Author's note: I decided to add a prologue as a lead in to the story. The first few chapters are introducing the new archers, who are all comic book characters. Cissie has already had a cameo in the show, but Mia and Connor haven't appeared (yet?). This takes place during season 2. I would appreciate any kind of feedback at all. Should I only stick to characters that have appeared thus far in the cartoon? Who do you like better: Mia or Cissie?

Summary: Former sidekicks have a discussion about sidekicks.

Characters: Wally West and Artemis Crock

Prologue: Hypothetically

"Do you miss being a hero?" Wally asked, wistfully, over the background noise of a movie playing on the TV. "I miss it everyday."

"Shhhh. I'm trying to watch the movie." Artemis elbowed Wally in the ribs to quiet him down and turned back to the screen.

"Hypothetically," Wally said, wrapping his arm around Artemis's shoulders. "If you were still a superhero, would you ever take on a sidekick?"

"Wally, do we really need to be talking about this right now?" Artemis asked, snatching the bowl of popcorn away from her boyfriend. Now he was ruining their monthly movie night with a stupid question.

He picked up the remote and paused the movie. "This is a serious question! Just answer it, and we can go back to the movie." Of course it wouldn't be that simple.

"I guess it depends on the circumstance. If it would save her, I don't know, I think I would probably agree to take her on as my sidekick. After Green Arrow helped me out, I don't see how I could possibly deny another young girl the same opportunity. But I would never put her in unnecessary danger. Hypothetically." Artemis looked back at the television screen, wishing they could just watch the movie in peace. She had picked out a romantic comedy for a reason.

"Her?"

"I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, but she also would have to be a girl." Smirking, Artemis tossed a popcorn kernel in Wally's direction. "Turn the movie back on already!"

"I see how it is, but I also have to say that never in a million years would I ever have taken on a sidekick." Wally shook his head to emphasize the point.

"I can see why. You were such an obnoxious jerk of a sidekick! You would never wish that on yourself."

"Hey!"

"There are three speedsters already, so it's not out of the question that there will be others. And if other speedsters popped up, you're saying that you would tell them to fend for themselves?"

"Oh, now we're gender neutral?" Wally frowned in thought. "I guess I'd let Jay train him. Jay's never had a sidekick!"

"Don't tell me you don't want to endanger young children's lives or something. We both know that's not true. Your Kid Flash days were the best days of your entire life!"

"Second to my days with you," Wally said sweetly. "Anyway, it's just that personally, I don't think I would be able to stand an annoying kid sidekick tagging along with me on missions."

She tugged the remote out of Wally's hands and turned the TV off. Her expression turned deadly serious. "Are you saying that you don't want kids?"

"No!" Wally replied, flustered. "I mean, I'm not ready for them right now, but one day… And when I have them, they will never be allowed to become superheroes."

"So hypothetically speaking, you would never ever have a sidekick, and our hypothetical kids will never be allowed to join the superhero business," Artemis summarized. "Can I still teach them archery?"

Wally's heart did a little flutter. She wanted to have kids with him! "Sure thing, sweetie." Kissing her gently, he pulled her onto his lap.

Artemis twisted so that she could have a better view of her boyfriend's face. "If our kids are archers with superspeed, we need to let them become superheroes. If we don't, I'm pretty sure that's a sure recipe for them becoming supervillains."

"Are we already up to their rebellious teenage years?" Wally teased.

"I'm just being realistic!"

"No one from our team has a sidekick yet," Wally commented. He didn't understand why she was so surprised that he wouldn't have mentored any young heroes if he had continued his superhero career. Wait, he was the one who had brought the topic up. Why had he done that again?

"Miss Martian has Beast Boy to teach the art of shapeshifting."

"Yeah, but I was a good influence on Gar too. It's more of a group thing with him. Did you know that he still does the souvenir thing?" It made Wally proud that someone was continuing a tradition that he had started.

"That's cute."

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling fondly. Gar was the youngest of the new kids and would probably feel very embarrassed if he new they were calling him cute.

"See! You don't mind annoying, inexperienced heroes that tag along! No offense to Gar, but he's pretty much the definition of those things." Sometimes Gar reminded her of a younger Wally.

"But at least the whole team was there to dilute it. And let's face it; karma would give me the most aggravating, hyperactive sidekick ever. I would die"

"Nightwing kind of has a sidekick, and he's surviving. You know, the new Robin. Nightwing's more of a mentor to that kid than Batman is." It was sometimes hard to imagine Batman being good with kids.

"I guess that counts…" Wally acquiesced after a moment of thought. "It also brings up my other question: what if Flash or Green Arrow replaces us with a new sidekick? I mean we're retired, so it's really only a matter of time before we're replaced. I'm not so sure about it… Nightwing has taken it really well, but he's like the big brother of the Bat Family. It makes me feel really insignificant that Barry could just replace me, right?"

"But you're his nephew, Wally. He would never do something like that to you without consulting you first. He probably will never replace you at all. I have to say, Ollie would definitely replace me without so much as an, 'Oh yeah, I replaced you,' but I'm not one to say anything." There had been a lot of conflict between her and Red Arrow, and although he had been programmed to try to pin suspicion of being the mole on her, it was an example of the passing down of the sidekick torch failing.

"It's not like you were aiming to replace Roy!"

"No…" Artemis sighed, snuggling in closer to Wally. They sat in silence for a while just staring into each other's eyes. The relaxing mood from the movie night was lost.

"All this talk has made me think of something," Artemis said, tracing circles on Wally's chest. "I actually want kids, and I don't think we should wait until later. We should help kids that don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe we should take in a foster kid or something." Although she had been thinking about it for a while, the time had never felt right to bring it up, not until now. She looked at Wally expectantly, but he had other thoughts going through his had.

Jumping to his feet, Wally pushed Artemis to the other side of the couch. "You do realize that we're college students right? We don't have enough time and attention, let alone money to support a kid."

Despite Wally's logical points, Artemis wasn't ready to give up. "You'll just have to eat less to save money, and we'll work our schedules so that one of us at home in the afternoon. At the very least, we'll be able to give a kid a place to stay and show them that people care about them."

"We both have part time jobs. We can't just…" Wally trailed off at the expression of sheer disappointment on Artemis's face. "Listen, I'll think about it, and we'll this discussion on pause for a week, then we'll resolve it." He stared at her expressively and stepped forward to touch her face. "You can finish the movie without me. I'm going to sleep."