Verisimilitude

Secrets - Part 2

The bioship ride was...awkward, to say the least.

He kept his eyes on the horizon, trying to ignore Artemis behind him. Something was upsetting her, which was obvious. The question was - what should he do about it? Should he do anything?

It was ironic, in a way, that he knew people that probably didn't even exist in this reality better than his teammate.

"Arsenal?" He called out, hesitant and on guard. Roy had been acting...strange...when he had

called and told him to meet here in costume. For precaution, he told Barbara and Jason where he was going and what to do if something went wrong.

His eyes scanned the warehouse, and widened slightly when Cheshire appeared from behind one of the boxes. He instantly whipped out his escrima sticks, prepared to fight the assassin.

Instead of attack him, she simply raised her hands in peace. "Chill, blue."

Then, from where she had appeared, Arsenal came out. "Nightwing, don't worry. She's not here to fight."

Hesitantly, but trusting Roy, he put his escrima sticks away. He did not, however, let his guard down or trust that she wasn't going to suddenly attack them.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking from the Shadow to his fellow hero.

Roy opened his mouth, but Cheshire beat him to it. "We all need to talk." she said. She then took a breath, before removing her Cheshire mask. "My name is Jade Nguyen. Is that name familiar to you?"

It wasn't.

He shook his head, and this time Roy sighed. "Jade here is Sportsmaster's daughter, and she also, was, well..."

"Artemis was my younger sister."

"You're doing that thing again." Artemis said suddenly.

He turned on his chair to face her. "What do you mean?" He was still slightly disoriented from the memory, and his voice shook slightly.

She didn't answer right away. "When you just... stop. You freeze, tense up. Your breathing slows and then you're suddenly a million miles away."

"I don't know what you mean. I'm fine."

"'Fine' is bad, while 'okay' is acceptable."

"Nice try. Try again." Artemis said, her voice dry. "What's bothering you?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He pointed out. Her face became a mask that he knew too well. "You are a real archer, y'know. This Team doesn't accept just anyone."

She said nothing, and he added, "And you're not the only one keeping secrets, if that's what you're worried about.

She jerked up, looking at him straight in the eye, seemingly horrified. "You know?"

He nodded, "But you shouldn't worry. Like I said - you're not the only one. I'm pretty sure Conner is hiding something. And didn't you notice M'gann at that mission in Bialya?" She didn't reply. "What I'm saying is that even though you're hiding something, it doesn't mean you are unworthy for this Team. If that was the case, I'm pretty sure only Kal and Wally would be on the team. Wally can't keep a secret to save his life, and Kaldur has probably not done a bad thing in his life." He attempted a joke.

"Then why do you think that way as well?"

What? "What do you mean?" He asked, slightly confused.