A/N: To be honest, this chapter isn't one of my favorites :( I just had to put in this idea for Spitfire somewhere, so I had to make up my own mission (It sucks, I'm really sorry, but I promise the future chapters will be much better!) Criticisms are much welcomed :)

Thanks to all these guys for being supportive:

kateygirl7, spitfireforever, Black Bat Girl, ingrid. sampaio .94 (Sorry, they won't let me type in your username for some reason)

Thank you all so much!

PS: My fellow fanmate's coming over for a sleepover and we're having a Season 2 marathon. Can't wait!

Chapter 2: Hero

The bioship landed in the middle of a forest, and the foliage provided them with perfect cover as they glided swiftly down onto the ground. Batman had made it clear that it was to be a recon mission, and if they could help it, it was going to be one of their first successful ones, except their entrance had been anything but silent.

And to the archer, it was obviously the redhead's fault.

"You shouldn't even be here, after you let that assassin go," Kid Flash had remarked when they had both strapped into their seats back at the Cave.

"It wasn't her fault, Kid. That assassin was trained," reminded Kaldur, and though Artemis knew his intentions had been good, she hadn't liked the way he said 'trained', as if she'd had less experience than the rest of them. Besides, she could've taken down Jade if she'd wanted but that had been the problem hadn't it? She hadn't wanted to hurt her even though she'd been the one hurt countless times. The archer couldn't forget the smile that used to be on her sister's face, nor the warmth of her embrace during the years their mother had been absent.

"I didn't see you running after her, Kid Flash," she'd replied then, taking every opportunity to avoid her thoughts. Artemis hadn't realised it, but she had become almost dependent on the speedster's ability to rile her up. She'd figured being angry and fearless was better than the swirl of emotional turmoil that resided in her mind.

"Only because you left all the dirty work to me," he had turned around his seat then to glare at her and she returned it with one of her own.

"Couldn't handle it?"

The speedster gritted his teeth together as he felt his irritation flare under his skin, a reaction only the archer could create ever since she joined the team. "I can handle anything."

A flicker of amusement flashed across her eyes and he noticed that her mouth had thinned to hide her growing smirk. "Oh, I know, Kid. The training session said it all."

He scowled, but didn't say anything else when he turned around in his seat. The rest of the trip had been silent until the speedster decided to speak up again during their descent.

"If you're so good, why didn't you stop the assassin?"

The triumphant smile Artemis wore on her face fell, and she tried to keep her face impassive as she stared at the back of his head.

Because she was my sister. Because she used to sing lullabies before bed. Because she'd given me one last pained, rueful smile before she had left me with my father.

"Because she was better," she finally settled on that answer, and kept her gaze on the forest outside the bioship even as his green eyes snapped to her in surprise.

He had expected her to insult him, not admit total defeat. Her reaction had been weird, far stranger and more awkward than the speedster could handle and before he could stop his always running mouth, he'd blurted, "I knew it. You can't compare."

Even the Boy Wonder winced at his words, though the others had tried not to interfere with their conversation throughout the trip. Miss Martian had been communicating with the rest of them mentally, purposely excluding the two with hopes that they might start off on the right track.

Aqualad shook his head and M'gann shot the speedster a pitiful look when Artemis' hardened grey eyes glowered at him.

"To who? Your all time best friend forever? Then where is he?"

Kid Flash faltered as the straps around his torso disappeared and the entrance of the bioship began to open. He had regretted opening his mouth, but his growing anger at her words was dominating. Roy was still his best friend, and he had respected his choices. The newbie had no right to judge him without knowing him.

"Spee- Red Arrow's doing far more important work and has accomplished more than you ever have," his voice had lowered to a whisper as the night breeze blew in from the open entrance.

"You know nothing about me," she answered in the same tone.

"Because you're so secretive and mysterious all the time!"

"At least I'm not always saying the wrong thing or off flirting with everything of opposite gender."

They had both raised their voices unintentionally as they landed in the small clearing and Aqualad muttered a low reprimand at them when the snap of a branch sounded in the trees.

The speedster had just opened his mouth to reply to Artemis' insult when a dozen or so monkeys broke the tree line and entered the clearing.

"Robin," Aqualad grunted as his fist collided with the first monkey that had noticed their presence.

The boy wonder leapt into the air, hopping off the head of one before kicking another in the jaw and turning back in momentum to toss the other. "The coast was clear of people, I wasn't expecting killer monkeys."

"You mean someone actually one upped the prodigal genius?" Kid Flash gasped over-dramatically as he zoomed past a few at a time, landing hits on each and every one.

"I'm sure Robin tried his best," M'gann supplied and though Artemis knew the older girl was practically made out of candy and all things rainbow, she couldn't help the eye-roll she sent her way.

She couldn't believe anyone could be so good-natured, and it wasn't the first time she doubted the martian girl's sincerity. At first, it had annoyed Artemis greatly since she had falsely thought M'gann as being fake, but the girl had never done anything to confirm her suspicions. Her niceties were now dismissed by Artemis, though a few like the one before still invited an eye-roll or a groan.

Artemis reached behind her to grab two arrows from the quiver on her back as a couple primates lunged towards her. What she hadn't anticipated was the monkey she'd thought she had incapacitated moments before was still conscious, and it slammed against her lower back with much force.

She stumbled forward, arrows forgotten, and hand flying to the sharp pain on her right side. The monkey swung forward to hit her again, but before she could duck or intercept with one of her own kicks, a blur of yellow and red flashed before her eyes and her opponent flew across the foliage, a hollow crack echoing as it crashed into a tree.

Immediately, her hooded eyes shot to the smug look on a certain speedster's face. She didn't know what was more humiliating, the fact that a rabid monkey had managed to cause her pain, or that it had been Kid Flash that had noticed it.

"I don't need your help," she managed to chew out as her lower back flared in pain.

His eyebrows pinched together in confusion as he stared at her, as if trying to decipher her very being.

The look he gave her was unnerving; his clear eyes seemed to delve into her head and unravel every little secret she had, and it took everything in Artemis to not look away. "You got hit," he finally said.

No shit, she thought grudgingly, scowling at him. I could've handled it.

She narrowed her eyes and straightened her back so she could force the full impact of her glare on him, swallowing the groan when her bruised injury stretched with the movement. "I had everything under control," she said through gritted teeth.

She had expected him to come up with a snarky reply, or at least mutter something incoherent to himself that Artemis could've handled with one of her own quips. But instead, he shot her a disbelieving look and his lips pressed into a thin, disapproving line before he turned back to the battle.

Artemis stared at his blurred back and she couldn't decide whether the red clouding her vision was from his costume, or from her burning anger as she imagined a thousand ways the kid speedster could die. She didn't need his approval. Who did he think he was? Just because he was the sidekick to the almighty Flash, did he think his opinion was valued? Especially by her?

She scoffed and packed all her anger into her roundhouse kick as she sent the primate behind her flying. Halfway through a punch she was aiming at the next one, she felt the familiar prickle of what felt like icy water being splashed on her head- or brain.

Artemis, Kaldur's voice echoed.

She halted her punch, a little thrown off her balance by the sudden mental intrusion, and her opponent's fists managed to clip her ribs as she dodged to the left.

Ouch, thanks Aqualad.

Catching the next lunge, she followed the monkey's movement through and pulled it closer, before hitting it in the back of the head. However, instead of falling unconscious like Artemis had expected, there was a buzz and the monkey's head rolled off, revealing a tangle of sparking wires.

Woah.

The others turned towards her at her exclamation, but the archer found them staring at her instead of the short-circuiting robot monkey still in her hands.

What? She snapped, looking at the varied expressions on her new teammates' faces. Most of them looked concerned as they stared at the circle of fallen monkeys around her, but Robin was the only one grinning mischievously at Artemis.

Nice job, Artemis.

Aqualad frowned, but he said nothing and pointed to their mission location ahead.

It wouldn't take long for whomever in charge to realise that a dozen robot monkeys had gone off the radar, so the Team continued further as quickly as they could towards the rendezvous location Batman had sent them. They crept in the trees, hidden under the leafy foliage, and Artemis chose a spot near the clearing where she could stay in the shadows whilst maintain good aim on anyone that threatened danger.

She caught yellow and red from the corner of her eye a couple trees down, and she grimaced. If he steals my shot again… Artemis tightened her grip on her bow.

Do we have a visual? Robin's voice echoed in her mind, and the archer grabbed the thick bark next to her to stop herself from toppling out of the tree and blowing their cover.

I'll never get used to that, Artemis thought begrudgingly and to her annoyance, Miss Martian replied with consoling words. She'd almost forgotten that her thoughts would be broadcasted to everyone.

Leaning her weight a bit forwards, Artemis peered into the clearing, which seemed empty under the moonlight. But as soon as her eyes accommodated themselves to their surroundings, she noticed that there was a slight square of grass that seemed oddly out of sync with the rest of the patch. It looked like something was hidden underneath, and she wasn't the only one who'd seen it.

Well, they sure like to get dirty, Kid Flash remarked and Artemis caught the white of his teeth in the moonlight.

Robin cackled somewhere to her left. I say we dig into this mystery, he added and the archer swore that they would have both exchanged a congratulatory high five had they not been five trees apart.

She sighed. Idiots.

We can hear you, you know. Kid Flash's head whipped towards her and she could almost see the glint of his eyes underneath his mask.

Don't worry, she sneered at him. It's no secret.

The Boy Wonder cackled again, but Kid Flash only shook his head before speeding towards the square without a thought.

Kid! Aqualad cautioned, but it had been too late and the speedster was already on that patch of soil.

Artemis hopped down from her spot on the branch as quietly as she could, and she approached the square slowly. She wasn't sure what it meant, but her instincts screamed at her to not go near whatever it was.

Do you think it's a trapdoor? The speedster mused. A switch? A control panel under the dirt that will open up some hidden doorway somewhere to another hideout?

A sudden beeping disturbed the silence of the night, and Artemis' eyes widened as she stared at the patch the noise was coming from.

Maybe not, Kid, Robin tried to inject lightness to his words but they all knew what was underneath that stupid square of dirt and grass.

It is fortunate that it is Kid Flash who had stepped on it. He might be fast enough to outrun its blast, Aqualad reassured, calm and collected as ever. The archer regarded the wary looks on her other teammates' faces as they all realised that their team leader could be right.

You guys should move away first, I don't know how far it's range is, the speedster commanded, the first time Artemis had seen him so serious.

Perhaps it was the moonlight, or the peaceful backdrop of stars and forest around him, or the slow momentous beeping that constantly reminded Artemis that the speedster was stepping on a land mine and that could possibly be the last minute of his life then, but the way he held himself almost seemed... Fearless. Like he was ready to face anything.

The archer swallowed, but backed away nonetheless, following the footfalls of the others running into the covers of the forest. They'd done nothing but fight since her first day, but still the words flashed in her mind: too soon. It was too soon.

When they were at a safe distance from the clearing, Kid Flash's clear voice resonated in their minds.

Ready? He asked, and Artemis knew that if she'd been there with him in her sight, he'd see a determined look on his face, the one he always wore when he tried to prove her wrong.

Be careful, Robin advised.

Okay, stepping off in one... Two...

Artemis didn't know what made her do it. It could've been the possibility that a teammate- no matter how much they disliked each other- could die, or the fact that this was her first team, or the image of his resigned profile in the clearing that still flashed before her eyelids, or her guilt for underestimating him, but Artemis had said it before she could even think twice about it.

You're a hero, Wall-man.

And then the explosion went off in the distance.

She heard the muffled cry of Miss Martian behind her and Robin's sharp intake of breath, and realised that she'd been holding her own breath. Instead of averting her eyes from the inferno that burned ahead like Miss Martian and Superboy had- though the latter glanced up at it now and then- Artemis stared straight into the reddish yellow flames, the colour reminding her of the blurred movement of their teammate.

Five minutes passed, and her eyes started to burn, but she didn't blink, and kept her gaze firm on the fire. Another ten ticked by, and she felt Aqualad move beside her, as if turning to leave with a pained expression on his face. She didn't know how, or why, but she trusted her faith in the speedster. There was no way that such an annoying guy would ever have such an easy death.

We should go report back to Mount Justice, Robin said, though his eyes never left the fire like Artemis'.

Without realising, another five minutes had passed and Artemis was just about to step back when Superboy's head whipped upwards.

Soon, she could also hear the sound of branches breaking underneath speeding feet, and she couldn't help the smile that was on her face.

Relieved shouts echoed the forest as Robin engulfed the speedster in a giant hug before looking down at his condition.

His costume had been burnt in some areas and badly singed on his back, and Artemis didn't have to have a medical degree to know those burns had to hurt.

Aqualad clapped him on the shoulder as delicately as he could, and Miss Martian gave him a hug before kissing him on the cheek.

"Man, if this is what I get every time I set off a bomb, I'm doing it all the time," Kid Flash commented, and his voice was raspy but still as smug as ever.

Artemis stood at the edge of their little circle, and now that the pressing danger had been solved, another one lurked behind. They failed the mission, though she doubted it was a mission to start off with.

Whatever information Batman had gotten was a ruse, and the mastermind behind this had fed it to him somehow to end his opponents once and for all. The robot monkeys hinted that it could be a revenge plot from Professor Ivo, and Robin knew he wasn't the only one on the same line of thinking when he noticed the frown on Aqualad's face.

"We should stop the fire before we leave," Miss Martian suggested, looking at the rising wall of fire that was expanding quickly. "We'll have to use the bioship, the area's too large for us to cover."

"Agreed," Aqualad replied as the rest of them ran towards the bio ship.

Once the fire had been put out, and they were on their way back to Mount Justice to clean themselves of soot and smoke streaks, Wally's nerves began to settle down and the pain in his back was getting slightly uncomfortable regardless of how advanced his healing was.

Miss Martian changed his seat in favour of a platform so he could lie on his front, and since Artemis had buckled up behind him earlier, she'd gotten a full shot of his burns.

"You need to soothe that skin, and clean it to avoid infection," she said, and looked pointedly at Aqualad.

Wally scoffed, but winced when that action shifted his back muscles. "Who made you the burn expert?"

Artemis ignored his comment and asked if Aqualad had some water to spare, but the Atlantean had answered that the water he had was from the river they'd doused the fire with. The archer didn't want to think about what festered in those waters, and resigned herself to sitting quietly back down without a word.

Until the irritating speedster broke the silence. "So... Back there... Before, you know-" He made an over-exaggerated exploding sound effect. "I thought I heard you say something."

Unintentionally, Artemis' cheeks warmed and she hoped that her tan colour would give nothing away. Not like Kid Flash could see her anyways, since he was lying down and facing the opposite way. She cleared her throat.

"Are you sure you weren't hallucinating because of the-" She copied the noise he'd made earlier.

He didn't answer, and Artemis had thought she'd almost gotten away with it when Robin spun around his chair on the opposite side to grin at her.

"No, I'm pretty sure she said something along the likes of 'You're my hero, Kid Flash, saviour of the human race'," Robin raised his voice into a squeak as he said it, and Artemis sent him a death glare that rivalled Batman himself when he shot him reprimanding looks.

"Oh, did she?"

"I didn't," she snapped.

"Don't lie to your own heart, Artemis. Feel free to worship me however you like."

"I won't lie, I do feel like I should worship your satisfying life by throwing you off this plane."

"But you do worship me?"

Her lips twitched in spite of herself. "Don't make me pour salt water on your back, Kid."

That shut him up immediately, and she'd been fuming until she saw how close to Happy Harbour they were and caught the look Robin was giving her. It seemed almost grateful.

It was then that she realised that the Kid Flash's silence earlier wasn't because of her denial, but it was due to his pain, and even though she should've been mad at Robin for manipulating her into an argument with the speedster, she was slightly glad that she'd managed to distract him somehow.