Artemis stared at her reflection in the mirror with disdain. Loki had given her a green flowy dress to wear for some German event. He wouldn't go into details about what his plans were or how Tony fit into it. She was concerned and suspicious of her kidnapper. Who wouldn't be?
"Do I really have to wear this?" Artemis mumbled to herself. She really didn't like dresses. They reminded her of some of the assassinations she had done in the past. No one ever suspected her at the age of 11 to kill anyone. She would always wear a cute dress and an innocent look to throw her victims off.
"Green suits you." Loki walked in the room with a straight face. Artemis rolled her eyes at his voice. Of course, he would like green. Loki did seem like the narcissistic type.
An hour later, Artemis found herself accompanying Loki to the German event. He looked around as if searching for prey. Artemis recognized the look he was giving, he was going to cause someone pain. Loki's eyes glistened in mirth and amusement as he caught eye of someone. We made our way towards the man, but not before Loki decided to hit a man who was just standing there minding his business. Everyone looked at us in alarm, but Loki paid them no mind. Instead he grabbed a man by the back of his neck and shoved him onto a statue.
Artemis watched as he pulled a device from his jacket. In an instant, she pushed Loki, which resulted in him back handing her. Artemis fell to the ground, listening to the peoples screams as they ran away. She silently hoped that they would all, or at least mostly get away.
The archer got up and stood in shock as Loki jammed some machine into the guy's eye. She felt vomit threaten to arise, but she willed it down. It wasn't like she hadn't seen worse. Once Loki finished he shifted his gaze toward her.
"Come now." The grin never left his face. Artemis hesitated before complying. She needed to focus one making sure everyone got out. She took one quick look at Loki as they walked, her arm connected to his. There was no way she could face him.
"KNEEL!" Loki bellowed to the crowd before them. Artemis felt a shiver shift down her spine. She surveyed the area as discreet as she could while Loki went off on a tirade on how humans were beneath him. An old man stood up and caught the archers attention. She admired the way he stood up to Loki, knowing how it could possibly get him killed.
Loki was going to make an example out of the man, when a man with a shield appeared between Loki and the old man. The god and archer were forced to disconnect when they both fell downward. Both easily caught themselves.
"The soldier. The man out of time." Loki spat out. Artemis looked on in confusion. Man out of time? As soon as she got out of this situation she was going to do some hardcore research.
"I'm not the one out of time." The man in the patriotic suit stated with confidence.
An airship attacked Loki immediately after. As the patriotic man and Loki fought, Artemis went to help guide the people out. She had to do damage control a few times on missions that went wrong with the team.
"This way!" Artemis yelled and pointed out the direction that would lead people away from the battle. She noticed an elderly woman fall, but the people around her paid her no mind and nearly trampled her. Artemis ran toward the woman and helped her get to a safe location.
"Thank you." The old woman smiled at the teen.
Artemis just simply nodded in response and returned to her previous location. When she got there, the patriotic man was joined by a man in a metal suit.
"What the hell have I missed." The teen mumbled to herself. She noticed how Loki had surrendered. That didn't sit right with her.
Artemis cautiously walked up to the men. Patriotic man tensed up and the robot froze at the sight of her.
"I'm not here to fight. He has something of mine." She slowly reached into Loki's pocket and took the device she made from him out.
"What is that?" The man with the shield questioned.
"A mistake." The blonde vaguely answered. She placed the device on the ground and stomped on it. She then gazed up at the aircraft that was landing.
"You got a name kid?" The robotic man questioned.
"Yeah It's Artemis."
"Shit." The robotic man curse lowly.
"How old are you?" Mr. American gave a look to the robot then gazed concerned like at the blonde.
"Instead of giving me the 50 questions you should be arresting him." She pointed to Loki, who looked amused at the whole situation.
"HANDS UP!" A woman walked out of the aircraft with two sets of high-tech handcuffs and a gun in her other hand. Artemis took a deep breath and complied. By just looking at the woman, Artemis could tell she was highly trained.
"Hey she's just a kid!" The walking flag stood in front of the archer.
"She's my niece." The robot allowed his mask to slide up. Artemis nearly stopped breathing when she saw her uncle.
"Tony." She whispered.
"Surprise." Loki grinned wickedly from his seat on the pavement.
"Shut it." The redheaded woman ordered. She proceeded to lock him in the handcuffs.
"What is your niece doing here Stark?"
"That's something that I would like to know." Her uncle looked at her in confusion.
The woman in the cat suit walked toward Artemis and locked her up as well. Artemis didn't fight it. She didn't utter a word, which was okay since Tony protested angrily.
"Look Tony calm down." The blonde suggested, "Protocol is protocol. They might not see me as an enemy anyway, just a source of information." She explained as they entered the aircraft. Artemis was seated opposite to Loki, which she did not appreciate one bit. She didn't like how easily he gave up. It was suspicious as hell.
Lighting suddenly struck rapidly from thin air. Loki looked around a bit fearful of it. Thor. Artemis thought. She recalled him being the god of thunder or lightning and Loki's brother. Artemis gave the God of mischief a taunting look.
"Scared of a little lightning?" The star-spangled fighter teased Loki.
"I'm not too fond of what follows after." Loki admitted. Artemis reframed from snorting.
Thud
Something landed on the aircraft. Most likely Thor. Artemis commented mentally. Tony put his mask on, ready to fight. He opened the jet and Thor himself greeted him by knocking Tony back. Loki attempted to run, but Thor grabbed him by his neck and flew out the aircraft with him.
Artemis was being led to the opposite direction of Loki once they got to the giant platform in the air. He was most likely going to be locked up secure while she was going into interrogation. The blonde couldn't decide if she was going to give them information. She assumed that they were a part of the government, but that wasn't a reason to trust them. Especially with sensitive information she had.
She was guided into a chair once they reached the room she was in. No one uttered a word and everyone left to lock the room up. Two guards stood posted outside the interrogation box. Artemis glanced around the room lazily. As expected she was basically in a white box.
A sigh escaped her lips. How was the team reacting to her departure? Did they think that she's traitor? Wally probably did. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door suddenly opened.
"Hope you weren't waiting too long." A man in a suit walked in. Artemis kept her eyes trained on him as he sat across from her. "I'm Agent Coulson."
"Artemis Crock." She gave him an unsure smile.
"So, tell me Artemis," He began, "What were you doing with Loki?"
"I don't know. He suddenly appeared and said something about me being Tony Stark's niece. Now I'm here." She answered simply.
"You've been gone for 4 years." Coulson noted.
"I know." A sad twinkle hit Artemis' eyes. Those four years were hell to say the least. Those four years made Artemis hate her father. She wanted nothing to do with him. She wanted nothing to do with Jade either. Her sister did nothing but taunt her. They were supposed to be family, yet Jade started working for those she ran from. She started working for the people that made her leave Artemis.
"Where have you been?"
The archer took a deep inhale. Did she want to reveal that? All governments have corruption. She didn't know whether to reveal this information to him. He was just an agent. "Do you have a higher up I could talk to?"
Coulson looked shocked for a second, but he quickly fixed his expression and nodded. "I'll go get Director Fury. Nice meeting you Artemis." He winked before he exited.
Artemis didn't have to wait long for someone else to enter. A black man with an eye patch on entered the room with an air of authority.
"Tell me what you found to be so important that you had to interrupt what I was doing." The man went straight to the point. Artemis sat up straighter. She didn't know who was scarier, batman or him.
"It's about where I've been for the past four years' sir." She answered him immediately. He walked up to her, his hands were behind him. His gaze demanded that she explain herself, and that's exactly what she did. She explained that her dad, a wanted man in this universe, had taken her to another dimension. She told him how she was trained to be an assassin and how her mother had gotten that to stop once she had gotten out of prison.
"I'm giving you one chance. I don't give them often kid so don't do anything to ruin it." He gave her a pointed look. Artemis nodded with wide eyes. This guy was definitely scarier then Batman. The man walked over to her and removed the cuffs. Artemis immediately rubbed her sore wrist.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." He made his way out of the room and Artemis cautiously followed. They made their way toward a meeting area.
"-Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." Artemis could hear her uncle ramble on.
"Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Director Fury directed towards Tony.
"Artemis!" Tony called out to her in surprise and slight joy. Artemis immediately went to go hug him.
"Never thought I was going to see you again." She admitted.
"Who's this?" A man with glasses questioned.
"Artemis Crock. This is Tony's missing niece. Loki's plan involved using her against Tony." Coulson answered him.
"Nice to meet you I'm Bruce Banner." The man with the glasses introduced himself.
"I'm Steve Rogers." The man in the flag suit followed.
"This isn't the time for introductions." A woman, who had her hair pulled back, narrowed her eyes at the group.
"Right." Steve coughed, "Okay let's start with that stick of his. It's similar to a hydra weapon."
Fury shook his head, "I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor looked at Fury with a confused expression.
"I get it!" Steve shot up with excitement. Tony rolled his eyes at the man. "I get the reference." Steve sheepishly sat back down.
"Ready Doctor Banner?" Tony turned toward the man.
"As ready as I'll ever be." The other man rolled his eyes.
"Artemis, I need to come with me." Director Fury instructed. Tony looked as if he were going to protest.
"Focus on Loki." Artemis told him. Tony nodded reluctantly.
"Romanov, you too." Fury beckoned the redhead to follow as well.
Artemis followed Fury to what she presumed to be his office. The director sat down at his desk. Artemis sat across from him and Romanov remained standing.
"Agent Romanov this is Artemis Crock, Tony's niece." Fury began.
"I am aware." The agent looked over the younger girl warily.
"I'm trusting you with information that will remain in this room got it?"
Romanov nodded without hesitation.
"Ms. Crock claims to have travelled through to an alternate dimension." He stated simply, gauging his agents' reaction.
"And you believed her?" Romanov questioned immediately.
"We have Gods, a man from just recently thawed from ice, a man who fights crime in a metal suits, and another guy who turns into a giant green Hulk when angered all on board. I find this to be the least unbelievable circumstance to happen today. So yes I believe she did travel from another dimension." Fury gave Romanov an unbelieving look.
"How is that possible sir?" Romanov gave Artemis a look before turning to her superior and frowning. Director Fury raised his eyebrow toward Artemis, expecting her to answer.
"Never asked." The blonde admitted.
"You're telling me that you travelled through to another dimension and never questioned how you got there?" Fury gave the teen a look that screamed 'You fucked up kid'. Agent Romanov look annoyed.
"Look I was immediately trained to follow directions, specifically his. Rule number one was never to question him." Artemis flinched at a memory. She remembered how she tried to defy her father the first night back with him. She wanted to go home to uncle Tony and Pepper. Lawrence backhanded her and the held a knife to her throat. She didn't rebel for a while after that.
"Who is he?" Romanov questioned. Her stance softened a tad bit.
"My father." Artemis answered.
"So you're saying that he called the shots?" The agent inquired.
"No, but I think he's a double agent. He would tell me to go through with my missions, but then give me missions to retrieve some weird tech. They were off the radar." The archer explained to the two.
"Any idea who he was working with?" Romanov and Fury shared a look.
"No. He kept me away from his business partners."
"Artemis, you are to remain supervised and you are to tell no one about where you were. Understand." Fury ordered.
Artemis looked taken aback, "Okay then what am I supposed to tell people?"
"You ran away." Romanov provided immediately.
"For four years?" Artemis frowned.
"You met some people who let you stay with them for the first two year. You kept moving around for the next two. Then Loki kidnapped you and you were reunited with your uncle." The agent explained. Artemis kept her frown, but didn't object.
"We will be talking again soon." Fury dismissed her. Artemis left the room and wondered around aimlessly. She found Agent Coulson and Thor.
"Artemis! Hope Fury didn't scare you too much." The man smiled warmly at her.
"Nothing I can't handle." Artemis responded. She felt completely out of place. She didn't know how to act. Should she try to befriend these people or keep her distance? She honestly didn't know who she was. She was forced to be a top-notch assassin for years, but then she was sent to work with inexperienced teens. Teens who had never done a job without the help of their mentor. Or help in general. Teens who struggled to work together. Artemis even struggled since she had only been on solo missions before them.
She didn't know how to interact genuinely with people. Bette and Dick were easy to interact with, but that was because they went to her and befriended her. They took the lead in her friendships with them. Artemis was now out of her element. She didn't know the people, the organizations, or the heroes. She had nothing to go off of. She was essentially alone. Alone with a secret that she couldn't even tell her uncle, who had the right to know.
