It was supposed to be a simple mission. Yeah, like that ever happened as planned. They almost couldn't even believe how they'd gotten themselves in this position. They were in Gotham City while Batman and many of the League were fighting off world, leaving Black Canary to assign the mission.
Conner was in Smallville spending time with Clark and his family. M'gann was with him as well. Kid Flash was out with his Aunt Iris celebrating her birthday. Zatanna and Rocket had become members of the Justice League a couple months ago after a long fought battle between the males and females over having more females in the League.
That left Aqualad, Robin, and Artemis to go on the mission. When they'd questioned it, Black Canary had pointed out that the Team had been doing much better on stealth missions and the three of them were the quietest on the Team anyway. It should've been no biggie. Investigate the warehouse in Crime Alley, try to find the weapons that were rumored to be there, and report back to the League.
It'd been going great until the League of Shadows had ambushed the three heroes. They had been badly outnumbered and for every assassin knocked out, three more seemed to take its place. After the fight lasted half and hour with none of the heroes getting a break long enough to even send a distress signal, Artemis and Robin had been strategically separated from the team leader. At first, they thought it'd been because Aqualad was the target, but then Deathstroke arrived and instantly attacked the Boy Wonder, driving him out of the warehouse and into the building next to it. It was at that moment Aqualad insisted Artemis chase after Deathstroke and Robin; both were perfectly aware that while Robin could take down the entire Team and several members of the Justice League on his own, the Boy Wonder was no match for the mercenary.
She'd found the two non-metas on top of the fifteen story building and used up nearly all her arrows in futile attempts to take the mercenary out. One of her arrows had accidently ripped the utility off Robin's utility belt when Deathstroke dove to the side at the last possible second. Another one had buried itself into Robin's left leg after the mercenary grabbed it out of mid air and used it as a weapon. That was when Artemis had collapsed the bow and resorted to joining Robin in hand-to-hand combat. She'd decided that she'd only use the last arrow as a last resort.
One well-timed kick to the visibly exhausted and wounded Boy Wonder's leg and another to the center of his chest had sent him tumbling over the side of the roof.
That was how Artemis found herself half sprawled across the rooftop, half leaning over the edge and holding Robin by his right wrist. The archer gasped, still panting from her confrontation with Deathstroke and also because of the strain pulling against her arm from holding the Boy Wonder from falling to his death.
She turned her head at the sound of an amused chuckle from Deathstroke. She glared, awaiting for her certain death, but he simply turned around and walked away from the fight. She frowned and turned towards the warehouse. Dozens of assassins were flowing out of the warehouse like a river of water. Her eyes widened when, after a minute that the assassins were gone, Aqualad had yet to emerge.
Artemis turned back to Robin, almost dropping him in her shock of literally being able to see the fear in the boy's eyes through the mask. She tugged upwards in an attempt to drag him up, but her tired body gave out on her and she slumped back to the ground in her laid-out position. Robin grabbed her forearm with his free one, wincing in the process.
"Alright," she said. "Let's try this again on three, okay?" He nodded. "One… two… three!" Artemis pulled up again while Robin tried to propel himself up by planting his uninjured foot against the building, but they still didn't succeed.
"It's no use, Artemis," he whispered after a few seconds of dangling.
Her eyes widened. "Don't say that! We'll get you up, and Aqualad will report back to Black Canary."
He chuckled, the lenses of his mask still the size of saucers. "You and Aqualad, maybe."
"All three of us," she insisted.
"You and I both know I'm not going to make it. We're both too exhausted. This is so not astrous!"
"Robin," Artemis gasped. "We're gonna make it out of here! Someone will come by shortly-"
"Artemis!" Robin snapped, interrupting her. "We need to face the facts. I don't have my utility belt. KF isn't here to swoop up and grab me. M'gann isn't here so we have to telepathic link to say something's wrong. Conner isn't here so he can't hear us, let alone leap up and grab me. Aqualad is either unconscious or gone."
"I thought I was supposed to be the one who gave up," Artemis pointed out.
"I'm not giving up," he replied. "I'm just facing to facts and the inevitable." His face grew serious and seemed to age years above what it should. "I need you to promise me something, okay?"
Artemis' voice shook. "Okay."
"Tell Wally this isn't his fault; there's nothing he could've done. Say the same to Conner and Megan. Wally can also take all the video games he wants from my room. I have numerous files written in my computer in my room at the Mountain for things to do in every possible scenario that I've thought of that could ever happen to the team-" Robin broke of and let a small laugh that sounded more like a choked sob. "Dang, I said I didn't want to become anything like Batman, yet I went and made that. Guess I picked up on his bat paranoia. Anyways, those files are all his. There's also a few bits of advice on training, how to improve, and how to be an even better leader than he always is. You'll know the password for how to get into the computer in a minute. Some of my mom's old recipes are hidden under the bed in my room; they're all Megan's. I designed a program for Conner that creates holographic enemies for him to train with. The levels get increasingly harder the more he trains-"
He cut off with a gasp of horror when Artemis' grip slipped. She caught him by the fingertips and he held onto her forearm with his other hand with all his strength.
"I've got you," she whispered, a lone tear trailing down her face and falling to the cold, hard ground fifteen stories below.
"I know," he reassured, despite the fact that his whole body was now shaking in fear. The lenses of his mask narrowed. "Don't you dare blame yourself, Artemis Crock. I know you, and I'm telling you right now don't you dare."
The archer slowly nodded. "I promise, Robin. I promise."
"Make Batman promise not to turn back into the man he was before he took me under his wing. And… and tell him that though he's not my biological father, I lo… I lo…" he trailed off, unable to complete his sentence. But Artemis got the gist.
"I promise. I won't let him become that man again."
"Hey," he exclaimed when more tears fell towards the ground. "Stay traught, remember?"
"Or get dead," she recalled the mission from two years ago. "I guess you're not very traught right now." She winced. That came out completely wrong. Her mouth opened to apologize.
"No, I'm not actually," the Boy Wonder admitted. His eyes burned into hers. "Richard Grayson," he said suddenly.
"Huh?" she asked, dumbfounded.
"My name," Richard clarified. "Richard Grayson. But all my friends call me Dick." He suddenly chuckled. "Guess we won't be laughing about this some day, huh?"
Artemis let out a broken sob. "You little troll."
"Promise me you'll tell the Team that I love you guys, okay?"
"Okay."
An unexpected tear rolled underneath the Boy Wonder's mask. "I need you to shoot me with that final arrow when I let go."
She blinked, startled. "What? No! I won't-I can't!"
"Please," he begged, another tear following the last."Don't let me fall to my death. I don't want to die like my parents. It's my greatest fear."
Artemis found herself staring at a boy broken by all the things he'd seen at such a young age. She couldn't bring herself to speak.
His voice shook. "Just say okay…"
Artemis felt her lip tremble. "Okay… okay…"
He gave her a smile that didn't reach his ears. "Thank you. Remember, stay traught."
Even though Artemis knew what she had to do, she still grasped at thin air for a hand that was no longer there when he let go. The archer stood up, whole body shaking in a combination of exhaustion and grief, and pulled her bow back out and extending it. She pulled the arrow and notched it with shaking fingers, carefully watching Dick Grayson falling through blurry eyes. He had his arms spread, seemingly flying, and though she couldn't see it, his eyes were closed and a smile was spread across his face as he approached the ground at a rapid speed.
She took aim and looked away as soon as she shot the arrow, unable to watch her teammate of three years die. Artemis collapsed on the roof and curled into a ball as sobs wracked her body.
Aqualad burst open the door leading to the rooftop and instantly took notice of the curled up archer. He looked around and couldn't find Robin. "Artemis, where is Robin?"
Artemis didn't look up.
-Fin-