Chapter VIII-

Revenge jumped off the top of the building, Courage right behind him.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Ice Crystal." Revenge said, not breaking his pace as he rounded a corner and pursued the junior ice villain.

The two heroes ended up in a deserted mansion. They could see no sign of the villainess.

A few ice spikes flew out of the darkness and embedded themselves in Revenge's chest. He stumbled back and tossed a dagger blindly into the darkness which was very unlike him. It exploded and Ice Crystal laughed to Revenge's right. Revenge threw exploding daggers blindly until Courage grabbed his wrist.

Revenge stopped and went to turn on infrared.

"Nah-uh, naughty boy." Ice said, tossing an ice crystal at Revenge which shattered against his head.

Revenge turned on infrared and scanned the room. Ice was in the corner. Revenge threw a dagger at her and it exploded, tossing her in front of Revenge. Revenge pulled out his gun, but Crystal threw a crystal at it and the gun jammed.

Courage would've helped Revenge subdue the young ice villain, but she had a handful of her own problems. Lioness had swooped down out of the attic and was swiping at Courage. Courage pulled out her extendable rod and blocked the slices to her torso.

Lioness got in a good sweep and cut Courage's forearm with her claws. Courage clutched the wound, still holding onto her rod. She raised it again, hitting Lioness on the head.

Revenge meanwhile was in a strangling match with Ice Crystal. Both had one hand around the other's throat. Crystal gave in first, letting go and backing away. Both gasped for air. Revenge pulled out A dagger and sliced at Ice. She dodged them all, managing to throw ice crystals at him.

Courage swung at Lioness. Her arm burned, but she sucked in the pain. Lioness was still dazed from the hit earlier, and was merely retreating. She threw a smoke bomb at Courage. It detonated allowing Lioness to clear her head.

Courage twirled the pole around. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." She said. Lioness jumped from the second story and punched Courage in the face. Courage staggered back at the blow. Courage swung her pole at the villainess, but Lioness dodged the swings and pinned Courage to the wall with some blades before running to where Revenge and Ice Crystal were in a stalemate. Lioness swiped at the vigilante.

Revenge groaned as he felt Lioness's claws penetrate the skin on his back. He threw a knife behind him and Lioness ran off.

"What're you going to do now?" Crystal asked with a sneer. "Samuel Grant."

Revenge froze at the sound of his name. He felt the ice shard penetrate the weak spot in between his vest and his neck. He fell to the ground, clutching the wound.

"How-"

"Oh it was easy." Crystal said. "Your not the only one with 'high-tech' gear." She opened her jacket to reveal a tiny camera mounted to her shirt. "I ran facial recognition and found out everything about you."

Revenge gasped as the pain grabbed at him again.

"Oh come on, I was hoping for a better fight." Crystal said, kicking him.

Revenge rolled over on his stomach at the kick and pulled out his back up dagger. 

"Well," Crystal said, picking up one of his weapons. "You end with your own dagger."

Revenge rolled over and threw the dagger. It went right through her jacket, through the camera, scraping against her ice cold skin.

And detonated.

A wave of heat filled the room, raising the temperature fifty degrees. Crystal screamed and collapsed. The heat faded and she stood up wearily, slicing at Revenge.

Revenge dodged it and punched Crystal in the stomach. She gasped. He punched her again. And again. And again. Crystal collapsed to the ground.

Revenge threw Crystal into the wall and slid special handcuffs on her. Courage walked up beside him.

"She's out cold." Revenge said, then looked at Courage. "No pun intended."

The heroine grasped her wounded arm. "But Lioness got away." she said.

Revenge looked at her arm and pulled a bandage out of a pocket on the back of his cape.

"You've got those everywhere." Holly said.

Revenge didn't respond, he wrapped the bandage around Holly's wound and placed it back in the pocket.

"She knows exactly who I am." he said after a quiet moment, not looking up from the downed villain. "She knows my name, where I go to school, everything."

"What are you going to do now?" Holly asked.

"Hang up the cape." Revenge said.

That settled into Holly.

"Wait, you mean you're quitting?" she asked.

"What else can I do?" he asked. "She'll tell everyone who I am and then I'll never be able to operate again."

Holly looked at him and could tell there was a deeper disappointment buried in there, but he wasn't going to show it.

He pulled off his mask and tossed it on the ground in front of the villain.

Holly hesitated. She knew what she was about to suggest was cruel, but it seemed the only way out. Sam certainly wasn't going to trust M'gann to wipe him out of Crystal's memory.

"There is another option." Holly said slowly.

"That is?" Sam asked.

Holly pulled out a vial of green liquid. "Ra's Al Ghul gave me this in case I ever needed it." she said. "It erases the last week of your memory."

"And your going to give that to Crystal so I don't have to put my outfit on display in my garage." Sam guessed, still not looking up.

Holly bit her lip and nodded.

"You would sacrifice that for me?"

Holly nodded.

Sam looked at her for the first time since he had tossed his mask down.

"Do it." he said.

Holly bent down slowly and uncorked the vial. She opened Crystal's mouth and slowly poured it in. She stood up shakily and slid what remained of the vial back into her boot.

Revenge looked at her. He picked up his mask and walked out of the room without a word.

Holly followed him.

"Hey!" she said, pursuing the figure into the street. "You can't just leave after-"

Revenge turned around and grabbed her arms, pulling her lips up against his own. Holly didn't hesitate, as she always had. She simply kissed him. And him back.

Warmth flooded through her as the rain started to come down.

Sam pulled her mask off without breaking the lip contact and brushed her hair back behind her ear.

After a few minutes, the two softly broke apart, gazing at each other. For once, Holly had no regrets or second thoughts. She hadn't hesitated, she had done.

And it felt good.

"So," Holly said, casually. "Does this mean we're together?"

"Yes," Sam said. "And no."

"That meaning?" Holly asked.

"Sam and Holly are together, Revenge and Courage are not."

Holly grinned. "I knew you were going to say that."

Sam slipped on Holly's mask and shot his grappling gun up, hauling her up to the roof. They watched the police arrive and haul a dazed Ice Crystal into the back of a police car. 

Courage looked over and noticed blood on Revenge's chest, marring his logo.

"Your bleeding." she said.

"Don't worry about it." Revenge said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Courage? Are you there?" M'gann asked telepathically.

"I'm here." Courage replied. 

"Where are you? We've searched half the town for you!" M'gann said.

"We were mopping up some unfinished business." Courage said, looking at Sam.

"Okay, well Aqualad said for us all to meet at the airport tomorrow at six." the Martian said, a tone of suspicion in her voice

"We'll be there." Courage said, and hung up.

Sam slipped on a hat and glasses. "Let's go home and change." he said.

"Couldn't think of anything better to do," Courage said, slipping her hand around Sam's waist.

"Mask off, kid." Sam said playfully.

Holly grinned and complied.

"I heard there's this new movie out at the theatre..."

******************************************************

Sam stood on top of his apartment building, looking down at the sprawling cityscape below him. He heard a scream and narrowed in on it. Poor girl was being robbed.

He slipped his cape on and put on his mask, becoming Red Revenge once more. He shot a grappling line off and swung down, cape billowing in the wind, the final pieces of his plan going together in his mind.




TO BE CONTINUED! 
In
Young Justice: Revenge of the Soviets (Book IV)


Next Book: 
Courageous 


Special thanks to everyone for all the positive feedback! Also a thank you to Robin_Love for the title of Courageous!