Stupid tears. She thought miserably. This is ridiculous. Artemis was sitting in the middle of an abandoned hallway somewhere in Mt. Justice. She had been crying for about twenty minutes, and was tired of it. Cut it out! She told herself. Grow up and face it like the Artemis they all think you are! Who cares if he's angry? I do. Shut up! The archer was having an internal argument with herself when she heard footsteps. She froze, listening harder. Voices could just barely be made out.
"Come, on! You don't really know why she did it!"
"I don't care! She put the whole mission at risk!"
"Wally, you don't unders-"
"And you do? Well then, explain it to me, Rob. Enlighten me on her reason for ditching us and chasing the bad guys solo!" There was a pause.
"I... I shouldn't..."
"Yeah, right."
"If you're so curious, maybe you should ASK HER!"
"Maybe I WILL!" She heard someone stomp off, most likely Robin.
"Rob, wait..."
"Nope! Don't talk to me until you actually know what's going on behind the scenes!" Artemis heard Wally swear, and begin walking again. The footsteps were getting louder. Panicking, she headed in the opposite direction, leading straight to a dead end. No! Wait... She looked up and smiled. Pulling herself up, she opened the vent above her and climbed in. I gotta get outa here! I may not know where this leads, but it's better than being cornered by a questioning Wally. Or so she told herself. After about twenty minutes of crawling, she knocked open the nearest opening and dropped down in M'gann's room.
"Well, that worked better than I thought..." She muttered to herself. Just then, Miss M walked in.
"Huh? Artemis, what are you doing in my room?" She asked puzzled.
"Escaping." she said simply. Megs looked up and saw the vent hanging open.
"I'm not even gonna ask for an explanation." The martian grabbed her coat and walked out. Artemis sighed in relief and sunk into one of the room's many chairs.
"Okay, what's next?"
"Zeta-Tubes."
"Gah! Robin! What do you want?" The thirteen year old had appeared out of nowhere and was now standing next to her.
"To help."
"Fine. Then give me a map of the vents and directions on how to reach the Zeta-Tubes."
"Okay." He shrugged, pulling a slip of metal out of his belt. It lit up and a map appeared on it. "Just follow the red line. The green dots are members of the team, and each is labeled. You might want to be quiet when passing one of them." He paused and gave her a long look. "You really should stay and talk to him..."
"Nuh-uh. I can't."
"You can't, or you don't want to?"
"Shut up. And hey, how'd you know?"
"I'm a detective, not an idiot." He smirked. "Really, you should tell him."
"So, if you had a family of supervillains and assassins, you would tell your team that already is suspicious?" He didn't respond. "I didn't think so." She walked back over to the open vent and reached up.
"Here." Robin knelt down and offered her his hands. She put one foot in and he boosted her up.
"Thanks." He nodded as she disappeared inside.
"Have you seen Artemis?" Wally asked Miss Martian in the kitchen.
"Uh, no?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.
"Megan?"
"I- I don't-"
"Artemis B-07" The computer annonced.
"No!" Wally ran and reached the Zeta-Tube just as it's glow dimmed. "Crap, where's she go?"
"Gotham." Robin announced from behind him. "Better hurry. There's a huge hailstorm going on. All power has gone out and roads are closed off."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it." He said, typing in the location.
"Here's a tracker. This should help you get to her." The Boy Wonder tossed KF a small screen.
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet. It's gonna be hard to get through all that-" His words were cut off as Wally slipped into the tube.
"Kid Flash B-03" He was gone in the blink of an eye.
Great. Wally thought. How will I even be able to see her in this? Hail the size of Razberries were raining down all around him. The cold pieces of ice hitting the warm late-spring earth caused a huge cloud of fog to surround him. He pulled down his goggles and checked the tracker Robin had given him. She hadn't made it too far. He headed off in her dirrection, trying to avoid hitting any buildings. According to the device, she was also a good three miles from her house. Wait, I thought she lived in Star city? Oh, well. He rounded another corner to see a faint splash of green in the white. Artemis! Running as fast as he could manage in the weather, he caught up to her. Seems she had been jumping from each of the apartments' sheltered balconies. Smart. He thought. She jumped down from the nearest one to land under the canopy of a shop. Taking advantage of this, he ran up behind her and grabbed her arm.
Artemis tried to rip her arm out of this person's grip. Why they would be out in this weather, she didn't know. She calmed down when she heard his voice.
"Artemis! What the heck are you doing?" He shouted over the thundering hail.
"What's it look like? I'm going home!" She shouted back, wanting to escape his presence. Artemis tried to turn around, but before she could, Wally picked her up and turned the way they had come. "Hey! Put me DOWN!" She shouted. He shook his head.
"No! Your house is too far away! The cave is closer, and the longer we stay out here, the less a chance we have of making it anywhere. She kept struggling until he began to run. Realizing she could do nothing, she tucked her face into his neck and tried to ignore the frozen shards attacking her. Noticing this, KF held her closer, trying to protect her. Ugh. She thought. He's not making this any easier! After a while, they reached the alley and he stepped into the telephone booth.
"Recognized. Kid Flash B-03 Artemis B-07."
"Sheesh, glad that's over." Wally sighed.
"Okay, you can put me down now." Artemis growled.
"Alright, but I need to-" As soon as he put her down, she ran for it. Oh, no you don't! You're not getting away this time! He thought, charging after her. Heading down the same hallway she had, he came to a fork. He was trying to figure out which way she went, when he noticed a puddle leading down the right one. "Gotcha." He followed the trail of water until it dissapeared after a large puddle. "What? Where'd she-" He looked up, noticing an open air vent. Impresive, but I have this. He thought, pulling out the tracker.
Artemis hurried through the cramped ventilation system to reach the most secluded place she knew existed in the mountain. She was following the map Robin had given her earlier and it was leading her exactly where she needed to get.
Artemis reached a large dip in the tunnel and gingerly sliped down it. At the bottom was an extremely wide vent cover. She used her weight and now slammed onto it, causing it to fall. She dropped into the dark and empty room bellow, to find it wasn't all that empty. "Nice try." Whipping around, the archer came face-to-face with Kid Flash. He was leaning against the wall casually, glaring at her.
"What do you want, Baywatch?" She growled, trying to sound annoyed.
"Apparently, you already know. Otherwise you wouldn't be running from me." She scowled.
"Maybe I just want to get away from everyone." Who thinks I'm a show-off. She finished in her head.
"Yeah, right. and I'm here because I was just strolling by."
"Well, If that's the case, I'd better go." She said, heading for the door. Before the blonde could even take one step, he was guarding it with his arms crossed.
"I don't think so, Arty."
"Don't call me that."
"Sure, when you tell me why you lead us off course on that mission." Wally said, still glowering.
"It's like you were thinking. I felt upstaged by Roy, and felt the need to prove myself, despite your compliment." KF sighed angrily.
"Now I know Robin was right. What aren't you telling me?" He took a step closer, naturally she backed away one step.
"Nothing. That's the whole story."
"No, why aren't you telling me your reason?" He stepped closer.
"I didn't have one." She backed up.
"I don't believe you." KF began to take bigger steps.
"Not my problem." She tried to retreat again, but was backed against the cold wall.
"Artemis, What is it?" He was closing in on her.
"Aw, thanks for not calling me Arty. I better go. My mom must be worried." Artemis slid over to the nearest corner and was about to make a break for the door, when he whisked in front of her.
"You'd better spill..."
"Let's just say I'm not on the best terms with my family..." She mumbled. He must have heard her, because he raised his eyebrow.
"You want to explain that statement?"
"No, not really." She was trying her hardest not to sound nervous, but she did anyways.
"Come on, you can trust me..." Wally was getting close. Too close.
"Do the words 'Not in this lifetime' ring a bell?"
"Arty, please." He sounded almost like he was pleading, but she tried to ignore it. He put his arms on either side of her and leaned in.
"Cut it out." She said, pushing on his chest.
"Tell me what's going on..." He whispered.
"Why do you even care?" She hissed, pushing harder.
"Do I have to spell it out for you?" He asked. Before she could respond, Wally pressed against the blonde archer and kissed her. Artemis was rigid in his grasp for a moment, but gave in. His hands slid from the corner to her face, and she moved her arms from his chest to around his shoulders. She closed her eyes and sighed. Wally moaned slightly, causing a chill to go down her spine. All of a sudden, she came to her senses. Artemis slipped away from him, clutching her sides.
"Stop... You wouldn't do that if you knew..." She mumbled.
"Artemis, knew what?" Wally said.
"A lot of things."
"Please tell me. Help me understand what's going on here!" He was begging her.
"The moment you understand is the moment you never forgive me. Let's just leave it at that." She tried leaving again, only to end up in the same spot she had been moments ago by super-speed. KF's face was milimeters away from her own.
"I'll always forgive you..."
"Shut up and let me leave..."
"Not 'till you tell me-"
"My dad is Sportsmaster, okay? Now let me go!" She shoved him back, but he grabbed her shoulders. His expression was shocked, but then it changed to... Pity... Her face portrayed her confusion, and it puzzled her even more when he lifted his hand to touch the side of her face. When he pulled back, there was a glistening tear on his finger. Artemis raised her own hand and wiped at her face, getting rid of the unnoticed problem. She stormed out into the hallway as fast as she could. Good. She thought. He's not following- Her thoughts were cut off as the speedster appeared in front of her and wrapped her in a huge hug.
"I'm sorry..." He whispered in her ear. She wound her arms around his neck and cried. For the second time that day, she sobbed. But it was different this time. Yes, this time, she had a shoulder to cry on. He pulled back and brushed her lips with his own, causing her to blush. "And I forgive you..." Artemis smiled.
"I'm glad." She angled her head upwards, inviting him in. He gently placed his lips on hers. The blonde reached up and twisted her fingers into his hair, pulling herself up. The two of them smiled happily.
A/N: I absolutely despise this ending. I hate it. I hate it with all my soul. I hate it more than anything I've ever hated before. I am so sorry that you had to read that ending. Well R&R please!