The Blue Sparrow

Chapter 10

Lorelei’s P.O.V.

    It’s been three weeks since the Cadmus mission and my wounds have completely healed. The only thing that remains of them is the scars…and the nightmares. Ever since that day I’ve had nightmares about what Desmond did to me and I haven’t told anyone about them; I’ve been too scared.

    On a brighter note, today we got a day off, so we decided to have a beach day which is where we are now. Except for Wally; poor guy had to go to school. The beach was fun; we goofed around in the water, had hot dogs for lunch, and even buried Superboy in a huge pile of sand. After an amazing day at the beach we got called to a mission de-briefing, and apparently a new teammate. When we walked out of our rooms after changing into our suits we saw Bruce in his suit, Ollie in his, and a blonde girl in a green suit with a matching bow and quiver. Ollie told me about her and from what I’ve heard she’s great.

    “Everyone, meet Artemis.” Ollie said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “My niece and your new teammate.”

    I smiled and walked up to greet her; I held my hand out for her to shake. “I’m Blue Sparrow, but everyone calls me Blue around here.”

    She took my hand and shook it firmly. “Nice to meet you.”

    The others filed in behind me to greet her as well. Suddenly the computer announced Wally’s arrival about two seconds before he said, “The Wall-man is here! Let’s get this party star—uhm.” He gets cut off by him tripping over one of the many things in his hands and lands at our feet. “…ted.” He finished weakly.

    “Wall-man, huh?” Artemis asked as she stepped into his view. “I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?”

    Completely ignoring her question, Wally stood up and asked me, “Uh, who’s this?”

    “Artemis, your new teammate.” She answered almost teasingly.

    “Kid Flash. Never heard of you.” Wally continued in the same teasing tone as Artemis.

    Ollie stepped up. “Um, she’s my new protégé.”

    Wally’s eyes practically bugged out of their sockets. “Wha-what happened to your old one?”

    He was clearly worried something happened to Roy which caused me to roll my eyes. He wasn’t able to question any further as the zeta tube was put into use.

    “Recognized: Speedy, B 0-6.”

    “Well for starters, he doesn’t go by Speedy anymore.” Roy stated as he walked through the zeta tube. When I saw him I looked down and blushed. His new suit showed off his muscles way more than his ‘Speedy’ suit. “Call me Red Arrow.”

    “I think I’ll just call you Red.” I stated when I finally looked up at him. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”

    He smirked, but it quickly turned into an angry frown when Ollie spoke up. “Roy. You look—”

    “—Replaceable.” He nearly growled as his eyes zeroed in on Artemis.

    “It’s not like that.” Ollie tried. “You told me you were going solo.”

    “So why waste time finding a sub?” Roy asked rhetorically. “Can she even use that bow?”

    “Yes, she can.” Artemis stepped up into Roy’s face.

    “Who are you?” Wally questioned.

    “I’m his niece.” Artemis said.

    “But she’s not your replacement.” I assured Roy as I walked up to him. “We have always wanted you on the Team, we still do, and we have no quota on archers.”

    “And if we did you know who we’d pick.” Wally added cheerily.

    Artemis stepped up again. “Whatever, Baywatch, I’m here to stay.”

    Roy was about to walk away but I stopped him by placing a hand on his chest, causing him to look at me. “You came to us for a reason.”

    He sighed and grabbed the hand that was on his chest gently. “Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette.”

    Dick immediately pulled her information up on his computer gauntlet. “Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City…vanished two weeks ago.”

    “Abducted two weeks ago by the League of Shadows.” Roy corrected.

    Dick’s excitement started to show as he asked, “Woah. You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?”

    “Hard-core.” Wally said as he and Dick did their handshake.

    “I already rescued her.” Roy replied tensely. “Only one problem; the Shadows had already coerced her into a weapon. Doc calls it the Fog, comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path-- concrete, steal, flesh, bone—but it’s true purpose isn’t destruction. It’s theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen data to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech.”

    “Perfect for extortion, manipulation, and power broking.” Artemis piped in, earning a smirk from me. Yeah. Sounds like the Shadows.”

    “Like you know anything about the Shadows.” Wally scoffed with a smirk which quickly fell when he gives him a taunting smile. “Who are you?!”

    Roy ignores them and continues. “Roquette’s working on a virus to render the Fog inert.”

    “But if the Shadows know she can do that…” Dick began.

    I was quick to agree. “They’ll target her.”

    “Right now, she’s off the grid.” Roy said. “I stashed her at the local high school’s computer lab.”

    “You left her alone?” Ollie asked shocked.

    “She’s safe enough for now.” Roy rebuttaled.

    Before Ollie could say anything else Batman put a hand on his shoulder and Ollie said, “You brought this to the Team. It’s their mission, which makes it hers now too.”

    “Then my job’s done.” Roy scoffed before walking towards the zeta tube.

    “Recognized: Speedy,”

    “That’s Red Arrow, B 0-6. Update.” Roy corrected before leaving.