A/N: This is the first of a series; not necessarily one shots so it could be considered a chaptered fic instead. I'm not too fond of keeping up with chaptered fics, but the max this one would have is six anyway, each one centered around a different member of the team. Anywho, reviews are appreciated!

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"Don't worry, everyone gets caught at least once."

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It was her first time. She reflected on what she did wrong, what mistakes she made to wind up bound to a piece of furniture in some man's basement-turned-laboratory. Her conscious wouldn't admit that she was afraid. Instead, she created excuses, reasons why her heart pounded so terribly fast and sweat began to soak through her clothes. And even more reasons for why her eyes occasionally stung and watered.

Because it was dark. Because it was hot. Because he was smoking.

After the first hour, she had stopped struggling. The man was so 'kind' enough as to alert her with each hour's passing, though the small amount of relief made her more wary than calm. There was always a hint of… something in his voice that made her body tense every time he spoke.

She wasn't scared. He didn't scare her. It was just nervousness. Just nervousness.

At the third hour, he came to stand in front of her. She couldn't quite make out what he had behind his back, but in the back of her mind she knew it wasn't a piece of candy.

"Are you afraid little girl?" Venomous. That's what she had wanted to describe the sound as before. His voice leaked venom with each word. Her heart rate increased against her will.

"No."

The chuckle that came along with the painful yank of her hair managed to make that rapid beating stop for a few seconds.

"You should be."

A switch snapped on and instinctively she closed her eyes at the sudden brightness. There was no time for her to fully adjust to the light as he pulled down on her ponytail, snapping her head back against the edge of the chair. Blinking rapidly to re-focus her vision, she found herself staring straight into her captor's eyes, and the maddened look in them chilled her to the bone.

She refused to be scared.

On his face was a huge grin, and she couldn't help but wonder what he could possibly be planning to do to her. Rape? Everyday torture? Surely he wouldn't murder her, even though that was his MO in the crimes her team had been pursuing him for. Surely he would have sense and not murder a member of a team associated with the Justice League, which he didn't have any sort of fighting chance against. Surely he wouldn't. He wouldn't.

Tauntingly he removed the object from behind his back – a serrated knife.

She screamed.

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When she had first disappeared, he had just assumed that she had taken on Robin's habit of going off on his own during missions. Not that he cared, she was usually screwing something up and getting in the way anyways. But once Miss Martian and Aqualad had announced that their target had gotten away, he began to worry. Just a little.

"So, if he's gone, and Rob's back, where's Artemis?"

He almost regretted asking the question as the team glanced amongst one another, muttering 'I dunno's and shrugging. It placed a bad feeling in his chest, and although the thought of her plotting something against them in her absence crossed his mind, he decided to check around the area for her. Superboy offered to help, searching in the opposite direction. The offer was accepted, and the two of them split up, their meeting point being with the rest of the team. Miss Martian kept them mentally linked up in case something happened.

He refused to even think about being worried.

The speedster covered numerous areas of where their pursuit took place but found no leads to what could've possibly happened to his teammate. No stray arrows, no torn pieces of green cloth, nothing.

Skidding to a stop, he took one more glance around the area before sighing.

Guys, I can't find anythi-

It was almost too faint to hear, but he heard it. A scream: long, loud, and probably painful to the lungs of the person doing it. There was no mistake about it, it was female.

His heart felt like it dropped into his stomach.

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She wasn't afraid. No, after the sight of that menacing tool being dangled in front of her, already stained with some other young woman's blood, she wasn't afraid at all.

She was terrified.

The chair didn't break like she desperately hoped it would as she struggled furiously against her bindings. As the man took his time sharpening the blade, he laughed at her. A dry, evil laughter that could only belong to a killer. A killer that enjoyed what he'd done and reveled in what he was about to do. Tears formed as she battled the rope, ignoring the blood that soon dripped slowly from the torn skin of her arms and the throbbing pain in her shoulder.

Please just break! Please!

After she finally admitted to herself that the chair was an enemy and wouldn't break, she resorted to constant screaming, just praying that someone would hear her. Her throat ran dry quicker than she expected, and just like that, her last resort turned into forced squeaks that rivaled a mouse.

She was done for. No one would hear her, no one would find her. He was going to kill her.

She was going to die.

Tears spilled down her cheeks and she couldn't fight them back this time. Her body shook with sobs, her breath catching in her throat every so often. At the very least, she would've accepted dying in battle. Not in some pervert's basement in the middle of nowhere where no one would find her body. That wasn't the way she wanted to die. She didn't want to die at all.

Once the sound of metal screeching stopped, Artemis felt as though she was completely lost. All that shifted through her mind were apologies and 'thank you's to everyone she knew for her lies and the fact that they accepted her anyway. Her lips trembled and she attempted struggling once more as the form she feared stepped into her view.

"Looks like you still have some fight in you." His hand reached out and she flinched, though it was just an oddly gentle caressing of her cheek. "How cute."

Taking hold of her hair once again, the man forced her to look up at him, her eyes red and watery. "Any last words?" The grin on his face suddenly made her nauseous.

"I have some last words for you!"

Artemis blinked and suddenly the grasp on her hair was gone and her tormenter disappeared as well. Confusion gripped her, but with a quick look around, she found all the answers she needed.

There was no way her blurry vision could keep up with the amount of blows being dealt, but she sure knew that it was more than enough to drive a person unconscious. She didn't really mind if the boy killed him, in fact, she would actually enjoy that. But for the sake of his own sanity, she decided to try and stop him.

"Wa- K-Kid Flash…" She croaked, her voice so hoarse and soft that she didn't think he'd be able to hear her. He did somehow, and stopped pounding his fists into the already bloody mess in his grip. His panting reached her ears, and she almost thought she needed to snap him out of it again, but then he took in a deep breath and turned to her.

"Geez, Arty. I could hear your screeching from halfway across the world."

His playful tone and his somber facial expression didn't match, and she took note of that as he started to untie her. Once released, her limbs felt so sore that she could barely move them. The awkward way her arms had been tied behind her back did a number on her shoulders, and she could already tell she wouldn't have much luck with her bow for a few days. It didn't take long for him to completely finish – he was a speedster after all – but once he did, he began to say something that she couldn't quite make out. Attempting to stand, the blonde hadn't realized that her legs had fallen asleep at some point and collapsed.

Of course, he wasn't called Kid Flash for nothing.

He caught her, her body quivering uncontrollably. Wally could hear her struggling attempts at regulating her breathing. It was hard seeing her in such a vulnerable state.

"Besides the obvious, are you alright?" He asked, his voice oddly softer than he wanted it to be. It didn't bother him much, but when Artemis nodded in response he released a sigh of relief.

"That's good… I guess."

Abruptly, Artemis weakly pushed away from him, trying again to stand on her own. Her legs were so shaky that it was obvious to Kid Flash what he had to do.

"Alright, you may hate me for this, but I swear it's for your own good." Before the girl could have a chance to question or protest, he hooked his arm under her knees and swept her up into his grip. Thankfully, she didn't have enough energy to fight it, and simply rested her head on his shoulder as he carefully left the building.

"Why… why don't you just speed-run it?" She finally asked after a while of walking. Wally simply grinned.

"First of all, you wouldn't be able to handle it. Second, I want to enjoy the fact that I can actually carry someone besides Rob like this."

At the strange look she gave him, he fumbled to explain himself.

"I mean, not everyone on the team is as light as you two are."

The small giggle that came from the girl worried him. Right before he met up with the rest of their worried team, she whispered softly in his ear. It resulted in two things: more concern and a faint blush tinting his cheeks.

"Thank you."

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He refused to give her up to Superboy or Kaldur, despite the fact that his arms were throbbing due to the extended lifting. Instead, he directed them to where the criminal was so they could properly arrest him. No one asked why the man's face slightly resembled a smushed strawberry.

It was only when they returned to Mount Justice and explained the situation to Canary that Kid Flash handed the half-awake archer over. Right before he set her down, he took a page out of her book and whispered in her ear.

"Don't worry, everyone gets caught at least once."