With These Hands

Liam was in a bad mood. Even after interrogating assassin number two when he woke up, he still had no answers.

"Any luck." Artemis asked as Liam came out of the guest room, a frown on his face. 

"Nope." He'd knocked them out after he finished interrogating them but he needed to figure out what to do with them. 

"Don't say you told me so." He added, seeing her about to speak up. 

That caused her to pause before giving him a smug look. Vincent chose that moment to make his appearance, probably coming from his parents' or Valerie's room. 

"So? What did they say?" Vincent asked, anxious. 

"All we know is that their boss wants you. When the leader of a group of assassins wants you, I can tell you it's never anything good." Liam said, massaging his temple tiredly. 

"No offense, Vincent, but you're not that special. They probably want something to do with the cure." Liam explained. 

That would explain a lot. Ra's Al Ghul is part of the Light and they always want to be at the front of every form of advancement, be it technology or medicine. 

Then there was Luthor who was also part of the Light, who failed to acquire the toxin antidotes at the auction. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that they figured out a connection between the cure and the antidote. 

'They want Vincent because he was the only one conscious when Valerie was cured. With their network of spies, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say they have a spy within the police.' Liam deduced. 

"Wait, we're back to that?" Vincent groaned.

"It's not going to just go away after a few weeks. Curing cancer is quite a big deal." Liam said, shaking his head. 

Vincent let out a sigh before turning to Liam. "I'm sorry for putting you through all of this." He said, confusing the other boy. 

"I've told you there's nothing to be sorry for. I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be." Liam assured him. 

"Wait a minute. You're the one who made the cure?" Artemis asked in shock, finally finding her voice. 

He answered with a nod.

"That's just…wow." She was short of words for a few moments. "You never cease to amaze me." She muttered, causing him to smirk. 

"So, what do we do now?" Vincent asked, voicing the question at the back of their minds. 

Both teens had no idea where to proceed from here. Even Artemis, who was the daughter of the criminal involved in this, didn't know how to proceed. 

Liam on the other hand was conflicted. Had they just been targeting him, it would have been alright, he could deal with that. He didn't exactly have any family members for them to threaten. 

Vincent could somewhat take care of himself. The problem was Vincent's family, they couldn't and Vincent couldn't take care of all of them on his own everyday, waiting for the league to make their next move. 

He couldn't ask them to move because the league had eyes everywhere. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

Letting out a sigh, Liam looked to Vincent. "Try and get some rest. I'll handle this."

"Woah woah woah. There's no way I'm just going to let you do this on your own." Vincent argued but the other boy shook his head. 

"You don't exactly have a choice. More might come back and you need to be here." He explained, turning to the guest room he came from. 

"Where are you going?" Vincent asked. 

"I need to go and meet someone but first I have to take care of our two friends in there." Liam explained, causing Vincent to go silent. 

Though it was not spoken, they both knew what he meant. In silence, he trudged his way into the guest room, finding the two men still unconscious and tied to the chair. 

He couldn't let them just go free. They knew about his ability to compel others and with how strong their minds were, he wasn't confident in being able to keep them from revealing it. 

Though he was sure he couldn't keep it a secret forever, it was still an ace in the hole that he wanted to have for as long as possible. 

As he stood before them in solemn silence, he realized that he wasn't alone. "I thought you were going to wait outside." He said, not turning back. 

"Yeah well, I couldn't just let you do this on your own." She said, quietly, walking up behind him. 

Taking a deep breath, he pulled out the cyanide pills he'd confiscated from them earlier. "Thanks." He whispered. 

Facing the first man, he held his mouth open, dropping one pill down his throat before immediately doing the same to the other. 

Mere moments after he did that, they began convulsing, shaking in place, foam leaking from their mouths. It all passed quickly, leaving the room silent. 

He felt numb. 

'I killed them.' He told himself, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight of the two corpses limp on the chair. 

Only when he felt a hand slip into his own did he realize that his hands were trembling. Turning, he saw Artemis beside him. She squeezed his hand in silent comfort, something he appreciated as it helped him calm down. 

The trembling stopped, or at least lessened. 

Grabbing a corpse with his free hand, he vanished it into his inventory before doing the same with the second one. Thankful, Artemis didn't ask questions about it. Though, he suspected she'd ask them later. 

Pulling out his phone, he dialed a number. The phone barely rang for a few moments before the person answered. 

"What is it?" Bruce said in a gruff voice, leading him to assume that Batman was on nightly duty at the moment. 

"Do you have some time tomorrow? There's something we need to discuss." Liam said, his attention barely on the man's tone. 

"What happened? Did you come up with something new?" The man asked, barely managing to hide his curiosity. 

"Not exactly. I can't exactly explain right now. I'll come over tomorrow so we can talk." Liam said before ending the call. 

What he needed now was sleep. 

Xx-Xx-Xx

"You know you don't need to come back with me. I'll be fine" He told Artemis as they reached his apartment. 

The archer was now in a hoodie and baggy pants to hide her uniform, seeing as how she left it at home. He always kept some spare clothes in his inventory just in case. 

"I know but I want to. The last thing you need right now is to be alone. Besides, I can't exactly go back to when my dad is probably waiting for me there." She admitted. 

He still felt a little numb but that would pass, eventually. Seeing the third corpse sitting in the middle of his apartment brought back that numbness, if only a little.

"You can have the bed, I'll take the couch." He told her but the blonde was having none of it. 

Pulling him from his attempt to lay on the couch. "Nope."

"What?" He asked, confused. 

"I said no. You are sleeping on the bed." She elaborated. 

"Then where will you sleep?" He asked despite having an idea of what she would say next. 

"We'll both take the bed. Unless being on the same bed with me disgusts you that much." She said with a raised brow. 

He saw that statement for the trap that it was.

"Nope, it doesn't bother me." He said, sidestepping it. 

"Good." She said as they both made their way to the bedroom. 

'There's another room.' He thought before remembering why he had avoided said room so far. It brought back too many memories. 

Tossing his shirt into his inventory, he let himself crash face first onto the bed, he felt a bit of tension getting released from his body. 

He then heard the sound of something soft hitting the ground. Turning around in the bed, he was met with the sight of Artemis, clad in only her underwear. 

The tension was back, just in a different way. 

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked, barely stopping his eyes from roaming her now visible curves. 

From the way she smirked, he knew she caught on to that. Her costume barely did anything to hide her shape but seeing her out of it blew the previous image out of the water. 

"You can't exactly expect me to sleep in those." She said, pointing to her green outfit. "Now move over."

She slid into the bed, beside him, the smug look on her face not dimming in the slightest. Though, her cheeks slowly gained a red hue the longer he stared. 

"What?" She muttered, now looking away. 

"Thanks for being here, Artemis. I mean it." He said, his voice barely above a whisper. He suddenly moved forward, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. 

Before she could even begin thinking of a response, she realized something as he pulled away. 

He had fallen asleep.