A/N: Okay, I know it's been awhile (too long!) but moving out/starting school hasn't left much time for actually writing stuff down. I apologize; and here is a longer-ish chapter to sort of make up for it. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed :) hopefully the pace will pick up in the next couple chapters, but I wanted to spend some time on the emotional reactions of the team (what's left of them). I know it drags a little bit, but they're all spiraling into endless despair for heaven's sake! Wanted to really get that across. Let me know how it works!

"Hello- Mr. Allen?" Artemis said quietly into the receiver, casting a wary glance over her shoulder. Her costume was attracting some curious looks- too many for her liking - even though she'd left her bow, quiver and mask with Wally.

"Yes," came a slightly muffled reply, "Who is this? Who's calling?"

Artemis took a deep breath. "Mr. Allen, we haven't met, but my name is Artemis. I'm Green Arrow's protégé and I work on the same team as your nephew."

There was a wary pause. "Young lady, I don't know who you are, or who you think you're calling, but you have the wrong person." His voice was cautious, controlled, and calculating. He was lying. Of course, she knew that already.

"Mr. Allen," she said, keeping her voice low and even to hide her rising panic, "I know who you are. Wally told me, and he told me how to reach you. You have to trust me; we need your help."

"Why are you calling me here? Why couldn't you contact the League?" His voice was still wary, but at least he was starting to believe her.

"Our com-links aren't working," she said rapidly, not wanting to give him a chance to reconsider. "This was the only way we could think to get in touch. I'm calling from a gas station." The cashier was giving her covert looks and trying to pretend she wasn't paying attention to every word Artemis was saying.

Another pause; Artemis could hear the Flash breathing heavily. "Do you have any idea," he finally said, his voice hard and strained, "how incredibly dangerous this call could be? Not to mention stupid. What on earth were you thinking?"

The hard edge in his voice surprised her; this was not at all the person she had expected. She always heard the Flash described as impulsive, lighthearted and easygoing; this man sounded as though he were barely in control of his temper.

"Please, Mr. Allen. We've been… compromised." That word… it felt wrong. Too stiff, too unfeeling, too military. "We need your help."

He sighed, loudly. "Where are you?"

She told him the name of the town, and said "We need to be picked up."

"All of you? The whole team?"

Artemis suddenly felt sick. "No... Mr. Allen, we need to talk to you in person. It's a long story..." she trailed off, unable to keep her voice steady.

On the other end of the line, Barry could hear the distress in the girl's voice, and panicked. "Did something happen to Wally? Is he okay?"

"No, no, Wally's fine," she said hurriedly. "He's all right, but... something's happened, something awful..." Tears stung her eyes, and she clenched them shut. She couldn't say it. Couldn't. Not like this, not here.

"Stay where you are," he said after a moment. "We'll come get you."

The line went dead. Reluctantly, she hung up the phone, only hesitantly letting it out of her death grip. She mumbled a 'thank-you' to the cashier, who tried to look bored (as if she hadn't just heard every bit of the conversation) and stumbled, dreamlike, out of the station, ignoring the stares of an old couple who passed her on her way out.

She'd left Wally a little ways outside the town, in a sheltered cluster of trees just off the main road. He was sitting on the ground with his back resting against the trunk of one of the bigger trees, one arm curled protectively around her gear. At first she thought he was asleep; it wouldn't have surprised her, given what they had been through. But he was still awake, eyes wide and staring. He glanced up at her once when she bent down to take her things from him, then went back to staring at nothing. His eyes were bloodshot, his face ashen and drawn. She could practically see the fatigue rolling off him in waves, reminding her how tired she was too. Wordlessly she sat down next to him, their shoulders barely brushing. He didn't pull away, and she was relieved when he didn't.

It was too quiet here. Too green. Too peaceful… completely at odds with the grim reality they were facing. This has to be a dream. Because this place, with all its natural serenity, couldn't possibly be a part of the real world. The real world, with its guns and cruel men, where six kids in costumes fought for 'justice' and didn't stand a chance; the real world, where you were forced to watch as your friend was shot, killed, murdered, knowing there was no way to stop it; the real world, where in the end, when it mattered most, nobody came to the rescue… Who rescues the rescuers? No one… Despair, worse than ever, seized her then, shocked her, paralyzed her. This wasn't something she could forget about and move on. This… this awful darkness, the despair, would never leave. No matter how normal things seemed on the outside, she would always feel that gaping hole in the pit of her stomach, telling her that everything was wrong; she almost couldn't breathe, suffocated by reality as it hit her again and again. Robin was dead. Gone, never coming back. Forever.

How could this happen? Why him, why not me, it should have been me. It was never supposed to come to this… I wish I were d-dead… She had no tears left to cry, only bitterness and despair. And guilt.

Right then, it didn't matter that Wally was there; he might as well have been a ghost. It didn't matter that M'gann and Kaldur were captured, or that Superboy was missing, most likely dead. It didn't even matter that they would soon have to tell the rest of the League about everything, about how everything was so horribly wrong. None of it mattered, and all of it mattered. Because there was no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel, no way to fix this. Nothing but the black taste of despair and the unsettling stillness around her. There was no coming back from this.

No way to fix this.

Ummm... yeah. Kinda got carried away at the end there. Wally's next! Review :)