A/N: Hi guys! Sorry about how I left off the last chapter. I realize it was a bit annoying. This chapter is not my favorite but it needs to be done. There is not much action but next chapter...get ready for some action packed stuff. No rants today either. Read and Review!
Disclaimer: Young Justice is not mine.
The Real You
THREE MONTHS LATER
Three months. It had been three months since Artemis disappeared and there was still no trace of her. Oliver hired the best detectives, got Sportsmaster put on the FBI's most wanted, and did everything in his power to try and find her, but he didn't. The wedding had been postponed, Oliver and Dinah was rarely on the cruise for the first two months, doing everything they could to find her. They traveled across the country, following the few leads they ever got. Nothing worked. It was almost as if she had disappeared into thin air with her father.
Wally and the rest of them had tried to help as well, but there was little they could do but sit and wait. Wait for their friend to return. Wait to hear if she was even still alive. Always waiting. The group had become much more somber, the beautiful places they saw having no affect on them as they continued to travel around the Atlantic and Caribbean on the ship. Anyone who saw them would think they were living the dream. But lately, it had felt more like a nightmare.
On this particular day, the boat was in port in Miami after a two week cruise along the coast of Central America. It was June and Barbara was coming in a few days to spend the summer working on the ship. Wally moped the deck, not really paying attention to anything, simply lost in thought. He had been like this a lot recently, talking less, thinking more, usually a grim look on his face.
He barely noticed when Conner approached, leaning against the wall of the arcade as Wally moped. He didn't say anything for a while. The two of them thinking together in quiet. Wally looked up, realizing that Conner was there. At the base of his left sleeve, Wally could make out the faint scar line from one of Sportsmaster's knives. Wally had a scar on his forearm as well from the javelin. He winces as he remembers Artemis' anguished cries for her father to stop.
"What's up Con?" Wally asked.
"I got mad again." Conner simply says. "I pictured him hurting Artemis like he hurt the rest of us."
"What did you break this time?" Wally replies.
"A lounge chair. Megan began to cry afterwards because apparently it was the one that Artemis sat on when she first joined us. How Megan remembered that, I don't know." Conner says, sighing. Wally nods. "I tried to comfort her, but she left to go talk to John."
"Typical of her to remember though. You seen any of the others?" Wally asked.
"Raquel and Zatanna are on the mainland with Diana shopping. Diana thought it would be therapeutic or something. Kaldur is in is room, writing a response to the letter Garth sent him. Dick is somewhere and Megan is with John somewhere. Jason is with Bruce doing some research on a recent string of thefts in Gotham." Conner says. Wally nods again, staring at the bucket besides him.
"They all want us to move on." Wally says.
"Not move on. I believe the words that Clark used were "return to normal"." Conner says with air quotes.
"But how can we be normal? We don't even know if she is alive. How am I supposed to pretend everything is alright?" Wally asks. Conner shrugs.
"Artemis is practically my sister." Conner says. "I just want to know if she is alive." The two are silent. "She's alive isn't she?"
"I hope so Con." Wally replies.
"You think these thefts in Gotham will turn anything up?" Conner asks.
"I don't know. Ollie, Dinah, and Roy are all out there now. I hope so, I really hope so." Wally replies.
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^
Jason stared at the computer besides Bruce. On screen were several articles on crime scenes. At each one a black or orange bolt for a crossbow was found.
"You think it's her?" Jason asks his adopted father with hope.
"I don't know. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up yet, especially Oliver." Bruce says, thoughtfully staring at the screen.
"You know, you are kind of good at this detective stuff." Jason says to the man.
"Really?" Bruce says with a half smile. "Why don't you go find Dick and see what he is doing? I'll finish up here."
"You sure you're okay?"
"I'm good Jason."
With that, Jason disappeared out of his adopted father's room. He had never been good with authority before, but since coming to the ship, things had changed. He respected Bruce. He had friends. He was happy...well...until Artemis was taken. It was hard to be happy wondering what had happened to his friend.
He found Dick sitting pensively on the roof of the dining hall. Jason sat down besides his brother.
"Do you think credible is the opposite of incredible?" Dick asks him. "Credible would be something believable, something boring."
"I guess so. I mean, the word already exists, but sure." Jason says.
"Well then this day was very credible. It was boring and I hated it." Dick states. Jason couldn't help but smile at that.
"I have to agree with you on that Grayson." Jason says.
"You think she's okay?" Dick asks out of nowhere.
"Course she is, she's Artemis. Artemis dead is completely unfathomable." Jason states.
"Yeah, her being alive is very fathomable." Dick responds. He changes the subject quickly. "Barbara is coming in a few days." He elbows his brother in the shoulder. Jason's cheeks turn red.
"Yeah, so what?" Jason asks.
"Whatever man, deny your feelings all you want, but I know the truth."
"That you're delusional?"
"No, that you like her. She's my best friend you're my brother. I approve." Dick tells him.
"I wasn't looking for your approval Grayson."
"Well, I just gave it to you anyways." Dick responds. Jason rolls his eyes and the two of them lapse into silence, watching the sun set in the distance on another credible day.
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^
Tigress slinked up to the window and elbowed the glass, breaking it. She slid in through the window, Sportsmaster right behind her.
"Nice find baby girl." Sportsmaster says, putting an arm on her shoulder. She shakes it off and walks away from him, adjusting her orange and black mask. Sportsmaster reaches out and tightly grabs her forearm. "Don't walk away from me when I am talking to you."
Tigress says nothing. She waits a few seconds and when she sees that he is done talking, she continues down the long hallway until she found the stairs out of the basement of the museum. It was pretty minor, they doubted anyone would care enough to break in through the small basement window, let alone put in the surveillance time to locate it. But Tigress did.
She walked up the stairs and at the top; she shot out a crossbow at the camera, taking it out. A siren went off. Sportsmaster reached her seconds later.
"What the hell did you just do?" Sportsmaster asks her, furious.
"Oops." Tigress simply says.
"What kind of game are you running? Are you forgetting that I can hurt your friends any second." Sportsmaster threatens. Before he realizes it, Tigress has her crossbow trained on him.
"I agreed to come with you, not do your dirty work." Tigress replies. She slinks back down the stairs, followed by Sportsmaster, grabbing things in the basement where the museum stored their most valuable things at night. The two of them pull themselves up out of the small window and disappear into the night amidst the sounds of approaching police sirens.
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^
"The jewelry stolen was expensive. The job would have gone off without a hitch if a crossbow had not been shot at the camera, alerting us to the break in." The police officer explains to Oliver Queen. He holds up the evidence bag with the black arrow from a crossbow. Oliver nods and walks away from the man.
This had Artemis written all over. The arrow, the shot that ended the theft early before anything really precious could be stolen. For just a small moment, a smile crossed his face. That was the Artemis he knew, the one who defied authority and did her own thing. This was her message to him she was here.
His smiled was wiped away when he wondered what it would cost her. What would her "father" do to her? His skin boiled in anger at the thought. That man was not her father, he was. He held her when she cried, he made her feel safe, and he loved her. That other man did not.
He walked over to the parked black car and drove back to the hotel to tell Dinah and Roy what he had discovered. It wasn't much. But it was all they had. They were going to bring her back, not matter what it cost.
^^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^^
Roy sleepily walked into his hotel room. He had been working out in the gym for hours, only taking a break to hear Ollie's news. There was no archery range in the hotel, so he had to settle for the next best thing. He had barely flipped on the lights and shut the door when he was being pushed up against the wall, a Sais under his neck. He saw that his attacker was Jade, but his tired mind took a moment to comprehend it.
"Jade...What?" He said.
"How could you let him take her? How could you? I trusted you to take care of her." Jade seethes, nearly putting her Sais through his throat. He was awake now.
"What? You never said anything about that. And I tried to stop her. She's even more stubborn then you." Roy replies.
"I assumed that it was implied that you were to take care of my BABY sister." Jade says, nearly shouting.
"Would you quiet down, somebody is going to hear you." Roy replies coldly. "Why are you even here. If you really cared about Artemis you would have been looking with us from the start. She's been gone three months, why are you here now?"
"I was detained for three months by my superiors. I was stuck on a long-term heist in Japan. I return home to learn that my sister has been kidnapped." Jade responds. Roy then notices the bandages covering her arms that had not been there before. Some of them were bloody and the others were dirty.
"What happened to you?" Roy asks.
"Nothing." She replies automatically. "Don't change the subject."
"I'm not trying too. You want some bandages or something? I have some gauze in my suitcase." Roy offers.
"Trying to make up for not helping one Crock sister by helping another? Sorry, I don't want your pity." Jade responds.
"Why do you always do that?" Roy asks.
"Do what?"
"Get defensive about everything. What, is nobody allowed to see the Jade behind the Cheshire smile? Is nobody allowed to be your friend?" Roy asks.
"No. I don't need friends." Jade replies.
"Everyone needs friends. Artemis realized that. She made friends." Roy tells her.
"Stop changing the subject! This is about the fact that you let that monster take her!" Jade responds.
"I tried to stop her Jade, I really did." Roy says, hanging his head. "She was determined though and if you even know her at all then you know that nothing gets in the way of Artemis Crock and her goals." Jade's expression lightens a little, but she doesn't remove her hold on him. "Why do you even care Jade?"
"Because she's my sister."
"Then why haven't you cared before?"
"Because before she was safe! My job is to keep her safe, no more."
"No, your job as a sibling is to be there always. I was a terrible sibling at first, but I've changed. You can too." Roy tells her.
"I can't Roy. I'm sorry. I know you think that I can be good and everything, but I can't. I never can." And with that the lights turn off and the pressure on Roy is released. He switches on the light to see that she was gone.
^^^^^Line Break^^^^^^^^
Artemis stared out at the city night. Gotham seemed to twinkle at night, but she knew better.
Wally watched the lights of the city dance in the distance. For a second he could pretend everything was alright, but he knew better.
Artemis thought about him.
Wally thought about her.
He felt a million miles away from her. But she imagined his laugh. She remembered how ridiculous he looked when he ran into her that first day.
She felt lost to him. But he could vividly imagine her eye roll. He remembered how hot she looked that first time he ran into her that first day.
She wanted to be besides him, not sitting on this lonely Gotham roof, with a black eye forming as punishment for her "game" earlier that night.
He wanted her to be besides him, sharing a lounge chair as they laughed with their friends into the late hours of the night.
They both saw the shooting star. She wished for him, he wished for her.
Neither got their wish.
A/N: So I am ending it there for a reason. This is just kind of everyone's feelings after the events of the last chapter. Sorry for the lack of action. The next chapter will be good, I promise. Review!