A/N: Thanks so much to all those who have reviewed! I can't believe this story is one review away from 100! How awesome is that? :) I do try to respond to signed reviews personally; unfortunately unsigned ones can't be replied to so just know that I do appreciate them! Anyway, I've had this chapter planned for months so I'm excited to be releasing it :)

Note: Since it was stated that Robin is a freshman in ep 12 "Homefront" I've updated this story to reflect that fact. And I assumed from the get go that everyone knew Artemis was from Gotham b/c I thought they had a room full of zeta tubes and thus would have seen her coming and going from the Gotham one (plus I believe the zeta tubes track the user as well). But I guess not. Oh well. Also please keep in mind that this story follows the show/comics (for the most part) up until ep 10 "Targets" then diverges into AU from there, meaning all the new eps that have been airing have not taken place.

Disclaimer: "I don't own Young Justice, DC Comics and Cartoon Network have the rights to it. I'm just having some fun :)"

Rated T for some language, suggestive themes, and descriptive violence.

Italics mean thoughts

"Italics within quotes" mean telepathy (or in the case of this chapter, flashbacks)

The Truth is heavy; therefore few care to carry it . . .

Tangled Web

Chapter 7: An Eye for an Eye

Mount Justice

October 1, 15:30 EDT

"Try again," Artemis ordered.

Megan sprinted across the padded floor of the training room, raised her arms above her head, and attempted to do a front hand spring. She managed to get all the way around but landed on her rear end with a heavy thud.

"Ouch!" she cried, rubbing her increasingly sore bum.

Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose. When Megan had asked for her help, she had no idea how difficult this was going to be . . .

Four Days ago . . .

Mount Justice

September 27 18:10 EDT

"Artemis, wait up!"

The blonde turned to see Megan floating towards her.

"What's up?" she asked once the Martian girl reached her.

"Um, do you have a second? I have a favor to ask you."

"What is it?"

Megan placed a hand behind her head, a nervous gesture Artemis picked up on.

"Well . . ."

At Artemis's less than patient look, Megan plowed on. "Okay it's like this. Earlier this month I made it on the Bumblebees, the Happy Harbor High cheerleading squad."

"Okaaaaay . . ." Artemis trailed off not sure what Megan was getting at.

"I'm really good at the actual cheering part. The other girls on the squad told me I have great school spirit."

"But?" Artemis prompted. She knew there was a 'but,' there was always a 'but.'

"But . . . the gymnastics part? Not so much . . . And it's a requirement if I want to stay part of the Bumblebees. Apparently they're really good, like national competition good. The girls on the squad are really trying to teach me, but I don't think it's going to be enough."

"What does this have to do with me?" Artemis asked out right. She had a bad feeling she knew where this was going . . .

"I've seen you in the training room during our practice sessions. You flip around the room like it's nothing! So I was wondering if you could help teach me."

"I'm no cheerleader, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, trust me," Megan giggled, "I know, but I have no one else to ask. The only other person I've seen move like you is Robin, but I don't think he'll be too excited to help me practice cheerleading. Even less excited than you." At the look on Artemis's face Megan added, "Maybe."

"I don't know, Megan-"

"Please, Artemis. This is really important to me. I don't wanna get kicked off the squad."

Artemis was silent for a moment as she considered the pleading look on Megan's face. Finally she said, "All right, I'll do it. We start Saturday; right after our team training session is over."

Megan rocketed into the air, squealing for joy.

x x x

"You and Robin make this look so easy," Megan complained as she pushed herself up off the floor, pulling Artemis from her reverie.

"It is easy, now. But we both started really young and we worked hard to get as good as we did."

A shy, almost hopeful look over came Megan's face. "Are you sure I can't peek inside your mind? Just to see the thought process your brain goes through when executing a move?"

Artemis glared.

"I'll take it the answer's still no . . ."

It was nothing personal. Artemis had good reason for refusing Megan's request. Earth sister or not, she couldn't let Megan into her head, she couldn't risk what the Martian might inadvertently see. It was bad enough she'd already had to let her in during the mission in Bialya. Luckily, Megan hadn't discovered anything she shouldn't know. The whole ordeal was too close for comfort though.

When Artemis didn't respond verbally Megan continued. "If I was allowed to fly I wouldn't have to learn any of this to begin with."

"Actually," Artemis suddenly spoke, "because you can fly learning how to flip and twist should be relatively easy."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what makes gymnastics so difficult for humans is gravity. When trying to execute a hand spring or a misty flip, you only have so much time to get all the way around and back on your feet before gravity forces you to the ground. But, for all intents and purposes, you can defy gravity."

"How does that help me when I'm not allowed to fly, or at least I'm not allowed to let people know I can fly."

"Simple. Take a front hand spring for example. When you push your hands off the floor to bring it full circle, just defy gravity a little, like when you fly. Don't make it obvious or anything, just enough so that you have enough time to get your feet back under you. Instead of trying to really learn how to do it like I do it, just practice levitating without making it obvious you're doing so."

"That's not a bad idea. Okay, I'll try doing that," Megan said with a smile, her determination flaring up again.

Artemis glanced at the clock on the wall before saying, "It's gonna have to wait. We're expected to report to the briefing room in five minutes."

Together the girls headed out of the training room. Unlike the rest of the team, Artemis already knew what Batman was going to talk about. After all, she'd been the one to supply him with the information that would be discussed in the first place. Her last trip to Infinity Island had proved useful for the Justice League. The Shadows didn't trust her enough with explicit details, but she had been able to find out that, thanks to the sidekicks' – as the Shadows continued to refer to the young covert team – destruction of Dr. Roquette's FOG, they'd have to continue collecting the data and technology they needed the old fashioned way: by sending operatives to select state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories to steal it. What kind of technology and what they planned to do with it once they had it still eluded Artemis, but the information she was able to pass along to Batman was helpful regardless. Megan and Artemis arrived in the briefing room to see their teammates and Batman already there. As soon as they were situated Batman spoke.

"Six days ago the research files of a government laboratory in Washington D.C. were hacked into and downloaded from the mainframe on site. Two days later, a similar incident took place in the physics department at Caltech in California. Those were just two of several break-ins involving the confiscation of scientific data over the last week." Batman turned his back on the team as he began to type something on the large overhead computer. "It is the Justice League's belief that the Shadows are behind this."

"Trying to finish what they started last month with Dr. Rouqette's FOG no doubt," Robin said, hitting the nail on the head.

"Precisely. Using the Watch Tower's computer to search for a pattern based on the places that have already been hit, the League was able to predict where the Shadows are most likely to strike next."

A map of the United States suddenly appeared on the giant screen. A few more key strokes from Batman and it zoomed in on the Midwest. "We believe the next location the Shadows will Target is Sakamoto Research and Technology, a Japanese research facility based in Chicago, Illinois."

A picture appeared of a plain two story building.

"Do you have any thoughts on when they might try to acquire information from this place?" Kaldur asked.

"Tonight. Based on the previous pattern, they will not show up until sometime after twenty-four hundred hours. I want your team to deploy at twenty-one hundred hours for Chicago. You will stake out the research facility. In the event that the Shadows show up, you are to notify the Justice League immediately, then intercept them."

"Really?" Wally questioned, his voice heavy with surprise. "You're actually giving us the green light to attack?"

"It is imperative that they do not acquire whatever information they are seeking to steal. If they make an appearance you are to engage them in combat, but only after you have alerted the Justice League. Is that understood?"

"So basically you just want us to stall them until you can get there," Conner stated, an edge to his voice.

If the Justice League wanted a call before they confronted the Shadows then that meant they still weren't giving the team enough credit and it ticked him off, especially if it meant having to see Superman. Batman didn't deny Conner's accusation.

"Yes, we understand," Kaldur confirmed, his eyes on Conner, silently ordering him not to talk back to their superior again.

"Then you are dismissed. Meet in the hanger at twenty-one hundred hours for deployment."

x x x

Chicago

October 1, 23:00 CDT

The cloaked bio-ship touched down outside Sakamoto Research and Technology, the Chicago skyline lighting up the night sky off in the distance. As the team exited the aircraft, Kid Flash looked around the dimly lit parking lot.

"So, what's the plan?" he asked.

"We will-"

Superboy held up a hand, abruptly silencing Aqualad. The others watched quietly as his ears twitched, picking up something none of them could hear.

"Someone's already here," he announced and took off for the front doors, the others following behind, Robin already sending a signal to the Justice League.

Wasting no time, he ripped the glass door from its frame – not at all concerned for the ruined property – and set it aside. The group rushed into the lobby and stopped when they saw a lone figure standing in the middle of the dark room, his back to them. Artemis immediately noticed the temperature difference in the room. It was much colder than it should have been.

"Who are you?" she demanded as she notched an arrow and held it at the ready.

The person turned around, a fiendish smile on his young face. His skin was a sickly shade of blue, with jagged spots protruding from his body. He wasn't much older than her. She recognized him almost immediately and she blinked in surprise at his presence. He should have made it to Belle Reve by now.

"The distraction," was his simple reply.

Before anyone could register what that meant, the young man put his hands out in front of himself and ice erupted around the room at random, forcing the team apart.

"It's Icicle Jr.!" Robin shouted to the others as he dodged an enormous iceberg that sprang up from beneath him.

"Bingo!" Icicle Jr. laughed.

"What the heck's he doing here?!" Kid Flash said as he ran behind the reception desk. "I thought he was arrested after Green Arrow and Spe- I mean, Red Arrow stopped him in Star City?"

Junior cackled. "What can I say? I have friends in high places."

"Be careful," Robin advised as he back flipped away from another chunk of ice as it sailed past his head. "This one's a few cents short of a dollar."

Superboy smashed a large wall of ice standing in his way. "So you're saying he's nuts?"

"That's what they say," Junior answered as he used his Cryokinesis to freeze more of the air in the room, making it difficult for the team to get close.

If he's the distraction, Artemis thought as she fired an exploding arrow, only to watch it drop to the floor with a heavy thud, encased in ice, then who else is here? And more importantly, where are they?

She glanced around the room quickly, her eyes stopping on a staircase in the corner. She shrank her compound bow down and ran for the stairs.

"Ah ah ah!" Icicle Jr. said as he caught sight of her.

A second later she fell forward on her hands and knees, her left foot suddenly numb. She glanced over her shoulder to see her foot partially incased in a chunk of ice, grounding her to the floor.

"And where do you think you're going?"

She swung her head around, only to come face-to-face with the enemy. One knee was on the ground, the other bent up so that he was eye level with her. She idly wondered what he would think if he knew she was the same family friend who'd been pumping him for information just a little over a month ago in the Star City jail. (1) Before she could pull back, Icicle Jr. had his frozen fingers under her chin, tilting her face to the side. For a second she worried he actually recognized her through her mask.

He eyed her appreciatively and said, "You're pretty hot. I got a thing for blondes, you know."

"And I'm supposed to care?" Artemis spit, irritated he was hitting on her, but relieved he didn't recognize her.

"And you've got some fire to you. I like a girl with spunk," he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Get away from her!" Kid Flash shouted as he headed for them at a normal pace, the ice-covered floor making it impossible for him to use his super speed.

"Or what?" Junior asked tauntingly as he blasted another round of ice at the redhead with his free hand, forcing the speedster to leap behind one of the decorative support pillars.

With Junior temporarily distracted, Artemis swung an open palm at his face, but he instantly released her chin and caught it. She gasped as a thin layer of ice began to spread down her forearm.

"Shouldn't have done that," he growled.

Two birdarangs aimed at his face forced Junior to drop Artemis's wrist and step back. Without missing a beat, she reached behind to her quiver, pulled out one of the few steal-tipped arrows she carried, and slammed it into the ice surrounding her foot. It cracked in half, releasing her, and she rolled away from Junior.

"He's protecting the staircase!" Artemis explained to the others as she fired off an exploding arrow, forcing Junior to dodge again.

"I'm on it!" Miss Martian replied. She flew for the staircase, but a pillar of ice erupted beneath her, trapping her immediately.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I was willing to go easy on the blonde, but redheads just don't do it for me," Icicle Jr. cackled.

"M'gann!" Superboy cried.

He rushed for her, blasting through all the ice in his way as if it were as fragile as rice paper. As he drew near the pillar entombing Megan, he pulled back his fist, intent on smashing it.

"Superboy, don't! It's too much ice, you'll shatter her!" Robin exclaimed from nearby.

Superboy pulled his punch at the last second, crying out in frustration as he slammed his fist into the floor at the base of the iceberg instead. Aqualad ran to assist Superboy with Miss Martian, leaving Kid Flash, Robin, and Artemis to deal with the ice villain. With Junior's unpredictable attacks, no one noticed the figure descending the staircase. Cheshire looked around at the scene before her, a vindictive smile splitting her face behind her Noh mask. She couldn't stay to play with the sidekicks, but she could spare a few minutes to pick one of them off. The question was: which one? She ruled her sister out immediately. Technically they were on the same side and she'd just come back to life anyway. The Martian was already out of commission thanks to Icicle Jr. so she was out as well. The Superboy was practically indestructible, and she wasn't willing to take a chance with the Atlantean seeing how well he stood up to her choice poisons the last time she'd engaged him in combat. That left the Boy Wonder, and the speedster. When Robin and Artemis began to tag team Icicle Jr., Kid Flash turned his attention to Superboy and Aqualad's progress with Megan. Cheshire decided to take advantage of the opportunity. She pulled a kunai from her belt and sent it sailing with a flick of her wrist. Icicle Jr. managed to grab Robin and pinned him against the wall. Over the ice teen's shoulder, Robin caught sight of the sharp projectile sailing for Kid Flash a moment too late.

"KF, behind you!" Robin tried to warn.

Kid Flash turned just in time to see Artemis slide in front of him smoothly, her knee pads scrapping along the ice coated floor, her bow strung with a steel-tipped arrow ready to be released. The kunai sliced through her skin and embedded itself in the flesh of her right shoulder. Immediately she released the arrow without even flinching. It buried itself deep in Cheshire's right shoulder, mirroring the wound Artemis had received. Ignoring the kunai, and the blood that began to trickle down her arm from the wound it had created, Artemis instantly restrung her bow with another steel-tipped arrow and kept it trained on her sister. Wally gaped at her openly, too shocked to say anything.

"You bitch!" Cheshire snarled as she yanked the arrow from her torn flesh.

"An eye for an eye. That's the code you live by, right?" Artemis responded coolly, her aim never wavering. Her opponent took another step. "Stay where you are!"

Cheshire continued her decent down the stairs, her form ridged with anger.

"Don't make me kill you, "Artemis threatened, tightening the string of her bow for emphasis.

Cheshire froze. She honestly didn't know if Artemis would do it or not. The girl was supposed to be on their side, but it was a forced allegiance and she'd openly admitted to the Shadows that she'd do whatever it took to protect innocent people from them. If her sister thought she really was a threat to the young heroes she might very well do it.

It wasn't a risk Cheshire was willing to take.

She slowly started walking backwards up the stairs. "Enjoy your death, it'll be a particularly painful one," she sneered. Then she glanced at Junior and said, "Let's go, we have what we came for."

"Man, why'd you have to hit the hot one?" Junior whined as he flung Robin to the ground and hurried up the stairs to his accomplice.

The sound of ice shattering violently was the perfect distraction. With everyone's attention on the recently freed Megan, Cheshire threw a smoke bomb at her feet. In a matter of seconds, she and Icicle Jr. were gone. Artemis lowered her bow. With a hard yank, she pulled the kunai from her shoulder and threw it to the floor spitefully. She heard Miss Martian assuring Superboy that she was fine – thanks to the cold temperatures on Mars – before her world began to spin, Cheshire's fast acting poison already beginning to take effect. Her bow and arrow dropped to the floor with a clatter as her arms went slack and her body pitched backwards.

"Artemis!" Wally cried as he put his arms out just in time to keep her from colliding with the frozen ground. He knelt on the floor, placing her across his knees. "Something's wrong with Artemis!" he shouted to the others.

As Aqualad and Robin made their way towards them, the blonde began to shiver violently in Wally's arms. She started mumbling and pushing against him trying to be free of his grasp.

"What are you doing? Stop! I'm trying to help you!" he insisted but she couldn't hear him.

In her mind she was nine years old again and living at a Monastery in Vietnam where her mother sent her and her sister in an attempt to keep them from a life on the wrong side of the law. After Paula went to jail their father came for them, intent on putting them back on that path. Jade hadn't put up much of a fight, but Artemis had and her uncle paid dearly for it . . .

Six years ago . . .

Artemis ran into the inner chamber of worship and locked the doors behind her, panting heavily as she leaned against them. Her father had come for her, and she had no intention of leaving with him. She couldn't believe her sister hadn't resisted. She thought Jade hated their father. Then again, she'd always seemed enamored with their parents' lifestyle, much to their mother's dismay. With their mother in jail, their father was sure to resume training both of them to follow in his footsteps, footsteps Artemis had no desire to fill.

"Open the door, Artemis."

Her blood froze in her veins at the sound of her father's voice directly behind the door. She took several steps back automatically. His fist colliding with the solid oak door made her jump slightly.

"I said open the door!"

"No!" she shouted in defiance. "I won't go with you!"

Wally glanced at Robin and Kaldur as they circled around the archer. "What's wrong with her?"

"It is probably a reaction to the poisons that Cheshire uses on her weapons," Kaldur informed, all too familiar with that particular villain's style.

"You're saying it's making her hallucinate?"

"That or it could be making her relive painful memories," Robin supplied.

"You don't have a choice!"he growled and a moment later the doors exploded off their hinges.

Her father walked in menacingly, his face hidden by a gray hockey mask.

Artemis tried not to show her fear as she stood her ground. She opened her mouth to speak, but her words died in her throat as she saw two masked men clad in black ninja garb drag her uncle into the room. A third man walked in behind them. Sportsmaster gave a nod of his head and the third man began to beat the monk.

"Don't hurt him, please!" Artemis cried out as she struggled against Wally's hold. "I'll do whatever you want, I swear!"

"Artemis, stop! It's me, Wally!" he shouted in vain. He looked at the others helplessly. "We have to do something!"

"We need to inject antivenin into her system to try and counteract the poison," Aqualad explained calmly as he pulled a syringe from his belt. He'd taken to carrying antivenin after his first encounter with Cheshire's poison, not wanting to be caught off guard again.

Megan walked over with Conner in tow, his arm around her shoulder protectively. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.

With a defeated look, Artemis walked over to her father's side. He roughly grabbed her arm and began to pull her from the room. He looked over his shoulder at his henchmen.

"Kill him."

"No! I'm doing what you want!" Artemis cried, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Let this be a lesson to you. Nobody defies me and gets away with it. Make sure you never forget that."

He dragged her down the hall, the grunts of her uncle as they beat him to death fading as they went.

"Remove her shirt."

Aqualad's comment caught Wally so off guard he almost lost his grip on Artemis. "What?" he questioned dumbly.

"The antivenin needs to be injected directly into her heart and the material used to construct her uniform is too tough for the needle to penetrate. Take her shirt off. Now."

"Easier said than done," Wally said as he tried to restrain Artemis as she flailed about.

Robin took hold of her from the front and tried to hold her steady as Megan said, "I can try and enter her mind to calm her down." She put her fingers to her temples and began reaching out to her friend.

Wally threw Artemis's long ponytail over her shoulder and grabbed the zipper on the back of her shirt, pulling it down quickly. Despite the circumstances for his undressing of Artemis, he couldn't keep a rosy flush from covering his cheeks. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about what the blonde looked like in the buff on a few occasions.

The memory in Artemis's mind faded only to be replaced by another terrible one.

1 year ago . . .

Sportsmaster had insisted Artemis accompany him on one of his assassinations, much to her dismay. In the 5 years since her training had resumed, she'd never developed the affinity for taking another life that he expected her to have. The idea didn't excite her like it did Jade and her father. She turned her head away as her father impaled one of the two men they'd tracked down on his trusty javelin, the other man screaming in horror at the sight.

"You're turn."

Artemis whipped back around to stare at her father incredulously. "What?"

"You heard me, kill him."

Megan's closed eyes scrunched at the corners. "Her mind is in turmoil, I can't make a good connection with her. I'm only getting snapshots of what's going on."

Artemis's breaths were rapidly growing shallower and her heart rate increased to an unsafe level threatening to put her into cardiac arrest. Her skin had paled several shades and was much colder than it should be. Wally began to ease the green top off of her shoulders and immediately noticed something at the base of her neck. He tilted his head in surprise as he took a moment to look at it. It was a tattoo of an extremely intricate butterfly, the black ink rather faded.

"He's your assignment, you kill him."

"Get over here and do it now!"

"I'm not going to kill him!"

"Are you defying a direct order?" her father growled. "I didn't spend years training you for nothing. Now take him out!"

"I don't care what you say, I won't do it! You'll have to kill me!"

Artemis's shout brought Wally back to the task at hand. He finished pulling her top off and gasped at what he saw.

"Oh my God . . ." he whispered, eyes wide, as he looked at her exposed back. Scars that were clearly created by sharp objects littered her skin between the black straps of her bra. Three of the scars looked particularly fresh. "She looks like she's been through hell."

"It's not any better up here," Robin said, his eyes taking in the scars on her front.

Sportsmaster grabbed Artemis roughly and yanked her towards the man cowering in the corner. Artemis resisted, tugging back.

"Let me go! I'm not going to do it!"

He slammed his daughter into the nearby wall, his hand around her throat.

"I don't care what you do to me; I will NEVER kill someone for you!"

"If you won't follow orders than you are of no use to me!" her father yelled as he took his javelin and stabbed his own flesh and blood.

The punctured lung caused Artemis to gurgle out a few breaths before she stopped breathing entirely and everything went black.

Megan screamed at the image that flashed in her head before she lost the small connection she'd managed to establish. She dropped to her knees with a sob, Conner at her side instantly. At the same time, Artemis went slack in Wally's arms, her harried breaths the only indication that the poison hadn't claimed her yet.

"How could he do that?!" Megan cried hysterically.

Kaldur knelt in front of his dying teammate and plunged the syringe into her chest releasing the liquid held within. The team waited with abated breath as they watched for any signs of improvement.

"Come on, Artemis," Wally whispered, watching her intently. "Don't leave us."

Within a minute her erratic breathing slowed and her pulse returned to a normal level, an indication that the antivenin was working.

"Thank God . . ." Wally sighed.

"We need to get Artemis back to the infirmary at the base. Robin, radio the Justice League and inform them that their assistance is no longer needed," Kaldur ordered before heading for the exit.

Wally lifted Artemis off the ground and hurried after Kaldur and Robin. "You gotta stop scaring me like that," he said quietly to the unconscious blonde as he clutched her a little tighter than necessary.

Conner helped Megan off the floor, concern etched on his face.

"Don't worry, I'm okay," she assured him with a smile before he could ask.

He decided not to push her for details. When he turned away to follow the others the fake smile instantly fell from Megan's lips, turning into a frown. She couldn't believe what she'd seen in Artemis's mind. It was too vivid, too clear to be a dream (or a nightmare really). It was definitely a memory. A horrific memory, but an impossible one as well because if Artemis had died that night by the hands of Sportsmaster – for Megan would recognize that uniform anywhere after encountering him in Santa Presca – how was she alive right now? And why had she been with the villain in the first place? Clearly the truth about Artemis's life was heavy and painful, and Megan didn't know if she could handle it; if she could carry it.

Or if she really wanted to.

To be continued . . .

(1) In issue 13 of the tie-in comic, Artemis is placed under arrest as a ruse to have her encounter Icicle Jr., who is being detained in a Star City prison for his involvement in the July 4th ice attack, in the hope that she can get some intel out of him based on the fact that they know each other through their fathers.

A/N: So, what'd you all think of this installment? The Vietnamese view the butterfly as a symbol of resurrection, so I figured it'd be fitting to make her resurrection mark a butterfly (more explanations on that still to come). I couldn't resist using Icicle Jr. seeing how he's married to Artemis Crock in the original DC comics. Plus he's kind of a fun villain. I planned to use him before I saw ep 11 "Terrors," but I did take the idea of Megan being frozen from that ep b/c it fit into what was happening well, plus I figured a lot of SuperMartian fans would appreciate it :)

Anyway, I hope it wasn't too confusing with the flashing back and forth between what was happening in the present with the team and what was happening in Artemis's mind. To make sure everyone understands, the team only heard the quotes not in italics. Those Artemis shouted out loud without realization. All italics took place in her head. Please let me know how I did! I love hearing your thoughts and speculations, plus I'd love to break the 100 review mark! Help me out guys :)

SakuraJade