Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice!
A/N: This story makes references to my two other YJ stories, Mark on His Heart and Till We Meet Again. I don't believe you NEED to read them to understand but it's better if you do. As always ENJOY!
A blonde girl snuck out of her bedroom window. She had her hair up in a pony tail and a black domino mask donning her face. She wore a simple full black body suit with a quiver of arrows on her back and an bow in hand. She was off to fight bad guys again for the second week in a row. She's been good at not getting caught by the batman and boy wonder, or she feels she'd have hell to pay, she IS invading on their turf, but hey it's her town too!
She snuck to the roof then jumped to the one right next to it; she kept this up until she was on the right building, the one adjacent to Gotham National Bank. She was sitting there for a few hours patrolling until it happened. An explosion came from the door of the bank and three robbers came barreling out with loads of cash. She took a quick aim and shot her arrow that exploded into a net that held two of them to the ground. The third robber looked towards the building and then starting running in the opposite direction. She quickly shot another arrow to propel herself down the side of the building and ran to catch up to the robber. By the time she caught up he was at a dead end, knife pulled and ready to attack. Typical. The girl placed her bow on the ground and got ready for the full on attack that she knew was coming. The man charged at her like a bull at rodeo clown and she quickly dodged his attacked grabbed him to spin him around and kick him in the gut. He went down easily. Too easy.
She pulled out a piece of rope and got ready to tie the robber's hands together so he was in a neat little package when Batman showed up. "This was too easy of a night" she muttered to the robber, "I was hoping for a little bit of a challenge"
"A challenge, you say?"
She froze when she heard of the deep voice behind her and slowly turned to face the Dark Knight himself. She immediately put her hands up to show she wasn't the bad guy.
"Are you the one who's been causing all this commotion?" He asked arms crossed
"I guess you can say that" She said with a little laugh in her voice
"What's your name?"
"Are we trading now?" she asked smartly hands still in the air
Batman glared at her, "No"
"I'm not a superhero" she started taking her hands out of the air, "I don't have a name, just a nobody"
"With skill like that you are not a nobody"
"Yeah? Well I am" she stated leaving almost as if leaving no room for discussion and crossed her arms over her chest.
The two stood in silence starring at each other, well glaring.
"Come with me" Batman demanded turning slightly to leave
"Yeah right!" Artemis exclaimed throwing her arms in the air, "Sorry Batman, my mother always taught me not to go with strangers, and you're as strange as they come"
The Dark Knight didn't look amused, "I have an offer to make you Artemis, but you need to come with me to hear it out"
She did a double take. "You knew who I was all along?"
"Of course, you're Artemis Crock, daughter of Huntress and Sportsmaster" he said like it was public knowledge
"And you're taking me somewhere to lock me up for information about my dad, huh? I can tell you right now I don't know where he is nor do I care"
"I'm not after your family, the league is after you"
"Me?!" She all but shouted "What did I do? I'm doing good to Pete's sake!"
"Not after you as in after you, as in wanting you on our side. Now if you'll come with me, I'll have Robin clean up this mess"
Batman and Artemis walked into Mount Justice to see Green Arrow and Black Canary waiting for them. Green Arrow smiled and walked up first.
"This is Green Arrow and Black Canary" Batman introduced
"Hello Artemis" Green Arrow greeted her
'"Sweetheart, you're holding it wrong" words resonating in her head, she quickly shook her head of it.
"I've see you both on the news. You guys are truly amazing." Artemis greeted
"I'll leave this up to you Arrow" Batman said leaving the room
"Alright I'll make this simple." Green Arrow started standing in front of Artemis, "We have a new team, a junior justice league if you will and we would like you to be a part of it. You would be under my guidance and you would become my new protégé. I'll train you to become an absolute expert in your shooting. Not that you aren't now but we'll hone your weakness and make them strengths and Canary here will train you as well as the rest of your league in combat. What do you say?"
Artemis started laughing "You're kidding right?" When Green Arrow and Black Canary didn't say anything she stopped laughing, "Hello! Don't you know who my parents are? I could be getting all this info right now just to tell my father."
"You're not like that. You never wanted to be." Green Arrow said knowingly with a secretive smile
"Still the team wouldn't trust as far as they can throw me." She crossed her arms over her chest "My parents are an obvious dark spot on my record"
"Then we'll say you are my niece."Arrow suggested mimicking her and crossing his arms over his chest "They wouldn't believe that you're my daughter but niece should work nicely. After all, we look a bit a like" Arrow said pulling off his hood and taking off his mask.
"Well while you're with me, we'll say you're my daughter, how about that?"
"I'm Oliver Queen and you're Artemis Crock my niece. What do you say?"
"We'll also get you a uniform and a Superhero name" Black Canary added "I doubt you want to be dressed like that when you meet the team"
"I threw together what I had" Artemis said with a laugh "Fine, I'll do it"
August 4th
Over the last couple weeks Artemis has been coming to Queen Manor to train with Green Arrow. She's been enjoying her time here training and hanging with someone who actually has her interests in mind. It reminded her of the time when she was younger and he helped her out. One of the only bright spots of her childhood, but she'd never bring that up to him, he's a superhero, he's helped numerous there's no way he remembers one little girl he helped out 10 years ago.
But like every week she found herself in the training room at Queen Manor in star city sharpening her arrows, getting ready for her training session with GA, when Green Arrow himself came in.
"Hey GA, what's- oh" Artemis started but stopped when she saw that he was holding her arrow in his hand. The one from the mission she went on when she wasn't supposed to. Opps.
"'Oh' indeed Artemis"
"What? I was on the way here when-" Artemis started to explain but Green Arrow gave her a look, "I WAS!" she defended then continued, "Then I saw them fly into Gotham Academy and I just wanted to see what the team was going to be like. And you should be thanking me for saving Kid Flash's life!" Artemis finished by folding her arms
"Batman told you to stay under the radar." Arrow said his expression serious "He's not happy with you."
"When is he ever happy?" Artemis gritted out
Ollie broke his serious expression into a smile and laughed, "You can never tell with that guy"
"How unhappy are you?" she asked sounding more apologetic
"Me?" Arrow laughed "I couldn't be prouder. It's something I probably would've done" Artemis smiled, "but that doesn't mean Batman will let you off so easily next time if you disobey him."
She raised an eyebrow, "Let me off easily?"
"He thinks you're ready to join the team."
"Really?!" Artemis all but screeched, barely able to hold in her excitement she's been waiting for weeks to join and now she can "When?"
"In a few days" He said rubbing his goatee "I'll prep you till then"
Artemis ran up to hug him. To say he was shocked was an understatement. He wrapped his around her as well. "You're going to do great sweetheart" She hugged him tighter.
August 8th
Artemis watched out the back window of the mountain watching her teammates have fun at the beach. Well most of them, she was informed Kid Flash was missing because he started school today. She gave a little laugh his name. Seems like everything is coming full circle in her life.
"What do you think Artemis?" Ollie asked coming to stand beside her
"This whole thing" She started to explain how she felt but shook her head barely finding the words to really explain how she felt, "it's surreal. When I was younger I didn't think it-this," she gestured to her costume, "would be possible, that I would be standing here to join a team of superheroes."
Ollie out a hand on her shoulder, "Your room is set up here. Decorate it the way you want, on late night mission you will be staying here. I don't want you walking the streets of Gotham at night"
Artemis gave him a look of 'are you serious?'
"Hey! I worry, not that you can't handle it, let's just not venture down that path."
She sighed, "Ok, and you promise my linage is a secret?"
"Pretty much so. There's only a couple leaguers that know you lineage, but none of your new team. That is until you tell them"
"You mean IF I tell them" She said darkly
"Hey what's with everyone here?" A new voice asked
Artemis and Ollie turned to see the team coming in from the beach. They all stopped and starred at the girl in the green attire next to Green Arrow. Most with puzzling looks on their faces.
"Go change, then we'll explain" Batman said to the team
The team raced off and was back rather quickly wanting to know the identity of the new girl in the mountain. M'gann was the last to re-arrive and they all stood around.
"This is Artemis, she's the new member to your team starting today"
"Nice to meet you" Artemis said
The team was silent for a moment, unsure how to take the new information. There was no previous news about someone else joining their team.
"Recognized: Kid Flash B-03" The computer chained out breaking the silence in the room
Artemis looks towards the Zeta Tubes, and she could hear him before she can see him
"Wallman is here!" He materialized, he was decked out in swim trucks and seem to have tons of beach accessories with him, "Now Let's get this party sta-" He tripped and fell flat on his face and slides a few feet before looking up at the group and sighed, "ted"
He looked exactly like she remembered just older. Artemis couldn't help herself, "Wallman, huh? I love the uniform, what exactly are your powers?"
"Uh… Who is this?" Wally asked when he got back on his feet gesturing to the green clad girl
"Artemis, you're new teammate" She said proudly
"Kid Flash, never heard of you"
Artemis's smile dropped a bit, so he didn't remember either. Green Arrow came up and put a hand on her shoulder, "She's my new protégé"
"What happened to your old one?" Wally exclaimed
"Recognized: Speedy B-06" The computer interrupted
"Well for starters he doesn't go by Speedy anymore, call me Red Arrow" Roy materialized and starting walking in towards the group
'How original' Artemis thought sarcastically
Everyone was silent for a moment before Green Arrow quickly took his hand off Artemis, "Roy!" he said seemly excited to see his ex-protégé, "you look-"
"Replaceable" Roy cut in glaring at Artemis, who was just watching Green Arrow's reaction
"It's not like that, you told me you were going solo" Green Arrow explained
"So why waste time trying to find a sub. Can she even use that bow?"
Artemis had it, she's not going to let this Green Arrow Wannabe knock down her skills. "Yes! She can!" She got into Roy's face and glared at him daring him to try and tell her otherwise.
"Who are you?" Wally cut in
"I'm/She's his niece" Artemis and Green Arrow said at the same time
Robin giggled slightly, "Another niece?"
"But she's not your replacement" Kaldur said trying to calm the waters between everyone, now she can see why he's the leader. "We've always wanted you on the team and we have no quota on archers"
"If we did, you know who we'd pick" Wally supply
Artemis was getting annoyed, some welcome wagon these new teammates are, "Whatever Baywatch. I'm here to stay" she promised
"You came to us for a reason" Kaldur said deciding to change subjects
"Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette"
Artemis watched as Robin's eyes lit up at the name and pulled out the little computer on his arm. "Nano robotics genius at royal university in Star City. Vanished two weeks ago." He informed the team
"Abducted two weeks ago" Roy corrected, "by the League of Shadows"
"Whoa! You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?" Robin asked seemingly giddy at the idea of it
"Hardcore" Wally said soundly equally as excited as the two shared a fist bump
"I already rescued her." Roy informed, "Only one problem: she shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the FOG. Comprised of million microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators, capable to disintegrating anything in their path: concrete, steel, flesh, bone, but its true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen Intel to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense and cutting edge science and tech..."
"Perfect for extortion manipulation, power broking" Artemis cut in getting the gist of what Roy was telling them. She knows the Shadows too well thanks to her dad, "yeah sounds like the shadows."
"Yeah, like you know anything about the shadows" Wally smarted off
Artemis smirked at him, if only he knew.
This seemed to make Wally more pissed, "Who are you?"
Roy ignored them and continued on, "Roquette is working on a virus to make the Fog inert"
"But if the Shadows know she came do that…" Robin joined in getting where this mission as going to be heading
"They'll target her" Roy finished "Right now she's off the grid. I stashed her at a local high school computer lab"
"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked a bit outraged
"She's safe enough for now"
"Then let's you and I keep her that way" Green Arrow suggested walking up to Roy. Artemis felt a twinge of jealousy as she looked away from the scene
"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?"
Batman put his hand on Green Arrow's shoulder, who seemed to snap back to the reality of what was going on. That this was supposed to be Artemis's chance to meet and work with the team. Artemis was his main priority now, not Roy. "You brought this to the team. It's their mission now, which means it's hers as well"
Roy scoffed, "Then my job is done" And he left the cave
"Go get ready, everyone meet at the bioship in 10" Kaldur commanded and everyone went to get ready, except Artemis who stood there watching where Speedy was.
Green Arrow went up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, they were silent for a moment until Artemis spoke, "I wasn't expecting a warm welcoming but I was expecting better than cold fish" she complained.
"It's to be expected, you're new" Green Arrow sighed
"Yeah, you and speedy didn't help either!" she accused turning around to glare at him
"I'm sorry about that, but you stood your ground with him, like I knew you would. Batman and I wouldn't have wanted you for the team if we didn't think you could handle it, trust me. Just show them that you belong here and they'll accept you"
"Easier said than done" she muttered
"Good now go." Pushing her in the right direction, "We'll do some patrolling tomorrow, meet at the manor"
"Got it!" she yelled over her shoulder heading toward where the bioship was located
Artemis laid down on her new bed at the cave after the mission, her room was plain but at least she had a bed and comforter. She heard a knock on the door and without permission Green Arrow stuck his head in.
"Can I come in?"
"Why do you ask, when you're just going to anyway?"
He chuckled "That's true." He walked into the room and closed the door behind him and crossed the room and sat next to her lying form. They stayed in silence for a few moments, "How'd it go?"
"Well they accepted me I guess." She muttered from her spot of laying down, "I've been welcomed to the team"
"That's great Artemis" Green Arrow said pride lining his tone
"Yeah…" she sighed, "So is seeing my sister as an assassin"
"What?"
"Yeah, the one who got away is Jade, because my life can't get anymore screwed up than it already is!" she used her arm to cover her eyes.
"Relax, it's all going to work out"
"If you say so" she muttered still disbelieving
"I do say so" he grabbed her arm and lifted her into a sitting position, "tomorrow is an on call day for you all, so you guys are to stay around the cave. How about I come over and we go get you a couple things to decorate your room?"
Artemis smiled as she was reminded of her past, "I don't have anything for you to change into, but we'll go shopping after you eat."
"Yeah, I'd like that" She said softly
"Then you can get to know your new teammates" he added with a toothy grin
"Joy." She said sarcastically
He bumped his shoulder against hers, "You'll learn to love them"
"Yeah, yeah"
"Now you need to get home." Green Arrow said standing up and holding out his hand to help her up, "Tomorrow meet at my manor and we'll go out shopping, my treat" she took his hand and she helped her up
"It's your wallet"
He chuckled putting his arm around her, "Don't worry Sweetheart, you won't break my bank"
"Oh but I'll try" Artemis laughed
"I bet you will, now go! I'll see you tomorrow"
She smiled and started her way to the Zeta Tubes. As she did she saw her teammates as it seemed they were saying their goodbyes to each other. M'gann looked her way and waved, "Bye Artemis!"
"Bye guys" She smiled at them as they all waved back saying good bye.
'This might not be so bad after all' she thought as she got in the Zeta Tube and headed to Gotham
A/N: To be honest I'm not sure how I feel about this story. I wasn't even going to post it, but I want to post another Arrow Family fic I wrote but I couldn't in good conscious do that without posting this one first. Also I love Artemis, she's my favorite character so I felt the need to post it.
If you want me to continue writing YJ/Arrow Family fics, let me know! And let me know how you guys like this one. Like i said, I don't feel it's my best but I tried to rework it so many times and I feel this is the best it will get. Thanks for reading!