Hey Guys! I know it's been a hot minute since I've posted anything. Life has been getting in the way of fic writing. Here's another installment for the Tigress Au oneshot series. I hope you all enjoy!
Artemis was never one to ask questions, hell, she was paid not to. Though on this occasion she had a quite few inquiries resting on the tip of her tongue. Why her client was paying her two hundred grand just to scare some second-rate congressman was beyond her, but hey, money was money. And for such an easy job, it'd be stupid to turn such a thing down.
Her mark was set to attend one of the many annual fundraiser galas held in Keystone city. Artemis had been to so many of these things she didn't bother to pay attention to what they were about. The tickets usually came from the client, and this case was no exception. This one she was pretty sure had something to do with some sort of historical society she cared nothing about. Finding an evening gown was easy enough and she could have probably planned the whole thing in her sleep. The event was low security, and most likely Flash free, unless he had a thing for dusty old buildings and crown molding. There was no way that this gig was not going to be a cake walk. Artemis smiled to herself as she entered the ballroom. They didn't even use a metal detector on her. This was going to be too easy!
It was an older ballroom, probably one of the oldest in Keystone from the looks of it. The gala was black tie attire, but in no way considered a high security event. Why someone had hired the infamous Tigress instead of any old rookie off the street (that could probably get the job done for half of the price in all honesty) was beyond her. When she got the call about the job she had pretty low expectations, but hoped for somewhat of a challenge. Though now that she had arrived to the venue Artemis found herself terribly disappointed. Not that she would let a little disappointment rain on her parade. This was a chance for some easy money, which was something she always welcomed with open arms.
She quickly made her way to the off-limits balcony area on the second floor and slipped into her suit. All that was left was for her mark to arrive. She had a feeling that the wait would not be long as she watched the stream of guests enter the room. Artemis happily hummed to herself as she waited for her prey to arrive. However, her good mood quickly soured as she spotted the red-headed thorn in her side amongst the patrons when she scanned the room. This had most certainly been a surprise, especially because this gala wasn't what she would consider something that Wally would be into. Though with a closer look she realized she might not be far off with her initial assessment, as the speedster looked rather disinterested as he stood next to an older redheaded woman whom Artemis figured to be a relative of some sort.
His presence worried her slightly, but not too much. She'd dealt with Wally in the field before, she could most certainly handle him now. She had no doubt in her ability. This whole thing was child's play and no one would expect her to be at this sort of thing, even the great Flash. Artemis figured if she executed the grab properly she had a large chance of catching the Scarlet Speedster with his pants down. The mere thought of that brought a smile to her face. Now she knew now was probably not the best time to be cocky Artemis had found a way to make this grab and dash even more interesting. From the moment she had set her sights on the large chandeliers on the ceiling. They were the kind you could make a damn good entrance on, and that's exactly what she planned to do. Forget catching the Flash with just his pants down, she was going to knock his sock off too. Perhaps it was somewhat childish, but Artemis had always wanted to make an entrance on a chandelier.
Now all that was left to do was wait for the poor congressman to get into position. It didn't take long. Tigress watched as the middle aged man made his way around the room greeting other patrons. She waited until he was within her range before she pulled out her grappling gun and propelled herself onto the giant crystal fixture. She stuck the landing with a practiced grace and made quick work of cutting the ropes to begin her descent. Wally did not take long to notice the commotion, and he did not look amused when he realized who was the source. Artemis couldn't help but smile as she rode the chandelier down. She gave Wally a quick salute before jumping off of the chandelier and somersaulted into a perfect landing at the feet of her mark. The look on the fool's face was perfect.
The flying shards of crystal did not seem to bother Tigress as she snatched her target by the collar. The poor man was sweating bullets. Not that she cared. As far as she knew the man deserved what he had coming. Though she really was not in a position to judge. Without a beat of hesitation she released her smoke grenades and headed toward her exit under the cover of darkness.
She made her escape without so much of a hitch. The fog she released in the ballroom was dense enough that even the flash would be hopeless without his suit. Though she did not wait around for him to show up and chase after her. She wasn't that dumb, or cocky.
It probably took less time to scare the congressman than it did to capture him. As soon as she pulled out her sword she had his undivided attention, (and probably an immediate desire for clean underwear judging by the smell.) The message was a simple one. He had messed with the wrong people and meddled in the wrong affairs. Not such an uncommon thing when it came to politicians to say the least. It was not her first rodeo with this kind of job, and she knew it would not be the last. Politicians would never change, and as a result, she would never go out of business.
Artemis left him on the doorstep of some police precinct with her employers flash drive taped to his forehead, as instructed. She briefly wondered what this guy did to deserve the wrath of her employer. This was Kansas after all, even a US congressman shouldn't be able to incur the wrath of someone like her. She didn't do much research before her mission, but from what she read on her target he was barely what she would call an incumbent congressman. Maybe two or three terms in at best, but somehow he had made enough enemies already, or had a particular talent for pissing the right people off.
She was three blocks away when her phone chimed with the notification that the rest of the money was transferred into her account. Artemis frowned. While she was glad she was a couple hundred thousand dollars richer, she felt like it was almost undeserved after how smoothly the task went. The job was so easy it was almost unsatisfying. All she had to do was show some half-rate politician her sword and send him on his way. While it had been a little fun seeing a grown man cry, there wasn't much skill involved in her task. If it weren't for her chance encounter with the golden boy of the twin cities the evening would be an absolute bore. However, the brief glimpse of his face as she descended down onto the ballroom floor was more than enough to make her night.
Speaking of the Scarlet Speedster, Artemis knew it was only a matter of time before he tracked her down. Especially after the stunt she pulled, he would be quite motivated. Wally didn't like it when she got the best of him, though to her that was the best part of their relationship. Artemis loved the chase. This little cat and mouse game that they had going on for the past year or two could almost be called the highlight of her career. It sure made her jobs in the midwest interesting to say the least. And perhaps, though she would never admit it, the speedster had a special place in her heart.
After she was a safe distance from the police precinct Artemis took her time with making her way back to her safehouse. The night was still young, and she wasn't quite ready to hit the hay. She lazily made her way across rooftops soon found herself in the frozen section of a seedy 24-hour convenience store. The clerk did not seem to be bothered by her strange getup as she paid for the pint of cookie dough ice-cream with cash. With her celebratory treat in tow, Artemis made off into the night in search of the right rooftop to consume her pint. She smiled as she looked over the colorful city and dug into her treat.
It was easy enough to find perch with a decent view of the city. Artemis was a quarter of the way through her ice-cream when she felt a familiar breeze brush by her. She had been expecting him for quite some time at this point. And frankly, she was surprised that it took him this long to track her down, especially when she made no effort to run from him. She didn't need turn from her view to know that he was mad. She had become so accustomed to him that she could practically feel the fumes radiating from his spandex-clad form.
Artemis laughed, "I can't believe it took you this long. Speedy. I thought you were better than this."
She finally turned around to look at the vigilante and was quite satisfied when she saw that he was standing over her absolutely fuming. She fought her urge to smile, this was going to be a fun night.
A vein threatened to pop out of Wally's forehead. Artemis went the extra length to annoy him and he knew it, though that did not stop him from letting his anger get the best of him. And the fact that she continued to sit there on the ledge with what seemed to be ice-cream only added to his anger. He would not let her get away with this. What she did was not something to be taken lightly. It was if she was looking for a fight tonight. And if it was a fight she wanted, then it was a fight she would get.
"I can't believe you! Where the hell is Congressman Simmons?"
Wally did not have the patience for games this evening. He had plans, well sort of. Not that he was particularly happy attending a gala with Iris in his uncle's stead, it was so much better than dealing with this mess. He was not in the mood for whatever Artemis had planned. He saw that rare, mischievous sparkle in her eyes and knew that nothing good would come of it.
She fought back the urge to laugh at the Speedster, "Don't worry. I put him back."
Wally was almost dumbfounded, though did not let it show through his irritation. She put him back?
"What do you mean 'you put him back'?" He asked.
Artemis shrugged and took another scoop out of her ice-cream. "Yeah, it was just catch and release this time," She said proudly, as if she had done some deed of community service.
The Flash no longer hid his confusion. Artemis was a member of the Shadows, well at least he thought she was, lately her allegiances hadn't been quite as clear to the league. However, despite the confusion on her current employer, nothing of this 'catch and release' situation seemed to be normal for her. Artemis was a mercenary, thief and the occasional assassin, not some mob enforcer.
Wally wasn't buying it. "So if you didn't hurt him, then what did you do to him? You and I both know that you're not some punk for hire."
She smirked, "Money is money, even if it's not something I normally do. Someone had to teach the man a lesson."
"What did Simmons do?" Wally was surprised that someone was mad enough with the man to warrant them to hire someone like The Tigress to deliver a message. Gene Simmons seemed to be the model politician, he'd voted for him!
Artemis shrugged again, "Beats me. I'm paid to not ask those kind of questions."
Wally rolled his eyes, "Figures."
She chuckled, "You should have learned that by now."
He huffed with frustration. Her unusually chipper mood was beginning to wear on his nerves. "What did you do to him?"
"I don't kiss and tell, Baywatch."
"Artemis!" Wally growled. He was not in the mood to deal with this tonight. He had half the mind to make an attempt to cart her off to the county jail. It wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, but he was so annoyed that he figured that it'd be better than this rooftop interrogation. He'd almost take the broken fingers over this nonsense.
She rolled her eyes and bit back another grin. She loved getting a rise out of him. The fact that he was so mad made the evening even more entertaining.
"Fine! Don't get your panties in a wad. I didn't do anything besides ruining his underwear, well actually he did that to himself, but other than that I didn't even leave so much of a scratch on the man. Scout's honor!" She raised three fingers for emphasis.
Wally didn't want to buy it, but he knew that she wouldn't lie to him about something like this. He smirked slightly, "Seeing you as a scout would be a sight"
Artemis laughed, "Once upon a time I might have tried my hand at selling cookies." She fished another plastic spoon out of her utility belt. "You like cookie dough?"
If it were not for the stunt she pulled earlier in the ballroom, her unusually good mood would have struck Wally as odd, but he knew why she was so chipper. She was practically beaming with pride, ready to goad him on even more. He was not going to hear the end of it from anyone for the foreseeable future. He grudgingly took the spoon and plopped down next to her on the rooftop ledge. The Flash never said no to free ice cream.
"Was the entrance really necessary?" he grumbled in between bites. The carton was halfway empty at this point.
"I've always wanted to ride down on a chandelier. You gotta take good opportunities when they present themselves," Artemis reasoned.
He rolled his eyes. She was absolutely ridiculous. "It was a little flashy."
Artemis snorted. "Says The Flash."
Wally bit back a smile. He refused to give her the satisfaction. "You know that was a very nice chandelier."
"They have insurance."
"You still ruined the event," he continued.
"Quit moping, Wally. Everyone gets caught with their pants down every once and awhile." Artemis grinned, she was having way too much fun with this. "It's good for you. Keeps you humble."
He scowled, "You're ridiculous."
"You're just jealous," she teased. "Face it Baywatch, you would do the same thing if you were in my position."
He grudgingly smiled, realizing that there was no use in arguing it. And she did have a point, he might as well humor her. "I guess it was pretty hot, though your landing could have been better."
She slugged him in the arm, and while he half expected it, it still caught him off guard.
"Hey!" he yelped, "I was only speaking the truth."
Wally could see where this was going, and while he still wasn't completely in the mood she had begun wear him down. He took the nearly empty carton of ice-cream from her lap and placed it on the rooftop behind him.
Artemis did her best to look serious, but Wally could see the humor in her eyes, "You take that back Flash Boy, my landing was great."
He laughed, ready to play along. "Over my dead body."
She grinned, "You know that can be arranged."
Wally stood up and smirked, "Well you're going to have to catch me first."
"Run all you want, Flash. I always get my man."
He knew this, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks for reading! I have a few more oneshots planned for this series, but I am open to suggestions. If you read some of my other fic for YJ I'm working on the next chapter of Like Cats and Dogs, and I'm hoping to have it out within the next week or so. School comes first, but since midterms are over I'm hoping that I'm going to be having some more free time. You can also find me on tumblr as TheColdestGinger and I'm on Ao3 as well under the same name (I'm also sort of migrating over there, but I have no plans to stop cross posting on this site) If you see any typos, I apologize and feel free to let me know. I'm in between betas at the moment. Thanks again for reading. Reviews are always appreciated. Have a nice day!