I should be updating my other fics, but this came out instead :P

It might be a bit angsty, sorry :P

Hope you guys enjoy!

She was standing in a semi-darkened room, light enough to see what was happening. All her teammates were there, dead. She had checked each one personally, trying to find at least an inkling of a heartbeat, or a breath, twice, but came up empty every time. She continued scanning the room, and dropped to her knees as she saw her mother, her wheelchair mangled up in the corner, her own form no longer living.

A shadow came up behind her and spoke out, "There's no use running away from the truth. I taught you, and trained you for this. You were kidding yourself if you thought you could run away."

Artemis' hands curled up into fists as she heard her father. He was mocking her! "You monster!" She yelled out, as she stood up and turned around to punch him, but there was no one there.

"You think you can defeat me? Try again." Artemis heard her father's voice taunt her, but he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Next thing she knew, she had her mother's wheelchair flying at her in full speed, but her feet were rooted to the ground. She couldn't move! She tried to protect herself from the flying projectile with her arms, and heard herself start screaming as the wheelchair came hurling at her.

==Artemis' Room

Artemis woke up with a yelp, tangled in her covers. She tried steadying her breath, since it was coming out heavy and shallow. It was just a nightmare, she kept telling herself, but the terrible thing was that she didn't have to use much of her imagination to see this happen. Her father was right, she couldn't run away. She was a puppet, and although she had escaped, she knew it wouldn't be long before they butted heads once more.

All her life, she had been serving someone's interests. She could never really tell the truth, mainly because by now, she wasn't even sure what the truth was anymore. People had agendas for her and her lies. Her father trained her to become the perfect assassin, testing her so much that it became something procedural. She had been converted into a killing machine, until she ran away to live with her mother.

Life was pretty good there. At least she didn't need to murder people, and have unending training sessions at the most ungodly hours of the day. However, her mother was no picnic. She wanted Artemis to be the best in other areas, such as in her academics. She had this way of getting you to do what she wanted, and since she was crippled, it was the least Artemis could do in order to keep her happy. She couldn't stay at the school she wanted, since her mother wanted her to have a better education, and so she had to ditch her friends for the education the scholarship offered.

Her friends at school had no idea of her past, since they would be mortified at learning the things she had done, so she had to force herself to act like a normal chick who thought only about guys, and what she was going to be doing in the summer.

Once she became a crime-fighter, she thought that she would be able to open up a bit more with her teammates. But, Batman and Green Arrow added more lies to her growing pile of secrets, such as making her the famous archer's niece, and no one, except for Roy, was the wiser. She had no liberty over her life. She had a number of roles made out for her, and she played them according to where she was and who she was with, she had no other choice.

Who was the real Artemis? She certainly had no idea. She was a concoction of lies, made to look like a normal being. Her only defence was fighting, whether it was beating up some thief, or arguing with Wally, she had the freedom to be just a person with an opinion. Megan wanted Artemis to be her sister, but it was useless, she had no idea how to be in a normal family, and she could bet her best bow that the Martian's family was more normal than hers. She wanted nothing more than to live a simple life, but her father's words resounded: "There's no use."

She groaned as she laid back down on the bed. He was right. She could try pretending all she wanted. She was a fiddle, and everyone else played their tune on it.

She sometimes just wanted to let all her secrets out, let other people deal with her problems, but she knew the consequences would be too drastic for her to do that. No one would trust her anymore, and she would be left alone and bitter.

She was a puppet, but she was trying her hardest to break free, and she wouldn't let her father keep her caged, surrounded by all her fears and secrets. How long to freedom? How long to make this nightmare end?

No matter what, she wouldn't go down without a fight. She was Artemis, named after the famous Goddess of the Hunt, and if she was going to make anyone pay, it would be her father, and she wouldn't give up until she was free. She would become her own person, and agendas be damned if she was going to stay anyone's pawn.

It was the only thing she had to keep her going, but she was a survivor, she would find a way. If she could live through all of this, she would make it through, without anyone being hurt.

So yeah! That was this chapter, let me know what you think!

I'll be updating Behind It All soon!

Thanks,

Hezpeller