"You…" Wally couldn't seem to move; he had hoped for so long, even when he was firmly focused on his Guardian duties, to be recognized by his friends. He imagined what it would be like if he found someone who could recognize him- hundreds of thousands of scenarios. And now it had happened, with Klarion the stupid Witch Boy of all people!

Speaking of, that dolt probably could have incinerated him, with how shell shocked he'd become, but instead the Lord of Chaos was doubled over, laughing his head off.

Jack managed to sidle closer to the other Guardian, staff pointed threateningly out at their adversary. "Kid Flash, what are you doing?" He hissed out.

That broke Wally's stupor. "He can see me." He stepped towards the villain until a frosted hand gripped his arm, holding him back. "How can you see me?! You, of all people!"

Klarion took a deep breath, gathering himself, before a manic grin fell over his features. Opening his mouth wide, a torrent of fire bellowed out. In seconds, Wally had grabbed his friend just as the scorch of heat started to settle against his uniform. He raced Jack behind a barrier of tundra ice for safety. "Stay here; only attack if his attention is diverted!"

"Kid, wait-!" He vaguely heard the Guardian of Fun's protest on the wind that whipped by as he moved into super speed, but he was already falling into old habits.

A villain is attacking. Protect vulnerable individuals. Disarm and foil.

Circumventing the blaze, he moved to sucker punch the Lord of Chaos; coming in too fast for Klarion to react.

Except, the only thing he punched was air.

"OH COME ON!" He skidded to a halt, shivering against the sensation of going through another body. "You can attack and interact with spirits, but I still can't hit you?!"

"Part of the gig, guardian." Klarion flashed his teeth meanly, clawed hands bursting into flames as fireballs began to form. "I can't touch you either, but my elemental magic is close enough to your Guardian nature that I can have my fun."

Sonofa- Wally did his best to weave and dodge on the icy terrain, gritting his teeth as he managed to miss the fire by centimeters. The last five months had made him sloppy; there hadn't been a need to focus on being battle ready when he was acting as a Time Lord. If I can't fight him, I'll have to outmaneuver him. But just as he started to speed away, careful to go in the opposite direction of Jack and not distancing so much that Klarion would go after the other Guardian, rock from beneath the ice burst forth, wrapping painfully around his legs. Crying out, he fell to the ground, looking up as the Lord of Chaos' laugh drew near.

"MiM sure knows how to pick 'em. You're just as clumsy now as you were mortal!"

Wally fought to remain calm. It had been so long since something had hurt like this. His legs weren't broken, but there was no way the rocks crushing him weren't going to leave it hard to run, much less walk. "What are you doing here, Klarion?" He diverted. "Why are you and Savage setting up in the middle of the Arctic?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Kid Flunk." Klarion didn't attack, though. "Spirits like you don't need to be involved with this. You're done playing the mortal games." He threw back his head and laughed again. "To think, the speedster baby so bent on science lives on immortally through magic!"

"Oh shut it!" Wally struggled for a moment, trying to find a way to ease the rocks pressing down on him. He could vibrate his molecules out; but it would take a moment, and if Klarion caught on, he might talk less and incinerate more. "If you and Savage and- and whatever other lowlifes are plotting something against people on Earth, then I'm definitely involved!"

"Haven't those cowards taught you anything?" Klarion floated into the air, tone condescending. "If MiM elects you, you're trapped to the essence of this planet- your job is to keep balance in the spirit realms; not save the physical one. You don't have a purpose to fight me anymore."

A plan, however vague, rapidly came together in his head. "Well." He winced, glaring up at the magic wielder. "I've never been good about following rules."

Klarion paused at that, a smile snaking back onto his features. "True. For a goodie two shoes baby hero, you weren't a good listener."

I'm literally an immortal adult now, you brat. "Wait- is Savage the one who said you can't talk about the plans?" Wally squinted bemusedly up at him, unimpressed. "I can't believe you follow every order he gives."

"What!" Wally tried not to flinch as the being's features briefly turned demonic. "He's not the boss of me! No one tells me what to do! I-!" Red eyes widening, he sent a look of resentment down towards his prey. "Don't try and play tricks on me, wisp."

"No tricks! Honest Kid right here!" Wally held up his hands, for what little the gesture did. "But I just figured- as the Lord of Chaos- now that you know I'm a spir- a Guardian; wouldn't it be more interesting if I knew what was going on, and couldn't do anything about it?" Klarion looked unmoved, and Wally hurried on, blatantly lying. "The Guardians have been spying for a while; I know Vandy's been bossing you around a ton, making sure everything is all nice and lined up going according to plan. You hate that; wouldn't it be chaotic for something to go wrong? I mean, if I fail, you'll still get whatever end-of-the-world crap you're pulling to happen. But wouldn't stirring the pot just a little be more interesting than having to keep following boring orders?"

The red eyes melted back into calculating black, and for a brief moment, Wally thought Holy Frick, he fell for it. But the rocks started to grind against his legs again, drawing out another cry. "I have a better idea, Flash Boy. What could be more fun than to drag your ethereal butt back to my dimension and torture you for eternity in every way I can think of." The smile started to curl back onto his face. "I can't kill you anymore, but that just means I can hurt you for a very, very long time."

"Horrible plan. Bad idea. Definitely think mine was the better one." Wally rambled, hating himself for being so stupid. His legs- painful as it was, started vibrating so he could start to escape the prison and at least get away from this dumpster fire of a failure, but more rocks started to rise up, lifting and trapping is form in the frozen material.

It was with relief that he heard the witch boy cry out, his concentration broken and Wally dropped to the snow, quickly scrambling out of the rock pile.
Klarion wasn't looking at him, but turned to glare above them, ice coating his back as he looked up to a familiar floating silhouette. The North Wind held its favorite child high, icy tendrils brushing through white hair and over the face missing it's signature smile.

"Stupid wisps!" Klarion conjured his fireballs once more, throwing with vicious accuracy towards the ice spirit. The North Wind did it's best to help Jack stay safe, while the boy himself attacked the projectiles with blasts of ice whenever he could. "Fighting two against one isn't FAIR!"

At Klarion's last exclamation, several spheres of fire appeared around him, all converging at once on the Guardian. Brilliant blue eyes grew wide, realizing he couldn't dodge them all. One managed a lucky hit straight to the chest- and just like that he was falling back to earth, unconcious. The wind managed to slow his fall but couldn't rouse him as the witch boy merged the fire into one giant entity, poised above the fallen guardian.

"Always wondered what happens if you make an ice spirit extra crispy." Klarion made a spiteful swipe down, dropping the attack on the unconscious boy.

"NO!" Wally reached into himself, connecting with the speed force. But instead of his body moving into a burst of motion, he felt the energy he connected to move through him, past him, and towards the fire.

He breathed heavily, afraid to move as Jack blinked his eyes open, then yelped, pushing away from the fire that had frozen above his form. Wally had stopped the fire. No-

He had stopped magic.

"What?!" Klarion threw another fireball at the recovered Guardian, watching as the smaller one froze just like the former. "No no no! That's cheating! How can a stupid wisp…" He trailed off, eyes narrowing in realization. "A spirit of Time." The witch boy whirled on the ex-hero, who tensed, ready to flee as fast as his stupid legs would carry him. "MiM turned the baby speedster into a Time Specter!"

Before Wally had a chance to react to that statement, or the Lord of Chaos could attack again, a hole opened up beneath him, and he fell into the burly paws of the Easter Bunny. Swiftly, the opening above them closed, just in time to hear Klarion's shriek at being thwarted.

After that, it was a blur of rushing through the tunnels, Wally being embarrassingly carried like a bloody infirm. He watched as the walls seemed to stretch and shrink over the twists and turns, until they emerged into what appeared to be the St. Nick's workshop. The holly jolly man himself was there, arms crossed and worried while muttering orders to a nearby yeti who was taking notes. Sandy- whom Wally had only really heard of and not interacted with, stood next to him.

"You alright, mate?"

The question was asked to Jack, who still clearly had a smoldering hoodie on, and his skin looked more pink than pale. "I will be." He assured, out of breath. "A few days sleeping in the snow will set me right."

"…Well, that didn't go well." Wally muttered at length, still sequestered in the arms of the bunny man. Who seemed to realize this, because he was promptly dropped to the floor with an indignant squawk.

Which of course prompted Jack to round on him. "What were you thinking?! Did you see what that guy was doing?! We weren't supposed to engage with them!"

"Klarion is a whiny brat and I thought I could get him to spill!" Wally threw his hands up. "Whatever him and Vandal are doing there-"

"The only thing we were there to check was the presence of the Nightmare King! You were supposed to help us understand what that contraption was, and only that!"

Wally tried to stand, before promptly collapsing at his leg's protest. Here's hoping I still have speed healing. "I know, I know! It's clearly a portal; a bit different than what I've seen before, but with Klarion, they can get you anywhere he wants. His power means there's no limitation to the distance, but he shouldn't be able to keep it open in multiple locations across the globe." Not that the league had known of, anyway.

"Why did a dodgy bogan like that start messing with you two in the first place?" Bunnymund demanded. "How did he know you were there?"

"He's a Lord of Chaos." Wally drawled, feeling a bit like they should know who this was. "Virtually unkillable? He's the embodiment of havoc. I guess something about his magic makes him powerful enough to engage on a multi-plane level."

"A Guardian of Chaos?" North murmured, unsure. "Surely not someone chosen by Manny. But many beings exist within our world outside of Earth…"

It was an interesting theory, but the implications of that transporter, and Klarion and Savage's involvement, were making his hero brain race. "If the League had known about this, those two never would have gotten so far in production. That means it's somehow still off their radar; which is never a good thing. The League needs to be alerted to this; whatever they're transporting through those won't be to anyone's benefit." That's right! Wally's eyes grew round, a dangerous flickering of hope started to play in him. "Maybe- if I can find a way to study Klarion's magic-"

"Kid, focus." Jack tried to cut him off, tired and knowing where this was going. "What happens in the physical realm-"

"-there has to be a way to replicate it; especially because you all use magic so frequently-"

"Kid Flash."

"- I can find a way to mimic and then reverse the effects; I could make myself visible to my team- Artemis-!"

"You're dead!" Jack's yell echoed through the workshop, halting the frenzied efforts of the yetis and elves. The tone made the red head freeze, shocked. "There's no changing Manny's choice. You almost got snatched to spend an eternity wishing you were dead because you're so hell bent on being seen! You can still do good in the world, but you can't be with them anymore. So stop trying!"

For a few tense moments, everyone stayed still, gauging the newest Guardian's reaction. Something vulnerable had flashed across his features at Jack's reminder, but he quickly shuttered the expression, turning mulishly stubborn. "If you were in my place, would you?"

That cut Jack short, shoulders slumping.

"Look." Bunnymund edged in, subtly inserting himself between the two. "We need to focus on what we can do on our side of the realms. Nick's in a pinch with the holidays around the corner, but Sandy and Toothiana can spare the time." He turned to Wally, expression not unkind. "The nightmare sand in the portals likely means your old enemies are working with ours. You haven't experienced it- but that sand is no joke; toxic just to be near; and can very well turn us wonky even at are strongest if there's too much."

"Why, it fills you with bad dreams? Has a fear gas effect?" Kid Flash could deal with that, probably. He's dealt with worse. My life's already a nightmare.

"Nein." Nick shook his head firmly. "It affects children in this way, true. But for a Guardian, it can take the good within your spirit, and turn it dark." He glanced at Sandy, eyes flickering. "It absorbs your gifts, your purpose. If the spirit of wonder loses the ability to give wonder," He nodded to Bunnymund, "or the Guardian of Easter can no longer create hope; we will fade. And with us, the impact we've made in the physical world."

Wally blinked, not sure how to respond other than "Wow."

Sandy mad several pictographs above his head, emphasizing the importance of destroying the portals.

"Even if we were able to rally enough of the elementals to help us; there's an inordinate amount of those bases." Nick pressed on, signing a worksheet from one of the yetis. "We can only do so much to destroy something within the physical realm. The greatest chance for success would be to stop the Nightmare King and his allies all at once. But we have no way of knowing if we located all the bases."

"How many do we know of?" The speedster piped in, falling into mission report mode.

"Seventy-six, as of last week."

Wally took a few moments to consider an idea in his head. He wasn't about to let go of what he had discovered through Klarion; not anytime soon. But he was a hero, first and foremost, and he had to protect others from whatever Savage was creating. "So we need solid numbers and coordinates? Okay, we don't have the magic to identify all the bases. But," He turned, a satisfied grin prompting Jack to groan in anticipation. "I can probably swipe an LCR and Wattemeter from a Star Labs facility, and verify the energy spike these areas are causing."

Bunnymund's eyebrows rose. "Not quite sure what you just said there, mate. But how will knowing the energy help us with numbers and locations?"

"Because," Wally was truly grinning now. "As long as we have that data, I know exactly where to find the tech that will trace all known sources of it." Flexing his legs, he gingerly stood up, ignoring their shaking as his goal fell into place. "So; have you guys ever paid to visit the Watchtower?"

My commitment this year is to update one chapter a month, for any of my stories. I promise to do my best to uphold that.
Up next: Wally visits his old stomping grounds, sees a few faces that don't see him, and one that does.