Mount Justice

August 8, 09: 38 EDT

I let out a bubbly laugh. "Beach party! We're going to have so much fun! It's a miracle you wanted to join us, Superboy." I looked at the clone with a teasing smirk.

Superboy rolled his eyes in return, but smiled afterward.

"Hello Megan!" M'Gann raised her hands up in excitement. "We should hit the beach everyday!"

I nodded in agreement. The Cave had been built right at the coast of Happy Harbour. We could go out and soak up some rays or play in the sand every once in a while. We should have thought of that sooner.

"First," Dick hung down his head, "A moment of silence for our absent comrade."

I adjusted my white bikini top and pulled up my black shorts, trying to distract myself from laughing. Wally had been forced into going to school today, classes were supposed to start, but since yours truly had demolished Gotham Academy…Well, Dick and I weren't going to have homework for a week.

"Poor Wally." M'Gann mumbled guiltily.

A few more seconds passed without any of us saying anything before I interrupted the moment. "So, are we going to stand here mopping about Wally all day or are we going to have fun? 'Cause, I would much rather have fun."

Dick smirked at me, and let the volleyball and towel he was carrying drop down onto the white sand. "Alright then, I'll help you experience the aster."

I was about to ask him what he meant, but soon enough, I was thrown over his shoulder and being carried out to where the ocean was. I threatened Dick with all the possible ways of knocking him out, a punch on the face, and very hurtful kick, or a toxic gas pellet.

He knew I wasn't going to do anything to him, though.

That was exactly the reason why he didn't answer my protests, and threw me into the cold water. When I resurfaced, I could hear Dick's cackles from in front of me. The salt water had gotten in my eyes, so I made a wild grab in the noise's direction, and successfully submerged him. I squeezed the salt water out of my eyes as soon as I heard a splash.

"You are so going down for that, D!" Dick spluttered. He hurried to place his dark sunglasses back on his face before anyone, except me, saw the mischief running through his eyes.

I smirked, "I'd like to see you try, Wonder Boy!"

Soon, both him and I had engaged in a full-on water war, and the only sounds I could locate were our constant laughter.

"We should build a sandcastle!" M'Gann exclaimed from the shore. Instantly, my splashing stopped and I battled with the currents to get to the Martian.

"Let's do it!" I panted, plopping down on the sand beneath me.

"You left me for sand?" I heard Dick call out to me from the shallower water as M'Gann and I started with our building.

I winked at him, "Jealous?"

Dick nodded his head, "Yeah! D, that sandcastle is getting more love from you than I have in months!"

We went on bantering for what seemed like forever before Kaldur threw a jet of water at us. Dick and I looked at each other, totally forgetting our current argument, and went on ahead to start a war with Kaldur.

Soon, M'Gann and Superboy decided to join us with not much bribing. The five of us splashed until we were tired, decided to cook some sausages for lunch, which M'Gann and Superboy ate with quite the vigor, and even buried Superboy in the sand.

"You make a fine sandman, Superboy." I gave him a toothy grin from where I sat, adding more sand onto his stomach.

Superboy smirked, "I always wanted to be a sandman."

We soon decided to play a round of beach volleyball that quickly became ten rounds, just to see who would win. Since there were five of us, we had to rotate teams. M'Gann and I got to be together on the fourth rotation, and we totally kicked Dick and Superboy's butts.

Then, when it was the sun was beginning to set, we all decided to start packing up.

I slapped Dick's arms to get his attention away from stuffing his face with one more hot dog. "Look at the sunset! Isn't it beautiful?"

I could see from the corner of my eye the rest of our friends looking up at the purples and oranges of the sky. "Look, Superboy!" I saw M'Gann grab hold of Superboy's arm, but quickly retreat her hand.

They were so cute.

"Yeah," Dick sighed next to me, "It's wonderful."

I turned to him to see him grinning down at me. "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Oh, I was smiling?"

I shook my head in exasperation. "You're such a dummy. C'mon, we've got to finish packing."

When we got back to the Cave we were ordered by Batman to change to our uniforms, apparently we were supposed to meet him in the mission room for some important announcement.

When we got to the mission room we were all greeted by Green Arrow and Artemis, when they stood next to each other, you would think they were related.

I gave her a small smile, one that she returned with a nod of the head.

'Recognized: Kid Flash B03.'

We all saw Wally come into the Cave, a bunch of beach gear propped on his shoulders. He was wearing swim trunks and sunglasses. "The Wallman is in the house!"

I gave Kaldur a panicked look; we forgot to tell him that our time in the beach was over.

Wally fell over, tripping over his sandals, and I couldn't help but try to hide my face in embarrassment. I felt bad for the poor guy.

"Wallman, huh? I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?" Artemis smirked at me as if to say, so this is Wally?

I nodded, smiling in shame of having said that they would be good for each other.

"Uh, who's this?" Wally asked.

"Artemis, your new teammate."

"Kid Flash. Never heard of you." Wally replied quite smoothly for a guy who fell over a few seconds back.

"Um, she's my new protégé." Green Arrow cut in.

"Wha—what happened to your old one?" Wally stuttered.

'Recognized: Speedy BO6.'

"Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore." Roy strolled in, giving us a greeting nod. "Call me Red Arrow."

"Roy, you look—" Green Arrow got interrupted.

"Replaceable." Roy threw out the word at us, and then it truly impacted me on how much those eleven letters hurt him.

"It's not like that, Roy! You told Arrow you were going solo." I grabbed Roy's bicep with my smaller hand, trying to call him down with my voice.

It seemed to have some effect on him. He sighed, "Can she even use that bow?"

Artemis stepped forward, getting up of Red Arrow's face. "Yes, she can."

"Who are you?" Wally exclaimed, getting fed up with not knowing who Artemis really was. Well, he wasn't about to find out soon.

"I'm his niece."

"She's my niece."

Ollie and Artemis answered at the same time, instantly sparking doubt on Robin's face. I mentally smacked my forehead, way to blow her cover.

"She is not your replacement." Kaldur explained to Roy. "We have always wanted you on the team, and we've got no quota on archers."

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick." Wally grinned at Roy.

I stepped forward, and glared at Wally. "I've fought side by side with Artemis before, believe me, you better choose your words carefully. She's as skilled with the bow as Red Arrow is."

Robin gave me a weird look. "You've already met her before?"

I shrugged in response, and Artemis gave Wally her own answer about his comment. "Look, Baywatch, I'm here to stay."

Roy gave me a look as if to say, you're siding with the newbie, now?

I returned his gaze; you're like my brother, but that doesn't mean that I'll let people insult Artemis.

I shook my head. "You came for a reason, right? Other than inform us of your new name."

Roy nodded, "Yeah, a reason called Doctor Serlin Rockette."

Robin opened up his arm computer, projecting the files on Doctor Rockette as giant holograms in the mission room. "A Nano robotics genius that gave classes in Royal University in Star City! She vanished two weeks ago."

"Abducted two weeks ago." Roy corrected Dick. "By the League of Shadows."

"Whoa, you want us to rescue her from the shadows?" Robin tried giving me a fist bump, but when I didn't comply, he turned to Wally and together they were submerged in their world of dorks.

Roy hadn't finished talking. "Let me guess, you rescued her?" With that one question, I shattered the Team's hopes of going on a dangerous mission.

Roy smirked at me. "I got to her yesterday. Only one problem, the Shadows had already coursed her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it The Fog, comprised of millions of microscopic robots. Nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path; concrete, steel, flesh, and bone. It's true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft. The infiltrators steal data from any computer system, and deliver the stolen Intel to the Shadows."

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation…Yeah, sounds like the shadows." Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Like you know anything about the Shadows." After Wally only got a smirk from Artemis in return, he shouted. "Who are you?"

"Rockette is working on a virus to render the Fog." Roy interrupted them.

"But is the Shadow's know she can do that…" Robin started.

"They'll target her." I finished for him.

"Exactly. Right now she's of the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab." Red Arrow informed us.

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow demanded.

"She's safe enough for now."

"Then let's, you and I, keep it that way."

"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protégé?"

Batman placed a hand on Ollie's shoulder before he could say anything else. "You brought this to the Team, which makes it their mission. So it's her mission now, too."

Roy scuffed. "Then my job's done."

I tried walking to where Roy was going to, and talk out his conflicted emotions with me. He needed someone to support him at this time in his life, but Robin's hand held me back. He shook his head, not a good idea to go after Roy tonight. You can do that later.

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Happy Harbor

August 8, 21: 53 EDT

I stood inside one of the classrooms in Happy Harbor's local high school. Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, and I were assigned to stay with Doctor Rockette.

'Everyone online?' I heard Miss M say inside my head.

'Ugh, this feels…weird.' Artemis wiggled her fingers.

'And distracting,' Rockette typed away on her computer. 'Coding a distribute virus in a computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to listen to teen junk in my skull?'

'Lady, do you always complain every time someone tries to help you?' Wally bit into his chocolate bar, and I plucked off a piece, sticking it into my mouth as I sat side-by-side with the speedster.

'No wonder Red Arrow decided to make us deal with you. Just…Please calm down.' I pleaded. Doctor Rockette had been nagging at us for ten minutes now. It was starting to get on my nerves.

'I can't believe a newbie drove Red Arrow off the Team.' Kid whined, letting me get another piece of his food, but when he said that, I threw the chocolate at his face.

'That is so not on me!' Artemis defended herself.

'Fate of the world at stake?' Rockette reminded us.

'She started it!' Wally counterattacked.

'How about I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter?' Artemis decided.

I jumped off the cabinet I had been resting on, 'I'll come with you.'

'You might cut her some slack, it was her arrow that saved your butt against the Amazo.' Robin taunted Kid as we left the room.

'No way! That was Speedy's, I mean Red Arrow's arrow…right?' Wally hesitated.

'Not so much.' I answered back telepathically while still walking with Artemis out of the school.

'Still not giving her the satisfaction!' I could almost picture Kid crossing his arms, pouting like a little kid.

'You know I can still hear you?' Artemis scowled at the conversation going on inside her head. She looked at me, "This is the guy that you paired me up with?"

I gave her a toothy grin, "I didn't think you guys would get on so badly!"

Artemis groaned. "Whatever. I've just never met a guy so infuriating!"

I nodded. "Wally can come off like that sometimes, but don't worry, he'll lighten up…eventually."

Artemis gave me the smallest of smiles. "You're probably the only person on the Team that doesn't resent me for driving Red Arrow off the group'."

We got out of the hallway and into the outside grounds, so I switched to speaking telepathically. 'Robin doesn't resent you for that, and I don't think Miss Martian does either.'

Artemis rolled her eyes, 'Okay, so that's your boyfriend and Miss Telepathy.'

I quirked my eyebrow at her, 'He's not my—'

'I think he is.' Miss M chipped into our conversation.

'But he's not.'

'Oh, but you two act like a couple already.' Wally answered back. I had forgotten everyone could hear us.

I could feel my face starting to heat up, 'He's not my—'

Superboy jumped in front of Miss Martian, Artemis, and I all of a sudden. The three of us were guardian the back entrance of the school.

'Mm, that boy.' Artemis smirked from her crouching spot next to me.

'We're on a mission, Artemis. Not on a scouting trip to look at boys.' I rolled my eyes.

'He can hear you. We can all hear you.' Miss Martian's eyes had a little angry flame dancing on them.

'Oh, I know.' She replied. It took all my willpower not to gape at her straight-forwardness.

Older teenagers and their hormones, I swear.

'Miss Martian, Doctor Rockette has located the Fog's location. Relocate the bioship so Robin, and Superboy can pursuit.'

'Ready.' Miss Martian announced. As Robin ran by us, he gave me a wink. It was such a spontaneous thing that I couldn't even retort with one of my quick remarks when it came to us two.

What was that all about?

The three of us girls walked back to the backgrounds of the school after Robin and Superboy flew off, leaving us with Kid and Aqualad. We took our original spots in front of the back entrance, with me standing in between Miss Martian and Artemis.

'You embarrassed Superboy.' M'Gann spoke in the telepathic link.

'Didn't hear him say that.' Artemis gave me a joking wink. I knew she was just teasing, but M'Gann wouldn't be aware of that fact.

'Must you challenge everyone?' Miss Martian scowled.

'Where I come from, that's how you survive.' Artemis gave me a fleeting look, and I nodded.

She knew about my history and my parentage, I had decided to tell her, and in return, she told me her father was Sportsmaster. Artemis relied on me to know how she felt, to be able to relate to her, and not dislike her for the fact that her background toughened her up.

'M'Gann, Diana, Kid, Artemis, we're under attack in the computer lab!' Aqualad exclaimed inside my mind, making it throb painfully.

The three of us looked at each other in panic, and ran inside the building, going at a speed that Wally would have admitted to be impressive for a non-speedster.

When we arrived in the room where Doctor Rockette and Kaldur were supposed to be located in, a woman in a cat mask was slashing at Aqualad with her daggers. She was wearing what seemed to be a short green Vietnamese kimono.

Artemis shot an arrow at the woman's left-hand weapon. I used my whip to grab onto her right-hand dagger.

I held the dagger on my hand, taunting the enemy. "If I were you, I wouldn't move."

Artemis took my words as a signal to advance, and zeroed in on her target. I tightened my hold on my white whip when all that the woman did was chuckle in amusement at us, "This gig's getting interesting."

Aqualad stood up from where he had fallen on the ground after a hit from the enemy. Him and I got ready to strike when the woman took out a sword from her back pocket.

Artemis was quicker to react than us, shooting arrow after arrow that the woman deflected with ease. It was like she knew exactly what move Artemis was going to make next. It gave me an increasing sense of unease.

Kid sped into the room with Miss Martian flying close behind him. When the strange woman looked at the two new members that had come in, she decided that she had been outnumbered. "Maybe a little too interesting."

The woman threw a smoke pellet down, and Kid jumped, trying to catch her, but he only landed on top of Artemis after the woman had vanished completely.

She was fast, maybe even quicker than Robin was.

"She's getting away! You're letting her get away!" Doctor Rockette shouted at us.

"This is all your fault!" Kid accused Artemis. "You were on perimeter, how did that shadow get in?"

I roughly turned Wally around, making him face away from Artemis' powerful glare. "Miss Martian and I were here with her, too!"

M'Gann nodded, "Yeah, it's not really fair. The three of us were outside together."

Kid spluttered a lame excuse, "Yeah! Outside…being distracted by her! Besides, I can't be mad at you two…"

If I hadn't been angry with him for blaming Artemis for something she didn't have any control over, I might have hugged him.

M'Gann tried comforting Artemis, "I didn't do half as good in my first battle, and I know you can't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for too long."

I nodded, "You're doing better than expected. Wally's just upset about Arrow."

"Focus, everyone!" Aqualad commanded us. "The Shadows will be back."

I heard Kaldur's comm unit echo with Robin's voice. The Fog had reached a Star Labs facility already. They were too late; now, they were supposed to relocate where the Fog was targeting next.

"We're moving the doctor." Kaldur turned to the four of us, and we started packing up Doctor Rockette's necessary equipment.

We decided to move into a house that was not in use tonight; it would be a temporary location just to locate the Fog. Kid, Artemis, and I had been assigned to guard the inside of the house with Doctor Rockette.

I couldn't figure out why Wally disliked Artemis so much, they were still glaring at each other!

Suddenly, a man on a black spider suit pirouetted into the inside of the room we were in. Instantly I lashed out my whip at him, but he avoided me with a disturbing grace.

Him and I engaged in close combat, and I deflected his every blow. This man was moving so quickly that I barely had any room for going into the offense myself. I managed to sneak a kick to his face that disoriented him for a few second, and it was enough for me to punch him the face.

I was really just attempting to break his nose.

"Martian's here!" The woman with the mask shouted. "It's now or never!"

The black spider jumped out of the way of my fist, trying to shoot on of his spider webs at me. I moved away just in time, but the man kicked my spine, almost successfully breaking it.

I fell down on the floor, in a stoic shock. That black spider had sneaked in a better kick than should have been possible with that much momentum. I groaned in pain, I couldn't get up without my back searing up.

If you're alive, then you're all right.

I gave one last heaving grunt, and pushed myself off the ground just in time to hear the masked woman gasp in surprise. "We've been duked!"

I smirked. M'Gann had shape shifted herself to resemble Doctor Rockette, the real doctor was in a café far enough from here that no one would suspect that she was located there.

The assassin escaped from the building, Artemis and I hot on her heels. She couldn't get away from us, she had already demonstrated to be a dangerous threat to our mission.

We both ran out of the room at the same pace, which was a miracle for me with my shorter legs. I shouted to Artemis, "Shoot! Shoot!"

Artemis notched an arrow on her bow, stopping for a second, and shot at the woman who deflected the arrow before it had even come close to her.

"I was hoping it'd be you! Oh, and did you bring a friend with you? I would think you were getting too old for these type of games!" The woman exclaimed cockily.

I frowned, "Artemis, what is she talking about?" But Artemis just shook her head in as much confusion as I was in.

We ran toward her again, and jumped onto the roof of a building, quickly flipping in the air, and landing on the roof of one of the lower ceiling houses. I threw a smoke pellet at the woman as she stopped to look at us, and instantly, the woman gagged and fell down on the tiled roof.

She pretended to be unconscious before taking Artemis and I off our feet. "The mask has built-in filters."

Artemis and I stood up with amazing speed, and we soon took our fighting stances. We threw punches out, but the woman was much stronger than us by age and experience. She quickly defeated us, even if we outnumbered her.

She knocked Artemis unconscious while she left me with a very bruised back. Her hits on me did not help the fact that the black spider had tried to break my spine, so I was left with a back so bruised that it was hard for me to fight.

Did the world want me to get an injury every time we went on a mission?

Artemis groaned, and I could see her eyes starting to flutter open. I grunted, trying to straighten my back.

"Artemis…you need to wake up." I muttered, shaking the blond girl. "The assassin is getting away!"

At last, Artemis startled herself awake and stood up in a blur of green and blond. When she noticed that my back had been bruised terribly, her grey eyes widened, and she scampered over to me. "We have to get you down."

I shook my head, "The priority is the mission."

"Before your life?" Artemis shouted at me, and told me no again, more firmly this time. "We're getting you down from here."

So, with me clinging on to Artemis' arms, we went down. Just in time too, because as soon as I was on the sidewalk, Artemis went running toward the retreating form of the masked woman.

I hung limply behind, but started making my way toward the café where I had watched as Artemis let the woman disappear. That woman's mask had been knocked out of her face, and she reminded me a lot of Artemis' sister. She had shown me the only picture she had of them both.

Maybe that was why Artemis let the woman go, because that was Jade.

I groaned in pain as a new wave of raw feelings came shivering up my spine. I needed to get to the medical bay, and fast.

I saw Aqualad walking out with Doctor Rockette. He was leaning on her. "Artemis, what happened to the assassin?"

"She, uh, she got away." Artemis looked down in shame.

"Whoa, from you? What a big surprise!" Kid sped into the scene. "Noticed we got ours?"

I glared at Wally, "Cut the attitude, Kid Mouth."

The speedster's eyes widened, "What happened to your back?"

I avoided the worried look he was giving me; it was one of his puppy-eyed looks. "The black spider man hit me on the back earlier, and then the assassin hit me again. It hurts, but I'll be alright."

Wally nodded, unsure of my answer, but the mask on the side of the road gained his attention. "Cool, souvenir!"

"Did you—" Aqualad grunted as he took out the darts on his chest. "—See her face?"

"No, I didn't…It was too dark!" Artemis whipped up a quick excuse, but I knew very well that she had seen the woman's face.

"It is fine. Robin and Superboy neutralized the Fog." Kaldur informed us. "And Doctor Rockette is safe. Thanks to a small part from you."

Artemis turned to us in hesitation. "Welcome to the Team." He said at last. Artemis gave us one small smile of gratitude, and we all moved in to form a circle around her.

"This is great! I always wanted a sister, on Earth I mean, and now I've got two." M'Gann looked at both Artemis and I with one of the warmest of grins.

Wally shook hands with Artemis begrudgingly, but he did it nevertheless. I think that was all that truly mattered, they were actually starting to warm up to each other. That was one very important thing.

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Mount Justice

August 9, 01: 12 EDT

I screamed out in shrilling pain as the doctor finished revising my back, and placing it back to normal.

Tears welled in my eyes, "Thank you." I muttered to the doctor as she nodded, and left me alone with Dick, M'Gann, and Superboy.

I had been holding both of Dick and M'Gann's hands throughout the whole procedure while Superboy stood on my right side, giving me reassuring looks.

"If you're alive, you're alright." Robin patted my head. "It only took the doc forty minutes to be done. I think that's a pretty whelming job."

I gave him a toothy grin, "You have a point there."

M'Gann and Superboy shared a short look, and they gave each other abrupt nods. "Are you fine now, Diana?"

I assured her, "I feel fine. No more hurting of the back, just some soreness."

Superboy answered this time, "We have to go to sleep. It's late." M'Gann followed the clone out of the room, both of them walking in an almost mischievous silence. "Uh, get better."

I shook my head in surprise, but then smirked. "Who knew Superboy could lighten up?"

Robin only smiled at me, and took my hand in his. He started to play with my fingers, bending them backward and forward one at a time. I rolled my eyes at him and his ridiculous shows of affection. Instead of saying out loud when he was relieved that someone was alive, he preferred to show the person how joyful he really was.

We stayed like this for what seemed like an eternity, and I knew what I was talking about, I had powers that could stop or slow down time, after all.

Dick brought my fingers up to his face, and squeezed my hand just a little tighter. He sighed, "The doctor said you needed rest, and no much moving of the body." I nodded. "You're going to have to stay here."

I gave him a huge yawn, "Honestly, I don't mind. I'm too tired to care about where I'm sleeping."

Dick gave me a tender gaze. "I could stay here, with you, if you'd like."

I gave him an airy laugh, throwing my head back. "You're so sweet sometimes, but no thanks, I can take care of myself."

Dick shook his head in amusement. "I know you can. I've known you long enough." He stood up from his placement of the chair and scooped me up the bed just a tiny bit. He moved me over to the side of the hospital bed, and laid down next to me.

"I said you didn't have to stay with me."

"Since you can't move, you can't push me out. You're going to have to put up with me for the night."

"What about Batman?"

"I already told him I was staying here tonight."

"You sneaky little—"

"Shush. Just enjoy the moment."