Aim and Accuracy
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Young Justice.'
A/N: I apologize for taking so long on this one, I have excuses but they're not particularly good. Mostly, it was just hard to write Artemis after what had happened. I'm not really pleased with how this came out. Also, I'm not including the events of "Failsafe." At least not in this chapter. It was a great episode though. Thanks, as always to those who reviewed, you guys are probably some of the best reviewers I've ever had on a story and I really appreciate your continued support.
Batman's arrival and their trip back to the Batcave passed in a blur to Artemis. She was aware of her head lulling against Robin's shoulder during the trip, a brief moment when it seemed like the car was flying under a waterfall, and then darkness and the screeching of thousands of bats overhead.
For his part, Robin just held her close in the co-pilot seat, offering his support and what little comfort he could. She finally stopped shivering somewhere between the heat in the car, Robin's cloak, and the thick wool blanket she'd somehow been wrapped in. When the car came to a halt in the cave, Batman hopped out and came around to their side. He gathered up Artemis easily in his powerful arms and carried her to a treatment table where he gently sat her down and went to retrieve something near a massive computer consul.
Robin jumped up next to her on the table and carefully put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against his side and watched as Batman and Alfred, the butler she'd met at the banquet, slowly approached her. Behind them came a gray-haired woman around Alfred's age wearing a white medical gown.
Alfred handed her a mug of steaming liquid and Artemis's shaking hands reached out and grasped it. She didn't trust herself to drink it so she just held it, soaking up the warmth.
Batman's normally rough voice had a gentler edge to it as he said, introducing the grey-haired woman, "This is Dr. Leslie Thompkins. She's an old friend you can trust. She's going to check you over and perform some examinations." Artemis mutely nodded and he went on, addressing Dick, "Robin, we need to give them some privacy, come on."
As Dick reluctantly started to pull away, Artemis felt a chill of panic rush through her and almost grabbed for his hand but managed to stop herself at the last moment.
He noticed her spasm. "It'll be alright," he whispered, "Dr. Thompkins is the best and I'll be right back as soon as she's done."
Artemis willed herself to nod and watched the dynamic duo and their butler retreat up a narrow flight of stairs carved into the cave's side.
Dr. Thompkins, a consummate professional, quickly and efficiently set about her examination, a constant stream of soothing questions and words keeping her from bolting during the more invasive swaths and probings.
Her mind feeling as numb as her body, Artemis finally got up the nerve to ask in a hallow-sounding voice, "Was I raped?"
Dr. Thompkins wordlessly handed her a sweatshirt and some matching sweatpants, gently directing her toward the privacy of a small changing room near what seemed to be the cave's training area before carefully replying, "Your hymen is still intact so we can rule that out." Artemis felt her entire body go slack with relief. "However," the woman went on, causing her to stiffen once more, "I do see signs of a struggle and some bruising down there. We'll know more once the samples Batman collected where you were found and those that I've just gathered have been run."
Feeling slightly less dead inside, Artemis tugged her limbs into the soft cotton sweats and emerged somewhat fortified from the changing room to greet the Batclan. Robin- minus his cape and domino mask- led her by the hand like she was a little girl to the training mat near some rings and gymnastics equipment that would normally have had her itching to try them out and encouraged her to sit down next to him on the cushion as Batman- also minus his cape and cowl- joined them. Alfred laid out some more hot tea for them at the edge of the mat and then, after a kind look at Artemis, retreated with Dr. Thompkins to give them privacy. Artemis didn't have to ask to know that the good doctor had already apprised them of her findings.
She blearily stared into one pair of intense blue eyes only to turn and find another pair trained on her as well. "You know, you two really could pass for father and son."
"Dick told me you discovered our identities the night of the banquet," Bruce Wayne said in a low, even voice. It was beyond strange for Artemis to see the handsome billionaire, Gotham's Prince, in the Batsuit, but knowing what she did, she found she couldn't really imagine anyone else in it. She nodded and waited for him to continue. "He also recounted to me what happened last night but there were some obvious holes I need you to fill in." There was no, 'Are you up for it?' or 'We can take this slow if you need to." This was still Batman, and from what Dick mentioned of his modus apparatus, he didn't coddle.
Artemis cleared her throat. "Ask away," she managed to croak.
"How and when did you leave the club?"
She stole herself and thought back, "…I…remember being very dizzy on the dance floor with… Jon." It was harder than she'd thought it'd be to say his name. "He's the one that invited me, and then being outside…I guess behind the club near the backdoor. It probably happened only a half-hour or so after entering."
Bruce nodded like he expected this. "And then what happened?"
"There were…shadows. They…I'm not sure what happened. I can't really remember anything after that. I guess that was when I blacked out. The next thing that happened was waking up to see Robin." She looked to Dick who was right next to her, and found herself grateful for his proximity. It was reassuring in the large, cold cave with the intense, over-powering presence of 'Bruce/Bat' in front of her.
Dick gently probed, "The shadows you saw, can you describe them?"
She felt herself begin to shiver again despite the sweatshirt and the heat of his body so near. "They weren't real," she said, more to herself than her audience.
"All the same," Bruce pressed, "They might offer us some clues."
Artemis saw the bloody mask, felt the press of Sportsmaster's hand against her abdomen and then sobbed. She hated herself in that instant- a deep self-loathing that extended to the very core of her being, but she was powerless to stop it.
"Bruce…" Dick pleaded.
"No," Batman cut him off, his face etched from stone in a mask far more fearsome than the cowl, "If you can't describe the shadows than what about before you were on the dance floor. Did he give you something?"
Artemis quickly wiped away at the moisture, and nodded. "Yes, I remember a drink. It smelled and tasted like sprite but he obviously dosed it with something."
"Did the computer finish with the tox report yet?" Dick asked his mentor.
"It came out with high traces of papaver somniferum."
Artemis's head shot up. "Opium?"
A brief raised eyebrow indicated that Bruce was impressed. "Yes, only it was a rare strain. The closest I could match it to is the blue poppy seed native to the Himalayas."
"It seems kind of a stretch for Jonathan to get his hands on something like that…" Dick muttered.
"The League of Shadows has ties to that region," Bruce reminded them.
Artemis bit her lip and finally managed to mutter, "The hallucination I saw included Cheshire and Sportsmaster…"
While Bruce knew some of Artemis's past, Robin didn't, so Bruce merely nodded, taking in the new information.
"But if it was a hit by the League, what am I still doing alive?"
"We can't be sure what you saw. Right now, we need to find out how this Jonathan Crane got his hands on such a rare plant and what he did with it. In the meantime, I need the two of you to collaborate a story and go to the police with it."
"What?" Artemis cried in confusion as Dick exclaimed at the same time, "You can't be serious?"
Bruce levelled his gaze at the both of them and they immediately shut up. "I'm dead serious." He turned to Artemis. "You're a fifteen year old girl who was just drugged and potentially date raped," she cringed at the blunt explanation but he went on, "Not a super hero who puts her life on the line every week."
She ducked her head, acknowledging he was right. Heaving a sigh, she put a hand on Dick's arm as he began to protest. "No, I agree. It would seem odd if I didn't report this to the police, and anyway, the scumbag could use a wake-up call until the League can figure out if there's really any connection there."
Bruce left them in the cave to go get Alfred who would take Artemis home. Alone together on the mat, she turned so that they were facing each other Indian style. He stared at her but said nothing, waiting for her to speak.
"I could ask you what you were doing last night…following me," she began.
He cocked his head to the side, a signature Robin move that looked very natural coming from Dick. "I wouldn't if I were you."
Quietly, she asked, "What were you doing last night following me, Dick?"
"I was worried about you," he answered simply, his blue eyes still unflinchingly staring back at her.
"…you didn't think I could handle myself?"
He gave her a pointed look.
"Well, alright…in retrospect it does seem I owe you a…"
"Maybe if we spell it together. Here, I'll start, T…ow!" he whined as she gave him a half-hearted slap. He caught her hand though, before she could snatch it back and held it between both of his, his expression turned serious. "We're going to catch that creep, Artemis."
Artemis sniffed and slowly leaned the rest of her body into his embrace, her head pressed against the crook of his neck as his lithe form engulfed her in a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered. She felt him nod stiffly in response and pull away.
"So…" he said, his voice a little higher than usual, "What's the plan?"
Her mother was understandably upset when Alfred dropped her off at home, but after Artemis had told her a slightly edited version of what had happened, she quickly hugged her and even made her some soup, tucking her in bed awkwardly from her wheelchair and staying in her room stroking her hair until she was sure from Artemis's controlled breathing that she was asleep. Having not gotten much rest the night before, Artemis was feeling very tired, but she wasn't able to really nod off into a restless slumber until hours later.
That night, she dreamed of Sportsmaster. Like Cheshire, the sockets behind his hockey mask revealed nothing but deep, endless pools of cold, black energy. Without speech or pause, he jammed his javelin through her navel in one fluid terrible motion and stood silent before her as she crumbled. When she cried out his name, he ignored her and walked away. She began screaming his name as blood gushed from her middle but soon he had vanished and she could feel herself slipping…slipping…a burgeoning fear of death ripening inside her until she was choking on it, unable to breath…
She woke gasping, the panic taking a while to subside, her pillow wet with tears and her blanket and sheets a twisted wreck to the side of her bed. As she showered and prepared to meet Dick who would accompany her to the police station, she found the bruises Dr. Thompkins had mentioned. Deep purple blotches, patterned like fingers dotting her inner thighs and her lower stomach, right where Sportmaster had stabbed her in the nightmare. When she wiped the steam from the mirror and peered into her face, she was shocked at the dark circles around her eyes and her hallowed cheeks. She looked haunted, bloodless.
Reeling back from the mirror, she quickly towelled off and shrugged into a worn t-shirt and a faded pair of old jeans, searching fruitlessly a few minutes for her black jacket before realizing that she'd lost it at the club Friday night. One more thing to curse Jon for.
At Gotham Police Station, Dick and Artemis spotted Barbara coming toward them from behind the rows of uniform police desks. "Umm…how much does she know about you?" Artemis whispered under her breath to him without turning her face.
Dick likewise answered, "She's the Commissioner's daughter. She knows Bruce is more than a playboy and that I'm a bit more than the mathlete."
"Thanks, that was very helpful." Artemis's sarcasm appeared lost on the boy wonder however, as he had his gaze locked on the approaching Redhead.
Barbara, eyeing the pair of them speculatively, ignored Artemis and asked, "What's going on, Dick?"
"Artemis was attacked last night. I happened to hear her call for help and when I came up, the goon ran off. We're here to file a report."
There. He'd said it. Condensed as it was, the lie didn't sound half bad.
Barbara looked inquiringly at Artemis, her expression softening somewhat. "Oh…are you alright?"
Artemis didn't have to work too hard for shell-shocked as she replied, "Yea…just shaken up. I'm glad Dick was there."
The other girl pursed her lips and eyed Dick suspiciously. "Yes, it's good that he was. Did you get a look at your attacker?"
Here goes… "Actually, I did," Artemis whispered, looking nervously around for extra effect, "It was Jonathan."
Barbara's eyebrows soared and she opened her mouth, probably to say 'told you so' to Dick, but he quickly covered her mouth with his hand and shook his head. Not here. She narrowed her eyes but finally nodded and he lowered his hand. "I'll be with Alfred after the two of you finish. We're going to talk about this," she promised, tapping Dick's shoulder for emphasis. He dully nodded and she joined Alfred in the waiting area.
"So what's her story?" Artemis asked curiously a moment later as they started filling out their forms at the large reception desk.
"What do ya mean?" Dick responded, a bit overly nonchalant in Artemis's opinion.
"Well, I'm just wondering when you're going to let Zatanna know that you're already married."
That got Dick to crack a smile. "What does the green in your outfit stand for again?"
Artemis snorted. "So how'd you two become besties?"
"Sixth grade…let's just say being a crime-fighting sidekick vigilante and the commissioner's daughter, we sort of bonded in P.E. during a rope climbing exercise."
"Sounds like a pretty interesting story," Artemis prompted.
Dick smirked. "Yea, it is," and didn't go on.
"She can take care of herself?" He shot her curious sideways glance. "I heard her up in your room that night."
"Ah…Barbara is really into competitive gymnastics. Her dad has also had her taking martial arts self-defense courses since she could walk."
"So how come Red isn't swinging around Gotham skyscrapers with Batman and Robin dressed up like some girly bat? Sounds like she'd be primo."
"That's just it…" Dick hissed under his breath, finally seeming to tire of their conversation. "I think she'd like to."
"But Batman would never go for it?"
Dick shook his head.
"Well then, what?"
"No, he definitely wouldn't go for it but I also don't want her doing this."
Artemis paused her pen, nearly done with the form, and regarded her teammate. "You care about her a lot, huh?" she asked gently.
Dick didn't answer for a while, steadfastly ignoring her question while he finished his form and handed it into the officer behind the desk. Finally, he sighed and turned to her, "I just don't want to see her get hurt."
Before Artemis had a chance to wonder if he was referring to her incident last night or just talking about the threats they faced in general, a kind-faced, middle aged officer came up and took their forms, and requested that they come back to his office so he could take their statements.
An hour later, leaving the station with Barbara, who had told her dad she was going back with them to Wayne Manor, the three sat in the back of the limo and had that heart to heart Barbara had promised.
"So what really happened?" She asked immediately once the limo's door slammed shut, rounding on Dick, her green eyes aflame. Artemis unconsciously scooted a little away from the pair, not wanting to catch any of the fiery wrath.
Dick cringed and looked to her though, so it was Artemis that explained, "Jon invited me to this club with some of his friends…they're a bunch of jerks so I was naively understanding when he told me he didn't want to go alone with them." She expected Barbara to make some disparaging comment on her judgement or about Jon, but the Redhead just nodded for her to continue. "It was that new club, Callisto, over by the docks. Anyway, his friends got in on fake ID's but Jon and I used our real ones. I sniffed at the soda he brought me back from the bar but it just seemed like Sprite and I'd never had any reason to doubt Jon before so I drank it. He asked me to dance and I was getting really light-headed. Next thing I know…I guess it was him, he helped me out into the alleyway behind the club. That's when I started blacking out. I came to and it was nearly morning. Dick found me and there you are."
Gently, far more so than Artemis knew the girl was capable of, Barbara asked, "You have no idea what he did to you in that alley?"
Unable to look her or Dick in the eyes, the shame so intense that Artemis wished she could just melt away into the leather upholstery in that moment, she whispered, "He didn't go all the way…"
Artemis jumped when she felt a hand clasp her own, and looked up to find Barbara staring at her, not with pity, but with determination. "That doesn't excuse him. A few years ago, when we were in competition over the science fair, I discovered that he was using illegal substances in his project. He found out and rigged the whole exhibit hall to explode the night before, making it look like an accident caused by the helium in my project…but not before he slammed me against a locker in a deserted hallway and…intimidated me." Artemis knew she was meaning he had degraded her. She nodded for Barbara to continue. "He's so smart he thinks he can play with people however he wants. It's time we brought him down."
"I'm in, whatever it takes," Artemis vowed as she felt a new respect for the girl before her. They both looked over to Dick, expecting him to jump in but found him avoiding their eyes.
Finally, his fists clenched, he turned to them and said in an icy voice she'd only heard Dick use once before- Well get traught or GET DEAD! - "Crane is going to pay."
