I Forgot to Mention

Dirty Dealings

Wally's head was pounding, his thoughts were scattered about as he tried desperately to piece together some kind of believable scenario of what he'd been through tonight. He could just barely hear muffled voices off in the distance,

Of all the times not the times not to have superhearing... He chuckled silently, before a cold chill ran down his spine. Umm, Supey? Are you there? A few moments of silence passed, just enough for panic to start taking over. Superboy?! Aqualad?! Miss M?! I'll even take a remark from Artemis at this point! Again silence.

Wally took a couple deep breaths, before debating his next steps. He hoped there wasn't a guard around as his eyes slowly tried to let in a bit of the surrounding light, he winced as he waited for someone to notice he was conscious. He struggled to hold in a sigh of relief as he opened his green eyes the rest of the way. It was nearly impossible to see, the only source of light looked to be a small battery lantern left in the middle of the room.  It dimly illuminated the area just in front of him, creating thick shadows outside of its minuscule halo.  Still, he attempted to get his bearings.

Despite immediately noticing the thick ropes wrapped around his arms and legs, Wally still tried in vain to break free. Well, can't win them all, he sighed as he continued surveying his surroundings. He was currently lying against what seemed to be an enormous wall, with Artemis slumped over on the right and Aqualad on his left. Strangely, Superboy and Megan were missing from view. Needless to say, Wally definitely had bigger concerns than a headache.

***
Superboy had never wanted heat vision so much in his life, maybe then he could possibly find a way to save M'gann. He glared intensely as a few of the hired muscles approached from the sides, a long arm clamped around his shoulder. It took nearly all of his willpower not to break the arm and murder the owner.

"Remember boy," a voice he had grown very quickly to despise whispered, "All you need to do is stay quiet and look scary, and when necessary, take a few bullets for me. If you can manage that, I'll let your friends loose. But if you cross me boy," the man pointed towards the shadows off not too far away. "That green girl gets it first."

Superboy tried once again to burn the man in front of him to a crisp, but all he got was a wheezy chuckle and a slap on the shoulder.

"Good, just like that."

Scoffing as he wriggled out of the man's grip, Superboy quickly glanced around. Nearly, if not every, guard they hadn't taken down was lurking somewhere in the general area, each with a view of the coming transaction. He could easily take them all down, yet even if he wasn't tied up, he was still very much their prisoner. M'gann lied limply on the floor, blissfully unaware of the gun pointed at her head. So, like a wolf on a leash, he growled but didn't dare bite the hand that restrained him and risk outliving his usefulness.

"Ah, here they come!" The man didn't turn away, but he whispered, "Show time, boy."

Superboy glared curiously towards the sellers, they seemed unnoteworthy, like if you encountered one of the three on the streets you wouldn't remember by the time they were out of sight. It was almost hard to believe they had managed to procure the weapons for the deal, much less be warrant all the security precautions.  The one in the middle, most likely the leader, stepped forward.  The man was barely taller than Superboy himself, yet held an almost worrying air, as if he removed his sunglasses he could easily intimidate the entire room. 

"The representative of Black Mask?"  He suddenly spoke, his booming voice definitely not matching his face.

"Please, call me Mr. Black," the man smiled, bringing absolutely no comfort to the situation at all.  He motioned for Superboy and a couple other men to follow as he approached the seller.  Superboy held his scowl as he faced the lone man, though internally, he was definitely wondering why Mr. Black had so much backup, while Sunglasses seemed eerily content with no one behind him.  Even the other two sellers had abandoned him, nonetheless, Mr. Black didn't act too concerned.

"So, do you have my employer's guns?"

Sunglasses motioned to a crate that had suddenly appeared at his side.

What is this guy, a meta?  Superboy wondered as the lid was removed, revealing a large crop of firearms.

Mr. Black greedily took one, as Sunglasses explained what exactly made them so desirable...and illegal.  It was something to do with the ammo apparently, and this was the only type of weapon that could handle such powerful bullets. 

"Interesting, mind if I get a demonstration?"  Mr. Black asked, aiming the gun at Sunglasses.

"Certainly."  Sunglasses's face never wavered as he instantly disarmed Mr. Black, loaded the weapon, and fired at the man.

Superboy barely had any time to react as he jumped in front of Mr. Black, feeling the full force of getting shot at practically point blank.  The bullets still couldn't pierce his flesh, but that didn't mean it hadn't felt like they had.  Superboy doubled over, the wind completely knocked out of him.  He gasped for air, quickly running a shaking hand over the newly created holes in his shirt.  He was genuinely surprised when no blood was on his fingers.  Mr. Black's face exploded in an overjoyed grin as he looked over Superboy's nonexistent wounds, he counted each red mark and bruise with an almost child like glee. 

"Amazing!  Imagine what they could do on someone who isn't bulletproof!"

Superboy cough slightly as he gasped for air, "Are you insane?!"  He managed to croak out before going into another coughing fit.

"Shut up, boy.  The grown ups are talking," Mr. Black snapped as he turned back to Sunglasses.  "So, what's the count looking like?"

"Three crates of arms, ten of ammo," Sunglasses replied, just as monotonous as ever.

"Lucky thirteen," Mr. Black chuckled as he motioned for someone new to join them. 

A random thug stepped into the light, carrying a large crate of his own.  This time it was their turn to show off, as Mr. Black revealed the enormous bags of money stacked inside.  "Two more, just like it.  No more, no less."

Sunglasses nodded, and Mr. Black motioned for two more men carrying money crates.  Superboy was powerless to stop the transaction, and as the crates began switching owners while more just kept appearing, his frustrations only continued to rise.  If only everyone would lose focus for just a moment, he could easily overpower the man threatening M'gann and then find a way to destroy the guns, or apprehend Mr. Black, or Sunglasses, or...just do SOMETHING!

Crash

Superboy immediately turned towards the direction of the sound, spying nothing strange in the dark patch. He slowly looked back at the others, no one else seemed to notice the noise, which was rather unsurprising. They were all busy, and it was rather hard to hear for even him. He was honestly beginning to wonder if it had just been another phantom sound, when it happened again. This time it was on the opposite side of the warehouse, and once more, there was nothing lurking in the darkness. Superboy was definitely irked as he chased the random noises, always just behind the next one and rewarded with only more shadows. He was basically spinning around at this point, and while the sounds went unheard, he was definitely getting a few looks.

"What is wrong with you, boy?" Mr. Black asked, turning his attention towards the teenage hero.

"Noises..." Superboy mumbled, not really regarding the man and continuing to follow the direction encroaching sounds as they continued to bounce around.

"Noises? What are-"

Suddenly, as the last of the lights were extinguished, a new sound filled the air. An echoing cackling rang in their ears as the glass of the final light rained down on the men.