A/N: This is not starting off directly where HbaT left off. There's going to be some anti-hero goodness before Nightwing is thrown in. It's going to make some of the explanations easier and the story cooler, in my opinion at least. Oh, and Jason has that little piebald streak in the front of his hair like in the Red Hood comics. Not that it's all that important to know that tidbit of information.

Artemis reached over to her buzzing alarm clock and shut it off quickly. "I just wanna sleep," She groaned into her pillow. Making sure drug lords know their place really takes it out of a girl.

Sleep was just inviting her back for more when the buzzing went off again. Without hesitation, Artemis sat up, unplugged the clock, and threw it out the open window three feet from her bed. It was satisfying to hear the crash of the devil's clock hitting the pavement thirty feet below. Although hearing the neighbors yelling to stop throwing things, wasn't. Her old hero morals told her not to kill them to make them shut up. Those morals had the worst timing for showing up.

A loud banging on her bedroom door told her she wasn't getting any more sleep anytime soon. "What?" She growled out.

"Wakey, wakey! Your turn to make eggs and bacy!" Came a male voice from the other side of the door.

"I made them yesterday, Jay!" The blonde yelled back.

"I inherited bad cooking skills from my adoptive father!" Jason yelled. Yeah, always blame the rich guy.

"There is a knife not one foot from my hand," Artemis slowly threatened as she reached for the knife on her night stand, "Now go away before it miraculously lands in your skull."

Retreating footsteps was the only response that found its way to Artemis's ears. Finally, there is peace again, she thought.

That is until the footsteps started coming back, and with a vengeance. Artemis's door was kicked open to reveal a pajama clad Jason Todd with a semi-automatic machine gun in hand. "Just try it, Kitten."

Artemis fully sat up, with knife in hand. "Are you involved in a conspiracy with my alarm clock to make sure I never sleep again?" She tried to keep a poker face, but it was cracking at the seams from amusement.

"Maybe," He answered with a cheeky grin.

Take the gun out of the picture and he looked like a normal eighteen, almost nineteen, year old boy. With bed head that would put a dead animal to shame, an inside out pajama shirt, and long grey pajama pants leading to fuzzy pink bunny slippers normal seemed to fit. If this was the Red Hood all the villains saw, the name would forever be spoiled. If they knew Red Hood was only an eighteen year old kid, all the villains would be spoiled. Although most of them have been taken out by pre-teened Robins.

"I'm twenty-one, I shouldn't have to be dealing with you," She said with narrowed eyes.

"And neither one of us should be alive, you can blame the Lazarus Pit and one Mister Al Ghul."

"If I was dead then I could sleep," She groaned and fell back onto her bed.

"Well you're not, and I'm not. And we're both hungry so time for breakfast!"

"I'll be out in a minute," Artemis conceded so Jason would leave her in peace.

It worked and Jason closed her door to the best of his ability. Looks like the door would have to be fixed, again. That's the third time this week and its only Thursday. Artemis was coming this close to giving up on fixing the door and just hoping it stayed closed at night.

Finally deciding that she would just be woken up again if any attempt at sleep was given, she fully got up. This is how almost every morning went since they entered a mutually beneficiary agreement to work together about three years ago, about the time Jason was brought back via Lazarus Pit. That way, they both had a place to live and someone to watch their back. One time when they were bored out of their minds they considered calling themselves the "Not-Dead-Yet's". That was the evening's low point.

Sighing to herself, she pushed off the bed and stood up. Her long shirt fell to her mid-thigh and made it look like she wasn't wearing shorts underneath. Still too tired to care, she walked out towards the apartment's small kitchen. Her bare feet padded on the wooden floor as she went to get out the pans and ingredients to make breakfast.

The only meals that were ever homemade in the apartment were one's that Artemis cooked, otherwise it was all takeout.

As she mixed together the ingredients for pancake batter Jason hopped up to sit on the counter next to the stove. Artemis raised an eyebrow at him. Jay almost never came into the kitchen unless it was to quickly grab food, something must be important for him to take a longer set place in the room.

Jason got the hint, "Joker's guys have been interfering with some of our transports lately."

"Is that your idea of asking someone out on a date?" Artemis sarcastically asked.

"Well if you didn't have any plans for the night," Jason kept the sarcasm flowing.

"Alright, we'll go when it gets dark out," She agreed, "But tomorrow, I get to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the rules," Jay waved her off.

Artemis poured the pancake batter and got to work on the eggs and bacon. She nodded as a response. The rules were that on death anniversaries and birthdays, the person could do whatever they wanted. This time, all Artemis wanted was to catch up on sleep and ignore everyone for a little while.

Her death always brought back unwanted memories. Like how her own father killed her as a vengeance for being a hero. The feeling of dying in general, it really sucks by the way, don't try it at home. Wally finding her and how sad he looked. Being brought back to life. Seeing her own funeral and figuring out that Dick Grayson was Robin, finally. Most of all, seeing how much her mother has cried over the years. She still can't bring herself to go let her mom know she's alive.

Although her death did bring good things. Like Jade becoming a hero. That's about it though. Its still more than enough in Artemis's opinion. It allowed Jade to settle down with Roy, start a family and the likes. Jade finally got her dose of normal.

"So," Jason breathed out as he twiddled his thumbs.

"Yes?" Artemis was looking for a distraction right about now.

"Are you ever gonna tell anyone you're alive?" He asked casually.

"Jay, do me a favor and put your hand on this hot stove," She replied just as casually. Her body language screamed that she was uncomfortable with the topic.

"Maybe later, I like my hands. They're useful," He defended and continued on, "But seriously, 'Mis, you should tell someone."

Artemis put down the spatula she used to flip the pancakes with a little too much force, "You've also told me that I should buy you alcohol. That I should let you go take care of Joker all by yourself. And most often, you've told me that I should take that stick out of my ass."

The young anti-hero shrugged, "Not my fault you don't take my advice."

"Well, excuse me if I'm smart enough not to."

"You're excused," The teen grinned fully.

"And you're a complete jackass," Artemis smiled back.

"Oh," He mocked, "Kitten has claws."

"Shut up, Jay," She rolled her eyes, "Breakfast is ready anyways."

She flipped the last pancake on a plate and grabbed two plates. Jay grabbed the utensils and cups. They both grabbed their servings and conversation was cut short due to food.

~JLH~JLH~JLH~JLH~

Taking out Joker's goons? Easy. Confronting a childhood friend that thought you to be dead? Not so easy.

From the moment Nightwing jumped down, Artemis knew shit was going to hit the fan. Mostly because Jay's a big mouth. After a brief moment of consideration, Artemis decided that Jason needed his mouth duct taped shut.

She stayed silent for the sibling bickering. She stayed silent for Nightwing suggesting they turn themselves in. But Jason trying to give away her identity, that's crossing the line.

"Let's just get out of here Jay, it's better to leave the situation how it is." If necessary, she would've begged to get out of there at that moment.

Jason waved her off without a care and gave the most obvious clue of them all. Screw duct tape, his mouth was going to be sewn shut.

Nightwing looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He barely even sputtered out, "But-That's not possible. I went to both of your funerals, I saw your dead body, you were dead."

Hood went off rambling about how neither of them should be alive, but Artemis ignored that heartily. The only thing she was focusing on was how to respond to the grown vigilante. What exactly do you say to the person who thought you to be dead? Hi? No. 'Sup? No. Been a while? No. Yeah, I thought that was you? Hell no.

A smirk easily found its place on Artemis's face as she came up with the perfect answer, "We can laugh about that picture now, Boy Wonder."

The smile that sprung up on Nightwing's face made her see the little thirteen year old from six years ago. He was still the same kid under all that newly-acquired muscle and spandex. Not to mention height. He was now noticeably taller than her.

The smile soon disappeared though. It was replaced by a serious and strangely Batman-like aura. "You have a lot of explaining to do," He practically demanded, the whites of his mask narrowing into slits.

"Oh, about that," Artemis fidgeted slightly and took a step back, "I'm going to have to go with no."

"Sorry, no choice," Nightwing dictated with a step forward.

"And that's my cue," With that she took off running for the nearest exit. Once she was out of the building it would be easy to disappear in the old warehouses. Jason would be alright by himself and they know just to go back to the apartment in case of an emergency. This would count as an emergency.

She made it out of the exit and into a particularly decrepit building. From there she kept going from warehouse to warehouse until she deemed herself safe enough to stop. A quick breather was allotted and she took off for the apartment. It's officially her day to sleep anyways.

However, when she slid into the living room window of the apartment, she knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep. Jason had brought a stray bird home. That bird just so happened to be a nineteen year old vigilante in black and blue spandex.

"Jason, you're a dead man walking," Artemis vowed out loud.

"I'll take those kind words to heart," He said as he took his helmet off.

"You broke the rules," She growled as she grabbed a knife out of her utility belt. All she wanted was sleep? Was that too much to ask for?

"Rules are meant to be broken," He responded and picked his gun back up from the table next to him.

Nightwing stood up from the couch. "I'm going to have to break up this little lover's quarrel." The awkward statement was just left hanging there. It made Artemis want to gag.

Artemis got what the hero was hinting at, wanting to know what the relationship between them was, "We're just friends."

Jason spoke up from his side of the room, "Yeah, we even made little bracelets and braided each other's hair. Practical BFF's no matter what Kitten here says."

"He's lying," Artemis clarified.

"I gathered as much," Nightwing admitted. "I also gathered that you were brought back by the Lazarus Pit. What I want to know is the why." He sat back down, a good indicator this was going to be a long conversation.

"Simple, Ra's thought I'd still be an asset after Sportsmaster killed me. He thought I would go back to being a Shadow. Obviously, he was wrong."

"You're not a Shadow, but you're not on the right side of the law either," Nightwing accused.

"We're taking out the bad guys our own way." She referred to both her and Jason, "What's so wrong with that?"

"You kill people for one."

"That's our choice. It's far more effective anyways."

Nightwing hung his head sadly. "You've become just what you never wanted to be, Artemis."

"And please tell, what's that?" She growled out. There was a reason she didn't want to have this conversation in the first place.

"A murderer." He looked at her, trying to meet her eyes, "Artemis, you never wanted that."

"I'm not the same person you knew before. Get that through your head, Dick," His real name slipped out unintentionally.

Nightwing rose to leave. He stood at the window for a moment before turning back to face Artemis, "I have one last question."

"Make it quick," She forced out.

"Did you kill Sportsmaster four years ago?"

The words hung in the air and made everything tense. Nightwing sat on the window sill, waiting for an answer. He would wait all night if he had to. It was the most important question after why she was brought back to life.

"Yes," She breathed out.

Nightwing's stomach dropped to his toes. He gave a quick, concise nod and jumped out the window. Gravity felt heavier for the rest of the night.

A/N: Good start? This is going to be constantly changing between humor and seriousness. I'm going to get a headache just writing it. Well, you guys seriously wanted the sequel to happen. So I got writing and couldn't stop. Goodness, this story is probably going to be the death of me. *head desk* It's winter break for me at least, so this should be updated pretty quickly. Just no getting on my case for not updating. I will promptly chew you out. You all know I've done it before.

Read. Enjoy. Review.