Author's Note. I'm trying to get these out a little quicker this time around. Thanks to all the new readers who've hopped on lately, hope you're enjoying it so far. Please take the time to review, it's truly motivating, and I could really use some right now. Read on.
Chapter Nine
"….and Ms. Crock has all the final financial figures based upon the current value of the Yen versus the Dollar. Artemis will you hand those out now please…..Artemis?" Dick repeated again patiently.
The myriad of conversations within the board room had become so much background noise to the blonde, like the low hum of a refrigerator or the buzzing of a streetlight. It wasn't until after she heard her name repeated that she suddenly panicked, worried just how long she had mentally checked out from the proceedings.
"I'm sorry," she exclaimed, quickly jolting back to reality and swiftly passed the papers down the boardroom table. "Page four has the total financial breakdown in both languages and page five lists the estimates for the next three years."
She sat back down silently, trying desperately to avoid eye contact with anyone, especially her boss seated at the end of the table. Eventually she relented and caught the smirk Dick sent her way. He had an odd, amused look about him; she'd noticed it from time to time when he dealt with competitors, rival lawyers, or even certain members of his staff, a look as if he knew something they didn't, like he had all the answers before the first questions was ever asked. Artemis didn't know if it was an act or not, but chalked it up as one of a dozen reasons why he was such a successful businessman. Bruce Wayne had taught him well.
Artemis had recovered quickly from her embarrassment in the boardroom, but the distraction from a recent gift she'd received was weighing heavily on her. Inside the pocket of her black dress suit, the communicator felt like it weighed pounds instead of ounces. She kept her hand around it constantly, anxiously waiting for the slightest buzz. She had her excuse prepared if she needed to make a quick exit, and her uniform and weapons were safely hidden within the building for if and when the call came in, a call she was beginning to wonder would ever come.
To put it in business terms, she'd nailed the interview, assured her new benefactor had been thoroughly impressed. It wasn't just about the nights they'd patrolled, Nightwing had known her whole backstory somehow, and her past probably sealed the deal more than anything she had done in person. So why hadn't he called yet? It's not like crime had suddenly come to a screeching halt within Gotham.
They last two days had been challenging to say the least. Her anticipation was starting to get the best of her. Several times she'd fought the urge to activate the com unit, just to check in and remind her new associate she was ready and waiting.
Stand by and be ready, you're about to hit the big leagues, Nightwing told her on that cold rooftop.
When damnit! she cursed impatiently.
Later that afternoon she sat at her desk, returning the multitude of emails that invaded her inbox daily. She had two more meetings later that afternoon with competing Chinese firms, and she had no intention of being as unprofessional and distracted as she'd been this morning. Despite the heroic invitation, deep down she knew Wayne Industries and Dick Grayson still had to be her top priority. Everything else would have to be secondary; including being an emerald archer, but the thrill and excitement of her potential new gig were hard to shake.
She reached into her desk for the stapler when she came across the Parole Board letter that had been respectfully hand delivered to her. It didn't really surprise her that she associated the envelope more with the kindness of Wally West than the cruelty of Lawrence Crock. Over the last few days she had found several excuses to be in or around the 22nd floor, unintentionally walking past the offices of Lord Omniversal Research and Development, causally looking through the glass door for any indication a certain red headed geneticist had finally come back to work, not that she cared or anything.
Ok, maybe she cared more than she let on. As far as first impressions go, the mailman/geneticist/cheesy Casanova, could not have made a worse one, but at least it was memorable. In retrospect she should have realized that people like Dick Grayson or Zatanna Zatarra would probably not associate with someone as arrogant and obnoxious as the red head appeared to be, unless he had a side that only they knew about, a kinder, thoughtful side that she'd seen flashes of briefly, a side that even against her better judgment she wanted to know more about.
When she finally grew frustrated with her sudden insecurity, she marched right into the laboratory lobby and face to face with the snotty receptionist that sat there.
"Dr. West is on administrative leave, I have no idea when he'll return," the pretentious woman spoke in such a derogatory tone, it was all Artemis could do not to knock her through the fancy decorative wall with the waterfall running down it.
She wouldn't give the botoxed receptionist with the bad dye job the pleasure of a storm out, but simply turned and strolled out as if it didn't matter to her or not. The problem was it did. She felt bad for Wally, for what he was going through. She'd seen death growing up, being raised by two hardened criminals, how could she not? Like her dad's many business associates that one day didn't come around anymore, the shoot-outs and gun play in the streets in areas of town no teenage girl should be forced to live, or just the blood stained hands of a drunken father coming home from work that had become such a normal event that it didn't even faze her anymore.
As she got older and wiser, she realized these people had names, faces, families. Despite her initial embarrassment, one of her happiest days was watching her piece of shit father being drug out of her high school graduation kicking and screaming. That was the last day she ever saw him face to face, and she planned to keep it that way.
Wally had lost more than a patient; he'd lost a friend, one who he'd dedicated much of his life to help. All he wanted was to give the teen a brighter future, a chance to leave behind the monthly hospital visits, the painful treatments, and the isolation Marcus felt as he watched his friends and classmates play sports, hang out, or just get the chance to be kid without any limitations or short life expectancy, just to be normal. That chance was gone now, and so was Wally.
As Artemis walked to the elevator, up ahead an elderly woman pushed a heavily loaded mail cart, overflowing with packages much too large for someone with her tiny frame to handle alone. The woman struggled just trying to move the cart over the gap that separated the elevator from the floor, let alone navigate an entire building; Artemis kindly grabbed the end and pulled the cart along with the woman into the cramped elevator car.
"Thank you dear," the elderly woman responded, "I've got quite a load today."
Artemis smiled and looked down at the faded uniform of the Wayne mail employee, her nametag reading M. Boyles. Two floors up without any assistance this time, she shoved the cart from the car and slowly hobbled her way towards her next delivery. Artemis sighed, she wasn't the only one Wally's absence was impacting. She wished she could do something for him, a sympathetic ear, a condolence card, even just a cup of coffee and a doughnut, but between her responsibilities at Wayne, her mother's numerous medical appointments, and of course her new part time job, time was just something she had very little of.
Speaking of, Artemis pulled her hand from her suit pocket, releasing her grip from the device she had inadvertently been holding again and looked at her watch. She blew out her breath in frustration; she'd lost track of time again and her next meeting was starting sooner than she realized. She took off towards her office in a sprint, hoping for enough time to cram and bone up on the finer details of the next merger offer before it started, determined not to make a fool of herself once again. She felt sure other heroes or vigilantes had to be independently wealthy to be able to fight crime at the level they did, there was just no way to balance the fine line of working a high stress job and doing the hero work she now was tasked with
As she approached the boardroom, Dick Grayson stood outside, quickly re-reading the finer points of the contract terms as well. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who had to cram from time to time, but despite his numerous responsibilities to the company, there was just no way on earth he could be stretched as thin as she was. It wasn't like he was a superhero or anything.
xxx
The next evening, Nightwing sat diligently in front of the master computer buried far beneath Wayne Towers, deep in thought. He recalled his days as a teen watching Bruce do the very same thing, wondering how someone could be so dedicated, so obsessed, when all he wanted was to hit the streets and catch bad guys. He convinced himself back then that no matter what, that would never be him. He had no intention of wasting his life behind a monitor when there was so much work and fun to be had outside where the action was. Now so many years later he sat mimicking his mentor's behavior to a T. It was funny how life could come full circle without even realizing it, a fact he needed to remind Tim Drake off someday soon.
The alert from his monitor broke him from his reverie, and when he reached forward and answered the call, a weary looking Kaldur appeared on the screen before him, standing on the shoreline of one of many rough beaches near Gotham. Off in the distance a few miles out, a far off vessel could be seen making it final way towards the established shipping lanes that would lead it to Gotham Harbor.
"It is time my friend, they will be here in a few hours," the Atlantean spoke.
"I'll make the call," Nightwing responded. "You look exhausted Kal, you should sit this one out."
Kaldur smiled, appreciating his friend's concern after his long journey surveilling the freighter.
"I am fine my friend. I wish us good hunting. I will meet you at rendezvous point and I'll be ready. Aqualad out."
Kaldur's image faded away as the monitor changed orientation. Dick entered in a new command and on the screen now appeared a series of profile pictures, codenames, and numeric designations. Nightwing highlighted them all and hit transmit. Seconds later the call went out.
xxx
Artemis sipped the broth of her noodles while mindlessly flipping through the channels, searching for something that would distract her long enough for her heavy eyes to close and weary body to finally get the sleep it so badly needed. It had been a particularly taxing day. She had put her mother to bed hours ago, the tough rehab schedule wearing down the elder Crock as much as the archer. The anticipation and adrenaline rush she had been experiencing the last few days had finally worn off and she was ready for bed. The call would come in when she was needed, it was that simple and obsessing about it had only made it that much harder. It was beginning to interfere with her performance at work, and she'd worked too hard to get where she was to let anything jeopardize that.
Artemis yawned and stretched her arms, straightening her nightshirt and turning off the TV. She'd play superhero some other time, tonight she needed to catch up on days of lost sleep. She had barely stepped into her bedroom when the communicator went off.
You're fucking kidding me.
xxx
Atop the warehouse of Consolidated Freight Inc, through night vision optics, Dick Grayson had a direct line of sight of the Shchepetov as it arrived. The ship fell into the small cargo class type vessel, no more than two hundred feet long at most, nowhere near the massive four to five hundred foot containers ships that routinely made their way in and out of Gotham Harbor.
Aside from docking in a fairly isolated part of the wharf; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Longshoreman had secured the vessel, the ship's broker had presented the needed documentation to U.S. Customs, and after a brief inspection and comparing of manifests, the off-loading of cargo had been scheduled for 8:00 a.m. the next morning. Everything seemed standard procedure until the private security firm arrived a half hour later.
Dick focused in on the I.D. of one of the guards, trying to decipher the name of the company, only to find no record whatsoever of the firm Invictus Security and Response. Guards carrying TAR-21 assault rifles stationed themselves quickly at the bottom and top of the gangway, while four more slowly began rounds around the public dock. The guards weapon of choice clearly signaled this was not a group to be trifled with, and whatever was on that ship, the planned on protecting with deadly force if need be.
Nightwing put away the optics and turned to the hooded figure lying next to him observing the crew and group now protecting them.
"Kobra and mercenaries posing as security, kind of overkill isn't it? " Ms. Martian asked rhetorically.
"A little, are you picking up anything?" Dick asked.
Megan's eyes glowed as she mentally scanned the area below them, searching the minds of the crew and guards gathered there.
"Not much. Chanting from the crew, the usual bullshit homage to Kobra you'd expect from a cult, the security guards are razor sharp focused, and bloodthirsty, they're just looking for an excuse to kill someone. We're going to have to be careful."
Dick nodded worriedly, he hated putting his teammates, his family at risk, but risk was their business and he needed to remember they too were dangerous when need be.
"Oh," Megan added, "and your guest has arrived."
Dick pulled the night vision optics back on and caught sight of the archer standing behind a dumpster a few yards off, scanning the building for her new partners. She wore a uniform this time, a battle suit, much like her mentor would wear. It suited her he thought.
Dick stealthily made his way to the edge of the building, preparing to scale down. "I'll be right back, when she gets up here, try to not to freak her out," he smiled.
"Do you want me to shift into human form?"
Dick pondered that thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, but remember you're probably the first alien she's ever met, you only get one chance to make a first impression."
"So no take me to your leader routine," Megan sarcastically replied.
Dick smirked and jumped off the side of the building towards their new partner.
Artemis stretched the string of her bow, making sure the wheels of the compound weapon were sufficiently greased and ready. She turned to look behind her for a second and when she turned back Nightwing stood inches from her. She never heard a thing. He placed a gloved hand over her mouth to avoid the shriek, but she remained silent, knocking it away in annoyance.
"Ready?" he asked in a low tone.
"Born that way," she replied with a smile.
xxx
They silently climbed their way back atop the warehouse while Nightwing gave her the instructions.
"I'm going to need you up here. You'll have a clear view of everything from this vantage point. The ship in front of you is the Shchepetov, it's the one we've been tracking since it left the Baltics a few weeks ago. On the docks over there is some faux security team, probably mercenaries or ex-military. I'm going to need you up here calling out positions and movements while our team on the ground moves in. You're our eyes and ears."
"You want me to be a lookout?" Artemis asked angrily. "This is not what I thought I was signing up for. I can do a hell of lot more good on the ground, in the middle of the action, not sitting up here on my ass."
"I know you can, and you'll get your chance, but right now this is where I need you. Don't worry, I'm not going to be down there either. The first phase of this mission is going to happen fast, very fast, trust me on that, and you, me, and everyone else will need to be out of the way when it does. I'm going to be stationed on top of the cargo containers on the starboard side; I'll need your eyes on the crew, looking for a couple of VIP's to make an appearance."
"Who exactly?" the archer asked, "and while we're on the subject I can barely see anything to begin with up here. I don't suppose you have a second pair of Night Specs do you?" she asked impatiently.
As they reached the roof, Dick passed the archer on to her new partner. "In a few minutes, you won't need them. Ms. Martian will explain the rest."
"Ms…Martian…." Artemis eyes narrowed as her sentence deadpanned
Dick smiled. "Yes. And before you even ask…yes she is."
xxx
Atemis watched as Nightwing scaled his way over a few rooftops before completely disappearing. She gave up trying to follow his path, trusting that in a few minutes he would be exactly where he said he'd be, this was the boy wonder after all.
She carefully crawled over to the peak of the warehouse, making sure her heavy combat boots made as little noise as possible on the metal roof, before uncomfortably crouching down next to the hooded figure currently surveying the dock.
"Uhhh….Hi I'm…."
"Artemis," Megan replied still staring straight ahead, the cloak hiding her features in the darkness "They call me Ms. Martian, but I'd prefer M'gann if that's ok? It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
"Uh…sure…ok…?" the archer replied awkwardly. At this point she'd call her el presidnete if that's what the Martian wanted. Artemis was surprised this hero, this alien, seemed as normal and open as someone she'd sit around and have coffee with.
This job is getting weirder and weirder by the moment she considered.
Megan turned and lowered the hood revealing her green features. Immediately a feeling of déjà vu washed over the blonde. Something about this person was so familiar. She'd felt the same thing when coming face to face with Nightwing. It had nothing to do with what she'd read or seen on the news about them before. It was something else, and it irritated her, like a splinter in her mind's eye.
"Artemis," Megan began pleasantly, "I'm going to be connecting you into what we call a mind link. It's going to be very disorienting at first, so I'm going ease you in a bit. At first all you'll hear is Nightwing and myself, and then I'll gradually expand you to the rest of the team. It's a lot more reliable and silent than using standard com channels. So are you ready?"
"Yeah," Artemis replied nervously. Welcome to the big leagues was right. She wished now that Nightwing would have brought her in sooner, let her get acclimated with aliens and mind links , and a whole host of other things she was probably about to experience, but this mission seemed to have moved forward much faster than he'd expected. One of the first things she'd ever learned from Arrow about the hero gig was be flexible and be ready. It was time to put those words into action.
Seconds later her mind was ablaze. Images, memories, emotions. all flashed before her in seconds. Sensations washed over that where both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. She experienced thoughts and moments, some private to her, some belonging to her host. It was the oddest combination of intrusive and intimate at the same time. Soon her mind calmed and she began to hear M'gann clearly.
"Take a deep breath," Megan calmly projected to her, "it's always disorienting at first, but it will settle in just a minute."
"This is so weird," the archer spoke mentally.
"That's what everyone says at first," Nightwing broke in, reminding Artemis what a mind link truly meant. "Everyone's in place. Ms. Martian I'm going to need you ship side in a few minutes as soon as alpha team makes their move."
"Got it," she replied mentally, patting the archer on the shoulder and mouthing outside of the mind link Don't be nervous, you're going to do fine.
As she flew away Dick continued on. "Artemis, you're going to have a lot of questions when this is over, and I promise I'll answer every one, but for now I need you to keep it together and stay focused. We're only going to get one shot at this. Anything that seems out of the ordinary, we need to hear about."
"What in the hell do you mean? Everything is out of the ordinary! What am I looking for?" she asked urgently.
"You'll know it when you see. Trust me and stay traught." he replied amusingly.
His part of the link went silent and Artemis reached out to M'gann or anyone who might be connected. "What does that even mean?"
xxx
"Nightwing, Alpha is on the move, acknowledge" a deep voice she had never before interjected. Evidently the rest of the mental party had arrived.
"Got it," the detective answered, "Beta be ready, things are about to get interesting."
Off in the distance, a couple appeared at the far end of the dock, walking hand in hand down the harbor side, seemingly unaware of the danger ahead. Just two lovers out taking a midnight stroll. Immediately Artemis became alarmed, two civilians approaching a hot zone was about as out of the ordinary as it gets. She strung her bow quickly, pulling off her quiver and searching out a specialized arrow that she thought would best serve the situation. The archer lined up the civilians in her target sight and reached out to her teammates.
"Nightwing!" she yelled out mentally, "we have two civilians on the docks headed towards the Shchepetov with guards approaching. They've got no idea what their walking into. What do we do?"
"Stand down Artemis," Dick's calming voice replied. "they're one of us."
The archer placed the bow down on the rooftop next to her and retrieved the field glasses once again. Even with her binoculars, the darkness made it hard for her to see the couple. She wished Arrow had included a night vision system into the bow, but beggars can't be choosers.
The two lovers walked slowly, seemingly oblivious to what lay ahead, She saw what she thought was a brunette woman with long dark hair laying her head on the other's shoulder as they walked. The two stopped momentarily, embracing under the moonlight for an intimate moment. On the ship their presence was not lost on the security detail, quickly radioing in the couple's intrusion to the dockside team and sending them towards their location.
"They're coming your way," Nightwing announced over the mind link. Artemis realized quickly the message was not meant for her. She waited for a response from the new team on the ground. Finally that reply came.
"Dude your girlfriend won't stop grabbing my ass," a familiar voice mentally projected to the team.
"You wish," his teammate replied," and for the last damn time, he is not my boyfriend."
Artemis froze, she knew those voices.
"How about some focus Alpha," Nightwing interrupted, "You've got four guards about twenty yards away and closing, along with two snipers shipside; one on the bridge and one on the bow. KF I have above, you have below."
"Got it," the speedster replied.
Suddenly every Marine LED Deck Light flickered on, illuminating not only the ship, but the dock leading up to it, just as Nightwing had planned. The guards pulled their weapons, but kept them lowered; assured the sight had made their point for them to their uninvited guests.
"Turn around!" one of the larger guards demanded, easily towering over the couple. "This is private property. You need to leave…now!"
"Since when is Gotham Harbor private? Its owned by the city," the brunette questioned irritably.
"Honneeyyyy," the redhead whined, grabbing his partner by the arm, "let's not argue with the gigantic man or his gun, ok dear?"
"No, it's not right", she complained yanking her arm from the red head's hold, "We have every right to be here, this is public property. We should be able to go where we want. You guys aren't even harbor police are you? Who in the hell is Invictus Security?"
"Babe lets go," the speedster pleaded.
"Listen to you boyfriend bitch, before things get ugly".
Wally smiled when he heard the trigger word. He reached down into his pocket and retrieved his sunglasses. One of the guards looked at him quizzically, wondering what kind of idiot would put on sunglasses at night.
"Bitch? You did not just call me a bitch," she chuckled in a deathly cold tone. With the sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose, Wally gently pushed them up the rest of the way with one finger, looking back the guards amusingly.
"You done fucked up now boys." Wally grinned, before covering his eyes with the crook of his forearm. For what was about to happen next, especially at this distance, polarized Oakley's weren't going to be near enough.
"All teams cover your eyes now." Nightwing ordered through the mind link.
Gnidnilb thgil hsalf evoba su
An explosion of bright light burst all around the six, dropping the guards to the splintered wooden floor in agony as their retinas burned. Wally removed his forearm and glasses, glancing over at the beaming sorceresses as she raised her eyebrows in pride.
"Man you're mean," Wally smiled, as his fingers rubbed against the gold alloy ring that graced his index finger.
"You have no idea," Zatanna chuckled in response.
Wally bowed before the magician in mock salute. "M'lady
Zatanna returned the gesture with a curtsey "Milord"
Wally's skin began to crackle with electricity, when suddenly a crimson and yellow suit shot forth from his ring finger. In less than a second, his body was completely donned in the easily recognizable battle suit of Kid Flash.
"If you'll excuse me," he winked and blasted down the dock and up the gangway at roughly 400 m.p.h., taking a dozen soon-to-be unconscious men with him, on a direct route to a sniper who barely had time to swallow.
From atop the warehouse roof, Artemis just stared in quiet disbelief.
"Oh….my….God."