Chapter 33

A/N: Hey everyone. Welcome back! So, as you can see, I have finished my finals for this semester! And it means I have a short break before I have my summer classes start. Glad to see y'all're enjoying the story so far. Just so you know, I had to drag this chapter kicking and screaming to get it done. Remember, I don't own the characters, just the story.

/comms/

Telepathy

Gotham, November 25, 13:33EDT

Mike was reluctant to roll out of bed for several reasons. First of all, he was still tired from patrol. Canary had had some personal thing with Green Arrow, so he had gone out with Batman and Robin again.

Well, mostly Robin. Batman had just given a long sigh of reluctant acceptance that he was apparently working with them now.

Either way, it meant he'd gotten home near the ass crack of dawn.

And, unfortunately, despite how much he wanted to, he couldn't lie around in bed all day and lounge in his pjs. Nope. They had Thanksgiving plans.

Plans he'd only found out about after he'd gotten back.

Worse was, they were plans that did not allow him to wear sweats. He actually had to dress nice.

Which, in his personal opinion, was stupid. Thanksgiving was supposed to be a day for family bonding. A day to chill out, watch a few dumb movies, play games, and gorge on food.

This was the first time in a while that Mike had actually been looking forwards to the holidays. It would be the first time in years where he wouldn't have to work. Wouldn't lie and say he was just there for the holiday pay rather than admit the fact he had no one who cared enough to be waiting at home.

And sure, he had what he wanted now, but did it really have to involve getting all dressed up when by the end of the night everyone would just want to put on sweats anyways?

Besides, who would care? It was typically done with family and friends. It wasn't like he was insisting on wearing sweats to a gala next time he got grounded and dragged to one.

Not that it would matter with all the suck-ups he'd have to deal with.

He'd gotten used to seeing kiss-asses. It was just a constant of life. There was always going to be someone who was willing to flirt or flatter their way up the ladder. Someone who felt they were better than everyone else and deserved the merits without the work. He'd had a few coworkers like that. It had actually been the reason he'd quit a few of those jobs. So, seeing them at galas really wasn't surprising. With that much money it was expected.

What he wasn't expecting however, was being the target of said kiss-asses.

Mike wasn't stupid. He knew he came from a wealthy family. His family owned two major corporations. It really shouldn't have been a shock.

But, after so long of living paycheck to paycheck, he guessed he'd gotten it in his head that he could be the target of their efforts.

Frankly, it was kind of scary how many people had swarmed him and Henry when he'd gone to his first gala in years. People he didn't even know asking questions about his accident, what happened to his father, and other personal things. Acting like they'd known him for his whole life. People who didn't hesitate to reach out and invade his personal space to pinch his cheeks or grab his bicep. Making comments about how cute or strong he was and would no doubt be a heartbreaker when he was legal. And, when they weren't doing that, he was confronted with people lying through sweet words. Trying to manipulate him in order to get what they wanted. At least his uncle had managed to drive them off and pull him away before he had a panic attack.

Same thing almost happened at the last one he went to too.

God, he really hated going to the damn things.

Honestly, he still wondered why Gotham's elite was so insistent on having the damn things almost on a monthly basis. Sure they were for good causes, but it always seemed to be an invitation for someone to try and rob them all.

It was like they never learned.

But, then again, these were the same people who kept throwing Joker in the same cell he'd escaped from countless times rather than just reinstate the death penalty and eliminate the problem altogether.

Of course, that opened a whole new can of worms regarding morality. One that he was not eager to open again after he and Robin had spent an entire battle against some gang—it might've been one of Penguin's crews—arguing about it. Long story short, they agreed to disagree on the matter.

A knock rapped against his door, pulling the teen out of his thoughts. Rolling over, he looked to the door as it creaked open, revealing his uncle. Unlike Mike, the man was already dressed for the day. Not that he was surprised, Henry was one of those psychopaths that loved mornings. "Afternoon kiddo," the man grinned, sounding way too cheery for someone who hadn't had caffeine yet. "I was just about to come wake you up."

Frowning, Mike looking at his watch, brows shooting up as he saw the time.

"Figured I'd let you sleep in today," his uncle spoke, striding over to sit on the edge of the bed. "Looked like you needed it."

"Gee, that's one way to say I looked like shit," Mike muttered.

"More like you looked tired," Henry corrected, reaching out and running his fingers through the teen's disheveled hair. "You've been busy. I thought you needed a break."

"Thanks."

His uncle smiled, leaning over give him a quick peck on the forehead. "Good. Now," a hand ruffled his hair, "time to get up. We've still gotta pick up your friend before going to dinner."

Oh yeah, Mike almost forgot he'd invited Artemis to Thanksgiving.

-.-

14:37EDT

"Artemis! Have you finished getting ready?"

"Yes," the blonde called in response, slipping her boots on. Looking in the mirror, she brushed her hair back, hoping that it would stay somewhat presentable. She wasn't exactly thrilled about having to dress up for a normally casual holiday, but she wasn't about to argue the fact with her mom. Nor was she about to embarrass herself in front of her friends.

Back at Gotham North, almost everyone had been in the same social class. All of them had been from the Narrows and Park Row. No one there was a stranger to crime and economic hardship. There wasn't any judgement about what people had to do to survive.

At Gotham Academy, however, she stuck out like a sore thumb. Almost everyone there came from money; Mike and Bette included. And sure, they didn't mind her status. But she didn't know if their families would be the same way—well, Mike's family at least.

Bette's parents had all but unofficially adopted her with how often she was over at the other blonde's place when she had free time. No doubt it was a gesture her mother would reciprocate if Artemis ever brought Bette over, but she didn't want to embarrass herself by revealing the glaring disparity between their lives.

Mike's family however…she almost knew nothing about them. Nothing beyond the occasional comments she'd heard in passing. She knew he had a brother who died tragically, she knew he was in some sort of accident recently—the details of which Bette still had yet to fill her in on—and she knew he appeared to be close with his father.

Now that she thought about it, Mike was almost as tight-lipped about his personal life as she was.

Still, she wasn't about to embarrass herself more than necessary. She already felt bad that they had to come pick them up. Last thing she needed was for Mike's family to judge her worse for looking bad. Artemis had heard some stories from her classmates about some families forbidding their children from associating with others of lower social standing. She doubted Mike would listen if his family was like that, but she didn't want to put him under that kind of pressure. The poor guy already looked dead tired half time as it was.

"Artemis! Your friend is here!"

Cursing to herself, Artemis rushed to the door, hoping to get there before her mom could embarrass her.

Unfortunately, she was too late. "Hi Mrs. Crock," Mike's familiar voice spoke. "I'm Mike, Artemis's friend."

"It's so nice to meet you, Artemis has told me so much about you," her mom replied. "Though, she never told me you were so handsome."

"Mom!" Artemis exclaimed, rounding the corner. Watching with horror as her teammate flushed bright red at her mother's comment.

The brunette stood up completely, still blushing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey Artemis," he greeted. "You guys ready?"

"Ready when you are," the blonde shot back, earning a familiar lopsided grin in turn.

"Awesome," he said, turning to look at the steps before looking back at her mom.

Artemis could see the question flashing in his eyes, wondering if he should ask to help but also worrying about being too impolite. Rolling her eyes, she moved behind her mom, grabbing the handles of her wheelchair. "Hey, Mike, can you get the door?"

The boy perked up, clearly glad to be of some help. "No problem," he replied, closing the door behind them before hopping down the stairs to get the car door.

Helping her mom into the car, Artemis began folding up the wheelchair. "Thanks again for inviting us," she said, moving to put the chair in the trunk.

"It's no problem, we're happy to have you," he smiled. "I mean, we wouldn't have invited y'all if we didn't want you there."

"True," she agreed, sliding into the back seat behind him.

"Hi," a new voice spoke up, "You must be Artemis." Turning to the voice, she met the warm gaze of a bearded blonde. "I'm Henry, Mikey's told me so much about you."

Artemis smiled, this must've been Mike's dad. She could see the resemblance. It was barely noticeable—almost nonexistent—but it was there. "It's nice to meet you too," she nodded, shaking his hand.

The man smiled back, turning back to the road as he started the car. "So, how are you enjoying team thing?"

"I like it," she said. "It's hard to balance it with school sometimes, but it's manageable."

"That's good. How's Green Arrow as a mentor?"

"He's good. A bit less strict than I was expecting, but he makes it fun."

"What about you Mike?" her mom chimed in. "How do you like it?"

"It's great," he replied. "Canary's tough, but she's a great mentor. We even sometimes run into Artemis and GA on our patrols in Star."

Artemis chuckled, "Yeah, basically it becomes the two of us keeping an eye out for things as Arrow tries to drive Canary up a wall with his flirting."

Beside her, Mike snorted, "Yeah, she hates it when he does that when we're on duty. You think he'd learn after that one time Everyman knocked him out."

The blonde heroine shrugged.

"Well, you both are being safe out there right?" her mom questioned, tossing both of them almost accusing looks.

Artemis rolled her eyes. Of course she was careful. It was literally one of the stipulations she had been given when joining the team. Sure, there were times she was going to get scrapes and bruises—it came with the job—but it wasn't like she was actively throwing herself in front of bullets. Unlike some people she knew.

"Yes ma'am."

The archer gave Mike a deadpan look.

Of everyone on the team, he was currently the last person who could say that. Why? Because the idiot always managed to get himself injured in some way or another. Granted if Conner wasn't invulnerable he'd probably be right behind in the running too. Either way, the guy was damn lucky his healing factor was absolutely insane.

The conversation died down soon after for the most part. Mike's dad and her mom continued talking with each other for a bit, but the two teens were relatively happy to sit in silence for the time being.

For it being a holiday, the streets were still pretty busy. People rushing for last minute shopping, going to their visit their friends and families, or getting in line early for the bloodbath that was a Gotham Black Friday.

Slowly making their way through traffic, she watched as they slowly left the city center and drove towards their school on the nicer side of town. The old, run down buildings steadily being replaced by the sight of nice buildings, eventually leading to suburbs as they left the main city limits.

It was only when normal houses began to be replaced with opulent mansions that Artemis began to wonder where exactly they were going.

Her answer came in the form of ornate gates holding a familiar crest.

Eyes widening, she looked down at herself, now feeling severely underdressed. Despite the fact that everyone else in the car was dressed as casually as she was.

"Ow!" Mike yelped as she punched his shoulder. Rubbing his arm, the brunette gave her a betrayed look. "What was that for?"

"You didn't tell me we were going to Wayne Manor!" she hissed.

"I told you the original plans changed."

"You didn't mention we were having dinner with the richest person in Gotham!"

"I told you we were having dinner with Bette's cousin. He's Bette's cousin," he said, like that explained everything.

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" she retorted.

"I thought she told you. Why is it my job?"

Artemis didn't have an answer for that. So she settled on glaring at the boy before crossing her arms and glaring out the window.

She felt so embarrassed. Bruce Wayne was the one who gave her the scholarship to her new school. And now she was meeting him completely unprepared. What if she made a bad impression? What if he rescinded her scholarship? As much as she complained about it, Gotham Academy was starting to grow on her. Yes, the commute sucked ass and the uniforms were a pain to deal with. But the classes were challenging in a way she hadn't had for a while. And she made friends that actually got along with her old Gotham North friends. Sure, some of the other students were judgmental about her status as a scholarship student, but they didn't bother her in the way the bullies at North would try to. Probably because last time someone tried both Mike and Bette utterly eviscerated their social life.

When it happened she'd been upset that her friends thought that she couldn't handle herself. Now looking back on it however, it was both scary and impressive how they utterly humiliated the guy without even throwing a punch.

Needless to say, she made a mental note to not get on either of their bad sides anytime soon after that.

"Artemis," Mike said, giving her a light elbow. "It'll be fine. You look great."

Brows rising, Artemis turned to face the brunette, watching as he paused, slowly turning bright red as he realized what he said.

"That came out wrong. I mean, I wasn't saying that you don't look nice. I would've told you if you needed to dress nice," he stammered, scratching his cheek nervously. "Not that you aren't dressed nice—you are—but uh, you don't need to worry about being underdressed. No one's going to care. About the outfit! No one's gonna care about the outfit. Not that you need to worry about someone judging it. It's just that this is just a casual dinner…with family…so no one really cares…about that." The boy facepalmed, using a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "You know what, just ignore me."

Artemis would be lying if she said she didn't feel somewhat reassured by the older boy's fumbled complement. It wasn't something he'd lie about to make someone else feel better. No, when Mike lied, it was about things regarding himself. Like when he said he wasn't a good artist. Or lied about being fine when he was clearly dead on his feet. He almost always honest about his opinion on others, even if he needed to sugarcoat it from time to time.

And, given just how badly he stumbled through that, she doubted he was sugarcoating things. It was more likely he was at the point he was so tired his filter turned off.

He had the eyebags to prove it.

Still, that didn't mean she couldn't have fun at his expense. "That's the smartest thing you've said all day."

"Which part?"

"The part about me ignoring you."

There was a long sigh from her companion, "That sounds about right."

Sliding out of the car, Artemis pulled out her mom's wheelchair, glancing up at the massive manor. "Who needs that much space?" she whispered, mostly to herself.

"You'd be surprised," a new voice chimed in, making the blonde jump. Whirling around she came face to face with a younger but strangely familiar teen. "Hi, I'm Dick."

"That's an unfortunate name," Mike snickered, earning a glare from the boy and prompting him to stick his tongue out at the elder. A gesture her friend was happy to return.

Artemis rolled her eyes, helping her mom out of the car. "Boys," she muttered.

"Wait a minute…" Mike said, eyes widening as he pointed accusingly to the newcomer, "you're the kid that took a pic with us on the first day!"

Dick grinned fiendishly, rocking back and forth on her heels, "Yep. Told you we'd laugh about it someday."

"Just when I think you can't get any weirder," Mike huffed.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Artemis asked, looking between them.

"Yeah," Dick answered. "We're in the same study hall."

"And I had to keep Lex Luthor from figuring out you were the one who hit him in the head with a shrimp," Mike reminded, giving the younger a pointed look.

"What about how you tried to put puff paint on his head?" the boy accused.

"Tried? I succeeded," the elder grinned. "Or did you forget the smiley face he had on the back of his head?"

"Does he still not know that was you?"

"Nope."

Ok, Artemis would've paid to see that. "Did no one tell him?" she spoke up.

"Nope," the two grinned, giving each other a fist bump.

"That was the best part of that evening," a familiar voice chimed in.

"Bette!" Mike's dad exclaimed, running over and picking up the blonde in a what appeared to be a bone-crushing hug. "How's my favorite youngest niece?"

"I'm your only youngest niece," the blonde replied, her voice slightly muffled.

"Still doesn't change the fact you're my favorite youngest niece," the man grinned, setting her down.

Bette rolled her eyes, brushing out her shirt. "Hey Artemis," she said, coming over to hug the other girl, "thanks for coming."

"Thanks for inviting us."

"Pfft," the other blonde waved her off, grabbing her arm to bring her inside, "we're happy to have you. We wouldn't have invited you otherwise."

"Thanks. You never told me you and Mike were cousins."

Bette paused giving her a confused look before her eyes widened as she looked in the direction of her uncle. "Oh! No! Mike isn't my cousin. He's my uncle's ward."

"His ward?" she said, her voice dropping in volume. Mike wasn't living with his family? Why? Since when? Did something happen?

The other girl facepalmed, "Right, you don't know about his accident. Knew I was forgetting to tell you something."

Artemis perked up. She'd almost forgotten that conversation. How Bette was supposed to tell her how exactly her friend had ended up in a coma for a little over a month. But they had gotten distracted by a pop quiz in their next class. Sure, Artemis had done her own research, but she had found very little regarding what happened. The best she could gather was a case with an unnamed victim who had been found after being missing for a week.

Bette glanced behind them, looking to where the adults were talking. Mike and Dick had darted off into another room, and they could hear their shouts over the sound of a video game. Meaning that they shouldn't be interrupted for a few minutes.

"Ok, so it involves the accident Mike was in over the summer?" Artemis recapped, closing the door behind them.

Bette nodded, sitting down on the couch. "Yeah. I did tell you he was in a coma for like a month right?"

"Yeah. You just didn't tell me what happened," she confirmed, sitting across from her.

"Right," Bette nodded, "So, like I said, no one's really sure what happened. But, I heard that the cops are looking for Mike's dad."

"His dad? Why are they looking for his dad?"

"Because they think he was the one who tried to kill Mike."

"WHAT?!"

"Shh!" Bette hissed, almost lunging over the coffee table to cover her mouth. The girl watched the door for a few moments before sighing. "Yeah, that's the lead rumor right now. I mean, no one's seen William Afton in the public eye in a few years. And, I overheard Uncle Henry talking to Mom about him—they sounded really freaked out. But, yeah," she leaned back against the couch with a shrug, "like I said, it's just a rumor."

"Do you think it's true?" Artemis asked. The question spilling from her mouth before she could think it through. She hoped it wasn't. When Mike talked about his dad when they'd been camping it sounded like he was a nice guy—better than her own father anyways.

But…then again, Mike almost never talked about his home life. The only times he talked about his personal life was when they'd been camping and on Halloween. Other than that, she almost knew nothing about his family. Now that she thought about it, it seemed like he was more closed off about his personal life than she was.

Not that she had a problem with that. It'd be hypocritical of her to pry into his personal business when he'd been courteous enough to not dig into her personal life.

Still, it did raise questions.

Looking back to Bette, she watched as the other girl bit her lip. "I don't know," she finally answered. "I never really met Mr. Afton. From what I heard he was nice. But…I dunno, something about him always struck me as…off. Like, not that he was socially awkward or something like that. It's just that—he just seemed—I always felt like—"

"Like if you were left alone with him something bad would happen?" Artemis finished, her stomach dropping in dread.

Bette nodded, rubbing her arm, "Yeah. Exactly."

Artemis felt sick. She had learned from a young age to trust her gut. And right now, her gut was screaming to listen to Bette.

The why didn't matter. What mattered was that Bette had noticed something that everyone else had missed. Something that scared her.

Bette didn't scare easy.

The other girl hadn't seemed nervous whatsoever when Artemis's dad had crawled out of whatever hole he'd recently slunk into. Startling both of them when they'd been shopping during one of his regular check-ins. In fact, Bette had screamed at him, called him a creeper, and proceeded to hurl a stiletto at him with frightening accuracy.

Long story short, her father had declared Bette to be his favorite out of all his daughter's friends.

So, for her to be scared…it meant something about Michael's father had scared her more than coming face-to-face with one of the Shadows' most vicious and cruel assassins.

That was a terrifying thought.

And, it made her think about Mike's behavior in a new light. How he never talked about his home life. How he was always cautious around adults he didn't know. The way he would position himself between Robin and a Leaguer they didn't know; it was just like how Jade would step between her and their father when he was angry. And, just like her, he had taken blows meant for them. Sure they were in the field, but he didn't have to take the hit. Plus, there were his scars and pain tolerance to consider too. Mike's pain tolerance was insane. She'd seen him try to walk off a broken leg several times. Even with all her training, she wouldn't be able to do that as easily as he could.

"But look," Bette spoke up, brushing her hair back, "like I said: it's just a rumor. And, it's not like Mike or Uncle Henry will tell us."

Artemis paled. She knew Bette was inquisitive—she often didn't stop until she got the truth. Meaning, that it was her job to remind her to respect their friend's privacy. It was the least she could do after he's kept her secret for so long—even through the whole mole debacle. "Look, it's not our business. I don't think Mike would like it if we pried into his business. He probably doesn't talk about it for a reason."

"Yeah," the other girl sighed reluctantly. Rising from her spot, the blonde stretched. "C'mon. We should join the guys before they start asking questions."

A/N: Hey guys. Good to see y'all again. Sorry this chapter seemed to rushed. I just could not get it to cooperate with me in any way, shape, or form. Hopefully the next chapter will be better. See y'all next time!