I am so sorry for the wait. Life has been busy. This chapter kinda shows you a little bit more about Artemis and what her life was like with the Shadows. Kinda her thoughts on why she left. I hope you like it!
Mount Justice
4:00
Artemis didn't have to wait long for Black Canary to come into the room. The woman wore a kind smile, her eyes showing neither suspicion nor mistrust. She sat in the large pea-soup green chair across from the identical chair Artemis sat in with grace and dignity.
Artemis was still uncertain of all that was going on around her at the moment. She wasn't sure whether she was being held hostage by the Justice League, or she was seeking refuge which was being provided by the Justice League.
Black Canary shifted forward in her seat, resting her elbows on her thighs as she observed Artemis. She looked as if she was trying to piece together a puzzle that she wasn't sure was all there. Then again, that was why Black Canary was there, to get the rest of the pieces so that the heroes could see what her puzzle looked like as a whole.
"How did a girl that was raised by the League of Shadows end up in Gotham after disappearing for a little over two years?" Canary asked suddenly still watching Artemis who seemed very interested in the stitching of her shirt.
It was a fair question, Artemis couldn't argue with that. The answer was simple, "She used what they taught her to get away." She didn't look at Canary when she answered.
The Shadows had taught her many things. She knew how to kill a man 32 different ways using nothing but her bare hands; she knew how to seduce a man into giving her practically anything that she wanted, freedom, information, you name it, most men would do anything if a woman knew what he wanted. She could name the ingredients of just about any poison ever created, as well as the antidote. They had planned for her to be the best they had ever created. From birth she was taught the best ways to be a horrible person.
Yet she had left it all behind because a woman she had seen as an unspoken mother had asked her to save her child from the life that Artemis had been born into. It was a decision that she would never regret making.
Something resembling a smile curved at Black Canary's lips. "How did she end up with a little boy named Damian?"
"She had to keep him safe." Artemis responded.
Black Canary was silent for a moment, "What would have happened to him had you stayed?" her voice was laced with curiosity and maybe a hint of concern.
Artemis stared at the hem of her shirt for several more minutes before she looked Black Canary in the eyes, "He would have become just like me; and he deserved so much better than that. I made the choice to give it to him the life he needed… the life I wish someone had given me." The last part had been barley more than a whisper as she looked back down at her lap. Her answer had been nothing but the truth.
After another long pause the woman in fish net leggings got out of her chair and headed to the door. Artemis watched as she began to turn the handle then turned back around, "I believe that you were raised to be one of the greatest villains to live Artemis." She took a breath, "But I also see the light of justice in your eyes. You were born into that life; but you were meant for another." Then Black Canary opened the door and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Artemis was not sure how to feel about what Canary had said. No one had ever told her that she was meant for another life. Not even Talia.
Talia had known that raising a child to be an assassin was wrong, but she had never wished Artemis hadn't been put in her care. She was happy to have the young girls company, even if her father had less innocent plans for her. When Artemis was a little girl Talia would call her into her chambers and brush her hair. Telling her stories of the things she had done in the past. Artemis was her most trusted confidante; she told her all her secrets while she sewed up her most recent wound. Talking in hushed whispers about a man who dressed as a bat, who Talia swore was her one and only.
Artemis knew that Talia loved Damian more than she had loved Artemis, he was the main reason she had sent them away. Artemis didn't hold that against her, she loved him more than she loved herself too. They had both known that he was meant for more than being the right hand man to a maniac bent on world destruction.
As ashamed as she was to even think it, Artemis had reasons for leaving that had nothing to do with a raven haired boy who she loved more than anything.
She didn't want to be the wife of Ra's al' Ghul. She didn't want to be the toy who he could call on when he wanted something she was horrified to think she would have had to provide. She knew he wanted, and still did want, her to bare him more children to help him rule what remained of the world if his plans succeeded. She didn't want to watch her children turn out like him.
She didn't want to watch as the world burned. Fanning flames that she helped set with every man, woman, and child she murdered in the name of the League of Shadows. It was a life that she was raised to believe that she would have; a life that she didn't want to live.
So given the chance she escaped with Damian. When he had been born she had seen a life for him outside of the Shadows. A life that didn't revolve around pleasing Ra's by killing or letting him stroke your cheek as he congratulated you on your first successful assassination, like hers had. She wanted to give him the life that no one gave her.
Please tell me what you thought! Again sorry for the wait, I'll try to get better about that...
