The blonde pulled off the silver helmet off and smoothed down her pixie-cut before approaching the door. She paused with her hand raised the keypad to type in the code when she realized the entrance was open just a crack. Aryess slid the dagger from its sheath as she entered the base cautiously.
The assassin sensed nothing out of place. The same dim fluorescent lights flickered along the ceiling of the cavernous hallways, guiding her past the same closed doors; there was the same distinct scent of metal and wet cement in the air. It was exactly as she remembered it. Though she had been away for so long, Aryess knew she could have found her way to the living quarters in the dark, even if the stifled giggling lead her there now.
"Guys?" she called softly as she approached the entrance of the living room- an arch branching off from the hallway that looked as if it had been cut out of the rock wall.
At first her eyes picked up on the details on the large room- the kitchenette in the back and the barstools lined up along the counter the same as a diner; the chipped-orange-painted table; the grid of screens above the wall across from the eating area that showed a live-stream of nearly the entire base, including the garage where Aryess had parked her motorcycle. And finally, the sitting area- a semicircle of couches and love seats facing the flat screen hanging on the wall- and the fair haired boy sprawled out on the couch with a novel in his hand.
"Oh, hello," Aleksander greeted her, as if she had just walked in after a session of training rather than 3 months away in Venice, Italy.
"Hey," she responded, hiding her disappointment at his lack of elation. "The door was open."
"Oh... Oopsy. I must not have closed it all the way when I came back from the cave."
Aside from the Russian's lack of talent for lying, and the fact that any transporting between the Young Justice and Double Helix headquarters was done by zeta tube for security reasons, something about the slight slur in Alek's accent, particularly when saying Oooopy with a few too many O's, made Aryess take a second look at him.
Her observations stopped at the glitter in his ice-blue eyes, faint pink in his cheeks, and the fact that the book he had supposedly been reading was upside down, when the giggle she had lead her to the room came again... From behind the couch.
"Ish she goone, mate?" a giddy voice asked. A flushed, heavy lidded Nic lifted his head just enough to peak up from behind the couch. "Oooh sheet, no she's newt."
Aryess stared from one drunk boy to the other. "I... You're both... WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING WHILE I WAS GONE?"
"Shhhhhh," the brunette raised a finger to his lips, "there isn't any reason to showt, darling." He stood up unsteadily and tried to leap over the back of the couch as he had done a hundred times before, except this time it was more like climbing over the back and then falling in a heap onto the cushions, a half-empty bottle of liquid almost slipping from his fingers. A giggle escaped Nic at his clumsiness. "Whooooops a daisy."
Though Aryess could tell Alek was trying to keep a straight face, a laugh escaped him, which doubled on itself until both boys were having a giggling fit.
"You're both idiots," Aryess stated. Nic raised a wavering finger to point at her, but whatever he was going to say was lost when he became remarkably amused by the fact that he couldn't point straight, resulting in another round of giggling.
"Nic was only trying to cheer me up, Aryess," Alek told her, as if that were any reassurance. Either he had drank less than his inebriated counterpart, or he was better at holding his liquor, because his speech was much less warbled.
"Yeeeaah, I was helping my brub," Nic elaborated, "I found him swimmin' laps in the pul, like he always does when he's miff'd owf... Owf.. Miff'd.." He gave up on finishing the sentence with a shrug and lifted the glass bottle to his lips.
"Nuh-uh-uh," Aryess argued, taking it from him. He gave her an annoyed look, then waved her away as if he couldn't be bothered to put up a fight. "I think you've had quite enough..." Aryess sniffed the liquid and crinkled her nose. "Vodka? Where do you even get this stuff? You're not even old enough to buy alcohol!"
"You're bossy," Alek suddenly inputted, staring at her with something between a glare and a pout.
"He's wight," Nic agreed. "Down't be a bitch and hae a swig a' booowz. Join the hoooooe-down."
"What's a hoooooe-down?" Alek wondered, then hiccuped. He stared wide-eyed at Nic, who returned the astounded look. The next hiccup sent the two into another round of bubbly giggling.
Aryess gave up on trying to understand the situation. "I hope you get awful hangovers," she told them before walking back out of the room, leaving the boys to enjoy their intoxicated antics.