Nightwing sauntered into the living room with a smile on his face. Barbara took notice.
"What's got you so happy?" The redhead asked.
"Just got off a video chat with Artemis and Wally, they're stopping by later today."
Barbara perked up, but was still curious, "Why?"
"Well Walls is going to spend some time with Bart, family and all that. Artemis is stopping by to help with a little training surprise I've cooked up." Even with the sunglasses on, Barbara could tell he had that mischievous look in his eyes.
"So Wally is filling in for Barry, and Artemis is going to help you torture the newbie?"
"Not torture; teach. But after that we're just going to have a Team night and watch a movie."
"Sounds fun," she agreed. "But if Wally eats my popcorn I will hurt him."
"Trust me; after last time, he isn't going to be anywhere near any of your food."
.:Back to Life:.
"Entertain me!" Bart pleaded.
"Never," Avery said without looking at the speedster. She was trying to sketch, but Bart had interrupted that minutes ago. Now he wouldn't shut up.
"That's just cold."
Avery shrugged, "Maybe, but I am not the one who is bored."
"I'm bored because you won't entertain me, that and Jaime isn't here!" He exclaimed.
"Yes, it is all my fault. I am such a horrible person. Oh my, how do I live with myself," Avery deadpanned.
Bart didn't find it so funny. "You're just messing with me."
"Glad you caught on." Avery went back to moving her pencil across the page.
Nightwing walked into the living room where the two were sitting on the opposite ends of the couch. "Good, you're both here."
"Something to do Boss-man?" Bart chirped.
"Well, you're both going to be doing some training today."
Avery groaned and hid her face behind a pillow. "Please, no."
The Team's leader chuckled. "You aren't going to be training with Batman."
Avery peeked out from behind her pillow questioningly.
"You're going to be training with me," he elaborated.
Avery groaned again in response and shoved her face in the pillow. "That is not any better!" Her exclamation was muffled from the pillow, but Nightwing got the gist of it.
"What am I going to be doing?" Bart bounced on the couch's cushions with glee.
"You're going to be training your speed with Wally-"
Bart interrupted him, "But I'm already faster than him."
"Yeah, but Barry's busy with the twins."
"Oh yeah, I should stop by and say hi to Dad and Aunt Dawn soon."
"Have at it, they've taken to hair pulling lately," Nightwing relayed the information Barry had expressed at their last meeting.
Avery looked up from her pillow, "I am officially lost in this conversation."
"Bart's the time traveler I mentioned when I made the offer for you to train with the Team," the older bird explained.
"Okay then," Avery blanked and watched as Nightwing and Bart wrapped up their conversation. As they finished up the zeta tubes announced the arrivals of a Kid Flash and an Artemis. Kid Flash was obviously for Bart, but who's Artemis? Avery tried to piece together the small puzzle and came to the conclusion that Artemis must be helping with whatever training Nightwing has planned. That could be a very bad thing.
A red head with bright green eyes, similar to Bart's, zipped into the room. "Hey cousin," The red head said with a bit of lackluster.
"Cousin once removed," Bart corrected.
A blonde walked into the room while the red head rolled his eyes.
"Well, stop procrastinating Baywatch, we've got future heroes to train," The blonde declared and pushed "Baywatch" along to the nearest exit.
"Yeah, I get it Arty. Have fun guys," With that the red head waved and took off with Bart on his heels.
"Sorry about Wally, he's… special," She tried to say the right word. "I'm Artemis, by the way," Artemis held out her hand for Avery to shake.
Avery and Artemis shook hands and they took off for the training room; Nightwing said he had some stuff to take care of and left the two to train alone. According to Nightwing Avery wouldn't need to change out of her jeans and sweater/tank top pairing as they wouldn't be doing combat practice, or anything of that sort.
"What are we doing then?" Avery asked as they walked into the gym.
"I'll give you a hint," Artemis started off. "If you know what Artemis is the goddess of, you'll know."
"She is the Greek goddess of virginity, childbirth, wilderness, and hunting. She's also usually depicted as an archer and huntress." The knowledge rolled off of Avery's tongue faster than she could think about her answer.
"Good answer," Artemis conceded. "Does that give you a hint as to what we're going to be doing today?"
"Archery?" Avery asked, scared that it could be hunting animals or how to put on a chastity belt.
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"Telling you?"
Artemis responded with a blank stare.
"Telling you," Avery decided on and rubbed the back of her neck out of nervousness.
A smirk found its way onto Artemis' face. "Good, we're going to be starting off with basic archery training; how to set up a shot, aim, shoot, all that good stuff."
Avery nodded but curiosity nagged her to ask a question. "How is this going to help me with my training? I highly doubt I will be choosing to fight with a bow and arrow in the future."
"An arrow is a flimsy projectile. If you don't know how to shoot it correctly then it won't hit your target. You have to learn to compensate for the physical conditions around you; wind, rain, and so on. Learning how to compensate for that, whether you're shooting an arrow or throwing a baseball, will help you. Does that answer your question?" Artemis gathered a recurve bow and quiver full of arrows for Avery as she spoke.
"Yes, it does," Avery accepted the bow Artemis handed her and the quiver Artemis sat down at her feet.
Artemis showed Avery how to hold the bow and pull the string back a few times before even letting her touch an arrow. Once Avery got the basics down Artemis let her pick up an arrow and attempt to shoot it at a target twenty-five feet away.
Avery pulled the string back just as instructed and let go, just as instructed. Although the force of the arrow flying off changed the way Avery was holding the bow ever so slightly. The string instead tore its way down Avery's left arm, pulling away the fabric of her sweater and some of her skin in the process. Avery dropped the bow like it was on fire and curled her arm into her stomach, wincing when the wound hit the fabric of her sweater.
Artemis hurried over from her position of to the side of the room. "Let me see your arm," she demanded.
Avery shook her head and muttered out, "It is fine; it will heal in a second."
"Yeah, Nightwing told me about your powers, but I still need to see how bad it is." Artemis tried to pry Avery's arm away from her midsection.
"It is fine, I assure you," Avery held strong, trying to keep her arm where it was.
Artemis finally pried Avery's arm into the open, firmly holding it at the wrist to make sure she couldn't wriggle away. Then Artemis gently pushed the tattered fabric of Avery's sweater up her arm. Her dark grey eyes watched as Avery's arm healed completely. Then she stared at the tattoo sitting right there.
"You have a tattoo?" Artemis asked in shock.
"Um, yes," Avery hung her head, praying Artemis didn't realize what the ink actually meant.
"That's pretty rebellious," Artemis noted. "And it just heals back when your arm gets hurt."
"Yes," Avery relaxed a little. "My body regenerates the black pigment instead of my skin tone in that specific spot only."
Artemis nodded her head in understanding, "Does it mean anything?"
Avery blanked for a second. "What do you mean?"
"When some people get tattoos, it's for no reason. Others get it for a reason, like a date could be the date someone close to them died."
"Okay, I understand. To answer your question, it does not mean anything I would like to remember."
Artemis nodded, but didn't ask anything else.
A/N: I have something planned for Artemis learning about the tattoo, trust me. It shall be good! Alright, well the poll's closed, I won't be telling you the results though. You'll just have to stay tuned to know which option won. One more thing that I forgot about last chapter. I meant to give the 100th reviewer a prize, but I'm a little late. So instead the 125th reviewer will get a prize. None of the other readers will know, simply because it is a surprise that won't be happening for a little while, at least until this story ends. So yeah, try and be the 125th reviewer and you get something special. Have a good day!
Read. Enjoy. Review.