Hey people, thanks for all of the reviews. This shouldn't even be up, I should be writing my research paper. Thanks for all of the reviews, they made my day. Also I'm going to start posting some of the other stories I have written after I find the time to type them up.
Also I want to thank Irenerb and Keepmovingforward2 for reviewing every chapter, It means a lot to me that you love my story.
Anyways my spitting image prediction challenge in the last chapter seemed unnoticed, so now I double dog dare you people to predict what you think happens next.
I do not own YJ, or any other DC comics stuff.
So now without further adieu, I present chapter 8.
Spitting Image Chapter 8
Before the bioship took off, Artemis searched the dark alley again for any clues about her daughter. She saw a small bundle lying in a puddle but she didn't see what it was. The archer heard voices calling her in the distance, she grabbed whatever the bundle was and raced onto the bioship. She squinted in the dim light at the damp bundle as the bioship took off.
Artemis gasped as she realized the bundle was her daughter's jacket. She started hyperventilating as she let go of the jacket to reveal her shaking hands were stained crimson. Her stormy eyes were wide with absolute horror as the sickening feeling took over. Sobs threatened to escape her chest as she felt the large gash in the jacket. It felt as if the knife that was already in her heart was twisted, the pain was unimaginable.
"No no no no no!" She cried as she lost it.
All eyes were on the archer as she clenched the bloody jacket. Her fragile frame was shaking as she sobbed. Zatanna rushed over to try to comfort the inconsolable blonde, but Artemis couldn't stop the flow of salty tears springing from her steel eyes. Her whole world was falling apart in front of her.
Wally stared at Artemis in shock; never in a billion years he thought he would see her in such a state. She was sobbing and her hands were covered in blood. He was too stunned to move; in front of him was the girl he never got over, the girl that Batman couldn't even make cry, the girl that vanished off the face of the Earth and broke his heart. She sat there in front of him, in a lake of tears crying her eyes out.
"Sh-she c-could b-be d-d-dea-d." the archer wailed still clutching the only piece of evidence.
"Th-that monster has her. Sh-she c-could b-be dead."
A cold rush ran down the speedster's spine as the words sank in. Guilt washed over him as he thought about how he let the girl down. The speedster turned his attention to the filthy fabric in the archer's hands. He knew from his day job that the amount of blood on the jacket was not a good sign. "I hope the kid makes it." He silently prayed.
As the bioship neared the Justice League embassy Artemis tried to compose herself, it was against every fiber of her being to show any sign of weakness. She stared blankly at nothing as she tried to get over the shock and the sinking feeling that something even worse was going to happen. She could feel Wally's confused stare on her back, she didn't care; nothing but her daughter mattered anymore.
…
When the bioship landed in the hanger of the embassy it was quickly swarmed buy leaguers. The atmosphere of the place was grim; heroes wore sad expressions as they rushed around the javelins. Miss Martian helped Wally off the ship and Zatanna escorted Artemis to the lab to wash the blood off her hands. Wally was met by Nightwing and Aqualad who helped the wounded speedster to Med bay so M'gann could go see Conner and be debriefed.
Wally was so surprised to see so many league members and Titians at the embassy for one kidnapping. "This must be big." He thought to himself as his two friends helped him limp to the infirmary. As they passed by the mission room Wally peered in to see Batman talking to a few other members, he dismissed it as usual until he saw the image on the screen. It was the girl from the alley that was kidnapped by Sportsmaster. The speedster knew it was her the moment he saw the picture, but what surprised him was when he got his first real look at the girl. The picture was from her school ID for Gotham High, but Wally didn't pay attention to that he was more interested in what she looked like. She seemed to have the same facial structure as Artemis, but what was even more shocking was when her vibrant orange hair, emerald eyes and her millions of freckles. The speedster has a sickening sense of déjà vu. What really made the Flash's head start reeling was when he read the girl's name in the corner of the photo:
Abigail Marie Crock
The scarlet speedster stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his comrades who stopped too. Both of the former teammates saw what the speedster was alarmed about.
"Is tha-no way, how? Is that?" was all Wally could sputter.
Kaldur and Dick turned to each other filled with dread, neither of them wanted to break the news to Wally. They could tell the speedster was thinking a billion miles a minute trying to come up with some explanation against the inevitable. Luckily for them even thought the speedster was pondering about the girl, he was still trying to figure out how the hell she was Artemis's kid.
The two other heroes were engaged in a silent conversation of their own as they dragged the frozen Flash down to Med bay before more damage could be done.
"Oh Shit, she's gonna skin us alive if we're lucky." They both thought.
….
After Artemis washed all the blood off her hands and she reluctantly let go of the jacket, she and Zatanna headed towards the mission room. They arrived in a room with a big screen and chairs full of heroes. On the computer screen there was a video file ready to be played. The archer had a sick feeling as she saw how upset all the others looked, even Batman looked unsettled. She turned to the Dark Knight.
"What do I need to see?" she asked impatiently with the ever-impending feeling of dread.
"Artemis. You might want to sit down." Supergirl interjected softly. The archer grimaced as she heard the kryptonian speak, nothing good was going to come out of this if she was asked to sit down first. The blonde feared the worst.
Before the Bat could speak up he was silenced by Artemis's glare.
"No, I'm fine. Just play the damn video." She growled as she motioned to the screen. With a somber sight the Dark Knight complied and clicked play. The screen went dark then a blurry image of a redheaded girl showed up.
Abby was tied to a chair in a dark room. She was barely conscious and covered in dirt, dried blood and bruises. Tear marks streaked down her filthy face. Sportsmaster was circling the teen; his sinful gray eyes behind the hockey mask were completely evil and full of cruelty. He chuckled villainously and Abby started to fidget in her chair, her jade eyes were full of terror and despair.
Artemis felt the whole world close in upon her, she was frozen in place. Watching the dreadful scene play out on the screen.
With speed that rivaled the Flash's, Sportsmaster spun around and grabbed Abby's matted orange hair and pulled her up slightly as she shrieked in pain.
"Well, well, well. Look at what I've got here. And if I'm not mistaken isn't this your daughter Artemis?" He let out another evil cackle.
"It's time to face your past and become who you were meant to be, or you dear daughter might not make it.
Artemis stared at her father in absolute horror, her blood froze the moment his acidic words pierced the silence.
"I'd really hate to kill my own blood, especially my own granddaughter, but if I need to make my point her death will be your own fault for disobeying me" Abby's eyes filled with tears as she heard his threats, she didn't want to die.
He set the frightened girl down and continued.
"Stop pretending to play hero, you were born a Shadow and you will always be a Shadow. Your fate is inevitable you have no choice. You are no hero, you never were and you will never be. The life is in your blood; time to face it." The villain continued circling the girl this time with a knife in his hands.
"Being the black sheep of the family as I know you are, you probably called in the whole Justice League to try to find me and rescue your dear daughter. I know you it least have sent that godforsaken Bat on my trail. Good thing I know how you think. You remember your Uncle Jay? (The joker) Well he owed me a favor and so kindly agreed to occupy you spandex clad friends by leaving little party favors all over Gotham, Metropolis, Budhaven, and many more cities so we can have our precious father daughter time."
So many vicious curse words and painful methods of demise came to the archer's mind as she continued watching the video. She vowed to find Abby then kill her father. Artemis was shaking violently as her father continued his threats.
"Face it Arty, You can't win, you will never win." He mused with a smirk and twirled the knife in his hands
"I'll be waiting, there's no point in telling you to come alone because you can never seem to listen, but I'll be waiting for you Arty." He growled as he turned his back to the camera and walked away, but as he passed Abby he spun around quickly and plunged his knife in the teen's shoulder. Tears streamed out of the girl's eyes as she let out an unholy agonized scream as the blade pierced her flesh. Fresh blood started oozing out of the wound and Sportsmaster's evil cackle echoed in the background. Then the screen went black.
Artemis felt like she died inside as the video replayed in her head, she didn't feel the pain or the fear. Her heart seemed like it was ripped out of her chest and now she was just numb. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as hate and anger stirred in the archer's chest. Her eyes burned with fury and her anger grew. She was going to kill him. Before anyone noticed the archer grab her bow and quiver she was out the door and storming down the hall at lightning speed. She was going to kill him for this.
The now feral archer heard people call out behind her, but she was already halfway to Med bay and she was mad. No she wasn't just mad, she was beyond anger her blood boiled with red-hot fury and her vision was tinted red as she let the homicidal rage consume her. What was left of her reason and sanity was gone. She was going to kill him for letting that monster take Abby. She ignored the shouts from heroes behind her, that didn't matter now.
….
Even Nightwing jumped as Artemis kicked down the doors of the infirmary. She was angrier than he had ever seen her before.
"YOU BASTERD!" She roared.
The archer was fuming as she pointed an arrow at Wally who was lying in bed talking to Dick. She quickly let go and knocked another arrow to send flying at the soon to be dead speedster. Luckily for Wally the arrow was knocked out of the air by a bird-a-rang
"What the hell!" Was all he said before he took off running to avoid the archer's wrath.
NIghtwing tried to reason with the furious archer.
"Artemis stop." But before he could finish he was knocked out by one of her arrows and she resumed her murderous tirade.
She was shooting a flurry of arrows at the Flash, each one almost hitting the recovering hero. Wally had no clue why he was running for his life. Then most of the league came running in to stop the murderous archer. They all piled on top of her but she managed to fight her way through in a series of punches and kicks most of the league was down for the count, she even took on Batman and two kryptonians. Nothing was going to stop the hell bent blonde from ending the speedster.
Wally thought he had caught a break for a moment as the league captured Artemis, but he was caught off guard as she fought her way through a dog pile of heroes. His few seconds to catch his breath was ended as she resumed her chase.
Artemis finally tripped Wally and pinned him on the ground with her foot and arrow aimed at his heart
"YOU BASTERD!" She shrieked
"HOW COULD YOU!" Wally flinched as she yelled at him again he was so shocked he was speechless.
"HOW COULD YOU LET THAT MONSTER TAKE MY DAUGHTER!" She continued, she really didn't care if he knew about Abby or not. The only thing that mattered was getting her home safely after she killed Wally and her father. Tears streamed out of Artemis's angry steel eyes.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED HIM! DID YOU SEE ALL THAT BLOOD? SHE COULD BE DEAD BY NOW! YOU'RE THE FREAKING FASTEST MAN ALIVE AND YOU LET HIM TAKE HER!" She screamed at the scarlet speedster his eyes were full of fear and shock. Supergirl and Conner finally managed to get up and subdue the archer. They took her bow and held her by her arms and pulled her off Wally.
"LET ME GO!" She screeched at the kryptonians then she turned to Wally who was being helped up by Batman
"YOU ASSHOLE! YOU LET HIM TAKE ABBY!" she hissed as she was bat cuffed and dragged out of the room kicking and screaming threatening Kara and Conner (with her very creative 'polite' language) as she was carted off.
…
Wally sat in a chair as the rest of the heroes got up. He would have helped them if he wasn't still recovering from shock. "Who the hell is Abby?" he thought and then he remembered the girl from earlier: Abigail Crock. He could barley make sense of what he was thinking as the pieces started falling into place. He remembered the sense of déjà vu he had every time he saw the girl, she looked so familiar almost like him maybe-but no there was no way. But then again…
Her eyes… They were almost identical to his.
Her hair… Was the same vibrant orange as his messy red locks.
Her freckeles… She had just as many or even more freckles than he did.
The speed… She shared his quick reflexes and super speed.
Artemis's daughter… The girl did look like a ginger version of Artemis
She looked to be about 15… If his math was right that would mean…
Artemis left the team 16-almost 17 years ago a few weeks after they…
Then it hit him.
"Oh. My. God." He whispered as shock hit him like a freight train and he came back into reality to see his dazed best friend sitting next to him. He put his head in his hands as he asked the inevitable question.
"Is she…? Am I…" was all he could get out.
Dick looked at the floor and let out a huge sigh and broke the news to Wally.
"Yup." He mumbled
Wally was at a loss for words as he felt betrayed.
"Why? Why didn't she tell me?"
"I truly don't know, I only found out a few hours ago." The former boy wonder confessed.
Wally was slightly peeved at his friend for hiding the truth about his own daughter from him but he was furious at Artemis. He couldn't believe she kept something this big from him for so long. He had a kid for 16 years and didn't know it. He got up and decided that he was going to give the archer a piece of his mind. Dick caught his arm as the speedster began to rush out of the room.
"Dude, where are you going?" he questioned.
"To find Artemis." He replied firmly
"Wally I don't think that's the best idea. Did you see how angry she was? It took almost 20 superheroes to just stop her from killing you, I don't think hand cuffs will stop her this time."
"Too bad, I'm angry too. Deal with it." He said darkly as he sped out of the room to the holding cells. (Or he just followed the sound of the screeching and cursing of our favorite archer)
hope you liked this chapter, he finally found out. I also should be doing a research paper right now so I expect lots of reviews for my sacrifice (please) Also I'm going to be in Hawaii next week so no updates, but lots of writing when I get back. I also have a few stories in the works that if you bug me enough about them I might make previews. Thanks for reading and also thanks to my repeat reviewers, you make my day so much better when I see reviews. Please please please click the review button below and leave your comments, predictions of future chapters, hopes, dreams, wishes, problems?, But please I'm not your therapist. Oh well. Tootles!