Artemis tossed Kid Flash the ice pack with an embarrassed grumble of apology. She was already stomping her way out of the alley and back to the bioship as Wally caught the pack with ease and held the bundle to his currently stinging black eye.

"Hey, no problem, we all go a little mad sometimes, right?" He put on a cocky smile and leaned against the crumbling Gotham brick wall.

She froze and looked over her shoulder before turning around with a cautiously curious look. Wally felt his mouth dry and his brain stutter. He hadn't really noticed just how perfect the Mad Hatter had dressed her up as Alice when he had been fighting her or taking that right hook to the eye, but now with her lips pursed with the hint of tinted gloss, eyes enhanced and widened with not only her own curious expression but with make-up, the white and baby blue dress and head piece, she seemed to have just stepped out of a story book, glowing with ethereal amazingness.

"Did you just make a literary reference?"

Wally scoffed and gestured smuggly, secretly thankful for her biting sarcasm breaking the weird spell he'd found himself in just by noticing perfectly normal things like a dress and some make up.

"It's alright, being stunned by my brilliance is a perfectly normal reaction."

Her turn to scoff, which made him feel strangely better when it hit his ears. Artemis embarrassed and well, kinda down on herself, wasn't the Artemis he knew.

"Oh I'm stunned all right but I wouldn't call it brilliance-" She snipped back with a familiar smile.

"Not just my brilliance? Must be my charm and incredibility blinding good looks then..."

It was like they were dancing.

"Ha! You know it does hurt to look at you."

Wally took the his hand away from his eye and shook the ice pack in her direction.

"I'll have you know, Kid Flash has been asked to model on several occasions!" He waited, now expecting a response that either dissed the people who asked him (By who? National Geographic? Optically Challenged Weekly?) or stressing how harmful it could be to see (Gah! Hope they put a warning on the cover or people will be losing their lunch everywhere!). He wondered with the tiniest bit of excitement which direction she would go. Anytime now.

He cracked open an eye when he realized seconds were ticking by now and his dance partner had fallen behind. She was right there practically in his face! Too close! He nearly fell over some garbage cans as he took a quick step to the side in a panic.

He caught his breath and looked at the archer with annoyance.

"What are you doing?"

She grabbed his hand and shoved the hand with the ice pack once more up to his injured eye.

"You're such an idiot! Why are you letting me make fun of how ugly you are when I just messed up your face! And why didn't you dodge it! For someone who says they're sooo fast..."

Oh. He ruined it by letting her see his eye again. She must feel more guilt than she was letting on.

"I could have but I needed to get in close and distract you, I didn't know how the mind control worked so I didn't want to accidentally hurt you or make it worse. Don't worry. I've had worse. It might look bad now but in a few hours and with ample snack infusion it'll be like it never happened!"

"I'm not worried!" She snapped defensively. "I'm just... mad. I should have had some control..." She clenched her fists. "I feel so violated! I was his doll! A doll that hurt my friends without giving a damn!" Her fist flew out to hit the brick in frustration but Wally superspeed caught it before it connected just in the nick of time.

"But you do give a damn, we know you do. And we all know you were being controlled." He murmured softly. Too softly really but it just felt right somehow. It occurred to him too late that he still hadn't let go of her hand.

Artemis pulled her hand back to her roughly only to stare down at the hand as if she'd gone through with the action and injured it.

"Yeah?" It sounded defensive and innocently hopeful. Her large eyes caught his again and man she really needed to get out of that Alice in Wonderland outfit. Instantly his face turned red at where that thought had taken him and he stumbled over what he had started to say without much thought.

"Uh...oh...yeah, I mean yeah! I wasn't just being cute with the 'we all go mad sometimes' line. I know you're new to the hero game but I think you were the last of us, well except for Megan, to have been mind controlled. Strangely enough I think Superman holds the record."

"You too?" She asked as she unconsciously leaned forward toward him. A strand of golden hair fluttered down across her blushed cheek. He almost made a move to touch it when she gingerly tucked it behind her ear with more delicate femininity he knew her to possess. He nearly bolted, not knowing what had given him that impulse to touch it or even notice it to this extent.

"Ah, yeah. There was one villain that somehow got nanobots in my food..."Artemis suppressed the comment on just how easy that had to have been. "and next thing I know I've tied up Aun...uh the Flash's wife and was holding a knife to my throat, telling the Flash if didn't do what my master said I would kill his wife and then myself while he watched." He put the ice pack back on his eye with a frown from the memory and glanced away, back towards the bioship. Robin was looking at him, silently asking him what was up. With a shrug he communicated back that it wasn't important and would be out in a minute or two.

"Whoa." She had the right sense of awe at the terribleness of the situation. He gave her that.

"So, I know how much it sucks. I didn't want to do those things and I felt like I betrayed my family since I DID. I did do them, even if it wasn't me in control." Artemis couldn't help the emphatic nod at the description. "But Flash and Flash's wife told me there was nothing they could forgive me for since I hadn't done anything wrong. They knew I wouldn't do that. That I'd never hurt them. Never betray them." Wally suddenly grabbed Artemis's shoulder at the memory of just how much that meant to him.

"It's the same thing with you, you know! I know you wouldn't really hurt me. You wouldn't betray me."

"How can you be so sure?" It almost came out as a pained whisper.

"I don't know. I just do. You're Artemis." He shrugged with a lopsided smile, letting his hands drop from her shoulders.

"Idiot." She smiled almost fondly. He relaxed, knowing she wasn't about to cry or something and maybe more importantly that she believed him.

"Yeah well, just know that if I get my brain messed with again you might be the one sporting the black eye."

"You didn't deny the idiot part." She laughed and Wally found himself joining in with her as she continued to chuckle.

"HEY!" Both Wally and Artemis turned as one as Robin clicked a picture with his batCamera at the mouth of the alley. Wait, how long had he been taking pictures? "Okay that was enough candids. Can I get a few of Kid Flash's hands around Alice's waist before I upload the rest to Facebook?"

Artemis ripped the Alice headband out of her hair and stormed out of the alley after the cackling and swiftly retreating Robin, screaming at the bird how he better as hell be joking. She definitely didn't see Kid Flash catch the head band before it landed in the grimy Gotham puddle and totally didn't hear him whisper "Souvenir." as he carefully ran his fingers over the frilly accents before putting it safely away. Just as well she didn't, this was a souvenir he kinda wanted to be private. At least for now.