Hello everyone! This story is already complete and ready to go! I'll be posting a chapter a day! There's four chapters. I hope you enjoy it, please leave a review and let me know what you think.

-Nexa

"C'mon Wally, you're gonna have to do better than that," Artemis taunted the speedster as she dodged what would have been the beginning of a barrage of hits. Wally smirked.

"You just try and keep that attitude when I win," Wally shot back. Black Canary watched from the sidelines as the two sparred. She had to admit, their fights were the most fun to watch because they never shut up.

Artemis kept her defensive stance, knowing that the only way she could possibly win this was to catch that stupid freckle-faced speedster when he attacked her. If I can just knock him over or stop him, then I have a chance. She thought.

"Pssh, when you win? When's that supposed to happen?" Wally retorted.

Wally rushed her again, slipping behind her back and grabbing her arms. Artemis reacted quickly, bending over and flipping him. Wally, however, kept a tight grip on her arms and succeeded in flipping her as well.

"Oof" Wally grunted as Artemis landed on his chest. Shaking his head to get her mass of hair out of his face, "Getiorff", he fussed with a mouthful of hair.

"FAIL: KID FLASH. FAIL: ARTEMIS" The computer droned.

Artemis rolled off of Wally and onto her belly before standing up, frowning.

"Gross, you got saliva on my hair!" She complained before shooting her hand out. Wally took it and heaved himself off the floor.

"You got your hair in my mouth Rapunzel! I didn't want it there!" The red head defended himself.

"Wally, Artemis" Black Canary spoke as she came up to the two teens who drew silent, "Artemis, nice tactics, the right way to handle a speedster," Artemis let a hint of a smile grace her face, "Wally, good try, maybe you should work on hand to hand combat. It would give you more edge when getting close to an enemy," Wally nodded, "You're done for today, good work" Black Canary gave them each a smile before walking off.

"Do you know hand to hand combat?" Artemis asked, honestly curious. The two started walking to the cave's main room. Wally shrugged.

"I don't know martial arts, but I can fight and what I lack in skill I can usually make up for with my speed," He explained. Artemis nodded. Wally opened his mouth to continue the civil conversation they were managing when Robin dashed in.

"We've got a mission, it's big," He explained, half excited half frantic, "Follow me," the boy wonder spoke quickly before heading back the way he came. Wally wasted no time catching up with his best friend, his grin showing his excitement. Artemis jogged a bit before she managed to catch them.

"Like, what kind of big? Important big? Big villain big? Traumatic big?" Wally fast-talked. Artemis rolled her eyes at his energy, biting back an insult.

I'm glad that we're both making an effort to not fight as much. But why does he have to make it so hard by being such an idiot? Artemis thought to herself.

"Like, all of that, rolled into one!" Robin said, "But it's also really serious," he explained, "It's…Well you'll see," Robin waved Wally's unspoken questions off as they rounded the corner to enter the debriefing room. Red Tornado was waiting for them there, as well as the rest of the team.

"Where's Batman?" Artemis asked, wondering why their mission-assigner wasn't the one assigning the mission.

"The Batman is with the rest of the Justice League handling a rogue experiment in Mongolia. Which is why this mission has fallen to you," Red Tornado explained, bringing a picture up on the large screen, "This is Jervis Tetch, more commonly known as the Mad Hatter. A criminal known for his mind control technology and love of the works of Lewis Carroll," The team was silent as they took in the information. "He is also known for kidnapping girls before selling them into slavery," The android spoke darkly before continuing,

"He escaped from Arkham Asylum two hours ago and has not been seen since. Your mission is to find Jervis Tetch and take him back into custody," Red Tornado continued, talking about the criminals tendencies and abilities until he reached the end of his information, "Keep in mind that he is also a genius," Red Tornado turned, "Artemis," The girl looked up, confused on why she was singled out, "Batman told me that you should take care, as he has noticed that the majority of Tetch's victims have been blonde females,"

Artemis bit her lip and glanced at her teammates. The boys all held looks of the utmost seriousness, except Wally who seemed a bit upset. M'gann looked disgusted, worried, and angry all in one facial expression. Artemis would have been impressed had she not felt so singled out. I'm probably going to be treated special because of what Red Tornado said…Fan-Fucking-tastic. Artemis scowled as they boarded the Bioship to head to Gotham.

"Robin, have you faced Mad Hatter before?" Aqualad asked as they flew. Robin nodded.

"Batman and I have noticed that he is especially responsive to quotes from Alice in Wonderland. Is anyone familiar with it?" Robin asked everyone, then realized his mistake and turned to the only two other humans on board. Wally frowned.

"I watched the movie when I was a kid, that's about it," He shrugged, apologetic. The team looked to Artemis, who seemed as though she wanted to melt into her seat.

"Artemis? Do you know it?" Robin asked directly.

"Yeah," Artemis sighed.

"How well?" Aqualad asked this time. Artemis grimaced, deciding to be honest.

"It was my favorite book as a child," She looked out the window pretending she wasn't admitting this to her team, "I could probably recite it from heart,"

"That's great!" Wally exclaimed.

"No it's not," Robin scowled.

"Why not?" Superboy spoke up, confused.

"Because if Artemis is the one responding to him, he'll probably fixate on her because she's blonde,"

"I can handle myself, I'll be fine," Artemis defended.

"Don't underestimate him," Robin turned to M'gann, "You can link us up and Artemis can tell us what to say telepathically,"

"But-" Artemis started.

"No," Robin shot back, "It would be too risky," He spoke, getting frustrated.

"Even if he did kidnap me," Artemis huffed, "I'd be able to escape when he would hand me over to some idiot slave traders,"

"Let's not even go there," Wally growled.

"We're not going to take chances," Aqualad spoke up, "Artemis you can tell us what to say to him telepathically," He said with finality.

"He doesn't even have to get near you, your attacks are long-range," M'gann said happily. Artemis decided not to fight anymore, continuing to reason in her head why she would be just fine.

"How are we going to find him anyway?" Superboy asked.

"That's an excellent question!" Wally exclaimed, "Robin?"

"He doesn't really have a hideout, but he shows up at places where kids would be, like parks, carnivals, ice cream shops, etcetera, etcetera" Robin explained, eyes scrunched up in thought.

"Five minutes to destination," M'gann announced.

"Then we should spit up to search," Aqualad decided, "Miss Martian and Superboy take the north, Kid Flash and Artemis take the southwest, Robin and I will take the Southeast,"

"Roger that," Kid Flash saluted.

"Oh, and he'll control civilians because he knows we can't harm them. So be careful," Robin said as an afterthought. The team nodded.

"First drop off zone, Southwest Gotham," M'gann spoke up. Artemis stood up and took a clip that slipped down from the roof of the bioship. The floor disappeared and she rappelled down until her feet touched the ground of an alley. Kid Flash right behind her.

"Link is up. Keep in contact," M'gann's voice floated into Artemis's head.

"Will do," Artemis thought back. She turned to her red headed teammate, who looked a bit weary.

"I'll lead because I know the city, there's a park not far from here. We can check that out first," Artemis explained. Kid Flash nodded and followed Artemis up a fire escape to the roof of the building next to them.

"Shouldn't we look somewhere where kids might be now? What would kids be doing at a park in the middle of the night?" Kid Flash asked as they leaped to the next building over.

"Gotham is a bit different from other cities, where the sun is in the sky doesn't affect where the people are," Artemis explained, "Kids are always hanging out at parks,"

"No sign of him at the carnival in north Gotham," Superboy's voice materialized in their thoughts.

"Try the toy store at the mall," Robin suggested.

"So, Alice in Wonderland is a favorite of yours?" Kid Flash asked nonchalantly, trying to start a conversation.

"Yeah, what was yours?" Artemis asked, putting the focus on him. The speedster grinned.

"I'm a fan of He-Man," He stated proudly. Artemis chuckled.

"The guy in the fur skirt?" She teased. Wally frowned.

"It's not a skirt!" He defended, "It's a-"

"That's him," Artemis breathed, nocking an arrow and aiming. Kid Flash froze and followed her stare. Sure enough, there was Jervis Tetch in the alleyway below them. He was wearing a patched up green suit and a matching oversized green hat. His frizzled red hair peeked out from under the brim and a large checkered bow-tie nuzzled his chin.

"He's heading to the park," Wally whispered, pointing at the park that they had been heading to.

"He's here at our location. Should we pursue?" Artemis sent out her thoughts. Kid Flash's hands were buzzing in anticipation as they watched the criminal saunter through the grime of the street. Artemis put a hand on his shoulder, he glanced her way and she signaled for him to be quiet.

"Negative, keep an eye on him and wait for the rest of the team," Aqualad spoke in their heads.

Artemis frowned, glancing at stupid anxious partner vibrating beside her. I wonder how long it will be before he asks if I'm up for going on without the team. She watched as the Mad Hatter grew close to the park, where kids and teens were messing around. Actually it might be better if we engage him before he gets anyone under control. She reasoned.

"C'mon, we have to keep up with him," Artemis whispered as she moved stealthily after the criminal, Wally followed silently, "Also I think we should attack,"

"What?" Kid Flash whisper-yelled, "No way, Aqualad said to wait for them," Artemis sent him an incredulous look. Since when is he patient?

"It's better if we stop him before he gets to anyone he can control," Artemis reasoned, "Also Superboy will kill any chance we have at sneaking up on him when he gets here,"

"You're supposed to stay away from him," Wally frowned, "If it's just us two he will definitely notice you!"

"Don't worry about me!" Artemis growled, "Besides I was kidnapped about a month ago, it's nothing new I can't handle," She said casually as she kept an arrow aimed at their target. Wally blanched.

"What! You were?" He nearly let his voice out of a whisper. "But when did th-"

"I'm going, help me or don't. Your choice," Artemis smirked before running to a closer position to shoot. Wally muttered under his breath about 'Stupid stubborn women' as he made his way to the ground. Artemis let a shot fly before his feet landed.

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