Chapter 5 is dedicated to COLORFUL BOOKWORM because I LOVE my reviewers and she was the first! Anywho, on to the chapter!
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"You've got to be kidding me!"
Artemis was incredulous. She was sure Nightwing never would have thought this was what he was getting her into.
"Come on, girl! No one can see you," Raquel prodded. "And besides, we're getting in too."
She could hear them taking off their clothes, and Artemis cringed as she felt Zatanna prod her arm. "Come on, little Arty," she cooed. "Clothes off."
Trying to ignore that she was giving into what she considered negative peer pressure, she hesitantly slid off her tank top and shorts. She shivered in her underwear. "You get in first."
"No way," Raquel protested. "You're the newbie."
Artemis rolled her eyes and felt her way over to the edge of the pool. Dipping her toe in to test the temperature, she shivered again, praying that no early morning lap swimmers would pick this morning to come in. She sat down on the edge of the pool and lowered herself into it.
The water felt warm, almost silky smooth. She immediately removed her underwear and dunked her head under the surface. The water saturated her hair, gracefully flowing behind her as she swayed to one side and emerged. When her head popped back up, she splashed in the general direction of the two others and called, "Alright, I'm in. Your turn bitches."
"Feisty," Zatanna's silky voice floated across the water, and a moment later a huge splash, sending waves over Artemis' head, told her she had entered the water. Another splash followed, signaling Raquel's entry.
"Ooh, doesn't it feel good?" Raquel dove under and emerged again with a smile.
"I guess it kind of does," Artemis admitted.
"That's it," Zatanna encouraged. "We'll make sure you never miss your life as a sheltered daddy's girl."
"A what?!"
"Never mind." The girl disappeared under the water again.
"Hmph," Artemis mumbled. "Just what did she mean by that?"
"Let's just say that she and Nightwing are pretty tight," Raquel explained.
Artemis nearly blanched. "Oh."
Did he really call her that? No, he couldn't have. What did she mean by "tight"? Artemis fumed in consternation. What had caused her to have even the slightest inclination that Nightwing was disposed particularly to her own favor? She didn't dare ask any of these questions to her companions, however, for the sake of already feeling to far humiliated as to imply she had any one-sided attachment to him in the first place.
"So, what got you interested in training?" Raquel drew Artemis out of her thoughts and rested her elbows on the side of the pool. "Oh, well, actually..." her mind raced to think of a legitimate reason other than the fact that Nightwing had suggested it and she would follow whatever he said to the end of her days. "I just thought it would be important, you know, while living in the Shadows."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Raquel contemplated. "Zatanna and I are training to become members some day. Her dad and my mentor are both already members." She paused, and then asked, "What about your daddy? Is he helping you train?"
"Um, actually, no," Artemis quickly explained. "He's kind of not supposed to know I'm training."
"Ooh, aren't you the little rebel," she smiled.
Artemis thought about adding that she also wasn't supposed to be talking to them, or even be outside their apartment on top of it all, but quickly changed her mind. Suddenly, two hands gripped her shoulders, and she had just enough time to utter, "Fuck!" before being dunked below the surface. The grip was released almost instantly, however, and Artemis broke surface to see that Zatanna was laughing along with Raquel.
All three froze simultaneously when the bright lights in the ceiling shone blindingly on them.
"Shit! Someone's coming!" Zatanna and Raquel, like lithe gazels, leapt out of the pool and sprinted for the locker room. Artemis was slower, pulling herself from the water and taking care to quickly grab a towel and wrap it around herself.
She slammed the door behind them and they all looked at each other, panting, eyes wide with excitement.
Raquel burst out laughing and Zatanna smirked. "I think that made a pretty good first lesson."
Artemis just rolled her eyes and threw her towel at Zatanna. "Put some clothes on," she simpered before getting in a shower.
oOo
The rest of the week revealed no other obscure training sessions, and Artemis found herself actually learning quite a bit from her substitute mentors. But although they had become fast friends and had gotten into more than their share of mischief, she couldn't help missing her first mentor.
Her dad had her running a lot of errands for him on a set schedule. She was told to come to his office at one o' clock each afternoon so she could run packages and odds and ends between he and a few other offices. Something as small as this made her afraid that her father had become suspicious of her secret training. He had plenty of others who could do these simple tasks for him, yet he chose her, possibly to keep her busy.
For her, these errands were more than just boring and tiresome. She also had to confront Cameron on several occasions, which did not make anything better. She tried to ignore him mostly, and hoped that soon he'd forget about her. More than once she had considered using her new martial arts techniques on him, but realized they probably were not yet polished enough to reveal. That, and her dad would kill her if he found out about them.
She was hardly ever able to converse with her two new friends during the day, for fear that someone would see and inform her dad. But there was no time when she was more happy than when she was with them. She was constantly learning about what it was like to be in the League of Shadows; about their latest and upcoming missions, their training, simulations, and whole lifestyle.
Recently a gang of hijackers had been stealing weapons being transported over seas. The Shadows had been called in to investigate and put the hijackers out of commission. And it was because Artemis knew this that she was struck by a conversation she over heard while running errands for her father.
She had just finished delivering yet another package to the top floor, a floor holding cubicles for the Shadows' tech experts. She was about to reenter her father's office when she heard voices coming from inside. She stopped to wait for the discussion to end, when her ear caught fragments of what they were saying.
"What do you mean you can't do it?" a voice with a heavy accent interrogated. "It is the only way you'll complete this mission and further the objective for pure streets."
"I'm telling you, some board members are strongly opposed to doing anything unethical to help our means. They're already getting suspicious of that last job we pulled." This voice, to Artemis' consternation, was her father's.
"Well get on it right away," the other replied coarsely. "This isn't about the law or money-"
"-Though money is good-" Sportsmaster added.
"But it is about cleaning the city of it's impurities, and eventually the world."
Artemis was sure she had never heard the voice before. It wasn't someone who was on the board. She kept listening as the speaker continued.
"The Shadows cannot reach their potential with a cowardly leader, and if you don't satisfy our means, I will not hesitate to replace you."
"Now that I've gotten rid of Little Boy Blue for a few weeks at least," Lawrence Crock now spoke again. "You won't be sorry."
"See that I won't."
Silence followed this sentence, and Artemis wondered what was happening. She decided now would be the best time to make her presence known.
Her knocks were answered by her father, who told her to come in. When she opened the heavy oak door, she tried to look as though she hadn't heard a thing, but couldn't help but notice that her father was alone in the room.
"Here," she tossed him the package she had received from whoever worked in Cubicle 3.
He caught it with out looking at her and finished scrawling on some papers. His mind seemed else where, and Artemis could tell he felt exasperated.
"Anything else?" she asked, waiting patiently while he worked.
"Um," he looked around, seemingly trying to find something else to keep her busy with. "No, no I don't think so."
She began to leave the room, waiting to hear her dad to repeat all the rules he'd reminded her of hundreds of times, but all he distractedly parted with was, "Be a good girl."
Artemis was glad to leave the room, disturbed by the conversation she had overheard. Her father was in trouble; she could tell that much. He was afraid of who ever it was he had been talking to, and it sounded like he had good reason to be.
What she was most worried about was the words she had heard them use. "The last job we pulled" kept ringing in her ears and she turned the conversation over in her mind. She was frightened by the idea that someone, possibly her own father, had introduced a corrupt way of going about their business, maybe even something illegal for themselves.
And to think that he had purposely sent Nightwing away so that he wouldn't be there to interfere! The fragments were all fitting into place, shaping a terrifying picture.
Her father was a criminal.
oOo
EEK! Well, this is no surprise to you, of course.
Anyway, I feel it is necessary to leave an author's note, since I'm an author, but I don't know what to say, so I'll say, as all others say, please take just a few moments to tell me what you thought!
Justice League Fact: Earth-3 is home to an evil Justice League called the Crime Syndicate of America. On this world, Columbus discovered Europe, Britain declared it's independence from America, and President John Wilkes Booth was assassinated by Abraham Lincoln.