Chapter 53

  Rachel knocked on Barbara’s room door, it was late and she was already dressed for bed,

  “Door’s not locked” Barbara called, Rachel opened the door and stepped in, Barbara was in the bathroom doorway, she was wearing a pair of plain, white panties and a greenish gray tee with ‘GCHS Gymnastics Department’ printed on the front in faded red letters, seeing it was Rachel she returned to the bathroom and spit into the sink before returning without her toothbrush,

  “Is this a bad time?” Rachel asked,

  “No, it’s fine, but please close the door” Barbara answered, as she pulled the blankets back on her bed, “So, what can I help you with?” She asked, looking up at Rachel, who closed the door and stood awkwardly in silence for a second,

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you” She said quietly,

  “You had no obligation to tell me” Barbara said, a bite in her tone, she had known it would make Rachel feel worse when she said it and for a moment she had actually wanted that for a moment, though she immediately regretted it when she saw Rachel’s eyes drop to the floor, her mouth quivering, “I’m sorry, that was unnecessary, can we sit down?” Barbara asked, motioning to the bed.

  Rachel took the invitation and sat on the edge of the mattress, Barbara sat beside her and took ahold of her hands,

  “You didn’t owe anything to me, you didn’t have to tell me, but I wish you had” Barbara said, softly, “I always wanted a little sister, I kind of saw you, and Kara, and Kori as the little sister I never had, I had hoped you’d all feel comfortable confiding in me, if I’m being honest, you especially, cause of your age when we met, I guess I had gotten this idea in my head that 1 day you’d bring someone to meet us and we’d embarrass you a little” She smiled at the thought,

  “I wanted to tell you, but, there was so much happening at the time, and I didn’t know what you’d think, and I was a little embarrassed after Ruth didn't seem to approve” Rachel said,

  “You told Ruth?” Barbara asked, clearly a little hurt,

  “I didn’t plan to, it just sort of came out, I was less worried about what she would think than what the team would” Rachel explained,

  “I’m sorry about how I reacted earlier, it just wasn’t what I was expecting and I was already a little overwhelmed, there isn’t a problem with you 2 dating” Rachel hugged Barbara tightly,

  “Thank you” She said, Barbara cleared her throat,

  “Though there isn’t a problem with you 2 dating, you’re 15, so I better not catch you 2 getting too handsy with each other again, because if I do then the whole team gets a mandatory sex education course, and neither of us want that, trust me” Rachel blushed deep red,

  “Of course, I don’t really think either of us knows what we’re doing anyway” She responded, she looked away for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry cursed at you this morning, during the briefing” Barbara’s face fell a little,

  “Apology accepted, and I’m sorry too, you’ve been working just as hard as the others, and it’s not fair to you, to have you work so hard only to sideline you because I’m insecure about my ability to protect you” She said, Rachel was about to respond when Barbara’s phone buzzed, it was sitting on her desk near her computer, Barbara got up and went to check it, she picked it up and checked the display, her brow furrowed but she swiped the screen and put the phone to her ear, she put a finger up to Rachel,

  “1 minute” She said quietly, “Hello” She said into the phone, a second later her confusion turned to concern,

  “Who is this?” She asked, a couple seconds passed, “What is going on? Who is this?” Barbara grabbed a wireless earpiece from her desk and popped it into her ear, she set the phone down and pulled her shirt off, Rachel watched in confusion as she grabbed a black tee from a drawer, Barbara glanced over her shoulder and quietly said,

  “Rachel, give me my pants” She pulled the tee over her head and Rachel spotted a pair of wadded up combat pants beside the basket and handed them to her,

  “What’s going on?” She asked,

  “I’m not sure, something happened to Artemis, it doesn't sound good” Barbara answered, as she shook a pair of underwear from the pants and began pulling them on, she was halfway through zipping them up when her right hand shot up to her ear, “Hello, hello, shit” Barbara quickly finished with her pants and loaded her phone into her pocket, she grabbed a leather jacket from the closest and pulled her hair up into a ponytail,

  “Rachel, I need you to tell Dick to grab 1 of the cars and follow me using the tracker on my bike” She instructed, Rachel nodded but Barbara was already bolting down the hallway.

  Artemis had dropped her equipment bag near the door and stepped into the living room, she froze before glancing at Paula for a second, her eyes then fixed on Lawrence,

  “Get out” She demanded,

  “No, I’m here to deal with a very naughty child, did you think I wouldn’t recognize you with the stupid haircut and stupider costume?” He said, Artemis took a step closer, rage building inside her chest

  “I didn’t care if you did, you don’t get a say anymore” She said, through clenched teeth, a sadistic smile grew across Lawrence's face,

  “I will always get a say, I’ll always own you at least a little bit, and I think you know that, or do you need a reminder” He said, he closed the gap between them with a step, he towered over Artemis, and despite her best efforts she flinched a little.

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  Artemis shot into action, feigning a right punch, Lawrence threw his left arm up to block it but found nothing but empty air, Artemis had spun out of the fake punch and managed to end up slightly behind him on his now unguarded right side, Lawrence realized what had happened and reacted by swinging his right arm back in a wide arch, but he was too late, Artemis used the momentum from her spin, leaping into the air and driving the toe of her left shoe into his side, he grunted but his arm continued back toward her, gladly her kick had caused him to shift his weight forward meaning all she would have had to do was taken a single step back, if she had been standing, but she was still in the air which meant she had had to twist her body to avoid his retaliation, she barely caught herself with her hands and knees as she fell to the floor.

  Artemis attack afforded her a few seconds to scamper away across the room, she took it and pushed herself to her feet quickly turning to face him, he had turned as well and was now staring her down with a scowl on his face,

  “I guess you do need a reminder then” He said, and in 1 fluid motion he reached back and pulled a hard wooden baseball back from its mount on his back,

  “Stop” Paula yelled,

  “It is way too late to start getting involved now” Artemis said, her eyes flickering to her mother for a second, Lawrence smirked and couldn't help glancing back at her too,

  “Oh yeah, our kids love you” He mocked, Artemis took his moment of distraction to adjust her position, slowly edging further to her left, she assumed he would have already planned his first strike prior to the distraction, and she hoped the small distance was enough to throw him off when he executed it.

  She was right, he turned and charged at her without a second thought, he raised the bat above his head as he covered the space, Artemis held where she was until he swung the bat down towards her head, she kicked off her right foot diving into the doorway on her left, she heard the bat crack on the floor, she landed hard, pain shooting through her left hip and shoulder, but she still rolled out of the doorway into the room, it was nearly empty housing only a bare bed and a stack of cardboard boxes filled with her belongings.

  Artemis was already back on her feet when Lawrence twisted his bulk through the door into the small room, Artemis found herself stuck in a corner between the foot of the bed and a wall, she knew the window beside the head of the bed wasn’t a viable exit so she would have to get past him back through the door, he lunged at her, she tried to slide between him and the bed but he was prepared for this, his large right hand slammed into her throat, his fingers wrapping around her neck, he pulled back out of his charge and slammed her against the mattress, she was disoriented by the sudden jolting and wasted several seconds trying to pull his fingers from around her windpipe before realizing it was pointless, she could already feel her lungs burning on empty as his fingers dug into the flesh of neck.

  Artemis was panicking, and looking for anyway to get him off her, she was starting to feel dizzy when she spotted a knife sheathed on his belt, her fingers shot down, she grabbed the handle and pulled it out, Lawrence reacted immediately but but she was too fast, she slashed at his stomach and his grip loosened, she sucked in a deep and brought her legs up, folding them between them and kicking out, Lawrence dropped her onto the bed as he stumbled backwards, she lost a lot of time while recovering her breath, her head still spinning, she stumbled to her feet too late and managed only a single step towards the door before Lawrence intercepted her, right hand grasping her left shoulder, causing the pain from hitting the floor to worsen, his other han slid between her legs and he lifted her above his head before throwing her into the window, her legs crashed into the wall as she smashed through the window.

  The rain had started up even stronger and Artemis was immediately soaked as she fell through the air, she landed on the roof of the building next door, Oliver had chosen the apartment for them and had ensured the the exact floor and side of the building to allow Artemis easy access to her window from the outside, he had chosen floor 13 due to its proximity to the next buildings roof 1 floor below, this choice now prevented Artemis from falling the additional 12 stories, even so nobody would have called the fall comfortable, though her backside and shoulders took most of the initial impact a second later the pain rocketed through the rest of her body.

  Every muscle in Artemis body protested as she got onto her stomach and managed to push herself to her hands and knees, only to slip on the slick roof and fall forward onto her right shoulder, as it collided with the wet cement she heard it pop out of place, the pain causing her to cry out,

  “Look at you, this is embarrassing” Lawrence spat, Artemis hadn’t heard him approach over the heavy rain and the sound of her own heart pumping in her ears, he continued to mock her, “Flopping on the ground like a barracuda on a baseball field, so disappointing” Artemis was exhausted but she felt a surge of adrenaline run through her body, she forced herself up into a standing position, her long blonde hair matted down by the rain,

  “Fuck you” She managed, between pained breaths.

  Lawrence cocked his head to 1 side and then the other, he pulled out a telescopic hockey stick and flicked it out to its full extension, he span it in his hands a couple of times fanning rain water about, he took a step closer and swung it over his head, Artemis stumbled right and for a second thought she had avoided it, until she heard the clack of it on the roof, she knew instantly that the sound wasn’t loud enough and a second later her fears were confirmed as her feet were smacked out from under her, she fell backwards through the first hole of the fire escape, she tumbled down the stairs and her back struck the railing of the next platform down.

  When Artemis opened her eyes she found that she had somehow made it all the way down to the ally beneath the fire escape, though she couldn’t remember exactly how, she heard the wet splash as Lawrence landed somewhere near enough to hit her with the water from the puddle he’d dropped into, Artemis pushed herself to her hands and knees 1 last time but was interrupted by a large, heavy shoe striking her stomach and sending her sprawling onto her back, the kick was followed up by a series of seemingly endless kicks and stomps, she began spitting up blood, as the assault continued she managed to get to her side in time to start vomiting, at first it was a mix of her stomach contents before devolving into pools of blood, and then suddenly the attack stopped.

  Artemis could faintly make out the sounds of a struggle, muffled by the rain, but she was having a hard time focusing, her eyelids threatening to force themselves shut, all the sounds she could hear began melding together, and then she must have closed her eyes, letting the darkness wash over her, and for a moment she felt relief from the pain, she didn’t know how long had passed before she felt someone shaking her shoulders,

  “Hey, wake up, you stay with me” The voice was commanding, but there was a hint of desperation, Artemis struggled to get her eyes open and when she finally did she was hit with a brand new wave of pain, her vision was still blurry but she knew exactly who was crouched next to her.

  The woman was only a few years older than Artemis, she wore a dark green Gi and had her hands and feet tightly bound in a black wrap, she was wearing a mask made of 2 parts, the top a wooden half mask painted white, with ornate circular red patterns, it was carved to look like the top half of a cat's face, with ears and a protruding, there were 2 large eyes cut out allowing a tainted view of the green, almond shaped eyes beneath, the lower half of the mask was a half face balaclava with a wide grin printed on it, the woman's long black hair framed the mask.

  Artemis almost ignored her her, she was completely ready to close her eyes and drift off again, but the woman wouldn’t let her, she slid her arm under Artemis and forced her up into a sitting position, she then locked her shoulder under Artemis armpit and pulled her to her feet, she half dragged Artemis out of the alley, every step Artemis stomach jolt, sending waves of pain and nausea through her, eventually she was sat down on a and the woman lightly tapped her cheek to make sure she was still awake, she tried to groan a response but ended it up sound more like a sob, which elicited a look of concern from the woman, who then wrapped her arms around Artemis upper back, letting her head rest on her shoulder for a moment, before sitting her back again and searching through her pockets.

  She patted Artemis front pockets and then lifted her forward a little to retrieve her phone from her back pocket, she clicked the screen on and then pressed Artemis thumb it, after a second of stalling the screen opened and she saw that the background on the main screen was a picture of the 2 of them from years earlier, she began searching the contacts and found the most recent 1 added, she hit call and put the phone up by her ear, it rang several times before Batgirl picked up,

  “You need to get to Concord Road” The woman instructed, a moment later she continued, “She’s injured, Artemis is” There was another break,

  “That doesn’t matter, no more questions, just listen, Artemis will be sitting on a bench on the corner of Concord and J, don’t waste time trying to find the person responsible, he’s already gone, her injuries are pretty bad so hurry, she’ll be alone when you get here, don’t come looking for me either” With that she ended the call and slid it into Artemis pocket, she then sat down beside her, she placed and uncovered finger to Artemis cheek, “You’re getting pretty cold, I hope your friends get here fast” She waited until she heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching fast, she leaned close to Artemis ear,

  “Stop stepping into the line of fire, dumbass” And then she was gone.