"Artemis? Artemis?" She groaned. Her head throbbed and her shoulders ached. She was vaguely aware of the soft, almost familiar, voice still calling her name. "Wake up, beautiful?"
Artemis' gray eyes flew open with recognition. Her vision blurred, creating a blend of orange, green, and white. She tried to reply but her words stuck in her throat. Slowly, almost too slowly, her vision corrected itself, allowing her to see clearly. A white smile split the pale face, separating the freckles like a crescent moon sitting in between the stars. "Wally?"
"Thank God, you're alright." The speedsters face was close to hers as he bent over her. She glanced around, finding herself on one of the beds in the med-bay of the Cave. Without thinking, she pushed herself up using her elbows, knocking her forehead against his in the process. "Sorry," he laughed as he pulled back and rubbed his head where they'd hit. Artemis flashed an apologetic smile in response but her eyes were scanning the room. Except for the two of them, the whole bay was empty.
"Wally, what happened? How did I get here?" She swung her legs around and tried to stand. She was hit with a wave of dizziness as the room started to spin. Up was down and she couldn't keep her balance. Beneath her feet, the earth pitched and rolled, slipping out from beneath her. Suddenly the floor rushed towards her as she fell. The fall stopped as suddenly as it had begun as Wally caught her and helped her stand up. Artemis waited until the room stopped spinning before whispering a quick 'thanks' and an 'I'm fine now'. He nodded but one of his hand lingered on her hip while the other enclosed her wrist. "What happened?" she repeated.
His reply was cut off by the sound of someone entering the room. As soon as her eyes connected with the newcomer's she knew something was wrong. Even so, she smiled and blinked back tears of happiness and relief. "Artemis," he whispered with a small smile. Oliver stood in the doorway, still dressed in his tattered uniform. The blood from before was still on the fabric but he didn't seem to have any injuries. He wasn't wearing his domino mask and his hood was pulled back. The fluorescent lights overhead hit his face at a bad angle making it look bloodless.
The older archer went rigid as Wally's hand dropped from her waist. "Ollie?" Artemis asked, the first signs of her worry entering her voice. Her mentor put a hand over his chest. When he removed it, she could see a flash of crimson covering his skin. The blood seeped through the fabric of his uniform, staining the emerald fibers red in a rapidly expanding circle. "Ollie!" This time she screamed his name as he fell to his knees, revealing Lawrence Crock smiling and still holding the blood-soaked knife.
Wally's grip on her wrist tightened, keeping her from running to her mentor. "Wally, let go." She pried at his hand but he wouldn't let her go. Oliver fell forward, his blood still flowing from his chest. "Wally," she cried, her voice becoming desperate while she tugged at her arm. Tears flooded her eyes. "Let go. I have to help him. Wally. I have to help him." The corners of her vision went black and her attempts at getting away from the speedster began to grow weaker with every pull. "I can help him, Wally. Let me go. I have to help him. He's dying." She fell back into Wally's chest, no longer trying to pull her wrist from his grasp. "Ollie. He's dying." She could feel the wet tear tracks against her burning skin. Her eyes slid closed, blocking the image of the now dead man.
x
Artemis' eyes flew open with a yelp. Her hand flew up to her lips when she realized which word had escaped them. I'm not calling you Dad. That's what she had told him. Simply because she didn't want to have a father. Not when the first one had turned out so horribly. Once bitten, twice shy.
She shook her head, trying to shake off the clinging fog of unconsciousness and the nightmare that still lingered in her mind. When she tried to move her left hand, she found it was stuck. She was handcuffed to a black pole sticking out of the ground and connected to a piece of wood. A bench. The bench in the greenhouse. She feverishly looked around, finding the familiar plants in the green-tinted sunlight.
Her head cleared and gave her back her memories of the mission back at Queen Tower. Which meant Ollie was still alive. A smile slipped onto her lips for a half second before reality set in. She was still under Sorrow's control, not like before but still trapped.
With a groan, she let her head fall to the ground, pressing her cheek to the cold cement of the floor. From that position, she could see her bow and quiver. Both were just out of reach. Despite her slow-moving brain, she tried to recall some of Sportsmaster's training. There must have been a situation like this. Handcuffed, lock picking equipment in her quiver out of reach, no weapons. Sharply, she remembered the only simulation like this one. She had been eight years old at the time, one of her first training sessions. After two and a half days of failed escapes, Lawrence finally came to release her. Dehydration and some minor malnutrition landed her in the hospital as her father gave some bull about her getting lost in the alleyways of Gotham and losing consciousness. If she looked closely, there were still scars from where the cuffs had rubbed her skin raw.
The door to the greenhouse squeaked, alerting Artemis to someone's arrival. She carefully sat up and tried to see who else was now in the room but an ample display of large-leafed plants sat behind the bench and blocked her view of the door. Listening intently, she heard footsteps approach her. She realized, with a frown, she didn't really need to see the person to know who it was. There was only one logical choice. Sorrow. He was probably coming to gloat.
Yet, it wasn't Sorrow who rounded the display, it was Cameron. He tossed a bottle of water and a slice of bread at her feet. "I thought you might want these. You've been in here for over thirty hours. Sorrow used a heavy sedative." Artemis eyed the provisions suspiciously. Cam sighed. "Look, the seal on the bottle hasn't been broken, so I couldn't have tampered with it. And the bread-" he picked it up and bit into the side of it. "-is fine," he continued with his mouth full.
"This doesn't make us friends, Frostbite," she muttered stubbornly as she picked up the bottle and worked on getting it open in spite of the handcuffs. "Those days are over." She downed half the bottle, realizing just how dehydrated she had become. Cam sat down next to her and handed her the food. The archer took a small bite but her stomach was still queasy from whatever sedative had been used. "Why are you doing this, Cam?"
"For the old days, I guess," he murmured with a shrug. "Plus, you're looking pretty nice now." She elbowed him in the ribs at the reveal of his normal personality. "We're not supposed to come in here. Sorrow forbade anyone to see you, but since that bastard left us in Queen Tower I thought I do a little rebelling." He sighed. "Killer Wasp, Blackbrier Thorn, and Wizard have all been taken into custody, probably all in Belle-Reve by now. Not that those three were worth anything anyway." He chuckled and Artemis found herself joining him. Silence dragged on between them. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if your mother hadn't come home, if things had stayed the way they were. I probably would've gotten the girl by now." She elbowed him harder this time. His voice had quickly changed from nostalgic to teasing and, by now, he was his normal goofy self. "But, I mean, you have that speedster. How can I compete with him? He's like a human vi-"
"We're not dating," she snapped, her face growing red.
"You two looked pretty close back at the tower," he mumbled. She raised her free fist causing him to throw up his hands in defense. "Just kidding, Arty."
"Icicle Jr," Johnny Sorrow's voice called from behind the display, making both of them jump. "No access to this room was permitted." The red-clad villain appeared around the corner. "You are to be preparing for the next mission."
"Fine, fine. See ya later, Arty." He stood up, looking at her for an extra moment before turning away.
"Yeah. Bye, Frostbite."
Once Cam was gone, Sorrow reached into the pocket of his suit and pulled out the birdarang that had been in her quiver. He dropped it into her lap with an air of distaste. "So, this is how you contacted your old team," he murmured. "I've got to hand it to you, even I didn't see it coming. I thought for sure if I had Green Arrow I had your loyalty. But, you still acted against me. Which proves your father wrong. I should have just killed them when I had the chance." He paced angrily before composing himself. "No matter, we still got what we needed and everything is going according to plan." Sorrow snapped his fingers and Sportsmaster appeared around the corner of the display. "We must get going. There's a grand performance tonight and you, my dear, are the leading lady."
Lawrence pulled out a key and unlocked the cuff around the pole, keeping a close eye on his daughter. He roughly grabbed her free arm and secured it and her other one behind her back. She was yanked to her feet, causing the metal disc to fall to the ground with a clatter. Pushing her forward, Sportsmaster led her out of the room pausing only to retrieve her bow and quiver. When Artemis sent a questioning look towards Sorrow, he simply replied, "Once this is all over, you will have your freedom. For whatever its worth."
The three of them wandered through the empty halls of the base, eventually making it to the open-roofed hanger. A helicopter was already loaded and waited for them to leave. Lawrence shoved her inside as Sorrow climbed into the pilot's seat. Artemis found herself shoved between Solomon Grundy and Sportsmaster.
Sorrow didn't waste any time getting the chopper into the air. Artemis couldn't see out the window, squashing her hopes of catching a glimpse of the outside of the base. She had wanted to get the exact location in case Robin's plan didn't work and she'd have to get revenge by herself. No dice.
For twenty minutes she stared at the floor in a purposeful attempt to avoid eye contact with the other occupants. She was relieved when the helicopter landed and they were all being forced out even though it meant they were closer to the final mission. Now that she had time to think, she didn't believe Robin's plan was going to work. She never had a chance to tell him where Sorrow was headed next. She didn't even know. Sure, he'd hear about it, maybe the team would even respond to the attack but they wouldn't be prepared. The whole plan was based on Robin's assumption that he could be prepared.
The bright sun from overhead and the shine reflecting off the water shocked her out of her thoughts and made her focus on her surroundings. All may seem lost but she was trained to handle impossible situations. It didn't take her long to recognize their location. The water was a hint, the warehouses were familiar, but most of all, Queen Tower was a dead giveaway. They had landed among some abandoned warehouses on the outskirts of Star City.
Sorrow stood in front of them, casting a glance at each member before speaking. "After today, we'll live like kings!"