Disclaimer: Young Justice is owned by DC Comics, Cartoon Network, and Warner Bros. I own nothing, naturally.


Chapter 1: The Ongoing Storm

The storm outside should have been the first sign that something would go wrong.

Artemis stood out in the hallway waiting for the angry voices to die down. Through the opposite rain-spattered window she could see silent waves pummeling against the black shores of Infinity Island. Sportsmaster had just finished assigning a mission to other members of the League of Shadows and was currently dealing with an argument between Hook and Black Spider. The two had clashed over a failed mission, something about a failed assassination.

The two assassins were squabbling in low voices until Sportsmaster slammed one massive fist on the circular conference table, sending a tremor through Artemis's spine.

"That's enough," he said in a voice of deadly calm. "I don't care whose fault it was, the mission was still botched. Roquette might still be alive, but the objective hasn't changed. Maybe if you two could pull your heads out of each other's asses long enough to work together, this kind of mistake won't happen again."

Black Spider curled his hands into fists and Hook snarled, "Work together? We're not the goddamn Justice League. It's every man for himself in this world. You should know that better than anyone."

In less time than it took for Artemis to gasp, Sportsmaster had seized Hook by the veined throat and slammed him against the wall effortlessly as though the broad-shouldered man was nothing more than a rag doll. Sportsmaster hissed something menacing out of Artemis's earshot, and then dropped Hook to the floor. He and Black Spider left the room at a fast pace, glancing angrily at Artemis on their way out. She swallowed. This probably wasn't the best mood to catch him in, but she knew better than to arrive late once summoned.

She knocked on the door softly. "You wanted to see me?"

Her father crossed the room to a computer system and waved her in with a low grunt. He pointed at a seat near the screen. "Close the door and sit there."

She obeyed, trying not to stare at the smear of blood on his fingers from when he had threatened Hook.

Lawrence Crock was an imposing statue of a man. Whenever Artemis was in close proximity of him she could see the various throbbing muscles in his arms clench or relax as his mood changed. His hands scared her the most. There were large and thickly muscled with abnormal strength. Strength enough to shatter her wrists in a single squeeze. When she closed her eyes she could see him looming over her and her sister as they held each others arms for support while their mother lay sprawled on the ground behind them. She shook her head and images left her, but the dark shadows the memories cast on her heart would not fade so easily.

A mechanical beeping brought her back into the present. Lawrence had opened a video window and pressed play.

He removed his white hockey mask and placed it on the table. "This is security camera footage from last night's mission," he said.

Artemis's breath caught in her throat. Of course she had been under surveillance. She braced herself for what she knew the camera would show. Sure enough, a grainy black and white picture of her firing an arrow filled the screen. There was no sound to accompany the images, but there was no need. It was there, clear as day.

"Tell me," Lawrence paused the video feed. "What do you see?"

She stared at the screen with emotionless eyes. "Me shooting an arrow. Why, you see something I don't?"

"I'm more interested at where you shot that arrow. Not at the target, that's for goddamn sure." He zoomed in on the video and replayed the clip. She could clearly see the arrow land at the feet of a group of civilians and her own fuzzy form waving at them to go back. The civilians had heeded her words in time for a cloud of rubble to fall from overhead.

Lawrence played the clip twice more for emphasis. "Care to explain what happened there?"

She spoke with a degree of confidence that she did not possess. "Look, they were going to get in the way of the mission so I made them clear off. What's wrong with that? We didn't have time to take care of any stupid casualties. Besides, we apprehended the target without any problems. The way I see it, I did us a favor." She crossed her arms and waited for her father's response.

"I don't care about the outcome or about your excuses," he growled. "I care about your instincts." He rapped the screen with his knuckles. "One shot. That's all it takes. That arrow could've been your last resort to take down the target, and you wasted it on protecting some idiotic bystanders."

"It's a good thing it wasn't my last arrow then." Her nails dug into her skin of their own accord. That was definitely the wrong thing to say, but she hated having to justify her actions all the time. If Jade had decided to pull a crying child from a burning train wreck, he would have just assumed she had her reasons, not give her the third degree.

The muscles in his forearms rippled with anger and his voice had reached a dangerously low pitch. "I thought you knew better than to be smart with me."

"Yeah, well, family trait, I guess."

His hand came swinging around faster than she could blink. The mere force of the slap made her stumble out of her chair. She gripped the edges of the table just to stay upright while the welt on her cheek stung like hundreds of bees poking at her skin.

"Let that be a lesson to you then," he said in the same remorseless voice. "Next time your focus strays -"

A knock at the door interrupted his threat. He spun around to find his eldest daughter leaning against the door frame with a lazy smile on her lips.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Cheshire. "But we need Artemis. The boys at the museum downtown need some back-up."

It took everything Artemis had not to sign in relief. She turned to walk towards her sister a bit too eagerly. Before she could move, a large hand gripped her upper arm. Lawrence's harsh voice spoke directly into her ear. "We're not in the business of helping the innocent, kid. We do what it takes to get the job done. And if you can't handle that, you can no longer be considered an asset to this organization anymore." An angry red imprint of his fingers flared up when he released her arm. "Don't screw up."

She gave him a tight nod in reply and all but ran to the door. She walked with Jade to the helicopter pad in silence. As they passed the kitchen area, Jade ducked in to grab an ice pack from the freezer and tossed it to Artemis.

"Put that on your face," she said. "And don't look like that."

"Like what?"

"Like someone just drowned your cat," she smirked. "Stay focused this time, little sister, and maybe he'll hug you when it's over."

Artemis frowned. "Right." Her sister was being unexpectedly nice today, not that either of them were ever taken aback by Lawrence's fits of rage.

Then again, Jade had been walking around headquarters with a certain spring in her step for the past week looking very pleased with herself. Artemis knew why; her sister had found a new toy to play her sadistic mind games with. Probably Green Arrow's washed-up old sidekick, the one who started flying solo. Not that it mattered much to her. The two girls had never shared much of a sisterly bond.

Soon afterwards they were flying above a local museum where their fellow League members were in the midst of a robbery. The sisters landed on the roof with equal agility and waved the helicopter off. Thankfully there was no storm in Gotham and the moon gave them enough light to find their way to the wide stained-glass skylight. Jade's eyes glinted beneath the dark eye sockets of her feline mask.

"We're just back-up tonight," Cheshire explained as they crouched together on the rooftop. "If everything goes to plan, we shouldn't have any heroic interference. They should be occupied with our decoys on the other side of town."

Just then there was a loud explosion as the museum's wide front doors blew open with enough force to shatter the surrounding windows. The burglary alarms immediately began to blare from inside and, several miles away, the police could be heard responding with their own obnoxious sirens.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?"


A/N: There goes chapter 1! I just love the Crock sister dynamic. The action will really get going next chapter