A/N: Hello everybody! I'm so happy to publish my very first Young Justice story!
I've been in love with the show since it first came out, but I've gotten pretty lazy publishing any fanfiction for it. But fear not, I've got the beginnings of another multi-fic and dozens of finished (but unedited and untyped) oneshots.
Oh! That brings me to my next thought. This is my very first multi-chapter story! HOORAY! Any comments at all, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated. The reviews will also help me decide how often I should update this story (I'm thinking every week, but if no one is reading it I'll take a little more time to edit the chapters).
One more thing about the story before you read it. I changed Artemis's hero name for two reasons. 1) However slow Wally is, he would put together the hero Artemis and the normal girl Artemis in no time flat if they both had the same name. and 2) I thought that Artemis might want to change her name when she went solo, like Dick changing his hero name to Nightwing.
That should be it. Sorry for such a long author's note.
Without further ado, I give you Puzzle Pieces.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN YOUNG JUSTICE. If I did, Wally and Artemis would be the main characters and everything else would be a side plot.
Wally sighed and shot a petulant, green-eyed glare at his best friend, Dick. He didn't know why the black haired boy had insisted that Wally go to the bank with him. It's not like Wally needed a reminder that, while his friend was certainly well-off, he was not so lucky. He did have a full-ride athletic scholarship to Gotham University, but he still needed to work part time to pay for all of his expenses.
"Wally, calm down. Feel the aster. We've only been waiting in line for fifteen minutes." Dick said, answering Wally's unspoken complaint.
"Why did we even have to stop here in the first place?" Wally asked, whining slightly.
"Because," Dick explained patiently, "I have a check. When one has a check, the next step is to cash said check. In return, the fine establishment you've chosen to grace with your check, such as this bank here-"
"Dude, so not what I meant." Wally interrupted.
Dick laughed, stepping up to the clerk's window as the couple in front of them finished. Suddenly, the door burst open and a dozen men ran into the bank, shouting out orders and waving guns around. Wally immediately went pale and dropped to the ground as ordered, pulling a surprisingly reluctant Dick down with him, but not before he saw his friend slip something back into his pocket. The robbers spread quickly and efficiently throughout the room, making it clear that this was no amateur job. Once all the citizens were on the floor and powerless, a lone figure stepped into the bank through the front door.
"Sportsmaster." Wally heard Dick hiss.
Wally started in surprise. Since when did his best friend know any crime bosses? He shot the dark haired man a questioning glance, which Dick ignored, choosing instead to continue glaring at Sportsmaster with undisguised hatred in his eyes. As sneakily as he could, Wally nudged Dick with his elbow, attempting to get his attention so Wally could send him another inquiring look. Unfortunately, Sportsmaster chose that precise moment to look directly at Wally, catching him in the act of nudging Dick.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two little escape birds?" Sportsmaster said, suddenly appearing in front of the two friends and leaving Wally completely baffled about how he had moved so quickly. Dick stiffened at the mention of birds, confusing Wally even more.
"What's wrong," the villain jeered when both young men stayed silent, "villain got your tongue?" His laughing was interrupted when a golden arrow soared through the glass door, shattering it and knocking the gun from Sportsmaster's hands. The first arrow was rapidly followed by three identical arrows that knocked the guns out of three of Sportsmaster's minion's hands.
Behind his mask, Wally saw Sportsmaster's eyes narrow as he turned toward the shattered front door where a young woman was stepping into the girl was dressed in a snug, orange, body length suit. The suit was covered in black stripes, making her resemblance to the tiger she took her name from startling. Her face was covered with a mask the color of her costume, hiding only her eyes and leaving her ridiculously long blonde ponytail in full view. Strapped to her back was quiver of the golden arrows that had preceded her. She was holding her bow in her hand, and arrow notched in the string and her arm was raised to shoot.
"Tigress, how nice of you to drop by." Sportsmaster spat out, sounding as if it was anything but nice to see her.
"I was in the neighborhood." the archer replied, casually shooting the guns out of the three more robber's hands.
"I see you've ditched the green. Did Arrow finally realize how worthless you are?" Sportsmaster said with a smug air about him.
Wally blinked. Worthless? How could anyone think that the smokin' hot babe was worthless? Especially as she continued to shoot the guns out of the remaining thug's hands?
"Nah, I just decided that tiger stripes suited be better than green ever did." Tigress replied nonchalantly, notching another arrow and pointing it directly at Sportsmaster's head.
"Well it looks like the heroes did teach you something after all," the blonde villain said looking around at his defenseless minions, not seeming to mind the arrow being pointed towards him, "but now it's just you and me." He slipped into a defensive position.
"Believe it or not, but I've been waiting to do this for a long time." Tigress retorted, gracefully collapsing her bow and slipping it onto her belt.
Sportsmaster laughed. "Me too."
What happened next was a blur of movement to Wally. Sportsmaster made the first move, running towards Tigress at full speed. Tigress nimbly slipped sideways with only seconds to spare in a move that would have made even the most graceful matador proud. The heroine spun around on one leg and delivered a solid kick to Sportsmaster's side. While the villain was bent over trying to regain his breath, Tigress went in for the final blow to render him unconscious. Her foot swung out, aiming directly for her opponents head. Unfortunately, Sportsmaster seemed to expect this move and grasped hold of her leg inches from his body. Using her momentum against her, the villain swung Tigress around by her foot and released her midair, causing her to sail through the air and smash into the counter right behind Wally and Dick.
Wally turned to stare at the hero with wide eyes, eyes widening even farther when the heroine got up groaning, spit out a mouthful of blood, and said in a voice full of insolence, "Is that all you've got? You've gotten soft in your old age." She shook her head in mock disappointment.
Next to him, Dick chuckled softly.
"Soft? Maybe, but you're still the only one out of us that needs to worry about more than saving their own skin." And with that remark, Sportsmaster pulled a mace out of his belt. The mace was a big, ugly weapon that looked like it belonged in the Dark Ages. The spiked metal ball gleamed deadly in the bank's florescent lighting, taking the focus away from the solid looking wooden handle and the chain connecting the mace to it. Almost faster than the eye could see, Sportsmaster pulled his arm back and sent the chain flying toward the civilian closest to Tigress: Wally.
With a split second reaction time that even Tigress herself was surprised at, she drew the bow out of her belt, snapped it open and shot two arrows simultaneously. The first slipped right through the chain connecting the mace to its shaft of wood and pining it to the ground. The second pinned down the rising figure of his friend, who Wally hadn't even noticed getting up, evidently getting ready to put himself between the mace and his friend. Wally made a surprised noise in the back of his throat, trying to make sense of the face that he had almost died and that Dick was willing to die for him. Not able to accept the facts quite yet, Wally continued to lie on the ground, staring at the mace inches from his face. He vaguely recognized the fact that he was hyperventilating. For some reason it didn't seem like the most important thing at the moment.
"Calm down, Baywatch," he heard a low, feminine voice say. Baywatch? He tried to make sense of the nickname, immediately remembering that he was wearing his lifeguard shirt that day. "I wouldn't let you or your rash friend be killed. Especially not by such a lame villain." the voice continued, now holding a teasing quality.
"Rash?" he heard a familiar voice say indignantly. "That move should be classified as heroic!"
"Maybe in the amateur leagues." the girl's voice, who he could only assume was the masked heroine herself, answered with undisguised amusement in her voice. What was so funny? Wally didn't understand why his friend and the heroine were so amused.
"Amateur?" Dick sputtered.
The last thing Wally heard before blacking out was the bell like tinkle of the masked hero's voice, the sound tickling a long forgotten memory somewhere in the back of his mind.
Please review!
~The Dark Princess