Welcome to Earth-0 (Ver. 1.0)

Chapter Six: More Explaining

Artemis sits on the couch as Skips floats around the room, taking everything in. The Titans surround her. They sit on the accompanying couches, with Wally sitting next to her.

"Are you guys going to tell me who you are?" Artemis asks, referring to the two people she doesn't know.

"I'm Troia," Donna states cheerfully. "But you can call me Donna. I used to be Wonder Woman's sidekick. Wonder Girl."

"And I'm Omen," the resident psychic says. "My real name is Lilith. But if you don't mind me asking, how did you know I'm a telepath?"

"The sensation of one's mind being touched by that of someone else is a familiar one for me," Artemis says grimly. "My team used Miss Martian's telepathic abilities to create a psychic link to communicate covertly during missions."

"Miss Martian?" Roy asks confused. "I've heard of Martian Manhunter, but not Miss Martian."

"Oh," Artemis states dimly. "Well, she's J'onn's niece. She's very sweet and one of the kindest people I know."

"Who else is on this 'team' of yours?" Nightwing asks while transcribing the information onto a small tablet computer. "And what's its name?"

"Well, we never really gave it a name," Tigris replies. "We just called it 'The Team'."

"Really? That's your team's name?" Roy says bluntly.

"Well, it was supposed to be a secretive and covert team set up by the Justice League," Tigris says bluntly. "It wasn't revealed to the public until last January, when the Reach invaded and destroyed the League's credability."

The Titans nod, taking in the information, and motion for her to continue.

Tigris takes a breath and continues, "The original line up was Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Robin, Superboy, Aqualad, and me as Artemis."

As she says this, Skips displays holgraphic images of her teammates.

"Is that you in the green?" Flash asks smugly.

"Yeah," Tigris replies with slight nervousness.

"It suits you," the speedster replies amorously. "What made you change?"

"A lot of things really," Artemis replies grimly and consumed in thought. "I choose this identity as my alias for infiltrating an organization called The Light. They are a cabal of supervillians led by Vandal Savage. Their most notable members are The Brain, Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, Black Manta, and several others, including my father--Sportsmaster--"

"That goof ball Sportsmater is your father?" Roy interrupts.

Tigris glares at the red archer meanacingly and states, "I don't know what he is like in this world, but that man trained me since birth to become an assassin. Granted, I didn't follow through, but that doesn't mean the torture my sister and I endured as children--"

"You have a sister?" Nightwing interjects, trying his best to keep the situation as civilized as possible. Seeing as everyone has given him their full and undivided attention, he continues, "Because your alternate didn't have a sister."

"Her name is Jade Nguyen," Tigris says as Skips displays a hologram of her sister in her costume. "She is a member of the League of Assissins and is known as Cheshire."

"As in the the Cheshire Cat?" Roy asks. When Tigris nods, he says, "Cute."

"Of course you would say that," Tigris flirts. She responds to their stares, saying, "Because on my world, your alternate and her are together and very close. In fact, they had a baby together."

Omen, Troia, and Tempest stare at Tigris in shock, mouths a gape, from what she has told them. Flash and Nightwing try to contain their laughter at Roy's face; which shows utter dumbfoundment and shock.

"My alternate has a child?" Roy states softly.

"Yeah," Tigris replies gently. "A daughter. Lian Nguyen-Harper. She's beautiful. And she just so happens to share her parents' joy for violence."
The Titans join her in laughing at that fact.

"Anyway," Wally says, trying to get back on track. "Why did you choose to remain as Tigris?"

All signs of joy disappear from Artemis's face as she says, "I needed some distance. Artemis was Wally's partner. Tigris is the embodiment of everything I was before he came into my life."

"So you're using Tigris as a crutch?" Nightwing asks, concerned.

"Yeah," Artemis replies weakly. "I guess you can say that. To say that Wally and me were close would be an understatement. We fought together. Lived together. We even started to plan our future...together. He made me happy, and I kept him grounded. I was his spitfire. Someone that wouldn't let him get away with anything."

The room falls silent as she tries to hide a sob.

"How long have you been Tigris?" Nightwing asks.

"A few months," Artemis sighs. "I visit my sister occassionally. She's still a villain, but she's still my sister. I know when she asks for help with a...'case' she's just testing me. Seeing if I'm weak...if I'll give in. Part me just wants say yes so bad--"

"No!!!" Flash exclaims furiously, catching everyone off guard and temporarily breaking Tigris out of her depressed state.