Chapter Text
Gotham City was a daunting place to live and even more so when you’re going from rooftop to rooftop in the middle of the night, the little light they got from the moon was blocked by the dense clouds and just smog. Sirens everywhere, cars honking, the faint sounds of the occasional house party or domestic dispute ringing in her ears. It would scare most people off, but it didn’t scare Artemis, if anything she felt more alive than ever.
She felt as if when she was out here, she had a purpose and really anything beat hanging at the mountain and listening to Wally ramble about something stupid because that was torture. And she’d rather torment some criminal scum, do something useful. She never really went around Gotham; it was Batman's city and his feelings towards other heroes galivanting around his territory was pretty apparent.
He hated it.
But she couldn’t help herself, she had so much energy she wanted to burn off. And on her walk home from the zeta tube she could hear all the sirens and she couldn’t not jump in and help around. Every corner she turned there was something going on, from small drug deals, car break ins, house robberies, assaults.
The city was plagued by this kind of stuff.
And she failed to understand how Batman and Robin managed all this, they were only two humans. So they wouldn’t be too upset if she stepped in and helped out a little, at least she knew Robin wouldn’t. He couldn’t care less…
She wouldn’t mind running into him honestly.
Batman on the other hand…that was another story. He still frightened her, how did Robin put up with his cold closed off demeanor all the time? She still couldn’t wrap her head around that, Robin had to be his kid or something.
Wait, who would want to have a kid with Batman?
Was Robin his little brother? Would explain why Robin wasn’t afraid to poke fun at Bat and push the limits. Hell today during the debriefing of their latest mission Robin had no fear of making fun of Batman, something someone with a deathwish would normally do.
Yet Batman would just look at Robin and walk away as if he was defeated.
Artemis paused and tore herself from her thoughts when she heard a woman's shrill and loud scream echo throughout the empty street, she stayed there frozen for a moment. The woman screamed again and she stepped over to the edge of the roof of the building she was standing on. Down below a small woman, she was clutching her bag as she was backed into a corner. A large man wearing black grabbed her by the neck and roughly shoved her against the brick wall, she dropped her purse and he kicked it out of the way. Seeing this wasn’t just a simple purse robbery…that it was something far more serious Artemis knew she had to stop this.
She looked behind her, the bat signal shining into the night sky. She highly doubted Batman would show up there was probably something that had his attention and she wasn’t going to stand back and let this woman be attacked. She analyzed the situation quickly, he was holding a gun in one hand and had his other around her neck laughing as she struggled to breath.
This made her skin crawl, she quietly jumped down into the street and pressed herself against the brick wall and she peeked around the corner, the man now grabbing at her coat. She was cussing and kicking, Artemis quietly pulled out her bow. She didn't think she had much time before things got worse for the poor woman. So if she could knock the man down, get him to lose grip of the weapon that would give her enough time to make her move and the woman enough time to get far enough from him.
Just as she was about to draw her bow and put her plan in action she felt her hair get grabbed and she was yanked back. Completely caught off guard she stumbled back and lost her balance crashing to the hard concrete ground, bow falling to the ground.
Oh god.
Oh god.
She quickly jumped to her feet, a man wearing the same thing as the one in the alley stood there with a metal rod in one hand. "Well well, we got another masked wannabe hero," he sneered. She grit her teeth and turned to the woman and the man, he had definitely heard and saw this and was now standing there with his gun pressed up against the poor woman's temple.
Oh god.
Oh god.
She messed up, she messed up badly. She should have paid more attention. Why didn’t she notice the second man? Where did he come from? She should have figured these cowards stick together like glue. She dodged a blow from the man, but it was a sloppy one and she stumbled back again.
No
No, from the corner of her eye she could see the man brush his finger against the trigger. “Not so tough now are you,” the man joked as he threw another hit, she blocked it this time and took that as her chance to grab him by his arm, she pulled him closer and kneed him right in the gut, he gasped in pain and before he could react, she had him on the ground. She took this as her moment to knock him out, he was one of those all talk no real action kind of fools.
If this wasn’t such a serious and terrifying ordeal she’d laugh about it, crack a few jokes.
She turned back to the man with the gun, his eyes were wide and his grip on the woman tightened. She seemed absolutely exhausted; she was trembling. “Get any closer and her brains will be on the wall,” the man growled, he was attempting to hide his fear. But she could hear it, she could tell he was scared.
A true coward.
“Drop the gun.”
Truth be told, she wasn’t completely fearless herself.
The man let out a forced laugh and he stepped back up until his back was against the brick wall, “You think that’s gonna work girlie?” He scoffed, “You should’ve minded your own business blondie.” He paused, “Who the hell are you supposed to be anyways, Green Arrow's rejected daughter?” Her fists clenched, she wanted one thing.
And one thing only.
To beat the ever-living shit out of this man.
The man froze when he heard sirens, they were close. “Looks like this is coming to an end.” He loosened his grip on the woman and much to his surprise she took this as her moment to attack. She squirmed and dug her nails right into the side of his face, he howled in pain. The woman went to grab the gun out of his hands. But that was never going to end well.
Artemis’s eyes widened and she went to run at her, yelling at her to stop. Disarming the man like that or attempting to would result in one thing, someone getting shot. But it was too late, and it was as if time had slowed down.
The woman grabbed the gun.
But his finger was on the trigger.
There was a deafening bang and the woman collapsed, the man dropped the gun and started to run. She could run after him, beat the shit out of him, break every bone in his body but-
That poor woman.
Artemis rushed over to her and dropped roughly down on her knees and she bit back a cry when she saw her, she’d been hit in her abdomen.. “O-Oh-” Her eyes snapped open and she coughed and let out a pained groan.
Artemis’s arms shook, panic was setting in. She failed this woman, she was at the risk of dying because she had been careless, oh god this was probably why Batman didn’t like other heroes in his city. Because they messed everything up, she was incompetent, useless.
What was she thinking?
What was wrong with her?
Why hadn’t she been paying attention?
What kind of hero was she?
A shitty one.
She jumped in her skin when she heard footsteps behind her, she half expected that man to be back. Ready to finish what he started after he realized the sirens weren’t heading in this direction, but it wasn’t. Robin stood there.
“Pressure.”
She blinked, “O-Oh,” idiot, idiot. “Right.” She quickly applied pressure to the wound, trying to slow down the bleeding but it felt futile. She already lost so much and the location of the gunshot wound wasn’t…it wasn’t good.
For something to not be damaged well it would take a miracle and she doubted there would be one here tonight. Gotham wasn’t the place for miracles. “What happened?” Robin asked as he quickly pulled something out of his belt and dropped to his knees as well. His eyes widened, and he didn’t need to say it.
She could tell.
This was bad.
The woman wasn’t moving much besides a small twitch here and there, “W-Was leaving, heard her being attacked.” She was going to add that she was careless, an idiot but this wasn’t about her. “Sirens spooked him, s-she grabbed the gun…”
She didn’t need to add to it.
He exhaled, “This isn’t looking good,” he said quietly, the blood loss was severe and if she did make it to the hospital alive, he had little hope it would end well. Something major had to have been hit. He signaled for her to move her hand off the wound, she moved back and he quickly put some gauze down and applied the pressure. “I contacted help.”
But whether or not they’d be here quick enough was up to debate.
It had been about three minutes now; the bleeding wasn’t stopping.
Blood everywhere.
She wanted to get sick.
The woman wasn’t moving at all now, she moved last about two minutes ago. “Is Batman nearby?” She asked, he could do something…right?
“No, he’s at the GCPD. I was heading home, but the sound of a gunshot caught my attention.” He frowned, he honestly expected to find a failed robbery attempt, not Artemis hunched over a dying woman.
“Did you contact him?”
“Yes.”
“Will he be here soon?”
“Artemis, please calm down.”
“How can I calm down, a woman is dying!” She exclaimed, her eyes wide and watering. “And it’s all my fault!” This almost felt reminiscent of when the mountain had been attacked, she felt helpless and terrified as her friends faced almost certain death.
Yet Robin was calm.
Unbothered.
He slowly stood up, “She’s dead.”
“W-What, how do you know!?” It felt like such a stupid question, why was she being so stupid!?
“She’s got no pulse.”
She clenched her eyes shut and struggled to take a deep breath, she hadn’t even noticed him checking her pulse. “I’m a failure,” she mumbled as she moved back. She looked down at her hands, drenched in this poor woman's blood. She had failed her, Artemis was supposed to protect her yet she got her killed.
“Artemis, you can’t blame yourself.” He held out a hand, but she didn’t move. She didn’t want to get up.
“I got her killed, if I paid more attention, noticed the second man I wouldn’t have been seen, I wouldn’t have gotten her shot.” He shook his head, “But it’s true.”
“No, it’s not.” He held his hand out once more and she reluctantly grabbed it and was pulled to her feet, her legs shaking. “Artemis, I know there’s really nothing I can say…but I’ll say this..again. It is not your fault.”
“How can you be so calm?” She asked, “Even when we were attacked, does death ever scare you?” It felt like dark demented question..
“Like I said, I've been doing this since I was nine.” He frowned, “Look, I’ve seen a lot of death. I’m not heartless, but…something I've learned and had to learn the moment I stepped foot into Gotham is that death is an unstoppable force.” He shrugged, “And If I blamed every unpreventable death on myself, I’d never have a life.”
“You sound eighty, not 13.”
“Having a childhood isn’t exactly easy in Gotham Arty, you should know.”
“...Were you born in Gotham?” She asked, she could hear sirens again. This time she was pretty certain they were coming in this direction. Unfortunately, they were a little late. “You don’t have to answer tho-”
“No, I wasn’t.” Came his response. “I traveled a lot growing up, around the world.” He smiled slightly, “Didn’t come to Gotham until I was eight years old. God what a wake up call this place was,” he mumbled.
“You and Batman weren’t always in Gotham?”
He seemed amused by that, “That….no-” he seemed to be thinking carefully of what he could say without revealing too much, “Do you all think we’re related still?” He asked.
“You can’t expect us to not wonder.”
“We aren’t related.”
Her eyes widened, “Really?” She was surprised by that honestly, she figured if he wasn’t his dad, they had to be brothers. Batman didn’t seem like he was even thirty yet… “Do you parents know about this?”
Something in him changed and he slowly looked up at the cloudy sky, “I’d like to think they know honestly.” He looked back down when an ambulance and a cop car pulled up to the curb, “C’mon let's get this taken care of, and I’ll walk you home.”
She watched him, he looked to the sky?
Oh.
“I really appreciate this,” she said as they made it to the roof of her apartment building. “I’m sorry…about everything.” She couldn’t help but feel still like a complete failure about this whole horrible situation and she still couldn’t get that poor woman’s face…her gunshot wound out of her mind.
“Hey, remember what I said. Okay?” He rested his hand on her shoulder, “It wasn’t your fault.” She knew that was mostly true, wouldn’t stop the guilt and she’d live for this for the rest of her life, “If you need anything let me know, okay?” He stepped back, “I’ve gotta go, Batman is gonna be ticked when he sees I'm not back yet.” He should have been back at the cave an hour ago.
But with what happened he was sure he’d understand.
“He’s not going to be upset that I was here right?”
“Oh please, his no other hero rule is bull. Green Arrow was here last week.” Robin smirked, “Batman just doesn’t want Superman poking around, he annoys the hell out of him.” He thought it was hilarious honestly.
“What a relief, anyways. G’night..” she waved slightly and turned to the fire escape and jumped down and opened her window and quietly made her way into her room fingers crossed her mother wasn’t awake. She turned to the small clock she had on her nightstand and exhaled, 3am?
She jumped when the door was opened and the lights flicked on, her eyes burning. “Artemis!?” Her mother rolled in quickly, “I was worried sick, you said you’d be home hours ago!” She let out a gasp when she saw the blood covering her. “W-What on earth?!”
She’d need a new uniform.
“I…ran into something on my way home,” she placed her bow down. “I…don’t want to talk about it, I just want to take a shower.” She felt bad about looking like this in front of her mother, but she felt even worse about having the blood of that poor woman all over her.
She pushed past her mother and rushed to the bathroom and shut the door and locked it behind her. Her mother was speaking, asking her what on earth happened and to at least explain a little but she couldn’t. The comfort Robin gave her immediately was gone and she looked in the mirror.
They didn’t even know the woman's name.
Did she have a family?
Children waiting for her at home?
She turned the shower on and stepped in, hot water burning her back. She was thankful most of the blood was on her hands and pants. She’d be getting a new uniform soon; she didn’t want to wear that one anymore and she doubted it would be easy to get that all out.
Artemis couldn’t help but wonder more about Robin though, he lost his parents? Was that what got him acquainted with death? She shuddered, that would explain his remark about it not being easy about having a childhood.
She wouldn’t pry though, it wasn’t her business.
Right now she just wanted to remember what he said, it wasn’t your fault.
It wasn’t your fault.