Author's Notes: Sorry, this update took so long. I had a pretty rough second semester at college and I had to focus on school. The next update shouldn't take so long.

I'd also like to thank everyone who reviewed, favrioted, or put a story alert on this fic. I'm glad you're all liking the story so far.

I'm also going to add a warning for non-graphic child abuse and neglect. I'm keeping this fic more on the light-hearted side but I do occasionaly have to go into Artemis' childhood, which we all know wasn't happy. Though I promise I will keep the details as non-graphic as possible.

Now onto the story.


Artemis was scared.

She had no idea where she was, who the older kids surrounding her were, or how that green girl knew her name (Why was she green anyway? Was she like the Martian Manhunter?). The last thing she remembered was being in her room trying to talk Jade out of running away.

Had she been kidnapped? Were these people angry at her Dad and kidnapped her in revenge? Had Dad been arrested and she was brought here to live with these kids? The worst part was that she couldn't tell if she was more sad or relieved at the prospect of her Dad being arrested; she missed her Mom much more than she could ever miss him.

She had no idea but she didn't want to stick around and find out. The red-haired boy standing in front of her took a step closer to her and she reacted: she elbowed him hard in the solar plexus, just like Dad taught her too. He moaned and she kicked off the shoes that were too big on her and took off running.

She wasn't sure yet where she was running too. She had no idea where her Dad could be, her Mom was in jail, and Jade just left their family. She turned a corner and yelped when she nearly slipped and fell; the jeans she had on were way too big and were probably going to trip her again so she bent down and rolled them up quick. Those people hadn't come after her yet, she probably surprised them by fighting back, but she didn't know how much longer she had before they started running after her.

Before she could figure out where the exit was or start running again, a red blur suddenly appeared and scooped her up. She yelled and tried to push away but the arms were too strong and whoever it was pressed her against his chest.

She looked up to see the face of the red-haired boy grinning down at her.


After Artemis, though he was still having problems reconciling that little girl with his teammate, had hit him and ran all he could do for a moment was stare after her. He blamed his unusually slow reaction time on shock: it wasn't everyday that one of your friends turned another one of your friends into a little kid after all.

The others were in the same boat as him, too stunned to entirely process what happened. Well, except Zatanna, who was sitting with her face in her hands, she looked like she was processing the situation all too well.

Kaldur recovered first. "Artemis cannot be allowed to leave in her condition. We need to get her to trust us and we need to call the League. They need to be told of the situation."

A voice croaked out, "I'll get her" and it took Wally a few seconds to realize it was his own. He wasn't the only one surprised at his volunteering; Conner had raised an eyebrow and the others (except Zatanna who hadn't looked up yet) all had similar skeptical expressions on their faces.

It irritated him; he was good with kids and Queen Perdita had really liked him. A Queen had liked him for crying out loud, that should have been the biggest stamp of approval ever. Whatever, he'd show them he could handle the Artemis situation.

"I'll get her. You guys get someone from the League here."

And with that, he was off.

She hadn't gotten far, probably because she didn't remember the layout of the base, and before she could react he overtook her and grabbed her. She yelled and tried to push away but he just tightened his grip; he grinned down at her but she glared up at him.

Now that was a bit more like the Artemis he knew.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you; I'm one of the good guys!"

She just stared at him with a "Yeah, right" expression.

"I mean it. I'm Kid Flash, the Flash's sidekick obv-"

"The Flash doesn't have a sidekick."

She looked more distrustful than she had a minute ago and Wally cursed himself. How could he be that stupid? Now he really had to do some damage control.

With calmness he wasn't feeling, he explained, "Of course that's what he wants people to think. What all of them want people to think actually since all my friends are sidekicks too. The League uses us for missions that the League can't go on."

And she was not buying this at all.

Wally sighed, "I can prove it. Just give me twenty minutes." That should definitely be enough time from someone from the League to get here.

"Right," she muttered under her breath.

"Look you don't have a lot of options here. All of my friends are going to be prepared if you try to run away again. I can just carry you back to where my friends are but I want you to come willingly." She still didn't look convinced so he set her back down on the ground and started to walk away.

Please come with me, please come with me…

A few seconds later he heard a groan and then running footsteps; he looked down to see Artemis trying to keep pace with him so, even though he was already going painfully slow, he slowed down so she could walk with him. She didn't say anything and neither did he as they reached the living room…

…and saw Batman, arms crossed over his chest, standing in the middle of the room. His friends were nowhere in sight.

Wally suddenly felt a tug on his arm; Artemis had grabbed on to it.

He frowned; out of the entire League why did the most intimidating one have to be the one who came? Were Superman and Wonder Woman both busy? Well it was too late to change that now so he smiled at Artemis in what he hoped was a supportive way and approached Batman.

"We need to talk," Batman told Artemis. "There are some things you need to know." He turned towards Wally. "Kid Flash go home, I can handle-"

"No!"

Wally jumped as Artemis wrapped both her arms around his. The little girl glared at Batman, the Batman, and said, "I won't go anywhere with you without him."

Yeah, this girl was definitely Artemis.


Author's Notes: Constructive critisim is accepted.