Kaldur clung to Artemis for dear life, wrapping his arms around her body to keep him from falling the rest of the way, straight down into the craggy rocks of the river below them. Artemis held tight to the rope in her hand, grappled above outcroppings of the cliff.

A curse whispered past her lips as she chided herself for how stupid she must have been to let this happen.

Her eyes looked up at the arrow that held the weight to the two of them, sunk into the stone and foliage, and then looked back down to the river. Gritting her teeth, she cursed again.

"Artemis!" Kaldur called for her, drawing her attention back down. "I think we could make this jump."

"Are you crazy?" she asked him, unable to mask the shock in her voice.

"No. I am not crazy. I've been doing the calculations, and I believe that if we dive down with our feet first, we will escape with only a few injuries. Besides," he timidly pointed down below him, "the rocks shouldn't hurt us. They are far enough away."

Still Artemis was unconvinced.

Kaldur could see that she looked afraid, and skeptical as well, but he had faith in his calculations. He had seen those rocks when he and his team had first flown in on the Bioship, and it was then that he gouged their size. Drawing from his memory, he compared the size of them close up to the size of them now.

They would survive. Hopefully without too many injuries.

"Artemis!" he said again, just as twigs and branches from above the cliff started cracking. Poison Ivy, he guessed, as the vegetation started to writhe above. They both gasped as the arrow settled farther down into the rock, the rope that held them giving a dangerous lurch.

"Artemis! You have to trust me on this," he said looking up at her. He looked her deep in the eyes, challenging her to say no. Taking a deep breath, Artemis let go of the rope just as the plants snapped at them with poisonous thorns and agape mouths.

So it had been Poison Ivy after all.

As they fell, they still clung together, unwilling to separate. They had to push themselves apart, give their bodies enough space. Straightening out, their feet together, the wind rushing past them, they fell into their head-last dive, waiting with held breath for the painful contact.

But still, even with her thoughts of how bad it would sting, Artemis was unprepared for the feeling of absolute agony as her body dove down into the river. She had missed the rocks by a long ways, but the water breaking all around her punished her body in a way that drove all sanity from her. Bright specks of light flashed in front of her, and she couldn't tell which way was up.

She wanted to scream. Her eyes bulged, and her legs wouldn't move no matter how hard she tried to get them to respond. Flailing her arms, she tried to get back up to the surface, where she could breathe again and let out her anguished scream.

Kaldur had to help her to the surface. His legs were as bad as hers, and his back hurt along his spine. But he could breathe underwater, so that allowed him some time to recover from an immobilized state. If he had been alone. Painfully, he gathered up Artemis in his arms once more, and kicked for the surface, not stopping until Artemis had taken in her first breath of air.

No longer did she have a scream of pain, but rather a moan so deep and frightening that it sounded like the call of the dead.

"We must get back to the ship," said Kaldur, thinking quickly. He knew that there was nothing more that they could do now. Not with them floating down the river with broken bodies.

From the awkward angle of Artemis' leg, he was almost positive that she had broken a bone.

Stroking with a single arm, Kaldur brought them to the river bank, crawling on the sand and soil before collapsing down with a heavy sigh. His arm was still draped over Artemis, and he kept it there, feeling protective of her. It may not have been his fault that they had gone over the cliff, but he had to take responsibility for the consequences thereof.

"Artemis?" he asked, turning his head towards her. "How are you feeling?"

She moaned again, long and loud, vocalizing every little bit of pain that shot through her body. Tears had formed in her eyes, glazed over with pain, and she looked far too weak. When she could finally talk, she said, "Not good."

A second passed before she spoke again.

"How far from the Bioship?"

"Not far," Kaldur replied, not even having to think. "But still, I think it may be too far for us to get there with our injuries."

Artemis only groaned.

"We will have to try, though."

Wincing, Artemis pushed herself up with her hands, ignoring the shout of protest that ran through her nerves. Kaldur balanced unsteadily on his feet, not completely able to cope with the pain in his legs. Even still, he made Artemis loop her arm around his shoulder, supporting more of her weight than she did.

"You cannot walk on that leg," he told her, as the two of them wobbled together.

Each step was slow, far too slow, and if they were being chased they both knew that they would have been easily caught. But thankfully, Poison Ivy and the rest of the villains were too busy with the rest of the team, and they had their work cut out for them, considering the progress the team had made.

They were far stronger, far braver, and definitely more of a challenge than they had been the year before.

Artemis had known it had been successful when Ivy started taking off running.

But then she had to pursue her. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she chided herself again.

"We'll never make it at this pace!" she cried out, unable to take the torrents of pain coupled with her pangs of guilt. "We might as well just lay down and wait for—"

As though she had been personally challenging it, the Bioship came into view, the camouflage fading off of it and returning to its bright colors. It landed almost on top of them, opening a hatch for them to climb up into. Artemis went in with Kaldur, still leaning on him heavily.

"Never have I been so happy to see the Bioship before," Kaldur said, collapsing down onto the ground.

Beneath Artemis and beneath Kaldur, two chairs formed, lifting the two of them up into something more comfortable. Groans filled the ship as their bodies were forced to move once more, but then a relief came to their nerves, and their grimaces faded.

"Kaldur?"

The silence had stretched on far too long, and he had not been counting. He didn't know how much time had passed, and the sudden voice of Artemis calling him back into reality startled him back into reality. Looking at her closely, he examined her wounds from afar, noting the bruises and fresh cuts.

"You made a good call," she told him.

Kaldur smiled, despite everything, and made to reply just as the Bioship gave a sickening lurch and sprung forth into the air once more, flying towards a new destination. Sailing high up in the air, the latch opened again and in flew Miss Martian, badly beaten up and clutching her chest, gasping for air. Through the haze of her pain, she was able to take in the sight of her two broken teammates.

"We've got to get out of here!" was the only thing she could say.

Without further word, she steered the Bioship towards each of their teammates, collecting them so quickly that it was almost comical.

With all of them gathered into the ship, Miss Martian turned back towards home; the Cave that they all shared deep within the mountains of Happy Harbor; speeding away from a fight they weren't entirely sure whether they had won or lost.

It was far too hot and far too humid a summer for New England, and both the Team and the League knew that this wasn't natural. It was caused by something more, most likely another plot in the Injustice League just to stir up trouble.

But still, they had to fight it.

Not the heat, but whatever evil scheme they had cooked up and set into motion. Kaldur still had thoughts about it being a small piece of the puzzle in a giant picture that they simply could not see yet. After having discussed all the matters with the older members, and having shared a number of interesting theories, he couldn't do anything more than just lean back on his cot in the infirmary and give himself over to the pain in his legs.

It had been too far a fall, and he knew that Artemis had taken most of the impact. Her pain was far greater than his, and even as his own body ached, he wondered how she was holding up, and if she needed anything.

The rest of them were taking care of her, and she was healing well enough, though at a slower pace than him. He had been right; she had broken her leg. A small fracture along the bone in her calf, splintering open.

He hoped she wasn't in much pain.

Artemis lay flat on her back in the women's showers, her body splayed out along the tile floors as hot water rushed over her. It felt unnatural to have a cast on her leg, especially when sweat clung to her skin day and night. She hated her cast. Megan make her a new one every day, since Artemis was driven so mad by the thing that eventually she took knives to it, cutting it off of her and letting her broken leg feel the fresh air once more. Artemis was thankful for it, for even if she couldn't stand to have it on, she knew she needed it.

The summer was far too hot to have a cast.

Looking up and down her legs, she noted everything wrong with them. Bruising, puckered scars, swelling, and what still seemed like an odd angle. She knew that her bones had been reset, and it was just her mind played with her and made her see the sickening angle once more. Still, a shudder ran through her.

"Artemis?"

"Yeah," she answered automatically, before realizing that it was Kaldur's voice.

Shocked, she wrapped her hands around her chest to cover her breasts. Why, she didn't know, but it was just a habit that she had made ever since she joined the team. Gradually, she uncovered them. For some reason, she didn't want to cover her breasts around Kaldur, but rather leave them exposed. It was a strange feeling, since no one else on the team had the same effect on her.

"Are you doing well?"

His voice was coming from around the hall, Artemis noticed now that she was listening closer. Well out of eyesight.

"I've been better," she said.

"Do you need assistance with anything?" he asked.

A blush deepened on Artemis' skin. She was about to say no when her voice caught in her throat, her mind changing. Yes, she did need help. Megan was out of range, along with the others, and everyone else was either at their own homes or out within the nearby city.

"Yes," she called to him, her skin flushing even hotter.

"What may I assist you with?"

"I need someone to support my weight." Artemis had never really been shy, not around anyone. Even people she'd had crushes on earlier in life she hadn't been shy around. But with Kaldur it was different. The strange feeling was butterflies in her stomach, and she quickly decided that she didn't like it.

Kaldur stepped into the showers, and Artemis caught her breath. She leaned up on her own, turning the shower water off and reaching for the towel, wrapping it around her. Not that it mattered, since Kaldur had closed his eyes anyway. Atlanteans had the skill to see using a form of echolocation, so even with his eyes shut to her nakedness, he could feel her presence.

He wrapped an arm around her soaking wet body, and helped her to hobble out of the showers.

"I do not think that it is completely safe for me to escort you home..."

"I wasn't planning on going home tonight, anyway," Artemis said.

"No?" he asked.

Artemis shook her head, then remembered his eyes were closed. Then remembered again his echolocation; he ought to be able to sense her head moving.

"No. Things aren't really going good there, so I've decided to stay in the Cave until everything's been sorted out." She wanted to say more, to tell him about Jade suddenly showing back up in her life again, and her mom's anger and confusion at having her daughter coming around the house again, and her father making phone calls day and night. Seriously, if she had to listen to one more screaming argument, either at her sister or her father, she was going to lose it.

And what did it matter if she didn't come home anyway?

They all knew that these things happened when you were a superhero, always flying off on missions and putting yourself in harm's way to the point where your death was assumed if you didn't respond in the next five minutes.

But Artemis let all these thoughts die away in her mind as she reached the door to one of the bedrooms. It was bland and impersonal, but the sheets were warm and the pillows soft and it would do. Quiet nights and peace of mind was something so blissful she thought she might never go back home.

"I am sorry again for your pain," Kaldur apologized, for what must have been the fourth time that week.

"You can open your eyes," Artemis told him.

Slowly, his eyes slid open, and he took in the sight of her wrapped in a towel and limping on a casted foot. His lips were tugged into a smile as he realized how beautiful she looked, then he quickly diverted his eyes to the nearby dresser that she was searching around in.

"And I told you: stop saying you're sorry."

Kaldur nodded, and exited the room just as Artemis dropped her towel down to the floor.

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