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Artemis had run out of arrows too early in the fight, so hand to hand was her only option. Unfortunately that meant getting up close and personal with the goons carrying Scarecrow's newest Fear Toxin. One distraction was all it took before a noxious cloud surrounded her and the goon knocked her off the catwalk.
Unconscious before her feet left the swinging platform, Artemis couldn't do anything to save herself. Luckily for her, Wally saw the hit coming before she did, and all he could think to do was catch her as she fell.
He caught her just in time to keep her head from hitting the cement floor, and managed to avoid further injuries. Wally yelled for someone to grab the canister of Toxin, not realizing that the team had already ended the battle, Robin was running chemical analysis, and the bioship was on its way to get them to the cave.
M'gann levitated them into the ship, but honestly everything aside from the archer in his arms was a blur. Wally ended up sitting on a med cot, the bioship making it wider than normal to accommodate the two bodies. Artemis hadn't been moved since he caught her, so it was a bit of an awkward position. She laid to her left side, her head resting against Wally's left upper arm, while he held her around her torso, the rest of her nestled between his legs.
Instructing the bioship to return to the cave as fast as possible, M'gann and Robin began to assess the effects of the Toxin.
"The Toxin itself is unchanged, but the analysis results show it's been mixed without just plain old knockout gas," Robin stated, "which, we could've guessed given Artemis' condition."
"What does that mean for her? Don't people usually hallucinate their worst fears or something?" M'gann asked, her eyes trained on the archer's face.
Robin continued typing, searching the databases for any indication of the effects. In Wally's arms, Artemis began to stir. Her eyes remained shut, and her movements had no force behind them, but her face scrunched in discomfort and her breath began to quicken.
"Found something!" Robin exclaimed. "Alright, stayed whelmed," he said, directing the comment at Wally, who sputtered in protest, "but based on the effect of previous Toxins and what we know about Scarecrows recent motives, it seems like Artemis is going to be trapped in a dreamlike state, reliving her worst, and scariest, memories. It's meant to overwhelm the victim until they are truly paralyzed with fear."
Wally's arms tighten around Artemis ever so slightly, "Is there anything we can do?"
While Robin and Wally began debating possible solutions, none of which were feasible until they made it to the cave, M'gann focused her attention on Artemis.
The blonde's breathing was steady but too quick and heavy, and she was clearly in distress.
"I'm going to see if I can break the dreams from within," M'gann announced, interrupting the boys' discussion on reverse engineering an anti-toxin.
Sharing a glance with Robin, Wally spoke up. "Miss M, I have full confidence in your psychic abilities, but the Scarecrow is a bit above our pay grade and experience in chemical weapons. Maybe we should wait for your Uncle J'onn to try that first."
Before M'gann could respond, Artemis let out a terrified whimper, a sound no one would've ever expected out of her. Their eyes snapping to the unconscious girl, they saw that she was shaking in fear already, and it hadn't even been long enough for the full effects of the Toxin to set in.
Wally's heart skipped a beat when Artemis whimpered again, this time followed by mumbling that he couldn't quite make out, but she sounded so scared. His mind was made up.
"Do it, do whatever you can to help her." His voice was low, and the tone reminded M'gann and Robin of the simulation when Artemis died.
M'gann nodded, her eyes glowing green. She placed her hand on Artemis' forehead and carefully reached into her best friend's mind.
Opening her mind's eye, she saw a scene playing out before her, a much younger Artemis the center of attention. To M'gann the scene was distorted, as if she were watching through warped glass, so she tried to get closer. A few steps and she hit a wall. It was so strong it was almost tangible on her fingertips. She knew Artemis was guarded and still didn't trust them, but this wall was stronger than any barrier she'd put up before.
Artemis, even in this state, refused to let her in.
Retreating, M'gann came back to the physical world, to the expectant gazes of Robin and Wally. Behind her, she could feel the anxiety from Superboy, Zatanna, and Aqualad as well, rolling off of them like a tidal wave.
She took her hand back and lowered her gaze. "Artemis has always been hesitant to open up, but she clearly doesn't trust me enough to see what she's going through. Even J'onn isn't strong enough, nor would he disrespect her boundaries like that, to break through her barriers. I'm sorry."
The bioship was silent except for the sounds of Artemis' breathing and mumbling.
Staring down at the girl in his arms, Wally was desperate to help her, and the sooner the better. Reverse engineering an anti-toxin would take hours on a good day, once they reached the cave. They were still too far away for comfort, and Artemis was getting worse by the second.
"What if you tried to bring someone else in?" He asked, grasping at straws for ideas before realizing he actually thought of something. "Like, I know you and Artemis are close, but maybe she trusts someone else more? No offense."
Robin glared at him for a second before M'gann began to nod.
"It's possible," M'gann started getting excited at having hope again, "I mean, there's tons of different ways to trust and love, so I could try to bring each of you in and see if it works!"
After explaining how it'd work–M'gann would bring them in one by one, and if someone could make it farther, then they'd stay and M'gann would monitor their mental states from outside–they started with Zatanna.
All of the girls were close, so they figured if M'gann couldn't get in, Zatanna was next in line. When they dropped hands and shared a sad smile, it was clear they were wrong. Zatanna tried to play it off as being the newest, and everyone elected not to comment on the tears welling up in her eyes.
"I think Wally should go next," Robin proposed, carefully watching his best friend's reaction. The reaction of course being flustered confusion.
"What?! Dude, we're trying to save her as quickly as possible." Wally tore his gaze from Robin to look back at Artemis. "She- listen, I know how she feels about me. If I go in, she'd find some way to spit me right back out. Send in Aqualad."
Wally refused to meet anyone's eyes, so he missed the exasperated and sad looks shared between his teammates.
Regardless, he had a point about timeliness, so they moved on, sending in Aqualad, and when he failed, Superboy.
Wally watched as Robin was sent in with visible worry written on his face, believing that if Robin couldn't make it in, all hope was lost.
Sure enough, Robin and M'gann dropped their hands, and the only one left was Wally.
All eyes turned to the speedster, except his were trained in the girl in his arms, with pain written across his face.
When he didn't look up to see M'gann's outstretched hand, she gently prodded at his thoughts.
I shouldn't have been so hard on her, with all the talk of Roy. It's no wonder she doesn't trust any of us, I made her feel like she couldn't. Wally's thoughts cycling through every time they'd fought, every time he told her that she was replaceable.
M'gann smiled sadly before reaching out to him again, this time calling his name, bringing him out of his thoughts.
"You never know," she said gently.
He stared at her hand for a second before trying to reach for it, then remembered his arms were otherwise occupied. Before he could say anything, M'gann just shook her head and placed her palm on his forehead, mirroring the other that rested on Artemis'.
Wally closed his eyes and felt M'gann bring them into Artemis' mind. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the bioship, but he was standing in Gotham. He couldn't feel M'gann anymore, and took that as a sign that he made it.
Artemis trusts me. He couldn't believe it, out of everyone on the team, why him? At the same time he was in disbelief, he was overjoyed. Once the realization settled, he set off to find Artemis. The sooner they get out, the less she suffers.
—
The team watched as M'gann smiled and pulled her hands away. Her eyes stayed glowing green, and Wally's eyes stayed closed.
"Told you guys!" Robin whisper shouted, gesturing at the pair on the cot.
The team all grumbled and each handed him varying amounts of cash, but losing the bet to boy wonder couldn't wipe the grins off their faces as they realized what this meant for their forever bickering teammates.
M'gann stayed by the cot while the rest of the team returned to their seats for the remainder of the trip, Aqualad informing the League of the details of the mission, and Robin informing Oliver and Dinah that they each owe him twenty dollars.
Glancing back at his best friend, Robin smirked as he noticed Wally subconsciously holding Artemis a bit tighter, protectively.
Oh, he was going to get so much blackmail out of this one.
—
Finding Artemis was easy enough, but what shocked him was the way he found her.
Upon arriving in her memory, he quickly found he couldn't run. Well, he could run normally, but superspeed was a no go. He tried a couple times, but no matter what, he would just end up running at a regular pace. It annoyed him because that meant finding Artemis would be slower than he was used to, but as he thought that, he spotted a long blonde ponytail weaving through the crowded streets of the city.
Following, he just barely kept her in sight. She turned one final corner and he feared he'd lose her again, but when he came around the corner, the scene changed.
Instead of an alley, he was looking out across a rooftop. He spun around to find the street far below, and he was hidden behind an ac unit. Sounds of combat broke his confusion. Peering over the unit, his eyes widened in shock.
Artemis–it was definitely Artemis, but she was a kid–was sparring with another girl, who looked a few years older, while a man stood off to the side, analyzing the fight with a hard expression.
It was clear neither girl had had a hair cut in a while, maybe ever, as they both had long, uneven ponytails. The older girls hair was black, and Artemis' was brighter blonde than it is in the present, but there was visible dirt and grime that made it appear almost brown. The man had blonde hair like Artemis, but his was freshly buzzed and styled.
Looking between the three of them, Wally came to the conclusion that they must be related. Artemis and the other girl shared facial features that must have come from their mom, assuming the man was their father. The older girl barely looked related to the man, but when she knocked Artemis to the ground, her expression of disappointment matched the man's.
Wally watched as the man stalked over to where Artemis was struggling to stand.
"Pathetic," the man spit, "you should've been able to block that from a mile away! You want to end up like your mother?! Caught by the enemy and serving time over a simple mission?"
Artemis flinched as the man raised his hand, then a look of pure fear came over her face as he picked her up by the front of her shirt.
"Flinching shows weakness, baby girl." He dropped her, letting her crumple to the ground like a ragdoll.
Throughout all of this, the older girl had been standing at attention, but when Artemis hit the ground, she faltered.
"What'd you do that for, Crusher? She knows the rules, she knows the punishments, now she can't even get back up and fight!" The older girl yelled at the man, Crusher.
Wally blinked and the older girl was on the ground now too, the sound of a slap ringing through the air.
"Don't talk to your father that way, little girl." The man towered over the two sisters. "I'm feeling generous tonight so I'll let training end here. Go to your room and keep quiet. I need my rest for a mission."
With that "Crusher" stalked off in the direction of the roof access door, and Wally had half a mind to follow, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the tiny figure that was the younger version of his teammate.
He watched as she sat up, shaking on tired arms, reaching a hand out towards her sister for help to stand, but the older girl just looked at her hand and walked away.
Artemis sat there by herself for a minute before going to stand. As she did, the light hit her form fully for the first time while she stood still and Wally's stomach lurched at the amount of bruises he could see covering the arms and legs of this child.
While he took in the image in front of him, he failed to notice the sounds of the city had been silenced and the flags waving in the wind now stood still. Like he'd hit the pause button.
Artemis kept moving though, but rather than going for the door, she caught his gaze and walked towards him.
Wally didn't know what to do, so he stayed still, right where he was, until he was face to face with the young Artemis.
"You aren't supposed to be here," her voice was so similar to the Artemis he knew, but so much younger. He could only nod in response. The little girl gave him a once-over, and it felt like she could see straight through to his soul.
Staring for a few seconds more, young Artemis sighed. "I hope I don't regret letting you see this, Wally." This time her voice was the one Wally knew well, and it was admittedly unsettling to hear it coming out of a kid. Before he could react, the young Artemis in front of him shoved him.
He fell backwards, but instead of careening off the roof, he bounced on a small bed.
The scene had completely changed. Now he was in a musty bedroom, staring at an Alice and Wonderland poster that hung over the other bed. He was alone in the room, and looking around he could guess that it was Artemis', but besides the poster nothing stood out as identifiable.
Somewhere down the hall a door slammed and hurried footsteps approached the room. Scrambling for a hiding spot, Wally dove out the window onto the fire escape right as the door to the room opened. Wally watched as the older girl from the last memory, now closer to a teenager, stormed into the room carrying a duffel bag. She began shoving clothes into the bag, muttering out a list of items to grab.
Artemis, a few years older than the last memory, quietly walked into the room, watching the other girl before she came to sit on the bed. She dug a teddy bear out from under the pillow and held it in her lap before turning back to the older girl.
"Please, please don't go," she begged.
"Sorry, sis," the older girl continued packing, "mom's not getting out of prison anytime soon, and I refuse to live in this house with just dad."
"Dad, and you, and me. We have to keep this family from falling apart," Artemis pleaded with her sister.
The older girl seemed to pause, considering the words, turning to look at her, before exclaiming that she forgot her toothbrush.
Artemis, never one to go down without a fight, told the older girl, "Dad will come after you." To Wally, that sounded every bit the threat it was meant to. However, it didn't deter the older girl.
"Let him, I'll disappear like the Cheshire Cat," she retorted before heading for the door. Just before leaving, she paused, "You should get out too. I'd let you come with me, but you'd slow me down." She sounded sincere.
"Someone has to be here when mom gets out."
The older girl's expression hardened, similar to one of the man, their dad, from the previous memory. "Haven't you learned anything? In this family, it's every girl for herself." And with that she was gone.
Artemis fell to her knees, the teddy bear held tight to her chest. Wally could only watch as she stayed there for a while. Then her head tilted suddenly, having heard a signal Wally wasn't attuned to, and she rushed to rehide the teddy bear below the pillow. Frantic, she pulled a set of knives from below the bed and threw them at targets on the wall, landing the bullseye nearly every time.
The front door slammed open, and stomping footsteps could be heard.
"Jade! Artemis! Time to train!" The man's voice bellowed from somewhere else in the apartment.
When he got no response, the footsteps came barreling down the hall until the bedroom door burst open. Artemis calmly threw another knife into a bullseye before turning to her father.
"Sorry, I thought I'd practice a bit before training." She said innocently.
The man sneered at her, "Yeah, where's Jade? I think it's time to bring weapons into your sparring."
When Artemis didn't reply, the sneer faltered. The man glanced around the room, seeing evidence that the other girl, Jade, was gone. He stormed back out of the room with a call to keep practicing, fury overtaking his face.
Artemis retrieved her knives and with shaking hands began to hit the targets again and again. With every bullseye, her hand steadied, but her shoulders never fell, her posture stayed tense.
THUNK! Bullseye.
THUNK! Bullseye.
THWACK! Bullseye, but instead of a knife, an arrow protruded out of the target.
—
The team arrived back at the cave and quickly got everything situated to begin reverse engineering an anti-toxin.
Once again, Wally and Artemis were levitated into the medbay, though now by J'onn, as M'gann was putting all her focus towards allowing Wally into Artemis' subconscious.
Artemis' state had stabilized with Wally's arrival, but the Toxin was still reaching full effect.
—
Blinking, Wally took in the new surroundings. They were now in the gym of a high school, at one end stood a teenage Artemis, still younger than in the present, and at the other end was a line of archery targets.
Wally was hidden in an unlit corner, behind the bleachers. As he watched Artemis hit every bullseye, he took a second to process what he'd seen so far. He knew that she hadn't had an easy childhood, but Cheshire and Sportsmaster?
At least that's who he could assume her sister and dad were, and unfortunately the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Especially with their recent mission against them.
His thoughts were interrupted by Artemis being ambushed. Suddenly, ten to fifteen opponents dropped from the gym ceiling, all dressed like Shadows henchmen. Wally went to help, but his feet felt like he was running through syrup. He stopped struggling when he remembered this was a memory. He couldn't do anything to help.
This Artemis was kicking butt without his help anyway, nocking and loosing arrows at speeds he would've been impressed with if he could move at superspeed. When the Shadows got in closer, she switched to hand to hand combat. For the first time in a while, watching Artemis fight, she scared him.
Being trained by Canary and Green Arrow, Artemis always had an edge that came from somewhere else and early on, Wally recognized it as more ruthless than any Leaguer would've taught. Now, it all clicked.
Artemis was always a strong fighter, but he was glad to never have been put up against this version of his teammate. She pretty much won all of their sparring matches, even when he was allowed to run, but the moves she used here were designed to take out the opponent, permanently.
He watched as Shadow after Shadow fell, some calling it and walking away after being defeated, but more often than not, the ones who went down, stayed down, and didn't move again.
Soon enough, Artemis stood in the center of the gym, holding a jagged broken bow, blood dripping from the edges, looking up at figures Wally couldn't see from this angle.
A voice rang out from the top of the bleachers, "That was good, baby girl," Wally could practically hear the smirk as he predicted the next line, "but not good enough."
A second voice, one Wally couldn't place but knew he'd heard before, chastised Sportsmaster, "Good? Your daughter just took down some of my best assassins, single handedly."
Wally watched Artemis as this exchange continued, her expression never changing from one of apparent apathy. But Wally had spent enough time with the archer to see how much the smell was bothering her, and he noticed how her hands clenched as some of the blood ran down the bow across her fingers.
Finally, the voices stopped their villainous showboating and addressed the teen archer once again.
"Alright, salvage whatever arrows you can and then hit the showers. We have much to discuss about your place amongst the Shadows."
As Artemis walked from body to body, ripping arrows out with little hesitation, he could see the mask slipping. Hard swallowing whenever her hand grazed a still warm extremity, scrunching her nose at the squelch of blood beneath her boots, closing her eyes as a body twitched beside her.
She walked a little faster in the direction of the locker rooms, and Wally could follow, at last. Entering behind her, he found her viciously scrubbing at the hands, trying to get the water to run clear.
She met his eyes in the mirror, abruptly turning and putting her hands behind her back, as if the rest of her body wasn't also strained crimson.
"It only gets worse," she warned. "You shouldn't have to watch this."
"You shouldn't have to live this!" He shouted, frustrated.
Her cold, gray stare was so close to being the Artemis he knew, but it was so much darker.
"Jade got out. But guess what she's been up to, so maybe it doesn't matter if I should or shouldn't have to live like this," her voice shook, with anger or something else he couldn't tell, "no matter where I go, this is inevitable. This is how I live."
Wally didn't know how to respond to that because he knows that something changes, something allows her to find the team, but there was a small part of him that wondered what if it didn't? What if she is the mole and she's been playing them, playing him, since the day she set foot in the cave?
As if she could read his mind, her defiant look fell to one of doubt. "Wally," his Artemis was speaking to him again, through this still too young body, "I've done some horrible things, but I didn't have a choice, not yet."
She started to take a step away from the sink, reaching for him, but the sight of the blood on her hands made her stop.
She turned back and kept scrubbing, like the scene never stopped. Wally turned to leave the locker room, pushing the door open, and found himself outside.
He was glad to be away from the smell of blood, but he wasn't quite sure where he'd ended up. Until now, everything had been in Gotham, but the sun was shining and he just walked past people smiling so this was not Gotham.
Up ahead, he caught sight of the tell tale ponytail, and he made his way towards Artemis.
It looked like barely any time had passed between the last memory and now. She still looked a few younger than when they met, her hair was the same length as it had been, and she was wearing different shoes but other than that her height was the same. Next to her, however, stood a boy he immediately recognized.
Icicle Jr., otherwise known as, "Cameron Mahkent! You get back here!"
Artemis chased Cameron down the street, weaving between passersby with ease. Catching up to him, she tackled the boy.
"Ha! Tag, you're it!" She shouted in his face. Cameron struggled to get loose from her hold, but eventually she let up and helped him to his feet.
Wally watched, a bit confused, because in all their time fighting villains, Artemis never bristled at the mention of Icicle Jr. the way she would Cheshire or Sportsmaster.
"Fine, Arty," Cameron taunted, "you got me, but only because we can't play freeze tag like I wanted."
"Uh, duh, Idiot Jr.," Artemis fired back, "we're in public, and we can't have you blowing our cover, again!"
Wally held back a snort at the nicknames being traded, happy to know that he wasn't the only one to be on the receiving end of Artemis' wit.
"That was one time, um, oh, Fartemis!" Cameron got a smack upside the head for that one, and Wally tucked that name in the back of his mind for later use, a little annoyed he'd never thought of it himself.
"Whatever, Ice Queen, let's get some food, I'm starved," Artemis began to walk in the direction of some food carts. Cameron fumed for a second about the nickname before a mischievous look crossed his face and he ran to catch up.
"Well, now, Artemis, going for a walk and getting food, that sounds pretty romantic if you ask me," Cameron said as he sauntered up next to her.
Both Wally and Artemis rolled their eyes, though only one of them felt a twinge of jealousy hit his chest.
Artemis kept walking, refusing to dignify Cameron with a response, but rather than taking that as rejection, the young villain seemed encouraged by her lack of a rebuttal.
Following behind the pair of teens, Wally watched as Icicle Jr., true to his ways, pickpocketed, swiped, and snatched all the necessary fixings for a picnic date. Somehow even managed to grab a basket off of a passing bike to put his loot in. Wally would've been impressed if not for the stealing part.
Cameron caught back up with Artemis, grabbed her hand and led her to a park. Artemis, surprisingly, didn't object to Cameron's cold grip on her hand, simply allowing him to guide her to a tree tucked away in the corner of the field.
Looking around, Wally finally pieced together where they were. They were in Central City, which meant it was likely that he was here too, if the age of his teammate was anything to go off of.
His gaze found her once again, and the twinge of jealousy started to burn a hole in his chest, because Artemis and Cameron were kissing. Well, it was more Cameron kissed her before she shoved him off, but still.
"Aw, babe, you know you like me," Cameron pressured.
"Back off, Cam. You know we're only here together because of our dads. Don't act like this is anything else." She turned her back towards the boy and held her knees to her chest.
Wally wanted to get between the sleazy junior villian and Artemis, but knew he couldn't change the memory. That didn't make him feel any better when Cameron pressed on, trying to get Artemis to look at him again.
"Look, babe, I'm just trying to make the best of the situ-ow ow ow! Artemis!" Cameron's hand had been ripped off Artemis' shoulder and was now bent back at an awkward angle by the girl.
Her eyes blazing, she got in Cameron's face and threatened, "If you put your hand on me again, you're going to have to hope you can put it on ice long enough for them to reattach it."
With that, she dropped Cameron's hand and briskly walked away. Wally, knowing he couldn't see it, but not caring regardless, blow a raspberry at Icicle Jr. before going after Artemis.
It took a minute, she was faster than he gave her credit for, but when Wally found her, she was watching a TV through a storefront. The screen was playing the news, and Wally was pleasantly surprised to find an image of himself on display.
Stopping next to his teammate, he watched as his Aunt Iris announced Kid Flash as The Flash's sidekick for the first time. He couldn't hear the audio through the glass, but he had this clip memorized.
"...and there he is now, the man of the hour! The next generation of speedsters, Kid Flash! The newly appointed sidekick to our beloved scarlet speedster has been training alongside The Flash for a while now, our sources say, but just like Batman and Robin, Central City now has its own dynamic duo!"
Wally focused on Artemis' reflection in the glass as the newscast moved on to a report about the weather. She looked so young all of a sudden, even knowing that she couldn't have been more than 13 at this point. Next to him was a scared young girl with a fading bruise along her cheekbone, wearing an expression that even now, when no one was supposed to be watching, was guarded and shut off.
Looking back at the screens, he noticed only one was playing the news, the rest were showing snippets of memories they already been through, and a few he assumed she'd gone through alone before he got there.
The gym, her room, fighting on the roof with her sister–all replaying on loop, without him in them. On another screen he saw an even younger Artemis watching the TV in the dark as the news helicopter followed a car chase. A different screen showing a woman on a gurney, in handcuffs. Next to it, an empty bottle slipping through a rough and calloused hand, shattering on the ground.
There were more, but he turned away as he saw Artemis, no more than five years old, being handed a quiver full of blunt tip arrows.
"Do you get it yet?" He heard coming from next to him.
Meeting her gaze, this Artemis was watching him, waiting for an answer.
"Get what?"
"So that's a no, then." She sighed, and did something he thought impossible, grabbed his hand, "come on, there's more."
She led them down the street, passing by familiar buildings and signs, ones he'd paid little attention to in the past, until they reached the bank.
The bank her father was currently robbing.
—
The anti-toxin was being synthesized and tested as quickly as possible, but to give credit where credit is due, Scarecrow makes some potent Toxin.
Robin walked away from the lab to check on Wally and Artemis.
Approaching the medbay, he braced himself for yet another glimpse of his teammates, unconscious, curled around each other as lifelines.
Looking through the window, he saw just that. Artemis had shifted in Wally's arms to rest her head in the crook of his neck, and Wally now held around her waist like if he let go she'd never return. His head was turned towards hers, his lips centimeters away from appearing to kiss her forehead.
Even subconsciously, these two were drawn together like magnets. Robin shook his head, knowing that when they woke up, they'd probably avoid each other and deny ever laying a hand on the other.
And to think they'd been doing so well, he thought as he went back to the lab.
—
The sound of the bank alarm shifted into the chatter of a police scanner, the scene in front of Wally melting away, and with it went the hand that had been grasping his.
Before him, he saw Gotham once more, off in the distance the batsignal shone against the perpetual cloud coverage and smog. He'd always thought that thing was so pretentious, but he wouldn't dare tell Robin.
Speaking of the boy wonder, a birdarang (listen Dick has a thing about naming things in the most obnoxious way) lodged itself in the wall right in front of Wally's face.
Hearing his best friend's signature cackle, he almost thought Robin had tried to hit him on purpose. Then Wally spotted the shock of blonde amongst the shadows and remembered where he was. As the dynamic duo ran across the rooftop, Artemis tracked them with a pair of binoculars. The police scanner crackled again, reporting a break-in down the street, in the opposite direction as Bats and Robin had gone.
Wally saw the familiar gleam in Artemis' eye as she took to the fire escape and shot off a grappling hook arrow. He took notes that she was clearly not dressed in the emerald green uniform he was used to seeing, but she clearly wasn't working with the Shadows anymore. He glanced back at her apartment before following, and he noticed the woman who had been in a gurney on the memory screen. Now she sat in a wheelchair, and as she closed Artemis' door, she had a concerned but hopeful expression.
Turning back to chase after Artemis, he almost thought he got his speed back, as he suddenly was crouched across the street waiting for her to finish the Zipline she created. He tried to run, and just came to the conclusion that the memory had placed him there.
Artemis went in with efficiency, taking down the bad guys swiftly, and notably non-lethally. As soon as they were all tied up, she bolted again, and Wally figured the memory would make him go too, but he stayed.
Having worked with Robin for a while now, he could tell the second he turned up. The ripple of his cape was almost indistinguishable from the sounds of the city, but Wally knew to listen for it. He saw as Robin assessed the scene, then called for the Commissioner. While waiting, the barely-a-teen detective typed furiously at his wrist computer, inputting details about a "new vigilante in Gotham", as Wally read over his shoulder. When the Commissioner showed up, Robin made no mention of a new hero, simply teasing that the cops didn't get them without help, yet again.
Suddenly, Wally was back in Artemis' room, seeing her smirk as the police scanner reported no need for back up at the scene. She took off her gear methodically, until she was just in regular work out clothes, packing up the bow, crossbow, arrows and bolts, and her clearly salvaged body armor. Even though it was extremely rudimentary compared to what she used now, Artemis treated the equipment like gold. Cleaning, buffing, and storing it all properly before collapsing into bed and throwing the covers up over her head.
Her door cracked open, and from where he stood, Wally could see the woman in the wheelchair breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of the Artemis shaped lump that had begun to snore.
When the door shut, the scene changed, and Wally found himself in the Gotham Academy gym.
Literally. He watched as he and the team fought Amazo, that terrible android that could copy all of the League's powers. It was weird seeing himself. At least, in person, seeing himself on the news was something he'd gotten used to.
So it was Artemis' arrow that saved my butt- I mean, that saved me from Amazo! As he thought that, he realized that they were too early. He had just shown up, there was no way Artemis saw this and willingly stayed out that long.
Turning, he saw why she wasn't in the battle yet. It was because she had been busy battling those MonKi things up a tree outside! Wally caught himself before he laughed too hard, but it was quite the sight. When she'd managed to shake off all the small androids, she went back to the skylight he'd been watching through–right in time to see Kid Flash getting the life squeezed out of him. The arrow whizzed past him before he even realized she'd nocked it, then he watched as he fell through the density shifting form of Amazo.
Wally turned to thank her, but she was sprinting down the street all of a sudden, and next thing he knew, he's standing behind GA and Bats in her living room.
Yeah, he gets why the Fear Toxin would include this.
—
M'gann wished she could know what was going on in Artemis and Wally's minds right now, but she couldn't do anything besides act as a conduit. Artemis allowed Wally in, and M'gann wasn't at all jealous. Seriously, she was fine that her best friend chose the boy she claims to hate but is clearly in love with over her.
Frowning, M'gann tried to shove the thought away. She knew Artemis trusts her, but lately with all the mole talk, it was hard not to take it personally.
A hand brushed her own, and through the green haze, she was thrilled to see Connor. He held her hand and offered her some food and water. They didn't talk, M'gann being otherwise preoccupied, but she appreciated her boyfriend checking on her.
They stayed that way for a while, until Oliver asked to have the room so they could allow Artemis' mother in with as little team contact as possible.
Connor left, after reassuring GA that M'gann was only there to be able to support the connection, and would not disrespect Artemis or her mother's privacy.
Soon enough, M'gann heard the door open, and a voice she didn't recognize speaking softly with Oliver and Dinah. Silently, she hoped when this was all over, Artemis would let her meet her mom.
—
Wally cringed every time he saw his memory self open his stupid mouth. All those insults he threw at her at the beginning and all the shameless flirting with M'gann, all because he was embarrassed when they first met.
Something Wally noticed that he wasn't sure Artemis was even aware of, was how much time he spent staring at her. Not creepily, just trying to figure her out, or something like that. Sometimes it was obvious, like the famous "I can hear you glaring" comment from Aqualad, but then in the tower of fate, he found himself shocked that for all the time he spent trying to impress M'gann, he was looking at Artemis.
Watching the events of the tower was rough, especially when he saw just what the others went through while he had been topside fighting Klarion. He definitely didn't cry when he saw Kent again.
Somehow, even in Artemis' memories, the power of the helmet was overwhelming. In fact, rather than strictly seeing Artemis' memory of that day, he did too.
It started in the elevator with Artemis and Kent. Wally felt Artemis elbow him and he realized he was standing in his place. He was confused, but Kent had a look to his eye that said, "Go along with it." So he did.
The events all happened as they had, until he got into the helmet with Kent. Then they broke the script.
"Seriously, kid, how'd you get so bullheaded in fifteen short years?" Kent asked him, same as he once did, and Wally took a chance.
"Actually, I'm sixteen now, still bullheaded though, that hasn't changed."
Kent smiled and laughed, "Bit of a pickle you've gotten yourself into here, huh? Can't blame you, I'd do the same if my Inza were in Artemis' position."
"But how, I mean, if you're not even in the helmet anymore, how are we, you know?" Wally stammered, trying to collect his thoughts, knowing how quickly the fight with Klarion would go.
Kent just gave him one of those looks, like he knows Wally knows the answer, just refuses to see it. "So, you figured out who I was talking about when I said 'find your own little spitfire,'"
"'one who doesn't let you get away with nothing,'" Wally finished the quote, "Yeah, I mean, you also started to say 'for example,' before I took the helmet off, and after thinking about it, I realized that you had only.met me and Artemis that day."
Kent nodded, grinning. Sooner than Wally would've liked, the battle was over, and the script had to be followed once again, but he shared one last look with Kent before taking off the helmet, and really listened this time when he started with, "some free advice before you go…"
The missions between the tower and the Bialyan Desert flew by in a montage of mostly Wally realizing how early on he started to fall for Artemis. He was so deep in denial, it was hard to believe even on replay, but the evidence was right there in front of him–and it wasn't even complete, this was just what Artemis saw. And yeah, he understood why she hates him.
The reminiscent brain blast didn't hurt any less the second time around, but at least he kept his memories this time.
He watched as the two of them stumbled their way through the desert to the shack they woke up in. Knowing what he did now added so much weight to her saying that her dad probably wanted him dead, and made the excuse of ninja boyfriend all the more hilariously stupid.
The next mission that stuck out was one he'd been anticipating and dreading all the same. Technically it wasn't even a mission, seeing as they didn't even leave the cave. When the Reds attacked, the whole team felt betrayed, but for Wally nothing was worse than hearing Artemis almost give up when she thought he couldn't hear her.
He watched as Robin and Artemis dissected the security footage and tried to piece together the events of the attacks, all the while wanting to shove his foot in his mouth when he heard his past self call her hostile and annoying.
It was hard to see the Reds cornering his two closest teammates while Wally had been stuck in concrete a few rooms away. Granted, he'd been nearly drowning so it wasn't like he had been able to do much, but he still felt helpless.
When Robin's disc thing got embedded in the concrete next to his head, Wally still flinched, even knowing now that it had been planned and Dick's aim was on par with Artemis'.
It was that disc that saved them, but also scared Wally more than anything. He heard Artemis' whole rant over the communicator, and he still couldn't blame her for being distraught. Robin had been doing this since he was nine, but Wally had just watched how Artemis had been fighting for her life since she was younger than that. She'd been trained to kill since she could hold a weapon, but machines don't die like humans do.
And then Robin drowned, sort of.
But what Artemis didn't know was that the communicator disc was hooked into all their comms. He'd heard her losing hope, trying to get out, only to just about give up.
Now he watched as she fell into the souvenir room, and her speech all made sense. Before he couldn't imagine who she must have been talking to, but now he stared at Cheshire's mask with her, and he understood.
All her life, she'd been told to do it herself, taught she couldn't count on anyone but herself, and here she was, the last one standing. She could've ran, but she didn't.
Wally watched as she picked up the arrow that started her journey as part of the team, and he couldn't imagine ever accrediting Roy with saving him ever again. Roy ran away, Artemis stayed.
Artemis saved him. And here she was, doing it again. Then he watched as she did it again and again. She made a sling when he broke his arm, hit the volcano perfectly to vent the pressure, and so many more times after that.
More, unfortunately, including the simulation. The first time he lost her. And if he could help it, the only time he'd lose her.
—
Paula Crock was always afraid that she'd lose Artemis to the Shadows, like she had herself, Lawrence, and Jade. But Artemis shone so brightly, she cast away the Shadows and Paula couldn't be prouder.
That didn't mean she wasn't scared the light would go out.
When the call came, she couldn't say she was all that shocked. More than anything, she was relieved that Oliver told her that Artemis was alive. Then Bruce Wayne's personal driver and butler showed up to escort her to the cave, and, well, Paula was a Shadow assassin for years, give her some credit. It doesn't take much to make the connections between Oliver Queen and Green Arrow, and Bruce Wayne and Batman.
On the way, they assured her that the team would not be allowed into the room without explicit permission, both for her sake and Artemis'.
It still broke her heart a little knowing how ashamed Artemis was of her past, but she couldn't really blame her.
What no one had informed her of throughout this whole thing, however, was that her daughter was in love.
Paula immediately identified him as Kid Flash, or Wally West, that was not the issue. And admittedly, she'd had her suspicions once Artemis started complaining nonstop about the redheaded boy, but upon entering the medbay, she found the two of them wrapped around each other.
She had been told the details of the incident, but apparently even Batman knew better than to inform Ollie that his not-niece was cuddling up to the speedster, if the way Dinah had to excuse them from the room was any indication.
Paula smiled, happy her daughter had found someone, and if she was internally laughing that it was the infamous Wally, that was her business.
Looking at the two of them, it was clear Wally felt the same, and as she watched them, Wally's hold managed to get even more protective, and Artemis leaned into it. If not for the Fear Toxin, it'd be a pretty adorable sight.
—
"Artemis!" The guttural scream ripped out of him as he had to watch her vanish before his eyes yet again.
He knew this time, but it didn't stop the pain that spread through his chest, or the overwhelming feeling that if he had just started running, she wouldn't have had to go alone.
Unlike the first time, the rest of the simulation didn't play out for him. These were Artemis' memories, and she didn't have to watch him fall apart after her death. Instead, now he sat in front of her in a void.
She sat criss cross on the floor, if that's possible in an endless void, with her eyes closed. He mirrored her position, unsure if he should also close his eyes.
What he truly wanted to do was reach out and know for sure that the ray hadn't taken her away for good this time, but he was so afraid that he'd be wrong and she'd be gone that he just stared.
He wanted to memorize her face, just in case. He wanted to remember the callouses on her hands, the snarls and knots in her never ending ponytail. He wished that she'd open her eyes so he could recognize his new favorite color. Wally just stared and hoped time would pass a little faster, so he could hear her voice again.
In the back of his mind, his memories echoed out his despair at the loss of the girl in front of him. He felt his knuckles bruising from hitting the console in the bioship, the crazed elation when he discovered the zeta radiation, the desperate hope that Artemis was alive. And the crushing realization that his best friend knew all along that the girl he loved was gone.
He remembered feeling happy that he was dying because maybe Kent was right and they'd ascend.
—
Every anti-toxin they'd made had failed testing, and Robin could tell they were running out of time. Artemis' heart rate kept spiking, KF's was scarily slow for a speedster, and Miss M couldn't last much longer without proper rest.
Robin watched as the newest test anti-toxin finished synthesis, and the analysis began. The more stages of testing it passed the more Robin worried it would fail again. Sure enough, the green light turned red. Another fail.
"One more step closer, right?" The Flash was working in the lab with him, and even the speedster was losing optimism.
Robin recorded the results and adjusted the formula once more.
—
Wally tried to tune out the therapy sessions, after all they were supposed to be private, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Artemis, not this time. His memory self kept his distance, close enough to know she was there, but far enough that no one would comment on his proximity to the archer.
Screw that, no one could see him standing in the window, watching as Canary grilled Artemis. He needed to know he wasn't going to blink and she'd be gone.
When they'd woken up, the void fading as they had opened their eyes back on those tables, he remembered how he had looked at her first. He found her and he wasn't going to lose her again.
So he followed as she left the conference room, turning towards her mostly unused bedroom here in the cave. He stopped outside her door, not wanting to intrude, despite literally being in her head.
The choice was taken from him when he found himself standing inside, the door now across the room, and he saw Artemis curled up in a ball on the bed.
She stared blankly at the wall for a while, and he didn't know what to do besides sit in silence with her.
Eventually, she broke the silence, speaking to him for the first time in a while, the last time being the memory in Central City.
"I heard you, you know?"
He blinked, not sure what she was referring to.
Her eyes met his, "this time around, in the simulation. I heard your memories."
"Oh."
"The first time I died, it was just nothing until I woke up on the cold table."
"So you know then," he trailed off, unsure how to finish the question.
"How you absolutely freaked out after I died? Yeah, but I found that out a while ago."
Wally opened and closed his mouth a few times, lost for words.
Sighing, Artemis sat up, holding eye contact, "M'gann heard me one night, my thoughts 'too loud to ignore' apparently, when I was having a panic attack. She came in, calmed me down, and showed me what happened."
Wally looked down at his feet, trying to escape her knowing gaze.
To no avail, as she simply moved off the bed onto the floor beside him, lifting his chin so he had to look at her.
"This time, I felt your pain. I knew what happened, but M'gann could only show me the images."
He studied her face, worried he'd find disgust and rejection, only to be greeted with something he couldn't name.
"Wally," she whispered, as if someone else could overhear, "it hurt less to die, than to feel what you felt when I died."
The memory began to change again, and all he could say was, "I'm sorry-"
—
Robin sat with baited breath as the newest test anti-toxin finished and all the lights stayed green.
"We got it. We got it!" Grabbing the test tube and bolting down the hall, Robin shouted their accomplishment.
M'gann, having heard the commotion, began pulling Wally back. He gasped awake, confused as the real world registered around him. The comforting weight of Artemis on his chest was grounding him to reality, until he had to get up so they could administer the anti-toxin.
Watching the archer's body relax, her heart rate return to normal, as well as her breathing, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Artemis would be okay.
Paula turned her gaze from her daughter to find the boy she wished to thank was gone. Wally had waited long enough to see Artemis was going to recover before he ran. He couldn't face her right now, not when he knows that she knows how he felt when she died, all but shouting from the rooftops how he feels about her.
It was Robin who found him, of course it was. Although it wasn't hard to find him. In true Wally fashion, he raided the fridge and left a trail of breadcrumbs, literally, to where he went.
He was set in the conference room where the therapy sessions with Canary were held. The snacks he'd grabbed sat beside him, untouched, and the usually hyperactive speedster was just staring at the ceiling, upside down in his chair.
"The Toxin and anti-toxin had a side effect." Robin told him, "She doesn't remember what happened inside her memories. The original memories are fine, but whatever replay you saw, she has no recollection of."
Wally tried not to react, but it hit him like a brick in his chest. If Dick noticed, which he probably did, he said nothing. After a minute of silence, he snatched a snack from Wally's hoard and began to walk out.
"She told me that she could feel how I felt when she died." Wally just let it out and Dick stopped walking.
"She said that dying, physically getting hit by a disintegration ray, was less painful. That the pain I felt when I saw her die, that was more painful than dying." Wally waited for Dick to say anything, react, or just do something.
When he didn't, Wally just sighed. "And you come in here, telling me that she doesn't remember that." Wally sat up with a dry, sad laugh, "So the last conversation she remembers us having-"
"Wally, it'll be ok." Dick finally said something, turning back.
"Dick, I know why now! I saw it all! I get it now, but she doesn't know that. The last thing I said to her is that she's insecure and selfish," Wally met Dick's eyes through the mask, "and I couldn't be farther from the truth, but I can't tell her that I'm wrong because she doesn't remember showing me."
"You could-"
"What? Tell her that I know everything about her? Tell her that everything she's tried to keep a secret for the past year is just knowledge I have now, without her willingly sharing it?! What can I do, Dick, besides pretend that nothing happened?"
Dick sat in the chair across from Wally now, looking at his best friend like he'd never seen him before.
"I love her." Wally whispered, sounding terrified.
"I know."
"You did not just Han Solo me right now, dude."
Dick just smirked, knowing that Wally was telling him that he'd be alright, eventually.