It was is if every part of him was being torn apart limb from limb. He was dying, but he felt more alive than ever, he wanted to die, but he also wanted to live. He wasn't in heaven, he wasn't in hell, he wasn't on earth, he wasn't in space. He was everywhere, but nowhere. All he knew was that he was somehow in speed. Time didn't work the same way there. He didn't know when or where he was. He didn't even know how he was even alive! All he knew was that he had to get back to her. He was in eternal agony, and the only thing keeping him tethered to his sanity was her.

"Artemis."

Artemis woke up the next morning to an interesting sight, Dick was making breakfast.

She groggily wiped her eyes and motioned towards the scene,"I'm sorry, but what exactly am I seeing here?"

Dick shrugged smiling, "I'm making breakfast. We've got a long day ahead of us."

"A long day of what exactly?"

Dick smirked, "You'll see." Artemis would have continued questioning him but Dick plopped down some eggs and toast. It smelled amazing! Artemis figured some breakfast wouldn't hurt.

Once she had finished breakfast, she went to change but then realized she didn't know if this was a superhero expedition or not.

"Dick!" She yelled "Should I wear my costume?"

"No shit Artemis! And it's not a costume! It's a highly breathable super hero suit!"

"Whatever you say, Grayson." Artemis muttered, shaking her head.

So she took the Tigress suit out of her closet—which now that she was thinking about it was probably not the best place to store a super hero suit— and put it on.

The costume was fine, but it wasn't the same as the green one that hung mockingly in the back of her closet, unused and abandoned. Artemis was tempted to wear it, but without Wally, it just wouldn't be the same.

She walked out of her room to find Dick laying on the couch tossing his baton in the air, and catching it. When she came out of her room he looked up at her and groaned,

"Finally! Well let's get going." He got up and walked towards the window to climb out of.

Artemis grudgingly followed him.

As they landed on the cool roof they started heading to an old worn down building. But not to the building itself, but to the zeta tube behind it.

The zeta tube was behind two old glass doors, an out of order sign hanging on them. NIghtwing, turned towards her and smirked remembering the last time they both came in through this tube.

"Artemis! How random that you're in Gotham City, instead of Star city where you're uncle lives!"

Artemis groaned but a small smile was threatening to force it's way on to her lips,

"I can't believe you."

Nightwing just smiled and motioned towards the zeta tube, "Ladies first."

This time Artemis did smile, "Your town, you go."

Nightwing walked into the tube and de-materialized

"Recognized Nightwing B-01."

Artemis followed.

"Recognized Tigress B-07."

They materialized in Central City, Wally's old home.

"Dick, why are we here?"

"We're meeting someone."

"Can you be less cryptic for once in your life."

"Nope." Dick smirked

Artemis shut up after that, she figured she wasn't going to get anything out of the grown up boy wonder.

After about 30 minutes of pointlessly hopping on roofs, because a car would've been to much trouble, they finally arrived. It was an abandoned picnic clearing, the grass was dead, and there was trash everywhere. Except for a small patch of grass in the middle of the park. The grass seemed to have been revived, and trash seemed to have disappeared, almost as if it was magic.

And then she saw them. One of them had short ginger hair, orange eyes, and a light dusting of freckles. She was wearing a white shirt with a red 'X' covering the majority of the shirt, a red belt with a gold clip tying it to her blue skirt, matching cape and blue boots. But what really made her stand out was her beautiful green skin.

The second one had wavy raven hair, sea blue eyes, and fair skin. She was wearing a low cut button down white shirt, with black shorts on top of gray tights. She had black boots, and a magicians cape. But the outfit was tied together, with a white bow tie.

Artemis smiled as she saw the girls.

"M'gann, Zatanna! It's been too long."

"Artemis!"They cried in unison.

"It's so great to see you."M'gann smiled

"Where have you been?It seems like we haven't seen you in forever" Zatanna asked concerned.

Artemis smiled sadly, "It doesn't matter, all that matters is that I'm here now."

"So are you guys finished with your little high school reunion? Or do you need more time?" Nightwing mocked

Zatanna punched him in the arm, hard.

"Ow!"

Zatanna just shrugged, " Nightwing is right though, we should probably get started."

"Get started with what?" Artemis asked

Zatanna and M'gann glared at Dick

"You didn't tell her." M'gann demanded

Dick shrunk at the glares from all three women,

"I figured you guys would want to tell her."

M'gann looked like she was going to continue berating Dick but Artemis interrupted.

"Tell me what?!" She demanded.

"You may want to sit down for this." M'gann consoled

"Erujnoc a riahc" Zatanna shouted, and a comfy arm chair appeared.

M'gann stared at Artemis, "Are you okay with me going in to your mind to show you mental projections of our knowledge."Artemis barely understood what M'gann was saying, but she trusted her. So Artemis simply nodded.

Suddenly Artemis's head was flooded with an array of images, but she couldn't tell what any of them were. Finally the rapid-fire images stopped, and a series of events filled her head.

M'gann was sitting at a table with Superboy having a nice meal, when she suddenly looked as if she felt a searing pain through her head. She collapsed and put her hands on her head, Superboy tried to help her but he didn't know how. Finally the pain stopped and M'gann looked up at Superboy,

"He's alive."

M'gann's voice spoke inside of Artemis's head" I tried to understand, but I could only make out one word being constantly muttered by such a familiar voice. At first the word was being muttered so fast I couldn't understand it, but I finally heard it.

The voice changed, it was a voice Artemis new all to well.

"Artemis." The voice whispered, the voice was hoarse, and broken but it was definently Wally's.

"Wally?" Artemis asked hopefully.

"Yes." M'gann replied, "The voice was Wally's."

Suddenly the scene changed, M'gann, now joined by Dick, was in the Allen home sitting across the table from Barry Allen. None of them were in costume, but Barry looked distressed.

"We know what you think Barry, but just answer the question, is it possible?" Dick said aggravated.

Barry stared at Dick, "Yes it is possible. Wally could potentially be in the speed force—"

"Then what's stopping us from trying to get him out!" Dick yelled at Barry.

"Because getting him out could kill him! And not just him." Barry sighed putting his head in his hands.

M'gann hadn't spoken a word, but she asked the next question

"What do you mean not just him?"

Barry turned towards M'gann "You can't simply just come out of the speed force, someone has to pull you out. And pulling someone out is extremely dangerous, you have to go through every possible event and time, and find who your looking for, and if you can't, well then you'll get pulled in too. But because you guys don't have super speed, anyone who tried to pull him out, and got pulled in instead, would die."

"Then it's settled, I'll do it." Dick said simply.

Barry laughed

"It can't be you Dick."

"Why not?"

"I was in the speed force once. The only thing that got me out of there alive was the person I cared about most, Iris. The only person that can pull another out of the speed force is the person they truly love. But Dick, I was in the speed force for a day, and Iris still had to go to the hospital. Whoever tries to pull Wally out will most likely die."

"But Barry, who could possibly do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" M'gann asked.

The boys looked at her perplexed.

In response she simply pointed to the wall. Where there was a beautiful framed picture of Wally… and Artemis.

The scene slowly faded away, and all Artemis saw was M'gann standing in front of her

"I have to do it." Artemis said shocked

"Yes, you do." M'gann said sadly, "But we're not done yet."

The scene changed again and Artemis saw them in a warehouse lounging around on old couches, in full costume. And, Zatanna had finally joined them.

"Okay so is everyone clear with the plan?" Zatanna asked

"Yes"

"Uh huh."

"Of course."

Dick shook his head, "But I think we should go over it one more time." Everyone groaned, but no one disagreed.

"So Barry, you will run fast enough so that you can create a miniature portal into the speed force, but not fast enough so that you actually travel into it."

"Got it." Barry replied. There was no way he was going back to that Hell.

"Then Zatanna you will use a locater spell to find the approximate location of Wally in the speed force."

"Okay." Zatanna nodded affirmatively

"Then M'gann you will keep Artemis tethered to reality while she goes in and retrieves Wally."

"I can do that." M'gann spoke, but she seemed to be trying to convince herself, not the others.

"But wait." Barry shook his head, with potato chips in hand, "This plan won't work without Artemis, she's the one that would have to risk her life to save Wally. And the odds are not in her favor of doing so"

Zatanna nodded, "Barry's right, for this plan to work, Artemis has to agree to it."

Everyone turned to Dick, but he was already out the door.

"That was yesterday afternoon. M'gann said inside Artemis's head, "Artemis, I am going to bring you back to your body now."

Artemis nodded her head, and she was suddenly yanked back into her body.

When she got back into her body she gasped for breath, a look of terror in her eyes.

"So he really is alive?" Artemis realized, "I thought he was dead for so long!"

Zatanna an M'gann went to comfort her, but Artemis pushed them away. Nightwing just stared at her contemplatively.

"Just give me a second." Artemis requested, her head in her hands. Her whole world was collapsing. He wasn't dead, but he would die if she didn't help him. But if she did help him she could die herself, in fact she probably would. She shook in the chair for about 2 minutes with three pairs of eyes on her, but she finally composed herself.

Artemis felt a familiar whoosh of air past her, and for a second she thought it could be Wally, but then she realized that this figure was far to fast to be the man she loved.

"Sorry I'm late." The Flash apologized pulling out a granola bar, "So, are we doing this or not?"

Everyone looked at Artemis, she stared back determinedly.

"When do we start?"