Suddenly, the Helicarrier jolts, knocking all of the occupants of the room off their feet. Red lights begin to flash and an alarm sounds.
The occupants of the lab pull themselves up carefully, holding onto objects within their reach. Kaldur pulls himself up heavily on a table, taking Artemis' upper arm and helping her up too. The room has only just recovered when the ship teeters again but they catch themselves this time. Kaldur catches Dick's elbow when he stumbles and waits for him to steady before letting go.
"Hey there, beautiful. Miss me?" Kaldur doesn't recognize the voice that comes over the intercom, but judging by the way Artemis stiffens beside him and Dick's neck almost snaps with how fast he looks up, they do. Everyone turns their attention to the window, which overlooks the flight deck and its wall of glass.
There's a helicopter outside, the pilot wearing obnoxious yellow and red Kevlar. He salutes them lazily, then flies up and out of the view of the window. Without another word, Prince turns on her heel and runs out of the lab, towards the flight deck. Everyone follows her without waiting a second.
"We've lost an engine," Wayne is saying to Prince, walking with her. "It's been shot out. We'll be fine as long as we don't lose another engine."
The helicarrier shakes again and there's more shouting amongst the workers on the flight deck. Some jump and run to help others while even more dash out of the room. Still, there's an organization to the chaos. Like they've planned for this. Especially since everyone seems to know where they're going and what to do.
"Let me guess," Prince says, "That's the second engine." Wayne nods once after typing on the tablet he holds.
"I could fix one, if I had help," Dick says.
"I could use a spell for the other," Zatanna volunteers.
"Whatever you do, do it quickly," Wayne says, "Or the third engine will burn out and we'll be in real trouble."
Kaldur turns to his team, plan forming as he speaks, "Alright. Nightwing, Rocket, you go fix the starboard engine. Zatanna, you go to the port side. Artemis, Superboy, I want you to go onto the roof and get Kid Flash in here. Miss Martian, come with me. We're going to guard Klarion."
...
When Zatanna reaches the roof, the helicarrier is already falling. It's tilting back and forth ferociously, the final engine struggling to keep the helicarrier flying. Whole aircrafts are sliding off, plunging to the sea below. The wind is so strong she's nearly knocked off her feet, but she just mutters a spell under her breath and her feet are anchored to the ground.
Zatanna closes her eyes and tries to concentrate, her mind almost as rattled the ship. Gunfire fills the air and Zatanna's eyes fly open, all concentration that she'd scraped together slipping from her fingertips. She dives forward from instinct, sliding across the roof on her stomach to avoid the bullets as they rain down on her. Unfortunately, the helicarrier suddenly tilts and Zatanna overshoots it. She slides right off the roof.
She's free falling, and she's sure her stomach is falling faster than she is. Zatanna spins in midair and she can't open her eyes because the wind is hitting her too hard, slapping her with every gust and pushing her in each wind stream. She doesn't know up from down and left from right or North from South or East from West, she's spinning too fast and feels like she's falling in all four directions. Zatanna's own hair beats her face as she tries to get herself steady enough for a spell.
Zatanna forces out a long, controlled breath, and opens her fists. She lets her body go and tries to relax. Zatanna falls back first as she focuses her mind, clearing it of all thoughts except for one word.
"ETATIVEL!" She screams at the top of her lungs, her voice stolen by the wind. But her magic hears her, like Zatanna knows it would. She trusts her magic (it was a hard lesson to learn but she did it).
Zatanna stops falling with a jolt and she breathes hard, swallowing the bile in her throat. She looks up. "Raos," she says breathlessly. Zatanna shoots back up, towards the falling helicarrier.
The magician lands with a roll on the roof, standing gracefully and repeating another spell to anchor her feet to the roof, a stronger one this time, so she feels like her feet are encased in cement.
As the helicopter comes back for more, Zatanna turns to face it. She is about to cast a spell when she sees a figure at the far end pop halfway out of a hatch on the roof. It must be Artemis because the figure lifts a bow and shoots, landing an arrow in the propellers. The helicopter begins to fall, a figure leaping out. Zatanna sticks out a hand.
"HCTAC MIH!" She yells, and the speedster's jump from the helicopter to the tilted surface of the helicarrier is cushioned. Kid Flash stands and runs to the hatch Artemis has just disappeared through, becoming nothing but a blur. Zatanna turns back to the task at hand.
She stands up again, and concentrates. Her eyes fall closed and she presses her palms together. Zatanna takes in a breath and fills her lungs; her hair flies around her, making some kind of wild halo. She focuses all her energy and all her magic on one word, written backwards in her mind before she knows what it is forwards. When her eyes open again, they're burning cyan coloured light.
"Lrihw," Zatanna commands the propeller in the engine. She holds her hands out and the propeller does as she says and begins to spin.
...
Kaldur and M'gann make their way to Klarion's kennel at a run. The alarm continues to blare above them, the lights keep flashing red. The ship tilts and both hit the wall of the narrow hallway, but that isn't the first time it's happened and they both just get back up and start to run again.
"Intruder alert," the alarm sudden adds, "Intruder alert. Security breach in docking bay, repeat security breach in docking bay. A large...cat monster is attacking crew members. All available personnel report for offensive attack immediately."
"Docking bay? We don't have anyone there!" Miss Martian says, skidding to a halt with Kaldur.
"You go," Aqualad commands, "I'll take care of Klarion."
"Are you sure?" M'gann asks. Kaldur nods.
"Go." M'gann nods then turns to the next wall and shoots through it.
Aqualad continues to the holding cell. When he arrives, he finds Klarion is sitting in his cell on the floor, grinning with glee.
"Are you all?" Klarion asks. "All they send to keep a Lord of Chaos caged?" Kaldur nods after skidding to a stop. He approaches the glass, winded.
"I am afraid so." He gestures to the door, "Is this your rescue mission?"
"Rescue mission?" Klarion says. He laughs, high and loud. "This isn't a rescue mission, Aqualad." Suddenly, the voice jumps from the cell to directly behind him. "This is an ambush," he whispers in his ear. Before Kaldur can even realize the trick, Klarion shoves his head against the glass, subduing him long enough for Klarion to throw Kaldur inside his prison.
Kaldur sits up, the world spinning, only to see Klarion slamming the door. Klarion opens the hatch below and Kaldur looks down, then back up at Klarion.
"Don't do this, Klarion," Aqualad warns, hands flat against the glass.
Klarion smiles and tilts his head back and forth, as if considering. He pauses, "I think I will."
"You will regret this."
Klarion waves, "Have a nice trip." He presses the button and the cell drops.
Kaldur slams into the side of the cell, then the top, then the bottom. He hits all the sides as he falls, knocking hard against it from impact and sending spider web cracks through the glass. Kaldur finally catches himself between the wall and floor, forcing his limbs hard against it to stay as still as possible. They shake with effort. He takes out a water bearer, then focuses all he has into smashing out the glass on one side. It's slow, hard work. The glass cracks like ragged fingers, cracking and reaching across the wall. When he finally has a hole big enough, Kaldur jumps out.
The container hits the cliff hard. So hard that the cage cracks and smashes in half, then plunges off the edge and onto the rocky waters below. Kaldur falls away from the cliffs and towards the ocean, heels over head and arms in a triangle, prepared for the dive. Hitting the surface hurts, but Kaldur has felt worst. When he resurfaces and looks up, the helicarrier is starting to teeter towards the land, not falling as quickly as it did, but still losing air fast.
Kaldur's not worried about himself, how he will probably have to scale the cliffs. The water will only give him strength and he has climbed cliffs before. His worry is up in the sky, for the others up in the helicarrier.
...
Nightwing and Rocket arrive at their propeller at the same moment that Kaldur and M'gann turn their first corner to get to Klarion and Zatanna climbs onto the roof.
They screech to a stop at the engine, which is half burned and spitting out sparks from whatever hit it. It's in much worse condition than Zatanna's, half the roof missing around it in ragged, sharp bits that stick out at odd angles.
Nightwing goes first, somehow climbing around the wreckage to the control panel. He rips what's left of the cover off and drops it off the edge, then plugs in his wrist computer to it without looking down.
"Rocket! I need to reprogram it!" Nightwing yells after typing.
"So what do I do?!" Raquel responds, holding onto the metal above her head to prevent herself from being thrown from the aircraft.
"You get to push the propeller!" Dick responds, pointing. Rocket looks at it and nods.
She flies out and braces her hands against the propeller. "Ready?" She yells over the wind. Dick gives her a thumbs up and she starts to push.
The weight of it is immense, and it takes a large amount of effort to push it at first. Raquel presses her entire body weight on it until it starts moving, inching along slowly. Once it starts picking up speed, the propeller gets lighter from its momentum. But then Raquel is faced with a new problem: she needs to keep up.
Mentally, Rocket dares it to do its worst, which really isn't the best thing to do but hey, carpe diem, right? (Virgil warned her about watching Dead Poets' Society before going on missions).
Dick's yelling something, but she can't hear him over the wind and the whistling of the propeller. She guesses it's somewhere the lines of "Rocket, get out of there!". Well, duh, is her mental response.
Rocket makes herself focus and takes in a breath. She spins around three more times, her brain half mush from nausea, then she lets go. Raquel flies up as fast as she can, a purple sphere protecting her in case she doesn't make it, though she does.
Raquel floats above it, breathing hard. She sends a crooked grin at Dick, who shakes his head and grins. She can see how tightly he's holding the side of the helicarrier.
"You're crazy," he says once she's close enough to hear him.
"You're the one who likes jumping off buildings," Raquel says, hand on her hip.
She flies up to him and holds out a hand, "What do you say we go help the others?" Dick grins and nods, accepting her help across the half missing walkway to get back inside.
...
Artemis and Conner bolt down the hallway, towards the hatch that Kid Flash was seen nearest to. Conner waits at the bottom while Artemis climbs a ladder with a shouldered bow, holding onto a pole with white knuckles as Zatanna soars back to the helicarrier. Conner thinks she must find the hatch heavy, because she has to force it open with a shoulder.
Conner watches her aim a single arrow and fire. She readies herself with another, but is interrupted when the helicarrier jolts. Conner sees Artemis fall from the ladder while he takes a fall himself too.
On his way down, his head hits the safety pole of the walkway. The pain isn't what blinds him.
Conner grips the edge of the walkway, trying desperately to fight it, but he already feels himself slipping away. His heart rate picks up and his body feels hot all over. His eyes try to shut themselves but Conner fights with all he can to keep them open because he knows what will happen next. He tries to warn Artemis, to shout at her to get away, but she's frozen, staring with wide eyes.
Conner's eyes shut. When he opens them, all he sees is red.
Conner isn't Conner anymore and he feels this white hot rage that burns and pricks his skin, branding him with one command, over and over again: kill.
He sees things in red and heat, living beings burning bright like fire, he hears shouts of people all over the ship, the beating of their hearts in their chests. He smells the blood in their veins.
This rage, this storm of fury, cracks and explodes within him. It consumes him and makes him her slave, makes him want to find the first thing with a pulse and rip it to shreds with his bare hands. He wants to feel its warm blood spatter across his skin. He wants to feel their heart stop. Superboy looks up and finds exactly what he's looking for.
She has hair like the sun. Superboy hates the sun. She's much smaller than him, lying on the ground in his reach. Superboy can smell her fear and hear her heart, beating like a rabbit's. There's a cut on her chin that's still weeping and Superboy watches her blood trail its way down her chin and onto her clothing. He can smell the metallic aroma of it.
"Conner. Conner, it's me. Artemis," she says slowly, "You know, the one who dragged you halfway across the world." She doesn't so much as twitch, as if movement could make him decide to kill her. She doesn't know that he's already made that decision.
Superboy doesn't understand her words, just hears them like they are some kind of foreign language. He doesn't like the sound. Superboy lets out a low growl. A warning. The girl still doesn't flinch, staring at him without blinking.
"Conner, don't make me hurt you," he doesn't like the sound of her voice again, or the tone it's taken. It's her own kind of growl, a threat, and that makes him angry because he is the predator and she is the prey. Prey isn't supposed to fight back. Especially not with him.
Superboy doesn't stand because he can sense that she's faster. She is the rabbit and he is the wolf; he has superior strength and senses and power. She has speed. Instead of risking her running, he shoots out an arm to grab her. It's his first mistake.
The prey stabs him, right through his palm, and is already up and bolting down the hall by the time Superboy pulls out the arrow. He lets out a ferocious yell, standing and chasing after her.
On his way down, he steps on a quiver and crushes it and all arrows inside. He hardly notices the blood dripping from his hand.
The prey is faster, much faster, but his strides are larger, so much larger that he practically flies with each bound. The prey looks back every so often, checking his progress. She looks terrified every time she does, and Superboy starts to like the hunt.
He runs down a glass hallway, smashing the walls as he goes. The glass rains down on both of them and the prey tries to cover her head while Superboy doesn't so much as flinch. Instead, he yells again and the prey picks up the pace.
She runs into a room with that's filled with more prey, and she lets out a scream.
"MOVE! RUN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She makes more sounds he doesn't understand and the other prey runs out of the way. Superboy hardly notices; his eyes are set on her.
The prey trips and skids across the floor, rolling until she hits the wall. Superboy slows to a walk and his prey scrambles to sit up, sinking against the wall. Her breathing is erratic and her heart is going even faster than before. He raises his fist, ready to bash in her skull and hear her heart stop (the beat annoys him). But something hard slams into him.
Superboy flies off his feet, breaking through a wall. He hits a large box, it shattering behind him. The impact hurts and his temper flares again. He turns to see what hit him.
She's green. She's floating, eyes glowing. She lands and her eyes dim, five feet away. Superboy stands too and runs straight at her.
The green one flies up and out of the way, a knee catching him on the chin. She flies over him and lands on his back, arm around his throat.
"I am your friend, Conner," she says, holding on for dear life as he reaches in vain to grab her. "I don't want to harm you," she says. "Remember me, it's M'gann. Please." Her words aren't for naught. Something in his brain brightens at the word "M'gann" but he doesn't know what it means.
He finally throws her off and she flies towards the wall, but doesn't hit anything and stops herself midair. She rights herself and holds her arms out on either side as he charges her. She claps her hands together and two boxes slam into each side of her, halting Superboy in his tracks.
He stands, pieces of box falling off of him, and rips the wing of a plane nearby, then throws it at her. The green one dives out of the way and the glass window behind her shatters at the bottom, the wing sliding right through. She flies towards him and Superboy reaches out a hand to grab her, but at the last second she flies just out of his reach and past him. She stops in front of the hole he made before and Superboy grabs one of the boxes and spins in a full circle, letting it fly at the green one. She gets hit and flies back, into the wall next to the hole. She slides down it with eyes squeezed tight. When she opens them slowly, she looks up in time to see Superboy stomping towards her. Her eyes widen slightly. The green one waits for him to come closer before she vanishes.
Superboy whips to look left and right, trying to find where she went. Just as he switches to heat vision, she materializes in front of him and her fingers press against his temples.
"Remember," she whispers. It's like someone presses the fast forward button in his mind. He sees M'gann grabbing his face for the first time, M'gann levitating him to the platform, M'gann refusing to look at him. He sees her bathed in the sunset, smiling at him. He sees her telling him that it's nice to meet him, her tone genuine. Conner feels his mind and blinks, stumbling back.
But his vision is still red and he still feels the extra strength in his limbs and knows he could leap from one tip of the ship to another. Conner falls back, landing on his backside with his elbows preventing him from falling back and banging his head.
M'gann opens her mouth to say something, but the ship jerks suddenly and a crate slides forward, slamming into her. She hits the wall then the ground, her head snapping down against the floor. M'gann slides across the floor, leaving a smear of blood behind. She slides all the way to the window and right off of the edge of the ship.
Conner takes the entire hangar in just five large strides, jumping out after her. Her body heat is bright compared to the sky and he dives towards her turning unconscious form, grabbing her. Conner wraps his body around hers, cradling her to his chest and turning around so his back will hit the surface. He wraps an arm around her head to make sure the impact doesn't break her neck and his other hand, the one that's still bleeding from Artemis' arrow, is around the bottom of her ribs. Her back is to his chest.
When they hit the ground, they make a crater. Conner feels the impact and has to lie there for a moment and force his lungs to work. He might be invincible, but he isn't impervious to pain. The impact feels like... well, it feels like he fell thousands of feet and hit the solid ground.
He lies there until M'gann wakes up a few minutes later, blinking slowly up at the sky.
"Are you hurt?" Is the first thing he grunts more than says when he sees her hand move.
"Conner?" she says quietly. "What happened?"
"Are you hurt?" Conner asks.
"No, I'm fine," M'gann says. Conner's eyes are no longer red.
"Good." His bones ache.
...
Artemis breathes unevenly, shaking as she leans against the wall. She sees Miss Martian soar past the hole she just made in the wall with Conner's body but doesn't make any attempt to move. She's not entirely sure if she can.
Artemis doesn't have her bow. Her quiver and all arrows in it were crushed by Conner, except for the kryptonite one she had stabbed him with, which she dropped far behind her. She doesn't even have her crossbow, which is back in her sleeping cell on the other side of the ship. When M'gann had hit Conner, she told Artemis telepathically that she could handle Superboy on her own; she'd been sent there because Teekl was terrorizing the crew but when she arrived, it was gone. Artemis is only just registering the information, her pulse finally quieting so she could understand.
"Artemis, come in," Prince's voice says in her ear bud. Artemis doesn't want to answer it but she does anyways, lifting a shaking hand. She pressed her hand to it.
"I'm here." Her tone shakes a little, stumbling on the first letter. Prince doesn't comment on it.
"Kid Flash has been spotted in the engineering wing." Artemis stands before she can say anything else. She swallows her next shaking breath and forces a steady one out of her lungs.
"I'm on it," Artemis says. She doesn't give her legs the choice to be strong or not, and jogs to the door that will lead her to the engineering wing.
She's walking across a steel grate walkway when she hears footsteps. Artemis recognizes the pattern and jumps up to grab a pole that runs above her, wrapping her legs and arms around it, hanging from it.
Wally's costume is in stealth mode when he passes. He walks with straight posture, an air of purpose surrounding him. Artemis figures that Klarion must've given Wally a mission. He won't complete it though, because Artemis is going to complete hers.
Artemis drops down without sound behind him. He hears her anyways. Wally whirls around and tries to grab her, but Artemis ducks under his hand and twists it behind his back. He stomps on her foot and she releases him. Artemis kicks at him, but Wally catches it and twists it, causing Artemis to twist on one foot with it. She donkey kicks him and he lets go. Artemis whirls around and Kid Flash throws a couple punches. Artemis dodges both and catches his third. He wrenches it out of her grip and pushes her back, causing her to fall. She catches herself by flipping over on one hand. When she lands again, Wally is holding a knife, something that makes something catch in Artemis' throat. He never carries a knife; he doesn't believe in using them. They watch each other for a moment before Artemis makes the first move.
Artemis charges him and Wally stabs out. Artemis grabs his arm with both her hands, holding it straight towards her. She tries to force it down but he's too strong for her and it stays out straight. He tosses the knife up and catches it in his other hand, stabbing out towards her. Artemis grabs the hands and slams it against the pole. Wally cries out, but doesn't let go. He grabs the opposite side of her waist with his free hand and pulls her back against his chest, moving his arm to her neck and lowering the knife to her neck slowly, her hands on his wrist preventing him from going faster.
Artemis throws her head back in his face and bites his arm, causing him to let go and stumble back. Artemis kicks her foot and hits the fist holding his knife, making it fly up. She catches it and throws it behind her, not keen on accidentally hurting him.
Wally advances on her again and Artemis to sweep his feet out from under him. When Wally stands back up, she's gone. He looks down both ends of the walkway, then up, but doesn't find her. As soon as he turns his back again, Artemis slides out from beneath the walkway and back on top.
He turns but Artemis is too fast for him (for once). She throws two punches in a quick succession, then jumps up and spins in midair, kicking him across the face.
Artemis catches him when he falls heavily, unconscious. He hits her shoulder hard and she nearly drops from impact, but she holds tight. Artemis carefully lowers him to the ground and leans him against a pole on the walkway. She checks his pulse to be sure she didn't snap his neck. When she finds it, steady and strong, she lets out a breath.
Artemis leans her forehead against his shoulder for a moment before she cuffs his ankles as a precaution. Then she slings one of Wally's arms across her shoulders and stands, holding his waist in one hand and his hand across her shoulder in the other. Artemis half-carry half-drags him down the walkway.
...
Wally's brain is foggy, his dreams distorted and non-linear. He sees flashes, fleeting images of memory. The colours are saturated, shining and warm.
He sees Dick going in for a first bump after their first mission together as Kid Flash and Robin; his fifteen year old self meeting an annoyingly beautiful agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, minutes before she nearly kicks his ass when he almost blotches her mission (he's lucky he's fast); helping his mother cut coupons for her extreme couponing habit, punishment after almost setting the stove on fire at three a.m. (again); him, his dad, and his uncle, working on the crappy truck he got for his sixteenth; his family (plus a few friends that are family) surrounding him on his eighteenth birthday, singing while a cake almost as big as the table is lowered in front of him; he sees Dick's new costume, finger stripes and all; then to Artemis, wearing nothing but his old track jersey and leaning against the doorway, rolling her eyes with a smile.
When Wally finally opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is Artemis, leaning in the doorway. She's wearing her uniform instead of his jersey, hood pulled off and mask on a table in the corner of the room with her wrist guards. She's not smiling, nor rolling her eyes. There's a crease between her eyebrows and her nails are digging into her arms, leaving white marks. Both are two of her little tells that reveal just how worried she is. Wally feels cool air on his face and realizes someone – probably Artemis – has pulled his cowl down behind his head like a hood and his gloves are off, on the table with Artemis' stuff.
When she see's he's awake, she straightens, dropping her arms.
"Hey," she says. It comes out hesitant. She bites her lip.
"Hi," Wally replies with a smile, the one he keeps just for her, but his voice comes out hoarse and his smile feels smaller than normal. He coughs, trying to clear his throat.
Wally tries to sit up further from his position, inclined back a third of the way down. But when he tries to move his arms, he finds them restrained to the bed on either side of him.
Artemis walks across the room to the table where her wrist guards and mask are and picks up a pitcher and cup there, pouring some water for him.
"So, babe," Wally says, "What are the chances that you've got some food on you?" That gets a quiet, breathy laugh out of her and when she turns back to him she strides to his bedside and takes off the restraints. When she leans over him, Wally sees there's new bruises and cuts on her face and hands, a purpling one on her cheekbone and one of her knuckles is split on her left hand. She moves before he can study them more closely. Artemis goes to the table and comes back with the glass of water, and hands it to him. Wally reaches out for hesitantly and takes it slowly. Wally eyes the restraints.
"You sure that was such a good idea, beautiful?" He says as Artemis rummages through her utility belt, which is also on the table. She looks over her shoulder at him.
"You wake up after being mind controlled for days and the first thing you ask for is food? I'm pretty sure you're all right." Wally swings his legs off the bed to make room for her when she comes back, two granola bars in hand. She hands them to him without a word and sits.
Wally devours both bars in half a second and Artemis doesn't bat an eyelash, used to his eating habits after all these years. Wally tries to speak while both granola bars are in his mouth and Artemis rolls her eyes, but there's something fond in it.
"Swallow, West," she says. Wally does as he's told.
"How'd you do that, anyway?" Wally says, "Bring me back from zombie land, I mean? Did you reverse the-" It's like Artemis knows he's about to geek out on her, because she cuts him off.
"I hit you really, really hard." Wally grins. He feels her relax beside him.
"Well, you know, thanks," he says, bumping her shoulder with his lightly so she smiles. Artemis' expression suddenly becomes serious, her eyes searching his face.
"Wally, are you okay?" She asks and Wally knows she sees right through his breezy façade. Now that he thinks about it, Wally can't remember a time he's successfully deceived Artemis.
The archer continues, "Klarion used you as his personal zombie for three days. I wouldn't be okay." Wally knows just how worried she is by the way she reaches over and grabs his hand, sticky from the granola bars, from his lap and squeezes it. She never does this kind of thing while on the clock, especially not while on the helicarrier. "You know you can tell me anything," she says quietly. Wally nods.
"Of course I know that," Wally sighs as he drops his head to her shoulder. "I was kind of hoping you'd forget."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Artemis says quietly, leaning her head on his.
"No, I do. We've never had any secrets before," he says, "We're not going to have any now." He pauses, considering his next words carefully. He whispers them. "How many?"
"Many what?" She whispers back, but Wally thinks she knows what he means.
"How many people did I hurt?"
"Wally," the way she says it kind of kills him. "It wasn't you, Wally. It was Klarion. Don't do that to yourself." Wally nods, getting it. Yeah, he knows he had no control whatsoever over what he did but... it's never good to know that you've hurt someone, possibly even killed someone, and you had no power to stop it.
"It was...terrifying. I was so scared, Artemis," Wally says quietly. "That's...that's really all I remember. I remember running at Klarion and this... this intense pain right in the middle of my frontal lobe. Then nothing except that I was scared. I'm a superhero, Artemis. I'm not supposed to get scared." Artemis grasps Wally's forearm with her free hand and drags her fingers slowly up the inside of it, knowing it would calm him.
"That's not true and you know it, Wally," Artemis says. "We all get scared. All of us. I still panic every time I get a new mission. Every damn time. But we keep going because it's the right thing to do. The fear is what keeps us sane. Alive. It keeps us human." Wally watches her thumb run over his knuckles and acknowledges that she's right. Without being scared, they'd get themselves killed. He remembers saying these same words to her a year ago and knows how she felt then. But he also knows how she feels now because he was in her shoes a year ago and he gets he's being slightly ridiculous.
Artemis turns her head and presses a kiss in his hair. Wally lifts his head after and looks at her, then reaches up to brush some of her hair, which is loose around her shoulders, behind her ear. In doing so, he notices dark purple bruising on her neck and he pushes back the rest of her hair, over her opposite shoulder so that he can get a better look.
"What's this?" Wally asks, staring at the bruises that are shaped like hands, wrapped around her neck. Artemis pulls away, pulling her hair back in place.
"It's nothing," she says dismissively and Wally's stomach drops.
"I did that to you, didn't I?" Artemis looks at him and shakes her head.
"Not you, Wally. Klarion. Klarion did this to me." She leans her forehead against his, "Besides. It's an occupational hazard."
"God, I'm so sorry, beautiful." Wally says, feeling the guilt of almost killing her. Artemis Crock. The only person in his entire life that's ever been able to keep up. It's not an easy pill to swallow. "Even with him in my head, I should've been able to stop myself. Especially from hurting you of all-"
"Wally, listen to me. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Besides, I'm pretty sure I hurt you more than you hurt me. Don't apologize for something that's not your fault. Never do that, okay?" Wally nods against her. "I love you," she says and it feels amazing hearing it. He already feels better.
"I love you too," Wally responds. They both lean in.
I just loooooved writing this, especially the Conner stuff. Review please!
-RV