Always Traught

No More

"The problem isn't the uniforms, or connecting the teams, or even the fact that you all lied to us. It's the fact that you've forgotten the whole point of being a hero," Artemis said as she started to pack up her equipment. Dick leaned against the doorframe behind her and watched. Everything in his body told him to beg for forgiveness. She was only thing he had after Barbara cheated on him. There was no more Tim, since there was no more Bruce. Wally and Jason has been dead for years. Many of his old friends still hated him for faking Artemis' death, a person that many of the younger heroes loved like a sister or even a mother. His brain and heart told him this, but Dick never allowed it to come out. Especially the part that told him to tell her how much she loved her, needed her, and needed to breathe in all things Artemis.
"I haven't forgotten how to be hero, Artemis. Neither has M'gann, Kaldur, Dianna, Tim, or even Batman," He expressed to her. It wasn't true, however. They would spend more time fighting each other than working towards taking down the Light. They weren't making process towards anything. More meta-humans were getting hurt. Civilians were starting to protest or disagree with the League.
The blonde spun on her feet and glared at him, "How can you say that!? Your stupid team of the biggest and baddest heroes are failing! What kids are you helping, Dick? Cause child death rates have increased fifteen percent across the world! We aren't saving the needy! We aren't saving the enslaved or captured! Hell, that anti-hero Red Hood is doing a better job at helping those kids than your team is!"
"Red Hood isn't saving anyone!" He snapped at her. He walked up to her and shoved his finger into her shoulder. Artemis looked up at him with confusion, then quickly followed it with anger.
"I suggest you take that finger off of me," She snarled at him.
"Red Hood is nothing but a worthless assassin who only kills for blood money!" He barked at her, ignoring her request.
"The only difference is that he admits to being a murderer and he actually makes a difference!" Artemis yelled back at him. She turned around to go back to packing. The acrobat froze and his arm fell back to its side.
He asked numbly, "What did you just say?" The archer had no problem answering back.
"You're a murderer, Dick. Everyone on your stupid secret team is." His body felt many different reactions towards that. He felt upset, disappointment, disagreement, and the feeling to react with violence. He clenched his fists and locked his jaw to control it. Tears prickled at his eyelids. He didn't know how they got there, but he couldn't control it.
" I can't love someone that sits on their ass and does nothing," The blonde threw her bag over her shoulder and her baseball cap over her locks. She turned around and gave him one last look. It was a little nod that said that business was done, and she was't coming back. Dick didn't bother to follow her with his eyes as she walked away. It was clear that he had lost her, and he wasn't going to ever get her back.

"You finally left that stupid team?"
"That stupid team you were so excited to join all those years ago? Sure," She rolled her eyes as she focused on getting her dagger through her too-thick hair. She glanced at him through the mirror and rolled her eyes again.
The brunette shrugged as he spoke, "I was a kid. The idea of working with the Bat used to excite me." Artemis frowned and thought about what he said for a few more seconds.
"It used too," She cringed when she was finally able to cut her hair. She looked at the strands for a few seconds before dumping them in the trash can.
"You look nice."
"Of course you would think so, Jason," The archer scoffed before shaking her new short hair. It was up to her shoulders, which was shorter than usual for her. It didn't look spectacular and she definitely noticed pieces that were longer then shorter.
"We got kids to save, Crock," Jason responded. Artemis turned around to look at him. He had her quiver and new uniform in his arms. He tossed it to her and she caught everything.
"Let's go save some kids, Todd," He gave her a smirk and that was that.
Within twenty minutes they were on a rooftop. Jason said he had busted the sight weeks ago, but the guys had ditched. Instead of being in Gotham or Star City they were in Hartford, Connecticut. She didn't have to worry about Dick swinging by and Jason didn't have to worry about Bruce. He said that they had met, but Bruce never paid enough attention. She highly doubted they would show, up, however, since they spent more time arguing than patrolling.
"Jorge Grande, Markus Guy, and John Holt are the guys we're looking for," Jason pulled up pictures using his hologram computer. She memorized their faces and nodded. "They dress like regular people, like most criminals. You hunt them down, I take them out. Make sure to stay hidden. We don't need to have a media frenzy. I know you can do an amazing job in the shadows."
"Trust me," She said, "I know." Tigress grabbed a grappling arrow from her quiver and gave her new partner one last look. Red Hood nodded and she shot her weapon, being pulled away with it.
Hartford was different than Gotham. It was much easier to hide in
the shadows since there was a lot more darkness. It was still a populated city, but not like home. Everything didn't seem to be constantly moving. There weren't so many lights either. It helped her bounce to rooftop to rooftop. Jason thought it was better idea to start off farther away. They were supposed to be coming home from a business meeting. If they moved it would be easy to move too.
Tigress flipped onto the rooftop that met her coordinates. She pressed against her communicator and said, "Tigress to Red Hood: I'm at the coordinates." She walked to the other side of the rooftop and took a knee.
"Red Hood to Tigress: What do you see?"
"It looks like a normal complex, but there's a steel side door. It has a sign that says, 'Electoral room,' but I can tell it's fake. There's no panels near it either."
"I'll be there in a few moments. Don't bother listening in, Tiger."
"Awe," She fake whined, "It's one of my favorite pastimes." Artemis knew he was amused when he didn't responde despite her. Before he died they always bantered with each other. Dick and Wally both hated their relationship. Wally thought Jason had a crush on her, which Jason admitted to. Dick thought Artemis would replace him too. While thinking about it, the blonde scoffed out loud.
Realistically Artemis was helping commit a murder. Unlike Batman and Nightwing, she wasn't totally against the idea of killing. She had grown up around it. She was trained how to do it. It was either the lives of all those children, or the lives of the people that enslaved the innocent, tortured them, and killed them. They cried for a hero, and a hero she would be. And as much as she could hear her father's voice ringing in her ears, Artemis ignored it.
Tigress was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard the side door squeak open and voices follow. The archer recognized the faces of the men Jason had shown her. They were stupidly
drunk. They held onto each other for support, giggled, and stumbled some more. She scoffed and pulled out a net arrow.
Her nets and arrows were black now. It was to make sure no one knew Tigress, a beloved hero, was working with an anti-hero. It was out of respect, Jason said. He said the new uniform was out of respect too. It reminded her of her old uniform, though. It was a crop top with three black tiger stripes on each side of chest. The rest of shirt was orange, but it used the same color-changing technology as the Artemis custom. Tonight it was grey. The rest of uniform was a domino mask, black cargo pants, a utility belt, and her quiver. She thought a new uniform was stupid since the Justice League was known to work with people like Harley Quinn, Lex Luther, Ra's Al Ghul, and countless other killers.
"Tigress, shoot," Red Hood said over the comm. Tigress glanced across the other rooftop and saw the glare of his red mask. She looked down at the men, who looked like they were spinning in a circle and singing a stupid song. Tigress aimed at the men and quickly released her arrow. She heard the net open up and snap them close. Instead of staying still they stumble and fell with undignified grunts.
Red Hood emerged from his spot and flipped down from the rooftop. Tigress watched as the men all struggled to sit up as he approached them. That was when a wave of nausea rolled in her gut. It was strong, like a kick to the stomach. She tried to suppress it. Artemis clenched her fists as tight as she could and continued to watch.
Red Hood pulled out two pistols an aimed at two of guys' heads. Artemis swallowed hard as she heard him talk through their radio. "Which two are first?"  She heard the men quickly suggest the other ones, or beg for all of their lives. The nausea in her grew stronger. This is wrong. You thought you could handle this, but you can't. This would make you as bad as them. You're a hero. The kids wouldn't want this.
Tigress thought fast. The words, "Let me kill them," spilt out of her mouth. She watched as Jason froze in thought.
"Never mind," Red Hood said to the men. They all shut up and started to say thank you. He scoffed before saying, "My partner will decided."
As she flipped down to the ground, her heart went at a million miles per second. When she walked over to the guys it was all she could hear. Even though she couldn't hear the men she could see their mouthes begging for their lives. And she could feel Jason's eyes on her, which made her want to curl up in herself. You can't do this. You can't do this. You can't do this.
There was a move that mimicked the snapping of the neck. It would cut off enough oxygen to lower a heartbeat for a few hours and produce the breaking noise. All of the men would survive and wouldn't wake up for a few hours. Jason wouldn't know if she hid it well enough, and she would. She knew him well enough to know what he looked for.
"Tiger," Red Hood said. She nodded and walked up to the guy that was closest to her. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, he started to bawl. She could hear him, but at the same time she couldn't. Artemis focused on hitting the right pressure point with her elbow and putting most of her strength there. She twisted her hands at the same time as she hit his pressure point. It wasn't the first time she had used the move, so she knew she did it right.  The crack seemed to echo and his body fell limp. His neck looked out of place, but when he woke up he would fix it by going to the doctor. The archer did the move to the two other men, who all looked the same; out of place and dead.
"Let's get out of here before someone sees," Artemis said as she looked at Jason. He nodded before grabbing his grappling hook and flying off. Artemis looked at the bodies again when he was out of sight. You didn't do it for them. You did for yourself. Those kids will get justice. And you are a hero, The blonde said to herself. She was about to continue her pep talk but she felt eyes on her. The archer immediately looked up at the rooftops sine there was no one on the street and there were no dumpsters for cats or dogs.
Artemis frowned to herself when she saw the symbol of a blue bird and shine of black hair. It was Dick, and he must have been watching her all night, which made her sigh out loud. I didn't do this for you. I did it for myself, She thought as if he could hear her. She swore that he could read her mind, because she saw him nod.
Artemis shook her own head response. They both stood still for serval more moments, but it felt like hours. Dick made the first move, however. He flipped away and left Artemis alone. She sighed again before pulling out an arrow.