A/N: Hey everyone! I'm a first time fanfiction writer and I love constructive criticism, so let me know what you guys think! Still looking for a Beta. Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. I'm just stoked about season 3. Also, there are some nods in this work to Quantico, which I have been binging recently. I don't own that either. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 1

After spending the last twelve hours running across rooftops and bruising her knuckles, Artemis didn't expect to spend the next twelve sitting in a car repair shop all the way in Central City. Yet here she was, sipping on the worst coffee she's ever come into contact with (which was saying a lot coming from a poor girl from Gotham) and waiting for her precious car-child to be put back together. The accident totally wasn't her fault, that asshole ward of Bruce Wayne was the one who ran into her parked car, and you bet he's the one getting the bill for it too.

"It's going to be another couple of hours, Ms. Crock. Sorry for the wait." The attendant told her before she could even open her mouth to ask the same question she'd already asked probably twenty times before.

Crossing her arms with a pout, Artemis grabbed her bag. "Fine. Just call me when it's ready then?" Maybe she could go find a coffee with some taste.

Her phone's map told her that the closest coffee shop, CC Jitters was just over a two mile walk from her current location- but she figured she had plenty of time. The walk took less than twenty minutes at a moderate pace.

Jitters was surprisingly not crowded even though it was around lunch time on a beautiful Monday afternoon. The small coffee shop was right between the police station, the court house, a bank, and a couple other small businesses. It really was a great location for business, which made it even weirder that Artemis was only one of a few scattered patrons in the shop today.

After grabbing her hazelnut latte from the barista, Artemis left the popular shop to walk around downtown. Might as well make something of this trip to Central and see what the city has to offer while her car is being fixed. Compared to Gotham, Central City was so sickeningly bright and normal, it almost didn't seem real. Next to Jitters was a plant shop, and further down the street she saw a book store and an antique shop. It was a middle-aged soccer mom's wet dream.

However perky Central City seemed, there was something off. It was too quiet, and Artemis knew from experience that "too quiet" was never a good thing. "Too quiet", Artemis had learned from babysitting her niece and her other extracurriculars, could be down-right dangerous. A white van passed in front of her and turned behind the courthouse, and then she saw another. Several of the same white vans went past her and into different directions, seemingly taking their places. That's when she knew.

"Get down!" She yelled to the few other people on the street before being thrown to the ground herself, heat grazing her neck and rubble falling around her. A total of five white vans, parked in almost a circle around the city's downtown square exploded before her eyes, and coming from the only direction there wasn't an explosion, she caught a glimpse of a group of masked men running into the bank before her head hit the ground for a second time.

That's when her phone began to ring, and she answered it on the brink of consciousness.

"Ms. Crock? Your car is ready."

When Artemis came to, the world was a blur around her and she could hardly catch her breath. She was moving. Someone was carrying her. Looking up, she saw the mask. Fuck. She cursed to herself. Usually she tried her best to avoid the heroes, but here she was in the arms of one.

"Put me down." She managed to get out, but she doubted he could hear her running this fast.

"Put me down!" Artemis said a bit louder, wiggling to loosen his grip.

The hero in question halted to a stop and Artemis was finally able to get a good look at him, even though her head was still spinning from hitting it so hard. "Sorry, Ma'am, I can't do that."

She rolled her eyes, an action that took more effort than she should. She figured she probably had a concussion- but that was the least of her problems at the moment.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, other people to help?" She questioned. He didn't falter.

"Flash can handle it until I get you to a hospital. You hit your head pretty hard by the looks of it." So this must have been Kid Flash. Artemis now noticed the inverted color scheme. Of course, Kid Flash. She's seen him on the news. What did he say? Hospital.

"I'm fine really, I don't need a hospital." Now was his opportunity to roll his eyes at her. She couldn't see herself, but she could feel the blood dripping and drying down the side of her face, and the bruises forming all along her body. But she's been in worse shape. "Really. Put me down."

For what she suspected could be the first time in his life, he listened and gently let her down onto the sidewalk. "Okay. But could I get your number so I can check on you later?" She looked up to see the cheesiest smirk on his face, illuminated only by what she could now see were just-as-bright green eyes. He was way too close for comfort.

Artemis took a step back. "Does that line usually work? Or only on girls who are concussed?" Kid Flash bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, his long arm sprawled over the back of his head. "And again, that looked like a pretty serious explosion back there, shouldn't you be back in the action?"

At that, a switch seemed to turn on in the young hero's head, and without even a goodbye he was gone with the wind. Artemis sat on the curb to catch her breath. She looked around to get an understanding of where she was in this unfamiliar city and took out her phone to pull up her map. Of course, because she was having such great luck today, it was broken. How was she supposed to get back to the car repair shop now?

Because of the explosion downtown, there were no taxis running. No one was even driving Uber. Understandable, but annoying for someone who just wanted to get her car and get out of the city before her luck turned even worse. After cleaning up in a random business's bathroom, Artemis took back to the streets. How kind of Kid Flash to leave her stranded in the middle of a crisis.

She was curious about the explosions downtown. They were planned, very organized. This wasn't just a random criminal looking to rob the bank, these were professionals. That was never good news for Artemis, and it would be even worse news if someone were to spot her and that information get back to her father. She needed to get of Central as soon as possible.

Despite all reason telling her not to, Artemis started walking back in the direction of downtown. It was the most logical way to get back to the car repair shop, especially without knowing the city very well. It took a while, but eventually she saw the rubble from earlier and a hoard of emergency vehicles putting out fires and helping to evacuate the area. Flash and his protegee were nowhere in sight. Artemis felt a twinge of disappointment, but quickly brushed it off. She began to retrace her steps from this morning, pushing through the dizziness her concussion was causing her. Take a break, her mind was telling her, and she mistakenly listened. Taking a second to sit, Artemis suddenly felt drained of whatever adrenaline was helping her push through, and what she wanted more than anything in that moment was a long drink of water.

Using the last ounce of strength she had left, Artemis pushed herself up. She was almost there, once she got back to her car she could rest. She could leave and hopefully never return to Central City and live her life semi-peacefully in Gotham where she at least knew what to expect on any given day.

Taking not even two steps, something caught her eye. Assuming it must have come from the explosion, Artemis bent down to pick it up. It was a thick, yellow envelope singed at the edges- but almost purposely that way. This wasn't right. The envelope was placed here after the explosion, it was too clean in an area surrounded by ash and dust. Turning it over in her hands, Artemis got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Right in the middle of the envelope in big bold letters was something that made her want to lurch over and throw up where she stood.

Her name.