AN: I set up a
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PoV: Artemis
"*bzzt* Incident on the corner of Fowler and Drake, Falcone men are battling Bertinelli enhanciles, aided by an unknown figure in silver."
Finally.
I've been waiting hours for this. The past week, Er-
Silver Sorceress has been popping up all over the police scanner, helping out with Falcone raids into Bertinelli territory.
Which, I mean… of
course she's working with the Falcones now, of course she is! I mean, why wouldn't she. She's a villain, they're villains, it just fits.
Sure, Carmine is rotting Little Sicily from the inside out with his drugs, and gun-running, and protection rackets, and dozens of murders a year, but who cares about that! That's stupid
mortal stuff, after all,
far beyond her.
Why
not join the payroll of one of the most evil men in Gotham?
So I've been tracking her movements over the radio, listening in, and trying to find an opportunity to bring her down. Normally, she's working with too many other capes, but even when there she's alone enough for me to actually try tracking her down, she teleports away right after the battle, meaning I can't ambush her.
My two previous outings haven't been useless, though: I've been watching, planning, learning how she fights. Er-
Sorceress uses a lot more magic in these I had expected, especially on the lower-level goons — apparently Executioner's raw speed limited her repertoire more than I thought — so I've had to revise my plans a bit, but I still think I should be able to handle this.
I huff, vaulting out my windows.
Let's hope third time's the charm.
Bingo.
Sorceress has stayed behind after this one, watching as the Falcone goons loot the bodies — I do my best not to look at the results of her handiwork, fucking gods there are
so many, she must have killed at least a dozen people, holy
fuck — joking and laughing with the
murderers she's shacked up with like they didn't just commit an extrajudicial massacre.
Eventually, she grabs one of the bodies of the enhanced goons by the ankle, and begins dragging him away.
If I weren't watching my former best friend perform a corpse-napping, I might just smile at my plan coming together. I know she can't bring other people with her through her teleportation, and I figured that if I wait around long enough, I'll catch her trying to study the corpses of one of these new Venom'ed-up Bertinelli goons.
Well technically I don't
know it's some new variant of Venom, since Batman won't talk to me about whatever's going on with them, but c'mon! I grew up in Gotham and have
eyes, I know super-steroids when I see them.
But regardless of what they're on, I knew she wouldn't be able to resist the allure of cutting one open like fucking
meat, and that she wouldn't trust Carmine enough to have him just ship a corpse to her door, and so…
Here I am, hopping from roof to roof, following the silver-haired figure as she marches through various back alleys trying to find a good spot for an ambush.
After about five minutes, it finally looks like she's approaching a side alley that's decently cut off from the rest of the city.
I move to the top of the fire escape. Careful…
This is going to take perfect timing.
Right when she's in the center of the alley, the furthest away from both exits, I take aim at a point right above her head, and let my foam arrow fly.
I hold my breath as it flies through the air, perfectly silent thanks to some basic tech from Green Arrow.
Closer, closer…
Sorceress freezes, and teleports away in a flash of purple light.
Fuck!
In a flash, she appears at the other end of the alley with wide eyes.
Well, shit. I thought I could avoid triggering her precognition by not aiming directly at her, but it looks like that was a bust.
Onto idea two then.
She glares at the alley, raising a hand glowing with silver light. "Who the
fuck is gonna die tonight?"
I stand up on the fire escape, now that the element of surprise is gone.
"You" she says, and her voice is practically a snarl.
"Me" I say, eyes hard.
"The fuck are
you doing here?"
"I'm just doing my job" I say. "Batman appreciates it when I spend time patrolling for
common criminals."
She arches an eyebrow. "Don't you have some guy in a neon jumpsuit to beat up then? I'm doing important work here."
I raise my bow.
She sneers, moving back into a ready stance.
I launch first, sending off a net arrow, which she teleports out of the way of.
Fuck, that's going to be
so annoying, I just know it.
She reappears on the fire escape across from me, glaring. "You just couldn't resist butting in, could you?"
She snarls. "You smelled an opportunity for being the big, shiny, stupid fucking hero, and just
had to nose your way into this. Can't have the
horrible evil bad guys get any of the credit for doing something good, can we?"
I scoff, leaping down to the ground to dodge the blast of static-grey lightning she aims at me. "Don't give me that, Little Miss Mobster. Tell me, how much did it cost for Carmine to buy you?"
When I look up, she's gone. My eyes dart back and forth, searching for her.
There!
I have to backflip away from the static-grey lightning.
"You really should have taken that English tutoring, if you don't know the meaning of 'independent contractor'."
She's standing on the same fire escape that I was, looking down at me with narrowed eyes. "I'm working
with him, on something that I don't think even
you could object to."
"Oh?"
"Oh yeah. Ask your little sugar bat-daddy about the Cult of Skath, they're basically hostis humani generis. Hells, they're hostis
omni generis. I'm helping the Falcones root out the branch that's taken up with the Bertinellis."
I scoff. "Wow, how convenient! Fortunate for Carmine that this group of evil blood cultists just so happens to set up with his longtime enemies."
"Are you- You think I'm
lying about this?"
"Well" I say flatly, "it's not like you've proven yourself very trustworthy."
She growls.
"But no" I say, cutting off her response, "I
don't think you're lying. At least, not about the basic facts. I just think that they're an excuse for you, to do what you wanted to do anyways. To get an obscene amount of money from one of the most evil men in Gotham for being his legbreaker."
"Are you fucking serious?"
"Yes" I yell. "Because if you
actually cared about stopping these people, you'd be
going to Batman. Or at the very least, the police. But no, you can't have that! Batman might have pesky
rules, and
morals, and
plans. That'd stop you from having your
fun!"
I backflip away from the next jet of lightning she lets out in response, shooting a foam arrow up at her. It explodes, flooding the escape with
high-density polyurethane foam.
Don't worry, it's breathable.
I smirk. Well, breathable-
ish.
Unfortunately for me, by the time the arrow explodes, Eri — fuck,
Sorceress — is gone, and it's only my instincts which lets me dodge her retaliatory spell, a strange glowing set of chains.
"Fuck you, bitch" she says, snarling. "
You don't get to judge me."
"Actually" I say, "I'm pretty much the only person on Earth who
can."
She growls. "Tell me, does it run in the family, acting like a rabid dog on a chain for your scheming, secretive master?"
I barely stop myself from snarling. Oh she did
not just fucking go there. "I can see you're lashing out at those better than you. I suppose you get that from
your father."
I grin at the absolute rage in her eyes, only to yelp when she lets off a strange, pulsating red spell in response that I only barely manage to dodge.
God fucking damnit, I'm losing here. Time for plan C.
I take a smoke arrow out of my quiver, throwing it directly at my feet.
I smile as I hear Er- Sorceress curse.
I move back into the smoke, tapping the side of my mask, switching it to thermal vision mode.
There
are benefits to working with Batman, you know.
I see a sudden splotch of red appear across the alley, and I send a foam arrow rocketing towards it, immediately backflipping away from the retaliatory lightning.
"You
better fucking hide" she says, scanning the smoke for any sign of me, "because when I find you…"
Because I'm not an idiot, I don't reply and give away my location.
She sends a few bolts of lightning into the smoke.
I slowly make my way up to the fire escape above her, doing my best to keep myself still and silent.
After another bolt, she growls in frustration. "You know what? If you want to play like this, that's just fine with me."
She slams her staff on the ground.
The ground where I was standing begins to rumble, and begins to sink into a pit.
Unfortunately for her, by that time, I'm on the fire escape.
She sends another jolt of lightning into the smoke as I make my way to a position with clear sightlines.
She pauses.
"…Wait, I'm a fucking idiot."
She slams her staff forward, purple runes sparking around the head, and a great breeze shoots out of the front to disperse the smoke.
Y'know, I
was wondering…
As she holds her staff forward, concentrating both on the spell and trying to spot my form in the dissipating smoke, I let my arrow fly.
Unfortunately for me, that precognition of hers is irritatingly effective, and her head jolts up to look at me when the arrow is still a few feet from her.
While the second she takes to disengage from her current spell and reorient disorients her, it isn't enough, and the foam from the arrow I shoot only encases a leg, instead of her head.
She staggers back, dazed from my blow, as I backflip off her with textbook-perfect kick to her stomach.
Er-
Silver Sorceress staggers back, twirling her staff around her to let off a whirlwind that obscures my vision of her.
In a flash, she teleports in front of me, only to pause in shock as the foam moves with her.
I smile widely. Looks like I was right, her spell
did treat a smaller amount of foam like it does with that cloak of hers, and teleport it along with her.
I leap down, trying to bring things to melee combat, where I know I have the advantage. My original plan was to do this while she was blind because of the foam, but I can still make it work when she's down a leg.
I swing an overhead chop directly at her head, but she manages to dodge better than she'd ever done in any of our spars.
Shit, she probably wasn't using her precognition then!
I my next fist slams into her shoulder, staggering her, but before I can land a counter-blow she flashes back to the end of the alley, foam still on her leg. She stands still, clearly concentrating, and I rush forward.
Time to do this before she manages to get her leg free.
Before I can reach her, she flashes away, and I curse as I see the shell of foam around her leg clatter to the ground.
I dodge to the side not a moment too soon, as a giant blast of lightning shoots past me from a fire escape platform above me.
I turn, to see her standing there, eyes blazing purple as she shoots me a venomous glare. "That… was
extremely annoying."
She growls, jabbing her staff forward and sending out a torrent of lightning, like two dozen forks jabbing at me.
Fuck!
I start leaping and dodging like my life depends on it, but don't make it to the end of the alley before I feel something hit my leg, and I abruptly jerk to a stop. I look down to see a spectral green chain tethering me to the ground, emanating a soul-deep chill.
Oh, gods damn it.
Before I can blink, three other chains hit my other limbs, and I'm staked down in the middle of the alley, by bow clattering to the ground.
Sorceress teleports in front of me, grin wide and victorious.
"Look what we have here" she says, gloating. "A little hero, all trussed up, just for me."
I snarl at her, tugging futilely at the chains binding me to the ground.
Sorceress reaches over, pulling a foam arrow from my quiver, and tossing it directly at my feet.
"Fuck you" I say, as the foam rises to engulf me. "You think you can get away with this? Get away with paling around with murderers and monsters?"
"Oh Chryssa" she says, patting my cheek. "I already
have."
She pauses, and straightens up, looking around the alley.
After a few moments, she sighs. "Gods above, did I seriously…"
She turns to me, glaring. "
You made me disintegrate my corpse, asshole."
I just glare at her.
She bends over, reaching towards my head. I feel a flash of fear as she removes my communicator.
She wouldn't…
Would she?
Fortunately, she just holds it up to her mouth, and presses the button to communicate.
"Hello? Is this Bat Station One?"
"Who is this" I hear Robin's voice echo out over the comms. "Why do you have Chryssa's communicator."
Oh.
Fuck.
Just kill me now.
"This is Silver Sorceress!" she says brightly. "And I don't just have Chryssa's communicator, I have the whole package! She ambushed me, you see:
terribly rude."
Robin growls. "Are you- No, of
course she-"
He takes in a deep breath. "Silver Sorceress" he says, voice firm. "If you've done
anything to Chryssa…"
"Oh, relax" she says playfully. "Little Goldie is
fine, just sitting in that neat foam you've got her using."
"However" she says, raising an eyebrow. "If you want to ensure she
stays fine, you'll want to get over to the alley behind 105 Eaglewood Street. I'll be leaving soon, and who knows
what could happen to her."
Before Robin can respond, she drops the communicator, crushing it underneath her foot.
I swallow. Fuck, fuck, fuuuuck. I'm going to be in
so much trouble for this. I mean, Robin doesn't have any room to judge in the slightest, but Batman's going to fucking
kill me.
"You happy now?" I ask, glaring.
She rolls her eyes. "As I
tried to tell you, I'm fantastic! Have been ever since you left."
I ignore the deep, thrumming pain in my heart that that pronouncement brings.
"Well laugh it up, bitch" I say, snarling. "But just you fucking wait for next time."
She laughs, literally staring down her nose at me. "Oh, Chryssa" she says, "if you think
next time is going to be any different, you're even more delusional than I thought."
She leans down, pressing a finger against my forehead. "I thought I told you: I'm
out of your league, Artemis."
She stands up, smirking. "If you come at me,
you'll lose. Every. Single. Time."
She crouches down, picking up my bow, and tossing it to loop over my neck. "Stick to beating up the Riddler."
Before I can respond, letting the torrent of feeling inside me burst out to fry her like one of her bolts of lightning, Robin leaps down at the other end of the alley.
"Sorceress" he says, voice serious. "You need to let Chryssa go,
now."
"I'm not holding her anywhere" she says with a roll of her eyes. "That's
her arrow that's trapping her."
She smirks. "Rather poetic, don't you think? I'm not quite sure how, but it feels like something that should be poetic."
I roll my eyes.
"Well" she says, sighing. "I suppose that's it for me then. You tried to ambush me, you failed, yadda yadda yadda. Nothing much more for me to do."
Robin's eyes narrow, stepping forward. "I'm not just going to let you-"
She laughs.
After a moment, she pauses.
"Wait" she says. "You're
serious?"
She rolls her eyes. "
Please. If
Chryssa couldn't fight me, what hope do
you have, bird boy?"
Despite myself, I feel a flicker of warmth at the compliment, however backhanded and ill-intentioned it might be.
She turns around, tossing her hair over her shoulder, blocking Robin's boomerang with a shield cast by an errant flick of her wrist.
She snaps, and in a flash of purple, disappears.
After searching around the alley for a minute to make sure she doesn't reappear, Robin turns back around to me, glaring. "What the
fuck did you do? Why were you on an unsanctioned patrol, and why did you go off to fight a known mage?"
I scowl, and get ready for the first of what's sure to be a long, long line of explanations.
I'm going to kill her for this, I swear to all the fucking gods.
AN: Spoiler for progress of their relationship:
Don't worry guys, this is the most they will EVER hate one another. Things will be on a slow (sometimes very slow) but steady upwards trend from here.
Question 1: If Red X and/or Eri and/or Artemis could have a superpower, what do you think would suit them the best?
Question 2: I'm looking to commission some art of Eri for this fic, if anyone has any recommendations for artists, I'd be open to them.
