Off the Deep End

Alice's Rabbit Hole

Kaldur sighed as he placed his helmet on the table. The stuffy air of the ship didn't feel as good as fresh air on-land and he severely missed it. he rubbed at his eyes as he sat down, Artemis taking the other seat.

"I've been researching Renegade," she said as a conversation opener.

"what?"

She shrugged, "what else did you want me to do?"

Kaldur blinked, "okay, sure, have you found anything out?"

Artemis sighed as she leaned back into the chair, "not much, just more evidence of what we already know. He's been in the game for about six years now, amazing record, highly trusted by Ra's and several other big-timers in the field."

"so nothing we can use against him?"

"see, that's the thing," she leaned forward, "he came out of nowhere way back when, the light didn't even really know who he was when he filed into their ranks three years ago."

"okay," Kaldur frowned, "and?"

"and so I dug into how he got into the league of assassins," she smirked, "his dad was Ra's last guard, disappeared off the map like, never heard from again, like, twenty-five years ago, then all of a sudden his kid shows up?"

Kaldur sighed, "yeah, that's strange, but I don't know how we can use it."

Artemis shrugged, "technically, we can't, yet," she leaned her head on her hand, "but my sister is in with the league, remember? She can ask some questions, if we play it well enough. She can't know I'm alive, it'll just be like a mission from some rando. But the league, they use names, remember? She can do some digging."

"quite possibly," Kaldur mused, "but we can't tip him off. He may have minimal contact with the league at the moment, but that's still enough to find out about people getting nosy about him."

"yeah," Artemis smirked, "which is why I did some recon in the tech department, unlike me, I know, but," she pulled out a device, "I know enough to gain access to his communications."

Kaldur eyed the device in her hands, "you want to spy on his personal conversations?"

"just the ones that are long-distance. They've got to be important."

Kaldur sighed and leaned back in his chair, "okay, but be careful about this."

"when am I ever not careful?"

"don't make me answer that."

Jade was staring at the tombstone with a look of fury.

In her arms was Lian, peacefully sleeping. She hadn't been able to get a sitter and she honestly didn't care, some small part of her told her to bring Lian along. Artemis deserved some of her family at her funeral.

"Manta will pay for this," she said, knowing her father had snuck up behind her.

"of course," he said, "and his twerp son, too. I didn't give him permission to kill my little girl, I can't look soft."

Jade had to fight a snarl, "because all you care about is your reputation," she hissed, "she was your daughter."

"don't flatter yourself Jade, this isn't the Brady Bunch."

Jade levelled a glare on him, "well, let's put it this way, you take Manta and I get Aqualad."

Her father's eyes gave away the smile on his face beneath the mask, "I can work with that."