I thought that I should qualify a few things before the story got further along. Firstly this story disregards the Light storyline from the series, also the whole Roy is a clone thing. Secondly the family genre is included for later on when I bring other characters into the story more. Thirdly in the next couple of chapters an event will be occurring that will ... shift the landscape and upset a few people. It is necessary for the plot and as such I apologise in advance for those it distress. Finally my mystery guest reviewer said that they love the Artemis, Conner sibling type fics. At this point I am unsure whether this will remain or whether I wish to develop their relationship in a different way or further. I will try to figure this out soon. Thanks for reading and I hope that you continue to enjoy this fanfiction.

Conner and Artemis walked until Conner was sure they were out of earshot of everyone else. When he was happy with the distance he stopped and turned abruptly. Artemis who had been staring at the ground trying to think of a way out of this, bumped into him. This achieved two things. Artemis walking straight into Conner's chest, causing her to fall down and reveal exactly how badly she was hurt. As soon as she hit Conner Artemis felt as if she was back at school. When her back made contact with the floor she gasped from the pain that shot up her spine, it was like a shockwave had shot through her body. Scream no. She had known too much pain for that. However it was always a surprise just how much it could sting.

Conner watched Artemis fall, heard the gasp and realised that this was much more serious than he had first thought. He bent down to help Artemis as she went to curl in on herself. As gently as he could, Conner slid his hands under Artemis's back and lifted her into a seated position. Giving her a chance to catch her breath he thought about what he had just seen. It turned out Artemis had injuries to her ribcage and her back. She could not go on a mission like this, that much was obvious. Just as Conner was about to address the situation Artemis spoke.

"You know you're supposed to say your stopping. Somebody could get hurt." Artemis said this as if it were an obvious fact. How she kept her face straight was beyond weird.

Conner who was kneeling next to her seated form raised his eyebrows and decided now was a good time for a direct approach.

"You were already hurt before you fell. You were hurt before we sparred." All stated very matter of factly.

"And so what if I was. Since when did it become your concern Conner? The only person you are supposed to be concerned about is M'gann." Artemis had gone defensive and Conner knew his original assessment was correct; she did not like being called out on it. But there was no other choice.

"You're my teammate and my friend. I worry about all of you not just M'gann. Now how did you get hurt and how badly hurt are you?"

Artemis had to admit he did sound concerned, which was big coming from someone who wasn't all that great at showing emotions. She still didn't see why he was interfering though.

"That would fall under the jurisdiction of None of Your Business. Now if you don't mind we have a mission and I need to see Batman and Canary beforehand." As Artemis said this she went to stand but Conner grabbed her left arm to hold her in place.

"Ow" Artemis hadn't realised that her arm had been hurt that badly.

Conner immediately let go of her arm afraid that he had done that to her. When he realised he wasn't the cause of the injury Conner went from concerned to outright worried. What had she been doing to get herself hurt?

"You can't go on the mission." He tried to sound stern and thought he had succeeded.

Artemis's first response was to raise her eyes from studying her arm and glare at him. That was what this was all about.

"Well, no, duh. Why do you think I have to see Batman and Canary."

Conner however did not trust Artemis. Sure she might be skipping the mission but he highly doubted that she was going to tell them the truth about why.

"Okay. I'm going with you."

Artemis had been in the process of attempting to stand with the use of her infinitely less sore right arm, froze before she even got off the ground. He was what? If he came with her she would have to tell them that she was hurt. Oh how she wished Conner could have just let this rest.

"You don't need to do that Conner. I can tell them just fine on my own." Artemis was anxious now; she had to get Conner to stay out of this but how.

"Yes I do. Besides from where I am standing, you can barely stand up. If you were to fall again who's going to help you up?" Conner asked it so innocently that Artemis was dumbstruck. This was not how this was supposed to go.

"I am perfectly capable of getting up and speaking to Batman and Canary so drop it. Conner."

"I won't. Artemis."

It looked as if they were going to launch into a full-out fight when a voice interrupted them.

"What is going on down here?"

Artemis who had her back turned knew it was Canary. She saw Conner give her a determined look, full of apology and a hint of regret. Then he stood and approached Canary.

"Artemis is hurt. She wasn't going to go on the mission but she had no intention of telling anyone about her injuries."

Black Canary's eyes widened then narrowed before she addressed Artemis's back.

"Is this true Artemis?"

Black Canary didn't have to see Artemis's face to know that her eyes had slid to the side and that she was sporting a very guilty look, all that was missing was her holding the elbow of one of her arms. As it was, Artemis's silence gave her the answer and raised a question. Why was she trying to hide the fact that she was hurt?

"I'm fine. Conner overreacted because I ended our warm up spar early." Artemis tried to make it sound believable but knew that Canary wouldn't buy it. She had to try though.

Conner look rather annoyed at her claim that he had overreacted. Deciding to settle this once and for all. He strode towards Artemis and bent down in front of her again.

"Does this make it seem like an overreaction?" As he said this he locked eyes with Artemis and grabbed her arm again in the exact same spot as before.

"Ouch. Would you stop doing that?" Artemis sounded irritated and Canary had noticed that Conner's slight pressure on her arm had caused her pain. This worried Canary further. Artemis seemed to be going out of her way to avoid having her injuries investigated. So Canary walked forwarded and knelt down on Artemis's right side.

"Okay now that we have established that you are injured are you hurt anywhere else?"

Artemis instead of answering slid her eyes to the left so that she didn't have to look at either Conner or Black Canary as she had no intention of answering that question.

"Apart from her arm she has injuries to her ribcage and back injuries that I have noticed but there could be others that she is still hiding." Conner answered for her sounding rather cranky that she was still trying to avoid this.

"Artemis..." Canary stated with a very obvious warning tone.

Artemis finally turned around to face Canary, all the while trying to prevent the hiss of pain that wanted to escape from her at the action. Canary was wearing one of her no-nonsense expressions. It sparked Artemis in to giving the first lie that came to her head.

"What, I fell down the stairs this morning at the train station. It is not a big deal. I didn't see the point in worrying everyone over nothing." Artemis sounded slightly panicked as she spoke, this annoyed Conner further as he knew it was obviously a lie. He was about to call her on it when Canary sighed and spoke.

"I take it that that is your story and you're sticking to it?" Black Canary questioned, obviously not believing her story.

"Until I can come up with a better one that involves ninja's." Artemis said knowing that there was no way to avoid the questions that would come up.

Black Canary sighed again before turning towards Conner and addressing him.

"Thanks for bringing this to my attention Conner. Can I ask you to move Artemis to the infirmary so that she doesn't hurt herself further or get lost and walk through a Zeta Beam."

"Sure. I'd be glad to help." Conner responded before he lifted Artemis into his arms.

As they both stood Black Canary spoke again.

"Also Conner if you don't mind I would like to have you stay here at the cave instead of going on the mission. That way someone can keep an eye on Artemis while I speak to Batman in case she decides to take a walk."

Artemis looked like she wanted to curse at Canary and Conner realised that had been her intention all along.

"Sure. It will make it easier on Kaldur seeing as it is a covert mission. He will have even numbers and won't have to worry about me being too noisy." Conner stated as if he were just doing her a favour whilst Artemis glared at him.

"Alright. I am going to go let the team and Batman know what is going on. Then I will be attending the infirmary and I expect you to be a bit more co-operative Artemis." Black Canary said, sending Artemis a glare before turning and walking away. As she listened to Conner walking away she heard Artemis attempting to annoy Conner further.

"When Megan gets back, I am so asking her how to call you off."