Hey guys! I'm sorry this took so long! I've had no time to sit down on a computer and write for anything longer than fifteen minutes! But it's here now, so I hope you enjoy! Thank you all for your awesome reviews and amazing support! A special shout out to SuperHeroTimeFan for their awesome ideas and constant encouragement! :D Be sure to check out their work! And without further ado, enjoy!
The wind whistled through the new doorway. Bishop growled in annoyance as he surveyed the damages. Besides the large hole in the wall, the hallways were riddled with laser burns and bullet holes, and the dining hall was a shambles. The mercenary growled again and whipped his head over to the LexCorp goon that was standing behind him.
"You want to tell how one girl and her robot guard dog managed to cost us more in damages than the entire United States government?" He snapped.
"The robot is an alien warrior with technology light-years ahead of our own. We were simply unprepared for them." The goon said simply. He had been in the evil underling game a long time, and having his employer or higher up have a tantrum in front of him was commonplace.
"Aren't you supposed to be the technology company?" Bishop muttered spitefully.
"Haven't you been fighting the robots for almost a year now?" The goon responded. Bishop glared at the man.
"Find. Me. That. Girl." He snarled before walking away. "I don't care how you do it, but I want her and her little friends."
"Yes sir."
Artemis looked out the window as they drove towards the base.
"You sure your mom won't mind?" Artemis shrugged.
"As long as she knows I'm safe she'll be fine. I assume that GA has already notified her. And I sent her a text. "
"Are you sure? She is your mother." Artemis rolled her eyes.
"She's used to it. Believe me, I'm more worried about Optimus." They drove in silence for a bit while Smokescreen tried to think of how to start off the conversation.
"So I was serious when I said we needed to talk."
"So talk."
"Will you participate in the conversation?"
"Probably not. I don't really feel like talking right now." She grumbled. Smokescreen internally sighed.
"Okay fine. Then I'll talk. Kiddo, you know you can trust me, right? After all, I did come after you! It would have been so much easier just to pretend you'd never found me, but I still risked life and limb to come get you!"
"I know that!" She muttered folding her arms protectively across her chest.
"Then why don't you trust me?"
"Because I have issues alright?"
"Then how do I get you to trust me?"
"Why do you care so much anyways? You're only hanging around with me because Optimus told you to!" Smokescreen snorted.
"Okay Arty. Whatever you say." He muttered sarcastically.
"It's true! I'm just a weak, burdensome human you have to protect!"
"You're seriously going with this? Art, I get that you don't like letting people get too close, but I'm not a person. I'm an ass-kicking hyper advanced alien robot."
"A modest one at that." She whispered under her breath.
"Kid, if I really thought you were a burden, I wouldn't spend all of my time with you, now would I? If I really didn't think you couldn't handle yourself, I would drive you to school, pick you up, and drop you at the base and leave." He paused in his speech to let the words sink in. "I like hanging around with you. You're my favorite person at the base, and the only one I can be totally myself around." Artemis glanced at the Autobot symbol on Smokescreen's wheel. "I've seen you fight and I know you're capable. I swear, I will never intentionally hurt you." Artemis remained silent for a while.
"When I was a kid, promises meant nothing. 'I promise I'll be home soon.' 'I promise not to hurt you.' 'I promise I won't leave you.' Spoken word meant nothing to my family. In fact, if something was preceded by 'I promise,' it usually meant the opposite would happen." Artemis told him darkly. "Then mom went to jail and Jade left, so it was just me and my father. Not trusting anyone was how you survived. It took me a long time to learn that. I got burned, so many times. It's not a lesson you forget easily."
"I don't want you to trust everyone you meet. Clearly, there are distrustful humans on this planet. But I want you to realize, I will protect you. If we're going to be partners, you need to know that." Artemis took a deep breath. "I know that this conversation isn't going to suddenly change your past, and let you trust me as easily as the other kids. I just wanted you know that." Smokescreen had apparently timed his speech so that they arrived at the base at the end of it. The secret door opened and they drove in and parked in the main hangar. Artemis undid her seat belt but paused before opening the door.
"Hotshot? Thanks." She whispered.
"Anytime kiddo." Artemis jumped out of the car, and was quickly swarmed by Jack, Miko and Raf.
"Are you okay? What happened? Where did they take you? What did they want with you? Who were they? Was it something to do with your team?" They asked in a rush of questions while Smokescreen transformed behind them. Miko had wrapped her skinny arms around Artemis' torso and Raf and Jack looked at her with concern.
"Are you okay 'Mis?" Raf asked worriedly. Artemis disentangled herself from Miko's arms and knelt down to look Raf in the eye.
"I'm alright. Really. I didn't even get shot at!" She explained. The younger boy looked skeptical, but nodded anyways. Jack eyed her suspiciously.
"Are you sure? Because, most people would at very least be messed up in the head if they were kidnapped." He pointed out.
"Are most people you know super heroes who get themselves kidnapped every other week?" Artemis shrugged. The other Autobots had arrived and were looking at the blonde with relief. Bumblebee made several happy beeps and whirs and Artemis smiled at him.
"Glad to see you too buddy." Sometimes, the black and yellow Autobot reminded her of Robin, in the best way possible.
"Are you certain you are unharmed?" Optimus asked, his voice full of concern. Artemis nodded.
"Yes! Believe me, Luthor's too much of a businessman to harm someone he wants to employ. All he did was make me an offer I had to refuse. Then Smokescreen showed up and we came home." Artemis summarized. Arcee looked over at Smokescreen critically.
"And where were you when she needed you?" She hissed. Smokescreen looked straight at her.
"I was wrapping up here." He said respectively, but with a harsh look in his eye. Arcee stopped glaring and nodded. After being assured that Artemis was alright, Optimus had gone back to decoding the next set of co-ordinates, but the others continued to stare at her concernedly.
"Seriously, I'm fine! In fact it was a nice break from the monotony. Not to mention Luthor is going to need a new warehouse." Artemis said. Ratchet shook his head.
"You're penchant for violence never ceases to amaze me." He muttered, turning his attention back to whatever project he had been working on before. Artemis smiled fondly at him and turned back to the others.
"Well, I have to go let my mom know I'm safe. I'll see you guys tomorrow at school alright?" They said their goodbyes, and Artemis climbed into Smokescreen.
"You know, I'm beginning to think that I've spent more time inside of you then looking at your true form." She noted as they headed towards her home. Smokescreen laughed gently.
"That's probably not too far off…" They lapsed into a comfortable silence, as they usually did. Once they reached her new house, Artemis slipped from the car and patted her guardian's hood.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning for school, alright?"
"Art, you've had a rough few days. Why don't you take tomorrow off?"
"Don't worry about it. I'm used to late nights. Besides, I haven't been to a full day of school in a week. I think I owe it to my scholarship to at least go for a full day!"
"Well, if you change your mind, just text me!" She nodded and walked towards her door. "Because texting has worked so well in the past." He muttered and turned off his engine and put on his park break. He watched her get inside her house and the lights flicker on in the living room. He smiled gently to himself as he settled in to stay the night.
Artemis' mother was overjoyed to see her daughter safe and sound, and the two ended up drinking tea and talking late into the night. By the time they realized how late it was, it was already three in the morning. Paula tried to tell her youngest daughter to sleep in, but the girl refused.
"Come on Mom! You know I can't sleep in! Besides, I spent so much time with Robin, I may as well be a Bat myself." Paula shook her head.
"Fine, but I don't want you to use an alarm clock. Get up on your own, or sleep in. Lord knows you need it." Artemis smiled and gave her mother the tightest hug she could.
"I love you mom. So much." She whispered in her ear.
"I love you too sweetheart. Get some rest." Artemis kissed her cheek and went to her room. Paula said a quick thank you to whatever deity was watching over daughter and went to bed herself.
The next morning, Artemis slept in until eight thirty eight, and then woke up, with plenty of energy and twenty seven minutes to get to school on time. Figuring that she should probably get there on time and that she had worked hard enough over the past few days, the blonde skipped her morning training routine, and simply got dressed for school. In order to hide her bruises, and the wrist burn the ropes had given her, she wore dark wash skinny jeans and the green 'Sidekicks' t-shirt that the boys had given her for Easter last year. It had Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy and Aqualad's symbol in a line down the left side of the fabric and 'Don't Call Us Sidekicks' written on the back. It was long sleeved, and covered all of her injuries nicely. She had left her backpack at school the day she had been taken to visit with Luthor, so she grabbed only a piece of toast, left her mother a note, and departed by her front door. Smokescreen was waiting for her across the street in the same spot he had dropped her off. She shrugged and ran over to him.
"Heya Hotshot! What's up?" Smokescreen woke up from his stasis nap and opened his door.
"Not a thing. Ready for school?" Artemis scoffed.
"Of course not. School is just another torture chamber, only slightly more villainous."
"You've been in a torture chamber?!" Smokescreen cried worriedly, as they headed for the school.
"Well Joker kidnapped me once and he made his own torture chamber in a warehouse somewhere. And I got a tour of the League of Shadows when I was seven." She shrugged. Smokescreen would have face palmed had he been in his robot mode. They arrived at the school and Artemis jumped out. She offered to walk from a block away as usual, but the Autobot was still feeling a little protective and insisted he take her right to the door. The archer smiled and waved goodbye, before heading inside to pick up her things from her locker. Jack, Miko and Raf were already waiting for her by the familiar metal door.
"Artemis!" Miko called happily. "Finally you're back! We missed you while you were at your grandma's" The Japanese girl exclaimed woodenly. Artemis raised an eyebrow.
"Miko, what on Earth are you doing? You saw me last-"
"Week. I saw you last week."
"What are you talking about? Hotshot brought me by last night. You were there!"
"Tch. You must have been dreaming. Because the last time we saw you was a few days ago. Right, Jack and Raf?"
"Has she lost it?" Jack shook his head and Raf gave her a half smile.
"She seems to think that people will think it's odd you keep missing days, so she's trying to cover for it." Raf explained sheepishly.
"I told you it was a stupid idea." Jack muttered. Artemis smiled and chuckled.
"I cut class all the time. It's no big deal." Miko looked rather put out.
"My plan would have worked too ya know." She pouted. The other three snickered quietly and turned the discussion to something less identity endangering. They didn't have long to chat since home room was about to start, but it was nice to see the trio again and have a real talk with them. The bell rang and Jack and Artemis parted ways with Miko and Raf, promising to meet up for lunch later. The duo took their seats in the back of the room and kept chatting.
"You didn't miss much in anything really. Though Miko did nearly take of Vince's head yesterday when he made a snide comment about you being gone again." Artemis chuckled.
"Well at least he cares enough to notice I was gone." She smirked.
"That's… one way of looking at it I guess." They both snickered.
"So I know we didn't really get a chance to talk last night, but I'm really sorry for disappearing like that." She told him quietly, once they had finished laughing. "I didn't mean to worry you- any of you." Jack nodded.
"Just, don't do that again. I thought you know who was going to blow a gasket he was so worried." Artemis looked guilty and played with a pencil.
"Sorry." Jack put a hand on her shoulder.
"It wasn't your fault. Sometimes things like this happen. You can't control what other people do." She didn't respond, but smiled at him gratefully as the teacher came in and told the class to settle down.
Artemis found that returning to school after being kidnapped was actually not all that bad. After the ordeal, the restlessness she had felt since her friends had visited, had evaporated and left her far happier than before. She figured she was just the type of person who needed action and excitement in her life. If she didn't put her life on the line every other week or so, she'd go stir crazy. However, even an adventure depraved Artemis knew there was a time and a place for excitement. And lunchtime at her high school in Jasper was neither the time nor the place. And having a 'heart to heart' with her nosy fellow Gothamite, was not the type of excitement she was hoping for either.
"Artemis, you need to tell us what's going on!" Dick exclaimed. Artemis dragged his skinny butt around the corner and away from the prying eyes of the other students. Dick fixed her with his best Bat glare, the full force of it coming from his naked eyes. "I'm serious. We're worried about you." He hissed.
"What the hell are you doing here? Are you trying to blow my cover?" She snapped furiously. Dick kept glaring.
"I Zeta-Beamed into Vegas last night after we made sure Sportsmaster was safely locked away and drove the Batmobile in this morning." He told her. Artemis momentarily forgot her anger.
"Bats lets you drive that thing? And how did no one notice you driving that thing down the interstate?" She asked in surprise.
"I'll tell you if you tell me." He said uncharacteristically darkly. Artemis raised an eyebrow at him and folded her arms. He intensified his glare.
"Artemis?" A voice asked. Both heroes whipped their heads over to find Jack, Miko and Raf watching them. All three had their arms crossed, and were no doubt trying to look intimidating. They probably would too, had Dick not grown up in Gotham and fought some of the scariest villains in the world. Dick's glare lost some of its passion but he remained aggressive. Jack glared at him. "You alright there Arty?"
"It's fine Jack. Just catching up with an old friend."
"Is this the same type of friends you met up with a few days ago? Cause Bulky could be here in five minutes flat." Miko said masking her normally kind and bubbly nature.
"No. He's a good guy." Raf kept glaring untrustingly at him. Artemis gave him a confident nod. "It's alright. I just need to wrap some stuff up here and I'll meet you by our usual table okay?" She promised. The other three nodded.
"Call us if you need anything." Jack told her before leading the others away. Just as she was turning around the corner, Miko paused and pointed her middle and index fingers to her eyes and then at Dick. Once they had left the unmasked Boy of Wonder turned back to the on probation archer.
"I worried about you. We all are." Artemis rolled her eyes.
"I saw you guys last night. And I'm fine. I can take care of myself." Dick raised an eyebrow.
"That's not what Wally said." Artemis suddenly felt her temper flare and she slammed the boy against a wall before he could react. He grunted as she pinned him there.
"Wally doesn't know anything about what has been happening out here. You ditched me out here remember?" She snarled angrily. Dick broke out of her hold and tried to flip their positions. Artemis ducked and swung a punch, which was easily blocked.
"ARTEMIS! Just tell me what's wrong!" He begged her. She anger evaporated with his pleading voice. She sighed and lowered her fist. Dick's blue eyes gazed up at her. They weren't exactly the same shade as Smokescreen's but they were similar. And the effect was defiantly the same.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just trying to get my life on track for once." She told him. "I know that's going to be hard to do with Luthor and all, but I can handle this! All I need is for you guys to tighten security around Ivo, and try to find some terrorists. And you to trust me." She beseeched him. Dick pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Arty, how exactly are you planning on staving off all of Luthor's forces by yourself?"
"Why don't you ask Kid Blabbermouth?"
"Because he wouldn't tell. Not even when Kaldur asked, Roy threatened and Oliver nearly took his head off. He wouldn't even tell me." Dick said, looking rather put out. Artemis put a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen, I asked him not to tell any of you guys. It's something I need to handle on my own." Dick looked at her skeptically and sighed over dramatically.
"I'm not sure why I am, but I'll trust you. But please, take this and promise me you'll use it." He said, handing her a circular object. She took it and realized it was a communicator. It matched her colour scheme perfectly and had her symbol engraved upon it. "As long as you're on this continent, you'll never be out of range. It also will work from six hundred meters below the earth. Plus the bad guys need a special scrambler in order to block the signal. I also added in a special voice activated feature that will let you call for help from five feet away!" Dick told her proudly. "All you have to say is, 'I just need some help getting traught." As soon as the words left his mouth, a blinking light started flashing in his pocket. "Works like a charm." He smirked as he deactivated his own personalized communicator.
"Impressive. I promise, if I see anything that resembles a bald Conner, I'll send you a memo. Until then, please, don't worry about me! I'll be fine."
"If you say so. Just remember to call us any time okay?" Artemis nodded and pulled him into a tight hug. "Now get going before you new boyfriends come looking for you." Artemis slapped his shoulder.
"Dick. They're my friends and if you repeat that to Wally I'll pluck your feathers!" She threatened before walking casually away. She turned the corner and paused. "Oh, and you may want to get Zatanna a decent anniversary gift before next week. Just saying." She added before disappearing around the corner and entered a war zone. Kids were chanting while two figures wrestled on the ground. Miko's hair had half fallen out, and both she and the girl she was fight were covered in dirt. Nearby, Jack and Vince were screaming at each other and Raf was trying to convince the girls to break up their cat fight. Artemis rushed over to the younger boy.
"What's going on here?" She demanded.
"Everyone's gone crazy!" Raf exclaimed.
"But why is Miko trying to claw that chick's eyes out?"
"Well, I think Miko failed a math test this morning and then when Keisha called her a stupid shame to her family, she kinda lost it." Raf explained gesturing to the girls. "And then when Vince starting laughing, Jack told him to shut up and they got into a screaming match. So once again, I'm the only sane man left."
"Hey, we're all mad here." Artemis shrugged.
"But you're the worst." Raf sighed, shaking his head at her reference. Artemis smiled and tousled his hair just as Vince lost his temper and swung his fist at Jack's face. Instinct let Jack avoid the blow and he tried to counter with a punch of his own. Artemis winced at the terrible form; it was obvious he was attacking using moves he'd seen on TV. Just before the boys could do anything really violent, the teachers showed up and pulled the four fighting kids apart and marched them down to the office.
The rest of the day was filled with gossip about the dual fights at lunch time, and not about Artemis sneaking around with a dark-haired boy. This was perfectly okay with the archer and she found that she didn't hate being in her classes that afternoon. After school, she and Raf met up where Smokescreen and Bumblebee were parked.
"Do you think we should wait for Jack and Miko?" Raf asked.
"Might as well! It's a beautiful day!" The pair leaned up against their respective guardian and pulled out their homework. Artemis had quite a bit more then Raf, seeing as she hadn't been at school for a day and a half. Luckily, Raf volunteered to help her with it and she assisted him with his history and French. They talked about random things and enjoyed each other's company while Smokescreen scanned the street with paranoid optics.
"So what's the coolest thing you've ever done?" Raf asked while he solved a chemical equation. Artemis thought about it for a moment.
"Meeting you guys and the Team." She answered. Bumblebee chirped disbelievingly at her. "Okay, okay. Besides meeting my idols and ass kicking alien robots, the coolest thing would probably be… saving the Team from some evil robots. No offence." Raf laughed his quiet little laugh and Bumblebee made an indignant noise.
"I'm sure she would have a harder time fighting you Bee." Raf smiled. Artemis chuckled along with her smaller friend and conjugated a French verb. The rest of the hour that Miko and Jack were in detention passed quickly, and soon both were sullenly walking from the building. It made more sense for Smokescreen and Bumblebee to bring the four teenagers to base instead of Bulkhead and Arcee driving all the way out there, so Jack climbed into Smokescreen's passenger seat and Miko clambered in next to Rafael. Now that Jack was closer, the archer could see the bruise on his cheek. She refrained from commenting on it directly, and both Autobots began driving towards the Base.
"So how was detention?" Artemis asked conversationally. Jack shot her an annoyed look.
"It was boring and pointless." Artemis smirked.
"That's what happens when you fight at school. Besides, it's not that bad."
"Some of us don't have Super Friends to break us out when we lose our tempers." He snapped. Smokescreen and Artemis snickered.
"Alright, good point. But why'd you fight with Vince anyways? Aren't you the one who's always telling me and Miko to mind our tempers?" Jack rolled his eyes.
"I'm tired of Vince being an asshole to everyone and no one doing anything about it." He muttered.
"Ancient proverb; 'A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.'" Artemis said with a Vietnamese accent neither Jack nor Smokescreen realized she could use.
"Where'd you get that from?" Smokescreen asked.
"One of mom's old sayings she used when she wanted to annoy me and Jade when we fought or misbehaved." Jack shook his head.
"I just lost my temper when he called Miko a freak show who needs to be deported. And then Raf a geeky nerd who should be locked up in a lab for future study. And you a psychotic criminal who belongs in a prison." Smokescreen huffed angrily.
"You should have called me. I would have beat the stuffing out of him." The alien growled.
"Oh, yeah that would have been subtle. Besides, I'm simply impressed you didn't immediately fight back when Vince called you a loser townie with no future."
"How'd you know he called me that?"
"I have ears. It's all anyone would talk about all day." Jack groaned.
"I am so dead when I get home."
"Good thing we aren't heading that way right now." Smokescreen pointed out.
"Besides, I'm certain Optimus will right an excuse note for his favorite human." Artemis teased. Jack groaned and sunk down in his seat. Artemis and Smokescreen kept laughing until they reached the base while Jack scowled out the window. When they reached the base, Artemis was still snickering as they pulled into the main hangar. Smokescreen let them both out of the car and transformed. Jack quickly walked away as Bumblebee pulled in with Raf and Miko.
"Bulk? Where are you?" Miko yelled, her voice echoing throughout the entire base. Immediately the heavy footfalls of giants thundered through the halls.
"Is it just me, or did Bulkhead gain a few hundred pounds?" Artemis asked, feeling the ground shake more than usual. Just then, Arcee, Bulkhead and a red green and white Bot walked in.
"JACKIE!" Miko squealed, running over to the Wrecker.
I hope you liked it! The good news is that I have the next chapter half done, so the next update should be done super fast! In the meantime, tell me what you thought! See you soon! (I hope!) :D
