I'm so nervous for this chapter lol. It's a bit on the short side but I hope you all can enjoy it. I remember seeing this episode for the first time and being in shock at what happened.
Here's where you guys will see where exactly Jenna stands in everything involving Kaldur being undercover. Let me know your thoughts! I don't like to force people to verbally react to my chapters because, to me, it's not a high priority, but it's been a little quiet lately and I'd love to know what you think of the fic and characters so far!
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Mount Justice
March 19, 11:42 EDT
"I get swamped with coursework and suddenly, I miss out on everything."
Siren examined the images of the two newcomers. One of them being Bart Allen, the future grandson of Barry Allen and Iris West-Allen. He claimed that he was a tourist, wanting to see what his grandfather was like in his prime, but his time-traveling machine was busted so he was stuck in the past indefinitely. Maybe even definitely.
As for the other…Red Arrow found Speedy. With the help of his wife, Cheshire, they were able to locate the guy–alive–but missing an arm which explained how the Light was able to create not only Red Arrow but Jim Harper as well.
Goddamn midterms making me miss out on everything.
"They're both gonna wind up our responsibility, aren't they?" Mal questioned.
"Not necessarily," Nightwing pointed out with a weary sigh. "Bart…Impulse…is staying with Jay and Joan Garrick in Central City. Roy, the original Speedy, is recuperating at Royal Memorial Hospital in Star City."
Siren glanced over at Mal. "I've been helping both Green and Red Arrow keep an eye on him when I'm not here or trying to finish up assignments," she said. "Although, oddly enough, a hospital is mostly quiet enough to work on papers so…" She shrugged.
Mal hummed. "They're both gonna wind up our responsibility," he confirmed.
"Doesn't everything?" Superboy scoffed. "I mean, where are we on identifying the Light's new partner?"
Siren tilted her head back, stifling a groan while Nightwing pinched his nose with a sigh. "No progress," they said simultaneously.
Siren dropped her head when Miss Martian's giggling drew her attention. Her friend was following Lagoon Boy into the room as he was happily eating some snacks she had made.
"La'gaan, don't eat so fast!"
Siren quickly glanced over to gauge Superboy's reaction to the couple, but with his back facing her, it wasn't easy. The tension in his shoulders was noticeable though.
"I can't help it, Angelfish," Lagoon Boy said. "The idea of cooking crabs is amazing enough. But making them into little cakes?"
Siren couldn't help but smile, remembering when Miss Martian herself was so excited about the unknown. It made her a little nostalgic for their teenage years.
Miss M chuckled. "You're gonna choke," she warned.
Superboy's 'if only' was pretty audible, making Siren quietly chuckle. She held her hands up in surrender when he turned to shoot her a look.
"Here, let me," Miss Martian said sweetly, opting to feed the crab cakes to Lagoon Boy said.
The Atlantean hummed happily. "If that's not true love, I don't know what is, chum," he said, pointedly looking at Superboy.
Siren pursed her lips, deciding to speak to Lagoon Boy later about antagonizing his teammates…well, teammate. She could understand where Superboy's reluctance to interact with his ex's boyfriend came from. And since it was obvious, she knew Lagoon Boy was going too far by pushing the Kryptonian's buttons.
"Call me when it's time for the briefing," Superboy requested, starting to walk away so he wouldn't have to endure being in the same room as the lovey-dovey couple.
"Recognized: Artemis, B-zero-eight."
"Time for the briefing," Nightwing told Superboy as Siren bounced on her toes excitedly.
She let out a squeal when her former teammate fully appeared, running over to tackle her in a hug as soon as the archer stepped into the room. "God, I missed you!"
"Artemis!" Miss M was close behind, joining in on the hug.
Artemis giggled. "Hi, M'gann! Jenna, I missed you too."
"How's Wally?" Miss M wondered, missing their speedster teammate as well.
"He's…Wally."
The trio laughed, separating so the others could approach her.
It had been over a year since Artemis and Kid Flash left the team, but the Cave still felt a little more empty without them around.
Kid had suited up to help out with the emergency 'Impulse' situation, but Siren had missed out on seeing him. As for Artemis, she wanted to help out with their next mission…much to her boyfriend's chagrin. He wasn't too happy with Siren and Nightwing's agreement.
The mission in question involved the new satellite being sent off into space. It was meant to help with communication between Mars and Earth. Since not everyone loved Martians as the team did, they were being sent to keep an eye on the launch so Artemis wanted to be there in support of their Martian friend and teammate.
"Welcome back, girl," Mal greeted.
"Hey, Mal," Artemis said with a grin.
Superboy chuckled. "We have so missed you around here."
"Conner!"
Lagoon Boy went to greet the blonde as well. "I relish the opportunity to finally fight beside you, archer."
Siren snickered at Artemis' vague deer-in-the-headlights look. "Uh…thanks, La'gaan," she finally said as the team leader moved back to join Nightwing.
"Okay, Gamma Squad, listen up," he said, gathering their attention. "The mission's Cape Canaveral. Covert op to safeguard the first Earth-Mars comm-sat."
He pulled up the mission information while he spoke. "There are people out there who don't even like the idea of aliens and will do anything to scrub this launch."
"But that's why I came back," Artemis pointed out, noticing Miss M's disheartened gaze. "Because not all of us feel that way."
"Exactly," Siren added. "We're going to do everything we can to make sure this goes according to plan." She offered a supportive smile to her friend.
"So why are you both going?" Mal asked the leaders.
Although Siren had stuck to the field more often than Nightwing had, she still had to juggle between the team and college. More often than not, it had proved to be much easier to just hang back at the Cave to catch up on lectures while her teammates went out and did the physical part. The perks of having so many members on their team.
"Let's just say that after helping Si run this team for a year, I'm…peckish for a little action," Nightwing said with a grin.
Siren rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to miss out on teaming up with Artemis again," she added. "Plus this is one of the few times I can actually go out and do the grunt work without a dozen deadlines looming over me."
She scanned the group that would be going on the mission. "If we're all ready, let's head out."
As the squad began to leave for the hangar, Artemis threw an arm around Siren's shoulders. Siren grinned as she began to chatter about stuff in her personal life with Wally and her own schooling. It's nice to have this again.
~/~/~/~
Cape Canaveral
March 19, 21:24 EDT
Siren stood back to back with Nightwing and Artemis as she scanned the area for any signs of suspicious activity. There was something about being alongside her two best friends that made her feel at ease despite being on a stressful mission. Especially after everything else that had been going on since the new year began.
"If nothing else, we have a nice view," Artemis mused.
Siren smiled. "We may as well enjoy it while we can," she agreed before pressing her comm. "Miss M, can you link us?"
"Link established."
The comfortable presence in Siren's mind suddenly appeared as she turned back to continue watching for any signs of an attack.
"Good," Nightwing said, looking through his binoculars. "Begin aerial sweep of the cape's perimeter."
"Hey, boss! I'd be happy to join my Angelfish on that assignment."
Siren rolled her eyes as Nightwing answered the only squad member that hadn't been part of the original team. "Negative, Lagoon Boy. You're right where we need you. Giving us maximum coverage in the water, on land, and in the air, in case there's any attempt at sabotage."
The link then fell silent, making Siren send a look to Artemis. "Thank god you and Wally weren't this bad."
"Well, I wasn't," the archer responded, sharing a grin with her fellow blonde.
"I know I'm not Wally's favorite person right now, but…it is nice to have you back," Nightwing spoke up.
"It's nice to be back," Artemis admitted, setting aside her binoculars to check her weapon and ensure it was in perfect condition…which it always was. "I didn't realize how much I'd been missing it. Which is pretty much exactly what Wally's afraid of. He's worried the rush that comes with the mask will get its hooks in and"—she drew her bow, aiming for an invisible target—"I won't give it up until my dying day."
"I know exactly what you mean," Nightwing hummed.
"Me too," Siren sighed, leaning against the railing with her arms crossed. "But part of me wonders if I should have just done what you two did and give up the hero life."
She noticed her friends' surprised looks and quickly raised her hands. "Just until I finished college," she quickly explained. "Like you said, Mis, it's a rush. Something I definitely don't want to give up. But"—she rubbed her brow with a sigh—"it's been hard to deal with everything lately."
"Well, maybe-"
"Heads up, minnows. We got bad guys." Lagoon Boy cut off Artemis unintentionally, making the trio focus on the mission again. "Black Manta's troopers."
Siren shared a wide-eyed look with her teammates, her hand resting on the railing curling into a tight fist. "What do you see?"
"They're working on some kind of platform beneath the surface just offshore. I'm taking them down."
"Belay that," Nightwing ordered. "Wait for backup."
"I'll scrounge a rebreather from the cargo hold and help the rookie out," Superboy offered.
"Do it. And hurry," Siren said, urgency creeping into her tone.
But Lagoon Boy didn't like that idea. "Rookie?! Neptune's Beard! I don't need any help from the Boy of Steel!"
"Stand down, La'gaan," Siren snapped, gritting her teeth. "That's an order!"
"Sorry, you're breaking up." Lagoon Boy then made noises in the mental link to replicate a bad reception.
"There's no static on a psychic link!" Nightwing groaned.
But the young Atlantean went quiet.
"Dammit!" Siren cried out frustratedly. He and I are gonna have a talk about acting on impulses after this is over.
"Company!" Artemis warned, looking out over the beach.
Siren quickly joined the archer, spotting troopers emerging from the ocean even without her binoculars. "Get us down there."
Artemis quickly fired a zip line and, once it was secure, used her bow to slide down the wire. Siren went next, looping her garrote around the line and jumping with the hopes that the troopers wouldn't successfully shoot any of them down.
The gravity was moving them quickly, so as not to slam into the concrete barrier between the rocket and the beach, Siren let go when she was close enough to the ground to tuck and roll, joining Artemis against the barrier.
"Now we're definitely stuck," she muttered as her back hit the concrete wall.
Nightwing was close behind them. "Superboy, you have that rebreather?"
"Negative. La'gaan didn't restock."
"Then take the helm," Siren's co-leader decided. "Miss Martian, gill up and help Lagoon Boy. Superboy, we need cover fire down here."
"Acknowledged. Bioship reconfigured for manual flight," Miss M said. "La'gaan, I'm on my way."
Siren peeked over the barrier when she heard the Bioship approaching, watching as several of the Manta troopers were being shot at by the invisible ship. Many of the others were scattered, trying to avoid being hit while some others were still paying attention to the trio behind the barrier.
The gunfire ceased momentarily, making Artemis think it was clear as she tried to climb the barrier. "That's our cue!"
"Wait!" Siren warned, just as Nightwing grabbed their teammate and yanked her back down mere seconds before a trooper's shot soared over their heads.
"I know you're rusty, but are you trying to get yourself killed?" he reprimanded.
"Let's not rush trying to get over there because, frankly, I've been successfully shot at more than enough throughout my career," Siren sighed, tugging Artemis back against the wall as Nightwing glanced over the top.
"Missile incoming!" he warned.
"We're on the wrong side of this wall," Artemis groaned.
Nightwing had ducked back beside the two heroines. "Superboy-"
"On it."
A blast came out of nowhere, striking the missile just before it reached the rocket. Siren couldn't help but feel relieved and on edge at the same time. There's bound to be more coming.
She gasped when warning alarms sounded off as the rocket prepared to launch. "They're launching it early," she deduced.
"We're really on the wrong side of this wall," Artemis said with panic, eyeing the warning sign on the barrier.
Siren straightened up again, watching for any kind of opening in the gunfire. Another missile had launched out of the water, but Superboy was ready to counterattack. Siren's eyes widened when she saw the troopers flinch from the bright explosion.
She shared a look with Artemis before they both ducked down to dodge the laser blasts. "Did you see that too?"
"The troopers' helmets!" Artemis confirmed. "Designed to enhance vision underwater, right?"
She aimed her bow straight up, firing an arrow into the air. Once it reached a certain height, it exploded, proving to be some sort of flash bomb as a blinding light lit up the night sky.
"Move!" At Nightwing's call, the trio vaulted over the barrier, landing in the sand.
Once Siren was on solid ground, she let out a loud screech that made the troopers in her way cry out in pain while being thrown away. The area became clear so it gave the heroes time to get up close and personal with their enemies.
Siren weaved between two troopers that were lifting their guns to fire at her, grabbing one of the weapons to keep it aimed away from her body. She used the trooper's tight hold as an anchor as she swung her leg up, hooking her knee behind the other trooper's head and yanking him down into the sand.
Keeping her heel pressed on his helmet, she kicked her other leg out to slam into the first trooper's helmet and pull his gun from his grasp as he tumbled to the ground. Whirling around, she slammed the butt of the gun into the head of the trooper at her feet before letting it fall into the sand.
Siren sprinted toward another trooper, loosening the chain from her side as she somersaulted beside him. When she reached his ankles, she looped the chain around them and yanked, pulling the bad guy off his feet and pinning him to the ground with her knee pressed into his back.
She glanced up to check how her teammates were faring and found them both holding out on their own just fine. Artemis had gotten behind one of the troopers, knocking him into the sand a couple of feet away, but as she turned away, she didn't notice the trooper standing up with a dagger in his hand.
Siren didn't have time to call out a warning so she grabbed a throwing knife from the holster on her thigh, ready to let it fly. But before she could, Artemis proved she was aware of her surroundings, kicking the trooper in the face before he could stab her and firing an arrow to knock him out. Nightwing, who had been running forward to stop the bad guy, stopped in his tracks.
"What?" Artemis asked when she saw the exasperated look on his face. "I'm not that rusty." She then frowned when she saw something in the water.
Siren turned to see what Artemis had spotted, but a trooper had advanced on her without her realizing, slashing a dagger at her. She cried out in surprise, turning her head at the last second to avoid his strike. Her yelp turned into one of pain as the tip slashed across the bridge of her nose. Her sudden recoil threw her off balance, making her tumble away, not having much time to stop herself from rolling down the dune she was on.
Siren reached out a hand to try and catch herself, but her body was moving too quickly and she flipped while her palm remained stationary. She let out a yell when something in her wrist popped and a flash of heat shot up her arm.
"Son of a-!" She rolled to a stop, immediately cradling her aching arm. It was then she got a good look at what her teammates had seen and she let out a gasp.
Kaldur.
She couldn't get distracted by him though as she and her teammates were still under attack. Retreating to the concrete barrier, she maintained a distance to use her scream without causing herself further harm.
"They've taken La'gaan!" Suddenly hearing Miss Martian's voice made Siren flinch, something that she hadn't done in a very long time. "I'm going after him."
"Priority is the missiles," Superboy reminded her.
Siren took a quick breather, glancing up into the sky to see missile after missile being shot down. But more and more just kept coming. The squad's options were running thin.
"There's too many," Superboy said, confirming what Siren knew. "I'm not keeping up."
"Kaldur, you don't want to do this!" Artemis warned.
"I believe I do."
Without another word, he formed a serpent out of the ocean water, one that felt all too familiar to Siren. Except unlike long ago when she and Red Arrow watched it attack from a distance, it was heading straight for her and her friends.
Nightwing was knocked out first and Artemis barely had time to shield Siren before the both of them were hit too. To the latter, it felt oddly reminiscent of a 'Red Fiasco'.
As Siren spat out the water that had gotten in her mouth–lifting a hand to check on the gash in her face–the roaring of the rocket's engines quelled her anxiety just a bit as she turned to see it begin to take off. We did it.
Except perhaps she got excited too quickly. Kaldur had fired one last missile from his armor, similar to one he used on Malina Island. No, no, no-
Artemis came to the rescue as she wasted no time in firing her own missile arrow, making sure to aim where it would collide with Kaldur's. It successfully found its target, allowing the satellite rocket to peacefully fly away.
"No rust on me," Artemis murmured as Siren breathed a sigh of relief.
"Artemis, Siren, behind you!"
Siren cartwheeled away with her good hand to avoid Kaldur's physical attack. But he wasn't set on fighting her. Nightwing tried to defend Artemis, but Kaldur effortlessly struck the former Boy Wonder in the stomach, making him slam into the ground several feet away.
Siren knew she should have gotten up to try and protect Artemis, but something in her froze. The air in her lungs seemed to be stolen from her as she watched her two former teammates battle. It was like her body shut down in fear.
So she could only watch as Artemis tried to block Kaldur's blows as he knocked away her bow, her swing, and then…
And then drove a sword through her chest.
"Artemis!"
Siren could barely hear Nightwing's cry as a shriek went past her own lips. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth, ignoring the searing pain in her wrist, as her teammate slowly backed away from her killer.
Nightwing beat her to their fallen teammates, catching the archer and lowering her to the ground. "I got you, hang on."
He laid Artemis out flat on the sand, removing his hand from her torso to reveal the patch of blood seeping through her uniform. The sight made Siren feel sick. Oh god…
"Move out," Kaldur called out to his troopers. "This mission is a failure."
Siren flinched, not from his words, but from the explosion behind her. She whirled around, watching as the rocket unexpectedly blew up. What?!
She then turned to stare at Kaldur in horror. What have you done?
Though he seemed just as surprised as her, sparing a glance at her as his expression darkened. "We're done here," he told his men.
They left, leaving the heroes alone in the sand while one of them lay there dying.
Nightwing hadn't let up on administering CPR, reaching the end of another set of compressions as the rest of the squad appeared on the beach. Siren risked a look at Miss Martian's and Superboy's shocked expressions, feeling all kinds of emotions welling up in herself.
"I don't hear her heartbeat," Superboy said quietly, making Siren screw her eyes shut to prevent the growing tears from falling.
She's not dead. She can't be dead.
"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty." Nightwing straightened to force air into Artemis' lungs one last time before he just…stopped.
He slowly sat up, sinking back on his heels as he lifted his head to look Siren in the eyes. With dread growing inside her, she knew what he was going to say before he did.
"She's dead."
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Mount Justice
March 20, 03:58 EDT
Happy birthday to me. Through blurry vision, Jenna examined her wrist which was encased in a brace. Lucky for her, it was sprained, not broken. That much would help the healing time for it–and the stitches across her nose–to go by faster. Not that I'll be going on any missions any time soon…not with the team in mourning.
She raised her head to look out over the several team members gathered. The room was silent aside from the sounds of crying. Everyone was in various stages of grief, between feelings of emptiness, like herself, and full-on sobbing.
The only ones that weren't there were Nightwing and Lagoon Boy. The latter had been captured by Manta troopers due to his carelessness. Jenna knew that they had to start searching for him, but at the moment, it was hard to think like a leader.
And speaking of leader, Nightwing had left to break the news to Wally. He had gently suggested that Jenna stay behind with the rest of the team, imagining that it would be as easy as it could get if only one of them went to tell him. She didn't argue, too afraid to look Wally in the eye after his girlfriend died thanks to them.
She's gone. Artemis is actually gone.
A lump welled up in Jenna's throat as her vision blurred with tears again. She cradled her arm, biting her lip to prevent a sob from escaping.
What could I have done? That was the question that had been running through Jenna's mind since the flight home. Telling Artemis no to her request to help out on the mission, making her stay aboard the Bioship versus joining her and Nightwing on land, avoiding the Manta trooper that injured her, fighting past the pain anyway to hold off Kaldur-
Kaldur. How could he? Jenna felt too tired to stand, slumping against the countertop. He just killed her in cold blood. I thought we might have a chance to change his mind, but- but not anymore.
"Jen."
The team leader met Connor's gaze. Her expression must have said something she didn't know because he stepped forward, pulling her into his embrace.
That was when the dam broke.
"H- How could he do this?" she whispered, her voice shaking as she rested her forehead against his shoulder. "Does everything we've all been through together mean nothing to him anymore?"
Conner's grip tightened, providing a comfortable pressure that helped Jenna breathe a little easier. "We'll find him. He'll pay for what he did."
A part of Jenna wanted to defend the man she once loved. But after everything…she couldn't bring herself to.
What's the point? Roy was wrong. We'll never be able to salvage his soul now.
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...Yikes. Tell me what you think. Did you expect this to happen? Was I subtle enough in hints that it could have gone either way?
This was something that I didn't originally plan on when I started coming up with the second fic. When I started planning it, I was about halfway through posting ASC. I knew I wanted to continue Jenna's story for as long as I could go. Her character means everything to me and I don't want to end her story for a while.
Anyway, my point is, while I've had this fic in the works for a long time now, it didn't originally have this particular plot point in it. I was fully ready to have Jenna be involved in the Kaldur-is-a-double-agent mission. I mean, it made sense considering how much they meant to each other.
But something I read caught my attention. I often go through the Young Justice fandom wiki to make sure certain details in my fic is accurate. One day I stumbled across the fact that Artemis and Wally actually don't know about the plan from the start, that it's just Nightwing and Kaldur to begin with. So that got me thinking: what if Jenna didn't know?
If you want to know more of my thought process on why they made that decision, feel free to ask. On here, or on my Tumblr (septic-stories), or wherever. Of course, you'll eventually get to see her reactions to things as they go on anyway so you could just wait too. But I'd love to hear from you guys! Seriously, I want to know what you think.
Phew, I wrote more of an author note than I expected. Did anyone actually read it? Probably not lol.
See you next week!
