MoP

Harry Potter and the Myriad of Possibilities: Prologue

Chapter 18: Deception, Part 7.

Disclaimer: This is solely a not-for-profit fan activity and does not intend to infringe on copyrights held by Time Warner, DC Comics, Bloomsbury et al, and JK Rowling. Any characters that are original to this work remain the property of the author.

A/N: The Myriad of Possibilities Series primarily uses the background from the Harry Potter books but some elements and scenes have been borrowed from other sources – including the movies, Pottermore and my own headcanon – that will be covered where they fit into the narrative. The timeline of the DC Comics elements borrows heavily from Young Justice (2011) and may adapt elements and characters from the comics and several additional other media instalments – including but not limited to Smallville (2001) and Superman and Lois (2021) – and relocates events of Young Justice to the Eighties and early Nineties rather than the New Tens as screened and includes several 'legacy' and original characters as a result. Any other recognisable characters belong to their copyright holders.

A/N: Thanks to 6f5e4d for their help on this chapter.

A/N: I decided to take a little break from Rebellion so that I can get at least an idea what the plans for Targets are before continuing, but rather than go on a full hiatus I decided to go back and spend some time with one of my favourite Team members. I will be continuing with Deception until I catch up Rebellion, then I may alternate chapters or post full versions from each perspective depending on what fits the episode in question and where my muse goes up to at least Auld Acquaintance and potentially into some original Year One content.

Gotham.
September 6, 19:16 EDT.

The ring of her new phone drew Artemis away from the Gotham Academy course list that she'd been studying. She reached over and grabbed it, putting it to her ear. "What's up, boss?"

"Are you busy?" asked Green Arrow.

"Just going over course options," Artemis replied. "Nothing that can't wait."

"Okay…" Green Arrow continued. "Can you join me in Star City? We might have a situation."

A situation? Artemis thought. "Where and when?"

"Police Headquarters," replied her mentor. "As soon as you can."

"Will anyone else be joining us?"

"Black Canary's on monitor duty and I can't contact Red Arrow… So, we're on our own for now."

Suits me, Artemis thought. "I'll be with you in fifteen."

Star City.
16:32 EDT.

Her mentor and his police contact, Detective Quentin Lance, were waiting in the Major Crimes Unit office when Artemis was ushered in.

"Thanks for coming," said the detective from behind his large wooden desk, then indicated one of the seats in front of his desk. "Have a seat."

"That's okay," Artemis told him as she slid into the free chair, noting the sound of the patrolwoman leaving as she did so. "Do you need me to question someone else?"

"No," Green Arrow replied from his seat in the other guest chair. "We're pretty sure we've already got any answers we're going to get this time."

That's good, Artemis thought. "Then what have we got?"

Detective Lance nodded towards the big screen mounted on one of his walls and raised a clicker. He pressed a button on it and the screen flared into life, showing a series of mugshots. "Kristoff Weiss, also known as Slipknot," he began. "He attacked the mayor's party during the Labor Day festivities, but your mentor was able to take him down without civilian casualties."

"He's mostly a freelancer," Green Arrow continued. "But he's got some connections within the community. Apparently, someone… he's not sure who, but he's thinks it's an organisation rather than another freelancer… is planning a heist in Star City tonight."

"Does he know what or where?"

"Somewhere in the city," replied the detective. "But he's claims not to know more than that..."

"Only that it's connected to some sort of ritual," finished her mentor. "And that it would be 'very bad' if they succeeded."

"Well, that doesn't exactly narrow it down," Artemis pointed out. "Do you believe him?"

"That's something's going down…?" asked her mentor. "… Yes."

Detective Lance nodded his own agreement.

"But you think he might be playing it safe on how much he's telling us?"

"I do."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Artemis mused. "Most of the likely candidates play for keeps."

"Who do you think it is?"

Artemis shrugged. "It's hard to say without more information…"

Green Arrow nodded. "But if you had to guess?"

Artemis frowned, considering the question. "I'd say the most likely options are the Shadows or the Kobra Cult…"

Both men nodded at that.

"Intergang doesn't really operate this far west…" Artemis continued. "And the Church of Blood has been quiet for years…"

"It could also be organised crime of course," offered Detective Lance.

Green Arrow nodded. "The Bratva and the Tongs have dabbled in that sort of thing in the past…"

"It's possible… but less likely given the source," Artemis suggested. "Do we have a plan?"

"We do," confirmed the detective. "The SCPD SWAT teams are out in the force… they'll cover the bulk of the targets."

"Given the magical connection, we figure that it's more likely that they'll hit somewhere in Oldtown," Green Arrow continued. "So, you and I will cover that area."

"Sounds good to me," Artemis agreed.

"Then let's get moving," declared her mentor and rose from his own seat.

Star City.
September 6, 20:12 PDT.

"What do you see, Artemis?" asked Green Arrow as the pair crouched on the edge of a roof looking down at the street.

Artemis looked down at the building opposite them, then took out a pair of binoculars to get a better look. "Museum, after hours…" she noted as she scanned the front of the World History Museum. "… bypassed security system… and point of access for the thief." She lowered her binoculars and then half-glanced at her mentor, grinning. "Are we going in? 'Cuz I'd love to nail this guy!"

"How do you know it's a guy?" Green Arrow asked with a grin. "And yes…" he said, drawing a zipline arrow and launching it towards the roof of the museum. "We're going in!" he declared as Artemis slid off the roof and onto the line and he followed.

They landed easily on the ground and entered through the same ruined window that the thief had entered and began to search the building. "Okay, so he or she has to be around someplace…" Artemis noted as they navigated the corridors towards the main hall.

"Nope, not he or she…" countered her mentor as the room came into view, and he drew an arrow from his quiver and lit it. "They."

"They," repeated Artemis as she drew an arrow of her own. "Right… got it."

Several of the robbers carried sub-machine guns or pistols and immediately opened fire as Green Arrow fired the flare arrow at the group and Artemis knocked a standard arrow and prepared to fire.

But she paused as the flare arrow hit the wall and blazed with a blinding light.

"Blinded…" moaned one of the gun-toting thugs.

"Where is he?" asked another as he reached out with one hand and held his head with the other.

"See? Keep 'em off balance…" said Green Arrow as he closed in on the pair. "We're not looking for a fair fight here." He told Artemis as he elbowed one of them in the face, smashing him against a wall, then struck out at the other with a devastating upper-cut weighted by the grip of his bow.

"I'll keep that in mind, boss!" snarled Artemis as she sheltered behind one of the plinths to avoid a hail of bullets from two of the armed robbers. After a moment, they stopped to reload and she was able to knock an arrow and shoot it at the ceiling, showering both gunmen, the third robber and her mentor with a fine mist of grey-brown oil.

"I can't see!" exclaimed one of the robbers.

"Where are they?!" asked the second.

Seeing an opening, both archers charged the pair and quickly subdued them. "Well, what do you think?" asked Artemis, hopefully.

"That we're going to discuss using arrows that don't up my dry-cleaning bill…" grumbled her mentor. "But first we need to find that third robber."

"We're too late!" exclaimed Artemis as the pair hurried out onto the roof and saw the last thief dangling from a helicopter's rope ladder as it banked away from the museum.

"It's never too late!" declared Green Arrow, drawing an arrow and immediately firing it at the aircraft to stick in the side of the fuselage as it flew out of sight.

Artemis glanced at her mentor, her gaze curious.

"GPS tracker," explained the man, drawing out a Q-Phone and showing her the screen. "Armed and activated."

Seconds later, the tracking symbol disappeared from the screen and was replaced with a 'No Signal' banner across the middle of the screen. "Uh… discovered and deactivated," Artemis countered.

"Dang," sighed Green Arrow.

"By the way… that oil arrow…" Artemis began with a grin, then drew out her own phone, showing it to her mentor. "Micro-beads in the oil contained built-in GPS."

"Nice," said Green, clearly impressed.

"I have a good teacher," declared Artemis with a grin.

Minneapolis.
September 12, 21:57 CDT.

"Recognised, Green Arrow Zero-Eight, Arrowette B-Zero-Seven."

"Recognised, Flash Zero-Four, Kid Flash B-Zero-Three."

"Recognised, Batman Zero-Two, Robin B-Zero-One."

"Well, what have we got?" asked Batman.

"Well, it seems to have started six days ago," Artemis began. "We had a tip that someone was going to pull a heist, so we were on patrol in Oldtown, when we spotted a break-in at the Star City World History Museum… we captured most of the robbers, but one of them got away in a helicopter with some sort of cobra dagger after I tagged her with GPS micro-beads."

"Good call," offered Robin.

"Thanks," said Artemis with a grin and then continued. "I tracked the signal here, but by the time we'd caught up with her, she must have changed clothes."

"Unfortunate," commented Batman. "But an excellent effort nonetheless."

"We tracked our thief here thanks to pollen traces," offered Wally. "He made off with a sample of concentrated cobra venom."

"Cobra dagger, cobra venom…" repeated Robin. "Is anyone seeing the obvious connection here?"

"I agree," confirmed Batman. "It's likely that Kobra is responsible for both thefts and the kidnapping of astronomer Dr Jason Burr yesterday."

The group paused to consider the question for a moment, then nodded.

"What's our next move?" asked Wally.

"I was able to… persuade… one of the kidnappers to tell us where they were planning to take Dr Burr," replied Batman.

Robin summoned a screen from his holo-glove. "En Avant Monastery," he reported. "It was one of the monasteries commissioned by the New Age Movement in the Fifties but abandoned in Sixty-Three. Recently purchased by Jeffrey Burr, Dr Burr's twin brother."

And better known in certain circles as Kobra, Artemis thought to herself.

"Then let's go!" declared Wally.

September 12, 22:00 CDT.

"ALL HAIL NAGA-NAGA!" chanted the assembled crowd of red-robed cultists. "ALL HAIL KOBRA!"

"Take them," ordered Batman.

The two speedsters took the lead, scattering cultists like ten-pins, with the other four heroes not far behind and were making quick work of the group when Mammoth, the cult's Kobra-Venom enhanced 'muscle', waded into the fight and grabbed both Batman and the Flash in his massive hands.

Artemis was neck-deep in cultists, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mammoth's sister, Shimmer, step up to her master's side carrying a large basket with a cobra's head sticking out of it.

Seconds later, the cult leader stepped up to the alter where his brother was restrained and raised the curious dagger that Shimmer had stolen for him over his head as if to stab him in his bare chest.

She didn't have a good enough angle to make a shot herself, but she thought that Robin did. "Robin. Kobra!"

The younger hero followed her gaze and then – immediately realising what she meant – drew a birdarang and threw it at the cult leader, who easily parried the device without even looking behind him, then returned to his victim, pricked his chest with the blade, then dropped the result into the throat of the cobra in Shimmer's basket.

The cobra began to glow with an eery greenish-yellow and began to grow.

In seconds, the serpent was filling the centre of the room.

Artemis raised her bow and loosed an explosive arrow, sending it flying across the room – alongside one of her mentor's arrows and one of Robin's birdarangs – to explode harmlessly against the massive beast.

"My serpent… my servant… seems impervious… declared Kobra gleefully. "But can the same be said for you non-believers?"

At the moment, Mammoth – apparently tired of trying to strangle Batman and Flash – threw the two heroes towards the monster, likely in an attempt to feed them to it, but they were able to control their trajectory enough to hit it lower, knocking it off-balance and into the outside wall, shattering the concrete and creating a hole large enough for the creature to escape out of as the two heroes got back on their feet.

"We'll handle the serpent…" declared Green Arrow as he quickly moved to join his team-mates. "You kids protect the hostage."

"'Kids'? We're not kids," scoffed Wally, and folded his arms his chest in anger.

"Says Kid Flash," Artemis countered, her hands on her hips.

"I hate to interrupt your latest romantic moment…" quipped Robin.

Romantic moment? Artemis thought, scowling at the young hero. What does that mean…

"But we have work to do," he continued.

Yeah, he's got a point, she mused as she took in the massed line-up of red-robed cultists in front of them, with Shimmer in the lead and the massive Mammoth towering over all of them.

With his typical exuberance, Wally was the first to react and broke into a run, weaving in and out of the group. "Excuse me… pardon me… coming through!"

"Hah!" Artemis exclaimed as she nailed a trio of cultists. "Nothing ever escapes Team Arrow's calcifying foam arrow!"

"Guys focus…" cried Robin as he fought a cultist of his own. "We've got to stop before it's too late…"

Seconds later, the cults were down and the three teens turned towards Kobra, just as he raised his dagger again to stab his brother.

"No!" shouted Robin and threw a birdarang at the man. Artemis followed suit and loosed an explosive arrow and Kid Flash rushed toward him.

But even the speedster as too slow and the cultist plunged the dagger deep into his brother's chest.

The cultist was enveloped in a bright glow for a moment, and when it cleared, Kobra had transformed into a giant serpentine monster with a tail for legs, a snake's head and a cobra's hood spread like wings from his back. "My dear brother's sacrifice is complete…" hissed the creature. "And I am now the god I was always fated to be!"

"ALL HAIL NAGA-NAGA!" cried Mammoth, Shimmer and the remaining cultists as they kneeled in supplication. "ALL HAIL KOBRA!"

"Okay…" said Wally, clearly rattled. "That's… new."

"Now," hissed Robin, dropping an orange capsule into his friend's hand. "While Naga-Naga basks…"

"Okay, your lordship…" cried Wally as he sped towards the villain. "Let's dance!"

"Mammoth, Shimmer… contain the striplings," ordered the villain.

Striplings… that's new too, thought Artemis as she nocked an arrow.

Mammoth roared and lunged towards the oncoming speedster, who threw Robin's capsule into his mouth as soon as he was in range. "One minion down," declared Wally as he dodged the big man fell forward onto the ground with a crash.

"One to go!" declared Robin as he engaged Shimmer at close quarters. Seconds later, he flipped into the air to avoid a lunging jump-kick from the girl. "Artemis, now!"

Artemis loosed her arrow, and seconds later the other girl was bound and helpless.

"All minions accounted for," said Robin, confidently.

"But not their master!" Naga-Naga reminded them and struck out with his tail, sweeping them all off their feet.

But all three landed safely and were back in the fight seconds later.

"Can we hurry this up?" moaned Wally. "I've got school in the morning."

"Bummer," replied Artemis with a grin. "Mine doesn't start for another week."

"No kidding?" asked Robin. "Mine too."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in…" groused the speedster. "Meanwhile, I think I've got a plan!"

"You children prattle like buzzing mosquitos…" hissed Naga-Naga. "… But no plan exists that can defeat a god."

Big words, not sure I believe them, thought Artemis. "Hey! What are you…?!" she demanded of Wally as he snatched her up bridal-style.

He didn't reply to her immediately but turned to their team-mate. "Cover us."

"You got it, Romeo," confirmed Robin, and tossed a pellet down between himself and the villain, enveloping the whole area in a thick cloud of smoke.

Wally slowed to a stop next to the alter where the dagger was still stuck. "See, the dagger…" explained Wally, as he lowered Artemis to the ground. "… it made him." He grasped the dagger and pulled it out with a grunt. I think maybe it can break him too."

"Wow," said Artemis. "Mr Science spouts magical mumbo-jumbo."

"Just be ready, Miss Thing," he told her as he held up the weapon between them.

"Oh, I'm always ready, Kid," Artemis promised him, confidently as she accepted it, then began to prepare it for her part.

"Here's the deal, Kobie!" declared Wally as he sped across the now smoke-free area towards the villain. "I know your secret kryptonite-style weakness… it's the dagger! If we destroy it, your godspell is broken!"

"Truly, you are a clown," hissed Naga-Naga as he snared the speedster in the coils of his tail.

"No argument," said Robin as he leapt towards the villain. "But that clown's my best friend, so…" Then groaned in pain as the villain caught him in a one-handed chokehold.

Bingo, thought Artemis and loosed her arrow – with the dagger bound to it by a spare bowstring – striking the villain in the chest. He was enveloped in a green glow and released her team-mates and then vanished.

"Ow," groaned Kid Flash once he recovered from his fall. "Did it work?"

"It worked," replied Artemis, as she moved to check on Dr Burr.

"What… what happened to my brother?" asked the astronomer.

"He escaped," Artemis replied, deciding that the man needed a good rest, but otherwise fine. "I think."

"That's all right…" said Flash as he sped back into the courtyard. "… what matters is you saved the hostage and took down his minions. Nice."

"There are cells waiting for Mammoth and Shimmer at Belle Reve," Batman added as he joined them.

"And Kobra will join them soon enough," said her mentor. "Good work."

"Any problems?" asked Flash.

"Problems?" repeated Robin. "For us?"

"Are you kidding?" added Artemis. "No way."

"The whole thing was… kid stuff," finished Wally with a grin.