Double Deaths, a young justice fanfic

Alright I started this one shot ages ago. Ages. I'm talking months. It was requested by my good friend thebestoftherest Artemis and Wally are killed in Depths to go undercover.

They provided me a lot of suggestions along the way to help bring their vision to life. So I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I tried a different writing style for this one dividing the story into a collection of ten scenes and weaving in what we already know about the story so far.

So enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters.

Double Deaths

There were a lot of things Artemis and Wally were ashamed of but that didn't mean they had regrets. They had done some terrible things; to their friends, their families, their mentors – there was a very long list of people that they had betrayed and everyday it grew longer. But they didn't regret it and that was the important thing.

In the beginning it had been simple.

That was their first mistake.

Underestimating how quickly things could escalate.

They easiest part was faking their "deaths." That was nothing but an elaborate dance practiced till perfect; till muscle memory made their mundane movements realistic. Wally had died first. He had gotten himself "impaled" on one of Kaldur's water bearers and when Artemis had tried to avenge him she had met a similar fate crumpling to the ground beside her lover the definitive snap of the capsule in her mouth echoing quietly admit the chaos. He had broken his only a moment ago so sleep had come quickly, but the last thing he had seen was her.

Obviously they had to disguise themselves and while she assumed the identity of Tigeress aided by Zatanna's charm Wally took a completely different route. Even after five years he was still convinced magic was fake-ish (he really couldn't explain some things anymore); instead he choose to believe Zatanna was a concentrated energy rod and her abilities were merely the dissipation of will manipulating reality. It was clear that his mannerisms and body structure, his skills especially, would have been too easy a give away for anyone who encountered them during their undercover mission. So he decided the best solution would be to remove his face. He wasn't a science genius for nothing.

Decked out in a blue suit and fedora with a faceless mask that could only be applied or removed with a special chemical spray Wally transformed himself from the lanky, devilishly handsome track and field star into a mopey, cynical black haired (another side benefit of the spray to disguise his flamboyant hair) man. Speeding was strictly prohibited but years of training with Black Canary and sparring with his girlfriend left him with the dexterity and ability to wipe the floor with any opponent. Plus throwing a little bit of speed in wouldn't be that noticeable. To complete the entire ensemble he threw in a rifle, just for kicks, as a backup defense – especially after Artemis laughed at him for wanting to dress up like Elmer Fudd – because if she was going to get toys he was going to have toys.

"What are you supposed to be?" Artemis had asked as she stared at Wally's faceless countenance and costume; complete with orange socks. She had to admit it was a little disarming to see her beloved boyfriend without a face.

"I could ask you the same thing," he had countered teasingly as they stood on either side of their apartment showing off the new identities they would assume after they "died." "Catwoman missing her leopard print leotard?"

"The name is Tigeress," Artemis purred sliding across the room towards him, "And you?" Her gloves sliding against his shoulders as her body slipped against his in a very familiar way.

"Er," Wally blinked slowly a haze settling across his mindscape from her gentle movements and pressures. He let out a puff of air. "I, uh,"

"Cat got your tongue?"

Wally's gloved hands shot to his face to cover his burning cheeks (despite them being covered) as he peered down into Artemis's eyes through the holes in her mask, "God, only thought Jade would ever be able to use that line on me."

Artemis snorted attempting to pull away but Wally's arms encased her before she could make her daring escape, "Not so fast kitty cat."

Artemis snorted. "Pushing the puns aren't we?" The smile faded from her face as she reached her fingers up and tried to feel for the edges of the mask her fingers fleetingly tracing around his face.

"Wally how do I get this damn thing off?" she asked seriously.

"Coat pocket."

"A spray?" she questioned pulling the bottle out.

"It's a complex acidic formula that breaks down the rubber cement and unblocks the pheomelanin pigments in my hair." Artemis rolled her eyes as she sprayed the substance over his face and peeled the mask away.

"I knew you were in there somewhere," laughed Artemis kissing his cheek. Wally merely grinned folding the synthetic mask down into a small packet before storing it away. "But that still begs the question who are you?"

Wally frowned. "Well I am bringing the rifle-"

"Which you will most likely use to shoot your own foot off," pointed out Artemis mirthfully.

"BC and Red taught us basic weapons handling," muttered Wally bitterly at the jibe, "Mafia Man…" Artemis proceeded to burst out laughing. "It's not that funny."

"You are a real puzzle Wally," she smirked, "A complete mystery."

"Clearly that's a huge turn on for you," riposted Wally before something Artemis had said previously clicked with him. "Puzzle, mystery, question – that's it my name will be Question!"

"Clearly because everyone will be questioning your sanity."

"What yours isn't even a real word?" he protested crossing his arms.

"It's a homage to my mother," snapped Artemis equally frustrated. "I'm pretty sure if I just outright called myself Huntress people would figure it out pretty quickly." Artemis was pretty sensitive regarding any topic that involved her mother's past life. It was no secret that the name Huntress had a pretty impressive reputation to go with it but as perfect the reputation was, it was also equally dark, and even if Artemis secretly harbored the desire to take up her mother's namesake (which she did) it would do nothing to aide their discretion in the coming months. Maybe later she could wrap that cloak around herself but not for this mission.

"Sorry, babe," conceded Wally, "I'm just not totally on board with this yet. I mean the school thinks we're going on an extended exchange to Vietnam and Dick is going to look after Nelson but the rest – the rest is just going to suck. I get why we're doing this I do, but is this really the only way? Lying to everyone, betraying them, this is deep cover. We're basically signing up to screw ourselves and everyone else over."

Artemis, as always the pragmatist, responded with searing confidence. "If it works then we'll have saved the world as we know it."

"And if it doesn't?" whined Wally wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head in the junction between her shoulder and her neck.

"Well at least you'll get to claim you were "fake" married to me."

"That is the only perk of this job," quipped Wally. "Although who said it would be fake? Pretty sure the acting is going to be pretty real on my part." Artemis just smiled secretly massaging her fingers through his hair.

"Come on babe, lighten up, at least we'll be together." Wally sighed dejectedly burrowing further against the smooth olive skin of her neck. Artemis knew Wally didn't like this situation. He didn't want to do this stupid mission and she could admit that the stakes were incredibly high and, if they failed, deadly. But they were the best tag team and with her knowledge and Wally's intelligence the two would most likely pull this off without alerting anyone to what they had done. It was hard for Artemis to leave this life behind though. This life she had to painstakingly created, separate from what her family had built, separate from what her family had wanted to become. If it wasn't for the fact that in a few hours both she and Wally would be "dead" she knew her father would be laughing at the fact that his training was going to be put to its intended use – to smash in the good guys' faces and not his.

"Hey," murmured Wally slinging an arm over her shoulder. "I know that look. Artemis, you aren't going to change." She frowned in response but nodded nevertheless.

Wally grinned impishly pulling her back towards their bedroom. "Come on tiger, we need to test out the durability of these costumes."

"It's Tigeress."

"That works too."

"So this," said Zatanna dramatically brandishing a simple looking yellow pendant. "Is the transmortification spell." Artemis long ago had learned not to question Zatanna since it usually led to long conversations about topics that, although fascinating, usually resulted in the magician either getting teary eyed at the memory of her father or caused some haywire magic that left people traumatized for a week.

"She doesn't look any different," harped Wally as he picked up the necklace skeptically once it was around his girlfriend's neck. "Are you sure this thing is on?"

"Of course she looks the same to us," groaned Zatanna dramatically explaining the magical accessory's properties as if talking to a toddler. "That's the point. Us five will know it's her but nobody else will. She'll look like a completely different person. Not everyone can make as blatant a costume as you and still hide their identity. You've always had a knack for it."

"Haha," quipped Wally crossing his arms, his glare hidden by his mask. "Hilarious."

"Too bad you couldn't do something about your big mouth."

"Alright you two," interjected Dick. "Play nice. You all know the plan." The assembled quintet nodded. "Good. Artemis and Wally will be posing as married mercenaries from East Asia, who Kaldur met while he was mourning Tula."

"Oh," preened Wally excitedly. "Almost forgot." Scuffling around in his pockets for a moment he pulled out a ring box and extracted a golden band. "For the lady."

Artemis's eyes widened at the ring but she graciously allowed Wally to place it on her finger. "For the act." He supplied simply without letting go of her hand.

"Sure," scoffed Zatanna making air quotes. "The act." Everyone chuckled at the joke but it petered out quickly as the gravity of the situation weighed heavy on their shoulders.

"I don't like this," sighed Wally. "They're not going to forgive us."

"What could go wrong?" muttered Artemis, attempting, and failing at making a joke.

"Don't say that," said Wally tiredly.

"He's right," chimed in Zatanna slicing through the strained silence easily. "If we start worrying about all the millions of possible things that could go wrong, the mission will never go right." Everyone involuntarily gulped.

"Time to go," interjected Kaldur. "Ready?" Wally and Artemis nodded following Kaldur out onto the dock. Dick could still see their intertwined hands as the trio entered the sub.

"Whoa babezilla on deck!" crowed one Icicle Junior once he laid eyes on the – well neither Artemis nor Wally knew how she looked, but clearly if the twerp's reaction was anything to go by she still was attractive; and Wally wasn't sure whether he was happy or angry at that prospect.

"Icicle Junior," snapped Kaldur frigidly. "Show some respect." The frozen boy shrugged sending his superior a challenging smirk.

"Whatever you say, daddy's boy."

"If memory serves," snapped Artemis, "You're the same. The only difference being your daddy doesn't even want people to know you're related."

"Feisty kitty," he sneered. "Why not ditch faceless and see how a real lips feel."

"Pretty sure the kiss-ass flavor wouldn't suit her," stated Wally inspecting his gloved fingers boringly. "Kitty's all mine." He wasn't surprised when Artemis punched him in the arm. Hard. But, for the record, he did enjoy the amazing shade of purple Cameron's face turned at the insult.

"Enough," barked Kaldur instigating himself between the bickering males. "You have your assignments, until such time as you are needed I suggest you learn to get along. Rendezvous 0-800 hours for debriefing on Plan Beta."

"You're just creepy," spat Cameron as he turned to follow the Terror Twins. "You must look hideous under there. Your wife probably can't even stomach to look at your face."

"He makes up for it in other areas," responded Artemis evenly sending the sputtering Junior a simpering look. "Come on big guy. Let's find our bunker."

Kaldur sighed dramatically as he guided the pair towards their room; it was utterly impossible for Wally to keep a low profile. This was one of the times when they all wished that one of them had the gift of telepathy because it would make communicating a thousand times easier with them held captive within the confines of the sub.

"So," began Wally peeling his mask off once Kaldur had locked the door behind them, "That went well."

"You cannot pick fights with Icicle Junior," said Kaldur, "You are not only trying to befriend them but keep a low profile."

"I just acted how I thought Question would," responded Wally.

"Pretentious?" questioned Artemis. "I really don't see how that's any different from the regular you." She pulled at her mask and sighed as the necklace swung on her neck uncomfortably. She never wore jewelry because it was something that was too easy to grab onto and be used against her. It was a hazard and she didn't like that her entire disguise depended on it.

Kaldur pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Wally, you need to take this more seriously. In a few days you are going to have to fight our friends. We still have to reunite L'agann with the team."

"How hard could that be?" Artemis and Kaldur shared a look. Artemis had been around her father long enough to know the price of what they were doing and Aqualad had been there long enough to know that it wasn't going to be simple. "Guys?"

"We're attacking Mount Justice."

It was like they blinked and in a second the mountain was gone.

The team was gone.

All they did was blink.

They could hear Impulse and Garfield struggling against their restraints and Impulse was muttering something under his breath as he stared wide-eyed at the wreckage. All this for a flash drive. All this destruction for one flimsy, lousy disk.

"Man I wish I had popcorn," chuckled Cameron surveying the chaos with maniacal glee. The Terror Twins cracked their knuckles in agreement, although Tommy punched Junior when he attempted to grope the muscled villain's sister.

"Put them down," stated Kaldur from his command seat but before Artemis could even take a step forward Wally was pulling her back and he walked forward to confront the mini-speedester.

"A birdie tells me you're from the future," he began conspiratorially looking him in the eyes and Artemis seriously wanted to kick his face in for the "slip" because God only knew what Wally was playing at anymore. "What's it like? Can't be much fun if you had to come back and change everything?"

"Who says I'm changing anything?" snapped Bart back vehemently, "I could just be here for vacation. Time travel is all the rage." Although given the challenging glint in the preteen's eyes and the fact that he seemed to be way too accepting of Question's interrogation made Artemis nervous.

"No," said Wally deviously. (He was taking his role way too seriously.) "I don't think it's that at all. You wanted to fix something. Did you manage to fix it?"

"What's your crazy spouse doing?" asked Cameron sidling up beside her. "What does he think all his psycho-analysis nonsense is going to accomplish?" Wally yanked at the auburn haired boy's chin forcing him to look at the flaming remnants of the mountain. "Is this what you wanted?"

The boy's face took on a tortured look and the twins laughed gleefully at the expression while Kaldur remained passive and stoic beside her. "Night, night." As he easily injected the boy with a sleeping agent before crossing the deck in three strides so he could instigate himself between Junior.

"Very impressive, Question. Unnecessary and cruel but effective," said Kaldur pressing the button to shock Gar unconscious as he stared dumbstruck at Impulse. "All of you back to your stations we need to be as far away from here as possible when the Justice League shows up."

"I don't get what you're so worried about," drawled Tuppence. "We just turned their base to ash."

"Which means they'll turn you to ash if they find you," stated Kaldur.

Artemis added, "The Justice League doesn't like it when you mess with their stuff – especially their protégées."

"Whatever," huffed Tuppence spinning around in her seat.

"Oh pretty and smart I like that in a woman," quipped Cameron. "Offer still stands." If Wally could glare Icicle would be melting.

Artemis was crying when she entered their bunker, or as close to crying as Wally has ever seen as she dry heaved her fingers digging into the mattress as she sat on their bed. She'd been the one to find Kaldur while he had been fighting the sidekicks with Black Beetle – he regretted not being there. He regretted getting knocked out.

"She lobotomized him." Artemis shuddered and Wally sat up in the bed. He had already counted the number of screws on the ceiling…twice. There were thirty-two and it seemed trivial but this new knowledge was all he could offer at the moment as he pressed his chest against her back and she sunk back against him.

"It's okay, babe." He lied pressing kisses to her neck. He wasn't there but he saw Kaldur and there wasn't much left of the once great man. Lifeless eyes, drool stained lips and a limp body had been drug into the medical bay by Artemis and Wally knew that was not a good sign. That their plan had failed that they were treading a dangerous line.

She let out a strangled whisper. "It's my fault."

"No," stated Wally. "You never asked M'gann to do that. M'gann did that all on her own. You'd never wish that kind of fate on anyone. She's wrong."

Artemis toed his rifle and blue suit, which he'd dumped beside the bed and began pulling off her gear. "M'gann knows."

Wally shrugged. "If it wasn't her it would have been someone else. Dick couldn't hide this forever and eventually we would have given something away."

"Pretty sure Bart is going to blab because of a certain someone. By the way, were you trying to blow our cover?" Wedging her shoes off and nursing her bruised ribs, courtesy of Conner, she crawled in beside Wally.

Wally gently wrapped his arms around her torso and delicately began to dip his fingers beneath her tank top, kissing her shoulders and pulse point. Artemis hummed contentedly at Wally's ministrations until she felt Wally's calloused, warm fingers crawl upwards towards her bra.

"You're kidding right?"

"Do I ever kid about the serious stuff?" questioned Wally hands cupping her breasts over the brasserie.

"Serious?" she snorted. "You and I have very different definition of the term." She frowned rolling over so she could nuzzle against his collar. "What happens now? We've found out about The Reach but we're still here."

"We wait for orders and hope Kaldur gets better."

"He isn't going to get better," snapped Artemis bitterly. "And without him as captain someone else is going to step in – probably a psychopath."

"Do I, the cynical conspiracy theorist, have to be the voice of optimism?" joked Wally. "It'll be alright. You have me."

"I don't know if that is actually helping," responded Artemis quietly. "It seemed like a good idea at the start but I don't think I can concentrate fully with you around; I can't let myself go."

"Is that why you took that blow from Conner?" questioned Wally sternly pressing a little more then firmly against the purpling skin. "Artemis I chose this."

"But I was born into this."

"Do we have to have this conversation every time? I chose this…and the consequences."

"I don't want you to become perverted like I am."

"I'm plenty perverted," teased Wally quietly.

"Stuff it," she sighed shoving him in their already too narrow bed (man she missed their apartment with their King sized bed and yellow walls.)

"Look Dick will get us out. He's not just going to leave us here." But Artemis still heard the tremor of doubt – they both knew he wasn't the same Richard Grayson anymore. That was a scary thought.

Neither of them were surprised when they snuck into the empty Bludhaven warehouse and found the entire team, the League and their families squashed into the space. Everyone had been on edge since the incident at the DC headquarters and by now M'gann had told everyone their identities. Zatanna and Nightwing smoothly placed themselves between the couple and their enraged friends as together they somberly placed the stretcher with Kaldur down and pull of their disguises; Wally used the spray to dislodge his mask and Artemis removed the charm and then Conner hissed,

"You have no idea what your secrets have done to us!" He stomped his foot so hard on the ground the concrete split. "What the hell!"

"Look it was need to know," began Dick.

"And we," Conner gestured between the original members of the team and himself, "Didn't need to know? Is that what you're telling us? You let us think they were dead!"

"Supes look we're sorry," interjected Wally tugging nervously at his tie, "Artemis and I agreed we were the best to go undercover and we needed it to be convincing –"

"I don't have a problem with you," spat Conner vehemently, "Or even Kaldur, now that M'gann's told me what she saw, my problem is that Night-fucking-Wing didn't feel we deserved to know. Ever. Like one day you three were just going to walk into a room and everything was going to be okay."

"It was Dick that made me do it." Everyone turned toward the Martian who had a relieved look on her face. "It wasn't my fault. Dick did it to Kaldur, I didn't know, if I had known."

"Oh come off it M'gann," said Conner tiredly. "I'm sick of this. Your secret is out. You thought Kaldur killed them so you basically killed him. You control your actions."

"But if Nightwing had told me," she looked around the room fleetingly before her eyes settled on Kaldur. "I never…I never would have."

"But you did," stated Artemis and Wally instinctively took a step in front of her.

"I thought he had killed you!"

"But we don't kill in revenge. That's not how this gig works. What you've done is irreparable." At this point everyone else assembled had stared in awestruck silence at the almost literal materialization of their two dead comrades.

"Kid," uttered Flash, choking slightly. "Kid?" Wally nodded. "Who died and made you a faceless mobster?" The entire Arrow Family, including her sister, a baby and original Roy, just stared at her at least until original Roy commented.

"She was my replacement?"

"Wow, sis, orange isn't your color."

Artemis scratched at her ear tiredly. "Look as stimulating as this all is, we need to know our exit plan."

"What?" asked Nightwing.

"You know how we're going to get out. Now that we know The Reach has partnered with The Light it's time me and faceless exited this operation."

"Who said anything about leaving?"

Now Wally bristled beside her. "Dick we agreed…"

"It's not time, yet. They literally announced to the world they were here. There's so much more we can discover."

"Are you crazy?" said Atom arms crossed and eyes blazing. "Pull them out now."

Aquaman nodded his assent as he knelt beside his student, "Look at what's already happened to Aqualad under your flawless plan."

"I don't take orders from you two," snapped Dick. Atom glared.

"Nightwing, they're sending in a new boss, Black Manta wants M'gann's head on a platter and Sportsmaster is hunting down Aqualad," uttered Artemis evenly. "It's not going to work. Whatever plan you have stewing in that head of yours is insane."

"You're both already dead." He mused. "What harm could it cause?"

"Harm?" hollered Conner gesturing to the prone Aqualad doing barely anything but breathing. "Are you insane? Do you actually want them dead?"

"They're of no value to us alive," stated Dick and even Zatanna took a horrified step away from him. "They can feed us information."

"The last time we fed you information," said Wally angrily, "Mount Justice got blown up, what next a town?"

"Wait," began Garfield confused. "That was you?" The archer and the speedster sighed unanimously. "You blew up my home! My only home!"

Despite everything they weren't about to dump the whole mess on Nightwing they had played their own roles in this fiasco.

"What do we have to do?"

"Happy Anniversary," whispered Artemis on August 8th as she crawled over Wally – of course he easily snaked his arms around her waist trapping her to his chest.

"Mmmmm?" he muttered with a gravelly hum and his stubble rubbed against her forehead as he pressed a kiss to her crown. It had been six months since this nasty charade has begun. The only reason they know that is because they brought a calendar, some cheap thing from a bookstore with kittens on branches and truly atrocious sayings splayed in Comic Sans.

"Babe, let go," chuckled Artemis. "I'm going to go get food before we have drills with Deathstroke."

"Or what they're calling food," grimaced Wally wrinkling his nose but still refusing to open his eyes.

"Whatever," chuckled Artemis wiggling out of his grasp and pulling on her boots and kissing his temple. Wally groaned at the loss of contact rolling over. "I'll be back. Get ready and don't forget to put your face on." It may have appeared they were able to joke easily but there was a tense undercurrent of noxious nervousness. Deathstroke was a maniac and keeping up their little ruse was getting harder and harder to pull off. They'd already had to face off against the team seven times in the last three weeks and each time they were pushed closer and closer to actually inflicting damage. Wally had already used his rifle twice on Bart and the night before Artemis had maimed Garfield when M'gann sent a car flying at her head. There was no laughing off the damage. There was no greeting card in existence that said, Sorry for almost killing you but it's my job. Same time next week. Everything was getting way too close and personal. In fact, the way Deathstroke set up the teams made everything twice as difficult. Wally, was always paired with the weakest team member, and he was a great fighter using his speed to give him an edge, but Artemis was forced to spend more time worrying about Wally then focusing on her opponents and mission.

Her loyalties were being tested.

Slipping out of the room she waited for the door to lock securely behind her before making her way towards the galley. Artemis tried to remember if her father had ever mentioned anything about the new guy that was running their little band of thugs and honestly not even her sister had heard of Deathstroke. He was a complete unknown but a ruthless assassin, and if Artemis dared to hazard a guess, a brilliant one at that. If Jade didn't know you were, you were very, very good.

"Morning hottie," grinned Icicle Junior falling into pace beside her. "I know what I'd rather eat instead of breakfast."

"Does that work on anyone? Ever?" Cameron grimaced as his knee bent, Superboy had managed to get one good hit in during their last altercation.

"What do you think of Deathstroke?" she asked candidly.

"Psycho, good with swords, dangerous. Don't see the difference between him mini Manta."

"Kaldur wasn't psycho."

Cameron shrugged. "To be in this business you have to be."He raised an eyebrow. "All that loyalty shit won't do you or hubby any good. Cozy up to the new guy. He's got more to offer."

"Cozy," cackled Deathstroke sending a bone crushing kick into Artemis's side.

"Peachy," she spat out trying to ignore the blood that splattered on the ground before her. Her vision was spinning and trickles of red were clouding her vision from a particularly vicious cut on her forehead. The necklace had been broken at some point in their skirmish earlier while she and Wally had been executing their escape, consequently and much to Wally's annoyance she had unceremoniously tossed him at the team and allowed Manta's crew to drag her back to the ship. Of course that meant a full course interrogation (it wasn't everyday someone came back from the dead) courtesy of the lunatic she'd been working under for three months. Artemis had never felt more exposed and vulnerable as the white haired man towered over her.

"Where's your partner?"

"Who?"

"Question, or whoever he is, no one can find him."

"Wow you lost the spastic conspiracy nut. Who saw that happening? Volunteers?" Deathstroke ran his sword shallowly against her knuckles, a small clink sounded as blade met ring.

"You know you're old school. I admire that. See a newbie or the slugs I've had to deal with since I got here would probably squeal after one finger. I bet I could cut off three and you wouldn't even flinch." He bent over mask inching closer. "If you make it to three I guess I'll have to believe you."

Artemis bit her lip as she felt a pressure on his pinkie. This was going to make using her bow a bitch.

"Freeze!"

"Oh please God," groaned Artemis into the floor as a shot of ice propelled Deathstroke away from her. The temperature dropped as Icicle Junior's shoes came into her fuzzy field of vision.

"We're here to save you."

"Complete with corny lines and all."

The Terror Twins helped her up. "Talk, talk, talk," uttered Tuppence moving her hand in a mocking manner. "Had to shut'em up."

"Getting tired of his bullshit," supplied Tommy.

"So Artemis," said Cameron, "How much of that whole married to a faceless man story was true?" He sent her a sleazy smile.

"Pretty much of all it," interjected a voice, "And some." Artemis stared stunned as Wally, still dressed as Question, walked toward her. "Come on," he continued picking her up. "We've got to go."

"What the hell are you doing!" hissed Artemis as Wally fussed over her and the criminals followed.

"We might not trust you as far as we can throw you," said Cameron. "But you're still the better alternative to nutso samarai."

"Flattered," deadpanned Artemis before whispering under her breath, "What about the team?"

"Don't worry we're covered. They should be taking down Deathstroke as we speak." Artemis hitched a sigh of relief as her ribs burned painfully. But it didn't take her long to notice that his trench coat was buttoned up all the way and a pair of googles was bumping against her from their position around his neck and she squinted at them suspiciously.

"Never thought I'd see this uniform again," chuckled Artemis mischievously as she peeked down his collar; pinching his ass in the process. "Still fits."

"Glad you approve." He joked.

"So?" interrupted Tuppence. "I know who arrow girl is but who are you?" Tommy grunted in agreement flexing his muscles in the process. "Or does your face always look like that?"

"Let me put it this way," said Wally (and if it wasn't hidden she knew he'd be smiling), "We'll give you a twenty-four hour head start before us and our friends come find you."

"Not you too," sighed Cameron. "Another goody two shoes. You people lie more then we do."

"I think I need a new hero identity." Wally looked up from his summer term paper, after almost a year undercover they had a lot of catching up to do.

"What's brought this about?" Artemis gently rocked the bassinet containing Lian using her toes, Nelson slumbering on her lap, while she read over Les Miserables for her French literary paper. It really was a sight. He also easily noticed that she was still wearing the ring he gave her; but he chose not to comment.

"I can't be Artemis anymore. It doesn't feel right. Plus it's on record that I'm dead."

"Who said we were even coming out of retirement." Artemis chuckled closing her book.

"Don't think I haven't heard those little phone calls with Barry. Now that the twins are here and Impulse has been relegated to the team, until we can figure out how to send him back, you're being recruited to wear the red and yellow."

Wally smirked putting his pen down. "What did you have in mind?"

She mirrored his smirk getting up from the couch. "Wait here." Nelson grunted unhappily as her head dropped onto the sofa cushions. Wally shook his head deciding to leave the quantum equations for a moment.

"Ready?"

"Whenever you are," he responded leaning back in the kitchen chair as Artemis entered the room wearing a revealing black uniform that barely covered her torso, thigh high black boots, black cape, black gloves and purple butterfly mask. "So thoughts?"

Wally's eyes bugged out and he choked violently on his own salvia as he stared at his girlfriend's generous curves on display in a costume that left nothing to the imagination.

"The criminals won't know where to look your cleavage, your abs, or your legs!"

"See. The perfect costume." She asserted smiling at his discomfort.

"I think its criminal," Wally sputtered. "There is no way you are running around fighting crime in that."

"You run around in a skin tight uniform."

"An aerodynamic skin tight uniform."

"My costume is breathable."

"That's because there's no fabric!"

"I suppose the cape would slow me down," she commented pulling at the long black fabric. "Easy to grab on to, too."

"Okay, whose idea was the costume." He narrowed his eyes. "Dick's…"

"Mine. I think it will suit the name Huntress."

"If I recall your mother had a full body suit," Wally paused dramatically. "This looks like a bathing suit." Artemis rolled her eyes at Wally's theatrics.

"It's not like we'll be working in the same city."

"That's one of the many things I'm afraid of," muttered Wally standing and placing his hands on her hips.

"Babe, you're freaking out over nothing. What could go wrong?"

"Okay that's it," said Wally picking Artemis up and tossing her over his shoulder as she squealed with a mixture of shock and delight as he marched towards their bedroom. "We're sorting this out right now."

Wow two stories in a week. Welcome back inspiration. Please feel free to leave comment, critique or review.