Ages: Cameron is 22, Artemis is 20.
A Whisper of Change...
Winter, Team Year 5
Finding a place to live wasn't as simple as Cameron originally thought. A lot more went into it than just picking a building and signing a lease: Figuring out the best utilities package. Checking up reviews on different management companies. Filling out application after application just to get his feet in the door of prospective apartments. With each extra step he silently thanked his past self for committing to fleshing out a clean identity because Cameron Mahkent would get the door shut in his face by some of the places that Cameron Frost was looking into.
At some point he realized that this was going to be the biggest "adult" decision he'd ever made that wasn't somehow tied to being a criminal.
"Think big kid," Crystal told him over the phone. "If you don't want to stay, there's nothing keeping you in Gotham. Hell, there's nothing keeping you stateside."
And Cameron did think about leaving the county. About going back to Europe and blowing more of his illicit money exploring the Alps and island hopping along the Mediterranean coastline. Or maybe trekking some of the Himalayas in South Asia or doing a drive through the Kenyan safari and risking sunburn for the beautiful sights. They were all alluring thoughts.
But Crystal was still here. And so was Artemis.
"I'm not gonna go that far, not yet anyway," he answered, but that didn't do much to limit his options.
"Metropolis?" he asked, flipping through a list of Best Cities to Move To By SawBuzz.
"Ugh. Too happy. Like, way too happy," Crystal answered, scrolling through the same list on her end. Her newest bunkmate was a tech-based criminal, and after some colorful threats, she'd happily upgraded her Belle Revve burner phone inventory. "And I know you're kind of ok with the supers right now, but if things go south, being in Superman's city wouldn't be smart."
"Yeah, that'd probably bite me in the ass sooner or later."
"What about Central City?" she asked.
Cameron thought about it, but remembered the Flashes. Briefly, the idea that Artemis might not exactly want to stop by Central City crossed through his mind. "Ehhh, I'd rather not. What about Star City?"
"Do you really want to wake up every day under the southern California sun?" she asked sarcastically.
He winced. "Probably not."
"There's always...Dakota City? Apparently they have one of the top five fastest growing job markets or some shit."
"What jobs? Cattle ranching? What's even in Dakota city?" he asked, scrunching up his face in thought. "I can't immediately think of any criminal plots related to it, so that's gotta count for something right?"
"The hell if I know. But they can't have that much to offer if Indianapolis is above them on this freakin' list."
They ended up going back and forth through the whole list, but in the end Cameron stuck with the familiarity of Gotham. He found an apartment in a part of the town that wasn't right next to Gotham University, but close enough that the commute wouldn't be an excuse to put off college beyond next year. It was a neighborhood that wasn't absurdly expensive, but being just pricy enough not to be overrun by partying college students. An area that wasn't nice enough to be truly gentrified, but safe enough that you could walk at night without a mugging being a certainty.
The kind of place that would have made him happy as a kid without being suspicious of what job they were sticking around to do.
"I know historically this has been a less than preferred neighborhood of Gotham, but over the last few years there has been a lot of major investments. I assure you this neighborhood has plenty of potential," the realtor droned on, walking him through a clinical sales pitch she'd probably delivered dozens of times. It was boring and just vague enough at all the points where she didn't want prospective renters to ask questions.
In Gotham, that was about as close to full honesty as one could get. Cameron signed the lease the same day and called it a late birthday gift to himself. A way of making up for his actual birthday, which he spent in a brawl with some of his father's less understanding associates. Artemis had tried to find him to celebrate together, and he'd make some vague excuse about being sick to wave her off, promising to accept her gift later.
With Crystal still behind bars, Artemis was the first, and really the only, person on his invite list for the new apartment.
In hindsight, he shouldn't have been surprised by what happened next.
Gotham just had a way of catching you off-guard no matter how long you'd been around. He wasn't four hours into his first day in the new apartment when the new broke that The Joker had escaped Arkham, again, and was being mysteriously quiet. Cameron didn't even try to fight the grim resignation seeping into his bones as he mentally cancelled his plans to invite Artemis over.
The natural instinct anytime people heard about a Joker outbreak was to hightail it out of town until he got tossed back into his padded cell. People stopped doing that after The Joker dosed the metro stations and highways with Laughing Gas a few years ago.
Now the plan was firmly to hunker down, and pray Batman got to him in time.
This could be a while Cameron thought, absentmindedly opening another SawBuzz list. This one was conveniently titled Move-In Cleaning You Should Do ASAP At a New Crib.
One hour turned to three which turned to five, all filled with wall to wall coverage of the clown. He managed to sweep, mop, and dust the entire apartment from head to toe while the talking heads droned on about just how quiet The Joker had been since his escape. He was scrubbing an ungodly amount of bleach across the bathroom floor when he caught a chyron about Commissioner Gordon's daughter getting shot and sent into emergency surgery. By the time the sun set, he was trying to figure out which take out spot would still be willing to deliver food while the news coverage focused on the apparently kidnapped Commissioner Gordon, no doubt being used as bait for Batman.
Quick searches on his smartphone revealed long lists of "Temporarily Closed - Arkham Asylum Breakout" notifications under "Hours of Operation".
It's going to be a long night.
...
"Sorry sir, we will not be doing any deliveries until The Joker has been confirmed to be captured," the voice squeaked out from the phone.
Cameron groaned. "Seriously? Your whole schtick is that you're crazy enough to do deliveries no matter what!"
"Yeah well blame our corporate office, not us!" squeaky voice answered. Cameron was fairly certain he was talking to a teenager. "Running out with a gas mask while Scarecrow does his thing is a whole different world than The Joker!"
"Alright, alright," Cameron relented. "What if I come for a pickup? You guys won't even have to take a step out of the kitchen."
"Are you kidding?" the employee shrieked. "The doors are barricaded! The vents are sealed! The lights are off! We aren't letting anyone in, and we sure as hell aren't making anyone food!"
"Then why are you even answering the phone?!"
"I don't know! I've been hiding in a fort made out of pizza boxes for six hours, what the hell else am I supposed to do?"
"Maybe lead with that next time!"
"Maybe don't be an asshole next time!" came the final defiant answer, followed by the sound of the phone line disconnecting.
Cameron growled, slumping back in the sofa chair that constituted all of the furniture of his living room. That was the last place he could think to call.
It's going to be a really long night.
Glaring at the TV that sat directly across from him, propped against the wall where he eventually planned to buy an entertainment stand, he slowly fumed at the images of Gotham's premier rogue blanketing the airwaves.
Now, he prided himself in not being easily scared by supervillain theatrics. But The Joker wasn't a supervillain. He was insane. Other than his weird thing with Batman, he had almost no rhyme or reason. No line he wouldn't cross. No partnerships he wouldn't make or break in the blink of an eye. If they weren't in the stratosphere of Black Adam's power, only Gotham villains were willing to associate themselves with him. Sometimes.
Most criminals agreed the world would be better off if he was dead.
None of them were interested in taking on that challenge.
"People think he's some weird meta. The way he keeps bouncing back from every damn thing," Joar groused to Lawrence as the two men watched the latest report of the Joker fighting Batman. They made no attempt to hide the content of the TV or their conversation from their children, whose eyes were glued to the unfolding fight.
"They should 'mix up' his drugs the next time he takes his meds," Lawrence concurred. "One of those damn Arkham guards needs to get some balls."
His cryokinetic associate grunted. "You really wanna be the guy who tries to off The Joker, and then the bastard survives?"
An incoming phone call stirred Cameron from his reverie. He looked down and then immediately answered once he saw the caller ID.
"What's up?" he answered
"Cam," Artemis rasped, sounding relieved.
"Yeah, that's me. Were you expecting something else?" he asked jokingly, happy to get his mind off the news.
"No, it's just," she answered, voice tight. "The Joker."
Or not.
"Yeah, I've been watching the news," he said, before a startling thought popped into his mind. "Don't tell me you're in Gotham."
"No, I'm...I'm on my way," she answered, and something about the way she was talking sounded very, very wrong.
"You're not coming to help catch him are you?" he asked, hoping that this wasn't the moment she decided to don the vigilant costume again.
"No, not-, shit" she answered with something that sounded kind of like a sob and is she crying?
"Artemis, what happened?" he asked urgently.
"I-" she started, before stopping again, willing her emotions back in place.
"Artemis, you're starting to freak me out. Where are you? What's going on? Did you get dosed with something?" he asked, standing upright now and pacing his apartment living room.
"Batgirl," she finally answered, voice barely a whisper. "The Joker got to Batgirl."
Cameron felt his stomach drop, his mind going back to the last time the clown prince got his hands on a Bat. To what he did to normal civilians he wasn't obsessed with.
"Is she-"
"She's alive," Artemis answered quickly, as if the words were a lifeline. "In the hospital with a bullet wound. She's just getting out of surgery right now. They don't know how bad the damage is. I need to go see her."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"He got her in her civilian identity. The sick bastard, he walked right up to her door and shot her and took her dad. He doesn't even know she's Batgirl!"
"Any leads?"
"Batman's got his location. He's going to take him down. Hard," she said, though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anything else.
"But he's still going to let him live, isn't he?" Cameron asked, and it came out a lot more bitter than he'd intended. The criminal community disliked all the capes, but after what happened to the last Robin, there was a schism between those who felt pity for Batman, and those who lost at least some level of respect for him for letting The Joker live.
On days like today, Cameron was firmly in the latter camp.
"Yeah, he will," Artemis answered, sounding just as bitter as he did. "Going to toss him back in Arkham, like he won't be back out in a month. After what he did to Robin, to a freakin kid, he shouldn't be breathing. And now this-" her voice cracked again. "I can't-I just, I had to double check that you were ok too. I'm zeta-ing to Gotham in a few minutes to go to the hospital."
"Let me come with you."
"No," she said suddenly, and Cameron couldn't help but recoil a little bit about how forceful it was. Artemis must have noticed because she added, in a softer tone. "Everyone is going to be on edge. I just, a lot of The Team is going to be in town, but they might not all react very well to seeing you. Especially the Bats."
Right. Criminal Cameron's mind reminded him. Tonight wouldn't be the best night to hope that everyone remembered all of his good deeds, or that he was quasi-retired.
"No I get it. Better to avoid more complications," he acquiesced.
"I'm going to go to my mom's afterwards. Could, could you check in on her? She isn't answering her phone, and they might have cut the power on her block. I know she can handle herself but you know how Gotham gets, and Jade would come but Batman put League systems on high alert, and Will-," she started to ramble nervously.
"Artemis," Cameron interrupted. "I'd be more than happy to check in on her. It's not a problem at all."
"Do you remember the address? She hasn't moved."
"Of course. I could get there in my sleep. I'll be there in half an hour and let you know that she's fine."
"Thank you," Artemis said, releasing an audible sigh of relief. "It means a lot to me."
"Of course," Cameron said. "And Artemis, I know you're going to the hospital but please, stay safe. This mess isn't over yet."
"It never is, is it?" she asked bitterly.
A/N: The Jason Todd fan inside me wouldn't let me skip the opportunity to add extra trauma from The Joker to this fic. The next chapter will pick up directly where this one leaves off.