I don't own any of this stuff. Though I will try to stay as close to the original characters aired on the show, I should note that any other characters taken from DC comics will be used freely and not necessarily like their characters in the comics, especially personality wise, but powers, abilities, and sometimes appearance and back story may be used. Enjoy!

The League, probably Black Canary, had tried to reach Artemis twice since her little excursion, but she had ignored them. At the moment, her mind was too distracted by other plans. She stared at her green mask that was now lying on the table in the dining room. Obviously this wasn't the costume that Icicle Jr. had been talking about. If she went running around with him in this mask, she would definitely be recognized. So where in the world was she going to get a costume?

Though come to think of it, she shouldn't be running around with him at all, but something had bugged her about the incident that had happened back at the pawn shop. Something bigger was going on. No doubt Junior's story about being cut off and needing money was true, but from the conversation she had overheard, he wasn't getting his money from useless stolen goods. He was trying to make deals, with bigger people. That magma man in the shop was unrecognizable to her, and she had never come across him in the Justice League's villain files. She decided that she would only go meet him to get some information... and if she happened to have a good time along the way, so be it. Now if only she could find a costume.

Her mother sat in the other room, fiddling with some papers that Artemis didn't really care to know about. It was just work probably. Ever since Paula Crock had given up her villainous life style at the cost of her legs, she had been forced to get a job and provide for herself. Her old ways were gone, pushed out of her mind and packed away in a trunk. ...a trunk hidden in the corner of her bedroom closet.

Artemis glanced at her mother one last time, concluding that she wasn't going to leave that spot for a while. She crept away, making sure to bring her YJ mask with her. Once in her mother's bedroom she stole away into the closet, closing the door softly behind herself. It took only a couple of moments to dig around before her hands passed over a solid metal trunk. Se fiddled with the big lock before finally picking it open.

She took a breath. This was personal ground she was treading. Not only that but she was about to cross a line that, somewhere in her mind, she had long ago decided she wouldn't cross. No one in the house whispered about those days, long ago when her mother gracefully jumped the rooftops and put all the other thieves way out of her league -the days when her father was out there with her too... Artemis lifted the lid.

Inside lay many things. Pictures, books, papers, and other little treasures were all scattered around; but her eyes were drawn to the bottom of the box where an old costume lay -finally a costume. She withdrew it and looked at the tiger striped pattern, fur-rimmed high boots, flared gloves, and long cape. There wasn't much padding in it, and with the short shorts and sleeveless style, there wasn't much protection either; but it was something. Her fingers touched the fabric. The side was ripped and there were bullet holes in the legs and lower back. Artemis swallowed. So that's how her mother had gone out. She had taken a bullet in the back...

She shook her head to get back to the task at hand. Setting down the costume, she looked around the rest of the trunk. This old costume would work, with some adjustments of course. The only problem was the absence of a mask. Artemis knew she remembered her mother mentioning a mask, or at least seeing one when she was little. It had to be there somewhere, but it wasn't anywhere to be found. A small picture caught the corner of her eye. In the picture eight young costumed teens smiled for an old photograph. One, what looked to be the oldest, stood off to the side while four young men and three young woman, all dressed outlandishly in colorful outfits, hovered together; one young woman wore this costume and stood there as one of them. Artemis was drawn to her. The black hair, defiant stature, it all pointed to her mother, but at the moment that wasn't what she was concerned about. Her face scrunched into a scowl. Upon the young woman's face lay a mask, a cat mask. Artemis knew it all to well. So that was where the mask had gone. Her sister had taken it as her own, made some modifications, and hit the streets; and now Artemis was having the same ideas.

The nervousness growing in the pit of her stomach wasn't toward her sister. It was towards herself. Was she in the act of making the same mistakes her older sister had done? Artemis shook her head -of course not, she would never. She had promised herself that much. She knew what side she wanted to be on and she was going to stay on it. Then why was she in such a hurry to run off with this Icicle kid? -Because of her failure, because she had screwed up. Sure, that was it. She was going to get that information, uncover something big, and prove herself again to the League, her teammates... and Wally.

With a renewed momentum, Artemis gripped the outfit in her hand and pulled it out. It would have to do, with or without a mask. She could come up with something to mask her face a little more later. Before returning the picture, she flipped it over and read the back.

"From Manhunter's Young All-Stars,

I'm glad you're feeling well, Paula. I can't wait to chat.- Helena

Glad to see ya T- Danny D.

Don't you think it's about time you came around, eh? -FF

Don't worry me like that! You got style kitty, and you kick butt!- Iron M.

Wonderful job. You were an excellent teammate and hero, and don't worry we'll make sure Fox returns your training gear, ha ha- Tsunami + Neptune,

To Tigress, Get well soon!

P.S. You should have been more careful, but I'm glad you're okay Paula... Love Paul"

Artemis blinked. Young All-Stars? What was that? There was certainly more mysteries about her mother than she had thought there were. She decided to keep the photo and folded it, placing it in her back pocket. Retracing her steps, she left the chest exactly as it was, with only an old costume to be missing.

Mount Justice, Happy Harbor

Batman's access number was announced as he entered the cave via zeta-beam. Black Canary stood not too far off to greet him as she watched Superboy's training lesson.

"Gather the team. I have a new mission for them." Batman's spoke gruffly, in his usual manner. Canary shook her head as she walked up to him.

"This is pretty much all you're going to get." She said as they looked about the room. Miss Martian was hovering near Conner as he practiced, and Kaldur stood farther off in a deep conversation with Robin. "Kid Flash is still in the infirmary and Artemis is... Not picking up my calls. I'm not sure where she is."

Batman raised an eyebrow as if questioning her. Not far off Superboy glanced their direction; their words hadn't gone unnoticed by his excellent super hearing.

"We didn't have a very successful therapy session this afternoon."

Batman scowled, but not at Canary. He surveyed the remaining teammates in front of him, deep in thought. "Hmm. Fine, we'll continue without them... I'll look into Artemis later."

"All right team, listen up!" Black Canary called out to the others, who promptly responded. They gathered around Batman who was already in the process of pulling up a display screen of their next mission.

"So when and where are we headed tonight?" Robin asked as he jogged up with Kaldur, an excited smile on his face. Batman waited a moment before responding as the images appeared upon the screen. ...They were images of Icicle Jr.

"10:00 PM... Star City."

There's still more to come, and things really start to pick up from here; so keep reading and as always please review! Thanks!