Work Text:
“This must be our fourteenth patrol of the week.”
Victor hums in agreement, walking around the car park scanning each of the walls to make sure there was no bugs or weapons around. Batman sent them some details about what they were supposed to be surveilling—granted neither of them read more than the subject line which was just “ Penguin Drug Trade ” which meant it was going to be nothing but staring and taking pictures but it was still there—and Flash was supposed to check in on them at some point in time. Vic flipped through his comm channels aimlessly, making a mental note of each League member’s location just in case they needed some sort of backup.
They never really did—there was a reason why Batman allowed Billy and Victor to do all their patrols together after all; they got the job done—but it was always better to be safe than sorry.
“Where the hell is Penguin,” Billy sighs, pacing back in forth, “I don’t know about you but two random kids in a car park seem really suspicious and I’m not trying to get jumped today. I just wanna take these pictures and head back to Fawcett so I can go to bed.”
“No difference here,” Vic agrees, thinking back to the school day that they were rudely ripped away from because right before their current patrol they needed to stop a bank robbery thirty miles out in Philly, “We still gotta do the Calculus take-home test—I think it’s due on Wednesday.”
Billy scoffs before putting down his phone and turning to Vic.
“Catch me doing that in first period cause the only obligation I have tonight is to my bed . Bro, I am exhausted .”
“Tell me about it.”
While he appreciated how open and accepting the League was regarding him and Billy still wanting to live the last few years of their teenage lives like regular kids their age (Barry even helped them both with their college essays and took them on tours of whichever school they were interested in) Victor felt that they failed to understand that making them do fourteen patrols a week at the ripe age of seventeen is not exactly what they meant by “teenage experience”. Due to the League, they were way behind in their classes with finals right around the corner and had eyebags larger than the purses Barry bought Iris when she was mad at him.
New Message: [email protected]: Deadline Coming Up: Theory of Knowledge and Extended Essay due TOMORROW
Oh fuck.
“Billy—”
“Vic I think I see some of Penguin’s henchmen or something…either that or some guys are randomly sitting around an abandoned building which is coincidentally the same exact thing we are doing but we are the good guys while they look a bit odd so I’m gonna go on a limb and say that—”
“We can get to that later but…Billy, did you start the extended essay for IB?”
Vic could have sworn that it was impossible—given that as of 97 days ago he was mostly robotic—but he could feel himself getting lightheaded.
Due tomorrow? He knew the theory of knowledge was due soon which was why he and Billy pulled an all-nighter filled with candy, Monster Energy, and Lil Uzi Vert’s entire discography to finish their presentation (Freddy was also in the group but unlike the former two he actually did his work ahead of time) but the extended essay too? His teacher seemed like a reasonable enough woman—why would she ever make a long ass essay due on the same day as an even longer essay?
“English? Nah I thought we still have a few weeks for that. School doesn't end until the 17th of June so we got like—four weeks.”
“I just got an email saying it’s due tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow tomorrow or like—”
“There’s only one tomorrow. Due by start of class tomorrow.”
“Vic please tell me you’re fucking with me. I didn't even start that shit you have to be joking—”
“Will I am being so fuckin’ serious,” Vic says, instinctively running his hand through his hair to be met with cold metal, “We got like…sixteen hours to write a collective eight thousand words . I don't even have a fucking topic!”
“Fuck!” Billy yells. The henchmen look around causing both Billy and Victor to duck against the wall, hoping they didn't just stupidly blow their cover.
“What the hell are we gonna do man,” Billy whispers, “If we fail this essay we fail English. If we fail English we can't graduate. If we can’t graduate we will officially be the stupidest heroes in the fuckin’ League!”
“I doubt Oliver has a college degree,” Vic says, anxiously tapping his fingers against the concrete.
“False equivalence; Oliver could buy both of our colleges in full whereas we are not billionaires .”
“It’s actually a false attribution but I see what you’re saying,” Victor admits.
Vic closes his eyes for a minute, thinking about how they could really go about this situation. They could ask their teacher for an extension but Vic couldn't imagine that Ms. Campbell liked him or Billy that much—this was only the forty-ith time that they forgot about one of her assignments and if Vic was in her situation he would have failed them a long time ago.
He looks over at Billy and raised a single eyebrow as to wordlessly say “ got any ideas? ” but Billy simply let out a deep sigh. Vic took the time to finally stand up, hoping that the men were still there committing illegal activities so Vic and Billy could at least complete one thing right in the day.
“Any action?”
“Still nothing,” Vic sighs, sitting down.
“Okay, what if tomorrow you use your mother box thingamajiggy to bring down the school’s entire FTP server—I mean if you did there’s no way she’d be able to check any of our essays!”
“Wisdom of Solomon my ass,” Vic mumbles, “That is the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“Fuckin’ how ? Do you have a better idea?”
“Everything I do up here,” Vic explains, pointing to his head, “Batman can see in the watchtower. We will get our asses flamed if he fights out we orchestrated a cyberattack on the school that the richest man in Gotham graciously let us into for free!”
“All education should be free I’m not going to kiss Bruce Wayne’s ass for letting me go to school! Fuck Bruce Wayne! I don’t even understand why Batman is friends with that guy—”
“Are you two arguing ?”
Vic and Billy suddenly go quiet; of course Barry would choose now to check up on them.
“We’re peachy,” Billy says, nudging Vic with his elbow, “Right Cyborg.”
“Of course Captain,” Vic mumbles, pulling up some different CCTV feeds on his arm causing Barry to sit between them, “Uh—we know for a fact that the guys work under Penguin but I’m not really sure what they’re doing…nothing’s really happened since we’ve been here and Penguin seems to be late.”
Barry nods, typing something on his phone before slipping it into his back pocket.
“Okay, nice. You guys seem to have a good handle on things, yeah? I’m headed to the Watchtower but ping me if you need anything.”
Before either of them could think of saying goodbye Barry was already gone, leaving a trail of dust and debris.
“I say we go home.”
“Billy are you out of your damn mind—”
“Far from it actually.”
“Batman needs us to watch Penguin. If we leave and Penguin comes back then we might just be complacent in one of the biggest drug epidemics in Gotham City history.”
“Well he should have thought about that before he employed literal children to do his dirty work,” Billy whisper-yells, “I bet Robin gets to do his homework.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you! I would rather be anywhere else than the damn Narrows but we have a job—”
“We also have a life Victor! We have lives and our lives are going to crumble to fucking nothing if we don’t pass IB English!”
“And yet we still have to watch Penguin and protect the lives of Gotham! I feel like you should be the one used to this Mr. Justice-League-Member-Since-Before-He-Could-Count!”
“Real mature Vic but for your information, I was able to count before ten—”
A car came to a halting screech below them, causing Vic and Billy to look out at whoever was making the noise.
“Bro it’s him,” Billy whispered, putting his hood up and pointing at Penguin.
“In the flesh,” Vic agrees.
Using the camera and microphone attached to his eye, Vic started to record the interaction while Billy snapped some pictures on his phone. While they seemed to be speaking in tongues—combined with the fact that Vic still doesn't completely understand the Jersey accent—he was sure that Batman could probably use something in the recording to take him down.
“Ayo Vic, one of the Bats is coming in at 2200”
“Which one?”
“Spoiler.”
“Fuck, let’s dip.”
Vic opened up a boom tube on the ground, checking behind him before ushering Billy in.
“You know maybe if she did that earlier we wouldn't have to beg for an extension—”
“Billy. She has a sword and we look like degenerates hanging around in a car park next to a drug deal…the optics of this whole operation are horrible let's worry about that later .”
✏
“Ma’am we need an extension.”
Billy glared at Vic as to say I’m telling you this isn’t going to work but Vic tried his hardest to ignore him, though the uncomfortable eye contact he was making with his teacher instead was not ideal either.
“Both of you?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Vic watches as Ms. Campbell looks between the two before looking down and typing something on her computer. She lets out a noncommittal sigh and fixes her glasses before looking back at them.
“How long?”
“Until Friday,” Billy says before adding, “ma’am.”
“Friday then,” she says, typing something else on her computer, “However you will be getting 5 points off for being late.”
“Only 5?”
He didn’t expect her to be so generous.
“Would you like it to be 10 Mister Stone?”
“Absolutely not,” Vic says quickly.
“Yeah, we’re good with 5.”
She squints at the two before laughing and shaking her head.
“Alrighty then. Essays in by Friday I’m intrigued to see what you two will come up with.”
Vic and Billy looked at each other before nodding profusely, thanking her a few more times before running out the door.
“That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be,” Vic said, ducking past the students rushing to get to lunch, “I thought she was gonna fail us on the spot!”
“Me too man. I know we are,” Billy looks around the busy hallway before whispering, “ Superheros but sometimes regular human kindness baffles me. She’s super nice.”
Vic nodded in agreement. Usually, they would skip lunch and hang out in the library (Billy hated the constant chatter and so did mother box so it works out pretty well) with occasional visits from Freddy if that day's menu was bad.
“You think Freeman’s gonna show,” Vic asks.
“Probably not. Taco Tuesday.”
While Gotham Prep had a pretty solid lunch menu—it was a private high school with tuition that rivaled that of Princeton University and Duke so a good amount of money came in—their best meal was not the steak and caviar (usually served on Thursdays) but rather their steak tacos. It was nothing to Vic—though he is required to eat he cannot taste anything—however, according to Freddy, Billy, and everyone else with taste buds and a passport the tacos were one of the best they have ever had, second to actual authentic Mexican tacos.
Vic and Billy walk past the librarian, sending her a small wave, before walking to their usual table to find Freddy and some random dude already sitting down.
“Freeman,” Vic says fist bumping Freddy, “Thought you were gonna ditch us for the tacos.”
“Yeah,” Billy says, sitting down, “Heard they made steak and carnitas today. Sounds pretty good.”
Freddy shrugs.
“I’ve had those tacos a million times at this point—”
“—We have only been here for two semesters”
“Vic it was a figure of speech.”
“My bad.”
“As I was saying—me and Tim,” Freddy begins, motioning to the boy next to him, “He’s Tim if you weren't sure.”
“I assumed,” Billy says.
“We wanted to know if you guys wanted to go with us to see the new Batman roller coaster at Great Adventure. The Wayne’s are also throwing a small party at Wayne manor after—you know since Bruce Wayne owns the whole park and everything.”
“That does sound fun,” Vic thinks to himself. Given the upsurge of crime in the tristate area (it’s kind of like how in the ’90s California used to have bank robberies almost every day but instead of the 90s it is 2018 and instead of California they are in New Jersey which is hardly better and instead of bank robberies it is world-ending catastrophes) him and Billy haven’t really had any days off. Going to a theme park sounds fun and actually being inside the huge mansion that Victor and Billy pass on the train sounds even cooler.
But Victor and Billy have a four thousand-page essay to write.