"You're a good man, you're handsome, and kind, and smart, and good…you're perfect. But um...I'm busy holding myself together with tape and glue…You're too much for me right now because I'm busy with the tape and glue."

Miranda Bailey, Grey's Anatomy

Mount Justice

Five familiar faces stared as a collective breath was held. For a moment there was a stillness that pervaded the very air, it was the end of something. Another passing that had to be marked.

"Why?"

One word. One simple question that Artemis was only just beginning to answer herself. Glancing towards the speaker Artemis' breath caught in her throat. Megan's brown eyes were glistening in the artificial light; the frown etched across her features was glaringly obvious. The Martian wore her heart on her sleeve and for every effort she made to conceal it, it showed even more.

"Megan," Artemis croaked, the archer was finding things difficult to say the least. "I don't think this is a good fit for me anymore... I know it's selfish and I get why you might think less of me because of it. But I just can't do it anymore. I can't be the hero anymore, I just want to be me."

"What if being a hero is who you are?" Superboy suddenly interrupted. Like whenever he was faced an overwhelming number of emotions, anger won out.

"Then I need to find that out for myself. My entire life adults have presented me with the picture of what I should be; most kids would go to Europe and take a year out of college to discover themselves. Well I can't do any of that if I'm here, if I'm saving the world." Artemis paused, she wanted so badly for them to understand. She wanted them to shed a tear and wish her well. She couldn't face the questions, more looks of betrayal.

"And we want to support you," Kaldur quickly interjected. "But forgive us if in our selfishness we'd rather you stay."

Artemis gave the Atlantean a grateful glance.

"Goodbye's aren't forever," Robin offered. He may have been addressing Artemis but his eyes flicked momentarily in Wally's direction. The Boy Wonder knew that out of all of them, it would be the speedster that would take this the hardest. He wouldn't admit it of course; the false bravado wouldn't let him. Another blow to Wally's already shattered heart, Dick frowned, he knew that it would be unfair to make the archer stay but as the thought flitted through his head the young prodigy knew that it would be up to him to hold them together.

"Promise?" Artemis whispered weakly.

Instead of a reply Artemis found a hand wrapping around hers, quite suddenly she was pulled into Wally's chest, his cheek pressed on top of her head.

"This isn't even a goodbye," Wally muttered thickly. "It's an 'I'll see you later'." The red head let out a wry laugh at the cliché of his words.

Pushing herself back ever so slightly Artemis' hand drifted to Wally's face; tracing a delicate circle with her thumb across his skin she met his gaze.

"This is it then..." the blonde started.

"I'll miss you." Wally replied and the team took a backseat as the two lovers said their goodbyes.

"So will I." Artemis affirmed, every fibre of her being screaming at her to stay with him. Flinging her arms around his chest she buried her head in his shoulder, breathing in deeply she tried to commit his smell to memory. The feel of his heart against hers as the two stood for what could have been an eternity or a brief second. Their worlds were being pulled apart but only by their doing, and that made it all the more harder.

But it was time to pull off the plaster, a brief moment of pain and then everyone could just breathe. Their fingers disengaged, for a lingering moment the tips of their digits grazed each other's. And then there was cold air. Nothing but smoke on the wind. It was over, they were gone and Artemis was standing in a cold, empty back alley.

Star City

The rain poured, pounding down on the cold pavement. As people dove for cover, or the prepared few pulled out their umbrellas and continued on their way, Jade stepped onto her hotel room balcony. Reaching out cautiously with one hand she felt the icy water hit her fair skin, within seconds her digits were reddening and her hand stinging.

Forcing herself to walk out from under cover, what little clothing she wore was soaked, sticking to her lithe frame as her long dark hair clung to her back. Closing her eyes she tried to force her thoughts back, she had a job to do but she wasn't sure she was ready for it. The random red head she had picked up in the bar across the street had provided a welcome distraction, but once again her brain was back on the task she had been set.

Artemis was to be delivered to a man so thoroughly depraved even she had her qualms about working for him. She had set out to work for herself, but it seemed that she didn't have the backing and unless you were Lady Shiva, a woman wasn't taken seriously in the circles that she ran with. Jade snorted, she knew at least 100 ways to kill a man and would gladly employ any one of them, but she was still deemed weak. She was liable to break down in a mess of emotion – liable to cry. A delicate finger fluttered to her cheek, it might have been the rain, it might have been something else but her skin was damp and the taste of salt lingered in her mouth. The assassin smiled ruefully.

"You going to come back inside?"

It was the red head. Jade shook her head softly, so much for being a ruthless assassin; she couldn't even kick a man out of her bed. And it wasn't lost on her that her recent bed partners had all shared a flaming mop of red hair. She really was losing her touch.

Quite unexpectedly she gasped for breath as she felt his hand press up against her breasts, the other wrapping around her waist as he turned her round. Quite roughly his lips pressed against hers, melting into him for the first time Jade wondered whether for once in her life she found herself conquered.

Hoisting up the assassin the red head walked slowly towards the wall; pressing her back against the cold stone he grazed her neck with kisses. His hands squeezing her waist as he tried to get purchase of her body. Jade arched her back, her head bumping against the wall but the pain was negligible, instead her fingers raked across his back before settling over an intricate tattoo coiled around his bicep. Kissing him fiercely on the mouth she found her clothes being forcibly torn from her body. Within seconds she was a world away from her life, only his hot, wet body next to hers mattered.

"Oh God..." the red head grunted, pausing momentarily as he searched for her name.

"Lucy," Jade quickly supplied. One day she might actually use her own name, but for now she was Lucy Chen, legal secretary.

Groaning Jade manoeuvred the couple round, pushing the screen door open the two tumbled into the hotel bedroom, the heating enveloping them like a third lover before they fell to the floor.

Rolling onto her side Jade reached sluggishly for her phone, its insistent buzzing had pulled her to waking. Glancing over her shoulder she found no sign of the red head, sighing she rolled her eyes, she hadn't expected any less and would be stupid to be disappointed, yet strangely she was. Forcing her eyes to focus on the screen of her phone. There in curt tones was a message.

"She's in Gotham. Make your move Cheshire."

Tugging an errant strand of hair from her field of vision Jade bit her lip, rolling onto her stomach she pulled herself into a standing position. Tossing the phone onto her unmade bed she quickly shrugged on her clothes. She didn't have time to be hanging about Star City. Whatever sentimental reason had her taking home red heads and haunting a city in the hopes of catching the glimpse of a man she hardly knew, it had to be squashed. Quickly tossing her sparse few belonging into a large duffle bag the assassin cast one last look at the city skyline before ducking out of the room.

Thrusting her phone against her ear Jade waited impatiently for the other end to pick up.

"Cutler," she veritably spat as a man's voice met her ears.

"What can I do for you Jade?" Cutler replied with false cheer.

"I need you to fix me up with some gear."

"What kind of gear?"

"The usual arsenal, plus I need plane tickets, ID and somewhere to stay." Jade reeled off quickly, her emerald eyes narrowed as she only just avoided a fellow pedestrian.

"Where you headed?"

"Gotham City."

Cutler remained silent for a moment, before clearing his throat uneasily. "Are you sure about that?"

"Just because I got drunk, told you a few things and then slept with you does not mean that I care. It does not mean that I care what you think, got that?"

"Got it. Jesus Jade, wrong side of the bed much?"

"Floor, actually." The assassin replied acerbically.

"What? The floor? I checked you into the Hilton!" Cutler replied, affronted.

"We couldn't make it to the bed," Jade replied, relishing the words as they rolled off her tongue.

"Oh gee, and I thought I was the special one."

"You were a mistake Cutler, he was fun."

"Charming," Cutler responded silkily. "Check back with me in an hour, but during the course of our delightful conversation I got you a first class ticket to Gotham; pick it up at the desk. You know the drill."

"Thanks Cutler."

"What, thanks? Did I hear you right..."

Rolling her eyes Jade shut off her phone.

Gotham

It was a beautiful morning; the city was a glistening pool of hope and promise. Looking out from the kitchen window Artemis sighed. Tugging awkwardly at a school uniform she had never really gotten used to Artemis blinked. It was senior year; she was nearly of age and for the first time in her life she could breathe easy. She wasn't wincing from the bruises that covered her body due to being thrown head first into a brick wall. She wasn't worried about the state of the team. She wasn't exhausted from nights and days filled with no sleep. Sighing softly Artemis took a step towards the door.

Her father was no longer driving her to take her place amongst the Shadows, Batman wasn't pressuring her for intelligence and she was free to make her own choices. But despite having her mother at her side, despite having the world there for the taking, she was missing something. An integral piece of her heart was adrift somewhere. Well, not somewhere, she knew exactly where it was. It was across the country, with a boy that had waited for her, a boy that had come for her. Closing her eyes a flash of green eyes met her, smiling softly Artemis reached out her hand but like always she was met with air. Snapping back to reality the blonde grit her teeth, no matter how much she might love and miss him this was what she needed. Time after all was a great healer and now, she had nothing but it.

"Artemis, you ready for school?" Paula Crock's soft tones flitted across the kitchen.

"Yes Mom," Artemis smiled. "I need to get going, I'm meeting my guidance counsellor to talk about colleges."

"That's great honey!" the older woman exclaimed, but despite her apparent joy the corners of her eyes tightened. She never wanted her daughter hurt, yet seeing Artemis shut away a part of her life troubled her. Skeletons always had a way of fighting their way out of closets, and the Crocks had one too many buried secrets.

Manhattan

The room was dark, only the light of several computer screens bathed the watcher in an ethereal glow. Rubbing his eye the man stretched in his chair. In front of him countless hours of footage were playing, each and every frame was dedicated to the members of Young Justice. Two in particular were of interest to him, and one, if he had his way, would be pushed into his path. She would be their undoing. Where the League of Shadows had failed, he would succeed. He wasn't interested in bringing Earth's heroes to their knees; he wasn't going to be able to do that by himself anyway. What he wanted to do was bring about their demise through corrupting their young. Their hopes, dreams and aspirations all rested in the next generation, take that and they had nothing.

They were all pawns to be used and sacrificed. Eventually he would take the king, but first he needed his queen. Merely a girl, she would be moulded into his perfect chess piece. But he had patience; after all he was in it for the end game.

The End

A/N: Oh dear, it has been a while since I updated this but life hasn't given me much chance to. Still, now the show's back on air I've been far more motivated! I feel this chapter's still a bit sketchy but I wanted to get it out there. Anyway, watch this space for the sequel - "Endgame".

Thanks to all of you that have read this, and especially to those who have let their thoughts be known. It's all very much appreciated!