A/N: Hey guys! I am sooo sorry this took so long! Also, if you didn't already know, the one-shot is up. I uploaded it a couple weeks ago, but shortly after that, my computer caught a virus and started to slowly die. I managed to get all my files off of it thankfully, so I didn't have to restart any works in progress, but I wasn't able to work on anything for the past couple weeks really. But anyway, I've got a new, working laptop, so the next chapter should be out a lot sooner ;) I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

"So, you're telling me that your stupid boyfriend concocted some hallucinating sleeping gas, and then passed it off to my stupid boyfriend, who then proceeded to place it all around us and knock us unconscious? And then, your stupid boyfriend had my stupid boyfriend drag us randomly across the city and just leave us here to fend for ourselves?"

"Well, look at the bright side," Zatanna laughed dryly, "At least they had the decency to leave us in pairs."

Artemis scoffed audibly at her friend's optimism. "Zee, they just pretended to collapse a building on top of us. There is nothing 'decent' about this!" Artemis kicked an old beer can out of her way, sending it flying. "They're definitely plotting something."

"Oh come on, Artemis, don't you think you're being a little paranoid?" the dark haired magician asked as she followed her friend across the filthy rooftop.

"How can I not when our own boyfriends just knocked us out cold!" A firm kick sent another empty can flying off the edge of the building. "Seriously, Zee. Who knows what they've got planned for us."

The magician didn't reply, knowing that Artemis was probably right. The archer's paranoia was not unfounded, and out of all the members of the team, Zatanna knew that Artemis probably had the closest mindset to Robin and Batgirl due to growing up in the same city. "This isn't the first time you've had to hunt someone down in Gotham, right?" she asked her friend, carefully choosing her words so that she wouldn't hit a raw nerve, "Could we use the same tactics you used then to find Batgirl?"

The blonde twitched at the mention of her 'upbringing', but quickly shook the memory away and leapt to the next rooftop. "It's not that simple," she told her friend after she'd followed her across the gap. "Before, the people I hunted down were usually just crooks and villains that owed my dad money. They usually just hung out in a single part of town and had no clue that I was coming. But this is the apprentice of the Bat we're talking about here; Robin's equal. My tactics hold absolutely no water to that duo's." There was a loud clang as Artemis kicked another can out of her path.

Zatanna's eyes followed the metallic trash as it skidded across the grime-covered concrete. "Are there just a lot of beer cans up here, or have you been kicking the same one over and over?"

"A lot of people come up here for a quick drink or smoke during work. Most Gothamers don't really care about littering, so..." She paused to smack another can off the roof, "I get a free game of kick-the-can..."—another can shot into the air and landed on the next building—"...with an unlimited supply of kicks and cans."

"Artemis…"—her words are interrupted by the echoing sound of clanging metal as the another can bounces away—"…you should probably stop…"—clang!—"…doing that."

"Huh?"—clang!—"Why?"

"Well, for one thing…"—clang!—"…anyone can hear us coming, including Batgirl and all those baddies we're trying to avoid." Clang! "And also, you might—" Artemis kicked one last can onto the next rooftop, and a sharp yowl suddenly pierced the night air. "—hit something."

"Heheh… oops…" the archer laughed awkwardly, "Poor dog."

"Actually, that sounded more like a cat," Zatanna replied as she crossed the gap between the two buildings, wondering where exactly the animal had been, and how it got way up on the roof. Suddenly, Zatanna noticed that Artemis had stopped walking, and she turned around to find her friend frozen in place, her eyes round and panicked.

"A…a cat? Are you sure?" was all she said.

"Um… yeah," the confused magician answered, "That yelp of pain was pretty distinctly feline."

Artemis groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "Oh no. Oh no no no nooo." She looked back up at her now concerned companion and started walking three times faster than before. "We should really get out of here, just to be on the safe side."

"Just to be on the safe side? Why? Just because you're not a cat person?"

The archer opened her mouth to reply but froze again when she heard the loud mewl of a cat coming their way. "I'll explain later, but for now, we really need to get outta here before—"

"Aww, leaving so soon?" a feminine voice purred out from the ledge of the next-door building, which stretched two or three stories higher than the roof they currently stood on, "And I was so happy to finally have a few more female heroes to play tag with."

"Shit," Artemis cursed under her breath, "Too late."

A dark figure leapt from the higher building and gracefully landed on the ledge opposite the two young heroines. "So, a little kitty told me that you threw trash at her and almost knocked her off the roof," the leather-clad woman asked in a low tone, pulling out her whip with a sharp crack that made the girls flinch, "So I'm here to give her a little justice."

Zatanna's eyes grew wide. "Oh, no. Is… is that…?"

"—Catwoman!" Artemis called out to the villainess with a nervous laugh and a forced smile, "Hey, I don't know if you remember me, but you worked with my parents once or twice when I was little."

Zatanna threw her friend a look of bewilderment. "You're catching up with old family friends now?" she whispered urgently.

"If it distracts her from maiming us, then yes," she hissed back.

Catwoman squinted her eyes as she studied the archer in front of her. "Oooh, you must be Sportsmaster's youngest brat, right? Yeah, I worked with your parents a bit. Until you're dad decided to split the pay by splitting my skull."

"Oh. Uh, haha, well…" Artemis chuckled nervously, shuffling her feet around a couple of empty cans and bottles. Then, as fast as her training would allow her, she suddenly gave one bottle a solid kick and sent it flying at the feline villain. "Run!" she yelled at Zatanna as she took off in the direction they had just come from.

Zatanna definitely didn't need to be told twice. She followed her friend away from the distracted villainess without argument, not even turning around at the sound of her angry cry. She saw the tip of Artemis's ponytail disappear around a corner, but as she rounded the bend herself, she was met by an empty rooftop.

"Artemis?" she called out in a hushed tone hurrying over to the opposite edge of the roof. Then, all of a sudden, she felt something grab her ankle and yank her off the side of the building. But instead of falling to her death, she was quickly pulled back to safety on a ledge just below the edge of the roof. The magician swung around expecting to find Catwoman, but released a breath of relief as she came face to face with the emerald-clothed archer instead. "Why is it that whenever the two of us go out for a night on the town, we end up getting chased across the rooftops by some crazy villain?"

"Life of a superheroine, I guess," Artemis laughed weakly, peering up over the ledge, "But wherever we go next time, let's just make sure there aren't any cats around… or plants… or, anything clown or bird related…"

The ever-growing list of things to avoid in Gotham was beginning to worry Zatanna, but she decided it was better to focus on the current problem at hand. "So, what do we do now?"

Artemis just shook her head and gave a heavy sigh. "For now, nothing. We wait here and hope the kitty cat gets bored of searching for her prey." She sank back down and rested her head against the wall. "Sorry Zee. I should've listened to you. That was really stupid of me. Only an idiot would mess with any type of feline creature in Gotham."

"Is that another one of those 'rules' that everyone in Gotham knows?" Zatanna whispered in case Catwoman was nearby.

"Well, it's more of a villain's 'rule of thumb' than a Gothamer's. We were always told to keep our distance from her when I was a kid."

"Why? Is she really that dangerous?"

"No," Artemis paused, trying to think of the words, "The problem is that she's fickle. Catwoman is a kleptomaniac rather than an egomaniac; she'd rather steal jewels for the rest of her life than take over the world for even a day. Plus, she supposedly has an on/off romantic relationship with Batman. So a lot of villains consider her a traitor, and traitors were far too 'dangerous' to let near us young, up-and-coming supervillains because she might've 'infected' our minds or something."

"Batman's girlfriend… is a supervillain?" Zatanna asked incredulously. She couldn't understand why someone so devoted to justice would date one of his own arch-enemies.

"Well, judging by her sour reaction, I'd say she's Batman's ex-girlfriend at the moment, which is definitely not gonna help us in any way."

"Mew."

The girls froze and turned slowly to their right, silently praying that it wasn't what they thought it was.

"Meoow."

A brown tabby was sitting on the ledge beside them, its tail swishing side to side as it stared them down with sharp green eyes.

"Oh, crap," Artemis said quietly, her eyes never leaving the creature, "So much for waiting out her patience."

"Meeeoooww."

"What do we do, Artemis? This cat's calls are getting louder and louder."

"We'd better make a break for it while we still can," Artemis replied as she swiftly hoisted herself back onto the roof, closely followed by Zatanna and—much to their annoyance—the cat as well.

"Meeeooooooowwww."

"Shhhh!" Artemis hushed at the animal, "Shut up, you stupid hairball!"

"I'm no cat whisperer, but I'm pretty sure insulting it isn't going to help much."

"You're right."

They spun around to see Catwoman slowly walking their way, like a cat stalking its prey. Behind her protruded an enormous mob of cats, large enough to consist of every alley cat in Gotham.

"I would run now, children," she said with a loud hiss, followed by the echo of her pets' hissing.

But the advice was highly unnecessary, as the girls had already high-tailed it out of there before they could even hear the end of that sentence. They ran as fast as they could, but looking back, they could see the gaggle of creatures and their owner right on their heels.

"Artemis, we need weapons!" Zatanna yelled over the screeches of their pursuers.

"No kidding!" the archer yelled back, "But what do you expect me to do about it? Robin took all of my weapons, remember!"

"Then you make do with whatever you can find! You grew up on these streets, and you know better than anyone how to survive in this city! Your dad must have taught you something about finding makeshift tools!"

The archer groaned as she leapt to the next building; she knew Zatanna was right, but she had always hated being caught off-guard and thus never went anywhere without a weapon. And because of that, she had never really given the ultimate survival lessons much thought. But a quick scan of the roof immediately provided her with an answer, and Artemis dove at an old discarded fire extinguisher hidden in the dark corner of the roof. She snatched the red device up off the cement, pulled out the metal ring pin, and aimed the rubber tube at the oncoming attackers.

"Alright, furballs, it's time to cool you off!" She pulled the trigger and a strong stream of white foam shot from the nozzle, slamming into the cats as they reeled back with a shocked screech. A grin stretched across Artemis's face, and continued to spray the villain and her wall of claw-happy cats with a maniacal laugh. "Ha! Ha, ha, HA! How you like that shower, you stupid mongrels!"

Suddenly, the extinguisher began to hiss, and the steady spray dropped down to random spurts of foam as the device began to cough out the small remainder of its innards. Artemis looked from the empty canister in her hands to the angry foam-covered cats glaring at her from behind their livid mistress. "Uh oh."

Catwoman shook the white fluff from her arm in disgust, and threw the girls a glare so terrifying that Zatanna no longer questioned the idea of this woman dating the Dark Knight. Sharp claws shot out of the villainess's fingertips, and her lip was curled up in a deep snarl. No words left her mouth, only feral growling. And that was the two heroines' cue to run once more.

"Wow! Lame banter, and a useless attack," Catwoman taunted angrily, already hot on their trail, "Come on, little girl, you're just making things worse for yourself! What kind of hero are you?"

"I. HATE. CATS!" Artemis roared into the open air.

"Yeah, well, I'm starting to not be such a big fan of them myself!" Zatanna huffed between gasps for air.

They rounded a bend and leapt to the next building, but were forced to skid to an ungraceful stop as they noticed the angry mob of foam-coated cats balanced on the surrounding ledges. Spinning around, the girls tried to go a different direction, but it was too late: they were already surrounded by the villainess's pets.

"Nowhere to run, girls," Catwoman snarled dangerously, "End of the road."

"HEEELLLLPPPPP!"

The unexpected scream caught everyone's attention, and they all immediately turned around to look. Just a few rooftops away, a green-skinned girl was running for her life as a cackling clown repeatedly slammed a giant mallet down behind her, just inches away from crushing her to death.

"HEEHEEHEE AHAHAHAHA! Come baaack, Greenie! I wanna plaaaay!"

"AAAAHHHH STAY AWAY FROM MEEEE!"

"Oh great," Catwoman scoffed with a roll of her narrow eyes, "Always with the bad timing, Harles."

Miss Martian scrambled across the rooftops until she reached her fellow heroes and latched onto Artemis with an incredible grip. "Artemissss, help! She keeps following me, and I didn't even do anything!"

Artemis patted her frantic friend comfortingly, but was obviously distracted by her attacker. "Aunt Harley?" she asked the clown girl.

If Harley Quinn heard her, she ignored the girl and enveloped her fellow crime queen in big hug. "Kitty!" she giggled happily, "Did ya know that you're covered in foam? I thought cats hated baths?"

Catwoman pulled herself out of the clown's embrace and pointed at the hero trio. "Help me put these brats in their place, and I'll explain everything when we're done."

Harley eyed the kids and smirked mischievously, her eyes visibly glowing with excitement. "Oooo sounds like fun!"

The three girls backed away nervously, Zatanna quickly understanding why the clown had freaked M'gann out so much.

"Oh yeah, so much fun,"Artemis grumbled under her breath before bracing herself for a long, long fight, "Man, I really hate this city sometimes."

A/N: That's all :) Again, I'm sorry for the wait, but I'll try to get the next chapter out a lot sooner. I also plan on uploading some new fanfics soon, so be sure to check for those!

And once again, the 'thank you' one-shot has been uploaded, so be sure to check it out :D

Don't forget to fave, follow, and review if you enjoyed!

EDIT: I forgot to mention before that I got the idea of Artemis knowing Harley Quinn from one of Inner Mind Theater's youtube vids :) If you haven't seen any of their stuff, you should seriously check it out :DDD