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Artemis honestly didn’t know why she was still in Keystone. She hated the humid weather, her job—That she also hated—had been completed and she had a price on her head. Though, for some odd reason, she remained. The cool evening breeze whipped through her long golden braid as she watched the people in the street. Then suddenly a familiar face passed by and curiosity overtook the Tigress.
Soon without a thought Artemis was racing effortlessly through the dark shadows cast by the silver moonlight. It was if some internal force compelled her to pursue him from under the cover of darkness. Her heart started to pound in her chest as she observed him from a close distance.
He was casually dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans, a t-shirt that fitted his muscular frame perfectly, and shoes she recognized as his favorite pair of faded red converse. It was a nice break from the scarlet spandex or lab coat she usually saw him in. Artemis couldn’t get over the fact that he looked almost normal in civvies amidst all of the other patrons. Almost. No matter how hard she tried every time she glanced at Wally she saw the energetic speedster that she once loved, not the man in red converse walking down the street like it was any old Tuesday night.
Tigress followed the speedster as he rounded the corner but then her heart dropped as she laid her stormy eyes on that woman. There was a slight bitter taste that filled her mouth and she found her fingers brushing the handle of her crossbow. Artemis let out an angry hiss and clenched her fists. A feeling of envy burned deep within the assassin’s chest. She had yet to even see the face of the woman Wally held tenderly in his strong arms, but she already hated her.
Artemis heaved a frustrated sigh and glared down at the happy couple from her cozy rooftop perch. Why was she so hung over about a guy that she was barely on a first name basis with? Okay, so maybe she knew his last name, but he never actually told her. The blonde couldn’t stand that woman sitting next to Wally. The assassin tried not to paint a target on her forehead. Wally would never forgive her if she killed his date. And even if, hypothetically, Tigress would end the woman making goo goo eyes at Wally she wouldn’t do it there. It would be way too messy and leave her with too many witnesses that she would also have to kill.
She heard soft footsteps behind her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a dark male figure. Quickly, she grabbed ahold of her trusty crossbow and pointed it to the approaching silhouette. "Who are you and what do you want?" she demanded harshly.
Nightwing laughed and stepped out of the shadows. "You know this doesn’t surprise me." He moved forward cautiously holding his arms up in surrender. "You should put that thing down before someone loses an eye. I'm not going to hurt you Artemis."
"How-How do you know my name?" She snarled menacingly but her voice still held an edge of bewilderment. Tigress ignored his request and kept her crossbow firmly aimed at the acrobat.
"I have my sources." He shrugged indifferently. "So tell me, Goddess of the Hunt, what is your business in Keystone this fine Tuesday evening?"
"It's none of your business.” Tigress snapped with much annoyance, keeping her weapon trained on his heart. She suddenly remembered the reason why she hated Bludhaven so much. “Why are you so far from home?"
Nightwing’s eyes sparkled with humor. "Well I came all the way from Bludhaven to put a bad man it jail but when I show up I find out that he's already chilling at the city morgue. Crazy right?" The smile on his face grew wider as Tigress’ frown deepened. Finally, she slowly lowered her crossbow Nightwing was no threat.
"Maybe his sins finally caught up with him,” she said distantly as the laughter of the happy couple filled the silent night air. The joyous noise felt like poison to the regretful assassin. That should be her sitting next to Wally not that woman he held in his arms.
"Hurt's doesn’t it?" Nightwing said softly. The mischief in his voice had been replaced with concern. He placed a gentle hand briefly on her shoulder attempting to comfort her.
Artemis angrily brushed off the caring gesture. “It never would have worked,” she growled bitterly.
"Tell that to Roy and your sister." The young vigilante attempted to lighten the mood.
"How the hell did you—,”she gasped. “Never mind. The way it ended for us was for the best." Artemis turned away. She could already feel the familiar burn of tears in the corners of her eyes.
"You know you could still fix this,” the protector of Bludhaven suggested.
The young woman sighed and shook her head. She turned back to look Nightwing in the eye. "Sometimes things are better left broken."
“Not this!” He barked angrily startling Tigress with his outburst. She flinched a little bit before looking at him like he had grown a second head. His ever-present grin had vanished. “Artemis.” Nightwing continued softly. He was so close it sent a shiver down the assassin’s spine. “You can still fix this. You need to fix this or you’re going to regret this for the rest of your life.”
Tigress stepped back. The expression on her face became unreadable as countless emotions bounced through her chest. “What we had was alleyway sex every other Wednesday. That was it! We didn’t even have a relationship to speak of! It wasn’t special.” Artemis’s heated words of denial felt foreign as they left her lips. “Why do you even care?”
Nightwing clenched his fists in frustration. “I care because I want my best friend to be happy.”
“Well if you look down there he looks pretty happy.” Artemis hissed pointing to the kissing lovebirds.
“It’s not the same and you know it. Wally loves you and only you. He told me that himself.” The young acrobat replied.
“He can’t love me!” The assassin shouted. Those words felt like a knife piercing her heart.
“Why not?” The tall young man challenged.
Artemis took a deep breath and counted to ten. The last thing she wanted to do was gain the attention of the speedster down below. “We’re two different people from different worlds.” She looked up at the half moon shining brightly in the sky. “Do you know how old I was when I first took on this job?”
“Sixteen?”
“Fourteen,” she whispered. “I was fourteen when I killed my first target.” The usually cold and remorseless assassin felt a wave of guilt wash over her and the painful string of childhood memories that she preferred to forget. “It’s too late for me to change. I have too much blood on my hands and bounty on my head.” She said sadly. “You should stop trying. It’s never going to work.”
And with that final statement Tigress took off into the night. The young woman didn’t even bother to look back at the vigilante as she leaped from building to building. She didn’t want to look back. She wanted to forget.
Artemis wished she never had that conversation with Nightwing. She wished she never had lingered in Keystone. She wished she never had met Wally. The assassin just wanted the pain to all go away.
Then it hit her like a freight train in the gut. It was that cold, hard truth that Nightwing was trying to make her realize all along. There was no doubt about it now.
She loved him.
She loved him more than she loved Cameron. She loved him more than she loved her mother. She loved him more than she loved herself.
And, unlike everything else in Artemis' life, that love was completely, beautifully, tragically and gloriously unbreakable.