Thanks to you all who reviewed the first chapter! Enjoy!
A figure watched Star City from atop the Queen Industries main building. She tightly gripped her bow, ready for action. The city was quiet, unlike the city she used to call home. In Gotham, something was always happening, whether it be the Joker or just a pickpocket disturbing the peace.
She had only been on patrol with Ollie once, when she first started out. Artemis saw less action that night than a white crayon. Now, it wasn't any different. It had only been 2 days since she had left. She still was doing the hero thing, just not with Young Justice. And there wasn't any way she was going back.
Suddenly, Artemis got the feeling that she was being watched. The short blonde hairs on her neck were standing on end. Her father had trained her so that she was very familiar with it.
Knowing that she had to be even more cautious now that she'd gone AWOL, the archer quickly whipped out an arrow, readied her bow and whirled around in a movement that would only be seen as a blur. All she saw was the silhouette of a person.
"Come any closer and I'll shoot." The unknown being reached for something, Artemis took this as a threat, and released her arrow. As flesh met metal, a voice cried out in pain. "Augh! What the fuck?"
Roy stumbled forward clutching his wounded arm. Artemis gasped at the sight of the red headed archer. "Oh, crap. "
He felt the poison seeping into his veins and his legs give out from underneath him. Artemis just watched, thankful that the poison in the arrow would only render him unconscoius. She slowly backed away. The blonde archer jumped down to the nearest rooftop. Her feet flew, gracefully taking her across Star City while sticking to the shadows. Making if to the outskirts of the city, she looked at the night skyline. Just one more place that she couldn't go back to.
Two Days Earlier
"Sportsmaster is her father?" Kaldur questioned.
"Yes. Artemis's mother used to be Huntress and her older sister is the assassin Cheshire." Green Arrow confirmed.
No one dared to speak, fearful that their tongues would convey the slight anger they all felt, instead of the extreme sympathy they truly had for their friend. Green Arrow and Batman watched the five teenagers with remorse. Oliver had suggested that they told them up front, but Bruce insisted that the less the team knew, the better. And for possibly the first time ever, the Batman had been wrong.
This was worse than either of them could have even imagined. Of course, working with the daughter of two of the Shadows most notorious assassins would have been tough, but going so long without knowing was devastating. Batman withheld the urge to sigh, silently rose from his seat and exited the room. Green Arrow sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Umm...I'm just going to,uh...yeah." Oliver mumbled and followed Batman.
The team sat in awe. Megan finally broke the silence.
"But Artemis wasn't bad. Right?"
"As far as we know." Robin stated.
"Of course she wasn't." Wally spoke up.
"If that is the case, then why did she leave?" Kaldur's question hung in the air because none of them had an answer.
Wally stared at the ceiling. the same, boring gray it had been for the past few hours. he felt so...lost. he had no clue as to why this was happening to him, to the was only one other time when he'd felt this way: when his dad used to beat him.
Every single time, it was as if some tiny part of his soul went away. then he became Kid Flash and things got better. the beatings didn't stop, but every time he put on that uniform, it gave him hope. All of his problems melted away or were forgotten with every victim he saved from a burning building or another abusive parent.
Meeting Robin, Roy, Kaldur, Superboy, and Megan and forming Young Justice had been the two best things that had happened to him in a while. And then Artemis came into his life.
From the moment she said "Wall-man," he hated her or so he had convinced himself. she couldn't replace Speedy. (1) He was a way better archer than she was anyway. With that beau-crazy long hair of hers and that se-stupid smirk she always had plastered on her face.
After the mission in Bialyia, he came to a certain realization. If they had met under different circumstances, they wouldn't have such a love-to-hate relationship. He had, repeatedly, referred to her as Beautiful, denied knowing Megan, and held her hand when Megan was about to venture into their minds. But then acted as if none of the above happened when they got their memories back.
Everything changed after the training exercise sent from Hell. He watched as both his Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry died at the hands of the alien invaders and he still knew that it wasn't real.
Then Artemis died.
Now convinced, like everyone else, that it was real, Wally swore to avenge Artemis. he was full of rage and determination. Finding out that the disintegration beams were Zeta beams gave the canary speedster hope. However, when Conner got hit, J'onn, Megan, and Robin all agreed that the disintegration rays were exactly that, he felt an eerily familiar emptiness. Artemis was his spitfire, he loved her, and now he would never have the chance to tell her. he couldn't live without her. So when ten seconds were displayed on the countdown on Robin's wrist timer, he just nodded. And fought until the fire consumed him.
Black canary couldn't get through to him. Wally insisted that he was fine, didn't want to "confront his extreme reaction to Artemis's death," and was okay with being in denial. (2)He couldn't tell her he was in love with the harpy.
It had just been a normal day at the cave: Conner staring intently at the static channel, Megan attempting to make something edible, Kaldur silently reading a book, Robin off Batman-knows-where doing Batman-knows-what, and of course, Wally and Artemis arguing. He couldn't even remember what they were arguing about, let alone how they ended up in the training room, fighting. Well, sparring...no, fighting is a lot more accurate. The speedster had narrowly avoided a kick as Artemis yelled an insult. Wally, determined to end their banter, managed to back the archer against a wall. Staring into her stormy eyes for a moment, he crushed his lips on hers. Wally almost immediately pulled away realizing what he had done. Artemis gaped at him with wide eyes. She lifted her hand, and Wally flinched, expecting a blow from her, but was surprised when none came. He was even more surprised when she pulled him back for another kiss. Then a flash and a yell,
"KALDUR, SUPERBOY, YOU BOTH OWE ME FIFTY BUCKS!"
Wally half-smiled at the memory. He had never seen Artemis chase or Robin run faster than he had that day. His thoughts drifting back to the blonde archer, the faint smirk disappeared. t had been two days since he had seen her. Two days since he had heard her voice. Forty-eight hours since he had felt her touch. Two thousand eight hundred eighty minutes since he had tasted her lips. one hundred seventy-two thousand eight hundred seconds since had lost his spitfire.
His door flew open. "Wally!" Robin yelled, obviously out of breath. The speedster closed his eyes. "Roy's here and he's hurt."
"And?"
"He says it was Artemis."
Okay, so there's chapter 2. I hope you liked it. (
(1)-I like calling him Speedy. And I wanted Wally to still think of him as he was.
(2)-Denial isn't just a river in Egypt. Lol
I will also be osting a short little one shot pretty soon called Dirty Little Secret. So look out for that but until then…
Batman: Review.
