A/N: Sorry for the time between updates. Time is just not on my side right now. I never seem to have enough of it :( So is anybody else still reeling from Depths? B/c I am! I can't believe everything that went down! Artemis was awesome and the Spitfire was so cute :) Definitely renewed my faith in the series.

Anyway, I can't believe how much this story has evolved, both from the knowledge of how the entirety of first season goes (which wasn't released when I started this), and from reviews I've received. This is one of those chapters that wasn't originally planned, but came about from a later episode as well as comments left in reviews. HeyI'mTalkingToYou made mention of my lack of use of Kaldur and Conner a while back, I've since stepped up my use of Conner slightly but Kal still hasn't had much screen time, so this is a shout out to her (that will continue into the next chapter). The first scene was inspired by something ovp said in a review, so hats off to her as well!

Disclaimer: "I don't own Young Justice. DC Comics, Warner Brothers, 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

It is easier to Lie with a gesture than a word . . .

Tangled Web

Chapter 13: In Harm's Way

Gotham Academy

October 21, 7:01 EDT

Headmaster Berke opened the door to his office, juggling a stack of papers and his briefcase. He flipped on the lights and made a beeline for his desk but stopped dead with a startled cry when his enormous chair moved. It slowly swiveled around revealing the serious face of the infamous Bruce Wayne.

"Mr. Wayne. What, uh, what are you doing in my office?" he asked, voice both surprised and perturbed at seeing one of the academy's most prestigious and generous donors in his spot.

"I came to talk about your impending resignation."

Confusion welled in the headmaster's eyes as he dumped his things on top of the desk. "What are you talking about? I'm not resigning."

"Oh yes you are, effective immediately in fact." Bruce rose from the seat and came around the side of the desk to stand toe-to-toe with the headmaster. "I heard about your inappropriate behavior toward one of the students here on my scholarship, and I don't take kindly to my scholarship students being mistreated in any way."

"You can't seriously believe a kid like that!" Headmaster Berke cried in outrage. "Whatever that little tart said was a lie!"

The headmaster found Bruce's fists around his collar faster than he could blink. "The only reason you're not already in a jail cell is because the student in question didn't want to waste her time with you." Bruce released the collar of the headmaster's dress shirt and moved for the door. "I expect you gone by the start of next week. If you aren't I'll be back, and I can guarantee that confrontation will make this one look pleasant."

x x x

Mount Justice

October 22, 14:39 EDT

"You're sure?"

Artemis gave Batman an indignant look, though she had a feeling it wasn't as off putting in her civvies. "I know what I saw. That bratty Lord of Chaos or whatever Kent Nelson called him, and Lex Luthor were at Infinity Island arguing," she insisted. "Klarion said they needed diamonds, good ones, to make something run, and Luthor said they wouldn't have needed diamonds if Klarion hadn't lost the Helmet of Fate to us. There was a third person with them, a woman from the sound of it, I couldn't see her. She said it was a set back, but that it wouldn't stop 'The Light'," Artemis made air quotes with her fingers. "Any idea who, or what, that is?"

Batman was silent for a moment, then he said, "It sounds like the Shadows are only a gateway to something much bigger, something Klarion and Luthor are a part of, among others I'm sure."

Artemis wrapped her arms around herself. "This is bad, isn't it?"

The Dark Knight gave a solemn nod. "I'll alert the League to keep an eye on the museums harboring the greatest diamond collections."

"There's one more thing. Junior also mentioned that he was originally supposed to end up in Belle Reve with the rest of the ice villains for the joint ice attack on July 4th in order to orchestrate a takeover. That's why they all attacked on the same day, and that's why he petitioned to be tried as an adult."

"So what's he doing at Infinity Island with the Shadows then?"

Artemis shook her head. "Apparently the guys pulling the strings in all this realized they would need an ice user on the outside for something, so they sent Sportsmaster and Cheshire to break him out of the prison caravan before it could get him to Belle Reve. Junior didn't know what they need him for though. He didn't seem to know why they wanted to take over Belle Reve either."

Batman nodded. "I'll begin investigating the happenings at Belle Reve immediately, see if we can't figure out why Belle Reve was of strategic importance." Artemis turned to leave, assuming the meeting was over, but Batman's voice stopped her."We have one more matter to discuss." She turned back to face him. "It's about your enrollment at Gotham Academy."

Artemis cringed. "What about it?" she asked.

"Robin informed me of the troubling experience you had with a member of the staff."

That little snitch! she thought, anger building. "He wasn't supposed to say anything."

"No, you were. I understand your drive to handle things yourself. I probably understand more than most. This isn't solely about you though. There's no telling how many students have been sexually harassed by the headmaster, or how many more might be placed in the situation you found yourself in," he explained. "The headmaster has been dealt with. I expect you back at the Academy starting Monday. Now you are free to leave."

Artemis gave a petulant huff, but said nothing further as she left the room. She stomped down the stone hall in irritation but stopped when she came across the souvenir room. On impulse she walked in and stopped in front of the shelving unit that was built into the wall. Her eyes landed on the kunai her sister had intended for Wally that she'd intercepted during their mission in Chicago. Robin had been smart enough to grab it so the poison coating it could be analyzed if Artemis's condition worsened. Afterward it'd been dumped here on the shelf for lack of anything better to do with it. Her eyes drifted to the next item and softened considerably when they landed on the crown Evan had been awarded as Homecoming king. She hadn't had the heart to leave it there, discarded on the cold gym floor like a piece of junk. So when a few League members came to collect Evan's unconscious form, she took the crown with her. Unsure what to do with it, she placed it in the souvenir room in remembrance of her short friendship with the sweet boy. Unable to look at it any longer, she turned her head away, and her eyes landed on the reason she walked in the room in the first place.

The Helmet of Fate.

She reached out, hesitating only a second, before she placed her hands around the mystical item and lifted it off the shelf. She stared at it, a distorted image of her face reflected back in the gleaming gold metal.

Why was Klarion supposed to steal this? What were they going to use it for? Artemis idly wondered as she turned it over in her hands cautiously.

"What are you doing? Don't touch that!"

Before she could turn to face whoever spoke, Wally appeared next to her in his civvies – already changed from practice – and yanked the helmet from her grasp. He deposited it back on the shelf.

"What's your problem?" she asked, irritated both by his intrusion and the feeling his presence had taken to invoking in her.

"Don't ever put that on," he ordered, his tone so serious it drained the agitation right out of the blonde.

"I wasn't gonna. I was just looking at it."

"Well don't even do that."

Artemis raised a calculating eyebrow at his odd behavior. "Why? What's the big deal? You put it on and you're fine."

"Yeah, well, if Mr. Nelson hadn't been there I-" he broke off abruptly.

"You what?" Artemis pushed.

She'd tried confronting him about his experience as Dr. Fate shortly after it'd happened, but her attempt had been a disaster. When they'd found Wally in the Tower of Fate after having been separated from him, he was sitting with a deceased Kent Nelson. The man had suffered a heart attack, and though Wally had tried to save him, he'd passed away. Artemis was used to death, having experienced it several times herself, but Wally . . . he'd looked somewhat traumatized. Even though she hadn't cared much for the speedster back then, she still felt kind of bad for him. Once back at the base, she'd approached him about his stint as Dr. Fate. Part of it was her innate compassion driving her to comfort him, but that wasn't the sole reason. He'd been so adamant about the non-existence of magic that, given her special ability, she couldn't help but take it personally. After all, her very existence was contingent on magic at this point. After he'd used the Helmet of Fate though, she was sure he'd have to acknowledge the reality of magic. Instead he'd blown off her concern with some bullshit answer about having been bio-scripted into being Dr. Fate temporarily. Irritated beyond belief, she stormed off wondering why she'd even bothered. After everything they'd been through together now, she thought his response might be different this time around. So she was disappointed when he looked away.

"Nothing. Just don't put it on," he said lamely. He wanted to talk to her about it. In fact, she was about the only person he wanted to talk to about the experience. For some reason, he felt like she'd understand, or at the very least, just listen quietly. But in the end he just couldn't. The knowledge that he could have been trapped in there for the rest of his life scared him too much to even think about, much less say out loud. Regardless of his inability to explain the specifics, he needed to make sure she didn't have any intention of putting that helmet on. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling that Dr. Fate wouldn't be as willing to relinquish Artemis as he had the speedster.

That thought scared him even more.

Artemis scoffed. "Fine," she replied, to Wally's relief, and moved for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Home. I don't have any more business here, and if you aren't going to tell me what really happened, then there's nothing left to talk about, is there?" she answered without looking at him.

"Oh like you have any right to be mad that I won't talk about it. You won't talk about anything!" he shot back.

She didn't respond this time and he let out a noise of frustration. When she disappeared through the door, Wally turned his glare back on the Helmet of Fate.

"Are you sure Artemis is the girl for me?" he asked, as if the man trapped inside waiting to ascend could hear him. Only silence greeted him. "Maybe you were senile," he grumbled before turning his back on the helmet and leaving the room.

Artemis made it to the common room before she crossed paths with another teammate. The Atlantean offered the blonde a warm smile.

"Heading home for the evening?" he questioned.

"Yeah," she returned half heartedly as she passed him by.

He stopped at the despondent tone in her voice and turned to look at her retreating form. "Artemis," he suddenly spoke.

She turned back to him, her expression puzzled. He licked his lips, clearly trying to decide how to say what he wanted. Finally he settled on, "The Team is here for you. I am here for you. If you need anything that is . . ."

Kaldur was more perceptive than she liked, but she couldn't begrudge his concern or his kindheartedness. She smiled fondly at her leader. "Yeah, I know."

He gave a firm nod of his head but said nothing more and Artemis continued on her way, the PC announced her departure a moment later.

x x x

Gotham City

October 22, 20:59 EDT

Artemis trudged down the hallway in the tiny apartment she shared with her mother. Between practice and the extra shift she'd picked up at work she was exhausted. She entered her already dark bedroom and dropped her backpack on the floor before falling onto the bed with a whoosh of air, not bothering to turn on the lights.

"Rough week?"

Her eyes snapped open and she sprang up from her bed, immediately dropping into a defensive stance. Her eyes landed on Jade – dressed in her Cheshire costume, mask sitting on the crown of her head – lazily sprawled out on her old bed and she swore, angry at herself for letting her guard down even in her own house.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Artemis whispered, not wanting to alert their mother to Jade's presence. "Come to vandalize the house again?"

"Nothing so entertaining I'm afraid. I've come to collect you for a mission."

Artemis's eyes widened in surprise. "B-but I'm already on a mission."

"Apparently you really impressed Ra's al Guhl when you met with him. It made his daughter Talia quite jealous," Jade said with a grin, clearly delighting in that fact. "Anyway, he wants to start utilizing you more." Cheshire rose from the bed and padded over to the backpack leaning against the wall by the door. She snatched it off the floor and tossed it at her sister. Artemis easily caught it. "So suit up little sister, we leave in 10."

x x x

Mount Justice

October 22, 20:18 EDT

"So? How do we look?" Megan asked as she and Conner walked into the common room together.

Kaldur, Robin, and Wally all turned to look over the back of the green couch they were sitting on. Megan was dressed in a tattered white dress and veil, her skin ashen with dark black makeup around her soft brown eyes. Conner was poorly wrapped in toilet paper.

"Nice," Robin said. "Zombie bride?"

Megan nodded, smiling brightly. "Yep. Conner's a mummy. Mal Duncan, a classmate of ours from school, is throwing a costume party for this thing called Halloween. I'm so excited!"

"I'm sure you two will have a wonderful time," Kaldur said with a smile.

Conner crossed his arms over his chest and pointedly looked away, clearly displaying his displeasure.

"Well, I will anyway," Megan replied sheepishly. "What are you guys up to tonight?"

"Nothing much, just gonna have a movie night," Wally replied.

"Okay well, have fun guys!" Megan exclaimed as she took Conner by the arm and led him out of the room.

Once Conner and Megan had departed, Kaldur cleared his throat in an attempt to start a new topic. "Do either of you know if Artemis had plans for tonight?"

"Nobody ever knows what Artemis is up to," Wally grumbled as he chomped down on a handful of popcorn.

"I'm . . . concerned about her," Kaldur confided.

Robin reached for the remote and muted the tv. "Why?"

Kaldur paused in his reply. He had yet to tell anyone that Sportsmaster alluded to a mole being on the Team when he'd fought the man in Taipei back in September. He'd thought about it a few times, but ultimately decided against it. Kaldur was well aware that Sportsmaster could have easily been trying to sow seeds of decent among the members of the Team. But there was also the chance that it was true. And if there was indeed a mole, the last thing the Atlantean wanted to do was alert the traitor that he knew of their existence. He was positive it wasn't Robin or Kid Flash, but he wasn't so sure about Conner, Megan, and Artemis. He didn't want to doubt them, but he didn't know them like he knew the two boys on the couch. Of the three newbies, his suspicions ran highest for Artemis. The archer had always been rather distant with the members of the Team. For a while it almost seemed like she was warming up to them. But recently she began to pull away again. Then there was the funhouse fire at the Happy Harbor Festival back in September. Artemis claimed the fire was a result of Cheshire toying with her for her inability to catch the assassin on her first mission. It hadn't escaped Kaldur's notice, however, that Artemis was in civilian garb when Cheshire supposedly attacked her.

Something didn't add up.

"Her presence has been spars around the cave lately. I noticed you two had been spending more time around her than the rest of us," he finally said, again deciding to keep the possibility of a spy to himself. "So I thought one of you might know the reason she's spent so little time here all week."

Robin and Wally glanced at each other, engaging in a silent conversation. Neither had mentioned their worries about the blonde and what she might be caught up in to anyone else on the Team so far. The look on each of their faces was a clear indication that they both planned to keep it between the two of them for now.

"We don't know," Robin said, his gaze flicking back to his leader. "She hasn't said anything to us." It wasn't exactly a lie.

"I see," Kaldur replied as Robin un-muted the t.v.

x x x

Gotham City

October 22, 21:23 EDT

Artemis found herself on the roof of the Gotham Museum of Natural History, her black uniform blending into the shadows. She thanked her lucky stars her uniform had been imbued with the stealth technology Wally and Kaldur had in theirs not too long ago. Jade was perched over a skylight a few feet away. She was currently dragging a sharp tool of some sort along the edges with one hand, while the other held a big suction cup in the middle of the glass. She silently watched her sister work as she thought about her current situation. She hadn't anticipated the Shadows wanting to utilize her for more than a spy at the moment. The last thing she wanted to do was help the Shadows, but if she didn't she'd completely compromise her cover. Worse still her mother might suffer for it. She'd been so caught off guard by Cheshire's surprise visit that she hadn't even been able to attempt to contact Batman.

"What are we even doing here?" Artemis finally whispered.

"I thought we'd check out the new exhibit on ancient Egypt," Cheshire responded sarcastically. "What do you think we're doing here?"

"Fine, what are we here to steal?" the blonde rephrased.

Cheshire simply smirked as she finished cutting the glass. With a tug the glass came up, stuck to the suction cup. She discarded it on the ground, pocketed her tools, and looked at Artemis expectantly.

With a sigh Artemis reached behind to her quiver and pulled out a steel tipped arrow with a cable attached to it. She took aim and shot the arrow into the roof near the skylight. It embedded itself with a heavy thunk. She gave a swift pull to make sure it was secure before she tossed the line down into the glassless window.

"Age before beauty," she quipped as she motioned to the skylight.

Jade gave her a dirty look before she lowered her mask and swiftly slide down the rope. Artemis followed suit. Once inside Cheshire made a beeline for the east wing.

"Seriously, what are we here for?" Artemis tried again as they came to a stop outside an exhibit. The sign above the doorway said 'Gemology Room.'

"Diamonds," Jade finally answered as she walked into the room.

Glass cases lined the room, each case displaying a specific type of gemstone. Artemis wasn't surprised they were here to pilfer diamonds thanks to what Klarion had said, though admittedly the diamond collection at the Gotham Museum of Natural History wasn't world renowned by any means. What did surprise her, however, was how Jade blew right by a case with a fist-sized diamond in it. Klarion had specifically said he didn't want "cheap" ones and it was common knowledge that the bigger the diamond, the more it's worth.

"Not that one," Cheshire spoke when she saw what Artemis was staring at.

"Why? We're here for diamonds, this one's huge. Why wouldn't we take it?"

"Size isn't the most important thing."

"How do you figure?" Artemis asked as she approached the case her sister stopped in front of.

"Because we only want amorphous diamonds," Cheshire responded. "Like this one."

Artemis raised an eyebrow, though it was hidden by her black mask. "amor-what?"

"Amorphous diamonds, they're man made."

"What does that matter?" Artemis pressed, digging for information that would be useful to the Justice League.

"Because it's what we were told to take," Cheshire snapped as she stuck the suction cup to the top of the glass cube that housed the large diamond and began to do the same thing she'd done to the skylight. She was halfway through when the alarm screeched to life overhead.

"What did you do!" the archer yelled over the noise.

"Please, like I'd screw something so simple up," her sister argued and Artemis could hear the glare in her voice.

The sound of shattering glass suddenly reached their ears from one of the rooms down the hall. "Great, someone else is here," Artemis groaned.

"Well, no point in doing this the hard way," Cheshire said with a shrug before she whipped out one of her sais and slammed the handled into the glass, busting it inward. She swiftly reached in and removed the diamond, shards of glass falling from it as she did so. She held it up for a moment and Artemis took a good look at it.

It looks just like any other diamond, she thought.

A menacing chuckle suddenly filled the room and the sisters spun to face their guest. Standing in the doorway was a tall man with long, loose brown hair, green eyes, and pale white skin, who looked to be in his late teens. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans and an open grey trench coat that exposed his shoulders, his chest bare underneath. The most distinguishable thing about the man, however, was the four red claw-like scars that ran over his left eye.

"And you are?" Cheshire asked.

"Harm did not expect its to play with. What a pleasant surprise for Harm," the man said as he stalked towards them, dragging the tip of a large sword along the ground as he went. "Killing these its will be a good way for Harm to pass the time."

"We get it, your name is Harm," Artemis said flatly, already irritated by his idiosyncratic speech pattern.

The man offered a sadistic smile but no verbal reply.

"Well little sis, I'll leave you to handle this."

Artemis turned to her sister, but she was no longer there. She quickly whirled around to see Jade heading for the exit on the opposite side.

"Are you freaking kidding me!" Artemis cried but her sister slipped out the doorway without a response.

With an agitated growl, Artemis spun back around to confront the other intruder only to find herself face-to-face with the man, his sword embedded in her chest. Her black costume instantly reverted back to green, the sword having severed the stealth technology contained in the arrow that was dead center on her chest. Her eyes widen and she choked in pain as the tip of the blade broke through her back.

"Such a foolish it, turning its back on Harm like that," he said, with a cruel laugh. He watched the life drain from her eyes as he withdrew his sword. Artemis fell to her knees, that sadistic smile the last thing she saw.

To be continued . . .

A/N: I'm sure most of you realized Harm was going to make an appearance in this chapter based on the title :) I know the date's off and that the ep "Secrets" takes place in New York, but I did change it for a reason. The date I couldn't do a whole lot about based on my previous time stamps (I considered bumping them up, but I just couldn't in the end), and the location has to be Gotham City, otherwise I wouldn't be able to utilize something in the next chapter (it wouldn't make sense), so hopefully it doesn't bug anybody too badly. The way I see it, my story technically went AU before "Secrets" aired so for all intents and purposes, the sword of Beowulf could have been at a museum in Gotham etc. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it lol

SakuraJade