The guards had been vanishing from the site, one by one at first. Then out of nowhere, they all disappeared. Three months had passed since the first time they had set foot inside the arena, that's what they had been calling it, and the rules were randomly loosening day by day. Curfew was no more, they didn't have the constant nagging of the guards to worry about (or to care about) and they could roam freely around the place.
The only set back for Artemis was not being able to go into her archery range whenever she wanted to, because they had to go in separately with clearance from their allocated 'mentor'. Hers was Green Arrow, not surprisingly, but they weren't allowed to disclose who their mentors were to the other inmates.
Although she had a feeling about Megan, Conner and Kaldur's because, let's be honest, Megan is green- the other green guy is also green, Conner looks like 'S' man, and Kaldur has gills, the other orange scaly dude is the closest they cant get to fishy. Not that she was being rude; she just had a problem with being too blunt sometimes. Which often got her in trouble with Green Arrow (especially when it concerned his goatee).
Today was the one day in the week where their mentors would arrive, accompanied by other costumed people, and they would be on a rotation round to see who would go into the arena at what time. This day was, by far, the most looked forward to day in the history of this mansion of a prison. Everyone pushed aside the small fights they had during their stay and just perked up, all looking forward to the hour they would spend without limitations to what they could do.
"God Wally I swear if you don't stop I will come after you with a knife." Artemis screamed, glaring lasers at the red head that was squirting water through a water gun. No one even knew where he got the darn thing from, just that it needed to go.
"So scary, Artichoke. No wonder they put you in this place, you're a menace to society." Wally said with a laugh, spraying more water in her direction.
Artemis fumed, if she could her body would be heating up so high that the water would be evaporating off of her. Narrowing her eyes dangerously she glared harsher at Wally and bared her teeth out.
Robin's cackle could be heard in the background, something they had, frightfully, come accustomed to. No one else really payed attention to the small feud, mainly because stuff like that happened on a daily basis. But often one of the poor people would be called upon by either Wally or Artemis, both in some cases, to defend them.
He squirted her again and she was off. Grabbing the first thing she could get her hands on she flung it at him with surprising force. The glass plate flew, slicing through the air with ease and shattered on the wall behind where Wally was before situated.
She growled when it didn't hit her target, she wouldn't admit it but Wally was fast. Looking around with a wild look in her eyes she surveyed the area to see whether Baywatch had been smart and ran away.
He had.
"Don't you think that's taking it to the extreme, Artemis?" Zatanna asked lazily, flicking through one of the magazines that had been dumped at her door. Absent-mindedly itching the collar on her neck, not the type of accessory she wanted to wear for the rest of her life.
Artemis whipped around to face her, "are you defending him?"
The raven-haired girl gave a pointed look at her friend and shrugged, "you guys argue over the stupidest of things, it can get annoying. Honestly, I haven't been around you two as long as the others have and even I know that deep down inside you really like each other."
The blonde was flabbergasted, "I can't believe you." She grumbled, taking a seat on the green couch next to Conner, who was watching static, and crossing her arms over her chest. Before she could get out another point of defence the intercom rang out.
"Report to meeting room. Now."
Conner shook from his position on the couch and looked up at Artemis and Zatanna, "now they want us? The day's half gone already."
"Meh. If we get anytime in the arena today I'm going to take it." Zatanna said, standing to get up and travel to the meeting room. Followed quickly by the rest of the inmates in the room. Standing in line they were greeted by the silence of King Broody, only waiting for Wally to join their ranks.
They waited for what seemed like hours for Wally to come through, and then waited longer for the man standing with his bloody cape draped over him to start talking. All of them eager to get into the arena and into their own areas. Even Robin was excited, but Artemis could really tell because a few days after his arrival he had gotten a mask to cover his eyes, for reasons unknown.
Thankfully the wait wasn't that long as the rest of the mentors, plus extras, arrived. Artemis sent a small smirk to Green Arrow who was behind a red robot and in front of a blonde lady in a leotard. He returned the gesture by saluting her with two fingers.
"Each of us if part of the Justice League of America." The man dressed as a bat started, "We protect the innocent against forms of injustice and crime. Working to keep criminals off the streets."
"So you're like heroes?" Raquel asked, jutting her hip out to the side. His eyes narrowed and the room temperature felt like it fell one hundred degrees.
"Yes. You eight have been sent here on the front that it is the best and most secure Juvenile Detention facility this country has to offer. We are here to tell you today that you are wrong."
Shock.
If she hadn't been sent to this damned penitentiary then what the hell was she doing here? They stayed silent though, as the man glared again. Artemis had never seen anything like it, although her father might have known. She scoffed to herself, in his line of work he probably had run into the scary bat.
The sound of a button being pressed escaped the front room and suddenly, at the same time, their collars were unlocking and falling to the ground. Gasps were escaped from surprised mouths as the air hit their necks freely again.
Artemis rubbed her neck gingerly, hating herself for feeling nostalgic about loosing the collar. Mainly because now she could say that she didn't quit on getting the collar off of her neck, and she wasn't going to miss the shocks she had received in the past. But she felt like something was missing now.
"You need time to think." The blonde lady said, "we'll give you privacy." The heroes marched out, the batty man staying behind for a while.
"You have an hour. Talk."
"Is he serious?"
"Who the hell do they think they are?"
"I've been here for years and now it's 'I'm sorry your not actually in trouble'? You know what? Screw them."
Cries of outrage rang out through the room. Pent up frustration being released into a big ball of wallowing gas that travelled around and actually hurt Artemis' ears. These people needed to learn to deal with disappointment and anger, she had all that crap bet out of her when she cried non-stop as a child.
"What do they want us for then?" Conner asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
He knew what the Light and the Cadmus board of directors wanted him for, but not these people. He was sick of people hanging him along and chopping him off at the last second, or just using him.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves again?" Megan said, being her usual perky self. "I'll start." Ignoring the eyes roll that Artemis gave her she smiled. "My name is not really Megan, that's an earth name-"
"What?"
"-my name is M'gann M'orzz from mars. And Martian Manhunter is my uncle."
Artemis blinked, a martian. An actual martian. Although now that she thought about it, it did explain the pigmentation of her skin a lot better than her vegetable intake theory. Everyone else stared at her in a new light.
Was she going to take over?
Or was she a peaceful alien like E.T.?
Wally coughed, "Okay... green cheeks. I'll go. My name is Wally West, I'm from Central City and I don't really know why I was put here."
Somehow he still smiled, nodding to himself as if he had done the best job in the world.
"What do you mean you don't know why you're here?" Kaldur asked, his silver eyes gleaming with curiosity that hadn't been seen by anyone before. Wally shrugged.
"I was thirteen when I came here because that's around the time I got hit by lightning. A-"
Her jaw dropped and she couldn't help but add something in, "how in the world was lightning ever attracted to you?"
"I'm only telling my life story, Arty. You don't know me." Wally growled back, "Any who... I found some science notes earlier that year, from my uncle who worked with the Flash. I had spent all my pocket money trying to get all the ingredients that were needed for the experiment to work. I was going to gain super speed."
"And it worked?" Raquel asked, disbelief colouring her tone.
"Yep." He grinned, popping the 'p'. "Here, I'll prove it to ya."
Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, Wally was nothing but a blur. A colourful blur of orange running circles around the group, inching closer and closer to the group, moving them in to try and get away from being touched by the warming streak around them. Then, it stopped. The blur was gone and Wally was back against the wall smiling smugly at everyone.
"Okay. Point proven." Zatanna said with wide eyes.
"Who's next?" Wally asked, raising an eyebrow and running back to the group. Which was more like flashing back. "Kaldur?"
"My name is Kaldur'Ahm. I am from Atlantis. It was forbidden to venture to the surface world without any permission, two years ago I did. It was to help a drowning child. But the punishment stood all the same. I was sent to this detention centre until my king called for me back." Kaldur finished with unimaginable nobleness.
Like, Artemis had no idea how he could sound so inspirational explaining how he ended up in prison. She realised that the eyes of her friends were on her, looking at her and expecting a whirlwind tale of her life. Not wanting to be the odd one out and not share anything she aimlessly opened and closed her mouth for a while before giving up.
"I've been here since I was eleven. I thought it had to be because Gotham Juvie couldn't handle me, so I have no idea what these creeps want from me." She said, playing it off as if it were nothing but a small chip on a cup.
"You've been to Juvie in Gotham?" Robin spoke up, sounding intrigued and impressed. Artemis just smirked and nodded, holding up two fingers to tell them that it hadn't been just the one time.
"Twice?" Wally shouted, he had heard about how bad Gotham was, and couldn't find it in him to believe that Artemis was part of that sinister city- although he didn't know why.
She shrugged, "The cops got lucky."
"Okay." Zatanna said clapping her hands with a joyous glint in her eyes, "my turn. Moor nrut ot krap."
Artemis widen her eyes at the incantation, she had heard it somewhere before. Only it was a high-pitched male speaking and he was talking over the phone with her father.
The room around them disappeared, the colours being washed out and lightening to a dental white that blinded their eyes. She shielded her eyes with her hands, instinctively bending her knees slightly as she defended herself.
A bird was chirping.
She dropped her hands from her face slowly and blinked at the sight in front of her; green grass that stretched for miles, the cool wind that brushed by every second, flowers that were at the peak of their season, and trees that housed songbirds.
She couldn't believe it, some how they were, not a second ago, standing in a concrete fort and now they were experiencing the childhood adaptations of a park. Not that she would know, because the only time she went to the park was at midnight when she and Jade played, forced to play, stealth and target games.
She never won.
Artemis stepped back and tried to find words to describe the emotions she felt, turning around she closed her eyes again and listened to the sounds. Mostly the surprised noises of her teammates, who also were having a hard time believing that this was real.
"How?" A voice gasped, having the courage to ask the simplest of questions to the most complex thing.
"It's easy," Zatanna said, her voice snapping Artemis back into focus, "I'm a magician. My father was more well known one though, Zatara."
Artemis sensed a twinge of sadness and guilt when she said her father's name. Something must have happened that led up to this point.
"But he's in servitude now, to Doctor Fate. He's a-um- Lord of Order. So I ended up here because I tried to do harm to fate and free my dad." She sobbed, and the park faded. Robin said nothing and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Magic's not real." Wally whispered to her, having the decency to say it to only one person as to sadden the raven-haired girl already. Artemis turned on him with speed and ferociousness that had not been anticipated by any party.
"Then how do you explain the park thing?" She hissed through her teeth, fighting to keep her fists by her side and her voice to a minimum. Wally gave a sideways look to Zatanna and flicked his green eyes back to Artemis.
"Ever heard of string theory? We were in a pocket dimension." He said back, gesturing with his hands to make ridiculous examples of what pocket and string meant. She looked at him with an insulted look gracing her features.
"I have the same tutor as you! I heard of them." She hissed lowly. But Wally silenced her with a hand over her mouth. She considered licking his hand but that was just… ew.
"But do you know what they are? No? Ha. I do, and I know that magic is really just advanced science." Wally grinned, taking his hand off her face and back down to his sides.
While the two enemies were having a heated discussion the rest of the group had been listening to what Conner had to say. Although fighting over science versus magic the two of them had missed it. Now faces turning red and trying to find a decent lie about why they weren't listening.
"Do not worry about it." Kaldur said kindly, "Conner, could you repeat your story again, please?"
The blue-eyed boy nodded. "I'm a clone."
"You're a what now?" Artemis asked, leaning her head in closer, her ears not believing what they were hearing.
Wally just looked thoughtfully at him. Artemis internally rolled her eyes at him- he was probably thinking along the lines of: That is within the realms of science, I accept it.
"I was force grown in a Cadmus lab over the course of sixteen weeks. I am the clone of Superman. After I was found by some of the League I was chucked in this hell hole because my genetic father wouldn't take me." Conner snarled, she just smiled- mainly because that was the most emotion she had seen out of him. Partly because she knew what it felt like to be ignored, or lack of ignoration, by a father figure.
"At least your dad didn't beat you." She mumbled to herself.
Conner's head shot up and he looked at her with horror, shock and worry. Artemis shook her head faintly, telling him not to tell anyone. Artemis best herself up inside her head for even letting that comment reach her vocal cords.
"Rob, you haven't said anything." Wally said, zipping over to the shortest of the group and leaning an elbow on his shoulder. Robin tensed the slightest bit. She could see it; his hands were curled into fists.
"I don't have to tell you anything." He whispered, "I'm… I'm not ready for that. Not yet."
Damn it. Artemis should have gone with that. Trust the smallest to act the most innocent, he could pretend all he wanted but he was the only one that came in with the extra straps around his cuffs.
"Then tell us why you're here." She said, meeting his cool gaze with her own challenging eyes.
Robin sighed and reluctantly said, "I got caught by Batman when I was trying to steal from a house in Gotham."
If Artemis could whistle, she would.
From his personality and age she would never have guessed that he was a thief. He was always so cheerful and mischievous; it was hard to imagine him stealing from a house.
"Who's Batman?" Raquel asked. It wasn't a stupid question- but she had a feeling it was the brood mai-ster, with the cape and pointy ears. It would explain a lot, especially the bat signal on the chest.
"The one dressed as a bat." Robin said, raising an eyebrow that they couldn't see.
"Right." Wally said, "That dude is creepy. It's like he didn't get a date to the prom and prowls around his mother's basement." Everyone laughed but Robin. Who oddly frowned and bit his lip.
"Guess I'm the last one to go." Raquel said with a smile, patting her thighs. "I'm Raquel Ervin and I'm here because I got caught stealing and using alien tech from my neighbor. Brought me here because I couldn't be trusted with the information I had gathered."
The group fell into silence. The backstories had been said, the introductions already done and there really was nothing to say between them. Not anything more they could think of that would sound okay to say out loud.
"What can you do?" Wally asked, his question directed to Megan. Who looked a bit shy and conservative now that everyone knew why her skin was green. But she smiled and closed her eyes for a second. Nothing happened.
"Sorry if this scares you Artemis."
Artemis gasped, attracting the stares of everyone but the closed eyed martian. She had just heard Megan's voice inside her head- and it wasn't a hallucination.
One second was all it took for Megan to shift, starting from her feet, which no one noticed the change was really unnerving. Her skin turned to the same shade as Artemis', her face shifted- morphing into a face that Artemis stared into everyday. Like looking at a mirror. Megan's hair was longer, blonde, tied up, her face was like a replica of Artemis', because it was, and it creeped her out.
"That is so cool." Zatanna said, looking from Artemis to the other without shame.
Thankfully Megan could feel Artemis' uncomfortableness and shifted back to her normal form. Sending a sorry look to Artemis she settled back into her chosen skin comfortably.
"You think the hour's up?" Raquel said, sounding bored. Artemis tossed her a weird look; she didn't want the hour to be up. It just meant that she had to face people that knew her past. Although she had a sneaking suspicion that Robin knew a lot more than he was letting on.
"It'd been past an hour twenty minutes ago." Robin said, crossing his arms and smirking. "They're waiting outside the room for us to call them in. Trying to see if we run away or not."
"You didn't tell us because?"
"Didn't think you would want the hour to be up." He shrugged, "either way were going to the arena."
Artemis frowned, "how do you know?"
Dick just looked at her with a mysterious grin on his face. She didn't miss the smug look on Wally's face behind him either. She glowered at him and turned back to face the middle of their circle.
The door opened, the League filed in. Batman was at the front, flanked by Superman and the star panties lady. Artemis thought it was a scene out of an action film, minus the fog and Eye of the Tiger blasting in the background.
"Go with your mentors. We're going into the arena." Batman said in his monotonous voice.
Green Arrow made his way to her and nodded, she nodded back: a simple exchange of pleasantries between mentor and protégée.
They walked forward side by side, following Wally and a man dressed in a bodysuit, and being followed by Robin and Batman- who looked oddly comfortable for someone who was taken in by the big bad bat.
Then again, she was completely comfortable with a blonde man wielding a bow.
A/N: Here is the really, really, really, REALLY late chapter 2. I am so sorry. No excuses. I hate myself right now. Any way... I hope you guys liked this chapter because I really tried really hard for this. Sorry again and I hope you liked.
If you noticed a line from the chapter that sounded familiar, "That dude is creepy. It's like he didn't get a date to the prom and prowls around his mother's basement." Tell me where it's from :)
MAILBOX:
C: Hahaha... They are fourteen in this fic :)
JewelStruck: Thank you so much for your review!
Meridianpony: Thanks for the support on this, really means a heap!
21 is awesome: Awe thanks. Three yours for you: you are asterous :)
Featherheart: That means a hell of a lot to me, thank you so much! And on the Robin note, it'll be a bit more complicated than that... but I don't want to give away spoilers.
xXLostParadoxXx: Sorry this update came so late!
Babrabella: Stay frosty B)
Thank you all again, and please, please leave a review because it give me something to work towards and strive for something better than bad... so yeah, please review. But if you don't, thanks for reading, hope you like it all that jazz.
Until next time,
-The Missing X
