Author's Note: So, continuing with my 'cleaning out my hard-drive' project... this particular fic has the subtitle 'Blame AllyMarton', as it was she who cruelly and with vicious aforethought introduced me to Ouran and then gave me the idea for a crossover when she knew that I had other projects in the works. For shame.

Still, this is actually one of the few fics I have that could actually be called 'complete', so I'll post up the chapters over the next week or two (it's not a very long one) and you can all enjoy. Just be sure to review!

There were few things in this world or any other that Wally West truly feared, either in his civilian life or under the guise of his alter ego.

Cats were one of these, though the exact circumstances of his development of ailurophobia were, for the most part, lost to him. What few

scraps he did remember were also not likely to be shared by his lips.

The Joker was another, as were the Rogues on occasion. When they reached that truly terrifying plateau of competence and desperation that reminded Kid Flash that, a;though none of the men that made up his uncle's primary foes were sadistic nor senseless killers, they were still perfectly willing to kill him should the need and opportunity arise.

A flash of lightning was also likely to see him flinch reflexively and, if the expected clap of thunder followed too quickly, this flinch was likely to evolve into a jump and a decidedly unmasculine squeak would occasionally be heard.

Batman, however, was not someone that Wally feared. Anymore. His first meeting with the caped crusader had almost had him wet himself in sheer terror. But, then a year of friendship with Robin had led to learning the Dynamic Duos' secret identities, which was almost directly followed by the sight of Bruce Wayne being scolded by his aging butler after having set the kitchen aflame... whilst trying to boil water. Well, it was safe to say that that any fear had long since faded.

That was not to say that he suddenly enjoyed the Bat's company, of course. Though Bruce Wayne was a fairly kind and pretty darn cool parentalish figure when he visited the Mansion, Batman had a lump of coal lodged somewhere decidedly unpleasant (Wally was certain that a cursory examination of the Wayne Manner plumbing system would turn up diamonds).

Quite frankly, the only reason Wally actively chose to remain in Batman's presence was usually because of either Robin or the Flash, and he dreaded any occasion where the two were forced to interact in costume.

Of these interactions, he dreaded none greater than a summons, delivered by the Flash himself, to report to the Cave at 9am on a Saturday.

Of course, that's not to say he was stupid enough to ignore it.

Barry led him speeding through the streets of Keystone City, away from the warmth of his loving bed that he already missed so dearly, to the alleyway tucked behind an old video rental store that had been struggling more and more in recent years, only to finally admit defeat back in 2008.

It was here that the Keystone City zeta-beam transmitter was hidden, the one in Central being located rather audaciously beneath the Flash Museum. And it was here that Barry and Wally stepped casually through the blinding light only to emerge half a continent away, in Mount Justice of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.

And there, waiting for them, was the Dynamic Duo themselves.

"Hey, Wally," Dick greeted him playfully, raising a hand for Wally to slap with enthusiasm as he approached.

"Rob," Wally returned happily, whilst Barry made a mildly more formal greeting to Robin's mentor.

"Bats," Flash grinning openly. "I talked to Mary and Rudy and they seem okay with it so far. After I showed'em the brochure they were just about ready to shove the Kid out the door, but we'll get to that later."

"Huh?" Wally eyed his uncle cautiously, recognizing his grin as one that was usually applied to the Rogues... right before the Flash cleverly sprung from whatever trap they had attempted and handily handed them their rears. "What's going on?"

"What, you didn't hear?" Robin snickered as he jerked his head towards his mentor. "They've got a mission for us."

And just like that, the dread was gone, replaced by a quiet thrum of enthusiastic energy bubbling within him.

Batman was Batman, and would always be Batman, but a mission was a mission.

Naturally, for a briefing from the Batman at least, someone had gone through the time and effort to create a slideshow presentation to help convey the relevant information.

They stood in the open area of the Cave, the presentation displayed by the various holographic projection arrays. Wally had briefly wondered where the rest of the Team was, particularly Zatanna, Conner and M'gann, who made Mount Justice their home, only to be informed that the witch and the aliens had been lured from the Cave on this not quite so merry morn. This was a mission specific to himself and Dick.

Wally was feeling more than a little bit smug at that.

And so, reasonably sure that they were not about to be interrupted, Batman began the briefing.

"This," he stated calmly, showing several images of a sprawling estate. "Is Ouran Academy. Known and accepted as the top educational facility in all of Japan and much of Asia besides, with private fees to match."

"That's a school?" Wally blurted unthinkingly, taking in the sight of extravagance and architecture that he had never before seen equalled. "No way. That's a mansion. Hell, that's three mansions!"

"At one point it was," Batman nodded simply, ignoring the interruption. "Now it's the playground for the children of Japan's elite."

"...wow," Wally breathed, dreaming fleetingly of the facilities such a school must possess.

"I know," Dick muttered his agreement. "It's actually a few steps up from Gotham Academy."

"Moving on," Batman clicked the small remote and the image changed, this time revealing an eclectic group of teenage boys, students judging from their uniforms, who each smiled gracefully at the camera. "This is the Ouran Host Club, and your mission."

Dick raised an eyebrow curiously behind his mask. Beside him, Wally did the same. Both waited, uncharacteristically patient, for Batman to elaborate.

And so he did, changing the image behind him to focus on one of the boys, bringing his face to fill the screen and bringing sharp focus to blond hair and blue eyes that contrasted oddly, if pleasantly, with his otherwise asian features.

"This is Suoh Tamaki," he explained. "In his second year at Ouran and both the head and founder of the club. His family owns interests in numerous corporations, but is best known for their heavy involvement in Japanese education, providing funding for numerous schools across the country. Although there is a degree of contest in regards to the legitimacy of his parentage, he is currently set to inherit."

"This," he moved on to the dark-haired, bespectacled young man. "Is Ootori Kyouya. Also a second year. His family are the leaders of Japanese healthcare, ranging from cutting edge medical research to hospital administration and spa resorts. His inheritance is also likely to be contested, due to the fact that he has two older brothers, but rumor has it that his prodigious intelligence and ability will eventually lead his father to choose him as his successor."

"Hitachiin Hikaru and Kaoru," Batman brought up the image of two red heads, identical only for the parting of their hair, devilish smiles aimed at the camera and their backs to one another. "First year students at the academy. Their father is a highly successful software designer, whilst their mother is perhaps the single most influential individual in Japanese fashion at this time."

"Haninozuka Mitsukuni and Morinozuka Takashi," he moved on to another pair, this time another blond- this one with a small and childlike appearance- and a tall, dark-haired youth who looked impassive as stone and just as solid. "Cousins in their third year. Haninozuka is set to one day inherit the Haninozuka Dojo which has, at one point or another, trained every military organization in the world in the art of hand-to-hand combat. Even my own instructors proudly claimed membership with the dojo."

"Additionally," Batman added. "Both Haninozuka and Morinozuka are classified as Human Weapons of Mass Destruction by the Japanese government for their abilities in both armed and unarmed combat."

Now that got a reaction. Most costumed individuals were technically classified as HWMDs in their own right, but to hear of a private citizen holding the title was all but unthinkable.

Batman nodded to himself calmly, secure in the knowledge that that revelation would get Robin and Kid Flash to take the briefing a touch more seriously.

"So, what?" Wally asked uncertainly. "Are they evil? Do we get to go beat up a bunch of snooty rich kids? 'Cause I'm not gonna lie... I'd really enjoy that. Uh, no offense, Dick."

"None taken," Robin replied calmly. "Most rich kids I've met are undeniably snooty and we all know I'm a simple circus boy at heart."

"Simple is right," Wally smirked, before suffering a quick blow to his shoulder.

"The mission, such that it is, pertains to the seventh member of the club," Batman brought up the image of the final boy, this one with light brown hair and far softer features than the rest. "Fujioka Haruhi. First year. An honor student, sponsored for scholarship by LuthorCorp."

Here, Wally raised skeptical brow. Had it been anyone but Batman, he would have commented on the fact that LuthorCorp offered out scholarships at the drop of a hat as a desperate measure to try and improve their public image. Hell, they'd even offered him a scholarship. Twice.

As it was Batman, however, he kept his mouth shut through an enviable force of will.

Dick, though equally understanding of his mentor's predilection for generally being accurate in his paranoia, also wanted him to get to the point.

"So?" He asked.

"So," Batman stressed, bringing up a second image, this one of a young Japanese girl with long brown hair and contrasting it with the picture of Fujioka. "This is what she looked like before she started attending Ouran. Once she arrived, she cut her hair and began dressing as a male, remaining so consistent and convincing in her deception that the majority of staff are convinced that Fujioka's previous records merely hold a clerical error. And then she joined the Host Club, forming an association with six students who could one day inherit social, economic and possibly even military control of all of Japan."

Wally blinked as he compared the image of the girl on the left and the boy on the right, finding that they were most definitely the same person. "Huh."

"Okay, gotta admit," Dick admitted with a nod. "That's suspicious."

"My point," Batman grumbled. "Luthor has scheduled a trip to Japan at the end of next month, at which time he will be meeting with any LuthorCorp scholarship students in the area. The current evidence suggests the possibility that he is using Fujioka to spy on these families, or else otherwise use them to increase his own influence in Japan. A worst case scenario could potentially even include the mind control technologies so recently implemented by the Light."

Wally and Dick shuddered in unison at that. The battle against their mentors had been nightmare inducing. But the thought of that technology still being out there...

"And..." Wally drawled cautiously. "What exactly do you want us to do about it?"

Batman leveled his gaze calmly at the younger speedster. "I believe you were recently offered a LuthorCorp scholarship to the school of your choice...?"

Here Wally nodded hesitantly. LuthorCorp had unveiled the scholarship as the grand prize for the Kansas State Science Fair a month back. Wally had rejected it, of course. Officially claiming that he wasn't ready to leave home in order to pursue his education, whilst privately abjectly refusing to have anything to do with Conner's second daddy.

"I believe it would be wise for you to reconsider their offer."

The mission, such that it was, was fairly simple in its implementation. Wally and Dick were to independently transfer to Ouran Academy, just in time for the new trimester, and to investigate the suspect students. Dick, as the ward of Bruce Wayne and the heir to an industrial empire in the States, would seek membership with the Host Club, so as to keep an eye on the boys themselves and to try and determine this 'Fujioka's' method of manipulation. Wally, on the other hand, was to befriend her during regular school hours as a fellow scholarship student adrift in a sea of the rich.

As far as the world was concerned, Dick Grayson was being sent to a foreign boarding school that supposedly boasted a security system that several bank vaults would envy, on the grounds of a recent kidnapping attempt that his guardian would prefer not to repeat. At the same time, Wally West was graciously accepting LuthorCorps' generous offer to pay for his future schooling, claiming that he had rethought his previous stance and felt that he was mature enough to leave the nest, citing that he had heard amazing things about the facilities found in private schools and a long held desire to travel.

It had been awkward as hell to pose with Lex Luthor for the papers, but such were the sacrifices that had to be made. More awkward was meeting the man in person.

"I have to admit, I was surprised to hear you'd chosen to take us up on our offer," the CEO of LuthorCorp and alleged criminal mastermind (a combination of obscene wealth and the lawyers such wealth could afford had so far prevented any convictions - to date none of his supposed crimes had even made it to trial) said, as the photographer checked and double-checked his shots, his voice as smooth as silk.

Wally smiled uneasily, doing his best to appear nonchalant, "What can I say? When you guys offered to send me to any school in the world... I don't know, it took me a while to realize what an opportunity I was throwing away. I'm sorry I didn't accept sooner."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Lex assured him, laying a hand genially on Wally's shoulder. "I remember the first time I was shipped off to boarding school. Far from home, in a country that wasn't even my own, I spent the first month doing absolutely nothing but moping around missing my mother. But then I realized the opportunity my father had given me... not only were the facilities top of the line and the academic programs outstanding, but the boys that made up my classmates were also set to inherit the world. One day, they could be either my fiercest rivals or my greatest allies."

"Really?" Wally forced himself to ask. "I didn't really think of that."

"Oh, yes," Lex smiled fondly in remembrance. "Make the right friends in high school and you can take over the world. I have to ask though, why Ouran Academy?"

Wally smiled awkwardly, "I read an article that said it was the best school in the world and I thought- y'know, if you were really willing to send me anywhere..."

"Then you might as well get the best," Lex laughed, clapping Wally's back proudly. "Oh, that's the spirit. You know, Wallace, I already knew that you had a good head on your shoulders, but keep that attitude and you will go far in life. Just be sure to keep our card and I'm certain that we will have a very profitable future together."

It took everything Wally had not to vomit right then and there. As it was, he still had to scrub himself down heavily as soon as Luthor was out of sight before he could even begin to feel clean again.

Dick Grayson was in a particularly good mood. After two years of sneaking around, hidden meetings and always wearing those damn sunglasses, Richard John 'Dick' Grayson and Wallace Rudolph 'Wally' West were going to be staying together in the Ouran Academy

dormitories, their rooms only just across the hall from one another.

Finally... finally, Dick Grayson, former circus boy and current Gotham socialite-in-training, and Wally West, Keystone City nerd forever and always, would have a chance to legitimately meet. Finally, they'd actually be able to be friends without anyone questioning it.

They'd be able to go out and eat, or see movies or whatever without having to avoid being seen. They'd be able to introduce each other to their own friends (and finally stop having to talk about their 'friend from out of town'... Dick knew for a fact that Wally was still getting weird looks about that) and they'd actually get to hang out.

Sure, it might be a little weird at first, but still, Dick was grinning like a loon.

Even if the mission turned out to be a total nightmare, or worse... a total bust, Ouran Academy was going to be the best thing that had ever happened to him. He was even okay with taking a few weeks off of 'Robin' for it.

With LuthorCorp and WayneTech handling the majority of the relevant paperwork, Wally and Dick were officially meeting for the first time just two weeks later, just a single day before the start of term, in the school dormitories.

Dick was pleasantly surprised when he saw the rooms they'd be staying in. Easily comparable to his own rooms at Wayne Mansion, he had absolutely no trouble kicking off his shoes and diving into the mass of comforters and pillows that made up his bed.

Wally, on the other hand, was somewhat terrified to actually touch anything in the room he'd be staying in. After all, it wasn't like this stuff was Batman's... if he broke anything here, he might actually have to pay for it! A conservative estimate of the expansive floor rug alone was made at fifteen flobbity-jillion dollars and, given that Wally had no way to either confirm nor deny that claim, he was assuming it as a fact and acting accordingly.

Dick noticed Wally's apprehension and, naturally, mocked him for it, just before dragging his friend out to survey the grounds. They'd need to know the school inside and out before classes started.

As they toured the grand building, stopping in to check the Olympic-level swimming pool, the hedge maze, and a certain music room they'd be keeping a close eye on in the coming weeks, Wally asked Dick a question he'd been holding in ever since Batman had given them the mission.

"What are we doing here, Dick?"

"Well, right now we're checking out the cafeteria because you're way to paranoid about what they'll be serving," Dick laughed offhandedly.

"Like you can talk to anyone about paranoia," Wally scoffed. "And you know what I mean. Bats could've sent J'onn here for a mind-scan if he thought Luthor really did have any spies."

"Not right now he couldn't," Dick corrected pointedly. "The Lanterns kidnapped him for a mission somewhere near Alpha Centauri. And you know how J'onn gets about 'invasions of privacy' and all that jazz."

Wally rolled his eyes. "And M'gann couldn't've done it?"

Dick shrugged unhelpfully, "She's not as precise as he is? And she doesn't know Japanese? I don't know. I stopped questioning Bruce a while back. All I know is that he must think it's important that we be here, so we're going to do what's expected of us."

"Get drunk on cheese and turn this place into a discotheque the likes of which the world has never seen?"

Elbowing Wally's gut, Dick stifled his own chuckles at the imagery presented. "We're going to complete the mission."

"No duh," Wally snorted. "I just spent the last three weeks dedicating myself to learning Japanese. I shook Lex Luthor's hand to get a place here. You think we're going home without seeing this through after all that? The world now believes that I have actively associated with that man!"

Dick grinned, "Your Japanese is getting better? Great, now girls'll be turning you down in two languages."

Wally waved the thought away, "Please, the ladies love me like you wouldn't believe."

"You're right," Dick agreed solemnly. "I wouldn't believe."

"And speaking of," Wally eyed him curiously, "Where did you pick up the language of the land of the rising sun? Bat-training can't be that extensive!"

Dick's only reply was a negligent shrug. Wally was his best friend in the world, but he had to keep some secrets.