Hit or Miss
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or Young Justice: Invasion.
A/N: 17 reviews in the last chapter! You guys are awesome! Please keep them coming. By the way, anyone know when Young Justice is coming back from hiatus?
Shadows rippled across the hangar like wraiths, sliding in and around the half-dozen or so private planes and fueling trucks. Artemis slid amongst them, at home in the darkness. She settled herself beneath a Cessna, the high wing shielding her against the moonbeams that shone probingly down through the skylights. Wary, she leaned her back against the cold steel, pulling up one knee and hugging it close to her chest. Her bow was clasped in both hands against her shins, the grip comforting and familiar against her calloused fingertips.
They shouldn't have been there.
Going over the mission, she'd known there was a new hero that had taken up residence in Blüdhaven. Intergang had been complaining of his activities the past month or so and the illegal arms traders that normally worked out of Gotham's sister city had lately been shopping for a new home. Artemis had even been given the go-ahead to leave the package with him. But never in her wildest dreams had she thought it would be Dick.
They had thus far kept her clear of Gotham just to avoid the unlikely run-in with him or any of her previous associates; she had kept herself clear of Gotham.
There had been many a long night that she'd lain frustratingly awake on her thin mat, the sultry tropical heat sticking to her skin and the coconuts knocking against each other outside her open window like gunshots, as she thought of him and what he might be doing.
It had been especially bad the first few months in Tibet, freezing cold and miserable in the isolated monastery, forced to play nice with Sportsmaster and tolerate Jonathan's leering presence as she was physically and emotionally pushed to the limit. She'd nearly given up halfway through her Shadows training there, but Jade had kept her going using that rare blend of threatening encouragement she possessed that had sustained Artemis during their grueling childhood until Jade had finally emancipated herself.
Once Artemis had graduated to apprentice, they'd mercifully relocated her to the island, and her frostbite had been replaced by a constant sheen of sweat and incessant mosquito bites. That had been when she'd hacked her hair off for the first time.
Jade had walked into their bunks, took one look at the lumpy, uneven porcupine that had taken nest in Artemis's once glorious golden locks, and wordlessly snatched the sheers from her hands, carefully snipping until it was somewhat evened out. 'You'd think with all the fancy tutors our esteemed boss has hired for you, she could have afforded one stylist on call,' Jade had said.
'I'm sure that's why she keeps you around,' Artemis had sullenly replied, tentatively feeling out her much lighter head. 'For your fashion sense.'
Jade had dramatically flipped back her tangled mane of dark curls and grinned wolfishly, 'That, and my unquestionable loyalty.'
Artemis's lip twitched upward at the memory, one of her brighter one's in the past five years since she'd been kidnapped.
But now that proverbial Cheshire cat was out of the bag.
She hadn't at first known that it was Dick when Barbara and he had been chasing her, but the moment Red had appeared under the light of the streetlamp in her unmistakable bat-girl outfit behind the complete babe in black and blue, she'd realized. It had wiped every thought clear from her mind as though a miniature explosion had detonated inside and all she'd been able to do was dumbly stare in amazement, her body frozen to the spot.
He had towered over Red and was no doubt much taller than Artemis's considerable 5'8'' as well. He'd allowed his jet-black hair to grow out a bit and it now curled around his ears and the nape of his neck. His acrobat's physique, while previously lean and well defined, now rippled with taunt muscles that were toned to a T and showcased to perfection in his skintight new suit. Most shocking of all, he had finally grown into the enormously adorable ears he used to sport.
And his face…when he'd whispered her name, her arrow had shaken so badly she was lucky she hadn't accidentally sent it at them.
But she'd already had the misfortune of pulling it out and training it on them by the time these revelations had hit her. Of course he would recognize her moves, they'd trained so extensively in the months they'd fought side by side. He'd been the closest thing she'd ever had to a partner, the closest thing she'd ever had to a best friend.
And when she'd been ripped from that world and chosen to walk this new life, she'd not only lost that closeness; she'd lost the hope of them maybe being something more as well.
Seeing him standing there with Barbara in the alleyway, feeling the hurt in his voice and written so plainly across his domino-masked face that he might as well not have been wearing anything over his eyes, just confirmed what she already knew.
Hope was dead to her, and would always be so.
Her ride touched down two hours later, taxiing up to the hangar as quietly as the shadow organization that financed it. No sooner had it stopped than Jade was gracefully slinking down the stairs, her mask securely in place, restlessly flicking back and forth in haughty superiority.
If her sister was the lioness, Artemis was the wane moonlight, shining only when the night allowed. She slid out from under the Cessna's wing and made herself known.
"How could you let this happen?" Jade wasted no time in asking, hand perched on hip.
"I didn't allow it," Artemis muttered, crossing her arms and regarding her sister with a cool stare. "The last we were told of Robin's whereabouts, he'd been fighting in Gotham at Batman's side as always. One of Ra's apprentices even saw him last month working with the Team, taking out that mess that was Clayface."
Cheshire glanced back toward the open hatch of the plane, movement from within alerting Artemis that the boss lady had indeed come as well to extract her. "I'd keep your voice down about Clayboy if I were you," Jade whispered as she turned back to her. "That's still a pretty raw subject. And it's obviously not the same Robin. I mean, you've certainly changed," she said, waving her hand at Artemis.
And it was true. Artemis had shot up another inch or so since the last time she'd seen him and her muscles were leaner and stronger through the harsh regime of the League of Shadows induction training in Tibet. Her hair, she'd kept short- shoulder length- and after they'd begun to send her on missions, she'd been forced to dye it black to blend in and avoid recognition. Without her ninja robes and mask she still ultimately looked like the girl she'd once been, but harder, hungrier.
"You should have kept your cover better, sis," Jade went on. "Daddykins was leery enough about allowing you this close to Gotham. Losing the package AND blowing your identity…you'll be lucky if you're not back in the monastery sanding the floors and shoveling snow until you're thirty."
"Isn't dad always that one saying we'd be lucky just to reach thirty?" They exchanged a smirk, the familial sort that Artemis could now admit she'd greatly missed after Jade had abandoned them. "And don't get your tail in a twist, we have no way of knowing what old Robin is going to do. Plus, at least this way, we can feel better about the package making its way to the right hands, rather than if I'd planted it on some random hero like we'd originally planned."
Their boss- the mistress- completely hidden under her thick robes and hooded cloak as she normally was when traveling, elegantly alighted from the plane, gliding down the steps and stopping before the Crock sisters. Artemis bowed her head and kneeled, as she'd grown accustomed to doing countless times both in Tibet and on the island. The Mistress extended one delicate hand to Artemis and she accepted it, rising smoothly to her feet. "Selene is correct in this, Cheshire," the older woman murmured, her voice rich and throaty, accented as she was by the East. Her hidden eyes searched out Jade's. "And her oversight is not the only problem we may be facing. You have much to tell your sister."
Artemis glanced curiously at Jade. "Tell me what?"
The enigmatic Cheshire mask revealed nothing of Jade's inner thoughts, but the pause she gave before muttering, "I was going to wait until we were wheels up," spoke volumes of how uncomfortable her sister was with whatever the mistress was referring to. Artemis's curiosity, intertwined alongside a healthy dose of anxiety, was piqued.
"We may not have the time," the mistress sighed.
Jade looked skyward for a long moment before letting her eyes fall back to Artemis. "I'm pregnant," she said at last, stating it so matter-of-factly that Artemis wasn't quite sure she'd heard right.
"Excuse me?" she practically squeaked, her head reeling.
Jade shrugged, pulling out one of her sai's and spinning it about as she normally did when she grew bored or was feigning disinterest, as she was now. "That's why I'd asked if you'd seen Roy. He doesn't know yet."
Artemis batted the sai away and it fell to the tarmac with a clang. "When were you going to tell me about this? This isn't just your life you're messing with anymore, Jade!" When her sister didn't respond, Artemis clenched her teeth and hissed, "Does Arsenal's arsenal no longer contain any condoms? What the hell were you two thinking?
"Hush, Selene," the mistress murmured, raising one hand in a placating gesture and using the other to sweep back her hood, revealing the immortally beautiful face of Talia al Ghul. A chill night breeze swept the waves of shiny onyx hair from her face, illuminating sapphire blue eyes normally hidden beneath thick bangs. Her striking features, a mixture of British, Chinese, and Middle Eastern descent, glowed pale in the moonlight as she said, "Cheshire is aware of the complications this causes us all. Your temper has no place."
Artemis folded her arms tightly against her chest, still glaring at her sister. "Are you going to keep it?" she asked bluntly.
Jade drew up to her full height and put her Cheshire mask directly in Artemis's face. "Yes," she answered, a hint of challenge in her voice.
Artemis was as close to punching Jade as she'd been since the night of her abduction. The only thing that kept her from swinging was a low voice that called out, "Am I interrupting?"
Jade and she both snapped their heads around in surprise, their animosity temporarily put aside.
Talia merely nodded in greeting as Batman swept out from the shadows. "So nice of you to join us," she murmured, her composure as serene as always.
Artemis was anything but. "What are you doing here? Hasn't Robin or uh…Bat-girl given you the package by now?"
Batman raised a brow at her tone, piercing her with his signature bat-stare. Chastised, she immediately felt fifteen and foolish again. He nodded back at Talia before he replying, "The Ferris Aircraft data chips were all accounted for; the operation was a success. However, we don't have a lot of time right now."
Talia gave a sad grin. "We never have, my beloved."
He pressed his lips in a thin line, and for once, Artemis knew exactly what the enigmatic Bruce Wayne was thinking of- his recent engagement to Diana Prince and the rejection and heartache that must be causing the other great love of his life. But he sidestepped the issue and urgently told them, "My alter ego is soon to be taking a very long vacation as I go off-world to deal with an intergalactic crisis connected to the missing sixteen hours."
"How long does a Bruce Wayne vacation run?" Jade inquired as she retrieved her knife from the ground.
"Long," was Wayne's characteristically succinct response.
"Well, this is bad on so many levels…" Artemis commented dryly, unable to count the number of ways she'd just been screwed over in the past few minutes.
Ignoring her, Talia asked Batman, "What is it you suggest?"
He narrowed his cowled eyes, looking between them. "It's time to reassess the situation," he finally stated, a grim set to his jaw as his gaze finally settled on Artemis.
She vehemently shook her head. "We've been over this more times than Roy and Jade have broken up," she argued. Jade glared at her and twirled her sai threateningly before sheaving it, but Artemis remained unfazed. "It's too risky."
"I wasn't asking," Wayne said. "Your sister is getting out and your only outside contact won't be available for an unforeseen amount of time." Artemis hated that he was always right, always collected and logical, always so damned focused.
Doing right had never seemed so wrong.
"Is your Robin up to it?" Talia asked, intoning the question all of them were thinking. Artemis bit her lip.
"The Robin you were informed of is my newest protégé," Batman said. He turned to Artemis once more, "Your Robin left Gotham the summer before last. He came back under the name Nightwing and moved to Blüdhaven several months ago."
"Do I want to know what happened?" she asked quietly.
"Why don't you ask him yourself," he told her before looking up and addressing the skybeam high above them. "He followed me after dropping off the package and has been listening to everything we've just said."
Artemis felt the temperature in the hangar noticeably shift as a dark figure glided down to them, rolling gracefully as he hit the ground. She purposefully turned her back before he stood however, coldly regarding Batman. In a hushed tone, she scathingly said, "And you let him, knowing we'd be left with no other choice than to do things your way. As always."
She didn't mean to sound so bitter, but she couldn't help but resent the casual way Batman and the others were treating the sacrifices she'd made. And it wasn't like Batman's mission or Jade's future child wasn't important, it's just that they didn't seem to think her life was worth that much anymore.
But Artemis supposed that's what she got for living so long in the Shadows.
Wayne stared at her, long and hard, but didn't respond so Artemis ignored him and stole herself, gathering the resolve necessary to turn and acknowledge the hardest of her sacrifices.
Nightwing.
It suited him well. The armor was lightweight and looked flexible enough to accommodate his wide range of motion. The blue bird of prey rose on his chest like a phoenix, no doubt a partial allusion to his reimagining.
Unlike in the alleyway, his face now was a blank-slate behind the domino mask as he coldly regarded the four of them. Artemis considered taking off her own mask but in the end decided to leave it on, her last defense against the emotional avalanche headed their way.
"This isn't at all awkward…" Jade muttered from her side.
Artemis shoved her sister away and cautiously took a step forward. "How are you?" she asked softly, the air behind her words dying in the vacuum of tension that permeated the dimly lit hangar.
When he spoke, it was directed at both her and Wayne. "On average, I'd have to say I've had better days… Then again," he crossed his arms and slowly walked toward them. "It's not every day you find you've been lied to by not one, but two of the people you trusted most in the world."
Artemis swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. "I never meant to hurt you. Things just got out of control…"
"I wouldn't know," Dick said sharply, cutting her off. He glanced at Talia. "I would assume from her presence here that it has something to do with the Shadows."
"How do you know Talia?" Artemis asked, looking between the two.
"Her father kidnapped me a long time ago as part of his plot to force Batman to be his heir. And I don't seem to remember her complaining about it too much at the time."
Talia stiffened. "That was a different time and a different place. I am on your side right now, Mr. Grayson."
He snorted. "Yea, I think out of the four of you, I'd actually have to award Cheshire with the most points for honesty."
Jade looked him up and down. "Then as an honest woman," she began, her tone bemused, "May I just say that I'm definitely approving of your… wardrobe changes."
Artemis rolled her eyes and hissed, "Hormonal much?" to Jade as Talia interjected, "You have every reason to doubt me, but what my father is planning is something I cannot allow to pass. You've always known my ultimate loyalty to lie with him, but not at the expense of all else."
"So let me guess," Dick said, coming to stand directly in front of Artemis with his arms crossed. He stared down at her, his gaze an intense mixture of anger and something less definable. "You're playing spy in Bruce's chess match against the Light and from what I've heard, team undercover shadow needs me to sub-in now because Batman has to go stand trial in intergalactic court while Artemis's safety, Wonderland here, got knocked up."
Jade tilted her head. "You did not just call me Wonderland."
She made to step toward Nightwing but Wayne held out his arm, effectively blocking her. "I think that about covers it," he told Dick.
"Not quite," Nightwing muttered darkly before brushing past Artemis and decking his former mentor square in the jaw, so hard that Wayne staggered backward and fell to the ground. Dick stood over him as the Dark Knight rubbed his bruised jaw, quietly staring up at his former sidekick but making no move to retaliate or otherwise respond. That stayed that way for several moments before Dick turned to the rest of them and said, "Alright, I'm in." He reached into his utility belt and tossed Talia a card. "Call me, beep me, when you need to reach me." He leaned toward her slightly. "And if you don't, I guarantee my reaching you will go down far less pleasantly." He breezed by Artemis without so much as a glance, shot off his grapple and exited the way he'd come.
Artemis blinked several times and it wasn't until she felt Jade shaking her arm that she realized she'd been calling her name.
"Huh?" she asked.
"I said," Jade repeated, looking as annoyed as was possible with her mask on, "He's certainly not the same."
Artemis hugged herself, about to agree, when she felt a small slip of paper against her hand, tucked inside her ninja belt. She pulled it out and unfolded it. It read simply, 'Trinity's teaching chemistry tonight in one hour.'
"No one can stay a boy wonder forever," Artemis said softly as she refolded the message and stuffed it in her pocket.