“Don’t lead!...Please...don’t lead on!” A large pale man burst down the door without any invitation into their conversation. Artemis looked at her friend ...struggling to prop up her dead-weight, and raised an eyebrow as if to say “welcome to the shit-show”. Tammy stood up, asking the man to leave, and reminded him that trespassing was against the law. Artemis held up her hand calmly swinging her weight to take a gander at the small man in the doorway…”hello, Dwayne...I believe I have something that belongs to your daughter.” Artemis asked that her friend place her on the tiles and to retrieve the small object being held in the small fist of the tiny giant named Chrissey-poo. The beast let go of it quite easily, as though he regretted holding the cursed item in the first place. Her friend looked down upon the shiny object, his eyes moving from the object, back to Artemis, and back to the object: “holy shit, do you know what this means?!” Artemis nodded yea and smiled that her friend seemed to be quicker than the lot she had been raised around. He had the fast-paced mind of a criminal, but the integrity of a hero. The man held the sliver of a shining puzzle piece between his index and thumb, and as he turned the thin rail in the daylight: the profile of the object changed form...into that of a key. A small and troll-like girl appeared from behind Dwayne...screeching and demanding that they give her back the key to her “house”. Artemis laughed, her sad spine aching with each breath: she had tricked the once overweight Siren into breaking and entering into a simulation that was built just for monsters like her. Artemis’s friend threw the key in the same way he had tossed the club, collecting Artemis from harm’s way and watching as she began scrambling on all fours searching for a key without ridges. It had been a blank key that Artemis had cursed into leading the woman into a room meant just for her in a hallway of beasts. “Are you ready to tell the truth now Chrissey-poo?” Artemis didn’t even bother looking at the man, and her lack of caring for his response: it didn’t mend his broken ego...he appeared sullen as though he just wanted to go home. “You annihilated your family, by letting a strange woman into your home, so now I need you to give my husband a chance to breathe...to help me prove his innocence.”

Artemis had seen the man cover himself with lies, and the expectations that strangers gave him: shielding himself from the title monster at all costs. “I think there are babies in danger, and I can’t let you leave until we can prove what happened in your house.” The man was without God, without the weight of his mother peering at his face, as though she wished to perform sexual acts upon him if given the chance. “My sister was the golden child too, I know that there’s a lot of confusion around knowing that you’ll never be enough for your family.” The man said nothing, and so Artemis placed a dull woman that always managed to look the same no-matter-her-age into the simulation: she chose to take the form of "the mistress", and would be responsible in breaking his static filled eyesight with the terror and realization that it had been his mother guiding him to the bedroom his whole life...unless he was with his actual wife. Even in death, Shan’ann was pulling favors from the world to protect him from his mother. “Your wife sacrificed her own life and that of your unborn child...to prove that you were innocent of two out of the four murders you committed. The man began to weep, saying nothing and returning his blind rage in pinning Orion to a wall. Artemis threw a finger in the air, bored and exhausted: asking that Tammy and her friend wrap it up with the swirl of her index finger. Artemis orchestrated the simulation over and over: watching as the man awoke in horror and shock to see his mother on her knees, sucking his dick and murmuring “Christopher” between takes, shoving his penis deeper and deeper into her throat, and straightening her glasses to gain a better view of her craft in finishing off her son. Artemis looked over at her friend that was never less-than-repulsed by the sight, and she had loved the face he made whenever he didn’t understand a situation. One day the beast grew bored of the public oral sex, and was too tired to let his mom drag him to a bedroom in the hallway: he put one hand on her head as he usually did, and said loudly “put your finger in my ass”. This was a new statement outside of what he usually said before completion. Artemis smiled at her friend: “we did it!” They went to high-five one another, but stopped halfway through the gesture: it seemed like a weird time to celebrate, since there was a man pinned to the wall and another being orally copulated by his mother. The beast had told the truth that he had participated in things he thought were too devious for the public to know...when he had been truthful in saying that there were things he had participated in with "the mistress": that he was prepared to take with him to the grave. This fact would indeed be dangerous for the beast to express: if his “new neighbors” were ever to find out.

Artemis looked around, nodding in approval to Tammy as she worked tirelessly to uncover the truth. Her friend asked if it meant that “Trent” had told the truth, and Artemis said “dunno...lets ask.” A boy with strange facial features appeared in the doorway: yammering on how the beast had once told him that he had “nice lips”. Artemis had once laughed and almost choked on her food, as she heard a random citizen heckle his words: “girl...he did not say that.” Such awesome communities were why Artemis had invested so heavily in the platform that elevated each person’s opinion and opened the conversation to include everyone. “Do you know this man?” The man said nothing, but he seemed to be staring at the broken door in the same fearful way the beast once had. “What is going on here?” Artemis’s friend was occasionally impatient with the game, and wondering why such random stories had been thrown into the mix. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think I like it.” The room was uncomfortably silent, as though danger loomed. Just as before: a man named Dwayne appeared in the doorway, hoffing in the deterrence that he wasn’t legally allowed to enter the house.

Artemis looked over to see what the man was staring at so dangerously, he had seen two children dancing in the corner and chosen to investigate. “Holy shit. We did it”. Artemis hugged her new friend and asked that he drag her to the small girls that hugged one another and instantly began destroying the house. They began to crawl all over Artemis as she cried: they smelled like clean babies, as their skin was free from slickened liquid that was crude and heavy. Their innocence had meant they were saved and transported from the dimension where Artemis had placed them to suffer from their fate. Artemis clamored to them in a way that reminded them of their mother...giving them kisses upon their heads and whispering to them both, “you two are so brave, I am so happy that you’re finally ok.” Artemis sat on the floor and watched as they began to show her scribbles and dances that never seemed to end. They helped rehabilitate Artemis, as she regained the strength to stand up on her own two feet again...her two homies staring up at her in marvel...unsure as to why she had wasted so much time laying around, and sitting on the floor hunched over their drawings.

Artemis knew they couldn’t see their father standing in the same room, as his spirit was dark and that of a murderer. She escorted them out of his sight, as to leave him alone with his growing insanity. Artemis asked her friend to help her in creating a clear divide in the room that housed a beast known for her masculine face and her permanent name, as “the mistress”. Artemis asked that Tammy set up her shop outside of the room, carving a window for her to make eye-contact with the Siren they had trapped. Tammy began to ask the woman questions, and for all the lies and intentions around the two innocent girls: the beast began screeching and sprinting head-first into the invisible wall. The two babies were together at last, Bella holding Cece and yelling “No” as she pointed a finger at the beast that charged them day after day. The reader asked “how do you know this?” Artemis shrugged, “I had a dream where I followed a funny little puppy, and this is what he showed me”. "Dietsssss!” The reader yelled excitedly, as the puppy was famous for his wiener shape and scattering run. Artemis nodded yes in sadness…she’d rather have everyone safe, but a story meant to bring reasoning and relief to a slain mother was the best that she could do.

Artemis left Tammy to her test in fidelity, and one day Tammy asked her to observe the Siren that had grown tired of attempting to slaughter children she’d never met, asking for the attendance of her father at last. “Alright, let’s do this.” Artemis left with her wisely comedic friend in-stride, walking past the beast with her husband pinned to the wall: he was still mad...believing Artemis had played him for the Moon. “Dwayne...I believe the authorities have some questions for you sir. It seems you may have assisted in tampering and obstructing an investigation.” The man said nothing, he was at the mercy to Artemis and her ability to read people, judging them with cruel boredom. He stared at his feet, avoiding the presence of Chrissey-poo and his mother performing lewd acts in the public and drifting by the man with big lips, as though they had never spoken or known of one another. Artemis pointed at the door housing his daughter, reminding him that he’d wasted his life away protecting her. She wondered how many women had passed on him as a partner...after they felt the gaze and dangerous intentions of his daughter lurking in the corner: ready to pounce in her jealousy and smother them in their sleep.

Artemis handed him a key, one that had ridges to it: it was a key to his freedom...a key to his daughter’s home. She turned to her loser-y friend, hugging him and reminding him that he wasn’t allowed to open the door unless Artemis crawled to the door. He hadn’t any clue what he had volunteered for, and so he agreed to help Tammy trap Artemis in a cage with a beast and her father. In doing so, Artemis had been beaten, raped, and abandoned on a hill to die. It was the least of the worries in the world, and she’d probably do it all over again.

By the time Artemis convinced the father to admit the things he had done to cover the tracks of his Siren daughter...it was too late. The world had found her...hunting her down for being the village-whore and carving two initials onto her body. The two babies had watched in terror to see the blood bath, but grown to understand that the men that ravaged the Siren had carved initials onto her body for a reason...not to torture her, but to fulfill her own request to be mutilated with her original initials, as to climax by way of narcissism and masochistic pleasure. Artemis looked over at the babies, one playing with her white label...reminding the world, of the two cursed letters that brought men far and wide to fill a gaping hole: few men found her to be worthy of oral favors, and it had led her to "fall in love" with a man that was already married with two children. The other baby began to run around, unaware that her second clue had been left to solve the case. A case filled with many things with stark differences, but somehow all the same. Those with the name Lee could enter the room that held the babies, until one day...their grandfather finally showed up. He knelt beside one girl and hugged her tight, he pretended to be outraged by whatever experiment they had been volunteered for, and it caused Artemis to begin laughing. The man was laughable in his effort to care, his efforts to protect, and lastly...his efforts to love his wretched wife. He was a fucking worm of a human, and Artemis set out to prove his ugliness in intentions towards his grandchildren. Artemis placed a few bags with money spilling from their brims, and watched as the “loving grandfather” often decided to turn his grandchildren invisible: rendering them dead to him, and walking past the pair of crazy doodles as he happily collected the money he “rightfully deserved”: claiming it his, after his only son had slaughtered a family and activated an insurance claim. Artemis crossed her arms and smirked, leaning against the wall and watching him make the same mistake over and over. She had made a simulation to trap three beasts in a cage that’d be famous for the crest that displayed one of their surnames, a name that was forever cursed and affiliated with greed, perversion, and murder.

Artemis held her head high, taking a deep breath and remembering all the things the professionals had taught her about taking it easy: she had learned to not be so hard on herself for her lack of skills in walking upright, and in doing so...her world grew brightened with caring individuals that lined up outside the door of her prison: each ready to help carry her to the finish line of her story. She crawled to the metal doors, weeping openly and mumbling that her name was Tila: admitting that she was an alcoholic to whoever was on the other side of the door. In doing so: Orion heard her pleas in anguish and embarrassment, as he had seen her work so hard to develop outside of that one flaw that weighed her down. She was the anima to his animus, both drowning in their denial of the attraction they held for the other. He pulled the pride-induced static from his eyes, pushing away the tiny man that murdered his wife, and finally speaking with a firm tone as he made eye-contact with his peers. The man could only do so, if he realized he was at risk in being placed in the same horrendous box, as the monster that had become famous for his skills in annihilation and fucking cheap women. Orion arrived at the door, but found that it was still seemed locked from the inside: the father refused to give up the key to his daughters "safe-haven". Artemis leaned against the door, wondering if Orion would ever find her locked away from the world: crying in the fear that she may be too late to prove that she loved him in his entirety. They were a messy couple, but they knew that explaining their efforts in trying often inspired the world.

“I get that you had to create reasonable-doubt Dwayne, but it’s not going to give you back all that time you spent helping others. You’re undoing the threads of your own legacy by protecting a human that is obviously sicker than anything you, or I, are equipped to manage.” Artemis was a professional in her field, they had called her a Doctor of people, a helper in cracking minds for their intentions: until their words flowed over into reality. One baby set across from Artemis, staring blankly as the spitting image of her father, saddened by the fact that her grandfather loved money more than he cared for her. Artemis shrugged, “mine too little one...mine too.” Such were the innocent blood spilled to fight crime, the sacrifices made to prove the value of the human experience, and the lack of efforts to chose life...over that of the temporary value in physical possessions.

One day, the ugly woman began to aim her words at her own father specifically, as she glared at him with disgust “he fooled all of you”...her voice growing in volume until everyone in the split room was alarmed by her frantic croaking voice. Artemis looked at Dwayne, “I think your kid is talking to you sir.” The man was in denial that his daughter was sick in her mounting fabrications, until her lies dripped into reality and turned on a machine that kept them all hostage. “He seemed reluctant to do it.” The woman that boasted of her name as “the mistress” was inconsolable, growling about the man she loved, and his ability to love his own family: more than he ever cared about her. Her father began hugging her, needing her to shut the fuck up, and to not further incriminate herself: instead, the woman began charging at the glass wall with all her weight...taking off articles of her clothing with the intentions of smothering the two children with her “love”. The father looked at Artemis, as she propped herself along a cold wall and stared at the scene she had created. “I thought you said she was ok with the fact that you broke up your family for a piece of cheap-ass...doesn’t really look like anything about your daughter is “ok” Dwayne.” The man attempted to cover her mouth once more, and she bit his hands until they bled freely...she began sprinting head-on at the divider screaming and laughing to herself “they’re so little…so little!” This was no longer the tone she had used to trick the world, but a snickering of that of an apex-predator...ready to slaughter their prey.

Artemis crawled upon the floor of the chamber, unplugging the snakes that fell over the shoulders of the man. He deserved to have the world see his true colors: “We wanted to give you everything, but we also want to be protected in doing so”...the aging man held a voice of authority, but his words were empty and full of entitled privilege. Artemis looked upwards, Tammy seemed to understand that Artemis was ok: nearing the idea of surrendering upon a project worth countless lives. Artemis had risked life and limb to prove that her love for her husband Orion was pure enough to survive seven days and seven nights of pure agony. “Is he talking about his wife, or his ex-wife?” Artemis sighed and shook her head no. “He’s talking about his psychotic kid, they’re a package deal.” The silence returned to the air. It seemed as though Tammy had abandoning her position behind a desk, and it made Artemis saddened to know that such dichotomies between fathers and daughters existed. His child was a lost cause, and he had been the catalyst and enabler for her many, many emotional outbursts. “Can somebody grab my pink cap?”...Artemis felt naked without her favorite billed-cap that had a large pink stitched emblem that was forever blue. The cue was meant to remind her friend Scott to dawn his famous black cap, and open a door that was already unlocked from the inside. Artemis crawled to the edge of the door frame, posting herself up and waiting for her funny friend to retrieve her from the cage housing an ugly pair of beasts.

“I asked him if he felt comfortable telling me where his kids went to school”. Artemis looked over at the Siren with a blank stare. “What. The. Fuck.” Scott was standing in the doorway...joining in on the judgy staring Artemis had participated in. “I think I figured it out, but I still have a few questions for Chrissey-poo.” Her friend leaned over and began to drag her limp body from the cell, and they headed directly to the monster that stood posted-up in the main living area. Artemis poked the short man on his shoulder with a strange patience, as he was bored: holding Orion against the wall once more, and waiting for his mother and her "mistress" mask to reappear. “Why didn’t you feel comfortable telling NK about where your kids went to school?” The man turned slowly, bowing his head. “I just want everyone back.” Artemis seemed to know way too much about the ugliness of the world. “Did you kill your “bossy” wife...after you let a complete stranger kill your children?” The man said nothing. He hated that a woman he had never met...had figured out his woeful tale: in which he failed at protecting the children that believed him to be their hero.

“They have nothing to do with “this case”, Artemis quoted the half-truth that a Siren had put forth: she had told the truth about how the missing and murdered children had nothing to do with the murder of a bubbly and hardworking wife. “Were you covering up two murders with the murder of a pregnant woman?”. The man seemed unsure of what to say, as his truth was utterly useless and invalid due to his impeccable ability to lie on cue. Artemis waited for his mother to arrive: eagerly smiling and ready to take his hand as to lead him to a room and have her way with him. Just as any other day...the woman fell to her knees and began to lick the dick of her only son. Artemis yanked the snakes that held the monster captive, leaving him paralyzed but free to observe their environment: standing in a dusty vacant house. The man looked down to see his mother peering over the brim of her glasses, just as his mistress often did, and Artemis began to laugh hysterically: watching as the man began to screech that he needed her to stop. “Make it stop!” Artemis was evil in her valiant efforts to drive the people she hated crazy, and so she said little: using his famous mouth clicks and tisks-tisks to patronize him. “That’s no way to talk about your mother...she’s a person too Chrissey-poo.” Artemis had desensitized her friend Scott to the situation, and he resorted to whistling and looking away from the sexy-act, as to preserve his sanity. He curled his lip and said: “I think I just barfed in my mouth a little bit.” Artemis smiled broadly and rolled her heavy head upwards to reply to Scott: “me too man...it’s a mood.” They both looked away in boredom and allowed the scene to play out.

Artemis had crafted a simulation to prove her husbands innocence, and to break away the layers of lies that were held up by two humans with lies unending. Unlike this beast, Artemis had married a strong-willed man: a man that held against a door of countless women throwing themselves at him desperately....Chrissey-poo had resorted to murder simply because a single deranged woman had told him to, she had planted the seed in his mind: saying things like "wiping out his whole family", and reaffirming his wife to be only a random human that existed in his world: "that wife, that mother, those kids, etc." The siren had disassociated herself from the beast, calling him evil and disgusting: pointing out that his eyes were evil in their appearance. Artemis didn’t think the man would give such harsh criticisms to worthy of "his blessings", and so she put the woman in a chamber with two innocent children to "prove her innocence". The woman thought her name was worth less due to her involvement, but Artemis tied her masculine face to his "story": needing to honor a loving mother that died without peace, and knowing on her last day of life...her loser husband had spent their funds taking a cheap-looking woman out to a cheap dinner.

“You should probably tell the truth dude, Shan’ann’s parents already spared your life once.” The man began to weep uncontrollably, as his mother continued to appease his many sexual demands...ending the episode with anal penetration. “It’s ok to like bum-stuff, but it is not ok to let dangerous people around your family Chrissey-poo.” The man began to plead and screeched at the sight of his mother taking joy in the penetration that forced him to climax. “I didn’t know…” He began to weep blood, his anguish changing the chemical discharges that fell from his tear ducts. “Why did you let your mother place a bowl of nuts in front of your daughter with severe allergies?” The man said nothing, moaning and hating how much he liked the act of his mother having his way with her. “Why are you doing this to me?! What do you want?!”, Artemis began to laugh, as he had finally asked her the right question: "I want "the girl" Chrissey-poo, and this could all be over". The man said nothing, and so Artemis gifted him some more knowledge as to "his situation": “your mother volunteered you to play a game that could save your life from the death penalty, and a life in prison...she knew all the rules of the game beforehand, and she assumed that you’d never be able to tell her no.” Artemis stared at the man… “Are you protecting the stranger that slaughtered your daughters?”

The man pulled his head back, gazing upward at the ceiling as he ejaculated all over his mother: “her father...her father is a Freemason”. Artemis peered at him, waiting for him to make eye-contact...she wondered why he only told the truth when he was vulnerable by the way of sex. Artemis pipped in, smiling in glee: “Mine too!”...her eyes wide and truthful. “He must not be very high-ranking, or else his daughter wouldn’t be alive for having told you that.” Artemis had been given a few secrets as a child, and gifted with a Golden Apple...simply because her Papa belonged to a lodge that praised a Golden Elk. The man seemed upset that his mistress had pretended to be important, and Artemis shrugged: powerful people, or those of real influence...didn’t have to announce their status, which was why Artemis hid her words away to be found by the deserving. “Your mistress is a geologist, and it’s safe to say that she had you rightly-"pegged": for being as dumb as a rock. Why Shan’ann settled for you, is one of the most widely-discussed mysteries in the history of mankind.”

“You should probably tell your mother to stop...you’re making a lot of people sick by playing out this scene everyday.” She pointed down at the woman slobbering as she performed fellatio on her knees. The man seemed to go from pleasured and aroused, to fearful and disgusted, as his eyes darted around the room. Scott pointed over his shoulder, and then diagonally across the room: reminding the hostage that his actions had been recorded and distributed all around the world. Artemis felt her laughter bellowing...this laugh was truthful in her love of tricking people without needing to lie. “All you have to do...is to learn how to tell your mother and her choice as to your “equal partner”...that enough is enough”. Artemis wasn’t allowed to tell him the magic words, but she knew he’d waste a stupid amount of time learning how to assemble the two words together with a meaningful tone.

His mother left for the day, and Artemis dragged him by the chords to the cage of a beast she had abandoned. They observed silently, as the woman slammed her body into the divider and almost-frightened the children that sat calmly and remained unafraid. They had become brave in their knowledge of the situation, unafraid of the many small cracks that had developed due to the stranger slamming her head into the wall. A woman with golden armour appeared through a door that stood on the opposite side of their window: making a series of verbal concerns, as to why her best friend was missing. This moment of normalcy...this display in concern upset the beast, as she was offended that her plans in covering up murder had been soiled due to a friend that was more compassionate and caring than all of “her friends” put together. The Siren began to stir, and mustered up a wail: eventually sprinting across the cell and clamoring to fulfill the role of a wife she hated and despised...despite having never met her. The Siren had stalked a stranger and her family, and now Artemis waited for the proof of a confession that the shitty husband had failed in protecting his family. The man said nothing, needing the game to be over...wishing only to hold his children once more.  He hated that his own hero, was complicit in making the memories of his children disappear: his father sat in a corner and bathed in the financial gains that came from his only son "slaughtering his own children". Artemis asked that Scott drag her back to his first position in the living room, and the monster named Chrissey-poo began to scream...pleading that Artemis let him stay and to let him view his children. “That’s not how this goes, your mother misses you.” She laughed and ended her giggling fit with teary eyes and a “hewwwww”, loving that her wickedness was helpful in bringing sense to a case with more lies than truths.

The man begged for Artemis to reattach his chords, needing the daydream of his mistress: instead of the view of his mother performing devious acts. “Na, I’m gucci.” Artemis used trivial slang she had learned from her scholars...to add gangster flair to a situation where even she couldn’t change the rules. “All it takes is two little words...you can just live in the horrors of knowing that the world is watching you in the meantime.” Artemis had known he wore a shield on his wrist: she pointed at his heart and reminded him "If you wore this on the night you murdered your wife...I can prove that your BPM reflects the one event, as opposed to three." She knew he feared the Siren without reason or grace, as he had lied and said weird things like "she’s a wonderful person". Artemis searched for the evidence of her many, many famous outbursts: screeching in a fit on mania: the woman relied on medication to stabilize her moods, and hid behind her only friend "Jim" to project an aura of normalcy, as the duo occasionally stalked strangers. Artemis was bored of the beast that lightly choked-out her husband Orion, so she turned her attention to the boy that sat on a couch and clawed at its surface.

“Is it hard for you...seeing how much the world, and the entire Nation, still miss your little sister?” The boy blankly stared at her: wondering why the woman dared to mention a person that no longer existed in his world. “Your mom died, but not before she accidentally told everyone what you did Burke.” Artemis thought of all the conversations where the woman compared “her home” to the epitome of the dream, luring and distracting the public by making herself the public face of the Nation. “She said the death of your sister wasn’t a kidnapping, and that you never "came downstairs" Burke...so now, I need you to tell me why you were in the basement.” Artemis was more saddened than frightened of the boy, even though he had tricked the citizens for the entirety of his life: forcing them all into taking responsibility for his upbringing. Artemis knew he was a man...hiding in the shell of a boy, and so she gifted him with a suitable story. “I once had a boyfriend named Jefferson...just like you, he had beautiful eyes. One day he began choking me without asking, and I was too afraid to ever tell him no.” Artemis pointed to her eye, “He accidentally changed my face over time, and now one of my eyes sits lower than the other.” The boy looked up from behind the perched knees that protected his face...sneakily checking if her face showed the truth. Artemis had observed the truth in his sisters face before she was slain, and pieced the truth together slowly. Artemis smirked and displayed the sad weight that had began pulling down the left side of her face. “I know you thought it “felt cool” to make your sister go to sleep, but you hurt her and you stole her childhood away with your actions.” The boy said nothing… “It sounds like your mom really loved you, and I’m sure she did what any other mother would do in her position. I’m sorry the world couldn’t feel sad or grieve for her when she died...because we were never sure if she had been involved in killing your sister. I did see her many efforts in trying to protect you though: that must have been really hard for you Burke...to be her only “purpose in living”.

The boy was a lost cause, and so Artemis shook her head: leaving the boy to be nailed to the wall by ways of advanced science. She implored the citizens to donate their genetic information to the cause, as his age and deceased mother could no longer protect him. His father had "gracefully" moved on with his life. The boy would spend his entire life hiding from the haunted house that kept them hostage, anchored to a famous boulder and its statute of limitations. It had been the case that had inspired Artemis to fall down a dark rabbit hole, and to write a book filled with many truths...ugly just like her lopsided face and her collapsing spine. Artemis’s biggest regret was that she’d never be able to protect the citizens from the escaped murderer that still roamed the land. “I think I’m ready to sit in the chair now”, Artemis asked that Scott bring her a chair with wheels and brake pads: she was done running away from her inevitable fate. “Can you go get Tammy and my sister one more time?”

Athena stood before her: staring over her as though she still had a working torso. “I just really wanted to tell you how much I love you, and I hope that this was all worth something. I need you to tell Tammy the truth ok?” Artemis was so upset that her heart ached, it churned in her chest and held back tears that fought their way to the surface. Artemis worried the world would read her story, and remember the time her name had been twenty-two: she was so ashamed of all the things she had let people do to her body…all the awful things she allowed people to say to her. “I’d like you to meet Ph.D Warmbodt: I think he’s really going to need your laughter to help get him through all of this.” Artemis was so afraid of the conversations and good company she’d miss, angry that the horrors of her death would leave her lingering in a dark place: floating around in the universe as a lost soul. Athena gazed down upon the top of her sister’s head at last, her eyes filled with static and her voice solemn: she was a fate after all, and so she asked what any good fate would...“What’s your wish?” Artemis moved her spine from side-to-side, knowing that the drunk version of herself would have wished for her working legs back in a second, or even just a day without debilitating pain...this wish was for a person that lived a selfish and reckless life.

“I wish...that my babies were safe.” Her words hurt, but they were more true than anything she’d ever wished for before. Artemis only had one baby, but her nieces and nephews were the trial-runs for building up her maternal patience. “If you hold my baby in court, “his friend” will become angry once more. She hates being alone.” Artemis needed to prove the girlish human was fearful of all women that were self-aware and respected: planning to show a Jury how she went from staring at the baby with excited envy, as though he was a possession that’d soon to belong to her: to acting as though he was invisible out of fear of Athena and her wrath. The ugly woman had put a hit out on Artemis simply because she was “upset” that Orion had dared to share his love, and even had the audacity to create a family with a woman that wasn’t her. Athena seemed to agree with the valuable nature of her wish, nodding her head in silence and leaving the void of the pages at last. Athena needed to go on a run to clear her head, as to prepare for a battle far-greater than any the world had ever witnessed. The woman was set up for success in a race to achieve Justice: her head lowered in quiet steady focus, her body preparing to press confidently off a block Artemis had crafted for her. Artemis pointed at her loser-y friend Scott, reminding Athena of how ironic it was that he was their biggest ally in battle…"How funny is that?!” Athena would remember the phases Artemis had gone through as a child and again as a teenager...saying “Hey Scott”, naming animals filled with stuffing after someone she’d never met...later using it to open conversations with people whenever she didn’t want to be rude and tell someone that she didn’t know their name. Artemis pointed at him again… “He’s gonna be so excited that you and Chris managed to get Tammy on the team.” Artemis was a bit jealous that she’d never get to see Tammy in action, breaking Desdemona as she cast words like “peace, and family” to counteract her vile anger. Athena hadn’t any clue as to what that meant yet, but Artemis assumed she’d find Scott and Tammy’s love of Justice to be admirable...maybe finding peace in his enthusiasm as a hype-man: he would clamor and root for Athena as he said things like “Get her Tammy!” whenever Tammy deflected Desdemona’s mask built of small glass tiles. “I’ve ran out of words to describe how sorry I am for leaving you behind, is it ok if I leave you with one more short story?”

Flames arose from the base of their sky-boat, Artemis was sprinting down the pristine empty hallways that locked in order, one after another...she was racing a series of sounds, (chick-chick...chick-chunk). Her mind: disoriented by the endless flashing red lights that announced danger. “Ossyra...I mean Desdemona lured us to the planet!” Artemis yelled at her golden shield that had open communications: it was forever strapped to her wrist and pinging her location. “There’s no dilithium here...it was all a trap” Artemis had painted her sister green, to display the jealousy she wore on her exterior with pride…“Athena, I need you to get everyone to the escape pods...I have to initiate the exit sequence to activate them, and that can only be down at the bow of the ship.” She began to sprint down the hallway, wiping away her soft tears: crying and telling herself that she couldn’t look back and wait for a response. There wasn’t enough time for Artemis to return to the pods that were saving her beloved crew. Artemis ran with the posture she had learned from watching Athena sprint, her feet felt light and heavy at the same time. “I can do this!” Artemis rushed her hands over the cool surfaces of the dashboards that lit up with a series of cascading lights. Artemis knew that her Kind-Hearted Hunters would’ve never let Athena finish the task in deploying everyone to safety, as they hadn’t the chance to get to know her yet. Their hugs had always been reserved for Artemis...because she had bravely asked for them. Artemis knew that they’d be distraught beyond words, once they realized that she had willingly abandoned their family for a chance to save the lives of her crew. They’d attempt to ask who had approved of Artemis volunteering to take such deplorable risk in sacrificing her own life: simply to press a few buttons with no reassurance as to her safety. Artemis recalled her dreams where fire had engulfed her, the hands that reached for her through glass doors: she watched as their pod deployed in that instant, her family pounding on the doors with their closed fists as they yelled no: screaming her name in anguish. Tila turned around slowly to face her destiny: ready to be consumed by the impending flames, and knowing she’d make the exact same mistakes and choices all over again. The warmth of the flames brought her comfort that was replaced with a striking flash of cold rage. She turned to face a hell of her own making, clenching her right fist and glaring at the monster that had crashed them upon a barren planet they had visited to enslave the primitive citizens and to force them to mine gold. She began sprinting head-on towards a beast that hadn’t been informed of the plan to escape to freedom, a woman that was abandoned in the flames of her own destiny. Athena had realized what their sister had done: evacuating the crew without room to argue, and omitting the fact that she hadn’t told her sister of the last wishes of their youngest sister. “I can do this!” was the last thing she had told her brave sister Athena: her ponytail set high, and swinging with cheerful pride. Artemis wanted to leave her with fond memories of their childhood: remembering how Athena had taught her swing by herself or roll away, as they played on a abandoned playground. “Hello sister.” Was the last thing she’d ever say to the woman that had greedily stolen life out of jealousy: making the citizens sick with her actions. The petite woman crusaded angrily towards Justice, pressing her right shoulder forward and yelling a battle-cry like no other. The inferno of chaos swirled around them, and she bravely sprinted on: preparing herself for a fatal collision with the monster of a human.

Next Chapter: [ I ] Artemis and the Encore