AN: Hi everyone! Special thank you to the guest who informed me that Barbara is also a recipient of the Wayne Scholarship – I've adjusted chapter 7 accordingly :) As for this chapter: unfortunately (aside from the explosion seen on the surveillance tapes) Kid Flash was confined in twisted metal for most of the episode, so it will focus on Artemis and Robin!

Season 1, Episode 12: "Homefront"

Robin
Mount Justice
September 22, 20:14 EST

"Robinlookout!"

Robin turned, and his stomach dropped at the sight of a tidal wave looming over him.

He stood defenseless as it crashed around him, sweeping him off his feet. His back slammed against the generator and the water washed him off the ledge.

Robin's head was reeling as his raw and charred lungs screamed for oxygen – there was no way he was going to get out of this one. He was enfolded in a cylinder of water, and a current was pushing him up, towards the two androids. Thinking fast, he closed his eyes and let his body go limp. The water continued to encase him, and he felt his mind start to slip into oblivion. He fought against his pending unconsciousness, but he was suddenly too tired, and his body was too heavy.

Robin took an involuntary breath, and water flooded through his mouth and through his nose as he was slowly enveloped by darkness.

Dick Grayson
Gotham City
September 23, 12:03 EST

"You should really get that cough checked out, Dick."

Dick Grayson laughed unconcernedly as he and Barbara Gordon sat down at an empty table in the middle of the crowded cafeteria,

"I'm fine, Barbara."

Barbara scowled at him,

"You spent all of Geometry coughing up a lung, I couldn't even hear half of the lecture."

Dick opened his mouth to respond, but was assaulted by yet another coughing fit.

"What is wrong with you?" Barbara asked him when he finally settled down.

"Allergies," Dick said blithely as he began unwrapping his lunch.

"Allergies?" Barbara repeated skeptically.

"Yeah, it's all this dust that's been building up in the school over the summer," he gestured around the cafeteria, "it's a good thing that Alfred dusts the manor every day or I'd be like this all the time."

Barbara rolled her eyes as he coughed a few more times into his sleeve,

"I never knew you had allergies."

Dick shrugged,

"Everyone does. I mean who isn't allergic to dust?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Barbara relented, but she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

Dick smiled back innocently. Between the smoke inhalation from Red Inferno's fires, and Red Torpedo nearly drowning him, he had acquired a seriously overwhelming cough.

Black Canary had warned him to take it easy so it wouldn't develop into pneumonia, and Alfred had insisted that he take a sick day, but Dick was determined to keep up appearances – especially since he and Artemis now went to the same school.

But as he stared across the table at Barbara, he suddenly wished that he had heeded their advice –

Lying to her only added guilt to his list of ailments.

Artemis
Mount Justice
September 22, 20:15 EST

Artemis was paralyzed with terror.

Superboy and Kid Flash were trapped in twisted metal, their heads just inches above the rising water; M'Gann and Kaldur were imprisoned in a cage of flames, both of their physiologies unfit to withstand that kind of heat; and Robin – her last cohort – was drowned.

She was alone.

And she had absolutely no idea what to do next.

From her spot in the vents, Artemis sobbed. She hugged her legs to her chest and forced her terrified mind to think,

"I surrender, I die with the others," she calculated, "but if I find a way out," she continued as she began to crawl, "out of the cave, out of the mountain – I can get help! Call in the league…"

Artemis's sweaty palms slipped on the smooth surface, and she began tumbling down the duct.

"AHH!"

She suddenly fell through a grate and plummeted towards the ground. She landed on her outstretched arms, and upon impact with the hard floor she felt a sharp, jarring pain in her upper arm.

"Three minutes."

Artemis groaned in pain and defeat as she sat up, rubbing her aching appendage,

"Who am I kidding? Best I can do is hide… hope the league finds me before the reds."

Artemis looked around and found herself in Wally's souvenir room. She got up and walked over to the shelves of knickknacks.

"I know you understand," she said to the Cheshire mask as her mind drifted to a time long ago…

Artemis Crock
Gotham City
September 23, 15:00 EST

Hundreds of students flooded the hallways as the dismissal bell rang throughout Gotham Academy. Artemis Crock was among them, shouldering her way through the crowds on her way out of the building. She burst through the doors and inhaled deeply. The sun was still shining high in the sky, its rays resulting in an unseasonably warm day.

Artemis made her way over to an empty bench to wait for her ride home, shrugging off her blazer and rolling up her sleeves. She turned her face to the sky, a slight breeze rustling her hair, and she closed her eyes and sighed in contentment.

"Hey, Artemis!"

Her eyes snapped open and fell on the approaching figure of her student liaison,

"Hi, Bette."

"How are you?" she asked, taking a seat on the bench, "How was your second day at the academy?"

"Alright, I guess."

"Do you like your classes?"

Artemis shrugged noncommittally. It had been a long day, and she didn't get much sleep the night before. She spent most of it tossing and turning in bed; every time she closed her eyes she saw Red Torpedo and Red Inferno raiding the cave, and the look in Red Tornado's eyes as he sucked all the oxygen from the –

"Artemis? Hey, Artemis!"

Artemis jerked from her reverie,

"What?"

Bette arched an eyebrow,

"I asked if you liked your teachers."

Artemis shrugged, reaching up to tuck a stray stand of hair behind her ear,

"Yeah, they're fine. I –"

"What happened to your arm?" Bette asked suddenly.

Artemis looked down. The bluish-indigo welt from her fall at the cave was just visible under her rolled-up shirtsleeves.

"Oh. I – I slipped in the shower and hit my arm on the side of the tub."

Bette winced,

"That sounds painful."

Artemis shrugged,

"I've felt worse."

Just then, a small yellow school bus pulled up to the curb in front of the school. Only a handful of students lined up to board it – it was a just means of transportation for the few students whose butlers didn't pick them up in shiny black limos. Artemis, who didn't have the latter, stood up and swung her backpack over her shoulder,

"That's my ride. I'll see you tomorrow, Bette."

AN: Not my favorite chapter (which is unfortunate because this is one of my very favorite episodes) I had a lot of trouble with Artemis's part. Hopefully it's not as bad as I thought! Let me know what you think in a review :)