Not As It Seems

fued

Artemis glared at her sister. "Don't you 'hiya sis' me."

Jade just chuckled, twirling her sai in her hands. "We have a mission to complete, so step aside before I have to hurt you."

"Sorry, can't do that. We have a mission of our own." Tim growled, leaping into fight with the Shadow foot soldiers.

The battle commenced, the Young Justice squad going up against the foot soldiers while Artemis battled her sister and Barbara fought with Jason.

Artemis cornered Jade, the older sister smirking. "Just like old times."

Artemis looked around, making sure they were alone before hissing at her sister. "Yeah, but this time we are on the same side." Jade raised a brow and Artemis grunted. "I know you are working for Batman and I know why, too."

Jade shook her head. "I highly doubt that."

She dove at Artemis, punching her in the stomach. Artemis groaned, grabbing her fist and keeping her in place. "Jade, if he is threatening Lian or Will-"

Jade yanked her hand back. "Just the opposite, actually." Artemis gave her a confused expression, Jade just rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to put all my chips on the table, sis."

"Cheshire, let's go!" Red yelled over, having gotten the drop on Barbara.

"You heard the assassin, gotta run." Jade winked, flipping over her sister's head and running towards the sanctuary as the team continued to fight with the foot soldiers.

They're getting away!

Little busy, Artemis. Go catch them.

Artemis ran after the partners, bursting in the door after them to see Red with his katana pointed at one of the meta humans. Jade put her hand on his arm. "That's not the mission."

Red contemplated it before withdrawing his sword, confusing Artemis. She chased after them as they ran further into the facility, straight towards the lab. She got there a split second after them, being met with a punch to the face from Red.

"Cheshire, your sister is here to spoil things." He spoke mechanically, pulling his blade out once more. "Permission to end her?"

Jade didn't look away from the computer she was at, downloading the needed information onto her flash drive. "Let me handle her, you handle this."

Red scoffed but walked over to the computer as Jade walked around, drawing her sai. "I told you to leave before I had to hurt you."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "As if you could touch me."

Jade smirked, making a 'come here' motion with her hand. Artemis charged, dodging the kick her sister aimed for her head. She punched Jade in the face, knocking her mask off. Jade rolled to her feet, swiping Artemis' legs out from under her.

They continued to grapple while Red finished downloading the information. He removed the flash drive and turned to call over to Jade, only to see the rest of the team that was on the mission standing in the doorway, glaring at him.

"Cheshire, we've got company."

Jade looked up from where she was straddling Artemis, pausing mid punch to wave at the team. She rolled to her feet, dragging Artemis with her. Jade held one of her sai under Artemis' chin. "Let us leave or I end her right now."

Guys, its okay. She's my sister, she isn't really going to kill me.

Sorry, Artemis, but we can't take that chance.

While the two sides were glaring at each other, nobody noticed as Bart stole the flash drive from Jason. He nodded subtly to Tim, who glared at the assassins. "Okay, we'll let you go. Send Artemis back over here."

"What are you-" Artemis was cut off as she was shoved forward and away from her sister. She stared at her team wide eyed as the pair of Shadows fled back to the helicopter. "Why would you do that? We don't know what information they stole!"

"Didn't steal." Bart showed her the flash drive with a chuckle. "Come on, let's go tell Batman the mission was a success."

The team scooped Barbara up on their way onto the bioship, taking their seats as Artemis piloted them back to the mountain.

It was a silent flight on the way back, everyone too caught up in their own thoughts to acknowledge anyone else.

Artemis was trying to figure out what Jade meant when she said 'just the opposite'. Was Batman protecting Will and Lian? And if so, from who? And if Batman wasn't blackmailing Jade using them, why was she working for Batman?

No matter what, she was going to confront Batman. Nobody uses her sister as a pawn and gets away with it.

As soon as the bioship landed she was off and in search of the Dark Knight. She found him watching the rest of the team training with Black Canary.

Artemis growled, storming up to Batman and tugging him away, which was surprisingly easy. When they stopped walking, a good distance from the team, Artemis snapped. "Who do you think you are, using my sister like this?" Batman just raised a brow. Artemis grunted. "I know you know what I am talking about, don't try and play dumb."

Batman was silent for a moment before nodding. "Jade was the one to agree to it and she is a grown adult. She knows what she is getting into."

"You are putting her life at risk!"

"She does that herself." Batman rolled his eyes. "Are we finished here?" Artemis reluctantly nodded. "Good. Oh, and Artemis? Not a word to anyone or you will compromise your sister."

"I'm not stupid, Batman. I know that." Artemis huffed, returning to the training room with Batman on her heels.

Bart had walked in and handed over the flash drive to Black Canary, who was analyzing it in the computer. The team stood around and watched as file upon file appeared in front of them.

"What do the Shadows want with all this?" Jaime asked, looking over the files on meta humans.

"Nothing good, I can guarantee that." Dick mumbled.

As the team was looking the files over, halfway across the world Jason was returning to Deathstroke empty handed.

And Deathstroke was not a happy camper.