Chapter Ten:

Fallout...

There were very few times when Karen felt sorry for the person on the receiving end of her mother's wrath. Yet, the young girl wasn't sure if she should feel sorry for Batman or not. It had started simply enough as the Dark Knight giving his evaluation of the team's performance. While he applauded them all for getting everyone to safety, it quickly turned to criticism when he started talking about Karen and her twin's actions.

Unfortunately that lasted about three sentences before Artemis stepped in front of the Dark Knight and started ripping into him about mistakes he's made before hitting him with a right cross. It was from there it quickly turned into a full blown fight between the two.

"Think I better get dad." Kara said as she watched her mother dodge a kick aimed for her head.

"He's standing next to Flash watching," Karen said motioning towards her left, "Take him down, mom!" In a move no one saw coming, Artemis grabbed Batman's wrist as she sidestepped a punch and forced him to the ground.

"This is for hurting my girls." the blonde said before wrenching arm till everyone heard a loud crack.

The room was silent as they watched her pull his mask off before walking over to where her daughters were standing.

"Ready to go home?" she asked smiling at the two.

"Just waiting on dad," Karen replied.

"I think you broke his arm, mom." Kara said as she watched Gotham's guardian slowly get to his feet and hold his left arm as he walked towards the med bay.

"He'll get over it," Artemis said as Wally walked up carrying their youngest in their car seats, "Now let's go home."

"You know they're going to want to talk to you about what you just did, Artemis." Wally said as they walked to the Zeta Tubes.

"They know where to find me if they want to talk," the blonde said before taking her daughters' hands in hers. After stopping long enough to get their car, Artemis drove her family home.

"You ok, mom?" Kara asked watching her mother.

"We'll talk once we're inside, ok?" Artemis asked pulling into the drive. Once the car was parked, Wally carried the youngest inside followed by Karen.

"Go on inside, Kara," Artemis said looking in the rearview mirror at her daughter.

"I screwed up, didn't I?" the young girl asked looking at her lap.

"What makes you think that?" Artemis asked turning to look at her.

"You sounded upset when you found out what I did and you broke Batman's arm." Kara replied.

"First off, you were told not to replicate any kind of magic via your powers," Artemis said reaching back and taking her daughter's hand in hers, "Secondly, he's had that coming for a long time with the way he often treats people."

"But won't you get in trouble for that?" Kara asked a little worried.

"Only if my mom finds out," the former archer said giving her daughter's hand a squeeze, "And he was wrong. You two did a great job keeping everyone safe today."

"Thank you." Kara said looking up at her mother as she started to smile.

"You're welcome," Artemis said with a slight laugh, "Now are you ready to deal with your sister freaking out because you finally used your powers in front of her?"

"Oh dear god no," Kara said looking towards the house.

"That makes two of us." Artemis said before getting out of the car. The young girl got out and followed her mother inside.

"Hey Artemis," Wally said walking up carrying a phone, "You mom called wanting to know if you two are still on for lunch today."

"I better call and let her know what is going on." Artemis said before taking the phone and heading to the kitchen. Kara walked into the living room and saw her sister sitting on the couch reading a book.

"What are you reading?" she asked walking over.

"A lame mystery novel," Karen said before putting the book down, "The aunt did it for the money. You ok, sis?"

"I'm feeling better now," Kara said leaning back against the couch, "Grandpa Gio wasn't happy to hear what I did at school though."

"How did you do that?" Karen asked intrigued.

"I can manipulate light either into constructs or to replicate abilities," Kara said with a light shrug, "Granted I can also absorb light, but it starts to affect my vision if I absorb too much."

"I wish I had your powers." Karen said leaning back against the couch.

"You don't like you powers?" Kara asked a little surprised.

"I still have trouble controlling my strength sometimes," her twin said looking down at her hands, "I'm afraid to hold Nicky and Reina because of it. I don't want to hurt them."

"You could never hurt them," Kara said looking at her sister, "Just like I know you could never hurt me, mom, or dad."

"I know," Karen said wiping a tear away, "That still doesn't mean that I'm not worried I will."

Kara watched her twin for a few second before lightly punching her in the shoulder and said, "And you just gave me an idea."

"What's that?" Karen asked.

"I use my powers to make a construct brace for your arms," Kara said as their parents walked in carrying the twins, "It keeps them in place while you hold either Nicky or Reina. Even if it's just for a few seconds, this way you can hold one of them. What do you think?"

"But I've held them since I came here," Karen said looking at her twin, "I'm just constantly scared that I'm going to hurt them, or someone else I care for."

"Karen, sweetie, the only ones that you've ever hurt on purpose are the Terror Twins, Bane, and Sportsmaster, as well as Metallo here in this world." Artemis said as her and Wally placed their youngest in the playpen, "You have proven time and again how much control you have over your powers because you do same thing every morning. You give me, your dad, and your siblings a hug when you come down for breakfast."

"But we do understand you being afraid of hurting someone," Wally said sitting in a chair, "And you would be surprised how many members of the League have that same kind of fear."

"In other words," Artemis said leaning on the back of her husband's chair, "Its ok to be afraid, just don't let it rule your life. Now, you two need to go get cleaned up. My mom is going to be here in about an hour for lunch."

"I'm making a food run, aren't I?" he asked with a slight sigh as the two girls ran from the room.

"Depends on what everyone wants," she said looking down at him, "I know you've been craving Chinese for a while."

"But Kara is allergic to carrots, I know," he said taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze. "Not just Kara, Karen is also allergic to them," she said moving so she was sitting in his lap, "Also, Sportsmaster has pretty much RUINED Chinese food for both of them."

"Guess they have one other thing in common," he said wrapping his arms around her waist.

"They have more than that in common," she said kissing his nose, "And are you sure I can't convince you to play delivery boy today?"

"That depends," he said looking at her, "What's in it for me?"

She smiled as she slipped her arms around his neck and whispered, "I'll ask my mom and Giovanni if they can watch the kids this weekend so we can have a little alone time."

"Translation: the doctor said she can act out all the stuff from 'Fifty Shades of Grey' on you finally," Karen said leaning on the back of her parents chair, "And actually Babs wanted to watch us this weekend."

Artemis' blush was all over her body and Wally's eyes had that 'hungry for you' look in them.

"Alright, Babs can watch you two while Paula and Giovanni keep Nicky and Reina." Wally said, never taking his gaze off of his wife.