Artemis spent the next three days avoiding school and the cave. She sent a text to Black Canary to stop her from sending someone out to check on her. This gave her until Monday to recover. This was a good thing as by the time she arrived at the Cave on Monday afternoon her bruises were almost completely gone and she had managed to avoid the seniors. The team still harassed her about whether she was alright but she brushed them off. Conner apologised for what happened and then disappeared. Artemis thought he had good reason to seeing as Wally and M'gann were in the kitchen. Wally was feeding M'gann something and it made for a sick sight. Everyone was avoiding them. Artemis could hardly blame them. She turned to leave and found Black Canary right behind her.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah. The bruises have finally gone down and Mum finally let me out of the house. Apart from the sick sight in the kitchen and the pain it's causing me I'm great."

Black Canary leant around Artemis and made a face at the sight before looking back at her.

"Alright. I still want a look though." Black Canary said before dragging her to the infirmary.

When Canary was satisfied that Artemis's injuries were fine she cleared her for training and missions.

"Black Canary have the x-ray's come back yet?" Artemis asked unable to make eye contact or keep the worry from her voice.

"No they won't be back until Wednesday at the earliest. Why is there something you want to tell me?" Canary hadn't missed her apprehension.

"No I was just wondering. Thanks for this." Artemis said as she left the room. She was anxious about when Canary would see and figure out the truth. The scars she could see were only the beginning. What was on those x-rays' would reveal the extent of it all. She wasn't sure whether she wanted them to know or not.

Black Canary was a little taken back at Artemis's gratitude. It worried her. Normally Artemis would have complained but not today. Obviously the break up was weighing on her mind but there was something else to. Black Canary was determined to find out what it was.

Artemis knew her luck would run out eventually. For a whole week she was able to avoid the seniors and Canary had yet to see her x-rays thanks to several big villains. Both her and Conner made peace with their break ups or pretended to. It was too good to be true.

Exactly two weeks since her life had started to unravel someone tugged on her life again. Dick had had a mathlete meeting to attend on Monday during lunch. This left Artemis all alone and she wasn't able to make it to the safety of the library before she got found. For a few minutes she considered fighting back but she couldn't bring herself to. So she let them beat her until they were bored. The pain wasn't anything new to her. They were more vicious that they had been last time. She was able to figure out that she was going to have new bruises forming by tonight and nothing more serious. This was not good. Someone would notice. She needed a lie and fast.

That afternoon she avoided her normal spar with Conner. Luckily Batman announced a mission five minutes before training. She would be able to avoid questioning from Conner and Canary. With any luck she would be able to avoid them afterwards as well.

The mission sounded simple enough. Spy on Lex Luthor at some big business meeting in New York. They arrived on the ground just before it started. The meeting was scheduled to last an hour. Seemed simple enough. Aqualad paired her with Superboy to watch from the north of the building. This gave them the best view of the meeting room. Zatanna and Rocket were on top of the building to stop entry from up top whilst Aqualad and Robin were at the buildings front entrance. Kid Flash and Miss Martian were circuiting the area in the Bio ship. This was supposed to make it easier on them but the mind link meant they still heard it all. If either of them heard 'Megalicious' one more time Wally might have to die.

"I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say: Shut up before one of us kills you." Robin called across the mind link. It seemed that they weren't the only ones being grossed out.

"I can't help it if I have the most beautiful girl on two planets going out with me." Kid Flash replied.

Miss Martian laughed at this. Artemis looked down; it was all she could do to stop the remark about him being a moron coming out. She heard Conner growl from his position beside her. Across the mind link several groans and someone fake retching could be heard.

"Not helping your cause." Rocket said with just a hint of annoyance to her voice.

"Alright Kid Flash, if you can stop talking unless it is mission related until we get back to the cave. I will take you out to lunch. Restaurant of your choice." Aqualad announced over the mind link.

It showed exactly how annoyed Aqualad was as he only ever made an offer like this when he couldn't stand something anymore. Kid Flash immediately shut up.

It had been a half hour of watching and silence reigned supreme. So did boredom. So when Conner spoke Artemis was a little shocked.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Apart from the obvious. Pretty good. The bruises have all gone and now that certain people can no longer be heard better. How about you?" Artemis spoke whilst watching the world's most boring meeting. She and Conner were sitting with their legs dangling over the edge of the building. They had the best vantage point. It made it easier to lie as she could feign concentration.

"The same really. Hurting. You didn't show up for a warm up spar today. Worried that I would beat you again?"

"Nope. I saw them when I first walked in and spent time trying to prevent the loss of my lunch."

They fell back into silence. Neither of them wanted to talk about it particularly. They had spent the last week avoiding everyone. Their mentors and the team kept trying to talk to them about it. This meant that the boys had tried to be there for Conner and failed miserably. The girls hadn't had much luck with Artemis either. It had taken till Thursday for them to figure out the were really sorry approach wasn't helping. On Thursday night Wally and M'gann had announced they were going out to dinner for their one week anniversary. The thought had made Artemis sick. Conner went to watch the static on the T.V. and Artemis had gone to the training room. The rest of the team weren't sure what to do so they gave them space.

Conner was mad because they were going to a place he and M'gann would go to all the time. His entire school knew and felt sorry for him. Artemis on the other hand was upset because when they had been together Wally couldn't even remember Valentine's Day but he could go out on a one week anniversary with M'gann. She didn't want to admit that it hurt. Or that it led her to wondering whether there was something wrong with her or if Wally ever really cared for her in the first place.

In the end Kaldur and Robin had joined Conner on the couch. After an hour of watching he thanked them before flicking to a movie. They weren't sure what they had done right but decided that it didn't matter. Rocket and Zatanna had found Artemis who had just finished demolishing a punching bag leaned up against the training room wall. She had looked absolutely exhausted. As they entered she slid down the wall. Proving exactly how vulnerable she was feeling at the moment she broke down after asking them a question.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

Both Rocket and Zatanna had been left stunned. Artemis was crying and questioning her worth out loud. After recovering from the initial shock they had done their best to comfort her. It became clear the next day that the team had been talking about them behind their backs. Dick wouldn't leave Artemis alone at school and when Conner arrived back at the cave Kaldur had dragged him off to go swimming. Both appreciated the efforts of their teammates. The fact that the team was as irritated with the couple as they were helped to.

Artemis had let all this run through her head when she spotted trouble. It would have to be her Father and sister. They were joined by Hook and Black Spider. The four were gathered near an entry way on the right side of the room. Realisation hit Artemis on why they were there. Lex Luthor was about to remove all his major business rivals, including Batman and Green Arrow, in one hit. Claiming he was the only survivor and able to buy out there companies.

"League of Shadows already in the building. West side entrance. Cheshire, Sportsmaster, Hook and Black Spider." Artemis reported for everyone, both Superboy and herself were up and ready to go.

"Alright Artemis, Superboy hold your positions. Robin and I are on our way up. Rocket and Zatanna head down stairs. M'gann, Kid Flash head back. Monitor the situation and intervene if necessary." Aqualad's voice rang out.

As soon as he had finished speaking the League of Shadows burst into the meeting room. The others wouldn't make it in time.

"Too late guys." Artemis called out; she could hear curses and knew they had to make a move now.

"How do you feel about busting through the glass Superboy?"

"I think it sounds like fun." Superboy cracked his knuckles as he spoke.