Author's Note: Welcome to my first crack at a Young Justice Fan Fiction Story. However before I begin there is a few shout outs I need to give.

First my Editor Caleb. He helped a lot making me not sound like a complete idiot. When I tell you he made it easier to read and understand I mean he did. The second draft had a lot of red in it from when I gave it to him to look over.

Second my Research Partner Ricky. He made sure I was on point with everything so I wasn't betraying DC Lore much itself so I could remain as faithful as possible.

Third to another author knottedblonde. When trying to figure out how I wanted to portray Artemis I came across her stories Artemisia and Parenthesis and it just clicked. I loved how she had wrote Artemis as a character and it gave birth to the inspiration for how Artemis will be portrayed in this story. I heavily suggest you check out her work as well she is incredibly talented and her stories are really well written.

Chapter 1 – The Return

I gotta go. Come on run. You're faster than this. The blue denim jeans brushed through the bushes, grabbing at them as the thorns of the heavily mutated forest grabbed onto him, like fingers, for whatever creature lay attached. As a machete swiped down, freeing his pants leg, he continued to attempt his escape. A painful screech echoed from around him as a shadow started gaining on him from above. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the deep green eyes of the creature walking through the air, stepping on the ever grown stalks that held the monster up. There was a deep but feminine voice echoing down to him. The man in front of her was no more than 23 or 24. He had a beard that was mostly unkempt, but it was kept in check in terms of length. His fiery red hair seemed to leak down the sides of his face, into his beard, and even into the man's mustache that had reached down to join with his beard.

"There you are, Dandelion. I hope you don't think you can get away from me." The creature laughed, still chasing the young man. "What's wrong? Can't get away quickly enough? It's amazing what a little pollen can do, isn't it?" A cackle erupted from the woman as she gradually came closer to the ground. The man briefly watched back, sneering as he continued trying to force his legs to go faster. However, they wouldn't as he ran through constant overgrowth trying to slow him down. His machete slammed down against the roots and vines trying to cage him. He knew exactly who it was that was coming after him. Poison Ivy. Only instead of being her usual self, she was supercharged. Being addicted to Bane's Titan formula, she was able to spawn overgrowth all over the world. Using those vines, 90% of the world's heroes had been strangled, or given some poisonous injection via plants. Now she had him in her sights. Her arms were wrapped in tubes running from her gauntlets to the back of her neck in two different points. As she reached out for him, a vine jetted from beside her after the man. In one split moment, he ripped his machete back and cut the vine in half. He grinned, and grabbed a handful full of dirt in both hands. Tossing both at Ivy, the vines came up in an automatic response and swatted the clumps away, protecting their "mother." However, the cloud of dirt that blocked her view gave the man enough time to get away. Once it had settled, the man was long gone. Ivy gave a cackle and shouted furiously.

"Nobody can hide from me! The plants themselves are my eyes and my hands!" Ivy headed off towards where the man had vanished off to. However, by the time that Ivy had reached him, a bright blue portal had formed behind the man as he smirked at her. "See you never, Weed Queen." he mocked, diving through. In a fit of rage, Ivy tossed tree roots after him; however, these only got cut off as the portal closed behind the man. His red hair was the first thing to emerge as he crashed upon a rooftop in a dark and dreary town. He coughed, ripping large roots from around his neck and waist. If the portal had stayed open any longer, he may have been dragged halfway through and killed, or worse… fully into Ivy's grasp.

He looked at a device around his wrist and flipped it open, revealing a screen and a holo-projector.

"Lor'Mak. Location." He coughed, still trying to get air into his body. There was a red rash forming even from just the small amount of time that the root had its grasp on him. A rasping, almost insect-sounding voice spoke back to him.

"Searchiiiing locatiiiion. Tiiiime to cordiiiinates. 40 Giiiilbiiiits." The man sighed and closed the device, slowly standing up.

"Quicker than most, I suppose. Now to find out wh-"

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted and focused on a bright light. "That answers my question. I'm in Gotham. Which means…" He shook his head roughly. "No… I can't…" Getting a running start and speeding up to blur like speeds, the young man leaped from building to building as he hurried off, a few times his silhouette blocking out small parts of the Bat Signal that shown against the dark Gotham sky. He ran and ran, his thoughts racing rapidly. He dodged a lot of things: cars, street signs, and even muggers whom he quickly dispatched with before they knew what hit them. However, the one thing he didn't dodge, unbeknownst to him, was the eyes of the Justice League; more specifically, Batman. Heading as fast as he could, the speedster ran in no specific direction. He passed a sign and stopped for a moment to look where he was to right his mind.

"Welcome to Bludhaven…" He groaned and clutched his head again, stumbling images running through his mind which he tried to shake off. Once again, seemingly to escape his own thoughts, he took off, for to him what felt like only a few seconds… five miles before a small explosive ended up blowing him into an alley way where more explosives waited, knocking him around. He groaned, crashing against the dumpster and falling forward into garbage cans, causing them to fall and leaving his body on the ground as he gasped for air.

"There are no speedsters that I know of in this area. Which means you are someone I have to be wary of. Care to tell me who you are before I stop being so nice?" The crumpled heap of flesh slowly moved to look up in the direction of the voice. A dark-haired man stood there in his pitch-black suit; a suit plastered on the front with a red symbol which went over the shoulder and down the arms. He slowly got to his feet and smirked.

"Nightwing... now, just which Nightwing are you?" He coughed, his beard catching saliva as he spat just before wiping it off. "Chris Kent? No, not likely… he doesn't use toys to fight… Jason Todd?" A twinge erupted over the dark face of the man; the speedster assumed it went unnoticed. "Not Jason then… your reaction tells me you knew him… must be dead… so..." He coughed once more, leaning against the wall. "Either Dick, Tim, or Damien…" He stared through the man. "So which one are you?"

"You seem to think you know an awful lot. How about answers?" Nightwing tightened his signature Escrima Clubs.

"Right. I'm gonna guess..." A small chuckle from his throat sounded as he came to his conclusion. "Damien Wayne… he was the only one so… explosive." The speedster started running again, dodging the explosives best he could since he expected them this time. However, from the previous round he was caught off by them again; but this time, the figure jumped down on him, pinning him to the ground.

"I would like some answers. Now. Who are you!?" The venom on his lips stung the pinned speedster. He looked up with his emerald eyes and caught Nightwing's glance.

"Dick Grayson…" He grunted and grabbed his head. It wasn't long before his shocked gaze looked up with a dagger-laced sneer. "Joker." He spun his arm quickly, forming a small tornado over his forearm, and punched him in the side, sending him spinning into the wall. He moved in a heartbeat and rained fists down onto Dick's chest and face for five full seconds before taking off once more, leaving Dick Grayson bloody and battered with barely enough strength to signal for help. The red-haired blur continued running and running, nearly making it to Star City before once more being cut off; this time by a Yellow and Red blur.

"Alright buddy, let's calm down. Nightwing is a bit unstable but we don't need to get violent." The man stood in front of him, his hands outstretched. Green eyes widened and growled. "I'm Kid Flash. I'm sure we can talk this out." The mention of "Kid Flash" flew him into a rage as he twirled his hands once more, tiny tornadoes forming around both of his forearms as he rushed to try and strike Kid Flash with a stiff right. However, he dodged the direct hit… only to get sent flying from the mass of wind force that accompanied the strike. He slammed into a tree before falling; but before he hit the ground, once again the fiery man was atop him, striking with his left and sending him soaring into the large "Welcome to Star City" sign that stood nearby. Kid Flash crashed into it, leaving a dent in the steel sign before falling to the ground. He groaned and coughed, trying to get air in his frame before looking up at the opposing speedster. He was holding his head and stumbling from side to side as if his equilibrium itself was off, mumbling to himself. As he was distracted, Kid Flash quickly ran up and gave a stiff shot to his exposed gut and chest and continued to strike rapidly until the man's eyes rolled back and he was unconscious.

"Sorry friend. Can't have you running a rampage." He coughed quietly and radioed back. "Kid Flash to Batman. Target subdued. Star City Limits. Send assistance to get him back." It wasn't long before The Flash himself arrived to help. The unconscious speedster was quickly restrained with an inhibitor collar to stop him from using his speed to harm anyone further. Looking down at him, however, caused Flash to freeze in his tracks.

"Barry… did you get a name for this man…" He said, his voice cracking a bit as he spoke.

"No, why? What's wrong, Grandpa?" He looked over seeing the wide eyes of The Flash as he seemed to be staring at a ghost in front of him

"Batman, this is Flash. Come in." He spoke quietly. "Get a bed at the Watchtower ready. We are bringing the captive there." Bart could hear Batman start to protest before he was cut off. The Flash picked him up and sped off, Bart immediately taking off to meet him.

It was another hour before the fire-maned man awoke and immediately rolled over, hurling and coughing while holding his ribs.

"I wouldn't move much. You have three fractured and two broken ribs." Wally immediately jetted up and against the wall, grunting in the pain his ribs caused. His chest immediately flamed up from the sudden movement. The figure at the end of the bed was none other than the caped crusader himself… Batman. "You should be thanking Flash instead of trying to undo the help he has given you. If it were up to me you would be in Belle Reve like you deserve. However… The Flash has vehemently opposed and thus you're here. Now. Who are you?" The flame-haired speedster only met with a growl, but soon forced himself to calm down just enough to be civil. However, just as he was about to speak the device on his wrist beeped. He looked down and tapped it open.

"Lor'Mak. I assume you have the location."

"Yes siiiir. Diiiimensiiiion X439P" The insect like voice spoke out. "We have arriiiived at your destiiiinatiiiion siiiiir." As the creature spoke his eyes got wider and wider before finally relaxing and crumbling to the floor in the corner, a smile coming over his face as he took a deep breath.

"Finally home…" He looked to Batman, who seemed to be staring blankly at him, waiting for an answer.

"What is that device? We tried to remove it, of course, but it shocked anyone who tried to remove it from your wrist."

"This is Lor'Mak. A device used to help track dimensional positioning. Once it attaches to the host, it fuses to the body and uses the natural electric discharge from your own body to protect itself and its host from being separated." He looked up, still relaxed and a lot more forthcoming. "I have been known for a while as a traveler. No name… just drifting… dimension to dimension… for too long. Lor'Mak. Planetary date, please."

"June 20, 2024, siiiir." was the immediate reply. A small chuckle erupted from the captive man.

"8 years to the day… that's all it's been?" He seemed lost in his nostalgic thought when Batman spoke once more.

"You have only answered one question. Who are you?" He demanded once more with a glare. The man looked over and coughed, holding his injured ribs before speaking.

"I am... Wally West."