliage, not trees,” it continues, and your gaze keeps moving up, counting the adversaries before stopping on the man in green. “What am I?” The Riddler possesses his question, and you spot Shimmer and Mammoth behind him, too. He snaps his fingers, and suddenly, pylons are popping up from under the snow, and you groan at the realization.

Within seconds everyone is trapped underneath a green dome, “Seriously? A trap? We’re idiots,” you huff, soft enough for only Dick to hear, and he just shakes his head.

“Come on, you can get this. I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I?” The Riddler urges. “I…

“Am bush,” Robin grits, and you don’t hold back the groan that escapes this time.

“Didn't you think we'd be tipped you were on Cheshire's trail?” Riddler asked. “We're tired of your interference, kiddies. This is the end game. Ordered from above and executed by their master strategist, moi.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes. There was something about Riddler that screamed Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but that could be something you picked up from Dinah’s files.

“Miss Martian, is everyone linked?” Aqualad asks, and the second you hear him, your hands reach back to your back holster, fingers wrapping around your escrima sticks. “Yes,” she confirms, and you make brief eye contact with Dick, tilting your head slightly to indicate a direction. He responds with the same small action in confirmation. “Go!” Aqualad orders, and everyone splits up.

Zatanna makes her move first while you and Dick rush up behind and around her, “Ekahs siht ebolgwons!” (shake this snowglobe) she chants. Within your pylon-ed dome, snow flurries, creating an excellent interference from any direct attack.

The rest of the team jumps into action, using the moment of surprise and confusion to take on the ninjas.

You’ve just knocked one down when Aqualad speaks up again, “Superboy, the pylons,” he orders, and you risk a glance toward your friend with the S.

“Working on it,” he announces out loud, and you focus back on the enemies before you.

“KF-- cradle?” you inquire as you run up, behind Wally. “Ready,” he confirms, turning and dropping down, proffering his hands.

You run up and, with no hesitation, step into Wally’s grip. He’s pushing your body up a second later, giving you enough air to wail your escrima sticks down on the underprepared shadow. It’s reassuring that Wally will always have your back, even in disagreements. As he falls, knocked out, you quickly scan the rest of the battle and manage to spot as Rocket gets hit.

“Rocket’s down, she needs an assist K, and we’ve got a Shadow two tiers up, with some sort of electric disk device, looks like fatherbox tech to me,” you inform the team.

Robin quickly gets up, knocks out the Shadow, and Kaldur moves for the disk. You almost move to help him when you spot a Shadow coming up behind him, but you see M’gann moving in. You turn back to take on another Shadow, this time with Dick at your back fighting his own, but you see it when Conner launches into the air. You’re waiting for gravity to start pulling him back, but it doesn’t.

“That’s impossible,” you note as you use the electricity feature on a Shadow, who then crumples at your feet.

Robin turns his head, and his eyes widen as he stares at what you are.

“SB, you're flying!” he gasps, and your eyes widen too when you catch him using heat vision a moment later.

In his rage, he seems to miss the results of his attack. Your gaze drops, and you can see the top of Artemis’ head.

“Avalanche!” you shout into the link, hoping she’d cleared out of the way in time. You really weren’t trying to relive the Arctic in the real world. It’s silent for a moment, and then your anxiety takes over, “ARTEMIS!” you’re screaming into the link.  “I’m alright!” she confirms, and you let out a breath.

Rob taps your shoulder and gestures up to where Riddler’s still standing, and you nod. The two of you make your way up, targeting Shimmer and effectively knocking her out cold with a mix of a smoke grenade, Robin’s bola, and your well-aimed punch.

With Riddler’s focus on you and Rob, Zatanna floats behind him as the smoke clears, “Tekcajtiarts!” (straightjacket!) she announces, and Riddler’s suddenly restrained, unable to get free.

“No!” he shouts. “I am not the straightjacket type! I am strictly Belle Reve not Arkham!” Riddler argues.

Zatanna huffs out a, “Gag mih!” (gag him!) effectively silencing the Riddler's little tirade.

“Hey Rob, what is broken when you name it?” you ask, a shit-eating grin on your face as you crouch down beside Riddler, who only glares at you in return.

“Silence,” Robin smirks, earning Edward Nigma’s ire.

“Hguone htiw eht ebolgwons,” (enough with the snowglobe) Zatanna’s shout echos’s across the mountain, and suddenly the snow stops.

You all quickly work on the remaining pylons before loading the bioship with Nigma and the captured Shadows.

“Cheshire?” you ask out loud.

“Gone,” Artemis confirms.

“From you? Again?” Wally challenges. “That’s like the third-“

“Enough,” Kaldur cuts in quick. “We need to drop these prisoners off at Belle Reve and return to the Cave, I imagine, the League will want a debrief and an explanation.”

“I guess it’s a good thing, I got the case, though,” Artemis adds, and you can’t help but smile at her.

MOUNT JUSTICEDecember 30, 15:45 EST

You felt like he was staring right at you. Given the whiteouts of his mask, Batman could be glaring at any of you, “Tell me if this sounds familiar. You hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol, and endangered your lives,” he pauses. 

You have to fight the wince when you catch Dinah’s eye. She’s standing behind Batman with Red Tornado and Martian Man-Hunter, and she’s got an eyebrow quirked as she stares straight at you.

“And your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons proving Warden Strange runs Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity…. Well done,” he affirms, and you let out a small breath, gaze darting over to Robin, who quirks his lips in a small smile, one you match.

“And then there's this,” he adds, forcing your attention back as he and Icon approach the case that Artemis had recovered, “Bio-technology integrated with some form of nano-circuitry.”

“Though I am unfamiliar with the species, the bio-component is clearly not of Earth,” Icon confirms.

“We'll take it to the Watchtower for further study,” Batman decides, and the Leaguers head back toward the Zeta.

Canary lingers before walking over to you, mostly everyone else disperses, but you can feel Wally and Kaldur behind you, and Dick’s still at your side.

“I get the feeling that this decision was not made on your own?” she inquires, staring at you.

“I have a team,” you reply loftily. “I don’t have to make these decisions on my own.”

“No, you don’t,” she smiles gently at you, running a hand across your cheek, and then turns to the boys, “and I’m glad to know you see it too.” She says nothing but offers you a pat on the shoulder and turns to the Zeta.

As soon as Canary and Icon zeta out, you turn to the team, shoulders set, “You realize we were set up,” your tone is even, despite the worrisome nature.

“Yes,” Aqualad confirms. “Cheshire and Riddler were tipped and ready for us.”

“They knew we were looking for her, specifically,” you point out, and you can’t help the way your gut swoops.

“Not the mole thing again,” Artemis groans, and your lips turn down. How was it that Roy got to move on, but you were still battling the same demon.

“Mole thing?” Rocket asks, concerned. “Again?”

“We had intel that there was a traitor on the Team,” Wally explains, tone resigned.

“Namely, Artemis, M'gann, or me,” Conner huffs, his bravado cutting through as he steps forward with clenched fists and levels a glare at you specifically.

“It is more complicated than that,” Kaldur argues, placing a hand on Conner’s shoulder.

“And we-“ you gesture between you and Kaldur “-never said that, we only tried to look into the claim to see if it were true,” you argue.

Conner scoffs and shoves Kaldur’s hand away, turning to leave, “But your recent behavior does concern me,” Kaldur adds, following after him. “Your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis killed.”

Conner doesn’t respond, though he does stop for a moment. When he winces, your brow furrows, “Conner?” you call cautiously.

“There’s something I need to do,” Conner says, turning back to face you, but his tone is wholly different. “Something I need to tell you,” he admits, and you shift as you pick up the unease of everyone in the room. “Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to CADMUS and found a few things out.” Your eye twitches slightly at the mention of CADMUS, but you fight to keep your expression neutral. “When I was cloned, only half the DNA was Superman’s. The other half was human,” he admits, and there’s a shift from everyone else. “That's why I don't have, will never have, full Kryptonian powers.”

Your brow furrows, thinking about what you’d seen today, “You sure? Because you sure seemed to have them today,” Robin teases, voicing your thoughts.

“I've been using these,” Conner says, pulling up his sleeve and showing a patch, “Shields. They suppress my human DNA. I get the flight, the heat-vision, but I think I also get angry. Well, angrier… I’m… sorry,” he explains and only one question comes to mind.

“Conner, where did you get those?” you ask, voice lethal.

Conner winces at the question and your tone but meets your gaze. There’s an honesty there that hasn’t existed in a while, a calmness that stems from finally unloading the truth, “From my human father… Lex Luthor.”

There’s an audible intake of breath from someone behind you, and everyone’s eyes are blowing wide, but you? You’re fuming because if Lex Luthor had that much reach, it meant he must have been the silent bankroller for CADMUS, which in turn means Lex Luthor was responsible for the death of your parents, and that? That was not something you’d be letting go of, not now, not ever.

“Lex Luthor, is your dad?” Dick asks. The surprise is evident, and if not for the topic, it would’ve been a moment to commemorate, catching the Boy Wonder off guard.

“He's summoned me to Santa Prisca,” Conner continues.

The silence is deafening. Your shoulders tense as you try to gather your thoughts, and as you open your mouth to say something about Conner’s decision to keep these things secret, Artemis speaks up.

“Ahhh, listen,” she sighs. “Superboy’s not the only one suffering from bad DNA,” she admits, and you tense further, turning to look at the blond. She pulls up three IDs on the holo-computer before beginning. “My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. The rest of my family aren't even ex. My dad's Sportsmaster, and he's sending my sister, Cheshire, to fly me to Santa Prisca, too.”

You gape at the screen, but it all makes sense: her need to prove something, her secrets, her mother’s desperation, even the reason why Cheshire always seemed to escape when up against Artemis.

“That's why-“ Wally’s voice cracks, and you’re hit with a wave of understanding and regret from the speedster as he stares at the archer.

“Yeah,” she mutters. “I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out. “

“I knew you weren’t GAs niece, but-“ you mumble but stop as eyes shift to you.

“I knew,” Dick negates, and Artemis’ eyes blow wide, and you can’t help but gape at him. “Hey, I'm a detective!” he defends but quirks a smile, “But it never mattered. You aren't your family. You're one of us,” he reminds her.

“You always have been,” you manage to choke out, “nothing to prove,” you remind her, and you can see how the tension melts away from her.

Wally pushes forward and stops beside her. He hesitates on what to say but eventually settles for a small smile, propping an arm on her shoulder and jokingly asking, “So who's next?”

“I am,” comes the somber response from M’gann, and for the first time since the start of these revelations, you watch as she seems to curl up into herself.

“I swear I was kidding,” Wally says desperately, hands up in surrender.

“Queen Bee's been blackmailing me. She wants me in Santa Prisca too,” she admits.

“Blackmailing?” Kaldur repeats as if he hadn’t heard her correctly.

“How?” you press. Your voice is rough, and you notice how M’gann’s not the only one to flinch at it.

“She knows my… true… Martian form,” M’gann admits, but the way she says it makes it seem heavier than your first instinct.

“Bald M'gann? Who cares if-“ Robin wants to make a joke, to lighten the mood, but M’gann cuts him off, and before she shifts, you know why: Bald M’gann had been another cover for a secret she hadn’t been ready to share.

“No,” she interrupts, taking a deep breath before shifting.

If you thought the reactions to Luthor being Conner’s human dad were extreme, it was nothing to how almost everyone reacted to M’gann’s true form. She stood before you, a towering creature, a White Martian. While your information was limited, you had enough to assemble a theory.

You fought not to react, to stand firm and impassive beside Kaldur, just as he did. The only other person not to react was Conner.

There’s a whispered “woah” from Rocket as everyone else releases startled gasps.

“I realized you would never accept me if you saw what I really am,” M’gann tells us, and you ache for her. You struggled sometimes balancing Nightingale and (y/n) Roxo. You couldn’t imagine having kept your true self a secret from everyone, having no one to turn to. It had to have been incredibly draining and lonely… so lonely. Your anger was fading with each revelation, but there was one point where you were still stuck.

“M’gann, did we truly seem so shallow?” Kaldur inquires, and though he sounds the same, you can hear the hurt in his words, the edge you recognize as him questioning his abilities in setting the tone of his leadership.

M’gann crosses her arms, her gaze cast down. Dinah called that stance protecting by avoidance, “I couldn't take a chance,” M’gann admits. “Being a white Martian among the green on Mars, I endured constant rejection….I couldn't face that from-“

“From me?” Conner asks, carefully stepping forward and taking her hand.

The way they stare at each other is enough to tell that they are now having a more private conversation. Dick takes the opportunity to grab your shoulder, forcing you to turn to him, Kaldur doing the same.

“Now might be a good time for anyone else to share secrets regarding CADMUS,” he hints, and your lips part- he hadn’t even bothered to whisper.

“What are you talking about?” Zatanna’s question echoes from behind him, but you standing stock still, staring at him.

“You must be joking,” you hiss as you shrug out of Dick’s grip.

“C’mon, Birdy,” he urges, and you feel Kaldur’s hand on your shoulder.

You shrug off Kaldur, too, before spinning on your heel, pushing past Artemis and Wally and to the computer. Your hands shake a bit while you type, but you pull up everything you have; the news article about your parent’s death, the report on your blood from Dinah and Bruce, and the readings on the genomorphs at CADMUS. You take a deep breath before turning back to everyone now looking at you and at everything you’ve pulled up, eyes jumping between each article and report.

You sniff before reaching into a compartment of your belt and pulling out a mask adhesive dissolution wipe. When you start pulling at your mask, there are a few wide eyes, and when your glare lands on Robin, all he does is smile in return.

“My name is (y/n) Roxo, and when I was six years old, I witnessed the murder of my parents,” you begin. Everyone but Kaldur and Robin focus on you with lips parted and wide eyes. “They were Wayne Enterprises scientists, brilliant actually. They noticed some discrepancies with a project in the labs, cover-ups, and false reports. One had to do with an instance when I was in their lab and was accidentally exposed to whatever the project had been focused on,” You begin. “When we went to CADMUS on the Fourth of July, something about the genomorphs seemed familiar. I later discovered that’s because when I was young, I was exposed to a replication of their abilities, the beginnings of the research that led to the cloning capabilities. It’s what gave me the empath abilities and why J’onn thinks I could manifest further powers, just like the genomorphs have,” you explain.

“Which is why you looked like you were about to whip out some kryptonite when SB here said Luthor was his dad,” Artemis pieced, gaze jumping toward you and Conner. “Because CADMUS-“

“Because CADMUS is his project, and he funded, orchestrated- he was responsible for my parents murder,” you affirm, eyes meeting Conner’s.

“Holy shit,” Wally mumbled, and you couldn’t help but agree.

Conner was staring straight at you despite how focused he had been on M’gann only moments before. His blue eyes were wide as he stared straight at you, his lips parted but closed, and then his expression shifted as he took in the rage in your eyes and again when he saw the hurt. His shoulders sag slightly, and he slowly takes steps forward until he is right in front of you.

“I- I’m so sorry, Bir- (y/n),” he stutters over your name for a second, and you want to hold onto the anger. You want to be mad at him, but his eyes are so open and honest with you right now, and you’re reminded of the Conner who saved you from Cadmus back in July, the one who wanted to do good, to be good.

“It’s not okay, but I don’t… I don’t blame you,” the fact that your blame fell squarely on Lex Luthor went without saying.

He offers a curt nod, “a problem for later?” he adds quietly, and you give a silent nod in affirmation.

“So uh.. I know I’m new, but what now?” Rocket asked, and everyone’s eyes jumped from person to person, waiting for someone to speak up.

“We know that CADMUS has played a much larger role than any of us anticipated when we began this team six months ago, and we know that Superboy, Artemis, and Miss Martian are all expected at Santa Prisca,” Kaldur begins, and everyone’s attention shifts to him. “So we go as a team. Prepared for whatever they may throw at us. The backroom deals and secret alliances end today.”

SANTA PRISCADecember 30, 17:57 ECT

“Superboy’s about to make contact,” M’gann’s voice echoes as everyone focuses on the exchange.

You and Robin were in the bioship with M’gann. At the same time, Kaldur, Wally, Rocket, and Zatanna had taken discreet positions on the island, each of you waiting for the call.

You could feel Robin staring at the back of your head, but you ignored him instead of focusing on what was happening on the ground below you.

“Welcome, Superboy,” Lex Luthor’s voice sets you on edge the second you hear it. Still, you force yourself to watch as Suberboy dismounts the Supercycle. “I'd like to introduce you to my associate, Queen Bee.”

Even though it was expected, your heart begins to speed up a bit in reaction to the developments, “My pleasure,” she greets.

“I believe you know everyone else. Sportsmaster, Mercy, Blockbuster. And our new friend Bane, who's allowed us use of his island in exchange for certain considerations,” Luthor introduces as everyone around him steps forward.

“No one wanted to listen when I said following Bane was a bad idea, and here we are,” you huff into the link, but the rest are silent.

“So the Injustice League was just a distraction. You two have been behind everything from the start,” Conner surmises, painting his expression with shock.

“Heh, a flattering notion, son, but we have many friends,” Luthor sidesteps, and your skin crawls at the way he calls SB son.

“This one of your friends now?” Conner asks as a helicopter begins to approach and then as it lands.

“No, my boy,” Luthor smirks. “One of yours.”

Conner glares at the copter until the door slides open, “Artemis?” the name rings out with a tone of shock, and you roll your shoulders, trying to force yourself to relax.

To her credit, she plays her role well, “The hero thing wasn't working out. You get how it is. No trust,” she scoffs, seemingly indifferent to the developments around her. “This is where I belong,” she adds, and you flinch.

“You’re up, Miss M,” you announce, and she backs the bioship up a bit, making a circle around the island and de-camouflaging the bioship before parking it in the air above the group.

“It's a fast-growing club,” Queen B announces as M’gann descends to the ground.

You reach for the rope, securing yourself to the repeller in preparation for when you’ll all be making your move.

“So… you’re just going to ignore me?” he asks cautiously.

Your glare sharpens in his direction, but it’s difficult to make out with your mask back.

“I know you’re upset that I-“

“Upset? Dick, I’m furious, you pushed me into revealing things they didn’t need to know! Things I trusted you enough to share about, privately!”

“They needed to know!” he argues. “(y/n) you consistently come to the rescue, you throw your life on the line for us, you did it in the Bayou, you did it for Wally in Seattle, you did it last week for me in the Circus. You do it all the time, because you know these things about everyone, you know when they need the support, but no one- outside of Kaldur and I, even had the slightest inclination. They needed to know, because today is more than the conspiracy of the last six months. Today could be the end, of it all, for you. Today could be the answers you’ve been looking for since Dinah took you in.”

“It wasn’t your call to make,” you hiss.

“No, it wasn’t. But this team fights better, fights stronger, when it’s united, and you’ve always been able to make us get our shit together better than anyone else can,” he sighs.

You glare at him but refuse to respond, and his shoulders drop.

“Why are they here?” M’gann’s startled gasp forces you both to look back to the ground from your spots within the ship. “You promised!” she cries.

“I’ve kept your secret and my promise,” Queen B argues, tone deadly. “Now, you keep yours,” when M’gann ducks her head, the monarch smirks, “Good girl.”

“Give me more shields, and I'm in, too,” Conner decides, and your lips twitch down. Espionage was not his forte.

Luthor walks closer and stares at Conner briefly before smirking, “My boy, you're a terrible liar.”

Conner’s eyes blow wide before winding back for an attack. However, before he can, Luthor plays his card, “Red Sun.”

Conner does well with his role. His entire body relaxes, face falling flat, arms hanging limply at his side as he stands straight with a muted expression, staring at Luthor.

“What do you want us to do?” Artemis asks, stepping forward, prodding the meeting along.

Luthor nods his head once, and Sportsmaster gestures to Artemis and M’gann. “You two, follow me.”

“What about Superboy?” M’gann asks, eyes sliding to Queen B.

“He'll be fine. He simply requires a few adjustments…” she trails off.

Everyone but Superboy begins to follow after Sportsmaster, “Bring him along,” Luthor orders, and Blockbuster moves toward Conner.

Your breath catches as you wait to see what happens. You’d all agreed that it’d be Artemis, M’gann, or Conner’s call on when to move, given they were the three in the thick of it. So when Artemis starts running forward, bow in hand before shooting at Blockbuster, trapping him for the moment, before turning around and aiming at her father.

“Sorry, Dad. Wanted to play you like you tried to play me but I can't let them mess with Superboy's head!” she shouted.

“M'gann, be a dear and take Artemis down,” Queen B orders.

You look at Rob as you both step up to the drop-hole.

You let out an audible groan as you stare at the boy across from you, “After,” is all you say.

He nods in affirmation, “milkshakes?” and you nod in agreement.

M’gann lifts Artemis in the air but then uses the distraction to fling Queen B backward and into a tree. She falls to the ground unconscious, and you wait for the verbal confirmation. Artemis shoots a shot at her dad, and then M’gann lets her down.

“Queen Bee is down,” M’gann confirms. “Superboy, you're safe from her control.”

"I may not be much of a liar, but I fooled you,” Conner announced as he approached Luthor.

“And I'm so proud,” Lex states sarcastically. “I take it Miss Martian cleaned Red Sun from your mind?”

“And confirmed Nightingale, Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash rescued me from Cadmus before you had time to install any other programming,” Conner shoots back.

Luthor sighs, “All true. Personally, I blame Dr. Desmond.”

As if verbally queued, Blockbuster frees himself from Artemis’ trap, charging at Superboy.

You observe as Bane’s goons start engaging, and the supercycle quickly lays down cover fire while SB gets busy with Blockbuster.

Artemis and M’gann alternate between defense and offense until, “Guys, reinforcement time,” the blonde calls.

Rocket and Wally are the first two to make it to everyone, and you glance at Rob, “Ready?”

“Go,” he confirms, and you both drop-down, trusting the rope and the bioship as you go. You yank the stop when you’re only a few feet off the ground, and both you and Robin stop abruptly before releasing yourselves, dropping to the ground and landing agilely on your feet.

You take a second to scan your surroundings. You spot Kaldur facing off with Luthor and his assistant, an unconscious Queen B in his arms. You turn instead to take on some of the goons. You and Rob were methodical in knocking down person after person, you hear the cocking of a gun behind you, and you turn with wide eyes,

“Ekoms dna srorrim!” (smoke and mirrors!) Zatanna chants and the gun turns to smoke, which then turns into a giant serpent, winding its way around the goon’s body. “Egnahc ekans otni sgnidnib!” (change snake into bindings); she continues, and the snake becomes a rope.

You’re frozen in surprise for a second, but that’s knocked away when Bane appears and charges at Robin, Zatanna, and you simultaneously.

“Shit!” you manage to grit out in surprise.

Your hands start moving blindly, a hand going to your hip where your grapple is. You quickly twist the cord out of the gun before whipping it and your arm out to the side in an arc. The tensile strength of the cable is enough to stop Bane as he falls forward with the three of you.

You and Rob push him off and to the side. Robin covers you while you quickly peek at Zatanna, who seems knocked out. You look up in time to see Bane get back up and start fighting with Robin. You're on your feet when he gets pushed back, facing off against Bane.

“Hola Chicita, it’s been some time,” he teases, head tilting down at you.

“Not nearly long enough, Bane,” you huff.

“Etaerc Elagnithgin Snoisulli!” (create nightingale illusions) Zatanna’s rushed chant whips through you, and you can feel the prickle of her magic as it washes over you, and suddenly, there are dozens of you all facing Bane.

Bane’s surprise is visible as he scans each and every duplicate of you. "Gotta love an army of NG,” Rob smirks as he pushes himself up.

You smirk in return and pull out your ring daggers, several duplicates doing the same or arming themselves with escrima sticks and marble bombs before you’re all running at Bane. He gets distracted by the ones jumping up at him directly and misses when the true you slip around him with one of your blades out. You cut through his tubes of Venom, weakening him. Then you turn with an escrima stick crackling with electricity and plant it firmly at the base of his neck, watching with satisfaction as it brings him to his knees and then as he collapses.

You pull back, and with the moment you have, you take in a deep lungful of air, finally able to breathe. As you look around, you realize the fighting has stopped. Artemis and KF are standing by an unconscious and tar-trapped Sportsmaster. Superboy, Miss M, and Rocket are posted up by Blockbuster. You stare down at Bane as you realize who isn’t still here, and Robin joins you a second later.

“NG?” his voice is hesitant, as he notices how you’re gripping your escrima stick and dagger, your body tense, as you stare at Bane.

“He got away,” your voice cracks as you say it, and your fists clench tighter. "Luthor-"

When Robin touches your shoulder, you both recoil quickly; his lips part as he stares at you and his hand.

“I.. I felt-“

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, tugging on all the strings threatening to burst free, trying to cram your emotions back in their place to keep them from leaking out and affecting everyone around you. You drop your weaponry, hugging yourself as you try to compact your feelings.

A different hand lands on your shoulder. When you turn your head, you see Kaldur beside you. You can feel yourself unraveling just as fast as you attempt to stuff it all down.

“Stop,” you say as you attempt to shrug him off.

“It is okay to feel angry, my friend,” he reminds you, eyes burning with the same rage you feel, and you know in that second that it is the same rage, it is your rage, that he’s taking it on, for you.

“Kaldur, stop, that’s not- you shouldn’t-“ you huff, but with each move back, he follows, until suddenly he’s holding you in a tight hug, and you can’t move anymore. “Stop,” you beg, gripping on to his arms.

“Allow us to help, epitrépste mou na sikóso aftó to város. stiríxou páno mou, chrisimopoíise ti dýnamí mou, méchri na anaktíseis ti dikí sou. Eímai statherós, paliós fílos. (let me carry this burden. lean on me, use my strength, until you regain your own. I am steady, old friend).”

His words wash over you, and you finally do that. You stop pushing against the bits that are bleeding. You can feel Kaldur stiffen when he finally feels the whole barrage of your emotions, but quickly, he tightens his hold on you. When tears start to fall from both of you, all you can do is sag into him in relief.

“Den eínai díkaio. Xéfyge. Tha éprepe na eínai edó. Tha éprepe na logodotísei gia ta enklímatá tou, ton rólo tou. Échoun fýgei kai eínai exaitías tou. Eímai tóso kourasménos kai tóso thymoménos, to niótho óli tin óra kai prospathó tóso sklirá na min to afíso éxo. Allá giatí eínai eléftheros?” (It's not fair. He got away. He should be here. He should have to answer for his crimes, his role. They're gone and it’s because of him. I am so tired and so angry, I feel it all the time, and I try so hard not to let it out. But why does he get to be free?) the words tumble from your lips in sobs of atlantean.

Part of the truth you’re admitting was too raw to admit to everyone else, none of the sidekicks had ever seen your anger, your rage— Kaldur had. Kaldur was the one who he lped you learn how to manage it. He was the one who taught you, the one who showed you how to channel it into something better.

“Thýmose, Poulí, tha diatiríso tin isorropía kai gia tous dýo,” (Be angry, Bird, I will maintain the balance for us both) he answers, his voice as calm as ever, and you can’t help but marvel at him, how he can hold your anger, your hurt, your rage, but present as calm, and keep it from seeping out when you can’t do anything but make a mess.

You know the team’s watching. You know they’re concerned and want to tell them it’s okay, that you’re okay, but you’re not. You know that. Dinah would know what to say and how to tell the team that they did a good job and that they should enjoy the win, but you can’t. You can’t tell them that you can’t enjoy it, not when the mastermind of it all managed to escape.

Quietly, Kaldur helps you back onto the Bioship. Vaguely, you hear the conversations happening around you. 

“It is always like this,” Rocket scoffs, dropping into her seat. 

“Told you,” Wally chimes, but you can feel his gaze on you.

“Hey, disaster averted. Feeling the aster,” Robin muses as he settles next to you but keeps a distance.

“Agreed, this has been a good day,” Kaldur nods, fists clenched as he turns to you, “but it is not the end.”

“No,” you ground out in confirmation, and you can feel the promise in his words, “it’s not.”

#codename: nightingale #cnng #cnng episode #cnng season 1 #cnng s1 e25 #yj #young justice #young justice x reader #young justice imagine #dc imagine #sidekick!reader #dick grayson x reader #robin x reader #black canary #dick grayson #robin #wally west #kid flash #aqualad #kaldur #m'gann m'orzz #miss martian #superboy #conner kent #artemis #artemis crock #zatanna #daisy's fics #rocket #raquel ervin

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale - performance

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 24

WC: 9.1k

synopsis: the team tests their acrobatic abilities and robin takes a trip down memory lane. aka the one where ng is a supportive girlfriend. ft. couply vibes from our favorite non-couple. 

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

a/n: I know I'm consistently inconsistent, but. it means a lot to hear from each of you and to see your comments and responses to what I write. it's hard to believe that there are only two updates left in the season, but it's been a long time coming. I do plan to continue with this series, but the breaks will probably be similar to the ones many of you have already been experiencing. thank you again for all your dedication!

BRUGES December 22nd, 20:08 CET

You weren’t really sure how to feel as you stood before the crowd. Standing on the ground beside Conner, you were dressed in a white and red leotard, identical to the ones the rest of your team was wearing. Each of you was wearing a similar mask that covered the top half of your face, and while you pulled your daggers out, your eyes connected with Conner’s, he seemed to recognize the slight unease in your expression. Before he could comment on it, the Ring Master was walking into the spotlight, and the crowd seemed to get louder as he started the night. 

“Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs, Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Haly International Traveling Circus! Where the world in the center ring is your oyster, and these are our latest pearls! The Daring Dangers!” he announced, and you straightened out, blades twirling in your hands.

“Dan Danger!” The spotlight focused on Dick as he swung from a trapeze high above everyone’s heads. Your breath caught in your throat as you watched; part of you absolutely amazed at how he moved in the air, and part of you trembling with fear as your brain flashed to the memory he had shown you at the start of November.

You held your breath as he launched from his trapeze and somersaulted in the air opposite M’gann, “Dawn Danger!” Haly announced, and the light focused on her for a second. 

“Diane Danger!” The light moved to Artemis as she notched three arrows and then to Roy as he did the same, “Dane Danger!”

You nodded at Conner as you took your starting position, knowing your alias was coming soon. “Dean Danger!” Haly called, and a light shone on Conner, who was juggling barrels. You watched the moves, and as soon as he tossed two barrels, you ran and pushed off his crouched back. Vaguely you registered Haly’s “and Dana Danger!” announcement as the light shone on you.

You sent two blades flying clear across the ring, through a few hoops where they hit their bullseyes, triggering confetti cannons that shot up in time with Artemis and Roy’s release of sparkler arrows and Dick and M’gann’s well-timed tumbles through the hollow barrels that Conner had tossed. You barely blinked as you tucked down into a roll and came back down, using the momentum to spring up into a handspring with the agility of a trained acrobat. 

“You'll never see another trapeze act like this, folks! And all of it, without a net!” you had straightened out and returned to the podium beside Conner, new blades in hand, just in time to hear Haly’s statement. You winced at the thought before your eyes caught on the pained sound that Dick made. 

“Robin!” M’gann’s shout had your gaze shooting up immediately. And your heart leaped up as you watched Robin fall, the imaging too real for a memory, paired with shrieks from the crowd. 

“Don’t blow our cover!” Robin instructed as he fell, and your eye twitched.

“Dean,” you hissed, at Conner, eyes dipping to the barrel in his hand, and he nodded, understanding your meaning. 

“But saving your life's okay?” Conner asked, sarcasm dripping from every word as he launched the barrel up in the air with enough force to meet Dick in the air and then push him back up to where M’gann was coming back around for another pass from the trapeze. 

“What did I just say?” Robin chastised as M’gann caught him.

“The crowd couldn't see me using telekinesis from below,” she countered, dropping him back at the platform of the trapeze frame. “Besides, I've been using it all night. I'm not exactly the acrobat you are,” M’gann adds as she lands beside him, the two of them wearing show smiles and waving out to the crowd.

“Yeah, neither am I right now. I think I've caught that 24 hour bug that's been going around the circus,” Dick admits, and you make a clicking noise in contempt that only Conner could hear. 

“But the show must go on,” you note with an obviously upset tone.

“Yes,” is all Dick answered. 

Your eye twitches once more as you start hitting targets that Conner was lobbying up in the air, most containing some confetti or glitter that would explode mid-air. You have a brief flash-back of the mission briefing, the one you hadn’t technically been invited to but had stumbled onto, to the great annoyance of Dick.

[FLASHBACK- MOUNT JUSTICE]

“Advanced weapons tech have been stolen at manufacturing plants throughout Europe. And each theft coincides with tour stops made by the Haly Circus. Batman is sending us undercover to catch the thieves,” Robin had led the briefing, and no one else had commented on it. 

But you had sent him a look that made it apparent that you didn’t believe that Batman had authorized anything, but you also trusted Robin too much to make that a public fact.

“This clown car have room for one more?” Roy asked with a faux cheerful expression. 

Your brows dipped as you looked at him. You weren’t completely sure where you stood at the moment. Everything he did to antagonize Artemis earlier this month still didn’t sit well with you. But this was Roy, who was practically your brother; after all the years he’s supported you and everything you’d been through together, there was no simple answer. 

“Uh..” Dick shot a look at you, noting your stormy expression, “We've got this covered,” he offers hesitantly. 

Your forehead creases as Roy leans closer to Robin, talking in a hushed tone you can’t hear. Whatever he says has the slightest effect in twitching Robin’s lips down. Not enough to be noticeable unless you’d been paying rapt attention to the interaction. 

Haly’s announcement pulls you from the memory, and you realize you’d subconsciously been doing your routine and were now standing on one foot in Conner’s hand, hitting a final confetti target before being tossed up in the air for a summersault and then caught by Conner once more. “Put your hands together for The Daring Dangers!”

“Didn't think you’d make it through!” M’gann adds as you all regrouped together on the center podium, waving out to the crowd with show smiles.

“Neither did I. Help me backstage,” Dick admits, your eyes flashing something dangerous as you and M’gann loop an arm around Dick on either side.

Subtly you support his weight, Conner, Roy, and Artemis flanked you as the team made their way backstage. Your eyes caught on Ray, the stage hand, as he talked with the next act as you passed by.

“Ray, have you seen my other torch?”

“Here, you dropped it outside the train.”

“Thanks, you're a lifesaver!”

“Break a leg!”

Haly’s introduction timed up perfectly, “Bear witness, ladies, and gentlemen, to the Dragon's Breath!'' and a second later, the Ring Master himself is walking back to the backstage area.

The twins immediately swarmed, “Haly, what's the deal? Giving the top slot to those Danger kids?”

The other pipes in, “That's our slot!”

“Was your slot until you missed that performance in Paris,” Haly scoffs, looking at the twins and then glancing at us.

“Carlo was sick! He's better now,” one twin argues

“Plus, those Dangers are a sham! They say they're brothers and sisters. They don't even look alike!” Carlo butts in, and you can’t help the quirk to your lip because he’s not wrong. A few of you could probably pass for siblings if the masks stayed on, but not all of us.

Haly simply waved a hand at them, “Ah, you just don't like the competition!” he huffed, shooing the twins away. When he turned around again, he noticed the man in the suit standing just a few feet away. “Ah, for crying out loud, not you again! We're in the middle of a show!”

The man in the suit offered an unimpressed expression, "Then we'll talk after. But we will talk. Another city last week, another tech firm robbed. Another stop on your tour. If I prove you're responsible, I will shut you down.”

Haly frowned at the man, “I've got three minutes to gather props and get back to the center ring," and promptly turned to grab what he needed. 

The suit noticed us when Haly walked off and approached, “Faraday, Interpol." He introduced himself, and you made eye contact with Robin. He hadn't mentioned Interpol during the briefing. "New act?” The agent asked. 

“Yeah, just joined the tour," you affirmed, plastering on the same camera smile you used at all the events Oliver would drag you to. 

“Probably clears you. But don't get too comfortable. Haly's going down for this," Faraday warns before stalking off. 

You were crouched on a roof with Robin and Miss M as you all observed the prospective target when Superboy spoke up, “If Interpol's already on this, why are we bothering?”

“Because Batman said so," Dick deflected, “Why? You had something better to do?”

You turned back to look at Dick and quirked your brow, you were well aware of the significance this circus held for him, but no one else on this mission was. To them, his attitude was most likely abrasive.

“How do we know the thieves will hit here?” Artemis asked from her perch with Roy; you let your eyes drift toward them and were happy to see they were both still in one piece. 

“There are more obvious targets,” Roy supplied, begrudgingly seeming in agreement with Artemis.

“And Faraday will have them covered!” Robin shot back defensively. “But I analyzed the tech already stolen, and the patterns suggest this is the place.”

M’gann interrupted with a soft voice, “How are you feeling?”

Her question had you turning back to Robin, features softening. You could see the strain he was putting himself through. 

“Lousy, actually, but I'll manage,” he offers, and a frown pulls at your lips.

You were ready to butt in and tell him maybe he should stay back, but before you could, Conner cut in, “Contact! North-East quadrant.” You all watched as a hooded figure approached the gate and managed to flip their way over it. Their acrobatic skill was apparent. “Looks like we know why Carlo missed their performance,” Conner offered.

“Could be Carlo, could be his brother,” Robin reminded everyone. “Keep an open mind, and move in!”

You repelled down, Robin doing the same by your side, though you noticed as he landed a bit harsher than normal, before turning and trying to find your mystery acrobat again. 

“Did you see where he went?” Robin asked as we regrouped, and everyone focused on finding any sign of your culprit.

Conner landed beside you, and a minute passed before he answered, “The warehouse.”

You all managed to slip into the warehouse undetected and took up positions surrounding the hooded figure from the railing above.

Robin laughed, drawing his attention, and that’s when you realized under the hood that he was also wearing a mask. “Caught red-handed! Red faced too, I'll bet.”

Artemis glared at him, “Acrobatics won't get you out of this.”

You saw the baton before he had it all the way up, and your eyes went wide, “Look out!”

No one else had a chance to say anything before your offender utilized a mock of devil's breath (fire) as a distraction. You all split up to avoid being burned, tumbling away from the heat. 

“Somebody do something!” You huff, pushing yourself up and looking down at your arm, you can feel a burn there, and you bit down on your cheek to keep from letting out a pained cry.

“Those crates are full of live ammo! Move!” Roy shouted, and your eyes went wide. Roy jumped down toward you and helped you up, pulling you to your feet before tugging you after him.

You all found a somewhat secure spot and pulled down the metal supports around you, blocking you from most of the blast as the explosion shook the building and shattered the glass windows. 

You waited an additional minute for aftershocks before Superboy kicked down the metal around you, “That guy is dead meat!”

“Superboy, no!” Robin shouted, stopping Conner before he could follow after our mystery firebug.

“You need to get her out,” you tell him as you gesture back to M’gann, wincing when your suit pulls against your burn.

“He's getting away!” Conner argued, and you couldn’t hide your surprise. 

You could feel the rage pouring off of him. You hadn’t felt something this intense from Conner in a while. It was potent but awkward. You were all upset, angry, and annoyed, but no one to his extent, even with them being as close as they were.

You frowned at him, “And that matters more than Miss M? The fire's killing her!” You remind him, and suddenly the rage evaporated; his fluctuating emotions became increasingly more baffling with each mission.

“Right right!” He corrects, taking M’gann into his arms and running out from the smoke.

With the pressing concern of M’gann’s health resolved, Robin turns to the rest of you. “Artemis, NG, Arrow! Find the thief!” he shouts, but you all see as he collapses.

“Fuck,” you mutter, rushing up to him.

“Because he matters more than you?” Artemis asks, repeating your words from seconds earlier.

“You're still off your gigs, pal. We're getting you out too,” Roy determined as he and Artemis each looped an arm around him. “Birdy, you alright?”

“Fine! I’m right behind you!” You affirm, wincing once again as you grab your grapple, every movement of your arm paining you.

By the time you returned to the train, your arm was throbbing. You had applied burn paste on the bioship in the small bathroom while everyone else decompressed and bandaged it up, deciding to deal with it fully once back on the train, hoping to avoid any questions about it. Everyone seemed to be in a mood when you touched down and relegated themselves to quietly fuming while preparing for bed. Between the six of you, there were two compartments, one for the three boys, the other for the three girls. M’gann got ready for bed first, and Artemis approached you while she was in the shower. You were seated on the floor beside your bed. Despite having changed to get in unnoticed by anyone who happened to be wandering about, you still smelt like smoke and had no desire to get that on your bed. Artemis gently sat down beside you, hands hesitating before gently grabbing at your arm. You let out a hiss at the contact despite how light her touch had been. 

“I saw it, before we carried Rob out, but it was hard to see, and there was fire everywhere, so I thought maybe it wasn’t as bad as I had thought, until you walked out of the change room with a bandage on…” she trailed. 

“It’s fine,” you tried to shrug off. 

“I know I messed up last time, but I thought about what you said. I want to be on this team, NG, I want-“ she cuts herself off, dropping your gaze. “I want them to be able to put their trust in me,” she says firmly. 

You stare at her for a second, knowing she’s trying to be exceptionally open with you right now. Allowing you to read every emotion she’s got while holding your arm and meeting your masked eyes. Tiredly you pull the mask from your eyes, and hers widen. 

“I’m not giving you my ID, not yet. I-” you take a deep breath cutting yourself off. “it’s a lot for me. But I could use some help with this burn, if you’re offering,” you respond. 

“Yeah, let me grab the med kit,” she nods, stretching out to grab a box from under her bed. 

When M’gann came out of her shower, Artemis had cleaned your burn and debrided what she could. You had taken a mild painkiller and used a localized anesthetic on the area to keep the pain at bay. M’gann’s eyebrows raised at your unmasked face but simply offered you a warm smile once you replicated though much more muted.

“That looks pretty rough, I didn’t realize you got burned,” M’gann notes, her tone full of concern. 

“It’s alright. You were looking pretty rough yourself,” you muse tiredly. 

“You feel any better?” Artemis asks, looking back at the Martian.

“Lots, but I’m still pretty drained,” she admits, walking over to sit beside the two of you on the floor. “Why don’t you wash up, Artemis? I can take over,” she offers. 

“You sure?” Artemis asks hesitantly. 

“Go,” you affirm. “It’s not like I can shower until this is properly bandaged up anyways,” you shrug,

“Alright,” she nods, standing up and grabbing her stuff before disappearing behind the doors and down the walkway to the shower.

“Big step,” M’gann notes as she picks up where Artemis left off, though her eyes glance up to make uninhibited eye contact with you. 

“Maybe I’m just high on the pain killers,” you lament. 

M’gann giggles, “No, but whatever the reason, I’m glad. I know you know I caught glimpses back in Biyaliya, but I’ve done my best to respect your privacy and the things I learned during that mission,” M’gann admits. 

“Yeah, we’ve all come a long way since Biyaliya, haven’t we?” you muse. 

“Very,” she affirms. “How goes the empath development? My uncle mentioned he and Canary have been corresponding regarding your training,” she inquires. 

“Did he tell you he thinks I may be able to manifest as a telepath? If my empathic abilities continue to develop the way they have been, I mean,” you tell her lazily, the pain killer defiantly helping in your unusual calmness.

“No, he hadn’t,” she admits. “How do you feel about that?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure yet, I just started understanding my empathic abilities, grasping how to read others, how to interpret the feelings, and it’s still so easy to get overwhelmed, when everyone else’s feeling are just too loud, and I can’t manage it all flooding at me… but Canary said I’ve always been an empathetic person, that I find it in myself to forgive and understand quicker than most, we just never realized it had to do with my latent abilities more than my experiences.”

“It’s both,” M’gann assured you. “You might be an empath, NG, but that just means you can read other people’s emotions, empathizing with them has more to do with your character than it does with your powers. It’s both, not one or the other, you’re more than your powers, don’t let their inherently emotional core make you think any different,” she says seriously, picking up the tub of burn cream. 

“Thanks,” you manage to croak out, staring at M’gann. You hadn’t realized just how much of a toll the overpowering nature of your powers had been taking lately.

“Anytime, Birdy,” she smiles warmly once more before wrapping your arm up. She added an additional layer of waterproof bandaging to help protect your arm while you showered. “We can check it in the morning, but the bandage should you last you through the day, and we can clean it again tomorrow night,” she adds as she finishes.

Artemis returned a moment later and smiled at your now cleaned and bandaged arm, “You’re up, Birdy,” she mused, tossing her towel over one of the hooks in the compartment. 

You smiled at the two girls, grabbing your towel and shower things before exiting the compartment yourself. 

BRUGES December 23rd, 08:13 CET

When you got up the next morning, M’gann and Artemis unwound your bandage, inspected it, and added more of the burn cream before rewrapping it. The three of you exited the compartment and met with the boys for breakfast. You had just finished when you spotted the return of Interpol Agent Faraday. 

“Another weapons plant is hit, and once again, the circus is in town. I don't believe in coincidences,” Faraday warned.

“I don't care what you believe! My people are not responsible! I did a bed check last night. Every single member of my troupe was asleep in their bunks!” Haly defended, and your brow quirked as you looked over to your team. Everyone was dressed in their performance outfits, but given that your arms were usually on display with the leotard, you had opted to slide a compression long sleeve on underneath, perfectly reasonable given the snowy weather outside, the sleeves covering your bandaged arm perfectly. 

“Well, we sure weren’t,” M’gann notes in response to Haly’s defense.

“And if he's lying about us…” Artemis trailed off as everyone settled with the idea. Your gaze flickered to Dick, caught as his eyes narrowed on Haly and then dropped to the floor. 

“Let’s go, I think it’s time to debrief,” you decide, urging your teammates to move and catching Dick’s gaze once more before you all moved back into the boys’ compartment on the train, closing the door behind you. 

Everyone took up varying spots in the compartment, Artemis and Dick seated on one side, M’gann and you seated on the other, while Roy and Conner stood on each end. 

“S, two thieves, right? The fire breather and one of the acrobats,” Artemis offered, starting the debrief. 

“Dressed in identical clothes,” M’gann offered. 

“Maybe not just two,” Dick decided, pulling something up on his holo-screen. “Here's the Madrid security footage.” you all watched silently as a hooded figure bent the bars. “And now, Paris,” confusion spread as you watched another figure walk on some cables, just like a tightrope. 

“So the strong man and the clown too,” Roy supplied. “If the entire circus is involved, Haly himself may be the mastermind,” he voiced, and you cringed internally, fighting to keep your face straight, knowing exactly where this was headed next. 

“You don't know that!” Dick argued, standing up to get in Roy’s space.

“It would explain his lies,” M’gann offered, though her tone was soft, as she tried to de-escalate the tension between Dick and Roy.

“I told you to keep an open mind!” Dick huffed before storming out. Your lips pursed, you wanted to run after him, but you also wanted to ensure that everyone was at least somewhat on the same page. 

“Hello, Megan! I'll read Haly's mind!” M’gann offered, but before anyone else could comment on it, Roy took a step forward with crossed arms.

“I’m not sure we can trust you to do that without tipping him off,” Roy decided, and your eye twitched; you were getting really sick of questioning everyone’s trust.

“Or maybe you don't trust her, period!” Conner roared, stepping forward, voicing your thoughts. “I heard you talking to Robin back at the Cave. I know you're only here to spy on the three of us!”

“There's a mole on this Team,” Roy said so seriously you could see his sureness, but it did little to change your opinion. “And there’s good reasons to suspect all three of you. Both Artemis and Miss Martian have already been caught in lies,” both of their heads dipped a bit, “And you could be programmed by Cadmus without even knowing.”

“Or maybe I take your head off without even trying!” you’re once again struck by Conner’s aggressiveness. You’d thought he’d sorted through most of it with Canary. He’d been doing better, but suddenly it seemed like it was all coming back, and you couldn’t place why.

“Okay, let's all take a time out,” M’gann decided, placing a gentle hand on Conner’s shoulder and tugging him back a bit. “Before we do something we'll regret.”

“Speak for yourself,” he grumbled, allowing her to lead him out of the compartment to cool off. 

Artemis waited until the compartment door shut again, “None of us are perfect. But each of us would give our lives for this Team. So try and keep an open mind,” Artemis reminds him, and it’s reassuring to hear your words echoed by another, but also to see the calm, collectedness she managed to keep about her this time. You were proud of her and offered her a smile of your own as she left too. 

“She’s not wrong, and it’s exactly what I’ve been saying for months, Roy,” you huff. 

“Just because you’ve gone all kumbaya on me-“

“Don’t,” you snap. “Just don’t. I don’t know why my empath abilities seem to be such a focus for you lately, but it doesn’t make me any different than I have ever been. And this.. This being on edge, being angry, whatever it is, you need to knock it off because I can only take so much.” 

“Birdy…” He says it softly, and you frown. 

“I’m gonna go find Rob,” you decide, pulling a jacket from Robin's bag. “Figure your shit out, Roy.”

You make a quick stop to grab one for yourself before running out after Dick. You find him while he’s stopped in front of an old poster on a tent. When you get closer, you know why. You stare at it a second longer, The Flying Graysons, and you take a deep breath before walking up next to him. 

He’s quiet as you saddle up beside him, and your fingers fidget for a second, trying to think of what to say. “They don’t know, and so they don’t understand, they can’t understand why this is so important to you, or why you’re being evasive and defensive… But I do. I know, I understand, and I’m with you all the way. If you truly think that Haly’s not involved, then he’s not, but I’m begging you Dick, please don’t block me out,” you say softly, voice barely louder than a whisper, as you drape his jacket over his shoulders and tentatively grab his hand. 

He doesn’t answer, but his fingers tighten around yours, and you release the breath you’d been holding. Only a few moments later, his com rings, a quick glance lets you know it’s Wally, and Dick answers, linking you in while you both stand out in the snow.

“Uh yeah?” he answers lamely, gaining an eye roll from you, though you can hear how bothered he still is in his voice.

“Dude, where are you?” Wally asks; there’s a slight note of concern in his tone.

“Confidential mission,” Dick covers, shooting you a pleading look, “from Batman,” he adds, and your eyebrows raise.

“Wow!” Wally exclaims. “You know what I'm doing? Making a baloney sandwich, kinda like you just did,” he laments, and you can’t help but snort. “Hey there, Pretty Bird, I was hoping you’d be around,” Wally greets, and you smile playfully at your best friend’s tone.

“Hey, Wall,” you muse with a light smile as you and Dick turn to start walking, your fingers still laced together with his. 

“Anyways, I talked to Tornado. You guys are NOT on a mission. Not an official one, anyway,” Wally continues, and you make eye contact with Dick. 

“A friend, Jack Haly,” Dick sighs.

“The circus guy? From your old Flying Graysons days?” Wally asks, tone suddenly soft.

“Yeah. He's implicated in this global crime spree. Someone in the show's dirty, but I need to prove old Jack's clean or he might lose the circus,” Dick admits, and you squeeze his hand.

“Then why not bring me along?” Wally asks. “I know your back story, I know what that circus means to you. It's where you grew up, it's where you lost your-“ 

“I left you behind because you know my back story,” Dick says quickly, effectively cutting Wally off, and he squeezes your fingers back again. “I didn't want my best pal questioning my objectivity.”

“Dude, that's what a best pal's for. Plus, Birdy got to go!” Wally shoots back, though you know Dick understands the immense support and emotion behind Wally’s words. 

Dick’s lip twitches up slightly as he looks at you, “Birdy didn’t give me an option,” he huffs. 

You smile back at him, “I really didn’t,” you affirm into the coms, and it’s true. Dick had tried to convince you that you weren’t needed on this mission, but you didn’t relent until he gave in.

BRUGES December 23rd, 22:34 CET

“And that's our show! Farewell, good people of Bruges!” Haly announced, gaining massive applause in response before exiting the ring and joining everyone else in the backstage tent. “Pack it u! The train leaves for Geneva in two hours!” he reminds everyone as we all load our gear. 

It’s nearing that two hour mark when everyone’s out by the train. You’d been helping Conner with the boxes that housed all our gear, both for the show and for our suits, when you heard Ray come up to M’gann. 

“Need a hand?” he asks, and you watch him reach out to grab the box in M’gann’s grip, tensing slightly because you know the box she’s got right now has Artemis’ suit inside. 

“I-I'm good, thanks,” she deflects gently, plastering on a small smile.

“Maybe one of the others could use some help?” you offer instead, with a fake smile of your own. “A lot of them seem to have that flu,” you note, seemingly offhandedly.

Ray nods, “Yeah, it's going around,” he affirms before offering one last smile and walking to the aforementioned performers sitting, trying to catch their breath. 

All aboard, everyone, now!” Haly’s shout comes minutes later, and you frown as you make eye contact with Roy. 

“Someone's in a hurry,” Roy notes, tone laced with suspicion, and you can’t help but search for Dick in response.

The train had been going, and you were on your way to Geneva. You were all in your compartment looking at M’gann, who wasn’t feeling well.

“You look better,” Artemis notes as she looks at Dick, “you too,” as she nods down to your arm, which still hurts, but not as bad. 

“It’s getting there,” you nod.

“I feel better,” he nods, “I'm sorry, M-Dawn,” he frowns, turning to M’gann where she was lying in her cot. “I hope you didn't catch it from me.”

“I feel so silly. Who knew a Martian could be vulnerable to a human virus?” she hums, clearly tired.

“H. G. Wells?” you offer with a slight smirk, eyes twinkling when you catch Dick’s lip twitching up.

“Look, when did you first feel sick?” He asks, cutting you off before you can try for another joke.

“Just after boarding the train,” she admits, and you can remember how she had been loading up gear before, seeming fine, “it came on suddenly.”

Dick frowns, “Same with me, the other night. I remember Ray rubbed my head for good luck right before we went on,” he explains.

“Ray? That roustabout?” Conner interrupts, “He touched her before we boarded. That guy must be a walking Petri dish,” he scoffs, shaking his head.

You’re struck with a thought, the seed of one which you didn’t like. As if sensing your sudden idea, Dick’s blue eyes focus on you. You freeze for a moment. You’re used to the whiteouts of his domino, so being able to see his eyes like this makes you pause just for a moment because you realize this is the look he must always give you on missions, the one where you both just seem to know the answers together, without ever saying a word.

“Yeah, yeah, maybe,” he mutters, nodding to the door. 

You quickly turn, and he follows you out of the train compartment. You look left as he looks right, and then he’s pulling your wrist, heading to the right, and you follow after him at the sight of a white button-up.

“Dana, Dan! You look refreshed!” Haly cheers, staring at you and then at Dick.

Dick’s still holding your wrist, and you can feel the tension coming from him. The nostalgia and longing that he automatically associates with Jack Haly and his past, and you have to bite back the innate need to comfort him because you would’ve hated it if someone tried to pity you, so instead, you shift your hand subtly from where it’s hidden behind his body and in front of yours, so that you can hold his hand, lacing your fingers together and offering a small squeeze.

“Thanks. Uh… Jack, how long has Ray worked for you?” he asks, squeezing your hand back once more.

“A bit about the start of the European tour,” Haly says after a moment of silence. “Poor lad's down with the same flu as the rest of them,” he adds, and you feel the team's presence appear behind you.

“We'll check on him, it’s the least we can do,” Artemis offers with a false tone of empathy.

“If you insist,” Haly smiles, and the team starts making their way toward the back of the train. 

You smile at Haly as he continues on with what he was doing before, while M’gann forces herself up to join you.

“You should stay in bed,” Dick tells her. 

She offers a coy smile, “As a friend of mine once said, I'll manage,” she teases, and you nod at both of them before following after the other three.

You manage to make it all the way to the back of the train, and when you get there, you’re honestly not that surprised to find the compartment empty. 

“I guess he wasn't that sick,” you drawl, sarcasm laced into your voice.

“Does this circus have an elephant I don't know about?” Roy asks with a furrowed brow.

“Not on foreign tours,” Dick answers, the words tumbling out quicker than he probably should’ve let them. 

Roy spares you another glance before opening the box, “empty,” he notes, and you lean over his shoulder to take a look.

He’s about to shut the box when you notice something off, “no, wait!” and he freezes as your hand reaches out and brushes up against the side of the box. “Ash,” you note, throat a bit dry as it begins to fit into place.

“From the warehouse fire in Bruges,” Dick notes, and he seems to come to a similar conclusion.

“Uh… guys?” Artemis calls, “I found Ray,” she says, holding up a face mask of who you all had assumed to be the Circus’ roustabout.

“Split up!” you decide, voice urgent. “Search the whole train!” you add, and everyone files out, heading to different carts. 

You and Dick split off toward the front compartments, and he’s a few feet ahead of you before he stops and looks back at you with wide eyes. The space is silent except for the sounds of the train moving and that’s when you hear it, the muffled shouts coming from one of the compartments. 

“Top?” you offer, trying to trace the sound. 

“No. Haly’s office,” Dick answers with a grimace before kicking the door open. 

Your lips part when you spot Haly, stripped down to his undershirt and pants tied up on the floor in his office. 

“Shit,” you mumble. 

“Who did this to you?” Dick asks, tone urgent as he pulls Haly’s gag down. Though you bite back a sarcastic, who do you think dickie?

“Ray,” Haly gasps, “Ray, the roustabout! Right after the train left Bruges!” he tells you, and Dick freezes to look back at you. You offer him a roll of your eyes and your best duh expression. “Hey, I'm not Houdini here!” Haly shouts, gaining Dick’s attention once more, and you grab one of your ring daggers, tossing it, hilt first, to Dick to cut through the ropes.

“Tell Dawn!” He shouts to you, and you step out into the hallway, clearing Haly’s sight before taking off. 

“Dawn, come in!” you call out over the comms. 

“Uh… Dana?” she answers.

“Dan tried to reach you, the other way,” you hint.

“I think the flu's knocked out my other way,” she admits and you stop running just in time for Dick to catch up to you.

“That clinches it,” he decides, and you nod. 

Clicking your comm again, you call, “Dane, Dean, Diane, come in!” you call and hear the beep from Dick’s comm as it’s linked to the call. “We're chasing someone who's stolen Dawn’s act. Her whole shtick, if you catch my drift,” you hint.

“I got him! But he's on to me,” Conner calls through, “Exiting the dining car now,” he adds, and you both take off towards the cart. “He's gone top side!” Conner corrects, and you skid to a stop, tossing a door open and climbing up to the top of the train, Dick right behind you.

“That won't work on me, clown!” Conner shouts.

“That's no clown,” you argue, theory confirmed.

“He's the Parasite! The guy who once stole Superman's powers,” Dick supplies, as you both stop across from Conner.

“As if you, kids, are who you claim to be!” Parasite argues, “please,” he scoffs, willing his disguise to melt away, leaving us staring at the alien. 

“Stay out of his reach!” you order, “there's no flu going around, the weakness comes when he makes physical contact and feeds on the powers and abilities of others,” you explain, pulling out a few more daggers. 

“I happen to be a bit of a glutton today. Chowed down on the skills of nearly every loser in this troupe. But, oh, my! But the pièce de résistance was Dawn Danger,” he drawled, and you saw as the rest of the team started appearing on the train roof as well. “Or whatever her real name is. Thought I'd pouch on her trapeze skills imagine my surprise when she tasted like Martian Manhunter, instead,” he grins. “She made a lovely appetizer. But guess who I want for my entrée,” he teases, and your eyes blow wide.

“SB!” you shout, trying to warn him, but it’s too late.

Using M’ganns telekinesis, Parasite pulls Conner to himself, hand wrapping around his neck while he drains him. “M-hmm, now that's the full body Kryptonian flavor I love!” Parasite taunts.

“Everyone, stay whelmed!” Robin orders, “Subdue, but keep your distance!”

Both Roy and Artemis pull out their bows, but before they can get a shot off, Parasite uses heat vision to burn them to ash in their hands, and your lips part in surprise.

“You know, I almost never say this, but I'm sated,” Parasite decides, dropping Conner's body, which falls at his feet. You catch as Parasite shifts his weight and adjust accordingly, to leap up as he takes off, “Hate to eat and run!” he calls back, but you timed it right, managing to catch onto the box he’s touting with him, but miss it as he hits Rob, nearly knocking him off the train. 

You get a sound footing and climb up the box until you can launch yourself at him. There’s a distant shout of “NG!” but you’re unable to progress any further before Parasite stops you. You managed to get a hold of him in time to find something of interest, but before you could continue, he’s turning to face you.

“Sorry, no hitchhikers,” he huffs, hitting you in the chest with his Kryptonian strength and knocking you back down to the train. 

You land harshly on your back, groaning when your head hits the train’s top before your body bounces off, and suddenly you’re falling. There’s a split second of panic when your hand ghosts your hip, the action trained into you by Dinah and Ollie, but there’s no grapple. There’s no pressure from your belt, no sting of a bow slung over your shoulder. For a moment you’re just falling. You think of Dinah and Ollie and how crushed they’d be, of Roy and how angry he already is, and how much worse it’s bound to get if you were to die in front of him.

Vaguely you hear shouts of “NG!” and “Birdy!” but it’s not until a hand wraps around your wrist that everything comes back to sharp focus, the sound of the train, the cold of the air, and as your eyes snap back open you’re staring straight into blue. Dick’s got a stern look on his face as he grips your wrist tight. straining as he tries to pull you up, but you know it must be taking all of his energy because there’s no leverage for either of you to grip onto. A second passes as you hang there, eyes sweeping out to the mountainside under you, “Birdy,” he grunts. You reach up and tuck a thumb drive into Robin’s wrist.

Your eyes meet his again, his eyes are wide, but you offer a wry smile. Before you can say anything, Roy is sliding down next to Dick, throwing a hand out to help grab onto you, grip bruisingly tight. Artemis and M’gann quickly drop down and help the boys pull you up, tugging until you’re back on the train with everyone else.

“Birdy? Birdy, are you okay?” your eyes had locked with Dick’s for a second, but it was Roy’s frantic tone that was addressing you. 

“‘M fine,” you say, pushing yourself to a sitting position.

“Conner!” M’gann’s shout has you turning your head to look at what’s happening. 

“C’mon, let’s get you up,” Roy’s voice is soft as he offers his hands to help pull you back to your feet, Artemis and Dick standing on either side of you as they maneuver you back toward the other two. 

“You alright?” M’gann’s voice is soft as she checks Conner over.

“Fine, fine!” he huffs, the anger and annoyance evident.

“You're drained!” Dick corrects. “Parasite took more power than you even have!” he argues, “Heat vision?”

“I have the genetic potential for it!” Conner reminds him, “Must've been enough for him.”

Dick lets out an irritated groan pushing forward, and you make hesitant eye contact with the two archers on either side of you. 

“Go! I'll manage,” Conner says, and the rest of you follow after Dick.

“Are you okay?” Roy’s the one to ask after you’ve climbed back down.

“I’m good,” you dismiss. 

“You hit your head pretty hard,” Artemis adds, concern evident. “Plus the arm Rob grabbed you by was the burned one…”

You look down and see specks of blood coming through the bandage and bite back a sigh. You hadn’t even realized that the arm Dick caught you by was your injured one; you probably pulled the skin off the burn, aggravating the injury more. 

“It’ll be okay, I’ll re-wrap it before I change,” you swallow, looking at both archers. 

“And your head?” Roy’s tone conveys his obvious big brothering. It’d be sweet to know it still exists if you weren’t in the middle of an emotionally charged mission. 

“Still smaller and smarter than yours, so I think I’ll manage,” you joke.

He scowls at you and at the slight snort that escapes Artemis, “Not what I meant, and you know it,” he grunts.

“No concusion, but I’ll probably have a nasty bump,” you relent.

“Good, and let’s not tell D and O that you almost died? I don’t think they’d be very happy with me,” he adds.

“My lips are sealed,” you assure him. 

Artemis scoffs again, “mine aren’t,” she smirks viciously at the way Roy pales a bit. 

You chuckle as you pull her into your compartment, so you both can get changed. 

You find yourself seated with the rest of the team shortly after, dressed in your suits, a new wrapping on your arm. Artemis had spare arm braces from her stealth suit, black in color, that she lent to you so you could use them to cover and secure the wrappings, which you did. 

“It's not a complete debacle,” Robin announces as we all settle. “Birdy picked Parasite's pocket, and got this flash drive,” he announced, and you feel some eyes slide to you questioningly.

“Did she?” Roy’s tone has an edge, probably because you didn’t tell him

“Looks like Parasite's working for Intergang. Everything he's stolen, they're all pieces of something!” Dick explains as data starts filtering through the holo-screen. 

“It looks like they’re putting together a weapon that generates…. Black holes?” you read over his shoulder, eyes blowing wide at the revelation.

“Oh, come on! To build that, you need a particle accelerator!” Roy argues.

“Like the Large Boson Collider in Geneva?” Robin offers, tone flattened, as he glances over at Roy.

“The circus's next stop!” Roy realizes. “But now that Parasite can fly, he's got a big head start on us!” he tacks on, gaze zeroing in on M’gann and Conner.

“Sorry,” her mumbled response comes out. 

“Not your fault,” you assure her with a glare at Roy.

“But this thing could wipe out entire cities,” Dick explains. “We need to hurry.”

“You, me, and Birdy need to hurry,” Roy corrects. “Without powers, the others would hold us back.”

Your eye twitches in response, but Artemis quickly counters, “Hey, you're not the only one with a backup bow,” she challenges, holding up a compact crossbow. 

Before anyone else can say anything, there’s a loud thud as Conner slams his fist into the wall of the train compartment, leaving a massive dent, “my powers are back!”

Dick stepped forward, lips tugging down, “how?”

Even M’gann looks a bit shocked, “I'm still-“

“I guess Kryptonians recover faster than humans or Martians,” he shrugs and eyes shift to M’gann, but you note the way Conner rubs at his arm subconsciously, and your eyes narrow.

“Don't even think about leaving me behind,” M’gann laments.

Roy turns to you, “Well, that settles that,” you shrug.

GENEVADecember 24th, 00:37 GET

Rocking up to the particle accelerator, you spot the body and crouch to run a quick diagnostic on the man. 

“Happy Christmas Eve, everyone,” you mumble while ensuring that the man would be okay until the proper authorities and medics could arrive.

“Trail of destruction, this way,” Robin tags on and you nod as you stand back up, all of you running back into the building, nearly silent as you go.

You can hear it when the accelerator starts up, and Rob’s quick to pull up his holo-screen, “We need to take him down, or at least lure him away so we can safely disengage the-“

“SB!” you whisper shout when he shouts out and starts charging at Parasite.

“No, wait!” Robin tags on, but it’s too late. Conner’s charging straight at him, revealing your location as well. 

“Seconds? No, I couldn’t,” Parasite teases, eyes lighting up green.

You cringe as you watch Parasite pull Conner forward with M’gann’s telekinesis and then let out a breath as SB decks him, but another wince quickly follows when Parasite pulls him back and launches him out. 

You suck in a breath as Parasite begins flinging Conner around the lab. Even Roy seems to be getting antsy when he raises his bow, “What's wrong with-“

Before he can finish, M’gann lays a hand on his shoulder, “wait,” she commands. He hesitates but does, “I might have an idea…”

We watch as Parasite pulls Conner to him a third time, grabbing onto him and feeding on his power again, “Ah, what a rush!” he goads. “How do you do it, kid? Even Superman never recharged this fast,” he says, waiting until Conner was drained before tossing his body to the side. Your eyes slide to Conner, trying to ensure he is still breathing while M’gann explains her plan.

Parasite quickly clicks something on the panel before him, “Alright, Dangers, come on out! Only a couple of minutes before this baby's done warming up and eats Geneva.

“What do you think?” she asks, and your eyes dart to the Martian.

“Big risk to take on a theory,” Roy bites, but Dick’s gaze settles on you.

He offers a slight quirk of his lip and a barely noticeable shrug; it could work.

You nod, “Do it. Go!” you order, and everyone splits up.

M’gann steps out, making her entrance obvious to the target as she all but waltzes up to him, “what do you have against Geneva, anyway?” she asks. 

“Never liked the food, but the menu keeps improving,” Parasite chuckles, rubbing his hands together, before summoning M’gann to him. 

“I'm just the appetizer, remember?” she huffs, managing to duck out of the way. “Here's the main course!” she shouts, knocking his feet out from under him. 

Everyone springs into action. Roy shoots off an arrow that covers Parasite in a foam-like substance that traps him where he is as it hardens. 

Parasite is quick to react; using his pilfered Martian telekinesis, he pulls Roy’s bow, and then Roy himself into the air, “Foam? You think foam can hold me? Or stop me from crushing you with a thought?” he demands. “Combined Martian and Kryptonian powers here!” he scoffs, using his strength to start crumbling the material.

“But do any of those powers free you before I sabotage your death thingy?” Robin asks from his spot beside the keyboard.

“This one does,” he groans, finally freeing his arms and aiming his heat vision at Rob, who ducked down in time.

Artemis drops down next, shooting an arrow that emits gas, and you roll a few marble bombs quietly into the gas’s bounds. When Parasite turns his heat vision on Artemis, it sets off the gas, and the explosion sets off your marble bombs, adding to the flames.

Roy drops to the ground with a groan, and you quickly run up to check on him. Dropping down on a knee, you roll him onto his back, and when he groans again, you breathe. Your hand checks his pulse to ensure it’s not too elevated.

“Birdy-“ he groans, trying to sit up.

You push him down, “No. Stay down, Red Arrow,” you hiss, forcing him to catch his breath and slow his heart. 

When Parasite stands up and starts goading, you pop back up and move closer to Artemis. “So clever… trick me into igniting inflammable gas… but you forgot… doofuses double dose of invulnerability… Fire can’t… touch me,” he argues, but you can hear the strain the flames are starting to take, and a small smirk graces your lips. 

“Unless you make a meal of my powers and get my weaknesses as a side dish!” M’gann all but hisses at the villain. 

Realization falls upon Parasite quickly, “No, No!” he shouts before finally succumbing and passing out.

“Aw, poor baby, something you ate?” M’gann teases.

Robin quickly gets back to the keypad, and in seconds he has shut the system down. 

You let out a sigh as you hear the doors bang open. Agent Faraday and his squad of Interpol agents run in with trained precision. “We'll take it from here,” he states as his team puts out the fire. 

“All yours,” you smirk lazily as Robin walks over to Stand beside you.

“Thanks for the tip, by the way,” he adds, smiling at you both. “Definitely helps to prep the inhibitor collar in advance.”

“Glad to be of service!,” Robin nods, and you bump his shoulder promisingly.

While Faraday turns to coordinate with his team, you and Rob turn back to yours. You turn in time to catch Roy taking Artemis’ proffered hand, pulling him back to his feet. 

“Wow… He deigns to touch the hand of a suspected traitor,” Artemis drawls sarcastically, and you can’t help but snort.

“Mind open,” Roy replies, repeating your request from earlier. “I guess I never really saw you three in the thick of it before,” he admits. “Superboy's a hot-head,” he adds on, turning to the boy in question who had just wandered over with M’gann, and you can’t help but let out an even louder snort, one Roys glares at before adding, “but I know I'm not one to talk.” You smirk victoriously and he shakes his head before continuing. “You could each have betrayed us here, you didn’t. I’m sorry I doubted any of you. There is no mole.”

Roy’s admission immediately affects the general comfort level around you. Conner, M’gann, and Artemis all seem a bit lighter, Dick’s shoulders relax the slightest bit, but your eyes are focused on Roy. You want to believe him, want to think that the mission genuinely changed his mind, but you know him, and more than that, you can sense his emotions, and yet you can’t see a change.

GENEVADecember 24, 10:06 GET

The train made it to the Port of Geneva train station, the rest of the team was getting all their bags and gear together for exfil, but you had decided to go with Dick as he said his goodbye.

“So,” Haly drawled, “The show will go on. And I have the feeling I have you, Dangers, to thank,” he decides, staring at Dick, though his eyes flick to you quickly before returning to Dick. 

“Don't know what you mean,” he shrugs.

“No, of course not,” Haly agrees, a kind knowing smile on his face. “But I'm guessing

you'll be leaving now.”

“Time to move on,” Dick tells him, shaking his hand, and you can’t help but smile softly.

“Well, Dick, I'll miss you,” Haly tells him, and you can feel the swell of emotion in the room, and you don’t need to look in his eyes to know that this moment is so much more than Dick could have ever asked for when he decided to come back. 

He’s still quick to disagree. After all, he had covers to protect, “It's Dan! Dan Danger!”

Haly chuckles, placing a hand on Dick’s shoulder, “Son, you've grown, but some things never change. Like the sight of a Grayson on the trapeze. You can't fake that. Can't hide it,” Haly tells him, and you can’t help how your breath catches in your throat. “So, doing old ring master one last favor?” he asks softly. 

Haly’s standing in the center of the ring, spotlights focused, “Ladies and gentlemen, the farewell performance of the Daring Dangers! Introducing Dan Danger!” he announces, and the lights switch to Dick, who waves at the audience. 

You smile as you stand next to Conner in the wings, waiting for each of your queues. Dick looked so graceful as he launched from the trapeze platform, he always seemed at ease when he was in the air, and you were glad to see it again. You knew he needed this, this opportunity, for closure at the Circus in a way he’d never had before. You only hoped it’d finally help relieve some of the guilt you knew he still carried, despite how misplaced it was. 

everything tags: @butterfly-skinnylegend

dc tags: @grey-water-colors @batarella @loninctzencarat @escapenightmare

cnng tags:

@babymango-writes @smile-more19 @bruiscdlikeviolets @truly-dionysus @farfromjustordinary

@sometimeseverythingsucks @dweeb-central @casedoina @cipheress-to-k-pop @currentresidentinhell

@anonomano @seninjakitey @wherethesidewalkens @whelmedparker @meigalaxy

@officiallydarkgeek @midnxghtblue @unini @blackwhiteandshadesofgradient @dontmesswithbeebo

@raggedyoldwitch @tinybeantm @unicorn-mya @bouqet-of-gay @duckmylife18

@kendallambrosio @haniscrying @torchbearerkyle @cynthiarose07 @lolsnacks

@mono--moonchild @emo-space-tea @notsostraightweeb @cryingnotcrying @sassyspanishartist

@we-flower-fan @aces-tattooartist @awkward-youtube-trash @laurcad123

@so0bercore @sanovr @feverish-dove @raginghellfire @mischiefmanaged71 @evermoore580

#codename: nightingale #cnng #cnng episode #cnng season 1 #cnng s1 e24 #yj #young justice #young justice x reader #young justice imagine #dc #dc imagine #sidekick!reader #disck grayson x reader #robin x reader #black canary #yj team #dick grayson #robin #wally west #kid flash #aqualad #kaldur #m'gann m'orzz #miss maritan #superboy #conner kent #artemis #artemis crock #roy harper #red arrow

[shadowsndaisies]

robin catching feelings

so someone sent me an ask but tumblr glitched and I can't find it but here's a little headcannon/my thought process on it:

ok so when does our birdboy realize??

already set that birdy had a small crush in ep 1 so what if robin did too? 

but what if he’s not fully aware until later, developing his feelings throughout all the things that are happening

but like more to come on the kernel of his crush from when they first met...

HERE'S WHY

chapter 6 (infiltrated)

Robin had some interesting feelings about wally and birdy’s kiss

Maybe he's not exactly sure why— just that it bothered him, and he kind of leaves the emoting alone for a bit. bc he does like her but mb he doesnt realize how much he likes her…. yet.

wally on the other hand notices the slightest hints of jealousy and will be supporting the information away for later

chapters 9 (bereft) and 11 (terrors)

so, in episode 9, they had the brain blast amnesia, and Kaldur got super sick. 

Robin was all jealous. Which is something he had to come to terms with it, especially because ain't no way Wally would let him go. 

So maybe wally presses on it a little bit and Robin gets defensive, so he decides to let it go… for now…

But after 11, when Robin and Birdy had their little moment on the sofa, he brings it up again because now he knows some things. 

That was when birdy did her reveal to him, so maybe he's like maybe… I…. am… into…. her...

also he called her beautiful… sooooo

so at this point homeboy knows he has a crush, but he's not exactly down bad

chapters 14 (revelations) & 15 (humanity)

so based off what was said just before, this is why 14 and 15 have such a big role. 14 gives us birdy’s big chance with Dr. fate. 

I mean the boys almost lost her, and that drives home for him because holy shit I could've lost her. 

so now he’s thinking about it…

he does not like the feeling he gets because he's lost plenty of people in his life already. 

And then in 15, right? Enter Z? It's common knowledge that zatanna’s pretty and she seems to have a little minor crush on him too 

because she's flirting with him, but maybe this is the distraction he needs because he doesn't want to fall for birdy. i mean look at B right? he doesn't have attachments bc they only end up in pain, and with all rob’s already lost he's not trying to make new ones.

which is why he's so dumb and flirts w zatanna— to keep his mind of birdy

which puts us at chapter 16 (failsafe) - when birdy reveals how she feels, outright and clearly

and his distraction tactic goes out the window bc fuck birdy is pretty and smart and tough and oh fuck. oh shit. this is more than just a crush

chapter 17 (disordered) 

his admission of being into her following therapy w dinah and his realization of not wanting to be batman. 

of wanting to be in her life, wanting to be a part of her life, actively.

of being there for her, there to catch her, whatever she needs

not wanting to be bruce- especially the isolation of it all

aka when we see birdboy is, in fact, down bad

from that point on we see his feelings grow

18 (secrets)

homeboy's got heart eyes watching ng stand up to the bat

19 (misplaced)

HUGE for their development bc birdy meets dick grayson for the first time

and he's out here showing the most secretive part of himself to her

21 (agendas)

our love birds go on a date (kinda) and they get to be yn and dick, and see how they do with each other over ng and robin, and it just reaffirms the feelings for both of them

everything tags: 

@butterfly-skinnylegend​​ 

dc taglist: 

@grey-water-colors​ @batarella​ @loninctzencarat​ ​​@escapenightmare

cnng taglist: 

@babymango-writes​​​​​​ @smile-more19​​​​​​ @bruiscdlikeviolets​​​​​ @truly-dionysus​​​​​​ @farfromjustordinary​​​​​ @sometimeseverythingsucks​​​​​ @dweeb-central​​​ @lucy-roo​​​​​ @casedoina​​​​​ @cipheress-to-k-pop​​​​​ @anonomano​​​​​ @seninjakitey​​​​​ @explodingwaffle789​​​​​ @whelmedparker @bigtimesexhaving​​​​​ @officiallydarkgeek​​​​​ @midnxghtblue​​​​​ @unini​​​​ ​ @blackwhiteandshadesofgradient​​​​​ @dontmesswithbeebo​​​​​ @raggedyoldwitch​​​​​ ​​​​​ @amans-te-amo @tinybeantm​​​​​​​​​​ @unicorn-mya​​​​​ @bouqet-of-gay​​​​​ @duckmylife18 @kendallambrosio​​​​​ @hanbetired​​​​ @torchbearerkyle​ @cynthiarose07​​ @lolsnacks​​​​ ​ @mono--moonchild @emo-space-tea​ @notsostraightweeb​ @cryingnotcrying​  @sassyspanishartist​ @ahyeonah​ @acceber1313​ @abuliawrites @onepieceformeplease @whatislifeandhowdoidoit @luvelyxp​ @lovelyartemisa @evermoore580 @mischiefmanaged71

#ask and answered #cnng #dick grayson #codename: nightingale #cnng asks #anon #our songbirds #cnng hcs #cnng hc #cnng blurb

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale - Infiltrated

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 6

WC: 5758

synopsis: you ever kiss your best friend? bc I swear it was not on purpose. also we finally meet our favorite archer (no offense roy)

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterpost

MOUNT JUSTICE August 8th, 09:58 EDT

You smiled softly, head tilted up to the sky as the sun beamed back down on you. 

“Hello, Megan! We should hit the beach every day," M’gann decided as you stood on the shore of a private Happy Harbor beach behind the Mountain. M’gann was wearing a yellow bikini, and you were dressed in a red one, currently covered by your halter top and jean shorts. Your surfboard was resting under your right arm, and a pair of sunglasses covered your eyes.

“First, a moment of silence for our absent comrade," Robin decided, and all of your heads dropped in despair.

“Poor Wally," M’gann frowned, and you nodded in agreement.

You set yourselves up before everybody ran into the water. Shaking your head, you shed your extra layers and laid down on your stomach on top of your towel. You were reading a book, trying to tan when you were suddenly picked up. The book fell from your grasp and back down onto your towel. After your initial shock, you were able to spot that Kaldur had picked you up and was carrying you toward the water. 

“Kaldur!” you protested from over his shoulder.

“Birdy!” Robin mocked from somewhere nearby, causing you to roll your eyes. 

“Kaldur, put me down!” you commanded, lightly slapping his back.

“Down?” he asks.

“Yes! Please!” you beg.

“Alright," he agreed, and you knew he was wearing a smirk because a second later, he had dropped you into the water. 

Sputtering as you came up, you looked him in the eye; your sunglasses had just slightly slid due to the water. It was enough to flash your (e/c) eyes at him, a mischievous and murderous glance in them. 

“This. Means. War," you immediately begin your attack by splashing at the older boy. It takes only a moment before all five of you are in the midst of a water war. (kaldur had an unfair advantage)

You all stayed in the water for a while, before getting out to eat lunch on the beach. You had barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers. You played sand volleyball, and you and Kaldur even tried to teach everyone else how to surf. Robin was the only one who got it. You had intended to stay out all day if you could, and you would’ve until you were called in. 

It was almost comical as you all began rushing about within the cave. You showered and suited up. If any of your mentors were to walk through the locker room, they would see towels, civilian clothes, and swimsuits were thrown about. By the time you fell in line for the briefing, you were still content with how the majority of your day had gone; you were also sporting a fresh tan.

“Recognized; Kid Flash, b-03," The computer’s feminine mechanical voice announced, just as Batman was about to begin the briefing. Your eyes, however, stayed upon the girl in green who was standing beside Ollie. Oliver Queen was usually a straightforward man. However, now he seemed to be avoiding your eyes.

“The Wall-man is here! Now let's get this party star- Unh! -ted," when you heard Wally fall, that’s when you turned your gaze away from the girl. 

You saw as the multicolored beach ball bounced away and had to bite back the laugh at the sight of your friend splayed out on the ground. With a short glance around, you noticed that you were not the only one.

“Wall-man, huh? I love the uniform," the blonde new girl smirks. “What exactly are your powers?”

“Uh, who's this?” Wally asks, gesturing to her and then looking directly at you and Robin, and your fingers began to fidget with one of your ring daggers nervously.

“Artemis, your new teammate,” she introduces herself.

“Kid Flash. Never heard of you," Wally’s eyes narrow.

“Um, she's my new protégé," Ollie stepped in, and your eyes narrowed on the beach ball as it began bouncing close to you, ring dagger swinging in your hand and stabbing at the beach ball when it was in reach.

“What happened to your old one?” you pressed, your voice sounding a bit harsher than expected, and the dagger still gripped in your hands as the now punctured beach ball deflated and fell to the floor.

“NG…” Robin called your name softly as you glared at Oliver. Your stare was icy, even with the domino mask.

“Recognized; Speedy, b-06," The computer interrupted, and Roy emerged from the Zeta tubes.

“Well, for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow.” 

“Roy," your entire body and face relaxed at the sight of him. “We need to talk,” you swallowed, twirling the ring dagger in your hand. 

“You look-” Ollie begins.

“Replaceable," Roy spits, and your eyes narrow once again, in pure distaste of the word.

“Roy,” you repeated his name but got no response.

“It's not like that. You told me you were going solo," Ollie justified.

“So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?” Roy bites harshly, and in that moment, you realized Artemis wasn’t at fault here. 

Roy left; he told you he’d never join. You knew Ollie liked having a partner, so he found someone with the same goals as the rest of you, someone who wants to make a difference. You shouldn’t penalize her for that. 

“Roy,” you say his name a third time, but again are ignored, you anxiously twirl the dagger once again.

“Yes, she can," Artemis shot back, stepping up.

“Who are you?” Wally asks again.

“I'm his niece," & “She's my niece," Came from both Artemis and Ollie simultaneously, and your eyebrows furrowed. Ollie didn’t have a niece.

“Another niece?” Robin asks but gains no reply.

“But she is not your replacement. We have always wanted you on the team, And we have no quota on archers," Kaldur says wisely.

“And if we did, you know who we'd pick," Wally tells Roy, and you can’t help but resent that statement for how unfair it seemed to be.

“Whatever, Baywatch. I'm here to stay,” Artemis defended herself, and you respect her for it.

“You came to us for a reason," Kaldur tries in an attempt to defuse the bomb of a situation arising by turning to face Roy.

“Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette," Roy begins.

“Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City,” you say in awe. You’d read Dr. Roquette’s work with Felicity Smoak, one of Ollie’s friends. It was one of your favorite moments while adjusting to the superhero life growing up. It also served as a big enough distraction to hear what Roy wanted to say before you tried to pull him aside again.

“Vanished two weeks ago," Robin continues pulling photos and information up on the screen.

“Thought you might be intrigued, Birdy,” Roy shoots you a look that’s almost a smile before it returns to a scowl. “Abducted two weeks ago by the league of shadows,” he corrected.

“Whoa. You want us to rescue her from the shadows?” Robin asked. 

“Hard-core," Wally smiled.

“I already rescued her. Only, one problem. The shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the fog, composed of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators capable of disintegrating anything in their path-- concrete, steel, flesh, bone. But its true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen intel to the shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science, and tech," Roy explains.

“Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking. Yeah, sounds like the shadows," Artemis pitches, ultimately agreeing with Roy, and your lips pursed.

“Like you know anything about the shadows,” Wally smirked until he saw the ‘try me’ look on Artemis’ face. “Who are you?!” He explodes.

“Roquette's working on a virus to render the fog inert," Roy continues.

“But if the shadows know she can do that," Robin pieces. 

“They'll target her,” you finish the thought, making eye contact with Robin.

“Roy I need to talk to you,” you repeated once more.

“Right now, she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab," Roy completes, glancing at you for a second.

“You left her alone?” Ollie pressed.

“Roy,” you repeat his name, you were twirling the blade in circles around your fingers. 

“She's safe enough for now," Roy promised.

“Then let’s, you and I, keep her that way," Ollie attempts.

“You and I? Don't you wanna take your new protégé?” Roy lashed out, and Ollie visibly deflated.

“You brought this to the team. It's their mission, which means it's hers now, too,” Ollie says after being stopped by Batman.

“Then my job's done," Roy scoffs before turning to walk away.

The blade in your hand lands with deadly accuracy by Roy’s foot, effectively stopping him as you stepped in front of him. “You and me, Thursday, no masks, no adults, our favorite place for breakfast, at 7," you decided, addressing him quietly, tired of trying to get him to respond to you.

“No,” he says, trying to push past you, but you stand your ground.

“I wasn’t asking,” you tell him, finally stepping aside, allowing him to walk by. “You better show, Red Arrow, don’t forget!” you bend down to grab your knife.

“Recognized; Speedy-” The computer begins.

“That's Red Arrow, b-06. Update," Roy says, correcting the Zeta’s as he beams out. 

HAPPY HARBOR August 8, 21:59 ED

“Everyone online?” M’gann’s voice rang out over the psychic link.

“Ohh,” Artemis muttered, “this is weird.”

“And distracting!” Roquette interrupted. “Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer With less ram than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teen-think in my skull?”

“Someone’s a complainer,” you muttered at Roquette, though thankfully, she couldn’t hear you.

“Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?” KF shot back.

“Pot, kettle. Have you met?” Artemis hinted, and your eyes darted between them.

“Hey! Hey, I do not need attitude from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the team,” KF argued, and you bit your lip.

“That is so not on me!” Artemis negated.

Roquette let out a sigh, “Fate of the world at stake.”

Wally was quick to defend himself, “She started it.”

“Brat,” you murmur silently, rolling your eyes at Wally.

“How 'bout I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter?” Artemis offered, moving from her spot in the room.

“Good idea,” Aqualad agreed, finally stepping in.

Robin smirked at you before sending something to the link. “You might cut her some slack,” he teased, and you knew exactly where he was headed.

You smirked back before adding on, “It was her arrow saved your ass against Amazo.”

“What? No, that was Speedy's - I mean Red Arrow's arrow, right?” KF stuttered.

Rob and I make eye contact before we both respond, “Not so much.”

“Humph. Well, still not giving her the satisfaction,” KF decided, and you rolled your eyes.

“You know I can still hear you,” Artemis reminded him, and a smile split your lips.

“Ahh!” KF let out a groan, and you and Robin guffawed slightly under your breath.

Roquette let out another sigh, “I couldn't get the Justice League.”

You sobered for a second, looking back to Kaldur and then the Doctor, “The virus won't be of much use if we cannot find the weapon,” he shared. 

“Can you track it?” you asked her, tagging onto what he had said.

Roquette turned to you with narrowed eyes, “My utility fog is not a weapon,” she argued. “It's science, brilliant science. And of course I can track it, but I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and "assassinate me" written in neon.”

You and Aqualad stepped forward, and gently you placed a hand on her shoulder, “We will protect you,” you assured her, and Kaldur gave the nod in affirmation.

Her attention shifted from the computer screen to you and Kaldur before she gave a little nod of agreement, “Tracking the fog now,” she relented.

As Artemis arrived outside with M’gann and Superboy, you moved back toward Robin, who was sitting on one of the desks. You sat down beside him and placed your hands beside his so that they were just barely touching. You had found yourself closer to Robin since the Amazo mission, both physically and emotionally. The small crush that had been there before seemed viable, and while facing the Shadows barely shook you, the idea of pursuing a relationship seemed unattainable. So, for now, you’d stick to just barely touching hands, and sharing the understanding looks that passed between you both.

It had been relatively quiet for a while up until Artemis spoke up, “Mhm, that boy.” Your face pinched in reaction, knowing that she had to be thinking of Superboy.

“He can hear you. We can all hear you!” M’gann challenged, defensively.

“Oh, I know,” you could hear the smirk in Artemis’ tone.

You faked a gag to Robin, who smiled and looked down, trying to stifle his laughter, though you stopped promptly when Roquette turned back to you. A blinking dot on her screen, she had found the fog.

Your gaze shifted to Kaldur, waiting for his next decision. “Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the fog. Reconfigure the Bioship so that Robin and Superboy can pursue,” he ordered. 

Your lips pursed as you glanced at Robin before looking back to Kaldur, “What about-”

“No,” he cut you off. “We need you here. Join Artemis and Miss Martian outside,” he instructed, and you bit your lip before nodding passively.

You decided arguing with Kaldur now may not be the smartest thing you could do, so instead, you and Robin got up and walked out. 

“Hey, don’t die on me, okay?” you joked, but there was something a bit deeper underneath.

“What? And leave you here to deal with all of Wally’s bullshit alone? That’s a fate worse than death, and I’m not that cruel," Rob mused, and you briefly wondered if his eyes would’ve twinkled as he said it. 

While excellent for identity concealment, Domino Masks made it challenging to gather the full range of expressions on a person’s face. 

M’gann’s voice cut through the new silence, “Ready,” she announced, and your eyes darted from his face, back to the ground.

You offered a quirked smile as you arrived outside. With a slight nod and a brush of your hands, he’s running to meet Superboy, and you’re off to join the other girls on perimeter control. The two boys run onto the Bioship, and it disappears from view, leaving the rest of you to return to your posts. 

M’gann didn’t miss a beat before turning to Artemis, “You embarrassed Superboy.”

“Didn't hear him say that,” Artemis challenged, and you observed her tensed body language.

“Must you challenge everyone?” the Martian shot back.

Artemis’ eyes narrowed as she began to walk away, “Where I come from, that's how you survive.”

“That sounds exhausting,” you decide, meeting Artemis’ eyes, but she doesn’t respond.

The three of you decided it might be beneficial to split up while taking another lap of the perimeter. You rejoined the other two by the front entrance to the high school. 

It was silent until Aqualad’s hurried voice broke through, “Nightingale, M'gann, Kid, Artemis; we are under attack in the computer lab!” he shouted.

Your eyes widened and you spun on your foot before running in, “On our way.”

As the three of you took the halls, you realized that someone was missing, and you slowed to a stop in the middle of the hall. 

“Kid Flash,” you heard M’gann mutter. 

“I got him. You go!” you decide, turning around and heading to the last place M’gann ‘felt’ Wally.

You burst through the doors and onto the pool deck, braids whipping against your back as you look for your friend. When you spotted him in the water, floating face down, you dove into the pool without hesitation. You swim as fast as you could toward him. When you reached Wally, you turned him over, so his face was out of the water before pulling him to the pool deck. One arm on the concrete and the other around Wally, you pull him out of the water. You climbed out as soon as he was secure, before throwing yourself on top of Wally to check for a pulse. All that succeeded in doing was making you more panicked when you couldn’t find it.

Immediately you began to perform CPR, stopping to give him mouth to mouth when needed. After an eternity of a minute, Wally started coughing and spluttering water. 

“Oh my God!” you breathed, collapsing back on your hands as Wally slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position.

Your chest heaved as you tried to get your emotions in check and avoid having a panic attack. A few deep breaths later, you stood up on shaky knees and pulled him up along with. 

Then, you began whacking his arm. “Don’t. You. Ever. Ever. Do. Anything. Like. That. Ever. Again!” each word was punctuated with a hit.

“Okay, okay, I won’t drown," he surrendered, a playful smirk splayed on his lips, but you could see the way his chest was still shuttering with deep breaths.

“Drowning?” you repeat, staring at him. “I mean, dying! I cannot do that again, Wally!” you shout. He stares at you with wide eyes for a second and you launch your body at him, pulling him into the tightest hug you could manage. “Please,” you begged, your voice sounding weaker than before. 

“I’m alive, and that’s because of you,” he reminds you, hugging you back. “Plus you can’t get rid of me that easily,” he mused, and you smack the back of his head in response.

“Okay! God! let’s go!” Wally huffed, picking you up bridal style and running you back to the computer lab.

You had arrived in time to see an assassin in green with a mask, she took a look at you and Wally before stepping back. “-Maybe a little too interesting," she decided, dropping a smoke bomb. 

Wally lunged forward only to grab Artemis through the smoke instead. “Gone," he grunted.

“She's getting away! You're letting her getaway!” Roquette shouted.

Wally reared toward the new archer, “This is all your fault! You were on the perimeter! How'd that Shadow get in?” he was raging at Artemis, and your brows pinched.

“That's not really fair. I was outside, too," M’gann reminds him.

“So was I," you add, facing the red-headed speedster who’s eyes softened considerably as he stared at your disapproving expression.

“Outside being distracted by her!" he was grasping at straws as a fair amount of his rage seemed to melt away. “Besides, I can't be mad at you," he addes, turning his attention back to you.

“You gave me mouth-to-mouth,” he said telepathically, and you rolled your eyes despite the blush that appeared at the same time.

“We heard that!” everyone else shouted.

“Dang it!” Wally exclaims, walking away from you all. 

Though you don’t let it go that easily. You push him until he’s in the hall, closing the door behind you, separating you both from the rest of the team temporarily. 

“What the hell is your issue with her?” you whisper yelled. Wally West might be one of your closest friends but you couldn’t figure out what was going on with him. 

“What do you mean, ‘what’s my issue?’ it’s the same issue we all have!” He shot back.

“Is it?” you challenged. “Because you’re the only one treating her like she doesn’t deserve to be here!” you added, voice rising slightly. 

You receive an eye-roll in response. 

“Do not roll your eyes at me. I would give my life to save you, Rob, Kaldur, or Roy. And I love Roy, but you can’t do this to her, because she, Wallace, no matter what you think, she belongs here and deserves to be here. On this team, with all of us. Ollie chose her, after Roy told him he was done. You cannot blame her for something she can’t control. Because guess what, West? She doesn’t control Roy. Roy controls Roy, and you better understand that you’re mad at him, not the new girl who is risking her life to help us," you argue. “She deserves your respect,” you finish and notice the look on Wally’s face.

You can see he’s trying to soak up what you just said, but at the moment you couldn’t bring yourself to feel bad about what you had said. Wally’s been a jerk to Artemis the entire time she’s been here, and that was not okay.

Your saving grace came as Robin’s voice crackled over the comms. “Robin to Aqualad. We're over Philadelphia. We've located the shadows' next target, Star Labs.” There’s a moment of silence before you hear Robin let out a low gasp, “We're too late. It's destroyed, totally destroyed. The fog decimated it. This is bad. Star Labs is cutting-edge science, And now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy.”

You swallowed, eyes on Wally as you spoke into the comm, “What's our next move?” you ask.

“Rescan for that fog. Find it. We're moving the Doctor," Aqualad decides.

You turn to Wally once more, “you need to get it together,” you sigh, opening the door and walking back toward the rest of the team. 

While you and Aqualad went out on a perimeter patrol, M’gann, Wally, and Artemis put the plan in motion. Together, the two of you walked for a while in silence until Aqualad spoke up.

“I seemed to have noticed something our other friends have missed," he smirked.

“Really? What’s that?” you asked, turning away from your surroundings to look at him.

“You seem to be more prone to contact with a certain Boy Wonder than you have been in the past," he notes and your cheeks redden immediately.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” you can’t hide the smile that comes along with the shameless lie though. 

“You forget, old friend, we met each other many years ago, in my home. I take pride in the fact that I still know you quite well," he smiles, and you look away, a small pout on your lips.

“Whatever,” you mumbled, gaining a soft chuckle.

When he calms a bit you give him a knowing look, “you know they’re probably glaring at each other.”

“Yes, I would think so,” he agreed, and you shook your head. 

“Stop it, both of you,” you order, through the psychic link while sharing a smirk with Kaldur. 

Both Artemis and KF respond immediately, “What?!”

“We can hear you glaring,” Aqualad tells them and you crack a smile.

After a bit, you notice some movement on the horizon, and Kaldur picked up on it too. It was time to put the plan in motion. 

“Miss Martian, stay in camouflage mode and make a wide perimeter sweep," Aqualad ordered aloud, although you both knew it was a lie, Miss M was still with Dr. Roquette. 

Kaldur gave you a nod and moved toward the right while you went to the left. Within seconds, someone came up behind you and conked you on the head. Everything went blurry, and while it was disorienting, it wasn’t enough to knock you out. You do however, make sure to fake collapse anyways.

You stay down with closed eyes and you listen to the Assassins move.  

“The martian could return any second, and I'm not keen on evening their odds. We end Roquette now," a woman said, and you recognized her voice as the same assassin from before. 

You follow the plan, waiting a few moments before slowly getting back up. You stay low in the tall grass to avoid being spotted before quietly racing back to the new location where you had stashed Roquette. When you arrived she was typing away. 

“I've almost got it," she informs you. 

When her computer beeps you look over her shoulder and your eyes widen, “The next target's a Wayne Tech facility," you mutter, suddenly very aware of how close to home this hits.

“We have company," Aqualad warns just as a smoke bomb explodes in front of you.

“Uploading now. And by the way, you said you'd protect me," Roquette sassed.

Both you and Aqualad turn around and see the attacker coming out of the vents. You pull out your escrima sticks as she shoots a bunch of darts at Aqualad. 

“Let's test the limit of your jellyfish immunity, shall we?” the assassin drawled, and when Kaldur staggered back, she stalked further. “There. Limit tested," you could almost hear the smirk as Aqualad fell. “Now, Doctor, time for my appointment," 

“Sorry, but there’s a bit of a wait," you interrupt, eyes narrowing behind your mask as she lunges. 

You use the escrima sticks proficiently against her, but it’s clear the shadows have trained her very well. After a few minutes, she manages to disarm you. She kicks you back and walks toward Dr. Roquette. You grab a ring dagger and throw it at her, the sharp blade attaches her to another table, slicing through part of her green robe. 

She turns her head back to you, as you struggle back to your feet, “Impressive aim,” she notes, pulling the blade out, “but you’ll find mine to be better,” she chucked your knife back at you. 

Your body reacted on its own, turning as the blade sped toward your face. The edge managed a cut to your cheek, before it embedded itself in the wall behind you. 

You squared off with the assassin, grabbing more blades from their harnesses, though a sudden ding drew her attention away from you.

“So you finished the virus, eliminating the reason for your elimination, though not the entertainment value," she realized, slowly backing toward the door. “Lucky for you, my orders are clear. You live to program another day. After all, Doctor, the shadows may find another use for you," then she disappeared into the shadows.

You shoved the blades back into their harness and rushed to Kaldur first, “Aqualad?” your arms wrapped around him for stability. 

“I will be okay,” he assures you. “What of Roquette?” he grunted. 

“She’s fine,” you promise as you help him out the door. 

Roquette crouched down and picked up your escrima sticks, handing them gently back to you. You smiled at her as you slid them into the harness on your back. 

When you exit the building you spot Artemis, but no one else. 

“Artemis, where's the assassin?” you asked, still supporting part of Kaldur’s weight as you stop before her.

A pained expression crossed her features, “She, uh… she got away," Artemis admitted depressedly.

Before you could tell her it was okay, Wally had interrupted. 

“Oh, from you? Oh, big surprise. Notice we got ours," Wally brags, gesturing to the incapacitated people behind him. 

“KF,” your tone has a warning edge, and the speedster rolled his eyes. Though they got caught on something down on the floor. 

“Cool. Souvenir!" Wally rushed over and swiped it up off the ground. 

While he was occupied you turned back to Kaldur, “This is going to hurt,” you mutter to the older boy as you wrap your hand around one of the darts. 

“Do it,” he assures you, and you offer a small smile and you begin to pull the darts out of his skin. 

“Alright,” you nodded, as you got the last one. 

Slowly he straightened up before turning toward Artemis, “Her mask? Did you see her... her face?” Aqualad questions weekly from beside me.

“It was dark," Artemis stuttered.

“It is fine. Robin and Superboy neutralized the fog, And Dr. Roquette is safe, thanks in no small part to you. Welcome to the team," he was quick to reassure her before shaking her hand.

“I've always wanted a sister. Here on Earth, I mean. I have twelve back on Mars but trust me, it's not the same," M’gann smiled giddily.

“I wouldn't know. But thanks," Artemis nodded shyly.

“Anytime,” you cut in, before elbowing Wally in the stomach.

“Ow. Yeah. Welcome," Wally mumbled, sending you a subtle glare.

Slowly the team loaded back onto the Bioship once Superboy and Robin had returned. As you walked you stayed toward the back, stopping Artemis before the two of you could enter. 

“Hey, Artemis,” you call her name gently, and she stops, turning to face you. “I know you’re not GA’s niece,” you tell her and her eyes widen and stature stiffens, “and I’m sure that League knows what they're doing. But when you feel ready, I’d like to get to know who you really are. If you’re anything like the girl I met today, I gotta admit she seems pretty cool," you give her another soft smile before boarding the ship.

She waited a moment before following in after you. She shot you a small grateful look as she sat down in her seat. Smiling you sat down in yours, next to Robin. Your body slouched as the seat melded into you. 

“You good?” Robin asked, voice low, as M’gann took the helm.

“Just tired,” you hum, thinking back to the morning you had spent at the beach as you pull your gloves off.

“You got cut?” he asked, and your fingers moved to your cheek. They make contact and you wince. Pulling them back you see a little bit of blood.

“It’ll be fine,” you shrug. 

Robin sends you one more look before nodding.

STAR CITY August 11th, 07:23 EDT

The rest of the week seemed to fly by and you found yourself sitting in an old diner in Star City, knee bouncing as you fiddled with your jacket zipper. You’d been sitting there for nearly half an hour and was beginning to lose hope when you heard the bell ding. Looking over a smile pulled your lip out from between your teeth.

The eighteen-year-old boy with the red hair walked over and slouched into the booth across from you, but before he could say anything, the owner walked up to the two of you.

“Roy, (Y/n), it’s been too long since I’ve seen your lovely faces in my diner,” Miss Lenetii smiled, and a warm feeling spread in your chest.

“Sorry Miss L, we’ve been busy,” Roy spoke with a small smile aimed at the older woman, and it was the first one you’d seen on his face in months.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back, I’ll send you usuals in,” she smiled, grabbing the untouched menus from the table and walking off.

You waited till she was out of earshot before you turned back to face him, “You came!” you cheered kicking his foot, gaining a roll of his eyes.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he argued with a pointed look. “You’ve gotten really good with those daggers,” he noted and you laughed. 

“You think?” you smirked. 

“I remember when you couldn’t even twirl them without one going flying at our heads,” he joked. 

“Oh god, don’t remind me,” you shook your head, looking down at your orange juice.

“Ollie forced you to learn how to shoot after that,” he reminded you. 

“Yeah, he did. To help build arm and hand strength as well as aim,” you quoted. 

“It worked, you were a quick study,” he nodded. 

“Bow and arrows aren’t really my thing,” you shrugged. 

“And yet you’re a better shot than me,” he deadpanned. 

“Debatable,” you shrug. 

“Good job with the mission, by the way,” he added. 

“Thanks,” you smiled softly at him. 

“Alrighty we’ve got an egg over easy on hash browns with bacon and hot sauce for Miss (Y/L/N), and a meat lovers omelet with toast for Mr. Harper,” Miss Lenetii smiled placing down your food. She also placed down a cup of coffee for Roy and a fresh glass of orange juice for you. 

“Thank you, Miss L, it looks awesome, as always,” you smiled up at the older woman. 

“Enjoy sweethearts, this one’s on the house,” she winked before walking away, leaving no room for argument. 

“She’s too nice to us,” Roy notes. 

“Always has been,” you nod. Biting your lip, you look up from your food and to the boy across you, “Roy you should come back to the team,” you say softly. 

His shoulders sagged a little bit, “(Y/n) if that’s the only reason I’m here then I’m going to take my order to go,” he sighed.

“No, just hear me out,” you pleaded. 

He didn’t say anything, but Roy turned his eyes back to you. 

“I love you, and you know that. I know you are a super capable person, but being on your own is not your safest bet, okay? The way the League treats us, it’s different Roy. We’re our own team and with our own goals. It may not be as big as the League but it’s an improvement to just doing patrols,” you explain. 

“I’m not interested, Birdy,” he repeats. 

“The boys want you there,” you press.

“I don’t want to be there, (Y/n). I want to be recognized as what I am, someone who’s grown up. I’m not a little kid anymore, and I definitely am not Ollie’s sidekick. I won’t go back as long as we’re still viewed as sidekicks,” he told you seriously, and then it went quiet. The two of you ate in silence, watching each other and the people who seemed to file in and out. 

When the time came you knew you had to leave in order to be on time for morning training with Robin and Aqualad. 

Heaving a sigh you looked Roy in the eyes. “We never viewed each other as sidekicks, Roy. We viewed each other as friends, as family. That was the important part. But if you think growing up is more important, I think you made the right choice,” you decided, standing up and placing a twenty next to your plate before grabbing your bag. He didn’t say anything as he looked at you with pinched brows. Nodding you leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek before walking out. 

Maybe Roy really had made the choice best for him...

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#codename: nightingale #cnng #cnng episode #cnng season 1 #cnng s1 e6 #yj #young justice #young justice x reader #dc #dc imagine #sidekick!reader #dick grayson x reader #robin x reader #black canary #yj team #dick grayson #robin #wally west #kid flash #aqualad #kaldur #m'gann m'orzz #miss martian #superboy #conner kent #artemis crock #artemis #zatanna #roy harper #red arrow

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale - homefront

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 12

WC: 6.8k

synopsis: ha! idk dude. ng and robin prove they can flirt anywhere and anytime, red tornado has an extremely nasty family, and artemis is really trying her hardest, okay?

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

side note:  I now return you all to your regularly scheduled programming :)

MOUNT JUSTICE (& STAR CITY) September 22nd, 13:21 EDT

“I still think this is ridiculous,” you sigh into the screen.

You were currently at school, Star City Academy, but Kaldur had decided to tell Red Tornado what we had learned in Taipei with Roy.

“So you have told no one else of this mole?” he asked.

“We cannot be sure if one exists. And if it does, if the team is being betrayed from within, I must investigate without… tipping my hand. But perhaps I should tell Batman?”

“Generally, the Batman expects the team to handle its own problems, but the decision is yours,” Red Tornado reminded us, and you let out a sigh.

You were hiding out inside a broom closet and knew you only had a couple of minutes until the next bell.

“I will return after monitor duty on the Watchtower,” Red added, and you frowned.

“I thought you were exempt from monitor duty since becoming our… den mother,” Kaldur reminded him, clearly confused.

“Recognize: Red Tornado; 1-6.” the computer spoke up, and you glanced out the small window in the door as some students walked by.

Red Tornado turns back to Aqualad and the screen with your face, “I agreed to cover for Green Arrow. He has an interpersonal event with Black Canary,” he explained, and you rolled your eyes.

“Of course he does,” you groan.

“A hot date,” Red tornado finishes, and you can just imagine Ollie buttering Red tornado up with those words asking him to cover his shift.

Once Red went through the Zeta, you took a breath, “I’m so not even going home today,” you mutter, and your Atlantean friend offered a light chuckle.

“I will see you then, my friend,” he tells you, and the line goes dead.

“I hope you don’t deep think this too bad without me, Kaldur’ahm,” you mutter, stepping out of the broom closet and rejoining the masses of students.

MOUNT JUSTICE September 22nd, 18:43 EDT

When you got to the cave, the last thing you were expecting was to fight. You were suited up, thankfully, but your hair was down, and your school bag was hanging from your shoulder. There are fires and smoke everywhere, and you couldn’t even see who you were fighting.

“What the hell?” you muttered, and when a bright orange ball of fire started heading the way, you dropped down and rolled out of the way.

You tighten the straps of your bag and pull out your escrima sticks, “Who’s there?” you shouted but gained no response. “Show yourself!” you demanded.

Another flame ball came your way as the zeta tube lit up, “Recognized: Robin b-01.”

Your eyes went wide when you saw Robin step out. You threw yourself at him, pushing him to the floor as the flame passed you both.

“What the hell?” Robin asked, looking at you; in normal circumstances, you would have blushed. You were hovering over him, legs straddling his abdomen and hands braced on the floor on either side of his head. Your faces were close, and yet the only thing you could think about was what fresh hell today seemed to have brought.

“Right?” you stated desperately. “I came out of the zeta tube, and someone’s trying to flambee me!” your tone is a bit desperate.

“The Zeta!” Robin shouts suddenly.

“What about it? We can’t just leave the cave, not without looking if anyone else is here!” you argue.

“No! Artemis was right behind me! She’s going to zeta in any-”

“Recognized: Artemis b-0-7.”

You were up again in seconds, just as another shot was fired, you were moving, “Artemis! Get down!” you shout and catch as her eyes widen in surprise.

She dodges just in time, and you and Robin run up to her. Rob grabbed some of his birdarangs and shot them out into the smoke. Artemis jumps back as she fires an arrow, already pulling another from her quiver by the time she lands. You switch out your escrima sticks for a couple of marble bombs, and Robin stands beside you armed with more birdarangs. You all fire into the smokescreen, but you freeze when you hear something make contact. They clinked against something, but another fireball is launched towards you all before you can figure out what. As all three of you dive away to dodge, it hits the wall between the two Zeta Tubes and bursts out. As you get up, you can barely make out two figures through the smoke.

“Who are we fighting?” Artemis shouts, still firing arrows as we keep throwing things into the unknown.

“Don't know,” the Boy Wonder admits as he comes to her side, “but we're sitting ducks by the tubes. Head for the exit!”

Together the three of you take off towards the hallway on your right, barely dodging a massive stream of fire. Before we can get too far, water starts flooding in rapidly.

“Or not,” you decide, turning around to run.

Even though we tried, there was no way that we could’ve outrun the massive wave. It pulled you all under and, with a strong current, slammed us into the wall. When the water level receded, we got up coughing and started running. You were trying to think up a mental map of the cave as the other two followed behind me.

“Robin to Team,” he was trying his communicator. “Come in,” he called again, but it was apparent, he was getting nothing. “Aqualad!” he shouted.

You were trying to plan a way out but weren’t sure what to do; your hair was whipping against your back, the loose wet strands a slapping reminder that this was happening, and something was attacking you. A fire blast knocked the three of you down, but then you spotted the showers. The three of you took off, and once again, they followed you. Once inside, you started turning taps.

“Robin to BatCave. Override R-G-4.” Robin snaps into the comm. “Cave calling Justice League: H-O-J-slash-Watchtower; B-0-1. Priority: Ray.” he kept trying and trying, but you were sure he was just getting static.

“Rob, the comms bust be down, locked,” you tell him seriously, and the water comes down around you.

“At least the water's helping,” he sighs in relief as they both join you in the center of the room, that when you hear it, an eerie creaking and groaning noise.

You couldn’t help but let out a groan as handles start popping off the walls, tiles and the showerheads followed.

Then the room was flooding, and you sent Robin a murderous glare. “Or not,” he mumbles just before the water sweeps us up.

Your lungs are already burning as you all duck underwater. You hold your breath looking for an exit, any exit, but your options weren’t great, and so when Robin holds up an exploding birdarang, you pointed at the wall. Robin grits his teeth as he places the device on the wall, then setting it to detonate. The wall blows out into another hallway inside the Mountain, and we’re coughing as we struggle to our feet, trying to get air back in their lungs. The second we’re capable, we start running down the hall to the kitchen/living room area.

“You just had to jinx us,” you heaved as we came into the kitchen.

“We need to get lost,” Robin decides, ignoring your statement.

You desperately look around, searching for a way out.

“The air vent!” Artemis called, and your heads snapped to the stove and the low vent.

“Perfect,” you affirm.

“Good. Go!” Robin commands, you and Artemis run straight towards it while he turns to a control panel.

Artemis jumps the island in the kitchen, condensing her bow and then attaching it to her belt before climbing on top of the stove to pull the vent cover off.

“Rob, what are you-?” you start as he pulls up his holo computer.

“Downloading Cave blueprints,” he tells you, as Artemis starts climbing up, “could come in…” he trails, and you could hear the metallic footsteps coming your way; your expression dropped as you meet his gaze. “Go! Go!” he whispers as he heads towards you and the vent. You jump up after Artemis, and Robin followed a second later.

Robin starts directing you guys as soon as you make it through the vertical ascent. “Go left,” he urges, and a second after he made the turn himself, a blast of fire shoots behind us. “Uh. Too close,” he mutters, meeting your worried eyes before you both continue after Artemis.

“Take the first right,” he says, pulling up the blueprints again. “There should be a vent cover right in front of you.”

You all slide down the vertical tube and land in what seems to be a control room. Robin leads you from here on, and right as you make a turn, the pipe you had just came out explodes with fire. From the explosion, the blaze falls to the catwalk. The scariest part of it all was that there was a shadowy figure within the flames. They look around, raising their arms, and the fire follows the command, blooming out.

“Yeah, because that’s not thoroughly terrifying,” you mutter.

Robin and Artemis don’t respond. The former simply grabs your hand and starts pulling you with him. You all duck down behind some machinery.

“I should’ve just taken my chances at Dinah’s. I mean, she’d probably go back to GA’s anyways,” you mutter.

“What?” Artemis asked, turning toward you with wide eyes momentarily.

Before you could delve in any further, the machinery starts beeping until a screen cracks.

“That’s not good,” Robin laments, and you all take off in a pathway down the middle of the room.

Pipes start bursting overhead, and gas starts to hiss out the ominous figure is now wholly concealed, and the fire begins attacking you again. You take temporary refuge behind another piece of machinery, and Robin starts rechecking the map, “I know that another access tunnel is here somewhere,” he mumbled.

“You mean this one?” Artemis asks, and you all whip toward her.

“Go,” he pushes you, and she drops into it. You follow but risk a glance back. Robin grabs another birdarang, arming it and mounting it to the machine beside him before heading towards you. You jump forward once he’s behind you and crawl forward as you slid your way down the vertical descent.

“Hold on,” Robin calls out as he lands behind you.

Robin nods towards the control panel on the wall beside you, and you nod, grabbing one of your ring daggers you pry the panel open. You put the dagger down and hold onto the panel, tugging it off. As you placed it on the ground beside you, Robin hooked his holo computer into the open wiring.

“What are you up to?” you ask, dusting your hands off and grabbing your dagger.

“Locking out Cave’s motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us,” Robin explained as he starts hacking. You nod in agreement and twirl the dagger once in your hands.

“And I ask again, who is the enemy?” Artemis questions; you can hear her annoyance.

“Let’s find out,” Robin says with a smirk pressing a couple more buttons. “Downloading Cave security footage….. There,” he announces as four frames show up; he zooms in on the first one, which shows Wally, Conner, Artemis, and Kaldur working on Conner’s bike.

“Torque Wrench,” Wally calls out. M’gann uses her telekinesis to float it over to him. “Thank you, Green Cheeks.”

Superboy stands with his hands on his hips as Kaldur finally joins the group. “I have been meaning to ask, any problem juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?” he asks curiously.

“No.” Conner is quick to reply.

“Juggling is just one of my many talents,” Wally says pridefully with a slight chuckle. “Socket Wrench.”

M’gann gives it to Wally with her telekinesis as she talks to Kaldur, “Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge,” she admits, but is quick to turn towards Kaldur once Wally has the wrench. “Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the Team. This Team, not the Bumblebees.”

“Artemis starts school today. Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?” Kaldur asks.

You know exactly what he’s doing, but you bite your tongue. If Kaldur was trying to suss someone out discreetly, he needs some help.

Surprisingly enough, Wally’s the one to speak up, “Nah, she’ll manage alright.” Wally says as he stands up. “I mean, how much more hostile and annoying can she-” the camera and sound cut out.

“What happened?” Artemis asks worriedly.

“Explosion took out the camera. I’ll find another angle.” Robin informs, with a slight edge in his voice.

This new angle shows the Cave’s water forming into three large streams before crashing into the dryland and taking out that camera. The next shows the four others getting to their feet and charging, only to be overtaken by the water as the camera cuts out. The fourth shows Kaldur and M’gann heading up the staircase, the water was thrashing wildly behind them as the fire takes out the camera in front of them.

“That's it. All four are dead.” Robin mumbles.

You immediately hit him, and Artemis looks at him, appalled.

“The cameras, I-I meant the cameras!” he assures, though his voice shakes and you stare at him. “I'm sure the others are okay.” he’s quickly back to his usual confidence, but you had already heard it, the break, the quake, the uneasiness. “Just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar.”

Artemis falls against the wall of the tunnel, “Yeah, they’re fine,” she mumbles. “They’ve all got superpowers. They can handle anything,” you know she’s trying to reassure herself, but it doesn’t help any of your nerves.

“Alright, let’s go,” Robin announced as he found a route.

Robin took the lead, and Artemis followed right after him. It took a few minutes, but soon enough, he stopped. Together with Artemis, Robin pulled open a panel above the Cave’s library. The two drop-down, and you land right after. Together you all head down the stairs towards the first floor.

Robin leads you to a specific section and turns back to you and Artemis, “There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases.” Robin tells you, and you level him with a look as all three of you begin pulling at books.

“Seriously? Cliché much?” you ask with a slight flair of a mocking tone.

“You should see the Batcave,” Robin says with a sarcastic chuckle.

“Is that an invitation?” you shot back, and he offers you a smirk.

“Seriously, you’re flirting, now?” Artemis calls, and your cheeks burn as you refocus on the books.

When the door to the library opens, the three of you are quick to arm yourselves, birdarangs, arrows, and escrima sticks at the ready. You turn cautiously and start to move slowly until you’re able to hide behind a row of books.

Metal clangs through the room, and you start searching for a secondary route out.

“Artemis, Nightingale, Robin,” a robotic voice sounds, and your brow furrows because it sounds just like…

“It’s Red Tornado,” Artemis lights up, but before you can warn her because you know for a fact it can’t be Red Tornado, she’s already out in the open. As the robot reaches out for her, you dive and pull her out of the way. Pulling the two of you under a table, rolling before you both prop back up.

“Yes on the Red. No on the Tornado.” Robin all-but shouts as the Not-Red-Tornado robot destroys the table. Robin managed a solid kick at the robot, not that it did much.

The three of you move quickly towards an exit, but another Red Robot, feminine in design, cuts off your escape. She creates fire from her hands and aims it at the three of you. Robin jumps up on the bookcase to get out of the way, Artemis and you follow quickly behind him.

“Who- What are they?” she questions, and while you wished to know as well, something told you, asking them wouldn’t get you the answer you want.

The fire sets off the sprinklers in this room; using the distraction, Robin drops down once more, and you follow. The both of you are pulling at books as Artemis takes up a defensive position perched from the bookcase. You can hear as bookcases start to fall, like a set of dominos just as you pull on The Mysteries of El Dorado. Artemis is beside you, and the three of you run into the now open secret passage.

You’re booking it down the hall, Robin beside you, running side by side as Artemis trailed only a few paces behind you.

“Did you know Tornado had… siblings?!” she demands.

You and Rob shared a look of mutual concern, “No,” you both admit lowly.

You pause for a second when you come to T in the path. Robin looks both ways before moving to go left. He gets stopped when Artemis grabs onto his arm.

“So now what?” she questions. “Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down two of him?”

“They do seem pretty user-unfriendly,” Robin comments, you know he’s trying to stop Artemis from panicking more than she already was, but you weren’t sure his humor was helping this time.

“Don’t joke. They-” she snaps, but before she can go on, a voice comes over the cave’s speaker system.

“Attention, Robin. Attention, Artemis. Attention Nightingale,” it was one of the androids. “You have exactly 10 minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished.”

“Oh, cause that’s awesome,” you mutter, raising a hand to your head. They had them. Those red tin cans have all your friends, suddenly staying whelmed seemed so much more complex. You quickly tied your hair back with the band around your wrist in a low, messy, and tangled-up bun.

“Robin,” you called his name seriously, and he paused to look at you, “none of this is very whelming,” you state.

Artemis sent you a look of pure confusion, but he seemed to understand. It was like all of a sudden, he could see everything about your stance that was false. With the fake confidence and plain look., he could see just how scared you were, and he nodded.

“No, it’s not,” he agreed before grabbing your hand, and the three of you took off once more.

The robot continues to provide nerve-wracking time updates as you all run down the hallway.

“Eight minutes.”

“We can access the hangar from here,” Robin tells us, but as we turn towards the exit, we hear the sound of rushing water. “Or not,” he repeated.

Artemis’s voice cracks as we all start running again. “Will you please stop saying that?”

Once again, the water surges, and we all get swept off our feet by force. You’re tumbling in the water until Robin grabs you. He shares his rebreather with you, and you notice his cape’s gone. You nod at him when you’re good, and he swims to Artemis, helping her find her orientation before giving her the rebreather. Robin looks back at you, but your eyes go wide when you notice the Evil Red grab Artemis by the ankle. She gasps, losing the rebreather, as he tries to drag her away from Robin. You both move quickly; Robin moves to Artemis and one of her stray arrows while you pull out a couple more of your marble bombs. Robin manages to hit the android in the eye with the arrow. He then grabs onto Artemis as he fires his grapple to the far wall. He grabs you as he passes by, and you leave a line of bombs behind.

You break to the surface gasping for air, and you barely have a chance to get your bearings before you hear Wally's voice.

”Look out!” he shouted, and all three of you up spotted the she-bot and her flames. Taking a deep breath, you dive under once more to dodge the fireball. You surface, only to have to dive under again to avoid her second shot.

When you come up the third time, it’s beside where Conner and Wally were stuck.

“You guys okay?” you ask in a low voice, swimming in front of them to take in their faces.

“Forget us,” Conner snaps. “Help M’gann,” he urges, bringing your attention to the fire cage on the outlook.

“No,” you whisper as you spot Aquald holding M’gann’s body.

“Aqualad is she-” Artemis shouts, unable to bring herself to finish the question.

“She is unconscious., Kaldur shouts back. “I fear she… we cannot survive much longer,” his voice breaking shows just how much trouble he is in as well.

You turn to Robin, and he seems to understand; how could he not. You and Kaldur were close, closer than arguably anyone else on the team, the fear in your eyes had shifted. It was no longer about getting hurt; it was about him getting killed.

You don’t get a chance to talk about it before you’re forced to duck below the surface again. You make a break for it while under the water, resurfacing by the stairs. You’re near where Sphere had been launched into a wall. Reds One and Two take up spaces on either side of the stairs, blocking both of your ways out. Artemis is quick to pull an arrow from her quiver but turns to both of you.

“I’m almost out of arrows," her voice is slightly unsteady, and you quickly start looking around.

You get an idea, though not ideal. “Distract them, now,” you snap.

Artemis fires her arrow at the she-bot, and Robin heads down the stairs, throwing birdarangs at the he-bot; neither do much damage.

When both bots raise their arms to the fire, you reach yours out and grab Robin and Artemis. You wait until the last second before pulling them with you off the side of the staircase and into the water. You release them in the air, and all three of you dive down. The two follow you as you swim to the vent at the bottom of the hanger, the pressure pressing against your heads. You pull out a dagger and prop the duct open. You urge Robin and Artemis through first, and then the three of you make quick work of swimming upwards. You’re the last to break through at the top, and Robin is quick to pull you into the dry vent so you can breathe. You’re leaning against him as you heave and cough up some water.

“Six minutes,” the android’s voice comes back, and you close your eyes for a second.

“What do we do now?” Artemis’s voice has this edge to it, and you realize with closed eyes that it’s panic.

“We save them,” Robin’s voice doesn’t have his normal lilt to it. In fact, you’d argue you’d never heard him sound more like Batman in your life. When you opened your eyes, you caught the way he was staring at you as he helped you sit back up. “That's how it works,” he reminds us.

“Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots already took out our four super-powered friends,” Artemis snapped, and you began to recognize the symptoms. She was going to have a panic attack, and soon.

“You seem distraught,” the Boy Wonder commented, and you groaned softly as you turned to face them both.

“Distraught?!” Artemis screeched. “M'gann is dying. We have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow. Of course, I'm distraught!” she yells at him.

“Well, get traught or get dead!” you snap, and Robin’s head whipped to you in surprise. You weren’t one to typically lose your cool.

“NG,” he called your name softly, and you heaved another breath. You refused. You absolutely refused to lose anyone today. You meet Robin’s gaze and exhale. He nods and starts leading you through the vents once more.

“How can you be so calm?” Artemis asks, following the two of you.

“Practice,” Robin manages a light smile, even if it is just for a moment, “I've been doing this since I was nine. Birdy’s been doing it even longer,” Robin admits, and the girl in green gives you a wide-eyed look.

“What good is that now?” she asks. “What chance do we have against an unrelenting machine?”

“Oh, duh!” he pauses suddenly. “They’re machines and one electromagnetic pulse…” Robin begins, and you can feel a bubble of hope form.

“Will shut down any machine within range!” you say excitedly.

Artemis gives a bright smile and a very sarcastic “Great!” before her face shows how annoyed she still is. “Except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belts because I know I don’t have one in my quiver.”

“I’m fresh out,” Robin smiles despite his words. “But I’m betting we can make one.” he brings a hand to his ear. “Whaddya say, KF, doable?”

“Totally doable,” Wally’s voice cracked over the comms, and you remember the stray birdarang that bounced off the android. You snorted. Robin always had a plan.

“You sneaky-” your eyes had narrowed on the Boy Wonder when you got another alert.

“Five minutes.”

KF spoke up again, “Ya know, if you had more time,” not exactly a vote of confidence, but you could do this.

“What do we need?” you press.

“Med Lab, X-ray machine.” Kid instructs, and the three of you drop out of the vent in the med lab. You all stay low as you start moving the x-ray machine. “You’ll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high-energy pulses.” You open a panel on the X-ray machine and find what Wally’s talking about. You bite down on your lip as you listen carefully to his instructions.

“Reprogram the unit’s microwave conversion from X-rays to EMPs with a cascading energy vector directed outward.”

Robin does this using his wrist’s holo computer. When he’s done, he nods at you, and you reach to remove the tube. You turn it slowly before it pops out.

“A ripple effect,” Robin realizes, suddenly “like dropping a stone in a pond,” he opens his holo screen up again.

“A stone with 10 to the twelfth power wattage,” Kid Flash muses, “Yeah.”

“So we’ll need to hook it up to the Cave’s main generator,” you sigh.

Artemis arches an eyebrow as Robin shuts his computer down, “which is where?” you can hear it in her voice; something told you she had a hunch.

When Robin didn’t respond, she turned to you. Another sigh slipped past your lips, “where do you think?”

She gives you an exasperated look as you all climb back into the vents. You’re just coming out of the vents again when you get your newest update.

“Four minutes.”

You guys are elevated and can see everything below you, including the rising water level sneaking up on Wally and Conner and the intense flames that have trapped M’gann and Kaldur.

“We need to hurry,” you note, scanning the scene with concerned eyes.

“Okay. Make with the distraction,” he tells KF through the comm.

“Hey, Red Tomato! Who’s your girlfriend, Red Onion?” KF yells, and you can’t help but roll your eyes.

“Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever,” Conner shouts.

Their distraction seems to work as it gains the red-bots’ attention. “We can escape any time we want,” Conner adds as Robin hooks up his repelling device. “I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two!” KF taunts

Just as he’s about to go down, you grab him and look at him seriously, “if you die, Rob, I swear I will bring you back just to kill you myself,” you warn him.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he smirked, and you pull him into a hug. When he pulls back, his face turns serious. He looks over to Artemis, “Cover me,” he states, and she nods.

He grapples down and swings over to the generator. Artemis notches her last arrow as the boys down below keep up their ruse.

“And you can’t drown a Kryptonian, dumb bots. We don’t breathe air,” Conner bluffs. KF laughs obnoxiously as Robin disconnects his cable. “And Ms. Martian?” KF continues as Robin pulls open the panel and sets the tech inside. “I can’t believe you’re buying her act.” Robin connects his computer.

“Rerouting power now,” he tells us through the comms.

“Yeah,” Conner is quick to pick up. “You know how hot it gets in the caves of Mars?”

Robin looks over his shoulder before glaring at the screen. Even before he says it, you can tell, “It’s not working.”

“That cage is just making her homesick,” Conner gripes.

“Oh, god,” you mutter.

“Duh!” KF laughs again.

“The circuit’s incomplete. I need something conductible,” he tells us, but in his haste, he stopped paying attention. “A piece of metal or-

“Robin, look out!” you scream, just before a massive wave washes over him. You’re so focused on trying to spot Robin again that when the fireball comes towards you, it’s only thanks to Artemis that you’re not a piece of burnt toast. The two of you are quick to duck away. Realizing that you have nothing to use at this distance, you move back to the vent, just narrowly avoiding another wave of fire. You creep through the vent until you reach a gap where you can see.

Looking through the broken vent, you watch as the he-bot brings Robin to the outlook, still suspended in water, “Robin,” you swallow back a scream and a cry as you look at him. Suspended in the water, he’s not fighting, and he seems like he’s not breathing. You close your eyes and focus, you know him better than that, and you know that he can’t be dead, not yet and not like this. You’re pulled out of your thoughts when you hear Artemis’ cries.

She’s curled into a ball, holding herself, mumbling, “No. No, no, no.”

“Snap out of it, Artemis,” you urge the older girl, and she looks at you with watery eyes. “They’re not dead yet,” you remind her, but her expression is broken, and you can see the lack of hope she seems to have.

“We can save them, alright? We can, because we have to,” you push. The water drops Robin onto the ground beside Kalur and M’gann’s cage, but he doesn’t seem to move.

“NG, we’re running out of time and options! If we surrender,” Artemis murmurs, “we die with the others.”

You shake your head and start moving. Without Robin and his schematics, you were moving blindly.

“But if we find a way out, out of the Cave, out of the mountain… we can get help. Call in the League,” she offers.

You look back to tell her there’s no way and no time, and in doing so you missed the drop before you, and suddenly you are sliding down the vent. Artemis following right after you.

When you land, you’re in front of Wally’s souvenir display. Since he didn’t live at the cave, he didn’t have a room until you and Robin had found this one tucked away. It was open to any team member, but Wally was usually the one who updated it.

You get another update as you stand back up and stare at the items before you, “Three minutes.”

Artemis sighs as she sits back up. “Oh, who am I kidding? Best we can do is hide,” she rubs her arm hopelessly. “Hope the League finds us before the Reds.”

Her depressive thoughts are overpowering as you both look at the items before you. You tune out as you stare at these tokens. Not trophies, sure you’d won and gotten out alive after these missions, but they can’t be trophies. They need to be reminders, proof that you can and have succeeded, proof that the people currently trapped have gone above and beyond to work with each other and protect each other. Your fists clenched as you looked at these momentoes. You were not giving up if that meant you were on your own against the reds from this point on. Then Artemis could stay behind and hide. You weren’t giving up. Ever.

It’s the newest update that shakes you from your thoughts, “One minute.”

You catch Artemis’s eye as she sets the Cheshire mask pack on its display. And then both of your eyes land on the arrow, a regular arrow, the one she had used to save your lives against Amazo.

“Didn’t Robin say he needed something metal,” she notes, and you look at her.

“I have a plan, it’s insane, but it would work so much better with you,” you decide, looking at her and holding out your arm.

She grips it tight and nods.

You take a deep breath as the elevator doors open, it was a crazy plan, and if anything went wrong, you’d both probably die. Artemis had her bow in her hand and the arrow in her quiver; you’re both wearing defeated looks. The Reds turn to you instantly as you arrive on the platform before them.

“We surrender, stop the clock,” she tells them, her voice still broken, and she meets your eyes before you asses your friends before you.

Kaldur seems to stir from unconsciousness beside M’gann. Your fists clench as you spot Robin on the ground, and then Wally and Conner, both of whom take deep breaths as the water begins to cover them.

You take a deep breath yourself, and Artemis sends you the faintest nod of her head. She holds her hands up as if to offer her bow, and the water Red holds out a hand for her to give it to him. In an instant, she adjusts her hold on it, and your hand flies to your throat. You scream, the sonic waves pushing the reds back before they can adapt, and Artemis whirls around. She takes her shot, and you can do nothing but watch as it soars through the air. It sails across the cave and lands on its target, and it finished the circuit of the EMP emitter. Immediately electricity starts to crackle as the vircator begins to glow bright blue. Sound warps as a wave shoot out from the device. Everything starts shutting down, including the widget on your throat, and when it goes out, you can only watch with relief as the Reds crackle with energy before falling to the ground. As soon as their eyes go dark, the fire dissipates, and the water level drops. The boys below gasp for air, and you run to Robin.

“Kaldur, how’s M’gann?” Conner shouts worriedly.

He groans as he pushes himself up, “She breathes. I believe she will recover,” he looks over her head. “What of Robin?”

You drop to your knees beside him, and you know Artemis falls behind you. Cautiously you reach forward, a hand going to his neck to search for a pulse while the other rests on his chest. You press lightly against his chest, and he starts to cough.

“He-he’s breathing too,” you say, and you can feel the tears looming in your eyes. You help Robin sit as he continues to cough until his breathing regulates.

He looks over at Artemis as one of your hands moves to his back, “Way to get taught,” he muses with a smile.

Relief sinks in, and Artemis collapses backward, you can’t help the relieved laugh you let out, and she joins you. For a moment, you indulge yourself and lean forwards against Robin. Your arms go around him as your forehead connects with his shoulder. One of his hands finds yours, and soon they’re gripping each other tightly.

Eventually, you make your way down to where Conner and Wally are, M’gann is leaning heavily on Kaldur, and you’ve still got an arm around Rob.

“How’d you hold your breath that long underwater?” Kaldur asked as Artemis began fidgeting with some sort of device.

“Figured my only shot was to surrender, pretend to drown before I actually did,” Robin says confidently. “Blacked out though,” he admits, and you shake your head.

“Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?” Wally demands of Artemis, “or better yet, NG, how about a scream?”

You stare at Wally with squinted eyes, “Sure, Wally let me break your eardrums for you,” you state flatly.

Artemis gives him a deadpanned look. “It’s not working genius, neither will her scream. EMP shuts down all machines, remember?”

“All machines present at the time,” Red Tornado’s voice grabs our attention, and we immediately are looking at him as he lands beside Conner and Wally. “What has occurred?”

“Had a little visit from your family,” Robin looks at the powered down Reds, the disdain evident in his voice.

“Your extremely nasty family,” Artemis is quick to add on.

“I was not aware I had relations,” Tornado informs you.

“Where have you been?” Conner demands suddenly.

“Monitor duty on the Watch Tower,” Tornado remarks, making his way over to the other robots. “When it became clear that Cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate, but your Zeta Tubes were also nonfunctional,” he kneels beside the two, “I transported to Providence and proceeded here.”

Suddenly Sphere starts to whir, catching all of your attention, before it manages to free itself. Your brow furrowed as Connor greeted it, “Hey boy.”

The machine in Artemis’s hand powered on, and your eyes went wide.

“The pulse has worn off!” KF and Robin say in unison, and you turn to Red Tornado.

“Tornado, don’t!” but you were too late. As Red Tornado reaches out to the she-bot, a zap connects their fingers as her eyes light back up. Red Tornado’s eyes glow in return. Before turning towards the Team and using a tornado to raise him, he then aimed two more at us.

He was sucking up the oxygen around you, and your hand raised to your neck. You couldn’t breathe. You dropped to your knees and watched as Kaldur, Robin, Conner, and Wally all pass out. You’re fighting the black, and you spot Artemis, a couple of feet away.

“Can’t… breathe.” she gasps before falling.

Your vision darkens as you turn back to Tornado, “please,” you gasp, and then everything is dark.

When you came to, Robin’s head was hovering over you, “take it easy, NG,” he said softly, helping you up.

“Oh, thank god you’re okay,” Canary was beside you in a second. Robin moved back to make space for your mentor as her inner mother hen began to show. She started looking you over for injuries, hesitant hands gliding around, making sure nothing hurt too bad.

“Where’s Artemis?” you asked dazedly, thinking of the girl you had seen shortly before you passed out.

“She’s alright,” Superman called as he helps her stand up.

“What happened here?” Superman demands, looking at your team.

“What happened?!” Artemis shoots back, and you waive Canary’s hands away. “The Reds happened. Tornado and his…” she stops trying to figure out a way to describe them when she realizes something’s missing. “Wait, where are they?”

“Gone,” Robin answers, looking at you and then at her, “All three of them,” he is beating himself up over it, and honestly, so were you.

“Gone,” you mutter one last time, shaking your head. You had failed, failed to protect the cave, failed to protect your friends, and failed to get the bad guys.

“Sweetie,” Dinah called your attention softly, and you turned to her. “What-?” she was going to ask more, you were sure, but you cut her off. Your eyes were tightly shut, and your hand’s hand clenched as images of what had happened in the last few hours playing in your mind.

You kept your eyes on the ground as you pieced it all together. Your team could’ve died today, your friends. Even worse, you could’ve been one of the only survivors. Thinking of their near-deaths hurt you, you could remember how weak Kaldur and M’gann were, how helpless Conner and Wally were, and how dead Robin had looked in that suspended beam of water.

So much had happened tonight, so much had gone wrong, it was almost a miracle that you were all still here. Lifting your head, you made eye contact with Robin and then with Kaldur. Nothing about what happened today could be easily dismissed.

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#codename: nightingale #cnng #cnng episode #cnng season 1 #cnng s1 e12 #young justice #young justice x reader #young justice imagine #dc #dc imagine #sidekick!reader #dick grayson x reader #robin x reader #black canary #yj team #dick grayson #robin #wally west #kid flash #artemis #artemis crock #kaldur #aqualad #miss martian #m'gann m'orzz #conner kent #superboy #our songbirds #red tornado

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale - fireworks

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 2

WC: 3.7k

synopsis: we’ve got a bunch of injured and angsty teenagers who just wanna be recognized tbh

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

CADMUS LABS, WASHINGTON D.C. July 4, 00:01 EDT

“Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken now!” you heard a voice in your head, and suddenly your eyes snapped open.

“What? What do you want? Quit staring!” KF wailed. “You're creeping me out,” he groaned as you blinked a couple of times, trying to shake off the sleepy feeling. 

“Uh, KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?” you offer, your voice raspy, due to the pain and remaining grogginess.

“We only sought to help you,” Aqualad told the clone, sagely.

“Yeah! We free you, and you turn on us. How's that for great-” KF continued.

“Kid, please, be quiet now,” Aqualad objected. “I do not believe our new friend is in full control of his actions.”

“What...what if I… What if I wasn’t?” the clone asked, and your gaze softened. 

“He can talk!” KF exclaimed, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes.

“Yes! He can!” Superboy shot back, fists clenching. 

As Aqualad and KF talk to the super clone, you try to access your lock pick. You let out another quiet groan when you realize you couldn’t, due to the position of your arms. Looking over to Robin, you notice he seems to be having more luck, as he slowly worked the lock pick on his cuffs. He raises his eyebrow at you questioningly, but you shook your head discreetly.

“Not like I said, it,” Wally muttered, catching the small glares we sent him. 

“The Genomorphs, they taught you?” Aqualad asked. 

“They taught me much,” he admitted. “I can read, write, and I know the names of things,” Superboy’s words were encouraging, but his tone held an air of desperation to it.

“But have you seen them?” you interrupted, pulling the clone’s eyes to you. “Have they ever actually let you see the sky? Or the sun?” you shifted slightly in your restraints, wincing as you took in the state of your body. There were little cuts scattered all over the glass, and you could feel where bruises would be forming over the next few days.

“Images are implanted in my mind, but no. I have not seen them," Superboy admits.

“Do you know what you are? Who you are?” Kaldur questions.

“I am the Superboy, a genomorph, a clone made from DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish, or to destroy him should he turn from the light," Superboy explains.

“To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman, you deserve a life of your own beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus," Aqualad tries to reason.

“I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!” Superboy yells angrily.

“Your home is a test tube," Robin explains.

“We can show you the sun," you add, doing your best to keep your voice as gentle as possible. 

“Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, NG, but we can show you the moon," Wally chimed.

“We can show you, introduce you, to Superman," Aqualad coaxed, and for a moment, it looked like it was working.

“No, they can't. They'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process," a man in a lab coat and glasses ordered while walking into the room.

“Pass. I’m one of a kind, I’d like to remain that way," you mused with faux humor, and the best smile you could manage, it was the same one you wore at all the fancy events Oliver forced you to attend. 

“Same, Batcave is crowded enough," Robin agreed, matching your tone.

“And get the weapon back in its pod!” the man shouted, clearly frustrated while referring to Superboy, rudely.

“Hey! How come he gets to call Supey an ‘it’?” Wally mocked, and your eyes widened when Guardian walked up to Superboy, pulling him towards the exit. 

“Help us," you pleaded, and his blue eyes stayed on yours. 

Superboy pushed Guardian’s hand off of him, standing firm.

“Don't start thinking now,” Lab Coat sneered, and the genomorph on his shoulder jumped to Superboy’s, its horns glowing red. “See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me! Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!” the scientist commands, and superboy, who now seemed to be in a trance.

The man hit a button, and suddenly sets of needles appeared in front of you all. Your eyes were wide as you shook your head, you could deal with any ice freak in the world, but as Dinah could attest, you were not a fan of needles. 

“I hate needles," the comment was through gritted teeth as the needles were plunged into you. They started crackling with electricity, grunts of pain could be heard along with your scream as they drained some of your blood. Your arm jerked roughly against the cuffs, and the small cut on your arm that had scabbed over earlier split open once more.

“Superboy, you live," you gasped, hoping that he could hear you between your screams. “That gives you the right to follow your path. A weapon or a person, the choice is yours, but ask yourself, what would Superman do?" 

Suddenly the door was ripped off its hinges, and the needles stopped.

“Are you here to help us or fry us?” KF questioned as the boy of steel walked up to the redhead’s pod. 

Superboy stopped for a second, squinting at KF, “Huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option." 

You couldn’t help but let out a small but pained laugh, but that quickly turned into another painful groan.

“Ahh," Robin exclaimed as he finally was able to pick his lock. “Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long," you raised your eyebrow at him tiredly, and he shrugged.

“Seriously, that's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight," KF responded.

“Free Nightingale and Aqualad. I'll get kid mouth," Robin instructs.

“Don't you give me orders either," Superboy grumbled before leaping up to break the door to the pod, letting Aqualad free. Once Aqualad was down, Superboy came to your pod, breaking your shackles and catching you. He let you down carefully before helping you stand, as strong as he was, his handling had become gentle. “Thank you," you whispered in appreciation meeting his eyes, he gave you a small nod as he helped you stabilize. Your body felt like it was still buzzing from the electric shock and plunging of needles.

“You….you'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning," the man in the lab coat shrieked.

“That guy is not whelmed,” you note, now standing on your own, though the pain had yet to subside.

“Not whelmed at all,” Robin affirmed before throwing an exploding Batarang at the four containers with your blood.

“What is it with you two and this whelmed thing?” KF asked rhetorically as you all ran out; all you could offer your speedster friend was a shrug of your shoulders. 

“We are still 42 levels below ground,” Aqualad stated, leading you all forwards, “but if we can make the elevator..."

The loud growl that cut him off was enough to keep your heart pounding, “or not,” you add, as you spotted the genomorphs that were appearing in front of you. 

Turning back, you noticed that the same large genomorphs were now blockading your path.  The five of you skidded to a stop as more and more genomorphs began to appear. 

The minute one went to attack, you all took evasive maneuvers, well, almost all. Superboy decided to attack them instead. He began wrestling with the genomorphs that were three times your size as the rest of you stood back. While he seemed to be making an impact, he was beginning to bring the house down with him, literally.

“Superboy, the goal is to escape, not to bury ourselves here!" Aqualad shouted.

“You want to escape? Aah!” the super clone let out a yell, clearing a path through his rage.

Using the given space, you all make a break for the elevators. Aqualad pried them open before letting us all through. Wally jumps to the side and uses his super-speed to quickly jump from floor to floor, using the metal ledges like stairs. Robin grabbed you by the waist once more before using his grappling gun to pull us up. Looking up, you noticed Superboy and Kaldur. The clone had jumped, probably intending to fly, but you saw as their faces faltered. 

“I- I’m falling,” Superboy’s voice came as a distracted mutter, but you wasted no time. 

Grabbing one of Robin's batarangs, you threw it upwards, creating a handhold for Aqualad to hold onto. The Atlantian had a sturdy grip, catching onto the handhold and keeping both of them from falling back down. 

“Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?” Superboy questioned as they found their footing on the metal ledges.

“Don't know, but it looks like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool," KF points out, helping them. 

“Thank you," you heard the clone mutter to Aqualad, who then sent you an appreciative look; you nodded, black lips in a thin line.

“Guys, this will have to be our exit," Robin shouts, pulling everyone’s attention to the elevator that was beginning to approach us.

Together Superboy and Aqualad kicked the elevator doors open, and you broke into a sprint. As you run, the aftershocks of the electric pulses start to wear you down while the short burst of adrenaline fades. You become painstakingly aware of the pulling in your ankle. Taking a glance as you turn left (per Superboys request), you notice the swelling. You also see that you’re lagging behind the boys now too. You take a right and come face to face with a wall. 

“Great direction, Supey! You trying to get us re-podded?” KF shot off, turning to the clone. 

“No, I- I don’t understand,” superboy backtracked. 

The first thing you noticed was the vent. Nudging the Boy Wonder beside you, you weakly nod to it. Allowing your stiff neck to add to the parts of your body currently in pain. 

“Don't apologize. This is perfect!” Rob exclaims. “Birdy, you first,” he says, nudging you forward.

The boys hoist you up, allowing you to pull the vent cover off. You let it fall to the floor, before pulling yourself entirely through the vent. As you begin to crawl, Kaldur comes up next, behind you, then Wally, Superboy, and finally, Robin brings up the rear. 

“At this rate, we'll never get out," KF groans.

“Anyone ever tell you, you’re a pessimistic person, KF?” you shoot back with an eye roll. 

“Shh. Listen," Superboy shushed.

You could vaguely hear a crackling sound, and when a shriek followed, your eyes blew wide. You all sped to the next exit. Once out, Robin started to do something on his wrist computer.

“I hacked the motion sensors,” he bragged.

“Sweet," Wally cheered as you took a moment to inspect your ankle further. 

“Still plenty of them between us and out," you mumbled, attempting to roll your ankle in a circle, checking it’s mobility. You had to stop the action when you winced from the sharp pain it was causing. 

“But I've finally got room to move," KF smirked, pulling his goggles over his eyes and zooming off through the stairwell.

You started following him as he knocked all the genomorphs in his way down.

“More behind us," Robin alerts us.

Looking back, you nodded, “I got this,” you assure the rest. 

You turned around full and hit the button on your choker. You took in a deep breath before screaming, “AHHH!” 

It was your canary cry. The force of the sonic waves pushed the genomorphs back allowing Superboy to kick the staircase down. The power behind his kick was enough to create a giant gap between you and them. You click the button on your choker once more, turning off the sonic device before spinning around and continuing up the stairs. 

Dinah had given you the choker the day she finally let you patrol on your own. It was also the day you got my codename, Nightingale or NG for short. Before people used to call you Birdy, some still do.

When you stop at the top of the stairs, you find one last set of heavy doors, “We're cut off from the street," Superboy digresses as he and Aqualad move to pry the doors open with little luck.

“Thanks. My head hadn’t noticed," Wally stated sarcastically from the ground; he had fallen when he slammed into the door, not expecting it to stay shut.

“Can't hack this fast enough," Robin muttered, typing at his wrist computer. He looked up for a second, searching for another option. “This way!” he decided, grabbing your arm and pulling you through a side door, only to lead you into a circle of genomorphs and Guardian. Everything quickly became black as you collapsed to the ground.

When you woke up once more, your vision cleared, and you saw Robin offering you his hand to pull you up. You noticed Superboy facing one fo the Genormorphs, “I choose freedom,” he decided, and the genomorph nodded.

Guardian let out a groan, rubbing his head, as you roll your shoulders, scanning the room the best you could, “Feels like a fog lifting,” he admitted. 

“Guardian?” you called to the hero, gently. 

“Go. I’ll deal with Desmond,” Guardian nodded. 

“I think not!” Dr. Desmond interrupted. . “Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus!" he uncapped a test tube and began chugging a neon blue liquid. 

Your eyes darted around trying to find a way out, suddenly, he was transforming into something else, and it was a bit frightening. You took a step back in a mix of surprise and horror. 

“Everyone back!” Guardian yelled out, charging the beast, only to be knocked aside. 

Next was Superboy; the two of them went at it, before going through the ceiling.

“Ok. That's one way to bust through the ceiling," Robin commentated, grabbing your waist and his grappling gun. 

“Do you think Lab Coat planned that?” Wally asked, and Robin aimed the gun. 

“I doubt he is planning anything anymore,” Kaldur countered, and Robin shot the hook, grappling you both up.

You all seemed to shift into fight mode, charging the thing. KF tripped it; Rob threw some bombs at it; you screamed, pushing it to turn toward Superboy, who once again began to fight it. Aqualad attempted to intervene but was pulled to the ground. When KF tried to help, he got pushed into the wall instead. Wincing, you began looking around frantically, trying to find a solution.

You watched as the structure began to shake with the blockbuster monster threw Kaldur into the pillars, and you had an epiphany. “Rob! The pillars,” you shouted over the commotion.

Robin’s eyes spotted the same thing I had before a look of surprise took his features, “Of course! KF, get over here!” he yelled, catching my drift.

Robin pulled up a schematic on his hologlove and showed it to both you and the speedster, “Got it?” he asked. 

“Got it," KF and you affirm simultaneously.

“Go!” Rob commences.

KF went to distract the creature as the rest of you began to bring down the building’s support pillars. You ran into the middle of the room and marked a large ‘X’ on the ground as everything else fell into place. More of the pillars were brought down, and water was sprayed over the X. Wally led blockbuster to the water allowing Aqualad to electrocute the beast. With blockbuster distracted, Robin hit a button on his glove before meeting your gaze.

“Move!” he yelled as his exploding batarangs began to go off, causing the building to collapse. The building was crashing down on all of you, but Superboy was able to move some debris away as everything settled.

“We did it," Aqualad panted.

“Was there… ever any doubt?” you smiled weekly from the ground. 

Robin and Wally high fived as you attempted to get up, tried, being the keyword. You would’ve fallen back down if the two boys hadn’t caught and stabilized you. Looking down, you knew it was a mix of your ankle and the exhaustion.

“See?” you swallowed, despite the pain. “The moon," you mused. By now, KF and Robin were supporting your weight. You had an arm around each of their necks while your bad foot stayed off the ground. 

“Oh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?” Wally jokes as the big man himself landed in front of us, other league members trailing behind him. Including all of your mentors. 

Superboy was the first to step forward, showing off the symbol on his suit, startling not only Superman but the rest of the League as well. 

“Oh, boy,” you muttered under your breath. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Batman inquired, staring at Superboy.

“He doesn't like being called it," Wally hints.

“I'm Superman's clone," Superboy admits, and the shock is evident on all the leaguer’s faces. 

“Start talking," Batman glowered.

As we retell our adventure of the day, many of the Leaguers stay and listen. And when they concluded, most left, allowing the core members to remain. The ‘adults’ talked leaving us in a small circle of our own.

When Superman walks over, all of you are paying the red cape your full attention. 

“We’ll figure something out for you,” he sighed, staring at your new friend. “The league will, I mean. For now, I better make sure they get that blockbuster creature squared away.”

Superman seemed nervous and detached, and when he flew off again, you quirked a brow, “man of steel or man of ice,” you whispered to Wally, who shared a look with you.

Before he could respond, Batman approached you once more, “Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels,” he assures you, “but let's make one thing clear-”

“You should have called," Flash complained, interrupting the Dark Knight.

“End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again," Batman continued, and your nose twitched. 

“I am sorry, but we will," you spoke up, struggling as you let go of Wally and Robin and painfully stepped forward, in front of the four boys.

“Nightingale, stand down," Canary warned. 

“I’m sorry, Canary, but no," you negate. “We did good work here tonight, the work you all trained us to do," you remind her, eyes darting from one League member to the next.

“Together on our own, we forged something powerful, important," Kaldur added stepping up to stand in line beside you.

“If this is about your treatment at the hall, the four of you-” Flash tried to intervene, but he got cut off.

“The five of us, and it's not," KF interjected, moving to your left, supporting some of your weight.

“Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us, or...why teach us at all?” Robin continues stepping to your right and helping you stand once more.

“Why let them tell us what to do?” Superboy scoffed. “It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way," he concluded, stepping forward and joining you. 

Together the five of you made the team, and nobody, not even the league, would change that.

MOUNT JUSTICE July 8, 08:04 EDT

A few days past before you saw each other again. You had been put on crutches for a few weeks so that your ankle would heal quickly. It had been sprained, badly, on your expedition into Cadmus. Three days later, you all met at Mount Justice, dressed in your civilian attire around eight am. 

“This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions," Batman explained; you were standing with the boys, leaning against your crutches.

“Real missions?” Robin questioned.

“Yes, but convert," the Bat affirmed.

“The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests," The Flash points out to us. 

“But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," Aquaman adds.

“The six of you will be that team," Batman continues.

“Cool! Wait, six?” Robin asked. Suddenly Martian Manhunter appears through the Zeta, he types something in and a girl appears behind him, only she’s green too.

“This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," The bat completes.

“Hi," The girl says shyly.

“Liking this gig more every minute," Wally smirked, you rolled your eyes and elbowed him in the stomach, “umph," he groaned, shooting you a look as he turned toward Miss Martian.

“Welcome aboard,” he greeted, with a flirty smile. “I'm Kid Flash, that's Nightingale, Robin, Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names," Wally explains, pointing to us respectively, smirk still on his lips.

“I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian says politely. 

“I like her,” you decide, as you all step forward to talk to the Martian girl. Turning back, you notice that one of the boys hadn’t moved. “Hey, Superboy. Come meet Miss M," you smile at the clone, as he walks over to us.

“I like your t-shirt," she compliments shyly, changing her shirt to look like Superboy’s, and you smirk knowingly. Looking around at the people surrounding you, you realize that this is exactly where you’re supposed to be. 

“Today is the day," Kaldur decides, and you can’t help but agree.

DC taglist: @grey-water-colors​

CN:NG taglist: @psych0crybaby​ @smile-more19​ @spiitfiires​ @crookedlyshamelessnacho​ @truly-dionysus​

#codename: nightingale #cnng #cnng episode #cnng season 1 #cnng s1 e2 #yj #young justice #young justice imagine #young justice series #dc #dc imagine #sidekick!reader #dick grayson #dick grayson x reader #robin x reader #robin #black canary #yj team #wally west #kid flash #aqualad #kaldur #M'gann M'orzz #miss martian #superboy #conner kent #daisy's fics #oliver queen

[shadowsndaisies]

codename: nightingale - bereft

Reference: Young Justice Season 1 Episode 9

WC: 4.6k

synopsis: lol don’t sip the koolaide kids! ng is concerned about (1) atlantean and brain blasts are not user friendly.

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterpost

BIALYA September 4th, 00:16 EEST

Your hands were cradling your head as your eyes shot open. Rubbing your temples as you tried to concentrate, despite the constant throbbing, blinding sun, and the unyielding heat. You squinted as you turned around, taking in your surroundings, your lips parted in surprise, all you could see was sand. Your heart started to pound, every direction you turned, all there was, was desert. Your hands slid back over your hair, fingers tracing the outline of your braids as you let out a frustrated groan. 

Nothing was making sense. Why were you in the desert?  Your body froze as you realized how you were dressed, a black bodysuit and a leather jacket. You could see your ring daggers, marble bombs, and escrima sticks, but somehow you felt less safe than ever. You couldn’t remember anything, not how you got here, not even where here was. You took a deep breath and nodded to yourself. You were the Nightingale, a hero of Star City; you could do this. You pulled the jacket off your body and tied it around your waist. Your hair was pulled back by your braids, but the sweat trickled down your neck, and you felt how sticky the heat was making you. Another deep breath and you reached for your phone. It was supposed to be in a lined protective pocket, but there was nothing there. 

“Well, that’s just wonderful,” you mutter, hands moving to your hips as you squint out into the desert. 

You had just started climbing down the rock formation you had woken up on when you heard an explosion go off on your right. Turning, you notice the smoke that has begun to rise. 

“Oh shit,” you sigh; looking down, you gauge the height before shrugging and flipping off the rock. You land in a summersault before standing up and jogging toward the explosion. 

You made it a few miles before you heard the fighter planes. You knew you stood out, a black spec on the plains, but before you could react, you spotted something shoot up from the ground. It was launched up to the fighters, causing them to crash into each other about a mile and a half up. You broke into a sprint, trying to catch up to whoever was up there. You spotted a few people as you got closer, and once you were about 40 yards away, you were able to make the one in the middle out. 

Your body seemed to relax a little as you identified the boy, “KF!” you shouted his name, and the redhead turned back to you. 

He seemed taken aback at first, but as he looked at you, a small smile came to his face as he sped towards you. “NG!” he shouted, and his arms wrapped around you a second later.

“What’s going on, Wally?” you asked, returning his hug and spotting the two other females who were still standing where he had been just a few minutes ago.

“I wish I knew,” he sighed, taking a step back.

“She’s green, like..” you trial focusing on the redheaded girl with green skin who was now smiling directly at you. 

“Yeah, apparently she’s J’ohn’s niece, and we're all teammates,” he says, looking back at the girl.

“Teammates?” you repeat incredulously. 

“Yeah, us four, Rob, and Superboy,” Wally says with quotation marks surrounding the last name. 

“What the hell is a Superboy?” you ask, your eyes narrowing from behind your mask.

A few minutes later, you and Wally rejoined the other two girls, and the martian, M’gann, took the lead. She was bubbly and continued to babble on about the so-called ‘team’ as you all followed after her. The other girl, Artemis, stayed mostly silent as she trudged a bit behind the rest of you. You made eye contact with Wally; this was crazy. You noticed the way Wally’s brow was furrowed and how his eyes kept darting around. Wally West was a jokester without a doubt, but he was also one of your closest friends, and clearly, this was eating at his nerves. How could it not? You stared at Wally a moment longer remembering your first time meeting the other sidekicks. Robin, Wally, and Kaldur. Robin had been silent on Batman’s side but Wally had taken the opportunity to introduce himself. Red hair and a personality that was just as vibrant. Yes, you had Roy, but Wally was the one to show you that these people, these other sidekicks, could be more than peers and colleagues, they could be friends. 

“You know the truly crazy things always happen when you’re around,” you muse, turning to him, and he scoffs but smiles and your smile back. 

“You always know exactly what to say, Birdy,” he chuckles, shaking his head. Maybe he saw through your off-hand comment, but he seemed to appreciate it nonetheless.

“It’s a gift,” you smirk, turning your attention from the redhead and back to the desert.

You walked for a few hours the sun had just set when you heard it, gunshots. Your eyes widened as you turned back to Wally. He seemed to understand because he began nodding his head at you and pulling his goggles down over his eyes. 

“On it,” he assured you, before taking off. 

You took off at your top speed right behind him. When you caught up, you arrived at the scene of a fight and spotted another of your friends, Robin. Both he and Wally were fighting some men in tactical gear, no doubt the ones who were firing their weapons earlier. You noted the markings on the gear and realized they looked an awful lot like Biyalian rebels but couldn’t be sure. Without another thought, you jumped into the fight. You pulled the metal cylinders attached to your utility belt and pulled the pin on each one, allowing them to extend into your escrima sticks. A playful smile donned your lips as you swing them in your hands a few times before rushing a few of the rebels. Methodical swipes, bashes, and kicks were all it took to knock them unconscious. And as soon as M’gann and Artemis had caught up, the archer took out the last one. You gave her an appreciative nod before twirling the escrima sticks once more. 

“KF! Man, it's good to see a familiar face,” Robin says as the two of them do the ‘bro shake.’

“Hey, Rob,” Wally smiles. “Memory loss?”

“Six months,” Robin clarifies, and your small smile leaves your lips as they part in surprise, six months? A lot could’ve happened in six months. 

“Alright, boys, let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes,” you decide, drawing Robin’s attention. 

Rob offered you a sad but hopeful smile as he spotted you, “Hey NG,” his voice was a bit softer than it had been before.

“What’s happening, Boy Wonder?” you joke, placing the escrima sticks on your back harness. 

“Six months’ worth of blank space, you know the usual,” he smirks. 

You scoff and shake your head as he tosses you some rope, and you work together to tie the Bialyan rebels up. You all walk another half-mile before pausing to discuss. M’gann starts up immediately while you and Wally take turns sharing looks with Robin.

“So we're a team?” Robin asks in wonder.

“The five of us, and Superboy,” M’gann clarifies. 

“Then this must be his,” Rob states, pulling a piece of fabric from his belt. 

“Yes! Did you see him?” M’gann asks worriedly. 

“I think we did,” Artemis realized. 

“Feral boy? Some teammate,” Wally scoffed. “He attacked us.”

“He didn't know who we are,” Artemis defended, “I don't know who we are.”

“I remember Batman ordering radio silence. Our team must work for him!” Robin says, and you pull your bottom lip between your teeth as you try to make sense of it all.

“How do you know we don't work for my mentor?” KF interject, pointing to the symbol on his chest. When he touched it, his suit reverted from his black stealth suit to its original yellow & red color scheme. Your eyebrow quirks at that in surprise, “Whoa! This is so cool!”

“That’s high-level stealth tech,” you mutter, eyes meeting Robin’s, and he seems to understand; six months wasn’t just a lot of time to be missing; it was too much. Something had obviously happened. 

Wally missed your comment as he continued to play with the new found feature of his suit. The color schemes switched rapidly from yellow & red to black & grey.

“You look ridiculous! Quit touching yourself!” Artemis exasperates, obviously frustrated, slapping Wally’s hand while glaring at him.

“We need our memories back,” you finally say, voice loud enough to talk over the rest, though it held an eerie sort of calm to it. 

Suddenly there’s a flash of light, and you’re standing in some sort of room. The four others were still with you, but your surroundings were purple with floating fragments of memories, moving pictures floating around you. Another bright light appeared, and out of it came M’gann. 

“I brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far. But I need your help. Together, our broken memories can form a whole; if you open your minds to mine,” she shares, and you can’t help but mimic her uneasy expression. 

You pause; your thoughts were just that, your own. You didn’t need someone rifling through them, normal therapy was already intrusive enough, but as you look around at the small fragments, you knew that allowing M’gann might be the only way to piece it all together.

“You want to paw through our private thoughts?” Artemis accuses, stepping back from the martian. 

M’gann was quick to correct Artemis, “I have no wish to intrude, but-”

“You need to hack our minds to know what happened to us. Got it. Go,” Robin interrupts with a knowing smile. 

“My brain's all yours. Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you,” Kf says with a smirk. 

“Or underwhelm you,” you snort, causing him to send you a look, but you were slightly distracted. Why was it so easy for them to agree?

“Hey, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?” Robin asked suddenly.

Wally walks closer to Artemis and grabs her hand, giving her a small nod, and you can’t help but smile. They seemed like such a good fit. “Past six months only, and only what you need,” Artemis begrudgingly agrees, and everyone's attention shifted to you. 

“I, um,” you stuttered and paused. You know that the right choice would be to say yes, but what if something personal happened? You’ve already been through so much, and so many people still give you pity looks when they hear about your parents. That’s why you wear your mask because you don’t want to deal with those looks anymore. 

“I won’t go anywhere that seems unnecessary, simply memories of our team and how we work together,” M’gann assured you. 

You bite down on your lip again before you feel a hand touch your back. When you look over, you see Rob, his hand moved up to your shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. You nod and take a deep breath. 

“Okay, go for it,” you exhale.

Blue tentacle-like things sprout from M’gann’s hand and connect to each of your heads. Pictures begin to piece together and flow around you, memories of the past six months coming together like a movie before you...

Memories of Batman’s mission brief come together first.

“The watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee and not a member of the League's U.N. Charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Qurac on Bialya's border, two clicks from the hot site.”

Next, you’re in the desert. You can see yourselves setting up some tech, and then you see as everyone takes their positions for recon. As everything starts to come together, you get this nagging feeling that something seems wrong. Voices began to echo as the flashes switched quicker through the recon. 

“All, clear,” Robin confirmed. 

Artemis’s voice came next, “the Bialyans control the site.”

“Set up here,” your voice rang out. 

 Your brows furrowed. Something was still wrong.

“We'll be up and running in no time,” Wally’s voice accompanied a vision of a screen. “Jackpot! The site's lousy with zeta beam radiation.”

“Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent,” Robin alerted the team; everyone was standing nearby.

The vision showed M’gann as she stepped forward, “I'll check it out in camouflage mode.”

“Good idea. Go,” someone affirmed.

You finally realized why something seemed wrong. Someone was still missing. 

“Careful,” Superboy pressed. 

“And maintain telepathic contact,” the missing person came to view, and your heart started to race. 

“I will, Aqualad.”

Your eyes flutter open with a gasp as the missing person becomes clear, Kaldur. 

“Aqualad!” the five of you seemed to shout his name in unison as you all come back to reality. 

“Where is he?” you asked calmly, but no response came. “What happened next?” you pushed, your voice now had an edge as you stepped towards M’gann. 

“I don't know! That's the last thing I-we remember,” M’gann says, her tone devastated as she stared at you with wide eyes.  

“What do you mean that’s the last thing?” your eyes narrowed on her while your tone became aggressive. “That can’t be it!” you shouted but were cut off when a hand grabbed your shoulder. 

“NG! Calm down, we’ll find him,” Robin tried to soothe, but you scoffed, shrugging his hand off your shoulder and walking further away. You paused close enough to hear their conversation but kept your back to them as you tried to level your breathing.

“We landed 24 hours ago. If Kaldur’s been wandering the desert that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills,” Wally trailed, his voice full of uncertainty. 

You let out a low groan and could feel how they were all staring at you. 

You took another deep breath before turning back to them, “we have to find him,” you tell them seriously. 

None of them could understand. How could they? You’d never told them why you were so close, but Kaldur was arguably the person you were closest to on the team. He had done so much for you at a time where you desperately needed the support. You had to find him.

“Now that I know to look for him...” Robin spoke up, causing you to turn to him as he started typing at his holo-computer. “He's close!” Robin shouted, “but he's not moving,” he added, and your heart stuttered. 

Immediately you set off in Kaldur’s direction, allowing Robin to guide you. When you find him, he’s lying on the ground muttering incoherent words. Rushing toward your fallen friend, you drop to your knees. You’re gentle as you lift his head into your lap. Leaning down you hear him mumbling, trying to make sense of his words. He’s speaking in Atlantean, his native tongue, but you could only understand bits and pieces.

M’gann dropped down beside you, “I can't restore his memories in this condition,” she admits gently, and your eyes drop down to your delirious friend. 

“He needs immediate rehydration,” Rob decides. 

Your hands gently wipe at his forehead, “Call the bioship,” your voice cracked a bit as you made the request.

“It's out of range,” she apologized but turned to Wally, “but you can get him there fast.”

“He's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel,” Wally admitted, and you wince you could hear the exhaustion in his voice as he spoke. “Right now, I couldn't even carry her.”

Artemis scoffs and hits Wally’s shoulder before looking to M’gann, “Why not just levitate him back?”

“I can't,” she argues, and you send her a hard look. She seems taken aback by it before stuttering out an explanation, “I have to find Superboy. Six months ago, he didn't exist. He has no memories. Just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him.” 

You drop her gaze once more and have an internal debate with yourself, Superboy is just as much a part of the team as Kaldur is, but at the same time, you feel the need to prioritize your Atlantean friend, which wasn’t fair. You knew that.

“Superboy's indestructible. Just ask those tanks. It's Aqualad who needs your help. Like, now,” Wally urges. 

“No, she’s right,” you croak, and you can feel them all staring at you once more. “Superboy needs her,” you mutter, hands cradling Kaldur’s face.

Your eyes stay on Kaldur, intent on avoiding everybody’s gaze. Suddenly M’gann doubled over, gripping her head as her face contorted in pain. “No! Superboy's in pain!” she shouted, taking off not even a second later. 

“M’gann! Wait!” Artemis shouted after her. 

“We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!” Robin calls out, but it’s of no use; she’s already long gone. 

It’s silent for a moment before you look up, and the other three all had dumbfounded looks on their faces, “Robin,” you call his name flatly, and he turns back to you within seconds. “Do you have the coordinates of the bioship?” you ask. 

“Yeah,” he affirms, pulling up a map for you to see. 

“Good, we gotta get Aqualad there, with or without M’gann,” you tell them. “C’mon, help me make something a gurney or something to carry him,” your voice is leveled as you focus your nerves and anxiety into caring for Kaldur. 

The three all nod at you before you start pulling pieces together. It took a few minutes, but you had a semi-stable gurney. Gently you all work together to lift Kaldur onto the gurney. You picked up one side, and Artemis grabbed the other. Robin took the lead, and Wally was watching our backs as we walked. 

You had made it about a mile when you heard the revving of an engine. 

“Quick, over there,” Robin pointed, checking his map as the car got close. You all ducked behind some rocks. 

Kaldur began murmuring things again; you tried your best to piece it together, but whatever he was saying didn’t seem to make sense. 

“Shh. Kaldur'ahm, quiet now,” you pleaded with the softest voice you could manage, placing your hand to his forehead, and your eyebrows were crinkled from worry. 

“We can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KO’d like this,” Robin said as you spotted rebels pouring out of the cars. 

“It's not just him. I'm way out of juice,” Wally added, and you could hear how out of breath he was. 

“And I'm almost out of arrows,” Artemis added, and you looked away from your unconscious friend to turn to Robin. 

However, you all seemed to notice at the same time that Robin had disappeared.

“Ugh. I forgot how much I hate it when he does the ninja thing,” Wally groaned. 

“Damn it,” you muttered, chewing on your bottom lip. It wasn’t a good idea for anyone to be on their own, not right now. “Artemis, keep an eye on Aqualad,” you decided, pulling out your escrima sticks and handing them to her.

“Woah, woah, woah, where do you think you’re going?” Wally stopped you. 

“And why are you giving me these?” Artemis gaped at you. 

“You said it yourself, Wally, you running on empty, Artemis is out of arrows, he and I are the only ones trained formally in hand to hand,” you remind them. “Trust me when I say that I don’t need the sticks to do damage, but you can use them if you need to, okay?” you assure them. 

“This is a horrible idea,” Wally countered. 

“Maybe,” you shrug, “but someone’s gotta keep an eye on the Boy Idiot,” you muse before running off. 

You may not have been dressed especially stealthy for the desert, but now that it was dark, the black in your costume melded with the shadows, offering you perfect stealth. You spotted Robin with relative ease; then again, that’s only because you knew precisely where he would hide. You slowly crept up to Robin, crouching down beside him, so you had a better view. 

“What’s the plan?” you ask softly. 

“Thought you would’ve stayed with Kaldur,” he said, eyeing you through his mask. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you turn, narrowing your eyes on him.

“Nothing, let’s just drop these closer to them,” he stated, moving over the topic and handing you a few of his birdarangs. 

He ran off in one direction, and you did the same in the other. You dropped the birdarangs in two groups to lure the Bialyan rebels further away before circling back to Wally and Artemis. 

“Oh, like you're the goddess of congeniality,” you heard Wally state sarcastically, and your eyebrow rose as you made eye contact with Robin. 

“Yeesh. Get a room,” Robin mused. 

“Dude, where were you?” Wally reared. 

“Breaking radio silence,” Robin smirked as his stupid laugh started echoing from the birdarangs; a boom quickly followed. 

“That's our cue, move!” you tell them, picking up one end of the gurney as Artemis grabbed the other side, and you took off once again. 

It was silent as you walked. Eventually, your arm started to hurt, and as you were switching it to the other, Wally came up to you.

“I got it, take a break,” he told you, grabbing the gurney from your hand.  

“Thanks, Wall,” you smile, moving your hand to his shoulder and squeezing it.

“No problem, but uh, talk to Robin. He’s been in a bit of a mood since your freak out about Kaldur,” he nudged. 

You simply nodded before falling in step with the Boy Wonder, who had been leading the way. 

“What did you mean?” you asked suddenly, your voice just a little louder than a whisper as you stared at him.

“What?” he asked, looking at you for a moment before turning his gaze back to the map and then the horizon. 

“When you mentioned Kaldur, you seemed….bitter?” you offered, unsure if any other descriptor would fit his tone. 

“It’s nothing, just didn’t realize the two of you were so close,” he muttered. 

“Well, yeah. He’s supported me through a lot. He was also one of the biggest advocates I had when Dinah sent me to Atlantis,” you admit thoughtfully. 

“You spent time in Atlantis?” he asked, pausing suddenly. 

You nodded and smiled, “I thought you knew, being a detective with access to my file,” you joked. 

“I never read your file,” he admitted, which honestly shocked you. 

“A few years after Dinah adopted me, the, uh, thugs who killed my parents broke out of prison during a riot. I went to this dark place inside my head. My actions were dangerous and could’ve cost me or somebody else their lives. Dinah decided to get me as far away as she could manage. So she asked Aquaman if I could spend some time in Atlantis until they caught the thugs again,” you explained briefly. 

He didn’t say anything, but he nodded, waiting for you to continue as you made a turn around a rock formation. 

“I was in Atlantis for about a year. Kaldur played a big part in helping me settle. He also protected me from a lot of hate that Atlanteans threw my way. I was an outsider, after all. He became my big brother, kind of like Roy,” you smile softly at the thought.

Robin opened his mouth, but his computer beeped, and you looked up. You could see the bioship as it deactivated from camouflage mode. 

“C’mon, let’s get him in there,” you decide, clearing your throat, as the four of you sprint the rest of the way, carrying Kaldur in.

As soon as you entered the Bioship, Robin and KF set Kaldur on a medical bed that materialized for them, and you quickly got the necessary supplies to help him. You had connected him to an IV that would help him rehydrate before conjuring a chair to sit beside him. 

Artemis had just set up the second saline bag when you all heard M’gann’s voice. 

“I've got Superboy. He's back to normal, and we're on our way,” you let out a sigh of relief as you heard her.

Kaldur, on the other hand, shot up. He had absorbed a fair amount of nutrients, and his vitals seemed a lot better, “who are you, and how did you get inside your head?” he shouted. 

“Hello, M’gann! Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something,” she chirped, and you couldn’t help but snort as you watched Kaldur’s fingers come up to rub his temples, the panic in his eyes replaced with familiarity and slight discomfort. 

“Just relax, K, we got you,” you promised, pushing him back to lie down, his eyes locked with mine before he did as requested.  

“Al kalistosei, e dinha fela,” he muttered, and that you did understand. 

You smiled as he shut his eyes once more. ‘Thank you, dearest friend,’ was the English translation. You squeezed his hand in response. 

“Anytime, Kaldur’ahm,” you assure him before moving back toward your seat.

“Aw, man. I didn’t get a souvenir from the mission,”  Wally complained telepathically, and you couldn’t help but snort in response. 

“Don't worry. Got the souvenir thing covered,”  M’gann promised in what sounded like amusement, though it was a bit cryptic. 

MOUNT JUSTICE September 5th, 3:22 EST

Aqualad was deemed okay by all scans, which was reassuring. Everyone spread out to shower and clean up, after doing your best to get rid of all the sand that had snuck into your clothes you were ready to head home. Your head still ached and you couldn’t wait to get some sleep. You were walking through the halls headed toward the zeta tubes when a hand grabbed hold of your arm and pulled you into an empty room.

You opened your mouth to complain but cut yourself off as you realized it was Robin, “Rob, I’m totally drained and really want to go home,” you said softly instead. 

“Yeah, you can. I just… I never read your file because anything I learn about you, I want it to be from you,” he said thoughtfully, and your cheeks twinged with a red color. The small smug smile on his lips told you that he noticed. 

“If you ever want to know something, Robin. All you have to do is ask,” you promise.

“I'm sorry I acted weird about Kaldur,” he continued. 

“It’s cool the way I was acting could be easily taken out of context, especially if you don’t know the history behind it,” you shrug, and he smiles. 

It’s silent for a moment while you stare at each other through your sunglasses. “I’ll walk you out,” he decides, leading you back to the door. 

Robin stayed beside you as he escorted you to the zeta tubes. His hand was barely touching yours as you walked, and there was a soft smile stuck on your lips as you punched in the coordinates. 

“I’ll see you soon, Rob,” you offer him one last smile before walking into the zeta tube.

DC taglist: @grey-water-colors @batarella​  @loninctzencarat​ 

CN:NG taglist: @psych0crybaby @smile-more19 @spiitfiires @crookedlyshamelessnacho @truly-dionysus @farfromjustordinary @sometimeseverythingsucks @dweeb-central @lucy-roo @casedoina @cipheress-to-k-pop @mikey-clifford202064 @seninjakitey  @explodingwaffle789 @evermoore580 @whelmedparker @gwen-sux @skyl0rd5117  @officiallydarkgeek  @midnxghtblue​  @blackwhiteandshadesofgradient  @povyoureacethebathound  @unini  @rebeccasalazar  @purple-world  @blairrrose​  @flaminggryffindorqueen  @starwarsflowers  @brightjimini​

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[shadowsndaisies]

a cnng blurb - leather jackets & pizza

A cnng blurb!! I've got a couple that might start coming out now, especially since my time between actual updates is going to be inconsistent. Let me know if you have any blurb ideas you'd like to see either pre-season 1 or that's going on right now!

location: follows episode 11 (Terrors)

WC: 1203

synopsis: wally returns yn's jacket, slime free.

main masterlist

codename: nightingale series masterlist

gif source: @the-jason-todd

You had been using the punching bag in one of Oliver's bunkers when the perimeter alert went off. This particular bunker was only a few blocks from Star City Academy. It could be accessed through the basement of the local library, the sewer, or a secret side alley entrance of the building above. If someone got too close to any of the entries, a perimeter automatically went off. You stilled the bag and, using your teeth, pulled one of the gloves off as you walked to the computers in the center of the base.

Tapping a screen, live footage from the alley entrance appears, and you're surprised to see the familiar quiffed red hair and green eyes. You bite your lip before clicking a button that opens the pathway. The speedster's eyes blow wide as he looks around before ducking into the secret entrance. He's coming down the elevator a few moments later, and you wait by the doors to greet him, now wearing your sunglasses.

"You're a little far from Central City," you tease.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asks.

"We've got security cameras, Wally," you snort, and he nods sheepishly.

"Right," a hand goes up to rub the back of his neck.

You notice the bag in his other hand and purse your lips, "So what are you doing here?"

He drops the bag and pulls out a hanger with your jacket on it. There's a plastic cover protecting the jacket. "I told Oliver I was gonna get it cleaned," he said, handing the hanger to you.

The slime-ing incident had happened less than a week ago, and while you weren't angry with Wally about it, you had been bummed about your jacket. You'd been asleep when Ollie had picked you up, but he told you the next day that he had spoken to Wally about it.

"He told me," you admit.

"I'm sorry for ruining it and for throwing the slime at you," he adds as you start to pull the plastic away.

"You didn't," you tell him, grabbing the hanger and sliding it out. "Ruin it, I mean."

"I didn't?" he asked.

You smiled at Wally while pulling the jacket on, "It was a prank, plus, you fixed it, so we're good, Wally."

Wally smiles back, nodding his head, "But you'll have your revenge, right?"

Your smile turns into a mischievous smirk, "You'll never see it coming," you promise.

"Fair enough," he concedes, shaking his head with a smile.

"Are you heading back to Central?" you ask, walking over to one table that has a lot of your gear on it.

"Yeah, I only came to drop off the jacket. I even zeta'd to make sure nothing burned," he tells you.

"How about some lunch?" you ask with a smile as you begin putting some gear back into your jacket pockets.

"Lunch?"

"Yes, a meal typically eaten in the middle of the day," you snort.

"You're not gonna poison me, are you?" he shot back skeptically, looking over your shoulder as you continued putting stuff in your jacket. "How much gear can you fit in there?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," you laugh.

"I've always wondered why you never run out of gear, now I know," he muses.

"Yeah, well, it's pretty great, especially for when I'm not in my suit," you admit. "I keep it pretty stocked at all times."

"There wasn't anything in it when I had it, though," he said with a furrowed brow.

"I had already taken everything out," you smiled. "Didn't want the slime to set off anything," you shrug.

"Set off anything?"

Shaking your head, you ignore his question, "C'mon Wallace, let's go get some pizza," you decide.

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Why don't you come with, and maybe, I'll tell you," you laugh as the elevator doors open.

Wally gives you a cautious look before conceding and stepping in with you.

"Where are we going?" he asked as the elevator began moving.

"There's a pretty good pizza place a couple of blocks down, or we could bus across the city to Al's Pizza. They have the best pies in Star City!" you tell him.

"Ha, you think I'm gonna bus?" Wally laughed, scooping you into his arms.

"Wally!"

"Honestly, what were you expecting?" he scoffed.

"You don't even know where you're going!" you argue.

"I'll figure it out," he smiled, and as soon as the doors opened, he was running out.

Your eyes squeezed shut as you felt the wind rush past you, arms tightening around Wally's neck. The minute he stopped, you peeked an eye open, and he looked at you with a smile.

"It's not that bad, and you know it," he chuckled, setting you down gently.

"No, it wasn't, but I bet you're starving," you smirk.

"Babe, I'm always starving," he smirked back, causing you to laugh.

Together the two of you left the alleyway he had chosen to zip into. "How'd you find it?" you asked as he held the door open for you.

"I went street by street," he admits, and you can't help but snort.

"Of course you did," you laugh, allowing him to usher you inside.

You stared in horror as Wally finished his 12th slice of pizza and started reaching for another.

"You're still hungry?" you choked.

"I have a serious metabolism," he answers through a mouth full of pizza.

"No, I know that, but this is a lot," you respond, scrunching your face in disgust.

"Normally, I drink the shakes or eat the bars from Barry. They're designed to deliver more protein in smaller packages for us," he explains.

"What if you don't have access to bars or shakes?" you ask.

"Then I gotta eat more often, and large amounts. The first time we went out after I got my powers, some guy asked me if I wanted to become a competitive eater," he shared, and you couldn't help but snort.

"Kid Consumer has a nice ring to it," you muse, shaking your head.

"Ha, ha," he stated flatly.

"C'mon, that was funny," you shot back.

"Sure, you're hilarious," he answered, rolling his eyes.

"I'm changing your contact info to Kid Consumer," you decide, pulling out your phone.

"No!" Wally's hand shot out, snatching your phone from your hand.

"Wally!"

"Kid Consumer, ha! No way, how about, My Most Handsome Friend," he decided, wiggling his eyebrows at you, typing his new name on his contact.

"Now who's hilarious," you deadpan.

"C'mon, it'll make you smile when you see it," he teased, tossing your phone back to you and picking up his water.

"Fine, but only if mine becomes your coolest friend," you propose.

Wally smiles at you, whipping out his phone, "My Coolest Friend it is," he promised, showing you your newly updated contact.

"Good," you approve.

"Great, let's get some dessert!" he cheered, standing up and picking up the trash.

You couldn't help but gape at him, "Wally, you can't seriously still be hungry."

"There has to be an ice cream parlor or bakery nearby," he continued.

"You're an animal," you decide.

"A handsome animal," he winks, causing you to roll your eyes once more. "Now lead the way!"

everything tags:

@butterfly-skinnylegend​​

dc taglist:

@grey-water-colors​ @batarella​ @loninctzencarat @fortunatelyoptimisticdeer​​ @escapenightmare​​

​​​​​​cnng taglist:

@babymango-writes​​​​​​ @smile-more19​​​​​​ @ivoryeycs​​​​​ @crookedlyshamelessnacho​​​​​ @truly-dionysus​​​​​​ @farfromjustordinary​​​​​ @sometimeseverythingsucks​​​​​ @dweeb-central​​​​​ @lucy-roo​​​​​ @casedoina​​​​​ @cipheress-to-k-pop​​​​​ @mikey-clifford202064​​​​​ @seninjakitey​​​​​ @explodingwaffle789​​​​​ @whelmedparker​​​​​ @bigtimesexhaving​​​​​ @officiallydarkgeek​​​​​ @midnxghtblue​​​​​ @unini​​​​ ​ @blackwhiteandshadesofgradient​​​​​ @putyourcigoutonmyback​​​​​ @raggedyoldwitch​​​​​ @blairrrose​​ @flaminggryffindorqueen​​​​​ @milk-of-poppies @tinybeantm​​​​​​​​​​ @unicorn-mya​​​​​ @bouqet-of-gay​​​​​ @duckmylife18 @kendallambrosio​​​​​ @hanbedumbaf​​​​ @torchbearerkyle​​ @cynthiarose07​​ @lolsnacks​​​​ @abbyvonschweetz​ @mono--moonchild @emo-space-tea​ @notsostraightweeb​ @cryingnotcrying​ @sassyspanishartist​ @ahyeonah​ @acceber1313​ @abuliawrites @obeyme-arkham

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