pt.3

The One with the Punch

-o-

Jade doesn't answer her phone. She never does. It is a Fact, one apparently known and accepted by everyone but Roy. So when Artemis calls and gets sent straight to voicemail, she's got her whole spiel prepped and ready.

Call Roy back or set him free. I'm done being your go-between and, as much fun as it was in the beginning, it's getting harder to watch him grovel. Let Mom know you haven't died. She worries. And if you are coming home this weekend, bring back my red hoodie. Demon Cat shredded the sleeves on my green one, so Mom's turning it into a vest. So- yeah, maybe I'll see you soon, maybe I won't. Let me know... I mean it, Jade. A call. A text. Carrier pigeon. Anything. Later.

Satisfied, Artemis tosses her phone onto her bed and breathes deeply within the sanctity of her cotton-scented bedroom. The breeze that slips in through the crack in the weathered window that just won't close reminds her summertime isn't over and there is time to breathe, contrasting the voice in the back of her head telling her otherwise.

The world's problems cannot be solved by one person; that is a lesson she learned too late in life- and she's only sixteen. But hey, these are the kinds of "normal" problems she used to dream of having.

Things might be bad now, but they were worse before the move. Some nights, when the walls of the old house creak and her mother is sound asleep, Artemis tiptoes through the halls with a bat in hand, if only to get some peace of mind that the haven they've built themselves in Happy Harbor is still safe. She hasn't had one of those nights in a long while, but after a school day like the one she's just endured, it's bound to happen soon.

Artemis kicks off her shoes one by one before falling back on top of her secondhand mattress with a heavy sigh. The bed creaks loudly and bounces with her, causing her defenseless cell phone to fly into the air and fall straight off the side of the bed. Artemis inhales sharply, closes her eyes, and listens for the imminent sound of technology being beat by one of its greatest enemies: gravity.

The cracking sound never comes. Instead, the sound of papers crunching and a deep, cushioned thud send a wave of relief through her.

Little blessings, she thinks as she sits up and scrambles to the edge of the bed to see exactly what her phone used as a crash pad.

A lidless shoebox, half tucked under the bed and filled to the brim with envelopes, is her phone's unwitting hero. Artemis stretches over the side of the bed and decides to bring the whole box up with her. She picks out her pristine phone along with one of the envelopes, which she turns her attention to after carefully placing the phone on the bedside table.

Written on the lower right hand side, in what she jokes future archeologists might classify as its own language, is her name. The stamp at the top has a picture of a snowman, clashing with the postmark date that reads mid-June. Without a second thought, Artemis pulls the folded letter out of the envelope and starts reading.

Art-e-menace,

As much as your last letter made me want to hurl, I've been exposed to something that makes me want to do that and more. It's happened. It's finally happened. I have met the man who is to be my mortal enemy for all of eternity. His name is Hunter Zolomon (while you're laughing about that, you can Facebook stalk him for reference. In fact, do Facebook stalk him. Tell me all the worst things you can find about him. This is war, and you're my secret weapon.) He is a grade A dickwad. He's from some fancy prep school in West Virginia and thinks he's Hermes reincarnated (NOT ANOTHER GREEK JOKE. Please do not strike me, a mere mortal, down.). He literally has wings embroidered on the sides of all of his track shoes- that's how big of a douchebag he is. He's made it his personal mission to a) outrun me, b) see me humiliated, and c) destroy me by any means necessary. Just the other day, he shoved me off a trail and into the lake.

THE LAKE, Artemis.

We must be in the middle of my superhero origin story, because I swear there are toxic chemicals in that lake and I can't explain how I'm not dead yet. Hopefully I get something cool like flight or teleportation, and not supersonic burps. Imagine trying to explain that at the dinner table. I don't think "excuse me" would cover it at that point.

As for your situation, I'd say the only reasonable solution is to fake your death and stow away on a cargo ship to Antarctica. Start a new life. Become one with the icy wilderness. Befriend some penguins. Only then will you find peace after what you've had to deal with. You'd think they'd make it out of the driveway before playing tongue twister. At least Sin didn't get scarred for life, so you succeeded on the babysitting front. There's a silver lining for you.

And if it makes you feel better, Roy must be having his own crisis right about now. I can't believe he didn't know you two were sisters! How did that get past him?

Always knew the Harb would fall into chaos without me. Just 72 more days until I can come back and restore order. 72 more days of sleeping with one eye open in case Zolomon tries smothering me in my bunk. If I die out here, I want you to make sure he's brought to justice. Even if they say it was accidental. It was him. Don't let him get away with it. Avenge me, Artemis!

Wallman out!

P.S. Don't actually move to Antarctica. You're my only eyes and ears on the outside. Conner got home from Kansas and only responded with pictures of his dog, which was nice and all, but who reads three letters worth of information and just sends dog pics back? I'm going to a have a serious chat with him about that when (or if) I get back.

P.P.S. A full report on Z-enemy would be greatly appreciated.

She remembers this one well, mostly because she called him out for using 'tongue twister' and 'the Harb' in an actual conversation. She also made it very clear that Wallace Rudolph had no room to joke about names.

Her 'full report' on Zolomon included a print-out of his plagiarized motivational quote statuses and an embarrassing picture from an eighth grade dance. Wally ended up randomly quoting them to spook his rival whenever he got too annoying (which was all the time). She never followed up on whether or not he took her advice about the dance picture (which was to post it over Zolomon's bunk in the middle of the night so he'd wake up to a memory from which he'd forgotten to untag himself).

Artemis glances at the torn Wall-E stickers at each end of the letter (Geek.) before neatly folding the paper up and tucking it back into its envelope with care. As she moves to put the letter back in the box, she catches a glimpse of her smiling face in the mirror on her desk and immediately puts an end to that.

She nods at her neutral expression in the mirror. That's better.

She makes sure to shove the shoebox all the way under her bed this time. With a resigned sigh, she lays back in her bed and stares up at the glow-in-the-dark stars Jade stuck on the ceiling during one of her phases.

The Wally Problem keeps sneaking up on her, lying in wait behind her other problems until she takes a breather and then- Bam! Feelings.

It is an Issue.

She's been spending too much time mulling over the mystery that is her mind's sudden turnaround on the topic of Wally West. When did it happen? How? Had the fall into the lake actually changed him? It has to be that kind of sci-fi, supernatural answer she's searching for because she's yet to find a logical explanation for all of her thoughts.

And as much as she wishes she could write it off as teenage lust (and she did for about a week), there's no way that that's the case. If it were, she would've told Megan, made her move, and been over it already. Game, set, match. She definitely wouldn't be re-reading his stupid letter, and it definitely wouldn't be making her feel like everything is going to be alright.

No, this isn't lust. It's something far, far worse.

"Gross," she groans to the stars, flipping over to bury her face in her pillow before admitting, "I like him."

-o-

The girls' locker room buzzes with activity, and Artemis could not be more happy to not be a part of it. For a few moments (the ones immediately after she'd locked the Bumblebees in and barricaded the door with a little help from Marvin), it had looked like she was going to have to get in there and stop the Bees from going extinct. Thankfully, the cacophony of piercing, panicked yelling had quickly quieted down to a hum of conversation and the odd accusatory shout.

Considering Megan hasn't called her in yet, it must be going in a positive direction, meaning Phase One of her (only slightly desperate) plan is working. Phase Two is a different story.

"What do you mean you lost them?" Artemis asks, scrambling to get off the ground and into Marvin's face. "You had one job!"

"I know, I know, " Marvin groans, taking a step back and nearly tripping over the long stinger of the Hornet mascot costume. "I ran into them after class got out and Steph promised they'd meet me by the bleachers, but when I got there right now, they weren't there! I think they might have bailed."

"Oh, no no no no no." Artemis tugs at the end of her ponytail and look towards the sky for answers. "This is not okay. This is so not okay."

Marvin nods quickly, nearly knocking the antennae off his head. "I know!"

"Raquel is in there right now prepping them to make an apology, and we have no one to apologize to!"

"I know!"

"Stop saying you know and do something," Artemis says, gritting her teeth and strongly guiding Marvin further away from the locker room doors, where she's been stationed ever since sending him on his failure of a mission. "Go look for them."

"Where? How?" He gestures all around with his over-sized mascot hands. "They could be anywhere by now."

"Not true," Artemis says, glancing towards the stadium parking lot. "Kara gets a ride home with Conner and he's still at practice. Go ask him where she is."

Marvin takes another step away from her. "Uh- but Coach Gardner said I can't interrupt them again after the whole pyramid fallout thing, and I'm not exactly willing to risk-"

Artemis grabs a fist full of the jersey worn over the Hornet costume and yanks him forward. "Marvin, you know how important this is. I swear if you don't go look for them right now, I will rip that stinger right off your costume and shove it down your-"

Marvin breaks away and yelps, "Okay, okay, I'm going!"

As he heads out in a clumsy run towards the football field, Artemis quickly weighs her options. Marvin won't be successful, that's for sure. She can't leave the Bumblebees locked in there forever. The apology window is rapidly closing as the party gets closer and Phase Three can't happen until an apology is made. Crap. Artemis sighs heavily and steels herself before turning towards the heavy chain they used to lock the double doors of the locker room. The eerie silence that has replaced the low buzz she's been listening to for over an hour makes her decision for her.

It's time to free the Bees.

Artemis unwraps the chain from around the door handles and tosses it to the side before opening the doors. As soon as she lets herself in, Raquel grabs her by the arm, pulls her to the side, shuts the doors, and shushes her.

"Just look," Raquel whispers with barely contained glee, pointing to a bundle of Bees hugging in the middle of the room. From their position, Artemis can just make out the top of Megan's head somewhere in the center of the mob.

"Why-" Artemis's question gets answered before it can be asked, because the group begins dispersing in all directions (and in varying states of emotion).

From the very center of the room, Kara and Megan wave at her, arm in arm. Stephanie stands triumphantly on one of the benches behind them. Raquel releases the vice grip she has on Artemis's arm in order to go round up her emotionally charged teammates outside.

It's a turn of events that stuns Artemis, mostly because it turned in the right direction for once in her life.

The Bumblebees stream out of the room, walking around her statuesque form chatting happily like they hadn't just been at each other's throats half an hour ago. Unbelievable.

Megan's touch on her arm snaps Artemis out of her stupor just in time for her to smile at Kara and Stephanie as they practically skip out of the locker room together.

"What just happened?" Artemis asks, once the door swings shut behind the pair.

"Nothing short of a miracle," Megan says with an accepting shrug.

"They were in here the whole time?"

Megan nods rapidly before she answers, "They hid in the gear closet. Steph's idea, apparently. Popped out as soon as Mareena started crying about needing to find them and beg for forgiveness."

"And everything is... good?" Artemis asks cautiously, taking note of the way Megan avoids her eyes.

"They're coming to the party tomorrow, so yeah, I think so." The edges of Megan's eyes wrinkle as she grins. Her fidgety hands betray her confident smile.

"You think so?" Artemis raises a brow.

"Well," Megan's smile slips for a fraction of a second before she shrugs and pats Artemis's shoulder, "we'll see how it all turns out. Thanks for this. I've gotta get to practice, but you're still coming tomorrow morning, right?"

"Riiight," Artemis drawls, "but what-"

"Cool, I'll see you then," Megan says as she practically runs out of the locker room.

When the door shuts behind her, Artemis takes a seat on the nearest bench and sighs. She's not used to getting brushed off by Megan. Jade? Yes, all the time, everyday of her life. Megan? Never. It's unsettling. Regret tints the edges of her brilliant plan. Keeping Megan in the dark isn't looking like such a great idea anymore.

Tomorrow, she thinks, reaching for a forgotten tennis ball from under the bench. I'll tell her tomorrow. She bounces the ball against the ground and catches it in her other hand. Maybe.

She bounces the ball a few more times, mulling over pros and cons, before a thought strikes her and sends her sprinting out of the locker room.

If she does decide to tell Megan, it's definitely going to have to be after she saves Marvin from Coach Gardner's wrath.

-o-

The concept of six degrees of separation doesn't exist in Happy Harbor. This is because the six Morse sisters have so firmly embedded themselves into the social fabric of the town that you'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't at least know one of them.

This, Artemis surmises, is why she is currently elbowing her way through a sea of people just to get from the staircase to the kitchen in Megan's house. It's also why she's been having to act as an unofficial bouncer all night. The scowl on her face is out of place in the crowd of rowdy teenagers, but if it makes them think twice about playing Toss the Freshman, then she's prepared to keep it on all night. Megan's dealt with enough drama for the week.

Artemis jolts as a hand catches her sharp elbow before it can cut between another conversation.

"Having trouble?" A low voice reaches her ears over the loud beats blasting out of the stereo system.

Artemis drops the scowl and grins before she turns around and says, "I thought you said you weren't coming."

"I meant what I said at the time, but I was... convinced." Kaldur nods his head towards the corner where Garth and Tula have created their own personal dance floor out of the welcome mat Artemis is one hundred percent sure she put outside two hours ago. "It is our last year after all."

"Don't remind me," Artemis says, pouting slightly. "Who's going to go watch Back to the Depths: Part Three with me?"

"I will," Kaldur says with a short laugh, "as long as you don't mind waiting and missing the midnight showing."

She pretends to consider it before playfully pushing his arm. "Only for you."

"I was looking forward to-"

"Hey, Kaldur, my man!" Wally's voice carries over the music as he ducks underneath an outstretched umbrella-sword and pops back up between them with a wide smile. "Oh, and Artemis, my not-a-man. You guys having a good time?"

Artemis shares a glance with Kaldur before looking at Wally with a raised brow and asking, "Your what now?"

The smile slips off his face as he stumbles over his words. "Uh- you know-you're not- a man, so-"

"Yes," Kaldur saves him from explaining, "we are having a good time. Megan really knows how to throw a party."

"Speaking of, where exactly is our lovely hostess?" Wally stands on the tips of his toes and squints over the bustling living room.

"Upstairs," Artemis answers, quickly remembering why she'd been shoving people to get to the kitchen in the first place. "I've got to get going, but you guys have fun. I think the bounce house is up again in the backyard."

She spots a clear path to the kitchen and makes it a good six steps before a hand finds hers and turns her around.

"As much as I'd love to impress the ladies with my mad bouncing skills," Wally pauses to lean in closer as the music gets louder, "we need to talk."

Artemis narrows her eyes at his urgency (and his use of "the ladies"). For a split second, she wonders if it bothers her for more than just the usual reason, but there's really no time to start going down that train of thought. She shakes the feeling away.

"Did you not convince you-know-who to come?" she asks, mentally preparing for the worst case scenario where she has to forcibly drag Conner out of his house to talk to Megan. A messy scenario, even under the best of circumstances.

Wally shakes his head slowly and gently places a hand on her shoulder. "You can say his name, Artemis. Voldemort's not real."

"Wally," she groans, choking back her amusement and moving her arm away from his touch, "I'm serious."

"So am I." He stretches his neck to look over the heads of the people around them before he looks her in the eye and admits, "We've got a small problem."

"Define small," Artemis says with a sigh.

"What?" Wally asks loudly, trying to compete with the newest song blasting from the stereo.

"De-fine-small," she enunciates, at the exact moment the guy behind her shouts, "This is my song!"

"Find Paul?" Wally guesses after a few, painfully long seconds.

Artemis huffs, grabs his hand, and finally forces her way past the Off Limits sign on the kitchen door. Once the door is firmly closed behind them, she crosses her arms and faces him again.

"Define small," she repeats, and this time he hears her.

"Well." Wally draws out the l's far beyond their usefulness as he starts walking around the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Marvin all over again," Artemis mumbles to herself. "Spit it out."

"Conner's here, but he's not here and he might not be here until he's here, you know what I mean?" he says so quickly she has to run the words through her head twice before giving up.

"I do not know what you mean. Where is Conner?" she asks flatly.

Wally leans against the island and eyes the cactus-shaped cookie jar sitting in the center before he says, "Front yard. He's on the fence, literally and figuratively. He might be a little nervous. I don't think he's coming in."

Artemis walks over to the curtained window and peers out into the front yard. Sure enough, Conner is there, leaning against the Christmas light covered fence with his arms crossed and his expression stony. He glances towards the front door every few seconds.

"This is good," she says, backing up from the window to turn to Wally, whose hand is now halfway down the cookie jar. "To tell you the truth, I'm impressed. I wasn't sure you'd be able to do it."

"O ye of little faith," he says accusingly, pointing a cookie in her direction before eating it.

Artemis snorts as she walks to the kitchen door, which shakes with the beat of the music outside. "If he won't come in, then I'm going to tell Megan to go talk to him."

"Cool." After he pulls another day old cookie out of the jar, he takes a bite and asks, "What should I do?"

"Make sure he doesn't leave," she orders as she opens the door. She pauses for a second before sending him a pointed look. "And don't clean out that cactus. Those are my favorite."

"No promises," he says through a mouthful of cookie. "Con's stronger than me, and these cookies are stronger than my self control."

She hopes the music and the click of the door covers up the snicker that slips past her lips as she leaves.

-o-

Artemis forgoes knocking as she swings the door to Megan's room open and declares, "I forgot to grab more oreos, but I found something better."

Megan spins around from her desk chair and looks up at Artemis with a pout. "What could be better than oreos?"

Artemis quickly shuts the bedroom door behind her, pulls her friend to the window, and points down into the yard. "See for yourself."

The exact moment Megan's eyes light up is the moment any residual guilt Artemis felt about leaving her in the dark completely disappears.

"Conner!" Megan gasps, squeezing Artemis's hands between her own. "He's here! How long has he- What's he doing here?"

"Take a breath," Artemis says, laughing lightly. "Why don't you go ask him?"

"Ask him," Megan repeats slowly, releasing Artemis's hands to smooth out the front of her dress. "Yeah, you're right. I should do that. Can I do that?"

"It's your house," Artemis points out.

"Right." Megan nods rapidly. "It is my house. Now?"

"No, next week." Artemis rolls her eyes and starts walking towards the door. "C'mon, Meganerd, it's now or never."

Megan chooses now.

Cutting through the crowd at the bottom of the stairs and getting Megan out the front door doesn't take too long, but by the time Artemis returns to the kitchen, the cookies are gone and so is Wally.

It doesn't surprise her in the slightest.

She races to the window and releases a small sigh of relief at the sight of Conner still standing near the fence. Before she can see if Megan makes it to him, her view is obstructed by a couple of laughing lacrosse players popping up in front of the window. They wave at her through the glass. Artemis shuts the curtain.

She leaves the kitchen and nearly trips over an abandoned pair of shoes in her haste to reach the living room window, a.k.a. the nearest, clearest vantage point. The loveseat under the window is occupied by two freshmen giving each other shy glances when she arrives. After pointing them to the nearest game of spin the bottle in the foyer, Artemis commandeers the small sofa for herself and peeks through the blinds at the scene in the front yard.

Megan's sparkly, green dress catches her eye as the blinking Christmas lights reflect off the shiny material. Conner spots her early on as she moves through the yard. Artemis watches him uncross his arms and take a deep breath before he either says "Hey" or "Dang". Reading lips in the dark is hard, okay?

"There you are. Move over," Wally says, making her jump when he takes a knee on the seat cushion next to her. "I'm invested, too."

Artemis doesn't turn away from the blinds when she asks, "Where did you go?"

"Melissa kicked me out of the kitchen and told me to learn how to read."

"Sounds like her," Artemis says with a short nod, scooting over a bit so he can see through the same slat as her. "So did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Learn how to read," she explains plainly, a smirk pulling at her lips.

"Shut up," he laughs, brushing against her shoulder as he leans closer to get a better view. "I don't have to prove to you of all people that I know how to read."

"True," she agrees, thinking about the bundle of letters stuffed far under her bed. "What I'd like to know is if you're capable of writing legibly instead of in your usual chicken scratch."

"Hey," he protests, lightly bumping into her, "just because us mere mortals can't write in your freakishly straight handwriting doesn't mean our writing is illegible."

"Tell that to the post office," Artemis says with a quiet laugh, recalling the look on her mailman's face each time she handed him back a letter meant for Conner and told him to go up another three blocks. "Three times, Wally. Three times."

"I can't help it if their fours look like my nines," he tells her for what has to be the hundredth time. "That's out of my control—and Jim got the hang of it after those first ones."

"He's a saint, honestly." Artemis smiles. "You know, I was thinking, you never did tell me how the Z-man felt about that dance picture."

"I told you not to call him that," Wally groans lowly, shivering dramatically. "It humanizes him."

Artemis laughs. "C'mon, tell me what happened."

"I did what you said: put it right in his face. When he woke up, he screamed," Wally chuckles with barely contained glee, and Artemis finds herself thinking of another way to draw it out of him again. "Oh, man, Artemis. I wish you could've been at breakfast that morning. He was losing it. Totally accused me of spying on him in front of everyone, but how could I have gotten on Facebook without my phone, or a computer, and how could I have printed a picture without a printer? In any case, he embarrassed himself by showing it to everyone as proof."

"You're welcome," Artemis says, grinning. "Glad I could contribute to another Zolomon conspiracy theory."

She looks back to the blinds, then narrows her eyes in scrutiny.

"Hey, look." She nudges Wally's shoulder.

They crowd the window as Megan starts nodding to whatever Conner is saying. When the nods slow to a stop, she takes half a step forward and places her hand on Conner's arm as she speaks.

"Ooo, arm touch, looks serious," Wally whispers, and although her vision is locked in on her friends outside, Artemis can imagine the playful eyebrow wiggle that surely accompanied his comment. She snorts.

While her vision might be focused on the scene in the yard, the rest of her is keenly aware of just how close Wally is. Sometime during his efforts to get a better look, his arm had made its way over her shoulders, and his knee had found a place next to hers, and his face was right over her shoulder, and if she turned even an inch their cheeks would touch (and if she turned a little more than that she might even be able to ki—).

Artemis slams the breaks on her thoughts the moment Conner and Megan snap their attention to the window. She lets the slat fall and tries to move away from the blinds but only succeeds in almost pushing Wally off the sofa. He scrambles to move into a less-conspicuously seated position and Artemis hastily does the same on the other cushion.

"You think they saw us?" Artemis asks, only looking at him once she's sure the flush in her face has faded.

"Oh, most definitely," he says a bit breathlessly, and he stares back at her in such a way that makes her feel a little breathless, too. She's beginning to wonder if it's really not as big of an Issue as she thought. "But they were holding hands, so I think our mission was a success."

"Perfect," Artemis breathes out, holding her hand up for a high five. He doesn't disappoint her.

"Go team," he says with a victorious laugh. "I'd say this calls for a celebration."

"You're in the right place," Artemis snorts, gesturing to the seniors forming a circle in the middle of the living room for an impromptu dance-off.

"Wait a sec." Wally holds up one finger at her before turning around and reaching for something from the floor next to the couch. He surfaces with a knowing grin. "A toast."

The cactus-shaped cookie jar appears in front of her with the cowboy hat lid missing. Upon closer examination, Artemis finds two of Megan's peanut butter M&M cookies sitting at the bottom of the jar. She looks at the cookies, then at his nodding face, then back at the cookies.

"I don't believe it," she says slowly, unable to imagine Wally sparing a crumb of these delicacies. She pulls both cookies out of the jar and hands him one.

"All your doubt is starting to wound me," he says, one hand over his heart while the other waves the cookie at her. "I saved you one, just for this moment."

"That's..." sweet is the word that comes to mind, but her mouth says, "-surprising."

"Stick around, Sunshine, I'm full of surprises," Wally grins, tilting his head. Artemis doesn't miss the woosh of his hair or the butterflies in her stomach that so often accompany it. He raises his cookie towards her. "To a successful mission."

"To teamwork." Artemis taps the edge of her cookie against his and smirks. "Even if I did do most of the work."

Wally rolls his eyes as he stuffs his cookie in his mouth. Artemis follows suit, savoring success, the sweet treat, and the even sweeter moment.

The moment ends a few seconds later when a loud crack sounds against the outside of the window. They jump at the sudden sound, but it's the shouting outside that brings them to their feet.

"What the hell was that?" Artemis pulls a cord to lift the blinds up to get a better look outside.

She's not impressed with what she finds.

"That's not good," Wally says, drawing attention to the yellow yolk dripping down the window pane.

"It gets worse," Artemis says tightly, her superb mood slipping away at the sight of more eggs flying through the air. Partygoers nearly trip over each other in their haste to get inside the front door or out of range.

The blinds fall back into place after Artemis drops the cord and starts pushing her way through the people crowding the doorway.

"I'm right behind you," she hears Wally call out over the teens rushing into the house.

An egg flies through the doorway and cracks against the back of some poor kid's head, causing an opening to appear as the other kids scatter away from the door. Artemis takes it and runs out into the yard fully prepared to crack a few heads herself. She sets her sights on the nearest boy with an egg carton in his arms and sees red.

"What the hell, Cameron?!" Artemis growls, fists balled at her sides as she approaches him in the middle of the walkway.

An egg flies past her head and she halts her gait to turn her attention to the other side of the fence, where Cameron Mahkent's friends—Tuppence and her twin brother, Tommy—hold their own cartons of eggs.

Wally catches up to her then. Conner appears at her other side. Fragments of an eggshell are still stuck to his jacket and he is decidedly Not Happy. Megan is also not happy, if the bright red flush on her face and egg-covered patio umbrella-turned-shield in her hands is anything to go by.

Artemis takes a step forward and narrows her eyes at Cameron. "What is your fucking problem?!"

"We just figured a party full of stiffs could use a little livening up," Cameron says with a shrug and a smirk, and Tommy's guffaw of a laugh echoes through the nearly empty yard. The only other people watching the scene unfold do so from the fringes of the yard or the safety of the house.

"This is my house," Megan says firmly as she closes her umbrella and points the tip at Cameron. "My party. And you were not invited. You have ten seconds to get out of here before I—"

"Before you what?" Cameron interrupts her and laughs. "Throw a pom-pom at me?"

"Worse." Megan maintains eye contact with Cameron as she purposefully passes the umbrella over to Conner's waiting hands. A smirk of pride slides across Artemis's face at the same time the cocky grin slips off of Cameron's.

"Geez, calm down. Can't you see it's just a joke?" Cameron backtracks quickly, dropping his carton on the grass.

"The only joke I see here is you, dude," Wally retorts, crossing his arms.

"And none of us find you funny," Artemis adds.

"You're almost out of seconds," Conner reminds him, tapping the tip of the umbrella against the ground.

"But we're not out of eggs," Tommy says, holding an egg at the ready. Tuppence copies his movement.

If they think it's a standoff, they've got another thing coming.

"Enough," Artemis groans, marching straight up to Cameron without a second thought. (He's been all bark and no bite since the day they met.) She pushes his shoulder roughly. "Apologize and go home."

"Only if you're coming with, babe," Cameron says with his usual arrogance, even as he tries to rub away the pain in the shoulder she pushed.

"Are you serious?" Artemis's voice breaks and she takes a step back to stop herself from pushing him again. "Could you be any more of a sleaze? You know what? Don't answer that. I already know the answer since you've been a thorn in my side ever since the day I got here."

Artemis fists her hand in the collar of his shirt and narrows her eyes. "Let me make this clear, since you obviously didn't hear me the first million times: You and me? Never, ever happening. Now leave and take your two-pack of idiots with you!"

Cameron's eyes turn icy as he takes a bold move forward and pointedly shouts, "What's your damage, Crock? Did Daddy going away really fuck you up that bad?"

Every snarky retort she'd had stocked at the tip of her tongue vanishes, along with the air in her lungs and the fire in her eyes. She releases her hold on his shirt as she recoils away from him. The silence in the yard is only broken by Megan's muffled gasp.

After too long, Artemis manages to slowly and quietly grit out a question. "What are you talking about?"

"You heard me," Cameron says with a sneer. "Did Daddy's little girl not get enough attention while he was in jail, so now she's got to boss everybody around just to feel something?"

"You have no clue what you're talking about," Artemis seethes through heavy breaths. She holds her shaking fists tightly at her sides and tries to slow her racing heart. "Get out of my sight before—"

"I'm right, though, aren't I?" he interrupts, sealing his fate. "My old man told me you were Crusher Crock's kid, and, honestly? I believe him. It definitely explains why you're such a bitch."

Wally and Megan yell something at that moment, but Artemis doesn't hear them because she's too busy slamming her fury-filled fist against Cameron's face.

He stumbles and falls backwards onto the damp grass, shouting muffled curses as he holds his hands over his mouth. Conner drops the umbrella and catches Artemis's arm when she raises her fist again. Wally grabs her other arm, and the two boys work together to pull her back before she can dive to the ground and finish what the idiot started.

As she struggles against her friends to get to the cowering boy on the ground, Artemis's spiraling thoughts center on the fact that her secret, the one she's spent the last couple of years fighting tooth and nail to keep, has been chucked into the open—just like the egg hurdling straight for her.

She barely even feels the impact against her chest. She stops fighting the boys to watch the pieces and goo slide down the front of her top. It's a pretty accurate representation of her life right now.

"You hit me!" Cameron cries out, sitting on the ground with a bleeding split lip. "You actually hit me!"

More eggs start flying through the air as Tommy and Tuppence react to Cameron's pained whines. Wally forces Artemis to crouch down and tries to shield her from the eggs. At the same time, Conner races to pick up the patio umbrella and turn it back into a shield for them all. Megan's hands hang onto Artemis's shoulders, and then they're all there, hiding from an onslaught of eggs behind an oversized umbrella in the middle of an empty yard.

Their saving grace comes in the form of a harsh jet of water that flies over their heads and relentlessly pelts Tommy and Tuppence until they run into the empty street. Cameron uses the moment to get off the ground and flip them all off.

"You're gonna regret that, Crock!" he yells.

The water hits him next.

Conner finally shuts the umbrella, and they watch from the ground as Cameron and his friends run across the street, mount their bikes, and pedal out of sight. The water shuts off and the four of them turn around to find Kaldur standing behind them with a garden hose in hand.

"I'm surprised you did not hit him sooner," Kaldur remarks, dropping the hose. His words snap Artemis out of her daze.

After Megan and Wally stand and give her some space, Artemis rises to her feet and nods her thanks to Kaldur. She shakes out the hand she used to punch Cameron and looks down to inspect the damage, but it's hard to see past the unwanted tears building in her eyes. She shuts them tightly and holds her breath, trying desperately to calm down.

Megan's the first to touch her arm. "Artemis? Artemis, are you—"

"Meg-an!" Michelle's piercing voice rings out through the yard from the front door. "Get in here, now!"

Megan spins around and winces. "But—"

"Go," Artemis whispers, careful not to look up. "I'm fine."

"You are not—"

Artemis shakes her head. "Megan, go."

Megan hesitates before squeezing her shoulder. "I'll be right back."

Conner looks from Artemis to Wally to Megan before he takes a step back and says, "I'll be right back, too."

They rush inside to talk to Michelle as Kaldur ushers a few more people back inside the house and shuts the door, leaving Wally and Artemis alone in the shell-littered yard.

Artemis bites her lip as she fights to stop trembling so much. Dammit. Dammit. Her hand aches, and she mentally berates herself for throwing a punch when a well-aimed kick would've sufficed.

"Let me see it," Wally says, taking her hand after she shakes it out again and hisses.

The pain in her hand is nothing compared to the hurt she feels when she finally dares to look into his eyes and sees all the goddamn pity she never wanted staring back.

This is exactly why she's never told anyone. Once the pity fades, the judgement comes, and for all of her achievements and good deeds, it's always the family business that people want to see.

"I have to go," she says shakily, pulling her hand away from him. "Tell Megan I'm sorry."

"Artemis, wait," he says quickly. When he reaches out for her, she steps to the side and starts speed-walking towards the street.

He follows, of course.

"You can't just leave."

"Watch me," she says tightly, her voice faltering as she swallows down her panic. "Goodnight, Wally."

"At least let me walk you—" he pleads.

Artemis turns abruptly and interrupts him with hard eyes and an even harder tone. "I said goodnight."

Wally stops walking and holds her gaze. "Artemis... c'mon. Talk to me."

She wants to, really, but if she talks now, the only words that'll come out of her mouth are ones that tell him to stop, to go back inside and go show off for the ladies, to leave her alone because it's just easier on both of them that way, because in the long run, the skeletons in her closet would've scared him off anyway. And to think, they'd just been joking around and toasting cookies not even ten minutes ago.

What had she been thinking? How had she been so naive to think no one would ever find out? Her chest tightens as the panic returns.

"I don't want to talk about it," she practically wheezes, turning on her heel to continue her hasty exit.

"Then we won't talk," he offers, jogging behind her. "I won't even walk with you. I'll just be back here, minding my own business, taking a stroll... in the same direction."

Artemis slows down to a walk, and so does he, and she can feel his eyes on her, watching her carefully, waiting for a response. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and rubs her eyes with her pain-free hand. It takes her a whole block to find her voice.

"Fine," she says, just loud enough for him to hear. "That's... fine."

He keeps his word by not saying a single one during the fifteen minute walk to her house. As they walk, Artemis's shaking lessens and her breathing evens out and she feels better just knowing that maybe she jumped the gun, that maybe this boy— the one who writes her letters, and calls her Sunshine, and saves her cookies, and walks her home, and makes her mind lighter with the sound of his laughter— can still see her for who she is and not who her family was.

Maybe, just maybe, there's still a way this can work.

When they reach her house, Artemis pulls her key out of her boot and unlocks the door as slowly as possible. She opens it without a sound and, for the first time since leaving Megan's block, turns around to face Wally. He waits on the sidewalk underneath the light of the streetlamp. After she steps across the threshold, she waves at him, and he waves back.

And when she closes the door, she hangs onto maybe like it's an umbrella in a rainstorm.