Chapter 27: An Unexpected Meeting Part 1

(General P.O.V)

Artemis gulped while trying her best to hide the loud and erratic beating of her heart. There was a hot boy, a really hot boy close to her. It wasn't her first time being this close to a good looking boy before but…Aden was somehow different from the rest. He was quiet most times, funny when he wanted to but above all, real.

She would be the first to admit that he was very attractive but…she couldn't let him know that she was susceptible to his charms. She placed her palms onto his chest to push him away, but found herself fascinated with the rock hard yet pliable flesh. Artemis unconsciously squeezed, lost in admiration. She heard a throat being cleared and looked up at Aden, who had a lazy smile on his face and a raised eyebrow.

"Sexual harassment is a thing you know."
He said making Artemis stiffen in embarrassment.
"I…ah…saw a lint on your…t shirt and was… removing it for you. Nothing else!"
Aden decided to spare her and nodded along.
"Sure, let's go with that."

Artemis felt like wiping that smug smirk off his face with a punch or a kick or a…kiss. She pinched her thigh. 'Get it together!' Aden reached out towards the guitar behind her and pulled back from Artemis' personal space. Artemis breathed out a simultaneous sigh of relief and disappointment. Inside her mind, she raged at her hormones.

The soft tones of a guitar playing pulled her out of her thoughts. Then Aden begun singing. Artemis found herself entranced by his voice and the lyrics flowing from his mouth. The song itself brought out intense emotions in her.

"Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing that I know
When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing makes us feel alive

We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
And time's forever frozen, still

So you can keep me
Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans
Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet
You won't ever be alone, wait for me to come home…"

Aden's soothing voice was enchanting. Artemis was amazed at how someone could possess such a great singing talent. The song was way different from what she had heard before. She walked as if in a trance towards the bed and sat beside him, her eyes never leaving his face and when he was done, Artemis finally accepted what she had been trying her hardest to ignore.

She had a crush on Aden.

(Aden's P.O.V)

I finished singing Photograph by Ed Sheeran and turned to my audience. I was a little confused by the far away look on her face and snapped my fingers to catch her attention.
"Hey, sooo how was it?"
I asked her. The ego boost was always welcome.

"That was…That was really great Aden. You have a magical voice."
"Thanks." I smiled at her. "I've been practicing really hard. Music speaks to me. When I'm feeling down, I just get my guitar and after playing something…all my worries melt away and I feel free."
"I wish I had something that did the same for me." She said a little sad. " I envy you, Aden sometimes I wish I could just sink into something so deep that I forget… everything else."

I didn't say anything, only nodding to let her express herself.
"She is my sister."
Artemis revealed. At my confused look, she sighed and continued. "Cheshire, she's my sister."
I of course already knew that but a look of surprise crossed my face.
"Oh. I guess it makes sense why you asked me to let her go."

Artemis turned to me, guiltily.
"I am really sorry for putting you in such a position Aden. It's just that the others…"
"Wouldn't have trusted you, if they knew that your sister was part of the bad guys. I know."
She nodded and pulled her legs close to her body. Her voice was small as she continued,
"It's not just her. My dad…he's Sportsmaster. I heard that you guys captured him and you can't imagine how relieved I was to know that…that he wasn't out there anymore. That he wouldn't keep on hurting people for selfish reasons."

She wiped away a lone tear from her cheek and barked out a laugh, not looking my way.
"You must think, I'm pretty pathetic. Two of my family members are villains and instead of following in their footsteps, I'm here with you guys playing hero."

I placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
"No I don't. I think it's admirable. You chose to take a different path. A selfless path. A path that is really hard in a bid to do what you can to offset the actions of your fucking and sister. It's fucking inspiring. You're not playing a hero Artemis. To me, you are one."

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She was bewildered for a moment before a smile threatened to split her face in two.
"Thank you. Thank you for not judging me harshly although that's what someone else in your position would have done."
I shrugged.
"Trust me, the last person with the right to judge anyone is me. We all have our secrets, Artemis." I responded, intentionally being cryptic.

She looked at me weirdly, before she realized what I was getting at.
"Are you talking about your 'extra curricular activities? You know the underground fights?"
She whisper shouted at me.
"Why are you whispering like that?"
I poked fun at her, whispering back. Artemis punched my shoulder and I chuckled.

"You didn't deny it. You know, the Underground fight thing."
She relented making me sigh.
"It was meant to be practice on how to handle my super strength."
"So that's why, you didn't go all out in our fight from the start."
Artemis added making me nod.

"Due to my powers, it's really hard for me to lower my strength completely. So when I'm in the ring, every move I make I try to back it up by skill and not brute force. It's good practice to make sure I don't injure someone while we're superheroing." I explained, further adding, "Plus it's really hard to get a no hold bars type of spar while training with the team."
Artemis winced, no doubt recalling the pain from my fist landing on her belly the first time we fought.
"You could have fooled me. That blow was hard."

I laughed at her expression and apologized. We stayed like that for a few more minutes, just talking about ourselves. She opened up to me about her mom who was a former criminal along with her dad but was now stuck in a wheelchair. I told her about my fear of fucking up and disappointing those who believed in me and by the end of it all we had grown closer.

"Look at the time. I should get going."
She told me while getting up.
"Thank you." She gestured around. "For all this. The talk, the singing. I really needed it."
I got up, placing the guitar back on my bed.
"No worries. What are friends for?"
She cocked her head and tried to tease me.
"Friends? My oh my, aren't you moving a little too fast?"

"I'm not the one who's leaving my room at 9 o'clock. If anyone sees you, what do you think they'll say?"
The resident archer's face went red.
"That's… that's not… Goodnight!"
She opened the door and escaped closing it behind her with a bang.

I listened to her walk away before the smile slipped off my face. Artemis had come here to tell me about Cheshire in hopes that I would sympathize with her sob story. It wasn't quite manipulation but I wonder what would have happened that day had I decided not to let Cheshire go.

I cut off that train of thought and looked at the time, confirming once more that it was near 10 o'clock. Tonight was the night I had decided to go to L.A and hit some of it's underground fights.

I changed my clothes into a black hood, jeans and a mask which went to my pocket then left my room silently. My feet padded the halls of the cave softly until I arrived before the Zeta boom tube and used it. I had done extensive research on the differences between my version of L.A and this one and the truth was that they were very different. Probably, as a consequence of the impact of a superhuman society.

A nostalgic feeling overcame me as I breathed in the L.A air, the Zeta boom tube emptied out into a street that was fortunately near a nightclub that hosted underground illegal fights for the wealthy and influential. The name of the nightclub was Sunset Blooms. It had been a bitch and a half to get that information by the way because the fights were brutal. I'm talking death and grievous injuries brutal.

There were two parts of entry to the nightclub. One was the main entrance for those people out to have a good time, unaware of the frankly dark shit going on under their feet and the other were part of the darker side of the city. The ones with a unique taste. A taste for violence. It was strangely comforting to see the darker sides of the city were still the same.

I made my way towards the back entrance and tapped 4 consecutive times on the iron door. The door opened after I gave a unique phrase to the guy manning it. A guy who had a gun strapped to his hip, which further cemented the fact that I was in the right place. I went down the stairs as a loud cheering got louder and louder with every step until finally I found myself in a crowded space with people surrounding a ring. A ring that was wet with blood.

(Elsewhere - General P.O.V)

In the continuity that Aden was familiar with…'He' left his post a year from now in 2011. Having decided to retire from the fiery pits and indulge himself in the pleasures of the human world. However in this continuity, 'He' got tired of hell much earlier and so…the Devil, Lucifer himself left for earth and as a consequence, nothing would ever be the same again.

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