A/N: I just watched, "Satisfaction." I have no words, except for the fact that I'm so happy it's back! BTW, Lex Luthor's bodyguard is pretty darn awesome…
"Except, we gave you anesthia, your methods seem a tad more… violent…" Lol, funny line from a villain!
14:05 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
"…34….35….36…."
"…I… I…can't find a pulse."
9:04 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
(5 hours Earlier)
Bruce Wayne's deep voice rang over the intercom, frantically shouting out orders and sectors, "Attention all units. There are four armed intruders on the premises. Proceed with caution. Unit Alpha, Unit Beta, report to weapons bay immediately to suit up and receive weapons. Unit Delphi, Unit Gamma, scout the perimeter. Unit Zeta, you will be back-up squad. Stand by on hold."
Wally, despite the sobriety of the situation, let out a loud groan, "We're always on hold! Bruce doesn't even trust us."
Artemis delivered a swift thwack to Wally's arm, "You should be glad Bruce is allowing us to stay in the building at all, especially after the Bialya Forest incident."
Wally huffed, "I guess, but we're always back-up squad on these kinda emergencies, we never get any action."
"I'd be careful what you wish for, Wally," Artemis said, frowning.
11:42 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
"Attention all units! Unit Delphi, Gamma, and Beta are down! Unit Zeta, your assistance is required. Report immediately to the weapons bay!"
Wally had long since lost that bored look on his face, instead it was replaced by a slight look of worry.
Megan's uncle, terminated. Connor's stepdad, down. Bruce was injured.
Uncle Barry, dead.
He gripped the automatic in his arms tightly, his back against the wall. For once in his life, he wished the FBI Headquarters weren't so big. He slinked slowly along the wall, the rifle aloft.
He heard the footsteps of someone approach him, and he turned, startled.
To his immense relief, it was only Artemis, and he let out a sigh of relief.
"We're regrouping, Wally, come on," Artemis said, her face devoid of emotion.
Wally nodded, and he was led away slowly by Artemis.
They were standing in the Commons Room, Dick sitting on the now-singed couch and Megan leaning on the burnt table.
The culprits had been through their earlier, starting a fire that had taken out Unit Beta.
"It's our time. Bruce is down, and the other units are M.I.A.," Dick said solemnly.
Kaldur, who had been quietly sitting in one of the few surviving office chair, then spoke up, "I concede. We must stay together. No exceptions."
Wally nodded, and Connor grunted his consent.
"Very well, team, move out. We shall patrol the fifth floor. It is now priority alpha that the culprits are found."
13:47 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
They moved in a group, Artemis in the front, Wally behind her, Dick and Kaldur on the sides, Megan and Connor taking the tail. Each held an automatic rifle in their hands, walking slowly and surely.
"I don't think there's anyone here," Wally whispered, walking slowly.
Artemis walking further down the hallway, and she turned to face Wally, "I agree, they probably left already."
It happened so fast, Wally didn't even know what was happening. He heard Megan scream, "Artemis! Look out behind you!" And he remembered the smell of gunpowder and the sound of shots being fired.
Artemis eyes widened, her mouth emitting a shocked, stifled, grunt of pain, as she thudded to the ground.
Wally open-fired, and the assailant pelted to the ground.
He didn't bother checking for a pulse on the assailant, he instead rushed immediately to Artemis's side, pressing his fingers over her gushing-red abdomen.
Megan, who was the official Unit Zeta medic, rushed over quickly, delivering quick thrusts to her stomach where she had been shot.
She began counting, pressing down repeatedly, "…1….2….3….4…."
"Dick! I need you check her pulse, NOW." Megan said, her voice suddenly cold and harsh.
Dick complied rushing over to help.
14:05 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters
(Present Time)
Megan was sobbing, tears running down her glassy cheeks as she pressed on Artemis's still chest, "…33….34…35….36…."
Dick was frantically searching for any sign of life, a throb, a breath, anything, "I… I… can't find a pulse."
Wally dropped to his knees, and he pushed Dick out of the way, fumbling his long fingers on Artemis's cold, slender wrist himself.
There was nothing.
No throbbing, no pulse.
Nothing.
He half wished that she would snap up, and smack him across the head, to call him an idiot, or to insult him.
He heard Megan's sharp, racking sobs, but he couldn't bear to face them, his teammates, who would have the grief written across their faces, would prove that Artemis, in all her snarky, condescending glory, was really gone.
He brought her body close to his own, cradling her bloody body in his arms, sobbing into her matted blond air.
A warm hand grasped his shoulder, "We need to move on, Wally."
He felt the lithe, muscular arms of Kaldur gently pull him away, and he watched through tears as Connor picks up Artemis's body and places her gently on the couch in their common room.
Wally stands up, wiping away the tears and glancing angrily at the fallen gun of the assailant of the shooter, "They're. Every last one of them. If it's the last thing I do."
15:17 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
"Connor, you wil-" Dick began, only to be cut off by Megan's sharp, angry voice.
"Connor is not doing anything!" Megan said harshly.
Connor who, had been leaning against a wall, his arms crossed tightly on his chest, "It's fine, Megan."
Megan turned to Connor, "No it's not! He's offering you as a sacrifice!"
Connor placed a hand on Megan's already drooping shoulders.
Megan turned toward him, and then glanced sadly at Dick, "If Kaldur was still here he'd…"
"He'd go himself," Dick said, his voice solemn and flat, "Something that just cost us our leader."
Wally then spoke up, his eyes still ablaze from losing two of his two teammates, "Kaldur wouldn't have wanted us to die for him."
Dick then grimaced, attempting to make a joke, "Since when have we ever listened to Kaldur, though?"
19:12 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters
Megan crawled into a vacant closet, clenching her teeth and holding her gushing thigh in pain.
Artemis.
Kaldur.
Connor.
Wally.
Dick.
All gone.
She actually wished she had been the first or second to die, definitely not the last. She reached for the rifle that had skittered over to the corner of the closet, her breathed ragged and coming out in quick, rapid succession.
She didn't attempt to staunch the bleeding, instead, she leaned her head against the wall. Images flitted through her mind, Artemis, being pelted with bullets, Kaldur, pushing Dick out of the way and taking the bullets for himself. Connor, walking bravely forward, armed only with his handgun. Wally dying as he scrambled desperately to his fallen gun. Dick, his hand outstretched, lying on the cold tile floor of the FBI Headquarters office.
She heard the clack of footsteps approaching the closet she was currently occupying, and she held her breath.
The door opened slowly, and she closed her eyes.
20:14 March 15, 2012 FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
Megan shot up, her heart racing.
She was breathing hard, and she glanced at her thigh.
No wound. No blood.
What had happened?
Suddenly, she was enveloped in her uncle's warm embrace, and she looked, dazed, around the room.
Artemis, alive and perfectly healthy, was sitting up, leaning against a wall, her eyes wide and frightened-looking.
Bruce, who Megan now noticed was leaning against a wall in the far corner, then spoke, "You were put through a training simulation but…"
"What happened?" Kaldur asked, a frown visible on his face.
"…When Megan set the settings for the simulation…" Bruce began, hesitant.
Megan looked up, shocked. She had been the cause of this?
"We discovered that last night, someone broke into your hotel room, Megan, and shot a microchip into your bloodstream," Bruce said, and the team directed their attention onto the screen, where their was an image of a microchip, magnified about two-hundred times.
"Who put that on her?" Connor asked, outraged.
Bruce paused, and then his eyes briefly locked with Megan's, "We're not sure, but the tech in this chip resembles the work of psychologist that goes by the name of Psimon."
"But how did the chip affect the simulation?" Kaldur asked, perplexed.
"The chip momentarily took control of Megan, and as she was setting up the simulation, the chip linked itself with the machine that ran the simulation," Bruce said grimly, his eyes flickering over to Megan, who was had her arms crossed protectively over herself, hugging herself tightly, "The chip took over the simulation, and once someone died, it triggered you minds to believe that it was actually happening."
"You all knew it wasn't real going in, and Dinah even had an orientation about a couple days before, but the chip caused you to forget about it, and believe it was real."
"The simulation was designed for you to fail, so only when Megan was killed herself did the chip burn out and release it's hold on you," Bruce said.
Megan's hand clenched tightly, and she awkwardly placed her hands on her lap.
Dinah, who had been standing behind her, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Do you know who planted it?" Dick asked, frowning.
Bruce shook his head, "And no one knew we were doing the simulation except for us… and Roy."
Dick raised an eyebrow, "How did Roy find out?"
Bruce hefted a sigh, "Roy came by a couple days ago. He wanted to know how you, Kaldur, and Wally were doing. I told him you were about to go through the training simulation that he developed."
"But Roy wouldn't have betrayed us! He's been at the F.B.I. for nearly six years! And he's known us for even longer," Wally defended.
"Yes, but someone obviously did," Bruce said harshly, "I've also discovered that the microchip was developed by CADMUS."
Kaldur frowned at this, "Shall we be dispatched to investigate, sir?"
Bruce shook his head, "No. You, as of today, are to be on a mandatory break, along with mandatory therapy sessions with Dinah. You are no longer going to be staying at the hotel, and will instead be moved to a secluded base at Happy Harbor. You will be supervised by Dinah or Agent Red Tornado at all times. You are not to be leaving the base without permission, and to enter the base, you will require clearance. Clearly, we wish to avoid another debacle as big as this."
The team was oddly silent, recent events finally registering in their minds.
They all had died.
21:03 March 16, 2012 Gotham, Connecticut
"Council, we were able to install the microchip, but, Agent Bruce Wayne was able to remove and terminate it," a deep voice said.
The speaker was a slim, bald man, with large, bloodshot-eyes wearing a turtleneck and a tweed jacket. If it wasn't for the evil glint in his eye, anyone could've mistaken him for a college professor who had had a few drinks the night before.
He was speaking to a large, circular screen, which was subdivided into seven parts. Each section had the glowing, white silhouette of a different person, and despite there presence not actually being there, the figures were still slightly intimidating.
"Although you failed, Psimon, to gain control of Bruce's little… trainies, we still have the weapon," a female voice said from one of the screens.
"Yes," mused another, this time a deep, resounding male voice, "We still have the weapon."
1:02 AM March 17, 2012 Star City
"I have to admit, you're quite the gunsmith," Jade leered, her lip curling at Roy's discomfort.
Roy grunted, and then released a shower of bullets, all of which Jade dodged easily. Jade knew his guns would only stun, and not cause actual damage.
"You know, you are actually kinda cute," Jade said, and she frowned, "Too bad I'll have to kill you."
Roy hissed at her, "I happen to be an agent from the F.B.I."
Jade scoffed, but she then she grinned, "Puh-lease. You're nothing but a sad, broken agent."