Obviously Never
by Cerulean Leader
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Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice/DC comics.
Artemis Crock was a normal girl, with a life. Previously a superhero, the blonde archer had finished high school a few years ago and was now attending college with her boyfriend and the former Kid Flash, Wally West. She was now twenty years old, and the couple had decided to leave the hero life behind.
She sat in the living room as she stared the television, absent-mindedly petting the head of her and Wally's bulldog, Apollo. She was watching one of those ridiculous television drama's with an amused frown on her tanned face. That was until a knock was heard at the door. Groaning, she stood up and switched the television off, and walked to the front door.
Once she opened it, she greeted the visitor with a warm smile. "Hey, Dick! Long time no see." She said, stepping aside to let him in. "What are you doing here?"
He smiled back at her hesitantly. She was surprised to see him at the door and in civilian clothes. Usually he would rock up at their place at a later time, and in his Nightwing uniform. There was concern in his blue eyes as he denied her invitation. "Sorry, but I can't stay. I need you to come with me to Mt. Justice."
She was taken aback by his forwardness, but his words processed, though she still had a confused expression on her face. "Oh, alright, but what about Wally? Let me just grab my stuff and write a note—"
"He's already there. Hurry, it's urgent." He answered, cutting her off from speaking further. Something was really troubling her younger friend.
"Okay, give me a minute."
Wally West looked around the rocky walls. He was standing in the main room of the headquarters of The Team, and he couldn't help but feel slightly awkward. He hadn't been here in a few years, and what would he do if any of the new members walked in with him standing there. He just hoped Dick and Artemis got there soon.
Wally had his hands in the pockets of his hoody, just walking around and remembering all the fun times back when he was still in the hero business. He had to admit, he missed the adrenaline rush and glory of saving all those people who needed him.
"Recognised: Nightwing, B-01." the computer said, and with a flash of light, Wally's best friend came into view. The two males paused as they waited for the female to join them.
"Recognised: Artemis, B-06."
"Thanks for coming guys." Dick said as he looked between his friends. Wally looked really confused and put an arm across Artemis's shoulder.
"No problem, Dick, what's this about?" Wally impatiently asked. What was Dick so worked up about anyway?
"Follow me," the black-haired hero said over his shoulder as he turned and gestured for them to follow him. The couple looked at each other before doing what he said. Dick led them to a few halls until they came to a steel door. It wasn't labelled at all, but did have a 'Keep Out' sign taped to the door.
The door slid open with a whispering sound, and the three walked inside. Almost the entire room was covered in tiles, mainly a dark grey. A man in a red suit with a lightning bolt symbol on his chest was tied to a chair with his head down, a red mask covering his head except for his mouth and nose. Wally's eyes widened immediately, he knew that symbol.
It was the Flash symbol.
"Uncle Barry?" he exclaimed, turning to glare at his best friend. "Why is he tied up?"
The man in the suit looked up, and his own eyes widened behind the blank white. He looked between Wally and Artemis, before he stood up, a sound of pain was let out from his mouth.
"Wally, he sounds like you..." Artemis whispered into Wally's ear. He was staring at the opposing person across the room with a look of horror. He was holding the blonde archer behind his strong arms as soon as the man had stood up in order to protect her. Cautiously, she moved away from his grip and closer to the man. She crouched down in front of him, a hand under his chin. He slowly lifted his head, and his eyes widened but he didn't move.
She reached carefully for the tips of his mask, and he still didn't move, even though he was glaring at her. She slowly pulled of the mask and gasped.
"Wally!"
Wally's eyes widened, as did Dick's, for standing across from them in front of Artemis was an older looking version of Wally West. "He was telling the truth..." Dick breathed in surprise.
"Get her away from me." he growled, gesturing to Artemis with a nod of his head. The blonde was taken aback, but moved away nonetheless. His normally cheerful green eyes had lost their bright and goofy charm, now cold. His hair and build the same, if a little taller.
Wally stared at his counterpart. "Where are you from?" he exclaimed.
"The future, came back to warn you about her." he said. "I'm the Flash now."
"What's wrong with Artemis?" Wally said, stepping forward to stand behind his girlfriend.
"Do you not know of her heritage? She revealed it to you before the Santa Prisca mission when she was fifteen." the Flash responded in annoyance, trying to pull at the tightly bound ropes on his wrists. "You should know, Dick. You were the first one to figure her out."
Dick inwardly winced at the sound of his name. "Yes, but she is on the good side. Her father being a villain, her mother and sister previously being on the bad side of the law before turning good has nothing to do with Artemis. She decided her own destiny, and she is a hero. Why would you even doubt her?" he asked, his eyes boring into the older version of his best friend. He couldn't figure out why he was so pissed off at Artemis.
"She's a villain!" the Flash yelled, standing up in his hair. He started running on the spot, and he soon vibrated his molecules out of the rope so that he was standing beside Dick with the angriest expression on his face that any of the others had seen Wally have on his face. "Tigress!"(1)
Artemis' jaw dropped, her onyx eyes widening to their limit. "I would never-"
"3 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 5 days ago, you became Tigress. I still have no idea why." the Flash said quietly, his face softening to a heartbroken expression. "I loved you, Artemis. How could you betray me like that?"
Wally looked at his girlfriend, obviously in denial to his counterpart's words. "You heard her, she would never betray me!"
"She does, unfortunately." the Flash replied, continuing to look at Artemis and not breaking his gaze from hers. "You don't believe me?" he asked in annoyance, and then he lifted up the top half of his red uniform, revealing a large gash on the left side of his chest. "The Artemis from my time shot various arrows at me after I managed to track her down. She told me she loved me, while aiming various arrows at me, before letting go of the string on the bow, and then left me there to die. It was a good thing that Uncle Barry and Dick found me in time..."
"...Why? Why would I do it?" Artemis whispered, eyes tearful. She was now leaning into Wally's shoulder, peeking out to look at her boyfriend's future hero identity. He refused to look at his future self, silently vowing not to let Artemis ever betray them. He had his arms around her, and had his chin rested on top of her head.
The Flash looked at her with an expression that broke her heart in two. Had she really done it?
"Sportsmaster, you found out that he killed your mother. You went mental and have been rampaging to find him..."
"Mother..." Artemis whispered, buring her head in Wally's chest as she sobbed. "No, I would never." Her voice was muffled as she spoke, but they could still here her.
Dick shook his head in denial as his best friend of the future spoke. Artemis would never do that, would she? Even now, she would never kill anyone. Had she not given up the whole hero gig after almost killing someone on the job?
"Artemis wouldn't, now leave!" Wally shrieked, finally looking up at his future self. "SHE WOULD NEVER!" he roared.
"Never."
A/N: So this idea originally came to me as a panic attack when I was watching Young Justice in the first few episodes when we didn't know what happened to Artemis and Wally, but then we found out they were okay, thank gosh. Then I was thinking about it again last week and thought, 'What if Artemis actually did become Tigress?'
(1) Tigress is actually Artemis' DC comic book counterpart. She's a villainess, really, which I extremely hate the idea of. I hardly ever reference the comics, and the designs of my favourite DC characters in the comic book forms are just plain freaky, so I just stick to the animated shows. :3
Word Count: 1,530
Hope you liked it! :S
~CL