Character(s): Artemis Crock, Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson
Rating: PG
Summary: Stephanie and Artemis have a little too much in common, at least when it comes to horrible parental figures.
Notes: AU-verse of Strays-verse, which can be found here.
Of Goddesses, Bat-Birds and Ice Cream
Artemis first met little Stephanie
Brown at Gotham City Elementary. Stephanie was a few years younger, and quite a
bit shorter, but the kid had managed to tackle her at full speed and send them
both sprawling to the ground a few feet from Jade and a broken down set of
swings.
“Oh my god!” the little blond
gushed, “You have, like, the prettiest hair ever and it's so long and
pretty and ohmygodcanIbraiditpleaaase?”
Artemis blinked several times as
her brain processed what the girl said. “Uh...no?” She shot Jade a despairing
look.
Jade just laughed at her with
bright eyes, gave Artemis a small salute, and walked away.
“Jade! Wait!” Artemis tried to push
the girl off her stomach, but for such a short thing, the girl had surprising
strength and refused to budge. The girl pouted and little drops of
moisture appeared at the corners of her eyes.
Artemis gulped.
The girl gave a little sniff.
“Okay, okay! You can braid my hair.
Can you get off me now?”
“Ohmygodyay!” The girl squealed,
jumped up, and did some little jig that involved a lot of flailing.
Artemis slowly pushed herself to
her feet and took a few slow steps back. No reason to attract more attention
from the little lunatic. Maybe if she backed away slowly enough...
“I'm Stephanie, by the way.” The
girl was suddenly in front of her, bouncing on the balls of her feet and way
too happy.
“Er. Hi, Stephanie. I'm Artemis.”
She awkwardly held out a hand.
“Artemis?” Stephanie's voice rose
an octave. “Like the goddess? Oh my god that's so cool! Hi Arty!”
“Arty?”
The rest of the day was spent at
Artemis' apartment with colorful hair ties and ribbons and Jade yelling
whenever Stephanie managed to pin her with a pink bow. The girl apparently
lived in the same complex, and when mom was imprisoned and Jade went off the
criminal deep end barely a year later, Stephanie kept Artemis (mostly) sane.
“So your mom went to jail for your
dad?” Stephanie asked about a month after mom's arrest.
Artemis nodded, not trusting
herself to speak. She stared at her ice cream and poked it with her spoon. She
still hadn't gotten her appetite back. Their entire complex knew some version
of the story; the police came to their door to arrest mom, after all, but
Stephanie was probably one of the few who knew more than just rumors.
“That sucks,” Stephanie said
through a mouthful of ice cream. “Our daddies both suck.” she pouted and sunk
down into her seat. “At least it's him who's never around and not mom.”
Artemis blinked and stared at
Stephanie. She had forgotten about that. About how Stephanie had ran to her
crying on day at school and babbled about how her dad was a bad guy and
she wanted to be a hero, like Batman, but heroes were supposed to
beat bad guys and she didn't want to beat her dad.
And just maybe she found a kindred
spirit in the little blond who liked colors and ribbons and was always way too
happy for a dark city like Gotham. “At least your dad isn't a murderer, like,
say, Sportsmaster.” And maybe Artemis glared a little and growled a little when
she said that.
A glob of ice cream fell from
Stephanie's mouth. “No way. I mean. Sorry. But I mean. Ow. Um. I know you had it bad, like I had it bad, but
that's kinda bad, ya know?”
“Yes, I think I do know,” Artemis
deadpanned.
“This means more ice cream,”
Stephanie declared. “And sprinkles. And candy. And—”
“And I think that's way too much
sugar, squirt.” Artemis smiled faintly at Stephanie's pout and finally shoved a
spoonful of Rocky Road into her mouth.
Their ice cream dates eventually
evolved into movie dates, let's-pretend-we're-studying dates, and, of course,
their let's-sneak-out-and-away-from-evil-dads dates. It was refreshing, to be
able to talk about her dad with someone who understood,
no matter how young little Stephanie was.
“Dad's teaching me how to shoot,”
Artemis said one day. She and Steph were on one of their
our-dads-are-evil-and-we-don't-want-to-be-there-when-Batman-beats-them-up
outings.
“Like a gun?” Steph flailed
and fell off the bench. “B-but guns are bad and kill people and
that's...uh...that's bad.”
Artemis snickered. “No, no. Like
bow and arrows. And crossbows.”
“Ooo.” Steph scrambled back onto
the bench and looked up at her with bright eyes. “You should teach me! I can
like, sneak up on dad when he's trying to steal something, and then totally
spoil his plans! With an arrow! Yeah!”
Steph was rambling again, but by
now Artemis knew to just let Steph talk until the girl ran out of things to
say. Artemis rolled her eyes, but she couldn't quite suppress an amused smirk.
A seven-year-old beating a grown man? Yeah, right.
“So you'll teach me, right, Arty?
Please, please, pretty please with a giant ice cream sunday with sprinkles and
batman-shaped candies on top?”
“No.” And, really, like hell she
was going to teach a little girl how to use dangerous weaponry. It was bad
enough that dad was teaching her.
“Pleeeeease?” Steph whined and
leaned forward. “We can like, be partners and shoot bad people and spoil
evil plans together! Like Batman and Robin!”
Artemis rolled her eyes again. She
had no idea what Batman was thinking, but this Robin was just a kid. He looks
younger than her, too. She gives him two weeks before he's found beaten or dead
or something.
"You can be...um...Artemis!
Like the goddess, not like your name, I mean, who'd think that your real name
is actually Artemis? No one, that's who! It'll be great! And I'll
be...um...I'll be...”
Artemis laughed, “Don't hurt
yourself thinking too hard, squirt. Besides, you're seven.”
“So?” Steph pouted. “Robin's like,
seven.”
“I doubt Robin's seven,” Artemis
drawled. “Besides, Robin won't last. He's just a kid.”
“Whaaaat? Don't say that! If you
think that, it'll come true! Think...um...think that he'll be great! Like we'll
be great! Mommy always says mind over matter, which means if you think
reeaaalllly hard about something, it'll happen!” Steph nodded with her entire
body, and Artemis couldn't help but smile.
She was getting lectured by a
seven-year-old. This was almost sad. “I'm still not teaching you how to shoot.”
Steph puffed out her cheeks and whined.
But that wasn't quite the end of
it. Sometime after Robin (Robin, not Batman.) caught Cluemaster and
threw him in jail, Steph climbed into Artemis' apartment from the fire escape
and through an open window. Her eyes were red, and she was clutching a pint of
strawberry ice cream in her hands.
Artemis quickly ushered Steph to
her couch and dug out two soup spoons from her kitchen.
“Next time, I want to be the one to
bust him. He's my daddy,” Steph said as she wrestled open the ice cream
and promptly shoved a large scoop of into her mouth. She brought her knees
closer into her chest and managed to huddle into an almost-ball on one side of
Artemis' sofa.
“I'm not being taught how to shoot
to catch bad guys.” Artemis said just a little bitterly. She reached into the
ice cream container with a small soup spoon and stole a scoop. Dad was out
doing something illegal, so she was home alone for the moment.
“So?” Steph pouted and jabbed the
ice cream viciously. “It's not like he can say, 'Arty! Shoot that guy!' and
have you shoot the guy. You can say no and shoot him instead.” Steph huffed and
stabbed the ice cream a few more times until she managed to dislodge another
large chunk.
Artemis sighed. Shooting her dad
was most likely a horrible idea, considering he could (and had) beaten her to an
almost-pulp before. “It's not that simple.” She curled up on her side of the
couch and glared at the door of her dad's room.
“Why not?” Steph jabbed the soup
spoon at Artemis, eyes red and a scowl that really looked more like a pout on
her face. “J-just, I dunno, go shoot bad guys instead. If you turn into
a bad guy, I'mma have to catch you when I become a hero, and I dun wanna catch
you.”
Artemis snorted and rolled her
eyes. “It's definitely not that simple.” She has no intentions of
following her dear dad's footsteps anyways.
“So you'll become a bad guy?”
Steph's voice rose an octave and Artemis just barely ducked the bucket of ice
cream that was swung at her head. "No! Bad Arty! Bad!"
“Steph!” She barely avoided another
swipe at her by dropped off the sofa. “No, I won't become a bad guy! Now stop
trying to hit me.”
“Oh.” Steph curled up with the ice
cream again. “Okay. That's good. I didn't really want to hit you. It might have
ruined the ice cream.” She took another bite, and Artemis rolled her eyes.
Steph ate the ice cream silently
after that, and Artemis fidgeted in the silence. Steph was almost never quiet,
and truth be told, it was starting to unnerve her. Artemis finally sighed, got
up, located her practice bow and a few arrows and shoved them at Steph. “Here.
You wanted to learn how to shoot, right?”
Steph froze, spoon still in her
mouth, and stared at the bow. “Really?”
Artemis nodded.
“Oh my god! Really? Arty! You're
the best!” Steph dropped both spoon and ice cream and hugged her so tightly Artemis swore she could
feel her ribs crack. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be the best student
ever! In the history of...history! You'll see! Thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Artemis slowly pried
Steph off her with a smile. This was better. She never want to see Steph quiet
again, it just wasn't right.
Steph ended up being decent with a
bow. Well, as decent as a seven year old could get. Artemis even gave Steph one
of dad's pistol crossbows, just in case. They didn't exactly live in the safest
of neighborhoods, and a crossbow with blunted arrows was easier to explain away
than a gun. Besides, dad wouldn't miss the weapons; he has maybe seven more of
the same design.
It wasn't until Steph started
asking for replacement arrows every week or so did Artemis suspect some that
the girl was using the crossbow for more than just self defense.
Still, when a thirteen-year-old
Artemis found black and purple arrows littered around the alleyway behind her
apartment complex she usually meets Steph at, she panicked. She quickly
gathered up the arrows—Steph should have, Artemis had taught her better—and
sprinted down the alley.
"Steph!" Artemis turned a
corner, still shouting Steph's name and pocketing arrows as she went.
"Stephanie!"
She ran through Gotham's East End,
down every sketchy alleyway (punching a few noses when necessary) and
eventually found herself gasping for breath near an old, rundown theater on
Crime Alley. "Steph!"
"Arty?"
Artemis whirled around, ran down
another street, and skidded to a stop when she saw Steph's head poking out from
a worn-out, old box.
"Steph!" Artemis
immediately slide to her knees and pulled Steph into a hug. "Don't do that! I was worried sick! What were
you doing?
Steph fidgeted. Artemis raised an
eyebrow and gave the girl a quick one-over. “And what are you wearing?"
Steph had a black ski mask pulled up around her forehead and was dressed in a
purple hoodie and PVC gloves, along with purple sweat pants tucked into a pair
of black boots.
"I thought...you know...since
I can shoot now, and pretty well and all, I can be like, a hero! So I pulled
something together and tried it and all, but I guess I wasn't sneaky enough and
these big bad guys saw me so I...ran." Steph ducked her head and mumbled
something else, but Artemis truthfully didn't hear much after "hero."
"Are you insane?" She
hissed. "Do you want to be strung up and murdered or
something? You're ten! A kid! You're supposed to keep your head down and stay out of sight when the
mobsters and drug dealers come around, not run towards them! What were you
thinking?"
Steph winced and seemed to shrink with each sentence. After a moment,
in which Artemis continued to glare at the child, Steph lifted her head, tears
glistening at the corners of her eyes, and said, "I was thinking that I
could make a difference."
And there was such raw determination
in the girl's eyes that she couldn't stay angry at Steph any longer.
Artemis sighed tiredly and flopped down next to Steph in the box. "You're ten, Steph."
"So?" Steph asked so innocently that Artemis winced.
"Robin's my age, and look what he does. I bet I can make a difference too.
I guess I'm just...not good enough. Yet. But I will be! Someday! Soon!"
Artemis sighed again. How was she supposed to explain to the kid that
life doesn't simply give you what you want simply because you want it.
"Look, Steph, Robin is...different. He doesn't have a supervillain for a
parent; heck, he's probably Batman's
kid, and he's definitely better trained, not to mention lucky as hell."
"He's not that
different." Steph pouted. "Hey, hey, you're better trained, too,
right? I bet you can beat up those bad guys! 'Cause you're Artemis, a goddess,
and goddesses...es...look after other people and do good things and
stuff!"
And Artemis was pretty sure everything she just said went ignored.
"Steph, my dad's Sportsmaster,
in case you forgot. I can't run around shooting people who he might be
affiliated with." Not unless she has a death wish.
"Why not? My dad's
Cluemaster, and he's better known in Gotham. I mean, no one needs to know it's you beating up bad guys. Secret identity
and all that."
Which...wouldn't work for so many reasons. Heck, knowing her luck, she'd end up an assassin right
next to daddy dearest, whether she wants to or not.
"Oh, oh, I got it! Your dad's training you to be all badass and
stuff, right? I bet you can teach me
to be all badass and stuff and we can be badass together, and you don't have to
protect me anymore, 'cause I can be badass too! And then we can be like, 'screw
you' to your dad and use the badassery to do good things. And be heroes. And it can be all, um, ironic!"
And a perfect way to get themselves killed. Artemis sighed and shook
her head. "Let's just get you home."
Somehow, Steph won. Somehow, Artemis ended up donning a dark green
hoodie to match Steph's purple one, and the two would occasionally run around
like idiots shooting muggers and trying not to tip off dad.
Steph wanted to call them the Spoilers. Artemis refused to
acknowledge the name, so they were, technically, a pair of nameless kids
playing hero in hoodies and ski masks. It was reckless and stupid and Artemis
just knew they'd end up in body bags
someday.
But that day never came. Instead, Steph broke her leg when a gangster
got her on the calf with a tire iron (and wasn't that fun to explain to
Steph's mom), which Artemis was convinced was a blessing in disguise. Artemis
wasn't about to go play hero and most likely get herself killed.
But then dad gave her a suit, lined with Kevlar and coupled
with a mask, along with a perfectly balanced collapsible bow and lethally sharp
arrows. Artemis almost threw it all away, because this meant he probably wanted
her to go into the "family business” that crippled mom and stole Jade
away.
Except mom got out of prison and insisted on meeting Aretmis' new
friend. And, of course, Steph found the suit and she squealed and said that Artemis just had to try it out, with or without her "faithful
sidekick" (but really, Artemis never saw Steph as a sidekick of any sort).
So when mom kicked dad out the door, Artemis donned the green suit, and for
some reason, shooting muggers and gangsters while wearing what was supposed to
be her assassin's gear just made it that much better.
“See, you have to make your own future.” Steph once said through a
mouthful of ice cream.
“Sometimes, you can't.”
Days later, after she chased Superboy and saved Kid Flash and after
Batman and Green Arrow suddenly appeared in her home, Artemis suddenly found standing
between Robin and Aqualad. She ended up a member of a black-ops unit of superteens, and she wanted to laugh and laugh
until it hurt to breathe, because Steph was right, and Artemis probably owed the
girl ten bucks.
She wound up a hero, despite her family and her past and everything
else that tied her to the wrong side of the law.
“Pft. Please. Your future is what you make of it.”
“Was I right or was I right?” Steph
asked with a large grin after Artemis' first mission.
“You were right! You were so
right.”Artemis laughed, truly laughed, and wondered how long it's been since
she's felt so happy. “Steph, I'm not going to let anything screw this up. Not
even dad. Especially not dad.”
“Right!” Steph nodded
enthusiastically. She then paused, fidgeted a bit on the sofa, and poked
Artemis on the arm. “Um...what about, you know, the Spoilers?”
Artemis raised an eyebrow, “First
off, we were so never called that. Second....” she bit her lip.
“I...won't be as free. As, you know. Before. And I don't want you going out
alone.”
Steph slumped, and Artemis cringed.
“But we can still train together,”
Artemis continued.
“Really?” Steph's looked up, eyes
bright and a small smile on her lips. “Really, truly?”
Artemis nodded. “Yeah. 'Course. I'm
not going to just forget about you, Steph.”
Steph squealed and hugged her
tightly around the waist. “You're the bestest sister ever!”
“Sister?” Artemis raised an eyebrow
and tried to ignore the pang in her heart at the memory of Jade behind the
Cheshire mask.
Steph nodded against her chest,
“Yeah! 'Cause I've always wanted a big sister, and yours, um, kinda vanished,
so I can be your sister instead!”
Artemis chuckled and ruffled
Steph's hair. "Sure thing, lil' sis. I seem to be building up a new family
anyways. What's one more?"
Steph took to calling her,
"Sis" rather quickly. Artemis found she didn't mind. It was
comforting to have a sibling that didn't seem to want her dead. The Team was
quickly becoming family in Artemis' mind as well; Aqualad the cool, collected
older brother, M'gann, the sweet older sister (who was nothing like Jade),
Superboy, the (really hot) cousin with anger management issues, and Kid Flash
and Robin, the obnoxious little brothers.
Steph was her baby sister. A part
of Artemis wanted to introduce Steph to the Team someday. The other part of her
was horrified at the thought of Steph rooftop hopping and dashing from shadow
to shadow all the while trying not to get shot by international terrorists.
She tried her best to keep Steph
from becoming too interested in the Team, but in the end, Artemis found that
all Steph had to do was pout at her and she ended up telling Steph everything.
It really wasn't fair.
"Steph!" Artemis let
herself into Steph's apartment with a spare key. It had been a few months, and
she'd completely given up all hope of keeping Steph away from her hero life. Steph's
mom wouldn't be home at this time, so it was safe to let herself in and rant
for an hour or two. She gripped her pint of ice cream a few dvds tightly, a
scowl firmly planted on her face. "I was just nearly drowned, roasted, and blown up in the last five hours, so
I fully intend on forgetting all my numerous panic attacks with Rocky Road ice
cream and—"
Steph wasn't home. The TV was still on, and
Artemis could hear Steph's police scanner going in her room. Ice cream and
movies forgotten, she ran through the apartment, looking for any clues on
Steph's whereabouts. There were no signs of a struggle, and Artemis knows Steph can fight, so she was
probably not kidnapped. Probably.
And Steph's purple hoodie was
missing from her closet.
Artemis cursed. Loudly. Steph never
went out without her. Ever. The girl wasn't good enough; not that Steph wasn't
good, she was decent, but still only eleven. What the hell?
"—Cluemaster
spotted on the corner of—"
Artemis whirled around and stared
at the police scanner. Of course. Steph must have saw it on the news and chased
after him. Damn it! And the Team was going after crazy gorillas tomorrow, and
there was a mole on the team, and everyone
will suspect her the instant her past comes out and she doesn't have time for this—
Artemis took a deep breath, grabbed
the police scanner, and ran out the apartment, only stopping long enough to
grab her pistol crossbow before racing down the stairs of the complex. The
police scanner reiterated Cluemaster's location, and damn it, he was on the
other side of the city. She cursed again.
She had to knock a poor guy off his
motorcycle to "borrow" it, and Artemis was vaguely aware that
stealing a bike while not in her suit was probably bad. But Steph was in
danger, she didn't have time to change, and even with the bike Artemis wasn't
sure she'd make it to the warehouse in time.
She made it in time to see a large
explosion and fire everywhere and— "No...Steph!
No...nononono."
Artemis ran towards the warehouse,
screaming Steph's name and fighting the policemen in her way.
"Steph!"
"Miss, you can't go in
there." Someone grabbed both her arms and pulled her back.
"Like hell I can't!"
Artemis swung a foot backwards, kicking the policeman in the chin. She
immediately jerked her arms away and ran towards the burning building. Two more
men grabbed her, and Artemis was kicking and punching and shouting,
"Steph's in there! She's like my sister!
Don't tell me what I can or can't do—"
And then there were more policeman
holding her down, and Artemis wasn't sure what happened afterwards; but she was
eventually forced into a police car, and she heard sirens and screams and the
echo of her little sister's laughter in the background.
Artemis cried herself to sleep for
the first time in years that night, and she didn't even make it to her bed.
So maybe she was a little snippier
with Aqualad the next day. Maybe a little angrier and impulsive and nearly
drowned, again, because of it.
Miss Martian kept shooting her
worried looks on the ride back. Artemis pretended not to notice.
"Artemis?"
"What,"
she snapped and turned to see Robin looking up at her curiously.
"You don't look so traught today." Robin gave her that
irritating smirk that made Artemis want to hit him.
Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance
and she will not think about how
Steph was maybe dead and buried until a few feet of rubble. "Well, I'm
perfectly traught, so bug off and
mind your own business."
"Whateeeever you say,
Arty."
Artemis just knew he was rolling his eyes under that mask.
"By the way, new friend of a
friend wanted me to give you this." He pulled out a familiar black and
purple arrow from his utility belt.
Artemis quickly grabbed the arrow
and examined it under the light of the Cave. It was one of Steph's arrows, the
messily painted purple body confirmed it. "Did-did this friend say
anything?" Her voice was not shaking. At all. "And why didn't
you give this to me sooner?"
Robin shrugged. "She seemed kinda beat up, but alive and rather whelmed, if that's what you're
wondering. And, well." He shrugged, "I didn't want to distract you
from the mission." And there was that annoying smirk again.
Artemis glared, but eventually relief at Steph's well-being overrode
her annoyance at the little troll. "Thank God," she whispered,
clutching the arrow tightly in one hand. "I, um, gotta go. And all that.
Yeah." She raced to a zeta tube as fast as her legs can take her and ran
to Steph's apartment. She was okay! She was okay, she was okay she was—
Still not home. Artemis blinked. Okay, if she wasn't home, then where
was she? A hospital?
Except she couldn't find Steph in any of the nearby hospitals. By three
in the morning, Artemis sighed, decided that Robin probably had Steph hidden in
some secret Bat-hospital for whatever reason, and went to sleep with the
promise that Robin was getting a fist in the gut when she saw him again.
School the next day was tiring.
Artemis couldn't stay awake in any of her classes, except for calculus, and
that was only because the weird freshman kept flicking paper footballs at her
head.
Lunch passed with her fighting the urge to ditch school to find
Steph, and she fidgeted all through her last period, not hearing a word her
teacher said. When the bell finally rang, Artemis dashed out the door and
nearly ran into the bus stop sign.
“C'mon, c'mon,” she hissed. The bus wouldn't be there for a few more
minutes, but that didn't stop her from rocking on her heels and tapping her
foot impatiently. She wanted to get home, grab her gear and possibly beat Robin
until he told her where he was hiding Steph.
And then a force collided with her back, and Artemis would have
fallen flat on her face if she didn't grab the bus stop sign, and a familiar
squeal assaulted her ears. "Arty!"
"S-Steph?" Artemis craned her neck back to try and get a good
look at her pseudo-sister, because, what? "Are you okay? Are you injured?
What happened to you? And what are you doing here?" And then she
looked at Steph, really looked at her, and realized that Steph was wearing new,
expensive, brand-name clothes that she should not have been able to afford.
Ever. "The hell?"
"I go here, too, now!" Steph gushed and hugged Artemis
tighter. "Or I will. Maybe. It's a long story, and I'm not supposed to
talk about it, but it was awesome and
did you know Batman has like, Robin and then mini-Robins who aren't Robins but
I'm not supposed to say that so I'llshutupnow."
Wha? Artemis blinked rapidly. "I have no idea what you just
said."
"Oh. Well, good. 'Cause I wasn't supposed to say that. Oh, and
my ride's here! Bye! See you later! I'll call you! Oh, right, here," Steph
leaned forward on her toes and stuck a post-it note to Artemis' forehead.
"Call me, call me! I have texting and all that fancy-pants stuff now and
ohmygoshthisissocool. Bye!" And then she was gone.
Artemis was left staring into nothing, with a post-it note on her
forehead, and she was sure someone, somewhere was laughing at her.
It turns out Stephanie Brown was now Stephanie Brown-Wayne. Sort of.
The media was still arguing whether or not the name change was official. She
found that out when Steph and that
weird freshman —who she learned was actually the Dick Grayson—literally dragged and pushed her into a limo with
a sulky boy ("That's Jason," Dick introduced) and a shy kid with
too-curious eyes ("And this here
is Timmers!").
"The hell?" she said rather eloquently as she was shoved
out the limo. Steph bounced up behind her, and she Dick grabbed-pushed-dragged
her up the doorsteps of Wayne Manor.
"Meeting the family!" Steph squealed. "I mean, you met
mom, but this is like, more family,
and half of your family sucks, and
I'm like, the good sister and all that, and this is like, my not-evil half of the family now—" Steph stopped to take a
breath, "with the exception of mom, but she isn't here right now, and you
know her, so I can't be all, introducing, 'cause you already know her. And, I
mean, you're like my sister, so this is totally your family too."
Dick was nodding enthusiastically, Tim was smiling a little, and was Jason
scowling.
Artemis was confused.
But then the butler handed Dick a plate of cookies, and Steph dragged
her towards somewhere, or something, ranting about birds the
entire time. They walked past an amused looking holy-shit-it's-Bruce-freaking-Wayne,
and Artemis was sure she was hallucinating, because this was too bizarre even
for her life.
Either that or this was some higher-being's idea of a joke.
She knew there was someone laughing
at her (probably Robin, or maybe even Batman) when she met Sunbird months
later.
Sunbird landed next to her, in bright purple and yellow, tapped her
on the shoulder, said, "Hi, I'm Sunbird. Tag!" and vanished so
quickly Artemis was sure the girl was related to Robin.
What was up with all the new bird-people in Gotham anyways? There was
a Blue Jay running around with Batman nowadays as well.
Artemis ended up chasing Sunbird around Gotham for the better part of
the night, which baffled her to no end, because the girl was bright purple and yellow. She should
stick out like a sore thumb!
Then again, Robin's always been able to vanish, even with the canary
yellow lining his cape. Maybe it was just a Bat thing.
She was on the roof of a Wayne Foundation building, surveying the
streets below, when she heard a squeal and a strikingly familiar laugh. She was
suddenly tackled from behind with surprising force and landed on her stomach
with a grunt. She glared up to meet the mask of a grinning Robin.
"Hey there!" Robin chirped. "You look
distraught." He grinned.
"Distraught?"
Artemis hissed. "I just ran around Gotham all night, chasing one of your bird-ninjas, and now I'm being used
as a chair! Of course I'm distraught!"
"Well, at least there aren't killer robots this time
around." Robin was still grinning.
Artemis gritted her teeth. "Your new recruit has five seconds to get off me before I stab
her in the eye with an arrow."
"Arty! I thought you loved me."
And Artemis could hear the
pout, because she knew that voice. "Stephanie?"
"Shhh." Robin leaned forward, "No names in the
field," he whispered with that infernal grin.
"The hell?" Because there was no way Steph got the suit (with Kevlar. Artemis knew the look and
feel of Kevlar) from under Bruce-freaking-Wayne's nose.
"I thought we were past that," Robin said.
Artemis stared.
Steph—Sunbird flipped off her back, landed next to Robin and slung an
arm across his shoulders. "We were playing video games and everything last
time you visited." Sunbird had a grin that was identical to Robin's, and the two birds fist bumped and something
in Artemis' brain clicked.
"Dick?"
"Seriously, Arty, I thought we were way past the name-calling stage." Robin was still grinning.
And, damn it, Artemis really should
have seen that coming, but what the hell. Batman was probably snickering behind
a corner. She pinched her arm just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Nope.
Definitely awake.
"The Team..." Artemis began uncertainly, as Robin still hasn't
taken off his sunglasses around them yet.
Robin just put a finger to his mouth. "Consider this a Gotham
secret. Right, Sunbird?" He elbowed Steph lightly.
Steph—Sunbird—nodded
rapidly. "So, consider this your official welcome to the not-so-secret
society of Gotham City vigilantes! Membership is free and all that, but you
have to pass the Batman test, which is kinda hard, but I'm sure you passed it way easier than I did, and—"
"Steph," Artemis began hoarsely, "Shut up."
Because...what test?
And damn it, Robin really needs to stop grinning.
