Hah! Sorry that this is a little bit late, but I was reading Bat-Wolf and lost track of time. LOL! Yes, I read my own work. I will often go back and make corrections when I inevitably find them as well. Anyway, I kind of got caught up with the story and forgot.

Warning: Language . . .

Artemis considered the arrows she had in her quiver. Moving slowly, so not to shift Roy's position in front of her, she removed her bow from where she had slung it across her shoulder. She chose the arrow she wanted with care. She only had two of these.

She aimed in front of the wolf that she'd identified as the alpha; praying this would work. While these animals were only half the size of Wolf, they were more than large enough to rend her and Roy limb from limb.

Damn it! Why weren't they holed up in their den somewhere?

Artemis shook her head and blew out her breath in an effort to rid herself of her frustrations. It didn't help much, unfortunately, but she did get a better grip on her emotions. What was it Robin liked to tell her in times like these?

Oh, yeah . . . 'Get traught or get dead!'

One thing was for certain; if she and Roy didn't get out of this tree and find shelter quickly, they would both end up 'getting dead' within a couple of hours. The cold was seeping through her winter uniform the longer she was out in this crazy weather. It wasn't meant for extremes like this.

Had they known this would have happened, they would have brought their artic gear, but who would have guessed they would be stuck in the wilderness in the middle of a freaking blizzard? Who could have possibly predicted that the car they were in would be derailed and the winter storm of the century would hit all at once?

Artemis let loose her arrow and it slammed into the ground inches from the alpha wolf and immediately it lit up and sparks flew out in all directions. The alpha yelped and ran off; disappearing into the world of white. Its pack followed close behind; abandoning their prey for the safety of the surrounding woods.

The flare arrow would stay lit and sparking for anywhere between fifteen and twenty minutes.

Wasting no time, Artemis shot another line into the limb directly above her. This time the arrow burrowed into the wood with a reassuring thud. She pulled on it to be sure, and felt no give. The real test, however, would be when it accepted her and Roy's weight.

As quickly as her rapidly freezing fingers allowed, Artemis dug into her side pouch for the spare pulleys she kept for her bow. She was pretty sure she could jury-rig this so that she could lower Roy's weight to the ground this way and spare her arms any more unnecessary strain. Another minute and it was ready. She was pulling out the last of her line to secure Roy when he groaned.

"Oh, thank God! I knew I could get you down, but there was no way I would be able to drag your ass anywhere!" She slapped a hand down on his back to ensure that he didn't accidentally dislodge himself from his rather precarious perch.

"Wha-? What the . . . What the hell?" One of Roy's hands touched the lump on his forehead.

"Um, yeah . . . Sorry about that," Artemis apologized. "But on the bright side, you not dead."

"Unngh, it doesn't feel that way," he groaned, breathlessly.

Artemis winced sympathetically. It couldn't be easy breathing with a tree limb pressing into your gut. He started to push up from his position, and she shoved him back down. He obviously wasn't entirely with it yet.

"Hold up, or you'll end up splattered on the ground," she told him. "We're about thirty feet in the air."

His head swiveled around as he began taking in their situation. "How the hell did we wind up in a tree? Where the hell are we?"

Artemis shivered. Now that full dark was upon them, the temperature was plummeting even more so. "Hell's rather a long way off," she remarked dryly. "First off, we have to get down from here, preferably before my flare arrow is extinguished. I can explain what happened to you better from the ground. We still have to find some kind of shelter and locate the others."

"Others?" Roy's scowl changed into one of surprise. "Superboy and Robin! Where are they?"

"Obviously not here, else I would have already had you down before now," she snapped. "Do you think you can hold on well enough for me to lower you, or do I need to use the last of my line to arrange a sling of sorts?"

"Uh, no," he was back to frowning. "No, I'm good. I can get down on my own."

Artemis pursed her lips. "So much for my pulley system."

Roy, by this time, had readjusted his position so that he straddled the limb, facing her. He blinked the flakes off of his eyelashes as he took in her hasty construct. His eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Hey, that's pretty clever!"

The unlooked for compliment made her smile a little. "Well, then, why waste it? Stick your foot here and grab on."

While Roy had been gaining his bearings, Artemis had tied a loop in the line.

"Smart," he commented. "Ladies' first."

"No way, bub," she smirked. "I started out saving your ass tonight. I'm damn well going to finish it! Climb on!"

He blinked at her and shivered; abruptly aware of the cold. "Right," he said, slipping his boot through the loop.

Artemis braced herself with a booted foot against the grainy bark of the tree and pushed her back into the trunk. At her nod, Roy allowed himself to slip off of the limb and then he was swaying slightly in the air. In seconds, he was stepping out of the loop and tugging on the line to let her know he was down safely. As he watched, she pulled the line back up, hooked her foot through the loop, and pushed off. Once down, Roy helped to balance her as she untangled herself.

Roy looked around but couldn't see more than a couple of feet in any direction.

"So, now what?"

Artemis gathered what supplies she could. Who knew how long they'd be out here? She couldn't afford to waste anything. She curled the line and caught the pulley as it fell; tucking them back into her thigh pouch.

"Now, we get out of here before the wolves come back," she stated.

Roy looked startled. "Wolves?"

"Five of them," she told him.

The flare seemed to be dying down a little. The sparks weren't shooting out as far as before. She tugged the arrow out of the ground and held it in front of her.

"Damn! I missed out on a lot." Roy rubbed the bump on his forehead again. "Last thing I remember was Cheshire's little explosives going off and Superboy . . ." He stiffened. "Superboy! That little bastard scientist shot him with that laser and took his powers! He fell off the bridge!"

"Robin went after him," Artemis reminded him. "I lost my comlink at some point, but I'm fairly certain they got down okay, but the baggage car was hit by another train going in the opposite direction."

Roy spun around to stare at her.

"Cheshire did something to you. Put you in a trance; drugged you . . . I don't know," Artemis shrugged helplessly. She still had no idea what it was her sister had done to the hapless archer. "But the train was coming and you would have died if . . . if . . ."

"You saved my life," Roy concluded.

"It was pretty hairy there for a while," she admitted. "I didn't know for sure if you were alive until I got both of us secured onto that tree limb." Artemis shrugged again, uncomfortable. "We should find Conner and Robin. I don't know what happened to them after Robin caught him."

"Robin. Conner? Answer me, damn it!" Either the storm was messing up their comlinks, or they couldn't answer him. Roy caught Artemis's shoulder as she moved past him. "You were right before. We need to find shelter first. I'm certain that Robin and Conner have already done the same. We'd stumble around lost in this mess forever without finding each other . . . That is, until we all froze to death. Come on."

Roy took the flare from her as his hand slipped down her arm to her hand; tugging Artemis behind him.

"Wait! Where are we going? We're out in the middle of nowhere," she yelled at him as they stepped out from the shelter of the surrounding trees. The wind quickly whipped away her words.

"Up," he yelled back over his shoulder.

He didn't let go, however. If anything, he clasp her hand tighter as he pulled her along behind him.

"Shouldn't we be going down?"

"We're in a pretty rugged area," he called back. "Lots of loose rocks and possibly a few caves. They would afford us a lot more protection than staying out here. I wouldn't be able to build a shelter in time before we both started suffering from hypothermia. And besides that, with this strong of wind, we would be in danger of being hit by falling tree branches."

Artemis struggled to keep up. It seemed as though Roy was part mountain goat; his boots finding the right places to step, but Artemis continued tripping over rocks and downed tree limbs.

"O-okay, right," she muttered, trusting him in this. She had no choice, really. She had no idea what to do next.

She tried to tug her hand free to help her balance while climbing, but Roy tightened his grip once more.

"Uh uh, princess," he yelled to her. "You don't let go of me! The wind is getting worse and the snow is coming down harder. Visibility is too bad. If we separate in this; we'd never find each other again."

"B-But . . ."

"No buts," he declared. "Just hang on to me. I don't want you to tumble over a drop off or into a ravine!"

Artemis' eyes widened in alarm. She staggered forward and grabbed the back strap of his quiver with her other hand. She'd just use Roy to keep herself upright.

"That's the way," he encouraged, and let go of her hand a moment to pull her up next to him. He slipped an arm around her waist and helped her climb over any obstacles. "It shouldn't be much farther. There's bound to be something up here!"

She gulped. "We better find it soon!"

"How about now," Roy suggested.

"Now? Now sounds good," she nodded as she watched her footing. "Now sounds like a plan."

Roy tugged her sideways and in a few steps the wind ceased abruptly as he put one hand on her head to keep her from connecting with the low ceiling of a shallow cave.

She blinked the snowflakes from her eyes and glanced around. Not really a cave, per say, but more of a hollow in the side of the mountain with several huge boulders providing some measure of protection. It was small; just enough room for two or three adults to shelter in.

Roy pushed her down. "Sit down before you fall down," he said. "Do you still have that extra line?"

What?

"Yeah," she was already pulling it free. "What do you need it for?"

"This isn't enough to survive the night," he explained as he looped one end around her ankle. "We need to build a fire. For that, I need to go back out into the storm."

"Wait! No! You'd get lost," she exclaimed, fear taking root. She didn't want to die out here alone. What if those wolves come back? "How would you ever find your way back?"

"That's what the rope is for, princess," he reassured her. He tied the other end around his waist. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

"Uh, yeah," she nodded, frowning. "You kind of do, don't you? How do you know what you're doing?"

Roy smiled and laughed. "I haven't always been a city boy. You rest right here and I'll be back in just a few minutes. I'll leave you the flare in the meantime."

"No, you take it," she insisted. "What if you run into those wolves I told you about? I have a penlight here." She removed the light next; turning it on. It wasn't much, but better than nothing, and much better than risking Roy's life.

"Very good," he praised her. Before ducking out, he looked her in the face. "How are you holding up?" She had done everything to keep them alive before he had regained consciousness, but now it was his turn to contribute.

"I-I . . . I'm doing okay," she said.

He frowned, and tugged her hood forward and checked to see if her coat was zipped up tight. Her cheeks should have been red or pink from exertion, but instead she looked incredibly pale.

"You don't sound okay," he muttered worriedly.

How long had they been outside? He wasn't sure how much insulation her winterized uniform provided. Her coat was thin. Roy's wasn't great either, but he was larger than Artemis. The cold took longer to affect him than it would someone her size.

It wouldn't take much for hypothermia to take hold. She sounded a little confused compared to how she sounded just fifteen minutes ago. He'd have to hurry.

"I'll be right back," he promised. "You stay warm."

Artemis laughed. "Warm . . . right. I'll do that."

Picking up the rope's slack, he ducked back out of their little shelter. He was extremely happy that they'd not found anything else holed up here first.

They were still in the tree line. Shouldn't be too hard to find some downed wood they could use to build a fire. It was so cold that he didn't think the wood would be too wet; even so, though, he had his methods.

The flare was dying down fast, he noted. It was no matter, though. He had his own penlight and there was still the rope that promised salvation. If nothing else, he could use it to find his way back to Artemis and their shelter in the dark.

Roy located a tree nearby and pulled out a small knife. With it he pried off a good chunk of bark and tucked it into his own thin, but well-insulated jacket. The inside of it could be scraped and the fluff it provided made for excellent tinder for a fire. He turned next to locate downed sticks and several larger branches. He would need to come back out in an hour or so and find more, but this should do well enough to start a decent fire. Heat was their number one priority at the moment.

The flare went out.

As he struggled with his bounty back to the rocky shelter in the dark, his thoughts strayed to Robin and Superboy. He didn't let on to Artemis how much he was worried about their teammates. He hadn't lied to her when he said it would be futile to search for them in this, however. Robin had a good head on his shoulders, though, and the Bat was paranoid enough to make certain that the younger boy was prepared for anything.

Despite this, he also was aware that Robin was a city boy . . . Rob was resourceful, it was true, but how prepared could he be for something like this? Even Roy figured that he would be lucky to get out of this without gaining a few blackened fingers and toes.

He had no idea how long this storm was expected to last, but in his experience, storms of this ferocity could last days, and rescue couldn't be expected until it passed. Even then, it would take a while for Batman and the others to locate them out here. He prayed that Robin and Superboy had found a place to hole up that could withstand the weather and temperature extremes for a while. No one would be going out in this anytime soon.

He stumbled into the hollow. His ears were burning, they were so cold. His lungs, too.

Artemis moved over clumsily to make room for him. She blinked sleepily at him, he noted in the dim illumination from her penlight.

"Uh uh, princess," he admonished. "No sleeping. Not right now, anyway."

He tugged off his gloves and smacked her face lightly. She responded with a growl; attempting to knock his hand away and missing. Roy frowned, and turned back to his stockpile. Heat would do more for her than any amount of talking.

He scraped the inside of the bark until he got a good size wad of woody fluff. He set it close to the entrance. There, the rocks around them would help shelter the fire from the wind, but any smoke would be able to escape. What good would it do them to have heat if they died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning because the fire didn't have enough ventilation.

Roy broke off the twigs and placed them around the fluff. He wanted a lot, but not so much that it couldn't get oxygen. He didn't want to smother it. He placed larger stick into a teepee form around this. Once he had it burning, he could add a few of the bigger pieces to it.

In his own pouch at his waist, Roy pulled out a spare arrowhead and a piece of flint. With a few expert flicks of his wrist, the fluff began glowing and then a small flame erupted. Before long, Roy had a small blaze going.

It was enough for now. He could rest a few minutes and conserve his calories. The back of their small den reflected the heat and soon he and Artemis would be toasty warm. He was fairly certain he could pull the two of them through this without too much difficulty.

But what about the others?

The worry niggled at the back of his mind as he finally allowed himself to relax for a few minutes. He hauled Artemis' sleepy form over against his side. She was either too sleepy or too out of it to complain, but as she warmed up, he was confident that her new amicable mood would end.

REACTIONS?

Can it be? Are these two actually getting along and working together? Will it last or will they be sniping at each other again by morning?

I actually know several ways to start a fire, and scraping the inside of bark is a terrific way to get dry tinder when the weather is wet. Also, building or using a natural barrier as a reflective surface will make better use of the heat and keep you warmer. A fire in front of your shelter with a small wall built of stones or branches will prevent much of the heat from escaping. In this case, Roy was smart in positioning his fire safely and by staying between it and the back of the small hollow ensured that he and Artemis would remain toasty.

I have other tricks, but I'm not sure if I will have the opportunity to share them all. We'll see . . . I'm scanning the two or three survival books that I keep on my shelf for research purposes for other great facts and ideas of surviving in the woods.

As always, Review, Review, Review! ;D What do you think of the story so far?