The archer quickly backed away from the door, suddenly feeling highly intrusive. Ever since the kiss she had been trying to avoid Wally. "It had only been a favor to him," thought Artemis. She wasn't sure what the kiss meant to her…not exactly. But, though she hated to admit it, she knew it was much more than a favor to her. It was too painful to try to talk to Wally about it, who seemed to disregard the same feelings she felt, "if he even felt them at all," thought the archer grimly.
But what was that back there? She couldn't hear, but as a trained assassin, she could read lips just as easily. She knew that M'gann had a boyfriend that she was, if you asked Artemis, highly obsessed with, but what about Wally? He had always had a thing for her. "Would that kiss mean more to him than it had to M'gann, who had probably meant it as a friendly thing?"
Artemis tried not to let it get to her, but each time she tried to ignore it, it popped back in her head. "And what the hell happened between our kiss?" Artemis started to compare her kiss to M'gann. She had felt a…passion in theirs as her hand had raked through his soft, red hair. But maybe M'gann's small peck had led to more…she couldn't even think of it.
"What is it about you?" She murmured.
"What is it about who?" Artemis turned to see the magician.
"It's nothing," said the archer.
"Please," begged Zatanna. "Tell me! Secrets never stay secrets." Artemis turned her back, putting up a wall between the two. "Come on, tell me! Please, I need to get my mind off my dad." Artemis took a quick glance backwards and instantly regretted it. Zatanna was wiping a small tear from her eyes. "God I hate guilt trips," thought Artemis.
"Come on Z," said Artemis, comforting her friend and at the same time leading her up to the loft. She jumped onto her couch, now molded to her and Wally's shapes. Zatanna took a seat next to Artemis… "Where Wally usually sits," thought Artemis. "But now he's sitting next to M'gann…"
"Tell me," said Zatanna, taking one of her best friend's hands.
"You have to promise none of this leaves this room," said Artemis seriously.
"You have my word," said Zatanna seriously. "Now tell me!"
"Wally and I…we went to a party together. We kissed," said Artemis nervously.
"I knew it! I always knew you two liked each other! It was so obvious," gloated the gossiping magician.
"Shhh!" Hushed Artemis. "It's not like that. We only kissed to get his ex-girlfriend off his back."
"But you liked it," pried Zatanna, poking her friend in the arm the way a little kid tried to get their mother's attention.
"I don't know," said Artemis. Zatanna gave her a 'you-got-to-be-kidding-me' look. "I mean…I just don't know."
"Maybe I can help you with that!"
"Don't you dare-," said Artemis. But before she could stop Zatanna the magician was already speaking backwards.
"Yas woh uoy yllaer leef tuoba yllaW dna eht ssik." (Say how you really feel about Wally and the kiss)
"I think I love him," blurted out Artemis. She instantly put a hand over her mouth. What the hell? That can't be true! Yes, the two had grown to tolerate each other, and every now and then Artemis would get a feeling bordering on what she had felt with Chris, but love? It couldn't be! "When they kissed it had been…nice, but not that nice!"
"Wow. I'm whelmed," said Zatanna, eyes opened in that 'Holy Crap' way.
"That…that can't be true," the girl in green said, at a loss for any other words.
Before she could further deny what she knew, deep, deep, deep down was true, there was a voice on the loudspeaker. "Team, to the de-briefing room." The rough sound of Batman's voice was a welcome intrusion between the awkward conversation between her and Z.
When she and Zatanna arrived everybody on the team had already arrived. Batman's face was already being projected on a holo-screen, "Team, it seems that the attacks that happened five days ago were not randomly chosen. In each location something was stolen. In Blüdhaven it seems Sportsmaster stole one of the last remaining bottles of Cobra Venom. At the Logan Animal Sanctuary one of the vials of rare, green monkey serum that young Mr. Logan took once a year in order to not die from the exposure of Martian blood, is missing. In New York there's now a sonic-pulsar missing from one of the most advanced laboratories in the world. Most ominous of all in San Francisco it seems there was a train that's missing a part of its cargo, a load of kryptonite."
Everybody gasped. Kryptonite+ Serum+ Cobra Venom=Bad. "Batman, what do you think they're going to do with all that stuff?" Asked his protégé.
"I don't know," said the masked vigilante bitterly. "Most of the Leaguer's are off world or working on other missions. Aqualad, I need you and your team to get in there and stop whatever's happening."
"Of course," said Aqualad level-headedly.
"It seems that all the cargo is currently in Biayla, I want you to retrieve all of it before they can use it for the malicious purposes." Batman signed off, leaving the holo-screen black.
"There's no time to waste," said Kaldur, responsibly. "M'gann prep the bio-ship. We're leaving now." The team made their way towards the bio-ship. Artemis couldn't help but stare at Wally on her way. Even when she could only see the blurry version of Wally she couldn't help but think he looked hot. It was only when she realized he was running towards M'gann did she look away. She couldn't help feeling betrayed by one of her closest friends.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her back, and in vain, she hoped it was Wally's. But she knew it wasn't, she didn't get the same amazing shiver down her spine as the hand touched her. "Don't think we were done with that conversation," said Zatanna.
"Well we are for now," said Artemis. They grey-eyed girl lowered her voice, "especially since we're going on a mission with him!"
"Fine," said Zatanna, who quickly added, "But as soon as we get back!" Zatanna hurried up ahead towards Robin, and as soon as they started talking the two both got these moony, love sick look in their eyes. "I really hope I don't do that," thought Artemis.
Keeping her head down, Artemis walked over to the bio-ship and boarded quickly, trying to stop thinking about how strong Wally's arms had been on their last mission when he ran her to Blüdhaven.
