Hey guys! Another story! This is going to be followed up by a few others, mostly centered around the single team-members, and angst/torture. So, you no like, you no read :P
Warning: Child abuse(nothing graphic.), and Creepy Scarecrow ahead.
~Soft-falling-Raindrops
Artemis slowly walked towards her house, her every footstep dragging.
'I can do this… Can't I? I don't need help to deal with my own father. Not from the team, or anyone.'
She unlocked the back door of the apartment, and climbed up the stairs, dreading the moment she would have to step into her apartment.
As she unlocked the door, it was yanked open abruptly, and her father's leering face looked down at her.
"Get in."
He grabbed her shoulder, and yanked her in, slamming the door behind himself.
"You're a disgrace!" He barked, shoving her roughly against the wall.
"A disgrace to me, to your sister, your mother, to yourself! You're worthless, weak, pitiful, and useless!"
With each insult he spat out at Artemis, he kicked her, in the arms, ribs, her back, each blow landing heavily. Artemis could see her mother off to the side beside her tipped wheelchair, looking bloody and bruised, and unconscious.
"I'm talking to you!" She received a hard slap across the face that resounded in the quiet apartment.
Artemis cried out, cradling her bruised cheek in one hand, tears brimming behind her eyelids.
Her father wasn't even breathing heavily; he just kicked at her one last time and took his leave. She waited till she couldn't hear his boots in the hall, and then she crawled over to her mom.
"Mom, please wake up."
She shook Paula's shoulder, and heaved a sigh of relief when she groaned lightly.
Her comlink crackled in her ear, and she heard "Artemis, Green Arrow here. Me and Red Arrow need help with a drug bust, down by 12th street."
Raising a bloody hand, she rasped out "Be there in five." She ran over the roof tops, all evidence of her beating washed away. Her bruises were covered with concealer, blood was washed off, and she was hiding her limp the best she could.
Spotting two figures looming over an alley, she went up behind them, expecting Roy and Ollie. Instead, when she breathed out a greeting, Batman and Robin turned around.
"Oll- Green Arrow called you guys in too?"
Batman nodded, and Robin said "He said was going to need us, just in case it turned out there was a bigger villain involved."
Artemis nodded, and stood on the ledge beside them, wincing momentarily as her injured foot hit the edge.
"You okay?" Green Arrow was beside her, and she nodded, carefully placing her mask of non-emotion back up.
"Yea, just hit my ankle the other day." She said lamely, cringing inwardly as The Big Bat's attention was turned to her.
"You should get it checked out."
His voice was low, gravelly, and she shook her head.
"Nah, me and my mom got it taken care of."
She was lying through her teeth, and she was sure those darn Bats knew it.
If they checked out her leg… And the rest of her, who knew what other scars and injuries they'd find.
Sighing inwardly, she ignored Robin's curious stare, and they quietly exchanged the plan.
Half way through, Artemis noticed a member of their group was missing, and she spoke up.
"Where's Red Arrow?"
Green Arrow cringed, and said "Well… He wasn't too careful, so now they know we're coming, and they've got him."
Batman sighed, and Artemis knew he was mentally face palming right now.
"Green Arrow, you and me will take it from the front, create a distraction. Robin, you and Artemis go in from the back, take out any guards we haven't dealt with yet, and find Red Arrow. Don't bother with radio silence; they already know we're coming. When you're sure you've cleared out the area, meet back up here."
"Robin, DUCK!"
Artemis fired an arrow over the younger teen's head, hitting the oncoming henchman in the chest with a Taser.
Robin threw three bird-a-rangs at a guy, pinning him to the wall.
"We need to call Batman!" Robin shouted, as he flipped over a guy with a crow bar who was wildly swinging at him.
"They're too much, we can't take them!"
Artemis shook her head, her golden hair flying out behind her, and she shouted back "No, we don't need too! We can get them! We just need to find Red Arrow!"
Taking down her adversary, she raced down the hallway, with Robin hot on her heels.
"This way!"
He had his wrist computer up, and as she fired arrows behind them he hacked into the building's security camera controls, looking for Roy.
"Found him!"
Artemis followed Robin into a room, where Roy was tied onto a chair, his weapons and mask tossed aside.
"Red Arrow!"
His head lifted a tiny bit, and his eyes went wide, trying to scoot away backwards on the chair.
"No, NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Artemis stopped in her tracks, and as Robin came over with his mask and weapons, Roy began thrashing, trying to fight his way out of the ropes.
"RA, we're here to help!"
Artemis put a hand up to her comlink, and said "Green Arrow, Batman, do you copy? We need backup! Like, right now!" She was met with static, and she cursed under her breath. "Rob, we don't have any backup! Our coms are jammed!"
Roy just fought against them, occasionally crying out in a native sounding language.
"Scarecrow."
"What?"
Artemis turned to look at Robin, whose eyes were looking around the room wildly, and he repeated "Scarecrow. Get RA, and get out. NOW."
They cut the ropes, and led a struggling Roy Harper towards the doors, occasionally being stopped or sidetracked by baddies.
"Aww, you didn't think I'd let you get out that easily, did you?"
The doors right in front of them slammed closed, and they came to a screeching halt as they almost ran into them. "Don't worry; you can leave, after we've had a bit of FUN!"
Iron bars came down on the windows, and Robin licked his lips, looking nervous.
"What do you want, Scarecrow?"
Sinister laughter filled the warehouse, echoing in the emptiness, and Scarecrow cooed almost mockingly "Didn't you hear me? Fun!"
Vents on the sides of the walls started hissing gas, and Robin franticly dug through his utility belt, pulling out a rebreather.
"There's only one…"
He looked to Artemis, and Roy, who was still mumbling to himself incoherently, and shoved at to Artemis.
"I can handle the toxins; I've been exposed to them before."
Artemis shook her head frantically, and pushed it back at him, and said "No, take it! Bats needs you more!"
The gas reached them then, and Artemis accidentally inhaled some, gagging at the smell. Robin was holding his breath, and he put it into her mouth.
"No!"
She started taking it out, when the gas engulfed them in thick clouds, seeping across the floor like a fog. She grasped Robin's arm and he looked at her, fear in his eyes. Holding her breath she started taking it out to hand it to him, but he shook his head and clamped a gloved hand over her mouth, forcing her to keep it in.
After a couple minutes his grip faltered and he fell to his knees on the floor, his hands clenching and unclenching as he fought the impulse to breath. Instinct won out though, and he fell to the floor, subconsciously breathing in the toxic gas. He started shaking slightly, and a whimper escaped his lips as he shuddered, his legs and arms twitching occasionally.
'No, no, I have to get them out!'
Artemis quickly started pulling Red Arrow and Robin towards the door, when out of nowhere a long, gangly arm swung through the gas, hitting her square in the chest. She immediately got into a fighting stance, her eyes darting back and forth nervously as she watched her surroundings.
"Aww, you thought you could beat me?"
Another arm came through the gas and hit her leg, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Let's see… What do you fear most?"
A body appeared through the mist, a tall, skinny guy with a suit, and as she looked up at his face-
Oh gosh.
His mask was like a sack, but with a creepy smile stitched onto the front. Gas was coming out of canisters on his arms, and he kicked at her, dancing away as she tried to hit him with an arrow.
He was carrying a scythe in one hand, which he would swing at random, not following any apparent fighting pattern.
"Re-breather, huh? We'll have to take care of that."
He swung at her with the end of the scythe, and knocked her re-breather out. It skittered across the floor, disappearing into the mist, and she turned back to Scarecrow, her lungs burning.
"Come on, just take a breath! You know you're gonna sooner or later." He taunted, dancing around her and swinging wildly. He hit her in the stomach, and she gasped in pain as her ribs started flaring up.
"Good, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now look at me."
His voice grew deep, and menacing, and his mask started… Throbbing, it looked like. It would go out of focus, and come back in, slowly coming closer.
"Come on Artemis, show me your fear!"
That was her father's voice… She scuttled away from him backwards, her hands dragging against the rough concrete floor. A piercing scream vibrated in her ears, and she had barely any time to register that she made that noise, before he picked her up, throwing her against the brick wall.
"Artemis, I am so disappointed in you."
Her father's voice rang in her ears, the horrific mask in front of her flickering like bad graphics on a horror movie. "Why didn't you become like me, like your sister!"
He tossed her to the floor, the eyeholes in his mask glowing. As he was walking towards her, swinging his scythe, an inhuman sounding scream came from behind him, causing him to whip around. Through the gas there came a small, red and black object, which threw its self upon Scarecrow. The villain staggered, and growled menacingly, trying to dislodge the small object off himself.
It was Robin, his eyes wild with fear, and his black hair damp and plastered to his pasty face. Seeing her teammate attacking, Artemis pushed herself off the ground, staggering towards the masked villain. Stumbling, she latched herself onto his arm, trying to pull him down. The mask kept throbbing, glowing, so she averted her eyes, instead focusing on Robin. He had crawled up the older man's back, and currently had two hands on the mask, pulling it off. He succeeded, and Scarecrow threw him off, the young superhero hitting the ground with a sickening snap.
"That did nothing, foolish bird." Scarecrow snarled, stalking over to the young teen.
"I am incapable of feeling fear, and my gas does not affect me!" He picked Robin up, and threw him on the ground, resulting in another resounding snap.
Scarecrow turned back to Artemis, ignoring the wheezing, whimpering teen behind him, and stalked towards her with a malicious look on his face. Shoving her down against the wall, he growled "I do not feel fear! I do not fear anything! That is what makes me unstoppable, when you brats don't have the Bat around." Wielding his scythe again, he raised it above his head, and swung it down as a million thoughts when through her head.
'Wally, I am so sorry. I never admitted I had a crush on you. M'gann, I'm sorry you won't have an earth sister after this, please forgive anything I might have said that hurt you. Superboy, take care of M'gann, or I'll haunt you in the afterlife. Kaldur, keep the team strong, don't let any of them get killed like we did. Keep them safe. Mom, Ollie, Dinah, I'm SORRY!'
She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the final blow, but it never came. Instead, the sound of shattering glass was heard, and heavy footsteps were coming towards her and Scarecrow. She opened her eyes a little bit, and almost wished she hadn't.
Running through the fog was Green Arrow, and Batman, but the fog twisted it. Batman looked like a real bat, with red glowing eyes, and sharp talons in place of what she guessed were his Batarangs.
Green Arrow looked mostly normal, except for his face, which was horribly disfigured and mangled.
Artemis shrieked again, pushing herself against the wall, and cried out when her arm made contact with the rough surface. She put a shaking hand to her chest, wincing at the pain, her eyesight growing fuzzy.
'My hand feels wet…'
She pulled it away, and dully stared at the red stain covering her hand, dripping off her fingers and palm. The edges of her vision grew red, then black and she had the faint sensation of pain rushing through her body as it made contact with the ground. Her eyelids slid closed, her last image one of Green Arrow and Batman attacking Scarecrow.
Beep… Beep…"
A heart monitor's soft noise woke her, the little beep steady in the silence. She opened her eyes, squinting against the bright light as she tried to sit up.
Bad move.
Black and red lights flashed all around her vision, the room tilting and distorted. Faces appeared, her father, her sister, all her villain ancestors, all laughing, scowling, or glaring darkly at her, talking about how she was such a joke, that she deserved to die.
"NO!"
She pushed herself away from the faces, and fell off the bed, landing on the floor with a painful grunt. Her head cracked against the floor, and as she tried to sit up, woozy, she started sinking into the ground. Dirt started appearing above her, and was slowly replaced with the walls of a coffin, smooth and dark. She shrieked again, and she could feel people grabbing her, at her bow and arrow, her hair, everything. She turned to look at them, and whimpered when rotting, skeletal faces were grinning back at her.
Something pinched her arm, and everything went black again, then slowly turned back to white. Two concerned faces were watching her, and one stony one. Batman pulled a syringe out of her arm, and Green Arrow helped her off the floor, while a doctor, -Leslie, she remembered her name was- helped her onto the bed.
"W-what was that…?"
"Super Toxin 451-A. Specially made to target specific fears, in different people." Batman left the room, and Artemis drew her knees to her chest, wincing as she hit her ribs.
Oliver and Leslie talked to her a little bit more, and then she was left alone in the medical room, the noise of humming machines filling the air. Artemis decided to take stock of her injuries, starting with her feet and legs. Sitting up, she slid the thin medical blankets off, her face flushing slightly when she realized she was only wearing a thin, hospital gown.
Her right foot was encased in plaster, and she scowled in annoyance as she poked at it. "There goes patrolling for six weeks…" Her left leg was bandaged from the knee, to just below her thigh, and when she unpeeled the bandaging slightly, she could see blood soaking the white cloth, that was covering a deep gash. She frowned, and continued her examinations.
Her left arm was in a cast, and her fingers bandaged lightly, just a fracture and some cuts. Her right arm was relatively fine, mostly just bruises and scratches. She peeked into the neck of her hospital gown, and felt around her bandaged torso and chest, wincing when she hit a sore spot. Most likely four, three broken ribs. She groaned in protest, and lay back down, staring up at the ceiling.
"Arty!"
Wally ran in, looking worried, and Artemis was going to grab her blanket and wrap it around herself, but instead smirked inwardly, deciding to mess with him instead. "Baywatch." She sat up, and all plans of messing with him were cast aside, as her face grew crimson red.
He had apparently just woken up, due to his hair looking disheveled, and him being clad currently only in flash logo sweatpants. She forced the red out of her face, and instead smirked again, and asked "Flash logo? Really?"
He looked down, and then his face grew as red as his hair. "I, uh, first thing I grabbed?" Artemis's smirk widened, and she said "Ohh, alright. So you're telling me you sleep naked?" He opened his mouth, then closed it again, giving the impression of a red fish.
They were interrupted by Oliver coming in, and he said "Alright Artemis, leave the poor kid alone. Hey, Wally, we need to talk to Artemis a sec, mind stepping out?"
Wally nodded, and after sticking his tongue out at Artemis over his shoulder, withdrew from the room. Dr. Leslie and Batman had come in with Oliver, and Artemis had a panicky, sinking feeling in her stomach.
'They found out.'
"Artemis, when Dr. Leslie was patching you up, we found some… different, injuries. Ones you wouldn't have gotten, with your level of training. Mind telling us what they're from?"
'Darn you Oliver, you know I'm not going to lie while Bats is in the room.'
Artemis licked her lips nervously, looking towards the door, and Leslie reassured her "No one else is going to know about this, unless you give the okay, or unless it's absolutely necessary." Artemis nodded, and fidgeted with the hem of the blanket, picking at the machine made stitches.
"They're, they're from my d- From Sportsmaster."
She kept her eyes on the blanket, even when Oliver put a hand on her shoulder, silently encouraging her to go on. "He's, he's been coming every month or so, asking me and my mom to join his gang. When mom made it clear that neither of us were joining, he kept coming, but instead beating us. He'd go after mom for the longest time, and then I tried to stop him. That's when I found out that if I let him beat all his anger out on me, he would leave mom alone. Sometimes… He'd get there before I got from school, and I would try to leave early just so mom wouldn't have to go through that."
Artemis was quiet afterwards, tears burning behind her eyelids. Batman said nothing, just left the room, and Oliver asked quietly "Why didn't you tell any of us?"
"Because."
Artemis looked up with unshed tears glistening in her eyes, and murmured "Because I thought I could take care of it, without having to bother anyone for help."
Oliver and Leslie enveloped her into a hug, and Leslie said "No one should ever have to go through something like that on their own."
They hugged for a moment more, and then Artemis gasped out "Oliver. Too tight."
He let go and blushed. "Sorry."
"I... I want to work this out on my own, or at least to try. Please. If it gets too much, or I get hurt worse, I will come to you guys. I promise." Oliver nodded, and an awkward silence ensued.
"How's Roy, and Robin doing?"
"Roy's doing fine, but I don't know about Robin. Leslie?"
She nodded, and said "He's… Okay. Bruce had him brought to the Batcave as soon as he was stable, but even so. He inhaled a lot of gas, but Roy inhaled the most. Anymore, or of you guys hadn't been found in time…"
She shook her head, and Artemis felt sick. "He'll, he'll be okay, right?"
Leslie nodded, and said "He'll recover quickly."
An awkward silence fell over the trio, and Artemis noticed the absence of Batman in the room. "Where's Bats?" Oliver looked around, and shrugged. "Gone off to do his Batman business? I don't know." Leslie rolled her eyes, and said "Most likely gone to check on Robin. He's barely left his side, since Robin was brought into the cave."
"Can… Can I see the others? I mean all of them. M'gann, Conner, Kaldur, Wally, Roy, AND Robin." Artemis sat up straighter, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, and Oliver put out a hand to stop her. "Whoa whoa whoa. You're not going to be using that leg by its self for a while, you'll need crutches. As for the team, absolutely! Robin is a different matter though. He's going to be all Daddybats over Robin for quite a while, so I'm not sure if-"
He was cut off by his cellphone vibrating, and he pulled it out, reading a text. His eyes grew wide, and he looked around the room with a frown, before saying "You don't have to be so paranoid, and watch us all the time."
His cellphone vibrated again, and he checked it, face-palming. "There is nothing wrong with coming in here and talking like a normal person, Bats."
Artemis watched him with an amused smirk on her face, and Leslie excused herself, leaving the room. "Gosh darn Bats." Ollie mumbled, and he rolled his eyes as he checked his phone. "What!? No! I was referring to you, not to the whole Batclan!"
He put his phone in his pocket, and forcing a smile on, turned back to Artemis. "As I was saying, you'd have to ask Bats if Robin could visit." His cellphone buzzed again, and very deliberately and slowly, he lifted the phone up and put it on silent.
"Peace at last."
"But I can go and see the others, right?" Ollie nodded, and Artemis hefted herself up on the crutches, before collapsing to the floor. "Ow." She growled, picking herself up. After a few more failed attempts, Oliver just gave in and handed her a wheelchair. "Use this. It'll be much easier to maneuver."
"Artemis!"
The green object hurtling towards Artemis, couldn't be anything else but the peppy, over excited Martian. "M'gann. Too tight. Losing oxygen" Artemis gasped out, as she was pulled into an extremely tight embrace. "Sorry." M'gann was bouncing on the balls of her feet, as her team mates greeted her. Conner just awkwardly side hugged her, and Kaldur grasped her hand, telling her 'How good it was seeing her well.'
Roy was just being Roy, grouching in the corner. But he did have the decency to come over, and thank her gruffly for saving him. "Even though I didn't need saving, I could have helped myself."
There was someone missing from the group, a certain red haired, green eyed speedster. "Hey, where's Wally?" The rest of the team pointed at the couch, and when Artemis rolled around it, Wally was lounging with half a bag of chips, stuffing his face.
"Glad to know you care Arty." He smirked, flicking a chip piece into her hair. She resisted the urge to smack him upside the head, and smirked back at him. "You know I always do."
'Batman, 02. Robin, B01'
"Is the world ending?! Artemis and Wally flirting!? Who replaced Artemis?"
Everyone went over to where Robin was, Wally beating them all. "ROBIN, YOU'RE HOME!" Wally flung himself at Robin's feet, fake sobbing with joy and clasping onto them. "Save me from the mad archer!" Wally hissed, ducking behind the wheel chair Robin was contained in.
"No can do Wally, sorry." Robin smirked, as Artemis glared at Wally. "It is good to see you looking well, Robin." Kaldur stated, stepping forwards and lightly clapping his youngest teammate on the shoulder.
"Robin, you'll make sure to take your pain meds, right? And do not over do anything." Batman warned, watching his protégé and son. Robin visibly rolled his eyes behind his glasses, and said "'Course I will." He flashed an innocent grin at his mentor, who simply smirked slightly, and turned around, disappearing into the golden rays of the Zeta-tubes.
'Batman, 02.'
It was silent for a moment, and then Artemis turned to Robin, and grinned. "I bet I can beat you in a wheelchair race." The youngest member grinned, and said "You're on!" As they raced down the hall, Artemis smiled, her heart warming. Even if her family back home was a mess, she'd always have this one, right here.
Yay! So everyone's happy. I'm sorry I didn't go into detail for Robin's part, but this was supposed to be centered around Artemis. So, I hope you like! :)