Hey! Twice in one day! D'you think it's fate?

Just a relevant Newsies quote for you.

But I posted! Twice in a day! I'm so proud of me!

The sad thing is is that I've updated this story twice in a day, and three times this weekend, but I still haven't updated a story I'm working on.

It's been five or six months for that one. yIkEs.

If you like that story in question...sorry. But this one is definitely my favorite fic so far. Or at all.

And I forgot to mention this earlier: I know Wally isn't part of the Legends anymore, but I kinda need him for this fic to work, and it just made it easier if he was still with the Legends.

I promise the musical bit starts next chapter. Though theres a bit of action here. Ooh and a Jack point of view!

-Alex

P.S.: there's a semi-history lesson at the end. Kinda entertaining, kinda ridiculous.

P.P.S.: I did change one of the interactions Jack has with the Legends because reasons, so...yeah.

Manhattan, New York
7/12/1899

Jack Kelly was busy hawking papers somewhere in between Jacobi's Deli and the Newsboy Lodge when he noticed someone watching him.

He walked over to around the place where he saw his stalker lurking, pretending to be hollering headlines.

"Extra! Extra! 'Dozens Injured in Train Accident'! Youse heard it 'ere!" That wasn't the actual headline. The headline was actually 'Trolley Strike Drags On', but they'd had the same headline for weeks. Hey, the kid's got to eat. Plus he said he heard it there. Any potential customer did hear it there.

As Jack had hoped, the guy watching him, a man, came up to buy a paper.

"Uh...how much for a paper?" The man asked. His accent was well-educated, and definitely not from New York. His clothes were nice and fresh, and they looked brand-new. Ohhhh, Jack was gonna have so much fun with this guy. But the guy kept talking, and gave Jack a con on a silver platter. "What is it? Like, 25 cents?"

Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his head. This guy may have had a school education, but in street matters? He was a novice. Jack tried to hide the contempt and amazement out of his voice. "Yessir, just a quarter for the evenin' pape."

"Alrighty," the guy said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright, shiny quarter and plopped it into Jack's hand. Jack eagerly fumbled out a paper from his bag. Oh, wait 'til the boys hear 'bout this! He thought.

"Thank you, Mr.…?" He asked.

The guy wasn't expecting that. "Uh, Palmer. Ray Palmer."

"Thank youse, Mr. Palmer!" Jack said, beaming. A quarter! That could be worth four days of food, easy!

"See you around, kid." Ray said, looking slightly pleased that he made this kid's day.

"See youse around, Mr. Palmer." Jack said.

Jack had just moved to a new vantage point when another guy came up to him. He looked gruff, with a buzz cut and clothes that uncannily reminded Jack of Mr. Palmer's clothes. It was one of those guys Jack was wary about conning.

"You got a paper for me?" The man asked gruffly. It seemed to Jack that was the only way he did things.

"Ahh, yessir. The…" Jack had barely took the paper from his bag when the gruff man shoved a dollar bill in Jack's hand and walked away without a word. "Bless youse, sir!" Jack called after him. A dollar! He thought. Boy, I's gettin' lucky today! Aw, I can't wait—

Jack's thoughts were interrupted when a weird-smelling cloth started smothering him. He tried to yell, scream for help, from his brothers, from anyone…

But his world went black.

##*##

"Mick!" Sara cried when he arrived back at the Waverider with Jack Kelly slung over his shoulders, thoroughly unconscious. "I told you to bring him here, not knock him out!"

"I didn't feel like getting a black eye," Mick grunted. "The kid looked like he could hold himself in a fight."

"He's just a kid!" Sara protested. Mick just grunted, and she sighed. "At least take him to the infirmary."

Once Mick roughly laid the kid in an infirmary bed, everyone gathered back in the control room.

"So, Gideon," Sara started. "Did we fix the anachronism?"

"It appears not, Captain." Gideon replied.

"What? How? We removed the kid from the timeline!" Sara complained.

"It appears that once Mr. Kelly's friends discovered he was missing, and the price of their papers was raised a few days later, they launched the strike in his name."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Ray asked. "We want the strike to happen."

"It also appears that once our assassin discovered that Mr. Kelly was missing, he killed different boys, warning the rest to call off the strike or he'd kill more boys."

"Damn it!" Sara yelled, whacking the controls.

"What do we do now?" Zari asked.

"I've got an idea!" Wally said.

Everyone looked at Wally, even the floating holographic head of Gideon.

"Would you care to tell us this brilliant idea?" Zari asked, her usual sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Wally's cheeks pinkened. "We-we put someone undercover with the newsboys, one of us, to keep them safe. Therefore, Jack Kelly starts his strike, and no one else gets killed."

"That's a great idea!" Zari said, and Wally felt pretty good about himself. "That is, if any of us could pass for newsboys. Sara and I aren't even boys, and you boys can't pass for teenagers."

Wally's hopes dropped.

"You forgot about Wally." Sara said. "He actually is a teenger."

Before any of them could make any more plans, a bleary Jack Kelly walked in, carrying a giant syringe threateningly. "Who the hell are youse!" He yelled, and looked around. "And where the hell are we?"

"Oops." They all muttered. Well, Mick and Sara muttered a few choice expletives.

"Hey! Youse are the guys that paid for the overpriced papes!" He yelled.

"This isn't what you think," Wally said.

Jack scoffed. "This is why I don't drink no Coca-Cola. My brother tried it one time. Said he was seein' weird stuff." He stopped. "Youse didn't give me no Coca-Cola, did youse?"

"You have a brother?" Ray asked, stalling for time.

"Whatsit to ya?" Jack growled back.

Most of the Legends were hiding grins, until Zari leaned over to Nate. "Does he think he's high on soda?" She whispered.

"In the early versions of Cokes, they put cocaine as a 'secret ingredient'." Nate whispered back.

Zari snorted in disbelief.

"Hey!" Jack yelled. "I's talkin' to youse!"

"You know what, Jack? We're sorry. And we'll also take you back to your house." Sara said.

Jack's syringe hand faltered. "You-youse will?"

"Yeah. Just give us the syringe."

"Don't try no funny business," He warned. He chucked the syringe at the Legends. Sara slowly walked towards Jack, and picked up the needle. Then, swiftly, she pulled out her stolen-sorry, borrowed-Time Bureau memory flasher.

"Sorry, Jack," she said softly, and pulled the trigger. She then turned to Wally. "Go get dirtied up," She said. "You have a band of newboys to join."

1,030 words. Yay!

Also the Coca-Cola thing is actually true. Cocaine comes from a plant called coca, and I think that's why they call it Coca-Cola. Yep, everyones' favorite soda was made with now-illegal drugs...That's America for you!

So...Yeah. Wally's joining the newsies! Is he gonna fail tremendously, like he did at buying a paper?

Random thought: He'd make an amazing pickpocket, just speeding around faster than the speed of sound.

Random thought 2: If he lives with the newsies-to keep an eye on Jack-how is he supposed to keep a speedster diet? The newsies usually go hungry, let alone a speedster on a speedster diet. And now I wish I hadn't thought of that, cuz that's gonna be fun to work out.

OOOOOF.

Anyways, read & review! Constructive criticism(and maybe even any helpful, logical criticism) welcome!

-Alex