Chapter 1
Artemis had the fear beaten out of her before she was even old enough to be afraid of the dark, so when the skinny white boy next to her asked if she wanted him to walk her home she actually laughed. The Team had just finished a meeting, which was much more of a Dick and Artemis teaching the others how to fight then anything else. Kal, who could fight but refused to, had left an hour ago with an urgent call from his mom, and Conner had taken Megan home on his motorcycle, leaving Artemis and Wally standing outside the front gates of Bruce Wayne's mansion.
Wally glared at her, looking rather determined, so she sized him up. He was white, like really white (she guessed the whole ginger thing didn't help much in that department), and with his button down shirt and clean jeans he looked like he belonged on this side of town. Artemis looked down at her clothes: ripped jeans that had probably belonged to her sister, a green t-shirt with specks that could have been grease, but most likely were dried blood (another hand-me-down), and beaten sneakers. There was no way Wally would blend into the Slums scene.
That was one of the reasons they weren't a couple, in Artemis's mind. She looked okay as a friend, but someone who dressed like Wally wouldn't be caught dating someone who dressed like her. As quickly as the feeling of unworthy fell over her she twisted it into sarcasm. "You think you could protect me in Blood Alley?" She asked with a smirk, "Please, I'd be sending you home in a body bag. Besides, I don't need protecting."
"That's not what I meant," Wally told her, before taking her face in his hands and pulling her lips to his. The kiss sent a warm feeling through Artemis's body, causing her toes to curl up. She almost protested when he pulled away. Almost. "I meant, don't you think it's about time I met your family? You haven't told me anything about them and—"
"Wally," the girl pulled away, "you don't want to meet my family. Trust me—I don't even want to meet my family." Her voice cracked and she hated herself for it, but she had gotten broken ribs that hurt less then admitting the boney redhead was too good for her.
A burst of static caused the two to jump and Dicks voice came through the intercom in the wall next to the iron bars, "Look, Barbara is coming in ten minutes—"
"Dog," Wally cut him off, giving Artemis more prove of how white he actually was. "Don't worry, we were just leaving," he gave a pointed look to Artemis, "right, babe?"
If it wasn't for the fact that Dick knew she and Wally were… something, she would have killed the boy for calling her "babe" where someone could hear. "Fine," she growled, marching down the street, "but don't expect me to bring flowers to your funeral."
Wally really wished Artemis hadn't made the funeral comment, because half an hour later, the two of them were walking down a blackened alley with tough looking guys—and tougher looking girls—lining both sides. Artemis walked with her shoulders back, anger still seething with every step. A guy as big as Connor approached her, but stayed back a few feet out of kicking range. Artemis stopped so quickly that Wally almost walked into her, only his quick reflexes stopped him from slamming into the girl's back.
"Tommy," Artemis said calmly, like this happened to her every time she tried to go home, "ya out of juvi?"
"Ain't the only one, babe," an albino boy stepped out of the shadows, his arms held out like he was expecting a hug. To Wally's shock, Artemis did hug him and he tried to bite back the jealousy in his stomach when the guy kissed her. It wasn't a romantic kiss, just a peck on the lips really, but it made Wally's hands clinch. "Who you, white boy?" The albino asked, his arm snaking across Artemis's shoulders.
If Wally wasn't so mad, he'd think being called white by a boy whose skin practically was white ironic. Though the words stung like a slap, this wasn't his part of town and everyone knew it. When Artemis called him white, it was a statement not an insult but he had a feeling right now that wasn't so.
Luckily Artemis saved him from answering, "Lab part-na. He be ta good ta have shit like me at 'is house." Artemis's arm had found its way around the boy's waist and Wally was starting to see red, until she introduced him. "Dis is Icicle Jr. Ya heard o' 'em, yeah? Likes ta freeze things."
Her eyes held a warning for Wally, but the kid's name warned him enough. He had heard of Icicle, a notorious super villain who liked to freeze those who crossed him. Stories was that Jr. didn't inherit any of his dad's powers, but did have his taste for the cold. The last kid to piss him off went missing for a week before his body was found in a meat locker slung up like a pig. But… why was Artemis hanging out with him?
Just looking at everyone, Wally knew Artemis was different. Almost all the girls were either mixed, Mexican or black, and the one white girl looked like she was ready to gut someone. They were shirtless with their bras showing freely under jackets or vests, and their shorts could hardly classify as denim underwear. All of them had scars or busted lips or black eyes. Wally found himself wondering if Artemis looked like this in her free time. If the girl in the clean (if stained) t-shirt was a show she put on for people outside the Slums, if this was the real Artemis.
"Love ta chat," Artemis said suddenly, saving Wally from his break down before it happened, "but ya know how Ma gets."
Jr. gave Artemis another kiss before releasing her, and the crowd parted for them. Wally could feel eyes watching them as they continued down the alley and around the corner. As soon as they were out of sight, Wally grabbed her arm. "What was that?"
"The Gates of Hell," Artemis told him, pulling her arm out of his grip. All traces of the girl from the alley were gone and she was back to her usual self, which honestly freaked Wally out even more.
"You and… what was that?" The way she acted so natural with the son of a murderer, a supposed murderer himself, how could she do that? And they kissed! "Are you and him…?"
Artemis grabbed Wally's hand and kept walking, not looking at him. "We were, a long time ago. Cam and I are childhood friends, but he's been into Tuppance since before Juvi."
Tuppance Wally had heard that name before… "Wait, Tommy and Tuppance Terror? You know the Terror Twins? Is everyone in this place a murderer?" He regretted it even as the words were coming out of his mouth, but there was no way to stop them. There was no way to rephrase the question to make it less of an attack.
Instead of pulling away, Artemis's grip on his hand tightened. "You wanted to meet my family," she told him in a steady voice, "That was half of them right there."
