Young Justice: My Own Worst Enemy Pt. 1
Title: My Own Worst Enemy
Author: Reyn
Rating: T
Pairing: Artemis/Wally
Universe: written during the first half of season one
Word Count: ~6800
Warnings: liberties taken on Wally's healing ability
Summary: As punishment for pissing Robin off, Wally is forced to spend time in Artemis’ company. Although, in Artemis’ opinion, Wally doesn’t need to be in anyone’s company to be so annoying.
My Own Worst Enemy - Pt. 1
Wally was bored. Normally this wasn’t anything new thanks to him being a member of Team Flash (a snazzy name he coined himself that his mentor still gave him funny looks for), but it was unusual for him to feel this way when Robin was around.
Sure, he and the Boy Wonder had gotten into a rare fight that ended with Robin storming out of the room and Wally refusing to talk to pretty much anyone. He couldn’t even remember why he had been angry in the first place, let alone what they had even been arguing about. But it was the principle of the matter! He refused to be the first to cave.
With a long, suffering sigh, Wally slumped further down onto the couch, his back now parallel with the floor and his head left crooked at an uncomfortable angle. He was bored, damn it! Maybe he should apologize. But Rob was probably either in his room, training, or helping Superboy work on the bikes, and all of those places were so far away.
Letting out another sigh, Wally slid completely off the couch and landed on the floor with a thud thanks to his forearm hitting the coffee table on the way down. Ow. Let this be proof that life truly hated him.
“If you feel that bad, you could seek him out and tell him you’re sorry.”
Wally jumped, his eyes darting to the opposite end of the couch. He had completely forgotten about Kaldur’s presence during the fight. Or…before the-after, maybe?
Wally cleared his throat. “Heyyy, fearless leader. Uhm, how long have you been sitting there?”
Kaldur was clearly not amused.
Neither was Wally if he were to be honest with himself. About ten minutes ago his hand had actually drifted down to his lap as he seriously entertained the idea of masturbating out in the open. The guilt he felt over such a thought had him acquiescing to Kaldur’s suggestion.
Rolling over onto his stomach, Wally dragged his body forward across the rug, intent on finding Robin and wringing an apology out of him even if it was the last thing he did. Three minutes later, after he had finally made it around the edge of the couch, he found himself at an impasse thanks to a red metallic foot.
Jumping to his feet, Wally promptly forgot that the last twenty minutes had even happened in favor of greeting his favorite robot.
“Hey, Big Red! Can I call you Big Red? I promise I’ll stop calling you Big Red if you tell me you have a mission for us.”
Wally liked to think the blank, robotic stare was one of fondness.
“Mission assignments are the Batman’s responsibility,” Red Tornado answered, his tone as neutral as ever. “But if you are as bored as Robin suggested you might be-”
“You spoke to Rob? Where is he? Is he still mad? Did he say anything about me?”
Wally’s hopeful stare was lost on Red Tornado as he processed each of the rapid-fire questions. “He is in the docking bay helping Superboy repair the motorcycles. While I am no expert on human emotion, he did not seem angry. He said you might be interested in going grocery shopping with Artemis since he and Superboy are busy at the moment.”
“Yes!” Wally snatched the proffered list and began scanning through it before abruptly pausing. “Wait, Artemis? Why would I want to go shopping with her?”
“To stop you from buying out the whole store seeing as how this is food we’re dealing with.” Artemis strolled into the room and calmly took the list from Wally’s hands. “And before you even ask, Miss Martian is at cheerleading practice.”
“I wasn’t,” Wally snapped, lying through his teeth. “Why can’t someone practical go with me? Like Robin!”
“Because he is in the docking bay, helping Superboy repair the motorcycles.” After staring at the speedster for a moment longer, Red Tornado promptly turned around and left before he could be asked any more redundant questions.
“Kaldur!” Wally whirled around, refusing to be deterred. “You’ve never been grocery shopping before, right? Let me show you how us land mammals do it!”
Setting the book he had been reading on the coffee table, Kaldur stood, presumably to follow Red Tornado’s example. “It was Robin who suggested you go with Artemis. I am not about to get in the middle of this one.”
And just like that, Wally remembered why he was mad at Robin in the first place. He turned to find Artemis grinning.
His eyes narrowed. “You’re on his side, aren’t you?”
Her smile grew decidedly more cat-like. “The whole nine yards,” she admitted shamelessly, leading the way to the zeta tubes.
+
“-so as you can see, I am obviously the victim here!” Wally flung his arm out for emphasis, not noticing Artemis’ quick side step into the street to avoid getting smacked. “This is a complete betrayal of the Bro Code that all us best friends live by! It's-it’s like I’ve been brotrayed!”
“Right.” Shoving Wally into the store’s street-side entrance, Artemis grabbed a cart and wordlessly directed the boy to start pushing. “Do us all a favor and leave the made-up words to Rob.”
Wally’s mouth fell open in outrage as he obeyed and trailed after the blonde into the fresh produce aisle. “Oh, I get it. This is because you’re on his side, isn’t it? Sure, let’s all favor Batman’s sidekick and find it cute when he mutilates the English language. But when Flash’s sidekick does it, it’s a crime against humanity!”
Wally froze as he noticed an uncomfortable number of shoppers had stopped to stare at him in his lonely outburst thanks to Artemis being an impractical distance away, still looking at the carrots they had passed a whole six seconds ago.
“What?” he demanded as he turned the cart around. “Never heard of a sidekick referred to as ‘cute’ before?”
“You have one serious complex towards Robin, don’t you?” Artemis chuckled as she dumped an armload of vegetables into the basket and began leading the way to the next aisle.
Wally’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t recall asking for your opinion on this matter.”
“Please, I listened to you rant and moan the whole way here.” She turned and sent him a sly smirk. “I’m more than entitled to voicing my opinion at this point.”
Wally started grumbling in alliteration. Stupid womanly wiles. Stuck-up femme fatale. Artemis foul. Ooh! Pringles!
“Hey, can we get-?”
“No.” Artemis didn’t even spare a glance his way.
“But you didn’t even-”
“Whatever it is, it’s not on the list. Therefore, we’re not getting it.”
Scowling, Wally began to return the armload of various flavored tubes to their rightful place on the shelves. “Ro-er-Kaldur would let me get them,” he complained softly.
Artemis scoffed as she returned to the cart with more random food items. “I highly doubt that. With the mood Rob’s in, he’d say no just to spite you.”
Wally’s jaw dropped as he watched the girl walk away, throwing himself over the cart before he started to follow. “Okay, seriously, you really creep me out sometimes. Who are you?” he demanded, straightening up and sending a long, exasperated look at the fluorescent lights. “Maybe I’ll ask Red Arrow. I’m sure he knows. And even if he doesn’t, I can persuade him into launching a full-scale investigation. Wherever you go, every corner you peer around, we’ll be there. Even the place we can’t be. That’s right. I’m talking about video surveillance in the shower. Oh yeah.”
Artemis eventually turned and did a bit of a double take as she found Wally staring at her dreamily.
“Hey, what color are your towels?”
“Alright! Stop it! Go and get your stupid…whatever the hell it was!” She shuddered and threw a can of peas after the speedster for good measure. “Pervert!”
+
Wally was wise enough to take his time, giving Artemis several aisles to cool down as she wondered why she had even agreed to go shopping with the moron in the first place. Probably because Superboy had been the one to ask.
No, that wasn’t necessarily true. It was Robin who asked. Superboy was just physically there, but he had taken the time to stop what he was doing and look at her to nod in agreement to Robin’s request, so that had to count for something.
Besides, Wally wasn’t normally that bad once you got him away from the female member of just about any species. Artemis didn’t count herself in that equation simply because she was so quick to call Wally out on his shit that he had given up on her before he even had a chance to start.
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I grabbed a few other items as-”
Neither of them had time to react as a child in red rounded the corner of the aisle, yelling “ZOOM!” as he raced straight into one of the overloaded hand baskets Wally was carrying. Being the superhero that he was, the force of the unexpected impact did little other than to trigger Wally’s instincts to grip the handle tighter. But his lightning-sped thought process tried to counter the action by informing him it was a bad idea in terms of what the obstacle could do to the child - travelling at that velocity, the kid would flip flat on his back with his head cracked on the tile, causing unnecessarily loud screaming, worried parents, and probably an angry Artemis. Hey look! Another alliteration!
Wally immediately released his hold on the baskets.
Boxed and bagged goods went flying - as did the kid - leaving Wally to quickly drop to his knees and elbows in order to jam his hand between the kid’s head and the floor; both of which felt equally hard upon impact. He did his best to keep his expression of pain to an inaudible whimper.
“Wally!” The cry of concern was like music to the speedster’s ears…until Artemis rushed forward and shoved him out of the way so she could get a better look at the potentially injured child. “God, you are such a clumsy oaf. Hey, kid, are you-?”
Wally watched in disbelief as Artemis jerked back, clutching her nose as the kid popped up like a daisy.
“Oh my gosh! Did you see that? I almost phased! I’m almost like…” Innocently bright eyes grew large as he took in the catastrophe that was around him. “Holy cow! What happened?”
“You did, kid,” Wally groaned as he sat up, gaze darting over to Artemis. He was willing to bet those tears swimming in her eyes were completely unwanted as she glared at nothing in particular while tentatively feeling out her nose.
Reaching out, Wally took her hand and pulled it aside, visually checking for any damage. “You look beautiful.”
Artemis returned the reassurance with a watery smile. “I’m going to kill that little shit,” she said softly through gritted teeth.
Genuine worry for the child’s eternal soul flooded Wally at those words and he turned, blinking in confusion when the midget wasn’t there.
“Golly, I’m so sorry!” The kid was scrambling around the floor on hands and knees, picking up the scattered groceries and tossing them back in the basket. “Please don’t tell my mom! I’m supposed to be ‘having and if she finds out, she won’t let me watch TV tomorrow! And I gotta watch the Disney Channel!”
“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Wally moved to help him at a more sedated pace while Artemis stood to go retrieve the items that had landed more than ten feet away. “The important thing is that you’re safe.”
“But you don’t understand! I just gotta watch the Disney Channel!” the kid cried, fists full of generic bags of candy waving before him. “Richard Grayson will be guest starring on two different shows-!”
“Okay, okay, we get it,” Wally interrupted, climbing to his feet and helping the kid up. “Your secret is safe with us, we won’t tell anyone.”
The kid’s brilliant smile made Wally’s heart melt a little.
“Thanks, Mister!”
Wally flashed his signature suave grin. “No problem. And, hey,” he motioned his head at the Flash emblem that was decorating the front of the squirt’s clothes. “I like your shirt.”
The kid looked down as if he had forgotten what he was wearing. “Thanks! I like your…” The kid’s eyes darted over Wally’s clothes and accessories, searching for a way to return the compliment.
After waiting several seconds, Wally’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t hurt yourself, kid.”
The child shrugged as he gave up. “Okay. Your girlfriend’s pretty, by the way.” And with that, the kid took off, nearly running into a shopping cart as he left the aisle.
“She’s not my-” Wally paused and turned to look at Artemis, who was standing nearby, waiting for him in her skin tight jeans, low cut top, arms crossed, and hip cocked. “Yeah, you better believe she’s my girlfriend!” he shouted instead, ignoring her scoff and mutter that sounded suspiciously like “in your dreams” as he bent to pick up his baskets.
“Hey, you youngsters alright?”
“Yes, sir, we’re perfectly-” Wally turned as Artemis stopped, eyes widening as he noticed the insignia on the old man’s top.
“Whatchu lookin’ at?” The old man frowned and hobbled forward with his cane before suddenly brightening. “You like my shirt?”
No. Wally swallowed back his sullenness and forced out a smile. “Y-yeah! I…love Dr. Fate. Out of all the superheroes…he’s like…my favorite!” He ignored Artemis’ deadpanned glare. He could feel her judging him.
The old man beamed and let out a bark of laughter. “As if you young'uns today know who Dr. Fate is!” He tugged on the bottom of his shirt and looked down at it proudly. “Bought this thing myself off the E-bay!” His head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. “You youngsters oughta be more careful. Not all of us can be superheroes, you know.”
Wally stepped over to Artemis’ side as the old man shuffled by, continuing on his way as if nothing had happened.
“Days like today, I’m pretty sure the universe is against me,” Wally stated simply.
Artemis snorted as they moved back to the shopping cart. “You don’t believe in fate, remember?”
“Fine. If I did believe in fate, I’d think the universe is against…” Wally trailed off as his eyes landed on a Superman shirt nearby. And a Green Lantern one not too far behind. And a Wonder Woman symbol stretched over one very impressive rack. “Is it just me or is this store filled with pro meta-fans?”
Artemis looked up from crossing things off the list. “Uh…wow.” Her head continued to swivel and spot the flood of superhero shirts as the exited the aisle. “That's…kind of flattering in a creepy Children of the Corn kind of way. Think Megan and Conner see this sort of thing every day?”
Wally shuddered. “I’d hate to know what Conner thinks if they do. He believes each insignia is sacred and you need to prove yourself worthy in order to wear it. Man, let’s hurry up and get out of here. I’m starting to feel like I’m at a con and it’s creeping me out.”
“A what?”
“Con. Convention. A superhero convention." Wally explained.
Artemis’ eyebrows rose at the knowledge. "They have those?” she asked in mild surprise.
“Yeah, all throughout the year. I placed third in a Kid Flash look-a-like contest at one,” Wally pouted. “Flash still hasn’t let me live that one down…” He looked over to find Artemis staring at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head, pushing the cart into the self-checkout lane. “Absolutely nothing.”
+
“Uh, what are you doing?”
Artemis didn’t even bother to spare Wally a glance. “Gathering up the shopping bags, obviously.”
“But shouldn’t that be my job or something?” Wally moved to hover awkwardly by the girl’s side.
“Normally, yes. But considering the roll you’re on today, I figured you would want your arms free so you can continue to gesture while you complain about your boyfriend.”
“Rob’s not my-!” Wally gritted his teeth as he realized he had just walked right into Artemis’ trap. “I’m not gay!” Chagrined by her smirk, he whirled around to the girl behind the register. “I’m not gay,” he insisted.
She didn’t quite seem convinced from the way she shook her head and started to ring up the next customers.
“Here.”
Wally found himself cradling a single bag that weighed next to nothing. “What is - the bread bag? You gave me the-!” He hurried forward to catch up with Artemis, who had finished loading her arms with the rest of the purchases. “Was this really necessary?” He waved his bag in her face.
“Sorry.” She sounded completely unapologetic. “I didn’t want to interrupt your flirtatious attempts with the cashier.”
Wally’s eyes narrowed. “Ha. Ha. You’ve had your fun, now will you give me some of the heavier bags, please?”
Stopping as they exited the store, Artemis let out a loud sigh. “Fine, if you insist.”
They moved to the side of the entrance and began shuffling bags about. At least, Wally thought they were shuffling bags about until he realized he was now carrying everything. “Hey! I said the heavy stuff only!”
“They’re all heavy. Oh, except for this one.” Artemis took the bag of bread and slung it over her shoulder. “Ready to head back?”
Wally glowered but didn’t bother to complain. Instead, he merely nodded as he adjusted his grip on his load. “Remind me why I agreed to go shopping with you again?”
“You didn’t.” Artemis sent him a sugary sweet smile as they started walking back to the base. “But it’s good to see this excursion has pretty much set things right in your little world.”
Wally blinked and allowed himself to smile as he was gently nudged in the ribs.
“Shopping is a form of therapy, you know,” Artemis pointed out as they came to a stop at the crosswalk.
Before the urge to roll his eyes even hit, Wally realized the girl was right. Being able to buy copious amounts of food actually did make him feel better. Was that Artemis’ plan all along or was she expecting some form of payback?
“I’ll accept that, just as long as you don’t try to get me to repay you by going shoe shopping or something equally lame.”
Artemis wisely remained silent as the signal flashed green. She was fairly certain that if she played her cards right, she would not only be able to convince Wally to go shopping with her, but get him interested enough to try the shoes on.
A smirk spread across her face. That was definitely a challenge she didn’t mind rising up to.
As they stepped up on the opposite sidewalk, a series of bangs sent the small crowd of pedestrians into chaos. Instantly recognizing the noise to be gunshots, Wally and Artemis instinctively lowered themselves into a crouch and dashed towards the nearest inanimate object that could be used as a shield.
A shrill ringing directed their attention to a bank further down the street and they watched as several armed men in ski masks ran out the double doors. It was obviously a botched robbery, judging from how light their cloth bags looked.
Before Wally could even think about rushing off to disarm the bad guys, Artemis’ hand was squeezing his triceps, stopping him from going anywhere.
“Really? There’s a crime happening right in front of us, innocent people are getting hurt, and you’re preventing me from going to help.” The deadpanned tone Wally was going for was ruined by his sense of urgency.
They both winced as another barrage of bullets went off, followed by a shouted demand of, “Where the fuck’s the car?”
“Please tell me you’re holding me back for strategic teamwork purposes.”
Artemis shook her head and sent Wally a scathing glare. “You’re in your civvies and there are witnesses everywhere!”
“Oh, come on!” Wally exploded, losing his patience. “This town loves meta-humans! They’d be thrilled if I saved the day!”
“Damn it, Wally!” Artemis tightened her grip. “Remember who you work for! Young Justice is a covert team. Do you really think Batman would approve of you breaking cover?”
Wally was at war with himself for all of four seconds before slumping his shoulders in defeat. He had no immediate way of concealing his identity and Artemis was completely in the right. That didn’t mean he had to be happy about it, though.
“If Rob were here, you’d let him go,” Wally stated petulantly as he peeked around the raised brick planter they were hiding behind.
“Duh. But that’s because he’s Robin and has-” Artemis stopped midsentence, her hands freezing in their charades for ‘utility belt’ at the incredulous and hurt look she was being subjected to. “AUGH! Seriously?! Get over your complex!”
Wally stubbornly turned his head and directed his pout towards the chaos at the bank. It seemed blasphemous to sit back and do nothing in the face of crime when he was a superhero. Jaw set, Wally came to a decision. He just wished he had his goggles with him. It would make what he was about to say so much cooler.
“Sorry, Beautiful. But I’m a member of Team Flash before Young Justice.”
With that, Artemis found herself alone with a pile of bags at her feet.
“Wally!” Dropping her own bag, Artemis gave chase, leaping over the hoods of the cars that had failed to completely stop for the mysterious blur that had just cut through traffic.
She reached the bank just in time to see the robbers looking thoroughly confused as to why their guns weren’t in their hands anymore. As she struggled to keep track of Wally in Kid Flash mode, she failed to notice a final thug exit the bank and watch in horror as the moneybags his comrades were holding disappeared one by one. Dropping his own sack, he raised his gun and shakily tried to follow after the blur that seemed to be weaving between them all.
The blur passed before Artemis and, frustration finally reaching its breaking point, the robber pulled the trigger, the weapon still aimed straight at the innocent bystander.
Artemis’ eyes widened at the sound of the gunshot. She hadn’t noticed the man with the one remaining gun until it was too late to avoid the inevitable. But rather than facing the feel of a bullet ripping through her body, she was thrown backwards by the force of Wally landing on top of her.
With a groan, she pulled her torso out from under her friend’s weight so that she could sit up, her attention immediately flying to Wally, who was groaning weakly on the ground as blood blossomed from his chest, turning his shirt red.
“No, no, no, nonono-Wally! Wally, you stupid - shit, please be okay.”
Attention snapping up, Artemis fought back the tears of fear and anger and she glared at the man with the gun, making it a point to memorize his face before he turned and ran with the rest of his group following after.
Pulling off her jacket, Artemis bunched it up and pressed it against Wally’s wound with one hand while the other flew up to the tiny communicator in her ear.
“Artemis to Young Justice. I need immediate assistance. Ki-KF has been shot. It…it looks like it might be fatal if we don’t get help soon.”
Author: Reyn
Rating: T
Pairing: Artemis/Wally
Universe: written during the first half of season one
Word Count: ~6800
Warnings: liberties taken on Wally's healing ability
Summary: As punishment for pissing Robin off, Wally is forced to spend time in Artemis’ company. Although, in Artemis’ opinion, Wally doesn’t need to be in anyone’s company to be so annoying.
My Own Worst Enemy - Pt. 1
Wally was bored. Normally this wasn’t anything new thanks to him being a member of Team Flash (a snazzy name he coined himself that his mentor still gave him funny looks for), but it was unusual for him to feel this way when Robin was around.
Sure, he and the Boy Wonder had gotten into a rare fight that ended with Robin storming out of the room and Wally refusing to talk to pretty much anyone. He couldn’t even remember why he had been angry in the first place, let alone what they had even been arguing about. But it was the principle of the matter! He refused to be the first to cave.
With a long, suffering sigh, Wally slumped further down onto the couch, his back now parallel with the floor and his head left crooked at an uncomfortable angle. He was bored, damn it! Maybe he should apologize. But Rob was probably either in his room, training, or helping Superboy work on the bikes, and all of those places were so far away.
Letting out another sigh, Wally slid completely off the couch and landed on the floor with a thud thanks to his forearm hitting the coffee table on the way down. Ow. Let this be proof that life truly hated him.
“If you feel that bad, you could seek him out and tell him you’re sorry.”
Wally jumped, his eyes darting to the opposite end of the couch. He had completely forgotten about Kaldur’s presence during the fight. Or…before the-after, maybe?
Wally cleared his throat. “Heyyy, fearless leader. Uhm, how long have you been sitting there?”
Kaldur was clearly not amused.
Neither was Wally if he were to be honest with himself. About ten minutes ago his hand had actually drifted down to his lap as he seriously entertained the idea of masturbating out in the open. The guilt he felt over such a thought had him acquiescing to Kaldur’s suggestion.
Rolling over onto his stomach, Wally dragged his body forward across the rug, intent on finding Robin and wringing an apology out of him even if it was the last thing he did. Three minutes later, after he had finally made it around the edge of the couch, he found himself at an impasse thanks to a red metallic foot.
Jumping to his feet, Wally promptly forgot that the last twenty minutes had even happened in favor of greeting his favorite robot.
“Hey, Big Red! Can I call you Big Red? I promise I’ll stop calling you Big Red if you tell me you have a mission for us.”
Wally liked to think the blank, robotic stare was one of fondness.
“Mission assignments are the Batman’s responsibility,” Red Tornado answered, his tone as neutral as ever. “But if you are as bored as Robin suggested you might be-”
“You spoke to Rob? Where is he? Is he still mad? Did he say anything about me?”
Wally’s hopeful stare was lost on Red Tornado as he processed each of the rapid-fire questions. “He is in the docking bay helping Superboy repair the motorcycles. While I am no expert on human emotion, he did not seem angry. He said you might be interested in going grocery shopping with Artemis since he and Superboy are busy at the moment.”
“Yes!” Wally snatched the proffered list and began scanning through it before abruptly pausing. “Wait, Artemis? Why would I want to go shopping with her?”
“To stop you from buying out the whole store seeing as how this is food we’re dealing with.” Artemis strolled into the room and calmly took the list from Wally’s hands. “And before you even ask, Miss Martian is at cheerleading practice.”
“I wasn’t,” Wally snapped, lying through his teeth. “Why can’t someone practical go with me? Like Robin!”
“Because he is in the docking bay, helping Superboy repair the motorcycles.” After staring at the speedster for a moment longer, Red Tornado promptly turned around and left before he could be asked any more redundant questions.
“Kaldur!” Wally whirled around, refusing to be deterred. “You’ve never been grocery shopping before, right? Let me show you how us land mammals do it!”
Setting the book he had been reading on the coffee table, Kaldur stood, presumably to follow Red Tornado’s example. “It was Robin who suggested you go with Artemis. I am not about to get in the middle of this one.”
And just like that, Wally remembered why he was mad at Robin in the first place. He turned to find Artemis grinning.
His eyes narrowed. “You’re on his side, aren’t you?”
Her smile grew decidedly more cat-like. “The whole nine yards,” she admitted shamelessly, leading the way to the zeta tubes.
+
“-so as you can see, I am obviously the victim here!” Wally flung his arm out for emphasis, not noticing Artemis’ quick side step into the street to avoid getting smacked. “This is a complete betrayal of the Bro Code that all us best friends live by! It's-it’s like I’ve been brotrayed!”
“Right.” Shoving Wally into the store’s street-side entrance, Artemis grabbed a cart and wordlessly directed the boy to start pushing. “Do us all a favor and leave the made-up words to Rob.”
Wally’s mouth fell open in outrage as he obeyed and trailed after the blonde into the fresh produce aisle. “Oh, I get it. This is because you’re on his side, isn’t it? Sure, let’s all favor Batman’s sidekick and find it cute when he mutilates the English language. But when Flash’s sidekick does it, it’s a crime against humanity!”
Wally froze as he noticed an uncomfortable number of shoppers had stopped to stare at him in his lonely outburst thanks to Artemis being an impractical distance away, still looking at the carrots they had passed a whole six seconds ago.
“What?” he demanded as he turned the cart around. “Never heard of a sidekick referred to as ‘cute’ before?”
“You have one serious complex towards Robin, don’t you?” Artemis chuckled as she dumped an armload of vegetables into the basket and began leading the way to the next aisle.
Wally’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t recall asking for your opinion on this matter.”
“Please, I listened to you rant and moan the whole way here.” She turned and sent him a sly smirk. “I’m more than entitled to voicing my opinion at this point.”
Wally started grumbling in alliteration. Stupid womanly wiles. Stuck-up femme fatale. Artemis foul. Ooh! Pringles!
“Hey, can we get-?”
“No.” Artemis didn’t even spare a glance his way.
“But you didn’t even-”
“Whatever it is, it’s not on the list. Therefore, we’re not getting it.”
Scowling, Wally began to return the armload of various flavored tubes to their rightful place on the shelves. “Ro-er-Kaldur would let me get them,” he complained softly.
Artemis scoffed as she returned to the cart with more random food items. “I highly doubt that. With the mood Rob’s in, he’d say no just to spite you.”
Wally’s jaw dropped as he watched the girl walk away, throwing himself over the cart before he started to follow. “Okay, seriously, you really creep me out sometimes. Who are you?” he demanded, straightening up and sending a long, exasperated look at the fluorescent lights. “Maybe I’ll ask Red Arrow. I’m sure he knows. And even if he doesn’t, I can persuade him into launching a full-scale investigation. Wherever you go, every corner you peer around, we’ll be there. Even the place we can’t be. That’s right. I’m talking about video surveillance in the shower. Oh yeah.”
Artemis eventually turned and did a bit of a double take as she found Wally staring at her dreamily.
“Hey, what color are your towels?”
“Alright! Stop it! Go and get your stupid…whatever the hell it was!” She shuddered and threw a can of peas after the speedster for good measure. “Pervert!”
+
Wally was wise enough to take his time, giving Artemis several aisles to cool down as she wondered why she had even agreed to go shopping with the moron in the first place. Probably because Superboy had been the one to ask.
No, that wasn’t necessarily true. It was Robin who asked. Superboy was just physically there, but he had taken the time to stop what he was doing and look at her to nod in agreement to Robin’s request, so that had to count for something.
Besides, Wally wasn’t normally that bad once you got him away from the female member of just about any species. Artemis didn’t count herself in that equation simply because she was so quick to call Wally out on his shit that he had given up on her before he even had a chance to start.
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I grabbed a few other items as-”
Neither of them had time to react as a child in red rounded the corner of the aisle, yelling “ZOOM!” as he raced straight into one of the overloaded hand baskets Wally was carrying. Being the superhero that he was, the force of the unexpected impact did little other than to trigger Wally’s instincts to grip the handle tighter. But his lightning-sped thought process tried to counter the action by informing him it was a bad idea in terms of what the obstacle could do to the child - travelling at that velocity, the kid would flip flat on his back with his head cracked on the tile, causing unnecessarily loud screaming, worried parents, and probably an angry Artemis. Hey look! Another alliteration!
Wally immediately released his hold on the baskets.
Boxed and bagged goods went flying - as did the kid - leaving Wally to quickly drop to his knees and elbows in order to jam his hand between the kid’s head and the floor; both of which felt equally hard upon impact. He did his best to keep his expression of pain to an inaudible whimper.
“Wally!” The cry of concern was like music to the speedster’s ears…until Artemis rushed forward and shoved him out of the way so she could get a better look at the potentially injured child. “God, you are such a clumsy oaf. Hey, kid, are you-?”
Wally watched in disbelief as Artemis jerked back, clutching her nose as the kid popped up like a daisy.
“Oh my gosh! Did you see that? I almost phased! I’m almost like…” Innocently bright eyes grew large as he took in the catastrophe that was around him. “Holy cow! What happened?”
“You did, kid,” Wally groaned as he sat up, gaze darting over to Artemis. He was willing to bet those tears swimming in her eyes were completely unwanted as she glared at nothing in particular while tentatively feeling out her nose.
Reaching out, Wally took her hand and pulled it aside, visually checking for any damage. “You look beautiful.”
Artemis returned the reassurance with a watery smile. “I’m going to kill that little shit,” she said softly through gritted teeth.
Genuine worry for the child’s eternal soul flooded Wally at those words and he turned, blinking in confusion when the midget wasn’t there.
“Golly, I’m so sorry!” The kid was scrambling around the floor on hands and knees, picking up the scattered groceries and tossing them back in the basket. “Please don’t tell my mom! I’m supposed to be ‘having and if she finds out, she won’t let me watch TV tomorrow! And I gotta watch the Disney Channel!”
“Don’t worry about it, kid.” Wally moved to help him at a more sedated pace while Artemis stood to go retrieve the items that had landed more than ten feet away. “The important thing is that you’re safe.”
“But you don’t understand! I just gotta watch the Disney Channel!” the kid cried, fists full of generic bags of candy waving before him. “Richard Grayson will be guest starring on two different shows-!”
“Okay, okay, we get it,” Wally interrupted, climbing to his feet and helping the kid up. “Your secret is safe with us, we won’t tell anyone.”
The kid’s brilliant smile made Wally’s heart melt a little.
“Thanks, Mister!”
Wally flashed his signature suave grin. “No problem. And, hey,” he motioned his head at the Flash emblem that was decorating the front of the squirt’s clothes. “I like your shirt.”
The kid looked down as if he had forgotten what he was wearing. “Thanks! I like your…” The kid’s eyes darted over Wally’s clothes and accessories, searching for a way to return the compliment.
After waiting several seconds, Wally’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t hurt yourself, kid.”
The child shrugged as he gave up. “Okay. Your girlfriend’s pretty, by the way.” And with that, the kid took off, nearly running into a shopping cart as he left the aisle.
“She’s not my-” Wally paused and turned to look at Artemis, who was standing nearby, waiting for him in her skin tight jeans, low cut top, arms crossed, and hip cocked. “Yeah, you better believe she’s my girlfriend!” he shouted instead, ignoring her scoff and mutter that sounded suspiciously like “in your dreams” as he bent to pick up his baskets.
“Hey, you youngsters alright?”
“Yes, sir, we’re perfectly-” Wally turned as Artemis stopped, eyes widening as he noticed the insignia on the old man’s top.
“Whatchu lookin’ at?” The old man frowned and hobbled forward with his cane before suddenly brightening. “You like my shirt?”
No. Wally swallowed back his sullenness and forced out a smile. “Y-yeah! I…love Dr. Fate. Out of all the superheroes…he’s like…my favorite!” He ignored Artemis’ deadpanned glare. He could feel her judging him.
The old man beamed and let out a bark of laughter. “As if you young'uns today know who Dr. Fate is!” He tugged on the bottom of his shirt and looked down at it proudly. “Bought this thing myself off the E-bay!” His head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. “You youngsters oughta be more careful. Not all of us can be superheroes, you know.”
Wally stepped over to Artemis’ side as the old man shuffled by, continuing on his way as if nothing had happened.
“Days like today, I’m pretty sure the universe is against me,” Wally stated simply.
Artemis snorted as they moved back to the shopping cart. “You don’t believe in fate, remember?”
“Fine. If I did believe in fate, I’d think the universe is against…” Wally trailed off as his eyes landed on a Superman shirt nearby. And a Green Lantern one not too far behind. And a Wonder Woman symbol stretched over one very impressive rack. “Is it just me or is this store filled with pro meta-fans?”
Artemis looked up from crossing things off the list. “Uh…wow.” Her head continued to swivel and spot the flood of superhero shirts as the exited the aisle. “That's…kind of flattering in a creepy Children of the Corn kind of way. Think Megan and Conner see this sort of thing every day?”
Wally shuddered. “I’d hate to know what Conner thinks if they do. He believes each insignia is sacred and you need to prove yourself worthy in order to wear it. Man, let’s hurry up and get out of here. I’m starting to feel like I’m at a con and it’s creeping me out.”
“A what?”
“Con. Convention. A superhero convention." Wally explained.
Artemis’ eyebrows rose at the knowledge. "They have those?” she asked in mild surprise.
“Yeah, all throughout the year. I placed third in a Kid Flash look-a-like contest at one,” Wally pouted. “Flash still hasn’t let me live that one down…” He looked over to find Artemis staring at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head, pushing the cart into the self-checkout lane. “Absolutely nothing.”
+
“Uh, what are you doing?”
Artemis didn’t even bother to spare Wally a glance. “Gathering up the shopping bags, obviously.”
“But shouldn’t that be my job or something?” Wally moved to hover awkwardly by the girl’s side.
“Normally, yes. But considering the roll you’re on today, I figured you would want your arms free so you can continue to gesture while you complain about your boyfriend.”
“Rob’s not my-!” Wally gritted his teeth as he realized he had just walked right into Artemis’ trap. “I’m not gay!” Chagrined by her smirk, he whirled around to the girl behind the register. “I’m not gay,” he insisted.
She didn’t quite seem convinced from the way she shook her head and started to ring up the next customers.
“Here.”
Wally found himself cradling a single bag that weighed next to nothing. “What is - the bread bag? You gave me the-!” He hurried forward to catch up with Artemis, who had finished loading her arms with the rest of the purchases. “Was this really necessary?” He waved his bag in her face.
“Sorry.” She sounded completely unapologetic. “I didn’t want to interrupt your flirtatious attempts with the cashier.”
Wally’s eyes narrowed. “Ha. Ha. You’ve had your fun, now will you give me some of the heavier bags, please?”
Stopping as they exited the store, Artemis let out a loud sigh. “Fine, if you insist.”
They moved to the side of the entrance and began shuffling bags about. At least, Wally thought they were shuffling bags about until he realized he was now carrying everything. “Hey! I said the heavy stuff only!”
“They’re all heavy. Oh, except for this one.” Artemis took the bag of bread and slung it over her shoulder. “Ready to head back?”
Wally glowered but didn’t bother to complain. Instead, he merely nodded as he adjusted his grip on his load. “Remind me why I agreed to go shopping with you again?”
“You didn’t.” Artemis sent him a sugary sweet smile as they started walking back to the base. “But it’s good to see this excursion has pretty much set things right in your little world.”
Wally blinked and allowed himself to smile as he was gently nudged in the ribs.
“Shopping is a form of therapy, you know,” Artemis pointed out as they came to a stop at the crosswalk.
Before the urge to roll his eyes even hit, Wally realized the girl was right. Being able to buy copious amounts of food actually did make him feel better. Was that Artemis’ plan all along or was she expecting some form of payback?
“I’ll accept that, just as long as you don’t try to get me to repay you by going shoe shopping or something equally lame.”
Artemis wisely remained silent as the signal flashed green. She was fairly certain that if she played her cards right, she would not only be able to convince Wally to go shopping with her, but get him interested enough to try the shoes on.
A smirk spread across her face. That was definitely a challenge she didn’t mind rising up to.
As they stepped up on the opposite sidewalk, a series of bangs sent the small crowd of pedestrians into chaos. Instantly recognizing the noise to be gunshots, Wally and Artemis instinctively lowered themselves into a crouch and dashed towards the nearest inanimate object that could be used as a shield.
A shrill ringing directed their attention to a bank further down the street and they watched as several armed men in ski masks ran out the double doors. It was obviously a botched robbery, judging from how light their cloth bags looked.
Before Wally could even think about rushing off to disarm the bad guys, Artemis’ hand was squeezing his triceps, stopping him from going anywhere.
“Really? There’s a crime happening right in front of us, innocent people are getting hurt, and you’re preventing me from going to help.” The deadpanned tone Wally was going for was ruined by his sense of urgency.
They both winced as another barrage of bullets went off, followed by a shouted demand of, “Where the fuck’s the car?”
“Please tell me you’re holding me back for strategic teamwork purposes.”
Artemis shook her head and sent Wally a scathing glare. “You’re in your civvies and there are witnesses everywhere!”
“Oh, come on!” Wally exploded, losing his patience. “This town loves meta-humans! They’d be thrilled if I saved the day!”
“Damn it, Wally!” Artemis tightened her grip. “Remember who you work for! Young Justice is a covert team. Do you really think Batman would approve of you breaking cover?”
Wally was at war with himself for all of four seconds before slumping his shoulders in defeat. He had no immediate way of concealing his identity and Artemis was completely in the right. That didn’t mean he had to be happy about it, though.
“If Rob were here, you’d let him go,” Wally stated petulantly as he peeked around the raised brick planter they were hiding behind.
“Duh. But that’s because he’s Robin and has-” Artemis stopped midsentence, her hands freezing in their charades for ‘utility belt’ at the incredulous and hurt look she was being subjected to. “AUGH! Seriously?! Get over your complex!”
Wally stubbornly turned his head and directed his pout towards the chaos at the bank. It seemed blasphemous to sit back and do nothing in the face of crime when he was a superhero. Jaw set, Wally came to a decision. He just wished he had his goggles with him. It would make what he was about to say so much cooler.
“Sorry, Beautiful. But I’m a member of Team Flash before Young Justice.”
With that, Artemis found herself alone with a pile of bags at her feet.
“Wally!” Dropping her own bag, Artemis gave chase, leaping over the hoods of the cars that had failed to completely stop for the mysterious blur that had just cut through traffic.
She reached the bank just in time to see the robbers looking thoroughly confused as to why their guns weren’t in their hands anymore. As she struggled to keep track of Wally in Kid Flash mode, she failed to notice a final thug exit the bank and watch in horror as the moneybags his comrades were holding disappeared one by one. Dropping his own sack, he raised his gun and shakily tried to follow after the blur that seemed to be weaving between them all.
The blur passed before Artemis and, frustration finally reaching its breaking point, the robber pulled the trigger, the weapon still aimed straight at the innocent bystander.
Artemis’ eyes widened at the sound of the gunshot. She hadn’t noticed the man with the one remaining gun until it was too late to avoid the inevitable. But rather than facing the feel of a bullet ripping through her body, she was thrown backwards by the force of Wally landing on top of her.
With a groan, she pulled her torso out from under her friend’s weight so that she could sit up, her attention immediately flying to Wally, who was groaning weakly on the ground as blood blossomed from his chest, turning his shirt red.
“No, no, no, nonono-Wally! Wally, you stupid - shit, please be okay.”
Attention snapping up, Artemis fought back the tears of fear and anger and she glared at the man with the gun, making it a point to memorize his face before he turned and ran with the rest of his group following after.
Pulling off her jacket, Artemis bunched it up and pressed it against Wally’s wound with one hand while the other flew up to the tiny communicator in her ear.
“Artemis to Young Justice. I need immediate assistance. Ki-KF has been shot. It…it looks like it might be fatal if we don’t get help soon.”