YJ- A Shot in the Dark (part 15)
"Artemis!"
It might as well have been the wind that screamed. At the speed Wally was going there wasn't even a blur of red to show his path before he appeared at her side.
"No," he breathed, frantically scooping the woman he loved most into his arms. Her head lolled against his arm, spurring the sting of tears in his eyes. "Artemis? Artemis, c'mon! This isn't funny! Babe, please!"
She didn't respond. He might as well have been holding a doll. He felt helpless, just a kid pretending to be a hero. And the image wasn't helped any by him crying into her hair, still so familiar to closed eyes.
"Flash!" Nightwing's shout barely broke through to him, but soon the black and blue hero was crouching next to him. Gently, though with a firmness that pained Wally's fingers, his best friend pulled his hold on Artemis enough to allow Nightwing to place two fingers along her neck.
Instantly, Wally felt stupid. He'd gone through pre-med. He'd studied everything to do when involved with victims at crime scenes. And here he was, forgetting to check her vitals!
Then again, maybe it was a good thing Dick was here to help because the younger hero was definitely cool under pressure. Especially since he didn't seem to like what he was finding.
After several moments and a deep frown, Nightwing pulled out one of his little ninja things ("wing-dings" he'd called them) to hold under her nose. Only a faint fogging appeared, sending Wally's own pulse into overdrive.
Sighing, Nightwing glanced up at him only to turn away and shake his head. "She's not good," he stated dismally, his fingers going back to her neck. "Her pulse is too fluttery and faint. Her breathing - ."
"What about the stuff you gave her?" Wally demanded. "Didn't you give her anything in case - ."
"Yeah, I did, but she's not wearing the vest," Dick pointed out, his gaze going to her blood-soaked shirt. "And even if we could find it, I don't even know how much good it'll do. And who knows how long it'll take for the ambulance to get here."
It was as though the air around them was dreading what the younger man would say next. But to Wally, it only made one thing abundantly clear.
"Then I run her."
Nightwing stared at him for the briefest of seconds, even though it felt like ages. "Wa- Flash! We can't! It could kill her!"
"Or save her," Wally countered fiercely.
"We don't even know if she should be moved!"
"I'm not sacrificing her to time, Dick!" he snapped. "I couldn't save her last time or the time before that- but she saved me and I'll be damned before I don't even try!"
Nightwing's eyes narrowed as he frowned at the speedster. But slowly he nodded. "For the sake of her new identity- if sh- you make it- think of a cover story for Linda Park," he advised. "Then we'll worry about Deathstroke verses Tigress."
The switched terms in the directions did not go unnoticed and Wally fought to keep from vibrating in place. Instead he nodded, gently cradling Artemis more securely in his arms. Her head lolled to the side again, resting warmly against his chest and making his heart race. Mere seconds later, his legs copied the action, carrying them out of the building and across the snow.
It was only seconds later, and maybe a quarter mile, that his comm-link crackled inside his ear with an incoming call.
"Batman to Flash," a gruff voice barked. "Flash!"
"Not the time, Bats," Wally responded. His nerves were wearing thin just by trying to maintain a fast enough speed while keeping an eye on what he could of Artemis's vitals. Was her pulse slowing or was he speeding up?
"I have the jet," Batman continued regardless and Wally looked up as he suddenly heard a burst of engines over head. "I'll hover in twenty yards. Get on board."
Those weren't suggestions. And, even though Wally knew he'd go stir crazy on the jet, he couldn't argue with the fact that Artemis might do better with steadier movements.
"Roger."
True to his word, Batman set the jet in position and lowered the ramp for them. The metal had barely brushed the snow when Wally was suddenly on board the air craft, setting the ailing woman gently on what appeared to be a medical cot a second before he pressed for the ramp to close again.
Despite years of wondering about the Batjet and all the possible workings of it, Wally barely noticed anything other than the fact that they were moving too slow. "Fly low," he commanded as he felt the jet shift course. "Altitude won't help us."
Batman gave a grunt of understanding. It had probably been something that the elder hero already knew, but saying it had at least been something against the fact that Wally had lost even more control in helping Artemis cling to life.
"Master Wallace," a clipped but soft voice commanded along with a hand firmly taking a hold on his arm. "Please sit down and eat something. I don't require a secondary patient at this time."
Wally jumped despite himself and stared at the familiar old butler. "Alfred."
He wasn't exactly sure how, but realizing the man's presence was there brought more reassurance than knowing that Batman was at the wheel. Alfred may not have been a hospital's top surgical staff, but he'd kept Batman alive all these years! And, right now, there was no one he'd have trusted more.
"This way, Master Wallace," Alfred urged, tugging gently on the hero's arm to move him from the bedside to a nearby seat. "You've done enough."
In moments Wally found himself seated just behind the cockpit, nodding senselessly with a protein bar in his hands and a box of at least twenty more against his leg. He stared down at the much needed nutrients. When had he started shaking?
"Flash."
His attention lifted, going to a curtain that had been drawn across the back of the jet and the silhouette of a kind old man who'd seen more than enough to know what he's doing. Slowly his gaze raked across the minimal extra seating, probably meant for one or another of the Bat-Brats, until they fell on Batman's scowling profile.
Wally blinked sluggishly. "What?"
Batman's gaze narrowed as he cast the speedster a glance. "Eat those bars or I'm hooking you up to an IV."
The scarlet-clad hero's eyes went back to his hands. Yes, his brain registered a little too slowly. Protein bar. Kinda need it. Right.
Somehow muscle memory took over and Wally was almost surprised when he tasted the bar's chocolate coating. The next thing he knew, his fingertips were scratching gently against the bottom of the cardboard container while the area around him was strewn with what remained of the plastic wrappers.
"Better?" Batman inquired, giving him the shortest of glances before his attention returned to the horizon.
"Yeah," Wally answered, moving to sit in the copilot's seat.
He was still feeling shaky and every injury of the night was screaming at him. Not to mention his stomach was growling for more food, but at least he didn't feel like his brain had lost a cog anymore. Although his head hurt like someone had played around inside it with a hammer.
"How far?" he asked.
Batman spared him another glance. "Two clicks," he responded. "Doctors are prepped and waiting at Keystone General Memorial."
Wally nodded, staring out at the rushing fields of snow around them. Everything's going to be fine, he assured himself. Bats'll get us there, the doctors'll save Artemis, and I'll marry her right there because Dick'll be-
"Where's Di- Nightwing?" Wally asked, his attention snapping back to the hero steering them towards the faintly lit sky on the horizon. "And GA! They were-."
"Green Arrow will be joining us as soon as the rest of your former team arrives," Batman assured him. "Nightwing is staying with them until Deathstroke is delivered into custody."
The speedster nodded. He could see lights now. Street lights and the scarce few who were traveling at this God-awful time of night grew closer and closer together until the first high-rise building flew past. They were on Belmont Avenue. The hospital was barely five blocks away.
. -. -.
Dick was pretty sure something wasn't computing right. His brain just wasn't registering what really must have happened. Artemis- who'd barely been able to stand when he'd gotten to her- had tried to throttle Deathstroke to free Green Arrow. Then she'd been thrown into a pillar and dropped like a corpse. Flash had lost it, screaming in a way Dick had never heard even the first time they'd seen her die before their eyes as he practically teleported to her side.
The distraction had gotten Dick a split lip and an intense battle with the assassin. He'd have been lying if he said he hadn't been concerned about how close he was to losing. It was like Deathestroke was fighting with a new fire that was a little too close to fatal for Dick's liking. Which knocked him off his feet and coughing against painful kicks to his middle.
A war cry even more jarring than Flash's reaction brought on a rescue. Dick could only be more amazed as Green Arrow, looking nearly rabid, took on Slade. In scrambling away, he'd found himself trying to bring his best friend out of shock and make sure his pseudo-sister was still breathing. Finding out she was still with them nearly knocked him over with relief, until he realized how badly off she was.
Then two of the people he loved most disappeared, making a knot of anxiety form in Dick's gut as he stared at the blood left behind.
It took a moment to realize he could still hear leather against leather. Dick leapt to his feet with a muttered curse and he took off across the room again to where Green Arrow and Deathstroke were still duking it out.
"Batman!" he yelped into his comm-link. "Artemis is critical. Wally's running her away from here."
"I'll get him," Batman's gruff reply was definitely a relief. "Deathstroke?"
"Fighting with GA," Dick reported. Though he'd latched onto both the assassin and the hero, his efforts were quickly proving futile at trying to pull them apart. "I'll send him along. The team?"
"ETA three minutes," Batman answered.
"Good," Dick breathed and let the call drop to focus on pulling Green Arrow away.
Despite any number of injuries, the emerald archer wasn't giving up. Even with Dick trying to pull him back, GA was still landing blow after blow against the orange and black with a force that only bloodlust could provide.
"Oliver, c'mon!" Dick grunted over the effort. "Stop! He's down!"
"Never gonna hurt her again," the elder man growled, still managing to accentuate each word with another attack of some kind.
"Arrow-."
Before Dick could groan out another plea, the ground shook with the force of a wall being blown in and the force sent all three of them sprawling across the floor. Only a brief moment passed, with coughing that assured him that Slade was still alive, before Dick could make out the sound of footsteps. And Green Arrow launched himself at the assassin again.
"Nightwing!"
M'gann. Dick let himself rest back for a few breaths, nodding to show he was okay as small hands tried to help him up. "Get Deathstroke," he ordered. "Before GA kills him."
"Yeah, me first," Superboy growled out, bounding past them.
"No," Dick tried to reproach, but at least Aqualad was right behind the hot-blooded kryptonian. Granted, Kaldur's expression was just as murderous.
"Nightwing," M'gann drew his attention back. Either because she was worried about him or because she didn't want him to see what their teammates would do to the person who'd tried to murder one of their little family. Which ever the case, he was fairly grateful. "Nightwing, where's Artemis?"
"Flash took her," he reported, wincing a little as he heard the unmistakable sound of bones cracking behind him. "Batman went to meet them."
"Good," the Martian breathed, giving him a gentle smile before her gaze went past him and hardened. "Then we have time to fix this."
"What?" Nightwing demanded, grimacing from the small flares of pain that came with moving to follow her as she left his side.
M'gann turned back and gave him one of her mothering smiles. "Relax, Dick," she said softly, her voice sounding like honey in his mind. "Everything's going to be fine."
"Right," he mumbled. There were reasons he had to keep his focus, reasons why he needed to be the moderator in the room, but at the green girl's assurance his eyes slipped closed.
. -. -.
His breath shook as he stepped into the room, ignoring all hospital policy by seeing the prone figure tucked into her hospital bed not even an hour after surgery. He'd deal with any nurse who found him later. He was Oliver Queen, worse came to worse he'd just buy them off. Calming the Flash could be another problem, but he'd just say the kid was asleep when he'd gone rule-breaking. Which he had been, so it wasn't a lie, but if he were in Wally's shoes, he'd be livid.
The rhythmic beep of her heart monitor drew him back from his thoughts. It should've been reassuring- it meant that she was alive, after all- but it only set Oliver's teeth on edge. The young woman in the bed, though- she didn't look right.
It was strange. He'd seen her with the new hair, having watched her on the news, but it didn't make the coloring seem any less wrong. He'd actually made a point of getting Cyborg to adjust his electronic settings so that he could see her broadcasts even from the west coast. He'd loved the Halloween one, once he was able to watch it the next morning. He'd probably been one of the first to see the attack on the zoo when it aired. He hadn't even explained to Dinah why he'd leapt to his feet, knocking the contents of their coffee table to the floor, and ran out of their penthouse cursing.
On that note, Oliver mentally reminded himself to call her... eventually. But right now, the woman on the bed needed him more.
Standing at the side of her bed, he combed his fingers through her dyed locks. And, strangely, it made him smile as much as it made tears pool in his eyes. She hadn't been keeping track of her hair. Even though she was trying to keep her hair a very natural near-black color, her roots were coming in blonde. The little girl he'd taken under his wing when he wasn't even thirty was still in there.
The tears had fallen onto her pillow case before he even realized he was crying. And he couldn't stop. Shuttering a gasp, the thirty-seven year old former playboy dropped into the visitors' chair, his face in his hands and looking entirely defeated.
"Oh, God, kid," he moaned. "Don't do this to me again."
He pulled his gaze up enough to study her sharp, exotic features. She was like a daughter to him. Or at least a kid sister. Or niece, which was fitting since that had been her cover for her debut into heroism. Losing her had been the hardest time of his life.
"I already thought you were dead once," he continued, reaching up to grip her hand. "You can't come back just for me to lose you again."
Maybe it was selfish. Maybe it was a pathetic way to look at it. But he didn't care. It felt like the only way to fight the truth.
"I'm sorry, Artemis," he said softly. "I'm so sorry I didn't find him first... If I had, maybe you wouldn't be here."
"No, but you would be."
Oliver all but fell out of the chair, his grip on the girl's hand tightened and he clutched a hand to his chest. "Christ, Batman! Don't do that!"
In a different situation, and if he didn't know better, he'd almost have thought that the bat was smirking, getting a kick out of scaring the tar out of him. But even the Bat couldn't have that bad of timing.
Batman nodded toward the patient. "Could've been worse."
The blonde man's jaw dropped. "It could've been worse?" he repeated, his ire rising. It was only a good thing he hadn't picked up anything since he'd entered the room, otherwise the Bat would've gotten it thrown at his head. "Have you even read her chart?!"
"Yes," was Batman's curt reply. "And considering who she was up against, it could have been much worse."
"Well, yeah," Oliver groused. He was right, but just because Artemis could've been entirely unrecognizable instead didn't mean that Oliver could ignore how far Deathstroke had gotten.
"If you had tried to take him down first, at the very least you'd be in the ICU," Batman continued. "Wally would be dead, Dick would be injured and depressed, and Artemis would either be dead or so deeply undercover that none of us would've been able to help her when Slade finally caught her."
Oliver glowered, but let the dark knight win the battle and turned his attention back to the bandaged hand he still held. "So where is he?"
"In custody," Batman reported. "J'onn and M'gann are working on erasing Artemis from his mind, or at least changing the memories attached to her. She'll be safe, Oliver."
He snorted at that, shaking his head though the comment brought tears of relief to his eyes, then looked up with a rueful smile. "No, she won't," he said. "She's still in love with that idiot."
"At least his usual villains are like the one who helped them find her," Batman pointed out.
Oliver let out another snort, but his smile grew more genuine and maybe a little teasing. "Yeah, I guess it could be worse," he agreed. "She could be in love with Grayson."
Batman gave him a sour look, but Oliver knew the man underneath agreed and probably would've laughed if he was in his alternate persona, too. As it was, the dark knight merely nodded and started toward the window. "Jade and Roy are on their way from DC," he said as the blonde man returned his attention to his connection with the young woman. "They're coming to help you."
"Help me?" Oliver echoed. "Against what?"
"Paula."
There it was, that snarky like smirk that barely contorted the black cowl. Oliver, on the other hand, paled. Paula Crock was coming to Keystone. He was a dead man walking.
The playboy looked up, hoping against reason that Batman would stay to play peacekeeper when the woman formerly known as Huntress arrived, but the dark knight was already gone.
"Jerk," he muttered.
He didn't have long to seethe. Though he wracked his brain to think of ways to keep Paula from killing him, a soft sound cut through it all like a knife. Soft, gravelly, and in desperate need of water.
"Ollie."
Her voice hadn't been more than a whisper. It had been barely enough to hear over the machines that had monitored whether she was still alive. But it had been enough to draw the blonde man's attention and he whipped his gaze to her face.
She looked like she'd fall back asleep any second, her eyes staying half-lidded just from the injuries alone, but she seemed to smile at him. Oliver gave her hand a gentle squeeze before reaching for the water pitcher and glass, but couldn't bring himself to let go completely as his vision went glassy again. She more or less nodded in thanks as he held the cup to her lips, taking small sips to ease the pain.
Oliver helped silently, still not finding words even when she turned her head away so he'd put the glass back on the nightstand. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, to scold her for, to praise her for- hell, the top thing he was going to inform her of was that he'd be locking her away in his mansion for the rest of her life so that he could keep a better eye on her. But all he could manage was a choked sob before he moved to hold her, wrapping his arms gently around her slight form and pressing his face into her hair.
. -. -.
It felt like she was somewhere between flying and falling. Though it was hard to tell where she was otherwise. It was all dark except for large paintings that floated past her, making her feel more like she was in the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland. And maybe it was, since she was pretty sure that the pictures of people floating around her were talking. Or maybe she was in Hogwarts. Or Doctor Who.
"I'm sorry… I didn't find him first..."
She jumped as the voice came from behind her and somehow spun to see a blonde man in green looking like he was in pain. She frowned as the picture floated upward and away. He was familiar. Very familiar.
"Been waiting for five hours," came another voice and she turned to find two pictures floating side by side. The two occupants looking in each other's direction, but not at each other, and she knew them both. It was the redhead who spoke, "It's like the universe didn't want me back."
Her heart broke at the comment, though she couldn't fully place why.
"Screw the universe," the second image, a dark-haired boy with razor sunglasses, responded. And she couldn't agree more as her heart swelled the longer she looked at the two.
"Jade and Roy are on their way," a different picture announced gruffly and she could just see the scowl in the poorly lit image. Bringing yet another sting of familiarity.
"Babe, come back," the redhead moaned just as the images floated out of view.
Wally.
The blast of light that came with the words, and the headache, made it near impossible to peal her eyelids open again. They might as well have been cased in cement, but she was determined to get back to those she wanted to see more than anything in the world. And slowly she pried them open.
She found herself in a bland room with an old TV mounted on the far wall. The mildly annoying beep assured her it was a hospital as much as the blonde man holding her hand did.
"Ollie…"
In seconds she was given water, which was bliss since that one word had felt like fire in her throat. Then in the next instant he was holding her, sobbing as he cradled her against his chest.
Artemis' own movements were slow, with a hiss of pain at the initial impact, but she moved to try and hold him, too. Her own eyes stung with the onslaught of tears and she curled forward as best she could to hide her face in his collar. Her own sobs broke free, wracking her body and probably causing more damage than good, but Oliver rubbed soft circles on her back and let her cry.
"You're home," he assured her in a whisper. "We've got you. You're safe."
That unleashed more tears and Artemis found herself crying in earnest, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was in the arms of one men she trusted most in this world. And he was telling her that the pain was over.
"I'm sorry," he told her, his voice tight. "I'm so sorry, Artemis. I'm sorry."
She shook her head against him, objecting to his guilt. This hadn't been his fault. Whatever Slade had against him-it wouldn't have changed anything. She hated to agree with her tormenter, but he'd been right. She was a linchpin. Even without Ollie's connection, Deathstroke still have come for her.
Her attempt to comfort him came out slurred and mumbled, even if he could've heard it through his shirt. But that was the funny thing about her mentor. He understood her anyway.
"No," he affirmed, pulling back enough to look her in the eye with a fierce determination. "No, it's not okay! Nothing like this should have happened to you- civilian or otherwise!"
"Ollie-." She tried to console him, though she doubted she was doing a very good job.
"If I could take Bart's time machine back and save you from it, I would," he told her with more sincerity than she was accustomed to hearing from him.
She gave what she could of a laugh, though it probably sounded like a cough since he quickly set her back against the pillows and reached for the water again. She rolled her eyes, not that he could see beyond the swelling, but accepted the cool liquid and drained the cup. Then she smiled at him. "Just… for me?" she wheezed. "I'm touched…You hate… time travel."
He stared at her, silently sputtering at the jab, but she maintained her smile even when actual coughs took over and sent him practically lunging for the water pitcher. But when he refilled the cup it was with a more relaxed reaction. "Yeah, well, I hate Slade Wilson more."
Artemis would've raised an eyebrow if she could've. "I'll drink… to that," she rasped before he put the glass to her lips with a chuckle. When she turned slightly he pulled the cup away. She looked him over suspiciously. "You ever… gonna tell me... what happened?"
Oliver gave her a speculative glance as he started moving the hospital's bed-table around so the water would be closer to his protégé. "Another day, maybe."
She scowled at him, not about to let him off so easily, but she was quickly becoming aware of multiple pains breaking through what medications they'd given her. Oliver seemed to notice her distress and pressed the nurse-call button. To which she promptly tried to slap his hand with embarrassingly feeble force.
"Don't worry, kiddo," he hushed and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I'll be here when you wake up. So will your mom and sister. Roy and Lian, too. And maybe those two idiots in the waiting room."
"Wally?!" she squawked desperately, her throat having dried too soon. Just as three members of medical personnel swarmed and started hen-pecking, but she tried to talk around their hands, straining to keep view of Oliver's face. "Dick? They're… okay?"
Her mentor was being bodily moved towards the door, but he managed to delay the inevitable to give her a smile. "They're fine," he promised, then looked at the man trying to escort him out and barked. "Lay off, would you?! Do you want me to sue? You're keeping me from my niece, pal!"
Artemis couldn't help laughing, which of course brought coughing and frazzled the two nurses still hovering over her. Even amidst his argument, which apparently he was losing, Oliver looked up to give her one of his grade-A playboy smiles before he was forced past the door frame.
She smiled after him for a good two more minutes, ignoring how the two nurses clucked over her about how "that rich la-de-da" was just "agitating every room he goes to!" She'd happily let him agitate the whole floor if she could. He was here, so were Wally and Dick. And Mom's coming soon.
With that thought in mind as the nurse on her right upped the morphine drip, Artemis fell back into that warm dark of sleep.
A/N: Tada! We're getting close to the end. ^_^ Not quite there yet though. And you followers are lucky! Despite the many hindrances that have attacked me for the past two months or so-long stories-all culminating with my memory stick of stories getting smashed. Setting me back a good three months of writing. But a strange stroke of luck saved this one from being sent back in time, so we're running right on schedule! ^_^ Hope you're enjoying it still! Thanks for all the love!