Wally refused to believe his almost girlfriend was about to ninja slit his throat. 'This isn't Artemis!' He kept repeating. What she had just told him was foolish and stretch of the truth.
It had to be. "Artemis." he grunted weakly. he could feel blood pooling in his throat. He was about to die anyways, at least the last thing he would see was Artemis' face. No matter how broken she looked, she was beautiful to him.
"I-if your going t-to do this-" he coughed abruptly and a tiny streak of blood trickled down on his chin. "You should know t-that I love you." Wally could see Artemis' mouth quiver for a split second.
Artemis let out another condescending laugh, which Sportsmaster was pleased and clearly showing it with a smug smile. "I think you fulfilled your task." His gritty voice remarked.
Artemis raised the blade with a projectile path of Wally. Wally pierced Artemis' eyes with his. She couldn't actually be doing this. As she swished the blade closer her shut his eyes tight for the inevitable. An attosecond went by and a large crash followed. Then...silence. 'Sooooo am I dead?' Wally thought, still closing his eyes. He tried to move his arm but stopped immediately at the felling of white, hot pain.
"Still alive." He grunted. His breathing caught in his throat as it increased. His chest heaved up and down with at a struggling pace. As soon as he opened one of eyes he was surprised to see Artemis standing over Sportsmaster, blade in hand.
Artemis turned at the sound of Wally's voice and took a rushed stride over to him. "Sorry. I heard speedsters heal fast." She gestured to the spear and clasped on hand around the shaft and pressed one against the wall, beside his head. "This will kill, but look at me, ok?" Wally wanted all of this to just be over. He knew Artemis did as well. Her lingering eyes begged for forgiveness. Wally's lips curled a bit at the edges to reassure her that he did not hold anything against her. Sportsmaster started to stir back to consciousness. "Not a lot of time, bear with me."
Wally was to stunned to even speak. A million thoughts and questions raced to his mind all at once, causing a traffic jam. He finally managed a small nod.
"Ok, one...two..." On that count she pulled the spear out. Wally yelled agonizingly crumpling on to the floor. "What happened to three?" He complained, but Artemis was already engaging in combat with her father. She absolutely amazed him. Artemis was able to go through so much but get back to fighting the next second. He had never met someone so persistent and strong willed.
Artemis dropped her fathers blade and began to fight with her weapon of choice, her bow. Being at a close range she couldn't exactly shoot an arrow without him knocking it out of her bow easily, after all he is the one who taught her. She whipped her bow to Sportsmaster's side, causing him to struggle, but easily steady himself. "You brought this upon yourself baby girl." he growled forcefully lunging himself at her. Artemis was soon on the hard tile floor with the breath knocked out of her. Chocking for air she forced herself up and stood to fight once again. Her father blew a punch to her gut further causing her lungs to struggle. He crouched and swiftly knocked Artemis' legs from under the rest of her body. Landing, once again, with a thud. Artemis opened her eyes to see the same blade she dropped, pointed at her throat.
"All you have done is disrespect me. That ends. Now." His scowl seemed permanently etched into his face.
"No." With that he pressed the blade closer to her throat causing s slight trickle of blood to stream down her neck. "Gahh!" She let out a scratchy groan as her nerves exploded in immense pain.
Wally felt utterly helpless. He and his girlfriend (yet not his girlfriend still) faced fatal situations. After this, he was sure going to make sure he made her feel safe (he was completely failing at that now in his opinion). This was never going to happen again.
"I've been afraid of you for too long." Artemis said confidently despite her obvious injuries. Felling a surge of power, she used her leg to kick the sword from her throat. Standing back up, she decked her father in the jaw. He stumbled backwards, crashing into his very own display cases of lethal weapons. She threw an uppercut as his mask flew off his pathetic face. Artemis loaded her bow with a net-laughing arrow and released within seconds. The netting wrapped around Sportsmaster and Artemis kicked him to the ground, away from all of the weapons so he couldn't set himself free.
Artemis completely forgot about the senseless Roy on the floor. But first, she had to get to Wally.
She rushed over to him, sliding on the floor to reach his weak body. "Wally I- I'm so sorry I didn't get here in time to-to stop hi-oh!" Wally interrupted her mindless babbling by pressing his lips softly to hers with all of the energy he had left. They both had blood, grime, and dirt all over their face but neither of them cared. All that mattered was the synchronizing of their lips. Wally involuntarily winced, which snapped Artemis back into reality.
"Can you get up if I help you?" She hurriedly took off her emerald arm piece and closed it around the wound.
"Of course beautiful." he said drearily as she hoisted him up and slung his non-wounded arm over her shoulders. "I'm going to bring you and Roy to Sportsmaster's okay?" She said calmly looking into Wally's droopy green eyes.
"Gotcha Arty." he mumbled as she led him to the car. "Don't move, I'll be right back." She positioned her hands as if to hold him steady. "Annnnd where would I go?" He smirked at her.
"Oh you know what I meant." she snickered. Even in bad situations Wally found a way to make her laugh. She grabbed Roy and carefully hauled him to the back seat. She smiled at her friend and brushed a few of his dark ginger hairs out of his face. Roy was finally going to return home.
Artemis hopped in the drivers seat herself and whipped out a cell phone she found in the glove compartment. She notified the police of Sportsmaster's whereabouts and drove away into the night. She was completely done dealing with him. "Hey, Wally?" Artemis asked about halfway through the drive. "Hmm?" He replied lazily. "After you are healed and everything, do you think you want to cuddle again?". Artemis could hear the slight chuckle from his mouth, "Why wait, beautiful?" The blonde smiled over at Wally. Artemis sped around corners until she finally reached her zeta tube destination.
Artemis hopped out of the seat and carefully helped Wally up again. Then, she continued with Roy. Carrying two teenage boys was not ideal, but it was the way in which she could trust nothing would happen to either of them. Artemis trudged into the tube as it recognized her and the two boys. "Artemis B07. Red Arrow B06. Kid Flash B03."
Robin always stays up later than he should. Mostly because he didn't like the feeling of the whole team being vulnerable all at once. Tonight, he was especially uneasy. Wally and Artemis were both gone. Sure, if they were still dating, he wouldn't be worried. Due to their circumstances, however, he was definitely worried. Wally he mentioned something about a third party in their breakup. He absolutely was certain about it too. Dick was surprised as anyone would be to hear the computer announce Wally, Artemis, and...Roy? Roy was missing...
When a dreary looking Artemis, a bleeding Wally, and an unconscious Roy stepped through the zeta tube, Dick rushed over to them. "Artemis! Wally! And- and Roy?!"
"Yeah, thanks for the roll call, Robin." Artemis rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Now, are you going to just stand there or are you going to help me?" Yep. That sure is Artemis. Dick took Roy off her shoulder and carried him, in a dragging sort of fashion, to the couch. Artemis followed and cautiously set Wally on a chair perpendicular to the couch Roy was resting on.
As Dick more carefully examined his best friend he soon realized how bad the wound really was.
"What happened to him?!" He demanded.
"Ah- well..." Artemis began. Wally and Eoy were the only ones who knew about her family ties. Roy confronted her about it before he had disappeared. That seemed like an eternity ago, when in reality it was only months. Now, obviously Wally knew because he was blatantly stabbed and completely witnessed her father acknowledging the fact that she was his daughter. That was already 2 too many people who know. She didn't need Robin judging her by her family now.
Robin could easily see Artemis' state of unease. Sure, she could fool other people on the team, but Robin was trained by Batman himself. So needless to say he could read people better than anyone else on the team. Argon's was a close second, but she was forced to be good for her own sake. Regularly studying his team was an involuntary habit of Robins. He noticed whenever family was mentioned Artemis became a bit squeamish. Of course he already knew because of Batman, but now he connected the reaction to to the cause of the state of unrest.
"Artemis," he said in a hushed tone, "if it's about your family..."
Artemis, naturally, took a step back in surprise."Wait, how did you know about my family?" She said in a fierce manor, stepping closer to the kid now.
"Batman." he shrugged simply.
Artemis let out a slight chuckle in amusement. "of course he told you." she shook her head and continued on with her thought. "Anyways, call the big bat over to the cave. he needs to attend to these two." she gestured to the boys with a slight nod of her head in those direction. Wally was still conscious but quite silent in pain and exhaustion.
"Already did." he said nonchalantly walking over to Roy.
Artemis trotted over to Wally "Hey, how are you doing Sparky?" Artemis spoke gently while tracing her finger lightly across his jaw line. Wally felt his skin tingle whenever Artemis touched him. "I'm fine." He said sweetly smiling up at her. Artemis sat down next to the chair and leaned her head up against the cushion. Wally slowly played with a few strands of her hair as he felt himself become even more sleepy.
"He will be here soon." she whispered to him.
Around 10 minutes later Batman arrived. He immediately grabbed Roy and started to walk with him. "Artemis, take Wally and follow me." his voice was gruff.
"Hey, sparky, time to get you fixed up." she said hoisting his body up. He was quite limp. Artemis hoped that it was only because he was exhausted. Batman began to swiftly walk to the Cave's hospital. They entered the sterile room and Batman placed Roy down on a hospital bed. Artemis did the same with Wally.
"Thank you, Artemis, for getting these two. Now, I'm going to patch up Wally so I would appreciate no distractions." The way he worded it said it was a request but his tone stated it as a demand. To avoid punishment, she left.
Artemis was incredibly happy that it was Friday, because it was already 2 am. If it were a weekday, then it would have been a miserable day at school.
Artemis kept pacing back and forth in the living room. Dick slightly chuckled at her anxious behavior. He offered to stay up with her for the night and even if she said it was fine, he had to keep her company. "Artemis if you keep pacing your legs are going to fall off." Dick said sleepily rubbing his eyes.
Artemis stopped in her tracks and heaved a big sigh. "I know, I know I'm just worried!" She exclaimed. Dick pressed his lips together in a frown. "Well if you keep working yourself this liars you are going to need a hospital bed next to him."
Artemis was stubborn for a moment and kept standing. Dick raised his eyebrow behind his glasses. "Fine!" She exclaimed and sat down next to the Boy Wonder. "Batman will have him fixed in no time." Dick said in a calm tone. "Just get some rest." he gently placed his hand on Artemis' shoulder and stood up to walk to his room. Artemis followed his example and went to bed herself.
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Hello lovely people!
So if you've been following this story for a while then you know I'm going to be creating another spitfire story. If you weren't aware of this, now you are. So, I wanted to know what point of view would you like the new story in?
I was thinking of:
• 3rd person: Just like how this story is written.
Or
• 1st person: Wally and Artemis would take turns narrating chapters as the events happen.
Let me know what you think!
Love and Arrows,
TheArcherArtemis