CONTINUING...
DO NOT OWN...
9:00am
ARTEMIS POV
Artemis ran and ran as fast as she could. When she reached the main building, she remembered they had cameras and her father's training kicked in. Taking off her shoe, she hit the cameras from their blind spot and ran to her locker. It didn't contain much but then Artemis was always ready to run. Gathering her things which were in a small back pack, she smoothed her hair and acted calm and carefree as she breezed through the academy's automatic , sliding doors.
HQ 2hrs later
Artemis wondered why she had come here. Oh yeah! If she went home, her mother would be disappointed and would make her go back to school while saying something like " The child might be blamed for the parent's sin but the child is not the parent." Other than those two, unlikely places, this was the only place left. She froze in front of the teleporter. Should she?
"Artemis B07"
Artemis sighed. She just wanted peace and to be free from her didn't anyone understand that? Her father Lawrence Crook. All of a sudden everything that girl said rushed back and Artemis collapsed on the nearest thing a large, couch and began to relive the painful memories.
AT THAT EXACT SAME TIME: general person POV
"Artemis B07" That was what came through the Justice's League communicators ( only to all the mentors).
"Artemis Crook has entered the Headquarters."
Bruce was in a meeting with Wayne tech and sent Barry to investigate while he tried to wrap up his meeting as soon as possible.
Barry was finishing up a preliminary check on bones dug up at a crime scene and was scheduled to a lunch break in five minutes so he decided to finish up super fast.
Clark was typing up the midweek DAILY PLANET and decided to save his work. It was almost done anyway.
Aqua man was in Atlantis and sent apologies that he couldn't leave as he had official king duties
Martian Man hunter was free, watching a movie's ending credits
Oliver Queen was practicing his archery
Dinah Lance was sparring in a judo against one of their best fighters, glad for the challenge and the workout. When she got the message, she dicided to cut her spar short by knocking her opponent to the ground
Young Billy Baston was falling asleep in class and the message woke him up in time not to be caught nodding off by the strictest teacher in school.
3mins later
BARRY POV
Barry skidded to a stop in front of the teleporter. He stepped through the opening.
"Flash 04" What he saw worried him. Artemis was cuddled in one of the couches and was shaking. But inside HQ wasn't cold. Then he noticed she was crying and her shaking seemed more like she was rocking herself in the fetal position. Barry sent a silent message to the rest of the JL who were on their way.
"Artemis, are you okay? It's alright, you're safe" Barry reached out slowly to pat her, to give her human contact to break her out of her shaking and when he blinked, she flicked out with a knife and cut his hand and arm. Both of them. He had to hand it to her she was fast, even by his standards.
"Guys hurry" he sent to the other JL members.
1 1/2 hrs later
BARRY POV (STILL)The rest of the JL except for Aqua man and Billy who was told to stay in school had gathered at HQ. Despite his quick metabolism, his hand was still bleeding and it wasn't healing as quick as it would.
"Sorry I'm late. People just don't know how to lose." Dinah said quietly.
"You're late? What a surprise" Barry said rolling his eyes.
"What happened to your arms" Barry motioned towards Artemis with his head.
"She's been like that since I arrived and when I tried to approach her, this happened"
"With her bare hands?"
"A knife. She hit some arteries and veins and sliced into bone I think. All I know is that I haven't healed properly in 1 1/2 hrs."
"This is serious, you need to get that healed" Bruce sighed
"On it"
"Dinah" Barry said
With the rest of the JL watching Dinah walked forward. She approached Artemis like one would a wild cat.
"Hey Artemis, it's okay. I'm safe, I'm not going to hurt you. I don't have any weapons okay?" She rested her hand on Artemis' shoulder and a little bit of the tension escaped her body. "That's a good girl. Th-"
With a move so discreet and quick, Artemis flicked upwards with the knife, her body coiled and tight like a snake's. It was only because of Dinah's extra training that she flipped out of the way of the knife. Crouching, she stopped the rest of the JL who sprung to help her. For a while she and Artemis watched each other and the calm you saw in Artemis face scared Dinah and they knew it because it scared them too.
DINAH POV
Dinah watched Artemis carefully. The girl had been trained well. Don't leap at the opponent, let them come to you and use their force to finish them. Knowing Artemis wasn't going to move otherwise Dinah charged.
BRUCE POV
Bruce watched as Dinah charged. He was only slightly surprised, there had to be a reason she had used such a rookie mistake. The fight progressed and Dinah and Artemis were equally matched. Every time the other tried a move, the other counteracted it. If one of them changed their fighting style, the other would change to oppose it and so on. After five minutes Dinah made a mistake.
Sweeping out her leg to trip Artemis, she smiled in triumph but Artemis slid down and used the impact from the fall the swing her body around to kick Dinah in the face.
DINAH POV
In the silent way bats do, Bruce was there to stop Artemis' kick. He bent her arms behind her back, enough force to hurt but not to break or dislocate her arms. Holding Artemis' face in her arms Dinah whispered to her " It's alright, you're safe"
The calm mask Artemis broke and she began to tremble again. After a few seconds, Bruce released her cautiously. She fell to the ground. Bruce picked her up and carried her back to the couch.
"Guys" Dinah sais, looking at them. The rest of the JL nodded and left to give them privacy.
"It's okay Artemis, you are safe. You are not in any danger. No one wants to hurt you okay? Come back to the present, to now where it's safe Artemis. Come back NOW" Dinah spoke out every word clearly and with authority but Artemis only seemed to withdraw even more into herself.
ARTEMIS POV 1st person
'Where am I?' That was my first thought. It was foggy, the kind you find at night in ships, docks and old warehouses.
'NO! It couldn't be. I can't be back here. This morning I woke up, ate breakfast with my mom and went to school. I'm sure of it" Suddenly I was pulled forward roughly
"Stupid little girl" That voice! and all of a sudden I wasn't Artemis the 15yr old, I was Artemis, my father's private entertainment. "You're hungry aren't you huh? Ain't feed you for eight days, surprised you ain't begging for food yet. That's good, you got some of my blood in you after all. Might turn out to be a decent assassin.
The warehouse was big, old and smelt like sweat, blood and fish. I was pushed forward roughly by my hair into a cage built in the center of the room. On the outside there were chairs filled with people like it was a spectators match. A quiet hush descended the former noisy warehouse. Then a girl about seven or so was pushed into the cage. She had red, auburn hair in two pigtails and was wearing unlike my tank top and sweatpants, a blue shirt with flowers on it and a skort that was white with teddy bears on it.
"It time for the battle, what you paid for" A man's clear voice echoed through the warehouse. "Let us introduce our competitors. In the left corner we have Artemis a nine year old girl whose guaranteed to give us a catfight and in the other corner, we have Angel and unlike her name this 7 yr old girl's a real devil. Both of these young girls have been starved and fed nothing, not even water for eight days. Ladies the prize tonight is a plate of food with a piece of fresh bread, a chunk of cheese, two chicken drumsticks and one slice of chocolate and that's not all we even have a box juice."
Angel's stomach growled. I smiled at her.
"Don't worry, I'll let you win"
"This fight is to the death!" The crowd cheered and I suddenly felt sick and Angel looked as scared as me. Then the bell clanged. Angel charged towards me all deadly and dangerous but I didn't want to hurt her so I kept on the defensive. Suddenly Daddy pulled me by my hair and hit me against the cage bars. It hurt but I had learned the hard way not to cry or show any expression of pain when Daddy hurt me.
"Listen to me you little girl, fight her. I didn't bring you here to hide
"I don't want to fight her Daddy, she's just a little girl" His eyes narrowed and I realized my mistake to late. He slammed my had hard against the cage bars again and again.
"Your mother is coming out of prison soon and I know you miss your mother. To bad she's paralyzed huh? I mean to have a mother who can't even do her job correctly, who get throw in prison and who's paralyzed at the same time whoo! What a life. Imagine what would happen if mommy died as soon as she came out of prison."
Shock filled me as I recognized his threat. I didn't want mommy to die! When the match resumed I had to hurt Angel.
The bell rang and Angel charged me. I did as Daddy taught and used her weight to flip her. I didn't want to. The people outside cheered and laughed. Why were they so happy?
I began to cry but I fought all the time so when Daddy beat me, he wouldn't be so rough. I dislocated Angel shoulder and broke her leg. I kept hitting her till she was trembling on the ground and she couldn't move. I would be mommy's good girl and finish this. I couldn't do it. It wasn't what I wanted to do. I stopped, hesitated and then put down the knife. I held out my hand to Angel.
"Let's be friends, we don't have to hurt each other as friends" Angel slapped away my hand and said
"You're stupid. If you really think there are such a thing as friends, a thing like trust." she shook her head "You're dumber then you look. Just finish it and get it over with" I nodded. Sometime during the fight knives and sticks and guns and other weapons had been tossed towards the cage. Grabbing the knife closest to me I pushed downward with all my might... and stopped inches above Angel's heart
"I can't do this" I said. I turned away and walked towards the exit. Surprisingly, the people let me pass. The cage door shut behind me and my father dragged me towards him and made me sit by him. In shock I saw Angel grab the knife and stabbed it repeatedly over and over in her chest.
"NO!" I screamed. I rushed to stop Angel but Daddy stopped me
"This is your fault little girl. You killed her" I had begun to cry
"No I didn't. She killed herself."
"No you killed her by trying to be friends with her. By saying you trust her. Do you hear me little girl? Every friend you make will do this to themselves" I screamed. I couldn't hold in the hurt anymore.
Daddy slapped me and burst my lip, told me to shut up I was making to much noise. When Angel was still, he pulled me away. I was glad we were going home, even if I was getting into-
"Daddy?" We hadn't really moved. We only went to another warehouse. A cleaner one but a warehouse. There were a lot of men and a few women. What did Daddy want me to do?
"Little girl, this is your punishment" Daddy kicked me to the ground. I never got my food, I deserved it right? I di- didn't hurt Angel. Wasn't I a good girl?
"Do whatever you want with her" Daddy said to the people
"Little girl survive this" He kicked me in the stomach and the people attacked. Daddy only sat and watched calmly while I killed every single one of them.
3hr 20 mins later (3:20pm)
DINAH POV
Dinah entered the conference room. She felt like if she had been dragged to hell and back. Seeing the girl go into that type of withdrawal, it didn't mean anything good. She felt their eyes on her as she sat. No one said anything, they were waiting for her to say something.
"It's bad" Those two words carried an ultanium. The depressed silence was broken by Billy inching his hand up as if to ask a question.
"Why the hand raising Billy?" Barry asked
"Huh? hand- oh. I went school today. Why don't you ask the team to try?"
"Plausible but to risky. We don't know how Artemis would react to the team's presence and Dick and Wally please stop trying to eavesdrop."
Nothing happened. Bruce tilted his head towards Barry who sighed. He took out his phone and speed dialed a number.
"Hey Iris? Wally being a pain. Speaker you? K"
"Wally, I don't have time for this right now. I'm a busy, busy woman. Wally West if you do not come out of hiding and do what you Uncle tells you just remember I know where you live. I will end your life. I will starve you till you beg for my mercy and then I will tie to a chair and eat all your favorite foods in front of you. If that isn't enough, I will send your cute, baby pictures and post them on the internet and to certain people to make your life an embarrassing hellhole. Don't forget, I have the naked picture. Oh look, I have it here with me at work in my purse, in a place filled with cameras and the cameras all film to national TV. Bye, gotta work"
Wally entered the conference room dragging Dick who was frantically disconnecting his camera from the room. Wally didn't beat around the bush
"what's wrong with Artemis"
"We don't know but Dick you might know how it started" Bruce asked
"It all started..."
WALLY POV
Wally listened halfway through the explanation about how some girl Barbara did some dirty digging and had used some dirt to threaten Artemis. He stopped listening at that point in fact he hadn't listened to the details, he'd only listen to the basic underlining. Then he got bored and decided he had to do something so he ran out.
"Stop! Wally don't-"
He ran to the couch and stopped. Artemis looked so fragile, it scared him. He approached her
"Wally don't" he heard Black Canary mutter. He ignored her
"Wake up Arty" Her hand swept out to hit him. He ran back a few feet. They played this for a few times.
"Not ...Arty... idiot" Wally smiled. He sat on the edge of the couch
"Come on Arty. Arty, Arty, Arty, Arty, Arty!"
"No..."
"Wally, keep doing whatever you're doing, just don't piss her off" Wally just smiled at Black Canary.
"That's the point. Come on Arty"
"uhh" Suddenly Wally kissed Artemis on the lips. Her eyes flew open. Everyone else stepped back. Artemis was a bit shocked for a moment then she kicked Wally off of her. She was red, her hand covering her mouth.
"Idiot pervert" Wally smiled and turned and gave the JL and Dick a thumbs up and then turned back and kissed Artemis again.
"Oh dear, the boy's got it bad- what are you doing?" Dinah said to Barry
"Iris needs to update her photo collection"
Even though it was obvious she had allowed him to have the second kiss, she was still a bit red when Wally stopped the kiss.
"Stupid Idiot"
ARTEMIS POV
Artemis flushed as Wally moved his lips from hers. His lips had been soft and gentle and the fact that the talkative, hyper, teenage boy could be so gentle surprised her. It was her first kiss and when it hadn't been bad. Artemis wondered what it would be to be in a relationship with Wally that didn't include arguing all the time. Maybe they would become friends and- FRIENDS
WALLY POV
Wally watched as Artemis go from embarrassed and cute from his kiss to worried, afraid?
"Artemis?" she turned away from him.
"Yeah?"
" What's wrong?"
"Nothing" Wally put his hand under her chin and turned her face towards him. There were tears in her eyes.
"Stop lying" The tears fell.
"Wally, I can't, not, I want to but if I do..."
Wally got worried. Artemis had a lot on her mind and right now she just needed to let out the raw emotions so he held her and rocked her until she fell asleep.