Chapter 3

By the time any of the Young Justice team realized what was happening it was too late. No one could have stopped it, no one ever saw something like this happening and no one could save her no matter how hard they tried. Not Kid Flash with his super speed, not Robin his honed ninja skills, not Superboy with his strength, not Aqualad with his Atlantean weapons and Miss Martian's shield could only go so far, so fast… not fast enough. They stood frozen as they watched Artemis pull back her bow for the last time. They watched in terror as her last arrow sliced through the air setting of one explosion after the other and then chaos broke lose.

Wally screamed out her name and moved to run towards her just as every other one of her teammates were shocked into action. M'gann's force field stopped them all in their tracks though and enveloped the remaining team just in time to prevent any physical harm from them as they were blown back. Once they crashed into the ground outside the shield evaporated and left them battered and bruised in the torn up dirt watching the warehouse crumble and burn burying their teammate in the rubble.

"We can't just leave her!" Wally screamed.

"There's nothing we can do." It pained Kaldur to say that, Artemis was his teammate, she was his friend too. Wally refused to listen to reason and had to be held down by Connor and Robin while M'gann summoned the bio-ship. He screamed and clawed at his friends as they dragged him inside. Once the doors closed they released him and tried not to break down at the sight of him banging against the door while his usually bright green eyes dulled with grief and sadness. Only when they could no longer see the smoke that rose behind them did Wally finally give up and slide to the floor.

Why had Artemis done it? They could have beaten Sportsmaster and gotten away with her.

Scattered around the ship was the rest of Yong Justice. Aqualad sat rigid at the helm steering the Bio-Ship back to Mount Justice and hiding his face from view, trying to be the strong leader that he had to be now more than ever. You could hear Miss Martian weeping softly curled up in a ball resting on Connor who held her around her shoulders, held her close as it was the only way he knew how to comfort her. Meanwhile Connor thought about Artemis and brought all of his fondest memories of her to the front of his mind and relived them with his eyes closed. Robin was practically invisible as he leaned against the wall next to Kid Flash's crumpled form. The only sound heard for the rest of the flight as weeping.

The Team wasn't supposed to be back until the day after the ended up returning, today, they were "disobeying" orders, and they could not have cared less. The League would be here later expecting a report on the mission and whether or not they got one was still up to debate, most likely they would give them the most watered down report in history. For some reason they had all agreed not to say anything about Artemis to their mentors for now, whether it was because they were in denial they refused to confess to each other. The Team didn't look very much like The Team as the world had grown to love them, never as team though because they were covert team after all.

Wally and Robin weren't doing anything and not like any other teen being lazy, but just sitting on the couch, just sitting and staring at nothing. Mgann wasn't in the kitchen attempting to make cookies making the room lack the smell of burnt cookies, they never wanted to smell anything burnt ever again. She was in her room the minute they got back grieving her earth sister and not even Connor could pry her out from the covers of her bed let alone her room. Speaking of Connor he was already full of anger and now Mount Justice was paying for it. Holes covered the walls mostly in the training room, but there were a few scattered along the hallways and in other rooms, where ever he had gotten mad and a few holes were created by Wally as well. The usually confident and mature Kaldur sat alongside the Boy Wonder and Kid Flash, an admonishing word never left his mouth when the tell-tale crack echoed in the hall. In fact he was considering joining in the redecoration effort, the only reason Robin wasn't taking a swing was because he was the only non-meta human left and he didn't feel like dealing with hand injuries right now… although he was beginning to think it would be worth it.

"Recognized Batman 01."

"Recognized Red Tornado 16."

"Recognized Green Arrow 08."

"Recognized Black Canary 13."

The Zeta-Beam announced the arrival of some of their mentors and trainers. On any other day the team would stop what they were doing and go to the Mission Room where the League members would be waiting, but this wasn't any other day.

And so The Team didn't move, not even a head turned, they didn't move a single muscle. At first the members of the League waited. They called the team out over the speaker system with a playful threat. After their sidekicks still didn't show up the threat lost its playfulness and soon the heroes lost their and walked to the rec room. They were ready to chew out the teens, Black Canary was already coming up with ideas for the next training session they would have, but once they walked into the rec room the only thoughts they had were shocked. It was silent a word they had never used before to describe Mount Justice once it had become the headquarters for Young Justice. Artemis and Wally fighting loudly, M'gann wasn't chatting away to a tuned out Connor while baking in the kitchen, the static channel wasn't even on. They let it slide and chalked it up to fatigue from the mission.

So close, yet so far from the truth.

Finally after their appearance was unable to draw out even a twitch of recognition The Dark Knight spoke up.

"Where are Mgann and Artemis?" Batman asks.

Just outside the door was Connor who was returning from another unsuccessful chat with M'gann. Hearing Batman's question reminded him of his fresh failure causing his anger to swell up again. One hole in the wall later he walks into the rec room, doesn't acknowledge the League members and joins the boys on the couch.

After another spell of silence Black Canary reiterates Batman's question with a few alterations. "Three questions; where are M'gann and Artemis? Who has been punching the walls and why?"

Robin was the first to speak; "M'gann is in her room." He said simply.

Black Canary sighed, it was going to be like getting Superman to talk to Connor. "Can those responsible for the holes raise their hands please?" Immediately the hands of Wally and Connor were lifted.

"Why?" The emerald archer asked next. Wally didn't even look at the Leaugers before mumbling something and then taking off in a blur. The league members stood in shock as the rest of the team dispersed slowly, the boy wonder disappearing without his cackle and Connor and Kaldur'ahm stood up and walked right pass them. The confused mentors looked towards Red Tornado hoping that his robotic hearing had picked up what Wally had uttered.

"He said and I quote; 'I'm out of here." The opposite of what they hoped Red Tornado could do happened. Rather than gaining a clearer image they were even more confused.

(A/N) Alright that's three chapters edited and over with. I hope you enjoy and thank you again for reading this story. Reviews are appreciated and help make the story better.