Ignite [Book Three In The "Fire And Lightning" Series]

Chapter Six- Searching

March 4, 2016. 13:17
Watchtower
~~Emma~~

I left the Queen's house and sprinted all the way back to the zeta-tubes, clutching the crumpled note in my hand like a lifeline.

"Recognized: Nightingale, B00."

"You're back!" M'gann floated over to me, surprised that I'd completed my search so quickly when Bruce, Dinah, and Oliver had taken over four hours

"Did you find anything? "Artemis and Connor surrounded me, catching sight of the white paper in my hands. I handed them the paper, running my hands through my hair.

Even as the three of them crowded each other to read the note, I summarized it myself. "She blames herself for what Pyro did, again. She says that the younger team members are scared of her, and-"

"That's ridiculous." Connor snapped. "Olivia's younger than each of them, and she loves Willow!"

"But Olivia has never seen Pyro in action." I reasoned calmly, keeping the quaver out of my voice.

"What about Rachel and Gar? They idolize her!" He persisted.

"Again: they've never seen Pyro." M'gann nodded in agreement, placing a gentle hand on Connor's shoulder.

"Finch and Robin haven't either..." Artemis trailed off, biting her thumbnail. "But Bri and Bart..."

"They hate her. They have to, after what she did to them. Sarah too."I took the note back and crumpled it in my fist.

"what about Tammy, Terra, or Virgil?" M'gann asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I just don't know."

Artemis hugged me. "It's not your fault, Emma." She assured me.

"I've been trained for this. I've been trained by Batman for over ten years, why didn't I notice this? Artemis, I'm her best friend!"

"You didn't notice it because it doesn't exist. Connor insisted. "Come on, put that training to use. Let's find her and bring her back, prove that she's wrong." He smashed his fist into his palm for emphasis.

"No. Connor, that will only hurt her more." I begged.

I continued before he could protest. "She's been destroyed over and over again because of choices she didn't make. Maybe this, letting her go, giving her a break from all this craziness..." I gestured to the Watchtower's mission room as a whole, "Will give her time to put herself back together."

"I agree." M'gann said.

"I don't like it that much, but I agree too." Artemis whispered.

We all looked at Connor. He sighed in defeat. "Fine. I don't like it either, but fine."

There was whimpering noise, and Wolf walked up to all of us with a forlorn look in his eyes, like he could tell we were talking about Willow.

"We miss her too, boy." I smiled at him and scratched him behind his ears. He gave me a sloppy wolf-sized doggy kiss.

"Watch out you mutt," Artemis warned him jokingly, petting his back, "If you do that in front of Aqualad, there's no telling if you'll survive."

Connor and M'gann laughed at my expense as I turned a bright crimson red, and all four of us sat down with one of our oldest friends to relax.

"Recognize: Aqualad, Bo2."

"Speak of the devil," Connor muttered. I stood up and ran towards the tubes as the light faded, ignoring his last comment.