Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any of its characters


The year was 1970. Artemis stepped off of the bus hesitantly as she took in the scenery that was going to be her new home. After a whole summer of travel it was going to be weird having a stable home for the next school year. It wasn't her idea to go back to school, but there was no way her uncle was going to let her, "travel around with a bunch of smelly hippies when she should be finishing her education".

After their dad had been sent to Vietnam, Artemis and her sister Jade had nobody keeping them from leaving, so that's what they did. Ever since they had gotten into the wrong bus and found themselves at some war protest, they just kind of went with it. They met some really cool people who had told them all about their cause and how it was their job to "fight the power", and all that hippie crap, and it just kinda stuck.

For the first few months it had been just Artemis and Jade hopping from bus to bus, campground to campground, peace march to peace march, and it had been nice. It was just Artemis and Jade against the world like always, but this time they were free from their father. All that changed when Artemis woke up one morning to find the tent empty and a note saying "I'm sorry Artemis, but I have to do this on my own, I'll come back for you". So much for Artemis and Jade against the word.

Artemis didn't show it, but she was kind of relieved when her Uncle Oliver's girlfriend Dinah spotted her at some peace rally in New York, it had been hard being on her own. Dinah was an extremely beautiful women that was in her mid 20's, only a couple years younger than her uncle. She had pretty blonde hair and bright eyes, with a kind face. Dinah was a people-person, she had a way about her that convinced all that she met to trust her, Artemis assumed that this was why Oliver had sent her instead of himself. It wasn't that Oliver was untrustworthy, he just wasn't the type of guy you could knit sweaters and talk about your problems with. Artemis had no idea how she had found her, but then again Oliver was one of the richest men in the US so it wasn't all that surprising that he had found a way.

Dinah had taken her to some coffee shop to "catch up", which really meant convincing her to come stay with them for the school year so that she could finish her education. Artemis fought Dinah on it for a long time, but eventually caved knowing that being 16 Oliver could just legally gain custody and force her to come so it was just better to do it the easy way. Dinah asked about where Jade was, but didn't press when Artemis told her she didn't know. Dinah knew that there was no way they could get her to come with them considering she was 19 and could legally go wherever she wanted.

Dinah told her that she could have another 2 weeks and no longer. She wrote down their address on a napkin and hugged her goodbye. Artemis didn't know why she trusted Artemis to come, but then again if she didn't Oliver could find her again just as easily so she thought best not to question it.

After Dinah left, Artemis spent the next 2 weeks enjoying her short-lived freedom. But, eventually the time came where she had to return to being a 16 year old girl who went to school and did what she was told. So that's when she caught a bus that was going to some speech an important general was giving about the progress in Vietnam in the city her Uncle lived in. The others on the bus were planning on protesting, and she hadn't decided if she was going to join them for one last stroke of rebellion yet.

After Artemis had stepped out of the bus, she glanced at her reflection in the window. Her incredibly long blonde hair was underneath a thin brown headband that stretched across her forehead. She straightened her short green crop top that she had paired with some old washed out levi's that were now covered in rips and the occasional peace-sign iron, the jeans were tucked into her brown fringe-covered boots. The jeans had been Jade's, one of the few things she had left of her sister, so they were slightly big, the only thing holding them up was a brown sweatshirt that was tied around her waist. Her accessory of choice was a white armband that was patterned with brown arrows, Jade had found it at a swap meet and bought it for her, it was one of Artemis' favorite things she owned.

Artemis straightened her fringe-covered bag that contained all of the few things she owned as she decided which way to go. She could go right and head straight to her uncle's house, or she could go left and join the protest. After a short hesitation, she decided on going left, it's not like her aunt and uncle were going to miss her for a few more hours.


Wally shifted his weight as he anxiously listened to the speech. After his Uncle was drafted into the war he had been attending all that he could, wanting to make sure he didn't miss out on hearing anything that could tell him more about when his uncle might be coming home. Without his Uncle Barry around, it had been hard on Wally and his Aunt Iris, money was tight and eventually they lost the house. Luckily, their good friends Oliver and Dinah had been kind enough to allow them to stay in the guest house of their mansion, which had become their home for the past 6 months. Oliver was 2 years older than the drafting age, so he didn't have to worry about it. Barry was not so lucky.

Either way, life wasn't so bad for Wally and his Aunt. Barry wrote as often as he could which turned out to be at least once a month. Also, the guest house was extremely nice and far enough from the main property to have some privacy, but close enough to go over whenever they wanted. They often had dinners together at least once a week on the main property, and it was nice for Iris to have friends like Dinah and Oliver around to support her. Even Wally became good friends with their adopted son Roy after only a few short weeks of living there. Wally and Roy had already known each other from school, but hadn't been very close considering Roy had been a couple grades above him. Even though Roy is now out of high school, he will still be living with Oliver and Dinah once he attends school at a local college in the Fall so that was cool.

Speaking of Roy, Wally had no idea where he and Wally's best friend Dick where, they had left to go grab some food a while ago which Wally was extremely grateful for because he was starving, but then again Wally was always hungry. Anyways, it had been some time since they left and Wally was thinking about going to look for them when…


Artemis had just reached the other protesters that were stationed in the back of the crowd and were holding up the usual signs and chanting when she saw him… Roy. She hadn't seen Oliver and Dinah's adopted son in a long time, but she could recognize that red hair and brooding scowl anywhere. He was walking with some kid with jet-black hair and the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. The kid couldn't have been any older than 14. After a moment of watching them she realized that they were heading her way. There was no way Roy was going to catch her lingering around town and drag her to Oliver's house before she could spend her last few hours of freedom. She actually had no idea if Roy knew about her coming to town, but she decided not to take the chance, so she began frantically pushing through the crowd in front of her, hoping to make a stealthy escape.

Artemis continued pushing through the crowd while glancing back to see if she had been spotted when she bumped into some block-head in front of her, and before she knew it she was headed straight for the ground…


He felt something run into him from the behind, so he quickly turned around to see a girl in the midst of falling. He skillfully grabbed her wrist and pulled her up before she could hit the ground.

Once the girl had dusted herself off and looked up at him he realized that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had extremely long and bright blonde hair, that glimmered next to her slightly tan skin. Her eyes were a deep grey, like a storm cloud in the midst of July. For a moment he just stared at her, completely forgetting where he was and what had just happened.


Artemis looked up at the thing that nearly knocked her down to realize that it was a boy with bright orange hair and freckles with piercing green eyes, he couldn't have been much older than her. She looked down at his light blue plaid button up with sleeves rolled up above his elbow to reveal a watch on his left wrist. She also took in the grey slacks the button up was tucked into. Instantly she rolled her eyes at the kid that was obviously a huge prick.

"Nice going asshole you nearly knocked me down", she glared at him harder, wondering if he knew how hard he was staring.

He blinked a few times before replying, "w-what", he stuttered as he began to snap out of his trance.

Artemis let out a huge breath as she retorted, "You heard me, what are you stupid or something?", she rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might never come back down.

He contemplated this, "What no I…wait a minute you ran into me!", he finally snapped out of his hypnotic state as he crossed his arms, "If anything you should be thanking me for saving you from falling to the floor!".

Artemis smirked, getting a kick out of the red-head's obvious annoyance until she remembered where she was, "whatever I don't have time to argue with some prick about whether or not he knocked me down all day", she pushed him aside and continued through the crowd.

The boy stepped aside, letting her through, "what the hell is your problem?", he retorted to the backside of the figure that was getting further way by the second.

Artemis glanced back, prepared to give the ginger-haired asshole the finger when she spotted Roy and the dark haired boy approaching him out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned around and walked as fast as she could, hoping Roy didn't recognize her.


Wally stared at the quick-tempered girl as she sauntered away through the crown. What the hell just happened? and who the hell was that?

"Hey who's the hippie?" Dick was now behind him munching on some popcorn, Roy followed close behind and was also staring at the girl, as if deciding whether or not he knew her.

Wally plunged his hand into the popcorn bag grabbing as much as he could, still staring at the back of the now far away girl, "I have no idea…"


Review and let me know if I should continue, as of right now I probably will, suggestions are welcome!:)