16 Chapter 15

-[Batcave]-

Sitting at the large and powerful computer, he frowned in thought, analyzing the 'Dedsec' graffiti art… at least he was trying to.

No matter what he tried or where he searched, he didn't find what he was looking for. The closest thing to an answer he'd found was a biker gang in San Francisco with no relation to the case.

Despite cross referencing the picture as well as the name, he was no close to identifying who was responsible for stealing the fog nanobots.

Whoever they were, they were careful not to leave behind evidence as not even fingerprints could be made out at the scene.

There was also the recent incident at Star Labs. It wasn't in Gotham but the lab and its facilities were more than important enough to grab his attention, especially in this case.

Star Labs possessed cutting edge resources and data which could be dangerous in the wrong hands.

'Could there be a connection between the two?' Bruce wondered.

According to Red Arrow, the perpetrators were two of Star Lab's own employees but those two employees were later found unconscious in the facility.

'So we're dealing with two shapeshifters.' He thought, looking at the tab with the name 'David Shield' as the title. There was no match in any database. 'Or three considering Red Arrow's account of being knocked out from behind.'

Putting aside the intrusion, it brought up the question; what was their objective? An inventory of all Star Lab's materials, resources and assets was taken and everything was accounted for.

'So what were they after?' He pondered for not the first time.

-[Star City]-

"I'm just saying it's not healthy for him." Felicity said with a frown and a sigh.

"You don't have to tell me twice. It's been over a week since we got the star labs data and he hasn't set foot out of here." Lucas said with narrowed eyes.

Lucas and Felicity rode the elevator down to the base with concerned looks on their faces. He had half a mind to take a ride to Gotham and give a blonde chick a piece of his mind for whatever she did to Evan.

As the doors opened up into the base, it was no surprise that they found Evan in the computer lab, still working.

"I idolize him but I can't sit back and watch this happen. I tried to help but I can barely understand half of what he's doing." Felicity said as Lucas stormed into the lab, pausing as he saw the heavy bags under his eyes.

"Hey buddy." Lucas said, his voice deeply startling Evan who showed no signs of knowing he was there.

"Hey." Came the tired voice of the younger boy, briefly glancing at Lucas before he continued working.

He was tinkering with the fog machine and despite his obvious exhaustion, there was a degree of ease and expertise he worked with.

"You know you can take a break and continue later." Lucas offered.

"No thanks." Evan rejected, not pausing. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine. When's the last time you stepped outside? When's the last time you even slept or even ate properly?" Lucas asked.

"That's not imp-" Evan was cut off as Lucas pressed the issue.

"When?" The older boy asked.

There was a moment of tense silence before Evan let out a sigh. "96 hours ago, give or take."

Lucas scoffed in disbelief. "Four days… You've been pushing yourself like this for four days straight?! You're going to kill yourself!"

"Well what else am I supposed to do?!" Evan shot back with a large amount of frustration and exhaustion, surprising Lucas as well as Felicity who was watching. "I'm not good with emotions like the rest of you, okay?!"

The outburst shocked Lucas more than anyone, the calm and composed but somewhat laidback Evan was nowhere to be found.

"I don't know what to feel! I don't want to feel! I just…" Evan trailed off with a tired sigh, his shoulders heaving ever so slightly. "I do what I know how to do, I tinker. That's what works for me."

"Evan, there's no doubt that you're a genius but even you need to rest. I'm not just going to sit back and watch you destroy yourself. You took care of me when we got out of the orphanage, let me take care of you this time. I'm the older brother, aren't I?" Lucas said in an almost pleading tone.

Just when it looked like Evan was going to argue, he didn't, instead sighing as Lucas walked up to him, pulling him into a hug.

"It's okay. It's okay." Lucas whispered, feeling warm liquid running from Evan's eyes, gently patting the boy's back.

It didn't take long before he realized that Evan was no longer moving, having finally fallen asleep.

After a few minutes when Lucas was sure that Evan was fully asleep, he carried the much lighter boy to the lounge, letting him down on the comfortable couch.

"Awwwn. He looks so cute and peaceful." Felicity cooed as Lucas grabbed a blanket from somewhere, using it to cover Evan.

As soon as that was done, Lucas frowned, stalking towards a storage unit that had his stash of guns and ammunition.

"Hold up! Where do you think you're going?" Felicity questioned, moving to stand in front of him.

"Gotham. I'm going to pay a little blonde a visit. He's been like this since the last time he met her." He said, loading the ammo into the gun.

"And do what? Shoot her until she talks?" Felicity asked.

"Don't tempt me."

This isn't a thug rally you can just go in, guns blazing." The bespectacled blonde argued. "What would Evan think if he finds out?"

"Low blow." Lucas pointed out, moving forward as she tried to push him back, albeit feebly.

"Yes but just think about it. Evan clearly cares about her so if you're going to do something, you have to do it carefully." Felicity said firmly.

The two were locked in a tense staring contest before Lucas shook his head with a sigh, mumbling something about computer nerds and their stubbornness.

"Fine but I'm still taking the gun." Lucas relented.

Felicity looked almost taken aback. "Of course you are. I want to help Evan, not get you killed. This is Sportsmaster's daughter we're talking about." Felicity agreed.

-[Artemis]-

Sitting at the door of Evan's apartment, she held her knees close to her chest, her face buried between them.

She'd tried calling him several times since then but he hadn't returned any of her calls. Camping outside his door bore no fruit seeing as how he didn't enter or leave the apartment in the few days she'd camped.

She missed him…

He was avoiding her, and a part of her whispered that he had every right to.

She couldn't even muster the strength to argue against it because she also believed it. Picking his lock would be so easy but she didn't want to make things worse by forcing her way in.

Her desire to keep him safe from the league of shadows was futile seeing as how they most likely had their eyes on him from the start.

Evan had, at one point, implied that he was raised in an orphanage but she hadn't pushed the matter so she doubted that he knew anything about Ra's Al Ghul.

They both had terrible people as parents, the only thing differentiating them was that Artemis was aware of her parents, Evan wasn't.

That meant that he had no way to protect himself.

The thought that the league might have already gotten to him popped up in her mind and with how he hadn't gone or returned after days, she was getting more and more concerned.

Her first thought was to go to the team for help in finding him but that would mean that she'd have to tell them about herself.

How else would she explain knowing him? She was sure that it would only take some digging before they found out that he and her were friends and that she lied about being Green Arrow's niece.

Even as she thought of reasons not to go, it didn't stop her from getting to her feet, her legs taking her out of the apartment building with a destination in mind.

She had to find him…she had to make things right!