Chapter Ten

Artemis was up early the next morning. Her passion for training had suddenly reappeared just as Nightwing had. She had also gotten used to the early mornings. She ate a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast on her way to the gym.

Nightwing was already there, and her heart beat faster as she thought with nervous excitement about showing him all she had learned since he had seen her last. He was already warming up, and gave her an amused nod in reply to her greeting when she entered.

"Now, how far have you come since our last practice?"

"Why don't you find out?" Artemis challenged playfully.

Nightwing raised his eyebrows, but a smile set his face and he struck a fighting stance.

He made the first move, purposely making it easier for Artemis to engage. She gritted her teeth as she realized he was not planning to fight to his best ability, but plunged in anyway. She first attempted to drop- kick him, but he dodged with a back handspring- as she was expecting. She leaped and tucked into the air, nearly landing on him. He swiftly dodged, and she landed lithely on the floor next to him.

From then on the match moved in what felt like fast-motion. Artemis was fighting more with her instinct than with her mind- using what she had drilled over and over so that she didn't have to think before striking. Nightwing was defending more than attacking. He seemed surprised at her agility but was still too quick for her to get any real hits in.

He had hardly attempted to throw any of his own maneuvers into the match while also trying to dodge hers. She was growing tired, but tried to stay focused on Nightwing instead of the sweat that was threatening to drench her face. Her legs started to become heavy, but she tried to shut out the pain.

Her foot suddenly caught on the surface and she fell face-forward towards the ground. Two arms caught her midway, and she looked up to see Nightwing with a surprised look on his face, as if he hadn't expected himself to catch her.

The distraction was enough for Artemis, and quickly springing up, she round house kicked him in the chest, causing him to fall back onto the ground, then roll backwards and land on his feet.

He smiled and gave her mock applause.

"You must be a fast learner!" he complemented. Artemis couldn't help but notice that he was barely breathing hard. She, on the other hand, was sweating and panting like a dog. She tried to hide it as best she could.

"You didn't let me finish," she raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe tonight," he smiled. "If you want, I know somebody who will be there that can help you with your archery. Have you practiced since the kidnapping attempt?"

Artemis grinned sheepishly. "No, but I'd like to learn about it, if I could."

"Then come back here at 9 tonight," he informed her as she walked to where the same bow was hanging on the wall. "In the meantime, I could give you a few pointers."

She expanded the compound bow and strung an arrow to it. Aiming for the target, she looked over at Nightwing for advice.

"Elbow a little higher," he offered. "Don't look at the target, look past it."

She did so and released the arrow. It found its mark perfectly in the center of the bullseye. "Why don't you use one of these?" she asked, lowering the bow and turning to him.

"That was all you," he gestured to the arrow embedded in the target. "As for me-" pulling out a batarang, "-that's what I have these for."

With hardly a glance at the target, he flung the batarang towards it. Artemis scoffed when it hit dead center, knocking her arrow off.

"Hardly impressive," she refolded the compound bow and ignored his smirk as she placed it back on the wall.

"I admit, you're hard to please," he came up behind her and placed the arrow back onto its shelf.

A bundle of words crowded to Artemis' lips, but she forgot them when she turned around and felt the heated breath of Nightwing on her cheek. He was still reaching around her to put the arrow in its place, but moving unnecessarily slow. He stopped all together when his finger tip brushed hers, and Artemis closed her eyes and took in the smell of him and the warmth radiating from his close proximity. It made her stomach tighten and her body start to burn with nervousness. When her eyes fluttered open again, he was no longer standing in front of her.

"Nine o' clock tonight," she heard him remind her, and looked over to the door to see him exiting. She tried to call, "Okay!" But all that came out was a little croak.

oOo

At one o' clock that afternoon, Artemis was back at her father's office, running errands for him. As frustrating and time consuming as it was, she decided that if she continued the job, there was a chance she would snatch a bit of secret conversation coming from the office, or even catch a glimpse of the enemy.

She assumed, however, that if her father really didn't trust her, he would be much more careful when having secret conferences. He probably now held them all in his private unit underground. She decided that sometime she was going to investigate a way to get into it.

Her dad had asked her to return a brief case of files to his apartment office, which felt like miles away. She pushed through the crowds of people, which began to thin out as she got nearer to her home. Now just a few people were shuffling down the hall, a few ladies' heels clicking on the stone floor.

"Get out of my way," a disgusted voice ordered, and Artemis felt her ponytail being yanked, jerking her whole head backwards and against the stone wall on her right. She barely cried out, then sank to the floor, holding her bruised head for a moment. Tears stung the corners of her eyes and threatened to spill onto her cheeks, but she forced them back. Through the blurriness of her eyes, she looked up and saw Cameron pacing arrogantly down the hall.

She swallowed hard and pick herself up, dusting off her hands. It would be okay. She'd just need to avoid him at all costs from now on. But for right now, she needed ice on her head. Immediately.

Thankfully that was the last errand she had to run for the day. She sank down on the couch with an ice pack on her head and flipped the tv on, counting down the hours till her evening archery session.

oOo

Artemis walked into the gym, were a few scattered people were just finishing up their own workouts. She was a few minutes early, so she wasn't expecting Nightwing to be there. She began to stretch out and loosen up her limbs, wondering what the mysterious training session would be like.

Suddenly, her keen ears detected someone's breathing behind her. She reprimanded herself for going to the gym alone again, after what had happened last time, and prepared to jump.

Rotating quickly, she swung her leg in a smooth round house kick. When her opponent swiftly dodged it, she realized it was Nightwing. She laughed lightly, and made the mistake of letting her guard down.

In a millisecond she was on the ground, pinned by his muscular body. Trying not to let this distract her physically or mentally, she summoned all her strength to flip him over and roll to the side, back on her feet again.

She had hardly had time to recover from this when he was back at her again. Ah, she thought with satisfaction, This is more like it. He drop kicked to dislodge her firmly-planted feet, but she lithely flipped over him and tried to pin him from behind. He flipped her over easily, but she rolled out of the way again.

The next minute was a rapid fire of kicks and punches. Neither got any in, although Nightwing was still defending more than he was attacking. She noticed the small smile playing on his lips when one of her many strokes nearly caught him.

He suddenly leaped into the air and pushed off her shoulders with both hands, landing on his feet behind her. This was an unfamiliar maneuver to her, so she didn't have time to react before he had both her arms locked behind her back. She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he used his body weight to lean in and hold her fast. "Gotcha," came his voice as a husky whisper in her ear. This was possibly the most effective attack he had used so far.

She was just preparing to use the leverage she had to flip him over her shoulder, when she heard a sound coming from the other side of the gym. It was the south doors opening. Artemis glanced out of the corner of her eye, but wasn't planning to give up on Nightwing so quickly.

The plans changed however, when, to her horror, she saw that the person who had entered was her own sister, Jade, staring at the two in incredulous astonishment.

oOo

Random Justice League Fact: Nightwing never joins the Justice League until he takes up the mantle of Batman

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to writing more for your entertainment and for mine (: