Avoiding Past And Future

(71) Misplaced 4

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.