M O U N T J U S T I C E
November 11, 16:00 EST
Reese liked snow.
Really, she did. Sure, she was a West Coast girl at heart and preferred warmth and sunshine over any other sort of weather, but she wasn't completely opposed to winter.
At least, within reason.
But, this was a little ridiculous. Star City got snow, every once in a while, but never this early. So, when Reese woke up on the morning of November 11th to see large fluffy flakes of snow falling in front of her bedroom window, she knew something had to be up, she just wasn't entirely sure what.
For the time being though, Reese was focusing on something else. Namely, making the final touches to Wally's surprise 16th birthday party before the speedster got to Mount Justice, though the brunette wasn't sure she could really classify this as a surprise party since Wally had not-so-subtly been leaving "hints" and such about it for the last week.
But, regardless, the Team still threw one for him, and at the moment, Reese was standing on Dick's shoulders as the Boy Wonder balanced on the edge of the kitchen counter, trying to clip the final corner of a Happy Birthday banner to the ceiling as everyone else situated the gathered birthday presents, balloons, and cake around the common room.
"You sure you can do this?" Robin whispered, glancing up at Reese as he held her ankles, keeping the younger girl in place so she wouldn't fall. "KF is gonna be here in a few minutes,"
"That's exactly why I have to do this," Reese retorted, finally managing to clip the banner onto the hook stuck to the ceiling. "So Wally's party doesn't look half-finished,"
Suddenly, and because Silverbird had been listening in case Wally arrived early, from the main cave, the Zeta tube turned on.
Recognized Kid Flash B-0-4
Zeta Tube Network Now Off-Line Due To Extreme Atmospheric Conditions
"He's here!" Reese hissed, and she shifted, trying to turn around, but in doing so, she spun Dick around, and both of them tumbled off the counter and would've alerted the speedster to their presence, had Conner not lurched forward at the last second and caught them both.
"You guys okay?" Superboy asked once Robin and Silverbird had steadied themselves, and Reese and Dick both gave nods, just before M'gann turned off the lights, plunging the common room into darkness.
And not a moment too soon, because three seconds later, Wally walked into the darkened common room, bundled up in a parka.
"Wow," the speedster said, though Reese was able to detect the mocking tone in his voice. "It'd be a tragedy if I missed my own--"
Before he could continue, Miss M flicked the lights on again, momentarily blinding Kid Flash, as everyone else shouted "Surprise!" in unison.
When he got his bearings again, Wally grinned and placed one of his hands against his chest.
"Aw, you guys!" he exclaimed, still trying to seem as if hadn't already totally seen this coming. "You shouldn't have,"
"Right," Robin grinned in response, crossing his arms. "Not like you've been hinting for days or anything,"
With that, everyone gathered around the common room's coffee table, where two one-layer cakes, both stuck with birthday candles sat, and Wally plopped down in front of them, a birthday hat already tied to his head.
"We made two cakes," M'gann said as she crouched next to him, lighting the candles, and Wally grinned again.
"Awesome!" he exclaimed, before glancing at the martian. "What will you guys eat?"
"We'll split the cupcakes," M'gann explained. "Make a wish,"
"Way ahead of you," Wally told her, and Reese, despite the fact that she thought it was kind of sad that Wally still had some feelings for M'gann (even though everyone else knew that the martian and Superboy were dating), hid a giggle from behind her hand.
Wally liked to think that his flirting skills were off the charts, but, in actuality, they were severely lacking. Not that they were bad, but the redhead was too forward and brazen in his advances for Reese's taste.
After he had blown out his candles, Wally leaned over to M'gann again.
"You know," the speedster began. "If I tell you my wish, it won't come true. But if you guess..." Wally trailed off as M'gann finished cutting him a slice of cake, blatantly leaving his question open for interpretation, but as she handed him the small plate, Wally just shook his head. "Nope," he said simply. "Guess again,"
Reese couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as Dick snickered from beside her. Seriously, she knew Wally wasn't really one to pick up on signals that people were sending him, but really? Couldn't he see that M'gann only thought of him as a friend?
Glancing across the room, Reese narrowed her eyes in thought as she noticed Artemis looking fairly ticked at Wally's disastrous flirting attempts. Then, when M'gann kissed the speedster's forehead (definitely not the birthday kiss Wally had been expecting), the blonde turned around again, smirking.
Grabbing onto Dick's arm, Reese shook him for a couple of seconds, and the Boy Wonder stared at the brunette as if she had just said she was turning evil as his eyeballs bounced around inside his head.
"What?" he asked, wondering what had Reese so riled up, and the brunette turned to him with a wide grin.
"Artemis likes Wally," she said simply, dark eyes sparkling, and Dick quirked an eyebrow.
"What?" he asked again, flicking his eyes above Reese's head so he'd be able to see the blonde archer himself. "Seriously?"
"Yes!" Reese exclaimed, keeping her voice down so the rest of the Team wouldn't hear because there was always the off-chance that she was wrong about this. "I mean, I don't know how I didn't notice it before, I mean with how KF reacted when Artemis died during the training simulation, and then M'gann was talking to me about how they were acting close when all the adults disappeared and--"
"Pretty bird," Dick softly cut the girl off, taking her face in his hands, because she had started to babble, and Robin knew that when Reese really started talking about something, she'd never stop. "You're rambling,"
"Right," Reese said, taking a deep breath and stopping her existential realization, before reaching up and gently holding Dick's wrists, though she didn't pull away. "Right. I mean...wow, I really didn't see that one coming,"
"Who? Wally and Artemis?" Dick clarified, and after a moment, Reese nodded, which in turn prompted the Boy Wonder to give a small shrug. "I can see it. I think Artemis kind of balances him. You know, cancels out the whole--"
"Speedster exuberance?" At Reese's explanation, Dick gave a small laugh, nodding.
"Yeah," he said simply. "Cancels out his 'speedster exuberance'," As the two of them stood in the common room, Reese tilted her head to the side again and met Dick's eye.
"When'd you get to be such an expert on relationships, Boy Wonder?" she asked, and Dick's face suddenly flushed as he scratched the back of his neck.
"There's, uh," Dick began, seeming almost hesitant to answer, though why he was like that, Reese wasn't sure, because normally, Dick Grayson was full of confidence. "There's this girl..."
If Reese said that what Dick had said didn't bother her, she'd be lying.
"A girl?" she echoed, trying not to let her feelings show in her voice. Reese had told Dinah that she was in love with Dick back after the training simulation when they had all done their grief assessments, but she hadn't told him yet.
And then there was the whole thing after the adults had disappeared when Robin had said that he could kiss her, but...God, Reese was so confused.
Dick, though, seemed oblivious to her inner mental turmoil and was currently gushing about whoever this "girl" was, and Reese hated to admit it, but she was jealous.
"She's so beautiful," the Boy Wonder was saying, as Reese glanced back at him. "And way too good for me, I honestly don't even know why's she's friends with me, she could do so much better, but I can't--I can't imagine my life without her,"
"She sounds pretty special," Reese said quietly, and Dick suddenly got this big, dopey smile on his face, and Reese swore she could feel her heart start to break.
"Yeah," the Boy Wonder spoke wistfully in agreement, and Reese glanced down at her shoes. "Yeah, she is," Suddenly glancing at the girl next to him, Dick saw that she looked pretty miserable, and he mentally started to panic. "Rhysalin, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Reese answered quickly, taking a deep breath as she stood up straight again. "I'm--I'm going to go talk to Zatanna,"
The young magician in question was standing off to the side by herself, away from everybody else, and Reese knew she was still struggling to fit in at the cave after losing her dad to Nabu.
Ignoring the worried look that Dick sent her as she walked away from him, Reese grabbed a slice of cake from the coffee table and walked across the room until she stood next to the older girl.
Zatanna glanced at her as Reese handed over the small plate, and the brunette could see that the magician was decidedly not in a birthday party mood at the moment. To be fair, she wasn't either.
"Are you getting settled in okay?" Reese asked quietly, and Zatanna tilted her head to the side.
"Oh, yeah," she told the brunette, not one bit convincing. "It's just like home,"
"Look," Reese continued after a moment, trying her best to be reassuring. "I know it's hard to be the new girl in a place like this--" she waved her hand around the common room, and decided to go for the humorous side of things. "But, one day, I promise, you will get used to watching Wally eat,"
Wally was Reese's friend, even though the two butted heads more often than not, but regardless of whether or not Reese had known the speedster for years and years, that didn't mean that she had ever gotten used to seeing the way the redhead ate. It was absolutely disgusting.
Suddenly, Artemis walked up to the two, glancing behind the other two girls to where Wally was still trying to make M'gann realize he wanted her to kiss him. It was actually sort of sad, how hard the speedster was trying to make his move.
"Think we should tell him?" the blonde asked, jerking her head in the redhead's general direction as Robin walked up next to them, but Reese ignored the look Dick sent her to instead turn towards Wally.
"You're getting warmer, babe," the speedster said to M'gann, who was cutting another slice of cake. "But, I can make you warmer still,"
"He is the only one who doesn't know," Dick added, shrugging, and Artemis smirked again.
"Then, please," the blonde began, gently pushing in between Reese and Artemis to walk towards Wally. "Allow me,"
As the other archer began to explain to Kid Flash why he would never end up dating the Team's resident Martian, Reese felt someone tug on her hand, and she turned to see Dick staring at her, eyebrows creased behind his sunglasses.
"I think we," he began. "need to talk,"
Though she wasn't really in the mood for a conversation with Robin at the moment, the twelve-year-old allowed herself to be led out of the common room and out into the hallway, where the two of them stood against a wall, out of earshot of Conner.
"What's wrong?" Dick asked finally, and Reese sighed as she leaned against the wall next to him, crossing her arms.
"Nothing," the brunette answered shortly, though she did avoid meeting Dick's eyes. "I'm fine,"
"Pardon my French, pretty bird," Dick retorted after a moment. "But that's bullshit,"
Reese turned to look at Robin now, slightly shocked, and after glancing down the hallway to make sure no one was nearby, Dick took off his sunglasses and slid them into his pocket.
"I know you, Rhysalin," he said quietly, his dark blue eyes shining under the corridor's ceiling lights. "Don't lie to me. I'm your friend, I know when you're hurting, and I know when something's wrong. Please, let me help you,"
That was the problem. She and Dick were friends. Even if Reese wanted to be more than that, aside from him suddenly falling out of love with this "other girl", Reese didn't know what Dick would be able to do to help.
"Boy Wonder," she began slowly, looking down at the floor. "You don't understand. I don't know if you can help,"
If she had looked up, Reese would've seen the stricken expression that overtook Dick's face, but before he could say anything in response, both of them looked up as Batman's voice came through the cave's PA system.
"Attention Team," the Dark Knight began. "Suit up: polar stealth. Mission briefing in five,"
Giving a heavy sigh, Reese pushed off from the wall and turned back to face Dick, who was still leaning against the smooth stone.
"Explain it to me," he said, throwing his arms out to the side, and Reese could see he was trying not to lose his temper. "I want to help, and I can't--I can't stand to see you hurting, pretty bird. Please, Rhysalin, tell me what's wrong,"
"We have a mission, Dick," Reese said simply, starting to back away. "I gotta go,"
When she entered the locker room where Artemis was already starting to change into her snowsuit, the blonde gave Reese a look as the younger girl walked in.
"What happened?" the other girl asked as Reese pulled her suit out from the locker it had been stashed in. "I saw you and Robin leave the party before Batman called. Anything happen?"
"No," Reese answered simply as she switched out of her civvies into her winter-mode Silverbird suit. "Nothing at all,"
"You're sure?" Artemis asked, sounding skeptical, and Reese gave a sharp nod as she laced up her snow boots, grabbing her bow and quiver before reaching for the pair of Dick's old eskrima sticks that she had used when she, Artemis, and Zatanna had fought Harm at Halloween.
For a moment, Silverbird debated on grabbing them, but right now, she wanted nothing to do with Dick Grayson, so instead of grabbing the two small batons, she left them in her locker and took off her thigh holster, tossing that in too before slamming the door shut, barely remembering to grab a few hair ties before the door had closed.
To say her mood had soured would be a gross understatement, and Artemis ran after Reese as she exited the locker room, catching up quickly.
"Are you okay?" Artemis questioned, and Reese subconsciously gritted her teeth together, her braid bouncing against her shoulder. "You seem a little--"
"I'm fine!" she exclaimed finally, whipping around to glare at Artemis. "Why can't you and everybody else accept that?"
Artemis, for several seconds, looked shocked, and Reese took that opportunity to walk into the main cave, where a large holo-screen with Batman's face on it was hovering in the center of the room.
In the back of her mind, Silverbird noticed that Flash, who had been at Wally's birthday party too, had disappeared, but she didn't think too much about it.
She could feel Robin staring at her as she entered the room, and while usually, she would've immediately gone to stand next to him, but instead, the brunette walked over and stood in between Artemis and Kid Flash, with Wally looking a little bit freaked out as Reese suddenly popped up next to him.
"Where's Flash?" the speedster asked, turning to look at the holo-screen once he got over his shock, but, per usual, Bruce's expression didn't change.
"Flash and Red Tornado already have their assignments," the Dark Knight explained brusquely. "A massive ice storm has paralyzed North America from coast to coast,"
Well, Reese realized, that explained the snow in Star City this morning. And as Batman continued his explanation, another hologram appeared in the cave, this time of a big black building-looking thing that was spitting snow out of massive vents at the bottom.
"Satellite imagery has detected five flying...ice fortresses, source unknown, which seem to be responsible and must be stopped,"
"Can't the Watchtower blow them out of the sky or something?" Wally asked, and Reese elbowed him in the ribs at the slip-up, but it was too late.
"What's a Watchtower?" Zatanna asked, glancing at Robin, and Batman heaved a sigh as he turned his head to the side.
"The League's orbiting headquarters," he began. "Is not weaponized. And with both Green Lanterns off-world, I need all hands on deck,"
"Does that mean what I think it means?" Dick asked, walking forward a few steps so he was closer to the holo-screen and grinning. "The League and the Team fighting side-by-side?"
"Whoa!" Wally exclaimed after a moment, pumping his fists in the air. "Really?"
"Superboy," Bruce ignored Wally's question, but Reese had a feeling that was just because he wanted to finish the mission before the ice storm got any worse. "Take the Super-Cycle and rendezvous with the Batplane at Ice Fortress-1. You'll drop off Robin, Silverbird, and Aqualad, then continue on with Wolf to rendezvous with Black Canary and Red Tornado at Ice Fortress-2. Miss Martian, Artemis, and Zatanna: take the Bioship and rendezvous with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter at Ice Fortress-3. Other Leaguers will deal with Fortresses-4 and -5. Sending all coordinates now,"
It took Silverbird all of two seconds to realize that Batman hadn't given any sort of assignment to Kid Flash and that she'd be working with Robin at the Ice Fortress.
Great.
Reese knew she wasn't being objective, and that she needed to focus on the mission at hand, but she couldn't find it in herself to be able to. The last thing she wanted right now was to be working with Dick, because if she did, then Reese knew she'd end up getting distracted, and thus be putting the mission as a whole at risk.
Again, from the corner of her eye, the brunette saw Robin turn and glance at her, probably mentally willing her to look over at him, but again, Reese ignored him. She didn't want to deal with her feelings right now. She couldn't deal with her feelings right now, because they had bigger things to deal with.
Wally, meanwhile, had noticed that he hadn't been given orders either, and he shot his hand up into the air again.
"Uh...Batman?" the speedster asked, walking forward. "I think you skipped--"
"Kid Flash," the Dark Knight continued after a moment, and Silverbird saw Wally grin and rub his hands together in excitement. "A young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. With all conventional air traffic grounded by the storm, you'll need to pick up the donor heart in Boston, and run it 3,000 miles cross-country,"
"Who is this girl?" Wally exclaimed in protest, looking decidedly less excited than when Batman had first started the mission briefing, but even Reese thought his statement was a bit crass.
"Does it matter?" Batman retorted sharply, and Kid Flash looked down at his feet.
"No," he answered after a moment. "Of course not. But, can't we zeta--"
"Zeta tubes are offline," Robin cut in from his spot across the room, his voice very snappish, pretty much due to the fact that Reese was still ignoring him. "Sorry,"
"Right," Wally added, trying to muster up a smile, but it wasn't very convincing. "Then, how can I say no? Guess I won't be needing stealth," KF tapped his fist against the emblem on his costume, and the common yellow-and-red returned before Wally glanced up at the holo-screen again. "Speedy delivery boy," he began. "At your service,"
"Batman!" Silverbird suddenly called out, before the Dark Knight was able to cut the communication feed. "You'll have almost every available Leaguer and Team member trying to destroy the Ice Fortresses. Can I go with Kid Flash instead to try and save the girl in Seattle?"
For several seconds, the cave, and Batman, was dead-silent, as everyone stared at Reese in absolute shock, before finally, Robin huffed, crossing his arms.
"You're not a speedster, Reese," he stated the obvious, but the brunette just gave the Boy Wonder a glare that would've usually made Dick back down, had he not been as mad as she was.
"I'm light," she retorted sharply. "KF can carry me. Right?"
This time, Reese glanced at Wally, who quickly held up his hands, not really wanting to get between whatever argument the two birds had managed to get themselves in. But, after a few seconds, the speedster scratched the back of his neck.
"Uh, yeah," the redhead said slowly, ignoring the subsequent glare that Robin sent his way, angry that Wally was taking Reese's side in this--whatever this was. "It'd help to have someone to talk to as I deliver the heart, too,"
"Then it's settled," Batman said simply, ignoring the way that Dick turned away and threw his arms up in the air. "Silverbird will go with Kid Flash and deliver the heart to Seattle, while Superboy takes Robin and Aqualad to Ice Fortress-1. Get ready, Team. Batman out,"
With that, the holo-screen disappeared, and for a few seconds, the rest of the Team glanced between Robin and Silverbird, wondering what exactly had happened, before both birds turned in opposite directions and began to walk away from each other.
As she and Wally neared the hangar door, Reese pulled up the collar of her polar-stealth suit, using a piece of fabric to cover the bottom half of her face, and tapping the side of her domino mask, allowing lenses to slide over the eye-holes.
She'd be moving at super-speed in the middle of a synthetic snowstorm, she didn't want to freeze to death. And getting snow-blindness was not something she wanted either.
The hangar door lowered, and Kid Flash scooped Silverbird up so he was holding her bridal-style, and Reese looped her arms around Wally's neck as he sped both of them out of the cave, Batman's voice sounding in their commlinks when they exited Mount Justice.
"Law enforcement across the country has been alerted to your mission, and is clearing your route," the Dark Knight began, as KF shifted the brunette in his arms and tapped at his gauntlet, a map appearing on the small LED screen, with a line running from Boston to Seattle.
As Wally ran across the snow-covered ground, Reese saw the Bioship fly overhead, before the Super-Cycle flew beside them for a few moments.
Glancing over, for all of two seconds, Silverbird finally met Robin's gaze, though Dick looked away again as Conner flew Sphere higher up in the air.
"Hmph," Wally muttered in Reese's ear, and the brunette turned her head to look at him. "Lucky stiffs,"
If she and Dick weren't avoiding each other at the moment, Reese would've been sad to miss the team-up between the Team and Justice League too, but what she and Wally were doing was important as well.
"So..." the speedster began after a couple of minutes of running, and Silverbird quirked an eyebrow behind her mask, wondering who had taught Wally subtlety because he definitely needed a refresher course. "You wanna tell me what was up with the whole thing with you and Dick back in the cave?"
"No," Reese's answer was curt, and it made Wally blink before he glanced at her from the corner of her eye.
"No?" he echoed, but after a few seconds, in which the brunette didn't speak, Kid Flash turned back to look where he was going. "Okay, good talk,"
B O S T O N
November 11, 16:26 EST
The duo's first stop was in Massachusetts because this was where Reese and Wally would pick up the heart, and then Kid Flash would run it across the country to Seattle.
Luckily, it seemed as if Batman's message had gone through, because as Silverbird and Kid Flash ran through the streets of Boston, almost all of the cars were securely on the sides of the road, out of their pather.
Of course, that was until they got to a series of overpasses, where traffic was pretty much bumper-to-bumper, and through the blowing snow, Reese was able to see that a delivery van was blocking the route, and even though several members of the sheriff department were trying to get it out of the way, they weren't having much luck.
"Put your backs into it!" one of the officers shouted as KF and Silverbird neared the van. "We need to clear this road!"
"Too late, too late," Wally muttered, before glancing at Reese again. "Hold on,"
The brunette tightened her hold on the speedster, just as Wally vaulted off the side of a stalled school bus, leaping across the roofs of a few parked cars and the delivery van before landing on the road again.
Finally, Wally skidded to a stop at the entrance to Boston General's Emergency Room, where a doctor and three orderlies were standing outside, waiting for them.
"Someone order a pizza?" the redhead asked, and Silverbird smacked her hand against his chest as one of the orderlies handed her the container the donor heart was in.
The doctor, also, was not impressed by Kid Flash's humor as Reese slipped the backpack-like container over her shoulders, shifting her quiver so she'd be able to carry both.
"What you're delivering is considerably more precious to a girl whose life depends on it," the doctor said firmly.
"Duh," Wally clarified, turning around again. "I meant did someone order a pizza for me? A guy burns a lot of calories running a few mph shy of the speed of sound,"
Reese smacked him again, making the redhead wince as he rubbed his arm, and the doctor sent him a look, signifying that no, she had not bought him a pizza.
"Listen," the older woman said, fixing both Silverbird and Kid Flash with a steady gaze. "This pack is heavily insulated to shock-absorption, but that doesn't mean the organ within needs any extraneous jostling," the doctor shifted the pack on Reese's back for a moment before stepping back again.
"So no krumping," Wally piped up. "Got it,"
Reese was beginning to wonder if she had jumped the gun, so to speak, by offering to accompany Kid Flash on his own mission, but it was too late now to back out, and even so, Reese didn't really want to.
The doctor wasn't impressed either.
"Your PDA?" she asked, and Wally held up his wrist, where the doctor set a time. "The two of you have four hours to deliver the heart before it's no longer viable. Is that clear?"
Silverbird gave a small nod, realizing that she and Kid Flash were on a rapidly decreasing deadline, but the speedster still wasn't taking this seriously.
"As crystal, babe," the redhead smirked, earning another smack from Reese before the doctor fixed them both with another stare.
"Then, go," the doctor told them, before Wally scooped Reese up again, and bolted from the hospital's entrance, heading west along the route that Batman had indicated, heading out of Boston and towards Seattle.
Hopefully, the two would be able to make it in time.
C H I C A G O
November 11, 16:49 CST
It was an odd sensation, moving at superspeed.
Reese supposed that Wally was used to it by now, even though he had received his powers from essentially blowing himself up, but the brunette didn't think she'd ever be used to it.
Every once in a while, since the two of them had met, Kid Flash would take Silverbird and spin her around, and while Reese had never really been one for motion sickness, that always made her nauseous.
But, as Wally ran through the streets of Chicago, focused on getting to Washington before they ran out of time, Reese was impressed to see that he was fairly calm about the whole situation, and hadn't taken time to stop for any distractions.
The two of them were making good time too, considering. Only one-hour-and-twenty-two minutes had passed since Silverbird and Kid Flash had left Boston, and they were already over a third of the way there.
"We're making good time," Reese said quietly, glancing at Wally's gauntlet as he held it up. If the brunette spoke any louder, her breath would've been ripped away from her at the speed Wally was running, but considering the two were right next to each other, she didn't need to raise her voice.
"Yeah," the redhead agreed, before grinning. "And if I push it, we could probably meet up with the others at one of the ice fortresses when we're done saving this girl,"
"Are you sure you won't overwork yourself?" Reese asked as the two of them sped by a group of police officers who had managed to clear the road, giving no more traffic stops like the one in Boston. "You're a speedster, sure, but you don't want to die of exhaustion,"
"Pssh," Wally retorted. "You sound like my uncle. Plus, look!" the speedster held up his gauntlet again, where the security feed from the Watchtower was showing an ice fortress.
Coincidentally, it was the same ice fortress where Robin was currently with Batman, Aqualad, Aquaman, and Flash.
On top of the fortress, there were several blasters shooting at the heroes as they weaved across it, and Dick leaped over one of them, setting a birdarang on top of it and making the blaster explode.
While Aquaman lifted up one of the metal panels on the surface of the fortress to use as a shield, Kaldur vaulted off of his mentor's shoulder, using his water-bearer like a whip and destroying another blaster.
Then, Flash sped in, running in circles around a third blaster before finally, the weapon was spun so far around that it broke off the base.
"Aw, come on!" Wally exclaimed grumpily, making Reese tear her eyes away from the security feed to look back at the irate protege. "Robin and Aqualad, with Batman, Aquaman, and Flash? Who's missing from this picture?"
"Us, KF," Silverbird answered unnecessarily, making Kid Flash send her a look. "Since we were both supposed to be there with them,"
"Oh, yeah," Wally said, before tilting his head to the side as he ran over the snow-covered streets. "Hey, why'd you want to come with me, anyway? You said it was because Batman had every ice fortress covered, but I know that wasn't it because you and Dick would never pass up on a chance to work together just because everyone else was working the same mission, even if Arrow and Canary were somewhere else,"
But, Reese just looked away, not noticing the worried look that KF got on his face as he noticed the twelve-year-old's sudden mood change. Reese wasn't ready to talk about what had happened, especially not with Wally, Dick's other best friend, so she did what she always did when she didn't want to deal with her own problems.
She shut up and stopped talking, and instead turned to look at the road where they were running, only to gasp and grab onto Kid Flash's arm.
"Wally!" she shouted, and the speedster snapped his eyes forward again to see that there was a several vehicle pile-up at the bridge in front of them, blocking their route.
"Uh-oh," Kid Flash said quickly, before glancing at Reese. "Hold on!" he told her again, before leaping over the first couple of cars, then running up the bottom of a flipped-over school bus and over the top of the bridge.
Wally then veered off the main road, away from their set route, and onto a side street, where several brightly lit signs advertising various fast food hung on either side of the street.
Reese had to admit, she was hungry, having not eaten anything since breakfast (birthday had never really been her thing--she hated frosting), but she knew she probably wasn't as hungry as Wally was, considering that Reese wasn't the one with the super-fast hypermetabolism.
Before long though, KF sped down an embankment, and the two of them were back on the road, heading towards Seattle again.
"I wish I had some snacks for you," Silverbird spoke softly, making Kid Flash glance over at her. "It can't be easy, carrying me 3,000 miles across the country,"
But, Wally only shrugged. "Nah," he said nonchalantly as he ran down the highway. "You're light. Barely more than a featherweight,"
"I doubt that," Reese retorted, giving a small smile. "But...thanks, Wally,"
"Would you look at that?" the speedster grinned. "I made you smile. I call that an improvement in the Wall-man's book,"
"You're a dork," Reese told him, but Wally only winked at her.
"The ladies love it," he shot back teasingly, and Reese couldn't help but laugh.
Wally West had never been her type when concerning potential boyfriends, but Reese couldn't deny the fact that the over-exuberant speedster was, in fact, her friend.
And she was glad for that.
S O U T H D A K O T A
November 11, 16:13 MST
Thirty minutes later, the two of them were speeding through the western side of South Dakota, and the snow was coming down even thicker, and it had gotten cold enough that Silverbird had started to shiver.
Sure, her polar-stealth suit was literally designed for enduring almost sub-zero temperatures, and there was thermal threading used in the costume in order to keep her warm, but Reese was moving at almost eight hundred miles per hour, and the wind had started to bite at her exposed skin.
Luckily, being a speedster, Wally's body temperature always ran a little hotter than a normal person, so his natural warmth was appreciated, but still.
As the two of them ran underneath a bridge, through the blowing snow, Reese saw, or at least, she thought she saw, a man holding someone else by a throat.
Grabbing onto Kid Flash's shoulder, she alerted the speedster, but judging from the look on Wally's face, he had noticed the odd occurrence too.
Hanging a quick u-turn, Wally turned around and went back the way he and Reese had come, and as they neared the spot, Reese managed to see exactly who was responsible for--whatever had happened.
Vandal Savage.
Reese had to admit, she was surprised. Fighting random cops in Midwest didn't really seem like Savage's M.O., and considering the brunette had read up on him before with Dick, she knew he was usually up to something...bigger.
"Throw me!" she shouted suddenly, and Wally turned to look at the brunette as if she were crazy, but Reese just rolled her eyes. "Trust me!" she told him, and while the speedster was still looking a bit skeptical, he sighed heavily in defeat.
"Fine," he muttered."But please, if you die, don't come and haunt me, because Dick will kill me if I let something happen to you,"
Then, he tossed Reese through the air, and she threw her foot out, catching Savage in the abdomen and throwing him back, making the villain drop the officer he was holding back into the snow.
Savage, though, was remarkably durable, and he stood to his feet a couple of seconds later, facing off with Silverbird and Kid Flash.
Wally glanced over his shoulder at the police officers who had started to climb to their feet and waved his arm at them.
"Go!" he shouted. "Get out of here! Silverbird and I will handle Vandal,"
"You'll handle me?" Savage echoed, before reaching out with both hands and grabbing Wally and Reese by their heads, lifting the two up so all three were eye-level with each other. "Little heroes," Savage admonished them. "Do you really think you have what it takes to survive Vandal Savage?"
But, before Savage was able to do whatever it was that he was planning on doing with her and Kid Flash, Silverbird struck, kicking up with one leg and slamming her boot into the inside of Vandal Savage's wrist. He may have been wearing a massive glove on his hand, but Reese kicked with enough force that the nerve endings constricted, making Savage let go of her.
Then, Silverbird spun around, pivoting on her left leg to throw her right straight at Savage's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of the villain, if only for a moment, and causing him to drop Kid Flash.
Wally leaped straight up in the air and tucked into a barrel roll before straightening again and slamming both of his feet straight into Savage's face.
In Savage's moment of distraction, Reese ran forward, and while Vandal tried to throw his fist at her, the brunette saw it coming, and leaned backward, sliding on her knees underneath his arm.
She tried to grab Savage's ankle, but he dodged her hand at the last second, spinning around and backhanding Reese so hard she quite literally flew through the air and would've probably broken some bones when she landed, had Wally not sped forward and caught her.
"This guy is so going down," At Kid Flash's cranky-sounding grumble, Silverbird glanced over at him, but she didn't disagree. Whatever Savage was up to, he deserved to be put in prison for it.
"When I heard authorities were cordoning off this highway for a speedster and archer, I assumed I'd be confronting Flash and Green Arrow themselves," Savage smirked as Wally and Reese crouched several yards away from him. "Those two owe me a reckoning. But, I suppose I must settle for making them miserable by killing their bratty little sidekicks, instead,"
Flicking her eyes to where the state troopers had been tossed beyond Savage, closer to the bridge, Silverbird was relieved to see that they were leaving.
Glancing at Kid Flash, who gave her a small nod in response, Reese found herself smirking. Now, it was time to show Vandal Savage what a pair of "bratty little sidekicks" could really do.
While Wally ran off in the opposite direction from the fight, hoping to catch Savage off-guard by making him think that the teenage speedster was running away, Reese stayed behind, letting loose a Canary Cry at Savage that, while it didn't incapacitate him completely, did make him slide backward over the snow several more yards, and though he tried to hide it, the villain did indeed grab at his ears as the hypersonic soundwaves from Reese's vocal cords assaulted his eardrums.
From over Savage's shoulder, Silverbird saw a cloud of snow getting closer, and she assumed it was Kid Flash, running back.
Vandal, following her sightline and turned around, just as Wally slammed into him, throwing the bad guy back even further along the road. But, as Savage managed to get to his feet again, Reese huffed out a breath and turned to look at Wally.
"We're not making any progress," she said quietly. "He's like a brick wall,"
"Maybe," Kid Flash piped up. "We just need a new approach. Wait for an opening, and then shoot him,"
Before giving Silverbird a chance to ask him what the hell he was thinking, the speedster sped forward again and began to literally run circles around Vandal Savage, kicking up the snow around him into a sort of wintry cyclone.
"You're truly running circles around me," Savage smirked. "How will I cope?" Suddenly, Reese saw his entire body tense.
By the time Vandal had started to move, lurching towards the place where Wally was going to be next, Silverbird was already halfway there.
Reese rammed her shoulder into Savage's abdomen, and while she was less than half his size, her intervention provided a good enough distraction for KF to pinball off of the villain from behind.
"Not coping so well now, are you, Vandal?" Silverbird smirked, earning another sneer from Savage, just as a high-pitched beeping noise came from the general direction of Kid Flash, and Reese sent Wally a sparing glance, just as the redhead looked at his gauntlet, and Reese's stomach dropped.
God, the time. What were she and Wally doing? If Silverbird had done her math right, she and Kid Flash now had just under two hours to get to Seattle in time to use the heart.
They couldn't waste their time battling Vandal Savage.
Glancing up again at Wally, Reese sent the speedster a look, just as KF stopped running circles around Savage, grabbed Silverbird again, and sped away down the road.
Despite what their entire sense of identity stood for, not everything a hero did was fighting bad guys and putting them behind bars. It was protecting civilians too, and right now, there was a girl in Seattle who was in immediate danger of dying if Reese and Wally didn't get her a new donor heart soon.
And they needed to get there fast.
M O N T A N A
November 11, 17:09 MST
The snow had been getting heavier the further Kid Flash ran up into the Rocky Mountains, and it was also getting even colder.
Reese had forgotten to put on her face mask again after she and Wally had abandoned Vandal Savage, and she undoubtedly had frostbite at this point.
KF must have noticed her shivering because he reached over and pulled the fabric up so it was covering the bottom half of Reese's face. The thermal threading inside had started to work again, and the brunette welcomed the given heat.
"We wasted about fifteen minutes on Savage," the speedster piped up after a few minutes as he glanced at his gauntlet again. "But, I know we can still reach Seattle on time,"
"You're out of snacks too," Reese whispered, having noticed Wally's empty storage container in his other gauntlet a few minutes ago. "At this point, you're running on fumes,"
"We both are," KF murmured, before scoffing. "Of course, fighting Vandal Savage didn't help with that either. But, forget the hunger, forget the freezing temp, forget the windchill--"
"I don't think I can forget the windchill," Reese muttered through Wally's surprisingly inspirational monologue as she shivered again. "It's cold, Wally,"
"I know, Reese," the redhead said quietly, and even though he couldn't phase, Kid Flash vibrated his hands, sending more warmth into Silverbird's scarily cold body as the brunette started to curl in on herself in an effort to conserve her own body heat. "I know,"
Wally realized that he really needed to hurry his fast butt up, not just for the girl in Seattle, but for Reese too.
Because Silverbird had started to freeze.
S E A T T L E
November 11, 17:05 PST
He managed to get through the Rockies, past Idaho, and across the entire state of Washington in the span of an hour, and Wally swore he almost cried when he finally reached the city limits of Seattle.
He knew he was running out of time, though. Silverbird had gone silent around Yakima, and while that wasn't entirely unusual for the younger girl, she had also stopped moving, and Kid Flash knew that he didn't just need to get the heart to the hospital, he needed to get Reese there too.
Because he was 90% sure that Reese had hypothermia, and despite his best efforts to keep the petite brunette warm, running at the speed of sound across the country in the middle of a subzero blizzard most definitely had not helped.
But, as Wally neared the hospital, Silverbird suddenly stirred, and she blinked her eyes open, only when Kid Flash met her gaze, he was undeniably shocked when he saw the brunette's eyes were gold instead of brown.
The speedster knew that Reese's eyes changed to silver whenever she spoke a foreign language, which was undeniably cool, but he had never seen the young girl's eyes turn to gold before.
"Robin..." Silverbird speaking was good, it meant she wasn't entirely frozen, but she did look a little delirious, and her eyes weren't focusing, which was bad.
"Dick's not here," Kid Flash told her quietly as he ran through the streets. "It's me, Reese. It's Wally,"
"Right..." Reese said quietly, and when she blinked, her eyes returned to normal, and though her shivering had stopped, Wally also knew that meant her hypothermia was getting worse. "I-I knew that,"
"We need to get you warm," The redhead said, glancing up to see the lights of the hospital appearing in the distance. "We're almost there, Reese. Just hang on. Can you do that?"
"I-I think so," Silverbird slowly wrapped her arms around the speedster's shoulders, but her grip was loose, and Kid Flash sighed before he brought Reese's hands closer together so she was more secure.
His worry for Silverbird heightening, along with the fact that Wally knew the two of them were running out of time to get the heart to the girl, the speedster stumbled, only just managing to keep from falling as he skidded to a stop in front of a surgeon that was standing outside the entrance to the emergency room.
"Kid Flash!" the orderly called out as he ran up to them. "Silverbird!"
"We made it!" Wally cried as he slipped the pack holding the heart off of Reese's back and held it out to the surgeon. "We're here!"
Reese had started to shiver again, and she curled herself up beside Wally on the ground as the surgeon's face dropped.
"I-I'm sorry," he said slowly, and Wally's gut dropped. "You're too late,"
Wally couldn't believe it. There was no way he and Reese traveled three thousand miles across the country in one night, suffering from low hunger levels and hypothermia, only for them to be too late.
Stealing a glance at his gauntlet, Kid Flash was even more shocked that the timer hadn't even run out. The donor's heart was still viable. They still had time.
"No!" The speedster exclaimed, holding his gauntlet out for the surgeon to see. "No! Look, we've got almost twenty minutes to spare,"
"I know," the orderly told him slowly as he knelt in front of the two fallen heroes. "But, she passed away twelve minutes ago,"
Silverbird stirred from beside Kid Flash, something itching at the back of her head. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was the way she hadn't had anything to eat for the last fourteen hours, but she--she knew something wasn't right.
But, what it was exactly, her muddled and frozen brain couldn't figure it out.
"Twelve..." Wally trailed off as the thoughts in his head started to run together. "Twelve minutes?"
"Please," the surgeon told the two of them, as Reese continued to try and figure out what was bugging her about this whole situation. "Don't blame yourselves. I'm sure the two of you got here as fast as you could,"
Kid Flash helped Silverbird stand as the surgeon picked the pack up off the ground, and Reese braced her fingers against the side of her head. She needed to figure out what was wrong.
Meanwhile, Wally was having a crisis of his own. He and Reese had been twelve minutes late. Their battle with Vandal Savage in South Dakota had taken fifteen. If they had been just three minutes faster, then maybe they would've been able to save the girl.
"Maybe another recipient--" the surgeon began, as he wrapped the pack up in his parka. "can be found,"
As the surgeon began to walk away, Wally turned to the brunette beside him, who was still on the verge of almost freezing to death.
"Come on," he told her quietly. "Let's get you inside,"
"Some polar suit," Silverbird muttered as she and Kid Flash entered the hospital's lobby. "I'm freezing,"
Already, the heat inside the hospital already made her feel a lot better.
"Literally," Wally added morosely as he sat down heavily on an open couch. He couldn't believe they had failed.
Glancing up at a nearby TV, KF noticed the news broadcast saying that the Justice League had brought down a fourth ice fortress.
Well, at least someone had succeeded today.
Suddenly, Silverbird gasped, as all the dots started to connect inside her head. The itch she had gotten earlier, the feeling that something wasn't quite right...she had been detecting a lie.
The surgeon that she and Wally had met outside, the one who had said that the girl needing the heart transplant had died? He'd been lying.
Maybe she had been too cold earlier, maybe that was why Reese hadn't been able to tell a truth from a lie. But, right now, what she did know, was that she and Wally still had time. They still had time to save the girl before she died.
No sooner had Silverbird come to that realization herself, but that an entire team of surgeons exited the elevator bank and ran over to the two downtrodden young heroes.
"Kid Flash! Silverbird!" the lead doctor exclaimed as he neared them. "We've been waiting. Where is the queen's heart?"
"Wait," Wally cut in. "The girl's dead so now the heart's going to a queen?"
"KF!" Reese told him, grabbing onto the speedster's arm and making him look at her. "I think the girl is the queen. I didn't notice before because I was too cold, but the surgeon outside? He was lying,"
"She's right," the real doctor spoke up as Wally's eyes widened, and he stood up from his seat. "Queen Perdita of Vlatava, aged 10. She's not dead, but she is running out of time,"
Looking just past the doctors, Silverbird's eyes landed on the elevators, where the "surgeon" from outside had just entered the lift, the coat-wrapped pack held securely in his arms.
"Over there!" she cried, and quickly, Wally sped them both over, but the doors closed just as they reached them. Glancing up, Reese saw that the bottom arrow had started to glow, and she looked towards Wally again. "He's going down!" she shouted.
Taking the elevator was obviously a 'no', so Silverbird turned to the side, where a stairwell door was three feet away. She shouldered the door open and began to run down them, but was caught up again by Kid Flash as he quickly overtook her.
Reese had to admit though, being run down to a hospital's basement did go a lot faster. The would-be doctor hadn't even left yet by the time Wally threw the basement door open, though he was standing by his car door.
So, while Kid Flash sped forward and swiped the pack holding Perdita's new heart away, Silverbird drew an arrow and shot it straight at the thief, startling him enough when the arrowhead lodged in his car door that he lurched backward.
But, if that wasn't bad enough, the guy was also armed, and he began to shoot at Reese, prompting the twelve-year-old to duck behind a car that was parked nearby.
She ducked down even lower as the back windshield shattered, showering glass over her as machine-gun fire sounded as well, and Reese assumed this guy had brought his own evil and murderous buddies.
Realizing that the thugs with the automatic weapons were shooting at Kid Flash instead of her, Silverbird rounded the back of the car, drawing another arrow and shooting it in the center of the small group, a smoke cloud erupting from the end.
As the thugs coughed and spluttered, Reese moved in like a shadow, distracting the bad guys long enough for Wally to near the stairwell door.
As she slammed her knee into the abdomen of one of the thugs and used a spin-kick to incapacitate another, the brunette was suddenly yanked away and found herself being sped across the garage again by Kid Flash as he shoved the pack holding the heart into her hands.
"We're both getting out of here," the speedster muttered, rounding the garage in a wide circle to avoid more gunfire.
"Right," Reese retorted, smiling. "Because Robin will kill you if something happens to me,"
"Well, that," Wally began. "And because you're my teammate. And because you're my friend,"
"Aw," Reese murmured. "Who knew Wally West could be so sentimental?"
"Shut up," the speedster shot back, though he was grinning, so Reese knew it was all in good fun.
But, as the two of them got near to the stairwell, Silverbird noticed a problem. Or rather, two problems. Two very big problems that were currently holding machine guns pointed straight at them.
"They're blocking the stairs," Reese stated unnecessarily, and Wally suddenly swerved, veering off his set path to head towards the exit ramp.
"Then we'll just take the high road," he added, but before they could reach it, Reese was suddenly assaulted by a wave of raging dizziness and judging from the way Wally suddenly stumbled, he was affected too.
Both of them sprawled on the floor, Silverbird hunching over the heart, trying to protect it, as everything started to spin in front of her face.
Reese recognized this specific feeling of dizziness. She hated this specific feeling of dizziness.
Count Vertigo.
Well, now everything began to make sense. Werner Vertigo was a member of the Vlatavan royal family, and if his niece, Queen Perdita, died, then that would put the Count on his throne, his ultimate mission, and what he had always strived to achieve, regardless of who stood in his way.
The brunette was still hunched over the heart as she and Kid Flash tried to get out of the way of Vertigo's dizzy effect, but they weren't moving very far very fast, and Silverbird heard the Count pause behind the two of them.
"Crawling away?" Vertigo questioned mockingly. "Are the young heroes reduced to that?"
"Hey!" Wally suddenly piped up as he dragged himself across the floor. "We're not proud of it!"
"Apparently," the Count retorted, but the brunette and redhead weren't defeated yet.
And if there was one thing that Reese had learned about Wally West in the past three years, it was that there was no way the speedster would learn to stop talking, but this time, that might actually be to their advantage.
"Here's what we don't get, Vertigo!" Kid Flash called over his shoulder as Silverbird spotted a stretch of shimmering ice a few yards away. Perfect. "You were defeated with the rest of the Injustice League! How come you're not in Belle Reve Prison with your putrid pals?"
But, and this way why Reese hated sociopaths, the Count just stayed eerily calm, as he continued to assault the two young heroes with his dizzying power.
"As a member of the Vlatavan Royal Family," Vertigo explained simply. "I have immunity diplomatic, as long as no crimes against Vlatava can be proven against me,"
Diplomatic immunity was a bitch.
Which was another reason Reese hated dealing with international criminals who thought they were protected by whatever connections they had or strings they could pull.
"But," Silverbird suddenly cut in. "When your niece needed a heart transplant, you, as Count Heartless couldn't pass up the opportunity. That means the ice fortresses were part of the plan to kill Perdita too, weren't they?"
"And Savage," Kid Flash gasped in realization. "He only stalled us as a favor to you!"
"It is...nice to have friends," Vertigo retorted calmly, before lifting his sword into the air. "Now, shall we see if I can kill three hearts with one blow?"
"I think no," Silverbird shot back, before suddenly sliding the pack holding the heart across the ice patch, away from Vertigo and underneath a car.
In the Count's moment of distraction, Wally spun around and kicked out, hitting Vertigo in the abdomen and knocking the villain onto his back.
Luckily, that also that the dizzying effect stopped, and both Silverbird and Kid Flash stumbled to their feet, trying to regain their bearings.
"Finally," Reese murmured before she ran forward as the henchmen from earlier brought out their guns again.
She did a flip, striking down with her feet and breaking a thug's nose, as Wally pinballed off of several others.
Just then, Silverbird heard another explanation from Vertigo, before another wave of dizziness overtook her, and Reese stumbled.
But, before she could fall, the brunette remembered the tactic she had used against the Count in Louisiana before the Team met the rest of the Injustice League. Reese spun around, and screamed at Vertigo, the Canary Cry meeting the wave of dizziness with a blast that almost seemed to send a shockwave throughout the entire garage.
It also gave Kid Flash an opportune time to run forward and ram into the Count like a charging bull, throwing Vertigo backward again.
Then, Wally leaped on top of him, trying to pry Vertigo's headband off of his head, which was what helped amplify the Count's power.
"While I'm sure Silverbird and I would both love to continue this conversation, Count," the speedster began as he finally managed to get the headband off. "But, you're not our priority,"
Sliding down on the patch of ice, Reese scooped up the heart, just before Wally grabbed her, and began to run up the exit ramp again, which had been the whole point in the first place before they had gone up against Vertigo.
"Please," Wally muttered as they exited the underground garage. "Please let there be more time,"
Rounding the corner onto the street in front of the hospital, Kid Flash burst through the sliding doors of the emergency room, the glass shattering, before he and Silverbird tumbled to the floor, Reese holding up the heart as the team of surgeons from earlier ran up to them.
"Take it!" she cried out as Wally hunched over next to her. "Go!"
"Right," the head doctor murmured, seemingly a bit shocked that the two had managed it before he spun around. "Transplant team to OR 2!"
With that, the surgeons ran to get Perdita prepped for surgery before they all ran out of time, and Reese plopped down on the floor and braced her elbows against her knees, taking a deep breath.
They had made it.
"We did it, KF," Silverbird murmured, thoroughly relieved before she glanced over at where the speedster had been sitting, to gasp in shock. "Kid Flash!"
Instead of sitting next to her, Wally lay sprawled across the ground, silent and unmoving.
S E A T T L E
November 12, 06:39 PST
When Wally opened his eyes, it was to see Count Vertigo standing at the end of his hospital bed, looking increasingly pleased with himself.
"Count Vertigo..." the redhead muttered, but Vertigo just tilted his head back, sending the young speedster a sneer.
"That's King Vertigo to you, peasant," he clarified, and Wally feigned ignorance.
"King?" he echoed slowly, and Vertigo waved a hand through the air.
"Perdita is dead," the older man told him. "And the beauty of it is? I never laid a hand on her,"
"And now no one can lay a hand on you," Kid Flash shot back, really hoping his plan would work, because if it didn't, they would all be in a lot of trouble.
"As King of Vlatava," Vertigo added. "I'm untouchable,"
"Let's test that theory!" Wally went to sit up, but suddenly winced, and Vertigo held a hand up again.
"Now, now, little hero," the royal admonished him. "You'll pull your stitches. Besides," Vertigo continued after a moment. "Who exactly are you mad at? She died on the table. All that planning, all that effort, neither of us need have bothered,"
"Right," Wally responded, before jabbing his finger at the Count. "Now it must kill you to know you owe favors to Vandal Savage and, I'm guessing five ice villains? For nothing!"
"Not at all," Vertigo retorted, tapping his sword's sheath rhythmically against the palm of his hand. "They played their roles in my attempt to rid Vlatava of Perdita. We couldn't know it was unnecessary,"
"So you all still deserve credit for attempted murder," Wally retorted, but Vertigo only smiled.
"It's called," he corrected the speedster. "Regicide,"
"It's called," Kid Flash echoed, as he grabbed a handful of the curtain hanging next to him and yanked it to the side. "You're busted, jerk-face!"
The curtain was opened fully so it hung flush against the wall, revealing Perdita, alive and well, sitting in another hospital bed, along with Silverbird, who was pointing an arrow at Vertigo's face, and two of the Queen's bodyguards.
"I believe you know Queen Perdita," Wally told Vertigo, thoroughly enjoying the shocked look on the Count's face as Perdita held up a small recording device.
"It's called," Vertigo's own voice exited the device as Perdita used the playback feature. "Regicide,"
If anyone needed proof that Count Vertigo was a murderous sociopath who was willing to kill his own niece in order to seize the throne he'd always wanted, there it was.
"Count Werner Vertigo," the Queen began firmly. "As Queen of Vlatava, I hereby accuse you of high treason against the crown, and revoke your diplomatic immunity,"
"No!" Vertigo shouted, before unsheathing his sword and began to lunge towards the young queen, but luckily, Reese had seen the count's body tense in the milliseconds before he had begun to move.
Silverbird turned her bow horizontal and slammed it into Vertigo's abdomen, knocking the wind from the Count before giving him an uppercut that threw him backward, making him land on his back on the floor, as Perdita's two bodyguards ran forward and manhandled the disgraced noble to his feet.
"I think Belle Reve has a cell already with your name on it, Vertigo," Reese told the man as she drew an arrow and pointed it towards the Count as he balked towards her. "Move," she told him. "I dare you,"
"Well-played children," Vertigo muttered as his arms were restrained by the two bodyguards. "Admittedly, well-played. This round goes to you,"
With that, the two bodyguards began to shove Vertigo out the door, but not before the Count sent Silverbird and Kid Flash one last seething glance over his shoulder.
"By all means," Vertigo called out. "Allow the victory to go to your heads,"
Reese couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as the door finally shut behind Count Vertigo, and the brunette bent down, picking up the Count's fallen sword and sheathing it again.
As she and Wally turned back to Queen Perdita, the younger girl gave them both a small smile.
"Thank you," she said. "Your plan worked perfectly,"
Reese had to admit, Wally's plan had been pretty ingenious, and she was a bit miffed that she hadn't come up with it herself.
"Well," the speedster began. "When I woke up and Silverbird and I found out you were in recovery, we knew Vertigo would make another attempt on your life. Unless A) he thought you were dead, and 2) he lost that darn immunity--"
"And was sent away for good," Silverbird added, before holding out Vertigo's sword to Perdita. "Here," she told the blonde. "I think this belongs to you,"
But, Perdita only shook her head. "That sword," the queen began. "is an heirloom belonging to my country, and not to the Count. I would be pleased if you and Kid Flash were to have it. As a reward? Or as a souvenir?"
As Reese brought the sword back to herself, she and Wally exchanged a glance.
The sword would be a cool souvenir, it was something that symbolized their defeat of Count Vertigo, but Silverbird couldn't help but feel as if it wasn't quite right...
➳➳➳
In the end, though, the two of them didn't end up keeping Vertigo's sword as their souvenir. Reese had been right, the sword hadn't been the right souvenir for the mission.
Instead, the pack that had been used to carry Perdita's new heart, the one that Silverbird had worn on her back all the way across the country seemed like a much better choice.
Wally stood slightly behind Reese as the brunette set the medical pack on the shelf inside Mount Justice a day later, both of them dressed in civvies, having returned from Seattle a while ago.
"I'm in love with him,"
Reese's voice was so quiet Wally almost didn't hear it, but he did, and he snapped his head up to look at the younger girl, only to see that Reese was avoiding eye contact, and instead had stayed facing the shelves of souvenirs the Team had acquired over the last four months.
"Who?" the speedster asked slowly because he knew how private Reese was, and normally tended to keep her own thoughts to herself, and didn't open up to people very often.
"Dick," Reese answered, and Wally could barely stop himself from grinning. This was great.
"Oh," he said, trying to sound surprised because honestly, he had totally seen this coming. "Did you tell him?"
He didn't want to spook Reese enough that she stopped talking because this had obviously been bugging her for the last couple of days, and it was probably a good thing she was finally opening up about it.
"No," Reese told him before she sighed. "Wally, I-I think he likes someone else,"
"What?" the speedster exclaimed, shaking his head. "That's crazy. How are you so sure?"
But, Reese only shrugged. "I mean," she began slowly as she finally turned to look at him. "I'm not. Not really, but we were talking at your birthday party, and he said he was in love with this girl, and--"
"Reese," Wally cut in, gently grabbing onto the brunette's shoulders and making her look at him. "I really think you should talk to Robin about this. I mean, you never know, maybe he feels the same way,"
"I doubt it," Reese muttered, glancing to the side before she met Wally's eyes again. "It doesn't matter though, I've stayed friends with him for this long without letting my feelings get in the way. I can do it some more,"
Wally swore these two were literal idiots. And he thought he was the one who couldn't pick up on social cues. I mean, seriously, how was he the last person to know that Miss Martian and Superboy were a couple? And to find out from Artemis of all people? Seriously?
But, before the teenage speedster could say anything in response to Reese's claim, guess who walked into the room but Dick Grayson himself.
Before Reese could do anything, the teenage Boy Wonder wrapped his arms around the brunette and spun her around. Not as fast as when Wally did it, but enough that it surprised Reese.
"I just heard!" Dick exclaimed once he had set Reese down again, though the acrobat still looped his hands around Reese's back. "You're amazing!"
"Well," Reese said, glancing down at her shoes as she blushed. "Wally and I did save an entire country,"
"I know!" Dick exclaimed in response, sharing a fist-bump with the speedster as he seemed to have forgotten the fact that he and Reese weren't talking to each other a mere forty-eight hours before. "Are you okay, though? Something--something happened while you guys were in Seattle, and I don't...I can't lose you, pretty bird,"
"I'm okay," Reese said quietly as she leaned back to look Dick in the eye, noticing that, over Robin's shoulder, Wally ducked out of the trophy room, though not before sending Reese a wink as he exited. "It's just been a really long couple of days,"
"You're okay, though?" Dick repeated his question, before tilting his head back. "I-I'm sorry about what happened after Wally's party. I don't know why you were so upset, but, Reese, if I did something--"
"It wasn't you, Dick," Reese told him softly as she gently clasped his hand in hers. "I promise. You did nothing wrong,"
"You promise?" the Boy Wonder asked, still looking a bit skeptical, and Reese nodded, giving Dick what she hoped was a convincing smile.
"I promise,"
-----
I decided to push forward the chapter where Dick and Reese finally get together, and they'll admit their feelings to each other in Agendas instead of Insecurity because I'm getting impatient.
Let's all stan Wallace Rudolph West. He's an icon.
Next Up: Images
~Matia~