Chapter 18

Harry's frown deepened when he looked around the edge of the building. He was bothered very greatly by the fact that this lady assassin slipped through a blind spot. The Kryptonian-human hybrid wanted to figure out exactly how in the hell she made it past so he could correct the problem.

Megan's eyes drifted over towards Harry. To be honest, being on lookout was not one of the most glamorous jobs in the world. Especially when she could hear Harry's angry mental buzzing off to the side. She placed a hand on his shoulder in what she assumed was an extremely comforting way.

'I didn't hear her either,' M'gann thought.

'Mareena, how is Roquette coming along?' Harry asked.

'Slowly, but she's getting there,' Mareena thought.

Harry checked the news for anything that would be a problem. And something popped up on the screen. Another attack of the Fog, this time attacking GothCorp.

'There''re in Gotham City, they've targeted GothCorp,' Harry thought to them.

'Shit,' Helena thought. 'They might be reaching Wayne...which would be…'

'Yes, a catastrophe, I know,' Harry thought.

'And Cheshire's called more of her friends,' Whitney commented with a grunt through the mental link.

Harry took a second to pinch the bridge of his nose. Thankfully, he was able to come up with what he thought was a work around plan.

'The only way we're going to get out from under this is we're going to have to out shadow the shadows,' Harry thought to the rest of the group. 'Fortunately, I have an idea about how we're going to do this.'

Helena disappeared around the corner, leaving Artemis, Donna, and Whitney to go up against the three lady assassins. This was not something that any of them were really thrilled about doing, given how dangerous there were.

Donna went face to face with the Silken Spider, who moved with surprising agility and strength. Donna matched the woman's movements the best she could, going hand to hand with her. The Silk Spider just smiled and swept Donna's face out from underneath her.

Dragonfly glittered in the air in front of Kid Flash and hurled some electric balls right at her. Kid Flash darted up and attempted to run up the wall. However, Dragonfly smashed against the wall and knocked Kid Flash off of it with a thud. She grunted the very second that she smacked off the guard, her ribs aching, along with her head and a few other body parts.

Tiger Moth and Artemis squared off. The lady assassin made a fluid movement towards the archer, a long knife extended towards her. Artemis dodged the attack and picked up the pace with a couple of kicks to the top of the head. She caught a glimpse of Cheshire out of the corner of her eye.

Obsession was a key flaw in many, and it was what drove Artemis right about now. Artemis flew over the head of Tiger Moth and then spun around. She fired an arrow at the lady assassin. The lady assassin dodged the arrow, and then came back to retract some claws from her costume.

Artemis showed her acrobatic abilities and then fired three arrows down onto the ground. One of the pieced the fire extinguisher and caused smoke to fly into the room. The choking cloud of mist allowed Artemis to slip around.

"Oh, no you don't!" Artemis yelled. "You're not getting away with this one."

"Persistent," Chesire commented. "And still too feisty for your own good."

Tiger Moth grabbed Artemis around the neck. Artemis fought out until Kid Flash hurled Dragonfly halfway across the room. Dragonfly and Tiger Moth both tucked and rolled and landed in front of other adversaries. Dragonfly dodged another arrow.

'Makes this look so easy,' Artemis thought to herself.

These lady assassins were both skilled and enhanced. Tiger Moth slid underneath Kid Flash's rushing legs and then wrapped her up completely in some kind of stranglehold. Kid Flash struggled, in a vain attempt to break free. She vibrated against the body of Tiger Moth, groaning, and trying to break free.

Wondergirl's battle with her enemy, the devious and deadly Silken Spider was not going as planned. As in, it went extremely badly. She jumped down and slammed a stinger into Donna's back. Donna groaned when she had been hanging down onto the ground.

Dragonfly wrapped her hands around Artemis's head. Artemis aimed an arrow upwards towards the sprinkler system and fired as expertly as she could. The sprinklers burst open and caused water to enter the hallways of GCU.

"Would be better of Aquagirl was here with us," Kid Flash grumbled, but the distraction allowed her to get out of the stranglehold none the less.

She zipped around and circled Tiger Moth, Dragonfly, and Silken Spider, pulling her two teammates out to the end of the hallway.

"I don't suppose switching dance partners would help," Donna said.

"Too good," Whitney said. "But, we're just going to have to be a little bit better."

Artemis did not have it in her to voice the very obvious frustration that Cheshire was gone, down the hallway, and out of sight. She just took her arrow down into the chest of Silken Spider which launched her halfway across the room.

How could she let Cheshire get the better of her, how? Of course, they had these three lady assassins who were causing them fits, so she was not the only one who would be getting the better of them.

Mareena put her hands on the back of Roquette's chair, who was working away at the computer. She heard something on the outside which made her frown.

"Stay right…."

Marquette broke open a bottle of water and formed a shield which blocked a dagger from coming through the shadows.

"You better come out now and face me," Mareena said.

"Oh, your little water tricks aren't going to work, Princess."

Cheshire stepped out of the shadows. Mareena read the file on her, while she was protecting Roquette and there was not a question in her mind, Cheshire was pretty damn good. Almost scarily good in fact. From what little they knew about it, although few people who encountered her lived long enough to tell the tale.

"You want someone dead, they normally end up in the ground," Mareena said. "But, when I protect someone, they normally stay protected."

"One of us is going to be disappointed then," Cheshire said. "But, this doctor, she's pretty valuable if these important people want her dead."

Another dagger is out and Mareena blocked it with an expert movement. The two of them moved back and forth against each other, trying to get the other.

Cheshire dodged a water wrecking ball. It grazed against the side of her face. Smiling, with the face underneath her mask matching her mask, Cheshire jumped up to the ceiling and came back with three throwing stars. Mareena blocked it and threw three made out of the water, pulling some out of the water cooler from down the hallway.

It was always creative when some enemy manages to use their environment against her and Cheshire could not be more pleased. She threw herself back down onto the ground and then came back up.

The fabled Aquaqirl created a sword made of water to block Cheshire's attacks. Cheshire studied her movements and she had some decent combat skills, although right now, she was a fish out of water, pardon the very very stupid pun.

Cheshire knew exactly the right thing to put her down to the ground. She maneuvered Aquagirl further and further into the center of the room.

Then when the timing was right, Cheshire faked left and stabbed right, hitting her in the shoulder. Aquagirl winced and then persisted. Yet, her movements grew more sluggish and left her open for a couple of attacks with Cheshire moving her.

"Do you feel that?" Cheshire asked. "That's your body slowing down. But, it's not going to kill you, because you're not the target. I don't give anyone any freebies."

"Do you think that makes you better?" Aquagirl slurred.

"Well, we can debate ethics all day," Cheshire said. "My favorite is when they sent a mass murderer to Arkham instead of killing them, and then he comes back more dangerous than ever when they should have killed him in the first place."

Cheshire nailed Aquagirl in the side of the neck which normally would not have done anything. With the poison coursing through her veins, it deliberated her completely. Another kick for good measure, before Cheshire, secured Aquagirl to the wall, making sure she's tied.

"And now, the good doctor."

Cheshire spun around the chair. Given all of the trouble she went to get Roquette, she was not going to spare any time with formalities or give Roquette any chance to bargain. She stabbed the knife directly towards Roquette without any hesitation whatsoever.

The knife passed directly through Roquette who sat in the chair with a smile. Her body shifted into that of Miss Martian.

"Oh, you're more clever than we give you credit for," Cheshire said.

"Who is we?" Miss Martian demanded.

Cheshire was able to block her telepathy long enough to launch a surprise attack, this time, an explosive device which caused the fire to shoot all through the office.

The moment Miss Martian was able to pull herself away and Aquagirl was able to free herself, Cheshire disappeared into the shadows.

"So, that bought us some time," Aquagirl said.

'Harry, Cheshire figured the ruse, and I'm guessing she's on her way to you right now,' Aquagirl said.

'We're on our way to Wayne Tech,' Harry thought. 'Roquette told us we're going to need to upgrade the anti-virus remotely to shut down the fog.'

Helena, Harry, and Roquette sat on the back of a truck, just across the street from Wayne Tech. Roquette took in a deep breath, her fingers were completely raw.

"We're done," Roquette said. "And now, I just need to wait for them to bring the fog here. You're sure that this is the target."

"I'm sure," Helena firmly replied.

"Well, it makes sense," she admitted. "Bruce Wayne only has three-fourths of the communication in Gotham under lock and key. Where Daggett has the other piece, but they just got control of that earlier, didn't they?"

Roquette's own invention, her own great work, used by terrorists. Well, Serling Roquette vowed to do the right thing, eventually. She brushed her finger back and continued to stroke the bridge of her nose.

Out of the back of the truck, Robin went out to scout, where Superman stayed with her.

"So, is there anyone special in your life?" Roquette asked him casually. "I mean, it's….I've been busy...it's not like a need a man in my life, or a woman, but sometimes it's just...well it's…."

"Really the time or the place?" Harry asked her.

Roquette shut up and she could feel something. Something bad. Something caused the hairs on the back of her neck to prickle straight up.

Harry noticed it too, although it was no sense, it was something that he saw with his own eyes. Namely, Ojo and the three members of the League who were outside of Wayne Tech and at the main breaker box, about ready to release the fog.

'So, not only do several vital systems in Gotham run through the Cave, but Wayne has contracts with Central City, Star City, Metropolis, for their communication grids,' Helena thought. 'And also the Batcave...and the team and the League...and they can cause a lot of damage if they make it to the lower levels.'

'They won't get that far.'

"Are you in range?" Harry asked.

"I need to get about two hundred yards closer," Roquette said.

"Hang on."

Roquette scooped up the tablet she had the anti-virus on, for Superboy, no Superman, well whoever he was, she as hot, to fly her out of there. The scientist would have normally enjoyed the experience of flying in the arms of a Kryptonian if the situation had not been as dire as it was. And that caused her stomach to turn and twist ever so slightly when they both descended onto the ground.

The Assassins noticed them. The three shadowed figures rushed into position.

Robin was quick as well, retracting the staff and jumping into the air. She circled around, disarming one of the assassins with a brutal kick to the back of the leg. That sent him crashing down to the ground with a thud. The second of the assassin's withdrew a knife and charged directly at Robin.

Ojo's annoyance became obvious. Especially considering that hybrid was moving towards him at the speed of light. He turned his attention towards the hybrid, but he jerked Ojo out of his seat and threw him.

"I've got you covered!"

"Good!" Roquette yelled. "Okay, the damn thing is already uploading...way to cut it close...okay, I'm in and hopefully they don't cut it in two minutes."

Or cut her would be worse. Robin blocked the chain from one of the shadows and fired back with a leaping kick, sending it crashing down to the ground.

Ojo released a blast of red energy from his eye socket. It reflected off of Harry and he spun around before he smashed Ojo in his eyepiece which caused him to howl in agony. The discharge from the second assault sent him down to the ground.

The other three assassins dropped and Roquette pumped her fist into the air.

The Fog sucked out of the building, solidified, and crumbled onto the ground. Harry scooped up a sample, figuring that Karen would want to study it at her leisure.

The three shadows and their boss, they were down.

"All traces of the Fog are gone," Roquette said. "I've done...we've done it."

It was hard for her to share the credit, but they did it in this case.

'We've stopped the Fog.'

Kid Flash dropped Silken Spider to the ground, the skilled assassin bouncing with a very impressive stud. That was some good news, the very best that they heard.

Dragonfly and Donna struggled to fight against each other. Dragonfly was knocked back and Donna disabled her, by wrapping her lasso around Dragonfly and hurling her through the wall with a force. Causing it to smash and causing property damage.

"Damn girl," Kid Flash said.

"Wayne can afford a new wall," Donna said at Kid Flash's incredulous look.

Artemis knocked Tiger Moth down the steps and left her tied. She really needed to get to Cheshire, while she was still nearby. She hoped, she hoped that she could catch up to Cheshire.

"And we've…."

The lights flickered in the building, with Tiger Moth and Dragonfly rising to their feet. Silken Spider did the same and the entire body shook prior to the lights going out completely.

"Great!"

They came back on and the three lady assassins disappeared. Kid Flash groaned, and finally, the pain set in. She was pretty sure none of the poisoned claws or weapons hit her, but she got a few hard knocks all of the way. Donna reached towards her and she shook her head.

Miss Martian and Aquagirl walked around the corner.

"So, they got away?"

"I know," Kid Flash grumbled. "Ninjas, I swear."

She really hated ninjas.

"Where's Artemis?" Miss Martian asked.

"I thought she was on the stairs, fighting Tiger Moth," Donna said although there was a huge part of her who seemed uncertain.

She moved over and saw neither Tiger Moth, not that she expected it, or Artemis. The entire team's gaze focused on each other, right before Kid Flash groaned.

"She's after Cheshire," Kid Flash said. "She was trying to go after her….I know I gave her a bit of a hard time when she let Cheshire get past but...she's kind of obsessed."

"I wonder why," Aquagirl commented thoughtfully.

'We've got the Fog neutralized, Serling has run a scan,' Harry thought.

'Oh, you're on a first name basis now,' Whitney commented.

'Down girl,' Mareena warned her.

'Well, she's not as bad as you girls obviously think she is,' Harry thought.

'She's only nice to you because she wants to get into your pants,' Whitney replied. 'What is that for?'

Aquagirl's hand smacked lightly across the back of Whitney's head.

'Because, Helena's not here to do it for me,' Aquagirl said. 'Remember that conversation we had the other day about you thinking before you speak.'

'Well, technically I am thinking because this is all mental,' Kid Flash argued.

'Never mind,' Aquagirl thought.

'Artemis is gone,' Miss Martian said, cutting off the conversation. 'We think that she's gone after Cheshire.'

One could hear Harry's sigh over the network.

'I'll be there.'

Cheshire heard that the Fog had been lifted, therefore the contract had been canceled. This had been a waste of a night and she barely even got a glimpse of Superboy. Or Superman? She preferred Superman. Because that was no boy, that was all man.

An arrow grazed past her elbows. Artemis dove down onto the ground and knocked her down to the ground.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Cheshire asked. "Oh, you silly little girl...you think that…."

Artemis and Cheshire tussled, and rolled on the ground in a scrap against each other They traded punches, and a few other dirty tactics, with Cheshire not fighting as hard as she would against other opponents. Especially now that she was off the clock.

The mask came off in the fight and Artemis stepped back, in awe, to come face to face with a dark-haired woman, with green eyes and a smile that matched her face.

"You!" Artemis yelled.

"Me," she said. "So, are you going to haul me off to prison? Or are you going to hand me over to the Justice League? Maybe I'll tell the good guys all they want to know."

She looked Artemis dead on in the eye.

"Or maybe I'll let other things slip," she commented ever so casually. "I can't really promise that my mouth will stay shut."

Artemis hesitated for a minute.

"But, maybe it's just off to Blackgate," Cheshire said. "I'm sure Paula would be thrilled to see that in the paper."

The archer paused, having Cheshire dead to rights, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to rear back and knock her completely unconscious. And yet, Artemis could not do it, despite everything. She let Cheshire up to her feet.

The mask had been left behind, as some kind of twisted suvenier. She should have known. She should have known.

"Are you okay?"

Harry hovered a few feet away and Artemis feared he had been there longer than he let on. Still, she put on her mask, while holding Cheshire's in her hand. Sister or not, she was a criminal.

The rest of the team showed up.

"She got away," Artemis said.

"Well, she is good," Kid Flash said. "So, I really don't blame you."

Artemis thought that Kid Flash had more reasons to blame her now, then she did earlier. But regardless, she nodded in response.

"Did you see who was underneath the mask?" Harry asked her.

She looked him dead on in the eye without blinking.

"No."

Harry frowned, and then nodded. He turned to Aquagirl who stepped back into the shadows.

"It was too dark," she admitted. "Sorry."

"She'll surface again and she'll answer for her crimes," Mareena said. "But, tonight, we've done a good thing, stopping the Fog….and one of the top members of the League is no longer out in the wind."

"Yeah," Robin agreed, speaking up for the first time, although she was giving Artemis the strange look that Harry was giving her.

"So, good first night?" Artemis asked.

"Better than my first mission," Miss Martian told her with a warm smile. "Welcome to the team."

The other members of the team circled around, to welcome Artemis in. And even Kid Flash had warmed up to her. There was a sense though, as Artemis stole another look from Harry, that he wanted to talk to her in private later.

He knew. Of course, he did.

Artemis sat in the cave, with Cheshire's mask now on a shelf with several other trinkets from past missions. Including, the arrow she used to get involved in the fiasco with the android, and she wondered if the team caught onto that.

"Whitney's a bit of a hoarder," Harry told her. "It's just her thing to take souvenirs...you'll get used to it after a while."

"Right," Artemis said. "So, I better get back to Star City...in case the Green Arrow wants help with something."

"A word, please," Harry told her. "The others are gone...it's just you and me."

'And not in the fun way,' Artemis thought.

"I knew who you were and I know who Cheshire is," Harry said. "She's your sister….and Helena knows because…."

"She's too smart for her own good," Artemis said with a bit of a pained smile, with some fondness cycled in.

"And you let her get away."

He did not shout at her, but Artemis kind of wish that he did. Harry put a hand on her shoulder and she felt a bit more relaxed.

"It's not for me," Artemis said. "It's not for her…."

"It's for your mother," Harry commented with a thoughtful flicker in her mind. "Yes, that is a tricky one."

Artemis did not need to confirm anything to Harry. Because she knew that he knew and he knew that she knew that he knew.

"If it were me, I would come clean," Harry said. "But, I'm not you. So, it's up to you how much you want to share with the team and when."

"You're not going to tell anyone?" Artemis asked.

"It's not my place."

She could have kissed him for that, but Artemis showed a surprising amount of restraint on not going that fast.

"Super eyesight and super hearing, not really that many secrets around you, are there?" Artemis asked.

"It doesn't hurt that I'm observant," Harry said.

They took a few seconds to sit there. Artemis wondered if she could ask him something. She was grateful that Harry was not going to tell this to the rest of the team, although he was right, she should. And likely Helena already knew.

"So, do you have X-Ray vision yet?"

"Maybe," Harry told her.

"And are you using it?" Artemis asked. "Right now?"

A flicker of a smile appeared on Harry's face as he looked Artemis up and down.

"Do you want me too?" Harry asked.

"Well, I don't think you'll need it if you play your cards right," Artemis said with awhile winking. "Sorry...nice conversation...but I've got to run. We were supposed to go out on his first patrol."

"Give Queen a kick up the ass from me," Harry said with a playful smile.

Of course, he knew about that as well.

"Right," Artemis said.

Harry had to be running too because he was meeting Lois, as she was meeting a contact in Gotham City. She hoped not to keep him up too late, especially given that Black Canary would kick her ass.

"So, the guy that you're meeting is supposed to be here soon?" Harry asked.

"Yeah...if I'm not back in an hour, assume that something bad happened," Lois said. "But, I think that it will be fine. I've gotten better at vetting these people before I agreed to meet them...most of the time. You just relax, you saved this city already once tonight. No need to go in it again."

Lois and Harry parted ways. Something about a pipeline between Rupert Thorne's Criminal Syndicate and Intergang, or something, it was supposed to be big news. Especially given one of the biggest media moguls in Metropolis, Morgan Edge, was going to be implicated in it, but Lois needed hard evidence.

Harry stepped in and he took a seat. The person in the seat next to him turned around and smiled at him. She was an attractive Vietnamese Woman in her early twenties. Harry glimpsed at her for a long second.

Instantly, it clicked.

'Small world,' he thought, keeping his face blank.

"Handsome, you look like the type of person who could use a drink," she said. "Don't worry….I'm buying...the name's Jade, by the way, Jade Nguyen."

"Hadrian Kent," he commented. "Although my friends call me Harry."

"Well, I'd like to get a bit friendly with you, but Hadrian is a very dignified name," she told him with a smile on her face.

The drinks came and Harry checked it to make sure it had not been tampered with. For some reason, the scream of "Constant Vigilance" echoed through his mind. Once he was sure it was clean, he drank it for a second. He could see the tense look on Jade's face.

"You look like you had a hard day at work," Harry said.

"You have no idea, the erratic hours I keep," Jade said. "But, you don't have that problem because you look like you can go all night long."

Jade's hand trailed up Harry's leg and she casually squeezed his crotch.

"And these clothes are killing me," Jade commented. "And I need something a bit stronger than a drink...wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, they aren't bad," Harry said.

"Maybe you can slip into something a bit more comfortable as well," Jade said. "Mind if you walk me back to my hotel room. It's just across the street...but Gotham at night...even in the good part of town."

"Don't worry, I'll get you back there."

"Thanks, I'll make it worth the trouble," Jade said.

Jade could not believe her luck. The chances she would run into him at a bar. Sure, he was wearing glasses, but she was an assassin, therefore, it would take more than a pair of glasses to fool her.

'Okay, sexy, let's see how super you really are.'

Jade took him by the hand, smiling at the bar floozies, who looked like they had their eye on him. However, for tonight, he was all hers.

Tramps like that would not know what to do with a man like Hadrian anyway.