A/N: Happy Independence day for all my fellow American readers, hope everyone is having an awesome holiday!
Thank you guys for making this story over 100 reviews! Shout out to Awesomnatica who was the 100th reviewer. Thank you everyone for your awesome suggestions. I think I have a pretty good idea of what I am going to do when they join the Justice League officially next chapter.
So here it is, the Batman chapter. It is now April in this story. The time skips are going to get larger to speed up a bit to Artemis' joining of the Team. I have a lot of plans for when that happens. Also, they never mentioned Artemis' birthday in the show, or if they did, I never noticed it, so her birthday is April 18. Just wanted to let you know since this chapter is her birthday and all.
The New Archer
Chapter 8: The Intruder
"Happy Birthday Artemis." Moira says looking up from the newspaper. She smiled at the newly thirteen-year-old girl. Artemis smiled.
"Thanks Moira." She said.
"Ollie had to quickly run up to his room to grab something, you just missed him." Moira says.
"That's alright." Artemis says taking her usual seat at the counter in the kitchen. Thea walks into the kitchen, carrying a cupcake.
"Happy Birthday Artemis." Thea says, handing her the cupcake. Artemis beamed.
"Thanks Thea." Artemis replied, taking a bite of the cupcake.
"How does it feel to be a teenager?" Thea asks her.
"The same." Artemis says shrugging. She took another bite of her cupcake, getting frosting on her nose. The three of them laugh as Artemis wipes it away. She puts the cupcake down as Oliver walks into the kitchen.
"Hey, you're already down here." Oliver says surprised.
"I have to leave for school in ten minutes." Artemis responds.
"Oh yeah. You probably shouldn't skip like I used to do on my birthday." Oliver says sheepishly.
"Oliver!" Moira says in surprise.
"You seriously didn't know mom?" Thea asks. Moira mumbles something that sounded like "I chose to ignore it." Everyone laughed.
"Anyway, I know we chose to do presents later but I couldn't wait for this one." Oliver pulls out an envelope and hands it to Artemis. She gives him a look but opens it up anyway. As she was opening it, Diggle walked into the kitchen. He smiled at the girl, knowing what the present was.
Artemis pulled out a few pieces of paper out of the envelope. On top of the first paper read adoption form. Artemis looked over at Oliver in confusion.
"Is this what I think it is?" Artemis asks. Everyone in the room nods, smiling. "You really want to adopt me Oliver?"
He nodded. "I have no plans of you leaving here anytime soon. I figured you could be here officially."
"This is awesome, but I'm not ready to call you dad or anything." Artemis tells him. Everyone in the room laughs, even Oliver.
"I wasn't expecting it. I'm not about to start calling you my daughter yet either. Nice to see we are on the same page." Artemis got up and hugged Oliver.
"Thank you." She said.
"Not a problem Artemis." Oliver says, hugging her back. "Now, you should probably be leaving if you don't want to be late for school."
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^
"The baby of our group is growing up! I am so proud." Lori says as she takes a seat besides Jackson at their lunch table. Artemis threw one of her fries at her.
"I'm only like four months younger then Jackson." Artemis states.
"Hey, don't bring me into this." Jackson tells them. All three of them laugh. The three of them had become almost inseparable. Even Jackson had begun to open up.
"Whatever." Artemis says rolling her eyes. They hear loud obnoxious laughing coming from Harry's table across the lunchroom. "I really can't stand them."
"Harry's not that bad when he is alone." Lori says, defending him. Jackson and Artemis stare at her open mouthed. "What? Did I grow a second head or something?"
"Your defending Harry Merlyn." Jackson says in disbelief.
"Who are you and what happened to Lori?" Artemis asks. She shrugs.
"We had to do a history project together. He was actually pretty nice when no one else is around."
"To bad whenever he sees me other people tend to be around." Jackson says, gloomily, looking down at his soup. The current book he was reading was closed and placed besides him. Artemis felt so bad for her friend that she couldn't help reaching across and patting him on the back.
"Don't worry Jackson, that's why I'm there." Artemis assures him. Jackson nods, putting a smile on his face. Lori sighs.
"You have a point Jacks." Lori says. She quickly changes the subject.
"So have you gotten anything for your birthday yet?" She asks Artemis. Artemis gives her a funny look but then tells her friends about the adoption papers.
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^
Artemis and Oliver sat atop the roof, watching the people pass below. It was a clear night, a peaceful one. They had found nothing to intervene in during the two hours they had been out there.
"Well this is an exciting way to spend your birthday." Oliver says. Artemis just smiles.
"I don't mind. I just like patrolling." Artemis says.
"So I guess you're a teenager now."
"I'm your teenager now." Artemis remarks. The two smile at each other until an explosion comes from a bank down the street. Oliver and Artemis were up within seconds, sprinting across the rooftop and jumping to another as they raced towards the bank.
"Why do people keep targeting this bank?" Oliver questions, jumping onto another roof.
"Beats me." Artemis replies.
"Felicity, you got anything?" Oliver asks her.
"I'm checking." Felicity responds. "Nope."
"You two need back up?" Diggle asks.
"We should be okay. But be ready just in case. Call up Roy as well to let him know what's going on." Oliver dictates.
"Got it Oliver." Felicity says. Oliver and Artemis approach the edge of the rooftop overlooking the bank. A person in a purple suit and green hair was walking away from the scene, laughing and carrying bags of money. Oliver and Artemis exchange a look, both of them on the same page. Oliver climbs down from the roof to the fire escape while Artemis moves around to another side to sneak up from behind.
"I don't believe that that belongs to you." Oliver says, leaning over the edge of the fire escape. He shoots an arrow, releasing a net. In a blink of an eye, the person had a knife in their hand, cutting through the approaching net. The person spun around. Their face was covered in badly done clown make up. "Who are you?"
Oliver watches as a sick smile spreads across his face. Oliver ducks as a knife is thrown at him. He leaps over the fire escape, landing on the ground, an arrow notched.
"Who am I?" The man continues to laugh like a maniac. "It has been so long since I've been under the radar. What a relief, no bats to ruin the party."
"Gotham." Oliver simply remarks.
"Yes, I am from there. The name is Joker." The man pulls out a crow bar. "And you are Green Arrow." He then runs at Oliver, swinging the crowbar in the air. Oliver ducks out of the way, and counters with slamming his bow into his face.
"That was not very nice." The Joker says, stepping back and pulling out a deck of playing cards. Oliver realized a second to late that they had razor blades on them as he threw them at Oliver and one cut him on the shoulder. Oliver grasped his shoulder and ducked out of the way of other approaching cards.
He then had to duck as the man ran at him with a crowbar again. Oliver ducked and then spun around him, kicking him from behind. While the man was on the ground, he kicked him in the gut. The Joker grabbed his leg though and pushed him away. Oliver quickly picked himself back up, grabbing his bow.
Oliver notched an explosive arrow, launching it at the man to distract him. Oliver took a few steps back, listening to the maniacal laughter of the crazy man.
"Oh a firework display, how nice." The Joker stepped out from the explosion, waving the smoke away like it was nothing. The Joker was focused on Oliver and did not notice Artemis sneaking up behind him. Or so they thought.
Artemis swung her leg around to kick him in the back of the head, but the Joker spun around grabbing her ankle. Artemis looked at him in surprise.
"Well hello dearie." He drops her ankle and spins her around, until she was up close and he held a knife under her throat. Artemis' eyes widened as she looked at Oliver helplessly.
"Put the knife down." Oliver says.
"Put away your toy." Joker responds. Oliver reluctantly lowered his bow.
"Oliver, what's going on?" Felicity asked through the comm unit. Oliver ground his teeth together, staring down the crazy clown man with the white face and green hair.
"She's just a child, let her go." Oliver said trying to reason with the madman even though he already knew it was useless. He couldn't just stand by and let him her his...sidekick. The Joker laughed.
"Eh...no." The next thing Oliver knew he had a dart sticking in him and he was beginning to laugh. "Joker venom. You should be dead soon. Me and your sidekick will have some fun." Oliver fell to the ground, laughing, watching helplessly as Artemis struggled.
"Put me down! Let me go! Arrow! Ol-" Artemis was knocked unconscious by Joker's fist.
"Bye now Arrow." With that, Oliver watched, still laughing, as the Joker ran off with Artemis as his eyes began to close.
^^^^^Line Break^^^^^
"Why hasn't he woken up yet? The antidote should have taken its course by now." A young voice asked. All Oliver could see was darkness. He groaned. His whole body ached.
"Shush, Robin, he's coming too." A deeper male voice scolded. Oliver recognized the voice; he had talked to him many times over the phone in the past few months.
Oliver's eyes flickered open and he looked around the room. He was in a hotel room, a pretty nice one at that. In front of him were Robin and Batman.
"He's up." Robin notes.
"I can see that Robin." Batman says to his sidekick. "Why don't you go get him some water?" Robin nods and walks off. Batman turns to Oliver. "How are you feeling Arrow?"
"Artemis." He simply states. Robin, returning with the water gives Oliver a funny look.
"Artemis? Don't you mean Tigress? Artemis is her real name." Robin asks curiously. Batman sighs.
"She changed her hero name." Batman tells the young boy.
"Oh." Robin simply states.
"How do you know her real name? Do you know mine?" Oliver asks curiously. Batman nods. "How?"
"I know everything, I'm Batman." He simply says. Robin nods.
"We know a lot of stuff. The bat cave is full of information."
"Back to Artemis. Where is she?" Oliver demands. Batman and Robin exchange looks.
"The Joker has her." Robin says seriously, all joking to him gone.
"Who is he?" Oliver asks.
"An insane Gotham villain. We heard reports that he was casing a few places out here, we followed him but weren't quick enough. I am sorry." Batman says a hint of sorrow in his normal monotone voice.
"So a madman has my... sidekick." Oliver says in disbelief. "We need to find him and kill him."
"No killing." Batman states.
"He kidnapped my sidekick!" Oliver exclaims, sitting up quickly. He put his head in his hands to subside the whiplash. "We need to get her back and make him pay."
"He will, in jail." Batman tells him.
"Listen Bats, this is my sidekick. We are getting her back no matter the cost." Oliver states defiantly.
"I know you are distressed, I would be the same if it was Robin, but we can't kill. You are a part of the Justice League now Oliver, you can't run around killing people. It's not what we do."
"You know my name."
"Were you not listening earlier when I said he knows everything?" Robin asks. Oliver glares at him and the little boy shrugs. "We'll get her back, don't you worry."
Oliver sighed, staring at the ground. The idea of Artemis in the clutches of a crazy man was making his skin itch and giving him the urge to punch something. A thought suddenly occurred to him.
"My team..." He trails off.
"We have alerted John Diggle, Felicity Smoak, and Roy Harper about the predicament. They are also contacting another member of your team, Black Canary. They are on their way over to discuss our best plan of action. We will get her back Oliver, I promise." Batman says. Oliver looks away from the man and stares out a nearby window, wondering where Artemis was and if she was okay.
^^^^^Line Break^^^^^
Artemis woke up with a pounding headache. Almost immediately she realized that her hands were bound behind her and she was tied to a chair. Her training set in soon after that. She took in all the details.
The room was bear, no windows, gray walls and wooden floors, slightly cracked. It was probably pretty old. There was one door, so one escape route. Wiggling her hands and her ankles, she realized the knots were tied pretty well but with some more movements she might be able to jiggle them loose. Hopefully.
She was in the mist of rubbing her hands rapidly back and forth when she heard the doorknob begin to turn. Immediately she stopped and closed her eyes pretending to be asleep. Listening to the footsteps near closer to her, her heartbeat picked up and began to beat faster.
An electric pulse resounded throughout her body, jolting her eyes awake. She looked up at the Joker to see what looked a bit like a joy buzzer in his hand.
"Oh goodie, you're awake. Now we can have some fun." The crazy man says. Artemis gulped, fear running through her as the man approached.
"Oliver where are you?" She thought quietly.
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^
"So is everyone clear on the plan?" Oliver asked. Everyone nods. "I'm going to review it anyway. This is Artemis, everyone needs to be at their best." Pointing to a map, Oliver begins.
"Diggle, you will be checking all motels. Most are in the glades, but several are not. Felicity has complied a list of ones with recent check ins. You will go to those ones first and then the others." Diggle nods, a somber look on his face.
"Harper, you got the Glades. You know it better then the rest of us. Any place you think someone could be kept, check." Roy nods.
"Batman, you know this man the most. You and Robin will have the most access to Felicity since she knows the city. Study this map and go wherever you think he could be."
"Black Canary will be checking the main parts of Starling City." Laurel nods at that, looking determined.
"I will be checking any sort of abandoned building that I can think of. Felicity has given me a list. We have three hours before sunrise, I want her found before then." Oliver finishes and everyone nods and files out of the hotel room.
Oliver left anther empty warehouse by the wharf empty handed. He angrily kicked an empty crate when he looked out and saw the sun beginning to rise. He knew that they were mainly people of the night, but Oliver wasn't about to stop looking. He would look for days straight, until he had torn up every building in Starling City if he had to.
"Arsenal to Arrow, I think I found something." Roy's voice said over the comm unit.
"What are you waiting for, spill Harper." Oliver demanded.
"A few informers of mine told me they spotted movement in an old apartment complex that was abandoned a few months ago do to building code violations." Roy said. "It's pretty close to my location."
"That sounds like somewhere he would hide out." Batman's voice said. "Robin and I are also close to your location, we will head over as well."
"I'll be there as soon as possible." Oliver said as he began to sprint away.
^^^^^Line Break^^^^^
"Come on Blondie, our game isn't done yet." Joker states. Artemis narrowed her eyes at him. He had long since placed a piece of cloth over her mouth to keep her from making her usual snarky comments. She could still glare though.
In front of them was a table with a set of cards. They had been playing some card game that Artemis didn't know. She refused to play along, so she didn't know very much what was going on.
"Make your move." Joker demanded. Artemis shook her head defiantly, continuing to wiggle her hands around behind her chair. She could feel her bonds beginning to loosen. "No? You'll regret it."
The Joker stood up suddenly and backhanded Artemis clear across the face, the force causing her seat to topple over. He cheek stung and tears came to her eyes. It wasn't the worst that had happened to her since her capture, but it still her. Artemis watched as the gash on her thigh began to bleed again on contact with the ground. At least he kept her mask on.
"Now," Joker sets up her chair again. "Make your move." Artemis couldn't do anything with her hands tied behind her back. Planting her feet on the ground, which were still bound together, Artemis launched herself forward, knocking over the table.
"You little..." The Joker stood up and pushed Artemis' chair to the ground again. He kicked her hard in the gut. Both her head and her stomach rattled from the force of the fall and the kick.
"I thought you would be fun. Turns out your even less fun than Bats! Maybe I should just kill you. You're hardly worth the trouble." The Joker states, staring at her maliciously. Despite herself, Artemis felt her eyes widen in fear. She didn't want to die. The Joker gave a maniacal laugh. "That scares you now doesn't it? Fear isn't really my thing, but I see you must fear death. Silly girl, everybody dies, even you."
From his belt, The Joker pulled out a knife, the same one he had already dug into her thigh. She knew she had to do something, she didn't want to die, and she hadn't had a chance to really be a teenager yet.
Giving one last forceful pull on her ropes, they loosened and Artemis' arms were free. She stuck out her arms over her as the knife was brought down. It took her a second to comprehend the pain, but then it was shooting through her.
"You stupid child." The Joker pulled the knife out and Artemis screamed, but she didn't let it distract her. She swung her legs into his, knocking him over. He landed on the chair, breaking it. Artemis scrambled to the other side of the room before he could comprehend what had just happened.
"Now you've done it." The Joker said getting up. Artemis pulled the rag out of her mouth.
"No, you have." Picking up a piece of wood to defend her, Artemis braced for the fight that was about to happen. What she didn't expect, was the loud splintering of the wooden door as Harper appeared.
The worry on his face eased a bit when he spotted Artemis. The Joker growled with frustration.
"Oh look, another toy." The Joker says. Arsenal didn't even respond, releasing a smoke screen. "Oh really, that the best you got."
When the smoke cleared though, Joker looked up to see Batman standing over him, a scowl on his face.
"Hey Batsy." The Joker coos.
"Joker." Batman simply states in a monotone voice. "I think its time for you to go back to where you came from."
Artemis watched as Batman threw a punch into Joker's face. She would have watched longer if strong arms hadn't suddenly wrapped around her, lifting her up and carrying her out of the room. She squirmed in the arms until she could see that it was Oliver who had her.
"Oliver?" She asked tentatively. He gave a small smile.
"I'm so happy you are okay." He says, clearly relieved. His eyes were bloodshot and he suddenly looked tired, and a few years older. "That was the worst night of my life by far, even worse then some of my nights on the island."
"Really?" Artemis asked quietly as they exited the building. Robin and Diggle were waiting outside of it in an alley.
"I had never been more scared in my life." Oliver states, holding Artemis a little closer.
"Glad to see you are okay." Robin states smiling goofily. He looked over to the building. "I'll see you guys around." With that, he ran into the building to go give Batman a hand.
"Come on, we got to get you all patched up." Oliver says. Artemis realized then that she was bleeding all over Oliver.
"Sorry."
"Don't be. I'm just happy you are alright." Oliver says relieved. He held Artemis close as Diggle brought around the car and he didn't let her go, even when she fell asleep.
A/N: And Finish. Wow, I did not think I was going to be able to finish that on time. I'm glad I did. I hope you guys liked that, had some good Oliver and Artemis fluff. Not a lot of Laurel, but she will be in it more in the next chapter, which includes Oliver's induction into the League and his and Roy's first mission. (Finally!) Artemis will not be going on a lot of league missions because in the show not many people knew who she was and I would like to keep some of that anonymousness of her in this story as well. Until next week! Review!