Jester

Topside

"We have a new mission Ghost." Kaldur said as he approached the training woman. She's been at it for hours just hitting the punching bag with the same frustrated look on her face. But with her training means her attire is slightly altered.

She wore a sports bra and some short shorts, both black in color. She had many scars tracing up and down her body, intermingled with burn marks. Her leg was mostly mechanical as well as her entire arm including her shoulder. The burn on her neck looked much worse than any on her torso. She also had three more identical tally marks by ones he saw many years ago on the beach when he first saw her.

"There was a collar. It fried in the blast." She hit the bag again. Kaldur hadn't realized he was staring until she said something.

"I apologize, I should not stare."

"Doesn't matter. Won't change." She stepped away from the bag and grabbed a towel to pat herself dry. "Mission?"

"We are going topside. Cape Canaveral. We are  to intercept the satellite launch." She nodded and headed through a broken pocket out of the room. Kaulder will have to ask her about that later. The pockets she created as Jester always had a smooth almost water like edge to them, now they look like someone was ripping them open with jagged uneven edges. Was it the collar, or her mechanical arm? So many questions and he couldn't have the answer them, at least not until after the mission was over.

They set up a missile launch pad to disrupt the rocket. Ghost had to team with the ground troops since underwater was a no go. The two teams were faring well until the ground team was blinded.

"Requesting backup."

"Understood Ghost. Let me take care of a small problem." Kaldur said as he ordered his troops to lock up Lagoon Boy instead of kill him. "Launch all missiles." With the order in place Kaldur heads to the surface. Ghost is doing well, his troops not bad. But her empty shell reacting on instinct was a little unnerving. He watched her throw a small knife that disrupted the arrows trajectory as Artemis was firing.

The rocket launches and Kaldur tries to take it down with a smaller missile. This in turn was thwarted by an arrow. Kaldur goes to attack but Nightwing does also. Ghost shows up and tackles Nightwing allowing Kaldur to get to Artemis.

Ghost watched slightly stunned as Kaldur stabbed Artemis right through her torso. Because of this she was knocked off of Nightwing and Kaldur retreated.

"Mission failure. Retreat." With that Ghost managed to side up with Kaldur just as the rocket exploded. The two shared confused looks before making a full retreat before the team could reassemble.

With the mission over they take the Flyer back to the sub and Ghost accompanies Kaldur to his father.

She waited outside the door as they spoke and pulled up a video feed from the cells. Lagoon boy had been captured. She thought over what she knew. If he really wanted to kill his former teammates he would have already done so. And the smell didn't match. Something was off about him killing Artemis. She accompanied him to his quarters and he invited her inside.

"I need you to do me a favor." He asked and she only raised a brow in response. "Can you open a pocket to Blüdhaven for me." She nodded. "I will not be long, can you keep this open until I get back?"

"I can try."

It was almost half an hour before he got back with someone new. She dropped the pocket and left the room quickly.

Kaldur was confused but the sudden departure until he saw small drops of blood on the floor. "Wait here. I have to go find her."

"Who is she?"

"Jester." The disguised Artemis was shocked.

"What? Joker said she's dead."

"He did not check to make sure. She survived but at a cost. She already knows I am a double agent so she will probably figure out who you are fairly quickly."

"Noted. Does the team know?"

"No, and she would like to keep it that way. I am unsure the history she has with them but I can say her friendship with Connor died with the death of Robin."

"Do you think we can save her?"

"At this point it might be too late. We can still try though."

"Don't hold your breath." Ghost said walking back into the room with a rag to her nose. "I gave up on rescue a long time ago." She leveled Kaldur with a glare. "You aren't the hero anymore."

"I know that."

"Then stop acting like one. That kind of behavior lands you in a building set to blow, as an 'unfortunate accident.'." She turned her attention to the disguised Artemis. She stared for an uncomfortable amount of time before sighing in aggravation. "Your family and team members will all be after Kaldur now. I hope you both know what you're getting into." Ghost went to leave when Artemis reached out. "Don't touch me." Her hand was a hair away.

"You haven't been replaced." Artemis put her hand down. "Nightwing made mention of your question. He thought it was odd. But I don't think he knows you're alive."

"I'd like to keep it that way." Her phone pinged with a new message and she glanced down confused. She looked at her phone before making a slight irritated sound. "Since you're my partner and a higher rank what would you like me to do about this?" She handed the phone over and Kaldur was surprised that it was Conner again.

-Superboy-
I know this is probably a long shot. But we could really use your help Jester.

"Jester is dead. As far as anyone is concerned she died in the same werehouse that killed Robin. If I respond it'll have to be under an alias that isn't closely tied to anyone here."

"Go ahead. We will keep tabs on them." Kaldur said and Artemis nodded.

"If you're sure."

-Emergency Contact-
Hey, sorry to tell you this but I think you have the wrong number. I'm Caley. Not Jester. But I can try to help if I can.