The store reeked of liquor.

Jaye knew it shouldn't be so focused on the unhealthy smell of alcohol, but its senses were much more heightened in its dragon form, and from its place, perched delicately on its friend's shoulder, the awful smell was the only thing it could concentrate on besides the obnoxious ringing of the alarm.

Three men were in its line of sight — two of them masked and armed while the last stood off to the side, his hands raised as he watched the situation with surprise.

Artemis stood a few paces inside the doorway, a blunt force arrow nocked in the string of her bow, and aimed right at the two criminals. "Don't." Her voice was clear, firm, a voice trained to hold expressive amounts of venom and never waver in the face of danger.

"Don't?" Despite the sheer power in the archer's words, the first criminal looked back over his shoulder at them with a raised eyebrow, seeming more perplexed than anything else. "Don't?!"

His lack of quaking in fear at the sight of a girl and her unamused dragon was rather irritating to Jaye, who had been looking for a fight, not some stupid standoff in which its friend was being treated like a toddler.

"Kid," the man continued, easing his shoulders back to appear relaxed, "you have a little bow and arrow set . . . and we haveguns." As he spoke, both he and his partner raised the weapons they spoke of, which the wyvern saw were quite peculiar. One appeared to be a rather large pistol, but the other was clearly some sort of rifle, although smaller.

Still, it wasn't amused.

And, it seemed, neither was Artemis.

The only signal from its friend was a slight narrowing of her eyes, before she released the arrow that was tight in her bow. As always, it flew true, and the powerful tip hit the larger criminal square in the chin. The force of the blow as well as the speed of which it made contact sent the man to the floor, unconscious.

Jaye snarled and lunged off its friend's shoulder toward the other man, the one who had been speaking previously. While in a rather small form at that moment, its fire was just as hot as it would have been if it were in its larger forms.

There was the sound of something cutting through the air, and the male it had been targeting let out an enraged yell when another arrow exploded upon contact with his gun, rendering it useless. He made a lunge, but now the dragon was ready. Its body rammed into his legs, tripping him, and Artemis brought her bow up to make contact with his lower abdomen when he made a flying swing for her head.

A moment later, Jaye saw its best friend land a powerful uppercut with her bow, which sent his head flying back, and then, the dragon shifted into a larger form — closer to the size of a large horse — to slam its tail against his body. The blow connected, and his figure went flying into a mirror, which shattered on impact.

He had dropped his rucksack when he went flying, and Jaye saw with disgust that it was filled with the stolen money from the liquor store. It turned its gaze onto Artemis, who pursed her lips.

The criminal groaned, dragging the wyvern's attention back to him. Their eyes locked, and he forced himself to sit up as quickly as possible. "The money" his words came out in short gasps as his gaze flickered between Jaye and Artemis, "—we'll split it with you . . ."

It let out a low growl. Was he seriously trying to bribe them with the stolen currency in exchange for his freedom?

He saw its expression change. "Or you can take it!" Was he serious? "Take it all!"

Pathetic.

The wailing of sirens could suddenly be heard over the blaring of the store alarm. Jaye growled, baring its teeth once more before it slithered over to its friend and allowed the blonde to mount. Moving toward the door, it turned its head to look one more time at the criminal, who stared at it with such intensity. It parted its jaws and roared at him, making him flinch back, before it took to the sky. The shadows of the night sky swallowed it up just as the blue and red lights rounded the corner.

It landed on the top of a building after a few moments and shook out its body as Artemis dismounted, walking to the edge to overlook the city with a deep breath.

"What a life," its friend sighed, her gray eyes flickering toward the dragon for a long moment before continuing to watch the world below, "what are we doing, Jaye?"

The wyvern narrowed its eyes, breathing out a puff of smoke.

"We can help out as much as we want in this city," the blonde continued, "but in the end, we're still the blood of criminals. No one will ever see us as the good guys."

Jaye sighed deeply and shifted into its human form, walking over to join Artemis at the edge of the building. "Our past can't determine who we grow up to be." It spoke the words quietly, even in the howling wind. "Your dad trained us, and sure, it was brutal. It could even be considered abuse by others, and we know his motive was to turn us both into supervillains. But we don't have to go down that path. We can prove to everyone that we're better than him — better thanthem."

Artemis was silent for a long moment. "Do you think we should have left with Jade when we had the chance?"

The redhead winced at the thought.No. "It's a matter of perspective." It told the other girl. "Your father may have been a jerk, but he gave us a home. We don't know what happened to Jade. She could be dead for all we know. This city isn't kind to women without a home."

"You know how Jade is," its friend responded, crossing her arms stubbornly. "She isn't the type to go down easy. Dad trained her well. She'll survive."

"Perhaps." Jaye shrugged a shoulder, but didn't say anything else for a long time.

Artemis let out a breath, barely perceptible. "I miss her."

The redhead looked away. "I know you do, Arty."You have no idea."But you can't keep dwelling on the past. It's been too long."

No response.

"We should go and see what else needs to be done before we go home." It offered, leaning back and releasing its human form to allow its true wyvern form to resurface. Once it had completed the transformation, it lifted off, looking over at its friend and seeing that she had turned her back away from the edge of the building.

Jaye dove over the side and hovered just below the edge. A moment later, Artemis backflipped over the side of the building and landed perfectly on her feet, right on the dragon's back.

It grunted, before twisting midair and diving toward the streets of the city of Gotham. Its friend's hands were gently clasped on the sides of its lower neck to keep stable.

Together, they tore through the city, taking out any criminals and drug dealers they came across.

The night was still young by the time they landed on an overhang, the city lights illuminating Jaye's dark brown scales and turning them silver.

It knew this was their life, their story. People telling it how to live its life was something it was honestly getting tired of. This was supposed to be its story, and here it was, caught in the plot of another book it didn't even belong in.

Artemis laughed as she dropped onto the railing with precise balance, looking over at the horse-sized dragon with a smile on her face. "That was better than last night."

The wyvern snorted in agreement, curling its tail around its perch to keep itself stable.

It was a beautiful night, even for Gotham. A few stars were shining beyond the city lights, and the midnight-blue sky was streaked with darker clouds across the sky. Other than the ungodly amount of smoke in the air, the screaming from below, and the constant hum of sirens in the distance, it was actually quite peaceful.

Until, that is, something being thrown across the sky caught its attention.

Apparently, Artemis saw it as well, and the two of them watched as the figure — the very human-like figure — dropped from an impossible distance before it crashed through the window of a building.

The friends shared a long look, before the blonde mounted the wyvern and they flew toward the place of impact.

As they landed in a tree, Jaye took a moment to examine its surroundings.

They were in a courtyard, close to the prestigious school known as Gotham Academy. It didn't know much about the school, because it and its friend didn't attend, but it had heard of the standard set for their students and of the wide range of extracurricular activities, all of which seemed less than ideal for a girl used to the rough life, a girl who felt at home in the dirtiest communities out there. This academy for rich fancy-pants people wasn't for it. Never had been.

Artemis took a deep breath, drawing its attention. Quietly, the blonde pointed toward the school, and Jaye turned its head to look through a window that seemed to show what was going on inside the gym.

Had it been human, it probably would have choked.

Robin, the Boy Wonder.

It would know him anywhere. It had seen him on the news, heard of him and of his mentor from its own mentor who never shut up about the stupid superheroes.

Kid Flash was there as well. Jaye saw him on the other side of the gym, teeth grit, face contorted with concentration.

Then, it caught sight of the figure which had grabbed their attention by falling through the air. He was laying on the ground, seemingly out of it for the time being.

But what held its attention the most was the unknown creature in the center of the gym. To the wyvern, it looked like a robot, but it couldn't tell from outside.

Artemis tapped its wing and jerked her head, pointing toward the bleachers to one side of the gym. Sitting there, watching the fight, was a small male figure, with two robotic monkeys on either side of him. Jaye recognized him — Lawrence had done business with him once or twice.

What . . . what was happening?

A series of ominous chuckles caught its attention, and when it lifted its head, it realized with a sinking feeling that they were surrounded.

At least twenty robotic monkeys were perched in the tree the friends were already occupying.

This is our life . . . and it sure is something.