This is the longest time I have gone without updating, but I promise it's worth it. Thank you to everyone who has left reviews, you are all wonderful and supportive and you are 99% of the reason why I keep writing. Go you!

.

.

.

Wally's breathing quickened, his heart hammering at his chest as the silence reached a crescendo.

Artemis fired.

The arrow thudded into his inhibitor collar with a crack. Both clattered to the ground a second later, just as light left the room in a shower of sparks, leaving Wally blinking in the darkness. A shout, and then the air erupted into noise and flickering gunfire. Wally felt a hand grab his upper arm but before he could shake it off he was being dragged through the darkness, stumbling over his feet.

"I think the door is this way."

He recognised the voice immediately, and the weight of his shoulders and all the fear and anguish he had harboured inside him dissipated.

Artemis.

She loosened her grip on him for a moment then he was pushed through a door, the fluorescent light stinging his eyes.

"You..." He started, but Artemis cut him off.

"We need to get out of here." She said, eyeing the door they had just came through nervously.

An idea sparked in Wally's mind.

"Gimme a moment." His fingers trailed back to the lock on the handcuffs he had been working on. Just twist a little... there. The handcuffs clicked and released his wrists, and Wally wasted no time locking them onto the double door handles. Doors which jolted violently just as he finished.

"That should give us-"

"About thirty seconds, let's go."

Artemis snatched his wrist and the pair sprinted down the hallway. They had made two lefts and a right, and then Wally swore his eardrums almost perforated when a siren shrieked through the air and the lights went from bright white to flashing red.

A couple of guards appeared from around the corner and Artemis pulled an arrow from her quiver, aimed and let loose in one fluid motion. Wally sped ahead and took the other one down, relishing the feeling of his speed, the addictive burn of adrenaline in his veins.

When Artemis caught up, she was panting.

"I can carry you, we'll go faster." Wally offered.

Artemis frowned. "You don't know the way out."

"Uh." Movement caught Wally's eye from behind Artemis and before she could react he had scooped her up and was streaking away, bullets skimming the walls beside them. "Sorry- just tell me which way to go."

"Straight on, then second right." Artemis said through gritted teeth, drawing back another arrow as she attempted to shoot over his shoulder. She must have found her mark, because the bullets stopped just as they rounded the corner.

Wally slowed, his head clouding. He hadn't eaten very much over a long period of time, and his super speed ate through his energy conserves like he ate ice cream. When his vision cleared he saw that the turn had led them into an aircraft hangar, complete with various small planes.

"We're escaping in one of these?" He asked, his eagerness diluting the panic, but only a fraction.

"Unless you know how to fly a jet, no." Artemis replied curtly, jogging towards the far end of the hangar when Wally put her down. "And if I'm honest, I can't picture you working any sort of aircraft without it blowing up."

"I don't see the bioship complaining." Wally grumbled, but followed Artemis.

They had just passed a Cessna (Wally struggled not to scoff) when shouting from the end of the hangar alerted the pair. Artemis just managed to grab Wally and pull him behind the fuselage before bullets ripped through the space he had just been standing.

"We're trapped." Wally said, watching more and more armed men pouring into the hangar, cutting him and Artemis off from any possible escape route. A bullet parted his hair, an inch from splitting his head open and he took that as a sign to duck back down behind the plane.

"No, we're not." Artemis shot four consecutive arrows in the time it took Wally to inhale. "There's a control panel on the wall behind us. Just run to it, open the hangar doors and we're out."

"Uh, yeah... slight problem." Wally said, starting to sway on his feet. "I'm not feeling so great, and I'd really hate to inconvenience you by passing out."

Artemis huffed.

"Right. In three seconds, we'll run over there, and take cover behind the Blackhawk."

Wally flinched when a bullet pinged off the metalwork of the Cessna particularly close to him, then nodded. Then he frowned.

"Wait, what's happening in three-"

BOOM.

Orange light filled Wally's vision and he had just enough time to get a proper look- one of the aircraft at the far end had erupted into an orange fireball- and then Artemis had her vice of a hand on his arm and he was pulled across the line of fire, then to safety.

Or something like safety.

It took ten seconds for the firing to resume, and Wally could see the control panel behind them. It was a sixty, seventy foot dash there and back. Maybe he could make it, but maybe was a dangerous word. He turned to Artemis, an arrow already primed in her bow.

"What. The. Hell. Was. That?" He asked, almost grinning.

"Incendiary arrow." Artemis replied, absent mindedly. Wally almost couldn't hear her over the ringing in his ears. "Didn't think that plane had so many missiles, though."

"Do you have any more?"

"You're lucky I even had one."

A quick glance to the side showed that the guards were gaining ground faster than Artemis could take them down, and Wally desperately searched for something to do. If only they had another exploding arrow, they could blow up another plane as a distraction and... Wait.

"How often are these planes refueled?" Wally shouted over the clang of metal on metal.

"No idea." Artemis replied, not even looking at him.

He persisted. "How much jet fuel do you think will be in the tank?"

Suddenly understanding what he proposed, Artemis froze on the spot.

"Not happening." She said. "No way. Absolutely not."

"Well, it's either that or dying!" Stress was wearing Wally thin, and Artemis must have noticed because she relented a second later.

"There's an opening at the tail end. Twist it off."

Wally followed her instructions, careful to keep most of his body behind the fuselage. The cap of the fuel tank came off and a clear liquid began to seep out, dripping onto the hangar floor, the scent of jet fuel heavy in the air.

"Okay, now what?" Artemis asked. "It's not gonna catch by itself."

"Does it look like I think that far ahead?" Wally retorted, scouring the hangar for anything, anything that could somehow start a fire. They were running out of time.

He glanced back at the growing puddle of fuel just in time to see a bullet graze the underside of the plane and send out a spray of sparks. In the stroke of a heartbeat, flames were gnawing at the floor, dangerously close to the fuel tank and Wally had just enough time to grab Artemis and run like hell before his vision whited out.

The rest of what happened Wally remembered in snapshots.

Ringing in his ears, Artemis nowhere to be seen, blistered skin.

If he could just reach that control panel...

Through dust stung eyes, he saw the hangar door burst open. From the outside.

He was so very tired.

Shouts- familiar voices, hands rolling him over, pulling him up.

"Wally, we're here, wake up."

Rob?

His shellshocked mind managed to recognise his team, fending off Shadows. Robin took his weight when they stood.

"We need to get him out of here."

Darkness outside, cold air, fresh air, sweet air.

Was that Batman?

He was so, so tired.

A red blur careened into him and arms wrapped around his shoulders. He knew that voice:

"It's okay kid, you'll be okay."

And there- over Barry's shoulder, he saw her.

Artemis.

Half in, half out of the shadows, and afraid.

Their eyes met.

His mouth opened.

She turned and ran.

.

.

.

.

.

So you can probably tell, this is not over yet. Not by a long shot. However, the next few chapters probably won't be as action packed as the last, you'll just have to bear with me. Again, I love to read everybody's reviews, it really makes my day!