A/N
Hope ya'll like! It's my second taught story! Update time is going to be very slow due to marching band starting up and the fact that this is my only completed chapter (ch 2 is currently half written), and the fact that I have 6...7?...stories I'm currently writting. Suggestions and critic are welcome (review and PM me all you want ;)
Anyways, I'm sorry for the delay in all my other stories! Marching band has been insane, and this was literally one of the only things I had done in my docs (I really, really wanted to post something). Don't expect any updates for a while (No free time. At all. Except this half hour window).
Summary: At the time of her death, the person Artemis was closest to was Robin. It was only natural that she should seek him out after being blown up; but that might just be a little more difficult than expected-new dimensions and all that. Back then, he'd been a little shrimp, but now...Mmm, that boy.
Set at the end of Performance when the Team was closing the black hole.
Song(s):
Next Level-Family Force 5
Safe Britt Nicole
Disclaimer: I don't own YJ...or Teen Titans...I wish I did...
Chapter 1
Teen Two
"I can't shut it down! It's already advanced to a stage 3 Catalyst, meaning it will continue to get bigger by collapsing in on itself and sucking in other material. It can't be controlled by a simple device!" Robin yelled over the howling wind, closing his holographic computer with a click. "I'm going to have to shut down the vortex manually!"
"How are you going to do that?" Red Arrow yelled, aiming another shot at Parasite and releasing another two arrows in quick succession. The mutated man roared, swinging at Superboy who jumped back with difficulty.
"If I somehow manage to create an explosion into the center of the core, it should create enough energy to overcome the blackhole and shut it down," Robin theorized, already sprinting towards the fire escape ladder with his cape flapping behind him.
"Robin, wait!" Artemis shouted from behind him, running to the small hatch and hauling herself up, clutching her bow in one hand while the other gripped the rail, pulling herself along the shuddering metal behind Robin, who's feet were skidding as he slowly inched his way forward. "How are you going to get anything close enough to create that big of a reaction?"
Robin wrapped an arm around the railing securly and slowly released the other gloved hand to reach into his utility belt. Arm straining with effort, the boy wonder responded through gritted teeth, "With my amazing good looks."
"Don't joke, you idiot!" Artemis yelled, griping the railing as she inched forwards, following the Boy Wonder closer to the expanding black hole. Her boots slipped slightly against the rooftop as the winds picked up, dragging her forwards.
"I've got several charges that I programmed to disrupt the direction of the winds, which should cause the black hole to lose momentum and hopefully break apart," Robin yelled back to Artemis, his masked eyes squinting against the howling turbulence.
"What if that doesn't work?" Artemis called, a sinking feeling filling her. Pulling the three bombs out of his belt, Robin didn't turn around.
"We make a really, really big explosion."
Growling, Artemis let go of the railing, skidding against the pavement until she was right beside Robin and snagging a bar to stop her momentum. "You better not be thinking about doing anything stupid," Artemis hollered, grabbing one of the bombs Robin handed to her.
"On three!" Robin yelled, wrapping a leg around one of the bars and letting go of with the other to extend both hands clutching the last two bombs. Artemis nodded, narrowing her eyes in concentration.
"Three, two, one, NOW!" Using their impeccable aim, both Artemis and Robin released. The three bombs swirled in the vacuum, circling the black hole until they hit the center. Robin pressed a button on his glove, and the three charges detonated.
"Yes!" Robin cheered, and Artemis grinned as she let go of the railing.
But the black hold was still there.
Screaming, Artemis was pulled across the shredded rooftop, hands scrabbling for a hold. Her fingers found a gap in the shattered roofing and Artemis's whole body was jolted, left arm popping as her body was forcefully stopped.
"ARTEMIS!" Robin yelled, gloved and bloodied hand reaching out for the archer who held onto the rooftop with one hand. Artemis gritted her teeth, hand slipping; her body was being pulled to the vortex-blackhole-thing Parasite had created.
"Get back!" Artemis yelled, trying to pull herself up, and failing. "Robin, get back! It's not stopping!"
Robin inched forward, ignoring her warning. "I'm not leaving without you!"
Artemis managed to glare at him while grabbing one of her arrows from her broken quiver. His eyes widened as he saw the marking-warning, explosive. "I have to finish this mission or the whole world is doomed!"
"You know we've both got perfect aim, you don't have to do this!" Robin yelled, still inching forward, "We can try again, there's still time!" His eyes widened behind his mask as she slipped a little further, fingers scraping the shattered tile. They both knew that was a lie.
She smiled at him weakly. "I'm sorry Robin-"
"Dick," he interrupted. "It's Dick Grayson."
Her eyes widened in panic, then recognition before she smiled. "It's been an honor serving with you. You've been a great friend. Goodbye Dick." And then she let go, arrow in hand, eyes blurring slightly as she was sucked to her death. She could still hear Robin-Dick-screaming from behind her.
Just as she got to the core, she threw her arrow, the center beeping, and braced her arms in front of her face for the resulting explosion. For a second there was silence, and then the air blasted outwards in a fiery explosion, and she knew no more.
Robin, aka Dick Grayson, screamed as he saw Artemis's form convulse as it was consumed by a ball of flames, and then disappear. A perfect half-dome was imprinted in the ground, at least 20 feet deep-but what did that matter? The rough winds that had been holding him in place released him, and he fell to his knees, head held tightly in his hands as he screamed. The tears started pouring down not too long after.
It was too soon, too close to home, too similar. Why, why did it have to be here, be now; why her?
He didn't know how long he sat there, but he eventually came to realize that arms were shaking him and panicked voices were echoing across the rooftop.
He looked up, mask fogged up and blurry from his tears and saw his teammates all standing around him with worried expression.
"S-she's gone," he whispered, then curled back into himself.
He heard Roy yelling, M'gann was screaming, but he couldn't manage to lift his head. A shuttering sob racked his body, and the world mattered little more.
Artemis groaned, her whole body aching from where it was laying on hard asphalt. Her bow was clutched tightly in one hand, her snapped quiver in the other. With gritted teeth, she pushed herself up on her forearms, nearly yelling out from the pain. She managed to get her head up and squint her eyes open. She gasped.
Her body lay at the bottom of a rather large crater, at least 20 feet deep. The rim was smoking slightly, most likely from the explosion, creating a perfect upside-down dome.
"TITANS, GO!" A teens voice yelled, an oddly familiar voice-
With gritted teeth Artemis forced herself to stand up, shrieking as she did so. Ignoring her body's protest, she stumbled, crawled, and climed to the edge of the crater. Finally, with a burst of effort, Artemis managed to grab onto the edge and haul her head over the edge, her chin resting on the edge as she peeked over the side.
There, before her very eyes, was Robin.
Except, it wasn't the Robin she remembered. It was a strangely dressed Robin with a group of superheroes she'd never laid eyes on in her life, much less heard of. A girl in a purple cloak with magic, a green boy who turned into animals, a half-metal man, and a pink-haired orange-skinned girl with glowing green eyes shooting green fireballs. Uh huh.
Robin's hair was spiked up and he was wielding a staff (not his favorite apparatus), and-was he leading the Team?
How long had Artemis been gone? Where was Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Miss Martian? Zatanna?
They were battling some strange being that looked (and smelled) an aweful lot like Clayface. Oh, joy. Robin, the poor guy, was already splattered in large quantities of the foul goop. His Super-powered Teammates had all avoided the same fate by dodging or somehow shaking it off. He-he needed her help.
She coughed up some more dust, wheezing in pain. That would have to wait. Right now, she-she needed water, for goodness sakes!
Ignoring her initial reluctance, Artemis managed to stumble up the ledge and stand on the ground. She tied her quiver around her waist and notched several arrows, running (more like stumbling) forward to help.
The super-humans had once again ignored their leaders mortality, and as such, he was knocked to the ground. One of the creatures feet lifted up to smash him.
"ROBIN!" Artemis shrieked, letting lose 5 arrows, three exploding on impact and the other two creating her instant-dry-foam.
The creature roared, stumbling back, its ugly face contorting into something even more hideous. It turned its head to glare at Artemis, stomping towards her. She sprinted around it, letting loose arrows within seconds of each other, hair flying behind her like a ribbon. Robin used the distraction to roll to his feet, unleashing several exploding bird-a-rangs, the rest of his Team soon snapping out of their shock to join back in the fight.
Before Artemis knew it, the fight was done, the creature falling to the ground, trapped beneath several containment devices (her nets, Robin's ropes-and some strange thing called a limpet-and the aliens bent metal). She took in several shaky breaths, her body positively screeching with pain. Fantastic.
Once the authorities showed up, dumping the creature in a cage-like thing and locking the truck up, the heroes seemed to finally remember the other hero.
"Hello, friend!" the alien girl said excitedly, darting over to Artemis and gripping both of her hands, shaking them repeatedly. "Thank you for saving Robin, he was in the pain."
An eyebrow arched automatically, lips quirking upwards at the strange word phrasing. "Uh, you're welcome?"
"I am known as Starfire, but my friends sometimes call me Kori'ander."
The girl still hadn't let go of her hands. It was starting to turn creepy. "Call me Artemis."
The girl just beamed at her, floating happily. Artemis shook her head, turning to face the rest of the Team, failing to hide her wince of pain.
"Yikes! Are you injured? Oh, ya, that's bad," the Robot-man had come over as well, and was poking her sprained ankle before she'd even seen him move.
"OUCH!" Artemis yelped, kicking the guy away from her, resulting in a yelp from both of them.
"I'd say that's sprained," Robo-guy muttered, rubbing his arm and glaring at her.
Artemis folded her arms and turned away from the dude, eyes narrowed dangerously. "No. Freaking. Way. I had no idea."
"But how did that happen?" Robin asked, stepping forwards. "Plasmus never got a hit on you."
"Hurt it earlier when I fell from the portal in the sky and exploded," Artemis replied snarkily, rubbing her sore arm, shaking a few stray strands of blonde hair out of her face.
"I'm sorry, what?" The purple girl had joined the conversation, staring at Artemis in confusion. "I didn't feel any portals opening or closing."
Artemis snorted, crossing her arms, trying to inconspicuously regain her balance (she was feeling dizzy and nauseous). "And I suppose you're the expert?"
"Actually, she is," the green boy said defensively, glaring at Artemis as if she'd kicked his puppy. Aw, how cute! "Raven," purple cloak girl floated impassively,"is the expert on anomalies and other-dimension-universe-stuff-like-that-things!"
"I like you!" She announced, smirking at the suddenly confused boy. "You've got nerve, nerve is good."
"Um, okaaay?" The boy rubbed the back of his neck, looking confused.
"Alright, enough chit chat-Robin, what happened to the rest of the Team?" Artemis turned to her best friend, a nervous twitch settling in her stomach as he looked confused.
"The rest of-what? Do I know you?" His masked eyes widened slightly.
He hadn't cracked a joke yet. Or cackled. Artemis frowned, "You should. We've been best friends for years and partners and on the Team. Do you not recognize me?"
"Obviously not," green boy muttered, yelping when purple-cloak girl (Raven, whatever) elbowed him. "Quiet, Beastboy!" she hissed, eyes glowing red for a second.
Artemis blinked, glancing around the city for the first time. "Where are we?"
"Jump City," said Raven. "You know, I'm starting to get an idea, and I'm not liking where it's going-"
"Alternate dimension?" Robin finished, glancing at her to confirm his suspicions. At her nod he sighed, looking back at Artemis, who had started to pale. "You-don't look so good."
"Ya," she laughed breathily, legs quaking. "Blood loss would do that to you." With that, she collapsed, eyes fluttering shut.
Robin sprinted forward, managing to catch her head before it hit the ground. He felt for a pulse, jumping slightly when she whispered.
"Dick..."
With that, Robin made a rather impulsive decision (something that didn't come often...or naturally). "Titans, pack it up. We're taking her with us."
A/N
Chaaaaapta uno! I've had this one in my docs forever and figured I'd use my plane ride (like a month and a half ago) to at least finish chapter 1 :) Reviews=input!
*On a side note, all the scientific looking stuff was completely made up, so please disregaurd it :}
Kisses!
Alyss