Author's Note: Ahh sorry this was supposed to be up yesterday but the document manager wasn't letting me upload it. Luck number thirteen anyone? I mean wow my fic is finally a teenager! Lol sorry but I'm so excited (: I've really been dishing out these chapters huh? To be honest, it's because I'm waiting for my computer be taken away (I got a D on my math final and it totally screwed my grades). Sooo I'm trying to get as many chapters up as I can. I hope you enjoy!

To PockymunchingGod: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. Haha again I couldn't pm you so I have to respond here :p Don't feel bad about missing the reviews on the last chapters haha I have put them out quite quickly. Thanks for the reading and reviewing as always!

Chapter Thirteen: Darkness

Remy heard the familiar beeping of her alarm clock ringing in her ears. The room was in total darkness—thank God for window shutters—as she rolled over onto her stomach, smacking her hand down on the snooze button.

"Time to get up, Remy," a dark, stoic voice said not a moment later.

Remy jumped, immediately going for the knife she kept under her pillow. She relaxed once she saw who it was. "Oh, Batman. It's you."

"We need to talk," he said, opening up the blinds. Remy shielded her eyes from the rising sunlight. "Get dressed."

"Well good morning to you too," she sneered, hopping out of bed as the Dark Knight walked into her living room. Reluctantly, she stumbled to her dresser and threw on a pair of jeans and tank top.

Remy wondered what on earth Batman was doing here so early. Between Ares and Batman and Red Arrow, she was starting to get annoyed that people just kept on barging into her apartment. I'd better change the locks, Remy thought. Not that it would ever keep someone like Batman out, but it would help her peace of mind.

These days, Remy wasn't sure if she was even sane anymore. They did say that insanity ran in the family… and she had killed four people last night. That wasn't even a dent in her total body count. Remy was, by definition, a serial killer. A psychotic one too, probably, just like Ares.

"Now, Remy," Batman growled from the other side of her bedroom door.

Remy took a deep breath and walked in to the other room, surprised to find that Artemis was sitting at her breakfast nook, a file folder in her hands.

"What is she doing here?" Remy asked, narrowing her eyes at Batman. She and Artemis had always been on rather rocky terms, teetering on the edge of civility and an all-out fist fight. This early in the morning, finding Batman and the blonde archer in her kitchen was not a welcome sight.

"She is here to save your ass," Artemis sneered. "You could stand to be a little more grateful."

"You've got to be kidding me with this," Remy scoffed, looking from Batman to Artemis. "Listen blondie, the only possible way you could help me is by getting out. Now."

Artemis jumped to her feet, waving her clenched fist in the air. "You're such a bitch. Do you know what—"

"Calm down," Batman ordered, looking at the both of them. "Sit. Both of you."

Remy huffed, clenching her fists and took a seat at her dining room table, far away from Artemis. The two shot glares at each other as Batman took a seat on Remy's living room couch. It was strange to see him this way, in his full crime-fighting garb, in her living room while she and Artemis were both in civvies.

"It's come to my attention, Remy," Batman said, turning towards her, "that you murdered four people in the park two nights ago."

Remy started. "I—How did you know that? Ares said—"

"They stuck you with Ares?" Artemis raised her eyebrows and scoffed. "That guy's a total dick."

"You know—" Remy was cut off by the dark knight.

"I've been having you tailed for quite some time now," Batman said flatly.

Remy glared at him. "Because you don't trust me?"

"Yes," he stated simply. "I took a risk putting you on the team and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the reward. So far, you haven't been able to offer us any useful information."

"Because they don't tell me anything!" Remy snapped. "I'm just there weapon, a tool that they use to kill people."

"You're definitely a tool," Artemis muttered.

Red hot anger boiled underneath Remy's skin, ready to completely explode. Remy started to her feet. "I swear to God, I will smear the walls with you, bitch!"

"Bring it on," Artemis taunted. "I'm sure you'd enjoy killing me. Like you killed those innocent bystanders."

"That's enough!" Batman barked. "You two are teammates! And you've got a lot more in common than you think."

Remy nodded. "Oh, I know. Blondie over there is the other Shadow's operative."

"You already knew?" Batman raised his eyebrows as Artemis blanched.

Remy scoffed, walking over to the breakfast nook. She leaned down onto her forearm studying Artemis' pale face. "Of course I did. Do you think I'm stupid?"

She considered telling Batman that Artemis was feeding most of the team's most necessary information to the Shadows, but thought better of it. She could store that away for later as potential blackmail.

"If you think you can kill four people and get away with it, then yes," Batman said flatly. "If someone were to find out that you're working for the League and you killed those people, it would reflect badly on us. We do not need to deal with the press firestorm and the public outrage right now."

"What was I supposed to do?" Remy demanded. "Ares broke into my apartment, cornered me and threatened to cancel me if I didn't." Batman stayed silent as waited for Remy to finish. "He told me the Shadows weren't happy with me. Said I hadn't given them anything and that they were going to pull the plug."

"I had to do it," Remy said quietly. "They're going to kill me if I don't come up with something."

Batman rubbed his chin, thinking on this for a moment, before pulling a thumb drive out of his utility belt. "Luckily I planned for this. Give Ares the information on a 'top secret'—by this I mean closed down—Justice League facility in the Brazil. I'll make sure there's something for him to find."

Remy blew out a breath, taking the thumb drive from him. "Thank you then."

"Next time this happens," Batman said flatly. "You call, before you go on a shooting rampage!"

"Fine," Remy muttered. "I'll figure it out."

"Good," the dark knight nodded. "Now onto business."

Remy blanched. "Sorry? That wasn't business?"

"Nope," Artemis smiled grimly. "You and me get to go on a mission together. It's going to be so much fun, don't you think?"

"Cut the attitude, Artemis," Batman growled.

"I am not going on a mission with her!" Remy snapped.

"Oh like you're little miss sunshine!" Artemis countered.

"For the last time," Batman thundered, "that's enough." Remy and Artemis quieted down, staring at the dark knight challengingly.

"I'm sending you two to Bhutan," he continued, seeing that the two teenagers had shut up. "Artemis has promised that she can get both of you into the headquarters at Ghankar Puensum."

"You mean like the main headquarters of the League of Shadows?" Remy asked, turning to Artemis. The blonde nodded and Remy let out a low whistle. "How are you going to finagle that?"

"I have connections," Artemis said smugly. "Trust me we'll get in. And that should make your life a ton easier. Ares will lay off once we get back."

Remy nodded, unsure of what she meant by that. She glanced at Batman. "What's the point of this mission exactly? Recon?"

"You'll be inducted as a full member to the League of Shadows," Batman said, his voice hollow, "as will Artemis. The both of you should finally be given top level clearance. What exactly that means, none of us our sure."

"Wait a second," Remy held up a hand, looking at Artemis. "If you're not a full member than how are you feeding the JLA info about the Shadows?"

"Like I said, I have connections," Artemis smirked, glancing down her nose at Remy. "I am the only reason we were even sponsored for membership this early. It's highly rare that we would be given the opportunity to become full members this early on."

Remy had to physically fight the urge to slap that smug expression off of her face.

Batman wandered dangerously close to Remy, forcing her to take a step back. He stared at her, studied her before doing the same to Artemis.

"You two don't have to like each other," Batman said flatly, "but you're hands down the most skilled members of the team. You may not be friends, but you're comrades." Batman stepped away from both of them, heading for the window. He opened up the window and stepped out onto the balcony.

Pausing, he turned back and faced the girls. "Once you reach Bhutan, I won't be able to help you. If you're ever in doubt, trust each other."

Remy sat there silent as Batman disappeared into the gradually rising sun. Always so dramatic.

She walked over and shut the window, locking it firmly in place. Turning around, she saw that Artemis had already gotten to her feet, clearly deciding she'd had enough of Remy's apartment.

"I should probably head out," she said gruffly. She waved the file folder Remy had seen earlier and set it down on the breakfast nook. "That's your flight information and a general rundown of what to expect when we get to Bhutan. I'll meet you at JFK tomorrow morning."

"Of course," Remy said curtly, "see you."

Artemis nodded and simply walked out the front door, her hands awkwardly stuffed into her jacket pockets. She secretly wondered how the girl was going to get home, but then remembered she was Green Arrow's protégé and as such, she also had access to the League transporter in Star City.

Remy sighed as she locked the door behind the archer. She walked over and flopped down onto her couch.

Batman had told them to trust each other. But how could she do that when she wasn't even sure if Artemis really was a good guy or if she was just pretending to be a double agent, but was really working for the Shadows? Then again, if Artemis was thinking the exact same thing about Remy, Artemis could be pretending to pretend that she's a double agent that was really working for the shadows to bait Remy into showing off her "true colors."

Remy sighed, rubbing her temples. This line of thinking was starting to make her head hurt.

She rapped on the door three times, silently praying to whatever God there was, that this would be as painless as possible.

A few seconds later, a sleepy Roy Harper opened the door, wearing nothing but his boxers and a black t-shirt. "Well hello there, Miss Remy."

"Nice outfit," Remy smirked. "I see you're rocking the "just rolled out of bed" look at—" Remy checked the time, "—three in the afternoon."

Roy grinned and opened up the door, gesturing for Remy to go in.

"I'll stay out here, thanks," Remy said, recalling the last time she had gone into Roy's apartment. "I actually just came to ask for a quick favor."

"Did you now?" Roy waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "It is goanna cost you."

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask," Remy protested.

"Yeah but you already owe me for the ride the other day," he smirked.

"He couldn't have just taken the gas money." Remy sighed, nodding reluctantly. "Look I'm heading out of town and I just need someone to check in on the apartment once a day and water my bamboo tree. Think you can handle it?"

Roy seemed to think about this for a moment. "Sure. Where you headed?"

"Asia," Remy stated vaguely.

"Whereabouts?" Roy pressed.

"Southern Asia. Bhutan," she clarified, deciding there was no harm in telling Roy where she was going. "I'm not sure how long I'll be gone but I'll try and let you know when I'm coming back. My cell number is on the fridge if you need to call."

Remy dropped her house key into his hand and turned to leave but stopped as Roy brought his hand down on her shoulder. "Hey you still owe me."

Remy tapped her foot impatiently. "What is it that you want?"

"Dinner tonight at seven?" Roy smiled smugly. "I know this—"

"Can't," Remy rolled her eyes. "I have to get to Gotham tonight. My flight leaves tomorrow and I've got to finish packing. When I get back, however, fine. Dinner it is." Truthfully, she had to meet Ares for an early dinner to discuss her upcoming trip.

"I'll hold you to it, Remy," he warned, grinning lasciviously.

"Oh believe me, I know," Remy muttered turning on her heel, leaving a grinning Roy behind her.

"I am impressed Remy," Ares murmured, seated across from her. "You and Artemis are making the journey to Bhutan to become full-fledged members. It came as a shock to me when I heard you were being sponsored for membership this early."

"I still don't trust her," Remy muttered, breaking off a piece of bread from the basket. "She said she had connections to the Shadows which is why she's—I don't know—seemingly more important than I am."

"Artemis is a—" Ares struggled for the right word. "She's in a precarious position within the Shadows."

"Well?" Remy raised her eyebrows. "Explain."

"You'll discover the truth soon enough," Ares mused. "The journey one takes to become a full-fledged Shadow is one of enlightenment." Seeing Remy's irritated expression he rolled his eyes. "The best advice I can give you is not to trust anyone when you reach Bhutan."

"Even Artemis," Remy clarified, "who just a few nights ago, you said I should look to as an example."

"The man who sponsored yourself and Artemis for membership will favor her strongly over you," Ares explained. "Artemis has been in league with your sponsor for a very long time." He paused, sipping his water before studying her closely. "The other Shadows are not to be trusted. They'll recognize as you an initiate and seek to influence the outcome of your trials."

"Well this is both very cryptic and helpful," Remy sneered. "Any other wise words you'd like to leave me with?"

Ares shook his head, a small smile on his handsome face. "None except for good luck."