Where would she start?
Should she start with last night? Going home to find the lights had been cut off and her mom waiting by the door with a candle and a purse. Being handed a couple of bucks so she could buy a flashlight. Then going back to get more money to buy some batteries.
Sitting in the dark with her mother as they tried to remember if they had paid the bill or if was a problem throughout the building. A quick trip to their neighbor proved it they had paid the bill. Her stomach growling, demanding to be fed. She ignored her stomach as long as she could. She wanted to stay by her mom's feet for a little bit longer.
Her mom did ask the same question. Her accented voice laced with compassion, a hand softly tugging her ponytail loose. Artemis had responded with a shrug.
"Just a team exercise," she had said "Nothing major."
Her mom dropped it.
But a quick glance at Black Canary revealed she wouldn't get off that easy twice. Black Canary leaned back in her chair to wait for Artemis's response to the question. "Do you have anything you want to talk about?"
Her mind drifted off to when the lights had finally come back on. The lights brighter than she remembered them ever being. Feeling a shock fizzle through her nervous system. From the crown of her head to the tips of her toes she tingled. Then she was back in the Arctic.
She was running to the Bioship, fighting off the aliens. Everything there was so white that it almost blinded her. The only splash of color coming from where her teammates – friends – were waiting for her. And the aliens trying to keep her from reaching them.
It looked all clear as she only had a few yards left until she was part of the assortment of color. She realized it was mostly red with some black and green. Three colors that the six of them all fit into.
She just noticed this when she felt it. Something aiming at her back. Quickly she drew an arrow to protect herself, but it was too late. She could feel herself burning all over again. She could hear M'gann's scream echo in her ears. Another voice, male, joined in.
Maybe it was Conner? Kaldur? It couldn't have been Robin. The voice was too deep for that to be impossible. Wally was completely out of the question. He was probably glad to see her gone. Maybe they brought Red Arrow in when they had left the Arctic.
She was told what had happened after she had…well, after. How M'gann made them all forget it was all an exercise. How the rest died. And she had been whispered Wally's react by a small bird. Of course Robin had been joking. Wally could not of had reacted like that. He hated her guts.
"Artemis?"
She looked back up when she heard her name. Black Canary was waiting for her to talk. So she would. Just to get this whole thing over with.
"I'm fine."
What other answer could she have had given her? Tell her everything rushing through her mind so they could label her as emotionally unstable? Kick her out of the Team when she was starting to fit in just a little bit? No way. She worked too hard to have everything taken away just like that. She couldn't risk it.
But she wasn't fine. She was the cause of the whole fiasco. Her death set everything else that happen up. If she had been a little quicker, a little faster, maybe she could have prevented this. She was at fault once again.
"Really."