Heathens

one.

Welcome to the first part of Heathens! Bear with me as I work this story out, I am obviously changing a lot from cannon.  Also, this part is all flashbacks, not necessarily in chronological order, just to set the stage.

"We have to keep this family from falling apart." A nine year old Artemis Crock hugged her teddy bear tight to her chest as she watched her older sister, Jade, pack a bag full of clothes. 

Jade turned to look at her younger sister for a moment. "Tooth brush, duh. Knew I was forgetting something." She slapped her own forehead, heading towards the bathroom. 

"Dad will come after you." Artemis warned her sister. Jade paused, toothbrush in hand, staring at her younger sister. A smirk spread across her face as she approached Artemis, kneeling in front of the young girl. Leaning in, Jade whispered her plan to the nine year old, causing a gasp to escape the child's mouth. "Really? You mean it?"

Jade nodded. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

+ + +

The young princess of Markovia, Tara Markov, huffed and puffed as she ran through the woods of her country, away from her palace. Images of what had occurred flashed through her mind and she squeezed her eyes tight, shaking her head as she ran. 

"No, cannot think of that now. Must keep going." The young Tara chastised herself, pushing herself to go faster and further, to put more distance between herself and her former home. 

A hand reached out of the trees and grabbed Tara by the back of her throat, startling a scream out of the young princess. "Ah, ah, ah. Where do we think we're going?"

+ + +

"Again."

Rose Wilson grunted, wiping the sweat from her brow as she lifted her sword once more, sparing her father a glance. He gave nothing away, his posture relaxed and his face void of any emotional indication of whether he approved or disapproved of Rose's form. 

Internally rolling her eyes, Rose inhaled before diving back into her exercises, her father watching over her every move from afar. She kept reminding herself with every strike, every blow, that she was doing this for him. 

+ + +

"Shit."  A young Jason Todd cursed as he saw the eerie shadow of Batman fall across his window. Turning around to confront the dark knight he was shocked to see another form with him, a foe of the caped crusader, taking the man by surprise. Jason ran to the window to watch as they engaged in  a battle, his eyes wide. The enemy of Batman was losing by a margin and Jason felt something in him awaken. 

Running  up to the roof and leaping across to the next roof over, Jason picked up a stray brick, chucking it at Batman and hitting him in the back of the head, knocking him down. His foe took the opportunity to kick Batman in the head, knocking him out before turning to Jason. The man took his mask off, revealing  silver hair and an eyepatch. He smirked. 

"Batsy here has had his eye on you. That makes me curious." Jason arched a brow. The man chuckled. "Kid, how would you like a job?"

+ + +

Oliver Queen, otherwise known as Green Arrow, was running across the rooftops of his city with his partner, Speedy, in tow. They were chasing the villain of the week down, firing arrow after arrow at the perpetrator. 

Out of nowhere the villain collapsed to the ground, a net encasing them. Green Arrow and Speedy exchanged a look as they caught up to the villain, inspecting the net to find that it was neither of them that had fired it.