"What's this supposed to be?" Artemis asked as Rose joined her on top of the ship. Upon first sight, the mountain made her queasy, sick with memories of missions from Batman, baking with M'gann, discussing novels with Kal, meditating with Conner… salsa nights with the girls and Dick… quiet evenings on the beach with Wally. All those memories tainted by this, this stupid mission, it led her right back to where it all started. The team was mourning and they had arrived in one of Black Manta's ships, Black Manta… associated with Kaldur, her "murderer."

What would they do…M'gann, she'd unleash hell.

"This, dear Diana, is a not so secret headquarters."

"And we're supposed to break into a superhero's… fortress?" Artemis said skeptically and she wasn't faking it. The cave was heavily guarded with an extensive security system designed by the most brilliant minds in the world, not to mention it was guarded by an android, a sphere of alien origin, a mutant Wolf… the list went on.

"Don't get your boxers in a bunch mister, we've already disabled the security system. We're just going to cause a distraction and maybe give it a fresh new paint job, I'm thinking red." Disabled… that's… no. It can't be true, who could have disabled it? Only someone on the inside, only someone with the records, the blueprints… and they'd need computer skills that matched Dick's, maybe even Batman's. Dick wouldn't betray them but… was there someone on the team who…

Dammit, it's the mole crap all over again.

"Excuse me if I'm not fully prepared to risk my life based on something you said." She needed more information, something… anything that could tell her how they'd done it. Or was it a bluff? Had her cover been blown, were they sending her to be murdered for real this time? A twisted irony…and yet, painfully poetic. To be killed by those bent on avenging her, was that something Black Manta would do? She wasn't sure, but other members of the Light like Vandal, Lex, and Rash would approve as each one had strange fixations on literature, quoting authors and regaling stories in juxtaposition to life.

"Aw, are you wetting your pants already Mr. Man?" Rose adjusted her mask, her white hair tied into a ponytail that flowed in waves just as the ocean. Artemis couldn't help but think how easily this girl could be a hero, she had this valiancy in her movements, an elegant touch to the way she carried her swords that left Artemis impressed. Rose's skills far surpassed her own when she was 15.

"Enough with the masculine jokes Princess, unless you want me to tie that pretty little ponytail to this ship and hit autopilot." Artemis touched her own mask, rubbing the center where the cat nose had been painted on by Wally. She could have done without it, and the God awful whiskers, but it had made him smile. She would do anything to make him smile, anything from staying up late to learn new recipes and nearly burning the apartment down in the process, to letting him draw black whiskers on her mask, completely impractical but "adorable" as he would say.

"Tell you what, when you prove to me you're a badass, I'll start calling you kitty-cat, 'kay?" Rose jumped to the water, walking up to the sand coolly. The girl had nerves of steel. Artemis admired that. She stared at the glimmer from Rose's hair, the light reflecting against it making her shine like an angel. How appropriate it was, the colorless hair… white signifying old age, with her face so young, the contradiction all too real for every superhero… and here it was personified by a supposed villain... no, villain… she was a villain.

"How do you expect to defeat them?" Artemis said, following closely.

"Follow my lead D." That's all she said, suddenly becoming serious as they approached the cave. How did she expect to get in Artemis couldn't fathom, she couldn't without being a number, without having the DNA of someone on the team… that's how the computer recognized you, it did so by form, the cells in your body… this whole thing was a death trap… it had to be. Soon enough she'd turn and Rose would be gone and she'd be left to suffer the wrath of her former teammates…

"Here, this one's yours." Rose handed her a paper with a number, before she could respond, she placed a dot on her neck.

"What the hell!"

"Relax, read the number as we go in." She didn't feel poisoned, no headaches, weak joints, blurry vision. So… what was the point? Artemis looked down at the paper and choked, it was Tula's number… before she could act Rose was recognized as B-07.

Artemis held her breath as the lights flashed and the computer voice read her name aloud along with Tula's. The eeriness of one's name while under another identity was like hearing a dead loved one's name fresh after death. She almost chuckled at the thought of loving herself; there was no room for love under the mask of Tigress.

"Boo, there's no color here," Rose said as they stepped further into the cave. Artemis got a chill from the floor, the very floor where she'd gone several rounds with many of teammates on several occasions, it seemed time would repeat itself…only under very different circumstances. Artemis looked over to the command center expecting someone to step through, but no one did. She turned to the halls and yet no one person appeared looking stunned at their presence, there was no one at all. Artemis closed her eyes momentarily for a mental sigh of relief.

"There's no one here," she said.

"I know, but one of them is coming." Rose was busy playing with the screens; she pulled each one up with ease as if she'd done it a million times. Her fingers daintily touched each button, reading through file after file. Artemis watched in disbelief, there was no way to stop her without blowing her cover and yet it looked as if she had already reviewed them.

"What are you doing?"

"Just looking at things…" Rose stopped at the file of a redheaded boy with speedster goggles, it was the boy Wally had spoken of, the one from the future… a second cousin or something along those lines.

"Bart Allen," Rose whispered, her eyes smiling as she stuck her tongue out.

"Boyfriend of yours?" Artemis mused. With the cave empty and the young Rose giving puppy eyes to the picture, she felt at ease for the first time.

"Oh no, I think he's the one I was told to kill, personally. Now the other kid, Blue Beetle, he's a hottie." Rose shut the screens off, flipping her sword into the air and twirling the other at her side. Artemis watched carefully; it was as if the girl always played with her weapons whenever she wanted to change the subject.

"If I remember correctly he wears a blue suit of armor, what part is supposed to be hot?"

"Well… he looks like he has a nice build." The computer began to signal an arrival and Artemis stepped back to get behind Rose. She wanted to be able to knock her out inconspicuously should she need to by pretending to slip, thus allowing whoever walked through to escape and warn the others. It would make her look incompetent but it was a risk she had to take, especially if it was one of the freshmen stepping through.

A blonde girl with Wonder Woman's emblem stepped in looking defeated already, although upon seeing Artemis, or rather Tigress and Ravager, she gained a fresh resolve and lifted her fists in the air. This time Artemis sighed out loud, she had trained Cassie alongside Wonder Woman on more than one occasion. From that, she knew Cassie was brash and prone to act before thinking. Although a powerhouse, she lacked patience.

"I got this!" Rose said sprinting forward. Cassie flew upward but Rose anticipated this, swinging her sword to the girl's heart. Lift your wrist Cassie, lift your wrist.

Cassie pulled her wrist up, blocking the sword with her cuff. But the blow was too forceful for her to stay in the air. She fell backwards, onto the cave wall. Artemis took this moment to jump over to Rose's side, blocking Rose's sword with her own crossbow.

"This is Wondy's brat, you want the Amazon princess after us?" Rose lifted her sword up, it slide across the crossbow and a sound of clashing metal rung through the room.

"I wasn't going to kill her, jeez slaughter was just a figure of speech." Artemis twisted her lips to express her disapproval. Rose had lied, she expected a battle with the whole team. While she was happy this wasn't the case because it would have most likely resulted in her own death at the hands of her friends or having her cover blown and ruining months of planning, she didn't like Rose lying to her.

I should have seen it coming.

Rose had no reason to trust her; she could lie at any point for the purpose of the mission because she felt like it. That made Rose even more dangerous; Artemis would always be guessing what her real motives were.

"When were you going to tell me the real plans, when I was a corpse on the floor?" Rose gave a "wasn't me" expression that was followed by a wicked smile. Cassie's eyes opened to see the two preoccupied with one another, perfect timing for an attack. She pushed her legs out, hoping to knock both assassins off their feet. Artemis side-stepped, expecting Cassie to do this, after all she taught her the importance of timing.

Rose got the full power of the blow; she fell on her back but her hands somehow managed to hold onto the swords. Artemis viewed them as the girl's lifeline; Rose would hold onto them even if it meant her own life. There was a sadness in that, what Rose held dearest were tools to kill.

Cassie flew up again, Artemis knew Wonder Woman had taught her how to use velocity and precision for hits, the higher she went, the more forceful the downward blow would be, especially if she picked up speed from the height. Before Cassie could swerve down, Artemis shot one of her arrows up, the target being the side of her cuff. At that angle, Cassie wouldn't be injured but she would be thrown off balance, about 17 degrees to the left, enough time for Rose to get up.

"Nice kittycat!" Rose yelled as she threw her sword at almost the exact angle Artemis had with her arrow. Cassie fell further down leaving Rose enough space to jump. Artemis mimicked Rose's movement at the opposite end, both their fists hit against Cassie's ribs on either end. The girl crashed onto the floor, her hands shaking over the bruises.

"Okay Ravager, what now?" Artemis said as she examined Cassie, the girl's ribs were strong, she was a demigoddess, two blows from humans wouldn't break them but it would be enough to cause her pain, about a minute's worth.

"Wonder girl goes night, night." Rose turned her sword over to the blunt side, her hands uncut from the sharp end she now held, she kicked Cassie down and jammed the sword into the girl's head; the violence had Artemis' hands quiver. If it had been someone else, like Gar… the blow could have killed them.

"Anger issues?" Artemis asked, genuinely wanting to know the answer. Having assassins for parents often breed those kinds of feelings, wrath weighing every decision one made and envy over the those with happy childhoods, or at least safe ones, caused hateful thoughts that turned into vicious actions.

"I told you I love my daddy." Rose pushed her swords back into the sheaths. Rose's eyes were on Cassie, looking at the girl as if seeing her own reflection. Artemis could imagine Rose being in the same position, out in the field training with her father, her own father attacking her and delivering an almost deadly blow. Artemis had been through a similar experience several times in her childhood. If things were different, she would have placed her hand on Rose's shoulder, comforted her with words like "You are not your blood, you are your own person." But it wouldn't work here, not when she played this bitter façade of a villainess with a vendetta.

"Are we taking her back to the ship?" Artemis asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"I am, you're staying here. There's a compartment above," She pointed to the ceiling, "hide there and wait, there's food and a blanket but you're trained, I doubt you'll need most of it." Artemis knew above was Red Tornado's room; it's where he resided since becoming the team's den mother all those years ago.

"I don't understand, am I a spy now?"

"No silly, I'm the spy who's been in and out of this place for the past few weeks. You're the little kitten who's going to bring us the birdy, the big birdy, Nightwing." Artemis smiled, to Rose it looked like a pleasing smile of a woman getting the chance to toy with the body of an agile hero, Rose started to giggle. Artemis smirked because Nightwing was the one person she could handle being one of the four who'd see her golden blonde hair rather than the raven color everyone else saw, the hair of Tigress.

"I guess I should get to it then."

"Do me a favor kitty cat, straddle him for me, I have yet to dance with the pretty boy." Artemis winked. There was a pain behind the gesture, she knew now that had life been different they would have been like mentor and student, teammates, friends, almost like sisters. They would have worked together as heroes, now they partnered as villains.

Life has a bad sense of humor.

….

"I can't believe you're doing this." Dick watched as the speedster slipped his handmade goggles onto his forehead, he smiled at Dick before turning to the mirror and winking at himself.

"It's what you wanted," Wally said, wiping off a few breadcrumbs from his arm.

"Of course I wanted you back on the team, but not like this. What about school?" Wally rolled his shoulders back; his eyes were glossed over from last night's cry. Despite having a cold cloth over them for a good hour, they were still bloodshot.

"Simultaneously doing college and vigilantism isn't exactly new to me." Wally didn't want to be in school anyway, not with all the looks he kept getting. Everyone wanted to know why his "other half" wasn't by his side. The rumors were getting unbearable.

"Alright Wally, not going to argue-"

"Good. Now let's head to the cave so I can brood as I pretend to be on the brink of punching you in the face." Dick smirked. He was happy to see his friend relaxing more. Wally would never say it but the yellow and red suit had a calming effect on him, in a way it was filled with sweet nostalgia of the adventures that gave him thrill, purpose. Before the team, Wally's goal in life was the rush, the unbelievable high of speeding through a road, a field, heading right into the fire, watching flames moving too slow, watching the tips of blades as they prepared to strike but never quite touching him… it was the feeling of invincibility.

His years on the team changed that. Looking into the eyes of those near death, witnessing death itself… it took its toll on him. When Artemis's life was moments from ending that was it. For some time he'd accepted the probability that one day running out into battle, in the thick of it with guns firing about one would eventually hit him and he'd fall dead. Stupidly, he never thought this fate could be Artemis's what with the way she carried herself, as a person who could not be broken, a fearless being with the ability to take challenge and obliterate it and then proceed to challenge others with her might. He learned what it really meant to be a hero; it wasn't a matter of thrill, it was a matter of life and putting one's life behind all others, a sacrifice he was willing to make but refused to let Artemis do the same, until now where she'd left him no choice. Artemis wanted to help and Wally's wasn't going to get in her way, she tried and that resulted in a boot to his face.

"If you're done looking at yourself in the mirror with a quizzical expression…" Dick's eyes narrowed.

"Quizzical, fancy," Wally said rather judgmentally, his face changed to match his tone although there was hints of playfulness on the ends of his lips that resisted a smile.

"Well see now your expression has changed, you took the quiz out of quizzical so now you're just zical." Wally chuckled, it had been a long time since his friend played with the English language and he took comfort from this.

"Did you find anything new, about the picture or the scarab or the ghosts, please tell me about the ghosts Velma." Dick laughed, gently pushing his friend, he preferred being compared to a nerdy female cartoon character over a dirty look brimming with hatred as Wally had been doing since he asked Artemis to take on the Tigress mantle.

"All I've got are a bunch of corrupted files, I can't ask Babs for help without telling her the whole plan-"

"And it's not like you're pushing her away like you did with Kory or anything by not including her." Wally ran his fingers through his hair, enjoying the feel of it on his fingers. His head smelled like apples, the very scent of Artemis's hair, he'd used her shampoo for the past few days.

"Right because you're the expert of relationships." Wally started to laugh and Dick knew his comment was pathetic. Artemis and Wally had been together for five years and within the last two they had not one major fight with one another. In fact out of all 5 years, there were about four big fights he could recall and each had to do with Artemis' past, once she learned to trust Wally fully heartedly those world war 3 battles ceased.

"Ok Wally, I misspoke but…"

"I know Dick, I know it's hard for you so let's just forget I said anything and focus on the magic voodoo, Scooby-doo nonsense going on."

"I've brought the files to the cave, I've got them locked up tight in the database, if you want we can go over them before the team gets back from their missions." Wally only nodded. Corrupted files were a pain to put back together if viruses were involved and considering the level of encryption had to be pretty high with a man like Kord behind it, it'd take a few days.

"If it's that bad, Kord must've really wanted to keep them out of the Light's hands, kind of like life and death type of thing, you know the one where our worlds are turned upside because a major plot of the villain starts to actually work and we're all screwed." Wally speeded to the doorway, Kent barked and Wally held his finger to his mouth. Marvin was supposed to watch him while he was away for a few days but the dog was restless. First Artemis disappeared and now Wally was leaving.

"He gave his life to protect them, I'm betting he was hoping Bruce would figure it out, doubt he knew the whole league would be gone by the time anyone found them." Dick petted Kent, rubbing his chin and scratching his ears, the dog calmed down enough to stop making noises but it looked like he was frowning.

"Why didn't Batsy find them?" Wally asked curiously, the question was a valid one. Batman was the world's greatest detective, very little got by him. The problem was he wasn't prone to share, even with his first protégé.

"He might have, he probably did but he what with M'gann's little revelation about the 16 hours he must not have finished them…but…"

"But he got started." Wally said with a smile. "Started" for Bruce meant a hell of a lot more than anything Dick had done. If anything, Bruce had at least bypassed the firewall to reach the files, then it would be a matter of decrypting them.

"I'll go to the lair, you're expected at Mount Justice remember? All hell breaks lose when Mama Nightwing isn't around to regulate things."

"I'll let Alfred know you're coming." The two had a little moment, pushing their fists into one another and then parted ways outside the apartment door. Wally speeded off but Dick lagged behind, not just because he lacked super speed that allowed him to run at the speed of sound but because he had neglected to tell Wally something. He'd gone back to Zatanna and asked about Artemis's drawing. The first time he'd asked, she really did say it was just Artemis drawing from memory out of boredom, but Dick hadn't bought it. The second time he'd gone to see her she resisted telling him the entire truth.

"It was her own drawing Dick, she never saw it in my spellbook, I don't know how, but she had every detail down."

"So what does that mean Z…" He knew it wasn't anything good.

"It might mean Artemis was killed because of something bigger than just the battle, she might have very well been killed because of something they wanted to stop, something she has the power to do."

Dick knew Artemis wasn't dead; the whole thing was a ruse that he had planned. Yet, he was worried, if there was a reason for wanting Artemis dead he was glad for all intents and purposes she was "dead." For now the lie would keep her safe, but with magic involved there would only be so long before someone discovered the truth about Artemis.

"Damn." Dick could only hope he found out what the drawing meant before it was too late.

…

Dick woke up to the sight of Tigress and Kaldur, the two looking down at him as if they were his lunch, especially Artemis with her new catsuit.

Damn, she's like my catwoman, minus the actual action…

"You're up."

"I'm up. Question, did you really need to kick me in the face, my cheek is swollen, and what was the straddle for, I wasn't getting up." He enjoyed it nonetheless, even with his head throbbing from every side and his back felt like someone had dumped iron sheets on it, a few ribs felt broken.

"I'm an actress," Artemis said smiling fondly at him. Kaldur coughed to bring them back, Dick was flirting, Artemis was playing along platonically more so than romantically if only to tease Dick, Gotham's favorite playboy.

"We have new information regarding the Light and its partner, we believe he goes by the name of Deathstroke, master assassin." Dick got up from the floor, tired and a bit woozy from Artemis kicking his ass earlier.

"Assassin?"

"I'm not buying it. Why the hell would a master assassin want to join forces with modern day Nazis? He's nothing but a hired hand, just like me." Artemis spat out the last bit, the words "just like me" in conjunction with someone who killed others, innocent or not, for cash made her sick and treaded a bit too close to a path she could have walked, the path Rose was on now. Deathstroke was everything her father was, an arrogant man with blood dripping out of every orifice. All he cared about was money; he shared her father's militaristic teaching style, Rose had gone through most of, if not all, the horrors Artemis had.

"Is he one of your father's associates?" Kaldur asked, he had meant to ask her earlier when he told her the news but keeping Nightwing out of sight on the ship proved difficult, they would have to reveal to the others he was their prisoner, that was what the Light wanted after all, but not before relaying some news to one another.

"At first I wasn't sure but now I remember clearly… I even asked my dad why he had one eye, the answer was a slap because I was interrupting Daddy's work." She rolled her eyes. There was silence after her comment; Artemis rarely talked about her past with anyone but Wally. She gave snippets of it to Dick but the sickening details were often locked away in her head for safe keeping, or rather for the insanity to brew until she boiled.

"All I know is Artemis," Kaldur gently touched her cheek in hopes she'd calm down, she let out a sigh and smiled softly, "is assigned to help him." Dick took in the new information as any Batkid would, word by word… explicating everything, analyzing connections that weren't directly stated, and looking for solutions.

"By the way, you're our prisoner." Artemis said, cuffing Dick's hands. He smiled, he shouldn't have but he couldn't stop himself. Artemis rolled her eyes but she was smiling too. Dick started to debate himself if now was a good time to tell Kal and Arty about the drawing, the implications it had with Ted Kord, the Light, the scarab… the scarab. The capture didn't exactly happen at an opportune time, what with Wally at the Batcave working on files, and Dick needing to speak with Jaime, well not so much Jaime but the little voice in his head.

"This was bad timing." Dick said, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Yeah well there's more, they've got Cassie. Not much I could do to stop Deathstroke's daughter from talking her down, the girl's good." Artemis spoke with pride in her voice, it had only been a short while since she met Rose, much of which was insults but she'd taken a liking to her and an almost protective role over the girl despite her screwed up sense of right and wrong.

"Daughter?"

"Her name is Rose and she goes by Ravager, that is all we know." Kaldur said with equal exhaustion. Playing the role of a villain was as hard on him as it was Artemis, despite having a fairly good childhood, the idea of working for his father, a man he barely knew, on the side of evil, shattered his own moral code and disrupted his sense of identity. With Tula gone and being the number one enemy of his former teammates, essentially his family, life seemed a lot like a paper house having water poured all over it.

"Alright so now we have two freshman being detained by the Light, La'gaan being an accident but Cassie was for purpose," Artemis had searched for where Rose had stashed Cassie but all the prisoner's rooms were empty save the pods with the children and La'gaan, "My guess, they wanted to use her for their experiments. If you think about it Gar's already mutated, M'gann and Conner are veterans so they wouldn't touch them, Blue Beetle's got that bug that never comes off and-"

"Blue Beetle. Are you sure they weren't after him?" Dick was going through the possible scenarios. Cassie was half god, whatever they had planned for the kids they were kidnapping, information he'd gotten from the Alpha squad, it had to do with the Light's larger plans for humanity. Maybe they were building some sort of army, using kids to test out…meta-genes.

"Holy crap."

"What is it?" Kaldur asked alarmed.

"He's had an epiphany." Artemis said waiting for Dick to continue.

"Meta-genes, that's what the Kroloteans called it, meta-genes. They were looking for that component, something that would activate superhuman abilities like Wally's hence the translation 'meta' as in 'beyond' as in-"

"Beyond human capabilities, superpowers." Kaldur finished for him. He was familiar with such prefixes, they stemmed from the ancient Greek language.

"Okay that's the Kroloteans, working with the Light for reasons we don't get…from what M'gann said they're more like thieves than masterminds."

"Which suggests they are working for someone, perhaps the Light's real partner, perhaps the supplier my father and the others have spoken of." Kaldur stated, feeling confident in his conclusion.

"I have a feeling Bart would know, he hasn't told us everything, the kid's way too savvy to just be a tourist." Dick wasn't fazed by the role Bart played, as brilliantly acted as it was, the fact that he had come the day Neutron attacked Barry Allen's hometown was too coincidental for Dick to ignore.

Artemis was also speculating. If the Light was after Meta-genes, it would have been better to have kidnapped Gar, his genes were mutated, maybe some sort of human meta-gene had been activated in his genetic make-up… he'd be the perfect study. Cassie's powers came from more mystical forces, taking her was pointless. Dick took notice of Artemis expression, knowing where her thoughts had went, he nodded towards her in agreement.

"I believe I'm missing something here," Kaldur said as he was not quite on the same wavelength as his comrades.

"Whatever they have planned for Cassie has more to do with her lineage, her father's lineage than any experiment, I'm guessing another part of the puzzle that is the Light's plans." Dick tilted his head back; there were so many pieces to the story. Kord's files, Cassie's kidnapping, the kidnappings of the children, Artemis and her drawing and the aliens… he needed answers.

"Artemis," he decided holding back was the last thing he should do, "Do you remember that drawing you did, all those years ago, a doodle with lines and circles all in this intricate pattern, too many of each to say how many...?" Artemis' mouth fell open. What Dick described, however vaguely, was what she had seen on Rose's neck.

"Rose has the necklace with the same design, why… why are you asking?" Dick felt the urge to punch a wall, one more piece he couldn't put together.

"Great, there's a necklace? Fantastic, freaking fantastic." Artemis stepped closer to Dick, flicking the bruise on his cheek, he moaned but it did the trick.

"Sorry, I was asking because that design is from Zatanna's spellbook, it's also related to Ted Kord's death." Kaldur and Artemis groaned in unison, now they understood Dick's agony, the plot was thickening and they didn't like it one bit.

"Oh yes that is fantastic, Kord is involved now, and magic, science and magic, Wally would have field day." Artemis' mind went to her boyfriend; he'd be geared up by now, waiting at the cave…

"He's not there." Dick said. He knew the many expressions Artemis had, especially the one when she thought of Wally.

"Where the hell is he then?" Artemis asked aggravated.

"Batcave, working on Kord's files, most of the answers we need are in there." A noise was made outside, swords clashing. Artemis guessed Rose was at it with one of the guards again.

"We need to wrap this up." She whispered as Rose's cackle echoed in the halls.

"Lead the way Tigress." Artemis pulled Dick into another room, leaving Kaldur alone to think of all the new information. He knew Jaime needed watching if Kord was involved. He also questioned why the English translation, "meta-genes" used "meta" at all. The connection to an ancient language… whatever was at work he knew it had to be something that began long before anyone here was ever born.

"Quite a mystery." He whispered as he stepped into the hall, quite a mystery indeed.

…

"Don't play the God card here, I've called you for answers and you're not leaving until I get them and if you change the subject one more time I'm heading straight to the underworld to release all sorts of chaos and leave your name on the walls written in demon blood." Zatanna had her hands gripping her hips, she was furious with the person before her who'd been dodging her questions since his arrival with philosophical jargon. She wanted to punch the man in the face, well not so much a man as an angel, an annoying angel, annoying as hell.

"Very well," Spectre said, "What is it that you want from me?" Zatanna breathed in and out, focusing on her word choice. The angel of vengeance could easily manipulate his answers if she were not specific.

"My best friend Artemis Crock, she died recently." The Spectre made no change in facial expression although his hands did go up to protest what Zatanna had stated.

"I'm not finished. She drew a symbol, one from my book but there's no real description, all I knew is that it's old and it has something to do with you." She pointed accusingly at him with hand and pulled up a copy of the drawing in the other. Spectre put his hands down, looking at the image intently. He knew what it was although it had been some time since he had seen it.

"You wish to know why your friend was killed." Spectre spoke with austerity and finality. In his voice, Zatanna could hear thousands of years of wars, deaths and endings.

"Yes, and how I avenger her." It wasn't Zatanna's nature to speak in this way but her best friend had died and her death appeared to do with magic, her specialty. If she didn't do something about it, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

"Your mission is pointless." Specter was also a creature of fragments, making statements with explanations; Zatanna stepped closer, holding the drawing to his face.

"Artemis' life was not pointless, tell me what this means."

"It is pointless because she is not dead, although bringing this to my attention was the correct move." Zatanna lowered her hand, her eyes watery from the news.

Artemis not dead?

She had seen the body, the blood…she had asked Nightwing to show her because she couldn't believe it, not Artemis, what with all her gusto and no-nonsense attitude, death should be afraid of her. She only believed it when she saw her friend's body, grown pale, no heartbeat… that was all a lie?

"What's the next move?" Zatanna asked raising her eyes to look directly at him, she was intimidating. Zatanna preferred to be kept in the loop, she had assumed Nightwing was looking into Artemis' death, but now it seemed he was part of it, or rather the act that was her death.

"First I tell you what that means."

"Go on."

"It's a symbol as old as time, the first drawing." Zatanna rolled her eyes exasperated by his drawn out answers even though he had just begun.

"Enough Spectre, tell me, how does this relate to Artemis?"

"It's a symbol that means savior, drawn years ago in hopes of calling upon one during dire times and one that has been drawn many times over throughout history." Spectre's hollow eyes with glowing pupils began to shine outward; Zatanna knew this to mean he was playing events in his head, most likely the drawings throughout time.

"Artemis is the savior?" she asked, for it was the first question that came to mind upon hearing Artemis and "Savior" a loaded word of danger as every savior has a nemesis.

"Artemis is the messenger." Spectre's eyes stopped glowing and he now looked concerned.

"It's you, the host isn't it?" Spectre nodded, only it wasn't so much the spirit of the angel but the host body the angel had taken responding to her. The angel of vengeance would always need a human body to occupy, although one with a mind and thus feelings, opinions.

"I'm sorry Zatanna, I wish I could help you more but he, Spectre won't allow it, and we're needed elsewhere."

"At least tell me who the savior is? Or what needs saving or... or what Artemis being the messenger means?"

"I can only say Artemis will lead you to find the savior, if she dies all hope is lost." Zatanna threw her hands in the air, she had heard from plenty of magical beings "all hope is lost" over the years along with a string of other clichés. It came with the territory of being a sorceress.

"Alright, so keep Artemis alive even though I thought she was dead, and the savior, keep them alive too?"

"The savior cannot die by any means but age, it is Artemis you must look at for, the messenger is also-" Spectre paused, the angel was taking over now and with that the eyes glowed briefly before he disappeared altogether.

"Wonderful, protect Artemis even though I don't know where she or even what exactly she is because for some reason she is part of something ancient and threatens the world."

Just another day in Zatanna's world. The magician rested her hand on her cheek, closing her eyes to process the news that her friend was not only alive but also part of something that related to the fate of humanity and possibly the universe.

"Okay Dick," Zatanna said reaching for the phone, "I'll start with your lying ass."