Second Chances: Artemis

Chapter 1

Just a quick little author's note. I want to point out now that once again, this story will contain aspects of Wonder Woman and Aquaman in it, though I will admit that certain bits of the Aquaman content did come from Black Panther Wakanda Forever, since it was such a good movie, I couldn't resist. I just wanted to clarify that now, since I know that someone would likely throw a fit if I didn't.

Also, I want to clarify right now that this arc will likely be a flashback, explaining everything Thea's gone through to become the hero she is in this story.

Thea Queen was currently on a jet heading back to Star City, eager to see her brother again, but while she was looking forward to that, she couldn't help but think about how different she was from the last time he'd seen her. She was no longer the sweet, innocent little girl she'd been when her brother had gotten on the Queen's Gambit. Now she was a grown ass woman who was probably even more dangerous than her brother was, since even though she hadn't met Mar Novu or J'onn J'onzz, Thea was one of the few people who did remember the world that once existed. And as she thought about that, she thought about how different her life had been in this universe compared to the old one and honestly, while her new life had been harder than her old one, she honestly wished that her old life had been this way.

Thea smiled at how much she had changed, even though she knew that her life had hit a lower rock bottom in this world than it had in the old one, that had actually been the best thing that had ever happened to her, since it had led to her becoming the woman she was now.

Flashback, five years ago:

Thea Queen was currently lying in a hospital bed at Star City General Hospital after getting into yet another drunk driving accident. But this time, she was handcuffed to her hospital bed and her mother was nowhere in sight, which was no surprise to her, since after months of substance abuse, arrests and drunken accidents, Moira Queen had given up on helping her daughter get better, simply because Thea hadn't wanted to get better.

She'd once had such a promising future, but everything changed about 6 months ago when both her father and brother had died when the Queen's Gambit had gone down in a storm, something that drove Thea to grief. Grief was only amplified when she found out that she was actually the result of some kind of error in judgment her mother had had, leading to her having an affair with Malcolm Merlyn, making Thea Merlyn's daughter, not Robert Queen's. The combination of those two things had driven Thea down a very dark path, since Oliver was dead and her other apparent brother, Tommy Merlyn, had been no help to her, since Tommy had chosen to deal with his grief by becoming even more of a player than he already was, so Thea had felt all alone, since she couldn't trust her mother to be there for her.

All of this had led to a downward spiral involving drugs, sex and alcohol and Thea was honestly expecting to sent to jail by the cops, since she'd finally gotten her mom to give up on trying to help her. Anyways, now Thea was expecting a cop, most likely Quentin Lance, to come into the room and tell her that once she was discharged from the hospital, she was going to juvie, since she'd been caught with alcohol and narcotics in her blood while she'd been behind the wheel.

However, to her surprise, while Quentin did come into the room, he wasn't alone. Accompanying him was a tall, beautiful eastern woman with long black hair and brown eyes and a stern look on her face.

"Queen, you're in luck, this woman has paid your bail and is taking you off our hands." Quentin said gruffly.

"What?" Thea asked, surprised.

"My name is Diana Prince and I've offered to cover your bail on the condition that you come with me." Diana asked.

"And where will I be going?" Thea asked.

"To a place where I can help you move past your grief and begin to live your life again. A place where you can begin again. Far away from here, away from the distractions and reminders of your past and losses." Diana said and that was all Thea needed to hear.

"Okay. As soon as I'm released, let's get out of here." Thea said, not realizing it at the time just how much of an impact that one decision would have on the rest of her life. But soon she would.