What's this? Double update? You know it! :) These two chapters that I posted were both filler-ins, so I decided you guys deserved to at least get two chapters. The last chapter didn't have a lot of action in it anyway.

Hope you enjoy!

Gotham City

August 7, 19: 34 EDT

"So, we're meeting up tomorrow at the Cave, right?" I asked Dick through the phone that was nestled between my head and shoulder.

"Yeah, remember to bring your swimsuit. We're having a beach day!' Dick cackled through the line. 'We haven't gone to the beach ever since two months ago with Wally and Roy."

I smiled sadly, remembering the last time we saw the older redhead. "Yeah, I miss building sandcastles. Hey, with Kaldur there this time, we won't have to fill a bucket with water every five seconds."

"That's definitely whelming! Hey, I have to go. Bruce promised a company that he would go have dinner with the manager."

"Let me guess, dear old Bruce is dragging you with him."

"He wants an excuse to leave early."

"How smart of him. Well, then, see you tomorrow, Dick! Don't get kidnapped again."

"Love you, too." I could imagine Dick rolling his eyes with a smirk. "Bye."

The line went dead, and as soon as we were done talking, I finished perfecting my big toe. I had decided to be a little girly today and paint my nails turquoise. A half-Latina can never fail with the colour turquoise contrasting her skin tone.

It worked perfectly.

"Diana, Ollie's here!" I heard Dinah's voice calling me from downstairs. I looked out at the night sky from my balcony door. It had been cloudy all morning and most of the afternoon, but finally it was clearing, slowly, yes, but clearing nevertheless.

I stood up from my bed, sighing when I saw the Bat signal shooting up into the clouds. So much for the dinner Bruce had promised to go to.

My mind wandered to Dick, and I hoped that whatever the trouble was, he was going to be careful.

"I'm coming!" I called back at my mother, and ran down the staircase. I pulled my jeans up, and straightened my purple shirt before halting.

"Uh, who's that?" I pointed at the blond girl standing next to Ollie. Surprisingly, they looked very alike. They had the same colour of blond hair, both had tanned skin, and they're eyes were dark.

I could tell that the girl was half-Asian; her darker complexion gave her away. Then, I noticed something that startled me; she had the most amazing shade of grey dancing in her eyes.

"Diana, I'd like to you meet Artemis Crock. Artemis, this is Diana Crane." Ollie introduced us. "Diana is Black Canary's protégé. Artemis is going to be my new apprentice."

My eyes widened. "Oh, okay…well, what about Roy?"

"Diana, Roy is out of our range, now." Dinah placed her hand on my shoulder. "Oliver and I decided that the Team needed an archer, someone who could shoot from great distances, and Artemis is definitely skilled on her field of weapons."

Ollie nodded, "You two should go upstairs. Get to know each other better."

I stood there, partly in shock and confusion. Artemis looked at me in suspicion, like I would shout at her to get out of the house anytime soon. She didn't trust me, but if we were to work together, I needed to change that.

"All right, follow me, Artemis." I hesitated, gesturing for her to come up the stairs.

We walked up in silence, none of us really figuring out what to say to the other. I played with my thumbs, if only Wally or Dick were here, they would make the whole situation less awkward.

We reached our room and I opened the door, moving over to let Artemis through. "So, how did Oliver find you?"

Artemis shrugged, looking at my bedroom. "I saw you guys fighting Amazo, shot an arrow that saved Kid Flash's life, and ever since then Green Arrow just sort of…took me in."

"Hold up, that was your arrow?" I exclaimed. "That was a mighty good shot!"

Artemis smiled faintly, "Uh, thanks. I like the fact that your room has a balcony. It's cool."

I nodded in appreciation of the compliment. "It's perfect for escaping at night." I joked, remembering when Wally and Dick came.

That had been a lot of fun.

Artemis nodded, "I bet it is." She picked up the photograph on my nightstand. "Is this your boyfriend?"

It was the picture of Dick and I sleeping together on his couch after we'd watched the James Bond movie in Bruce's charity ball. I had framed it in the morning. "Oh, no! That's Dick, we're just friends."

"Well, you two seem to have gotten pretty cozy there." Artemis smirked, visibly relaxing after spending a few minutes with me.

I shook my head. "Nah, we could have gotten much closer."

Artemis quirked an eyebrow at my sentence, and my cheeks flushed. "That came out wrong."

"No kidding."

I played with one of the waves of my hair in embarrassment. "Anyway, how old are you? You're obviously older than me."

"I'm fifteen."

I let a faint smile overcome my face. "You know who else is fifteen? One of my best friends. His name is Wally, and come to think about it, you two would make a cute couple."

I could totally see Wally being head-over-heels for the blond in front of me, even though I didn't know what type of guy Artemis liked.

"He sounds like a dork." Artemis scrounged up her nose. "I mean, what type of name is Wally?"

I chuckled. "It's a unique type of name, one that runs extremely fast and always eats like he starved himself for, like, one month."

Artemis let out a loud laugh, "Well then, I'm sure that I'd just love to meet this Wally you're talking about."

I joined in with her laughing, but then realised something. "Hey, you know what we should do? We should go out and stop a robbery or something! It'd be great practice, and since you're joining the team, you need to impress them."

Artemis pondered my idea, "Would Arrow and Canary approve of going out?"

I smirked, "Maybe…or maybe not."

Artemis showed me a very smug expression. "Let's do it."

Okay, so I learned pretty quickly that Artemis loved the break the rules. That fact just made me love her even more. It was nice hanging out with her, and her costume was pretty cool. Her alter ego was named Artemis, yeah; no one's going to find out whom she is.

We jumped off my balcony, leaving a note to Ollie and Dinah of what we were doing.

"Wait, Artemis! I'll go get my motorcycle." I hurried into the house's garage, taking out my Timeless motorcycle. It was white with grey stripes running along its sides.

"Nice ride." Artemis nodded in appreciation as I came out, hauling the bike beside me.

I gave her a toothy grin. "Thanks! Robin, you know him right? Well, he helped me make it. He's a genius when it comes to motorcycles."

Artemis smirked, "Another one of your 'just friends'?"

It's not just another one, it's the same one, I thought. It was so funny to see what people reacted like when they didn't know both of a superhero's identities.

I shrugged, "Yeah, just another friend."

I sat on the seat of my motorcycle, and Artemis came after me. I looked back at her after I didn't feel her hands holding onto me, did she want to fall off my bike? I didn't want to help a bloody body into the nearest hospital.

After I got no response from Artemis, I turned back around, and we sped off into the night.

If she falls off, it is so not on me.

The streets of Gotham City are dangerous during the day, but at night it felt like all the villains in the world had attended a meeting and decided to attack. Luckily, for us and for the bad guys, there were no serious crimes happening around.

There were a few robberies here and there that Artemis and I stopped, but individually. Artemis had to fire three arrows, and I had lashed out my whip at four grown men. It was, so far, a very uneventful night.

Artemis sighed behind me, "Everyone just decided to stay home and not commit any crimes or something?"

I smirked, "I'm sure we'll find something. Every time I go on patrol, there's at least one crime worthy of my skills."

Artemis snorted, "Alright, show off. Let's find some good stuff."

I increased the speed of my motorcycle, trying to find a good robbery or kidnap. Artemis and I still didn't find something ten minutes into our short stop, but we didn't give up hope that there would be some bad dude waiting to get his butt whipped by two teenage girls.

Seriously, though, this is Gotham City. If we don't find anything suspicious soon, I'm going to start freaking out.

Suddenly, I heard a shriek coming from our left, and immediately stopped the motorcycle. I saw some older men hauling a boy into a factory; I had driven up to Gotham's port. Instantly, my eyes widened at the sight of the boy that the men had been carrying.

That boy was in fourth grade. He studied in my school!

"What is it?" Artemis questioned me.

"That's Toby Johnson! He's in my school!" I exclaimed before jumping out of my ride, and running to where the men had taken the younger boy. "We have to help him!"

Artemis pulled on my arm, but when I struggled against her hold, she slapped me. I shuddered in pain, "What was that for?"

Artemis apologised. "I needed to snap you out of it. That guy might be younger than anyone would like a kidnapping victim to be, but we can't just barge in and kick butt, and I'm not saying we can't do that, because we could. We just need a plan."

I glared at her for defying me. What if the Toby was being tortured at that very moment? Goodness sake, where the hell was Batman when you needed him!

I clenched my teeth painfully. "Fine then, what should we do?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, "Cut the attitude, princess. We'll rescue that little guy soon enough, but we have to work together."

I sighed in defeat, the older girl was right. I gave the factory a quick perimeter study on my bike, and stopped in front of Artemis. "There's four windows, two back doors, three trash bins, and four ventilation chutes, but at the very top of the wall."

Artemis nodded. "Any ideas? You are the expert here."

I smirked, "Oh, I have some very good ideas. Here's the plan…"

Artemis threw in suggestions that I gladly accepted. I don't think that I'd ever worked with someone in such harmony and complete unison, except Dick, of course.

When we finished perfecting our master plan, we set to work.

This was going to be fun.

I ran toward the trashcans at the back of the factory and threw three explosive pellets at them. The loud boom echoed around us, and I ran to the left side of the building where Artemis was waiting for me. Her arrow had created a thread line for us to climb on and get to the ventilation system.

As we heard shouts of the older men come out of the factory, Artemis and I were halfway climbing to the wind chutes. Soon enough, the men were smarter than they looked; gunshots were being fired at the both of us. I shouted at Artemis to go faster after a bullet narrowly missed me.

We got to the ventilation system's level, and we scrambled inside. I was panting and sweating at that point. Getting guns pointed at you was really not whelming.

"Which way should we go?" Artemis asked me, turning and sitting beside me.

"Haven't you seen the movies? We look down at the ventilation shafts." I answered nonchalantly.

We crawled in silence after that, looking down when we could, trying to locate Toby. I didn't know how much time passed, but when I heard threats being shouted from my left, I had no hesitation whatsoever to go in that direction. Artemis followed me, and we listened in to what the bad guys wanted with Toby.

I could see that the boy had been tied up to a metal chair, and about six men were in the room with him. Three behind him and three in front. I cursed under my breath, all of them had guns, this was going to be harder than I predicted it would be.

"Kid, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." The leader of the group stood in the center of it all, brooding in front of the clearly frightened Toby.

"What do you want?" Toby whimpered.

My heart made a little hurt jump inside of my chest. Every day, I would see Toby playing basketball with his group of friends, and he would look so cheerful and happy. He has always looked like nothing could ever stop him, that's why I was so desperate to find him before.

I didn't want them to shatter his invincibility. Toby, as little and as insignificant as he seemed, gave me strength sometimes.

Toby was a big fan of my alter ego, Timeless, and he loved the things I did and the powers that I had. This little boy taught me something about being invincible one time, and in returned I tried inspiring him on every little thing that I did.

I tried so hard on every fight that I fought.

The leader laughed, "Your family has something that we want, and I'm sure they would give anything for their little dear son's live. We want the big red ruby your family keeps locked away on a vault."

I growled deep in my throat. Of course, the bad guys only wanted Toby as blackmail material for the red ruby his parents had. Most people in Gotham Academy were rich, and Toby was no exception. His dad's family had inherited a mystic ruby from a Chinese emperor.

It was some pretty whacky history lesson that I'll save for another day.

Artemis nudged my shoulder, and I looked at the guards that were on either side of Toby. Two of them had fallen asleep, and the rest weren't even paying attention to the interrogation.

I smirked, and nodded at Artemis. It was show time.

I used my laser to open up the wind chute window, and Artemis quietly slid it away from the hole. She notched three arrows on her bow, and shot them, knocking out the guns in three of the men's hands.

I smiled, well what would you know? She's very well in Green Arrow's league already!

We both jumped out from the ventilation system, and landed back-to-back. I gave Toby a quick look for confidence, winking at him.

You should have seen the way his face lit up. It was so wonderful to know I did that.

I roundhouse kicked two of the men, and instantly they fell on the floor unconscious. Man, was it useful to have Black Canary teach you how to knock out a guy in one move.

I took out my whip from my utility belt, and lashed out at the leader, he was the only man standing in the room.

The man glared at us, "So, Timeless, I see you came to the rescue. You look radiant, as always, and who's this? A girl archer?"

Artemis grunted in annoyance. "My name is Artemis, and you better learn it like your life depends on it."

The man nodded, smirking, before he tried to vanish in the shadows. Keyword: Tried. Artemis shot an arrow at his leather jacket, making it impossible for him to get out of the room without hurting himself.

Artemis notched another arrow on her bow. "Remember why we came here, Timeless." She reminded me, keeping a straight gaze on the leader of the unconscious goons. She started to interrogate him.

I hurried over to where Toby was standing in awe at the battle that had just unfolded right before his very eyes. "That. Was. Amazing!"

I grinned at him, a swell forming on my chest. "You think so?"

Toby shook his head. "I don't think so, I know so!"

I laughed, but soon got back to business. "You're not hurt are you?"

Toby shook his head again. "Not really. My wrists just feel very sore, but thank you for saving me. That was really nice of you."

I ruffled his cinnamon hair. "It's not an act of kindness as much as it is my duty to rescue people. Besides, it was a pleasure saving you. I've wanted to do something for the past two days, but nothing has come up. Until we saw you, of course."

Toby nodded, and smiled. I handed him a phone I recovered from one of the unconscious men, "Would you mind calling nine-one-one for me?"

Toby smirked. "It would be my pleasure."

When he said that one sentence, those five words, I knew that the Invincible Toby Johnson was still there. He wasn't gone, and I was so relieved to know that.

Soon, I heard familiar sirens outside the factory, and the police force marched into the room where I now stood in front of the man who had captured Toby, we learned that his name was Blake, with my laser pointed at him. Artemis had been asking Toby questions about himself, filling up the silenced room with their tranquil voices.

Commissioner Gordon regarded Artemis and I with kind looks. "I appreciate what you girls did tonight. Thank you. Who's your new friend, Timeless?"

Artemis answered spontaneously. "I'm Artemis, Green Arrow's new right hand man."

Commissioner Gordon nodded, and after he got our story on what happened and compared it with Toby's, he let us leave the factory.

As we walked back to my motorcycle I turned to Artemis, "I told you we'd find something exciting to do."

Artemis smiled at me. "Yeah, but it ended pretty quickly."

I nodded in agreement, "The goons were so not a match for our fighting skills."

Artemis bumped her shoulder with mine, which resulted to her having to bend down to a slightly uncomfortable squatting position. "We made a good team tonight. We should hang out more often."

That last sentence was the same exact one that Barbara had told Dick and I yesterday at the charity ball in Bruce's manor. I could tell, without a doubt, that Artemis and I were sure to be great friends for years to come.

I gave her a toothy grin. "I agree. We'll definitely be doing this more, and you've gained my trust, Artemis. I don't care if someone on the Team doesn't welcome you, I'll stand by your side."

Artemis looked down, almost in shame, but she regained her composure pretty quickly. "The same goes for you…Diana."

I gave her an assuring smile, but what was I reassuring her for? I had no idea. I just knew that I had made the right move because Artemis instantly loosened up.

"Well, now we have to face Arrow and Canary's wrath. Believe me, they can be pretty scary when they want to be." I got on the grey leather seat of my motorcycle.

Artemis rolled her eyes, and climbed on my ride behind me. "I've faced enough anger from adults to last me a last time."

I gave her a questioning look, but somehow, the way she looked at me, told me everything. The expression in her eyes was the same one that I wore anytime someone mentioned my father, or something that reminded me of him.

Artemis hesitated. "I'll tell you later."

I already had pretty good speculation on what she was going to tell me later. Of course, it would definitely not change how I looked upon her, but I wondered why she was hiding something like this from me. One of my parents was also a villain! It was nothing to be too ashamed of.

I guess her and I could think very differently sometimes, even if we had worked in perfect unison a few minutes back. Even the most alike of minds had to think separately once in a while.