Artemis stared down at her pre-calculus worksheet with her face contorted in thought. Math was ridiculous. It was a bunch of numbers and equations she would never use and a bad grade to top it off. Who understood this kind of stuff?

The boy next to her circled his answer to the last problem, while she hadn't even picked up her pencil yet. She rolled her eyes. Right.

He glanced at her blank paper and attempted to suppress a smirk. She sighed. At least he was polite. Wally on the other hand would exploit her stupidity at his first chance.

"Dick, I hate you. You're already finished, and we still have an hour left in class!" she exclaimed. The kid was a year and a half younger than her, and he was already in Honors trig/pre-calc and all the AP classes. Artemis considered herself pretty smart, but compared to this guy she looked like…like Kid Idiot.

"I'm not finished! I still have to check all my answers," he said, flashing her a winning smile. Her teachers had paired them together last year, pretty much getting away with calling her stupid and in need of some serious reprogramming. After that, he had insisted on helping her maintain passing grades, and she had gratefully accepted. He looked down at her page again. "Since you're too stubborn to ask for help, I'll show you what to do, okay?"

He leaned closer and started explaining the steps for the problem. She nodded like she understood what he was saying, but her mind began to wander.

She and Wally were having issues again. Not as bad as before, but…she hated him sometimes. And then she loved him at the same time. It was like a rollercoaster stuck on a loop, teetering one way and then the other, the passengers completely helpless. Not to mention her home life sucked more than usual. Her mom was coming down with another illness, and this time Artemis wasn't sure she could hold up. Roy and GA had left the country to search for Speedy again, leaving her alone most of the time on patrol. Robin would pop in on her a couple times a week, but she still felt like she was losing her grasp on things, dangling from the never ending carnival ride.

"Artemis, are you even listening to me?" asked Dick, popping her thought bubble. He smelled of winter mint and hair gel, but clean and crisp, like he had just taken a shower.

"Hmm? Oh right, you take the logarithm of e of...um," she smiled sheepishly.

Dick face palmed, "You're hopeless," he pointed back to the problem. "First of all, it's natural log base of e…"


Artemis was about to tackle the henchman to the ground when he pulled the pin off of his belt and released a cloud of vapor in her face. She choked on the toxin and retreated to the wall, her eyes and throat stinging. It tasted like rattlesnake venom, and yes, she did know what that tasted like. Long story. She couldn't stop coughing and despairingly watched the man run away as she slumped against the wall to steady herself.

A cold feeling washed over her, making her heart beat wildly and her spine stiffen, as if her body was initiating a battle stance on its own. What it was preparing to fight off, she didn't know. Then the images began to play, horrifying and cruel, and that's when she realized she had Fear Gas coursing through her veins.

The room became a haven for shadows, dark figures thrashing against the walls and reaching out to her, pulling her into their depths. She tried to convince herself it wasn't real, but it was useless. She shrieked to no avail, slamming her eyes shut only to intensify the figments of her imagination. Blood began to drip from the fissures in the ceiling, and the concrete cracked under pressure, as if it were a dam holding back a river of flesh from bursting into the room and crushing her.

Sobbing, she called for help, only to have her voice drowned out by her mother's wailing and cries for help, echoed by her father's cold laugh. Familiar voices called for her death, hissing that she was unworthy and couldn't be trusted. The things they said weren't as upsetting as who they were coming from. Batman. Ollie. Roy. The Team.

The floor under her began to peel away, and a mass of rats and other vermin filed through the floor boards, surrounding her. They crawled over her skin and dug their teeth into her legs, relentless, despite her swatting them away.

From the hole of rodents sprung a bloody arm, garbed with red and yellow cloth. It snagged her ankle and started to pull her towards the abyss that smelled of decaying bodies. She screamed again and kicked the hand away. The shadows started closing in on her, evil faces or faceless faces beckoning her death. The ceiling cracked some more, and she knew it could hold no longer.

Then out of the darkness and the billions of people calling for her, came one soft note, one voice that made the shadows shrink away, if but only for a second. She uncurled herself slightly, and dared open one bleary eye. From the black appeared a glowing silhouette, cautiously stepping forward. She recoiled as the figure reached out, but the voice came again, soothing and gentle, and she waited. The hand imitated her hesitance and then pulled her into an embrace. She struggled at first, knowing it must be some kind of trick, knowing they had to get out of there before the ceiling gave way.

But the voice soothed her, and she stopped screaming. Instead, she continued to cry, and tucked her face into the person's chest, breathing in a moderate minty scent. Slowly, the nightmares faded to gray.


Artemis awoke in Robin's arms.

They were sitting on the floor of the bioship, his cape wrapped around her protectively. Things slowly started to come together, and she uncurled her clenched fist from his uniform.

"Easy," he said, helping her sit upright. Her face was still wet, but the images had gone away. For the most part.

Wally was talking to M'gann at the other end of the ship, and she noticed that his hand was wrapped in gauze. She remembered kicking something yellow and red. Oh God. What had she done? In fact, all the others looked frightened and cautious, as if she might shatter into a million pieces. Had they tried to help her? Had they been the rats she'd swatted away?

"I…I…" she couldn't speak; the horror had rendered her mute. Great. As if she wasn't already hard to talk to.

The images had been so real. The blood. And the sounds. And the shadows.

She started to hyperventilate, and shut her eyes tightly to block it all out.

Robin's arms were around her again. "It's not real, 'Mis. I know it feels like it is, but I promise you're safe."

She opened one eye cautiously. The only sound was the hum of the ship, and sunlight poured in on either side of her.

Robin exchanged glances with Wally, who turned away dejectedly. Artemis immediately felt guilty.

Why had Robin been the one she had found comfort in? How come he was the only one she let close? She had kicked her boyfriend, but the most distant of them all had been allowed access. She could understand why Wally was hurt, and she'd have to talk to him about it later.

She convulsed, as if the gas had attached to her bones and nerves, haunting her system. Exhausted, she leaned against Robin again. Her talk with Wally would have to wait.