WARNINGS

* bad mental health (artemis)
* anxiety/panic attack (artemis)

november 5

It was anything but a pleasant flight over to the city. Though thankfully quiet, the annoyance rolling off of Wally was palpable nonetheless. Luckily for most of them, it didn't take all too long before they got somewhere close but remote enough to drop off the first group. M'gann carefully set down Conner and Wally before she took over carrying Zatanna.

Now left with just his own teammate, Phantom flew Artemis and himself over to another part of the city to start their rounds. While it wasn't a conventional way at all, it was somewhat amusing just how many kids and young teens Phantom attracted simply by being a literal guiding light in the night. Most of their newfound ducklings recognized him from his little debut escapade on Halloween. As it turns out, this years contest went far beyond Gotham's borders.

It did make it a little awkward to have to explain what he was doing here, miles away from home where he should have been. Most of them took the lie of a nighttime flight without question. Some of the older kids were harder to convince. But just like any other chaos gremlin, they easily accepted he snuck into the old base to check it out. Unfortunately the entire thing is locked down to all hell and he only got in by going through all the security doors. Once alerts came in about the missing adults, he chose to check up on the residents since he was there already anyway.

Artemis being the first teen he ran into was just an afterthought to explain why he was sticking to her side so much.

The local knowledge of the thought to be abandoned hero base being here did help convincing them that he was just another curious mind into what used to go on there. Artemis did look beyond annoyed he spilled the proverbial beans on the base part of his trip here but considering the locals don't actually know where the old base was, just that the mountain was involved somehow, it wouldn't hurt anybody. If anything, it helped the fact that he was there and being the least suspicious of it all as ghosts are known to haunt abandoned places.

Still, on they went. After they cleared the first apartment complex with only a handful of screams, curtesy of Phantom popping his head through walls without proper warning, they had actually scrounged up a sizable amount of kids already. It was going a whole lot smoother than expected. Most kids came along willingly, older ones helping their younger neighbors either by holding their hands or simply carrying them, allowing Phantom and Artemis to keep their hands mostly free. Just in case.

That was, until they passed by a car that had a little girl locked inside.

Phantom didn't hesitate, phasing himself through the car to get the girl out. Squirming out of his grip, the now sobbing girl ran straight for Artemis. "Juwwie." The girl sobbed out, launching herself onto a very confused Artemis.

All Artemis could see was a mop of black hair before she instinctively held onto the girl trying to do her best koala impression while sobbing onto her shirt. She looked like she couldn't be older than 5 but that wasn't what was distracting her from every survival instinct she honed over the years. No, it was the wet sobbing mumbles of the girl. A little girl who clearly had mistaken her for her older sister.

"Where did you go, Juwwie?" Was one of the few sentences actually audible enough to be understood. "You were driving and then- and then" before she could even try to finish, the little girl was overwhelmed once more by big feelings.

Artemis was completely frozen, unable to even open her mouth and try to explain that she isn't this girl's sister.

But she just couldn't.

Not when the sobbing bundle of tears looked so much like...

How could she have left back then, back when Artemis herself was only a few years older than this little darling. She was so sure her sister had come back from the scary vanishing, no doubt in her overwhelmed mind that it wasn't intentional to abandon her.

So why was she left alone then? Was she not good enough of a sister to be worthy of being protected? Of being kept close? What did she do wrong in order to be abandoned by the person meant to protect her?

"Artemis?"

Phantom's voice cut through the thoughts spiraling in her head. Even the little girl had calmed down enough to look up at the blonde with big bleary eyes. "You're not Juwwie." She said, somehow getting past the doubt she clearly still felt.

"No," Artemis finally choked out, "I'm not." The sadness in the little girl's eyes broke what little defense she still had left. Was this what she, too, looked like? When Jade left? When her own blood abandoned her?

Artemis shook her head slightly, making sure she tightened her grip on the girl when she could feel tiny hands balling into the fabric of her shirt. "What's your name?" She asked carefully, keeping her voice just above a whisper so it wouldn't betray how conflicted she felt.

The little darling looked down, hands now fidgeting with the fabric trapped within them. "Jessie...ca." She added the remainder of her name, taking a moment to remember her full name rather than the nickname she was given.

That was about as far as Jessica could carry the conversation on her own, Artemis failing to conjure up any positive thoughts as well.

"Hey, Jessie." Phantom called out, once again breaking up the silence that fell over the little group. "Do you think you could remember where all your friends live?" With a tiny nod from the girl, he continued, completely ignoring Artemis' questioning gaze. "What do you think about going with Artemis to the safe place at the big kids school? You could check if any of your friends are there and let the big people know where to find your other friends so we can make sure everybody is safe."

"One of my friends lives right next to the school. Her mommy can't walk good so she lives really close." Jessica looked up to Artemis once again, eyes as big as she could manage. "Can we go there before we go to the safe place?"

Artemis swallowed hard before nodding, turning to watch most of their little ducks circle around her. All except one who was talking to Phantom. Pulling away from the ghost boy, the teen looked weary of the blonde before he went to stand behind the walking nightlight.

Phantom hid his mild worry well enough for the kids, but not for Artemis. She knew that look all too well.

"Do you want me to check it, or are you good?" Artemis shook her head, knowing Jessica wouldn't take a no for an answer. Phantom smiled up at the both of them, subtly glancing over Artemis in that way she knew he was for looking signs. Signs she knew how to hide.

"You go ahead." Phantom eventually said, trying to sound as casual as he could. "I'll go through the next building before heading down to the gym too." His words sounded reassuring, but something felt off about him. Something they both knew Artemis couldn't call out in front of their little group. "Don't worry," he waved her off, already turning to head to the next building. "Do take a breather when you get there, it'll do you some good."

Get traught or get dead echoed in her mind. Something about the forced smile and calmness, the lack of accurate emotions behind his being, eerily reminding her of Robin in ways she did not enjoy. Even less than the fact that, evidently, he knew she was not handling this kiddie collection all too well. But could anybody really blame her? So many kids, dependent on the adults around them to care for them, abandoned. Left behind. It wasn't something easy to handle on a good day.

Clearly today wasn't one of them.

Still, they had to power through if they wanted any hope of fixing whatever happened.

Adjusting her grip on Jessica, Artemis started leading the kids towards where Jessica said her friend lived. A group of the older ones, probably around her own age if she had to guess, clumped at the back to make sure none of the littles wandered off. It didn't take too long for them to actually make it to the building Jessica mentioned. Which was oddly surprising since she could have sworn they were further away from the gym than that.

Once they got to the correct door, Artemis tried to look through the windows. She didn't immediately see any signs of a kid being in there. Trying the doorhandle, she let out a breath when it clicked open. "Stay here." She called out to the others before trying to set down Jessica. Tried being the keyword here as the little girl had practically superglued herself to the teen.

Not wanting to waste any time arguing with a literal child, the blonde went in with her little backpack still attached. Getting through the first room seemed too easy, like it was set up for visitors to come and go with ease. When she got to the stairs, her blood ran cold.

A certain elevator attachment sat there mocking her. The same attachment she had to fight the city on to install in her apartment complex.

Shaking off the thought, she continued on and slowly made her way up. The platform wasn't at the base of the stairs so that had to mean Jessica's friend and their mother were upstairs.

When they finally got to the final few steps, Jessica began to wiggle free. Much unlike her previous superglue tendencies, she acted like her cuddle buddy was a bomb about to explode. The moment her little feet touched the carpeted hallway floor, she set off running into one of the rooms further down.

Artemis ran after her, not knowing what state they'll find the room in. She watched the little girl slip past the cracked open door. In barely the two seconds it took for her to go through the door herself, Jessica had vanished from sight.

Artemis had expected it to be a child's room. For it to be colorful and filled with things they-she never had. She didn't expect the empty wheelchair to sit right next to the bed. The story book to lay face down on the floor, pages wrinkled from the way it landed. The room's pinks, whites, blues and purples were all mixing together, forming blobs she's rather not identify as it swirled around the empty wheelchair.

The air felt stuffy, like it crawled into her lungs with every breath but refused to leave. No matter how badly she tried to expand them, force air down her throat, it didn't feel like enough.

Like she was never enough.

Once again her spiraling wasn't allowed to go any further as tiny little whispers creeped out from underneath the bed. Easing her breathing and ignoring the screaming pain in her chest, she crouched down. The moment she lifted up the corner of the blanket, she was met with two pairs of big swollen eyes.

"There you are." She breathed out, sagging through her shoulders as the tension left her muscles.

"You're not Jullie." The new girl, undoubtably Jessica's friend, tried to back up. Pretty understandable since she was just a stranger after all. But Jessica wouldn't have it. She held onto her friend's hand and held it close to her own body.

"Of course not, Tammie." She whispered softly, that same tone Artemis heard earlier. "That's my new friend I told you about. She's gonna take us to the safe place." Jessica barely moved from her spot, only twisting slightly so she could face her friend a bit better.

Tammie, as Jessica called her, did not move from her spot. Stubbornly cementing herself as far against the wall as she could. With the way the two girls were huddled under the bedframe, there was no way for Artemis to get under there as well without moving the entire thing out of the way. Which, realistically speaking, would just make this entire kid collecting mission go haywire. So she had no choice but to trust that Jessica knew how to coax her friend out.

It took a lot of encouragement, lots of promises before the one thing that finally worked spilled from her lips. "Phantom is helping too, you could meet him if you come with us." Artemis couldn't see Jessica's face but she could practically hear the girl wiggling her eyebrows at her friend.

Somehow, annoyingly so, that seemed to finally work. Tammie finally started wriggling her way from under the bed, stuffed bunny plush still in hand from when she first ducked under the bed.

Neither girl needed to be dusted off, still clean after their trip in hiding. Either somebody meticulously cleaned the house, or this was a rather common occurrence. Artemis was tempted to go for option two with how easily they slid out from under it. Jessica never let go of Tammie's hand, keeping her friend grounded even when she looked like she wanted to bolt away from Artemis.

There was only a brief second when she let go. Well, it was Tammie who let go. Going over the box next to her little desk, she pulled out a red duck plush and handed it over to Jessica. "Oh, so that's where you went Sir Quackmeo."

Tammie smiled softly, "you forgot him here yesterday."

Jessica smirked up at her friend, holding Sir Quackmeo up with pride. "I didn't forget, he chose to stay here. He knows the future, you know."

Artemis wasn't sure what to make of the, hopefully imaginary, play before her. Standing back up, she dusted off her knees out of habit before holding out a hand for each girl to hold. "We should probably get going, the others are waiting for us."

Jessica looked ready to head back downstairs. Tammie on the other hand kept glancing over at her dresser. Jessica noticed, dragging Tammie over. Pulling out the bottom drawer, she used it as a stepstool to grab a flower hairclip. With Jessica's help, they got it secured in her hair. Squeezing her bunny in a near throttle, Tammie finally looked over to Artemis and nodded before she started walking towards the stairs.

Taking a few big steps so she could be in front of the two girls, Artemis made sure she went down the stairs first. Just in case. As self sufficient as they appeared, they were still just little kids. A tumble was bound to happen the moment she looked away. So she made sure they wouldn't.

Luckily everybody was still patiently waiting outside. Well, a few of the littles had found their way into the arms of the older ones but nobody ran off so that was a win.

Since Tammie's place was rather close to the school, the walk to the gym was the least stressful part of the entire evening so far.

Of course, she soon had to be proven exactly how precious those few minutes were. The moment she stepped through the gym doors with her collection of ducklings, her breath found a not so comfortable spot in her throat again. Wally was already manning the hole thing on his own. So, so many kids of all ages already collected in that short timespan they were out here.

She looked over every face. Most of the younger ones seemed okay again, less stressed now that it all seemed like a big sleepover. Some of the older ones, hell they looked about the same age as Robin, looked more doubtful at their whole set up. There weren't many older kids, barely any her own age.

"Megan and Conner texted their classmates." Wally said, walking up to her with a hard set frown. "They're helping collect kids since they actually live around town and know who would need help."

Artemis's kids all dispersed. Most of them linking up with familiar faces while a few just stuck together waiting for their own friends to arrive. The moment her collection was out of earshot, Wally didn't hold back. "Where the hell is he?" Venom dripped off his tone as he kept up the mask of worried teen.

Artemis took a small step back, trying to get the red head out of her space. "I-There was- He said he'd be right behind me. It'll be fine."

Wally clearly didn't think it would be fine, not from the increasing scrunch in his face at least. But he wasn't able to voice whatever he wanted to say as they both felt the mindlink activate as M'gann wandered into the vicinity.

"Heads up, we have a bit of a rowdy bunch with us." M'gann warned right before the doors opened and a group of kindergarteners spilled into the gym. Zatanna was at the back of the group, struggling to carry a kid. Considering she was holding him like a sack of potatoes, only supported under his arms and facing the world, it wasn't all too surprising. The second she let go of the boy, he ran off cackling and going straight for his friend, tackling the kid to the ground as they started up a playful match.

"They had a sleepover, apparently an MMA themed one." The magician explained exhausted at the concerned glances from the other two. It wouldn't do them any good staying covert if they messed up by obviously talking telepathically like the team did when she was new. Clearly they still hadn't learned how to hide their body language all too great.

"Where's Phantom?" M'gann asked as she looked around, muttering something about so many kids as to not alert any listeners of the ghostly hero roaming the streets.

"That's what I was wondering too." Wally growled out, still annoyed but trying to keep it together. "I thought I made it pretty clear back in the cave that leaving him alone was an absolute no. Who knows what he could be doing out there with nobody to set him straight!" Wally quickly muttered something under his breath, some random complaints about so little older teens stepping up for neighbors.

With an utterance of not being able to trust just anybody these days, Artemis turned back to Wally and match his glare. "I told you, he said he was right behind me. Some kid talked to him while I was busy with some other kids but he said he was just checking the complex next to the one we just did." She turned back to the gym, looking over to where Jessica and Tammy were sitting with their plushies. "What did you want me to do? Make all of these kids trail behind him because you have trust issues?"

Everybody could feel Conner slide into the link, barely reacting when he walked in with a kid in each arm and another one dangling off is head. There was another teen alongside him who helped get the kids off of Conner. "Thanks Malcolm." He muttered before joining the storm raging over the link. "Who has issues now?"

His innocent question was met with barely hidden rage from Wally. "I don't have issues when they are valid concerns!" He ran his hands through his hair, only making himself look more unhinged as he mentally kept going. "His entire town is a Justice League Dark dead zone! That shit doesn't just happen out of nowhere! The damn place disappeared off of the face of the Earth for multiple hours and still nobody stepped in because it was such a no go! Does that not concern any of you that he is now roaming this city on his own?"

"That's not really fair?" M'gann questioned rather than stated, rubbing her arm as she tried to comfort herself from the intense emotions rolling off of Wally's psyche. "My first mission didn't go too great either, and I had all of you guys to back me up. Who knows what he had to do over there all on his own."

"Yeah sure, because a god knows how old being would be not capable of protecting people if that was the actual goal." Wally answered sarcastically, not even bothering to mutter something else for any potential eavesdroppers. "Have none of you noticed Robin acting weird ever since that thing showed up? The Robin I know would never have quit hanging out or abandoned the mission, talked back against Kaldur, the way he did earlier. I'm telling you, whatever is going on, it's bad news and you'll feel real stupid for not noticing the signs when everything goes to shit." Wally seethed, personal grievances slipping in before correcting himself.

"Because you just know everything, don't you." Zatanna finally argued back, fed up with the constant slander of her friend. "Bet you didn't even notice Robin kidnapped him too when we went after the Reds." Basking in the surprised looks on the other's faces, she continued. "How do you think RT managed to get where he had to be to funnel the smoke with all the damage he suffered? If it wasn't for Phantom being there, none of us would be alive right now to complain about things from the past."

Silence fell over the mind link as well as over the group as a whole. Zatanna looked proud of the chaos she reaped as each member took the newly revealed information differently.

Wally still looked like he wanted to argue, wanted to scream off the rooftops that they shouldn't trust Phantom. Too much not making sense. But he had yet to find a reason to discredit the fact Red Tornado himself knew and kept quiet about their stowaway. Tornado knew, and didn't say anything. Does that make him just as much at fault as Batman and Robin for keeping him a secret and letting that mess happen?

Artemis looked like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Zatanna knew she didn't like Phantom either, knew she didn't trust him just like Wally did. But that doesn't change what she witnessed him do on Halloween. How he helped Greta without them even asking him to. Something about the way he looked at her back then, when he asked if he should go check out Tammie's place. Something about him felt off and she couldn't help but wonder he might know more than he let on. That in and of itself stressed her out more than his actions reassured.

M'gann fell in her usual trap of being incapable of speaking up. Though she occasionally would, she'd drop it just as fast if she was met with resistance. It was hard to tell what the Martian was actually feeling as she let the others dictate how she should feel or act.

And then there was Conner. The only person who hadn't said a word this entire time. When she first met him, Conner seemed to be the type to voice his opinions no matter the pushback. But somehow, he seemed to have lost interest in doing so. Now falling back more and more to an observing role as the others fought amongst themselves.

Though she couldn't blame him too much. She heard about what happened between Wolf and Cujo that first meeting. Anybody would be a fool to think something like that wouldn't have an impact on how one views another. Or rather, how to feel about somebody as complex as whatever the Bats have going on.

Sadly the somewhat comforting silence her revelation brought seemed to be nearing its end as Wally was, unsurprisingly, the first to find their way out of the mental trainwreck she sent them all into. Not that it really mattered. Nobody dared say anything when a familiar presence slowly slid into the link while Conner's focus was fully dragged towards the doors.

RECAP* team makes it to happy harbor, split up with little complaints* Phantom and Artemis collect kids, run into a girl who looks like Artemis' older sister but smol* Phantom and Artemis split up, Phantom offers to pick up the girl's friend but Artemis insists on going herself* Artemis powers through bad memories and panic to get to the girl, Tammie, picking up the girl's plushies and a flower hairclip before leaving* Wally is mad Artemis let Phantom roam the city alone* tiny team discussion where wally exposes Phantom's home town is a JLD no go, slips up a little by complaining about Robin not hanging out with him anymore before arguing about the actual mission* Zatanna reveals Phantom was there when they went after the reds and that none of them would be alive if he wasn't, team stunned into silence for a moment