It was quiet and dark in Gotham, which may seem normal comparing to any other city at night, but not Gotham. Gotham's normal is harsh yelling from neighbor to neighbor, cruel comments from people passing by, screams and gunshots from every alley and police sirens as a lullaby. Gotham is like a giant storm, only quiet before the real damage occurs.
That night the hurricane was brewing over the League of Shadows. Every villain, crook and lunatic in Gotham knew what was going down and cleared the streets to make way. It was a special ceremony of the League, an initiation, the youngest daughter of Sportsmaster was to be inducted into the Shadows.
To most villains, the initiation of the League of Shadows was out of their reach due to lack of qualification. The group had strict guidelines; members must be loyal to the death, trustworthy, obedient, covert, and skilled in multiple weapons. Sportsmaster had trained Artemis in archery and hand-to-hand combat to a lesser extent. At age 13, she was set to be given the initiation.
The initiation consisted of four parts and was placed during a mission with another member, in this case it was Cheshire. Artemis would have to infiltrate STAR Labs and steal an important piece of technology unaware of what its purpose was. She would also have to cover Cheshire as she kidnapped one of the head scientists, killing anyone who got in the way. Finally she would have to interrogate the scientist back at headquarters.
At around midnight Artemis and Cheshire began walking on their way to STAR Labs. Both seemed to be wearing a hoodie and sweatpants but underneath Cheshire was wearing her traditional green torn kimono and black knee-high boots with her hood covering her mask while Artemis had chosen to wear a black ninja uniform covering her entire body and had her cross-bow on her back.
"You ready Sis?" Cheshire asked firmly.
Artemis waited a little before she took a deep breath to answer.
"Yeah." She replied with uncertainty. Cheshire simply shrugged her shoulders as they kept walking in silence.
Once they reached STAR Labs, the two quickly ducked behind the building and propelled themselves to the top jumping from the sides of buildings. Once at the top Cheshire allowed Artemis to take lead and allow her initiation to commence. Artemis went over to a skylight on the building and used her cross-bow to carve a hole in the glass before sliding in with her sister following.
Quickly they ducked behind a corner as two guards passed by. After they went, the two girls quickly found the room containing the device they needed as well as the scientist in charge of it. Artemis shot in a gas pellet that quickly caused the woman to lose consciousness. They entered and Artemis gathered the device while Cheshire got the scientist.
As they left, Cheshire leading, six guards arrived to arrest them.
"Artemis, go time!" Cheshire called out as Artemis started to shoot the men. Each shot she took she was careful to make sure she was not killing anyone; she took shoulder and leg shots only. Soon the guards had called for backup and they were way outnumbered. Artemis could not keep up with the numbers and Cheshire had noticed.
"Artemis, pull back!" Cheshire yelled out as she threw the unconscious scientist at the guards. Artemis quickly followed Cheshire out from where they came and into the shadows. The trip back to HQ was quiet. Artemis still had the device, but they no longer had anyone to work it.
As they walked in there was dead silence. Everyone knew that if they did not have the scientist, Artemis could not finish her initiation. WIthout looking at anyone the two girls walked into their father's mission room.
"How did my girls d-" Sportsmaster stopped mid-sentence when he realized the scientist wasn't there. He clenched his fists, "Cheshire leave."
"Sportsmaster don't do this." She replied as she took a step closer to her little sister.
"Jade!" He yelled as she jumped back. Cheshire silently nodded as she left the room. Sportsmaster turned to his youngest daughter, "What happened?"
"There were too many." Artemis stated simply with no emotion.
"Too many huh?" Her father replied angrily, "And of these 'too many,' how many did you kill?" Artemis clenched her fists and spat her words through gritted teeth.
"None."
Before Artemis could register what was going on she felt a fist cross her face and found herself on the ground. She swallowed a little and tasted blood. Before her father could land another hit she quickly got up to defend herself.
"What, you think you can take on your old man, little girl?" Sportsmaster snarled. Artemis quickly relaxed her stance and stood straight. She mumbled under her breath. "What was that?" Her father growled.
"I said, I'm done." With that Artemis turned on her heels and ran out of the room with her father's words looming over her.
"Like anybody else will care about you."
She ran out of the headquarters without stopping to say goodbye to her sister. She kept running until she was into the middle of Gotham, by her old apartment building before she went to live with her father. She looked up at her room when her eyes went wide; there was a light on in the apartment.
Without thinking she ran up the stairs to her door and knocked three times. Slowly the door opened to reveal her mother, Paula, in a wheelchair. Upon seeing her child Paula's eyes widened as if she say a ghost.
"Artemis?" She made out as Artemis nodded her head slowly, tears welling up. Artemis got down to her knees and wrapped her arms around her mother, crying into her shoulder as Paula rubbed her back while silent tears of joy dripped down her face. "Artemis I thought I lost you to the life."
"You did mom, but not anymore, I can't go back, please, I don't want to go back." Artemis managed to make out through sobs.
"Shhh my baby, it's okay, no one will hurt you, I'll protect you." Paula promised as she began to process what happened. "I'll never let them hurt you."