Reaching into the folds of her clothes, Cheshire unearthed twin knives. She had been ordered to bring the boy in alive, but no one had mentioned that the boy be uninjured. Besides, cats loved to play with little birds.
Grinning under her mask, she raised the knives.
There was a loud bang.
One of Cheshire's blades when flying into the air, knocked from her hand by a sudden force. Cheshire looked around wildly.
A figure detangled itself from the shadows.
Cheshire looked it up and down. It was a young man, dressed in a brown leather jacket. Underneath was a grey shirt with a red shape. The red shape was unidentifiable in the dark but Cheshire didn't need it to guess who the figure was. The red helmet gave it all away.
"Red Hood." She gasped, failing to keep the admiring tone out of her voice.
The other assassin lowered the gun in his hand, white lenses of the helmet flashing in the dark.
"Cheshire." He replied in a much harsher tone.
There was soft movement and suddenly Robin was on his feet, trying to duck away from the assassin looming over him. Cheshire raised her free knife. After all, it wouldn't do to let her hero worship get in the way of the job.
What she didn't expect was for Red Hood to appear at her side, grabbing her wrist and spinning her around, a solid kick to the back of the knees sending her tumbling to the ground before a heavy boot was placed on her chest.
There was a flash of red and the little bird was off the roof, following her sister into the darkness.
Cheshire looked up at Red Hood, the other assassin watching as the kid disappeared. Slowly, she massaged some feeling back into her wrist. Her knives were lying where they had been dropped, faint light bouncing off them.
"You ruined my hit." She said slowly, her voice dropping to a dangerous level. Above her, Red Hood gave no indication that he heard her.
The female assassin kicked upwards, catching Red Hood in the stomach and forcing him step back, removing his weight.
Cheshire twisted, rolling to her feet and collecting the knives before falling back into a defensive pose.
"I don't like it when people ruin my hit." She growled, holding up the weapons.
Red Hood reached for his stomach and casually brushed the dust off, a soft sound travelling from his helmet. Cheshire recognised that sound. The bastard was laughing!
As soon as the sound started, it stopped, silence washing over the two. Under her own mask, Cheshire blinked. When had it become so quiet?
"You know, I hate it when people ruin my jobs too." Red Hood replied.
Suddenly he ducked, revealing the figures behind him.
The red haired archer was standing behind him, bow raised and arrow drawn. Behind the archer was the dark skinned atlantean. And behind them both were the groaning remains of Cheshire's cover, the League of Shadows best operatives. A few were rolling on the ground in pain, a few were still. All were beaten.
Under her mask, Cheshire's eyes widened.
"No!" She said.
The archer grinned.
"Yes." He replied and released the arrow.
Artemis groaned and rolled onto her side, clutching her wrist to her chest. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked up at the ripped material above her. The taught fabric was still stretched over its metal frame and would be perfectly acceptable if it weren't for the Artemis shaped hole in the middle.
They were one of the female archers' pet peeves, but after tonight, the girl resolved to never again complain about the strange shade cloths people would erect in front of their businesses. Not after that one slowed her fall enough to save her life.
Rolling over, Artemis rested her good hand on the ground, trying to push herself to her feet. A hand grabbed her shoulder.
Artemis screamed and tried to lash out, briefly forgetting about her injury. A flash of pain turned the scream into a whimper. The hand disappeared from her shoulder.
"Artemis, its ok. It's ok."
There was a moment of silence before the voice spoke again.
"Are you traught?" It asked. There was no mistaking who it was.
"Robin!" Artemis gasped, trying to turn. The hands were once again on her shoulders, restricting her movement even as they helped her to turn around. The teenager was kneeling behind her. He looked pale in the gloom but he was alive. Artemis felt a wave of relief wash over her. Robin was alive. Cheshire failed.
Letting the Boy Wonder hold her weight, Artemis wrapped her good arm around him, hugging the younger boy.
Slowly releasing him, Artemis looked him up and down.
"I thought she was going to kill you." The archer admitted.
Robin grinned.
"Maybe she did. Maybe I'm a ghost." He said.
Artemis smacked him on the head.
"Ow!"Robin whined, rubbing his head. "No need to hit me. Your sister already did that."
Artemis felt the blood rush from her face.
"You knew?" She asked, noticing how horsed her voice became.
Robin shrugged.
"Yeah. Found out a while ago." He replied, looking away from the archer and at their surroundings. Artemis's quiver had exploded, arrows littering the ground. The archer was just glad none of them had gone off, otherwise what Cheshire started, may have been finished before Robin could come to the rescue.
Artemis grabbed his arm, bringing his attention back to her.
"How?" She demanded.
The Boy Wonder looked back at her, his face suddenly deadly serious.
"I was trained by Batman." He said. His tone of voice suggested that Artemis had just been told all she needed to know.
Artemis fought back the urge to ask for more. To try and deny everything or to justify herself to the younger teen. To say something, anything. Suddenly, Robin was grinning again.
"So Cheshire's your sister? So what? Relax. You're not the only one with dangerous family ties." He said.
The boy quickly detangled himself from the archers grip, standing up and scanning their surroundings again.
"What do you mean, not the only one?" Artemis asked, failing to hide the suspicion in her voice.
"Well, you've just met my brother. How safe do you think he is?" The boy asked, staring up at the night sky. Suddenly he was on his toes, reaching up for something. "Kaldur also has some bad family ties, if what I overheard Aquaman saying that one time is true. And M'gann's story is suspicious too."
Grunting slightly, Robin grabbed at the torn sun shade, catching the material in his fist before pulling. The material ripped away from the metal frame. The teen hero examined it carefully before grabbing an edge in both hands and beginning to pull it apart.
"SB was going to be a living weapon and we still have no idea what he is really capable of."
The Boy Wonder picked up a piece of torn cloth and examined it before stepping closer to Artemis.
"In fact," The boy continued as he picked up one of the discarded arrows and snapped the head off, throwing the tip back to the ground. "Wally is probably the only one who doesn't have anything suspicious going on. And that's only as far as I know."
Gently, Robin reached for Artemis's injured arm. Trying not to put too much pressure on her injury, the younger teen placed the broken arrow against her arm before carefully wrapping the strip of material about it. Another strip was added, this one connecting to the first before Robin created a big loop. The loop was carefully draped over Artemis's shoulder before the material was tied once again to the makeshift bandage. Robin stepped back.
"How's that?" He asked.
Artemis looked down at the make shift splint and sling. It was holding her arm against her chest with the least amount of pressure to the injury. She looked up.
"It's good….thanks."
Robin grinned and offered her his hand.
Artemis took the offered hand, allowing Robin to help her to stand.
"What should we do now?" Artemis couldn't help asking. For a moment she feared that Robin would want to go back and face Cheshire.
"Now we go find KF and SB." The Boy Wonder answered, not even hesitating. Quickly, he bent down and collected the remaining arrows before walking around her and shoving them back into her quiver.
Artemis blinked slightly. She had always been sceptical of Kaldurs belief that Robin would one day be the team's leader. After all, the kid was the youngest of the whole group. Sure he had kept a level head during the Red's attack on Mt Justice, and was good in battle. But was he really a leader? Although everyone had commented on it after the exercise, Artemis had been killed too early in the VR training exercise to see Robin take the role. But now she was sure she was getting a taste of the potential everyone else must have seen. Robin had effectively ordered her to do something. And Artemis couldn't even think of disobeying.
Instead, she looked up at the roof. Dark figures were moving across the ledge, engaging each other in battle before backing away. Shouts penetrated the darkness.
"What about Roy and Kaldur?" She asked.
Robin followed her gaze.
"They'll be fine. Red Hood's with them. Plus, Cheshire is crushing too hard on Roy to kill him." Robin replied, turning and walking past the archer. "Come on, before I end up as Cheshire's punching bag." The boy disappeared around the corner.
Softly, Artemis sighed and adjusted the strap of her quiver. Her bow was missing, still on the roof where she had dropped it. But at least she had some weapons. At least she didn't feel totally naked this time. Taking another quick look up at the roof the female archer silently processed the Boy Wonders comment.
"Wait….what?" The female archer called, quickly following Robin around the corner.
Sorry about the lateness. And yes, I know its a crappy chapter. I have had the worst week this week. Everything has gone wrong and I just lost the will to do anything. I tried to cheer myself up by reading some YJ comics on my ipod but all I had were Young Avengers. So of course, now I want to write something about them instead which has just made everything confusing. But I promised a chapter and I have delivered.
Oh, one question to every one who read my other story, Making a Better Yesterday. I have recently unearthed a draft of a small one-shot based around that story. Basically an AU (AU of an AU. Love that) where the Lords won. I am thinking of rewriting it and posting. Anyone interested?