No one noticed the blonde girl sitting alone in the small cafe. Everyone knew who she was, of course, but no one really saw her. That girl with the weird name, the girl from America. Took classes at the local college, got along well with her classmates and professors. Kept to herself mostly. So no one noticed when a tall, red-haired boy walked over to the little table she was sitting at and sat down beside her.

No one saw her tense, her gray eyes flashing with lightning and fire. No one saw the knife she was fiddling with under the table.

"I thought that the last time we talked, I made it clear that I didn't want to see you anymore," the girl said quietly, even pleasantly, not looking up from her book.

"Please," the boy said, his voice thick with emotion, his long red hair hanging in front of his eyes. "I'm only the messenger. They're calling you in."

"Right. Three years and they send you?" She grinned unpleasantly. "Daddy's got a sick sense of humor. What's the job?"

"I don't know the details. Something about a scientist that they want to whack."

"Interesting. Was he not cooperative? I know how Savage gets when he's pissy."

"I wouldn't know. They don't really tell me much."

"You don't ask," the girl retorted. "You don't care. You distance yourself from them because you still want to get in good with the League."

"Like you can talk," the boy snapped, slapping his hand on the table. "Where have you been the last five years?"

"I had some stuff to deal with. I assume that you've got my ticket back Stateside? First-class, I hope." The boy handed her the ticket, swearing under his breath. "Thank you. There's a good clone," she added under her breath, standing. The boy shot to his feet, grabbing her wrist and pressing his lips to hers, kissing her more fiercely when she didn't pull away or stab him.

"Tongue piercing," he said, smiling roguishly when he'd broken away. "That's new."

"You know what else is new?" she said, whispering against his mouth. "Mild hallucinogen and sedative inlaid in the shell casing that dissolves on contact with saliva that isn't mine." Already she could see the effects taking their toll. She smiled, pushing a lock of red hair out of his face, almost... affectionately, and kissing him on his unshaven cheek. "Sweet dreams."

"Honey, I'm home!"

"Tigress, welcome back. It seems as if your time abroad has served you well." Ra's said, embracing her. "And do I detect a slight English accent?"

"You do, though I didn't just stay is jolly ol' London. I'm sure the Brain will be enamored with my new-found grasp of his language," she said, smiling. "And yes, before you ask, I managed to find everything I was looking for. Observe." The girl spun, snatching a knife out of the long black overcoat she was wearing, smiling as it began to emit blue sparks and sizzle.

"Ah, you have mastered that elusive ability. I thought that you had lost it."

"Me too. Turns out being wrong once in a while isn't such a bad thing. Is my dad around? Or Savage? Apparently they need me." She smiled. "And between you and me, Sensei, I was getting bored. The quiet life isn't for me."

"I am surprised that you lasted for as long as you did."

"I'm surprised that you let me."

"Savage is in the control room. He will brief you."

"Merci, Sensei." The girl said, bowing slightly. She made her way through the halls of he HQ that she'd come to know so well, her steps silent as she walked. She had learned a lot overseas. Maybe a little too much. She knew where to find Vandal Savage.

"Welcome home, Tigress," the enormous man said in his booming voice.

"Good to be home," she said, quickly growing tired with chit-chat. She'd come halfway around the world. If there was an assignment for her, she wanted it. Now. "Now, you said that you had an assignment for me?"

"Impatient, are we?" The girl only glared. "Right." Pictures flashed upward onto the large computer monitor. Some scientist, judging by the glasses and white lab coat. His face was familiar to her – she'd been through the Light's database and knew who they were watching. There was some kind of technology that they wanted from him.

"I'm guessing that he didn't get what you wanted, yes? The technology that you wanted? And now that he knows that you're interested, you want him gone." The man on the screen was Doctor Ted Kord, brilliant scientist who'd apparently discovered the secret to artificial intelligence. And had been stupid enough to refuse to give it to the Light.

"You're quick."

"It's not hard to figure out. So, you want an accident, or do you just want him to vanish?"

"Accident. Kord has strong ties within the League. If he simply disappears off of the grid, the heroes will know that we have not stayed our hand."

"Oh, good, I love the creative assignments. Mind if I take a look at his office schematics? Chemical fires are so very dangerous, don't you know. Especially when they're paired with...electricity," she said, with a wicked grin, sparks flying from her fingers. Vandal Savage nodded, grinning himself and exited the room without question.

"Hey, kiddo!" Sportsmaster. News traveled fast in the criminal underworld. It had only taken him about an hour to hear that she was back in the States and to come find her.

"Hiya, Dad. Want to help me with this?"

"Ah, Ted Kord. He's an arrogant son of a bitch. I heard that he was on the list. Too bad he wasn't my assignment. What's the problem?"

"This whole place is laced with League security. More than I've ever broken into before."

"So set off the alarm. Make it look like a robbery gone bad."

"Won't work, this needs to look like entirely his own fault or they'll get suspicious. This is why they didn't want you to do it. Not your style. You are into shock-and-awe tactics, not anything even remotely sneaky. Oh, and by the way, can you please tell Savage or Ra's or whoever has that clone on a leash that the next time it's sent to collect me, it'll come back neutered. Assuming you haven't done that already."

Sportsmaster let out a booming laugh that rang in her ears. "I like you so much better like this. You were so moral before."

"I don't like speaking of before. And I have an plan. See you later, Daddy." She began to walk out, but stopped halfway out the window. "Oh, and Daddy? Tell Savage that I know about the tracking beacon under my skin. Thanks for the trust. I appreciate it. I do."

"Excuse me!" The frumpy security guard growled at the girl in the long dark coat standing outside the door. It was raining hard and her blond hair was plastered to her head, her eyes wide and pleading. "Can you help me, please? I – I just got mugged. He...he hit me and t-t-took my purse. Please, c-can I just use your phone to call the police?"

"Of course, come on in," the security guard said, opening up the door to the Kord Omniversal building. "Can I get your name? For the report I'll have to submit at the end of the shift."

"Oh, of course," she said, slipping into the building and slipping a small patch similar to a Band-Aid onto his arm. In an instant, the guard's eyes unfocused and he stood up ramrod straight, as if held up by invisible strings. "Now, I want you to put those cameras on a loop and get me up to Dr. Kord's lab. Disable the alarms. Make it so I was never here, will you?"

"Of course," the guard said in a dead-sounding voice, ambling over to the security desk and pressing the elevator button. The girl smiled, nodding in mocking thanks. She was so glad that the Light had developed those little patches. Made a job like this so much easier. Less blood.

As the elevator traveled up towards the laboratory, the lights began to flicker as the girl's smile grew and grew.

"Doctor," she called, striding into the lab, the lights overloading and shattering in her wake. "I think I have an appointment." It wasn't much to look at. Tables and tables of chemicals and gadgets. Solid metal walls and tables, everything shining in chrome. Fancy place, lit by overhead lights and

"Take one more step and I'll shoot." The girl's smile widened as she stepped forward.

"Go on then," she challenged, spreading her arms wide. The doctor raised the gun, just as the light over his head shattered and the lab went completely dark. Kord grunted as the girl knocked him over, shoving her forearm into his throat. The scientist choked, gasping for air, before twisting something into her gut. The girl hissed in pain, her gray eyes going dark.

"You will never get my life's work," Kord shouted at her, raising the gun. She braced herself to dodge the bullet, but the scientist threw something out of the window, then pressed the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger.

"No!" she shouted, but it was too late. Kord was dead.

"Hands where I can see them." Slowly the girl turned, seeing a boy in a black superhero costume, emblazoned with some kind of blue bird on the chest. Longish black hair covered his forehead, only the longest strands sweeping the edges of the checkered mask he wore over piercing blue eyes. Blue eyes that she knew.

"Fine," she said, raising gloved hands over her head. "But damn, Boy Wonder. If I'd have thought that you were going to turn out this handsome, I would've left long before I did."

"Oh my God," the figure said, his mouth dropping open in surprise. The girl grinned, snatching up a beaker and sending an electric pulse through it. In seconds, the chemical within ignited and she threw it down, sending flames spiraling everywhere.

Nightwing leaped out of the way of the building inferno, trying to catch her again, but there was only a flash of blonde hair vanishing out of the window and into the rain and she was gone. But, though five years had gone by, he'd recognized her just as easily as she had him. After five years of searching and agonizing, now one thing was very, very certain.

Artemis was back.

And so am I. Also, I tried very hard to have this up today because it is the one year anniversary of my publishing Who is She and becoming a member of this site. Cheers and please leave lengthy reviews!

~Fae