A/N
Themyscira - land of the Amazons and base of operations for Wonder Woman. One part of me wishes I had the chance to explore such a place, but then the other realises its simply a fictional place set in a world full of fictional wonders.
Enough of that depressing stuff, here you are!
Episode VII: No Mans Land, Part I
Despite encountering some resistance along the way to the mythical land of Themyscira, the combined skills presented by the group deals with the threat with relative ease.
"Where did you learn that?" Artemis questions the Martian member of the group as she slides on the Amazon's armour and weapons, feeling that weight drop onto her shoulders.
Not used to carrying such weight, it takes her a few moments to compose herself but when she does, she realises just how the flexible the armour is.
"I just.. came across it," the Martian shrugs her shoulders, shape shifting into the form of the nearest unconscious Amazon.
"Here," Zatanna joins in, finishing pulling a helmet over her long, raven hair and strolling over the Martian.
"Kram."
With a single - though the power can be felt through Artemis' bones - word, a large red mark appears on M'gann's chest plate, bright and illuminous.
"Only we can see it," the magician explains, "We don't want to be losing M'gann in her.. Amazon-ness."
"Trust me, it doesn't get any easier," Artemis laughs, prodding Zatanna with her bow. "We all thought the same thing."
"I think we should go now," M'gann interrupts the moment, clearly displeased with Artemis for some reason or other.
Sure, Artemis did ignore Robin's orders and go after Kaldur with Conner, but that happened a few days ago now, so surely she can't still be mad. After all, Robin still managed to save Mera even without her or Superboy. Usually, whenever M'gann is annoyed by someone she quickly changes back to her usual friendly self after a few minutes.
Perhaps this time was different.
Still, the Martian needs to learn that she will do whatever is necessary to capture Kaldur, even if it means placing the mission into the - capable - hands of others. No matter what, Robin will always have a speedster at his back, which is more than she can say for herself.
Although she has spending much more time than she would like with Superboy, he still isn't what she would call reliable. It only takes one miniscule thing for the clone to set off, and that's on one of his better days.
"Sure," she responds, turning her back to the Martian and gazing into the distance. "So, how exactly do we.. find it?"
Eyes landing on large structure on the distance, she focuses and examines the building. Carved with marble and in a very Hellenic-style, it's fairly obvious it's of some importance to the Amazons, considering it's placed well above ground level and up what appears to be a long line of steps. Definitely a huge undertaking to travel to the top, for human standards anyway; Wonder Woman can probably leap up as though it was nothing.
"This way," Artemis says, pointing over the building and gesturing for the other two to follow her lead.
"Any tips for my first mission?" Zatanna jokes.
"Only one," M'gann begins, and Artemis can feel the Martian blasting his eyes straight through her back, "stick to the plan. It's there for a reason."
Zatanna awkwardly glances between the two, obviously feeling the uncomfortable tension in the atmosphere. Turns out, she's smarter than Artemis first believed and simply ignores it after a while, placing her eyes firmly on the road ahead.
Walking in complete silence, the agonising route to Themyscira ends as they happen upon a large archway, adorned with various carvings of Gods and mortals alike. Going to Gotham Academy seems to have it's perks as she notices the likes of Zeus, Perseus and even Hera herself.
At least the Amazons take their history proudly.
Taking the direct route and marching straight through the archway, the group stumble upon an open plain filled with women clad in armour and wielding weaponry the likes the human world hasn't used for thousands of years.
For a second, she believed they were exposed, but then the women began their training, leaping around with an agility and grace which would make Robin himself jealous. Some of them were firing their arrows at wooden targets, more than often hitting centre of mass several times in a row from a considerable distance.
"Not bad," Artemis approvingly comments, looking around for something interesting to latch onto.
Eventually, something out of the ordinary happens an Amazon's spear barely grazes past Artemis' face, landing into a marble wall by her right.
"Okay, this is getting dangerous," Zatanna gasps.
"Sorry about that," a tall, muscular woman sprints past Artemis and dislodges her spear, giving the archer a polite nod as she sprints back to where she was training.
Looking back at where the spear landed, her eyes widen as he notices the huge crack on the wall. The spear must have impacted with some force to cause such destruction and Artemis suddenly feels very grateful the Amazon who threw it has a big more practice to be doing.
"So.. Robin said for us to split up and get as much recon in as we can," Zatanna speaks up, though her voice questioning herself. "That is the plan, right?"
"Yes, we can't afford to be sloppy. The Amazons are certainly lesser warriors than their leader, but that doesn't make them any less bright than Wonder Woman herself," M'gann responds.
"You go do that," Artemis disagrees, "I will go and do some real work. We need to find what's going on now, and as for as I know, we don't have a lot of time to go around sneaking on Amazons."
"What's your problem with Robin, huh? Every time he comes up with a solid, smart plan you just go out of your way to ruin it!"
Opening her mouth to fire something back at M'gann, Artemis is interrupted by the ear-splitting sound of a horn piercing through the air. In a moment, the plain which was once filled with action and excitement was filled with silence and anticipation.
Striding into the middle of the field is three Amazons, the two on the flanks bearing flags bearing some form of insignia. Unlucky, Artemis' education doesn't extend to a point she knows what the meaning is, but can kind of understand the importance, taking into consideration the way the Amazons have formally halted their training and watched the women enter the field.
The one in centre bellows out, "Listen up sisters! Today is the day many of you have been training for, and by Zeus, you had better been training hard if you hope to succeed. This tournament shall be one for the ages - many new challenges have been added in order to cater to this new world we hope to tame. Let all those who wish to enter do so now, for you will not get another chance for another ten years."
"Well this is certainly something I don't want to miss," Artemis mutters to the members of the group, hearing M'gann scoff.
"Prepare sisters.. and may the best Amazon rise above the rest," the announcer finishes, her voice resonating through the silent plain for a few extra seconds before the Amazons in attendance begin to cheer and clap with excitement.
Joining in to not seem out of place, the look on Zatanna's face makes Artemis believe the magician wasn't too motivated to join by the Amazon's speech. Then again, when someone is a powerful magic-wielder, throwing around ancient swords probably seems a little bit silly.
"Don't even think about it," M'gann drags Artemis by the shoulder until she's facing the Martian. "We have a mission."
"Does this mission happen once every ten years?" Artemis rebukes, brushing off the Martian's hand like a gentleman would to dirt on his suit.
"Kind of have to agree with M'gann here," Zatanna inputs, "I'd put saving Themyscira above participating in some competition."
"I'd probably take your opinion into consideration if I asked for it," Artemis responds, walking away from the two whilst rolling her eyes. "And trust me, I didn't."
Making the two acutely aware she is enrolling in the competition whether they like it or not, Artemis gains some distance from the two and strolls over to where a long line of Amazons have appeared. Clearly, the competition is a fan-favourite among these warrior women. She wonders whether they would take offence to a mere human winning their sacred tournament.
Probably.
Still, it'll be a fun to make these powerful beings feel overestimated for once in their lives; she doubts any of them have ever felt powerful in their entire lives, however long those might have been.
Whilst waiting in the line, she glances back to where M'gann and Zatanna are stood with their arms crossed their chests. For a second, she doubts herself and wants to turn back and continue with the mission, but that would mean abandoning this golden opportunity to prove she can hang with the best.
Green Arrow has never won an Amazon competition - he's not even allowed on the island.
Having fun? M'gann mentally invades her personal space.
Much more than you, that's for sure, the archer responds, giving the Martian a cheeky wink.
This is not supposed to be fun. We have a job to do, the Martian sarcastically winks back.
Beginning to get annoyed, Artemis snaps straight back, When did you become Robin?
Since I realised that this team is only held together by our mission. Without it, would you even still be with us? the Martian asks, a noticeable hint of sadness on her mind. Don't answer that.. I know the answer.
Then don't ask the question.
Artemis doesn't need a Martian telling her how she should be doing her job, let alone lecturing her on what it means to be apart of the team. The team would still be here without M'gann, but without Artemis, this whole thing would've crashed and burned a long time ago. No matter how many times she saves the team, they never believe in her.
Kyle did. And to some small part, even Kaldur still does.
And yet, here M'gann is, questioning her commitment to the team and the mission. All Artemis wants is one chance to prove herself once and for all, and apparently it's too much to ask.
Conflicted by her conversation with the Martian, Artemis doesn't notice the line has fallen down to just her and the Amazon in front of her. Once the woman in front has finished her admission, it's finally now the archers turn.
"Interesting. I didn't know we had some new arrivals," the Amazon doing the administration comments, examining Artemis as though she was looking at a new-born baby.
"You could say that," the archer replies, allowing the Amazon the satisfaction of looking her over. "Looking to enter and prove myself right."
"That so? Well then, what's your name?" the Amazon smiles.
"Artemis," she answers and the Amazon takes a moment before speaking in a lowered voice.
"It's an honour," she says, writing the name down. "Don't worry, I won't let the sisters know."
Oh.. I guess Ill play along with it, Artemis thinks to herself.
"Sure," she nods goodbye to the woman and walks off, wondering how these are the fabled Amazons.
Maybe this competition will be a lot easier than she originally thought, if they believe the first woman named Artemis who comes through is automatically the Greek Goddess.
Time to live up to expectations.
Taking a seat inside of the room she has been assigned before the tournament, she takes the moment to kick back in her chair and enjoy the sweet silence of being alone in the room. No annoying superheroes milling around, no villains to capture.
Just one archer and her own thoughts to keep her company.
Feels nice. Feels as though she hasn't had a chance to sit down and enjoy some solidarity time ever since the team began their secret crusade to take down everything and everyone. Then again, hiding inside of a cramped warehouse designed to house a lone hero and his equipment probably has that effect.
Humans need their personal space as much as Kryptonians do - Conner makes certain he has his space, and no-one who doesn't have a death wish enters. Robin flickers around from place to place, always doing something or other, which makes sense. Batman probably didn't tell Robin he could have a few moments to relax every once in a while.
Wally is Wally, and jitters around at superspeed whenever he has a chance. Even if he's going to pick up some milk for coffee or honey for his pancakes, he zooms off and almost breaks everything in his path.
"So.. what's this tournament all about, huh?" the archer mutters to herself as she stands up, her back cracking as she stretches and loosens the armour from around her shoulders. "Hopefully, it's the cool stuff."
Walking to the window and pondering quietly out of it, she spots the building she saw earlier from the view. Then again, it's definitely not hard to miss even without super-sight as the structure dwarfs everything around it apart from the mountain itself, blazing bright white marble for the whole island to see.
"If I have to recite all the Gods and Goddesses backwards, I'm going to throw his helmet at the nearest fire alarm," she sighs to herself.
Knowing her luck, the tournament is more than likely going to be wholly intellectual. Nobody wants to sit there and answer questions - well, Wally might enjoy that being the nerd he is - for a tournament, so if that's the case, maybe she should have listened to M'gann after all.
Nevermind, forget I ever thought that, she mentally moans, avoiding giving M'gann even a sliver of satisfaction.
"Forget about what?"
Turning her head after hearing the familiar voice, Artemis snorts in annoyance as M'gann enters the room in his current Amazonian form.
"Did no-one ever tell you that eavesdropping is rude?" Artemis retorts, facing the Martian with narrowed eyes. "What are you even doing here anyway?"
Seating herself in the chair Artemis was sitting in, the Martian calmly answers, "One, technically speaking you can't eavesdrop on someone's mind. Two, why do you think I'm here? Here to prove my worth."
"You can't be serious," the archer snorts.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" M'gann smirks, clearly enjoying Artemis' confusion. "Besides, how better to remind you to continue the mission by taking you out of the competition in the first round."
Surprisingly, Artemis at this point does not know whether M'gann is planning on winning the competition or talking her out of it. This throws a spanner in her plans, but maybe this way the opportunity she was searching for after all. What better way to let everyone on the team know she means business than to embarrass the might Miss Martian in front of Themyscira.
"Fine, if that's how you want to play it," Artemis gives in, "it's time for a lesson, Martian, and trust me the only one who is being taught is you."
"Brave words for someone who can't even go a whole day without going off the rails."
"Where is all this coming from?" Artemis chuckles, amused at how much M'gann is changing before her eyes.
"I could say the same to you," M'gann responds. "what happened to Kyle wasn't your fault, so why are you acting as though you were the one who killed him?"
Considering her answer, Artemis turns away from the Martian and continues her perusing out of the window.
"You're right."
"Of course I am. If you know it, why are you still pushing us away at every turn?"
"I'm trying to make sure it never happens to one of you again."
A/N
There we go folks, thanks for reading. I know this one was a bit more talk-orientated than some of the others, but that's just how this part happened out. Please feel free to review, favourite and follow so I know you are enjoying this!