Hello. I wanted to keep A/N short. I really did. But it's 4 am and I really need to whine about it.

This is kind of sort of my first story here. You don't have to be nice to me because of that. English isn't this little fangirl's native language so it would be greatly, greatly appreciated if you let me know of grammar errors etc. you happen to spot. Constructive critism is always welcome for this little fangirl really wants to improve, flames too but please state your reason for flaming...

Brain can not no sentence. It's 4 am. Did I mention it's 4 am?

Disclaimer : Don't own YJ, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ring Around the Rosie.

I. The First Lamppost

"...ring-a-ring-a-roses."

Artemis Crock could recognize danger in any situation, under any circumstance. Her life was, in a way she could not name, etched by everything and anything threatening the very moment she was born.

Yes, Artemis Crock knew danger, she knew it by smell, sight and taste, by its full name and birthplace, by that delightful rush of adrenaline, drops of sweat, frozen seconds-it was her life. Her life.

Her so-called teammates, on the other hand, played completely foreign tunes. That air-headed chick from Mars probably didn't even know the meaning of the word-Artemis wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be a recurring character for that pony show on TV. (Did they even have TV over there, Artemis had no idea.) The goody-goody fish dude with a holier-than-thou attitude was probably raised by sardines down the fucking ocean if the archer had to guess. The only teammate she didn't mind sticking with (coincidentally a male with a nice pair of dark blue eyes and the ass of an underwear supermodel) spent his entire life in a damn pod. Oh, and then there was Flashy whatshisname, god, that useless piece of thrash, that despicable bastard, jerk, pea-brained sorry excuse of a joke reminded Artemis every single thing she hated about her life.

...Which brought her to the case of said jerk's best friend, the Boy Wonder. He had welcomed her when she came butting right into their cute little heroic parade-sure, Kaldur was a little bit distanced yet nice to her and Megan had been nice to her until that one incident with Superboy. (She seriously thought it wouldn't matter if the Powers That Be replaced Megan with a llama in aforementioned incident and pressed the replay button, but that was another story. ) But Robin? The archer was confused to say in the least. Lack of Mr. Gay Hat didn't seem to bother him as much, well, unlike some people, and dare she say he seemed glad to have her around. She occasionally caught him snickering at her snarky comments or lame excuses she threw around whenever she screwed up.

For all she knew the bird kid could be making fun of her, but it was still a nice change for the archer. It sucked into oblivion when almost nobody laughed at her jokes anyway. (Her audience consisted of three people foreign to earth, the Batman's protege and one guy that seemed to hate her, but that too was another story.)

Of course the Boy Wonder had warned her, had told her to not go alone but no, Artemis knew how to take care of herself better than the rest of the team combined, sans Robin. It was a simple mission-a simple mission!-observe and report. A small mob, Ukrainian, Romanian, whatever, she was in no position to remember, had moved to Happy Harbor for god knows what and who. Observe and report. It was their job to find out who and what for.

Why, oh why did that job have to include her dangling off from a pair of clotheslines in between two buildings and a dead end, approximately forty feet above solid ground?

The people they were supposed to be spying on seemed to be quiet, even nice at first. A group of ten; three females, six males and one none of the ex-sidekicks managed to figure out, sitting around a round table, all in black suits worth a solid year in Gotham Academy. During that one hour she could not feel her butt, they politely chatted away in some weird language while drinking tea with their pinkies raised.

It would have been quite the picture, worth a nice spot on Brucie Wayne's wall(though Artemis heard he had a thing for dogs when it came to art), had it not clashed with the background so terribly; a rundown prefabricated house by the dock, among many others that were anything but welcoming. It smelled of sea, wood and something everyone's favourite blonde would rather not name. Certainly not somewhere you would want to take your tourist friend to.

It was odd.

They had to nest themselves upon different roofs to get a clear view without – hopefully- being noticed, while staying in contact through the comm. The archer did not think any of the suit guys packed a punch, but the sight of six fellows in odd costumes, perched upon low prefabricated roofs like it was a feat, merely eating, whining or quarreling for whatever reason was the definition of embarrassing.

And it was one freaking cold night too.

Flashy was the first to start whining, exactly five minutes after their arrival. The archer occasionally told him to shut up and be patient over the comm, but she too was consumed by boredom and cold after one very uneventful hour. Even the super-strict fish guy seemed to be annoyed with the whole thing.

Perhaps it was a test? The question rose into their current thoughts and was soon voiced. The whole team was not needed for watching a rather normal group of people drink tea, now that was clear like a crystal.

The Boy Wonder then simply, and rather coldly one might say, stated the Batman knew what he was doing. The blonde assumed it was not that odd or boring for him, the guy did spend his childhood running after crazy ass clowns and mustard men after all, and with a guy dressed like a bat.

It was about two hours later that a company arrived. A woman; long carnelian hair like a lion's mane and bust size that could bring many to shame, in an even more expensive, frilly dress-Victorian style or something equally crazy and pompous, the archer wouldn't know. It wasn't exactly her area of expertise.

"She must be their leader." Aqualad had stated sternly, but the archer could tell it from the way the suit guys rose to their feet upon her arrival anyway.

"Man, she's one hot leader."

Groaning, the archer spat. "Shut up, Flash Child."

"You wish you had a rack like that." came the speedster's quick reply.

Artemis decided to grit her teeth and ignore the snicker that rose from the little device in her ear, focusing on the target instead.

Okay, so maybe the woman's rack was bigger than hers, but it was totally not what made her worth looking at. There was something else Flashy apparently missed (for he was too focused on her gratuitous cleavage), something in the way she took her steps, the way she smiled with her full, blood-red lips, something that screamed confidence, something...animal.

The red-head chatted with the suit guys about five minutes. It was right then the Batman's protégé spoke hastily over the comm. "They're talking about some shipment!"

"Shipment? Nobody said anything about a shipment!" Flashy's reply arrived before Artemis could even open her mouth. "Wait, dude! You can understand what they say?"

There was a small, quiet sigh she caught before his reply. "It's Latin. They speak too fast though, I can barely understand a word."

She chose to close her mouth back. "Is there anything else of importance, Robin?" , the fish boy asked. He perhaps did not wish to waste time questioning why the Boy Wonder didn't share this piece of information beforehand.

"Not quite sure but I think they are-"

"Cars." It was Superboy's husky voice. 'Hot even when he speaks nonsense.' "I hear cars."

"...expecting the shipment." the Boy Wonder completed wearily.

"Brilliant!" The flashy kid spoke before she could open her mouth again and she was getting quite darn annoyed! "I thought we were just supposed to observe and report!"

It did no longer take a guy with super hearing to hear them coming. Black vans, about twelve of them, headed to the prefabricated houses. The archer found herself not really wanting to know what they brought.

"Just shut up and be glad we're through with this." Superboy spat as he rose up. Little cookie fragments falling around from his black tee toned down the dramatic effect of it, but only Megan was there to see it anyway.

"Superboy, calm down." The team leader commanded, calm as ever. Artemis wondered if he was ever afraid of getting punched into oblivion by the guy, but brushed the thought aside. "Miss Martian."

The alien blinked innocently at the mention of her name. "Yes?" There was a soft sigh coming from the Atlantean, barely audible through the comm.

"Oh. Sorry."

Soon the blonde archer felt that weird sensation of something very soft and slippery moving inside her mind.

'Stay down and out of sight as possible. Miss Martian, get closer and see if you can get a view of their package. Be careful.' Did the fish dude have an accent inside his mind or what?

' On it.' was the alien's reply. Artemis ducked further into the shadows, her body moving against the tiles of the roof-god damn it, it was cold! She really wished she could get into some action.

Oh right, telepathic communication.

'I'm not gonna warm you up even if you beg me.' Flashy's voice rang inside her brain. She emitted a mental groan. 'Screw you, Flashy.'

'No, screw you-'

'Um, guys?' For once Artemis was glad for the alien's presence. She thought she heard the Boy Wonder snicker very quietly somewhere to her left. 'I think...Maybe we came to the wrong place?'

Artemis opened her mouth to protest, only to remember that they were communicating telepathically.Then the image of tens of men in black suits, headed towards the house they spent hours watching, with what appeared to be...

...Books?

'You gotta be fucking kidding me.' she spat.

'Never thought I would see the day, but I agree with the blondie. What the hell?'

The door of their target house opened quietly, revealing the busty red head, followed by the suit guys. Each of their faces were adorned with frowns, their shoulders up, their heads held high, like they were going into a-

'Miss Martian, stay out of sight. They seem to be preparing for a battle.' Aqualad's voice rang. 'Get ready and hold your positions.'

'Finally!' As hot as Superboy was, his voice hurt Artemis' head. She decided she didn't want the guy in her head. Then she stopped thinking about it.

'Robin?'

'I swear I haven't moved an inch.' His statement earned a mental snicker from Flashy, who then asked, 'Who battles with freaking books?'

'The book is sharper than the sword or something like that, little Flashy.'

'Shut up, Artemis. People actually speak Latin in this era? That language is six feet under, man. Even Caesar and whatever attended to his funeral and shit.'

It was then her eyes caught what, or rather, who lured her into the mess she was in. One of the suit guys, glancing around like he wanted to sunk so deep into earth that even the Batman couldn't find him, holding onto a suitcase like his life depended on it, slowly, very slowly made his way out of sight. Not the archer's trained one, of course, but Artemis admitted it was a good try.

'Guys.' She slightly rose up from her place to get a better view. 'One guy is trying to run away. '

There was a silence.

'He's carrying some bag.'

Perhaps nobody wanted to miss the action that seemed to be clouding upon the youngsters.

'Artemis.' came the Atlantean's reply. 'Follow him. Be careful and stay in contact.'

-Ring-a-ring-a ring a-round the rosie.-

'Why me?' Why couldn't she just let the poor fellow be on his way and be quiet about it anyway?

'Why, is little Arty afraid?' the speedster teased in a melodic tone.

The blonde rolled her eyes. 'Fine.' she spat, swiftly rising from her hide.

She blended in with the shadows the moment her feet made contact with the ground. Her dark brown eyes hastily scanned the area; it didn't take too long to spot the guy, he was either brain-damaged or...well, the archer couldn't find another option as she darted forwards.

'I'll go with you.' the Boy Wonder's voice rang inside her head.

-A pocket full of posies.- Gritting her teeth, Artemis answered. 'I'll manage myself, thanks.' She had then thought he was making fun of her and she was not going to let him underestimate her just because he was-well, he was the goddamn Batman's protégé.

Though about an hour later she decided that she would rather have him make fun of her if that meant he would help her out of the mess she got into.

It was quick. Her sleek body poured into the night, the guy she was trailing did not even suspect her as he made his way into the outskirts of the city, the slums of Happy Harbor one could say. He went into a small building that clearly had been better at some point in the past, the archer herself made her way to the rooftop of another one across the empty street. She could see the guy from the curtain-free windows, he had entered an empty flat, still glancing around and probably sweating horribly.

Everything was normal, so fucking normal, Megan was saying something directed at Superboy about her cookies through the telepathic link, the speedster was questioning Robin's whereabouts, he had probably done his ninja thing again and-and then the suit guy opened a window, inhaled deeply and there was pain, pain, briefest seconds worth an eternity in the hell, someone tearing her brain off her head and goddamn why couldn't she just move! -...

-Ashes, ashes.-

And then all went dead.

Endless silence in its peaceful, yet suffocating glory.

She called for her teammates in her head. Once, twice...She quickly lost the count. It was drowning her, the silence, the silence, a distasteful feeling formed upon her stomach, soon devouring her body and her mind - was that, was that fear?

Her deep slumber, her trip to her own little black abyss was cut short by crucifying pain in her right leg. And this time, it did not go away. She emitted a short scream, almost like a screech, before crashing down onto the ground. Something had pierced her leg. Something had gone through her goddamn right leg!

Gritting her teeth, the archer painfully groaned, tears pouring down to her face as she tried to tame the pain, to put a leash on the merciless beast. She muttered something, but her words were inaudible, unintelligent. One single moment of weakness, it had cost her more than she was willing to pay. She looked up, though she already knew who the cashier was this time.

She had no idea how or when, but somehow the frog-faced guy with a balding spot on top of his head had managed to get to the rooftop of the building across the one Artemis nested upon.

He was shooting laser beams at her.

Now if her leg didn't hurt as much, she would've laughed. This whole situation, she could swear the god or whoever wrote her shitty fate got the idea from a four-paneled, hero-bashing caricature in Gotham Gazette she read in a quiet Sunday morning once. Maybe deities and she had something in common and that was somewhat satisfying.

In the last panel, she could reminiscence, the last hero standing died in a comical fashion.

That was enough to fuel her rage. She was not some hero, she was the Green Arrow's partner for fuck's sake! She was not going down without a fight. Even if her death was certain, she was not going down without a fight!

It took her entire willpower, her entire being to move, but she moved, barely avoiding the arrow-like red beams pointed at her. It was not as graceful or as strong as her usual movement, but sloppy, painful, even bloody. Her body rolled away from the arrows' reach and for a second, just a second she had gone mad with pain. Tears blurred her vision, she gritted her teeth so hard to not scream as she saw, no, felt the second wave of beams coming. She forced her body to move again and...

The solid ground was gone.

Honestly, Artemis was getting tired of paying more than she was willing to pay.

Blood splatter. Throat-tearing scream. -We all fall down.- Blond hair fluttering like wings. But it never came, it never did. No splat. No disfigured body, no bones going right through internal organs, no brain matter scattering around.

Instead her back met some kind of a thread and that was enough, she didn't know how or where she found enough of her mind, but that was enough for her hand to reach out and hold onto it. Her arrows flew out of her bag, making such little sounds as they met what was once to be her death.

Perhaps her mother was right. Perhaps she did have a strong will to live, she was a survivor.

And that was how she ended up in her current situation.

Now she had no idea what that fucking son of a bitch was doing up there. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. She had no idea about anything, the only solid thing in her mind was that she was going to met her death far too soon for her taste and she was somewhat agonizingly lucky enough to choose how - by her enemy's hands or by letting just her hand go. Unless fate decided to go and cut the thread, oh how deliciously fitting that was.

She mindlessly hung there about three minutes. It was as if her whole body was moving purely on instinct, her mind had long been shut off, stuck replaying certain scenarios of her demise over and over and over again.

Perhaps nothing did last forever in where she lived. Her thoughts cracked, images of blood, brain, bone, dirt and dust began to blur and fade into nonexistence.

The first thing to pour into those cracks was cold.

Her outfit wasn't made to keep her warm. Heck, she didn't even know if her outfit had any function, other than branding her hello, I'm Green Arrow's sidekick. Oh, she was getting sidetracked.

Blood loss. She was suffering from blood loss. She was going to die. That bastard was not coming for her. She did not get to choose her death in the end. She was going to die. She wasn't going to get back at Wally for that boobs joke. She was going to pass out, be drowned in dark, fade into eternal silence, the bells were tolling for her, her hand was going to grow weaker and weaker until she would just let go and even then she wasn't going to be able to notice it.

Well, she probably wasn't going to feel much pain. That was good, wasn't it?

Thwack.

Her thread of life gave in.

It was that simple. Just a thwack. Nothing flashy. She was dying. That simple. She had never been on this end of the arrow, no, never this close.

She was falling, -no, no, no, no!- dying. Not by the hands of enemy. Not by the hands of her friends. Just a joke, -this isn't happening, this isn't happening!-just a cruel joke, a-

"ARTEMIS!"

She did not respond. She had long forgotten her own name.

Strong grip. Red. Domino mask. Stains of anger, horror, blood.

She passed out.

Hang in there.

Hang in where? She was hanging onto something before, she could vaguely remember it.

C'mon Art, breath!

Artemis was her name. She was supposed to breath.

Don't you fucking die on me!

Death. Memories flooded into her consciousness -inhale, exhale, inhale-; mom's face, her first hunt, her crush in fifth grade pulling out her hair, Ollie's beard, mom's smile. Missions, threads. Justice, redemption. Live your life for me. You have a chance to make your life better.

She was not dead. She was not going to die.

"Atta girl."

Even with her vision blurred, she could recognize that smirk anywhere.

"Fuck you...Robin."

There was a tired, slightly forced laugh, his trademark laugh. She blinked a few times, each blink heavier than the previous.

There was a huge gash across his chest, going right through the R, bruises and scratches of various sizes here and there. His mask was torn slightly and his cape was-Artemis then realized he was using it to apply pressure on her right leg.

Ouch.

As if he heard her thoughts, he smirked again. "You totally died there."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." There was a small silence before she began again. "What the...hell happened?"

His smirk fell. "Grave matters, young one. Grave matters."

"I'm serious."

And his smirk came back, quick as lightning. "So am I. We had to call the Batman."

The archer's eyes widened in response—-and man, was she sleepy or what? "But it's not his-"

"Turf?" He snickered. "Well, I'm his goddamn sidekick."

Artemis emitted a sound similar to a laugh, before silence fell back onto them. It wasn't uncomfortable, not for the blonde at least, but perhaps it was for the Boy Wonder as he spoke again.

"I told you to let me come with you."

Her head rose immediately, her eyes ignited with fury. Her head was throbbing with pain and she wasn't really sure if her eyelids were on same level, which might have made her move less threatening and even humorous for the young hero.

"I can take care of myself."

He heaved a sigh. "Yeah, obviously."

"Look, I'm not some damsel in distress-"

"I understand that-"

"I went through worse you little twerp! Don't just come playing the hero like you-"

"You're human!"

He expected some reply, Artemis guessed. Human. That was a low blow. Her mouth hung open. She looked at him, words refusing to come out of her mouth. Human. Her eyes bore deep into his, from that little gap on his mask she thought she saw blue.

And then, her open mouth formed into a full-fledged smirk. "Well, so are you kiddo."

He laughed. It wasn't a snicker, not a creepy ninja laugh of his, just a clear, simple, honest laugh, one she had never heard before.

"Yeah, we both are."

Oh. Oh. Oh. Hello, Artemis!

"Now shut up and don't sleep. Help is on the way."

I went over almost the entire thing like five times, hopefully I didn't miss anything. Last parts probably suck. I was way too tired...

I wanted to use the original version of Ring Around the Rosie, but then decided to stick with this one.

Oh, I actually have a plot (the title is somewhat related), it's not going to be a series of one-shots but will focus on Rob/Art friendship anyway. This was a looong introduction chapter of some sorts... Will probably add a few OCs very, very later. Worked pretty hard on them so don't worry, they won't suck...I hope.

GLORIOUS SLEEP