Disclaimer: Young Justice is owned by DC Comics, Cartoon Network, and Warner Bros, not me. Until I become rich and buy out DC Comics in a merciless takeover, forcing Earth-16 to be given its own series, and make Spitfire the canonest canon ever. Yeah.


Chapter 5: The Days Gone By

More than several days had passed since her imprisonment had begun. How long exactly she couldn't tell. Her nails had grown and her hair needed a trim. Artemis flexed her fingers. Even her calluses were starting to soften. Her hands itched for arrows to fletch or even just to hold. To give some small comfort that she was in control.

It felt cliché, but most of her time was spent working out. She refused to let her body grow stagnant with disuse. Morning, noon, and night. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, anything she could think of. Anything to drive the thoughts away.

Other times she slept, or read, or pretended to sleep while planning out possible escape options. She ran over diversionary tactics, attack combinations, hypothetical combat situations. What to do when surrounded by multiple assailants, in this case, a certain group of smiley super teens. How best to trip up an obnoxious speedster, or outwit the constantly laughing Boy Wonder, or paralyze the vocal cords of an overly peppy Martian.

Her scenarios tended to end in either incarceration or gruesome death, by whose hands she was never certain.

But her days were not so monotonous. Three times a day, without fail, one of the sidekicks would bring her food and ask her questions. It was almost unnerving how friendly they were trying to be.

Some conversations were borderline pleasant. It was usually bits of world news, or questions about her interests, or, god help her, comments about the weather. Which was decently pointless since the cell had no windows, and she found herself wondering whether or not they were trying to trick her into longing for the outside world. Eventually it became clear that after multiple meetings a day, there just wasn't much more to talk about anymore.

She began to pick up on their schedules and noticed when one of them switched out for the other, most noticeably when Superboy fell out of the rotation. Though that may have been her fault for shamelessly hitting on him during their first conversation because she could tell it made him extremely uncomfortable. And it didn't hurt that he was hot either.

But the other members picked up the slack and supplied their own awkward chitchat. Miss Martian was too eager, Aqualad was too professional, and Kid Flash was understandably hostile, but none of them ever prodded her for information. They hardly asked anything. Nothing about the Shadows, or her background, or whether or not she had made a decision.

The one time Robin had tried to get personal didn't work out so well. She gave him props for not doing the same song and dance his teammates insisted upon, but, for the protégé of the world's greatest detective, subtlety didn't come naturally.

"How about a question for a question?" he asked one particular afternoon. "Like a game. You ask one, I ask one. And we can both choose to pass if we don't feel comfortable answering."

Artemis stared at the frayed tips of her hair. That day had been so incredibly boring that she had considered an attempted jailbreak just to liven things up. At least this alternative sounded less harmful to her wellbeing. "Sounds fair."

"All right," he rubbed his hands together like an excited game show host. "Who do you work directly under in the League of Shadows?"

Going all out in the first question, are we? "Pass."

Robin nodded, as though he had expected this answer. "Fine, what your first question?"

She looked around the room thoughtfully. "Is this room located in your team's main headquarters?"

"Pass, sorry," he gave an apologetic smile. "What are the Shadows planning to do with the diamond Cheshire stole?"

Artemis pursed her lips. Interesting that he didn't acknowledge she had helped to steal it. She felt a stab of annoyance at the reminder of that job. "Couldn't tell you even if I knew. Are any members of the Justice League around other than Red Tornado?"

"Pass. Do you live with your parents?"

"Super pass. Do these walls block electronic frequencies?"

"Pass."

"This game sucks."

"You're probably right," he sighed. "Maybe something easier. What's your mother like? Did you learn to be a villainess from her or your sister?"

The daggers shining in Artemis's eyes could've penetrated to the back of the boy's skull. "Don't even go there, Boy Wonder. She is not involved. You want to take me hostage and recruit me for the sidekick squad? Fine. But stay away from my mom. If any of you get her mixed up in this, I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth. All of the Justice League combined can't protect you from that."

Needless to say, there was no further questioning after that. She spent the rest of the day with nausea roiling in her stomach, wondering if her mother knew what had become of her daughters.

But even considering the unparalleled failure of that meeting, it was nothing compared to how her conversations with Kid Flash fared. If two people glaring at each other and making belligerent small talk for a half hour counted as a conversation.

After escaping with a scratch in their first meeting, Kid Flash was justifiably unhappy about seeing her a second time. He came that evening to bring her dinner. She had refused to eat at first in case the speedster had planned some kind of trivial vengeance, but she snatched it back when he gladly helped himself to her meal.

For the first ten minutes there was nothing but the sound of chewing and the occasional glare. When the silence continued for too long, he eventually groaned and yelled at the mirror wall, "Okay, okay, I'll talk, geez!"

He must have been wearing a very small earpiece because she couldn't even hear the low murmur of his teammates' response.

Kid Flash slumped in the chair and popped open a bag of chips. "So…" he said without any hint of actual interest. "How's life? Any complaints?"

"Can't say I'm a huge fan of the company."

"Don't worry, Blondie, the feeling's mutual."

"It's Artemis," she growled. "Since we're becoming such good friends and all."

"Fine. Artemis."

She waited expectantly. "What, you're not going to return the favor? I told you my name, you should tell me yours."

"Nice try. I don't give my identity to people I don't trust."

She shrugged. "It was worth a shot. Not like you didn't know my name already. And I'm guessing you know who my dad is too?"

"You mean Sportsmaster? Yeah, we know," he grinned with triumph. "We also know Cheshire is your sister."

So Robin had just been fishing during that last session. They knew about her family, but they didn't know about her mother. At least that much was secret. She raised an amused eyebrow. Were these the standards for being a super brat now?

"Wow, you are bad at keeping a lid on important information," she said. "Didn't The Flash ever teach you not to let the enemy how much you know about them?"

Kid Flash froze mid-chew, realizing his mistake, then quickly recovered with forced nonchalance. "It's fine since you're probably going to end up either joining the team or rotting in jail. For the record, I'm betting good money on jail." He continued eating with gusto.

Artemis wondered vaguely how accurately her plastic knife could injure a person's windpipe to insure they would never speak again. Or breathe.

"As much as I hate to disappoint, jail's not an option." She wrinkled her nose. "Though I bet people in jail have better manners than you. Hell, I've seen farm animals eat with better manners."

The noisily chewing Kid Flash gave a sarcastic laugh and clutched the chips to his chest with a petulant expression. He then grabbed the side of his head and snarled to the air, "Oh shut up, it wasn't that funny!"

Artemis's eyes narrowed slightly. All possible communication devices were rendered disabled in this cell, as proven by a previous visit when Kid Flash expressed irritation being unable to text during a particularly boring session. Yet all members of the team seemed to be able to communicate somehow.

She decided to play it cool and pretended not to notice. "Sorry, did I wound your feelings as well as your face? The male ego is so delicate."

"No!" he snapped. "Just…ah, forget it!" Kid Flash collapsed in his seat. "Ugh, what am I even doing here?"

"Not that I'm an expert or anything, but shouldn't you be prying for information? Something about my employers, my weaknesses, stuff like that?"

He slumped down so low that his chin touched his chest. "Yeah, but it's not like you're actually gonna tell me. And what do I care? This whole thing is pointless."

What a baby. "Aren't you honest."

He shrugged, "I just don't know why Bats thinks you'd be a good asset. Besides, we already have an archer."

"You mean Red Arrow? I heard he kicked your peewee team to the curb and went solo."

Kid Flash frowned as though personally insulted. "He's still part of the team, even if his jobs take him in a different direction."

"Probably a smart career move."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

This was too sweet, she thought. Bullying a pouty Kid Flash wasn't her brightest idea, but it was certainly looking to be the highlight of her day. "Look, you and you ragtag team must have fun playing heroes, but don't fool yourselves into thinking you can stand up to the big guys."

"Like who exactly?"

"Oh, I don't know, the people I work for? You talked a big game the other day, and, yeah, I'll admit it, I lost my cool. But after sitting here for a while, gathering intelligence of my own, you know what I think?" He didn't respond, so she answered anyway. "I think you're just the Justice League's clean up crew. I think they give you little jobs like 'interrogating' me to make you feel all special and important. But at the end of the day, it's the guys in the tights and capes who make headlines. No one cares if the sidekicks want to make their own club team."

"Tough talk from the girl we captured," he retorted.

"Uh, you had help. If Cheshire hadn't ditched me, we both would've gotten away scot-free. And how sad is that? You had to get help from another villain just to capture lil ol' me." Somehow, using her own defeat as an insult to her captors made the memory less tortuous. "So here's some advice on the house. Get out while you can. How long will your 'team' last once the Shadows come looking for me?" Her voice became tinged with an extra color of malevolence. "This hideout of yours will burn to the ground. I'll make sure of it."

Unable to keep his anger in check, Kid Flash furiously snatched her tray from the table and stood to leave. "Yeah, we'll see about that," he spat before storming away.

"Just you wait, Flash Jr. I've got an arrow with your name on it."

"It's Kid Flash!" he yelled and, had it not been electronic, he would have slammed the door behind him.


Wally was still cursing under his breath when he rejoined Kaldur and Robin in the main control room. They both stared at him for a long moment before returning to the holographic screen.

"What?!" Wally demanded.

"Nothing," said Robin. "You two make a cute couple."

"Dude, don't even joke."

The atmosphere of the control room was grim, even more so than before Wally had left. Megan and Superboy stood off to the side with Sphere. The rolling robot kept bumping into Megan playfully, but she was too absorbed in the conversation to respond. Her soft brown eyes flicked worriedly back and forth between her teammates.

"Our prospects appear darker with each day," Kaldur said with unusual solemnity.

Wally crossed his arms and glared bitterly at the screen. "Great observation there, leader."

"Knock it off, KF," said Robin. "I mean, would it really be so horrible if she joined?"

Wally rolled his eyes. He was probably just saying that because he thought she was pretty, the pint-sized Casanova. "Uh, yes! And I think you're a bit young for her, man."

Robin frowned.

"Even if she wanted to join us, do you really think we could fight together as a team?" Wally continued. "Teammates are supposed to trust each other. What would she know about having someone's back?"

Kaldur sighed and rubbed his temples. "I must admit I also have my doubts. Artemis is hostile and dangerous. There is no telling what she will do. We may be in over our heads."

At hearing their leader's concern, the rest of the team fell silent, wrapped up in their individual concerns.

Wally thought he could already see the team's future if Artemis were to join. She would be nothing more than a chink in the team's flawless armor, a frayed knot in the team's spotless web, and a constant cause for concern. Not to mention team sparring sessions were likely to turn into death matches.

Megan tried to salvage the situation. "Superboy? You've been pretty quiet so far. What do you think?"

"At first I agreed with Wally, but…" Superboy shook his head, conflicted. "Because of what we know, I can't help but think we should give her a chance."

Wally threw his hands up. "Oh, come on!"

"It's just DNA. She can't help who her parents are," A frosty bitterness entered his voice. "We can't judge her based on that."

Wally scoffed. Superboy might have had daddy issues, but it's not like he had anything to be ashamed of. The closest thing he had to a father was Superman, for crying out loud! How could he relate with Artemis and her evil dad?

Still, the young clone's eyes had clouded over with indiscernible emotion. Megan took his hand in hers and gave it a little squeeze for support.

Wally turned away. The reminder that the two were dating struck him hard in the gut. He often pretended either not to notice or like it was of no consequence, but his heart still gave a little twinge whenever they stared at each other like that. Like breaking eye contact would spell the destruction of the world. Like they were slowly spinning in an empty room while an orchestra swelled behind them.

It must be nice to have someone like that, he thought. But he was young, they were all young, and there was still so much that life had in store and a more pressing matter at hand.

"Look, bottom line, we don't need her," he said. "The five of us already make the a perfect team! And I think we can all agree if we needed archer, there's already a candidate."

Aqualad shook his head. "Roy made his choice. We cannot place our hopes in him rejoining the team. It is…for the best."

Wally suddenly felt ashamed for taking out his frustrations on Kaldur. He had forgotten that Kaldur and Roy had been close friends before going separate ways.

"Right," he rubbed the back of his neck. "So what now? Take a vote?"

"We can't vote on something like this!" Megan exclaimed. "Artemis is just misguided. If we keep up the sessions, I'm sure she'll come around!"

"Well, I'm with KF on this," said Robin. Wally repressed the urge to high five him. "We could always use more members, but I think I'd prefer a recruit who didn't want to kill us."

"That's enough. There is no need to choose sides," Kaldur said firmly, putting the matter to rest before it turned south. "Artemis is our responsibility until a final decision is reached. For now we operate as usual. She must feel protected within our walls."

"I doubt she even cares," said Wally. "She still thinks the Shadows are coming to save her."

The recollection of Artemis's words hit the team particularly hard. They shared a quick glance of confused realization before directing their eyes back to the screen.

Megan bit her lip. "I know the Cave is hidden, but wouldn't they have come looking by now?"

Kaldur frowned, thinking hard. "Do we have any word on the Shadows' movements?" he asked, nearly snapping in his haste.

Robin took a moment to access the files on his wrist computer. "Nope, nothing out of the ordinary. It's like they haven't even noticed she's gone. But with Cheshire and Sportsmaster…there's no way they don't know."

"It appears they do not intend to look," Kaldur glanced at the security camera feed. "And I think she is also aware of this."

Even through the distant grainy image, Wally could see Artemis sitting on her bed. A closer look revealed a hard-set jaw and clenched fists gripping the sides of her cot.

For a moment, the wrinkle between his eyebrows softened. What must it be like, he wondered. To be captured by people you despise and know that no one, not even your family, is looking for you.


A/N: How is everyone handling post Satisfaction feels? I'm pretty sure next week's is when shit hits the fan, so let's all keep it together until then and pray for souls. Next chapter will be part Artemis, part Jade perspective!