Major Story Arcs
Red Hood and the Outlaws: Who is Artemis?
Akila was born and raised in Bana-Mighdall. As a child, she became best friends with Artemis. In their free time, the two were sparring partners, using their free time to hone their skill. During such sessions, Akila won more often than not, proving herself to be the superior fighter. On one such occasion, Artemis cut their training short to focus on her studies, as she wanted to learn as much as she could about the Egyptian Gods. Artemis often spoke of being chosen as the Bana’s new Shim’Tar, but believed that Akila would be chosen even though she had no interest in the role. Artemis criticizes her for being disrespectful to the gods and the role of Shim’Tar. Akila however, doesn’t care because she doesn’t think that the broken colony of Bana-Mighdall has become is not worth protecting, but Artemis firmly believed that her home would be great again. Akila tells her that they have different dreams, but she would accept such a fate if Artemis is alongside her.
One day, Artemis notices Akila has gone missing. She spends several weeks searching to no avail. One search, a portal opens in front of Artemis while she’s out looking and Akila falls out of it. Artemis realizes two things just by looking at her; Akila’s disappearance was because the gods summoned her, and whatever happened forever changed her friend. She gets her back to the city and cares for her until she recovers. When Akila wakes up, Artemis asks what happened, but the gods forbade her from telling her. However, Artemis realized that they had appointed her to be the Shim’Tar.
Akila’s new role as Shim’Tar eventually caused the two to drift apart. Lonely without her best friend around, Artemis left Bana-Mighdall to live in the desert. Later, the nation of Qurac, who believed that Bana-Mighdall was built on their ancestral homeland managed, after many tries, to get past the magic sandstorm protecting the city and ambush the Bana. Akila, desperate to protect her home, use the power of the Bow of Ra to obliterate the Quraci, but her attack took out many of her sisters as well. Artemis, having been close enough to see the burning city, arrives. She notices Akila carrying the Bow. At the same time, Wonder Woman arrived on site, as she had been called in to stop the fight between the Quraci and the Bana.
Diana explains the cause of the devastation to Bana-Mighdall, but Artemis is skeptical. At that moment, Akila steps out of the burning wreckage. Her face scarred by the flames, she says that the only way to preserve her home is to use the power of Ra to destroy it all. Diana explains that the Bow’s power has consumed her friend and left an empty shell focused on destruction. Diana then offers Artemis a choice; side with what’s left of her friend or help her stop Akila.
Diana and Artemis team up, but they could not get Akila to overcome the influence of the Bow, so they are forced to kill her. Feeling guilty for what happened, Artemis tries to comfort her friend by taking the blame but Akila stops her. She apologizes for allowing the gods to manipulate her, and with her last breaths, tell Artemis that she was the real Shim’Tar all along. The Bow went missing, so Artemis and Diana assumed the gods took it away. When Artemis discovers that the bow is still on Earth, she dedicates herself to finding it.
Eventually, the Outlaws find out the bow is in Qurac, and discover that it was used to level a city. Upon entering Qurac airspace, they are shot down. Akila rescues Artemis from their crash site and takes her back to Bana-Mighdall. Once she reveals to her friend that she was alive, she takes her to their newly restored home. She then convinces Artemis to help her get the bow back from the Quraci general who stole it.
When Akila leads the Amazons into battle against the Quraci military, Akila hangs back while her sisters battle. When Artemis manages to capture the general, she uses the Bow of Ra to murder him. While Artemis is upset at being lied to, Akila explains that she only lied to stall until she could convince her that her path of genocide was righteous. Though she refuses to side with her, she also refuses to kill her friend again. When Bizarro, who had been separated after the crash arrives, he accidentally buries Akila under a mountain. However, Akila had been absorbing the power of the bow into her body, allowing her to match Bizarro’s strength. Artemis is convinced to face Akila, so she fires an supercharged arrow at civilian refugees nearby. Artemis protects them, leaving her defenseless.
Akila tries again to get Artemis to side with her one last time, but the other Outlaws rush to their friend’s defense. Artemis uses the opening to take the Bow of Ra for herself. Akila tries to kills Artemis with her new powers, but Artemis hits her with an arrow, defeating her. She is restored to sanity, but her weakened state causes her to lose control of the power she took from the bow.Before she can explode, Artemis vows to do right by her and has Bizarro carry her into space, where she dies a second time.