Oh, She's Nobody

chapter three: Choices

"Oh this is too rich! I have to tell everyone!" Sid exclaimed, excited because he just came across the juiciest bit of information yet. Who said only girls liked to gossip?

"Wait, don–" Wally's command was cut off by a green arrow whizzing past his face.


"What was I supposed to do? Let him tell the whole world who you are? Batman would have our heads if we let that happen. I mean, who uses their powers where people could recognize you?" Artemis said getting angry.

"I didn't know he was there, okay?" Wally replied, his voice becoming slightly whiny. He looked away and said quietly, "I... don't make it seem like it's my fault. We're supposed to save people, not ourselves."

Artemis scoffed, "How are we supposed to save people if we can't protect ourselves? And it's not like he's dead or anything."

"That's not the point! We're the good guys, what you did–"

"Saved your ass!"

"I'd rather have my identity known, than have you shoot him!"

"'Shoot him?' Don't be so melodramatic. It was just a small dose of neuralacuna, hardly something that'll hurt him," Artemis stated as if he were a child throwing a tantrum.

"How'd you even get that? I... I have to tell Red Tornado what happened!"

"Nothing happened, Wally! You don't have to tell him anything! We took care of it on our own. And it's not like you stopped me, you're as guilty as I am, and you know it," she threatened.

"... Just don't do it again, okay?" he replied almost sadly.

"Then don't give me a reason to. Now say 'thank you, Artemis,' and we can forget this ever happened."

"I'm not going to thank you for taking away someone's memory! It's wrong!" he said indignantly. There went that bad feeling again, he looked at her and Artemis felt something fall out from under her.

She wouldn't admit this, but hanging out with the boys today... it was nice. It was almost as if she was becoming a real member of the team... but there was a look in Wally's eyes... something that said, "How can I trust you?"

"Urgh!" Artemis threw her hands in the air and stormed off. Why would she care about him trusting her? It's not like he should... It's not like any of them should.

Yet, it bothered her.

This is why she preferred to work alone. Never had she gotten so.. so... worked up over such a little thing. It was second nature for her to save her own butt before others. Wally should've been honored she even bothered to wipe and rearrange someone's memory for him!

Neuralacuna didn't grow on trees! It was expensive and hard to make, but boy was it potent. A drug that can erase short-term memory of a person and be replaced by some simple oral commands, was hard to get a hold of. Yet she used it on some punk bully for an ungrateful teenager. She should've saved it for when she needed it.

Artemis didn't pay any attention to where she was going, she vaguely remembered passing police officers cleaning up crime tape. So Kaldur, Robin, and Connor must of gotten the "bad guy."

This was getting annoying, the bad feeling was screaming at her all throughout the day, and, after all she'd been through, it still hadn't gone away. In fact, it got worse when she stepped out of the mall.

Her instinct told her she had two choices. She could turn around and go back to the boys and live with it, or... She could face the problem head on and be done with it.

Not one to put her head in the sand and hope for the best, she followed the bad feeling. The sun was nearly gone from the sky and night was coming in quickly. The cold bite of winter night ate at her coat and gloves, but she kept going until instinct told her to stop.

When it did, she found herself in an empty street with deserted buildings. She always found it strange that a city could be so full of bustle, but you turn down a road and it's completely bereft of anything.

Suddenly, she sensed a hostile force coming at her from behind. Ready for the fight, she turned around, but found no one there. Her body was tense as her eyes searched the darkness, her ears listening for the slightest sound.

After moments of tense silence, her instincts said the hostile thing was gone. Though the foreboding feeling was still there, she let her breath out in a puff of smoke and relaxed her stance.

"You're a hard girl to find when you put your mind to it," a vaguely familiar female voice whispered in her ear. In a split second she turned, her crossbow notched and at the ready.

"What do you want?" Artemis replied though no one else could be seen. Oh how she hated League of Shadows etiquette.

"Like you don't already know," the disembodied voice said from behind her. A moment later, Artemis heard her land. Eyes sharpening, Artemis pointed her crossbow at her. The Shadow in front of her was dressed in a royal blue Grecian-styled single sleeved dress that cinched at the waist and cut off before mid-thigh, the long slit sleeve flowed loosely around her left arm, she stood in a dark shadow that covered her face.

"I haven't heard from you in a long while, I was worried..." her golden eyes gleamed through the shadow as she elegantly held her arms up to show she wasn't going to attack, "Oh and Sensei isn't happy too," she added like it was an afterthought, though it sounded like a threat.

"Don't you remember? I don't answer to Sensei any more," Artemis replied, feeling uncomfortable that the Shadows sent her. This was what was nagging her all day. Her instincts screamed at her to run, nothing good was going to happen after this.

Without warning, the Shadow stepped out of the shadows to reveal her wavy black hair and her pretty face though her smile was full of friendly sadness. She said in her normal melodic voice, "Oh Arty, we both knew this was going to happen eventually."

"What do you want, Aria?" Artemis demanded putting her crossbow down, but not away. Oh she knew her alright... She and Aria were partnered up in the Shadows, they were as close as two people who went through the same crappy life could be.

"Tsk," she scolded, "It's freezing out. Let's continue this talk over coffee."

"You should've thought about that when you got out of the house in that," Artemis smirked at her ex-partners skimpy outfit.

"Oh you wish you looked this good," Aria smiled and put her arm around the blonde as she walked out of the alley.


"So now that you've got your coffee, care to enlighten me as to why you're here?" Artemis asked pleasantly having had quite enough. It was too easy to go back to old habits. She and her old training buddy talked about nothing important on their way to the cafe, and it almost felt like she never left.

"Look..." Aria started as she put her cup down, "I wanted to leave well enough alone, but..." she sighed, "I was sent to find you. Sensei didn't want to follow you after you left because you met up with that hero," she said the word like it was a vile disease, "But since nothing detrimental happened to the league, we assumed you didn't tell them anything," she paused then said seriously, "You didn't tell them–"

"I told them what they already knew, said I was so low on the ladder, that I didn't know much," Artemis replied defensively, feeling as though she needed to prove herself to her old partner.

"Well good," Aria said smiling slightly. Her catlike eyes had an amused glint to them and Artemis had to fight to give her an answering smile.

"Anyway, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but if you want to keep playing hero," Aria visibly cringed, "you have to give the League some information on that junior league you're wit–"

Artemis cut her off by slamming her hand on the table as she shot up from her chair. The day at Bull's Eye must have done something to her because she was feeling oddly protective of the team. Aria's eyes widened then looked at her with a mixture of guilt and sympathy. Geez, they knew what they were doing when they sent Aria to find her. She should've hidden her emotions better. If it were anyone else, she would have.

"You're actually enjoying yourself," Aria stated surprise emitting from her voice while she smiled dejectedly.

"I've got to go," Artemis announced as she stormed towards the door.

"Wait, can't we just talk?" Aria asked following quickly after.

Only ten minutes with Aria, and she already felt like she wanted to go back. Artemis missed spending time with her. There was no judgments, no having to put a filter on what she really thought. She would always feel that way about Aria and if she stayed to "talk" for any longer, she wouldn't ever leave.

Artemis got all the way outside and a ways away from the building before Aria grabbed her arm. Artemis couldn't stay with her, she spun to hit her ex-partner, but Aria stepped away from the blow in time.

"It took so long to find you, I just want five minutes to make sure you're doing okay," Aria pleaded taking a step towards her, but she stepped back to keep the distance apart.

"I'm fine, just leave me alone!" Artemis actually yelled. Let Sensei send anyone else after her. She was too close to Aria, she couldn't control her emotions around her ex-partner. Whatever Aria was going to say was cut short by a familiar hero's voice.

"Artemis!" Wally called with Robin, Conner, and Kaldur behind him. The four walked up to the two girls, but kept their distance.

"Is there a problem?" Kaldur asked seriously, standing in a calm yet threatening stance. The boys must've heard the last of their conversation because Conner looked imposing as ever, Wally looked like he would capture Aria and run her all the way to jail himself, and you could feel Robin glare at her through his sunglasses.

Artemis was tense. If Aria wanted to, she could ambush them and keep them busy long enough to disappear and take Artemis with her. Though if she did that, Artemis wouldn't be certain she'd ever go back to Mount Justice again, or if she wanted to.

Aria surprised the archer, she looked terrified, the color had drained from her face and she gulped. She actually gulped! What game was she playing at?

The boys looked confused at the reaction, their guard was down, but Aria didn't attack. She watched as the theif clenched her hands and turned to Artemis.

"Look, I'm not demanding you tell me where you've been or what you're doing, I just wanted to know you're alive! I don't want to cause you any trouble..." her eyes nervously shifted to the boys, "I understand why you left, but I just... I miss my little sister..." Aria said, her voice cracking with emotion, her golden eyes gleaming with unshed tears. What was she playing at?

"Little..." Robin started.

"Sister?" Conner ended.

"Who are you?" Wally burst out much like he did when he first met Artemis.

"She's nobody!" Artemis replied angrily glaring at her ex-partner.

Aria smiled ruefully before she turned her pretty little head at the speedster and pouted her pretty little lips as she said without a skipping a beat, "I knew Artemis wouldn't talk about me, but I'm her half-sister, Athena."


AN: I actually finished this chapter before starting chapter two so sorry if it feels slightly disjointed. Please review, i'd love your opinions of Aria/Athena, and I haven't even started writing the next chapter and reviews motivate me. :D