ARTEMIS
Artemis shot up from where she was lying. She winced holding her stomach remembering the beaten she had received from her father. She panicked expecting to see Sportmaster somewhere in the room. But soon relaxed when all she saw was the familiar walls of the caves med bay and the back of a familiar blonde, who was known as Black Canary. The older woman was staring at an x-ray.
"I would take it easy if I were you, you have three cracked ribs and a concussion". She walked over to the archer who was now lying back on the bed. One hand squeezing the bridge of her nose " I know you've just woken up but we need to know what happened ?. " Her voice was soft as she gave Artemis a concerned look, while Artemis just returned it with a scowl.
"What? seeing me get my ass kicked wasn't enough for you guys". She said bitterly, she already knew about the cameras in the alley.
"Artemis that's not it. The cameras were down when you were attacked, given us reason to believe this was planned." She put her hand on top of the injured girl's hand "do you know who did this?", black canary still held a soft expression while Artemis pulled her hand away from the woman.
Artemis bit the inside of her cheek, remembering what her father had said to her 'let this be a warning to you', his voice echoed through her head. 'If I tell canary they won't let me go on any mission that involves him, and then he'll think he has won.`Artemis hated the idea of her father thinking that he had scared her off.
"No I don't, I was attacked from behind and the rest of it... is kind of blurry." Artemis looked away from the older woman. Canary gave a suspicious look to the young girl lying in the bed.
"You know your father has escaped ?", Canary told Artemis waiting for a reaction, but she continued to look away. "You don't seem surprised with that news."
"Why should I be?", Artemis snapped turning her attention back towards the older woman. "Because every time we catch him the JL insisted on taking him back to Belle Reve, despite us telling you guys you need to put him elsewhere. But because we're still "just kids" in your eyes you don't take us seriously." canary sighed as the archer snapped at her.
"I understand how you're feeling Artemis but getting angry won't help. Do you think Sportmaster had something to do with this?",The young girl rolled her eyes. "after all you were the main reason we caught him the last time.", Artemis stiffened up.
"Like I told you I was attacked from behind, I don't know who did this." Canary opened her mouth to say something but was cut off. "You know what I'm tired, I'm heading home." She started to get up but was stopped when black canary put a hand on the archer's shoulders.
"No, you're staying here tonight, just to be on the safe side" Artemis glared at Dinha.
"What about my mom ?, I haven't got anything in for dinner, I was meant to pick up something when I got home." she protested.
"We'll deal with that, in fact, I will go myself to keep her company", canary reassured her.
"But.." she was interrupted by the sound of a sliding door and a red-headed boy entering.
"Are you serious, faking being attacked so you don't need to do combat training." He leaned on the door frame, canary smiled before deciding that was her cue to leave the two alone.
"Wally I really don't have the patience to deal with you right now. I've got a headache and I don't want you adding to it ", she sighed pinching the bridge of her nose. She sat up sitting on the side of the med bed.
Wally walked in front of her, his face was serious as he took in her appearance. She still wore the clothes she had been attacked in. Her white shirt muddy and bloodstained, her jeans were ripped at the knees. Then his eyes fell on the ugly bruise that had formed on the side of her head. He reached his hand out placing it on top of her bruise allowing his thumb to rub against it softly.
"Artemis, what happened ?", he said softly, she looked down keeping her eyes on the floor.
"Does it even matter, Wally? This isn't the worst thing that has happened to me." He stared at her removing his hand from her head, his jaw clenched as he watched her.
"Why do you always have to act tough all the time? I came in here to make sure that you were okay and you hit back with this tough guy act. It's getting old Artemis." She slightly shook her head before taking in a shaky breath, this caught the speedsters attention.
"I don't know what happened and I just don't want hundreds of question fired at me." She went stiff when she finally took her eyes off the ground seeing that Wally had moved closer to her, barely given her any room. She felt awkward as she thought back to their kiss on new year's night, she looked away to hide the tint of red making its way to her cheeks. "Look I'm fine but thanks anyway", she jumped off her bed but froze clutching her sides as pain shot right up her ribs. "Damn..it"
"Are you okay?" Wally panicked putting his hands on Artemis arms supporting her as she slowly stood up straight.
"Yeah I'm fine, just need to remember to take it easy for the next week." She paused when she realized how close the two were, but was unwilling to move away. He was still holding her but he hadn't realized that his hands had somehow managed to find their way down to her waist pulling her closer. While her hands lay on top of his chest. They separated when they heard a cough coming from the entrance of the med bay.
"Sorry am I interrupting something here?, " Zatanna leaned on the door frame with her arms folded and a grin plastered on her face.
"Ah..no I was just...you see", Wally stuttered and mumbled trying to figure out what to say. "You know what? I forgot I need to go help Robin with something." he sped out of the room avoiding eye contact with the brunette, While Artemis just rolled her eyes.
"So? ", the witch raised her eyebrows her smile wasn't leaving anytime soon.
"Nothing happened Zatanna ", Artemis cut her friend off walking out the med bay.
"Hey, where are you going? didn't canary say you had to stay here tonight", she rushed after the blonde.
"Don't worry I'm not leaving I just want to get out of these clothes." realizing that she was still in her clothes she had been attacked in. Zatanna just nodded. Her white top was bloodstained from the cut on her head, her hair was matted with blood and mud, while her brown jacket and jeans were covered in rips and mud from falling in the puddle. Reaching her room she went straight to her cupboard. "And I don't want to hear anything about what you just saw because one word and I'm heading home", she threatened.
Zatanna sat on the archer's bed " the way I see it you can either tell me what is happening with you and Wally or you can tell me what happened to you today, your choice", Artemis glared at her best friend. "Hey I think I'm being fair here, we both know if I really wanted to I could find out both answers with that little trick I used with Ivo", the magician raised her hands up in defense.
"I don't know what's happening with me and Wally." She sat on her bed "since new years eve, we haven't really talked about it maybe it was a spur of the moment sort of thing. So I'd rather leave it at that than make a fool out of myself." Zatanna laughed. While the blonde glared at the girl who was laughing at her.
"Are you serious ?", Artemis looked at the young magician with sharp eyes. "From what I and the rest of the team can see you and him are just as stubborn as each other. Waiting for the other to say something. Look it's up to you what you and him do. But did you not notice he ran straight to your bed as soon as he heard what happened." Zatanna stood up with a smirk before leaving the blonde alone in the room "I'll catch up with you later."
Artemis sat in her room` she doesn't know what she is talking about. Me and Wally would never work. His family is full of heroes while mine.' She stopped her thoughts there `no don't be stupid. You're not good enough for someone like him. You're too broken,' A voice in her head spoke. she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, ignoring it and headed towards the showers.
The next day
Artemis left the hideout as soon as she woke up, accompanied by Wally West who decided to stay the night. She ignored the smart ass comments and giggles of her team as she left that morning with Wally who insisted on walking her home. The walk back to her home was quiet but it was not awkward and she enjoyed the silence "so when did canary say you can join the team on a mission again?", Wally walked with his hands in his pockets.
"A week, two weeks tops. So hopefully in time for our next mission", she laughed when she saw Wally roll his eyes at her "can't let you have all the fun, plus if I'm not there to save you who is?"
"I'm the fastest teenager alive", he said proudly. "I don't need to be saved", he smirked
"Unless it's something you trip on or even a bit of water or ice on the floor." She laughed but when Wally playfully pushed her. She clenched her teeth as she let out a low noise, grabbing her sides.
"Artemis I'm sorry, i..I forgot", he panicked as she stood straight smiling. Wally raised an eyebrow "what are you smiling about?", he said his voice lighter now.
"Nothing," he gave her a strange look "why did you insist on walking me home? it's not even your city, it's out of the way", he smiled at her " what?", now it was her turn to look confused.
Wally couldn't help but notice how cute the blonde looked when she was confused. 'I can't decide if she is acting dumb or if she really hasn't noticed', Wally thought to himself. "No reason just wanted to get fresh air." She gave him a suspicious look "plus I wanted to make sure you got home okay", she stopped, crossing her arms.
"Wally I can take care of myself, what happened yesterday was just a lucky shot." She felt guilty knowing she couldn't tell him the truth. 'I bet he wouldn't act this concerned if he found out. What would happen if they found out I'm lying to them again'. She bit her lip.
"Yeah well doesn't that mean they can't get another lucky shot in. Now come on you are almost home" she rolled her eyes at him and continued to walk. They finally got to her apartment but Artemis asked Wally if she could walk by herself to her door, knowing she would have a lot of explaining to do to her mother.
"I'm home", she shouted, as she saw her mother wheel her chair through to the hall. She tried to head straight to her room but was unable to when she heard her mother call her name.
"Artemis get back here," the archer rolled her eyes at the ex-villain "what happened? Dinah came round and told me you were injured heading to the hideout." despite being in a wheelchair the ex-huntress was no pushover, Artemis sighed.
"It was nothing mom I just got jumped. That's all, there is nothing more to it", she continued to her room but stopped again.
"She also told me about your father", Artemis looked down clenching her fist "Artemis I want you to be careful if anything happens that has anything to do with him you tell Dinah immediately. Do you understand?", she didn't answer her mother "Artemis? " she said more firmly.
"Yeah mom I understand, I'm just heading to my room", walking with her head down, shutting the door behind her.
"You were never a good liar," Artemis jumped as she saw her sister lying on her bed, she tensed expecting the older girl to attack.
"Jade ", she said cautiously cursing herself for not having any weapons on her, "what are you doing here?". Jade ignored her sister.
"How's the new boyfriend? You should have brought him in to meet the family", the brunette turned her head to look at the blonde's expression.
"What do you want?", Artemis said coldly repeating herself trying to keep her voice down so her mother would not hear her.
"Oh relax, I'm just here to talk. Now tell me how many of your teammates saw through that little act of yours? ", Artemis folded her arms.
"What do you want jade? ", saying it more firmly now, her sister just smiled sitting up on the bed.
"I'm here to give you a warning", the older girl looked at her sister but this time with pity in her eyes as she took in her sister's appearance.
"Yeah, yeah I've already had a lecture from dad accompanied by one of his classic lessons", Artemis sat down on the opposite bed. 'What is his problem? he has never attacked me outside a mission before. And has never had the guts to show up at the entrance to the mountain." Jade looked around the room given it a small smirk.
"Have you ever thought about redecorating since I left."
"Jade!" her voice was threatening "why did dad do this? ", her sister just smiled knowing that her little sister didn't have the patience to play her games today.
"Dear old dad has been told by the light if you continue to get in their way they will kick him out of the club" she laughed, "they think he's feeding you information, so he thinks if he threatens you enough he'll scare you away.", The archer looked at her sister in disbelief.
"That's ridiculous, has the shadows threatened you yet or is that why you're here", she straightened up waiting for her sister to pounce.
"No the shadows are smarter than that, but the light they're different. They see that dad keeps on getting caught and you seem to be the one who is doing it. You see where I'm going with this, they put two and two together and got 5."
"So he's taking his anger out on me because he can't-do his job right." she watches jade get up and head to the window.
"I'll be working with dear old dad on my next assignment, I'm just warning you he doesn't seem like he wants to play around anymore. I'm not just saying this because I don't like him, I'm saying this as a concerned sister. Watch your back and stay out of his way for a while" and with that, she left, leaving Artemis alone in her room.
Three weeks later.
It only took Artemis 9 days before she started some light training again and a week after that canary cleared her for going on missions. But it was almost 3 weeks since Artemis had been attacked and the team hadn't been given a mission in that time. The team was in the debriefing room with Red tornado.
"The mission assignment is simple, " red tornado announced to his team. "We have been given an anonymous tip that Sportmaster will be collecting a shipment of guns from Gotham docks tonight." Artemis tensed up which didn't go unnoticed by Wally. "Your mission is to stop that shipment, you will leave immediately. " With that, the team headed towards the bioship. Artemis stayed behind the group, Wally noticed this and fell back to keep the archer company.
"Hey, are you okay? ", he asked out of concern, she gave him a soft smile.
"Yeah of course, after all, it's only my dad. The man who has been causing this team trouble since the day it has started." He smiled back "he must be losing his touch if somebody has decided to come to us. Normally people would be too scared to say anything against him, just seems strange", wally laughed.
"He must be losing his edge with you beating him every other week." She laughed, she couldn't help but feel better about this mission. She couldn't put her finger on it but for some reason, she just felt a lot more relaxed whenever she was talking to Wally.
A FEW HOURS LATER
The team had landed on the docks an hour after they had left the cave. They then spotted the ship that they presumed was Sportmaster's, as it was the only one in the docks. The team was spread out across the docks hiding behind creates or for miss martian she was in her camouflage. The green alien had set up a telepathic link as soon as the ship had landed.
Robin and Aqualad were taking cover together "it's strange," Kaldur began.
"What's that?, The fact that this is meant to be a large shipment of guns yet no one is guarding it or we've not seen Sportmaster yet?." Robin looked over at his leader who was staring intensely at the boat.
"Both", Kaldur looked around one more time before making a decision 'change of plans. We're going in to investigate.' he thought to let the full team know. 'Stay on guard this could be a trap.' he gave out the command.
'Wait, you want us to walk right into a trap?.' Artemis yelled in her head. Her mind bringing back the memories of three weeks ago, of her father and Cheshire's warning. Having the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. The idea that she was about to walk into a trap set up just for her.
'We have no real reason to believe that this tip is real. Don't you think it's a bit strange, that this is meant to be a big shipment of guns, yet no sign of crew or anybody else guarding it?' , Robin explained. 'The tip could be a prank', Artemis bit her lip as she tried to reassure herself that everything was going to be okay. After all, there was no reason to believe the tip had anything to do with her father.
Before she could continue any other thought she felt herself being picked up. "Thought you might need a lift", the speedster stared at her with a huge grin, laughing at the shock on her face. Realizing Wally had picked her up bridal style, her face began to change to a slight red color
"Wally put me down", she demanded as he sped off towards the ship. "I swear to god, Wally."
"Can't now, I've already started moving." his smile grew, even more, when he felt Artemis arms slide around his neck. He tightened his hold on the archer. They arrived on the ship's deck in seconds just before the rest of the team. The red-headed boy didn't put the blonde down straight away "see, wasn't so bad was it?", she smirked.
"I could have walked here faster", he was taken back. "But I'll admit it, wouldn't have been as fun." His grin came back twice as big. Artemis didn't help it when she ran her fingers through the back of his hair, before making the decision to leave his arms. smiling as he gave her a confused looked.
"I hope we haven't interrupted anything," Superboy smiled as Megan bit back a laugh.
"Yeah if you want we can come back to the mission later." Robin teased, Zatanna caught Artemis eye and Artemis knew what she was going to say as soon as the two got back to the cave.
"Focus we have a mission, now spread out and search the boat top to bottom," Kaldur ordered, Wally walked next to him. "If this was an ambush we would have been attacked by now", kid flash nodded in agreement.
"So what are you thinking, we're at the wrong place?", Kaldur stopped as he looked around.
"I'm not sure, not until we've searched every inch of this ship. Maybe there will be a few clues lying about", he walked away from kid flash. Artemis walked by herself heading into the ship to see if she could find anything.
'What is dad planning? why would he go to all this trouble to bring us here?. I was expecting an ambush but nothing; no Sportmaster, no jade, and no henchmen. This really doesn't make sense.' She was snapped out of her thought when she felt two pairs of arms wrap themselves around her own. Coming back to reality, she tensed her muscles expecting the worse but as she turned to face the suspect she was greeted with Zatanna who couldn't contain her laughter and miss martian who smiled. But then her face sank into realizing that they had scared the archer.
"Artemis, I'm sorry I forgot that you get a little uneasy on missions, that involves your family." The green alien spoke with concern in her voice, Zatanna was about to speak but the blonde interrupted.
"Don't worry about it, I should be used to it by now." She looked down at her boots clenching her bow in her hand, ashamed with her family as though it was somehow her fault. Zatanna bit her lip, she hated to see her friend like this.
"Soo ", she got the two girls attention. "You and Wally seemed to be getting along really well." She gave her trademark smirk with her hands on her hips, while Megan's smile returned as Artemis was speechless with the sudden statement.
"And?", Artemis finally spat out "you all complain when we argue, he was just helping me to the ship".
"So are you going to ask him out then", Megan blurted out.
"No, why would I do that?." They both raised an eyebrow at her. "Plus it wouldn't work. His family, are all good people some of which are heroes while mine...are all villains. I don't doubt that all of my family have at least fought with one of the flashes. We just don't match he thinks that everybody can be saved, while I'm realistic I know how the world really works. He shouldn't have someone like that around him constantly bringing him down. He deserves better than that."
"Will you stop putting yourself down." Miss Martian shouted " you always do that to yourself, who cares about your family and what they have done. What about you? don't you deserve to be happy?. You have proved to the team time and time again that you are a hero", the alien shouted.
"Yeah, I don't think your family should stop you from dating a guy you obviously like." Zatanna agreed with her friend, Artemis sighed.
"Just drop it, you guys don't understand. Now come on we've got a mission to focus on", she walked passed the two.
AN HOUR LATER
"So after searching, we've come up with nothing", KF yawned in defeat " must have been a bad tip."
"I don't know about that", Dick rubbed his chin with the back of his hand "there is just something, that is not right here,"
"Agreed, but kid's right. Until we have any other reason to believe anything different, we'll call this false information and head back to the cave." The leader spoke up and with that, the team got into the bioship and left.
In the distance Sportmaster peered through binoculars, gripping them tightly as he watched his daughter leave with her team. "Looks like that little brat didn't listen. Can't say I never warned her." He turned to a woman in a green dress and a mask 'you know the plan, don't screw it up."
"You're lucky, you are the client this time dad or I would be refusing to do this." She walked next to him "and payment half now and the other half when it's done."
"Yeah, yeah I know just start getting prepared, little girl." He growled at her.