Wally's eyes snapped open as he emerged from the vision, but he could hardly see through the tears that had gathered beneath his lids. With a swipe of his hand, he cleared the moisture from his eyes, hoping no one saw his reaction to the memory. Not that anyone would blame him. He just witnessed the girl he loved murdering one of his best friends! Little Lian's screams were still echoing in his head as he turned to survey the rest of the Team. M'Gaan currently had tears crawling down her cheeks and Lian was shivering slightly with the effort of keeping her own emotions in check. Artur stood from his seat and walked over to place his hand on Lian's shoulder, knowing she wouldn't want to cause a scene, despite how much she needed the support. Even Damien's eyes softened towards the girl, wishing she didn't have to keep re-living this pain.
"At first I thought maybe it was an accident… maybe Artemis didn't mean to hurt them. I tracked her down a few weeks later, but she didn't regret anything. Artemis told me that she was just following orders; that Jade would have understood. She told me to stop trying to bring her back, and when I refused she shot me with a Kryptonite arrow." Connor muttered, breaking the silence.
"He almost died. That bitch killed my mom and dad and then tried to shoot down the one person that still believed there was good in her! If I ever see that traitor again, I'll…" Lian's words were lost as the ship violently jerked to the side. M'Gaan snapped herself back into focus as she tried to find out what was wrong with the bioship, leaving the rest of the Team to scramble for their weapons.
"The Bioship's been compromised. She's taken considerable damage to the port side. I won't be able to keep her airborne for long!"
"Get us over the ocean! The sea will protect us if we crash!" Artur insisted. They couldn't be far from the coast by now. If they could reach the ocean, he could call on the aid of Atlantis to take them safely home.
"I'm trying, but I can hardly keep her steady! I think she's… Connor, someone's trying to board!" M'Gaan cried out, sensing the imposing mind a little too late. The ship lurched again as a fiery blast tore through wall casting Artur and Lian to the ground, covered in ash and minor burns.
"Linx, get Aqualad and Miss Martian away from the flames! Robin, Wally!"
"On it!" The three replied in unison. Lian recovered quickly, dragging Artur away from the source of the explosion to lesson the leaching effects of the fire. Both the Atlantean and the Martian were suffering from the flames, leaving them defenseless against the intruder. Wally and Damien took their stances on either side of Connor, creating a defensive wall between their Team and the explosion, but there was no way they could have been prepared for this.
A green-tipped arrow emerged from the smoke and pierced Connor's ribs, making him fall back in pain as the Kryptonite took effect. Two bird-a-rangs flew from Damien's hands, targeting the slender silhouette that was now visible through the smoke. The projectiles clanged uselessly to the ground, knocked away by the figure's bow as she notched another arrow, this one aimed directly for Damien's chest. Robin was perfectly capable of dodging the attack, but Wally didn't leave it to chance. He darted his hand, catching the arrow mid flight before twisting the weapon's momentum back towards the archer. The figure could hardly utter a grunt of pain before Robin lunged into the smoke himself, taking full advantage of the enemies freshly wounded shoulder.
Trusting Batman's protege to handle the threat, Wally sped to Connor's side, ripping the arrow from his ribcage and tossing it out of the damaged wall of the ship. The wound wasn't too deep and Wally had been able to remove the Kryptonite before any lethal damage was done, but Superboy was in no condition to fight. After a brief but valiant struggle to stay conscious the Kryptonian slumped motionlessly to the ground. Now three of the superpowered members of the Team were out of commission, leaving a speedster and two humans to fend for themselves.
"Robin!"
Correction… a speedster and one human.
Robin's head hit the floor with a sickening crack, knocking him unconscious. His opponent: a tall woman with short blonde hair, dressed in a black kevlar suit with silver stripes, and a cat-shaped mask, gave the motionless hero a kick to the stomach, rolling him closer to the hole in the ship's wall.
"Let him go Tigress!" Lian hissed, stepping away from her weary Teammates with her own bow raised towards her aunt.
"Put the bow down Linx, or we'll see how well this bird can fly."
"Artemis?"
The voice was so cold, so merciless, that Wally could hardly recognize it. Even after the stories and shared visions, the speedster had still held onto his denial, now wanting to believe Artemis had truly betrayed them until he saw it with his own eyes. But as she stood in front of him now with one foot resting on Robin's back and that lethal bow hanging loosely in her hand, how could he deny it? Whether Artemis didn't hear Wally's whispered shock or chose to ignore him, the masked intruder kept her eyes fixed on Lian's defiant gaze.
"Don't test me, little girl." Tigress hissed, putting more pressure on Robin's back to force the air from his lungs, causing a painful groan to escape the unconscious boy's lips.
With a reluctant glare, Linx slowly lowered her bow, dropping the arrow by her feet.
"What do you want, Tigress."
"The Shadows have big plans for the heroes and I came to make sure you and your little friends wouldn't interfere. But I'll admit, that wasn't the only reason." Tigress's sharp eyes finally shifted towards Wally.
"I want to know where you got the clone."
Wally could see Lian tensing from the corner of his eye. The ship groaned and swayed as M'Gaan fought the losing battle of keeping it in the air, and with the constant bumping and jostling, Wally knew the only thing keeping Damien from flying out of the ship was Artemis' foot on his back.
"He's not a clone." Lian responded, finally deciding to stick to the truth.
"He's the real Wally West. Superboy found him weeks ago in Star City."
"You should know never to lie to me Linx." Tigress hissed, letting up her foot just as the ship struck a stretch of turbulence. Robin slid out of the opening, caught at the last moment as Artemis stomped her foot down on his wrist with a painful crack. The sudden stop was too much for Robin's joints and he woke with an agonized cry, suspended from the ship by a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder.
"Robin!"
"She didn't lie! She didn't… damnit Artemis, what are you doing?!" Wally shouted, shocked that the girl he once cared so much about had turned into this cold, unrecognizable monster he saw before him.
"You expect me to believe that you're the real Wally West? Wally died when we were in college. I watched him disappear, I helped build the memorial for him in the WatchTower, I was the one who notified his parents that their son was killed in action! And you stand here, twenty years later and still looking as young as the day Wally died, expecting me to believe you're the original? The real Wally is dead! He isn't coming back! And if I hear one more lie out of either or you, Robin will be joining him!" Artemis hissed, not willing to believe that the speedster in front of her was telling the truth. With no other way to convince her, Wally reached for the chain that hung around his neck and snapped it off, tossing the token at the blonde archer who effortlessly caught it in mid-air. Tigress tore her eyes away from the heroes for a quick glance at the delicate golden band that hung from the chain Wally had thrown her. It was a simple, white-gold band with a small diamond in the center… nothing too big since Wally knew how much she detested flashy jewellry. But what really caught Artemis' attention was the elegant script engraved into the inside of the band: My Spitfire.
The moment she read those words, Tigress froze. Her eyes grew wide behind her mask and her hand started to shake. Wally was the only one who called her that… the only one who knew about that sappy little nickname Kent Nelson had come up with. Even if this was a clone who shared in Wally's memories, how would he have the ring? This was the exact engagement ring that Dick had told her about after Wally died! The one that he had with him the day he disappeared!
"Wally…" The whispered name escaped her lips before she could stop herself. Fortunately for Artemis, a distraction came at the most opportune moment.
"Wally! I can't hold the bioship any longer! We're going down!" M'Gaan cried out, just managing to push the ship over the ocean before they rapidly started losing altitude.
Tigress heard a painful groan by her feet and noticed that Damien had managed to pull himself up enough to grip the ship with his good arm.
"If you want to keep your Team alive, keep them out of Gotham City." She hissed, tossing Wally the ring before taking her chance to dive out of the bioship. Wally sped over to the opening, pulling Damien inside before his good arm could give out. Once the bird was safe, Wally turned to see Artemis climbing up a rope ladder and disappearing inside the helicopter piloted by her father. The chopper pulled away, leaving the bioship to its own fate.
"Brace yourselves!" Lian's voice rang out just before the ship crashed into the salt-waters of the ocean. The water poured into the ship with such force, it slammed the Heroes violently against the walls, robbing them of whatever air they had in their lungs. Wally's chest ached with the desperation for another breath and his head pounded from the impact, but he knew the others were in far worse condition. Connor was still unconscious and weakened by Kryptonite, Damien was too injured to swim, both M'Gaan and Artur were still weary from the flames, and Lian had struck her head during the collision, leaving her dazed. There was no way Wally could get them all to the surface before they drowned; the Team would never survive this… He would never survive this! Wally's vision started to darken as the burning in his lungs became too much. He felt himself being dragged deeper into the depths of the ocean... deeper into the dark oblivion... lost in the abyss.