Nirevva Corp
San Francisco, CA
June 7, 2:49 PM EST
Darkness. Cold. Death. She'd refused. She'd fought. But she was done. She wasn't going to give in, but she wasn't going to fight. As she lay on the floor in a position she'd adopted three days ago and hadn't moved from, she waited to die. They brought food, she didn't eat. They brought water, she didn't drink. They beat her, she didn't move or show pain. She just wanted it all to end, to be done, she was tired of this. All her convictions of being brave, or staying light were gone. When you were waiting for death, you didn't care for such petty things, you just wanted your body to give out, to be free of it all, to be gone, because at this point, death seemed an a lot better option that an unending future in the darkness with nothing to look forward to. To pass the time, she went through her good memories, all the times she laughed, joked, and had fun. That time, she and Zatanna had drugged Wally and Robin to fall asleep, then dressed them up in skimpy dresses, and put make up on them, to get them back for putting bleach in their shampoo bottles. They then took pictures to blackmail the boys later, their reactions when they woke up had been hilarious.
She missed Zatanna, and M'gann, Conner, Kaldur, Dick, Wally, even Roy. She missed her mom, and Jade; Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Batman. They'd been her real family, not her dad, her mom had been absentee most her life, but she really couldn't blame her mom for that, that'd been her father's fault, but her sister had left her when she wad 8, and then died to help her escape, which had been in vain because she didn't get away, and maybe Dick did, but Wally was taken in his stead.
As she laid begging for release from her battered body, her dark past, her bleak future, from everything, she said good bye to all those she loved, knowing they'd miss her but move on, because as much as they cared for her no one relied on her, therefore nobody would be scarred when she died, and hoping that Dick was okay, and Wally was rescued. She wasn't going to die just yet, but she hoped it was soon, she wanted her suffering to end, she wanted to be free of it all, to fly free, unburdened by all that that weighed her down, Dick and Wally's capture, their torture, her mom's broken legs, her sister's death, it was too much. She just wanted the pain to stop, that was all, why wouldn't it just stop?
Mount Justice,
Happy Harbor, RI
June 11, 5:11 PM EST
Conner was holding M'gann who was silently staring at the tv, that was off. Dick expected Wally to any moment now, come out and tell Superboy to turn on the TV while flirting with M'gann, and then for Artemis to tell him how stupid he was, followed by the inevitable fight the ensued after, but it never came, because they weren't here. Zatanna and M'gann both hadn't spoken in weeks, Kaldur had returned to Atlantis a week ago and hadn't returned, Conner was either comforting M'gann or beating up the training room, and Dick, he was frustrated and sleep deprived, meaning he was exhausted. They all missed Artemis and Wally, that was pretty apparent, and they were falling apart.
Dick had been looking for them for weeks, but couldn't find a trace of them, and he was losing hope that he ever would. There hadn't been any other videos after the last, so no one knew if they were alive or not, how badly hurt they were, or if they'd ever see them again. Dick didn't even have time to come to grips with what happened, because the Shadows were making their move on Gotham City, though they didn't know who Batman was, and Robin had been given the drop on by some Shadows at least 7 times in the last 5 days. If they were trying to capture him still, that most likely meant that Artemis and Wally were dead, though Dick didn't tell the team. Hope was slowly draining from him at ever finding them, and the future was looking bleaker and bleaker as more darkness poured in. Dick for the second time in his short 13 years of life, couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Mount Justice,
Happy Harbor, RI
June 27, 10:13 PM EST
"Team in formation," called Dick, in his Robin get up, his young faced tensed with concentration. A while after Dick had given up at finding Artemis and Wally, Batman had found out about the Team's "absence" from action, and whipped them into shape. Within in a week, the Team was functioning, and not over the loss of Artemis and Wally, but able to put it aside to get their job done. This was their first mission since they rescued Dick, and first official mission in a little over a month and a half since Artemis and Dick were first captured. Kaldur still hadn't returned from Atlantis, the Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Roy (surprisingly) were still mourning and hadn't donned their superhero colors since Dick had been rescued, and they gained a new team member, Icon's protégé, Rocket, and Barbara had joined the Team as well as Batgirl, leaving Dick as Team leader.
The Team gathered around, Zatanna, Superboy, Miss Martian, Batgirl, and Rocket. Dick took a deep breath then began. "Alright, Mission debrief," he pulled up some images on top the screen, "Over the last week we've had break-ins into two of the top tech corporations on the East Coast, Queen Industries in Starling City, and Oscorp Industries in New York City."
"What was stolen?" Superboy asked. Barbara, having hacked into League files, therefore knowing beforehand answered him.
"Mirakiru from Queen Industries, which is a drug that gives you unimaginable strength and endurance, but also turns you into a murdering psychopath, used by Deathstroke in Starling City in an attempt to take over the city, but was ultimately defeated by Green Arrow with a cure that was concocted. From Ritzy Corp in Central City, they stole, the Scarecrow's nightmare toxin which Batman had stored there for safe keeping," she replied, still typing, searching for something not he screen.
Dick nodded at Barbara in thanks, then continued, "We believe that they are going to hit Wayne Enterprises next and steal the Joker's laughing gas based on the trend. According to a tip by a source that wishes to remain anonymous, we believe that they are going to attack tonight at midnight."
"Whats the plan?" Zatanna asked, her eyes' blazing with anger. Personally, Zatanna scared Dick most of the time nowadays, the slightest thing set her off, like she took all her anger and despair over Artemis and Wally and decided to project it out on the world.
"Stake out. Miss Martian will take the north side of the building, Superboy the south, Zatanna the west, and Rocket the east, which Bartgirl and I will guard the serum and monitor security. Everyone down?" They all nodded. "Then lets move out."
Wayne Enterprises,
Gotham City, NJ
June 28, 12:14 AM EST
Dick and Barbara were guarding the entrance to room, it was 14 minutes past 12, and no one had shown up to steal the Joker's serum. Although Dick was on high alert, he was also worrying, he missed Artemis and Wally's constant bickering, and the fact that both were abused and still carried on smiling every day was miracle in itself. The West household had had an unwelcome surprise the night after the video had been sent. Barry and Bruce working together had fabricated evidence that got Rudolph a 10 year sentence to jail, while Mary lost custody of Wally if he came back, meaning Barry and Iris were his official guardians. Artemis's mom was told about her kidnapping and the abuse, and Lawrence Crock was getting a one way ticket to Belle Rev when they caught him, as well as the police, and the League had extra security on Paula Crock, though only the League knew it was stop Sportsmaster from getting more leverage over Artemis if she was still alive.
Dick though had been forgotten with all his trauma in the events of the last month. After he'd been rescued, everyone huddled over him like he was a child, and put him in counseling with Black Canary, and had him stay off missions for awhile. After the last video was sent about Artemis and Wally, Dick and all the trauma of that week that he and sustained had been pushed into the background, not that he wanted to be the center of attention, he knew they all wanted to find Wally and Artemis and that was their top priority, but as much as Dick pretended he was like Batman, he wasn't. He still had nightmares, panic attacks, and hallucinated on occasion, on top of that he had to keep the team from falling apart, as well as do patrol with Batman, head missions, keep top grades and his appearances as Dick Grayson-Wayne up, and was stressed out, but no one cared, and he shouldn't self-pity himself, he thought to himself, Wally and Artemis had been in the Shadow's possession for more than a month, what was Dick complaining about?
Just then Batgirl called out, "We have an intruder on the second floor, in the vents."
On our way, M'gann said through the mind link, copied by everyone else, as Batgirl turned on the fans as to slow down the assailant. Batgirl's face became tense as she furiously typed on her com, that turned to frustration, as her typing intensified. "Damn it!" she cursed, as Dick turned to look at her.
"Whats wrong?" he asked. She continued typing, anger filling her face.
"The assailant's hacked the system, and overrode my control on the security cameras, heat sensors, motion detectors, and has locked down the building. I can't get a lock on the signal, their position, or regain control of the building," she responded, anger in her voice.
"What does that mean for the others?" he asked already knowing the answer as he walked away from Batgirl to the glass window and looked down, nothing, no one.
"They can't get in, except for Miss. Martian," she replied, as Robin unsheathed his bat disks, then touched his temple, M'gann, assailant has locked down the building, copy, the assailant has locked down the building. Silence, no response. Worry filled Robin, something was wrong, he tried again. M'gann, Conner, Zatanna, Rocket, I repeat the assailant has locked down the building, come in. Silence, now Dick was really worried.
"Barbara, mental link down, prepare for..." before he could finish, the vent top came off and hit him on the head, as Batgirl threw three smoke bombs at the assailant, then ran over to Dick. The assailant kicked Babs in the head, caused her to fly backwards in the wall, then slump to the ground unconscious, as Dick got to her feet on guard, as he stood in the middle of the mass of smoke. As the smoke cleared, he saw a dark shape come at him, and attack him with a katana. Dick quickly drew his steel collapsable bow staff, barely blocking the assailant's attack.
As the smoke cleared, Dick got a better image of the assailant. The assailant was unsurprisingly a girl, when she had kicked him, she had seemed light, and he had felt her waist, trying to get her off him, which were curvy. She had blond hair, a tiger's mask on, and a orange skin tight suit striped black on. She was well-developed and tall, meaning she was probably a young adult, he was guessing between the ages of 17-15.
The girl circled him, her katana ready, muscles tensing in her legs. Her arms started to move forward, as she swung the katana at him, followed by a sweeping kick at his head, which he blocked with ease with two movements of his wrist, but that was just a distraction, for she swept the other leg at his feet. He fell, with her straddling him, where she injected him with a purple serum.
His head started aching, as the bow staff dropped from his hands, and strength drained from his body. He fell limp, breathing heavily, pain exploding from his chest, his head ringing as if he and just been in an explosion. The assassin leaned down near his ear and whispered in a familiar gravelly voice, "I'm sorry Dick." Just as she got off him, he put all his willpower into this one last action before the pain overtook him, and pulled the mask off the assassin's face. He gasped.
"Artemis?" Betrayal yet concern hit him, before common sense quickly took over.
"Hi Dick," she said softly, her voice unusually hoarse, from screaming he guessed, she still had wounds. Now that he could see her clear, he noticed things he hadn't in the battle, she had a barely perceptible limp, leaning on her right leg more than her left, she winced almost imperceptibly every time she bent over and fought, suggesting healing but still painful wounds on her left leg and back. Her face was the most horrifying though, her normally stormy grey eyes' were dull, and lacking life, defeated, something he had never seen in Artemis. He had seen her frightened, scared, in pain, dull even, but not defeated, never defeated, Artemis was brave, she was a fighter, always fighting. But now, she looked as if she'd given up. Besides her eyes' her face was slightly swollen, with a huge mottled greenish purple bruise stretching down her right cheek, from her hairline to her jaw, a bleeding cut on her opposite cheek.
"Artemis..." he gasped, the pain causing his vision to blur and dim at the edges into black, "Don't... do... this."
"I'm sorry Dick. I don't have a choice," she replied, and with that, she grabbed the fallen mask from his limp hand and refastened it, "I'm Tigress now." She grabbed the serum from the counter, easily hacking and disabling the security, and put it in a steel briefcase, which she attached to her back. Dick's last glimpse before he fell into the darkness, was that of Artemis, no Tigress, walking out of the room, with the serum in a steel briefcase attached to her back, and then the pain threw him into the dark.
Bertenelli Inc.
Starling City, NY
June 28, 4:23 PM
Tigress walked through the doors nervously, ignoring the screaming pain of her back from her last beating, hoping she wouldn't get another, and that she wouldn't have to hear Wally scream. As soon as she pushed the double doors of the Conference Room open, everyone stopped to turn to her. In there, was Vandal Savage, the Joker, Sportsmaster, Queen B, and Lex Luther, all conversing, but now silent. Luther was the first to recover, stepping forward with a satisfied smirk, "I trust all went according to plan?"
Tigress nodded, grimacing, knowing she was betraying the League, and what she had done would never be forgiven, "I have the laughing gas, and Robin is now injected with the serum." The Joker cackled manically, yanking the briefcase from her hands.
"My baby, Daddy's home, time to play. Did you miss Daddy while you were in big bad Batsy's hands'?" The Joker cooed to the briefcase opening it with glee.
Sportsmaster walked forward with a smirk, Artemis wanting to backtrack as fast as she could away from the monster, but not willing to risk Wally, stoically stood still. "Good job Baby girl," he whispered in her ear, patting her injured back hard, causing her to wince in pain, thank God she had her mask on. "Now your little boyfriend won't pay. I'm feeling so generous that I think I'll let you have an hour with him." She turned to stare at him in shock, then with suspicion, what was the catch? As if reading her thoughts he laughed, "No catch Baby girl, just a reward for a job well done."
Just then the Joker asked, "What does the serum do to Boy Blunder? Does it make him scream? Or writhe in pain?" excitement seeped into his voice with every new thought spoken.
Lex Luther smiled, "The serum was created in Biyalia by Queen B. It is special, it will cause him excruciating pain at first, as the serum melds into his system. But by the time the League show up to rescue the young heroes, young Robin will be all fine, of course they will check to see what the toxin is, but they will find nothing. The serum was made to blend in with his system, so they will think that it was just to knock young Robin out, but later is when its true purpose will be discovered."
"What is the true purpose?" the Joker asked, jumping up and down manically like a little kid, a crazy one at that. Luther merely smiled.
Queen B replied this time, "Next week begins a new age, my colleagues, a new age for the Light, one in which the League will be brought to its knees. First though, we will take out their leader."
"Superman?" the Joker asked.
"Batman," Luther replied, "When we begin our takeover of Gotham City, we will release the combination gas of the laughing gas, mirakiru, and nightmare toxin over the city, sending it into disarray. Then, we will activate the serum, a different serum than the combination serum, in young Robin. He will be completely under out control and will be the key to bringing down Batman. Once Batman is gone, and Robin under our control, we will use him to hack into League files, and from there will use the weaknesses of each other League against them until they are no more."
Bertenelli Inc.
Starling City, NY
June 28, 5: 15 PM
Sportsmaster opened the door to Wally's cell and said, "One hour," before pushing her in and slamming the door. Wally stood taking her in.
"Artemis," he breathed, he had seen her once since that night they kissed in the cell since they had taken her away, and that was when they chained her to the wall and tortured him in front of her. He remembered her crying, struggling against the chains, screaming for him, thats what had kept him sane through the torture, remembering her, that he was fighting for her, that he'd live through this for her.
She rushed into his arms, both of them embracing each other tight, as if they'd never see the other again, which they never might. Thats when he realized she was crying. Holding her gently in his arms, trying not to touch her back very much, where he had noticed she had winced when he touched it, he sat on the ground with her in his lap. "Artemis, whats wrong?" he asked softly, smoothing her hair, which was clean and shining bright blonde.
"I missed you Baywatch," she whispered.
"I missed you to princess."
"I did something terrible," she said so softly he barely heard her.
"What did they make you do?" he asked, anger coursing through his veins, Artemis didn't deserve this, with losing her sister, and being tortured, she deserved happiness, not being under the control of the Light, who were ruthless and merciless.
"I stole the Joker's laughing gas, the Scarecrow's nightmare toxin, and Mirakiru drug from Queen Industries."
Pushing her away slightly, so he could see her face, they both stared at each other as he asked, "Why would they want all three?"
She gulped, and looked away guiltily, "Their plan is take down the League."
Wally snorted, "And that worked out for them the last couple dozen times." She gave him a doubting look, causing him to worry, if Artemis, Artemis, thought they might succeed it must be serious.
"I also put a mind control serum in Dick."
"You did WHAT?!" Wally yelled, fury igniting in him, causing Artemis to shrink back in fear slightly. Wally immediately calmed down, as to not scare Artemis, she was obviously fragile of mind right now, and would not respond well to negative reactions such as anger and fury.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. He hugged her close, slightly worried of how thin and small she was, they definitely weren't feeding her enough.
"Ssh, its not your fault, none of its your fault. Now what is the Light's latest plan to take down the League?" he joked, in an attempt to get her to smile, in which she gave him a small half-smile.
"Their plan is to use the combination serum of all the three toxins I stole, and release it over Gotham City to create panic. From there, they will use the mind control serum to control Dick, and force him take down Batman, and hack into League files, and give all the League's weaknesses' to the Light. Thats why they wanted Dick, at first I thought with Verin, that they wanted to move and gain a foothold in America, but that wasn't it, that was a ploy. They wanted Dick because they could give him the serum, and then when it was time, activate the serum, send him to take down Batman, and ultimately bringing about the League's downfall, but then Dick escaped."
"So they never wanted you?" Wally asked, his eyes' wide with horror, the Light's plan finally dawning on him.
"No."
"Then why didn't they just kill us?"
"The original plan was to activate the serum, while Dick was in their hands, but he escaped. The serum has to be activated manually, the activation code has to be scanned into Dick with a shot, meaning they have to get close to him," she whispered, and it hit him.
"They want you to activate the serum," he murmured in horror. Artemis nodded tearfully.
"What do we do?" He shook his head, face pale, still in shock.
"I don't know Artemis. I don't know."
Hey everyone, I know its been a hella long time since I updated, sorry, I hate being one of those irresponsible writers that never updates, and leaves you at a cliffhanger, although I inevitably turned into that it seems. I've just been real busy of late, but I promise you, I WILL finish this story. I periodically would check back on the story, and see all of you telling me to update, and I'd say to myself "Kaya, you are a crappy person" and feel so bad, newsflash, in case it skipped you over, I UPDATED! Yeah!
On a happier note (or maybe not) how was it? The big evil plan was finally revealed, and now Artemis can either condemn Wally or the League to destruction and doom. Big decisions, big decisions, the ends coming soon, epic battle coming (of course), and lots of angst. Don't you feel bad for Artemis? So much riding on her, and she's broken, scared, not at all the brave person she used to be. Oh well, leave comments, I love reading your feedback.