*Dramatic Entrance* IM BACK! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, please don't hurt me I just got back from Hawaii this morning and I'm still suffering from sunburn and jetlag so there may be a few mistakes. Yay 100 reviews keep 'em coming. Also I posted another story check it out if you want or not I guess its your choice. Let the reading and reviewing commence!
I. Don't. Own. YJ.
Drumroll please…
Spitting Image chapter 9
Once Wally got to the holding cell he found himself face to face with a furious archer that looked broken. Green eyes against steel gray. She was still straining against her cuffs that chained her to a chair.
"Why didn't you tell me!" He yelled barley able to keep himself from vibrating through the floor he was so mad.
Artemis stopped fighting at her bonds and looked the speedster in the eye and hissed.
"Why do you think!" She spat her voice full of acid.
"I don't know what to think Artemis! I've been a father for sixteen years and you never had the guts to tell me I have a Daughter!" he shouted angrily.
"I was seventeen, I had no idea what to do when I got pregnant, I was nearly kicked off the team when you guys found out about my family. I didn't have a choice." She replied in a slightly softer tone.
"Did you think we would of thrown you on the streets, c'mon I know you know better than that Arty. Was it a matter of pride or did you think I wouldn't love our child." He ranted but was cut off by Nightwing over the intercom call them all to the hanger.
"Wally I never thought that, now if you excuse me I have to go find my daughter and go kill my father." The archer responded coldly and took off her cuffs and exited the holding cell.
Wally stared at the blonde for a moment and noticed her eyes were glazed over and her expression was pained. If he weren't so mad at her he would feel sorry for her, but he was too angry to think otherwise as he put on his scarlet cowl and sped off to the bioship.
Artemis escaped the holding cell, grabbed her confiscated weapons and also headed towards the hanger. She was fighting tears as she thought about her daughter and what her father was doing to her.
The archer looked at the screen in the hanger that Nightwing was currently standing in front of, briefing the rest of the team where Abby was and how many shadows operatives they suspected in the area. Artemis felt her breaths getting shaky as she saw the screen; her destination was Star City; that also meant that Ollie, Dinah and Roy were now involved too. Tears threatened to pour from her eyes. The rest of the team was on the Bioship and she started walking up to the red space ship, but Nightwing stopped her.
"Are you ok?" he asked looking at the sad archer with compassion
Artemis shook her head sadly and broke down, "I screwed up big time." She cried
Dick couldn't disagree but he tried to comfort his long lost weeping friend.
"Yeah…" he admitted guiltily
"I-I should have told him. I was so scared I didn't know what to do."
"…" Was all the ninja could reply
"Its all my fault, I'm the reason she's missing." The archer wailed.
"Artemis how is any of this your fault." He decided to leave out the part about not telling Wally because the blonde was already suffering enough.
"I should have told you guys, Wally especially. It's all my fault! I should have been a better mother. It's my fault she ran away in the first place." The archer was now in tears and nightwing was gazing at her in horror "I was so stupid for pretending the shadows weren't there, I should've protected her better. I was an idiot. I should've killed him when I had the chance. I'm the one to blame; if it weren't for me you guys wouldn't be putting yourselves in danger. I don't think I even deserve friends," Artemis tearfully ranted.
Dick was still staring at the dissolving archer in disbelief He set his hand on her shoulder and looked at her firmly, "Artemis" he began "It's not your fault that your father has Abby and you know it. It's not your fault she ran away either. Teenagers will be teenagers and there was nothing you could've done to stop her. Now quit blaming yourself for everything. We are your friends (A/N: well maybe not Wally right now) we will always help you, no matter what. The past is the past and there is nothing you can do about it now. Get over it! The Artemis we knew would /never/ give up. She was as stubborn as hell and never let anyone tell her what to do. Not even Batman could stop her." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath " Artemis. Can't you see what he's doing to you? He's controlling you. You're letting your emotions get the best of you. You can't do that; remember, Get traught or get dead. You need to pull yourself together. We can't do this without you. The real you, the fearless archer that let no one get in her way. The one we knew always had our backs. That was driven by determination and will power. We'll get her back, Arty. I promise. We've done it before and we can do it again. Don't let this break you; you're too strong for that. Just get traught and we'll do the rest."
The archer was silent after Nightwing's speech. She simply nodded and said
"Thanks robin."
"um it's Nightwing now" he said sheepishly as the two boarded the bioship.
Nightwing's words echoed through the archer's scull as she mentally prepared herself for the mission ahead.
The air was thick with tension as the former team journeyed to Star City. The plan was to meet up with Ollie, Roy and Dinah and then get Abby. Artemis felt pinned by the Flash's furious glare. She tried to ignore him and focus on the mission ahead but she couldn't stop herself from feeling guilty. After awhile she gave up on ignoring the icy daggers that were being glared at her so she decided to return the icy look.
As they arrived in Star City they were greeted by Ollie, Roy and Dinah. All three of them looked either angry (coughRoycoughcough) or still in shock.
"Artemis." Green Arrow muttered being the first to speak up but with a slightly mangled tone. "It-It's good to see you again." Artemis nodded curtly not being one for useless awkward small talk, especially with the situation they were in.
Roy gave the blonde a very dirty that was almost as dirty as the one Wally was giving her.
"Wow" Nightwing thought silently, "Wally's angrier than Roy, has hell frozen over?"
"Go to hell Roy." The hardened archer huffed angrily as the group made their way to the warehouse their 'target' was held hostage. (A/N so cliché) After the familiar mental connection was set, the heroes took their positions around the building while Artemis, Nightwing, Flash, Red Arrow, Canary and Zatanna snuck inside. They all spread out throughout the building waiting for orders to pounce.
Artemis's heart clenched the moment she saw her daughter gagged and bound to a chair in front of a TV, she was covered in dried blood and bruises. Abby's green eyes were wide with unimaginable horror as she watched the video of the blonde man torturing her mother. The archer shook with fury as she had to restrain her maternal instinct as she waitied for orders and pointed her bow at the homicidal excuse for a father circling the whimpering redhead tied to the chair.
"Hostage found, pursuing target." The blonde thought and waited for the go ahead.
"Pursue target." Nightwing ordered, the heroes got in position and pounced.
Then all hell broke loose.
As the six heroes headed towards their target: sportsmaster. Shadows came out from all directions. The archer could hear her father's evil laugh as she slunk through the shadows. The assassins didn't faze the vengeful mother; the only thing that mattered to her was getting to her daughter.
As she got closer Artemis saw the condition her daughter was in; Abby was covered in sweat, dried blood and dirt. The only wound that she could see that was openly bleeding was the gash on her shoulder.
'Thank God for Wally's super-healing." The archer thought as she advanced.
She was almost to her daughter, only two seconds more when she heard the click of a loaded gun pointed at Abby's head. Fear ran through the archer in an icy wave of horror. Still under the cover of darkness Artemis pulled three arrows from her quiver and drew back her bow and aimed at her father.
"If I were you, put that bow down." Taunted a voice so evil it would only belong to Lawrence Crock. He pushed the black barrel of his gun harder into his hostage's skull. Abby whimpered again as she was inches from death.
As the blonde saw fear reflect in her daughter's eyes, she knew she needed a plan. There was no was she could shoot off the rope tying her daughter to the chair and at her father before he could react. Artemis knew she needed help as peripherally glanced throughout the warehouse, unfortunately every one was busy fighting, and she needed to stall.
"No" The angry mother replied darkly and stepped out of the shadows, arrows still pointed at Sportsmaster. Abby's eyes glinted with a mixture of relief and shock as she saw her mother who also looked worse for wear with bags under her eyes. Artemis felt her blood start to boil and tasted something foul in her mouth as she came face to face with the man she hated the most.
"Well I guess some things never change, I see you still can't seem to listen to me." He taunted with a smirk.
"Let. Her. Go." The hell-bent archer demanded through gritted teeth, her voice shook with fury.
"Why?" He said maliciously "What's wrong with me spending some quality time with my granddaughter?"
If it was possible, steam would be coming out of Artemis's ears she was so livid.
"She is not your granddaughter!" the archer spat. Sportsmaster cocked his head to the side mocking deep thought.
"Well.." he drew out "I'm your father. You're my daughter, and this little brat is your daughter. So that makes this twerp my granddaughter." He stated educationally
Then Artemis lost it.
"You were never my Father! Fathers don't beat their daughters until they bleed, Fathers don't try to turn their six year old daughters into killing machines, Fathers don't literally throw their daughters to the wolves to toughen them up, Fathers don't break their wife's spine then leave them for dead, Fathers don't try make their daughters kill their best friend, Fathers don't give their daughter's permanent scars. Fathers actually love their daughters. You might be my sperm donor, but you were never ever my father and you never will be!" Artemis shouted as her vision tinted red and her palms burned.
She saw Sportsmaster's smirk grow wider as he continued to rant. She didn't listen to what he had to say, it didn't matter to her. Instead she concentrated on contacting some one through the mental link to help her. Out of the corner of her eye the blonde saw a blur of red and knew what she had to do.
"Flash, I need your help." The archer thought rather panicked
"What do you want?" he replied still rater angry
Artemis mentally flashed him her plan, still concentrating on the standoff.
"Ok." He agreed in a much softer serious tone. Artemis acknowledged him and then tried to contact M'gann.
"M'gann, I found her. I need you to link her up." The archer had to talk to her daughter.
She noticed her father was still talking, Lawrence Crock wasn't much of a talker, but when it came to ridiculing his daughter he was a chatterbox.
"I'll try Artemis." The martian's voice sounded distant and weak.
Finally Miss Martian managed to link up Abby the archer had her chance.
"Abby, I need you to listen to me." She started. The teen's eyes widened with alarm and she thought she was hearing things.
"M-mom? Why do I hear you speaking in my head?" Abby wondered
"Abby, Listen! There's no time to explain. I need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say. Once you're free I need you to run. Run as fast as you can and get as far away as possible. I love yo-" but then the connection was cut off, M'gann's scream and an explosion could be faintly heard in the distance. Artemis stared at her daughter and hoped her message got through.
Without a mental link to signal Wally, the archer just yelled, "Flash, Now!"
A blur of red came and grabbed the chair with Abby in it milliseconds before Artemis fired off her three deadly razor sharp arrows at her father. The villain swiftly blocked the three projectiles and charged at his daughter dodging any other arrow being shot at him. As he lunged for her she blocked a few punches and kicks, landed and uppercut to his jaw, but was caught in his deadly left hook and fell to the ground. Artemis was dazed for a moment as the blood gushed from her nose but then she got back up and continued to fight.
The Flash was frantically trying to get the impossibly tough ropes off of the girl as quickly as possible. Seconds after he finally gets the last bind off of Abby he turned to see Sportsmaster throw Artemis on the ground, The archer spat blood in the man's face and then he lifted his boot over her head. The speedster muttered something like 'stay here' to the girl and raced over to knock 'father of the year' off an unconscious Artemis.
Artemis came to and saw Wally fighting her father. As she pulled herself to her feet, Flash was thrown into the wall. The archer was about to lunge at Sportsmaster when she heard the deadly click. Lawrence had pointed his gun at a frozen Abby.
"Artemis when will you realize there are consequences for your actions." He said ruthlessly and pulled the trigger.
"NO!"
It was if time slowed down as Artemis saw the bullet exit the barrel and towards Abby. With speed that rivaled Wally's, Artemis ran and jumped in front of the bullet meant for her daughter.
The bullet tore through the archer's side as she collided with it in midair. She let out a piercing shriek and crumpled to the ground. Hot red blood was gushing out of the hole in her midriff, staining the dark green fabric crimson and a rusty smell filled the air. Artemis looked at her daughter gaping in distraught feet away.
"Run." She coughed out with blood.
Abby did as she was told and ran.
Artemis sank down as the darkness consumed her. There was a bright flash of light and she saw the face of her mother, Abby, Wally and other loved ones as her life flashed before her eyes until she was swallowed up by eternal darkness and then nothing.
Mwahahahah I know I'm very evil for making it another plot twist and then a cliffy, but it had to be done. I will try to update again tomorrow if I get enough review to satisfy my perfectionist need to get better. Please I beg you, Review Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease. Just do it you know you want to. I'll accept almost anything. Just click the blue button and review, rant, whatever. Just do it, do it for the children...
Tootles!
(Ps. REVIEW! Please. I begith thee)