No one noticed the blonde woman as she slipped through the hallways of El Paso High School. She hadn't checked in at the office, no one had ever seen her before, but somehow, despite all of that, she managed to escape notice. Which was odd, considering the teenagers in El Paso were always starved for a new face. Not so odd considering that Artemis had been hiding in plain sight for eleven years. She did it well.

"Hola," Artemis said, falling into step with Jaime. He jumped, dark eyes wide.

"Mierda!" Jaime swore. "Artemis, what are you doing here?"

"I came to rescue you," she replied, smiling.

"Where were you last night? I thought you'd been caught or killed or something." The grin melted off of Artemis's face and she looked down.

"Look, would you believe me if I told you that I had a really, really long night?" Artemis tried. Jaime wanted to give her a hard time, but there was something in her eyes that made him reconsider.

"Es buena," Jaime said, smiling. "Is everything okay?"

"Not so much," Artemis said tersely. "Come on, we're playing hooky." Jaime started to object and Artemis gave him a look. "Are you seriously arguing with me when I'm breaking you out of school? Really?"

"I guess not," Jaime said with a grin, a grin that dropped in almost the next second. A broad-shouldered kid with beady eyes pushed through the crowd, coming to stand in front of Artemis and Jaime.

"'Sup, Jaime?" the kid leered. Artemis stood still, waiting for Jaime to say something, or maybe deck the bigger kid. There was something about his cocky smile that Artemis didn't like. But Jaime stayed silent, much to her surprise. "Who's the gringa?" When Jaime didn't answer, the big kid took a step closer and shoved him. Artemis wanted to snap his arm, but Jaime didn't react.

"Mi prima." My cousin, Jaime answered quietly, looking down. Artemis blinked in surprise. What the holy hell was going on here? Why was Jaime letting this kid talk down to him? Was he being…being bullied? Jaime, who'd sworn at her during training and used her dishes as weapons when they'd first met; the kid who was so much smarter than he let on, and brave enough to stand up to Batman…was being bullied by some punk who he could've killed in .2 seconds? What the hell?

"La gringa es su prima?" The white girl is your cousin? Artemis wanted to step in, but she knew that it would make things worse.

"Yes," Jaime said softly. The bigger kid smirked and shoved him aside, winking suggestively as he passed Artemis.

"Well then, I guess the hot genes skipped you," he said. Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Jaime, we're leaving," she said, tugging him along. The big kid swore at Jaime in Spanish, obviously thinking that Artemis couldn't understand. Bastard.

"Okay, what gives?" Artemis demanded as soon as they were well out of range of anyone looking from the school.

"What do you mean?" Jaime hedged.

"I mean, why didn't you stand up for yourself? You could've kicked that kid's ass into next week."

"I'm not a hero here," Jaime answered quietly. "I'm just Jaime Reyes. I don't have any powers and I don't want attention. It's easier to fly under the radar." Artemis wanted to disagree, but she couldn't.

"Dammit," she grumbled. "That was well-thought-out and logical. I still say that you should've punched him."

"Course you do, beauty queen." Jaime said, grinning. "Sorry, but I don't think I can take advice from someone who probably was a cheerleader in high school." Artemis looked at him, open-mouthed, but didn't have a chance to retaliate as he ducked into a small dive off of the side of the road. It was a good place – Artemis didn't know about the food, but it was easily defensible: Small, contained, with two exits that she could see, and thin walls, in case they had to make their own.

"Nice place," Artemis complimented as they sat down and ordered food and drinks. He'd taken her mentoring to heart, at least when it came to safe places to hide out. "And for your information, I identify more with your high-school experience than you might think."

"You?" Jaime said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, me." Artemis replied. "I wasn't born this naturally suave." Jaime laughed and Artemis smirked. "Basically, I was the kid everyone avoided. I started fights, I lit things on fire, I stole the principal's pet poodle."

"You did what?"

"I hated the dog, and the principal was a dick," Artemis said. Jaime looked vaguely impressed. Artemis laughed and told him the story as their food arrived.

"Well, there go all of my mental images of you as prom queen," Jaime said when she was finished. Artemis hurled her fork at him, laughing.

"Prom queen? I didn't even go to my senior prom. I didn't even graduate."

"Whoa, arsonist, thief, dropout?" Jaime said. "Jesus, your authority problems went back longer than I thought."

"I've never been the good one. I guess when you're a twin, there's always a good and a bad one. She was always – " Artemis's words cut off abruptly. Was she still drunk? Hell.

"You're a twin?" Jaime asked, looking intrigued.

"Not the topic of conversation." Artemis said quickly.

"You have a sister? What was she like?" Jaime's mind spun, thinking of two Artemis's. How had they not taken over the world already? "Does she look like you? Was she a hero like you were? Is she a criminal? What's here name? What's she like."

Artemis blinked, trying to process all of the questions at the same time before snapping. "She's dead!" Jaime's mouth shut with an audible noise and he looked down at his food.

"I'm sorry," Jaime murmured. "I – "

"It was years ago." Artemis replied. "Besides, I don't think she'd be too happy with how I turned out." Damn. She had wanted this to be fun. Nothing killed a mood like talking about your dead sister. "Look, Jaime. I have to tell you something."

"Why you were borracha last night?" Jaime said. "You're good at hiding it, but when you've lived with a drunk, you learn to tell when people are hung over. What happened?"

"There's a hit out on you." Artemis said, not sugar-coating it. "A Light-sanctioned hit." Artemis didn't mention that she was the one who was supposed to see it through. Jaime paled violently and Artemis wished she could take it all back. She never should've involved him. He could've lived with the Scarab. He didn't have to become a hero – that was her doing. Her fault.

"For Blue Beetle, or Jaime Reyes?"

"Blue," Artemis replied. "Your ID is safe. The hit is for capture, not death, but…"

"But the people after me aren't known for taking prisoners." Jaime finished.

"Yes."

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"No!" Artemis said sharply. "Jaime, chico, look at me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. If Nightwing knows what's good for him, he's going to keep you out of the field for a while, at least until I can figure out a way to handle this."

"But – "

"No. No buts. You're my responsibility and my kid and I'm not letting you get hurt. You got that?" Jaime didn't answer for a few long minutes, and then he nodded slowly.

"Si."

Artemis paid the check and walked Jaime out the restaurant's back door.

"I can get home from here." Jaime said.

"I'll walk you," Artemis replied.

"I'm fine." Liar.

"Yeah, well I'm not." Artemis said. "So let me make sure you get home okay, for my sake." Jaime nodded and Artemis put her hand on his shoulder.

She knew El Paso pretty well and was easily able to avoid main roads or any security cameras. It was still unsafe for Jaime to be seen with her, now even more so with the bounty on his hero counterpart's head, but Artemis needed to make sure that he was okay. Needless to say, she kept one hand on her knives at all times.

They were almost home free when Artemis felt eyes on her back. She tensed slightly, invisible to the naked eye, and kept walking.

"Jaime, when I tell you, run," she hissed into his ear.

"What?" Jaime murmured in reply.

"Someone is watching us." Artemis pushed him out of the way as she was shoved from behind. "Jaime, run!" The kid took off and Artemis sprang to her feet, only to be sent flying from a blow to her left. But when she looked up, there was no-one there. Nothing but a blur in the air. A speedster. Artemis snarled, taking out her knives and readying them. Whoever it was, he was short. Artemis pointed her knives downwards and focused on taking small, measured steps. She knew how to fight speedsters. Stay quick. Find their pattern and then use it against them.

Meanwhile, Jaime leaped into the air, his armor snapping into place and metallic wings supporting him. He saw Artemis dodging whatever was attacking her with small, quick steps, both of her knives ready. She clearly knew what she was doing. Whoever was attacking her stopped for just a millisecond, and the Scarab zoomed in on the face. It was blurred, but Jaime could recognize a white and red uniform, and shocking red hair.

"Artemis, don't!" Jaime yelled, as Artemis hurled one of her daggers through the air. There was a yell and the speedster was revealed, pinned against the wall of the alley. Artemis ignored him and pounced onto the speedster's chest, one of her gloves already on her hands, claws extended and pointed at her attacker's throat.

"Who are you?" she demanded of the red-haired boy who reminded her a lot of another speedster she knew.

"I could ask you the same thing," the speedster replied. "And I could also ask you why you were threatening Blue!"

"His name is Bart," Jaime said, landing beside Artemis. "He's a part of the team. He's from the future. She wasn't threatening me, idioto."

"Hell," Artemis swore. Someone from the future, and the League? That was just what she needed: Someone else knowing about her and Jaime, and who could change all of time and space by stepping on a butterfly. This wasn't going to go over well. "Jaime, is your mom home?"

"No."

"Good."

"What are you – " Jaime started as Artemis drew one of her claws across the speeder's chest. Bart yelped in pain.

"Jaime, pop quiz. What's now in your friend's bloodstream?" She held up one of her claws for analysis.

"Inhibitor serum." Jaime said after a moment. "You can't run, ese."

"Very good." Artemis hauled Bart to his feet. "Come on, we're going to have a chat."

"Jaime, who is this chic?" Bart demanded as Artemis dumped him onto the floor of Jaime's kitchen.

"My mentor," Jaime replied, after Artemis had waved her hand, giving him the okay to speak. She was going to have to handle this – but she couldn't kill the speedster, not if Jaime knew him, or if the League would notice his absence.

"Your mentor? I thought that was Ted Kord."

"No, Ted Kord is dead," Artemis said. "I, however, am not." Bart looked at her hard for a moment, before recognition dawned on his face.

"Artemis. You're Artemis! The Artemis that's got the statue in the Cave. You look good for someone who's dead. Does the League know that you're alive? Why are you hiding? And – "

"Kindly tell your friend to shut up," Artemis said through her teeth to Jaime.

"Hombre, silencio." Jaime said quickly. He could tell that Artemis was getting pissed and antsy, and that wasn't a combination that bode well for the person who made her that way. "Look, Artemis and I…our relationship with the League is sketchy at best."

"Your relationship? Like the two of you?"

"No. Mine." Artemis said, throwing Jaime a look. "I've got League issues…Jaime, you think he'll be noticed if he doesn't come back?"

"Definitely." Jaime said, nodding.

"Whoa, Jaime, buddy. This is starting to feel like a double-team. So not crash." Artemis ignored him, pacing. She couldn't alter Bart's memory without hurting him, and besides, speedsters had an annoyingly high recovery time for brain cells. Most cells, actually. There was every chance that he could regain his memory. Artemis looked at Jaime, her eyes asking him to keep Bart occupied while she thought of something.

"Dicirle la verdad, pero no demasiado," Artemis said quietly. Tell him the truth, but not too much. Artemis paced back and forth. Someone else knew their secret. Someone who clearly was a big enough motor-mouth to go blab about it.

And who reminded her of another red-haired, motor-mouthed speedster.

"You're from the future you said?" Artemis said out of nowhere, cutting Jaime off in mid-sentence.

"Yeah," Bart replied. "What of it?"

"You're an Allen, aren't you? You're a part of the Flash family."

"How did you…?"

"I stopped asking that question months ago," Jaime said. "She's good at that kind of stuff. Don't question it, just go with it."

"Okay, Bart. I'm bringing you home."

Artemis knew that Wally had left the superhero life. He was in college now, and he was doing well. Artemis was proud of that – he had always been brilliant, if ADHD. She knew that just showing up at his apartment wasn't exactly subtle, but it was the best way to deliver Bart back to the League safely and keep Wally from punching her in the face for not telling him that she was still alive.

Oh, who was she kidding? Artemis missed Wally and she was using Bart as an excuse to go see him.

"So, how do you know my great-grandpa?" Bart asked after a long, awkward silence. Artemis was driving him to Star City. He'd show up on the Zeta and that could be suspicious.

"Look, kid." Artemis said gruffly. "I don't give a damn about you. Or the future, or the League, for that matter. But I do care about Jaime. And if the League finds out about his affiliation with me, he's going to get hurt. There's already a hit out for Blue Beetle."

"There is?" Bart asked.

"Yes." Artemis pulled up to the curb outside Wally's apartment with a screech of tires and pulled Bart out of the car. "So if anything happens to Jaime, or if the League comes hunting me down, you're the one I'll be gunning for. And if you're smart, that scares you." Artemis pulled him up the stairs and knocked on Wally's door.

"Hey, West," Artemis said when Wally opened the door. "I brought you a present."