Roy's pulling ahead, can our speedster catch up? ;)

I do not own Young Justice.

Veni Mecum

Chapter Nine:

"Ab invite."

.

.

.

"Unwillingly."

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Oh, come on," Elliot rolled her eyes, face bright and smeared with bits of grease and some unknown muck as she bunkered down beside the hunk of metal in front of them. "I'm an engineer, of course I know what I'm doing."

"Yeah, but, isn't this some kind of alien tech?" Wally piped up from his corner of the hangar. A half-eaten protein bar was nestled in the palm of his hand and he looked rather skeptical, despite the faith he usually had in his friend.

Connor—as M'gann had proudly announced was his new non-superhero alias—was far more open with his skepticism. The muscular teen didn't have a problem with giving her a look that promised nothing good on her end if anything happened to Sphere. The lot of them, save for Aqualad, were gathered in one of the cave hangars. Water lapped at the edge of where the cave bottom met the ocean surrounding the island, and before her, blinking calmly and cutely was Sphere.

Dick looked equally skeptical, but far amused by the whole thing as he rubbed his chin. "What are you even trying to do with it?"

"I just want to see if I can get behind the mechanisms of it," Elliot said. Her trusty wrench was in one hand and a calming motion was being made with the other. "Sphere's a good sphere, aren't you? You won't mind if I just take a peek at all the wonderful stuff going on inside."

Sphere merely blinked in response. Artemis arched a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "We don't even know if that's a yes or no, it's literally a blinking light at you."

"Obviously since you're not a metal whisperer," Elliot sniffed. Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Machines are much more complex than blinking lights."

Artemis gave Robin a dry look, as if to say that this was his fault Elliot was running rampant and as her handler/closest friend/family he needed to take care of it before they all blew up. Conner frowned, stepping closer and M'gann looked thoughtful, tapping her lips before she frowned. "Maybe we should just ask it?"

"I doubt it's anything like your bioship, babe," Wally threw his trash off to the side and fist bumped the air when it landed in the trashcan. "We can't exactly talk to machines."

"Of course we can," Elliot protested. Her eyes were shining brightly, an eager and excited look on her face as she scooted a little closer to the sphere, and the machine made no move to scoot back. "Alright, Sphere, you're a kind machine, aren't ya? You're gonna be nice and good and let Mecha here just take a cool little peek into your circuitry and—"

The entire team froze as Sphere beeped loudly for several seconds, the lines running along the various curved panels that made up Sphere's body glowed a vibrant blue and Elliot blanched, instincts warning her of danger. Before any of them could move, Conner's hand shot out to toss Elliot back, but Sphere promptly opened up, parts shifting along in an intricate dance before the sphere seemed to widen and swallow Elliot whole.

The cave hangar was silent, not a single sound save for the quiet humming from Sphere, who seemed pleased with herself.

"O-Oh my god," Artemis back away from the wall, instantly searching her person for any of her weapons. "It just ate her!"

"Supey what the hell?" Wally exclaimed, zipping forward to stand in front of Sphere, hands searching along the panels. "It just ate her—oh my god it just ate Mecha!"

"That's what I'm saying!" Artemis screeched, face pale as she gestured wildly at the machine. "What are we supposed to do? Do we blow it up?"

"We can't blow it up! Mech's in there!"

"How are we supposed to get her out then?"

"I-I don't know!" Wally looked horrified, searching wildly for a button of sorts or some kind of opening. "Can she even breathe? Mecha? Mecha do you hear me? I'm going to save you, don't worry!"

"I didn't expect this," Robin looked mildly surprised, squatting down beside the sphere and a teary-eyed Wally. "I didn't even know it could do this."

"Neither did I." Connor agreed, patting Sphere and looking thoughtful. "Guess there's still a lot we don't know."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Artemis screeched, tugging at her hair and gesturing wildly toward the machine once more, refusing to get any closer. "It just ate Mecha and we don't even know if she's still—"

Wally looked up in absolute horror and M'gann waved her hand. "N-No, Mecha's still alive, I can feel her presence, I promise. I'm just not sure how we can get her out..."

"I'll chuck it," Wally offered, suddenly deathly serious as he struggled to grip Sphere, failing miserably since his hands didn't reach across the entire thing. "Run circles around it and make it nauseated so it spits her out!"

"I doubt it works like that," Robin gave the sphere a knock and it chirped back in electrical whirs. "I don't think it meant any harm though."

"It ate her!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Oh, man, c'mon Mecha," Wally pleaded. "You can't go like this, I've still got so much to do with you and you're my best bud and—"

"I said she wasn't dead..." M'gann offered again.

Connor squinted down at the robot, glancing to Robin who seemed to follow his train of thought and nodded. Connor rubbed a hand along the sphere and it spun around to face him. "Hey... Can we have her back now?"

Sphere blinked its light, mechanisms whirring to life before the panels seemed to shift once more along the robot. The pieces parted and just like that Elliot was ejected from some unknown center of the sphere and landed on the floor with a low groan. Wally and Artemis balked, staring in disbelief while Elliot grimaced, rising to her knees and rubbing the back of her neck. "Jeez, that was not a fun—"

"You're alive!" Wally wailed, scooping Elliot up into his arms and giving her a hug tight enough to crunch bone. Elliot wheezed, the air rushing out of her lungs as she battered against Wally's grip.

"Who ever said I died, you idiot?"

M'gann held her hands up helplessly and Artemis slumped against the other side of the wall. "I hate physics."

"Not physics," Elliot shifted in a sniffling Wally's grip and absently stroked the ginger's head in an attempt to calm him down. She met Sphere's gaze and an understanding seemed to pass between mechanic and machine as she nodded. "Something way more amazing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Robin inquired with a grin.

"Well, I asked to see inside and she did just that," Elliot shrugged before her eyes narrowed. "Y'know, I heard what was going on out here and you seemed awfully nonchalant about me being eaten by an unknown machine."

"What? I was totally chalant."

"You dick."

Connor gave Sphere a comforting pat on the top of her structure. "Good girl."

A soft click echoed throughout her workshop and Elliot stopped, arms deep in a pile of junk metal she'd collected over the years filled with various different parts she picked at random when they became useful. She'd actually managed to wash her face this time, but wasn't really sure if it'd gotten dirty again and idly wondered if she should have a sink installed into the corner with a mirror.

The door to the shop swung open and Elliot blinked, eyes growing round with surprise as a huge grin began to split her lips. "Roy—"

"Stop right there." Roy held up a fingerless glove clad hand, warding her off and Elliot stopped, clamping her mouth shut obediently. "What is that?"

His splayed out hand shifted into a finger jutted toward her. Elliot frowned, turning her gaze down to where she was elbows deep into the scraps of metal and loose pieces, dirt and oil smeared her arms and a few scratches from sharper edges nicked the sides. "...my spare parts treasure trove?"

Junk trunk. Dick and Wally both called it, something Artemis had taken up too when she first spotted it. Elliot, wounded, had protested that it was not junk, and had found herself convincing M'gann of the same thing when the Martian had been well meaning and offered to take the pile of junk out to recycling for her.

"No," Roy said curtly, mask narrowing in response to his eyes narrowing. "That."

Elliot carefully followed the direction his finger was pointing to and stared at the crutches that were tossed carelessly to the side, a few feet from her. "Oh, those are crutches."

Roy let out a restrained sigh. "Why do you have crutches?"

"They were from two weeks ago when I got my leg bruised up a bit," Elliot explained easily. "Chunk of cement fell, didn't break anything luckily. I decided to keep them and melt the metal down so I could remold the alloys into a new brace for the prototype of a machine I wanted to build—"

She stopped when Roy had moved soundlessly across the room and was now standing directly before her. Slowly she craned her head back to meet his masked gaze, which was probably a glare from the long, withering look he seemed to be giving her. A sheepish smile touched her lips and she awkwardly dug a hand from her pile and scratched the side of her cheek. "But you're, haha, probably not interested in that so... Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"You should quit."

Elliot grimaced. "You should get better manners."

"I'm serious—"

"I'm serious." Elliot said curtly, and quickly returned her attention to her junk pile. "Marching in here without even a 'Hey, Ellie, how you been? Missions been well? Eating well?' That's what I was about to ask you, you know, until you rudely barge into my workshop without even letting me say hi."

It was Roy's turn to grimace. "I—"

"You never come here," Elliot swept on. "You're always off doing your solo hero thing—which is dumb, by the way. Lost my memories a month ago and realized I should've been meaner to you about that. Don't know why you're being mean to Uncle Ollie but whatever. I'm the one that has to check in on you and you only come sweeping in out of nowhere and sometimes we hang when you have time and you're not busy or if I'm not busy."

"You lost your memories—"

"And since you're in the Cave of all places coming at a time where no one else is around, I'm sure you purposely came here to see me." Elliot said. "Which actually makes me really happy and I wanted to give you a hug, but now I'm not going to. If you're just here to nag me about how difficult these missions are and that I'm not careful enough or that I should quit—rude. I'm doing my best and I've actually missed you a lot and I'm glad to see that you're healthy even if—"

A hand landed on the top of her head and Elliot halted in her tirade. Roy's hand swept over the top of her head, fingers carding through her hair and stopping at the side to curve his fingers and cup the side of her cheek. Roy titled her head upwards and he reached up with his free hand to pull his mask off his face. Strikingly blue eyes gazed down at her, fond annoyance and mild guilt flickered across his face and the corner of his lip tugged upwards. "I missed you too."

Elliot grumbled, brows relaxing and golden eyes growing warm. A smile touched her lips and she leaned into Roy's touch, looking cheeky and all too proud of herself. "Glad you're doing well."

Roy merely made a low noise in the back of his throat, assessing Elliot's current state with a sweeping motion of his eyes. He took in the messy bun and goggles hanging around her neck, the shirt that obviously wasn't hers from how large it was—which bothered him a bit—and the scratches on her arm and oil on her cheek. His thumb drew along her cheek before it pressed harder and Elliot winced as he smeared an oil stain, drawing his hand back and examining the mess on his fingers.

"What are you, five? Clean up after yourself."

"Oh, shut up," Elliot snapped, drawing her hands from the pile of junk when she finally grasped the pieces she needed. "What'd you come here for anyway?"

"Need new arrows," Roy reached behind him for his quiver and showed the pitiful amount inside. "I have plenty still back home, but I need the tips readjusted, I was thinking—"

"Well, since you're here," Elliot cut him off, looking proud and haughty as she set her hands on her hips. "I can show you the several prototypes I drafted up while you've been away. I've actually mixed in some new metals with what I was already using and think I just made a tip strong enough to cut through cement with a bit of gunpowder and—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm in your care," Roy handed her his quiver and Elliot merely beamed, happily heading over to her station as he tagged along behind her a few steps, hands sliding into his pockets. "I swear, this place gets worse every time I see it."

"You mean better," Elliot corrected. "I've been experimenting with a lot of designs from the robots we got from past missions. And the doctor we saved last time has been a huge help sending some new software over!"

Roy's eyes scanned over the desks and work tables littered with half built machines and several hundred parts to other things he'd never know the answer or function to. His eyes landed on her tricked out skateboard and grinned for a moment at the familiar object. Roy's gaze returned to the mess of black hair and metal parts and he stood behind Elliot at her main desk, eyes dipping for a moment to take in the tight denim shorts with the shirt that was way too big for her—maybe Dick's? No, still too big. It could be Wally's—tucked in but bits slipping out.

His suddenly realized why her desk looked more cluttered than usual, and spotted the splattering of pictures that had overtaken her bulletin board, normally used for posting blue prints and sticky notes. All of them were of the team, a couple with her in it as well. Pictures of Wally eating with Artemis in the back—her again—of Kaldur and Dick and the rest of their team too. There was a sudden tightness in his gut that only relaxed when he noticed some of their older pictures too, the one of them at prom—of course—the group of them with Dick and Wally fooling around... But only a few new photos from the night she'd gone on that unexpected bust with him tagging along to save her ass.

"What have you been doing to cause a mess like this?" Elliot frowned at the knife marks along a few arrows, almost looking like claws if anything. "Kaldur mentioned you radioed him for some help about a mission but..."

"It's nothing I can't handle," Roy said. "Don't worry about it."

Elliot flashed him a meaningful glare over her shoulder and he amended, "I'll be fine. I just need your help with this."

"Clearly if you need an upgrade," Elliot grumbled.

Roy ran a hand through his hair, a sigh escaping his lips as he gazed at the back of Elliot's head. His eyes flickered to the door the for a brief moment and then back to his friend in front of him, taking several steps closer and stopping behind her. Elliot continued to work at his arrows, dismantling the tips and readjusting the edges to her mold.

Roy's breath barely ghosted over her ear and Elliot didn't halt in her work as he spoke by her ear, "Promise I'll make it up to you."

"I know," Elliot said simply, chin high in the air and Roy ducked to the side to avoid a collision. "Who else is going to fix your arrows for you?"

Roy's gaze flickered, fondness and annoyance battling it out for a moment when he idly let his gaze turn back to the mess of pictures all along her board. His hand drifted, grasping the bit of shirt hanging out and he tucked it into the waistband of her shorts and Elliot stiffened, looking startled as she nearly cut herself with the tip of an arrow and Roy grimaced, casually retracting his hand as though it were any other action. Restraint, Roy.

A beep echoed throughout the cave and the two of them both started. The distant sound of chatter signified the coming of the rest of the team and Roy reluctantly pulled aside, gathering his things as he began to head toward the door, not really feeling up to socializing. "I'll be back to pick those up later."

Elliot quickly left her stand, following after him with an eager look on her face and he had to remind himself not the let a cocky smirk touch his lips at the action. "When you do, you better let me in on this mission of yours."

"We'll see," Roy ruffled the top of her head, nearly knocking her bun loose and Elliot scowled, rolling her eyes as he stepped through the door. "Thanks again."

"Yeah, yeah," a suddenly devious look touched Elliot's face and nonchalantly added, "The shirt's Conner's by the way."

Roy halted, looking to her sharply. "Who's Conner?"

Elliot grinned, clutching the doorknob and swinging it shut on his face. "Should've picked up my facetime last week~"

"When I said I needed help," Roy began slowly, a low, clearly frustrated tone leaving his lips. "I didn't mean this."

"Rude," Elliot carefully adjusted the shaded lens of her sunglasses and the case under her arm. "I'm not a this, I'm a her, c'mon Roy."

"You said you required assistance," Kaldur began calmly, looking completely unfazed. "Mecha insisted she could be of help and that you...owed her."

"Plus, I was there when you called him," Elliot grinned deviously. "Aqualad's too nice to say no."

"I can tell," Roy bit back, clear annoyance scrawled over his features and Elliot merely hummed, making her way to the door that would lead back into the building.

"The press conference is about to begin any minute," Elliot added mindfully. "I'll radio Aqualad in once Cheshire's made her appearance and then you two can take it from there. I'll be on the rooftop providing back up."

"A sound plan," Kaldur observed.

"Perks of working with Bats," Elliot threw him a wry grin. "I'm not a fan of Luther myself—I doubt anyone is. But since we can't help the way things are, stopping all-out war and any casualties tonight seems the best option. I'll come in when the coast is clear to assist—"

"That won't be needed." Roy interjected.

Elliot flashed him a look and Roy's mask narrowed. "I mean it. You let the two of us handle this."

"You need—"

"Got it?"

Elliot withered, a pout touching her lips. The mechanic crossed her arms over her chest and grimaced. "Fine, fine, we'll see how it goes."

"No, we won't—"

"Mecha," Kaldur began suddenly. "If I may inquire, why are you in such apparel?"

Roy and Elliot halted the beginning of an argument and Elliot glanced down to the traditional clothing she was wearing. "Best way to sneak in—they've got several waitresses roaming around preparing for the traditional tea ceremony."

Kaldur nodded and Roy looked ready to add to the list of things she wasn't allowed to do on the mission. Not feeling like getting into another spat or being on the other end of his foam arrows—she helped design them after all so she was very aware of what they could do—she knew how far she could push Roy and really would rather not be locked up somewhere when she could be kicking ass instead.

Elliot firmly grasped her case and slipped inside, giving them a grin over her shoulder. "Good luck guys."

"Won't need it." Roy returned.

Show off. Elliot rolled her eyes, gaze set on the elevator as she slipped in.

"Cheshire's here," Elliot radioed in once her gaze landed on the female assassin, clad in traditional wear like herself.

The entire plan had been going really well, actually. Elliot had slipped in undetected, Roy was positioned as Red Arrow dutifully behind the Rehlasian ministers and Lex Luthor—gross—with Aqualad blending in with the crowd of reporters gathered toward the front. The only minor issue that had occurred was instead of heading to the roof, Elliot had been escorted toward a room with the other traditional tea ceremony maidens. Balking and unsure of what to do, Elliot had tried to act as though she wasn't fluent and merely nodded along, following after the other women. She'd soon found herself dead center in the middle of the room where negotiations were taking place, and thanked the white make-up they caked onto her face for disguising her.

The several other females had made it easy to identify Cheshire from the profiling Roy had provided. Elliot's hand drifted to the holster beneath her dress, waiting as Cheshire moved from the line and began to roll the cart forward.

"Understood," Aqualad radioed back.

The Atlantean turned just as Cheshire had begun rolling the cart toward them, pulling forth his weapons and narrowing his eyes. "That is far enough, Cheshire."

The assassin merely smirked, looking completely unfazed by the turn of events and Elliot had to applaud the woman's mettle. Water began to rise from the glasses along the table and Roy drew his bow. Cheshire's finger pressed a button on the cart and Elliot quickly broke from the line of women, racing along the edge of the room and throwing herself into the far corner. The hiss of an arrow and the hum of electricity filled the room before an explosion rocked the entire floor.

Glass shattered as the windows to the other side of the building were destroyed. A shield of water protected everyone behind Aqualad as he struggled against the blast until it settled. Elliot slumped down against a shattered statue, breathing heavily as she ripped at the sleeves of her dress for better mobility. She rubbed the white paint of her face roughly and grimaced. Oh, thank god I got out of there. Bruce would have my head if he knew I was doing stupid stunts like this.

Aqualad threw aside his torn jacket as Roy landed beside him, drawing his bow. Cheshire lay only several feet away, rising to stand as the two heroes tensed, not having noticed Elliot's presence yet.

"It's over, Cheshire," Roy said.

Cheshire smirked, standing just as the wild whir of helicopter blades filled the area and Elliot glanced behind her in surprise. "You really think so?"

A handful of mercenaries appeared behind a sinister Sportsmaster. Elliot paled at the sight, realizing she really was in a little over her head because it wasn't the team she was with this time. It was just the three of them and a chopper full of baddies.

And this is why I was supposed to be on the roof. Elliot winced. Better make it up to them.

Bodyguards rushed forward just as the mercenaries did, Cheshire brandishing her blades as Sportsmaster took a stance behind her. Aqualad and Roy advanced forward, Roy's voice ripping through the air like a snarl. "You take Sportsmaster, Cheshire's mine."

"So territorial," Cheshire teased. "And it's only our third date."

Elliot nearly fell to the floor in surprise, looking up sharply at such banter and balking. "What?"

Aqualad darted forward, lunging over Cheshire and landed with easy before Sportsmaster. Roy let his arrow fly, Cheshire knocking it aside with ease as the two of her friends began to battle it out. Elliot watched the battle for a moment, analyzing the situation and the area around them as she pulled a mask from her belt and over her eyes. Her fingers clasped the metal cube in her belt and she chucked it outwards.

A buzzing hum filled the air and Cheshire's eyes snapped upwards just as the cube separated into smaller sections, soaring into different corners of the room and exploding. The force knocked her back several steps and Roy froze while Aqualad merely nodded in acknowledgement. Elliot darted from her spot, letting out a cry as she lunged toward Cheshire and the woman smirked, rolling to the side and bringing up her blade. "My, my, if it isn't the little engineer that could. Don't tell me you got jealous?"

"Couldn't help myself," Elliot snarled back, bringing her hands upwards and bracing herself in front of Cheshire. "I'm just seething in envy."

"I told you to stay back," Roy growled behind her, and Elliot merely gave him a half shrug.

"Don't blame me, they thought I was actually a waitress."

"I think," Cheshire said, lunging forward and swiping across. Elliot ducked, barely managing to dodge the swing as Cheshire followed after her with a fierce grin. "I wore it better, no?"

"Don't worry," Elliot grinned back, eyes flashing as she gripped the collar of her dress and tugged it upwards roughly. "This isn't my style anyways."

The sharp ripping of fabric filled the space and she threw the dress upwards, revealing the tight sleeveless black turtleneck and leggings beneath. The dress flung upwards, blocking Cheshire's view and Elliot snatched a bo staff from her holster, extending the metal and swinging it in a large arch. Metal connected and Cheshire let out a breath as she was knocked to the side. Before Elliot could follow after, a firm hand clasped her shoulder and knocked her backwards just as a blade came flying through the air, nearly cutting her cheek.

"Stay back," Roy snapped, drawing an arrow and firing after Cheshire. "I'll handle this."

I totally didn't look kinda cool just now or anything. Elliot thought grumpily. Had to steal the spotlight. Her eyes snapped to where an assassin was charging toward her, blade ready and she narrowed her eyes, ducking the blow and swinging outwards with her foot. "It'd be nice if you trusted me a little, you know! Like, oh, teamwork?"

"Not a team." Roy snarled, parrying Cheshire's blow and swiping up with his leg. "Stay out of this before you actually get hurt."

"Flirting with another girl in front of me?" Cheshire mock gasped, and Elliot threw the woman a curious look before her eyes drifted to Roy. "How frivolous of you. I might just get jealous, you know."

Another explosion rocked the room and Elliot's eyes snapped upwards to where one of the towering statues was beginning to fall. Her eyes went wide and she lunged to the other side as the figure fell, separating her and the other two. Her staff shot out, catching an assassin sneaking up on her in the gut and she quickly scaled the hunks of rock, coming to stand at the top just as Aqualad seemed to snarl something back at Sportsmaster. I can't hear what they're saying.

"Mecha!"

Roy's voice snapped her into attention and Elliot ducked as another blade sliced a thin line across the side of her neck. Her eyes locked onto Cheshire and Roy whirled around with fury. "This is between you and me."

"Just getting rid of the competition," Cheshire purred.

Elliot's eyes narrowed, not really caring much for Cheshire's weird... whatever it was with Roy. Elliot reached for another explosive in her belt, but a firm hand gripped her wrist and tugged her back into a firm chest. Elliot looked up in sharp surprise and let out a squeak as Roy hoisted her over his shoulder, taking aim with his arrow. "R-Red?"

"Shut up," Roy growled. "Let's end this, Aqualad!"

He let his arrow loose and it collided into one of the sprinklers above in a small explosion. Water fell from the sprinklers above and Aqualad drew his swords together, bringing them up as a dragon made of water began to snake around the room, knocking assassins aside left and right. Cheshire leapt toward Sportsmaster, sliding a mask over her face and throwing a smoke bomb to the ground. Thick clouds of smoke engulfed all of them and Elliot coughed, Roy leaping down to the ground beside Aqualad with Elliot still slung over his shoulder.

A furious cry broke through the smoke and an assassin lunged upwards, swords ablaze when Lex merely glanced upwards. "Mercy."

The secretary at his side raised an arm and it quickly converted into a hypersonic cannon, attacking the assassin and knocking him clean from the air. Elliot's eyes went wide, completely amazed with the sudden show of robotic tech and she gaped in disbelief. What the hell was that? That was so cool—ugh, of course it's Lex. Her eyes snapped to the side and she winced, Cheshire and Sportsmaster nowhere to be found.

"That was amazing!" One of the prime ministers rushed forward and the other nodded.

"We owe you our lives."

"What?" Elliot squawked, looking indignant and Roy scowled, turning to Aqualad.

"They owe him their lives?"

"Injustice." Elliot agreed.

The mechanic quickly found herself dumped onto the floor and she groaned, looking up pitifully as Roy crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her, unmoving.

"Want to explain why you weren't on the roof like you were supposed to be?"

Elliot's lips curled into a sheepish smile, eyes darting to the side as she contemplated her possible routes of escape.

"Oh, don't worry," feet planted on either side of her and she paled, Aqualad looking off to the side as Roy's mask narrowed.

"You're not getting away."

Elliot idly rubbed at the side of her arm that had begun to bruise. Several bandages were wrapped thickly around other parts of her arm and neck from where Roy had rudely and roughly given her a first aid job and told her to wait in the lobby while he and Aqualad tied up and loose ends. She had to declare it a bit of a win for herself because she went toe to toe with Cheshire again, even if it was only a few minutes.

The flirtatious comments from the assassin still rubbed her a bit in a way she knew she didn't like. Elliot pulled her goggles above her head, reaching for unkempt black locks and gathering them up at the top of her head for a ponytail. Maybe I should get it cut? Well, at least I have something to brag to Wally and Dick about...

The doors to the lobby slid open and she stepped out into the cool night air. The light chill bit at her skin and she reminded herself to bring a jacket next time she decided to where this outfit instead of her usual costume.

Her eyes drifted upwards and she paused, a few feet from where Roy and Kaldur stood and a small smile touched her lips, noticing quietly the serious looks on both their faces. What are they talking about? "Hey! You never came to get me, jerk."

"Oh, don't worry," Roy threw her a long look over his shoulder, arms crossed over a muscular chest. "I didn't forget about you."

"You just got mad I was kind of cool tonight," Elliot teased, climbing down the few steps and glancing between the two of them. "What're you two talking about?"

Roy gave Kaldur a pointed look, face unreadable below his mask and Elliot stopped, brows beginning to furrow as she turned her gaze to the back of Aqualad's head. "Kaldur?"

"Red Arrow was merely professing his respect to the team," Kaldur began finally, turning to face her with a calm look and an even smile. "And that we can count on him when the time comes."

The words seem to carry more weight than either of them were willing to let on. Elliot felt a little hurt, in all honesty, to think that any secrets were being kept after a night like this. She wondered if there was more to the mission than she had thought, but a sudden warmth settled over her shoulders and the familiar scent of musky cologne. She blinked at the leather jacket that had settled over her and turned to Roy as he kept his gaze on Kaldur, not moving an inch. "You can. Just make sure you don't get to me too late."

I feel like I'm the one being talked about without them saying anything. Elliot narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Did something happen I don't know about?"

"Things always happen that you don't know about," Roy cuffed her over the back of her head and Elliot flashed him a look of annoyance before his fingers shifted, carding instead through her thick ponytail and letting his hand fall to his side. "Take care of yourselves."

With that, Roy threw Aqualad a salute and Elliot a mock bow as he turned on his heel. Elliot watched him for a moment, tracing the slope of his broad shoulders and the curve of his back and she called out, "Try not to hook up with any villains, yeah? I doubt it could ever end well."

Roy stumbled only one step and threw her a searing glare beneath his mask and she innocently looked away. "Just saying, hotshot~"

"Get a boyfriend first and then we'll talk, brat."

"E-Excuse you!"

"On second thought, I doubt you could even score a date anyway—ow."

"Don't make me charge you for those arrows."

Oof, it feels so good to update this story. I thought it would be fun to get some Royboy screen time since it's been a little while since we've seen him ;) Next chapter is one of my favorite episodes and I think it'll be fun to write about, so hope you guys enjoyed this one too!

Thank you so much for the continued support and for staying so loyal to this story guys, it actually means an insane amount, especially to all you new readers who've been reviewing and asking me to update. Sometimes I just get distracted, but this story has an endgame for me so I'll definitely finish.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!

Marshmellow-

-OUT!