Off the Deep End

Before the Dawn

Artemis didn't know who Renegade- Richard, Dick, whatever, she'd taken to mentally calling him asshole at some point so maybe his nickname being Dick was a happy little accident regardless of how reminiscent it was. Nevertheless she didn't know who he really was, under the swagger and put-on assassin deadly calm and nonchalance. Perhaps he truly was just as sarcastic as he seemed under the hood, but she thought there was probably something hiding beneath.

So, she had, of course, reached out. A little.

Technically, she had put this effort into researching before she knew Renegade was on their side. Heck, before she'd fake died. Once Kaldur came to the meeting and said he was around she'd started doing some digging in hopes of getting something of use.

It did, however, drive her a little insane to come up with a whopping total of nothing.

It would be so easy if she could just ask her sister. They weren't on the best terms but she was quite sure she'd be able to persuade her. Without that easy contact and no okay from Kaldur to talk to her as Tigress, she was stuck with the barebones.

However, Dick- no, she didn't like it, she couldn't think of him as Dick it wasn't right. Richard? No. no, she'd just keep with Asshole. Ass? Butthead. No that was too childish.

She hadn't settled on the best nickname by the time she'd walked into the officer's mess, so she decided to settle on Richard and call it a day.

She pretended she hadn't known Richard would be in the mess. In actuality she'd checked the watch schedules and such to see when he'd likely be off duty. If he was such an insomniac he wouldn't immediately go to bed, and after some careful consideration she wagered he'd be in the mess. It was her lucky day, because he was sitting in the back corner of the room.

She was still technically on the clock, in a sense, so she was in full gear. This was like taking your half-hour break when on shift work. She got herself a cup of coffee and strode to the corner.

Richard had taken off the uniform and was now nursing a glass of something Artemis did the courtesy of not looking closely at. He was wearing a jacket and jeans, but Artemis figured he was still carrying weapons and some tech.

"evening," Richard greeted as Artemis slid into a chair across from him, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Artemis shrugged and made a show of confidently leaning back in her chair, taking a sip of the coffee and letting it rest on the table, her fingers still loosely around the handle.

She picked a way to play it and stuck with it before she could back out.

"you seem cosy with Kaldur'Ahm."

Richard raised an eyebrow, took a sip of his drink, leaned forward on his elbows, and said, "okay."

"you don't deny it?"

"I'm trying to figure out why you're bringing it up first." He was frowning.

"I'm curious," she said, "I know him well."

"I'm sure," Richard said with a certain smile that told Artemis he knew something she didn't.

"so," she crossed her legs, "what's the story?"

Really she just wanted a better understanding of what type of person he was. This was a sure way of catching him off guard.

"The story is what you're suggesting is extremely unprofessional," he finally said, leaning back and taking a sip of his drink.

"have you talked to half the people around here?" she asked deadpan, "it's not that bad."

Richard made that raised-eyebrow head-nod I'm-considering-your-point face then shrugged, "true."