HEY GUYS! Here is the next chapter.

Just a reminder:

I still don't own anything…

(duh)

Thanks to haliebri98 and noa171 and that one guest for reviewing.

YOU DA BEST!

Wally

Previously...

A yellow streak among a blaze of red, KF jammed the red-tinted sunglasses back on to Scott's face. Jabbing him in the head several times, Scott passed out partially from shock and exhaustion as well as the head trauma. Cyclops lay unconscious on the ground, Kid Flash stood panting in the middle of a desolate, ravaged clearing, and Avalanche was sitting on the ground, bleeding badly from road burns.

At that moment, Ororo flew into the clearing.

"Scott" she exclaimed. "He's over here!"

Looking up she saw Kid Flash.

"Who are…" she began to ask him until she saw Lance.

Storm's eyes narrowed and began to glow

"You…"

"Kid, we gotta get out of here!" Lance yelled. Quickly, KF picked up the bleeding Avalanche and sped out of the clearing.

'We will deal with the brotherhood later Ororo.' Came The Professor's always soothing voice.

"But Charles, did you see that red-headed boy?"

'Yes. And I will look into him as well. But now, Scott needs immediate medical attention.'

Wally sped off, half dragging Lance

"OW OW OW OW!" Lance yelled as he was was pulled through the forest.

Realizing he was hurting Lance, Kid Flash came to a stop.

"Who was that?!" Kid Flash yelled angrily.

Before Lance could respond Kid Flash had started off on a rant,

"Who was that crazy person with the laser eye thing going on? And who was that flying lady with the glowing eyeballs? What is it with this town? I just want to find my friends and get back to Bludhaven and figure out why it's APRIL. APRIL! Last I checked it was barely June!"

"You need to slow down, punk." Said Lance angrily as he nursed his wounds.

Wally realized he had been talking with super speed. He slowed down so Lance could understand him.

"Listen, I'll be out of here by tomorrow, I just need one night to… recover… from all of this weirdness."

"Whatever man." Lance replied. Lance was starting to feel less enthusiastic about bringing home another insane speedster.

The two started walking towards the brotherhood's house once again.

"Shouldn't we do something about that laser eye guy?" Kid Flash asked as they walked.

"Nah, the other X-Men will take care of him." Avalanche replied.

"The X-Men? Who are they?"

"A bunch of hypocrites. But they're mutants like us, and they've saved our rear-ends before. So I guess they're not too bad."

"Huh.." was Wally's only reply.

'These X-Men seem like they're a force to be reckoned with.' Wally thought, remembering Cyclops laser-eyes.

As they approached the brotherhoods home Lance pulled Kid Flash aside.

"Don't tell Quicksilver I said anything about the X-men." he insisted.

"Why?" Asked Kid Flash, confused.

"He's kind of in charge of the brotherhood, and he's really… well…. You'll find out."

And with that, Avalanche and Kid Flash approached a large house that looked nice, if you ignored the cracked windows and overgrown lawn.

The two teenagers entered the building and were greeted by a silver haired teen in a teal suit with super-speed. A short pale boy with long stringy hair and bulging eyes did a squat-like waddle behind him. Kid Flash was shocked to see another teenager with super speed, but he decided to play this out as cool as possible.

"Well, look what the Lance dragged in." the short toad-like boy said in a croaking voice.

"Don't make me angry, Toad." Lance said threateningly as he stomped up the stairs.

Toad only smirked and made an inhuman leap through the nearest door. Meanwhile, Quicksilver and Kid Flash had been silently sizing each other up.

"Listen, I'm Pietro, a.k.a. Quicksilver, a.k.a. the alpha here." Quicksilver said as he used super speed to zoom right up to Wally and point his finger in his face. "I'm faster than you, I'm smarter than you, and I'm the boss."

Wally fought the urge to throw a witty comeback.

'I seriously doubt all three of those things.' He thought. 'And since when has there been another speedster, here of all places? I wonder if the Flash knows about him.'

"There are two rules you have to follow here." Quicksilver continued "I'm in charge, and if you're with us, you're not with the X-men."

Kid Flash was starting to get annoyed by this over-arrogant speedster, but held his tongue.

"The X-men?" He asked innocently.

"They are a bunch of self-righteous jerks, who are always picking on us." Pietro said "They think they're better than us too, because they got money, and a fancy mansion, and adult supervision."

Kid Flash wondered what Pietro meant by that. He was about to ask more questions when he saw a seriously hot babe walking down the stairs.

"Who's the new recruit?" She asked.

Wally felt a little guilty-as if he was betraying Artemis somehow- when he sized up the new girl.

She had long red and black hair and a goth punk vibe. A long black trench coat and a red choker added to the mysterious aura of the girl.

"So you met my brother Pietro? Was he trying to intimidate you? He always does that to the newbs." She said.

Kid Flash blinked in surprise. This girl, possibly the least rude person he had met so far, was the sister of Quicksilver.

"My name is Scarlet Witch, but my friends call me Wanda. I'll show you your room."

Said Wanda.

She waved off Quicksilver, who was looking annoyed, and lead KF up the stairs.

"I'm just staying for tonight." Wally replied.

"It's fine. What was your name again?" Wanda asked.

"Kid Flash." Wally said carefully, waiting to see if the well-known name would merit a response.

It didn't. Wanda just lead Kid Flash to a room and opened the door.

"It's a little messy…" She trailed off.

Truthfully, the room was a disaster zone. Food wrappers and dust lined the floor, the bed was crumpled and missing the pillow, even some of the furniture was tipped over.

Wally grinned. He couldn't resist showing off a little. Using his speed he zoomed about the room cleaning and arranging until it was in pristine condition.

"I can handle it." He said

Wanda looked surprised, but not shocked. She seemed like the kind of person who could roll with whatever life threw at her.

"Another mutant with super speed? I guess someone can finally give Pietro a run for his money." She muttered.

Wally was interested to know more about Pietro, seeing how there the Flash had never mentioned another teen-aged speedster to Wally.

"Why does your brother hate the X-Men so much? Is it because of that crazy laser-eyed guy?" Wally asked.

"Scott?" Said Wanda. "Not really, I mean, The X-men have always been only one part of the equation. Pietro has always had a complicated relationship with our dad. And for the longest time our father hated the X-men, but now he's saying we should join with them. You see, with all the anti-mutant protests in DC, Magneto (our dad) thinks mutants need to stick together more than ever. On top of that, Pietro's trying to declare his independence as a 'responsible adult' or something like that."

Wally wasn't sure how to respond. He hadn't expected Wanda to be quite so frank with him.

"Basically… family problems." She concluded.

Wally thought of Artemis's relationship with her dad.

"I think I get it." He said.

Artemis

Previously

Lugging the inter-dimensional tracker and KF's box, Artemis ran towards the entrance to the vault until she saw the security guard. His back was turned, but his blond hair was illuminated by his flashlight. Setting the box down and taking careful aim, Artemis shot an arrow at him. To her surprise, he turned quickly and caught it with his bare hands. Artemis panicked as she saw the security guard's face.

"Dad?" She asked out loud.

The Sports Master simply chuckled when he heard his daughter's voice.

"Breaking and entering? Armed robbery? You don't cease to make me proud, Artemis." He said mockingly.

"Guys, I need a way out of here!" She said as she grabbed the box and disappeared into the darkness.

"Since when is "tu Papa" the personal security guard of Lex Luthor?" Asked Blue Beetle.

"Guys, we have bigger problems." Bart interrupted. "Batman's home early."

The bat cave entrance opened up and three boys heard the familiar roar of the batmobile.

"Why is everything so complicated?" Night Wing sighed.

Artemis was panting as she ran through the warehouse with the box and inter-dimensional tracker. She stopped to catch her breath and listen for signs that she was being followed.

"Why is my dad here? I can't fight him." She told Night Wing.

Static was the only reply she received.

Artemis cursed under her breath as she heard her dad's voice

"I know you're here baby girl." came Sportsmaster's voice

The box of files on Wally was getting heavier as Artemis ran deeper into the blackness.

She couldn't face her father. Not now. Now when he hadn't been there when she had needed him most. Out of breath, Artemis sank down to her knees. As she stooped over in the dark she flashed back to 10 months ago- right after Wally's death.

Artemis had been curled up in a corner of her room, crying all night long. She felt so alone. But she had to go train tomorrow with the team. Even though she didn't want too.

But Green arrow and Black Canary had insisted that locking herself up in the dark wouldn't make the pain go away. She had to face her friends eventually.

Artemis felt like there was nobody she could depend upon. The only person she had ever let herself trust, Wally West, was dead.

'That's stupid,' a little voice in her head said 'It's not Wally's fault that he is dead. And what about your mom?'

Artemis sighed. She had isolated herself from her team and her mom after Wally's death. Because Artemis had been raised by her father, she sometimes felt the gap between her mother and herself was too wide to branch. Strangely, as Artemis sat in the dark, she found herself wanting to see her dad again.

Not the brutal sportsmaster, a feared assassin, but her dad, the man who held her in his strong and arms and taught her to shoot and to fight.

But that man only existed in her memories.

As Artemis had grown up, she had seen her father as the abusive criminal he was. Artemis had left a life of crime to become a hero but felt like she had betrayed her father.

On top of that, she hadn't talked to him since before Wally had died. And he wasn't going to show up anytime soon. He seemed to think that Artemis had rejected him for the 'straight and narrow' path. This sent Artemis into a new round of tears.

'But I can't face my friends in this state.' Artemis thought to herself. She got up and walked out the door. She couldn't fix things with her father, but she could try to fix things with her mother.

10 minutes later, Artemis had arrived at her mom's house.

"Mom!" She cried as she embraced her paralyzed mother, who was sitting in her wheelchair.

"I can't do this!"

"I know sweetie, I know." Her mother said soothingly. "Tomorrow will be hard. Because life is hard. But no matter what happens, you can't let your bad experiences define you."

Artemis's mom looked her daughter in the eye.

"You've got to keep moving Artemis. And I don't doubt that you will face whatever life throws your way. Because you are my brave, beautiful daughter." She said as tears welled up in her eyes.

Now both mother and daughter were crying. Until Artemis's mother began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Artemis asked

"I read that out of a book of inspirational 'mom quotes.' In Prison." Her mom replied

Artemis smiled. It was a little funny to think of her mom in prison reading inspirational 'mom quotes.' Artemis took a deep breath and wiped away a tear.

"Thanks mom" she said

A noise snapped Artemis back to the present. Her father was closing in on her. Artemis stood up defiantly. She was tired of feeling sorry for herself, and feeling like she owed something to her father. She was ready to move on with her life. She nocked an arrow.

"I'm ready to face you."

1st off- REVIEW PLEASE. maybe if I get to ten reviews I'll post the next chapter EARLY (earlier)

2nd off- I did the flashback with Artemis because I wanted to show her overcoming her grief and her problems she had with her parents. I feel like this is an important part of her character and didn't want to leave it out. I love Artemis because she is a strong, tough-as-nails, female lead.

3rdly- What would make this story better- romance-action-hurt/comfort-humor?Your suggestions really help.