Carnage
They took her in the night. She had been working undercover as a drug dealer in the Narrows of Gotham near her and her mom's apartment. A friend from her old school had been killed by them and she was going to be the one to bring them down. Ollie had been away for a week for business so she had nothing else to do. She could've gone to the cave but there was no point in doing so. She didn't feel like living with M'gann's constant chatter or Kaldur's calm or Superboy's silence or Robin and Wally's annoying pranks they always pulled together. It was going great until they had found her snooping around the main office, shuffling through files and pocketing anything interesting she found in the rather large stacks of paper. They had her stripped down to her tank top and boy shorts and they patted down for weapons, not bothering to mind where they put their hands, a rather large pile of weapons gathering beside them. She spat out insults the whole way and threatened what she would do to them with the said tools. They had tied her to a cold metal chair and beat every inch of her skin. She fought against them, kicking and screaming and spitting and biting. Once, her hand had gotten free from it's restraint and she had raked her fingernails across a big and beefy man's face, most likely killing the vision in that eye. It was worth the extra beatings to hear him scream out in pain. With her arms now tied securely down to the armrests they injected needles with some drug pumping into her bloodstream. Everything went hazy after that. She was only ever aware of the hallucinations of her father and sister grinning down at her from where she lie against the freezing cold grimy floor in her dank cell they had pulled her into. The walls were dark with shadows and the moist air stank of mold and the vomit she spewed onto the floor. She would curl up in a ball and shiver until her spasms would cease and then she would be aware of how terrible she felt inside. Everything hurt, her head, her muscles, her stomach, her throat, her everything. She would lay there in pain, gasping for breath after every spasm ended. She would break out in a cold sweat, trembling from head to toe as she tried to distinguish what was real and what wasn't. She had common blackouts at least 3 times a day. She was given 1 cup of water a day, but most of the time she didn't have enough strength to lift the water to her parched and torn lips or she threw it up. She was also given a dry and stale roll of bread if she was lucky.
She had no idea how long she was there. It felt like a lifetime but it couldn't have been more than a week or two. She floated in and out of consciousness, too weak to fight back when the men came in and asked her who she was and why was she there. After every session with the men she would feel ten times worse. They would ask her countless questions, and if she answered them they would give her a dose of the drug and lessen her pain. Everything she told them was not true. They were really dumb when it came to lies. Whenever they would understand that she was lying to them they would hit her, kick her, and shove her head into buckets of ice cold water until she was awake again. The worst part was the wax. They would smear molten hot wax onto her body and laugh as she screamed in pain. There were burns coating her abdomen and legs. They would also cut her with pocket knives. There were numerous cuts up and down her arms and legs.
Her nails were covered in dry blood and her lip was torn and bloody, her hair limp and dull. Her body was one giant bruise, so whatever position she curled herself into hurt like hell. The only part of the days she looked forward to were when the men came in and knocked her out. It was the only time she could escape the pain. It was the 7th day in the cell that Artemis lost hope. She was a bloody slump in an underground prison where no one would find her and if they did, no one would recognize her.
In the first few days Artemis was sure she was on withdrawal from the drugs but she never thought it would hurt this much. Sure, when she was younger and had lived with her dad she had once tried a drug, but the only pain she had was a killer headache in the morning. When she had lived with her father she had done quite a few bad things like robbing stores or pranking people and once she even got a tattoo. When her mother came home she hid it all though. By the time the week was over she was begging God to let her die already. But that wouldn't solve anything; Artemis was still not entirely convinced she wasn't going to go to hell. She sure deserved it. It was on the 16th day in her personal hell when she heard the yelling. There was a terrified screaming and Artemis shivered as she felt the temperature drop several degrees. Artemis shivered again as she heard the silence. There was never silence, what was happening outside of her prison? Suddenly, Artemis could hear footsteps heading towards her cell. Artemis tried to make a noise, anything at all that would inform the person of her presence. But Artemis' voice wouldn't cooperate. She couldn't make a single noise. Artemis kept trying though. Artemis paused as she heard the footsteps stop. Never before had Artemis wished for Batman so much. The footsteps started again, but they were slower and coming back towards the cell. Artemis tried again to make a noise, and this time succeeded in making a hoarse groan. She could see the outline of someone outside the darkness of the outside of her cell. There was a crackling noise, and a shard of blue encased the door. Artemis wished she had a blanket, she was freezing. The blue door shattered, the loud sound making Artemis flinch and unsuccessfully try to back away from the noise. Artemis watched as a silhouette of a tall man entered the room. Artemis whimpered, a pathetic noise from the back of her throat. The man's head turned towards her but he stayed where he was. He might've not recognized her, but she now recognized him. In the dim light, the only feature Artemis could see was a tint of blue… Blue skin?
"Cameron?" Artemis rasped out, uncertain of whether he would recognize her or not. The figure froze and crept forward. Artemis struggled to wipe her matted hair out of her face. "Cam?" She asked again. Cam was confused, wondering who this was. Finally he realized who it was.
"Artemis" He breathed, and crouched down on his knees a foot away from her, horrified by her condition. "What are you doing here?" Artemis grimaced.
"Oh you know," She said in her small voice, "Just lying around waiting for death to come" Cam gave her a smirk.
"I'm getting you out of here ok?" He said in a gentle voice. Artemis could only nod. Cam shuffled forward and put his arms around her. "This is going to hurt, so just hang in there," He breathed in her ear, and lifted Artemis' fragile body off the cold floor. Artemis cried out in pain as his hands touched her ribs. He murmured his apology and adjusted his arms. The cool touch was relieving, almost like an ice pack. Cam started to walk and a wave of nausea came over Artemis. "Go to sleep," Cam whispered, "I'll keep you safe," And for the first time in years, Artemis fell asleep in his arms.