A/N: Not too much happening this chapter, but something very important does happen this chapter that has me really excited because then I can play around with it as much as I want. Hope you guys enjoy! ;)
Summary: Artemis Crock, sister to the notorious assassin Cheshire, daughter of the ruthless Sportsmaster and merciless Huntress. She was raised in the League of Shadows, groomed to become the killers like her relatives, but she didn't want that, not really. When the Justice League catches her, the Green Arrow offers her something she can't refuse. A chance at freedom. AU
Chapter Thirteen
The first few weeks of Artemis in school had been pretty good. Originally she thought it would be better to hide in the background and just coast along, but the spotlight found her in a pleasant way. Some eighth grade boys were picking on this kid during gym class, her favorite class, about the rope challenge. The kid couldn't climb up the rope, so they were giving him a hard time until Artemis told them where to shove it.
One thing lead to another, Artemis beat the school record for rope climbing, made a new friend or friends really, got into her first school fight and became fairly popular among the seventh graders. The guys thought she was cool, the girls were impressed, all the cliques were paying attention to her and no longer in the 'oh it's a new kid' kind of way.
Though Dinah had been angry about Artemis getting into a fight, she had been proud and didn't give her a harsh punishment. Oliver had high fived her while Roy didn't comment much on it. It wasn't until the end of October that things started happening in the League. Criminal activity had spiked, the League was busy with attack after attack after attack. Every league member was out in the field often, stopping their old enemies, new enemies and just more crimes that local police departments weren't equipped to handle.
Only the founding members of the League, with the exception of Roy, knew who was behind the attacks. The League of Shadows was under new management. Roy had met with Jade weeks ago, though her appearance looked more like he was used to, he could tell by the hitch in her breath and anger in her eyes that she was now the heir to the Shadows and was ready to strike. And to his complete surprise, she was now running the organization. She didn't tell him anything, only that he should watch his back.
"I'd hate if something happened to your pretty face." Was all she said.
Now that Halloween was just around the corner, he knew something big was coming up. Cheshire loved Halloween, so Roy was certain she would do something during the season. As if all the other attacks were little ones and the grand finale was underway. It kept him on edge and tonight was no exception. Tonight was the fall dance for the middle school. Initially, Roy was going out on patrol, but decided to volunteer to help with set up and chaperone. It was also the first real school sanctioned event Artemis had ever been to besides the pep rally in September, so Oliver was making him do it.
Not that Roy minded that much. Even though he knew the child assassin was doing well for herself, he was always a little worried something might happen to her. As bizarre as it was, he did care about her as if she were his own little sister and because he really owed it to Jade. They hadn't met up in awhile, another sign that she was up to something big and he knew he wouldn't like.
Roy released a heavy sigh from his spot against the bleachers, a glass of punch in his hand. The gymnasium had been decorated in the spirit of Halloween, with spiders, skeletons, mummies, pumpkins, bats and witches all over the place. Not to mention the middle schoolers came in costume, which Roy thought was kind of nice. He and the other chaperones, teachers and high schoolers, were encouraged to dress up as well, but he refused. A black tux was enough. Besides, he dressed up as Speedy every other day.
"Roy," called Artemis as she ran up to him with her group of friends.
Roy held back a groan, "Yes?"
Artemis stood in front of him dressed in an Alice in Wonderland costume. Why she chose to be Alice was beyond him. Even if it had been her code name with the Shadows, he thought it was ridiculous, but she didn't seem bothered by his remarks and put it on anyway. His gaze flickered over her costume, blue Alice dress with a matching headband. He then glanced at her friends, he saw Red Riding Hood, Batman, a Cowgirl, fairy and someone in a trenchcoat, though he had no idea who they were supposed to be.
"Do a one hand, handstand," Artemis told him.
Roy blinked, "What? Why?"
"Don't ask questions, just do it," Artemis said, she added after a moment, "Please."
Roy rolled his eyes. He put his glass down, did the one hand handstand causing all the middle schoolers to gasp in surprise and catch the attention of the chaperones. Once he was back on his feet, he saw the boy in the trenchcoat hand Artemis some cash. He didn't bother to ask her what that was about until all the other kids had run off back to the dance floor leaving her with him.
Drink in hand, he asked her, "So you're betting now?"
Artemis snickered, "Not exactly. When I was doing my one handstand on the dance floor, they didn't believe that you taught me how."
"I didn't teach you how," Roy said with a frown.
Artemis glanced at him, "While technically true, they said you couldn't do one so I bet thirty dollars you could and here we are now."
"Uh huh," Roy said before taking a sip, "Don't make a habit of it alright?"
Artemis slipped the money into her knee high sock, "You got it boss."
Without another word, she took off back to the dance floor where her friends were all crowded together. He watched her with a fond smile, glad to see her having fun and actually being a kid. During their training times together, it always baffled Roy how much of a fighter the Shadows had raised her to be. Whenever she learned something new about the world, say mac and cheese, it reminded him how isolated she had grown up along with being given the bare minimum when it came to pleasurable things. Sure, she was incredibly smart, but the things she didn't were so common to him. However he knew the reason why she never the small things, they were deemed unimportant to her training and when she was trained, then she could deal with the frivolous stuff.
"This is not where I thought you be on a Saturday night."
Roy became insanely stiff at the sound of her voice beside him. Icy terror went through him, she couldn't be here, she couldn't be here. Oh no.
"Jade," Roy said looking at her with barely contained surprise, "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here."
Jade grinned at him, her eyes sparkling, "I was looking for you actually. You weren't on your usual patrol, got worried."
Roy forced himself to remain calm, "Well as you can see I'm just fine."
"A middle school dance sounds like torture, I thought I'd come rescue you," Jade said, her voice low and smile still present as she moved closer to him.
Roy was torn for a moment, but quickly made his decision. Sending Jade away would bring about suspicions, if he could leave with her and make sure both Crock sisters didn't notice the other, that would be great. Artemis would be fine on her own, but suddenly he remembered the other reason why he had to chaperone. Artemis' bracelet. She had a certain range in which a League member and Roy had to be near her. If Roy left, an alert would sound and eventually the bracelet would knock her out. If he was going to leave, he needed Oliver and DInah to get her fast.
"Definitely a rescue," Roy told her with a nod, "My shift is almost over, I'll see about getting out of here sooner and we can go have some fun. But you should wait outside, you'll get me in trouble."
"Or we could just leave now," Jade said with a tilt of her head.
Roy visibly hesitated, "You trying to get me in trouble here?"
She tsked, "A little trouble never hurt anyone. You can't seriously tell me you'd rather be here with a bunch of middle schoolers than-"
Jade paused mid sentence, her head whipped around at the sound of a girl's laughter. Roy could only freeze, though a muttered curse word left his lips. Not that Jade could hear him. No, her attention was elsewhere now looking for the source of that laugh. She stepped away from Roy when her eyes found the source. A hand wrapped around her wrist, Roy's voice saying something about getting out of here and get into some trouble were drowned out by the music and the laughter.
It had been half a year give or take a week or so, it had been even longer since that laugh had been heard and it never sounded so light. Jade couldn't believe her eyes. There in the center of the crowded gym of this prep middle school was a young girl with blonde hair that could be as wild as Jade's. It was pulled back in a half up half down style, a blue headband on her head to match the dress she wore.
I can't use my own name, so if you get to Cheshire then I get to be Alice.
The young girl spun around with a boy dressed as Batman, Jade could hear their laughter from her spot and through the music. The girl's laugh was too similar, it was a little raspier than she remembered, but it was the same one she knew from a dead girl. Suddenly, Jade was being pulled out of the crowded gym and she lost sight of the girl dressed as Alice.
It couldn't have been real. She had hallucinated her sister before, surely that's what that had been? Jade yanked her arm free from Roy's grasp when she gathered her sense. They were in the hallway now, away from the dance and the other chaperones. Jade glowered at Roy, anger pulsed through and she could feel her shoulders tremble.
"How dare you," Jade seethed.
Roy spoke, he reached for her wrist, "I can explain-"
Jade swatted his hand away. All she saw was red and slammed him into the lockers with every bit of strength she had, effectively knocking the wind out of him and catching him off guard. With a tight trip on his collar, she leaned close and dared him to move, dared him to fight. Her right index finger was very close to a certain pressure point that would render him conscious, he wouldn't risk her doing that until he had an opening. She wouldn't give it to him, not tonight.
"You knew," Jade hissed at him, "You knew all this time. That the league had her! That she was alive!"
"I was going to tell you one day," Roy said, he couldn't deny what she had seen.
"Shut up," she practically screeched.
Roy had seen her angry on a number of occasions, but the expression she wore with the tremble of her shoulders showed him a new kind of fury. Her brown eyes were shimmering, he noticed it after the tears had already started to slip down her cheeks. The iron grip she had on his collar lessened slightly, but he knew she wouldn't let go until she was done. He hoped she wouldn't knock him out and take Artemis, that would create so many problems that he didn't even want to consider happening.
"How could you," she asked with soft tone despite the anger in her words.
Her words caused him to identify the new emotion she was showing that he had never seen before. It was betrayal. Their friendship had been odd from the start, but they had formed a good relationship, a sense of trust that lead to something slightly more than a friend dynamic. She had trusted him, something she didn't give anyone else. Now Jade knew he had broken that trust the day she came to tell him the news of her sister being dead.
"There were too many risks," was all he could say, he knew it wasn't enough.
Jade's brows twitched as her eyes widened slightly, "You thought I would tell the Shadows."
"I had to consider the chance," Roy told her with an inhale, "Couldn't risk that you take her back to the Shadows."
Jade pulled him forward then slammed him back into the lockers, "She's my sister! I had the right to know she was alive. That you were watching over her. I should have known!"
Jade inhaled sharply, trying to get herself back together, but she couldn't fight the anger at Roy and the joy that her sister was alive. Artemis, her little sister was here. She didn't die that night.
"She's coming with me," Jade said releasing her grip on Roy, "We're leaving, going to start over somewhere no one will ever find us. Not the Shadows, not the League."
Roy grabbed her wrists, "No, she stays with us."
"You're not stopping me-"
"Artemis is better with us-"
"Don't you dare say what's better for her-"
"Jesus, listen to me-"
"I'm taking my sister away-"
"Or you could stay-"
"As if I'd join your scouts club-"
Roy released an aggravated sigh, "Either you stay with or you go, but Artemis is not going anywhere."
Jade leveled his gaze, she wasn't about to go down without a fight. Less than twenty minutes ago her sister was dead. She raised hell over the loss of the middle schooler dressed as Alice in the next room. The one person Jade knew she loved was here and she wouldn't, couldn't, leave without her.
Roy shut his eyes for a moment, if she wanted to leave with Artemis, she would find a way to do it and he didn't want that. He released her wrists, she didn't hide her surprise. He reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out his wallet, she watched him with a frown, but said nothing about it. A moment later, there was a folded up photograph in his hand and he held it out to her.
Jade hesitantly took it from her, "What is this?"
"Artemis is happy here," Roy told her, he nodded to the picture.
Jade opened the photo to see Artemis sitting on a black floor dressed in work out clothing beside a woman and a man standing behind them. All three of them were laughing, their smiles so wide and eyes sparkling. Based on the equipment behind them, she guessed it was a gym of somekind.
"She wanted to tell you, to send you a message that she was alive and happy here," Roy told her, his tone heavy, "She barely got the chance to see your mother. Artemis has built a life without crime, without the pressure of the Shadows, without the fear and the baggage."
Jade could only stare at the picture in her hands. Despite the distance that had formed between the two of them over the years, Jade knew Artemis better than anyone. In this picture, in this snippet of time, she could feel how happy her sister was. Never had Artemis' body language looked so relaxed or her smile so big. She looked like a pre-teen enjoying the day with her parents. In another life, that was probably true.
"Don't take this from her," Roy said after a moment of silence, "Join her. She'd be thrilled to have you with us."
Jade's throat was dry, she put the picture back in his hand, "Someone has to take care of the Shadows."
"Jade-"
"I wasn't here," Jade said, her voice shook just barely, "Her secret is safe. I've still got a job to do, but I'll make sure the Shadows never find out. You protect her alright. Watch her back the way I never could."
Jade took off down the hall. Roy wanted to run after her, he wanted to stop her, but he was rooted in his spot. After several minutes of standing there, the picture heavy in his hand did he finally return to the gym. He went back to his spot in the corner, he said nothing the rest of the night. Jade weighed heavily on his mind, worry had set in, but he believed her words that she wouldn't tell the Shadows. However he still worried.
When the dance finally ended, Roy listened to Artemis chatter about the night and how she had a good time. As it turned out, being a regular middle school girl had some perks. The whole time, Roy knew he made the right choice in the beginning to not tell Jade about Artemis. If Jade had known Artemis was alive sooner, she likely would have just taken her away and disappeared into the night. Now that Jade knew that Artemis was okay, she had a reason to let her remain.
Roy pulled into the driveway and didn't immediately exit the car. In his rearview mirror, he caught sight of movement in the treeline though the censor never went off to indicate someone was there. He exited the car and looked in the distance, his eyes searching for the movement again. There was nothing there and though he wanted to believe it was just a trick of his mind, he had a feeling he knew exactly who was out there. He turned away and started walking up to the house.
"Roy, are you okay," Artemis asked as they walked up to Queen manor, "You seem distracted."
Roy nodded absently, "Yeah, yeah just fine."