Artemis Crock shifted her gaze to over her shoulder. School was so crowded now, so many kids. "Hey Artie." calls a voice. She snaps her gray eyes over to the most annoying boy she has ever met. "Wally...what did I tell you about calling me that?" she sighs, running her hand through her ponytail. "Um, not to call you it?" Wally guessed. "Exactly. So why do you continue to do it?" He shot the cranky blonde a childish grin. "Because it annoys you." Artemis glared at him. "I swear Wally. One day you are going to regret calling me that." He opens his mouth to retort but a smaller boy pops up in between them. "Artemis and Wally, fighting as usual?" he said. "Oh hi Dick." Artemis says smiling. Dick grins. "So, where are you guys going? I mean school is over." Wally sticks his hand into his backpack and pulls out a chocolate bar. "Maybe home to play basketball." He says, pausing for a moment. "Then hit the Cave to train." Artemis rolled her eyes at him. "Or you mean to eat. I'm going straight to the Cave to train with M'Gann. How about you, Dick?" The smaller boy was lost in his own thoughts, but he responded, "To the Cave. I have to research something that happened near the Watchtower." Artermis and Wally exchanged glances before following him out of the school. "What happened?" Wally asked, his curiousity taking over. "After Batman and the other heroes got back from restoring that other planet's civilization, there was some suspicious activity near the Watchtower that was not our own." Dick explained, pulling out his phone and scrolling to a video. Artemis peered over Wally's shoulder and said, "A UFO?" Wally nods and stared intently at the video. "So you think they want revenge?" Dick shrugged. "I'm not sure. That's why I plan on reviewing the other videos." Wally stared at his watch. "Okay, I can skip home. I want to review this with you." he said, stealing Dick's phone and replaying the video. Artemis rolled her eyes. "Now his biggest passion came out." Dick laughed and snatched his phone back. The group of friends walked along the sidewalk until they came to an alley. "Well here we go." Wally says opening the door of a telephone booth. "Ladies first." he said, gesturing to Artemis. She rolled her eyes and step inside. A flash made both of the boys cover up their eyes. "When are you asking her out?" Dick asks before pressing the button. "When the time isn't hostile." Wally replied calmly, blushing. He smiled and pressed the button. Wally stared at the ground for a moment. Then he pressed the button.
"Okay so these are the other videos." Dick said, pulling up the videos on his laptop. Artemis stared at the screen as a bright flash erupted from behind the Watchtower. Several smaller red flashes appeared in a 2 second span. "What was that?" she suddenly said, pointing to the screen. Dick rewound and paused the video. "Yeah," Wally agrees. "What is it?" Dick stares at it. "It looks like another UFO, only this one is much larger." Artemis sits in silence. "Hey guys." M'Gann says walking over. They stare at her, and Dick quickly hides the screen. "Hey M'Gann." Wally says quickly. "Isn't Conner looking for you?" M'Gann tilts her head. "He is?" Artemis nods. "Yeah, I think he is outside." The martian nods and heads away. Artemis stares at Dick and Wally. "You know what this means right?" she asked. "Yeah..." Wally says slowly. "An alien invasion." Dick is silent. "We should tell the League." They fall silent again. "No. We need more proof." Artemis says, getting up. "This video isn't enough?" Wally asks with more sarcasm than he intended. "Shut up Baywatch. You think one measly video is gonna cut it for Batman? He might think we are messing around or something." she snapped. "Oh yes. We are so messing around because we can't be superheroes if we mess around right? That's pathetic Artemis." Dick looked at Wally. "Oh this is ridiculous." Artemis scoffed. "I don't need idiots like you bringing me down. Show him the stupid video if you want. But I'm not a part of this anymore." The angry archer stormed off to her room. Wally sighed. "You didn't handle that well, bro." Dick says. "Shut up." Wally groans. Dick stands up. "I guess I should get in costume before Batman gets here." Wally nods at him. "Good idea." The two split up and head to their rooms. Maybe it's just beginning.., Dick thought as he slid on his mask. Maybe this is bigger than we thought.