First Fanfic :) It starts out with a little CameronxArtemis BUT I PROMISE IN THE NEXT 1-2 CHAPTERS IT'LL BE SPITFIRE 100% kk? kk :)
"Choose one, baby, your head or your heart,
Is this the game that I have played from start?"
-Mat Kearney | Head or Your Heart
"Hey babe."
Artemis Crock's wet blond ponytail whirled around, whipping her opposite shoulder as it sliced through the air. She could have sworn whoever it was had been right behind her, their impossibly warm breath washing over her neck. Nothing was behind her except for Gotham City's finest dumpsters, their grubby green tackled in bumper stickers, wrappers, and band logos. Her gray eyes cut into the heavy rain and shadows behind her in the alley outside of her apartment before a familiar face showed itself, stepping forward into the dim light of the dying streetlamp above her. In that half a second before the figure let itself be known, a million things raced through her- coursing through her veins, kick-starting her heart, winding through her mind like a dog chasing its tail. She felt her heart skip a beat or two in anticipation. She felt an odd sensation glow deep inside her, sparking like a lit match and barely burning, but definitely there. She had no idea what it was; she was sure she'd never felt it before. It crept through her like fear would, slowly inching up her insides, spreading its odd warmth, and threatening to send shivers cascading down her spine. She decided it felt like a cross between hope and anxiety. Then the face from the shadows became enveloped in the lamp light and the feeling died in an instant, almost as if it had fallen right out of her. It was only Cameron.
She couldn't help the disappointment that pulled at her mouth and sent her eyes glaring. The sudden absence of that...feeling had left her, well, empty. She felt as cold as the damp red bricks of the wall she was leaning against- like the shadows were seeping into the feeling's rightful place inside her and stealing its warmth. Why? She didn't know. What she did know was that for some unexplainable reason she'd expected someone else when she turned around. She had no idea who. It was a stupid thought really. No one else called her 'babe' except for the kind-of-sort-of-boyfriend standing in front of her.
Cameron Mahkent looked like hell on ice. His lip was busted and he had blood frozen in a dribble on his sharp chin. His skin was barely tinted a sickly sort of bluish purple- the color of a corpse, her mind registered every time she saw him- and it was stippled a darker, more gruesome purple around his right eye. His eyes were as bright and blue as ever, though, as they looked at her. Through her, was more like it. Artemis didn't mind though. At least someone was even looking at her at all, which was something she could rarely revel in. His wintry hair was soaking and yet matted with dirt and blood and she could have sworn there was a patch of it missing. She walked over to him with a huff escaping her numb lips and stopped right in front of him, the tips of her boots barely an inch away from his black converse against the wet pavement. She stood there for a moment, sizing him up with her arms crossed, that same angry glare etched into her stormy eyes, the color of the sky above. Cameron looked at her nervously before she rolled her eyes and stood up on her tiptoes, her fingers threading in his hair. She ruffled it up a bit, picking out a large clump of frozen mud that had been bothering her. She felt Cameron's lanky body relax beneath her hands and she pulled back, still glaring at him. He caught her frail gloved hands in his freezing ones and was full-out grinning at her now. She rolled her eyes again but couldn't find it within herself to suppress her responding smile.
"What," she demanded, still slightly angry at him for getting himself beat up, "happened to you?"
Cameron laughed shakily in response, squeezing her hands. She wanted to pull out of his grasp from fear of frostbite, but thought better of it for his sake and let it be. She could live without her fingers. Well, her father would kill her if she couldn't use her bow or punch the life out of someone. On second thought, maybe frostbite wouldn't be such a bad idea…
"Screwed up like I always do and one of Dad's thugs thought I needed to learn a little something or another. Dad agreed." Cameron's eyes turned as cold as his skin and Artemis fought her strong urges to look away.
"You could've fought back idiot," she muttered, a hint of concern lacing her voice, tugging of her glove by the tips and tracing her fingertips lightly over the bruise blooming around his eye.
"You know that's not true," he whispered back, his icy eyes falling to their feet.
It was true- she did know better. If Cameron ever stood up against one of his father's friends, his dad would be embarrassed and probably disown Cameron. The kid couldn't do anything right even if he tried- either he took the beating and looked like a poor excuse for a man in his father's eyes, or stood up for himself and fought back, only to deprive his father of one of his friends and then be shunned. He never had a chance to begin with.
Artemis could feel the anger rolling off in waves off of Cameron and decided to change the subject.
"So why did you call me here? What's so important that I'm standing in the freezing cold Gotham rain, practically taking a shower?"
Cameron straightened up immediately, a cat-like smirk tugging at his sharp features.
"So what you're saying is that I'm showering with you right now?"
Artemis scoffed and smacked him on the shoulder before turning away from him and crossing her arms again, huffing in irritation. She was still smiling broadly though, not even bothering to hide it any more.
"Okay, okay," he laughed, "I'm sorry. I called you out here because we," he grabbed her shoulders and spun her around so she was facing him, touching his forehead to hers, "have been assigned a mission by your dad."
Artemis instantly felt her mildly good mood die out like a blown-out flame. She usually was excited to take on a Target. It meant her dad was actually going to treat her like an adult for once and let her make her own choices and call all her own shots. But tonight- no, tonight was somehow different. She didn't know what it was. Maybe all this damn rain that haunted Gotham non-stop had managed to wash away all her sanity, or maybe her conscience was finally catching up to her after all these years of being a cold-blooded killer. It was unnerving though. She'd never felt like this when it came to an Assignment- like her stomach was seizing with nerve-wracking, heart-stopping, mind-spinning butterflies the size of soccer balls. Get it together Artemis, she scolded herself internally. You're not ruining all you've worked for after all these years because of a stomach ache.
"Really?" she asked, fake-curiously, slapping a small grin on her face. Cameron didn't seem to notice. "What's the story?"
Cameron made a 'tsk' noise with his tongue and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.
"No clue Kitten. Daddio wouldn't let loose any juicy details about our little mission. He just said, and I quote, 'Just come to the subway tonight at nine sharp and everything will be explained. Don't be late. You two won't get another chance.' "
"Huh," was all she could say, her eyes glossing over as her brain whirled in thought. Too bad she couldn't make out any of the thoughts rushing in and out of her mind as they zoomed past at the speed of light. She had a horrible feeling about this. Something about this wasn't right. Her heart kept doing these little flips and spasms and her airways suddenly felt like they were being super-glued together then reinforced with a needle and thread. She tried to swallow but found she couldn't and everything around her began to feel cramped and distorted, Cameron's grip on her hand suddenly like scissors wrapped around her fingers. She jerked back in surprise, pulling her hand away, and Cameron starred at her quizzically and like she was crazy, one of his eyebrows arched at her.
"You alright there babe?" he asked gingerly, afraid of her answer. Artemis blinked up at him dumbly for a moment before shaking her head. Everything was fine now. A huge wave of air rolled through her and she put on a smile, rubbing her neck in embarrassment. Yep. Her conscience was definitely screwing with her now. Well then.
"Yeah, just had…" she wracked her brain for anything mildly plausible to say. "…the hiccups." Really? That was the smartest thing in her head. Oh my god I need help…
"Oh. Okay." Aaaaaand he didn't notice. Of course. Always the observant one, that Cameron. Sometimes she wondered whether he was in the right line of work. She never voiced her concerns though. That would destroy him. To know that his best friend since birth and now kind-of-sort-of (they hadn't really talked about it. He'd just sort of kissed her the other night and assumed they were together) girlfriend thought of him just like his father and everyone else he hated did? That would destroy him.
"What time is it?" she asked out of nowhere, suddenly very aware of the seconds as they passed by, ending without meaning and shattering into oblivion. It only took that one second that actually did matter to change everything. She was about to find that out the hard way.
"It's…" Cameron trailed off, lazily picking up a pale bluish arm to check his chunky black watch, "eight forty-seven."
"Eight forty-seven? Nononononononono!" she hissed frantically, grabbing Cameron's wrist and tugging him harshly behind her as she started sprinting off to the subway station. It was at least a fifteen minute jog, and if she knew her father-which she was pretty sure she did-he would kill them if they were a measly half-a-minute late. Maybe even literally too…
After about two miles she was starting to get tired. What she'd give for some super speed right now…
They skidded to a halt at the foot of the stairs, bent in half and clutching their knees, desperately trying to gather their air and compose themselves before meeting with the League of Shadows. They already worked hard enough to try and prove that they were not indeed children and were almost equals with their superiors-they didn't need to go in their hacking up their lungs after a run. Yeah, that would definitely not look good on their part.
Once they had their breathing down, they straightened themselves out and began to descend the stairs down into the subway tunnel. As soon as the toe of Artemis' boot touched that first step down, a shot of cold fear shot through her like she'd been shot by lightning. Her body became ridged and paralyzed and she began to teeter towards the ground. She would have stumbled down the stairs in a heap too if Cameron hadn't caught her. She came to life at his touch and grasped his icy airs for dear life. He laughed lightly at her, his bursts of breath ruffling her golden hair.
"S'alright, I got you."
"I'm fine," she huffed for the hundredth time that night before pulling herself out of his arms and standing up arrogantly, yanking at her collar before standoffishly stomping down the rest of the steps. Underneath all her irrational (yes, she knew she was being irrational, thank you very much) anger that fear still resided, hiding in her stomach, all coiled up and twisting her nerves with it. What scared her more was that spark from earlier, that worrisomely comforting warmth of hope and anxiety mashed together, was buried beneath it all. It had short through her and brought the fear dragging behind it. No. This was all wrong. Something was terribly wrong. But what was it? It's just another Assignment, that's all. Just another Assignment. She kept trying to reassure herself, repeating the words in her head over and over again.
"Are you sure you're okay Kitten? You seem a little… I don't know, off I guess," Cameron said, suddenly right behind her, his arm snaking around her waist. She jumped in surprise, the wrong kind of shivers rolling grotesquely down her spine and cascading throughout her whole body right down to the fingertips before stopping. Even Cameron felt wrong. What was with her? This was getting ridiculous. Just turn it off Artemis, she thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut briefly in concentration. Turn off all the pain and the emotions. It's easy. You've done it before. That's what got you into this whole mess, remember? Just turn it off…
And she did it. She opened her eyes and the feelings were gone. She'd deceived herself again into thinking that it was just as simple as 'turning it off'. Too bad she knew better. She'd let it catch up to her later. Right now she had a job to do.
"Yes Cameron, I'm fine," she said a bit harshly, turning in his arms to face him with a wicked smirk on her lips. "Just a bit nervous to be in front of them again," she lied. He nodded in understanding. He knew who she spoke of. The League of Shadows.
"Let's just get it over babe. The sooner, the better," he said, speaking of meeting with the League again. The sooner, the better. The words echoed sinisterly in her mind. To him it meant the League, but to her those words described their Assignment. The sooner it's over, the sooner I get to crawl into my bed and put this awful night behind me, and hopefully bury that damn conscience down with it, she wagered to herself.
Artemis nodded in agreement. Cameron offered a hand to Artemis and she for once gladly took it, lacing her fingers in between his cold ones. It felt…odd. But at least she could tell herself she wasn't alone. He's at blame for what's about to happen to, a dark voice whispered inside of her. Artemis blinked in surprise and almost stopped dead in her tracks. Where did that come from? She had no earthly idea. Well, she didn't exactly have an unearthly idea either, but that's beside the point.
Within a minute or so they rounded a corner and came face to face with the League of Shadows. Black Spider, Sensei, Professor Oja, Hook, Ra's al Ghul, and her own father-not actually a member anymore, although he kept ties- stood before them. The only member missing was, of course, Cheshire-which she was totally fine with, or so she told herself.
"Nice of you to join us," Black Spider sneered. Artemis wanted so badly to go over and deck him right in his ugly purple (purple? Seriously?) face, but pulled it together in front of her father. Cameron was also there to hold her back, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Well, isn't that just touching?" Professor Oja drawled sarcastically, his mask focused on their intertwined hands. Artemis sent a silent but deadly glare his way.
"Enough," he father said calmly but firmly. Everyone fell quiet. Er, even quieter than they were before, which meant dead silence.
"Now, you both know why you're here," he said, turning now to the two teenagers, his brown eyes dark behind his mask.
It wasn't a question, but the two nodded anyways. One of the villains snickered behind them. Artemis forced herself to ignore their immaturity. If she wanted this life she had to be better than them all to get it. The weird thing was that tonight she had begun to doubt whether she in fact did want this life.
"Good. So you are both aware that we have assigned you a target. You are to work together to bring the target down and finish it all off. Not a drop of blood is to remain at the scene and you two are to act like our namesake- like shadows-and slip in and out of their and back into the night. This could quite possibly be the most important mission of either of your entire lives, so do not let it go to waste. It should be held at all times with the utmost importance; no distractions will be tolerated," he sent the two of them a pointed, knowing look and Artemis bowed her head to hide her blush. This was her own father. What kind of girl did he think she was? "More important to you, I suppose, is the fact that this is basically an initiation mission into the League of Shadows. Complete this task successfully and you will be able to call yourselves members."
Artemis' heart stopped cold. Her body went numb and she could tell her tan skin had gone white as a sheet. The doubts were stronger than ever now, surging through her thoughts like tidal waves and knocking everything else out of range. Would she be happy after tonight? Would this dread ever really leave her? Why did everything feel so wrong when she should feel so elated? And lastly the big question: was this really what she wanted? After all these long, hard, isolated, lonely years of depending solely on herself and trying to bring her family back together by earning that position in the League of Shadows, was this what she, Artemis Crock, really, truly, honestly, wanted?
She snuck a peek sideways at her kind-of-sort-of boyfriend. He looked happier than she'd ever seen him in her entire life. She was shocked. Cameron was actually happy. Sure he could be smug or content, or even just cheeky, but she had never seen him truly, blissfully, happy. It made her feel a little better-gave her that little boost of confidence she needed. If Cameron was happy with this, she could be too. So she pushed away all the 'wrong' feelings to the back of her mind and shoved them in a box labeled 'later' that was already almost overflowing. It was what she was best at- pushing the hard stuff away to deal with later, only later never came. She knew one day it would all overflow and came back around to bite her, but she didn't care. As long as that moment wasn't now, she was okay with it.
"Who's the target?" she spoke up, surprised at how strong and cool her voice sounded in comparison to how she felt. She hoped impressed hi- them. She hoped it impressed them. She could care less about her father.
"Tigress and Icicle Jr., before the League diverges to you secret intell, you must swear on your very own lives that you will not fail. If you do, the outcome will be bleak for the two of you," her father said, looking specifically at Artemis grimly. So he though she couldn't handle it huh? After all these years of not caring now he was suddenly making bets? No. An angry fire seized hold of her and her eyes glowered menacingly at him.
"We swear to take up your Assignment and your secrets," she hissed the word, "and that if we fail our may our League initiations be revoked and our lives paid as debt," she spoke for the two of them, catching Cameron's look of bewilderment at her out of the corner of her eye.
"Very well then." Was it just her, or was the vicious Sportsmaster's voice now quieter? His eyes seemed colder and dimmer than before too. Maybe it was the crappy subway lighting… Artemis wasn't stupid though. She knew better. "Your target is one of the Justice League's little sidekick pets." All the villains present snickered at the term. Sidekicks were a joke to the Underbelly of Gotham. They were like a prequel no one wanted to deal with- let them get on with the real thing.
Artemis became overwhelmed. That box she'd labeled 'later' was bursting at the seams, unleashing Pandora's Box onto her silently and swiftly like an assassin all its own. That mere spark from before of intense warmth and mixed feelings had exploded into a flame now, burning through her like never before. Dread was pumping straight to her heart, making it beat like her life depended on it. Anxiety was frying her nerves and making her sick, those soccer-ball-butterflies now one giant dinosaur butterfly whose wings were scraping her insides. She's never felt this bad before. What was worse was the fact that she had no idea what she was feeling. It felt like a mix of everything: fear, anxiety, stress, nervousness, panic, dread, adrenaline. All of the bad things you could possibly feel had managed to culminate into one gigantic, pulsating, nearly lethal poison that contaminated her veins and went straight to her head. She kept feeling this presence on the other side of her where Cameron wasn't. It felt remarkably similar to déjà vu, but she just knew it wasn't. She'd never felt anything close to this before. It was warm like a fever and made the hair on her arms stand up. It was pressed up tight against her and made her feel impossibly claustrophobic, which was strange since she wasn't claustrophobic at all. All the feelings weighing down on her and pressuring her entire body made her want to burst into tears. Oh my god I'm losing it. I'm done for. This is what it feels like to be crazy.
Somehow she knew that was a lie though. As dramatic as it sounds, all this just gave her an unbelievable sense of impending, inevitable, disastrous doom. That alarm of 'something's wrong' was buzzing through her like a live wire now. She was on her toes as she waited for her father's downcast and for once slightly unconfident response. Who was this person who was bringing all the worst out in her? Why did she suddenly care so much?
"He goes by the alias 'Kid Flash', member B03, and is both Flash's nephew and sidekick. His real name, however, is Wally West, and you are to eliminate him upon first sight, no questions asked."
A/N: sooooo... how was it? Not too awful right? Right? *crosses fingers* Reviews would be lovely :) And yes, I just said/typed lovely ;)
