Artemis pulled down the hem of her shirt, making sure her clothes were comfortably fitted. You never knew when you needed to be ready for a fight, so she made sure to wear loose clothing that was she could move around in easily at all times. She definitely did not want to be caught in something impractical if a fight broke out.
Of course, not everyone would think that a cheap Sailor Moon knock off outfit was practical. But when you're twenty years old and just starting out on the path of a super hero, you don't have a lot of resources for something more original. And wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt wouldn't work either. Superheroes had to stand out.
The men she was watching were finishing up with whatever deal they were working on. Two guys had just put the last of the wooden crates in the back of a nondescript van. There was a hand-off of a brown envelope as them men closed up the van and got it ready to go. The lone guy was busy counting the dollar bills in the envelope, and was eventually satisfied with its contents.
If Artemis was going to make a move on them, now was the time, before the van trundled off. But there was no actual evidence of anything illegal going down. It was shady, sure, but it could have been anything. Besides, these guys were obviously small fries. If there was anything truly nefarious going on, the local police could handle it.
If Artemis wanted to make a name for herself, she was going to have to hunt down something much more noteworthy. She slowly stood up from her crouch and glanced around in the alley she was hiding out in. The day was still early, but she definitely needed to find some action soon, otherwise she would waste yet another day looking for criminals to thwart.
At that moment, her junior hero's league communicator watch buzzed to life.
"There's a disturbance at the botanical gardens. Reports indicate that large plants are coming to life. Are there any heroes in the area to investigate?"
Artemis wasn't even a true hero yet, at least not according to the Guild. She was just a junior associate member. She wasn't even supposed to have a communicator watch, but she had managed to finagle one anyway. And she was restless to prove herself to the Guild and work her way up the ranks.
So, the botanical gardens? If she was going to make a name for herself as a hero, she was going to need to take down some noteworthy bad guys. She barely thought about it before jogging off in the direction of the gardens.
As it turned out, it was only a few blocks away, and she had probably beat any other heroes to the spot. As Artemis stopped in front of the gardens, she could hear screams coming from inside. People were still spilling forth from the grounds obviously trying to escape whatever was within.
Artemis went over options in her head for a moment while getting her breath back. She couldn't remember any of the local villains who specialized in manipulating plants. It didn't seem likely that any of the big time major villains would have moved to town recently, there wasn't enough going on in her small city to attract the attention of the more powerful superpowers.
She was probably up against a new villain, one just coming into his powers. Given the fact that she was somewhat inexperienced herself, this was probably the best scenario Artemis could hope for. Either way, she needed to get in there before any more innocent people got hurt.
She forced her way through the throng of escaping people and into a bizarre mess. Inside the giant greenhouse plants had overgrown the place, hanging from the ceiling and all over the walls. The greenhouse, usually a bright and airy place, was dark and creepy due to the overgrown plants blocking all the light coming through the glass.
Artemis took a quick look around and noticed an unhealthy number of vines coming from underneath the door to the desert environment. She carefully stalked to the door and peeked through the open slot. A giant sized carnivorous plant occupied the majority of the desert room. Vines snaked away from the oversized Venus fly trap, moving freely along the grounds and displays.
Artemis shivered. She did not want to get wrapped up by one of those oversized vines. So creepy!
She slinked away from the doorway. The large creepy looking plant looked dangerous, but it didn't seem to be able to leave the desert room. Artemis decided that clearing the rest of the gardens out of civilians was more important right now. She'd go back to face down the monstrous plant when she was done with that.
Artemis made her way into the exotic plants section of the gardens. Unfortunately, this section was built like a maze, with various paths crisscrossing around the large room. She forced herself to look behind every hedge and display to make sure no one else was around. As she searched, a strange cloying scent began to fill her nostrils. It was a bit of a distraction at first, but given the fact that she was in the exotic area, strange and unfamiliar scents should be expected.
Behind a series of brightly flowering bushes a middle-aged woman lay on the ground, paralyzed in fear. Grunting to herself, Artemis grabbed the woman by the arm and tried to pull her to her feet.
"Come on, lady! It's time to get out of here!" She urged the woman up.
The woman was about average build, but for some reason, Artemis was having a hard time dragging her to her feet. She seemed to be muttering to herself, but nothing came out that was intelligible.
With lots of swearing, and cajoling, Artemis finally managed to get the woman to stand up and ushered her to the door.
"Go through the far door to the exit, and don't stop until you're at least a full block away, alright?" Artemis pushed the woman through the door towards the exit.
"Now go!" She stood and watched the woman as she stumbled forward, making sure she made it to the exit. With one good deed done, Artemis returned to her search of the room.
Focusing back on the room she was in, there were still many areas that she hadn't searched yet. She forced herself to keep moving. The deeper she moved into the exotic plants section, the more noticeable that strange smell was. She shrugged it off as unimportant and she continued to search behind every bush and bench in the area.
She finally noticed that she was moving slower and slower the longer she stayed in the area. It had already gotten to the point where she was dragging her feet across the ground, and she was beginning to get worried. At this point she was relatively sure that no one else was in the exotic plants section, so it was time to leave. Unfortunately, the exit was on the other side of the room from her current position. Skipping most of the maze-like corridors, Artemis choose to move straight through the center of the room.