Disclaimer: Young Justice is owned by DC Comics, Cartoon Network, and Warner Bros. Not by me. Though that would awesome.


Chapter 3: The Interrogation

Artemis almost didn't notice the second explosion until it nearly blew her off her feet. She fell backwards, scraping her palms on the rubble. Her heart was pounding a million miles per second.

Cheshire had – no, Jade had betrayed her. There had been plenty of time for both of them to escape, but...

She clenched her fists. The distraction. Of course. It was her. Cheshire intended for Artemis to be left behind to deal with the teen heroes while she and their partners hightailed it back to Infinity Island. She had been careless. She should have known.

Someone gave a loud throat-clearing cough behind her. Artemis turned to find herself surrounded by none other than the super kids. They didn't seem happy about the half-destroyed building. But Artemis's mood was worse. She reached back for an arrow, only to be greeted with an all but empty quiver. Most of the arrows had fallen out during the explosion. The only other weapon at her disposal was the crossbow strapped to her thigh. Her fingers twitched over the thigh holster like a cowboy in a Western film, daring her enemies to move.

Several batarangs appeared in Robin's hand. "Don't even think about it." The other sidekicks settled into their respective fighting stances. Artemis locked glares with each member of the team, with the exception of Kid Flash, who was rubbing his eyes angrily. "I'm still seeing spots," he grumbled.

There she was. A scorching line of fire behind her and five super-powered opponents in front of her. Hopelessly outmatched, next to no equipment, no transport home, and about to be taken in by a bunch of do-gooder teens. Not the most ideal of situations. No one had to tell her what her remaining option was.

It took some effort to unclench her fists and toss both bows to the ground. Feigning nonchalance, she raised her hands in mock surrender. "Fine, I give up. Turn me over to the law, or whatever." She nudged the bow forward with the toe of her boot.

Kid Flash took the bait, just as she'd hoped. With the prospect of poetic justice for his retinas in front of him, he stepped forward to pick up her bow.

But Aqualad was the first to realized his mistake. "Wait! Don't –!" the Atlantean started.

Kid Flash turned to look at his teammate, giving Artemis the prime opportunity to lunge forward and plant her boot in the side of his face. The speedster was thrown back in shock. Before the rest of the team could stop her, Artemis plunged her last smoke screen arrow into the ground.

"Again! Really!?" an exasperated voice shouted from within the cloud.

Well, maybe if you didn't keep falling for it… Artemis allowed herself a small grin of triumph and pelted for a partially destroyed window.

If she could just make it out onto the street, the junior heroes would have a much harder time catching her.

But her escape was in vain. It seemed they actually had been anticipating the possibility of her retaliation. The younger looking Superman was lying in wait. His punch, when it came, felt like an iron hammer burying itself into her stomach.

Artemis's breath caught in her throat just in time for the second blow at the back of her neck. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and consciousness slipped away, propelling her into darkness.


Wally West was unhappy.

He had already been having a crap day before they were summoned to stop the robbery at the museum, and it had not gotten better. In the space of an hour he had been almost blown up, blinded, and kicked in the face all by the same girl.

Fine, the explosion wasn't her fault, but as far as Wally was concerned she was still responsible for ruining his day. And it didn't help that everyone was so set on keeping her around.

The team was observing the unconscious girl through a sheet of one-sided glass while she lay in her cell at the Cave. A graph of her vitals beeped and flashed on a nearby monitor while Kaldur briefed the team about something boring. Wally felt his attention drifting. In his opinion, they should have shipped her off to jail or given her to the League, but no, that would've been too easy.

"I still think this is a bad idea," he said in a singsong voice. A circle of frowns met his words. It was childish of him to cut off Kaldur's team leader speech, but his jaw was still throbbing from the impact of archer girl's foot.

"Nevertheless," said Kaldur in a tone of steady calm. "We have our orders."

"They're stupid orders."

"Come on, Wally," Megan wheedled. "We at least have to try."

He hesitated, but even Megan's sweet words could not sway him this time. "Well, you guys go ahead and play nice with Blondie, but I refuse. As far as I'm concerned, she shouldn't be our problem."

"But we took her in. That makes it our responsibility to perform our duties to their fullest," said Kaldur with an air of finality. "I must present our report to the League. Robin, I trust you can handle this?" He looked pointedly at Wally.

"No sweat," Robin grinned while Wally exclaimed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember, do not let on to the mission or she may become hostile. We are trying to establish trust and open communication."

Wally snorted loudly. Trust? Yeah right.

Robin waited for Kaldur to leave the room before elbowing Wally sharply in the ribs. "Dude. Let it go already."

"Hey, she's the one who kicked me in the face."

"We know. We were there."

"Then I don't know why you think I'll be nice to her after that."

"Uhh, guys?" Megan interrupted and pointed at the window. "I think she's awake."


Images spun viciously around in Artemis's head. Clouds of dust and glass. A fiery explosion. A feline mask with dark pits where the eyes should've been. A blur of red and gold. The creaking sound her bow made whenever she drew back an arrow that used to give her comfort. A feeling of control. Now it was just a missed opportunity.

Her eyes snapped open. She looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, half expecting it to come crashing down on her. Survival instincts kicked in, causing her to shoot straight up to a sitting position.

Nausea instantly overcame her. She doubled over and waited for her vision to stop spinning. Colored spots flashed madly in the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away to get a better look at her surroundings.

A few sweeps of the room told her enough. It was a cell. A pretty nice cell from what she was used to. A bed, a bathroom, a bookcase, a wide mirror set into the wall (probably a one-way window), and two armchairs facing each other. It was nice furniture too. The sheets twisted around her previously thrashing legs were soft and smelled like detergent.

The bed was really comfortable too. That pissed her off. Even the handcuffs binding her hands were made of a sturdy but not uncomfortable material connected by a thin luminescent red wire, definitely high tech. Less could be said about the suspicious metal choker around her neck. That was going to chafe. Still, as far as hostage situations go this could be a lot worse, she thought.

A door behind her slid open with a mechanical whir. Artemis bolted to her feet and nearly toppled over from the rush of blood to her head. Two very unwelcome arms rushed forward to help steady her. Artemis jerked her shoulders away from the green-skinned girl, who looked almost timid.

"Oh, sorry, just making sure...I'm Miss Martian, by the way." She attempted a handshake, then remembered Artemis's bound hands and quickly redirected her hand to her hair. "Sorry, so sorry...about that. Should've known better. Um, can I call you Artemis?"

There was no response to that, only a dry look.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," the girl held out a small parcel. "Oh, and I brought you fresh clothes. Your uniform is a bit...messy."

They both glanced down at her clothes. Her cowl was gone, but they hadn't touched her uniform. Her tight dark green pants were torn in several places where glass and falling rock had scratched her and her boots were sporting matching scorch marks. The sides of her arms were covered in small scrapes and coated in a thin layer of ash.

"There's a shower in the back if you want to use it."

Artemis raised one skeptical eyebrow. Was this chick for real? What were any of them thinking? They clearly didn't get the memo about how to treat prisoners of war.

Miss Martian gave what she must have thought was a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you're totally safe here. I mean, technically you're our...well, hostage. But we'd rather think of you as more like a guest." She moved over to one of the armchairs. "I'll just...wait here until you're done. Also, that collar is waterproof so you can wear it in the shower. Not that it will come off actually...but yeah, I'll be here!" She gave another friendly smile.

Artemis gave the Martian girl a once over and judged as not much of a threat. She actually seemed pretty sincere. No intended hostility whatsoever, but Artemis had the feeling that she could still take care of herself if attacked. She supposed she should consider herself lucky. Had it been Batman or a member of the Justice League who had entered the cell, she might have felt more like a caged animal. But not with this red-haired girl, who looked as though Artemis might lunge and bite her at any moment.

Figuring there was no harm in it, she snatched the clothes from the Martian's hands and stalked over to the bathroom. A thorough scan of the room told her there were no cameras, for modesty's sake. That could be used to her advantage, she thought. There was a sink, toilet, and small shower with a few little bottles of shampoo and a bar of soap. The bare minimum, though Artemis hadn't been expecting even that much. She wondered if it had been the Martian girl's idea.

Artemis turned to look at her reflection in the spotted mirror above the sink. She was a mess. No surprises there. Her thick blonde ponytail had slackened and stray hairs were either still falling out or stuck to the side of her face. Her body felt sticky with sweat and dirt. But it was nothing compared to how heavy her head felt, bogged down with anger and hopeless despair. She felt numb even as the scalding water poured over her, washing the dirt and dried blood from her skin. When she closed her eyes she could see Jade's mocking smile through ghostly falling rocks and blazing fires.

She tried thinking of escape plans, contingencies, what-if situations. But what would it matter when Lawrence found out she had been captured? Even if by some miracle she escaped for from the clutches of these super teens, right under the nose of Earth's own Justice League, there was no guarantee the Shadows would take her back.

Scratch that. They definitely wouldn't. No matter how much she could insist that she hadn't given up her allies, they would never believe her. They might even put a hit out on her. There was nothing to return to.

But then again, there was nothing wrong with being a solo contractor. Plenty of underworld legions needed muscle, and Artemis's skills were well known. Lawrence had trained her from a young age for that purpose, after all.

Feeling slightly more confident about her odds, she switched off the water and looked at the bag of clothes. Dark jeans, a white top, and a black jacket with three-quarter length sleeves. Could be worse. She saw what that Martian girl had worn at the museum. What kind of self-respecting super-powered woman wore a schoolgirl skirt to battle? After dressing herself, she noticed her reflection again. All squeaky clean and in civilian clothes, she could have been anyone. Just a normal girl on the street. She had forgotten what that felt like.

Miss Martian was still sitting in the far armchair, sure enough. Artemis had been half hoping she wouldn't be there, but decided to oblige her and sit in the opposite armchair. The two girls sat in awkward silence.

"I'm glad the clothes fit," she said in a tone of forced cheer.

Artemis rested her elbow on the arm of the chair to prop her head up, staring at the wall with a clearly bored expression. "Yup."

After a few seconds of silence she could suddenly felt a slight bit of pressure in her head that seemed vaguely familiar. She then realized the Martian girl's eyes had glazed over as though she were staring very pointedly at Artemis but not actually seeing her. Right, she remembered. This one's a telepath.

"If you're trying to see inside my mind, don't bother," Artemis said.

Miss Martian gave a small jolt of surprise and her eyes snapped back into focus. "W-what?"

"I've been trained by the best to resist mind control." She tapped her head. "Nothing's getting out of here unless I say so."

The green girl threw a desperate look back at the window, probably to signal her teammates on the other side. If they were watching, they could probably tell this wasn't going well.

Artemis relaxed back in her chair while the Martian girl thought desperately for a new topic.

"I like your hair," she said. "It's very...yellow."

Oh god, she's trying to make small talk.

"But you knew that already. Hello, Megan!" she lightly bonked herself in the head.

And she had a catch phrase. At that moment, Artemis would have chosen to be hung by her ankles over a fiery pit of lava than be stuck in this room.

Just then the doors slid open and Robin stepped into the room. Miss Martian could not have looked more relieved. Artemis too was glad for what proved to be more of a challenge. "Reinforcements from the Boy Wonder, huh?"

"Just thought I'd introduce myself," he grinned in a boyish fashion.

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Wow, how old are you? Eleven? Twelve? Has your voice even changed? Man, they recruit young for the side of justice, don't they?"

She could tell Robin was trying to maintain a friendly smile, but it was definitely taking some effort. Good. She wanted to get under Boy Wonder's skin if it meant they would both leave her alone.

"Okay, then, never mind, you already know me," he said. "We're just here to let you know a bit about the situation."

"Let me guess," she tapped a finger on her chin, looking thoughtful. "Teenaged Superman out there hit me, so then you probably drugged me, took me to your secret hideout, and are planning to either transport me to jail or ransom me back to the League of Shadows. Although I hate to disappoint, but if you are trying to blackmail the Shadows, you picked the wrong hostage. I'm not exactly high up on the villain food chain."

"We're not ransoming you," Robin replied.

"Also, that was Superboy who knocked you out. Not Superman," Miss Martian added, eager to be a part of the conversation.

"Anyway," Robin gave her a meaningful look. "Our team has been charged with keeping you here as a part of intelligence gathering."

That was a surprisingly honest answer. She was beginning to wonder if they were really serious about keeping her hostage. "Uh-huh, I see," she said. "And if I don't want to stay here...?"

He smirked. "You could try, but there's no way to escape. Not even with help from the outside."

Artemis leaned forward, interested in calling the Boy Wonder's bluff. "You seem awfully sure of yourself. How do you know I won't break out of here myself or escape while you're all out on a mission?"

"We've taken a few precautionary measures. That collar monitors your heart rate, adrenaline, and movement. If you even think about trying to harm anyone or tamper with it'll deliver a strong pulse to paralyze your motor functions and knock you out for a few hours. You wouldn't make it two steps before it drops you. Also, Batman made it." He gave an evil smile. "I really wouldn't recommend escaping."

Damn brat. There was no point in challenging that. With the help of Batman and the League's magicians, if they wanted to create a device like that it was a good bet she wasn't getting away. "You sure did cover all your the bases, I'll give you that much. Doesn't mean I'll talk."

Once again, Miss Martian leaped into the conversation. "That's okay! I mean, you shouldn't feel pressured or anything...I know you just woke up and everything's a bit overwhelming, but we're not going to force you so say anything...even though we're kind of threatening you, I guess. Are we threatening her?"

"A little, yeah," said Robin.

"Oh...well, there's still no pressure!"

Every sugary sweet word the Martian girl said seemed to scratch at Artemis's last frayed nerve. This idiotic interview needed to end. Now.

"You've been awfully nice to me so far so I'm going to give you a little piece of info, free of charge." The girl leaned forward eagerly. Artemis suppressed a smirk; this was almost too easy. "Go ahead and think of me as a guest if you want, but to me you're just jailers. I don't know what you're planning or what you think I'll tell you, and I don't care. But if you give me the half the chance, I will step over all of you to get out of here." She crossed her legs and sat back, treating the Martian with a frigid smile. "Come back when you're ready to let me go."

With that the conversation was officially over. Robin gave an awkward laugh, whispered something in Miss Martian's ear, and the two left. The door clicked shut behind them, and silence took their place.

The peaceful quiet should have felt blissful and comforting, but all it did was leave Artemis alone with her thoughts. Thoughts that were a bit too focused on replaying the events of the previous day, and lamenting over her failures. She buried her face into the crook of her elbow to hide it from the cameras.

This day needed to end. Now.


Wally cleared his throat. "I didn't want to say this but…"

"Then don't," said Robin.

"It's okay. You don't have to say it," Megan's eyes dropped to the ground. "I was horrible, I know. I barely know how to befriend normal humans, let alone one who fights against us."

Wally immediately changed his tune. "No, no, babe, you did great!" He put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "It's not your fault she's all mean and hostile. Really!"

Robin and Superboy gave him both a withering look; Superboy looked especially ready to hit him. He gave them both a shrug and sheepish grin.

"Why don't we wait until Kaldur gets back? He's better at this kind of thing," he said when Megan slid out from under his arm.

Robin shook his head. "He's still briefing Batman and the others. Who knows how long they'll keep him there? Besides," He put his hands on his hips confidently. "We can totally handle this without him! Superboy, you wanna go next?"

Superboy leaned against the coach with his arms crossed. "No thanks."

"Come on, we all have to at least try."

"I'm not good with people," he leveled Robin with a stubborn glare. "Pass."

Robin put both his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Oookay, then. KF, you're up."

Wally crossed his arms, mirroring Superboy. "No way."

"Ten minutes, that's it. Just ask her a few questions, and if she isn't cooperative, you can leave and we'll try again tomorrow."

Wally wrinkled his nose. Visiting every day sounded even worse. He relented. "Fine, but I make no promises." He left the control room and disappeared up the hallway. The team watched the monitor for a moment.

Robin broke the silence. "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?"

His teammates nodded in unison.

"Good, it's not just me.