𝘿𝙍𝘼𝙂𝙊𝙉, young justice

Chapter Two

     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 have guns." 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 . . ."