The next two weeks were nerve wracking for Artemis. She didn't know if Roy considered her a suspect, and she didn't know what action to take. If she knew he considered her a suspect she would kill him and that would be that. However, unlike the rest of her family, she didn't want to kill unnecessarily. So she was stuck spending the week feeling as if she had a target on her back.
Roy didn't treat her any differently during her training at the cave, but since he watched her before, his endless observation wasn't something new. Black Canary hadn't had the team fight each other this week, instead they were learning new moves.
Artemis careful practiced every move Black Canary showed her, eager to advance her skill and be prepared for any moves Prince Wallace might use when the time came to kill him. No one was surprised at her dedication, and it allowed her to become closer with Dick. Every day they trained together long after the others had left and Artemis was confident that this training together was a time of trust.
Her dedication to fighting did not extend to her schoolwork and while Artemis did well in some subjects, she was struggling in Precalculus and Chemistry. She didn't understand them, and she knew she wasn't at the school to learn, so she didn't put any effort in to learn them. She had assumed that her bad grades wouldn't draw any attention, or, if they did, it would take some time for someone to notice. She was wrong.
Artemis stared at the note in horror. In neat block letters, it told her:
Lady Artemis;
The failing grades in PRE- CALCULUS and CHEMISTRY do not meet our school standards. To rectify this you have been assigned to tutoring from PRINCE WALLACE WEST. Report to your Cave's library at 3:00 PM tomorrow (TUESDAY).
"Artemis?" M'gann asked hesitantly, breaking her out of her stupor, "What's wrong?"
Crumpling the note in her fist Artemis stood, brushing dirt of her skirt, "I have to go to tutoring with Prince Wallace tomorrow."
"Oh. Pre-calc and Chemistry ?"
Artemis nodded, "Lets go to the cave,"
The Cave was oddly quiet when they arrived, and Artemis paused, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did she asked M'gann, "Where is everyone?"
"Canary gave us a free day today. Didn't you get the message?" Artemis shook her head and M'gann frowned, "Did you check your school email?"
Artemis shook her head, "I didn't know I had one."
M'gann facepalmed, "Hello M'gann! I never told you! Follow me to the library and I'll get you all set up.
While every person who came to the cave had their own computers, there were still some ready for use in the library. Prince Wallace was there when they arrived, typing on his laptop while reading something off the library computer. He didn't react when they entered, and he jumped when M'gann sat at the computer next to him.
He spun to her, pulling red headphone out of his ears, "Hey Beautiful! What brings you here?"
"I'm setting up Artemis with her school email! I forgot to give it to her when she started."
"You sure you didn't tell her and it wasn't Miss Congeniality just ignoring you?"
"The only one worth ignoring is you," Artemis snapped, and she and Prince Wallace glared at each other.
"Ok," M'gann said slowly, "Artemis! Sit here and I'll get you set up!"
Artemis sat and Prince Wallace shoved his headphones back on, turning back to what he was working on. As M'gann explained Artemis only half payed attention. She was much more focused on what Prince Wallace was working on.
She was easily able to see he was writing notes, based on the format, but the laptop was too far away for her to tell when the notes said. However, the article open on the Library computer was easy for her to read. "The History of the Kingdom of the Bat's"
Artemis couldn't believe it. Prince Wallace was stupid enough to research making a alliance in the library where anyone could see? She couldn't believe her luck. She now had proof that he was forming an alliance! But when she thought about it, she wondered if this was enough. Gotham Academy consistently had its students do reports on the histories of other Kingdoms, this one document wasn't solid proof that there was an alliance forming.
"And that's it!" M'gann exclaimed and Artemis turned back to her, "Sorry M'gann I totally spaced. Show me again?"
As M'gann showed her how to access the email again, Artemis tried to figure out what to do with this new information.
YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ
The next day Artemis found herself in the library again, waiting on Prince Wallace. She staring at the clock, wondering if him being late would allow her to leave.
He would be late in 3...2…
The doors slammed open, Prince Wallace skidding to a stop in front of her, narrowly avoiding hitting her. Artemis was surprised that no bodyguard followed after Prince Wallace. It seemed they were going to be left alone for the tutoring session.
She glared at him as the scattered papers settled onto the floor, "You're late."
Prince Wallace spun to the clock, "No I'm-" he cut himself off, took a deep breath and sat down next to her. "Look, I know that we don't like each other, but we are here for a reason. You need help-"
"I'm fine!" She snapped and Prince Wallace groaned.
"Listen to me! You need help with Pre-Calc and Chemistry. I'm really good at those, I'm willing to offer a truce!" Artemis stared at him, "I promise I won't mention I'm tutoring you to anyone, as long as you don't fight with me when I'm trying to help you! Deal?"
Artemis scowled, "Deal."
Prince Wallace nodded and smiled, pulling a math and science book out of his bag, "What do you want to start with?"
Although Artemis would never tell a soul, she was surprised to learn that there was a brain in Prince Wallace's seemingly empty head. The equations and concepts that made her head spin were simple to him, and he was good a breaking them down into ways that she understood.
Not that he could on the first try though. Prince Wallace's first few explanations only received blank stares, and it wasn't until he related the subject matter to real life concepts that she began to understand what was going on.
When Prince Wallace finally announced they were done with the subject matter, Artemis quickly stood, eager to leave, but Prince Wallace grabbed her arm, "We're not done."
"But we finished?"
"Yeah, with the math and stuff. Part of the tutoring is teaching you to be a better student." Artemis rolled her eyes and groaned, but sat back down. Prince Wallace started with her notes, or well, lack of them.
"You don't take notes?"
Artemis shrugged, "It's not like they help."
Prince Wallace stared at her for a moment, shook his head, and muttered, "That explains a lot."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Artemis demanded, ready for a fight.
Prince Wallace almost rose to the bait, but he quickly stopped himself, "You remember things better when you write them down. I write everything important better so I'll make sure to remember it. Also, notes make doing the homework so much easier."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a book and a notebook, briefly revealing his laptop, "Ok. So tonight I want you to take notes on chapters 1 through 3, and use your notes to do your homework. Use my notes as a guide on what yours should look like but don't copy them." Artemis rolled her eyes again, "I'm serious. You'll learn the material better if you take your own notes instead of copying mine."
"Fine, are we done now?"
Prince Wallace nodded and she was out the door before anything else could be said.
YJYJYJYJYJ
That night, as Artemis took notes from the book, she reflected on her tutoring session with Prince Wallace. As much as she hated to spend time with him, since she was going to be forced to spend time with him every afternoon, she would have a better chance of getting information about the alliance from him. Although he hadn't taken it out of his bag, Artemis could see that he had brought his laptop with him to the tutoring sessions. All she needed to do was get him to log on to the computer and then snatch it when he wasn't looking.
And once she had the information she needed, she was given a perfect time to kill him. Roy hadn't been in the room during their tutoring session, which meant Prince Wallace was defenseless against her. Once she had the information she needed it would be easy to kill him and get away before anyone was any wiser.
She smiled thinking, this tutoring might pay off after all. Later in the night, notes and homework completed, she would refuse to let herself think of how Prince Wallace's tutoring had actually made the homework obnoxious instead of an impossible task.
Hi guys!
Sorry for the long wait for an update! There's a good chance I wont update until the middle of May due to life being crazy! Please leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter!