Artemis sat staring at the letter. She had been right, Bruce really was Batman. And... her sister was gone. Her mind was racing she didn't know what to do.
She stopped and took a few deep breaths. She couldn't do anything about Jade right now, but Bruce, that was a different story. Taking the letter in her hand she walked out of her room towards Bruce's office. She didn't know what she was going to say but... after what Jade's letter had revealed to her she had to say something. Artemis walked up to the office and knocked firmly on the door.
"Come in." Bruce called. Artemis took a breath and walked in. Bruce looked up and put down a paper he was holding, he looked troubled. "Artemis... Jade is.."
"I know Bruce.. She left me a letter." Artemis mumbled.
"You too?" He sighed, "I didn't expect this... What did her letter say?"
"She said, that you're Batman." Artemis responded without faltering. Bruce blinked slowly, shocked but not so obviously showing it.
"Did she, well..."
"And I believe her, because I've suspected for a long time." Artemis blurted out.
"How long is 'a long time'?" Bruce asked after a moment of awkward silence.
"Since the first year, when you adopted me... there were a lot of crazy things happening and a lot of it pointed to you being connected to Batman. I never said anything because... I was afraid of everyone thinking I was crazy." Bruce was silent for a moment before sighing and standing.
"It would do no good to deny it, you practically had it all figured out already." Artemis was silent as she stared at Bruce.
"So.. you really are, Batman?" She whispered. Bruce stood and walked around his desk, he lightly placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Follow me." He said and began walking out of the office, Artemis scrambled to keep up with him.
Bruce led Artemis to one of the living rooms. He walked over to a bookshelf, to a bust of William Shakespeare. Artemis gaped as Bruce lifted the head off the bust and pressed a concealed button. There was a clicking noise, and Bruce walked over the grandfather clock by the far wall and pushed it aside, revealing a elevator shaft. Bruce stood aside and motioned to Artemis, she slowly walked forward into the elevator practically in shock. Bruce walked in after her and pulled a lever, the clock slid back into place and the elevator started moving down.
Artemis thought she might pass out as through the grate she could see the cave, Jade's letter had not painted the proper image in her mind. She had pictured a small cave that could maybe fit the famous Bat-Mobile and a few other Batman essentials. What she saw smashed any pre-conceived notions that she had. The cave was gigantic.
"What do you think?" Bruce inquired as the elevator stopped.
"I think you're really going with the creature of the night thing," Artemis joked finding her voice, "And this cave is huge."
"Yes the tunnels are quite expansive," Alfred commented walking towards them, "We've only incorporated a small amount of them for our uses, but the vast expanse makes it highly unlikely that someone would find their way here through the tunnels."
"Alfred... I shouldn't be surprised but you're in on this too?" Artemis half questioned, amused.
"Indeed I am Miss Artemis." Alfred nodded smiling.
"Alfred in an invaluable asset," Bruce said as he walked to the giant computer at one end of the cave. "He can operate the Cave perfectly even on his own, his experience as a medic makes him perfectly capable of patching me back together when I need it, and he is someone I can trust above all others."
"Thank you sir." Alfred said with a small bow.
"You know it's true Alfred, don't be too modest. Have you been able to find information on the business proposition?"
"Yes sir, it turns out Mr. Jones is a under the table associate of Gotham's very own mobster, Mr. Cobblepot."
"I knew there was something off about him," Bruce muttered, "in that case I'm afraid I'll have to reject his offer to Wayne Industries."
"An excellent choice sir."
Artemis was still looking around when she heard a yell of shock and Dick came crashing to the ground next to her. He groaned standing up.
"Hey Artemis." He greeted as he stretched, wincing slightly.
"Uh hey Dick.." she responded slowly looking around trying to see what could have caused her foster brother to become uncontrollably airborne. The answer came in the form of a robot that marched up before stopping in front of them.
"You're still unbalanced on your right side." Bruce called without looking away from the computer.
"How could you possibly know that?" Dick retorted.
"Because the training dummy is currently set to keep throwing you until you learn to correct that." Bruce stated simply.
Dick gapped for a moment as Artemis laughed.
"Sounds like something you would do Bruce." She said between laughs. Bruce didn't respond, a moment latter he stood up and walked back to Artemis.
"You'll be coming with me on patrol tonight." He said. Artemis looked at him, face glowing with excitement and anticipation. The moment was ruined somewhat when Dick spoke up.
"Do I get to come too?" He asked
"Not tonight Dick, stay here and focus on your training."
"Fine, I will." He said failing to hid his disappointment.
"You had your first patrol, tonight Artemis gets hers, there will be plenty more in the future." Bruce reasoned. Artemis thought she could hear some regret in voice but that was quickly dismissed in anticipation for what was happening that night. "Artemis if you would follow me."
Bruce led Artemis past a glass case containing Bruce's suit, and past a second one containing what must be the costume that Dick had worn, it was red and black... and looked a lot like his Flying Grayson's costume. Bruce stopped at a third case, Artemis gasped as she looked inside the case.
It was another suit sitting on a manikin. It was black and tight but enforced, not quite like the Batman suit but enough, like Dick's. There was quiver on the strapped to the back, and utility belt. On the chest was a insignia, it was a silhouette of a bat, but it was covered by a arrow head. There was a small mask that covered the upper half of the face. And on the top there was a hood, designed to look similar to the Batman cowl, but it was dark emerald green.
"It... Looks.." Artemis said before falling silent, so overwhelmed with amazement.
"It seems we did a satisfactory job sir." Alfred proudly said.
"Yes it does Alfred," Bruce smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder, "We decided that Green Arrow will always be your idol, so hence the hood, but you're your own archer. The Archer of Gotham."
"Thank you." Artemis breathed. Bruce opened the case.
"You're welcome, now go try it on."
Artemis could only nod as she took the suit into her arms piece by piece and was directed around the corner by Alfred, there was a out of sight bathroom. She changed as fast as she could, her excitement growing with each piece of her new suit.
'I'm about to go on patrol tonight with Batman!' She thought as she pulled on the body suit. 'Oh my gosh I've been training for this all this time and I never realized it.' She pulled on the gloves. 'This is all beyond unbelievable.' Lastly she put on the hood, and strapped on the quiver and utility belt. 'I am ready for this.'
Artemis walked out feeling confident, Alfred smiled as she came around the corner.
"It looks excellent on you." He said proudly.
"Thank you Alfred, it fits perfectly." Artemis commented moving around experimentally.
"Good, but there's one thing missing" Bruce commented, he stepped forward and handed her a case. Artemis opened it a gasped. It was a bow, a collapsible one. She took it out and snapped it open, drawing it back.
"It's perfect," She grinned, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, now lets see if you can use it." Bruce led Artemis to a practice range.
The bow felt perfect in Artemis' hands and she loosed arrow after arrow.
Artemis spent most of the day training, both on her own and with Dick. He still had that unbalanced problem but as it turned out he was no slouch, and it was fun to have a new sparing partner.
But finally, finally the time had arrived. She was once again in her suit and was walking beside Bruce who was wearing his own suit, they were going on patrol. They approached the Bat-Mobile.
"I'll drive." Artemis joked.
"Too early for that" Batman responded as he jumped into the driver's seat.
"It was worth a try." Artemis shrugged as she followed suit and jumped in the passenger's seat.
The Bat-Mobile roared to life and sped through the tunnels.
"Right now your quiver is only packed with false arrows," Batman told Artemis, "They will hurt but they won't do anything more than that. If a situation arrives where you need to use them remember that." Artemis nodded.
The Bat-Mobile sped through the streets. Artemis couldn't help but wonder how fast it could actually go as she watched the building become a blur as they sped by. The streets of Gotham looked very different at night, and much more intimidating.
An alarm on one of the panels of the Bat-Mobile started going off. Batman glanced down and adjusted himself.
"Hold on, there's trouble at loading dock down by the pier." The Bat-Mobile roared as it accelerated, until Batman pressed a button and the sound was muffled.
They pulled up sharply outside a building. Batman jumped out and Artemis moved quickly to keep up.
"You'll need the grapple gun on your utility belt," He said as they walked, "We're going in through the roof entrance."
Artemis grabbed the grabble gun and allowed herself to be talked through how to use it. As she made her way up the side of the building Artemis was thankful that Jade had made her do a climbing rope challenge once a week for the last year. Upon reaching the top Batman picked the lock on the door of the roof entrance and they headed in.
They climbed out on the cat walk that was at the top of the giant open room. From their perch they could asses the situation.
There was a guard, he had clearly been knocked out earlier and was now tied and gagged... and his face was painted. All over there were goonish men all with clown painted faces, breaking into crates and spilling the contents everywhere.
"Joker's thugs." Batman said quietly, "Judging by the chemicals they're spilling everywhere they're trying to find the components for the Joker Gas."
"Wouldn't breaking into a university lab attract less attention?" Artemis questioned.
"That is a distinct possibility, which if they're collecting in bulk can't be good."
"Looks like there's a dozen of them, unarmed, what do we do?" Artemis asked.
"Stay here and observe for now, I'll handle this."
"I don't get to help?" Artemis asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Wasn't she there to help?
"Tonight is a learning experience, so stay here observe and learn." Batman ordered. Before Artemis could say anything else, he was gone.
Then she saw him, behind one of the thugs, said thug didn't have time to cry out. Batman moved onto the next, and continued until a dozen thugs were down to nine. However when he silently grabbed the third, the thug dropped the container he was holding, and when it hit the ground it was like a fire alarm in a library, all the thugs turned and saw him.
"It's Batman!" One yelled.
"Get him!" Another screamed.
And just like that the remaining nine thugs were rushing Batman. Artemis watched in amazement. She knew that Batman was good, but the way he fought them was seemingly flawless. He would block one strike and before the thug had time to react would send them sprawling to the ground with an elbow strike. He dodged another punch and threw the guy into an oncoming group of three. It was beyond amazing.
Then Artemis saw the other one. They had been wrong. There weren't a dozen of these thugs there had been one they hadn't seen, and he was rushing Batman in his blind spot with a crowbar held high. Things seemed to be moving in slow motion as Artemis reacted. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver, took aim and fired. The arrow hit it's mark, the thug's hand, he cried out in pain and dropped the crowbar. That was all the warning Batman needed, he spun around and knocked the thug out with a well placed punch. Artemis started firing more arrows, each one found its mark and cries of pain rang out, and those cries were followed by Batman knocking each thug out.
As soon as the final thug was knocked out Artemis became aware of the sound of police sirens, she tuned and jumped slightly, Batman had come up silently beside her.
"Time for us to go." He stated, Artemis nodded and they were out the door.
They made their way down the side of the building quickly and jumped in the Bat-Mobile, which roared to life and they were off quickly. They were silent on their way back to the cave, Artemis because her adrenalin was still pumping after what had just happened and Batman because... well who knew?
They pulled into the cave where Alfred and Dick were waiting, the Bat-Mobile opened and they jumped out.
"Artemis." Batman said seriously.
"Yes?" Artemis responded, immediately nervous.
"I believe I remember saying that you were there to observe and learn, correct?" His voice sounded dead serious.
"I.. Yes.. you did." Artemis mumbled as she got a sickening sinking feeling in her stomach.
"But you decided to not just observe." It was a statement this time. Artemis nodded. "Well all I have to say is..." Artemis suppressed a flinching feeling. "Good job."
Artemis froze and then slowly looked up. Batman was smiling, actually smiling.
"Really?" She breathed.
"Yes, what you did tonight was good and I look forward to seeing what you will accomplish in the future."
Dick walked up and threw an arm around Artemis, which looked somewhat amusing as she was significantly taller than he was.
"Alright congrats Artemis." He grinned widely.
"Thanks Dick." Artemis said also grinning.
"Speaking of which," Batman spoke up brining attention back to himself, "To continue being in the field it would be wise to come up with a name, Dick has already chosen one for himself."
"What is it?" Artemis inquired curiously.
"Robin," Dick answered.
"Robin?"
"It's.. a family thing." He said shrugging. "In the circus I was my mom's 'Little Flying Robin' "
Artemis smiled at the story before turning back to Batman.
"I'll think of something and run it by you." Artemis assured him.
"Very good, now go get cleaned up, tomorrow is another day."
"Ok thank you for your confidence in me." With that Artemis ran off. It certainly had had been a strange day. She had woken up to discover her sister had left, and now she was working with Batman. She sighed. In all the excitement of the day she had avoided thinking of Jade's departure. It hurt that she had left, it felt like Jade thought her pride was more important than her sister was. She should come back... even if she couldn't fight alongside Batman... it wasn't safe for them out there. The last few years they were protected from people like their father by Bruce. But now Jade was on her own, and their father was still out there, it made Artemis shiver just thinking about it.
'Jade... please come back. I still need you and.. I don't want you t be hurt.'
Artemis sighed. In the end.. Jade had always been able to take care of herself . She hoped her sister would come back but.. If she didn't it was unlikely she would allow herself to be hurt, Artemis thought as she took off her suit and moved into the shower. Still.. she wanted her sister to come back.
A/N: Well here's the newest chapter, let me know what you think.
Ok a few things
1) Updates may not be a frequent as the first few. I'm back in classes and between that, work, and the important people in my life I have been having trouble finding writing time.
2) In adition to this chapter I'm uploading a one shot that focuses on Bruce and Jade, the title is "The Bat Trained the Cat"
3) I don't think Batman would want Artemis using her real name in the field like she did in cannon but I'm having trouble finding a name for her, if anyone has a suggestion feel free to put it in a review or PM me. The only names I know I'm not using (for various reasons) are, Huntress, Hawkeye, or Tigress