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She Breathes, She Sleeps; She Sleeps, She Breathes by MCUsic_to_my_ears
Fandoms: Criminal Minds (US TV), Young Justice (Cartoon)
17 Feb 2026
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Summary
Artemis takes the brunt of a fear toxin exposure from her teammate. Tara doesn't know if she'll recover.
Series
- Part 4 of Special Agent Artemis West
- Part 1 of Criminal Minds x DC Crossover Week 2026
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Bookmark Notes:
'“Fear gas,” Penelope and Luke fill in.
Just the name makes Tara’s heartrate tick up. Ten minutes of the annual substance training was dedicated to the nightmare in the bottle. And Artemis enclosed herself in a hundred square feet with it, no chance for it to disperse.''She nods, an oxygen mask muffling her acknowledgement. Standard protocol, another of the trio of Wayne Enterprise rapid responders told her as they set up a decon shower. She didn’t enjoy stripping in the lobby to the office building, front doors still busted from SWAT’s intrusion. Still, it’s a necessity she isn’t aiming to wiggle out of. Artemis already sacrificed enough ensuring that all of this is a formality. And it’s not the strangest place she’s gone nude.'
'Delta Squad had to disassemble the door to get in.
Disassemble.
After fixing a spare gas mask over Tara’s face and sending her toward the elevator, the agents had busted out the tried and true battering ram. The door didn’t budge. Tara remembers the lightning panic lancing through her fingers when the awaiting crash never came.
Someone, presumably Artemis, caulked the gaps in the door frame with an expanding foam. The vents had been similarly covered. No air was able to leak out. No fresh oxygen was able to get in.''The Wayne team had been Emily’s call, literally. Bureau policy is to report all suspected gas attacks to DHS and Wayne Enterprises. WE specializes in the weirdest of the weird.
They’re contracted with the UN to contain the spillages of Gotham sadism. They arrived thirty minutes after Emily placed the call.
According to Penelope, Wayne Enterprises doesn’t have offices in this state.
These sorts of coherent thoughts are evidence enough that Tara wasn’t exposed to the fear gas. A whole canister was released in that room. An amount that could easily spread across a city block in the right weather conditions.
Artemis made sure Tara didn’t get a whiff, damning herself to forty minutes of exposure.''After the horror of Lian’s kidnapping, everyone has Will’s contact plugged into their devices. There’s two lines associated with it. A Star City area code and a one eight hundred number. It’s unspoken, but the latter is not to be contacted unless it’s the end of the world.'
'From the foot of the bed, Barbara responds, “I don’t know, sweetie.” Tara holds in a yawn, more exhausted than she realizes. For a moment, she thought she heard Barbara call the girl speedy.'
'Tara imagines all the capes that must care so deeply for the daughter of Red Arrow. How many new masks join their ranks each year.
Lian Nguyen-Harper has quite possibly the largest extended family in the world.
Right now, her focus is on the one who matters most. The aunt who raised her.''Barbara glances at her, then her eyes narrow. Just a fraction. Just enough to know that Tara’s innocent face has been seen through.
...
The walls around them feel just a little less straight, the air a little less smooth. War and storm and grief swirl in this young woman’s eyes. She has seen more than Tara will ever understand. She has stared down darkness and come out the other side just the same as Tara.''“Artemis believes she is dead,” Morse states as delicately as she can manage.
Tara feels her heart collapse. Her fingers still buzz with the pressure of the pen she’d signed her name with. Barbara had notarized it without looking. Paula had stood in as witness.
And now Tara knows she sits in the presence of a meta.
This shouldn’t be a surprise. She knows Artemis is close with hackers and magicians. Metas shouldn’t be a stretch.
In her many years, Tara has only ever seen metas on the news. She knows there are covert abilities, that there have always been comments about Spencer that he’s struggled to laugh off.
Now, she sits across from a mind reading meta who uses her powers to understand the intricacies of high school drama.
Logically, Tara knows that there are metas who aren’t members of the Justice League. The Meta-Human Youth Center that cut its ribbon a many years back is evidence enough of that.
Somehow, it never quite occurred to her that metas could have such normal lives. A stereotype she’ll be sure to wrestle into submission when she’s no longer relying on this mundane meta to save her friend’s life.''Morse smiles. The connection between her and Artemis runs deep, Tara realizes. Deeper than that of Morse and Barbara or even Artemis and Barbara.
Many years ago, Morse had said.
Tara wonders how many. How young Artemis was when a psychic convinced her she was dead. How young she was when she had to pick herself back up from that.'