MoP
Harry Potter and the Myriad of Possibilities: Prologue
Chapter 11: Deception, Part 1.
Disclaimer: This is solely a not-for-profit fan activity and does not intend to infringe on copyrights held by Time Warner, DC Comics, Bloomsbury et al, and JK Rowling. Any characters that are original to this work remain the property of the author.
A/N: The Myriad of Possibilities Series primarily uses the background from the Harry Potter books but some elements and scenes have been borrowed from other sources – including the movies, Pottermore and my own headcanon – that will be covered where they fit into the narrative. The timeline of the DC Comics elements borrows heavily from Young Justice (2011) and may adapt elements and characters from the comics and several additional other media instalments – including but not limited to Smallville (2001) and Superman and Lois (2021) – and relocates events of Young Justice to the Eighties and early Nineties rather than the New Tens as screened and includes several 'legacy' and original characters as a result. Any other recognisable characters belong to their copyright holders.
A/N: Thanks to Dragon97, 6f5e4d and the members of the Caer Azkaban group for their help on this chapter.
A/N: I decided to take a little break from Rebellion so that I can close out Phantoms and get at least an idea what the plans for Targets are before continuing, but rather than go on a full hiatus I decided to go back and spend some time with one of my favourite Team members. I will be continuing with Deception until I catch up Rebellion, then I may alternate chapters or post full versions from each perspective depending on what fits the episode in question and where my muse goes up to at least Auld Acquaintance and potentially into some original Year One content.
Gotham City,
July 16, 11:16 EDT.
Artemis' father looked in through her door, scowling slightly when he saw that she was reading. "I'm heading out, Baby Girl."
"How long will you be gone?" Artemis asked.
"Until it's done," answered her father. "You know the drill."
"But Mom's getting out on the thirty-first," Artemis said.
Her father didn't react to that information and walked out without a word.
Sometimes I think I'm the only person who cares about our family, Artemis thought as the front door slammed shut a few seconds later.
Gotham City,
July 31, 17:29.
This is my life… thought Artemis as she waited at the bus stop for her mother's bus, shading her eyes against the afternoon sun. Waiting… waiting for something to happen. For something to change… My life is a bus stop…At that moment, her mother's bus appeared at the end of the street, then seconds later it slid to a stop in front of her, dropped a ramp and allowed her mother to roll down the ramp in her wheelchair.
They were silent for a moment, but as the bus pulled away her mother spoke up. "Artemis, is that you?"
"Hi, Mom," replied Artemis.
"Your father?"
"I reminded him it was today, but…"
Her mother briefly looked downcast. "I understand."
20:11 EDT.
"Sorry, dinner's nothing special," Artemis apologised as she placed a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of her mother.
"It's better than I've had the last six years," observed her mother, placatingly.
Artemis didn't comment but went to get her own plate.
"Do you have homework?" asked her mother after a few moments of silence.
"Mom, it's summer," countered Artemis.
The awkward silence returned, and so after they had had dinner and Artemis had washed up, she retreated into her bedroom to work on her arrows.
This is my life… she thought as she added red fletchings to a standard shaft. Preparing for a battle that never comes… what I wouldn't give for a rabbit hole to tumble into…
"Artemis, Daddy's home!"
Gripping the shaft, she rose and padded, still barefoot, to her door.
Her father was standing in the corridor, looking into her parents' room where her mother was sitting in her wheelchair. "Oh, yeah…" he said, as is surprised to see her. "Paula. Forgot you were coming home."
"I'm overjoyed to see you to, lover," claimed her mother, though her impassive features said otherwise.
Her father walked into their bedroom and slammed the door behind himself.
But the wood was thin enough that her parents' voices were still audible, particularly once she put her ear to the door.
"I meant to visit."
"Even a postcard would have been nice," observed her mother. "Artemis wrote once a week."
"She did?" said her father incredulously. "You're kiddin'."
"Stop rolling your eyes," insisted her mother. "It's all that got me through…"
"Look," countered her father. "The way the game played out, it could have been either of us."
"But it wasn't," retorted her mother, who was beginning to sound stressed.
Artemis considered intervening but kept her station as her mother continued talking.
"I did the time… but I'm back now. And Artemis is my priority…"
Artemis heard a thump as a heavy weight – likely her father given the lack of screams – dropped onto the bed.
"I lost one daughter while I was gone, I won't lose the other… I need to set some ground rules, Lawrence."
Artemis tensed, there were a few people that her father might accept rules from without complaint, but she wasn't sure if her mother – particularly given her condition – was one of them.
"Six years you're away, and now you're takin' over?" growled her father, but to her relief it wasn't an angry growl, but more of a resigned tone that she'd rarely heard from him. "While you were gone, I raised her, trained her, toughened her up!"
More like brutalized me, thought Artemis, raising her arrow and gripping it with both hands like a miniature spear.
"I'm giving up the life," insisted her mother, sounding stronger, more resolute now. "You have to give it up too."
"Or else what?"
"Or else you're out of here."
Artemis tensed, unsure how her father would take that.
"Then I guess I'm out," Artemis almost relaxed but worry turned to anger with her father's next words. "But Baby, you're kiddin' yourself if you think you can save Artemis from the life… she's one of us."
The arrow snapped in her hands and seconds later she was back in her room with her back against the closed door.
She stayed there for a few moments, mind swirling with thoughts, but then scowled. This is my life… she told herself, as she strode into the room and began assembling the new gear that she'd been preparing. I'm not waiting anymore…
22:46 EDT.
"Don't."
Predictably, given that this was Gotham and the Narrows at that, it hadn't taken her long to find a deserving target.
"Don't, don't?!" shouted the shotgun-totting thug over the ringing of the shop's alarm. "Kid, you have a bow and arrow set… we have guns."
True, thought Artemis. But do you know how to use them?
Before either the speaker or his pistol-totting partner could bring their weapons to bear and fire, she loosed the pair of arrows she had on her string, striking the pistolero in the jaw with a ball-tipped arrow and blocking the barrel of the other thug's shotgun with a glue bomb.
The pistol man hit the ground, unconscious.
The leader glanced down at his ruined shotgun for a moment, scowling and shocked for a moment. But seconds later, he gave an inarticulate growl, raised the shotgun like a club and charged at her.
There wasn't enough time or room to allow her to allow her to draw and fire another arrow, so she just ducked under his first attack and rammed the limb of her bow into his belly, causing him to double over in pain, then she followed up by bringing the grip up under his chin, knocking him backwards and giving herself enough room for a sidekick that sent him flying into one of the fridges, shattering the glass panel.
The man groaned, but to her surprise remained conscious and offered to split the take or even give it all to her.
Looking back on the event later, she told herself that she wasn't even tempted, but the arrival of two of Gotham's 'finest' had forced her to retreat before she'd had a chance to really consider it.
August 3, 21:24 EDT.
This is my life, don't tell me which bus I have to take… thought Artemis as she perched on a railing near the top of one of the office blocks in the Heights after two days patrolling the Narrows. I'll make my own rabbit hole…
Her revere was broken by a loud scream.
What in the world? Artemis thought, glancing around her in panic. The what – a semi-conscious teenage boy in blue combats and a black t-shirt – was obvious almost immediately, but the fact that he was falling out of the sky at nearly terminal velocity was enough to pique her curiosity and concern, and send her running towards his potential landing spot.
But despite her quick reactions, she wasn't fast enough to follow his fall, and the boy crashed through an upper window of the sprawling mansion at the end of the block before she could get there.
Looked like a white rabbit to me, she thought as she swung over the side of her building and dropped down to street level.
Gotham Academy… school for fancy-pants rich kids. Supposed to have high scholastic standards… noted Artemis as she ran towards the red-brick building. And a wide range of extra-curriculars… She leapt up into a tree and used its branches to boost herself up so she could look in through a window. Time to update the brochure… cos there's nothing like this at Gotham North!
She drew a monocular out of her glove and raised it to her eye, Wait, that's Robin the Boy Wonder… and Kid Flash… and my 'white rabbit', who's cute in a beat-up sort of way… she thought, then paused when she clocked the strange, robotic-looking figure at the centre of the group. But who – or what – is that?!Before she could think about that question too much, she spotted a familiar, grinning figure lounging on the bleachers. I've seen him with Dad… she realised. Which means that he must be bad news! I think I've found my rabbit hole…A chorus of mechanical giggling around her drew her attention back outside. This is my life… she told herself as she took in the new threat. What's left of it…
21:49 EDT
Forget Wonderland…
she thought as she nailed one of the troop of robots that surrounded her. But with all these flying monkeys… I think I've landed in Oz!She glanced back towards the gymnasium. I still don't really know what's going on… but some freaky robot is down there trying to kill Robin, Kid Flash and the hottest 'white rabbit' that any lost girl has ever chased… while some equally freaky friend of Dad's and a couple of his chittering pals enjoys the show… and the rest make their own show out of me!
She took down two more of the robots with her bow, but then the troop were close enough that she decided to take an another tactic and drew her crossbow, taking out a handful before another of the flying menaces snatched it from her and flew around chittering until an arrow through the neck sent it falling to the ground.
The last monkey fastened onto her head, covering her eyes and wrapping it's tail around her neck.
Artemis gasped as her throat began to constrict and a feeling of panic began to set in, not helped when the robot pulled her off her perch and into the air. But she rallied and stabbed the creature in the head with an arrow, forcing it to release her.
Once she was back in the tree, she checked in on the heroes, and was dismayed to see that things were not going well…
Kid Flash had tried to rush the huge robot, but it accessed Superman's abilities, grabbed him in a brutal bear hug and crushed him, eliciting a blood-curdling scream from the red-headed speedster.
Artemis quickly nocked an arrow onto the bow and shot at the robot's head. It looked up at the arrow, its eyes glowed, but rather than use Superman's heat-vision to destroy the arrow, it accessed Martian Manhunter's phasing powers to make it pass through him to stick into the floor, at the same time freeing Kid Flash, who fell onto his butt.
Any follow-up attack by Artemis was delayed by a surviving monkey robot strafing her, leading a new troop of the menaces against her. Quickly deciding that she didn't have the firepower to take them out as is, she manoeuvred to grab the lead robot by the tail and whirled it like a giant bolo, sending laser beams out to take out the entire troop, and then trashed her improvised weapon by smashing it against the trunk of the tree.
A dull sound – similar to an explosion – from the gymnasium drew her attention back there, but by the time she made it back to her post, the robot was tipping backwards with a smoking hole where its head used to be to land with a crash on the ground.
They did it, Artemis thought proudly. Kids, my age… took down a killer robot with the powers of the Justice League!
"Help me disassemble him… Now!" Robin demanded, as he ran towards the fallen husk.
"Dude, the guy has no head," Kid Flash pointed out, cradling his left arm.
"We can't take any chances!" insisted the Boy Wonder.
"Superboy!" cried a red-headed, green-skinned girl who had just arrived.
Superboy… mused Artemis, grinning to herself as she lounged back on her branch and watched Aqualad join the quartet. I guess that explains the 'S' and the muscles… Superboy, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad… and I think that girl must be a Martian… They're a team… and I on… I so want on! she declared to herself, then looked around her at the robots littering the grounds around her. I took out a barrelful of you-know-whats, kept them of the team's back… plus it was my arrow that saved Kid Flash! Besides, Speedy's not down there, so they don't have an archer… they need me!
Her euphoric high lasted until she reached home but then she came down with a crash. Who was I kidding? she thought as clambered in through her open window and pulled off her mask. If I tried to join, they'd want to know who I am… probably demand my whole family history… and once they knew that, there's no way that they'd trust me… no way they'd ever let someone like me be one of them. I can play dress-up all I want… but no-one's ever gonna buy me as one of the good guys… She paused, and glanced at the battered, faded Alice in Wonderland poster that had adorned the wall for as long as she could remember. I'm Artemis, not Alice… there are no wonderlands for someone like me.
August 7. 22:42 EDT.
I don't know why I'm still doing this… what I'm trying to prove, Artemis thought as she crouched on the roof above their apartment. I couldn't even find a crime to fight tonight… Can you believe that? I couldn't find a crime to fight… in Gotham City! Some hero I am…
"Artemis! Could you come out here please?" Her mother asked as she slipped in the window.
How did she… Artemis thought, then realised that she was talked about a former assassin. "Uh, sure, Mom… Just a sec." She ditched her mask and equipment and quickly pulled on her ratty, old bathrobe and hurried out, not knowing what to expect…
The dejected figure of her mother, hunched in her wheelchair, wasn't unexpected, but the two men were…
"Batman… Green Arrow…" mumbled the blond archer, clutching her robe to her chest, panic and fear rising in her. "Mom! What did you do!"
"We're here to see you," Batman stated in the gravelly, menacing voice that he was infamous for.
"Artemis," said Green Arrow, in a noticeably friendlier, almost cheerful tone. "We know what you've been up to."
Panic and fear swiftly shifted to anger. "And you came to stop me?! Well, you can just forget…"
"No," growled Batman. "The Justice League has formed a covert team of young heroes… as I believe you already know."
Oh, god… he knows, thought Artemis, and crossed her arms in a mix of defensiveness and defiance. I'm so busted…
"We'd like you to join the Team."
"If you expect an apology for saving Kid Flash's…" Artemis began, then realised what the Dark Knight had said. "Wait… what?"
She relaxed a little, dropping her arms to her sides as Green Arrow closed into her personal space and put a hand on her shoulder. "We think that you'd make a great addition to the Team… if that's all right with your mother."
"You have my permission," her mother replied.
Artemis glanced at her briefly, trying to read her expression, but couldn't so she turned back to the older archer and fixed him with an intent and stern look. "On one condition: You don't tell the Team who I am… who my family is."
"Your private life is your business," agreed Batman.
"It's not like you're the first hero with a secret identity," agreed Green Arrow with a grin. "We'll introduce you as my new protégé and my niece…" Artemis' doubt about that idea must have shown in her expression as he added. "Hey, we're both blond."
Artemis still wasn't entirely convinced but decided to cross that bridge when she got to it. "Then I'm in… I'm so in!" she declared with a grin.
Gotham.
August 8, 19:16 EDT.
Artemis had been tenterhooks all day, so when the doorbell rang, she leapt off her bed and headed for her door. "I'll get it, Mom!" she cried and bounded the few steps to the threshold. As she hoped, when she opened the door, Green Arrow was standing there in full costume, a red and white barrel bag slung over his shoulder.
"That bag's not really your colour," Artemis quipped to try and cover a sudden flash of nerves as she motioned him inside.
"That's because it's for you," the older archer countered easily.
"For me?"
Green Arrow nodded and lowered his burden to the ground. "Just some extra gear and a costume I thought you might like."
"What's wrong with my current costume?" asked Artemis.
He paused, as if considering the best way to make his point without offending her, which was a novel experience. "It's white?"
He might have a point, Artemis admitted to herself, and nodded slightly.
"Artemis, who is it?" asked her mother from the living room.
"I'll go and say hi while you get ready," Green Arrow offered, taking in the crop-top and jeans that she was wearing.
Artemis nodded and turned to close the door. When she turned back, the older archer had disappeared and the low hum of conversation from the living room placed him there. She hefted the bag, noting that it was heavy but not unmanageable, and carried it into her room, dropping it onto the spare bed that had once been her sister's.
Examination of the contents revealed a white tennis skort; a more modest turtleneck crop-top in better quality fabrics than white v-neck from her current suit; a maroon head-sock to replace her gold domino mask; reinforced, fingerless, maroon opera gloves; lightweight thigh-high boots with non-slip soles; a sturdy utility belt that proved to have a wide section of useful tools and space for more and a sturdy quiver with built-in backpack straps that would be a lot more convenient than the single cross-strapped one that she'd been using.
She quickly changed into the uniform, which proved to be a perfect fit… she wondered about that for a moment before choosing to assume that he'd asked her mom to find out her sizes… slipped on the quiver – now loaded with all the arrows that she had left – and strode out of her room. "Let's go!" she declared as she entered the living room.
Green Arrow was perched on the arm of the sofa as she came in and rose to meet her. "Batman and the Team will meet us at the Cave."
"The Cave?" asked Artemis. "I thought that the Justice League was based at the Hall of Justice?"
Green Arrow paused. "They are, but Batman decided – given that the Team is meant to be covert – that they would be better at our old headquarters in Happy Harbor out of the way."
Not the entire truth… mused Artemis. But mostly true and I guess I can't expect full disclosure from day one, particularly given my history. She followed the older archer out of the apartment, and after pausing so that she could lock the door behind them, they headed down to the street. Artemis had been expecting Green Arrow to take her to a car, so she was a little surprised when he turned to walk up the pavement. "Aren't we driving there?"
"That would take too long," replied the other archer. "The Justice League has private arrangements which we've made available to the Team."
Artemis nodded, that made sense and explained a question that she knew was a topic of some debate within the Shadows.
A minute or two later, Green Arrow lead her down an alley and stopped at a broken-down walk-in phone booth. "That phone hasn't worked in years," she told him.
"It never worked," he countered. "At least… not as a phone." He paused, glanced around to make sure the coast was clear and then continued. "On the other hand, it's been a working Zeta Tube for a couple of years now."
"Zeta Tube?" repeated Artemis, still as confused as ever, and getting just… a little… frustrated.
"It's a teleporter," clarified Green Arrow. "I don't understand the physics of it, but it uses something called zeta radiation to beam people from one place to another."
"Like on Cosmos Patrol?" asked Artemis.
"More or less," he agreed after a moment's thought, and then stepped up to the booth and opened it. Then he paused. "By the way, have you decided on a codename?"
"I thought about just using Artemis…" Artemis offered but paused at her mentor's pained expression that was clearly readable despite his mask. "How about Arrowette?"
"Much better," replied the older archer. "Give me… about a minute… and then step into the booth."
Artemis nodded and watched as he stepped inside and closed. A second or two later, a tinny, digitized voice – that reminded her of the Justice League's media liaison Catherine Cobert – declared that it 'recognised Green Arrow zero eight' and there was a flash of light.
Artemis waited for a moment as instructed, then entered the booth and closed the door. Almost immediately a beam of blue-white light came out of a corner of the booth and swept over her. "Recognised, Arrowette B-Zero-Seven," declared the tinny computer voice.
Then there was another flash of light and a feeling of fading away gripped her.
Mount Justice.
August 8, 19:54 EDT.
"… like you to welcome your new team-mate," said Batman as she rematerialized in a cavernous room, dominated by a massive projector that faced down onto what she guessed as a training ring.
Batman, Red Tornado and four of the five members of the group that had fought the android were gathered at the centre of the ring.
Talk about your rabbit-holes, Artemis thought, as Green Arrow took her by the arm and drew her onto the circle. This is my kind of Wonderland!
"Hi!" piped up the Martian girl, the first of the teens to react to her arrival. "I'm Miss Martian, or you can me M'gann M'orzz if you like…" she indicated the others. "And that's Superboy, Aqualad, Robin… and Kid Flash should be here any minute."
Green Arrow released her arm once they were level with Batman and allowed her to take in the group. Batman and Tornado were famously unreadable, so she didn't even try… Robin had a slight edge that she thought was contemplative or calculating rather than aggressive… the other two boys were almost as impassive as Batman and Tornado, apart from an undercurrent of aggression in Superboy – Conner's – case that she didn't think was directed at her, but rather was his normal state.
Not a bad place to start, she thought. I can't expect them to embrace me completely from the beginning, M'gann seems nice, and none of the others seem to hate me… Thing's are looking up!
"Recognised, Kid Flash B-Zero-Three."
"Here he comes now!" exclaimed M'gann. "I'm sure you two will get along great!"
When the red-head appeared in the tunnel, it was immediately clear to Artemis that he hadn't got the memo that there was an official briefing happening, as rather than his distinctive red-and-yellow suit, he wore only baggy, board shorts, black sunglasses and flip-flops and carried all the necessities for a trip to the beach. "The Wall-man is here!" he declared and moved forward. "Let's get this party star-uhn!" The tip of his beach umbrella dipped low enough that it caught on a rough spot in the floor, stopping his momentum and causing him to trip and fall flat on his face. His beach ball escaped his grasp as he fell and went bouncing across the room past Batman. Lifting his head, the speedster sees them dressed for a mission. "...ted."
For a moment, a tense silence reigned as none of his friends knew how to respond.
Artemis grinned and stepped forward to look down at him, her bow held comfortably in her right hand. "Wall-man, huh?" she commented, almost teasingly. "I love the uniform."
Wally ignores her and gets up, then walks over to Robin and M'gann and catches Aqualad's eye and gestures to her. "Uh, who's this?"
"Arrowette, your new team-mate," replied Artemis, her voice still teasing. And this is my life.
"Kid Flash," replied the speedster. "Never heard of you."
Despite the obvious truth of his statement, a hint of insult in his tone dented her good mood a little, so she was pleased when Green Arrow stepped up to offer her support. "Um, she's my new protége."
Kid Flash's eyes go wide. "Wha-what happened to your old one?"