Always Traught Part II

Cruella Da Vil

Artemis frowned when she heard squealing from the rooftop her and Nightwing were sitting on. Nightwing seemed to hear it too when he made eye contact with the green archer.

"Do you hear that?" She asked her boyfriend. He nodded and stood up to approach the sound. The blonde followed his lead, pulling out her bow and notching an arrow just in case. But it was no use since the source was in a box. When they looked at what was inside they both raised an eyebrow.

"It's a puppy?" Nightwing asked. Artemis hummed her answer as she picked the infant dog up that was inside the box. The puppy was white and the size of Artemis' palm. It looked like a newborn runt. The blonde pouted as she held the dog to her chest in order to warm it up.

"Babe," Artemis whined, "Look, he's cold."

Nightwing crossed his arms, "You're not taking a puppy home."

"He's probably hungry, too," She insisted, "And so small that a shelter won't take him. I have to take him home. Y'know, until he's big and strong."

"And then you'll get attached and never want to give him away," The detective tried to reason with his girlfriend.

"Oh well, then I'll have to live with the consequences. I'm taking him home," Artemis smiled as she rubbed the dog's ears, "And I'm naming him Pongo."

"You're such a child," Nightwing scoffed as they started to make their way to his version of the bat-mobile. Artemis didn't even hear him as she started baby talking to the now warm runt.

"I promise no one will ever hurt you, Pongo."

A couple of weeks later, Artemis still had the dog. She had brought him a bed, food, countless toys, and everything a dog needed to be happy. She took him to the vet and discovered Pongo was a Dalmatian with growing spots. Artemis was completely in love with the dog. Every time Nightwing talked about giving Pongo away, she shook her head no and ended the conversation.

Nightwing, however, did not like the dog. Pongo took up all of Artemis' time. They couldn't go on dates unless it was at her apartment. And maybe he was being a bit unfair. However, he didn't truly hate the dog until one particular instance. Artemis and him were just about to get intimate, but Pongo had other plans. Just as Artemis' hands went to push off his mask and finally reveal his secret identity, Pongo waddled into her room and attempted to howl for food.

The blonde woman chuckled as she got off of the bird and started to walk over to her kitchen. Nightwing just looked at her, "Really?"

"Sorry, Babe. As much as I want to see those pretty eyes again, Pongo needs me."

"Yeah, but I need you too," He huffed as he pushed himself off of her bed and grabbed his shirt that was on the floor. Artemis frowned.

"Where you going?" She stopped walking and looked at him.

"Home, where I don't have to see that stupid dog."

"What's so wrong with Pongo?"

The brunet scoffed, "I don't know. How about the fact he takes up all of your time?"

Artemis glared at him, "He's a puppy, Nightwing. He needs me. And how about you give him a chance?"

"Fine. If that's what it takes for you to see things my way."

Nightwing tried giving Pongo a chance. At first it was hard. He insisted that he hated the puppy, until Pongo did something that was really sweet. Artemis had been infected with some super virus. They were on a mission and there was a hostage situation in a warehouse. Artemis went in and rescued every hostage but one before packages containing bacterial gasses exploded. Instead of using her gas mask, she gave it to the victim.

The archer had gotten severely sick in a matter of hours and had to be stationed in the med-bay. Nightwing had to take care of Pongo for the time being and decided to let the dog see his human mother.

He placed the dog on his girlfriend's chest and Pongo curled up on her belly. Her fingers were already rested on her stomach so the dog started to lick them. For the first time in days, Artemis smiled. Nightwing smiled too and petted the spotted Dalmatian for the first time. The puppy then licked his hand and settled down to take a nap.

Nightwing decided Pongo wasn't so bad after all.