The first exercise was, to put it frankly, a disaster.
Artemis thought that was because Wally was leading them.
He had stepped up immediately, volunteering to be the first one to take his shot as leader of the team, and nobody had protested. The team had all put on their uniforms and congregated in the simulation room, where their exercise had been set up. Batman had explained the exercise to them, and the team members had all huddled in a group to formulate the best plan of attack.
Artemis supposed Wally would've been a halfway decent leader if he weren't so impulsive. He acted too quickly, without thinking most of the time. His snap decisions got them in unfavorable situations and ended up making their first training simulation a failure. Artemis could tell he was embarrassed about it, and she wanted so badly to tease him, but something in his expression made her hold back. She refused to believe it was because she felt sorry for him. She did not feel sorry for Wally West.
A few days afterward, they had another shot. M'gann would be leading this time, and Artemis tried to give her reassuring smiles whenever the Martian looked to her for guidance. It started out fine – they went into the simulation confidently, working smoothly and efficiently – but then M'gann let her determination get the best of her. She was so focused on succeeding that she let crucial aspects of their attack plan slip through her fingers, and their enemies overcame them. When she started to cry at her slipups, Conner awkwardly patted her shoulder while scowling at the ground. M'gann smiled at him and blushed.
When it was Aqualad's turn to lead, their simulation was as successful as it could have been. There were no mistakes, no hesitation, no arguments between the team members. The Atlantean thought logistically and analytically, and his attack plans were organized and methodical. So far, Artemis thought Aqualad had the best chance of being their leader. And that made her nervous. She wanted to be leader.
When it was her turn, the day after their first successful trial run, she took deep breaths and tried to build up some confidence. She could do this. It was finally time to prove to her teammates that she had what it took to lead them on the battlefield. Even before the simulation started, she was already forming a plan. The first half went beautifully, and Artemis couldn't help feeling proud of herself. But her pride cost her a few dangerous mistakes during the last half, and she wanted to kick herself. She kept hearing her father's voice in her head, scolding her for what she'd done wrong.
It took her a while to get over the fact that she'd made a mistake, and she was distracted when it was Superboy's turn to lead the team. But she wasn't the only one who messed up – Superboy let his anger control him, and that simulation ended up being almost as much of a failure as the one led by Wally. Superboy stormed out of the simulation room in anger, kicking things as he went. Artemis felt guilty that she felt sort of better about herself. At least she hadn't been as bad as Conner.
The last one to try his hand at leading the team was Robin. He was almost evenly matched with Aqualad in leadership skills. But when it came time to vote (Wally was upset that he couldn't vote for himself), everyone unanimously chose Aqualad as their team leader. Artemis raised her hand begrudgingly. She tried not to hold it against Kaldur that he'd been chosen over her. It was probably for the best, she decided.
She couldn't help but notice that Robin looked the slightest bit relieved when Aqualad was given the job.
A week after all the training simulations were over and the team was awaiting final evaluation from Batman, Artemis was working out in the weight room. She was trying to sweat away her disappointment in herself when Black Canary came in.
"Hello, Artemis," Dinah said, and Artemis barely glanced at her. She was doing chin-ups on the bar. She was up to fifty.
"I just wanted to say I'm proud of the effort you've been making to coexist with your teammates," Dinah said softly, and Artemis raised an eyebrow. She had been making somewhat of an effort, but not a very big one. Wally made it hard to want to try.
"Thanks," Artemis grunted.
"I know you're disappointed in yourself for messing up during your simulation." Dinah smiled kindly, and Artemis huffed. It was kind of annoying how Black Canary could hit the nail on the head instantly like that. She always knew what was wrong, even when Artemis thought she'd done a very good job of keeping her emotions hidden.
She shrugged. "Whatever."
"It happens to the best of us," Dinah assured her. "You did a good job, Artemis. You were exceptional. When I spoke to Oliver about it, he was very proud."
Artemis took some pride in that. She smiled. She'd hardly seen her mentor since she started living in the mountain, and she missed going on patrols with him.
Dinah didn't say anything else as Artemis went over to the rack that held the barbells. As Black Canary left the room, Artemis didn't notice Wally coming in behind her. He stopped in the entrance when he noticed her and turned right back around, but then Artemis saw a flash of red hair out of the corner of her eye.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, a little annoyed that he'd interrupted her workout. "You never work out."
"How do you know?" Wally snapped, chewing on a nutrition bar. "Maybe I do." His eyes were on her face, but just for a second, they strayed down to her bare stomach – she was wearing a cutoff t-shirt and exercise shorts. He jerked his eyes back up and shook his head, blushing angrily.
"Whatever," Artemis snarled. "Just stay out of my way and don't distract me, Kid Idiot."
"Stop calling me that!" His eyebrows drew together angrily, and Artemis smirked.
"I'll stop calling you that when it stops being funny," she said, and Wally frowned. He stalked over to one of the treadmills and turned it on. Artemis couldn't help watching him as he ran, faster and faster until his legs were a blur.
They worked out silently for a while, neither of them acknowledging the other, until at least half an hour had passed. Wally was looking around the gym with a bored expression on his face, having already used all the available machines and equipment. Artemis was using the weight stack machine, sweat pooling on her forehead and in the dip of her collarbone.
"Wanna spar?" Wally said suddenly, and she stopped, looking at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Rematch," she said. "For last time."
He grinned at her, and for some reason, Artemis grinned back.
"I'll kick your butt, Blondie," Wally said, and Artemis cracked her knuckles as she headed towards the mats at the back of the gym.
"We'll see." She stretched her arms and legs to prepare herself, and Wally shook out his limbs. They faced each other on the mats.
"You're going down, redhead," Artemis promised. And then she lunged.