RED

Nine

"Me think Red Him am waking up."

"Wait Biz, I'm not done yet."

"That looks bad. He's lost a lot of blood."

"Quiet and help with the stitches."

My eyelids feel like they're glued shut. Part of me doesn't even want to open my eyes, for fear of the events of when I was last conscious to be figments of my imagination. Why else would Bizarro, Artemis and Louis be in the same room?

Someone slaps my cheek. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to be annoying. "Come on, don't make me wait any longer..."

I peel my eyes open. It's Artemis. The pain in my shoulder and side confirms that my last memory was, in fact, real. She must have brought me to my safehouse, somehow. I give her a small smile. "Hey."

"Don't hey me, Todd. What the hell was that out there? The All-Blades? And you took more Lazarus? You I know I had to, quite literally, carve those bullets out of you?" She sighs, probably realizing that her rant is more than my groggy brain can handle. She leans down to give me a hug. " It's just.. You've been so incredibly... stupid and..." she buries her face in my shoulder, and I hold her as she presumably finds the right words to scold me. "And I'm just glad to have you back."

"Aw, Red, I- ow watch the shoulder-"

"Sorry." She stands up, her face almost as red as my helmet. " You should get some rest. I just needed to see you," she says, smoothing her hair and her expression.

" Arty, wait. Don't go yet." She raises an eyebrow. "Please." I swing my legs off the bed, against the protests in my side. "Help me up."

"Jason, you need to-"

"Artemis, I'll be fine. Trust me."

"Well I don't. Not when it's about your well-being," she says, giving me a hand anyway.

I grunt, thankful for her help. "Take me to the control room. We need to find out who captured you and Biz and why."

"A fine idea, but I think I already know who it was." She gives me a chair and pulls up another one for herself. The building is cold, ( I don't really have the time to install heating) and I'm starting to envy Artemis' hoodie.

I stare at her for a second. "Wait, is that my sweater, Arty?"

"You don't care to heat this place, so yes, I took your sweater. Happy?"

"Cold is what I am."

"Fine. I'll call Bizarro and your friend and tell them to get you something. Now focus." Artemis grabs a pen and a pad of paper and scribbles something onto it. She slides it over to me. "I saw a man wearing this mask at the place they took us to. I think he hired a group of mercenaries to do his bidding."

I inspect Artemis' drawing. It shows a mask, large enough to cover the whole face with only two holes for the eyes. The sinking feeling in my gut only worsens when I realize who the mask belongs to. " Pray I'm wrong, Arty, pray I'm wrong, but that looks like a mask from the Court."

"The Court of Owls? Why would they want you?"

"Not me specifically. They still need their... Oh God, Arty..."

"What?"

"They need their Gray Son. And I'm their link."

Before I can even finish telling Artemis the rest, Bizarro and Louis barge in, Dog barreling after them. Louis' face is one of concentration, intent on not spilling the steaming mugs of coffee on his tray. Bizarro drops a sweater in my lap. "Me am brought sweater for Red Him. Red Him am still hurting?"