Vigilante Justice - A Young Justice Fanfiction

Chapter 10: A Disarming Annoyance

When Artemis woke up the morning after the Team's rooftop encounter with Nightwing, she was surprisingly well rested.

Sore, but well rested.

M'gann and her had gotten a room across from the male members of the team, partially out of spatial necessity and partially because of gender.

There was nothing wrong with sharing a room with the three men—she'd done it plenty in the past, out of both necessity and convenience—but, if it could be avoided, she'd take that opportunity.

Not only that: but her, Aqualad, and Wally had silently agreed that their Martian/Kryptonian couple, for the sake of the mission, could not be allowed to share a room.

Either they'd end up fighting over something, or doing less...appropriate things if left to their own devices.

The archer slipped off the lumpy couch that'd operated as her bed and pattered over to her small travel suitcase, yanking out her suit and pulling it on in the chilled morning darkness.

As a precaution, she zipped a worn sweater over the top half of her costume. It was unlikely that there'd be any civilians bumbling around, but better safe than sorry.

The door to the bedroom was closed, which meant M'gann either wasn't up yet or had already made her way to the boys' room.

The latter was far more likely, going by the Martian's exhaustion the night before. But Dinah was always telling Artemis to practice her optimism.

A pointless exercise, if you asked her. However, she respected Black Canary enough to keep trying.

She was almost nervous to leave her room. Knowing Wally and Conner, and Kaldur's inability to control the two, they'd probably already blown their cover with Grayson. And somehow burned half the building down in the process.

Fortunately, the hallway wasn't on fire when she stepped into it. The walls looked just as dingily intact as they had upon the team's arrival last night.

That was a good sign, at least.

Raising a fist, she hammered it against their door, discouraged by the lack of movement she heard from the other side.

Then there was a slam, muffled curses, and the sound of a bolt being drawn. The door swung open, revealing a bleary-eyed Wally West.

A bleary-eyed and shirtless Wally West.

Before Artemis had time to process where, exactly, her gaze was going, she was already drinking in the expanse of pale skin.

The question of just where his freckles actually ended—a question Artemis hadn't even realized she'd been asking herself until presented with his naked torso—went unanswered as he proved to be covered in little marks, from the tips of his broad shoulders to the narrowing indent of his navel.

When the silence in the doorway lingered on for a little too long, she saw his tired face suddenly look very, very wide awake. As if he'd only just now remembered the absence of his shirt.

"O-oh, Artemis." He cleared his throat, crossing his bare arms over his—freckled—chest. "I didn't see you there."

Her own voice sounded warbled in her ears when she spoke, like she was gargling with marbles. "The door was closed. Of course you didn't see me."

Was she flushing as bright red as he was? The thought just made her blush even harder. What was wrong with her???

Wally re-crossed his arms, face pulled into a pathetic approximation of his usual smile. "M'gann with you? Pretty sure Conner's going into withdrawals."