040 Green Arrow's sidekick

'Hiii! You must be Artemis! I heard so much about you!' He exclaimed happily, much to her shock. 
She came up with excuse about Ollie being her uncle, barely yesterday, so it was impossible for Speedy to actually know anything about her. 
Unless he knew the truth. 
He must have noticed her panicked expression, because he started laughing, before clasping her on the shoulder.
'I'm just kidding!' He couldn't keep the grin off his face even for a second, as he started to happily chat, introducing her to the rest of the team, taking an arrow out of his quiver and presenting it to her. Her own arrow. The one she used to save him from that robot guy back in Gotham. 
He actually thanked her for the rescue, and complimented her shooting skills and then even invited her for training. 
Robin then grabbed Wally’s hand and forced him to back away from her, apologized for his friend being such a dork, much to her amusement. 

Artemis was sure she made the right decision, joining the team. 

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Wally - Speedy as he called himself - was one of the fastest archers that walked on this planet. 
Artemis couldn’t help but feel impressed, when she saw Red Arrow shoot, his arm quick and his aim perfect. 
But then she saw Wally do it, taking half the time it took Roy, and she almost let her jaw drop. 
Of course, his speed didn’t allow him to shoot more than one arrow at a time, while she could do it slower, but with three arrows at once. She was actually happy when she saw his surprized expression, as he happily rambled on ‘how cool this is and how cool she is ‘. 
He even encouraged Red Arrow to compliment her, and his ‘not bad’ grumbled under his breath, made her really happy. 

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It was great, not having to compete with anyone. 
Wally told her from the start, that he was happy that she joined the team, and she was a valuable member, and as long as she didn’t actually wanted to replace him fully, he was perfectly fine with her being the main archer. 

He had a weird expression on his face, when he talked about being replaced and Artemis understood him. No one wanted to be left alone and forgotten. 

When she asked about Red Arrow leaving the team, Speedy explained that ‘you can’t live the team that you never even joined’. Roy wanted to go solo, and Wally respected that decision, as should everyone else. 
Artemis enjoyed spending time with the both of them (and Robin, since Speedy and him always hanged out together) , just the same as she enjoyed hanging out with M’gann, Kaldur and Conner. 
They were a team now, and she couldn’t be happier. 

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'So…why 'Speedy'?' 
'What was I supposed to call myself? Yellow Arrow? Would that make you a Blonde Arrow? A Green Arrowette? That's just ridiculous…Unless you want to call yourself that. I'm no judge, you're a strong independent woman and you don't need no-'
'Just shut up' She said, rolling her eyes, failing to hide her smile. 

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Speedy was a surprisingly good fighter. 
What was even more surprising was the fact, that he didn’t call himself ‘Green Arrow’s sidekick’ or even ‘partner’.
He always claimed that Black Canary was his mentor, and later she heard from Conner - who was training under BC too and was good friends with Wally, who took him home his first night out of Cadmus -  That Speedy was actually living with Dinah. When Artemis asked Superboy why did he live with her, he just raised an eyebrow and asked ‘why shouldn’t he?’ 
Conner did live with her too, after all. She took him in from the very beggining, and Conner had already learned his very dangerous driving skills from her. From what she heard from Robin, Wally was just as bad, especially when it came to motorcycles. 

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Artemis couldn’t help but to feel sorry for Wally, when he broke his arm during a mission. 
It was just terrible for an archer. 

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One day Ollie just ran over to her, during training and enveloped her in a hug. 
'Pleeaaaseee' He whined, squishing their cheeks together 'Please just tell me that I am your favorite'.
She glanced back at Speedy and Red Arrow standing next to Black Canary, staring at them in amusement. 
Artemis sighed, allowing herself to smile as she said in a tone a mother would use on a child. 
'Of course you're my favorite' she patted his back comfortingly. 
This in turn caused Ollie to let out a whoop of joy as he picked her up and twirled her around, rambling about her being his favorite too. 
Then he took everyone and invited them for Chilli, much to Roy, Artemis and Dinah’s horror and Wally’s joy. 
BC mentioned something about Conner joining them in a moment, so they all went to the kitchen, to prepare for the meal. 
Roy and Wally kept bickering, and tried to shove each other out of the way, as they put the plates on the table, while Artemis took care of the glasses. She made sure to put lots of drinks on the table for later, seeing as Ollie’s chilli was famous for being deadly. 
She saw Dinah smack Ollie’s hand away, before he could add more ‘spice’ to his dish, and then in turn, smacked Wally’s hand away, before he could put his hand in the boiling pot, to ‘get just a little bite before dinner’ probably saving him from some serious burns on his fingers. 
She smiled on her family’s antics, before she blinked surprized. 
Family? Since when did she start calling them that?
Roy pulled her out of her musings, by gently bumping his hip into hers, and handing her a basket of bread, so she could put in on the table, before he turned around and went to help Dinah. 
They heard the door open, and a few seconds later Conner walked in. They asked him how his day at school was and he happily started talking. 
Artemis smiled, when Wally walked over to her, and dragged her over to the table, whining about dinner preparations taking too long. 

So they all sat down, talking and joking and eating and then crying from the hotness of the Chilli. 
Family. Yes. The world fit them perfectly.