A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait! I fell into a huge rut and just recently pulled myself out. This chapter is the longest thing I've ever written at nearly 7,000 words! I hope you all like it and I sincerely hope it was worth the wait!

Warning: This chapter includes mild blood, fighting with knives and people getting stabbed. And lots of rain, and some Wally in the shower.

Enjoy!

There were only five days until homecoming and everyone was buzzing through the halls. Gotham Academy always threw the best parties, whether it was homecoming or prom; so naturally, Wally was excited too. He really liked Linda, besides it wasn't everyday that he met a girl who understood his "science talk", as Dick calls it, and liked it. It was only a date to the homecoming dance but if he was being honest, he could see it lasting longer.

"The following students, please report to the Assistant Principal's office immediately; Kaldur'Ahm, Artemis Crock, Conner Kent, Megan Morse, and Wally West." Mrs. Keebler, one of the secretaries, said over the loudspeaker. Wally got up and left the classroom after letting the teacher know. Why was he going to the A.P.O? He didn't do anything bad… well if it's for the fight he got in with Cam then it's unfair because he was defending some seventh grader. After Wally got between the two the kid ran away and Cam attacked him, or well, tried to. Wally was kinda proud of the black eye he gave Cam. Though that didn't explain why the rest of them were being called down.

"Daydreaming of me, Baywatch?" Wally knew that voice, that snarky, slightly raspy voice.

"In your dreams, Rapunzel."

"You wish."

"So, why did you get called down? Get in a fight again?" Wally asked, half-mocking.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Either way, it's none of your business." Artemis said.

They reached the A.P. office to find the rest of the kids already there, occupying the only three seats. Artemis and Wally leaned on the nearby walls as the Assistant Principal, Mr. Red, started talking. "Thank you all for coming down. I have taken a look at all of your student records and can conclude that you five will be perfect for this given mission."

"Mission?" Kaldur asked.

"Sorry, I have watched too many espionage films as of late." His monotonous voice spoke, "Mr. Kent Nelson, a famous stage magician, has agreed to host a field trip for the nearby Gotham Academy Elementary school. He has requested some help in 'childproofing' his store and setting up his old stage show. He is 96 years of age and while still very mobile requires assistance."

"So we're going to help Dumbledore here set up for a magic show?" Wally mumbled unimpressed.

"Yes." Mr. Red said having heard Wally. "We have asked parent volunteers but none had the time and I thought this would be a nice opportunity for the five of you to gain community service credits." Mr. Red said, hands intertwined with each other.

"I would love to! I've always admired magic!" Megan spoke excitedly.

"What a coincidence that we both so admire the mystic arts!" Wally exclaimed. Artemis looked ready to smack him right then and there. Kaldur shook his head knowing that Wally in fact, hated magic, but loved girls.

"In that case, report to "Doctor Fate's House of Mysticism" on Saturday at 10 am to help set up. He will require assistance with the clean-up as well." Mr. Red said. "You are dismissed, thank you."

"But that's the same day as homecoming!" Megan cried.

"The field trip starts at eleven and lasts until one, you should all be able to attend the homecoming game and party." the older man reasoned.

"Phew, it's not that I wouldn't love helping out but I was really excited about going to my first homecoming!"

"No worries, Miss Morse. All is well. I take it that the rest of you will help as well?" the Assistant Principal asked.

"I'll be there." Artemis didn't look too enthusiastic.

"I would be my pleasure." Kaldur, ever the gentleman, said after Conner gave a nod. All eyes turned to Wally, who was daydreaming.

"What? OH, yeah sure, I would love to help Mr. Neils-, I mean Nelson." Wally said, giving a guilty smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Nelson will be very pleased. You may go back to class." Mr. Red went back to typing on his computer.

All five students left the room and headed to their respective classes.

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"Listen up, bozos!" the young man's voice was grating on the henchmen's ears, "This needs to be quick and clean...but, that doesn't mean it can't be fun…" he smiled deviously.

Klarion Bleak, a twenty year old with the patience and mindset of a ruthless five-year old, was standing on the catwalk of the 'abandoned' warehouse where his men met up. Today he and a few henchmen would go to 'Doctor Fate's' and deal with the old fart. He had looked forward to this day for a while now.

Today was the day they would kill Kent Nelson.

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Wally really didn't want to help out the old magician. Well he did, but he didn't want to deal with the magic part. Wally never believed in magic, or miracles, or anything that wasn't scientifically proven. That had gotten him in a fight with his mother. To him the illusions just weren't worth it, they weren't entertaining.

Coach Garrick was a nice man, a caring man, but a determined man. If he wants to win, he will. He works the track team until they all have scarlet faces, are covered in sweat, and are spewing profanities that probably didn't exist when he was their age. Since Wally was the fastest sprinter in the school, it took a longer time for him to break a sweat, get red in the face, and spew profanities. That meant that by the time the others quit and were passing out on the bleachers (if they were lucky enough to get there) Wally was just breaking out his vocabulary list. Which meant he was running forever, which meant everyone was staring at how he could keep going that fast after so long. Of course Wally didn't mind though, he liked the attention and he liked running. Win, win. He was still doing good, too. He kept his pace and was finishing up his final lap.

"OH, CRAP!" Until Cameron Mahkent threw an empty vitamin water bottle at his feet. He tumbled on the hard rubber, skinning his forearms and knees in the process.

That was going to burn.

Wally could hear the chorus of 'Oohs' and 'Ouches' and the sound of people sucking in between their teeth. He could hear Tommy and Tuppence Whitlock laughing and Coach Garrick running over and giving Cameron detention for 'Reckless Behavior'. Coach Garrick was also a close family friend and happened to hate Cameron and the Terror Twins, as he dubbed them (The name soon caught on). Getting up, Wally walked over to the benches and Anna McAvery came up to him giving him a few band-aids.

"Kid, you okay?" The older man's voice rang clear through the chattering crowd of teenagers, even at ten feet away. Jay always did have a loud voice. Wally nodded, opening the band-aid in his hands only to have it yanked out by Jay.

"You need to disinfect first, Kid." He said grabbing the rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit. He put some on Wally's wounds, making the redhead grunt at the stinging sensation. The older man secured the band-aids on Wally's knees and forearms.

"Suck it up, ya big baby." Jay teased jokingly. "You think you'd get used to it by now, what with you being so clumsy and all."

"I am not that clumsy!" Wally protested. The elder man chuckled at the teen, shaking his head.

"Sure, you're not, Kid." he said. He glanced down at his wristwatch noting that it was time for practice to end. "Okay, practice is over kids, go get dressed and head home!"

Wally walked back to the locker rooms, got changed, then walked outside to get picked up by his aunt. He spotted the navy prius from the second he walked out of the academy. Gotham Academy was weird in that it was a private boarding school with dorms but also had the option for normal pickup and drop off if you attended the school and lived nearby.

"Hey, Kid!" His aunt Iris greeted, "How was track?" She knew he loved track almost as much as he loved science which, by the way, was a lot.

"It was pretty good, I ran about 30 laps before stopping."

"By stopping do you mean tripping?" the older woman asked, referring to the bandages sticking out from underneath his rolled up shirtsleeve.

"Hey, some assface decided that throwing an empty bottle at my feet was funny! So this time it wasn't me!" Wally defended.

"This time, and watch your language, Wallace." She scolded. Wally had a habit of being clumsy. He also had a habit of cursing, most likely picked up by Mary and Rudy. Not to say that she and Barry didn't, but they cursed much less than her brother and sister-in-law. Wally pouted at the use of his full name; he wasn't a big fan of it.

"Whatever." She frowned at him. He just buckled up and his aunt started the car before driving home.

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Saturday came faster than Wally thought it would. He could smell bacon coming from downstairs, and knew that if he didn't get down soon Bart would eat it all. Rubbing at his eyes, Wally got up and went down stairs, nearly tripping on an upturned end on the carpet in the hallway.

"Hey, Kid! Eat up, before Bart comes down, you too Iris!" His uncle said. The blonde had an apron on that read "Mr. Goodlookin' is cookin'" and Wally nearly choked on his orange juice. Leave it to Uncle Barry to have such tacky things.

"Jesus, Uncle Barry, could you own anything more tacky?" Wally asked, laughing as he munched on a waffle/sausage sandwich combo thing.

"Yes. And don't speak when there's food in your mouth."

"Barry, where's the jam Mrs. Jacobs gave us yesterday?" Iris' face was in the refrigerator, looking for the jam.

"The raspberry one? It should be behind th-"

Wally tuned out of his Aunt and Uncle's domestic-ness, instead focusing on the food on his plate. There were about two hours until Wally had to be at Kent Nelson's, so he (and his aunt and uncle) ate before Bart came down to devour everything in his path. Bart was always hungriest in the morning. After finishing his second helping of eggs he got up to shower.

"Hey, Wally!?"

"What do you want, Bart?"

"Can you bring me a souvenir? Please?" the seven-year-old asked, puppy-dog eyes and all.

"Sure, Bart. Whatever you want." Wally smiled before going upstairs to shower.

His aunt and uncle's house was slightly bigger than his parents one back in Central. It had four bedrooms instead of three (both liked to have a guest room, or when Uncle Barry did something stupid he slept in the extra room instead of the couch), and a sunroom that Aunt Iris only ever used when they had company over. Other than that it still had three bathrooms, a big kitchen, a living room, and a yard; though they didn't have the garden his mom had because they were terrible with plants.

He stripped his clothes and stepped into the shower, letting the warm water run over his body. Wally didn't like showering with scorching hot water like his aunt did (once he went into the bathroom to grab something after she got out and the room felt like 90 degrees). Wally was going over all of today's events in his head. It would take half an hour for Wally to go to Mr. Nelson's at 10 am, which still gave him another half-hour to get ready, stay until one for clean-up then go to the homecoming game to watch Conner play (he had taken their advice and went to try-outs where the coach ended up adoring him), after which he'd go home, take a quick shower, get dressed and pick up Linda before heading to the dance. He stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel, wrapped it around his waist and walked to the sink to brush his teeth. When he went to his room he heard a low rumbling, then a flash of light illuminated from outside.

After putting on some boxers and a pair of dark jeans he stepped toward the window to see the drops of rain clinging to screen and the dark cumulonimbus clouds in the sky. This would put a damper on homecoming, especially with the rain picking up. He put on a wool sweater that had a mix of stripes and tiny patterns. He thinks his aunt bought it for him last year because she knew he would like the subtle reds and yellows among the plethora of neutrals, but he really liked it because it was very comfortable. He nearly tripped (again) going down the stairs but caught himself before he could faceplant on the hardwood floor.

"How can you be a track star when you can't even walk down the stairs?" His uncle asked him with a smile adorning his face.

"The world may never know." Wally joked. Opening the door, his uncle stopped when Iris yelled "Wallace Rudolph West, you better put on at least a hat before you leave! You'd be warm in Antarctica, I know, but if you get sick you can bet I'll say I told ya so!"

"Okay, okay!" He grabbed a dark red beanie and an umbrella from the self above the coat rack and fixed it on his crown, a few tufts of hair sticking out in front, and yell back "BYEEEE!"

There was a bit of traffic but they managed to get to the 'House of Mysticism' on time. The building was large enough and had a victorian look with tyrian purple scalloped siding, navy outlining and gold accents. The antiqueness made it stand out between the mini-mart and barber on either side of it, only the big bright neon sign for the strip club around the corner held a smidge of competition. Wally hoped the school bus would avoid that route. The round double doors were elegantly carved and painted navy with the same gold accents as the rest of the store with mosaic windows.

Upon entering there was a ticket desk that was currently unoccupied, two registers in the far left corner with a gold railing in front to signal the start of any lines. On the right side of the store were shelves stacked with little gift and knickknacks. Wally saw a few snow globes that Bart could add to his collection. In the middle of store, closer to the gift shop area, were two antique purple couches made of velvet and mahogany with a decorative coffee table between them. In the middle of the left wall there was a golden archway with a podium for collecting tickets to the side of it, which lead to the small theatre. Wally whistled once he walked through the archway, marvelling at the small theatre's elegance, which really wasn't that small.

Walking through the door that said 'Backstage', Wally was met with something hard banging into his midsection, which then ended up falling on his foot. The redhead yelped in pain, clutching his foot he looked for his assailant. His green orbs met eyes the color of the storming sky outside and immediately he knew.

Artemis.

"Watch where you're going, Kid Klutz." She snarked picking up the boxes she was carrying. Upon further inspection Wally saw that the boxes were full of swords.

"What the hell are those for?!" He asked backing away.

"They're for Mr. Nelson's magic show." the blonde said as she put one sword back in its case.

"So he's going to have a sword fight in front of 2nd graders?" Wally questioned.

"No, you doof." She put on a sinister smile, "He's going to stab someone."

"That's a lie."

"Well, not exactly. I sit in the big box in the corner over there and he put the swords through the box." She explained nonchalantly. Artemis picked up the boxes and moved them toward the curtain that lead to the stage. Wally, not knowing where else to go, followed her.

"Isn't that what an assistant is for?!" He asked.

"I am an assistant." the blonde replied, not slowing down.

"B-but that's not, I mean, you're just a student, what if he like…" Wally made wild hand gestures, "ya know." He didn't really want to say what he was thinking.

"Stabs me?" Artemis asked, "Wow, didn't know you cared Wallman." she teased.

"I-i don't. It's just, well, I don't really want to see someone die and he is kinda really really old so it's not unthinkable that he could. Hell, even if he wasn't like super old I still wouldn't get in the box."

Artemis spun around so abruptly that Wally almost walked into her a second time that day. She smirked and said, "You're a terrible liar. His assistants are running late, they said they'd be here as soon as they could."

"Is anyone else here yet?" Wally asked, changing the subject and totally not blushing.

"Yeah I heard Megs, Conner and Kal come just a few minutes before you. They're all with Mr. Nelson in the back room. Let me put these down and I'll show you, okay?"

"Sounds good." Artemis put them in front of the back curtain of the stage and the two of them walked toward a black door with a star on it. Megan, Conner, and Kaldur were all in there already, sitting on the couch in the room. The room itself seemed like a victorian boudoir with a red velvet couch against the wall, a trophy shelf with some odd golden helmet in it, a few mannequins with tuxedos on them, a hat stand, a clothes rack that had more tuxedos, and a relatively bare vanity that had the name 'Inza' engraved on the top. It also looked like a woman once occupied the space but hadn't used it in a while.

"Where's Mr. Nelson?" Artemis asked.

"The phone rang so he went up to get it." Megan told her.

"Up?" Wally asked.

"He lives upstairs." Megan said pointing at the spiraling stairs across the room. "Back in the late 40's he took this house and made the bottom floor into a magic store and kept the upstairs as his house."

"Wow, how do you know all that?" asked Wally.

"I did some research." She blushed. "I just love magic!"

"Megs, you do know that this isn't real magic right?" Artemis asked the redhead.

"Oh, of course, silly! I love stage magic, I think it's simply wonderful!" Megan smiled.

"Absolutely! I mean, card tricks? Awesome!" Wally said sarcastically but Megan who didn't catch the tone obliviously smiled back at him.

"You like card tricks? Those are my favorite!" Megan exclaimed.

"Totally! Who doesn't like magic?" Artemis rolled her eyes at Wally's horrible attempt at trying to flirt with Megan.

"I see that you are all here now." Everyone looked over at the old man who appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"How did you do that!?" Wally asked as all the teens jumped.

"Magic." Mr. Nelson stated looking straight at Wally. "So, you kids gonna stand around or are ya gonna do somethin'?"

"What would you like us to do Mr. Nelson?" Kaldur asked respectfully. He got up off of the couch and took a few steps toward Mr. Nelson.

"Call me Kent. You two lads can go to the storage room and get out the big props. You'll need to get the box for the sawing act, the box for the sword act, the box for the disappearing act and… hell, whatever else looks interesting!" He then looked at Megan, "You go with them, make sure they do it right and don't hurt any of my props. Those are decades old, y'know! Bought them when my Inza was still around… what a spitfire she was" he sighed then smiled at them softly.

"Well, off ya go!" he said with a simple gesture toward the door.

Megan, Kaldur, and Conner got up off the couch and walked out the door and to the prop room.

Wally turned around and asked Kent, "What can we do?" Referring to him and Artemis.

"Well you two kids can help me childproof-" The phone ringing again cut him off. "Lemme just go answer that, i'll be right back."

Kent came back a few minutes later looked at Wally sitting hands folded across his chest and then to Artemis rolling her eyes at the redhead from the other side of the room, and knew that she was most definitely a spitfire. That and he had heard her yelling at Wally to stop touching the very real looking skull on the bookshelf.

"It's not real." Kent said. Both teens looked startled. "The skull" he added.

"Oh, you heard that." Artemis said bashfully.

"Yes, I did. You have a very powerful voice, one that demands to be heard. That's a good thing." he told the young blonde. "It turns out the field trip has been canceled because of the storm," as if on queue the lights flickered. "and my assistants still aren't here."

"So does this mean we can leave?" Wally asked.

"Wally!" Artemis exclaimed. "I'm sorry about miss manners over here, we usually have a muzzle on him."

"It's fine, Artemis. Though, I don't see why you couldn't. Just call your parents." Kent told them.

"Thanks Mr. Nel- Kent." Wally said. Kent only smiled back at him. Artemis and Wally both took out their phones to call their respective uncles, but once they went into the main room they saw the rain had picked up.

"Maybe we should wait here a bit more." Artemis suggested, not wanting to endanger her uncle.

"Yeah, just until the rain let's up." Wally agreed.

"I was going to let you kids pick something from the gift shop after the show, but since there was no show, I don't see why you can't take one now." Kent told them.

"Thanks"

"Thank you, Mister, I mean Kent." Artemis said.

"No problem, once the others come back I'll let them choose too. Take anything you want, price doesn't matter." He called to them once they were across the room.

Artemis looked around the shelves and picked up the only thing that caught her eye. A slingshot with foam pellets. Wally was on the other side of the same shelf looking at the snow globes. All of them were filled with glitter, which he didn't think would matter to Bart, but as he reached for it, the lights flickered and went out after a particularly loud flash of lightning.

"What the hell" Artemis said before running over to Kent. He was sitting on one of the armchairs in the center on the room, where the light from outside was the only current source of light. Wally joined them a few seconds later.

"Do you have any flashlights?" Artemis asked the old man.

"There should be one in the front desk." He seemed eerily calm about the entire situation. Artemis went and got the flashlight then came back. Wally could see Artemis' hands shaking slightly.

"You okay?" He asked her, taking her hand. She flinched but nodded and it seemed that her shaking subsided.

"Someone is in here." Kent said.

"Yeah the others are in the other room." Wally said.

"No. An intruder." Kent stood up and walked to the archway that led to theatre, he gestured for the teens to stay put.

"Just as I thought, they aren't there." Wally gulped and Artemis' hands started faintly shaking again.

"What do you mean, Kent?" Artemis asked. The old man walked over to them and put a finger to his lips then gestured for them to follow him into the boudoir. Once inside he locked the door and went up the stairs, Wally took Artemis' hand and nodded after she seemed skeptical. They both followed Kent and marvelled at how even the living area of the building was as beautifully decorated as the shop part.

"Your friends, they weren't on the stage setting things up." Kent explained.

"And you just left them there?!" Artemis couldn't believe it.

"Would you rather be kidnapped or brought into a safer environment?"

"I'd rather help my friends!"

"Wait how are you even sure they aren't in the prop room getting the stuff?" Wally asked.

"I saw a man going backstage before when I looked through the archway. I suggest that we call the police and wait up here until they come, because while I desperately want those kids to be alright I ain't sure of how many of them intruders are here and I don't want no more kids getting harmed."

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Megan was slowly regaining her consciousness.

She didn't know how long ago, but She, Conner and Kaldur and been knocked out and tied to a pole in the prop room. They had put up a good fight against the three large men but weren't strong enough to get away. Her vision was still cloudy but she could see that both boys were still unconscious next to her, and she also noticed that they, like her, had been gagged. Across the room she could make out two, no, four silhouettes. The lights were off and the men had flashlights.

They seemed occupied so she tried to shake off her gag and untie herself. If she could warn Artemis, Wally and Kent, they could get all help. She was able to loosen the rope around her wrists and shake off her gag, just a bit more and she could run. Megan had thought about untying Conner and Kaldur but they were still out cold and she didn't want to risk getting caught while trying to get help.

Just as she untied her herself she saw one of the men walk towards her and she ran out the door and on to the stage. The man followed, shouting at her the whole time. Megan slipped behind one of the curtains and pulled a rope that she was sure held a stage light. It fell near the man, but he dodged it at the last second. It seemed to only make him angrier. Megan ran backstage and the man only followed, this time much closer. He grabbed onto her sweater and pulled her into him from behind, one hand wrapped around his opposite wrist.

Megan wouldn't go without a fight though, she hooked her one foot around his leg while keeping her other leg free. Megan pried off the hand that was around his wrist, then landed on the ground and swiftly elbowed his face and kicked his crotch. She ran to the desk in the main room and dialed 911.

"911 what is your emergency?" the operator asked after a few rings.

The tall man had come into the room at that point and ran for Megan. She shouted "Doctor Fate's House of Mysticism, Come quick!" into the phone before the man got hold of her again, she shouted loud enough for the man on the phone to be able to hear her.

"Hold still, ya bitch" her attacker cursed, then he punched her square in the face, successfully giving her a bloody nose and knocking her out.

The henchmen hung up the phone and pulled Megan over his shoulder. He ran back into the storage room and tied her up again.

"What happened out there, Carl?" The man, Carl, heard the squeaky voice of his boss ask.

"She managed to call the cops but I got her before she could say much. We need to go, Boss." Carl said.

"No, no, NO!" Klarion cried. "We are doing this today! Kent Nelson is dying TODAY!" fearing his boss' wrath after one of his tantrums, Carl called the other two men over.

"Kay then, Boss, we'll do it quick as possible." Carl spoke, his Jersey accent prominent.

"You just stay here and guard those brats. Jim you stay with him, Jeff you come with me, let's finish the old fart." Klarion said.

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It turns out Kent had a security system installed in his home that allowed him to view the cameras set up downstairs. Every room had a camera but the boudoir and restrooms. After they called the police, who told them to stay put and that they'd be there shortly (which had happened almost fifteen minutes ago), they opened up the cameras and saw Megan deliver a can of whoop-ass on that fool.

They also saw said fool knock her out.

Wally walked over to the window, looking for the police, while Artemis was pacing around the room and Kent was watching his pocket watch thoughtfully.

"Urgh! That's it, I can't just stand here and do nothing!" Artemis yelled.

"The cops will be here soon, Artemis." Wally promised.

"Wally you haven't lived in Gotham as long as I have. Most of the cops here are so corrupt or lazy that they don't even come, and the ones that actually do something right end up dying!" Artemis told him.

"She's right y'know. We killed the ones parked outside like ten minutes ago." A nasally voice informed them with a laugh.

"Klarion." Kent swore, "Kids run! Out the fire escape!"

Artemis, sensing this Klarion guy down the hall was bad news, knocked down the large (and heavy) bookcase next to her to block him and his creepy looking friend who was giving her weird looks. She then quickly grabbed a knife (that thankfully had a cover) and followed Wally and Kent out the window and into the pouring rain. She shut the window and ran down the staircase, nearly slipping a few times.

The fire escape led to a small backyard with a stone path leading to a pretty bench. There was a large willow tree covering the bench and most of the yard from the rain. Artemis ran up the stone path and found Wally standing in front of Kent in a protective stance behind the tree's trunk. Kent didn't look so good. She got out her slingshot and readied herself for a losing battle.

"Are you okay?" She asked Wally, slingshot still at the ready.

"I'm fine. What about you?" She looked at him and smiled a bit sadly.

"Fine. So who is this Klarion guy anyways, Kent?" Artemis asked.

"He owns a competing magic shop a few blocks away on a sketchy street. He got it from his father, they were all kooks, his entire family. Liked witchcraft and sold, well sells spellbooks. The store has been passed down for generations, and Klarion can't have me taking all the business so the brat and his family have been trying to off me for years. Never could, never will." Kent explained. Klarion and Jeff came into the yard at that moment and Artemis began to shoot rocks at them.

"Wally, you protect Kent!" Artemis said.

"Be careful." He told her.

She nodded, "You too."

Kent gave Wally his cane after they moved away a little further and said "Kid, protect yourself, my days are done."

"No! Kent, you can still make it! What happened to 'They'll never kill me!'?" Wally asked the old man. They turned around once they heard Artemis yell. Her slingshot was broken and on the floor and she was in a knife fight with the other man.

"Where's the brat?" Kent asked.

"Right here, and he doesn't like being called a brat!" Klarion shouted before pulling out a throwing knife from his jacket and throwing it towards Kent. Wally pushed Kent out of the way and the knife grazed his cheek.

"I was going to spare you kids, but now I'm thinking that i'll just kill you too!" Klarion said happily.

Wally took Kent's cane and tried to hit away the other knifes that flew towards them, not his best idea, but baseball camp all those years ago had paid off. He and Kent moved back more but were met with the fence. As Klarion moved closer, he ran out of knives and Kent took advantage of this by picking one off the ground and throwing straight at the brat. It hit him in the leg, but he just pulled it out and got angrier.

"Not a good choice old man." He said before jumping at Kent.

Kent put up a good fight, punching and kicking and managing to knock the knife out of Klarion's hand. Wally then pulled Klarion off of Kent (he was surprisingly lightweight) and punched him in the face, causing him to fall back a few feet away.

Wally went to Kent's side and saw that the old man was weak. Kent looked over to Klarion slowly regaining himself.

He looked to Wally and said, "Once this is all over I want you to have the Helmet of Fate. It's in the boudoir, it's gold. Keep it in safe hands. Oh, and remember to tell your friends to take something from the gift shop, something that'll brighten up their day." He looked back at Klarion getting up, "But for now, beat his ass, Kid." He smiled.

Wally got up and Klarion attacked him, punching and scratching, but Wally didn't give up, he fought right back, engaging in a full on fist fight with the brat. After Klarion gave him a good right hook Wally fell back and that was enough for Klarion to grab a knife and start making his way near Wally. Right as Klarion was about attack, they heard police sirens.

"No, no, NO, NO!" Klarion shouted, he slashed the knife and Wally brought up his arm to protect himself, getting a large deep gash where he scrapped his forearm the other day.

Klarion then swiftly turned and threw the knife straight at Kent.

"Nighty night, old man." He said laughing. Klarion then jumped over the fence and disappeared in the pouring rain.

"Kent!" Wally ran over to the old man. The knife had hit him in the stomach and he was bleeding profusely. Wally didn't want to take the knife out in case that would make things worse so he just took off his beanie and applied pressure.

"It'll be okay, the cops are here they'll take care of you!" Wally reasoned desperately.

"It's okay, Kid. My time has come."

"Kent please, they can help!" Wally said.

"Wally, I'm 96, I've had a good run, but I'll give you some free advice before I go." Kent coughed a few times then added weakly, "Find your own little spitfire. One who won't let ya get away with nothing, like tha-"

Kent's body went limp and a clap of thunder was heard before the cops ran out into the yard.

Artemis watched as Wally performed compressions on Kent's chest. She thought she saw tears forming in his eyes but she told herself it was the rain. Despite this, the nagging feeling in her chest to go comfort him would go away. She wiped away a stray tear and regained her composure.

"What happened out here? Are you kids okay?" The one cop asked her, taking in the scratches from her duel with mister ponytail. Speaking of whom, she saw him being cuffed and dragged away. He was in no better condition than she was.

"We were helping Mr. Nelson set up for a show when these guys came in and abducted our friends, Oh God! Are they okay?" Artemis suddenly got frightened for her friends' safety.

"Those kids we found tied up? Yeah they're fine some bruises but they should be okay." The woman said, "Now the ambulance is right outside, you should get checked out." Artemis went outside to the front to see Kaldur standing in front of the ambulance Megan was getting into. She ran up to him and hugged him from behind. Kaldur seemed a bit startled at first but turned and hugged her back.

"Are you alright, my friend?" He looked her up and down then looked around, "Where is Wally and Kent?"

"Wally's still in the back with Kent. That creepy gothic brat h-he, Kaldur he…" Artemis was on the verge of tears again, she had lived in Gotham all her life, but she never saw anyone actually get stabbed.

Kaldur only hugged her harder, petting her hair to calm her down. Megan, who was inside of the ambulance got out and cried, "Artemis! You're okay!" and rushed to hug the blonde girl. They hugged for a few moments, then Megan let go and frantically looked around.

"Where's Wally and Kent?" the redhead asked. Normally she was so perky and jovial, seeing her so distraught made the situation hit Artemis even harder.

"They're in the backyard, Wally was trying to…" She stopped when the paramedics from the second ambulance arrived and got out a gurney for Kent.

"Omigod! What happened? Are they okay? Did someone get hurt?" Megan started breathing erratically, and Artemis took her hand.

"Megs, Wally's fine." Artemis said.

Megan seemed to calm for a minute before she understood that that meant Kent wasn't okay. Megan started to panic even more and the paramedic had to sedate her. The paramedic, Ann, laid Megan down in the gurney that was in the ambulance then turned to Artemis and Kaldur and said, "You two should get in too, stay out of rain, and we need to get you all checked out. Once the other kid comes out we'll leave." They both nodded.

"Wally is okay, though, right?" Conner asked. He was holding Megan's hand and didn't look at them.

"I'm fine." They all turned, with the exception of Megan, to see Wally soaking wet with a bleeding cheek, a golden helmet in one hand, and a bloody beanie in the other. All the joy, all the character, had left his eyes, turning them a dark hazel-green. Another paramedic, Dave, came back to put gauze on his forearm and guided him into the ambulance then closed the doors.

The ride to the hospital was long and quiet. Megan was hooked up to a heart monitor and the beeping of her heart rate was the only noise heard. Once they got there they were all sent to the emergency room and Conner could practically hear the people crying from the patient rooms. Kaldur and Conner were deemed fine with only a few bruises, while Megan had a broken pinky finger, and some blood loss from the nose bleed she had. Artemis had a few cuts on her arms, none too deep or serious. They wouldn't leave scars except for the one on her upper right arm. The gash on Wally's arm was still bleeding a bit so the nurses disinfected it and put new gauze on it. He was sure to have a scar fro that. Their guardians were called and all of them came within twenty minutes, even Clark.

"Wally?! Wally!" A thin redheaded woman ran up to Wally and hugged him so hard his friends were sure that he couldn't breath for a second. Clark only put a hand on Conner's shoulder briefly then signed some papers. Otherwise Ollie, Arthur and Mera, and John all hugged their kids and made sure they were okay.

"Where's Kent?" Wally asked one of the doctors there. The gold helmet was still in his hand.

"Mr. Nelson is... no longer with us." The doctor looked down, "We tried everything we could, but he was bleeding to much. You were the one who preformed CPR on him, right?"

"Yeah, I was."

"Good job. He was alive when we got him here, thanks to you. His last words were something about a gift and a spitfire?"

"He wanted us to each take a gift from the shop, though I don't know about the spitfire." Artemis said.

"That's what he called Inza!" Megan remembered with a smile, "He was probably talking about her!" She was still a little disoriented from the sedative.

"Yeah, that's it." Wally agreed quietly looking over at Artemis talking with Megan.

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In the next few months, "Doctor Fate's" was made into a museum honoring the late Kent Nelson and his wife/assistant, Inza. Wally donated the Helmet to put on display so that everyone could remember Kent's signature piece.

He also got Bart the snow globe that had Kent and Inza standing regally on the stage with the helmet in Kent's one hand and the other wrapped around Inza. Her one hand was also around him with her other waving to the crowd, both smiling and looking perennial in the falling pink, red, and purple glitter.

Wally decided that magic wasn't all that bad.

A/N: Did you like it? If so post a review! Reviews mean the world to me b/c they give me the motivation to write, whether they be constructive (which I love), negative, or positive! Feel free to pm me about things you'd like to see!