A/N: After many, many, many requests, I have finally decided to continue this story HOWEVER I couldn't just continue adding onto the horror that was the writing of a 14-15 year old. And so I present my re-writing of this story. I hope that you are willing to follow it as diligently as you followed its precursor and that it will be even better!

….

Bialyan Desert

November 15, 02:32 AM

It had started out as a simple mission. Hell, it had barely been a mission. It had been pitched to the team as a simple check-in, with Batman forbidding them to engage if they came into any trouble. Starting trouble between Bialya and the heroes of America was not part of the mission. Of course, the word simple had a very twisted meaning in the Young Sidekick's Vocabulary For Missions. That is why the small squad of heroes found themselves shielding themselves from a rain of bullets in the freezing Bialyan desert in the middle of the night.

"M'gann, what's the location of the bioship?" Robin's voice carried over the droning noise of gunfire, followed by the whiz of an arrow flying through the air, aimed at the enemy.

"I don't know, I can't make contact with her," the young martian cried back, flinging away one of the soldiers that had made it too close to their current hide out.

"Something must be blocking out the telepathic signal," Aqualad suggested, risking a look over the hill of sand posing as their shelter, with Artemis's arrows and Robin's explosives covering him. Behind the growing mass of soldier, he suddenly spotted what was out of the ordinary. "There! Behind the soldiers. That machine must be the reason for our lack of telepathic contact."

Robin risked a look as well, barely catching a glimpse as a bullet flew past his head, prompting him to dodge once again. "We need to shut down that machine if we're going to retreat safely," he spoke directly to Kid Flash, who nodded. "Miss M, we need you and Artemis to provide cover as Kid Flash gets me to the machine. Superboy and Aqualad, try to avert as many soldiers as you can. We don't want any casualties." The final sentence was delivered almost exclusively to Superboy, who grunted in annoyed agreement.

At the quiet count of three, the team split up, Kid Flash sprinting off with Robin clutching onto his back. Miss Martian averted the bullets heading their way, Artemis trying her best to take care of any soldiers that weren't being drawn away by Aqualad and Superboy. As Kid Flash neared the machine, the plan seemed to working out. That was when the soldiers brought out their trump card.

The sudden seize in gunfire was a bad sign and as Artemis fired yet another trick arrow at an oncoming soldier, her stomach dropped. At least five of the soldiers had gotten their hands on a large grenade launcher and they were aiming at every teammate. "M'gann!" Artemis just managed to warn before she had to sprint away from her own oncoming attack.

The grenade meant for the archer landed a few feet away, the force of the explosion throwing Artemis off her feet. She rolled to a stop, looking up just in time to see M'gann's protective shield crack under the explosion. The martian cried out as she was blasted back, landing somewhere on the sand a good distance away from Artemis.

Somewhere further to her left, she heard Superboy's enraged cries and the sound of a heavy beating followed. Getting to her feet and wincing, Artemis saw soldiers flying in every direction and caught a glimpse of Aqualad's aquatic swords. That just left... At the sound of another explosion, Artemis's attention moved over to where the machine was located.

Seeing a familiar flash of yellow, she ran off. Trying to locate Robin and Kid Flash while simultaneously firing off arrows at the remaining soldiers, she almost tripped over the duo. Helping them to their feet, Robin shouted at them to get to the machine before disappearing into the crowd of soldiers.

"I've got you covered! Go!" Artemis shoved at Kid Flash, pushing him to close the distance between them and the machine. Backing up towards her teammate, Artemis tried her best to keep up with the onslaught of soldiers and bullets, catching an occasional glimpse of Robin amidst them. "Hurry it up!" she urged, now mere feet away from Kid Flash, who was messing with the machine.

"I'm trying, just get off my back!" he growled back, making Artemis want to aim her arrows at the speedster instead of the soldiers. Another bullet flew past and she took down another soldier but they were slowly cornering her and Kid Flash. Without the telepathic link, she couldn't call for assistance.

"Come on!" she shouted, going to pull another arrow but finding that she only had one remaining, an explosive one, and if she fired it at this range, the explosion would be too close. "Kid..."

"Almost there!" was the worried reply but almost there wasn't good enough. Clenching her jaw, Artemis pulled out the last arrow, firing it into the group of soldiers. Before it made contact, she turned on the spot and jumped over to Wally, pushing them both as far away from the explosion as possible.

As they hit the ground, she felt the scorching heat burn over them. What was worse, she could hear an eerie noise coming from the machine next to them. "What the hell were you thinking?" Kid Flash suddenly grumbled from beneath her and as he started to get to his feet, Artemis saw a bright light coming to life within the machine.

Artemis frantically grabbed at the yellow suit, trying to pull him back down as she cried out, "Wally, get down-"

The light seemed to illuminate the whole desert, somehow knocking both Kid Flash and Artemis backwards, before disappearing completely. Artemis stared up at the pitch dark sky for a few moments, eyes once again adjusting to the darkness after the onslaught of brightness. Finally, she sat up, realizing that what she'd thought was the machine blowing up was actually... quite anti-climatic.

"Artemis! KF!" All of a sudden, hands were crowding them, pulling them up to their feet and half ushering, half dragging them towards the bio-ship. Besides them, Superboy was carrying the now-shut-down machine towards the entrance. It wasn't until the ship was in the air that anyone spoke. Sadly for Artemis, that anyone was Wally.

"What the hell was that, Artemis? Were you trying to blow us both up or is your aim really getting that sloppy?" he accused, turning his seat so he could follow the statement with an angry glare. The air in the bio-ship was filled with static and before Kaldur could try to ease the tension, Artemis had risen from her seat.

"Are you really that thick?" she shot back, glaring at him from underneath her mask. "I was trying to save us both, you ungrateful piece of-"

"Oh, I didn't realize your definition of "saving" was setting off an explosion a few feet away from us and a potentially life-threatening device," Wally cut in, now also standing up from his chair, pushing his cowl off his face.

"Without me, you'd be dead. Twice. You'd do good to remember that the next time you wanna shout at me for saving your life. I mean, are you really that misogynist that the fact that a girl -with no superpowers I might add- saves your life, gets your panties in a bunch?" Artemis had stomped up to Wally, staring him down despite the fact that he had a few inches on her in height.

"I was doing just fine saving myself before you came along and I would have continued to be fine. I don't need some useless archer, supposedly having my back," Wally scoffed. Megan stepped up, putting a hand to Artemis's shoulder, which she shook off.

"I'm useless? You're the one that counts on his freaky-superpowers to save the day. You don't have any skills, except for maybe annoying everyone on this team with your stupid crush on Megan. I'm sorry I ever saved your stupid ass. You won't have to worry about it ever happening again."

Before Wally could retort, Artemis had stormed off into the far corner of the bio-ship, taking a seat there. Silence reigned as Wally huffed stubbornly and returned to his own seat. It was a few moments before Robin whistled, meeting Wally's gaze. "Dude, that was kind of harsh," he said quietly, earning a scoff from the redhead.

"She dished as good as she got," he retorted, his voice suggesting that that was the end of discussion. Robin got the clue, turning in his chair and backing off.

As soon as the bio-ship landed and entered Mount Justice, Artemis had disappeared, the zeta-tubes already announcing her departure as the rest of the team stepped into the cave. Fully aware of everyone's gaze stuck on him, Wally ignored them, heading for the zeta-tubes as well, hearing the quiet chatter start before the robotic voice drowned it out.

…...

Gotham City

November 15, 04:13

Stupid, brain-dead, cocky, arrogant, smug bastard, thinking he's better than me just because he can run, strutting around his stupid latex suit, thinking he's all that, he can't even save his own life and then he gets pissed at me...

Artemis breathed harshly as she put away her bow and quiver, tossing every piece of clothing she took off at the wall, imaging a certain freckled face as her target. "I'm useless?" She laughed to herself, pulling out her scrunchie and flinging it at the imaginary target. "He's the one that's useless..." she muttered, her anger seeming to seep away as she put on her nightshirt, leaving behind an empty void.

The worst part had been the pity she had seen in her other teammates' eyes. They'd felt sorry for the insults Wally had been throwing her way and Artemis hated it. She didn't want their pity. She wanted their respect but with Wally constantly beating her down – one could only guess why he persisted with this disliking of her – it was easier said than done.

Trying her best to avoid thinking about the real impact Wally's words had had, Artemis pulled up her covers and settled into bed with a frown. Despite anger and – even though she'd never admit it- hurt, coursing through her body, Artemis was able to fall asleep quite quickly, exhaustion and her aching body forcing her to sleep.

…...

Central City
November 14, 04:16

As per usual, Wally crept into his parents' bedroom, letting them know that he was home safely and, y'know, not dead. Trudging upstairs into his bedroom, his feet heavy, Wally skipped a visit into the bathroom, too tired and pissed off and too... everything, to brush his teeth and whatever else.

After tripping twice and cursing a few more times, Wally gave up on trying to get off his outfit, settling for throwing off his cowl, shoes and gloves and dropping limp onto the bed. Rolling onto his back, he stared at the poster-covered ceiling. With a heavy sigh, he began to feel guilt seep into his system.

He knew Robin was right, he'd been waayy harsh but Artemis was just so... Ugh. He wasn't even sure why she infuriated him so much. Maybe it was her swagger, her attitude or the fact that she constantly made fun of his not-so-small crush on Megan. Whatever it was, she got under his skin. Still... she had almost looked hurt back in the bio-ship and she had had his back, even though she'd tackled him and almost blown them both to pieces...

With an aggravated noise, he rolled onto his side, ignoring the annoyance of trying to sleep in his full-body suit. Thankful that tomorrow was a Sunday and not a school-day, Wally stared at his wall before exhaustion finally kicked in and he fell asleep.

…...