Wrong Parent (Dick Grayson)

9--Artemis

Over the next few weeks we'd gotten a new member named Artemis. She was Green Arrow's new sidekick. I asked Wally what had happened to Spee- I mean Red Arrow. He told me that he didn't want to be on the team because it was demeaning. I knew he used the word just to make me mad. That was my word! That's about the time when I decided to give up on big words and go for butchering the English language like I used to do as a kid.

The team didn't like Artemis at first. Well, except for me and Miss Martian, well that was until Artemis started flirting with Superboy. I really hate relationships...

"Hey, Arty," I said when I sat down on the couch.

"Call me that again and you're dead," she growled.

I put up my hands. "Sorry. It's kinda our thing to give each other nicknames. Well, actually, Wally started it, but we've all kinda adopted the idea."

"You mean Kid Mouth?"

I smiled. "There it is! Now your officially part of the team."

"How old are you?" She asked.

"Um, thirteen, why?"

"You seem a little young to he a hero."

I shrugged. "I became an assassin when I was ten."

Her jaw dropped. "Your an..."

I nodded. "Well, I was. Deathstroke adopted me when I was ten and I became his slave and apprentice. The team saved me and now I'm here, but that's all history. I don't kill anymore and I don't even use weapons. Batman still doesn't trust me. But I just kinda stay back and do all the hacking." I brought my knees up to my chest. "It's asterous."

"Asterous?" Artemis asked. "What does that mean?"

I smirked. "Aster the opposite of disaster."

"It is?" Artemis asked. "I'd never-"

"That's because I made it up," I said, pointing to myself proudly.

She chuckled a little, the first time I'd heard her laugh since she came here. I smiled at her, glad I could make her feel welcome.

~

After a while, the rest of the team stopped being so cold to our new member. She stopped flirting with Superboy and Miss Martian finally showed her nice side. Aqualad couldn't hold a grudge for that long and accepted her. Superboy really didn't care. And Kid Flash finally decided she wasn't that bad.

We were all watching a movie when our first mission in months was announced. I grabbed my laptop and followed the rest of the team into the debriefing room. It was simple, but the team wouldn't need me for it since it involved magic and whatnot. No tech. I sighed and sat on the floor, my head resting in my hands with my laptop balancing on my knees.

The rest of the team left and I got up to waste the day away. "Richard," Batman stopped me. I turned to look at him. "Yes?"

"How would you like to do a training session with me?"

My eyes lit up. "Really?"

"When was the last time I made a joke?" Batman asked, a ghost of a smile on his face, or maybe it was just my imagination.

"Thank you!" I said with a wide smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"