Thanks for all the lovely reviews!
(There is supposed to be page breaks on these chapters but they aren't showing up and it's driVING ME CRAZY)
-RoyalVictory
Klarion is back in the dark place. It's colder somehow. Maybe it is because he's dreaming. Maybe it's for reasons more sinister. Klarion doesn't know, and doesn't really care either.
He stands slowly (he'd been lying down when he woke) and turns slowly in a circle before he chooses a direction and begins to walk.
"Don't forget your promises," something whispers behind him, directly in his right ear. Klarion turns to see who it was, but it's too dark.
"Remember your deadline," something whispers behind him again, in the other ear. It's even closer this time and Klarion turns faster to meet it but he can't see anything in the dark.
"Promises," the voice behind him whispers.
"Deadline," another voice whispers as soon as he whips around.
"Promises."
"Deadline."
"Promises."
"Deadline."
Something shoves him, and Klarion falls back. When his eyes open, he takes in a sharp breath.
...
They're passing over Germany when they get a call about Klarion in Frankfurt. No one hesitates to suit up for the call. (Well, Dick and Artemis don't. Conner appears to decide to fight in his t-shirt and jeans.)
It's not hard to find him; the Lord of Chaos isn't exactly discreet. He stands amidst burning buildings and ground that cracks randomly while the occupants of the square flee and scream in terror. He laughs at their fear.
They set the helicopter on autopilot and descend into the German square. Artemis works her way to the front of the crowd while the others get in position.
"Klarion!" Artemis says loudly and she stands still, one of two solitary things in the whole square. People dodge her and send her pleading looks; she's sure not everyone can understand her, but the bow and notched arrow are probably message enough. Klarion turns and smiles when he sees her. "Under the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D, I am placing you under arrest. We can do this the easy way." She lets her arrow fly, and it shoots right through the horn in his hair, taking a few hairs with it. Another arrow is notched before the first meets its target. Klarion keeps smiling. "Or the hard way. You pick."
"And you're going to take me in, all by yourself?" Klarion says, "Because as I remember, your surveillance didn't go too well."
Artemis pulls her arrow back a little further, "I've got friends with me. I wouldn't underestimate them."
"So have I," Klarion says and before Artemis can realize what he means, he says, "I choose the fun way."
Artemis narrows her eyes at him, then sees something off to her left. When she turns her head, she sees a mass of yellow Kevlar slam into her and Artemis lets out a surprised yell at impact. She gets a good ten feet of airtime before she lands, skidding across the pavement, her bow landing twenty feet away.
Artemis looks up and sees the crowd is still in chaos, running in all directions. She knows Klarion must be feeding off this but she has no way of stopping it, not now anyways.
Artemis also sees Klarion's cat, except it's not a cat anymore. It's some kind of giant furry monster and it's running at Superboy, who's charging it in return. Nightwing is up against Klarion but she doesn't have time to see who's winning because Kid Flash is charging her again.
Artemis rolls out of the way and stands while Wally skids to a stop and turns on her. Dick is right: his eyes aren't the flower stems and endless grass fields that Artemis sees between missions. They're blue crystal, cracked and cold and empty.
"I don't want to have to hurt you," Artemis says slowly as they begin to circle each other. She sees Conner hit a building not far from her, but he hits the ground running and catches the cat around the throat with long strong arms. "But I will if I have to."
"C'mon, beautiful," Wally says and Artemis flinches when he uses the nickname, because that's Wally's nickname for her and whatever is controlling Wally right now isn't allowed to use it. "You don't want to hurt me."
Artemis doesn't respond. Rather, she doesn't trust herself to respond. Artemis just launches herself at him and when he dodges the tackle, she lands in a somersault and picks up her bow when her hands hit the ground.
Artemis notches an arrow in midair and shoots as she lands, aiming twenty feet in front of Kid Flash. He dodges them, like she knows he could, and turns to look at her. He zips forward and he's on her faster than she can blink, delivering blow after blow which Artemis only manages to just deflect. When he finally lands one, it's on her shoulder and she spins from impact. It must've been his plan because he rips her quiver off her back and shoves her to the ground, throwing the quiver further than Artemis would be able to get while fighting a speedster.
Artemis turns over to her back and kicks him in the knee when he gets close enough, making it lock so he stumbles. She flips over backwards to her feet, bow in hand. Artemis deflects more of his blows with it, letting him go onto offence while she falls back to defense. He might be faster and stronger than her, but she knows that she has more stamina, especially if he hasn't eaten in a while. She just needs to tire him out.
Artemis and Wally have sparred dozens of times before and it's not unusual for her to win. Both always hold back; they could seriously hurt the other if they didn't. But now Kid Flash isn't holding back at all while the archer still is. She's hesitant to hurt him and it pisses her off, because this man has wormed his way into her so deeply that she can't make herself hurt him, even if not hurting him could mean serious damage to herself. (But she deals with it because with Wally, the pros outweigh the cons.)
She hears Nightwing yell and it distracts her for a split second, which is all Wally needs. He knocks her to the ground and this time he straddles her, wrestling her bow from her grip and tossing it away, pinning her thighs with his. He grabs her throat with both hands and Artemis claws at him, reaching for his face with one and scraping at his hands with the other.
"Wah-ll-ey," she manages out, choked. Both her hands go to his and her short nails scrape at his fingers, "I-it's me. Arr-te-miss." A look of confusion flashes on Wally's face, and his grip loosens. He blinks twice in rapid succession and Artemis swears, his eyes go green for half a second.
Artemis doesn't hesitate to use the distraction to punch him across the face.
Artemis flips them over and wrestles Wally's arms into a hold that can't keep him for long, but will tire him out quickly. He's physically stronger than her and could easily overtake her if she just tries to hold him down, even if she uses her body weight to do so. So she has to hold his arms in a grip that will hurt to get out of and waste lots of energy in doing it.
"Wally, wake up," she snarls, but he just fights back harder. He manages to wriggle free and decks her this time, flipping them back over. He pins her arms above her head and Artemis struggles to break her arms free from the awkward angle.
He leans down and those tundra eyes study her. Artemis stares back, willing him to recognize her. What he's looking for, she's not sure, but she hopes to god that it's a sign that Wally is breaking free of whatever hold Klarion has on him.
She hears a strong, feminine voice shout, "Teg ffo reh!" And Wally is suddenly flying backwards, just like she had when he rammed her before. Zatanna enters her line of sight, holding out a hand.
"Heard you might need backup," she says and Artemis nods breathlessly, still short of it after Wally's choke hold. She sees Kaldur helping Dick with Klarion and they seem evenly matched, though that giant cat seems to be tossing Conner around like a ball of yarn. Artemis looks back to Zatanna and notices her costume for the first time.
Zatanna's costume consists of black pants, big boots, a white corset with fish net sleeves, and a small leather jacket over top. Artemis sees that Kaldur's in his usual red tank and black pants, but she notices this time he has a sleeve of black armor on his dominant arm. Apparently she's not the only one who upped the ante on the protective padding.
"Help Superboy," Artemis says. "I'll take care of Kid Flash."
Zatanna nods, "You might need these," she holds out a hand, "Wob dna reviuq ot simetra!" Artemis' broken quiver and bow fly towards them and Artemis barely catches them. Zatanna points to the broken strap on the quiver. "Dnem," she says and the strap fixes itself. Artemis looks at her.
"Thanks," Artemis says and Zatanna nods before running off to help Conner. Artemis shoulders her quiver and notches an arrow. She turns and faces Wally, ready to release. Artemis shoots it the second Kid Flash begins to run at her, having recovered from Zatanna's blow. She shoots a second and third when he catches it, then just as his hands are full, she aims for his feet and shoots a cement arrow. Artemis watches him struggle for a moment before she turns and jogs to the others, but she finds there is no need.
Nightwing and Aqualad are standing over Klarion, who is bound and gagged with metal cuffs and what looks like Dick's glove, respectively. Superboy and Zatanna are with them, the cat held in some kind of glowing cage, probably courtesy of Zatanna. When she's sure that everyone is fine, Artemis turns to check on Kid Flash but all that's left is the cement block she had thought encased his feet.
Artemis immediately blames herself. She knew that it wouldn't have held him for long, and she still went to check on the others. Artemis curses under her breath, her teeth clench, and her fists tighten.
Someone puts their hand on her shoulder and Artemis whips to look who it is. Dick squeezes her shoulder gently with his bare hand.
"We'll get him back, don't worry," he says quietly. Artemis nods stiffly and they all head back to the helicopter while Artemis mentally scolds herself. She needs to get a grip. Her mission is still incomplete. Artemis has strict orders to round up every extraordinary being on this planet, mind controlled or not, and she has every intention of fulfilling it.
...
Artemis and Dick take the controls on the way to the Helicarrier while Zatanna, Superboy, and Aqualad chill in the back. Artemis hears the three in the back going through all the safe topics of masked heroes: favourite towns, costumes, the fight in Germany. Artemis knows them all well, having been in the business for so long.
They're somewhere over New Jersey when something hits them, quite literally.
The helicopter tilts to the side. They're lucky that they were all wearing their seatbelts, or they could've slammed into the wall and seriously hurt themselves. The back door is wrenched open to reveal two women are flying outside. A green skinned woman is holding the helicopter tail and pulls it, baring her teeth. She tilts the helicopter back so everyone has to hold on, while the second woman, whom is bathed in purple glow, encloses Klarion in a similarly coloured orb and pulls him out. They fly towards the forest below, taking S.H.I.E.L.D's prisoner with them.
Artemis and Dick steady the copter and Artemis speaks into the microphone on her headphones, seconds after the attack.
"Breaker breaker, this is Agent Artemis, designation B07. Prisoner has been kidnapped by two unknown subjects. Requesting permission to pursue."
"Go," Prince's voice cuts in. "Use force, if you must, but get Klarion back."
"I'll stay, go," Artemis says to Dick, flipping some switches above her head. Klarion must've done something to the copter back in Germany, because their autopilot is no longer working, which is why Artemis volunteers to stay back.
Everyone is ready to go in the back and Dick ditches his headphones on the seat and joins them. Artemis watches them in the rear view mirror as they all go down after the women. They fly on some kind of disc that Zatanna made, which is bronze and looks like a clock face. Artemis holds the copter steady and struggles to see down in the forest below.
"Status report," Prince says into the headphones.
"Aqualad, Nightwing, Zatanna, and Superboy are in pursuit," Artemis responds.
"I want to know what you see," Prince says instead and Artemis looks down.
She can't tell much of what's happening, but she sees multiple explosions and a tree falls with a crack Artemis can't hear over the copter. Artemis bites her lip. She hates waiting here, sitting and watching while that chaos wreaks below.
Artemis sits up. Wait. Chaos.
Artemis speaks into the headphones she's wearing, "Director Prince, I need to get down there. I don't know how, but I think Klarion planned this. I need remote pilot now."
"Get down there," Prince says, "I've got the controls."
Artemis shoves off the headphones and bolts to the back of the helicopter, ripping a parachute from the top shelf. She fastens it on and opens the helicopter door, then leaps out of it without hesitation.
She doesn't let herself free fall for long before she pulls the chute, jolting up when she does so. Artemis lands just outside the clearing and unbuckles the chute, running into the clearing where the fighting is taking place. She sees Dick and Zatanna are encased in one of those large purple orbs while Kaldur goes after the dark skinned woman controlling it. Conner is fighting the green skinned one, who doesn't lack strength but does lack his invincibility. That's obvious from the way she uses objects to meet his blows.
At the edge of the clearing on the other side, bound and gagged, Klarion is smiling.
Artemis shoots Conner first, knocking him out of the clearing with one of her blunt tipped arrows. She can't take any chances with him. Then she chooses a special arrow from her quiver and shoots in directly in the middle of the fighting. Artemis shields her eyes.
She hears the flash bang go off and both her friends and enemies hit the dirt. Artemis counts to three before she stands again and looks upon the clearing, where everyone is still shocked. Every Klarion, who seems so unshakable, is no longer smiling.
"Stop!" Artemis yells, and everyone looks at her, blinking the black spots out of their vision. She looks to the two women who attacked their helicopter, "I don't know who you are and why you want Klarion, but I can tell you aren't his ally. This is what he wants. He wants us to fight," she looks across the clearing, where Zatanna is helping Dick up and Kaldur is leaning heavily on a tree, water bearer in hand. Conner is stumbling back into the clearing, looking annoyed for her shooting him but Artemis can tell his mind is still there, and that's all she cares about.
"He wants chaos. He probably feeds off it. All your fighting is doing is helping him," Artemis says. Kaldur lowers his water bearer.
"Artemis is correct. So long as we fight each other, he is the only one who wins. We must bring him back to the Helicarrier-"
"Helicarrier? Klarion's not even staying on this planet," the dark skinned woman says, "He's going back to Mars."
"Mars?" Zatanna says, crossing her arms and cocking a hip, "He's our prisoner. We captured him."
"And we would've captured him if you hadn't got in the way," the dark skinned woman shoots back.
"You mean if we hadn't beat you to it," Dick says, crossing his arms. Artemis sends him a look. Not. Helping.
The green skinned woman looks at him, "I have a warrant for his arrest. He has murdered eleven thousand Martians and he has to answer for his crimes."
"Yeah? And who gives you that authority?" Zatanna snaps, hand on her hip. Artemis knows what she's doing, and she thinks the other two women know too. Dick and Kaldur have been inching towards Klarion, and Conner has been inching towards both of the women. If they don't sense an attack, they're the biggest fools Artemis has ever met.
Artemis is usually completely unopposed to violence, but in this situation, violence is the last thing they need.
The green skinned woman stands straighter, "I am given the authority by being the champion of Mars."
Dick whistles under his breath, "That'll do it."
"You're Miss Martian and Rocket, right? M'gann M'orzz and Raquel Ervin are your real names," Artemis interrupts, and everyone looks at her, startled. Obviously, they hadn't expected her to speak. "I work for S.H.I.E.L.D," Artemis takes her badge off her belt and holds it up before she throws it to the women's feet. The Martian picks it up. "They helped you last time you were on this planet, M'gann. And you too, Raquel, a couple years ago in a situation that I'm not legally allowed to talk about," a few eyebrows go up at the last one but Raquel nods once to show she knows what she's talking about. "Now I'm asking for you to return the favour."
The women exchange a look. They stare at each other for a moment, which Artemis thinks is strange until she remembers that M'gann can communicate telepathically. They both look back at the blonde. "Deal," Rocket says. Artemis smiles.
"I also have a proposition," Artemis says because the truth is, Prince didn't give her five folders. She gave her seven.
Artemis gives them a brief rundown of the Avengers Initiative and what they are going to set out to do. Just because they have Klarion now, doesn't mean there won't be more like him, Artemis is sure. Rocket and Miss Martian seem to agree.
"I'm in," Rocket says without hesitation. Miss Martian quickly follows.
"Me too," she says, "Because Earth needs all the help it can get."
"Who says there'll be more of me, especially when you haven't even properly dealt with me yet," a high pitched voice says and everyone turns to see Klarion. They'd forgotten him in the agreements and he's somehow over powered Nightwing, a foot on his head that shoves his face into the dirt. Artemis guesses it has something to do with his staff, which has magically appeared back in his hands even though Artemis swears it was still in the helicopter when she jumped. Artemis raises her bow.
"Put it down, Klarion," M'gann hisses, eyes glowing. Artemis sees the others out of the corner of her eye, ready for battle.
Klarion pauses, then smiles, "Of course," he drops it. Artemis shots an arrow as it falls, causing the tip to turn in midair and aim at him instead of them. A bright light shoots out and hits a tree, knocking it clean over. Klarion smiles a little wider, "Very good."
"On your knees with your hands on your head. Say another word and she'll shoot your eye out," Zatanna warns. When Klarion looks at her forward confirmation, Artemis lifts her shoulder and eyebrow in an agreeing motion. Klarion makes a tsking noise but does as she commands.
Dick stands and Raquel comes forward to shove Klarion to the ground, taking specialized handcuffs off her belt and attaching them to his wrists. She pulls out a specialized mouth restraint around his head, which will hold his jaw in place so he cannot cast any verbal spells. Zatanna casts a spell and blue bonds appear over the first ones for good measure. Zatanna grabs his upper arm and tugs him up.
It's too easy, Artemis thinks. There's no way that he's just giving up. Artemis picks up his scepter and hands it to Zatanna, who encases it in some large, glowing orb with words Artemis can't hear.
Dick presses a button on his belt and the helicopter begins to slowly lower a platform that they can all ride up on. Conner comes to stand next to her and watches the platform come down.
"I will get your parachute," Aqualad volunteers and Artemis thanks him with an incline of her head but doesn't look away from Klarion. She suddenly feels very badly about this, especially when Klarion turns around and looks straight at her, like he can feel her gaze.
"How's your father, Conner?" Says a voice from behind them. Artemis swings over to see it's the cat that's talking. She forgot about that damn cat, and now they're all paying for it.
Everyone exchanges strange glances across the clearing, but Artemis feels Conner stiffen beside her. Without looking away from the cat, she says, "Klarion, I will shoot you if you don't stop that right now."
"Conner, I asked you a question. How's your father?" The cat's tail flicks and Artemis glances at Klarion. He's smiling under his mask, Artemis can tell from the way his eyes are crinkled. "Oops, I forgot. How insensitive of me. You've never had a father. Lex Luthor is insane and wants nothing to do with you. Clark Kent left as soon as he witnessed one of your episodes."
"Conner, don't listen," Dick says and he must be realizing how serious the situation has become. Conner's fists are white.
"Conner, Cooonner. Poor little Conner. No one loves Conner. Conner is all alone."
Artemis steps in front of Conner, blocking the cat from sight, "Conner. Conner, look at me. Listen to me. You aren't alone. I'm here. Dick's here. Kaldur, Zatanna, M'gann, Raquel. We're all here. You aren't alone."
"Poor baby Conner. You just want another taste of the patches, don't you? Can't you remember how it felt to be so high up?"
"Conner, look at me," Artemis persists.
"No one even tried to stop you when you left. No one."
"Conner."
"Poor baby Conner. Never was a baby, was he?"
"Conner, look at me."
"Sad little Conner. All alone. So hungry for his high. So angry all the time."
"Nightwing," Artemis quietly and suddenly. "Get away. All of you. Bring Klarion." Her tone changes, along with Superboy. Conner's eyes aren't blue anymore; they're red. Artemis steps back.
"We aren't leaving you here, Artemis," Aqualad says lowly.
"Poor Conner, innocent Conner. Monster Conner."
"Conner, don't-" Faster than a snake, Superboy's hand shoots out and wraps itself around her neck and for the second time today, Artemis is fighting for breath. Artemis claws at it. "Conner," she works out in nothing more than a choked whisper. His grip tightens.
Dick's already shooting at him, he started when Superboy first grabbed her, but the bullets are just bouncing off him. Conner is invincible, after all. He changes his grip on her, spinning her around and using her as a shield, arm tight around her neck. It forces Dick to stop shooting and he drops both guns back in their holsters. He draws his escrima sticks while Artemis digs her nails into Conner's arm. She would bite him, if she didn't think she could break her teeth by trying.
"Rocket, Zatanna, take Klarion to the helicopter," Kaldur says. They do as he says without argument and shoot up to the helicopter with Klarion, trying to break whatever contact he has with his cat.
"I can feel him," M'gann says, "In his mind. Conner's still there. He's just...overpowered." Artemis can't speak, her sounds reduced to pathetic cracks and squeaks
Miss Martian lifts a hand and a rock flies up to hit Conner in the shoulder. His grip doesn't loosen around Artemis' neck and she can feel her consciousness slipping, her head droops as her fight abandons her. Miss Martian sends more rocks, all of which hit Conner and miss Artemis.
Finally, they are enough to get his attention; he throws Artemis suddenly so she hits a tree horizontally, back connecting with the trunk. Her head slams on her arm and her Achilles' heels bang against each other. Her vision wavers. She sees black spots as her brain tries to recover from the lack of oxygen.
Artemis gives herself a count to three and makes herself sit up. Her legs are too wobbly to stand on, but she doesn't stop trying. When Artemis falls for a third time, she tries to focus on the fight, which is full of bright flashes and flying objects. They're all fighting; it's a huge cluster fuck. And it's just what Klarion wants.
Artemis forces herself to stand and notches an arrow. She takes a deep breath before she raises her bow and pulls it back to her lip. She aims it at Conner and lets it fly; her aim is true (she never misses) and it catches him around the feet. For the moment, he's caught in the quick drying compound that's stronger than cement and they need to take advantage of it.
"I can get him," M'gann says, eyes closed. She approaches Conner carefully and he yells and throws his fists, but it'll take more than that to break free. She grabs the sides of his face. Her eyes are glowing and even when she closes them, the green shines from beneath her lids.
Conner's entire body suddenly stiffens before he can even take a swing. His arms drop and his body goes limp.
Suddenly, Miss Martian's legs give out from under her. Dick just manages to catch her as she falls, her head lolling over his arm. Conner is not so lucky. He falls backwards and hits the dirt hard, but doesn't seem to feel it. No one breathes as they wait for him to open his eyes, to move, to do something.
When he groans, everyone lets out a collective breath. Even Artemis, who is leaning on a tree with leaden legs. Her head is still spinning a little when his eyes open and they're blue again.
"Are you alright?" Dick asks and no one is sure who he's asking; M'gann or Conner.
"Ow," Conner says.
"I'm okay," M'gann says, holding her forehead. She looks at Conner and seems to be trying to decipher something.
Kaldur comes over and lets Artemis lean on him so she can walk more steadily to the platform; she just needs some sugar in her and to sit for ten minutes, and she'll be fine again. She knows she will. Artemis has bounced back from worse.
M'gann has to carry Conner to the platform because Artemis doesn't have the chemical that melts the stuff around his feet. He doesn't seem to appreciate being floated to the platform, but he'll just have to deal until they reach the Helicarrier.
That cat is lucky that Artemis doesn't know where it is; otherwise, it'd have twelve different arrows in its hide.