Chapter 1

"Kid Flash B03." Wally stepped out of the zeta tube in his usual civies, plus a casual red jacket.. He shivered and immediately wished he had put on something warmer before he zetad to Central City. "At least it'll be warmer at home," Wally grinned at himself, and made his way onto the street.

Everything was covered in snow: the streets, the buildings, the lights and poles, everything. Wally sighed. He loved playing in the snow when he was a kid-not that he isn't still one. A 15-year-old kid.

Wally snapped back into reality when something ran into him from the alley he was passing. He and the figure tumbled and landed on the sidewalk with the figure below Wally facing each other. "Hey! Watch where you're-" Wally stopped short.

The figure that ran into him was a blonde teenage girl, about his age, with stormy grey eyes and looked a bit Vietnamese. But thats not what caught his attention. The girl had a fresh cut from her forehead to her cheek, kinda outlining(from a half inch away) her eyebrow. She was covered with dirt and had her messy hair in a long ponytail. She looked tired, but her eyes said otherwise, that she was ready to fight.

"Ahem," the girl coughed. Wally snapped out of his trance and realized he'd been on the girl for almost a minute now. His cheeks bloomed red as he muttered 'sorry'. He stood up and offered the girl a hand. She looked at the hand suspiciously, then him, then cautiously took his hand, not once taking her eyes off him. Wally pulled her up, but overestimated his strength a bit and the girl ended up face-to-face with him.

Wally's cheeks grew warmer, if at all possible. "Sorry," he said again. He realized he was still holding on to the girl's hand and let go. As soon as he did, the girl wrapped her arms around herself and began to turn around and walk off.

"Wait!" Wally blurted out. The girl turned around to give him a hard stare. "Um… Whats your name?" Wally asked, trying not to be nervous or awkward.

"Depends. Why do you need to know?" the girl replied.

"I just-I just wanted to know if, maybe you'd like some help?" The girl looked at him in surprise and shock, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. Then her appearance went back to defensive and suspicion.

"Why? Whats in it for you?" the girl asked. Wally couldn't understand this girl. He tries to be nice and she keeps acting defensive. "N-nothing! I just saw how filthy and beat-up you are and figured you would want some help is all…" Wally trailed off. Then something occurred to him. "Wait, do you even have a place to sleep?"

The girl pointed her grey eyes toward the ground. "No…" she mumbled. Wally started walking toward her, taking off his jacket. The girl looked at him with wide eyes. "Wh-what are you doing?" she stammered. "Here," Wally said as he placed the jacket around her shoulders. "You need to warm up."

The girl put her arms through the sleeves, zipped up the jacket, and hugged herself tightly. "Thank you," she said, looking him dead in the eyes. "No problem," Wally said. "However, we should probably get inside. Its cold out here."

The girl shot him a confused look. "We?" she asked. Wally nodded. "Yea, come on. You can hang out at my house, since you don't really have anywhere else to go."

The girl became suspicious again. "Whats in it for you?" she asked again. Wally was about to say he didn't want anything, but then remembered he didn't know her name. AND it would be great to have company over.

"Well, I would get to have company and I would get to know your name," he said.

The girl stared at him blankly. "Thats it? You don't want money or anything from me?"

"Except your name and company."

She considered it for a moment. "O-ok. Lets go."

"Great, because I REALLY want to get out of this cold," Wally replied, hopping from foot to foot and hugging himself in an attempt to get warm. The girl giggled at his actions, and he smiled.

"Oh, and you still need to tell me your name," Wally said victoriously.

The girl stopped giggling and gave him a smile. "Artemis. My name is Artemis."