Vigilante Justice - A Young Justice Fanfiction

Chapter 11: A Bloody Development

**(Mild TW for blood and gore, but I do try not to go into detail! Stay safe <3)**

By the time they touched down on the department's roof, Artemis' mood had significantly improved.

She was with her team, the morning sun was peeking through Bludhaven's smoggy cloud cover, and her earlier anger had (mostly) dissipated. Things were looking up.

Her good mood lasted for all of forty-five seconds.

As she stepped out of the bioship, her eyes snagged on the cracked cement where Nightwing's grappling hook had rooted itself the night before, and then her calming breathing exercises and newfound positivity went out the window.

She reluctantly followed the rest of Young Justice into the precinct below, wishing they were anywhere but here.

It's not that she disliked their case or the commissioner, it was more so that she'd likely do something stupid and possibly violent if she saw Grayson right now.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it—the complete and utter chaos of the police department served as the perfect distraction.

Young and senior officers alike were running willy-nilly, faces pinched into a varying array of angry puckers and panicked grimaces. Papers were flying and people were stomping as they tried to restore some semblance of routine.

At first, Artemis wondered who'd pissed in their boots. Then she remembered that Nightwing hadn't just attempted to slit M'gann's throat; he'd also robbed the precinct.

She supposed their anger was justifiable.

"Heroes," A lazy drawl sounded from behind them, cutting through the surrounding chaos like a hot knife. "Griffins is waiting for you in the commissioner's office."

It was the officer from the day before; the one that had led them to Detective Grayson. Artemis didn't care enough to remember his name.

"Good morning, Deputy McKibben," Aqualad gave the tall man a brief nod. Thank goodness for the Atlantean's functioning memory. "We'll make our way over there now."

McKibben ignored the Atlantean in favour of yelling something unintelligible at one of his fellow officers, who was apparently doing something wrong, before fading back into the flurrying precinct.

"Well, he was just as unpleasant as I remembered. Which is to say, extremely unpleasant." Wally said, echoing Artemis' thoughts exactly, "Hopefully the commissioner doesn't skin-us-alive for not capturing Nightwing."

Aqualad shook his head, "I highly doubt someone of her professional standing would remove our skin," his tone suggested he'd just departed sage wisdom upon them all. For such a smart guy, he sure was thick-headed sometimes.

The speedster leaned in close to Artemis' ear, warm breath tickling her skin and sending chills up and down her spine. He whispered a quiet, "She's going to kill us."

Artemis couldn't help but agree. She, too, would be angry if a bunch of low-life barely-adults waltzed in and failed to do their jobs.

Speaking of, Commissioner Sheila Griffins looked no less intimidating in the early morning hours than she had yesterday.

She sat behind her desk, not a hair out of place, muscled arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes seemed to follow them as the team filed in, Aqualad at the front and Conner stoically bringing up the rear.

"Good morning, heroes." The commissioner didn't sound particularly angry, but it was difficult to tell with her usually morose tone. "I trust you found safe accommodations last night?"