"Rob, have you seen Kaldur?" Megan asked as she came floating over back in the cave.
"Wasn't he with you?" I asked, hating lying about this to my friends.
"He was, then-"
"Grayson took him." Conner interrupted, "Then he didn't come back. I knew it was him, we should have arrested him when we had the chance."
"We don't know he took him, maybe they were both kidnapped." Wally said as he came over.
"Yeah, as if that happened." He grumbled but went back over to the sofa.
"Check with Arty when she gets back, if Richard returned home, then something is happening." Megan said and we reached an agreement.
We all settled on the sofa, static playing in the background and waited for Artemis to return.
An hour later she still wasn't back and discomfort was spreading in the group.
"Where is she?" I asked, "She should be long back by now."
"Her trackers offline." Wally commented from over at the computer.
"Why would she turn off her tracker?" Megan asked.
"Did I forget to mention that Artemis won't be joining you just yet?" The voice in my ear said.
"What?" I whisper asked, turning away from my friends, "What did you do with her?"
"Don't worry Richard." He replied, "She remains unharmed for the moment. She may prove useful to our mission. Very useful indeed."
"Rob, we have a location on her." I turned to face Wally and stared at the screen, it said she was back at my hotel.
"I'll go. You guys wait here." I said and ran before any of them could protest, my crutches forgotten back at the Warehouse.
I arrived at the flat and did a quick scan of the perimeter of the building but nothing seemed out of place so I doned my civilian clothes and headed inside. There was a note on the side from Bruce saying he had gone out of patrol but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.
"What have you done with her?" I yelled.
"Patience Nightwing." He replied in his smooth tone, "You'll find out in due time."
"I swear, when I find you I am going to rip you to pieces." I growled.
"You sound so confident in your skills. And in time I shall allow you to find me but until then, the game is afoot."
I punched the wall in my anger at him, leaving a spider webbing crack when I heard movement from outside my window. I ran over and looked out, a bo staff in my hand but saw not an enemy but a friend. Artemis' retreating figure.
"What game are you playing at?" I growled.
"One that you are going to lose. And the more you fight, the harder you'll fall."
"Did you ever have her in the first place?" I asked, still fuming.
"Of course not. It would be a waste of my time to take her when I can use her instead." He drawled.
I was just about ready to pound him into next week by now and it was more infuriating that I didn't have a clue who he could be. And he could play us all so easily, this was a man of skill and patience but so was I.

I arrived back at the cave, now back in uniform, and saw the group of heroes sat on the sofa.
"Rob, we thought you had been taken." Megan said as she came over.
"I thought Arty had been." I responded, "I couldn't find her anywhere."
"We must have just missed each other." She replied, "But I do have news about Grayson."
"Spill." I said as I sat down with them all.
"I saw him just as he came into his room and he was up to something." She said, "He was talking to someone, punched a hole through the wall and then tried to attack me."
"And the fact he was unharmed after he has just kidnapped Kaldur." Megan said, "He must be the bomber."
"You need to draw the suspicion away from yourself." The voice said and I had to hold back from rolling my eyes, did he really have nothing better to do with his time?
"Or he managed to escape being kidnapped and thought you were there to take him back to wherever he had been taken. Could explain why he was so late home." I said.
"No, he didn't look like he had been fighting anyone." Artemis said, "He is defiantly the one we want. And he's home alone at the moment. It's the prime time to get him."
"What have I said Grayson? Take away the suspicion or remove them." He growled through the ear piece.
"I'll get him." I suggested.
"No, we're all going." Wally said, "He has to pay for his plans. And to think, he was my hero."
"And you were his." I said, "You don't really think he'd plot against you?"
"He was never fully open with me." Wally said, "Even when I was at his house. There was always a secret, and it felt big."
"It's not up for debate Rob." Conner cut in as I opened my mouth again, "You can either come with us or don't come at all."
I stood up and headed over to the Zeta beams, "Come on, he could head out at any time."
We all headed through the Zeta's and went to my hotel room, heading in through the bedroom window.
"He said his room was a mess, this is almost as clean as Rob's." Wally commented as we climbed inside.
"He made that dent?" Conner asked, indicating the hole in the wall.
"With his bare hands." Artemis said.
"He's not here." Megan said.
"We haven't even gone through the entire building." Artemis commented.
"We are the only presences on this floor." Megan said, "He is not here."
"What about the rest of the building?" Conner asked.
"I can't pick him out." Megan said, "Even if he was amongst them I couldn't tell you."
"Dammit, he must have seen you looking for me." Artemis instantly turned to me.
"Or he saw you." I said, "You did say he was coming to attack you. He must have run afterwards because he knows we're on his trail, not that he probably did anything wrong."
"Why are you trying to defend him so much?" Artemis came right over to my face, "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"Maybe you're just jumping to conclusions too quickly." I countered, my anger rising, "There is no solid evidence. Just theories and guesses."
"If you know so much, why don't you come on the mission?" She retorted.
"I have much more important matters to deal with." I snarled, "This should have been a simple mission, find the bomber and stop them. Not jump to conclusions and focus on just one person. Have you even considered the others? No, because your small brains are incapable of seeing sense."
"If this is so simple, you do it." Artemis was close to exploding now.
"This child's play, I think I'll let you do it. I don't want my credit stolen again." I was almost yelling as well now.
"Guys, this solves nothing." Megan said as she came over, "Let's just focus on finding Richard."
Artemis huffed as she stormed off and out into the main part of the flat and I glared after her. This was stupid.
"I'm going to go cool off. Call me if you need me." I said and headed out the window and into the cool air of the streets.
I was stalking along when someone stepped into my path.
"Move or be moved." I growled at her.
She said nothing in response and I pulled out my bo staff in warning. In response they pulled out a gun and tried to fire at me. I jumped out of the way and advanced on them, my staff spinning. I managed to hit them up the head but they came back quickly and went for my injured leg. I dodged out of the way but they managed to get in a solid hit using their legs and sweeping my feet out from under me. They then proceeded to pin me in place, knocking my staff across the street.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I have a delivery for you, from your master." She said as she reached into her pocket and withdrew a small vial from her pocket and put it into my belt.
"I don't have a master." I growled in response.
"Yes you do, Slade is the master of us all." She said, "And you are his chosen."
"I don't know any Slade." But then it clicked, Slade was the one of the other end of this line, "What's the vial for?"
"Not what, who." Slade's voice came through, "The archer knows something is up, she saw that note Batman left for you. Silence her or I silence all of the others."
"I will not kill her." I said as the woman got off of me, handed me my staff and walked off.
"Then leave her as you left Kaldur." He said, "But the vial must be ingested two hours before she goes on stage next. Do you understand?"
"What does it do?" I asked.
"You're not permitted to know that." He said and went silent again.
I looked around for my attacker again but I couldn't find them anywhere and gave it a rest, I wouldn't know what to do if I found her anyway. I need to learn about Slade before I take him on. For now, I had to work on Artemis and stop her spilling the secret, the more people she told, the more Slade would want me to deal with.