"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

- Robert Frost

Just do it.

The voice in her head was growing more insistent.

Do it.

The envelope containing the keys to her future was crumpled in her hand; the bass drum pounding out from the sound system was reverberating through her body. Nate was giving her bedroom eyes and all she had to do was do it.

Thrusting the envelope towards a nearby friend Artemis stepped forward, placing both hands either side of the metal ring she felt her legs being pulled upwards and over her head, what was once a garden hose was inserted into her mouth.

"Drink, drink, drink..." Came the steady chant. Several bodies had crowded round her, their thoughts one; their voices one steady drone and suddenly it came to her. She drank.

Finals were over and the last college she had applied to for post grad had replied. The envelope was thick, embossed paper with a thoughtful logo placed on the top left hand corner. If she dared herself to open it she'd know whether she'd be staying on the East Coast and heading for New York City, or...

The stadium erupted with cheers as the Central City Chiefs ran onto the football pitch.

"How do you find time for this?"

"Time for what?" Wally replied, his lips wrapped round a quarter pounder.

"This..." his companion gestured to the crowned stadium. "Downtime. In-between Bruce busting my ass to get a move on and reply to colleges, and convincing me not to join the Academy, not to mention the Titans and just sleeping. I might actually once in while, get to talk to a girl in a bar that's not work related."

"Since when was chatting up women a work related thing?" Another voice piped up. "Out of all of us, I'm thinking I'm the one that's going to be using that excuse, and even I think that's pushing it."

"I don't enjoy it!" Dick defended, "I pump them for information."

"Pump them..." Wally repeated slowly. "Dude, you're not James Bond."

All three men took a collective pause, if only they were James Bond.

"Look, you know how quickly I do stuff," Wally halted momentarily as he took an almighty slurp from his drink. "It's actually painful to talk this slow. It's easy to make time when you're me. "

The envelope once back in her grasp was like a ticking time bomb, she knew she had to get it over with eventually. She half wanted it to be a rejection, that way she wouldn't be faced with the possibility of actually deciding whether she wanted to see him.

"Do you want me to do it?"

Artemis looked up to her friend, "Thanks Helena, but I need to do this."

"Ok, lets go upstairs."

Nodding mutely Artemis followed Helena as she negotiated their way through the throng of bodies and to the upstairs bedrooms.

"What are the chances any of these are going to be free?" Artemis whispered in distaste as she eyed the several couples groping each other on the landing, as various appendages circumnavigated waistlines.

"Quite high it would seem," Helena replied as a door to an empty room swung open. "I guess they couldn't wait." The girl added as she brushed her dark locks out from her face.

Sitting heavily on a bed Artemis stared at the envelope in her hand, before going to tear the paper open.

"Wait!" Helena's thought was accompanied with the sharp slap of her hand grasping onto Artemis'. "Why are you so bothered about CCU? I mean you got into NYU, you could move to freakin' New York and you're actually contemplating living in the Midwest?"

"What can I say, I love the Flash," Artemis chuckled.

"Seriously, what is it about the city?" Helena demanded, frowning at her friend's apparent joke.

"I'm just tired of Gotham, I know my Mom's here and other things but I don't think it's enough. New York would be more of the same. But Central City, it's just nicer. Sure it's in Missouri, but it's not like I'm moving to Alaska. Besides you're going to Cornell, I'm not deserting you or anything."

"I know... I just. There must be something more than the crime rate. Besides, have you seen the lunatics that run around Central City? Captain Boomerang?" Helena frowned, unsure of what to make of the eccentric 'supervillain'.

Artemis smiled, "Well this could all be moot. I don't know if I've got in yet."

"Then open the damn letter woman!"

Number 23 had broken from the ranks; the ball clutched under his arm as his teammates flew at the various bodies blocking his route to the goal line. Leaping over a fallen opponent Michael Tennant made an almighty dive, the ball stretched out in front of him as he planted it firmly on the ground. Within seconds Chief fans were on their feet, the band playing as the gap widened further with minutes to go.

"Guys, I think we're actually going to win the game!" Wally exclaimed.

And sure enough, the referee's whistle blew twice, it was over and Central City would celebrate that night.

"You guys wanna grab a beer?" Roy Harper questioned as he flung on his jacket.

"Uh, Dick here is not of legal age." Wally pointed out, a grin plastered across his face. "I've got some bottles at home though."

"Actually, I've got a different idea, a little bird told me to take you two up to the Watchtower." Roy commented slyly as he put his wayfarers firmly in place.

Wally hid a grin, "Sure."

Every year, without fail, there had been some sort of celebration held on the Watchtower in honour of his birthday. This year it seemed it would be no different, Wally caught himself frowning, he was drifting into melancholy and he had no idea why. Well, maybe it was because he was 22 and it was another birthday that he would be celebrating without several notable figures.

Barry was dead, but at least now he could think about him without breaking down into a quivering wreck. With each passing year his Uncle was fading from the publics' conscious, perhaps even his. And the thought scared him.

And Artemis. Despite weekly phone calls morphing into regular emails and then drying up all together, he still wondered. Still missed her.

"Do you even try to make it a secret anymore?" Dick questioned as he ran a free hand through his hair, carefully accentuating the well cultivated scruffiness.

"What can I say, Captain Marvel really can't keep a secret." Roy shrugged casually, his eyes straying towards the exceptionally short hemline of an exceptionally attractive woman. Glancing back, the woman smiled coyly, she was met with an easy grin.

"You have no shame," Wally muttered before pulling out his phone.

"Do we really want to start comparing dance cards Wally? Whatever you say, my way gets results."

Dick snorted before handing his mouth with his hand and coughing.

"Well, I'm not as lucky as you Dick, I don't get to have an orange skinned alien superbabe drool all over me." Roy ribbed, as he sent Wally a knowing look.

Batbaby was about to get defensive.

"There's nothing going on between Kory and I. We're just friends."

"Does she know that?" Roy rejoined, his eyes uncharacteristically hard.

"This coming from a man who treats sleeping with women like an Olympic sport?" Dick snapped.

"Look, for all my posturing, I happen to like Kory. My sleeping with hot women probably says a lot about how I was raised, but you Dick? Talk about arrested development, and we all know who we can blame for that." Roy replied before masking a grin as he caught sight of Wally holding two fingers to either side of his head.

"I am not emotionally stunted!' Dick claimed indignantly.

"Seriously? You and Babs, that was normal then?" Roy replied.

"I..."

Wally quickly jumped in, "Watchtower guys, the day of my birth to be celebrated."

Tugging his two friends down a back alley Wally hit his comms link.

"Kirk to Enterprise, three to beam up Scotty."

"Do you always do that?" Dick questioned, his previous annoyance wiped from his features.

"Not all the time, I like to keep Virgil on his toes..." Wally's sentence petered off as he took in several glowing green women standing by the teleport; each one gave him an indecent look before quickly surrounding him.

Swinging his right arm round Wally's shoulder Roy planted a firm kiss on his friend's cheek. "Happy Birthday buddy!"

Her hands shook, all the right words were there. She was accepted, further information would be sent in due course and they looked forward to hearing from her.

"So?" Helena questioned, her eyes peeking over the rim of her cup.

"I got in..." Artemis replied softly, collapsing back onto the bed and covering her eyes before violently groaning.

"I thought this is what you wanted?" Helena shuffled onto the bed next to her friend as she placed her beer on the floor.

"I do, and all that stuff I told you before was true, but thing is. There's this boy..."

Helena let out a small squeal, "This is all about a guy? That is so unlike you!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" sitting upright Artemis fixed Helena with a glare.

"You never seem to be as into the guy you're seeing as he is in you."

"So?" Artemis countered, her blues eyes narrowed.

Helena had struck a chord, every man or rather boy she had been with, was kept at arms length. She wasn't sure if it was because she was afraid of being hurt or if she felt that every moment spent with someone else was a betrayal. It was like she was breaking an unmade promise.

"So who is he?" Helena questioned, her warm voice breaking into Artemis' thoughts.

"A boy..." Artemis replied, more to herself than anything. "I mean he was a boy when we..."

"When you what?" Helena prodded.

"Fell in love," the blonde replied after a moments pause. "We were young and I guess neither of us were ready."

"But you still love him?"

"I don't know, maybe I just love the idea." Artemis whispered, hunched forward as she twisted a lock of blonde hair between her fingers. "It's been so long and it's been years since I last saw him, but I'll always wonder you know? The one that got away."

It was all about the boy. But he wasn't the one that got away; she had let him go.

"So go," Helena urged, leaning towards her friend. "Happiness just doesn't find you, you need to run towards it."

"So I pick a college for a man?" Artemis questioned, half disgusted with herself that after all this time she still hadn't learnt how to stand on her own two feet, hadn't managed to complete herself all on her own.

"For love," Helena replied simply before pulling a face. "I know it sounds corny, but we're young, we're supposed to make stupid decisions and learn from them later, but never regret them. And you'll regret not going, wont you?"

"You just contradicted yourself," Artemis muttered.

Sighing Helena placed her hands on Artemis' shoulders, "You know I'm right."

Artemis nodded her head, "What if I'm scared?"

"We're all scared." Helena replied quickly, "It doesn't stop the rest of us."

One Week Later

Khartoum

Flipping open the heavy briefcase an assassin removed the barrel of a high calibre machine gun, feeling the cold metal under her fingers she tightened her grip. Quickly assembling the weapon she slung the gun onto her back before making her way to the service elevator. Several kitchen staff lay unconscious at her feet, she didn't have any scruples when it came to killing, but the bus boy seemed a little gratuitous. The old lift whirled to life as it groaned down the elevator shaft.

Quickly jumping into the metal box the assassin bust open the emergency hatch, pressing the button for the top floor she clambered upwards, hauling herself onto the top of the lift. Closing the hatch behind her she flattened herself across the roof of the lift, hoping that schematics were correct and she wouldn't be squashed to a bloody pulp when the elevator stopped.

Finally their was a rough jolt and the doors groaned open, holding her position the assassin waited, the ring of machine gun fire soon ripped through the close air. Gritting her teeth she kicked the hatch open once more before dropping down to the floor, her gun already held out in front of her she blew the security detail away.

Curling her lip in distaste the assassin picked her way across the floor. The sound of firearms would have undoubtedly alerted the other guards. Heavy boots could be heard pounding along the floor; diving backwards she waited for the first to appear around the corner. Within seconds a spray of bullets lit up the dark corridor, five thuds as the bodies hit the floor. Throwing the gun over her back the assassin dashed along the corridor, this was hardly her preferred form of killing but the mission called for it. The hit on the Sudanese warlord had been put out less than 24 hours earlier, and it was with relish that the assassin forced her way into his office. Turning from the fireplace the man's eyes widening in shock as he reached for his side arm. The assassin merely smirked, one lone bullet already streaking through the air.

Turning her back on the now dead man Jade Nguyen headed towards the nearby French doors, walking out onto the balcony she fired off a grapple gun before plunging over the edge.

Within seconds of landing on the ground a blacked out SUV screeched to a halt next to her, diving into the vehicle the assassin breathed deeply.

Glancing towards his newfound passenger the driver smirked before tossing her a phone.

"You got a text."

Reading the message Cheshire hissed.

"Dammit."

A/N: First chapter of the sequel! I admit its not nearly as in your face action as the beginning of Renegade but I wanted to ease into this fic a little. Anyway, the fates (me) are conspiring to get Artemis and Wally together at some future juncture. Anyway, let me know what you think!