Takes place shortly after 'Inflitrator' after Red Arrow warns Artemis.

Thanks for the reviews and favorites everyone. :D

Posted: 3-16-2012

Enjoy!

Flight of the Arrow - Replaced?

August 9th, 11:19 PDT

In the darkness of his hidden study, Green Arrow stepped out of the closet, the glow of the zeta-tube fading as the door slid shut, the mirror sliding back in front of it.

"She's not really your niece." Green Arrow had an arrow on the string and aimed at the intruder before he had finished speaking.

The lights flicked on, revealing the neatly kept room of equipment and Roy. He was standing by the light-switch in civilian clothes, his gaze accusing. "She reacted faster than you," he observed, letting his anger slide for a faction of a second. "Could tell I was there even in the shadows."

Green Arrow let the arrow slacken and frowned. "Roy, you didn't do anything rash, did you?"

His adopted son and former protégé scowled, his accusing glare returning. "I just gave her a warning. Besides, how can she be your niece when you don't even have siblings?"

Green Arrow smirked, pulling off his hood. "Well, it's good thing I have a secret identity, isn't it?"

"It'll come out eventually."

Green Arrow's eyes snapped to Roy. "Don't –"

"I'm not going to say anything. I just want answers."

Green Arrow turned his gaze away and frowned. "Mind if I get out of uniform first?" he said, beginning to walk out of the room without waiting for a reply.

When Oliver Queen returned, Roy had relocated to the kitchen and helped himself to some apples and ice cream out of the fridge.

Roy silently filled another bowl – chocolate, vanilla with bits of apple dumped in, just the way Ollie liked it - and placed across the counter for him.

"What I want to know is – why the replacement so soon?" He sounded both angered and saddened, though he tried to force more anger into his voice to hide it.

"She's not a 'replacement'." Oliver said, digging into the ice cream with a spoon. "She's a new protégée who needed a new path. Besides, her arrow saved Kid Flash from being crushed by Amazo."

Roy raised an eyebrow, his mouth full of ice cream and apple. He took a swig of milk and swallowed, wiping his mouth on his arm. Ollie chuckled.

"Come on, didn't Dinah teach you better manners?"

Roy allowed only a faint smile to turn up the corner of his mouth and Ollie sighed. "I'm giving Artemis a chance to do something different with her life. And she wanted in."

Roy blinked and stared down at the bowl before shoving another spoonful of ice cream and apples into his mouth and swallowing. "Saving others to save herself." he said quietly. Superman said that about Batman and Robin, once.

"Exactly." The former billionaire turned small business man leaned back in his chair and took another gulp of ice cream. Roy raised an eyebrow – Ollie was almost done while Roy was only halfway through. "You've got nothing to worry about – she's harmless." Roy gave him a deadpan look; Ollie smirked and licked his spoon. "Well...only when she wants to be."

Roy remained unconvinced. "Me and Batman went to see her." his adoptive father continued. You think he'd let someone onto the Team without checking their background?"

"Good point. And Boy Wonder can't keep his nose out of anyone's business."

At that Ollie laughed outright. "It's his business to know everyone's business. Good thing he keeps it to himself. Just try to be nice to her, alright? In a way, she's your sister now. Or your cousin I guess. Family."

Roy snorted. "You're not going to tell me anything solid about her, are you?"

"Nope."

"Figured as much."

"It's her business to tell." Ollie stretched his arms over his head. "If we knew everything about people, well...there would either be no trust, complete trust or the world would be boring. Nothing to discover. That's what makes life interesting."

"You didn't even teach her archery."

Ollie finished off his ice cream and let the spoon clatter in the bowl. "You need to be better at leading questions. Besides, I didn't teach you either – just the trick arrows." Ollie looked contemplatively at the ceiling. Come to think of it Artemis already had trick arrows... "Anyway, from my point of view, I gave you a home – after Brave Bow died, something to live for, extended your family." Roy raised an eyebrow. "Who says Artemis doesn't need the same thing?"

"What's her real name?"

Ollie smiled – that was the beauty of her 'codename'. It fit her costumed persona perfectly, though she need to work on distancing Artemis the Hero from Artemis the Civilian.

"Not telling." he said in a sing-song voice. "She's family now – ask her yourself."

Roy stood abruptly. "She's not family."

"She can be."

"She's a stranger, an anomaly and –"

"Everyone's a stranger before you get to know them."Ollie interrupted.

Roy slitted his eyes and left the room abruptly, dumping his empty ice cream bowl into the kitchen sink as he passed.

Ollie shook his head. "Oh, the mood swings...he can be such a drama queen sometimes."

Thoughts, Comments, suggestions? How did you like it? Please review!

I felt sick today so I used the time I got out of skipping class (with permission) to type this up since it's been in my notebook for awhile... :P So, I'm going to go lay down now.