I don't own Young Justice. If I did there would be no hiatus!
When Batman and GA got to the apartment, they knew something was off. When they found Paula, and the envelope addressed to Artemis, they knew they were too late.
"Dammit!" Oliver cried, slamming his fist into the wall. "I can't believe this." He muttered looking around the room. Batman stepped up from his examination and frowned deeply.
"The GPD is on the way." His says turning to Ollie. Ollie groans and runs his fingers through his hair. Batman sighs. "I'll handle it. Go see Artemis." Ollie stares at Batman for a moment, realizing this was one of the few and in between times when the man under the cowl could be seen. He nods.
"Thanks. See you at the cave." Ollie says and heads out to the zeta.
Batman stares after him for a moment then walk to where the envelope is and pockets it.
-Break—
RECONGIZED GREEN ARROW 08
4 heads turned toward him as he walked in. He sighed and walked past them to the med bay. Dick could tell by the distraught look on GA's face that whatever happened with Artemis's mom did not go well. He turned back towards the Team. They were all (minus Wally) sitting in the living area, the TV on a random show no-one was watching. Each one of them seemed absorbed in their own thoughts.
They had tried to go visit Artemis, but it wasn't easy. M'gann had started to cry and Conner had walked her back to the kitchen, and attempted to comfort her. Wally just stayed long enough to realize she was seriously hurt and then decided he wanted to go on a run. Kaldur stayed a little longer, but ultimately decided he was of no use there and decided to go help Conner with M'gann. Dick stayed the longest. He waited til Kaldur left before he said anything. And He didn't say much. He held her hand (something she would have never let him do while she was awake) and just kind of talked about nothing for 20 minutes. He then kissed her forehead again and went to join his team.
He was about to make a suggestion of something to do when Wally stormed in. He heard the kitchen cabinets slamming then saw Wally in front of him with a bag of chips. Everyone was silent. Suddenly, Wally jumped up. "Are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?! I mean we don't even know what happened!" He yelled coming to sit with the team.
"Well what are we supposed to do?" M'gann asked sadly.
"I mean it's not like we can interrogate Artemis or anything." Superboy agreed.
Dick sighed. "I guess I could tell you what I know" He said half-heartedly.
Wally's eyebrows shot up. "You mean you've been holding info the whole time!?" He shouted.
"It's not a lot!" He said angrily. Wally glared at him.
"Just tell us what you know." Wally stated dryly.
So, Dick told them what he knew, starting from the distress call. When he was done he was met with a variety of looks: disbelief, sadness, anger, distraught.
"So we're going after Sportsmaster right?!" Wally asked excitedly, suddenly energetic.
Kaldur opened his mouth to respond but a dark, deep voice filled the room. "No."
Dick winced and turned to face The Dark Knight. "You will not be going anywhere near Sportsmaster." Batman said with steel in his voice. This was met with various levels of rebellion from each team member, but Batman silenced them all with a hand. "You have seen what he can do, and he has become rather…erratic since Green Arrow found Artemis. You will stay here. That is final." With that Batman turned on his heal and headed back to wherever he came from in the first place. Wally and Robin both groaned loudly, then Dick grinned.
"He said we couldn't leave right? So let's just stay here and see what we can dig up about what happened!" he said excitedly. The others brightened quickly.
"I believe that would be a good idea." Kaldur said calmly with a small smile.
_BREAK_
Back in the med-bay, Ollie was wallowing in a pit of guilt and despair. How could I have let this happen? What will happen to Artemis now? Will she ever forgive me? "Oh Artemis," he sighed "I am so so sorry." He put his head in his hands.
Ahem.
A cough at the door interrupted his thoughts. It was Batman again. "Ollie, there are some things we need to discuss."
Ollie sighed. "Can't it wait?"
Bruce stiffened, "Unless you want Artemis in the foster-care system, this needs to be handled now."
Ollie grumbled, "Fine. I'll meet you in the conference room." Bruce nodded and went to go get all the proper paperwork in order. Ollie looked at Artemis's torn body and found himself letting a tear slip down his face. He quickly wiped his eyes, squeezed Artemis's hand, and walked to the conference room.
Ollie had just finished signing the papers after about 3 hours of talking things over when he and Batman heard a blood curdling scream. "Artemis!" Ollie shouted running towards the med-bay. Batman was right on his heels. When they got to the med-bay, the Team was there trying to restrain a wildly thrashing Artemis. Ollie stepped forward "Let go of her! Let her breathe!" he said pushing Dick and Wally back. Artemis, who had been continuously screaming, scooted as far back into the hospital bed as she could. She was breathing heavily, and Ollie noticed she had ripped out her IVs. "Artemis. Calm down okay? No one is going to hurt you." Ollie spoke softly and walked towards her slowly.
Artemis took a couple deep breaths and put a tough mask on. When she speaks, her voice is rough, hoarse, almost a whisper. Ollie wonders how she managed that scream. "Where am I? How did I get here?" Ollie opens his mouth but Artemis cuts him off frantically. "Where is he? Is he here?" She screeches. She tries to get out of the bed but winces in great pain and falls back on the bed.
"You're safe, Artemis. It's alright. He won't hurt you anymore." Ollie whispers lovingly, trying to get the haunting look of fear off her face.
Artemis looks into his caring blue eyes and shakes her head. "It's only just begun."
A/N MWAHAHA. Intense foreshadowing! :D This chapter was really hard to write, but it had to be done, now things are really gonna be moving in the next chapter. I'll try to update every Sunday, occasionally Saturdays too. Also, thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! Each one means a whole lot to me! ;D REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!