YJ- A Shot in the Dark (part 14)
The sound of the gun resonated in her head, loud and jarring, as she watched Oliver fall backward to the cement.
"No!" she screamed again, her throat feeling as though the word was tearing it to pieces, and kicked out with the leg still tied to the chair. The metal structure collided with the back of Deathstroke's knee, sending the assassin hard into the ground a few feet away and his gun went flying. Then she awkwardly scrambled forward, her chair sort of trailing along with her and pulling painfully on her ankle, too her mentor's side.
"Ollie?" she called, her hands shaking as she tried to pull at him but her limbs screamed in protest. "Ollie-Please!"
A groan answered her. And suddenly the emerald archer was moving. Curling to sit up with a grimace. "Body armor," he muttered. "Bullet still had a bite."
She almost started laughing again. But there wasn't time.
"Get down!" Oliver barked, guiding her out of the way with his hand even as his legs moved, swinging into Slade's legs and effectively halting a new attack. "Get out, Art," he ordered, getting up to a crouch before launching himself at the assassin. "I can handle this."
Artemis adamantly shook her head, which made her mildly dizzy. There was no way she was going to leave him alone with the psycho. And she had her own score against Slade. She was about to say so, glaring at the battle going on between the two skilled fighters, when a familiar rush of wind came. Then dizzying sensation hit her, forcing her to close her eyes.
When she opened them again seconds later, she found herself freed from the chair and sitting in something of a hallway, fighting down the urge to revisit what little her stomach still held. But she couldn't stop the way her heart fluttered. That escape, it could only mean one thing.
Wally.
He was still alive! Dick must be, too. Deathstroke had failed. And he would continue to fail, if Artemis had anything to say about it.
Taking a few breaths, Artemis spotted a door several feet away. The fight had to be going on through there. Which meant Wally was through there. He was so close. Fighting for her. For them. And that was one fight she couldn't let him fight alone.
Getting up was something of an issue. With scrapes and bruising being among her lesser injuries, using the wall to help her get up to her feet felt almost impossible. But she'd done the impossible before and, ignoring stabbing pain that shot up her leg as well as the fluid sounds that came with each breath, she made her way back to the door.
. -. -.
Wally probably could have caused a spontaneous combustion when he found the vehicle hanger a few seconds after leaving Nightwing behind. As it was he'd had to pull his hand back from the door frame after he'd kicked the door open just to keep from screwing up its molecular structure at seeing the scene waiting for him.
Green Arrow was down. Artemis, with bits of duck tape still attached and looking so much worse than a few hours ago, had struck out at her own captor with a metal chair. A chair which followed her as she dropped to her knees beside GA. For a split second Wally was terrified that he'd only managed to catch her last moments.
He'd never been so relieved to hear her cry Oliver's name. He let out an unconscious breath as Arrow let out a groan and responded to her. They were both alive. Good.
"Get down!"
Wally was jolted from his shock, his attention honing in on Deathstroke as Green Arrow tried to protect Artemis by throwing himself at the assassin.
"Get out, Art. I can handle this!"
He didn't need any more invitation. In the next seconds he was with her, carefully scooping her up in the slowed time-stream as best he could without agitating things... Well, at least not more than he had to.
As her eyes closed, possibly from the wind he'd brought with him, Wally took the opportunity to run her out of harm's way. Hiding her away in the hall and kissing her forehead gently before he sped back. Rage building inside him with each nanosecond.
Green Arrow was about to make friends with the cement when Wally sped back in and the speedster quickly pulled the elder hero off course. Setting him down a foot or so away from where he'd been heading, Wally came to a halt on Deathstroke's far side. Whoever Slade chose to face first, Wally was going to make darn sure he couldn't get out of the room.
Slade looked from one hero to the other, giving into a low chuckle. "You think the two of you can stop me?" he sneered. "I've beaten one of you before. And I'm one of the few who could take your predecessor."
"Possibly," Green Arrow consented for the both of them from behind his bow, his arrow trained on the assassin. "But that isn't now."
Again Deathstroke chuckled, in a way that made the hairs stand up on the back of Wally's neck. "Who am I to stop an idiot from challenging me?"
Knowing he was falling to the goading, Wally charged.
. -. -.
It took longer than Dick would've liked to get back on his feet. At least five minutes after Flash left him, he was still trying to make his body remember how to breathe and quell the ringing in his ears. But, since he didn't really have the time to sit there, he'd at least gotten back enough motor-function to convince his legs to carry him down the hall. And, as he was a Bat, staggering turned to walking and a few steps later he was running.
All the while sending out messages to Batman and his team.
"Bats! Trouble, old Luthor plant," he barked into the comm. "East of Kents."
He couldn't tell if there was a response, though he might have been able to make out some static. Well, at least his hearing was coming back. Though now he was cursing Flash for his super speed. And the fact that the scarlet speedster hadn't left some sort of trail for him.
For being a hidden section of the compound, there were way too many hallways. It was bordering ridiculous when he got to his fourth hallway. By the fifth turn, and swearing that he was going to simply level the place if he didn't find some form of life soon, Dick couldn't help sighing with relief to see an open door. With light falling into the hall. And...
Fighting, he thought with a grim smile. Flash had started without him. Hopefully some form of backup had gotten in there with him.
Almost in answer to the thought, an arrow imbedded itself in the door as Dick made it close enough to hear the angry warfare happening inside. No gunfire, though. That was a good sign. If he was sure of anything, Dick knew that Slade Wilson was a marksman above practically everyone he knew. Facing him when he had his guns was asking for death.
He paused only a second, pulling free a wing-ding and a gas pellet or two, before he rounded the doorframe. And he nearly dropped them in surprise.
Not because of the battle. Flash and Green Arrow were holding up pretty well against the assassin. Actually, they were working so well as a team, Dick probably would've been surprised that they'd maybe only been on two missions together before this.
What had drawn his gaze almost instantly was the familiar form not five feet away. Even though the long locks weren't blonde like he remembered from his youth and dreams, the mildly course texture was visible even from where he stood and could only be one person.
"Artemis," he breathed, his heart fluttering with panic at the sight.
She was in bad shape. And, considering all the times he'd helped her out both in civvies as well as in uniform, that was saying something. Her clothes were tattered and stained with dark splotches, some which still glistened in the light. She was holding her right arm strangely and putting weight on her left leg looked like it was a bad idea, not that her right was much better.
What's she doing?! He frowned as she sagged against one of the support pillars that created a promenade around the room.
The answer was painfully obvious and it made his stomach go sour.
Refusing to let her further into the fight than he had to, Dick leapt forward. "Artemis," he called, hoping his voice was soft enough as he reached her side. "Artemis? You're gonna be okay."
She looked up at him and his heart might as well have fallen into his stomach. However bad she'd seemed from behind had tripled now that he could see her up close. Split lip, bruises, a black-eye that was still swollen, and smaller cuts that he couldn't even begin to count greeted him as her storm-grey eyes searched his face.
"Nigh'win," she sighed, her voice sounding too faint to his ears.
"Help's coming, okay?" he promised, trying to be gentle as he ran his free hand over her hair. "Just stay here."
Her gaze may have been a little disoriented before, but those eyes sharpened slightly with distaste at the command. Dick couldn't help smirking. There's Artemis.
"Please," he begged. "Just let me protect you this once."
She wasn't relenting. In fact, it looked more like she was coming back to her senses faster. Along with her stubbornness.
There wasn't time to argue as yet another arrow soared passed their heads.
Both Dick and Artemis looked from where the arrow ricocheted off a floor-running heater (before puncturing one of the large pipes far above) to the scene of Green Arrow landing hard on his shoulder as he took a painful hit. Flash was landing a few blows. But... something was off. Even though the speedster was still moving faster than any human, they could see him when he was in close to Slade instead of just a faint hue of color in the air.
"Please," Dick begged again, drawing Artemis' attention back to him. "Just... at least don't get worse. Okay?"
She stared at him for a moment, but a steely understanding entered her eyes. She probably would've made a bargain with him, leveled a threat that she'd step in if he was in trouble-this was Artemis, after all. But it made Dick more relieved than he could say to see her nod, saying that she'd stay on the side of caution.
For now, at least.
Giving her a nod of thanks, Dick turned back to the battle and was already half way across the floor when Flash went down from electrical shock. Dick responded with a blow to the back of Slade's head as he leapt past, his truncheon effectively cracking the two-toned helmet and bringing the assassin's gaze to him. Dick returned the glare from his landing crouch and flung the wing-ding at the orange and black target. Quickly brandishing his sword, Slade blocked it from hitting him in the throat. Routing the flying disc's trajectory towards his arm instead, where it cleanly left a cut just below the shoulder.
Behind the mask, Deathstroke chuckled. "Richard," he drawled, sounding as though he was at a Christmas party instead of trying to kill those around him. "I'm happy to see you've managed to survive again."
"I'm sure," Dick grunted as he moved to block the attack. Slade crashed into him anyway.
"Oh, but I am, Richard," Slade insisted through their locked weapons. "More than you could imagine."
Dick rammed his knee into the older man's stomach, loosening the lock on the assassin's sword had with his eskrima sticks and giving him enough room to twist into a kick that could send the older man a ground several feet away from him. That feeling he'd had while trapped with Flash, hearing Deathstroke's taunts and lewd insinuations, was back full force and Dick was almost amazed that he could keep the bile down. But he didn't get along to fight the nausea.
With an agile flip, Slade was back on his feet and Dick didn't even have to see the man's face to know the crude smile was there. "Good, Richard," the assassin cooed, stalking closer as he drew a second blade. "Very good... but you don't want to make me too angry. That won't bode well for you later."
"Back off, Psycho," Flash growled, appearing between them with a glare that would've pleased Batman to see.
Slade wasn't affected, in fact he started laughing again. "Or you'll make me?" he offered with a sneer. "When you can't accelerate enough to hurt me? Or escape me hurting you?"
Flash tensed.
"Oh yes," Slade teased. "I know more than most about your particular meta gene. And if particle acceleration made you speedsters what you are, a particle nullification can stop you just as fast."
The assassin held up his hand, revealing a small black band holding an electronic box across his palm.
"Come and try it, blur boy."
. -. -.
Artemis wasn't really sure how she'd made it so far. Once she'd finally made it back to the door, she'd only rested for a moment before pushing forward again. Amazingly, she'd made it across the open space to one of the support pillars, not far from the over-turned weapons table, when the dark bursts appeared in front of her eyes. Well that's new, her mind remarked at her. And not good.
Right now, though, she didn't care. All she wanted was to get to Wally. After that... well, she'd rather not think about the obvious.
"Artemis! Artemis?"
Too tired to be startled and too injured to wince, Artemis forced herself to lift her gaze until she found the domino mask staring down at her. Even not seeing those memorable blue orbs, his expression told her enough. She looked just as bad as she felt.
He said something else that she couldn't quite make out. When did that thudding sound come into her head? A crash from the nearby battle brought back all the reasons this particular hero being here was not good.
"Nigh'win," she breathed. She needed him to get out of here. Slade had plans for him. Bad plans. Worse than any her own father had ever made for her or Jade.
"Help's coming, okay?" he promised, faintly running a hand over her hair. "Just stay here."
She wanted to kick him. You moron, she wished she could scream at him through her thoughts. Like hell I'll sit here while you, Ollie, and Wally get yourselves killed!
"Please," he begged. "Just let me protect you this once."
Like hell, her thoughts growled again. Your version of protection comes down to self-sacrificing and that doesn't work for me.
A arrow sliced through the air above their heads.
She'd only just barely been able to follow the rogue projectile when she heard her mentor's cry of pain and turned to see Oliver take a jarring blow that made him slam into the floor. Her own imagination must have made the sound of his shoulder dislocating reach her ears. There was no way the sound could've been that loud right?
"Please," Dick's voice pulled her back again. "Just... at least don't get worse. Okay?"
She stared at him for a moment. How could she possibly get worse? And it wasn't as though Nightwing looked any better. She wanted to threaten him-tell him that if he didn't hurry it up, she was going over there herself. That he'd better stay alive so she could be the one to beat him for being an idiot. Wally, too, for that matter. And Oliver, though the archer's shoulder seemed to be the last straw for his consciousness.
Nightwing practically smiled at her, and it took her a minute to realize she'd consented. By that point the grown boy wonder had charged off into the fray. And all she could do was watch as he took on the deadliest man she'd ever met.
Or, well, she tried to watch, but deciding to get closer to standing made her close her eyes against the pain. By time she opened them again, panting with the effort, Deathstroke wasn't far away but he was stalking towards Nightwing with his swords drawn.
She couldn't make out what was being said, but since Wally suddenly placed herself between them she knew it couldn't be good.
"Oh yes," Slade's voice suddenly registered loud and clear. "I know more than most about your particular meta gene. And if particle acceleration made you speedsters what you are, a particle nullification can stop you just as fast."
The assassin held up his hand, showing the boys something in his hand. Artemis glared.
"Come and try it, blur boy."
That made her blood boil. But that was nothing compared to what happened next.
"Me first!"
Oliver was awake-and moving! Taking Deathstroke off guard as he attacked whatever was attached to the man's hand. For the briefest of seconds Artemis thought her mentor's plan had been perfect. Until the scuffle that followed ended with Oliver in a choke-hold with a knife against his neck.
"You always were too impulsive to be smart," Slade sneered, clearly irritated by the shift in ground as he pressed hard enough to draw a choked sound from the emerald archer. "No wonder you picked a girl so doomed to be your second sidekick."
Injuries be damned! Artemis wasn't going to stand for this. Wally was here. Dick and Oliver were here. They were fighting for her-there was no way she was just going to sit back and let it be a tough battle. Not if she could still do anything.
With that thought, a spike of adrenaline spurred her back to her feet and she flung herself at Slade. Wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Artemis! No!"
She couldn't tell who's voice it was, it could've been both of the boys for all she knew. But if life with the these three men had taught her anything, it was to give everything you had to protect the ones you loved. And she was more than willing to do so.
A few seconds must have passed before Slade's hold on the dagger loosened. Then dropped entirely. Granted it was only so he could reach up and latch onto her hair, making her cry out.
Green Arrow wrenched himself free of the assassin's grip, but Artemis still held on. Maybe she'd get lucky and somehow she'd bring Deathstroke down on her own. Highly unlikely and growing more so by the second, but she refused to give up. Her boys were heroes. By the Justice League standards, they couldn't kill. And if nothing else, she was going to do everything she could so they wouldn't have to.
Which apparently wasn't going to be enough.
"You little-!"Slade dropped his comment with a growl of rage.
In the next moment, she was flying. Torn from her attempt to throttle the hired gun and thrown off to the side like a rag-doll. Where she hit the concrete hard, knocking the wind out of her, and sent the world into darkness.
A/N: Heh... Ummm... Artemis is a fighter! Don't worry, we aren't done yet! ^_^ Thanks for all the love, everybody! Yes, I've included a little bit from "Arrow" (since I love it and "Flash") and there was actually a little inspiration from "Smallville" which (though there were some strange things going on) wasn't all bad. Happy Holidays! I promise to get more done soon!