Vigilante Justice - A Young Justice Fanfiction

Chapter 28: A Vigilante Speedster Battle Royale

"So are we going to address the elephant in the room?" Artemis had asked as soon as Nightwing―Dick, Wally was still having trouble thinking of him as that―limped pathetically off to the bathroom.

"Yeah," Wally agreed, turning to M'gann and Conner. The super clone was holding M'gann against his chest, her legs stretched out in front of them as she lounged in his lap. "When're you two gonna tie the knot?"

Artemis rolled her eyes at him, but Wally had meant it genuinely (and to try and dispel the tension in the room, but no one needed to know that). "Wrong elephant," She muttered in his ear, a grin on her face like she knew exactly what he was trying to do for them.

"Tie the knot?" M'gann asked, raising a brow at Conner.

To his credit, Conner did a good job retaining his stoic expression. The pink flush at the tips of his ears, however, completely gave away his flustered state. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

M'gann's eyes narrowed. "Now I'm curious. Artemis, pass me your phone?"

Their resident archer grinned, chaos incarnate. Wally had never felt more attracted to her in his entire life. "Here you go."

Mumbling to herself, M'gann accepted the device and opened it with a flick of her fingers, shooting Conner a reproachful look when he tried and failed to peep over her shoulder.

Kaldur sighed as he finished packing their first aid kit away, slipping the pack of floss in beside the recently used suturing needle. "What is it you truly wished to discuss, Artemis?"

Her gleeful smirk flattened, creasing into a frown as she remembered what'd started this whole conversation. "It's just—we can't seriously be considering not handing him over to the League. I know he's Detective Grayson and all, but can we really put that trust in him? What if he runs?"

She, unfortunately, had a point. "What do we do when the League comes looking for their vigilante?" Wally said. "We're all horrible liars, no offense."

Artemis scoffed. "Speak for yourself, I'm a fantastic lia—"

"I agree with Wally," Kaldur interrupted smoothly, shooting the speedster one of his rare smiles. "Which is why I ask you this, what is it that made us trust the detective in the first place?"

There was silence for a moment. Wally almost wished he had M'gann's power, just so he could know what the rest of the Team was thinking.

"His kindness." M'gann said eventually, Conner's arms tightening around her. "He's crabby at best, but he's also kind. That is why I found it so easy to trust his alter ego."

Her boyfriend nodded. "Same."

Wally resisted the urge to snort. They were very predictable that way.

"For me," Artemis spoke slowly, clearly weighing her words. "I'm still not sure if I trust him fully, to be honest. But I trust his expertise, and that is what we'll need if we're ever going to solve this stupid mystery."

The room was quiet again, the silence dragging between them until all eyes turned to Wally, waiting for his verdict.

He knew that if he said he wasn't comfortable helping Nigthwing, helping Dick, then they wouldn't. They were a team, and each of them valued Wally's input in their own way—though some (ie. Artemis) had a harder time showing that than others.

If he said no right now, they wouldn't question it.

Wally was tempted, for less than a second. Tempted to just hand the vigilante in and move on with their lives.

Artemis and he could go back to college, they could put this whole 'mystery solving' thing behind them. The League would get off their backs and the Team could pick up their much less complicated, regularly scheduled missions again.