Chapter 4
What in the hell had just happened? she cursed, a mixture of fury and confusion flowing through her.
She had been reminded of him everywhere, figures on the streets, visions invading her dreams. She felt sane, but if the last stitch of her sanity frayed, would she be the first to know, or the last?
It took mere seconds for the word clone to enter her mind and her anger ratcheted up to the next level. In the distance she could hear another painful crash as the imposter stumbled into the darkened culvert that only park regulars would be aware of at midnight. She followed the sound down the drainage wall, but when she pulled out her penlight, the cement trench was empty.
She sat there silently, her mind ablaze. What was she chasing, who could have pulled such an elaborate hoax and why? The thing she saw looked real, it looked like him, but something was missing. One answer echoed in her mind. Cadmus. The U.S. Attorney's Generals office had dismantled the lab permanently almost four years ago but that didn't mean its scientists might not be available to the highest bidder.
She scanned the culvert for over an hour before she found the blood stains. The doppelgänger had injured himself trying to escape. Good she cursed. She ran back to her apartment and retrieved the equipment she needed, and quickly returned to the park. Artemis shined the black light onto the wall and carefully scraped the spattered blood stains into a small sterile container and sealed them. There were so many questions she needed answers to; who the DNA belonged to, but more importantly if it had been replicated. Wally was dead, she had read the reports herself, watched the interviews and final accounts given by Barry and Bart Allen for the official Justice League inquiry, never having the heart to ask the surviving speedsters the details.
She needed someone with the knowledge and expertise to analyze it, and the ability to keep it quiet. She needed someone she could trust who would be honest with her if she was losing her mind. Luckily those two were the same person.
xxx
The office door at Gotham University read Dr. Karen Beecher-Duncan, but she would always be Bumblebee to Artemis. She had almost perforated Artemis's ear drum when the archer had called and asked if they could meet. The woman known as Tigress did not often call her old teammates and friends, and definitely never asked for favors. So many friends had reached out to her, but she declined all offers, so this warmed Karen's heart that she could do something after all these months of Artemis's self-imposed absence.
Artemis had barely touched the glass door with her knuckles when it suddenly swung open wildly and two arms grabbed her and pulled her in tight. Artemis uncomfortably hugged Karen in return, before giving in and reciprocated the warm feeling behind it.
"I can't believe you called me girl, it's been what at least a ..." and then she stopped in mid-sentence, reminding herself of the anniversary of his death having already passed and she'd done nothing.
"Karen it's ok, Really."
"I'm sorry; I just didn't' want….," she sighed defeated, "We all miss him, we miss you. Solo suits you though, you look good."
"You do to. How's Mal?"
"He's doing fine, he's finishing up his elementary education degree, wants to jump into the inner city school system and clean it up. You know Mal, confidence is not something he's lacking. He just wants to give some kids a real role model to look up to you know? Not some neighborhood gang banger or pusher. He loves kids, and he's great with them too."
"Do you two still ever...?"
"Nah, we retired too, technically I'm an auxiliary member, but Jim Harper took back the Guardian persona. Mal was bummed; he loved playing hero while it lasted, but I like having him home."
As soon as the words left her lips, Karen immediately regretted it. How stupid can I be? she cursed herself, but Artemis never flinched, her expression never changed. Karen quickly moved on.
"Well enough about us, what brings you down here asking for a favor?"
"I...I need you to run a DNA scan for a case I'm working on. I've got a sample, I need you to tell me if you think it's real or engineered."
"Cloned?" She asked cursorily
"Yeah maybe. This is not anywhere near my comfort zone, I just want to know if this legit or not."
"Do you want me to run a trace, see if I can match it up too?"
"No." Artemis asked a bit too urgently. She quickly claimed herself. "Not yet. I just need to know if it's the real thing. Can we leave it at that for now?"
"Sure," she replied placing her hand on the archer's shoulder and rubbing it. "It's our secret; I don't need to know anything else. I'm sure if Tigress is involved it's something juicy, but I can keep my nose out, just this once." she grinned.
"What do I need to do? Call or comeback in a few days?"
"Girl I can have it done in a few hours, anything for you. Let me set up the gene sequencer and it can run while we get some food and I show you our place, Gotham U has some sweet faculty housing."
"I'd love that," Artemis replied.
xxx
They returned later evening. Artemis had forgotten how much she missed the college atmosphere. Other than some alcohol from time to time, she treated her body like a temple, but it was nice to go out to a college dive and enjoy a really greasy cheeseburger and fries every once in a while. Artemis was sorry she missed Mal, but she was on a timetable.
When they returned Karen sat down at her desk and looked at the recently completed data stream.
"What do you think?" Artemis asked.
Karen remained silent and continued staring at the results, mesmerized.
"What is it?" Artemis asked urgently.
"I've never seen anything like this."
"Is it real?" the archer asked.
"Yeah it's very real, almost pristine. This strand is new, I'd say two months, three tops.
"Two to three months what?" the blonde asked confused.
"Two to the three months old. This DNA belongs to a baby boy. It's definitely the source material, it's not been replicated, but it's got some interesting traits to it."
"What do you mean" Artemis asked.
"Well first off it's a Meta, no doubt about that. Whatever his abilities are going to be, he's either developed them recently or is going to… and soon I'd bet. Also I'm 95% positive it's not cloned. Nothing in this field is ever absolute, but when you clone something the gene sequence gets weaker and weaker every time you replicate it, but this sample almost drifts in the polar opposite direction. This is almost perfect, no flaws, no defects, no imperfections, no nothing. It's taintless; you might see something like this once in a lifetime."
"Can I keep it?" Karen hesitantly asked, "I'd love to send this to Ray Palmer and see what he thinks. When it comes to DNA, he is the absolute expert, he could confirm it, but I'm pretty damn sure."
"No Karen I really need it back. It's…..It's not mine, it's on loan," she lied "I'm sorry."
"I understand. Don't sweat it hon. Secret superhero businesses, I remember the days…Don't miss them one bit," she grinned. "I'm just glad you called, glad we got to hang out for a while."
"I owe you one Bumblebee" Artemis smiled using her friend's amusing codename.
"The way I see it, we all owe you, this isn't even remotely payback. Let's do this again soon ok? minus the DNA. Mal is gonna be real bummed he missed you."
"You're on," the blonde smiled. "Tell him I said hey."
She retrieved her sample and hugged her friend and left
xxx
Artemis had detective skills, not remotely on par with Dick but good. It was too soon to call him in on this, she needed more information before he got involved and realized she was just crazy.
Whoever this person knew was, he knew where she lived. He also had some of the speed of her dead boyfriend, but not his grace or control. She'd spent the last few years dealing with aliens, shape shifters, magical beings, and just plain bad people. There could be a thousand explanations for what she thought she'd seen the other night, but it appeared cloning was now off that list.
That would have been too easy she frowned.
Now she had only nine hindered and ninety-nine more to go, and she still needed a crime boss dead. Things were about to get very complicated.
For now she needed a new place to stay, her home having been compromised. Her mom's apartment would serve well, and Artemis never got to see enough of her anyway. She'd have to keep this revelation private for now, if for no other reason than to not worry her mom and have her concerned her daughter had lost it, as if she wasn't worried enough about that herself. It also didn't hurt that Paula Crock was still a world class assassin despite her disability. She would fall asleep exhausted but safe this night, dreaming of Wally and revenge for whoever was responsible for defiling his memory.
xxx
She'd spent the next two days with her mom under the guise of renovations being made to her apartment. She wasn't sure her mom bought it, but she never openly questioned it, and that left the archer relived.
No knew leads had come down on Falcone, but that had slipped down a peg or two on her priorities list. Her employers had not been happy as she suspected they'd be, but a gentle but firm reminder from Tigress quickly set them back in their appropriate place. They may have believed in her, but that didn't mean they weren't scared of her.
She always had the opportunity to make some side money by finding bail jumpers. At least two bonding companies in Gotham had a private agreement with the vigilante when one of their clients chose to fly the coup. It paid cash and it paid well. It wasn't glamorous, it wasn't even hard work, but not every hero was born with a silver spoon in their mouth and a girl had to eat she'd say. Her big payday would come soon enough when Falcone took his last breath.
The slums of Gotham were a place most police would not go unless they were in masse. Tyrone Billngsly had been convicted of 2nd Degree Murder, Possession with Intent for Resale, and Aggravated Sexual Assault. Big T as he was known throughout the projects was one of the biggest sellers in Gotham. He was responsible for a lot of death, and the D.A. was lucky to have been able to pin this one on him and make it stick.
The man was like Teflon, with numbers of cracked out addicts willing to take the fall for him, not realizing their mistake until it was too late. What tripped him up this time was one brave woman who found the courage to come forth to the police and report the atrocities this man had perpetrated on her. One of many he had forced himself upon, but unlike the others she stood up for herself, when all the others wouldn't.
Without her testimony, the search warrant would never had allowed the investigators to storm his house, to find the weapons and the massive amount of product he held in his possession. Shortly before the victim was to testify, she jumped to her death in an apparent suicide, but everyone knew the truth. Her death didn't invalidate the search, but added another complicated twist to a complex case.
For a man supposedly without a job, Tyrone wore $1000.00 suits and employed one the best criminal attorneys in Gotham. He had been out jail on a $900,000 bond thanks in part to his mother miraculously discovering the funds in her account. He appeared in court promptly for every hearing, every portion of the trail, secure in his faith his attorneys could beat the rap for him, screw the system again. No such luck this time however. He was looking at 20-30 years in Blackgate Penitentiary, but that would be determined at the sentencing hearing, the one he chose not to show for.
All Night Bonding made the call to the secret number, and within hours an orange and black ninja was unleashed on the city.
They always went to the girlfriend's house first, and in Big T's case there were a lot of them. Just finding the right girl was the challenge. Tigress was currently on girlfriend number three when she caught sight of him in the courtyard, loading his car with guns and suitcases. Could have been cash, could have been product, but whatever it was, it was primed to hit the Gotham freeway and out of New York within the hour. He had help; local gangs affiliated with selling his poison provided protection and security as he packed his things.
He had just shut the passenger door and walked back towards the apartments when the arrow struck the car, an arrow with a blinking red light on a countdown. The car exploded into a fireball. Waves of burning hundred dollar bills scattered into the sky like fireflies on a summer night.
She could have stalked him as he ran, could have remained in the shadows until he was out of breath and captured him easily, but that wasn't her style, surrounded by the gangs, the dealers, the thugs, and the wannabees, she was going to make a statement, give him a small taste of the punishment he so rightly deserved. Somewhere on this man's barbaric ledger were the disgusting ways her hurt women, he treated them like garbage and took what he wanted when he wanted, without fear of consequence or even basic humanity. Tigress was about to show him the error of his ways.
She didn't know how many she was up against, she didn't care. Sword in hand and crossbow at the ready, she took out wave after wave of attackers. After a few of them dropped, she was gang tackled and brought to the ground. Several savage head butts, groin strikes, and knife wounds later, the would-be gang rapists lay severely injured on the ground. Some would need immediate medical attention with the hour or suffer traumatic results. She didn't care, you reap what you sow motherfuckers.
She lost sight of him briefly in the panic and riots the projects had erupted into. Off to her right Tigress heard the blood curdling scream of a small child, she couldn't tell if she was in fear or danger. Artemis lost focus for a second, attempting to find the child in the surrounding chaos, when she heard the click, the gun cocked into firing position. She had searched for a fight and had gotten sloppy. Tigress could hear the man's satisfied laughter; as she waited for his smart ass cryptic words. She tickled the handle of her sword, wondering if she would be fast enough to get it through his heart before the bullet lodged in her brain
"Fuck you bitch," he laughed before it hit him, before the massive force of a jet engine knocked Tigress off her feet, and Big T savagely into a concrete wall 50 feet ahead. His face was shattered, teeth lying all over the ground while his mouth and nose bled profusely all over his chest and sweat suit. She stared satisfied at his sudden disfigurement for seconds, realizing his days of solid food might be at an end if not worse
She jumped to her feet, unsheathed her sword, and prepared to defend herself. Friend or foe it didn't matter, she would not allow herself to be so sloppy again. A few yards away, the unsteady figure stood in the darkness near her. He was shaking, unbalanced. There was a chance the impact had done as much damage to him as Big T.
The whine of sirens and spotlights came out of nowhere and illuminated the courtyard where Tigress stood. Fuck she cursed, realizing the police would take her bounty into custody and she would be out her normal $25,000 finder's fee.
She was no fan favorite among the Gotham PD and quickly dodged the spotlights looking for the culprits. She was stealthy, she was invisible, but the man who saved her life was not. He stood their momentarily stunned; trying to understand all that was happening in front of him. The spotlight caught his features, and despite her training she gasped out loud.
Fearful green eyes pled with hers for a moment and then exploded into motion. She quickly followed suit reaching the roof and treetops away from the scene, soon arriving at her motorcycle and freedom. She came to a high enough vantage point and scoured the ground, but he was nowhere to be seen. She made her way to the bike, broke down her sword and crossbow, stripped off the Tigress uniform and mask, and placed them in her back pack, driving innocently down the streets of Gotham.
She could barely catch her breath, her mind ablaze. He had found her, he had saved her. What the hell was he? She had seen ghosts before, even fought one, almost became one. This seemed different. She tried to remain calm, remain cold, but this was killing her. She had to know the truth. She didn't know who to call or even if she should. She wasn't ready for Dick's involvement, at least not yet. Whoever this was knew where she was at all times, there was no point in hiding. It was time to let him come to her, and somehow she knew he would.