Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Seriously, he mentally groaned.

He ticked his pencil three times on the desk, chewed the eraser and groaned after five seconds. Wally hated test. No, not the sciency experiment test, he quite like those. It's the social questionnaires he can't stand.

Are you happy in your home life?

Do you consider yourself a popular kid?

On an average how many friends do you have over in a week?

Use one word to describe yourself?

He repeated his nerve-racking cycle, well at least tried to before the jock to the right of him kicked his desk and growled out, "Come on West it's not that hard the answers are no,no, I'm a loser and no".

Of course his response was followed with a boat full of laughter.

It was at this moment Wally discovered he was the only person still mulling over the questionnaire. All eyes were on him and Clint Strem, the jock from earlier. Some of the students had even had the opportunity to get out their cellphones, huddle around the duo and chant fight.

Why?

Besides the fact that it's a total cliché that everyone loves to see, I mean really Wally's a twig and Clint's basically a bodybuilder. A 6 foot 2, blonde, blue eyed, 175 pound, body builder. Who also is the captain of the boxing and wrestling team, yeah besides that there was the fact that these "Wally Clint poundings" were pretty rare nowadays.

You see Wally and Clint both have a history together. Clint has always bullied Wally, since they met in a central city police headquarters nine year ago.

The reason why is a story for another time, but just know the hate Clint has for Wally hasn't lessened in the years. If anything it's gotten worse, but Wally learned to adjust. He would avoid Clint if he could, it's not like they shared the same interest or were in the same intellectually leveled classes. It was a rare occasion when the two would actually have to be in the same room for more than a minute, but just Wally's luck the one day all freshmen are required to do this social questionnaire and he's seated next to Clint Strem.

Clint grinned at the attention and scooted his desk out of the way, Wally suspected he thrived off of it. I mean he was practically the Cheshire cat basking in the glory of his hellcat followers.

"Yeah go get him Clint".

"West is so screwed".

"Dude he's beyond screwed".

In all actuality Wally could have taken Clint, I mean being a superhero does have its perks. As Kid Flash he's fought numerous villains, way scary than Clint Strem. Hell, he faced off the Joker with the team three years ago. He could demolish Clint if he wanted to however, being a superhero also had its downfalls.

A secret identity sucked.

It's what forced Wally to hide his 'super bod' as he likes to call it. Every day he wears the baggiest clothes he could find at goodwill. If he's being honest being poor definitely contributed to how big he would buy his clothes as well. You never know when he would get the chance to buy clothes again.

Then he had to get dressed during P.E in the bathroom. Though if he's being honest again, he probably would regardless, just because he knows Clint and his jock followers would love the chance to steal his clothes.

And finally, there's the whole act the complete opposite of your super hero persona. That means, no flirting, no jokes and no fighting back.

Hence the 'let me just stand here and wait because there is no way the average boy can outrun the school running back' pose.

But god he was taking so long. Wally could have completed ten things by the time Clint actually made it next to him, and they were literally one foot away from each other.

With his hot cheeto breathe in Wally's face, Clint took one more second to grin at his audience before grabbing Wally's collar and growling, "Well West, looks like your luck finally ran out. Any last words"?

"Clint"! A girl with tan skin and long black hair exclaimed.

Her name was Beatrix "Trixi" Sanalon. She was new, hadn't even been at Central City High for more than two months, yet she had already become friends with the popular kids. Her best friend was the head cheerleader, certified central city sweetheart and Clint's girlfriend Abigail Caperson.

Clint still a bit excited at the attention, lifted Wally off the ground and yelled over his shoulder, "What Trix".

Rather than yell back at the boy, the girl stalked over to the two, poked the angry blonde and calmly said, "Put him down"

"No way, West has it coming to him! Its his fault were all in-

SLAP

"Clint! Put him down or you could tell Abby how you broke your promise to stop fighting"!

"But…Trix he.."

"Now" she yelled. Clint seemed like he was about to argue again, but one look at her face made him reconsider. Instead he rolled his eyes, ungracefully dropped Wally on the floor and stomped out of the room.

Of course by this time the supervisor Coach Peterson decided to finally do something about the situation. And what was his solution you may ask, a loud "Come back here Strem" followed by , a rudely tossed detention slip for Wally.

Coaches are kinda like the jocks in high school, they can't stand the skinny kid with the book obsession.

Once Coach Peterson realized his yelling was futile and Clint definitely wasn't coming back, he opted to going out to look for him. Without the supervisor the students started filtering out of the spacious classroom.

When it got nearly silent, Wally decided that was a good time to stop staring at his scuffed sneakers and pick himself up off the floor. Except when he looked up expecting to see nothing, a small tan hand was held out to him.

"You okay"

It would be rude not to take it, and Kid Flash wasn't rude. But Wally had decided if he can't be Kid Flash for his super speed and lovability he doesn't have to be him for his manners either. So he ignored the hand and dusted his pants off, half expecting the girl to leave in huff.

Instead, she just laughed, "Guess so".

It was at this moment Wally decided to look at her, really look at her. She was pretty, as expected for one of the popular kids, but she was different to. Unlike the snobs and jocks that consisted of the popular kids, not one item she had one screamed designer.

Her skinny jeans were a dark blue, nearly black. Her top was a plain red one that puffed out at the end. Her shoes were plain red flats. Even her hair was absent of any pearl or jewels, it was simply a long black braid with a even longer black ribbon at the base.

Still despite or maybe because of all of these 'flaws', Wally couldn't help but admit she was beautiful.

Immediately after he noted this he mentally kicked himself, 'Dude Wall-man you have a girlfriend. A smoking hot, blonde, superhero girlfriend. Don't go googly eyed after the new kid at school.

He started listing all the reasons he shouldn't ever look at this girl again. Not bothering to listen to whatever she had begun to babble about.

"...already there" she asked.

Wally tried to reply, really he did. But for the first time in his life his mind hadn't caught up with the conversation yet. So while still trying to understand what this girl was talking about, he hadn't really payed attention to how she was moving closer. Nor did he stop her when she brushed her fingers on his neck.

That broke him out of whatever slow down mode he was in. Suddenly his minds had went to lights speed and he could understand that she had asked him if 'this bruise was already there'. He also could vividly remember when his father gave it to him early that morning. It should have healed by now, but Wally wasn't allowed breakfast. He pulled back quickly, not super speed quickly but damn was he close to using it. As he zipped up his baggy jacket to the neck, he unconsciously took four more steps away from the curious girl.

She frowned, clearly upset with his fearful behavior. She didn't understand why he looked so afraid, it was just a bruise.

Realizing that he probably looked like a kicked puppy facing the boot, Wally choose to awkwardly laugh through the silence " Yeah I uh hurt my neck the other day, umm I'm Wally what's your name"

Of course he knew her name, everyone's known her name since she stepped into the school. She knew this just as much as Wally but decided to play along.

"Change" she cheekily replied.

"Change" Wally repeated sounding every bit of dubious.

"Yeah as in you changed the subject and not very well I might add. Before I asked about the bruise you seem to want to avoid, I had introduced myself".

"Oh"

"Yeah….So how'd ya get the bruise, must be pretty embarrassing if you're sweating like that".

His face scrunched up, she was becoming a pest. Rude Wally was back. "Why would I tell you".

Again she didn't see the least bit upset, in fact she pretty much welcomed his rudeness, "I don't know, I did kinda you know save your ass five minutes ago".

"I don't remember asking you too".

She clicked her teeth, still pretty amused, "Touché"

Why was she still here, Wally thought.

Why would she choose to interact with boring Wally West, it's not like he had been the least bit pleasant to her. Was she expecting a favor, if that's what she wanted Wally might consider telling her the most embarrassing story he could come up with in order for her to leave. But, she didn't really seem like the type to believe or even humor lies.

It was a bit frightening for the boy, for the first time in his life he couldn't talk or lie his way out of a conversation, still he knew other tactics to get someone to leave him alone.

"Fine, I'll do your homework for a month".

She scrunched up her face in confusion, "Wha-

With a roll of his eyes, Wally continued, "That's what this is about right, you want a favor in exchange for helping me with Clint. I'll do anything, fix your car, do your homework, walk your dog. However, I refuse public humiliation that includes you spreading rumors about how I have a bruise on my neck from being such a klutz".

"Have lunch with me" she asked suddenly.

Now it was his turn to scrunch up his face, "What..no".

Oh god, her cat-like grin was back on her face, she looked genuinely amused by this whole exchange. "But you said yourself, I want a favor and you'll do anything".

"I remember explicitly saying public humiliation was out of the question".

"And I remember bruises like those don't exactly come from being a klutz".

Damn. She got him there, but he couldn't have lunch with her. Not only would he have to be subjected to the glares of the popular kids at the table, he also would have to hold back on how much he ate. And he was really hungry.

"Uh I don't suppose you would take a raincheck" he answered back nervously.

She seemed to consider it, pondering over the thought for a second, then blissfully replied, "Sure".

Sweet mother of Jesus, she actually didn't pester him on this one. Maybe he could talk his way out of a conversation with her

"But, of course that will cost you", she said after some thought.

Inwardly groaning, Wally let his shoulders hunch just a bit before asking, "How much"

"A month".

Wait was she back on homework again.

"Of homework sure, what classes do you take. I think I may have you in P.E but I can't really help you there", his body was standing straight again, smile threatening to break out in his face. This, this he can do. Dealing with slight blackmailing was like a second nature to him, at this point.

She smiled a bit at his posture before closing the gap between them and whispering, "A month of having lunch with me".

He couldn't move, couldn't speak. This girl, she literally didn't get it. He can't- I mean he's not supposed to...Why can't she be like everyone else.

She didn't bothering letting him reply, just padded his shoulder, grabbed her bag and slowly made her way out of the isolated room. "See ya Monday, Wally. Oh and don't even think of skipping out on our agreement, if you do I may have to tell the school nurse about that nasty little bruise".

What the fuck

That pretty much summarized today.

What the fuck was what he thought as he ran through Central City for the nearest flash supporting diner. It took him fifteen minutes to find one, he ate enough for a small village. Not unusual for Kid Flash. He then walked himself back to school as Wally West, and ate just a bit more to calm his nerves, very unusual for Wally West. But unfortunately as he ate his school funded slop a football kid from earlier pushed him into the wall, resorting in the huge red stain on his pants.

What the fuck was what he thought as he listened to his teacher bore the class to sleep about the appropriate apostrophe to use in a declarative sentence. Of course out of the dozen kids not paying attention the teacher decides to ask the non- paying attention Wally West for the answer. To which he has none, and gets sent to the principal's office. After getting a hefty lecture on the importance of resisting day dreaming, Wally manage to weasel his way out of another detention by promising to compete in the district science fair.

What the fuck was definitely what he thought when he got home. His dad had been woken up by Wally entering the tiny house. Wally didn't bothering explaining to his Dad that he was being quiet, but the door was broke so he had to kick his way in. He definitely didn't bother asking his Dad how much he had drank today. And he didn't even try to defend himself as his Dad kicked the crap out of him. But just Wally luck all that food he had eaten was making his healing factor go into hard drive. Every bruise, cut and broken bone his Dad gave him, healed within ten minutes. This of course pissed off the man to no end and resorted in a beaten Wally being thrown down the basement.

"Maybe a couple er days in here will make ya learn to listen to me when I say no food for a day, useless rat", his father growled out.

Beaten and chained up, Wally decided now was the best time to cry. Wally cried until his tears just stopped, until he was completely empty and nothing not even a drop of water could be emptied out of him.

By that time it was ten o'clock, he was starving again. He briefly wondered if his mother was working another late shift, if he would get in trouble for missing his detention tomorrow, and if the team had called him today. Then he decide all of those questions were stupid and he was stupid.

Was his mother working another late shift?

Of course, dummy. Mom does anything in order to avoid you, besides somebody has to pay for Dads alcohol obsession.

Would he get in trouble for missing detention on Saturday?

Yes, stupid. Big trouble, super terrible trouble. Might even get expelled at this point.

Did the team call him?

Well that depends, retard. Unless it's a big emergency the team wouldn't call him. Nightwing and Atermis definitely would. But if he didn't answer they would send Uncle Barry to his house to get him. Then his Dad would lie and say he went to spend the night at a friend's house, and whatever they had planned would have to begin without him. That had been happening quite often and Wally knew it was beginning to become a problem with the team.

Artemis told him she hates being ignored, and he was reminding her of her father.

Nightwing and Robin were strangely quiet about the whole thing, which only means they're still looking for evidence before they call him out.

Meghan had asked him if her new recipes were driving him off.

Superboy plain out yelled at him for being MIA.

Aqualad had asked him to try to refrain from doing this on team missions.

Zatanna said he better be a better friend to Nightwing or she'll turn him into a pig.

Batgirl said she'll batarang him into next week if he misses Nightwings birthday party next month.

Bumblebee just straight up called him a weirdo.

And the list went on.

So did they call him, probably. Villains didn't exactly take vacations. It was at this point Wally desperately tried to get out of the chains. He could break them, but that would only make his Dad more mad, he just needed to be free for an hour. Just one hour to do whatever his friends wanted and then he would come back.

Slipping out of them was a bust. It had worked once when he was like five and his Dad hadn't accounted in the weight loss he would have from starving.

Trying to vibrating out of them resulted in the usual, a bloody nose and deep gashes on his limbs.

By the time in was six in the morning Wally had tried every escape method he could think of that didn't harm the chains. He even tried biting his wrist off but determined it unlike the gashes wouldn't heal.

"Wallace" a voice had called out from the top of the stairs. Wally couldn't see her, but he knew by the weakness of her voice that it was his mother. He didn't bother turning his face up to look at her, he had long since decided he didn't like her anymore.

Mary West was a weakling. She had always been a weakling. Never raising her voice in any manner, always following the men in her life. First her father, then her brother and now her husband.

She quietly descended the stairs and went over to the chained up boy, "Oh come on now Wallace, you're being childish. I brought you something to eat and I'm not working till 10 so I can clean you up".

Wally didn't bother lying to her about how much he was starving. His stomach would call him out on it in a second, instead he rolled his eyes at her "I told you to stop calling me that".

She pursed her plain pink lips "Your father doesn't like your nickname Wallace".

He rolled his eyes again, and glared at her, "He's asleep. Let's not pretend like you would be doing any of this if he wasn't".

Now she glared but it was half hearted and Wally suspected the honesty of his words had caused it, "I'm trying to help you Wallace".

He bitterly laughed, "You want to help me. How about you try to stop your husband from beating the crap out of me. Or better yet how about you try to act like you care in his presence".

She didn't stop wiping the blood on his face as she slowly replied, "Your father and I love you Wallace".

"Bullshit. What you feel is obligation, you feel bad so you think feeding me some scraps, patching me up and kissing my forehead will make it all better. And him, he doesn't know how to love. He doesn't even love you, you're nothing more than an credit card for him swipe when he feels the need to make himself feel like a real man".

SLAP

The occasions Mary would hit him were rare and always followed a heft insult on Wallys part. But they always stung, left an ugly bruise on his cheek and maybe a cut from her ring.

She would always feel bad immediately afterwards, spewing apologies left and right. He would of course ignore her and after twenty minutes or so and she would leave, embarrassed by her actions.

That of course is what happened that morning. And like all the other times before, Mary would roam the house for hours looking for suitable present to apologize with.

Wally suspected that by the time she got upstairs, she would notice the message left on the answering machine. It would be from his school explaining how he had missed his detention today, Mary would give a bullshit excuse on how sick he is ,and it would be postponed till next week. If there is one good thing Wally could say about his mother it's that she's easily manipulated.

When she came back later that day it had to be around eight o clock at night. She must have went to work because she was back to wearing her old pink scrubs and her hair was tied up in a bun.

"Wallace, are you still upset with me" she asked when she reached him.

When he didn't answer, she decided to place the items on the floor next to them and sit across from him. Just as before she had come down with some food and medical supplies. "Rudy came back down here I see", she murmured as she once again ran the cloth over the healing cut on his forehead.

Again he didn't reply.

But Mary wasn't one for silence so she insisted on still speaking with him, "He said he may let you out tomorrow. Won't that be great!"... Your friends called earlier, I told them you were at a friends house…..Don't worry dear, it wasn't for a mission. It was some hang out thing watching a movie I think…. Oh dear this bone healed in the wrong spot. Wallace I have to break it again, okay".

She sighed as she was yet again met with silence and grabbed a baseball bat to the left of them. She tried to make it as painless as possible as she swung the bat toward the chained up boys abdomen. It only took sixteen swings for the rib to break again, and Wally barely made a sound as she did so. She held up the rib so it could heal in the right place and stared up at her son.

He was handsome, she noted. The black eye he was sporting when she first arrived had disappeared and now his brilliant green eyes were free of any marks. Well any marks besides his freckles that he had received from Rudy's side of the family.

He looked just like his aunt Iris, she nearly laughed as she remembered the many occasions people mistook Iris for his mother instead of her. The then twenty four year old looked so startled, as if a recent college grad with her career just starting could have a son. Iris was pushing thirty she noted, when was the girl going to have a baby. She should really talk with her about-

Her thoughts were interrupted when Wally slightly murmured "It's healed".

She nodded her head slightly, surprised to find no bite in his voice. When she realized it was probably because she forgot to feed him this morning and he was tired, she hastily moved on to the next injury.

When they were done, she picked up the bowl of soup she had made and started spoon feeding her son.

"I made it this morning, your father seemed to like it" she said after feeding him another spoonful.

Wally of course ignored her and simply opened his mouth for more. It was embarrassing really to be fed like and infant. But this was the only way he would get food today so he didn't argue.

After finishing the bowl, Wally was still hungry but knew Mary wouldn't go up to get more. Instead, he closed his eyes and feigned sleep until she left. Once he was alone he opened his eyes and stared at the wall.

As he stared at the wall he pictured all the things he could be doing instead.

On hour one, he pictured pigging out on some Mr. Vetti's hot dogs with Nightwing. They hadn't been since Jason had died and he really missed the smile Dick would have when Wally would point out how mad Alfred would be.

On hour two, he pictured taking Artemis on a date to the beach. Somewhere isolated, where they wouldn't have to be superheroes for once. Where he could tell her how much she means to him, and how he's so not trying to ignore her.

On hour three, he pictured just hanging out with the team. Just roaming around, making jokes and laughing all day. It had been weeks since he had been to Mount Justice to just hang out. He really missed it.

On hour four, he pictured running a race with Uncle Barry and Jay Garrick. The last race they had ran, Wally had came in last but still he had fun. And besides he's almost certain he's gotten a little faster since then.

On hour five, he fell asleep.

"Get up, ya worthless pile of crap" an angry voice growled out.

Wally had but one millisecond to register that it was his father, before the man kicked the boy and unlocked his chains.

Coughing up blood, Wally slightly grinned at the mans retreating back. Finally, he's free. The first thing he did was zoom out of the basement and into the safety that was his room. He took a moment to give his body the good ole health check, before grabbing his comm and placing it in his ear.

Each comm is personalized so it only works for that specific person. Once the comm scans your ear it decides if its being used by its appropriate owner and turns on accordingly. After which it notifies everyone that said comm is online.

Wally seriously regretted forgetting about the notification effect.

"Kidd Idiot your on". Who was that Dick, no Tim. That was definitely angry Tim.

"About damn time get yer ass over to Star City", and that would be his lovley girlfriend.

"Yes my friend, we require your assistance immediately" and their goes Kaldur.

Many other voices were yelling out at him, but Wally choose to ignore it and put on his suit. God he loved his suit, hand crafted by Uncle Barry himself. Kid Flash's suit was amazing, the kevlar was laced with a special polymer than not only felt amazing on bruised skin, but cooled his body down enough to where his speed wouldn't burn his clothing. The suit also had some morphed technology adapted from the Martians, it didn't do much just changed his voice a bit and turned his hair from pumpkin orange to a deep ruby red.

He must have been admiring his suit to much as he ran because by the time he got to the scene everyone was giving him the stink eye.

"Hey, Kid Flash. At your service" he grinned out.

Of course Wally was disturbed by the negative energy his team was dishing out on him, but Kid Flash didn't get disturbed. Kid Flash made jokes, laughed and had fun. And after the past two nights Wally just had, he decided he'd rather have fun than worry.

"Yeah that's great for you Kid Idiot. Now you mind acting like your apart of this team and helping out" said Nightwing from the left. Ouch okay that one hurt, if Dicks upset with him, it means he's really screwed up.

He turned to look at his best friend to see just how mad the boy was. Fortunately for him Nightwing's attention had been on the skinny red clad boys fighting against him. Under further inspection Wally noted that each boy looked exactly the same. They each were wearing the same red unitard, with the division symbol in the middle and each of them were laughing as they kicked, punched and ran from his teammates.

There had to be at least fifty of them he noted before looking around at the other villains. Shimmer and Mammoth weren't new faces but the last time Wally saw them they were behind bars. Icicle Junior wasn't new either, but the last time Wally saw him Roy was a part of the team. The alien dude fighting Aqualad was definitely new, and good, really good.

Wally decided looking around wasn't going to help and began to round up the red clad copies in a speed tornado. It worked and he notice the more he rounded up the sooner the red clad boy fighting Beast Boy would absorb them.

Robin must have noticed to, because he yelled out "Beast Boy knock him out he's the original".

That was the only warning the boy got before a big green elephant trunk smack him into the ground. As he laid unconscious every copy of the boy absorbed back into him, until there was none left.

"Well Numerous is down" Shimmer yelled before touching the metal truck to her left and coating her skin in the same metal. She was fighting Miss Martian and it was beginning to look like a stalemate. It was probably true Meghan was more powerful than Shimmer, but Meghan was innocent where Shimmer was vicious. Soon Meghan feared the only way she could win is if she shut down the frightening girls mind.

Her brother nodded and asked in a gruff voice "Time to go"?

"Not a chance", Superboy replied before knocking Mammoth into a crater.

"Only place you four are going is back to prison" Bubblebee sassily replied. She along with Artemis were fighting Icicle Junior.

"No their not Bubblebrat" a childish voice said. Immediately every team member began looking for the source of the voice. Only Robin, Superboy,Wally, Nightwing and Bubblebee had noticed the sound came from above. Just as they craned their necks upward a giant green circle that suspiciously looked like an eyeball appeared.

Out of the green circle dropped five figures.

The first was a boy covered in machinery, a really small boy. Wally suspected he was the source of the voice, he looked extremely childish and the ear splitting grin pinpointed into Bumblebees direction didn't exactly hurt his chances.

The second was an even smaller boy...if he could be considered even that. This boy looked like pinocchio, straight up. His body appeared wooden and his nose even had a tiny leaf growing out the side. Wally vaguely remembers Nightwing telling him how he faced off with a villain that fit his description. If his memory serves him right the boy's name was Puppet King and he had the ability to control the weak minded. When the boy raised his glowing blue hand and the civilians started leaving the safety zones, Wally knew he was right.

The third was a boy looked pretty badass if Wally was being honest. This boy was wearing what appeared to be a motorcycle jacket under a plain black and red kevlar suit. On his face was a metal red mask and strapped on his belt were about three guns. Though Wally assumed based on the boys demeanor and the fact that he was holding his own against Tim, he probably didn't need to use them.

The forth was a black boy with a mask that resembled a giant eyeball. It was obvious his powers are what brought the five there. He took a second to survey the scene before disappearing in yet another green circle, and grabbing the multiplying boy off the floor. Wally tried to stop him but that's when the last person decided to step in.

She was pretty, Wally noted and for the second time that week he mentally scolded himself.

She had bright pink hair tied up into two horn like pigtails with a black ribbon. Her skin was tan adorned with pink marking near her fingertips and toes. Her eyes were a bright pink, brighter than her hair and he noticed like the jewel on her forehead and the markings on her cheeks, pink was a reoccurring color for her. Her outfit was a black halter that showed off pink belly ring and a black skirt with slits on the sides showing her pink shorts. She was breath takingly beautiful.

"Hey gorgeous, I'm gonna need you to get out of my way" he said with a cheesy smile. He tried to side step her but her glowing pink hands made him reconsider. She didn't even give him a chance to throw in a joke about a spark being between them before she shot the pink energy at him.

He dodged and just barley at that, he had to run all the way to his left to fully get out of the target zone. Unfortunately he hadn't taken in account the amount of time he should have before he stopped running, so he ran straight into Artemis.

"Watch where you're going Kid idiot" Artemis yelled as she misfired her arrow at the Puppet King.

It probably was the lack of food, or the fact that the whole team was still giving him the stinkeye, or maybe it's the fact that out of all people he expected Artemis to give him a chance.

"What's your problem Fartemis" he growled.

She growled right back, "My problem is while you're out ignoring everyone and flirting with the villains, I would think you could at least try not to bump into me".

"I wasn't flirting". He yelled.

"Oh come on Kid Mouth. Everyone heard you" Artemis said.

Wally started to reply but was cut off by Nightwing, who apparently had decided to join Tim in fighting the red masked badass.

"Fight the villains not each other", he yelled out before sending a kick and batarng the other way.

One missed and the red masked villain growled before finally decided to speak, "Seriously can I fight anyone else" he growled out towards Wally.

That was the only warning Wally got before another pink wave of energy entered his sights. He dodged yet again and the girl sent two more in the form of blades before replying to the red hooded villain. "I don't really think they'll let you Hoodie".

Dick grinned at fixed his staff into two poles, "She's right. What's wrong Robin and I not pretty enough for you, Hoodie".

The red masked villain sighed, "Ignore Jinx I go by Red Hood, and either you hate me or Daddy bats hasn't exactly told you yet".

Tim had suddenly decided to go back to being on the offensive, he sent a fury of weapons at Red Hood, only seven were dodged.

"I know you were in Gotham six months ago, killed a lot of Black Mask men. I know your gave B a run for his money in the hand to hand combat part. Good for you by the way, I haven't had this much fun fighting a villains in ages" Dick cheekily replied. He too sent a fury of weapons onto the Red Hood, one of which loaded itself right into the eye of the mask.

"So not aster" Dick mumbled as sparks flew out the red mask.

"Nice aim" Tim sarcastically replied.

The Red Hood had about four seconds before the self-destruct mode would ignite on his helmet, he had to take it off. But he really didn't want to be the one to tell Dick, so he hastily threw the red helmet above his head, and threw about six smoke bombs on the floor.

The smoke bomb had infiltrated not just Tim and Dick's area but everyone's as well. Wally didn't even have time to react before a quick flash of pink hit his ribs.

"Sorry, by the way", Jinx murmured before gathering more pink energy and sending it his way.

"You know normally people don't say sorry, and then attack the person again", Wally yelled out.

She laughed, moved a little closer to him and then attacked him once more, "I'm not sorry for attacking you. But I guess, I am a bit sorry I got your little girlfriend mad".

Wally dodged but unfortunately for him wounded up even closer to her"She would have been mad at me regardless so it's cool"

She gave him a cat like grin, her pink eyes sparkling, "Really? Well then let's give her something to be mad about".

That was the only warning he got before she closed the gap between them and pressed her mouth against his. He gasped and she took that as the ample opportunity to explore every inch of his mouth. It seemed like they had been kissing for weeks, months, years. The only reason they had stopped was because Wally had heard Meghan scream.

He took this opportunity to tunnel whatever smoke had blinded the team and filter it elsewhere. Then he nearly shat his pants.

There in the middle of the ground stood a frightened Tim, and an angry Dick. Across from them was the Red Hood but without the red mask it became frightfully apparent who he really was. His hair was black, scruffy as if it hadn't been combed that day. His jawline was pronounced and his mouth was pressed in a thin straight line. He had a black and white mask, a Robin mask. One that only three people Wally had ever known had.

"How'd you get his DNA? He was careful there no way you could get enough of his DNA to clone him" Dick gritted out. He wasn't speaking to the Red Hood. Wally supposed he couldn't bring it in himself to yell at the face of his dead little brother.

One by one each villain had begun to stand beside the Red Hood.

Jinx had long since walked over the trio and draped her arm around the Red Hood. He instantly pushed her off and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Why don't you ask him how we got him".

If they were paying attention they would have seen the eyeball kid from before was creating whatever teleportation circle power he had behind the villains. But instead, everyone's eyes were trained on the Jason lookalike, everyone except the look-alike himself. Wally supposes he was the only one still staring at Dick's angry face.

When both boys refused to ask and the one next to her refuse to answer, she continued" Hoodie do you care if they know, or…"

She must have took his silence for approval because she then turned her head back to Dick and grinned.

"Sorry to break it to you, but he isn't a clone".

"Liar" Dick spat.

"Numele de asteptare este prost" the Red Hood muttered. Now Wally's Romanian sucked but he's certain he heard Dick say that phrase to Jason a million times. Every time the boys' temper would get the best of him, he would spit out the worst name he could think of even at Dick sometimes. Dick would just laugh and reply 'Numele de aseptate Este prost'. Name-calling is for the stupid.

Wally wasn't the only person who remembered, he knew the gasp beside him weren't mere coincidence. He also knew Dick had remembered when his face changed from angry to surprise.

No one got a chance to respond before the villains were surrounded in a ball of green light and gone.

Dick immediately turned to Meghan. He couldn't imagine Jason telling anyone about that, but Dicks said it so many times, in front of so many villains. He's a clone, maybe he knows that because Simon implanted a memory or something. He has to be a clone.

Meghan slowly rubbed her head and grimace, "All of them have blocks in their minds. I couldn't infiltrate a single person".

Dick growled and started off towards the Zeta-Beam.

As everyone followed Wally noticed just how beat up everyone was, not that the villains were much better, but still the fact that this team did that is frightening. Bubblebee was probably the worst, she and burns and cuts just about everywhere.

When she noticed Wally's staring she weakly mumbled out, "I' knew Gizmo, way back when. Guess I thought our history would mean we wouldn't hurt each other that much…. guess I was wrong".

Wally nodded and watched as Wonder girl carried her to the nearest infirmary.

Normally this would be the time when Batman would order a report, but given the injuries reported by the Zeta-Beam all of the league was present.

Batman immediately noticed Dick's mood and asked Tim for a report. Before the young Robin could do so, Dick decided now was a good time as ever to ask him, " Who is the Red Hood, and don't give me any crap about how you don't know".

Green Arrow and Black Canary who had been checking on Artemis, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Wonder woman and even Wally's own Mother Hen Uncle Barry had stopped to stare. Dick rarely if ever yelled at Bruce, especially in front of the team.

"You saw him" was Batman's emotionless reply.

That only seemed to make Dick angrier, "Yes, I saw him. Care to tell me why I saw my dead brother fighting with a group of villains".

Batman sighed, "Nightwing he isn't the same person you once knew. He's changed and its our duty to stop him before-

"He's my brother! Regardless of however, they brought him back, as our father it was your responsibility to bring him home".

"He came to Gotham! He's killed millions without batting an eye. Regardless of how you feel, as far as I'm concerned your brother is still dead".

PUNCH

Nightwing had punched Batman. He really had punched Batman. Holy shit, the world has ended.

He didn't even spare Bruce a glance before turning away and yelling out, "Fine he's not your son anymore. Then consider me not, either".

It was silent for a moment, the only sound was the feminine voice of the Zeta tube explaining that Nightwing had left Mount Justice.

Finally, after what seemed like hours on Wally's part, Batman turned to him and gritted out, "Status report".

Wally fumble for his words. What exactly was he suppose to say. Yeah, I was late and all but first we were fighting some multiplying guy, then the other guys showed up, one of which was your dead son, oh and the pink-haired leader, yeah totally made out with her, but thankfully no one saw because of all the smoke. Then we had the biggest shock of all, when Nightwings Batarang hit Red Hoods helmet. And now here we are, you missing two sons and me sweating bullets. Yeah, he was definitely not telling pissed off Batman or the Arrow family any of that.

Thankfully for him, Tim decided his open-mouthed fish face wasn't funny and helped him out, "Kid Flash wasn't there in the beginning. But I put up some spy cams around the area, so we could study some of the new villain's abilities"

Batman nodded and each superhero watched as Tim displayed the fight from eight different angles on the screen. It was all fine in the beginning, Uncle Barry congratulated him on the speed tornado and his reflexes. It was all fine until Wally noticed the camera was showing Wally and Jinx alone, surrounded by smoke. Unlike the rest of the cameras which only showed shadowed figures, Wally camera showed everything vividly. Perhaps it was from all the wind Wally supplied as he ran way from the pink surges of energy. Perhaps it was because he was truly unlucky.

"Oh no" Wally squeaked. Blue Beatle and Beast Boy both laughed at him as he inched away from Artemis.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh come on Baywatch I won't hit you".

"Not taking any chances, Wally murmured. He was this close to the zeta tube when a green arrow zipped past his head. Artemis...no Green Arrow.

"You think it's cool to kiss other girls when you're spoken for Flashy" Green Arrow growled. Artemis and Black Canary were standing beside him looking absolutely pissed.

Instantly Uncle Barry came in front of him and sheepishly began replying to Green Arrow, "Now Green Arrow, Canary, I know Kid was wrong but-

"He was more than wrong" Artemis growled. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl stood beside her in agreement. Superman ever the boy scout had stopped whatever conversation he was having with Conner to glare at the redhead, he glared so hard Wally would swear heat vision was about to come out.

"But she kissed me", Wally whined.

"Yeah only to give me something to be mad about because I would have been mad anyways", Artemis screeched.

Wally was beginning to get a little irritated. There was no getting to her. True he was guilty but defiantly not the only guilty person there. It's not like Artemis wasn't going to mad regardless if he had met Jinx or not. Every time he had seen her she had an attitude with him. Granted he had missed a lot of their dates and hadn't been calling, but damnit it wasn't his fault he was chained up in the basement.

So in spite of his better judgment, he spat out, "Well at least we agree on something" .

"Kid apologize"! Barry yelled out as he avoided the dozen arrows Green Arrow sent their way.

Wally glared out at Artemis. "Why she's the one with the mega attitude".

"I only have an attitude because you're being a lousy boyfriend", she scoffed.

"Well honey you're not the best girlfriend to hit the market either", he quipped.

"At least I call", Artemis yelled.

Wally rolled his eyes, she wasn't seriously using that one. "Only when you want something. Take me out Baywatch, why weren't you at the mission stupid, help me with my aim by being a moving target Kid Idiot"

Artemis looked genuinely disturbed, was he mocking her, "Are you calling me selfish"

"No, I think every caring person calls only if they want something. Hey, do you think every once in a while you could call and ask how I'm doing or maybe just call to hang out", Wally sarcastically drawled.

"Kid enough" Barry whined yet again, he wasn't having trouble avoiding the arrows but if Artemis started joining in…

"Oh god do your parents even like you" Artemis screamed.

It was a low blow but not in Artemis eyes. Of course his parents like him, she thought. Who doesn't like him? She figured that this would be the part where he would see unlike him, she didn't call just to hang out because she's not adapt to it. Her father is a monster and her mother's... learning to express her feelings, Artemis is learning with her. She doesn't know how to call and ask how someone's doing.

For Wally, her question was definitely a low blow. Of course, she didn't know it, but no, his parents didn't like him. And right about now he's starting to believe no one did. But he couldn't let her know that, so he instead of the truth he opted for a low blow himself, "Well they certainly don't hate me, baby girl".

Maybe it was the spite in his voice or the fact that he had used her Dad's infamous nickname for her, but that was the final straw. She didn't bother looking at him as she muttered out, "It's over".

Instantly Wally felt bad. He didn't mean to go there, but he was so angry and she-. She was close to tears he noted, her eyes were near the brink and for the life of him, he couldn't remember just when she started tearing up. Artemis didn't cry, it was unheard of. She was huddled around a few of the female superheroes. All of which and some of the men as well were glaring at him. This was bad, maybe if he apologized, "Wha... Artemis look I didn't mean-

His thought were interrupted when his Uncle grabbed his shoulder, "Maybe you should let her calm down for a while, Kid".

"Yeah... okay" Wally sighed. He then looked up at his Uncle, "Is Au-aaah is it okay if I crash at-

"Sorry kid, I'm gonna be caught up here for a while and I-I don't think our other scientist will be at the lab tonight" Barry quickly replied. After which he swiftly turned away from Wally and huddled over to Artemis. Wally knew he was just trying to comfort her, tell her how much Wally didn't mean it...but still another part of him felt betrayed.

Was Uncle Barry was mad at him? Was Aunt Iris? He hadn't stayed with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris in the longest. They were both so..busy. Sure he knows they have to work but..still.

" Kid, skiddatle will catch up later kay" Barry called over his shoulder.

Wall didn't think twice before nodding his head and running out the cave. He was overreacting, Uncle Barry said they would catch up. It will be fine, it has to be fine.

He then grimaced as he realized his destination. If he was going to go home, he was taking the long way.

As much as Wally would have like to keep running for hours, he entered Blue Valley in less than thirty minutes. Usually, towards the middle of Central City, he would have changed into his civvies and walked the rest of the way, but because of his anger, he ran passed it. He was nearly home when a strangled cry met his ears.

"Please Miss, spare me", a weak old man begged. It took Wally about two seconds to realize that that was Ole man Vetti, the hot dog vendor.

He was currently cowering on the floor as Jinx smirked wickedly at him. Just as she had fired a handful of pink energy at the man, Wally swooped in and carried the man away. Her blast hit the concrete and for a second nothing happened. Until the ground shook and nearby telephones exploded.

"Picking on old men after a major jewelry heist. Isn't that beneath you" Wally quipped after he had put old man Vetti into a safety zone.

Jinx smiled once she saw him a lightly started tracing the green light pole with her index finger, "I just wanted some chili dogs, old man shouldn't have started arguing".

"Pretty sure if you were buying them he wouldn't have to" Wally supplied.

His response was a halfhearted shrug as she stopped tracing the pole and a surge of energy shot out her fingertips. The pole exploded near the base and nearly crushed Wally as it fell down. It was easy enough to dodge but the six pink energy blades she sent toward him, and the five kicks after were not.

One of the blades hit a nearby mailbox, and like all the other objects, exploded.

Wally let out a low whistle, "Been meaning to ask ya doll face. What exactly is your power, kinetic touch that causes explosions"?

She grinned before sending three more energy fueled kicks his way, "Something like that"

Wally dodged two of them and groaned as one got him in the right knee, "See except I'm not exploding, kitten. Hurts like hell, but I'm still in one piece. Care to share why".

When she didn't answer he zoomed around her and created a light tornado to lift her off the ground. "Oh come on you explore the fuck out of my mouth and you can't even tell me how your powers work, he paused for a minute to watch her futile attempt to get out of his tornado. "I thought we were passed the awkward phase doll".

When he finally did stop, she fell to the ground instantly. Surrounding her form was a deep crater, definitely not the amount of damage Kid Flash would usually give out. But damnit he was having a bad day, and most of it was her fault.

She groaned loudly before jumping out the crater and shaking her head, "Is that it, did your little girlfriend see the kiss, break up with you and now you're pissed".

He growled at her, she was definitely having way too much fun at his expense. "No, I just hate when I have to encounter the same villain in one day".

She suddenly stopped, the energy in her hands began to disappear as she stared at the boy in slight confusion.

"What," Wally asked after some thought.

"What are you doing in Blue Valley anyways," she asked. Instantly he had paled, Kid Flash was never in Blue Valley. Sure it was poor but it wasn't Gotham, crime was pretty low and the cops pretty much handled everything.

"I uh was in the neighborhood" he supplied.

She obviously didn't buy it because her reply was "Bullshit".

"Well why are you here," he asked. Blue Valley hot dogs were the best in his opinion but he doubted Vetti's reputation surpassed his city limit.

Rather than avoid his question, she ruefully smiled and picked up a half-done hot dog, "Hoods not too happy with me. This is his favorite place to grab a bite".

Wow, honesty. It had been so long since Wally had truly heard it, he halfway didn't believe her. Then he thought about it, of course, she's getting them for Jason. He did look pretty angry when she was taunting Dick, and Vetti's chili dogs were always Jason's favorite food.

It was at this moment Wally decided he was going to be honest for once, just a little bit. It's only fair, she was honest with him. "I was taking a run, trying to clear my head. My girlfriend broke up with me.".

Her eyes widened, she had not expected him to reciprocate, but still, by her smile he could tell she appreciated it.

"Fine, I'll do us both a favor than" she said. Wally started to ask her what, but as she pulled out the three dollars and forty-five cents, he slowly understood. "There that's enough for two chilidogs, I only need to apologize to Hood anyways".

Kid Flash was supposed to take her in, or at least follow her as she started to run away. But at that moment Wally didn't feel like being Kid Flash. Mr. Vetti was safe, she paid for her food and the team wouldn't be there to help him if he ran into her friends.

Instead, he ran all the way to the nearest woods, changed back into his civvies and walked home.

When he finally reached the old blue house it was eleven o'clock. Eleven o 'clock was always a tricky time, either his dad would be too drunk to stay awake or so drunk he'd forget Wally didn't have a curfew.

Luckily for him, this time his father was asleep. It took a while but Wally actually manages to open the broken screen quietly and sneak his way upstairs. Crashing on his worn-out bed, he noticed for the first time in maybe six months he would actually get to go to sleep without a beating.

Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

Chapter Text

Idiot, he didn't even try to track me.

Jinx thought as she walked through a small alley on her way home. Her plan was to detour through a couple of nearby city, but when she looked behind her and saw Kid Flash running the other way, she thought 'what's the point'.

For a second she thought of following him. Find out where he was going, only then she decided that their little truce should at least extend for the rest of the day. If he was kind enough to let her go without being tracked it's the least she could do.

As she walked closer and closer to a leaning apartment, she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to her conversation with Kid Flash.

He broke up with his girlfriend,should she feel bad?

She shook her head. What was the point of feeling bad, it's not like he will be single forever. Just look at him, and with his flirting he's sure to find another girl in a second. Besides arrow girl didn't seem all that into him. No, she refuses to feel bad.

As she replayed her mini argument in her head, she slowly approached the brownstone apartments. Her mind obviously was busy because she nearly forgot to activate the info tech and let herself in.

A fingerprint scan and an eyeroll later she was instantly transported from the poor old Blue Valley brownstone apartments to the technology bunker right below it.

"Hey I'm back", she called as she walked through the first room. It was quiet in the giant bunker, way too quiet to even remotely be considered normal. "Guys..

"Watch popsicle I will destroy you"! Puppet King yelled as he chased after the Icicle Jr..

The dubbed popsicle was laughing maniacally while holding Puppet Kings crown."Sure your highness, as soon as your wooden legs catch me".

"Guys seriously we shouldn't resort to petty games of keep away". See-More exclaimed. After realizing he was being ignored he rolled his one eye and crashed onto the nearest couch cushion.

Partially irritated and a tiny bit amused Jinx decided to trip Icicle Jr and dramatically fall next to See-more on the couch.

"Hey witch you did that on purpose" Icicle Jr exclaimed.

Jinx pursed her lips, nearly appearing innocent if her smirk didn't follow, ' Did what"?

Icicle tried to reply but was cut off from Puppet Kings strangled cry and headbutt tackle. The two boys began to childishly fight over the crown, rolling on the ground and shouting the most deranged things.

"Look you little ice cube-

"What you stack of wood".

"Ugh, You're impossible.. Give me my crown"

"Nah, don't wanna"

"I swear to god Cameron"

"Always the biblical talk aye Jordan"

"Gaah"!

The following words were a series of grunts, yells, and witty insults. Despite the extensive injuries, the two teens were putting on each other Jinx couldn't help but smile at the situation.

"Shouldn't you stop them", See-More asked.

Jinx laughed as she turned her attention away from the feuding teens.

"Naah, Icicles only acting out cause Numerous is hurt and he's worried. This will give him something to do and Kingy some time away from his pouty plotting mode.' Sides there not causing that much damage".

" Cameron just cut a piece of Jordan's leg off"

Rolling her eyes Jinx swiftly replied, "They're wood I'm sure Giz will fix it. Bet Kingy can't feel a thing anyways".

See-More didn't seem to convinced."I guess….Is that chili leaking down your hand"?

Blinking a bit Jinx slowly unfolded her hand to reveal two smushed childogs,"Aww man I knew I should have just taken the fucking cart. Think Hoodie will still eat these"

"The Red hood left base twenty minutes ago. In response to your earlier question Mammoth will eat the substance no matter how foul it is" XL terrestrial stated before enlarging himself from his position on See-Mores arm.

"Jesus! I swear you and Red Hood try to freak me out. How long have you been there" See-More whined. He was definitely the most squeamish out of the group, one of his biggest pet peeves was when people snuck up on him. To say Batman was his least favorite hero was an understatement.

"He's been there since I got here. For someone with heat seeking vision you really suck at detecting people" Jinx teased.

See-More grew even more flustered as he nervously stuttered his reply. "I-I its hard when...my powers.. The h-helmettt…Jinx don't laugh at me...oh god.. nevermind just go give the chili dogs to Mammoth".

"Sure thing boss".

"Wait Jinx I didn't mean to sound demanding..I Know you're the leader.. I just-

Noticing the boy's flustered appearance Jinx could help but laugh and lovingly place a kiss on his cheek, "A whole three months and you still don't get my humor".

She didn't bother waiting for his reply. Like all the times she showed him any affection See-More was speechless, dazed, gone.

Her back was turned but she still would bet all her money XL terrestrial was rolling his bright red eyes.

Once she reached the doorway, she turned around and face the two boys with a serious expression. " When Hood gets back let me know".

Neither boy looked happy for the task. Red Hood was avoided at all times by See- More. XL Terrestrial well unless it had to do with training he avoided everyone. Despite this, both boys nodded their heads.

Thanks" Jinx called over her shoulder as she continued walking. The corridor was long, and Mammoths room was at the end of the hall after about thirty flight of stairs. To say she was irritated to find it empty was an understatement. After checking the rooms of Shimmer, See-More, Billy Numerous and Icicle Jr, she was beyond irritated

"Where the fuck is he. I mean he's bigger than the fridge, how can I not find him" Jinx muttered as she passed a couple of more rooms. She was now on the fourth floor and nearing the quitting stage of her quest to find Mammoth.

Untill she passed a shiny, metal door with the words 'keep out' crudely written in German.

"Giz is Mammoth in here" she asked as she walked in.

Gizmo appeared a bit annoyed for her lack of manners but was more annoyed with Shimmer peeking over his shoulder.

"Unfortunately, his darling psycho- I mean sister wouldn't let me work until I use my chami chamber to heal him. Problem is out of the twenty chambers I've made blubber butt can't fit in one. So I'm wasting precious time making a new one".

"Shut the fuck up dweeb and just do it. Don't you see how banged up Baran is " Shimmer sneered.

Mammoth who looked way worse than his smile gave off, kindly replied "But sis, I'm okay"

At this Shimmers pale white skin began to coat itself in the familiar shiny metal of Gizmo's lab.

Everyone stood leery,Shimmer did not activate her powers for scares.

However, instead of her usual angry shrill voice a calm almost potent voice spoke through. "No, Baran you're not. You took on wonder blonde and superbrat, you're practically dead. I can see your fucking bones poking out of your skin. But don't feel bad, it's not your fault". She lightly caressed that part of his body, the blood coating her perfectly manicured steel nails.

Narrowing her eyes Shimmer glanced up from her crouched position and glared toward Jinx direction, "It's hers".

She then flung the blood over in Jinx direction along with four bloody fingernails. The fingernails flew out like sharp knives, if Jinx hadn't moved quickly she's almost positive one would have sliced her neck.

Jinx who had expected such a response, rolled her eyes and slouched on the wall. She seemed perfectly at ease but Shimmer knew her better. She was prepared more than anyone for an attack, regardless of how nonchalant she looked.

She wasn't to surprised that only one of her follow up attacks hit Jinx, she was even less surprised when the blast of pink energy knocked her back six feet. She crashed into some equipment much to Gizmo's dismay but still smirked when she looked at Jinx's cut cheek.

"You done" Jinx cooly replied as she wiped over the cut in annoyance.

Shimmer glared, "Not a chance".

Before she could murder the pink haired teen, she was instantly lifted from the ground. She growled, cursed and screamed for her brother to put her down but was continually met with the same answer. " Sis don't go blaming Jinx".

While the two siblings argued Jinx strolled over to Gizmo. She took a moment to grab a healing pill from his stand before speaking to him.

"So how's Numerous, since he's not blabbing around the house I assume he must be in one of your chami chambers".

The german brat smirked a bit, " Idiot was so banged up he still hasn't regained consciousness. I told him one hundred was to many for his stamina".

Jinx nodded, she too though Numerous was becoming too cocky in his abilities."When will he wake up".

Gizmo shrugged,"Who knows, who the hell cares. I'm no doctor but I give him a couple of more hours".

Jinx bit her lip and smirked. Despite what Gizmo wanted them to believe he truly did care for all his comrades. She's sure he knows the exact minute Numerous will wake up.

"Hey what the fuck are your smiling for Pinky" Gizmo snarled.

Jinx rolled her eyes and decided not to tease him, just this once. "Nothing so did you figure out what the necklace was".

The subject change was obvious but Gizmo seemed too intrigued with her question to acknowledge it, "Not that Shitter gave me much time to analyze it but I did notice three things about our priceless little gem".

As he pushed a series of buttons on his wrist watch a table with the gem, a couple of tools and holograms appeared before them.

"Like" Jinx pressed. She grabbed the nearest magnifying class and started at this strange rock. It's not often they're sent on jewelry runs. Sure the rock was priceless but as far as she could see its just a rock. A turquoise,shiny rock.

"Well for starters, it was right to be considered priceless. I've never seen anything like it, it doesn't exist in any jewelry seller's inventory. So then I started digging and it turns out a comet recently crashed on Earth. The planet it originated from is unknown but some parts of the rock were chipped away and sold to the black market before the government took over. All of the stolen pieces of the rock were accounted for, all except one tiny pound".

Jinx rolled her eyes, there is no way she had to get her whole team for a rock "So it's a rare rock from space,great. Not kryptonite thats for sure and I dont think any other supers are afraid of rocks right".

Gizmo held a serious expression as he vehemently shook his head "Originally I was bummed like you. I thought it was just a pebble from space, then I cut two hundred and sixty three point nine volts into the center".

Jinx rolled her eyes, leave it to the midget to be dramatic "...And".

"Be quiet I'm trying to show you" Gizmo sneered. He pressed a few more buttons on one of the holograms before a giant bolt of electricity zapped the rock. Suddenly the rock began to tremble and small flecks of the turquoise began to move. Almost like circuits in a cable, or blood in a vein.

"Giz…", Jinx worried said.

"It's alive" Gizmo excitedly stated. He then began to ramble about all of the configurations, and equations.

"So the rocks alive, must be someone headquarter knows or wants to know".

Gizmo seemed a bit bummed at her interruption but still smiled as he spoke, " Not a rock, a computer".

"What"?

"I took a sample near one of my ports and it started moving toward it. I think it's ability to communicate is through a computer".

"And you're not trying to talk to what may be the rock of your dreams why"?

At this Gizmo soured. Her joke about the rock of his dreams went completely over his head all he could do was glare at the still arguing siblings and sneer, "I was interrupted"

At that exact moment Shimmer grew tired of her trapped position and agreed to no longer attack Jinx.

"Thank ya, sis"Mammoth yelled.

Jinx laughed and rubbed her now healed cheek, "Yeah thank ya".

Mammoth let Shimmer go, and walked over to the duo with a slight limp. He was a strong one, never showed how hurt he was. Even around his friends, especially around his friends.

Jinx was currently listing all of the dates Gizmo could go on with his one true match. Mammoth was now within the finished chami chamber but still joined in on the jokes and the duo's laugh began to merge.

Still a bit annoyed at her brothers current state, Shimmer growled "Just so ya know, when Madame Rouge gets here I'm demanding more brute back up".

Jinx seemed a bit startled by this proclamation. She had forgotten Madame Rouge would be coming today. She reluctantly leaned off of Mammoth and turned towards Shimmer with a serious expression. "Shimmer don't do that".

"Why not? Our ever fearless leader isn't going to", Shimmer said with a roll of her eyes.

In a way, she was right Jinx was too smart to ever think she could demand Madame Rouge something. Unlike Shimmer, Jinx had a history with the woman.

"Just don't" Jinx stated seriously.

Shimmer started to reply but was cut off by the alarm bell.

"Who the hell, would invade us" Gizmo yelled as he pressed numerous buttons enacting the top measures of security. In the midst of this, the rest of the team ran over to his room. Machines appeared everywhere, each with their own hidden weapon.

Despite their threatening appearance, more than half of those were destroyed in a fury of elongated kicks, jumps and punches. In the center of this turmoil stood a tall woman, with a short black bob and ruby red lips.

"Madame Rouge" Jinx stated.

The woman smirked, kicked a robot still clutched on her ankle, and walked over to the teens. " I was going to destroy all your little toys, boy. Be grateful I didn't".

Gizmo could only watch as the lethal women surveyed the room. There was little damage, Mammoth and Numerous were resting in chambers but she didn't acknowledge either of them, instead, her eyes gleamed once she spotted the turquoise rock on the table.

"Excellent, you got the sample of the rock. Any findings".

Gizmo carefully stated the same story he had told Jinx. However, he distinctly left out what number volt he used in order to make the rock react. Nor did he compare it to a computer.

"Hmmm so you're saying the rock expels or absorbs energy," Madame Rouge said after his explanation.

The young boy vehemently nodded his head, " I'm not sure what number volt I had used to make it react. And it doesn't react to any other volt. Perhaps if I knew what planet it came from". He lightly touched the rock almost stroking it before his hand was slapped away.

"Give me that. I said did you find anything not what did you hope to find. The scientist back at headquarters will take a look at this" the young woman sneered.

She then paused and once again surveyed the room. After a couple of seconds, she stared down at the teens and calmly asked, "Where is Red Hood".

Jinx spook in a calm but careful voice, "He went out for food".

Madame Rouge didn't seem to convinced, "Alone..Hmmm. That child was once Robin, despite his alliance with us, he is not to be trusted. He still denies remembering Batman's true identity,and refuses to unmask himself, correct?

Each teen nodded, some more quickly than others. Red Hood was not to be trusted, not even a little.

"When he returns tell him, he is no longer able to go out alone. Understood".This time Madame Rouge only spoke to Jinx. The pink-haired girl nodded though in all honesty, she wished she hadn't. Restricting Hood was only going to make him angrier.

"Good I'll take my leave", Madame Rouge said as she began walking to exit, the rock was now placed in a small metal box tied to her belt. She honestly thought it was beneath her to retrieve packages, however, she'll make an exception for this one.

Jinx was happy to see her going. Just a little bit further and they all could relax. Just a little-

"Hey Rouge" Shimmer yelled and everyone else winced. Jinx tried to stop her but the girl spoke before she could clamp her hand around her mouth. "Don't you see my brother, What about Numerous. We nearly died out there, we need more back up. Or is headquarters to busy with their heads in their asses-".

In an instant, an elongated arm with sharpened nails flew toward the girl. Shimmer prepared herself by coating her body in steel. However, she miscalculated, she didn't understand that Madame Rouge could pinpoint the weakest part of any substance, rock, or metal.

And when the woman's nails hit her face, Shimmer could feel her skin crack like glass. She screamed in agony and held the top of her face. She was bleeding, she could feel the blood dripping from where her eyes were...where they're supposed to be.

After blinking through her pain, she finally realized she couldn't see. Behind her, she could hear Gizmo screaming over the chamber her brother broke and she could hear her brother screaming trying to get out of the shield See- More trapped him in.

This was it, no one was going to help her. Her brothers trapped and she's gonna...

She's gonna die.

She kept repeating her last thought as Madame Rouge bragged about how eye removal was a specialty of hers. Her crude remarks were followed by a nasty squish sound, which could only be Shimmers eyeballs splatting on the ground.

She couldn't see it but she imagined it was gross.

Madame Rogue continued to stomp on the ground and tease Shimmer about her ugly scars. At this Shimmer could only scoff, who cares about a scar when she's going to die.

For dramatic effect and probably her own self-satisfaction Madame Rouge took her sweet time throwing sharpened things at the girl. Some bounced off of her steel body, some didn't. When one pierced her neck and she could hear herself choking, in her head she repeated her same sentence from before. She's going to die.

She heard the women walking closer. Her steps purposefully loud. Her heels clicking.

"Pitiful", Madame Rogue sneered. and for once Shimmer agreed.

Just as Madame Rough stood over her, elongated arm mirroring a sword. A pink surge of energy shook the girl out of range.

"Jinx, No"! See-More screamed.

"Jinx"? the blind Shimmer asked. She should be laughing at her, telling her I told you so. Why was she saving her?

Madame Rouge seemed a bit annoyed but crudely smirked at the pink-haired girl, "I trust you have a good reason for this insolence".

Jinx nodded her head, though she didn't feel any bit as confident as she appeared. "I am the leader, it's my responsibility to groom my team. I should have made Shimmer aware of your position. I am at fault".

Madame Rouge seemed to consider this, after a couple of minutes of silence, disregarding Shimmers strangled breaths, the young woman smiled. "Fine, follow me".

Jinx quickly nodded, behind her, she could almost feel her team biting their lips.

Just as they wanted to intervene with Shimmer, they wanted to stop Jinx. But they also wanted to save themselves. In their world, as villains. You cant count on anyone else saving you. Even if you're on a team.

Survival overrides kinship for a villain, no matter how much it hurts.

Knowing this Jinx turned to the still petrified team and gave them her most confident smile.

The team didn't breathe until the two silhouettes nearly disappeared in the hall. They didn't move until the computer indicated that the intruder was gone. And they still didn't even blink until their eyes burned. All they could do was stare, breathe, and repeat.

Gizmo was the first to break the silence, "Mammoth, Shimmer we need to get you to a chami chamber. Everyone else should be resting".

XL Terrestrial, Puppet King, and even Icicle Jr. nodded their heads and instantly left the room. See-More on the other hand turned around in a bind of fury, "Rest! How are we supposed to rest. She's our leader and we just watched her walk to her death".

"Jinx is strong, she'll be fine" Gizmo quickly replied.

"No she won't, Madame Rouge is one of the deadliest people in the organization. I've heard what she's done to people who oppose her. We should have just let her get Shimmer" See-More spat.

Mammoth appeared angrier at this and nearly stalked over to the one-eyed boy but was stopped at Gizmo's hand.

"I've known Jinx for two years now, she'll be okay with this trust me. What she won't be okay with is you running yourself ragged and worrying. That shield you put up for Mammoth exhausted you, we all can see that. Just go rest up See-More, Jinx will be here when you wake up", Gizmo softly said.

At the mention of the shield See-More's body finally caught up with his mind. Instantly he felt sluggish, tired, and drained. "Yeah..okay you're right.

He didn't bother looking behind him, he didn't even teleport himself in his room like he usually did. He just walked with hunched shoulders and a grim face.

When he was gone Mammoth turned to his sister to make sure she was okay. She was pretty banged up, but he knew See-More's words hurt her the more.

"Are you okay sis" he asked.

She slowly nodded and winced as Gizmo pulled the sharpened robot scrap metal out of her still stone neck.

Mammoth wasn't too convinced, as soon as he saw her wince he began to berate Gizmo on being gentle. Then he began pointing out her many other injuries Gizmo better address. When he started talking about her eyes, Shimmer lost it.

BANG

She hit him, hand still filled with holes and sharp objects. She hit him. Hit him like how she wanted to hit Madame Rogue, like how she wanted to hit Jinx, like how she wanted to hit herself.

The giant teen fell to the floor with a thud, shaking both the lab and its equipment.

Gizmo sighed, "Did you really need to make the idiot unconscious".

His reply was a half-hearted shrug. Usually, when he called Mammoth an idiot Shimmer would bite, yell or punch. Especially at him, Shimmer was a hot head and Gizmo was her least favorite team member. Their fights were notorious.

That's why Gizmo frowned at her reply.

He guessed her quiet behavior probably had to do something with her feelings, not usually one to divulge in THAT subject. He insisted on talking trash about her brother until she snapped.

"I mean how much does the fat lard weigh. And who the fuck is going to get him in the chami chamber now".

This time he was met with nothing. He could continue his rant, but it didn't really feel all that well when no one replied. Instead, he started to focus on her eyes.

It was bad. Normally he would just send an injured comrade into the chami chamber, however, with Shimmer it was different. Most of her injuries need to be treated in whatever material she got injured in, or else the injury just got worse as blood and skin were introduced.

The eyes were a little different, the whole thing was shattered That's the only real way he could describe it, like broken glass or a cracked sidewalk. The centered was fragmented in the tiniest pieces. While the remainder was surrounded with these spider web scars.

"I'm... gonna need you to deactivate your powers for this one" Gizmo said.

Again he was met with silence, however, when the blood started gushing down his hands, soiling the young girl's cheeks he knew she had listened to him.

"Here it's a new prototype of mine, almost like a chami chamber but a pill. Not as effective but size leaves convenience".

Shimmer said nothing. It took him a second but Gizmo finally realized that eye removal means she can't exactly see what he's offering her.

He said nothing as he held the two pills to her lips and waited for her to open her mouth. When she did her tongue darted out taking the two pills into her mouth as well as two of Gizmo's fingers.

"Gross" Gizmo squealed as he pulled them out and feverishly wiped his hand on his lab coat. He cursed at her a bit, in both English and German. Forget how red his ears were, that was purely because THAT was gross.

The pill worked a bit, her wounds all across her body began to heal. But her eyes, her eyes were still the same hollow blood filled holes.

Gizmo sighed and wordlessly led Shimmer to the nearest chami chamber. He was hoping the pills would work.

By the time they reached the chamber, the worst of her body injuries were the only ones left. Gizmo thought about acknowledging how none of the sharp objects left a mark on her body but when he looked up and saw the absence of eyes he decided against it. He cleaned around each eye, put a patch over them and strapped the still silent girl inside.

Once she was inside, Gizmo walked over to the nearest 'project' and pretended to give it all his attention.

He didn't look up once. Not when she started testing the restraints. And definitely not when she started screaming, she was regrowing both eyes, of course, its gonna hurt.

About thirty minutes later he went to check on her. Vitals were good, nerve replacement good. He'd give her another 4 hour or so. In the midst of her check-up, Numerous finally woke up. The rambunctious redneck was loud and boisterous as ever. It took Gizmo ten minutes to convince him to shut up, and two to get thirty copies to lift Mammoth in his own chamber.

Around 1 hour later Mammoth was still unconscious but his wounds were healed so Gizmo had Numerous take him to his room. Another hour later Shimmer began to lose control of her powers fading into the frailest materials and then the strongest.

If she kept struggling she was sure to break it, but in the last two hours, three remarkable things happen.

1) The team actually managed to get along or their keeping their fights super quiet

2) Red Hood finally came back, Gizmo was worried he would have to send someone out for the angry teen.

3) In the midst of Shimmer struggling her mind finally gave out and she collapsed.

In the last hour the blood dried up, the spider web cracks didn't disappear but her damaged eyes were fully healed. She still unconscious as the short genius peeled back the bandages. But after a quick inspection a poke here and there, two dark green eyes were glaring back at him.

Shimmer must have been surprised. Those same green eyes grew wide as she surveyed the boy in front of her and smiled. She only hadn't been able to see for a few hours but damn was she glad she could again.

She wordlessly nodded to Gizmo and strolled out of the room. She didn't do Thank you's, unless it was a special occasion. And as much as Gizmo giving her back her sight was one, there was someone who deserved her thanks a little more. She'd have to wait, but eventually, she would come home. She has to come home.

So that leaves Shimmer to where she is now. Asleep on the couch in an upright position. She tried to stay up and probably could have, but when u mix Hennessy, guilt, and still sore eye sockets you're usually screwed in the conscious department.

At four o'clock the loud shuffling of the lock woke her up. She had but seconds to prepare as a beaten, defeated Jinx stood in front of her. The girl swayed a bit before regaining her balance and addressing the redhead.

"Giz fix your eyes, good".

"Your back" Shimmer replied astonished. In the last couple of hours, she honestly had begun to doubt the girl was even alive.

Jinx scoffed, "Of coursssssse I'm back. I have ssschoool tommorow or I guess today. Aww man that only leaves three hours to ssssleep". As much as she tried she couldn't help but slur her words a bit. Damn her head hurt.

She didn't bother listening to Shimmer fumble for her gratitude. She simply walked past the girl and towards Gizmo's room.

"Hey wait" Shimmer started. She couldn't believe how much of an asshole Jinx was being, she knew how hard this was for Shimmer. When said asshole didn't bother turning her head, Shimmer's temper got the best of her. She growled and stalked over to the injured girl, violently tugging her body back towards her. "I was talking to you" she spat.

Piercing pink eyes glared her down, well sort of. The right eye was puffy and red, while the left was swollen shut. It was at this moment Shimmer really got a look at her. Jinx's outfit was in tatters much like the rest of her body. Bruises littered her arm, blood leaked from every limb. Her left rib was poking out and her knees were flailing pieces of skin.

As her eyes roamed every injury the voice in her head rang. It's all your fault. All your fault.

" If you're going to tell me I look like shit, thanks I know" Jinx sarcastically replied. Shimmer winced and bit her lip regretfully. This was all her fault.

Her regretful behavior didn't go unnoticed by Jinx. The beautiful battered girl placed a broken hand on the shaking girl's shoulder. " Hey.. look I don't know what you're thinking but.. this isn't your fault".

Shimmer bitterly laughed, "Then whose fault is it….. You warned me and I didn't listen. Why did you stop her? Rogue would have killed me and you would be fine. Why did you do that"!

She didn't mean to but her feelings got the best of her. She started yelling towards the end. Tears fogged her vision but she refuses to let them fall.

Jinx squeezed her shoulder slightly until the estranged girl lifted her gaze up at her. "I did it because you're apart of the team...because at the end of the day it wasn't your fault. You're right, we do need more brute strength on the team, thanks to you headquarters knows that now. And because no one has a right to hit you. Remember that okay".

Shimmer didn't respond, she couldn't. She and Jinx had never been close, never been friends. But at that moment Shimmer felt a kinship she had only ever felt with her brother. Someone besides Mammoth actually cared for her well being.

Still, she wasn't a pansy, far from it. So she couldn't embrace the beaten girl, nor could she say anything emotionally uplifting. So she settled for a small nod and a ruley smirk. One Jinx was more than happy to duplicate.

On days like this, it became clear. Sometimes, just sometimes kinship can out rule survival.

Chapter Text

Mondays suck.

In order to catch up on the Sunday Night football his father lazily fell asleep on, Rudolph required Wally to wake him up super early.

Which he could never do by the way. Why?

Well Monday was also was the only day of the week Wally was required to cook breakfast, and as much as he tried, superspeed be damn, he could never finish cooking the bacon before the smell would infiltrate the man's nose and wake him from his drunken slumber.

This of course ended in a beating and a long rant about how worthless Wally was.

Monday was also a school day so yeah...it sucks.

"Get de fuck out of lala land and finish up my bacon", Wally's father yelled after hitting the young boy with a nearby frying pan and kicking him a couple of times.

Wally grimaced as he got the floor and tried his best to ignore the bleeding gash on the side of his honestly wasn't too bad of an injury, 'afternoon Rudy' beatings hurt way more. Dealing with his father was always worse the drunker he got.

And thankfully for Wally at 6 o'clock in the morning Rudolph had barely begun to catch his buzz.

Speaking of which, said drunk was already out of the room by the time Wally got up. Which could only mean he had started drinking and watching TV in the living room. Of course Wally was proven right when he took the meal and couple of beers to his father.

"This it", his father said with his mouth half full. The plate was large, but there wasn't much content in it.

It was hard enough with only one parent working, but with Mary supporting Rudolph's drinking problem and the bills...well there wasn't much in the fridge. Wally had to make due with the three eggs, four strips of bacon and a cup of grits.

"Damn disgracefull", his father grumbled before turning to the boy and snatching the second beer out of his hand.

This is also why Wally hated Mondays. It was the only time of the week he was required to spend time with his dad besides the daily beatings.

Hiis mother had suggested it, in hope that the boys bond over football. Really all that would happen was, Rudy would watch football while Wally was his beer holder and occasional punching bag.

Wally shrugged his shoulders and hungrily watched as his father ate every peice of food on his the midst of his stare his father tore his gaze away from the Tv and glared up at Wally.

"What the fuck is yer greedy ass staring at, you want something to eat" he scowled. He then ate the last strip of bacon and smashed the plate into Wally's face. "Eat that shit, its yer fault ain't no goddamn food in this place, that stupid bitch is running dry cuz of you".

Wally could only pick the shards of plaster out of his healing cheek and roll his eyes.

How in the hell is it his fault there's no food in the house. He hardly eats at home, and if he does it's never enough. Besides he's almost sure most of Mary's expenses are going towards new plates and pots.

After he finished picking the shards out of his face and sweeping the remaining pieces off the floor, he turned to his father and asked, "Can I leave now, or do you need anything else".

His reply was a wave of the hand and a series of curses towards the TV.

"Yeah have a great day at school son"Wally mumbled as he walked out the door. He usually walks to school because buses cost and Kid Flash wasn't suppose to be in Blue Valley. But he figured it couldn't hurt to run to Central City. He may even get to go to a Flash supporting Diner before school starts.

Once he made it to Central City he stopped at Luigi's got a free meal, ran into a high speed chase,and caught the criminals.

That of course brought a media frenzy. He wasn't bothered much, a couple of questions here and there. The reporters always loved him, especially a certain red haired one.

"Hey Au-Uhh news lady" Kid Flash said with his best smile facing the camera.

Iris West suppressed a giggle and waggled her finger at the boy, "All these years of reporting your heroic acts and you still don't know my name Kid Flash",

Wally sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry but..Your Flash's favorite not mine".

This time both Iris and her camera man laughed. When they finished Iris turned back to the now relaxed Wally and sent him a smile."Sorry but tell the Flash I'm spoken for. I'm sure you're a little busy but can you answer some quick questions".

Of course Wally agreed and happily answered all of his Aunts questions, well until she got to a very specific one.

"There been two sightings of you in our neighboring city of Blue Valley care to tell us why? Are you and Flash leaving us ", she asked.

It wasn't really the question Wally was worried about. He instantly answered it with a "Just running around, you know. Happen to run into it and thought why not explore. Got cut short the first time, so I went again this morning. Not much there though".

He was more worried about what this question meant. If Iris was asking him this then that means it's already become big news in the reporting industry. Therefore in order to protect his identity, Kid Flash can not be seen in Blue Valley again, atleast not for a while.

Iris smiled at his answer, and rolled her eyes."Blue Valley's not that bad, I've got pretty cool family down I'm sure you've got other things to do, people to save, so Central City this is Iris West and Kid Flash sending you a good morning and a see you later".

As the cameraman shut down the equipment, other news reporters began to crowd Wally.

Iris West could only roll her eyes as she pulled out her cellphone. "What's that Carson, Flash at the zoo fighting Grodd. I'm on my way", she said loudly.

That was all the information any of the reporters needed before they were in their cars and on there way to zoo. Iris own crew were running to their vans, leaving the two redheads alone.

"Thanks" Wally said.

Iris shrugged her shoulders and smiled to the boy, "No problem. It's like I said I'm sure you've got other things to be worried about".

Translation: I did it so you could get to school, now go Wally before you're late.

It was at this moment that Wally truly looked at the time and grimaced.

7:28

He literally had two minutes to get to class, and Central High is on the other side of town.

Fantastic.

"See ya", he yelled over his shoulder as he ran. The buildings blurred and he's pretty sure he ate a few at 7:29 he could literally see the school, as quick and covertly as possible he ran to the nearest safespot, changed his clothes and slowly speed walked to his homeroom.

"I uh…",Wally fumbled.

"Almost there" he mumbled as he brushed past the few lingering students in the hallway. "Al..most, Made it"!

"Wallace West is there a reason you're yelling in my classroom" Ms. Deaton, his homeroom teacher grumbled as she rubbed her puffy red eyes.

She like most of the teachers at Wally's school hated being a teacher. She spent the majority of her days sleeping, and unfortunately it appears Wally just woke her up.

"Wally was just excited because I told him Daddy is making some new holidays in the school year", Abigail Caperson exclaimed.

This probably was a bold face lie, Wally couldn't be to sure.

It's true Abigail's father was the beloved Senator of Central City, and that alone was something. But Andrew Caperson's power was greater than that.

His father was the president of the United States and many believe the old man's just a puppet in Andrew Caperson hold. If not, he definitely looked to his son for counsel. So yeah, he has more than enough power to regulate vacation days.

But then again why would Abigail bring it up now, to help him of all people. Sure she was sweet but Abigail barley if ever helped the little people when she's being entertained by her friends. And Wally knows for a fact Chad Oberliki is in this class.

Speaking of which, Chad was currently giving Abigail a mischievous smile. One she graciously returned.

Yeah she probably lied, Wally concluded.

Still Ms. Deaton was happy with Abigail's explanation and even began conversing with the young girl on the dates set. After awhile the conversation slowly died down,Ms. Deaton walked back to her desk and fell asleep.

It took but a mere fifty seconds before the class became noisily chaotic, Ms. Deaton not stirring an inch. Wally began to wonder just how had the women woken up from his outburst, but decided to focus on his science homework instead.

In the midst of him calculating the moles of hydrogen peroxide, a blue eyed, blonde haired face came into his view.

"Hi"Abigail happily said. Next to her was Chad who nodded his head as a greeting and began rummaging through Wally's tattered grey backpack.

"Hey" Wally started to say but was cut off by Abigail.

"Don't mind Chad. Look I heard from Trixi you're going to have lunch with us for the next month".

"Wha- could you stop that" Wally said as Chad continued to read through all of his assignments.

"Huh sorry man. Principal Briggs said you were smart so I just wanted to see how much. You're representing us at the science fair,right" Chad said after placing all of his belongings back in his bag.

"Thats our Chad, always trying to make the school look good. Wally just met you and your already forcing him to do community service".

"I'm the president Abby, it's my job to make Central High the best it can be. Beside he agreed to do the science fair last Friday" Chad whined.

Abigail simply laughed and placed a manicured hand over Wally's shoulder, "He's a work- a holic but I promise he's solid fun when schools not involved. You'll see at lunch".

Lunch? Wally the memeories came back to him, he nearly choked on his breathe.

"Have lunch with me for a month".

No. No. No. No!

"She told you" Wally concluded with his head hung low.

His obvious discomfort went completely over Abigail's head, right after his statement the bubbly blonde excitingly replied, "Yep, she literally told everyone at lunch last Friday"!

"Well.. everybody except Clint" Chad said after a moment.

And Wally nearly shits his pants. Why wouldn't she tell Clint, Why wouldn't anybody tell Clint. What is Clint Strem going to think when he see's Wally sitting at his table.

Sensing Wally's discomfort, Abigail placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about Clint, he's a big softie I swear. Besides he doesn't fight any more. And how can he fight someone who sits with him every day". She laughed towards the end. Her perfect, bubbly giggle mixing almost harmoniously with the first period bell.

Her word didn't help one bit. Chad knew that, Wally knew that, Abigail did not know this.

So in first period Trigonometry she sat next to Wally as if they were best friends. Ignoring the few students that gossiped about 'West speaking to Strem's girl''. She chatted animatedly with Wally, about the any and everything. Touching his shoulder and hugging him. She was a very friendly girl, and her very aggressive boyfriend was not going to be happy.

In second period English she nearly did the same, only this class she had with Chad as well. Thankfully Chad easily knew how to get Abigail's attention and steered most of the conversation away from Wally.

By third period Science Wally was with Abigail unpresent the gossip only got worse, some even came up and asked him if he had a death wish.

Currently Wally was in the middle of ignoring some cheerleader who was snapchatting picture of him, when the teacher Professor Pot announced they would be working in partners.

Fan-fucking-tastic. Wally thought. He could ignore the people around him, but someone he was suppose to work with, that would be a challenge.

Fortunately for him as the teacher began to pair people up, the majority of the school gossipers were paired up with each other. Some complained, some even begged to be paired with Wally. Professor Pot assumed it was because the boy was skilled in science, so he refused every plea.

By the time he actually made it to Wally, there was barely anyone left.

"West I have you down fo Sanalon, however since she is absent today would you mind working alone", the teacher said.

"No problem" Wally happily replied, but his happiness soon faded when the teacher's words set in.

Trixi was absent, does that mean the deal's off. She did technically say sit with her for lunch, but Abigail would probably move tables if Wally didn't sit with them. She seemed way too excited about it, would she cry? If she did Clint will definitely-

"You're late, Miss Sanalon. You do know how I frown on tardiness".

"Frown all you want, won't change the fact that I'm late" Trixi cheekily replied. Her response was an angry huff from Pot,a detention slip and a small "Just finish the assignment on time. Your partners West, got it.

Trixi saluted the old teacher and sarcastically replied, "Yes sir, got my mission. won't fuck it up, sir".

This time Pot didn't even bother replying to the girl. He simply sent Wally an apologetic glance as the tanned teen walked over to him.

"'Sup", Trixi said as she plopped down in the seat next to him.

Wally stopped fiddling with the chemicals to quickly write down something and mutter, " Hi".

"Awww why'd you say it like that, I thought we were friends. Friends are usually happy to see each other".

"Were not friends".

"Meow! Your so testy today. Whats going on carrot top",

"Nothing..look aren't you a bit bothered by this".

"What the chemical smell".

"No, the pictures, the gossip. People won't stop talking about me and it's all you and your friend's fault".

"You don't blend in with paint anymore, so what". Trixi replied. She pushed up the sleeves to her white lab coat and began writing on her goggles , it was obvious she found this conversation as enlightening as she did their assignment.

"First the sleeves are to protect you from chemical spills, pulling them up is the last thing you should do with xelonbe ptsmos present, second the goggles are to see, writing a dick on it is not gonna help you when the assignment is to observe a chemical reaction, and finally did it ever cross your mind that maybe I liked to blend in with the paint", Wally huffed.

Trixi stopped her drawing and completely turned towards Wally. She looked at him for a couple of moments and then smiled.

"What" Wally said.

Trixi didn't answer at first, instead she focussed on properly cleaning her goggles and laughing at the boy. As she started rolling her sleeves down on her lab coat Wally snappily exclaimed, "What"

She finished rolling her sleeve and smiled again, "Nothing you just reminded me of someone. Your such a science nerd by the way,I'm guessing xelonbe ptsmos is bad, right. Well anyways I'm sorry if you're uncomfortable with the attention".

"Really you mean it! So the deals off", Wally beamed.

"I never said that. Sure I'm sorry and all, but I still think you're being a bit dramatic".

With his mood now deflated, Wally nearly banged his head on the desk. "Why do you hate me, he groaned.

"I actually like you", as she said before sending a sultry wink his way. This of course got the attention of nearly every student in the class, camera clicking and gossiping vibrated the walls.

"People put your phones away" Professor Pot yelled. His plea was ignored, it seemed the majority of the class was to busy snapchatting about the latest drama.

"Both Abigail and Trixi, West doesn't even have the money to buy one of those chicks", a jock across the room said.

"He's not even cute" a nearby cheerleader said.

"Wait till Clint finds out, bet he'll wail on the loser"another replied.

At this statement Trixi let out a loose, long laugh.

That laugh caused Wally to finally snap. Clint's most likely gonna beat his ass, which by the way is gonna suck.

1), Because Clints super slow and annoyingly strong

2) because his Dad already smack the shit out of him this morning.

So yeah, bruises on bruises, that sucks, not eating what he really needs for his metabolism sucks, having everyone in school talk about him sucks and seeing the one person responsible for this laugh, yeah that sucks.

"You were never sorry, you're enjoying this! You're doing this on purpose. This is why I hate people like you, you're only doing this to cause chaos", Wally nearly yelled.

Trixi suddenly stopped laughing and tried to reply to the boy, but before she could answer Wally spoke again.

"Let me exsplain something for your, my life already sucked, I didn't need you to fuck it up more" Wally growled out. In the midst of his anger he roughly stood up causing the chemical in the beaker to spill on the right side of the table. Unfortunately for him, the right side was Trixi side.

"Owwww" Trixi yelled as the chemical splattered on her sleeve.

"Move out of the way, I need to get Sanalon to the destabilizing shower now" Professor Pot yelled. For once the students actually listened to the short old man and cleared the way. Once the two of them left the room, everyone's attention turned to Wally.

"Did you see that, he burned her".

"Dudes a psycho"

"Loser psycho"

"Think she'll be okay"

"I don't know I saw her crying".

Wally couldn't bear listening to the rest of the gossip,so he did what he does best. He ran. Of course this was at normal human speed, but still it was pretty fast, especially for a nerd like Wally West.

When he realized this he quickly slowed down his speed and began walking. He walked and walked trying the best to gather his thoughts.

He was worthless, he was scum, he made her cry. As he walked he thought of every person that ever saw some good in Wally West, there wasn't many. So when he ran out he thought of every person that saw good in Kid Flash. Kid Flash embodied good. Kid Flash is the fastest kid alive, a true hero.

But was he.

Wally is Kid Flash. He could have stopped that chemical from spilling on her, but he didn't. Why?

He's not sure. One part of him believes it was for the better, he had to protect his secret identity. That part made him feel selfish. The other part believed it was because deep down he wanted the chemicals to hit her, he wanted her to hurt. That part made him feel worse than he's ever felt before.

As he continued his ' I hate myself' parade he ran into someone. It seemed like she had a lot on her mind as well, because when they collided she instantly fell on top of the boy.

Bright jade green eyes met dark chocolate brown.

"Trixi" Wally said after a moment.

The petite girl grinned down at him,as she rolled her body off of him, stood up and extended her hand out. "Wally there you are, I've been looking everywhere for ya".

Wally stared at her hand.

At first Trixi assumed it was because he was confused. She assumed it was because he thought she was angry at him. But then her eyes focused on his gaze and she realised he was staring at the bandage on her wrist.

"Hey, it's fine. Doesn't hurt at all, plus thanks to a certain someone's safety advice my sleeves protected me for the most part. Nurse Ava says, it will be better in a week, no mark at all".

Wally didn't seem to convinced but nodded anyways. She wouldn't have a scar, that was good.

"Hey, look about earlier, I'm so-

"Why are you still talking to me" Wally interrupted.

She tilted her head a bit, "Huh"

"I yelled at you, burned you, made you cry. You should be sending Clint to kick my ass right about now" Wally exclaimed. He yelled it as if it was the most obvious solution to a test. As if even he agreed with the outcome,maybe he did.

"First you yelled at me because you were angry, I respect that. Second you burned me on accident, and like I said it's no big deal. It hurt a bit but It sure as hell didn't make me cry, it takes a lot to make me cry. And with that being said,if I was so bent on what happen in class I would've kicked your ass myself. I don't need Clint to do it" Trixi said.

"But the girl she said, she saw you cry-

"Its gossip Wally, half of that shit isn't true. Anyways I've been looking for you to tell you I think we had a misunderstanding back there. I wasn't laughing at you I was laughing at all the dunderheads who thought they knew what Clint would do. As if I didn't already warn that lughead he better not believe any shit head rumors and start mess with you today. I was imagining their faces when they see us all eat together,I wasn't laughing at your misfortune".

Wait Clint knew. That was a relief. Wally visibly relaxed as that news sunk in. However once his mind caught up with the rest of her words he stiffened. She was laughing at...and he just totally made an ass out of himself.

"I'm so sorry" he said with his head hung low.

"Oh my god, I said don't sweat it. It was a misunderstanding. Look come on let's go, you owe me your company for lunch and we've wasted about twenty minutes of it already".

He wanted to say no, beg her to save him the embarrassment. But when he saw her smile, when he saw how happy she was to eat lunch with him his throat closed.

As they entered the cafeteria, Trixi took a tray and handed Wally one as well.

"No thanks" Wally said.

Trixi tilted her head, "You're not eating"

Before his stomach could growl, Wally hastily replied" Had a big breakfast, see you at the table".

He then began walking to the table and wished he hadn't. He wished half of the popular kids weren't glaring at him. He wished he could glare back, and he for sure wished he could afford some lunch today.

"Hi Wally" Abigail happily yelled from her seat on Clints lap. Next to them was Chad, he sent Wally a small nod before continuing with the paperwork on his lap. Clint appeared to be vastly interested in his food, ignoring the boy completely.

Wally offered them each a small wave, before taking a seat across from Chad. The kids next to him sneered, four even got up from their seats. When one of the cheerleaders realised his presence she choose to speak up, "Umm Abby what is he doing here. He is not eating at our table".

Before Abigail, Chad or anyone else could tell the girl about Wally, Trixi's voice rang out "

Oh sorry Danielle, you must have missed the memo when you were getting your ass done on Friday. Wally's my friend and if you have a problem with him sitting her you can take your plastic, stuck up ass to the reject table near the dumpsters". As she finished her snarky statement, she bit down on her food and sent the snobby cheerleader a wide smirk.

"Abigail", Danielle yelled.

Abigail of course ignored Danielle and continued to eat out of Clints plate.

"Ugh"! Was the last thing any of them heard before Danielle and half of the popular kids left the table.

Wally gasped, "You didn't need to do that, your friends should have a say-

"I've wanted that bitch gone for a while, you just gave me an excuse" Trixi replied.

"And Wally those aren't my friends, they're just wanna be friends. They only like me because I'm the captain and because Daddys, well Daddy" Abigail added.

Chad looked up a bit, retrieved even more paperwork from his bag and grinned, "Great more room".

His reply was a snort from Clint and halfhearted laugh from Trixi and a groan from Abigail.

"I promise Wally, Chad's a lot of fun when he's not a total buzzkill", Abigail said.

Chad huffed, "I am not a buzzkill".

"Yes you are! Trix, is Chad a buzzkill" Abigail asked.

Trixi had stopped eating her food to seriously turn to the fighting duo. She stared for a minute as if she was seriously debating this and the fighting friends watched her intently as if her word was law. After a couple more moments of silence, she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know".

Both Abigail and Chad dramatically yell, "What do you mean you don't know"!

The two began arguing again, citing the weirdest pieces of evidence they have to support their claims.

"You have like a bazillion papers here, for like no reason. Is this the schedule for next semester"?

"Give me that! So I like to stay organized, that doesn't automatically make me a buzzkill"

"Chad you have lawyer hair".

"What does hair have to do with anything"

"Lawyers are known buzzkills"Abigail confidently stated. Wally had to chuckle at her seriousness getting the attention of both the blonde and the brunette.

"Wally, Chad's a buzzkill right" Abigail said with a twinkle in her eye.

Wally had no idea what to reply that with. He didn't want to offend Chad but-

"He's only known me for like a day, how's he supposed to know" Chad exclaimed.

Abigail giggled, " I trust Wally's institution"

"Its intuition, blondey" Chad said. This of course caused Abigail to stick her tongue out and mumble 'know it all'.That prompted Chad to ruffle her once perfect hair and sing 'brat'. After which he turned to the silent Clint, puppy dog eyes out and said, "I'm not a buzzkill right Clint".

The jock rolled his eyes, shoved Chad's arm off his shoulder and dryly replied, "Not at a party".

"Ha" Chad happily stated.

Abigail pouted, "That's not fair, everybody's fun when booze is involved".

This only started another playful argument between the two, and like their earlier argument, for every funny reasonable explanation Chad came up with, Abigail had an even funnier unreasonable rebuttal.

" Duh cause wine is made from grapes and you squish them with your 're made from having fun".

"That makes no sense"!, Chad yelled.

Wally couldn't help himself, they really were pretty funny. Apparently he wasn't the only one that thought so. After Abigail's latest comment both Wally and Clint let out two hysterically loud laughs. Once they realized they were both laughing, both boys closed their mouths immediately and stared at one another. Well, Wally stared. Clint kinda just glared.

"Hey boys know need to be shy. I am pretty funny, plus we're all friends here, right Clint" Abigail said while rubbing Clints shoulder.

She didn't get a real response from the jock. Rather Clint simply tore his gaze away from Wally and back to his food.

Abigail let out a grouchy breathe, obviously annoyed with his antics before turning her attention back to Wally." So Wally, how old are you".

Her question seemed harmless, despite the twinkle in her eye. And honestly her past argument with Chad deemed her enjoyable in Wally's eyes. She was honestly just a funny tease. She reminded him of himself, or atleast the parts of himself that he putting aside the fact that he's being forced to interact with her, Wally decided he could atleast try to make this a plesant lunch,"15"

The reactions he got varied from surprised glances to almost pitiful gazes. He honestly didn't understand what's so bad about being fifteen, he knew most of the kids there were at least 16 but still... Abigail didn't seem to mind as much, in fact she seemed absolutely ecstatic.

"Really that's great! Everyone around heres either 16 or going on 17. Trix and I are the babies of the I mean we were at least".

Now that surprised Wally. He knew Abigail was pretty young but Trixi, well she just seemed so much older. "Whens your birthday", Wally asked her.

Trixi, who for the most part wasn't really contributing to the conversation, turned her attention away from her food and smiled up at the boy, "April 1st".

"Your joking" Wally said with a smile on his face. There is no way, she could actually be born on April fools day. Although if he's being honest it explains her personality.

"I wish", Trixi dryly replied. She seemed a bit bothered by the fact that she was born on the comedy holiday, so Wally did what he does best in serious situations. Diverge and Joke.

" Dang you really are a baby" Wally said after a moment. His comment earned a long high pitched laugh from Abigail and a small chuckle from Chad.

Trixi playfully pouted, "Hey, I can still beat you up".

"Yeah just make sure you do it before your bedtime"Wally teased. This time nearly the entire table laughed at his comment, including both Trixi and Wally. It was so refreshing, for once Wally West was making people laugh with him not at him.

As the laughter died down, Trixi turned to Wally and smirked, "Lemme guess your birthdays coming up".

Wally scratched the back of his head, "Eh not really it's January 16".

"That's three months from me , you're not one to talk baby boy" Trixi teased.

"At Least I'm not the baby of the babies" Wally shot back. He expected another witty response on Trixi part, but wasn't the least bit surprised when Abigail started squealing. Honestly he's not to sure that girl can keep quiet for more than a minute.

"Is there a reason you're shattering our ear drums" Chad whined.

"I just realised, I'm the oldest of the babies" Abigail excitedly yelled.

Wally laughed yet again. Abigail seemed to find excitement and positivity in any and everything. "Whens your birthday" Wally said in between laughter.

"November Wally you have to come to my party, it's going to top all my other ones".

Wally rubbed the back his neck slowly as he nervously replied, "I don't know, parties aren't really my thing".

"Your joking right. Parties are everyone's thing. You just haven't been to the right parties yet. Just you wait after a couple of nights out with us, you'll be a party junky" Abigail squealed.

"Yeah sure" Wally said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well speaking of parties, I heard Ronnie Banks is hosting his annual Halloween bash this Friday. Are we making an appearance" Chad stated while still not looking up from his work.

Abigail looked a bit troubled at this, "I don't know..

"Banks parties are legit, not as good as your's babe. But his booze is always topnotch" Clint said.

"But he's sooooo exclusive, so it's not as hype. Wally's first party with us should be extra hype". Abigail exclaimed.

"Who gives a ratsass how West first party is" Clint growled.

"I do" Abigail shot back. She then smiled as if she had got the best idea ever, stood up on metal table and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Party at my house tonight"!

The whole cafeteria yelled in excitement, Abigail Caperson Parties were legendary, no one in there right mind would miss it. No one except Wally.

"Are you serious, it's Monday" Wally shouted through the cheers.

"Of course I'm serious, Monday Shmonday. I wanna see how you get down. I can make it in your honor if you want, have a banner that says 'Welcome Wally to the Crew" Abigail winked.

"Please don't" Wally groaned.

Abigail simply shrugged her shoulders and basked in the cheers from her peers.

"Why is this happening" Wally muttered.

Trixi laughed, "Don't be such a kill joy. If I didn't know you I would think your scared of a teeny tiny party".

Wally ignored her laughter and whined, "First you and I both know this isn't a teeny tiny party. Second am I the only person concerned on what Abigail's parents will say. And third how do you guys know I didn't have plans already".

"What's your plans" Chad asked after a moment. "If it's a school activity I can get you out of that in a second".

"No, it's not that" Wally replied.

"Then what is it. Please tell me you're not ditching us for work. You could so call in" Abigail said.

"No, that's not it either.. I just can't"

"Why" Trixi impatiently exclaimed.

Wally tried to answer, but the more he thought about it, he just couldn't. In all honesty aside from the team, he's never been to a teenage party. And the team parties are always inclusive of the adults so.. Not really a party there.

And it's not like Trixi and her friends were bad company. Aside from Clint, Wally actually really liked all of them.

It's not like he had any plans, he was suspended from the team for this week. And besides did he really want to miss a big party to go home to his father.

"I mean I guess I can come" he said after a moment.

His response was a series of cheers from kids he's positive hated him yesterday, a smirk from Trixi and a tight hug from Abigail.

It's just a party what's the worse that could happen.

Chapter Text

"Okay we'll start the party around 10, that means I'll have to start organizing for the school spirit fundraiser before four. And the Halloween fest before five, hey do you guys think a pumpkin carving contest is too cheesy" Chad asked as he and the rest of the crew walked outside of school.

He was of course ignored by Clint. Trixi simply snorted and Abigail began her endless amount of teasing.

Wally was to preoccupied with his thoughts to reply. He was going to a party, to a popular kids party. He had stopped thinking about it after lunch, letting his mind focus on his studies instead. It's now the end of school and his heart was beating overtime.

A party. Him?

"Hey freckles you still here with us" Abigail said after snapping her fingers in the dazed boys face.

"Huh, yeah. What happened", Wally sheepishly asked.

At this Abigail could only laugh, "I was making sure you knew my address silly"

"Oh umm…"

Wally paused. Of course he knew her address, who didn't know her address. She's the president's granddaughter for christ sake. But is he suppose to admit that or be a cool guy and act clueless.

Before he could decide which one would make him look the least like a fool, Clint spoke,

" He can just google it. Now can we leave or are we gonna stand in the parking lot for another thirty minutes like a bunch of narks".

"Oh yeah. Wally text me if you get lost on the way there" Abigail called out as she and Clint got inside Clint's very expensive red sports car.

The couple didn't even give Wally the chance to tell the bubbly blonde that he doesn't have her number before pulling off.

"Well I guess I can just ask the two off you" Wally said. However, much to his surprise only Chad was there.

"Trixi left when Abby and I were arguing. Oh and I already put the crews numbers in your spiral notebook when I was going through your things. Green notebook, first page, next to your chemistry notes. Which by the way dude, you should really organize your notes by subject. No reason to have english on one page and chemistry on another", Chad said.

Wally didn't bother telling Chad the real reason he only used one notebook. I mean the guy was getting into a new BMW for christ sake. Wally didn't even have enough cash to catch the bus.

As if sensing this the professional brunette turned to Wally and asked, "Do you need a ride".

"Huh, no thanks man".

"You sure. I know you live in Blue Valley, that's like a thirty minute drive by car. For a bus, it must be over an hour".

"Actually going to my uncle's place. And dude it's literally a ten minute walk so I'm good",

"Alright, if you say so". Chad replied. He sent the redhead a small smile before pulling off, leaving a trail of smoke in his place.

Wally waited a couple of minutes until the slender black car was out of his view, before groaning and making his way towards his uncle's home.

It's not like he didn't love his uncle's home. Hell, it was more home than home. But he really didn't feel like hearing a lecture. They haven't really had a talk about Wally's behavior since his suspension.

Technically he hasn't really apologized to Artemis. I mean he tried to yesterday night but Uncle Barry sent him home.

Hell, it's not like she apologized either.

As he continued to think of the inevitable lectures he was sure to receive from both Barry and Iris, his footstep got slower. The ten minute walk to his uncle's suburban house had suddenly become fifteen minutes.

He was nearly at the house when his cell phone rang.

Wiot Basel.

An alias of Batman, Dick had come up with it when the boys were just starting out.

"Hello-

"Wally we need you at the bat cave in the next two minutes" Tim quickly said.

Wally started to tell the boy he was suspended, but then he realized Tim probably already knew and didn't care. They would have reached him through his comm if this was a team problem. So it's a bat issue and it must be important. They almost never ask for help.

He kept this all in consideration as he quickly changed from his civies and ran towards Gotham.

"Thirty seconds late" Tim murmured once he arrived.

"Yeah well, it's hard enough getting here quick, making sure no one follows me takes a little time. Where the big emergency, I know Bats wouldn't have called unless it's urgent".

'He didn't call you remember, I did" Tim replied. He still hadn't bothered glancing up from his work on the computer.

"Ookay, well why did you use Bats alias cell. I mean you have your own and what the heck are you looking at" Wally responded as he to began looking at Tim's work. It was a bunch of intersecting lines around cities near Gotham. It honestly didn't look like anything the boy genius would have came up with.

"I called on B's phone because I wanted to make sure I get a reply. You've been ignoring calls from anyone on the team for a while". Tim tiredly replied.

"I haven't-

"Don't bother denying it, I'm not too upset about it. Anyways this is a map B made tracking Dick".

"Woah, seriously didn't he just leave yesterday, there's no way he's been to all these cities".

"He's probably been to more but this is what we could gather through traffic cams".

"Damn, sneaky ninja. You know I always knew he was a master at hide and seek, but this...this is crazy. It seems like you've tracked him well enough, what you need me for".

Tim finally looked up from the screen and turned towards Wally. He looked like crap, bags under his eyes and all. Wally now understood why he was giving such quick answers. Why he sounded so exhausted earlier.

"He's looking for Jason, getting into some pretty bad places. Bruce went after him once he broke his wrist fighting some thugs in Selfer. When he arrived at the place all that was left there was a note saying ' I'm gonna avoid the cams from now on'. Bruce is still trying to track him but he won't go after him anymore".

"Dick move" , Wally murmured. Tim ignored the jab and continued, " I think Dicks in this city Bludhaven. I want you to go there and find him, tell him to come home".

"Okay..but if Dick won't listen to B. What makes you think he'll listen to me. I mean why don't you just go".

"You're his best friend, that means something. Besides he's not too happy with me either, I knew…. I knew Jason was back".

Wally shook his head. He suddenly understood why Tim had sent all those weapons to Jason during their battle. He didn't want Jason to tell the team, to tell Dick he was alive.

"Why" Wally harshly asked.

Tim let out a humorous laugh and frowned, " I don't know. Maybe because I was following B. Maybe because I didn't want Dick to destroy himself like he's doing now. Maybe...because I...because I didn't want to give Robin back….. God what's wrong with me".

For Tim, being Robin was more than a job. Being Robin, meant being the with the team, being with Bruce,Alfred and Dick. He just couldn't give that back to Jason. He couldn't be alone again.

He started crying towards the end and Wally embraced him as a means of comfort. He knew what it was like to feel alone, to be alone. In his head what Tim was feeling was both reflective and obscure.

Tim had every reason to feel like he was alone. I mean Dick was gone, Alfred was doting on a brutting Bruce. He must feel alone.

But at the same time, he must know he wasn't. As standoffish a Bruce was, Wally knows for a fact he' cares for Tim. He loves Tim, the same as Dick and Alfred. Tim will never be truly alone, but if he's feeling like it the least Wally could do is try to relieve it.

After a couple of minutes, Wally pulled away from the sniffling boy, "Come on cut the water works, I'll find him okay, just stop staining my suit. Did you know yellow fabric actually dries slower because of the nega beams in the sun. Crazy right, I think Uncle Barry designed this on purpose so I'd be more careful. You know I am pretty klutzy".

Tim snorted but complied and removed himself completely from Wally. After moving his mask and drying his tears, he turned to Wally and gave him his regular old Robin stare. "Wally..Thanks".

Wally smirked, "No problemo kiddo, see ya".

And with that, the vivacious redhead zoomed off towards Bludhaven.

The building around him blurred first, then the sky and finally the air. This was Wally's favorite part of running with the wind. He could almost feel himself getting lost in it.

In the middle of his romance with the wind, a thought entered his head and he abruptly stopped. Something was definitely on his neck, if he wasn't so intuned with the wind he would never have felt it. A tracker, of course, the bats would never rely only on Wally's word. As Wally reconfigured the tracker, he slowly began to walk along the slums of Bludhaven.

Of course, as soon as the tracker went offline, Tim called him. The little imp kept ringing his line that Wally had no choice but to turn his phone off.

He must not have been paying any attention. Because the next thing he knows, he's barely dodging a bullet.

"Awh man ye missed him," a short, stout man said.

His partner, the shooter was a tall, lean man with unkempt hair and an unruly smirk. "I know that ya dolt. Guess the kids actually as fast as they say he is".

Wait what. Did these guys deliberately shoot at him to see if he was really fast.

"Ummm..Wally started only to be cut off by a string of bullets. He easily avoided all 200 before yelling "What the hell".

"Damn kid you gots the move," the lean one said with a smile.

"Ummm thank you…." Wally skeptically replied. They were shady people, that was obvious. But they honestly didn't seem that dangerous and it was nice to be complimented every now and then.

And this is where Wally made his mistake. He doubted the men's volatility at a time he shouldn't. He let the tall one walk over to him. He listened to his stupid compliments and blatantly ignored the little ones actions.

He was too busy listening to the tall one, that he didn't even see the bomb in the small ones hands until he held it up. He would have grabbed it, but before he could the tall one put his gun to his temple.

"Your in Black Mask territory flash boy, anyone's that comes in super or not, they never come out. Can't have ya telling everyone what ya seen"

Wally didn't bother telling the man he saw nothing, instead, he instantly sped past him, grabbed the gun, tied him up and made his way towards his buddy.

But he was a millisecond too late.

The short man was now tied up, and the bomb was defused and discarded to the left of him. To the right of him stood a boy, a boy Wally knew all too well.

Dick?

He was dressed in his Nightwing kevlar with his Robin mask, but he didn't really seem like Dick. Something was missing, after further inspection, Wally realized it was Dick's sun shining smile and with it his entire glow.

"Thanks-" Wally began but quickly stopped to zoom in front of the departing boy. "Hey wait".

"No KF. You probably don't know this but Bruce and Tim are tracking you. They bugged your suit and sent you here. The tracker records all conversations and sends a signal to Bruce when my voice enters its range. I've only got ten minutes before Bruce comes". Dick quickly replied. He then sent out a grapple hook and swung to the next building.

Wally could only groan as he ran up the same building seconds later. Moody Dick was not someone he wanted to talk to. And what exactly did he mean by 'you probably didn't know', Wally's smart too.

"Dude would you just hear me out. I disabled the tracker on my way here, I'm not here to tell you to go home" Wally screamed once he made it to the top.

Dick was just about to jump to the next Rooftop but stopped and asked, "What".

"I said I disabled the tracker. Hey your not the only family with some brains, if you're forgetting I got my powers through recreating an experiment".

"Yeah man sorry…. So if you're not here to tell me I should go home, why are you here".

"Your my bestfriend, your fourteen years old and a runaway. I think that gives me every right to seek you out".

"I'll be fifteen next month"

"November eleventh, technically is 28 days away. That's less than a month", Wally countered.

"Tell that to February", Dick chimed back.

Wally laughed, "Oh god we're such nerds".

Dick laughed as well until he truly processed Wally's words. He the somberly said, "That's Roy's line".

Roy.

Damn it, did Wally miss Roy.

"It was so much easier when we first started" Dick stated. Wally numbly nodded, when they first started the team they thought they were invincible. That no one could touch them, and they'd always be together. Then Jason died.

He knew Dick must be thinking the same thing by the way his face scrunched.

He hated seeing Dick upset, it was so bizarre. It both scared and relieved Wally in a way he couldn't imagine. Robin and KF are always the happy ones of the group, always the optimist.

Now Wally's was an act to escape his hell of a life. But Dick, Dicks was real. He honestly did always look on the bright side. The fact that he isn't right now, only tell two things.

He's human

2. He's broken

But the best thing about Dick is, he's not hard to fix. Wally knows this for a fact. All it takes is a little hope and Dicks back to the witty idiot he was before.

This is why he told Dick he's right, it was easier when they started. "But our hardships make us where we are now. I mean look, You're getting Jason back. That's sure to make things turn around, maybe even Roy will come back" Wally finished with an optimistic smile.

Dick seemed perplexed with his words. It was as if he had never truly considered the after effects of Jason's return. Suddenly a wide smile broke out on his face as he went over to bro hug Wally, "Yeah, your right. Jason coming back will fix everything. We'll all be together and happy. It'll be just like old times... Thanks man I needed that".

Wally smiled and returned the hug, "Don't mention it. But uh you may want to tell Timbo about this together and happy goal".

Dicks face soured again, "Tim knew Jason was alive Wally. He knew for months and he didn't tell me".

"He's twelve Dick. He was following Bats, not to mention looking out for you and avoiding his non real fear of being replaced and alone again", Wally said with a roll of his eyes.

Dicks face fell again " He thinks we're gonna replace him".

Wally mutely nodded then reached behind his neck to pull out a metal tracker. "Look, I'm not saying go home. Go ahead find Jason, bring him home. But if you want to, if you ever need them. You should have some way of contacting them".

Dick hesitated, to which Wally could only roll his eyes.

Honestly is everyone in the Bat Family is so skeptical.

"I disabled it, if you want to turn it back on all you have to do is add pressure here".

Dick nodded as he retrieved the tracker and slipped it in his suit. "Thanks".

"No problem. See ya soon?"

Dick smirked, "Definitely".

And with that, both boys took off. Wally back towards Central City and Dick to some alleyway down west.

It didn't take long for Wally to reach Central City from Gotham. Ten minutes top. Bludhaven was closer than that, So you can imagine Wally's face when he entered Central City and the sun was down.

"Damn I've been out all day "Wally murmured.

In all actuality it wasn't that unpractical. He got out of school at four, spent some time daydreaming and listening to Chad and Abigail argue. Consoling Tim took a while. Finding and talking to Dick took even longer.

Honestly he shouldn't at all be surprised that it was now 8:30.

He decided it would be a waste to go to his Uncles House now. I mean honestly the party started at 10, and he still was avoiding that double lecture. Instead he turned back on his phone, googled Abigail's address and walked his way there.

Her house was over 230 miles away from his current destination. An hour and twenty-five minute walk at the least. Good, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to come early.

Did people ever come to a party early?

By the time he reached Abigail's it was 9:45. Wally inwardly cursed at his bad luck and debated for a minute if he should ring the doorbell. The back gate was technically open, and Wally could definitely see a Ferris wheel being set up. But is he allowed back there.

After much consideration, he decided standing outside like the loser with no invite was probably not the best idea. So he rung the bell.

A tall man in a pink suit answered it. He had little to no hair left on his head and scowl that would make Bruce jealous.

" The festivities aren't until 10" he boomed.

Wally inwardly shrunk as he stammered for his response, "uh sorry sir.. I uh-

"Wally you came" Abigail squealed as she rushed to the door in the skimpiest pink dress. She quickly grabbed the freckled boy's arm and dragged him into the large mansion.

"Wow," Wally murmured.

Wow, was right. Besides the fact that the house was bigger than most museums, it was decorated like a candy land of some sorts. Licorice, Lollipops, Gumdrops galore. It looked like something straight out of a dream.

"If you thinks this is great wait until you see outside," Chad said with a smirk. Abigail mimicked his smirk and it was all the warning Wally would get before he was dragged outside.

"Hey..wait" he yelled but the two preps continued to pull him along. Finally the reached outside and just as Chad had said Wally couldn't believe it.

A dance floor, an arcade, a ferris wheel, a roller coaster, four bars, carnival games and a pool filled with some pink liquid.

"Food coloring" Wally guessed as he walked over to the pool.

Abigail giggled, "You know I love pink, so most of the time it is. But today it's something a little more..wicked".

"Its Abby's favorite dink a Pink Paradise", Chad replied.

"Its alcohol" Wally sputtered. Honestly he had never seen so much booze in his life and he's so counting all the times he stayed at Oliver Queen's place.

Clint rolled his eyes, and muttered 'no it's ya grandmas draws'. While Chad laughed and shook his head. Abigail for once was the only mature one.

"Sure is! And it's delicious feel free to jump on in. It's ten, I'm gonna go tell Carmichael to start letting people in".

Wally watched as her figure disappeared back into the house. When he finally turned his attention back to Chad and Clint, the two popular kids were far from the pool at the nearest bar ordering a drink.

Wally could only watch them down their first couple of drinks before the backyard became filled with people and the music began playing.

As he shuffled through the crowd he tried his best to carefully make his way through. He's not to sure why some people were dancing with their drinks. Or why they would get upset when someone bumped into them causing their drinks to fall. But after seeing one of the linebackers break a kids nose over it, he decided the dancefloor was not the spot for him.

So he went to the nearest bar, which unsurprisingly held some familiar faces.

"Hey Wally come take a shot with us" Abigail drunkenly called.

It had only been twenty minutes since Wally had last seen the girl, how in the hell is she this drunk, was Wally's first thought. His second was.. should he. As a speedster his body does go through alcohol faster...he can get drunk, but not from one shot. Still…

He's never drunk before.

Suddenly his cellphone buzzed yet again.

Saved by the Tim, Wally thought, only to groan at the caller I. D.

"What" Wally rushed.

"Wallace where are you,I cooked a family dinner" Mary West calm voice said.

For the upteeth time that day Wally rolled his eyes. She cooked dinner,wooo. Did she want a fucking award.

"Yeah great, hope you manage to find a plate to put his dinner on" Wally bites out.

Mary tsked, " I had trouble actually. You know your father only eats out of a certain size plates. I wish you wouldn't irritate him so much sweetie, all my good china is gone".

"Fuck your china, what about your child" Wally seethed. His response was silent. Of course Mary had nothing to fucking say. And at this point neither did Wally. He didn't even send her a half hearted goodbye before hanging up the phone.

"Wally" Abigail worriedly called out. She had moved from her spot near her friends and was now but a foot away from the boy.

He's not to sure what parts she heard and frankly he really doesn't care. He just smiled at her and asked, "What's the strongest thing you got".

Chapter Text

Trixi half heartedly watched as Abigail began arguing with Chad yet again, this time on cheesy pumpkin carving . Clint was mildly ignoring them and Wally was off in lala land.

She let out a small smile and sighed. She really did like them.

Because she knew Abigail would insist she come home with her, or perhaps because she knew she really couldn't say no to the bubbly blonde she left without a goodbye. It's a long bus ride to Blue Valley.

When she arrived to the bus stop she half expected Wally to be fumbling behind her. She knew he lived in Blue Valley, school gossip told her as much. In her mind he would smile with his gorgeous green eyes twinkling and ask her "you live in blue valley to". And she would wittily replied "yeah you see the whole city's not reserved for you and your 'rents" And maybe they would laugh together and sit next to each other and just talk.

But Wally never came. And the sudden realization that she never saw him on the bus hit her like drum. It was probably for the best anyways, Wally couldn't exactly walk her home.

So she sat by herself for the first half hour and once they started entering the poor neighborhood, the vacant spot was filled every other stop.

It honestly wasn't a surprise, most people in Blue Valley don't earn enough for a car, let alone the fancy sports cars the kids in Central High drive.

Her thoughts suddenly went back over to Wally, just how did he get home.

She dwelled on it for a minute but then a familiar trashed, pissed stained alley flashed passed the side of her eye, and she hastily pulled the rope for the next stop.

Once the bus reached it she heavily sighed. She had missed the closest stop and now had to walk for twenty minutes rather than ten to get to her home.

Despite this all being her fault for not paying attention, and letting her thoughts completely focus on Wally. She still thought of him for the entire twenty minutes. Nearly passing her home yet again, she cursed herself as she walked up to the door.

The brownstone apartments were almost hidden among the surrounding bungalows and broke down buildings. Nearly no one came near the leaning building, but still before she let the info tech scan her, she surveyed the area.

Once inside, she immediately went into a shiny metal door with the words keep out crudely written in German.

"Hey Giz" she said as she entered the room.

Gizmo, who was currently typing some letters and symbols on his computer grumpily called out 'What".

Trixi sighed, " Pay attention I need to fill you in for Melvot".

That immediately got Gizmo's attention. He hastily looked up and one he saw the appearance of Trixi Sanalon he heavily sighed. "Oh god please tell me you're still in your cover for some modifications, and your leading the Melvot mission"

"Sorry, Abigail's having a party. Pretty sure her best friend has to be there", Trixi said.

"Oh come on Jinx. I'm sure the brat won't miss you that much, can't you just say you're sick or something",he wined.

Trixi let out another sigh, "Used that excuse for the last party, besides a couple of weeks ago you were begging me to let you lead a mission".

"That was before the last eight monstrosities, these buffoons don't fucking listen" Gizmo screetched.

Trixi mushed her hands around her face and groaned, "Look Giz I know the team doesnt really treat you with the respect you want but-

" None what-so-ever, there completly irrtional, stupid little-

"But I will talk to them, and I wouldn't ak you this if it wasn't important. The parties at Abigails home, i couldn't the last couple of times because the freaking butlers roam the rooms worse than the security in arkham but based on how many people are going to be there, I think I'll be able to bug the home computer tonight" Trixi said.

Now it was Gizmo's turn to mush his hands over his face and groan, "Fine. But only because I've been dying to crack on computer like Andrew Capersons"

"Thanks Giz I owe you one".

"You owe me nine, but who's counting".

Trixi rolled her eyes and laughed, "Anyways back to the Melvot mission. As you know the mission is to burn the prison down with no survivors except Warden Xio Shu. But theres also a small part of the mission that was suppose to be classified"

"Yeah yeah yeah, just tell me already".

"Okay! Moody. When you find the Warden he should be carrying a key sewn to the inside his left sleeve. Use that to open a safe in a surveillance room labeled S345. In it you will find a flashdrive, bring it back".

Feeling a bit leery of Jinx's knowledge in comparison of his own. Gizmo glared at her and asked, "What's on the flashdrive Jinx".

She shrugged, "I don't know I was going to ask you once we complete the mission. Make a copy and investigate yourself, just make sure none of Luthors scientist will be able to tell".

Suddenly relieved, Gizmo waved his hand and rolled his eyes, "I always do". He then went back to his computer and started mumbling about transfixing numerals. Once he realized Jinx's was still there he sighed, "What else".

Almost sheepishly Trixi grinned, " I was hoping you could make some modifications to the clocking device. Its great and all but the fact that I can select different outfits and not different hairstyles is a bit ya know obsolete".

Gizmo growled at her as he yanked the bracelet off of her hand and plugged it into his computer. He immediately began typing yet again all while growling ' I'll show you obsolete'.

Jinx watched with mild interest as she toyed with one of Gizmo's many gadgets.

"So everyone's here right" she asked.

Gizmo didn't even stop typing and looked over and the pink haired beauty, "Yeah forgot to tell you, The best thing happen, the Bat family is trying to track Hoods so the suckers been here all day".

Jinx stopped fiddling with the robotic parts as her eyes widened. "Really, all of them".

"Well mostly just Nightwing. Batgirls trying but for the most part she's been with the young justice brats. Batman's being real subtle about it, he's tracking Nightwing too from what I can gather but some of the stops he makes on his way...

"Hoodie knows this" Jinx skeptically asked. Honestly once he realized the 'heroes' wanted him back she been pegged Hood to leave them. And as much as she would hate that, she can't say she would exactly stop him.

"He knows that Nightwings looking for him. As for Batman he said and I quote 'Pops just making sure I didn't injure his precious Golden boy" Gizmo finished.

Jinx rolled her eyes and nodded, " That's good so only Nightwing and Batgirl want him back. They're not enough, not yet anyways. Okay while you work on the clocking device and I'll talk to the team about the mission".

"Oh great. What do you think should I cut my ears off with a proton laser or burn the moff with hydroclonic peroxide".

"Stop being dramatic they didn't yell that much last time" Jinx said as she began walking to the door.

"Gimo tried to yell out " you were on the phone last time" but the girl was already out of the room before he could get the first word out.

As Jinx walked into the living room it was more than obvious the team was fighting..again. Puppet King was making a puppet out of Icicle Jr. Billy Numerous was playing monkey in the middle with..himself while See-more aimlessly tried to retrieve whatever the strange looking item was. XL Terrestrial was shrinking and growing as Mammoth tried his utmost best to hit him. And shimmer was shooting her bloody finger nails out at the wall.

"Guys" Jinx tried but to no avail. She cleared her throught tired again. After realizing yelling wasn't going to do much, she rolled her eyes and shot seven blast at her teammates. Each hitting their ark perfectly.

"Ow"

"Aw fuck"

"You bitch that hurt"

And a bunch of other color phrases soon followed.

"Now that I've got your attention, get ready. Melvot Mission today".

"Oh that's the one where we get to kill everybody right" Shimmer said with a gleeful look in her eyes.

"Yes and No. Half of the team gets to blow up the Melvot Prison and all its inhabitants except the Warden, and the other half gets to redevu with Luthor and a couple of villians to distract the 'heroes, Mammoth and Shimmer your on blow up'" Jinx replied.

"Aww man, no head smushi" Mammoth wined.

"Yeah why" Shimmer wined.

"Madame Rogue is going to be in the distracting part, she's not your biggest fan right now. Best if the both of you stay away. Remember for Melvot you're in and you're out", Jinx said.

"You're saying you a lot. Aren't you coming" See-More asked.

Jinx sighed, leave it to See-more to realize her wording choice. "Not exactly. I've got business with my cover-

"No" See-More groans.

"So that means poindexters in charge again" Shimmer happily asked. If Jinx had to guess the beautiful brute was only happy because she would more than likely not listen to Gizmo. Hell, she barely listened to Jinx.

"Yes, but I want all of you to listen to him and go in and out" It's important that you keep this mission as quiet as possible".

"Why, what's so bad about the justice league knowing," Red Hood said.

Shimmer and a couple of other jumped at his presence. See-more even whined, " Why are you always doing that, when did you get here".

"They complicate things, and if you guys didn't notice they banged us up pretty bad last this time they'll have some villains to beat up first Jinx said as her eyes lingered to both Mammoth and Billy Numerous.

At mention of this everyone nodded. Some more eager than other but still everyone could agree, they didn't want to see the justice league or any of their mini heroes if they didn't have to.

"So wait only half of us get banged up, why cant we all go on Melvot" Icicle Jr wined.

"Sorry Icy, thats just the way it is. You might want to cry your river now by the way, your on distraction".

"What"!

"Giz, sent the list to ya'll about ten minutes ago. Memorize your roles and your should be fine".Jinx once again said. s the team began looking over their missions, some more happier than others. Jinx turned her attetion to the domino masked teen beside her.

"Good, umm Hoodie can I talk to you for a minute"

"No" Red hood replied. However after a pink surge of energy and a promise of a shiny new gun he reluctantly followed her up to her room.

"What" Red Hood immediately said once she closed her door.

"Impatient aren't we"

"Jinx-

"Okay alright. I wanted to apologize for Sunday. I never got to because of the whole Simmer Madame Rouge thing. I'm sorry it-it wasn't my place to tell your family".

Red hoods, robin mask widened and for a second Jinx could have sworn she saw a ghost of a smile on his face. " Don't be. He deserved to know. Can I ask you something".

Jinx nodded and traced a line of pink energy in the air. "Anything"

"I'm on blow up, that cause he's going to be there huh".

Jinx sighed, for a while now Red Hood had been pestering her about him. She knew his motives, hell if someone had killed her she'd want to kill them to. But still, "Honestly I don't know. It could be a trap just to see where your head is or the clown could actually be there. Either way, don't go. It will only end bad, you cant kill him, not with a whole fucking league of villains behind him"

The room was silent, neither really knowing what to say. For Red Hood it was the honesty of her words that kept him silent. He knew he couldn't go, but he wanted to. God, he fucking wanted to.

"Is that all" Hood started but instantly cut off by the tan girls hand.

"Wait! Hoodie…...Hood, he's looking for you".

Red hood sighed ,"I know"

"But he isnt enough..right", Jinx asked.

"Wha- Look Nightwing he's just trying to .. I man Batman won't .. Why the fuck do you even care you should be happy now I'm finally fucking still. I'm going fucking crazy in here with you all but I'm fucking still" Red Hood angrily replied.

Jinx didn't bother telling him why, or even lying and saying she didn't. When his voice gained that base and his face began to color, she knew she had got her answer. No, Nightwing isn't enough to make the Red Hood come home.

With that she walked over to her door and showed Red Hood out. As she watched him angrily walk over to his own room and slam his door she sighed.

"All finished" she asked as she walked into Gizmo's room. The short boy was no longer working on her bracelet and had begun to map out some schematics of the Melvot Prison system.

"Yeah, good to go. Just mapping some escape routes because I know those idiots won't listen. We're probably leave in about ten".

"Great, hey Giz where exactly is the last place Nightwing was at".

Not even looking up from his work the genius replied,"About ten minutes ago he and Kid Flash, wrangled up some of Black Mask men in Bludhaven".

"Great" Jinx replied. As she left the room, she thought of walking to Bludhaven. But figured she would need the time to not only find the blue clad superhero, but to bus it to Abigail's house as well.

Instead she walked to her right, until she neared a green door this one with a peep hole the size of a fan. She didn't even get a chance to knock on it before a sullen See-More entered her sight.

"What come to tell me you're moving out to" See-More sarcastically said.

Jinx faked a hurt expression as she pushed past the black boy and entered his room, "Aww come on See-More don't be that way. I have to maintain my cover, and I would really appreciate it if you could help me with something.

See-More was far too busy staring at her twinkling pink eyes to make any objections, " Of course, anything you need".

"Great can you beam me to Bludhaven".

"Yeah okay...See ya when we get back" he asked hopefully.

Jinx smirked and winked playfully, "Definitely".

That was the last image See-More saw of the pink haired beauty before the eyeball shaped light swallowed her up and vanished.

Now in Bludhaven, Jinx decided the best way to get a hero to find you was to be a villain. The fact that she's pretty sure part of the Melvot Mission was about to begin keeping most of the Supers busy, and that Bludhaven wasn't exactly a protected territory eased her nerves. As she shot a couple of buildings down her only thought was hopefully Nightwing was still in the area.

It didn't take long for him to arrive, if she wasn't trained and if she hadn't spent the last couple of months with Red Hood she might have been a bit surprised.

"Spotted me, I must be getting rusty" Nightwing said as he sailed down a building.

Jinx smirked and sent two pink bolts his way before replying, "Not really, your pretty good. But like I told your brother you're not the only ones trained in stealth. Also I fucking make anything I tough explode, why the fuck did you think you could plant a tracker on me".

She twisted the sides of her arm as pink surges of energy exploded the trackers placed on her body.

Nightwing didn't seem all to bother by this, in fact he appeared more bothered with her earlier sentences. "Robin, where-

"Goes by RedHood now. And since you replaced him for confusion sake, I think you should call him that"Jinx wittily said.

"Is that what you told him. We did not replace him". Nightwing angrily replied. He sent a fury of kicks, gadgets and staff swings her direction. Some were avoided, some were not.

"Yes you did but ya know it's fine. And I didn't tell Hoodie shit. Look I came all the way to this stupid fucking city to talk, let ya guard down a little will ya".

Nightwing growled not letting up a bit as he swung his staff yet again, "Why you want to brainwash me like you did Robin".

Jinx rolled her eyes,"Red Hood, and we didn't brainwash him. Look I just came to tell you, this little crusade you have going on end it. Now".

"Oh yeah sure. Did you want to tell me to rob a bank while you're at it", Nightwing sarcastically said.

That's it she's done with talking, if the blue clad teen didnt want to listen to conversation maybe he'd listen to threats. "Hoodies, at home sulking his ass of because he to afraid to go outside. Not only is his fucking mood annoying, it will eventually prompt me to kill him and we don't want that do we".

Dick started to tell her she couldn't kill him, but the words stilled on his tongue. Who's he kidding, even though Jason is trained, Jinx has no problem killing, the remains of people from the buildings she blew up tells him that. And she has a whole team to help her do it. And it's not like he hasn't died before. No he couldn't lose him, not again. But he can't give up on him either.

"And anyways he won't come back. Not just for you", Jinx happily added.

Nightwing glared,"You don't know that. You don't know him"

" I fucking live with him I know. He won't fucking come back till the bat says it's okay. And your fucking daddybats doesn't know a good thing when he fucking sees one.", Jinx angrily spatt.

"Wha-"

" Sons back to life and all you asssholes care about is a body count".

"We care about-"

"Well see that's the thing, we don't fucking care about a freaky power or family business or a fucking body count. We don't judge him. He's better off with us". Jinx proudly states.

As she said these things Nightwings anger had replaced itself with sadness. Its not true, right?

He stopped glaring and seriously asked her, "H-How could you say that? Does he think that? we're his family. We love-

Bam. She had hit him. Jinx had fucking hit him. Not a surge of energy had coated her fist as it flew towards the domino masked teen. Neither said anything, both to angry to speak. And for a second it seemed like time had gone still, and then the pink haired beauty spoke again.

"Don't-Don't speak for people. Don't speak for him, bats said some pretty bad things to hoodie back in Gotham. That's not love, not even tough love".

Nightwing started to tell her the bat family brings a new meaning to tough love, but then figured his joke wasn't all that funny. His mind traveled to the multitude of bad things Batman could have said to Red Hood before Jinx began speaking again.

"Like I said it won't matter,Bats hates him. You can't fix that, there's no point", she bitterly replied before sending a couple more surges of energy his way and disappearing from the scene.

Nightwing thought about tracking her but their conversation still rang in his head. It was true, no matter what he does Red Hood will not go home. Not unless Batman accepts him.

Batman.

The young boy heavily sighed as he fished for the tracker he received from Wally moments ago. He could go home, he could make Batman, make Bruce see that having Jason back is a good thing. No matter how screwed up he is now, he could fix him. They could fix him.

So without any other thought then getting his brother back, Nightwing heavily sighed and pressed the pressure spot Wally had told him about.

It wasn't long before a black jet was racing through the air, and a ladder was placed out out of it. As Nightwing came up, he wasn't really surprised to see Batgirl,and Robin. He was surprised however, to see Alfred.

"Owwww, owww owww come on Alfie" Nightwing yelled as Alfred grabbed his ear and dragged him the rest of the way up.

"Honestly running away at fourteen, the utmost stupidity of it. Almost as stupid as letting the fourteen year old roam around as he looks for the thirteen year old, world's greatest detective they say and yet he couldn't find two lads" Alfred dryly replied before letting go of the boys ears and stalking off to another room in the jet.

Nightwing sighed and sat next to Tim as he rubbed his already sore ear. "You that mad at me too" he asked.

Tim almost instantly shook his head, and then meekly replied, "I mean you're not mad at me anymore right".

Dick thought back to what Wally said and promptly decided there was no point in being mad at Tim. "Right".

"Good now that we're not mad at eachother boys, whose going to explain to Batman that we took his jet, to go pick up his eldest run away" Batgirl called out from the steering wheel.

Both Tim and Dick shared a frightened look before turning towards the door Alfred had entered minutes ago.

As if psychic Alfred poked his head out of the doorway and said, "It's already been handled.

Chapter Text

As soon as Jinx was sure she was clear of any lingering eyes she grabbed the small bracelet out of her pocket and placed it on her wrist. Instantly her features transformed. Pink eyes darkened to a smooth chocolate brown, the markings on her face disappeared completely and her once pigtailed pink hair flowed down her body in pretty charcoal waves.

She admired herself through the passing car windows as she waited for a cab. Even with the slight bruise forming on her exposed thigh , she still looked pretty damn great.

Gizmo really out did himself, Trixi Sanalon never looked so good.

When the cab did finally arrive, the pretty brown girl instantly jumped inside and gave the creepy driver the directions to Abigail's home. An hour of pick up lines later the rundown yellow car pulled up to the boisterous mansion.

The front yard was littered with stoners, beer bottles, glitter and the ever so classic red cups. The door was wide open allowing anybody passing a clear view of the crazed teens inside. If you looked a bit farther you would note the majority of the teens were in the backyard. The heavily decorated almost carnival-esque standard for a Abigail Caperson party.

Trixi could only smirk as she pushed past the teens and made her way inside.

This was going to be fun. She smiled wider ut suddenly groaned once a butler strolled past her.

Mission first, fun later.

With that though she cautiously walked up stairs keeping her eye out for security cameras and anybody that looked sober enough to realize where she was going. She nearly made it into Andrew Caperson's study when a monotone voice stopped her.

"Lost Miss Sanalon" asked a pink clad Carmichael. As head butler, he often took care of all the duties while Andrew Caperson was away. From cleaning the bathroom to securing the study, Carmichael was always alert.

Damn, Trixi mentally cursed. She would be lying if she said the thought of killing the old coot didn't run in her head. She could do it quietly but that would only further backtrack her whole operation. Andrew Caperson would be suspicious, Abigail would probably morn...yeah not a good idea.

So instead, she faked drunk. Giggling as she stumbled up towards the old man.

"H-hhey Car-Carmichael, Chaddy ssssaid I haaafta lay dowwn in Abby's rooom tilll the room ssstop sspinnin causse I broke the uh chirpy thingy".

The old man heavily sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Miss Sanalon, Madame Capersons room isn't even on this floor. It's on- wait what chirpy thing did you break. Oh please don't let it be the masters new trochilidae chime, he does love his hummingbirds. How could you- actually nevermind I must take care of the issues please head back to the party Miss Sanalon".

Now a normal, dedicated heavily annoying butler would rush off. Leaving the drunk girl as they looked for this broken item.

A normal, concerned butler would guide the drunk girl to the nearest cab or guest room and ensure she was safe.

The Caperson butlers, especially Carmichael are a little different. A little more secretive and a little more secure.

So honestly it wasn't a surprise to Trixi, that Carmichaels next move was to grab her arm and walk her downstairs towards the backyard. Once they stepped their feet into the crowded, large, booze filled backyard, he swiftly let go of her arm and walked back inside.

Not surprising at all.

"Asshole" Trixi bitterly muttered as she watched his figure disappear into the h e was gone she decided the best thing to do was to lay low in the party and wait until Carmichael was exceptionally preoccupied. She was already late to the party so she figured she wouldn't have to wait much longer. The later it was, the drunker the teens became and the more broken 'chirpy things'.

As if to prove her point a bulky figure pushed past her and threw up to the left of the patio.

She would have laughed if she didn't know who it was.

"Clint" Trixi worriedly asked as she walked up to the buff football player. He instantly shrugged her arm off and groaned.

Shrugging her off wasn't all that surprising, Clint usually was to macho to get help even when he desperately needed it. It was the groan that caused Trixi to blink twice. It wasn't a I'm-so-sick groan more like a defeated I-cant-believe-this groan.

She started to ask him 'what his deal was' but was cut off by a loud, boisterous laugh.

"HAHA Clint, I can't believe you got beat by West" a fellow football player yelled.

Clint rolled his eyes and swore as he waved off his teammates words, "Shut it Jefferys, Nerds got the gut of whale.'Sides didn't u bail out of going up against him after the first 10 shots".

This time the football player waved Clint off. "Whatever man, I'm not 170 benching 235.

Clint didn't even bother verbally responding letting his finger do the talking instead. His teammate laughed some more before finding a nearby blonde more interesting.

"Idiot" Clint murmured as he wiped his mouth with a nearby nerds shirt.

"You sure are, but what was that about" Trixi teased.

"Your little fucking projects never been to a party but that sure as hell doesn't mean his tolerance isn't high as fuck. We had a drinking contest of UniBlo, I had to bail after 32", Clint bitterly stated.

Sensing his sour mood and hating herself for causing it, Trixi choose to focus on him rather than Wally's apparent alcohol tolerance, "UniBlo. That shits strong. And yet I'm still not surprised you made it that far".

Clint smirked, "Well you know, been drinking since I was twelve...guess West must've been drinking longer than that. Damn I really fucking lost to the nerdling"

At this Trixi could only mentally groan. Leave it to Clint to take a detour back to the old much as she hates to admitted she hates seeing any of her friends down. So she figured if flattery didn't bring Clint out of his mood, teasing definitely would.

"Yeah yeah you suck, hey wanna mope some more or are we gonna party" Trixi teased. She then swiped the nearest bottle and downed half of it before handing it to Clint. When he wasn't looking, she quickly spat out the bitter liquid.

She can't afford to get drunk, not when the mission hasn't been cleared.

The jock shrugged, downed the rest of the bottle and laughed as the nearest teens around him starting yelling his name.

Guys like Clint could stay down for long. Not when so many people wanted to see them up.

Trixi mildly watched as Clint got into a macho arm wrestling contest . After he won, he began a celebratory drink with his crowd. They were doing keg stands, playing beer pong, you name it. Trixi played a little as well, before walking away in search of the others. It didn't take long for her to find them,she knew her friends.

Abigail like always, was at her favorite bar downing a pink paradise and dancing with a crowd of was near, never too far from appeared to be making out with a girl a couple of feet away.

Trixi waved to him as she walked up to Abby and ordered herself a drink.

"Omigod Trix, Whennn yaa get here. I'm sssso happy to ssseee you" Abigail slurred.

"Hey Abby, what number we at 55" Trixi said as she hugged her drunk friend and grabbed her drink.

"57 Chaad wassss susspose to be with me but hes ssssucking face with ssssome dude"Abigail whined.

"Chick this time actually", Trixi corrected, her drink was a pink paradise Abby's favorite. Even though she knew she shouldn't, she decide to actually swallow this one down. She then surveyed the area, combing through the dancing teens. "Wheres-

"Oh my God! You totally misssed it! Wally owned Cllint like twenty minutesss ago drinking UmiBlo" Abigail yelled.

Abby then threw her arm around Trixi almost as if she were telling a super secret code, "I thiiink Wally lied aboooout this beiiiing his firsssst party" she yelled into the brown girl's ear.

Trixi resisted the urge to throw her off of her, as she winced and rubbed her now ringing ear. "Yeah I heard. Where is the red head,I'll ask him for ya".

"Hhhe went to play darts or ssssomething, dudesssss gotts loadsss of energy", Abby yelled yet again before downing her 58th Pink Paradise.

"Mkay , you sure you'll be okay with the fan club following you around "Trixi asked as she began to walk to where the carnival games were set up. Abigail mildly laughed as said fan club glared an ushered the bubbly blonde to dance some more.

Once Trixi entered the area that was littered with carnival games she instantly began scanning around for even a speck of orange. On an occasion where she did see a basketball or a big stuffed fireball her heart would pick up, and then her head would slap her 'get a hold of yourself'.

"Hey sssssarcastic and ssssssexxy" a drunk voice slurred as a body hugged her from behind. For a second Trixi thought about body slamming the figure but then relaxed when orange hair fanned across her forehead.

"Wally" Trixi asked as she wiggled out of the boys hold and turned towards him.

He was dressed regular. The same baggy clothes that screamed retro, down to earth. He made her feel quite silly that she begged Gizmo for a upgrade.

Was she doing too much?

Did he like her hair down?

She shrugged the questions down and continued to look at Wally as he spoke to her about whatever. There was actually something that was different about the teen, his smile. She had never seen him so relaxed and happy, she's sure of it. But it was familiar...somehow.

" imma take your ssssilence for yyyeah, go 'head kay" Wally said before dragging the young girl away from the carnival games.

Trixi didn't even get a chance to ask him where they were going before the dancefloor entered her view. Wally didn't wait a second before pulling her onto the crowded dance floor and rhythmically moving to the beat.

God did he look good doing that. And she definitely wanted to join in, but still she's a fucking villain, this is her first year being in an actual school. Let alone dancing with a guy. Most of the time she just stuck by the bar and pretended to drinks. "Wally I really don't know how to-

"It's easy, just pretend it's only you and me." Wally yelled as he brushed his hair out of his face and smiled.

Only you and me.

Yeah, Trixi could do that.

They danced for hours. Rhythmically moving against each other and laughing. Through the entire experience, Trixi could feel his heartbeat in her ribcage and his laugh in her lungs. They were connected, enjoying each other's presence entirely.

But all good things must come to an end and when more and more teens began to either pass out or leave, Trixi knew not only was it time to go but she had definitely missed the time frame where Carmichael would be overly occupied .

Wally was stumbling mess, dancing apparently helped circulate whatever alcohol was in his system. It took a while, but Trixi managed to convince a couple of drunken wrestlers to help her carry him upstairs. After dropping Wally, Abigail, Chad and Clint into Abigail's giant bedroom, Trixi payed the two drunk teens and shooed them out of the room.

Three of them appeared half conscious, and Wally himself had fallen asleep on the way up the stairs. Trixi could only sigh as she watch the remaining conscious teens cuddle up to the floor, mattress and bean bag chair before falling asleep themselves.

God, how great it must be to be normal.

She mildly thought of going back to Andrew Capersons study but one look at the four butlers surveying the room changed her mind.

Walking out of the door, the only thought she had was how in the hell was she gonna explain all this to Gizmo.

Should she say there was no ample time. And list the various number of other occasions she has to infiltrate the study.

No

Should she say that she did do it but to the wrong computer. Maybe she'll buy herself enough time to actually do it.

Nuh uh

Should she tell the truth and laugh with Shimmer about her normal boy crush that somehow distracted her from the mission.

Hell no.

By the time she made it to the brownstones, she had come up with over 176 different ways to break the news to Gizmo. Each lie sounded stupid in her head and even dumber when she practiced them on her tongue.

So she settled on the a half truth. She would talk all about Carmichael and her distraction but distinctly leave out any part of Wally.

It worked well enough with her conscious but she still slightly cringed as she walked into Gizmo's lab.

Jinx bit her lip, "Hey Giz, I know it's like 5 o'clock but I need….what are you all doing in here",Jinx asked as she surveyed the room. Huddle around one of Gizmo's computers was See-more, XL Terrestrial, Icicle Jr., Puppet King, Mammoth,Billy Numerous and Shimmer.

Her question was directed at everyone but only Shimmer answered, "Oh we're just here to watch".

"Watch what"Jinx asked before staring at her teammates faces. After further inspection, three things became clear to her.

One, a smiling Shimmer means something bad happen.

Two, a no eye contact at all See-more means something really bad happen.

Three, Red Hood missing from this little team meeting means something super bad happened.

"Oh no"Jinx groaned as her head fell down a little, "Red Hood went after Joker and ruined the distraction set up".

"Oh no, he didnt crash the mission and Joker wasn't even at the distraction thingy" Icicle Jr. replied.

"Hood was at Melvot the entire mission"Mammoth mumbled.

After hearing that Jinx visibly relaxed. So Red Hood didn't go after Joker, good. The last thing she needed was calls from headquarters.

"Oh great. Well whatever you're stressing about Giz, look it's fine I didn't even get to bug Capersons computer today, so I can't really be mad if you messed up a little", Jinx said as she relaxed a bit on one of Gizmo's chairs.

"Wait what! How could you not bug the computer. Seriously Jinx you're smarter than this" Gizmo yelled. He started ranting and raving, mixing his English with German. With every word he was making Jinx feel lower than dirt, well he was until Shimmer spoke up.

"Oh come on Point Dorkster, so she didn't bug a fucking computer it's not like she did some horrendous shit like". Shimmer dramatically paused, soaking in how every ounce of Jinx attention was on her. Then with a smirk still brightly etched on her face she exclaimed, "... like let a hero in our base".

Zap.

Shit. There goes five prototypes. Jinx eyes were glowing, her head spinning.

"What the fuck did she just say" Jinx yelled.

"J-jinx calm down. Technically Red Hood brought him…." See-More tried to explain but the words instantly stopped once Jinx turned her gaze his way. He tried his hardest not to jump as three more inventions behind him exploded.

"If you don't calm down your powers will turn the entire base to mush"XL Terrestrial says as he protectively steps in front of the others.

And as much as Jinx hated to admit it, he was right So instead of letting her anger get the best of her, she counted to ten and asked in a forced voice, "What happened".

Knowing her better than most people Gizmo choose this point to hurriedly explain, "The mission was going smoothly until a prisoner was identified to be Speedy, Green Arrow's ex-sidekick. Red Hood insisted that we take him with us, and we were pressed for time so I.."

" You allowed him to bring a fucking hero here because you didn't have the time to argue or the balls" Jinx sarcastically asked. It's not like she wasn't trying to understand, truly she was, but come on a fucking hero in her base.

"Probably the balls" Shimmer replied while laughing.

Gizmo lightly glared at her, but for the most part he ignored her, instead choosing to address Jinx, "Red Hood wouldn't let it go, the fucking gun happy, ninja, psycho was determined".

Zap.

And there goes another prototype.

This time Jinx counted to twenty before addressing her team again, "You know what, talking about this is stupid and getting us nowhere. Where's our little gun happy ninja at".

"His room"Shimmer eagerly replied.

Honestly she was enjoying this all way too much. Jinx would've snapped at her for it if her mind wasn't already fixated on Red Hood. She literally marched all the way to his room, and barged in not bothering to knock. Behind her was a few members of the team, in front of her was a sight she could only summarize with one word, disturbing.

There on the floor was Red Hood cleaning up vomit. His face was absent of his infamous red hood and his even more infamous robin mask had taken its place.

On the bed was Speedy, or what Jinx assumed use to be Speedy. The once muscular yet lean teen, had obviously lost a lot of weight. His face concave in places that made it appear almost skeletal. If he hadn't had his speedy mask on, she would swear she would see hollows instead of eyes.

And that wasn't even the disturbing part.

His body being thinner didn't really bother her. It wasn't the quivering, shaking and covered in needle marks that bothered her.

All the images you would see in a druggy. All the images you should see in a druggy. That didn't bother her, until realized who she's looking at.

The fact that he was so young, he looked around the same age as she did.

Or maybe it was because she had watched surveillance videos of all the heros and their sidekicks, and she knew the boy shaking on the bed could once shot arrows from buildings away.

Or perhaps, it was the fact that she knew no matter how better he got, he would never be same. Perhaps, for that reason, she found the entire scenery completely disturbing.

But even so, as disturbing as the image was, she still had a job to do.

So without any other thought than protecting herself and her team, she shot a blast at Speedy. She would've hit him to, if Red Hood hadn't grabbed one of his favorite guns and thrown in in front of the blast. The gun exploded and the blast knocked Speedy on the floor next to Red Hood.

"If you wanna fucking kill him, you'll have to kill me to" Red Hood says as he protectively places a hand on a still shaking Speedy.

"Aww Dude vomit hands" Speedy replies but is ignored as Red Hood begins firing and Jinx begins dodging.

"Is that supposed to fucking sway me to not rip his head off" Jinx yells as she shoots a couple of daggers Red hoods way. One hits her target but Red Hood doesn't even wince. In fact he smirks because just as her target hits her mark, his hits as well. Still, hole in her stomach or not Jinx was not going to slow down.

It was getting messy, no doubt the two of them would rip the others head off given the chance.

It wasn't looking good in Jinx favor either. Apparently being a druggy didn't derail Speedy's aim or speed that much. The redhead had thrown a series of knives at the pink haired girl, nearly all of them hitting major areas.

When one knife lodged itself in Jinx's lung and one blast knocked Red Hood into See-Mores room, the rest of the team decided to step in.

"Put me the fuck down Sasquatch" Red Hood yelled. As Jinx yelled even worse profanities from the bubble See-More trapped her in.

"Both of you need to calm down..please" See- More nervously replied.

"Eyeballs right, shit was funny at first but now you might knock Red Hood into my room. And if that shit happens I'll step in" Shimmer added.

Neither Red Hood nor Jinx seemed to pay her any attention. Both still shouting the worst profanities they could muster.

"Halt die Klappe! Look both you need to understand. Yes Red Hood was stupid but it already has happen. And if you kill him Jinx, not only will you not hide the issue, you'll fucking broadcast the shit. And Hood, Jinx is our fucking leader you may have arrow boy on your fucking team now but let's be clear you get that close to hurting her again the whole team will take you down. Now can we agree to calmy fucking talk about the issue" , Gizmo exclaimed.

Jinx eyes started to flicker until they were no longer illuminate in a pink light. Then her hands slowly started fading as well, once that happened she lowly mumbled out "...fine".

Red Hood also agreed, humming loudly as he nodded his head. Once Mammoth let him go, he instantly trained two guns back on Jinx.

"Hood" Gizmo lowly whined.

"Hey I'm listening, this is just precaution", Red Hood replied.

Jinx rolled her eyes, her feud with Red Hood didn't seem nearly as serious as it had a few moments ago. She knew Gizmo was right, and if she wanted to keep this secret a secret, she had to play nice. "I'm willing to compromise on the issue, only if it is assured none of this gets back to headquarters".

Red Hood started to reply but was instantly cut off by a shaking redhead," As said issue, can I just say Pinky-

"Also I don't want the issue speaking to me. Nor will I allow it to interrupt missions or training" Jinx interrupted.

"Hey I'm not a fucking it" Speedy yelled.

Jinx ignored him, not even waiting for his last syllable to fully escape his mouth before addressing Red Hood again, " Keep it out of Giz's lab also, having a druggy is a big responsibility Hood".

At this Speedy simply flicked her off, and threw the nearest object towards her. Unfortunately for him, the knife penetrated See-Mores shield and not Jinx's esophagus.

"We clear" Jinx asked.

Red Hood rolled his eyes,"Crystal, like the stick stuck up your ass"

"Or the shit your friends shoots" Jinx replied.

She didn't wait for whatever response Red Hood had, and she damn well didn't wait for Speedys. Instead she turned around and confidently walked out of the room. When she was out of everyone's sight, her walking turned to limping and her confidence completely evaporated.

Seriously, a fucking hero in her base.

What if someone from headquarters visits.

What if he's a spy.

When she finally reached Gizmo's lab, she had already thought of nearly a million reason why letting Speedy live was a bad idea. To calm her nerves and heal her numerous wounds she downed a couple of Gizmo's chamipills. She then slung herself on a chair and waited for said genius to show up.

It didn't take long, when she hear some quiet grumblings about personal space and Mammoths smelly armpits, she knew he had arrived.

"Tell me again why I'm letting the archer live" Jinx said as Gizmo walked toward her.

Gizmo said nothing poking her skin a bit and prodding at her eyes. She looked fine, perfectly healthy and that's what bothered him. His chami pills weren't nearly as effect as his chami chamber, and one can only do so much, "How many chamipills did you take, you know too much-

"Can lead to over coubustation of the gestaton organs and nerve tissue bla ba bla. Chill, I only took two. Hoodies a good fucking shot and apparently even as a human pin cushion so is Speedy." Jinx sarcastically quipped.

"I gathered that, but I also noticed u added a extra few holes to that pin cushion and our resident happy go lucky, ninja, psycho" Gizmo replied.

Jinx smacked her lips a bit in annoyance, " You give them some chamipills".

Gizmo shook his head, " Hood saids Speedy can't have none, neither will he . Guess the bastards gonna help him get clean"

Jinx laughed, her smile brightly displayed on her face "Oh so there still in pain, good". Her smile suddenly dropped and she spoke again, only this time her voice was much more serious, "keep an eye out. I doubt if druggy's a spy with those withdrawal symptoms, but you never know. Also can you construct a hidden room, one not even Madame Rogue will be able to detect ".

"Speedys not a spy, he stopped hero-ring nine months ago. Some people thought he went off the map for a case but I know better" Gizmo stated.

"How"?

"Green Arrow. He started being more...interested in dealers, smacked one around so much the guy nearly died. Black Canary had to pry Green Arrow off the guy, when the guy said some smart remark she decked him. His face was already broken, now its down right disfigured. He wasn't the first or the last. Now Green Arrow and Black Canary always have a league member with them, even in there own city. That started 9 months ago."

"Huh, so he's not a spy. Still make the room, black hole, make it a cage for all I care. Just make it soon, please" Jinx replied.

"Make a black hole...for storage…..thats genius Jinx" Gizmo excitedly yelled. He then started listing the numerous medals he would receive due to her brilliant idea. Jinx laughed and watched as the young boy began to write down a million equations a minute.

Suddenly his computer screen blinked. Incoming call, just what Jinx needed.

"Afternoon, Madame Rouge" Jinx said as soon as the woman's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh little witch, you're already here excellent. How's the leg"

"Fine, how's the arm" Jinx counter.

The older women scowled, "I'm here to inform you that I have taken your pathetic lakeys words into consideration".

"Does she mean Shimmer" Gizmo whispered.

"Silence, boy! Little witch, the league has decided to send you these, how you say "big guns" to fight the Young Justice".

Great more people Jinx needs to watch over. Only these ones will probably be spies.

"I've allowed you access to review their profiles in your database. I expect them to be in shape immediately on arrival, do not disappoint me"

"Understood" Jinx confidently replied.

Once the call ended and the screen went blank, Jinx's confident smile immediately turned to worry.

"Fucking new team members Giz, now of all the fucking times"! Jinx yelled.

"Calm down. Lets just pull up their profile and see what their about"

"Oh I know what their about. The fucking league is what their about. Their spies. Rogue knows something is up, oh fuck they know somethings up". Jinx dramatically falls into one of the chairs, trying her best not to scream out her aggravation.

Noticing a flicker of pink light forming on her hands, Gizmo instantly tried to reassure the tan girl. "No they fucking don't, if they did Rogue would be here herself".

Jinx soaked in his words and for a second she relaxed, "Your right, its fine. Were fine….Gizzzzzz! We are not fucking fine. How close are you to the damn back hole".

"Well since I just fucking started-

"Nevermind, I just need to go ahead and kill the fucking archer before any of these newbies can run back to guns huh. Lemme guess one of these motherfuckers can fly"

"One you know you can't, Hood will freak out , Headquarters will find out. Two all of them can fly, but we can always slow them down. I mean how much of a 'big gun' can they be" Gizmo said as he connected his own computer the giant one behind them.

Instantly three girls were shown, with a numerous amount of notes and video links near their name.

"Wanna play pick your snitch" Gizmo playfully asked.

Jinx just groaned, "Why does the fucking black haired chick look like wonder woman"

"Hmmm. Troia. Allies derives from the Great city of Troy. Magical copy of Wonder Woman. Age deterioration due to spell malfunction. Hey look shes only 14"

"Oh great, so we have a wonderbrat of our own. I'm assuming powers are wonder woman's".

"Yep, oh but look her lasso is called the lasso of obedience. Apparently it compels you to do her bidding".

"Great, what's next on the menu" Jinx replied.

Gizmo paused for a moment letting his mouse hang in between the remaining two profiles, "Blondie for 500".

"Sure"

Gizmo smirked," Kara Zor-el, allies appears to be 15. Allies derives from relation to Superman. Oh shit"

"Fuck me"Jinx groaned.

Despite Jinx obvious discomfort Gizmo continued to eagerly read the profile, "Supergirl was found in ship with priceless comet that crashed on earth six months ago. Did not remember much except that her home planet Krypton was blown up by her uncle. Soooo is Superdud her uncle or by related do they just mean their from the same planet".

"Giz I don't fucking know. Moving on to the next one". Jinx said, She didn't even wait for Gizmo to move the mouse, clicking the green skinned girls profile herself.

Gizmo rolled his eyes but still eagerly read the next profile, "Allies Jade. Mentor Sinestro. With the help of Klarion the Witch boy and the great sorceress Cericie, Sinestro was able to retrieve girl from alternate dimension. Mother Star Sapphire, Father Green Lantern. Which Green Lantern, there's like a billion. And Slutty Star does get around….".

"Giz, focus! How quick can you make that black hole".

" The prototype could be ready in twenty if I'm not interrupted"

"Okay good, you work on that. Druggy definitely needs to be healed now though. We don't know how long will have to leave him there….Hey, Speedy can't have a chamipill cause it will just make him hooked since he's in withdrawal right."

"Pretty much"

"So basically any science shit you got is a bust"

"Well the chamber. The gas is far less addictive than a pill, plus it may actually help his withdrawal accelerate and end quicker. Why, does he need to be healed first though? I thought you didn't care about the human pin cushion", Gizmo asked.

"I don't, but I don't need Hoodie injured when the newbies arrive, that'll just cause questions. And I definitely don't need Druggy dying after I just fucking spared his life. I've already cross the whole letting shit slide line, might as well let it slide. Stop looking at me like that Giz, I don't fucking care.. I don't ...I'll be back in a few", Jinx yelled as she slid out of the chair.

She grabbed two chamipills on her way out, along with some sleeping gas. She also opened up one of the chambers.

Oh yeah she definitely didn't care.

After she left Gizmo's lab, the next room Jinx entered was the kitchen. She had broken the cami pills to basic powder and sprinkled a bit in one bottle of soda. She then screwed the top back on and walked to Red Hoods room

Once she reached his door she carefully opened it, and tossed a sleeping grenade inside. Instantly she was met with gunshots and knives, however, before any could reach her she quickly shut the door. After five minutes she opened the door and held her breath, exspecting gas. Instead she was met with a trained gun to the head.

"Trying to kill us, dumbass move" Red Hood said. His infamous Red Hood mask was on Speedys Head, while his Robin mask was on his own.

"If I was you'd already be dead. How'd you escape the gas"

" With magic unicorns, how do you fucking think, The mask has a filter and I can hold my breath for twelve minutes" Red Hood angrily quipped.

"Calm down, I was drugging you so I could give you this" Jinx replied as she holds the soda up.

" You drugged me so I could drink Pepsi. Yeah I'm not dumb, what's in it".

"Magic unicorns" Jinx replied. The gun on her head lightly flinched to the left and she could tell Red Hood was getting more aggravated. " Fine its a chamipill".

"No, Speedy can't have anything while he's in withdrawal".

"That's why he's going to the chamichambers. Giz said it himself, he's more likely to get hooked on the drugs in red meat than the gas in the chamber".

Red Hood sighed, he appeared to be thinking it over. " I still can't, I told Speedy I wouldn't"

"He doesn't really seem to care", Jinx pressed.

Red Hood sighed and pressed a button on his sleeve. Instantly the Red Hood popped off Speedys head.

At first Jinx didn't really see what ever Red Hood was trying to show her. Speedy was still skeletor. Still in his stupid Speedy mask, and then the idiot snored.

"He's asleep. Who the fuck sleeps standing up" Jinx muttered in disbelief.

"He was asleep before your little grenade attack. I just put the helmet on him so the gas won't get in his system".

Jinx rolled her eyes,"He won't get hooked on sleeping gas"

"He shouldn't be hooked on anything"

"Whatever, so we dont tell him. Drink the soda Hoodie"

"No"

"Drink the fucking soda. I know you don't like tight spaces so the chambers out. I'm trying to be fucking nice"

"I dont give a fuck, no"

"Hood"

"Nothing you can say can make me fucking-

Red Hoods words were instantly cut off as a pair of lips smashed into his own. The kiss was nice, it was dominating, dangerous and fun. Red Hood battled for dominance, but his kisser wouldn't submit.

He was so engaged in the kiss, so engaged with her, that he didn't even feel the droplets of soda slither past his tongue until it traveled down his throat. And even once he realised it, he didn't care, he was gonna kiss her till she stopped it. He didn't care.

And when she did, he lowly growled as their lips made a slight popping noise. Her Black hair fanned his face, and her sparkling blue eyes twinkled at him.

"Wait- Di- Woderwoman"! Red Hood yelled. For once he sounded like the 13 year old kid he was, and not the villain the world had painted him out to be.

"She is a clone, I am Troia. Your new comrad" the black haired girl confidently stated. Beside her was a bug eyed Jinx, some blonde chick and a green faced girl.

"Ah and you must be our fearless comador Jinx" Troi exclaimed. She strongly patted Jinx on the back and laughed as the other girl nearly moved a foot.

Without Red Hoods gun on her, Jinx was finally able to move freely but being slapped into Hoods bed was not the free-ness she was hoping for, " Yeah I'm Jinx. I umm wasn't expecting you this-

"Late! I know we just couldn't wait to join the team so we flew like nega sonic super fast. But then I saw all these Earth things and I just had to check them out! I literally can not believe I am actually here. Actual earth, not crummy base but earth.!" Supergirl excitedly yelled.

"And when we come, we see that you are in a dispute to get the batboy to drink the carbonated-water. So I assist" Troi explains.

"Batboy doesn't seem right, maybe badboy" Jade sassily says. She sways a bit, seeming intrigued by all of Hoods guns. When she finds one to her liking she waves her hand an a green glow picks it up. Jinx doesn't even bother asking why she doesn't need a ring to do that.

Why? Because if any of them have noticed Speedy, none have mentioned it. She doesn't know whether to be grateful or fearful. So she'll settle for quiet.

"Hey this guy wasn't in the files." Supergirl saids as she flies over and begins poking Speedy.

Immediately Red Hood gets protective and trains a gun on her. This peaks the interest of both Troia and Jade, both appear ready to fight but a bit confused. Before they could rush off to Supergirls aid, two warning shot blew past their ears, one from Hood, another from Jinx.

Supergirl seems as oblivious as can be, still poking the red head even as he swats her hands away and mumbles, "Come on, schools closed I swear". After 21 more pokes the red head finally, seemed to wake up.

He yawned, scratched his head, conveniently grabbed six knives from Hoods dresser and pointed one at the blondes neck. " I like to wake myself up" he grumbled.

"Sorry, is he new too" Supergirl asked.

"Sort of...He's Hoodies...friend" Jinx supplies.

"Oh okay! Geez calm down! I wasn't gonna hurt him. Ya know Troia, Jade and me are best friends" Supergirl saids.

Jade smirked, " He's obviously a secret as well or your both wouldn't be so.. tense about it".

Troia seemed lost in thought, after a couple a seconds she voiced her confusion, "I've seen him before. He was not as thin-

"He use to be a hero like me. Now he's sick and I'm trying to help him get better" Red Hood mumbled.

"Oh okay"! Supergirl replied.

"Wait what, so your going to keep Hoods little friend a secret", Jinx asked.

"I respect those who are loyal to fellow warriors. Also if we are to be a team, trust must exist", Troia explained.

"Yeah and I'm so not fucking up this freedom to be Sinestro's lackey again", Jade supplies.

Jinx silently thanked whoever was helping her luck and cautiously turned to the three girls,"Oh..kay. Do you guys want to meet the rest of the team or…

" Totally"! Supergirl yelled.

Troia smirked," Yes,that will be nice"

Jade wasn't all that eagered, she grimaced for a bit then sarcastically smirked,".. if i say no I'm the terrible, anti social back character right".

Jinx just laughed, fuck it, life could be worse.

Chapter Text

Wally woke up feeling like shit.

Honestly he hadn't felt this bad since his Dad cracked his skull open. His whole body ached, and his head was killing him.

He tried to remember what the fuck could he have done to make Rudy hurt him so bad, but nothing came to mind.

Wait.

Rudy didn't do this, he did this.

Memories of the drinks, and the party flooded his mind. He instantly groaned as his short phone conversation with Mary flashed by. Great. When he got home Rudy would most definitely hurt him, well at least he's already suspended from the team for a week. Now no one will wonder where he is all the time.

Wait. Where is he?

It was at this moment Wally choose to open his eyes and survey the room around him. Pink. Fucking pink everywhere. Expensive fucking pink, which could only mean-

Shit. He's still at Abigail's

"Fuck" Wally whined as he stood up and stretched.

A slight groan came from behind him as a pillow smacked him in the back of his head. "Chad quit your bitching, mmy heaad hurtsss" Clint murmured while trying to adjust to the light.

After rubbing his eyes for awhile, he finally opened them, only to narrow them at Wally. "Oh fan-fucking tastic it's you".

He surveyed the room and once he realized it was only himself and Wally in the room,he rolled his eyes. As he shuffled out of the room, he bumped past Wally, knocking the disoriented boy back to the ground.

"Goodmorning to you also" Wally sarcastically replied as he got himself up off the floor and quickly followed Clint down the stairs.

"There a reason your following me West" Clint growled.

"Nope no reason. It has nothing to do with the fact that this is a fucking mansion and I have no idea how to exit", Wally quipped.

Again Cint growled. He swiftly turned around causing Wally to nearly collide into him. Before he could, Clint grabbed the red head by his shirt. " That fucking smart mouth-

"Clint what are you doing" Abigail yelled. She was at the base of the stairs, still dressed in her outfit from the night before. Beside her was Chad with two green smoothies.

"Ugh...Nothing Abby" Clint replied. He ungracefully dropped Waly on the stairs, and made his way down to his girlfriend. She gave him a hard time at first, but after a couple of seconds the couple was aggressively making out.

"Hey Wally bro, how ya feeling" Chad said after Wally completely came down the stairs. He handed Wally one of the green drinks and a warm pink towel.

"Like crap..uhhh what is this" Waly asked as he cautiously looked at the bubbling green smoothie.

"A pick me up, trust me don't ask, just drink. That plus the towel on your head is magic. Makes your hangover go away in like an hour" Chad said.

That was all Wally needed to know before he downed the bubbling green smoothie completely.

"Whoa dude, slow down. If you throw up this, then you'll have to live with the hangover for the day. No double doses." Chas said as he tried to take the cup from the red head. But by the time he did, the cup was already empty and Wally had already placed the towel on his head.

Instantly Wally was starting to feel better,the green gunk tasted disgusting but hey it worked.

"Whatever's in that, you should definitely market" Wally said with a small smile. He had only had the drink a second ago and he already was feeling more like his old self. His body stopped aching, and the towel was definitely soothing his headache.

Chad laughed and then shook his head, "Thanks man, but it'll have to be just a little trade secret for now. My Dad will kill me for disrupting my good image and shit. Like I said takes an hour top, to get rid of the hangover. And since school starts in like twenty minutes, guess you'll have to crash with our little love birds here".

Stay. Here. With Clint, yeah no.

"I'm actually feeling better already man. Think I'll just go to school" Wally quickly replied.

Chad laughed as he slung his arm around Wally, "Great! Here I always leave a couple of clothes at Abby's for mornings like these, take a shower and I'll bring you some. Glad your coming, I hate being alone. Abby's hangover is long gone, but she's going to spend the day fucking- I mean consoling Clint. And knowing Trix, she's probably gonna sleep the day out".

Wait . Trixi.

Chad continued talking, but Wally couldn't hear him. Memories of himself and Trixi, dancing and laughing rang through his mind. They were so vivid, almost like she was right-

"Is she here" Wally suddenly asked.

Chad stopped mid-sentence and grimace. Before he could reply a slight pop noise was made and Abigail's bubbly voice rang out, "Trix, never stays" she whined.

Clint groaned as he tried to capture the blondes lips again but was shrugged off as Abby waltzed over to the two boys. "It's like no fair, she always goes home, even on weekends".

"Come on Abby, at least she always makes sure we're good before she leaves. I'm seventy percent sure we all were passed out last night, and definitely not together in your room " Chad reminded.

Wally tried to remember just when and how he fell asleep. A slight image of two guys and Trixi dragging him up stairs came to mind and he winced.

"Yeah, she's great at taking care of us. But sometimes I worry she's not so good at taking care of herself. I mean Blue Valleys not the most secure town, especially at 3 in the morning" Abigail replied.

Chad groaned, "If anyone can handle herself it Trix, babe. Besides Blue Valley may be poor as shit, but its no Gotham. Right Wall."

"Trixi lives in Blue Valley", Wally asked. He was definitely confused, she seemed so.. I mean her clothes were never the nicest but she paired them so nicely..and-

"Oh yeah, Wally you live there too. Think you could check on Trix on your way home". Abigail asked.

On his way home. Home was the last place Wally wanted to go. He planned to crash at his Uncle's house for a couple of days, just until Rudy cooled down. But if Trixi…

"You don't even know Trix's address" Chad said with a roll of his eyes. He then handed Wally some clothes and ushered the red head back up the stairs. "Come on now hurry, we only have fifteen minutes till school".

Once he was in the shower, Wally's mind traveled back to Trixi. Why didn't she tell him she lived in Blue Valley. He's almost sure, she knows he lived there.

He couldv'e walked her home. They couldv'e picked up some of Old Man Vetti's hot dogs. Maybe he could kiss her and-

Wait.

What is he doing. Trixi's pretty and funny but..what about Artemis.

Sure they had a fight, and sure she broke up with him. But thats all just temporary right. Once he apologizes everything will be fine...right?

His thoughts were interrupted when Chad knocked on the door and told him to hurry up. Wally sighed, looked for any cameras and super sped the clothes on.

They were definitely more fitting than the baggy thrift clothes Wally normally sports. They were far more expensive also, his pant were stitched with gold. Button down tailored to perfection, belt the finest leather and his shoes..woah. The entire outfit screamed wealth and riches. Wally felt like he had costume on. For once going to school he didn't feel like Wally West the loser. He felt...cool.

He started to roll up his sleeves to his elbows, but winced at his forearm muscles.

Secret identities suck. Was all the thought s he rolled the sleeves back down.

"Shit what took you so long" Chad asked once Wally exited the bathroom.

"Nothing just..thinking" Wally replied.

Chad didn't repply he simply looked over Wally and smirked, "Damn dude, I always thought you were a twig. You're actually pretty fit".

Fear rang through Wally's mind. But it was suddenly quelled by reason. There is no way Chad thought he looked like Kid Flash. As fitted as this outfit was it definitely wasn't spandex. Besides the bright red hair Kid Flash flaunts is nothing like Wally's pumpkin orange. Chad just was complimenting him.

"Uh thanks.. I guess" Wally replied.

"No disrespect, but seriously dude you should wear more stuff your size. Your clothes do you no justice" Chad said.

He started walking down the stairs and once he was outside, he fished some keys out of his pocket and headed towards a pink truck."Unfortunately my keys are somewhere in Abby's rabbit hole of a house. Carmichael said he'd find them by the end of school, till then were riding in barbiezillla here "

Wally laughed, "You had to pick the pink truck"

"Hey it was either this or the pink lambo"Chad replied.

The duo spent the car ride chatting it up about the most basic things. School, Girls, Guys..yeah Chad was definitely an interesting person to say the least.

" And here we are, and look we manage to make it with two minutes to spare", Chad said once the duo pulled up at the school. As both boys exited the truck, Wally couldn't help but notice the murmurs surrounding them.

Oh great.

The last thing he need was more rumors. I mean Wally has nothing against gay people. Hell, some his close comrades are gay. But he certainly wasn't and he definitely didn't need the grief that came with it .

I mean seriously Chads a popular bi-sexual and Wally just arrived to school with him..in a pink car.

To his surprise, as they walked to homeroom none of the murmurs were about he and fact none of them were..bad.

Yo West got on Balenciagas. Lookin good

Did u see him at Abby's party, he's like a drinking god.

He's actually kinda..cute.

The murmurs continued from there and Waly couldn't help but smile at a couple of them. Yesterday he was the resident loser, today he's a god?

Wally's back straightened just a little as the postive murmurs followed him and Chad in homeroom.

A few girls and even some guys would sneak glances every so often. The really bold ones, would snapchat a picture of him and giggle like little school girls.

It was almost like being Kid Flash. Except he wasn't this extraordinary being with mystery, he didn't belong to a city or cause. He was a normal boy, just likeable. And that was something Wally West had never been.

His good mood lasted until fourth period science. Trixi was absent, so he didn't have a lab partner. Fortunately Abigail's party didn't only put Trixi out of commision. Nearly the entire class had an absent lab partner, so groups were reassigned.

Wallys new lab partner was a girl named Leni. She wasn't the brightest, but she was definitely pretty and nice. She was one of the bold ones who took pictures of Wally in homeroom.

When she reached the table, she started complimenting Wally and flirting just the slightest.

Ofcourse the red head blushed, and sheepishly complimented her back. Then he figured he'd better start the assignment before it's too late.

As he started fumbling with the chemicals and recording the reactions, Leni cheered him on.

"Your so smart Wally"

"Wow I wish I could do that"

"Your an amazingly like genius"

Again Wally blushed, Leni was sweet. As the bell rang, Wally began to clean up the area and pack up his things. Before he could leave, Leni touched his shoulder and asked, "Can we have lunch together. I'd love to get to know you more".

Leni Baxter asked him can she have lunch with him. Leni Baxter, blonde bombshell.

Wally cooly replied, "Sure". Hoping his excitement wasn't evident, as they started walking to the cafeteria, Chad sautered up to Wally. He frowned a bit at Leni, but for the most part he ignored her.

"Hey, dude. I was thinking since the crews gone we'd go out to eat" Chad said.

Wally nodded, then grimaced at the blonde on his shoulder "Oh umm sure.. But Leni wanted to eat with us"

Chad laughed, "Yeah dude I'm sure. Everyone wants to eat with us".

Wally tried to laugh as well..ya know to seem like he wasn't totally new to this.

Leni, however didn't laugh. In fact she leaned over and grabbed the chuckling brunettes arm before gleefully replying, "But he didn't say yes to everybody, he said yes to me. So where we going Chaddy, that new steakhouse on Lampo".

Chad grimanced, "Wally dude can I talk to you"

Wally nodded his head and calmly said "Yeah su-

He was interrupted when Leni aggressively grabbed his arm, "No, Wally my tummy hurts cant you just talk when we get to the place"

"Oh um..

This time Chad grabbed his arm, "Cut the shit Leni, before I show Wally the snaps you sent Evyln this morning".

Wally rubbed the back of his head, "The pictures from homeroom"?

"First I didn't send Evlyn shit. Second, Even if I did, which I didn't, how would you know? You don't follow anyone on snapchat besides Abby, Clint and Trixi, how could you get it. " Leni growled out.

Chad laughed, "Apparently we made out yesterday. She friended herself while I was passed out I guess. Details don't really matter, today she posted your conversation in her story with the caption petty queen. But since you're so keen to believe I don't have it , here Wally check this out. All Morning she's been talking shit about you".

Wally couldn't believe it, there on Chads phone were screenshots of Leni's snapchat.

When a loser gets decent clothes #charitycase

Wait does he actually think people like him now lol

Bet I'll be Abby's BFF by tomorrow if I get Wally to be my boyfriend

Wally shrugged the blonde off his shoulder an glared, " I think you should go eat lunch with someone else".

Leni only glared back, "Fine, you're not even cute anyways. I was only be nice with you to get in with Abby".

As she stomped away, Chad slung his shoulder around Wally and sighed, "Sorry man, that's just how the in-crowd works. Nothing is ever said bad about you..to you face. Don't get me wrong you can always invite your flavor of the week to sit with us.. But chances are their just using you for a come up. Thought I'd tell you now before you catch feelings".

"I'm so stupid.. I thought...I thought everyone actually liked me now" Wally sadly said.

Chad frowned, " Take it from somebodys who's been there bro. Best thing you can do is hook up at parties, or else you just become another spirit stick for a cheerleader to hold during lunch. Don't sweat it though, I know at least four people who like you...uhh make that three Clints still in limbo".

As the duo began walking to the car, Wally continued to berate himself further.

How stupid could he be. Leni was a cheerleader, ,just yesterday nearly all the cheerleaders left once Wally sat at their table.

And as much as he tried to recall, he honestly couldn't remember if Leni was one of the few who stayed.

It's just like Chad said, to people like Leni and her friends, Wally was just a spirit stick, an object.

It was then he realised the 'normal boy' love he thought he had received was imaginary. He wasn't a normal boy to them, no one in the crew is. At central high they're not normal kids. They were the popular kids, the special ones, the objects. People don't really like objects, just the idea of having one.

His thoughts were interrupted once Chad stopped the car.

"Comme les autres" Wally said with a confused pout. The place looked far too expensive for lunch, but then again with Wally's finances a burger joint was to expensive.

It was then that he realized, he didn't have any money to pay for lunch. Chad must have noticed the worry on his face because he quickly replied,"Don't sweat the bill dude".

"I can't let you do that, you're already doing a lot. I mean I'm wearing your freaking clothes. Lets just go back to school, I'm not even really hungry" Wally whined.

Chad simply laughed, "Dude, don't sweat it. My moms a fashion designer, I have plenty of clothes. Besides this is my restaurant".

Wally shook his head, he must have heard him wrong, "Your..what? Aren't you fifteen"

Chad rolled his eyes, "Sixteen, my parents thought it be a good investment. Happy Birthday son,bla bla. Sorry we couldn't be home, here's a building do something with it. Originally it was suppose to be a teen nightclub, but my dad..yeah. Anyways let's get our grub on "

As the two boys walked in Wally couldn't help but feel more out of place. Even in Chads clothes he felt out of place. Employees flocked to Chad, asking him if he wanted white or red wine, a table with a view. The place was decked out, far more sophisticated than Old man Vettis corner.

Chad choose a table the farthest away from anyone and order for the both of them in a blink of an eye. Once the employees finally left them alone, he turned to Wally and asked, "Hope you like rabbit, the menus in french so I figured I'd just order for you".

" Your french, but I thought Oberliki was German" Wally asked.

" It is, my parents are a real cliche, Dads a German diplomat, Moms a french fashion designer. Its honestly embarrassing how storybook they are" Chad playfully groaned.

Despite his playful demeanor, Wally could tell there was some tension between Chad and his parents. Everytime he spoke about them their was the glint in his eyes, a fake, I'm happy, don't worry glint . Wally knew that glint, he knew it all too well.

"I think its cool. Only thing my mom could dress is a broken arm" Wally joked.

Thankfully the joke worked, and the fake playful glint in Chads eye was replaced with an actual one, " Well I guess that explains your fashion sense".

Wally smiled, "Hey baggy was cool once upon a time".

"Yeah and so were CD's" Chad replied. Over the course of their meal, Chad and Wally joked, laughed and pigged out. Well Chad pigged out.. Wally just kinda ate around. He definitely was still hungry by the time all the food was gone, but he couldn't let Chad know that.

The two boys continued their playful banter in the car, they had just exited the parking lot when a great blue light shot the two cars ahead of them. The cars were iced, the passengers inside them frozen solid.

"What the fuck was that" Chad asked after he slammed on the break.

"Captain Cold" Wally murmured.

" Awww Fuck but we need to get back to school. Hope Flash and Flash boy hurry up and stop him" Chad whined.

"I doubt it, it's already 1:20, traffic starts getting crazy at 1- wait Flash boy? You mean Kid Flash" Wally corrected.

Chad rolled his eyes and waved his hand , " Yeah yeah Kid Flash, Flash Boy same difference".

Wally shook his head in playful annoyance, "No its- nevermind. Look let's just walk to school".

"And leave Abby's truck" Chad asked.

"She's got like ten cars, besides do you really want to be caught between Captain Cold and his gun". Wally reasoned.

"No, but Flash and his boy'll stop him in a minute. Don't ya think"

"I don't know" Wally replied. Truthfully he didn't, Flash should've been her by now. Unless he was with the league, and if that was the case why wouldn't he tell Wally to look after Central for him...does he not trust him anymore? I mean it's not like he was suspended from the hero gig all together..just the team.

Wally shook his head to clear his thoughts. Regardless if Flash trust him or not, he has to help these the best way to do that would be to get Chad to safety, ditch him and change out of his civies.

"Look man, I'm not tryna chance on it. So let's just go okay" Wally said.

Chad, now more than aware that Flash's lack of presence is unusual, quickly nodded.

Slowly but surely the two boys started to exited the car. They watched as Captain cold shouted about 'revenge and tragedy' , once they concluded he was effectively distracted by the police, they ran into the growing crowd.

Well atleast Chad ran into the growing crowd, Wally walked into the side of the crowd. Then he sped walked into a forest, and he ran out as Kid Flash.

When he reached the street again, Captain Cold was still raving about revenge, The few police officers that had distracted him were frozen solid.

"Come on Cold, what's got ya parka in a twist" Kid Flash wittly said.

Cold, abruptly turned toward the boy and growled out, "Baby Flash,from where did you crawl".

""Aww dude kid jokes, really. Those were funny when I was eight but come on". He twisted his body as he ran around the warmly clothed man and retrieved the injured.

He placed each injured man and women in a nearby cars and smiled at the few drivers who drove the strangers to the hospital Cold tried to shoot frozen beams at his feet but missed every time.

"Aims really off today, Cold." Kid Flash teased as he got the last injured civilian to safety. Captain cold didn't even bother responding still shooting ice rays at the floor.

"Oh come on that one wasn't even close. Does someone need their goggles shined" Wally joked. He figured a small tornado followed by a dozen uppercuts was the best way to knock Cold out with no casualties.

Just as he began circling Captain Cold, a frozen piece of the ground cracked.

"What the-

The crack grew and traveled all the way to the next iced fragment. This pattern continued and before Wally could blink, the entire floor from which he stood was covered in ice.

Captain Cold's grin could cut through steel. "Do you like my new ray gun Baby Flash. It freezes the matter atoms and materialized them to a solidified version of H2O"

"Sooooooo you turned the ground to ice, big whoop. I can still move Cold" Kid Flash said with a roll of his eyes. He started to continue his plan, but stopped when he heard more cracking from below.

The iced floor grew just as it had seconds ago. Only this time it traveled past Kid Flash into the civilian crowd. All at once the civilians began screaming and running. But no matter how fast they ran, the ice always followed.

It had nearly encompassed three blocks before Kid Flash yelled, "Stop, movement makes it grow".

"Oh Baby Flash you finally figured it out" Captain Cold grinned.

"Okay Cold, you've got a speedster and a quarter of Central City frozen in place. What's that gonna do, buy you a couple of hours to rob a bank". Kid Flash quipped.

Instantly Captain Cold's smile dropped. His face had morphed into a fragment of a frown. Almost as if he were sad. "No you see, I've decided I'm done with robbing banks. What good is money if the worlds gone".

"What" Wally mumbled. The World…that doesn't make sense. Captain Cold...Leonard Snart doesn't want to destroy the world. Hell he doesn't even want to destroy Central City.

"You heard me, I have no plans in robbery or theft. When the globe is encompassed in ice, the trees will die. The animals will die, and every single one of you will die" Captain Cold growled.

Wally flinched, it didn't make sense. "But your code Len...you don't kill".

Cold fumbled for a bit. He was fighting himself as much as he was fighting Kid Flash."I didn't…We told you we wouldn't.. That we weren't like them and you all killed her anyways. Jokers dame is prancing happily in fucking arkham and you..you killed Lisa".

"Wha- Cold I didn't..The Justice league doesn't kil...whatever happen to your sister-l".

Captain Cold growled, "Don't feed me that load of crap..you don't kill good people. You heroes walk like your heaven based but really your more fucked up than Trickster. You think if you label someone a supervillain, it's a justified killing. You can kill a villian cause there not people. I started the Rogues cause I thought the same thing. We're not villians were people, bad seeds, rebels, rogues..ya know. We don't kill people, we just steal… All Lis did was steal...and you guys.. you lock her up in Melvot and blow it to pieces".

His anger had faded in the middle of his rant. He was sobbing, hysterically wiping his face as he sputtered out as many curses his mouth would carry.

Kid Flash tried to reason with him, "Leonard, Melvot exploding must have been a accident from inside. That place is-was not really regulated. Maybe Lisa escaped before it exploded..maybe she-

"She's dead. Heat Wave examined the cite for me. Everybody inside was burned to dust. Do you know hard it was to analyze every spec of ash, hopping her dna wouldn't come up...damnit she was only eighteen. Whyyy" Captain Cold sobbed.

She was only eighteen, damn.

Only three years older than Wally. Lisa Snart aka Golden Glider was a supervillain Wally had faced on many occasions and he would never have guessed she was eighteen. He would have never have guessed she would die so quick.

As Cold cried Wally tried to think of any reason this may have happened. For a second he tried to justify her death,try to think of all the injuries she had caused…. but his conscious wouldn't let him. No, no one deserves death, not even a supervillain.

He decided then if he couldn't offer Cold an answer, he could at least offer his condolences.

"Len I'm so sorry"

"No, no your not. But you will be". And with Cold began firing at the civilians.

The smarter of the bunch stayed still and prayed the frozen sting of the gun wouldn't hurt, the rest began running, as far as their feet would take them. Wally tried to stop them, but there was to many. The ice was traveling to fast, he couldn't do it alone.

When it seemed like all was lost, a beam of green started encompassing the area.

"Hal- uh Hallo Green Lantern, beautiful day were having" Kid Flash yelled.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan simply smirked, "Hey Kid, thought we'd give ya hand".

Wait . We

Before Kid Flash could question Hal further, another flash of green scooped up the boy along with Captain Cold and the rest of civilians.

"Hey Green Lantern look I made a sandwich", a young green lantern operative with black hair yelled.

The green energy containing Wally and the others suddenly morphed into a giant Wally wasn't apart of the sandwich he would dare say the boy was cool and somewhat funny.

However, since he was apart of the sandwich he made a big fuss instead.

"Get me out" Wally yelled.

"Sorry dude, kinetic energy makes the ice travel and since you hold the most of it, I'm pretty sure you should stay up" the black haired green lantern cheekily replied

.

"Green Lantern" Kid Flash whined.

"Dude sick sandwich. I like how u used the bottle blondes for lettuce nice touch" Hal complimented.

"Greeen"! Kid Flash growled.

"Okay, okay. kid put him down. I'll hold him" Hal yelled.

The black haired Green Lantern rolled his eyes but nodded. And before Wally could blink he was plummeting to the ground. Thankfully Hal caught him before he reached the floor.

"Gently next time" Hal yelled to the black haired boy. He then turned to Wally and grinned, "Sorry kid we're still working on control. Don't worry once Atom figures out a way to reverse all this, I'll set you down on the ground and you can poke some speed jokes on the new recruit. I'll even help keep him grounded".

"Glad to see where your loyalty lies" the black haired boy quipped.

It didn't take log for Atom to reverse Captain Cold's gun. It took an even shorter amount of time for the news reporters to roll in. As Wally, Hal and Hal's new recruit answered a million questions a minute, Wally couldn't help but notice a certain red head reporter was missing.

Still he figured he had to answer at least ten questions, even if they weren't from Aunt Iris.

"Kid Flash, you appeared to be in a bit of trouble prior to the Lanterns showing up. Would that have been the end of Central City had you ventured alone"

"Oh uh..no. I would have found a way. I was just..thinking of... the best way" Wally replied.

The reporters didn't seem as convinced so Hall added. "Kids a seasoned hero, he already had and plan and filled us in. We lanterns were just following his direction".

"Yeah and by lantern he means him. I'm not a lantern ...I mean I am but I prefer the name Ion" the black hair boy said.

Suddenly all the questions revolved around "Ion" and who he was. This gave Wally and Hal a few moments to speak on the side.

"Ion" ? Kid Flash asked.

Hal rolled his eyes, "Ugh I don't know if I'm more annoyed that he is insisting on it or that I didn't think of it. Basically, kid was in the wrong place at the right time. I couldn't stop him from putting the ring on. So now he's my new sidekick".

"Oh cool, thanks for the save by the way. Flash send you guys" ? Wally asked.

"No, we've been on Oa for the past three months. I was on my way over here to introduce you and Flash to the kid here but I see he's out with the league." Hal said.

Wally hummed, "Should've tried the comp"

"Yeah, you know me. Think later, act now haha. I'll see you at the cave later, lemme introduce blabber mouth to the rest of the team".

Wally didn't even get to tell Hal about his suspension, by the time he had found the words, Hal and Ion had bid the reporters a farwell and took off in the sky. Each sending Wally a smile on their way up.

Upon their exit all of the reporters turned their attention back to Wally. Definitely not feeling up to a press talk, Kid Flash sped out of there.

Once in the woods he changed back into his civies. The clothes felt nice, better than anything he had ever worn before. Suddenly Wally remembered these were Chads clothes, he left Chad in the crowd earlier.

Shit he left Chad.

Quickly he zoomed back into his super suit and surveyed the area. After a couple of minutes he found Chad talking to police officer.

He changed back into the civies once more and walked up to the duo.

"He's this tall and had pumpkin red hair man. He was with me and must of got lost in the crowd. You gotta put out a missing report or something"! Chad yelled.

The police officer rolled his eyes, "As I said before son. Your friend is fine probably in the hospital, Central City villains don't kill".

Chad scoffed, "Oh yeah cause the cold dude didn't just totally try to destroy the world five minutes ago".

"Uh Chad" Wally said.

"Not now Wally, look man if you don't find my friend were going to have an issue. My Dad is Leften Oberliki, the german diplomat. I'm sure he can pull a few strings to get your entire squad fired let alone a stupid, lazy officer".

"Uh Chad" Wally tried again.

"Not now Wally! Can't you see I'm tryna find yo-Dude! Your alive!" Chad excitley yelled. He quickly bro hugged Wally as the police officer rolled his eyes and walked away.

"Dude! How'd ya..I mean I…. Dudeeee"

Wally laughed, "Glad to see I was missed"

"More than! I thought your ass was dead" Chad exclaimed.

"Sorry man, I was just tryna get as far away as possible. Would've sworn you were in front of me" Wally said.

This time Chad laughed, " I was for a millisecond. Haha, shit we would have been safer in Abby's car. Besides some cold ass leather seats, it still runs good".

"Yeah, my bad. Guess I over- reacted" Wally sheepishly said.

Chad shrugged and unlocked the door."Not really, dude was really off his shit today. Freezing the world, he's one crazy mofo".

Wally said nothing, the entire debacle with Cold still heavy in his mind.

Golden Glider was dead.

The villian who cut Wally with her skates and then moaned about how he got blood on them.

The same villian whose special obsession for rubies ran so deep, she traveled to the amazon and injured 56 men.

Golden Glider, the villian who who spazzed about rom coms during a high speed chase.

The same villain who would snort whenever you made her laugh passed three seconds.

Golden Glider. No, Lisa Snart was dead.

"Hey you okay, man" Chad asked.

"Huh Y-yyeah man" Wally quickly replied.

He decided he couldn't dwell on it, at least not as Wally West.

Instead he got inside the pink truck, and forced a smile on his face."Next time we eat at school".

"Ah shit man, school. We got two periods left, hey if your still shaken I can drop you off at home. But I kinda need to be in student gov. today" Chad said.

Wally shook his head, "Don't sweat it, I have a test that I can't miss. Besides driving me to Blue Valley, you'd definitely miss sixth period".

And with that the boys drove off to Central High. The rest of the day was a regular shitty day.

Word that Wally had blown Leni off had spread. He was now the dumb, jerk who broke a sweet innocent cheerleaders heart. Bad gossip followed him like bees to honey, so he wasn't all that surprised.

His Spanish teacher decided all the murmering that followed the boy was most definitely his fault. Thus he wasn't allowed to resume his test.

Oh and the hall monitor gave him a citation for being kicked out of class without a pass.

Regular shitty day indeed.

To say he wasn't happy when school ended would be the greatest lie. He was even more happier that Chad had offered to let him spend the night. The last place he wanted to go was home to Rudy.

Chad smiled as he and Wally excited the school, "Cool dude, Look let me just get my car from Abby's and-

"Oh no" Wally groaned.

"What's wrong" Chad asked.

Wally said nothing he simply looked. There in the parking lot was his pissed off Uncle Barry and an even more pissed off Aunt Iris.

"Woah dude, they look.. you do"Chad asked.

What did he do?

Honestly Wally had no fucking idea, he hadn't even seen his Aunt Iris since he had stopped that high speed chase on Monday.

What did he do?

He hadn't done anything.

As he pondered this a flash of brown hair caught his eye. There in Uncle Barry's car, still in her Monday scrubs was Mary West.

Instantly the latest phone conversation between Wally and his mother flashed before his eyes.

"What" Wally rushed.

"Wallace where are you,I cooked a family dinner" Mary West calm voice said.

For the upteeth time that day Wally rolled his eyes. She cooked dinner,wooo. Did she want a fucking award.

"Yeah great, hope you manage to find a plate to put his dinner on" Wally bites out.

Mary tsked, " I had trouble actually. You know your father only eats out of a certain size plates. I wish you wouldn't irritate him so much sweetie, all my good china is gone".

"Fuck your china, what about your child" Wally seethed. His response was silent. Of course Mary had nothing to fucking say. And at this point neither did Wally. He didn't even send her a half hearted goodbye before hanging up the phone.

Shit!

He didn't come to dinner last night

He didn't come home last night

Shit! Shit! Shit!

His life fucking sucks.

Superspeed be damn, Wally swore he never knew he could walk so slow. The walk to the car took hours and even then opening it took a lifetime.

Shit!

"Wallace get in the car now. Before I get out and put you in" his Uncle Barry calmy quipped. Besides him was Aunt Iris, she said nothing but her anger radiated through her skin.

This was going to be a long car ride.

Chapter Text

Wally hated driving.

There really was no point to it, really. Running is soooo much faster and honestly it's basically a cage, a moving, slow drama filled cage.

As soon as he entered the cage- I mean car his Mom started crying.. She squeezed his shoulders tightly and ' Thanked God' that her son was okay.

Yeah, he knows, pure bullshit. He can't even remember the last time he saw his mother enter a church.

Wally could have rolled his eyes right there but the look Uncle Barry was sending through the rearview mirror made him reconsider.

Shit! both Barry and Iris are mad at him.

This has never happened.

What the fuck should he do?

What the fuck can he do?

For a while the car was quiet, the only sounds were Mary's small sniffles. The silence was suppose to be comforting, it was suppose to allow him to gather his thoughts and feelings.

Truth, it only made him more nervous.

So after seeing his fifth tree in a row and whipping his brow, Wally squeaked out "It's not a big deal I know I should've called but-

"Not a big deal" his Aunt Iris exclaimed.

Maybe he should've kept quiet.

She whipped her entire body around to face him, so Wally could see the blistering red hue that colored her skin, the white knuckles of her balled up fist and the bulging green vein on the side of her neck.

"Not a big deal" Iris yelled.

Yeah, he definitely should of kept quiet.

Despite this he couldn't help but scoff. It wasn't a big deal, really. And he really doesn't understand why she's suddenly back to caring so much.

Because if he's telling the truth as much as he loves Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry they haven't been the closest to him recently. He can't even remember the last time the three of them just enjoyed each other company.

Part of him blames Rudy, keeping Wally locked up, beaten and isolated was his favorite pastime. But another part of him, a bitter part of him, blames Barry and Iris, they had both been so busy. Iris with her new job as head reporter and Bary with his hero work.

Sure he'd spend time with them as Kid Flash, but that wasn't the same.

Wally understood.. he knew things had changed but… How could they go from seeing him everyday, to seeing him on the occasional missions and press conferences? How could they go from giving him his own room in their house, to not even inviting him over for dinner.

How could they not notice how much he needed them.

Instead of voicing this, Wally simply rolled his eyes and exclaimed. "Yes it's not a big deal. I stayed with a friend, ooh lock me up I've diverged to the dark side"

"Wallace" his Uncle Barry started only to be cut off by a livid Iris.

She was angry alright. Practically steaming from the tip of her head as she went on and on, repeating herself constantly. Even though Wally knew that her questions were rhetorical, his mind still answered a couple.

"Where the hell have you been!"

Living Aunt I, for once is his pathetic life he was living and feeling great about it.

"Do you have the slightest idea how irresponsible it is to just take off in the middle of the night! To not tell us anything, Wally seriously "

Yeah, he knows its stupid. But it was one of the best stupid decision he ever made, second only to creating Uncle Barry's experiment, and if he could, he'd do it again. Besides it's not like he took off, he just never came home.

It was at this moment Barry stopped the car, and tapped his wife on the back.

In a soothing voice he mumbled her name along with soft "Honey". Iris, unfortunately, didn't seem to notice it, and if she did she definitely didn't acknowledge it. Instead she continued her rant to a less than amused Wally.

"Honestly this is most irresponsible,out of character-

"Iris" Barry tried again.

"unfathomably selfish, careless-

"Iris" Barry tired once more.

"Completely irrational"

"Iris" Barry exclaimed.

"What" Iris yelled back.

Not the least bit surprised, Barry simply let out a small ,"We're here".

It was then that both red heads looked out the car window. There in plain sight stood a beaten down blue house, with a white dented mailbox that had West painted on the side.

The house was obviously old, the floorboards creaked as a hunched Mary West shuffled herself inside.

Just when had she left the car, Wally's not sure. He could find out if wanted to. Wally could rack his brain until he found the exact moment he heard that click of a car door opening. He could run inside before Mary fully enters the house and ask her. Hell, he could ask Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris.

But he won't, partially because he honestly doesn't really care for his mother's actions. And also because there was much bigger question here.

Home? They brought him home?

Wally quickly searched both Barry and Iris faces for clarification. Usually, if there was a problem, Iris and Barry would take him to their house and ground him after a lecture. Usually, one would even convince the other to let him off easy. They never brought him home if he messed up. Never.

What did this mean?

We're they giving up on him?

Had they already?

"Well, I guess I should say hello to Rudy" Iris quickly quipped. She then turned to Wally and softly said, "All I'm saying Wally, is yesterday, what you did shouldn't happen again...it was really….. really..selfish".

And with that Iris West Allen had exited the vehicle.

Wally tried not to notice how when she exited she walked with her shoulders hunched and the speed of a slug. He tried, like he tried not to notice the bags under her eyes or the fact that she still wore the same outfit from Monday.

Again, he felt a battle within himself. Should he be happy that Iris is torn down, that means she cares right? Or should he be sad, because he knows he's not worth caring for. Because he knows Iris deserves better.

When would she notice it too?

What did this mean?

"Wally" Barry's voice cut through his thoughts like a steel kitchen knife. The anger he had at the school had faded, his tone calm, his face impassive.

"Yeah" Wally sadly answer back, the bite from his tone had long dispersed as well. He was beginning to be enveloped with his sadness, every nightmare thought grew by the second.

Barry paused, as if not sure what to do with the sad tone Wally had. In that second he made two mistakes.

The first he ended up ignoring Wally's sadness, to save the boy some pride.

The second he didn't tell Wally how scared he was, how much he loved him and needed him, to save himself some pride.

Instead he blew out a long sigh and said , "This can't happen again Kid, a hero goes missing and we assume the worse"

"Yeah" Wally replied.

It wasn't what he wanted to say, but it was all he could say.

A hero?

Was that all he was to them?

Barry shuffled in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with the disciplinary position, "I'm gonna extend your suspension from the team for another week and also I'm gonna cut your sidekick patrols this week".

Wally bit his lip and let out a shaky, "Y-yeah..I understand". He then paused, as if a bit unsure of himself, "H-hey, what will you say to the press, ya know a hero goes missing and people expect the worse". He ended the sentence with a big laugh that normally would have been convincing, if not for the tears in his eyes.

"Wally I-

Wally suddenly opened the car door and sprinted into his house. iris, who was exiting the house the exact moment Wally was sprinting inside nearly fell down from his pace. Wally should've ushered an apology, he shouldn't be running in this old, worn house but...he just couldn't.

He couldn't stop himself from slamming the door shut. He couldn't help but listen to the hum of Barry's engine as they pulled away.

He couldn't give Barry the opportunity, he wouldn't give Barry the opportunity to answer the mulling question that flooded his head.

What was he to them?

A hero?

A comrade?

A so-

BAM

The frying pan that hit Wally's head rang like a thousand gongs perched in the most hollow arena. Honestly, he should've seen this coming. What else would Rudy do?

"So, the stupid worthless runaway runt has decided to grace us with his presence aye" Rudy hissed as he aimed another large swing at Wally.

Shit! Ow, that one hurt more.

Still Wally didn't bother dodging, he didn't fight back, instead he continued to ask himself the same question over and over again as Rudy beat him.

What was he?

"Ya worthless"!

SMACK! There goes a collarbone

"Stupid"!

BAM! And there goes his top three ribs

"Ungrateful"

SMACK! Was that his blood, his visions getting blurry

"Raaaat"! Rudy bellowed as he threw the pan away and began pounding at Wally with his fist. It hurt, god it hurt like hell, but Wally's been through worse.

Yet he couldn't stop himself from tearing up. Maybe it was the physical pain, maybe it was the emotional pain.

Either way he managed to break one of his fathers biggest rules never cry in front of him.

Furious Rudy ceased his constant punching to peer down at the small boys face. "Are you crying ya pussy" he bellowed. He didn't give Wally a chance to reply before he frantically pulled the young teen up by his hair and dragged him into the kitchen

Once inside Rudy, took a look around until he his eyes finally landed on the knife box. He frowned cleary not seeing his desired knife.

He then turned to his wife. Mary West was currently cooking dinner when he walked in. She was cutting some beef, when she noticed Rudy's stare. She paused, tears already threatening to fall,"No Rudy please, don't. He has school tomorrow"

"Shut up bitch" Rudy bellowed after yanking the knife out of her hand and slapping her to the ground."Think I care about that, runts a retard anyway. He needs to learn one way. Say the fucker's sick, make another doctor's note if ya have to" Rudy replied now holding the sharp beef covered blade.

The tears Wally had let slide so gracefully down his cheeks, now wildly streaked in a crazed dance of true fear. "No, Dad..no please" Wally cried, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

"One way or another" Rudy mumbled as he slid the knife across Wally's face. Immediately a large cry was heard, blood splashed through Wally's vision and flooded into his mouth.

Despite the scream, Rudy did not stop he kept slashing at the poor boy. Cutting through his torso, wrist and legs. Naturally each cut would heal in a few minutes, Wally did have lunch that day after all.

Growing frustrated Rudy cut a bit deeper than usual, this time the knife was embedded into Wally's torso.

Immediately his skin began to stitch over the knife, the pain of the healing while still having the object inside of him, obvious from Wally's screams. "P-please, p-p-please" Wally choked as he felt the skin stitch together more and more.

His father ignored him grabbed a bear out of the fridge, chugged it down and stalked over to a sniffling Mary West.

"Whateer you crying fors bitch. Its yer fault the boys such a weakling" Rudy slurred.

His mother quickly nodded agreeing with any and every one of Rudy's statements. "I know Rudy, honey dear. Its my fault, I'm a pathetic. I-i'm lucky someone as magnificent as you loves someone as ordinary as me... P-please let me make it up to you".

Rudy smirked muttered a soft "glad you know" before shucking off his jeans and ripping through her scrubs. The next few minutes were filled with his grunts and Mary's choked hisses.

"Please Dad, I'm sorry", Wally screamed from his position. He was leaning on the fridge desperate for a breath that didn't feel like a hundred needles. No he couldn't see them, he refuse to slip over and see..that. Besides the sounds were enough, Mary was doing everything to help Rudy.

She mutter sweet praises while trying to mask her hisses of pain as hisses of pleasure. She always did that, always faked her joy. Why? because she loved Rudy. He was the only person to ever... want her. The only one, in his own way he loved her. He had to, right?

Even if he hurt Wally, even if he hurt her. Rudy still..loved them right? He had to! They just weren't giving in enough, Rudy needed more. They just had to give him more.

That was Mary's mind set as Rudy pounded into her, more and more. As Wally's skin tried to stitch itself over the knife, more and more.

She grunted.

More and more

"J-just pull it out yo dumb fuck" Wally yelled. To any ordinary person it would seem like he wanted Rudy to pull out the knife. The one object that was causing him so much physical pain. But to Mary it was so much clearer.

Wally was yelling, commanding to Rudy. He had to know that Rudy wouldn't do what he asked. He had to know that Rudy would stop his ministrations with her, to begin beating on him.

Despite his attitude, despite his claims that he didn't like his mother. Wally was trying, he was trying to help her.

BAM

Rudy threw a plate at him. Who was Wally to tell him what to do. Instead he continued to pound into Mary until he felt his own release. He then pulled out of her and shucked his jeans back on.

Rudy didn't even bother helping Mary up, as he stepped his way over to their hyperventilating boy. He smirked,the runt was scared. Good. He then pulled the knife out of Wally's torso and watched his sons blood gush on the floor.

Immediately Wally fell on the ground, he didn't even wince as his head bopped the tile floor. His father smirked once more, and laughed at his sons heavy breaths. He started to walk out of the small kitchen but paused at the door before saying in the most gleeful voice "If your gonna leave, do it the right way boy. It's not like anyone will miss you".

And with that Rudy West had left the kitchen.

For a while it was damn near silent the only sounds were Rudy's loud snores and the humm of the TV. Both Mary and Wally layed on the floor breathing heavily. One with healing gashes all over his face and body. Another with a forming bruise on her cheek.

In the next few moments Mary picked herself up off of the floor, went to retrieve some new scrubs and peered down at her son.

"You didn't have to do that" she mumbled.

Wally sighed, "I know".

"I- I'm the one who told Barry and Iris"

Waly sighed again, "I know", He then closed his eyes, a sign Mary knew meant the conversation was over.

He couldn't talk to her anymore. He didn't want to.

The remains of his energy were to be spent on the next ten minutes he focused on not hissing in pain as the slashes around his face and wrist slowly began to etch together.

He opened his eyes when he realises the deep gash on his torso was healing so much slower. Damn he wish he would've ate more with Chad, or atleast ate in the car. Cuts this deep, won't heal in a hour let alone ten minutes.

Well he might as well clean all this blood up, he thought as he tried to pick himself off f the floor. Ow, bad idea. Just because he healed the slashes, doesn't mean all the pain is gone.

Mary watched with a sad resolve as he winced through the pain and stretched out his now healed limbs. "Its okay Walla-Wally. I'll clean it up".

Wally nodded, he didn't have the energy to argue. He didn't even have the energy to sprint to his room. Instead he gruffly walked, wincing at every creak .

Once inside his room, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and winced at the cracked screen.

Fan-fucking tastic

Yeah, he knows a broken phone isn't a big deal. He can just do it himself, it wasn't the most complicated area of robotics. But it also wasn't the most updated phone, it would take weeks to get the appropriete parts.

Damn, just his luck the day he makes friends is the day he loses his phone.

He winced yet again as he rolled his sore muscles. Great how was he gonna explain the sore muscles to Coach Peterson.

Maybe his mother would fake a doctor's note, but that excuse only works if he hadn't seen anybody the day before. He practically spent the entire day with Chad.. But hey, maybe Chad won't notice…. Yeah he knows fat chance.

He'll just have to smile through it, no biggie. It's not like he hasn't before, besides how bad can tomorrow be. And with that thought the lean teen closed his sore eyes.

How bad could tomorrow be?

If he had thought it through just a little more, if he hadn't had a healing concussion, if his phone worked, he would know. Tomorrow would be a horrible, terrible day. It would rival the day they lost Jason. It would hurt Wally worse than any beating ever had.

Tomorrow would be a very bad day.

Chapter Text

"Artemis if you don't get up now you'll be late for school" Artemis mother Paula yelled from inside the kitchen.

Ugh Artemis inwardly groaned. She thrashed about in her small twin sized bed and sighed dramatically.

School, Oh how she hated school. Especially on Tuesdays.

Now normally she could deal with it. She could deal with Gotham Academy. She could deal with the normal snooty rich kids, their normal snooty lifestyles with their normal snooty problems. But today….today she didn't quite feel like dealing with anything.

Two days had past. It had been two days since she had broken up with her boyfriend.

Two days and Wally still hadn't called her.

"Artemissss" her mother tried again. But to no avail, the only sound Artemis could hear was a mocking sultry know it all voice. The kind of voice that echos told you sooo's with their haha's.

It had been two days.

She knew, oh how Artemis knew her relationship with Wally was fading. She could see it. Every second Wally was becoming more and more distant. Giving bullshit excuses like he has chores or he's tired. Since when was Kid Idiot ever tired.

"Artemisssss"!

At first Artemis just assumed it was because he was trying to give her some space, four months ago they spent nearly every day together. Maybe he thought he was annoying her. But then Sunday happen and it became all to clear to her.

Why she's the one with the mega attitude

Well honey you're not the best girlfriend to hit the market either

Well they certainly don't hate me, baby girl

She was annoying him.

The know it all voice told her to suck it up, get angry, hate him.

She pulled her cover further over her head, as her mother yelled once more for her to get ready. Tears began to sting the corners of her eyes.

In that moment she tried to think of hating him. She really did. But with every bad moment, came a million good.

Wally was the guy who ran all the way to Gotham at midnight just to tell her happy birthday.

He was the same guy that came up with month-iversaries that just so happen to always revolve on what Artemis likes.

He was the guy that said it didn't matter who her dad was and convinced the rest of the team to follow.

He was the only guy, the only person who ever truly saw her.

She couldn't hate him if she tried.

A soft hand padded her head causing Artemis to further burrow into her covers. Still the hand continued to pad her head, if there was one thing Paula Crook was its persistent.

"Artemis" her mother sighed.

"I'm sick", Artemis groaned.

" Is that so, were you sick Monday as well. " Paula replied.

"Deathly, couldn't go if I wanted" Artemis quipped.

Paula wily smirked, " Seriously you're pulling the sick card with a paralyzed women. Your paralyze mother…..whose slaved over a hot stove to make you breakfast".

She received no response which only made her sigh harder, "Artemis, you've already missed a day. You need to go to school honey".

Again no response. Paula Crock signed yet again, "Maybe if you told me what was bothering you-

"Nothing's bothering me" Artemis immediately interjected. This time Paula did not sigh, she knew what was coming. Before she could even get another word in Artemis threw the covers off of herself and hustled to her closet.

"Honey I want us to have an...open relationship. I want you to know you can tell me-

"I'm gonna stay at the cave tonight okay" Artemis once again interrupted.

Before Paula could blink, there stood Artemis in her Gotham Academy uniform, with her thick blond hair messily tied in a ponytail. Her face was absent of any tears or red marks, but Paula knew….she knew something was troubling. Something was wrong.

She wanted to ask, god did Paula want to ask but….she couldn't. She's too afraid that asking, would feeling like pushing and before she can even fix it, Artemis would be gone. And this time she's not sure if she would come back.

So instead, against her better judgment, she softly muttered , "That's fine, Artemis".

Again Artemis said nothing. She simply walked out of the room, pausing at her door slightly to watch as her mother stared at the still warm, slight wet, thin blue covers.

In the softest voice,one she was sure her mother would not hear, Artemis muttered, "I'm sorry, mom".

Walking to the bus stop felt like walking to her death. Riding the bus felt like a slow agonizing murder. And entering the prestigious Gotham Academy felt like walking into hell.

The gatekeepers, I mean security guards glared as Artemis nonchalantly presented her id card. One muttered about disrespect while the other slipped her a detention slip.

Great..just what she needed.

Partially because she really didn't feel like going to class late, and partially because she wasn't feeling today at all. Artemis decided to venture to the "supposedly" haunted boiler room, instead of second period biology. She stayed there for the next two periods, she would've stayed their the entire day. However by period four she desperately needed to pee.

Just her luck, as she tossed her paper towel in the trashcan and pushed on the restroom door, the lunch bell rang and a mass of students had entered the hallway.

One student was a witty pigtailed black girl Artemis knew all too well.

"You look worse for wear" Karen Beecher, Gotham Academy's coolest cheerleader said.

Artemis huffed, "I look like me".

Before Karen could retort a freshman dropped a empty bag of chips on the ground.

"Hey AJ, recycle goes in the recycle can, watch where you throw your shit!" Karen yelled. The freshman of course ignored her, causing the black teen to huff and grab the abandoned bag of chips.

As Karen and Artemis walked to the nearest trash can, neither girl were surprised to find a pile of trash just two meters from the can.

"Didn't anybody read my sustainable school memo" Karen yelled once more.

Most students groaned already annoyed with Karen, Artemis only smiled.

True, last year when Karen showed Artemis around, she thought she was a little annoying. I mean come on she's a happy, hyper, smart, little gossip, whose super eco-friendly with the perfect cheer body. She's an anti- Artemis.

But then Artemis started to get to know who Karen was outside of school. And then she started to fight with Karen as Bumblebee,and now Karen's her best friend. Her sassy, tree hugging best friend.

Once Karen finished picking up the rest of the trash, she bum rushed Artemis in a hug, "I heard from BB what happen between you and Kid Flash. I'm sorry Arte. I would've checked in but I was in recovery the last two days".

"Yeah its uh fine, how's your arm, I heard the Gizmo kid really laid one on you" Artemis replied.

Karen grimaced as soon as Gizmo's name left Artemis lips. She did not want to talk about Gizmo, and she knew Artemis knew that.

Bringing him up was not a mistake. It was Artemis way of telling Karen she did not want to talk about Wally. She couldn't talk about Wally.

"Okay, I got the hint. Just let me know if you want to okay" Karen sassily muttered.

She rolled her eyes at Artemis deadpaneed expression and quickly changed the subject, "Well then since your so perky, you can help me with my ultimate diabolical plan".

Artemis shrugged her shoulders as the duo began walking again, "Sure but I hope you know saying diabolical plans when your a superhero is verrrry hypocritical"

"I'm just an ordinary cheerleader, I have no idea what hero your talking about" Karen joked back.

Artemis playfully sighed, Karen only Karen. " Right, What's the diabolical plan this time, not another new ecosystem for the anatomy frogs".

Karen ever the hot head, instantly drew her voice three octaves higher, "Hey that was a great plan, and we really helped the little buggers!... but no. See there's this new student, Victor Stone. A transfer from Steel City, he thinks he's a big shot football player and you know Gotham Academy is pulling out all the stops".

Artemis rolled her eyes and grinned, when wasnt Gotham Academy pulling out all the stops.

" What's it this time red carpet with gold stitching".

Karen rolled her eyes as well as she opened the door to the cafeteria and pointed an ostentatious giant poster of a larger black teen, who Artemis could only assume was Victor. "Worse"

"Lobster for lunch is a nice touch" Artemis drly added as she picked up her plate and handed it to the lunch attendant.

"Yeah sure it is" Karen muttered. She too handed her plate off to the lunch attendant smiling sweetly as extra butter was added on hers. Once the two teens, received their lunch both girls walked over to their table.

" I'm not too sure what the diabolical plan is for, so the Academy's gonna be a bit extra for football boy, what's the issue" Artemis said while cracking the arm of her lobster.

Some of the juice splattered over to the next table but neither girl paid it attention. Instead Karen stabbed her baked potatoes and sassily replied, " The issue is Sparky here, is one of the rudest people I have ever met".

Artemis paused from her lunch to peer up at the angry girl, "Sparky?"

"Stupid, egotistical football brain. All I asked was if I could talk to his dad and do you know what the hell he said to me…

Artemis rolled her eyes for the millionth time that day, seriously Karen can be so dramatic sometimes "How the hell sho-

"He said, him and his dad don't do groupies. Seriously me a groupie, Meeee? Boy has got to be short a few brain cells or something cause baaaabyyyy he has no idea who the hell he is dealing with". In the midst of her rant Karen clenched her fist and shot the nasty glare she possibly could at Victor's poster.

Artemis smirked, it appears Victor has made his first mortal enemy. She knew first hand how spiteful Bumblebee could be. "When did this happen", she asked while nibbling her asparagus.

Karen glare only intensified, "This morning. You know, Gotham Academy student council members are suppose to show all new students from their grade level around. I was absent though, so I thought hey they probably gave him to the other freshmen representative, but noooo. Apparently the other rep was absent as well, and he's so shy they don't wanna lump him with Sparky. So yah, they lump Sparky with me. And even though the idiots been here since Monday, his highness still requires a tour".

Artemis nodded, now it makes sense. Karen was the usual tour guide for incoming freshman, since the other representative was so…..weird. "So the diabolical plan is to….

Karen's hazel eyes sparkled at Artemis question.

Karen's diabolical plan had been through a few drafts. At first she thought a simple iching powder in his pads or a clothing heist would knock the chip off of Victors shoulder but the more she thought about it the more she realized she didn't just want Victor sorry, she wanted him gone.

"Were gonna drive Sparky so crazy he'll switch countries" Karen exclaimed.

Artemis snorted, "As a fellow scholarship kid, I don't think Gotham Academy will take to kindly to you driving out ...that". She finished by nudging her gaze to the giant poster, now adorn with welcome message from passing Gotham students.

Karen frowned clearly not here for Artemis logic. "If were extra careful-

"No" Artemis quickly quipped.

Again Karen paused, Artemis could literally see the wheels turning in her head. For a genius Karen could be such an idiot sometimes. "Seriously Karen you do realize if you get kicked out of here, I will die. Literally I can not be here with these preppy rich bimbos".

" As if Gotham Academy would get rid of there shining student government, science award winning, two time champion cheerleader. I'm damn near America's sweetheart here".

"Oh wow Abigail Caperson you sure look different from the magazines" " Artemis quipped.

At this Karen couldn't help but laugh, "I knew you read teen queen", she teased back.

"Ugh shut up" Artemis said with a laugh. Seriously Karen was just too much sometime. Besides she only read like one, months ago... just because Karen left it a her house...and maybe because she knew Abigail went to Central City High school like Wally.

She remembered how surprised she was to find out Wally was not friends with her. I mean come on, he's ...him. He practically shines friendliness when he enters a room. Yet when she asked him he laughed and said " I can only handle so many blondes babe, besides she's not the type of friend I'd like to have. I mean seriously can you imagine me with all that pink around ".

After which she laughed, told him a joke about being an idiot and kissed him until her face hurt.

As she recalled this her vision got a bit foggy, not so much from her past laughter with Karen but from..it. That memory, the fact that she could vividly remember the conversation like it was yesterday. That she could see his smile as clear as she could see hear his laugh.

The fact that she could feel how happy they were, was enough. It was all enough to make her wanna cry.

"Arte..." Karen tentatively said.

Instantly Artemis blinked, her vision now clear enough to see her friends troubled face, "Im fine-

"No your not, listen I know you don't wanna talk about it. I get that, I swear I do, but your my friend. Girl, your my best friend and I will not sit here and pretend that you're fine. Now look I get that you don't wanna talk about I swear I do. But...it can't hurt to talk about it. I won't tell a soul. And before you give me the whole hypocrite look, Gizmo and I..we weren't like you guys… he wasn't to me what KF is-was to you"

Artemis said nothing. While she and Karen had some deep conversations from time to time. Neither girl truly shared their past or their feelings wholey.

Artemis wasn't even sure the extent of Karens relationship with Gizmo, besides the fact that he is someone she really cared about. Now hearing Karen say, that Gizmo wasn't to her what Wally was to Artemis….it didn't help pull down herr wall. If he wasn't, if Gizmo wasn't..that. How could Karen possibly understand.

Karen sighed, "I get it, this is the look you give me whenever we talk about your dad or your sister".

Again Artemis saids nothing, a part of her wants to tell Karen this is same look Karen gives when they mention Gizmo or Brother Blood. She bites her cheek instead.

"Your gonna make yourself bleed" Kaaren quickly quips, she then lowers her voice almost deathly quiet" Look I'm not asking you to talk about your sister, or your Dad or even KF...just talk to me about are you really doing".

Artemis sighed, maybe Karen was right, "I-

"You left me". A brute voice bit out. Instantly the two girls turned forward to a tall, well built black teen. It didn't take Artemis but a second to realize this was Victor Stone, the infamous football him was a mass of gotham academy teens, some taking pictures others pulling out pictures for Vicor to sign.

Wow, he really was popular.

Despite not liking the now crowded space, Artemis smiled a bit at the interruption. God, Allah, Lady Luck whoever was definitely on her side today.

"Can't you see were busy Sparky" Karen instantly huffed.

Victor nearly growled back, "Don't call me that". He gave Artemis none of his attention as he picked up Karen's bright yellow bag and replied,"I've been walking for twenty minutes trying to find the science resource lab. Why not do your job like a good little girl".

Oh little girl, did he not know who he was talking to? Artemis paled as the rest of the students began their choras of ooooohs. This would not be good.

Karen meanwhile, had taken the liberty of snatching her bag back and pushing Victor a bit away, "Listen you spoiled-

"Karen" Artemis quickly interrupted. As much as she agreed Victor was a grade A - douche that snatch had a lot of power in it, nearly teetering on the super strength level.

Victor appeared a bit surprised by Karen's strength as well...so not good for secrete identity.

In the background a sophomore yelled out "Shit" While the crowds chorased oooooooh's and the numbers intensified.

"Karen" Artemis tried once more.

"I'm good. I'm calm" Karen bit out, she took a minute to regain her composure before she addressed Victor again, "Listen Sparky.. I mean Vicctor. It appears you have no problem making friends ask one of them to help you. That way you won't have to hang out with a groupie. Mkay great now run along".

She finished her grand explanation with a bright cheer smile and a dramatic huff back into her seat. She was trying to be civil, hopefully the lughead would take the hint.

Victor didn't get the hint, "I already asked, apparently none of them know. Science isn't big amongst this crowd. Trust me I wouldn't be here talking to you if that was an option. So again pick up your bag and do. your. job".

Karen smile once more this time at Artemis, with her teeth still clinched she bit out, "Artemis. girl. I'm. sorry. I. tried".

Instantly the pair began to argue spewing insults left and right. Some so graphic Artemis swears her sister would shudder, well no but her mom definitely would.

"You egotistical, self impudent, bullshit bastard-

"Bitchy fugly ass-

Damn, Karen definitely had a vulgar mouth on her. Victor seemed on par as well. With each insult the pair was getting closer and closer. Victor had one more bitch to spew before Artemis would have to remove Karen, because she can swear the girl is teetering on giving him a Bumblebee ass whoopin.

Fortunately before that happen, two individuals step in between the angry black teens.

"Hey guys calm down" the freshmen with perfectly quaffed black hair and sparkling blue eyes said.

"Dicks right" the red head, Barbara Gordon exclaimed. "Both of you should just take a breather".

Artemis never thought she say it, litterall never but thank god for Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson-Wayne.

Karen appeared to be equally relieved, "Oh great, Wayne and Gordon my favorite pair. So glad to see you. Dick, Sparky is your problem now".

Dick Grayson's blue eyes nearly doubled, "Huh, but Karen I kinda have..

"Don't care! Come on Artemis" Karen blissly replied. Ever the eco friendly nerd she put her forgotten food into the compost bin, before grabbing her blonde friends hand and exiting the cafeteria.

"Not sure making an enemy with one of Waynes trustbrats was wise" Artemis said once the duo entered the hall.

"Dick wouldn't hurt a fly, the kids the shyest weirdo at the school. He only talks to Barbara unless we have meetings and besides if I have to spend another second with Sparky I'm gonna tear his eyes out". Karen instantly replied back.

Well Artemis can't exactly argue with that logic. Even though Victor was an entire room away, he appeared to still aggravate Karen endlessly.

"Seriously who the hell does he think he is", Karen ranted as the two finally were nearing the student parking lot. It was nearing sixth period and Karen had left her cheerbag in her car.

Artemis didn't really reply, she nodded here and there but if shes being honest she wasn't really listening to Karen anymore. Partially because she hates listening to drama and partially because Karen's constant spewing of how much of an idiot Victor was reminded Artemis of Him and of Them and of Things she doesn't want to reflect on.

Still Karen continued, "A bitch, me a bitch, Arte I could've killed that idiot right where he stood".

Again Artemis nodded and mumbled a few asswholes here and there.

"Stupid jock fuckboy lame ass" Karen huffed as she fumbled through her trunk for her bag.

"A real lame ass" Artemis boredly replied back. She glanced over at Karen to see if the fuming teen could tell how uninterested Artemis truly was to the conversation. Just as she was about to tear her eyes away from the brown skinned girl, sparkling yellow lights caught her eye.

"Karen" Artemis warned, Karen's left hand was dramatically blinking. The usually smooth chocolate skin had begun to coat itself in an electric yellow. This was bad, Karen didn't even look like she had noticed. And without her "stingers" to regulate the current…Karen could zapp out the whole school.

"A regular type A idiot with an even-

"B"! Artemis yelled, apparently just in time as well. Instantly Karen stopped talking and fixed her eyes on her left hand. The energy had traveled enough to engulf her entire arm.

She shook her arm and worriedly looked towards Artemis, she can't .

She can't control it.

She can't stop it.

Chapter Text

Karen couldn't push it back in if she tried, the electricity coating her arm was gnawing, growing and intensifying with the second.

She can't stop it, she cant.

So she did the only thing she could possibly think of. She punched a hole into her car and watched as the yellow bug shook. Karen's car, her self proclaimed baby bliked, hummed and overheated in a second.

Shit, Karen just zapped in the parking lot.

Karen just zapped in the parking lot in public, dressed as Karen.

Shit

"B, seriously what the fuck" Artemis scolded. There wasn't anyone around, but this was a parking lot. A Gotham Academy parking lot, with cameras in every section. Karen usually has way more control than that.

Karen didn't say a word, she was mortified. She of all people..of all capes. She can not be caught using her powers.

"Don't run " Artemis instantly said. Because she knew her, she knew what this meant. " The lot was empty, we can get the tape. The security is never watching it anyways. Besides from this angle it probably only looks like you hit your car, you hid the electricity well enough".

Karen paused her eyes a bit glassy, she could not believe she allowed Victor Stone of all people to affect her this much, " I hacked into Gotham servers a while ago, I can delete the tape from my phone"

Artemis let out a breathe she didnt even wanna think about holding,"Great".

"But I still have to leave" Karen whispered.

"What- No-no" Artemis instantly replied back. This time Karen was the one ignoring her.

Artemis could do nothing as she watched Karen delete the videos from Gotham Academy's servers, replace it with a video from the day before and call a tow truck. Of Course the security asked the duo about the tow, but after a quick look a Karen's beat up bug they shrugged it off and left the two girls alone.

Duh the poor kids have car troubles. Easy cover.

Once Karen had finished paying the man off, she sat on the curb with her friend. "I don't wanna leave…

"Then don't" Artemis bit back. She cant stand it. Everyone was leaving, everyone was always leaving.

"No, Artemis. You and I know that's not an option, If he- if Blood finds me. I- I'm done. You don't know how he is, he has connections. Even with the tape gone, he'll know. I'm gonna go to the cave chill there till I can find a new place, you stay here. Go to class and make friends, make friends so quick no one will remember how I use to drag your ass along with me. Make it so they won't remember us being together at all. Okay"

Artemis bit her lip, she knew Karen was joking but there was a serious tinge to it. Just how dangerous was Brother Blood. "Yeah, Okay" she mumbled as she slung her backpack over her arm and walked away from her best friend.

As if by magic as soon as Artemis reached the hall, the bell a mass of rich snobs and mini socialites scurried to get to their next class. A few of the students bumped into her, some on purpose but Artemis just ignored them.

She didn't have the patience for petty fights. With Karen gone she's not even sure if she would have the restraint for the snobs either.

"Make friends she saids" Artemis scoffed, as she rolled her now sore shoulders and walked into her sixth period. Like she would ever be friends with any of them.

As if to prove her point the most annoying bunch in sixth period English decided to show their faces. The Grade A's were what most would call the popular kids of Gotham Academy. They were the creme da la crem, the best of the best. They were also really annoying jocks.

"Seriously dude if I could've banged any harder, she'd be dead", Jerri Tommalson, the most annoying basketball captain loudly exclaimed. Around him was his swarm of bimbos and dumbos. Each graciously adorned in their best clothing, laughing at Jerri's every word.

Apparently Artemis must have scoffed a bit too loud because the next thing she knew Jerri Tommalson was in her face with his pose in tow.

"Listen charity case, your best bet is to sit quiet and pray we ignore you like usual" Jerri sneered.

Artemis only rolled her eyes in retort. She so didn't have time for this, and she damn sure didn't have the patience for this either. But she definitely can't get expelled from Gotham Academy, not only would it kill her mom it wouldn't look good for Karen's cover either.

So she settled with telling Jerri off. Hey, she was already the standoffish, mean kid, why not add stupid to her bio.

" Is it really ignoring or do you just not have capacity to notice anyone who doesn't kiss your ass" Artemis quipped.

Instantly Jerry inches further to the girl, now swinging his arm back,"What you say".

Partially because she knew the teacher was about to walk in and partially because she really needed to let out some pent up energy Artemis sneered back, "You heard me".

Suddenly Jerri laughed, he inched closer to Artemis. Their nose now touching and sneered back. "Look who's got some spunk, I've heard about you. A real spitfire, I wonder how far that goes". His eyes traveled up and down Artemis body as he spoke. His hands lower and lower.

When his hand got a little to low for comfort, Artemis spat on him.

Jerri now mortified, growled as he grabbed Artemis arm ready to end her. "You disgusting little bitch… he started to yell but was instantly interrupted as a boy with black hair and sparkling blue eyes stepped between them.

" Wayne get out of my way" Jerri bit out.

Wait? Dick Grayson. Again?

"Either you have a thing for stepping into arguments, your stalking me or I'm just that lucky" Artemis sourly added.

Dick grinned for a bit, " Let's say options A and C. I do have this class, you would know that if you, ya know ever came".

Artemis half thought of rolling her eyes at the boy but was instantly cut off by Jerri's loud yell, "I mean it, move".

"You would hit a girl, come on Jerri your much too manly for that" Dick exclaimed with an extra dramatic flare. Artemis nearly chuckled right there, Dick actually did laugh but instantly stopped at Jerri's intensified stare. "Look Jerri, Artemis is just having a bad day, cut her break.".

Jerri was practically fuming at the two, " And why the fuck should I do that"?

"Yeah why the fuck should he" Artemis bit back. Oh how she was going to enjoy knocking his eyes straight.

Dick grinned, "Because if you don't I'll have to tell Barbara about your other girlfriends, I know you've been pinning for a date for a while now".

Jerri only grinned back, now grabbing Dick by his shirt, " A bitch for a bitch, sounds fair to me".

As soon as Jerri's fist swung back, another teen this one tall with chocolate skin grabbed it. "Don't think coach would agree".

Victor Stone...was helping? Her? Either he really was ignoring Artemis during his and Karen's spat and has no idea who she is or he doesn't care.

Jerri grimace entirely annoyed with this situation, "Stone and Wayne, you've got some connected friends blondie…. Okay, as one captain to another I'll let her slide. Just make sure the animal stays away from me ".

Artemis couldn't help herself, "How can we do that if your mother lives with you". Instantly Dicks hand was against her mouth and Victor was holding a fuming Jerri back.

"Come on Tommalson, think of your team" Victor said as Jerri inched closer.

"Ow" Dick replied as Artemis bit into his hand. Now with her mouth free she gleefully bit out, "Yeah Jerri think of your stupid fucking team who never makes it to the playoffs"

Oh great Jerri was getting closer and closer.

Victor now running out of patience and strength tried once more to calm Jerri down, "Come on man , cut. It . out. She's not worth it"

Suddenly Jerri stopped, stared at Artemis and grinned, "Your right Stone, Blondie probably just wants to cash in a court check. Ya know rent or whatevers probably due. She's not worth it, in fact she's not worth anything".

And with that Jerri and his band of followers returned to their usual business.

"Eh em" Dick coughed as Artemis gapped at the retreating Grade A's back. Seriously, she wanted to fight.

"I'm not going to say thank you" Artemis replied.

Victor appeared a bit more irritated at her tone while Dick only grinned back, "Hey that's fine, I get it. We did kinda just but into your business there. Guess I should introduce myself, I'm Dick Grayson-Wayne".

Artemis deadpanned, "I know"

Dick didn't even blink, "Ohkay, well I think you already met Victor"

"I did" Artemis quickly supplied. She didn't want to talk to them, especially Victor its his fault Karen had to leave after all. Besides Dick Grayson has ignored her since she came to this school, hell he ignored everyone why is he suddenly trying to be...friends.

Neither boy gave her a chance to ask, when the bell finally rang signifying sixth period officially started each took a seat next to her and pulled out their respective laptops. They weren't the only one every student including stupid Jerri had pulled out their laptop and began typing.

Artemis was the only student still starting at the empty teacher desk in the front. Damn, she definitely didn't want to ask what was going on. She figured she settled for taking a nap, unfortunately at that moment Dick Grayson decided to throw a paper on her desk.

Glaring at the sheet, Artemis could only sigh as she unfolded it and read.

'English is taking a cybertronic twist, since Ms.V had her baby Friday. Again, you would know this if you came to class. All you do is log in and write a ten page essay, no talking the laptops are voice sensitive and will report if you do :)'

Ugh did he seriously happy face the end. Again, Artemis didn't bother thanking him instead she opened her laptop and got started on her own essay.

By the end of class, nearly everyone was filtering out of the classroom and Artemis was heavily aware she may be failing English.

"That wasn't so bad" Dick exclaimed while placing his phone in his pocket. Artemis nearly jumped him right there. Of course it wasn't so bad for him, he finished in half the period.

Still he wasn't her friend, even if his happy go lucky smile was warm and kinda familiar. Instead Artemis rolled her eyes and gathered her things. She almost made it out the door too.

"Move" she said while glaring up at Victor stone.

"Look I get that you may not like me, I did kinda get into it with your friend and all. My temper isn't the best, and after talking with Dick here I realized I may have went to far. I know the cheer team practices during sixth so I can't exactly expect to see her on the field during practice. Do you mind asking her to come to the field so I can apologize" Victor asked.

Artemis scoffed. He wanted to apologize, tuff. "Yes, I mind".

As she pushed past him once more he grabbed her arm,. " I was angry and I took it out on her. It didn't exactly help that she you know has that personality "

Ugh he was not serious was he? There was no way he was gonna get her to..

"Look she was talking to me about my Dad and I-we don't exactly have the best relationship. Plus I wasn't exactly excited about leaving my friends and basically my life behind for Dads new project. So I lashed out. I was angry at my dad not her".

Damn. Yeah, that 'll do it. If there is anything Artemis can relate to it's Daddy issues and anger. But still.

"Karen's transferring tomorrow" Artemis said while turning over to the two teens.

Dick appeared uneased by this while Victor appeared utterly mortified, "Huh, I didn't think I made her that mad. Look she doesn't have to leave tell her I-

"She was already gonna transfer, paperworks been in since last semester. Her mom got a new job, we all knew today was her last day", Artemis easily retorted back.

Victor appeared a bit upset at this but for the most part shrugged it off as pure bad luck. "Guess that's why she was so pressed about meeting Dad. Wanted to know before she left huh. Damn, well if you see her before she goes tell her I'm sorry. My mom, rest her soul would have hated me speaking to another person that way. Well better head out ot practice, coach will skin me if I'm late. I'll see you guys tomorrow". He smiled a bit at the end and quickly left before Artemis could tell if his cheeks were pink or if it was the light.

Huh, guess he does have a heart.

And then there was two. Artemis is not sure at all why Dick Grayson is still here nor does she have any idea why he is staring at her.

"Karen must've been pretty mad to blow her cover like that" Dick said after a minute.

Artemis gapped, he couldn't possibly know. No one was in the lot. " Huh"

Dick said nothing, opting to press a button on his phone instead. He glanced at Artemis, "Guess we don't really have time to change. Here Its a glamour charm. Z gave me and Babs these incase were extra rushed.".

He didn't even give Artemis a minute to gap at him before he placed the necklace around her neck and one along his own. Instantly the two teens clothes transformed to plain black kevlar. Suddenly it was all to clear, everything was clear.

"Your.." Artemis started.

Again, he said nothing instead placing dark shades over his eyes and hitting another button on his phone. Before Artemis could blink the two were engulfed in a bright white light.

Recognize B07 Artemis and B01 Nightwing.

"Hey guys, your just in time to watch me wipe the dust off of Ion" Beast Boy yelled while pressing the crap out of a sparkly gray controller.

Beside him was an obviously teen green lantern, with dark hair and and a giant grin, "In your dreams, Greenie"

"Your practically glowing in green "Beast boy bit back.

Who the hell is Ion, Artemis has no idea.

She wants to ask, but she can't. She can't because Dick freaking Grayson is in the cave with her. Dick Grayson only he's not just Dick Grayson.

He! He..

" The entire time" she yelled out. Beside her Nightwing winced, rubbing his ear dramatically and pursing his lips.

"Artemis", he warned.

Artemis only yelled louder, "You sleaze the entire time".

She started hitting his shoulder which definitely caught Ion, Beast Boy and and couple of others attention. In an effort to retain some pride Nightwing maintained a stoic smile while ushering her into the nearest room.

"Ow, ow, Okay can you cut that out" Nightwing exclaimed as Artemis continued to hit him.

"No" Artemis yelled while sending him a half hearted right hook. After about a few seconds of Artemis half hearted hits and Dicks half hearted dodging, both teens quit moving and simple stared at one another.

It was probably one of the weirdest things about their little group but most of the team doesn't know each other's secret identity. It bothered some members but most agreed with it. It was a security measure and insurance policy. The justice league was the same way.

Arteis didn't care. She never did. She can't remember ever wanting to know who anyone was out of their mask.

But still.

For Nightwing to be so close, to always be right there and not tell her...

Dick was the first to speak, "I would've told you…..But B. You know how he is".

Artemis nodded. Yes she knows how Batman is, hell everyone knows but.. "I don't care" she mumbled back.

"Yes you do" Nightwing instantly replied. " Look, it was nothing personal. I wanted to tell you and hang out with you and Karen, trust me I did. But having five people know my identity was irritating B enough, and mind you Batgirl and Robin are three of the five. Last time I told somebody I had to clean the batcave with a toothbrush. Have you ever even seen the batcave, it's basically a klepto-museum. Come on Arte don't be mad at meeeeeeeee" he whined.

Artemis rolled her eyes, cleaning duties was that really his stupid excuse. "Seriously, I don't care. Why are you even telling me now? Were teammates it's not like were -

"Friends?. Come on Artemis we've been on the team together for how many years. We're friends. Friends who make stupid secrete decisions...and friends who forgive" Dick interrupted.

Oh he can not be serious.

Not that she cared, but if she did…..this was a year of ignoring her. A year of acting like she didn't exist. And as stupid as it is, she can't help but wonder did Nightwing have to even try hard. Or did it come easy, did he realize with his snooty friends just how much Artemis didn't fit in.

Was she that easy to ignore….maybe thats why its so easy for her sister and her Dad and Wally.

Would she ever be enough?

No! She wasn't going to forgive him, nope. No way.

As if he read her mind, Nightwing wrapped his arms around Artemis and softly whispered, ' Don't get in your head. And don't give me that look, you know you were doing it. I trust you, I swear I do. Look, wanna know a secret I wanted to be friends with you and Karen so bad, I joined student council. Which backfired cause you never came to any of Karen's meetings or ya know class and Karen barely talked to me...but yeah. I hate student council by the way..it's literally the worst".

Artemis snorted, Nightwing always complained about leadership positions but their was no denying it, he was great.

"Seriously, I mean it Arte. I'm sorry".

Damn it, did the jerk really just puppy dog pout. Ugh Artemis sighed, "Fine, Fine I'm not angry you gremlin. Seriously I wonder if you have magic sometimes. I guess I'm honored to be your fifth person".

Dick sheepishly grinned, "Technically, your the sixth person now. Wow that's more than a hand, B's definitely gonna kill me".

"Seriously counting members of the batfamily is a bit of a waste don't ya think", Artemis replied.

Dick grin only widened, witty conversations were so much better than arguments. "B, likes to include all variables".

At this Artemis could only slap her forehead and roll her eyes, "Of course he does".

"So...friends" Dick said after a moment.

Artemis paused and then sent Nightwing one of her own trademark smirks,"Friends".

At this the black haired knight and the blonde archer exited the room, and began walking towards the common room.

"Just one question" Artemis said while scratching at her neck once more.

"What".

"Why the hell is this charm so itchy"Artemis exclaimed. Her reply was a half hearted shrug and a "it's never bothered me before".

Once the duo entered the common room, they were immediately rushed by three eager young teens, "There you two are Batgirl, Zatanna and I have been looking everywhere for you guys", Bumblebee exclaimed.

Next to her was a sheepish looking Batgirl and a red faced Zatanna, "Not really, looking more like just wandering around", Batgirl mumbled.

"No you guys were totally looking for him" Beastboy butted in. Next to him was Ion who despite stuffing his face with potato chips was still able to nod and exclaim "Totally were"

"I barely met you don't get on my bad side" Batgirl quipped.

Zatanna nodded, her glare ver present, " I am not someone you want on your badside lantern"

Ion appeared unfazed by this and contiued with his taunts, " Oh come on, don't be mean. I mean were not the ones lying. Both of you were all Nightwing this and Nightwing that"

"Boys gotta point" Bumblebee playfully added.

Beside her, Batgirl and Zatanna could not be any redder. Both girls refused and argued with the three teens profusely.

Artemis rolled her eyes at both girls, seriously could the be any more obvious. "Well you found us what's the emergency".

" No-nothing" Zatanna exclaimed. "I-i mean well I was hoping Nightwing would assist me with some combat training". Partially because this was now ultra embarrassing and because she really did kinda want to train, Zatanna step closer to Nightwing and grabbed his arm. "So what do you say"

Nightwing grinned, "Uh well I-

"I thought we were gonna practice some new combos today, Nightwing" Batgirl said while grabbing his other arm.

"This should be good" Bumblebee whispered to Artemis.

"Popcorn moment" Artemis whispered back.

The two girls chuckled to one another as Zatanna and Batgirl began a glaring contest.

Nightwing now had the nerve to look embarrassed, " Oh well I- how about we all train-

"Careful kid, not sure Bman would take to his shiny star being a player" Hal interjected while swiping some of Ions chips.

The loud hey Ion interjected as well as both Batgirl and Zatanna was now being ignored.

Instead Nightwing and Hal were doing one of the weirdest handshakes Artemis had ever seen. Well second weirdest, she had seen Hal's handshake with Wally after all.

When they were finished, Nightwing bro hugged Hal and exclaimed loudly, "I didn't know you were back on Earth".

Hal grinned, "Just arrived back. Would've called but you won't believe the cell reception in the 12th universe".

Artemis didn't even bother mentioning how he could've used the comms. Hal was always a act now kinda guy. Beside her both Zatanna and Batgirl had decided to squash their petty pleas for training and settled on fighting Beastboy for the remote.

"Anyways, I thought I'd stop by to introduce you all to Kyle here. My new sidekick, total pain but he's kinda fun. Talk to Bats and got a solid babysitting plan I -i mean he's joining the team" Hal sheepishly finished.

" There was so much insults in that sentence I don't even know where to begin" Ion whined back. He then shrugged Hal's arm off his shoulder and held his hand out to Nightwing. "Names Kyle Rayner, but call me Ion"

"Okay cool, hey man Nightwing here welcome to the team. That's Artemis, Bumblebee, Zatanna, Batgirl and I think you already know BB" Nightwing supplied.

"Oh yeah me and greenie got acquainted while all of you were at school" Ion gleefully said. His reply was a "Stop calling me that" from Beastboy and a giant laugh from Nightwing.

Apparently enjoying his audience Ion decided to provoke Beastboy further by leaning his hand on the shorter boys head, "By the way where is the rest of the team, I know there's more of you. Please tell me some of you live here too. Hal says I'm stuck here while he goes to Ei Nebula.".

BeastBoy now fully annoyed transformed his hand into a tigers paw and swiped at Kyle eagerly, " Your glowing green!"

Nightwing didn't even bother containing the chuckle in his throat, "Oh well not sure if your gonna see the rest of the team today, most of us go to school and live elsewhere. Team Trainings on the weekends so unless we have a mission coming up, I think your living with Greenie there".

" Oh great" Ion playfully groaned. He had even taken the liberty of dramatically shaking his head in shame.

Artemis groaned, he's dramatic. As if the team needed another clown.

Hearing her groan, Ion immediately turned his attention to the blonde. " You feel the despair of living with beasty also" he dramatically whimpered.

Perhaps it was Beast Boy's annoyed cryr, or Nightwings infectious laugh...it sure as hell wasn't Ions stupid grin, but Artemis had to fight the smile trying to grace her face.

Instead she turned her face away and rolled her eyes. Ion's smile didn't even move an inch.

Ion wasn't fazed, " So arrow, come here often".

"No",Artemis bit back.

He frowned at her aggression but then smiled and edge towards her once more, "Well can you"?

Bumblebee sensing Artemis was more than likely to break Ions arm, instantly stepped between the two, "Don't worry bright light you have me and M'gann to keep you company too" Bumblebee said.

" Well there's an upside. You and…. M'ganns the martian right" Ion asked.

Recognize B02, B04, B05, B20, B21 and B26

"Whose asking" Superboy replied. To his left was Robin, Static Shock, Aqualad, Wondergirl and a heavily embarrassed M'gann .

" Uh me duh" Ion replied back. Superboy ofcourse furiously growled and three people immediately went over to restrain him.

No, Artemis was not one of the three.

"What are you all doing here" Nightwing asked.

"Hal sent out a SOS he said everyone was needed at the cave", Robin replied.

"The others should arrive soon" Wondergirl added. "But what's the emergency I swear on Hera I will help you with whatever dastardly galactic foe you have come across".

Hal shrugged, 'Oh there's no foe, I just texted you guys so you could meet Kyle here"

His response a series of irritated groans, should've knowns and punches. He literally had to put a shield around Superboy to stop him from destroying the cave. After an hour, things had calmed down. Hal ever the idiot had even convinced the team to throw Ion a welcoming party. One M'gann was more than happy to cook for.

Now here was Artemis with a old party hat on from last summer's luau glaring at the sky while everyone else partied in the cave.

"Hey" a voice said the moment a hand touched her shoulder. Immediately she turned her attention to Hal Jordan.

She didn't give him back any form of a greeting. They weren't exactly friends. He was the cool uncle to Wally, Roy and Dick. But to her..he was just Hal.

He fidgeted a bit under her stare and whistled, "Geez kid let your guard down will ya. Seriously the glare plus the blonde hair is giving me heavy Canary vibez. Did I ever tell you about the time she-

"Stop trying to appeal to me by talking about old times with my mentors wife. Just get to the point. What do you want", Artemis rushed.

Again Hal figited, "Whew, okay. Look I heard from BB earlier about you and the Kid".

Ugh, again. Seriously did Beast Boy tell everyone that walked past him.

Artemis shifted as her glare intensified, "Okay you heard so what.. Did you come to blame me for why he didn't show up to your stupid party for your new sidekick"

"Huh, No! Look I know he's suspended. I mean now i know. Definitely didn't know that earlier. Kid didn't even mention it when we caught up today" Hal instantly replied back.

Wait . Hal saw Wally… He saw him today?

In that moment as angry as Artemis was. She had know, she had to ask.

"H-how is he" Arteis murmured. Her voice soft her eyes glazed. She was entirely to vulnerable at the moment.

Hal softened at the sight, he knew that look. The look of being totally at war with your own heart. The look where you just wish you could hate someone. " I'm not sure. He was a bit distracted today. Kyle and I had to help him with Captain Cold We didn't talk much afterwards, I went straight to the cave and Kid went back to school.

"Oh".

Oh was all Artemis could say back. Hal didn't exactly leave her with much to go on.

He's distracted when fighting Captain Cold, that means he's at least affected by the breakup right?

But he's actually going to school, Artemis would've stayed "sick" if her mother hadn't pestered her.

Maybe he's not distracted after all.

Maybe he doesn't care.

Her thoughts were instantly interrupted as Hal spoke once more, "Look I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to especially about Kid, but I'm kinda an expert on the whole breakup thing"

Huh. Artemis eyes narrowed of course hal was an expert on the break up thing. She pretty postive Wally learned all his stupid pick up lines from Hal.

"I don't want to hear about how you bounce back and play the field. Save that talk for your darling nephew" Artemis scoffed.

Hal looked confused for a moment before his blush and Artemis words truly sunk in, "Huh, oh wait wait. I didn't mean like that. I meant…..uh look.I get what your uh wow this is hard.. I uh"

"Just go away" Artemis mumbled.

"Look Artemis I didn't mean-

"GO AWAY" She yelled back, throwing her stupid party hat at Hal as well.

Unfortunately the hat wasn''t as heavy as she thought so instead of hitting the retreating green lanterns face , it simply floated on the ground.

Tears fogged her vision as she glared at the offensive flamingo pink hat in utter anger.

"Typical" she muttered as she stomped the hat flat into the ground. It was typical wasn't it .

Its typical that she gets the worse pep talk ever form the Justice league's manwhore of the year.

Its typical that while everyone is having the time of their life at this stupid party she's miserable.

It's really fucking typical that the one good thing she has in her life leaves.

It's all just so typical.

She closed her eyes and tried her best not to scream.

Why, Oh why can't I ever just have something. She wondered.

She waited, even thought she knew no one would answer. Even thought she knew she would be met with silence.

Except she wasn't met with silence.

The sound of pencil scribbles on paper rang in her head louder than a gong.

Her eyes opened.

There in the corner was Ion, scribbling on a notepad profousy.

"What the hell" Artemis yelled.

Ion flushed, instantly pushed the notepad up to his chest and cheekily replied, "Hey".

Hey? Hey? Is he foreal?

"Having fun" Ion added, instantly making Artemis want to kill him more.

He's so gaudy.

His stupid green lantern uniform is adorned with a cheap hawaiian t- shirt and an even cheaper mass amount of leis. His stupid black hair was messily sprawled under an exact replica of the flamingo pink hat Artemis had just thrown. And don't even get her started on his smile.

"What the fuck do you want teen nightlight. I just scared off your mentor, I don't have the patience for two lanterns" Artemis sneered.

Ion raised an eyebrow and whistled, "Whew, definitely marking you under the 'not having fun' section".

Ugh is he even for real.

"What do you want" Artemis bit out.

Ion shrugged an gestured to the sky, "Don't get much of this in LA , and I'm not really a party guy. Trust me you do not wanna see this try to dance. And that's all everyone's really doing besides eating and video games. So yeah went outside, saw you asked a question, got my head bit off and yeah did I miss anything".

" The pad" Artemis pressed.

Oh would you look there, Ion actually can look flustered, "It's a sketchbook, I was gonna draw the sky every hour since I'm stuck here for the next couple of months. I started when we first got here at 1 and well it just turned 10 soooo".

He's an artist? That made no sense. I mean, aren't artist suppose to be calm and collected.

"Let me see" Artemis proclaimed as she held her hand out for the book.

"What? No!" Ion nearly yelled back.

"Come on just let me see" Artemis pressed.

Reluctantly the black haired boy let go of the pad with a sigh. In less than a minute Artemis was shuffling through the pages gapping at the most amazing colored sketches.

Page one was absolutely gorgeous, the clear blue of the sky only paled to the shiine of an early afternoon sun.

Page two didn't disappoint, it was similar to page one but there was subtle changes. The shade of the sky was slightly darker the shadows of the trees smaller.

Page after page she was me with pure beauty. Everything was so realistic, so there that she almost forgot they were drawings. Then she saw it, page nine.

Page nine was what he was working on before she caught him. The dark blue of the sky was unfinished but still shone bright with the freckle of white stars surrounding it. The trees were shaded in a mysterious yet familiar way. The ocean reflected the moon and the sand puckered against the cave.

It was all so beautiful but none of it had her attention. There in the center of this beautiful scenery was her. Eyes closed and that stupid pink hat on floor. Her black kevlar suit wasn't shaded in and her braid was unfinished but it was obvious it was her.

From the fly aways to the thickness of the braid. Everything was so….. Exact. Every single detail of her.

Ion still flustered , blurted out, "I- I know I should've asked but when I see a shot…

"It's fine" Artemis cut in. "You -uh your really...good. I've never known anyone who could draw like this"

"Really? Thanks I definitely need to work a bit of my lines and schemes but…

Artemis flushed, is he joking. How could he possibly critique himself when he created ...that. "Are you kidding? The sky, the water, the trees. I've never seen something so amazing. I mean you made me look so pretty and- ".

"I just sketched what was in front of me".

Oh. Oh Artemis did not want to even think about how red her face must be.

Thankfully before she could say anything J'onn J'onzz 'The Martian Manhunter' fazed in front of the two.

"Artemis a word" The Martian Manhunter asked. Instantly Artemis nodded and before she could blink, J'onn had grabbed her arm and led her into a seperate room.

They weren't alone in the room. Hal, Batman, Nightwing, Flash, and Aquaman were there as well.

"Whats going on" Artemis asked Nightwing once they made eye contact.

Nightwing shrugged and opted to annoyingly slurp his drink instead, " Not sure, they've been keeping a tight lip. I thought maybe somebody was actually gonna talk to me about my brother but seeing as they brought you-

"There's been an incident." Batman instantly cut off.

Artemis nearly scoffed, there's always and incident. She expected Nightwing to interject bring the subject of his not so dead little brother back but he didn't instead he stared up at Batman.

"Who" Nightwing murmured.

Who? What is he talking about.

"Night-

"WHO" Nightwing yelled back.

He knew just as much as Artemis knew, they weren't there for a pleasant chat. Something was wrong, very wrong.

Wait! Where was Green Arrow, Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary.

" Superman is watching over Green Arrow to make sure he doesn't do anything he will later regret" J'onn said after reading her mind.

He.. What?

This time Artemis was the one staring at Batman, "Canary?"

"Is in Themyscira with Wonder Woman so she doesn't do anything she'll regret" Flash solemnly answered.

Oh. Oh no.

Artemis could literally hear the tears falling down Nightwing's face. She could literally feel the air leaving her body. Dinah and Ollie were under house arrest, it doesn't take a genius to know who was hurt.

"How bad" Nightwing weakly asked

Batman still in his stoic monotone voice answered, "Melvot prison was blown up Monday afternoon. 80,000,000 people died. Roy Harper also known as Speedy was one of the prisoners".

No.

"No! No your wrong" Nightwing hurriedly replied back. He had began to pace and quickly type on his phone. "I'm sure its a has o be a mistake, I mean I'll just cross check the prioner list with the-

Batman sighed plucked the phone out of Nightwing hands and said, "Nightwing you need to calm down-

"No"! Nightwing yelled out as he pounded on Batman's chest, desperately reaching for the phone "No he's fine, he's not there. He must have got out, he's not there. I mean why would he even be there? No, no Bruce please, please tell me he wasn't there. Please".

If anyone had noticed that Nightwing had yelled out Bruce they didn't show it.

Instead everyone pitifully looked at the crying teen. His glasses had fallen out in his rage letting his sparkling blue eyes shine bright with tears. His fist was balled up and red as he repeatedly hit his mentor with all his might.

Batman finally getting tired of the abuse grabbed the teens arms an pushed them to his side. Now with nothing to do but sob, Nightwing let his tears soak Batmans shoulder.

It was sad watching Batman hold his son. It was sad because Nightwing was not Nightwing. Standing there he looked so small, so broken.

Batman must have agreed for in no more than a second he turned his attention to Artemis."Inform the team Nightwing will be taking a leave of absence for a few weeks. As will Robin".

Artemis didn't even get the chance to nod before the caped crusader pressed a button on his belt and embraced the Zeta tube.

The light faded, Batman and Nightwing were gone. Nightwing was gone but Artemis could still hear his sobs.

'He's not, he's not'

Dick was right, he wasn't. He couldn't be….

Dead. Roy Harper was not…. He can't be dead.

Artemis and Roy had never been close. Sure they shared a mentor but by the time Artemis and Ollie began their mentorship, Roy had begun to sever his.

Artemis was always more in Ollies pocket. She watched as he worried himself sick about Roy. She could never understand why Oliver and Dinah put up with him, especially when the redhead made it clear he wanted nothing to do with any of the Arrow Family.

She remembered arguing with Roy about four months ago. She told him how stupid and pitiful he was being. And he told her she was just his stupid replacement what did she know. Then she threw his stash in the toilet and he broke her bow.

No, they had never been close so why does her heart hurt so much right now.

She felt the hand on her shoulder before she realized the tears falling down her face.

Flash

Oh god, Wally.

"Wh- Why isn't he here" Artemis asked through her sobs. "He should be here. We're fighting but he should be here. He shouldn't be alone, I know what Roy meant to him-

Flash bit his lip as he shuddered, Roy's death was obviously taking a toll on him as well"He doesn't know Artemis. Today he had, we had a bit of spat. He's on punishment and relieved from being Kid Flash for a while" Flash replied.

"So? He deserves to know, we have to tell him. Tell him and-

"And I will, but not the same day I took away his suit. Kids angry enough, besides this is news I wanna break to him gently not at 10:30 and night Okay." Flash interjected.

No! No it was not okay. None of this was okay. Wally wouldn't want to know after he gets his suit back or whenever Flash had planned. He would want to know now.

Mimicking Batman, Artemis pressed the some buttons on her own wrist and watched as the rest of the leagued faded with the light.

She pressed his phone number the minute she stepped onto the street and removed the glamour charm.

Tears still falling from her eyes she waited as the phone rung.

"Come on Wally pick up" she murmured as she l began walking down the barren cold streets.

Come on,Wally . Pick up

It didn't matter if they weren't together or if he was a jerk. None of it mattered at all. Not right now.

She waited. Waited until the last ring hung from the phone and fell on her ears. She waited until his stupid voicemail rang out and the stupid beep signaled she was recording. She waited until that very moment, to hang up.

She wants to tell him, god did she want to tell deserves more than anyone to know..but leaving a message. That wasn't the way.

She couldn't walk to his house. She had only been to his uncles and aunts home, and Flash did say they had a fight…..Wally probably was with his parents.

His parents.

It was in that moment Artemis realized she had never met his parents. Never talked to them, never seen them…..god was he ashamed of her all this time.

Maybe it was for the best. Most people didn't really find her friendly. His mom's probably some Suzie Q who bakes pie and his Dad is probably the happy go lucky business guy who wears his sons baseball number as a badge of honor. Hell his aunt and uncle did, so why would the parents be any different. She wouldn't belong in their happy ending.

She wouldn't have fit in with them at all.

She continued walking never once looking up from her thoughts to actually see where she was going. She continued walking despite her feet hurting, despite the cold gnawing her exposed legs. Despite it now being 1 o'clock in morning.

She continued walking until she was met with the familiar hue of brimstone brown. Tentatively she walked passed the open gate an towards the front porch of the large mansion.

She should've went home, she shouldn't be in another place where she doesnt fit in. She knows that.

But….Wally isn't the only person she's worried about. Biting her lip, she uses the ostentatious knockers to bang on the door.

Instantly she is met with her favorite butlers Jellmen solemn face.

He smiled, gestured for her to come in an led her to the fourth den. Inside was Oliver Queen and Superman.

Superman didn't really look like himself, he had these dorky glasses and the most ridiculous civies. But still, he looked better than Green Arrow.

Oliver was dressed down in sweats littered with dirt, grime and tears. He was sporting bloody knuckles, red eyes and defeated frown. In his hand he was clutching some paper tight, almost as if he wanted to embedded it in his skin.

He was broken.

Both men looked up to her upon her arrival. One with a slight smile, the other with small glance.

Walking up to Oliver, Artemis could not help but feel some sort of conflicting spell in her chest. He had lost, hadn't he. The long race of trying with Roy, Oliver had finally lost it all. And in the middle of it Ollie had lost himself as well.

Which was conflicting.

If there was one thing Roy and Artemis agreed on it was they are not the children of Green Arrow and Black Canary. No matter how much the public wants to wield this tale of super hero generations. Artemis was content with just being Ollie's sidekick, she had her mother anyways. And Roy, he was adopted but that was only so they could train in peace.

Naturally a normal mentor would be upset at their sidekicks passing, Artemis had seen it even with the Shadows. But also naturally a normal mentor would get over it. They wouldn't lose themselves, they wouldn't be this broken.

It was in this mosment she realized this wasn't normal, Oliver, Roy and Dinah's relationship wasn't normal.

It wasn't just a mentorship, was it?

In that moment Oliver said nothing, he looked right through Artemis. Just as he had Superman. He looked right through the both of them as if he was still waiting for something, for someone.

"Ollie" Arteis murmured. Again the man said nothing he just stared. "Ollie" Artemis tried again. At eye level she could see just how broken Oliver Queen was. Every crack in despair was deeper and harsher than she could imagine.

"Ollie this isn't your fault" Artemis said after a moment of silence.

That snapped Oliver out of whatever trance he was in. Instantly he shook his head and murmured " It is, it is"

Artemis shook her own head in response, "No, no it isn't Ollie. Roy was-

"It's my fault. I- I thought if I can't get him to stay off of 'em with me, maybe prison would do him some good. He can't get any in Melvot, it's too secure. I set him up, to be sent there. I did it! I killed him" Oliver yelled. He threw the paper on the floor in his fir of rage.

A photo of himself and an eight year old Roy.

No, this wasn't just a mentorship at all.

In that moment Artemis knew. Oh she knew, Oliver saw Roy as his son.

She didn't want to wonder if Roy saw this too.

Eyes now glassy she embraced Oliver as gently as she could and bit back a sob as the grown man cried on her shoulder.

Tuesday, Tuesday Night and Roy Harper was dead.

Chapter Text

Sore.

That was the first thing Wally felt as the sun of Wednesday morning swept into his room.

Sore. He was so sore. For the most part, the slashes around his body had healed. The cuts that had littered his face and soaked his pillow were now closed, leaving nothing but sun-kissed freckles in their wake.

The only physical sign that anything had happen at all was the large cut that tore across his chest.

Damn.

He knew it was healing slower last night, but still.

The cut wasn't nearly as deep as it was before, now barely a sliver that had thankfully stopped leaking blood.

But still…..

Why hadn't it healed yet? Sure he didn't eat as much yesterday, but it been at least six hours since then. It should be gone by now.

He racked his brain for a logical conclusion, but sighed when nothing came. Oh well he'll just have to deal, it probably was a fluke right?

What else is he supposed to do? If he ask Uncle Barry he'll just hound him with questions about how he got injured.

Besides,

"Wallace"

"I'm gonna extend your suspension from the team for another week and also I'm gonna cut your sidekick patrols this week"

"This can't happen again Kid, a hero goes missing and we assume the worse"

Memories of his last conversation with Barry are still heavy on his mind, he 'd rather not add to them.

Plus it was still early, barely five am. Barry wouldn't be up till at least seven, unless a mission called for it.

The pain wasn't unbearable, he's had worse.

And he was already at rock bottom,so Wednesday was only looking up from there.

So yeah, he didn't dwell on his slow healing. Instead he practiced not wincing as he got out of bed and stretched his still sore, still healing muscles.

Walking to the bathroom, he tried to keep the whole 'this will be a great day' mood. But as soon as he looked in the mirror that thought faded away.

Shit! The clothes, Chad's clothes. The once highly expensive garments were torn and stained with blood. Even the shoes, even Chads god damn shoes….everything was ruined.

Shit!

"Well now Chads gonna hate me" Wally murmured before stripping off the tattered clothes and stepping into the small tub.

He quickly showered, brushed his teeth and raked his hand over his hair before shucking on the first baggy outfit he could find and throwing Chads old clothes into the trash.

"Sorry man, my dog tore them so I just threw them away",Wally said with the fakest apology expression he could muster. He figured if he started practicing bullshit excuses now, he would come up with a good one by the time he reached school.

Central City is close but it's still a bit away from Blue Valley after all.

And as much as he'd rather run there in two minutes…...Kid Flash is suspended.

So two hour walk it is then.

….The walk ended up being only an hour and forty five minutes.

It wasn't draining, Wally literally didn't feel an ounce of tiredness once he was finished. But that's expected, he's run around the world before without breaking a sweat.

What he didn't expect was to run into Chad, and Clint the minute he got onto campus. Damn, and he hadn't found a good excuse yet.

He waved at the two as the well dressed teens waved back, well Chad waved back, Clint just glared. They were huddled around a mass of jocks and rich kids extraordinaires. Some Wally definitely remembers from Abigail's party, others, hed wish he forget.

Great, he has to go over there huh. He tried mulling over the five hundred excuses he had created on his way there but sighed when none really stuck.

Shit!

'This is all bull shit' a sour voice echoed in his mind. He nearly nodded to agree with the voice before a hopeful voice whispered in retort, 'Cmon Wallman think positive'.

Okay, postive….postive. Hey maybe Chad won't even bring up the clothes , yeah they're dudes after all. They probably wanna talk about sports or something.

When Wally finally approached the group, Clint shot every postive thought Wally had down the drain, "Look who's back to looking like a nark. What you realize wearing another dudes threads is humiliating or did you get desperate and sell his clothes off for spare change ".

Of course that encouraged the loudest bank of laughter from the others. Some even bother commenting on how pathetic Wally looked. Others took time to note how pathetic Wally was.

Fuck, Clint Strem. Fuck him and this whole conversation.

"Oh uh - well I don't exactly-

Chad chuckled, "Don't mind them man, Clints a sourdick every morning. The rest of us man we're just teasing. Besides we all know Clints just mad cause his big old beef shoulders makes him too big to wear any of my clothes". As if to emphasize his point Chad sauntered over to Clint and rubbed his big shoulders.

Again the large group of jocks chuckled out barrels of laughter and wailed out insults. This time they were direct to Clint.

Clint didn't seem bothered. He simply rolled his eyes and pushed Chads hands off of him, "Think what you want Oberliki but I'd bet money the nerdling sold your shit. I've known him for a while, once a bitch always a bitch". To emphasize his point Clint stalk closer to Wally and muttered, "Go on tell him bastard".

Wally bit his lip and winced.

What exactly should he do?

Telling the truth was definitely out. 'Hey my dad kinda tore up all your shit as he was beating the shit out of me', doesn't get anyone what they want. And going along with Clint's stupid theory was just social suicide. As if he needs the whole, I'm a thief who sells borrowed shit label.

Thankfully before he could even blurt out the first reasonably lie to pop in his head, Chad's unbothered voice rang out.

" Wally's cool man, I doubt he would but even if he did it's none of my business. I gave him the clothes. They belong to him now", Chad said while draping his arm across both boys once more.

Clint immediately shrugged his off while Waly just stood there stunned.

They belong to him? Really?

Its stupid, it is. There just clothes, but it's been so long. It's been so, so so long, since someone normal gave him something and ask for nothing in return.

As if sensing Wally's obvious discomfort Clint smiled and bit out, "What's wrong West, aint ya use to charity"

Wally didn't bother replying, he was still so stunned. Still a bit unsure. He didn't even move when the bell rang signaling school had started. Why would Chad, what would he gain?

Clint apparently took Wally's silence for answer and decided to let out a loud 'guess not' before brushing past the two and walking off. His bank of followers, uhmm correction "teammates" followed after him. Many fist bumping Chad and smacking Wally on the shoulder as they left.

Best part of being stunned, even though the shoulder wacks hurt like hell on his still healing body Wally didn't even wince.

Still hurt like hell though.

"I swear he gets more obnoxious by the day. Come on man let's just get to class, Deaton may already be sleep but I don't wanna risk my perfect attendance", Chad said once Clint was gone.

Again Wally said nothing. He had worried his mind sick since five and Chad, Chad didn't even care about the clothes. It was refreshing really, in that very instance he started to see Chad in a way he has only seen members of his team. Is this what it's like? To have friends in school?

"Earth to Wallyyyyyyy"Chad said while shaking the redhead.

With his fingers deeply pressed into Wally's sore shoulders and his backpack smacking against Wally's thigh, the red could help but hiss "What "

Taking the hiss for anger instead of pain, Chad didn't bother apologizing instead he sarcastically bit back, "Homeroom, we have five minutes to get to class. Are you coming "?

Oh right. They had the same homeroom.

"Yeah okay, umm what about Abigail? Shouldn't we wait for her?"Wally said after a moment.

"Her royal highness has some press meeting with her Dad, won't be in school today. Now come on man, I swear my dad'll freak if I'm late". Chad rushed as he pushed Wally's bag into his hand and began walking towards the already crowded entryway.

"Alright, Alright" Wally answered with a laugh. Quickly following after the brunette he smiled, maybe Wednesday wouldn't be so bad after all.

When the two boys entered the classroom, two things were apparent.

One Deaton has insomnia or something, cause there is no way she should be asleep right now.

Two, nearly half the class was absent …..again.

"Damn, I know Abigail's party was lit and all but seriously two days in a row" Wally said while shrugging off his backpack and popping into the seat next to an already working Chad.

The brunette looked up from his various amount of papers to laugh, "For a science guy your not very observant dude. Half of these people were with us in the quad ten minutes ago, they're not out because of Abby's party. They're out because Abby's not here.

Wait what?

" Most people only come to this school because of Abigail Caperson. You really shouldn't be too surprised" a kid from behind adds.

"I-I'm not" Wally bit back, his cheeks tinted red. Seriously how had he not noticed this before? He guessed he was to busy hating school, he never really bothered to pay it any attention.

Chad chuckled, "Don't sweat it, man, pretty sure that's what Abby likes about you. You're not all caught up in her ya know, kinda like Trix".

Trixi not caught up with popularity and status. Yeah, he could see that, instantly Wally mind began to play through every moment he had with her.

He couldn't help but smile.

It's silly, really. It's only been two days but he feels like it has been years since he's seen her.

"Hey, do you know if she's coming back today? Or is she gonna pull the whole no Abigail no me thing too" Wally asked as he finally pulled out some of his own work.

This time not even looking up from his work Chad shrugged, "Trix is a tough one. Like I said she's not all caught up in Abby that she'd miss just cause Abby's missing. But I swear she loves to be absent at least twice a week. Like I surprised she hasn't been picked up by truancy yet. So yeah... not sure. You could text her and see, remember I wrote all our numbers down in your green notebook. Super unorganized green notebook"

"Yeah yeah, I remember," Wally said as Chad began to lecture him once more about his lack of organization skills. When he finally reached the page he smiled and carefully fished in his pocket for his phone.

Shit! His phone. He doesn't get many calls nowadays but still. How could he forget his stupid fucking phone broke.

"Yeah- I uh can't..kinda got grounded" Wally muttered.

This time Chad winced, "Damn and here I thought you were just a bad texter. Guess your 'rents weren't too pleased yesterday.".

"Yeah, not in the slightest," Wally said while struggling not to shudder.

Pleased? Iris and Barry were livid, and Rudy...he was

No not pleased at all.

" Bummer! Next time we'll set it up like your on some youth leadership thing instead. As for Trix, you can text her through mine" Chad happily added as he chucked his phone towards the redhead.

"Uh thanks" Wally muttered as he searched up Trixi's name. He quickly found it and paused before he could press send.

Is this weird? He's never really talked to Trixi through the phone not to mention it's through Chad's phone. Sure he put the whole' Hey it Wally' opening sentence, but still. Plus she never really gave him her number, Chad did.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, it's definitely weird.

And maybe he's a bit scared.

"I'll just wait till Chem to find out," Wally said after deleting the unsent message and chucking the phone back at Chad.

The brunette rolled his eyes but didn't bother pressing about it. Instead, he changed the subject to moaning about how many school events he had to organize and how Wally has to become more organized so he can help him.

The two boys remained playfully bickering about Wally's lack of organization skills for a little while. Before Wally knew it, homeroom had ended.

Sending Chad a quick, see ya in English, Wally practically sped walked to Trig. Without Chad, it seemed the student attention he had acquired this week had turned bitter.

Instantly the whispers and the sneers had come. Many purposely bumped into him on the way to class. He grunted at a few, irritated with both their behavior and the pain. It was almost unbearable, to instantly be hated.

Apart of him misses being invisible.

Trigonometry is boring. No not the subject, just the class. Like homeroom, more than half the class was gone. Mrs. Ngyuen blamed it on the weather but everyone else simply looked at the empty seat next to Wally.

Abigail Caperson was worse than the plague.

Because of the lack of students, Mrs. Nguyen decided to reteach her boring lecture from yesterday. Fantastic right? Because it wasn't boring enough the first time.

Again not the subject, just the class. Wally honestly felt he didn't need to be in Beginning Trig. Numbers never really tripped him up, its words he struggled with.

So instead of listing to the most boring lecture for a second time, he decided he would at least attempt to work on his English homework. Even if he hates it.

He was nearly finished with it too before Mrs. Nguyen's loud ruler banged on his desk.

"Wallace" Mrs. Nguyen bit out.

"Yes," Wally meekly replied back, as he not so slyly shuffled the English homework behind his green spiral.

If she noticed Mrs. Nguyen didn't bother acknowledging it, instead she pointed to the phone and said, "Office just called you're going home".

Huh? Home? He never gets called to go home early! Never! Not even when his Dad's at his angriest.

"This must be a mistake," Wally said after a moment.

"If it is please don't come back, just go to the English class you seem so devoted to" Mrs. Nguyen half-heartedly replied with a shrug. She slipped the boy a sneer that seemed almost as bitter as the coffee in her cup.

Chugging said drink down, she didn't bother quieting her class as they all laughed at Wally's expense.

"Thanks a lot"Wally muttered as he shrugged the backpack on his aching shoulders once more and hurriedly left the room.

When he reached the hallway he let out whatever stupid breathe he had been holding. Seriously, out of all the teacher Nguyen had to be the scariest.

As he walked to the office he wondered, who in the hell was picking him up. And why in the hell would they pick him up today?

Rudy was a definite no. The man wouldn't get up from his grand life on the couch to pick up Wally early. Not even for the nastiest beating. He'd, much rather wait till the boy got home to do it.

Mary was a no as well. She wouldn't pick him up, not unless Rudy ordered it and the man seemed pretty adamant about letting Wally go to school yesterday soooo yeah, she's out.

Aunt Iris was another definite no. A stickler for education. Iris would always encourage Wally to go to school, even if he was sick….plus he's pretty sure he's not her biggest fan right now.

So that just leaves Uncle Barry, which again was a hard no. Why? Well two reasons, really.

First Barry almost never picks him up from school early for hero business. It leaves a written record and it's honestly way faster to just text Wally to sneak out.

Second, Kid Flash is suspended. Barry usually sticks with his suspensions, even if he desperately needs help. He always asks a member of the league or the team just so Wally can get the point.

"Probably a mistake", Wally murmured turning to his left to open the office door. When he finally entered he was more than a bit surprised.

There in the waiting room, usually reserved for the bad kids was Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris. Neither looked to please to be there. Aunt Iris looked worse than yesterday and Barry, he looked worn down.

In less than a second, a million thoughts ran across Wally's mind.

What are they doing here?

Why are they both here?

What's wrong?

Is it his fault?

"Ah there he is, Wallace your parents are taking you home. You have all your things right" a peppy secretary asked.

Wally mutely nodded not sure what else to do. Normally he would've corrected the lady but he just couldn't. He couldn't speak, he couldn't because both Barry and Iris are at his school, when they should be at work.

They both had been so devoted to their new work schedules, so devoted Wally hadn't really hung out with them in months. He had seen them as Kid Flash, but as Wally not really.

Honestly, if he really looks back these past couple of months the most time he had really hung out with them as Wally West was yesterday, and that was purely because he's such a fuck up.

So what was this?

Why miss work two days in a row?

What did he do?

"Let's go Kid" Barry muttered as he grabbed both Iris and Wally's hands.

Not sure what this all meant Wally could only follow. Barry and Iris weren't saying much, which made him nervous. Were they going to permanently take Kid Flash away? Was he ever going to see them again? What was this?

In the car, the silence was more than maddening.

He couldn't take it! Neither Barry nor Iris were saying anything, not even to each other. When they finally pulled up at his Blue Valley worn home, it took everything out of Wally not to shiver.

It's the second time they have done this. And again he's not sure why?

This house, this small blue suburban shack was the last place he wanted to see. Ever! He's rather be in school.

They must be still mad about yesterday right?

His attitude and leaving and just being..stupid. That must be what this is about?

But why home, why the hell pick him up from school just to drive him back to his prison.

"I'm sorry", Wally bit out, sounding more desperate than actually sorry.

Both Barry and Iris looked at him puzzled as the later turned off the car.

Wally, unfortunately, didn't notice their confusion so he kept blubbering, "I promise I won't sneak out again. And I'm really sorry for my attitude so please, whatever this is, just stop. I don't- "

Barry now less than confused simply shook his head and sighed loudly, "Kid you don't understand this isn't- look just go get your suit and I'll explain".

His suit? They wanted his fucking suit! He was right! They were done with him, and now they wanted Kid Flash back.

No, no no no!

Wally now hysterically edged away from the couple, "No you don't understand I can't. I need Kid Flash! You can't! You can't fucking make-".

"Wally, Wally! Kid Calm down!" Barry nearly shouted."Kid, this isn't about your suit, I'm not taking Kid Flash back. "!

If Waly heard him he didn't make an effort to show it. Instead, he continued shouting, pleading to both Barry and Iris.

Please. Please, Please!

He was shaking to the point of vibration, eyes watery and shouting like he was about to be murdered.

"Wally please" Barry tried again only to be met with more shouts and desperate shakes at the door.

"Wally cut it out"

"Wally"! Barry shouted. He raised his fucking voice in a way he never has. One that oozed desperation and need, Wally only felt the anger.

He flinched at Barry's harsh tone.

Barry still a bit upset, and not noticing Wally's obvious discomfort continued yelling, "This would've been a lot simpler if you answered my calls. Or at least listen to my text. Damn it! I told you to stay home today. Kid what's been going on with you. You're not even trying to hear me out".

Wally wanted to yell back to his uncle that he doesn't have his phone. He wants to yell back the phone is broken because of his stupid fucking Dad. But he still shaken at his Uncle tone.

It was too much like Rudy. Way much.

"What?" Wally shakingly asked. And for the first time that day Barry truly looked at him. He looked and saw that Wally had been vibrating so hard he had burned the car leather, he had tears in eyes and he was looking at Barry like he was the scariest being in the world.

"Kid" Barry softly said as he reached over to soothe the young boy. Wally flinched so hard, Barry had to stop his hand midway.

Shakingly, knowing he looked more than a bit like a kicked puppy. Wally let out a small laugh, "Didn't know you could yell like that. Surprised me"

Barry said nothing, instead for the first time that day Iris spoke, "Wally just go get your suit, kay baby. We're going to the Garrick's and we figured you'd probably wanna race again". She finished her statement with a small smile that didn't even reach her eyes.

Wally couldn't help but widen his. Something bad has happened. Something really bad..

"Whats wrong" he finally asked, after staring at Iris face a bit longer. He couldn't bring himself to look at Barry right now.

That didn't stop Barry from speaking to him though, "Kid, nothings-

Ugh! Why? Why did people lie?

Wally shook his head almost as if he was a disappointed parent, "The last time we went to Garrick's was months ago, Iris also called me baby then too. You both said we were going to race and hang out but really you just wanted an easy way of telling me you both got raises and won't be around as much".

It was at this moment he finally stopped shaking. He needed his nerves back. He then took a deep breath and slowly continued, "Look just tell me okay, don't make me wait. I'm not a baby just..whatever it is you have to say. Say it.

Wally's final word was spoken with such conviction, such bravery and heart. At that moment Barry could truly see how strong his ward was becoming.

He didn't want to be the one to break that strength, so instead of listening to Wally, he sighed again and told him once more, "Kid really you're overreacting its not-

Wally seethed,"Stop lying to me, somethings wrong and I know it. I'm not some fucking retar-

"Language" Iris irritably interjected. She then sighed and looked to her blonde husband, "Barry, sweetie maybe we should just tell Wally here. He has a point, besides I think a feud is the last thing we need right now".

Wally would have grinned at Barry's defeated frown if he understood what the hell was going on.

What exactly did she mean when she said 'the last thing we need right now'.

"Fine, come one kid lets go inside" Barry regretfully replied.

Despite home being the last place he wanted to be, Wally begrudgingly followed both his aunt and uncle into the tattered blue shack.

"Rudy?" Iris said as soon as she stepped inside the building.

"Oh Iris is that you" Mary West said as she shuffled into the living room.

From her appearance it was obvious the women was cleaning. That's probably why the usually pile of beer bottles and shattered china were not scattered across the floor.

She took off both her bright yellow gloves before embracing Iris and nodding to Barry.

Iris still in the embrace continued speaking "Nope just an evil clone, bent on the destruction of all Blue Valley. And I've brought my villainous husband with me".

Barry attempting to play along muttered a tight "Mwhaahaha aha" and finished with an unintimidating glare.

Marry laughed an all to fake laugh, that Wally just had to grimace at. Unfortunately for him, his mother looked at him the minute he grimace," And Wallace too I see. What are you doing out of school"? She asked.

She asked? The women actually asked as if she cared.

Rolling his eyes, Wally decided to play the same jokster schtick as everyone else but with a twist.

It's clear based on their oh so fake smiles, Barry and Iris aren't going to tell him whatever the bad news is in front of his mother. So he's going to need a bad enough joke to make the submissive sack of potatoes leave.

Immediately he smiles and leans a bit into his mother, "Oh ya know ditching home was so fun, thought why not try school. And much to my surprise your here. Cleaning, is that blood on your gloves, maybe she's the real evil clone hey guys?".

Neither Iris nor Barry laughed at his joke, but mission accomplished, Mary looked uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the mention of the blood staining her apron, Wally's not a gambler but he'd bet a his entire Flash collection the blood is his. He practically left a pool on the kitchen floor last night.

Not missing a beat, yet still uncomfortable Mary quickly bit back, "Yes, well I'm cooking a ham and unfortunately manage to drop it on the floor. Blood just everywhere and dinners ruined too".

"Need me to go to the store for more meat" Wally asked. He asked, but both he and Mary knew he really was just telling her to leave. The question was, would Mary listen.

" No, that's fine I'll go. I could use the fresh air"Mary quipped.

That's right even to her son, she bends.

With Mary West now gone, there were only three people in the tattered blue house.

"What are ye doing here all alone, where's Mary" a rough voice asked as a bulky figure stumbled down the stairs.

Great, make that three people and a demon.

Honestly Wally shouldn't even be surprised. Rudolph West barely leaves home and hasn't been to work in years.

About two years ago, Rudolph got into a minor construction accident. Now because the accident happened on the job, and because Rudolph was able to dramatize the pain, he got paid for it. His leg, which supposedly was broken, was the main injury. Rudy swore to his bosses and anyones else that it was damaged beyond repair.

Is it real?

Wally's not too sure, the man seems to have no problem kicking the crap out of him with his damaged leg. And he definitely only drags the leg whenever there is company.

Whatever, fake or not. Wally of all people should have known Rudy would be home.

He should've known. And now he just wished he would've kept his fucking mouth shut and went to the Garricks. Or atleast the store for Mary.

"Hey Rudy, Iris and I was wondering where you were. This house is to quiet without your energy. Doesn't even feel the same" Barry said, as soon as the man reached the foot of the stairs.

Rudolph West smirked and nodded along with Barry's praise, "Swear it was my home 'fore ole man gave her to me. She's me in every way"

"Yeah, she does fit you more than daddy that's for sure" Iris laughed.

"Rudy grinned once more and slung an arm over his sister, "Yeah well the ole man grew out of this old shed the minute he decided to move to the city and have you. But I'm tellin ya Iri, you should've seen it in his prime. Back when I was sixteen, old man cared fo her like a baby. Real country men shit, I know thats hard to understand being a lil ole city girl. "

Iris rolled her eyes," You love to rag on my city don't ya"

"And your age" Rudy quipped.

"Your not that much older" Iris argued. She was trying terribly hard not to laugh but the unimpressed smirk Rudy was sending her way didn't help.

"Yeah okay Iri"

"I'm serious, Rudy I'm 27".

"Iris he's 44" Barry quipped.

"Your not helping, seventeen years is not that big of an age difference" Iris whined. When she was met with silence she pouted and laughed, " Silence means compliance"

"Sure honey" Barry teased.

Rudy laughed," Women, aye Allen. Can't live with em, can't live without 'em".

Iris of course laughed, wholeheartedly disagreed with her brother and began another range of playful banter.

Wally grimace at the scene.

The most important women in his life, the women he loves more than anybody is complimenting the man he hates.

Wally couldn't think of anything more sickening.

"Hey Rudy, how's the leg" Barry asked after a minute of stupid laughter from the siblings. Rudy faked another wince as he moved said leg and shrugged, "Oh ya know, 'm not er pussy so I just grin and bear it". He then looked toward Wally and grinned, "Hey boy, how ya holding up".

How's he holding up? Yeah, at first Wally shrugged believing the statement to be some ignorant joke about last nights beating. But then he saw Barry and Iris wince and then he just knew.

Barry and Iris have no idea..about the beatings. So Rudy couldn't have been alluding to them.

Which could only mean he knows. He knows the bad news, Barry and Iris told goddamn Rudy before they told him.

This shouldn't hurt this much.

He said nothing for a minute, still reeling on the revelation. The more he thought about it, the more stupid he felt for not knowing.

Of course they told Rudy about it. That's why Rudy wasn't strung out on the couch with a thousand beer bottles at his feet. That's why Mary was cleaning so meticulously, even though it was obvious she was more than tired. That's why Rudy's not surprised at their visit.

Rudy expected company.

In the corner of his head, Wally heard Iris whisper to Rudy ' we haven't told him yet'.

Told him? Ugh so it is about him. Instantly his mind began filtering with the worst scenarios.

Barry and Iris getting longer hours.

Barry and Iris moving.

Barry and Iris done with him.

"What it is" Wally slowly asked. He sure whatever it is he doesn't want to hear it, but he figured they have wasted enough time.

Iris pressed her lips together and grimace, " Why don't we get some snacks before we talk, kay baby".

Wally wanted to scream to her, 'no this isn't okay. No, he isn't a baby but before he could he saw his father stop Iris in her tracks.

"Kitchen's a mess, don't go in er" Rudy quickly interjected, he then paused as if his rushed attitude was purely a misinterpretation, "Mary's been more frazzled since the boy's runaway thing. Starting to worry".

Placing an understanding hand across her brother's chest, Iris sighed "I know that's why we didn't tell her. I don't think she would handle it well".

Again Rudy pretended to be concerned and basked in the concern both Iris and Barry sent him, " Probably for the best. Yer said the arrowboy was runts age huh. Red hair too, women would have a fit. To die so young -mfhm".

Barry tried to place his hand around Rudy's mouth before the words reached Wally's ears. He tried to do so without hurting the people around him. He tried to rush over to Rudy without his superspeed.

He failed.

Wally stood silent.

In that moment everything just stopped. His lungs had stopped moving their usual pitter patter of inhale,exhale. His eyes were wide open, not even blinking as the tears flooded out of them. His legs stood as tall as a flower stem, lean yet so obviously fragile.

His chest ached, but somehow he just knew it wasn't from that cut.

He would swear to you at that moment, his heart stopped.

Arrowboy?

Die?

None of this could be true.

"Wally, baby" Iris tried to grab him, but whatever frozen entity had left him immobile finally decided to give him back the strength to move.

Nearly tapping into his super speed he ran to the other side of the room. He crashed into a cupboard, shattered some more of his mother's china but didn't flinch.

It didn't hurt, nothing could hurt as much as his heart right now.

"Your lying" Wally shouted to Rudy. "You're a lying piece of shit and I hate you" He screamed.

Rudy's eyes glinted, not use to this level of disrespect, he growled out," Boy what the fuck would I lie to you bout this. Aint ya use to this, don't most of yer little friends go boom".

"Rudy" Iris reprimanded, while Rudy simply shook her off. She knew what Wally said hurt, but damn why did Rudy have to say….that.

She knows her brother means well, he's just…..Rudy. He doesn't understand not everyone is as strong.

She tries to talk to Rudy but he doesn't want to hear it. Says sugar coating won't help the boy, he should know what business he got into. The siblings started arguing, leaving Barry and Wally isolated from the conversation.

Still crying , still breathing heavy, Wally continued his mental mantra.

He's lying.

He's lying.

He has to be fucking lying.

Barry wanting nothing more than to help his nephew slowly walked over to the boy and put his arm around him, "Kid, while this isn't the way we wanted to tell you. You can't take it out on your Dad, What happened to Roy isn't his fault-.

Fuck!

He couldn't listen to this.

Not thinking of nothing, but escaping, Wally ran as fast as he could out of the house. He ran, ran in civies, dressed as Wally West.

He didn't think. He didn't think about his aching muscles that definitely shouldn't be stretched right now, he didn't think about his Uncle or his Dad. He didn't think about a single thing except escaping the idea that...Roy.

His good friend Roy.

was ..

The person to always give him his food even though he was probably hungry himself.

The person who always made sure he laughed once a day

The same person who always called him and Dick knuckled heads, even when they were being level headed.

The person who he had not seen in months and regretted it.

Roy. His friend. One of his best friends was dead.

Wally had stopped running for a minute to catch his breath. He wasn't tired but his chest ached. Upon further inspection, he realized in his haste his cut had reopened and he was bleeding.

That only made him breathe harder.

God, why the fuck was this not healing.

When he finally caught his breath, his vision had began to blur.

He blinked twice when it focused, he wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry. Fuck. Why in the fuck was he standing in front of Abigail Capersons mansion?

Great Wall-man. Not only did you say fuck a secret identity by running around in your fucking civies. You also ran to the most secure place in Central City.

Fuck! Fuck ! Fuck!

"Wally", a voice said. Immediately Wally was met with the bubbly blonde, Abigail Caperson.

She seemed undisturbed by his presence smiling her usual bubbly smile. Wally only sighed in return.

How much did she fucking see?

Chapter Text

Shit! Why was he so fucking stupid.

Why of all places, of all times

What the hell is he--

“-doing here”, Abigail asked.

She was dressed in some extravagant glitter overalls with a scattered amount of gardening tools beside her. Of course, she would be fucking gardening when he runs to her front gate, of fucking course.

Despite his obvious interruption, she didn’t seem unhappy to see him. In fact, she seemed excited, as if they were old friends and he just ran over.

Ha! The fucking irony of it all

“I - uhhh-

“Miss Caperson! Miss Caperson!” and array of voices shouted.

Yes!! Saved by the fucking bell, or bellboys….butlers?

Anyways, in less than a second, a group of butlers, maids and bodyguards surrounded the two. The oldest of the bunch, an old butler named Carmichael was the first to address them.

“Miss Caperson, unfortunately, there has been a blackout. All technology has been cut out in Central City, Blue Valley, Bludhaven, and Smallville. Because of the security risk , your father has requested you remain inside until further notice. Your friend may come as well”

A black out huh.

Uncle Barry? Batman? Dick? Tim? God? Whoever, caused this blackout. Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!

Fuck yeah!! He may still have a secret identity after all.

“Awww but I was planting my periwinkle tulips,their super fragile. If I don’t plant them now they’ll turn green,”Abigail whined.

Carmichael sighed, handed Abigail an Ipad and motioned the others to venture inside, “I’m sorry Miss Caperson. Your father sends his regards. He also mentioned you may shop for an indoor garden venue and he will have it built near your room. To prevent this terrible ordeal from happening again”.

“It’s not the same, if they cant get real sunlight”, Abigail pouted as she swiped across the Ipad.

Despite her pouting, none of her employees seemed to mind. In less than a second, both Wally and Abigail were ushered into the large mansion.

Wally tried to stop them, truly he did. “I uh actually was just stopping by to say hi. I have to go to my Uncle’s house. And if I don’t leave now I’ll be late”.

The butlers didn't seem to care, only pushing Wally further into the house and leading the duo to Abigail's room. Abigail didn’t seem all too interested either, she was invested into the Ipad. Squealing at everything she deemed ‘super cute’.

Wally tried again, “Hey! Didn’t ya hear me I’m not-

“I’m sorry Mister West. But due to your impromptu visit coordinating with the blackout. We can't just let you walk away”.

Wait…. What the hell does that mean?

Did they think he was….

“Wally’s not trying to kill me. He’s my friend, silly” Abigail laughed.

Wally just stood there shocked as ever. Kill her? They can’t be serious? I mean sure she’s Andrew Capersons daughter but fuck, she goes to Central High, the mall tons of public places. They can’t be serious.

“You can’t be sure, he could be a Russian spy for all we know” Carmichael replied.

Holy fuck! They are serious.

They started to argue but Wally wasn't paying attention. He couldn’t help but wonder why the fuck they would be so suspicious. He’s a fucking twig, hes a nerd. He's a nobody.

But Abigail was Abigail Caperson. Central City Sweetheart. The president's granddaughter. Always bubbly, always happy, way to pretty. Always surrounded by a crowd of people and her bodyguard of a boyfriend.

Yeah, he could see why walking up to her alone in her garden would seem suspicious.

Shit!!

“A new friend Miss Caperson. Who just happened to show up simultaneously when the security cameras cut out is suspicious! Our generators even stopped for a moment. Did you see how he arrived, because I have yet to find Mr. West's vehicle. Why would his cab leave so suddenly unless something suspicious was about to happen? Regardless of your care for him, we have a protocol. Please reside in your room, while Mr. West completes the test”, Carmichael exasperatedly replied.

The old man was obviously frustrated. And, if Wally was being honest he could definitely see why. Abigail was not being the least bit cooperative. She should just let them follow the protocol so he can go home, who cares if he has to take a test.

Wait test?

“Wally doesn't need the test” Abigail whined back. Why was she so against this test, he wondered. It can't be anything good.

“Uh yeah hard pass on the torture test” Wally added.

Camrichael sighed for what has to be the 100th time, “As nice as your hope in him is Miss Caperson, it isn't enough, I’m sorry but I must follow protocol. As for you Mister West, the test isn’t any torture whats so ever. It's a simple procedure, just some questions. Miss Caperson is being dramatic”.

When Abigail didn’t object to any of this Wally smiled,“Oh I guess that's fine than”.

“Perfect!! We shall commence the test in the second study. Miss Caperson would you like to-”.

“I’ll actually join you. The least I could do is keep him company, Wally’s only doing the polygraph to be nice” Abigail quipped.

Wait did she say…..Polygraph???

The walk to the second study sucked, not only was time megaslow do to Carmichaels stupid shuffle. But Abigail decided to fill the time by talking a mile a minute.

Normally he wouldn’t mind, it wasn’t like he couldn’t keep up with the conversation. He could keep up just fine, and usually any distraction is a good distraction. But he seriously was in trouble unless he figured a way out of--

“We’re here” Carmichael solemnly stated.

Yeah they’re fucking here alright. The second study damn well should have been called the red room. It was a large area, with expensive furniture that just screamed impersonal. The walls were vacant, not even a family photo adorned it. There were three large bookshelves that just screamed rich and fancy. On the desk stood a single lie detector machine, its wires already a bit tangled. Besides the machine stood two very large men. It seemed like the perfect business room, or executioner room. Whatever works?

And Wally had come up with not one plan. Shit, wing it, it is.

“I uh- actually was rethinking it guys. And I was wondering if we could..uh I don't know..maybe take a raincheck. I just remembered, I’m afraid of needles and wires freak me out and-

“Sit '' one of the large men muttered before grabbing Wally's shoulders and pushing the boy into a chair.

And fuck, did Andrew Caperson hire Metas as bodyguards or something cause that was one hell of a push. Even being Kid Flash,Wally felt that push in his head. It was a hard push, like Superboy hard. “Ow”.

“Be careful Armen” Abigail chided.

Armen grunted, but said nothing more. In less than a few seconds Wally blood was taken and he was hooked up to the machine, trying desperately to keep his heart rate to a normal non meta speed. Abigail as if sensing his discomfort, went to his side and held his hand. Whispering sweet praises into his ear.

“Relax” she reassured. But fuck, how in the hell did she expect Wally to do that. Not only was he a fucking idiot strapped to a fucking lie detector test with his secrete identiy minutes from being exsposed, he’s also stuck in a labryth like mansion and he’s pretty sure that Armen guy is a Meta.

A fucking strong Meta.

Despite this, Wally tried his best to slow down his heart. He had to protect his identity, he could worry later.

He thought of every hospital movie he’s ever seen and tried his best to mimik that. When Carmichael started asking questions, he knew he at least fooled one of them.

“Your full name”?

“Wallace Rudolph West”.

“Age”?

“Fifteen”.

“Birthplace”?

“Blue Valley”.

The questions continued for a little while. Little things, that he didn't really care if they knew. Did he have siblings? No. Did he want any? No.

It was all too easy and for once Wally didn't mind telling the truth. He didn't mind until Carmichael got to the real question.

“What are you doing here”?

“I uh- was in the neighborhood. Just wanted to see Abby” Wally lied. He tried to lie, but the second he did, the wires sparked red and his machine began to beep frantically. Abigail apparently distressed with this instantly dropped Wally's hand and back up to the other side of the room, almost in fear.

Shit, she's afraid of him.

The machine beeps louder.

Shit! Calm down. Calm down.

“Mister West, please refrain from dishonesty. This is the most accurate polygraph test it picks up even the slightest discrepancy. I should warn you, further lying will result in an administration of truth serum through injection. It's a painful process so I would like to avoid it if we could”, Carmichael explained.

“You can't do that. That has to be illegal '' Wally nearly yelled. He tried to get out of the seat but Armen, apparently was just waiting for a chance to slam him back into it. This time he keeps his hands on Wallys shoulders.

Shit! Calm down. Calm down.

“Wally just tell the truth” Abigail pleaded. She had moved a little closer, but that didn't stop the fearful glint from reaching her eyes. She wanted to believe in him. But why is he lying?

“I am” he replied back.

Beep! Beep!Beep!Beep! The machine gets louder, Armens grip gets tighter.

And Abigails, eyes get harsher, “Stop lying! I trusted you! The crew trusted you, how could you just lie in my face. Your the same as everyone else,all you care about is my Dad”

Wally started to reply but stopped when he saw the other bodyguard pull out a needle and serum.

Beeep! Beep!Beep!

Calm down. Calm down.

Armen let go of one of Wally’s shoulders to grab the now filled needle. Apparently he only needed one arm, to hold frantic Wally down.

Once the needle was poised at his neck, Carmichael sauntered over once more, “Mr. West last chance. What are you doing here”?

Beeep! Beep! Beep!

What is he doing here?

Shit, hell if he knows. One minute he's at home the next he's running to escape-

Roy.

Fuck, he forgot about Roy. He forgot what had happened and now he wishes more than anything he never remembered. Every emotion he had been running from, crashed into him like a hawaii wave.

His friend Roy...his good friend Roy.

“He’s dead” Wally whispered.

“Elaborate”Carmichael saids.

For a second Wally doesn’t, his mind still reeling on the revelation that Roy...is gone.

Armen’s grip tightens once more, hard enough that Wally squirms as he wipes his eyes. When did he start crying? Why can’t he stop?

Armen squeezed harder every passing second. It was excruciating, Wally’s not sure which hurt more. His shoulder or his heart.

“Better talk now, before I get serious” Armen growled out.

Wally sighed, he may as well. “My friend….h-he died. I was...running- running to get away…. Get away being sad, or mad or anything and I - I just.. This was the last place I was at when I was happy so I just ended up..here.

Silence. No one said anything. The beeping had finally stopped.

Instantly he was engulfed in a bear hug from Abigail. “Oh Wally, I’m so so so sorry. I can’t believe I even, I mean seriously that's terrible”.

“It's fine- I’m

“Don’t you dare! It’s not fine, you're grieving and I’m a bad friend. Come on, lets go wash your face”, she started ripping the wires off of him only to be stopped by Armen.

“The protocol requires more questions”, he growled out.

Abigail, not even the least bit disturbed, plucked her wrist out of his reach and glared back. “I don't care, he told you why he’s here and that's good enough. He doesn't need to answer anymore questions so back off”.

Armen grinned, he loved confrontation, “ Too bad you're not the boss, princess. Or I might actually listen”.

The two blondes glared at one another, ready for the next move. Before either one could say anything else, Carmichael interrupted.

“That’s fine Miss Caperson, please exit to the left with your guest. Armen stand down”.

“What” Armen screeched, while Abigail smugly smiled. As she ( and five other bodyguards) left the room, literal steam came out of Armen’s ears. It wasn’t until she was completely gone that Armen spoke.

“Why did you let the ginger go? The handbook highlighted three other ‘must ask’ questions”.

Carmichael sighed. It was always the newbys, always. In less than a second he had elbowed Armen in the gut, he followed it with a swift kick that left the large man on the floor heaving. Just as Armen was getting up he posed his knife at Armen’s neck and cut him down to his belly button.

“Armen because of who your father is, I’ll take your questioning as ignorance and not kill you. But keep in mind I do not tolerate insolence or unnecessary conversation”. Carmichael replied.

Armen could do nothing. Not only was his blood leaking,his throat pulsing. His entire body was stiff…..like he was paralyzed. The nerves no longer responding to him. He hadn’t felt this weak, this vulnerable in a long time.

He didn't understand.

Why couldn't he move?

Why…..when all this old man did was cut him.

“Any questions” Carmichaels monotone voice asked.

“Whuuy”, Armen slurred. Shit even his mouth, it was getting harder to move his mouth. He couldn't even scream. Was he dying...no. Carmichael didn't even cut any vital points.

So why?

As if hearing Armens murmurs, Carmichael crouched down and answered him. “Why what? Why let you live, I’ve told you your father is a valuable asset. Or perhaps you are asking why you can't speak. I’m sorry dear boy did you believe you were the only meta in the room. In any case, for future reference it is best to let the young mistress believe she has some authority. She is more compliant that way”.

He kicked Armens once, hard enough to make the young man cough blood. Soft enough to not break a rib.

He then tenderly held Armens face, “Although it is good, that you are careful about protocol. Your father did say you were excellent at taking orders. So I will give you a piece of information to ease your mind. The boy's blood was taken by Tarean. Did you happen to notice where the blood was stored...hm no. Too busy trying to be the strongest in the room”.

Armon said nothing. He didn't understand how he could be sooooo. Stupid.

When he didn't receive an answer Carmichaels grip tightened, hard enough that Armon screamed.“It's been two minutes,you should be able to talk again. I asked you a question, do you best to answer. ”

Shit he asked a question. What was it?

Apparently he took too long trying to find the question because the next he knew Carmichael had hit him again. This time he did break ribs.

“I don’t remember” Armen gritted through his teeth.

Carmichael sighed and gestured to the only other person in the room. The other bodyguard Tarean. A quiet, frail man, who had never spoken to Armen and always looked uninterested. In Tareans hand was the vial of blood from Wally.

Carmichael grinned and grabbed the vial as Tarean helped Armen off the floor.

Armen could only grimace both from his cut and from the amount of blood he lossed. You could barely see it in the all red room, and that made it even scarier.

As Tarean tended to Armens wound, Carmichael sauntered over to left bookcase and picked up a book. The shelf moved to the right to reveal an assortment of vials. All vials of blood. Some more empty than others.

Once Carmichael labeled the vial and placed it with the others, he closed the shelf and nodded to the remaining two men. “Trust me Armen we aren't finished questioning the boy. We’ll just save the further questions for a later date. If you're good I’ll even let you retrieve him. Clean up this mess and report back to me in twelve minutes. Understood?”.

Beside him, Armen could feel Tareans hefty nod. He tried his best to mimic it but his neck stil was sore, the bandages only supplying the minimal support.

Tarean made quick of mopping up his blood as Carmichael left the room. Armen just stood there still shocked from earlier. He didn't even notice Tarean bottle up some of his own spilt blood, until the frail man went to place it with the others.

The other vials, over 600. Some filled to the brim while others were barely but a drop of blood. Vials that Armen knew were kept for nothing good.

He eyed the one labelled Armen Ikarus and then the one labeled Wally West. Both right next to the other, both filled half way. Both in the front, to where he knew they would be put to use soon.

Just what the hell.

What the hell was this place?

Chapter Text

Strange.

That was the only way to describe this.

It wasn’t weird, crazy, or even a little bit scary.

Just…..strange.

One minute Jinx is training the new recruits.

The next minute she's encased in darkness listening to Supergirls wails. After pushing the loud blonde off of her and finally convincing the team that this isn’t a new exercise. She immediately went on the offensive, urgently looking for whatever caused this.

Maybe they blew out a fucking watt or something. Her team was already a hazard, these three recruits...just added to the destruction.

After finding out the entire blocks power was out, she figured she should probably ask someone who knows about electricity.

“What the fuck is going on,” Jinx said as she held her arm up, illuminating Gizmo’s lab in pink.

“If I knew, you think I’ de be fucking with the processor,” Gizmo yelled back. He was crouched down, flashlight in his mouth frantically pushing buttons and resetting wires. It didn’t make sense.

There is no way the entire building would cut off like this.

There’s no way HIS lab would shut down the same day Mammoth breaks his generator.

There is no way.

At least not by accident.

He grumbled, pushed another three buttons, and sighed when nothing happened. “Somebody’s up to something”.

“Yeah, and whoever it has hella reach”, See-more shyly said from the entrance. He looked less than happy to be in the cold laboratory. Okay, he looked positively terrified to be in the lab.

Which didn't bother Gizmo, he did know See-more history with laboratories after all. So no, he wasn’t bothered. Not with See-mores shivers, or his lack of eye contact. He wasn’t bothered until he saw who See-more brought with him.

At the sight of her figure Gizmo huffed. Jinx he could handle, See-More he could handle, but Shimmer. ….She’s destructive, demonic, and….. Distracting.

A complete fucking psycho.

Said psycho smirked at him as she crossed around his lab fiddling with whatever she passed.

When she finally stood in front of him, the pink glow from Jinx's hand made it obvious she was more than worn down. One eye was black, bruises littered her forearms and blood was on her shirt.

He knows he should be focused on the power, but damn it he can never pass making fun of Shimmer.

“Whew”, he whistled crudely, smirking. “Guess the new recruits took a bite outta you. Who was it, Troi….hmmm Jade…..Supergirl”

Shimmer bristled, “Oh fuck off gnome and turn the fucking power back on”.

“I know this may be hard for your pea brain to understand, but it’s not as simple as flicking a fucking light switch. All electronics are off, even fully charged cell phones. This isn’t your regular power outage.” Gizmo sneered back.

Almost instantly Shimmer flung the nearest object at him. It was proto-type, for a black hole storage unit he was working on. She didn't exactly break it, but damn did it hurt his head.

Didn’t he tell ya, a fucking psycho.

He pointed his laser at her, burned her arm. Laughed at her scream and ducked as she threw more inventions his way.

Didn’t he tell ya, distracting, fucking psycho.

“Stop it both of you”, See-more yelled as he tried to step in between the two, hoping his presence was enough to deter them. It wasn’t.

Both heavily smirking now, the short teen and the beautiful brute still engage in their petty battle. Only this time they now had See-more as a moving target.

It wasn’t until a scrap of metal nearly smacked Jinx in her own face that she decided to step in.

Children. She was literally dealing with children. With a roll of her eyes, she hit both Shimmer and Gizmo with a surge of energy before addressing the two.

“Come on Giz, leave See-more alone. And Shimmer aren't you supposed to still be in the training room. I told you to watch them”.

Shimmer ever the ray of sunshine she is, rolled her eyes, and ungracefully dropped whatever invention she was about to shuck. “You sure did. But hey Cyclops here was leaving and I probably would’ve killed Super blonde if I stayed. I gladly would’ve gone somewhere else but Baron’s sleeping and Hoodie is cleaning up after Arrow boy..again. Icy and Numerous are torturing Pinocchio, which is fun but not so much when he doesn’t have blood. So here I am”.

Ugh. Jinx sighed.

What’s sad is, this is probably the most mature thing Shimmers has ever done.

Rolling her eyes back. Jinx groaned and motioned to See-more. “ Your report”.

See-more ever the love-struck fool he was, stopped his moment of glapping at Shimmer to fully address the pink-haired beauty. “ I went to look around like you asked me. And well, Bludhaven, Gotham, Star City, Central City, Smallville, and Blue valley have all lost power. It’s crazy out there, Supers are just about everywhere”.

Jinx nodded trying to figure out just what those cities had in common. Power source, companies, anything is evidence.

Before she could truly map out whatever conspiracy theory her mind was cooking up, the small boy beside her perked up.

Gizmo paused, “No other cities”

See-more nodded, then grimaced, “Well I can’t exactly go to every city in the world but when I checked Milan, Vegas, and Los Angeles-

Instantly Gizmo swore, mixing both his English and his German as he crouched down again only this time he began using his laser to draw on his floor.

“Uh Gizmo, you okay” See- more kindly asked. Gizmo was erratic and a bit rude, but always majorly OCD. He would never write on his floor.

“I think the munchkins gone crazy, ” Shimmer happily added.

Jinx ignoring both of them crouched down next to the small teen. “Giz, you know what's going on”

The small teen nodded, “ Somebody used an SME, and I’m willing to bet it was somebody from our side.”

“A what”, Shimmer asked.

If Gizmo heard her he didn't make it obvious. His movements did not change, his eyes still focused on whatever he was drawing. He repeatedly kept scribbling with the laser and stepping back. Almost as if he was an artist admiring a painting.

Jinx had to nudge him twice till he finally mumbled out “Sion magnet with an electronic base”.

This time Shimmer sighed and crouched down, “Okay now in English dweeb”.

Snapping his head up, Gizmo nearly dropped his laser as he glared. “ I said it in English and you know it”.

Screw her. She knew languages were a sore subject for him.

Sighing yet again Jinx stepped in between the two, “Giz, what's a Sion magnet”.

“Think of it as a giant metal source powered with ions”, Gizmo said before continuing his drawing.

The others said nothing, eventually, they figured the small teen would explain. When he didn't, Shimmer was more than happy to talk again.

“Well, what makes you think it was us smarty. Seems like a pretty good excuse for Supers to just parol around. Oh, darkness let me protect you, Batman and all that crap ”.

See- more grimace, “I don’t think so Shimmer. You should've seen it, everything stopped and dark. People are going crazy, this is more problems than any Supes wants”.

“Not to mention SME are highly illegal and highly destructive. One SME could decimate a country. It's probably the most dangerous weapon in the world.” Gizmo added.

Shimmer smirked, “ Okay I take it back, that does sound like us”.

“Doesn’t sound like a power outage though,” Jinx added.

Gizmo nodded,“ They’re not usually, it’s pretty hard without frying yourself but when paired with a polar magnet, they can wipe out all electricity from at least 67,000,000 kilometers radius”.

Jinx paused, “So whoever did this was in one of those cities”.

Ever pleased that at least someone had a brain, Gizmo beamed up at her. “Yeah, if they’re able to get their hands on SME. Then I need to know who”.

Jinx nodded almost immediately. It is moments like this that she and Gizmo were on the same wavelength. Whoever has this weapon needs to be identified. Whether she working with them or not.

It really could be anyone in the League of Doom. It could be any villain. And that was a problem, she was acquainted with only some of them. And she trusted none of them.

She stepped back a bit, grabbed a laser, and added,” Gothams right here”.

Still not really understanding, See-more stepped back also and fully looked at what the small teen had been scribbling.

It was a circle, with points and numbers...almost like

“Coordinates?” See-more asked.

‘Yeah, if I use actual numbers, It’ll make sure I pinpoint this correctly”.

Finally, See-more understood. Ever the helpful dolt, he instantly began teleporting back in forth, naming coordinates as he reappeared.

Meanwhile, Shimmer shook her head. This was making no sense.” Okay, I get the SME thing stops electronics, super dangerous, scary but why is Poindexter is drawing math on his floor?

“To find the SME” Jinx hastily replied.

Huh.

“It's basic geometry, retard. Think of this way, if all these cities are in one circle I just need to figure out which city is in the middle and then I know where this all started. Hence where the SME is.” Gizmo smirked. He was obviously enjoying this.

“Nerd” Shimmer grumbled as she stalked over to his large computer.

It was strange for once, the large screen blank, no light illuminating from it. And no short teen angrily yelling from it either…...yet.

She smirked since the owner was too busy messing with his circle, Shimmer figured now was the best time to switch the keyboard keys.

She was almost finished with it too, before the strange genius yelled out a proud, “Got it”

Groaning, Shimmer lifted herself off of the computer and sarcastically quipped, “Oh goodie”

“Guess where”, Gizmo excitedly asked the trio

Honestly, he was such a child.

Shimmer faked her own enthused smile and excitedly replied, “Your mother's house”. She finished her reply with a flashing middle finger and an eye roll.

Not the least bit disturbed, Gizmo’s smile didn't even drop as he quickly replied. “She’s dead, like yours. Anyways the SME is in Central City”.

See- More frowned, then turned to Jinx, “Isn’t that where your cover is”.

Jinx nodded then frowned herself.

If this SME was as dangerous as Giz said. It shouldn’t be there. Not in Central City, where villains call themselves Rogues and don’t kill. Not in the place where people say sorry for bumping into you.

Not where her fr-.....cover is.

Something is wrong about this.

Before she could dwell further on it, the lights started flickering until the room was brightly encased in light once more. The computer started up and the tell-tell chime of cellphones started ringing.

It takes a second to realize one of them are hers. “Hello,” She answers, then curses herself for not checking which phone this was.

“Trixxxxxx, that youuuu. You sounddddd funny” Abigail Caperson’s bubbly voice said. Her words slurred a bit, and it took Jinx but a second to realize it. Abigail was drunk.

She did not have time for this.

“Oh yeah, I uh have a cold”, Jinx murmurs as she shuffles through Gizmo’s gadgets for a spare bracelet. When Gizmo finally hands her one, she instantly puts it on and watches as her skin, hair, and voice changed.

“Oh, hey did yourrrrrsss power go out toooooo. It's sooooo weird, Carmichael said it was like all of Central City”, Abigail asked. She started to ramble about how crazy that is, and how lucky she is to have so many generators on deck.

Shit, Jinx really doesn't have time for this. “Uh yeah, Abby look I kinda-

“Then Wally came over and-

Wait what.

“He came to your place”, Jinx asked. She asked but she really didn't want to know the answer.

Because if she’s honest, Abigail Casperson is her, at least her covers….friend.

Her pretty, popular, teen magazine friend. Her friend who despite having the quarterback as her boyfriend still gets love letters in the bulk.

Her superstar friend who guys dream of knowing.

And Wally’s a guy right.

She's not jealous...just curious.

Besides her, she could feel See-more’s stare. Gizmo was thankfully too busy fiddling with his computer and arguing with Shimmer to notice.

Abigail paused as if not sure if she should say anything else, then quietly whispered, “Yeah, he’s really bummed because his friend just…….died. So we drank until he passed out, which took a while cause ya know Wally’s limits are vrooooom.”.

“You guys are alone or-

“Uh yeah, Chads on his way though.….. Did ya hear me, his friend died Trix”, Abigail whispered again.

Oh yeah. She forgot. Normal people don't deal with death on a regular bases, huh.

“Yeah that's...sad” Jinx said after a moment. This time she turned to give See- More a full stare back. She knows he has supervision, but he can't hear their conversation...

So why was he staring at her like that?

“Are you watching some German telenovela or something”, Abigail asked. And for a second Jinx paused, she nearly forgot Gizmo was yelling at Shimmer in the background.

“Uh yeah. I have to go drink some soup. See ya Abbey”.

“Wait Trix-

CLICK

Shit, Jinx had never hung up a phone faster.

Slumping against a table she tore the bracelet off, relieved as her pink markings appeared and her hair colored.

She glared at Gizmo, not having it in her to yell at the teen. Shit, Shimmer was annoying and if she’s being honest, she really didn’t want continue that conversation with Abigail.

“What was that,” See-more asked after a second.

“What was what” Jinx defensively asked back.

“Your body temperature went through the roof, that quickly your heart must have been beating really fast. And your defensive...to me. Are you okay, did she find out or-

Instantly Jinx cut in, “I’m fine See-more. Nothing to worry about”.

See-more looked like he wanted to say more but a loud screech as well twenty hysterical laughs rang out.

Shimmer frowned, recognizing the yell instantly. “Numerous better not be fucking with Baron again” she mumbled, before running out of the room.

“Please make sure she doesn’t kill him,” Jinx said to See-more.

And though he shouldn't have, See-more nodded. Exiting the lab in the blink of an eye. He do anything for Jinx, even ignore whatever she didn’t want to talk about.

Now just the two of them, Jinx turned to a still fuming Gizmo. Apparently Shimmer had done something to his computer. She waited until he finally fixed whatever was wrong with it to address him, “Can you find out who exactly is the lucky owner of our SME”.

Gizmo frowned, “ Pinpointing the cities the best were gonna get”.

Jinx groaned. Great.

“Better news, we have two missing calls from headquarters. I was waiting for Shitter to leave since it's probably Rouge…..You wanna call back or should I”, Gizmo sarcastically added.

“Pleasures all yours” Jinx unhappily replied.

Gizmo frowned, redialled the number, and waited for the beautiful women to pop on his computer screen.

He waited.

And waited.

But it wasn’t Madame Rogue who answered.

“Luthor” Jinx said after a moment, almost cautiously. She didn’t like him and he knew it.

The bald man raised his eyebrow as if he was amused. He then turned his attention to Gizmo. “ I’ve to say, boy, I’ve had my doubts with your resume. Custom artificial weaponry is less than spectacular, especially for one dubbed the smartest boy alive. Forgive me, a genius hardly recognizes another intellect. But an SME, color me….intrigued".

Jinx said nothing. Gizmo said nothing.

Because them not knowing who had the SME was an inconvenience. But Luthor not knowing…. was a problem.

Luthor obviously caught on quickly, he paused. Voice threatening to break into a yell, on the crack of anger he said, “It was you..right”.

Gizmo paused, unsure of himself and what this ment, “No sir, it wasn’t”.

Luthor, now over the ledge of professionalism, abruptly stood up and angrily turned his attention back to Jinx. Veins are already threatening to pop, he paused for a second before addressing her. “Your covers in Central City! How could it not be you! No other villain of calibur resides there. Do you think of me as a fool”!

Again Jinx said nothing. Luthor knows she does not think of him as a fool. He knows she would not be stupid enough to try something like this and keep it under the radar.

He knows, which makes him all the angrier.

Luthor, more than irritated that his assumption was wrong, glared up at the two and hit his camera. It went off-screen, only showing the feet of the few unlucky scientists who were to face Luthor's wrath.

A woman's face showed for a second before the screen cut. The call ended.

It was no longer strange.

This situation wasn’t strange anymore. It was all too clear.

Somebody cut the power in over six major cities.

Somebody who outsmarted Luthor.

Somebody who didn't care if they killed millions or themselves.

Somebody who doesn’t work for the League of Villains.

Strange wasn’t the word.

This was bad.

Chapter Text

Shouting.

Actual Shouting.

Wally woke up to actual shouting. No, not yelling or screaming but shouting. Talking at the highest volume. Like it was some competition to see who could be the loudest.

And Abigail was clearly winning.

“But that's so unfair”! She screeched as her butlers tried in vain to calm the petite blonde. She spun around dramatically, hands on her hips and irritation in her face. “How can he be so mean”!

On the screen of her sparkly cell phone was Chad. He didn’t seem at all irritated by the noise, in fact, he appeared to agree with the bubbly blonde. “ Your right Abs, but you know how it is. Father is concerned about the “current city situation”, and with the statement your Dad just put out, I can’t go out right now”.

“But it’s just a stupid power outage and Wally really needs us right now. Clints running late and Trix bailed-

Wait. Need them?

Why would he need them?

He stumbles, alcohol still heavy in his blood as his mind flashes a million memories a second.

Drinking with Abby.

Laughing with Abby.

Crying with Abby?

Oh….Roy.

He’s not sure if it's the realization or the hangover but instantly Wally's face fell. His mouth was hot, stomach clutching, eyes teary.

His good friend Roy.

He tried to hunch but fell instead, and for the life of him he couldn’t get up. His vision blurred and his throat was closing. He felt Abigail go next to him, he knew she was speaking to him. Trying to calm him down, but all he could hear was his dad's voice.

The arrowboy

To die so young

Don't most of yer little friends go boom

Fuck.

“Wally please your hyperventilating. You have to stop”, Abigail said.

Wally tried to respond but found he couldn’t. His heart was beating so fast, near meta fast. Almost Kid Flash fast and Abigail was close enough to notice. He needed to calm down.

He wants to calm down. He wants to forget.

He sobs instead, body racking as he gasps for air. Heart increasing.

Some people now surround him, and Wallys too busy trying to breathe to notice if the meta from earlier is present. One of them pulls Abigail from his side, a bulky person that towered over everyone else.

“Loser you're having a fucking anxiety attack... run your goddamn mouth.” a voice said. Angry and irritated.

It's a voice Wally knows all too well and he seriously wished for once Clint would leave him the fuck alone.

He wants to yell at him, to scream every ‘fuck you’ his voice has to offer. But he can't because he barely breathe. And it's taking all of his energy to not vibrate through the floor.

No one says anything for a moment. The only sounds are Abigail's small huffs of air and Wally’s quick ones.

Clint sighs. ”West what's around you,” he asked. He asked and Wally heard him but fuck he can’t answer.

All he sees’s is his fucking secrete identity seconds away from being exposed if he doesn’t chill the fuck out.

All he sees is Roy. Crime-fighting, nacho cheese-eating, loud mouth and endearing.

His good friend Roy...who is gone.

He inhales. Bites his tongue as he looks for an appropriate answer.

“Floor” he spits out after a moment.

Clint responds immediately, “And”.

Ugh, he almost groans. Why is Clint even talking to him? He almost doesn’t respond but decides against it after Clint's growl. The last thing he needs is a fight right now.

He spots a vase. An ugly coral pink one with symbols he could probably pick out if his tears were not so heavy. He inhales again, this time still rushed but a bit slower. “ Vase” he answers.

Clint finally lets go of Abby, pushing her into the arms of a butler so that he may walk closer to Wally. He stops in front of the freckled-faced boy and asks again. “And”

Wally hesitates, looking around for another answer. As he does this, breathing gets a little bit easier. His heart beats a little slower.

He inhales. Deep and controlled. Closing his eyes for a moment to open them clearly. He could see everything now.

Beauty queen Abigail, trembling, looking scared as a nameless butler held her back. Her phone in her hand, showing an equally upset Chad. Carmichael looking bored, uninterested, and busy. And Clint- who Wally knows hates him. Clint who has every reason to hate him. Clint who was waiting for an answer.

What does he see around him?

Regret. Sadness.Grief

Wally exhales, tired suddenly. “Thank you”, he spits out. Embarrassed to the fullest.

Clint pushes his shoulder then, harsh and abrasive,” Not what fucking I asked, what do you see shithead”.

Wally inhales, again. Slowly, he’s more irritated than anxious now. “ Your ugly mug” he drawls out, half expecting Clint to lash out at him.

Clint doesn't. He doesn’t laugh either though. Instead, he ignores Wally, brushing past the redhead to greet Abby.

She greets him first, running to him and jumping into his arms. “Clint that was amazing! You really calmed Wally down. Your amazing baby”. She starts kissing him towards the end and Wally shuffles a bit as their make-out session gets explicit.

He should probably leave, right?

Carmichael left after all.

And they were getting pretty handsy.

Wally starts to shuffle to the door but the minute he reaches the doorknob Abigail plops her lips off of Clint and saunters over to the redhead.

“Wally you can’t leave! I mean - we can still hang out and I don't think you should be alone” Abigail says as she grabs his arm and tries to pull him back into the room.

He shakes his arm off in pure habit and smiles a bit to reassure the blonde it's nothing personal. “Naah I’ve kinda been here a while, it's almost 5. My folks are probably worried.”

Yeah, he knows, fat lie.

Almost as if she could sense this Abigail rolls her eyes, “Just tell them your staying over”

“Let the dork leave” Clint mumbles as he tries to catch her lips again.

She pushes against him, ready with her next rebuttal, but one look at Wally's puppy dog eyes makes her soften. Still, she purses her lips and sighs dramatically, “ Oh come on not the eyes, that's my trick. It's unfair to use it against me. I have a patent and everything”.

As if to prove her point she pursues her lips and sets her baby blues onto Wally.

He almost groans. If she didn't really patent it, she should. Abigail Caperson puppy dog pout was to die for.

Clint actually did groan. Huffing as he grabbed Wally by his shirt and placed him back in the room. “Fine dorks staying, just stop with the fuking eyes. Please”.

Playfully rolling his own eyes Wally calmlys says, “I guess one more hour couldn’t hurt”.

She squeals! Loud enough that both boys wince. Just what had they agreed to?

From her phone, Chad bites out, “I'd just like to point out you can't patent a gesture and blondie here just played both of you”.

Abigail grinned, “You're just jealous that you're stuck at home while we’ll be drinking our hearts out”.

Chad grumbles, “Maybe”.

Wally can't help it, he lets out a small smile.

The next hours are filled with drinking Henny shots and slurping jello shots as Abby and Chad playfully argue with one another through facetime.

The next hours are playing drunk hide n seek in a mansion and getting lost as the hider.

The next hours are belly flops into a pool, popcorn food fights in a home theater, and cackles on a diamond-studded dance floor.

The next hours were the few moments that Wally allowed himself to forget. To be okay.

But then, Chad's father makes him hang up the phone around the same time drunk Abby falls asleep and Wally is left with nothing but his thoughts.

He walks to Abby's pool, not nearly as drunk as he wants to be. He watches his own reflection in the water and hears his father's voice again.

Yer said the arrowboy was runts age huh. Red hair too, women would have a fit. To die so young.

To die

He blinks, watches a tear fall into the pool, and sighs. He is calm, but he’s not okay.

He wants more than anything for this to all be a dream.

A dream so he could wake up. A dream that closes to sleepovers at Oliver’s, stakeouts at Bruce’s, gorge sessions at Barry’s.

He wishes he had spent more time with Roy. He wishes he didn’t let school or his dad or life get in the way of his friendship.

He wishes so badly, this was all just a dream.

“Aye loser,” Clint says as he walks up to the redhead. In his hands are two shot glasses filled to the brim in what one can only guess is alcohol. He hands one to Wally before murmuring, “Wouldn’t have expected you to have a friend...but here’s to him”.

He takes a grand gulp of his own glass and sighs when Wally doesn’t. Then in complete un Clint like fashion, he slumps his shoulders and whispers, “It gets easier”.

Wally shudders, unsure if he should reply. Clint had avoided him these past few hours thoroughly. He didn’t even try to find him during hide n seek, no matter how much Abigail begged. But on the other hand, Clint did help him with his anxiety attack earlier.

Maybe he could help him with this too.

Wally glances at him, “The grief”?

Clint shakes his head, pauses, and sits down beside Wally. “The regret. The feeling of waking up and remembering that person is no longer here. That you're missing not just moments you could have had but…..them. ” He paused again and whispered almost as if he was telling a secret, “First days the worst. Hits ya like a fucking wide back but…...It's better to think of what you had ‘stead of what you lost”.

Wally nodded. For once tears were fogging his eyes but he could still see.

No, he wasn’t okay. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to be.

He glanced back at Clint. His bully for so many years. Ironic isn’t it? The one person he can’t stand is the only other person who probably understands him right now.

Wally sniffled, closing his mouth a second to gather his thoughts. “I never”. He paused, shuddered, and looked at Clint once more. “I never said sorry about what...what happened nine years ago-

“Stop”, Clint rushed, voice cracking. “What happened back then….wasn’t …..fuck. Look no matter how much I blamed you for the shit West ya know it wasn’t-I know it wasn’t your fault. So don’t apologize for fucked up shit got it”

“Got it” Wally murmured.

Clint sighed again, almost as if he was embarrassed, “ And just so we’re clear, we’re not fucking friends”.

Wally smiled, “Yeah I know”.

They stay there for a few more moments, drinking their glasses and enjoying the silence. When he finishes his glass, Wally leaves it by the edge of the pool and stretches his legs.

God, he was exhausted.

He doesn't bother telling Clint bye, but he does watch him. Wait for him to finish his own glass and enter the mansion once more.

It takes seventeen minutes to convince Carmichael he does not need a ride home. Six to find his shoes. Eight to eat his way to semi- sober and ten for Wally to figure out how exactly to get out of the labyrinth-like mansion.

Now finally at the front door, he sighs, taking in the crisp fresh air that the night brings.

He wanders over the gate and wonders just where he should go. Home was not an option. His chest still ached from his last encounter with Rudy. Though if he's being honest, he doesn't really feel like crashing at Uncles Barry’s either.

He sighs. Maybe he should’ve stayed at Abigail’s.

As he walks, it becomes more and more apparent that something is wrong. Central City is lit, the power is back on, but it's obvious that darkness had occurred.

Car accidents were littered left and right. Some cars are even embedded into buildings. Glass is broken, sidewalks cracked.

Central City has always been boisterous, people at every corner. Now it looked like a dead land. The only sign of life were the police who patrolled around and the reporters who scurried.

He stops at one and asks, “What happened”.

The officer shrugs, “ Blackout kid, worse one we’ve ever seen. Affected everything. Cars just suddenly stopped, planes too. We were lucky the damage wasn’t too bad. Senator Caperson says citizens should stay inside for now till we can figure it out. You need a ride home”.

A blackout? Affecting Cars?

Wally stops.” What about Flash”.

Again the officer shrugs, “Yeah, he was here with some other supers. They got all the injured and the criminals and left us with the mess. I guess the blackout affected some other cities so they had to check them out too. Look if you are scared to get in a car, I can walk ya home”.

A blackout like this affecting multiple cities?

“Thanks but I’ve got it. Homes not too far” Wally bit out, sending a quick smile and an even quicker wave.

He started lightly jogging hoping the sickness in his stomach would go away.

Hours ago he was thankful for this supposed blackout. But it couldn’t have been Uncle Barry or Batman.

They would never cause..this.

He looked around, trying hard not to imagine who cars these were. Whose blood this was.

He felt sick.

While he was drinking with Abby trying to forget Roy, this was happening.

How many people could he have saved?

He heaved, gripped his shirt, and rolled his eyes. Now was not the time to have another panic attack.

Calm down, Wallman.

Calm down.

He continued jogging until his body met with a worn-out phone booth. He was on the northern tip of Central city now, an area he knew all too well.

He can’t take back the time he lost. The people he missed. But he was available now.

Kid Flash was here now.

Thanking God he always keeps one suit handy in the lining of his pocket. He quickly stepped into the phone booth and changed.

He spent the first few minutes cleaning up Central City. Trying his hardest to figure out which cars were saveable and which weren’t. He then helped with buildings, sure he doesn’t have super strength but speed did come in handy when it came to moving.

He visited the hospital. Helped the nurses with rounds. Read stories to the kids.

He couldn’t repair everything. He couldn’t save anything.

But these few moments of helping Central City eased his mind. Maybe he wasn’t a complete failure.

He was helping Luigi fix the lining of his front window when his comm beeped three times. Cave code for come now.

He almost ignored it. He is suspended after all they cant be really asking for him. But then the comm beeped again, this time six times.

Cave code- urgent.

Sighing, he pushed a couple of buttons on his goggles and waited until he was illuminated in a glowing white light.

Recognize Kid Flash B-03

“KF dude!”, Beastboy yelled. He was sitting in his favorite chair but for once he wasn’t playing his beloved video game. Instead, he was slouched over watching the news.

Instantly Wally sped over mushing the green kids’ curly hair, “BB its been three days but it feels like an internity ”.

Beastboy smiled, Kid Flash was always such a fresh breath of air. “Yeah, dude! Missed ya, it literally sucks monkey balls to only play Kyle in speed crusher. M’gann just lets me win and Bumblebee left so I’m stuck with the trash basket and when I tell you he’s no competition-”.

“See if I play with you again greenie”, a black-haired lantern grumbles as he enters the room. Instantly Wally remembers him, Hal's sidekick.

“Ion”?

Ion perks, “Hey Kid Quick! how's it going”.

“Kid Flash”, Wally sourly corrects, though in all honest he’s not really mad. He feels refreshed, better somehow. More relaxed. He missed the Cave. He missed being Kid Flash.

Ion flushes,“Oh sorry, names are not my forte. You should’ve seen the mess I caused on Oa when I tried to re-name the Guardians. Wheeeeew, not a good time. Kilowog actually tried to kill me. Like legit slaughter”.

Beastboy was the first to laugh at that. Wally soon joins him. He can’t be serious.

“Did he try with his hands or his ring. Cause it only counts if he used his ring”, Wally teases after a moment.

Beastboy laughs harder and Ion chuckles. Wally smiles hard. This is why he loves being Kid Flash. This is what he should be doing. This is what he should’ve done with Roy.

He blinks back tears and smiles again. He’s not okay, but doesn’t mean he won’t be. Just when Wally had another joke lined up, a voice interrupts them.

“If you hyenas are finished, I didn’t call you for comedy hour” Robin dryly saids from the hall.

Wally pauses. Oh yeah, he was called here.

He speeds over, intent on ruffling Tim’s hair the same way he did Beastboys but pauses when he catches Tims frown.

Oh, fuck what did he do now?

“Your phone is off,” Tim said. He said it like its fact. Like he had been calling it for a while now.

Shit.

Wally hangs his head, so not in the mood to be berated by an eleven-year-old. “I- kinda broke it”.

Tim nods slowly in a ‘duh obviously’ kinda way and turns his head to the other two teens in the room. “We’re going to be sending out teams for clean-up in a minute. Kid Flash handled Central City so you two are now relocated to Team B”.

“Team B is which city again,” Beastboy asked while picking his ear.

Tim sighs. Does anyone read his mission statements? “Team B is Star City. Go get suited up”.

In a way that just screams Bruce, he gives neither boy another glance as he turns to Wally once more. “You and I need to talk”.

Huh. Talk? Tim wants to talk? Now?

“Shouldn’t we clean the cities first?” Wally asked. He asked but he wasn’t at all surprised when Tim didn’t answer him. Instead, Tim grabs the redheads arm and basically drags him into the nearest vacant room.

He doesn’t say anything at first. Pushing buttons on his belt for a second, until a map comes on a screen.

It’s a weird map. A circle? And Central City is in the center.

Tim doesn’t bother acknowledging Wally’s puzzled face, “The blackout started in Central City at approximately 11:03 a.m. You or Flash were speeding around Central at 10:59.

“Okay,” Wally replied. Because what else is he supposed to say.

“It’s not a normal blackout” Tim pressed.

Again Wally scrunched up his face. Just what is he getting at?

Tim sighs, “It’s an SME KF. An SME in Central City? Where no villain has the brains to even obtain one. But its two top heroes are basically einsteins, with enhanced speed”.

Wait. They can’t possibly think he would?

“I would never” Wally nearly shouts.

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

Tim sighs again, and for the first time that day, Wally notices how tired he looks. “I know Wally, I’m just trying to paint the picture. A lot of the league doesn’t know you and Flash as well as us. They’re not happy that this happened”.

“Well, neither are we” Wally buts in. They can’t possibly think he would ever.

Tim doesn’t respond to that either. Instead, he presses another button on his belt. Highlighting several cities on the screen.

“Over 3,000 inmates escaped Arkham. 350 in Metropolis. 600 in Star. 200 is Bludhaven. Computers were hacked, Labs raided. It looks ..strategic. The league still mad about Hawkgirls betrayal last summer. We’ve all seen heroes shift, cliques form. They’re even more upset that Flash has no idea who could’ve done this. You being drunk doesn’t exactly help” Tim adds.

“I’m buzzed, not drunk” Wally quickly rebuts.

Tim nods again, and hands Wally a mint before replying, “ Sure, sure. Your issues aside”.

“I don’t have an issue” Wally interrupts.

Because he doesn’t. He barely fucking drinks. Tim is being dramatic.

Tim pauses, “Okay, but we’re talking about Flash and the SME right now”.

Oh...yeah. The SME. Central City. The buildings. The blood.

“They’re not blaming Flash are they,” Wally asked.

They couldn’t be blaming Barry, right. Barry wouldn’t hurt a fly. They have to know that, right? Clearly some new villains in town. That’s not his fault.

Tim presses a few more buttons on his belt until the screen shows the Justice League. They’re seated around a large round table, some looking angry. Others looking paranoid.

Flash looks defeated.

“B’s holding a meeting. Most don’t think Flash did this but they don’t understand how he has no leads. They also don’t understand how he has no contact with his sidekick. They don’t trust it.” Tim shuffles, the unspoken “they don’t trust you” hangs in the air like a bad stench.

Wally rubs his eyes. This can’t be real.

Tim offers a small smile, “I don’t know how its gonna go, but I thought I’ de give you the heads up”. He then reaches into the drawer next to him shucks a box at Wally. “Here, Waynetech’s newest phone, I even encrypted some league stuff for you. You shouldn’t be able to break this one. I made it klutz proof, case and all….I got to go, clean up mission starts in 10, and if I don’t remind everyone it won’t get done”.

Wally nodded, this was a lot. But the world came first, he could process later. “What team am I on”, he asked.

Tim frowns and looks back to the screen with the Justice League arguing.

Right. They don’t trust it.

They don’t trust Flash.

They don’t trust him.

Wally rubs his eyes harder. This can’t be real. Everything was going to shit and he can’t understand why.

He rubs harder.

Why.

Harder.

Why.

Tim stands in the doorway. Pausing at his friend. He wanted to help Wally, but he can’t. He’s never been good at feelings. He couldn’t even look at Dick yesterday after the Roys news broke.

He closes the door instead, leaving the redhead to his own thoughts, just as he had left Dick this morning.

Tim didn’t know why this all was happening.

Jason, Roy, Melvot, Arkham, the Blackout. It doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t understand why.

But he will.

He pauses glances at the screen on his phone, a direct link to the phone he sent Wally.

He has to for their sake.

Chapter Text

Fuck

That was all Jinx could think.

Fuck is what she thought as soon as the power had cut out.

Fuck is what she thought as soon Gizmo said it wasn’t a normal power outage.

Fuck is what she thought when they figured out the SME was activated in Central City.

And Fuck is exactly what she thought after Luthor called them.

Because not knowing who would go against you is troubling. But not knowing who would go against the supers and Luthor….

…..Fuck

Jinx clenched her eyes close, pushing away any and every bad thought that littered her mind.

When she snapped them open, she glanced at Gizmo. “We have to assemble a list. The League of Doom has made plenty of enemies as has the Justice League. We just need to cross-examine who hates both of them and-

“That won’t work” Gizmo interrupted, fiddling a bit with his computer as he spoke. “Luthors no saint or Mr. Popularity but he is feared. He has connections and he’s no idiot. Whoever did this… I can’t imagine they aren’t as well.

Jinx paused. He couldn’t be fucking serious.

“..So what you're saying is they probably covered their ass so we shouldn’t look? That’s the dumbest shit you’ve ever said Giz. One fucking call with Luthor and you’re playing it safe. I get that you fanboy the fuck outta him but could you please keep it in your pants for a minute.”, Jinx sneered.

Harsh she knows but Gizmo’s ‘whatever bro’ attitude was pissing her off.

To his credit Gizmo didn’t even pay her the slightest bit of attention. Instead, he walked over to a table and began fiddling with one of his inventions.

It was a clock, projector..thing. Whatever, she didn’t know. All Jinx could understand was he was pissing her off more, and on purpose too.

Fed up with his nonchalance, she quickly sent a surge of pink to Gizmo’s working hands. The boy yelped, stepping back a bit as the invention lit up and exploded.

Angrily he whined,” What was that for”?

“Stop ignoring me” Jinx bit back.

Gizmo rolled his eyes, thoroughly annoyed. “Luthor and his men are probably combing the servers right now. The Justice League is probably doing the same as well as the UN and countless other factions. All I’m saying is we should wait”.

“Wait for what Giz?! For Luthor to figure it out. For headquarters to give us the next operation. They won’t tell us shit and you know it.” Jinx replied.

Again Gizmo rolled his eyes. He gets it really, an SME is a big deal, but still.

“ God, Jinx I’m not saying wait for Luthor or the League! I’m just saying let whoever did this pick up their trail first”, Gizmo exclaimed, he then frowned rolling his eyes at her puzzled expression. “Think about it, much easier to catch your prey from behind then forward.”

Ugh, Jinx pouted. As irritating as it was……..Gizmo did have a point.

Granted it’s going to suck waiting. But chances are if they let the Supers pick up the heavy load they can just breeze past.

Plus if they played this right, the enemy would be so enamored with evading everyone else they wouldn’t even see her team coming.

“Fine, I don’t like it though” Jinx murmured.

“Me neither. But the bright side is while everyone’s figuring out the who we can focus on they why”, Gizmo smirked, pulling up various articles and images as he spoke. His mouse lingered a bit on the more graphic images before he finally pulled up the blueprints to an SME.

Jinx snorted, “ Not that I want to ruin your Sherlock moment but think it’s kinda obvious. The hey I have the most destructive weapon in the world bow down to me narrative. Kinda fits”.

“Careful, Pinky! You keep showing that sense of humor people might think your not a total batshit psycho”, a voice quipped.

Instantly Jinx steamed.

That fucking voice. She knew that fucking voice. She hated that fucking voice.

Almost as much as she hated that stupid nickname.

Slowly, she turned her eyes to glare at the intruder.

Speedy.

The irritating junkie who she’s somehow allowing to live in her base.

The same fucking junkie that happens to be a superhero.

The bane of her fucking existence.

Fuck.

Beside Speedy was Red Hood and while normally Jinx would enjoy his company. She didn’t particularly like his new shadow.

She loathed him actually.

For the past two days, Speedy had been nothing but irritating.

He distracted Hood from training. Flirted with Supergirl non - stop. Got in arguments with literally everyone else. Question her authority constantly. Injured Icicle Jr. multiple times.

Not to mention the idiot had the fucking nerve to put a dartboard in every room.

Ugh, loathed wasn’t the word. She hated him.

“Say Hoodie what part of ‘keep your junkie out of the lab’ don’t you get”, Jinx asked, making sure her disdain dripped with each syllable.

Speedy glared back instantly, “Not a junkie, you’d think with your background, you’d know the difference”.

“Still in the denial phase I see”, Gizmo murmured, only to receive a disapproving glare from Red Hood. He then sheepishly shrugged, opting to focus again on his computer.

Jinx choose to follow Gizmo’s lead, turning her head back to the computer as well. When seconds passed and she didn’t hear the door shut, she sighed. As she turned back around she met Red Hood’s gaze “Something you need Hood? New gun, titanium knife….another mop for your junkie”.

“Again addict not junkie”, Speedy sings, smirking a bit as he places one arm around her. “But ya know I would like a flatscreen for our room, maybe a vacuum too. Hey Harlot you getting this or should I write out a list”.

“Aren’t you suppose to be sniveling and vomiting somewhere.” Jinx bit back, removing his arm almost immediately. She then turned to Hood glaring, “ We talked about letting it roam around. Don’t blame me if I decide to just up and kill the fucking liability”.

To make sure they both knew just how serious she was, she let her hands glow just the slightest.

Speedy, ever the comedian he is, decides to mock her by placing his hands on his face and sarcastically biting out. “Oh, I’m so fucking terrified Pinky, truly”.

Red hood for the most part ignored them. Moving between the two feuding teens to talk to Gizmo instead. “I’m guessing you know who’s behind this Shrimp. From experience I can tell you clowns and bombs aren’t a good mix. So just tell me who to shoot and we won’t have to worry about countries blowing up”.

Gizmo smiled, opening his mouth for what probably would have been the longest and most narcissistic little speech in the world. Well, it would have been, had he not been interrupted.

BAM!

“Ahhhhh fuck”, Speedy groaned, as he picked himself up from the metal carnage.

An entire table, as well as three inventions, were blown up into little chunks of scrap metal. Apparently, Jinx had shot Speedy into the left side of the room.

Red Hood wasted no time. Shooting Jinx a dirty glare as he helped Speedy up and checked him over for serious injuries. After he was sure there was no internal damage, he dryly spat out “ Why the fuck are you two trying to piss me off. I don’t have enough fucking bullets to play around with you lunatics ”.

“Dude why the fuck are you yelling at me! I ain’t do shit to Pinky except ask her about her tattoos. Can we say crazy bitch” Speedy huffed.

Jinx growled, they are not fucking tattoos. And she doesn’t want to talk about them with anybody, especially stupidass Speedy.

Plus who the hell was he calling a bitch.

She lit her hands up in pink energy once more, this time with more ferocity than the last. Just when she was about to aim right at the junkie’s stupid fucking face, Red Hood pointed his gun at her.

“An SME takes precedent against your shitty attitude don’t ya think. You two should at least be able to ignore each other” he grunted.

Jinx frowned. Her attitude? She did not have an attitude.

She is very professional and calm.

Speedy just had a knack for getting under her skin. Scratch that he had a fucking talent for getting under her skin. It didn’t help that his very existence threatened her entire life as a member of the League of Doom.

But still, Hood wasn’t exactly wrong.

She sighed, letting her hands flicker for a bit before the pink light is gone.

Her frown still etched on her face, she doesn’t even wait for Hood to remove the gun from her direction before turning her body away from Speedy and rejoining Gizmo at his computer.

She doesn’t have an attitude. She can ignore the junkie.

He doesn’t even fucking exist to her.

“She is more...angsty today huh. What happened Pinky, that time of the month” Speedy asked, grinning a bit towards the end.

Screw it, she did have a fucking attitude.

And she planned to show Speedy every inch of it.

Before she could stalk back over to the irritating ass archer, Gizmo’s voice brought her back.

“Two seconds and Shimmers already ran her goddamn mouth,” Gizmo whistled, “ I underestimated her”.

Red Hood scoffed, “Shimmers beating the shit out of Numerous while See-more and the Sasquatch hold her back. I’m just not an idiot”.

Inwardly Jinx sighed, of course. Of fucking course, little Hoodie would know everything. Which means the Bats probably knew everything, which meant the League knew everything.

And she...she was wasting valuable time.

So as much she wanted to throttle Speedy, she’d rather focus on the problem at hand. “Giz, and I are handling it Hood. Just take the ju-Archer and go please”.

Behind her, Red Hood glared, “Not gonna happen”.

Ugh. Leave it to Hood to be difficult.

The bastard’s MIA every time she needs him for something but now, oh now he refuses to leave. Just her fucking luck.

“Why the fuck not. I don’t need you or your pet pincushion to distract us.” Jinx bristled.

“Ya know Pinky I’m starting to think this little attitude of yours may be personal. Did somebody have some childhood trauma they’d like to share with the class”, Speedy quipped.

Jinx smirked, a nasty retort at the tip of her tongue.

Thankfully Gizmo stepped in between the two before she could utter it out. “Enough! Stop baiting her! This is not the time for you two to have another petty squabble”.

Speedy chuckled, “Munchkin, should you really be the one to talk. I’ve seen you fight with Shimmer over a vowel ...and lose”.

Now it was Gizmo’s turn to glare at the archer.” Look Pinhead-

Red Hood rolled his eyes, it’s a sad day in hell when he’s the mature one.

“Oh my god! Just shut your fucking traps!”, Hood exclaimed, he then sighed, calming his temper just the slightest. “Look. The rest of the fucking wackos may be in lalaland but we can all agree an SME is too big to ignore. We should work together to figure out who has it”.

It was silent for a minute no one said anything. Not because of Hood’s tone or his anger but his words.

Don’t get it wrong, Hood was completely right, they should work together.

But still...the fact that HE was the one to come up with the solution.

“Uh did Ra’s rewire the zombie’s brain again? I thought he hated working with us” Gizmo quietly whispered.

Apparently, it wasn’t’ quiet enough. In the next moment, Hood was glaring at him and a gun was to his head. “Call me a zombie again, I dare you gnome”.

Before that could turn into a really messy, and completely unnecessary fight. Jinx stepped in between the two urging Hood’s gun down as she did. “ You just said we should work together instead of fight remember? Look, you wanna help, fine. Pull up a chair, we’re figuring out the why right now. My guess was power move”.

Red Hood nodded, pulling a thoughtful look as he did. “Fine….We should probably be more specific though. Research why Central and all that”.

Gizmo hummed, “Perfect! let’s each compile a list of ten guesses and regroup”.

So that’s how it started, for ten minutes it was silent. The only sounds were the shuffling of papers and the clicks of the computers.

Well, that and the occasional shaking and sniffling of Speedy.

“Move away from me….now”, Jinx said after a particularly bad shake had caused her papers to fall on the floor.

Beside her Speedy glared, “Oh yeah ’cause I totally did that on purpose. Look just deal with it, and pray to whoever that it ends soon. I sure as hell am”.

Before Jinx could rudely remind him, she didn’t have to fucking deal with his stupid fucking issues, Gizmo glanced up from the computer. “Withdrawl should last ten days, he’s done almost four. A couple of minutes in the chami-chamber can supersede that last six”

Red Hood glared, “I already told you-”.

“Wait spend a few minutes in your little porta- tube and I’m done with the fucking shakes and shit”, Speedy quickly asked.

“Speedy”, Red Hood warned.

Unfortunately for him Speedy completely ignored him, already running towards the nearest pod. “Fuck that, sorry bud but ya know. Kinda tired of waking up in my own vomit….. Shut up Pinky”.

So, while Speedy regenerated in the chami-chamber, Hood got reacquainted with Gizmo notes.

He apparently is much smarter than Jinx gives him credit for.

Granted he is a Bat but still, who knew he could read that fucking fast. Once he was done, he started spouting some nonsense about how the SME wasn’t a power move after all.

And she takes it back, he is a fucking idiot.

They started arguing, this time with fewer threats than usual. It only lasted a minute, as a loud ding rang through the lab silencing the two of them.

Seconds later the chami-chamber opened, a pool of gas creeping out of it.

“Ugh, I feel so much better. Like I’m 8 again in Star City ”, Speedy exclaimed, stretching his limbs a bit as he left the pod. He instantly moved over to Red Hood, smiling as he leaned the majority of his weight on the shorter teen.

And to Jinx’s surprise, Hood smiled back.

He smiled a real smile. One with all teeth and high cheeks. One that she’s sure would crinkle his eyes if she could see behind the domino mask. One that was so bright, so surreal, she’s sure she imagined it.

And maybe she did.

When she blinked, Hood was no longer smiling. Instead, he had his usual frown etched on his face, as he tried to push Speedy’s arm off of him. “Gave you back your baby fat, that’s for sure. Get off me you fucking lard”.

“You wish, this is all muscle and you know it”, Speedy cheerfully argued. He then turned to Gizmo, “Thanks shrimp”.

Gizmo nodded, half listening and half not as he meticulously took more notes on his pad. “The chamber fast proceeds healing so your past the withdrawal state physically but mentally you’re still there. Take this into consideration Arrows”.

Speedy rolled his eyes but nodded. “Yeah yeah, I get it munchkin. So what I miss”.

Gizmo smiled, pausing a bit in his note-taking to look up at the redhead. “ Hood and Jinx were debating if this power outage is a power move. Please continue”.

Jinx didn’t even have to look at Hood to know if he was glaring at the boy genius.

Clearly, Gizmo was enjoying their little argument too much.

“Uh dude I may have been out of commission for a bit, but that’s totally how they used it. Central City, Star City, Gotham, and Metropolis are damn near in shambles. Major cities plus destruction kinda leads to the whole fuck yall power troupe” Speedy grimaced.

Ugh, she’s on the same team as fucking Speedy. Kill her now.

Red Hood sighed,“ It’s an SME. These things aren’t even in the market because the UN banned them. Plus the materials needed to make one are found in some of the most selective countries in the world. One of the materials is so rare it said to only be available one day of the year”.

Jinx’s eyebrows furrowed. So what the fucking material are rare.“Is that supposed to mean some shit Hoodie? Giz said whoever did this is well connected, probably more than Luthor”.

“Which is fucking terrifying”, Speedy added.

“Your focusing on the who again, stay on the why”, Gizmo hummed. Carefully fiddling with some invention as he spoke.

“Ugh none of you are fucking listening! Power move doesn’t make sense. Why the hell would someone go through all the trouble of making an SME to create a little blackout. Sure it’s a power move but a small one compared to what it could have been had they decimated a country instead” Red Hood exclaimed.

“And who’s to say they won’t later,” Speedy argued.

Red hood glared, opting to shift his feet onto the desk as he pulled up a graphic. “That’s the thing with a SME. According to Shrimps notes, once paired with a polar magnet an SME becomes basically just a fucking light switch. The ions a neutralized and no more bomb power”.

Wait. So it isn’t a bomb anymore.

Well, that’s one problem solved.

Because damn did a fucking ion powerbomb scare the living shit out of her.

Especially one with an unknown owner.

But back to the matter at hand, “So what your point Hood. Not a power move, then what”?

Red Hood bitterly shrugged, ”That’s the shit I don’t get. What kinda crazy fuck builds the most dangerous fucking weapon in the world and use it only for a blackout? I would say scare tactic but again, why not just use the bomb. They clearly don’t care about killing, why not decimate a country? We’re missing something”.

Again Jinx frowned. Because fuck, he’s right. They were missing something.

Seconds pass, no one said anything.

They were missing something. Some clue, some info.

What the fuck were they missing.

Gizmo apparently bored with their current silence, groaned. “Oh come on it’s not that hard. Seriously, you guys it’s right there! Just ask yourself why”.

Why?

Why an SME?

Why would someone go through the trouble of making the most dangerous weapon in the world and use it for a blackout?

What would they gain?

Suddenly Jinx’s eyes widened. Of fucking course. It was so obvious.

Why else would somebody organize a large blackout, one where cop cars, security cameras, and planes literally shut off.

“They stole something, something big”, she murmured.

Gizmo nodded, opting to put his invention down and pull up various articles once more. “At face value that’s what it looks like. A bunch of labs were raided…. But here’s the thing an SME and a polar magnet can stay connected for 14 minutes and then they both become useless. Because of this, the power outage should have lasted for 14 minutes, and by my calculations, this one lasted 4 minutes and fifty-seven seconds ”.

Speedy frowned, “Meaning…..what? They can do another blackout for 10 minutes”?

Again Gizmo nodded, this time more eager than the last. “ Exactly Arrows!! Another blackout will be happening soon! But here’s the thing idiots, ask yourself why would they need a second and much longer blackout”.

Why indeed.

Fourteen minutes is plenty of time to steal something.

And no one wants to hit the same place twice.

So why would they stop the blackout just to do another one later?

Red Hood paused, “Whatever they wanted to steal they didn’t”.

“Or couldn’t! My guess is they probably were a millimeter off and set the SME in the wrong city. So whatever they were trying to steal wasn’t in the blackouts range. Ha, what fools”, Gizmo chuckled.

His chuckles instantly turned to high pitched giggles, which later turned to a full-blown laugh.

That apparently really pissed Speedy off.

“Ignoring the fact that your laughing at a miscalculation that still cost thousands of deaths because ya know I expect that from psychopaths but umm Squirt why the fuck does it sound like you knew the why the whole fucking time” Speedy bit out fuming as Gizmo continued to chuckle.

It was only when Gizmo didn’t answer him and continued to laugh that Speedy truly lost it. He let out his best growl and started chasing after the short boy, all while throwing whatever he could grasp in the munchkin’s direction.

Gizmo welcomed this, still cackling as he tried his best to avoid every one of Speedys throws.

“Come back here you gremlin” Speedy yelled.

“Oh come on Pinhead it’s always funny to see how your minds work” Gizmo yelled back, ducking just the slightest as Speedy found yet another item to throw.

As usual Jinx and Red Hood ignored the two, opting instead to look over the SME map once more.

“Okay, so our SME mastermind wanted to steal something. They used the SME to create a blackout in major cities to hide their tracks. But they set the SME off in the wrong city. That explains why the blackout was so short”, Jinx summarized.

Red Hood frowned, “But it doesn’t explain how they were able to get an SME in the first place. Or what they wanted to steal.”

Jinx nodded, turning her head just the slightest to glare at a still chuckling Gizmo. “Giz stop playing with the archer and focus. How are we going to find out what city they were trying to steal from?” she asked.

This time Gizmo and Speedy ignore HER, choosing instead to still chase one another around the lab.

Three jabs and a couple of warning shots later, they finally ceased their stupid game of tag.

“Uncalled for” Gizmo huffed as he rubbed his now sore head.

“Super un fucking necessary” Speedy added.

“Not sorry”, Hood replied with an unenthused shrug. He then motioned back to the map, “How do we find the city nerdling”.

Gizmo pouts a bit at the name, muttering slightly about Shimmer’s influence. He then walks back towards his desk shuffling a bit so he can proudly shove a heap of metal in the air.

The clock, projector thing Jinx had destroyed earlier.

Gizmo smirked, huddling the invention close to his chest as he spoke. “This baby is going to transfer the surface area to scale on my computer so you three idiots can see every city that wasn’t affected by the blackout”.

Speedy narrowed his eyes, confused to the fullest. He then turned his stare to Red Hood.

“It gonna put the picture he drew of the SME circle over a real map” Hood drawled.

“Okay... but why” Speedy drawled.

“To figure out what city they were trying to steal from”.

“But ….how” Speedy drawled again.

While Hood explained the invention once more to Speedy, Gizmo finally configured the SME circle over a map of America. It was crude, and not his best work but due-able.

Definitely due-able for them at least.

“So we’ll have to comb through every city within 100 miles to be safe”, Jinx asked while peering up at the SME map. To her right, Gizmo zoomed-in adjusting the screen just the slightest.

“I’d say 15 at the most, no way they were that stupid. Whatever they were trying to steal was super close” Gizmo retorted. “And bonus because well I know going over 200 cities might be too much for you losers. I’ve already eliminated 199”.

This time it was Hood that glare at the boy, “ You knew the fucking city the whole time” he spat out.

“Well not the whole time, duh. I did have to go through the other 199 and that took like 10 minutes. Then I had to check that over with an actual map and that took like 2. ”, Gizmo happily reminded.

Steaming Hood began to stalk over to the small boy.

“Mhmm, Giz, before Hood shoots your ass and mine the city please” Jinx chuckled, protectively standing in front of the shorter teen.

Undisturbed Gizmo once again beamed. “Hub City! It’s my last one! I’ve been researching them based on labs, technology, and influential figures. I can show you guys my system if you-”.

“Okaaay, we each take a sector of Hub city. We pinpoint the most important stuff and people and we come back to converse deal”, Jinx interrupted.

Hood simply nodded, while Gizmo pouted.

Speedy ever the annoyance he is, decided to mutter out a small “Bossy”.

And that brings Jinx, to where she is now. Hours later into this fucked up research. Googling about Hub city like a goddamn tourist.

Does it have ancient magic- Nope.

Old artifacts- Nada.

High tech- Not anything extraordinary.

This place didn’t even have a goddamn resident villain.

“This has got to be the most boring city ever”, Speedy grumbled.

“Thank you for stating the fucking obvious” Jinx muttered as she rolled her puffy sore eyes.

Hours, they had researched Hub city for hours.

Jinx sighed, at least they were almost done.

“Okay Hoodie, next sectors all yours go head”.

Red Hood groaned, “ It’s a dud, a fucking dud. Let’s move the fuck on please”.

“We can’t skip any sector, that leaves way too many anomalies and chances for error” Gizmo whined. He was probably the only person enjoying this little mini-search party.

Instantly three pairs of eyes glared down at him.

After a few seconds, the pink pair lowered. “He’s right Hood. Just say the damn report”.

“Fine fucking fine! North sector 5, including the major streets Lamon, Terces, Harington, Blethorn, and my fucking least favorite Covington. Nothing the fuck there but damn grocery stores, rich fucks, parks and culdesacs” Red Hood angrily finished.

Jinx tiredly nodded, eager to move to the next sector. “Alright, Giz-

“Wait wait! Blethorn I know that street” Speedy quickly said.

Jinx glared, “Happy for you, now Giz-

“ No you don’t understand. Blethorn is important. 345 Blethorn street is a really fucking important house”.

Red Hood sighed, glaring a bit as he read over his report. “345 Blethorn is a damn grocery store Speedy”.

Speedy angrily waved him off, typing frantically on Gizmo’s computer instead. When his data search finally came through, his head snapped up and he proudly yelped. “I knew it! Grocery store my ass. Guess which jackass lives in Hub city”.

Gizmo shrugged, always up for any guessing game. “Doubtful you’ll give us any heroes address and I know all the villains….Plus Hub City is on the expensive side so I’m going go with...what is a very important political leader?”.

Beside him, Jinx sighed. This was not the time for his little nerd humor.

Speedy unfortunately didn’t share her thoughts. The shaggy redhead beamed, nodding his head hurriedly. “Ding ding! 35, 000 for the munchkin”.

Through the side of her eye, she saw Gizmo beam before she heard him cackling.

Idiots. She is teamed with idiots.

Apparently, her glare as well as Hood’s, was enough to stop this little budding bromance, as Speedy instantly stopped laughing and started explaining. “Okay, so the guys a fucking judge. Names Toler. He’s the one who helped Ol- look he’s one of the reasons I was in Melvot. I know the web said that’s a grocery store, but I know for a fact that’s his address. I’ve seen it”.

Ugh, he can’t be serious.

“Mhm, your personal vendetta aside we should care because,” Jinx asked, slowing her word purposely towards the end.

Petty she knows, but it’s 2 am and she is damn tired. Plus she’s 90 percent sure Speedy little judge is a waste of her time.

Before Speedy could send back his equally petty retort, Hood shifted his feet off the desk he had been occupying and started his own search on Judge Toler. “ Superior Court Judge William P. Toler. Multiple connections, multiple businesses throughout the world.”

Okay, so he’s powerful. Big whoop. That doesn’t mean arrow boys right.

“Prior-seat on the UN. He’s heavily decorated and celebrated as a crusader against crime. Ugh, why do they always use that corny ass headline….. And here we go, he’s sent countless villains to rehabilitation centers and prisons. Notably, Blackgate, Stryker Island, Arkham, Crab Shell, and Melvot” Hood finished, looking towards the others as he did.

His stare was an obvious question. What do you think?

And honestly, if she wasn’t on 2 hours of sleep Jinx would have held back her groan.

Maybe Speedys little judge isn’t a complete waste of time.

Gizmo hummed, “He’s definitely a person of interest. And him masquerading his home as a grocery store is really suspicious”.

Fuck. Fine, rolling her eyes Jinx reluctantly looked back to Speedy.

Ever the annoying gimp he is, the redhead actually waited for her to nod before speaking.“When I was in Melvot there was no proceeding. No court date, nothing. I was in my fucking mask for christ’s sake”.

“No wonder I couldn’t find your identity in the inmate records, shame” Gizmo murmured idly.

To his credit, Speedy only half glared at him before continuing. “As I was saying! Toler made a deal. He got paid to kidnap me and keep me secret in Melvot. Only a selected amount knew I was there. I had no contact, nothing for two whole fucking months.”

“Okay, so Toler gets paid to harbor people in the prisons he has connections to. And if he did that to a hero, imagine what he did to villains. I know a few who would cash out to be sent to Arkham instead of Blackgate, dude must be loaded.” Gizmo added.

Red Hood snorted, “And knowing Gotham’s resident scum, fools will pay in jewels worth millions without even knowing it”.

“That it? I once knew an idiot who paid for silence with a yellow lantern ring. Imagine what you could do with a yellow lantern ring” Gizmo exclaimed.

Speedy chuckled, “Let’s not even get started on the goodies he must have got from Star City creeps”.

“You don’t think he was fucking stupid enough to keep it all at home do you” Hood sarcastically asked.

“Guess we won’t know unless we go and see,” Jinx said with a smirk.

It took about ten minutes for Jinx to wrangle everyone she needed for this little mini-mission.

Twenty-five if you count the fifteen minutes she had spent arguing with everyone else.

“I still don’t see why I can’t go”, Speedy angrily murmured, as he watched Red Hood, See-More, Jinx, and Puppet King suit up.

Okay, make that twenty-six.

Rolling her eyes, Jinx stopped her small planning with Gizmo to once again sneer at the redhead. “You’re not a member of the team, hence we can’t be seen with you. For the last fucking time”.

“You wouldn’t even know about Toler if it wasn’t for me Pinky. I think that warrants a visitor pass. Besides what the fuck is stopping me from walking out of your little fucking base”, Speedy sneered back.

Instantly a cuff shot through the room. Like a magnet, it latched onto Speedy’s ankle and like a magnet, it stuck to Gizmo’s lab floor.

“What the fuck is this” Speedy yelled as he aimlessly tried to free himself from the cuff.

Gizmo beamed, “I call it the Nano-cuff, see it has a nanochip that sticks the wearer to small nanobots placed around the area. Cool right!”.

“Get this shit off of me!” Speedy angrily yelled. He tried and tried to pull on the cuff, but no matter how hard he tried it didn’t budge. It was like the shit was made from fucking Superboys grip.

Gizmo shrugged, “Sorry, but I can’t have you alerting headquarters of your presence. Plus Hood told me to watch your dumbass ”.

Speedy ignored him, still pulling on the cuff as he yelled out “ Robin!! Dude I’m not fucking playing tell the munchkin to take this off now”.

“I told you to quit calling me that…..Look you should be resting, your better but not over it Speedy. The mission shouldn’t last long.” Hood murmured, reloading his gun and checking the eye hole as he spoke.

Instantly Speedy tried to refute this.

He’s no fucking civvy. He’s no fucking damsel. He’s been a hero since he was 8 damn it!

He’s two fucking years older than Red Hood! At least four years older than Gizmo.

They can’t tell him shit!

Besides he feels damn great since the chamber thing. He already is better!

And he hates being told what to do. He hates feeling hopeless.

Jason of all people should understand that.

He tried to tell Hood this but was instantly ignored as Shimmer decided to begin her own whining once more.

“Okay so arrow boy can’t go, but why the fuck can’t Baron and I.”, she spat.

See-More grimaced, “Uh isn’t Mammoth asleep. I- I’m sure you already know this, being his sister and all but he’s not exactly a morning person...especially at 3 am. I don’t think you should wake him up for this”.

“ Did I ask you what you fucking thought Specs” Shimmer angrily steamed.

See-More flinched, spinning around quicker than one could blink. “No, no you did not, my bad Shimmer”.

“Don’t let dat darn red-haired demon scare ya See- More! Be a man” Billy Numerous pipped up. He then multiplied himself thirteen times just to give See- More a chorus ‘yes men’. The copies like the original were loud and annoying and everything Shimmer hates.

So it’s no real surprise that in the next few minutes Shimmer was beating them senseless.

And it’s not really a surprise that Jinx didn’t stop her either. It’s not like Shimmer was really hurting Numerous much. And they both clearly needed to expel some energy.

She simply watched their little fight with mild interest, half-listening to Gizmo reiterate the plan as she did.

Suddenly a cold chill ran up her spine.

She didn’t even need to turn to know it was Icicle Jr. He was standing behind her like the ice cube he is, just radiating sub-zero fucking temperatures. Besides him was XL Terrestial and like the freak he is, he was somehow not shivering.

“I think you’ve managed to make Giz’s lab colder than Antarctica,” she said while rubbing her arms.

Looking not the least bit sorry the blue-toned boy only shrugged, “ Maybe if you let me go out for once in my life..I wouldn’t be freezing the lab”.

Jinx rolled her eyes. Leave it to Icicle Jr to be dramatic.

“Icicles and Shimmer’s delivery is off but their message is valid. I understand not taking the new members, but a team of four is risky. Besides that.. you’re clearly tired. You should take more of us” XL Terrestrial added.

Ugh. Seriously, Jinx had no idea what was with them.

Half of the fucking time, no one wants to do missions unless they’re getting some shit. Now the one time she tries to keep it small everyone wants to go.

Fuck that.

Loudly and much to Gizmo’s dismay she blew up the nearest inventions gaining the attention of every screwed-up member in the lab, “Look I’m not discussing this anymore. This mission is only gonna be me, Puppet King, Hood, and See-More. The rest of you should just rest up, you’ll need your strength”.

“Fine by me” Billy Numerous cackled. He was one of the few that was fucking ecstatic to not be picked.

Speedy huffed, “But not with me”.

“Or me! Give me one fucking reason why I can’t go” Shimmer bit out.

“Maybe it’s because you repeatedly keep hurting your teammates”, Icicle Jr. smugly replied.

“Dat ‘dere does sound possible” Billy Numerous exclaimed as he rubbed over his bruised jaw.

Shimmer growled out at the two of them, coating her hand in the hardest metal just to wave it threateningly in their direction. “Can it dweebs ! For I black both of your eyes, again”.

The two boys paled, Icicle jr. even took a moment to move farther away from the terrifying teen. Running he grabbed Gizmo up by his backpack and held him up in front. “Don’t come closer, She-Devil or I will use the Genius”.

Gizmo rolled his eyes, shivering just the slightest from Icicle Jr’s cold fingers,” I’m not a shield, Cameron. Put me down! And the rest of you, a team of four is the best option. Stop talking our ears off because you weren’t picked. It’s a covert operation, that means sneaky silent mission.”.

“I’m covert” Shimmer and Speedy yelled back. Instantly Hood, as well as Jinx, sent them a pointed look.

“Okay..fine. I won’t go. But why are you having the little shit babysit me? I’m not four ya know” Speedy asked, as he once again pulled at the cuff on his leg. He looked nonchalant as he said it. Like it wasn’t important but Jinx knew better.

Because she knew, just as much as Hood knew the reason Speedy was being confided to Gizmo lab.

Hell, she’s surprised Speedy didn’t know.

Throughout her short time knowing Speedy, Jinx had come to the conclusion that while annoying, he is well-liked by Hood.

When he wasn’t cleaning up after the druggie, Hood’s eyes shined for Speedy in a way she had only really seen with Nightwing.

She could tell that to Hood, Speedy was family.

So she knew, the reason Hood wanted Speedy to stay in Gizmo’s lab was because he wanted Speedy safe.

Safe from the rest of the team, because they weren’t exactly hero friendly.

Safe from Headquarters, because Gizmo was the only one who could succeed in hiding him.

Safe from the drugs, because Hood wouldn’t be here to watch him.

She knew that, but Speedy didn’t. So when Hood sent him another pointed stare, all Speedy heard was ‘ I don’t trust you’.

And when Hood did everything but explain what he truly means, Jinx had to turn away from that trainwreck.

Fixing her eyes back on Shimmer she idly watched as the beautiful brute argued with Gizmo.

Apparently, Gizmo said something to really piss Shimmer off, because in the next second she angrily coated her legs in shiny metal and kicked the fuck out of his computer

The boy genius glared, crying out the worst profanities he could think of before pointing his laser googles at her. It didn’t hit her, instead, it hit Numerous. Numerous who embodies immaturity, of course decides to throw something back. The next second nearly everyone was fighting, chuckling as they tore up Gizmo lab.

She should probably stop them.

But at 3:00 am Jinx decided she really didn’t care. Besides she had other things to worry about.

When she turned her attention away from her team, she went over the plan in her head.

Simple mission really, they go in, find whatever Toler has, and get out.

She and Gizmo were confident whoever had the SME would wait a while before initiating the second blackout. With all the supers on their ass, why wouldn’t they?

That left them a small window to get whatever Toler was hiding before the SME mastermind.

Should be easy.

Gizmo already mapped out the area of Toler’s little “grocery store”.

It’s secure, but nothing she can’t get past.

High trained security.

Ultrasonic microphones.

Heat-seeking cameras.

Should be easy.

Should be fun.

She once again tore her eyes away from the plan to look over at her team. They had stopped their fighting and were somehow acting semi-decent.

Icicle Jr was teasing Puppet King as he froze the boy’s beloved crown.

XL Terrestrial was enlarging and shrinking himself on See-Mores arm, despite the teen’s obvious discomfort.

Hood was reloading another weapon. Speedy chained next to him looking as pouty as ever.

Numerous and….Another Numerous were mock fighting, while Gizmo tried his damnest to save whatever invention they ‘accidentally’ knocked over.

And Shimmer was laughing because pain is always funny to her. Especially Gizmo’s.

In that moment Jinx let herself smile just the slightest. This weird little bunch, this team.

Her Team.

They were chaotic, but cheerful and lively and if you exclude Speedy she kinda liked them.

She’s not sure when she started thinking missions were easy.

But she knows, she didn’t think they were fun until she met them.

And that was her mistake.

She was usually more practical, usually more cautious. But she had been slipping as of late.

It’s a shame really. The second she lets her guard down, things turn for the worst.

Perhaps if she had kept it up, perhaps if she had not let herself fall into the ease that is….maybe then she would have known.

The Toler mission would not be fun.

It would be one of the worst missions she would ever go on.

Dangerous, and disastrous in more ways than one.

It would not be easy at all.

Chapter Text

It started off...peaceful.

And maybe that was the first sign.

No one really spoke as the small team, hurriedly moved through the isles of Hub City. At four a.m. it was quiet and nearly barren.

Not many people were around and the few that were, well they paid little attention.

It almost felt more like a peaceful stroll than a mission.

"You couldn't have teleported us any closer See- More", Puppet King whined, thoroughly annoyed with this long journey.

Scratch that, peaceful has left the fucking building. This is more of a torture family road trip.

Minus the car.

Sheepishly, See-more smile, "Sorry Jordan, but I can only teleport to places I've seen in person. And I've only been to the city part of Hub city. At least we're not that far".

"That's Puppet King to you! And what does that far mean? How much longer must I muck about like the commoners?" Puppet King whined.

And there it is, leave it to Jordan to maintain the dramatics.

"It's only been a few minutes Pinocchio, and you're not even walking so do us all a favor and shut the fuck up", Red Hood growled, angrily pointing his pistol toward the wooden teen.

If it bothered Puppet King he didn't show it. He simply rolled his eyes and pouted. His green eyes then widened, spotting a small jogger to the right of them. He smirked and raised a glowing blue hand.

Instantly a sewing pin shot through the air, piercing the man in his heart. Normally this would have killed the man, but the Puppet King was special. His pins were special.

So the man didn't die. Instead, his eyes glazed over, his mind became hazy. His ambitions, his personality, his being all faded away as he jogged over to the four.

At that moment he became a puppet.

"King", Jinx berated, slightly annoyed with the boy. Because fuck, how many civilians was he going to turn.

"Oh come on, the more puppets the merrier. Leaves fewer witnesses and more soldiers. Plus now I can be carried like a true king on a palanquin", Puppet King happily bit back.

Jinx didn't bother asking where he thought he was getting a throne from.

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing near the head of Judge Toler's "grocery store'. The land itself looked more like a national park than a store. It was covered in giant trees, even had a small lake to its left.

The house itself was large, bricks a shiny red hue, security cameras were perched near every corner, and security was even stationed at the gate. It was definitely a place of maximum security.

But Jinx already knew that.

"Alright Kingy, your up", she murmured, from her position in the trees.

Below in the bushes, Puppet King smirked, coating his hand once again in the florescent blue aura.

Instantly eight pins shot through the air, each needle quickly puncturing a security guard.

One of the men groaned holding his neck as if he had just woken up. Another yelled, screaming at the top of his lungs. The others just shifted, eyes closing tight in pain, and then it was silent.

The men, like the jogger and the young mother and every other person to ever be pierced by Jordan's pins, became puppets.

The majority of them idly stood, waiting for instructions like the fucking pawns they were.

"Anytime now Pinocchio" Hood murmured from the tree.

Puppet King scoffed, "Why does it feel like you're ordering me around, zombie peasant".

Red Hood simply growled back, " Why does it feel like you're asking to be burned alive, fucking dummy?".

Why oh fucking why. Why in the hell can't they ignore each other for five seconds.

"Guys, not on the mission. King please", Jinx groaned.

For once the wooden boy didn't argue, instead, he scoffed, rolled his eyes, and glanced over at his puppets.

As he raised a glowing green hand, he couldn't help but mutter, " Get suited up, King. Stop complaining, King. Make the puppets, King".

Still in the tree's, Red Hood glared down at the wooden teen, "Shut the fuck up for once, King."

This of course only prompted Puppet King to rant louder and longer as he motioned his puppets near him.

Finally, at King's command, one of his puppets walked over to the security station and fiddled with the computer a bit. When he was done, he nodded towards the bush, bowed, and then shot himself in his head.

"Was it necessary to kill him Jordan", See-More whined.

Still, in the bushes, Jordan growled, "Puppet King! K-I-N-G. It's not hard to remember! You've known me for almost a month now, come on! And anyways I had to, he was too strong-minded. My pin would've stopped working in two minutes with that mind. We can't afford a witness".

See-more bit his lip, "I know but-

" Not now See-More! " Jinx loudly whispered. She then glared down at the ground, "And you make sure it's less messy next time. Your lucky no one heard that fucking shot! Did he at least clear the cams".

"Yeah yeah, they put the dumb chip in the security server. Your welcome, by the way, witch", Puppet King quipped.

Jinx ignored him, checking her own comm instead, "Giz we all good"?

"One second, and yeah, got complete control of the security system. I turned off mics, and I have the cameras playing yesterday's footage. You're good to go", a static voice bellowed in their ears.

Silently Jinx jumped down from the tree, after her the Red Hood. See- More ever the flashy sheep he is decided to teleport down.

"Alright great, King you stay here. Signal if you hear anything, then leave some puppets and get out".

She didn't even bother looking to see if the wooden boy nodded, before pressing back on the comm. "Twenty minutes, right Giz".

Even though she couldn't see him, Gizmo still nodded. Then with the most bravado, he could muster he bit out, "Reminder idiots, I'm filtering the cams with yesterday's footage so I won't be able to look out for your sorry asses. Try not to screw this up".

Jinx wants to snort. Mutter about how much she knows this, because why else would she tell Puppet King to keep watch.

But she doesn't, because she knows Gizmo. And she knows in his own annoying way what he's really trying to say.

Going in blind is always scary. It's always dangerous, they have to be careful. They must be cautious.

Everything depends on it.

"Gotcha Giz", Jinx murmured before turning back to Hood and See-More.

Even in all black clothing, the differences between the two were very apparent.

They were a walking hazard, the both of them.

Hood clearly is ready to pop a cap in anybody's ass. His anger is as apparent as his frown, and his beloved Robin mask is already narrowed. He probably isn't going to follow instructions ..again.

And See-More, poor See-More is damn near trembling. Hastily looking around his surroundings as if everyone is out to get him. He probably is going to get inside his own head and make a few mistakes.

That should trouble her but it doesn't.

It doesn't because she trusts them. She knows them.

Even though they both annoyed the crap out of her, she picked them for a reason. When it came to covert, no one on the team touches See-More or Hood. They were the best people for this mission.

They were security and a shield in one.

The people you call on when you don't wanna be seen.

They were the only people she'd trust with this mission.

"Alright let's go", she murmured. Not even waiting a second before launching herself towards the opening gate. Immediately Hood and See-More followed. Hood jumping from tree to tree, while See-more simply beamed to the front.

Once the three were officially on the property, Jinx started counting. 20 minutes, that's what Gizmo gave them. It was nearing five, which meant Toler would be up soon.

They had 20 minutes.

It should be simple really, in and out.

Get whatever secret loot Toler had, and bounce before his morning coffee.

At least that was her plan, but once Jinx stepped inside the mansion she realized it probably wasn't going to work that way.

The home was in tatters. Furniture and paintings torn to pieces. Plates broken, littering the floor. All the drawers were open.

In the dining room, closest to the window was the bloody remains of a man in a suit.

Judge Toler

He was ripped to shreds.

"So I guess SME mastermind decided not to wait for the next blackout", See- more mutter next to her.

At that Jinx could only frown.

Because that didn't make sense. They were supposed to wait for the next blackout, she and Gizmo were sure they would. Why the fuck didn't they?

What the fuck is going on?

Inwardly she felt Hood's groan, "We were late,".

"Doubtful, security was still on watch. So whoever came, came recently" Gizmo buzzed from their ears.

Jinx froze, "Or didn't leave".

As if waiting for her whispers, a loud sound perched through the air. A crash of some sort. Jinx sharply turned towards the two teens next to her. Pointing with her index and her left finger, and then her own lips as she motioned to the stairs.

Somebody's here.

CRASH! SKNNT

See-more nearly gasped, placing his hand over his own mouth to silence himself. That second sound, it was loud and piercing. It sounded like two metal swords scraping together.

SKNTT!

Ugh, See-More winced. That definitely is two metal swords scraping together.

He felt his heart drop a little more as Red Hood and Jinx fixed their weapons.

Shit, this was not what he agreed to. His specialty is covert missions, he absolutely hates combat missions. Especially combat missions with people who ripped other people apart. He gulped hard, and steady himself as he glanced back at Toler's mutilated body.

Oh god, he thinks he might be getting sick.

"See-More bring me some bone and muscle samples from Toler. I need to confirm that's him.", Gizmo buzzed.

Instantly See-More sagged. Great! Even though it was really gross, he much rather teleports Gizmo some samples than creep up the stairs to meet Toler's killers.

Red Hood only scoffed, clearly annoyed with See-More and Gizmo. "The munchkin does not need-" he started to argue, only to be harshly elbowed by Jinx.

Fine. Hood nearly grumbled. If they want to enable See-More's bitchiness, who was he to stop it. Not like they needed the Cyclops anyway.

Quietly, as if they had never heard a sound. The pink-haired witch and gun-happy ninja ascended to the top of the stairs.

When they reached the top, they peaked over the hallways, they crouched by each room, and they peered through every door.

The first was a bathroom, a teen girl was gutted in the tub.

The seventh was a walk-in closet, a woman's body was literally stomped into the floor.

The tenth was..the saddest. A kid's bedroom, he had to be about nine.

His remains were..destroyed. Strewn pieces of flesh and blood just about everywhere. His clothes in tatters and his hair muddled with the telltale stain of ripped-out organs. Whoever did this... it's clear they spent the most time on the kid. Beside her, Jinx felt Hood growl.

The last door.

It was plain, white, clean except for the blood dripping from the handle. The sound had to have come from here.

Jinx once again nodded towards Hood, who only shifted his gun in retort before busting through the door.

In the room were two people. Metas, if she had to guess.

One was damn near a giant, with horns, kinda looked like a bull. He had to hunch just to stay in the room. The other had razor-sharp mental claws, a creepy fucking smile, and blue skin.

The blue-skinned one was hunched over a computer desk, a small flash drive wedged between his talons.

He's the first one Hood shot. A direct hit, right in the claw. The bullet tore right through the skin, causing blood to gush out.

The freak didn't even wince, he did however drop the flash drive.

Immediately Jinx went to snatch that up.

As she dove for the flash drive, Hood shot a few more rounds at the two metas.

The pair started fighting, violently. Both gatherings more than the average knick at each other. But Hood seemed to hold his own, Jinx tried to help but the second she did, the giant swung a filing cabinet at her.

Instantly Jinx shot her energy, blowing the cabinet to smithereens before it reached her. She then surged three more pink daggers and quickly tossed them towards the two.

"Dios Mio! This is all your fault Scissor. I told you to hurry up, but you never listen. Estupido ! Can you imagine what He will do, when he finds out you lost it", the giant rumbled.

The blue-clad boy only scoffed, "Shut up Man-Bull. Just kill the bitch and take it back".

"Man-Bull? Scissors? Who the fuck named you rejects" Hood snorted as he fired yet another string of bullets.

Unfortunately, the bullets mainly bounce off the giant, and if that wasn't annoying enough, apparently the fucking mule was a talker.

"Aguas! It's not Man-Bull, it's Senor Toro", the giant complains. He then hurls a fucking desk at the duo.

Yeah, a desk. A metal, large, way too expensive to not be taken seriously, desk. This shit had to weigh at least five tons, and he swung it at them like it was a t-shirt.

Fuck.

Hood at least has the decency to kick the shit away before replying " That doesn't make it better Senor Bullhead. Still a shitty name. Besides doesn't Senor Toro just translate to-

Scissor smirks, slashing a bit at Jinx as he excitedly yells out, "That's exactly what I said"!

"Shut up all of you", the giant roars as he tears a painting off the wall and chucks it at the teens.

It doesn't even look like he was trying to avoid hitting Scissor. Hell, he might have been aiming for him.

"Great idea makes it angrier", Jinx mutters as she barely avoids the painting.

Hood still preoccupied with shooting at Scissor only smirks, "Play to my strengths, ya know".

Rolling her own eyes, Jinx added to the destruction by firing her own surges.

Bullseye. Right in the fucking neck.

She had but a second to relish in the giant's cry before his eyes narrowed and his legs started sprinting.

Fuck, he's definitely going to try to ram her. And even though the dolt kinda resembles a bull, she doubts she'll be able to alle-oop her way out of this.

Shit. She nearly murmured, whistling a bit at Hood as she tossed the flash drive his way.

He glares but nods, caching the flash drive in his fucking teeth as he shoots five more rounds at the razor-sharp teen.

"Jinx, Hood status", Gizmo buzzed in her ear. Right at that moment, she jumped to the left, barely dodging the raging giant.

Hood didn't even bother replying, tearing the comm out of his ear completely before attacking once more.

"Not the fucking time, Giz" Jinx yelled out, this time attempting to dodge both Man-Bull and Hood bullets.

Gizmo of course ignored her, buzzing in her ear despite her protest " Who are you fighting? Are they with the league? And what did you find"?

"Not with the League. Calls himself Toro, his friend called him Man-Bull. Speaks Spanish and English, has fucking horns. Ow, fuck. And since this fucking mansion has ceilings that are about 5 meters tall, I'm gonna guess the giant- shit the fucking bull is 7. Apparently, they're after a little fucking flash drive, why don't fucking know ", Jinx quickly states, arching her back just the slightest as she dodged yet another series of angry swings.

"Flash Drive? What does it look like?" Gizmo asked. The tell-tale clicking of his computer accompanying him.

Jinx huffed, dodging a meaty kick as she whistled back to Hood. He threw the flash drive back at her instantly. "Plain, black casing, weird hourglass symbol on it".

Gizmo stilled, "An hourglass with lines through it?".

Ugh. Fuck. That didn't sound good.

"You know what is," Jinx asked.

Gizmo hummed, typing a bit more before he addressed her again. "The Melvot mission, remember? Warden Xio Shu had one just like it".

Jinx sighed, jumping over two chairs and avoiding a stupid vase. "You made a copy of that right".

'Yeah, but I haven't exactly had time to crack whatever is on it, ' Gizmo replied. He then started buzzing questions through her ear, some of which Jinx tried to answer. But when the Bull sent a quick jab that she's sure broke her ribs, she decided to turn her comm off.

They started fighting again, but nothing too flashy. A few jabs, a couple of explosions, nothing too serious. Partially because she really was trying to make this covert operation stay covert.

Mostly because she still had the flash drive in her hand, and couldn't risk it.

"Doesn't this shithead get tired", she murmured, gathering more energy into her leg as she jumped away from Man-Bull and kicked. The energy hit but didn't really stop the Bull from charging at her. And her mid-range kick left her wide open for a good ram.

Fuck this is going to hurt.

BAM

The beast rammed into the glowing green energy surrounding him. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he continued to ram and ram into the shield.

Jinx exhaled loudly.

Thank fuck for See-more.

She smiled a bit, " Always watching my back".

"Kinda hard not to with my big eye- Uh not that I was looking at your butt or anything. Uh by the way you should give Gizmo a call. He's pretty pissed you all turned off your comms" See-more quipped.

She sighed," Yeah yeah I'm sure he is. But we have bigger problems'' She then turned to look at Hood and Scissor. The last time she had looked the duo was at a stalemate. Apparently, Scissors fucking claws made a pretty good shield and an even better sword.

And apparently, nothing has changed in her few minutes of focusing on the Bull. Quickly she leaped over to Hood, her legs already sparkling with energy as she jumped.

"Looked like you needed some help", she said, smirking a bit as her energy forced the blue teen a few feet away.

Hood didn't reply instead he glanced underneath the teen, grabbed her, and jumped.

Seconds after this Scissors had clawed his way up from the ground.

"The fuck", Jinx muttered slowly. What the hell was he part mole or something.

Hood only smirked at that, "Yeah, he does that. It's hard enough to keep track of when and where he'll come up from, without you helping him move away. Hey instead of distracting me you might wanna focus on Cyclops over there".

Jinx started to tell Hood he shouldn't and couldn't fight everything alone, but curiosity made her look toward See-More.

At first glance, he looked fine. He even offered them a small smile once he caught their eye. Then the bull ramed again, and See-more winced.

The green shield faded a bit, cracks started forming.

Right, best to hurry.

Quickly she runs over to the computer desk the two metas had once been hunched over as she fiddles with her comm.

She didn't even let Gizmo utter a word before she started speaking.

"Kay Giz, I know you're pissed but look we're kinda in a bind. See-More is literally holding a human tank in shield. I'm sure said shield is not gonna last long so hold the lecture. Here's the sitch, they were fiddling through the computer desk. Scissor boy had the flash drive and-".

"Jinx thank god, look you have to get out there now".

"Sorry Giz, I don't think the 7-foot giants gonna let-

"Jinx this is serious! You don't understand- fuck Speedy stop your gonna hurt yourself-!"

Jinx scoffed, "Definitely not rushing cause the fucking Junkie's having a temper tantrum. Look, no way are we getting out of here without taking out the bull. Should've brought fucking Mammoth but we're all good. So priorities, I'm gonna have See-More beam the drive to you while Hoodie and I get the bull to Kingy. King puts a pin in the lugs head and we're all good".

"Jordan's comm is the fucking problem Something's fucking wrong-", Gizmo tried to warn.

He tried but he couldn't. In that second everything went black. The lights cut, cars stopped working, comms were no longer active, the computer shut off.

The second blackout had begun, right before Gizmo could even tell her.

Instantly Hood stopped firing, moving quickly to doge the blue meta instead. He couldn't afford to shoot, not in the dark. Not with his team around.

Jinx stopped as well, flash drive in her hand, she waited, peering at the room for...something, anything. See-More's shield was their only light at the moment and even with the green glow, everything seemed darker.

Corners were black, parts of the room appeared larger than before.

It was too dark, to not be cautious.

And Puppet King did not signal...he should've signaled. He would've. As loud mouth as he is, Jordan would yell at the very first sign of anything askew…..something was wrong.

Jinx paused, still warily watching her surroundings she glanced at the one-eyed boy next to her. "See-more can you see heat signatures outside. Specifically King, "

See-more blinked, focusing his eye on the gate outside in a large squint. And even though she couldn't see it, Jinx looked towards the gate as well. Hoping, praying Puppet King was okay.

Perhaps it was because See-more was tired. Maybe it was because the shield and heat-seeking vision were too much. Or it could've just been her fucking luck.

Whatever it was, was enough.

Instantly the Bull broke out of the shield, quickly running towards See-More as he did. See-more running low on energy and courage tried to beam away. He only meant to move towards the left side of the room, but he was tired and unfocused so he ended up outside instead.

This made the giant hit the wall, hard. When he did, his entire body went through it, creating a hole. One large enough that the once dark room was filtered with moonlight. And suddenly Jinx could see everything.

Moths, disgusting giant dog-sized moths perched everywhere.

They were swarming outside, biting and fluttering against everything. In the center of them, was a Moth like man.

Killer Moth. Just her fucking luck.

He like the fucking mutant freak he is spat from his place in the sky and then waved.

Jinx had but a second to blink before the moths were at her.

She shot her energy wildly, hitting everything as if it were an enemy. She heard Hood do the same. But still, she felt the clawing, she felt the bites.

One of the moths grabbed the flash drive from her hand, ripping it from her fingers as another bit her wrist.

Fuck. Jinx nearly murmured as she lit her entire arm up exploding the moth entirely. She winced, shook the Moth guts off of her, and ran after the flash drive once more.

Taking a page from the Bull, she figured the best way to get the drive was to ram into the moth. So she mustered up her strength and charged through the gaping hole.

She got the drive but hits the ground with a hard thud. And for the second time that day, she is reminded her ribs are fucking broken.

Quickly she glances around for See-More, or King or anybody really. The good news the fucking Bull is dead...or unconscious, she's not too sure. He's not moving at least, so score.

Bad news, See-More is fighting fucking Killer Moth. And See- More sucks at combat so he's really just getting his ass kicked. She tries to help him, but then a strew of moths start chasing her and she bitterly realizes she going to have to fight a fucking army of moths….again.

She jumps and energy kicks a nearby tree down, flattening a few. She's keeping the drive in a tight fist and trying her hardest not to activate her powers in that hand. It's a handicap and gives her a bad blindside.

And unfortunately, Killer Moth notices.

As she is fighting off more than twenty fucking giant moths, Killer Moth gesture more moths to fight See- More.

He then waits until See-More is distracted. He waits until his moths have obstructed both of their views. He waits until he has a clear view of her left side. His own wings fluttering just the softest.

Then he sends a sonar blast her way.

And the shit hits her, spot on.

Fuck!

Her head, fuck her head. She feels like she just got rammed by a tractor. Like she fought Count Vertigo. Like she fell from a building and then some.

Shit, this is not good. She stops for a moment to grab her head, she just needs a moment to recoup. Unfortunately, a moment is all Killer moth needs as well. He smirks before he spats a web of goo on her feet, cementing her to the ground.

He then crows a loud squelching sound, a flurry of twenty-something moths come at his call. He waves and they all start flying toward her.

Damn it! She inwardly growls, trying her hardest to break free. But no matter how much she squirmed she couldn't. She's stuck, she'll need both of her hands to free herself, and the stupid moths are getting closer. With no other choice, she tosses the flash drive.

She tries to toss it near the fire pit to her left. It's far enough from the moths but close enough for her.

It lands in a large garden instead. One with an abundance of wildflowers. Far enough from any moths, but definitely far enough from her as well.

Because of fucking course right.

She groans, whistles to See-More, and motions to the flash drive before flinging her energy once at her legs and once more to the moths. She misses a few, she blames that on her headache.

See-More whistles as well, throwing the flash drive at her before he is once again trampled by moths.

She catches it barely, she blames that on See-More's bad fucking arm.

Ugh, okay, and her fucking head.

"You two were supposed to wait for the blackout, He is displeased", Killer Moth hissed. It was the only warning Jinx got before Man-Bull swung his large fist towards her.

She barely dodges that. And even then her head is still ringing.

"Si, but you know Scissors. Hombre's crazy said he knows Toler would've destroyed it if we wait any longer" Man-Bull groans.

And Jinx groans back because wasn't this fucking giant unconscious or some shit. Not to mention she really doesn't have the fucking strength to fight him and moth man, and all while trying not to blow up this stupid ass flash drive.

Umm. Can we say fuck no.

"Man-Bull. I guess it's my lucky ass day. So what is it, were ya faking sleep or did you really knock yourself out", Jinx sarcastically quipped.

Not her best line, she knows. But it works. Through her short time of fighting with the Bull, she learned the angrier he got the less smart were his moves. She had hoped she could get him angry enough to ram into a few buildings again. Hell, maybe she could get him to ram into Killer Moth.

Thankfully the giant took the bait. He growled, ready his legs, and sprinted towards the pink-clad teen. She of course jumped out of the way and watched as he tumbled into a multitude of moths instead.

She has little time to salute this victory. For one, See-More is still fighting a small battalion of moths. Two, Killer Moth still has about fifty more moths at his disposal. It takes all of her focus just to avoid them.

And of course three, the fucking giant gets up like the fall was nothing. He sends a punch towards her, and as much as she would have liked to avoid it, she doesn't. The punch hits her shoulder, causing her to weaken her hold just the slightest.

Oh and let's not forget her head still fucking hurts. So she doesn't realize she dropped the drive until it's on the floor. Snatching it up quickly, a moth humms almost mockingly as it flies away.

And that? That was enough to fucking piss her off.

Now without her little handicap, Jinx gathers a furious barrel of pink energy. It gnaws at her hands, burning her slightly before it is thrown at the giant.

BAM

Direct fucking hit.

Man-Bull roars, his chest charred fully. His right arm is gone. His face angry, left arm up ready to strike.

Thankfully before that could happen a string of bullets tear into his shoulder.

"About fucking time", Jinx yelled towards Hood as he peered down from the gaping hole.

"Fuck you! The blue meta wouldn't fucking die, it was dark and I was fighting a legion of stupid ass moths and I had to save the good bullets for Manny the raging bullshit here.", Red Hood glared.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you... Now if you could help the fuck- ow the fuck out." Jinx yelled back as she hastily avoided the now one-armed bull and Killer moth.

Hood rolled his eyes but nodded, gracefully jumping down from his perch.

Once he was finally outside he scoffed and threw the claws of the blue boy on the floor. "Killer Moth, been a while. Sorry kinda mutilated your little child killer here. Hey, last I heard you were locked up in Arkham".

"Boy, last I heard you were another one of Joker's victims", Killer Moth bit back.

Hood didn't even wait a millisecond before firing again.

While Red Hood dealt with Killer Moth and Jinx dealt with Man-Bull. See-More trampled after the passed around a flash drive.

As he ran for the drive, See-More noticed three major problems.

The first, his heat-seeking vision is...off. It's hurting his head too much to try it and he can't waste any more energy. Which is scary because they still don't know what happened to Jordan.

Second, these moths, besides being vicious and terrifying, are really fast. He's nearing the gate, and he doesn't like being that far from Hood or Jinx right now.

And the last one, the worst one…. He's not even sure if he can get the flash drive.

He was still pretty weak, teleporting multiple times is not good for his energy load. Not to mention there are still the other thirty-something giant moths he has to fight.

Still, he grits his teeth as he tries to teleport on top of the moth with the drive. It takes a few tries but he does make it, and fortunately for him, the moth does slow down in its flight. Eventually, he manages to hit the moth hard enough to send the both of them tumbling down.

Just as the moth is about to crash into the floor, See- More beams himself away. The moth, now a squished goo of grossness and the flash drive wedged in the middle.

See-More grins, proud of himself for a second as he fishes the flash drive out of the moth's guts. He holds it carefully, pushed it in his pocket, and finally puts it out of sight. He doesn't even get a full take to celebrate himself before a giant moth breezed by his shoulder.

He freezes, his eye widens for a second.

He gulps a bit harder as the wayward moth flutters in front of him. It, surprisingly, ignores See-More choosing instead to munch on the tree next to him. It's not alone, this particular tree is housing about ten giant moths. Each vigorously biting a piece of bark, the tree is worn down. Almost as if they had been at it for a while.

And that's when See-More really looks at the area.

The front gate was destroyed, moths were chewing on the bars leaving strings of slime. The trees seemed lifeless, holes filtered through them like swiss cheese. Puppet Kings minions were dead, their bodies just the bloody carcasses for the moths to feed on.

It was times like this he wished his vision wasn't that good.

He gulps a bit harder as he looks at the moths once more. Puppet King didn't signal….he didn't want to think about what that meant.

"Jordan", He calls out, half expecting the boy to correct him like always. "Jordan," he saids again, this time louder.

As he walks he keeps repeating the boy's name, louder and more frantic.

At this point, his nerves have gotten the best of him. The moths for the most part are leaving him alone. But that just makes it all the more scarier, why aren't they bothering him. Why just watch him?

And then he saw it.

Jordan.

See-more had seen the Puppet King injured. He had seen Puppet King's legs been cut off, he had seen Puppet King's face crack. He had seen Puppet King broken.

But never like this.

Puppet King.

The wooden boy with the biggest ego See-More had ever seen. The one who always played pranks on him with Icicle Jr. The one who loved to be dotted on but hated to be pitied. The one who had a real fear of rollercoasters and a fake fear of girls. The same boy would rant and rave about minions when he really just wanted friends.

Puppet King, Jordan Weir was destroyed.

Wood limbs splintered and trampled down to sawdust. Tiny scraps of his clothing and hair were still be feasted on by the moths. But what truly disturbed See-More was his eyes. Jordan's eyes, his little glass eyes which never really held any emotion.

They looked so scared, so wide and glossy. Like he had died crying.

Instantly See-More's spirit crumbled, his face fell. He couldn't believe this. His eye stings for a bit, but this time he doesn't think it's the eyebeam.

"Jordan", He sadly calls out, wishing now more than anything for a correction. "Jordan please," he saids again.

But the wooden boy doesn't respond. His mouth, at least what was left of it, didn't move. He had never looked so still, so quiet, so lifeless.

See-more couldn't stop his tears if he tried.

Ya see, See-more wasn't like most villains. He never wanted to be a villain. He really didn't have a choice, but that's a topic for another time.

The point is he never really felt like he could relate to his team in that sense. Sure they're all teenagers and he loves them like family, but...when it came down to it. When it comes down to killing somebody..he just couldn't. And when it came down to seeing dead bodies, he can't act like it doesn't affect him. Especially when they're his friends. He can't shut off that part of his humanity.

Which is why Jordan's death hit him so hard.

And why he didn't see what would happen next.

BANG!

A bullet hit his calf, blood gushed out of him hurriedly. In his haste, he tried to teleport away, but the blood fuddled with his mind, and his energy was weak. He only ended up two feet away from Jordan's eyes.

BANG!

Another bullet hit his left torso.

His eye waters, he has to get out of here. He tries to picture the front yard with Jinx and Hood. He tries to see it, but when he beamed, he's still at the gate. Barely a foot away from the entrance.

BANG!

This one hit his hip. It was painful enough to make him scream. Painfully enough to make him stagger.

He grits his teeth, tries to beam again, but the bullet gets to him first.

BANG!

Right knee, clean through.

See-More stops, his legs give out and he's trying not to scream as they hit the ground. He's breathing hard and heavy, his vision is blackening and he can hear the moths swarming around like vultures. He puts up a shield, groaning as the bullets and the moths hit it.

He can feel it cracking just as clear as he can feel his legs bleeding. After a few more rounds of bullets, a grenade is tossed to his shield. It hits the green energy with a hard thud, and See-More tries not to notice the crack that forms after it.

When it explodes, he's not even surprised his shield shattered.

Out of the shadows, a man steps into the light. He is dressed in black and copper. Equipped with a heavy strap of guns, swords, and knives.

He is a known killer. A known assassin, a member of the League of Villains.

Deathstroke.

Chapter Text

Slade Wilson was bad news.

Really bad news.

He was cynical and sly.

Strong and feared.

Someone no one really trusted...and with good reason.

Assassins are bad news in general, killing machines without remorse ya know.

But Deathstroke was different. He wasn't just this murderous being with no feelings. He wasn't just a soldier taking orders. He was a businessman, someone who did a job well but only on their terms.

He used people as pawns. Be-friended a target before he wiped them out.

He even betrayed a partner because a better offer came about.

He was only in it for himself.

Family? Friends? Fuck em. If he doesn't deem it worth his time...it isn't.

If he doesn't feel like breathing the same air as someone...he won't.

He was the worst person to see on any occasion...let alone a covert operation.

At the sight of him, See-more shield goes up again instantly.

"Boy", Deathstroke tutts, pointing his gun at See-More almost mockingly. "With those wounds, you'll bleed out in approximately twenty- two minutes, based on your file I'm thinking you can only keep this up for another ten. Let's make this easier hmmm. I have a schedule to keep. Where is the drive".

See-More gulps, fisting his hand tight and keeping his mouth shut. He can't give Deathstroke this drive, and he won't. But he's not sure how much longer he can hold out.

Deathstroke sighs, "I suppose you're going to make this difficult then".

He doesn't wait for a response, instead, he fishes out another grenade. This one he doesn't throw, it explodes the minute he sets it down.

See-more groans, swallowing ash more than air as his shield shatters. He manages to pull himself off the floor right as Deathstroke readys his leg to kick him.

In the end, it wasn't enough of a save. Deathstroke does kick him. He kicks him hard, up against the gate. Hard enough that See-More was sure his body left an imprint. Hard enough that See-More felt his courage loosen just a bit. He then tightened it, as another kick came.

Throughout every kick, Deathstroke asked for the drive. Each kick harsher than the next. When a particularly nasty kick caused See-More to fly to the other side of the gate, Deathstroke paused.

"Well boy, can't say you'll last much longer. I gave you wounds to bleed out, but I could end your suffering now. Search your body after, but then there is no fun in that. Surely you know I am simply playing with my food at this point ".

See-more grimace. Because of all the things Deathstroke was, he wasn't a liar. See-More was no match for Slade Wilson. And eventually, Slade would kill him.

So See-More just needed to make sure he didn't get the drive when he did.

It was then that See-more knew what he had to do. He hadn't done this since he was little, back in his days at Cadmus. But he's sure, he's almost positive this will work.

It has to work.

He groans fishes the flash drive out of his helmet then holds it out. He musters the most strength he had, all the strength he could, and he thought about her. He thought about them.

He watched as the flash drive disappeared from his hand.

Deathstroke was on him that minute, fisting his shirt roughly as he yells out, "Where did it go! Where did you send it".

See-More doesn't reply. He's happy, he knows more than anything where the flash drive is. He just hopes Hood and Jinx have a solid enough mind to take the hint and leave.

While they still had the chance.

"Fine" Deathstroke grumbles, grabbing the boy by the scrap of his neck. He pulls a sword from behind his back, pushes it to See-More's neck. Then he pauses and looks to his left, highly amused. "Oh I'm being watched. How..funny. Shall I guess who you are….no? Would you rather I guess where you are… I'll be with you a moment just let me kill this-".

WSSSSH!

See-More gasped. In less than a second, the blade is shot from Deathstroke's hand. The man doesn't seem too surprised. He keeps his hand around See-Mores neck, hell he grips him tighter. He even grins at the tossed sword as it blows up.

He was not surprised in the slightest.

"Little witch, been a while" Deathstroke chuckles as Jinx jumps into their vision.

She doesn't fight him, and she doesn't address him either. She knows fighting Deathstroke is not something done half-assed. It's also not something you do without a plan. It's something actually to avoid if possible.

So instead her eyes focus on See-More's neck. They focus on See-More injuries. They focus on Jordan's body, and then they glaze. "Heard ya scream. Sorry it took so long, the giant would not stay the fuck down".

Deathstroke only laughs harder, "Ignoring me are you? Do you think that'll stop me from slitting his throat? Or perhaps you think I'll be so attentive with your apparent kill, that I'll ignore what's above us".

Suddenly there is a growl. A cuffed Killer Moth is dropped down from a tree, an angry Red Hood follows.

Deathstroke grins, it's not his favorite Robin. But he'll do. "Boy", he saids with a slight smile.

Hood growls, trigger finger already itching. Seeing Jordan's body and seeing See-More hurt, it just pissed him off. It be so easy, so damn easy to shoot his frustrations out. But he knows he can't shoot Deathstroke with See-More held captive….. No matter how much he wants to.

And he really fucking wants to.

So instead he settles for petty. Keeping his gun pressed against Killer moth's head he regards Deathstroke smoothly, "Slade Wilson. Why I am not surprised, guess it's true you'll do anything for money. Careful though. Ya know what they say, Wilson, scum that goes together die together."

Deathstroke smiled, "And yet I'm told you died alone".

Hood bristled, his trigger finger is more than itchy. But he thinks of See-more, he looks at Jordan and he keeps his fucking mouth shut.

Instead, he kicks the shit out Killer Moth….repeatedly. For a second Jinx lets him, but then she figures if she doesn't step in Hood will end up killing the mutant.

And unfortunately, they kinda need the freak.

When Jinx finally gets Hood to calm down, she peers over at Deathstroke. He's smirking, left hand still pressed on See-Mores neck, right hand positioned on his pistol.

He's too in control at the moment. It's apparent, and she wants it gone.

But she also wants to know just what the hell is going on. And if Wilson had the flash drive, why would he bother holding a conversation with them? He's chatty but professional to a T. If he had it, he would be gone, on his way to his employer.

She glances at See-More. He isn't looking at her, still clawing at Deathstroke's grip.

If Slade had it, he wouldn't bother with them at all.

She raises an eyebrow, "Double-crossing the League Wilson. I heard you power-hungry but not stupid".

"Is that what Luthor told you? Hmmm….or was it Rouge. I understand you're in debt to the woman, but you must know, you're nothing but a lackey to her and the league. Do you honestly trust their word? " Deathstroke replies.

He's baiting her, she knows.

He wants to get her angry enough that she'll spill everything. But she won't tell him what she knows. And she won't tell him what Luthor doesn't.

Instead, she motions to Killer moth, " He isn't in the League".

This is all the focus Killer Moth needs as he spits and swarms at his gag. When he is free of it, he snarls at Deathstroke. "Wilson, you were not to be here for this. I had it under control".

Deathstroke for the first time in this conversation looks annoyed," Clearly I can see that Walker" he saids while motioning to the pistol Red Hood still has on Killer Moths' head.

Killer Moth glares, his broken wings move slightly, "This is nothing. When I get my helmet back, my moths will destroy everything. I don't need you"!

"Yes well, I didn't trust you three to get the job done and He agreed" Deathstroke dryly spat.

Red Hood and Jinx both bristle at that, because it just solidifies another person is in charge.

An unknown person. A person who had enough leadership or cash to get Killer Moth and Deathstroke on the same team.

A problem.

They don't get to dwell too much farther on who He is though. Because the more Deathstroke and Killer moth talk, the harsher Deathstroke grips See-Mores neck.

And the more blood See-More gargles.

"I'm going to guess this won't be a simple switch hostage situation then", Jinx asked.

Deathstroke gives both her and Killer moth a pointed look. He then chuckles, " Good guess, I'll give you the boy for the drive though".

It takes all of Jinx not to smile then. Good, he didn't know where the drive was at all. Now all she needed to do was pretend that she did.

"That seems a bit unfair".

"Child don't pretend you know what's on it".

"Am I to pretend you would be doing all this if it wasn't important".

As she and Deathstroke argue over the drive, Hood regards See-more. The boy is hurt, badly. He has more holes leaking blood than Jason would like to count. He is bruised and his wrist looks broken. His one eye keeps blinking like he's trying to stay awake. His mouth keeps twitching, causing him to choke on his own blood.

He's dying, and they don't have time. They need to get him to Gizmo, fast.

"This is stupid! You want the drive, fine. Let us just patch him up first, he's not gonna survive if you keep strangling him" Red Hood grits out.

Deathstroke smiles, "Give me the drive and you can patch him up".

The two gun-happy ninjas start each other down. One in pure hatred, another in total glee.

"Fine" Hood finally bites out.

Instantly Jinx's head whips towards him. She had thought he was bluffing, but just from tone alone, she can tell he wasn't.

A hundred thoughts swarmed her head. When had Hood found the drive? Why didn't he tell her? Was he really going to give it to Deathstroke?

"Hood, no-" she chokes out, just as the boy whips a flash drive from one of his pockets.

"We don't have any fucking alternatives! Pinocchios dead and if you haven't noticed See-Mores damn near there", Red Hood angrily interrupts.

Jinx frowns looking at See-More once more. She noticed, god she fucking noticed. But there had to be another way.

She tries to voice this but the words fall on her tongue like dead weight. They seem selfish as she reiterates them in her head, and terrible as she looks See-More.

Hoods right. There is no other alternative.

Red Hood growls, then kicks the still cuffed Killer Moth to Jinx's feet, "Watch him".

But Jinx doesn't. She just watches Hood instead.

As he walks to Deathstroke it more than clear that Hood doesn't trust him. He doesn't like him.

And he doesn't want to do this.

The boy's reluctance only makes Deathstroke grip See-More harder. It only makes his victory that much sweeter. He loves it, he thrives on an opponent who he can mold. One he knows doesn't want to but bends at his whims.

As he looks towards Hood, he can see the frown. He can see the frustration and the anger. And if he squints he is reminded of another black-haired teen. He is reminded of his favorite little bird.

He smirks almost salivating now. This is his favorite part.

Hood stops, now only a foot away from the assassin. He motions to See-More. "Same time", he orders.

Deathstroke nods. He is a man of his words, so he will give the one-eyed boy back as soon as he gets the drive.

But who he kills after, well that he won't spoil.

Hood tosses the drive the same time Deathstroke pushes at the teen. Hood has to leap to catch him, but he does catch him.

See-More tries not to complain as his body hits Red Hood's muscles.

"Sorry" Hood grunts, fixing See-More a bit more so the boy now rests on his back. See-more wants to think it's about the pain, but he can read Hood's tone more clearly now than ever.

"Don't give me that. You were supposed to get her out of here" See-More slurs.

And God does Jason know. He knew the minute the drive magically appeared in his hand. He knew what See-more was trying to do. He knew what See-More wanted to do.

To want to protect somebody so bad. To literally set yourself on fire just to keep someone else warm.

He knew exactly what a sacrifice felt like. And he knew exactly the kind of person See-More was.

He knew, which is why he couldn't let it happen.

He doesn't tell See-More this, instead, he glares. "I'm not one to go back on my promises".

Instantly See-more glares back, "That was almost a year ago, I'm not the same person! I'm older than you! It's my decision! I don't need you to-

"Yeah and I don't need to lose two members of the team in one day" Hood grits.

That does it. Effective immediately See-More is silent. Hood welcomes this as he adjusts the boy on his back and begins to walk to Jinx.

He doesn't trust Deathstroke to not stab him in the back, so Jason walked backward. Meaning he literally shuffled behind himself. Meaning he kept his eye on him. Meaning he saw and was able to avoid every one of Deathstroke bullets.

Unfortunately for him, that also meant he couldn't see Killer Moth.

"You were supposed to be watching him" Hood angrily quips as he struggles against the glue-like goo at his feet. Thankfully, Deathstroke had stopped firing after they became glued down to the floor, some might think it's because Wilson has a bit of respect for the trio.

Jason knows it's because Deathstroke hates an easy kill.

"I know, fuck. I'm sorry" Jinx growled, as she blasted the goo off of See-More and Hood. She hopes the quick save will be enough to shut the angry teen up.

It wasn't, but it did deflect his attention back to Deathstroke at least.

"And you...Could ya be any more predictable. I mean fuck did ya wait a full minute before cutting Killer moth free and trying to kill us".

Deathstroke doesn't reply too busy avoiding a furry of pink surges.

"I told you it was a bad decision", Jinx muttered. Launching herself once more up into the trees. Slade has but a second to assess her location before she emerges from his left. Pink dagger skillfully cutting Deathstroke left torso.

He slits her wrist in response.

As the trio goes at it. Hood tries his hardest to keep the semi-conscious See-More awake. Apparently, Killer moth's goo makes excellent bandages. He's no Alfred but Jason thinks he did a bang-up job. See-More's not even bleeding anymore. He looks a little less clammy too.

When he finishes Hood slaps See-More, hard. "No sleep, Cyclops. You're our ticket out of here. Need ya awake and fucking focused".

See-More blinks looks at the dressing, and groans, "Whaa- oomf".

It's all he can do as a small powder is slipped into his mouth. He recognizes the taste almost immediately, feels the effects even quicker than that.

Gizmo's chami pills.

"I knew swiping a few from the munchkin would come in handy. Sorry, I can't heal ya all the way, I only took one. Look you save up some energy, when you can, beam us the fuck out of here. I really don't give a flying fuck where. Just the fuck out here" Red Hood replies.

See-More doesn't really nod, but he doesn't sleep either. So Jason figures, he partially understands the plan.

Which at this point is good enough.

As he avoids the fucking dog-sized moths, because yeah those are still a fucking problem. Hood edges closer and closer to Jinx and Deathstroke.

When he's about a foot away from the duo, Jinx glares down at him. "Get See-More out of here".

"And leave the asshead assassin and Bugman to you, no dice. Look Cyclops is fine, added a good four hours with my first aid" Hood mutters, after sending off a few of his own rounds.

He then sends Jinx a challenging glare, she only rolls her eyes in retort.

Even in near-death situations, Hoods gotta defy her.

They alternate in fighting, one sending surges at Deathstroke, the other at the Killer Moth. It's a simple team-up, but a hard one. They're managing to keep Deathstroke and the moths at bay, but barely.

Neither one of them were exactly in tip-top shape when this started. And right about now Jason is really wishing he kept some of that powder for himself.

"How we looking Cyclops", Hood murmurs from his position.

Seep-More grimace, "Bad. I can't even beam the flash drive out of Wilson's pocket".

Hood bristles, "Forget the fucking drive. The plan is us, beam us out of here"

"No! Then everything was a waste" See-more whined.

It took all of Hood not to shoot him then. "Yeah big fucking waste, but ya know what I'm really fucking okay with that." As he stalked closer to the one-eyed teen he had hoped the sheepish boy would back down. Follow his order and complete the mission.

Surprisingly, he didn't.

Legs wobbly, See-More bravely stood up. " Well I'm not! We have to get it back. I can do it. I just need Deathstroke to stop moving so much".

"Oh, my- fuck forget the stupid drive. That powder was about half a pill. You're were fucking dying so don't pretend you're all better now.", Hood grits.

"I'm not!", See-more yells, he then sighs taking in a small breath before continuing." Look I know I'm not better….. And I know this is stupid but Jordan's dead. Does that mean anything to you? We can't let his death be for nothing. We have to get it back".

Ugh, the fucking big-hearted Cyclops. Really? He can not be fucking serious.

Hood growled, checking over See-More's determined face once more. He then looks at Puppet King's body, the broken mess that it is. He pictures the teen who although annoyed the fuck out of him...deserved better.

As seconds ticks by Hood gnaws at his lips, curses See-More out a million times in his head, then sighs.

Fuck the one-eyed freak is right. They can't let Pinocchio- they won't let Jordan's death be for nothing.

Even if it is a dumbass idea.

Hood sighs, " Can you keep a shield around Deathstroke and Killer Moth for like two minutes".

"Uh yeah, but why", See-more carefully asked.

Hood doesn't answer instead he murmurs a small "Just follow my lead" and leaps into the air.

Then with a new fury, Red Hood starts shooting crazily around the area. At first, it looks like he's just trying to cause chaos. But as some pieces of the gates fall, and some moths crash into each other it becomes clear. He's trapping them.

Stopping them from leaving.

Jinx doesn't even get to question why, as See-More beams next to her. A shield now in front of the two villains. "What are you doing! Your energy is low enough as it is," she warns.

See-more grimaced," It's actually not that bad. Hood slipped me one of Gizmo's pills...well more like half a pill. Anyways I'm not even dying no more".

"That's great, are you still bleeding" Jinx sarcastically seethed.

See-more sheepishly grins," Uh maybe a little but that's just giving me character right".

Optimistic little imp isn't he.

Jinx sighs, "I'm assuming you two idiots have a plan".

"When have I ever fucked around without one", Hood yells after lunging to the top of a tree. He then grabs the machine gun from his shoulder and blasts the neighboring tree down.

BAM!

The giant tree falls down almost immediately. It hits See-mores shield with a hard thud, and Jinx can't help but glare at Hood when it does.

Jackass, Hood is usually more careful than that.

See-more doesn't seem too upset, he only winces a little. Then he settles his gaze back at Hood. "Yeah, it'll work fine, send all you can".

Jinx frowns still watching as Hood sends a couple more trees down on See-More's shield. They hit with an audible thud, but no cracks form.

And then it hits her. The tree's, they're being supported by See-More's shield. But once he drops the shield….. They'll have no choice but to fall on what's below it.

Or rather whose below it.

"You're an evil genius," she whispered. Not even allowing Hood to hear her as she sends a few more trees down on See-Mores shield.

By now Deathstroke clearly understands the situation. There is no physical way out of this. Sure he can send grenades or bullets to break the shield, but that won't change the situation. If he breaks it or if See-more lets down the shield about five sycamore trees will come down as well.

Killer Moth is less..understanding. He is aimlessly trying to break the shield, pounding on it and screaming at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately for him, no one is really paying him any attention.

In less than a minute, a small barrel of trees are piled on See-More's shield. He is obviously struggling to support them if his face any clue.

This is the only reason Hood decided to stop playing gardner and address the two trapped villains. "Alright, scumbags deal time. Eventually, Cyclops here is gonna drop this shield, the minute he does you two are a pair of flatbread. But we're nice, so we'll let one of you go. But that one has to give us the drive".

"Tch in your dreams boy", Deathstroke quips.

Killer Moth frantically glared. "That's not possible and you know it! You can't really expect me to be able to get it from him. I don't have control of my moths without my helmet and he is carrying at least ten highly dangerous weapons ".

"Like I would need any of those to kill you". Deathstroke grumbles.

Killer Moth looks like he wants to say more, but he doesn't. Instead, he growls and glares at the ground.

Hood again doesn't look too disturbed by this. He shrugs, waves a hand and watches as See-More's shield gives away.

That second more than a dozen trees fall down on the two. It is silent for a moment, the only sounds were the small cracking of the branches and the squelches of the moths.

Almost instantly Jinx tries to locate the bodies, they already fucked up enough and she really wouldn't put it past Wilson to hide the drive injured and all.

But once she and Hood are inside the little pit of chaos, she realizes there may not be much to recover.

"Fucking gross" Hood mumbles as he steps yet again into some moth guts.

"Let's just hope the drive wasn't too damaged. Giz isn't a miracle worker" she replies.

But the more the two roam around the tree pit, the more skeptical she becomes. They should've found the bodies by now. Killer Moth had two broken wings and an ankle. He couldn't have gone far.

There is a buzz near her ear. It is the first warning she gets before a bullet breezes past her.

It was the first warning Hood had missed.

BANG!

The shot pierces through the area, hitting the teen right in his clavicle. It doesn't shock her that Hood doesn't scream. It doesn't even shock her when See-More does. It does, however, shock her when she realizes where the gun came from.

There in the sky is Deathstroke. He is being held up by Killer Moth, a fully healed Killer Moth. It's too weird, too unreal and Jinx has to blink to make sure she wasn't dreaming. The same thing had happened earlier right, with the Bull. Back then she just supposed he had a healing factor but now…. Now she thinks something else is responsible.

And now she really is fucking worried.

"Tch pathetic", Slade reprimands, gleefully watching as Hood holds his now bloody shoulder. Slade rolls off of Killer moth in an instant, landing on his feet quietly. When he is but a foot away from Hood, he continues. "Did you really think I wouldn't be able to avoid a few trees"?

Red Hood scoffs, holds pressure to his wound, and sneers. "No, I figured, which is why I didn't only send trees".

He then smirks in pure Robin fashion, chaotic and righteous. Deathstroke and Killer Moth don't even have a second to process what that meant as gas leaks from inside the trees. At first, the gas looks harmless, the standard smoke bomb.

But then the gas enters their lungs, and their eyes get heavy. Deathstroke tries to activate his filter on his mask but it won't give. He grimaces when he realizes Hood had persistently shot near his mouth. He tries to hold his breath, but he remembers Jinx nicked his lungs.

He smirks, chuckles a little as his mind gets hazy. "Excellent work, Robin", is the last word he utters out before he falls.

Killer Moth isn't far behind him. He falls from the sky almost instantly, his body creating a small crater.

It's silent for a minute and then Jinx exhales, loudly. It was a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Pent up energy she could finally let go. Finally, it was fucking over.

"Your. a fucking. evil. ass. genius.", she sighs yet again, watching as Hood lets out a breathy chuckle.

It's hearty but hard and really Jinx can't blame him for that. This had been a rough mission. They had both been through the wringer. They looked like literal shit. Bruises, blood, and bones were not spared.

"Take a look at his shoulder," she said to See-More after a second. The boy smiles and nods, much to Hood's annoyance, instantly fusing over the taller teen.

They start bickering but Jinx ignores that.

Instead, she takes a few more moments to collect her breath before fishing the flash drive out of Deathstroke's pocket.

She glares at it. Offending little thing.

The small black casing, no larger than a tube of lipstick.

It was too much trouble. What the fuck was even on it?

She doesn't get much time to dwell on it. At that moment the security cameras start moving, the lights shift on.

The blackout is over. The powers back.

"Testing! Testing! Can any of you hear me", a scratchy voice bellows.

And fuck, Jinx relaxes just the slightest. She's never been so fucking happy to hear Gizmo.

Almost excitedly, she presses down on her comm, "Yeah Giz, loud and clear. We'll report in person. It's too much shit to unpack right now."

This time Gizmo doesn't argue. Instead, he stops, swallows loud and mutters. " The four of you are..okay then".

This makes Jinx pause. Gizmo sounded... sounded like a wary little kid. Like he wanted better but was expecting the worst.

She then remembers his words. The four of you.

Oh….he's asking her. He can't say it but he wants to know if Jordan.

Her breath hitches at her throat, " Three Giz."

Oh is the best response Gizmo can offer and for while it's just silent. It is the first time any of them are acknowledging that Puppet King is gone and it hurts.

Suddenly a siren hits the air and she literally freezes as a gust of wind blows past them.

Fuck, the police? They're basically the heroes' little minions. Which meant the supers weren't that far behind.

She runs to Hood and See-More, pinching the both of them as close as possible. "We need to get out of here".

"Understatement of the year" Hood teases, now supporting himself up against a tree. He was paler but held his smug fuck you frown. She ignores him again, choosing instead to turn towards See-more.

Surely, he of all people can see how serious this was.

See-more smiles but that soon turns into a frown. He tries to beam them away, really he does. But the energy circle just keeps fading as the sirens get louder.

Fuck.

Jinx, looking more frantic than ever, shakes her head in frustration. "Fuck it, let's run. We're banged up but we can make a few miles right".

Jason's eyebrow raises almost immediately, "Sure, Eyeball here still has a few holes in his legs. I have a bum shoulder and a few thousand bruises. You have way too many issues to list. But ya know what choice do we fucking have".

She takes it back, Hood is not a genius. He just an asshole, pure fucking idiot asshole.

"Well, technically you do have a choice to stay there and get caught. But if you start running now I may have three untraceable tickets to the nearest airport ready by then", Gizmo adds.

" I can beam us! I just need a few more minutes to get some energy", See-More unhelpfully adds.

Rolling her eyes, Jinx starts her sprint. She's still injured so the shit hurts, her ribs aren't even a subject she wants to touch. Plus, she's pretty sure her ankle is twisted.

She can't imagine Hood is any better. While he may say he just has bruises, she's almost positive he has more broken bones than her. Scissors, Man-Bull plus Killer Moth, and Deathstroke. Yeah, he definitely has a few broken bones. Still, he doesn't complain at all, even begins leading the pack as he runs ahead.

See-more is probably the worse, exercise isn't his forte. And although he's healed, he still has a few cracks in his legs. It's unbearable and he thinks he might have opened some unhealed wounds. He is the slowest of the three. Once they make it to the city portion he is reminded of that clearly.

Hub City is a ruin. It has too many bodies and too many destroyed buildings. It's hard enough to run on the pavement, mix fresh corpses and blood and demolished skyscrapers… and well he's never been the most coordinated. Jinx and Hood are a good two feet ahead of him when he gets spotted.

"Hey you there", a policeman yells. A batch of other officers and two heroes beside him.

Right away See-More's one eye widens, he tries to run harder but he's still too slow. Jinx and Hood's eyes widened as well. See-More can tell they're going to run back for him, that they'd rather fight with him than leave.

But See-more knows those "heroes". And he knows, especially in the condition they are in, Jinx and Hood are no match for Wonderwoman and Firestorm.

He also knows these particular heroes have a body count, and they both will willingly add to it.

So he runs back, towards the cops and he puts on a front. He bites his tongue as he shoots flashy eye beams and adds to the destruction.

He keeps everyone else's eyes on him, so they won't see the shield he has over Jinx and Hood, and they won't see them beat on it.

He keeps everyone's attention just long enough for Wonderwoman to send a nasty punch to his head. Just long enough for Hood to see Firestorms burn travel up his neck. Just long enough for Jinx to see Wonder Woman's sword at his neck.

Long enough, that neither sees the energy below them. And neither knows, until it happens what See-more did.

"See-more", Jinx yells again, but by this time it's too late.

The light blinds her for a second, but she can't bring herself to close her eyes. She needs to see it. She needs to know that See-more didn't just give himself up for them. That he wasn't fighting fucking Wonderwoman injured. That he is with them still.

But when her vision comes in, he isn't.

They are no longer in Hub city, instead, they're gasping on Gizmo's floor.

This has to be a dream. A really bad fucking dream.

She felt the tears burn her eyes as she endlessly tries to blink herself awake.

He was supposed to be here. He should be here.

"That fucking idiot" Hood yells while glaring at the floor. He pounds on it, bruising his knuckles as he tightens his lips.

He told that fucking idiot didn't he. He told that asshole and he… he

Fuck.

Jason glares, pounds the floor harder as he grits his teeth. Why the fuck would that idiot? Why the hell would he do that?

In his anger, in his need to yell at something, his glare turns to Gizmo, "Why didn't you send backup. You knew by then we fucking needed it".

"I- I couldn't. It's covert...I thought if we send more people-

"We? You weren't even fucking there. You didn't see shit! You didn't do shit. You know what I forgot you did do something, you fucking sat here and listen to us struggle", Red Hood interrupts. In his anger he had turned to Gizmo, etching closer to the boy by each second. By the time he had finished his rant, he was peering down at the kid.

Suddenly a body squeezed in between the two, an exhausted Jinx. "Stop it", she clipped.

And normally Hood would tell her to fuck off. Normally he would scoff and continue even angrier than before, but this time he didn't.

He just glared. Glared at her, glared at Gizmo, and stomped out of the room.

She's not sure if this is a good thing or not.

After a few minutes of silence, Gizmo slips Jinx a chami pill. It works, she could feel her body stitching together the moment it passes her lips, but it doesn't stop the pain in her chest. And it doesn't stop the thoughts in her head.

He was fighting Wonderwoman right. She had a sword to his neck. She had a sword to his neck and See-More…..

"Jinx", Gizmo starts, but she shushed him before he could continue.

A tear dipped passed her cheek, and she quickly moved to wipe it. Then in an almost emotionless voice, she asked, "Status".

"His comm went offline….but that doesn't mean anything. You know See-more he rarely fights, so he probably gave up. They probably just captured him, sent him to Arkham or-", Gizmo murmured.

"Or he's dead", Jinx finished.

The like Jordan didn't need to be said.

She staggered, wincing as her healing wounds protested against the movement. She throws the flash drive at Gizmo, doesn't even watch him try to catch it as she grits out. "I want a detailed report on just what the fuck is on that as well as the Melvot one."

"Of course" Gizmo whispered. He then paused, almost as if he was unsure of his next words. "Jinx, are you-

She waved him off, "Giz I'm tired. I have my cover in a few hours. We can recap later...make sure Hoodie gets a pill, please. Send whoever to deliver it but give it to the bastard by the next hour".

As she walked away, she walked with a hunch. Her mind flittered back to the last conversation she had with Abigail.

"I know, you're sick… but you can't bail"

"Oh, but the booze will help. Look I know Daddy made that stupid order but you're a rule-breaker…besides I really think Wally needs all of us ya know. He had a full-blown anxiety attack earlier and I had no idea what to do".

"His friend just…..died".

"Trix I really think he might need some therapy".

"I mean I can't imagine what it's like to lose a friend".

Jinx paused finally letting the tears fall, as she once again thought of Trixi Sanalon's dumb response.

Yeah, me either.

Chapter Text

One-hundred and twenty.

That’s how long he waited.

One hundred and twenty seconds. One hundred and twenty thousand milliseconds. Two whole minutes, and an eon for a speedster.

Wally waited and waited.

For something. Some sign that this was all just a dream.

He’d settle for anything at this moment. From a bullshit alternate universe excuse down to the good ole gotcha.

Anything would be better, than accepting this reality.

His mouth felt hot, the breath he had been holding started to suffocate his throat, his eyes were red, irritated from his constant rubbing.

He felt...tired.

Drained.

Defeated.

When the burning of his lungs started to humm in sync with the closing of his throat, he exhaled loudly.

Fuck.

Everything is shitty. Everything is fucked up.

His eyes shifted to the screen Tim had left up, the Justice League meeting still present. There was no sound, but Wally didn’t need to hear it to know what was happening. People were yelling, some to Flash, some to others.

It was more than obvious the League was divided. It was more than obvious that while some trusted Flash and knew him well enough to know he would never, some just….. didn’t.

At this Wally could only scowl.

Because how? Even if they barely knew him, even if they just joined. How could they think that he would ever do this?

Barry wouldn’t kill a villain let alone thousands of civilians. How could they not know that?

His scowl only grew as one member banged on the table and pointed profusely at Flash.

Sergeant Steel. One of Wally’s least favorite members. The man was always serious, his military background always-on display. He took professionalism to the heart and consistently found a way to criticize Kid Flash for his “immaturity”.

Of course, he’d be leading this fucked up crusade.

“Oracle, anyway I can get access to the audio”, Wally asked. He asked, but he wasn’t too surprised when the ceiling hummed ‘classified’ and the screen blinked black.

Of course, Tim was allowed to look in the meeting and he wasn’t.

Of fucking course.

Maybe it was the stupid setup, the League, the secrets, or just life in general but he snapped.

He growled, and without thinking threw the nearest object at the now blank screen.

His brand new stupid phone which apparently was damn near indestructible because it did not shatter.

The chairs, desk, and table he threw after it, however, did.

He’s not sure how much time had passed, too busy steaming his own anger. But before he chuck the damn vase at the nearly demolished screen, a hand stopped him.

“My friend you need to calm down, lest you hurt yourself as much as you have the room”, Aqualad said, while encompassing his water arms around Wally.

Wally scoffed, that whole sentence made no fucking sense.

My friend? Who the hell is Aqualad kidding? Granted he’s probably the most polite person Wallys ever met and seriously they could easily be friends in another universe. But the fact is in this one, they weren’t.

They were superheroes.

Young Justice members.

Teammates.

But not friends, Aqualad didn’t even know Wally’s real name.

And hurt himself? All he's been doing lately is hurting, he doubts this would make much a difference.

“Let go”, he grumbled while trying to shake Aqualad off, but the Atlantean teen only held on longer.

Aqualad sighed, biting his tongue as he always did. Thinking through what he said before he could say it. Not because he’s careless but because he’s unsure. He’s not sure if he should approach Kid Flash, he’s not sure if he should ignore him either. He needs time, he always needs time to rightfully approach a situation.

This is Aqualad’s biggest flaw, especially at this moment because Wally has little to no patience. And instead of waiting for whatever Aqualad was trying to say, Wally thrashed.

He thrashed and thrashed, hitting Aqualad left and right. Screaming ‘Let me go’ louder and louder as he did.

He thrashed against Aqualad, to the point of vibration. This only lasted for a second before Aqualad released him. The only sign it had even occurred was the slight blood that dripped from Wally’s nose, the small burns on Aqualad’s arms, and the frowns on both of their faces.

They were now a few feet apart but it felt like miles. Neither said anything, the only sounds were their slight breaths and even those seemed empty.

Aqualad paused, picked up the phone from the mess, and handed it back to Wally. “Robin worked hard on that, you shouldn’t be careless with it”.

Wally only shrugged, pocketing the phone but offering nothing else. He didn’t want to talk, and he wished Aqualad would accept that, as he usually did.

Just his luck, he didn’t.

“Kid Flash, you have….. changed recently”, Aqualad said after a moment. When Wally didn’t respond, he only continued. “These past few months you have been distant, sometimes not even showing up for team meetings. I asked you earlier to not do this-

“And I haven’t” Wally interrupted, casually wiping his nose on his left sleeve as he did. It left an ugly stain that he normally would’ve complained about, but found at this moment he just couldn’t.
His life was turning to literal shit, the stain was the last thing on his mind.

Aqualad paused yet again, giving Wally the most respectful of smiles before speaking once more.“Yes, and while I appreciate your efforts. I realize it may have been the wrong approach. As the leader of the Young Justice I shouldn’t make mistakes like this ”.

Wally rolled his eyes and sighed. It’s not that he doesn’t like Aqualad, he does. Normally he’d be all for talking with the dude because honestly the most he knows about Aqualad is he’s talks to fish and he eats fish.

Hell, the only reason Wally knows Kaldurs real name is because Dick told him.

But right now he just doesn’t want to pretend.

He doesn’t want to pretend he particularly cares about Aqualad’s leadership skills.

He doesn’t want to pretend that his life isn’t currently going to shit.

He doesn’t want to pretend for another second that everything is okay.

So instead he scoffed, loudly. Painted the most carefree smile on his face then sarcastically bit out. “Trust me dude your leadership skills are fine. Really you should join the boys and girls club! Swear you’ll be a hit with the kiddos. They can brush your scales and everything”.

He’s hoping his tone as well as the numerous human references would be enough to dissuade Aqualad from continuing the conversation.

Kaldur always did hate speaking about issues he uneducated in.

“I don’t have scales,” Aqualad said pointedly. He then paused thoughtfully, he didn’t exactly know how to word this. “I can see why you assumed so… but the subject of this conversation isn’t my leadership skills. I..recognize when asking about your change behavior I simply asked for a solution and not the cause. That was my mistake, and I apologize for it”.

Wait. What.

“We are not very familiar and I respect your privacy so I do not implore. However, I want to tell you, should you need to... should you want to confide in me. I would very much appreciate the sharing of your troubles.”

This time Wally paused. Taking a shaking breath, for the first time that day he truly looked at Aqualad.

Aqualad dressed in his finest Atlantean attire, looking regal and princely and outworldly.

Aqualad the boy who could breathe underwater and create electric currents from his hands.

Aqualad- No Kaldur who had never looked so normal, so human in his life.

Wally bit his lip, a habit he had whenever he wanted to hold his tears.

He then smiled at Kaldur, a true smile. A Kid Flash smile.

Because fuck, did he need that. He knows they’re not friends, they weren’t. But the fact that somebody asked, the fact that Kaldur cared enough to ask. It meant everything to him in that moment.

He bit his lip a little harder.

He wants to tell Kaldur everything.

Harder.

He wants to tell him, he and Flash had nothing to do with the SME. How it hurt that some people think that they did. How he felt guilty for partying at Abby's during the blackout.

Harder.

He wants to tell him how much he misses Roy. How he wishes he didn’t mess things up with Artemis. How he wishes he was at the cave more often.

Harder.

He wants to tell him about how life just really sucked right now. About his fear. His regret. His dad.

Harder.

He wants to….but he doesn’t. He doesn’t tell Kaldur a thing. Because how could he? Where would he start? What would he say? Who would Kaldur tell? Why would he even trouble him with it? How could anyone-

His teeth make a smacking noise as he removes them from his now bleeding lip. He rubs his tongue sheepishly over the bite before smiling back at Kaldur. “ Thanks, man. I uh- it really means a lot. But it’s nothing much ya know, just civvy life kicking my ass”.

He smiles a bit more, hoping this would be enough. Praying this is enough to push Kaldur back but not away.

No, they’re not friends….but maybe they could be.

Aqualad politely smiled and nodded. “I’m told from Nightwing civilian life is troubling, socially and educationally. Atlantis was similar in that aspect”.

Wally smiled grateful for the purposeful subject change, “I heard Atlantis was a utopia. Every time Aquaman talks to Flash about it, he said how unlucky we were to be born here”.

Aqualad shook his head as if a bit amused, “ His Highness is very patriotic to the point of fault. Atlantis is a wonderful home but it is not paradise”.

“If everyone from Atlantis dresses the way you dress I find that hard to believe”, Wally teased while gesturing to the boy’s clothing once more.

Seriously Kaldur, gold cufflinks in the shape of starfish. The Atlanteans must be loaded.

Aqualad actually had the nerve to look mildly embarrassed, “ While we don’t exactly have the same fashion as you do up here, I am not the standard. My friends back home say my clothing can be a bit... ostentatious, but that was because His Highness insisted I have proper clothing as his ward”.

Wally cackled, no wonder Kaldur and Dick got along so great they were both cut from the same cloth.

Spoiled little rich boys!

“His Highness isn’t here to dress you though” Wally teased once more.

Instantly Kaldur’s face drops, a slight wine hits his throat. “Unfortunately not or he’d be departing to the U. N meeting as Atlantis representative instead”.

Oh, so that’s why Tim was leading the clean-up mission.

“That bad”, Wally asked.

Aqualad himself nodded, “ As I’m sure you know the SME is the world’s most dangerous weapon. Banned in every region because of its potential destruction. And yet one was paired with a polar magnet. No one is prepared for what that means. I fear the worst and although I wish to assist the team, I simply can not”.

“Why can’t you? It’s not like Aquaman can’t meet the UN virtually”.

Aqualad sighed, pausing a bit as if he wasn’t sure he should continue. Then in the softest of voices, he whispered, “ My people especially are a bit…..unsettled. They think of it as an attack from the surface. His highness is meeting with the council of the kingdom to remediate that...so in turn, I must meet with your people and articulate their- our concerns.”

“Oh”.

Yes, he knows lame reply but that was the only thing Wally could think of.

What else could he say?

Yeah man, I totally understand what it’s like to represent your entire species? I totally understand how everything, your words, your clothes, your very being is a reflection of your people? I totally understand what it’s like to basically be the spokesperson for your country at just sixteen?

Yeah right, Wally would never understand.

He could never understand that pressure. He’s dumb enough to pretend he does.

But is he stupid, he does feel stupid. Sure they weren’t friends but how had he never notice.

The forced smiles, the perfectly pressed robes, the careful way Kaldur always spoke.

How draining that must be.

“I’m sorry I must take my leave now if I am going to make the meeting in time. Farewell, my friend. And please be mindful of my earlier suggestion”, Aqualad adds, as he swiftly moves back to the entrance.

He moves with the usual sense of grace Aqualad exudes but it still causes Wally to pause.

Maybe it’s the guilt talking, maybe it’s just Wally’s own insecurities being projected, but he does see something else in Kaldurs step, something cold, and lonely.

Something that didn’t belong there, and now that Wally’s seen it, he can’t truly ignore it.

“Wait uh- want some company”? Wally blurts out. Stupid, he knows.

Even though Kaldur may be lonely, he is prideful to a fault. Strong till he breaks. He would never accept such an offer.
Naturally, Wally expects Aqualad to object, shake his head politely, maybe even scoff a little.

Instead, Kaldur just smiled.

Chapter Text

The trip wasn’t that bad.

While Wally would’ve much preferred to run to the UN assembly they decided to fly.
It was the best solution for conserving his energy after all. Wally hadn’t eaten since being at Abigail’s and although Kaldur appeared light, he most definitely was not.

Plus, Wally thought it was best to keep up Kaldur’s princely appearance. He had tried to joke with the boy about this, calling him his highness in between his teases.

And while Kaldur vehemently exclaimed he was not royal, Wally could see just the tinge of smile near the corner of his mouth.

When they arrived, Wally wasn’t sure what he expected but he knew whatever it was, it wasn’t..this.

The UN building was large, bigger than Oliver’s house, bigger than Bruce's house.

It was heavily guarded with an electric force field and had an extended wall that would put Berlin to shame.

Near each tower was perched an automatic gun, and although he knows he technically is faster than them, Wally can’t help but sweat a little as one swivels in his direction.

“Ummm are these things usually this….guarded” Wally whispers.

Kaldur nods, “You can never be too careful. With so many leaders in one building, anyone can take advantage. You have seen the chaos when one leader perishes, imagine the chaos should one hundred. We can afford to not take such precautions”.

That...does make a lot of sense. Still, Wally feels as if some of these measures are a bit extreme.

Taking Aqualad’s weapon he understands. Taking his comm feels like a setup.

It was as if Aqualad was a reluctant enemy more than a welcomed participant.

Still, it definitely wasn’t Wally’s place to say anything, so he obliges. He watches as the robots take his new cellphone, cringes as they take his comm, and keeps his mouth shut.

They didn't see actual people until they entered the building. Apparently, in order to ensure no vital information is leaked, the UN uses only robots for employees.

Thus the only humans in the building were the political figures. The dominating callous world leaders. Who were kinda any and everything you would expect of world leaders.
Stuffy old men, some stuffy old women.

Some exchanged niceties with each other, their words saturated in too much sugar to ever be authentic. Some argued with each other, anger-filled to the brim as they spat out insults. None of them really acknowledged Kid Flash or Aqualad.

Apparently, they were only interested in having conversations with ‘actual’ world leaders.

That message unfortunately didn't really reach Kaldur. Smiling sheepishly at Wally, he excused himself as he aimlessly tried his hardest to interact with the snobs.

It was a trainwreck. Almost none of the leaders even spared Kaldur a glance, most of them simply pretended he wasn’t there.

When a few of them decided to pretend to not speak English Wally had to look away.

Ugh, why exactly did he offer to come to this place?

“Greetings, Atlantean. We weren’t expecting you….in-person. Your King so seldom does come to these meetings ” a man said while clasping Aqualad on his shoulder.

At first, Wally was glad, finally, someone was acknowledging Kaldurs presence. But then he looked up and his green eyes met a familiar cool blue.

Andrew Casperson. Senator of Central City.

Beloved son of the President of the United States.

Abigail Capersons father.

Ugh, anybody else would’ve been better.

Granted, Wally had never officially met the man. But he had heard of him. He does know what Andrew Caperson stands for, it’s no secret the man is a bit of a power-hungry asshole.

A really popular power-hungry asshole.

As he spoke, all eyes shifted. Andrew Caperson always had that effect, he was charming, charismatic, magnetic.

He drew people in, he made you look at him. Suddenly no one was ignoring them, no one was looking them over.

Suddenly everyone's eyes were on them. This wouldn’t end well.

Caperson makes a show of it, he laughs as he towers over the teens. Points out how he could never do this with Aquaman. He tells Kaldur how brave he is to come here. How proud of him he is. He then outwardly has the balls to wonder if Aquaman believed he was too big to converse at the United Nations. He asked does Atlantis believed themselves to be too good for the surface.

It starts an uproar, a bounty of whispers. It was clear already that many of the leaders didn’t care for Atlantis, but now Wally knew why.

Caperson. He was clearly the root of that distrust.

Thankfully Aqualad stepped in before the murmurs can get any louder, “Apologies Sir, but my King had urgent business back home to address. I’m sure you can understand what with all the circumstances”.

Solid. A good, quick comeback, one that screams diplomacy.

Classic Kaldur.

Unfortunately, Casperson’s reply was just as quick.

“Of course, of course. Please do send my condolences to King Arthur, I heard a few buildings sunk down and a pipe leak broke out by Gothams bay. The trouble your people must be enduring”. Beside him, Wally could feel the grimace on Aqualad’s face just as clear as he can see the glee on Capersons.

Classic asshole.

Still as bad as Aqualad is feeling he doesn’t really let it show in his face for too long. Opting instead his most careful smile as he glances around the room. “I will, and please do not fret, the troubles are not nearly as bad as they are on the surface. Please let us know if Atlantis can assist you all in any way you feel necessary".

Score. No one has a rebuttal for that. Caperson even looks mildly miffed.

“Well then ladies and gentlemen, let’s begin our conversation. Atlantean you will be seated near General Amanda Waller''.

Amanda Waller?

Wally shakes his head twice, he knows that name.

He knows, he knows that name, but from where?

Quickly he eyes the woman up, hoping some memory will pass him….but it doesn’t.

Amanda Waller. She was a big woman, maybe in her thirties. African American with a short bowl cut and an even shorter temper. She had a plain face and plain suit on, but as she met the boy’s eyes Wally could tell she was anything but ordinary.

Amanda Waller was something special.

She cuts her eye contact with Wally almost speedster fast, quickly opting to shake Aqualad’s already extended hand.

“It is a pleasure, madam. I’m sure you know Kid Flash”, Kaldur said while motioning to a puzzled Wally.

Amanda starts to reply but is instantly cut off.

“Ah yes, the kid who tears up my city every week and leaves me with the bill”, Caperson jokes, or at least everyone thinks he’s joking.

There is an undertone, it’s small but you can hear it if you listen close enough.

That kind of tone, that kind of sugary sneer. It’s unmistakable, it lets you know exactly how that person feels.

It was everything but a joke.

Andrew Caperson doesn’t like Kid Flash, he doesn’t like heroes. But he does love power, and he does know how to control it.

He tells another joke, this one longer and filled with anecdotes of how much tax money is spent on Flash’s stomach. He then pinches Wally and tells him if he catches him running around his city again he may have to install speed meters.

Everyone laughs, hard and loud.

Wally just cringes, My city. The way he said it didn't sound right at all.

“Keep it up Andrew and I’m not sure the kid will be able to tolerate another meeting” a portly german man adds.

It was hard to see, truthfully Wally didn’t even see it. But Kaldur does, as soon as the words left the german man’s mouth, as soon as his voice infiltrated the air, Andrew Caperson’s mood sours just the slightest.

“Oh Leften, I didn’t think you’d be coming to this. It is only for official government leaders and the acting General of State, after all”, Caperson said through his beaming smile.

Leften, the German leader who apparently didn’t belong there just smiles back. “Yes, but exceptions are made. Sir Zahn is dealing with matters of security back in Germany. And I was available. I assume you made that same decision for your father Andy. Seeing as the “official” president of your United States isn’t here”.

Oh, now this time it’s not hard to see at all. Andrew Caperson mood definitely is worse.

Still keeping up his political image Caperson doesn’t even glare in Leften’s direction. He just smiles as he exclaims, “Yes, well our United States was heavily affected, unlike everyone else. The SME was actually used in our area, this meeting may be a security check for all of you, but for America, it is a question of attack. My father clearly had other obligations”

“Clearly”, Leften adds.

It was this moment Amanda Waller choose to roll her eyes and take command of the room, “If you boys are finished, we have bigger things to worry about than why you two, who have consistently represented your countries continue to question the attendance of the other”.

“Ah yes, the meeting of course Amanda you may-

“Not yet. I understand the Atlantean, he represents his country. But I will not carelessly ignore the fact that another League member has not only infiltrated the United Nations’ most secure building but also believes he may insert himself in world conversations. Kid Flash has no reason to be here and unless you all have something to tell me I can not fathom why any of you would be comfortable with this” Amanda spats, eyeing up Kid Flash as she finishes.

It gets quiet then, no one said a word. It's almost criminal how instant the room is captivated. Everyone, every single person there is silent. No one even blinks, they just stare at her. They wait for her.

Wally was right, Amanda Waller was anything but ordinary.

Caperson is the first to break out of the trance, he smiles and gains the attention of nearly every person as he agrees with Amanda. “ While I do hate to admit it, especially against a Central City heroin, Waller has a point”.

And just like that everyone is questioning it.

What is he doing here?

Who sent him?

Should Justice League members really be infiltrating world conversations?

Suddenly the room feels a bit smaller.

In the midst of the argument, Kaldur takes center stage. He addresses Caperson, but that’s just to ensure everyone else will listen. “While I am quite versed in surface dwellers' languages I sometimes fail to note certain customs. Kid Flash is to serve as my translator”.

Okay, that was believable. Truthfully, Kaldur does need a translator for most surface conversations.

It was apparently a good enough save that everyone let that subject drop.

Well…...almost everyone. Even as everyone took their seats, even as everyone began participating in the discussion, Wally could still feel her cold, hard gaze.

Amanda Waller, she was not one to overlook.

Still, Wally at least attempted to ignore her. He was here to support Kaldur after all. Plus the SME was something he is concerned about, he should pay attention. He shouldn’t care what Amanda Waller thought of him. Or why she seemed so familiar.

He just needed to focus on the meeting. Just focus on the SME convo, and he’s a okay.

Ugh, If only it wasn’t so boring.

In the beginning, it was just the leaders of the main powers arguing over who could cause this. The French diplomat swore while the Russian diplomat yelled, everyone in between either added to the chaos or helplessly tried to stop it.

This went on for hours, literally. It was nearly 5 am and they were still going.

Wally almost yelped for joy when Caperson added a short recess.

“I have never met people who like to argue so much in my life”, Wally groaned as he stretched his super sore muscles. He had been sitting down for hours, fucking hours.

“While I agree it is a bit tedious, I must also say conversation is better than the alternative”, Aqualad points out.

Wally groans. Yes, Kaldur is right. At least no one was fighting but still, damn, they’re never gonna figure out who it is if all they do is point the finger at each other all day.

“Ugh, and you do this often, seriously man I can’t imagine” Wally adds.

Because seriously he couldn’t. When he first offered he simply was trying to extend an olive branch. Give Kaldur someone in his corner.

He couldn’t imagine actually be subjected to the crap, consistently.

Kaldur grins, “I’m not a participant as much as you would think. It took quite a while for your people to accept Atlantis within these conversations, and even then his Highness does usually attend, despite what Caperson claims”.

Instantly Wally sours, “Yeah, I would apologize and say he is ass and no one in Central city likes him -”

“But you’d be lying, and causing this poor Atlantean to make a formidable enemy. Though your first statement is true, best not to say it out loud lad. Words have power here more thzan anyvwhere ” the german man from earlier interrupts. His vowels extending large and wide as v’s end nearly every word.

He waddles over to the duo, a smile planted firmly on his face.

It was probably the first genuine smile Wally had seen since he came into the building, so he couldn’t help but mirror it back.

Aqualad is quick to follow, “Ah, representing Germany Mr. Leften-

“Cvall me Lefty everyone calls me Lefty”, the man exclaims. As he now stands in front of the duo, he beams even wider. “Non, you can relax. I may be big and fellow asshole to many here but I promise I never bite child ”.

Aqualad squits, “I’m sorry I’m not sure I-

“It means he’s cool” Wally supplies, smile still heavy. He hadn’t forgotten Lefty’s save from earlier.

“Eh vright. Though I do understand your reluctance Atlantean. Image is everything after all” Lefty adds, he then gestures to Kaldur once more, “Which I’m sure you know, judging by your attire”.

Wally can’t help but chuckle. He told Kaldur the cape was overdoing it. He goes to tell Lefty just this and the man laughs as Kaldur’s ears turn a smidge of red.

“This is most inappropriate”, Kaldur flushes, “and it’s not that bad”.

That only causes Wally to laugh harder, and he has to press his hand against his mouth to keep the sound low.

Lefty stops altogether, though the smile is still present, “Non, it’s not. In all actuality it is suitable and it makes everyone here know that Atlantis while strong in warfare may also be strong in partnership”.

Aqualad perks, “Really”.

“Ja, If you can’t tell it’s one of the reasons I’m speaking with you actually. Germany could use a better alliance, America is winding one. Ah, no offense Flash Child”.

“Kid Flash” Wally whines, and this time Kaldur has to literally fight his own smile.

Lefty wasn’t all that bad, he presumed. Though he did not trust the man, Kaldur could appreciate his personality. He could entertain the thought of an alliance if only to keep things amicable.

Besides Kid Flash liked him, and Kaldur trusted his judgment.

But of course, Andrew Caperson could never let that happen, “Ah, come now. I do hope you’re not scaring the poor Atlantean away Oberlinki” he said while scooting right in the middle of the conversation.

In the back of his head Wally heard Lefty scoff, he heard Kaldur politely refute Capersons claim. He heard it but he really stopped listening after Capersons first sentence.

Leften, Leften Oberliki.

Shit. Chad’s Dad.

First, he nearly shits himself dealing with Abby's Dad. And now he fucking makes best friends with Chad’s Dad.

Chad’s seriously messed up Dad. His super fucking strict dad, who Chad complains about all the time.

Who doesn’t exactly fit the description of...Lefty at all.

Which could only mean one of two things. One, Chad has no idea how fucking lucky he is to have a dad like that. Or two, Wally has no idea who the real Lefty is.

He squints, if there one thing Wally knows it’s things are not always what they seem.

And if that’s the case, then neither are people.

“Ahhhhh, where the bathroom. I really have to go”, Wally said. Awkwardly interrupting the three men in their fake exchange.

For what it’s worth the men don’t seem to off-put by the interruption.

“It’s three halls down the stairs to your right”, Lefty happily supplies.

Wally winces, he definitely can hear the fakeness in Leftys voice now. He’s troubled that he couldn’t before. “Great, Come on Aqualad”, he said, while gripping taller boys’ arms.

He pulls and pulls, But Aqualad doesn’t budge.

Finally, after what seems like an incessant amount of resiting, Kaldur slowly removes Wally’s arm. “Kid Flash, while I appreciate your concern I do not need to relieve myself besides it would be most improper to miss the remainder of the meeting”.

“But-

“I will be here when you return, probably not even seated before so”.

“But dude I really think you should-

“I think you should go before you cause more of a scene”, Kaldur exclaims, leader voice apparent by his very tone. “ I am fine”.

He said it quickly but affirmed. Kaldur said it in a tone he hopes will convey just how important this meeting is to him. He doesn’t understand what Kid Flash is saying, but he knows he’s is not required to go with him to the bathroom.

He doesn’t yell but he does extend his voice, he wants Kid Flash to see as Atlantis representative he can not allow a second of the meeting to continue without his presence.

He hopes Kid Flash can see that.

Kid Flash doesn’t.

Wally frowns, no Kaldur didn’t yell but he…….. He didn’t listen.

He should at least listen to him.

It is then that Wally is reminded of his once sour mantra.

They aren’t friends.

Well shit. Fine. If Kaldur didn’t want to listen to him, fine.

He glares, though he still doesn’t feel right leaving Kaldur he’s angry enough to justify five minutes. Its not like Leften Oberlinki can really do much damage.

Besides he has appearances to keep up. So hiding his frown beneath his smile, he beams up at the three men, bites off an okay, and jets off.

Zipping across the room he expected to get there in record time. Wash his hands, maybe stare at the mirror or something for a minute. He didn’t exactly have to use the bathroom, but he can count on Caperson noticing if he didn’t at least look like he did.

What he didn’t count on was getting lost on his way back.

Seriously, how big was this place, Wally huffed.

Not that he was really complaining. He actually much preferred walking around the big ole museum-like building than listening to the world leaders argue again.

Besides Kaldur was fine, he nearly grumbled.

At one point he decided to stop looking for the way back and to explore the place just a little.

It was fun, at first. Treating it as a museum Wally zipped through as many weird sculptures as he could. He gave the particularly weird ones extra special attention, he even named them.

He was working on the name for a peculiar watercolor when he heard it.

Whispers, two people. One was quiet and firm, but the other was rushed, loud, almost angry.

Now Wallys no father time, but he is almost certain the meeting started back up. There were no employees so no one else should be here.

So who exactly had snuck to the back of the building.

And why?

Inching closer to the noise Wally prayed to the clumsy gods he wouldn’t make a sound as the voices got louder. They were coming from a room to the left, the door was closed and Wally would bet you half his life savings it was probably locked too.

He couldn’t see whoever was in there, but he could still hear them. And although he knows it was wrong, he couldn't help but listen just a little.

“Is this all necessary Amanda, shouldn’t we focus on who has the damn SME? '' a man's voice boomed. This was a voice from earlier, the frantic one, the angry one. Unfortunately, that was the only identifier Wally could really offer. He wasn’t sure who this voice belonged to, he doesn’t remember them speaking in the meeting at all.

He doesn’t have much time to even ponder it before the second voice whispers.

“That focus is unnecessary. Let Caperson and his follies do that. Whoever is doing this has an idea of what's on those drives, that’s what I’m concerned about. Xio Shu was killed after he was pilfered. Toler is not answering, I shouldn’t have to tell you how important that line of communication is. You will supervise the investigation team”.

That was Amanda Waller. Calm and cold Amanda Waller.

Wally furrows his brows, what exactly is going on.

The man scoffed, “It's not like I can just up and leave. I represent my country, you know. This is a UN meeting, I could be killed for treason in Vlatava”.

“You could be killed for treason now. If the Vlatava people knew what you really did, if they knew who you really were. Do you think they’d waste a second wondering if they should kill you?”, Amanda exclaims, pausing a bit towards the end. Then in almost a sarcastic voice, she adds, “Or do you think they won’t wonder at all. Do you think they'll act with the same bravado they used as they gutted your mother? Life is full of choices Werner, decide”.

Werner, whoever that is doesn’t say anything for the longest string of seconds. Wally almost thought he had left, but then the man sighs,“And if you are right? If Toler is compromised”.

“Then I’ll handle it”, Amanda instantly replies. She then shuffles almost as if she’s grabbing something. As she does this Wally presses his ear even firmer on the door and curses whoever for not giving him x-ray vision.

All while this is happening the man is huffing. Finally, he stops his whining to himself and spits out, “How can you be so sure?”.

Amanda speaks once more, this time Wally can hear her smile loudly as she exclaims, “Because getting people to act in my best interest is what I do for a living. I want this done before they can issue a second blackout, you’ll lead the Suicide squad. Kill Toler if necessary but retrieve the drive”.

Wait. what.

What the fuck is she talking about, drives? Suicide squad? A second blackout?

Wally didn’t even give himself much time to ponder it as he ran to find Aqualad. He curses as he runs endlessly around this stupid building, why the fuck did he let the dumb robots take his comm.

He has to warn the team, He has to tell the League.

He has too before-

He pauses, there is a buzz in the air. The lights start blinking and then suddenly they just stop. Everything stops the cameras, the guns, the robots.

Is this the second blackout? Why now? What’s going on?

He doesn’t get to question it. He doesn’t even get to adjust to the darkness.

Suddenly the ground shifts, there is a loud string of explosions and Wally has but a second to blink at them before concrete beneath him is falling.

The fuck.

Sure he knows the first blackout caused some car crashes, planes, and stuff but explosions? He knows what an SME is capable of but this…..this seemed fishy. He can’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t just the second blackout.

He huffs, barely scraping by as flips his goggles over his eyes. It’s pitch fucking black in here and he needs to fucking see. But the goggles don’t come on, and he still can’t see anything as a loud boom hits his ear and more parts of the building explode.

Okay, no goggles means it’s defiantly the second blackout. The SME is being used again.

So why? Why can’t he shake this feeling?

He swallows, he has to find Kaldur. He has to find him fucking fast.

He zooms across the room avoiding whatever scraps he could, but the light plays tricks and he trips before he can even feel the edge of the broken floor.

When he falls his chin is scraped, his googles cracked. He shuffles to help himself up, but he stops when he hears a very telling sound.

Piercing, ear throbbing, the sound of bullets hitting their mark effortlessly.

Then screaming, he pales.

He was right and he was wrong.

It was the second blackout, it was the SME again.

But it was something else too. It was someone else too.

The second blackout had begun and the UN was under attack.

Chapter Text

Everything is fine...is what Tim tells himself the entire cleanup mission.

Everything is okay. And for a while it was.

He was in Star City, the active leader of Team B. It was a simple clean-up mission, at least that’s what he told himself. That’s what he told the team. Ignore the bodies. Ignore the blood. Ignore that nagging thing in the back of your head. Figure out everything else later.

Focus on the city, focus on the mission.

Everything is fine.

He had yelled at Beast Boy to stop goofing off, shot a Batarang at Ion to keep him focused. Tried his hardest to ignore Zatanna’s concerned “where is Nightwing questions” and even managed to somehow still keep an eye on Team A, D, and E while he worked.

Sure’s he tired, and maybe he’s a little worried about everything...but he’s fine. Dick is fine. Wally’s fine. Tim is….

“Watch out”, Bumblebee yells, shooting a beam of light to a block before it can reach the red-clad boy. It crumbles, leaving bits of dust in its wake. To the left of him, Tim sees Beastboy sheepishly smile.

“My bad bro. I was trying to pick the building back up but I guess a T-rex wasn’t the best choice”. Beastboy notes while waving his still abnormally small arms. To the left of him, Ion laughs.

“Bb you and Glowstick here go to the left sector, clear it out before any reporters show up”, Bumblebee declares.

Instantly both boys sour.

“But the left sector is Hyde park”, Beastboy whines, when Bumblebee doesn’t even look in his direction he adds, “Helloooooo, animal changing boy, scary hunters. Does that seem like a problem to anybody else”.

Bumblebee glares, “Bb go, now”.

Ion sighs, but wraps a bit of his energy around Beastboy’s leg, “Come on Beasty I’ll make sure no one skins ya”. He then takes off to the sky all while dragging a still sour and reluctant Beastboy.

“Probably shouldn’t leave them alone” Tim mutters once the two of them are out of his line of vision.

“They’ll be fine, two idiots are better than one. Besides, Mayor Tuckman issued a statement no residents should leave their homes, that includes hunters” Bumblebee replies.

Tim scoffs, “Because that’s stopped people before”. He then shuffles around Bumblebee attempting to grapple his way over to the demolished building. But before he could, a sparkling gold hand was pursed on his shoulder.

“Oh no you don't, little bird, we are not finished yet. Next time tell me beforehand if you’re going through something. I like to know when a teammate might start buggin”.

Tim blinks, that whole sentence made no sense, “I am not..buggin. You're overreacting and wasting my time”.

He tries once more to grapple away, but yet again he was stopped. This time a giant glowing gloved hand was pursed in front of him.

“No, she isn’t. You’ve been snippy this entire mission. What’s up with that”, Zatanna said as she flies over to the duo.

Tim groans, he really doesn't have time for this.

“Zatanna go back to your post, we need you to transport all the damaged goods”, Tim tiredly replies.

He closes his eyes for a bit and hopes the giant hand will disappear when he opens it. He hopes Zatanna and Bumblebee will have enough sense to realize this really wasn’t the time.

But of course, they didn’t.

“The rubble isn’t going anywhere, I think we can spare a few minutes for you to explain what all this is. That blackout was different, the League won’t tell us what’s up. There has to be a reason they’re forcing us to play cleanup while they sit around in a stupid meeting” Zatanna exclaims as she gestures around them. She then hunches, her face turning angry for a moment. “Hundred of people have died! Do you know how many bodies I’ve had to transport in between the rubble? Despite what Batman thinks, we deserve to know, so tell us what’s going on ”.

“Nothing going on! Go back to your post and make yourself useful or go home. I don’t have time to cuddle you if you’re bothered by the casualties go home. No one here needs you”, Tim said through clenched teeth.

To the left of him, he hears Bumblebee gasp, and he feels Zatanna’s rage.

Cause yeah, that was a low blow. He knows that was a low blow. He knows but, he’s too tired. It’s 4 am he is running purely on fucking caffeine, he doesn’t know what’s going on, Batman doesn’t even know what’s going on.

So excuse him, if he doesn’t exactly have the patience for Zatanna’s hissy fit.

But at the same time, Zatanna is tired too.

She’s so tired, so sick of the hush hush that comes with the League. She’s so annoyed with all the cliques and the covert information and fucking secrets.

She can’t begin to explain her frustration with all these secrets.

So against better her judgment, against her budding relationship with Robin, she decides to be just as harsh.

“Neither one of us are the type to be cuddle, orphan mentality right”, she bit.

And while that hurt, while that did make Tim inwardly cringe with memories he’d rather not address, Robin had appearances to keep up.

So instead of glaring, instead of huffing at her words, Tim simply nodded over to the beautiful magician, “Right”.

That wasn’t the retort Zatanna was expecting, it was the last one she needed.

He was so different, so unlike her Robin, that she didn’t really know how to talk to him. She had faced this problem before, with the second Robin. And time had told her, that even though she knows Nightwing she doesn’t know them.

And right about now, she’s not so sure she wants to know the third Robin at all.

So she simply glances over at Bumblebee, apparently done with the entire conversation, “I’m gonna go help BB, and Ion. You deal with him”.

And with that, the beautiful magician rolled her eyes and in a puff of smoke, she was gone.

Robin didn’t even wait for the smoke to disappear before he was back to grappling rubble. He had just finished a major portion when heard buzzing by his ear.

It didn’t take a genius to know who that was, and Tim figured because she started that whole ugly confrontation Bumblebee at least deserved a half swat in her small form.

“Ow! Ya tryna kill me” Bumblebee muttered, enlarging herself as she held onto the boy’s hand.

“I didn’t even make contact” Robin deadpanned.

Bumblebee sways, apparently still not completely use to her normal form. Once she regains her posture she cracks her neck and peers down at the kid, “The wind was enough thanks”.

Robin shot her look that said everything but sorry and attempted once more to brush past her.

“Hey, Hey wait a damn minute! Look I don’t need all the fine details, in fact, I really don’t care about it. I just need you to know I got your back and if you have mine, then let me know when you need help. That’s all I’m asking”, Bumblebee quips.

Tim sighs. No, it wasn’t unreasonable, but still.

He doesn’t trust Bumblebee and he doesn’t understand how she couldn’t know that.

“I don't know what you mean I’m -

“Fine. Yeah, I’ve heard you tell everyone that for the past two hours. But your twelve and your sleep-deprived and you’re leading this mission when your brother is missing and your other brother is missing/ reborn so forgive me if I don’t believe you”, Bumblebee snaps.

Tim glares, “Nightwings not missing”.

His glare much like his obvious annoyance was ignored for the most part.

Bumblebee even had the nerve to glare back before replying, “Yeah sure he’s not missing but he’s not here when he would be. Now unlike Z, I’m not strung enough on Blue boy to pester, but please don’t play my intelligence like that, again. You’re not fine, let me help you”.

As she said this she edges over towards the smaller red-clad teen. Her voice still hard and serious.

Because who was he kidding.

Robin isn’t fine, he isn’t okay.

And him acting like it, him being twelve and a genius and snippy was too close in resemblance to someone Karen once knew.

And she’ll be damned if she makes the same mistake she made with Gizmo.

But it’s too bad that Robin isn’t so easily moved. Despite Bumblebee’s towering presence, despite her insistent questioning, Tim looked anything but afraid.

He basically scoffed at her, “It isn’t your business”, he bit out.

He then paused, half expecting Bumblebee to lash out like Zatanna. But instead, she didn’t, Bumblebee didn’t even seem the least bit upset.

Her face was void of any anger, any feeling really. She simply looked resolved.

Why

Because Karen understood. She knew what it was like to keep a secretes, she knew the load that came with cherishing the unknown. And she knew, more the anyone the damage that comes from sharing it.

So with a soft voice, she replied “ Your right, it isn’t my business, and so don’t tell me what’s up. I don’t need to know about the League or Nightwing or any of it. What I’m asking is don’t lie, you’re not fine. You need help, next time let me know. So that way I can know to look out for you”.

Tim doesn’t know how to answer that. It’s not a promise he can really keep.

But he nods anyway, he promises anyways. And the minute he does he feels a bit lighter.

It’s strange, the weight that can be lifted by a simple presence. The ease that comes with trust.

The feeling is short-lived though, in the next second everything changes. The few cars around suddenly stop, the animals that were so quiet before are screeching, the light from every post is gone.

The second blackout happened out of nowhere, and it is just as demanding as the first.

“Another blackout”, a pedestrian yelps, prompting another one to scream. Suddenly everyone’s screaming, and everyone in Star City is up at 4 am.

“This is why no one should be out here, Team A, C, and D. This is Robin do you read me”, Tim yells while aimlessly pressing down on his comm, but no one answers.

“Comms are out, it’s gotta be the SME again. We should get Z and the others back over here”, Bumblebee adds as she sparkles her stingers in the air.

Tim wants to agree but pauses instead.

No one else should know about the SME. Only the League and the World leaders really.

And Bumblebee is new..uh newish.

She hasn’t been with the team that long, sure she goes to Gotham Acadamey, and sure she seems nice but there is not much in her file. The most Nightwing could get was that her name was Karen Beecher and that probably was an alias since they couldn’t find anything else.

The only reason she’s with the Team is because Artemis vouched for her.

He swallows, so how exactly could she know about the SME.

And why exactly did she want him to trust her so much again?

Almost as if sensing his worry, Bumblebee peers down at the kid, her face illuminated in the glowing gold light of her stingers, “Oh come on! You Bats are so paranoid. Look I already told you, I’m not as stupid as you would think, of course I know what an SME is!”.

This only caused Tim to frown harder because he agrees.

She’s not stupid, she’s never given him any reason to think she is. They should’ve looked into her more. They shouldn’t have let her join the Team.

Bumblebee sighs, clearly whatever bond of trust she acquired from Robin was gone now.

She waits shooting her stingers at bits of concrete to create a walkway for civilians before replying, “Fine, look here are some details for your little file you and Wingnut don’t think I know about. I studied biomechanics and nuclear fission since I was a kid. In that field, you can’t really escape the SME lectures. Also if I was a spy or mob boss or whatever weird thing your thinking, don’t ya think I would’ve ratted out your brother at school by now”.

Robin’s reply is instant, “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about”, he exclaims but it doesn’t really stick. It sounds rehearsed and groggy, like a programmed reply with little base. It was far too nervous to be believable.

But shit, can you blame him.

Bumblebee knew. She knew who Dick was. She knew who Tim was.

Fuck the blackout, this is worse.

Bumblebee apparently didn’t think so, rolling her eyes fully before replying, “Yeah, I can tell by your hyperventilation. Look if it makes ya feel better, Batman knows I know about it. When he found out he literally had the martian invade my mind for some of my own dirt. The shit he knows...I literally wouldn’t be alive if it got out. Plus the only reason I’m not homeless is because of him so safe to say I’m not gonna rat you guys out”.

Robin nearly grimaces. That actually didn’t make him feel better.

Because what exactly is stopping her from telling everyone.

What is so bad that Batman could hold it over her head?

And why wouldn’t Bruce tell him?

Bumblebee sighs, she could almost see the cogs turning in the younger teens’ head. “Okay, I get that you’re having a midlife crisis over there but may I remind you we have current world-stopping issues. So you should probably table this convo for later and choose to trust me for now”.

Robin simply groans, she’s right. He hates that she’s right.

“Star labs is going to be the first thing thieves hit, I’ll need you to guard it”, Robin mutters as he aimlessly begins throwing flare sticks to the floor. “ I’ll light up as much as I can over here for citizens and refuge”.

“I got you covered Birdy.”, Bumblebee replies, shrinking herself and fluttering away.

Tim nods but it’s half-hearted.

Should he really be letting Bumblebee go out alone?

Clearly, she can’t be trusted, but still, it’s not like he can track her. And with the team, he assembled the only person capable of surveillance is Zatanna.

He then winces, “Great, now I just gotta convince the wizard who hates me to work with me. Gee, that should be easy”.

As if hearing his words, a puff of smoke filters right next to him.

Immediately Zatanna smirks, “Usually it wouldn’t be but luckily for you, I’m a professional”. Her eyes then glow as she mutters “tropsart” and flutters her arms once more.

Instantly both Beastboy and Ion are transported back into the dimly lit street.

Ion groans, “Ugh I think I’m gonna be sick-

“Aye Z the transport stuff is wicked, it makes me feel like I can fly”.

Tim sighs, now is not the time to remind Beast Boy he can actually fly.

“It’s another blackout, every electronic is down. We don’t know for how long but we need to be able to protect every city affected. Beastboy your surveillance and maintenance. Protect Star cities citizens and apprehend any villain in your way, Bumblebee will be here to help you”.

“Oh dude, that's easy peasy. I mean me and B, totally got this”, Beastboy crows, a green beak morphing on his face as he flies away.

Once he’s but a blip in the air Tim simply shakes his head and turns back to the other two. Ion is picking at his ear and Zatanna is glaring at him….hard.

Ugh, he wishes now more than ever Dick was here.

“Alright Zatanna, I need you to beam to Metropolis and help Team A. If all the powers is out we're gonna have a breach in not just Stryker Penitentiary but the 8th precinct as well,” he said in his best leader voice.

He hopes the situation will outweigh whatever snark Zatanna has.

“Fine “ Zatanna bites back, and Tim nearly smiles as she begins to chant. But, then before she can transport away she shoots a glare, “ Oh before I go, quick question what about you and Flashlight over here. Or am I not at liberty to ask”, she snips.

Ion perks an eyebrow at that but it is overshadowed by Robin’s more than annoyed groan. Of course, of course, Zatanna couldn’t just fucking go.

“We’re gonna beam to Gotham if everything is down Team C is going to need a lot more help... obviously”, Robin murmurs, now over his limit of patience.

Ion blinks, and Tim slightly curses at his slip of anger.

Fuck, please don’t argue with him about this. Please don’t.

And for once Zatanna doesn’t. She simply smiles and waves.

That was the only warning the two get as they are once again engulfed in a puff of smoke. When the smoke clears both boys are falling into Gotham Bay. Robin had enough training to habitually hold his breathe before he hit the murky waters, Ion wasn’t so lucky.

“Plaaaaaaa ! Gross, gross! I think I swallowed a leech or something”, Ion huffs all while spilling water out of his mouth.

Again Tim sighed, he specifically didn’t ask Zatanna to transport them for this very reason, she’s petty even at the worst times.

He only hoped that Ion would be better company.

Chapter Text

Ion was not better company.

Sure Zatanna had an attitude and yeah he doesn't trust Bumblebee at all

But God.

It's like he was made to irritate Tim.

“Would you stop looking at everything, I don’t know where your mind goes but every time you stare too long at something your glows dims. We need you at your brightest if we're gonna signal the team”. Robin mutters, as he once again pushes Ions glowing, shaking hand off of his shoulder.

Three minutes. They had been in Gotham for three minutes, and Tim was ready to kill Kyle.

Ion once again is not least bit sorry as he whines, “Oh come on! Can you really blame me? I've never been to Gotham ya know. You hear all the stories but to actually be here kinda freaked. I mean come on Crime Alley, Devil’s Square, Slaughter Swamp, Blackgate! It’s like you guys named them purely to freak people out”.

For the umpteenth time that day, Tim sighs.

“Well I hope you get over it soon cause we're going to the big one”, he mutters, all while dragging Ion forward.

Almost instantly Ion pales. As he looks down at the most fearless fucking twelve years old he’s ever met, he sends a small prayer to God.

“Please, I know we haven’t talked in a while but puhleeese let the ‘big one’ be Iceberg Lounge, Wayne Towers, nasty ass Gotham Bay again anything but… that fucking nuthouse”.

And even though he said it, even though he prayed on it hard, Kyle wasn’t shocked in the slightest when he and Robin arrived at fucking Arkham Asylum.

Because of fucking course, right.

As the glowing green teen and his red-clad teammate landed on the property they instantly noticed something was very wrong.

Surveleice wise everything looked too... peaceful, there were no scuffles, no fights, no screaming.

No sounds. At Arkham Asylum…..during a blackout?

Call him a pessimist but Robin didn’t like it, it didn’t sound reassuring. And not that he doesn't have faith in his teammates but the fact that he saw no members of Team C around as well as no guards…...he can’t help but be a little worried.

It didn’t help that Ion was blinking in and out with his fear.

“Please calm down”, Tim sourly bit as he grappled himself to the left side of the asylum tower.

Ion's response was almost instant, “You calm down Birdy! Of all the places in Gotham, all the fucked up places and there is a lot why the fuck did you choose this one”.

“This is the spot that will need the most surveillance. It heavily uses electronics, and many of the inmates are metas. We need to ensure that they stay in their cells” Tim instantly spits back.

Ion rolls his eyes, because sure that made sense but still.

“Okay, okay fine. But why choose me for this? You had a female Harry Potter right there! Isn’t she from Gotham? Also don’t know if ya noticed but I don’t have the most superhero experience, actually, I have the least, I barely know how to control this thing, don’t even know why the ring picked me so- ”.

“Would you stop complaining” Tim angrily whispers

“Would you get your seasoned witch to send me back home” Kyle sarcastically whispers back.

“No! No I can’t! Because if you haven't noticed for the last time the power is out. I have no way of contacting anybody, Zatanna included! And even if I did she wouldn’t help me! If anything she would’ve made this mission much more difficult than it needs to be, kinda like how you’re doing!” Tim yells, he then pauses waiting for Ion’s inevitable come back.

Except it doesn’t come, Ion actually for the first time since Robin has met him is silent.

“Oh now you're quiet, now you have nothing to say '' Robin seethes, all while flipping down the tower.

When Ion once again says nothing Tim snapped his head to glare at the noisy night light, however, the minute he does, he noticed Ion’s slacked face. He started to ask the boy what was wrong but was instantly cut off by the scent of sweet red roses.

Oh fuck.

Almost speedster quick, a slacked Ion was grabbed by a vine.

Robin immediately cut it with his Batarang and tried not to smirk as Ion fell face-first on the floor.

Served the idiot right. Still, he kinda needs the dunce to snap out of it.

So he started to tell the teen to get up, he started to tell him who they were up against, but at that moment three more vines shot up from the ground.

Simultaneously, they slithered around both boy’s ankles and strung them up.

Fuck, this is not good.

Out of the shadows stepped a woman. She was curvy, sensual, and outwordly. She had ruby red lips, beautiful flower-adorned hair, and smooth green skin.

“Well, well if it isn’t little bird red, been a while huh. Where’s ya Daddy at, little bud”, she said slowly as she caressed her cut-up vines.

Tim sours, “Ivy”.

Shit. They were in deep fucking shit.

Kyle apparently didn’t really agree. Instead of mimicking Robin's frown, Ion's slacked face turns to one of dopey happiness, “Wow, I can’t believe it's you. Ya know I’ve only really seen you in pictures, and whew when I tell you they do you no justice. God, I should’ve brought my sketchbook”.

Fuck, Robin forgot Ion didn’t take any pheromones blockers.

At that moment Tim sprung into action. Quickly he cut the vine, leaving Poison Ivy to shriek and Ion to tumble down.

“Ow!”

“Shit”

Ugh, the idiot can float and still fell on his head.

“Ion focus! Block out the smell”, Robin mutters all while trying his hardest to watch every vine, flower, and leaf next to him.

They slithered around like snakes, forcing him to haphazardly throw his Batarang and grapple at the worst moments. He had only been really avoiding them for two minutes and he already was bleeding.

It didn't help that Ion wasn’t doing jack shit.

“Hey you ever thought of live modeling, flower head”, the idiot asked, shaping his green light into the stupidest largest fucking eisel Robin had ever seen.

Dumbass, he is paired with a fucking dumbass.

Sighing, Tim once again grapples himself and Ion to the ceiling barely avoiding yet another plant attack from Ivy.

The deadly seductress' eyes twinkled as she slowly glanced over to the duo. “Hmmm, new friend Sprout. With the way things have been going here, I may need to borrow him. You wouldn’t mind right”.

As she asked this she blew a kiss into Ion’s directions. Even with the pheromone blockers, Tim felt the pull. Still, he did gawk, when Ion started to float over to the woman.

Shit. Fucking shit.

He tries to stop him, but the minute Robin grabs onto Ions arm a fury of light springs forth. And before he knows it Robin is tossed three feet back.

Yeah, Tim definitely has a headache now.

“Ion no! She will devour you and turn you into her little meat slave”.

“Do you promise?” the lovestruck teen asked. By this point, Ion was in the woman's face. All doe-eyed and smiley.

Fuck, Tim is going to have to knock the idiot out, isn’t he?

“Cute. I didn’t know the Lantern Corps were hiring them so...young.”

“And full of energy,” Ion exclaims all while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Unbelievable” Robin muttered, right before grappling himself, Ion and Ivy into the wall. They all hit the cement with a hard crash and Ivy is up before Tim can even process the pain.

“I’m going to rip you to pieces and feed it to my babies, little bird”, she screeches.

And Tim actually believes her. Ion is still looking slacked, obedient and evergreen. Clearly, he is getting no help, but Robin’s not one to go down easy.

So he waits until Ivy stalks back over to him and fiddles with the smoke bomb behind him. But just before he can throw it, another puff of smoke enters the room and Ivy is thrown back into a metal cage.

The cage was floating, dimly lit by a purple aura. Because it was off the ground Ivy wasn’t connected to the Earth. And because she wasn’t connected, she couldn’t control her plants. No one was surprised she started screaming.

But even that was short-lived, in less than a second,”tupkconk” was muttered, and the screaming stop. The cage flew down to the ground and the smoke began to thin.

“Didn’t wanna knock her out but I can’t keep the cage up there long”, Zatanna said once the smoke cleared.

“Ugh what the fuck happened” Ion groans, now finally awake from Ivy’s spell.

Robin shakes his head, he doesn’t even have the energy to yell at the idiot. Instead, he chooses to focus on a more pressing matter. “You're supposed to be in Metropolis”, he mutters at Zatanna.

Zatanna lets out the deepest breath, leave it to Robin to say everything but thank you.

“Yeah, you're welcome by the way” she sneers, keeping her eyes hard and focused. She waits for a bit, giving the teen ample time to apologize. When he doesn’t she rolls her eyes “Look Metropolis wasn’t affected by the blackout, everything was still running. So I figured I’d do what you said and help out Team C. Good thing I did huh, or you and nightlight here would be plant chow. Hey what was that you said earlier, ya know about not needing me”.

Tim heard her snark but ignored it for the most part.

Metropolis wasn’t affected? That didn't make sense.

If other cities were hit and Metropolis wasn't, that meant whoever used the SME again, moved the location.

But why would they do that?

“What other cities were hit”, Tim asked.

“Don’t know all of them but from what I’m hearing Jump city, Engine city, Bludhaven, and Hub City were affected”.

That's…. not that much of a difference, that means they barely moved the SME.

Why would they do that?

Tim scowls shaking his head as a million questions plague his mind, he can't think about that right now. “We need to get personal in each of those areas, if not for the breakouts than at least for the destruction”

Zatanna haughtily smirks, “Already did, once we figured Metropolis wasn’t in much trouble. I dispersed Team A all-around”.

“That’s good thinking Z, if this is anything like the last blackout we're gonna need to stay on our toes”, a blue-clad teen exclaims as he jumps down into the room.

The teen is battered, bruises and vines marking his body, his black and blue costume is torn in some areas, and if Robin squinted he would notice the slight shrug of a dislocated shoulder.

He was hurt, he was bruised but he still held that ever so present smile.

But when has Nightwing not done that.

“Hey blue boy, huh ya know man between you and the Salem witch here I am feeling a lot better about being in the pits of hell. Between the two of us, I don’t think the little bird likes me so much” Ion jokes, all while brightening up his own glow just a little.

Normally Tim would have snapped, he’s had more than his fill of Ion today. But surprisingly he didn’t, he didn’t even roll his eyes. He couldn’t do anything but stare.

Nightwing was here. Nightwing was smiling and here but yesterday Dick.

Yesterday, Dick was so broken.

“Where have you been?” Zatanna exclaims, all while playfully slapping the blue-clad teen.” I thought something happened to you, stupid”.

Nightwing laughs pushes Zatanna into an even bigger hug and sheepishly grins, “Sorry, B had some stuff he needed me to take care of. But hey I left you guys in good company right Rob”.

Tim nods, though he doesn’t really agree.

Of course, of course, Dick wouldn’t just sit at home during an emergency. Of course, he would help at the first sign of trouble.

No matter how much pain he was in himself, Dick would always try to smile through it.

But still, he shouldn’t be here. Nightwing shouldn’t be active right now.

Why?

Because Robin knows Nightwing. He knows him well enough to know Dick would never allow himself to get caught in Ivys traps for that long. Tim knows Dick well enough to know that when it comes to emotions, Nightwing can never just shut his off.

This means Dick got caught in Ivys traps, caught in the distraction that came with fighting Ivy, and stayed there. He chose to stay there because he didn't want to face reality. He just wanted something to fight, something to pour his anger into.

He shouldn’t be here.

“I…. didn’t think you’d be finished with your mission so soon. I thought Agent A said it would be a long one”, Tim said as the group slowly started walking into the next room.

It was a disaster, all of the plants were basically mush and grime. Groups of men were unconscious on the floor, clearly, Nightwing had done some overkill.

Nightwing shrugs, “Yeah well you know me I’m pretty quick when I wanna be. Besides B thought I’d be better suited helping Team C ''.

Tim simply nodded, he really didn't wanna play this game any longer. And he didn't wanna pretend like Bruce suggesting Dick be here wasn’t bothering him. So in motion to ignore his own feelings he asked, “Well can you catch me up, where’s the rest of Team C''.

Nightwing grinned, “Soon as the blackout happened we figured we split up. Batgirl is leading a small sector to control Blackgate, Hawk and Dove are keeping up with Crime Alley, Raven’s assisting in citizen control. Megan, Superboy, and I were focusing on Arkham. For the most part, it's all good-

“Not all good. You were caught in Ivy’s web. She’s not one to hold back if Ion and I didn't occupy her she could’ve killed you.” an angry whisper interrupts and it takes Tim but a second to realize it's himself.

Nightwing scoffs, Tim is being dramatic, “I’ve got my pheromone blockers besides I’ve fought her since I was like eight. And while I’ll admit she may have gotten a little stronger so have I”. He pauses, shifts a bit to shrug his arm over Robin's shoulder, and smiles, “Bro I’m fine! Quit being a worrywart”.

Tim bites his lip, he now fully understands Bumblebee’s early frustration with him.

Nightwing is not better.

He’s not okay.

He’s not fine.

Tim wants to shake Nightwing, tell him to go home. Tell him he obviously is still thinking about Roy and he obviously is letting his anger go unchecked, but he doesn’t. The words die on his tongue and he feels like a coward more than a hypocrite.

“What's up with you Robbie? Did something happened” Nightwings concerned voice asked after a beat of silence.

Robin just shrugs his arm off, he ignores the hurt look Dick sends him and hopes he’s not mirroring one as he asked, “When's the last time you made contact with Megan and Superboy”.

For a second it seems like Nightwing is going to fight him on the obvious subject change, but instead, he sighs, “Last time I checked Kon went Maximum security, tryna keep the big ones in their cells. Megan and I were dealing with the regs, knocking them out till the lights came on seemed like a good idea...until well Ivy. Not sure what happened but I know one second Megan had all of us in a mind link and the next second nothing...Ivy attacked me right after the link stopped”.

Tims brows furrowed, that didn’t make sense at all.

How would Ivy know to attack Nightwing right when the mind link stopped.

She wouldn’t, she couldn’t.

Unless she was working with someone.

One look at Nightwing told Tim that at least on that accord they were on the same page.

He glances at Zatanna and then the floating Ion.

Not his first picks but a good enough team for whoever Ivy’s secret helper was.

But as they walked through each sector of Arkham asylum, as Tim walked past unconscious guards and inmates, he couldn’t help but wonder….. were they really.

When they reached the Maximum security block. Three things became very apparent.

One, there was definitely a fight and a big one. The door was barred off, metal dented into pointy bits and scraps.

Two, Superboy for the most part did a good job of barring a few inmates. There were at least fifty, still angrily banging on their cells.

Three, cell number 454 was not one of the fifty.

“Woah, that's a big boy” Ion whistled as he traced a bit of green energy around the hole the cellmate left.

They had to be around ten feet tall, approximately ninety inches wide. Ugh and don't even get him started on what their wingspan might be.

Beside him, Nightwing sweats, “Rob, tell if I’m wrong but isn't cell 454-

Robin swallows, “Bane”.

Shit, this is bad.

Of all the villains that could have escaped.

Why Bane!

Nightwing leaps down from his post and peers at the left part of the room. “Okay the bad news is we got Bane and no strength meta with us. But good news, pretty sure I found his escape route”.

It's another hole. Only this one looks like it's been punched and clawed through. It's long and dark, even without the blackout. It clearly leads to the sewer below them.

“Well if the fall didn’t kill him, I think the smell might’ve” Ion said while plugging his nose.

Suddenly a loud roar is heard, and an even bigger crash as the ground beneath them shakes with a heavy shudder.

“....That came from the sewers”, Zatanna said after a beat of silence

“So avoid the sewer right,” Ion asked, hoping for once he's not the only person in the room with sense. “Right”!?

But per usual Kyle was ignored. And again the poor teen wasn’t a bit surprised as he sees Nightwing, Zatanna and Robin leap down.

“How did you die Kyle? Well, I was on a mission and then this thing below us roared. The roar didn't exactly sound human or happy but we thought yeah go in. Seemed like a great idea at the time”, Ion sarcastically mutters all while rolling his eyes and jumping down the hole as well.

“Bane wouldn’t be able to see in here” Robin mutters as soon as Ion light invades their vision.

“Not unless he had help” Nightwing adds. He then squints his mask, “Ion can you shine your light a little to the left”.

Ion shrugs, extending his glow as far out as he can. As part of the sewer becomes encompassed in a glowing green light, it becomes very apparent what Nighting thought he saw.

There floating in the water was an unconscious teen, his body face down in the sewage. Tim squinted, he can almost see the remains of a symbol on his tattered shirt.

“Kon” Nightwing yelled, already diving in the water.

Beside him Tim winces as the others run along with him. He had expected Superboy to be a little hurt, but not like this.

Nightwing wasted no time, fishing the boy out of the water and starting chest compressions immediately.

One two, push. One two, push.

“Come on Kon, Come on” Nightwing mutters, as he presses harder and harder on the super-powered teen.

One two, push. One two, push.

It wasn’t working and for a split second Tim almost thought the worse.

What if they hadn’t got to him in time?

What if he inhaled too much water?

What is anyone supposed to do after that?

And how- how would his big brother recover.

But then Konner started coughing up sewage and Nightwing finally stopped holding his own breath.

“Easy does it, you're okay. You're fine” Nightwing says as he sits the boy up.

Tim's not sure who he was really talking to at that moment.

Konner groans, “What happened- Where's Megan”.

Robin frowns, and Nightwing freezes. Where is Megan? They had assumed she went to find Konner. That's what Megan usually did when her mind link had been blocked.

Almost as if sensing their discomfort and obvious guilt, Zatanna offers a weak smile, “We were kinda hoping you could tell us. What's the last thing you remember”.

“I was fencing in Max Security, cell 454 was empty,” Konner said slowly almost as if he’s having trouble remembering, “I made sure no one else could get out of their cell then I followed the damage down to here, figured with my night vision I’d be fine. I saw like….. four heat signatures, started to feel sick, Megan's mind link stopped and Bane hit me”.

Just like Nighting then. Superboy was hit just when Megan's mind link stopped.

That isn’t a coincidence.

“And then” Robin pressed.

“What do you mean and then? And then you guys woke me up. Look I don't have time for this, is Megan okay? Why isn't she with you?”, Konner angrily asked. He attempts to get up but is shaky and obviously injured, so Nightwing carefully pushes him back down.

Robin stills for a moment. His investigative mind, trying hard to piece out any information he can.

The sewer was an easy escape route, it leads directly to sixteen different cities. He would understand why Bane would use it. But what he didn’t understand is how Bane, a self-proclaimed loner suddenly has a team of three plus people.

And how exactly did those people manage to block Megan?

All while this was happening Konner was still angrily asking about Megan's whereabouts and Nightwing was trying his hardest to administer quick first aid.

“Are you sure it was only Bane that hit you”, Nightwing asked after resetting Superboy's shoulder.

Which honestly was a fair question. Bane’s a monster and all but when has Konner ever looked so disoriented.

Superboy groans, the shoulder hurt a lot more than he cared to admit. “I’m positive, crazy fuck slammed me on the ground enough times. Kept telling me stuff about a colmena ''.

Robin's eyebrows furrowed. Colmena? Colmena meant Hive.

But there are no bees in a sewer.

So what could that mean?

“Okay I know Banes's hype on venom but I didn't think he could knock out a Kryptonian'', Ion whispers.

“He wouldn’t have been able to if Kryptonite wasn’t involved.” Batman echoes, jumping down on the platform and easily scaring Ion.

“Oh my god. What in the flying fuck”, Kyle yells, prompting Nightwing and even Zatanna to snicker.

“Kryptonite”, Robin asked, mask furrowed.

Last time he checked the only person with Kryptonite was...well them.

Batman's answer is a simple rise of his hands, evident glowing green crystals within them. To the left of him, Tim see’s Konner wince.

“Is no one else surprised that he just showed up out of thin fucking air? Shit, how did you even... What the fuck” Ion squeals.

Without even turning Robin can tell the idiot is flashing again. And he’s embarrassed to say it but Ion's latest outburst did make him smile a little.

But that didn’t last long.

Batman definitely was in a no-nonsense mood, “You all need to focus. I shouldn’t have to tell you how serious this is. Whoever had the Kryptonite clearly had enough to leave specs in Killer Croc's skull”.

Tim's eyes double, “Killer Croc-

“Is unconscious, the knockout gas I’ve administered should last approximately ten minutes. Plenty of time for all of you to leave”, Batman cuts off.

“Leave, Superboy just said there were four other heat signatures, you're gonna need our help. Besides, we heard Killer Croc roar, so whoever was down here wasn’t exactly buddy buddy with the animal ”, Zatanna adds.

But Batman doesn’t even spare her a glance, “The Justice League has taken control of this situation. Young Justice will focus on cleanup and health maintenance elsewhere ”.

He can't be serious. He can not be fucking serious.

“You don't get to just show up out of nowhere and-” Zatanna bites.

“Miss Martian was placed in a submatic coma, Superboy would have been worse without Nightwings aid. If you're unable to cooperate and assist in this mission I have Dr. Fate in pursuit. He can and will take you out of Gotham”.

Zatanna paused, her mouth open and her eyes glassy.

She wants to stay, she wants to tell Batman the fuck off but she can’t...she won’t.

The last time she faced Dr. Fate, she felt like her world was crumbling.

So despite Nightwings frown, despite Superboy's insistent exclaims of ‘what happened to Megan’ The teen witch doesn’t spare a glance as she once again mutters “tropsnart”. Then in a puff of smoke, both she and Superboy were gone.

For a second no one says anything Batman simply redistributes flare sticks into the ground as Robin follows his lead.

And as usual, Nightwing was the first to break the silence, “You didn’t need to mention Fate”, he mutters.

Batman grunts, fishes in his utility belt and hands Nightwing a few flares, “It was necessary”.

“It was cruel”, Nightwing snaps, half breaking the flare in his hand.

Ion awkwardly glanced around, “Ummmm should I go…

“Lantern, half of Arkham’s inmates have escaped, you're going to ensure no one else does. Create a barrier that encompasses the asylum report back to me when finished”.

Ion flushes, he looks to his left and then his right slowly, “Ah actually Batman my names Ion and I’m not sure if I can-

Damn, Batman's glare is something else.

“I’m going” Ion quickly finishes, his form nothing but a spew of green light as he flies out of the sewer.

Robin’s pout is instant.

Funny the idiots finally gone and Tim…. wasn’t happier. Granted if asked, he would never admit this but he kinda wished Ion would've stayed.

‘Cause now It's just him, Bruce and Dick.

And they’re already fighting.

This won’t be good.

“You're so quick to turn away people that can actually help you” Nightwing grumbles, apparently willing to test the last string of Batman's patience.

But once again Bruce says nothing, simply leading down the sewer and watching as the other two follow him. Once they’re in the near back of the underground river, Robin finally sees why exactly Killer Croc roared earlier.

The beast was...demolished. His face was scratched and battered. He was clearly missing a limb, as bits of kryptonite were embedded in his skull, stomach, and chest.

He was unconscious and somehow Bruce had created a rope cage, forcing the reptile man into the ground.

“The Martian is tending to Megan, we won't be able to question Crocs mind. We’ll have to do it the old fashion way, Nightwing you’ll assist me with that. Robin, you will go to Hub city", Batman said after a beat of silence.

Nightwing winces. Stay here in Arkham, questioning Croc with Bruce. So not aster.

“No offense but Hub city is a new city affected and I don't think you really need me to play good cop. So I think I’ll just help Rob and the others'', he said while trying to quickly grapple away.

Instantly Batman shoots the grapple out of Nightwing’s hand.

Bruce glares, “Wonderwoman and Firestorm are already in pursuit, you are not needed”, he murmurs hands still fisting the rope Killer Croc was under.

Nightwing groans, shaking his hand offensively even though everyone knows the Batarang didn't really hurt him. He then grabs another grapple and shoots Batman a grin, “I’m sure Di would agree, she can never have too much help. Besides as beat up as Croc is, he's probably gonna tell you everything without force. I’m not exactly needed here either”.

And this time Bruce gets up from his crouched position. He’s quick as he snatches the second grapple and shoots Nightwing his most serious stare. “ This isn’t up for discussion”.

Dick being more than used to Bruce's Batglare and ‘my way or the highway’ attitude doesn’t even blink. Opting for a slight wine he sucks his teeth and turns to Robin, “Fine, I don't think Croc needs two people around to squeal but if you're so adamant about having a good cop Timmy switch with me”.

Batman's response is instant, “No”.

Dick lets out a frustrated grunt. Now Batman was being unreasonable. “Why not”.

“You're emotionally compromised, the only reason you're here right now is because I can see you”, Batman replies.

Nightwing glares, sure he's sad about Roy but he isn’t useless. And being useful helps, being active helps. He needed it, to keep his mind off of Roy, to let himself forget just a little. He thought Bruce understood that “I’m not emotionally compromised. I’m fine”.

“And we're gonna ensure that by remaining in Gotham”.

Dicks glare hardens to an unbelievable point.

“You can’t make me stay here,” he said but from Bruce's sigh and Nightwings glare, Robin can tell they both knew that was a lie.

“After your most recent stunt, I’ve placed an automated tracker in your suit, nonelectric. It beeps the second you're out of Gotham bounds, and it releases a knockout gas the minute you try to remove it.”

Nightwing wants to scream. Of course, he did. Of course, Bruce couldn’t just once trust him.

“Fine!” Dick spits, “ I’ll stay in fucking Gotham. But I’m not staying here with you”.

Then in pure Flying Grayson fashion, Nighting leaps up the highest ledge he could find and continues until he’s completely out of the sewer.

Batman doesn’t say anything, but his grip on the rope is a bit tighter.

Once Tim was sure Dick was out of earshot, he glanced over at Batman, “Hub city probably gonna need a lot more help with cleanup. I could’ve kept an eye on him for you”

“Unnecessary, more than a number of adequate League members and police officials are already being deported to that area”.

Tim blinks, “So why send me”.

Batman shakes his head, almost as if he wishes Tim didn't ask. “The Red Hood was spotted along with his team of outlaws, prior to the second blackout. I’m not positive they’re involved in the SME but it's not a far-fetched theory. I need you to investigate while Wonderwoman and the others handle the damages''.

“And if Jaso-if he’s still there. What do I do then”, Tim timidly asked.

And this time Bruce allows himself to sigh. Because damn has he asked himself that very question so many times before. What can one do, what can he do when faced with Red Hood.

“Nothing”, Batman grumbles, his voice void of every emotion.

Nothing. They will do nothing. For now at least, they won’t worry about apprehending, or stopping or even speaking with Jason.

For now Bruce wouldn’t allow them to worry about any of it. He’ll hold that burden alone.

And with that he turns away from Robin. It's abrupt and if Tim didn't know Bruce, he might’ve been offended. But instead he just nods, places his hand on his grapple, and leaves the sewer.

Once he is gone, Batman has entirely twenty seconds to himself before a voice echoes in his head.

‘Batman we have another issue'.

It’s the Martian Manhunter, that alone makes it terrible news.

“What is it?”Batman growls out. His eyes still focused on Killer Croc as the giant begins to grumble.

‘Aqualad was acting as Aquaman's representative during a UN meeting’.

Batman grunts, “I’m aware, Kid Flash accompanied him to Delta City. Sergeant Steel is also in that area; they should have it under control in the midst of a blackout”.

‘Unfortunately, they don’t. The city is in chaos, different fights and crashes around every corner. Buildings on fire and citizens screaming. I tried to reach them in a mind link but I’ve been blocked.’

Batman sighs, “I’m on my way”.

As he exits the sewer Batman has a few seconds to ponder every strange event that has happened in the past few weeks. It seems like things are just getting worse and worse by the day.

Finding out his middle child was brought back from the dead as some homicidal maniac. Bad

Figuring out that Ra’s had something to do with it. Worse.

Being so distracted in that, he missed someone else lurking in the shadows. Terrible

And then missing all the opportunities he had to tell Dick about Jason. Careless

And he should’ve made up for it. He’s trying to make up for it, but he has a job. And he can't stop to fulfill personal desires when the League is suspicious of one another, Speedys been killed, and an SME is clearly being used to steal something.

Bruce pauses, now outside of the asylum, Batman is able to see Nightwing pouting at his post.

He’s trying to make up for it. He won’t let Dick become another Jason.

He won’t let it get that bad again.

But as he saids this, as he grapples away to Kid Flash and Aqualad's aid, Bruce can't help but wonder, is he once again too late.

Chapter Text

Fuck, this is bad.

That’s the only real thought coursing through Wally’s mind as he zips across the building aimlessly trying to avoid rumble.

Fuck, this is bad. Mega bad, really really bad.

It’s dark, he’s in the topmost secure area with nearly all the world leaders, it’s under a fucking attack, he can’t find Kaldur, and he doesn’t have his fucking comm.

Fuck.

Another scream, no gunshot sounds this time but that doesn’t really stop Wally from worrying. He can’t see, but he can smell just fine. And although he wishes he didn’t, he knows what burning flesh smells like.

Fuck.

He zips past the hallway once more, finally out of whatever fucking rabbit hole that corridor was, and then stops.

Unlike the entire left side of the mansion, the right side was completely visible. Fire red embers and flames danced on the furniture and walls. The entire side was illuminated in red and gold heat, and it was only getting brighter.

This was a saving grace problem, heat and smell aside, Wally could finally see. He could finally see what was in front of him and now at least he knew he was getting close to the center.

Still, he figured he better at least contain some of the fire, or else the whole mansion would burn down. So while he ran closer and closer towards the source of the heat, he made sure he packed just enough air pressure to blow out the few flames he passed.

It was going well at first too. He had put out a majority of the flames and was feeling good about himself.

Destruction aside, he hadn’t found not one corpse. So he figured Aqualad had to be protecting them.

He figured with Aqualad’s quick thinking, with his water power everyone would be fine.

Everything had to be fine.

It should've been fine, but as he etched closer to the center he realized it wasn’t. It wasn’t fine, it wasn’t even okay.

The main hall was a disaster.

Desk thrown haphazardly around the place, the floor ripped and burned, chandeliers had fallen from the ceiling but even that wasn’t the worst.

The politicians, the world leaders were lined up like paper dolls. Some quivering, some cowering, and some……. still. Their eyes were lifeless, some of them burned so bad, that Wally couldn’t even figure out where their faces started.

It seemed like whatever had done this, whoever had burned them so bad, wanted nothing to remain. Not even their identity.

Those who were still alive screamed harder when they saw him. Some of them clutching their chest, others scurrying closer to the flames.

Were they afraid of him?

Why?

Where the fuck was Kaldur?

He shakes his head, he can’t think about that right now. He has to save these people...he has to get who he can out here before the building collapse.

He zooms over to the nearest person, an older woman whose cries are heavy and hard. She’s holding her side but clearly not with enough pressure because Wally can see the blood just as clear as he can see her fear.

She backs up instantly, and Kid Flash has to put his hands up for a whole five seconds before any of them really stops.

“I’m not gonna hurt you guys. Look lemme just- Are you okay- uh sorry dumb question. I’m gonna get you guys out of here”, he said while holding down on her wound. He glances at the others, none of them in better shape. He wants to assess the injuries, get whoever needs it out first, but he knows there is not enough time.

So instead he lifts the woman and zips her around the building until he can find the route outside.

She doesn’t struggle but she does still cry. She does still look at him with a pressing fear. She does begin to pray in her native tongue.
She’s scared, she looks so much younger in that moment. And Wally tries to reassure her that she will be alright but the words breeze past her in a quicked mess.

And she cries harder as her vision blurs.

Eventually, they make it outside, and Kid Flash winces as he looks around at the city.

It’s strange usually there are cop cars and ambulances when he rescues a civilian but for the first time ever he is met with nothing. The city is dark, people are screaming, the few cars around are crushed together like some bad version of a sandwich.

He pauses, all these people. All these people need help.

A he’s….just not fast enough.

He grimaces, tears his eyes away from the chaos, tries to bind the woman’s wound with a scrap of her sleeve, and places her on the ground a few feet away.

It’s not a safe house. It’s not a hospital but it’s his only option right now. He keeps this up, grabs a person, swears to come back for the rest, and leaves them outside. He tries not to squirm at the blood, tries not to wince at their cries.

And he tries his damnest not to worry about why Kaldurs not with them.

He’s on number 171 when a red blast enters his vision. He barely has enough time to dodge.

“What the-

“Oooooh looks like I nearly fired me up a good ole helping of speedster”, Firefly, in all her southern glory exclaims.

Well, that explains all the melted shit and fires.

Wally winces, it was already hot enough, she didn’t really need to add to it.

Still, he tightens his grip on the civilian he was holding, ‘hold on’ is the silent message as he zooms closer to the hot-headed woman. He glances at the man he’s holding, rips the expensive watch off of the man’s wrist, and throws it the opposite way.

She’s a Star City villain, but that doesn’t matter. Kid Flash knows Firefly, knows her well enough to know she’ll never turn down a treasure. She’s predictable like that, anything that sparkles she is in love with.

Especially if it’s diamonds.

But when she doesn’t follow the watch and instead flies over towards the direction of the politicians, it takes all of Wally not to fucking scream.

Now, she chooses fucking now to act like a regular-ass villain.

Of fucking course.

So he leaves the man, promises to come back, and zooms over to the others.

When he gets there, Firefly has them surrounded in a ring of fire, she’s taunting them in her ole Texas drawl.

“Well, I do declare, nothing like a good ole BBQ in the late evening”, Firefly squeals. She dances around in the air, makes a fucking show of it as she blasts bits of fire at the poor politician’s feet.

She’s a good shot, but Wally's faster and he’s able to stop the fire before the blast even warms one of the politician’s toes.

Firefly instantly pouts, “Awwww I thought you were too damn busy saving that hick over ere to mess with lil ole me. Oh well, what ya say, Overgrown Elephant, you like yer speedster meat toasted or well done”. She laughs at the end, jutting her chin out as she fires a hefty blast of fire. It swarms uncontrollably and Wally has to speed tornado it down.

He then pauses.

Wait. Did she say Elephant?

That was the only warning Kid Flash gets before a hairy overgrown fist smacks into him.

Mammoth? Oh no.

The overgrown lug looks even bigger than the last time Wally saw him. Which by the way wasn’t that fucking long ago.

Didn’t Superboy total him last time, shouldn’t he be all broken bones and stuff?

He should at least be a little fucking bruised. Which means Mammoth’s either been around or is currently around someone that can heal.

And if that’s not fucking bad enough, Wally keenly remembers he’s never seen Mammoth without his ultra-violent sister Shimmer.

So Kid Flash braces himself while dodging Mammoth. He glances around, aimlessly trying to stop Fireflies' fires from hitting the politicians while also keeping a lookout for Shimmer.

Except Shimmer doesn’t come, and it takes Kid Flash a minute but slowly he starts to notice she might not even be here.

He stares at Mammoth a little bit longer. Something was off about this.

But he can’t dwell on it, so he shakes his head and instead focuses on the battle.

Zooming in front of the bigheaded lug, he speeds around the larger boy watching aimlessly as the giant tries to hit him.

He teases Mammoth, makes him angrier so that he tries even harder to hit him. Eventually Mammoth gets tired enough to leave the smallest of openings and that is when Wally speed punches him a bit.

Mammoth, being the ginormous, nearly indestructible powerhouse he is, doesn't fall. He doesn’t fall but he does stumble, he does move back a bit.

At the same time, Firefly tries to shoot a beam of fire at the speedster, but unfortunately, the giant lug was now in her target area. So instead of her flame hitting Kid Flash, the fire singes against Mammoths more than angry face.

Mammoth screams, holding his now burned face and punching himself as if that was going to quell the flames. When that didn’t work, the ten-foot teen actually started ramming his head into the floor. He kept doing this despite Fireflie’s yells, despite his own apparent pain. And before they knew it the giant was unconscious, knocked out by his own strength.

Which kinda would’ve been funny, if Wally didn’t still have a pyromaniac to deal with.

“Hmmm he really is a big dummy huh”, Firefly said chuckling as she shoots more fire at the teen. Kid Flash of course dodges it but that doesn’t exactly stop the fire from growing on the floor. And with civilians around this is not looking good.

He needed a distraction, and quick.

“Don’t know if you noticed bug-eyes but you’re missing out on a lot of merchandise messing with me”.Wally quips, half wondering what the fuck Firefly is actually doing here and half just really wanting her to chill the fuck out on frying the floor.

Unfortunately, Firefly isn’t all too moved by the conversation, “ Awwww sugar, why does it seem like you're tryna get rid of me. Who cares about some stupid ole stuff anyways”, Firefly quips as she shoots another heat beam towards the boy.

Wally dodges it, but this time barely. Not because it was particularly faster but more so because of Fireflies words.

Who cares? About jewelry?

This from the girl who burned her own face in a house fire at 12 just so she could get some purple diamonds. This from the woman who literally stopped her own car chase because she thought Oliver Queen had a pretty watch. This from the villain whose only criminal activity is jewelry heists.

This….. didn't make sense.

Kid Flash stumbles, halfway avoiding rubble as he peers at Firefly once more. She looked the same, talked the same...but something was different.

“Firefly, if you're not here for jewelry, why are you here,” Wally asked. He asked and hoped for once the southern women wouldn’t jerk him around. He needs to know now, what exactly is going on. What do she and Mammoth hope to gain?

For a second the hot-headed woman pauses, almost as if she’s unsure herself. But then her eyes harden and she flies down before pointing her gun directly at the politicians once more. “I’m here for the HIVE”, is the last thing she mutters out before expelling the heat.

“No!” Kid Flash yells, trying his fastest to stop it.

He ran, ran as hard as he could, as fast as he could to Firefly. As he ran, the world around him slowed, lightning danced on his arms, his legs vibrated to the point of pain.

He got to her much faster than he can explain. He hit her arm quickly so the flames would hit the opposite wall instead of the people. He broke her arm with that hit and his wrist with the next. His legs were still vibrating afterward, the lighting had gone down to his torso.

He paused, breathing hard as he looked down at the torched wall beside him. His chest hurt, his legs ache, he can’t move right now. He squeezes his eyes shut, it hurt, it really fucking hurt.

He had never gone that fast before, he had never been that fast before. It wasn’t slow motion, they weren’t just slower than him. For a second, for a moment they stopped. Nothing was moving except him.

It was almost like he had stopped time.

“Well ouch Pumpkin, I do think you broke my ribs and my arm, not to mention my favorite firearm. Don’t really wanna waste this but what choice do I have”, Firefly bitterly groans, she then slowly pushes her good arm into her pocket and fishes out a small white pill.

It’s weird, Kid Flash half expects her to down it. To turn herself into whatever monster that pill creates.

But she doesn’t, instead, she pulls out another gun, slips the pill into it, and shoots it at Mammoth. Wally wants to stop it, he could’ve stopped it. But his legs are still vibrating, his arms are still shaking.

He’s afraid to go, he doesn’t know if he can handle going that fast again. So he slows down, just the slightest as he runs.

And he makes it to Mammoth a millisecond after the pill does.

It’s not obvious at first. Truly Kid Flash doesn’t see much of a difference but then, Mammoth’s burns begin to slightly fade, and his bruises go away completely.

When the giant groggily wakes up, it becomes all too clear.

Those pills, whatever they are, they heal. And they heal efficiently and instantly.

Fuck.

Mammoth gives him no time, ramming into the teen just as hard as he can. Not even waiting for Kid Flash to hit the floor before he starts grinning at the world leaders.

The politicians now more aware than ever of their predicament, begin to panic. Some of them try their hardest to run, but the flames slow them down. The others, the ones who know their fate but don't wish to accept it just scream.

Kid Flash from his position on the ground groans. His head is killing him, his legs still hurt, his wrist is broken..but he can't give up.

He purses his lips, he has to get them out of here.

He will get them out of there.

He pulls himself off the floor quicker than his body would’ve liked. He runs to Mammoth at a superhuman speed and is knocked back to the floor just as quick.

Ugh, that’s gonna leave a mark.

Even so Kid Flash pulls himself back up, Wally gets himself back up.

He has to be their way out. He can’t afford to lose.

The second he’s up again, Mammoth charges at him. It’s like fighting a raging bull. Kid Flash gets no hits in, and he barely dodges.

This continues for a little bit, and though it hurts Kid Flash does keep it up. He just needs to distract them. He just needs to occupy Mammoth long enough and pray the politicians find the opening to run.

Firefly smiles, “Well as much as I love a good ole rodeo, Mammoth we really should focus on the mission. I’m running low on firearms and don’t know if ya noticed, but no firearms means no fires. Kid Quick is running on spent energy anyways, don’t waste your time”.

“The mission is to get the subjects from the list and kill anyone in the way. I’m killing so you go fetch”, Mammoth gruffs back. He then reigns another swing at Kid Flash only this one wasn’t dodged.

Because seriously, how in the hell was he supposed to dodge after hearing that.

Subjects? List?

Creepy wording aside, that doesn’t make sense. That’s neither Mammoth nor Firefly M.O. They don’t kidnap, and they definitely don’t experiment? They’re either too vain or too stupid to have much of a master plan in any crime. So clearly someone else is involved.

And kill? They’re supposed to kill whoever gets in the way.

And Kaldur’s not here. When he should be here. When he would be here.

Kid Flash swallows, he is moving but his mind is still for a moment.

Kill? That can’t be right. He would’ve yelled. Kaldur would’ve sent a signal. He would’ve….he wouldn’t die.

Wally frowns. He can’t be dead.

“Where’s Aqualad”, he yells. Zooming away from Mammoth twice before trying once again to land a hit.

He’s lucky, he manages to scrape the heel of his foot across the giant’s face at the last second. He then rushes over to Firefly and punches the woman right in the face

Firefly simply smirks, half of her mask was already off and even more cracked after Kid Flash’s punch. “Sorry sugar, that’s classified. But tell ya what, you manage to knock Mammoth out again and I’ll consider drawing a map”.

Wally bites his lip, he has no time for her stupid games. But as much as he would like to rail her with questions, Mammoth was and is still a problem.

The pill, unfortunately, healed most of the giant’s injuries. And as dumb as Mammoth is, he apparently isn’t falling for the same old tricks. He’s being extra cautious of Firefly’s fire now, even sidestepping so the girl can add a hit every now and then.

“Mmmmmmhmmm I hate to say, I hope I don’t sound ridiculous but Mammoth I don’t think I see any of the subjects. And last time I checked Waller and Toler are the only ones with the other drives right…..guess that means the rest of these idiots ain’t nothing but kindling” Firefly squeals, biting her lip as she once again tries to burn Kid Flash and half the politicians.

Only this time, her gun doesn’t fire. In fact, it doesn't even spark.

Mammoth rolls his eyes, “ I should’ve fucking went with the Moth instead of the bug that can’t do shit”.

“Oh shut up! I knew I should've packed ole Betsey. Aren’t you a cannibal or something! I cooked half ‘em eat the rest raw”, Firefly exclaims, while once again smacking her heat gun against her leg.

“Hey not to be that guy, but I’m totally sure that we probably really don’t taste good. Actually, I’m pretty sure of it. I sweat a lot ya know, and you actually look like you could lose a few -”

And there goes Mammoth letting his anger take the reins.

“ Ah woah, you’re faster than you look”, Wally spits as he quickly avoids yet another swing. He then rushes Mammoth, hoping to God the giant isn’t actually an indestructible monster. Only before he can headbutt him a stream of fire stops him right in his tracks.

Greaeaaaaat, apparently hitting her gun actually made Fireflys fucking firearm work.

Could this get any worse?

“I wonder why I was able to retrieve all my targets and yet you two can’t retrieve one of yours”, a voice bellowed from the side.

Yeah, Deadshot. That definitely makes it worse.

Instantly the marksman begins shooting in Kid Flash’s direction, and although Wally does avoid all of the bullets, he has no problem admitting they make it much harder to avoid Mammoth’s swings.

“On your left”, another voice yells. It was quick and rushed but fuck is Kid Flash thankfully. He moves the minute he hears it, halfway and avoiding Mammoths swing fully avoiding Deadshot’s bullet.

Whew, he breathes. That was close.

Thanks- wait Digger?” Kid Flash exclaimed.

“Come on Lil Flashy just cause you know my government doesn’t mean you spat it out”, Captain Boomerang bites back.

At that, Wally could only blink.

Cause what?

Sure Boomerang is a Rogue and they genuinely aren’t that bad to Kid Flash, but what was he doing here? Wait better question, what is he doing here helping Kid Flash?

What the fuck was going on?

Kid Flash doesn’t really get to ponder it, the next second he’s being shoved out of the way and Captain Boomerang is tossing his marks.

“I told yer dumbass to watch ya left”, Captain Boomerang bites out.

Kid Flash frowns, almost retorts but is instantly cut off by a chirpy Brooklyn giggle.

“Oh come on Boomie, don’t be so hard the kid”, Harley Quinn exclaims, smiling erratically as she swings her hammer in Firefly’s direction.” Here fly, fly fly. Come heeereeeee”.

It would’ve been funny, Seeing short ass Harley Quinn try to smack lean Firefly with a giant hammer like she’s wielding some giant ass flyswat.

But it wasn’t, because it didn’t make sense. Harley Quinn was a bad guy, Captain Boomerang was a bad guy. Why the hell are they helping him?

“Kid seriously now's not the time to freeze”, Killer Frost yells as she shoots more ice at an erratic Firefly. As she does this Harley Quinn begins to combat Deadshot. She moves sporadically, hitting various portions of the ground as she twirls and ducks past Deadshot’s bullets.

Shes good. Really good.

Harley beams after her summersault whilst her closer to the marksman. She even excitedly slaps his butt right before the brute elbows her in the face. With blood dripping down her nose, she smirks. “Hey Floyd, baby. Been a while huh”.

Deadshot is just as amused with her small talk as he was the buttslap. He fires a few more rounds before sarcastically biting back, “Hareleen I was told you we’re a part of Cadmus little Suicide Squad but I didn’t believe it. Looks like freedom wasn’t too good to you. If it’s not the clown putting ya on a leash it's somebody else ”.

This apparently was a low blow. For a second the crazy slips, the smile fades and Harley looks truly upset. But then she cartwheels, throws some giggle bombs, and punches Deadshot right in the jaw.

“Looks like you lost your touch, a year ago you wouldn’t have let me get that close. Guess Melvot wasn’t too good to you " Harley Quinn laughs, which earns her an angry growl and an even angrier calf wound.

Still, that only makes Harley laugh harder as she asks, "Hey for a solo dolo guy whatcha doing with the HIVE. What couldn't get any more work by ya self".

All while this is happening Wally’s mind is going a million miles a second. He was finally getting answers but he felt like he had even more questions.

Like why was Amanda Wallers Suicide Squad a group of villains?

And how did a government agent get them to work for her?

And who exactly is the HIVE?

And why were they after Amanda and whoever Toler is?

And where- where the fuck is Kaldur?

“I don’t have time for your fucking games Harleen! Give me Waller and the other drive or I will kill you”. Deadshot exclaims after hitting the beautiful clown three more times in the gut.

And although it looks like it hurts like a bitch, Harley doesn’t seem to hurt as she beams a smile at Kid Flash.

“Hey speedy, you should really get them folk outta here. I’m no doctor- Oh wait I am. But anyways Kid, most of them are gonna bleed out if you don’t hurry”, Harley Quinn exclaims.

Kid Flash pauses. Harley’s not wrong...but still.

“Oh don’t worry we’re not allowed to kill any of these people while you run out. We got strict orders to keep all these nitwids alive” she smiles, then pauses and glances back to the rest of the Suicide Squad “.....or did she say keep those idiots alive. Hmmmm..Hey Frosty u member what that bitch said”.

Wally doesn’t even give himself the grace to question that.

Instantly he zips around once more, grabbing as many people as he could and zooming them in and out of the building. Thankfully this time police and medics are waiting outside. They can't transport anybody with the power off but they do a good job of healing who they can with little materials.

And Kid Flash does as good as he can with bruises and a broken wrist.

But by the time he’s finished, he is more than a little worried.

372.

God, he hopes he counted wrong but no.

Kid Flash has recovered 372 people from the burning UN building. 372 people, including those killed.

This meeting had 386 participants.

He pauses, thinks back to Deadshot’s comment about retrieving his targets, and hopes that he stashed them in the building somewhere.

Wally tries, god he tries.

He hopes he can find somebody as he zips and zags across the building. Even as he ventures to the darkest areas, the most burned, he still can’t find them.

He doesn’t know where the other politicians are. He doesn’t know where Kaldur is.

And he still doesn’t know what the fuck is going on.

As he zooms around the building, he becomes incredibly aware of a few things.

One, this Suicide Squad, while built on villains and thieves, weren’t liars. Not one went back on their word. They kept the people safe, they fought until every person was out of there. And even after that.

Two, no matter how hard he fought. No matter how much he asked, Deadshot would not tell him where the other politicians were. He wouldn’t even tell him if Kaldur was with them.

Three, neither the Suicide Squad or the little HIVE gang, wanted to be captured. As soon as the lights came on, as soon as the sirens came on, everyone left.

Well, almost everyone.

Kid Flash in his haste runs after the villains. He tries to grab Deadshot, the man he wants the most answers from. He manages but at the same time he grabs Deadshot’s wrist, the bastard has the nerve to put in bullet in his calf.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Harley Quinn then decides to shoot the both of them with a tranquilizer.

Deadshot falls first, but Kid Flash isn’t that far behind him. His head ringing, his vision blurring.

Why would she do that? What the fuck was wrong with her?

“Tch psycho bitch”, Deadshot groans from his position on the floor.

Harley giggles, kicks at Kid Flash’s injured leg, and then dramatically falls on Deadshot’s back. She only grins wider when the man huffs at her to get off.

“Oh but where’s the fun in that? I mean here you are all vulnerable and stuff. I never know the next time you’ll be paralyzed….hmmm hey wanna play games like we used to.” Harley asked, but judging from her crazed look and Deadshot’s more than irritated frown she wasn’t really asking.

The sirens get louder, and Deashsot tries to struggle but the drug is strong. He can’t even move his finger away as Harley jams a knife in his hand.

“Ahhhhh fuck, you crazy bitch”, he screams, and that only makes the crazed clown grin harder.

“What’s the matter Floyd,stabby stabby gush gush is my favorite game”, Harley chuckles, as she roughly rips the knife out of Deadshots hand. She goes to stab him again, but this time Boomerang stops her.

“Crazy Shelia, what part of lets fucking go did ya not get” Captain Boomerang yells.

“Awww I was just initiating our new members is all. You know what she said, if we find some good merchandise go ahead and purchase. Especially if that merchandise was trying to kill her. And hey, the more toys she has, the better it’s looking for us” Harley excitedly exclaims.

Boomerang pauses, it sucks but the crazed chick is right. He knows Harley’s right, and he knows Waller will fuck with him even more if she finds out he stopped her.

He then signs, hard and dramatic. “Fine, we’ll take the assassin but leave the Kid”.

“But I like the kid”, Harley whined. Then because personal space clearly does not exist to her, she peers down at Kid Flash and licks some blood off his nose. “I think he’ll be a great addition to the team. You can never have too many redheads”.

Boomerangs no is almost speedster fast.

They start arguing for a bit. Honestly Wallys not really sure for how long. Their words fade in out with his vision and before he can really tell he’s falling out of consciousness, he’s out.

When he comes to, Deadshot is gone, Mammoth is gone. The Suicide Squad is gone, everyone is gone.

He’s alone in a hospital bed. In the Cave medbay.

He groans, scratches hit his throat as he takes in a heft gulp. It hurts and forces his lungs to gasp harder as he tries once again to inhale.

“You’ll overwork yourself into a panic attack or a stroke if your breathing does slow in the next twelve seconds”, a voice monotonously supplies.

Batman.

“W-what’s going on. What happened”, Wally’s scratchy voice asked. He asked, but he doesn’t really want to know.

His head hurts. Why does his head hurt? Why does his body hurt? Where is Uncle Barry?

What happened?

Batman doesn’t reply. He just watches Kid Flash, he just observes him.

For Bruce, the silence is a moment of guilt. He was late…. again. He should’ve been there sooner, he should’ve got there sooner. He’s not sure what happened, Kid Flash was alone when he got there but the boy's injuries were enough. And the burning building was too familiar.

For Wally, the silence is a deafening loud, it screams anything but peace.

Why isn’t Bruce saying anything? Why is he in the Medbay? Where is Uncle Barry?

What happened?

And then everything comes crashing, and then Wally does remember what happened.

He gasps, his eyes are a bit teary.

The meeting, Kaldur, Firefly, Mammoth, Suicide Squad, Bodies, Missing.. Dead.

No. No. No. No.

He shakes hard and Batman actually waits until he stops shaking to fully address the redhead.

“Status report”, is the command, but Wally’s still watching it all play out in his head.

Three hundred and eighty-six world leaders were attacked.

He failed to stop it.

One hundred and fifty- two were seriously injured.

He’s not sure if they all made it.

Forty-seven were dead.

He couldn’t protect them.

Fourteen were missing.

He couldn’t find them.

And one… was his friend Kaldur.

He couldn’t blame anybody, but himself.

Chapter Text

In hindsight, Wally probably shouldn't be up.

He was exhausted. He hadn't even been awake for more than 2 hours. And he spent the majority of it having an anxiety attack. He couldn't even tell Bruce what had happened, Jonn had to peek into his mind which of course only made Wally's anxiety worse.

Cause even though Jonn promised, as he always fucking promises, that he'll only look at the memories they need… That he'll only see Kid Flash's memories from the UN meeting, Wally couldn't hide his worry.

He couldn't shut off his nerves.

And he couldn't help but still freaked the fuck out.

Freaked….. is actually putting it lightly.

He sort of thrashed…..kinda screamed his throat raw, begged Bruce to let him go, punched Jonn, and tried to run out the door.

He would've made it too if Barry hadn't grabbed him.

When he tried to vibrate through the floor, they sedated him. And of course, that shit wore off quick cause fuck yeah he has a high-ass metabolism.

So they tripled the dosage, brought his ass back to the bed, and held him down.

He felt… trapped.

He wanted to scream but his mouth felt like a stone door. Impenetrable, hard and so so so heavy.

He cried instead.

See, the way the Martian's powers work, he isn't just reading somebody's mind. It's not like it's a book and he's the only one gazing through it. He's excavating, traveling, discovering bits and pieces of information that no one would know was even lost.

He's unearthing your memories.

And it fucking sucks.

It's like watching a 4-D movie, observing an experience but at the same time living it. Wally can see everything, hear everything. He can feel everything better than he remembered.

The meeting, the fire, the screams… the guilt.

It hurts! It fucking hurts, and he hates it.

But then just as quick as Jonn was there, he was gone. Back in the medbay, speaking with Batman and Flash as if it all was just a fucking peachy ass conversation. After a quick head pat from Barry and a lot more whispers, Batman, Flash, and the Martian Manhunter left.

And Wally was all alone….again.

Only now, now he's drowsy and his reaction time is almost laughable.

Yeah, he shouldn't be up.

He should be in bed. He should be resting.

But every second he spends laying down…. He can't help but wonder what happened to Kaldur.

And every time he closes his eyes he can't stop seeing all the people he could've saved.

He can't stop seeing the bodies…. the blood….the blame.

He can't stop and even though Barry said to rest, even though Bruce said to stay put. He just can't.

So he gets up, fleshes on his uniform, and swears to his conscious it'll only be a quick run. He just wants one second.

He just needs to forget for one second.

He starts his run by the cave shore and pushes past to Greece.

He runs to the Egyptian Sphinx, past the Mesopotamian ruins, all the way to Lithuania's core.

He runs and runs.

But as he runs, as he pushes his body past its limits and watches as everything blurs… his breath hitches in his throat. The blurs turn into bodies, the wind into gunshots, the night sky kisses his cheek like scorching fire, and he suddenly can't get his legs to move.

He's gasping, choking for air as he feels a large familiar lump in his throat.

Run.

Before it is too late.

Run.

He has to get them out of there.

Run.

And find Kaldur

He has to just…

Run.

But he can't.

No matter how hard he tries, he can't outrun his memory. And he can't outrun the blame.

So he falls instead, sinking into the cold Lithuanian snow as civilians march over one another and push past into their homes.

No one stops to help him, hell they don't even spare him a glance.

They seemed troubled, running fast and hurried as if someone was chasing them. And even though Wally isn't in the best shape to help, the hero in him couldn't really ignore it.

Or maybe…. the coward in him couldn't face another string of guilt.

He winces, staring at bruised muscles as he plows to the nearest person to ask what exactly was going on.

The first one was a bust, they didn't speak English.

Second, barely did.

The third, he's not too sure. His body gave out before he really can hear their answer.

When he comes to, he has two big revelations.

One, he really needs to get a candy bar or something, passing out can not be a regular thing.

And two, bear hide is much warmer than he thought it would be.

"Uh thanks", Kid Flash mumbles as a large man shuffles another bearskin over his legs and pushes a mug into his hand.

"No problem, you like the Yakshv? I know Americans have the weak stomach so I watered it down a bit" the man said.

Wally winces, expecting tea but not exactly mad at the warm Vodka that drizzles down his throat. "Yeah, the.. yakashev is fine, thanks Ummm-

Shit…. Who is this?

Wait, where is he?

And why the fuck did he accept a drink from a stranger!?

He tries to get up abruptly, but his speed is still reeling, and his head is fuzzy, he nearly falls in his attempt. The man catches him, holding him in burly arms that just scream natural strength.

Shit.

Fuck.

Wally goes to push the man off of him, but barely gets a shove out. It's like the dude is a brick wall, and Kid Flash isn't too sure if it's Bruce's drug from earlier or something else that's slowing him down.

Just what the hell did he drink?

And where the fuck is he?

Fuck, fuck fuck this is bad.

Okay, don't panic, don't panic, he reminds himself, searching the room for an escape or an answer, as the man resituates him on the couch.

Don't fucking panic.

He's just a teenager, trapped in fucking house, in heavy anti- tourist Lithuania with a stranger who probably drugged him.

Oh and let's not forget he already was drugged by Bruce so yay, mixture!

Yeah, don't fucking panic!

He feels so stupid, pathetic, and dumb. How could he just drink something that easily, and from a stranger too? God, Nightwing would probably chuck a table at him if he knew. Hell, he should chuck a table at himself. Seriously drinking the first thing offered? He had to be the idiot of the year. Dumby of the century. A real fucking-

" Genius", Wally mumbles the insult easily falling out of his mouth as more paranoid thoughts fill his mind.

As he continues to work himself into a panic attack, the man next to him chuckles, "Actually it's Nik, Nik Bushka but Genius does have a nice ring to it".

Great…even better! He picked a narcissistic friendly kidnapper.

Isn't that swell?

The man…eh Nik continues to blabber on, but Kid Flash is really not listening. His focus is on trying to vomit whatever weird drink he had just gulped down.

Don't panic.

He just has to jiggle his uvula.

He'll be fine.

Don't fucking panic.

In the middle of his freak out and Niks blabbering, a woman's voice rings out, "Tch this is just asking for trouble Nik. Seriously I don't know why you would bring it into our home", she angrily quipped.

And even though he should probably be focusing on throwing up, even though he definitely should be trying to figure out where the fuck he is….. Wally would be lying if he said he didnt take a second to peer down at the angry woman.

Well actually…perhaps he shouldn't really call her a woman.

She's petite but in a stocky way. The kind of short that makes someone question her age, and if Wally hadn't got a good look at her face he'd be one of them. She had big green eyes that are narrowed under bushy brows. A heavy scarf is draped over her and an even heavier frown is etched on her face.

She has an attitude, that much is clear.

Nik for the most part doesn't seem too affected by it, he simply smiles up at her. "Was I supposed to just leave him in that weather", he questions, and although Wally is sure it was rhetorical the girl doesn't waste a second before replying.

"Yes! Leave him and the trouble he's bound to bring. If he was stupid enough to come here and faint then let him be that stupid alone".

Okay… anger is a consistent part of her sparkling personality. No biggie, not like he hasn't dealt with that before.

Still, why exactly is she so mad at him anyway?

And why the fuck can't he get his body to throw this shit up?

"Oh calm down Shala, It's not every day I have an American Superhero ask me questions, let alone fall to my feet. Don't mind her child, the bark is worse than the bite this I promise you.", Nik exclaims with a hardy chuckle, he then sighs giving Kid Flash a once-over glance. "although I guess she may have a point, you really should take better care of yourself. If I was a worse man your troubles would be grave".

Uh duh, he knows that.

Why else would he be trying to stick his finger down his throat….wait why are his hands not bound?!

He shifts, rolling his ankles as well as his neck as he gives his body the good ole one-two.

No, he isn't bound. He's bandaged?

There's not a cuff on him, not a rope around him, and not a gun in sight.

As he rolls his wrist as well as his neck, his eyes quickly begin to scan the area. It's a house, a plain ole regular house. No weapons on the floors, no bombs in the kitchen, hell even the knives were put in an organizer.

The most hostile thing in the room was Shala, and Nik seems good at keeping her at bay.

Okaaaaaay, so maybe he really doesn't need to panic.

Still, he probably should figure out where the fuck he is.

And who the fuck they are?

The bearskin blanket feels lighter as Wally replays the man's words from earlier.

American Superhero ask me questions, let alone fall to my feet

Right…. He was asking questions about the civilians running. He asked Nik and he passed out.

And the man must have been kind enough to bring him into his home.

And here Kid Flash was acting like a war prisoner.

How stupid he must've looked.

"Uh thanks", he sheepishly replied, lifting up just the slightest so he can meet Nik's eyes.

To the right of both of them, Shala scoffs, she mutters something about fucking idiots, but neither Nik nor Wally really comments on that.

Instead, Nik laughs, refills Wally's glass, and shrugs, "Eh no problem…Though if you really want to thank me, humor me child, and try not to let it happen again. To faint in our snow is to fall into your own casket".

"or worse", Shala adds, shooting Wally another one of her heated glares.

It's wasted though because for the 3rd time that night Kid Flash pays her dust.

Tch or worse is she serious?

He fell into the snow.

Ooooh so fucking scary.

He's been through a lot worse.

Actually falling asleep in the snow is a cakewalk compared to all the things he has been through.

But he won't let her know that, he can't. Instead, he decides to win the short-tempered Lithuanian over with a few jokes and a dazzling smile.

Because if Kid Flash is good for anything it's making people laugh.

He opens his mouth instantly a mocking tease ready to be spilled, but the second he looks at Shala his smile slips. Her glare had changed to a harsh frown, one filled with a serious disgust. It was… a face Wally had only seen really directed at Wally, never Kid Flash.

To say it surprised him would be an understatement.

It felt daunting, weird, and hollow.

Whatever joke he had instantly died, he wanted to ask her why the hostility. Just what exactly did he do to her? But's he's not too sure he's ready for the answer.

And he really doesn't need another reason to hate himself.

He chugs his drink instead.

The buzz is instant. He welcomes it along with the slight fuzziness and warmth it brings.

It was a sweet escape and he almost wished he could bask in it forever.

Shala doesn't share his excitement. She only glares harder as her cup remains untouched, another insult sure enough on the tip of her tongue, but just as she opened her mouth to say it, Nik opened his. "Normally I'd advise against listening to Shala, but you may want to heed her words little one. The few bruises aside you were very lucky today," he exclaimed.

Instantly Kid Flash winces, just now feeling the lump he must have received when he fell. "Yeah, yeah I guess ow… I guess I haven't been sleeping much and kinda got ahead of myself. I'm usually more careful".

Nik nods, though he doesn't really seem like he believes Kid Flash's sleep story all too much. "I've seen your papa, on the Youtube. He worries over you like a lamb in back of the shed. You should call him, it's late in America no".

And at this, Wally could only bite his lip.

He wants to explain to the man that Flash isn't his papa. Barry probably isn't worried about him anyways… it's not like he bothered to stop Jonn from invading his mind. He didn't stay with Wally in Medbay afterward. Hell, he didn't even ask Wally if he wanted to rest at home with Aunt I.

And Aunt I, he hasn't even heard a word from her. Did she even know? Did she even care?

He can't really blame her. He's pathetic, embarrassing, worthless.

Why should she care? Why should they care? It's not like his real parents did.

He wants to spill all of this, ramble it out so it won't take any more space in his mind..or his heart, but the words die on his tongue and the Vodka pushes them down his throat as he takes another hefty gulp.

His papa. Worried? Tch yeah fucking right.

Nik sighs, takes a grand gulp of his own mug, and gives Kid Flash another once-over glance. "Hmmm, trouble with your papa then. I had a similar experience in youth, so I understand the need to run away. Though I must tell you, probably best to leave soon".

"Right now kind of soon".

"Shala please", Nik groans, sending her an exasperated frown quickly after. He then pauses, almost as if the next bit of his words are a long kept secret, "….. I wouldn't want the Lubyanvo to get you…. I'm sure Shala's thinking the same".

When she doesn't automatically dispute this, Kid Flash can't help but turn and look at the angry small teen.

Was she actually concerned for him? He finds that VERY hard to believe.

"You don't have to worry about me", he tries to reassure her, his hero smile gentle and kind.

Shala instantly recoils at the sight of it, "Ugh I'm not worried for you. I'm worried about the Lubyanvo "

"Whats the Lubyanvo?", Kid Flash questioned, his brows already furrowed.

It was the second time he had heard the word but he already could guess it was anything but good. Shala spat it out like it was some revered monster.

Something hated and feared.

Nik wasn't any better. The phrase left his mouth rushed and pained. Like it was covered in molten lava and acidic rocks. Something that burned his tongue to say, but hurt his heart to keep silent.

Wally asks his question once more and tries to find Shala's eyes but she refuses to meet his gaze, glaring at the floor instead. When several seconds pass and she doesn't explain, Wally looks at Nik.

"Ah….how you say government agents, best to avoid", Nik replies. His response is short and quick, in a way that almost screams business His jolly tone was gone and Wally couldn't help but notice he fisted his cup just a little tighter as he spoke.

Clearly, there was some animosity there. But hey when talking about the government in any country when is there not?

Wally sighs, he appreciates the concern but it wasn't exactly needed. "I've dealt with my fair share of government agents, I'll be fine trust me".

Nik again doesn't seem too sure but remains silent. Shala, on the other hand, opened her mouth the second she could. "American agents aren't the fucking same, you'd be stupid to think they are. Which kinda fits, you do have this whole pathetic idiot look about you. Are you an idiot? …Or maybe you just have a death wish. Speeds your thing right? Looking for the quickest way out"?

Oh, she's a fucking pissy smart ass.

Still, Kid Flash is NOT going to give her the argument she clearly wants. He simply sticks his tongue out, rolls his eyes in the back of his head, and mimics her frown, like the mature upstanding hero he is.

Her reply is an eyeroll. Maybe it's the drugs talking but Wally would swear it was almost speedster fast.

Nik actually has to clear his throat just to alleviate some of the tension," What Shala means is in Lithuania, you must know things are different. No one not of Lithuania blood can't even step foot here without clearance, that includes your Justice League. If the Lubyanvo find out you're here….

"They won't find out", Wally snapped. He didn't mean to but fuck was he tired.

He just wanted to forget, to not think of the League, or Kaldur, or his screw-ups. He just wanted to pretend for a second that his life wasn't going to shit and he wasn't the biggest idiot around.

So yeah, to say Santa Klaus and his unjolly elf's consistent anger and doubt was aggravating….is an understatement.

And Nik bringing up the League was downright irritating.

Still, it's not like any of what he'd feeling is their fault.

So he sighs, long and hard. Trying his best to push his misdirected anger back down to the darkest corner of his mind. " Look, I'm sorry….. I get your concerned but it's fine. I'm fine, I just- I just wanted to run to clear my head, I promise I'll be out of your hair in a sec".

"This is the longest second of my life. I thought you were supposed to see time differently and shit" Shala quipped. When she was met with nothing but Kid Flash's annoyed glance, she decided to take it a step further. " But I guess you are the slow one right, wonder how disappointing that is for your Pa"

She's wrong and loud, but her insults still hit.

Being slower than Barry has always been a sore spot for Kid Flash, and being disappointing was just his fucking life story. A life story he didn't need to be reminded of, especially when he's trying to run from it.

So this time Wally couldn't help but sneer back at her. She wanted a fucking argument fine, he has more than enough anger, "Oh look who needs another moment of my attention. Did Daddy here not give you enough as a child or do you just love me that much"

Shala bristled almost instantly, "Oh I'll give you a moment"!

"Non, Children please!", Nik exclaimed as he held Shala back and blocked Wally from her reach.

"I swear Nik just let me get five minutes with this dumbass", Shala exclaimed.

"I thought you just needed a moment", Wally instantly bit back.

"That's it! Don't bother worrying about the Lubyanov Red, I'm going to fucking-"

"Language-!" Nik yells but to no avail. The two teens were already set in their heated exchange and Shala had just grabbed a vase.

Shit.

It took Nik fifteen whole minutes to calm Shala down, and by that point, the three of them were more than tired

Kid Flash was now sitting on the loveseat farthest away from the short-fused teen. He was pouting. His bruises were even more bruised with the stuff Shala threw at him. He did dodge most of them, but he can't deny she did get a few lucky hits in.

He blames that entirely on Bruce's drug…..okay maybe the vodka had something to do with it too, but still mostly Bruce's fault.

Shala on the other hand was beaming as she sat in the wooden chair near the kitchen, her own face clear of any bruises because let's face it, Kid Flash was never going to harm a civilian.

No matter how much she got under his skin.

"Okay", Nik huffed, placing a chain from the kitchen inbetween the two. "Now I think we have a slight misunderstanding"

"Yeah it's beyond me why shorty here has a major attitude with me, I haven't even done anything to her," Kid Flash bitterly complained.

Shala meets his wine with a deadpanned glare, "You came here"

Oh, she can not be fucking serious.

"I was brought here", he nearly yelled back.

"Yeah, and if anything happens to us because of it, that's your fucking head"!

"What", Kid Flash exclaimed, confused to the max. "You do realize I'm not a bad guy right. I save people, why would anything bad happen to you".

When Shala doesn't elaborate, Nik ever the peacemaker decides to step in, "That's the misunderstanding. It's just…. here we don't have heroes or villains. The Lubyanvo deal with all measures of crime. We can get in trouble for harboring you, hence Shala's…attitude".

Wally sighs, seriously they had to be the most paranoid duo he had ever met.

"I get that you guys have really strict visitation laws, but it will be fine. I'm a hero, I've been to tons of places without a permit before. I just have to say I'm passing by, it's not a big deal. Most agents just ask for a picture. It's not like I committed a crime".

Nik sends Kid Flash a leveled stare, "The Lubyanvo won't want a picture, and they will not listen to any hero explanation you give. To them you have committed the ultimate crime, being born a meta"

Kid Flash pauses, that didn't make sense. "What does that mean?... being a meta cant be a crime, right? They're not…treating Meta's like criminals, thats crazy

"And your stupid", Shala hissed.

And Kid Flash has a quick retort, it's funny and cheeky but he doesn't say it. He can't say it, not when Nik still hasn't answered his question.

They not treating Metas differently are they? Why would they do that? That doesn't make sense.

Nik winces, and scratches behind his ear, "Metas are… jovflck here. Umm men without morals. Time has shown they are more tied to their mutations than they are to their countries. To a small country like Lithuania, they are a threat, and with the recent news...".

The dread that fills Wally's stomach is instant. "What news", he reluctantly asked.

Nik for the first time since Kid Flash has known him, truly frowns. His eyes go the saddest hue as he turns on the Tv.

In the beginning, Kid Flash doesn't get it. He doesn't exactly speak Lithuanian and he definitely can't read it.

But then the angry tone of the news reporter breaks. And the camera shifts to the destroyed UN building.

Dmitri Spvenrom, diplomat and fearless leader of Lithuania was pronounced dead. Killed in what Lithuanians would call a secret attack from the monstrous metas.

The camera shifts once more, Lithuanian voices blearing in the background but Wally doesn't hear any of it.

He just focuses on the crying faces of the Lithuanian civilians.

He just focuses on the crying faces of Dmitri's family.

Shala refuses to look at the screen, the minute they show the UN building, the second they show Dmitri's family, and she's gone. Running up the flight of stairs as fast as she possibly could while muttering about metas and their stupidity.

When her door slams, Nik chooses to once again speak to Kid Flash, "Spvenrom was one of the few Lithuanians who actually believed Meta and Man could live side by side. He was a kind man, and his death to many shows his foolishness.", Nik murmurs, his voice heavy as he somberly looks at Dmitri's smiling face on the screen.

The camera shifts again, this time it sends its focus on a military station.

It shows men and women armed up and shooting at targets.

It shows tech advancements, laser shooting guns, steel grafted knives.

And then it shows metas. Blue-skinned men, women with scales, children with multiple eyes.

All of them wearing collars, all of them being led into buildings.

Wally let out a deep breath, one filled with guilt and distrust. "They're capturing metas".

"They're punishing metas", Nik corrects. He then looks down, "Officially they are saying it is a precaution, a way for them to keep tabs on the metas within their own border, make sure no traitors are around. They say it will only last until Spvenrom killers are found".

"Will it", Kid Flash murmured, his eyes still heavily focused on the tv screen.

This can't be right. This can't be happening.

"I have been in Lithuania my whole life, lad. The camps aren't exactly new, the only change is now they're no longer a secret. Lithuanians…Ah, Lithuania's never been kind to Metas. The one leader who was a semblance of decent….is dead. And his friends want someone to punish, someone to…".

"Blame", Wally finishes. His mind going a million miles a second.

Blame. Oh, how he fucking wishes he could erase the very concept of it.

But in that moment he just knows he can't.

In that moment his mind tries to piece together just how much pain he had caused.

In that very fucking moment he tries to block out the pitter-patter of your fault, your fault that rings in his head.

But as much as tries, the voices only get louder. He moves to shut his eyes, to shut out the world, but that only makes it worse.

Because now, the heat of his guilt feels like the fire that knawed at his face yesterday. The ticking of Nik's clock sounds like the bullets that rang in his ear. He pulls his eyes tighter off reflex, pulls his eyes tighter to rid his mind of the memories, but it doesn't help.

He can't hear Nik anymore, or the clock or anything really.

All he can hear is people screaming, begging to be saved.

All he can feel is himself running. His body vibrating, and his breathing labored. It's hot, hard to breathe. The screaming gets louder and louder, almost in sync with his heartbeat. And a dull ache fills his head.

He can see bodies, smell their burning flesh. Everything is so clear, so fucking vivid but he still has questions. How many had he passed, which one was Spvenrom? Could he have saved him in time? Couldv'e all of that been avoided if he was just a little faster?

He snaps his eyes open, not realizing how hard he was breathing until he goes for his next gasp. Nik's concerned face is blurred in his field of vision.

Just when had he started crying?

This time as he blinks the tears away, and tries to block out the sounds he doesn't just see bodies, he sees people, leaders, men, and women with families who he let down.

This time he sees the Lithuanians from earlier hurriedly running into their homes.

He wonders how many were metas.

He wonders how many were caught.

And what happened once they were.

"This can't be legal", he said to Nik, though the words feel hollow in his throat.

This…. isn't right.

It can't be allowed. Why are they allowing it?

How long have they allowed this?

Why hasn't anyone stopped it? He has to stop it.

"I expect not in America, though I sure they do it there too. Here is different the Pravist eh Lithuanian government I guess I should say…. we have different rules. They've been taking metas for a while but now with the UN attack they have probable cause ".

"Probable cause my ass, metas didn't do that, villains did. It's not their fault, they don't deserve this", Wally said with a heated glare. He knows he shouldn't be taking his anger out on Nik but he can't help it.

Probable cause? Is he serious?

Metas didn't do anything.

How could he be so nonchalant about all of this?

How could he be okay with this? Why was he okay with this?

Nik shrugs, nearly rolling his eyes as he glances back at the screen, "I'm sure but that's not how the public sees it. There are no villains and heroes in Lithuania. There is man and there is meta. And I've already told you metas are considered-

"More tied to their mutations, I know" Wally spat, hating the very taste of the words. He then forces his body up, ignoring the sway of his stiff muscles. "But capturing them, putting them in these camps is wrong. Someone has to stop it! I have to stop it, I can't just sit here and watch while people are being kidnapped and - and forced to-

Kid Flash pauses, he can't even utter the words that are swarming in his mind. He then huffs, and tries to grab his shoes but is stopped by Nik's hand on his wrist.

"Little one I understand your anger-

No no, the fuck he doesn't. How could he?

He just sits there in his stupid old house, with an angry girl and his knickknacks. He just drinks vodka, and watches as people are being forced into these fucking camps against their will.

He's sat here for years and watched it happen in secret.

And why not? It's not like it affected him. It's not like it would ever be anyone he's cared about.

And it's not like it's his fault.

Nik could never understand.

"I'm sure you don't even see them as people", Wally bitterly mutters, rolling his eyes as he tugged at his wrist. " jckvsh right. Men without morals. Gotta ask what does that make you? You saved a disgusting jckvsh from taking a cold nap. What did my celebrity make me one that matters? Did you actually think I was gonna sit here and let you guys do this?".

Nik doesn't answer his questions. He doesn't flinch at Kid Flash's tone and he doesn't let go of Wally's wrist. He simply stares Kid Flash down and gives him the facts. "You're in no shape to help, you were already in bad shape when I found you, and I'm willing to bet while numbing the pain the vodka only made the drowsiness worse. Besides your presence would only hurt your country. All matters of crime are dispelled by the Lubyanvo. An outsider's help will not be welcomed, you will not be welcomed".

And at this Kid Flash could only grimace.

Because fuck, does he hate it when he just knows someone else is right.

Especially, when he desperately needs them to be wrong.

The fact is, Lithuania is an isolated country, they barely joined the UN a year ago and even that came with pretenses and demands.

It's against the rules for anyone to even visit Lithuania without a permit.

And Kid Flash is in no shape to help.

He can feel the drugs in his system.

And now he definitely feels the vodka circulating too.

Still, he can't just sit by and watch.

What kind of person does that?

"Just sitting here isn't okay with me. Whether it affects me or not I don't just sit and let people be hurt", he spits.

The implication that comes with Kid Flash's anger is evident. But Nik doesn't even give it an inch of his attention, instead, he sends Kid Flash a pitiful glance."Are you even sure you can save them,", he asked.

And instantly Kid Flash glares.

"What does that mean," he bites out, anger just teetering at the edge.

Because what the fuck was that? Is he sure he can save them?

What the hell did Nik mean by that?

He wants to speed ramble his many rescue missions, and success rates. Forcibly fill Niks mind with any and every detail of his extensive hero career.

He wants to let Nik know that while he fucking appreciates his consistent lack of faith, he can fully well take down a few agents, but the words die on his tongue as his eyes finally catch up to Niks.

The man is staring, almost glaring as he gazes down at the tv news coverage.

It's back on the UN building, only now it's just listing all the people dead, all the people hurt and all the people gone.

Is Kid Flash sure he can save them?

What a low blow that was.

"Let me go", Wally murmured. His voice angry and defeated.

It was his fault. It was all his fucking fault!

"Child please I just don't want harm to come-

" I said let go", Wally screamed, finally tugging his wrist away. In his haste, he didn't notice that Nik had much too harsh of grip for this to not pop his shoulder out. He also didn't notice he forgot to minimize his speed for civilian safety.

So Nik went flying, the pace apparently too much and too quick for him. His body hit the wall with a harsh thud, his head with an even louder slam. Shala came running down the stairs, her eyes wide and mouth set. She didn't look shocked though, or even sad.

She did, however, look afraid.

"What the fuck happened", she seethed, anger coated her words but the concern peeked through more.

God, what happened? How did he let his anger get him to that level, and with a civilian?

What did he do?

"I-" Wally tries to speak but the words won't come out.

"You what?! What the fuck did you do", Shala yelled, turning her head towards Kid Flash, but keeping her body near a still Nik.

What did he do? Oh, God what did he do?!

Chapter Text

Nik was disheveled. His left arm was bent at an abnormal angle, clearly dislocated. His right arm was bruised blue, and his head was bleeding but that wasn’t the worst of it.

Nik’s legs. His legs weren’t….. normal, they were sparking. His pants singed and burned a bit at his ankles.

Apparently, the static energy Kid Flash had pent up dislodged into Nik.

But Nik shouldn’t be sparking. Not unless he was made out of metal and that’s crazy.

So, what the fuck did Kid Flash do? And just how can he fix it?

“I-I didn’t mean…” Wally tries to apologize inching closer, desperate to help.

He only makes it four steps before Shala screams at him, “No, stay the fuck back. Stay the fuck away from us”!

“Shala I swear I didn’t mean…I can run him to the hospital just let me-

“You’ve done fucking enough”, Shala angrily interrupts and Kid Flash really doesn’t have a rebuttal for that. So he just stands there, as seconds feel like eons. He just stands there as Shala slaps Nik’s face over and over again.

“Wake up Nik, come on. Wake up, wake up you big stupid fucking idiot”, she yells, her voice getting more and more frantic. Her words rushing between accented English and desperate Lithuanian.

“nešioju Nik”

“Wake the fuck up”

“Pabusti idiotas”

Please!!

Finally, after a few seconds of both Shala and Kid Flash holding their breath, Nik groans.

“Are you slapping me this hard on purpose or is this revenge for eating the last strudel yesterday.”, he mumbled, a tease coating his words but the agony was evident.

He was hurt. Nik was in pain, and it was all Kid Flash’s fault.

“Great you still have your stupid sense of humor. Now let’s see if you’re going to still have a fucking life”, Shala sassed, as she ripped Nik’s pants even more and stuffs some scraps in his mouth.

Nik slobbers around the makeshift muzzle, still blabbering jokes but none of them really gather a chuckle.

Shala’s too busy pressing on his limbs, and trying not to wince as the sparks burn her wrist.

And Wally’s too busy staring. Bug-eyed and uncertain as he peers down at Nik’s now uncovered legs.

Shit, so maybe it wasn’t exactly a crazy idea.

Metal legs. Nik had fucking metal legs.

Granted Wally’s more of a chem guy than a tech guy but he doesn’t really need to be either to spot metal limbs. They’re cybertronic, titanium grafted, and ion-lasered. Scars are littered at the base, deep and harsh ones. This means Nik definitely had legs before, and they weren’t exactly amputated willingly.

“I’m fine Shala, just go close the curtain the light is killing me”, Nik groans, as Shala resets his arm and fiddles more with the wires.

“Fuck the curtains, you’re clearly not fucking fine”, Shala exclaims, her hands hovering over Nik’s hair as she rigs his remaining pants scraps into a cotton bandage for his head.

And Wally well… he just continues to stare.

Suddenly the metal rod of said curtain sinks inside of itself, similar to a slinky. It then widens, and engorges, carrying the faded material with it.

The curtain closed. The fucking curtain closed by itself!

Okay, now Wally’s officially freaking the fuck out!

Nik has metal legs, Shala has the pain tolerance of fucking Superboy and both of them have a moving house.

A fucking moving house!!

Before Wally can even wrap his head around that, Nik moves his fingers just the slightest, and the metal around his legs shifts just like the curtain rod. The wires, the titanium, every bit of it moves like molten lava. It keeps shifting until the holes are covered and the cold metal hardens.

Of course, why didn’t he see it before?

The concern, the bitterness, the hatred for the Lubyanvo.

Of course, Nik is a Meta.

And here Kid Flash was yelling at him about how he didn’t understand.

How stupid could he be?

The minute Nik finishes recrafting his legs, Shala’s concern turns back into anger, “I told you!! I fucking told you he was trouble, look what the fuck he did”.

“Shala-

“You shielded him, fed him, gave him blankets, and he fucking hurts you! You fucking hurt him”, she screeches, as she holds her hands up, and races over to Wally’s side. He doesn’t even try to move for the punch she’s bound to throw.

He deserves it.

Seconds pass and Kid Flash finally musters up enough courage to look at Shala. Her fist is still up but her gaze is now on Nik.

He’s struggling, groaning as he fiddles even more with his legs. Apparently, his early metal magic trick just made things worse. Now with the metal hardened and the wires covered the sparking is even more evident.

Every so often it leaves Nik jumping and wincing. The meaty part of his flesh redding under the shocks.

And for the first time since Kid Flash has known her, Shala’s anger dies, her arm dwindles down and she almost looks…sad.

“Going to the market”, she quickly spits, as she grabs her jacket from the closet and shuffles it over her arms.

Nik’s protest is immediate, “It’s late, and I’m fine. You should-

“Shut it old man! We already needed more supplies. They’re doubling down on morning surveillance, now’s a good time…. Besides you’re gonna need more steel and fucking wires to stop the shocks right?”, she questions, and when Nik does not reply that’s apparently all the answer she needs before she drapes her scarf back on her head and turns her attention to Kid Flash. “He knows we’re Metas now Nik, don’t be stupid and let him land another hit on you. If he tries anything else you better disarm him or I will kill you both”.

By her tone alone Wally just knows she isn’t bluffing.

As she finishes her statement she has no problem grabbing the knife organizer from the kitchen and placing it infront of Nik. She even puts one of the knives in Nik’s hand before sauntering out the door.

In any other circumstance, Kid Flash would welcome her departure. He could literally see himself now smiling ear to ear and, sending a mighty whoop as the she-devil makes her grand exit. But when Shala leaves, she takes the bitterness and anger with her. And something sick and insufferable sits heavy in the air.

Guilt.

It’s crushing his throat, leaving his mouth hot and dry. He wants to speak but he doesn’t know the words.

And Nik?

Nik is unmoving. His joking tone and his jolly front disappearing the minute Shala leaves. His eyes dimmed, knife forgotten to his side as he stares in almost disgust at his legs.

His metal legs.

Legs that Kid Flash hurt.

Legs that Wally exposed.

The guilt that follows is the worse kind. Loud but at the same time quiet. The kind of guilt that makes every bad thought seem like it was being screamed in your ear. The kind of guilt that suffocates you in silence, crunching down on your throat and making it hard to breathe.

Wally can barely last two seconds of it.

“I’m sorry”, he rushes, finally babbling the string of regrets ringing in his head. When Nik doesn’t reply or even acknowledge his words, Kid Flash hurridly continues his word-vomit apology.

“ I didn’t mean to hurt you or say that stuff. I should’ve controlled my speed better, it was reckless and stupid of me….I- I had no idea you were a Meta, and I know thats doesn’t make it better but I wouldn’t have said any of that if I did. I don’t know what you’ve been through living here your entire life. I mean that’s crazy being a meta in an anti- meta country. All the things you’ve had to do to stay hidden, I sounded so ignorant. I was so ignorant. ” Wally tries again, but still Nik doesn’t reply.

He just keeps staring, glaring at his legs as the metal shifts and the shocks increase.

This only makes Wally’s grief worse, and his ramble quickens.

“ I wasn’t thinking and I was angry. And I know that’s not an excuse - I just…..”, he paused, tries to find the words that burn his throat. He spills the ones burning his heart instead. “I just… I can’t sit here and let that happen to those people. I can’t let Metas pay for my mistake”.

Nik finally rejoins the conversation at that moment, as he looks at Wally with a bewildered stare.

Almost as if he was just now hearing Kid Flash. Almost as if he could not believe the words tumbling out of the youth’s mouth.

Then he stands, his limbs straining and making a god-awful noise as pulls himself up. He basically waddles as his legs tic and toc their way back to the speedster. When he reaches Kid Flash, he bends down and stares deep into Wally’s green eyes, “ This isn’t your fault”. He pauses then gestures to the television, “None of this is your fault, and it isn’t your fight”.

Wally shakes his head, “But it is! I was there, I could’ve saved Sprevrons, I should’ve-” he swallows, desperately trying to calm his breathing as well as his tears. “I screwed up bad, and I gotta fix it. I have to fix it”.

He starts sobbing towards the end, no longer fighting the floodgates as Nik embraces him in a full-blown hug. Shocks hit the both of them, but neither seems really ready to acknowledge it. They just stay like that, hugging as if they were family instead of strangers. Hugging because they both needed each other more than knew each other. It seems to last years, days, and minutes all at once. And when Wally’s finally calm, breathing heavily but no longer harshly, Nik breaks away.

“Liberating the camps won’t bring Sprevron back, little one. It won’t make the voices go away, it won’t stop the tears and it won’t clear your guilt”, he murmurs.

Kid Flash sniffles, “I’m not trying to clear my guilt”.

“Good because it isn’t yours to bear”.

Wally wants to laugh, but the irony clogs his throat. “Whose is it then? The Lubyanov, the UN? Society? You can spin it any way you want but the fact is I’m the reason Sprevrom isn’t here right now. I’m the reason the Lubyanov is on their stupid meta chase”.

Nik actually does laugh, though it’s bitter and lacks all humor. “The Lubyanov was capturing metas long before you were born. You must understand, your guilt is-

“Oh my god, I told you it isn’t about guilt! I’m not tryna clear my conscious or make myself feel better because I know I can’t!”, Wally shouts, his body frantic, vibrating. His tears the heaviest they had ever been. “I can’t get the image-shit I can’t get their screams out of my fucking head”, he inhales hard, “I fucked up, I screwed up and nothing can erase that. I know that but what kind of hero am I if I don’t save them”.

What kind of hero is he, if he doesn’t try?

Nik apparently doesn’t share the sentiment, he scoffs the second the words leave Kid Flash’s mouth. “Heroes don’t exist here. You fighting the Lubyanov won’t change that”.

But Kid Flash ignores him, choosing instead to wipe his face, muster up the last of his courage, and look for his fucking shoes.

He has to fix this. He has to at least try.

Nik glares, it was like the boy was committed to getting himself killed. “They won’t see you as a hero”, he bellowed, too angry at this point to really mind his volume. “You’ll just be another meta-rebel giving the Lubyanov another reason to lock us up.

He stops for a second, praying his words get to the youth, but when the boy does nothing but fit the boot over his ankle, he continues his angry speech.

“All this talk of nobility and heroism won’t help you here, we don’t take hands outs. We don’t look out for anyone but ourselves. Lithuania doesn’t have any heroes!”

“Yeah and look where that’s got you!” Wally snapped. He then paused, immediately feeling regret by his tone alone.“Sorry, sorry…. I just…. I can’t not do anything. I don’t understand how anyone can”.

Nik chuckles, “Ar tai mano bausmė vėl pamatyti tave šiame gyvenime, mano drauge”

Wally frowned, “What does that mean?-

But Nik doesn’t even bother pretending like he’s going to translate, he just stares at the ground for a minute. He just stares and heaves as a particularly bad shock travels up his spine.

And Wally doesn’t dare say anything else, too caught up in ignoring his guilt as he fixes his laces.

It’s not until Kid Flash’s hand is on the doorknob, that Nik finally speaks in the quietest murmur, “There was someone who stood up against the Lubyanov, long long time ago. A young man, boy really. He was so powerful the government bent at his will. When he was around the people of darkness cowered, meta, and man. No one would go up against him, it was like a light had shined on every corner. He liberated me from my camp when I was a teen, helped me see the beauty in being a meta. Helped Lithuania see the beauty in being a meta”.

Nik’s still not looking at him as he says this, but Wally can see his smile just as clearly. It started off small, but as he continued it grew. This large smile, was one that must be filled with memories only Nik’s eyes could truly see. A smile filled with pride, nostalgia, and longing.

Wally couldn’t help but try to envision it, “He sounds amazing”.

“He was, but not for the reason you think. You see Sebashtion’s power wasn’t in his meta-skills, though those were great too. No, the lad was powerful for those he had at his side. He was unstoppable because we were unstoppable”, Nik finished voice filled to the brink with pride. He then frowned as both he and Kid Flash replayed the scenario in their head.

They were unstoppable?

Wally’s next smile is a lot more empty, “What happened”.

Finally, Nik spares him a glance, though this time the smile is gone and a bitter frown is in its place, “Eh power is something of a toxin, even men with the purest intentions turn sour at the bit of it. We fought so hard for metas, we forgot we were human. It cost me my legs, Shala her parents and for Sebastion his life….don’t make that mistake little lamb… Truth, I wish you would leave it alone, stay far away, and not be burdened with the scar Lithuania is. But my past tells me you won’t”. He pauses, and chokes out a tearful smile, “People with hearts like yours don’t know how too…will you do me this one favor though”.

Wally finally lets go of the knob,” Anything”.

“Learn from us, if you’re going to fight the Lubyanov. Never forget why you fight, Never fight without a plan, and never fight alone. Your Justice League, they will be different but they will survive”.

The you won’t is absent but unmistakably loud

Wally pauses, “You think I’m going to die”.

“I think I didn’t save your life for you to throw it away”, Nik reassures.

A beat skips in the air. Silence permeates the room.

Wally truly didn’t know what to say to that. He doesn’t agree with Nik’s thinking at all, and he doesn’t understand it.

It doesn’t quite make sense. Nik doesn’t know him, if anything happens to him why should it affect him? He’s just a stranger, just a kid Nik picked up as his good deed for the day.

Doesn’t matter that Nik literally had nothing to gain from saving him.

Doesn’t matter that Nik literally risked his life bringing him into his home.

But it does matter, maybe it matters too much that Nik is the first man to comfort him in the longest. It does matter that Nik is the first person to tell him the UN wasn’t his fault.

So even though Wally doesn’t agree, even though Kid Flash doesn’t understand, he nods anyway.

Why make the last person to see any good in him upset?

Why hurt the man any more than he already did?

Nik apparently accepts this reluctant agreement and quickly waddles himself over to the table. “………There is a route here the Lubyanov don’t supervise at this time. I will draw you a map, make your escape quick yes”.

“ Yeah… thanks Nik”, Wally murmurs, his smile stretching but not quite meeting his eyes. For the next few moments, the duo sit in silence, neither has it in them to really continue the conversation. Both to preoccupied with ignoring the hauntings of the past. The only real sound in the room was Nik’s scribbling and the occasional creek from his legs.

It doesn’t take long for the map to be finished. It’s a crude drawing but Wally’s ran with less. He doesn’t even bother waiting for Shala to return, he simply thanks Nik and runs.

As he ran, he thought for a millisecond about going to one of the camps and freeing the people. He even made the detour, and traced the outskirts of the metal door but then he heard Nik’s voice in his head, he envisioned the UN meeting and quickly turned back around.

He should stay.

He should stop this.

But.

What could he do alone?

How could he go against an entire country?

How could he save millions, when he couldn’t even save fourteen?

The smart thing to do would be to tell the League and hope they put him on the mission.

That’s the best he could do for them. It’s the only thing he could do for himself.

He’s screwed up enough already.

Through his turmoil, he forgets that he didn’t exactly get permission to leave. He forgets that he was totally supposed to be resting in bed. He also forgets that he hasn’t exactly had a heart-to-heart with his teammates yet.

He really wishes he hadn’t forgotten that.

“Oh look who finally decided to grace us with their presence. Have a nice stroll Kid Mouth”, Zatanna sarcastically quips, as she flicks on the lights and sends Kid Flash a piercing glare.

Fuck, Dick’s angry witch.

Could it get any worse?

“Zatanna please calm yourself” a small voice whispers. It sounds tired, overworked, and stressed. It clearly belong to a child but there was something mature in the tone.

Shit Tim, yep that makes it worse. Way worse.

Oh and look he’s not alone. As if the universe didn’t show how much it hates him already, standing next to Tim looking worried and nervous is Beastboy, Spoiler, and Tula.

Kill him now.

No seriously, please kill him now.

He could run for it.

He should run for it.

But he really is tired, and apparently, the drugs are finally starting to wear off. Which is great for his reaction time, but terrible for the pain. Maybe if he winces harder, they’ll take pity and let him sleep it off. “Look uhhh ow…I know you guys have questions but-

“Questions” Zatanna exclaims, the lights flicker just the slightest with her tone.“ The League’s been in the meeting room for hours, the world’s under attack, half of our team is injured and our fearless fishboy leader is nowhere to be found! The last person to see him was you so I think ‘questions’ is an understatement”!

Wally paused.

Half of the team was injured? World under attack? Just what is she talking about?

But before he could even try to ask her, Beastboy shifts into a monkey grabs his shoulder, and slithers next to his ear.

“Dude!! Superboy nearly died, Raven broke both her legs, and Meghan is in a coma! Jonn won’t let me see her, I’m so freaking out and you know what that does with my control”, Beastboy exclaimed. As if to prove his point his scales instantly shifted, feathers grew in their place and suddenly a green bird was hovering above them. Squawking and shaking.

“BB calm down- its-

“Beasty’s the last person you need to worry about. Robs not saying much but I’m pretty sure he’s freaking out and I’m super sure he’s running on 1 hour of sleep”, Spoiler quietly whispered in his ear.

But as always with gossip, even the softest whisper is never soft enough.

Especially if you’re talking about a Bat.

“Spoilers exaggerating, I’m fine. B just not saying much. I need to account for all variables, and at this moment you know more than I do”, Tim quickly insisted.

This time Wally didn’t even need to fake his wince, “I’m not sure if I do Robby, look we can talk about the UN lat-”, he starts to gush, but stops the minute he meets Tula’s eyes.

She’s softly glancing around, waiting patiently for everyone else to voice their concerns. When it gets quiet enough, she gently grabs Wally’s arm, and takes her worried bottom lip out of her mouth, “Kid Flash please, My King has requested my return home, but there is no word on if Kaldur’ahm is to do the same… We always go home together, since I’ve joined the Team. He is not responding to my calls, do you know where he is.”,

“I…”, Wally’s breath hitched in his throat. How was he is suppose to tell them? How is he supposed to tell her? “............I don’t”, he finally whispers, and immediately the circus starts.

“What do you mean you don’t know. You were together”, Tula quietly asserts, her voice still unimaginably gentle, her eyes a bit glassy.

They all know the saying.

A hero goes missing, expect the worse.

Kid Flash falters, speeds out of her grip and sight, but that only pushes him closer to Zatanna.

“Fishy has a point, how don’t you know. You both were in the same fucking building”, she questions, her eyebrow quipped, frown present.

Wally figits away from it instantly, too bad that put him closer to Robin.

“Disregarding Zatanna’s tone, the question is valid. The UN building is huge, but that’s nothing with your speed…..How exactly did you and Aqualad get separated”, Tim questions, his head cocked back, domino mask furrowed.

Wally shuddered, they were all so close, so loud. Suddenly the five voices blended, suddenly he couldn’t tell who was talking. And who was angry.

“Did you get split up during the blackout”?

“Is that how you got injured”?

“What happened they’re not saying anything”?

“Dude you were with him right”?

“You were together right”?

“What happened”

Say something

“Kid Flash”

Is it his fault?

“Where is he”

Say something

“You didn’t leave him alone right”

Say something

“Kf”!

“Hey! Don’t you think the last thing he fucking needs is an ambush”, A unruly and angry voice grits out, and Wally nearly flinches at the sound of it.

That voice.

That fucking voice.

It’s distant and intimate all at once. Gruff in a boyish way, but if you really listen there are small aspects of it that are almost too gentle. It’s a voice Kid Flash used to talk to regularly, so familiar he swears he could pick it out in the loudest fucking lineup.

It’s also a voice he hadn’t heard in days, one he had trouble thinking about.

Artemis.

She saunters into the room as if she owns it. Takes her place near Wally as if she owns it. Then she turns her glare to others, daring them to say something back.

And Zatanna’s never been one to shy from a dare. “Sorry, weren’t you gone the entire SME mission? I don’t think you have enough room to say shit here”, she blustered.

Artemis doesn’t even blink, “I had another mission that was more pressing”.

Zatanna’s scoff could probably be heard from the cafeteria, “The world is under attack. I know your new to being a hero, but for the average person there’s nothing more pressing”.

Immediately Wally can see Spoiler’s reluctant nod, he can hear Tim’s scandalized reprimand. But Artemis and her temper have always been quicker. “As if I need hero tips, from the girl who left an injured group of civilians because her Daddy didn’t recognize her”.

Oh, serious low blow.

They all know what Zatanna’s dad meant to her.

Despite it not being in his best interest, Wally decides now is a good enough time to intervene, “Hey let’s all calm down, we don’t need to-

“Do you really want to get into daddy issues”, Zatanna spits,” Mine doesn’t give a fuck about me anymore but at least at one point he did”.

Okay, that blow was lower.

And Artemis is no longer gripping his wrist.

“Oh fuck off Ms.Magic”, she snarled, inching closer to Zatanna with each breath, ”He said he doesn’t know! So go find someone who does, or continue to waste time and get your ass kicked in the process”.

Zatanna scoffs, hands glowing and frown present, “ Kick my ass, please shadow scum I’m begging. Afterward, maybe then KF can explain how the hell he doesn’t know where Aqualad is. What they kick your ass hard enough to make you lose what little fucking brain cells you have”.

Fuck. Welp Wally’s done playing peacemaker.

He doesn’t even bother sending Zatanna an apologetic glance as he lets go of Artemis’s readied arm.

Both girls probably need an outlet for their anger anyways.

Unfortunately for all of them, Tim has had it up to here with their squabbling.

“Fighting each other isn’t an efficient use of our time”, he said, after he sends an electric bat wave in between the two teens. When it becomes clear to both angry girls that, he has no plans in stopping the electric barrier he turns to Zatanna and the others, “We should return to Gotham, help Nightwing and the others with clean up.”

And as always when Zatanna hears ‘Nightwing’ her glare softens just the slightest. She purses her lips but she does follow Spoiler, Tula, and Beastboy out of the room. Tim is the last to go, but unlike what Wally expects, Robin doesn’t send Kid Flash a questionable glance, this time he sends one to Artemis.

Wally doesn’t have it in him to try to figure out what the fuck that meant.

When Tim leaves, and his stupid bat wave dissipates, Wally finally lets out the breath he’s holding. It’s hard and stuffy. The kind that makes you gasp for the next one. And when Kid Flash does just that, Artemis doesn’t waste a second rushing to his side.

“Shit if your fucking injured why the hell were you running Kid Idiot”, she barked, half of her strength shouldering the redhead back to his bed. She didn’t mean to sound mad, but her earlier tiff with Zatanna wound her up more than cared to admit.

And maybe she is a little worried too.

“I’m fine”, Wally bites back, staggering back on his own footing. Artemis for once doesn’t fight him on this, she’s never known him to be a liar.

So she waits, thinking his labored breathing was a healing mechanism insted of a panic attack.

He had been shot right? Last time that took forever to heal.

And Wally, well…. Wally tries his hardest to pretend his labored breathing isn’t a panic attack.

He tries his hardest to not think of Tula’s face.

Or Kaldur

Or anything really.

And when he finally does get to a semblance of calm, he shines that stupid smile at his ex-girlfriend’s eyes and prays she can’t see the cracks in it. “ See I told you, I’m fine”.

Artemis has to fight her frown. She’s upset, she forgot how to breathe when she heard he had been injured. She’s been calling him ever since the Roy news broke out. She’s been worried about him since the second they broke up and…… he’s…… fine, he’s smiling.

That shouldn’t bother her as much as it did.

“Of course you are”, she bitterly mutters and for once Wally doesn’t reply.

She nearly huffs. She wishes he did have something to say. She wishes he showed he cared just a little. She wants to scream at him to care just a little.

But she doesn’t want to fight with him, she doesn’t want to yell at him. So she settles for teasing, hoping they can at least fall back into their usual banter, “So how exactly did you get shot, three times. Really living up to the fastest kid alive title”.

Wally frowns, he doesn’t see her idle attempt as banter. He doesn’t even hear it as teasing.

For him, its an echo of the same stupid thoughts he had been trying to avoid.

How could he be such a letdown?

How could he be such a disappointment?

“Deadshot. You know one of the best snipers in the world, unfortunately for me he does live up to his title,” he mutters, his answer short and clipped. He’d rather this conversation be over.

Artemis smirked, he was so easy to annoy, “Someone’s snippy”.

“And someone’s annoying.”, He snapped, before taking a deep breath and sending her an exasperated glance, “Look if you’re trying to interrogate me for Rob or something…your at a dead end. It’s like you told the others, questioning me is just wasting your time”.

Artemis’s response is almost speedster quick, “I’m not interrogating you”, she scoffed.

Yes, scoffed.

Because that’s absurd.

Crazy even.

Why would she ever interrogate him?

Why would she ever not trust him.

He must be joking.

He has to be joking.

“Then what is this”, Wally huffed, finally flopping down on his bed with a groan.

And Artemis just blinks.

He’s not…joking.

He’s actually angry.

She doesn’t understand why he’s angry.

She could’ve said worse, she has said worse. She wasn’t even serious, he has to know she wasn’t serious. He always knows when she’s not being serious. Sure they’re broken up… But that doesn’t change anything right? It doesn’t change what he knows about her.

It doesn’t change how she feels about him.

So why is he mad?

After a little teasing.

Just what’s his problem?

She huffs, “Why-

“If you’re not here to interrogate me why exactly are you here Artemis”, he interrupts, a frown etched on his face as he flatly glances back at her.

Huh?

Why is she here?

Is he seriously asking her that?

When she doesn’t immediately respond, Wally only continues as if he hadn’t said the most ridiculous thing in the world. “I mean you stopped everyone from yelling at me for what? So you could do it yourself. Look I have other things on my mind than fighting with you. So just…. leave me alone. Can you do that, please”

A batch of silence sits in the air.

Artemis doesn’t say anything. She can’t.

She can’t tell him that the last thing she wanted was to fight with him.

She can’t tell him she misses him so fucking much, and when Barry called her she nearly ran over here.

She can’t tell him, how she fucking cried a river when she made it to the medbay and he was gone.

She can’t because he so clearly wouldn’t care. And for whatever strange reason she doesn’t want him to know she still does.

So she bites back all of it, struggles to glare back at him, and said the last thing she should say, “Roy’s funeral is Saturday, just wanted to make sure we didn’t need to make it a double.”

Wally pauses, his vision fogging almost immediately. With everything, he had forgotten.

Because of everything, he had forgotten.

How could he have forgotten?

Roy.

He inhales, hard. Roy’s gone. He’s gone.

Artemis feels bad the seconds the words leave her mouth, she knows what Roy meant to him. She knows he doesn’t deserve that, “That was..stupid. I’m-

“Get out”, Wally murmurs. Not even giving her a second to say more.

She tries to grab his hand, “Wha- No Wally I didn’t-

“Get Out”! He yells, speed pushing her as hard he could out of the room and closing the door not a second later.

Instantly Artemis tries to open it. When she finds it locked, she bangs on it, hard. “ I didn’t mean it”, she shouts, but he won’t hear nothing of it. He just breathes harder and harder as she loudly bangs on his door.

Kaldur’s gone.

Roy’s gone.

Was that his fault too?

He hits the door back and screeches at Artemis to leave. But she mimics his knock and begs him to let her back in. It’s almost comical how similar they can be without seeing each other.

Wally slumped over thinking of how much he fucked up.

Artemis crouched in thinking of how much she fucked up.

Both of them fisting their suits with bloody knuckles, pushing back their tears, thinking of Roy.

And as they both sink down to the floor, tears heavy and hair askew. Damn near mirror images of each other, one of them whispers, “I’m sorry”.

Chapter Text

Anger.      

That is the most prevalent emotion swirling in Batman’s mind. 

It was the most pressing emotion in Bruce’s head.

Last Night the UN was attacked, hundreds died, and millions are mourning.

Mammoth was involved, which meant the Red Hood may be involved. 

Sure Jason was in Hub City at the time. But that doesn’t matter. 

That doesn’t mean anything. 

Especially when Hub City is a mess of broken bones and dead bodies.

Especially when Tim can’t find one hint as to what Jason was doing there in the first place.

And Tim, poor Tim. Bruce hadn’t meant to yell at him, but he needed the kid to understand. He didn’t need to know everything, he doesn’t need to see Wally. He doesn’t need to know about Kaldur. He shouldn’t even be asking Bruce why he let Dick back out in the field.

Why was he always questioning him? Always talking back. Always wondering why and comparing himself Dick? Doesn’t he know the trouble he could get into? Doesn’t he understand how dangerous it was to go- wait

Tim isn’t…him. 

He isn’t Jason.

Bruce knows that. He does.

But for a second when Tim yelled back, when he told him he was hurting Dick more than helping him, when he furrowed his brows and glared his big blue eyes….for a second Bruce saw Jason. He saw him, he heard him, and he missed him.

God, he hated how much he missed Jason.

Yeah, he shouldn’t have yelled at Tim.

Sure he’s upset. He’s mad, enraged, irritated as fuck.

He’s angry as hell….but he shouldn’t have shown that.

Anger is a secondary emotion. It’s a cover to hide even more pressing issues. 

If he shows it again then it will all be out in the open. Every despair, every distrust, every second he second-guessed himself.

Everything regarding Bruce the man will be out in the open.

And that’s the last thing Batman needs. 

So he sits, steadies his heart rate, puts a mask over his mask, and listens as the longest meeting-turned-argument continues. 

Ugh, god.

They were nearly pushing two hours.

Wait..no.

Batman infiltrated Blackgate at 4:10 am, and put 341 inmates back in their cages by 4:37. He got to Arkham by 5, argued with Dick at 5:23. Rescued Kid Flash at 5:37 am. Stopped the bleeding in his calf by 5:40. Bound his own ribs at 5:43. Got the Kid to the med lab by 5:58. Assisted in the bullet removal at 6. Watched as Jonn mind scanned Kid Flash by 6:09. Made sure Dick was still in Gotham by 6:12. Was briefed by Jonn at 6:20. Argued with Tim at 6:32. And called this meeting at 6:37.

It was nearly 9 am. They had pushed two hours.

Granted he understood, everything was a mess. There was too much confusion, too many variables, too many personalities, and too many emotions for this not to be a long meeting.

About 10 percent of the League were hospitalized and unable to make it. But the many who were, well they’re unhappy, bruised, tired and so very confused. 

So of course, they murmured. Of course, they compared. 

And of fucking course they complained. 

Why did so and so have fewer injuries?

Why was blank and blank sent to this city?

How many lives did they save?

How many could they have saved?

And how, how could they let this happen?

Now these questions weren’t exactly said nicely. They were thrown around with accusations fueled by jealousy, protests fueled by hierarchy, and anger fueled by disbelief.

And all of it was…. warranted. 

Every question, every angry remark, every complaint was understandable. 

Truth be told Bruce himself had the very same questions ringing through his head. 

Because whose fault was this?

Who is to blame?

And where the hell do they go from here?

This is why Batman let it continue, why he observed and categorized the disagreements as high-priority inquiry cases and low ones. Why he tried his best to tune out the unnecessary shouting.

But, Batman has never been one to tolerate squabbling. 

BAMM 

And apparently, neither was Wonderwoman.

”Enough of this!! Placing the blame on one another is not helping. We’ve spent the past two hours accounting for each other’s whereabouts, arguing over if we could do more. None of this is changing the situation” she growled, scanning the area as her red bruised hand jutted itself out of the metal table.

If this were a normal team meeting this would be the part where everyone agrees, bows their head, and puts on some sense of maturity. 

If this were a normal team meeting this would be the part where everyone would begin brainstorming solutions instead of reflections.

But……. When has the Justice League ever been normal?

Aquaman is the first to react. He growls right back at Wonderwoman, his anger as piercing as his glare. 

“The situation?! Think we’re beyond a fucking situation”, he seethes,” I was vouching for you all!! Telling my council that the surface isn’t to blame for the SME. A second one goes off and Atlantis is attacked. The moment I send some of my best sorcerers to help with your stupid cleanup, we’re attacked! Then I sent my ward to your goddamn meeting which was also fucking attacked. Do you know how that makes me look!!”

Each sentence is snarled out harsher than the next, and with each word Arthur takes a step.

He is but an inch away from Diana by the end.

Instantly Superman steps in between the two, and places a gentle hand on the royal Atlantean’s shoulder, “Aquaman, I can understand your anger-

“No! No the fuck you don’t! You can’t!”, Aquaman bellowed, angrily swatting Clark’s hand away. “Atlantis lost nearly one thousand of its people yesterday! Five of our top Generals died. Only one Kryptonian got fucking hurt, and my best guess is you ain’t even visited the kid”.

Superman grimaces. He knows this looks bad.

“Konner is-

“Right kid’s a clone, so he ain’t a person”, Aquaman declared, rolling his eyes as the words left his mouth. “You’re a fucking moral joke and I don’t have time for it. I came to your stupid meeting hoping for answers but all you fuckshits have to say is sorry. How the hell was everyone so busy yesterday!”

He finishes with a large almost primal growl, glaring at any and every face he catches. He’s mad, that much is certain. 

But shit, who could blame him. His people, his home. 

And where was his team? Where were his friends?

Unlike the others who faltered or guilty glanced at the floor, Wonderwoman caught his glare head-on and glared back, “Do you actually think we would blatantly ignore your people?”

“You blatantly ignore yours”, Aquaman sneered.

And almost immediately Diana fumes. She was fucking banished from Themiscyra. She is not to set foot back home no matter the circumstances. She couldn’t even walk Black Canary in when Roy died, Wondergirl had to. She has missed every celebration, every birth, every mourning. She is not ignoring them. There is nothing she wishes for more than to be able to be with her mother and sisters. 

How dare he. How fucking dare he.

Instinctively her fist tightens and her brows furrowed.

“Diana don't- '' Superman starts, but either he is still reeling from all the blackout fights or he’s still peeved about Aquaman’s comment because before anyone can blink Diana has a sword to Aquaman's throat while he has a triton pointed towards hers.

The tension that hits the air is impossibly thick. 

Neither Wonder Woman nor Aquaman move. Their faces poised, hands steady, feet planted. Both of their eyes fixed in a haughty stare, daring for the other to make another flighty comment. 

Thankfully Flash runs over before that can happen.

“Look we’re all a little heated, but fighting each other isn’t going to help” Barry starts, as he  speed-moves the two weapons away from his teammate’s necks. Diana and Arthur let him, but they won’t stop glaring at each other for a second. 

And they don’t exactly put their weapons down.

Sensing Flash may need some help, Hal puts a glowing green barrier between Wonderwoman and Aquaman. It splits the entire room in half and causes the two supers to glare his way instead. That of course only makes the womanizing lantern grin, “I think I speak for everybody when I say I only wanna see Wonderbabe fighting if there’s mud and another chick involved” he happily exclaims.

It’s a poor joke. A bad joke even, but it does lighten the mood a little. 

It does gain a few chuckles and causes others to make their own stupid sexist jokes.

It even sparks a little conversation about mud fights and misogyny.

And it’s enough of a distraction for Diana to fix her anger on Hal instead. 

So it’s a win….kinda.

Well, not really for Flash.

With Wonderwoman now turned away, Barry can truly focus all his attention on Arthur. As he gripped Aquaman's biceps and basically dragged the man away from Diana, he could see the fatigue and grief on the man’s face. He could see the anger still swirling in his eyes, mixing with the hurt, the disbelief.

His home. His people.

And that’s not even the worst of it.

Flash doesn’t want to be the one to tell Aquaman. He really doesn’t.

But Arthur deserves to know.

Arthur should’ve known before this stupid meeting even started, but for whatever reason he doesn’t.

And Bruce was …..preoccupied apparently, he hadn’t looked up from the damn tablet. Not even when Diana and Arthur were about to fight. Jonn has as much tact as a pole, Flash couldn’t see that conversation going well. Wally was resting, and Barry will not put his kid through that.

And no one else knew.

So it has to be him.

Doesn’t it?

“Look, Aquaman…. I really need to speak with you in private if possible”, Flash starts, his whisper a purposeful quiet.

But even at its low tone, even with the loud and boisterous environment, the words still ring in some super ears before they even touch Aquamans. 

Which is why Sergent Steel replied before Arthur even parted his lips, “Keeping more secrets Flash, typical. Don’t you think you’re the last one who should be withholding information”, he boomed, loud enough to gain the attention of nearly half the hall.

Loud enough to make everyone’s eyes focus in on Barry.

Well isn’t that fantastic? As if the Flash needed another reason to get everyone suspicious of him.

He winces, the apology already on his tongue, “I wasn’t - I just- look I’m not trying to fight with anyone-”.

“Just trying to speak to Fishboy in private right? Hey correct me if wrong but to make an SME don’t you need some kind of rock that’s only in Atlantis”, Hawk intervenes, his mouth set in a firm frown.

If it isn’t obvious he was also on the i-hate Flash tour. 

The SME badly fucked up his hometown. He wanted at least to fuck up Flash’s mood.

Unfortunately for him, the comment causes Aquaman to bristle more so than Barry, “Excuse you. Would you care to repeat that”, Arthur demands, his voice at his highest octave. 

The very tip of outrage.

As if he wasn’t already angry enough.

Barry tries to play peacemaker. Hell, Hawks’ own brother Dove tries to play peacemaker. 

But Aquaman has never been one to simmer down quickly, and Hawk has never been one to back down from a challenge.

In fact, Hawk has always been the one to revel in challenges. And this one was no different.

He basically stomped over to Aquaman, his irritation apparent as well as his lack of control. With each step Hawk took to the proud king, the ground shook just the slightest.

And to make matters worse, Hawk waited. 

He waited, until he is completely in Aquamans face, completely in uppercut range and then he spits out “Don’t think I fucking stuttered fish for brains. The SME was in his city, one of the resources to make it is in yours, and now you two are scheduling secret chats. I have reservations about that”. He sneers, and almost immediately Dove tries to kindly reword his brother’s terrible insult, but the damage is already done.

The room erupts into anxious murmurs, judgemental whispers, and leery glares.

And this time they’re not just at Flash, they’re at Aquaman too.

Superman immediately saunters over, and breaks in between Hawk and Aquaman before either can throw a punch. He gives each of the hot heads his best ‘not now’ stare but neither pays him any attention. It takes a few kind words and a lot of heavy pushing but eventually, he does get Hawk to move back toward his brother.

For a second it looked like Arthur was about to follow them, his anger still high, but then Booster Gold said something snide about Atlanteans.

And Aquaman’s anger suddenly has a new victim.

It’s at this moment Jonn decides to take center stage, “Regardless of your feelings of Flash or Aquaman, the focus of this meeting should be on the state of Earth. Atlantis wasn’t the only place attacked yesterday. There was mass destruction everywhere. Villains escaped from nearly every high-tech prison we couldn’t get to in time. Of course, we all tried our best-”

“Did we?” Sergeant Steel mutters, his gaze steadily on Flash as he spits out the words. 

Barry didn’t have it in him to reply. Ever since the first blackout a few League members had been on his case. He can’t really blame them, the fact of the matter is he should know more. Central was his city, he ran across it too many times. He saved it too many times. He fucking lives there. 

Sure he’s been preoccupied, trying to balance his relationships, his new job, and hero work is hard but…how did he miss this.  

In his mind, Sergeant Steel has every right to question him.

And every right to be angry at him.

Hal evidently doesn’t share this sentiment.

“You got a problem, Sergent Tightass”, Green Lantern jeered. His ring flaring as his grin grew, and the green barrier that had once split the room in half disappeared. An inappropriate neon green image is flashed for a second in the air, but it disappears almost speedster quick as well. 

Still, Barry definitely saw it. 

And judging from Superman’s dad’s frown, Fire’s small gasp, Vixen’s grimace, and a few extra chuckles …. Everyone else did too

But Sergeant Steel, always one for posterity and maturity, ignores it.

Which in all honestly is not really that surprising.

Sergent Steel has always hated Hal. Hell, he goes out of his way to avoid Hal. The only reason they’re breathing the same air is simply because Batman called a meeting, and even then the proud military sergeant made sure they sat far, far, far away from each other.

So of course he ignores the crude message, of course, he doesn’t pay Hal a lick of attention. 

And of course, he directs his next words to the rest of the hall instead, “I can’t be the only one wondering what exactly the fastest man alive was doing. The SME went off in his city and I have yet to hear his status or activity” he argued.

And once again the peanut gallery erupts. Whispers and glares, the usual. But its growing size is a bit alarming.

So Barry tries to remediate, calm it down just the slightest.

But before he could loudly announce he was fighting along with Huntress and Vibe in Star City, Hal never one to be ignored, happily declared, “First of all Captain Funsuck, the first SME  went off in Central, the second one went off in Blue Valley. And last time I checked that aint Flash’s city. You would think Mr. By the Book would check the mission reports”, he quips, his smile stretched and lazy.

And Barry actually almost mimics it as the whispers die, and a few apologetic glances are given. 

But it all falters, as Shazam muses, “Isn’t Blue Valley like a bus ride away from Central”. 

It’s said carelessly, an accidental connection that formed in the boy’s mind. He didn’t even mean to say it out loud, but it gets Sergent Steel to smile, Hal to frown, and Hawk to start ranting again.

“Yeah and ain’t there a river in Blue Valley that empties right into Fish Boy’s territory”, Hawk happily mutters, because, of course, he couldn’t just not add to the chaos.

This time Barry doesn’t even bother hiding his wince, it’s a bad coincidence. The worst coincidence actually and it’s not even a millisecond before everyone is murmuring once more.

The whispers don’t last long, the loud slam of a triton silences them.

“Enough! I grow tired of your petty conversations. Blame me, blame Atlantis, fine! But do so without our help. As of now, Atlantis is disconnected from all surface issues. I’ve sent Tula and the others home. Soon as he’s greenlit for medical safety Kaldur’ahm and I will join them. Whatever this SME issue is, solve it yourself” Aquaman bellows as he fixes his triton upright and tries to peel Flash’s arm off of him.

“Aquaman please, now is not the time for us to divide. We should be working together.”, Flash begs. His hold tightened beyond his own strength, his eyes frantically searching for Batman’s. But the brooding man is still punching in on his tablet, ignoring the rest of them completely. 

And Barry nearly groans at the sight. He wonders what the hell is wrong with Bruce. What is he doing? Why hasn’t he told Arthur yet?

To Arthur, Flash’s rant just looked like one person pleading for help. It looks like a friend asking for aid.

Under different circumstances, it would’ve been enough to calm the Atlantean king down.

This time though Aquaman just scoffs, “Where was this mantra of working together when I was sending distress signals!” he spat, angrily whipping his arm free once more.

Barry lets him. The fact is Aquaman is right, they should’ve done better. They failed Aquaman.

Barry knows this. Jonn knows this. Batman knows this

But Superman, the League, they just couldn’t acknowledge it. They don’t know how much they have all fucked up. 

Not yet at least.

“That’s not fair”, Clark murmurs, turning his gaze completely to Arthur “Jonn tried to send any members available, not everyone can breathe underwater without technology and Atlantis was not the only place attacked. If we could’ve sent more people, we would’ve”, Superman argues, but to Arthur, the words feel more like excuses than facts.

They sent ten heroes. The Justice League has 120.

So Arthur scoffs once more and follows Superman’s argument with a bitter chuckle. “Yes, I’m sure you all tried your best” he taunted, rolling his eyes as he took in their faces.

“We don’t need to lie to you”, Fire grumbled, tired and over this never-ending dispute.

She said it softly, more so for her boyfriend Vigilante’s ears than Aquaman’s. 

It’s really nothing but bad fucking karma that Arthur heard her.

“And I don’t need to listen to any of you!” Aquaman growls, done with dispute as well. He then turns to Batman, the shadow leader of them all, “Bring me Aqualad, he can heal in Atlantis. We’ve got better doctors anyways”. He finishes with a huff, his arrogance now showing much more than his anger. 

It would’ve gained a laugh from Barry in a regular meeting. But given what Arthur asked, given what Flash knows, it only makes the situation much more somber.

And Batman… finally looks up. He finally rejoins reality and replays Aquaman's words. 

Bring him Kaldur? Why was he asking him that? Mira? She didn’t?  Didn’t Jonn?…. Didn’t Barry? 

Didn’t anyone tell Aquaman? Batman glances at Barry, the sad sick look on his face and the lack of eye contact said enough. 

Oh, he was supposed to tell him then.

Bruce should’ve known they’d expect him to tell Arthur. 

He is the most calm, the least emotional. He’s done this before. 

He should’ve told Arthur. 

But with arguing with Dick, Fighting in Bloodgate,  thinking of Jason, finding Kid Flash, arguing with Tim, monitoring the Gotham team, listening to everyone else, and filing reports….he just expected them to do it instead.

Why should he have to do it?

Why does he have to do it?

Seconds pass and Bruce still hasn’t said anything. Only Barry understands the silence. 

“Are you hard of hearing bring me my ward”, Aquaman yells, and fumes seconds later as he is met with silence once again. He looks upset, like he may throw his triton any second now. So Jonn never one to waste time intervenes.

“Batman, perhaps now would be the best time to brief the League”, The Martian mutters. 

And immediately everyone’s side convos, murmurs, and whispers cease. The envy and finger-pointing stop. Confusion fills the room, fear is behind it.

Brief them?

Why?

What had they missed?

What had happened?

The silence that envelops the room is painful, eerie. It’s the kind of silence that sits with the unknown, the silence that makes you squirm with uncertainty. 

So why doesn’t Batman want to break it? 

He starts with a sigh,“……Three hundred and eighty-six world leaders were attacked at the UN meeting,” Bruce mutters, his voice almost mechanical with his delivery.

Aquaman couldn’t even stop his eye roll if he tried, “Read about it already and I think it takes second to the thousands of Atlanteans attacked so again bring me Kaldur’ahm so that we may leave and you may continue your pointless meeting”, he demands.

But if Batman heard him, he doesn’t show it. He simply continues as if Aquaman hadn’t interrupted,  “One hundred and fifty-one were injured”.

“Assholes, don’t ignore me! And don’t spit these numbers at me. If you want to brief them, fine but leave me out of it. I don’t care about the UN right now! I don’t care about Humans right now!  I can’t. Don’t you understand just how much Atlantis has lost!!” Aquaman screeched, now fully grasping the front of Batman’s suit. He’s strong enough to wisp Bruce off of the ground, but not quick enough to stop Black Canary from intervening. 

In less than a second nearly everyone is holding their ears, some even crouched down. 

Aquaman, one of the few still standing, shakes his now throbbing head. He tries to glare down at the women but finds he can’t. 

Because the second he looks at her, the second he takes in Canary’s tired eyes, and her solemn frown, he remembers she understands loss. She understands it more than any of them.

Less than a week ago, Oliver and Dinah lost everything. 

She lost everything and she still came to Atlantis’ aid. She’s lost everything and she is still here.

Out of everyone, she has earned his respect. 

So Arthur lets go of the Bat, sighs, and turns solely to her. “ I understand the situation is grave, but I can not listen to this anymore. I have duties to complete at home, I have seen many of my people perish today. I need to see how bad Kaldur’ahm’s injuries are. I need to speak with him. Surely you all can understand that”.

Black Canary said nothing, she doesn’t understand it. Or at least she doesn’t want to. Their kid- Oliver’s….Roy is gone and she still showed up, she still fought. God, they haven’t even had his funeral yet.

Why does Aquaman get to bow out? Doesn’t he know fightings the only way to stop thinking about it? Has he figured out how to stop thinking about it?

Barry exhales, he understands Aquaman's words fully and wishes more than everything he didn’t.

It was scary, it was so scary when he heard Kid Flash was injured. When he saw Wally unconscious with medical all around.

It nearly broke him just to see what had happened.

He can’t imagine not knowing.

So he bites his lip, ponders his words, and tries to sugarcoat the truth to Aquaman. But he must’ve waited too long, he must have taken too much time. 

Bruce doesn’t bother sugarcoating.

“Aqualad’s whereabouts are currently unknown, a substantial amount of his blood was found at the UN massacre, his person however was not”, Batman explained. His voice was monotone, steady, and calm. Normal of Batman if you knew him. 

In another time it would be comforting, safe.

But this time it does nothing to stop the gasp, the trembles, and the echo of questions that fill the hall.

What?

Kaldur is missing. 

When?

They had just seen him, hours before.

How?

He’s just a kid.

The whispers and murmurs continue. The few league members that knew Aqualad, tried hard to erase the words scribbled in their heads. They tried even harder to erase the scenarios playing in their head.

A hero goes missing, expect the worst.

Why did this have to happen?

How could they have let this happen?

Canary’s eyes go wide, her mouth slightly open, hands awkwardly stuck in the middle of the air. She looks like a flighty bird ready to take off. 

Not again. Not again.

Vixen’s eyes are closed, her mouth murmuring a small prayer. Fire and Shazam join her. 

Superman’s eyes are set. He is upset, he is sad. He has so many questions and so many concerns.

But none of their reactions, none of their eyes could ever be as heartbreaking, as torn as his.

Aquaman. The proud, stern, regal man he is…. staggers. He pauses and stumbles back, clumsily letting go of Flash’s arm to grasp air at his side. 

What did Batman say?

Something must be wrong with his ears. He must be getting sick.

Yeah, that had to be it. 

His heart has never been this loud, his body never this hot, his lungs never this weak. 

He heard wrong. 

He had to.

Stuck in his disbelief Aquaman lets out a rushed breath, one full of confusion and a cold anger. “...What”.

He must’ve heard wrong. 

He had to have heard wrong.

In an attempt to either ground himself or Aquaman, Barry reaches out for the man once more.“Arthur, I know this looks bad. But Kid said that Deadshot was capturing people. The fact that we haven’t found a body is a good thing”, he tries, but it falls on a closed mind and angry heart.

A good thing!? A fucking good thing!?

Aquaman couldn’t stop himself from shoving Flash. The speedster’s body hurling into the other side of the room, tables, and chairs scattered with him. Aquaman didn’t even try to hold back as he jumped over to the wreckage. His triton ready.

“Whoaaa calm down Your Highness”, Hal quips, his body in front of Barry that second, his ring pointed at Arthur. 

Aquaman growls, “Remove your barrier before I remove your head”.

He shoves a bit at the glowing green force around him, and water bubbles throughout the room.

A good thing? A fucking good thing?!

“Arthur please let’s just talk-” Superman tries, but Aquaman won’t hear it.

“No! No!! We’ve been talking for hours. I could’ve been looking for him but instead, I was listening to you all for hours!! What villains were involved I will interrogate them myself”, he all but seethed. 

And as if she was summoned by his very voice, Oracle the Justice League AI  instantly pulls up the holo-files of the UN attack. Basic reports are shown along with the profile of three villains.

“Wheewww”, Vigilante whistles, “Mammoth and Firefly are trouble enough but Deadshot. No wonder there were so many casualties”.

Accidental tone deaf, the cowboy never really did think before he spoke. He doesn’t even realize he said anything too terrible until Fire elbows him. He didn’t mean it, not like that. 

But that doesn’t matter. The damage is done.

The water bubbles shake. Aquaman’s fist is clenched red.  His glare still on Flash.

How could they have let this happen?

“Computer get me their locations”, Aquaman orders, his voice cracking just the slightest. 

Kaldur’s fine. He has to be fine. 

Please be fine.

The computer is fast, not even a millisecond had passed before the loading stopped and a statement was presented in bright red. 

‘Unable to find current locations’.

“Then tell me where they last were!” Aquaman screeched, pushing at the barrier that had now turned into a cage a bit more. And with each hit, he yells at the computer just a bit louder.

Where are they?

Where is Kaldur?

What happened?

When the computer is still loading, still silent, Arthur forgoes using his fist and grabs his triton. 

Hals barrier didn’t stand a chance. It erupts in a bright light, shattering with the force. Most of the league have to blink their eyes for a second, just to be able to see again. 

And when their vision cleared, all of them wished…it didn’t.  

There on the floor near the computer stood Aquaman. Angry, abrasive, defeated Aquaman. 

A mission report is on the screen,  pictures of burned corpses, and an analysis of bodies surrounding it. 

There’s a small section on Kaldur. It was only accompanied by two pictures, his hero ID, and a blood-splattered wall. 

The paragraph underneath is gruesome, but the endnote was the worst.

 ‘probability of survival 12%.’

Arthurs’s anger rose the second he read it. But so did his fear.

And no one moves, no one said anything.

No one …except Batman. For he is probably the only person in the room, who gets it. The only one who truly understands. 

He walks in silent strides, avoids the bubbles of water as if they were nothing, and calmly places a hand over Aquaman. “Oracle won’t be able to assist in locating them.  Mammoth and Firefly escaped. Deadshot was captured by Cadmus’s Suicide Squad”.

Aquaman doesn’t reply, his mind still echoing. His head still reeling. 

This is all wrong. Batmans wrong. The Computers is wrong.

“We need to find them, avenge him. Kaldur deserves that much ”, Wonderwoman announces. Her early anger was now spacious and solemn. She and Aquaman had never been friends, they were rarely even friendly. She barely knew Aqualad, but she knew what this meant. 

She hated what this meant. 

Aquaman holds his breath in disbelief, the bubbles shake harder. 

Help him? Find him? Avenge him?

How could this have happened?

Vigilate whistles again, a terrible idea springing from his mouth before anyone could stop him. “We could get ole Deadshot from Cadmus, interrogate the stupid fool”,

Superman sighs, “We can not just storm in-

He starts but pauses as he watches Aquaman stomp to the door. Arthur said nothing but the message is clear. 

Can’t storm in?

Just fucking watch him!

Flash runs over to him just as his hand reaches the doorknob, “Arthur don’t! You are a representative of Atlantis. You’re the representative. You can’t do that. Regardless of any of our feelings, Cadmus is a high-level maximum-security government program. To storm in is to declare war”.

He keeps a firm hand on Arthurs’s shoulder, his voice is unmistakably gentle.

He is begging, pleading for his friend to understand. To stay. 

And for the first time since this stupid meeting started Aquaman’s glare softens, the bubbles fall, his anger drops, and an empty, hollow emotion is left.

“Can’t declare something that’s already been said”, Arthur mutters. He then swings the door open and strides out of the room, leaving everything and nothing.

Chapter Text

“Ummmmm…shouldn’t we go after him”, Dove nervously pleads, motioning his body slightly to the door. He was never one for violence, especially between his teammates. Especially between his friends.

But no one in the hall moves. No one tries to go after the great King. 

Everyone is too busy fidgeting in their seats, replaying the last few hours. Some of them bite their tongues remorsefully, they wish they could've done more during the blackout. Others furrow their brows, suspicious and annoyed; they don’t understand why everyone wasn’t doing more during the blackout.

Atlantis was attacked. The world was attacked. 

Kaldur is missing, probably dead. 

And whose fault was it? Who’s to blame?

Who tried their best and who just didn’t care enough?

These questions only fueled the back and forth and the shifty eyes, all the best ingredients to the blame game.

And they weren’t even the worst question, the big question.

Because whose fault was it, doesn’t matter nearly as much as whose fault will it be.

The main question, the big question….. is the present question.

The question Dove just asked. The question no one knew the answer to.

Should they stop Aquaman? Should they help him?

The murmurs and the whispers divide them too quick for words.

And as everyone stills weighs the crisis, and silently argues their defense, Bruce discreetly watches the security cam on his wrist. 

Because if there is one thing Batman is… it’s cautious. 

So he watches, as Aquaman angrily stomps into the common room. His curly hair swaying as he takes long, reluctant strides. He watches as Arthur’s irritated glare shifts for a moment, shocked to see his wife Mira sitting there, waiting for him. He watches as Mira rushes to embrace the angry king, her voice soft but sad. And finally, he watches as the royal king tries to fight the hug, tries to keep his anger, and loses.

He doesn’t wait to see if Arthur begins to cry.

Instead, Batman breaks the arguments by walking center stage, his presence more than enough to silence the masses.  “I’ve already contacted Mira, she’s waiting outside to accompany Aquaman home. We don’t need to stop Aquaman, Atlantis will not attack”, he declares, hoping his word would be enough. 

It wasn’t.

“Really? You sure? Don’t ya think Queeny will see Fishboy’s point of view and water spell us to oblivion? Isn’t she like the kid’s mom or whatever”, Hawk grumbles back. 

His obvious dislike of Aquaman was apparent, but his worries aren’t exactly biased.

It’s an honest concern, one not only he has.

How would Mira react, how would Atlantis react…. to Aqualad being missing? 

To Kaldur being gone.

The hall erupts into more whispers, the flare of distrust growing. 

Batman growls, he doesn’t have time for this. “Mira is already aware of the situation. And she is quite capable of isolating her feelings, more so than Arthur. In terms of war, an Atlantean attack is the furthest issue to evaluate. We need to discuss the UN attack”.

This time Batman doesn’t bother hoping, he knows his word is not enough. 

The murmuring restarts, everyone arguing their points and whispering their fears.  Well, almost everyone, Vigilante never one to shy from speaking out decides to address Batman head-on.

“The UN attack? You mean the shit Aquaman’s going to kill us for. I mean seriously Bats I don’t think the Ole fish was joking around. Sounds like we ‘bout to have ourselves a good ole shoot-out. Hope ya’ll got enough bullets”, he guffed, dramatically whipping out his guns and aiming both of them toward the sky.

Again, Vigilante rarely thinks before he speaks, so most of his jokes are pretty crude. And while the comedic gesture does gather a chuckle from some members, the seriousness and probability of his words do pierce most. 

Aquaman. What is he willing to do? What are the Atlanteans willing to do? 

How could they care about the UN right now.

How could they think about any else right now .

“As much as I hate to say it, the Cowboy’s right. Aquaman’s anger and abrasiveness are well documented. We should come up with an action plan in case he attacks” the Atom argued, enlarging himself a bit as if that made his voice a little louder. 

As if that made his idea any better.

Prepare for attack, from their comrade?

From their friend?

How could any of them agree with that?

Why were some of them agreeing with that?

“An action plan”, Wonderwoman scoffed, “There is nothing to plan. We should be helping him, they killed one of our members. To leave that unaddressed is to shame to ourselves and Aqualad” she asserts. In front of her, some fellow members nod, and behind her others frown. 

Aqualad’s death, Aquaman’s anguish.

They can’t ignore it. 

But they can’t exactly storm into a government building. 

They can’t free a fugitive just so they can question him themselves.

They can’t override every rule they’ve ever had, just for petty revenge.

Right?

“Okay, everyone. I know we’re all a little heated and tired. But we have to look at the big picture. We release Deadshot and everything the Justice League stands for, everything we are, would be a lie” Superman declares, softly keeping his voice poignant yet firm.

It’s his leader voice. One people like to hear, one they love to follow. 

Usually, it would be enough.

But instead of complacent silence, his words only seemed to increase the worries and his voice only added to the noise. In an effort to stabilize the meeting and himself, Clark sends a pleading look Bruce’s way. 

But the Bat ignores him, and Superman has to mutter to himself as he breaks up another yell match between two members. Flash and Green Lantern have to help him when it starts to involve two others, and even then Batman doesn’t bother intervening. 

“I fear the time wasted could be used better” Jonn mumbles as he quickly materializes next to the brooding man.

Batman isn’t fazed, simply giving the Martian a side glance. “ My time is always used efficiently, if they want to argue fine. I’m not talking over thirty voices nor am I going to repeat myself. I don’t need them for the investigation anyways” Bruce grunts, once again paying little attention to the chaos around him as he scrolls through more files. 

And really who could blame him for that? All this unnecessary fighting. 

All of this back and forth. 

When there were so many problems. So many variables. 

So much unanswered. 

He didn’t have time for this.

“You’ve been investigating by yourself for the past two hours, have you reached any leads”, Jonn quips. His voice was steady but sarcastic.

He didn’t need to look at the files to know the answer.

But before Bruce could usher out his most unimpressed glare, a red blur swings by, causing papers to fly and more than enough supers to roll their eyes. 

 “I don’t know about the rest of you but I kinda think we shouldn’t be wasting time. Correct me if I’m wrong but we’ve definitely been taking some L’s. An SME, multiple organized attacks, jailbreaks… the League of Villians is really stepping the fuck up. I say we set up the little meeting and see what Deadshot knows. He can stay at Cadmus so no kidnapping, but we still get info”, Red Tornado exclaims, sheepishly smiling as his movement yet again causes a heroine’s skirt to fly up. 

Menagerie one of his many skirt victims, bristles. “Incase your brain is as scrambled as your room, breaking into a government building is still illegal hero . Regardless if we leave him there or not”, she argues, because of course the she-devil couldn’t help but point out the obvious. 

And of course, Red Tornado couldn’t not tease her back. “ My brain is fine Mena, but I’m not sure if yours is. I mean seriously red panties with gunshot grey, can we say fashion disaster”, he quips, just barely being able to zip past her as she once again swipes her claws in his direction. He then unceremoniously sticks out his tongue and blows her a great big kiss. 

Big as in it blew back the entire hall. 

Fortunately, most of the supers braced themselves before the windy hit, they were used to Tornado’s antics. 

Unfortunately, Menagerie wasn’t, the minute the wind hit her she flew to the other side of the room, crashing into steel tables, plated chairs, and even a few other supers. 

To her credit, she barely winced as she kicked a table off of her body and popped her shoulder back into place. “Thats it, your fucking dead”, she screeched bracing herself for a run. 

It was only at this moment Batman decided to glance up from his tablet.

Because as much as he hates to admit it, Jonn did have a point. 

So before Tornado could make it worse, before Superman could intervene, before Jonn could make another snarky quip, Batman quietly waltzed next to Menagerie and addressed the room. “We shouldn’t be fighting each other, not when a new enemy is preparing themselves ”he mutters. 

And finally, everything stops. Everyone stops. 

The stream of anger, regret, and bitterness is finally dry. 

The air of confusion, the need to know is the best silencer. 

New Enemy? What is he talking about?

It’s the League of Villians.

Right?

Jonn groans, he can literally feel the tension and anxiety pouring from each mind. It’s…less than comfortable.

He hopes Batman will alleviate it, or at least elaborate. But as time ticks and the silence builds, he realizes that was wishful thinking. So he sighs, and takes his turn to address the League, “Based on the gathered intel the League of Villians do not influence the current issues” he affirmed, and almost immediately the worries increased.

“What does that mean”, Superman asked, taking a break from playing peacemaker to finally address Bruce head-on. 

He flies over, but doesn’t bother looking Bruce in the eye until they are but an inch apart. 

His anger is apparent. 

He’s been so busy flying around, fighting, rescuing, saving. He hasn’t slept in hours, he’s exhausted. Jonn and Bruce sent him to five out of the seven continents. They’ve mind message him nonstop with coordinates, and criminal activity but they couldn’t tell him any of this. 

What do they mean Kaldur’s dead? 

What do they mean the League of Villians aren’t involved? 

What the hell is going on?

But Batman doesn’t falter at Clark’s glare, in fact, he catches it, reflects it even.

Because if Clark was angry, what the fuck did he think Bruce was. 

“Bats right, we should be fighting the HIVE, not each other” Barry interjects, snapping Clark’s attention as well as the majority of the room. 

HIVE?

What’s that?

Taking this as her cue, Oracle projects the infamous name. The label showing up behind Jonn in big, red letters. 

“ HIVE like a bee nest. I like it,  it’s catchy”, Shazam babbles, he then pauses as he takes in everyone’s glare. “Oh uh….sorry. Not catchy, not catchy at all. In fact, I hate it, boooooooo tomato tomato” he finishes, popping out an awkward smile and an even more awkward chuckle.

Great as if he wasn’t already the weirdo of the League. 

Thankfully his embarrassment doesn’t last long. As soon as Batman loads a new file on the computer, and Oracle projects it on the largest screen, everyone’s glare shift, their heads snap, eyes focus. 

The file itself is long and extensive. It’s full of numerous notes, and annotations from Young Justice, Jonn, and Batman. Personal accounts of where everyone was, basic maps, and timesheets of attacks. But that’s not the most surprising, that’s not the most shocking.

To the left of the file are three pictures. 

One of them was of a beaten Killer Croc. Part of his reptilian skin peeled, the side of his skull full on display as one limb was broken and the other was missing.

The second picture was of Banes’s old cell. It was tattered, torn from the inside. And it also had burn marks on the outside . Clearly, Bane had escaped, what’s unclear is who helped him.

The final picture was of a Young Justice member, Superboy. He was covered in medical wires and needles. His right eye sported a bad bruise, and his nose was broken. The S symbol on his shirt had been torn, ripped off to the point where the injuries that surrounded the teen’s torso were easily visible. Bruises and blood marked his body more so than skin.

He was put through the wringer, that was for sure.

“Whew Wee”, Vigilante murmured. “I do think ya boy might need a hospital Supes”.

Clark ignores him, instead turning his glare back to Bruce. “You said he was injured, you didn’t mention any of this”.

Batman doesn’t bother giving back or acknowledging Superman’s anger. Instead, he continues to type before muttering, “I said he was injured and sent you his report. What you don’t read isn’t my issue”.

Standard asshole Batman, but there was a slight edge to it. 

A fuck with me if you want to undertone.

And with the day Supermans had, he may just go there.

Luckily, before the two men could add to the daily argument count the Martian Manhunter takes center stage.

“Superboy was injured during the Arkham breakout. He doesn’t remember much of the incident but he did note Bane affiliated himself with a team called the HIVE. Kid Flash was injured during the UN massacre. After speaking to him we have learned Firefly, Deadshot, and Mammoth are also members of this HIVE.”, Jonn explains.

As he speaks Oracle once again highlights the name, the images, and the details.

“Members? So who’s leading them?”  Wonderwoman asked.

 “We’re unsure. Nothing is showing up in the database, no cult sightings, no unsolved cases, no gang affiliates. It’s like the HIVE is nothing but a name”, Batman replied, frustrated to the brink himself.

Because fuck, who is doing this?

What do they want?

And how, how could he let this happen.

His mantra of irritation is broken by Vixen’s petulant frown.

“How do we know it’s not a League of Villians faction or something. A mini-team like the one Young Justice fought on Sunday”, she questioned, while skeptically staring at the screen. 

To her right Hal nods, “Yeah wasn’t Mammoth fighting YJ on Sunday. How are we so sure this ain’t the League of Losers”.

Batman sighs, and gestures to the first photo. “Killer Croc is a member of the League of Villians but was also attacked the day of the second blackout. Bane escaped through Croc’s sewer along with a series of other people, one of them beat Croc to the point where he doesn’t even remember his own name. Neuroscans show his brain has been damaged beyond repair, Jonn couldn’t even unearth what had happened without further harming him”.

As if to prove his point Oracle once again zooms in, only this time it’s a video. Killer Croc’s reptilian skin was broken and battered, his injuries were so monstrous, so grotesque. But Crocs screaming, his anguish, there was no mistaking the humanity in it.

The brokenness of it.

What could’ve done this?

Who could’ve done this?

Amethyst one of the most heartfelt and empathetic heroes winces, “That poor creature. Are you sure you can’t piece his mind back, at least so he’s no longer in pain”.

This time Jonn sighs, reluctant to show his own weakness, “I- I have tried. It appears they have someone with a more powerful mind-matter ability than my own. Every time I step in I feel the mind breaking even more”.

“I still don’t get it. They hurt the crocodile so we think it’s another team of baddies. That doesn’t make sense”, Shazam mused

“We know it’s a separate team because they went to strong lengths to make sure no one could remember their faces. They do not want to be discovered by us or the League of Villians. That’s obvious with the people they chose to put down. First Croc, then Meghan.” Jonn mechanically replies, shaking his head as Mari and a few others try to console him.

He didn’t need their pity. 

And he doesn’t need their worries.

Megan is injured but she’s alive.

That’s better than a lot of others.

Vibe nods, understanding Jonn’s thinking more than he cares to admit. “A new group makes sense. If it was the League of Villians they would want everyone to know it. Definitely wouldn’t rename themselves”, he insisted, and instantly every doubter’s face fell. Everyone’s face fell. 

Cause fuck, he was right. 

Everything so far was so secret, so unknown. 

So NOT like the League of Villains.

No TV takeovers, no theme-dressed minions, not even one long-ass monologue.

If this was the League of Villians, their name would be plastered everywhere. Luthor would be participating in an interview, Grodd would be broadcasting his human zoo, Joker would be taunting from a green screen-

Fuck. 

This couldn’t be the League of Villians. 

A fear-filled silence fills the room.

And as always Batman has to be the one to break it, “The Arkham breakout caused some issues but it appears the UN was the HIVE’s main target. Three hundred and eight-six world leaders were attacked. One hundred and fifty-one were injured, Forty-seven were killed, and fourteen missing. Jonn and I have analyzed the parties involved. It was systematic, many of the people killed were influential faction leaders with no visible replacement. Their deaths are spiraling their nations into chaos”.

“And the missing”, Superman asked. 

Suddenly the file closes and pictures amongst pictures are displayed. The Martian Manhunter reads off each one. 

“Dr. Lia Tang, General of State. North Korea”

“Marlize DeVoe, General of State. South Africa”

“Richard Swift,  Prime Minister. Britain”.

“Kaldur’am. Representative. Atla-.

“Shit do we really need to go through the fucking list. It’s just a bunch of leaders, right”?, Hawk interrupts, not wanting to see another.

“I think their names matter”, Superman asserts but Hawk doesn’t back down.

“Then send out a fucking email, their names don’t tell us shit about where they are”, he growls, once again pushing his large body into Clark’s face.

But Clark doesn’t even get the chance to take the bait, Batman gets in front of Superman that second. “If all you’re going to do is bark, leave”, he growls out and for once the angry bird simmers down. 

Once Jonn finishes the remaining list, a small voice utters out “Any leads”?

Batman shifts, moving away from Clark to fully address the Atom. “No, there haven’t been any sightings. Video coverage was blocked due to the SME. Mammoth and Firefly are nowhere to be found”.

“And Deadshot”

Batman shifts again, this time in irritation, “Recruited to join the Suicide Squad”, he bites out. 

Bites out, meaning he truly didn’t want to disclose that bit. 

Nor does he want to disclose how much he himself would like to interrogate Deadshot.

The last thing they need is to resurface the “Should we, shouldn’t we fight”

Cosmic one of the newer and more vocal heroes groans, ’“So what we just wait for the missing to show up and let the world go to shit”, he scoffed, and is nothing but shocked when it is Superman that replies to him.

“No. We support and we stay in the open so the people have nothing to fear”, he proclaimed. 

Proclaimed. Like it was a fact. 

Like he knew everything would be okay. 

And maybe it would be. 

“As much as I love this misplaced optomism, I think we’re all a little late”, the Question quickly murmurs, instantly breaking the sprout of hopefulness. His voice carrying an almost bored tone.

Diana doesn’t like it, “Another conspiracy theory”? she aggressively asked, hoping the paranoid freak would back down. 

But the Question only smiles, happy that his mask is broken enough for the Amazonian to see it. He then raises an eyebrow, glances at everyone’s faces, and shrugs. “It’s more of fact than a theory. Take a look around, gorgeous. Ukraine, France, Brazil, Russia, Germany, Algeria, Britain, China, Japan, and now Atlantis have closed their borders. Some countries are declaring the UN incident as an attack from Metas. Fear is already rampant, people are already scared”.

As if to prove his point Oracle changes the screen again. Different news stations pop up in different languages. Even without the subtitles, it’s easy to see that each station was covering the UN massacre. The burned remains of the building are bright in every background.

The delivery may be different in each video, but the message is the same.

An attack from Metas?

How can humans cope?

How will humans survive?

What is the next step?

Superman is the first to tear his eyes away from the screen,  “We need to alleviate that fear before it reaches a boiling point”.

Red Star, one of the few quiet members rolls his eyes,  “Mother Russia has their militia patrolling, I think we’ve reached the boiling point”, he grumbles, adding to the air of fear and mistrust. 

“Hmmm so Word War 3 with every single country’s militia plus metas, that should be fun” Hal sarcastically quips.

To his left, Fire shivers, “Count in the fish people, his royal Highness doesn’t strike me as the kind to bluff”.

Sensing another spout of arguments brewing Jonn tries to rebuff this, and explain Mira’s position, but he’s drowned out amongst the squabbling. 

And the screeching. 

And the blaming.

“Enough!!” Batman commanded, “ We need to focus. The problem is we don’t know all the affiliates in the HIVE nor who is leading it. This global fear is an issue to discuss at a later day. We need to stay in the open, to get information, and to retaliate when they attack again.” 

Amethyst frowns, she can hear Batman but she can’t understand him, “But what about the innocent scapegoats, we don’t stop this and it can get messy really quick. People could be hurt, they’re already calling it a Meta attack”.

“And how do we know it isn’t”, the Atom asked.

And just like that the room is more divided than ever.

“Excuse me”, Vixen seethed, ready more than anything to sink her claws in his throat. 

The Atom, isn’t scared. Sending her and all the other offended Meta’s his most unimpressed shrug, “Oh come on. We’ve all seen this movie before. Power structures, fragility. Maybe the metas got tired of letting the weak ole humans rule”.

He’s not making sense, at least not to her. 

But to people like Wildcat, and Terrifc….well.

“Metas are human”, Superman interupts.

And again, the Atom isn’t fazed. “You’re right, they are in the worst of ways……Look all I’m saying is we share just enough similarities in the mind for it to be a possibility”.

Barry frowns, shaking his head at the stupidy of this argument and the fear around it.“Most metas view themselves as human, they want to be human”.

“But you aren’t, are you”, the Atom pressed, again looking nonchalant and so self- righteous. 

“This whole thing is stupid, the public outrage is stupid this new group is stupid. This HIVE their just a bunch of villains fucking shit up, nothing new”, Fire exclaimed, frustrates and furious.

She’s right of course. 

This whole thing is stupid. 

This argument is stupid. 

But at the same time.

“Mmmm I don’t know”, Red Tornado, mumbles. “Three orchestrated events. Same time, and correct me if I’m wrong but it looks like every member of their little team is a meta”.

Vixen growls the last thing they need is Meta agreeing with this bullshit, “Deadshot isn’t, he’s a fucking human ass assasin so there”, she snarled. Her immaturity as high as her anger. 

And who could blame her. The nerve of them. 

The fucking audacity. 

As if she would ever, as if Metas would ever.

Vigilante shrugs,“Eh tell that to the public”, he murmers, purposefully keeping his voice low in order to avoid an argument between himself and his Meta girlfriend. 

Luckily, she didn’t hear him.

Unluckily, Amethyst did.

“That’s perfect!”, she beams, crushing both Vigilante and Fire in a super hug. Both the Brazilian beauty and crazed cowboy yelp, trying their hardest to break away from the purple clad girl.

Flash winces, speed intervening before Fire burns them all to a crisp, “Uh Amethyst any reason your crushing the lovebirds”, he asked after blowing his arm cold.

“News outlets”, Amethyst happily explained,“We control the narrative. Make sure we let everyone know that Deadshot was involved, that a non meta was involved. Make him the mastermind if we have to”.

Bruce nods, instantly understanding, “That’ll minimize the meta hate”.

“Also might make Cadmus a little more reluctant to keep him”, Cosmic adds, chuckling himself at the revelation. “The squad of villains idea is already bad, but one mass murdering wanted by multiple countries villain, can we say liability”.

Vixens eyes glint, feeling free and light all at once. “ I can’t imagine them keeping him for a week”, she smirks.

And for the first time that day Clark smiles, “I’ve got a friend at the Daily Planet. I’ll have her rush the story by this afternoon” he chirps.

“I can get a reporter in Central City to broadcast around the same time”, Barry happily adds

Hal shrugs, “Eh I might know a Youtuber or two who can help us out”.

And just like that the League is back accords. The arguments, the mistrust and shifty eyes take a back seat as members choose their assignments, bicker on team-ups, and rub the sleep out of their eyes.

Seconds pass and people begin leaving. The room feels lighter, brighter somehow.

And when its completely empty the Question hangs back, analyzing Batman. After about three minutes of just silence and stares, the man shrugs his coat off and addresses the brooding Bat.“Not gonna ask me what I want”.

“It’s none of my concern what you want”, Batman gruffs. Always straight to the point.

Immediately the Question chuckles, “Hmm, guess I should’ve expected that. But I do think the info I have might pique your interest. Say even concern you a bit ”.When Batman does nothing but continues to punch in his report, Question shrugs.“ Not one to rise to bait huh. Classy as always. Anyways I heard your kid was injured”.

Batman doesn’t even blink, “Nightwing and Robin’s injuries are mild and none of your concern”.

The Questions reply is instant. “Good to know, but I was talking about the other one”.

Batman..no- Bruce pauses. Tears his eyes away from the computer to glance at the Question. 

The man was in his usual trench suit, but it was scrapped up, tattered. His tie was missing, and a tightly wound bandage replaced his beloved fedora. He was in a bad fight, a bloody one.

Immediately Batman wonders who all were involved.

He wonders how bad was it?

Who was hurt more?

And why he doesn’t already know about it. 

If there was one thing Batman prides himself on, it was his knowledge. He likes knowing things, he enjoys being one step ahead, which is why The Question has always intrigued him. He carries a mist of anonymity, a center of mystery that Batman doesn’t quite like, but Bruce respects. 

That being said he’s not particularly sure if he’ll be too respectful if the man lets him know how he harmed Jason. 

Villain or not. Killer or not.

Jason was his problem to deal with, not Questions.

As if sensing Bruce’s anger, The Question immediately holds his hands up in surrender, “Hey, hey don’t shoot the messenger. I didn’t even see the kid, just heard he was in Hub City. And anyways from the sound of it kid walked off with a bum shoulder nothing too severe”.

This doesn’t soften Bruce’s glare the slightest. The lack of info makes him even more annoyed. He already knew the Red Hood was in Hub City during the second blackout. He already knows Jason is trained enough to walk away from any incident with just a hurt shoulder. So why was Question dancing around how he got injured?

Did the man even know himself?

“You’re wasting my time. Get out”, Batman gruffs, already turning back to the computer.

But this obvious dismissal does nothing but make the Question roll his eyes and sigh. Batman’s attitude was expected, normal with what he knew of the man.

But he wasn’t too keen on arguing with a concussion.

As he was still being ignored, the Question rubs his bandaged head, he then finds a seat closest to Batman, and pulls up a Holo-file from his phone. 

It takes about 2 whole minutes before Batman even spares it a glance. And even then he doesn’t bother to stop his typing or wipe the disinterest off his face.

The file itself is of a tall man with a large mustache and a stern frown. Behind it is a series of notes and highlighted names. 

The Question waits for a bit, hoping the Bat will at least try to read the file. When another minute passes and Batman doesn’t, the Question annoyingly decides to summarize it instead. “I’m working a case against William Toler. He’s a Supreme Justice. The guy has multiple connections to hospitalized villains and I think-.”

“I’m aware of Toler’s influence as well as his payouts. None of this is a pressing concern of the League or myself”, Batman gruffs, closing the holo-file and swiping to his next report. 

This time the Question actually groans, Batman always made everything so hard. 

He instantly re-pulls the file and glares back at the Bat,“Toler’s home was attacked the day of the second blackout. SME’s a good blindfold for any thief, but this just looked a bit more…. personal. I found Deathstroke and Killer Moth mangled up at Toler’s home, heard your kid was there too. There were a lot of dead bodies around, tried to figure out why. The moth was delusion mumbling about a HIVE. At the time I thought it was more of his bug jargon, so I knocked him out to shut him up”, he pauses and bites out a bitter chuckle. “Tch, you can’t imagine how angry I was when I realized it was an actual group”.

Batman doesn’t say anything at first but he does press the keypad a tad harder. 

Toler’s corrupt, stupidly obviously corrupt. The kind of corruption that leaves broken homes, damaged families, and early releases. 

The kind of corrupt the Red Hood would go after.

Of course, Jason’s a part of this.

Bruce wants to yell. He wants to scream, shout, punch Question in the mouth and forget this whole conversation.

But he doesn’t, he can’t. 

So instead he swallows his anger, trudges it to the lowest part of his spirit, and bites out, “The Red Hood is a mass murderer. I’m not surprised at the bloodshed, his poor choice of comrades nor your incompetence”.

It’s a bad insult, a worse lie.

The Question doesn’t even acknowledge its malice, “From what I heard, your kid is not exactly buddy-buddy with them. He was fighting against the HIVE. I mean at least that’s what I gathered. Deathstroke barely gave me anything, really….. ‘Cept how proud he was of the other Robin, kid outsmarted him I guess. Took a bullet but won somehow. Couldn’t really get the full story, got knocked out from behind”. He finishes, motioning crudely to his bandaged head. 

He starts speaking more, but Batman doesn’t hear him. He can’t hear him.

The HIVE, Red Hood fought the HIVE. Jason isn’t a part of this, he’s not a part of them. 

Thank God.

A second falls into the air before Batman is already back to typing, “This is…good work. Intell partial or not is necessary, I’ll add it to the reports” he notes, half expecting Question to take the praise and leave. But the Question doesn’t even lift up from his seat. He just glances back at Bruce and bitterly laughs.

“Oh don’t think you’ll want to put this out for everyone Bats”.

Batman frowns, cause what the hell does he mean “It further proves the theory that the League of Villains is not associated with the Hive. It needs to be noted Mammoth joined up with another team. Besides keeping Red Hood’s actions a secret is not of my interest. His behavior has always been heavily documented”.

The Question actually has the good sense to not mention how much of a lie that was. 

Seriously, it’s not like the kid had an extensive file, just the basics.

Hell, his identity as the second Robin still isn’t there.

Instead, The Question pauses for a moment choosing his next words very carefully.

“It’s not the Red Hood bit I’m worried about….. Look, whoever knocked me out patched me up before they left. My head was fucked, whatever they hit me with put a hole through the side of it. By the time I woke up, I would’ve bled out, I’m hemophilic. Not too many people know that. League medicals I guess, but you’d have to look for it. You’d have to have access to my file”.

Batman’s frown hardens. The last thing he needed was The Question broadcasting a leak. 

“We have the most secure medical files, encrypted by the best. Every doctor is mind-scanned free of records after termination. If the system were compromised I would know it. You had a bleeding heart villain patch you up, I wouldn’t focus on it”, Bruce gruffed out. His next report popping up as his body turned back to his computer.  

He hopes the conversation will end now. The conversation should end. 

But the Question doesn’t leave.

“You know I thought the same Bats,”, He starts with a smile, frowning as his next thought sinks in, “but then you called this meeting. And I heard everybody yell about where they were. Moan about how every time they saved one city, another one was in danger. Did you notice how none of our big hitters manage to get a second to breathe? How hard it was for everyone to stick with the evacuation plans. Sure we didn’t have comms but we did have our mindlinks. Jonn was doing pretty good at reporting everyone’s status, trying hard to make sure if someone needed backup, they had it…... I know for the most part I knew where everyone was. I have to assume everyone else got the same messages”.

Batman doesn’t stop typing, but he does slow down. He does listen harder. 

He does not like where this is going.

“When I heard about the UN thing I thought shit, how’d we let that happen”, Question adds after a moment, pausing more so for his own confusion than theatrics. “How the hell were three villains so comfortable enough to attack the fucking UN. It’s like they knew we wouldn’t be around”.

He leaves space once again for Bruce to speak, to intervene. To give him some logical explanation.

But Batman doesn’t. He can’t.

So the Question just smiles, it’s bitter and grim. “And then Aquaman.. he said Atlantis wasn’t attacked until after he sent some of his best sorcerers. As angry as he was, I know he’s not one to exaggerate. Only members of the League and Young Justice knew he was sending backup. We knew how many, we knew how strong they were and we knew Atlantis would be severely weakened without them…. A patch-up, I could understand but timed attacks”.

This time when Bruce pauses the keys stop clicking, silence fills the air and Batman waits a full minute before asking, “What are you saying”.

“Nothing that you're not already wondering…. Catch you later. I’ll wait for my assignment in the lounge. Thanks for the chat”.

And with that the Question was gone, and Batman was alone. 

He stared, stopping his report to glare down and process the last few minutes.

He should be delegating, he should be working.

He should write off The Question and all his stupid theories as paranoia.

Add it to the list of shit NOT to think about.

But deep down he knew.

My god he knew. 

The second he heard of the UN massacre coincided with the Arkham breakout. The minute he heard Atlantis had been attacked as well.

Batman knew.

A traitor. 

The Justice League has a traitor. 

Somebody with all of their resources and then some. 

Somebody working for the enemy, for the HIVE. 

Somebody who was able to hide, even from him.

This was serious.

“Oracle, analyze the last three hours of the meeting. Determine changes in inflection, tone, and heart rate throughout proceedings. Find any discrepancies and report” he ordered, his files now forgotten.

“Analyzing”, the computerized voice echoed, as holographic images of the last three hours popped up and pixelated. 

Some portions were replicated, some zoomed in, and some zoomed out. Bits and pieces of the footage were highlighted in red, green, and yellow. Finally, after what felt like ages, the images stopped and Oracle’s mechanical voice rang out once more.

‘213 discrepancies detected’.

“Correlate with the current issue and behavioral response, and eliminate all neutral factors”, Batman orders again and watches as video after video is sorted and deleted.

‘1 discrepancy detected, proceed for analysis’. 

Bruce swallows, he’s not sure if he really wants to know. “Proceed”.

“Young Justice League member present. Heart rate increased 87 percent, perspiration increased 43 percent, and breath intake increased 29 percent. Increases correlate with the usage of the verbal label: HIVE”.

Batman frowned, there shouldn’t be any Young Justice members present at this meeting. 

He didn’t see anyone. 

He didn’t notice anything.

How could he miss that?

“Classify”, he murmured, voice steady, assured.

And once again Oracles perfectly computerized voice rang out.

‘‘Designations B17, Alias Karen Beecher. Government name Unknown. Place of Birth Unknown. Age Unknown. Current Residence, Unknown.

Codename. Bumblebee.