NEXT DAY UPDATE!
Hells yeah! This is really just to tide you all over for when I'm not back for months. Apologies in advance.
Everyone should feel for my friend right now. She's finally watching the second season. The poor thing.
I literally sat down after I posted the last update and wrote this chapter. I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning for you people. I've become the biggest night owl ever over the holiday break.
I wanted it to set the tone of Artemis and Selene's friendship. I think they are a lot alike, and thats a good thing. I just see them as really good friends, maybe even as Selene's first official female best friend. And maybe it will add to some of the tension with Wally. Who knows...
I don't really have a lot to say.
Read. Review. Enjoy.
Thank you for the 3 reviews I got. But I guess I didn't really give a long enough response time. Not that I get a ton of reviews or anything. Because I don't.
Guest #1~ YES THANK YOU! YOU GET IT! That is literally Selene's character. Maybe not too much of the hugging but they are her bros and that will especially be important in the 5 year gap when I hop from moment to moment. But this literally means so much to me it's not even funny. So thank you.
Guest #2~ Glad you liked it.
Bloody Ash~ I can always depend on you for a review and that warms my icy heart. Those are good but I think my favourites were when they were bugging Dick about the mathlete stuff. Or when she walked out of the corn. You think she fits well into the dynamics? That made my life. I work so hard to make it seem effortless and not like she's the star of the team or anything and just thank you for acknowledging it. Really. You rock.
Love THE K.
Gotham City
August 6th, 2010
11:42
Sticking to the shadows, I crept up on the girl dressed in head-to-toe black. There was a bow hanging from her grasp and a quiver of arrows hanging at her waist (I thought she was pretty brave to go for a side quiver outside of target practice with it tendency to impede movement and whatnot). A crazy-sharp hunting knife was sheathed on her thigh. Her hair was in a ridiculously long ponytail, glowing a golden blond even in the darkness of a smoggy Gotham night. She didn't notice my arrival, too caught up in her intent vigil of the chaotic city below.
We were on the roof of one of Gotham's many apartment buildings. It was a good pick on her behalf, a perfect place to see without being scene. Strategically placed between the two tallest buildings in the area, it was shadowed, but it also had a basically unobstructed view of all the surrounding streets and alleys. Oliver and Bruce had tracked her up here and then sent me to approach her. I only knew three things about her; that she was, in fact, a she (doubtless the reason I had been asked and not Dick); that— by a quick glance at the arrow resting on her bowstring— she was definitely the one responsible for saving Wally's ass in the gym two nights before; and that she was considered armed and dangerous.
I was standing by the side of the water tower (another good element of her sniper's perch of choice) thinking of what I should do. Should I make a noise so I don't startle her? Of course that option could get me shish-kebabbed. I guess I could say "hi" but that just lame. That option could also get me skewered. Really, any option was going to get me shot at. And this pondering was getting me nowhere. I would just wing it, like usual.
"So I guess I should say thank you." That came out way more vague than I thought it would.
In the blink of an eye, she turned and fired. But after so many years with Roy, I was used to reactions like that. A circular shield resembling a serving platter materialized in the arrow's path and halted its progress six feet in front of me. By then, the girl had another arrow notched and aimed at my face.
"Who are you?" she demanded fiercely. She was overly hostile, something adopted to make up for the fact that I had snuck up on her. I collapsed the shield into a ball and floated the light above us. Now hopefully she could see A) that I wasn't obviously armed and B) the black emblem on my suit.
"I think that's my line."
"I asked first." Her smirk mirrored my own.
"Well clearly you're not up on your superhero pop culture. I'm Dark Light." I gave her my best "duh" face, the one I save for Wally's stupidest moments. She loosened her grip on the arrow and let the tip droop. Her body language was wary but no longer aggressive. As if she sensed my diagnosis of the situation, her guard was back up. The arrow was pointed at my chest instead of my head.
"Dark Light doesn't work in Gotham."
"Thank you, that's what I said. But I dare you to try telling that to Batman. When he wants something done, he wants something done." Her eyes flickered around the rooftop, looking for a looming shadow that wasn't there.
"Where is he then?" I sighed over-dramatically, trying to show her I wasn't a threat. Neither Bruce nor Oliver had any interest in scaring the girl and I was but a humble servant. And I didn't want her to shoot at me again.
"Waiting on the ground with Green Arrow. Both of them were too chicken to come up. Don't tell them I said that."
She snorted. "Where's Robin, then?" I crossed my hands behind my head and pretended to look for him.
"Not here," I said with a shrug. "Now, can you put the bow down? I swear I'm not going to attack you, Protégé's Honour." What I could see of her eyebrows behind the ski mask rose disbelievingly.
"Protégé's Honour?" If she was going to question everything we say or the stupid things we come up with, her and Wally were going to get along so well. Note the sarcasm.
"It's a thing. Well sort of. Kid Flash made it up. Can you please lower the bow?" I made big puppy-dog eyes, which seemed to confuse her. Clearly she hadn't expected to be ambushed by a hero who talked to her like they were long lost friends.
"Um, okay." She finally lowered the bow. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.
"Thanks." I smiled. She nodded hesitantly. "So, " I said, fluidly sitting down on the ground. I patted the spot in front of me, "Pop a squat."
"What?" She looked at me like I was crazy. Which there is a small chance that I am.
"Pop. A squat. You know, please sit down here in the previously indicated spot."
"I know what it means," she sneered. "But how do I know that you're not going to attack me?" Her hand was slipping towards the knife on her leg.
"I sat down first? Besides, like I said, Pro-"
"Protégé's Honour. Yeah I got that."
"Exactly. So, sit. I just want to talk." Slowly she sank to the ground, her hand never straying from her still-sheathed knife. We sat there for a moment, her watching me warily and me fidgeting merrily.
"You know, you never did tell me your name. That'd be great, 'cuz then I when I tell all my superhero friends about my adventure, I can call you something other than "the girl in black.'" She had to bite her lip to keep the amused smile from spreading. It gave me some hope that this was actually going somewhere.
"You're ridiculous."
I gave her a lopsided grin. "Well, I'm sorry, but that's a dumb name." A bubble of amused laughter slipped out but she covered it up with an angry glare.
"Hilarious."
"I thought so," I grinned. This was actually kinda fun. "You should hear me and Robin when we get going. We thought we made Kid Flash pee himself he was laughing so hard once. And between the three of us, we can usually get a good chuckle out of Speedy. And I swear we made Batman smile once." She looked a bit startled at my casually throwing out Heroes' names. But all of that was true. Except that last bit. Dick and I can usually make Bruce laugh too.
"Artemis. My name's Artemis."
"Clever," I said pointing to her bow, which was resting on her knee.
"Yep." There was something ironic about the twist of her mouth as she said it, like it was some private joke.
"So, Artemis, you like to shoot things?" She snorted. She shifted the bow so it rested completely over her lap. The arrow now lay abandoned by her side.
"Clearly."
"Well, you never know. People assume I like light because that's my super power. The truth? I like the dark because then I can see my lights. Make sense?" She grunted noncommittally. I frowned at her. "Clearly you don't like talking. I could respect that if someone else was here to break awkward silences, but since I'm the only other one here, I can't. Because I'm really bad with awkward silences."
"You could tell me why you're here?" she suggested. I nodded.
"Yeah, I could, but the faster I do that, the faster I have to go home and try on my school stuff. I'm avoiding that like the bras-for-shirts trend." She gave me another one of what I dubbed her "insanity looks."
"You know you sound like you're crazy, right?" She was shaking her head at me. I gestured to our current situation.
"Look around, Artemis. We're sitting on a roof, in costumes, in the middle of the night. I make glowing balls out of energy and you're holding a bow and a quiver of arrows that you can use flawlessly. Two nights ago, the both of us were fighting an android created by Professor Ivo. What about this, what about Gotham in general, is sane?" She opened her mouth to argue, but froze. When I want to, I can make quite a compelling argument.
"Good point."
"I know, right?" I cupped my hands and a little ball popped up over my palms. "Part of the reason I'm here, I guess, is to say thank you." She glanced up at me sharply, confused. I let the silver ball in my palms lengthen into a long, shining ribbon. "You know, for the other night. You saved one of my closest friends. If you hadn't shot at Amazo— yeah, that's what Ivo called his robot— but, if you hadn't fired when you did, Kid Flash would have been crushed." The ribbon floated until it was vertical. I focused on that, rather than the stunned into silence girl in front of me. "And even with his advanced healing, he would've died while the rest of us were trying to recover from the last attack. We were sloppy and disorganized, and it almost cost us one of our teammates' lives. So I wanted to thank you." I looked away from the light and smiled at her. By her facial expression, she was taken aback.
"I, I don't know what to say," she stuttered. I focused back on the light, making it curl gracefully in the air.
"Say you'll come down to the ground with me to talk to Green Arrow. As you might've heard, Speedy recently went solo, and I can't keep going out with both Green Arrow and Black Canary. And without Speedy, GA is kind of lost. He's been fighting with at least one other person for a long time now and I think it's hard for him to readjust. He needs somebody to work with, a new partner. You would be helping us just as much as we'd be helping you."
She laughed harshly, disbelievingly. "You want me? To be a hero?"
I shrugged. "Not me. Them. The adults. They think you have it in you, and I agree with them."
She was staring at me with wide eyes from beneath the ski mask. "You think I could be a hero?"
I shrugged again.
"You seem to care," I said. She started to protest but I cut her off. "Artemis, you are on a rooftop, after midnight, in Gotham City— arguably the most dangerous place in the entire world. A few nights ago, your arrow saved a group of teenage heroes. Clearly, you care to some degree about the wellbeing of others. And you're better trained than some of the protégés I know. You have the potential. To me, and to the adults, that's what matters. We can help with the rest."
She clenched her jaw and shook her head. "Trust me, you won't want me around. My family-" I cut her off again.
"You know, Canary tells this story where I said to her almost exactly that." I sighed. I hate that story, it reminds me of all the things I don't know about my life. "Artemis, I've been a publicly known sidekick for almost four years and she's been my mentor for longer. I wouldn't give it up for anything. Helping people, fighting crazy-ass villains, using military grade weapons at the age of 11— I mean, what is cooler than that?"
"My family, they're not-" I held up a hand to stop her. The light that had been winding around itself for the entire conversation disappeared.
"Artemis, I guarantee you that whatever you think is so horrible about your family, and maybe it is that bad, but I guarantee you that whatever it is, Batman already knows. And if he thought it was a big deal, I wouldn't be here." She fiddled with her bow, shoulders slumped and face hard.
"I don't know."
She looked so dejected that I felt bad. I had only been talking with her for less than 30 minutes— for most of which she probably thought I was crazy— but I liked her. And I usually run and hide from other girls.
She was a good archer— that much was obvious. She would be a good addition to the team, even if I could foresee some problems between her and Wally. I don't know what it was, but I had this feeling they would just… clash.
I decided that the best thing to go with internal conflict was good old-fashioned, heartfelt reasoning with a touch of an anecdote.
"My favourite part of being a sidekick isn't the fancy toys or having my daring deeds featured on the news. It's knowing that Canary and even Arrow can't work at their best without me." I soft smile spread over my face. This was something no one ever really said, but we all knew. Except maybe Superboy. "The Leaguers don't like to admit it, but they've come to be dependent on us. Have you ever seen Batman without Robin? Other than tonight." She smirked a bit. She was budging, I could feel it. I just needed to push a bit more. "When something happens, we're the ones who save the heroes. They need us. And right now, GA doesn't have anyone watching his back. Other than me."
"Then why can't you just keep doing it?" she questioned.
"Umm, I already have a mentor," I said. Then I took a deep breath. There was already a chance that I had said too much, so what was a little more info? I leaned forward conspiratorially. "And when school starts, I'm going to be swamped. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to say anything, though. Can you keep a secret?"
"What?" Artemis was staring at me cautiously again, like earlier when I had been coming down from my sugar high. Those pixy stix while I had been waiting were not a good idea.
"A secret. You know, not telling people something that's been told to you. It's not that hard a concept to grasp. Even Speedy understands what it means. It took even longer to explain to Kid Flash. Sometimes he still forgets what it is." Artemis laughed again, obviously getting used to my randomness. I was wearing her down.
"Fine. What's this big secret? What colour underwear you're wearing?" I snickered at her snark.
"You do have a sense of humor!" I shouted. Bruce and Oliver were probably freaking out about what was taking so long and me yelling probably wasn't helping. "I knew there was a reason I liked you," I laughed and she joined in. The bow was lying on the ground beside her and she seemed pretty chill. "No, this is super, top secret information. See, we the protégés have this team. You saw us in action. And as you saw, we're still figuring stuff out. We're also in need of a long-range combatant since Speedy never bothered to answer our pleas without being a total jackass. Do you get what I'm getting at?"
She smirked. "Sort of. But I think you should probably just say it outright." I giggled. It might cause a bit of friction, but I could see her fitting in with the rest of the Team. And if they didn't like her, they would have to deal with me.
"See, if you join the Arrow ranks, you also join the Team. In both cases, we need you." She was nodding along to what I was saying.
"So it's a two-for-one deal. One membership, two clubs."
"And five secret handshakes, but two are for advanced members only. So far only Robin and I know those two. We refused to teach Speedy because he refused to share his Oreos one day. We were spiteful children. Still are, really. Maybe you don't want to join, actually." She laughed again before going all glumly cautious again.
"There's no chance Speedy will come back for his spot with Arrow or the Team?" Artemis twirled a strand of hair around her finger. I snorted.
"Please, the chance of that happening is about as likely as Batman having a tea party with the Joker." She choked out a surprised laugh. I grinned at her. "Seriously, he's spreading his wings, letting the arrows fly. I've talked to him. He's not coming back. Not to say he won't hate you, because he will, but that's just how Speedy does things. Like I mentioned before, he's a total jackass. Don't let his over-reaching presence stand in the way of an opportunity like this."
We sat quietly for a few moments. I was fiddling with my gloves. She was pondering what could be the biggest decision of her life. Then she stood up and stared down at me. "So, are we going or what?"
I bounced to my feet. This was actually so exciting. "Follow me."
