AN: hello lovely readers!

This chapter coincides with season 2 episode 10 before the dawn. I've made changes obviously, Nightwing obviously can't lead the teams rescue mission, and since the cave was never blown up (because of Slade's interference) it's only Lagoon boy and Nightwing that need saving, Impulse, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, and the rest of the hostages from the episode don't appear here. Hopefully that helps with any confusion!

If Artemis had complained about feeling antsy while doing nothing but waiting around the LIGHT's ship for the past week, she swore she would take it all back when things finally went down two days later, five days after Nightwing's initial capture. The LIGHT's sub had docked earlier that evening near Happy Harbor, grabbing a collection of fresh humans for the REACH's research projects. Not an hour later the alarms were sent blaring and the docking bay exploded. Members of the Young Justice team seemingly popping out of the woodwork, strategically attacking any LIGHT members.

While on the outside, Tigress was enraged at this uncanny turn of events and immediately jumped into action, attacking the first league member on sight, on the inside Artemis was rejoicing.

'Please, oh please let this work. Please, oh please let this not fail.' She thought.

Kaldur had come to her yesterday and said without telling that a planned inside attack was to be expected in the next several days. These words were, of course, said in absolute secrecy, but they could never be too careful. Artemis didn't have every detail, but from her own deductions compared with Kaldur's cryptic warning, she got the impression the Young Justice League had planned this attack to rescue both Nightwing and L'gann, both of whom had been captured prior.

About freakin' time.

Now that everyone was finally here, everything seemed to go towards the Young Justice team's plans too, for a while at least. Impulse returned mere minutes after he zipped away, holding an unconscious L'gann on his shoulders. Tigress was fighting a very angry, very forceful Cassie, but she still managed to catch murmurs of Impulse's report.

"Got Lagoon boy rrrright here! Let's find Nightwing and pop this shindig!"

Artemis wanted to smile at the boy's energy, but a sharp punch from Cassie forced her to turn away instead. She needed to end this fight. She really should have stood no chance against the Amazon in training, and it was only sheer luck that she hadn't been pulverized by now. But then, Cassie launched into a long roundhouse kick aimed right at Tigress's stomach. The force sent her flying across the room, slamming her hard into the wall. Artemis fell to the ground in a heap, and thankfully Cassie didn't peruse.

Instead, Artemis had a great view on the groups gathering, watching and listening closely and hoping not too many reinforcement came to screw anything up.

"Did you check for him in the other cells?" Batgirl asked, her voice tight.

Impulse seemed almost insulted by the question. "I phased through every one of those walls. Nadda. Wherever they're stashing 'Wing, it ain't on the main floor's cells."

Robin and Batgirl exchanged a look. Hundreds of emotions and a conversation passed between the bat's protégées. It made Artemis's heart swell.

"Robin, take Conner and Cassie to the lower levels. I'll stay here and guard the bay with Bee and Garth. Impulse, keep looking on this level." Batgirl took command.

"si, si compadre!" Impulse saluted.

The team was about to take action before the sound of a great explosion caught everyone's attention. Ten heads zipped towards the hanger's upper level platform: a small little ledge that was used to tie up larger crates for loading by use of the crane. Standing above them, with a sword placed dangerously at the throat of an imprisoned, unconscious Nightwing, stood Deathstroke himself, the ghost of an evil smirk evident on his expressionless mask.

"Looking for him?"

Everything froze.

"No!" Came the cry from Batgirl.

No! Artemis wasn't seeing this. No, no, no, no! No, this wasn't happening.

"Correct." His horrible voice was as smooth as butter.

"No..." Artemis caught the small, strangled plea from Robin. The little bird looked absolutely terrified behind his sunglasses, and really Artemis couldn't blame him.

Nightwing was held up on his knees unceremoniously as Slade gripped the back of his hair. A trail of dried blood streaked from the top of his head, down his forehead and nose around his jaw. His mouth was gagged and his arms seemingly bound behind his back. Deep, purple bruises were apparent on his exposed arms even from this distance. Without the mask obscuring his face, he appeared to be mercifully unconscious. Whether it was from Slade's beating or an unknown drug, Artemis didn't want to guess.

"I wouldn't try anything from down there, speedster." Slade was quick to say. "I know you're fast but I doubt it would take a full second for me to slice through your friend's throat here. Stay where you are."

Impulse's eyes were thin with anger, his shoulders vibrating with eager rage. The rag tag group of superheroes stood frozen on the hanger floor, waiting for the pin to drop.

"That's better." Slade's smile was apparent in his voice, "Beetle!"

The hanger doors opened quite suddenly on queue. Black Beetle and several other LIGHT and REACH soldiers filled the hanger, inhibitor collars in tow.

Shit, shit shit. No! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!

Artemis could do nothing but watch helplessly as Black Beetle approached Conner, a cocky grin plastered on his face. She nearly closed her eyes, not wanting to see the unraveling of this rescue mission, not wanting to think of how she failed her team in so many ways. But before she could, a sharp cry from above pierced her ears.

"No!"

"Bart run!"

Artemis looked up towards where Slade had his hold on Nightwing, only to see his prone form lying safely on the ground, and M'gann tussling with Slade on the platform.

Yes!

Impulse—apparently named Bart—disappeared, super-speeding right to Nightwing's side seconds later. "Got your back!" He called, many of his earlier lighthearted tones gone. The boy grabbed as much of Nightwing as he could before realizing that the older man was too heavy for him. He settled for the next best option to help M'gann fight off Slade, an action he only seemed too happy to oblige with.

Seeing the drastic turn of events, Black Beetle's once confident smirk turned rabid, and he let out a battle cry that at one point might have made Artemis laugh at the crazed tone of it. The Beetle darted into action, stampeding right into Superboy, creating a near sonic boom as the pair clashed together.

As the other enemy soldier's started paring up to fight various League members, artemis thought this would be an excellent time to make her escape. She didn't need any more interference on her part, and really just wanted to make sure Nightwing was okay.

As the battle raged on, she molded into the shadows and stealthily climbed her way to the hanger's second loading level. Her perch was a good ten feet of air away from where M'gann and Impulse were having their throw-down with Slade, a ten foot gap that prevented her from actually helping at all.

'Crap.' She thought.

The battle itself looked to be getting pretty heated, with Impulse trying to find a good opening through Slade's double blades, and M'gann simply trying to keep Nightwing on their platform while maneuvering every second to compensate for Slade's deadly weapons.

Even from far away, Artemis could sense M'gann's growing anger at the situation, the Martian's eyes were glowing green and her actions quickly became more erratic and instinctual before, suddenly, her fumes finally exploded.

"Enough!" M'gann screamed.

Her irises disappeared in the green glow from her eyes, and her telepathy rose her from the ground almost unconsciously. Slade's one, narrowed, visible eyes suddenly widened in shock and fear. The martian's angry face froze for a few long seconds the same time Slade's form stopped fighting. Artemis had no idea what was going on inside the pair's heads, but God almighty, if she said she'd have no nightmares from Slade's expression, she would be lying to herself.

After too long, M'gann's eyes finally returned to their normal color, glow ebbing, and Slade's already taught position slumped forward onto the platform.

What had M'gann done?

Artemis only had a few moments to ponder that dark answer before her stomach dropped dangerously. Slade's fall on the small platform was choreographed perfectly. His heavy, prone figure slammed onto the metal, hard, making the limp limbs roll a couple times as the hinges on the platform slanted under the man's weight. The action caused Impulse to tumble a little, and Slade's form to run directly into the already precariously dangling Nightwing, sending the older hero over the edge.

"Nightwing!" Artemis called.

Time seemed to slow down as Nightwing fell. If her cry was noticed, or even heard, she didn't know or care. Watching her friend drop towards the ground like a stone, unaware of what was around him, caused her to think for the first time what it would really feel like to lose her little brother for good.

The thought paralyzed her.

However, time all too quickly sped back up again. Luckily M'gann still had enough wits to her to grab Nightwing in a telepathic hold, his limp form draping over an invisible line. She locked gazes with Impulse and the two shared a quick silent conversation, probably through the telepathic link. The rest of the team must have gotten the same message, because Artemis saw smiles and hopeful gazes pass through the team below.

Batgirl especially seemed energized by the news. "Everyone back to the ship!" she called out loud.

Conner finished one last super-punch to Black Beetle, sending the villain flying backwards into the wall. The move wouldn't take him down, but it gave Conner the opening to make it to the ship's doors. Cassie and Garth finished up on three LIGHT soldiers, bashing their heads together with their combined force in such a dramatic way, Artemis felt like laughing. Sometime during the fight, Blue Beetle must have taken a hard hit and Impulse could be seen as nothing more than a little red and white blur as he whipped around and scooped up his unconscious friend.

The rest of the Young Justice League ran to the closing ship doors, with M'gann and Nightwing flying close behind. Artemis thanked heaven for the team's success, and prayed that Nightwing would get the medical attention he needed and make a full recovery.

It was all she could hope for.

They were so close, too, just a few more paces and they would have made it. Artemis cursed herself for hoping too soon. M'gann had a concentrated look on her face, like she was having a mental conversation with her teammates, and the doors closed quickly, with everyone but Nightwing and M'gann safely inside. Artemis could only guess the action was to get the ship moving as quickly as possible. Too bad it was just a little too late.

"Hey, little girl!"

Slade's voice cut through the loud hanger like a knife. How his mind was still intact against such a raw telepathic attack Artemis would never know. But Slade stood, on shaky knees, on top the leaning platform, a gun pointing right at the pair.

The gun Slade held wasn't even a gun, it was a customized, compact launch torpedo that probably held the same firepower of a small bomb. The assassin wasted no time in aiming, and the torpedo shot through the air before Artemis could blink.

She didn't even have time to scream.

A blinding white light erupted where M'gann and Nightwing stood. Everything around them disappeared in a cloud of white and red and gray. Artemis couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She couldn't move. She had even considered herself relatively safe in her little corner, but that didn't stop the shock wave of the bomb from forcing her back into the wall, hard.

She hadn't even remembered closing her eyes, but the next thing she was aware of was blinking dust out of her eyes an immeasurable amount of time later. Noises around her were garbled and slow. Her vision was frighteningly blurry. She'd felt these effects many times before, and it was something she could usually simply shake off. Artemis tried to stand, using the side of the wall for support.

Ow.

Her head hurt like a mother, and her world swayed dangerously at her fast movement. Artemis's hands went right to her head, gripping it tight as she tried to look around and get a sense of her bearings. She groggily took her hand away; her fingers came back red. Artemis wildly scanned the floor, can't think about that now, can't think about that. Nightwing. M'gann… explosion. Her eyes went right to the two prone figures sprawled out across the ground.

No.

Artemis took one step forward and fell to the ground in a heap. Okay. Bad idea. She got on her hands and knees and started crawling towards her fallen friends, unaware of everything else around her. And completely unaware and uncaring of how wrong her actions looked.

"M'gann... Nightwing..." She croaked.

Her two friend looked terrible. Nightwing had blood covering the entire front side of his face, and multiple burn marks over the lower parts of his legs. The acrid sent of charred flesh wafted around the pair and sent Artemis's stomach flipping dangerously.

M'gann was unconscious, and from what Artemis could guess, she had thrown herself in between Nightwing and the explosion. She had probably tried to put up a sort of telepathic force field between them to shield them from the bomb, but there must not have been time to solidify it.

Nightwing didn't look like he was breathing.

"No..."

Flashbacks from that horrible mission with the reds came back to her, so many years ago when she had seen for the first time her baby brother get bested during a mission and for the first time felt completely helpless and alone. He hadn't looked to be breathing back then either, but somehow he managed to hold on then. Please, now too. Please.

She reached M'gann first and shook her shoulder instantly, desperately trying to rouse her.

"M'gann." Her voice sounded terribly shaky and raw. Artemis wondered if she'd screamed after all when the bomb went off. "M'gann wake up."

The Martian started to stir slightly. Her eyes scrunched under her lids and her head turned to the side.

Artemis didn't even know what she was really doing. She probably should have stayed by the Martians side to make sure she was indeed alright. But instead, after making the connection that M'gann was in fact not dead, she sloppily crawled over to Nightwing, desperate to make sure he was okay.

He looked even worse for wear up close. His face was caked with a mixture of blood and dust, and his arm sprawled put in awkward angles. M'gann had obviously been able to shield the man's face from the blast, but not his legs. The entire exposed areas of his shins were nothing but charged, burned open wounds. His UnderArmour shirt had dozens of holes burned through it. His Kevlar gauntlets had been ripped off sometime during his stay, and his exposed arms were as equally burned as his legs. The man looked terrible.

"S-shit… N-Nightwing..." She didn't dare shake the man to rouse him, but Artemis did place a hand on his chest while bringing her ear close to his mouth, praying she would find something.

Miraculously, so very miraculously there was a sign of breath. It was uneven, and way too shallow. But Nightwing was breathing. He was fucking breathing. Artemis wanted to cry in relief. She did let out a single shaky laugh.

"Y-you... Get... Away from him!"

Artemis turned to find a very distraught M'gann clutching her head and trying to rise against the obvious danger present towards Nightwing. It took Artemis a good two seconds to remember why M'gann was acting so hostile towards her. She blinked stupidly but didn't move right away.

That was obviously the wrong thing to do because M'gann, in her weakened and threatened state, got angry.

"I said get away from him!"

A piece of metal from behind M'gann started to telepathically fly towards Artemis.

"M'gann, stop!"

The girl was relentless; even in her injured state she tried to stand, as if to actually fight off her adversary, but the Martian quickly tumbled back to the ground, her hands holding her head in pain.

"M'gann!" Artemis darted towards her as fast as she could manage. She met the poor Martian on the ground and put her hands on her shoulders comfortingly. "Stop. You're hurt."

The Martian groaned. "W-who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I-I."

'Well shit.' Artemis had to make a decision right here. Part of her was simply thinking of knocking the other girl out permanently, and wait for the ships doors to open and the team to come collect the fallen pair. She knew that was probably the right thing to do, to protect the identity that Nightwing spent so much of his time putting together.

But another part of her wanted this all to be over. To tell M'gann everything and to leave with the team. Forget all this ever happened. Make sure Nightwing made it out okay.

Even if she knew she couldn't.

Artemis cleared her throat. Get back in character, Tigress. "You take him and leave me," She bargained, voice low and threatening.

M'gann narrowed her eyes, but still answered strong. "F-fine."

Not a moment too soon, either. Just that second the debris blocking the ship's door was finally blown away, by a green gorilla, a very angry Superboy, and several, small battarang explosions.

M'gann's head whipped to the sound and Artemis took that as her cue to disappear. She did not like it, and she wished she could do anything but. But she retreated to the rafters anyways, still watching from above.

"Nightwing!"

The strangled cry from Batgirl nearly tore Artemis's heart out. She had always thought here was something going on between the two of them, and Batgirl's frantic face and desperate tone as she dove straight for his fallen form just confirmed her suspicions. Robin was not far behind, either, his ear pressed to his surrogate brother's chest, no doubt to look for a heartbeat. The bonds in the batfamily were the strongest ties Artemis had ever seen. The sight made her happy and jealous at the same time.

Artemis saw Batgirl take a deep breath and blink hard a couple times before she stood tall and looked to the rest of the team. She started barking orders and forcing people back into the ship while Conner gathered Nightwing into his arms with a gentleness Artemis had never seen before. The Young Justice team quickly started making their way back to the ship, and the doors closed just moments later. They were safe. They had gotten away. Nightwing was rescued.

Or at least he was getting medical attention and holding on as best he could. Artemis prayed for the umpteenth time that day that he would just be okay.

Knowing now that the ship had seen itself away from the Light's sub, Artemis allowed herself to finally relax. It was right about then that she realized how much she hurt. She had been thrown against the wall by Cassie, blown up by Slade, and generally beaten and pummeled by other League members. Her back was killing her, her arm was bleeding, and her head hurt like a mother.

She laid on her back on the cold floor and spread her arms out limply, breathing out and generally trying to process what had just happened. Yes, she was more than relieved that Nightwing was okay now, and she couldn't wait to share her joy with Kaldur. But she was exhausted. She just wanted this over.

She wanted to see Mount Justice again. She wanted to laugh with M'gann and Conner again. She wanted Wally to hold her again. She wanted to kiss him so badly and wanted to hold him tight and never let him go. She wanted to forget this day ever happened.

For how long she lay there, up on top the lower level of the docking bay, she didn't know, but eventually the bolted hanger doors were forced open by the LIGHT's employees, and troops came swarming. A little late for that you little shits. Nevertheless, she was glad to have people who would help her. She wasn't sure if she could make it to the med bay by herself in her condition.

The troops pooled in with Kaldur walking in after the first flurry. His mask was on good, and Black Manta's son looked stoically angered by the condition of his ship hanger. He looked to his side and his gaze almost immediately met Artemis's. The smallest of relieved smiled flashed across his face.

"Men, over there. Assist Tigress immediately." He ordered.

Five men started jogging in synch while the others assessed the damage around the hanger. Artemis slowly made her way up with the help of the soldiers. With one arm around the shoulder of a random guard keeping her upright, she directed him towards Kaldur.

"The prisoners escaped." She reported emotionlessly.

"I see." If Artemis didn't know about Kaldur's true face, she would have been a little nervous at his strained tone. Yet, at the same time there seemed to be a bright spark in his eyes at the news. "Men, take her to medical. We will finish things up here."

"Slade's up on that platform" Artemis said, pointing, "I think the telepath did something to his mind. He's unconscious."

Kaldur nodded and started giving orders to his people while Artemis was toted to the med wing. She was sleeping the minute her head the hospital pillow.

Since I felt like I made ya'll wait longer for this update, here have a longer one :) one (finally) with some action!

In the next chapter (for those of you who read the author notes) something... happens. Fair warning. If you want an idea go read my other young justice fanfic *cough shameless self promo. But hopefully it'll be up once school decides to stop punching me in the gut. I'm planning time to write this weekend and hopefully it works out!

also... what even are comma rules!? apologies.

Okay overly long authors note is long. Thank ya'll for clicking and reading!