Artemis was many things. She was a warrior, a princess (even though she didn't like it), an amazon, a survivor, and an Outlaw. She could tear down entire walls and break every bone in a body in just a second. She fought, she lost, she cried, she mourned and she hoped. She had a six-foot-tall ax at her command for crying out loud.
And yet, for everything she had seen before, she was so shocked to see Jason with a baby in her arm, that she downright lost it for a moment. With a loud crunch, she let herself fall onto a nearby couch, breaking it through the middle. Cursing she stood up. "Jason Peter Todd, you better have a good explanation." Jason seemed to be nervous for a moment, probably because a shocked and pissed off amazon stood before him, but then he spoke freely: "Artemis, I present you, Iosefka Todd." "YOU'RE WHAT?" Artemis needed to sit somewhere to take the news. Because the couch was broken there was only an old chair. Well, it had to do for now. "So, let me get this straight, you, the most hot-headed, careless and rebellious person I know, have a daughter and you didn't think it would be wise to inform me that you're dating someone and got her knocked up?" "I'm not dating someone Ar. This girl was sat out at the manor and there was a letter that said that I am the father.
Artemis felt her rage flowing away and then decided to ask: "Do you know who the mother is?" He nodded and drew a pencil and a piece of paper. He wrote: I have a tracker. The mother is Essence, my ex. But the bats don't need to know. He passed the pencil to her and she wrote: Why? He took the pencil again. It happened during my lost days. Now she understood. Jason's lost days. His biggest regrets. She was one of two persons he had told the story. Raising her voice, she asked: "So, why did you brought her here? I may not be an expert, but shouldn't a child be in a more comfortable place?"
"That's the point, Red. I would like to raise her with you and Bizarro. You two and Kori and Roy are the most important people in my life. And I think we could handle a little girl in our messed-up family." Artemis needed to proceed that. Not once, not even in her dreams, she thought about raising a child. "Jason, I don't think this is such a great idea. I feel honored that you considered me to help you raise a child, but I don't think this 'family' is good enough for that." Jason laughed before he said: "And why is that? I think she would love her crazy uncle Roy, her amazing aunt Kori, her other uncle Bizarro with a heart of gold, and of course, her mother figure, the great, strong, and heroic Artemis. Oh yeah, and she would love her cousin Lian." "You really think that highly of me little one?" The smile he gave her was answer enough. Then he pulled out his phone. "Who are you calling?" she asked. "Some friends."
Roy Harper's life was perfect at the moment. He sat at a beach at Madagascar and looked over his daughter and girlfriend while slurping a cocktail. The sun fell on his well-trained body and made him feel even more comfortable. While looking at his daughter as she built a sandcastle, he thought about how he deserved all of this. A healthy daughter, given to him from one of the world's best assassins, a superhot alien girlfriend, and enough money to never need to work again. Yeah, everything was nearly perfect. If his best buddy Jason would be here, it would be complete. Speaking of the devil, his phone wrong. With one hand he put down the cocktail while the other accepted the call.
"Jaybird Buddy, why you calling?" "He could hear the snicker over the phone. "Do you remember the joke you made about you and Batman having a child with a sexy assassin?" "Of course, but you said you hated it." "Well, now you can make the joke about me too." Roy fell out of his deckchair what earned him a chuckle from Kori. "YOU WHAT?" "Remember Essence? Well, last night she dropped a baby in front of my old man's door with a letter that said I was the father." "And what should I do now Jaybird?" "How about you move your ass over here and bring Kori and Lian with you?" "Ok, ok, geez but you need to give me at least a name." "Iosefka. Sorry Bud, but I need to get off the phone, don't want Daddy-Bats knowing all of my private stuff." "Ok bro, see ya."
Roy put the phone back in his pocket. "Who was that?" Roy nearly jumped. He hadn't heard his girlfriend sneaking upon him. "Jesus, Kori don't scare me like that or you'll have to raise Lian alone." "Who wants to raise me alone?" he turned around to see Lian sitting on the sand. Roy smiled: "No one wants to raise you alone, or are daddy and mommy not enough anymore?" The little girl blushed. "But I have a surprise for you, sunshine." Lian peaked up. "Remember when you wanted a sibling?" "Do I get one?" she asked hopefully. "Well, not a sibling exactly but a cousin." The smile on Lian's face was the most beautiful thing Roy had ever seen. He swore to himself to surprise Lian more often.
"Oh, did Jason finally impregnated Artemis?" Roy couldn't resist. He laughed like he rarely did before. "No, no he didn't. Last night a baby that is supposed to be his daughter was dropped off the door swell of his dads' home." Kori smiled brightly. "Well, what are we waiting for? Come, Lian, let's visit your cousin." 'Damn,' Roy thought to himself 'family is the best.
Jason was Cassandra's favorite sibling for many reasons. For once he taught her how to speak, read, and write. Second, he was always there for her. Third, before she met Steph, he was the only one of her brothers who seemed to be actually interested in her instead of her skills. Another reason she liked him was that he learned sign language extra for her. So, when Bruce said that the girl was Jason's daughter, she knew exactly how Jason felt. She could read it from his body. He was stressed and couldn't believe it. Back then she felt he might need some help.
Which is why she stood now at Ma Gunn's Home for Wayward Boys aka the secret headquarters of the Outlaws. As she knocked on the door it opened, just to reveal Artemis standing before her. Cassandra had never actually met her, but from what she knew, she was a formidable person, who worked under the disguise of being just a more brutal version of Wonder Woman.
As Cassandra studied her body, she realized brutal strength, but the clam way her hands were hanging around signalized her that she wasn't hostile. Also, the veins on her neck were barley visible, another sign of no violence coming from her.
They both stared at each other for a while before Jason stepped next to Artemis and said: "Oh, hey Cass, nice to see you. We were just cleaning, so I hope you don't mind all the dust around here. Iosefka is currently in Bizarro's care if you want to see her." Cassandra nodded. As she entered, she knew what Jason meant. Dust was everywhere, where furniture's had been moved. The walls we already painted, which made the rest seem less ran off.
"What … you doing?" Cassandra asked. Jason responded while carrying a desk: "As I said, were cleaning up. We thought it would be nice to make this more liveable." Cassandra's curiosity was sparked. She had never seen how houses were built or, in this case, renovated. Granted, she had only been trained to kill the first years of her life. "May I … help?" she asked. Jason gave her a smile. "Of course, how about you paint the wall there." With a grin, she began to work.
Someone could argue he was too paranoid. But then again, it was his job to be paranoid. As one of the three most important crimefighters in the world, and the one with no powers, it was his job to have advantages others don't have. And you only got these advantages if you were paranoid enough to realize them. And when his son got a letter from a woman named E that told him he was a father and Jason just swept her under the rock, Bruce's paranoid instincts all hit twelve.
And this was the reason he was now here, on the bridge of the Watchtower, together with Clark Kent aka Superman, and Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman, standing before a desk of screens. On every single one of them could be read: Brother Eye.
"You said this was an emergency Bruce, so tell me where is the problem?" The problem is with Jason." Diana and Clark looked at each other before Clark asked: "Did he…?" "No, he didn't. I should have been more specific. The problem is with Jason and his daughter." Again, Diana and Clark shared a look before Diana asked: "Since when does Jason have a daughter?" "Since before two days a baby with a letter that told him he was a father appeared before my door," Bruce answered.
Then Clark took the word: "I understand that this concerns you, but I don't understand how this is an emergency." "It became an emergency when Jason saw who sent the letter, at the end of the letter stood only the letter E, and began to doge any questions we asked him. He told us that she was his ex, but I think there is more to it. Since Jason doesn't trust anybody easily this relationship must have gone quite a while, and this means it could only have been in the days we all thought he was still dead. And we don't know enough from his time during these days. We only know he has been trained by someone. I want to figure out what happened during his lost days."
"Bruce," Diana said, "I think this is a little too private, even for you. What if he really loved that woman and just dodges the questions out of embarrassment? I have seen what love can do, especially to young hearted fools." "I must agree with Diana, Bruce. I know you are a detective, but somethings are not meant to be heard. I know better than to stop you, but I warn you, maybe you might not like what you find." Clark said.
"Fine, but can you at least give me any information that could be helpful?" Batman asked. "He once told me that his Soul is his greatest weapon. I don't know if that helps you, but that's the only thing I remember." Diana trough in. "Thanks, both of you." "Bruce, just remember don't do something you'll regret later," Clark said. And with that, he and Diana left the bridge.
Batman stood there for a moment before starting to give instructions to brother eye: "Brother eye, I want you to recall all information you can find on weapons with a connection to the owner's soul. I don't care if article or rumor, if you can find anything related to for what I asked you please show it to me." With that brother eye began to search trough the internet. An hour later Bruce slowly began to believe that he wouldn't find anything, but then the brother eye showed him something that piqued his curiosity. In a book about old legends was a page that showed the so call 'All-Blades', a weapon that drew its strength out of the soul of the user. Bruce instantly knew he was on the right track. Sadly, the myth didn't show him where to find the blades, but from what Bruce could understand, it had to be somewhere in the Himalayas. He would start searching there.