[9th August 2010]
[Happy Harbour, Rhode Island]
She folded her arms across her chest with a faint smile, allowing herself a small showing of the pride swelling up at the moment. All around her the rest of her new teammates, sans one who'd gone off with Batman and Mr. Zatara, were giving off similar body language to her trained eye. Tonight had gone well, really well, even if the whole telepathic talking had been...weird...to say the least.
She'd proved herself she hoped, to Green Arrow and Batman for giving her chance, to her new teammates who'd seemed angered by her 'replacing' their friend, and most of all to herself and her mom. Artemis Crock wouldn't be defined by her past, or her father, or anyone other than herself; she was going to be a hero like she had been tonight.
Green Arrow stood beside her as the others talked of their success tonight; unprofessional true, but it felt good somehow. Still it was good not to be broadcasting her thoughts out like that...because it had been hard keeping the confidence. One small slip was all it would take and she could be out in the cold again, her faint hope gone like that.
"So did anyone have 'turn villain into a cat or other small animal' on the betting pool for John's next 'I'm totally not being villainous, really I'm not!' action?" Kid Flash queried jokingly glancing off in the direction her new teammate in the rather dark and nightmare themed costume had been led away with said cat a few minutes ago. Personally she didn't know what to make of him yet; he'd been polite to her upon their meeting, though his actions weren't exactly what she'd expected from a superhero exactly, nor was he anywhere as good looking at as Superboy. Hmmm...he was just delicious...
Aqualad, who was almost as appealing in appearance in her opinion, sighed and shook his head at the cheerful seeming yellow suited idiot "Kid Flash, you should not joke so of our teammate. His seeming mastery of such arts is...a surprise...but he seemed confident in his abilities..." he glanced at her and Green Arrow "...I assure you there is no such gambling on such matters amongst our number"
Green Arrow gave an amused chuckle "Oh don't worry, I know Flash's sense of humour. Chip off the old block eh Kid Flash? You wouldn't believe what..." he paused seeming to listen to something. His earpiece she assumed from the slight tilt of his head to the side before he sighed "...sadly kiddos looks like Bats wants you to help us with bringing our prisoners to jail in a three groups in case of ambush and other matters needing attention on the way. I'll be going with Batman, Artemis here, and John..."
In a way that was good, yes she was tired but it just felt right to see the job through to the end as the magician Zatara appeared from inside the school and nodded to both herself and Green Arrow as he passed. Still it would be good to get this over with and get some rest; the built up stress of the introduction, then the brief but hard fought battle against the assassins had been more draining than she'd expected. Again she resisted shaking her head in amazement, she'd fought and won against members of the League of Shadows and helped deal a blow their...
...and froze as she turned the corner. Sitting on a bench between Batman and her skull masked new teammate, hands apparently secure behind her back and shackles on her legs was Jade. Artemis's heart nearly stopped at that moment as her older sister looked at her tiredly, even bored seeming, as she brought the world crashing down around her little sister's ears once again. Everything just seemed to move in slow motion as Artemis shock her head in the negative. This wasn't happening. Not now, not like this. She'd come so far...it, it...just wasn't fair after she'd...
"Ehhh...Artemis, er...sorry I...uh...turned your sister into a...well, ah...cat! She she's all not Ninja-Kitty anymore, all hot ninja now instead...I mean, eh, she's human now isn't that great? Yes great isn't it? No reason to get mad at me! All in the heat of battle it was!" startled her out her momentary paralysis as 'John' waved with what looked like embarrassment the minute she came into view in that creepy mask generated tone that was at odds with the words. Green Arrow beside her paused a moment, then placed a hand on her shoulder as if to prevent her running away here and now like her instincts demanded.
"Ah, I see the reason for the change in plans..." he said beside her giving a squeeze of encouragement, then looking at the other three people present in the little park of the school. Idly a small part of her mind told her the 'bad kids' likely used the place for smoking cigarettes and such to stay hidden from their teachers "...so let's just all..."
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[9th August 2010]
[Sprang Boulevard, Gotham]
Gotham was a dump, or at least this part of it was anyway. Though I had a strong suspicion most of the city, outside the affluent areas, was like this in some manner. Of course that opinion was possibly tainted by the fact it was the middle of the goddamn night. I'd been up all day, then had a stressful mission and now was in a place I'd wanted to stay far, far, far away from since I'd gotten my awareness of the world around me.
Because any minute now some costumed psychopath would jump out of the woodwork and try to attack me. I was just bloody sure of it as followed the forms of Batman, Green Arrow, and a miserable seeming Artemis down the fire escape of her apartment block and in through the window. Travel by magic-super-advanced-tech to the city then spend half an hour travelling over rooftops in the dead of night to break into someone' apartment.. Hero time!
'Truly the entrance way of choice in Gotham' I reminded myself as we 'silently and secretly' entered the apartment with the green clad girl in the lead. Probably for the best considering her family were basically ninja-murder-assassins by trade and breaking into houses owned by such people was like trying to enter a wizard's sanctum uninvited; and incredibly stupid and likely suicidal life choice.
Still I was rather surprised when I entered the place at the rear of our little adventuring band – the place was an absolute fucking dump. Clean yes, but the place wasn't exactly what I'd have expected from a place owned by a retired international assassin, or one married to the infamous Sportsmaster. Evidently crime didn't pay or Sportsy had done really well on the divorce. Then again...Mommy Assassin was in a wheel chair so maybe he'd just made off with the money like a complete asshole. Yeah, that sounded like the right answer in my head.
"Mom, I..." a disconsolate started then trailed off as the blonde girl hugged herself with one hand and looked down at the ground. Truth be told I wasn't sure how to deal with the situation at hand; what do say exactly when you accidently blow your new teammate's cover on her first night of what seemed to a redemption storyline for her and her family?
Ooops...sorry I tried to mind control your sister, then turned her into a cat! Oh and by the way what's this about her and your family being criminals?
Yeah it was pretty hard not to feel bad with how obvious her distress at what she saw as the potential ending of her superhero career before it had even begun. The presence of Jade, evidently her sister's name, had served only to aggravate the matter till she was dropped off with Commissioner Gordon for a temporary stay in Arkham of all places...though honestly I could think of better places to put her than loony-bin-land even if just for a night or two hidden in solitary. But who was I to argue on the matter?
Mrs. Crock...really Crock? It was like an o away from Crook! Talk about fate conspiring against you!...rolled into view in her wheel chair looking concerned. Professional gaze too, studying for weakness even in her weakened state in a way that matched her daughter...maybe daughters considering how dangerous Ninja-Kitty, Jade! had proven in the fight earlier. A glance at her daughter, then in my direction seemed to alert her to something close to what might have happened, her voice calm but concerned as she took her daughter's hand in one of her own.
"Things did not go as we had hoped it appears?"
Batman shook his head in the negative ever so faintly "No, Mrs. Nyugen Artemis has performed as befitting one who fights beside the Justice League, but there has been a complication I'm afraid. Your other daughter..."
"Mom Jade...attacked us and I didn't know it was her till, and...and..." Artemis interjected looking miserable as her voice died to a whisper. I really shouldn't be here in family time misery like this, me and her just weren't that close "...she's in jail now"
A soft few words in...Vietnamese maybe?...followed as she squeezed her daughter's hand after bringing her other hand to hold it tight, then she looked up the rest of us from her chair "It was bound to happen, if not in such a manner as this..." the woman took a breath "...she is unharmed?"
"She's fine Mom, but she's in jail. I sent my..." honestly this was just awkward. I'd been really rather proud of myself for defeating the skill Rogue class and here was 'Victory! Hahaha now look at the misery you caused by it!' in that lovely way fate just loved to pull. Such was life regardless of dimension as I watched a proud confident warrior girl verge on breaking down in tears over sending her older sister off to jail, after one of her teammates magically terrorized said sister.
So basically I got to stand their looking stupid...well, probably threatening considering...as Green Arrow and Batman explained the circumstances of the night after a basic 'this is Artemis's teammate who knows her identify because...' description of me. At least she waved us to sit on the crappy couch and a chair after few minutes of explanations; I knew who Artemis was, and Jade now, but that wouldn't interfere with Artemis's joining the team. There was the other reason I was here of course, as the conversation eventually turned to exactly that point...
"Yes, while your daughter was..." I paused a moment and considered exactly how I looked and what I supposed to be suggesting "...a moment please. Better this way considering"
I brought up my 'John Fortune' illusion over my armour with a click of fingers. Eyes narrowed at me from Mrs. Evidently-prefers-not-to-be-called-Crock, and perhaps annoyance from Batman to go along Green Arrow's surprise "Right, John Fortune at your service. See I...sorta, used my magic against your other daughter to capture her and she was rather unhappy about it. Long story made short some manner of my abilities became known...and I sorta promised both of them that I'd...well...heal your, back problem basically. And well...I figured best not look like skeletor while I'm doing so..." I motioned at Artemis "...anyway she's seen me without the mask so not much point looking all skull-masked"
"My...daughters...guilted you into healing me?" was the reply as eyes narrowed dangerously "...what did you do to my Jade?"
"Attempted mind-control, fear magic and then I...uhhhh...turned her into a cat" I held up hands in a 'sorry I did that' gestured mixed with helplessness "...Ehh...in my defence she was a deadly murder ninja trying to kill me!"
Mommy Assassin blinked. Looked at Artemis who nodded helplessly, blinked again, then looked at me oddly and asked in a disbelieving tone "You, turned my daughter into...a cat?"
I gesticulated 'peace' at the confused wheelchair bound assassin. Still didn't make her non-deadly either I suspected "I turned her back to human before her arrest! And she is perfectly, perfectly, human right now. So...I can heal you! If that's okay by you of course?"
After all Zatara seemed to got it into his head that I was a natural biomancer-sorcerer so who was I to tell him otherwise? Him and his backwards talking magic didn't let me learn a whole lot off of him anyway, even without his softly-softly view of magic. At least he'd calmed down somewhat after seeing that Ninj...Jade...was perfectly fine after her short time in animal form.
Combined with Batman knew of the events of my first meeting with Wonder Woman and the Flash, it seemed I was trusted enough to use my magical powers for healing as well as violence for the Team. Conveniently enough his first choice of 'test subject' seemed to be an ex-con former international assassin rather than a teammate or member of the Justice League. Or maybe I was just overly cynical and paranoid there. Still I had other questions as the late night conversation went through the details of 'I'll magically heal you' from Artemis future on the Team.
"Bit of a question? Now that Artemis's secret identify just got revealed to the League of Shadows through her sister assuming your...ex-husband...saw her present via the mask camera thing, shouldn't we talking you moving somewhere safer? 'specially iff'n your suddenly all healed..."
Everyone was looking at me again. What? This seemed a rather obvious question even in my current tired and sleep deprived state "Well it'd be easy get to her through you..."
Evidently someone seemed to be thinking ahead as Green Arrow frowned at me "Kid, you're not supposed to use this as a way to hire people. Serling was bad enough..."
I waved my hands "I have money, and an employer..." thanks to Tropico, and SHIELD (and the Government) absolutely loved the idea of Doctor Roquette hiding out in Ireland...while having a job there and researching. Because she'd built a Gods-damned function nano-weapon in a fortnight! Fuck think of what she could do on my payroll! "...and this place is a dump. And my teammates, and as such their family, deserve better! Plus it would..."
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